379 



Without pretending to give a complete history of these Com- 

 missions of boundaries, which the ignoble artifices of European 

 diplomacy have prevented from being more useful to the as- 

 tronomical geography of the New Continent, I shall here 

 succinctly publish the ideas which may throw light on that 

 question j and of which those that relate to the negotiations 

 of the 18th century, are taken from unpublished pieces pre- 

 served in the archives. 



The discussions concerning the boundaries between the 

 courts of Madrid and Portugal, have lasted during three cen- 

 turies. They at first touched only on maritime interests, the 

 possession of islands and coasts j by degrees they have ex- 

 tended to the interior of South America. The celebrated bull 

 of pope Alexander 6th (May 4th, 1493) in favor of Spain, was 

 made in the same spirit as the less known bull of the year 

 1445, issued by pope Nicolas 5th in favor of Portugal. The 

 former places the line of demarcation an hundred leagues 

 east of the Islands of Azores and Cape Vert, and gives to the 

 Spaniards all that on the west of that line had not been oc- 

 cupied before Christmas in the year 1492. It says confus- 

 edly enough, centum leucas a qualibet insularum qua vulgariter 

 nuncupantur de las Azores y Cabo Verde. Cardinal Bembo> 

 who, in his classical style, proscribes all new denominations, 

 simply says, Gorgonum insula, no doubt (Pliny according to 

 Xenophon de Lampsaco, lib. 6, c. 31, Meta, lib. 3, c. 9,) 

 the Gorgades fdomus, utaiunt, aliquando Gorgonum) opposite 

 the Byssadium Promontarium. The island of Saint Anthony 

 is, no doubt, in the meridian of the island of San Michael, 

 but there are 8° of longitude from the meridian of the 

 most western island to the meridian of the most eastern 

 of the Azores. A new bull of the 24th November, 1493, 

 leaves the same doubts ; but in the treaty of Tordesillas 

 (June 7, 1494), the meridian of the demarcation was carried 

 to 370 leagues, instead of 100, from the Cape Vert islands. 

 The measure of the leagues not having been indicated, the 



