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PARTICULARS RESPECTING THE CAVALHERO M. BEHAIM,

A CELEBRATED PORTUGUESE NAVIGATOR }

With a DESCRIPTION of his TERRESTRIAL GLOBE.

TVanflated into French from the German of Mr. De Murr, by H. J. Jansen, and from the French into

Engliih, for the firft time, for this Work.

4Jai mare, qui terras, qui defcripfitque profundumTerm orbem radio, adgrejfus fabricumqueglobumque,

Ingentem hunc nautam Conor comprendere chartis.

Resendius Lusitanus.

W HAT Martin Behaim really was will here be found without exaggeration or de-traction ; uni aquus veritati . I have made a point of fearching with nicefcrutiny into all that relates to this celebrated navigator; a labour in which I have beengreatly facilitated by the complaifance of the individual who at this time holds poffef-fion of the papers belonging to the family. Finding myfelf thus richly provided withauthentic documents, I have fpared no care nor pains to throw light on a matter fo im-portant in the hiftory of navigation as the life and merits of this great man. If I havenot wholly fucceeded, at leaft I hope, by my exertions to have fulfilled the wilh ex-preffed by Profelfor Gebauer, in his Hiftory of Portugal , page 123.

“ It appears to me,” fays he, “ extremely uncertain whether or no Martin Behainlwas really the firft who difcovered the new world, as Ricciolus affirms ; and whether orno, as is infilled upon by Benzon, he ever palled the Straits of Magellan . We arenot to conclude, from what is advanced by Schedel, in his Latin Chronicle, of thedifcovery of Congo being attributable to Martin Behaim and James Canus; of theirhaving palled the equinoctial line, and failed fo far towards the fouth that, on frontingthe eaft their lhadow fell on their right hand ; that therefore they muft have proceededas far as to America ; for the circumftance adverted to thus takes place always in thefouthern hemifphere. The ancient deeds and diplomas confulted by Wuelfer, Wagen-feil, Stuvenius, and Doppelmayr, make mention of no fuch fact. But what, in mymind, renders the affertions of Ricciolus and Benzon exceedingly dubious, or ratherwhat Hands almoft utterly in oppofition to their affertions, is the globe of Behaim *which muft have been conftrudted as late as 1492, the year on which Chriftoval Colonbegan his voyage. Doppelmayr has given a plan of this globe ; and the more I exa-mine this, the more 1 conceive doubtful that glory which Colon and Magellan havehitherto had afcribed to them. It would not confequently be labor loft in any one tomake public the life of the Cavalhero, Martin Behaim , written in the ftyle of the pre-fent day, and without curtailing any thing, or making any addition to the actual truth*•deducing the facts from authentic documents alone. By fuch a procedure numerouserrors would doubtlefs be difcovered, as well in what has been faid in favour of, asagainft this navigator, errors which, as is juftly obferved by the Emperor Maximilian*are infeparable from the hiftory of thofe who vifit diftant countries. This obfervationwill be well confirmed b.y the following fpecimen : Pieter Vander Ax, in a collection