Note 55 — SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. (continued 2)

The fort or castle of San Juan d'Ulloa is evidently meant, but whether it bore that name when Champlain was there, or whether he confounded the St. Jean de Luz of Spain with San Juan d'Ulloa, is a moot point. In Mercator and Hondius's maps, Amsterdam, 10th edition, 1628, St. Juan d'Uloa (Ulloa) is placed on the twenty-sixth degree of north latitude, at the mouth of the river "Lama" (Rio del Norte). The town of Villa Rica, is laid down in the actual position of Vera Cruz, but no mention of either St. Juan de Luz, or d'Ulloa; and in Gage's Voyage with the Spanish Fleet to the West Indies and Mexico, 1625, it is styled Sñ Juan d'Ulhua, otherwise Vera Cruz.

"The proper name of the town is Sñ Juan d'Ulhua, otherwise Vera Cruz, from the old harbour of Vera Cruz, which is six leagues from it. But the harbour of the old Vera Cruz being found too dangerous for ships, on account of the violence of the north wind, it was entirely abandoned by the Spaniards, who went to St. Juan d'Ulhua, where their vessels found a safe anchorage by means of a rock which serves as a strong defence against the winds; and in order to perpetuate the memory of this happy adventure, chancing on a Good Friday, to the name of St. Juan d'Ulhua they added that of the True Cross, taken from the first harbour, which was discovered on the Holy Friday of the year 1519."—Gage's Voyage to Mexico, etc., 1625.