or going to any part of the Verrazzano explorations, much less to a
point south of the fortieth degree. (Rame, Documents inedits sur
Jacques Cartier et le Canada, p. 3, Tross, Paris, 1865.) Besides,
neither in the commissions to Cartier, nor in any of the accounts of
his voyages, is there the slightest allusion to Verrazzano.] The
latter writer has accordingly been cited by subsequent authors as an
original authority on the subject, among others by Bergeron,
[Footnote: Traiete des Navigations, p. 103, par. 15.] and the
commissioners of the king of France, in the controversy with his
Britannic majesty in relation to the limits of Acadia; [Footnote:
Memoires des Commissaires du Roi, &c., I, 29.] but, as this
plagiarism proves, without reason. Charlevoix, with a proper
discrimination, refers directly to Ramusio as the sole source from
whence the account of the discovery is derived, as do the French
writers who have mentioned it since his time, except M. Margry, who,
in his recent work on the subject of French voyages, quotes from the
Carli version. It is thus seen that no other authority is given by
the French historians than one or other of the Italian versions.
[Footnote: Andre Thevet, who published a work with the title of
Cosmographie Universelle, in two volumes, large folio, in rivalry
apparently with Belleforest, and in the same year, 1575, is referred
to sometimes as an authority on this subject. Speaking of the cruel
disposition of the people of Canada, he mentions in illustration of
it, the fate at their hands of some colonists whom Verrazzano took
to that country. The fact is thus related by him in connection with
this voyage, for which he gives no authority or indication of any.
"Jean Verazze, a Florentine, left Dieppe, the SEVENTEENTH OF MARCH,
one thousand five hundred and twenty-four, by command of King
Francis, and coasted the whole of Florida, as far as the thirty-
fourth degree of latitude, and the three hundredth of longitude, and