The Progress of Geographical Discovery. 



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were accustomed to fish on the banks of Newfoundland. Verazzano 

 in 1508, with Thomas Aubert, in two French ships, ascended the river 

 St. Lawrence for eighty leagues. In 1524 he sailed from Dieppe in 

 the Dauphize to discover new lands for the king of France. 



His landfall was on the coast of North Carolina. He skirted along 

 the coast northward, entered the Bay of New York and the mouth of 

 the Hudson river (you will notice this was about fifty years before 

 Henry Hudson was born), then skirted along the south coast of Long 

 Island, supposing it to be part of the mainland, discovered Block 

 Island, which he named Claudia, and then steered for France. His 

 discoveries complete the coast line of North America, and his map of 

 1529 contains for the first time the name of Norurnbega, one of the 

 etymological puzzles of American geographers. In view of these facts 

 it seems strange that some of the later maps which I have described, 

 failed to display the results of his discoveries. But there is one map, 

 brought to the attention of the students of geography by Mr. A. J. 

 Weise of the neighboring city of Troy, which is remarkable for its 

 correctness in delineating our coast line. It is also remarkable for 

 having escaped the notice of geographers and writers during all the 

 years of discussion until 1884, when Mr. Weise's book was published, 

 entitled, Discoveries in America to 1525. It is the map made by the 

 Viscount de Maiollo in Genoa in 1527, and is in the Ambrosian library 

 in Milan. The name of Francesca is placed between two flags that 

 mark the extent of Verazzano's explorations in 1524. The English 

 flag marks the land of Cortereal and the Spanish and Portuguese flags 

 mark the possessions of those countries. A strait across the isthmus 

 of Central America makes two large islands of the continent, and a 

 western line may be a guess coast line or may indicate the limits of the 

 explored regions, leaving the extent of the interior undetermined. 

 Yucatan, as usual, is given as an island instead of a peninsula. The 

 West India islands and Florida have their correct positions. There 

 can be no doubt of the fact that Verazzano did for France what Col- 

 umbus did for Spain and the Cabots for England — that he was the dis- 

 coverer of the middle portion of the coast line of the United States. 

 The French nation was too much occupied in foreign wars to follow 

 «P their discoveries by colonization. But that they carried on a de- 

 sultory commerce with the natives in these parts duriug the period 

 between 1525 and 1608, when Henry Hudson first sailed up the river 

 of his name, there is every reason to believe. The old map found in 

 Holland, and which it is supposed was used by Hudson, has this in- 

 scription on it, written near the point where the Mohawk enters it at 



