HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 13 



Georgia is about 1760 nautical miles. If the round- 

 about course taken in consequence of the currents by 

 the Portuguese ships is kept in mind, the statement 

 neither of the distance nor of the direction would offer any 

 serious difficulty. It is less easy to reconcile Vespucci's 

 latitude with the latitude of South Georgia, which is 

 54 and 55° S. But even this is no insuperable obstacle, 

 as Peschel points out that errors of three degrees of 

 latitude on the high seas are by no means unusual in 

 the reckonings of the first half of the sixteenth century. 

 If such errors are made under the clear skies of 

 the trade winds, they should cause no surprise if made 

 on the stormy South Atlantic Ocean with its gloomy 

 and misty weather. Indeed, it does not even appear 

 that Vespucci's reckoning of 52 S. on the 3rd of April 

 was intended to be applied to the land then lying farther 

 south. Finally, the description of the coast of the 

 country discovered points to the possibility that it was 

 that of South Georgia. Vespucci says they sailed twenty 

 leghe (eighty miles) along the coast, and the north coast 

 between its two northernmost points, Cape Buller and 

 Cape Charlotte, is of just this extent in South Georgia. 

 A. v. Humboldt, who was warmly interested in this 

 discovery by the Portuguese, and was of opinion that 

 East Patagonia was indicated, found a difficulty in the 

 statement that the ships sailed twenty leghe (eighty 

 miles; along the coast. His explanation leaves the dis- 

 crepancy untouched, but it entirely disappears when 

 applied to South Georgia. 



Another circumstance supports the case for the 

 island — the mention of the severe cold, which seemed to 

 exclude the idea that it was inhabited. This could not 

 have been stated of the coast of East Patagonia even in 

 the winter of the southern hemisphere (April corresponding 

 to November with us). According to modern observa- 

 tions the mean temperature in the coldest month is about 



