WAR, as they are styled, along the coast of Spain. He finally
proceeded on the voyage of discovery with the Dauphine alone,
setting sail from a desolate rock near the island of Madeira, on the
17th of January, 1524, with fifty men, and provisions for eight
months, besides the necessary munitions of war. This voyage,
therefore, is to be regarded, according to the representations here
made, to have been begun with the sailing of the four ships, from
Dieppe, in the preceding year they fell upon a "country never before
seen by any one either in ancient or modern times." [Footnote: Some
writers have regarded this introductory as referring to two voyages
or cruises, one with the four ships before the disaster, and the
other with the Dauphine afterwards. But it seems clear from their
being described as assailed by tempests in the north, which
compelled them to run into Brittany for safety, that they were not
far distant from Dieppe when the storms overtook them; and must have
been either on their way out or on their return to that port. If
they were on their return from a voyage to America, as Charlevoix
infers (Fastes Chronologiques 1523-4), or simply from a cruise, as
Mr. Brevoort supposes, they would, after making their repairs, have
proceeded home, to Dieppe, instead of making a second voyage. They
must, therefore, be regarded as on their way from Dieppe. The idea
of a voyage having been performed before the storms seems to be due
to alteration which Ramusio made in this portion of the letter, by
introducing the word "success," as of the four ships, Charlevoix
expressly refers to Ramusio as his authority and Mr. Brevoort makes
a paraphrase from the Carli and Ramusio versions combined. (Notes on
the Verrazzano Map in Journal of the Am. Geog. Society of New York,
vol. IV, pp. 172-3)] On leaving Madeira they pursued a westerly
course for eight hundred leagues and then, inclining a little to the
north, ran four hundred leagues more, when on the 7th of March