and grants with all necessaries for two years, the colony soon increased. About the year 1486 Martin Behaim married a daughter of the Chevalier Jobst von Hurter, and had a son by her named Martin. Jobst von Hurter and Martin Behaim, both natives of Nuremberg, were lords of Fayal and Pico."* The date of the supposed discovery of America by Behaim is placed by M. Otto in 1484, eight years before the celebrated voyage of Columbus. In the same year we are told that Alonzo Sanchez de Huelva was driven by a storm to the westward for twenty-nine days, and saw an island, of which, at his return, he gave information to Columbus. From both these supposed discoveries this conclusion is drawn, "that Columbus would never have thought of this expedition to America had not Behaim gone there before him." Whether it be supposed that Behaim and Sanchez sailed in the same ship, or that they made a discovery of two different parts of America in the same year, it is not easy to understand from the authorities produced; but what destroys the credibility of this plau * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, p. 257–259. + Garcilasso de la Vega's Commentaries-Preface. Pur chas, vol. v., p. 1454. sible tale is, that Columbus had formed his theory and projected his voyage at least ten years before, as appears by his correspondence with Paul, a learned physician of Flor, ence, which bears date in 1474.* It is uncertain at what time Columbus first made his application to the King of Portugal to fit him out for a Western voyage, but it is certain that, after a negotiation with him on the subject, and after he had found out the secret and unsuccessful attempt which had been made to anticipate a discovery, he quitted that kingdom in disgust, and went into Spain in the latter end of the year 1484. The authority of these facts is unquestioned; and from them it fully appears that a prior discovery of America by Behaim or Sanchez, made in 1484, could not have been the found. ation of the enterprise of Columbus. M. Otto speaks of letters written by Behaim in 1486, in the German language, and preserved in the "archives of Nuremberg," which support this claim to a prior discovery. As these letters are not produced, no certain opinion can be formed concerning them; but, from the date of the letters, and from the voyages which Behaim actually performed in * Life, ch. viii. the two preceding years, we may, with great probability, suppose that they related to the discovery of Congo, in Africa, to which Behaim has an uncontroverted claim. I will now state the facts relative to this event,, partly from the authorities cited by M. Otto, and partly from others. Dr. Robertson places the discovery of Congo and Benin in 1483, and with him Dr. Forster agrees. The authors of the modern Universal History* speak of two voyages to that coast, the first in 1484, the second in 1485, both of which were made by Diego Cam,† who is said to have been one of the most expert sailors, and of an enterprising genius. From the chronicle of Hartman Schedl, as quoted by M. Otto, we are informed that Behaim sailed with Cam in these voyages, which are described in the following terms: "These two, by the bounty of Heaven, coasting along the Southern Ocean, and, having crossed the equator, got into the other hemisphere, where, facing to the eastward, their shadows projected towards the south, * Vol. xvi., p. 133, 135. + Diego is the Spanish name of James, in Latin Jacobus, and in Portuguese Jago. Cam is in Latin Camus or Canus, and in Spanish Cano; these different names are found in different authors. and right hand." No words could be more completely descriptive of a voyage from Portugal to Congo, as any person may be satisfied by inspecting a map of Africa; but how could M. Otto imagine that the discovery of America was accomplished in such a voyageas this?" Having finished this cruise," con-, tinues Schedl, "in the space of twenty-six months, they returned to Portugal with the loss of many of their seamen by the violence of the climate.” This latter circumstance also agrees very well with the climate of the African coast;* but Schedl says not a word of the discovery of America. M. Otto goes on to tell us "that the most positive proof of the great services rendered to the crown of Portugal by Behaim is the recompense bestowed on him by King John II., who, in the most solemn manner, knighted him in the presence of all his court.' Then follows a particular detail of the ceremony of installation, as performed on the 18th of February, 1485; and M. Otto fairly owns that this was "a reward for the discovery of Congo." Now let us bring the detached parts of the story together. Behaim was knighted on the 18th of Feb* See Brookes's Gazetteer, Benin. VOL. I.-T ruary, 1485, for the discovery of Congo, in which he had been employed twenty-six months preceding, having within that time made two voyages thither in company with Diego Cam. It will follow, then, that the whole of the preceding years, 1484 and 1483, were taken up in these two voyages. This agrees very well with the accounts of the discovery of Congo in Robertson and Forster, and does not disagree with the modern Universal History, as far as the year 1484 is concerned; which, unfortunately, is the year assigned for Benaim's discovery of "that part of America called Brazil, and his sailing even to the Straits of Magellan." The only thing in M. Otto's memoir which bears any resemblance to a solution of this difficulty is this. "We may suppose that Behaim, engaged in an expedition to Congo, was driven by the winds to Fernambuco, and from thence by the currents towards the coast of Guiana." But suppositions without proof will avail little, and suppositions against proof will avail nothing. The two voyages to Congo are admitted. The course is described, and the time is determined; and both these are directly opposed to the supposition of his being driven by winds and currents to Amer |