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But though Behaim may never have held personal
intercourse with Columbus, or influenced his cosmo-
graphical theories, there can be no doubt that he shared the
erroneous views held by the successful Genoese as to the
narrowness of the Ocean Sea and the facility with which
it might be crossed, and so persistently and successfully
urged by him in favour of his proposals. A glance at
Behaim's globe proves this. We there find Antilia, the
island depicted upon the chart which Columbus had with
him, but looked for in vain on the 17th and 25th of
September; as also Cipangu (Japan), his declared goal,
which he unhesitatingly identified with Cuba.1 These
geographical features agree absolutely with what we know
to have been the " opinions" held by Columbus.
Whether Behaim derived them from a copy of
Toscanelli's chart, or from some other source, shall be
considered (p. 64).

Further evidence in favour of the contention that
Behaim shared the views of Columbus with regard to the
small breadth of the ocean which was supposed to
separate the West from the East is furnished by a letter
which Hieronimus Monetarius or Miintzer, a Nuremberg
physician, addressed to King John in July, 1493, and in
which he is recommended to avail himself of the services
of Martin Behaim in a expedition fitted out to " disclose
the East by the West." The arguments employed by
Monetarius in favour of such an expedition are identical
with those previously put forth by Columbus, and there
can be no doubt that this letter2 was written at the
suggestion of Behaim and its contents inspired by him.
It is curious, however, that such a letter should have been
written at all, considering that Behaim is supposed to
have been persona grata with King John, whilst
Monetarius was merely an obscure man of learning in a
distant German town.

X. BEHAIM AND MAGELLAN.

From Columbus we turn to Magellan.* Antonio
Pigafetta,4 the companion of Magellan, and historian of
the first voyage round the world, having told us that it
was thought formerly that the broad estuary to the south

1 Barros, 'Da Asia,' Dec. L, liv. III., c. 11; Journal of the first
voyage, Sept. 17 and 25, Oct. 23, 1492.

2 For a translation of this letter see Appendix IX., p. 118.
s P. F. H. Guillemard, ' Life of Magellan,' London, 1890.

* A. Pigafetta was born about 1480, came to Spain in 1519,
and returned to Italy in 1523, where he died about 1534. The
MS. of his 'Prixno Viaggio,' now in the Bibl. Ambrosiana at Milan,
was published by Andrea da Mosto in t. V. of the 'Raccolta di doc.
e studi publicati delle R. Commissione Columbine' We quote the
translation by J. A. Robertson, published at Cleveland, Ohio, in
1906.

of the Cape of St. Maria afforded access to the South Sea,
takes us to a strait discovered on the day of the Eleven
Thousand Virgins in 52° S., and says: " Had it not been
for the captain-general we could not have found the
strait, for we all thought and said that it was closed on all
sides. But the captain-general, who knew where to sail
to find a well-hidden strait, which he saw depicted on a
map in the treasury of the King of Portugal, which was
made by that excellent man, Martin de Boemia, sent two
ships, the ' Santo Antonio' and the ' Conception' to
discover what was inside the cape of the bay. We, with
the other two ships, stayed inside the Bay to await
them."

It seems, however, that Magellan's trust in the said
map was not absolute, for a little further on Pigafetta
tells us that "had we not discovered that strait the
captain-general had determined to go as far as 75 degrees
towards the Antarctic Pole."

Frey Bartolome de las Casas,5 the famous " Protector
of the Indians," throws further light upon the plans of
Magellan. He was actually present in January, 1518, at
Valladolid, when Magellan pointed out to the Lord
Chancellor of Castile, J. R. de Fonseca, the Bishop of
Burgos, the route which he proposed to follow in making
his passage to the Moluccas. He did this by means of a
neatly painted globe, upon which the supposed strait had
been omitted, so that he might not be robbed of his
secret! I cannot believe in so absurd a device. The
very existence of a blank upon the globe would have
directed attention to the situation of the sought-for strait.
It is far more likely that only those coast-lines were
shown upon the globe which had been actually discovered
up to 1518, and that all hypothetical features had been
omitted. This, at all events, would have been in accordance
with the prevailing practice in the case of marine
charts. Sebastian Alvarez, the factor of the King of
Portugal at Seville, confirms this view. He, too, saw the
globe, in July, 1512, and says that it was the work of
Pedro Reinel6 and his son, Ferdinand ; and that between
Cabo Frio and the Moluccas no land was laid down.7 I
have no doubt that instead of Cabo Frio we ought to read
Cabo de S. Maria, in which case the globe would have
agreed with a Portuguese chart of that period, upon
which the Cabo de S. Maria (to the north of the Rio
de Solis) in 35° S. is shown8 as the furthest point known
on the East coast of South America, as also with a

6 Bartolome de las Casas was born at Seville in 1474, accompanied
Columbus on his first voyage, 1492-3, was consecrated a priest in
S. Domingos in 1510, paid several visits to Spain to plead for a more
humane treatment of the natives, and finally retired to Europe in 1547.
He died, 1566, at Madrid. His famous ' Historia de las Indias' was
begun in 1527, completed in 1547, but only published in 1575-6. (See
Harrisse, ' Christopher Columbus,' I., p. 122).

* A Portuguese " mestre de cartas," who entered the service of Spain,
but returned to Portugal, and was granted a pension by John III. He
was still alive in 1542 (Sousa Viterbo, ' Trabal. naut. dos Port.,' I., p. 341).

7 Navarrete, ' Coleccion,' IV., doc. No. 15,
» See p. 36, Maplet No. 10.