year 1529. On that planisphere the seaboard of the present states
of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island is called "the
land of Estevan Gomez."

Lacking the full report that Gomez presumably made of his voyage,
and lacking the original of his chart, it is impossible to decide
whether he did or did not pass through the Narrows and enter the
Upper Bay. Doctor Asher holds that he did make that passage; and
adds: "It is certain that the later Spanish seamen who followed in
his track in after years were familiar with the [Hudson] river, and
called it the Rio de Gamas." In support of this strong assertion he
cites the still-extant "Rutters," or "Routiers," of the period--the
ocean guide-books showing the distances from place to place,
marking convenient stations for watering and refitting, and
describing the entrances to rivers and to harbors--"from which we
learn," he declares, "that the Rio de Gamas, the name then
regularly applied to the Hudson on the charts of the time, was one
of these stages between New Foundland and the colonies of Central
America."[1]

[Footnote 1: Asher mentions, in this connection, that
"Nantucket Island also figures in some of these rutters under
the name of the island of Juan Luis, or Juan Fernandez, and is
recommended as a most convenient stage for those who, coming
from Europe, wish to proceed to the West Indies by way of the
Bermudas."]

In regard to Verrazano--admitting his report to be genuine--the
fact that he did pass through the Narrows into the Upper Bay is not
open to dispute. He therefore must have seen--as, a little later,