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of Behaim altogether, confirmed as it is by his Globe.
Val. Ferdinand, in the MS. already frequently referred to,
presents us with three rude maps of the island, each
differing from the other to so great an extent that if it
were not for the titles, or the place where these maps are
found, they could not possibly be believed to refer to the
same island. The first of these maps (numbered 1 in the
accompanying Map 5) has already been published by Dr. S.
Huge;1 tracings of the two others I owe to the kindness
of Dr. G. von Laubmann, the Director of the Munich
Library, where the MSS. are kept.2 The first of these
maps agrees, in its general features, with the delineation
upon the Portuguese chart which Alberto Cantino caused
to be designed at Lisbon for his patron, Hercules d'Este,
in 1502. The second map bears the title " Ilha diogo
Cam," which seems to show that Ferdinand, when he
made that sketch, believed the island to have been
discovered by Diogo Cao, or, at all events, to have been
named in his honour. A third map of the ■ Ilho ano boo '
has apparently been rejected by the author as untrustworthy
, for he has drawn three lines of deletion across it.
The marked differences in these three outlines are equally
observable in the few charts drawn up to 1502 and still
available. And these differences not only extend to the
outline of Annobom, but also to the latitude assigned to
it, and of its bearings and distances from S. Thome and
the Cabo de Lopo Goncalves.3



Behaim,
1492.

Cantino,

1502.

Canerio,
c. 1502.

i

iHamy's Chart,
c. 1502.

Modern
Charts.

S. Thome" latitude .

8° 0' S.

0° 30' N.

1° 30' S.

0° 0'

0° 12' N.

Annoboin latitude .

12° 30' S.

8° 0' S.

5° 0' S.

! 1°25'S.

1° 25' S.

Distance from S.'l
Thome, miles/

270

162

170

90

100

S. Thome bears.

N. 30° W.

N.

N.

; N, 15° E.

N. 30° E.

Cabo de Lopo Gon-j
calves bears . ./

E. 35° N.

E. 40° N.

E. 85° N.

-

E.

E. 12° N.

Distance to Cabo del
Lopo Goncalves, \
miles)

320

175

180

150

136

These differences seem to justify the conclusion that
the draftsmen or compilers of these early charts depicted
the island from map sketches brought home by successive
navigators, who sighted it from a distance, but did not
think it worth while to examine it more closely, so as to
enable them to depict the island as correctly as the other
islandsinthe Gulf of Guinea had been depicted years before.4

1 1 27. Jahresb. des Vereins fur Erdkunde zu Dresden,' 1901.

2 Cod. Hisp. 27 ff., 339r and 343r and V.

3 For Cantino see pp. 26 and 27. Nicolas de Canerio was a Genoese.
Facsimiles of his map of the world have been published by Gallois (' Bull.
Soc. de Geogr.,' Lyon, 1890) and G. A. Marcel, Keeper of the Cartogr.
Collection of the Bibl. Nat. (' Reproduct. des Cartes et Globes,' &c). The
chart, now the property of Prof. E. T. Hamy of the Musee d'Ethnogr.,
Paris, was bought at the sale of the library of the late Captain King,
London. Facsimiles have been published by Dr. Hamy himself and in
Nordenskiold's 1 Periplus.'

4 In proof of which see Map 5, insets.

Conclusion.

Having thus dealt at considerable length with the
history of discovery and early cartography of Western
Africa I shall endeavour to summarise the results in as
far as they throw light upon the voyage which Behaim
asserts he made in company with Diogo Cao.

We may dismiss without hesitation Behaim's assertion
that he was appointed " Captain " of one of the vessels
which sailed in that expedition. Such a command would
not have been given to a foreign merchant only recently
arrived in Portugal, and absolutely ignorant of naval
affairs. He might, however, have been permitted to
embark as a " volunteer " or as a trader. If he accompanied
Cao as " cosmographer," as is asserted by several of
his biographers but nowhere claimed by himself, the
results must have been exceedingly disappointing if we
are to look upon the delineation of the west coast of
Africa on his Globe as the outcome of his labours.

There is moreover the evidence1 of the " inscribed
rocks " only recently discovered on the Congo (see p. 22).
These prove conclusively that Behaim played no leading
part in Cao's second expedition, and that if he accompanied
it at all it must have been in a very humble
capacity.

Behaim tells us that Cao and himself left Portugal in
1484, and returned after an absence of 16, 19 or 26
months. As Behaim only arrived in Portugal in June
1484 at the earliest, he cannot be supposed to have
started before July. His return, consequently, would
have taken place in October 1485, January or August
1486. What then becomes of the knighthood conferred
upon him on "Friday, February 2, 1485," or of the deed
of partnership signed at Lisbon on July 12, 1486 by
F. Dulmo, the captain of Terceira, and Joao de Estreito
of Madeira, anent an expedition in search of the island of
the Sete Cidades which was to have been joined by a
** cavalleiro alemao," whom Ernesto do Canto,s a very
competent judge, identifies with Martin Behaim, he being
the only German at that time in Portugal to whom this
description would apply ?

As a matter of fact, if we accept the dates given,
Behaim cannot possibly have taken part in the second
voyage of discovery commanded by Diogo Cao. That
famous navigator, having returned from his first voyage,
was at Lisbon in April 1484. He only started on his
second voyage of discovery after June 1485,—perhaps as
late as September. Are we to suppose that during the
interval between his two voyages of discovery, say between
June 1484 and August 1485, Cao paid another visit to
the Congo, perhaps for the purpose of taking back the
hostages whom he had carried off in 1483 '{ There exists
no record of such a voyage, and Behaim's own account
and his Globe distinctly point to a voyage extending far
beyond the point reached by Cao in the course of his first

6 ' Arch, dos Acores,* I., p. 341, IV., pp. 440, 443.