304 



APPENDIX. 



No. 52. 



In pp. 228-9 of vol. ii, it is stated, "In 1501-2 Americus Vespucius, 

 then employed by the King of Portugal, sailed six hundred leagues 

 south, and one hundred and fifty leagues west, from Cape San Agos- 

 tinho (lat. 8° 20' S.) along the coast of a country then named Terra 

 Sanctse Crucis. His account of longitude may be very erroneous, 

 but how could his latitude have erred thirteen degrees in this his 

 southernmost voyage ?" 



Since those pages were printed, I have obtained a perfect copy 

 of the four voyages of Americus Vespucius, written in Latin ; and 

 I now hasten to correct any erroneous impression which might arise 

 out of my having asserted that Vespucius " could not have explored 

 farther south than the right bank of La Plata." 



By the subjoined extracts from the third voyage of Vespucius, it 

 appears that he sailed to about fifty-two degrees of south latitude ; 

 and near that latitude discovered land : — which I have no doubt 

 whatever was Georgia. 



These extracts are not only verbally but literally copied from 

 the original : every passage which can throw even the slightest 

 light upon dates, times, courses, distances or positions, is here given ; 

 the portions of the narrative which are omitted relate solely to what 

 Vespucius saw on the land. According to his narrative, he went to 

 the Canaries, thence to the coast of Africa near Cape Verde ; from 

 which place he sailed to the coast of Brazil, near, but to the west- 

 ward of Cape St. Roque ; thence he worked to windward against 

 the current, till he reached Cape San Agostinho ; and from that point 

 he coasted to about the River Grande, in thirty- two south. From this 

 port, whether the River Grande or a place near it, Vespucius steered 

 to the south-east (per Seroccum) five hundred leagues ; found the 

 south pole elevated fift3r-two degrees, the night fifteen hours long, 

 the cold excessive, a high sea, a succession of tempestuous weather, 

 and land precisely like Geoi'gia, but not at all resembling any part of 

 the Falklands. Georgia lies somewhat farther south than the 

 latitude mentioned (being in 54° — 55°) ; but we should take into 

 consideration the instruments used at sea in 1502 ; the all but utter 

 ignorance of southern stars ; and the succession of bad weather 

 encountered by Vespucius about the time of his seeing land near 

 52° S. 



