ith the application of his
name by Waldseemueller to an entirely different region from any that was
visited upon that voyage. The real significance of the third voyage of
Vespucius, in connection with the naming of America, is now set forth, I
believe, for the first time in the light thrown upon the subject by the
opinions of Ptolemy and Mela. Neither Humboldt nor Major nor Harrisse
nor Varnhagen seems to have had a firm grasp of what was in
Waldseemueller's mind when he wrote the passage photographed below in
vol. ii. p. 136 of this work. It is only when we keep the Greek and
Roman theories in the foreground and unflinchingly bar out that
intrusive modern atlas, that we realize what the Freiburg geographer
meant and why Ferdinand Columbus was not in the least shocked or
surprised.

* * * * *

I have at various times given lectures on the discovery of America and
questions connected therewith, more especially at University College,
London, in 1879, at the Philosophical Institution in Edinburgh, in 1880,
at the Lowell Institute in Boston, in 1890, and in the course of my work
as professor in the Washington University at St. Louis; but the present
work is in no sense whatever a reproduction of such lectures.

Acknowledgments are due to Mr. Winsor for his cordial permission to make
use of a number of reproductions of old maps and facsimiles already used
by him in the "Narrative and Critical History of America;" they are
mentioned in the lists of illustrations. I have also to thank Dr.
Brinton for allowing me to reproduce a page of old Mexican music, and
the Hakluyt Society for permission to use the Zeno and Catalan maps and
the view of Kakortok church. Dr. Fewkes has very kindly favoured me with
a sight of proof-sheets of some recent monographs by Bandelier. And for
courteous assistance at various libraries I have most particularly to
thank Mr. Kiernan of Harvard University, Mr. Appleton Griffin of the
Boston Public Library, and Mr. Uhler of the Peabody Institute in
Baltimore.

* * * * *

There is one thing which I feel obliged, though with extreme hesitation
and reluctance, to say to my readers in this place, because the time has
come when something ought to be said, and there seems to be no other
place available for saying it. For many years letters--often in a high
degree interesting and pleasant to receive--have been coming to me from
persons with whom