the Spaniards _Mar de Sargasso_. A curious marine
meadow nearly seven times larger than France, in extent, lying between
19 deg. and 34 deg. north latitude. There is a lesser _Fucus_ bank between the
Bahamas and the Bermudas. Consult Aristotle, _Meteor_, ii., I, 14;
_De mirabilibus auscutationibus_, p. 100; Theophrastus, _Historia
Plantarum_, iv., 7; Arienus, _Ora Maritima_, v., 408; Humboldt,
_Cosmos_, tom. ii.; Gaffarel, _La Mer des Sargasses_; Leps, _Bulletin
de la Soc. Geog_., Sept., 1865.]

The fourth day of the ides of March snow-covered mountains were
observed. The sea runs strongly to the west and its current is as
rapid as a mountain torrent. Nevertheless the Spaniards did not lay
their course directly towards the west, but deviated slightly to the
south. I hope to be able to demonstrate this by one of the tables of
the new cosmography which it is my intention to write, if God gives me
life. The Gaira River, celebrated for the massacre of the Spaniards
during the voyage of Roderigo Colmenares, which I have elsewhere
related, rises in these mountains. Many other rivers water this coast.
The province of Caramaira has two celebrated harbours, the first being
Carthagena and the second Santa Marta, these being their Spanish
names. A small province of the latter is called by the natives
Saturma. The harbour of Santa Marta is very near the snow-covered
mountains; in fact it lies at their foot. The port of Carthagena is
fifty leagues from there, to the west. Wonderful things are written
about the port of Santa Marta, and all who come back tell such. Among
the latter is Vespucci,[3] nephew of Amerigo Vespucci of Florence who,
at his death, bequeathed his knowledge of navigation and cosmography
to his nephew. This young man has, in fact, been sent by the King
as pilot to the flagship and commissioned to take the astronomical
observations. The steering has been entrusted to the principal pilot,
Juan Serrano, a Castilian, who had often sailed in those parts. I have
often invited this young Vespucci to my table, not only because he
possesses real talent, but also because he has taken notes of all he
observed during his voyage.[4]

[Note 3: He was appointed cartographer of the _Casa de
Contractacion_ at Seville, in 1512. Henry Harrisse makes frequent
mention of the Vespucci in his work on the Cabots.]

[Note 4: One of many instances of Peter Martyr's hospitality to
men of parts and activity, from whose conversation and n