The Short Account Of This Voyage Of
Discovery Left To Us By Hakluyt, Is Said To Have Been Inserted In
Latin
on a map constructed by Sebastian Cabot, concerning his discovery in
America, then called the West Indies; which map,
Engraved by Clement
Adams, was to be seen in the time of Hakluyt in the private gallery of
Queen Elizabeth at Westminster, and in the possession of many of the
principal merchants in London. This memorandum, translated into English,
is as follows[2].
[Footnote 2: Id. III. 27.]
SECTION I.
Discovery of Newfoundland by John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497, in the
service of Henry VII. of England.
"In the year 1497, John Cabot a Venetian and his son Sebastian,
discovered on the 24th of June, about five in the morning, that land to
which no person had before ventured to sail, which they named Prima
Vista[3], or, first-seen, because as I believe it was the first part
seen by them from the sea. The island which is opposite[4] he named St
Johns Island, because discovered on the day of St John the Baptist. The
inhabitants of this island use the skins and furs of wild beasts for
garments, which they hold in as high estimation as we do our finest
clothes. In war they use bows and arrows, spears, darts, clubs, and
slings. The soil is sterile and yields no useful production; but it
abounds in white bears and deer much larger than ours. Its coasts
produce vast quantities of large fish, among which are great seals,
salmons, soles above a yard in length, and prodigious quantities
especially of cod, which are commonly called bacallaos[5]. The hawks,
partridges, and eagles of this island are all black."
[Footnote 3: Presuming that this discovery was Newfoundland, a name
nearly of the same import, perhaps the land first seen was what is now
called Cape Bonavista, in lat. 48 deg. 50' N. long. 62 deg. 32' W. from London.
In the text, there is every reason to believe that it is meant to
indicate, that Cabot named the island he discovered St Johns, and only
the first seen point of land Prima-Vista. - E.]
[Footnote 4: By this phrase is probably to be understood, the island
behind this first-seen cape named Prima-Vista. - E.]
[Footnote 5: Vulgari Sermoni, is translated by Hakluyt, in the
language of the savages; but we have given it a different sense in the
text, that used by Hakluyt having no sufficient warrant in the
original. - E.]
Besides the foregoing memorandum on the ancient map, Hakluyt gives the
following testimonies respecting the discovery of the northern part of
America, by Cabot.
SECTION II.
Discourse by Galeacius Butrigarius, Papal Legate in Spain, respecting
the Discoveries in America, by Sebastian Cabot[6].
Do you know how to sail for the Indies towards the northwest, as has
been lately done by a Venetian citizen, a valiant man and so learned in
all things pertaining to navigation and cosmography, that no one is
permitted to sail as pilot to the West Indies who has not received his
licence, he being pilot-major of Spain? This person, who resides in the
city of Seville, is Sebastian Cabot, a native of Venice, who is most
expert in these sciences, and makes excellent sea-charts with his
own-hands. Having sought his acquaintance, he entertained us in a
friendly manner, showing us many things, and among these a large map of
the world containing sundry navigations, both those of the Spaniards and
Portuguese. On this occasion he gave us the following information.
[Footnote 6: Hakluyt, III. 27. from the second volume of Ramusio.]
His father went many years since from Venice to England, where he
followed the profession of a merchant, taking this person his son along
with him to London, then very young, yet having received some tincture
of learning, and some knowledge of the sphere. His father died about the
time when news was spread abroad that Don Christopher Columbus, the
Genoese, had discovered the coasts of the Indies by sailing towards the
west, which was much admired and talked of at the court of King Henry
VII. then reigning in England, so that every one affirmed that it was
more attributable to divine inspiration than human wisdom, to have thus
sailed by the west unto the east, where spices grow, by a way never
known before. By these discourses the young man, Sebastian Cabot, was
strongly incited to perform some notable and similar action; and
conceiving by the study of the sphere that it would be a shorter route
for going to India, than that attempted by Columbus, to sail by the
north-west, he caused the king to be informed thereof, who accordingly
gave orders that he should be furnished with two ships, properly
provided in all things for the voyage. He sailed with these from England
in the beginning of summer 1496, if I rightly remember, shaping his
course to the north-west, not expecting to find any other land
intervening between and Cathay or Northern China. He was much
disappointed by falling in with land running toward the north, the coast
of which he sailed along to the lat. of 56 deg. N. and found it still a
continent. Finding the coast now, to turn towards the east, and
despairing to find the passage to India and Cathay of which he was in
search, he turned again and sailed down the coast towards the
equinoctial line, always endeavouring to find a passage westwards for
India, and came at length to that part of the continent which is now
called Florida[7]. And his victuals running short, he bore away for
England; where he found the country in confusion preparing for war with
Scotland, so that no farther attention was paid to his proposed
discoveries.
[Footnote 7: Florida is here to be taken in the extended sense as at
first applied to the whole eastern coast of North America, to the north
of the Gulf of Mexico.
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