372 GOMEZ AND THE NEW YORK GULF 



tion in the unofficial Ribero-type maps of 1527-'29 have been 

 unsatisfactory. So also have been the efforts to find correspond- 

 ence between the Ribero-type contours and the real American 

 coast-line. The significance of the Santa Cruz map, therefore, 

 lies in this — that it alone among early maps corresponds to 

 Oviedo's description of the Chaves map and should indicate the 

 exact extent of Gomez' discoveries by an actual resemblance to 

 the American coast. 



In a single feature does the Santa Cruz map seriously depart 

 from Oviedo's data. Its latitudes are all marked one degree 

 farther north than Oviedo gives them. But this question of 

 latitude brings out another curious point. The Santa Cruz map 

 purports to represent the American coast from 38° to 45°, yet it 

 obviously does not represent the coast-line of that space, while 

 it does resemble quite well the coast of New England from Nan- 

 tucket to the Penobscot. This discrepancy of latitude may be 

 set aside for the moment. The real test of the map is its resem- 

 blance to the New England coast. Beginning at the north, the 

 islands of the Maine coast are shown and the legend "montahas" 

 is placed just where Kohl says that mariners can see the distant 

 peaks of the White mountains. Turning then southwest and 

 south, the coast makes a deep indentation suggestive of Massa- 

 chusetts bay, turns sharply to a north-pointing cape like Cape 

 Cod, and then southward again as if to the point of Nantucket, 

 where it makes a sharp turn to the westward before merging in 

 the land discovered by Ayllon. In its relative proportions the 

 Santa Cruz map corresponds with the New England coast, except 

 in an unusual lateral extension of the Maine coast. The map 

 is one such as would be expected from a sixteenth century offi- 

 cial explorer — not true in all details, but fairly accurate in 

 general features. 



Under this interpretation of the map the Rio de las Gamas of 

 Gomez becomes the Penobscot, Cabo de Santiago becomes Cape 

 Cod, Cabo de las Arenas becomes the Point of Nantucket, and 

 the Rio de San Antonio becomes, not the Hudson, but the Mer- 

 rimac or Salmon Falls. It is interesting to note how the inac- 

 curacy of the Ribero-type maps has transferred the east-pointing 

 Cabo de las Arenas of Gomez to the place of the north-pointing 

 Cabo de Santiago. That the island of Nantucket is made one 

 with the mainland is natural, since Gomez, aware of the shoals 

 and shallows of that region, would hardly have tempted fate by 

 running close to shore, but, passing to the southward, might have 

 remained unaware of the passage between it and the main. 



