Part 24 (1/2)

[310]

Acosta notices the circuhtly in his Natural and Moral History of the Indies, published in 1591, and takes it evidently from Gomara

[311]

Mariana, in his history of Spain, published in 1592, also mentions it, but expresses a doubt of its truth, and derives his information manifestly from Gomara [312]

Herrera, who published his history of the Indies in 1601, takes no notice of the story In not noticing it, he uished for his minuteness, and ell acquainted with Gomara's history, which he expressly contradicts on a point of considerable interest [313]

Garcilasso de la Vega, a native of Cusco in Peru, revived the tale with very minute particulars, in his Commentaries of the Incas, published in 1609 He tells it smoothly and circumstantially; fixes the date of the occurrence 1484, ”one year more or less;” states the name of the unfortunate pilot, Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva; the destination of his vessel, from the Canaries to Madeira; and the unknown land to which they were driven, the island of Hispaniola The pilot, he says, landed, took an altitude, and wrote an account of all he saw, and all that had occurred in the voyage He then took in wood and water, and set out to seek his way ho and teue, out of seventeen, the original number of the crew The five survivors arrived at Tercera, where they were hospitably entertained by Columbus, but all died in his house in consequence of the hardshi+ps they had sustained; the pilot was the last that died, leaving his host heir to his papers Colu the route therein prescribed, obtained the credit of discovering the New World [314]

Such are the material points of the circua, one hundred and twenty years after the event In regard to authority, he recollects to have heard the story when he was a child, as a subject of conversation between his father and the neighbors, and he refers to the histories of the Indies, by Acosta and Gomara, for confirmation As the conversations to which he listened must have taken place sixty or seventy years after the date of the report, there had been sufficient tiular narrative, and thus we have not only the name, country, and destination of the pilot, but also the name of the unknown land to which his vessel was driven

This account, given by Garcilasso de la Vega, has been adopted by many old historians, who have felt a confidence in the peremptory manner in which he relates it, and in the authorities to whom he refers [315]

These have been echoed by others of e of fraud and iainst Columbus, apparently supported by a crowd of respectable accusers The whole charge is to be traced to Go the pointed contradiction given to it seventeen years before, by Oviedo, an ear-witness, froathered the report

It is to be re historians, of inaccuracy, and of great credulity in adopting unfounded stories

[316]

It is unnecessary to give further refutation to this charge, especially as it is clear that Columbus communicated his idea of discovery to Paulo Toscanelli of Florence, in 1474, ten years previous to the date assigned by Garcilasso de la Vega for this occurrence

No XIII

Martin Behe, in Germany, about the commencement of the year 1430 His ancestors were from the circle of Pilsner, in Bohemia, hence he is called by some writers Martin of Bohemia, and the resemblance of his own name to that of the country of his ancestors frequently occasions a confusion in the appellation

It has been said by some that he studied under Philip Bervalde the elder, and by others under John Muller, otherwise called Regioent inquiry into his history, discredits both assertions According to a correspondence between Behem and his uncle discovered of late years by De Murr, it appears that the early part of his life was devoted to co the island of Fayal, but this is an error, arising probably from the circumstance that Job de Huertar, father-in-law of Behem, colonized that island in 1466

He is supposed to have arrived at Portugal in 1481, while Alphonso V was still on the throne; it is certain that shortly afterwards he was in high repute for his science in the court of Lisbon, inso John II to iation, and by some he has received the whole credit of the memorable service rendered to commerce by that council, in the introduction of the astrolabe into nautical use

In 1484 king John sent an expedition under Diego Ca to others, to prosecute discoveries along the coast of Africa In this expedition Beherapher They crossed the equinoctial line, discovered the coast of Congo, advanced to twenty-two degrees forty-five minutes of south latitude, [317] and erected two colual, in the ra, in Africa, which thence, for some time, took the name of the River of Columns [318]

For the services rendered on this and on previous occasions, it is said that Beheh no mention is made of such a circumstance in any of the conte received this iven hilobe of _Eques Lusitanus_

In 1486 he hter of Job de Huerter, and is supposed to have remained there for some few years, where he had a son na his residence at Lisbon and Fayal, it is probable the acquaintance took place between him and Columbus, to which Herrera and others allude; and the ad in the islands, of indications of western lands floating to their shores

In 1491 he returned to Nure to see his falobe, considered a masterpiece in those days, which he had undertaken at the request of the principal istrates of his native city

In 1493 he returned to Portugal, and fro John II, who had a high opinion of hie, the intended heir of his crown In the course of his voyage Beheland, where he re recovered, he again put to sea, but was captured by a corsair and carried to France Having ransoes, but returned alwhich time it is supposed he rees In 1506 he went from Fayal to Lisbon, where he died

The assertion that Behem had discovered the western world previous to Colue with Cae interpolated in the chronicle of Harte ers were in the Southern Ocean not far from the coast, and had passed the line, they came into another hemisphere, where, when they looked towards the east, their shadows fell towards the south, on their right hand; that here they discovered a neorld, unknown until then, and which for ht except by the Genoese, and by them unsuccessfully

”Hii duo, bono deorue evagantes, superato circulo equinoctiali, in alterum orbem excepti stint Ubi ipsis stantibus orientem versus, uitur sua industria, aliunitum et multis annis, a nullis quam Januensibus, licet frustra tee which it is said is interpolated by a different hand, in the original manuscript of the chronicle of Schedel De Murr assures us that they are not to be found in the Gere Alt, which was finished the 5th October, 1493 But even if they were, they relate o Cam made of the southern hemisphere, previously unknown, and of the coast of Africa beyond the equator, all which appeared like a neorld, and as such was talked of at the time