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JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
IN 1497,
SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
f&r.
KBEN NORTON HORSFORb.
346. — Monsieur Harrisse,
30, rue Cambac^res.
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JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
IN 1497,
AND THE
SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
A LETTER TO CHIEF-JUSTICE DALY,
PRKSIDENT OK THE AMERICAN CIEOGRAI'lIICAL SOCIETY.
BY
EBEN NORTON HORSFORD.
CAMBRIDGE:
JOHN WILSON AND SON.
SSntbrrBitv Prreo.
1886.
lii
sq-ii-l
JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
AND THE
SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
Cambridge, March i, 1885.
Chief Justice Daly, LL.D.^
rrcsidcnt of the American Geographical Society.
Dear Sir, — I desire to place in your hands a summary
statement in regard to the results of some geographical
studies in wlilch I have been encracicd.
The time when my completed paper, with the accom-
panying sketches and maps, will be ready for publication
depends upon two or three considerations which I cannot
control. Meanwhile, it seems proper that I should deposit
with you a brief record of the discoveries I have made.
They are —
1. The site of the landfall of John Cabot in 1497.
2. The site of the I-"ort Norumbega of the French, on
the banks of the river bearing the same name ; and of the
Indian settlement near the fort, — the Agoncy of Thevct;
and near it the Norumbega of Allefonsce, v'silod in 1569
<i
i
It.
4 JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
by the sailor Ingram and his companions, of the unfortu-
nate expedition of Sir John Hawkins.
I submit herewith a brief outline of the considerations
on which my conclusions rest.
I.
On the map of Michael Lok (1582), of which the copy
in Hakiuyt (Divers Voyages touching the Discovery of
America) prefacing the relation of John Verrazanus, p. 55,
is here referred to, you may recall between latitudes 42°
and 51° N., and between the meridians of 300° and 320°,
a large island, and on it, in prominent letters, Norombega,
and in lesser letters, John Gaboi, 1497. The point of
land against Claudia, a smaller island, is between 42° and
43° N.
This fragment of the map — not including the inscrip-
tion " Jac Cartier 1535," and the coast lines of the region
above, but taking in the outline of the neighboring shore
southward to Carcnas the latitude, the names Carctias,
Monies Johannis, Claudia, St. Johan, Cape Bretott, and
Norombega — I have taken to be a sketch produced by
John Cabot on his return from his voyage, early in
August, 1497,^ 0^ ^^'li^'^ '^c observed between the morn-
ing of the 24th of June and the date of his departure
from our shores.
The safety of this assumption will be seen as the con-
siderations on which it rests are unfolded.
' The elaborate paper on John Cabf-t, by Mr. Charles Deane, in Winsor's
"America," leaves no question unsettled as to 1497 being the year of the first
voyage of John Cabot to oui shores.
r
^ I >
r;^
MICHAIX rOK, CIVIS LONDINENSIS
HAMC CHARTAM BEIDICABAT : ' ^r^^
.tii"'*
L
AA'D THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA. 5
John Cabot believed his landfall, like that of Columbus
five years before, to have been on an island. The site of
the landfall has been lost. When it shall have been found
we may know who first in the fift°f!nth century saw the
continent of America ; for Columbus came upon the main-
land (South America) in 1498, and Vespucius a year
later.
The map of Lok presents Carenas (enough recalling
Kjalarness of the Norsemen to suggest heirship), the C.
de Arenas in vario' ; forms of so many maps of the six-
teenth century, the Cape Cod of Gosnold, and, as seems
to be determined by the flags on Cosa's map of 1500
(Jomard's or Stevens's), the southern limit of Cabot's
explorations in 1497.
The outline of Cabot's chart, and especially that of
Cosa's, suggests a general resemblance to the coast as far
north as the mouth of the Merrimack, — which is by Lok,
I conceive, confounded with the St. Lawrence, — discov-
ered, as recorded on the same map, in 1535 by Jacques
Cartier.
I take the Norombega (or Norumbega) to be the name
which (like Carenas) Cabot did not bestow, but found.
He gathered naturally, in the absence of a knowledge of
the language spoken by the natives, that it was the name
of a locality, in the sense of a district, or settlement, or
country. This notion, which students ah alike have
inherited, has obscured research in regard to the landfall
from that dav to this. It was a mistaken notion, as will
become obvious farther on.
^EV>M!ffl««B*i8^»*?"-"'«""**''""'
i I
6 JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
Dr. Trumbull has pointed out that each Indian geo-
graphical name was descriptive of the place to which it
was affixed. There were no mcanins^less proper names.
A locality was recalled, to the Indian, by presenting a
mental picture in a descriptive term. So there were repe-
titions of the same name where there were repetitions of
the same topographical features.
When Captain John Smith, in 1614. standing on the
little peninsula between the modern Jones River (the Rio
San Antonio of the preceding navigators) and the outer
harbor or bay between Plymouth and Duxbury, asked the
name of the site of the cluster of huts Champlain had
fi.rured, and which on Verra/.ano's map (so I conjecture)
is" represented as Lunga Villa, on the other side of the
stream, the reply was Accomac, Uhc other side place!
The same reply was elicited on incjuiry, and the name
has been preserved as to the peninsula east of the Chesa-
peake, - Accomac, " the other side /and." The same name,
with dialectic variation, was applied to England, the home
of Roger Williams, by the Indians of the Narragansett
tribe, — Accomac, " the other side country:'
As there were many deyond lands (accomacs), so there
were m^iny falh (pautuckets), many hills (wadchus), many
ponds (bangs, paugs), etc.
There were, of course, different names for the same
place, determined from the point of view of the observer;
as, for Boston, Sha-um-ut, " near the neck," the settle-
ment between Haymarket Square -the head of an
ancient cove — and Dock Square (Blackstone) ; also,
Mushau-womuk, the "canoe landing place" (Indian books
1 &
AND THE SITE OF NOKl/MBECA. 7
of 1 699 and 1 700) ; also, Accomonticus, the " beyond-the-
hill-little-cove " (Ogilby's America, 1671); 2i\^o, Mess-atsoo-
sec, the "great-hill-mouth" (Rasles, and Wood's N. E.
Prospect'). All were Indian names of Boston. All
were descriptive.
The same name was applied to objects possessing some
greatly unlike qualities, but having others in common;
as Mi-slia-nm, the " grcat-parallel-sided," was the name of
Charlcstown Neck, — great as compared with Copp's Hill,
the north extension of the Sha-um, " the neck " of Boston.
Mi-sha-um was also the name of Charles River (Wood's
N. E. Prospect), the " great-parallcl-sided."
The name also applied to canoe, — Mi-sha-on or Mi-
sho-on, — and to the long, straight tnnk of the tree from
'.vhich the canoe is made (Heckweldcr).
As there were no tkopkr Indian geographical names, and
as Norumbega was descriptive of topographical or liydro-
graphical features, tlie first task v.as to find its meaning.
This might help in finding the locality. To this end aid
was long sought in vain in vocabularies. It seemed an
ob\ious Algonquin word. But in any form of ready
recognition — any form that familiar dialectic variation
would include, at least within the range of my limited
study — it eluded my search.
Feeling sure on the point t' at the name was descriptive
of some locality on or near the seashore, and therefore
embracing probably both land and water, I began by
' Wood gives the modified M.issacluisets, witli one /. See paper on
"Indian Names of Boston and their Meaning," in N. E. Hist. Gen. Soc.
Proceedings, read Nov. 4, 1885. — E. N. H.
' !
f'
4:/
JOHN CABOVS LANDFALL
nhcin, tho Indian geographical names of the region of
piacini, V T-v • V Qtrniu to Lone Island,
the Atlantic coast, from Uaviss Straits to i on^
, • ,.f thnir resDCCtive atitudcs along
N. Y., in columns agamst their resptcu
the outline as given in the chart of the Un.tcd States
't » through the names so arranged I remarked
a^llSpcctliarityNhe names grew..^^^
,s one moved southward. Quchec on the St. La.rence
became Ahqueboi^icc on Long Island, N. Y.
K Lboc >o. Mal„e, ,h. Agl.cniWUUi „. Radios, be^c
C,„„„A,»/, and farther sou.l. G'-'-'-'f, OW^-.
C)„,m/>W,fe, and lastly Qm«nepy,olm on Long Isla, 'i
Sound K,ai became O-^f, 0»»* -J C'^-i-
''^Itt nroved son.b.ard-.rom a region where the con-
ditions of living were hard, to where they were less exaet.
• ' " om the region where life wa, perpetual struggle, to a
rfgi'on where there was relative leisure, where there were
r^L extended manufae.ures (wanrpun,), more eom, ere
(furs), more decoration - the names became softer,
Ihey become softer as one goes from Norway southward
'°r:'fh'': terminal syllable of a name,../- of the
Merrimack, was no. found ..,-M o. the «../«,• but ,n tts
place, as already intimated, appeared ba,ig.
^ Between these rivers we might loot for an mtenned.ate
form ■ we should find the .outh,n, limit of to', or as spelled
by R^sles ,as above) U-ki. and by Father Vctrom.le tc-il.e,
making two syllables; and we should find the noM.ru
limit of bang.
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
We do not know how John Cabot thought the Indians
pronounced the last two syllables of Norunibega ; whether
as if requiring two e's, thus beega, or but one, as in beg.
The French of later date wrote it bigtie.
Of the Indian names preserved from the days of Captain
John Smith (1614), along the coast between the Merrimack
and Charles, there are but two, or at most three, that begin
with N, — Naumkeag, Nahant, and Nantasket ; the latter
the headland on the south side of the entrance to Boston
harbor, the mouth of the Charles.
Naumkeag, or Nahumbeak, is the ancient Indian name
of Salem. The first occurrence of the name in print is
in the record of the intrepid Captain Smith. It will be
remembered that, landing on the island of Monahigan
(or Manigan), off the coast of Maine, after instructing a
portion of his ship's company to collect fish, he coursed
with a boat's crew of eight beside himself from the mouth
of the Penobscot to Cape Cod, looking into and sounding
the harbors, and acquiring the Indian names of the places
along the shore and some of those inland. Among these
was Naembeck, sometimes written by him Naemkeck,
apparently with indifference, or as if he thought the first
letter of the terminal syllable might be either b or k.
He placed these names upon his outline map of the
coast, and on his return to England submitted it, with an
account of his discoveries, together with a scheme for
colonizing New England. While seeking in various ways
to awaken interest in his project among the English people
he found no litde opposition, and fell at length upon an
advertising idea, as we shall see, of far-reaching influence.
^ 1 'ifi
MfiHMi
r<..-,|K»i'J'*«****' ' "^ '
f3i
jQ JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
He invited the eldest son of the King. Prince Charles, then
a boy of fifteen or sixteen, the future Charles I., to attach
such English names to the localities bearing the nd.an
names as might be acceptable to his Ro>.l H.ghness.
and so obliterate the barbarous names. The 1 nnce ac-
quiesced. He gave names to sites of towns, bay., capes,
mountains, etc., of which but three have been rctamed.--
Cape Ann (named after his royal mother). Plymouth
(Which came to be occupied by emigrants of the Mayflower
fleet). Charles River, and possibly Cape hli/.abeth.
The l>rincc, like Smith, conceived the names to be
proper names. Ogilby (167.) imbibed the same not^.n;
he says, in his detailed account of the settlement of the
earlier New England towns, the" Indian name of Salem
was Nahumbeak." We have already seen John Cabots
inscription of Norumbega as a country. As intm.ated
above, it will be seen that the name was a mere descrip-
tive appellation, permanent only to an observer from a
given point, and changing from Nahum-beak to Nahum-
keak with change in the point of observation. 1 he name
of to-day is Naumkeag.'
This name - Nahumbeak - is the only name preserx'ed
to us between the Merrimack and the Charles that at all
suggests Norumbega.
» This point is discussed at length in my full paper.
AND THE SITE OF NORVMBEGA.
II
II.
Let us now proceed with the study of the meaning of
the word.
The word is resolvable into two members, — beak, of
which we have already learned something; and a remain-
der, Na/ium, to be the subject of special study.
Beak may be divided into two syllables, de and al\
The first syllabic appears in the Delaware language,
according to Zeisbergcr, n'bi ; or in the Narragansctt, n'pi
or n'p. Rasles gives for the AbnakI dialect nearly the
same, — neb. In its combinations m' and n' are dropped,
and what remains means 'loatcr in the abstract, or possibly,
as there seems to be indication of it, water as a beverage.
The second syllable is derived from a/d-e, land. This
corresponds with, and is a dialectic variation of, auke
(Roger Williams) and o/ih (of regions farther south).
The combination without abbreviation would give us
be-ahkc, which, with an acute accent, corresponds nearly
with the word be-ghe, given by Father Vetromile as the
pronunciation of the Penobscot Indians of to-day.
This word, according to Vetromile, means "Stillwater."
According to the old Penobscot Indian hunter, John Pen-
nowit, whose authority Mr. L. L. Hubbard relies upon, it
means " dead water," that is, " water without current."
Such water farther south might be called d. pond, ending
in bang or paug (for instance, Ouinnebaug, Ponkipaug);
or as nearly enclosed " dead water " between rapids above
and below, such as Father Vetromile encountered when
inquiring for Norumbega (what the voyageurs called
> t
i^
wmmmmm
.11
12 JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
Nolum-bcghc); or it would be a bay or harbor, such as
Naumbeak.
Be-al: or beah-kc, or be-ghc or bega, would apply to
the harbor of Salem, between Marblehead and the Beverly
shore, inside of Baker's Island, or of the many ''Breakers"
of the Coast Survey map.
These four forms differ but little from each other, or
they glide into each other, and are quite within the limits
of dialectic variation: indeed, within the limits of such
possible deviation as might occur in the utterances of
neighboring settlements, and altogether within the range
of deviations in names such as the Indian name of dog, as
will be seen further on.
It may be accepted, then, that the two syllables in
be-ak are the dialectic representatives of the two syllables
in he-ga, and mean water wMoui current, as the water of
a bay.^
Let us now turn to the first two syllables of Nahum-
beak.
1 I find in Conn. Hist. Soc, vol. ii. p. 15. '" "r. Trumbull's paper on
Indian geographical names, under 4: " I'aug, pog, bog (Abn. -btga, -begat;
Del. pecat), an inseparable generic, denoting water at rest."
I had sought for the word /.<<,/, as a ^^ separable generic," in Rasles's Dic-
tionary, but without success. Dr. Trumbull had been more thorough. What
I had deduced witli some circumstance was thus confirmed in the most direct
and sc'tisfactory manner. It came to me only after my letter had been placed
in the hands of Judge Daly fur publication.
It may be ciuestioned whether /;<£,'« is an "inseparable generic." In
Ingram's relation we have both Uei^a and Norumbega.
Rasles lived and wrote at Norridgewock, on the Kennebec, not far from the
southern limit of the Abnaki country, and also of the prevalence of their
dialect.
AND THE SITE OF XORUMDEGA.
13
These occur in modification, in the various ways of
writing the same name by Smith, Ogilby, Wood, Gookin,
Lothrop, and others ; for example : —
N a hum (Ogilby gives the aspirate).
N a um.
N a am.
N a em.
Nam.
Nehim.
N e m.
The first syllabic is sometimes No, sometimes Na,
sometimes Noa, and of still other forms, of which men-
tion is made by Trumbull.
It means middle, betawn, dividing, separating, and the
like.
Rasles gives for midway^
Na-wl-wi.
\Vi means way. In this word the syllable -wi is re-
peated ; that is, there arc tiL'o '<vays. IMidway is where
the two ways come together, or where the single way is
divided into tico ways.
Na-sha-wi (Nashaway) is a word frequently used by
Eliot in his translation of the Bible into the Massachu-
setts dialect. Sha, which means parallel-sided} with the
prefix na and the suffix loi, is used by him as the Indian
equivalent of " between the walls " (of a street, for exam-
ple). Na-na-sha-wi, or loc (na repeated for emphasis), he
employs for in a strait betwixt tivo.
' The etymoloj;)' is discussed at length in my full paper.
J . JOHN CABOrS LANDFALL
Na bv itself, in which form it does not occur, would be
a preposition; but combined with um (or wum. or ««, or
.«?), in the Massachusetts (Natick) dialect it is converted
into a substantive.
As sha {parallel-sided) with um becomes the noun bha-
um {neck), so na {bei2oeeH or separatino) with um becomes
the noun Na-um {divider).
Na-sha-un is the parallel-sided island behuecn Buzzards
Bay and the Vineyard Sound (Nau-shaun).
Na-sha-onk(onk means upright) is throat, -.^//^^/^ of
the parallel-sided-upright. Mun-na-onk (Mun means ele-
vation\ elevation in middle of upright, is also throat, or
more especially the middle projection, the larynx.
We have thus pointed out the meaning of Nahum.
It is divider.
In combination with beak, it is divider of (lie bay.
That which divides a bay -a tongue of land nsuig
from the bottom of a bay, which makes two bays — is a
Naliutn.
The meaning of
Nahim-beak is Divider of the Bay.
Nahum applies to Salem Neck, which divides the waters
of Beverly shore, -the North River, locally so called,
from the South River, beyond which is Marblehcad.
We
bega.
have seen how beak is the dialectic equivalent of
1
Ai\D THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
15
How are we to see Nahum, the equivalent of Norum,
or Norem, or Norim, etc., as the name appears in Norom-
bega on different maps of the sixteenth century?
We have, happily, an historic instance of parallelism of
dialectic variation.
Roger Williams, Eliot, Experience Mayhew, and Josiah
Cotton, and several more modern writers, have remarked
upon the dialectic variations in the pronunciation or
spelling of the Indian name of dog.
It is Ayem, Narragansett (Roger Williams).
Alum, Narragansett and Nipmuk (Eliot).
Anum, Massachusetts, Um produced (Eliot).
Annum, Massachusetts (Wood's N. E. Prospect).
Annum, Massachusetts (Coiton).
Arum, Northern Abnaki.
Attum, Etchemin.
The primitive root here is the simple bark li, to which,
with an intervening consonant, the syllable um is joined,
which makes a substantive, as we have seen in the dialect
spoken in this region.
Eliot remarks, as mentioned above, that the sound of u
is produced; that is, it is like 00. This provides for one of
the sounds of o in the second syllable of Norom; um may
become ooni, or perhaps dm. The first syllable was in
Eliot's day sometimes spelled No as well as Na, as
already remarked.
Between these two syllables, a and um, there might be
interposed a variety of consonants. As there was no r in
the Narragansett language, according to Roger Williams
they substituted the letter /, or omitted the consonant
1 5 JOHN CABOT S LAND FALL
altogether, as in Ayem. The intcrchangeability of / and r
in the Algonquin has been remarked upnn by Williams,
Eliot, Cotton, and T^Iayhew, and by every modern writer
upon Indian dialects. Williams's Key appeared in 1643.
In some combinations in Indian (Algonquin) words the
interchangeability or alternateness includes n with / and
r (for example, Quille, quirri, quinni).
We have thus pointed out the dialectic equivalency of
the several elements of Norumbega with those of Nahum-
beak.
We may have Na or No and /or r, with urn or om or
evt or im: or neither / nor r, but simply nvi or hum, and
beak or bcghe, or bega or begue.
Where, instead of a bay divided by a tongue (Norum or
Nahum) of land, there are hmd-lands divided by a tongue
(Norum or Nahum or Naum)of tvatcr, as Marblehead and
Marblehead Neck, there was Na-um-Keak (Kcak=:ahke-
ahke). Naum/fr«^ may not be the equivalent of Naum-
kcak. The termination cag occurs in instances where
there is shallow water, and in some cases where the bed
is bare at low tide. It was applied by the Indians, in
relatively recent times, to the North River at Salem.
(History of Old Naumkeag.) The Naum or tongue may be
merely the deeper bed of the river separating the shallower
waters on either side. Both Naumkeag and Nahumbeak
occur on sheets of water inland as well as along the
seashore.*
1 It is not worlb. while to point <mt in this summary the wide nnge of di.t-
lectic variations of these words which I have found. A few may be alluded
to There is Naam-keake on the Pond Annannieumsic, in Chelmsford, near
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
'7
Norumbcga may, like Naambeak, apply to any bay from
the bottom of which rises a narrow tongue.
It is obvious, therefore, that the determination of the
meaning of Norumbega and its identity with that of
Nahumbeak has made it, at the best, probable that the
Nahumbeak of Salem harbor is the Norombcfja of Cabot.
It has made it more probable that the Norumbega of Cabot
is to be found in the belt of latitude in which meet the
terminal syllable bcc, which prevails north of the Merri-
mac, and the terminal syllable, its dialectic equivalent,
bang, which prevails south of the Charles.
III.
If we look carefully at the sketch of John Cabot on
Lok's map of 15S2, we may remark that the outline 0/ the
shore against the island Claudia rudely resembles the cap-
ital letter M, the V portion between the two columns cor-
responding with the tongue or Norum,
If you take a tracing of the outline of this bay on Lok's
map, and apply it to the map of Cosa (1500), you will find
the Norumbega, or the letter M, within a large island, and
not far from the Cabo de Yngla-tcrra (the Cape Breton of
Cabot, the Cape Ann of to-day).
Lowell. Another is concealed, near the .Merrimack, in Amoske.ig ; less per-
fectly in Naunikeag; more deeply in Nehim-kek, in Namskaket, in Namasket,
and in half a dozen or more of others, all of which have been the subject of
discovery in the detailed town maps of M.as.sachusetts, and of investigation in
early Massachusetts history. In this frequent recurrence of dialectic varia-
tions of the name may have originated the notion that Norumbega was the
name of a country.
3
i
g JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
I conjecture this portion of the coast was furnished by
one of Cabot's crew.'
You f^nd the M, this Norumbega, on the map of Thorn
(.527), who claimed that his father was w.th John Cabot
'" You'find the M on the map of Verrazano If you will
note in the letter of John X'errazano to the k.ng. one o
the two bavs he visited, where he found the t.de .gk feet
(which range is attained north of Cape Cod). >-ou v.11 find
the letter M, the Norumbega, the dnM bay. figured
there It was here that lie remained fifteen days.
. VV„a. so natur... as that the sailor who had been, .a. . -nceive, wUh
Cabot, ana had perhaps shipped wi.h Cosa (who .as not P-^«^ on
«hnre of New England), should have given prommence to the fea ure which
Tcllen d the attention of hin,seU and shipmates ? A careful e.annna
lard's Cosa s map will show tha, twice the contr,bu,or reduced the
S;i;::d .so of the ... »/.«<. observed at his .^. ..W by Cabot on
"VS:t":::r:^r Uey besides the tide to the localities on the n,ap of
Hiero u Verra.ano,in the isthmus which separates the M- Verra.ana
of LOW'S map from Massachusetts Bay, see also the maps of Agnese. . 536.
PtMll ^540, KusccUi, ,544. and the «lnbe of U.pius. n.s ,stU,n,.s u ih
Wr, ofthc Cape (.od pcm.sula .n ,lu .ui^MiooU of lUrnstabU,
:Z::t:Jl^l .J^^ U. si. mUes given by Hieronymus
''"r^ue:;o mare orientale si vede il mare occiden.ale Sono 6 migha cU
terra^nfrl luno a Taltro." ''Fro,,. tkU auUn. .a one e>.oi,U tke western
.ea. There are 6 miles 0/ land befojcen the one and the other.
Fast of this isthmus lies the pu.zling extension of the pen.nsula of Cape
C j;It:e Terra KU.rida of Verra.ano, ,5.4, and of Thevet. .55^- i the Cape
Norumbe.ue of AUelonsce, .54^45- 1' '^^ ^''°-" °" ^'•^'""" '^ '"'P' .
Drue Costa (Northmen in Maine, p. 93) po'-ted out AUefonsce's recogn-
>
o
m
>
2;
mvy^oj
(. fi
,.«'^-
.-►'
..«•
,!<••
^
^
^1
K
.«
C5
r
11
i
AND THE SITE OF NORUAfBF.GA.
19
You will find Flora, Port du Refuge, Port Real, and Le
Paradis, mentioned by Thevet, on Gastaldi's map, 1550,
and the two former names, together with the letter M, on
the map of Hieronymus Verrazano. The map of Gastaldi
still retains the shadow of Cabot's sketch and of Cosa's
Straits (the notion of the margin of an archipelago).
You will observe Refugium, and Porto Reale, and pos-
sibly the M, on the globe of Ulpius. Refugium, P. Reale,
and Flora arc given on Maiollo's map.
You will find the name Nurumberg and the letter M
with I. [P.?] Refuge, P. Real, Le Paridis, and Cape Breton
and Claudia replaced by Brisa I., on the map of Ruscelli,
tion of Florida in tlie region of lat 42° N., and also his recognition of
Massacluisetis liay, in lliis latitude. This name was one of several bestowed
by the early French navij^ators, all of which read like exclamations of delight
in view of the scenery of the coast ; Terra Florida, Valle Ambrosa, Buena
PTor, Larcadia, Flora, I'aradiso, Refugium, etc. Norman Villa, which appears
on the \'errazano maps and the globe of Ulpius, probably refers to a structure
ascribed to tlie Northmen.
A comparison of the outline of Maiollo's map of 1527 (VVeise's Discoveries
of America to 1525), from Terra Florida southwestward to the strait thnt com-
municates with the western ocean, with the Coast Survey map from Cape Cod
to the Chesapeake (or possibly the Delaware) I'ay will suggest that the map
ascribed to \'crrazano rests upon a voyage past the narrow neck at Harnstable,
— the isthmus separating the Atlantic from the Mare \'errazana (I-ok's map); —
past Buzzard's Bay, shown on the Map-a-mundi of the Propaganda collections
(Judge Oaly's Address, 1879) as a break in the continuity ; past Newport island
and harbor {Rio de Espirilu Saiilo) ; thence to Montauk (Rcsife) and along
the south shore of Long Island (without a harbor) to the entrance to tlie
Hudson; thence up the Hudson to Manhattan Islaiul, with the recognition
of the North and Fast rivers, so called ; thence past the strait below Staten
Island ; and along the coast to tlie entrance to a large bay presLiiting a water
horizon on the west. Tlie voyage may, of course, have been in the opposite
direction.
The embarrassment to cartographers growing out of the existence of two
Floridas is suHiciently obvious to the student of Maiollo's map and of the
Map-amundi above referred to.
I
20 yOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
,561. { Brisa is French for breakers ; sec 6reai-crs several
times repeated on Coast Survey map.)
Buno (Buno's Cluverius) mentions as belonging to No-
rumbepca these several places ; namely, Porto del Refugio.
Porto Reale, Paradiso, Flora, and Angolcma.'
The M is not given on the map of Champlain, 1603,
nor on that of Smith, 1614.
The M appears at Salem in great distinctness on Win-
throp's map (i634Uugcthcr with Baker's Island, under
which Winthrop anchored in 1630, as I conceive Cabot
to have done June 24, i497- 0"^ hundred and thirty-three
years before.
Finally the M appears at Salem on the Coast Survey
map with Baker's Island (Brisa or Briso) and Bnakers,
dcsic-nated as outer, inner, middle, dry, southeast, etc.,
studding the outer harbor.^
The identity of the outline M with the earlier Norum-
bega and the later Nahumbeak and the present outline
of Salem harbor will be obvious on a glance at the out-
lines, from Lok down to the Coast Survey, which I sub-
mit herewith.
1 The various forms of this name - .is given on Ruscelli's map, Angou-
lesmes ; on Gastaldi's, Angoulesme : and the same in Thevet's account - all
follow the AnguiUme of Maiollo^s Verrazana, an.l apply, I conceive, to
Charles River. This conception has support in t'-at one of the names of
the Charles, or of a section of it, was the descriptive Mi-shaum,-the
great-parallel-sided, -or £<r/-river, of which Anguilcme may be the Krench
equiv.alent.
» As lending support to the notion that the n.-ime " Baker's," which was
attached to the island .is early as 1630 (History of Naumkeag), may have been
a corruption of Breakers, it may be mentioned that I have sought in vain for
Khe namt of Baker in all published lists of emigrants in the Plymouth and
Mass.ichusetts Bay colonies of dates earlier than 1630.
1
uL
•It*.
#
p
:.t
AND THE SITE OF NORVMBEGA.
ai
The island off the letter M is seen on the map of Lok
(John Cabot's sketch, Claudia); without name on Gastal-
di's ; as Brisa I. on Ruscelli's ; as .SV. Nicolans de la
Trinidad on Cosa's ; Luisa (possibly Marblehcad Neck,
formerly an island) on Verrazano's (MaioUo's and Hie-
ronymus Verrazano's) ; and islands without name off Re-
fugium and Porto Reale on the globe of Ulpius. It is
also given on Thevet's map, in about its proper position,
as Claude}
IV.
I have further taken the names and distinctive features
on Cabot's sketch in Lok's map, and have traced them
through a lung series of maps down to the time of Win-
throp, with the successive accessions of new names, and
from time to time the disappearance of others, either by
dropping out or by replacemei showing, as it were,
dovetailing, which binds the serii maps together.
There came early the confusio wing out, possibly,
of some cartographer's confounding tiie Gut of Canso
with the narrow strait connecting Annisquam with
Gloucester harbor, which makes Cape Ann an island,
and so duplicating Cape Breton, St. Johan, Port Real,
Isla Primera, and New-found-land at the mouth of the
St. Lawrence.
' 'I'lie cl.iini for tlie identity of Claudia with the islands mentioned may
seem to be impaired when it is seen that Merc.ator (1569) separates Claudia
and liriso (Urisa) widely from each other, .and when it is further seen that
both Mercator and Wylliel (Augmentum to I'totemy, 1597) give Via primera
as distinct from Cljiidia, and both from Briso. But I refer for the detailed
consideration of this apparent objection to my full paper.
-':''l'if7^'S^^I*^''^.'K^^"' -
22
JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
\
Earlv, also, came with Ribero, 1529. the name St.
Christopher, which clings with great persistence on the
maps of the sixteenth century, and in unvarying succession
northward with the bay or river of San Antonio (Jones's
River) and Montana Verde (Blue Hills of Milton). South
or east of this group is C. de Arenas (or some modifica-
tion of the Latin {ox keel or ^««r/, — Cape C- /, north of
it, more or less distant, the Bay of St. Joh . die Baptist;
and farther on, Cape Breton (Cape Ann). If the circum-
stance that Plymouth inner harbor is bare, or nearly so, ,
at low tide suggested to the early navigator the idea of
wadwc:, and so the use of the name of the Saint, we have
a point to which the varying geographical names, within
certain limits, may be referred for adjustment. But this
I will not pursue' further here. Dr. Kohl (p. 276) sug-
gests that Gomez was the probable author of this name
and many others on Ribero's map.
V.
All the above suggestions as to the site of the Norum-
bega of Cabot must eventually revolve about, and be in
harmony with, the requirements of the latitude.
On the map of Lok, 1582, the sketch of Cabot against
Claudia lies, as nearly as may be, between 42' and 43" N.
This latitude or belt includes the region between the
northern portion of the peninsula of Cape Cod and, on
the Coast Survey map, a point just north of the mouth
of the Merrimack.
On Wytfliet, 1597, it is in about 44°.
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
n
On the Spanish Map-a-mundi, 1527 (in J. C. Brevoort's
Verrazano), the region would be between 40° and 47" N.
On Maggiolo's Verrazano (VYinsor's America) it would
be south of 40", while on that of Hieronymus Verrazano
it would be north of 45°.
On the Dauphin map, 1543, it would be between 41°
and 44° N.
On Ulpius's Globe, between 40° and 45° N.
On Ruscelli, 1561, it is between 40° and 5o\ But he
includes, as 1 conceive, witliin the same latitudes as does
Gastaldi, 1550, the principal islands off the coast of Maine
from Mount Desert southward.
On Ribero, 1529, it is between 41" and 44°.
On Vallard, 1543, it is between 42° and 45'.
On the (so-called) Sebastian Cabot map, 1544, it is
between 41° and 44".
Thevet, 1556, who claims to have personally visited the
region, says distinctly it (Norumbegue) " lies in the forty-
third degree T that is, between 42" and 43° N.
Ogilby says (p. 138): ". . . Norumbegua, most of it,
being under the forty-third degree of latitude."
AUefonsce, the pilot of Robeval in 1540, who coasted
the shores of New England, says (MSS. in Bibliotheque
Nat.): " The cape of St. John called Cape Breton " [these
are names on Cabot's chart, Lok's map, 15S2] "and the
Cape San I-'ranciscane are northeast and southwest, and
range a point from an east and west course, . . . and
there are one hundred and forty leagues on the course,
and which makes one cape, called the Cape of Norem-
begue. The said cape is past forty-one degrees of the
JOHN CABOrS LANDFALL
heieht of the Arctic pole. The said coast is all sandy, . . .
flat without any mountain, and along this coast there are
many isles of sand, and the coast very dangerous on
account of banks and rocks." This description agrees
well with the region of Cape Cod from Nantucket to
Nahant The Cape San Franciscane may have been
Montauk. which is tolerably near to a prolongation of
the range from Cape Ann, as given by Allefonsce.
This relation is of interest as determining the identity
of the Cape Norombegue of Allefonsce with Cape Cod,
which is, he says, " past " or " through [that is, next above]
forty-one degrees of the height of the Arctic pole.' Cape
Malebar is between 41" and 42"; tmd the forty-second
crosses the peninsula just south of Provincetown. near
the extreme point of the Cape.
Allefonsce proceeds to say: —
" Beyond the Cape of Norotnhcguc the River of the sntd
Norombegue descends about twenty-five leagues from, the
Cape!"
I cite this testimony of Allefonsce in regard to the lati-
tude of the region of Norombegue, as his profession zvas
that of pilot, and his testimony unimpeachable ; and he
may be fairly presumed to be not more than one degree,
at the utmost, out of the way in a matter of latitude. I
cite him also liccausc he endorses, in regard to latitude,
the statement of Thevet, which statement by itself would
perhaps be less entitled to confidence.
Within this belt of latitude of 42° to 43°, between Cape
Cod and Cape Ann, — the Carenas and Cape Breton of
Cabot (the latter the Cape Breton of Allefonsce as well).
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
25
— within this belt there is but one outline, with an oppos-
ing island, to which the terms Nornmbega and Nahumbeak
apply ; and that is the outline of zuhich the Nortcm, the
Nahiim, the Tongue, is Salem Neck.
VI.
NORUMBEGA OR NORUMBEGUE OF CHAMPLAIN.
The suggestion that Norumbega lay in higher latitude
rests, or is supposed to rest, on the authority of Cham-
plain. From him and his surveys Lescarbot and De
Lact, Montanus and Ogilby, derive their authority.
Champlain spent three summers in the examination of
the New England coast, and yet did not penetrate the
mouth of the Charles, and only glanced at the entrance
to the Merrimack. Champlain was looking for a town
of Norumbega. Me distinctly says he found nothing cor-
responding with the descriptions he had read, although
he writes Norcmbegue along the coast between the Ken-
nebec and Penobscot.'
' Kcv. Mr. Slafter, p. 107, in his carefully prepared paper on Champlain,
Winsur's '• America," referriiij; to tlie stay and work of Champlain for three
summers, s.iys : " The first of these surveys was made during the month of
September, 1604. This expedition was under the sole direction of Champlain,
and was made in a barque of seventeen or eighteen tons, manned by twelve
sailors and with two Indians as guides. He examined the coast from the
mouth of the St. Croix to the l'enol>scot. . . . Sailing up the I'enobscot,
called by the Indians Pentagoet, and by Europeans who have passed along
the co.ist the Norunibegue (as he supposed), he explored this river to the
head of tidewater, .at the present city of Bangor, where a fall in the river
intercepted his course. In the interior along the shores of the river he saw
scarcely any inhabitants ; but by a very careful examin.ition he was satisfied
4
'
■II
I
v
^g -JOHN CABOrS LANDFALL
In Studying Champlain's original paper it is seen that
he regarded \he latitude of Norumbcga as only very im-
perfe^dy settled; and having learned fro,. Allefonsce
Jand Thevet?) of a river Norumbegue, and hav.ng faded
o recognise the Charles, and having only saded by
the mouth of the Merrimack, he assumed at first that th
site must be on the Penobscot, as it was, he judged, the
only river considerable enough to be so distmguished.
AlLugh in the end he discredits the whole theory and
notion on which he at first acted, such was the currency
gained through his great name, that. W./,^ from h.shav
L looked for the site of the town on the Fenobscot, all
writers upon Norumbega since his time have assumed
that somewhere on this river the town once existed,
and its remains might some day be found.
I)r Palfrev. in his History of New England (probably
from having carefully examined Champlain's narrat.on)
ignored the whole story of Norumbega. The name kept
ifs foothold in Gilbert. John Smith, De Laet, Montanus
Cluverius, Heylin. Lescarbot. Laudonnierc. Ogdby, and
others, and is found on a groat series of maps > and even
has a place in " Paradise Lost • Uiber x.).
Uevond a doub, that the story, which had gained currency fron, a period a. |ar
b?cU as the time of Allefonsce. .about a Large native u,wn ,n he v.cnUy,
lose inhabitants had att.ained to some of the higher arts of c.vd.at.on. was
wholly without foundation."
■Allefonsce, .540-45- Mich.ael Lok, .582.
Thevet, .556. J"''^'^'^' '^''3;
Zaltieri, .566. "-^ »^v. 'S'A
Ortelius, .570. Wytf^iet. .597-
John Dee, ,580. Q-^^-- ^,, ^,^„.ua.
j!
1
i
H
1
i
1
1
I
/tW-
l^«4<<L»-i6
6 ''^y*«M>.
4«M« 1*
<W4.
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
27
A glance at the Coast Survey map from the mouth of
the Merrimack northward to the St. John's will be suf-
ficient to show that there is nothing there, even if the
adverse latitudes were left out of account, to correspond
with the outline on Cabot's map from Cape Breton (Cape
Ann) to Carenas (Cape Cod).
The accompanying sketch presents the coast of Maine
from Portsmouth to Campobello, including the region
specially examined for Norumbega by Champlain.^
1 From Dr. De Costa's paper on Norumbega in Winsor's " America."
"J.
28
JOHN CABOT S LANDFALL
\
J
VII.
NORUMBEGA AS A RIVER, FORT, AND TOWN.
It will have been observed that the testimony of Alle-
fonsce and Thevet in regard to Norumbega as a coimlry
had a more limited and specific application than that of
most of their contemporaries of the sixteenth, and succes-
sors of the seventeenth century.
Allefonsce says: "Beyond the Cape of Norumbegue
the river of the said Norumbegue descends about twenty-
five leagues from the Cape [Cape Cod]. The said river
is . . . full of isles which stretch out ten or twelve
leagues in the sea [MafHt's Ledge, Roaring Bulls, Lizard,
Graves, etc.], and it is very dangerous on account of rocks
and swashings."
" The said river is through [/. e. next above'\ forty-two
degrees of the height of the Arctic poUr
" Up the said river fifteen leagues there is a town
which is catted Noronbegue, and there is in it a good
people, and they have tnany peltries of many kinds of
animals.'
Allefonsce, whose relation is largely a sailor's disjointed
aggregation of instructions for the guidance of mariners,
says, for example : —
" In going from the said river [Norumbegue] one hun-
dred and fifty leagues, there is an island wliich is called
Vermondc [Bermuda], which is in thirty-three degrees of
north latitude."
And in the next sentence he says, instructing how to
find the " ville " — settlement — of Norumbegue : —
n
fir
AND THE SITE OF NORL HBEGA.
39
" And on the side toward the west of the said ' ville '
there is a range of rocks which extends into the sea fifteen
leagues di>iant [Marblehead], and on the side towards the
north [of Marblehead] there is a bay, in which is an isle
which is very subject to tempests and cannot be inhabited
[Baker's Island]."
Again he says : —
" The river of Norumbegue turns southwest around the
coast away to the west at least two hundred leagues to a
great bay [Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay], which at
its entrance is about twenty leagues wide, and at least
twenty-nine leagues northward in this hay diXQ four islands
joined together" (Naushaun, Pasque, Nashawena, and
Cuttyhunk).
AUefonsce had the idea that he had been sailing along
the skirt 0/ an archipelago.
He says, referring to a bay about Charleston or Savan-
nah, that as he was unable to converse with the natives, he
was not certain where the river Norumbegue communi-
cated with the ocean. He also thinks it may connect with
the St. Lawrence.'
The latitude (next above the forty-second degree) can
apply only to the mouth of the Charles River. Regarding
> Ramusio says (Kohl, M.-iine Hist. Soc. Coll., p. 380. Diego Homem): —
•' From the Reports of Cartier, we are not clear as yet whether New France
is continuous will, the Terra Firma of the provinces of Florida and New Spain,
or whether it is all cut up into islands, and whether through these parts one
can go to the province of Cat.iio, as was written to me many years ago by
M.-ister .Sebastian Cabot, our Venetian."
Thus it appears that whether or not New England was an archipebgo was
not settled, at least to the s-atisfaction of Ramusio, as late as 1556.
30
JOHN CABOT'S LANDFALL
the mouth as at the entrance to the Hack Bay (so called
Cottage Farm Station on the Boston and Albany Rail-
road), the latitude is 42' 21' 30", Regarded as at the
entrance to Cohasset rocks, it is 42' 16'.
The nearest river north is the Merrimack, in 42° 49', and
there are no islanih at the mouth of that river.
There is no other stream of any considerable length
between Boston Harbor and Cape Cod.
Fifteen leagues up the Charles River there was then,
according to Allefonsce, a trading resort or village {city
of Ramusio) called Norumbegue.
Now, we have already seen that this name, Norum-
begue, means the tongue or Nonim of a bay, or it may
mean a bay from the bottom of which rises a tongue, a
divider, a Norum ; and this involves a sheet of water with
a somewhat peculiarly scalloped shore. There is but
one sheet of water on the Charles where these conditions
occur, and that lies between Riverside, on the Boston
and Albany Railroad, and Waltham, the city of watch
manufacture, two miles to the north. Along the shores
of this sheet of water, some mile and a half in length
and of varying width, from a few rods to half a mile, there
are several Norumbegas, — not villages {or settlcmmts of
to-day\ but peculiar forms of the shore. The 'tsost strik-
ing are on the west side of the river, between the mouth
of Stony Brook and Waltham.
I introduce here a map of the river which, owing to a
rare grouping of glacial moraines for some di^^tance above
and below the mouth of Stony Brook, presents a most
unexampled outline of shore.'
' Taken from map of Newton.
J
I
I
11
*
•.
1 i i
i
1
^ -1
i
.1
mmmmmm
■PWIiPiliPW— ipwi^P
j1/vd the site of norumbega.
31
The next author who, so far as the latitude is con-
ccrncd, is endorsed by Allefonsce, is Thevet. Beyond this,
Thevct's support is in the portrait of the localities he has
drawn. He says (Dr. Kohl, Maine Hist. Soc Coll.): —
"Some people would make me believe that lliis country
[Norumbcguc] is the proper country of Canada. But I
told them that this was far from the truth, since the coun-
try lies in 43" A^., and that of Canada in 50" or 52°."
That is, /■/ lies zvithin the forty-third degree, or between
Cape Cod and a point a little north of the Merrimack, or, as
Allefonsce read it, through, or in the ne.vt above 42' N.
Thevet rrives instructions to mariners. He says: —
" Having left La Florida [the name first appearing on
Verrazano's map, 1527, east of the isthmus described by
Ilieronymus Verrazano as si.\ miles wide, and which sepa-
rated the Mare V'arrazano — the Adantic south of Barn-
stable — from Massachusetts Bay], on the left hand, with
all its islands, gulfs, and capes, a river presents itself which
is one of the finest rivers of the whole world, which we
call Norumbeguc, and the aborigines Agoncy, and which
is marked on some charts as the Grand River. Several
other beautiful rivers enter into it; and upon its banl-s the
French formerly erected a little fort some ten or ttvclve
leagues from its mouth, tvhich ivas surrounded by fresh
ivater, which Jlotus here into the river, and this place was
named the Fort of Norumbcgue.
" Before you enter the said river appears an island sur-
rounded by eight very small islets, which are near the
Green Mountains [Blue Hills] and to the cape of the
islets [Cohasset]."
?\l
\
l:
JOHN CADOrS LANDFALL
On Huth's map of Dr. Kohl (No. i of the page of out-
line charts, Maine Hist. Soc, p. 315) appears the circle of
islets ei<rht in number, around another island, and the
following names: the C. dc ntuchas islas the R. de
gonuz. de esievan gonuz. There is just below or sou h
of the Cohasset breakers an irregular circle of eight
islands around a ninth near the shore, which is given m
detail on the Coast Survey map, entitled Minots Ledge,
which -ocality I have visited for the purpose of ven.ying
Theve'.'s account.
"From there," continues Thevct, "you sail all along
unto the mouth of the river, which is dangerous from the
great number of thick and high rocks [Cohasset rocks.
Minot's ledges, the Lizard, Graves, etc.], and its entrance
is wonderfully large. About three leagues into the nver
[measuring from Cohasset] an island presents itself to
you and may have four leagues in circumference, inhabited
only by some fishermen and birds of different sorts, which
island they call Aiayaseon [Nantasket],j5.ra«.r it has the
form of a mans arm which they call so."
Aiayascon is the Iroquois for arm (De La.t. Montanus,
Gallatin), and a glance at the Coast Survey map-remem-
bering that the Indian name descri/>a the locality to which
it is Affixed — will leave no doubt that the point Thevet
described was Nantasket. The longer north and south
portion was the arm above the elbow; the east and west
portion, terminating at Hull, was the portion of the arm
below the elbow.
Possibly Nantasket, to the student of comparative Indian
philology, may contain reminiscences of Aiayascon.
i I
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/lA-D THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
33
The Iroquois and Algonquins were at war, and at this
period, as Thevet describes in his account, the Iroquois
were temporarily in possession of a part of the territory.
Aiayascon and Agoncy were Iroquois words. Norum-
bega was an Algonquin word. The name Agoncy means
the head, and Thevet seems to think it applied to a rock.
The French had appropriated the name of Norumbega.
It had already been extended from the coast outline at
Salem over a country stretching, in the notion of some,
through many degrees of latitude.
AUefonsce applied it to a cape (Cape Cod); it had
been applied to the principal river (the Charles); it was
borne by an Indian town (AUefonsce and Ingram); and,
lastly, it had been given to a fort on the banks of the
Charles, at the junction of a branch of this river with the
main stream.
This location of Norumbega was recognized in various
ways with greater or less distinctness on a multitude of
majjs.
On that of I lomem it appears, as I conceive, as a flag
near the head of a river, with a display of peaked rocks
described by AUefonsce.^
It appears, as I conjecture, in the towers and gateway
between, of a fort ; and near it the cluster of peaked rocks,
referred to by /Mlcfonsce, on the Dauphin map of 1543.
;\t the junction of two rivers the fort itself or a town,
appears on the map of Wyttliet. It is also on the map of
Thevet and on Morcator's.
• II.ive we in the larj^e b.iy immediately .ibove (Homem's Survey of
liostoii Harbor), with the rivers on the south and the many isl.ands with
which we are now (;imiliar ?
S
■•''♦4 -;.' "
4 J
J
34
70/M' CABOT'S LAADFALL
The name or junction is indicated on Freire, 1546; on
Jomard, i55(?); Zaltieri, 1566; Ortilius, 1570; John Dee,
1580; De Dry, 1596; Quadus, 1600; Botcro, 1603; De
Laet, 1633.
The circlet of islands described by Thcvet is perhaps
indicated on Zaltieri, 156' md Porcacchi, 1572. hut most
distinctly on the map of -th, copied by Dr. Kohl.
As a country, it was made by some (Laudonniere
and others) to extend from beyond the St. Lawrence to
Florida.
Smith made the southern boundary contiguous with
Virginia, which then included a part of the present New
England.
It certainly underlaid the New I- ranee of Verrazano;
the Francisco of the Ptolemy of 1530; Franciscane of AUe-
fonsce ; La Nuova Francia. or La Nova Franza, etc., of Gas-
taldi, 1550; of Zaltieri, 1566; of Orteleus, 1570; Judaeis,
1595 ; De Bry, 1596; Ouadus, 1600; and Hondius, 1607.
The) placed the fort at or near the junction of two
stream's, which united to form the Rio Gamas, or the
Rio C:T-nde, or Buena Madrc, wh.ch uniformly terminated
in an archipelago, sometimes called the Archipelago of
Gomez, or B. St. Mary's, at the entrance to which was
the Cabo de Muchas Islas, or Cape de lagus Islas, or Cape
St. Mary's, etc. After Thevct, for a long time authors
identified the river Norembegue or Norumbega, with Rio
Las Gamas and Rio Grande. Herrara identities Las
Gamas with river of St. Mary's (see Kohl, p. 420).
The Sebastian Cabot map (1544) identifies Bay Santa
Maria with the archipelago near Montana Verde (ne.xt
i
1:'
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\
1
i,
1
^ I
AND THE SITE OF NOKUMBEGA.
35
to Rio San Antonio), which on some maps is Buena
Madrc, on others Bonne Mere, and which, despite of
much confusion, can, as I conceive, only refer to Boston
Harbor. It was from Bay St. Mary's, within sight of a
mountain some thirty leagues to the north called Ba-
nachoonan (Aganienticus), that David Ingram,' within
a day's journey of Bega and Norumbega, set sail for
F" ranee in 1569.
When I had read these records and studied these
maps, and compared them with other ancient maps, and
those of recent date of the counties and towns of Massa-
chusetts in my possession, and it had become clear to me
that they described a locality at tlie junction of Stony
Brook with the Charles River in the town of Weston,
county of Middlesex, I drove with a friend from Cam-
bridge through a region I had neve before visited, of the
topography of which I knew nothing, except as indicated
on the maps, to the junction of Stony Brook and the
Charles, ivhcre I found the rcntains of the fort of which
I enclose the accompanying survey, made by Mr. Davis,
the Engineer of the Cambridge Citv Water Works.
See Dr. Ue Costa'.s Ingram's Kclation, M.i;; Am. Hist. vol. i.\-.
I
1
36
yOHJV CABOT'S LANDFALL
The plan sustains the description of Thcvet, in regard
to the ditch and general features.
The Agoncv of Thevet,— the head, — a high, isolated,
rounded rock, and tlie traces of an ancient Indian village
near, are on the line of the ditch which takes the water
from Stony Brook.
I found, on inquiry, that the ditch has been known to
the proprietor from his boyhood. He supposed it had
served for purposes of irrigation. But though the prop-
erty had been in his family for a century or more, he had
never heard of its being used for any purpose whatever.
The ditch is altogether about 2,300 feet long, of uniform
level from the point on Stony Brook where the water was
received, to near where it discharged beyond the F"ort into
the Charles.'
I forbear further details at present, both as to the
results of excavations made and the attempt to deter-
mine the locations mentioned by Ingram, adding simply
an outline map of the Coast Survey and the Cabot sketch,
and a legend that explains itself.
' What eviilences there are of the existence of one or more .incient Indi.in
villages in this neighborhood will be presented in my full paper.
:
f
1
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i
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^»
AND THE SITE OF NORUMBEGA.
37
Legend.
Coast Survey Chart, with some ancient names and
points indicated, and identified with modern names and
localities.
1. Fort Noruinbcguf,
2. Norombcga of J, Cabot,
1497.
3. Cape Breton,
4. Claudia, Hrisa, Briso, and
Via I'rimcra,
5. Carenas,
6. Montcs Johannis,
7. Isthmus of Vcrrazano,
8. River of Noronibcguc of
Allcfonsce,
9. Mouth of Merrimack ( ?) and
10. Plymouth Beach (outside of
11. Rio Sanantoiiio,
12. B. Espiritu Santo,
13. Aiayascon,
14. Na-sha-un,
15. Siia-uni-ut,
16. Norman Villa, (?)
1 7. C. de Lisarte of Cosa,
18. Nahum-keake,
19. Crossa-ncss of the Norse-
men, (?)
Mouth of Stony Brook, right
bank.
Salem Neck and North and
South Rivers.
Cape Ann.
Baker's Island and Breakers.
C. de Arenas, Cape Cod.
Blue Hills, Milton.
Neck of Peninsula of Cape Cod,
near Barnstable.
Charles River.
St. Lawrence. ( ?)
Bay of St. Christopher?).
Jones Ri""r. eparating Acco-
mac from the Peninsula.
Bay and Island of Newport.
Nantasket.
Naushaun.
Boston.
VVinthrop Point (?)— Nahant. (?)
Nahant. (?)
Marblehead and Neck, and bay
between.
The Gurnet
■lit
38
JOHN cAiiors la m> fall
20. Plymoutli Peach.
21, 22. Fast and West chop
at entrance to Hohncs
HoU, Martha's Vineyard.
23. St. Johan of J. Cabot and One of Turk's Heads of
Allcfonscc. Smith. ( ?)
24. ArcdondaofJ. Cabot, Another of Turk's Heads of
Smith. (?)
IH
VIII.
It remains to take from Allcfonsces relation one pas-
sage morc.^ It touches the assumption with which this
letter opened.
I directed attention to Cabot's sketch in Lok's map of
1582, in which is an island, the inscription "John Cabot,
1497," the names Norombega, Cape Breton, and St. Johan,
and the outline of .shore against Claudia in latitude
between 42° and 43° north.
I have assumed the Cape Breton of Cabot to be the
Cape Ann of to-day. The doubt is ^n hethcr the language
of Allefonsce applied to the Cape Breton at the mouth of
the St. Lawrence, the latitude of which is in about 46° 15'
north.
Allefonsce says: " Le diet Cai> Breton dc la mer
oceane est par <piaranie et deux dcgnz de la haulteur
du poUe Artiquc."
1 " 'e ditz que ce Cip dc Katz et le Cap dc Breton ct plus dc ports en le
mer occ.ine qui est une isle appelWe aussi S. Jel.an, sur lest Nord est et oucst
sud ouest. II y a en 1.1 route quarle vinp;t lieues. Le diet Cap lUcton de la
mer oceane est par quarante ct deux degree haulteur du pollc Artique."
AND THE SITE OF NORUMDEGA.
39
" The said Cape Breton of the ocean is ihroui^h [that
is, next to and above] forty-two deforces of north
latitude" >
Nciw, the latitude of Cape Ann on the United States
Coaat Survey map is 42" 38' N.
Having placed tiie Cape Breton and the River Norum-
begue and the bay and neck between of Norunibega
within the limits of the forty-third degree, there is
nothing further of assumption requiring authority for
support.
' The transfer of Cape Breton from latitude 42° 38' to latitude 46° 15' was
but three degrees and a half ; while the transfer in longitude was more than
ten degrees. Laiii^itiiiie and distance were of course liable to be greatly at
fault, while latitude was observed to within a degree. This transfer may have
been in part due, as already intimated, to mistaking the Gut of Canso for the
strait connecting Annisquam with Gloucester harbor, which separates Cape
Ann (as an island) iVom the mainland ; and also from confounding the eastern
coast of New-foundland (the name by which Norombega, the region dis-
covered by John Cabot, was known to Henry VI I.), its many bays, indentations
of the coast, and mountains, with the group of islands from Mount Desert
southward. Cape Race is given on the map of Gastaldi almost in the lati-
tude of Cape Hreton (Cape Ann), and Mercator (1569) divides Newfoundland
into several islands.
40
JOHN CABOrS LANDFALL
\
IX.
CONCLUSIONS.
h
I submit —
I St. That the site of the Landfall of John Cabot in
1497 has been detennined to be Salem Neck, in 42" 32'
north latitude, the Norum (the Neck, to one standing on
it) of the Norumbcga of Cabot, and the Nahum of the
Nahumbeak i)f Ogilljy and Smith. Tlie first land seen
may have been Cape Ann, or possibly the mountain,
Agamenticus.
2d. That the town of Norumbegue, on the river of
Norumbegue of Allefonsce, the Norumbega visited by
Ingram, and the fort of Norumbegue and the village of
Agoncy of Thevet, were on the Charles River between
Riverside and Waltham, at the mouth of Stony Brook,
in latitude 42 21' north.'
3d. That John Cabot preceded Columbus in the dis-
covery of America.
I am, very truly, yours,
E. N. HORSKORD.
It is proper here to express my great indebtedness to
Mr. Winsor, who has kindly permitted me to see ad\ance
sheets of the elaborate papers by himself, by Mr. Charles
' Miiidlesex County, St.ite of MassachuseUs, U. S. A.
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42
JOHN C A DOTS LANDFALL.
Map of Mercator.
Map of Champlain.
Map of Lescarbot.
Map of Do Lact.
John Smith's Map, i6i4-
Winthrop's Map of 1634.
United States Coast Survey Maps and Tracings.
Tracings of various outlines of Naamcs-Kcakct.
Charles River bctxveen Waltham and Riverside, - part of official
map of Xewton and surrounding towns. (Bcga of Ingram.)
Survey of Fort of Norunibega.
Numerous tracings of Maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
NOTE.- Uesidcs corrcctins the text of my letter to Judge Daly, as printed
iD the October Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, 1 have, in this
edition, printed for priv.ite circulation, expanded several of the notes, and
added some new ones, making sugge-stions which will, I trust, not detract
from the force of the argument as (irst dr.iwn out. — E. N. H.
I
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