JOHN CABOT THE DISCOVERER OF NORTH-AMERICA AND SEBASTIAN HIS SON THIS COPY OF JOHN CABOT IS PART OF THE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. In deference to the wishes of Collectors it is issued with the English imprint solely, but it is published in the United States by arrangement with the Author and English publishers by DODD MEAD COMPANY, NEW YORK. JOHN CABOT THE DISCOVERER OF NORTH-AMERICA AND SEBASTIAN HIS SON A CHAPTER OF THE MARITIME HISTORY OF ENGLAND UNDER THE TUDORS 1496-1557 BY HENRY HARRISSE LONDON : 4 TRAFALGAR SQUARE, CHARING CROSS BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS 1896 .CM TO THE REV. JOHN JOHNSON, D.D., LL.D. OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA THIS WORK IS DEDICATED BY HIS OLDEST AND MOST FAITHFUL FRIEND HENRY HARRISSE INTRODUCTION. On ne doit aux marts que La vdrite. IN the year 1497, a Venetian citizen, called Giovanni Caboto, having obtained letters-patent from Henry VII. the year previous for a voyage of discovery, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and, under the British Hag, discovered the continent of North America. In 1498, he fitted out in Bristol a new expedition, and again sailed westward ; but scarcely anything further is known of that enterprise. Caboto had a son named Sebastian, born in Venice, who lived in England not less than sixteen years, and then removed to Spain, where in 1518 Charles V. appointed him Pilot-Major. This office he held for thirty years. In 1526, Sebastian was authorized to take com- mand of a Spanish expedition intended for " Tharsis and Ophir/' but which, instead, went to La Plata, and proved disastrous. After his return to Seville, he was invited, in 1547, by the counsellors of Edward VI. to England, and again settled in that country. Seven years after- wards, he prepared the expeditions of Willoughby viii INTRODUCTION, and Chancelor, and of Stephen Burrough, in search of a North-East Passage to Cathay. He finally died in London, after 1557, at a very advanced age, in complete obscurity. He is now held by many to have been one of the greatest navigators and cosmographers that ever lived, nay, "the author of the 'maritime strength of England, who opened the way to those improvements which have rendered the English so great, so eminent, so flourishing a people." To set forth a true history of these two men, based exclusively upon authentic documents, is the object of the following pages. PARIS, November 1895. CONTENTS. PART I. CHAP. pAGE I. JOHN CABOT NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH, . ! II. WAS JOHN CABOT A GENOESE ? . Io III. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE, . . ! 4 IV. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S AGE AND NATIONALITY. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN, .... 2 7 V. JOHN CABOT'S LIFE IN ENGLAND, . .36 VI. JOHN CABOT'S FIRST EFFORTS, .... 42 VII. THE DOCUMENTARY PROOFS FOR JOHN CABOT'S EXPEDITION, 48 VIII. JOHN CABOT'S FIRST EXPEDITION, .... 50 IX. THE YEAR OF JOHN CABOT'S FIRST EXPEDITION, . 56 X. JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL, . . 63 XI. JOHN CABOT'S ALLEGED LANDFALL, ... 69 XII. A FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT, . 85 XIII. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S SAN JUAN ISLAND IMAGINARY, . . 96 XIV. IS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE? . . . 109 XV. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, . 115 XVI. JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION, . . . .126 XVII. ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, . . 142 PART II. I. SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN, .... 149 II. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517, . 157 III. PROTEST OF THE LIVERIES OF LONDON AGAINST EMPLOYING SEBASTIAN CABOT, ...... l68 x CONTENTS, CHAP. PAGE IV. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S TREACHEROUS INTRIGUES WITH VENICE, 174 V. THE EXPEDITION TO THE MOLUCCAS, . . .185 VI. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA, ..... 2OI VII. SEBASTIAN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN, . . 227 VIII. SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN, . . . 256 IX. SEBASTIAN CABOT IS ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED, . . 264 X. SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE, .... 27O XT. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (A) HIS CARTOGRAPHICAL WORKS, . . . . 28 1 XII. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN. CABOT. (B) HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERIES IN MAGNETICS, . . 289 XIII. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (c) HIS FIRST METHOD FOR FINDING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA, . . 296 XIV. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (n) HIS SECOND METHOD FOR TAKING THE LONGITUDE, . . 3OI XV. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (F,) HIS NAUTICAL THEORIES AND SAILING DIRECTIONS, . . 309 XVI. SEBASTIAN CABOT AGAIN SETTLES IN ENGLAND, . . 318 XVII. SEBASTIAN CABOX'S EMPLOYMENT IN ENGLAND, . 328 XVIII. ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO CATHAY, .... 336 XIX. ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO CATHAY BY THE NORTH-EAST, . 342 XX. SEBASTIAN CABOX'S ALLEGED INFLUENCE, . . . 360 XXI. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT'S LIFE, . . . 364 XXII. THE END OF CABOX'S CAREER, . . . 372 (A) HIS PORTRAIT, .... . 374 (B) HIS ALLEGED KNIGHTHOOD, .... 376 (C) HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN, . -378' (D) HIS BROTHERS, . . . 380 (E) HIS ALLEGED DESCENDANTS, . . .381 CONTENTS. xi PART III. PAGES SYLLABUS OF THE ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS, FROM 1476 TO 1557, WHICH REFER TO THE CABOTS, TO THEIR LIVES, AND TO THEIR VOYAGES, .... 385-469 ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE ISLARIO OF SANTA CRUZ, . . 409-4! I RECORDS OF THE CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS AGAINST SEBASTIAN CABOT, . . 415-427 CABOT'S PLANISPHERES OF 1544 AND 1549, . . . 432-448 SPANISH TEXT OF CABOT'S TREATISES ON MAGNETICS AND NAVIGATION, . . . . . . . 454-4^6 INDEX, ........ 471 MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. SECTION OF CABOT'S PLANISPHERE OF 1544 (A), . . . 94-95 PART OF THE FRENCH PORTOLANO COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT FOR HIS ALLEGED NORTH-WEST DISCOVERIES (B), . . 94~95 FIRST VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT, 1497, .... IIO-III THE NORTH-EAST COAST IN THE MAP OF LA COSA, . . 136-137 SECOND VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT (1498-99 ?), . . . 140-141 RIBEIRO'S MAP SHOWING THE COAST RANGED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT IN HIS VOYAGE TO LA PLATA, JUNE I526-MARCH 1527, 2O2-2O3 CABOT'S BASIN OF THE LA PLATA (A), .... 262-263 THE REAL BASIN OF THE LA PLATA (B), .... 262-263 NEWFOUNDLAND ACCORDING TO SEBASTIAN CABOT (A), . . 286-287 NEWFOUNDLAND IN MODERN MAPS (B), . . 286-287 FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT, . 428-429 PART FIRST. CHAPTER I. JOHN CABOT NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH. IT is still a mooted question with certain writers whether John Cabot, the discoverer of the American Continent, was by birth a Venetian or a Genoese. Henry VII. calls him in 1496 and 1498 " Civis Venetiarum : Venetian citizen," and "Venetian." In the same years, when speaking of him, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a native of Venice, uses the expression : " Nostro Venetiano : Our Venetian [countryman] " ; and Raimondo di Soncino, the Milanese ambassador, that of " uno populare Venetiano : a Venetian plebeian." Finally, he calls himself, in a petition addressed to the King of England, March 5th, 1496, "John Kabotto, citezen of Venes." 1 In the 1 5th century, the term " Venetian citizen" applied to three descriptions of individuals, viz. : (a) a native of the city of Venice ; (b) one born within the limits of the " Duchy/' or Dogado, that is, the original territory of the Republic; and (c) a foreigner 1 For those various designations, see 99 ; Annuario scientific for 1865, RYMER, Fcedera, 1745, vol. v, part Milano, 1866, p. 100; Cornelio iv, p. 89 ; BIDDLE, A Memoir of DESIMONI, Intorno a Giovani Caboto, Sebastian Cabot, Philadelphia, 1831, Geneva, 1881, 8vo, p. 47- In the 8vo, p. 76; RAWDON BROWN, Rag- course of the present work, when guagli Sulla vita e opere di Marin quoting, we shall spell the name strictly Sanuto, Venet., 1837, 8vo, vol. i, p. as it is in the document cited. A 2 JOHN CABOT by birth who had been naturalized. John Cabot belonged to the latter class. Here is the text of the decree by which the Senate of Venice, by a unanimous vote, on the 28th of March 1476, conferred on him the full naturalization, in con- sequence of a (constant) residence of fifteen years in that city ; dating, therefore, from 1461. " 1476, die 28 Martii. Quod fiat privilegium civilitatis de intus et extra loani Caboto per habitationem annorum XV, iuxta consuetum. De parte, 149 De non, o Non sinceri, o. 1476, 28th day of March. That a privilege of citizenship within and without be entered in favour of John Caboto, as usual, in con- sequence of a residence of fifteen years. Ayes, 149 Noes, o Neutrals, o." 1 This, of course, establishes the fact that John Cabot was not a Venetian citizen by birth ; other- wise it is plain that he would have been under no necessity to become naturalized. But does it also prove that he was born beyond the limits of the Re- public of Venice ? No satisfactory reply can be made to that question without first examining what were the naturalization laws enacted in Venice before the i6th century. 2 On the nth of December I298, 3 the Venetian 1 State archives in Venice, Senato 1795, v l- i y > v l- i> P- 33> 395 \ Terra, 1473-1477, folio 109. Infra, ROMANIN, Storia documentata di Syllabus, doc. i. The latter word in Venezia, Venezia, 1855, 8vo, vol. iv, every cise refers to our own appendix, p. 469, quotes regarding the Venetian 2 Vettor SANDI, Principj di Storia naturalization, the registers of the Civile della Repubblica di Venezia, Great Council called Magnus and Venezia s 1755 > 4 to > v l s - an d "i ; Capricornus, which comprise the years Cristoforo TENTORI, Saggio sulla 1299-1308. We presume that for the Storia civile, politica, ecclesiastica . . . subsequent laws and decrees, the della Repubblica di Venezia, Venezia, Spiritus (1325-1349), the Leona (1384 1785-179?! 8vo vol. i, dissert, iv ; -1415), and Ursa (1415-1454), should Giambattista GALLicciOLi, Delle be consulted. Meniorie Venete antuhe, Venezia, 3 GALLICCIOLI, loc. cit. NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH. 3 population was divided into two classes, viz.: the nobility, and the common people. These classes, so far as national rights were concerned, formed again separate orders, consisting of (a) the natives of the city of Venice, (b) those of the laguna islands, or Duchy, and (c) the natives of the annexed towns and provinces. At first, noblemen alone were citizens ; but the term must be taken in the sense of a full citizenship, for we find even in those remote times citizens de jure, who, although plebeians, enjoyed civic rights of a patrician character. The only condition imposed on each was that of being a legitimate child born in Venice, whose father was himself the son of a citizen who had never obtained his living by manual labour. 1 Those classes of Venetians, however, did not 'long retain their exclusive privileges, for in 1305 a law conferred the citizenship on every individual born in lawful wedlock, who had been a resident of Venice for twenty-five consecutive years. 2 In 1348, when the plague had swept off a very large portion of the population, every foreigner who was married and had resided in the city with his family for two years, acquired the right to be made a citizen. 3 This extreme liberality caused strangers to flock into Venice from every quarter, and the number of applicants became so great that the Government, fearing lest the old inhabitants should be overwhelmed by this influx, passed a law extend- ing the period of domicile to fifteen years. 4 On the 7th of May 1391, for reasons which we have been unable to ascertain, but which may be ascribed to a diminution of the population in conse- 1 Marco FERRO, Dizionario del vol. ii, p. 813; TENTORI, op. cit., Diritto Comune e Veneto, Venezia, vol. i, p. 102. 1779, 4to, vol. iii, p. 189. 3 SANDI, vol. ii, p. 814. 2 SANDI, op. tit., lib. iv, cap. 5, 4 Ibidem, p. 815. 4 JOHN CABOT quence of the Genoese war, and the spirit of terri- torial extension which animated the Republic after the treaty of Turin, the rulers again resorted to extremely liberal measures. Anyone who removed to Venice with his family had only to cause his name to be recorded in the registers of the Pro- veditor to acquire immediately civic rights ; at least de intus, that is, rights to be exercised only within the territory of the Republic. 1 Such excessive generosity soon resulted in the same evils as in 1348, for the applications became more numerous than ever. But as the Proveditor was obliged to accept every demand, with no option as regards granting citizenship, the right to confer it was transferred to a special college, composed of at least one hundred and fifty members, 2 clothed with discretionary powers, as we presume. Venice having been again greatly depopulated by epidemics, the Senate, on the 7th of July 1407, issued a general decree extending the right of citizenship to any stranger married to a Venetian woman, and coming to reside in the city. 3 We infer that once more such a great facility, which dispensed with the condition of previous residence, resulted after a while in detrimental effects. However, it is not till sixty- five years later that we find modifications introduced in the law. On the nth of August 1472, the Doge Nicola Trono decreed that in future a residence of at least, fifteen consecutive years and payment of all State taxes during that time, should be first required ; 4 but nothing was said relative to marrying a Venetian woman. The reader must bear in mind that these naturaliza- 1 FERRO, art. Gittadinenza. A. Avog., MS. ; TENTORI, vol. i, p. 2 SANDI, lib. iv, chapt. 5, vol. ii, 108 ; CECCHETTI, // Doge di Venezia, p. 815. Venezia, 1864, 8vo, p. 246. 3 SANDI, lib. vi. cap. 2, vol. iii, 4 Infra, Syllabus, doc. 2, which p. 345, on the authority of the book contains the entire text of the decree. NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH. 5 tion laws applied only to aliens, or natives of the annexed provinces. The inhabitants born in the metropolis, or within the Duchy, never ceased to enjoy the full nationality conferred on that class of residents by a special decree issued in 1313, and of which we shall speak hereafter. The citizenship was of two kinds, viz. : de intus and de extra, relating respectively to privileges within and without the dominions of the Republic. These two sorts of privileges were frequently com- bined in the same individual, who was then a citizen de intus et extra. And as the citizenship de extra comprised the enjoyment of all the commercial rights which Venice possessed in foreign lands, together with the privilege of sailing under the flag of St. Mark, dependent, after 1472, so far as naturalized citizens were concerned, only on giving security to the State, applicants who were traders or seamen naturally sought to complete their naturalization by becoming citizens de extra as well as de intus. In addition to the entry in the Senatorial register quoted at the beginning of the present chapter, we possess a list of seventeen naturaliza- tions de intus et extra, recorded in the Book of Privileges. John Cabot figures the thirteenth in the roll, as follows : " Simile privilegium factum fuit Joanni Caboto sub duce supra- scripto 1476 : The like privilege has been granted to John Caboto, under the above-mentioned Doge, in I476." 1 The privileges alluded to are set forth in the decree of Doge Trono, rendered the nth of August 1472, which precedes the list of naturalized citizens already cited, and is entitled : " Privilegium Civi- litatis de intus et extra per habitationem annorum XV. : Privilege of Citizenship within and without 1 Ibidem. 6 JOHN CABOT granted in consequence of a residence of fifteen years." The motive is to be derived from the following clause : " Quod quicumque annis XV vel inde supra, Venetiis continue habitasset ; factiones et onera nostri dominij ipso tempore subeundo, a modo civis et Venetus nostri esset ; Venetiarum Citadinatus et privilegio et alijs beneficiis, libertatibus et immunitatibus, quibus alij Veneti et cives nostri utuntur et gaudent perpetuo et ubilibet con- gauderet : That whosoever has inhabited Venice for fifteen years or more, and during that time fulfilled the duties and supported the charges of our Seigniory as if he had been a citizen and one of our own Venetians, shall enjoy perpetually and everywhere, the privilege of Venetian citizenship, and the other liberties and immunities enjoyed and used by the other Venetians countrymen of ours." l It is evident, on the face of this document, that the decree was rendered in favour of individuals who were not Venetians, or " countrymen of Vene- tians." This is made further apparent by referring to the list itself. The applicants whose origin is stated in the decrees, all come from places which never belonged to Venice, such as Milan, Balabio, Lodi, Novara, nor even to the original dominions, such as Brescia and Bergamo. We also note in the list that the last seven names are not followed by an indication of original nationality. John Cabot's is among these. The omission is simply due to the negligence of some clerk of the Ducal Chancery, who engrossed the list, in as succinct a form as possible, a long time after the decrees were rendered ; for it covers twenty- eight years, and not only omits important particulars, but likewise exhibits great chronological confusion. We notice, for instance, that the term : " Sub duce suprascripto " in Cabot's case, is made to refer to Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, whilst it was under the rule of Andrea Vendramin that he acquired the Venetian naturalization. 1 Ibidem. NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH. 7 The peculiar organization of the Venetian Re- public makes it incumbent on us to examine the question of nationality under one more aspect. It cannot be doubted that in the 1 5th century, which is the epoch of the greatest prosperity of Venice, the State only extended a right of protection to its annexed, or conquered, towns and territories. The natives of Padua, Verona, Bergamo, Brescia, Ravenna, &c., &c., could not assume the title of " Venetian citizens," although those cities actually formed parts of the Republic of Venice. Even the laguna islands, which were the nucleus of the rising republic in the 7th century, had, for many years previous, been deprived of Venetian civic rights. The 1 5th century was for Venice a period of great territorial conquests : Vicenza, Verona, Padoua, in 1410, the Frioul in 1420, Dalmatia in 1426, Ravenna in 1441, Cremona in 1448, &c., &c. Now, we see in the roll above cited a native of Brescia, and one of Bergamo, which cities were annexed to Venice in 1428. This shows that a man born in the conquered towns or provinces was, in 1476, a Venetian, but not a Venetian citizen, which title he could acquire only after having been naturalized individually. And, as the place from which John Cabot came originally when he applied for citizen- ship in Venice is unfortunately omitted from the abstract of the decree, critics can presume, prima facie, that he may have been brought into life in one of the numerous Venetian localities the natives of which, at that time, were not Venetian citizens born. This view of the case has not been considered by the patriotic Venetian writers who claim John Cabot. They simply allege that he was born in Venice. This, so far as the city is concerned, we have shown to be absolutely untenable. Of late years, others have put forward the original dominion of the 8 JOHN CABOT Republic as the region of his birth. Here again the pretension is inadmissible. In 1313, a law conferred on all resident natives of the Dogado the full naturalization, that is, de intus et extra. The two highest authorities in the old Venetian Jurisprudence, Vettor Sandi and Cristoforo Tentori, are positive. They state the fact in these words : "NelP anno stesso [1313] dilatatasi la prerogativa all 3 antico Dogado Veneziano, si decreto Cittadino dell' una e 1' altra classe chi nato dentro il tratto da Grado sino a Cavarzere abitasse con ferma stazione in quelle terre : In the same year [1313] the prerogative of the old Venetian Duchy was enlarged, by granting the citizen- ship of both classes to any one born within the space extending from Grado 1 to Cavarzere, 2 with a fixed residence in that region." 3 Particular attention should be paid to this decree, because those who reluctantly concede that John Cabot was not born within the city of Venice, hope nevertheless to gratify national vanity in naming as his birth-place Chioggia, one of the laguna islands, which would make him a Venetian in the general sense of the term. This selection is particularly unfortunate. Reverting to the decree of 1313, which, so far as known, has never been abrogated, we reply that Chioggia belonged to the original dominion, or Duchy. " Esse Dogado," says Sandi, ' ' comprendeva 12 principali Isole . . . erano Chioggia, o Fossa Clodia maggiore, e minore." Consequently, if John Cabot had first seen the light in Chioggia, he would not have been obliged to ask the Senate in 1476 to grant naturalization, since the natives of that 1 Grado is a town situate at the 3 SANDI, vol. ii, p. 814, and northern entrance of the Gulf of TENTORI, Saggio, vol. i. p. 103. Trieste. 4 SANDI, lib. iv, art. v, vol. ii, p. 2 Cavarzere is another town, situate 530. on both banks of the Adige, twelve miles from Chioggia. NOT A VENETIAN BY BIRTH. 9 island, for more than one hundred and fifty years, had been full Venetian citizens by birth ! At all events, there is no proof whatever that he was a Chioggian. The assertion is based exclusively upon two lines inserted in a sort of keepsake written at the close of the last century, and unsupported by proof of any kind, viz.: " Caboto Veneziano nativo di Chioggia ha scoperto la America settentrionale per gli inglesi." 1 It may be true as regards Sebas- tian; 2 but if John Cabot is meant, such a bare statement, made three hundred and fifty years after the event, is, of course, worthless, even when bolstered up with the allegation that in Pelestrina, and in Chioggia, there were families of the name of Capotto, Giabuto and cha' Botto. For that matter there were many individuals bearing a similar name in other parts of Italy, in Gaeta, 3 as well as in Savona, Porto Maurizio, and various localities, particularly of Liguria, 4 which, as we shall now proceed to show, rests its claims on more defensible grounds than either Chioggia or Venice itself. 1 Cited by BULLO, La Vera Patria 3 MURATORI, Antiquitales italics di Nicolo de* Gonti e di Giovanni medii awi, 1741, vol. iv, dissert, xlix, Caboto, Chioggia, 4to, p. xxii. col. 395~6- 2 Castello, however, is the place 4 G. DONEAUD, / Caboto di Porto in Venetia mentioned as having given Maurizio, in La Provincia, No. of birth to Sebastian Cabot. Minerva, November iQth, 1881, in that Porto No. of February 1763, quoted by Mr. Maurizio newspaper. BULLO. CHAPTER II. WAS JOHN CABOT A GENOESE ? WE have shown that John Cabot was only an adopted citizen of Venice. It is necessary now to ascertain his birth-place. Several writers presume that he was born at Castiglione, a place near Chiavari, in Liguria, be- cause Raimondo di Soncino relates that : " Messer Zoanne Caboto ha donato una isola ad un suo barbero da castione Genovese : Mr. John Caboto has given an island to a barber of his from the Genoese Castiglione." 1 The fact that John Cabot made a present of an island to his barber (surgeon ?), who was a Genoese, is scarcely sufficient to prove that he also belonged to that nationality, inasmuch as he made at the same time a similar present to another of his companions, who was " Borgogne : from Burgundy." There are better reasons to show John Cabot to have been a Genoese by birth. So early as January 2ist, 1496, Dr. Puebla, the ambassador of Ferdinand and Isabella to England, informs them of the efforts of an individual " like Columbus," who was endeavouring to fit out an expedition to discover transatlantic lands. His letter is lost, but we possess the reply of the Spanish monarchs, which contains the following passage : " You tell us that a man like Columbus has come to 1 Dispatch of December i8th, 1497. text to draw a distinction between the Jean et Stbastien Cabot^ doc. x, p. 325. Castiglione in Liguria, and several The expression " Castione Genovese," places of the same name in Lombardy is evidently intended in the original and Tuscany. WAS JOHN CABOT A GENOESE? 11 England for the purpose of proposing an undertaking of the same kind to the English King." 1 The words " uno como Colon " so clearly suggest those used by Puebla two years afterwards : " otro Genoves como Colon," that we may suppose an ellipse in Their Majesties' answer, and that Puebla's letter contained a similar reference to Cabot's nationality. Be that as it may, if his later dispatch of 1 498 omits to give the name of the navigator, it states explicitly that he was a Genoese, in these words : " Cinco naos armadas con otro genoves como Colon : five ships equipped with another Genoese like Columbus." However, the petition of March 5th, together with the letters patent of April 5th, 1496, and February 3rd, I498, 2 show that John Cabot is meant. Pedro de Ayala, Puebla s adjunct in the embassy, also writes as follows : " I have seen the map drawn by the discoverer, who is another Genoese like Columbus . . . For the last seven years the Bristol people fit out ships to go in search of the Brazil Island and of the Seven Cities, according to the notions of that Genoese." 3 Let us now examine the English historians of the first half of the 1 6th century. Neither Richard Arnold, 4 Edward Halle, 5 John Hardyng, 6 John Harpsfield, 7 nor any other historical writer of the time in England, says a single word concerning either Columbus, Vespuccius, or any of the two Cabots. With the exception of a manuscript chronicle which we shall cite hereafter, it is only in the year 1559, in connection with the expedition of 1 Dispatch of March 28th, 1496, op. 5 HALLE, usque 1559, MS. of the cit. t doc. v, p. 315. British Museum, Cott. Vit. cix. 2 DESIMONI, Intorno, pp. 47, 48, 6 HARDYNG, usque 1542 (continua- 49, 56. BIDDLE, Memoir, p. 76 ; tion by GRAFTON), London, 1543 (?), Jean et Sebastien Cabot, docs, iii, iv, 4to. xi, pp. 312, 313, 327. 7 Chronicon Johannis Harpesfeldi a *Jean et S4bastien Cabot, doc. xiii, diluvio ad annum 1559. Cotton MS. p. 329. Vitell. cix. George LILLY, Francof, 4 ARNOLD, usque 1520, London, 1565, 4to, and Arthur KELTON, usque t s.a., sed 1520, fol. i546,London,i547i n - l6 > arealsosiIent< 12 IV AS JOHN CABOT A GENOESE 1 Willoughby and Chancelor (1553), which probably would have been also left unnoticed but for the tragic death of its noble chief, that English historians begin to insert brief details about transatlantic voyages. 1 Judging from the letters patent which we have just cited, the manuscript chronicle belonging to the collection of Robert Cotton, 2 and the Cabotian plani- sphere of 1544, which hung up in Whitehall, the documents of that period, which take notice of the official nationality of John Cabot, call him a Venetian. Yet, the first English chronicles or histories which make mention of the discovery of the North- East Coast of America, all declare that Sebastian Cabot was the son of a Genoese. For instance. In the third edition of the Epitome of Thomas Lanquet, published in 1559, we read as follows : " Sebastian Caboto, borne at Bristow, but a Genoways sonne." 3 It is the first time that such an assertion occurs in an English book. In Richard Grafton's Chronicle, printed ten years after Lanquet's, there is the following passage : " About this time (1553) there were three noble ships set forth and furnished for the great aduenture of the vnknowne voyage into the East, by the North Seas. The great doer and encourager of which voyage was Sebastian Gaboto an Englishe man, borne at Bristow, but was the sonne of a Genoway." 4 A similar statement can be read in all the editions of the Chronicles of Ralph Holinshed, 5 and in those 1 Richard GRAFTON, however, in Caxton, or Wynken de Worde, 1509, his edition of 1550 of HALLE'S 4to. (Bibliot. Americ. Vetust., Addit., Chronicle (vol. ii, fo. 158), gives a No. 33, pp. 44-45.) few lines to the expedition suggested 2 Infra, chapter vii. by Robert THORNE, and which John 3 LANQUET, An Epitome of cron- RUT led to the North- West in icles, 1559, 4to, sub anno 1552. 1527. 4 GRAFTON, A Chronicle at large , The first allusion to the discovery of and meere History of the Affayres of the New World to be found in a book England, London, 1569, fol., and in printed in England, is in the transla- ELLIS' edition, vol. ii, p. 532. tion made by Henry WATSON after 5 HOLINSHED. The Chronicle of the French version of Sebastian England, London, 1577, fol., vol. ii, BRANDT'S Stultifera naw's, London, p. 1714. WAS JOHN CABOT A GENOESE ? 13 of John Stow's Annals. In the latter, however, the wording is different ; "This yeare one Sebastian Gabato a genoas sonne borne in Bristow professing himselfe to be experte in knowledge of the circute of the worlde and Ilandes of the same." 1 Here are, therefore, six writers who separately declare in express terms, or impliedly, that John Cabot was a Genoese by birth. It is important, nevertheless, to ascertain whether Dr. Puebla, Pedro de Ayala, the continuator of Lanquet, as well as Richard Grafton, Ralph Holinshed, and honest John Stow, have not perchance derived their information on that point from the same source ; because those six opinions would be then equal to one only. We must also ascertain whether the statements were borrowed from personages who by their position, their facilities for being well informed, the time and the country in which they lived, are entitled to faith and credit. 1 STOW, The Chronicle of England, Christ, 1580, Lond., 1580, 4to, p. from Brute unto the present yeare of 872. CHAPTER III. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. RUY Gonzales de Puebla was a doctor of laws, whom Ferdinand and Isabella sent to Henry VII. in 1488 to negotiate the marriage of Catherine of Aragon with Arthur, Prince of Wales. He came to England a second time, about 1494, as Spanish Ambassador, and represented not only Castile and Aragon but also the Pope and the Emperor until 1509, when he died. Puebla was venal, and so mean, that for the sake of cheap lodgings he lived in a disreputable house. 1 His official position, and intercourse with Court people, which he rendered frequent, as much to be enter- tained at dinner as to obtain news, 2 enabled him to be well-informed. He also frequented the numerous Genoese who were settled in London. In fact, his intimacy with them was too great ; since by paying him bribes, which at times amounted to so much as 500 crowns, they secured his influence to be relieved of fines imposed by the English government. The corruption was such that commissioners were sent from Spain in 1498 to investigate the charges brought against him. 3 1 " He has been living for three years 2 "Once Henry asked his courtiers already in the house of a mason who if they knew the reason why DE made money by keeping disreputable PUEBLA was coming. They answered, women under his roof." Petition of 'To eat,' and the king laughed." the Spanish merchants in London, " Report of LONDONO," op. cit., Nos. and letter from Dr. BRETON, in the 204, 207. Spanish Calendar of BERGENROTH, 3 Ibidem, No. 206, p, 165. vol. i, Nos. 206, 206, p. 1 66. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 15 This intercourse with people from Genoa, many of whom we must suppose to have known John Cabot personally, as in those days the Italians residing in London often met in Lombard Street, and also the probability that Puebla himself saw him at the Court in 1496 and 1498 when applying for letters patent, are considerations which add great weight to the expression " a Genoese," used by Puebla in reference to John Cabot. Pedro de Ayala first went to Scotland as am- bassador to the Court of James IV., and afterwards to London, as adjunct to Puebla, until 1500. Ferdi- nand of Aragon then sent him to the Emperor at Bruges, whence he returned to his native country in the spring of 1506, via England. 1 Ayala differed greatly from Puebla. He was a gentleman of high birth, and, although belonging to the Church, as apostolic protonotary, was of a pugna- cious, haughty, and prodigal disposition, withal, a very skilful diplomatist, who had the greatest contempt for his chief, Puebla, whose company he avoided. Instead, he lived in the intimacy of Raimondo di Soncino, the ambassador of Ludovic the Moor, who then held Genoa as a fief of the French crown. He even corresponded directly with that prince, and, to use an expression of the time, " was not less in the service of the Duke of Milan than Raimondo himself." 2 At the Milanese Embassy, he had frequent inter- 1 He is the "Peter Hyalas " of latter for the Line of Demarcation or HALLE, GRAFTON, and HOLINSHED, Partition, after COLUMBUS had de- and the"Elias" of BACON (Hist, of parted on his second voyage. This Henry VII., p. 174), who negotiated prompted the witty remark of the King the truce between JAMES IV. and of Portugal : "My cousin's embassy HENRY VII. in 1497. He is also the lacks both head and feet ;" referring Pedro DE AYALA whom FERDINAND to the weak intellect of CARVAJAL, and and ISABELLA sent as ambassador with the lameness of AYALA. BARROS, Garci LOPEZ DE CARVAJAL in the Decad. i, fo. 57. autumn of 1493, to JOAO II. , concern- 2 RAWDON BROWN, Calendar, vol. ing the modifications proposed by the i, Nos. 780, 783. 16 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. course with the distinguished Genoese who occupied such high positions at the Court of England that several of them were entrusted by Henry VII. with diplomatic missions to the Pope and to the King of France. There were among them men like Agostino, Antonio, Benedetto and Francesco Spinola,the King's physician Zoane Battista de Tabia, Cipriano de Fornari, &c., &C. 1 It was the time of the disco- veries accomplished by their countryman Christopher Columbus. His voyages across the ocean were doubtless a frequent subject of conversation with those enterprising Italians. Ayala, himself, certainly took great interest in the subject, as he had been one of the two commissioners sent by Ferdinand and Isabella to Joao II., the King of Portugal, in the autumn of 1493, regarding the Line of Demarcation fixed by the Papal Bull of May 4th. 2 We are authorised, therefore, to think that when Ayala thrice called John Cabot " a Genoese," 3 his information was derived from the men of that nationality whom he met so often, and is, consequently, entitled to credit. The statements of the English historians of the 1 6th century relative to the same question require also to be examined in detail. The Epitome of Chronicles published in 1559, is only the continuation of the chronicle of Thomas Lanquet or Lanquette extended to the reign of Elizabeth. The second part, in which is to be found the passage concerning Sebastian Cabot, is ascribed to Bishop Cooper, as the title reads : " Secondly, to the reigne of our soueraigne lord king Edward the sixt, by Thomas Cooper." Cooper does not seem to have resided elsewhere than at Oxford, where he practised medicine, 4 before 1 Ibidem, Nos. 785, 787. 4 At the age of twenty-four years. 2 Supra, p. 15, note I. Wm. NICHOLSON, The English His- 3 Dispatch of July 25th, 1498. Jean torical Library , 1696, 8vo, vol. i, et Sb. Cabot, doc. xiii, p. 329. p. 188. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 17 Elizabeth ascended the throne, in 1558. He was not made a bishop till 1570. Born about 1517, and living until 1594, he may have met Sebastian at the Court during the last eight or nine years of the latter's life, which were spent within the city of London. But it is necessary at the outset to ascertain whether Thomas Cooper was really the author of the expression : " a Genoways sonne," applied to Sebastian Cabot. The first edition of Lanquet's Chronicle, pub- lished in 1549, does not contain, of course, any allusion to an event of the year 1553. The second edition, which was printed in 1554, we have failed to find in any library. The third edition appeared in 1559, and is the one from which we have borrowed the previously quoted statement concerning the nationality of Sebastian Cabot's father. The title states that the third part is "to the reigne of our soueraigne Ladye Quene Elizabeth, by Robert Crowley," and it bears the imprint "Londini. In aedibus Thomae Marshe" ; but we read in the colophon : " Imprinted at London by William Seres." The reader should bear in mind these three names, Crowley, Marshe and Seres (or Ceres). The fourth edition is of 1560, and the fifth of 1565. Both of these were certainly edited by Thomas Cooper. The reference contains only the words "one Sebastian Gaboto," without any allusion to the birth-place of his father. Further, in the " Admonicion," on the verso of the title-page, Cooper protests against the edition of 1559 in energetic terms : " Wherein as I saw some thynges of myne lefte out, and many thynges of others annexed . . . greatly blame their vnhonest dealynge, and protest that the Edicion of this chronicle set foorth B 18 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. by Marshe and Ceres in the yere of Christe 1559, is none of myne." l The edition of 1559 is therefore a mere counterfeit, and as the words "a Genoways sonne" are not in any of the editions which Cooper recognises as his own, the designation is an interpolation of the compiler who edited the publication of Marsh and Ceres, that is, Robert Crowley. Crole or Crowley was at once printer, bookseller, poet, controversialist and preacher. After receiving his education at Oxford, 2 he settled in London towards the close of the reign of Henry VIII. and became one of the most zealous reformers of his day and country. As he did not die till 1588, Crowley may have known Sebastian Cabot personally, since they both lived in the same city from at least 1551 until 1554, when Crowley went to Frankfort return- ing to England only on the death of Queen Mary, in 1558. Richard Grafton's Chronicle is in reality that of Edward Hall or Halle, remodelled and augmented. But as Halle's Chronicle in its original printed form 3 only dealt with the reign of Henry VIII., while the continuation, found, it is said, among Halle's papers, only came down to the year 1532, and as moreover, he died in 1548, it is evident that the details about Cabot sub anno 1553, given by Grafton, were not borrowed from Halle, Grafton was the appointed printer of Edward VI., who notwithstanding his youth, wrote a great deal. Having already enjoyed that privilege while as yet Edward was but Prince of Wales, in 1545, Grafton continued to hold it to the young monarch's death in 1553. We are unable to say whether this 1 Thomas LANQUET, An Epitome London, 1819, 410, vol. iv, p. 324. of Chronicles ; COOPER'S editions of 3 The Union of the two noble and 1560 and 1565, 4to. illustre fame lies of Lancastre and 2 AMES, Typographical Antiquities > Yorke ; London, 1548, fol. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 19 circumstance brought Grafton into contact with Cabot, whom we know to have frequented the Court of that King, where he even delivered lectures on Cosmography. But the sentence in question, such as Grafton gives it in 15 69,* resembles too much that in the third edition of Lanquet's Chronicle, although inserted sub anno 1552, instead of 1553, not to have been borrowed from Crowley. We know scarcely anything of the life of Ralph Holinshed, but for the present inquiry this is of no importance, as what we read about Cabot in his Chronicle is copied literally from Crowley, or from Grafton. Crowley, Grafton and Holinshed therefore con- stitute but one authority ; yet we should recollect that the first two, and probably the third, were con- temporaries of Sebastian Cabot, and lived in London, where he himself then resided. 2 It is certain that under the circumstances they would not have repre- sented him to be the son of a Genoese, if they had ever heard that he was the son of a Venetian born. We now come to John Stow, and must ascertain whether he also borrowed his statement from the same source. The life of that learned antiquary is really touching. He was a poor tailor, who worked at his trade until the age of forty. 3 Being then impelled by an innate taste for historical studies, he quitted the shears and the needle to make researches into the English archives. He travelled long distances afoot, to investigate documents preserved in churches, colleges and monasteries, and collected, compared, copied and annotated a mass of texts, with a skill 1 Jean et Stbast. Cabot, doc. xxxvii s. a., 4to ; in the Epistle dedicatory. B, p. 364. 3 There is, however, a Summarie of 2 A very necessarie Booke concerning Englyshe Chronicles, London, 1561, Navigation ... by J. TAISNIERUS, I2mo, written when he was but thirty- translated by RICHARD EDEN ; Lond., five years old. 20 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. and devotion truly admirable. Finally, when at the age of eighty the zealous and patriotic " searcher and preserver of antiquities," as Hakluyt justly calls him, was no longer able to work, James the First, as a reward for the services which he had rendered to national history, authorized him, by letters patent of May 8th, 1603, to beg his bread under the porch of all the churches in the kingdom. He died two years afterwards, April 5th, I6O5. 1 Stow speaks of Sebastian Cabot three times. We shall take these in their reverse order. The third time is on the occasion of the disastrous expedition of 1553, in which Willoughby and all his companions were frozen to death. There is an account of that terrible event in the Chronicles of Lanquet, Grafton and Holinshed ; but S tow's betrays a different source of information. He gives, for instance, the precise date, viz. : May 2oth of the seventh year of the reign of Edward VI., but omits the name of the unfortunate navigator, as well as the sequel of the voyage. We also notice a circumstance which the other Chronicles of the time have failed to report, viz. : that the expedition was fitted out at the cost of merchants, who each subscribed ^25, and that among the principal promoters were Sir George Barnes and Sir William Garrard. Unfor- tunately, Stow speaks of our Cabot only as " one Sebastian Cabotte," without mentioning either his nationality or that of his father. Our reason for quoting Stow at this point is simply to show that he was not a blind follower of his predecessors, and that he possessed independent information regarding Sebastian Cabot. The second time he refers to him is with refer- ence to the three savages from the New World 1 Life of John Stow, in the edition of 1720, of his Survey of London, fol., vol. i. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 21 who were exhibited in London in I5O2. 1 In this instance Stow again omits to state the nationality of Sebastian's father, doubtless because he has already given the information in a passage referred to in a marginal note. This brings us to the first mention, and there our hero is described as "one Sebastian Gabato a genoas sonne. J> It is in S tow's brief account of the transatlantic voyage in the course of which the continent of North America was discovered. 2 No authority is cited for the assertion, but we can easily ascend to its source by comparing the account with that of Hakluyt. It will be seen from the following extracts that both are unquestion- ably derived from the same original. STOW HAKLUYT (in 1580). (in 1582). "This yeare one . . . pro- "This yeere the King (by fessing himselfe to be experte means of .... which made in knowledge of the circuite of himselfe very expert and cimn- the worlde and Ilandes of the ing in knoweledge of the circuite same, as by his charts and other of the worlde, and Ilandes of reasonable demonstrations he the same as by a Carde, and shewed, caused the King to other demonstrations reasonable man and victual a shippe at hee shewed) caused to man and Bristow to search for an Ilande victuall a shippe at Bristowe, to which he knewe to be replen- search for an Ilande, whiche he ished with rich commodities said hee knewe well was riche t ." and replenished with riche com- modities . . ." 3 The similarity continues to the end of the descrip- tion, which Hakluyt frankly states "to have been taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not hitherto printed, whiche is in the custodie of Mr. John Stowe." 4 On his part, Stow acknowledges possessing "a continuation by Fabyan himself, as late as the third year of Henry * Jean et Stbast. Cabot, doc. xiv, * Jean */ S&astien Cabot, loc. cit. y p. 330. and doc. vi c, p. 318. 2 Ibidem, doc. vi B, p. 317. 4 Ibidem. 22 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. VIII." 1 There is no doubt therefore that Stow's description of the voyage of 1497 was derived from Fabyan. The fact that no such account is to be found in any of the manuscripts or editions of Fabyan's Chronicle which have come down to us 2 is no proof to the contrary. The first edition of Fabyan was published four years after his death, in 1516, and it extends no later than the reign of Richard III. The additions to the second edition, published in 1533, and which reach to the year 1509, are only brief notes, which cannot even be said to come from Fabyan's MSS. And yet this author certainly left a continuation, of which, however, his posthumous publishers, Pynson and Rastell, have not been aware. That continuation covered the entire reign of Henry VII., since Stow says it reached to the third year of the reign of Henry VIII., and it consequently embraced the period of Cabot's first transatlantic voyages, as well as a description of the same. This is further shown by the other statement (above cited) relative to three savages brought from the New World in 1502, which is also given as having been taken from Fabyan's Chronicle, although it is not to be found in any known text of his work. Now, if Stow's declaration that Sebastian Cabot was the son of a Genoese comes originally from Fabyan, as must be admitted a priori, it is entitled to credit. Not that Fabyan, notwithstanding his efforts to reconcile the various accounts of historians, possessed great critical acumen ; but as he was born 1 Harleian MSS. 538, quoted by part which interests us. The copy of BIDDLE, p. 299. FABYAN in the Reading Room of the 2 Chronicle, London, 1516, 1533, British Museum contains the following 1542, 1559, fol. ELLIS has consulted MS. annotation: "A third MS. in for his 1811 edition two MSS., but the Holkham Library." We have they were incomplete as regards the vainly endeavoured to discover it. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 23 in London, and lived in that city to the time of his death in 1512, having held the important offices of sheriff and alderman, the latter of which he still filled in 1502, he must have been in a position to obtain reliable information concerning matters of importance to trade and navigation, such as were unquestionably the granting of the letters patent of 1496 and the successful voyage of John Cabot in 1497. He must then have known personally the fortunate navigator, to whom, in London, on account of his great discovery " vast honors were paid, and after whom the English ran like wild people." 1 Besides, Fabyan was a draper by trade, and, on account of the celebrated Genoa and Savona cloths and plushes which were then largely imported into England, doubtless had commercial intercourse with the Ligurian merchants residing in London, and may thus have acquired from them information relative to John Cabot's original nationality. Withal, the matter is not yet absolutely clear. In the quotation given above the reader may have noticed a certain blank in the extracts alike of Stow and Hakluyt. This line of argument required us to leave out a few words, which must be now replaced. They are : STOW (1580). HAKLUYT (1582). " One Sebastian Gabato a " by meanes of a Venetian." genoas sonne." The difference is great, and the more noticeable that both Stow and Hakluyt took their text from the same manuscript Fabyan. An interpolation has certainly been made by one of them. It must be said that Hakluyt did not always follow original texts faithfully. Without accepting 1 PASQUALIGO'S Letter ; Jean et S4b. Cabot, doc. viii, p. 322, 24 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. all^the criticisms levelled at him by Biddle * concern- ing extracts from Gomara, Ramusio and Willes, inserted in the Principall Navigations, the inac- curacy of which must be in part ascribed to Richard Eden, there is one which we think well-founded. It is that which concerns the three savages from the New World already referred to as exhibited in London in I5O2. 2 This circumstance is related by Hakluyt and by Stow, in both instances as having been borrowed from Fabyan. According to Stow, the exhibition took place "18 Hen. VII. A.D. I5O2." 3 Hakluyt in his Divers Voyages published in 1582, had given almost the same date : " in the xvii yeere of his [Henry VII th 's] raigne." 4 Being anxious, afterwards, to make the exhibition coincide with Cabot's voyage of 1498, he changed, in his edition f JSQQ-iGoo, the date of 1502 into that of " the fourteenth yere of Henry VII th 's raigne;" which covers the period from August 2ist, 1498 until August 2ist, 1499. We have just seen also that in 1582, he says, again in quoting Fabyan: " by meanes of a Venetian." Yet, eighteen years after- wards, he alters his text, so as to make it read : "by meanes of one John Cabot, a Venetian," continuing nevertheless, to give the fact as coming from Fabyan. Hakluyt therefore may be charged with manipulating sometimes the authors whom he quotes. As to John Stow, we must frankly admit that he is also liable to the charge of having foisted several words into the cited passage derived from Fabyan. True it is that we do not possess the latter's original text, but the critic can trace it to 1 BIDDLE, pp. 13, 21, 34, 53. See 3 Jean et Stbastien Cabot, doc. xiv, TYTLER'S excellent vindication of p. 330. HAKLUYT, Progress of Discovery, 4 HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, in the Edinb., 1823, pp. 417-444. Hakluyt Society's reprint, p. 23. 2 STOW, Chron. , Lond., 1580, p. 875. JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. 25 its prototype, viz. : the Cottonian MS. entitled Cronicon regum Anglice et series maiorum et vice comitum Civitatis London ab anno primo Henrici terfatm ad annum primum Hen. 8 vi , which begins as follows : " This yere the Kyng at the besy request and supplication of a Straunger venisian, which by a Cceart made by hym self expert in knowyng of the world. . . ." x Hakluyt's first account (1582) is certainly more in accordance with the above text than is that of Stow, and as he expressly states that he took it from the copy of Fabyan then in the possession of Stow, we are bound to infer that Stow's copy of Fabyan did not contain the words : " Sebastian Gabato a genoas sonne," and that these are an interpolation made by Stow himself. We have been unable to ascertain where he obtained his information on this point. True it is that Crowley, thirty years before him, had already stated that Sebastian Cabot was "a Genoways sonne," which statement was repeated by Grafton in 1569, and by Holinshed in 1577, and the chronicles of those authors cannot have remained unknown to Stow. Withal, our impression is that if he had borrowed the statement from them, we should find it, not in his account of the voyage of 1497, but in his description of Willoughby's expedition, exactly as those historians have it, and with the same details. Further, however paradoxical it may seem at first sight, we are inclined to believe that in Stow's opinion, the Cabot who discovered the continent of North America, and the Cabot who " encouraged " the enterprise of Willoughby fifty-six years after- wards, had nothing in common, not even the name. 1 Jean et S4b. Cabot, doc. vi, p. 316. 26 JOHN CABOT CALLED A GENOESE. Under the years 1498 and 1502, he calls the navi- gator " Gabato " ; under the year 1553, " Cabotte" When speaking of Gabato in 1502, in order to show that he is the same individual mentioned previously, Stow omits the adjective a before the name and adds in the marginal note : "before named in anno 1498." Now, there is no such reference, although greatly needed, when he speaks of the principal promoter of Willoughby's expedition, whom he simply designates as " one Sebastian Cabotte," as if the man had never before played any part in the events related in his chronicle, and without knowing, apparently, where he came from. It is not impossible, therefore, that Stow may have borrowed his information relative to the original nationality of Sebastian Cabot's father, from some old document, and not from the same source as Crowley, or from Crowley himself. At all events, it has been shown that until the day when the Doge Andrea Vendramin said to John Cabot, according to the consecrated formula : " te nostrum creamus : We create thee one of us," John Cabot had only been in Venice, a " forestiere," or alien in the full sense of the term. Further, the documents prove that after he removed to England, diplomatists and historians believed him to have come originally from Genoa, and called his son Sebastian " a Genoways sonne," whilst no proof to the contrary has yet been adduced by anyone. CHAPTER IV. SEBASTIAN CABOT's AGE AND NATIONALITY. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN. A number of English writers state that Sebastian Cabot was born in England, at Bristol. 1 This assertion requires to be thoroughly examined. John Cabot was married to a Venetian woman, who followed him to England, apparently in one of those galleys which Venice sent regularly to the principal ports of Great Britain. On the 27th of August 1497, she was living at Bristol with her children. 2 Lorenzo Pasqualigo, in the only mention which has reached us of John Cabot's wife, and Sebastian's mother, simply says : "so moier venitiana e con so fioli a Bristo." 3 We do not even know what was her maiden or her Christian name. 4 The probability is that she died at the close of the i5th century, since, when Sebastian Cabot alleged, as a pretext for going to Venice, that he had to prosecute a claim relating to his mother's jointure, Peter 1 LANQUET (i.e. CROWLEY), GRAF- Lendas de India, Lisboa, 1858-62, TON, HOLINSHED, STOW, &c. &c. 4to, vol. iii, p. 109. That belief was certainly based upon 2 RAWDON BROWN, Calendar, vol. i, EDEN'S marginal note (mentioned No. 752 ; BULLO, Vera Patria, p. 61. below), which must have inspired z JeanetSgb. Cabot, doc. viii, p. 322. them with the more confidence that 4 John Cabot's wife seems to have it emanated from Cabot himself. had a sister, whose name is also un- Francis GODWIN, Annales of known, and who was represented as England^ London, 1630, folio, calls living in Venice on the 28th of April "Sebastian Cabota, a Portugall." 1523, and to be then very old: "la Caspar CORREA, who lived in the ameda vostra e molto vecchia," says times of Cabot, says he was a Basque : the Ragusian when writing to Sebastian " N' este anno de. 527 partio de Cabot. Jean et Sbastien Cabot ; doc. SevillahumBastiaoGabato, biscayno;" xxxi, p. 353. 28 SEBASTIAN CABOT S AGE AND NATIONALITY. Vannes wrote to the Privy Council, on the i2th of September 1551 : " this matter is above fifty years old." 1 It will be remembered that in the nth year of the reign of Henry VII., John Cabot and his three sons requested a grant of letters patent for a voyage of discovery. 2 These were granted on March 5th, 1496, and it is from them that we learn the names of Cabot's three sons, " Lewes, Sebestyan and Sancto." If we follow the order in which the grantees are mentioned in the letters patent, Sebastian was the second son ; but we have yet to ascertain his age and the place of his birth. The grant is to John Cabot personally, and to his sons, but he does not receive it at the same time as guardian for them, or any of them. On the contrary, the individual character of the grantees is preserved absolutely, as the letters patent are to each separately, their heirs and deputies : " Dilectis nobis Johanni Cabotto civi Venetiarum, ac Lodovico, Sebastiano et Sancto, filiis dicti Johannis, et eorum ac cujus libet eorum hseredibus et deputatis : to our welbeloued John Cabot, citizen of Venice, to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctus, sonnes of the said John, and to the heires of them, and euery of them, and their deputies." Apparently, John Cabot's three sons were therefore in March 1496 all of full age. True it is that Henry VII. asserted high prerogatives, and perhaps infancy or minority would not have been a bar under his reign to the vesting of a royal grant in an infant or minor, leaving the question of disability to arise when it was sought to enforce some liability against the alleged infant, or when some question was started as to the exercise by him of authority pur- * Jean et Stbast. Cabot ; doc. xxxvi, 2 RYMER, Fcedera, vol. v, part iv, p. 362. p. 89 ; DESIMONI, Intorno, doc. vi. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN. 29 porting to be given to the minor by the grant of letters patent. Yet any one at all familiar with the history of English jurisprudence will concede that, even under the first Tudor, powers such as the making of contracts with third parties, and the right to take and equip ships in British ports, to bind crews, and enjoy the privileges of exclusive resort and traffic, all of which could be vitiated on the ground of infancy, would scarcely have been granted to any one who was not obviously of full age. Nor is it likely that powers so extensive as to give authority to subdue, occupy and possess foreign regions, and to exercise jurisdiction over them in the name of the King of England, could also have been given to minors. The counsellors of the Crown, we think, would have required proofs of majority, if the least doubt had arisen in their mind on that most important point. This objection involves the question of majority. If we interpret it in the sense of the English common law, Sebastian Cabot, on the 5th of March 1496, had attained at least the age of twenty-two since his younger brother Sanctus was then, necessarily, not less than twenty-one years old. Sebastian there- fore was born before March 1474. If, on the other hand, we view the question from the standpoint of the civil law which prevailed at Venice, Sebastian's birth occurred at the latest in 1470. The place of his birth can also be ascertained, both by implication and from trustworthy reports. If we are to believe certain English biographers, Sebastian Cabot's native place was in England, on the banks of the Frome or Avon. This assertion rests almost exclusively upon a statement made by Sebastian Cabot himself, which, however, as we shall hereafter show, carries but little weight. Richard Eden, in a marginal note appended to his 30 SEBASTIAN CABOT S AGE AND NATIONALITY. translation of Peter Martyr's Decades, makes the following statement : "Sebastian Cabote tould me that he was borne in Brystowe, and that at iiii. yeare ould he was carried with his father to Venice, and so returned agayne into England with his father after certayne years, whereby he was thought to have been born in Venice." l Reverting to the decree by which the Senate of Venice conferred the Venetian nationality on John Cabot, we must recall the fact that the privilege was granted in consequence of a constant residence of fifteen years in Venice. And as the act is dated March 28th, 1476, whilst the letters patent of Henry VII. bear date March 5th, 1496, Sebastian Cabot was not only already in existence when his father obtained the Venetian nationality, but he must have then been not less than two, or six years old. That is, he was begotten whilst John Cabot yet awaited within the limits of the Republic, to all appearances in the city itself, the prescribed period when an alien could be invested with the rights and privileges of a Venetian citizen. Sebastian Cabot therefore was born in Venice. If, in reply, misguided English patriotic writers bring forward the statement of Cabot to Eden, ''that at iiii yeare. ould he was carried with his father to Venice," they must admit one of two consequences, either of which is damaging to their case. The first is that if John Cabot's wife went to England only after her husband was made a Venetian citizen, March 28th, 1476, and then gave birth to Sebastian, in that case he cannot have been older than nineteen when Henry VII. granted him the letters patent of April 5th, 1496. Our argument derived from incapacity on account of lack of age, preserves therefore its full force. 1 EDEN, Decades of the New Worlde, London, 1555. 4to, fo. 255. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN. 31 The second consequence is that if it was before the time when John Cabot had acquired his Venetian naturalization that he became in England the father of Sebastian, then the latter was born prior to 1457, since the naturalization granted in 1476, is predicated upon a residence of fifteen consecutive years in Venice, and Sebastian says that he had attained the age of four when his father took him from England to that city. As Sebastian was still at the head of the Muscovy Company in 1556-1557, he would thus be in active service when one hundred years old ! The next legal document relating to the question of birth-place or original nationality is the grant of March 5th, 1496, in which John Cabot is mentioned as being a " Venetian citizen." We are of opinion that if his sons had been actually born within the domin- ion of the crown of England, being in consequence natural born subjects, although they were children of an alien, 1 their names would have been preceded in the letters patent by the usual formula : " dilectis subditis nostro." And if only one of them, Sebastian, for instance, had been brought into life on British soil, a similar expression would also have recorded the fact. We have only to examine the numerous grants in Rymer's Jcedera to become convinced of this rule. On the other hand, if the sons of John Cabot alone had been the grantees, the probability is that their nationality would have been stated ; but in the present instance it was doubtless deemed sufficient to employ the prescribed statement for the pater familias alone. This interpretation is borne out by the wording of another authentic document, viz. the letters patent 2 granted by Henry VII. on the i9th March 1501, to Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas of Bristol, associated with three Azorean 1 BLACKSTONE, vol. i, p. 288, note. 2 Letters patent in BIDDLE, p. 312. 32 SEBASTIAN CABOT S AGE AND NATIONALITY, adventurers. This patent is the first of the kind granted in England after the authorizations conceded to the Cabots in 1496 and 1498. Now, in these letters patent of 1501, Henry VII. explicitly abrogates the similar privileges which he had pre- viously granted, necessarily those to John Cabot and his sons, including, of course, Sebastian. And in what terms does the King refer to his first paten- tees ? He says that this new grant shall not be interfered with by virtue or colour of any previous grant made by him to any foreigner or foreigners under his Great Seal : "Seu aliquis extraneus aut aliqui extranei virtute aut colore alicujus concessionis nostrae sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per antea factae." It stands to reason that Henry VII. never would have used such expressions as "extraneus : foreigner," if Sebastian Cabot, who was one of those first gran- tees, had been an Englishman born. We must also notice that he does not use the term " foreigner " merely in the singular, 1 which would make the restriction apply only to John Cabot, the sole grantee in 1498. The word is also employed in the plural : " extranei," which again necessarily is a reference to the several grantees in 1496. Our conclusion that Sebastian Cabot was a Venetian by birth, and, in England, never anything else than a foreign resident, is confirmed by a number of other proofs. Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, who was on very friendly terms with him, from constant personal intercourse, speaks in his third Decade, written in 1515, as follows : "Familiarem habeo domi Cabottum ipsum et contubernalem interdum : Cabot is my very frende, whom I vse famylierly and 1 The reader will find in RYMER'S Fadera a number of instances where the distinction between these terms is clearly expressed. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN. 33 delyte to haue hym sumtymes keepe me company in myne owne house." This historian makes at the same time the following statement : " Sebastianus quidam Cabotus genere Venetus, sed a parentibus in Britanniam insulam tendentibus . . . transportatus pen infans : Sebastian Cabot a Venetian borne, whom beinge yet but in maner an infante, his parentes caryed with them into Englande." l Peter Martyr would hardly be so positive if the information had not been derived either from a trustworthy source, or from Cabot himself. Oviedo, who also knew Sebastian Cabot personally, and must have often met him at the Court of Charles V., makes a similar statement : " Sebastian Gaboto, por su origen veneciano e criado en la isla de Inglaterra : Sebastian Gaboto, of Venetian birth, brought up in the island of England." However, in the cedula of King Ferdinand of Aragon appointing Sebastian Cabot, October 2Oth, 1512, naval captain, there is a mention of English nationality in the words : " Sebastian Caboto, Ingles." 3 He had then been living in England for at least sixteen years and doubtless spoke English perfectly ; he also belonged to the retinue of Lord Willoughby de Broke, who had command of the British troops which were landed at Pasages only a few months before. In consequence of these facts, Sebastian Cabot may well have passed in Spain for an Englishman. But English documents absolutely authentic and of the time show that such was not then the opinion in England. In 1521, Henry VIII. ordered that the Twelve Great Liveries of London should bear most of the cost of an expedition to the New World, under the 1 ANGHIERA, De rebus Oceanicis et Indias, lib. xxiii, cap. i, vol. ii, p. Orbe nouo, Basil. 1533, folio, fo. 55. 169. 2 OVIEDO, Historia General de las ' A JeanetS&b. Cabot ,&oc. xvii, p. 332. C 34 SEBASTIAN CABOT S AGE AND NATIONALITY. command of Sebastian Cabot. The Wardens and Company of Drapers, acting as spokesmen, objected. Among other reasons, they stated that Cabot knew nothing personally of those transatlantic regions, whilst " perfite knowledge might be had by credible reporte of maisters and mariners naturally born within this realm of England having experience, and exercised in and about the forsaid Hand." 1 The words in italics are certainly an allusion to the foreign birth of Sebastian Cabot and carry great weight when we consider that they were addressed to the King and to Cardinal Wolsey by old and highly respect- able residents of London. We now come to assertions from his own lips, made under very grave circumstances. At the time when Cabot was holding the office of Pilot- Major of Spain, he sent an agent to Venice for the purpose of entering into negotiations con- cerning an expedition, of which we will speak at length hereafter. The Chief of the Council of Ten, in reporting the interview with that envoy (called Hieronimo de Marin de Busignolo), September 27th, 1522, stated that Cabot " dice esser di questa cittd nostra : says he is of our city [of Venice]." ' The Council instructed Gasparo Contarini, the Venetian Ambassador at the Court of Charles V., to see Cabot. He came to the embassy at Valladolid, on the 3Oth of December 1522, and made a state- ment which Contarini forwarded to his government the next day, in Cabot's own words : "Signer Ambassator per dirve il tuto io naqui a Venetia ma sum nutrito in Ingelterra : To tell everything to your Lordship, I was born in Venice, but brought up in England." 3 An admission of this kind could then be easily 1 Wardens Accounts of the Drapers 2 Jean et S4b. Cabot, doc. xxvi, p. 345. Company of London, in our Discovery 3 Idem, doc. xxviii, p. 348, and infra, of North America, p. 748. Syllabus, No. xxxvi. NOT AN ENGLISHMAN. 35 verified in Venice, and, bold as Cabot undoubtedly was, he never would have dared to make such an assertion, if untrue, to a foreign minister whom he was called upon to meet frequently at the Court, and to men like the Ten, justly jealous of their dignity, and who never left unpunished an imposture practised on that all-powerful Council. The belief in Sebastian Cabot's Venetian birth remained unshaken among the Venetians who knew him personally. Andrea Navagero, Contarini's successor in Spain, in official accounts, written in 1524, twice uses the expression : " Sebastian Cabotto Vene- tiano." 1 So does Ramusio, as well as the Mantuan Gentleman, who, in repeating to Ramusio a conversa- tion lately held with Sebastian Cabot, employs the terms " Un gran valent' huomo Venetiano," and " vostro cittadino Venetiano : Your Venetian fellow- citizen." Thirty years afterwards, when Cabot lived in London, the Council of Ten in a dispatch addressed, September i2th, 1551, to Giacomo Sor- anzo, the ambassador of the Republic to England, mentions him as the " fidelissimo nostro Sebastiano Gaboto : Our own most faithful Sebastian Cabot." 3 What more can be asked to prove that Sebastian Cabot was born not only on Venetian soil, but in the City of Venice itself: "di questa citta nostra"? 1 NAVAGERO'S dispatch of Sept. colta, 1563^0!. i, fo. 374, verso. 2lst, 1524, in BULLO, p. 69. 3 Jean et Stb. Cabot, doc. xxxv, p. 2 RAMUSIO, Delle Spetierie, in Roc- 361. CHAPTER V. JOHN CABOT'S LIFE IN ENGLAND. PETER Martyr, apparently repeating what Sebas- tian Cabot told him, says that he was brought over to England when yet an infant. As Sebastian died after 1557, and was, as we have shown, at least twenty-two years old in 1496, if the expression "pene infans" is to be taken literally, the settling of John Cabot in England would have followed soon after his Venetian naturalization ; since the decree of the Senate conferring it is of the year 1476, and the term " infans " applies only to a child who does not yet know how to speak. A passage in the narrative of the Mantuan Gentle- man contradicts Peter Martyr's remark. He reports that Sebastian Cabot made to him the following statement : " When my father departed from Venice, many yeeres since, to dwell in England, to follow the trade of merchandises, hee tooke me with him to the citie of London, while I was rather young, yet having neverthelesse some knowledge of letters of humanitie, and of the sphere." * The words "lettere d'humanita" mean here classical studies, and "la sphera," is Cosmography. Sebastian therefore must have been at that time not less than fourteen or fifteen years old, to possess a knowledge of these things. And as he was at least twenty- two when Henry VII. granted him letters patent in 1496, John Cabot can scarcely have settled ] RAMUSIO, vol. i, fo. 374. JOHN CABOT S LIFE IN ENGLAND. 37 in England with his family before 1490, if Sebas- tian's statement to the Mantuan Gentleman be exact Sebastian also told Contarini, the Venetian Ambassador, in 1522, "sum nutrito in Ingelterra: I was reared in England." 1 The verb "nutrire" conveys the idea of early youth, followed by several years employed in being educated. 2 If so, he came to England when a child, and in that country acquired his early education. This statement tallies with the "pene infans" of Peter Martyr, but con- tradicts the remark made by Sebastian Cabot to the Mantuan Gentleman. In the course of this inquiry, we shall be confronted at every step with contradictions of the kind, without being able to find positive reasons for preferring one of Sebastian Cabot's assertions to another. Under the circumstances we can only hope to arrive at approximative dates, and then only by inference. We reason in this wise : When John Cabot obtained his English letters patent in 1496, he had three sons, all of whom were grantees with him, and therefore of full age. If we limit ourselves to the age of majority according to the common law, the eldest of those sons, Lewis, was, therefore, in 1496, not less than twenty-three years old, or born in 1473. John Cabot consequently married at the earliest in 1472, and as the marriage took place in Italy, or was ruled by his personal status, he must have been then at least twenty-one. This places the date of his birth not later than 1451. Our figures, naturally, are extreme ones, and not absolute. There may have been, for instance, a difference of more than one year between each of the three sons, and John Cabot may have married later than the age of 1 CONTARINI'S dispatch, in Jean et 2 " Nutrio = educo = dicitur de iis quse Sb. Cabot, doc. xxviii, p. 348. parva sunt et crescunt." FORCELLINI. 38 JOHN CABOT S LIFE IN ENGLAND. twenty-one. But, in the present state of the ques- tion, it is not possible to obtain greater exactness. Taking, however, the usual course of things, our results can differ but a few years, say four or five, from the reality. We are inclined to believe that John Cabot removed with his entire family to England in 1490. This impression is based upon the fact that the first indication of his presence in that country is the statement of Pedro de Ayala that during the seven years previous to 1498, the Bristol men had sent an annual expedition to find the (imaginary) island of Brazil, in accordance with John Cabot's notions. This locates him in England in 1491. The inference drawn from the above hypothetic mode of computation is that John Cabot did not undertake his memorable voyage of 1497 till he had attained the age of forty-six, and that when Sebastian came to England, he was a lad of about sixteen. This would agree with the statement made to the Mantuan Gentleman. All that we have been able to ascertain relative to John Cabot's avocations before settling in England, is that Ayala represents him as having visited Portugal and Spain to obtain royal aid to undertake trans- atlantic discoveries, and also as having visited Mecca. 1 We shall examine the first of these state- ments in the following chapter. As for the voyage to Mecca, it must have been accomplished after 1476, for John Cabot remained in Venice fifteen years previous to that date ; and when his probation time commenced, in 1461, he was not much more than ten years old. If Bristol is the place where John Cabot first settled in England, such a residence may imply on his part 1 "Et dice che altre volte esso e of Raimondo DI SONCINO ; Jean et stato alia Meccha." Second dispatch Stt. Cabot ; doc. x, p. 325. JOHN CABOT S LIFE IN ENGLAND. 39 notions of transatlantic enterprises dating from his arrival. That city was the centre of English trade with the northern countries, 1 and the port from which sailed such bold expeditions as those to " Thule," for example, as Columbus himself relates in I477. 2 But it is not certain that Bristol was the place where John Cabot first established his English home. The Mantuan Gentleman, as we have already remarked, states, on the authority of Sebastian himself, that London was the city to which the family emigrated from Venice : " nella citta di Londra." 3 Peter Martyr, again, we believe, in repeating statements from Sebastian Cabot, who evidently endeavoured to belittle his father, says that the latter, together with his family, " came into Englande havyng occasion to resorte thether for trade of merchandies, as is the manner of the Venetians too leave no parte of the Worlde unsearched to obteyne richesse."' Sebastian made, as we have seen, a statement of the same kind to the Mantuan Gentleman, to whom he said that his "father departed from Venice to dwell in England, to follow the trade of marchandises." 5 Like so many Venetians of the time, John Cabot may have engaged in commercial pursuits ; but the information transmitted by his contemporaries re- presents him simply as a seaman. The Cronicon 6 and Pedro de Ayala 7 speak of charts and mapamundi of his own make. Raimondo di Soncino, in two dis- patches written at a few months' interval, mentions 1 Finn MAGNUSEN, Om de Engel- Venetorum, qui commercii causa ter- skes Handel paa Island ; Copenhague, rarum omnium sunt hospites)." AN- 1833, p. 147, quoted by KOHL, Dis- GHIERA, Decad. iii, lib. vi, fo. 55. covery of Maine, p. 112. 5 "Andato a stare in Inghilterra a 2 See the letter of Christopher COL- far mercantie lo meno seco nella citta UMBUS in LAS CASAS, Historia de las di Londra." RAMUSIO, loc. cit. Indias, vol. i, p. 48. 6 Jean et Stb. Cabot, doc. vi, p. 316. 3 RAMUSIO, op. cit. 7 Dispatch of AYALA, Ibid., doc. 4 " Sed a parentibus in Britanniam xiii, p. 329, and infra, Syllabzts, No. insulam tendentibus (uti moris est xvi. 40 JOHN CABOT S LIFE IN ENGLAND. John Cabot, in one as "molto bono marinare et a bona scientia de trovare insule nove : a very good mariner, possessing great talent for discovering new islands," and in the other as being "de gentile ingenio, peritissimo de la navigatione : a man of fine mind, extremely skilful in [the art of] naviga- tion." * The references to his endeavours to obtain the aid of Spain for voyages of discovery "like Columbus," and the alleged repeated attempts of the Bristol men to find the island of Brasil according to his notions, are additional proofs that in England John Cabot was considered to be a practical navi- gator. In a work written at the beginning of this century, we find the following passage, in support of which, unfortunately, no authorities are quoted : " The Venetians had factories in the different towns and cities of the northern kingdoms, and agents wherever they deemed it advantageous to preserve an intercourse. John Gabota, or Cabot, by birth a Venetian, was employed in that capacity at Bristol ; he had long resided in England, and a successful negotiation in which he had been employed in the year 1495, w i tn tne court of Denmark, respecting some interruptions which the merchants of Bristol had suffered in their trade to Iceland, had been the means of introducing him to Henry VII." 2 This is evidently the source of the statement inserted by Rafn in his celebrated Antiquitates Americana? but also without the support of docu- mentary proofs. At first sight, there is nothing impossible in the statement. Englishmen having killed the governor of Iceland in a riot, King Christian I. embargoed four British vessels laden with valuable merchandise. As Edward IV. made no reply to the complaints of the Danish monarch, the latter allowed the cargoes to be sold. This brought about an open 1 Raimondo DI SONCINO, loc. cit. Newfoundland, London, 1819, p. 25. 2 L. A. ANSPACH, A History of 3 Hafnise, 1837, 4to, p. 451. JOHN CABOTS LIFE IN ENGLAND. 41 war between the two nations, 1 which lasted from 1478 until 1491, when England and Denmark entered into negotiations at Antwerp, but peace was not concluded before June 24th, 1497. It is possible therefore that John Cabot may have been engaged by Bristol ship owners to prosecute their claims in H95-. Thinking that perhaps a mission of this sort might have left traces in the records of the Hansa, we carefully examined the Hansecresse from 1477 to I5OO, 2 but found only two mentions of Bristol vessels (in 1487 and 1491), and these unimportant. At all events, Cabot's name does not figure in those records. We also instituted researches in the archives of Denmark, 3 and in the old chronicles of that country, in order to find traces of negoti- ations of the kind mentioned in the above extract. Nothing whatever was discovered on the subject, nor do we believe that authentic documents refer- ring to such a matter exist in Bristol or anywhere in England. The assertion of William Stratchey that John Cabot "was indenized Henry VII.'s subject and dwelling within Blackfriers," 4 rests upon no proof whatever. 1 "... Accessit et alia hujus belli 2 Edited by Dietrich SCHAFER, causa, quod quum Angli proefectum Leipzig, 1888-90, vols. ii and iii. Christierni regis ejus nominis primi in 3 Through the obliging agency of Islandia per tumultum occidissent, Rex Mr C. H. BRUNN, the learned director ut illatam injuriam ulcisceretur quatuor of the Copenhagen Royal Library, illorum naves preciosis mercibus onus- 4 STRACHEY, The First Booke of tas coepit ac diu tenuit. Quumque de the Historie of Travaile into Virginia cede facta querenti regi Angli respon- Britannia, 1612. Hakluyt Society dere nollent, passus est rex captarum edition, 1849-51^.6. We may judge navium merces distrahi : quae res paulo of STRACHEY'S accuracy by this other post in apertum bellum processit dam- statement: "John Cabot, a Venetian, naque in mari ab Angelis multa Danis, howbeit endinezed an English subject, magna vicissim Anglis tarn sub Chris- and at that tyme, governour of the tierno patre quam sub filio ejus Joanne companye of the marchants of Cathay illata sunt." P. PARVUS ROSEFON- in the cittie of London." Op. at., TANUS, Chronicon, in his Refutatio cat- p. 139. umniaruni) 1560, s. /., 4to, signat. o 4. CHAPTER VI. JOHN CABOT'S FIRST EFFORTS. AT the outset, we must state that John Cabot is not, as certain writers believe, 1 the " Magister navis scientificus totius Angliae " who, according to William de Worcestre, left Bristol, June I5th, 1480, on board a ship equipped at the cost of John Jay, junior, in search of the imaginary islands of Brazil, and of the Seven Cities. That vessel, which on account of heavy storms was compelled to return after a voyage of seven months (or weeks), without having made any discovery, was commanded by one Thomas Llyde or Lloyd. 2 In the dispatch addressed to Ferdinand and Isa- bella, from London, July 25th, 1498, by Pedro de Ayala concerning a transatlantic voyage then lately accomplished under the British flag, we notice the following sentence : " I have seen the map which was made by the discoverer, who is another Genoese like Columbus [and ?] who has been to Seville and Lisbon trying to obtain assistance for that discovery : Yo he visto la carta que ha fecho el inventador que es otro Genoves como Colon que ha estado en Sevilla y en Lisbona procurando haver quien le ayudasse a esta invencion." 3 1 D'AVEZAC, Letter to the Reverend an emissary of the King of France Leonard Woods, 1868, in KOHL'S (CHARLES VIII.), for in reply to the Documentary History of Maine, Port- letter of Dr. PuEBLAsent from London, land, U.S., 1869, 8 vo, p. 506; JUR- January 21 st, 1496 (lost unfortunately), IEN DE LA GRAVIERE, Les marins informing them of Cabot's efforts to du xif et du xvie sihle ; Paris, 1879, obtain aid from HENRY VII., they vol. i, p. 215, and others. wrote : "We believe that this under- 2 Discovery of North America, No. taking was thrown in the way of the xiii, p. 659. King of England with the premedi- 3 Pedro DE AYALA, ubi supra, tated intention of distracting him from FERDINAND and ISABELLA seem to his other business." BERGENROTH, have believed that John Cabot was Calendar, vol. i, p. 88, No. 128. JOHN CABOT S FIRST EFFORTS. 43 The last phrase is ambiguous ; but although Col- umbus, fifteen years before, had been to Seville and Lisbon to obtain assistance, a fact which Their Majesties certainly knew, the general context of the sentence, the needlessness of the remark if applied to Columbus, and the positive expression : " a esta invencion," authorise the inference that Ayala had then in view the recent discoverer, when speaking of the efforts made in Spain and Portugal. Now we learn from the letters patent granted by Henry VII., April 5th, 1496, and Raimondo di Soncino's dispatch to the Duke of Milan, that this discoverer was John Cabot. Must we not also infer that John Cabot visited Spain on such an errand either before Christopher Columbus or at the same time ? This supposition is to a certain extent strengthened by the following passage of Ayala's dispatch : " For the last seven years, Bristol people have sent out every year, two, three, or four caravels, in search of the island of Brazil and the Seven Cities according to the fancy of this Genoese." 1 Those "seven years" give 1491 as the time when John Cabot was already settled in England ; and his visit to Spain and Portugal is therefore anterior to that year. If Ayala's information is exact, the critic must also consider John Cabot as having enter- tained, at a very early date, the idea of crossing the Ocean in search of new lands, and as having actually endeavoured to carry it into effect with the aid of Bristol seamen. 2 These deductions are not historically or chrono- logically improbable. The project of reaching Asia by sailing constantly westward was advocated in 1 North America, pp. 2 Ibidem, in the Chronology of 655-661. Voyages, No. xiii, p. 659. 60 THE YEAR OF JOHN CABOT S FIRST VOYAGE. of the successful issue of the voyage of 1497, that the object now in view is to "verify 1 certain islands and continents which he was informed some people from Bristol . . . had found last year [1497]: hallaron afio passado ; " 2 and when Henry VII. grants new letters patent to John Cabot, February 3rd, 1498, "to take at his pleasure vi Englisshe shippes, and them convey and lede to the Londe and Isles of late founde by the seid John" impartial historians cannot but admit that the attempts mentioned in Ayala's letter came to a successful issue in 1497, and not three years before! Nor is this all. The first letters patent granted to John Cabot in 1496, specify as their sole object, as we have already said, the discovery of " Provin- cias, gentilium et infidelium in quacumque parte mundi positas, quae christianis omnibus ante hsec tempora fuerunt incognitae." If John Cabot had already discovered such countries, the fact would be recorded in the act, just as the discovery of 1497 is recalled in the letters patent of 1498, and doubtless in the terms which we have quoted ; for these con- stitute a formula prompted by legal parlance not less than by mere common sense. Cabot therefore, in 1497, does not return to countries and islands formerly discovered by himself. The wording of the letters patent of 1496, shows that on the contrary, he goes in search of transatlantic regions unknown to him as well as to all other Christians, what- ever may have been his notions on the subject at any time before 1497. As Biddle, who was an able jurist, justly observes: "The patent of 1496 would be inapplicable to any region previously visited by either of the Cabots, and confer no right. 1 The word "descubrir," in the 1775.) The word " hallaron," in the text, has also in Spanish the sense of same sentence, shows that the above inspicere t vxAprospicere. (DE SEJOUR- is the meaning. NANT, Dictionaire Espagnol-Fran$ais> 2 Jean et Seb. Cabot, p. 329. THE YEAR OF JOHN CABOT S FIRST VOYAGE. 61 Assuming, what is obviously absurd, that the discovery could have been made without becoming at once universally known, yet the patentees must have been aware that they exposed themselves, at any moment when the fact should come out, to have the grant vacated on the ground of a deceptive concealment." l It remains now to examine the date of 1494 paleographically, that is, as the reader finds it inscribed in one of the legends pasted on Sebastian Cabot's planisphere of 1544. We have demonstrated in a former work, 2 that those geographical additions were not written by Cabot, but by a Dr. Grajales, living in 1544 at the Puerto de Santa Maria, in Andalucia. They were composed there, in the Spanish language and trans- lated as well as printed apparently in the Nether- lands, where the map itself was engraved, and con- sequently at a time and in a country excluding the probability that the proof sheets were corrected by Cabot or by Grajales. The date is in Roman numerals, viz. : M.CCCC. XCIIII. Paleographers will not hesitate, when considering the documentary proofs which we have adduced in favor of the date of 1497, to explain the discrepancy between M.CCCC. XCIIII, and M.CCCC.XCVII, by a lapsus calami, 3 on the part of Dr. Grajales, produced by the outside stroke in the V having been separated from the inside stroke in that numeral. In such a case, particularly in manu- scripts, where the strokes intended to depict Roman numerals are frequently of equal thickness, VII may well have been taken for II 1 1. The fact that the date in the Latin translation is given in Arabic numerals, viz. " 1494," is no argu- ment to the contrary, as the translation was made 1 BiDDLE, Memoir, p. 75. English discovery of the American 2 Discovery of North America, p. Continent under John and Sebastian 640. Cabot, London, 1870, 4to, p. 17, and 3 MAJOR, The true date of the Archceologia> vol. xliii. 62 THE YEAR OF TOHN CABOT S FIRST VOYAGE. out of Spain, and from the Spanish manuscript con - taining the alleged slip of the pen. Our explanation is so much the more plausible that in the issue of the Cabotian planisphere which was edited in London by Clement Adams in 1549, the date is not 1494, but 1497. Now Adams held an office at the Court of England, where he certainly met Sebastian Cabot who had then been living in London for two years. It may be inferred therefore that the correction is due to Cabot himself. At all events, the date of 1497 substituted for that of 1494, under such circumstances, and in a country where all the original documents were then at hand, confirms the evidence gathered from the dispatches of the Spanish and Italian Ambassadors. We conclude therefore that the continent of North America was discovered by John Cabot, sailing under the British flag, in the year 1497. CHAPTER X. JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. THE date when land is said to have been first sighted, viz. : June 24th, is to be found only in the legends of the Cabotian planisphere of 1544, which, as we have shown, were not written by Sebastian Cabot, but are the work of one Dr. Grajales, who, however, doubtless received his information from Sebastian himself at Seville. After rejecting the year set forth in that map, we apprehend that the month and day must be rejected likewise. The landfall was made, it is stated, on the 24th of June. The documents show that Cabot was already in London on the loth of August following ; which implies that he reached Bristol about five days before. This leaves only forty-two days between the arrival of Cabot within sight of the New World, and his return to England. Now, we must assume that Cabot and his small crew of eighteen men, after an alleged voyage of more than fifty-two days (since they left England in the beginning of May) rested a while, and devoted some time to refit or repair their diminutive craft, as well as to take in wood and water, and renew the stock of victuals, which could only be done by hunting and salting game on the mainland. Besides, Pasqualigo states that they skirted three hundred leagues of the coast ; which is corroborated in a manner by Ayala's statement that he saw the map which John Cabot made of the newly discovered lands. In those days, particularly 64 JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. when coasting in unknown regions, anchor was cast at sundown, and sailing renewed again only with daylight the next morning. This, in the present instance, was so much the more necessary that in June and July, navigation all around Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence is impeded by fogs, icebergs, and under currents. How can all this have been accomplished in the limited space of time which the alleged landfall on June 24th leaves to Cabot before returning to England ? If we suppose that owing to the westerly winds and gulf-stream he effected the homeward voyage in one third less time than was required for the same passage when out- ward bound, that is, thirty-four days instead of fifty- two, as he was already back in Bristol on the 5th of August, he would have taken the necessary rest, made the indispensable repairs, effected landings, renewed his provisions, and coasted nine hundred miles, all within eight days ! l If we now submit to the test of analysis and discussion the accounts of that voyage ascribed to Sebastian Cabot himself, directly or indirectly, the date of June 24th is again not only highly improbable, but altogether impossible. We possess three such accounts. 2 The first is Peter Martyr's, written in 1515, in Spain, which from his frequent intercourse and personal intimacy with Sebastian Cabot, we must believe to have been derived from the latter's own lips. Furthermore, it was published at Alcala, whilst Cabot was frequent- 1 Thirty-four days preceding August tion the accounts of GALVAO and of 5th give July 2nd for the day of GOMARA ; because, in our estimation, CABOT'S sailing out from America GALVAO, who wrote in 1550, has homeward bound. And as he had derived his data from the Cabotian first landed in the New World June planisphere of 1544, whilst GOMARA, 24th, only eight days (June 24th-July whose work bears the date of 1553, 2nd) were left for his accomplishing all gives only an amalgam of PETER that which we enumerate. MARTYR with GALVAO. Compare the 2 We have not taken into considera- texts, in Jean et Stb. Cabot. JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. 65 ing the court, that being the time when Ferdinand of Aragon granted him gratuities and emoluments. It is as follows : "Cabot directed his course so farre toward the northe pole, that euen in the mooneth of July he founde monstruous heapes of Ise swimming on the sea, and in maner continuall day lyght. Yet sawe he the lande in that tracte, free from Ise. Thus seyng suche heapes of Ise before hym, he was enforced to tourne his sayles and folowe the weste, so coastyng styll by the shore, that he was thereby broughte so farre into the southe hy reason of the lande bendynge so muche southward that it was there almoste equall in latitude with the sea cauled Fretum Jferculeum, hauynge the north pole eleuate in maner in the same degree. He sayled lykewise in this tracte so farre towarde the weste, that he had the Ilande of Cuba on his lefte hande in maner in the same degree of longitude." 1 The next account we find in Ramusio, who first says that Cabot ranged the north coast, from the Codfish country to a latitude stated in one place to be 67, 2 and in another, 67^, 3 and then gives, as coming from Sebastian himself, the following details : " And he told me that having sayled a long time west and by North beyonde these Hands unto the latitude of 67 degrees and a halfe under the north Pole, and, at the 1 1 day of June, finding still open Sea without any manner of impediment, hee thought verily by that way to have passed on still the way to Cathaio, which is in the East." 4 Finally, there is the well-known conversation held at Seville between Sebastian Cabot and the Mantuan Gentleman after 1533 and before 1547, reported by Ramusio, who heard it repeated by the interlocutor himself, and used quotation marks when stating Cabot's own words, in this wise : "His Majesty the King [Henry VII.] . . . fitted out two caravels for me with everything needful. This was in 1496, in the commencement of the summer. I began to navigate towards 1 ANGHIERA, Decad. iii, book vi, 2 RAMUSIO, vol. iii, recto of fo. 417. fo. 55, D, of the edition of Basil, 3 Idem, Preface, verso of Aiiij. 1533. ARBER'S edit., p. 161. 4 Idem. E 66 JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. the west, expecting not to find land until I came to Cathay, whence I could go on to the Indies. But at the end of some days, I discovered that the land trended northwards, to my great dis- appointment ; so I sailed along the coast to see if I could find some gulf where the land turned, until I reached the height of 56 under our pole, but finding that the land turned eastward, I despaired of finding an opening. I turned to the right to examine again to the southward, always with the object of finding a passage to the Indies, and I came to that which is now called Florida. Being in want of victuals, I was obliged to return thence to England." 1 Those accounts, although written at different times, as much as eighteen and twenty years apart, and in different countries, agree in the main. They contain impossibilities, but that is not the fault of the witnesses, two of whom at least we know to have been men of intelligence and reliable, whilst the confidence placed in the third by such a writer as Ramusio, entitles him also to great credit. The reader may rest assured that he has here what Sebastian Cabot actually reported relative to his alleged discovery of the continent of North America, and almost in his own words. Nor can the discre- pancy be explained away by supposing that Sebastian meant to embrace in his statements the results not of the first voyage only, but of the second like- wise. Nowhere does he mention having then twice crossed the Atlantic ; the wording, too, betrays on his part a desire to convey the impression that he discovered the entire region, from about 36 to 65 north latitude, in the course of the first trans- atlantic expedition carried out under the auspices of Henry VII. Finally, we have the positive date given by the Mantuan Gentleman that " this was in 1496, in the commencement of summer : fu del mille quatrocento novanta sei nel principio della state." This is only the date of the letters patent ; but as the voyage was undertaken in the spring of 1 RAMUSIO, vol. i, fo. 414. JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. 67 1497, iti is near enough, in general conversation, to identify it with the first voyage in preference to any other. Moreover, the date is corroborated by the further statement that when Cabot returned home from his voyage of discovery, he " found in England great popular tumults among the rebels, and a war with Scotland." This coincides with the rebellion of Perkin Warbeck, as the battle of Blackheath was fought on the 22nd of June 1497, and the truce between Henry VII. and James IV. was not nego- tiated until September following; 1 that is, when Cabot had been back in England for more than a month. What must be particularly noticed in these accounts, is the series of circumstances, implied or expressed, which they involve. According to Sebastian Cabot's narratives, he found himself, in the month of July, in a region where there was " continuall daylight." This implies an exploration of Davis' Strait to at least 65 latitude. He then " turned his sayles," and ranged the coast south- ward as far as the parallel of the Strait of Gibraltar, about 36 latitude. From that point he recrossed the Atlantic and returned home. In other words, he sailed in longitude from about 80 to 5. As John Cabot was in Bristol again early in August, it follows that in six or seven weeks at most, for at times he must have tarried on the American coast, he would have navigated over twenty-nine degrees of latitude and seventy-five of longitude. Who will ever believe that a small ship, manned by eighteen men, in the 1 5th century, in regions theretofore unknown, ranging half the time a dangerous coast, and impeded by fogs or icebergs, sailed over six thousand miles in less than forty-two days ! 1 RAWDON BROWN, Calendar of Venetian Documents, vol. i, Nos. 754, 760, 766, pp. 264, 266, 267. 68 JUNE NOT THE MONTH OF THE LANDFALL. Yet such is the logical and necessary inference to be drawn from Sebastian Cabot's own allegations, when examined in connection with the date of the landfall inscribed on the planisphere. Admirers of that navigator may endeavour to explain away the impossibility by presuming that he meant to cover in his accounts the results both of the first and second voyages. His own statements do not admit of such a palliative. They expressly embrace all those details within the period assigned for the expedition of "1496" (sic pro 1497). We must take Sebastian Cabot's description as it stands, regardless of its impossibility ; for that is what he meant to convey to his hearers. If historians feel bound to reject such vainglorious fables, so much the worse for his memory. Either the landfall in 1496 (i.e. 1497) was not effected on the 24th of June, or, contrary to Sebas- tian Cabot's asseverations, both cartographical and descriptive, only a very limited portion of the coast of the New World was visited on that occasion. In a succeeding chapter we shall endeavour to ascertain the origin and reason of that spurious date. CHAPTER XI. JOHN CABOT'S ALLEGED LANDFALL. ' I ^HE documents of the time, geographic and historical, which have come down to us, fail to mention the locality of John Cabot's landfall in his first transatlantic voyage. We can only presume, but with great probability, that it was on some point of the north-east coast of Labrador. No graphic data on the subject are to be found until forty-seven years after the event, and it is again in the Cabotian planisphere, where, on the extremity of a large peninsula of the north-east coast of the New World, we read these words : " Prima tierra vista : the first land seen." This cartographical assertion is repeated in the 8th longitudinal legend, to which reference is made in an inscription placed across the continent, west of the words above quoted. 1 It begins, as we have already stated, with these words : "Esta tierra fue descubierta por loan Caboto Veneciano, y Sebastian Caboto su hijo : This land was discovered by John Caboto, a Venetian, and Sebastian Caboto, his son." That locality was doubtless intended to represent the region which we now call Cape Breton island, north of Nova Scotia, and at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But it is very inaccurately depicted. In that planisphere, instead of a regular island, we see only a continental promontory bend- ing eastward, the apex of which is on a line with 48 30' north latitude, according to the scale 1 See infra, fac simile of the North American portion of that map. 70 JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. inscribed on the map, instead of 47 5' latitude. The longitude is also erroneous, viz. : 63 west, instead of 59. The outline likewise presents great differ- ences. Then, in the gulf there is a large island, to the north-west of the peninsula, the north coast of which corresponds with the 50 latitude on the map, and bears the designation: "I. de s. Juan." If intended for our Prince Edward Island, the latitude would be almost 4 too high. At all events, it is the island alleged to have been discovered on the same day as the landfall ; which is a point that we propose to discuss hereafter. The positions in that map contradict, as we claim to have shown, the authentic assertions of John Cabot, who states that in the voyage of 1497, he sailed from the west of Ireland (which implies a starting point no farther south than 51 15' lat. N.), and that so far from having steered thenceforth in a southerly direction, he held first a northward, and then a westward course. Now, the above alleged landfall is not less than 5 farther south than it must have been in reality. At the outset, we must proceed to show that the latitudes, longitudes, profiles and other characteristics ascribed in the planisphere of 1544 to the Cabotian discoveries, which discoveries the reader must con- sider to be synonymous with those made in these regions by the English at that time, are com- pletely at variance with the very explicit statements which mark on all previous maps the countries discovered under the British flag on the north-east coast of America, and, as a necessary consequence, with the cartographical declarations set forth pre- viously by or under the direct responsibility of Sebastian Cabot. We allude to the nautical charts which were designed by the cosmographers of Charles V., and to all maps derived more or less JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. 71 directly from the same. But before describing their North American delineations and legends, it is necessary to give an account of what may be termed the Hydrographical Bureau at Seville, where, in the i6th century, those charts originated, Pilotage and Hydrography were taught in Andalusia at a very early period, especially by Biscayan mariners. An ordinance from Ferdinand and Isabella, dated March i8th, 1500, confirms the regulations which until then had been followed in a school of Basque pilots established at Cadiz. The document declares the origin of the school to be so- ancient that "the memory of man runneth not to the contrary : que de tanto tiempo aca que memoria de hombres non es en contrario." l On the 2Oth of January, 1503, their Catholic Majesties created in Seville the Casa de la Contra- tacion de las Indias? It was a vast State establish- ment which embraced everything pertaining to the administration, laws, trade and maritime affairs of the New World. The Casa had its own pilots and cartographers, as well as professors of cosmo- graphy, and a technical office where charts were designed or authenticated. Cosmography and chart-making were nevertheless freely taught beyond the walls of the institution, and the probability is that in all the ports of Andalusia there were pilots who made their living by drawing nautical maps, which they sold openly and without being interfered with by the Spanish Government. 3 1 Real ctdula de 18 de marzodei$QO tratacion, Seville, 1672, folio, lib. i, dada en Sevilla por los Reyes Don cap. i, p. 2, and Primeras Ordenan- Ferdinandoy Dona Isabel, confirmando zas para el establecimiento y gobierno las ordenanzas del colegio de pilotos de la Casa de la Contratacion de las Vizcainos establecido en Cadiz. Cited by Indias ; NAVARRETE, Cokcdon de los NAVARRETE, Disertacion sobre la Viages, vol. ii, doc. cxlviii, p. 285. Historia de la Ndwtica; Madrid, 1846, 3 Introduction to the Cartographia 4to, p. 357. Americana Vetustissima in our Dis- 2 VEYTIA LINAGE, Note de la con- covery of North America. 72 JOHN CABOTS ALLEGED LANDFALL. But to avoid the dangerous consequences arising from too great a multiplicity of sailing charts, it was ordered, August 6th, 1508, that an official pattern, called Padron Real, should be established. 1 For that purpose a commission was named, and com- posed of the ablest pilots in the kingdom. Americus Vespuccius, for whom the office of Pilot- Major had been expressly created, 2 became its president. According to Herrera, 3 Juan Diaz de Solis and Vincente Yanez Pinzon were then appointed Royal Pilots for the purpose of securing their services in that useful undertaking. The model which those able mariners were directed to create was to include "all the land and isles of the Indies theretofore discovered and belonging to the Crown." This general map was to be considered as official, and all pilots were prohibited from employing any other, under a penalty of 50 doubloons. They were also enjoined to mark on the copy which had been used on their voyages, "all the lands, isles, bays, harbours and other new things worthy of being noted ; " and, the moment they landed in Spain, to communicate the chart so amended or annotated to the Pilot-Major. 4 Whenever the Pilot- Major received new geogra- phical data, these were communicated to the Crown cosmographers, with whom, twice a month, he dis- cussed the expediency of inserting the same in the Padron Real or General? But maps or copies of that royal pattern were not issued by the Casa de Contratacion as they are, for instance, by the English Admiralty, or the U. S. Coast Survey. 1 Real titulo de Piloto mayor ; 4 NAVARRETE, doc. ix, vol. iii, p. NAVARRETE, vol. iii, doc. ix, p. 300. 199. 2 Ibidem, doc. vii, p. 297. 5 " A enmendar el Padron." Reco- 3 HERRERA, Decad. i, lib. vii, cap. pilacion de leyes de los reynos de Indias, i, p. 177; where the act is erroneously Madrid, 1750, folio, ley vii, titulo iii, mentioned under the year 1507. fo. 286. JOHN CABOTS ALLEGED LANDFALL. 73 The Pilot-Major and certain Crown pilots, by special appointment, took or caused to be taken copies of the Padron General, which they sold for their own benefit, according to a tariff fixed by the Casa. 1 As regards the elements which served for making the first model, they were borrowed from maps then current in Spain, and not from special or actual surveys, even for the New World. And we may take it for granted that this official map presented entire sections which remained for a century or more totally unaltered, though sometimes erroneous in many respects. But there were also configurations furnished by the Crown pilots or cosmographers, and derived from their own stock of information. Mariners, and cosmographers of Portuguese or Italian origin, like Americus Vespuccius and the Reinels, must have furnished data of that kind. Now, Sebastian Cabot filled in Spain the office first of Crown pilot, from August I5th, 1515, and then of Pilot-Major from February 5th, 1518, until October 25th, 1525, and from 1533 until at least October I547. 2 Nor should we omit to state that not only was Sebastian by virtue of his office super- visor of the Chair of Cosmography in the Casa de Contratacion, and filled the professorship of nautical and cosmographic science in the institution, 3 but he was a member of the commission of pilots and geographers who in 1515 were required by King Ferdinand to make a general revision of all maps and charts. 4 Under the circumstances, it would prove highly 1 " For privilegios firmados a 12 de covery of North America, pp. 706-708. Julio de 1512, se concedio a Juan 3 NAVARRETE, Disertacion sobre la Vispuche \sic.~\ y a Juan de Solis que Historia de la Ndutica, p. 134, men- pudieran sacar traslados del padron tions Sebastian Cabot first on the list general de las Indias, y venderlos of the professors of Cosmography in a los pilotos al precio que dijesen los the Casa de Contratacion. oficiales de la Casa de Contratacion." 4 HERRERA, Decad. ii, lib. i, cap. Muftoz MSS., vol. xc, fo. 105, v. xii, p. 18. 3 For all those dates, see our Dis- 74 JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. interesting to compare some Sevilian official map made while Sebastian Cabot held the office of Pilot- Major, with the Cabotian planisphere of 1544. Un- fortunately, they have all disappeared. The follow- ing fact also complicates the question. Although the Padron General was the object of much solicitude from the government, we find in the ordinances enacted by Charles V., proofs of negli- gence on the part of the pilots and cosmographers to whom it had been entrusted. They were charged with failing to maintain the hydrography of the New World at the required standard. On the other hand, the sort of monopoly enjoyed first by Solis, then by Juan Vespuccius (Americus' nephew), who alone could dispose of copies of the Padron, induced unauthorized pilots to make and sell clandestine duplicates, which were necessarily inferior to the original, and probably introduced additional errors. The chief pilots complained, as far back as 1513, of those repeated infringements, but no remedy was applied for several years, although the counterfeits not only departed greatly from the Padron General, but even presented different scales of degrees, 1 and, con- sequently, a variety of latitudes. At last, Charles V., not in the pecuniary interest of his cosmographers or to increase the revenue of the State, but to render navi- gation more secure, determined to remedy the evil. On the 6th of October, 1526, Fernando Columbus was commissioned to order Diego Ribero and other competent cosmographers 2 to construct a sailing 1 Coloquio sobre las dos graduaziones not only comprised the Pilot-Major and diferentes quc las cartas de Indias His Majesty's cosmographers, but more tienen. Mufioz MSS., vol. xliv, as- than one hundred experienced pilots, cribed to Fernando COLUMBUS. besides other members versed in 2 Real Cedilla a Don Hernando nautical science :" Mas de cien pilotos, Colon, in the Coleccion de documentos muchos de ellos antiguos en la navega- intditos de Indias, vol. xxxii, p. 512. cion de las Indias, y otras personas This ordinance, dated May 2Oth, 1535, peritas en el arte," says the Coloquio. refers to the one previously issued by See also HERRERA, Decad, iii, lib. x, the Emperor, in 1526. That junta cap. xi, p. 294. JOHN CABOTS ALLEGED LANDFALL. 75 chart comprehending all the islands and the continent discovered and to be discovered : " una Carta de navegar en la qual se situen todas las Islas e Tierra firme questhobiesen descobiertas e se descobriesen de ay ad elan te." 1 This royal order nevertheless remained a dead letter for nine years. At last, Queen Isabella of Portugal, during the absence of her husband Charles V. in Italy, May 2Oth, 1535, enjoined Fernando Columbus to cause that all-important map to be executed at once : " lo acabeis con toda la brevedad, e sinon, entendais luego en que se efetue." 2 We do not know at what time it was completed ; but when ready, the Emperor confided the chart to the presi- dent and judges of the Casa de Contratacion, and ordered the Pilot-Major and cosmographers belong- ing to that institution to verify it twice a month. Charles V. went further. He authorized all profes- sional cartographers residing at Seville, to design and sell maps of the New World, with no other restriction than that of causing the same to be first approved by the Pilot-Major and the cosmo- graphers of the Casa. He even permitted the Pilot-Major himself, not only to sell copies of the Padron General, but also maps and globes of his own making, provided that the trade in such articles was not carried on within the city of Seville. 3 This chart, known thenceforth under the name of Padron General, was not a complete innovation, and could be considered only as the Padron Real im- proved. We possess no copy of that standard map ; but it is no doubt revived in the description which Oviedo has given 4 of the chart made by Alonso de 1 Real Cedula above quoted. Del Piloto Mayor y Cosmografos, lib. 2 Ibidem. ix, tit. xxiii, leyes iii, viii, xii, &c. 3 Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos 4 OVIEDO, Historia General, lib. de las Indias ; Madrid, 1681, section xxi ; cap. x, vol. ii, p. 148 seq. 76 JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. Chaves in I536. 1 As Ribero died August i6th, I533, 2 Chaves, who then stood so high as a carto- grapher, must have been entrusted with the task of continuing the work. The commission to revise the Padron was appointed in 1526. On the other hand, Sebastian Cabot, as captain-general of the fleet intended to visit the Moluccas, sailed from San Lucar de Barrameda April 3rd of that year, 3 and returned to Spain only on July 22nd, 1530. The maps designed in Seville or copied from the Padron Real between those two dates, were therefore commenced and finished whilst Sebastian Cabot was on the Rio de la Plata. It is necessary nevertheless to examine them with the view of determining the character of their north-eastern configurations, and of ascertain- ing whether these must not be attributed to Sebas- tian Cabot, or at all events, considered as containing data furnished by him while he filled the office of Pilot-Major. It is not until a quarter of a century after Juan de la Cosa made his celebrated planisphere ( 1 500), that we find an engraved Sevilian or Spanish map exhibiting the north-eastern American regions. This is the mappa-mundi on an equidistant polar projection devised by Juan Vespuccius, engraved in Italy, and of which two editions are known. 4 As the second edition is dated " 1524," the map was originally constructed before that year, and at Seville, while Sebastian Cabot still held and exercised there the functions of pilot-major, Juan Vespuccius being designated therein under the title of " Pilot to the King," an office 5 of which he was not deprived until 1 Cartographic/, Americana Vetustis- cap. iii, pp. 259, 260 ; NAVARRETE, stma, in the Discovery, No. 239. vol. v, p. 440. 2 Munoz MSS., vol. Ixxvii, fo. 4 Cart. Amer. Vetust., Nos. 147, 148. 165, verso. NAVARRETE, Colecdon, vol. iii, 3 HERRERA, Decade iii, lib. ix, p. 306, note. JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. 77 March i8th, 1525. Now, in that extremely curious map, the Tera del Bachaglia, or Codfish Country, is placed in the extreme north, bordering the Arctic circle, at 55 N. latitude according to its own scale. There are no further designations, but as the northern configurations are all above 55 N. latitude, we must view this parallel as the southern limit (according to the map of Juan Vespuccius), of the countries which Sebastian Cabot claimed to have discovered in that part of the New World. The next map is the one which was engraved at Venice for the readers of the Libri delta historia delle Indie Occident all, published in that city by Ramusio in I534; 1 but the map itself, or, rather, its prototype, is of an earlier date. The map states that it was made from two nautical charts designed in Seville by the pilots of His Majesty (Charles V.): " cauata da due carte da' nauicare fatte in Sibilia da li piloti della Maiesta Cesarea." One of those charts is said in the Libri to be the work of Nuno Garcia de Toreno, who ranked among the most renowned Spanish carto- graphers of his time, 2 and to have been the property of Pietro Martire d' Anghiera, who died in 1526. As the Padron General was ordered in that year, and required considerable time and labour before it could be ready for use, we may fairly consider the map of the Libri as exhibiting data anterior to that year, and derived from the Padron as it existed when Sebastian Cabot was still Pilot-Major. But it is not much older, as the name Steua gomez (Estevao Gomez), inserted at 45 latitude north, carries us to November, 1525, which is the date of the return of that navigator. 1 Bibliotheca Americana Vetustis- quoted by Andres GARCIA DE szma, No. 190. CESPEDES, Regimiento de Navegacion, 2 Pedro Ruiz DE VILLEGAS, as Madrid, 1606, folio, fo. 148. 78 JOHN CABOTS ALLEGED LANDFALL. It is but an extract, evidently abridged, and makes no explicit mention of the discoveries accomplished by the English in the northern regions of the New World. This omission would be sufficient to thrust it out of our inquiry, if it did not exhibit the con- figurations of the north-east coast precisely as we find them in all subsequent Sevilian maps, and, for that matter, as they must have been given in the charts copied at the Casa de Contratacion when Sebastian Cabot filled the office of Pilot-Major, and revised or endorsed all such copies. We now proceed to examine manuscript charts which doubtless reproduce the configurations of the Padron Real, being the acknowledged works of Royal Cosmographers belonging to the Seville Hydrographic Bureau. Three such maps yet exist, the first : Carta Universal, en que se contiene to do lo, qve dei, Mundo se a descvbierto fasta aora hizola un cosmo- grapho de Sv Majestad Anno MDXXVIL en S evil la. 1 Here, the configuration of the north-east coast is identically that of the preceding map of Garcia de Toreno, except that where we read Lauorator only, the inscription bears in full : Tierra del laborador, but with no allusion whatever to English voyages. The legend relating to that region is also placed at 60 north latitude, although the land extends south to 56 N. The second map is : Carta Universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo Se ha descubierto fasta agora, Hizola Diego Ribero Cosmographo de SM magestad: A no de. I529- 2 This likewise exhibits the same configurations of 1 KOHL, Die Beiden Altesten general large folio; Jean et Stbastien Cabot, Karten von Amerika, Weimar, 1860, No. ii, pp. 172-175. 2 Ibidem. JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL, 79 the north-east coast, placing the Labrador inscrip- tion at 60 lat. N., but with the highly important additional remark that it was discovered by the English: " Esta tierra descubrieron los Ingleses" Finally, we possess a duplicate of that map, made by Ribero himself, which presents identical configura- tions in the same latitudes, but in which the inscrip- tion reads as follows : " Tierra del Labrador la qual descubrieron los Ingleses DE LA VILLA DE BRISTOL." l This latter specification is certainly a reference to the voyage made by John Cabot in 1497, as the vessel was manned chiefly by Bristol men: "sono quasi tutti inglesi et da Bristo," and sailed from that port : "partitosi da Bristo." 2 Now, what is the latitude ascribed by Ribero to those English discoveries ? From 56 to 60 N. The maps made by Vesconte de Maggiolo in 1527^ Hieronymo Verrazzano 4 in 1529 and the Wolfenblittel map B, 5 are, in these particulars, derivatives from Sevilian planispheres, more or less direct. They also placed the English discoveries at 56-6o, in Labrador; the Wolfenbuttel chart referring likewise explicitly to the " Yngleses de la vila de Bristol." (j We shall now complete this cartographical proot by another legend in the latter chart, viz. : " E por que el que dio el lauiso della era labrador de las illas de los acares le quedo este nombre : And as the one who first gave notice [of the country] was a labourer of the Azores islands, they gave it the name' [of Labrador]." Considered by itself, this statement does not seem 1 THOMASSY, Les Papes geographies, Henry C. MURPHY, The Voyage of Paris, 1852, 8vo, pp. 118. The Verrazzano, New York, 1875, 8vo; original is preserved at the Propa- Cornelio DESIMONI, Intorno al ganda, at Rome. Florentine Giovanni Verrazzano, 2 PASQUALIGO, ubi supra. Geneva, 1881, 8vo, p. 101. 3 Cartographia, sub anno, 1527. 5 Cartographia Americana Vetus- 4 J. Carson BREVOORT, Verrazano tissima No. 195, p. 580. the Navigator , New York, 1874, 8vo ; 80 JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. to have any bearing on the point in question. The case, however, is quite different when we study it in connection with a passage of the manuscript Islario of Alonso de Santa Cruz, who was Sebastian Cabot's companion for many years, particularly in Seville, where he filled the high office of Cosmographer- Major. Describing, in Cabot's lifetime, the septen- trional regions of North America, Santa Cruz speaks as follows : " Fue dicha tierra de labrador per que dio della aviso e yndicio un labrador de las yslas de los agores al Rey de ynglatierra quando elle embio a descubrir por Antonio Gabot piloto yngles y padre de Sebastian Gabot piloto mayor que oy es de V. Mag 1 . : It was the country of Labrador [so called] because it was disclosed and indicated by a labourer from the Azores islands to the King of England, when he sent [on a voyage of] discovery, Anthony (sic) Gabot, an English pilot, and the father of Sebastian Gabot, at present Pilot-Major of Your Majesty." 1 All we wish to retain in this quotation, is that in the opinion of Santa Cruz, Labrador was visited by John Cabot when Henry VII. sent him westward on a voyage of discovery. The chain is almost complete, and shows that in Seville the cosmographers of Charles V. never located the first transatlantic discoveries accomplished under the British flag, at 45 north latitude, or at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence close to Cape Breton Island. On the contrary they marked those discoveries ten degrees at least further north, along the region which cartographers then called Labrador. Reverting to the manuscript Sevilian charts, it is true that the direct agency of Sebastian Cabot in the making of these maps has not yet been shown, inas- much as he was absent from Spain when they were 1 El yslario general de todas las yslas por Alonso de Santa Cruz, su Cosmo- del mondo endresfado ala S. C. C. Magi, grafo maior. MS. of the Besancon del Emperador y Rey nuestro Senor, Library ; fo. 56, recto. JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. 81 made. But with respect to the north-east coast, the cartographers of Seville cannot but have acted constantly on information derived from him ; as we shall endeavour to show. What those northern configurations were on the Padron Real when Americus Vespuccius and Dias de Solis supervised it, we can only guess ; but the reader may rest assured that if they differed from Sebastian Cabot's notions, he did not hesitate to correct them, as his duty required. When he first came to Spain, in 1512, Ferdinand of Aragon en- gaged his services chiefly on account of the exclusive knowledge which he claimed to possess concerning "la navigacion a los Bacallos"; 1 that is, to the north-east coast of the New Continent. Is it not therefore evident that the first use which he made of his special experience was to make the northern regions in official maps tally with the charts which he or his father had brought from these transatlantic expeditions? It is not less certain that during the whole time he had charge of the Padron Real, the Baccalaos regions must have been the object of particular attention on his part. Why should his successors in office alter those configurations, or place them in a different latitude? Between the Anglo-Portuguese navigation of 1505, and John Rut's voyage of 1527, there were no English expeditions from which any Spanish cosmographer might have derived data unknown to Sebastian Cabot. Even if, perchance, John Rut had dis- covered any lands, the legends in the maps which we have just described could not apply to that navigator, as he was from Ratcliffe and sailed from 1 " Sabeis que en Burgos oshablaron regent of Castile, to Sebastian Cabot, de mi parte Conchillos i el Obp. de September I2th, 1512. Jean et Stb- Palencia sobre la navegacion a los astien Cabot, No. xiv, p. 331 ; HER- Bacallos e ofrecistes servirnos," wrote RERA, Decad. i, lib. ix, cap. xiii, p. King FERDINAND OF ARAGON, then 254. F 82 JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. Portsmouth ; 1 whilst Ribero and his followers state positively that those northern regions were first seen by mariners from Bristol. As to the inscription which ascribes the discovery simply to " los Ingleses" without specifying the port they came from, we must recollect that the Sevilian cartographers of 1527 were not the originators of it, and that the expression only conveys a matter of universal belief at the time. For instance : The map of Juan de la Cosa is headed as follows : " Juan de la Cosa la fizo en el puerto de S : ma a en ano de 1500 : Juan de la Cosa executed it at the Port of Sancta Maria in the year 1500." That celebrated seaman and cartographer sailed for the New World with Alonso de Hojeda, May 1 8th, 1499; returned to Spain in the first fortnight of April 1500; left again with Rodrigo de Bastidas in October following, returning to Cadiz in Sep- tember 1502. His map was therefore constructed after the i5th of April 1500, and before the close of that year ; embracing consequently the regions previously discovered under the British flag. Now, in that map, the row of English flags on the coast line bearing the legend "Mar descubierta por Inglese" begins with a Cauo de ynglaterra which, when represented approximately on our modern charts, corresponds with a point almost as far north as the entrance to Davis' Strait. Humboldt 2 places the Cauo de ynglaterra near the Strait of Belle- Isle, which is at 53, whilst Kohl 3 reduces it to "about 50 N." In either case it is farther north than the point given by Sebastian Cabot for his landfall in 1497. 1 J. S. BREWER, Calendar, No. des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim ; 3203. Letter from Albertus DE Niirnberg, 1853, 4to, p. 2. PRATO, in PURCHAS, vol. iii, p. 3 J. G. KOHL, Documentary History 809. of the State of Maine ; Portland, 1869, 2 In F. W. GHILLANY, Geschichte 8vo, p. 154. JOHN CABOT S ALLEGED LANDFALL. 83 In the portolano of Vesconte de Maggiolo, made in 1511, there is a " Terra de los Ingres" (sic], which that celebrated cartographer has placed about ten degrees 1 even farther north than his Terra de Lavorador de rey de Portugal^ which brings the " Lands of the English," certainly nearer to the North Pole than to Cape Breton Island. In The forme of a Mappe sent 1527 from Sivil in Spayne by maister Robert Thorne marchaunt to Doctor Ley Embassadour for King Henry the 8. to Charles the Emperour^ we notice on the same line with Noua terra laboratorum dicta, or Labrador, a legend which reads as follows: "Terra hsec ab Anglis primum fuit inuenta : This land was first discovered by the English." It is inscribed at about 60 north latitude. So far as we know, the Ribero map is the first in which the legend goes beyond stating merely that the discovery of Labrador was accomplished by the English, and specifies that they were Englishmen from Bristol. This detail, which must be taken as a direct allusion to the Cabot expedition of 1497, was doubtless derived from Sebastian himself. Diego Ribero, as one of the Crown cosmographers entrusted specially with the making of nautical instruments, 3 held daily intercourse with him at Seville from the year 1523. He was also his colleague at the famous council of Badajoz in 1524,* where the voyages to the north-east coast of the New World must have been frequently discussed, as the intended expedition of Estevao Gomez in search of the North- West passage depended greatly on the ruling of that 1 D'AVEZAC, Atlas hydrographiqtie 1582, ^to,Jean et Stbastien Cabot, pp. de 1511; Paris, 1871, 8vo, p. 13. 93 and 176. Jean et Sebastien Cabot , p. 166. 3 Jean et Sebastien Cabot > pp. 173, 2 HAKLUYT, Divers Voyages touch- 174, 184, note. ing the Discoverie of America and the 4 NAVARRETE, Coleccion, vol. i, p. lands adjacent unto the same, made 124 ; HERRERA, Decad. iii, lib. vi, first of all by an Englishman', London, cap. 6, p. 184. 84 JOHN CABOTS ALLEGED LANDFALL. junta. The cartographical information concerning the northern latitudes had to be furnished to the members of the council by Ribero. Is it not certain that he never communicated a map to the Spanish or Portuguese commissioners without first submitting it to Sebastian Cabot who sat by his side, and who, in the capacity of Pilot-Major, was his superior? Hence, naturally, the details about the agency of British mariners, from the conversations between these two cosmographers relative to the history of the voyages made by Cabot to that north-east coast. All these facts prove that the names, legends and configurations of the northern extremity of the New Continent, as inscribed and depicted in charts eman- ating from Spanish cosmographers in general, and Diego Ribero in particular, were supplied directly by Sebastian Cabot or through his professional instrumentality, and that for almost half-a-century he placed his landfall many degrees farther north than the Prima vista of the Cabotian planisphere of 1544- CHAPTER XII. A FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. RELYING upon a statement of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 1 certain critics are inclined to believe that the discrepancies which we have shown to exist between the Cabotian planisphere and all Sevilian maps concerning the north-eastern regions, or the absence in the latter of details relative to Cabot's alleged discoveries in the vicinity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, were due to positive orders from the Spanish government. They assume that Charles V. was apprehensive of furnishing information to the English and French regarding the imaginary North- West passage. Surely, the English who had dis- covered the north-east coast, and who with the Norman, Breton and Portuguese fishermen continued to frequent the fishing-banks, and even to make discoveries in that region, 2 had nothing to learn from the Spaniards, who, even as late as the middle of the 1 6th century, had only reached as high as 41 north latitude. 3 The cause of these blanks and omissions in that class of maps is much more simple, and can be easily ascertained from Oviedo, who, in his descrip- 1 "The Spaniards and Portugals ... " Carta de privilegios concedidos a have commanded that no pilot of theirs Diogo DE BARCELLOS, pelos servigos upon paine of death should plat out in de Pedro DE BARCELLOS no descobri- any sea-card, any thorow passage." men to do norte; de 7 de junho de GILBERT, Discouerie> in HAKLUYT, 1508." Archivo dos Azores, vol. xii vol. iii, p. 23. See note 3, p. 72, in (1894), No. 72, p. 530. Jean et Stb. Cabot. 3 OVIEDO, Historia General ', vol. ii, 3 See the document lately published, p. 148. 86 FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. tion of Chaves' Padron general, or official pattern, says, concerning the vicinity of our Nova Scotia, " We scarcely possess any details relative to the gulfs in those northern parts, and the data collected by Chaves do not seem to be reliable. That is the reason why we notice such great contra- dictions between the maps and cosmographers as regards the northern coasts." 1 Oviedo's remark well shows that the defective character of Spanish charts in the first half of the 1 6th century, as regards the northern regions of the New World, should be ascribed solely to the fact that the cartographers of Spain, although under the immediate control of Sebastian Cabot for thirty years, possessed no adequate geographical know- ledge of those parts, and not to an alleged intention of their government to conceal, for political motives or otherwise, any details on the subject. We have still to account for the more exact delineations of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the adjoining country depicted in the Cabotian plani- sphere. These have no other origin than the French maps which were constructed in Dieppe after the second or third voyage of Jacques Cartier, as can be readily shown. From very early times the fishermen of the northern Atlantic coasts of Europe have gone to the northern seas, in search of cod and haddock, and it may be that the Germans were the first to name those fish, which are not to be found in the latitudes of Spain and Portugal. Yet, we are not prepared to say that the German word backljau* is the prototype of the terms bacailkaba, bacalhao and 1 OVIEDO, ubi supra. fish, in a St. Gall register of 1360, but 2 Kabbeljouisje^ or Cabliauwe, trans- as meaning a salmon. The supple- posed in Backljaii) whence Bacalhao^ ment of the Mittel Deutsches Wb'rter- and Baccala (KOHL, Discovery of buck of SCHILLER and LUBBLER, Maine, p. 199, who sees in the word Bremen, 1880, quotes instances of a derivative of < *bolch," = fish. Belche, Kabelow and Kabblaw in the year balcke, figures already as name of a 1381. FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. 87 baccala? used in the Basque, Portuguese and Spanish languages to designate the cod-fish. Whether it was John Cabot or Gaspard Corte-Real who made known the existence of the Newfoundland banks, it is certain that the fishermen of Brittany, Normandy, Portugal and Biscay frequented those fishing grounds as early as the beginning of the 1 6th century, 2 and have continued to do so without interruption. To dry or salt the fish required constant landings ; hence the need of stations which must have been distinctly marked on their maps, crude as they doubtless were. At a somewhat later period, but before 1544, the profits of the expedi- tions to the Banks led to the formation of com- panies. These, having command of larger capital, could secure the services of more skilful pilots, who certainly brought home geographical data, which may have come to the knowledge of pro- fessional cartographers. The information, however, must have been obtained surreptitiously, as it is unlikely that the parties interested would have communicated such practical and valuable informa- tion to rival fishermen. These data, as we suppose, were, moreover, limited to separate parts of the coast, 3 graphically unconnected with the adjoining regions, and, on that account, calculated to mislead both as to form and position. This is, without doubt, the cause of the disparity to be noticed in the profiles of the north-east coast in the early portolani. The most cosmopolitan and competent pilots for New- 1 " Baccalarius, baaallao, backljaw, "certeyne bigge fysshes much lyke Kabbljaw" infae Bibliographia critica vnto tunies (which the inhabitantes portugueza, Porto, 1873-75, vol. i, p. caule BaccaZaos") Decad. iii, book 373-74. In LITTRE'S opinion (voc. vi. Cabillaud}, Kabeljaauiv is a derivative 2 Jean et Stb. Cabot, p. 75, note 3. "par renversement," of bacailhaba, 3 The map which Jacques CARTIER which is the Basque word for cod-fish, had with him, for instance, in I534> " whence the Spanish bacalao, and the cannot have depicted the main entrance Flemish bakkeljaw." PEDRO MARTYR to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. See says that it is an Indian word: infra, p. 90, note I. 88 FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. foundland at that time were the Portuguese, 1 and it is to their charts that we must look for graphic descriptions enabling us to ascertain the extent of geographical information possessed in those days relative to the north-east coast of America. A valuable document of this kind is the map of the Lusitanian cosmographer Caspar 'Viegas, 2 dated October 1534, which is the year of Carder's first voyage, constructed, however, before the results of that expedition were known. It exhibits the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but very inaccurately, both as regards form and extent. Nor is there any island within it, and Newfoundland is still joined to the coast, as if it were an integral part of the continent. For many years after the making of Viegas' portolano, all the maps continued to reproduce the incomplete or erroneous delineations of the Sevilian Hydrography for the north-east shores, although the explorations of Jacques Cartier could have furnished new and more reliable data concerning those countries. The Dieppe cartographers alone seem to have availed themselves of the geographical information gathered by the celebrated French navi- gator in the course of his first voyage, which may be briefly sketched as follows : Sailing from St. Malo, April 2oth, 1534, Cartier made his landfall on the north-east coast of New- foundland, at about 47 30' latitude. Thence he sailed north and north-west, as far as the passage at the northern extremity of Newfoundland (Belle Isle 1 Portuguese from Vianna colonised expedition : Estevam GOMEZ, Vasco Cape Breton so early as 1521. Dis- GALLEGO, Joao DE CARVALHO, Joao covery of North America, art. FAGUN- Rodriguez DE MAFRA, were Portu- DES. Sir Humphrey GILBERT speaks guese. See also Diego RIBERO, the of very ancient Portuguese establish- FALEIROS, the REINELS, Diogo ments at the He de Sable, on the coast HOMEM, Andreas HOMO, &c. &c. of Nova Scotia. 2 Discovery of North America, p. The leading pilots in Magellan's 599, No. 214. FRENCH MAP COPIED B Y SEBASTIAN CABOT. 89 Strait). Entering the channel, he ranged its western border (Labrador), as far as a harbour of the Gulf of St. Lawrence which he named " Brest." From this point he darted across the Gulf westward to a cape on the south-west coast of Newfoundland, at about 49 40', and followed this shore almost to the south- western end of the island. He then crossed over to a group of islands, the first of which he named " I lie de Bryon," after the Admiral, and thence to our Magdalen islands, the entire string of which he followed on the westward side along their shoals and sandbanks, from north to south. From the south-easternmost point of that little archipelago, he sailed southward, about forty leagues, until he reached what he took to be the mainland, but which was in reality the north-west coast of Prince Edward island. He skirted it westward, and when at its extremity, crossed over to what we call New Bruns- wick, believing that it was a continuation of the same firm land, separated by some gulf from the point where he then stood. He then coasted along the eastern borders of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to a bay at about 48 40', from which he crossed to some point of the south-east coast of Anticosti (not sus- pecting that it was an island), rounded what seemed to him a mere promontory, skirted the coast west- ward, then followed the coast of Labrador to the place which he named " Cap Thiennot," and crossed due east to Newfoundland, whence he sailed home- ward by the Strait of Belle Isle, returning to St. Malo on September 5th, 1534. The original account of that voyage is 1 sufficiently explicit to enable us to reconstruct the map, now lost, 2 which Cartier made of that expedition, or, rather, of the periplus accomplished by him in 1534. 1 Notes stir laNouvelle France, p. 2. in existence at the close of the i6th 2 These maps of CARTIER were still century. HAKLUYT, vol. iii, p. 236. 90 FRENCH MAP COPIED V SEBASTIAN CABOT. If, to render it clearer, he delineated a portion of the north-east coast, we must assume that it was borrowed from one of the maps then current ; as at that time he possessed no knowledge of his own concerning the regions south of 47 45'. It might have been a chart akin to that of Viegas, but this is doubtful, as his account leads us to believe that he knew nothing of the eastern entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. l As to the new and original delineations, they con- sisted of a rough tracing of the north-east of New- foundland (which he did not approach sufficiently near to sight its numerous bays and headlands) ; the west coast of that island down to about 47 ; the Magdalen group in an elongated form, preceded by " Ille Bryon," and terminating with " Allezay" at the west ; the north-western extremity of Prince Edward island, but fused with the mainland of New Bruns- wick ; a break ; then the continental shore, deeply indented for "la Baye de Chaleur"; a new break at about 48 40' ; a long and wide promontory pro- jecting eastward, which, in fact, was a considerable portion of the island of Anticosti, represented, how- ever, as belonging to the mainland ; and, finally, the east coast of Belle Isle. Among the new names inscribed, were " Brest," " Le cap Thiennot," " La ripuiere de Barcques," and "le cap dez sauuaiges." That map, consequently, exhibited, for the first time, the Strait of Belle Isle, and, in the Gulf, to the west or north-west of Cape Breton island, which was not separated therein from the south-western extremity of Newfoundland, two or three islands^ surrounded by sandbanks, which, in a rough sketch 1 " Je presume mielx que aultrement, Relation originate, p. 20. This un- a ce que j'ay veu, qu'il luy aict aulcun expected ignorance of the main entrance passaige entre la Terre Neuffue et la to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the terre des Bretons. Sy ainsi estoit se part of CARTIER in 1534, leaves us seroit une grande abreuiacion, tant at a loss as regards the map which he pour le temps que pour le chemyn." had with him in his first voyage. FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. 9l may have assumed the shape of a large triangular mass. This is not, as yet, the chart which furnished all the elements for the representation of Newfound- land and of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Cabotian planisphere of 1 544. Let us now examine Cartier's second voyage. Leaving St. Malo May igth, 1535, he made his landfall on the coast of Newfoundland at about 48 50', entered the Strait of Belle- Isle, followed the south- east coast of Labrador, came to a port which he named " La baye Sainct Laurens," sighted again " Brest," "cap Thiennot," and a place called " Honguedo," rounded for the second time the eastern extremity of Anticosti, and crossed over to the mainland, which he still believed to be a con- tinuation of Anticosti. Continuing to follow the shore, he came to the river which he named " La riuiere de Saguenay," passed by it, entered the estuary of the river St. Lawrence and sailed up as far as a locality to which he gave the name of "Mont Royal." He then retraced his steps follow- ing the same coast northward, but this time passed between the mainland and Anticosti, which he thus discovered to be an island. From a point of the mainland he crossed over to Brion island, explored again the Magdalens, but more carefully, and on the eastern side, naming that cluster of islands, islets and sandbanks, " Les Araynes," 1 from the Portuguese word " Arena/' gallicised, like other terms borrowed from Lusitanian charts, or pilots. From the eastern- most point of that archipelago, he went, for the first time, to Cape Breton island, apparently altogether unknown to him. He entered the broad channel, skirted the south-east coast of Newfoundland to a 1 " Nous trauersasmes a vne terre et de Bryon enuiron huict lieues. Et sablon de basses araynes, qui de- pareillement les dictes Araines estre meurent au Surouaist de la dicte ysle ysles." Brefr&it., fos. 45 b , 64 a . 92 FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. point beyond Cape Race, and finally sailed homeward, arriving at St. Malo on July 6th or 16th, 1 I536. 2 The map which Cartier made to exhibit this voyage is also lost, but may be easily imagined. It must have represented the Gulf of St. Lawrence, such as we see it in several of the Dieppe charts, and not very different from what we see in our modern maps. That is, there was the course of the river St. Lawrence traced as far as Montreal ; Anticosti delineated as an island, and the Magdalen cluster stretching from north to south, and encum- bered with signs for reefs and sandbars, which may have imparted to the group the form of a solid mass. This group or mass was " I lie de Bryon " at the north-east, " Allezay" at the south-west, and in the middle, bore the inscriptions " Les Araynes." On the other hand, Prince Edward island was still joined to the mainland, remaining so on all charts for more than sixty years afterwards. As to the nomen- clature, it repeated, of course, the names in the chart of Cartier's first voyage, with a number of others, among which were " La baye Sainct Laurens " (which should not be taken for the gulf), " Honguedo," and " La riuiere de Saguenay." The nomenclature and delineations for Newfound- land and the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Cabotian planisphere of 1544, show that they were borrowed from a map constructed after the first two voyages of Jacques Cartier, and with cartographical informa- tion brought for the first time by that navigator. 1 * ' Tellement que le vj m iour de also the date given by LESCARBOT : luillet sommes arriuez au hable de "le seizieme jour de juillet," 1612, p. Sainct Malo." MS. 5644, fo. 57, verso. 394. The date of the 1 6th must be The 6th is also the date given in the correct one, for CARTIER can ROFFET'S edition, Paris, 1545, and in scarcely have sailed from the Baie RAMUSIO, iii, fo. 4533. des Trepasses to St. Malo in eighteen 2 "Tellement que le seiziesme jr. de days. Yet, in his first voyage, leaving Juillet sommes arriuez au hable de Belle Isle, August I5th, he arrived at Sainct Malo." MS. 5653, fo. 56, St. Malo on September 5th, notwith- recto, and 5589, fo. 62, recto. This is standing contrary winds. FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. 93 First, as to the nomenclature. The following names, although greatly disfigured, betray their Cartieran origin, inasmuch as the locus is the same in Cabot's map, and in Carrier's original account : CARTIER Brest Toutes Isles 1 Cap de Thiennot* Sallynes 3 Baye Sainct Laurens La ripuiere Sainct Jac- ques H able Jacques Cartier Honguedo 4 Riuiere d'eau doulce* Ripuiere de Saguenay 6 Ripuiere de Barcques Le cap des Sauuaiges 7 Isles dangoulesme Lac dangoulesme* Stadacone 9 CABOT Brest todo yslas C de tronot Salinas Baya de S. loreme Jaqui Onguedo la duce, rio duce Rio de S. quenain Rio de paris Saluayos golosme laaga de golesme estadas. Furthermore, Cabot even records (unconsciously) in his planisphere the mishap of Jacques Cartier when on the 28th September 1535, he was unable to cross with his ship the western extremity of the Angouleme or St. Pierre lake, and was compelled to continue the voyage in boats. For the legend in Cabot's planisphere "pora quinopde pasar (i.e. : 1 7 Isles (DESLIENS) ; Tout ys (DESCELIERS). 2 Tienot (DESLIENS) ; C. Trenot (VALLARD). 3 Sallynes (DESLIENS) ; Salinas de Tiennot (DESCELIERS). 4 Honguedo (DESLIENS). 5 Eau Doulce (DESLIENS) ; Rio doulce (DESCELIERS). 6 R : de Sagnay (DESLIENS). 7 Samiagez (DESLIENS) ; Sauluages (DESCELIERS). 8 Lago do golesme (VALLARD). Angoulesme does not figure in CARTIER'S accounts ; but it is a name which was grven by him. See infra. 9 Estadacoe (VALLARD). It was the residence of the chief DONNACONA. 94 FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. por aqui no puede pasar : here it is not possible to pass)," does not refer, as Kohl says, 1 to Carder's " premier sault : first rapids," but to the lake St. Pierre, or d'Angouleme, which, as already said, Cartier could not traverse, owing to shallow water at its western extremity. 2 The delineations in Cabot's map are not less striking. We find them almost identical with those in all the Dieppe maps of the time which have come down to us ; particularly in the oldest one, which bears the inscription : FAICTE A DIEPPE PAR NICOLAS DESLIENS. 1541. This map was certainly derived from the same prototype as Cabot's plani- sphere for that portion of the north-eastern regions. 3 The reader is referred to the accompanying fac- similes of these two maps. The points to be noted are, the island on the west coast of Labrador, also the one to the west of Cape Breton called there "y e des arenos" ; New- foundland represented as an archipelago, 4 and the absence of the imaginary isle of St. John, which on so many of the early maps, and even in Dieppe ones of a later period, flanks the east coast of Cape Breton island. The date of 1541 inscribed on that map of Desliens precludes its containing data later than Carder's second voyage. But we know that Desliens continued to draw maps for at least twenty-five years, and with nearly the same north-eastern configura- tions. There is one of these in the Paris National Library. It bears the inscription : " Dieppe, par 1 KOHL, Documentary History of lung der Kartographie von Amerika Maine, p. 365. bis 157- In supplement No. 106 of 2 CARTIER, Bref re^cit.^ fo. 20, Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1892. verso. 4 We call the attention of our readers 3 This valuable map is preserved in particularly to the shapes and different the Dresden Royal Library (Geogr. tinges given to the fragments consti- A. 52. m.), and was first made known tuting that archipelago in Desliens' by Dr. Sophus RUGE ; Die Entwicke- map and in Cabot's. FRENCH MAP COPIED BY SEBASTIAN CABOT. 95 Nicolas Desliens, 1566," and differs but little from the one of 1541, except as regards New- foundland, which, as might be expected at such a date, is represented as one compact island. These two maps of Desliens, and others akin, indicate a school of Dieppe cartographers different from that of Desceliers, and remaining faithful for the most part to the above given profiles. There can therefore be no doubt that it was a chart of that class which, directly or indirectly, sup- plied Cabot with the cartographical data exhibited in his planisphere of 1544. Yet, that Dieppe chart cannot have been of an earlier date than 1536, owing to the inscription in Cabot's planisphere : " laaga de golesme," which is the lake " d' Angouleme " of Vallard and of Hakluyt, whilst the single word " golosme," close to it, is the " y e dangoulesme" of Pierre Desceliers. The widening of the river St. Lawrence where those names occur in Cabot's map, as well as the names themselves, correspond with the anonymous extent of water afterwards called "Lac St. Pierre." But as Cartier visited that region both in 1536 and 1542, the name "Angou- lesme " may have been given only in the course of the third voyage, and figured for the first time in maps made when he returned from the latter expedi- tion. If so, Cabot's prototype was a derivative of some Desliens map constructed in 1542 or 1543, from which he borrowed both the configurations and nomenclature for the entire basin of the river and Gulf of St. Lawrence. 1 Abbe FAILLON, Histoire de la i, p. 16, and BELLIN'S map in CHARLE- Colonisation francaise en Canada^ vol. voix's Nouvelle France. CHAPTER XIII. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S SAN JUAN ISLAND IMAGINARY. IT will certainly seem strange that a professional cartographer like Sebastian Cabot, who claimed to have found and explored the north-east coast of the New World, and the Baccalaos in particular ; who owed his position in Spain, so far back as 1512, to the special knowledge which he was supposed to possess of their geography ; and who, as pilot- major, had to supply, for many years, the carto- graphical information required for the charts issued by the Spanish government, should have been obliged to borrow in a servile fashion all his topo- graphical data from a French map made half a century after his alleged discovery. Yet, this, of itself, would not be sufficient to charge him with mendacity. We can easily realise how he might have selected a later, more complete, or more exact chart than the one he had himself originally drawn, and inscribed thereon his pretended landfall. Just so Stanley, for instance, might to-day insert certain names and legends on some map made since his return by explorers who had surveyed more fully the regions discovered by him several years before. Such a manipulation on the part of Cabot acquires, however, great importance when brought in connec- tion with other circumstances. We have shown in the preceding chapters that the alleged landfall at Cape Breton island contradicts all the data furnished by John Cabot, the real discoverer, and reported by auricular witnesses of unimpeached veracity. SEB, CABOT'S SAN JUAN ISLAND IMAGINARY. 97 We have also demonstrated that the place desig- nated by Sebastian Cabot in the planisphere of 1544, differs entirely, both as to characteristics and latitude, from the locality set forth by all cartographers of the time, including those who worked under his direc- tion, to mark the English, or Cabotian discoveries in North America. These probatory data can be further strengthened by correlative evidence derived from a study of that portion of Cabot's map under another aspect, viz. : its graphic description of the surroundings of the alleged landfall at Cape Breton. In his planisphere, the legend for the landfall contains the information that after sighting the new region, in the morning of June 24th, Cabot dis- covered, on the same day, a large island close to the land which on the map bears the inscription " Prima tierra vista " (that is, the northern extremity of Cape Breton island), and that he named the so discovered isle : " Sant loan." At the outset, it must be stated that there is no island, either large or small, in the immediate vicinity of the northern shores of Cape Breton Island. The nearest is a mere islet (St. Paul), at a distance of fourteen miles, which, being to the north-east of Cape North, Cabot would have sighted before reaching the alleged landfall. Besides, he places his " Sant loan," to the north-west, far within the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After doubling the cape, and entering the Gulf, he had to sail north-westward before meeting with any island ; and then it could only be one of the Mag- dalens, the nearest point of which after leaving Cap North is at a distance of not less than fifty-four miles (Point Old Harry in Coffin Island). The descrip- tion, therefore, is inadmissible. We now turn to the topographical data, and find in the planisphere, to the north-west of Cape Breton, G 98 SEBASTIAN CABOT'S a very large island, the northern shore of which Cabot marks at 50 north latitude, and denominates " I. de S. Juan." This is, evidently, his alleged insular discovery, although in reality, the parallel would take us to Labrador. Looking around for a large island to correspond in some degree with Cabot's allegation, Kohl and others, ourself included, thought that it could only be Prince Edward island. But, so far as we are con- cerned, we gave at the same time reasons showing the impossibility of reconciling that interpretation with Sebastian Cabot's own statements. For instance, the landfall was made in the morning : " por la mannana," and the aforesaid large island was discovered on the same day : " el mismo dia," necessarily very soon after the landfall, since the island is said to be " par de la dicha tierra,' that is, close to the same. 1 Now, from Cape Nord, which is the landfall when coming from the north- east, to East Cape, which is the first sighting of Prince Edward island when coming from the north- west extremity of Cape Breton, the distance is one hundred and twenty-nine miles ! On the 24th of June 1494 and 1497, in the latitude of Cape Nord, the sun rose at ten minutes past four, and set at eight. Cabot, therefore, must have crossed that great distance within sixteen hours, and even less if we follow the Latin text of the legend, viz. : " hora 5. diliculo." Taking all the facts in the case, it is an impossibility. The ship was a small one with a very small crew (eighteen men). She left Bristol at the beginning of May, some say on the 2nd, and reached, we are told, on June 24th, a locality which corresponds with 1 " PAR, adverb. Aupres, pres, JOURNANT, Dictionnaire tspagnol- proche, joignant, tout centre. Lat. fran$ais et latin, Paris, 1775, vol. i, Juxta, Prop*?, Secundum" (DE SE- p. 731.) SAN JUAN ISLAND IMA GINAR Y. 99 Cape Nord, the extremity of Cape Breton looking towards Newfoundland. The distance between Bristol and that Cape Nord is 2243 miles. The passage therefore averaged about 42 miles per day, which is less than two knots per hour. How can Cabot have crossed the 129 miles which separate Cape Nord from Prince Edward island between sun- rise and sunset, that is, in less than sixteen hours, when his sailing in the open sea, during the previous eight weeks, only averaged 30 miles for sixteen hours ? Even if we place Cabot's departure from Bristol a week earlier, we find figures, which rela- tively speaking, are quite as improbable. Another fact which must be taken in consideration is that the Cabotian legend describes the alleged Isle St. John, as being a very sterile country : " es tierra muy steril," with many white bears : " ay en ellos muchos orsos plancos (sic)." On the contrary, Prince Edward island is noted for the beauty of its hills covered with vegetation and clusters of fine trees. As to white bears, particularly at the end of June, they are unheard of. The inscription also says that the natives go about clad in skins of wild animals, and describes no fewer than six species of weapons used by them in war : " La gente della andan uestidos de pieles de animales, usan en sus guerras arcos, y flechas, langas, y dardos, y unas porras de palo, y hondas : the people of [that island] go about clad in skins of animals ; use in war bows, arrows, lances, and spears, wooden clubs and slings." How could Sebastian have acquired that informa- tion when we have the positive assertion of Raimondo di Soncino that John Cabot described the country as very fine and temperate : " Et dicono che la e terra optima et temperata," and of Pasqualigo that al- though the crew went ashore, they did not see any 100 SEBASTIAN CABOT'S human being in course of the voyage : " e desmon- tato e non a visto persona alguna " ? l It cannot be therefore Prince Edward island which Cabot discovered on the same day that he 7 made his landfall, and named " Isla de San Juan.' Yet this large and well-known island of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (with due allowance for the errors in form and position so frequent in the early charts), answers at first sight to the isle of great size deno- minated " I. de S. Juan " in Cabot's planisphere. This conformity misled us all. But we are at last in a position to account for the delusion. 2 Cabot's " Isla de San Juan," as he depicts and describes it in the planisphere of 1 544, so far from being Prince Edward island, is an imaginary con- figuration, borrowed, like all the rest of his north- eastern profiles and localities, from the French map which directly or indirectly, served him in delineat- ing those parts. It is unquestionable that the Gulf of St. Lawrence was visited by fishermen long before Cartier, and explored as far back as 1521 ; at all events, by Joao Alvarez Fagundes. 3 Maps were doubtless made then of certain points at least of that region, but they have not come down to us. And, judging from the profile of the north-east coast, south of Newfoundland, in the charts of Maggiolo, Verrazano, Nufio Garcia de Toreno, the Weimar maps, and even Viegas, 4 it is certain that few, if any, of the geographical data relative to the Gulf of St. Lawrence collected before Cartier's voyages, were known or 1 PASQUALIGO, Jean et Seb. Cabot, Canada, sect, ii, 1887, and sect, ii, p. 322. 1889. See also Mr. GANONG'S article 2 This demonstration was first made in Canadiana, No. of May 1890, which by Mr. W. F. GANONG, in his ex- is a just revindication of that scholar's cellent memoirs Jacques Cartier s First claims and original investigations. Voyage, and The Cartography of the 3 Discovery of North America, pp. Gulf of St. Lawrence, inserted in the 181-188. Transactions of the Royal Society of 4 Ibidem, pp. 599-601. SAN JUAN ISLAND IMA GINAR Y. 101 utilised by professional cartographers. What we possess in that respect, so far as the details of the interior of the Gulf are concerned, in maps constructed before the year 1546, has no other origin than the tracings brought by Cartier on his return to France from the second expedition in I536. 1 His own cartographical data have long since disappeared, but they can be reconstructed by the light of the accounts which he wrote of the first and second voyages, and by comparing his geographical descriptions with the Dieppe maps of the time which we still possess, such as Desliens', that of Rotz (i.e. Jehan Rose), and Desceliers'. This comparison shows conclusively that Prince Edward island was not discovered to be an island until long after the Cabot planisphere had been constructed, 2 as we propose to demonstrate presently. But there is in the Gulf of St. Lawrence a large island, which observers rarely fail to assume to be, prima facie, Prince Edward Island, and which the critic who rejects such an assumption is bound to account for. If that island had appeared in Cabot's planisphere for the first time, we might infer that it was a datum of his own, which he inserted to complete the French map he was copying. But it is found in Dieppe charts of a prior date, like Desliens' of 1541. Nor can it be said that Desliens borrowed it from some older map of Cabot, because if such a Cabotian map had been in existence, Sebastian would not have copied a French one, as we have shown he has, its nomenclature, as well as its configurations, when making his planisphere of 1 544. What then is that island in reality ? Nothing else than a crude, conglomerated representation of the Magdalen group. 3 1 Jean et Stb. Cabot, p. 214. 3 Ibidem. ' 2 GANONG, op. cit. 102 SEBASTIAN CABOTS Here is the proof for this assertion : On the 25th of June, 1536, Cartier sailed from some south-west cape of Newfoundland, went north- west by west seventeen and one-half leagues, and then south-west twenty leagues, which brought him to his " Ille de Bryon." At a distance of four leagues from Bryon, he sighted the headland to which he gave the name of " Cap du Daulphin," belonging to another island, which he coasted until he came to another one which he named " Allezay." That insular region is, unquestionably, the small Magdalen archipelago, encumbered with its belt of reefs, shoals and sand-bars. Then the glowing description given by Cartier of the Isle de Brion, which, on account of its fertility he named after his protector Admiral de Brion, and of " Cap du Daulphin pour ce que c' est le commancement des bonnes terres," 1 shows that those islands must have occupied a prominent place in his own original maps. Now if we consider that in the early Dieppe charts, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the region of Cape Breton, contains only one island, which solitary isle is named "des arenos" in the Desliens chart of 1541, " Alezay," in the Harleyan, and both "brion" and "alezay," flanking a semicircular cluster of reefs and sandbanks, in Desceliers, and that nowhere in the descriptions of Jacques Cartier do we find the least intimation of the existence of another island in that part of the Gulf of St. Law- rence, still less of one of such immense size as Prince Edward, it is evident that the isles so represented in the Dieppe maps and in their derivatives, are intended for the Magdalens. Nay, the identification is absolute when we compare Cabot's " Isla de S. Juan " with the island in the same place and of similar shape as well as relative 1 CARTIER, Relation originate, pp. 19, 20. SAN JUAN ISLAND IMA GINAR Y. 103 size in Desliens' map of 1541 and notice that the latter bears the name of " Y e des arenos " (sic pro des Araynes), which was given to the largest of the Magdalen group by Jacques Cartier, on Thursday, May 26th, I536. 1 Furthermore, neither Cartier, nor any cartographer for half a century after his voyages to Canada, even suspected the insular character of Prince Edward island, 2 as we shall proceed to show. When Cartier ranged the northern coast of Prince Edward island, or, rather, a small portion of its north-western shore, which he did but once, he certainly thought it was a continental land, and, necessarily, the west side of the " Terre des Bretons" (our New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), so named and depicted in all preceding maps for at least twenty years. Nor do we find in any chart made before, or for half a century after Carder's discoveries, or any where in the writings of the period, the least mention of a channel answering to the Strait of Northumberland. Reverting to his own accounts, it will be seen that the knowledge which he possessed concerning that region was altogether limited to a few leagues of the north-west coast of Prince Edward island, then and to the last, believed by him to be part of the mainland. We left Cartier at the western extremity of the southernmost Magdalen island (" Allezay "). Here is his own description of the course taken immedi- ately afterwards : " The next day (June 29th), the wind blew towards S. and \ S.W. We sailed westerly until Tuesday morning (June 30th), without sighting or discovering land at all, except in the evening, when we saw two islands, W.S.W., at a distance of about nine or ten leagues. We continued sailing westwardly, until the next morning at sun rise, something like forty leagues. In so doing, 1 CARTIER, Brefrtcit, fo. 45 b . 2 GANONG, op. cit. 104 SEBASTIAN CABOT'S we found that the land which appeared to us like two islands, was the mainland, lying S.S.E. and N.N.W." 1 A mere glance at any map, ancient or modern, will show that a land said to be situate forty leagues 2 south of Allezay can only be the northern shore of Prince Edward island ; whilst the term " terre ferme," proves that in Cartier's opinion it was not an island, but, on the contrary, continental territory. The sailing continued westward by northward. Unfortunately, when Cartier reached the west end of Prince Edward island, instead of ranging the coast in a southerly direction, which would have led him to the western opening of the Strait of Northumber- land and enabled him to see that his " terre ferme" was only an island, he darted across, this time, to the real mainland (New Brunswick), and judged that the space between the two points was a bay, pre- cisely as he did again, shortly afterwards, when crossing from Gaspe over to the south-east coast of Anticosti. Here are his own words : " The next day, on the 2nd of July, we sighted, to the north of us, a land connected with that which we had ranged, and knew that it was a bay with a depth of about twenty leagues, and as much of breadth. We named it the bay of Sainct Limaire (St. Leonarius)." 3 Neither Cartier nor any of his immediate followers ever visited that locality again, at all events previous to the making of Cabot's planisphere. He returned to France from his first voyage by the Strait of Belle Isle, not suspecting even the existence of the Cape Breton outlet. In his second voyage, he again explored the Magdalens, when crossing over 1 CARTIER, Relation originate, p. dite terre que nous auoit aparut comme 22. deux iles, que c' estoit terre ferme que 2 " Et celuy jour fismes a Ouaist gissoit Su Suest et Nort Norouaist," jusques au lendemain, sollail a 1'Est, Relat. originate, p. 22. enuiron quarante lieues ; Et faissant 3 Ibidem, p. 25. chemyn, eusmes la cognoissance de la SAN JUAN ISLAND IMA GINAR Y. 105 from the Labrador coast, on his way home, visiting the little archipelago on the east, and thence issuing due east into the Atlantic through the Cape Breton channel, which he then saw for the first time. Cartier returned a third time to -Canada, on the 23rd of May 1541, and made his landfall on the north-east coast of Newfoundland. As the main object of that expedition was to explore the Sague- nay, and we find him at Sainte Croix, in the region of the St. Lawrence river on the 23rd of August following, we assume that he entered the Gulf by the Strait of Belle Isle. On the 2nd of September 1541, he sent his brother-in-law (Jalobert), and his nephew (Noel) to France. But they could carry with them no other geographical data than such as may have been gathered about Cape Rouge and Charlesbourg Royal. Cartier spent the entire winter of 1541-42 in the latter place. In the spring, he determined to return to France, and crossed over to the north-west coast of Newfoundland, where, near Cape Double, he waited for Roberval, whom he met .there, apparently in September. Nothing indicates that during that time Cartier explored the south-west coast of Newfoundland, or that he visited either Cape Breton or Prince Edwards island. The probability is that after meeting Roberval, he re- turned again by Belle Isle Strait to St. Malo, where we find him in October I542, 1 necessarily bringing not any new geographical information except as regards the river St. Lawrence beyond Montreal. No vessel returned to France until Senneterre was sent to La Rochelle by Roberval in 1543. Here again, if his pilots possessed new carto- graphical data, they could only relate to the river St. Lawrence, where Roberval remained, until he went back to France, in May 1544. 1 Jean el Stb, Cabot, p. 214. 106 SEBASTIAN CABOT'S It follows from this series of facts that all the configurations of the islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near or about Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, whether depicted in the Dieppe maps of Desliens, Desceliers, Rotz, and the like, of a date prior to 1 544, or in Sebastian Cabot's planisphere, have and can have no other origin than the cartographical data collected by Jacques Cartier, or his pilots, in the course of the voyages made by him in 1534, 1536, and 1542. It also follows that Sebastian Cabot's " Isla de S. Juan," which he claims to have discovered on the 24th of June 1494 (sic pro 1497), * s on ^y one f tne small islands of a group first found and depicted by the French navigator, and named by him " the Isles of sand," the configurations of which Sebastian Cabot has borrowed wholly from the Carterian pro- totype used by Nicolas Desliens for his map of 1541. Another noticeable consequence of this appro- priation is that Cabot's delineation of the said island of St. John, does not represent a really existing island. What he has thus depicted and named, is only a cartographical distortion, an amalgam of islets, sunken rocks, shoals and sand bars, conglomerated by mistake, to which some French cartographer ascribed the shape of a regular compact island of considerable dimensions, and which Cabot actually believed to be, as such, in existence ; thus perpetuat- ing an egregious geographical error. It remains to account for the name "Isla de San Juan," given by Sebastian Cabot (or by Dr. Grajales) to that delineation in the Cabotian planisphere. The legend states that it was so named because Cabot discovered it on the 24th of June, which is St. John's day. If, as we claim to have shown, * a land- fall made at such a late date as June 24th is not 1 Supra, chapter x, pp. 63-68. SAN JUAN ISLAND IMA GINAR Y. 107 compatible with Sebastian Cabot's alleged doings and movements immediately after sighting the New World that name is just as spurious as the rest. Our belief is that the date of June 24th was invented, either by Sebastian Cabot or by Dr. Grajales, to tally with the name of "St. John," then existing in maps of that region. As the reader will see even at a glance, when com- paring our two facsimiles, the north-eastern con- figurations in Cabot's planisphere and those in the Desliens map of 1541, proceed from the same prototype ; but Cabot's have very probably passed through an intermediary derivative. The Spanish and Portuguese forms of the original French names, indicate in Cabot's map a Lusitanian or Spanish model, made after Desliens' prototype, but which may have introduced certain cartographical peculiari- ties of the Spanish and Portuguese charts. One of these is another imaginary " Island of St. John." So far back as the map constructed by Pedro Reinel in 1504 or 1505, we find to the east of the peninsula of Cape Breton, in the latitude of 49 (according to its scale), a large isle denominated "Sam Joha." This island, which, as such, is fictitious, may owe its cartographical origin to a misconception of the great peninsula which stretches into the Atlantic from the southernmost or Sydney region of Cape Breton island, to which it is joined only by an extremely narrow isthmus. We find it in all Lusitanian maps and their derivatives, includ- ing those of Dieppe, and with the names of " I a de S. Joan" (Maggiolo of 1527). "Y. de S. Juhan" (Wolfenbuttel B), nameless in Viegas, but " Y e de St. Jeha" in the Harleyan, and " Sam Joam" in Freire's portolano. 1 1 That island should not be mistaken viz. : "Juan esteuez," which co-exists for another imaginary one near it. in nearly all the maps of the time. 108 SEB. C A DOTS SAN JUAN ISLAND IMAGINARY. Its position is not exactly the same in all maps, although in every instance the island is located in the vicinity of Cape Breton. Some maps have it more to the north, and even like Wolfenbuttel B 1 and Verrazano's mappamundi, inside the Gulf of St. Lawrence. If Cabot's north-eastern configurations were not exactly the same as Desliens' Dieppe map, we should at once ascribe the insertion of the island and name of St. John in the Cabotian planisphere to the fact of their being borrowed from some Lusitanian chart, but the resemblance is too great. This con- strains us to infer that Cabot's model map, which we assume to have been a Portuguese derivative of a Cartieran map, also had its Cape Breton peninsula flanked by the imaginary Atlantic St. John. We may presume that, like Wolfenbuttel B, for instance, it inserted the "I. de S. Juan," configuration, name, and all, to the west, instead of to the east of Cape Breton. Cabot, then, if the blending of the two insular configurations did not already exist in his model, may have merged it with the delineation originally intended by the Dieppe designer of the prototype to represent the Magdalen group of Cartier. Our interpretation of the origin of the name leads to what might be termed a reflex consequence. Dr. Grajales, if not Cabot himself, fully aware of the almost constant practice of naming islands after the saint on whose day they were found, may well have coined the date of June 24th, which is that of the festival of John the Baptist, on seeing the island labelled " I. de San Juan." 1 Discovery of North America, No. data, as certain names, and particu- 195, pp. 580-581. Wolfenbuttel B larly the legend relating to the origin is a Sevilian map, of about the year of the term " Laborador " amply show. 1531, but completed with Portuguese CHAPTER XIV. IS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE? THE conclusion to be drawn from our analysis is that Sebastian Cabot's statements as regards the first landfall on the continent of North America, are in absolute contradiction to the legends and delineations of the planisphere of 1544, and that these, in their turn, are based entirely on the dis- coveries made by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and 1536 and not at all on Cabot's. If in connection with these facts, we recollect that for forty-four years previous to the making of his planisphere, all the maps locate expressly, or by implication, the first discoveries of the English in the north-east of the New World, including necessarily John Cabot's transatlantic voyages under the British flag, ten degrees farther north ; and that witnesses of undoubted veracity and entirely disinterested testify to having heard John Cabot declare that he sailed westward from Ireland, without alluding to a change southward in the course of the ship, at any time during the voyage, we feel constrained to place his prima tierra vista, in 1497 beyond 51 15' north latitude. Taking moreover into consideration that, according to the same contemporary and unimpeached evidence, not only did John Cabot not sail in his first expedi- tion towards the south after he had proceeded west- ward from a point which was at or above 51 15' north latitude, but on the contrary stood thence to the northward, and afterwards steered in a due 110 SS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE '? westerly direction, the critic must place the landfall on some point of the north coast of Labrador, probably between Sandwich Bay and Cape Chud- leigh. Such an interpretation permits us to comprise within a possible space of time the necessary rest, and the exploration of the newly discovered country, as related by eye-witnesses of John Cabot's return to England in 1497. Withal, the date of the landfall should be set back two or three weeks before June 24th. This would leave about seventy days for the voyage to and fro, and twenty-five for the stay, repairs, and exploration of the coast. As to the two islands of considerable size which, when homeward bound, John Cabot is said to have seen to the star- board, they admit of the following explanation. Pasqualigo does not specify the character of those islands, as he says only : " al tornar aldreto a visto do ixole." Soncino is more explicit. " The two islands were extremely large : due insule grandis- sime." According to Professor Hind, that coast of North Labrador " is fringed with a vast multitude of islands ; " * but in nautical charts of the district, no large islands are marked except at the entrance of Hudson's Strait. Of the two in Ungava Bay, one Akpatok, is very large, the other, Green, is rather small. Then, according to this hypothetic route, John Cabot when reaching the headland of Cape Chudleigh, would have launched into what must have looked to him to be the open sea (as between Chudleigh and Resolution Island the strait is 45 miles wide), instead of hugging the shore and doubling the cape, which, owing to his small craft and lack of provisions, he would have been induced to do in preference. It is probable, then, that after following up his supposed landfall in Labrador (some- 1 CHAPPELL, Nan-ative of a Voyage to Hudson 's bay ; London, 1817, 8vo. SS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE 1 } 111 where about Sandwich Bay or Invuctoke), as far west as Cape Chudleigh, he turned his prow to the south-eastward, and when on the east shore of New- foundland, mistook for islands the peninsulas which project on that side from the main body of the isle. The latter hypothesis is the more plausible since the east coast of Newfoundland is indented with bays running, in some instances, 80 or 90 miles inland, and at no great distance from each other. 1 The peninsula of Avalon, pointing south-east, is almost severed from the principal portion of the island, the connection being a narrow isthmus, in one place but three miles wide. In fact, it was this deceptive profile which caused all cartographers of the first half of the sixteenth century to represent Newfoundland as an archi- pelago. 2 Even in the Cabotian map of 1544, the isle is still broken up into eleven large fragments. We should also recollect that its bays have their shores clad in dark green forests to the water's edge ; and, as Cabot himself says that he merely sighted those islands 3 without circumnavigating them, the supposed mistake is perfectly accountable. If so, the accompanying map would represent the route of John Cabot in the expedition of 1497. All this, however, we put forward as a mere hypothesis, yet the best that can be proposed to explain Sebastian Cabot's contradictory assertions. These contradictions are so manifest that they have prompted the inquiry whether he was really the author of the planisphere which bears his name. It must be repeated here that the legends in 1 Rev.M.HARVEY, J :wrj/.^r.xvii,382. 3 "E al tornar aldreto a visto do 2 Indeed, the number of fragments ixole ma non ha voluto desender per is almost a test to ascertain the non perder tempo che la vituaria li antiquity of the configurations ascribed mancava." Letter of Lorenzo. PAS- to Newfoundland in the Dieppe maps QUALIGO, Jean et Stb. Cabot, doc. viii, of the 1 6th century. p. 322. 112 ZS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE 1 } Cabot's map were not written by him, but are the work of one Dr. Grajales, who wrote them at the Puerto de Santa Maria, half a century after John Cabot's first voyage ; 1 while the translation into Latin seems to have been made by some Dutch or German pedant 2 of the place where the planisphere was engraved. The cartographical data, however, which served as a basis for those tabular explana- tions, were certainly furnished by Sebastian Cabot, or published with his assent, particularly as regards the configuration of the north-east coast of the American continent, and the alleged landfall at Cape Breton. In 1544, Charles V. reigned over both Germany and the Netherlands ; and whether we consider the Cabotian planisphere as having been published in Spain, at Antwerp, or at Augsburg, it is not likely that anyone would have ventured to palm off on the Emperor's Pilot- Major a forgery of that character, or add to the plate the Imperial arms. Besides, the genuineness of the publication is proved by its existence and circulation in England while Sebastian Cabot lived and held an official position in that country. The importance of this fact makes it incumbent on us to produce our authorities for the statement. As to the first assertion, we must recall the circum- stance that Sebastian Cabot was still living in 1557 ; and that Eden, before 1555, which is the date of the first edition of his English translation of the Decades of Peter Martyr, published in that work certain 1 See in the appendix of the first "navigandi arte astronomiaque peri- part of the Cartographia Americana tissimus .... astrorum peritia navi- Vetustissima, the note entitled : Alleged gandique arte omnium doctissimus . . map of Columbus' navigations, and, in- . . fida doctissimaque magistra ; " all fra, Synopsis, No. Ixi. three of which are in the Latin version 2 The self-laudatory expressions of the legend xvii, do not exist in the which also lead us to think that CABOT Spanish text, whether printed, or in did not write the legends, viz. : the manuscript copy. IS THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE? 113 " notable thynges as tovchinge the Indies," which, he said, were " translated owt of the bookes of Franciscus Lope [Gomara] . . . and partly also owt of the carde made by Sebastian Cabot." l The Cabotian planisphere could be seen at West- minster. Purchas, after referring to the voyage of 1497, sums up the eighth tabular legend, and adds : " These are the wordes of the great Map in his Maies- tie's priuie Gallerie." 2 There was also a copy in the castle of the Earl of Bedford : " Cabot's table which the Earle of Bedford hath at Cheynies," says Richard Willes. 3 Finally, the map was reissued in 1549 for Clement Adams who re-edited the legends, once, as we propose to show, 4 with modifications most probably suggested by Cabot himself, and Hakluyt says that " the copye of Gabote's map sett out by Mr. Clemen te Adams was in many marchants houses in London." 5 It is impossible that the wily Venetian should not have been aware of the existence of those maps ; and if he had no part in such publications, or if he disapproved of their cartographical state- ments, we should find traces of protest and dis- claimer in the works of Eden 6 and of Hakluyt; 7 1 EDEN, Decades ; London, 1555, derived information from him concern- 4to, f. 324. ing his voyages ( The Decades of the New 2 PURCHAS, His Pilgrimage", Lon- Worlde, London, 1555, preface, leaf c I don, 1625, folio, vol. iii, p. 807. and fol. 249, 255, 268), had seen that 3 WILLES' edition of EDEN'S History map and, as we have already said, actu- of Travayle; London, 1557, 41.0, f. ally republished one of its legends. 232. 7 HAKLUYT also reprinted a legend 4 Syllabus, No. Ixi, iii. taken from the same chart, a copy of 5 HAKLUYT, Westerne Planting, which he saw hung up "in her written in 1584, and published for the Maiesties' priuie gallerie at Westmin- first time in vol. ii of the Docu- ster" (Principall Navigations, 1589, mentary History of the State of Maine, p. 511, and 1599, vol. iii, p. 6), and Portland, 1870, 8vo, p. 126. As besides, from his language, he must Clement ADAMS did not die till 1587, have consulted "all of Sebastian and HAKLUYT, born circa 1553, lived Cabote's 'own mappes and discourses until 1616, they must have known one drawne and written by himselfe,' another ; owing to their living in the which, he is the first to say, ' are in same social circle, and their devotion the custody of Master William Worth- to mutually congenial studies. ington who is very willing to suffer 6 EDEN, who was personally ac- them to be overseene.' " Divers quainted with Sebastian Cabot, and voyages, 1582. 114 75 THE CABOTIAN MAP GENUINE? while they would neither have quoted nor used the map. What then could be Sebastian's object in placing at the southern entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence a landfall which for so many years previous had rightly figured, though it be only by implication, in all charts and portolani, as on the north-eastern coast of Labrador ? Was it his personal interest to do so, and have we any reason to consider him as capable of making wilfully untruthful statements? These grave questions require the critic to examine with care and impartiality the real character of Sebastian Cabot. CHAPTER XV. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. OEBASTIAN Cabot was a man capable of *-5 disguising the truth, whenever it was to his interest to do so. The account of the discovery of the north-east coast of the New World, given by Peter Martyr, is exclusively from communications by Sebastian Cabot, when the latter was his guest : " Familiarem habeo domi Cabottum ipsum, et contubernalem interdum." 1 Yet, it contains no mention whatever of John Cabot, and the merit of the discovery is ascribed solely to Sebastian : " Scrutatus est eas Sebastianus Cabotus . . . Duo is sibi navigia propria pecunia in Britannia ipsa instruxit, et primo tendens cum hominibus tercentum ad septentrionem : These northe seas haue byn searched by one Sebastian Cabot .... He there- fore furnisshed two shippes in England at his own charges : And fyrst with three hundreth men, directed his course . . . ." 2 Had he ever mentioned his father's name to Peter Martyr in connection with that discovery, the latter would certainly have inserted it in his Decades. Again in Sebastian's own words as reported by the Mantuan Gentleman, it was he alone who accom- plished the first voyage, his father being said by him to have been dead when Henry VII. granted the required authorization to undertake it : " Mori U padre in quel tempo che venne nona che' 1 signor don 1 ANGHIERA, De rebus Oceanicis, 2 Ibidem^ leaf c, and EDEN'S trans- Decad. i, lib. vi, leaf 55 D, lation, 116 THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. Christopher Colombo Genoese havea scoperta la costa dell' Indie, et se ne parlava grandemente per tutta la corte del Re Henrico vij, che allhora regnava .... subito feci intender questo mio pensiero alia Maesta del Re, il qual ... mi armo due caravelle , . . . et cominciai a navigar ... in capo d'alquanti giorni la discopersi .... &c.: When my father died in that time when newes were brought that Don Christopher Columbus Genoese had discovered the coasts of India, whereof was great talke in all the court of King Henry the Seventh, who then raigned .... I thereupon caused the king to be advertised of my devise, who immediately commanded two caravels to be furnished with all things .... and I began therefore to saile .... After certaine dayesl/ww* .... &C." 1 In an Italian paraphrase of Peter Martyr, 2 which we have elsewhere shown to be the work of Ramusio, 3 who corresponded with Sebastian Cabot, and from whom he received information which we must assume to be embodied in that publication, the above state- ment is even enlarged, in this wise : "Fu [Cabot] menato da sup padre in Inghilterra, da poi la morte del quale trouandosi ricchissimo, et di grande animo, deliberb si come hauea fatto Christoforo Colombo, voler anchor lui scoprire qualche nuoua parte del mondo, et a sue spese armo duoi nauili : He was taken by his father to England, where, after the latter's death, finding himself extremely rich, and being high- spirited, he determined, as Christopher Columbus had done, to discover some new part of the World, and at his own cost, he equipped two ships." 4 Now, Lorenzo Pasqualigo, who was an eye-witness of the navigator's return, and Raimondo di Soncino, who interviewed him at the same time, and was, more- over, his personal friend, 5 both name him "Zoanne Caboto," and never mention Sebastian. John Cabot, so far from being dead when the expedition was fitted out, received, personally, from Henry VII. on the I3th of December, 1497, a pension 1 RAMUSIO, op. cit. vie, ses voyages ; vol. i, pp. 92-94. 2 Bibliot. Americana Vetustissima, 4 RAMUSIO, Raccolta, 1565, vol. iii, No. 190. fo. 35. 3 Christophe Colomb, son origins, sa 5 Jean, et S&b. Cabot, pp. 322, 326. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 117 as a reward for the discovery which he had just accomplished. 1 Further, there was only one discoverer on that occasion, at least, and not several, as the English King, August loth, 1497, (that is, immediately upon the return of the expedi- tion,) gave from his privy purse 10 " to hym that found the New Isle." 2 There can be no doubt about the identity of the discoverer whom Henry VII. meant, as in his second letters patent, dated February 3rd, 1498, he says that "the Londe and Isles of late found," were discovered " by the seid John Kabotto, Veneciane." 3 Sebastian's disregard of truth is maintained in his repeated explanations that his father was only a sort of itinerant merchant, who had come to England solely to sell his goods or engage in mercantile pursuits : " Uti mods est Venetorum, qui commercii causa terrarum omnium sunt hospites : hauyng occasion to resorte thether for trade of merchandies, as is the maner of the Venetians . . ." do we read in Peter Martyr's Decades? "Andato a stare in Inghilterra a far mercantie : to dwell in England, to follow the trade of marchandises," Sebastian told the Mantuan Gentleman. 5 His hearers could not but see in such unfilial and insi- dious remarks, a confirmation of his boast that he had himself discovered Newfoundland. It is not certain even that Sebastian accom- panied his father to the New World, although he is one of the grantees mentioned in the letters patent of March 5th, 1496. We are first struck with the expression in Pasqualigo's letter of August 23rd, 1497, already quoted : 1 Collection of Privy Seals, No. 40, 2 Excerpta Historic^ p. 113. quoted by Mr. Charles DEANE, John 3 BIDDLE, p. 75. and Sebastian Cabot, Cambridge, 1886, 4 ANGHIERA, Decad. i, ii, chapt. vi. 8vo, p. 56, and our Syllabus^ No. ix. 5 RAMUSIO, loc. cit. 118 THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. " E all dato danari fazi bona ziera fino a quel tempo e con so moier veniziana e con so noli a Bristo : The king has given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then ; and he is now at Bristol with his Venetian wife, and with his sons." May not this be interpreted in the sense that John Cabot's wife and sons remained in Bristol while he was accomplishing the voyage of 1497 and that upon returning to England, he went to join them in Bristol? If not, how can we account for Pas- qualigo's silence regarding Sebastian, who was by birth a Venetian like himself, if his young country- man had participated in that great discovery? Peter Martyr, notwithstanding the fact that he was on friendly terms with Sebastian Cabot, and not prone to disparagement, confesses that there were Spaniards who denied his having been the discoverer of the Bacallaos region, or that he ever sailed so far westward : "Ex Castellanis non desunt, qui Cabothum primum finisse Baccalaorum, repertorem negent tantumque ad occidentem tetendisse minime asseritientur : Sume of the Spanyardes denye that [Sebastian] Cabot was the fyrst fynder of the lande of Baccallaos: and affirme that he went not so farre westwarde." 1 What is more, in March 1521, the twelve great Livery Companies of London having been required by Henry VIII. to furnish a heavy contribution towards fitting out ships of discovery to be placed under the command of Sebastian Cabot, the drapers, who had undertaken to settle the terms and amount for all the parties, made representations to the King, the Lord Cardinal (Wolsey) and the Council, against the projected expedition. Their principal reason was that the intended commander, Sebastian Cabot, could not be trusted, given in these very significant words : "And we thynk it were to sore avent r to joperd V shipps w* men 1 ANGHIERA, loc. cit. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 119 and goods vnto the said Hand [the Newe found Hand] vppon the singuler trust of one man callyd as we vnderstond Sebastyan, whiche Sebastyan as we here say was neu r in that land hym self, all if he maks reports of many things as he hath hard his Father and other men speke in tymes past . . . trusting to the said Sebastyan, we suppos it were no wysdom to avent r lyves and goods thider in suche man . . ." 1 Cardinal Wolsey, to whom these severe objections were particularly addressed, was twenty-six years old when the first English transatlantic expedition sailed from Bristol and by his position at that time in the Marquis of Dorset's family, must have known the circumstances attending that voyage, the results of which created such a great sensation in London. 2 Moreover, Sebastian Cabot was in England 3 when these representations were lodged in the hands of the competent authorities. That under such circum- stances the Livery Companies should have ventured to make so bold a statement, officially, to the King, to Wolsey, and to the Council, is a matter worthy of notice. It proves, at all events, that if Sebastian ever played any part in those expeditions, it must have been very insignificant. In the conversation with the Mantuan Gentleman, Sebastian ascribed his leaving England and seeking employment in Spain to the " great tumults among the people, and preparation for the war to be carried into Scotland," and mentioned the King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, as having enter- tained him at that time : " Dove giunto trovai grandissimi tumulti di popoli sollevati, et della guerra in Scotia .... per il che me ne venni in Spagna al Re Catholico, et alia Regina Isabella, i quali mi raccolsero." 1 Wardens Accounts of the Drapers from a copy of the original records, Company , London, MSS., vol. vii, fo. kindly secured at our request by Miss 87. This important document was Mary TOULMIN SMITH. first made known by the late William 2 For the complete document, see HERBERT, in his highly valuable the Discovery of North America, pp. History of the Twelve Great Livery 747-750. Companies of London, 1837, 8vo, vol. 3 HOLINSHED, Chronicles, London, i, p. 410. The present text is taken 1586, folio, vol. ii, p. 781. 120 THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. He goes so far as to add that the Catholic Kings sent him to discover the coast of Brazil : " Mi diedero buona provisione faccendomi inavigar dietro la costa del Bresil, per volerla scoprire." It would be difficult to throw into a few sentences a greater number of erroneous statements and ana- chronisms. The great tumults among the people can only be the irruption of the Scots and inroads of the Cornish rebels, who " neere incamped to the citie." ] This occurred in the spring of 1497, as the battle of Blackheath was fought on the 22nd of June, 1497. 1 At that time, Cabot was on the coast of Labrador. When he returned to England in August following, the " preparation to carry war into Scotland" had long been over, as, according to Holinshed, " King James had retired without proffer of battle," and Pedro de Ayala 2 was negotiating the truce which was finally concluded in the month of January following. 3 Cabot, far from proposing to remove to Spain, was then soliciting a new licence from Henry VII., who granted it February 3rd, 1498; and pre- parations were immediately made for the expedition which set out from Bristol in May next ensuing. On the other hand, Sebastian Cabot told a different story to Peter Martyr. According to this, it was upon the death of Henry VII. that he abandoned the service of England, and removed to Spain : " Vocatus namque ex Britannia a rege nostro catholico post Henrici maioris Britanniae regis mortem. 1 ' This declaration is just as untrue as the other. 1 HUME, History of England, the King of Scotland has arrived to Boston, 1854, 8vo, vol. ii, p. 541. conclude a truce" (Novemb. 28th). 2 The English historians call him "Affairs with the King of Scotland " Hialyas." are well nigh pacified" (January nth, 3 " Peace with the King of Scotland 1498). RAWDON BROWN, Calendar ; is in course of negotiation" (Sept vol. i, Nos. 754, 760, 763. 9th, 1497). "The ambassador from THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 121 Henry VII. died April 22nd, 1509, and Sebastian Cabot was still in the employ of the English govern- ment, on May i2th, I5I2, 1 and in England with his wife and home, " su mujer i casa," on the 2oth of October following. 2 As regards his statement that he was sent by Ferdinand and Isabella to make discoveries on the coast of Brazil, it is well to mention that Isabella died November 26th, 1504, and his name appears in connection with projected Spanish voyages for the first time, March 6th, 1514. As to expeditions actually carried out under his leadership, or in which he took part under the flag of Spain, there is only one, and, as we intend to prove, it did not sail before April 3rd, 1526, when both Ferdinand and Isabella had long been dead. As we have seen in a preceding chapter, when speaking to Italians, Sebastian Cabot claimed to be a Venetian by birth, who had been brought over to England as a child : " Genere Venetus, sed a parentibus in Britanniam insulam tendentibus .... transportatus pene infans," he said to Peter Martyr. Ten years later, he declares to Gasparo Contarini that he was born in Venice, but reared in England : " Per dirve il tutto, io naqui a Venetia ma sum nutrito in Ingelterra." To the Mantuan Gentleman he stated, on the contrary, that, so far from having left Venice when he scarcely knew yet how to speak " pene infans," he had already received most of his classical education : " era assai giovane non gia pero che non havesse imparato et littere d'humanita, et la sphera." But when twenty-five years afterwards we find him settled in England, receiving or expect- ing new favours from Edward VI., and speaking to 1 J. S. BREWER, Calendar domestic Aragon to Luis CARD, October 2oth, and foreign, vol. ii, part ii, p. 1456. 1512 ; Jean, et Sebastian Cabot, doc. 3 Dispatch from FERDINAND of xviii, p. 332. 122 THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. Englishmen, he declares just as positively that he is their countryman : " Sebastian Cabote tould me that he was borne in Bristowe," Richard Eden relates. We could cite a number of other untruthful statements made by Sebastian Cabot. l At first, we were inclined to believe that they should be ascribed to his interlocutors ; but the conversation which he had with Contarini in 1522, and which this most truthful witness reported verbatim immediately afterwards to the Senate of Venice in an official dispatch, shows that it was Sebastian's usual manner of speaking, vainglorious and erratic. Such proofs of constant mendacity demonstrate, as we asserted at the outset, that Sebastian Cabot was capable of swerving from the truth whenever it might profit him. What then were the interested motives which could prompt him in 1544 to locate at the southern entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence a landfall which in reality had been effected ten degrees further north ? The absence of documents, and the difficulty of scrutinizing a man's motives, compel us to answer this question only by resorting to hypothesis. In 1544, a great change had taken place relative to the importance of the more northern coast of the new continent. The seas which bordered those regions were no longer a mere common fishing ground frequented by the smacks of Portugal, Biscay, Brittany, Normandy, and England. The successful explorations accomplished by Jacques Cartier, from 1534 until 1543, had been followed by the planting of French colonies. The region selected was not Labrador, on which, in all the maps of the time, was inscribed the uninviting legend : " No ay en ella cosa de provecho : Here there is nothing of advan- 1 See Stbastien Cabot, navtgateur vtnitien^ in DRAPEYRON'S Paris Revue de Gfrgraphie, No. of March 1895. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 123 tage," 1 but around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the island of Cape Breton, which the reports of Cartier and Roberval to Francis I. represented to be a beautiful and fertile country, with rich copper mines, fine ports and the most navigable rivers in the world. Gomara, in a work written before 1551 and addressed to Charles V., says of that region : " The French are settling or will settle the country, for it is just as good a land as France : Dicen que [los Franceses] pueblan alii 6 que poblaran, por ser tan buena tierra como Francia." : The voyage of Master Hore in 1536 favoured by Henry VIII. was doubtless prompted by the news of Carder's first successful results; and although it was not followed, so far as we know, by other English expeditions, Sebastian Cabot's cartographical statement, as embodied in the planisphere of 1544, may well have been a suggestion of British claims, and a bid for the King of England's favour. To place within the Gulf of St. Lawrence the landfall of 1497, was tantamount to declaring that region to be English dominion, as the discovery had been accomplished by vessels sailing under the British flag : " sub banneris vexillis et insigniis nostris," and whose commander, by virtue of a royal commission, had actually planted that flag when landing on those shores for the first time. 3 Nor was the hint con- veyed at an unseasonable time, Henry VIII. being then at war with Francis I., and continuing so until 1547. At all events, it is certain that "the Title which England has to that part of America, which is from Florida to 67 degrees northward," is or was 1 " Labrador, the land allotted by of Febniary 3rd, 1498, says that the God to Cain," as CARTIER writes. "Londeand lies were founde by the Relation originak, fo. na. seid John [Kabotto] in oure name and 2 GoMARA, Historia de las Indias, by oure commandemente." Letters p. ^178. patent of 3rd February, 1498, in 3 Henry VII., in his letters patent BIDDLE, Afcmoir, p. 75. 124 7W.fi: CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. derived "from the letters patent granted to John Cabote and his three sons," to use the language of Hakluyt. 1 Such underhand dealings were also in keeping with Sebastian Cabot's natural disposition, as we shall soon show him constantly engaged in plotting and corresponding in secret with foreign rulers to advance his own interest. The planisphere was designed in 1544: "hizo esta figura . . . . anno de MDXLIIII. ;" and the fact of it being engraved at a great distance from Seville, where Sebastian then lived, may have retarded its publication until a year or eighteen months after that date. Now there is in the Council Register of Edward VI., a ^*ioo warrant, dated October ;th, 1547, "for the transporting of one Shabot (sic!), a Pilot, to come out of Hispain to serve and inhabit in England." 2 This individual is unquestionably Sebastian Cabot, inasmuch as in 1549, we see Charles V. sternly requesting the English ambassador to cause the return to Spain of "one Sebastian Gabote, his generall pilot, presently in England." 3 The warrant and order were only the results of a series of efforts and intrigues on the part of Sebastian to leave the service of Charles V. and obtain a better position in England. Further on, we shall give positive proofs that so early as 1538 he was intriguing to influence Sir Thomas Wyatt, the resident ambassador at the Court of Charles V., to recommend his services to Henry 1 HAKLUYT, Divers Voyages ; these foreyn Regions and Islands. " London, 1582, in the dedication to 2 Jean et Stbastien Cabot, doc. Sir Philip SYDNEY. The earliest xxxiv, p. 358. An imperfect tran- assumption of that character which we scription of the name (viz. : S. Cabot have found, is in the long argument misspelled Shabot} easily accounts for written in 1580, by John DEE, on the the above erroneous spelling, or lapsiis back of his map of America (British pens. Museum, MSS. Cott. Aug. i, i art. 3 Notes and Queries, London, 3rd i), where he bases on the discoveries Series, vol. i, p. 125, where the or voyages of CABOT, Robert THORN Emperor's demand is carefully printed and Hugh ELIOT or ELLIOT, " the from the original text by Mr. Clement Queenes Maiesties Title Royale to HOOPER. THE CHARACTER OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. 125 VIII., which, in fact was done when Sir Philip Hoby returned to London. The time required for his efforts and correspondence brings us very near the date when the planisphere must have reached England. It is difficult to see a mere coincidence between these facts ; and they constitute important elements in ascertaining the motives of Sebastian Cabot for placing the landfall of the English in a fertile country, which was then being colonized by a rival nation. CHAPTER XVI. JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION. JOHN Cabot returned to Bristol from his first voyage early in August, since we see him in London on the loth of that month, when he received from the King a gratuity of 10, " to have a good time : fazi bona ziera," as Pasqualigo says. 1 On the i3th of December following, he also obtained the grant, during the royal pleasure, of a pension of 20 per annum, which was made a charge upon the customs of the port of Bristol, 2 and to date " from the feast of thanunciacion of our lady last passed," that is, from the preceding 25th of March. But he found some difficulty in collecting it, since on the 22nd of February 1498, Henry VII. was obliged to issue a warrant reciting that His Majesty had been "enformed the said John Caboote was delaied of his payement because the custumers of the poorte of Bristowe had no sufficient matier of discharge for their indempnitie to be yolden at their accompt before the Barons of the Eschequier." 3 The news that John Cabot had discovered the island of Brazil, the Seven Cities, and the kingdom of the Grand Khan, produced the deepest impres- sion in England. " He is styled the great admiral, vast honour is paid to him, he dresses in silk, and 1 PASQUALIGO, Jean et Stt. Cabot, Henry VII. See, infra, our Syllabus, doc. viii, p. 322. No. xii. We are indebted to M. 2 Mr. Charles DEANE, John and OPPENHEIM, Esq., for that document Sebastian Cabot, p. 56. and a number of others from the same 3 Warrants for Issues of the 1 3th of source. JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. 127 Englishmen run after him like mad people," we also read in Pasqualigo's letter to his brothers. 1 Relying upon the relative success of the expedi- tion, John Cabot applied for new letters patent, which were granted on the 3rd of February 1498. According to Pasqualigo, the King did more, for he promised to equip ten ships, and allowed to Cabot as many prisoners, except such as were confined for high treason, as he required to man the fleet. Raimondo di Soncino swells the number of vessels intended for that voyage from fifteen to twenty. Yet, the new patent gives licence to take six ships only, being of the burden of two hundred tons or under, " paying for theym and every of theym as and if we [the Crown] should in and for our owen cause paye and noon otherwise." 5 We do not think, therefore, notwithstanding the expressions used by Puebla and Ayala, " El Rey de Inglaterra embio cinco naos," that Henry VII., whose avarice was notorious, equipped the expedition at his own cost. But Cabot had no difficulty in finding men to ac- company him, judging from the following remark of Pasqualigo : " Tanti quanti navrebe con li e etiam molti de nostri furfanti : He can enlist as many Englishmen as he pleases, and many of our own rascals besides." There is no ground whatever for the assertion, frequently repeated, 3 that John Cabot did not com- mand this second expedition, or that it was under- taken after his death by his son. The name of Sebastian Cabot, who, let it be said, was not one of the grantees in these new letters patent, appears for the first time in connection with these voyages, in Peter Martyr's account, printed twenty years after 1 PASQUALIGO, loc. cit. 80-89 ; George BANCROFT, in 2 BIDDLE, p. 75. Appletorfs Encyclopedia, art. Cabot, 3 BIDDLE, op. cit., chapter x, pp. &c. &c. 128 JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION. the event, 1 and taken exclusively from Sebastian's own lips, which, as we have shown, is not a recom- mendation. In England, his name reveals itself as regards the discovery of the New World at still a later period, in John S tow's Chronicle, published in i58o. 2 And although both that historian and Hakluyt 3 quote as their authority for the statement a manuscript copy of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, the name of Sebastian Cabot, as have hinted already, is a sheer interpolation. 4 Those two writers may have derived the details which are given in their chronicles, from some Fabyan manuscript no longer to be found ; but the description itself certainly originated in a document which we shall proceed to describe. Among the Cottonian manuscripts preserved in the British Museum, there is one which bears the following title : Cronicon regum Anglice et series maiorum et vicecomitum Civitatis London ab anno primo Henrici tertium ad annum primum. Hen. 8 r V 5 Mr. Gairdner, of the Public Record Office, who kindly re-examined that manuscript at our request in 1 88 1, and who is one of the highest authorities on such historical matters, reported that the Cronicon is a perfectly trustworthy source of contemporaneous information, its earlier portion derived from a com- mon source with several other London chronicles, such as Gregory's, 6 whilst the latter part has some- thing in common with Fabyan, but containing a good deal for the reign of Henry VII. not to be found any where else in print. So much for the intrinsic and paleographic proofs of its authenticity. 1 ANGHIERA, De Orbe Novo Decades, 3 HAKLUYT, Divers Voyages, Lond. , Alcala, 1516, fol., Decad. iii, lib. vi, 1582, 4to, p. 23 of the reprint. fo. 56, verso. 4 Supra, chapter iii, pp. '21-25. 2 The Chronicle of England, from 5 MS. Cott. Vitellius, A xiv, f. 173. Brute unto the present yeare of Christ 6 Published by Mr. GAIRDNER, in 1580, London, 4to, p. 862. the Collections of a London Citizen, JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. 129 As we have already stated, the oldest English account known of the voyage which we are discuss- ing is the one inserted in this chronicle ; but it sets forth certain dates and details, which require to be carefully examined. The Cronicon places the event " In anno 13 Henr. VII." The date of Henry the Seventh's accession to the throne is the 2ist or 22nd of August 1485. The thirteenth year of his reign corresponds with 22nd August 1497- 2ist August 1498. Now, we have shown conclusively that the first voyage of John Cabot required from the beginning of May until the beginning of August 1497; that is, one year previous to the i3th year of the reign of Henry VII. The author of the Cronicon, or of its prototype, speaking in the present tense, ends his account with the statement that the fleet " departed from the West Cuntrey in the begynnyng of Somer, but to this present moneth [?] came nevir knowledge of their exployt." Whatever that month may be, it necessarily applies to a date which is posterior to August 22nd, 1497. How are we to reconcile it with the fact that John Cabot had already returned to London on the loth of August 1497, as is shown by the gratuity of io y granted to him on that date by Henry VII. ? Further, the wording shows that the account refers partly to the first voyage of Cabot, since it gives as the motive of the expedition: "to seche an Hand wheryn the said straunger [or conditor of the fleet] surmysed to be grete commodities." No such language would be used if the object of the enterprise had been to return to a country already discovered. One interpretation of these conflicting statements is that the chronicler has blended in the same para- i 130 JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. graph the first and the second voyage. This is indicated in the various expressions used. The Cronicon describes the expedition as being composed of four or five vessels : " w t which ship by the Kynges grace so Rygged went 3 or 4 moo owte of Bristowe." Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, and Pedro de Ayala, referring in July 1498 to the second voyage, also say that the new expedition was composed of five ships : " fueron cinco naos." True it is that both state the number of ships "sent by the King to be five : el Rey de Inglaterra embio cinco naos," whilst, according to the Cronicon, there was only one furnished by His Majesty, the other three or four being equipped at the cost of private indi- viduals. But we must bear in mind that two witnesses, Pasqualigo and Soncino, each separately, and from information derived from John Cabot himself, in their description of the first voyage, speak of one vessel only : "uno naviglio." Soncino even says that it was a small ship, manned by a crew of eighteen men: "cum uno piccolo naviglio e xviii persone." The above details concerning the number of vessels which composed the fleet, apply- therefore not to the first, but to the second expedi- tion exclusively. The squadron sailed early in the spring of 1498, and at the end of July following the first news relative to its progress was received in England, as is shown by Ayala's letter of the 25th of that month and year. This still comes within the i3th year of the reign of Henry VII.; and to make the statement agree with the passage in the Cronicon : " this present moneth came nevir knowledge," we have only to pre- sume that the writer of the latter chronicle made the entry in his chronicle in July 1498, but before the 25th. JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 131 Reverting now to the account of the voyage, or rather, of the preparations, such as we find them described in Stow and in Hakluyt, it can be easily shown that the Cronicon has been the prototype of the Fabyan chronicle from which Stow and Hak- luyt derived their information concerning Cabot's voyage : CRONICON (1498). "This yere the Kyng at the besy request of a Straunger venisian, which made hym self expert in knowyng of the world caused the Kyng to manne a ship w fc vytaill and other necessaries for to seche an Hand whereyn the said Straunger surmysed to be grete commodities &c., &c." STOW (1580). " Thys yeare one Seb- astian Gabato professing himselfe to be experte in knowledge of the circuite of the worlde . . . caused the King to man and victual a shippe ... to search for an ilande whiche he knewe to be replenished with rich commodities . . . &c., &c." HAKLUYT (1582). "This yeere the King (by meanes of a Vene- tian) which made him- selfe very expert ... in knowledge of the worlde . . . caused to man and victuall a shippe ... to search for an Ilande, which hee saide hee knewe well was riche and replenished with rich commodities . . . &c., &c." In comparing these three extracts, the reader will notice an important difference. Where Stow ascribes the discovery to " Sebastian Gabato," the Cronicon describes the " Conditor of the saide Flete," simply as "a Straunger venisian," and omits the name of Sebastian Cabot altogether. So it is true, does Hakluyt, in his text ; but he shares S tow's error in that respect, as the heading of the account in his Divers voyages is "A note of Sebastian Gabotes Voyage of Disco verie, taken out of an Old Chronicle." Notwithstanding the interpolation made by him in 1589, of the name of John Cabot, and the contradiction it involves when compared with the heading prefixed by him to the notice taken from Fabyan, it is clear that those two his- torians believed, and meant to convey the impression that Sebastian Cabot was the sole discoverer of the continent of North America. This we have proved to be erroneous. So is the interpretation of the 132 JOHN CABOTS SECOND EXPEDITION. statement of the Cronicon by his modern admirers, when they ascribe to Sebastian the merit of having led the second British expedition westward. Pasqualigo 1 and Soncino 2 specify John Cabot, and no one else, as the person to whom Henry VII. intended to entrust the fleet for the second voyage. Also, in his application John Cabot tacitly excluded his own children from the enterprise, since he did not, as in the petition of 1496, pray for letters patent to him and his heirs. It begins as follows : " Please it your Highnesse of your most noble and habundaunt grace to graunte to John Kabotto, Venecian, your gracious Lettres Patents in due fourme to be made accordyng to the tenor here- after ensuyng . . ." As to the grant itself, it is in these words : " We have geven and graunten, and by theis Presentis geve and graunte to our welbeloved John Kabotto, Venecian, sufficiente auctorite and power, that he, by him his Deputie or Deputies sufficient, may take at his pleasure vi Englisshe Shippes . . . paying for theym and every of theym ..." This grant passed no rights to Sebastian or any one else except John Cabot, and expired with the expedition itself. Then we see that John Cabot explained in person to Soncino his plans for the second voyage ; 3 and on July 25th, 1498, Puebla and Ayala 4 announced officially to their sovereigns that the vessels had actually sailed out "with another Genoese like Col- umbus : con otro Ginoves como Colon," which 1 "El re le ha promesso a tempo mento . . . Et dicello per modo . . novo navil x. e armati come lui vora. . ." SONCINO, doc. x. . . . El qual se chiama Zuam Talbot." 4 " El Key de Inglaterra embio PASQUALIGO, in our Jean et SSas- cinco naos armadas con otro ginoves tian Cabot, doc. viii. como colon .... dizen que seran 2 "La Maesta de Re questo primo venydos para el setiembre. " PUEBLA, bono tempo gli vole mandare xv. in doc. xii. " El ginoves tiro su camino xx. navili." SONCINO, in op. cit., .... El Key de Ynglaterra me ha doc. ix. "ChiamatoZoanneCaboto ;" fablado algunas vezes I sobre ello.'* doc. x. AYALA, doc. xiii. 3 " Et dice . . . Et fa questo argu- JOHN CABOTS SECOND EXPEDITION. 133 description certainly does not apply to Sebastian, but to John Cabot, as we know from corroborative evi- dence already stated. The expedition was composed of five vessels, fitted out at the expense of John Cabot, or of his friends, according to the terms of the letters patent : " paying for theym and every of theym as and if we should in or for our owen cause paye and noon otherwise," which means also that the price was not to be higher than for vessels chartered by the King himself. Yet if, as we have just endeavoured to demonstrate, the details given in the Cronicon apply to the second voyage, one ship had been equipped at the King's cost, whilst three or four were vessels sent out by merchants. This is shown by the following state- ment : " A Straunger venisian . . . caused the Kyng to manne a ship w l vytaill and other necessairies . . . w 1 which ship by the Kynges grace so Rygged went 3 or 4 moo owte of Bristowe . . . . wheryn dyuers merchauntes as well of London as Bristow aventured goodes and sleight merchaundises ..." We find in the alleged Fabyan chronicle, as copied by Stow and Hakluyt, an account, apparently borrowed originally from the above, judging from the following phrase : " To man and victual a shippe at Bristowe, in which diverse merchauntes of London aduentured smal stockes, and in the company of this shippe sayled also out of Bristow three or foure smal shippes fraught with slight and grosse wares as course cloth, Capes, Laces, points and such other. . . ." We have not the exact date when the fleet sailed. It was certainly after April ist, 1498, as on that day Henry VII. loaned ^"30 to Thomas Bradley and Launcelot Thirkill, "going to the New Isle." 1 1 Excerpta Historica^. njS^DES- altre regioni delF Alta America, p. 1MONI, Intorno a Giovanni Caboto 61 ; Jean et Stbasticn Cabot, pp. 102, genovese scopritore del Labrador e di 256. 134 JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. The Cronicon only says : " which departed from the West Cuntrey [Bristol] in the begynnyng of Somer." A more explicit date can be derived from Hakluyt's quotation of Fabyan. This, in whatever form it has reached us, we have shown to be a direct derivative of the Cronicon, and consequently, to apply partly to Cabot's second voyage. A further proof is the sentence in Hakluyt's version : " and so departed from Bristow .... of whom in this Maiors time returned no tidings." That Mayor was William Pur- chas, who held the office in London from October 28th, 1497, to October 28th, 1498; and the reader will recollect that John Cabot had already returned from his first voyage on the loth of August 1497. Now, in Hakluyt's above mentioned extract, the dots in our quotation are filled with the sentence : " departed from Bristowe in the beginning of May." The only direct news concerning that expedition after it left Bristol is comprised in this short sentence of Pedro de Ayala's dispatch of July 25th, 1498 : " Del armada que hizo que fueron cinco naos ... ha venido nueva, la una en que iva un otro Fai [sic pro Fray ?] Buil aporto en Irlanda con gran tormento rotto el navio : News has been received of the fleet of five ships. The one in which was another Brother [?] Buil, put into Ireland owing to a great storm and broken ship." l Puebla states that the fleet was expected back in the month of September 1498 : " Dizen que seran venydos para el Setiembre;" yet, the vessels had taken supplies for one year : " fueron proueydas por hun afio." But we do not know when they returned to England, nay, whether John Cabot survived the expedition, or where it went. Our only information is that Launcelot Thirkill, who owned, or commanded one of the ships, was in London June 6th, 1501. 1 BERGENROTH, Calendar > vol. i, No. 210, p. \i \Jean et Stbastien Cabol^ doc. xiii, p. 329. JOHN CABOTS SECOND EXPEDITION. 135 At that date he repaid a loan of ^20 made to him by Henry VII. Mr. Desimoni justly presumes * that it may have been the one of March 22nd, 1498, received from the King while fitting out a ship for the voyage. It is only by inference that we can form an opinion relative to the regions which John Cabot visited in the course of his second expedition. The data for such an estimate are to be found in the map of the world drawn by Juan de la Cosa in the year I5OO, 2 after the month of February, as before that time the great Biscayan pilot was with Alonso de Hojeda, exploring the Gulf of Paria and the Venezuelan coast. At the outset, it is well to bear in mind that the Cabotian expeditions of 1497 and 1498, are the only ones which, in the i5th century, ever sailed to the New World under the auspices of the King of England, and in fact, the only transatlantic voyages known to have been then accomplished by English- men. Every American region the discovery of which is attributed to the English in any map con- structed before the year 1501, comprises therefore the results of John Cabot's maritime efforts beyond the Atlantic Ocean. In the celebrated chart of Juan de la Cosa, above mentioned, there is, in the proximity, and to the west of Cuba, an unbroken coast line, delineated like a continent, and extending northward to the extremity of the map. On the northern portion of that sea- board, the Basque pilot has placed a row of British flags, commencing at the southern end with the inscription : " Sea discovered by the English : Mar descubierta por ingleses," and terminating at the north with " Cape of England : Cauode ynglaterra." 1 DESIMONI, Intorno, above quoted. 2 Discovery of North America, No. 33, pp. 412-15. 136 JOHN CABOTS SECOND EXPEDITION. Unfortunately, those cartographical data are not sufficiently precise to enable us to locate the landfalls with adequate exactness. Nor is the kind of pro- jection adopted/ without explicit degrees of latitude, of such a character as to aid us much in determining positions. We are compelled, therefore, to resort to inferences. The north-western portion of La Cosa's map sets forth twenty inscriptions, seven of which are the names of capes, whilst one refers to a river (r longo), another to an island (isla de la trinidad), and a third to a lake (lago fore?). Although many of these designations convey no meaning to us (apparently on account of imperfect transcriptions), and are not to be found on any other map, they must be con- sidered as proving that the coast had been actually visited before 1500. On the other hand, the northernmost names certainly represent the points marked by Cabot during his first voyage, whether we place them on the north coast of Labrador or on the eastern shores of Newfoundland. But as the row of English flagstaff's covers a space by far too extensive for the voyage of 1497, which lasted only three months, the legends further south necessarily apply to the expedition of 1498. When preparing to return to the newly discovered regions, John Cabot told Raimondo di Soncino that his intention was to pursue the undertaking as follows : " Messer Zoanne ha posto 1' animo ad magior cosa perche pensa, da quello loco occupato andarsene sempre a Riva Riva piii verso el Levante, tanto chel sia al opposite de una Isola da lui chiamata Cipango, posta in la regione equinoctiale : From, the place already possessed [discovered] he would proceed by constantly following the shore, until he reached the east, and was opposite an island called Cipango, situate in the equinoctial region." 2 1 NAVARRETE, Biblioteca Mariiima, "Jean el SibaslUn Cabot, doc. x, vol. i, p. 212. p. 325. JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 137 All that is clear in this vague description, and to be retained just now, is that John Cabot's ultimate object, when he set out from England in 1498, was an equatorial or southern region : " la regione equinoctiale," situate south of the point reached by him in 1497. To this interpretation must be added the fact that the line of British flags in La Cosa's map, corroborates such an intention, as it indicates plainly a southward coasting. How far south then did John Cabot go in 1498? Taking the distance from the equator to the extreme north in La Cosa's map as a criterion for measuring distances, and comparing relatively the points named therein with points corresponding for the same latitude on modern planispheres, the most southerly English flagstaff seems to indicate a vicinity south of the Carolinas. This hypothetical estimate finds a sort of corollary in Sebastian Cabot's account, as reported by Peter Martyr. In describing his alleged north-western discoveries, Sebastian said that icebergs having compelled him to alter his course, he steered south- ward, and followed the coast until he reached about the latitude of Gibraltar : " Ouare coactus fuit, uti ait, vela vertere et occidentum sequi tetendique tamen ad meridiem, littore sese incurvante ut Her- culei freti latitudinis fere gradus . . . ."* This statement was made at the latest in 1 5 1 5. 2 Several years afterwards, Sebastian Cabot again mentioned the matter in his conversation with the Mantuan Gentleman ; but this time he extended the explora- tion five degrees further south, naming Florida as his terminus, and the point whence he sailed home- ward : " Venni sino a quella parte che chiamano al 1 PETER MARTYR, ubi supra. says: "Martio mense anni futuri 2 In the same decade, PETER MAR- MDXVI. puto ad explorandum disces- TYR, alluding to a projected expedition surum." De rebus Oceanicis, Decad. in search of the North-West Passage, iii, lib. vi, fo. 56 A. 138 JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. presente Florida, et mancandomi gia la vettovaglia, presi partite di ritornarmene in Inghilterra." It is true that assertions from Sebastian Cabot, particularly when calculated to enhance his merits in the eyes of others, must always be taken with a mental reservation ; but, excepting his unfilial custom of ascribing to himself a credit which belonged to his father, we see no good reasons for rejecting his description in this instance ; particularly as it is confirmed by an authentic map of the time. The statement confirms John Cabot's project as disclosed to Soncino, and is justified by the importance of the expedition of 1498, which was on a much greater scale than that of 1497. It is also corroborated by Ferdinand and Isabella's order to Alonso de Hojeda, when he was on the eve of sailing for the Caribbean Sea to stop the progress of the English in their exploration of the newly-found continent. 2 " Para que atages el descubrir de los ingleses por aquella via." The letters patent which contain this injunction are dated June, 1501 ; that is, three years after Their Catholic Majesties had been informed by Puebla and Ayala of the results of John Cabot's first voyage, and at a time when there had as yet been no other expeditions under the British flag across the Atlantic, except that of 1497, and the one of 1498 now under consideration. 3 We must mention, however, a circumstance which at first sight might militate against Sebastian Cabot's accuracy in this respect. Twenty years after his conversation with Peter Martyr, he was summoned as a witness on behalf of Luis Columbus, who had brought an action against the Crown, in vindication 1 RAMUSIO, vol. iii, fo. 374. 1501, can scarcely have sailed from ^ Ibidem, chap, vi, pp. 116-122. England soon enough to have been 3 The first expedition of WARD, seen in time|to enable FERDINAND and ASHEHURST and others, by virtue of ISABELLA to mention it in their cedula letters patent granted March iQth, of June 8th, 1501. JOHN CABOT'S SECOND EXPEDITION. 139 of certain rights acquired by his grandfather Chris- topher. Sebastian then declared, under oath before the Council of the Indies, December 3ist, 1535, that he did not know whether the mainland continued northward or not from Florida to the Bacallaos region: "que desde el rio de Santi Spiritus [the delta of the Mississippi] en adelante, la Florida e los Bacallaos, no se determina si es todo una tierra firme 6 no." The last phrase may be literally construed as implying that Sebastian Cabot possessed no infor- mation whatever relative to the countries south of his alleged first landfall ; which, however, could not be the case if, as he averred, he had followed the coast " littore sese incurvante," down to the latitude of Gibraltar, or to that of Florida. Sebastian might nevertheless give a dubitative answer in case the American coast surveys of his time still left a gap, however insignificant, between the Gulf of Mexico and 36 latitude north. His answer, therefore, does not, in the main, absolutely contradict the statement reported by Peter Martyr. Withal, it is difficult to reconcile its general bearing with facts which Sebas- tian Cabot, by virtue of his official position, was bound to know, to record, and to disseminate. Thus in 1535, which is the time when his deposition was taken, he could not be ignorant of the nature of the coast which lines the northern part of the Gulf of Mexico, as in the Seville map of 1527 that region bears the legend : " Tierra que aora va a poblar panftlo de narvaes : This is the land which Pamphilo de Narvaez is going to settle ; " whilst on Ribero's (1529), we also read: "Tierra de Garay" which locates the exploration accomplished by Alonso Alvarez Pineda in 1519. Besides, he had certainly been informed of the sailing of Antonio de Alaminos who was despatched from Vera Cruz by Cortes 140 JOHN CABOTS SECOND EXPEDITION. in the same year, and which must have doubled Cape Sable and hugged the Florida coast at least as high as Georgia, considering that when in the Bahama Channel, Alaminos "metiendo se al norte." l He must also have been familiar with the expedition of Juan Ponce de Leon in 1513 from 29 to 30 north latitude, 2 and then south to 25. Nor could he fail to be aware of the sailing of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon in 1526, along the Carolina and Virginia coasts. 3 Finally, he was cognizant of the discoveries accomplished by Estevao Gomez in 1525, which ranged from 40 to 42 30' north lati- tude, 4 and established, at all events, the connection between Ayllon's and John Cabot's own explorations. This continuous coast line was so well known to exist that it is specifically marked on the very maps entrusted to Sebastian Cabot, and which were not permitted to be drawn or copied without having been first approved by him as Pilot- Major. How could he then depose and say in 1535 that he did not know whether the region extending from the Gulf of Mexico to Nova Scotia, or to Labrador, formed part of a continent ? We suspect in Sebastian's dubious answer some interested motives, as usual, but which the documents do not permit us yet to fathom. It can at least be proved that Cabot did not long maintain such an opinion, as his planisphere of 1 544 presents an unbroken coast line from Labrador to the Strait of Magellan. Be that as it may, these contradictions are not of 1 Bernal DIAZ, Historia Verdadera\ viii, cap. viii, p. 241. "Treinta y Madrid, 1862, lib. LIV, p. 48 ; HER- cinco, y treinta y seis, y treinta y siete RERA, Decad. ii, lib. v, cap. xiv, p. grades norte-sur." NAVARRETE, vol. 132. iii, p. 153. 2 PESCHEL, Geschichte des Zeitalters ' ' Desde quaranta e un grades der Entdeckungen, Stuttgardt, 1858, hasta quarenta e dos y medio." 8vp, p. 521. OVIEDO, Historia General, vol. ii, lib. 3 "Cien leguas mas al Norte de la xxi, cap. x, p. 147. Florida." -HERRERA, Decad. iii, lib. JOHN CABOT S SECOND EXPEDITION. 141 such a character as to compel the critic to reject the statements made by Sebastian Cabot to Peter Martyr, and to the Mantuan Gentleman, concerning the coast which his father visited during a voyage which was necessarily accomplished in 1498-1499. The accompanying map exhibits the route probably followed on that occasion. What nevertheless remains an enigma is the silence of the English and other Chroniclers of the . time regarding the results of that voyage. In the accounts of the first expedition they speak only of icebergs, white bears and of bleak regions, the inhabitants of which were never even seen. In 1498, on the contrary, Cabot could not range the American coast down to the 36 latitude without noticing the beautiful entrances to the Hudson, Delaware and Potomac. Those regions were relatively well peopled, with a fine, stalwart race of Indians, who possessed curiously wrought metal objects, and boats in which they navigated off the coast. The native products of the soil, particularly the maize or Indian corn, were calculated to attract the attention of the English, and it is difficult to understand why there should be no traces left of the accounts which they must have brought to England. On the other hand, it may be that the expedition having proved an absolute failure, as its main object was to find a north-west passage and bring home spice, silks and pearls from the East India islands, the Bristol adventurers pocketed their loss, and no more was said about the enterprise. CHAPTER XVII. THE ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. THE pretended third transatlantic voyage of Sebastian Cabot under the British flag is only an inference drawn, exclusively, and gratuitously, from another remark ascribed to Fabyan, and re- ported by Stow as follows : " 18. Henr. VII. Thys yeare, were brought vnto the Kyng three A.D. 1502. men taken j n the new founde Hands by Sebas- tian Gabato, before named in Anno 1468 \sic pro 1498] these men were clothed in Beastes skinnes, and eate raw Flesh, but spake such a language as no man could vnderstand them, of the which three men, two of them were scene in the Kings Court at Westminster two yeares after, clothed, like Englishmen, and could not bee discerned from Englishmen" 2 The eighteenth year of the reign of Henry VII. embraces from August 22nd, 1502 to August 2ist, 1 503. According to Stow, then, the arrival of those Indians took place during that time ; and, were we to admit that it was Sebastian Cabot who brought them over to England, this alleged voyage would have been accomplished before the end of the summer of 1503, and initiated scarcely more than one year previous. Hakluyt, on two different occasions, also reports the circumstance, which he likewise says, is " men- tioned by the foresaid Fabyan." But he does not give it on both occasions under the same date. 1 In the London edition of 1605 of in the margin " Rob. Fabian An. reg. STOW'S Chronicle, which is the last 18." one published in his lifetime, we read 2 STOW, Chronicle, 1580, p. 875- ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF SEB. CABOT. 143 When speaking of those savages for the first time, in 1582, the event is related in these words : " Of three sauage men which hee [Sebastian Gabote] brought home and presented vnto the King in the i yth yeere of his raigne. This yeere also were brought vnto the King three men, taken in the new founde Hand, that before I spake of in William Purchas time being Maior. These were clothed in beastes skinnes, and ate rawe fleshe, and spake such speech that no man coulde under- stand them, and in their demeanour like to bruite beastes, whom the King kept a time after. Of the which vpon two yeeres past after I saw two apparelled after the manner of Englishmen in Westminster pallace, which at that time I coulde not discerne from Englishemen, till I was learned what they were. But as for speech, I heard none of them vtter one worde." l That is, he places the arrival of those Indians between August 1501 and August 1502, one year earlier than Stow, although both quote, as their sole authority for the statement, the same Fabyan MS. But when relating that event the second time, in 1599-1600, the date is no longer 1501-1502. It is 1498-1499, as the item is headed thus : " Of three Sauages which Cabot brought home and presented vnto the King in the foiireteenth yere of his raigne, mentioned by the foresaid Robert Fabian." He then repeats the sentence : " This yeere also were brougt vnto the King three men taken in the new found Island that before I spake of, in William Purchas time being Maior." 2 The language of Hakluyt, in this instance, is not precise. He may mean to say that these Indians were brought from the newly discovered islands of which he had previously spoken, and that they came while Purchas held the office of Mayor. If so, their arrival in London occurred between October 28th, 1497 and October 27th, 1498, that being Purchas' term of office. Hakluyt may also have intended to 1 HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, 1582, * HAKLUYT, Prindpall Naviga- and HAKLUYT Society reprint, loc. cit. tions, 1599-1600, vol. iii, p. 9. 144 THE ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF convey the meaning that the said savages came from the island which was discovered during Purchas' term of office, but that they arrived in London during the 1 4th year of the reign of Henry VII., viz., from August 1498 to August I499- 1 In either case, the event would relate to Cabot's second voyage, which was initiated in May 1498. This was evidently Hakluyt's belief and his reason for altering his first date of "the xvii yeere" of Henry VII. 's reign, to " the foureteenth." 2 Thus far, therefore, he cannot be quoted in support of the opinion that Sebastian led in 1502 a third expedition to the New World. If now we revert to Hakluyt's first date: "in the xvii yeere" of the reign of Henry VII., or to Stow's " 1 8 Henr. VII.," that is, respectively, 1501- 1502 and 1502-1503, we encounter another and still greater difficulty. The patent of 1496, which is the only one that conveyed rights to Sebastian Cabot, expired with the expedition of 1497. As to the second patent, it was granted solely to John Cabot, and, as before, the privilege conveyed thereby ceased after the voyage of 1498. Henry VII., on March igth, 1501, conse- quently issued new letters patent, embracing the privi- leges heretofore conceded to the Cabots, but this time the grantees were Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas, of Bristol, and Joao Fernandez, Francisco Fernandez, and Joao Gonzales, 3 of the 1 As to supposing that the circum- that this "John Gunsolus is doubtless stance refers to the first expedition, it the Juan Gonzales, Portugais, whose is evident that if CABOT then had name appears as a witness in the brought Indians with him, the Spanish celebrated trial of the Fiscal with and Italian ambassadors would have Diego Columbus (NAVARRETE, iii, p. mentioned such a remarkable circum- 553) " is erroneous. The Juan stance. Instead of this, Lorenzo GONZALES of the trial was, October PASQUALIGO states positively that John 1st, 1515, only " de edad de 32 anos," CABOT saw none of the natives : "non consequently, but eighteen in 1501, a visto persona alguna," Syllabus , No. and, on that account, could not have vii. been a grantee then of English letters 2 BIDDLE, page 227. patent. 3 The surmise of BIDDLE (p. 230) SEBASTIAN CABOT. 145 Azores. On December 9th, 1502, letters patent were again granted to several of these parties, with whom was associated in the privilege and expedition Hugh Elliott, of Bristol. 1 In those two documents the King confers on the patentees the monopoly of trade in the newly- found countries, first for ten, then for forty years, empowering them to prevent any person going thither, and to drive away by force of arms all intruders whatsoever. He then adds the following prohibition : " Et quod nullus ex subditis nostris eos eorum aliquem de et super possessione et titulo suis de et in dictis terris-firmis, insulis et provinciis se aliqualiter contra voluntatem suam expellat quovis modo seu aliquis extraneus aut a liqui extranei virtute aut colore alicujus concessionis nostrse sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per an tea factae aut imposterum faciendae cum aliquibus aliis locis et insulis : And let none of our subjects drive them, or any of them, from their title and possession over and in the said mainlands, islands and provinces, in any way or manner against their will by virtue or color of any previous grant made by Us to any foreigner or foreigners under our Great Seal, or which may be made hereafter concerning any place or islands . . . " J The patentees of foreign origin here excluded from any participation in the privileges are necessarily the Cabots, as, previous to 1501, they were the only persons who received letters patent from Henry VII. for such a maritime enterprise. It is true that in the original manuscript the pen is drawn through the phrase beginning with " seu aliquis." But, as Biddle justly remarks, " it was, perhaps, thought better not to aim an ungracious, and superfluous blow at what had already expired " ; 3 for, as we have just stated, the privilege granted in 1496 had been superseded 1 Discovery of North America^ p. 3 Ibidem, p. 94. It is probably for 687, No. xlviii, p. 692, No. Ix ; the same reason that the passage is BIDDLE, p. 312 ; RYMER, Fcedera, also omitted in the second letters vol. v, part iv, p. 186. patent, granted gth December 1502, * BIDDLE, p. 312. to Thomas ASHEHURST et als. K 146 THE ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF by the letters patent of 1498, and these, in their turn, had terminated with John Cabot's second voyage. It follows, that to undertake a trans- atlantic expedition under the English flag, from August 1501 to August 1502, or from August 1502 to August 1503, Sebastian Cabot required new letters patent, which Henry VII., by his patents of March 1501, and December 1502,10 Richard Warde and his Bristol as well as Portuguese partners in the undertakings, 1 precluded himself from granting, except in case of forfeiture on the part of the above named grantees. Let us add that there are no traces either of such abrogation of privileges or of any new letters patent ever granted after 1496 by the English Crown to Sebastian Cabot. This is also shown by the fact that when, June 4th, 1550, Cabot wished to possess tangible proofs of his having been in former times the recipient of a favor of the sort, he asked from Edward VI. for that purpose a copy of the letters patent of 1496, and no other, 2 as we shall show later on. The sentence in Stow : " thys yeare, were brought vnto the Kyng three men taken in the new found Hands by Sebastian Cabot," implies, of course, a landing on some point of the coast of North America ; but it does not necessarily follow that these Indians were brought to England by Sebastian Cabot. The wording may also mean that they were taken " in the islands not long before, or during the mayoralty of Purchas, discovered by Sebastian Cabot," Stow and Hakluyt, and even Fabyan, con- tinuing to ascribe to Sebastian a discovery which actually belonged to his father. We shall now proceed to show that the arrival of these savages in London must have happened early 1 Published by BIDDLE, Memoir of 2 See, infra in our Syllabus, No. Sebastian Cabot, pp. 224-227. Ixviii. SEBASTIAN CABOT. 147 in 1502, and consequently that they were brought over in the ships of Richard Warde's first expedition. In the Account of the Privy Purse expenses of Henry VII., there are the following entries: "Jan. 7, 1502, To men of Bristoll that founde Thisle, . ^5. Sept. [24] 1502. To the merchants of Bristoll that have bene in the Newe founde Launde, 20" l As between the letters patent for transatlantic expeditions granted to John Cabot in 1498, and those bestowed on Warde and his associates, March 1 9th, 1501, there are no traces of other letters patent of that kind, the voyagers rewarded as above were necessarily companions of Warde in his first voyage. A document just discovered confirms our inference. It is a warrant issued by Henry VII., December 6th, 1503, for the payment of a pension conferred on two associates of Warde in that very expedition, Francisco Fernandez, and Joao Gonzales. The pre- amble contains the following passage : " Whereas we by our letters undre our privie seal bering date at oure manor of Langley the 26th day of Septembre the i8th yere of our Reigne gaf and graunted unto our trusty and wel- beloved subgietts ffraunceys ffernandus and John Guidisalvus squiers in consideracion of the true service which they have doon unto us to our singler pleasure as capitaignes unto the newe founde lande . . ." 2 The pension, as the reader will notice, was granted September 26th, 1502, and, consequently, as a reward for the first expedition, since the second expedition was based exclusively upon letters patent issued three months afterwards, December 9th, 1502. The entry of January 7th, 1502, above cited, shows that the first expedition of Warde, Fernandez, Gonzales and their Bristol associates, had already 1 N. Harris NICOLAS, Excerpta Historic a, or illustrations of English History, London, 1831, 8vo, p. 126. 2 Syllabus, No. xix. 148 ALLEGED THIRD VOYAGE OF SEE. CABOT. returned to England at the beginning of the year 1502, which date comes within, not the i8th, but the 1 7th year of the reign of Henry VII. Consequently, if we accept Stow's figures, these savages would not have been presented to the King until at least nine months after their arrival in England ; which is scarcely admissible. We believe, therefore, that the date first given by Hakluyt in his Divers voyages, for the presence of the American Indians in London, viz. : "in the xviith yeere of the raigne of Henry VII." is the correct one. It follows that Sebastian Cabot had nothing to do with this importation of natives, and, consequently, his alleged third voyage, which we find based on no other argument, is altogether imaginary. PART SECOND. CHAPTER I. SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN. is no further mention of Sebastian Cabot in any document until ten years after his alleged third transatlantic expedition. We do not know what were his occupations in the mean- time. Neither in the statements ascribed to him by historians, nor in his own accounts, is there to be found any allusion to voyages undertaken during that time, except a pretended expedition to Brazil, which, he says, Ferdinand and Isabella entrusted to him (necessarily before November 26th, 1504, the date of the Queen's death), but of which there are no traces anywhere else. In the account of Marc- Antonio Contarini's dip- lomatic mission to Spain, read before the Senate of Venice in 1536, we notice a statement which, at first sight, might perhaps be interpreted as indicating a voyage made by Sebastian Cabot to the North- West, in 1508-1509. It is as follows : " Sebastian Caboto, the son of a Venetian, who repaired to England on galleys from Venice with the notion of going in search of countries . . . obtained two ships from Henry, King of England, the father of the present Henry, who has become a Lutheran, and even worse, navigated with 300 men, until he found the sea frozen . . . Caboto was obliged therefore to turn back without having accomplished his object, with the intention, 150 SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN. however, of renewing the attempt at a time when the sea was not frozen. But upon his return he found the King dead, and his son caring little for such an enterprise." 1 It is the last sentence which permits the sup- position that Contarini's account may refer to a voyage made by Cabot in 1508-1509, as it is represented to be contemporaneous with the last year of the life of Henry VII., who died April 2ist, 1509. Marc-Antonio Contarini was Venetian Ambassador to the Court of Charles V. at the time when Cabot held in Spain the office of Pilot- Major, and it is certain that, being countrymen, they saw much of each other. We have only to compare the leading assertions in Contarini's statement with those in the accounts of Peter Martyr and of the Mantuan Gentleman, both explicitly said to be derived from Cabot's own lips, to be convinced that such was also the source whence the Venetian diplomatist obtained his information : CONTARINI MANTUAN GENTLEMAN " Obtained two ships from " The King commanded two Henry, King of England." caravels to be furnished." CONTARINI PETER MARTYR " Navigated with 300 men ... " Two ships, and with joo men he found the sea frozen . . . directed his course . . . seeing was obliged to turn back." such heaps of ice before him, he was compelled to turn his sails." Now, when did all this occur, in the year which preceded the death of Henry VII., or some years before ? At the outset should be noticed the sentence in the beginning of Contarini's short narrative, implying 1 Raccolta Colombiana, parL iii, vol. i, p. 137. SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN. 151 that the circumstance happened in consequence of, and shortly after Cabot's arrival in England " with the Venetian galleys." Then we have Cabot's own statement that it was " when news were brought to England that Christopher Columbus had discovered the coast of India . . ., as farre as I remember in the yeere 1496, in the beginning of Sommer." Contarini's account consequently refers to the first Cabotian transatlantic voyage, and we have here another example of the random talk noticeable in all the statements which originated with Sebastian Cabot. According to Peter Martyr, who evidently repeats what Sebastian told him, he left England after the death of Henry VII., and came to Spain at the request of Ferdinand of Aragon : " Vocatus nanque ex Britannia a rege nostro catholico post Henrici maioris Britanniae regis mortem : For beinge cauled ovvte of England by the commandement of the catholyke Kynge of Castile after the deathe of Henry Kynge of Englande the seventh of that name." l Henry VII. died in 1 509, and the name of Sebastian Cabot appears for the first time in Spanish documents in 1512, in terms, as well as under circumstances implying that his arrival in Spain is of no earlier date and was due exclusively to his own initiative. Besides, his wife and home : "su mujer i casa," are authentically shown to have been still in England in October i5i2. 2 King Ferdinand, profiting by Henry VIII.'s eager desire to receive from Pope Julius II. the title of " Most Christian King," which had been hitherto annexed to the crown of France and which was regarded as its most precious ornament, 3 caused him 1 ANGHIERA, Decad. iii, lib. vi, fo. 55 D. 2 Jean et S sc dan a que con vos han de ir al dicho viaje a Sebast. Caboto 50 ducados en cuenta Bretana." del salario que se le ha de dar, con que 4 Jean et Scb. Cabot^ doc. xvii, p. fuese a la Corte a consultar con S. A. 332. las cosas del viaje que ha de llevar a 5 " I le mando residir en Sevilla." descubrir." Ibid., doc. xviii, p. 333. 154 SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN. project only assumed a more positive form two years later. Peter Martyr speaks of Cabot in 1515 as being " concurialis noster est," which Eden erroneously translates : " one of owre counsayle." 1 This ex- pression has led historians to believe that he was a member of the Council of the Indies with Peter Martyr, which is a mistake. In the first place, the latter entered the Council only in i52o; 2 at which time Cabot does not figure in any capacity whatever in the official lists. Peter Martyr merely says that, in 1515, he was with him at the Court, in Burgos 3 or Medina del Campo, advising on the subject of some projected voyage to the Indies. On the 1 3th of June 1515 Cabot received from King Ferdinand a further allowance of 10,000 mara- vedis. In the order, he is called simply " Fleet Captain for matters in the Indies : Capitan de armada de las cosas de las Indias;" 4 a title which seems to refer to the intended transatlantic expedi- tion of which we shall speak presently. On the 3oth of August following he received nine months arrears of pay as " Capitan de Mar." In the same year, apparently after that date, Cabot, in company with Andres de San Martin, Juan Vespucci, Juan Serrano, Andres Garcia Nino, Francisco Cotto, Francisco de Torres, and Vasco Gallego, was appointed Pilot to his Majesty, under Juan Dias de Solis, who received the appointment of Pilot-Major. In reality this was his first admission into the maritime service; for, in Spain, the term "Capitan," did not so much apply to a naval officer, as to the 1 ANGHIERA, Decad. iii., lib. vi, fo. Tablas cronologicas ; Madrid, 1892, 56, recto, A, edit, of 1533. 8vo, pp. 2, 28. 2 PETER MARTYR was made " Con- 3 This error was first pointed out by sejo de la Junta" in 1520, and "Con- M. D'AVEZAC. sejo del Consejo" in 1524. He never 4 For these and the following state- filled any other office in the Council of ments and dates, see Jean et Seb. the Indies. Ant. DE LEON PINELO, Cabot, doc. xviii B, pp. 333-34. SEBASTIAN CABOT SETTLES IN SPAIN. 155 commander of an expedition, or of a ship, in the ad- ministrative sense of the word. The practical naviga- tion was entrusted to " maestres," and to pilots. On the 1 3th of November 1515, we see Cabot among the cosmographers called together to ascer- tain whether the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal should pass by Cape St. Augustine. His deposition deserves to be recorded as contain- ing some details, not found elsewhere, relative to one of the voyages of Americus Vespuccius : " Cabot deposes that, with regard to sighting Cape St. Augustine, and ranging the coast to the limits fixed by the Kings of Spain and Portugal, nothing certain can be stated unless credit be given to what the late Americus says in a voyage accomplished by him, that he sailed from the Island of Santiago, (one of the Cape Verde archipelago), west-south-west 450 leagues, and that finding himself by 8, he steered westward, and doubled the said cape He was a man very expert in taking altitudes . . . and those who, like Andres de Morales and others, contradict him, speak only hypothetically, as they never were there themselves." l In 1515 Peter Martyr mentions Cabot as being then entrusted with the command of an expedition to the North- West, which was to sail in the following year. No other historian speaks of that intended voyage, of which, moreover, there are no traces in the books of the Casa de Contratacion. " Cabot is here with us, says Peter Martyr, looking dayely for shippes to be furnysshed for hym to discouer this hyd secreate of nature [the North-West Passage]. This voyage is appoynted to bee begunne in March in the yeare next folowynge, beinge the yeare of Chryst M.D., xvi. What shall succeeade, youre holyness [Pope Leo X], shall be advertised by my letters if god graunte me lyfe." 2 1 Registro de capias de Cedulas de la his uncle which he possessed. But Casa de Contratacion ; 1515-1519, what is that voyage? The details in quoted by NAVARRETE, Opusctilos, vol. CABOT'S deposition are not to be i, p. 66. The testimony of CABOT in found in any of the accounts of the favor of the opinion of VESPUCCIUS is expeditions of VESPUCCIUS which have confirmed by that of Nuno GARCIA come down to us, although Cape St. DE TORENO, who repeats what VES- Augustine is mentioned in the third. PUCCIUS told him, and by Juan VES- 2 ANGHIERA, ttbl supra. FUCCIUS, who relics upon writings of 156 SEBASTIAN CA&OT SETTLES IN SPAIN. The projected expedition was certainly not carried out ; otherwise, Peter Martyr, who continued to describe the voyages to the New World until 1524, would have not failed to keep his promise by relating its results in one of his Decades. Further, Ferdinand of Aragon died on the 23rd of January 1516, two months before the date fixed for the departure. The heir to the throne, Charles V., was at that time in the Low-Countries, which he did not leave to come to Spain till the end of the year 1517. Cardinal Ximenez governed the kingdom in the young King's absence, and had matters of greater importance to attend to than the discovery of the Western Passage, or the "secret" of the Codfish regions. It may be that under the circumstances Cabot went to England in 1516, and that Henry VIII., availing himself of his presence, caused to be equipped the expedition of which we shall speak presently ; but this can only be a supposition. At all events, Cabot was in Spain early in 1518, since, by a cedula dated February 5th of that year, Charles V., who had just arrived at Valladolid to summon the Cortes, appointed him Pilot-Major 1 in the place of Juan Dias de Solis. who had been killed and eaten by the Indians in the Rio de la Plata. 1 "Con 50,000 de salario." MUNOZ MSS., vol. Ixxv, fo. 213; Ixxvi, fo. 28. CHAPTER II. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. WE notice in the Preliminary Discourse affixed by Ramusio to the third volume of his Collection of Voyages the following statement : " As many yeeres past it was written vnto mee by Signer Sebastian Gabotto, our Venetian [countryman] a man of great experience, and very rare in the art of Nauigation and the knowledge of Cosmographie, who sailed along and beyond this land of New France, at the charges of King Henry the seuenth of England. And he advertised mee, that hauing sailed a long time West and by North beyond those Hands vnto the Latitude of 67 degrees and a halfe, vnder the North pole, and at the n. day of June finding still the open Sea without any manner of impediment, he thought verily by that way to haue passed on still the way to Cathaid, which is the east, and would haue done it, if the mutinie of the Shipmarkers and Mariners had not hindered him and made him to returne homewards from that place." l The above was written at Venice the 22nd of June 1553, but not printed till 1556. On the other hand, the reader will observe that Ramusio says he received these details from Sebastian Cabot " many years ago : gia molti anni sono," and, since as Secretary of the Senate, an office which he held from 1515 to I533, 2 Ramusio was conversant with 1 RAMUSIO, 1565, verso of the third 1505, and left them only a short time leaf. before his death, which occurred in 2 It is to the Senate of Venice that 1557. On January 8th, 1515, he Gasparo CONTARINI addressed his was promoted Secretary of the Senate, famous dispatch of December 3ist, a post which he filled until July yth, 1522, which was certainly calculated 1533, when he was appointed Secretary to attract the attention of a savant of the Council of Ten. CICOGNA, like RAMUSIO, who took such interest Iscrizioni veneziane raccolte ed illus- in cosmography. He had entered trate, Venezia, 1824-43, 5 vols. 4to, the Venetian secretaryships May i8th, vol. n, p. 315, segmtur. 158 SEB'N CABOT S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. the negotiations and correspondence initiated by Cabot when he proffered his services to the Venetian government in 1522, the information may be of a date not distant from the alleged voyage which forms the subject of this chapter. The reference to Henry VII. indicates, at first sight, the expedition of 1497, or that of 1498, or another which would have been attempted before 1509, the year of Henry's death. The first two dates must be rejected on account of the accusation brought against the leader of the enterprise of having caused its failure by sheer malice : " se la malignita del padrone," as John Cabot (and even Sebastian in person, if we are to believe the statement), was in command. Sebastian certainly would not have brought such a charge against either his father or himself. As to an expedition which might have been attempted between 1499 and 1509, no traces exist of other transatlantic voyages under the English flag at that time, than the Anglo- Portuguese expedi- tions of 1501-1502, 1502-1503, 1504 and I505, 1 with which none of the Cabots had, and, as we have shown, could have had any connection whatever. Besides, Sebastian in his conversation with the Mantuan Gentleman, refers, for that period, to only one expedition, which, he said, was to Brazil, and is certainly imaginary. We possess, however, another statement which supplements Ramusio's, written at the same time by Richard Eden and from information also supplied directly by Sebastian Cabot. 2 We find it in the epistle dedicatory addressed to the Duke of North- umberland in June 1553, which precedes his transla- 1 Discovery of North America, pp. personal intercourse with Sebastian 692, 696, 698. CABOT, with whom he even was at the 2 EDEN frequently refers to his time of his death. SEffN CABOFS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. 159 tion of the fifth part of Sebastian Minister's Cosmo- graphia. It is as follows : " Which manly e courage (like vnto that which hath ben seen and proued in your grace, aswell in forene realmes, as also in this oure countrey) yf it had not been wanting in other in these our dayes, at suche time as our souereigne Lord of noble memorie Kinge Henry the viij. about the same yere of his raygne, furnished and sent forth certen shippes vnder the gouernaunce of Sebastian Cabot yet liuing, and one Syr Thomas Perte, whose faynt heart was the cause that that viage toke none effect, yf (I say) such manly courage whereof we haue spoken, had not at that tyme bene wanting, it myghte happelye haue comen to passe, that that riche treasurye called Perularia^ (which is now in Spayne in the citie of Ciuile, and so named, for that in it is kepte the infinite ryches brought thither from the newe found land of Peru) myght longe since haue bene in the towne of London." * The date of that event appears in the phrase : " Kinge Henry the viij. about the same yere of his raygne " ; that is, when Henry had been on the throne for seven or eight years ; in other words, between April i6th, 1516, and April i5th, 1517. The object, origin and principal details as given by Eden resemble too closely those which we read in Ramusio not to relate to the same expedition. The only important difference, which however can easily be explained by attributing it to a mere slip of the pen, is in the statement of Ramusio that the event occurred in the reign of Henry VII., whilst Eden says it was during that of Henry VIII. The reader will notice that a simple I omitted by Ramusio, or his printer, would suffice to account for the discrep- ancy. For, if both writers are correct, then such an unusual occurrence, with precisely the same concourse of circumstances, would have happened twice to the same individual, and within a few years, which is highly improbable. Eden is nearer the truth, inasmuch as we find in the documents an English seaman " of the eighth 1 EDEN, A treaty se of the newe Zndfa, London, 1553, 8vo. 160 SE&N CABOTS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. year of the reign of Henry VIII.," called, indifferently, " Thomas Pert" and " Thomas Spert," 1 whom, owing to his being a yeoman of the Crown, Eden may have called "Sir" by courtesy, since we see Purchas use the same title when speaking of Sebastian Cabot, 2 who certainly never was either a knight or a baronet. Thomas Spert commanded, from 1512 to 1517, two ships of the military navy, the Henry Grace a Dieu, also called the Great Harry, described in those days as " the grettest shype in the world," 3 and the Mary Rose, also a very large vessel for the time. Eden, however, is the only author who mentions a transatlantic voyage entrusted to Spert. His words : " that viage toke none effect," have been quoted to show that the expedition never sailed from England. In such a case, the "faynt heart" of Pert or Spert, would have manifested itself at the time of depart- ure. This interpretation is erroneous. The words "furnished and sent forth certen shippes" prove, on the contrary, that the ships actually sailed, and, con- sequently, that the cowardice of the commander was exhibited on the high seas. The possibility of Sebastian Cabot having joined an English expedition between 1516 and 1517, is at first sight not inadmissible. After the death of Ferdinand of Aragon, which occurred at the begin- ning of 1516, and during the administration of Cardinal Ximenez, Cabot, seeing that the projected voyage (mentioned by Peter Martyr) was not carried out, may have gone to England. This seems so much the more plausible as the documents furnish no information whatever concerning his doings and 1 J. S. BREWER, Letters and Papers, ' 2 PURCHAS, His Pilgrimage, 1625, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII., vol. iii, p. 806, and vol. iv, p. 1177. 1509-1514, No. 4535, p. 694 ; for 3 " 1000 tons, soldiers 349, mariners PERT, and for SPERT, Nos. 3591, 301." Diary of Henry Machyn, p. 333. 3977, 4377, &c. SEB'N CABOTS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. 161 whereabouts from November i5th, 1515, or, rather, January 23rd, 1516 (which is the date of the death of Ferdinand), to February 5th, 1518, when he was appointed Pilot- Major by Charles V. Some may also presume that the legacy bestowed on the 7th of May, I5I6, 1 by the Rev. William Mychell upon the daughter of Sebastian Cabot, was brought about by the latter's alleged presence in London. The statements of Ramusio and Eden contain therefore a series of allegations which may be plausibly grouped as follows : In 1516, Henry VIII. causes an expedition to be equipped to go in search of the North- West Passage, and Thomas Pert or Spert is put in command. Sebastian Cabot joins it, possibly at Portsmouth. The fleet sets sails during the first quarter of the year 1516. In the course of the voyage, either on account of storms, icebergs, or the length of the navigation, Spert refuses to go any further, and returns to England, without having accomplished, of course, any discoveries, or even landed, apparently, any- where. We do not mean to say that this is a faithful description of events ; nay, that the voyage took place at all. Our sole object is to bring Cabot's assertions, as reported by Ramusio and Eden, within the range of an hypothesis not contradicted at the outset by the documents known. It remains to examine these assertions intrinsically, so to speak. Sebastian Cabot says that on the nth of June: " xj di Giugno " he found himself by 67 30' north latitude: "a gradi 67 et mezzo". Now, on the loth of July 1517, Thomas Spert was engaged in ballasting the Mary Rose in the Thames, at least, he 1 Travers Twiss, Nautical Magazine July 1876, p. 675. L 162 SEB'N CABOTS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. collected at that date his charges for the work. 1 In either case, this circumstance compels us to place, at best, the alleged voyage in the previous year, viz. : 1516, as it implies that the expedition had already been accomplished for some time, since the ballasting was certainly in view of another voyage to be under- taken soon afterwards. Nor can we suppose that Cabot's alleged expedition took place after July 1517, since it would no longer tally with the " eighth year of the reign of Henry VIII.," which expired April 1 5th, 1517. We are hemmed in consequently between 1516 and July 1517. Ferdinand of Aragon died January 22nd, 1516; but Sebastian Cabot is not likely to have left his important post of Pilot-Major of Spain, to which he had been promoted only five months before, until he had ascertained the course of events after the King's demise. This, together with the delays necessitated by his preparations for leaving Seville, and the voyage to England, required some weeks. Let us admit that Spert's expedition had been already prepared, and was even about to sail when Cabot arrived in London, yet he must again have employed a certain time in obtaining leave from the King to join the expedition. Further, an arctic voyage of discovery is not undertaken, particu- larly when fitted out in an English port, before spring. We may therefore suppose that Spert's expedition, like those of John Cabot in 1497 and 1498, sailed from England during the first week of May, at the soonest. It is scarcely possible that in those days, a sailing vessel, starting most probably from Ports- mouth early in May, could ever have attained on the nth of June following, that is, in less than six weeks, 67 30' north latitude, and, at least, 60 1 "Ballasting in the Thames." See BREWER, op. cit., vol. ii, part ii, No. 3459, P. ioi. SEffN CABOT S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. 163 longtitude west, which is one of the coldest and most obstructed of all the northern regions at that season of the year. 1 Nor do we believe that such an extraordinary voyage, which, although it failed in its main object, would have been the greatest of the kind ever attempted by British seamen before Frobisher, would not have left traces in the English chronicles of the time. True it is that, nearly half a century after the alleged event, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 2 Hakluyt, 3 Belleforest, 4 Chauveton, 5 and others refer to that expedition, but it can be easily shown that they copy each other, and that the prototype is exclusively Ramusio's statement above given. Furthermore, if Sebastian Cabot had ever visited those regions at such a late date as 1516, particularly under the English flag, it stands to reason 'that the Wardens of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London never would have dared to tell Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey, less than five years afterwards, when ordered to furnish ships for an expedition to those parts under the command of Sebastian Cabot, " that he had never been to the New World, although arrogating to himself discoveries made by his father, in relating facts the knowledge of which he held from him and other people ! " In connection with the leading statement in Eden's account of that alleged voyage, it is not amiss to recall here two other references to transatlantic expeditions. The first is to be found in a play called : A new interlude and a mery of the iiij. elements 1 KOHL, Documentary History of 4 BELLEFOREST, La Cosmographie Maine, p. 219. Universelle; Paris, 1575, vol. ii, p. 2 GILBERT, A Discourse of a Dis- 2175. couerye for a new passage to Cataia ; 5 CHAUVETON, Histoire notivelle du London, 1576, 4to, leaf Dili. Nouveau Monde (Geneva), 1579, I2mo, 3 HAKLUYT, The principal! Navig. , p. 141. 1889, 8vo, vol. xii, p. 27. 164 SEB'N CABOTS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. declarynge many proper poynts of philosophy natural. It occurs as follows : And northwarde on this syde There lyeth Iselande where men do fysche, But beyonde that so colde it is No man may there abyde This See is called the Great Oceyan So great it is that never man Coulde tell it sith the worlde began Tyll more within this. XX. yere Westwarde we founde new landes That we neuer harde tell of before this By wrytynge nor other meanys Yet many nowe haue ben there And that countrey is so large of rome Muche lenger than all cristendome Without fable or gyle For dyvers maryners haue it tryed And sayled streyght by the coste syde Above .V. thousande myle But what commodytes be within No man can tell nor well Imagin But yet not long a go Some men of this contrey went By the Kynges noble consent It for to serche to that entent And coude not be brought therto ; But they that were they venterefs] Haue cause to curse their maryners Fals of promys, and disemblers That falsly them betrayed Which wold take no paine to saile farther Than their owne lyst and pleasure Wherfor that vyage, and dyvers other Such kaytyffes haue destroyed O what a thynge had be than If that they that be englysche men Myght haue ben first of all That there shulde have take possessyon And made furst buyldynge and habytacion. A memory perpetuall And also what an honorable thynge Bothe to the realme, and to the kynge To have had his domynyon extendynge There into so farre a grounde SEffN CABOTS ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. 165 Whiche the noble kynge of late memory The most wyse prynce the .VII. He[n]rry Causyd furst for to be founde. . . . x These lines clearly refer to a voyage undertaken by Englishmen to the north-western regions of the New World, which did not terminate successfully owing to the seamen in charge not caring to sail as far as their destination, to the great damage of the promoters and of England. Such are the points of resemblance with the accounts of Eden and Ramusio. But what is the date of the abortive voyage described in the Inter- lude ? The book (of which only one copy is known to exist), 2 bears no date or imprint on the first page ; and as it lacks the last leaf, which probably contained a colophon, no one can tell from the typographical data when and where the work was printed. We are left to ascertain these important points from internal evidence. The critic first notices the following lines : But this newe lands founde lately Ben callyd America, by cause only Americus dyd furst them fynde. These show that the play was written after May 1507, when the Cosmographies introductio^ where the name " America" occurs for the first time, was originally printed. The following, when read in connection with the above, may enable us to obtain a more precise date : 1 We have revised our text on the pp. 50-51. The original bears the one which was published by the Rev. following note in the handwriting of Edward ARBER, in The first three the celebrated actor : " First impres- English boo&s, pp. xx-xxi, and which sion dated 25th Oct. II Henry VIII," is the most correct. which corresponds to the year 1519- 2 That unique copy is preserved in 20. This may mean that his copy the British Museum, in the Garrick was not of the first edition, or perhaps Collection of plays. For a full descrip- that he supplied with that note the tion, see Bibliotheca Americana missing colophon. Vetustissima, Additamenta, No. 38, 166 SEEN CABOT S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. Within this XX yere Westwarde we fotmde new landes That we never harde of before this. It has been justly observed, 1 that in the opinion of the poet the discoverer was not Columbus, who is nowhere mentioned in the Interlude, but Vespuccius. Now, according to the account published in the Cosmo- graphice introductio, which is, in our opinion, the source whence the poet drew his data for the two last quotations, the discovery was accomplished in 1497. By adding "XX yere," we obtain the year 1517; that is, he alludes to a voyage undertaken between 1497 and 1517. We bring the date still nearer by recalling the couplet : Which the noble kynge of late memory The most wyse prynce the .VII. Henry. That is, the Interlude was written after April 2ist, 1509, which is the date of the death of Henry VII. Now come the lines : But yet not long ago Some men of this countrey went. The voyage, consequently, took place between 1509 and 1517, but not long before 1517. We believe that this only shows a coincidence which must have occurred several times in the early history of maritime discoveries. The second reference is the following : In the letter addressed in 1527 to Dr. Lee, the ambassador of Henry VIII. in Spain, by Robert Thorne, a Bristol merchant established in Seville, mention is made of a circumstance somewhat similar to the one reported by Eden. Speaking of the expedition to the North- West undertaken by his 1 CHARLES DEANE, John and Seb- History of America, edited by Mr astian Cabot, a Study. Reprinted WINSOR, Cambridge, Mass., 1886, p. from the Narrative and Critical 16, note. SEffN CABOT S ALLEGED VOYAGE OF 1517. 167 father, Nicholas Thorne, with Hugh Elliott, he says concerning the North- West Passage : " Of which there is no doubt (as now plainly appareth), if the mariners would then have been ruled and followed their pilots mind the lands of the West Indies (from whence all the gold cometh) had been ours, for all is one coast." 1 This statement refers to the expedition which sailed in 1 503, by virtue of letters patent granted to Hugh Elliot, and other Bristol merchants in 1502, considered in a previous chapter, and from which the Cabots were implicitly excluded. It cannot be identical with the alleged Spert-Cabot miscarried voyage of 1517, as the latter is represented to have taken place fifteen years after the one mentioned by Robert Thorne. 1 HAKLUYT, vol. i, p. 219. CHAPTER III. PROTEST OF THE LIVERIES AGAINST EMPLOYING SEBASTIAN CABOT. A CCORDING to the statements made by Cabot -t\. to Gaspard Contarini, the Venetian ambas- sador in Spain, a year had scarcely elapsed since his appointment, in 1518, as Pilot-Major, when he went to England. There, Cardinal Wolsey urged him, he says, to accept the command of an expedi- tion, fitted out at a great cost, to go in search of new transatlantic lands. Cabot pretends that in obedience to his duty, he not only repelled the offer, on the plea that being in the service of Charles V. he could not serve any other prince without his leave, but wrote to that monarch to refuse whatever request the King of England might make on the subject. It can readily be shown that Sebastian Cabot never entertained scruples of the kind. As to the offer, whether it originated with him, or with Henry VIII., it must have been made not in 1519, but two years later. In the first place, Cabot was still at Seville on the 6th of May 1519, since he collected on that day 25,000 maravedis, as one third of his annual pay of Captain and Pilot-Major. 1 We now give a narrative of the events connected with the protest, some of which have been already stated. 1 Jean ct Stfd. Cabot, doc. xviii E, p. 334. PROTEST AGAINST SEBASTIAN CABOT. 169 Towards the close of the month of February, 1521, the wardens of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London were officially informed by two members of the King's Council, Sir Robert Wynkfeld and Sir Wolston Brown, that Henry VIII. required of them five vessels for a maritime expedition : " To furnysche v. shipps after this man r . The Kings Grace to prepare them in takyll ordenaunce and all other necessaries at his charge. And also the King to here the adventour of the said shipps, And the merchaunts and companys to be at the charge of the vitaylling and mennys wage of the same shipps for one hole yere and the shipps not to be above vj** ton apece. And that this Citie of London shabe as hede Reulers for all the hole realm for as many Cites and Townes as be mynded to prepare any shipps forwards for the same purpos and viage, as the Town of Bristowe hath sent vp there knowledge that they wyll prepare ij. shipps." l The promised reward for the outlay was " that x yere aft there shall no nacion haue the trate but [the said companies] and to haue respyte for there custom xv monthes and xv monthes." The required vessels were intended "for a viage to be made into the newefound Hand;" and to be commanded by "one man callyd as understoud Sebastyan," who was no other than Sebastian Cabot, although the surname is not mentioned in the records. A meeting was held on March ist, 1521, to consider the demand, which met with decided opposition on the part of the liveries, the Drapers' Company assuming the leadership, and being intrusted, as it seems, with the task of speaking in the name of the "other auncyaunt ffeliships." On the nth of March, the report drawn up by the wardens of the Drapers and of the Mercers, was read at a meeting of " the hole body of the ffeliship, ryche 1 The reader will find the full text of that important document in the appendix to our Discovery of North America^ pp. 747-750. 170 PROTEST OF THE LIVERIES and poure." They objected to the King's demand on the ground that with regard to the intended expedition, His Majesty, the Cardinal (Wolsey), and the Royal Council, " were not duely and substancially enformed in suche manner as perfite knowledge myght be had by credible reporte of maisters and mariners naturally born within this Realm of England having experi- ence and excersided in and about the for said Hand." This was evidently aimed at the foreign nationality of Sebastian Cabot, whom they did not consider as being "naturally born within the realm of England." The wardens then expressed the greatest reluct- ance to the appointment of Sebastian as commander of the expedition, in most energetic terms, which we have already quoted, but beg to repeat : "And we thynk it were to sore a venture to joperd v shipps with men and goods unto the said Hand uppon the singuler trust of one man callyd as we understond Sebastyan, whiche Sebastyan as we here say was neuer in that land hym self, all if he maks reporte of many things as he hath hard his father and other men speke in tymes past." Finally, they expressed willingness to the extent of " furnysshing of ij shippys and suppos to furnyssh the thryd." This decision having been communicated to the authorities, " the commissioners brought aunswere fro my lord Cardynall that the King wold haue the premisses to go furth and to take effect. And there vppon my lord the maire was send for to speke w l the King for the same matier, so that his grace wold haue no nay there in, but spak sharpely to the Maire to see it putt in execucion to the best of his power." On the 26th of March, the Mayor of London summoned before him the entire company at the Drapers' hall, " where was w 1 grete labo r and dili- gence and many diuers warnyngs grunted first and last ij C mcs. [200 marks] presentyd by a byll to the maire the gth day of Aprill." AGAINST EMPLOYING SEBASTIAN CABOT. 171 What was the object or destination of the voyage ? Must the words : " Newefounde Hand " be interpreted as meaning the island of Newfoundland or any point of the east coast of America ? We are not prepared to give an affirmative answer. It will be remembered that Sebastian Cabot, who was constantly plotting, intriguing, and betraying his employers, had proposed in 1522 to go to Venice, for the purpose of selling to the Republic secret information relative to a North- West Passage, which he claimed to have discovered : "come e il vero che io 1' ho ritrovata." The Council of Ten sent the entire correspondence to Caspar Contarini, the Venetian ambassador at the Court of Spain, with instructions to interview Cabot. In their conversa- tion, the latter, to enhance the value of the proposed enterprise, said that when in England, three years before, Cardinal Wolsey had made great efforts to induce him to take the command of an important expedition to discover new countries, 30,000 ducats having actually been obtained for equipping the fleet : " Hor ritrovandomi ja tre anni, salvo il vero, in Ingelterra, quel Reverendissimo Cardinal mi volea far grandi partiti che io navigasse cum una sua armada per discoprir paesi novi la quale era quasi in ordine, et haveano preparati per spender in essa ducati 30 m." 1 The words " paesi novi " do not apply, we think, to a western passage, but to new countries which Cardinal Wolsey hoped to discover, perhaps in the track of the Spanish navigators. There may be an inkling of some such intention in one of the arguments used by the wardens of the Drapers' Company against the expediency of the enterprise, when they 1 C. BULLO, La Vera patria di p. 64, and Jean et Stbastien Cabot, Nicolb de' Conti e di Giovanni Caboto> doc, xxviii, p. 348. Stud; e Documents, Chioggia, 1880, 172 PROTEST OF THE LIVERIES say : " Also we thynk it is dowbtfull that any English ship shalbe suffered to laid in Spayn and in other countres by reason of suche acts and statuts." It was in October, 1522, that Sebastian Cabot made those statements to Contarini, and ascribed to Wolsey's proposals a date three years previous to that interview. This, 1519-1520, in general con- versation, is sufficiently near the spring of 1521 to authorise the belief that these proposals coincide with the expedition which Henry VIII. intended to entrust to Sebastian Cabot, and against which the Liveries protested so vigorously. The Drapers paid their share of the expenses, for the records contain a list of names and the sums which each gave for that purpose. " My lord the Maire, Sir John Brugge," heads it with 8. This first list of " Masters and livery" contains seventy- eight names. There is a second list of forty-six " Bachillers," who give smaller sums ; one gives ^3 6s. 8d., the next 5 marks, then 40 shillings, down to many at 35. 4d., 2od., and even i2d. But the expedition never set out from England. Sir Thomas Lovell, a Knight of the Garter, died at his manor of Elsynges, in Enfield, Middlesex, May 25th, 1524. He was a man of great wealth, who allowed two years to his executors for the adminis- tration of his will. In an account of expenditures, under the head of "Dettes paide to creditors owynge vnto them in the lyfe of Sir Thomas Lowell," mention is made of a certain sum of 435. 4d. paid to one John Goderyk, " in full satysfacon and recom- penses of his charge costis and labour conductying of Sebastian Cabott master of the Pylotes in Spayne to London at the request of the testator." 1 Cabot was in Spain during the years 1524, 1523, 1 J. S. BREWER, Calendar of State Papers t Henry VI IL , vol iv, part i, P- 154. AGAINST EMPLO YING SEBASTIAN CABOT. 173 I522. 1 We infer therefore that the above payment was on account of the voyage which he made to England in 1520-1521, as we see him in London apparently in March of the latter year, when the Livery Companies were discussing the obligation laid upon them by the Crown. As Sir Thomas Lovell had been steward and marshal of the house of Henry VIII., we may suppose that Cabot was called to England by the direction of the King. 2 It should be noted, however, that according to the latest authorities, 3 the rise of Wolsey's power seems to have prompted Lovell to withdraw from public life altogether shortly after 1516. 1 See above under those dates. necessario anchor per tre mesi scorer, 2 MARKHAM, The Journal of Christ, qual passati al tutto era per venir a li Columbus, 1893, p. xxix, note. But piedi di V. I. S." By referring the learned president of the London infra, p. 176, the reader will see that Geographical Society is mistaken when the meaning is entirely different. Nor he says: "On March 7th, 1523, the did CABOT come to England to attend Venetian Ambassador reported that the funeral of Sir Thomas LOVELL, CABOT had delayed his visit to Venice as we once thought. The debt was in- because he was called to England on curred in the latter's " lyfe," and in business and would be absent three May 1524, CABOT was at Badajoz, months." CONTARINI only said : " se attending, in his official capacity, the ha risolto non poter per hora diman- Molucca Island Conference. dare licentia dubitando che non lo 3 Mr. W. A. J. ARCHBOLD, in tolesseno per suspecto che el volesse Dictionary of National Biography ^ vol. andare in Engelterra, et che pero li era xxxiv, p. 176. CHAPTER IV. CABOT S TREACHEROUS INTRIGUES WITH VENICE. THE pretended scruples of Sebastian Cabot as to serving more than one master at a time, lead us to inquire into certain grave underhand dealings with the Venetian Republic, of which he was the sole promoter. Richard Biddle, in his unbounded enthusiasm for Sebastian, says " it is a pleasing reflection that he was never found attempting to employ, to the annoy- ance of Spain, the minute local knowledge of her possessions, of which his confidential station in that country must have made him master." 1 If Biddle had consulted the dispatches exchanged between the Council of Ten and their ambassadors at Valladolid and London, the probability is that he would have modified his views in this respect. In 1522, after Cabot, by virtue of his office, had been made privy to all the plans and projects of the Spanish Government regarding the alleged western passage to Cathay, 2 and received from Charles V. important favors, as well as marks of confidence, he sent to Venice a Ragusian adventurer called Hieronymo Marin de Busignolo, under the most solemn oath not to divulge his errand except to 1 BIDDLE, Memoir, p. 173. che sono in tutto 125 m. maravedis, 2 " t "Dal Re Ferdinando ftti facto possonovaler circa ducati 300." CON- Capitano cum provisione di 50 m. TARINI'S dispatch of Dec. 31, 1522, maravedis, poij fui faito da questo Re Jean et Sdb. Cabot, p. 348. presente piloto major cum provisione That was a great deal more than di altri 50 m. maravedis, et per adiuto SOLIS (50,000 mrs.), and Americus di costa mi da poij 25 m. maravedis VESPUCCIUS (70,000). CAB OT S INTRIGUES WITH VENICE. 175 members of the Council of Ten. He was to inform them that the Pilot-Major of the Spanish monarch was ready to repair to Venice for the purpose of re- vealing a secret on which depended the future greatness of the Republic. Marin faithfully per- formed his trust. The Venetian Government rewarded him, and at once forwarded to Gasparo Contarini, its ambassador at the Court of Spain, the following dispatch : " September 27th, 1522. The chiefs of the Ten to Gasparo Contarini Ambassador in Spain : There arrived here the other day a certain Hieronimo de Marin de Busignolo a native of Ragusa. On presenting himself to the Chiefs of our Council of Ten he declared he had been sent by one Sebastian Cabotto, who says he is a Venetian and now resident at Seville where he receives a salary from the Emperor as his ' pilot-major ' for voyages of discovery. On behalf of this individual the Ragusan made the enclosed statement. Although it is perhaps unworthy of much credit, yet by reason of its importance we did not choose to decline Seb- astian's offer of coming hither to explain his project. We have permitted Hieronimo to answer him, as you will perceive by the accompanying letter. Contrive cautiously to learn whether Sebastian be at the Imperial Court or expected there shortly, in which case you are to send for him and give him the letter bearing his address. We have tied it up with another directed to the secretary. Elicit as much as you can concerning his project. Should it seem well grounded and feasible urge him to come hither. Should he not be at the court forward the letter to Seville through some safe channel giving the person entrusted with it to understand that you received it from one of your private correspondents." l The required visit to Venice, which was deemed necessary to facilitate the intended treachery, could not safely be carried out at that time, owing to the fact that Charles V. mistrusted Cabot, not, however, with regard to the Venetian Republic, but in rela- tion to England. This suspicion shows that the King of Spain did not place implicit confidence in the 1 RAWDON BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 557. For the Italian text, see Jean et S&astim Cabot, doc. xxvi, pp. 344-46. 176 CABOTS TREACHEROUS INTRIGUES professions of fidelity which his Pilot-Major claims to have made when urged by Wolsey to take charge of the maritime expedition considered in the pre- ceding chapter. The suspicion is only hinted at, yet it is clearly indicated by the words : " per suspecto che el volesse andare in Engelterra," in the following dispatch from Contarini : "Sebastian Cabot with whom you desired me to speak on matters connected with the spice trade has subsequently been to see me several times, always telling me how much disposed he is to come to Venice for the purpose of carrying into effect his schemes for the Signory's benefit. This day he informed me that he could not ask leave at present, lest they suspect him of intending to go to England and that he must, therefore, serve for three months longer on the expiration of which he would place himself at the feet of the Signory. Prays you to write him a second letter urging him to come to Venice for the despatch of his affairs. I write all that Sebastian has stated to me and what he requires, your Highness will act as you may please. Valladolid, 7th March As we shall soon see, Cabot frankly acknowledged that he was running the risk of his life, and we can readily understand why great precautions were re- quired on his part. To that end, the two wily Venetians invented an imaginary claim arising, as they alleged, from the estate or dowry of Cabot's mother, and of such importance as to require his immediate presence in Venice. The Council of Ten approved of the pretence, and wrote to Contarini on the 28th of April 1523 a dispatch to that effect, which the reader will find further on. The Ragusian's speech when he appeared before the Council of Ten and the description of Cabot's project sent by them to Contarini are both lost, and we can only guess their object from the report of his interview with the Venetian envoy, when, quaking 1 RAWDON BROWN, op. cit., No. 634 ; Jean et S{b. Cabot, doc. xxix, p. 351. WITH VENICE. 177 with fear, 1 Cabot went on Christmas-eve, after sunset, secretly, to the residence of Contarini. " It is in my power," said he, "to cause Venice to participate in that navigation, and I can show her a route, found by me, from which she would derive great profit." The remark was doubtless made as a sequel to certain disclosures touching Magellan's discovery (" questa navigatione : that navigation "), news of which had been received by Charles V. only three months before. At all events, the gist of Cabot's project was to disclose to a foreign nation, a route, fancied or real, leading to the Spice islands, 2 the knowledge of which should have been first imparted to the Spanish Government, in whose pay and special employ Cabot then was ; a route too, calculated to compete, in the interest of a rival power, with that just discovered by the Spaniards at such a great sacrifice of men, time and money. And if we add that the proposal was bolstered by his positive assertion, as the reader will soon see, that " in truth he had actually discovered the passage : come e il vero che io \ ho ritrovata," every impartial historian must acknowledge Sebastian Cabot to have shown himself then both an impostor and a traitor. As to the plan in itself, and the method for carrying it out, we know of nothing which gives a better idea of Cabot's arrogance and unreliable talk, than Contarini's official reports of their inter- views on the subject. " Valladolid, jist December 1522. Caspar Contarini to the Council of Ten : According to your letter of yth September I ascertained that 1 " Li detti la lettera, lui la lesse et TARINI, December 3ist, 1522, Jean et legiendola si mosse tutto di colore. Stb. Cabot, p. 347. Da poij letta, stete cussi un pocheto 2 "A parlarli circa le cose de le senza dirmi altro quasi sbigotito et spiziarie et da me cussi exeguito come dubio . . . ma vi prego quarito posso per mie di x. zener li significai." che la cosa sij secreta perche a me CONTARINI, March yth. 1523. anderebbe la vita." Dispatch of CON- M 178 CABOTS TREACHEROUS INTRIGUES Sebastian Cabot was at the Court and where he dwelt. I sent to say that my secretary had a letter for him from a friend of his and that if he chose he might come to my residence. He told my servant he would come. He made his appearance on Christmas eve. At dinner time I withdrew with him and delivered the letter, which he read, his colour changing completely during its perusal. Having finished reading it he remained a short while without saying anything, as if alarmed and doubtful. I told him that if he chose to answer the letter or wished me to make any communica- tion to the quarter from which I had received it, I was ready to execute his commission safely. Upon this he took courage and said to me ' Out of the love I bear my country, I spoke hereto- fore to the ambassadors of the most illustrious Signory in England concerning these newly discovered countries through which I have the means of greatly benefiting Venice. The letter in question concerned this matter, as you likewise are aware, but I most earnestly beseech you to keep the thing secret as it would cost me my life.' I then told him I was thoroughly acquainted with the whole affair and mentioned how Hieronymo the Ragusan had presented himself before the tribunal of their Excellencies the Chiefs, and that the most secret magistracy had acquainted me with everything and forwarded that letter to me. I added that as some noblemen were dining with me it would be inconvenient for us to talk together then, but that should he choose to return late in the evening we might more conveniently discuss the subject together at full length. So he then departed and returned about 5 p.m. Being closeted alone in my chamber, he said to me : ' My lord Ambassador, to tell you the whole truth, I was born at Venice but was brought up in England, and then entered the service of their Catholic Majesties of Spain and King Ferdinand made me captain, with a salary of 50,000 maravedis. Subse- quently his present Majesty gave me the office of Pilot-Major, with an additional salary of 50,000 maravedis, and 25,000 maravedis besides as a gratuity, forming a total of 125,000 maravedis, equal to about 300 ducats. * Now it so happened that when in England some three years ago, if I mistake not, Cardinal Wolsey offered me high terms if I would sail with an armada of his on a voyage of discovery. The vessels were almost ready, and they had got together 30,000 ducats for their outfit. I answered him that, being in the service of the King of Spain I could not go without his leave, but if free permission were granted me from hence I would serve him. * About that time in the course of conversation one day with a certain friar, a Venetian named Sebastian Collona with whom I was on a very friendly footing, he said to me " Master Sebastian, WITH VENICE. 179 you take such great pains to benefit foreigners and forget your native land. Would it not be possible for Venice likewise to derive some advantage from you ? " At this my heart smote me and I told him I would think about it. So on returning to him the next day I said I had the means of rendering Venice a partner in this navigation and of showing her a passage whereby she would obtain great profit ; which is the truth for I have discovered it. ' In consequence of this, as by serving the King of England I could no longer benefit our country, I wrote to the Emperor not to give me leave to serve the King of England as he would injure himself extremely, and thus to recall me forthwith. Being recalled accordingly and on my return residing at Seville, I contracted a close friendship with this Ragusan who wrote the letter you delivered to me ; and as he told me he was going to Venice I unbosomed myself to him charging him to mention this thing to none but the Chiefs of the Ten ; and he swore to me a sacred oath to this effect.' I bestowed great praise on his patriotism and informed him I was commissioned to confer with him and hear his project which I was to notify to the Chiefs to whom he might afterwards resort in person. He replied that he did not intend to manifest his plan to any but the Chiefs of the Ten and that he would go to Venice after requesting the Emperor's permission, on the plea of recovering his mother's dowry concerning which he said he would contrive that I should be spoken to by the Bishop of Burgos and the Grand Chancellor, who are to urge me to write in his favour to your Serenity. I approved of this, but said I felt doubtful as to the possibility of his project as I had applied myself a little to geography, and bearing in mind the position of Venice I did not see any way of effecting this navigation as the voyage must be performed either by ships built in Venice, or else by vessels which it would be requisite to construct elsewhere. Venetian built craft must necessarily pass the gut of Gibraltar to get into the ocean ; and as the King of Portugal and the King of Spain would oppose the project it never could succeed. The construction of vessels out of Venice could only be effected on the southern shores of the Ocean, or in the Red Sea, to which there were endless objections. First of all it would be requisite to have a good understanding with the Great Turk. Secondly the scarcity of timber rendered shipbuilding impossible there. Then again even if vessels were built the fortresses and fleets of Portugal would prevent the trade from being carried on. I also observed to him that I did not see how vessels could be built on the northern shores of the Ocean that is to say from Spain to Denmarck, or even beyond, especially as the whole of Germany depended on the Emperor ; nor could I 180 CABOTS TREACHEROUS INTRIGUES perceive any way at all for conveying merchandise from Venice to these ships or for conveying spices and other produce from the ships to Venice. Nevertheless, as he was skilled in this matter, I said I deferred to him. He answered me. ' You have spoken ably, and in truth neither with ships built at Venice nor yet by the way of the Red Sea, do I perceive any means soever. But there are other means not merely possible but easy, both for building ships and conveying wares from Venice to the harbour, as also spices, gold and other produce from the harbour to Venice as I know, for I have sailed to all those countries, and am well acquainted with the whole. Indeed I assure you that I refused to accept the offer of the King of England for the sake of benefitting my country for had I listened to that proposal there would no longer have been any course for Venice.' I shrugged my shoulders, and although the thing seems to me impossible I nevertheless would not dissuade him from coming to the feet of your Highness (without however recommending him) because possibility is much more unlimited than man often imagines ; added to which, this individual is in great repute here. He then left me. . Subsequently on the evening of St. John's Day he came to me in order that I might modify certain expressions in the Ragusan's letter, which he was apprehensive would make the Spaniards suspicious. It was therefore, remodelled and written out again by a Veronese, an intimate friend .of mine. After this, continuing my conversation with him concerning our chief matter, and recapitulating the difficulties he said to me * I assure you the way and the means are easy. I will go to Venice at my own cost. They shall hear me ; and if they disapprove of the project devised by me, I will return in like manner at my own cost.' He then urged me to keep the matter secret." l The negotiations continued for six weeks secretly in the house of the Venetian ambassador whenever Cabot came to Valladolid. The scheme was always based upon a personal visit of Cabot to Venice, as the Council of Ten was still anxious that he should come in person, and explain his project more fully in their 1 RAWDON BROWN'S own translation, Calendar of State papers in Venice, No. 669 ; Jean et Stbastien Cabot, doc. xxviii, pp. 447-51. WITH VENICE. 181 presence. The pretext concocted to obtain leave from Charles V. had met with the approval of all parties concerned, and they laboured assiduously to render it still more plausible. As the reader has just seen, it chiefly consisted in a pretended claim in connec- tion with alleged dowries of Cabot's mother and aunt. He even made bold to obtain from Bishop Fonseca and Mercurino de Gattinara the High Chancellor of Spain, a recommendation addressed to Contarini, urging him to request the Venetian government to advance that imaginary claim ! The following extracts from Contarini's dispatches mark the steps in this bold intrigue : " March ?th, 1523. Contarini to the Chiefs of the Ten : Sebastian Cabot prays you to write him a second letter urging him to come to Venice for the despatch of his affairs." l " April 28th, 1523. Council of Ten to Contarini : According to Cabot's desire, we enclose a letter drawn up in the name of Hieronymo de Marino the Ragusian, touching his private affairs, in order that it may appear necessary for him to quit Spain. This you are to deliver to Caboto remotis arbitres urging him to come hither. Marino is not in Venice now, nor do we know where he is although the letter is dated here." 2 " April 28th, 1^23. Hieronymo de Marino to Cabot : Some months ago, on arriving here in Venice I wrote to you what I had done to discover where your property was. I received fair promise from all quarters and was given good hope of recover- ing the dower of your mother and aunt, so that I have no doubt, had you come hither, you would already have attained your object. I therefore exhort you not to sacrifice your interests but betake yourself here to Venice. Do not delay coming, for your aunt is very old." 3 Finally, we have the following letter : " July 26th, 1523. Contarini to the Chiefs of the Ten : Sebastian Cabot who has been residing at Seville, has returned hither on his way to Venice. He is endeavouring to obtain leave from the Imperial councillors to repair to Venice, and induce them 1 RAWDON BROWN, op. '/., and/ BARCIA'S edit., cap. Iviii, p. 44. in our Syllabus, No. L. :! Published by VARNHAGEN, Hist, u Ibidem. THE EXPEDITION TO THE MOLUCCAS. 197 deducted four men left at Palma, replaced, however, by eight others, making a total of 214 or 224 who crossed the Atlantic. We have only been able to collect biographical data concerning thirty of those companions of Sebastian Cabot, and these data are very brief. Martin Mendez was a Sevillian of good family, and, as we learn from Herrera, had been recom- mended by Charles V. He was the notary of Magellan's expedition on board the Victoria, and one of the survivors who returned to Spain, but not with El Cano, as the Portuguese detained him at Cape Verde in July 1522. We may judge of the estimation in which Mendez was held by Charles V., from the fact that he granted him an annuity of 200 gold ducats, and a coat of arms, with the same beautiful device given to El Cano : Primus circumdedisti me} Garcia de Cespedes says, 2 that Mendez was one of the pilots of the Badajoz junta in 1524. Our impression is that he was only summoned then to give evidence with regard to the action of the government in the Moluccas, as we see him assume no other title at Tidor, when he drew up the deeds for taking possession of the island, than that of " con- tador," 3 which implies simply an office like that of treasurer or accountant. There is a Francisco de Rojas who was commis- sioned by the Crown in 1531* to collect colonists throughout Spain for the West Indies. He seems to be the same Rojas who had command of the Trinidad in the present expedition. 1 HERRERA, Decad. iii, lib. iv, cap. 17) only as barber. Others also 14, p. 133, who gives it : Primus qui received the device at the time. circwndedit me, and describes the coat 2 CESPEDES, Regimiento de Nam- of arms. Let us add that the same gacion^ Madrid, 1606, fol., p. 152. device was also given to Miguel DE 3 NAVARRETE,' vol. iv, pp. 19, 370; RODAS, and to one Hernando DE Duchess of ALBA, p. in ; Discovery of BUSTAMENTE, who, however, figures North America, p. 723. on the rolls (NAVARRETE, vol. iv, p. 4 HERRERA, Decad. iv, p. 213. 198 THE EXPEDITION TO THE MOLUCCAS. Miguel de Rodas, born at Rodas (Galicia) in I492, 1 was a personage of considerable importance. He also accompanied Magellan, as " contramaestre," on board the Victoria, and returned to Spain with El Cano. On the 2oth of August 1522, Charles V. granted him a patent of nobility, also with the famous device already cited, encircling a terrestrial globe : " You have been the first to embrace me," appointed him a member of the Badajos junta, and, as a reward for the services he had rendered, gave him a pension of 50,000 maravedis. Rodas, who was a good seaman, enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor, whom he represented in Cabot's expedition, without filling any special office, says Herrera. Yet the rogatory commission refers to him as " piloto de la nao capitana," and even of " Piloto Mayor de la armada." Gon^alo Nunez, Alvaro Nunez, and Juan Nunez, all three Balboas, were brothers 2 of the famous Balboa who, from the summit of the mountains in the isthmus of Panama, discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Hernan Mendes was the younger brother of Martin Mendes. Bautista Negron was evidently a Genoese. Alonso Bueno, born at Seville, figures in the list of pilots for the West Indies drawn up in I525- 3 Juan de Junco was an Asturian nobleman, born in 1503, who married the daughter of Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon, at Santo Domingo. We find him at Carta- gena in 1536, and with Gonzalo Ximenez at Bogota in 1 540, and among the discoverers of the Guatemala emerald mines in 1541. Oviedo consulted a descrip- tion of the Rio de la Plata written by de Junco, 1 MUNOZ MSS. ; NAVARRETE, vol. 2 HERRERA, Decad. iii, p. 14. iv, p. 369 ; HERRERA, Decad. iii, :{ Documentos ineditos de Indicts, vol. p. 132. xvii, p. 547. THE EXPEDITION TO THE MOLUCCAS. 199 but only a few quotations inserted in the Historia de las Indias 1 remain. Herrera mentions several of the name of Francisco Maldonado, all men of position, but we do not know which of them was the companion of Cabot.' 2 Gregorio Caro, born at Talamanco, in the province of Toledo, was the nephew of the Bishop of the Canaries, who afterwards became Bishop of Sala- manca. 3 Alonso de Santa Cruz was born at Seville in 1 506. His father, Francisco de Santa Cruz held the office of alcalde of the Sevillian alcazars, and it was doubt- less owing to the fact of his having taken shares in the company, that his son joined the expedition as its representative and supervisor of the cargo. On his return, Santa Cruz enjoyed the confidence of Charles V. and later of Philip II. who appointed him to high positions at the Court. He died after having filled the office of Chief Cosmographer for many years, leaving behind him the reputation of being the greatest adept in the science of navigation that Spain ever had. 4 Rodrigo Alvarez is the pilot who, in the course of Cabot's voyage discovered in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata the little islands which still bear his name. 5 Gonzalo Romero was one of the Spaniards whom Cabot abandoned at La Plata, and who, in 1536, rendered great services to Mendoza. 6 Antonio de Montoya was an Andalusian gentleman 1 HERRERA, Decad. v, pp. 28, 250; pp. 61-86, and Discovery of North vi, pp. 3, 114, 148, 191. OVIEDO, America, p. 736. vol. ii, pp. 184-185. 5 "Cinco ysletas que se llaman " We do not even know whether it is yslas de Rodrigo Alvarez por las aver the same person, as in the rolls MAL- descubierto un piloto que con nos DONADO figures only as " alguazil. " otros} llevaramos." SANTA CRUZ, 3 HERRERA and OVIEDO, loc. cit. Islario, Besanson MS., fo. 119. 4 NAVARRETE, Opuscules, vol. ii, 6 HERRERA, Decad. v, p. 246. 200 THE EXPEDITION TO THE MOLUCCAS. from Lepe. He accompanied Hernando Pizarro to Peru in 1534. Luis Ramirez, to whom we are indebted for an excellent account of the voyage, written in the form of a letter addressed to some prelate in Spain, was evidently a gentleman and a scholar. 1 Hernando Calderon was from Madrid, born in 1495. He seems to have been a man of character and influence at the Court. Master Juan was born in 1498. He figures in the legal documents under the title of surgeon, but says himself that his employ was also that of "alguazil de la nao que Francisco de Rojas fue por capitan : alguazil of the ship of which Francisco de Rojas was captain." Diego de Celis was only twenty-one years of age when he went with Cabot as " gentil hombre de la armada : Gentleman in the fleet." Francisco Hogagon came from Valdeporras, was also only twenty-one years old, and a relative of Rojas. Casimir Nuremberger, or of Nuremberg, was, as his name indicates, a German. He calls himself " gentil hombre de la armada," which probably means " passenger," but carried with him a stock of merchandise for the purpose of barter with the natives. 1 Idid.,p. 151. As RAMIREZ speaks Plata, that his correspondent should of cassocks: "las sotenas," sic pro secure one of the commissions for him. " sotanas," sent to him, it would Elsewhere, he refers to the sword which naturally be thought that he was a he carried. His father outlived him, priest. But at the end of the letter and brought an action against CABOT (Syllabus, No. xlix), he asks, in case in Seville in 1531. officers should be appointed for La CHAPTER VI. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. A short time before Charles V. arrived at Seville, the expedition sailed from San Lucar de Barrameda, two days after Easter, on the 3rd of April I526, 1 "al descubrimiento de las islas de Tarsis e Ofir e al Catayo Oriental : to the discovery of the islands of Tharsis, Ophir, and Eastern Cathay," 2 via the Strait of Magellan. As regards the route followed, Biddle has only consulted Herrera, 3 whose Decades in this respect are extremely brief and incomplete. The other historians 4 have been able to add but few details, borrowed from the letter of Luis Ramirez, 5 which is very valuable, considering that he was an eye-witness, but unfortunately it is deficient in geographical information. A curious fact is that Oviedo's General History of the Indies, which contains a technical and precise description of all the points of the south-east coast of America visited on that occa- sion, should have been neglected. 1 OVIEDO, Historia General de las Stockholm, 1892, 8vo, has shown the hidias, lib. xxiii, cap. iv, vol. ii, p. importance of book xxi of OVIEDO to 177- reconstruct CABOT'S route in the 2 Cedula of October 25th, 1525. voyage to La Plata. 3 BIDDLE is excusable, for if it be 5 RAMIREZ'S letter has been pub- true that the manuscript of OVIEDO had lished in the original Spanish, by long been known to exist in Madrid, VARNHAGEN, in the Revista Trimen- books xxi and xxiii of the latter's sal, Rio de Janeiro, vol. xv, pp. Historia were published only in 1852. 14-41 ; but TERNAUX had given a 4 Mr. E. W. DAHLGREN, however, translation of that important document in* his excellent work, Map of the nine years before. See our Syllabus, World) by Alonzo de Santa Cruz, No. xlix. 202 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. What imparts considerable importance to Oviedo's statements is that they were derived from members of the expedition, one of whom was so competent an authority as the celebrated Alonso de Santa Cruz. With the latter's Islario, 1 which historians have also failed to consult, and Ribeiro's planisphere of I529, 2 constructed certainly with geographical data brought from La Plata by Calderon and Barlow in October 1528, Cabot's route from San Lucar to Paraguay can be accurately described. We propose to base our description on these sources of information, and shall even adopt their distances and latitudes, although these are oftentimes inexact ; but the reader must be placed on the same standpoint as the original chroniclers, in order to ascertain every relative position set forth in the writings to be analysed. Let us add that Santa Cruz gives the results of his own geographical observations, and Oviedo follows the Padron Real of Chaves, 3 after subjecting it however to a critical revision. In the absence of two documents which have disappeared, 4 but may yet be discovered, these writers constitute the most reliable authorities to be consulted at the 1 See Discovery of North America, 4 The first of those documents is the pp. 620-621, and Syllabus, No. xlviii. docket of the rogatory commission 2 KOHL, Die beiden dltesten general- orderedby CHARLES V. to elicit evidence Karten von America, Weimar, 1860, regarding the discovery of La Plata, large folio. when, after CABOT had left in 1526, 3 " Y relatarlo he tan puntualmente the Portuguese claimed sovereignty over como la carta moderna del cosmo- that country. (HERRERA, Decad. iv, grapho Alonso de Chaves lo pinta, y lib. viii, cap. xi, p. 169.) The other como lo oy boca a boca al capitan y document is La Relacion de la entrada muy ensenado caballero y cierto cosmo- de Sebastian Gaboto al Rio de la Plata, grapho Alonso de Sancta Cruz, que lo MS. 4to, 59 leaves, which was pre- ha navegado, e lo apunto en el viaje served in the library of the Jesuits' que hi^o el capitan e piloto mayor College de Clermont, whence it went Sebastiar t Gaboto, y como lo he into that of Gerard MEERMAN in 1764. entendido de otras personas que con el (Discovery of North America, p. 604, dicho Sancta Cruz se conforman . . . note. ) To these should be added the de los quales yo colegi la cuenta, de report addressed to the Emperor in este viaje quanto a las leguas e grades 1530, of which HERRERA has pre- que aqui expresare." OVIEUO, vol. served a short extract. ii, p. 114. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 203 present day for the route followed by Cabot from Spain to La Plata. As to Oviedo's narrative, we should keep in mind that he was Historiographer Royal for the Indies, and wrote his work by the order of Charles V., at a time when Sebastian Cabot was living in Spain, and occupied the high position of Pilot-Major. We may judge of Oviedo's high character as an historian from the dignified preamble to his description of that unfortunate voyage : " Four caravels were equipped at the cost of a number of speculators, who had been enticed by the representations of Sebastian Cabot, and placed reliance in his cosmographical knowledge. But as I am indebted for my information to persons worthy of credit, and who are trusted, I shall state briefly what I have heard related touching that voyage, particularly by Alonso de Santa Cruz, and Captain Rojas, both distinguished men, and other persons who were eye witnesses. In the interest of the reader and in my own, I propose to give my understanding of the historical facts and the route followed, regardless of individual passions, although I have seen persons who blamed Sebastian Cabot's conduct and recklessness in that undertaking." 1 In the next chapter, we shall analyse and discuss the principal events of this voyage. For the present, we intend only to give a sort of synopsis of the facts and dates. From San Lucar de Barrameda, sailing out on Tuesday, April 3rd, 1526,* the squadron went to the Canary islands, and cast anchor at Palma, where it remained seventeen days, to take in supplies, and where it landed four men and took on board eight. From Palma, April 27th, the squadron went to Cape Verde islands, skirting, as it seems, the coast of Africa. When in those regions, Cabot gave orders, 1 OVIEDO, loc. cit. . abril, el tercero dia despues de Flores 2 " Salido del rio e puerto de y mejor di9iendo, de la Resurrec9ion." Sanlucar afio de mill e quinientos e OVIEDO, Historia general, lib. xxiii, vcynte y seys ailos a tres dias de cap. iv, vol. ii, p. 177- 204 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. contrary to the opinion of Rojas and the pilots, to steer south by west and south-south-west. In consequence, he was driven to the widest part of the zone of calms and baffling winds, from which he emerged amongst contrary winds and storms. These, with the equatorial current, carried him to the coast of Brazil. Ramirez says 1 that land was first seen on the 3rd of June 1526. If so, it can only have been the Isla de Hernando de Noronha, in 3 S. lat., which Santa Cruz describes in detail de visu. In reality, the landfall on the American continent was not effected till the end of June, contrary to Cabot's intention (Maestre Juan), and owing to the Santa Maria del Espinar being driven to leeward, somewhat to the north of Pernambuco, in 8 S. lat. (Oviedo). As they were suffering greatly from thirst (Ramirez), Cabot, to fill the casks, detached a ship, which entered the Rio de las Piedras, in 7 after passing the mouth of the Rio de las Virtudes in 7 30' (Oviedo). Entering the Baya de Pernambuco, they sighted the Isleta de la Assension and saw large seals, which the sailors mistook for mermen bathing in the surf (Santa Cruz and Oviedo). There was in the place a factory and fort, under the command of Manoel de Braga, and a dozen Portuguese who treated the Spaniards with great kindness. Shortly after his arrival at Pernambuco, Cabot, on the 2nd of July, instituted a secret inquiry into alleged misdeeds of his officers at La Palma, deprived Mendez and Rojas of their office and had them arrested and confined on board the Santa these references to RAMIREZ, pages 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176, SANTA CRUZ and GARCIA are taken 177, of his Historia General de las from their original texts. Those to Indias t of the Madrid edition. OVIRDO refer to vol. ii, book xxiii, THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 205 Maria del Espinar. A few days afterwards Rojas was released and placed again in command of the Trinidad; but Mendez remained a prisoner. Whilst at Pernambuco, Cabot was informed by Braga and other Portuguese of the pretended mineral wealth of the La Plata region. On asking for more precise information, he was told that there were survivors of the expedition of Solis scattered among the settlements on the coast, who could satisfy him on that point. Cabot then and there conceived the idea of exploring the Rio de Solis, instead of going to the Moluccas ; first, however, intending to find the Spanish sailors who had knowledge of that country. Contrary winds detained the squadron in Per- nambuco more than three months, after three or four vain attempts to continue their route. 1 At last, two or three days before Saint Michael's day, the last week in September, they succeeded in sailing out. On the morning of Saturday, September 29th (Oviedo), the Spaniards doubled Cape St. Augustin, in 8 30', and at noon were in the immediate vicinity of the Rio de Sant Alexo, having thus traversed during the forenoon a distance of about 25 leagues. There they met a French ship on her way to a French factory, likewise protected by a fort, a rival establishment of the one which the Portuguese then possessed in Pernambuco, and which was afterwards abandoned, in 1539, through fear of the Indians. Continuing their route, the Spaniards encountered a series of storms, which lasted until October (Ramirez). 1 " Vio hazer a la vela tres 6 quatro (Deposition of Anton FALCON.) vezes a la dicha armada para llevar el "Adonde estovieron con viento dicho viaje de tarsys e urfir . . . vio contrario tres meses y medio poco ansy mismo quel tiempo les hera mas o menos." (Deposition of Boso contrario e que por esto surgio en la DE ARAGUS.) costa del brasyl en pernanbuco." 206 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. On the 1 9th of October, they sighted an island (?). The squadron afterwards passed the mouths of the following rivers : Rio de Sanct Matheo, 9 3C/, 1 Rio de Sanct Francisco, 10 30'. These two rivers were then also called respectively Rio Primero and Rio Segundo (Oviedo). Rio de Sancta Ana, 1 1 40', Rio de Sanct Roque, Rio de Puerto Real, Rio de Sanct Hieronimo. They next reached the Baya de Todos Sanctos, 13 30' (13, Ribeiro ; 14, Sancta Cruz, or, according to Cabot's pilots, at a distance of 90 leagues from Pernambuco). Herrera states that one of Cabot's ships ran foul of a French vessel in this bay. 2 Continuing farther, they sighted the following places : Golfo de la Playa, Rio de las Ostras, Rio de Sancta Ana, Rio de los Cosmos, 15, Rio de Sanct Agostin, 15, Rio de las Virgines, Punta Segura, Rio del Brasil, Rio de Sanct Jorge, 17, Rio de la Magdalena, Rio de Sancta Elena, Rio de Sanct Gregorio, Rio de Sanct Johan, Rio de Sanct Christoval, 18 30'. 1 For the nomenclature and the lati- be found in the Geographical Index tudes, we follow the Historia of of our Discovery of North America. OVIEDO and the manuscript Islario 2 HERRERA, who in his third Decade of SANTA CRUZ. The geographical evidently follows GOMARA, Hist, de history of nearly all those names can /as Indias, cap. Ixxxix, p. 18. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 207 Shortly afterwards, in about 19, they noticed a range of rocks just above the surface of the sea and extending over thirty leagues, called Abrejo ("Open your eyes"), and, in the midst of it, an inhabited island, the Isla de Sancta Barbara. Returning to the coast, they continued to skirt it southward, sighting the following : Cabo de Abreojos, Rio de Sancta Barbara, 19 4', Baya de Sancta Lucia, Cabo de Sanct Pedro, 20 30', Baxos de los Pargos, Cabo de Sanct Thome, Rio [Baya?] de Sanct Salvador, 21 30', Golfo Hermoso, Rio Delgado, Baya de Jenero. Entering the bay they noted several islets inhabited by Indians. Rio de la India, 23 15' (Santa Cruz), Cabo Frio, 23 30'. Here they lost in a storm the small-boat of the flag ship. This accident compelled them shortly afterwards to land, for the purpose of constructing another. 1 Baya de los Reyes, Isla de Coles, Isla de los Puercos. Again a terrific storm assailed them, and they were obliged to seek shelter in a small uninhabited island, but filled with birds called " tabiahoreados," and which they named I si eta de Buen Abrigo (Santa Cruz). Here may have happened what Eden relates as follows : " Rycharde Chaunceler tould me that he harde Sebastian Cabot 1 ' ' Porque avia de hazer un batel para la nao capitana porque perdio el que tenia a Cabo Frio con una gran tormenta." 208 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. reporte that (as farre as I remember) eyther about the coastes of Brasile or Rio de la Plata, his shyppe or pinnes was suddenly lyfted frum the sea and cast upon the lande I wotte not howe farre." ' They arrived at last in the Puerto de Sanct Vigente, where from twelve to fifteen of the pas- sengers who were sick, tired out or dissatisfied, landed and remained. In that place ther,e was a small village inhabited by Portuguese, with a stone fort to protect them against Indians. A stay of more than one month (Santa Cruz) was made in Sanct Vigente. Resuming the voyage, Cabot's pilots noted : Rio Ubay, Baya de la Cananea, 25 30' (Oviedo). A good anchorage was found in the bay, which Santa Cruz marks in 26. Rio Sin Fondo, Puerto de la Barca, 2 Isleta de Rodrigo de Acufia, Rio de Sanct Francisco. On the 1 9th (?) of October 1526, the squadron came in sight of the northernmost cape of the island which Cabot named Tierra de los Patos, on account of the vast number of penguins 3 seen there. The reason why Cabot determined to tarry a while in that vicinity was the necessity of building a small boat to replace the one lost at Cape Frio. As Santa Cruz mentions a port called Puerto de Sanct Sebastian 4 in the north part of the island, in order to reconcile the date of October igth given 1 EDEN, The Decades of the New unmistakable terms : " Nombranronlo Worlde ; ARBER'S edition, p. 386. Patos por haver infinites Patos negros, 2 It was so named "the Port of the sin pluma i con el pico de cuervo, i boat," by Rodrigo DE ACUNA, who gordisimos, de comer peces." Historia lost a boat there in December 1525. de las Indias, cap. xc, p. 82. 3 Those birds were really penguins, 4 The name of St. Sebastian was given and not either wild ducks or geese, not on the outward voyage, but when GOMARA describes them in these returning to Spain, January igth, 1530. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 209 by Oviedo for the first sight of the island, with the date of October 28th for the great shipwreck, we presume that the squadron remained in said port about one week. When leaving this place on Sunday, 28th October, day of St. Simon and St. Jude, the catastrophe happened which decided the fate of the expedition, and which is thus related by Santa Cruz, who witnessed the scene from the deck of the Santa Maria del Espinar : "The island of Santa Catalina, extends from north to south about twelve miles, is from three to four leagues wide, and inhabited by Indians. It is well wooded and contains many springs of drinkable water. Between the island and the mainland, there are extensive and excellent fisheries. The harbours on the east coast are not as safe as those on the west, where the squadron touched. While sailing in, we lost our largest and best ship on a reef at the entrance of the channel, which is filled with shoals. Almost everything on board was swamped, and we were conse- quently obliged to remain there longer than was expected." * They stayed in that locality, which we assume to have been on the north-west shore of the island of Santa Catalina, where there was much good timber, three and a half months (Ramirez), building a galliot to replace the flag ship. Four Spaniards were lost in that locality (Ramirez), but we do not know under what circumstances. Perhaps they are the Christians whom the surgeon Juan says were killed and eaten by the Indians of the place. A short time afterwards, on the plea that Rojas had used treasonable language to the caterer of his ship, Cabot had him again arrested and confined on board the Santa Maria, with Mendez and other prisoners. In Santa Catalina, Cabot found fifteen men 1 SANTA CRUZ, Islario, in our Syllabus, No. xlviii. O 210 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. (Ramirez) belonging to the fleet of Loaysa, who had deserted from the San Gabriel? commanded by Rodrigo de Acufia, the year before, and two survivors from the expedition of Juan Dias de Solis, called Ramirez, of Lepe, and Henrique Montes. 2 Their representations concerning the gold and silver which they alleged to be found in abundance beyond the Rio de Solis, in the Parana country, made him still more eager to visit that region and he at once engaged their services. Nearly all the deserters from Loaysa's ship, who were in the place, also joined the expedition (Casimir Nuremberger). When on the point of weighing anchor, Cabot, resorting to the subterfuge that he wished to speak to them, sent the chief alguazil to fetch Rojas, Mendez and their companions on board his flag ship. They obeyed, but instead of being taken to the vessel, Caspar de Ribas put them on shore, despite their tears and entreaties, On the 1 7th of February 1527, the squadron set sail for La Plata, abandoning these men among Indians, who were friendly, but cannibals. When three miles beyond the southern extremity of the island of Santa Catalina, it was found necessary to stop for repairs in a "small island that lyeth a league into the sea," 3 which, in consequence, was named Isla del Reparo, in 27 30'. They resumed their course, we do not know how long afterwards, and sighted a large rock, El Farayol, Puerto de don Rodrigo de Acuna, Puerto and Rio del Farallon ; 29 40'. 1 They were deserters from the San 3 Ruttier, in HAKLUYT, vol. iii, p. Gabriel commanded by Rodrigo DE 728. The name Reparo t in the Turin ACUNA. NAVARRETE, vol. v, pp. 234 map, is in 27 30'. The island, so -239, 313-323. named, figures in the mappamundi 2 SANTA CRUZ only names those two of SANTA CRUZ in Stockholm. Cf. sailors among the survivors of the ex- DAHLGREN, ubi supra, pedition of Juan Dias DE SOLIS to La Plata. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 211 The latter is a large river, and there they saw numerous Indians ; hence the name which they gave to it, viz. : Rio Poblado ; 30 20'. It seems to be the same as that called by Oviedo, Rio Cerrado or Serrado. They then noticed two streams, viz. : Rio Tibiquari ; 32, and a tributary of the latter, the Rio Etiquari. The Indians they met on that part of the coast called themselves " Janase veguaes," and were of large size : "as tall and even taller than Germans." Forty-eight leagues farther, in 35, according to the calculations of Santa Cruz, they arrived at the Cabo de Santa Maria and beheld the vast estuary of the Rio de Solis (now called Rio de la Plata). 1 We take our figures from the documents, but must state that they make Cabot cross the great distance from Santa Catalina, including the stay at the Isla de Reparo, to the Cape of Santa Maria in six days only. 2 They seem to have entered the estuary of the great stream ; 35 37' (Santa Cruz) the next day and to have seen first an island covered with palm trees, which, on that account, was called Isla de las Palmas, and, also, from the great number of seals sporting on its shores, Isla de Lobos. Twenty leagues beyond, sailing up the river, they sighted the island already called Isla de Christoval Jaques, and a small cluster of islets, to which they gave the name of Islas de Rodrigo Alvarez, in honor of their pilot who first noticed them (Santa Cruz). Crossing the bar, the entire squadron, composed 1 For the origin of the name La cross the distance, he would then have Plata, see our Syllabus, No. Ixi, ii. reached Cape S te . Maria on the 2ist. a According to RAMIREZ, the passing On the other hand, OVIEDO says that from the Island of St. Catharine to Cape between his entering the estuary of the S ta . Maria, was accomplished in only La Plata and his return to Spain, July six days. This we can scarcely believe, 23rd, 1530, two years and ten months inasmuch as they were obliged to stop elapsed. In such a case, CABOT would at the Isla de Reparo for repairs. As have doubled the Cape S ta . Maria, not CABOT left Santa Catalina Febr. I5th, in February, but in September 1527. supposing he required only six days to OVIEDO is surely mistaken. 212 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. of the three ships and the craft constructed at Santa Catalina, which was a row-galley with twenty oars, continued to ascend the Rio de Solis, or, rather, the estuary, when at a distance of about thirty leagues, they came in sight of a group of islands, one of which was named Isla de Sanct Gabriel. We assume that this took place on the 26th of March, being the day of Gabriel the Archangel. Farther on, near a river which enters the Rio de Solis, and called Rio de Sancta Barbara, they lightened the ships, owing to the little depth of water, and continuing to ascend, they reached, on Sunday, 1 April 7th, 1527, a place and a stream, to both of which the name of Sanct Lazaro was given. Opposite the mouth of the river so called lies the Isla de Martin Garcia, named by Juan Bias de Solis after his steward (Oviedo), who died and was buried there. Landing, as we believe, not on the Isla de Sanct Gabriel, 2 but on the west bank of the Sanct Lazaro river, they constructed a store house for the pro- visions and baggage, which was left in charge of twelve men. After remaining there a whole month (Ramirez), the squadron was divided. 3 A large number of men were embarked in the brigantine and galley, and thirty in each of the other two ships. They sailed out together on the 8th of May and followed the left bank of the Rio de Solis, as far as one of its tributaries called Rio de San Salvador. Hav- ing found there a good port and safe anchorage, 1 Here RAMIREZ commits a slight naviosquealliaportan." DEANGELIS, mistake. That Sunday occurred on op. /., p. 7. the 7th, not on the 8th. 3 For that narrative, we follow 2 "La isla de San Gabriel es muy OVIEDO. Dias DE GUZMAN says that pequefia y de mucha arboleda, y esta the expedition which left San Gabriel de tierra firme poco mas de 2 leguas, was under the command of one Junn donde ay un puerto razonable, pero no Alvarez RAMON (?). tiene el abrigo pecesario para los THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 213 they l decided to tarry a while. The I ndians attacked them and killed two of the men, but were finally routed, and a fort was at once built. Cabot named it Sanct Salvador.^ This happened on the 1 4th of August. 8 The galley was then sent to Sanct Lazaro to fetch the sick left in that place. Three days afterwards, on the 28th of August, she was back in San Salvador. Antonio de Grajeda 4 was placed in command of the fort and of the two ships, viz. : the Santa Maria del Espinar, and the Trinidad, which drew too much water for exploring. Then Cabot with the galley and brigantine, which we assume to have been Rifos' own ship, started on his expedition. At this point commenced the actual explora- tion of the Rio de Solis. Crossing over, after passing the Rio Uruay and the Rio Negro, 5 Cabot skirted the right bank as far as a delta formed by nine or ten mouths of a large river flowing from the north-west and called by the Indians, Paranaguazu, a name formed of two words, Parana* = sea, and 6^,2^ = grand. This delta formed islands, one of which was called Isla de Francisco del Puerto, after a Spaniard from the Puerto de Santa Maria, who had been left there by Juan Bias de Solis, and whom Cabot took with him, as he had learned the language of the country. His services proved invaluable. 7 The two craft entered the Rio de Paranaguazu 1 GOMARA, op. cit., p. 81. 5 We continue to follow OVIEDO. 2 It was apparently in this place that 6 SANTA CRUZ writes " Paraana." in September 1527, after CABOT'S 7 Bias DE GUZMAN says that 60 departure up the river, the Spaniards men, commanded by Diego DE planted those 52 grains of wheat BRACAMONTE (?) were left in the fort which yielded so considerably. See of Sancti Spiritus. According to the the legend vii, in the 1 544 Planisphere, same doubtful authority, the number 3 " Vispera de N a . S a . de Agosto" was afterwards raised to no men, (RAMIREZ). under the command of Nufio DE LARA. 4 Diego GARCIA met him there in (?). As we have stated, these names command in 1528. are very doubtful. 214 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. by the largest mouth, and, at a distance of thirty leagues from Sanct Lazaro, arrived at a river, the Rio de los Guyrandos, so named from the tribe of Indians who dwelt on its banks. These were great hunters, and so fleet that they caught the deer on foot. Thirty leagues farther, they entered the river called Rio Carcarafia, 1 landed and began to con- struct a number of wooden houses, and a fort made of clay and straw, in which the provisions and foods for barter were stored. This was the fort ancti Spiritus. 2 On Tuesday, Christmas eve, December 24th, 3 after leaving the fort in charge of Gregorio Caro 4 (Ramirez), Cabot resumed his exploration. He went down the Rio Carcarafia, re-entered the Parana- guazu, which he ascended with the two craft, and on the ist of January 1528 arrived at an island which on that account was named Isla de Afio nuebo (Ramirez). If we understand Ramirez correctly, it was from the Isla de Afio nuebo that Cabot sent a party of thirty-five Spaniards under the command of Miguel Rifos to chastise a tribe of Indians who 1 "El Rio Tercero de Cordoba " Esta tierra descubrio Juhan de Solis en toma el nombre de Carcaranal despues I 1 , afio - de '*gs : o. 16. donde aora esta , i o i TII 55 T> Sebastian Gaboto en una casa fuerte que de juntarse con el Saladillo." DE a i lf hizo . esta muy desp uesta para dar pan ANGELIS, loc. ctt. AZARA calls the y vino en mucha abundan^ia el Rio es muy part of the river which corresponds grandisimo y de mucha pescaria. cren que with trip r^rrarafi'i "Rir* TYrn* " ay oro ? P lata en la tierra a dentro : with the Uarcarana Kio lome. This country was discovered by Juan de The English maps call it " Rio Solis in the year 1515, or 1516. There Quarto. " As to the name of Carcar- Sebastian Gaboto now is, in a fort which he ana, according to Bias DE GUZMAN, constructed. .It is quite capable of yielding / , ., \ * r i bread and wine in great abundance. The (Op. Ctt., p. 22), It Was that of the R iver i s extremely large, and contains Cacique of those regions. DE ANGELIS, quantity of fish. It is believed that gold and on the contrary, says that " Carcara " silver can be found within the land -" is the name of a bird of prey, and that The mistakes in the facsimile are " Carcara-na" means the River of corrected. Carcaras. 3 " Vispera de Navidad, veinte y 2 There is a small sketch of that fort trcs de diciembre." (RAMIREZ.) in RIBEIRO'S mappamundi, with the 4 CARO was in command of the fort following inscription : when GARCIA arrived there in 1528. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 215 were threatening. After routing them, 1 Rifos is said to have returned with considerable booty. This can only mean that he brought a large stock of provisions, consisting probably of grain or nuts and dried fish, for these Indians possessed scarcely any- thing else. Having reimbarked, the Spaniards continued to ascend the Paranaguazu, passing the mouths of the following rivers : Rio de los Carcaraes, Rio Timbuz, Rio Janaez, Rio Colchinar, Rio de los Emecoretaes, 2 Rio Poblado. The latter river watered the region inhabited by the Indians called " Nyngatues" (Ramirez). Then came the Rio Hepetin, which is doubtless the " rio barriento," or " blocked up river'' of Ramirez, as well as the "Rio de le piti " of Ribeiro. Soon afterwards, the Spaniards came in sight of a large river flowing apparently from the north-west, and, as it seemed to them, from Peru, which was the country they were in search of, believing it to be wonderfully rich in mines of precious metals. Leaving therefore, on their right, the Paranaguazu, 3 1 RAMIREZ relates that the Indians river ran in the direction of Brazil, who were vanquished on that occasion, When in 28 30', CABOT could not but were accustomed to cut off a finger see the elbow formed there, and whenever they lost a son. AZARA was under no obligation to follow the says of the Mimianes, that their stream on his right. HERRERA wives amputated themselves a finger merely says: "A cabo de docientas joint on the death of their husbands. leguas llego a otro rio, al qual llaman 3 We are not sure whether the order los Indies Paraguay, dexo el rio grande in which those rivers are mentioned a mano derecha, pareciendole que se is exact, and if one or two were not iva declinando hazia la costa del seen and noted before reaching the Brazil." It seems that, according to " Isla de Aiio nuebo." AZARA, the Indians of that region :{ When the Spaniards arrived at the called the river " Payaguay," or "the confluence of the two rivers, they did river of Payaguas," meaning that they not continue to navigate in the Parana- were the only Indians who navigated guazu, from which they would have the river through its whole extent, certainly returned, on seeing that the 216 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. which in that latitude forms an elbow and commences running eastward in the direction of Brazil, the two craft entered the Paraguay, on the 3ist of March I528. 1 According to Cabot's calculation, they had navigated from the Rio Carcarana, one hundred and fifty leagues. Martin Vizcaino and the carpenter Orosco then desert, in search of food, enter the house of an Indian, rob him of his canoe, and compel two natives to row them to the tribes of the Carcaraes and Timbus. Cabot sends a party of friendly natives after these two sailors. They are caught, tried, and Martin Vizcaino is sent to the gallows. His head having slipped from the noose, he is hanged a second time. Higher up the river, Francisco de Lepe, urged by the pangs of hunger, conspires with others to seize one of the ships and escape. He is betrayed, tried, and also executed. Ten leagues farther, in Paraguay, the Spaniards note a very rapid stream, called by the Indians " Ipiti," not, as one might think, the above mentioned " Hepetin," or " de le piti," but the Rio Hipihi of Oviedo. Ten leagues still farther, the two craft cast anchor in a creek or laguna, which Cabot named Baya de Santa Ana. Oviedo says that at the entrance there is an island, in which the Spaniards remained a few days, being hospitably received by an Indian chief, called Jaquaron, who showed them ornaments of gold and silver obtained 1 RAMIREZ says that CABOT reached named, occur February nth and 23rd, the mouth of the Paraguay, March and April I2th. Nor can the name of 3 1st, 1528. Twenty or thirty leagues Santa Ana guide us, as the days named farther, he makes him stop at the after these saints are in July, August, Puerto de Santa Ana, and leave the September, and October, place March 28th. That date is Dias DE GUZMAN calls it "la evidently erroneous, as CABOT was laguna de Santa Ana o de Ibera." still at the entrance of the Paraguay CABOT'S map, inscribes behind a March 3ist. Besides, the days of St. recess : " Santana." Lazarus, after whom the place was THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 217 s by way of exchange with another tribe of the name of " Chandules " (Ramirez). This, of course, could not but confirm Cabot in the idea that he was on the road to Peru. Hernando Calderon having caught Lorenzo de la Palma stealing some provisions, orders him to be whipped, and to have his ears cut off. Cabot sends ashore from the galliot a number of men in quest: of food. One of them, a calker, called Avo9a, does not return. Fearing that he may be lost in the thickets, great efforts are made to find him, but in vain. Continuing to ascend the Paraguay, they arrived at the Rio Ethica, 1 sixteen leagues beyond the Bay of Santa Anna. The brigantine, under the command of Gonzalo Nunez de Balboa, was ahead, in quest of food. Twenty leagues onward, Rifos and the thirty Spaniards on board that ship, allured by friendly signs from the Indians 2 on the banks of the river, went on shore, and followed them to their huts. They were treacherously attacked, losing eighteen men killed outright, besides eight or ten wounded, among whom was Montoya. Without taking time to bury their dead, the survivors hastily retreated on board, and went down the stream to apprise Cabot, who was on the galley, of the sad event. They returned together to Carcarafia. 1 OVIEDO places at 20 leagues the other, living farther north, was beyond Santa Ana, a "Rio de la named "Agaces" by the Spaniards, Traycion." We are unable to ascertain from the name of their cacique, whether that name was given to recall " Magache," which they misspelled, the attack of the Indians, which he They are said to be the present says took place "20 leagues from Rio "Siacuas," or "Tucumbus," located Ethica," that is, 36 leagues from between 21 "-25, and apparently the Santa Ana according to his own tribe that HERRERA (iii, 260) says calculations, or as an allusion to the tilled the ground. OVIEDO de- affair of Francesco DE LEPE. scribes them, however, as living by " RAMIREZ calls those Indians hunting and fishing, and as possessing "Aguales." They are the "Agaces" many boats. The description which of OVIEDO. According to AZARA, the HERRERA gives of the fight is some- natives of that region were divided into what different, two branches ; one, called " Cadigue," 218 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. Undaunted, they prepared an expedition to go in greater numbers to chastise these Indians, who were the " Agaces." The brigantine and the galley started together from the fort and again went to the Bay of Santa Ana. As before this time the documents do not mention either that tribe of Indians, or previous murders com- mitted by them, we are inclined to believe that the following" account from Ramirez refers not to the o above event, but to another, which we assume to have taken place upon Cabot's return to that region. " The Spaniards," says he, " endeavoured to make peace with the Agales (sic), and were at first well received ; but as these Indians feared punishment for the murders which they had committed, they treacherously slew the lieutenant of the brigantine, Miguel Rifos, with several of his companions. The others returned sadly to join the galley, which followed at a certain distance, and with difficulty, owing to the state of the river." l When Diego Garcia, who commanded the expedi- tion fitted out by Hernando de Andrada's company 2 for the special purpose of exploring the Rio de la Plata, arrived at Sancti Spiritus, in March or April 1528, he had the following conversation with Gregorio Caro, who was in command of the fort : " From the Indians," Garcia says, " Caro had learned that his cap- tain, Sebastian Gavoto, had been defeated higher up the river and lost many men. He begged of me if in the course of the dis- coveries which I was about to undertake, I happened to find any of his men, to ransom them [from the Indians], and he would pay me back. He also appealed to my pity that if his captain had been killed, not to leave his body on the banks of the river, but bring it back with me, and that by complying with his request, I should be doing a thing agreeable to God and to Your Majesty." s * Revista Trimensal, loc. cit. '' Report addressed by Diego GARCIA 2 HERRERA, Decad. iii, lib. x, cap. to CHARLES V. i, p. 278. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 219 Garcia left Sancti Spiritus on the eve of Good Friday, April Qth, 1528, and commenced to ascend the Parandguazu. Cabot having been informed of his arrival in these regions, not far, it seems, from the mouth of the Paraguay, apparently in the begin- ning of May, came to meet him. The next morning, Garcia started without taking leave, and continued alone the exploration beyond Santa Ana. Cabot immediately returned the whole distance to San Salvador, to prepare the ship which he intended to send to Spain. We find Cabot still at San Salvador on the 23rd of June, when he instituted a judicial inquiry in con- tinuation of the criminal proceedings which he had initiated, as far back as 1526, against Rojas, Mendez and Rodas. 1 It was intended for the Council of the Indies, and to be forwarded in the ship which he was preparing to send home. This was the Trinidad, and she sailed on the 8th of July, 2 with Hernando Calderon, to whom Cabot entrusted a mission to Charles V., and Roger Barlow, who was sent to the Seville associates for the purpose of obtaining succour in men and provisions. There embarked besides more than fifty of Cabot's companions (Oviedo), taken chiefly, as we suppose, from among the sick, disabled and independent members of the expedition. They arrived at Lisbon in the middle of October. Lope Hurtado de Mendo^a, who had been dispatched to Portugal for the purpose of selling, or pawning the Spice Islands to Joao II., as security for a heavy loan on the part of Charles V., reports the arrival of Hernando de Calderon in a letter addressed to the Emperor, as follows : 1 Information hecha en el puerto de este puerto de San Salvador ques en el San Salvador, fecha 23 junto dc 1528. rio de Solis a diez del mes de julio de MS. 1528 afios." - RAMIREZ'S letter is dated " en 220 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. "Lisbon, the igth of October 1528. One of the caravels that went under Sebastian Cavocto, Pilot- Major of his Majesty, has arrived at this port. On board of her is an accountant and treasurer of the said fleet, whom Sebastian now sends with news of the wonderful discoveries made by him and his people. Indeed, if what the messenger states be true, His Imperial Majesty will no longer want either cinnamon or pepper, for he will have more gold and silver than he requires." l We presume that the account which Roger Barlow gave to his employer Robert Thorne was very different, as the Seville associates declined to venture any more funds in the enterprise. Calderon, however, was more successful at the Court, so far as promises were concerned, for Charles V., at Toledo, in the last week of October, ordered that relief should be sent to Cabot at the expence of the Royal Treasury ; 2 but neither men nor provisions were forwarded to La Plata, and he was left to his own resources. Cabot seems to have spent the entire winter of 1528-1529 at the fort of San Salvador, waiting in vain for reinforcements. In the spring, he went to Sancti Spiritus, where in the course of the summer happened the sad events now to be related. The Indians of the Carcarana region, 3 encouraged by the success of their brethren of the Rio Ethica, determined to exterminate the Spaniards. To avert suspicion, they came to the fort of Sancti Spiritus and condemned the conduct of the Agaces. They seem to have convinced Cabot of their good faith, for he placed Alonso de Santa Cruz in command of the fort, and went down the river to order the caravels to be in readiness to set sail, apparently to return to Spain, having waited in vain for succour from home. 1 GAYANGOS, Calendar of Spanish 2 HERRERA, Decad. iv, lib. viii, State Papers > vol. iii, part ii, p. 823, cap. xi, p. 168. No. 572. 3 We continue to follow OVTEDO. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 221 He had scarcely left, when a vast number of Indians, twenty thousand, the accounts say, besieged the fort, and before night succeeded in setting fire to the building. 1 The Spaniards, in endeavouring to escape, had thirty three or thirty four men killed, and many wounded. The few survivors took refuge on board an impaired brigantine which was anchored close by, necessarily Rifos' craft, and as best they could returned to San Salvador. This tragic event cannot have taken place before September 1529* As soon as they arrived at San Salvador, Cabot collected his men and led them in person to Sancti Spiritus, where the bodies of their comrades were found terribly mangled, not that the Indians had mutilated them wantonly, but merely to ascertain whether their flesh was as salt, and had the same unpalatable savour noticed in the other Spaniards they had previously tasted. After embarking the heavy guns which the Indians had been unable to carry away, Cabot and his com- panions returned to San Salvador, where they suffered greatly from famine. Their enemies besieged the fort closely, attacking the unfortunate Spaniards whenever they endeavoured to come out to fish in the river or to dig out roots for food. More than twenty of them, including Anton de Grajeda, were killed 1 It is to be noticed that DEL BARCO 2 On October I2th, 1529, whilst CENTEN ERA, after 1573, speaks several CABOT was at San Salvador, he pre- times of the fort Sancti Spiritus as if scribed an inquiry relative into the still existing: "A do esta de Gaboto causes of the disaster, but before that, he la gran Torre, por do el Carcarana se had returned to Sancti Spiritus to re- estiende, i corre." (Argentina, in cover his artillery. There was therefore BARCIA, pp. 6 and 45.) Later still, in at a time preceding Oct. 12, a trip from 1612, Dias DE GUZMAN likewise men- Sancti Spiritus to San Salvador to tions the " Fuerte Gaboto, o de Sancti bring the news, a second, from San Spiritus." All modem maps con- Salvador to Sancti Spiritus, and a structed in that country, inscribe at the third, from the latter place to the confluent of the Parana and Rio Tome : former, where the council of war was "Ftde S 11 Espiritu hecho p. Gaboto." held. All things considered, these It is in fact the very place where Juan three trips must have taken at least DE GARAY intended to found a city. one month 222 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. under such circumstances. The position was unten- able, no help came from Spain, the munitions were entirely exhausted, and Cabot called a council on the 6th of October 1529, to decide whether or not they should leave the country and return to Spain. The question was decided in the affirmative. 1 Prepara- tions were at once made for the departure ; but before leaving, Cabot ordered, on the i2th of October, an inquiry into the cause of the disaster suffered at the fort of Sancti Spiritus. 2 The first requisite for the homeward voyage was a supply of provisions, which in that part of the country, and hemmed in as Cabot's men were, could only consist of seals' flesh. To secure this, he sent thirty-four men under the command of Antonio de Montoya to the Isla de Lobos, seventy leagues south of San Salvador, in the great estuary. Cabot was to wait for him at the fort, and they were then to'start together for Spain. After waiting in vain, he went on board the Sancta Maria del Espinar, with all the survivors, and set sail, homeward bound, early in November 1529. His progress was extremely slow. The first time mention is made of him after rounding the Cape of Santa Maria, is not till the I9th of January 1530, when he arrived at the mouth of a river, which Garcia calls Rio de los Patos, and Cabot, Puerto de Sanct Sebastian, because he arrived there on the eve of that saint's day, which always falls on the 2Oth of January. At that place, Cabot met Diego Garcia, who was also homeward bound and who describes Cabot's arrival in these terms : "We arrived," says he, "at a river called Rio de los Patos, which lies about 27, and where is a good race of Indians who render great 1 Pareceres que dieron varies pilotos 2 Information hecha en el puerto de y capt fanes en el puerto de San Sal- San Salvador, en 12 de Oct. 1529. See vador, en 6 de Oct. 1529 ; MS. our Syllabus ', No. Lli. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 223 services to the Christians, and are called Carrioces ... At the time I was there, 1 Sebastian Gavoto arrived in a state of starva- tion, and the Indians gave him to eat, and all that he and his men required for their voyage. But when about to depart he took four sons of the principal inhabitants and carried them to Spain. Three of these are now in the custody of the city authori- ties at Seville. 2 This [act of Cabot] has done great harm to that port, which is the safest, and inhabited by the best people in those parts." 3 Garcia' s statement is so worded as to make us believe that the meeting took place when he was on his way to La Plata, but it certainly refers to the voyage back to Spain. It is true that Garcia, who left San Vincente (24) on the i5th of January 1527, may have reached his Rio de los Patos (27) four days afterwards. But Cabot on the i gth of January 1527 had already suffered his great shipwreck and was then on the north-west shore of the island of Santa Catalina, where he remained three months and a half, that is, from the 28th of October 1526, until the middle of February 1527, engaged in building a vessel to replace his lost flag ship. At San Sebastian, a Spanish priest and a Portu- guese sailor, alleged to have stood in fear of bodily harm from Cabot, asked to leave the ship. The request was granted, after they had made it in writing. Some witnesses grafted on this circum- stance a charge which is scarcely admissible. They said that Enrique Montes, the sailor who had ren- dered him such service at Santa Catalina, and never left him afterwards, on seeing the anger with which Cabot viewed the action of those two men, suggested, as a means of revenge, the abduction of the sons of the Indian chief. He hoped thereby, certain wit- nesses allege, to prompt the infuriated father to kill 1 GARCIA unquestionably meant to 2 " El Assistente de Sevilla," an write here: "que yo estava alii official like the " Corregidor." despues : when I was there after- 3 Report addressed by Diego GARCIA wards." to the Emperor. 224 THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. the priest and his companion after Cabot had left. Being interrogated on this point by the Fiscal, Cabot denied the charge, but gave a singular explanation as regards the four Indians, mentioned in the narra- tive of Garcia quoted above. He said that a number of natives came voluntarily on board the Santa Maria del Espinar, and finding himself short of sailors to man the ship on the homeward voyage, he promised to give them presents if they could bring to him a mariner who was on shore. Several left in search of him, leaving four of their companions in Cabot's hands as hostages. The priest, with whom the sailor was, having sent word that being a subject of the King of Portugal he had the right to disobey the order, and the weather happening to become pro- pitious, Cabot sailed out, taking the four Indians with him to Spain. 1 We next hear of him a month afterwards, at the Puerto de San Vincente, where he seems to have come in company with Diego Garcia, who was still in command of his own ship. They were then on very good terms, judging from the fact that having heard that Francisco de Rojas had escaped from Santa Catalina and was now residing at Puerto de San Vincente, Cabot entrusted Garcia with the deli- cate mission of summoning Rojas to come on board the Santa Maria del Espinar, within six days from March 22nd, to be taken to Spain and handed over to the authorities to answer charges of a criminal character brought against him by Cabot himself. 2 On the 24th of March, Alonso Gomez Varela, Garcia's notary, repaired to the house of a Portu- guese named Gonzalo da Costa, with whom Rojas was staying, and served on him Cabot's summons. 1 CABOT'S own deposition, Syllabtts, No. L. 2 Requerimmto que hizo Sebastian Cabot o el Francisco de Rojas y respnestas de este. Syllabus, No. xlix. THE VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. 225 Rojas replied that he would answer within the time allowed by law. Accordingly, on the 26th of March, he declared to Varela his positive intention not to obey Cabot's order. He gave as a reason that Cabot had forfeited all authority over him in abandoning him among cannibals, but announced his readiness to appear before the Emperor, and answer all charges which Cabot might bring against him. Meanwhile, as with the aid of Gonzalo da Costa he had built a vessel which yet required decking and calking, he demanded that Cabot should give him what was necessary to complete it, as well as two carpenters, a calker, five or six sailors, and the English pilot Henry Latimer, for the purpose of going himself in search of from seventy to eighty Spaniards, whom Cabot was said to have abandoned at Cape Santa Maria, and taking them back to Spain. Rojas added another demand which seems just. It was that the four Indians taken wantonly by Cabot, at Patos Bay (i.e. Puerto de Sanct Sebastian), an act which had thrown the entire region into a state of alarm, should be given up to him, that he might restore them to their country, and re-establish confidence and good feeling. 1 No notice was taken of these requests, and some time afterwards Rojas sailed for Seville with Garcia. While at San Vincente, Cabot turned his attention to another matter, absolutely dishonourable and ille- gal, 2 even for those days. He did not hesitate to pur- chase, or allow to be purchased, on behalf of the Seville associates, who were at the same time his partners, a large number of Indians of both sexes, to be sold as slaves in Spain. He himself says that they num- bered from fifty to sixty, bought on credit, to be paid 1 Ibidem. . 1526, as "contra leges & nobis dic- 2 PETER MARTYR characterizes a like tatas, " Decad. viii, cap. x, edition of act committed by Estevam GOMEZ in Paris, 1587, p. 602. P 226 THE VOYAGE TO -LA PLATA. for on delivery at Seville, besides three or four for his own use or profit, obtained in exchange for some trifling merchandise which he had in a box, and worthless pieces of iron belonging to the ship. 1 Santa Cruz declared before the Fiscal that one half was paid for by Cabot with iron taken from the vessel. The insistence of the Fiscal and of the witnesses on this point, leads us to believe that Cabot considered the Indians so purchased as his own property. The others cost from three to four ducats a piece, and were sold by the Portuguese Gongalo da Costa, Rojas' friend, who accompanied him to Spain. Finally, Sebastian Cabot and his companions on board the Santa Maria del Espinar sailed out of San Vincente, but did not reach home till four months later, which indicates that they continued to range the coast of Brazil northwards, probably as far as the Bay de Todos Sanctos. 1 Information hecha en Sevilla en 28 de Julio, 1530. Syllabus, No. L. CHAPTER VII. SEBASTIAN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. WE have endeavoured to describe, as far as authentic documents permit, the geographical part of that unfortunate expedition. It remains now to relate and explain circumstances, a detailed state- ment of which would have impeded the mere chrono- logical narrative of events, but which require at this juncture to be critically surveyed. This also involves an examination of Sebastian Cabot's character as a commander and as a seaman. At the outset it must be stated that the impression left on our mind after all the available evidence has been duly examined, is that in the opinion of those who in Spain, for more than thirty years, watched his progress or saw him in the exercise of his official duties, Sebastian Cabot was not a professional mariner. A number of his contemporaries, who were in a position to be correctly informed on the subject, even stated openly that not only had he never made any maritime discoveries, but that he had never even navigated. The fact is that beyond his own assertions, which stand uncorroborated thus far, and were all uttered many years after his alleged transatlantic voyages, there is not a shadow of proof, strange as it may seem, that he led or took part in any other seafaring enterprise than the expedition to La Plata. Peter Martyr d' Anghiera, his countryman, who held frequent intercourse with him and whose 228 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. writings always betray a kind and indulgent dis- position, could not avoid making the remark, as we have already said, 1 so far back as 1516, and with- out subsequently contradicting it, that there were Spaniards who denied that Sebastian Cabot had ever discovered the Baccalaos (Newfoundland), or even visited those regions. The great Alonso de Santa Cruz was doubtless one of those disbelievers. 2 We have also seen that in 1521 the Twelve Livery Companies of London had lodged in the hands of Cardinal Wolsey an energetic protest against the intention of Henry VIII. to entrust to Sebastian the command of an expedition to the New World, alleging that he had never been there and that all he said on the subject was mere hearsay on his part. 3 Oviedo, the Royal Chronicler for the Indies, who knew him personally at the Court, also says : " Sebastian Cabot is competent in his cosmographical art, but entirely ignorant of the science of Vegetius, who believes that it is absolutely necessary for a commander to have in writing, and to know thoroughly all the ways and routes of the countries where he is to wage war." 4 For the observer who reads between the lines, it is evident that Oviedo considered Cabot as not possessing an adequate knowledge of the regions to which he undertook to lead ships and men, and, in going to the Moluccas, to have assumed a task for which he was not fitted. He says again : " Cabot is competent and skilful in his occupation of cosmog- 1 Supra, p. 1 1 8. ante de aquella ssier^ia de Vegecio, 2 SANTA CRUZ in his Islario, ex- el qual di9e assi : Al capitan conviene plicitly says that the Baccalaos were cumplidamente aver de escripto e muy discovered by the father of Sebastian bien sabido quantos passes e vias hay CABOT, without mentioning the latter en toda aquella region donde la guerra as having any connection with tke dis- entiende exergitar." OVIEDO, Historia covery. Syllabus , No. Ixxxiii B. Gl., vol. ii, p. 170. The quotation 3 Supra, p. 170. from VEGETIUS is in his Institutorum 4 " Sebastian Gaboto : el qual es rei militari, lib. iii, cap. vi, of the buena persona e habil en su arte de Nuremberg edition of 1767. Cosmographia ; pero del todo ignor- SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 229 raphy, and for constructing plane as well as spherical maps of the entire world. But there is a great difference between leading and governing men, and handling an astrolabe or a quadrant ! " l Diego Garcia, in an official account addressed to Charles V. criticizing Cabot's sailing directions on the voyage to Brazil, makes a statement to the same purport : " That route has to be sailed over with great care and nautical knowledge, because there are powerful currents which, issuing from the rivers in Guinea, assail ships in the north-western region .... Sebastian Gavoto did not know how to stem those currents, be- cause he was no mariner, and possessed no nautical science .... That navigation Seb. Gavoto could not make, with all his astrology ! " 2 When examining Cabot's scientific claims we shall show that Garcia's strictures were perfectly just. Meanwhile, these opinions show that in the eyes of his contemporaries, Cabot was not a navigator in the usual sense of the term. They saw in him only a theorist, but versed in cosmography and cartog- raphy. Withal, we should recollect how mysterious, chimerical and vague was the cosmographical science of that time ; how vast the sphere in which its adepts ventured their imagination, and the credulity of those who listened to them. Further, it is certain that the Seville associates, who at first had been anxious to place Cabot at the head of the expedition, were soon seized with great misgivings, arising evidently from a want of confidence in his professional abilities. They wanted Rojas to be put in command, or that at least Martin Mendez, who enjoyed their confidence for having accompanied Magellan in his memorable voyage, should be appointed lieutenant general. 1 " Gaboto es buena persona diestro pero otra cosa es mandar y gobernar en su offisio de la cosmographia y de gente que apuntar un quadrante o estro ha9er una carta universal de todo el labio." Ibid., p. 169. orbe en piano 6 en un cuerpo espherico ; 2 Syllabus , No. xlix. 230 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. Charles V. acceded to the latter wish of the Sevillian company, for reasons which require to be stated : " The King, says Herrera, determined to give satisfaction to the representatives [of the Seville associates], who had delivered to His Majesty a memoir showing so many defects in the person of Cabot, that but for the equipment of the fleet, which was almost ready, and his strong desire that it should sail promptly, he would have given orders to desist." 1 The expression " defecto en la persona de Gaboto," proves that the motive was not a difference of opinion concerning the object of the intended voyage, but personal deficiencies, or professional incapacity, dis- closed when it was too late either to appoint another commander or to abandon the project. This inter- pretation is fully borne out by the answers which were made to a certain question addressed by the Fiscal at the time of the judicial inquiry, as follows : " Whether the witness knows that when Sebastian Gaboto was appointed Captain-General of the expedition, the undertakers and their representatives seeing his incapacity, and little personal worth, endeavoured to influence His Majesty to remove him and put in his place the said Captain Francisco de Rojas ? " 2 Antonio de Montoya replied in these terms : " I know that the representatives and merchants who fitted out the expedition, made strenuous efforts to influence His Majesty to remove Sebastian Gaboto from the post of Captain-General, because they must have known that he was not the person suited for the voyage." 3 The answer of Juan de Junco is quite as positive : " I know that the said undertakers being aware of the personal defects of Seb. Gaboto (la falta que avia en la persona), wanted him removed, and begged His Majesty to replace him by another Captain-General. And this I know because I heard the under- takers say so before the expedition sailed out." 4 Captain Gregorio Caro answered that he had heard it said by many persons, as well as by the repre- sentatives of the Company. 5 1 HERRERA, Decad. iii, p. 257. 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 These quotations are taken from the Probanza of Nov. 2nd, 1530. SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 231 As to his professional abilities, the following deposi- tions of witnesses, all men moreover of character and position, demonstrate that he was considered to be incapable : " Alonso de Montoya considers that Sebastian Gaboto is wanting in the necessary abilities for any charge ('cargo'); and his incapacity was clearly seen in his conduct of the enterprise entrusted to him, and in other respects." l " Hernando de Calderon says that as regards the [duties of] Captain-General, and conduct of the enterprise entrusted to the said Gaboto, his management was bad, and he is not competent for [the post of] Captain-General." 2 " Juan de Junco avers that Sebastian Gaboto is a man unsuited to command people, or to have charge of them." 3 "Diego de Celis says that concerning Cabot's incapacity, it seemed to him that it was owing to his deficient knowledge ('poco saber ') that the people who were with him lost their life." 4 Another witness, Francisco Hogagon, made a simi- lar deposition. Anticipating in our narrative, we must likewise mention Herrera's assertion that at Santa Catalina, Cabot's crews were averse to going to the Moluccas, from fear of not being safely conducted through the Strait of Magellan, 5 which was still a subject of apprehension with sailors. The Spanish historian also says that in the voyage across the Atlantic, Cabot showed that he was " neither an experienced seaman nor a good leader." 6 We can now understand why men of experience and social position, some of whom had been companions of Magellan whilst all enjoyed the personal esteem of Charles V., placed no confidence in Sebastian Cabot, whose science they doubted, or cared little for, and who, in their eyes, was evidently l , 2 , 3 , 4 These quotations are taken governada en el Estrecho." HERRERA, from the answers made to the second op. cit. , p. 260. question in the same Probanza. See for 6 " Segun la opinion de los mas all the answers our Syllabus, No. LI, i. platicos hombres de mar, no se governo 5 " In efecto no paso a la Especeria, en esta navegacion como marinero de porque ni llevaba vitualla, ni la gente experiencia,ni auncomobuencapitan." le quiso seguir, temiendo de ser mal Ibidem. 232 SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. nothing but a foreign adventurer, elevated above them merely through intrigues, vain boasts, and fallacious promises. On the other hand, here was a man, bold and certainly unscrupulous, who, relying upon the authority with which the Emperor had clothed him, could brook neither advice nor contradiction, particularly in technical matters, which is almost always the case with men who possess only theoretical knowledge. Characters so different were destined to clash, and, almost immediately, serious difficulties arose between Cabot and his officers. The Seville associates, distrusting Cabot, had selected Mendez for the post of lieutenant-general of the expedition. Cabot strenuously opposed the choice, wishing to have his personal friend Miguel Rifos appointed to the post. Charles V., however, ratified the action of the Company, and Mendez at once assumed the duties of second in command. Cabot and his acolyte submitted grudgingly, and whilst yet in port behaved towards Mendez in such a manner, that he sent in his resignation and brought a complaint before the Council of the Indies. Cabot and Rifos were summoned to appear, and received a severe admonition from the court, with threats of severe punishment should either of them repeat the offence. 1 Yielding to the entreaties of Garcia de Loaysa, the president of the Council, Mendez resumed his office on the flag ship. 2 But the 1 "Al tiempo que la armada queria 2 The President of the Council of partir, Seb. Caboto y su muger y un the Indies in 1526, was the celebrated Miguel Rifos trataban muy mal Martin Garcia DE LOAYSA. PETER MARTYR, Mendez e no le dexaban usar el dicho who died in 1526, had been " Consejo su oficio, nos mandamos llamar a los del Consejo," since 1524, after having dichos capitan general (Cabot) y been so early as 1520, " Consejo de la Miguel Rifos y les mandamos que Junta." Unfortunately his correspond- tratasen muy bien al dicho su hijo ence does not extend beyond May (Mendez) y que le dejasen usar libre- 1525. The last Decade of that mente el dicho su oficio, apercibiendoles historian ends in 1526, but he does que si otra cosa hiciesen, serian muy not speak of Cabot after October castigados." Docs, of the Duchess of 1525. ALBA, p. no. SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 233 squadron had scarcely sailed out, before Cabot deprived Mendez of all authority and substituted Rifos in his place. 1 The instructions from the government required Cabot, when the squadron reached the Canaries, to inform his captains of the course which he had laid out for the voyage across the Atlantic. Francisco de Rojas, accompanied by his fellow officers, appeared before him at Palma, and demanded the required statement, which Cabot refused to give, alleging that he had a private understanding with the Emperor on the subject. It was then that Mendez, Rojas and other captains, drew up a petition addressed to Charles V., which, by the order of Cabot, Rifos seized and confiscated. Cabot who had persisted in keeping to himself, contrary to royal orders, the route which he intended to take, gave orders, when off the Cape Verde islands, to sail westward, and, to the extreme surprise of his officers and pilots, continued to steer in that direc- tion. They represented that experienced navigators took pains to avoid the winds and current which Cabot, on the contrary, seemed to court, in shaping out that westward course, and predicted that the fleet would encounter the greatest difficulties in endeavouring to round Cape St. Augustin. Their prediction was realised. When we examine the scientific claims of Sebastian Cabot, we propose to show that the route which he laid down betrayed an incontestable lack of seamanship. On the other hand, it must be stated that whether or not the sailing towards the coast of Brazil was intentional on his part, the landing in that region seems to have 1 "Sin embargo . . . luego como no fuese obedescido ni tenido por tal y partio 1' armada, Seb. Gaboto no dando el dicho cargo e poder de su consentio que Martin Mendez fuese ni teniente al dicho Miguel Rifos. " se llamase su teniente, mandando que Docs, of the Duchess of ALBA, p. 1 10. 234 SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. been a necessity. The surgeon Juan testifies as follows : " I know and saw that the fleet arrived in sight of land, and they said it was the coast of Brazil. Also that Captain Gaboto ordered the ships to continue their route, but the Portuguese vessel (viz., the Santa Maria del Espinar) was driven to leeward. Consequently, the Captain General and his ships were compelled to land on the coast of Brazil." x We now come to the loss of the flag ship at the northern entrance of the channel which separates the island of Santa Catalina from the mainland, on the 28th of October 1526, which decided the fate of the expedition. When Cabot entered that strait, he became appre- hensive of danger, and gave orders to stop. Rodas, acting pilot-major, and Grajeda, the master, insisted on going ahead. Cabot demurred, and commanded that soundings should be taken. The order was obeyed, but unskilfully. Meanwhile, the ship con- tinued to advance, and it was while Rodas and Grajeda were still engaged in sounding, that the ship suddenly struck on a bank or rock. The surgeon Juan describes the event in the following terms : " He saw that Anton de Grajeda, the master of the flag ship, was at the helm, and the pilot Miguel de Rodas, holding the sounding line in his hand. He was about to let it down, when the said ship struck. And it seems to the witness that as those who were in command of the ship and used the sounding line, did not sound properly, they are responsible for the loss of the ship." 2 It should be noted, however, that Cabot was on board, held supreme command, had ordered the soundings to be taken, and knew the imminent danger. It is a question therefore whether some of 1 Probanza undated (Aug. 27, 2 Ibidem. Answer to question viii. 1530?). Surgeon JUAN'S answer to question xiii, (Syllabus, No. LI, g). SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 235 the blame may not attach to him for failing to watch the operation with proper care. Be that as it may, six competent witnesses hold him personally re- sponsible, if not for the shipwreck itself, at least for the total loss of the vessel and nearly the entire cargo. Their opinion is based upon two facts ; one, his neglecting to cast anchor, thus betraying a lack of seamanship, the other, his escaping, the first of all on board, from the ship immediately she struck, leaving no one in command. On the first point, we have the depositions of the treasurer de Junco, and of Captain Caro : "The ship was lost, says Junco, owing to carelessness on the part of Sebastian Gabato, as when the ship struck, he should have cast anchor from the stern, to draw her off the rock, which he failed to do." l Caro's deposition is also positive : " He (Cabot) set sail between the islands where the ship was, without paying out more cable to the anchor. Continuing thus to sail, the ship struck, and was lost." 2 As regards the charge of having escaped from his ship as soon as she struck, which conduct disheartened every one on board so that they all thought only of saving themselves, the testimonies are overwhelming. We have first the deposition of Antonio de Montoya. It is only hearsay evidence ; but as the details were gathered on the spot, at the time, and are corroborated by the testimonies of a number of eye-witnesses, it may be cited here : " The ship struck on a reef, where she was lost. And I heard the people who were on board say, for deponent was in another vessel, that the very moment ('luego yncontinente ') the ship struck, Seb. Gaboto went out of her, and fled; which was the 1 , 2 Probanza of Nov. 30, 1530. Answers to question xv. 236 SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. cause that the other people on board also left the ship and fled. The consequence is that the cowardice ('la flaqueza de animo') exhibited by Sebastian Gaboto, caused the total loss of the stores and provisions, or most of them, in the ship. This would have been avoided if he had not abandoned her and fled. The fact is notorious among all the people of the fleet." 1 There is again the deposition of Hernando de Calderon, who was on board the shipwrecked vessel : " I know," says he, " that the ship struck, and was lost there, and that the first person who left the ship was Captain Gaboto, with two or three, whom he took with him in a boat. That I know, because I saw it." 2 He adds however, that even if Cabot had remained on board, the cargo could not have been saved. The deposition of Captain Gregorio Caro is very explicit : "Immediately upon the ship striking, Sebastian Gabota left and abandoned her. The ship was lost because, on seeing that Captain Gabota had left, all the people who were on board tried to escape, whilst some went in search of something to steal from the vessel. And if the captain had not run away from the ship, nothing on board would have been swamped, although the ship could not be saved. His want of courage is the cause that all was lost." 3 Juan de Junco adds : " Gaboto immediately went into a small skiff with certain men, and fled to an island. Thus was the ship lost, as there was no one to give the necessary orders." 4 Garcia de Celis, Francisco Hoga9on, and the surgeon Juan all likewise declare that they saw Cabot escape in a similar manner from the flag ship. J , 2 Ibidem. Answers to question xvi. the interest of Portugal, to divert 3 The representations of the Portu- CABOT from sailing to the Moluccas. guese at Pernambuco were said at the 4 Probanza of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. time of the trial to have been made in Answers to question vii. SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 237 Cabot never even endeavoured to refute that grave charge. The witnesses on his side simply declared that after the shipwreck he made strenuous efforts to save what could be rescued from the sinking vessel. This we readily believe, although seven witnesses, including one of Cabot's own, the surgeon Juan, attri- bute a great share of the merit to Rojas, who worked even at the peril of his life: "poniendo a mucho riesgo su persona," to use Captain Caro's expression. Ever since the expedition of Juan Bias de Solis, in 1515, there had been a belief current among the Europeans settled along the southern portion of the east coast of America, that the river which then bore his name but is now known as La Plata, watered a region abounding in precious metals. It was doubt- less propagated by those of his companions who remained behind, although neither gold nor silver are to be found in that stream, notwithstanding the designation of " Rio de la Plata : the River of Silver." When Cabot arrived at Pernambuco, he listened eagerly to these reports, 1 and it cannot be doubted that they prompted him then and there, to at least ascend the La Plata, before continuing his route to the Moluccas. The proofs on this important point are positive and absolute, as the reader will see from the following testimonies : "Antonio de Montoya knows that the Portuguese (in the Province of Pernambuco, where there was a factory of the King of Portugal), told and informed Gaboto that the Rio de Solis was very rich in gold and silver. By many signs witness was also aware, from the time of leaving Pernambuco, that Gaboto had made up his mind to go to the said river. Particularly because after leaving Pernambuco, he ranged the coast to find certain Christians who were on the said coast, according to what the said Portuguese had told him." 2 " Hernando Calderon knows that in the said Pernambuco he saw Gaboto, Rifos and the factor of the place, hold frequent and *, 2 Probanza of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. Answers to question vii. 238 SE&N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. private conversations. And afterwards he learned from the factor himself, that the object of those conversations was to obtain from the factor information concerning the riches of the Rio de Solis. And from Pernambuco, witness saw how they took the route for the Puerto de Patos, where the factor had said were people well informed concerning the wealth of the said river .... He knows that several times Gaboto said that the factor and a pilot who was with him had given him great news about the riches in that river." 1 " Diego Garcia de Celis saw when they arrived in Pernambuco that the Portuguese in the place gave them news of the quantity of gold and silver in the Rio de Solis, which the Portuguese called Rio de la Plata. And it was said then in the fleet that there was no intention of going through the Strait 2 [of Magellan]." " Gregorio Caro, while at Pernambuco, saw the factor, the pilot, and other Portuguese go on board the flag ship many times and that they conveyed information concerning the great wealth of the said river. And witness having gone to the flag ship when she was near the shore, Gaboto told him : ' Captain, we are in pos- session of important news relative to the great riches in gold and silver which exist much nearer to us than we expected.' Witness asked him where ; and Gaboto replied ' not so far even as the Strait of Magellan.' Thereupon witness answered: 'Sir, continue your voyage, and accomplish what His Majesty has ordered you to do ; and that as promptly as you can. Then, if, upon your return [to Spain], after having informed the King of the riches said to be found in that river, His Majesty orders an expedition to be fitted out to explore it, I promise to join you . . .' A few moments afterwards, Gaboto called witness, and told him : 1 Captain, I hope to God to take you to a little spot such as no place visited at any time by men coming from Spain ever afforded so much wealth. We won't lose our voyage, so let us pursue it.' Witness on seeing this, did not care to speak with him any more on the subject." 3 When, after the shipwreck, Cabot found himself at Santa Catalina, he made inquiries for some of the Christians who, according to what the Portuguese had told him at Pernambuco, could give informa- tion concerning those supposed treasures. It was thus that he came across two survivors of the expedi- tion of Solis, a Spaniard from Lepe, called Melchior 1 Ibidem. 3 Probanza of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. 2 Letter of Luis RAMIREZ. Answer to question vii. SE&N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 239 Ramirez, and Henrique Monies, who was a Portu- guese. They informed him that in the course of a sojourn of fourteen years in the region of La Plata, they had ascertained that it was a country extremely rich in precious metals, and that in ascending a river called Parana, there would be found gold and silver enough to fill his vessels. The interview and con- versation are reported by several witnesses, one of whom, Luis Eamirez, uses these words : "They came to speak of the great riches which was in that river . . . and that if he consented to explore it, we could freight our ships with gold and silver ; because it was certain that after sailing up the Rio de Solis, we would reach a river called Parana . . . Further, that the said Rio Parana, and others which flow into it, border upon a mountain much frequented by Indians ; and that in the said mountain, there are many kinds of metals, as well as a great deal of gold and silver." l The fabulous description which those two men gave of Indians bringing such great treasures from mountains situate beyond the sources of the Parana and its tributaries, led Cabot to believe that the country referred to was Peru, the mineral wealth of which, it seems, was already known by the Spaniards in Brazil, although in 1526 Pizarro had as yet hardly penetrated into the Peruvian region. Montes and Ramirez offered to show Cabot the way to that El Dorado ; and it was a belief in their assertions, and what he had been told at Pernam- buco by Manoel de Braga, the Portuguese factor, much more than the loss of the flag ship and the greatest part of the stores and ammunition, which induced him to forego the voyage to the Moluccas. The evidence which we have already quoted, as well as the following declaration from Cabot's most reli- able witness, prove the fact beyond a doubt : "Master Juan 5 surgeon, knows that after the said Portu- 1 Ibidem. Answer to question xix. 240 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. guese gave Seb. Gaboto the information concerning the Rio de Solis, called by them de la Plata, and how in the Bay de los Patos there were two Christians, the one called Enrique Montes, the other, Melchior Ramirez, who would give him more ample details, Gaboto went in search of those two Christians, and after consulting with them, ordered the voyage to the said river." 1 Cabot's principal officers, Rojas and Caro, were energetically opposed to such a course, but he was bent on carrying out his project notwithstanding, and resorted to nefarious acts, which we have now to relate. Rojas was attentive to the wants of his men, especially at a time when so many of them were suffer- ing from the climate and privations. Cabot interpreted these attentions as efforts to gain popularity among the crews and supplant him in the command of the expedition. He had also never ceased to brood over the treacherous designs alleged to have been formed against him by Rojas, Mendez and their friends at Palma. He thought the moment propi- tious to get rid of Rojas, and, under the most flimsy pretext, had him again arrested, and confined on board the Santa Maria. The deposition of Captain Caro, who was in command of the ship at the time is conclusive on this point : "I have heard that Captain Rojas had ordered the steward of the Trinidad, called Juan Miguel, who was formerly steward of the flag ship, to give out a little wine for a man who was sick in bed, and afterwards died. The steward refusing, Rojas repeated his order, adding that it was given by virtue of the authority as Captain of the ship, which His Majesty had conferred on him. The steward replied that the Captain General (Gaboto) had directed him not to give anything whatever ordered by Rojas, unless first ordered by the said Gaboto. Thereupon, Rojas was said to have retorted * Acknowledge me to be captain of the ship for His Majesty!' To which the steward replied that he knew no other captain of the ship except Seb. Gaboto. Rojas then commanded him, in the name of His Majesty, to give that wine. The steward 1 NAVARRETE, document cited in his Biblioteca Maritima, vol. i, p. 30. SEB'N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 241 again refused, and Rojas threatened to have him punished in Spain for disregarding orders given in accordance with the commands of His Majesty. The steward having denounced Rojas to Gaboto, and brought witnesses to substantiate his complaint, Rojas was arrested. Witness is not aware, nor did he ever hear, that Rojas had done anything to be arrested, except ordering the wine to be given as aforesaid." l This deposition is corroborated by the testimonies of Hernando Calderon, Montoya and Santa Cruz. The latter, while still on board Cabot's ship at Puerto de San Vincente, even had the courage, besides, to make an affidavit to the effect that Cabot had ill- treated Rojas for no other reason than his having disapproved the expedition to La Plata, and urged, instead, that it should go to the Moluccas and rescue Loaysa, according to the instructions given by the Emperor. 2 There is, however, a circumstance which must be stated at this point, for it was interpreted by Cabot as an attempt at mutiny on board the Trinidad. But there is no proof whatever that Rojas and Men- dez were privy to the alleged rebellion. The only evidence is the following : "Master Juan only knows that as in the caravella they were weighing anchor and setting sails, the people being ashore, he asked the reason, and was told that an attempt had been made to rebel in that ship. But he neither saw, nor heard say who were the parties who wanted to rebel. Afterwards, he was informed that Captain Gaboto had blamed Bautista de Negro [n], the master of the Trinidad^ on account of the said anchor and sails." 2 None of the other witnesses summoned by Cabot, viz. : Juan Griego, Andres de Venecia, Marcos de Venecia, Pedro de Niza, Francisco Cesar, and Alonso de Valdiviese, confirmed the allegation. In fact, they seem to have ignored the pretended mutiny altogether. 1 Probanza, undated. Answer to 2 Probanza, of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. question viii. Answers to question xx. Q 242 SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. When on the point of leaving Santa Catalina to take the route towards the Rio de la Plata, notwith- standing the remonstrance of his principal officers, who, in obedience to the King's orders, wanted that the route to the Moluccas should be resumed, there happened a grave event, which we now proceed to relate in the words of trustworthy and reliable witnesses : "Juan de Junco says that it is true that Gaboto ordered Francisco de Rojas and Mendez to be taken out [of the ship] under false pretences. His chief alguazil came with certain people in a boat, and compelled them to leave their bed although they were so ill as not to be able to stand on their feet. The chief alguazil told them that they had to follow him into the boat, to go and speak with the Captain-General. In reply, they begged him for God's sake to wait until the fever they suffered from had abated. He replied that they must obey at once ; and with the aid of some men, they entered the boat. As it was leaving the ship and steering towards the island inhabited by Indians, Rojas and Mendez com- menced to sob, saying that they were taken to Indians who would eat them ; and begged to be brought into the presence of the Captain. But they were landed in the island . . . Witness was on board and saw them arrested, which was by the order of Captain Gaboto." " Diego Garcia de Celis, speaking of his own knowledge says that the Chief Alguazil removed Rojas and Mendez from the ship of Captain Caro, although suffering from a fever. That they went, crying, demanding justice, and protesting against the bad treatment and harm Gaboto inflicted on them." 1 The subterfuge to entice Rojas and Mendez from the ship without resistance as well as the details of the deportation are confirmed even by one of Cabot's own witnesses : " Luis de Leon says he saw how they came on board the Santa Maria, where Captain Caro, Mendez and Rojas were. The Chief Alguazil [Caspar de Ribas] told them that the Captain-General [Cabot] wanted to speak to them. They then went in a boat with the Chief Alguazil, who took them to the land, Mendez and Rojas 1 Probanza, of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. Answers to question xx. SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 243 imploring God for justice. And this took place in the port of Santa Catalina, which is inhabited by Indians, not by Christians." 1 At the time of the occurrence, Cabot explained his conduct to certain witnesses only on the plea that Rojas had used unwarranted language to the steward, and that Miguel de Rodas (who was banished at the same time) had been the cause of the shipwreck. To Captain Caro he gave another reason, which is stated in the following extract : "When Rojas had been arrested, witness (Caro) went to the Captain-General, and told him : ' Why, Sir, because a captain has had a quarrel with a steward, relative to a little wine which he wished to be given to a very sick man, you have him arrested ! ' Cabot replied that such was not the cause of his arrest ; and gave as a reason that it was in consequence of evidence furnished against him by four witnesses to the effect that he deserved to be torn to pieces. Witness went several times to Gaboto on behalf of Rojas and Mendez asking that they might be heard, but in vain." 2 To the Fiscal, Cabot said that Mendez and Rodas conspired against his life : " conspiraban su muerte" ; but he only referred for evidence to the ex parte state- ments sent to Spain in 1528. The pretext alleged by Cabot to palliate his conduct makes it incumbent on us to mention the reason for these high handed measures. According to him, it seems that while in Palma, the Prior of the Convent of San Francisco informed him that Rojas had disclosed, in an auricular confession, a secret meeting held at Seville in the monastery of San Pablo by Rojas and other officers of the squadron, where a solemn oath had been taken to unite and stand by each other under every circumstance. This Cabot viewed as a conspiracy to deprive him on the high seas of his command and even to murder him after placing Rojas at the head of the expedition. Santa 1 Ibidem. Answer to question xix. a Ibidem. Answer to question xi. 244 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. Cruz says, that instead of fastening the charge, whatever its real character may have been, on the actual parties, Cabot brought the accusation against the men in the fleet whom he hated most ; viz. : Martin Mendez and his brother Fernando, Alonso de Santa Cruz, Miguel de Rodas, Otavian de Brene, and Camacho, son of Dr. Morales, together with Francisco de Rojas. Learning afterwards that the same individuals frequently met at the house of Santa Cruz, who was ill at Palma, Cabot became still more convinced of the reality of the plot, but dissembled, and without uttering any complaint, gave orders to weigh anchor. When the squadron arrived at Pernambuco, Cabot instituted a secret inquiry into the proceedings at Palma, and immediately, without alleging proofs or reasons, without even giving them a chance to be heard on their own behalf, ordered Rojas, Mendez and others to be confined in the Santa Maria del Espinar as prisoners. A few days afterwards, however, Cabot sent for Rojas, and a scene took place which must be described in the words of the chief witness : " A few days after Gaboto had caused Rojas to be imprisoned in the ship, he sent for him and for the witness (Caro), and in his presence and that of the notary Martin Ybariez, after putting a question to Rojas and having elicited an answer, set him free and dismissed the charge on which he had been arrested. Cabot then told Rojas to continue to serve His Majesty as he had done here- tofore, and better still if possible, and sent him back to his ship. The same day he invited Rojas to dine with him." 1 Cabot nevertheless did not cease to brood over the imaginary wrong. As Junco remarked, he was of a revengeful disposition. This is shown by what we have just related, where he is seen to have deported Rojas at Santa Catalina on the plea of the 1 Ibidem. Answer to question ix. SE&N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 245 pretended attempt at murder, which he had apparently forgiven and absolved a short time previous at Per- nambuco. Cabot then revived the accusation ; but Santa Cruz affirms, and his character is above sus- picion, that none of the witnesses upon whom Cabot claimed to rely, ever testified to anything of a repre- hensible nature. And the truth is that the depositions on his behalf do not mention any fact or circum- stance calculated to sustain the odious charge. Anton Falcon, Francisco Cesar, and Alonso de Valdiviese, who were the witnesses produced by Cabot on that point, only spoke from hearsay, or public rumor. Impartiality prompts us likewise to examine in the same light the counter-charges brought by Rojas against Cabot ; for instance, that he had posted two men to stab him. This also rests altogether upon hearsay, and that even at third hand. Thus Caro declares that he heard Santa Cruz state that Alonso Bueno said in his presence that Cabot urged him and Francisco Cesar to commit the deed. Montoya quotes Bueno, Celis cites Caro, while Junco gives Santa Cruz as his authority, both Caro and Junco, however, basing their statement also on Bueno, who was not, in our opinion, an honest man. Withal, it is worthy of notice, that we find his allegation corroborated by the testimony of the surgeon Juan, albeit this is likewise hearsay. " Juan declares to have heard Francisco Garcia, the priest of the fleet, say that Alonso Bueno and Peraga, being on board the flag ship, once bound themselves by the order of Cabot to stab Francisco de Rojas." x Afterwards, the mother of Mendez accused Cabot,, and even Cabot's wife, of having attempted ta 1 The answer is ambiguous. We do by the command of CABOT, or whether not know whether witness means to say it was by his order that they were to that BUENO and PERAC.A were on board stab ROJAS. 246 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. assassinate one of her sons and poison the other. But the Council of the Indies took no further notice of those reciprocal accusations, evidently uttered in the heat of passion, and, as we believe, groundless, both on the one side and the other. In the present inquiry, a very important fact to consider is that the evidence produced against Cabot, and analysed in the foregoing pages, rests upon the testimonies of the leading officers of the squadron, and of gentlemen on board, none of whom, so far as we can see, had any personal motives for charging him with crime, or misdemeanor. Moreover, the depositions of all those parties form a well connected chain, even with some of the evidence presented by Cabot on his own behalf. The dis- passionate tone of the statements, although relating to such facts as the commander being the first to abandon his ship in the hour of danger, or dragging from a sick bed men like Rojas and Mendez to deport them among cannibals, without trial and with- out due cause, would alone evince the truth, if the information which we possess relative to the private character of these witnesses had not been sufficient. To the biographical details already given, when describing the members of the expedition, we must add the following personal facts. Hernando Calderon, the representative of the Royal Treasury in the fleet, enjoyed the confidence of Cabot to such a degree that he entrusted him in 1528 with a mission to Charles V., for the purpose of explaining the state of affairs and obtaining succour from the government. Captain Gregorio Caro never ceased to possess the esteem of his chief, who placed him in command of Fort Sancti Spiritus ; and the efforts which he made to send Garcia to the rescue of Cabot in Paraguay, show that he deserved the trust placed in his character SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 247 and abilities. It was also Caro, the ablest captain in the fleet, who commanded the ship which brought back to Spain Cabot and the survivors of the expedi- tion. The surgeon Juan, and Luis de Leon were witnesses produced by Cabot himself. These, at the outset, are four witnesses whom he is debarred from challenging. The rest were summoned by the Fiscal, but are certainly worthy of confidence. Diego Garcia de Celis was one of the noblemen recommended by Charles V., who, on his return from La Plata, appointed him " Official Real " of Guatemala, a very high judicial office, which he still held in 1537. Antonio de Montoya was a relative of Gaspar de Montoya, a member of the Council of the Indies (1528-1538), and controller of the Trinidad, which is a post implying a character for honesty. Alonso de Santa Cruz, at that time twenty-four years old, but who was soon to be appointed Royal Cosmographer, then Cosmographer- Major, and enjoy the reputation of being the greatest Spanish savant in the art of navigation : "mathematicarum omnium artium peritissimus," 1 was a man of good birth, stern, but of a lofty disposition. 2 Juan de Junco was an Asturian nobleman, the son-in-law of Vazquez de Ayllon, extremely honest, and of whom Oviedo, who knew him personally, speaks in the highest terms. Diego Garcia, on whom Biddle and other apologists of Sebastian Cabot bestow much abuse, for no other reason than that of having criticized Cabot's sailing directions quaintly, but very justly, as we intend to show, was a Portuguese, settled in 1 Answer to question ix. vol. i, p. 47. Discovery of North 2 ANTONIO, Biblioteca Hisp. Nova; America, p. 736. 248 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. Moguer, who commanded in chief the squadron equipped at the cost of Fernando de Andrada, Christoval de Haro, Ruy Basante and Alonso de Salamanca, to explore the Rio de la Plata, which he is even said to have ascended so early as 1512. The fact that the authorization was granted under the condition that Garcia should take with him a party of pilots, to teach them how to navigate those seas, proves that reliance was placed by the govern- ment on his professional ability. Barcia calls him "marinero insigne." l He seems also to be the Diego Garcia who in 1538 commanded one of the ships of the expedition of Hernandez de Soto, and to be the discoverer of the Isla de Diego Garcia in the Indian seas. 2 Nor should we forget that he hastened to the help of Cabot in the Paraguay, when informed by Caro that he had suffered a bloody defeat, and was in great danger from the Indians; and that afterwards Cabot entrusted him at the Puerto de San Vincente, with the task of notifying Rojas to come on board the Santa Maria del Espinar, to be carried to Spain as a culprit. 3 As to Luis Ramirez, perhaps it will be objected that his valuable letter contains no censure of Cabot's conduct. But, neither do we find in his narrative a single word of praise or approbation, although they passed together through terrible trials. On the other hand, we know positively that Calderon and Barlow had been enjoined by Cabot to break the seals, and read all the letters which they carried to Spain, one of which was that of Ramirez, and 1 " Es hombre de credito y ha muy Ensayo Chronologico par la historia de bien servido a su rey en estas Indias. y la Florida, loth leaf, trabaxado todo lo posible con su 3 CESPEDES, Regimiento, fo. 133, persona, sirviendo a su prii^ipe y speaks favourably of " Diego Garcia, padeiendo y comportando como varon Piloto da Burgalessa," who accom- de buen animo." OVIEDO, lib. xxiii, panied Jorge DE MELO in his second cap. v, vol. ii, p. 185. voyage to the East Indies, in 1545, 5 CARDENAS z CANO (viz. BARCIA), and who may be the same. SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 249 that from fear of being treated like Mendez, no one dared inform His Majesty of what had taken place during the voyage. 1 Against these overwhelming testimonies, Cabot only puts forward his own assertions (which we reject, just as we do those of Rojas himself because both are interested parties) and several witnesses who certainly cannot be set up against such men as Calderon, Junco, Santa Cruz, Caro, and others, already named. The deponents in favor of Cabot are nearly all ship boys, or sailors before the mast, two thirds of them, Italian, Greek or Hungarian, 2 whose depositions are vague, or merely based upon hearsay, and in no instance of such a character as to outweigh the testimonies produced on behalf of Mendez and Rojas. Nor do their declarations apply at all to the principal charges brought against Cabot, which were deemed true and proven by the Council of the Indies in four judgments, two of them rendered on appeal. The persons put on shore with Francisco de Rojas and Martin Mendez, were the latter's brother Fer- nando, Miguel de Rodas, Christoval de Guevara, Otavian de Brane (?), the cooper Juan de Arzola, Gomez Malaver, the Genoese Michael, and, it seems, other members of the expedition. The place of exile was not an " Isla de Patos," which does not exist, unless it be a name also given to the island of Santa Catalina, but the part of the latter where the squadron had remained after the shipwreck. These unfortunates were enjoined not to go beyond twenty leagues of the place ; 3 but they cannot be said to have been left entirely destitute. Their wearing apparel, with some fire arms, gunpowder and two 1 Syllabus, No. LI d. VENECIA, Pedro DE NIZA, Juan 2 Deposition of Gregorio CARO, GREGO Syllabus, No. LI i. mete." 3 Andres DE VENECIA, Marcos DE 250 SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. small casks of wine were delivered to them. Cabot also commended the exiles to the cacique of the place, who was called Totavera. As to the Indians who lived there, they were certainly cannibals. Cabot says that they only ate their prisoners. But the surgeon Juan and a number of witnesses assert that these Indians were not so discriminating in their taste for human flesh : "Master Juan says that he knows that the Indians of the country, where the parties mentioned in the question were aban- doned, eat human flesh, that they killed several Christians, and ate them." l Withal there is no evidence that these natives maltreated the Spaniards whom Cabot left with them in the island of Santa Catalina. Rojas succeeded in escaping to San Vincente, Fernando Mendez died of sickness, whilst his brother Martin and Rodas were swamped at sea whilst trying to reach Rio de Janeiro in a boat. Guevara, Arsola and Malaver were still living among them in 1538. Cabot, now free to act according to his own wishes, took on board the two sailors from the fleet of Solis and put to sea, in search, under their guidance, of the wealth which he expected to find on the banks of the Parana. The three ships, viz. : the Santa Maria del Espinar, the Trinidad, and Rifos' brigantine, to- gether with the galliot constructed at Santa Cata- lina, recommenced their coasting southward, and continued until they reached the great estuary of La Plata. There is no proof that from this time Cabot failed to conduct himself as a competent and energetic commander. On the contrary, so far as we know, for the question was not raised when he 1 CARD'S answer to question xxi. The Cacique was probably commissioned to watch over the exiles ; CABOT fearing their return to Spain. SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 251 was tried before the Council of the Indies, Cabot behaved gallantly, and maintained to the last the strictest discipline. In that expedition the all-absorbing thought was to avoid starving to death, as the country afforded few resources, and, since the shipwreck, their provi- sions were scanty. Cabot had given strict orders that his men should not absent themselves under any pretence whatever ; justly apprehending that they might be lost, or killed by hostile natives. A number of sailors from the galley determined never- theless to go in search of food, secretly, with some Indians who had joined the expedition and were also suffering the pangs of hunger. Luis de Leon, one of the party, betrayed his companions. Cabot ordered all of them to be tried for desertion and sent to the gallows the promoter of the deed, one Francisco de Lepe, who was even hanged twice. Further up the river, another, called Martin of Biscay, was also executed. These two men were deserters from Acuna's ship, who had been embarked by Cabot at Santa Catalina. The sailors who came with the latter from Spain, fared, as a rule, somewhat better. A number of them, including Sebastian Corgo, and Aguirre, the Basque, had only their hands nailed to a board, or their ears cut off. 1 Cabot's returning, not- withstanding swarms of fierce Indians, to the fort of Sancti Spiritus to recover his heavy artillery, immedi- ately after suffering such a bloody defeat, exhibits an unwavering firmness, which contrasts favourably with his behaviour at the time of the shipwreck. He indeed warred against the Indians, but in self-defence; and if his men committed the grave imprudences he is reproached with, Oviedo frankly admits that the same blame attaches to all the 1 Probanza of Nov. 3Oth, 1530. Answer to question xxii. Deposition of JUNCO and Casimir NUREMBERGER, Syllabus, No. LII. 252 SEB'N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. Spanish conquerors in the New World. 1 The fact is that the enterprise was doomed from the start. A similar fate awaited the adventurers who followed in Cabot's footsteps. Here is an instance : Leaving San Lucar de Barrameda with twelve ships perfectly equipped, on the 24th of August 1534 (or on the ist of September 1535 2 ), Pedro de Mendoza landed in the Rio de la Plata, at the island of Sant Gabriel, four months afterwards, with ten vessels and fifteen hundred men. 3 Crossing the estuary, he went to the place which is now the city of Buenos Ayres, of which he laid the first founda- tions. His object was both to explore the region to the south-west of the Rio de Solis and to reach, by ascending one of the upper tributaries, the South Sea (or Pacific), which was still believed to be attain- able by that route. The provisions soon gave out, and the famine was so great that the Spaniards were compelled to eat their dead. 4 An epidemic broke out amongst them, and the Indians, emboldened by the sight of their weakness, 1 " Estas rotas hechas con engano e large ships, carrying 2500 Spaniards, sobre seguro, como a estos espanoles 150 Germans, Dutchmen and a few acaes9io con estos indios, fue culpa del Saxons. OVIEDO, on the testimony capitan que llevaban, pues bastaba of Melchor PALMERO, says that the saber lo que avia acontessido a Solis." fleet left Spain with twelve ships, and OVIEDO, vol. ii, p. 174. 2000 men (Hist. 67., vol. ii, p. 186). 2 ,OviEDO relates (vol. ii, p. 181) that Those figures are confirmed by the the fleet left San Lucar, in August declarations of a priest called Diego 1535. HERRERA gives no date; DE LUINTIANILLA, who accompanied placing only the beginning of his MENDOZA. He adds, however, that narrative under that year. But Ulrich only 1500 men reached the Rio de la SCHMIDEL, who was on board, says Plata, whilst two of the ships remained positively that it was on the 24th of on the way, leaving only ten which August 1534. "In festo S. Barto- went to that river, lomsei, anno 1534," and that he arrived 4 We read in SCHMIDEL (chap, ix), at La Plata in 1535: " Insuper Dei that three Spaniards having stolen a gratiam atque benedictionem A.C. horse, killed and ate it in secret. The 1535 feliciter ad Rio de Plata." Vera theft was discovered. They were historia; Norimb., Hulsius, 1599, 410, tortured, and, having acknowledged pp. 6 and 10. We have been unable the deed, sent to the gallows. The to compare that text with the German next day, three Spaniards cut off their edition, Frankfort, 1567, folio. thighs, and devoured them. Another 3 According to Ulrich SCHMIDEL, ate the body of his own brother, who the fleet was composed of fourteen had just died at Buenos Ayres. SE&N CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 253 attacked them with fury. After numerous fights, and several years 1 of awful suffering, Mendoza re- embarked for Spain, but died at sea from sickness and despair. 2 One hundred and fifty Spaniards finally returned to their native country, but the thirteen hundred and fifty others died literally from starva- tion, or were exterminated by the Indians. 3 The fate of several expeditions which Spain sent after- wards to the Rio de la Plata, was almost as lament- able. 4 When Cabot determined to abandon the enterprise altogether, and sailed out of the Rio de la Plata, he is charged with having passed the Isla de Lobos, without making an effort to reclaim the thirty- four men whom he had sent thither in quest of food. The fact is that Montoya and his companions had gone from the Lobos to another island, and thence across to the continent, near the Cape Santa Maria. As Cabot saw no signs of human beings on shore, he passed by without stopping. But Juan de Junco and Santa Cruz affirm that farther down the river, noticing columns of smoke on the mainland, they begged Cabot to tarry a while, and endeavour 1 SCHMIDEL relates (chap, xiv), that historian who mentions that circum- MENDOZA set sail to return to Spain stance is Ruy Diaz DE GUZMAN, in his four years after his arrival at La Plata. Argentina, published by DE ANGELIS, If so, it was in 1539. OVIEDO gives op. cit., p. 43. no date, but HERRERA (Decad. vi, 3 " En la nao en que don Pedro se p. 78) places the death of MENDOZA volvio, yban hasta 9iento, y en la que under the year 1537. On the other aca aporto 9inquenta : de forma que hand, CABE^A DE VACA (chap, i), mill e tres9ientos y 9inqiienta murieron states that CHARLES V. was informed en aquella tierra e provi^ia del rio de of the sad fate of MENDOZA'S expedi- la Plata." OVIEDO, op. cit., vol. ii, tion only in 1540. p. 183. 2 If we are to believe a legend, of 4 The expeditions of Juan DE which, however, we find no traces AYOLAS and of Domingo DE IRALA, in either in OVIEDO, GOMARA, SCHMI- the upper river, were as disastrous as DEL, or HERRERA, Pedro DE MEN- those of CABOT and MENDOZA. DOZA on the voyage homeward suffered There happened, indeed, to Antonio so much from hunger, that he was com- DE MENDOZA at Corpus Christi in pelled to eat his bitch which was with 1539, exactly the same defeat which pup ; and died two days afterwards the Indians inflicted on CABOT at with a sort of hydrophobia. The first Sancti Spiritus just ten years before. 254 SEEN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. to save those men, who were Christians and friends and had risked their lives for the good of all. Cabot, they say, refused to listen to their en- treaties, alleging that he apprehended a storm which might dash the ship against the coast. But the weather was, on the contrary, very fine, and the men on board were anxious to land for such a humane purpose. 1 Cabot, however, declares that not only did he stop at the Lobos, but even sent Junco, Cesar and others on shore. As to the mainland, he gives as a reason, that Indians whom he met in canoes had assured him that they had seen neither ships nor Spaniards in that vicinity, and that the smoke must have come from fires lighted by Indians. Be that as it may, Montoya and his companions were left behind, but not therefore lost. They had with them two " bergantines," by which term must be understood Rifos' caravel, and the galley. It is certain that a number of them succeeded in reaching some Portuguese settlement on the Brazilian coast a few months afterwards, as we see their leader, Antonio de Montoya, at Seville on the 2nd of November 1530, when he gave his testimony before the Fiscal. After examining the evidence brought forward on both sides, the impartial historian cannot but ascribe to Cabot, and to Cabot alone, the failure of the ex- pedition to the Moluccas. By changing his route and going to Brazil, he was first diverted from his object. When there, the idea crept into his mind to go in quest of imaginary treasures in the Rio de la Plata, and it was when searching for men to give him further information on the subject, that he lost his flag ship and stores. It is evident, further, that neither the Parana nor Paraguay could lead him to Peru, and still less to 1 Syllabus, No. LI I. SEffN CABOT AS COMMANDER AND SEAMAN. 255 the South Sea. There were besides obstacles abso- lutely insurmountable, arising from the warlike instincts of the Indian tribes in the upper rivers. And even if the Spaniards with their feeble re- sources had been able to wage war successfully against them, we do not see what profit could have been derived from their victories, as it was im- possible then to plant a colony. We are rather of opinion that Cabot stood a better chance, notwith- standing the loss of the flag ship and provisions, in continuing his route to the Strait of Magellan. When in the Pacific Ocean, he could have ranged the American coast northwards, as far as some port of the Golden Castile, to which, according to instruc- tions received from the King in 1527, Cortes had sent him succour. 1 1 NAVARRETE, vol. v, docs, xxxi-ii, pp. 456-59. CHAPTER VIII. SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. EIGHT months after he had left La Plata, Sebastian Cabot entered the Guadalquivir, on the day of St. Mary Magdalen, July 22nd, 1530, with only one ship left, and a handful of men, all worn out by sickness or privations, 1 " without glory and without profit : sin honra e sin provecho." If we are to believe Dr. Simao Affonso, who was an eye-witness of Cabot's return to Seville, he landed "with only twenty men out of two hundred whom he had taken from Spain ; the rest having died from hardship and hunger, or been killed in war." ! There may not have been many more than twenty of Cabot's companions on board the ship which brought him back to Seville ; but the statement relative to the death of one hundred and eighty others, is an exaggeration. In the first place, more than fifty returned with Calderon in the Trinidad in I528. 3 Nor is it likely that the twelve or fifteen Spaniards who disembarked in 1526 at the Puerto de San Vincente where they had a chance of taking passage home in some 1 " Essos que eran vivos estaban Adolfo DE VARNHAGEN ; Historia muy trabaxados e sin salud . . . Geral do Brazil ; Madrid, 1854, vol. i, Llegados a Espafia, entraron por el p. 439, note 26. rio Guadalquevir dia de la Magdalena, 3 " Por manera, que ya avian muerto veynte y dos dias de jullio de mill e los indios septenta y 9inco hombres, quinientos e treynta . , . hasta volver sin los que de su enfermedades y de a Espafia, ocho meses." OVIEDO, hambre se murieron, e sin los que en Historia general de las Indias, lib. una nao destas avian enviado a Espafia, xxiii, cap. iv, vol. ii, p. 177. en la qual fueron mas de 9inqlienta 2 Doctor Simao AFFONSO. Letter personas ; e los que quedaban vivos en of August 2nd, 1530 ; published by la tierra." OVIEDO, loc. cit. SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. 257 Spanish or Portuguese vessel, all died in Brazil. 1 Again, it is certain that Rojas and several of his companions returned shortly afterwards from the Puerto de San Vincente with Diego Garcia. As to those who were left at Cape Santa Maria, our opinion is that a number managed with the bergan- tine, although leaky, and the galley, to reach some Portuguese settlement on the Brazilian coast, and eventually returned to Spain. At all events, such was the case with their leader Antonio de Montoya. Others who remained at the cape were rescued by Gon^alo de Mendoza in I537- 2 Gomara also says 3 that when the ships of Alonso Cabrera entered the Puerto de Patos, in 1538, they brought three of the Spaniards abandoned by Cabot, and who had learned the language of the Indians. There were besides in that port three of Cabot's original companions, Guevara, Arsola, and Malaver. The disaster was, nevertheless, grave enough. When Cabot landed at Seville he had with him the following survivors of the expedition : Juan de Junco, Treasurer, Henry Latimer, the English pilot, Alonso Bueno, Pilot, Diego Garcia de Celis, Gentleman, Alonso de Santa Cruz, Supercargo, Antonio Ponce, Clerk, Maestre Juan, Surgeon, Francisco Cesar, promoted to a command, Andres Daycaga, Page, Casimir Nuremberger, Passenger, Francisco Hogagon, ,, 1 Pero Lopez DE SOUSA relates setters from ACUNA'S ship. Lopez DE that he met in the Puerto de San SOUSA, Diario da Navegofao, Lisboa, Vincente, on the 5th of February 1532, 1839, 8vo, p. 58. fifteen Spaniards, brought from the 2 Dias DE GUZMAN, op. ?., p. 42. Puerto de Patos, who said that they 3 GOMARA, Hist, de las Indias, lib. had been abandoned there a long time xc, p. 82. before. These were doubtless the de- R 258 SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. Luis de Leon, Sailor, Marco Veneciano, ,, Juan Grego, Andres, of Venice, ,, Marcos, also of Venice, Sailor, Pietro, of Nice, Geronimo, of Chavarri, ,, Miguel Martinez de Ascoitia, Sailor, Alonso de Valdivieso, Sailor, Fabian de Irausi, ,, Sebastian Cor^o, ,, Aguirre, a Basque ,, Anton Falcon, Shipboy. A short time afterwards, there came to Seville other survivors of the expedition, viz. : Francisco de Rojas, Alonso de Montoya, Fernando Rodriguez. There were besides on board with Cabot a com- paratively large number of Indians, viz. : The cacique of the Paraguay tribe called Chan- dules, and his three sons, whom Cabot had induced to come to Europe for the purpose of visiting Spain and learning the language ; but they do not seem to have returned to America, as there is no mention of them in the expedition of Pedro de Mendoa, The four Indians abducted by Cabot at the Rio de San Sebastian, and Fifty or sixty other Indians purchased at the Puerto de San Vincente for the Seville associates, with the four for himself. There were also three Indian women, wives of the Spaniards abandoned by Cabot at the Cape Santa Maria. The probability is that these sixty-five or seventy Indians were all soon sold as slaves at Seville. As to the articles of value, they consisted of one SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. 259 ounce of silver, a few earrings, apparently of the same metal, and a small quantity of furs and hides belonging to sailors. We cannot dismiss the subject without inquiring whether the expedition of Cabot to La Plata was attended with any useful results whatever. So far as progress in the nautical and geographical sciences is concerned, they are scarcely worth mentioning. The entire coast of the continent of South America visited on this occasion, that is, according to our modern admiralty charts, from 8 to 35 south lati- tude, had been known in detail, and very accurately for the time, for at least twenty years, when Cabot set out from Spain. 1 The important points of the coast were even frequent stopping places 2 for the Portuguese ships on their way to the Indian Ocean by the Cape of Good Hope ; whilst merchant men of several European nations carried on a certain amount of trade with the Brazilian ports. This is easily shown by the extensive nomenclature in the maps drawn before 1526 which have come down to us. As to the great estuary of La Plata and the tract of country traversed by its tributaries, as well as the course of the latter, they were known in a general way, even before the expedition of Dias de Solis, since Portugal claimed a right over the entire region on the plea that it had been discovered by Nuno Manuel 3 1 What were the remains of the garri- 3 DE VARNHAGEN, As primeiras son of the fort abandoned by CABOT, negocia^oes^ p. 133, quoted by Mr. which one Eduardo PIRES is said to D' AVEZAC. When relating a conversa- have brought back from the coast, and tion between the wife of CHARLES V. and entrusted to RuyMosquERA? CHARLE- Alvaro MENDEZ DE VASCONCELLOS, in voix, Hist, du Paraguay, I2mo, vol. the autumn of 1 53 1 he cites the sentence: i, p. 51, and Gaspard DE MADRE DE "que cadahumadas partes averiguasse Dios, Memorias para a historia da quando tinham primeiro os de cada Capitana de San Vincente, Lisboa, nacao descuberto o Rio da Prata ; pois 1797, 4to, p. 90, quoted by Mr. que por parte de Portugal fora elle D 3 AVEZAC. descuberto por huma armada que la 2 See the nomenclature in the fora no tempo de el Rey Manoel, e da Cartographia Americana Vetustissima qual fora por chefe hum tal D. Nuno of our Discovery of N. America. Manuel." 260 SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. and that Joao de Lisboa, in company with Vasco Gallego Carvalho, had led an expedition to the Rio de la Plata in I5O6. 1 Besides, the Rio de la Plata is identical with the large river de- picted in 35 lat., and named " Rio Jordan" in maps at least as early as Schoner's globe of I52O. 2 The estuary is amply traced in the Turin 3 chart, although only one of the large streams is marked, which, however, is carried north-westward to about 31. The Weimar planisphere of 1527* depicts, as a continuation of the Rio Jordan, two very important rivers which join the main artery, as is actually the case, in 58-6o W. longitude, and carried to mountains from which they are made to issue near the Tropic of Capricorn. These delineations, differ- ing, however, in certain respects from the tracings in Ribeiro's planisphere, are also found in the map which we have ascribed to Nufio Garcia de Toreno, 5 and in the Paris Gilt Globe ; 6 both of which, in our opinion, were constructed on geographical data an- terior to Cabot's voyage. A delineation yet more convincing is that of Maggiolo's portolano of 1527^ where the great estuary of La Plata appears with its curious display of islets and shoals, as far as a Rio de San Christoval, which extends beyond the tropic. In considering the portions of that region of which Cabot may be said to have been the earliest European explorer in 1526-1530, we first notice that he met in one of the islands formed by the delta of the Parana, a sailor, called Francisco del Puerto, 1 Alexandra DE GUSMAO, in the 3 See plate xix in our Discovery of Diario da Navegacao de Pero I,opes de N. America. Souza, published by VARNHAGEN, pp. 4 KOHL, Die beiden altesten General- ly and 94. KartenvonAmerika. Weimar,! 860, fol. 2 GHILLANY, Geschichte des See- 5 Discovery of North America^ No. fahrers Ritter Martin Behaim\ 21 1, p. 596. Niirnberg, 1853, 4to, for facsimile of 6 Idem t plate xxi. SCHONER'S globe. 1 Idem % plate x. SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. 261 whom Soils had left there in 1515. The latter there- fore ascended to at least 34 south latitude. That forsaken Spaniard, who had been adopted by Indians living on the banks of the Parana, must certainly have followed its shores northwards during the twelve years which preceded the arrival of Cabot, and, being a seaman, supplied him with practical information. Christoval Jaques, who had come expressly to La Plata in quest of precious metals, 1 is not likely to have remained among the islets in the estuary which bear his name, but doubtless carried his survey farther up the river although it is impossible to state how far he went in that direction. Lastly, from the numerous Portuguese and Spanish ships which visited Brazil and the adjoining regions, there must have remained sailors who deserted, were shipwrecked or abandoned on shore, and joined some Indian tribes, passing from one to another, pushing their way westward and southward. In this way we can explain the unvarying tradition of Europeans having descended the great rivers of that part of the country in early times. 2 Be that as it may, the maps of 1527 which we have cited confirm our remarks concerning an ex- 1 "Ay otros islas dichos de Christoval of another Alejo GARCIA (whom Jaques que era un portugues llamado GUZMAN has known personally), as asi, que les descubrio veniendo a este the first Spaniard who went down the rio de la plata por capitan de una Paraguay river, after entering it by the carabela desde la costa de Brazil a side of Brazil. The facts quoted fama del oro que se hazia aver." belong to the year 1526. P. DE SANTA CRUZ, Islario, MS., fo. 119, ANGELIS, Coleccion, vol. i. Father verso. Besides, we see JAQUES, soon Jose GUEVARA, Hist, del Paraguay, after 1526, ascend the Paranaguazu, also published by DE ANGELIS, p. 83, and capture in the river three French speaks likewise of that Alejo GARCIA. ships. VARNHAGEN, As primeiras According to VARNHAGEN and AYRES negociacoeS) p. 130, quoted by Mr. DO CAZAL, quoted by DENIS, Alexio D'AVEZAC, Considerations gtogr, sur GARCIA senior, came probably in 1515 r histoire du Brtsil, in Bullet, de la with SOLIS, and, remaining in the Soc. de Gtographie t August and Sept. country, explored the great streams 1857, p. 113. and their affluents, penetrated beyond 2 Diaz DE GUZMAN, in his Argen- Paraguay, and discovered the vast tina, mentions Alejo GARCIA, father region called " Matto Grosso." 262 SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. ploration of those mighty streams before Sebastian Cabot. As to his cartographical assertions, whether inscribed in the planisphere of 1544, or in Ribeiro's chart, they are, in that region, remarkably in- accurate. If we accept them as having originated with Cabot, then he did not know the real course of the Parana River. They lead us to believe that both in ascending and descending that mighty stream, he constantly hugged its western shore, and passed, without seeing it, the elbow which it forms on the opposite bank, about 27 30'. He saw, however, at that point that he was entering another river, which is really the Paraguay, as shown by the names " Santana," " Rio de la Traigon," and "Glandules," inscribed at that place in his plani- sphere of 1 544. Withal, we hesitate to recognise in the latter map, so far as the course of the great streams is concerned, any of the cartographical data which he brought from La Plata in 1530; much as it resembles the course set forth by Ribeiro, from information sent to him in 1528. In our opinion, that part of Cabot's planisphere was borrowed, not from his own surveys, but from the Portuguese prototype of Wolfenblittel B, 1 not, however, without introducing modifications of a later date, not less erroneous. Thus Cabot traces only one river, where Wolfenblittel B marks two, as there should be, viz. : the " Gram Rio de Parana," and the " Paragua." 2 With that exception, the general contexture and details of the region in both maps are very similar. It follows that Cabot explored no portion whatever of the Parandguazu beyond 27 30', and probably never suspected its ^ Discovery of North America, p. 580. the river, and calculated to produce 2 The confusion is so much the the impression that it belongs to the greater as the inscription " Rio del river flowing from east to west, which Paraguay " is placed in CABOT'S is only the "Rio Ypetin," correctly planisphere of 1544, transversally to indicated in Wolfenbuttel B. CABOTS BASIN OF THE LA PLATA. THE REAL BASIN OF THE LA PLATA. SEBASTIAN CABOT RETURNS TO SPAIN. 263 course eastward ; else such a striking configura- tion would certainly figure on a map made by him. Thus, if we accept the figures given by Santa Cruz in his Islario, and they must be exact as he was one of the party, the original exploration which can be ascribed to Sebastian Cabot amounts only to fifty-six leagues, all in the Paraguay river, viz. : From the mouth of the Paraguay to the Ipiti, 10 leagues From the Ipiti to Santa Ana 10 From Santa Ana to the Ethica 16 Beyond the Ethica 20 CHAPTER IX. SEBASTIAN CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. T MMEDIATELY upon landing at Seville, four of JL Cabot's principal companions, Juan de Junco, Alonso de Santa Cruz, Alonso Bueno, and Casimir Nuremberger, repaired to the Casa de Contratacion and lodged information against their commander. Officials were sent at once to the Santa Maria del Espinar, where they instituted a judicial inquiry, interrogated witnesses on the 28th of July, I53O, 1 examined Cabot the next day, and deeming the evidence sufficient, arrested him on the spot. 2 Thereupon an action was instituted in the name of the Crown, charging Cabot with having disobeyed the instructions given to him when he set out from Spain to go to the Molucca islands. 3 Catalina Vazquez, the mother of Martin and Fernando Mendez, then brought suit in the name of her daughters. So did the widow of Miguel de Rodas, on her own behalf. 4 On the 2nd of August 1530, Catalina Vazquez pro- duced witnesses to prove that Cabot, Catalina Medrano his wife, and Miguel Rifos, had conspired against the life of her two sons, and were personally responsible for their violent death. Besides corporal punish- 1 Information hecha en Sevilla en 28 Gabote . . . o piloto esta presso." de Julio dentro de la nao Sta. Maria. V ARNHAGEN , Historia Geral 'do Brazil, We publish the entire document in our Madrid, 1854, vol. I, p. 439. Syllabus, No. LII. 3 NAVARRETE, vol. v, p. 333. 2 Sima5AFFONSO, August 2nd, 1530, 4 For a recapitulation of all those writes : " esta semana chegou aqui legal proceedings, see Syllabus^ No. LI. SEffN CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. 265 ment for the offenders, she asked, on the plea that she was a poor widow : " muger viuda y pobre," whilst Cabot was rich and favoured : " hombre rico y favor- escido," pecuniary damages, to accrue however to her daughters. Cabot replied by filing a petition to the Council of the Indies, asking that evidence might be collected relative to a charge of rebellion which he had brought against Martin Mendez and Miguel de Rodas. It was granted, and, on the 2 7th of August, his witnesses were heard. Francisco de Rojas, in his turn, lodged a complaint against Cabot, and, on the 2nd of November 1530, asked leave to produce witnesses. Cabot obtained permission to leave the jail upon giving security, on condition, however, of remaining within the precincts of the Court : " dada la corte por carcel con fianzas," that is, they gave him the Court as a prison. In other words, he was forbidden to absent himself from Ocafia, a town of Castile, where the Council of the Indies then held its sittings. On the 6th of October 1530, the Fiscal, Juan de Villalobos, arraigned Cabot on the charges of having committed misdemeanours, abused his authority, and caused the loss of the squadron which had been entrusted to him for the special purpose of going to the Spice Islands. Three months afterwards, Isabel de Rodas presented to the tribunal the testimonies which she had collected to prove that Cabot was guilty of the charge she had brought against him of having been the cause of her husband's death. The Council of the Indies, which had to try all these criminal actions, was then composed of Diego Beltran, Lorenzo Galindez de Carvajal, Juan Suarez de Carvajal, Caspar de Montoya, Rodrigo de la Corte, Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, Juan Bernal, 266 SEffN CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. Diaz de Luco, and Pedro Mercado de Penalosa, with Garcia Fernandez Manrique, Count Osorno, as pre- sident of the Court ; all of whom, it is needless to say, were personages of high character. Count Osorno presided at the Council of the Indies for seventeen years (1529-1546) ; Carvajal was the well- known annalist, and a statesman who enjoyed the con- fidence of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of Charles V.; Suarez de Carvajal was the Bishop of Lugo, who became general supervisor of the Casa de Contra- tacion and president of the junta entrusted, afterwards, in 1536, with revising the official map of the New World &c., &C. 1 Position and respectability were therefore coupled with the specific knowledge required in a trial of the kind. The first suit tried was the one brought by Francisco de Rojas, and Cabot was sentenced to one year's exile. That is, he was to be deported to some Spanish possession in Africa. In the course of the winter, he addressed a petition to Isabella of Portugal, the Queen- Regent of Spain, to the effect that owing to his incarceration and state of health, he was in want, and unable to meet the requirements of the suits brought against him. 2 In consequence, on March nth, 1531, Her Majesty ordered that he should receive, on account, 30 gold ducats, or 1250 maravedis. Two months afterwards, May nth, she authorized the Casa de Contratacion to advance him, in addition, 7500 maravedis on his salary of Pilot- Major. 3 Charles V. was then in Germany. Having been informed through the regular reports which his ministers sent him from Spain, that Cabot had been arrested, he directed, April loth, 1531, the Council of the Indies to send him details on the subject. 1 Discovery of North America^ pp. 2 , 3 Documentos ineditos de Indias, 268, 632, 709, 736. vol. xxxii, pp. 429 and 451. SEB'N CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. 267 On the 1 6th of May following, the Council of the Indies replied to His Majesty in these words : " Caboto fue preso a pedimento de algunos parientes de algunas personas, que dicen que es culpado en sus muertes, y por otros que desterro, y tambien a pedimento del fiscal, por no haber guardado las instrucciones que Ilev6 : Caboto has been imprisoned on the complaint of some relatives of certain persons whose death was attributed to him, and of others whom he banished, also at the re- quest of the Fiscal, for having disregarded the instructions which he took with him." 1 A short time afterwards, Cabot was tried on Rojas' accusation, and sentenced to one year's banishment, and the payment of 20,000 maravedis damages. July 4th, 1531, in the suit brought by the mother of Mendez, the Court, sitting at Avila, pronounced the following sentence : " We find that in consequence of the guilt of Sebastian Cabot, as evinced on the trial, we must and do condemn him to be exiled from the kingdoms and realms of Their Majesties for one consecutive year. And we order that he shall suffer that exile in the town that His Majesty, or ourselves shall designate, to commence within sixty days next following the one year of exile to which he has been sentenced on the complaint of Captain Francisco de Rojas. And let him not fail to obey, under penalty of double the exile for the first disregard, and of perpetual exile for the second!" 2 In addition, he was condemned to pay to the sisters of Mendez 40,000 maravedis and the heavy costs of the suit. Cabot appealed from those two sentences, but the Council of the Indies, sitting at Medina del Campo, not only dismissed the appeals, but aggravated the penalties, raising them from one to two years banish- ment in each case. The two sentences on appeal were pronounced 1 NAVARRETE, vol. v, p. 333. Mtndez y Francisco, Vazquez, in our 2 Ejecutoria cl pedimento de Isabel Syllabus, No. LI, 1. 268 SEEN CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. separately on the same day, in Medina del Campo, February ist, 1532. They both contain the follow- ing passage : " We find that the sentence [in the Court below] has been justly and legally pronounced, and that notwithstanding the reasons alleged against the same, we must, and do confirm it, with this addition and declaration, however, that we must and do order that the sentence of one year's exile pronounced against the said Sebastian Gaboto, and which he must suffer in a place of our choice, is increased to two years exile, which he shall undergo in Oran, and where he will serve His Majesty at his own cost." 1 Cabot was therefore sentenced to four years banish- ment in a penal colony in Africa. Two of these were as a punishment for his conduct towards Rojas, and two for the cruel treatment he had inflicted on Mendez. Heavy fines, damages and costs were added in each case. The place of exile was in Morocco, where, by the wording of the last paragraph in the sentences, he was subjected besides to military duty against the Moors, his horse and arms to be purchased and maintained in proper trim at his own expense. 2 His salaries as Pilot-Major and captain, together with his arrears of pay were definitively attached. Cabot opposed this proceeding, but the Queen- Regent, on the 2nd of March 1532, ordered that the damages in favor of Rojas, and of the sisters of Mendez, as well as the costs of all those suits, should be immediately paid out of the amounts due to him by the government, and if there was any thing left, then he might receive 50,000 maravedis. 3 1 Idem, and Sentencia definitiva ; ten years exile in Oran, had to Syllabus, No. LI, o. maintain there ten mounted lancers. 2 This aggravation of the sentence, Such was also the case in 1506 with let it be said, was a customary one in Luis CORTEZ, the illegitimate son of those days. Thus Luis COLUMBUS, the conqueror of Mexico, who had been the last descendant of Christopher first sentenced to death. COLUMBUS in the direct male line, 3 Documentos ineditos de Indias> vol. who had been sentenced in 1565 to xxxii, p. 455. SEffN CABOT ARRESTED AND PROSECUTED. 269 Other suits, but exclusively of a civil character, 1 were also brought against Cabot, particularly by the Seville associates and several of his companions or their heirs. We do not know how they were decided. 1 Information pedida por Francisco contra Sebastian Caboto ; Segovia, Sept. Leardo y Francisco de Santa Cruz 28th, 1532. Duchess of ALBA'S docu- (the father of Alonso DE SANTA CRUZ), ments, pp. 118-120. CHAPTER X. SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. IN the meantime, Charles V. returned to Spain. Cabot at once repaired to the Court, and laid before him a description of the La Plata country. That document which, unfortunately, has thus far eluded our researches, but which may yet be found either at Simancas or in the Archives of the Indies, has been analysed by Herrera. He even publishes an extract (apparently Cabot's own words) referring to the Indians of that region. The report gave a glowing description of the fertility of the land, which, in certain parts, cannot be over estimated, and of its richness in precious stones l which existed but in Cabot's imagination. In fact, except on the right bank of the Paraguay, he only saw denuded plains, the Yebra swamps, and awful Chaco desert, with no valuable metals, beyond a small quantity of silver obtained by Indians in the upper country, who got it from Peru. Cabot's highly coloured account nevertheless prompted the Adelantado of the Canaries to petition the Council of the Indies for leave to explore the land, 2 and induced Pedro de Mendoza to fit out the expedition which 1 HERRERA, ubi supra. con su criado con cartas para los 2 " Hoi he tenido carta del Adel. Senores del Consejo." Letter from de Canaria que aun dene gana de CABOT to the Secretary Juan DE tomar la empresa del rio Parana qual SAMANO, June 24th, 1533. Syllabtis, tan caro me cuesta, i para ello enbie No. lix. SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. 271 ended in one of the greatest disasters known in the annals of the New World. 1 When Cabot left Spain for the Moluccas in 1526, the Emperor, according to Herrera, 2 continued him in the office of Pilot-Major, which, in his absence, was to be filled by Miguel Garcia and Juan Vespuccius, at least so far as examining pilots, which was the most important duty of the post. In 1527 it was entrusted to Diego Ribeiro and Alonso de Chaves. 3 But on the 4th of April 1528, the latter was appointed Pilot-Major, 4 thus superseding Cabot temporarily, for although Chaves lived until 1586, we find Cabot again in possession of the office a couple of years after his return from La Plata. It is certain that notwithstanding the condemna- tions pronounced on Cabot by the Council of the Indies, Charles V. again confided to him the post of Pilot- Major. There are no traces, however, in the documents, of a pardon having been expressly granted. The probability is that the action of the Crown was tacitly stayed in the final process, for Cabot's services were evidently still deemed necessary for the discovery of the imaginary western passage. Be that as it may, he remained at Seville, attending to cosmographical matters for the govern- ment. We see him in the spring of 1533 engaged in constructing a planisphere for the Council of the Indies. 5 On the 24th of June following, he wrote to Juan de Samano, its secretary, a letter which has come down to us. 6 In it he complains of his own 1 " Pedro de Mendoza dio credito a cosmografo, piloto mayor y maestro algunos que culpaban a los que pri- de hacer cartas, astrolabios . . . por mero avian tornado aquella empressa, Real cedula con fecha en Madrid a e perdidose en ella, e prometianle a el 4deabril 1528." NAVARRETE, Biblio- con sus avissos lo que no le dieron." teca Maritime Madrid, 1851, 8vo, OVIEDO, lib. xxiii, cap. vi, vol. ii, p. vol. i, p. 16. 181. 5 Letter from CABOT to SAMANA, 2 HERRERA, Decad. iii, p. 260. loc. cit. 3 HERRERA, Decad. iv, p. 30. 6 We republish that letter in fac 4 ' ' Alonso de Chaves fue nombrado simile. See Syllabus, No. lix. 272 SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. health and that of his wife. He also laments the recent death of his daughter, and asks that one third of his salary should be paid him in advance, as he wished to repair to Ocafta to present to the Coun- cillors a man whom he had brought from Brazil, and who could give them information about the doings of the Portuguese in that country. This doubtless refers to the recent Portuguese threat of taking possession of the Rio de la Plata. 1 There is no doubt that in the exercise of his office of Pilot-Major, he was charged with having been guilty of acts of a reprehensible character. By a royal cedula of March I3th, 1534, the Casa de Con- tratacion was instructed to inquire into the right by which Cabot submitted pilots to examinations, the manner in which these were carried out, and the offences committed by him with regard to the same. 2 We must assume that the charge was dismissed, since, nine months afterwards, Charles V., having enacted that pilots for the Indies should be thereafter examined concerning their professional abilities, Cabot, on the nth of December 1534, was instructed to superintend this examination. 3 He thus a short time afterwards admitted as pilot the famous Juan Fernandez Ladrillero. 4 In the year following, we see Cabot figuring at Seville as a witness or expert in the action brought 1 Charles V. then directed VILLA- Cabot a llevado e lleva por el exam en LOBOS, the Fiscal of the Supreme de los dichos Pilotos, e como e de Council of the Indies, to interrogate que manera los a examinado e examina, witnesses for the purpose of showing, e que" delyxencias son las que face en in opposition to a threatened attempt los tales examenes ..." Cedula of on the part of Portugal to take March I3th, 1534. Coleccion de possession of the country just documentos ineditos de Indzas, vol. abandoned by CABOT, that Spain had xxxii, 479. exercised sovereignty over it since 1512 3 Real Cedula a los Of y dales de la and 1515. HERRERA, Decad. iv, lib. Contratacion, n decembre 1543 ; in the viii, cap. xi, p. 169. Coleccion above quoted, vol. xlii, p. 481. 2 Yo vos mando, said Charles V., 4 Discovery of North America, p. que fagais ynformacion. e sepais que 7 21 - NAVARRETE, Viage del Sutil y derechos son los quel dicho Sebastian Mexicana, Madrid, 1802, p. xliii. SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. 273 against the Crown by Luis Columbus, to revindicate the rights and privileges granted to his grandfather for the discovery of the New World. 1 At that date, Cabot declared himself to be "fifty years old and upwards." The fact is that he was at least sixty years of age. We notice in his examination two very curious replies. The first is in answer to the following question from the Fiscal : " Do you know whether it is true that, before any other, Christopher Columbus discovered the [West] Indies, as well as the islands and continent of the [Atlantic] Ocean, and that no one before him possessed any knowledge of the same?" Cabot replied : " Solinus, an historical cosmographer, states that among (sic pro beyond) the Fortunate Islands, called Canaries, after navigating thirty days, 2 there are isles, named Hesperides, which he presumes to be identical with those that were found in the times of the Catholic Kings, and he has heard many people in this city of Seville say that it was Christopher Columbus, who discovered them." 3 Cabot's cautious language is worthy of note, parti- cularly when looked at in connection with another answer, is still more surprising. This was given in reply to a question addressed in 1535, that is, ten years after the explorations of Estevam Gomez and 1 Memorias de la Real Academia de la sinus recesserunt." Polyhistor, cap. Historia, vol. x, p. 201. See also the xvii. same, pp. _ 265 and 266-67. That 3 " Sebastian Caboto dijo que Solino, Probanza is evidently identical with un cosmografo historiador dice que en the one which the Memorias mention las islas Fortunatas, que se dicen las at p. 201, as having been executed islas de Canaria, navegando al occidente Dec. 3 1st, 1535- There are the same por el mar Oceano por espacio de witnesses, and the text indicates the treinta dias, e estaban unas islas que same rubric, viz. : Leg. 2. Pieza 7. las nombran Esperidas, e que aquestas It is impossible to imagine a more islas Esperidas presume este testigo confused jumble than this publica- que son las islas que se descubrieron tion of the Spanish Academy of His- en tiempo de los Reyes Catolicos de tory. gloriosa memoria, e que ha oido decir 2 "Forty days," says SOLINUS : a muchas personas en esta ciudad de " Ultra Gorgadas Hesperidum insulse, Sevilla, que las descubrio el dicho D. sicut Sebosus affirmat, dierum quadra- Cristobal Colon." Memorias de la R. ginta navigatione in intimos maris Acad. de Historia ; loc. cit. S 274 SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. Giovanni Verrazano, 1 and when all the maps of the Sevillian Hydrography, constructed under the personal supervision of Cabot, set forth an unbroken coast line from Labrador to the Strait of Magellan : " Do you know, asked the Fiscal, whether the provinces of Paria, Cumana, Manacapana, Venezuela, Santa Maria, Carthagena, Darien, called the Golden Castille, . . . Yucatan, Florida and the land called the Cod Fish country, constitute only one land, usually styled continental, without any break or sea intervening, and whether it is the only mainland ever discovered in the [Atlantic] Ocean?" 2 This is Cabot's reply : " All the countries mentioned in the question constitute in his opinion, as far as the Rio de Santi Spiritus, 3 a mainland, because he has seen it, and knows it from the reports of the pilots who have navigated in those regions, and by the marine charts which they brought from there. But as regards the countries beyond the Sancti Spiritus [that is to say], Florida and the Baccalaos [Newfoundland], he can not assert whether it is a continent or not." 4 That unexpected statement tended, in the interest of the Crown, to deprive the heirs of Columbus of the rights which they claimed over all countries situate beyond the Gulf of Mexico, in consequence of the discoveries achieved by their ancestor, and of the capitulations of I4Q2. 5 Alonso de Santa Cruz, Diego Gutierrez and other witnesses did not hesitate to declare, as a certainty, 1 Memorias de la R. Academia de la tenidas en la pregunta, hasta el no de Historia, vol. x. pp. 265-272. Santi Spiritus las tiene por tierra firme, 2 Ibidem, p. 266. porque asi lo ha visto e sabido por 3 The Rio Santi Spiritus was in relacion de los pilotos que lo han 21 I5',and was the northern terminus in navegado, e por las cartas de marear the map of CHAVES. OVIEDO, vol. iv, que traen, e que desde el rio de Santi p. 16. Even from his own declarations, Spiritus en adelante, la Florida e los the only parts of the New World Bacallaos, este testigo no se determina which CABOT then claimed to have si es todo una tierra firme 6 no." Me- visited, extended only from Labrador morias de la Acad., ubi supra. to Florida, and from Cape St. Augus- 5 See our introduction to B. F. STE- tine to the Rio de la Plata. VENS'S edition of COLUMBUS'S own 4 ' ' Que todas las provincias con- Book of Privileges, p. Ixi. SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. 275 that the entire extent of coast mentioned in the question, that is from northern Brazil to Labrador, formed but one continental land, and, further, that the model-map which was in course of construction by order of the Government, demonstrated the fact. 1 In that Judicial Inquiry, the Fiscal renewed the question, from a cartographical point of view. " Do you know," says he, "whether all the lands mentioned and a number of others in those regions, are set forth in marine charts used by pilots so as to represent a continuous coast line and land ? " Cabot replied as follows : " All those lands, or most of them, are set forth and delineated in marine charts, many of which differ from each other, and the licentiate Suarez de Carvajal, a member of the Council of the Indies, has ordered that all marine charts should be collected, and a General Model-Map made to sail by." 2 Cabot, we do not know for what reason, eluded the real question, but Santa Cruz and Gutierrez replied positively 3 that those lands were duly deline- ated in the model-chart which was being constructed. That is, the map set forth an unbroken coast line from north to south throughout the New World, such in fact as the Crown cartographers had always depicted, at least since the Seville charts con- structed in 1527; as can be easily seen from those which are still preserved in the Grand Ducal Library " Alonso de Santa Cruz y Diego que agora el licenciado Suarez de Gutierrez lo tienen por cierto, porque Carvajal, oidor del Consejo de las asi esta sentado en las cartas y en el Indias, ha mandado recoger todas las padron que ahora se hace. Lo mismo cartas de marear, e que se haga un opinan otros testigos por lo que ban padron general para la navegacion." visto u oido." Memorias, ubi supra. Probanza of 3 1st December, 1535. For the Padron in question, see our 3 "Alonso de Santa Cruz lo sabe Discovery of North America, pp. porque lo entiende e agora en el 13-17, and 255-267. padron perfeto que se hace de la dicha 2 " Todas estas tierras 6 las mas de navegacion, con acuerdo del Senor ellas estan puestas e figuradas en las Licenciado Carvajal se ponen e as- cartas de marear e que muchas destas ientan todas estas provincias e tierras." cartas hay diferentes unas de otras, e Ibidem. 276 SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. at Weimar. There was therefore a conflict of opinion between Cabot, on the one side, and, on the other, the Bishop of Lugo, who presided over the Geographical Commission for constructing the Padron General, assisted by cosmographers of great repute. All the charts and globes made after 1536, which have come down to us, show that no account was taken of Cabot's strange reservations and doubts. After that time, Cabot doubtless confined himself to his duties as Pilot-Major, living in Seville, but visiting the Court occasionally. The numerous voyages which he boasted of having made after his return from La Plata : " molte altre navigation!," are all imaginary. If, after 1532, he had ever been engaged in any maritime expedition, Muftoz, Navarrete and Vargas Ponce would have found traces of it in the books of the Casa de Contratacion, which these zealous savants have thoroughly examined. Personally, we have never detected in any docu- ment the least evidence of voyages accomplished or undertaken by Cabot after his return to' Spain in 1530, except one in 1547 to England, where he remained until his death. Herrera states 2 that in 1515 Sebastian Cabot was appointed captain and cosmographer, but that is a mistake. He never held the latter office, although, at a much later period, he taught cosmography in the Casa de Contratacion. 3 The documents which we have been able to consult, mention him (1512) as " Capitan 1 RAMUSIO, Raccolta, ed. of 1563, 2 HERRERA, Decad. ii, lib. i, cap. vol. iii, fo. 374. A document pub- 12, p. 18. lished in the Documentos ineditos de *NA.VP&R.K r Y'E,BibliothecaMaritima, Indias, vol. xiii, p. 409, led us at first vol. i, p. 1 6, speaking of the appoint - sight to infer that Nuno DE GUZMAN ment of Alonso DE CHAVES, July nth, had reported the presence of Sebastian 1552, to the Chair of Cosmography in CABOT, with a fleet of five ships, off the Casa de Contratacion, says " se le the Pacific coast of New Spain in mando regentar la catedra de cosmo- 1531. He only refers to CABOT'S grafia, que Sebastian CABOTO, ausenta arrival in Brasil : "avra quatro aiios en Inglaterra, habia enseilado en la y medio o cinco," that is, in 1526. casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla." SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. 277 de mar," or naval captain, and (1515) as "capitan de armada," or fleet captain, which terms in those days were apparently synonymous. He continued to enjoy that title and the salary attached to the office, until he removed to England. In 1515, he was also appointed <4 Piloto de Su Magestad." This appoint- ment, it seems, had to be renewed every year ; for the lists drawn up annually, where mention is made of the salary paid to him every four months, begin thus : " Nombranse este ano Pilotos de S. A. con sueldo : There were named this year, Pilots to His High- ness, with pay." In 1518, he received, as we have said, the appointment of " Pilot-Major and Examiner of Pilots." The latter was not a separate office ; it belonged to the first and constituted its chief duty. It is only in the cedula appointing Americus Vespuccius Pilot- Major, which office was created for him in 1508, that we find some specific details concerning the duties which that official had to perform. 1 We notice first that the Pilot- Major was also a teacher, who received fees from the students. Beyond the use of the quadrant and astrolabe, there is no mention of other studies, but we infer that the course consisted of what the cosmographers were afterwards directed to teach. This comprised the first two books of the Sphere, the use of a "relox general," which implies the existence of clocks at this early date, and, what is worth noticing, the mani- pulation and construction of compasses, astrolabes, quadrants and " vallestillas " (?). The Pilot- Major himself examined candidates for the profession of pilot, and the licence was granted exclusively upon his own report, without requiring the Yet the manner in which the Royal self was created only at the latter Cedula enacted at Monzon, July nth, date. 1552, is rubricated in the Recopilacion x NAVARRETE, voK iii, doc. ix, pp. de Leyes, indicates that the chair it- 299-301. 278 SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. approval of the functionaries who were above him in the Casa de Contratacion. 1 These extensive powers became doubtless a source of abuse, which, we presume, prompted the restrictions set forth in the Recopilacion de Leyes. Ordinances enacted by Charles V., but apparently after Cabot had ceased to be Pilot- Major, prohibited this officer from teaching the art of navigation and the use of nautical instruments. This was necessarily transferred to the cosmographers of the Casa de Contratacion, although no regular Chair of Cosmography seems to have been created before July nth, 1552. A just, but curious enactment, which is very suggestive, is that prohibiting the Pilot- Major from selling maps or nautical instruments, to applicants for the post of pilot, and from receiving at their hands victuals or gifts of any kind. We are not prepared to say whether those prohibitions are connected with the curious ordinance of March i3th, 1534, above quoted. 2 The Pilot-Major was required, twice a month, in company with His Majesty's cosmographers, to examine the charts and instruments, improve the same, and preside when modifications were to be introduced in the Model- Map, or Padron general. He had also to enter in a book, which unfortunately is lost, a list and description of the islands, bays, shoals and ports, based evidently upon the hydro- graphical data which every pilot was obliged to remit to the Pilot-Major immediately upon arriving at Cadiz from a transatlantic voyage. It was also his 1 " Le sea dada por vos carta de ex- 1604, that one of the judges of the Casa animation e aprobacion de como saben de Contratacion, together with at least cada uno dellos lo susodicho ; con la six pilots, were required to be present cual dicha carta mandamos que scan at the examination. Lej/xx, andVEixiA tenidos e recebidos por pilotos." LINAGE, Norte, lib. ii, p. 143. NAVARRETE, op. cit., p. 300. It was 2 Supra, p. 272, note 2. only by the ordinance of Sept. I5th, SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. 279 duty to stamp the maps, astrolabes and quadrants, which were kept under lock and keys. 1 The Pilot-Major was not prohibited from construct- ing maps, but, at first, he was not permitted to sell them. Afterwards, this restriction was removed, and he was allowed even to sell copies of the Padron, but at a price previously fixed by the Casa de Con- tratacion. 1 Sebastian Cabot constructed a number of plani- spheres and globes, of greater importance than those copies, and which must have been a source of profit and reputation, if we are to judge from Oviedo's re- marks already quoted. Yet this historian never cites any of them, although he frequently refers to charts of Santa Cruz, Ribeiro, Chaves and others. In the next chapter, when discussing the scientific claims of Sebastian Cabot, we shall examine the data obtain- able concerning his cartographical works. As to his agency in preparing other transatlantic expeditions, it is well to mention that although the trade between Spain and America had then acquired considerable importance, scarcely any voyages of discovery were attempted by the Spanish government, except in the Pacific, and these belonged to the ad- ministration of Hernando Cortes, or of the governors of Darien. Yet we assume that Sebastian Cabot was consulted relative to the expeditions which, in consequence of Jacques Cartier's voyages were sent to the Baccalaos by Charles V. under the orders of Ares de Sea, and Diego Maldonado, in 1540-1541 ; as it was particularly on account of his supposed knowledge of the Cod-fish regions that Ferdinand of Aragon had originally engaged his services. On the 5th of November 1544, Cabot, by virtue of his office, prohibited Diego Gutierrez senior, one of 1 Recopilacicn de leyes de Indias. Madrid, 1750, fol. 54, Leyes i, ii, iii, vol. iii, fos. 285 sequitur^ and Discovery of North America, pp. 256-59. 280 SEBASTIAN CABOT RESUMES OFFICE. the Royal Cosmographers, from constructing maps and nautical instruments, on the plea that they were " perjudiciales a la navegacion y a los derechos reales." This prohibition was confirmed by the Council of the Indies on the 22nd of February 1545.* At the beginning of October 1545, Cabot approved the publication of the Arte de Navigar of Pedro de Medina, printed at Valladolid in that year. We notice that Cabot is called therein " Piloto mayor y Cosmographo de su Magestad." 2 But the latter title is doubtless a mistake, and the phrase should read : "y los cosmografos," referring to Mexia, Chaves and the above mentioned Gutierrez. The sale of the book was nevertheless prohibited for a time. 3 In the spring of 1547, Cabot took upon himself to entrust the post of Pilot-Major during his absence in England, to Diego Gutierrez, whom, two years before, he had declared to be an incompetent cosmographer in important respects. But the Council of the Indies, September 22nd, 1549 gave orders to investigate the matter, as " este Diego Gutierrez no tenia partes para ello : as this Diego Gutierrez is not competent to fill the office." 4 That was the last act of Sebastian Cabot in Spain. Maritima, 1545. MS. cited in the Lista de los vol. i, p. 343, ii, p. 583. objetos que comprende la Exposition 2 Bibliotheca Americana Vettistis- Americanista, Madrid, 1881, B 52. sima, No. 266, p. 413. 4 MS. quoted by Capt. DURO, Area 3 Cedulas of November 23rd and 29th de Not, p. 521. CHAPTER XL THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (A) HIS CARTOGRAPHICAL WORKS. OEBASTIAN Cabot certainly enjoyed a high ^ reputation, at least in Italy and England. The Mantuan Gentleman said that he had not his equal in Spain as a man versed in navigation : " Intendeva 1' arte del navigare piu ch' alcun' altro." Guido Gianeti da Fano told Livio Sanuto that Cabot was held in the highest esteem in England : " all' hora honoratissimo si ritrovata." 2 Ramusio c scribes him as " a man of large experience, and uncommonly so in the art of navigation and science of cosmography." 3 He possessed the confidence of Charles V. for a long period and to such an extent that notwithstanding his disguised flight to England, Cabot was retained for several years in the office of Pilot- Major, and even had his pension increased. 4 This fame which, strange to say, has increased with time, prompts us now to examine his scientific labors and his claims to such celebrity. The cartographical works of Sebastian Cabot must first engross our attention. Although we have been able to gather but meagre details on the subject, these are sufficient to enable us to form a correct 1 RAMUSIO, Primo Volume, f. 374. scienza di cosmografia." RAMUSIO, 2 M. Livio SANUTO, Geografia dis- Terzo Volume, Venetia, 1565, folio ; tinta in xii. libri, Vinegia, D. Zenaro, Preface, verso of Aiiij. 1588, folio, recto of f. 2. 4 Dispatch of Sir Philip HOBY ; 3 " Huomo di grande esperienza, et Notes and Queries, London, 3rd series, raro nell' arte del nauigare, et nella vol. i, p. 125. 282 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEEN CABOT. opinion of his style and method, and to believe that all the maps of the world constructed by him in the second quarter of the xvi th century resembled, more or less, his planisphere of 1544, which, fortunately, has come down to us. The maps made by him, mentioned in various documents, are the following : (A) A mappamundi ordered by Juan de Samano for the Council of the Indies in 1532 or 1533. It is described in a letter from Cabot as follows : " My intention was to bring [from Seville] that map myself, with two others which I have made for His Majesty. I hope they will give satisfaction to H. M. and the Council, as they can see therein how it is possible to navigate all around [viz.: in all directions], by means of the indications [of the compass, or rhumbs ?], just as we do with a chart. Also, why the needle points to the North- East and North- West, and why it cannot be otherwise; to what extent it points to the North-East and North- West before pointing again [due] north, and through which meridians. Thereby, H. M. will have a certain rule for ascertaining the longitude." 1 This map is lost, but it certainly revives, so far at least as Cabot's interpretations and alleged applica- tions of the properties of the magnet are concerned, in the planisphere of 1544. (B) A large map of the world, which Cabot showed at Seville, before 1547, to the Mantuan Gentleman, who says that it was " a mappamundi of large size, exhibiting particularly the navigations of the Portuguese and Spaniards." : This is also lost. (C) The map which was in the library of Juan de Ovando, the President of the Council of the Indies, 1 " Veran como se puede navegar Su Magestad la regla cierta para tomar por redondo por sus derotas como se la longitud." Syllabus, No. lix. ace por una carta y la causa porque 2 " Mostrommi molte cose e fra nordestea y noruestea la guja y como 1' altre un Mappamondo grande colle es for^oso que lo haga y que tantas navigationi particolari si di Portoghesi quartas a de nordestear y noruestear come di Castigliani." RAMUSIO, loc. antes que torna abolverce azia el norte cit. y en que meridiano y con esto tendra HIS CARTOGRAPHICAL WORKS. 283 but which is not likely to have been made for him, as he entered the Council only in 1572. This was sold at his death, in 1575. It is likewise lost. The only details which we possess concerning it, are that it was on parchment and illuminated. 1 (D) The mappamundi which Cabot sent from London to Charles V., on the i5th of November 1554 (sic pro 1553, n.s.), by Francisco de Urista, and which may be the same as C, just described. This supposition is based upon the fact that on the 2oth of September 1575, an Italian cosmographer in the service of Philip II., called Giovanni Battista Gesio or Gessio, claimed a mappamundi found among the property of Ovando, on the plea that it belonged to His Majesty. Sebastian Cabot describes this map as follows : " Two drawings which form a mappamundi divided at the equator, whereby Your Majesty will find the causes of the deviation of the needle from the pole, and the reason why it again returns to a line pointing directly to the arctic and antarctic poles. The other figure is for taking the longitude in any place the observer may be." 2 We interpret the word "figura," as meaning that there was only one map, but in two sheets, one for the northern, the other, for the southern hemispheres. The latter doubtless set forth a magnetic point, or line with no variation, upon which he based his imaginary pretension for finding the longitude at sea. 1 "Tiivolo en su poder hasta su or GESSIO was an Italian cosmographer muerte el visitador y presidente del in the employ of PHILIP II. He died Consejo de Indias Juan de Ovando. Sept. I4th, 1580. Lista de la Exposi- Asi consta por memorial del cosmo- cion Americanista, B, Nos. 59> 60. grafo Juan Bautista Gesio al Rey, 2 "Dos figuras que son un mapa fecha de Madrid y 20 de Setiembre de mundi cortado por el equinocio, por 1575, endondedice,queenlaalmoneda donde V. M d . vera las causas de la de libros de Ovando estaba un mapa variacion que haze la aguja de marear antiguo de pergamino iluminado hecho con el polo, y las causas porque otra por Sebastian Gaboto, y pide serecobre, vez torna a volver derechamente al polo porque le aseguran pertenece a S. M." artico 6 antartico ; y la otra figura es M. Jimenez DE LA ESPADA, Relaciones para tomar longitud en qualquier para- geograficas de Indias ; Peru, Madrid, celo que el hombre estuviere." Sylla- bi, 4to, p. xxx, note. That GESIO bus, No. lix. 284 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEETN CABOT. There was a more ample description of it, which Cabot remitted to Jean Scheyfve, the ambassador of Charles V. in England, and which was in 1554 in the hands of Francisco de Erasso, the secretary of the Council of Charles V. We have vainly endeavoured to discover that document. (E) The map which Guido Gianeti de Fano saw in the possession of Cabot, in London, in the reign of Edward VI. This was described to Livio Sanuto as marking a meridian, based upon a point of no magnetic variation, placed one hundred and twenty miles to the west of the island of Flores, one of the Azores. The point may have been exact, but here again it certainly could not serve the purpose which Cabot imagined. 1 (F) A map which he gave to the King of Castile (Charles V., or Philip II.), and still in existence in 1598, when Andres de Cespedes, Cosmographer- Major, wrote his Regimiento. The only detail which we possess concerning this map, is that " like Jodocus Hondius, Cabot therein placed the 43 longitude between Goa and Mozambique." 2 (G) Cabot, of course, possessed charts made by himself, which, Hakluyt says, were preserved in England as late as 1582. " This much concerning Sebastian Cabot's own discouerie may suffice for a present taste, but shortly God willing, shall out in print all his own mappes and discourses drawne and written by himselfe, which are in the custodie of the worshipful master William Worth- ington . . . who (because so worthie monuments should not be buried in perpetual oblivion) is very willing to suffer them to be 1 " Et a quello ancora, che io dapoi verso Occidente dalla Isola detta Fiori vidi con gli occhi miei in una carta da di quelle pur delli Azori." M. Livio navigare diligentissima fatta a mano, SANUTO, op. cit., fo. 2, recto. e tutta ritratta k punto da una propria 2 CESPEDES, Regimiento de Navega- del detto Caboto ; nella quale si re- don ; Madrid, 1606, folio, part ii, conosce il luogo del detto Meridiano fo. 137. esser per miglia cento e dieci lontano HIS CARTOGRAPHICAL WORKS. 285 overseen and published in as good order as may be to the encour- agement and benefite of our countrymen." l These charts were never published, and they too are lost. The only detail about them is the remark of Hakluyt, that one showed that "from the mouth of the ryuer [La Plata], Cabot sayled vp the same into the lande for the space of three hundred and fiftieleaques." 2 (H) The engraved planisphere dated 1544, pre- served in the Geographical Department of the Paris National Library, and which is the only cartographical work of Cabot now in existence. For a description of the planisphere itself, its origin and several editions, we refer the reader to our Syllabus 3 ; limiting ourselves at present to a critical examination of certain parts. Considered as a graphic exposition of geographical positions and forms, this planisphere must rank as the most imperfect of all the Spanish maps of the xvi fch century which have reached us. Leaving aside the incomplete and faulty nomen- clature, 4 which may be ascribed to the fact that the map was not engraved in Spain, thus precluding Cabot from correcting the proof sheets, it contains the grossest cartographical and geographical errors. To commence with, Kohl noted, long before us, that the old world in Cabot's planisphere is very inferior to the same in the Italian and French maps of the time. That high authority makes also the following statement : " Even the coasts of the best and earliest known of all the seas, 1 HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, Lond., Estevanez, Juanino, Binimi, Nic- 1582, 4to, in the dedication to Sir axagoe," &c. &c. Also the strange Philip SIDNEY. division of sentences, such as " pora 2 EDEN, Decades, ARBER'S edition, quinopede pasar," "aquide san barco p. 243. panflo de narnaez," noted by KOHL, 8 Syllabus, No. Ixiv. Dociimentary History of the State of 4 See Hispaia, S. Migel, S. Juan Maine, Portland, 1869, 8vo, p. 363. 286 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEEN CABOT. the Mediterranean, are much misshapen and misplaced. Spain itself, and also Great Britain, the countries in which Sebastian Cabot passed the greater part of his life, are very carelessly repre- sented ; as for instance, Ireland is made as large as England and Scotland together. Iceland has the longitude of the Shetland Islands ! and it is placed directly north, instead of North West of Scotland." 1 As regards the New World, we are surprised to find how inferior its positions and outlines are, when compared with those of the Weimar maps, for in- stance, although these were constructed fifteen years previous. Labrador and Northern Canada which, naturally, should be much more exact than in the other charts of the time, are particularly defective. The entire coast of Nova Scotia is 2 too far south, whilst Riberio depicts it, in 1529, a great deal nearer its real latitude. So with the West Indian islands, where Cuba is placed by the Sevillian cartographer between 19 and 23 lat. north, its true place, whilst Cabot inscribes it between 20 and 24. The east coast for the part corresponding with our Rhode Island, and following the same as far as New York, which is comparatively exact in the Weimar charts (1527, 1529) in Verrazzano's (1529), in the planisphere of the Laurentiana (before 1530), in Wolfenbuttel B (about 1530), &c. &c., is extremely incorrect in Cabot's map, although he must have had in his hands the geographical data brought by Estevam Gomez in 1526. If now we examine the regions which he claimed to have discovered (Newfoundland), and those which he has certainly visited (La Plata), we notice with surprise how the shapes and positions are inaccurately and incompletely rendered. 2 Breaking up Newfoundland into such a multitude 1 KOHL, op. cit., p. 362. of Newfoundland in CABOT'S plani- 2 See the adjoining representations sphere and in our Admiralty charts. &6ayac(eofof6Cdcoj' y:depinof. NEWFOUNDLAND ACCORDING TO SEBASTIAN CABOT. NEWFOUNDLAND IN MODERN MAPS. HIS CARTOGRAPHICAL WORKS. 287 of fragments is certainly more erroneous than repre- senting that vast island as still forming part of the continent, such as we see it depicted in the early charts. Because, in reality, Newfoundland is separated from the mainland by a channel only a few miles wide. We have shown, too, that all this portion of Cabot's planisphere was borrowed from a French map made at Dieppe in 1541, and not from original tracings of either John or Sebastian Cabot, as everybody supposed. His responsibility is not lessened thereby. He was bound to correct those erroneous delineations, if reliance is to be placed in his statements so often repeated. As to his representation of the La Plata region, 1 it is almost as inexact as the preceding. The course of the Parana, particularly, is most defective, considering that the all-important elbow formed near Corrientes, and carrying the stream east- wards, is entirely omitted. Cabot even continues the river due north, confusing it with the Paraguay. We could multiply examples of such imperfections. Let us note, however, that Cabot does not therein persist in the strange declaration made by him on oath, in 1535, that he did not know whether north of the Gulf of Mexico America was a continental land or not. In this planisphere, the east and west coasts of the New World are duly traced without any break from the Arctic regions to the Strait of Magellan. On examining the longitudinal inscriptions of the planisphere of 1544, in the belief that they were at least based upon data furnished by Cabot himself, the astonishment is still greater. As Kohl has justly noticed, they are full of legends about sea monsters, people with one foot, or one eye, in short, all the old fables related by Adam of Bremen and other 1 We refer the reader to the maps in chapter viii. for a comparison. 288 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBN CABOT. authors of the Middle Ages. In the inscription " No. VII," where the La Plata River and Cabot's expedi- tion are described, mention is made of a report to the effect that in the mountains there are men with faces like dogs, and the lower limbs like those of an ostrich. 1 In No. IX, where the waters of Iceland are de- scribed, it is related that there had been seen a fish of the species called " Moraena," 2 a veritable sea serpent, and so colossal that it would attack a vessel and devour the sailors. Spectres or ghosts speaking in the air, 3 are also mentioned in the inscription on Ireland. The inscription "No. XII " treats of a nation of monsters with ears so large that they cover the whole body, 4 &c. &c. 1 "Algunos dellos dizen que en 3 " Y dizen que muchas uezes oyen ellas dichas sierras ay hombres que hablar spiritus y llamarse por sus tienen el rostro como de perro, y otros nombres, y parescer a personas uiuas." de la rodilla abaxos como de abestrux." 4 " Aqui ay monstruous semeiantes 2 " Ay grandissima multitud de a hombres que tenien las orcias tan pescado, y muchos dellos de monstruosa grandes que les cubre todo el cuerpo." forma, an uisto los que en este mar This detail seems to have been nauegan morenas grandissimas que borrowed from the illustrations in the parescen grandes sierpes, y acometer a mappamundi of the Ptolemy of 1522. los nauios para comerse los naue- See the description in our Notes on gantes." Columbus, p. 177. CHAPTER XII. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (B) HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERIES IN MAGNETICS. IN our opinion, Sebastian Cabot owed his great reputation, as a scientist, not so much to the maps which he constructed, as to a supposed pro- found knowledge of the mariner's compass and its mysteries. Many writers even ascribe to him the discovery both of the declination and variation of the magnetic needle. In fact, Cabot discovered neither, nor indeed anything useful or practical rei - tive to the same, his own boasts to that effect not- withstanding. ^> We beg to draw a distinction between two terms used in English interchangeably, viz. : declination and variation. The declination is the deviation, westward or eastward, of the magnetic needle from the true north point, whilst the variation is the change in the declination in different parts of the world, or at different times in the same place. This implies the existence of two distinct orders of pheno- mena, and two different discoveries. The legend, to which people still cling, attributing either or both to Sebastian Cabot, can also be traced to himself. Here is what Livio Sanuto wrote before 1553, in the life time of Cabot, although the account was printed only in 1588. " I was for many years the friend of a gentleman called Guido Giannetti di Fano, a man worthy of esteem for his learning and T 290 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEffN CABOT. virtuous habits. From him I first learnt, not without wondering, that the needle of the mariner's compass, when rubbed with a loadstone, does not always point to the meridian of the observer, but to a place some degrees distant from that meridian, which place, whatever its distance may be, is nevertheless indicated by that needle, sometimes at that meridian itself, at other times some- what near it, and again at a great distance. It was Sebastian Caboto, a Venetian, and most excellent pilot, who, from ex- perience and experiments carried out while sailing to the Indies, discovered that secret, which he afterwards disclosed to the most serene King of England, Giannetti had the great honour of being present (as I have heard from others). Cabot demonstrated at the same time what that distance was, and that it did not appear the same in every place." l Sanuto's statement shows that the declination and variation were both explained to Edward VI. by Sebastian Cabot as phenomena hitherto unnoticed, and of which he claimed to be, according to an eye witness, the discoverer. This is the sole origin of the story that he achieved these two great discoveries. William Gilbert 2 (1600), Father Athanasius Kircher 3 (1641), Father George Four- nier 4 (1643), Fontenelle 5 (1712), Foscarini 6 (1752), 1 Livio SANUTO, op. cit. ferrum non variare," which is correct. 2 " Sebastianus Cabottus primus But although OVIEDO described the inuenit quod magneticum ferrum magnetic phenomenon in 1525, and variaret" G. GILBERTUS, De Magnete 1535 (Sumario, BARCIA'S edit., p. 48, magnetisque corporibus, et de magno xn&Historia 67. de las Indicts, vol. i. pp. magnete tellure ; Londini, 1600, sm. 23 and 44), he never laid claim to any folio, p. 4. He quotes Livio SANUTO, discovery of the kind. On the contrary, lib. iv, cap. 9. he speaks of the line with no variation 8 Father Athanasius KIRCHER, Mag- in terms implying that it was generally nes sive de magnetica arte ; Romse, known. 1641, 4to, p. 33. 5 " La declinaison vient 300 ans 4 " Et Ton dit que ce rut Oviedo qui apres. Le premier qui 1'ait publiee a observa le premier que Paiguille re- ete Cabot, Venitien, en 1549." FON- gardait droit au nord, proche des iles TENELLE, Histoire de FAcadhnie des du Corbeau et des Fleurs, et que Sciences, for 1712, printed 1714, p. 18. Cabot remarqua fort exactement les The date shows that his source of in- declinaisons que 1'aymant faisoit en formation is CABOT'S longitudinal in- divers endroits des costes de 1'Ame- scription, No. I, borrowed from rique qu'il decouvrit." FOURNIER, KOCHAFF, (CHYTR^EUS), Variorum Hydrographie, Paris, 1643, pp. 541, Itinerarum Delicice, Herborn, 1594, 545. GILBERT also says (op. cit.) sm. 4to, p. 773. " Gonzalus Ouiedus primus scribit in 6 FOSCARINI, Delia letteratura vene- sua historia in meridiano Azorum ziana, 1752, fol., vol. i, p. 439. HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERIES IN MAGNETICS. 291 were all of that opinion. Unfortunately, they also (with the exception of Fontenelle, who derived his belief on the subject indirectly from the legend in the Cabotian planisphere), based their credence exclusively upon Sanuto's Geographia distinta. In fact, no author before these ever mentions Cabot's name in connection with the phenomena of the magnetic needle. If he had made any discovery of the kind, Oviedo (1535), Petro de Medina (1545), Martin Cortes (1545-1551), Pedro Nunez (1546), Jacobo de Saa (1549), and Ramusio, who all took great interest in magnetics, and were in a position to be among the first to learn whatever transpired on the subject, particularly in Spain, could not have failed to mention it, when treating of the "pro- prieades del iman, y variaciones de la aguya." Almost all modern encyclopedias not only follow the above mentioned writers, but go so far as to fix a date for these pretended discoveries of Cabot, viz. : 1497. Their starting point we presume to be the inscription north of Greenland, in Ruysch's mappa- mundi (1508), stating that "here the mariner's com- pass ceases to work, and the ships which have iron on board cannot return." As the commentator of that map, Marcus Beneventanus, speaks of having been informed of the discoveries accomplished by the English : " atque Britannorum quos Anglos nunc dicimus," scholars versed in cosmography may have inferred that there was a connexion between the legend, which certainly indicates an observation of the magnetic declination, and Cabot's voyages in that country under the English flag. 1 We believe that here again it is an inference from Sanuto's 1 " Hie compassus navium non tenet 35o-36o longitude W. See BIDDLE, nee naves que ferrum tenent revertere Memoir of Cabot, p. 177 ; HUMBOLDT, valent." That inscription is placed in Examen. Critique, vol. iii, p. 32, note, RUYSCH'S map, according to its own and GHILLANY, Geschichte des Martin graduation, in85-9O latitude N., and Behazm, p. 4. 292 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEffN CABOT. statement, where the alleged magnetic discoveries of Cabot are said to have resulted " dalle osservazioni per lui fatte, mentre egli navigava alle Indie." 1 That Sebastian Cabot had no share whatever in the discovery of these phenomena will ap- pear perfectly clear from the following facts and reasons. First, as to the magnetic declination. This must have been observed ever since a real compass came into use. 2 When we think of the great and con- tinuous attention with which mariners at sea necessarily watched the magnetic needle, it is difficult to conceive that in the course of the xiii th or xiv th century the declination failed to be noticed, not, of course, in the Atlantic Ocean beyond the Azores before Columbus, since he was the first navigator who reached the Oceanic regions where the phenomenon appeared to him, but elsewhere. At all events, on the night of the i3th of September I492, 3 that is, five years at least before any of the Cabots, Columbus noticed that the needle deviated from the polar star, which was then believed to be the true north point. He therefore observed what we call the magnetic declination. Second, as to the magnetic variation. Here again, if Columbus ever made a discovery in that order of phenomena, it was the variation proper, on the i3th of September 1492, 2ist of May|i496, and August 1 6th, 1498.* The latest date is thus two years before Sebastian Cabot could have observed that peculiarity of the needle. 1 SANUTO, ubi supra. HUMBOLDT, Cosmos, London, 1849, 2 LIBRI, Histoire des Sciences mathg- vol. ii, p. 656. matiqties en Italie, Halle, 1865, vol. 3 NAVARRETE, vol. i, p. 8. ii, p. 72. D'AVEZAC, Aperfus histo- 4 Ibidem, pp. 8, 9, 254, Venetia, riques stir la Boussole, in Bulletin de la 1571, and Fernando COLUMBUS, His- de Gtographie, March 1858 ; torie, fo. 149, recto. HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERIES IN MAGNETICS. 293 Another phenomenon of the kind, the discovery of which is also erroneously attributed to Sebastian Cabot, is that of the line with no variation. This belief is likewise derived from a phrase of Sanuto, to the effect that Cabot showed Edward VI. the " meridian " where the needle pointed to the true north point, which " meridian," Sanuto adds, Cabot inscribed on a map no miles west of Flores, one of the Azores. 1 It is certain that Cabot marked in his maps a line which he considered as indicating constantly and exactly, from one pole to another, the true north point This we find mentioned in his letter to Samano, 2 and in the description of the mappamundi which he sent to Charles V., 3 in 1553. Also, in his planisphere of 1544 can be seen, about 45 west longitude, a line bearing this inscription ; " Meridiano adonde el aguia de marear muestra directamente el norte." But it does not follow that Cabot was the first to find a line with no variation. Long before him Columbus too advanced the opinion, (May 23rd, 1496), that the compass in a certain part of the Atlantic Ocean approached nearer the Polar star than it did in the Mediterranean Sea, and that the needle finally attained the said star, in 30 longitude and 28 latitude, several days after losing sight of Flores. As the Polar star, according to the notions of the time, was considered to be at the true north point, Columbus certainly noted that in some place west of the Canaries,* there was no magnetic variation. He doubtless also imagined, 1 "Et a quello ancora, die io dapoi delta Fiori di quelle pur delli Azori." vidi con gli ochi miei in una carta da SANUTO, loc. cit. navigare diligentissima fatta a mano, e 2 Supra, p. 282. tutta ritratta a punto da una propria 3 Supra, p. 283. del dette del detto Caboto ; nella quale 4 Wilfried DE FONVIELLE, Comptes si riconosce il luogo del detto meri- rendus de FAcadtmie des Sciences, vol. diano esser per miglia cento e dieci cxv, No. 12, p. 450; HUMBOLDT lontano verso Occidente dalla Isola Examen Critique, vol. iii, p. 38. 294 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SE&N CABOT. like Sebastian Cabot and others after him, that the said place was a point of a great circle passing through the poles of the earth. Let us add that certain remarks of Oviedo, so early as 1525,* imply a current belief in that phenomenon, and although well acquainted with the scientific efforts of Sebastian Cabot, he never cites his name when describing that or any other magnetic fact. The manner in which Bartolommeo Compagni, the informer in England of Livio Sanuto, mentions 2 the line with no variation used in Cabot's map as a meridian, leads us to believe that in his opinion, Sebastian Cabot was likewise the inventor of maps exhibiting the magnetic variations. It is true that the Cabotian planisphere of 1544, sets forth not only one such alleged line, but two. The first extends from one pole to the other (which is scarcely ad- missible, when we examine the curves described by all magnetic lines known), 3 in Cabot's 335 longi- tude, which corresponds to about our 25 longitude west. The other is a point, much more than a line, although its linear character is implied. This is between 140-! 55 longitude and 5-io latitude of the said planisphere. But Alonso de Santa Cruz has always passed in Spain as the inventor of that class of maps, one of which he exhibited to the great Junta of pilots presided over by the Bishop of Lugo at Seville in 1536, and which attracted much attention. It is described in the documents of the time as follows : " Una carta marina de variaciones magneticas, para que viese cuales eran en todas las partes del mundo, y pudiesen los pilotos guiarse con este conocimiento en sus derotas : 4 A marine chart of magnetical variations, that it may be seen what they are in all 1 OVIEDO, ubi supra. derung der magnetischen Deklination 2 SANUTO, loc. tit. im Zeitraum von 1600-1858." 3 Atlas des Erdmagnetismus (BER- 4 NAVARRETE, Coleccion de opus- GHAUS'S) bearbeitet von Dr. George culos, Madrid, 1848, 8vo, vol. ii, p. Neumayer; Gotha, 1891. See "An- 68. HIS ALLEGED DISCOVERIES IN MAGNETICS. 295 parts of the world, and that pilots may guide themselves with that knowledge in their routes." In 1536, Sebastian Cabot was at the height of his professional influence in Spain, owing chiefly to his position of Pilot-Major. By virtue of that important office, he was a member of the Junta, and certainly attended its sittings. Yet not a single historian of the period ascribes to him the merit of that invention, or of any other application of magnetic phenomena for such a purpose. Felipe Guillen, Alonso de Santa Cruz, 1 Rodrigo de Corcuera, these are the names which we always find mentioned at Seville 2 and elsewhere in Spain in connection with the properties of the needle or their cartographical representation. 1 VENEGAS, Diferencias de libros 2 NAVARRETE, op. cit. , pp. 63, 64, que hay en el universe^ Toledo, 1546, 67, and his Historia de la Nautica, p. 4to, cap. xvi. 190, seq. CHAPTER XIII. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (c) HIS FIRST METHOD FOR FINDING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. A method for finding the longitude at sea was, naturally, one of the first problems which navi- gators attempted to solve. When the deviation of the magnetic needle from the true north point, and the variation of that deviation had been methodically noted, these two phenomena were supposed to afford means for determining the longitude. Not only mariners, but astronomers and mathematicians, especially in the first quarter of the xvi fch century, 1 studied the question assiduously, and many actually thought they had solved it practically. Even an apothecary of Seville, Felipe Guillen, who, let it be said, was endowed with a real scientific spirit, invented an instrument for that purpose, based upon the variation of the compass, and which was extensively used on land and at sea, we do not know with what success. Guillen's reputation on that account was such, that Joao III. summoned him to Portugal, and rewarded his efforts in 1525^ 1 APIANUS, WERNER, &c. &c. The Histoire de FAcad&mie des Sciences, Perle de Cosmographie, and the Trait Paris, 4to, 1712, p. 1 8. sur les variations deF aiguille aimantge, 2 Concerning this truly interesting written by Pierre CRIGNON, the Dieppe character, see the satire Trovas a Felipe pilot, in 1534, are also said to have Gmlkem, by the "Portuguese Plautus," contained " un systeme de 1'aimant par Gil VICENTE, and biographical notes, lequel 1'auteur croit avoir trouve le written in the time of GUILLEN, in secret des longitudes." DELISLE, Obras de Gil Vicente correctas e emeu- FINDING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. 297 As we may well imagine, Sebastian Cabot also occupied himself with that important problem, and boldly asserted that he had discovered its solution. The earliest reference to that pretended discovery is to be found in the conversation which he had at Valladolid, on the 3ist of 'December 1522, with Gasparo Contarini. The Venetian embassador reports it in these words : "We spoke of many things pertaining to geography, among which Cabot mentioned a very clever method observed by him- self, which had never been previously discovered by any one, for ascertaining by the compass the distance between two places, from east to west, as Your Serenity will hear from his own lips when he comes to Venice." 1 Any one at all conversant with the subject knows full well that such a discovery is impossible; because those quantities, so called, cannot be measured at sea with sufficient precision. Even if the required accuracy could be obtained, the determination for the time being would scarcely serve in the future, since those magnetic lines shift their positions and we do not know the law which regulates such dis- placements. Besides, the lines upon which that alleged theory is based, are very far, indeed, from being meridians, as can be easily seen in maps exhibiting that class of magnetic phenomena. It is quite certain, therefore, that if Cabot ever put forward a theory for ascertaining the longitude at sea by means of the compass, it was absolutely worthless. It is true that a number of savants in the time of Cabot, dados i Hamburgh, 1834, 8vo, vol. iii, me disse uno modo che 1' hauea p. 377 ; NAVARRETE, Opuscules, vol. observato per la via del bossolo di ii, p, 67, and the documents lately cognosser la distantia fra due lochi da published by Mr SOUSA VITERBO, levante al ponente, molto bello ne mai Trabalhos nauticos dos Portugueses nos piu observato da altri, come da lui seculos ocvi e xvii. Segunda serie. venendo Vostra Serenita, potra in- Coimbra, 1894, 8vo, pp. 19-27. tender." Dispatch of CONTARINI, 1 ' ' Lui ragionando cum me de Jean et Stbastien Cabot ', doc. xxviii, molte eose di geographia fra le altre p. 350. 298 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SE&N CABOT. and even until the close of the xvi to century, Giambattista della Porta 1 and Livio Sanuto, 2 for in- stance, shared the illusion, whilst others, like the Portuguese pilot Bartholomeu Velho, 3 continued to invent instruments for that purpose, but the idea was nevertheless chimerical, as William Gilbert finally showed, to the satisfaction of every thinker. 4 Even the idea of interrogating magnetic pheno- mena with the object of finding such a method did not originate with Sebastian Cabot. Twenty-six years before Cabot's declarations to Contarini, Christopher Columbus, on the 23rd of May 1496, endeavoured to find the longitude at sea, by means of the needle, and actually believed that he had succeeded. In the Journal of the second voyage of Columbus, under the above date, there is the following statement, which we translate from the Italian version, as the original Spanish is lost. " This morning, the variation of the Flemish needles was, as usual, J towards the N.W., whilst the variation of the Genoese needles, which, generally, was the same as the variation of the Flemish ones, stood null, or very feeble, towards the N.W. Afterwards, when we get more to the East, that variation of the Genoese needles will become N.W. [sic pro N.E.]. 5 This fact proves that we were more than one hundred leagues west of the Azores, for, when we found ourselves just one hundred leagues from facillement Sauoir, la longitud tous de miractilis rerum naturalium ; Nea- les jours universellement ; et aussi par poli, 1589, folio, lib. vii, cap. xxxviii, ledit instrument Ion puisse ssauoir la p. 143. longitud a tout heure par vn' aultre 3 Livio SANUTO, op. cit. maniere." 3 In the remarkable inventory of 4 Wm. GILBERT, see the chapter VELHO'S nautical instruments, globes, " An longitudo terrestris inveniri pos- charts, &c., published by Mr SOUSA sit per variationem quomodo mundi VITERBO (op. cit., p. 32), we notice longitudino magnet is ope possit the following : "Que se puisse scauoir vestigari," in Tractatus sive Physiologia la longitud et distance du lest vest nova de Magnete, Sedini, 1633, 4to, par 1' instrument orizontal, qu'est de lib. iv, cap. ix, p. 164. 1'aguylle de nauiguer : la quelle vertu 5 " Per 1'auuenire hanno a noruestare precede de la pierre d' aimant et andando il Leste." Fernando COLUM- partant dequel se veulle portt de mer, BUS, Historic^ Venet., 1571, cap. Ixiii, soict orient ou Occident, se puisse fo. 149 recto. FINDING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. 299 those islands, which was ascertained from the sparse agglomerations of sargass weeds on the sea, the variation of the Flemish needles was J towards the N.W., whilst the Genoese ones pointed exactly towards the North Star, and remained in that direction gradually as we advanced to the E.N.E. This we were able to verify the following Sunday, May 22nd \sicpro 26th]. From that indication, and the exactness of his [Columbus's] point, he then [says his son] learned that he was one hundred leagues from the Azores." l Without endeavouring to account for the extra- ordinary statement of Columbus, viz. : that when he was one hundred leagues west of the Azores, his Genoese needles, which until then had pointed to the same direction as his Flemish ones, suddenly taking a new course, formed an angle of 5- towards the east, which went on increasing as he steered further east- ward, whilst his Flemish needles continued to point as they did at first, and to form an angle of ^ towards the west, although when two freely moving magnetic needles are disposed precisely in the same manner, they will preserve their parallelism at all times and everywhere, we wish to draw, for the present, only one conclusion from the above extract. It is that Columbus believed, long before Sebastian Cabot, that a relation existed between what is called longi- tude and the declination of the magnetic needle and, further, that the variation might serve to ascertain the ship's position with respect to a given meridian, eastward or westward. Nor was it, in Columbus's mind, a mere theory, as he claimed to have actually determined his position by means of the variation of the Genoese needles : " dal quale indicio, et dalla certezza del suo punto conobbe allhora, che si ritrouaua cento leghe lontano dalle isole de gli Astori." It is scarcely necessary to add that although Columbus, for aught we know, may have really been on the 26th of May 1496, just one hundred leagues 1 Ibidem. 300 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEffN CABOT. west of the Azores, it is certain that he cannot have derived such a certitude from the variation of his compass ; for the simple reason that those magnetic lines are irregularly curved, and do not coincide with the direction of the meridian. At all events, the notions of the great Genoese on the subject show that Sebastian Cabot cannot even lay claim to origi- nality in these erroneous ideas. CHAPTER XIV. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (D) HIS SECOND METHOD FOR TAKING THE LONGITUDE. CEBASTIAN Cabot devised another method for *^? taking the longitude at sea. This time, it was not by means of the variation of the magnetic needle, but by the declination of the sun. That method is set forth in a work written by the celebrated cosmographer, Alonso de Santa Cruz, Cabot's companion in the expedition to La Plata, and entitled as follows : " Libro de las Longitudes y manera que hasta agora se ha tenido en el arte de navegar, con sus demonstraciones y ejemplos : The Book of Longitudes, and the method known to the present time in the Art of Navigation, with its demonstrations and examples," It is dedicated to Philip II., and has never been printed. Nor is it dated. The fact that Cabot is mentioned as occupying the post of Pilot-Major in England, shows that it was written by Santa Cruz after 1547. Reference is also made therein to the Junta of cosmographers and astrologers (i.e. astronomers), presided over by the Marquis de Mon- dejar, to examine the memoirs written, and instru- ments constructed by Apianus to find the longitude. We have been unable, notwithstanding arduous re- searches, to ascertain when that Junta met. Santa Cruz, addressing himself to Philip II., says only that it was " called by order of His Majesty." At first sight, this implies a date subsequent to 1556, which 302 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SE&N CABOT. is the year when that prince ascended the throne. On the other hand, Apianus, who had for many years intercourse with Charles V., died in 1552, and Philip II., by virtue of his prerogatives as Regent of Spain (" Principe Gobernador "), may have convoked such a Junta as far back as 1543. Withal, there is nothing to prevent Cabot from having written the description of his method long before it was communicated to Santa Cruz. So that, upon the whole, we possess no data enabling us to fix the time when he made this alleged discovery. After discussing the methods proposed by Guillen, Apianus, Werner and others to find the longitude at sea, Santa Cruz describes Sebastian Cabot's, which is the fifth in the Libra de Longitudes. The description is based upon a written treatise of Cabot, the original of which we have failed to find. But the reader may rest assured that it is faithfully reproduced, at least as to its substance, in the analysis of Santa Cruz. For this reason we venture to give here this curious document, which forms an interesting chapter in the history of nautical science, and initiates us into Sebastian Cabot's mode of scientific thought and deductions. We must, however, warn our readers that his method for determining the longi- tude at sea by the declination of the sun, is just as useless and erroneous as the one which he claimed to have discovered for obtaining the same results by the variation of the magnetic needle. " The method of Sebastian Caboto, Pilot-Major to His Majesty in England, for obtaining the longitude [at sea], has been com- municated by a certain person to Your Majesty [Philip II.]. I briefly explained this method to Your Majesty as soon as it came to my knowledge, in order that Your Majesty might add it to the other known methods of finding the longitude. I now proceed to develop it as fully as I have the other methods : l 1 We have modified the phraseology absolutely necessary to render his of SANTA CRUZ only so far as it was text intelligible to modern readers. TAKING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. 303 First, in order to find the difference of longitude of any points, however distant they may be from one another, East to West, or West to East, we must know that, in a little less than a year,, the sun in its course passes through all the signs of the Zodiac, taking something more or something less than a month to move through each of these divisions ; thus it passes through almost one degree per day. Moreover, we must not forget that the Zodiac [Ecliptic] retreats from the Equator, after cutting it at two points which are the zero- points of the signs Aries and Libra graduated into degrees and minutes. Now, the declination of any part of the heavens, whether divisions of the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic] or stars, etc., being merely the distance of that part from the Equator, the two points of inter- section of the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic] and the Equator have a de- clination zero ; likewise, the declinations of the divisions of the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic] increase with their distances from the Equator up to the signs of Cancer and Capricornus which are at a distance of about 23^ : when in one of these two signs, the sun's declination equals 23 J, its greatest possible value ; in every other sign, its declination is more or less great, according to the position of the sign in the Zodiac, but it is always less than 23 \. Further, we must bear in mind that, as each degree of the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic] has a declination of a definite value, so also the sixty minutes of any degree have certain declinations proportional to the distance of these minutes from minute zero. Thus, the zero-point of the first minute of the first degree of Aries having a declination zero, and the zero-point of the first minute of the second degree of the same sign having a declina- tion of 24', it is evident that these 24' must be distributed pro- portionally among each of the 60' through which the sun moves in the Ecliptic in the space of one day, approximate time necessary for the sun to pass through one degree of the Ecliptic. By calculating, we see that a motion of 2 J' in the Ecliptic causes a variation of one minute in the sun's declination. Now let us suppose that, on the tenth of March, the sun is at the zero-point of the first minute of degree one of sign Aries, its de- clination being zero, and that at the same moment it crosses the meridian of Seville : when, in consequence of the diurnal rotation of the celestial sphere, the sun has come to the Qoth degree west of the meridian of Seville, its proper motion in the Ecliptic will have brought it to the i5th minute of degree one of Aries, at this moment its declination will be 6'. The Spanish original, however, is in- authentic manuscript now preserved serted in our Syllabus^ No. LXXXV, in the Madrid National Library, faithfully copied entire from the 304 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEB'N CABOT. When, continuing its course towards the West, still in virtue of the diurnal rotation, it comes to the degree of longitude 180 west of Seville, it will have moved, by its proper motion, through 30' of the first degree of Aries and will then have a declination of 12'. On reaching the 2yoth degree of longitude west of Seville, it will be at the 45th minute of the first degree of Aries with a declination of 18'. On its return to the meridian of Seville, it will have passed through 360 by its apparent diurnal motion, plus, through the 60' of the first degree of Aries, its declination will then be equal to the 24' mentioned above. The sun now enters the first minute of the second degree of Aries, moving through the minutes of this degree, according to its proper motion, as has been explained for degree one. We see from the above that the transit of the sun over the meri- dians mentioned above enables us to deduce that the sun's declination for the moment of transit, although the difference of the sun's declination from one meridian to another diminishes as the sun approaches the tropics. The difference of declination between two positions of the sun in the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic] distant by one minute cannot exceed 24' ; near the tropics it is very slight ; it even equals zero when the sun is actually at one of them. On this principle, a book ought to be constructed containing tables \i.e. Ephemerides], in which should be inscribed, for every day of the year, the sun's declination computed for the meridian of Seville, that being the starting point for navigators towards the West and North, and near the meridian of Lisbon, the starting point for the South and East. In order to obtain tables of greater precision, the sun's declina- tion should be inscribed for each minute of degree in the Ecliptic, because the differences of declination from one minute to another are not equal. This Ptolemy clearly demonstrates in his Almagest where the differences of declination are obtained by arcs and chords from which angles of position result. The differences of declination for an interval of one degree in the Ecliptic being known, we obtain, by the Rule of Three, the difference of declination for an interval of one minute belonging to the same degree, saying : If an arc in the Ecliptic of a certain number of minutes corresponds to a certain chord or difference of declination, then another arc of the Ecliptic will correspond, in the same pro- portion, to another chord or difference of declination. Thus Ptolemy obtained in his time the declinations of the sun for all the degrees of the Zodiac [sic pro Ecliptic], on the hypothesis that the sun's greatest declination was 23 and 53'. The navigators of our days use the number 23 33' for the sun's TAKING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. 305 greatest declination ; Orontius [Fine] in his book makes it equal 23 30' ; I do not hold this value to be exact, neither does Vernezio [Johannes Werner] according to whose observations it is 23 28'. My own [Santa Cruz's ?] observations made at Seville with graduated instruments of great precision have given me the value of 23 26' for the sun's greatest declination. With this value as a basis, I [Cabot, or Santa Cruz ?] have com- puted the sun's declinations for the meridian of Seville so that by augmenting or diminishing the computed declinations according to their places of observations pilots can obtain the sun's declina- tion for the meridians of said places. The lack of accuracy with regard to the sun's declinations, as inscribed in the books now used by pilots, is a cause of serious errors in the results deduced by them from observations of alti- tudes. An error of J or more in the declination employed, and an error equally great committed in the observation of the sun's altitude may produce an error of almost one degree in the latitude, which is a serious inconvenience when seeking cape or port. Setting aside this cause of error, let us suppose that the above mentioned tables are compiled with all desirable precision, there should then be constructed an instrument graduated into 90 each of which shall be subdivided into 6o ; . This instrument may be a quadrant with an alidade or ruler fixed at the centre, such as in the astrolabe, and provided with two pinules serving for observations of altitudes. Then it will be necessary to know, for the place of observation, the sun's maximum meridian altitude when in the tropic of Cancer -, its minimum meridian altitude when in the tropic of Capricornus ; and its mean meridian altitude when in the Equator. These alti- tudes being noted on the instrument, all the intermediate altitudes will give us the sun's declinations when on either side of the Equator. One of the sides of this quadrant must be fixed to the ground in such a manner that the instrument inclines neither to one side nor the other, as Ptolemy advises in his Almagest. The sun's declina- tion for the meridian of Seville being known for all the days of the year, and the sun's declination for any given meridian being ob- tained by observation, we can deduce the difference of the sun's declination on the meridian of Seville and the meridian in question, and thence the difference in longitude according to explanations given above." 1 1 We express our sincere thanks to National Observatory, for her able our gifted countrywoman, Miss Doro- translation into English of a French thea KLUMPKE, in charge of an im- version of the above extremely diffi- portant department in the Paris cult text. We are also under the U 306 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SE&N CABOT. Santa Cruz then proceeds to state his objections to Cabot's method. These we must give, as showing the principal reasons which the greatest Spanish savant then living could urge against the theory. " I think these explanations are sufficient," says Santa Cruz, " for setting forth this method. It seems, nevertheless, to be attended with certain drawbacks which would prevent us from achieving the end proposed by its use. First, pilots will not be able to make use of the quadrant on ship board owing to the great dimensions of the instrument which are requisite for its graduation into degrees and minutes of degrees. Further, the motion of the ship will render impracticable the con- dition of stability required by the preceding considerations. Secondly, it is impossible to obtain, with sufficient accuracy, the sun's declination for all the days of the year. When the sun passes through the signs Gemini, Cancer, Sagittarius, Capricornus, its declination cannot be obtained within one minute owing to the slight difference of declination from one day to another." Other reasons are given, and in short, the theory set forth in the above document amounts to this : The latitude being known, the question is to deter- mine the sun's declination by observation of its meridian altitude. The sun's declination, at the moment of transit over the first meridian, is also known for the date of observation by means of tables established for every day of the year. From the difference of these two declinations is computed the time elapsed between the two transits of the sun over the first meridian and the meridian of observa- tion, viz. : the longitude, on the hypothesis that, for this interval of time, the motion of declination is proportional to the time elapsed. In whatever manner we may consider the problem of longitudes, we shall finally be compelled to com- pare the time of the first meridian with the simul- taneous time of observation. The chronometer, still greatest obligations to the late without whose obliging and scientific Admiral FLEURIAIS, and to Lieut, aid we could not have written the BAUVIEUX of the French Navy, present chapter and the next. TAKING THE LONGITUDE AT SEA. 307 better the telegraph, now give us this result in a simple manner. Formerly the time of observation was obtained by observing the heavens. The moon, because of its proper motion comparatively great, is the only body which enables us to obtain that time with a certain precision. However, for the moon whose motion is about 360 in 27 days = 2332800 seconds of time, an error of one second of arc in the determination of the lunar distance from the neighbouring stars, corre- sponds to f iff#o = about two seconds of time ; and an error of 10 seconds in observation corresponds to 20 seconds of time = 300 seconds of arc = 5 minutes of arc, that is, 30 times the error of observation. Now if the moon's daily motion among the stars, which is, on an average, from 12 to 13 per day, is justly considered as being very slight, what shall we say of the sun's motion, which does not equal one degree in 24 hours (360 in one year) ? Setting aside, in this explanation of Sebastian Cabot's theory, the absolute errors regarding the motion in declination, which does not vary pro- portionately to time, we sum up our objections as follows : The sun's declination oscillates in one year from 23^ North to 23^- South, that is, 47 in 365 days, or 169200 seconds of arc in about 31536000 seconds of time. Thus an error of one second of arc in the deter- mination of the sun's declination, according to Cabot's method, would lead to an error in longitude of 251 seconds of time. With observations of the present day made within 10 seconds of arc, the above would lead to an error in longitude of 2511 seconds of time = 42 minutes of time = 630 minutes of arc= ioJ-. Now, taking into consideration that in the middle 308 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SE&N CABOT. of the xvi fch century observations of altitude within one minute were taken on land with great difficulty, because telescopes (invented only in 1609), verniers and levels of precision, were then unknown, the error in longitude, when following Cabot's method, would have actually reached sixty degrees, that is, one- sixth of the circumference of the globe ! CHAPTER XV. THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. (E) HIS NAUTICAL THEORIES, AND SAILING DIRECTIONS. IN Cabot's planisphere of 1544, there is a legend describing his theory for directing and measur- ing the course of ships by scientific principles and observations, coupled with two applications of the same, which amount to real sailing directions. But the language is far from being clear, either in the Spanish or Latin, and the theories are based upon postulates still less intelligible. We will nevertheless give here a verbatim translation of the original Spanish text, and add our understanding of the difficult passages. "Explanation by the Author, with certain reasons for the deviation of the compass from the North Star. Sebastian Caboto, Captain and Pilot-Major of His S[acred] Cfatholic] C[aesarean] Majesty the Emperor Charles, fifth of the name, and the King our lord, has constructed this [geographical] figure projected on a plane, in the year of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ 1544, drawn with the degrees of longitude and latitude, and directions of the winds, 1 as in a marine chart, imitated partly from Ptolemy, partly from modern discoverers, Spanish as well as Portuguese, and partly from the discoveries of his father and him- self, whereby you will be able to navigate just as you would with a chart, taking into account the variation of the [magnetic] needle from the North Star. For instance. When desiring to sail from Cape St. Vincent to Cape Finisterre, you give orders to steer northwards by your compass, and will reach that cape ; but the course really followed by your ship will have been North by East, because at Cape St. Vincent your needle 1 The Latin version gives here : " ventorumque siturn. " 310 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEEN CABOT. deviates, from the north, one point towards the north-east. It follows that when you order your ship to steer northwards by your compass, your [real] course will be north by east. In the same manner, when leaving Salmedina (which is a reef outside San Lucar de Barrameda), to go to [Ajnaga Point in the island of Teneriff, you will order to steer south-west by your compass, and will reach the said [Ajnaga Point where it is marked on the chart. But your course will not be south-west, because your compass deviates at Salmedina from the north a full point to the eastward of north. The real route shall be a full point to south of south- west. You will be able therefore to say that when sailing from Cape St. Vincent northwards, your [real] course shall be south- west by south. 1 You will consequently steer in the same manner in all other parts of this Universe, taking into account the variation of your compass from the North Star ; for the said compass neither points to nor remains in the direction of the north in all places, as common people believe ; because the loadstone does not possess, as it seems, the property of causing the needle to point to the north in all places. On the contrary, experience shows that in one place only it possesses the property of maintaining the needle fixed and stable. This shows that it is directed in a straight line, what- ever may be the wind [" viento "], and not in a circular line [sit], and that is the cause of the said variation. For, if the needle pointed to the north, always and everywhere, it would not variate at all, being then directed in a circular line [sit], and you would always be in a parallel ; which is impossible when [steering] in a straight line over a round body. 2 You should also notice that the more you increase your distance, eastward or westward, from the meridian where the needle points due north, the more the direction of your needle, that is, the flower- de-luce which marks the north, will deviate from the latter. This shows clearly that the needle is directed in a straight line, and not in a circular one. You ought to know likewise that the meridian where the needle points due north, is the one which passes thirty-five leagues from the island of Flores, the last of the Azores westward. This is the opinion of persons who have acquired great experience on the subject after daily navigations westward to the Indies of the Oceanic Sea. Thus Sebastian Cabot, when steering towards the west, found himself in regions where north-east one quarter north of his compass pointed exactly to the north. It follows clearly 1 CABOT commits here a gross error, true, and not to South- West one The South- West (course) magnetic^ quarter South true. with one point of easterly variation, 2 Concerning that passage, see Sylla- corresponds to South-West by West bus, Ixvi, c. HIS NA UTICAL THEORIES. 311 from those observations that the magnetic needle really swerves from the North Star." Here again, we find the mistaken notion that the curves of equal magnetic declination are meridians. And Cabot not only bases his sailing directions on that most erroneous belief, but makes it serve, with just as little propriety, towards explaining the cause of the magnetic declination ! Another of his fallacies in connection with the above, we find set forth in the curious phrase: "fo^ado por circular." How can the direction of a force be otherwise than in a straight line ? We shall now examine the sailing directions which he laid out when crossing the Atlantic on his way to the Moluccas, by way of the Strait of Magellan. The seventh question of the Fiscal in the judicial inquiry of the 2nd of November 1530, was as follows : " Do you know whether it was through bad sailing and command on the part of Sebastian Cabot, when in the region (' paraje ') of the Cape Verd islands, that he altered his course a quarter [one point], which took him to St. Augustine ? " To complete the question, it is necessary to add that, according to one of Cabot's own witnesses, it was when off the island of Palma that the change was ordered and carried out. 1 The object of the question addressed by the Fiscal was to ascertain whether Cabot, in shaping out that course, had wilfully gone to Brazil instead of the Molucca and thereby caused the failure of the expedition, or if he had betrayed, in giving such sailing directions, a great lack of seamanship. Montoya, Calderon, Master Juan, Celis, Hoga9on, and Junco testified that Cabot ordered the change, which, in the positive opinion of four of them, was 1 ' ' Maestre Juan dixo que sabe quel dicho Sebastian Gaboto fizo mudar una quarta despues de partidos de la ysla de la palma. " 312 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEBN CABOT. the primary cause of the misfortune that happened afterwards. But it is principally in Captain Caro's deposition that we find specific reasons enabling us to ascertain whether Cabot was to blame or not, and to what extent. That deposition of Captain Caro, who commanded the Santa Maria del Espinar at the time of the occurrence, is as follows : " On the very day that Cabot prescribed the route which the pilots were to take in the region (parage) of Cape Verde, he gave orders to alter the course which they were following to the southward, and to steer a point more to the westward. Deponent was then informed that one of the pilots objected to such a change of course, on the ground that this change would carry them to the coast of Brazil, and that in the winter, which com- mences in May, ships encounter [in that region] south-easterly, and other contrary winds which hinder navigation. Having never- theless steered that point, and [encountered] the average prevailing wind south-south-west, particularly as the winds were light, they came to the Brazilian coast, and could not weather Cape St. Augustine . . . Deponent believes that if Sebastian Cabot had not given orders to change the said course, or if he had steered one point south-east, or done what the said pilot told him, he could have sailed without falling in with the coast of Brazil. Deponent therefore believes that the failure of the voyage was caused by the bad seamanship of Cabot." 1 Captain Diego Garcia, in the account which he gives of his own voyage from the Cape Verd islands to the Rio de la Plata, nearly at the same time as Cabot, and who obtained the information upon which he bases his opinion from the latter's officers and pilots when they met in Paraguay, makes the following statement : "To navigate over that route requires great caution and [nautical] science, because there are encountered great currents, which come from the rivers of Guinea, and carry ships to the north-west region. Cabot did not know how to deal with those currents." 2 1 Probanza of November 2nd, 1530. 2 GARCIA'S Report to His Majesty. Syllabus, No. LII, i. Syllabus, No. XLIX. HIS NAUTICAL THEORIES. 313 The gist of these criticisms is that after leaving Palma (one of the westernmost Canary islands) on his way to the Strait of Magellan, Cabot ordered his pilots to discontinue sailing southward, and com- manded to steer south by west, and south-south- west. Those experienced seamen found fault with that direction, being of opinion that the proper course was south, and south by east. Their reasons were that the route laid out by Cabot would bring them too near Capes St. Roque and St. Augustine, where, in April-May, there blew contrary winds, and, besides, that it was necessary to avoid the strong currents which flow from the rivers (as they believed) of Guinea and carry ships to the north-west. We will endeavour to ascertain whether Cabot had scientific reasons for altering the usual course, or whether, on the other hand, the criticisms of his pilots were justified. Lieutenant Bauvieux, of the French Hydrographic Bureau, to whom we sub- mitted the question, which is altogether of a tech- nical character, was kind enough to supply us with the first elements in a discussion of this kind, viz. : the route followed at the present time by sailing vessels, and the practical principles upon which it has been established. According to this distinguished naval officer, sail- ing vessels going from Europe to the South Atlantic regions are instructed to pass in the proximity of the Cape Verd islands, and to cross the equatorial line between 23 40', 24 40', and 27 40' longitude West (Greenwich). (They draw near one or the other of those limits according to the season of the year.) This rule applies to ships going to the Cape of Good Hope, as well as to those which are bound to any of the ports of the east coast of South America, or to the Strait of Magellan, The object of this recom- mendation is to enable them to cross, at its narrowest 314 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEffN CABOT. width, the zone of calms and baffling winds which separate the N.E. and S.E. trade winds. The western limit of the crossing point of the equatorial line is fixed in the meridian of 27 40' longitude West. This enables ships to round easily Capes St. Roque and St. Augustine, avoiding the influence of the equatorial current and South-East trade winds, which they first meet with when about to cross the line. For the same reason, the eastern limit is located as far as 23 40', or 24 40' longitude West, from April to October, in order to keep still farther away from the coast of Brazil, where, in that season of the year, contrary winds and currents pre- vail. Experience shows that the line may be crossed between these limits, without fear of being carried too much towards the great elbow which projects east- wards from Cape St. Roque to Cape St. Augustine. If, on the other hand, hoping to weather those capes with greater ease, the line is crossed more to the eastwards, then the zone of calms and baffling winds is encountered at its greatest width. That zone blends with another of the same character which ex- tends from about one hundred leagues west of the African coast to 22 40' longitude West. Finally, still more to the East, about 20 40', or 21 40' longitude West, ships meet the current of the Gulf of Guinea, which carries them with great force towards the east of that gulf. After crossing the line, and doubling Capes St. Roque and St. Aygustine at a distance of from eighty to one hundred leagues, ships when traversing the region of the S.E. trade winds, are carried westward, beyond Trinity island. The advantage of this course is to get as far to windward as possible into the region of the brave west winds, about the fortieth degree of South latitude. This steering westward is limited only by the necessity of avoiding HIS NAUTICAL THEORIES. 315 the zone of the local winds and currents of the South American coast, which approach it within a distance varying from 60 to 100 leagues. In short, it has been ascertained that the most advantageous route from Europe to the Strait of Magellan, between April and October (which is the time of the year in which Cabot made his attempt), is to pass at a short distance from Cape Verd islands ; cross the line at 23 40' or 24 40' longitude West, sail by about one hundred leagues from Cape Frio, and thence steer in the direction of the Strait of Magellan. It follows from the above, that when, off Palma, Cabot's pilots steered south and east of south, they were absolutely in the right, and, consequently, in ordering a change of course to south by west, and south-south-west, which amounts to a deviation of 22 30' from the right course, he acted like an inex- perienced mariner. Whether, for reasons best known to himself, Cabot intended to go to Cape St. Augustine first, and range the entire American coast southward, or believed that south by west and south-south-west, after leaving Palma, was the real route to the Strait of Magellan, it is unquestionable that in either case the course which he laid out was wrong, even according to nautical notions in those remote times. Impartiality prompts the critic to examine the question also from another point of view. Notwithstanding Maestre Juan's declaration that the order to steer westward was given when off Palma, it may have been uttered when the squadron stood further south, and more to the westward. Ramirez mentions great rains experienced " on the coast of Guinea." 1 This implies a ranging of the 1 "Con muchas aguazeros que sobre la costa Guinea ovimos." Syllabus, No. XLVI. 316 THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS OF SEffN CABOT. African coast to about the latitude of Cape Verd. If so, that was the parallel where Cabot commanded to steer south by west and south-south-west. But the exact longitude in which the order was given remains yet to be ascertained. If Cabot stood at 21, or thereabout, he did well to sail westwards, but to no considerable distance, and it is not likely that his pilots would have objected to such a course then. Navigators knew full well, even in those days, how important it was to get away as soon as possible from the local winds and currents of the African coast, particularly in April-May. We have only to recollect the expressions used on that occasion by Cabot's pilots : " Porque se llegara a la costa del Brazil y en el ynvernio que es desde Mayo en adelante siguian en aquella costa los vientes Suestes e otros vientos contraries e no podrian navegar : Because they would fall in with the coast of Brazil, and in winter, which is from May onwards, there blow on that coast the south-easterly and other contrary winds, and it will be impossible to steer." Nay, they were also familiar with the equatorial current, although erroneously attributing it to the rivers of the coast of Guinea: " Hay grandes corrientes que salen de los rios de Guynea que abaten los navios a la vanda del Norueste : There are great currents which originate in the rivers of Guinea, and impede ships in the North- West region." It is curious, too, to notice that when Diego Garcia says : " Este Cabo [St. Augustine] se corre al susu- deste, mas para doblar el Cabo navegamos por el sur, e a los veces tomamos la quarta del sueste," he anticipates the sailing directions which Admiralties prescribe at the present day. 1 1 Philippe DE KERHALLET, Con- times de F Ocfan Atlantique Sud, Paris, sidtrations gtntrales sur FOctan At- 1872, 8vo, and the English Admiralty lantique, Paris, 8vo ; 4th edit., 1860. Chart of the world showing tracks LABROSSE, Indicateur des routes mart- followed by vessels with sail, No. 1078. HIS NAUTICAL THEORIES. 317 The equatorial current combined with the western course ordered by Cabot could not but carry him too near the Brazilian coast, where he encountered the winds and current which, as his pilots and officers had justly predicted, prevented his ships weathering Cape St. Augustine. In fact, it took him two months to cross from the Cape Verd islands to the Brazilian coast. And when he had been driven into Pernambuco, it was only after three months more that, notwithstanding strenuous and repeated efforts, he finally succeeded in weathering the Cape. 1 The description given by Luis Ramirez and by Cabot's own witnesses also show that he went direct to the very Oceanic region which experienced navigators strove to avoid. 1 The I4th question on behalf of tiempo les hera contrario e que por CABOT is as follows: "Si saben que esto surgio en la costa del brasyl." por espacio de tres meses syempre hizo RAMIREZ'S description of the weather el tiempo contrario por lo qual S. and winds when endeavoring to cross Caboto no pudo seguir su viaje ? " the line also answers perfectly the Nine witnesses testified in the affirma- Atlantic region which sailors familiarly tive, after having declared "quel call the " Black Pot." CHAPTER XVI. SEBASTIAN CABOT AGAIN SETTLES IN ENGLAND. WHILE still enjoying the confidence of Charles V., Sebastian Cabot recommenced his in- trigues, this time with the English government. We see him, in 1538, endeavouring to obtain a posi- tion in England, and succeeding in getting Sir Thomas Wyatt to recommend him to Henry VIII. There is a memorandum from that ambassador to Sir Philip Hoby on his leaving Spain for England, on the 28th of November 1538, which is quite con- clusive on that point. It is as follows : " To remember Sebastian Cabote. He hath here but 300 ducats a year, and he is desirous, if he might not serve the King, at least to see him, as his old master. And I think therein. And that I may have an answer in this." 1 Cabot, however, accomplished his object only two and a half years afterwards. We possess a dispatch sent from London by the Imperial Ambassador in England to the Queen of Hungary at Brussels, on the 26th of May 1541, which contains this interesting passage : " About two months ago, there was a deliberation in the Privy Council as to the expediency of sending two ships to the Northern seas for the purpose of discovering a passage between Islandt and Engronland for the Northern regions where it was thought that, owing to the extreme cold, English woollen cloths would be very acceptable and sell for a good price. To this end the King has 1 James GAIRDNER, Letters and papers, foreign and domestic , of the reign of Henry VIII. , vol. xiii, part I, vol. ii, No. 974, p. 415. SEffN CABOT AGAIN SETTLES IN ENGLAND. 319 retained here for some time a pilot from Seville well versed in the affairs of the sea, though in the end the undertaking has been abandoned, all owing to the King not choosing to agree to the pilot's terms." l In 1541 Cabot lived in Seville, and since the death of Estevam Gomez, all trace of whom disappears in I537, 2 he was the only manner in Spain who had, or pretended to have, a knowledge of the seas "be- tween Iceland and Greenland." We have therefore every reason to believe that the pilot meant was Sebastian Cabot, inasmuch as only a couple of years before, as we have just seen, he had made efforts to be employed by the King of England. If his name is not given, it is because neither the writer nor the receiver of the dispatch knew, or attached importance to such a detail. The diplomatist who conveyed the information is Eustace Chapuys, a native of Savoy, who was sent by Charles V. in 1529 as ambassador to England, where he remained many years, and never visited Spain. His correspondent was Mary of Austria, the sister of Charles V., born and brought up in Brussels, who married in 1523 Lewis, King of Hungary, with whom she lived until he was killed, at the battle of Mohacz in 1526. Mary then re- turned to the Low Countries, of which she was regent from 1531 until 1555, going then to Spain, apparently for the first time, to lead a secluded life, like her illustrious brother. Under the circumstances, it is natural that no attention should have been paid to the pilot's name, supposing even that it ever was uttered in the presence of Chapuys. Edward VI. had been on the throne seven or eight months when the Privy Council, which governed the kingdom during his minority, accepted, 1 GAYANGOS, Calendar, vol. vi, de Indzas, vol. xlii, p. 468. and 1537, part i, No. 163, p. 327. when we see him with Juan DE AYOLAS 2 The last mentions of Estevam at La Plata. OVIEDO, Historia de las GOMEZ are of the years i$$$,Doc. ined. Indias^ vol. ii, p. 200. 320 SEBN CABOT A GAIN SETTLES IN ENGLAND. on the 2Qth of September 1547, Cabot's offer to enter the service of England. 1 On the Qth of October following, it issued a warrant or order on Sir Edmund Peckham, High Treasurer of the Mints, to the amount of ^100, a for the transporting of one Shabot [sic\ as Pilot to come out of Hispain to serve and inhabit in England." 2 The individual meant is evidently Sebastian Cabot, and as we notice in the first rank among the members of the Privy Council at that date, the Earl of Arundel, who became after- wards one of the principal founders of the famous Moscovy Company, of which Cabot was made Governor several years later, we are inclined to think that the object may have been already some intended voyage to Cathay by the North- East 3 Cabot was then at least seventy-three years old, and, notwithstanding his advanced age, and the services rendered by such distinguished cosmo- graphers as Alonso de Chaves, Pedro de Medina, Alonso de Santa Cruz and Diego Gutierrez junior, all Spaniards by birth, (which must be noted, as laws enacted in 1527 and 1534 prohibited foreigners from being pilots 4 ), was still maintained by Charles V., in the high position of Pilot-Major. An annuity had even lately been added to his salary. Yet, as we have just seen, Cabot was engaged for more than ten years in underhand dealings with the 1 The pension granted to CABOT by 4 " El que se huviere de examinar EDWARD VI., January 6th, 1548, is de Pilotos o ha de ser natural de made to date from the preceding estos Reynos de Castilla, Aragon, y Michaelmas Day : "a festo sancti Navarra : y ningun estrangero sea Michaelis Archangeli ultimo prseterito admitido, ni se le despache titulo de hue usque se extendit, et attingit," Piloto, ni de Maestre para las Indias which corresponds with September ni se le ha de permitir que navegue a 29th, 1547. ellas, ni tener carta de mar&ar ni pin- 2 John Roche DASENT, Acts of the tura, ni descripcion de las Indias." Privy Council of England, London, Laws of August 2nd, 1527, and De- 1890, vol. ii, p. 137. cember nth, 1534, in Recopilacion de 3 Clement ADAMS, Newe Naviga~ leyes de Indias ; laws xiv-xv, vol. iii, tion by the North-east in the yeere 1553, p. 286. in HAKLUYT, vol. i, p. 243. SEffN CABOT AGAIN SETTLES IN ENGLAND. 321 English ambassador at the Court of Spain, proffering his services to England. About two months, as we suppose, after the war- rant had been issued by the Privy Council, Cabot left Spain, 1 on a leave of absence, and without relinquish- ing either his office of Pilot- Major, or his pension. He even himself selected, to fill the office during his absence, Diego Gutierrez senior, an incompetent cosmographer, but a personal friend on whom he could rely. The Casa de Contratacion, however, objected to the choice, and demanded that Gutierrez should be examined regarding his professional abilities. 2 Edward VI. speedily rewarded Cabot, granting him, January 6th, 1548-49, an annuity of 166, 135. 4 168-170. tions, vol. i, p. 243 ; STRYPE, op. cit. 4 Agostino GIUSTINIANI, Castigatis- vol. ii, p. 402. Y 338 ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO CA TEA Y. cannot be said to have originated with Sebastian Cabot. 1 There is evidence that British ships continued to cross the Atlantic, but these were chiefly fishing expeditions to the Newfoundland banks. Mean- while the question of a passage to Cathay by the North did not cease to engross the mind not only of the King, as we have just seen by his promise to Centurione, but of British merchants, in and out of England. We still possess a letter from Robert Thorne, in charge of a branch in Seville of a rich Bristol firm, inviting his Majesty to open a way into the Northern seas to reach the east coast of Cathay. Like Centurione's project, it was to be by the North- East, as is shown by the following de- scription : " If theis will go towards the Orient, "wrote the enterprising mer- chant to the King," they shall enjoy the regions of all the Tartarians that extends towards the midday, and from thence they may go and proceed to the land of Cathaio Oriental ... So that now rest to be discovered the said North parts, the which it seemeth to me, is only Your Majesty's charge and duty." 2 The date of the letter we only know to be 1527. It may have been in the beginning of the year. If so, there is no impossibility of its having prompted the following expedition of John Rut 3 of Ratcliff, yeoman of the Crown. Rut was rather illiterate. 4 From December 1512 to July 1513, he was master of the Gabrie II Royal, 1 This CENTURIONE is evidently Basilius, then King of Russia, with the same individual mentioned in Sir offer to bring that trade thither. Wm. MONSON'S Naval Tracts (p. 480, Basilius rejected that offer." in CHURCHILL, vol. iii) as follows : 2 HAKLUYT, vol. i, p. 213. "The Genoese in the year 1520 pro- 3 J. S. BREWER, Calendar, Domestic posed a journey by land from the East and Foreign, No. 3213. Indies to Muscovy and Russia, and 4 "John Rut writ this letter to one Paul Centereano, a merchant of King Henrie in bad English and worse Genoa, was employed in it, and went, writing." PURCHAS, Pilgrimage, vol. with authority from that state, to iii, p. 309. ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO CATHA Y. 339 and shortly afterwards, of the Maria de Lor eta. 1 On the 27th of May 1527, he received from Henry VIII. a pension of 10? and, June loth following, 3 sailed out from Portsmouth with two ships, the Samson, and the Mary of Guilford. We do not know whether Lord Edmund Howard, who had begged Wolsey 4 to employ him in an expedition to New- foundland, "and so find his wife and children meat and drink," was on board. In 53 lat. N. the two ships fell in with "many great Hands of Ice." They therefore tacked about, and, steering southwards, made their landfall on the continent in 52, that is, in Labrador, if the latitude is exactly given. Thence the two vessels went to Cape Race, and were sailing together, when in a storm, at night, July ist, the Samson disappeared, and never was heard of afterwards. We do not know therefore what can have been Frobisher's authority for his statement to Hakluyt that she sank " in a dangerous Gulph, about the great opening, betweene the North parts of Newfoundland and the Country lately called by Her Majestic, Meta Incognita'' 5 On the 3rd of August, Rut cast anchor in St. John, whence he expected to go to Cape Speer (the " Cavo da Espera " of the early Portuguese maps), to meet the Samson, which, according to instructions, was 1 BREWER, op. a't., Nos. 3591, 3977, 4 BREWER, op. cit., No. 3731. 3980, 4377. 5 According to the map of Michael 2 This date, which we borrow from LOK, that "Meta incognita" is in 68 the Calendars, makes us doubt the lat. N., and the "dangerous Gulph" exactness of the one which HALLE can only be Baffin's Bay. Now RUT'S gives for RUT'S departure from the expressions lead us to believe that the Thames : ' ' Furth they set out of the storm, in consequence of which the Thames the twentie day of May," Mary of Guilford became separated unless we reconcile them by the sup- from the other ship, burst when they position that the King's grant was were sailing southward after leaving forwarded to him while yet at Ports- Cape Race ; that is, more than 20 mouth. from the place where FROBISHER 3 "Exivimus a Plemut quse fuit x locates the shipwreck of the Samson. Junii. " Letter of Albertus DE PRATO, quoted by PURCHAS. 340 ENGLISH EXPEDITIONS TO CATHA Y. to take refuge there in case they should become sep- arated and wait six weeks for her companion ship. Hakluyt says he was told that John Rut with the Mary of Guilford returned to England in the be- ginning of October 1527. Be that as it may, we find Rut in England from September to December 1528, still in command of the Mary of Guilford, and en- trusted by the King with bringing wine from Bordeaux. 1 There is also the expedition of Master Grube, composed of two ships which, after leaving Ports- mouth, June loth, 1527, reached Cape Race July 2ist following. 2 A third similar voyage of discovery is also of the year 1527. Its existence, however, is inferred only from a statement of Gines Navarro, 3 to the effect that he met in the West Indies an English captain who related that he was returning from a voyage undertaken with another vessel to discover the country of the Great Khan, by way of the Northern Sea. This is tantamount to a search for the North- West passage. The last of these English expeditions in the first half of the xvi th century is that of Master Hore, from April to October 1536, to Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland, preparatory, it seems, to an explora- tion still more to the westward. It was composed of two ships, the Trinitie and the Minion, with one hundred and twenty men on board, among whom were " many gentlemen of the Inns of Court, and of the 1 Royal MSS. 14. B. xxix, Brit. Canon of St. Paul in London, which Mus., quoted by Rev. E. ARBER. in was a great mathematician, and a man his excellent work The first three indued with wealth." Unfortunately, English books on America, p. xxvi. only two sentences of that letter have Our brief account, which comprises reached us. Jean et Stb. Cabot, p. 294. nearly all that is known of RUT'S 2 PURCHAS, vol. iii, p. 809, and voyage, we take from a letter written Jean et Sb. Cabot, p. 294. by him to Henry VIII. , and dated St. 3 HERRERA, Decad. ii, lib. v, cap. John, Aug. 4, 1527. It is confirmed iii, p. 115, and/ passed in the yere 2 Ibidem, pp. 160, 166. 1556; HAKLUYT, vol. iii,pp. 124-129, 8 It is well to recall that the pinnace 152. The Nauigatione di Sebastian of Stephen BURROUGH had on board, Caboto nelleparte Settentrionale, in vol. besides himself and his brother Wil- ii of RAMUSIO, editions of 1583, and liam, only eight men, and that is with 1606, pp. 21 1-219, is only that Journal such a small ship and crew that he ex- of Stephen BURROUGH. plored the Arctic regions during two 5 RYMER, Fcedera, ed. 1741, vol. vi, years. part iv, p. 40. BY THE NORTH-EAST. 359 newal," or a " confirmation," of the annuity for the same amount granted by Edward VI. on the 6th of January 1548-9. This is an absolutely gratuitous assumption. Neither in the text of the grant itself, nor in any other document known, is there the least indication that it was not a new pension altogether, and irrespective of the one bestowed nine years previous by Mary's brother. Biddle seems to believe that although granted for life, it was to expire on the death of the reigning monarch and required to be renewed by his successor. 1 We cannot imagine by virtue of what principle the grant of a pension made by the King, should differ in its legal consequences from such a grant made by a private individual. Certainly that is not one of the royal prerogatives. We do not read in the grant of 1548-9, as in the one of 1557, the formula " dedimus et concessimus, ac Prsesentes, pro Nobis Heredibus et successoribus nostris," but every lawyer knows that in England the King's grant is good for himself and successors, though his successors are not named. 2 1 BIDDLE, Memoir of Cabot, p. 214. Reports de S* Henry Yelverton t Lond., 2 WOOD versus HAUKSHEAD, in Les 1674, folio, p. 15. CHAPTER XX. SEBASTIAN CABOT'S ALLEGED INFLUENCE. THE Arctic voyages which we have just described, are considered to have been a great " enter- prise," which " stands by itself, and was destined to exercise an important influence on the commerce and naval greatness of England." 1 It is unquestionable that these efforts of the Company of Merchant Adven- turers proved beneficial both to Great Britain and Russia. As MacPherson justly observes, 2 the Russians before those times having no seaports nor shipping on the Baltic shores, their rich furs, hemp, &c., were carried to other parts of Europe from the ports of Livonia, lately possessed by the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary of Jerusalem. Thus the English made a useful and profitable discovery of a trade by sea with Russia. It was considered in this light by foreign nations, from the first. So early as April 3rd, 1557, we see the Venetian Ambassador in England write to his government : " London merchants greatly favor the Muscovite [envoy] because they expect through his medium to enric themselves by commencing a trade in those parts.' But we should not infer thereby that the prosperity of the Muscovy Company dates from its efforts in the White Sea. Giovanni Michiel bears witness to the wealth of the Merchant Adventurers already at 1 BIDDLE, op. tit., p. 182. 3 RAWDON BROWN, Calendar, vol. 2 MACPHERSON, Annals of Com- vi, loc. cit. merce, London, 1805, vol. ii, p. 114. ' 3 SEBASTIAN CABOTS ALLEGED INFLUENCE. 361 that time. " Many," says he, " possess of from 50 to 60,000^"," l which was then a very large fortune. The admirers of Sebastian Cabot ascribe to him, almost exclusively, the merit of those results. They combine the expeditions to the northern coasts of Russia with the discovery of Newfoundland accom- plished by his father, and speak of him as " being the author of the maritime strength of England, who opened the way to those improvements which have rendered the English so great, so eminent, so flourishing a people." 2 These hyperbolic praises are altogether unmerited. Richard Chancelor alone is the man who, so far as that north-east trade and its consequences are con- cerned, deserves to be thus extolled and admired ! Let us examine the facts : The Merchant Adventurers desire to find a new market for English manufactured goods. En- couraged by the example of the Spaniards and Portuguese, they turn their attention towards Cathay. Sebastian Cabot boasts of knowing a new route to those regions. It is, he says, by the north- east. This idea, to commence with, does not originate with him, for, as we have seen, 3 Paulo Centurione pro- posed it a quarter of a century before to Henry VIII., who even accepted the scheme, which was not at- tempted only owing to the untimely death of the bold Genoese adventurer. Cathay, and nothing but Cathay, is Cabot's object. His instructions to Willoughby are explicitly " for the intended voyage for Cathay," and " Orient or Occident Indias" through "the extremitie of the North Pole." 4 1 Ibidem. 3 Supra, p. 337. 2 CAMPBELL, Lives of the British 4 HAKLUYT, vol. iii, pp. 16, 23. Admirals^ vol. i, p. 232. 362 SEBASTIAN CABOT S ALLEGED INFLUENCE. Willoughby and Chancelor advance no further than 5o-55 E. longitude. The ice drives them back. Willoughby goes to the south-east coast of Lapland, and Chancelor to the White Sea. When Chancelor finds himself in the Gulf of Archangel, he is amazed to learn that his ship has taken him to Russia, which he never suspected to extend so far North. He courageously resolves to visit the capital of the Tzar, ascends the Dwina in a boat, rowing eight hundred and sixty miles ; then travels a long distance by land, and finally arrives at Moscow. There he enters with Iwan Wasilejevitch into negotiations, which were the origin of those great benefits to England and the Muscovy Company. We fail to see the direct or even praiseworthy agency of Sebastian Cabot in these great results. Certainly, the idea of landing in Northern Russia and opening in that region a market for English merchandise never entered his mind. Nay, we make bold to say that if Cabot had ever been made to imagine such an intention on the part of Chancelor, he would have made strenuous efforts to prevent it. We need only recollect what were his notions of that country, so late at least as 1549. In his famous planisphere, first engraved in 1544, and re-edited in London by Clement Adams in 1549, that is, when Cabot was residing in that city, there is a delineation of the European and Asiatic northern shores, south of his 73 latitude, near the Circulus Articus. The tracing of the coast, however, comes to an end at what corresponds with our 50 longi- tude. 1 That maritime region is the one which Willoughby was instructed by Cabot to sail through, whilst its shores are described by him in these words : 1 See E. REMBIELINSKI'S lithographed facsimile of Sebastian CABOT'S planisphere, in JOMARD'S Monuments de la Gtographie. SEBASTIAN CABOT S ALLEGED INFLUENCE. 363 " Aqui ay monstruos semeiantes a hombres que tienen las oreias tan grandes que les cubre todo el cuerpo y mas adelante hazia oriente dizen que ay unos hombres que no tienen coyontura ningna [sic] hazia las Kodillas [sic pro rodillas] ny en los pies estan debaxo del poder del Gran Can. En la prouinc.ia, de Balor laqual tiene ginquenta dias de andadura son hombres siluestres habitan en los montes y florestas : Here are monsters resembling men, whose ears are so large as to cover the entire body, and, further on, towards the east, it is said that there are human beings whose knees and feet are devoid of articulations. The Great Khan rules over them. In the province of Balor, which [covers a space of] fifty days journey, are wild men who live in mountains and forests." x This could hardly be a desirable market for " sorting clothes and Hampshire kersies." And as regards the growth of the English marine, the researches so ably carried on in the Navy records 2 will show that it really took shape under Henry VII. and remained comparatively stationary between 1515 and 1565, with no particular increase in 1547-1548, when Sebastian Cabot removed to England, and still less to the end of his life. True it is that Henry VIII. instituted the Navy Board (treasurer, surveyor, controller, &c.) in the form, though extended, in which it still exists to-day. But this organisation is of the year 1546, and at that time Cabot was still living in Spain, and not in correspondence with the English Government, which accepted his services only in 1547. 1 Legend xii. a jj y ]^ t OPPENHEIM, Esqr. CHAPTER XXI. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT'S LIFE. /CHARLES V. was still thinking of Sebastian ^ Cabot. He had waited until July nth, 1552, before appointing Alonso de Chaves to replace him in the Chair of Cosmography of the Casa de Con- tratacion. 1 Even the post of Pilot-Major had not yet been entrusted to anyone else when on September 9th, 1553, the Emperor wrote from Mons in Hainault, to Queen Mary, the following letter in French : " Most High, Most Excellent, and Most Powerful Princess, our very dear and beloved kind sister and cousin. As I desire to confer about certain matters relative to the safety of the navigation of my kingdoms and dominions with Captain Cabote, previously pilot of my Spanish realms, and who with my assent and consent went to England several years ago, I very affectionately ask of you to grant a leave to the said Cabote and allow him to come near me, so that I may make to him the aforesaid communication. And by so doing you will give me great pleasure, as I have directed my ambassador to your Court to state particularly to you. Meanwhile I pray the Lord to have you in his holy keeping." 2 The expression " de nostre gre et consentement " in that letter is only an euphemism ; for when in November 1549, Charles V. demanded of Sir Thomas Cheyney that Cabot should be sent back to Spain, he did so in very haughty terms : " Cabote is my 1 Discovery of 'North America, p. 7 TO. text, and TURNBULL, Calendar; 2 Cl. HOPPER, Notes and Queries, Foreign ; vol. i, No. 31, p. 10, for vol. i, 1862, p. 125, for the original abstract in English. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOTS LIFE. 365 servant, he has a pension of me," &c. Cabot again demurred, this time alleging the state of his health. We readily understand why he was not anxious to return to Spain, after his disguised flight to England in 1 547. The following passages in the letter written by Cabot to his former master on this occasion, November i5th, 1554, are interesting : " I was almost ready to set out for the purpose of kissing the hands of Your Majesty, and give explanations relative to the affair com- municated on my part through Francesco de Urista, when I was seized with regular attacks of fever, and it depends on their severity, whether I shall be able or not to undertake the journey, being very weak, and feeling certain to die before reaching my destination. That is the reason, and also because if my malady gets worse, on account of my voyage, I apprehend I shall die." 1 If we take into consideration that a trip to Brussels was all that was asked of him, and that two years afterwards he was seen to banquet and dance in the hall of the inn at the sign of the Christopher, in Gravesend, the terms of his letter will seem somewhat exaggerated. Then, to mitigate the effect of such a refusal, Cabot makes the following characteristic statement : " But before coming to such extremity, I want to disclose to Your Majesty the secret which I possess." That secret was that he had been frequently interrogated by the Duke of Northumberland and the Ambassador of France in England (Mont- morency-Laval-Boisdauphin) about Peru, and that the two nations had formed the project of sending a fleet to the Spanish possessions on the Amazona, for the purpose of driving the Spaniards out of the country. When Cabot wrote that letter, Northumberland had been beheaded the year before, and Boisdauphin 1 Coleccion de documentos ineditos para la Historia de Espana> vol. iii, p. 512. 366 LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOTS LIFE. recalled to France. But it was not a chapter of retrospective history which the wily Venetian meant to relate to Charles V. In his own mind, the danger still existed for Spain, as can be seen from this sentence : "And as by the said river, in assailing easily the Spaniards wholly unprepared, and scattered in the country, they may succeed in their nefarious project, which would be a great disgrace to Your Majesty, let Your Majesty provide against it at once ; for .what I am now writing is absolutely certain and true." 1 Such a project can have been entertained only while Northumberland virtually governed England (1550-1553). It was therefore a state secret, and one which Cabot could not reveal to a foreign nation without betraying the trust reposed in him by the English government, in whose employ he then was, and continued to be. Apologists may perhaps urge, in extenuation of Cabot's conduct, that when he re- vealed those facts to the Emperor, England and Spain were not at war. Nay, the son of Charles V. had lately married Mary Tudor, and France, under the circumstances, may have intended to carry on the enterprise alone. But when Northumberland made the pact with Henry of Valois the two nations were likewise at peace. To tell Charles V., there- fore, that while he was relying upon the friendship of England, she meditated driving him out of his richest American provinces, was not such a dis- closure as a man in the employ of the British government had a right to make. In the preceding chapter, we left Cabot at Gravesend, supervising the departure of Stephen Burrough's expedition in search of Willoughby's vessels. It may not prove amiss to insert here the description, often cited, of the festivities offered to 1 Ibidem. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT S LIFE. 367 the little squadron before sailing to the North-East. We give it in Burrough's own words : "The 27 being Munday the right worshipfull Sebastian Cabota came aboard our Pinnesse [the Search-thrift] at Gravesend } accom- panied by diuers gentlemen, and Gentelwomen who after they had viewed our Pinnesse, and tasted of such cheere as we could make them aboord, they went on shore, giuing to our mariners right liberall rewards : and the goode olde gentleman Master Cabota gaue to the poore most liberall almes, wisching them to pray for the good fortune, and prosperous successe of the Serchthrift our Pinnesse. And then at the sign of the Christopher, hee and his friends banketted, and made me, and them that were in the company great cheere ; and for very ioy that he had to see the towardnes of our intended discouery, he entered into the dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the young and lusty company : which being ended, hee and his friends departed most gently, com- mending vs to the gouernance of almighty God." l We suppose that soon afterwards Cabot fell into his dotage, and could therefore attend neither to the management of the Muscovy Company, nor to the. duties which we presume were entrusted to him as adviser in maritime affairs. On the 2 ist of February 1556-7, he no longer exercised the functions of Governor. The office was then held, and we do not know for how long previous, by Anthony Hussie, 2 who had been one of the grantees of the charter of 1555. This explains why Cabot did not figure in the reception of the Russian ambassador at that date, with " the merchants aduenturers for Russia to the number of one hundred and fortie persons," 3 and, April 29th following, when "the said merchants 1 HAKLUYT, vol. Hi, p. 116. officers of the Wardrobe in theTower, 2 "A letter to Mr HUSSEY, Gou- to deliver to Mr HUSSEY, Governour ernour of the Marchauntes adven- of the Marchauntes adventurers, or to turers ... for the payment of xxx mil u three of that Company which he shall in permission money." DASENT, op. send for that purpose, a bed of estate cit., vol. vi, sub anno, 1556-7, Feb. with furniture and hangings for the 2 1st, p. 54. chamber of the Duke of Moscow." 3 In preparation of the arrival of the Diary of Henry Machyn, edited by Duke (i.e. Ambassador) of Moscovia, J, G. NICHOLS, London, 1848, pp. the Privy Council sent " alettere toth' 127, and 355 note. 368 LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT S LIFE. assembling themselues together in the house of the Drapers hal of London, exhibited and gaue vnto y e said Ambassador, a notable supper garnished with musicke, enterludes and bankets." * Yet, the fact that Hussie's name is not mentioned first among the signers of the important letter of instructions sent April 28th, 1557 by the Company to Killingworth, Gray and Lane, 2 may indicate that he was only governor de facto, owing to Cabot's feebleness of mind or body. If we are to believe modern biographers of Sebastian Cabot, " Philip of Spain saw in him the man who had left his father's service, had refused peremptorily to return, and who was now imparting to others the benefit of his vast experience and accumulated stores of knowledge." 3 Also, that when Philip reached London on the 2Oth of May 1557, one of his first objects is said by those modern writers, to have been, through spite or revenge, to induce Queen Mary to bear upon Cabot, so as to compel him to deprive himself of one-half of the annuity which she had granted him on the 27th of November 1555. We then find the following additional statement : "May 27th (sic) 1557, Cabot resigned his pension. On the 2Qth a new grant is made, but in a form essentially different. It is no longer to him exclusively, but jointly with William Worthington; 'eidem Sebastian o et dilecto servienti nostro Willielmo Worthington.' On the face of this transaction Cabot is cheated of one-half of the sum which had been granted to him for life." 4 There is not a particle of evidence that Philip had any agency whatever in those proceedings ; nor was Cabot " called upon " then, or at any time, to resign his pension ; and, so far from being cheated in any 1 HAKLUYT of 1886, vol. iii, p. 148. 3 BIDDLE, op. cit., p. 214. 2 Ibidem, pp. 166-176. 4 Ibidem, p. 216. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT'S LIFE. 369 manner, Cabot rather received a favour on that occasion. . In the first place, one of the two documents cited in support of that alleged machination, viz. : the act of May 2;th, 1557, does not exist at all. 1 The other, which bears date May 29th, allows of no other inference than this : Old age preventing Cabot from discharging his duties efficiently, and not being dis- posed to resign the position, an assistant was re- quired. On the other hand, the pension had been granted to him for the term of his natural life, also on account of services done and to be done : " impensi atque impendendi." The financial condi- tion of England at the time was not prosperous. The Queen even, Hume says, " owed great arrears to all her servants," 2 while the impending war with France, which Philip had dragged her into, required that retrenchments should be made in all branches of the public service. Under the circumstances, it is fair to believe that the English government demanded a sacrifice at the hands of Cabot, viz. : that the salary of the assistant should come out of his annuity. But as the sum offered to Worthington, the appointed adjunct, probably was not deemed suffi- cient, 3 the government held forth to him an additional inducement. This consisted of a reversion of the entire pension to Worthington upon Cabot's death, and, in the meanwhile, of a joint-tenancy of the annuity. This will appear perfectly clear by a simple 1 That assumed act of "May 2 7th, s It is only by inference that the I 557" cited by BIDDLE, BANCROFT, act of 1557 can be said to divide and the Dictionary of National Biog- equally the pension of 1555 between raphy, vol. viii, p. 170, is neither in CABOT and WORTHINGTON. It does RYMER, nor anywhere else. The only not follow necessarily that because the act of the kind known, is the one of deed created a joint tenancy, WORTH - "two days later," viz. : May 29th, INGTON was to receive one-half, or which the reader will find in our even any portion of the annuity during Syllabus i No. Ixxxviii. CABOT'S life. 2 HUME, quoted by BIDDLE, p. 214, note. 2 A 370 LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOTS LIFE. reference to the deed, a translation into English of which we insert in our Appendix. 1 An impartial study of that document shows that so far from having suffered damage, Cabot, on the contrary, received an advantage, as the reversion in favor of Worthington doubtless saved him the incon- venience of paying the assistant's entire salary out of his own pocket. It is a well-known principle of English jurisprudence that a grant made by the King shall be taken most beneficially for the King, and against the grantee. The casuists of the Crown, and there were some under the Tudors, might have therefore maintained that the words " pro termino vitae ejusdem Sebastiani," in the grant of the annuity of 1555, were not, under the circumstances, tanta- mount to the legal formula " for the term of his natural life." They would have probably added that the other expression in the same, " impensi et impos- terum impendendi," caused the pension to cease on Cabot's inability to perform the duties in considera- tion of which it had been originally bestowed. He made a concession, but so did the Crown, as it assumed a prolongation of the charge of 166 per annum, which, as it proved, lasted twenty-five years at least after the reversion ; for Worthington was still living, and, so far as known, in the enjoyment of the pension, as late as 1582. Biddle, and the writers who have adopted his theory about Philip's alleged enmity against Cabot, reason as if the Spanish prince came over to England only in 1557. But his first visit dates from 1554, at a time when Cabot had been living in England for seven years. Philip, after his marriage, re- mained in London for thirteen months (July 1554- August 1555). That was the time when he would 1 Syllabus, No. xcv. For the Latin text, see RYMER, vol. vi, part iv, p. 55. LAST YEARS OF SEBASTIAN CABOT S LIFE. 371 have vented his pretended spite, had he ever been disposed to do so. On the contrary, what do we see ? It was Philip himself, with Mary, who, in February 1555, "made, ordeined, and constituted Sebastian Cabot to be Governor of the Marchant Adventurers of England, to have and enjoy the said office during his natural life, without amoving or dismissing from the same." 1 Nay, when Philip returned to Spain, at the end of the summer of 1555, he had so little availed himself of his influence over Mary Tudor to exercise such a gratuitous malevolence, that, less than three months after, she granted to Cabot a new pension of 250 marks, 2 and Philip's name figures in the grant by the side of her own. When the Spanish King came to England in J 557> it is certain that his mind was engrossed with thoughts of a much more important character. Besides, nothing fresh had transpired against Cabot since 1555. Nor is it likely that if such a haughty prince had been bent on revenge, for acts com- mitted not against him, but against his father, he would have remained satisfied with depriving the deserter of half only of his pension. We may rest assured that Philip had no more to do with that transaction than with the act whereby the Muscovy Company, a few months before Mary's royal husband arrived in England, superseded Cabot, although he had been appointed Governor for life, by naming in his place Anthony Hussie. 1 The charter of incorporation begins Annis Regnorum nostrorum, primo et with these words : " Philip and Marie, secundo." HAKLUYT, edition of 1886, by the Grace of God King and vol. iii, pp. 101, 112. Queene," and ends as follows : 2 RYMER, Fazdera, 1741, vol. vi, ' ' Apud Westmonasterium, 6 Die Feb. part iv, p. 55. CHAPTER XXII. THE END OF CABOT?' S CAREER. THE act of May 29th, 1557, referred to in the preceding chapter, ends the list of documents concerning Sebastian Cabot known at present. We possess no information therefore relative to his last days, beyond the fact that he retired from public life in the winter of 1556-1557, and the following personal reminiscence. It is furnished by Richard Eden, in the dedication to Sir William Winter of a translation into English of Jean Taisnier's De motu continue. Speaking of certain inventions of Jacques Besson, Eden recalls this interesting circumstance : " An Artifice not yet diuulgate or set forth, whiche placed in the pompe of a Shyp, whyther the water hath recourse, and mooued by the motion of the Shyp, with wheeles and weyghtes, dooth exactly shewe what space the Shyp hath gone, &c. By whiche description, some doo vnderstand that the longitude myght so be founde, a thyng doubtlesse greatly to be desyred, and hytherto not certaynely knowen, although Sebastian Cabot on his death bed told me that he had the knowledge thereof by diuine reuelation, yet so, that he myght not teache any man. But I thinke that the goode olde man, in that extreme age, somewhat doted, and had not yet euen in the article of death, vtterly shaken of all worldlye vayne glorie." 1 The above was not written till 1574, and we possess no data calculated to fix the time when the dying old cosmographer made this boastful statement. London is doubtless the place where he died, as 1 A very necessarie Booke . ... by Joannes Taisnierus .... translated by Richard Eden, London, s. a. , 4to, in the Epistle dedicatory. THE END OF CABOTS CAREER. 373 Eden lived in that city from 1 544 in the employ of the government ; l but the year of Cabot's death is yet unknown. We are struck with the fact that Henry Machyn, who in his Diary records so minutely the deaths and funerals of merchant adventurers, particularly the associates who occupied a prominent position in the Company, from 1550 to 1563, should have omitted to mention the obsequies of Cabot. He describes 2 in detail those of Sir John Gresham (1556), Sir Andrew Judd(i558), " Sir George Barnes the cheyff marchand of Muskovea (1558)," and " Husse [Anthony Hussie] a grett marchand ventorer of Muskovea (1560)," all of whom figure as grantees with Cabot in the charter of 1555. Under these circumstances, the omission of his name by Machyn indicates that notwithstanding a very advanced age, Sebastian lingered after 1563, or died in complete obscurity. With the hope of ascertaining the date of that event, diligent researches have been instituted in Worcester (where the early Bristol registers are preserved), and, at our request, in London, to discover his last will, but in vain, thus far. As to the worldly goods which he left behind him, all we know is comprised within the following short notice, written so late as 1582, by Hakluyt. 3 " Shortly, God willing, shall come out in print all his [Sebastian Cabot's] own mappes and discourses, drawne and written by him- selfe, which are in the custodie of the worshipful Master William Worthington, one of her Majesty's Pensioners [as survivor of Cabot's annuity of 250 marks], who (because so worthie monu- ments should not be buried in perpetual oblivion) is very willing to suffer them to be oversene, and published in as good order as may be, to the encouragement and benefite of our countrymen." Edward ARBER, The first NICHOLS; London, Camden Soc. three English books on America, p. public., 1848, pp. 116, 173, 236. xxxvii. 8 HAKLUYT, Divers voyages touch- 2 Diary of Henry Machyn, citizen ing the Discourie of America ; Lon- and merckant-taylor of London, from don, 1582 ; Edition of the Hakluyt 1550 to 1563; Edited by J. G. Society, p. 26. 374 THE END OF CABOT S CAREER. The publication was never made, and no one knows what became of those maps and writings. Biddle has suggested that Worthington handed over the papers of Cabot to Philip II., when he was in England in 1557. But, as Mr Markham justly observes, " this appears to be disproved by the fact that they were still in Worthington's possession in I582." 1 Let us add that although Philip lived until 1598, he never returned to England after July 1557 (Mary Tudor died in 1558); nor are there to be found, either at Simancas or Seville, traces of papers coming from such a source. HIS PORTRAIT. In 1625, there could be seen in the King's Gallery at Whitehall, a portrait of Sebastian Cabot, which Purchas describes in these words : " Sir Seb. Cabota ; his Picture in the Privie Gallerie at White- Hall hath these words, Effigies Seb. Cabot, Angli, filii Joannis Caboti Veneti militis aurati, cr^." 2 That portrait, however, must have been removed from the palace before 1649, as Biddle says 3 that it does not figure in a " Catalogue of the paintings belonging to Charles I. drawn up in his life time, and apparently for his use, which exists among the Harleian MSS. (No. 4718)." We must state that neither is such a portrait mentioned in the original manuscript of a similar catalogue which in 1757 was preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. 4 1 MARKHAM, The Journal of 4 A catalogue and description of Columbus ; Hakluyt Society, 1893, p. King Charles the First's capital collec- xli, note. tion . . . Now first published. Lon- 2 PURCHAS, Pilgrimage , vol. iv, don, 1757. WOLTMANN gives the p. 1812. list of the paintings by HOLBEIN in the 3 BIDDLE, Memoir, p. 319, where royal galeries in the time of CHARLES there is an elaborate discussion con- II., taken from that catalogue, in cerning the HARFORD picture, which Holbein und seine zeit ; Leipzig, 1876, he had not yet purchased. 8vo, vol. ii, pp. 51-52. THE END OF CABOT'S CAREER. 375 In 1792, a Bristol gentleman, Mr. Charles J. Harford, whilst travelling in Scotland, saw at the seat of a nobleman a portrait of Cabot. The fact that it bore an inscription commencing like the one reproduced by Purchas in a curtailed form, leads us to believe that it was either the portrait itself which hung at Whitehall in the times of James I. and Charles I., or a copy. Mr. Harford purchased the picture, and allowed it to be engraved by Rawle, apparently for Seyer's Memoirs of Bristol, published in 1821. It was brought to London in 1830, where, Biddle says, " Cabot's portrait was instantly recog- nised by the most eminent artists as a Holbein." * The probability is that the rich robe and massive gold chain which Cabot is represented as wearing in that picture are the badges of his office as Governor of the association of Merchant Adventurers, or, rather, of the Muscovy Company. If so, the portrait was painted at the soonest in 1553. Now Holbein made his will on the 7th of October 1543, in London, and, on the 29th of November following, one John of Antwerp took out letters of administration. 2 So that, even supposing that the Harford portrait was painted when Cabot first came to London to settle, in 1548, Holbein cannot have been the artist to whom it is ascribed, as he had then been dead five years. 3 If it be answered that Holbein could have executed it before 1548, we would state that Sebastian Cabot and Holbein never were in England at the same time. Holbein visited that country first in 1526, and remained until 1529. During those years, Cabot was in America. Holbein returned to England in 1532, and continued to live there until his death 1 BIDDLE, op. cit., p. 320, note. The great artist, therefore, died 2 See in the Archczologia, vol. xxxix between Oct. 7th and Nov. 29th, (1863), p. 275, HOLBEIN'S original 1543. will, and the certificate of the Ordinary 3 WOLTMANN, op, tit., chapt. xiv, relative to the letters of administration, p. 415. 376 THE END OF CABOTS CAREER. in I543- 1 Throughout that period Cabot stayed in Spain, as we have shown. As to the other story, that Holbein painted the portrait by the order of Edward VI., it is well to recollect that when Holbein died, Edward was only six years old. Finally, Biddle purchased the picture for ^"1500, and had it taken over to America, where it was destroyed in the conflagration of his house and contents, at Pittsburg, in HIS ALLEGED KNIGHTHOOD. In the Harford picture, according to Rawle's engraved copy, Cabot was represented as a very old man, with a long, two-pointed white beard, and presenting altogether an extremely commanding appearance. He was depicted measuring with com- passes the northern regions in a large globe, next to which were an hour glass and writing materials. The picture also contained two inscriptions, viz. : the first : SPES. MEA. IN. DEO. EST : " My hope is in God." The second, as follows : EFFIGIES. SEBASTIANI CABOTI ANGLI FILII IOHANIS CABOTI VEN$ XI MILITIS AVRATI PRIMI INVET ORIS TERR^E NOVA \SIC\ SVB HERICO VII ANGL I^E REGE. " The portrait of Sebastian Cabot Englishman the son of John Cabot Venetian Golden Knight the first discoverer of Newfound- land under Henry VII., King of England." 1 WOLTMANN, op, /., chapt xiv, the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol P' 41 5- in 1839 (Notes and Queries, July I7th, 2 Copies of the HARFORD portrait 1875). As to the one "painted in were taken at the time when it was 1763, which now hangs in the ducal brought to America. One is in the palace at Venice," Mr CHENEY does gallery of the Mass. Historical Society ; not say (MiscelL of the Philobiblion another in the New York Historical Soc., vol. ii, 7th tract, p. 25) whether Society, There was a portrait of or not it is a HARFORD copy, or Sebastian CABOT in the possession of what it looks like. THE END OF CABOT'S CAREER. 377 In that inscription, two statements are to be noted. The first is that Sebastian Cabot was an English^ man. This, although evidently prompted by himself, and in keeping with what he told Eden, we have shown to be untrue. 1 The second assertion is that either himself, or his father, for the phraseology is vague, and the epithet may apply, in the sentence, to either, was a Knight : "Miles." There can be no doubt that this expression was intended to convey the belief that John, or his son Sebastian, had been knighted. Selden, the highest authority on such matters in England, positively says : " The name of Knight together with Miles and Chivaler being but the same with Eques" 2 The qualificative auratus, in the words : " militis aurati" makes the term still stronger. Spelman, after enumerating the different kinds of knights, under the head of Miles, adds : " Et videntur iidem aliquando quos auratos dicimus : And those very knights we are seen at times to call Golden Knights"* As to the reason, Father Menestrier, 4 another high authority, says it was because of their gilt spurs, chains, collars and other ornaments. Below the dignity of Knight, that, for instance, of Esquire, those ornaments were of silver, or white metal. Now Biddle states 5 that "in the Cotton MSS. (Claudius, C. iii.) is a paper giving 'the names and arms of such as have been advanced to the order of Knighthood in the reigns of Henry VII., Henry 1 Supra, pp. 27-35. des dorures . . . ce qui les fit nommer 2 SELDEN, Titles of Honour ; Lon- Chevaliers dor ez. Ces dorures estoient don, 1672, folio, part ii, chap, v, p. des ceintures, des chaines d'or, des 636. colliers, des esperons dorez . . .'* 3 SPELMAN, Glossarium Archaiol* MENESTRIER, De la Chevalerie ogicum ; London, 1764, folio, p. 411. ancienne et moderne\ PARIS, 1683, 4 " La plupart de ces chevaleries I2mo, p. 62. avoient des marques d'honneur, des 5 BIDDLE, p. 180. livrees, des devises, et particulierement 378 THE END OF CABOT S CAREER. VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, in which no notice is taken of him (Sebastian Cabot)." It is well to add that neither is the name of John Cabot to be found in that list, or in any other. But England is not the only country in Europe which created knights of the golden spurs, or " chevaliers dorez." Italy, France, and Germany, conferred that title of honor ; and what Sebastian Cabot meant was to make believe that either his father, or himself, most probably the latter, had been knighted, not by a Tudor, but by some foreign prince. The term "Miles" often employed on the continent, instead of " Eques" which was more generally used in England, 1 may be interpreted in support of our hypothesis. If John Cabot was intended, the dignity must have been conferred before 1496, and in that case the title would be mentioned in the letters patent granted by Henry VII., as well as in the chronicles or dispatches of the time which speak of John Cabot. If, on the other hand, Sebastian is meant, let us recollect that the only honorary distinction of the kind ever added to his name in authentic documents, is, as late as 1555, and I557, 2 that of " Armiger? which means nothing but "Esquire," 3 and, in Cabot's case, as we believe, given not otherwise than by courtesy. HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN. When, on the 2oth of October 1512, King Ferdi- nand of Aragon wrote to Luis Carroz de Villagarut, 4 1 BIDDLE remarks, for instance, portraits of those worthies, we read : that " Eques auratus" is used by HAK- " Humfridus GILBERTUS Miles aura- LUYT to designate Sir Humphrey GIL- tus ;" " Richardus GRENVILUS, Mil. BERT, Sir Hugh WILLOUGHBY, Sir Aur. ;" " Franciscus DRAKE, Miles Martin FROBISHER, Sir Francis auratus" DRAKE, and Sir Walter RALEIGH. 2 RYMER, Fatdera, vol. vi, part iv, But TYTLER, in his excellent vindica- pp. 40, 55. tion of HAKLUYT, refers to HOLLAND'S 3 SPELMAN, voc. Armiger, p. 42. Heroologia Anglice, where, under the 4 Supra, p. 153. THE END OF CABOT S CAREER. 379 the Spanish ambassador in London, recommending Cabot, who was going to England for the purpose of removing his household to Seville, the latter was al- ready married. But as the name of his wife is not given in the letter of commendation, we do not know whether or not it was Catalina Medrano, who, as his wife, is found mentioned for the first time by name thirteen years afterwards. On the 25th of October 1525, when Cabot was at Seville supervising the preparations of the expedition to " las islas de Tarsis e Ofir e al Catayo oriental," which, however, went instead to La Plata, as we have related, he transferred to the said Catalina the 25,000 maravedis constituting his yearly addi- tional gratification (" ayuda de costa "). Being en- titled to that bounty during life, he asked, and obtained from Charles V. that it should revert to her, likewise as a life annuity, upon his death. 1 The name of Medrano is Spanish, and there is nothing to prevent Cabot having married first in England an English, or Italian woman, become a widower after 1512, and take a new wife in Spain ; inasmuch as in 1525 he was but fifty-two years old. We see Catalina Medrano frequently referred to in one of the suits brought against him when he re- turned from La Plata, in 1530. Catalina Vazquez then declared that he was ruled by his wife's notions, and only acted as she wished. 2 Witnesses were pro- duced on the trial to prove that she constantly busied herself with the affairs of her husband, who passively submitted. Catalina Vazquez went even so far as to 1 Jean et Stbastien Cabot, doc. xxxii, Catalina de Medrano no hazia e dezia B, p. 355. It is by mistake that NAV- ante dicho Sebastian CABOTO todo lo ARRETE, Bibliot. Maritima, vol. ii, p. que queria e por bien tenia sin quel 698, says " se senalaron a su muger dicho Sebastian CABOTO le fuese a la los 50,000 mrs. que el tenia por mano y ella mandava y hazia lo que gratificacion. " queria libremente. " Deposition of the 2 " Este testigo vio algunas veces en sailor Andres DAYCAGA, Syllabus , No. San Lucar de Barrameda que la dicha Hi, g. 380 THE END OF CABOTS CAREER. accuse his wife, equally with himself, of enmity against Martin and Fernand Mendez, and -of having employed men to kill the eldest of the two brothers. 1 The charges are evidently exaggerated, but the depositions show that Cabot's wife was a high tempered, domineering woman. She was still living on the 24th of June 1533, at which date Cabot speaks of her as being ill. 2 After that time she disappears entirely from the documents, both Spanish and English. When yet living in England the first time, Cabot had a daughter called Elizabeth, who received from her godfather, the chaplain William Mychell, of Lon- don, May 7th, 1516, a small legacy. 8 A daughter, whose Christian name has not come down to us, died at Seville in the summer of 1533 ; 4 but we are unable to say whether they are identical. In the Register Books of St. Bartholomew by the Royal Exchange, in London, there is a mention, sub anno 1560, of one Elizabeth Cabot, married to Robert Saddler. 5 She may have been the Elizabeth named in Mychell's will ; but we have failed to find any evidence to substantiate the supposition among the numerous Gabottis and Gabots mentioned in those records. HIS BROTHERS, As to the two brothers of Cabot, viz. : Sanctus and Lewis, who figure in the petition and grant of 1496, no traces are found of either of them outside those two documents. The passage of Pasqualigo's letter 6 1 Interrogatories by the Fiscal ; cipal Registry of the Probate, Divorce Syllabus, No. Hi. and Admiralty Division of the High 2 " No he podido antes por la muerte Court of Justice j London, Public Re- de mi hija y dolencia de mi muger i cord Office. mia." Letter to Juan DE SAMANO. 4 Letter to SAM ANO, tibi supra. Syllabus, No. lii. 5 Travers Twiss, in Nautical Maga- 3 "Lego Elizabeth filie Sebastian! zine, for July 1876, p. 675. CABOTO filiole mee iiis. iiij d ." Prin- ^Jean et Stb. Cabot, doc. viii, p. 322. THE END OF CABOT'S CAREER. 381 already quoted, indicates that in 1497 they lived with their mother at Bristol. Campbell, on the authority of what he designates simply as " Remarks on Hakluyt MS.," states 1 that " John Cabot's other sons \i.e. Sanctus and Lewis], became also eminent men, and settled abroad, one in Genoa, the other at Venice." We place no faith whatever in anonymous and unsupported assertions of that character. Meanwhile, it is well to say that no vestiges of these two " eminent men " have ever been discovered in Genoa or Venice. Further, neither the son who is alleged to have settled in Venice, nor any member of his family, could be found in that city in ,1551 ; otherwise the Council of Ten would not have written then to Giacomo Soranzo, the ambassador of the Republic in England : " The said Cabot is known to no one here : non essendo il detto Caboto conoscinto da alcuno aqui." 2 HIS ALLEGED DESCENDANTS. A deplorable mania, which in this Vanity Fair tends everywhere more and more to poison the sources of history, is that of claiming kinship to, or even lineal descent from, ancient homonymous celebrities. Usually this is entirely imaginary, or rests upon forged pedigrees, such as we see fabricated every day in heraldic laboratories. Occa- sionally, it is a mere legend, which the ambitious namesakes call " tradition," without being able, how- ever, to trace it back beyond a few years, although the alleged progenitor frequently dates from the Crusades. We have endeavoured, on several occasions, to sift claims of the sort, hoping that if perchance they rested upon something plausible, we might find docu- 1 CAMPBELL, op. cit. y vol. i, p. 226, 2 Dispatch of the Council of Ten to note. SORANZO, Syllabus, No. Ixxvii. 382 THE END OF CABOTS CAREER. mentary references calculated to be of service in our inquiries. No satisfactory results ever came out of these efforts. As regards Cabotian ancestries, two have been urged within the last few years with unwonted confidence. They are as worthless as the rest. But as the claimants base their pretensions upon authentic documents, we feel in duty bound to examine these alleged proofs. Both claims have originated in France; one in Normandy, the other in Languedoc. The first is based upon a genuine legal parchment, which we describe de visu. 1 It is a receipt, dated June 22nd, 1470, and signed, somewhere in Normandy (the name of the place is partly illegible), by one Jehan Cabot, unquestionably a Frenchman, for a rent charge granted out of an estate called de la Londe, situate in the isle of Rouen. I twill suffice to remind our readers that in 1470, the real John Cabot had been residing at Venice for nine consecutive years, since in 1476 he was made a Venetian citizen " per habitationem annorum xv, juxta consuetum." Nor can we realise how, in the last quarter of the xv th century, the Republic of Venice would have granted letters of naturalization to a Frenchman born. The other claimants are the Cabots de la Fare, in the south of France, who, so recently as 1829, set forth their genealogical pretensions before the Courts, as follows : " The progenitor of our race is Jean Cabot, the celebrated navi- gator, of Venetian origin, who, in the xv th century, discovered the Newfoundland Bank. If those of our ancestors who settled in France, have been excluded from the favors of the Court, it is because they ranged themselves under the standard of the Refor- mation. Among them was Pierre Cabot, surnamed ' Capitaine,' who, when asked to join the enemies of his faith, replied by these words, which have become the motto and armorial bearing of our 1 That document was said to come from the papers of D' HOZIER in 1888. THE END OF CABOTS CAREER. 383 family : Semper cor, caput Cabot ( c I shall always have the same heart, the same head, Cabot I am ')." x As to their Cabotian lineage, they strove to establish it in this wise : " i. JEAN CABOT, a Venetian nobleman (naturally !). His sons were : JEAN II., who returned to Venice, and died there. Louis, mentioned below. SEBASTIAN, who remained in the service of Henry VII., King of England. Afterwards he joined his brother Louis in France, where he died without leaving any known posterity. It is believed, however, that Vincent Cabot, a celebrated jurist of the xvi th century, is an issue of the body of that Sebastian. (See Dictionnaire historique de Moreri^ 1759, vol. iii, p. 6.) 2. Louis CABOT, first of the name, son of Jean, above described. He entered the service of France. Having been among the first to embrace the Protestant religion, he was obliged to withdraw into the Cevennes, where he inhabited the town of Saint Paul-la-Coste. His son was Pierre, mentioned next. 3. PIERRE CABOT, son of Louis. Like his father, he lived in Saint Paul-la-Coste, where he died, after having made his will on the 27th of December 1552 before Guillaume Petit, a notary of Alais. It is in the said testament that the descent from Jean Cabot, the celebrated Venetian navigator, is duly established." As the reader can readily imagine, our first care was to institute thorough researches in the notarial archives of Alais, and also of Uzes, to which district Saint Pol-la-Coste formerly belonged. Nor have we neglected those of Nimes, and other places in old Languedoc, where there was a possibility of dis- covering traces of the Cabots de la Fare. The result of our laborious investigations is that not only does the aforesaid testament of Pierre Cabot not exist at all, but there is no evidence whatever, beyond the unsupported declaration of the claimants, that such a document ever existed. What is more, 1 Cour Royale de Nismes. Plaidoyer Fare- Alais et de la Fare- Vnejean. pour Messieurs Cabot de la Fare, centre Nismes , Imprimeurs de la Cour Royale. le Cardinal de la Fare et MM. de la Juillet 1829, 410, p. 31. 384 THE END OF CABOT'S CAREER. no notary of the name of Pierre Petit lived at Alais in 1552, or at anytime, anywhere in France. The ancient and authentic notarial rolls of Languedoc mention only one notary called Petit who practised in Alais, but his Christian name was Jacques, and he filled the office from 1586 to 1588. Nor, so far as known, did he attest, witness, or receive a testament executed by a Cabot. The oldest Franco- Cabotian will existing, or of which there are authentic traces, bears date December 2nd, 1586, and was executed by " Loys Cabot de Carresvielles," in the parish of Saint Paul-la-Coste, not in presence of a Petit, but of Guillaume Solayret, notary public. We have read, with the utmost care, from begin- ning to end, that will, the only one executed by any of these French Cabots in the xvi th century. So far from establishing " la descendance de Jean Cabot, clebre navigateur vnitien," it does not contain the least allusion to any one of the Cabots whose name is associated with the discovery of North America. Ab uno disce omnes. SYLLABUS OF THE ORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTS WHICH REFER TO THE CABOTS, TO THEIR LIVES, AND TO THEIR VOYAGES 1476-1557 2 B SYLLABUS. i. 1476. 28th March. ORDER TO RECORD LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION GRANTED BY THE SENATE OF VENICE TO JOHN CABOTO, IN CONSE- QUENCE OF A RESIDENCE OF FIFTEEN YEARS IN THE ClTY. ' ' Quod fiat privilegium civilitatis de intus et extra loani Caboto per habita- tionem annorum xv, iuxta consuetum [consuetudinem ?] De parte 149. De non o. Non sinceri o." ROMANIN, Storia documentata di Venezia> vol. iv, p. 453. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot?- doc. i, p. 318. The grant was made by a unanimous vote of 149 senators. It is briefly recorded in vol. vii, fo. 109, of the series of senatorial registers called Terra, for the years 1473-1477. Rawdon BROWN'S translation (Calendar, vol. i, No. 453) "That a privilege of citizenship within and without be made for John Cabot, as usual, for a residence of fifteen years," is not quite exact. At that time, Per was employed for Pro (DUCANGE, voc. Per). It is here employed in the sense of "pro habitatione annorum xv," viz. : " for (or in consideration of) having resided fifteen years." II. 1476. 28th March. LETTERS OF NATURALIZATION GRANTED BY THE SENATE OF VENICE TO JOHN CABOTO. " Nicolao Trono, by the Grace of God, Doge of Venice, &c. To all and singular our friends and faithfuls, present and to come, who will see the present privilege, greeting and evidence of sincere friendship : 1 The references under this head are which we indicate as containing nearly to our work Jean et Sebastien Cabot, leur all the documents cited in the present origine et leurs voyages; Paris, i8S2> 8vo, work. 388 SYLLABUS. [11,1476. We want to make known to you by the present act that among the things which we keep in mind, is to attend with particular care to the interest of our subjects and faithful friends, and secure in due time what may be useful to them, as a matter appertaining to the honor of our Excellency [ourself], and [also because] the unreserved attachment of our friends is so much the more usefully brought into use, and firmly consolidated, as our friendship and devo- tion are constant. [Now] wishing to award merit according to its deserts, we have decided to decree [as follows] : Whosoever has inhabited Venice for xv years or more, and during that time fulfilled the duties, and supported the charges of our Seigniory as if he had been a citizen and [one of our own] Venetians, shall enjoy perpetually and everywhere, the privilege of Venetian citizenship, and other liberties and immunities enjoyed and used by the other Venetians [who are] countrymen of ours. Now therefore, as regards the prudent man Aloysio Fontana, formerly of Bergamo, now residing at Venice, in the street of St Julian. It having been represented to us upon true and reliable proofs diligently examined by the magistrates of our city, that he has inhabited Venice continuously during xv years, behaving towards us and our Duchy, faithfully and praiseworthily, with absolute devotion, filling constantly the duties, and supporting the charges of our Seigniory, [wishing] to reward him duly, in respecting nevertheless the necessary solemnity of our statutes and ordinances, We have admitted and do admit the said Aloysio Fontana as Venetian and fellow citizen, within and without [de intus et extra]. Have so made and do make him, and wish that he be considered a Venetian and fellow citizen in Venice and elsewhere, and treated everywhere as such. So that all and singular the liberties, advantages, and immunities enjoyed by the other Venetians and our fellow citizens de intus et extra, shall be enjoyed by the said Aloysio in and out of Venice. It being understood [nevertheless] that at sea, and in the German Warehouse [fontico theotonicorum\ he will not be allowed to trade, or cause to trade, before having first given security within the year to our Seigniory. In witness whereof, and as greater evidence of the same, we have caused the present privilege to be engrossed, and our leaden Bull affixed thereto. Given in our Ducal palace, the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1472, the Ilth day of August, Indiction V. The like privilege has been granted to the prudent man Giovanni, the son of Giacomo, former inhabitant of Pesaro, now in Venice, in the time of the most Serene Prince and Lord, Nicolao Marcello, illustrious Doge of Venice, &c., under the leaden Bull, in 1473, October 23rd, Indiction VII. The like privilege has been granted to the prudent man Martino Figini, former inhabitant of Milan, residing in Venice at the time of the most Serene Prince and Lord, Nicolao Marcello, in 1474, July 4th, Indiction VII. The like privilege has been granted to the prudent man Antonio, the son of Gulielmo Calderario de Columbis, former inhabitant of Balabio, in the District of Milan, residing in Venice at the time of the most Serene Prince and Lord Pietro Mocenigo, under the leaden Bull, in 1475, May 5th, Indiction VII. The like privilege has been granted to the prudent man, Giovanni, the son of Bartolomeo of Brescia, residing in Venice at the time of the most Serene Prince and Lord Nicolao Marcello, in 1474, May I7th, Indiction VII. The like privilege has been granted to the honest and prudent man Giovanni Piedro de Turco, formerly of Novarra, residing in Venice in the time of the most Serene Prince and Lord Giovanni Mocenigo, August 22nd, 1480. The like privilege has been granted to Bartolomeo, the son of Antonio Casarolo, August i8th, 1481. The like privilege has been granted to Bernardo, the son of Bartolomeo of Pergamo, September 28th, 1484. I". I496-] SYLLABUS. 389 The like privilege has been granted to Zacharia de Panti, of Lodi. September 28th, 1484. The like privilege has been granted to Benedetto Lancelotti Fortana, September 28th, 1484. The like privilege has been granted to the brothers Giovanni, Sebastiano, and Stephano, September 28th, 1484. The like privilege has been granted to Rafaele, the son of the late Antonio de Ardiconibus, February I2th, 1481. The like privilege has been granted to M. Stefano, the son of Nicolas Aurifici, by a golden [sic] Bull of February 26th, 1484. The like privilege has been granted to Giovanni Caboto under the aforesaid Doge [not Giovanni Mocenigo, but Andrea Vendramin, 1476-1478]. The like privilege has been granted to Domenico Giovanni de la Cisio, January i8th, 1498. The like privilege has been granted to Giacomo de Blandratis, July 27th, 1500. The like privilege has been granted to Giovanni Giacomo Grimasco, of Pa via, August I7th, 1501." Document now first translated into English. The first part of this document was published in the original Latin, by BULLO, La Vera Patria di Nicolo de' Contie di Giovanni Caboto, Chioggia, 1880, 4to, pp. 59-60. The full original text will be found inserted for the first time, in our Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. n, pp. 309-312. The present document confirms the preceding one (No. i), although it is a transcription of a later date. It belongs to the series Privilegii, in vol. n (f. 53), which comprises privileges of various kinds granted from 1425 until 1562. The naturalization nomenclature in that volume has evidently been framed so as to form a list referring exclusively to grants made by virtue of the decree which the Doge Nicolao Trono issued August nth, 1472. We have inserted it in full on account of the wording of the pre- amble, which makes known to us under what conditions John Cabot was made a Venetian citizen. III. 1496. 5th March. PETITION OF JOHN CABOTTE, LEWES, SEBASTIAN AND SANCTO HIS SONS, DELIVERED TO THE CHANCELLOR AT WEST- MINSTER TO BE ACTED UPON, 5TH MARCH. (Public Record Office ; London. Privy Seals, and Chancery signed Bill. Hen. VII., No. 51.) In English : DESIMONI, Intorno a Giovanni Caboto, Geneva, 1881, 8vo, p. 47. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. in, pp. 312-313. The Petition itself is dateless, only the date of delivery being given, which date coincides with that of the grant. 390 SYLLABUS.. IIV, 1496. IV. 5th March. THE LETTERS PATENTES OF KING HENRY THE SEUENTH GRANTED VNTO lOHN CABOT [CABOTO] AND HIS THREE SONNES, LEWIS, SEBASTIAN, AND SANCIUS FOR THE DIS- COUERIE OF NEW AND VNKNOWEN LANDS. " APUD WEST- MONASTERIVM QUINTO DIE MARTIJ." (Public Record Office. French Roll. 11 Hen. VII., m. 23.) In Latin : HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, London, 1582, 4to, p. 19. Principall Navigations, London, 1600, folio, vol. iii, p. 4. RYMER, Fcedera, 1741, vol. v, part iv, p. 89. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. iv, pp. 313-315. In English : HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, pp. 21-22. Principall Navigations, loc. cit. These letters patent are dated in Hakluyt and Rymer " quinto die Martii," but in the original transcript added to the authorization given by King Edward VI. on the 4th of June 1550 (infra, No. Ixx) to Seb. Cabot to obtain a copy, they bear the date of " quinto die Aprilis : April 5th." We caused the Public Records to be examined, and found that the latter date was a mistake committed by the clerk in the time of Edward VI. As to the year mentioned in the transcript of 1550, it is, at the end : "Anno regni nostri [Henry VHth] vndecimo." The eleventh year of the reign of that King corresponds with August 22nd, i495~August 2ist, 1496. It is worthy of notice that the pension granted to John Cabot, on the 1 3th of December 1497 (infra, No. ix) for the discovery accomplished under this patent is made to date only from March 25th preceding. V. 1496. 28th March. DISPATCH FROM RUY GONZALES DE PUEBLA, THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND, TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. (Simancas. Capitulaciones con Inglaterra, Leg. 2, fo. 1 6.) In the original Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. v, p. 315. In English : BERGENROTH, Calendar, vol. i, No. 128, pp. 88-89. VIH, I497-] SYLLABUS. 391 VI. 1497. roth August. GRATUITY FROM HENRY VII. " TO HYM THAT FOUNDE THE NEW ISLE." (British Museum. Addit. MSS., 7099. 12 Henrie VII. , fo. 41 ; copy by Mr. Craven Orde from the original entries in the Remembrancer Office, of the Privy Purse expenses of that King.) N. Harris NICOLAS, Excerpta Historica, or Illustrations of English History; London, 1831, 8vo, p. 113. BIDDLE, Memoir, Philadelphia, 1831, p. 79, note, which see. VII. 1497. 23rd August. LETTERS FROM LORENZO PASQUALIGO, WRITTEN IN LONDON, AND ADDRESSED TO HIS BROTHERS IN VENICE, DESCRIBING JOHN CABOT'S FIRST VOYAGE. (Marin Sanuto's Diari^ MS. of the Marciana Library at Venice.) In Italian : Rawdon BROWN, Ragguali sulla vita e sulk opere di Marin Sanuto ; Venezia, 1837, 8vo, part i, p. 99. Marin SANUTO, Diarij, Venezia, 1879, 8vo, vo ^ i* PP- 806-808. Jean et Sebastien Cabot ', doc. viii, p. 322 (from the original MS.). In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. i, p. 262, No. 752. In the original MS. of Sanuto's Diarij, to Pasqualigo's name is added : " no di Ser Filippo, a Ser Alvise e Francesco Pasqualigo suo fratelli in Veniexia," VIII. 1497. 24th August. DISPATCH FROM RAIMONDO DI SONCINO ADDRESSED FROM LONDON TO THE DUKE OF MILAN, ALLUDING TO JOHN CABOT. (Archives of the Sforzas, at Milan.) In Italian : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. ix, p. 323 (Mr. Bullo's Italian text, op. cit., p. 60, is apparently a translation from Rawdon Brown.) In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. i, No. 759, p. 260. 392 SYLLABUS. [IX, 1497. IX. 1497. 1 3th December. PENSION OF 20 PER ANNUM, GRANTED BY HENRY VII. TO JOHN CABOT. Memorandum quod xxviij die Januarij Anno subscripto istud breve liberatum fuit domino Cancellario Angliae apud Westmonasterium exequendum. Henry by the grace of god King of England and of Fraunce and lord of Irland To the most reuerend fadre in god John Cardinal archiebisshop of Cantrebury prymate of all England and of the apostolique see legate our chaunceller greting We late you Wite that We for certaine consideracions vs specially moevyng haue yeuen and graunted vnto our Welbiloued John Calbot [sic] of the parties of Venice an annuitie or anuel rent of twenty pounds sterling To be had and yerely perceyued from the feast of thanunciacion of or lady last passed during our pleasur of our Custumes and subsidies comyng and growing in our Poort of Bristowe by thands of our custums ther for the tyme beyng at Michelmas and Estre by even porcions Wherfor we wol and charge you that vnder our grete seal ye do make heruppon our lettres patent in god and effectuall forme Yeuen vndre our Pryue Seal at or paloys of Westminster the xiijth day of Decembre The xiijth yere of our Reigne. HORWOD. (Public Record Office. Privy Seal. Dec. 13 Henr. VII. No. 40.) This pension, the text of which was first made known by Mr. Charles DEANE (John and Sebastian Cabot, Cambridge, 1886, 8vo, p. 56 ; reprinted from Mr. Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America) , dates, as the reader can see, from the preceding 25th of March, and is made a charge upon the customs of the port of Bristol. It did not pass the seals until the 28th of January 1498, and is addressed to John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. We take our text from the original manuscript. See infra, No. xii. X. 1497- 1 8th December. SECOND DISPATCH FROM RAIMONDO DI SONCINO TO THE DUKE OF MILAN. (State archives at Milan ; Potenze Estere. Inghilterra, 1497, Decembr.) In Italian : Annuario Scientific del 1865 \ Milan, 1866, p. 700. DESIMONI, Intorno, pp. 53-55 (from the original MS.). Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. x, pp. 324-326. In English : Prof. B. H. NASH, in Mr. Deane's above-quoted John and Sebastian Cabot, pp. 54-55. XI, i 4 98.] SYLLABUS. 393 XL 1498. 3rd February. NEW LETTERS PATENT GRANTED TO JOHN KABOTTO OR CABOTO BY HENRY VII. (Public Record Office. Chancery Signed Bills, 13 Hen. VII., No. 6.) In English : BIDDLE, Memoir p , pp. 74-75. DESIMONI (revised text), Intorno, pp. 56-57. Jean et Sebastien Cabot ; doc. xi, pp. 327-28. This document was indicated by Hakluyt (vol. xii, p. 23), in Latin, and in English as follows : "The King vpon the third day of February, in the 13 yeere of his reigne, gaue licence to John Cabot to take sixe English ships in any hauen or hauens of the realme of England, being of the burden of 200 tunnes, or vnder, with all necessary furniture, and to take also into the said ships all such masters, mariners, and subiects of the King as willingly will go with him, &c." The text, however, but in English only, was found by Biddle at the Rolls Chapel in 1831, and published by him in his Memoir. The grantee is called therein " John Kabotto, Venecian," and this time, his sons are not associated with him in the grant. Here is the Latin text of that important document : ' ' D licencia ) R. Omnibus ad quos etc salutem Sciatis quod nos de gratia Caboto \ nostra speciali ac certis consideracionibus nos specialiter mouentibus dedimus et concessimus ac per presentes damus et concedimus dilecto nobis Johanni Caboto Veniciano sufficientem potestatem et auctoritatem quod ipse per se deputatum seu deputatos suos sufficientes sex naues huius regni Angliae in quocumque portu seu portubus siue aliis locis infra idem regnum nostrum aut obedienciam nostram sic quod dicte naues sint portagij ducentorum doliorum vel infra cum apparatibus suis pro saluo conductu earumdem nauium ad libitum suum capiendi et prouidendi nauesque illas ad terram et Insulas per ipsum Johannem nuperrime inuentas conducendi soluendo pro eisdem nauibus et earum qualibet tantum quantum nos solueremus et non vltra si pro nostro negocio et causa capte fuissent et prouise Et quod idem Johannes per se aut deputatum siue deputatos suos sufficientes omnes et singulos marinarios Magistros pagettos ac subditos nostros quoscumque qui ex eorum libera voluntate secum in dictis nauibus versus et vsque terram et Insulas pre- dictas transire et transmeare voluerint in naues huiusmodi et earum quamlibet capere et recipere possit et valeat absque impedimento impeticione seu per- turbacione aliquorum Officiariorum Ministrorum seu subditorum nostrorum quorumcumcjue per ipsos seu eorum aliquem prefato Johanni deputato siue deputatis suis aut aliis subditis nostris predictis seu eorum alicui in comitiua eiusdem Johannis in nauibus predictis ad terram et Insulas predictas tran- seuntibus inferendi aut attemptari permittendi Damus vniuersis et singulis Officiariis Ministris et subditis nostris presentes litteras nostras visuris et audituris absque vlteriori mandato per nos eisdem siue eorum alicui faciendo tenore presencium firmiter in mandatis quod eidem Johanni ac deputatis suis predictis aliisque nostris subditis secum vt premittitur transeuntibus in premissis 394 SYLLABUS. [XII, 1498. faciendi et exequendi fauentes sint consulentes et auxiliaries in omnibus diligenter. In cuius etc T. R. apud Westimonasterium tercio die Februarij Per ipsum Regem etc de data etc." (Public Record Office. French Roll. 13 Hen. VII. No. 439 (m. i). Document now published in Latin for the first time. XII. 1498. 22nd February. WARRANT FROM HENRY VII. FOR THE PAYMENT OF JOHN CABOT'S PENSION. " Henry by the Grace of God King of England and of France and lord of Ireland To the Tresourer and Chaubrelaines of oure Eschequier greting Whereas we by oure warrant under oure signet for certain consideracions have geven and graunted unto John Caboote xx li [20] yerely during oure pleasure to be had and prayved by the hands of our custumers in oure poorte of Bristowe and as we be enformed the said John Caboote is delaied of his payement because the said custumers have no sufficient matier of discharge for their indempnitie to be yolden at their accompt before the Barons of our Eschequier Wherefore we wol and charge you that ye our said Tresourer and Chaubre- laines that now be and hereafter shalbe that ye unto suche tymes as ye shall have from us otherwise in comandement do to be levied in due fourme ii several tailles every of them conteignyng x li upon the customers of the revenues in oure said poorte of Bristowe at two usual termes of the yere whereof oon taill to be levied as this time conteignyng x li of the revenues of oure said poort upon Richard Meryk and Arthure Kemys late custumers of the same And the same taill or tailles in due and sufficient fourme levied ye delyver unto the said John Caboote to be had of our gift by way of rewarde without prest or eny other charge to be sette upon hym or any of them for the same And thes our lettres shal be youre sufficient warrant in that behalf Geven undre oure prive seal at oure Manor of Shene the xxii day of ffebruary the xiii yere of oure reign. BOLMAN." (Warrants for Issues of the I3th of Henry VII.) Document now published for the first time. Kindly communicated by M. OPPENHEIM, Esqr. This warrant refers to the pension of ^20 granted to John Cabot, December 1 3th, 1497. (Supra, No. ix.) XIII. 1498. 22nd March. LOAN OF ,20, FROM HENRY VII. TO LANSLOT THIRKILL, OF LONDON. (British Museum, MSS. Additional, No. 7099.) In English : N. Harris NICOLAS, Excerpta Historica, p. 116. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, pp. 102 and 256. XV, 1498.] SYLLABUS. 395 This individual was evidently a companion of John Cabot, and owner of one of the vessels in the squadron, as the loan was " for his shipp going towards the new lande." We see him again in London, June 6th, 1501, where, with Thomas Par, Walter Strik- land and Thomas Mydelton, he is " bounden in ij obligations to pay at Whitsonty de next comyns xx li, and that day twelvemoneth xl marcs for lyverye of Flemynges landes." (Brit. Museum, Add. MSS., 21,480, fo. 35, v., quoted by DESIMONI, Intorno, p. 61.) We have been unable to ascertain whether the ^20 mentioned in that bond, refer to the loan made in 1498, the three other men standing security for him, or whether the sum, like the rest, refers to " Flemynges landes." At all events, this shows, that one ship at least returned from the expedition of 1498, and that is all, thus far, which is known concerning the results of the voyage, except, by implication, the delineations in La Cosa's planisphere. XIV. 1498. ist April. OTHER LOANS FROM HENRY VII. FOR THE SAME OBJECT. (British Museum, MSS. Addit., No. 7099.) In English : N. Harris NICOLAS, op. tit., p. 117. Those loans are as follows : To Thomas Thirkill, ^30. To Thomas Bradley, ^30. There is also a gratuity of ^40, 53. to John Carter. The three mentions are followed by the words : " going to the newe ile." XV. 1498. Undated, but about 25th July. DISPATCH ADDRESSED BY RUY GONZALES DE PUEBLA, SENIOR SPANISH AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND, TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. (Archives of Simancas. Patronato Real. Capitulaciones con Inglaterra, Leg. 2, f. 198.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xii, p. 328, with printer's mis- takes, which we now proceed to correct : " El Rey de Inglaterra embio cinco naos armadas con otro ginoues como Colon a buscar la ysla del Brasil y las vjcinidades, fueron proveydas por hun 396 SYLLABUS. [XVI, 1498. afio. Dizen que seran venjdos para el Setiembre. Vista la derrota que llevan hallo que lo buscan es lo que Vuestras Altezas posseen. El Rey me ha fablado algunas veces sobrello espera haver muy gran ynteresse. Creo que no hay daqui alia cccc leguas." This is the first time that the name of Columbus is mentioned in a document coming from England. Supra, p. 42. XVI. 1498. 25th July. DISPATCH ADDRESSED BY PEDRO DE AYALA, JUNIOR SPANISH AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND, TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. (Loc. dt.} In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot \ doc. xiii, p. 329. In English : BERGENROTH, Calendar, vol. i, No. 210, pp. 176-177, but with the omission of the important following passage : " Porque es al cabo que a Vuestras Altezas cupo por la convencion con Portugal : Because it is next to [the region] which your Majesties have secured by the convention with Portugal [Treaty of Tordesillas]." XVII. 1498 (?). CRONICON REGUM ANGLIC ET SERIES MAIORUM ET VICE COMITUM ClVITATIS LONDON AB ANNO PRIMO HENRICI TERTIUM AD ANNUM PRIMUM HEN. 8 vi . (Ms. Cott. vitellius, A xvi, f. 173. British Museum.) Edward E. HALE, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society \ 1866, p. 22. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, (from the original Cottonian MS.) doc. vi, p. 316. The same, modified, and attributed to Robert FABYAN : STOW, The Chronicles of England, London, 1580, 4to, p. 862. Where the Cronicon states : " This yere the Kyng at the besy request and supplicacion of a Straunger venisian . . . ", Stow prints : "This yeare one Sebastian Gabato a genoas Sonne." HAKLUYT, Divers voyages, 1582; Principall Navigations, 1589, and 1599-1600, vol. iii, p. 9. In the first of these works, Hakluyt prints : " This yeere the King (by means of a Venetian . . . ;") in the second : " In the 13 yeere of King Henrie the VII. by means of one John Cabot, a Venetian;" in the third, also "by meanes of one John Cabot a XIX, T 5 o 3 .] S YLLAB US. 397 Venetian." Yet Hakluyt has added to these statements a title which reads, first, as follows : "A Note of Sebastian Gabote's Voyage of Discouerie," and, second, " A note of Sebastian Cabots first discouerie of part of the Indies," which contradict the state- ment itself. Concerning the same, see Biddle, chapt. v, pp. 41- 45, and Tytler, Historical 'view ', 1832, pp. 421-427. This MS. contains extracts from an anonymous chronicle of the time of Henry VII., mentioning the first transatlantic voyage of John Cabot (not by name, however), mixed with details pertaining to the second, but presented as one expedition only. Supra , pp. 25 and 131. XVIII. 1502. EXTRACT FROM FABYAN'S (LOST) MANUSCRIPT CHRONICLE. STOW, Chronicle^ London, 1580, p. 875 (where there is a misprint, viz. : "1468 "). Jean et Sebastien Cabot \ doc. xiv, p. 330. It refers to the alleged third voyage of " Sebastian Gabato, 18. Henr. VII." based upon the allegation, borrowed from Fabyan, that " thys yeare, were brought vnto the Kyng three men taken in the new founde Ilands." Hakluyt, quoting also Stowe's copy of Fabyan, in 1582, heads that statement thus : "Of three savage men which he [Cabot] brought home and presented unto the King in the xvii yeere of his raigne." That is, the event occurred not between August 22nd, 1502, and August 2ist, 1503, as Stow said, but between 22nd Aug. 1501 and 2ist Aug. 1502. Afterwards, Hakluyt again changed the date into the "fourteenth yeare (Prindpall Navig., 1600, vol. iii, p. 9); that is, between 22nd Aug. 1498 and 2ist Aug. 1499." Supra, part i, chapter xvii, p. 143. XIX. 1503- 6th December. APPROPRIATION FOR THE PENSION GRANTED TO FERNANDEZ AND GONZALES. "Henry by the Grace of God King of England and of ffraunce, and lord of Irland To the Tresourer and Chambrelaines of our Eschequier greting. Whereas we by our lettres undre oure prive seal bering date at cure manor of Langley the xxvith day of Septembre the xviiith yere of our Reigne gaf and 398 SYLLABUS. [XIX, 1503. graunted unto our trusty and welbeloved subgietts ffraunceys ffernandus and John Guidisalvus squiers in consideracion of the true service which they have doon unto us to our singler pleasur as capitaignes unto the newe founde lande unto either of them ten pounds yerely during pleasure to be had and preyved of the Revenues of our custumes comyng and growing within our poort of Bristowe by the hands of the custumers there that now be and herafter shalbe at the fests of Estre and Michaelmes by even porcions And forasmoche as Richard Meryk and Arthur Kemys late custumers in our said poort of Bristowe have paide unto the said ffraunceys ffernandus and John Guidisalvus twenty pounds for oon hool yere ended at the fest of Saint Michell tharchaungell last past for the which they have no maner of discharge to be alleged at their accompts before the barons of our Eschequier Wherefore we wol that ye in due and sufficient forme doo to be levied for the said ffraunceys ffernandus and John Guidisalvus a taille or tailles conteignyng the said sume of xx li upon Richard Meryk and Arthure Kemys late custumers in our said poort of the revenues of the same And furthermore we wol that ye from hensforth from tyme to tyme and yer to yer doo to be levied several taills conteignyng the said sume of xx li upon the custumers of our said poort that now be and herafter shalbe unto the tyme ye shall have from us otherwise comandement by wryting And the said taill or tailles in due and sufficient fourme levied upon the said custumers at the fests beforesaid we wol that ye delivre unto the said ffraunceys ffernandus and John Guidisalvus or unto the bringer hereof in their names to be taken of our gyfte by way of rewarde without pete [?] or eny othre maner of charge to be set upon them or eny of them for the same And thies our lettres shalbe yo r sufficient warrant in that behalf geven undre our prive seal at our citie of London the vj day of Decembre the xixth yr. of oure reigne. R. BOLMAN." (Warrants for issues of the iQth of Henry VII.) Document now published for the first time. Kindly communicated by M. OPPENHEIM, Esqr. This document confirms our assertion (Supra, part i, chapt. xvii, p. 145) that the privileges for transatlantic expeditions granted to the Cabots in 1496 and 1498, determined with the second expedition. We already possessed an entry, of September 24th, 1502, showing that at the latter date certain merchants of Bristol (not named) had been rewarded for having " bene in the Newefounde Launde (Harris NICOLAS, Excerpta Historica, p. 129, No. 30)." But there yet remained to show that this entry referred to the expedition undertaken by Richard Ward, Thomas Ashehurst, John Thomas, Joao and Francisco Fernandez, and Joao Gonzales, by virtue of the letters patent granted to them, March igth, 1501 (BIDDLE, pp. 306-314), and, consequently, that it had been actually carried out. This shows that the American Indians seen in London in the " i8th year of Henry VII.'s reign," were not brought by Cabot, but by the aforesaid grantees. The reader will notice that the pension to Fernandez and Gonzales was bestowed September 26th, 1502, and cannot apply therefore to their second expedition, as this was undertaken in consequence of letters patent granted only December 9th following. (RYMER, vol. v, part iv, p. 186.) Supra, pp. I44-I47- XXIII, i S i2.J SYLLABUS. 399 XX. 1512. May. PAYMENT TO SEBASTIAN CABOT FOR MAKING A MAP. " Paid Sebastian Tabot (sic) making of a carde of Gascoigne and Guyon, 2os" J. S. BREWER, Calendar domestic and foreign, Henry VIII., vol. ii, part ii, p. 1456. This " card " or map, was for the expedition to the South of France agreed upon by Henry VIII. and Ferdinand of Aragon. Supra, p. 152. XXI. 1512. 1 3th September. LETTER FROM FERDINAND OF ARAGON TO LORD WILLOUGHBY. (Mufioz Transcripts, vol. xc, f. 109, verso.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot', doc. xv B, p. 331. Lord Willoughby de Broke had command of the troops which landed at Pasages in June 1512. (RYMER, Fcedera, vol. xii, p. 297. HERBERT, History of Henry VIII., p. 20.) XXII. 1512. 1 3th September. LETTER FROM KING FERDINAND TO SEBASTIAN CABOTO. (Op.cit.,P. 115.) In Spanish : , Jean et Sebastien Cabot ; doc. xvi, p. 331. Cf. HERRERA, Decad. i, lib. ix, cap. xiii, p. 254. XXIII. 1512. 20th October. LETTER OF KING FERDINAND CONCERNING SEBASTIAN CABOTO. (Ibidem.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot; doc. xvii, p. 332. 400 SYLLABUS. [XXIV, I5 i 2 . XXIV. 1512. 2oth October. LETTER OF KING FERDINAND TO Luis CARROZ DE VILLARAGUT, HIS AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND. (Ibidem.} In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot-, doc. xviii, p. 332. XXV. 1514. 6th March. SEBASTIAN CABOT is CALLED TO THE COURT TO CONSULT WITH THE KING. "En 6 Marzo 514 : se dan a Seb. Caboto 50 ducados en cuenta del salario que se le ha de dar, con que fuese a la corte a consultar con Su Alteza las cosas del viaje que ha de llevar a descubrir : March 6th, 1514, 50 ducats are given to Seb. Cabot on account of his salary to enable him to go to the Court to consult with His Majesty concerning things pertaining his intended voyage of discovery." (Munoz Transcripts, vol. Ixxv, f. 519.) Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xviii A, p. 333. XXVI. 1514. 26th March, 7th April, nth May. SEBASTIAN CABOT RECEIVES SUNDRY SUMS OF MONEY ON ACCOUNT OF SALARIES, AND OTHERWISE. (Munoz Transcripts, vol. Ixxv, fbs. 319, 331.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xviii A, p. 333. The last item relates to expenses incurred in returning from London to Spain, and bringing his wife over. The expression " haver enbiado a traer su muger," indicates that she did not come with him, but that he sent some one to take her to Seville. XXIX, i S is.] SYLLABUB. 401 XXVII. 1515. 1 3th June. SEBASTIAN CABOT RECEIVES 10,000 MARAVEDIS. ' ' Mosen Martin Cabrero mi camarero yo vos mando que de qualesquier mrs. de vuestra cargo deys e pagueys a Sebastian Caboto nuestro capitan de armada de las cosas de las yndias diez mill mrs. de que yo le hago merced para ayuda a su costa . . . Fecha en Burgos a treze dias de junyo de quinientos e quinze afios." (MS. Simancas, Libro de la Camera, 1513-16, f. 63.) Our Discovery of North America, p. 706. XXVIII. 1515. 3oth August. PAYMENT MADE TO SEBASTIAN CABOT AND OTHER PILOTS. (Mufioz Transcripts, vol. Ixxv, f. 343.) In Spanish : Jean et Scbastien Cabot, doc. xviii B, pp. 333-334. We learn from this document that Cabot was then Naval Captain, at a salary of 50,000 maravedis per annum, and also Pilot to His Majesty, and had for colleagues Andres de Sant Martin, Juan Vespucci (the nephew of Americus), Juan Serrano, Andres Garcia Nino, Francisco Goto, Francisco de Torres, and Vasco Gallego. XXIX. 1515. 1 3th November. DEPOSITION OF SEBASTIAN CABOT RELATIVE TO THE LATITUDE OF CAPE ST. AUGUSTIN. (Registro de copias de cedillas, provisiones &c., de la Casa de la Contratacion desde 5 de febrero de 1515 hasta 6 de Marzo de 1519, in the Munoz Tran- scripts. ) In Spanish : NAVARRETE, Coleccion de m'a/es, vol. iii, p. 319, and Optisculos, vol. i, p. 66, 2 C 402 SYLLABUS. [XXX, 1516-17. XXX. 1516-17. 3ist January. TESTAMENT OF WILLIAM MYCHELL OF LONDON; CHAPLAIN. (Principal Registry of the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.) In Latin : Travers Twiss ; Nautical Magazine, London ; July 1876, p. 675. " Lego Elizabeth filie Sebastiani Caboto filiole mee iii s. iiij d." XXXI. 1518. 5th February. SEBASTIAN CABOT is APPOINTED PILOT MAJOR OF SPAIN. " Que Seb. Caboto sea Piloto mayor en lugar de Juan Dias de Solis con 50000. maravedis de salario. Valladolid, 5th feb. 1518." (Munoz Transcripts, vols. Ixxv, f. 213 ; Ixxvi, f. 28.) NAVARRETE, Biiblioteca Maritima, vol. ii, p. 698. Our Discovery of North America, p. 707. XXXII. 1519. 6th May. SEBASTIAN CABOT RECEIVES HIS SALARY AS PILOT MAJOR. (Cuenta del Dr. Sancho de Matienzo> Tesorero de la Casa de Sevilla, 515-19. In the Mufioz Transcripts, vol. Ixxv, f. 49.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xviii c, p. 334. "25ooopor \ de su salario." His salary therefore amounted to 75,000 maravedis per annum; but it comprised, apparently, his emoluments as Naval Captain. XXXIII. 1521. ist March-Qth April. PROTEST OF THE TWELVE GREAT LIVERIES OF LONDON AGAINST EMPLOYING SEBASTIAN CABOT TO COMMAND AN ENGLISH EXPEDITION TO THE NEW WORLD. (Wardens Accounts of the Drapers Company of London.) Wm. HERBERT, History of the Tivelve Great Livery Companies of London. London, 1837, 8vo, vol. '> P- 4 IO> XXXVI, i 5 22.] SYLLABUS. 403 Our Discovery of North America, pp. 747-750, for the docu- ment in full, taken from the original manuscript. Supra, pp. 168-170. XXXIV. 1522. 27th September. DISPATCH FROM THE COUNCIL OF TEN TO GASPARO CON- TARINI. (State Archives, Venice, Capi del Consiglio dei x. Letters Sottoscritte, Filza N. 5, 1522.) In Italian : BULLO, op. cit., pp. 61-62. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxvi, pp. 344-46. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 557. XXXV. 1522. 27th September. REWARD GIVEN BY THE COUNCIL OF TEN TO CABOT'S SECRET AGENT. (Ibidem.} In Italian : BULLO, op. cit., pp. 61-62. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxvii, p. 346. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 558. The reward amounted to " ducati vinti." XXXVI. 1522. 3 ist December. DISPATCH FROM CONTARINI TO THE SENATE OF VENICE. (Marciana Libr., Cl. vu, Cod. mix, cart. 281-283.) In Italian : BULLO, op. cit,, pp. 65-66. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxviii, pp. 347-351. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 607. 404 SYLLABUS. [XXXVII, 1523. XXXVII. 1523. 7th March. DISPATCH FROM CONTARINI TO THE SENATE OF VENICE. (Ibid. Cart. 289.) In Italian : BULLO, op. cit., pp. 66-67. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot, doc. xxix, p. 351. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 632. XXXVIII. 1523- 28th April. DISPATCH FROM COUNCIL OF TEN TO GASPARO CONTARINI. (Ibidem.} In Italian : BULLO, loc. cit. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot, doc. xxx, pp. 352-353. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 669. XXXIX. 1523. 28th April. LETTER FROM HIERONIMO DE MARINO TO CABOT. (Capidel Consiglio de 1 Died. Lettere sottoscritte Filza No. 6, 1523.) In Italian : BULLO, op. cit., p. 68. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot, doc. xxxi, p. 353. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 669. XL. 1523- 26th July. DISPATCH FROM CONTARINI TO THE DOGE OF VENICE, ANDREA GRITTI. (Ibid. Carte 302.) In Italian : BULLO, op. cit., p. 69. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxxii, p. 3 54. XLIII, 1525.] SYLLABUS. 405 In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 710. XLI. 1523- 26th November. CEDULA ORDERING CABOT TO PAY THE PENSION OF AMERICUS VESPUCCIUS' WIDOW. (Archiv. of the Indies, Seville ; Leg. . i de la Casa de Contratacton t lib. i de Toma de Razon de Titulos y Nombr. 1503-1615, f. 42.) In Spanish : NAVARRETE, vol. iii, doc. xiv, pp. 308-9. XLII. 1523- 1 8th February. PAYMENT TO JOHN GODERYK OF TORY FOR CONDUCTYNG OF SEBASTIAN CABOTT MASTER OF THE PYLOTES IN SPAYNE TO LONDON. J. S. BREWER, Calendar Domestic and Foreign, Henry VIIL, vol. iv, part i, p. 154, No. 366. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxxii A, pp. 354-355, from the original MS. XLIII. 1525. 2ist September. DISPATCH FROM ANDREA NAVAGERO. (Venice, Cicogna MSS., 1985, c. 223.) In Italian : BULLO, op. city p. 69. In English : Rawdon BROWN, Calendar, vol. iii, No. 1155, p. 481. It contains this interesting passage : " Un' altra armata di. 28. vele, pur per le Indie ma in altra parte, t; in ordine in Siviglia, et partira, si come dicono, fra. 15. O. 20. dl, della qual e capitanio un Sebastian Cabotto venetiano ; costui va per scoprir cose nove, et ogni giorno di qua fan maggior le speranze di queste Indie, et piu li mettono 1'animo et credono all' ultimo haver anco le spiciarie per quella banda, et con viaggio molto piu breve di quel che fece la nave Vittoria" 406 SYLLABUS. [XLIV, 1525. Supra,) pp. 188-190. As regards Andrea Navagero, SANUTO (Diarii, Hi, c. 396, quoted by Mr. BERCHET) mentions a work written by him, which unfortu- nately is lost, and was entitled : Descrition de cosse trovate net Mondo Novo, con uno dessegno del dito Hondo Novo et carta da navegar de Spagna. XLIV. 1525. 25th October. CEDULA TRANSFERRING, AT CABOT'S REQUEST, TO HIS WIFE, FOR HER LIFE, THE GRATUITY OF 25,000 JVIRS. WHICH HAD BEEN CONFERRED ON HIM FOR HIS OWN LIFE. (Mufioz Transcripts, vol. Ixxvii, f. 165.) In Spanish : Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxxii B, p. 355. The above is doubtless the cedula also in the Muhoz Tran- scripts, under the year 1523 (sic), and as follows : "Cedula Toledo, 25th Oct. A Catalina de Medrano muger de S. Caboto se paguen anualmente 250 ques la ayuda de costa de Caveto (sic) de la que hizo renunciaron en ella." XLV. 1525. 1 6th November. GASPARO CONTARINI'S REPORT. (State Archives at Turin, cod. r, a, b, x, i, c. 138.) Ill Italian : Raccolta Colombiana, part iii, vol. i, No. xxxxi, p. 129. See for that account in general, ALBERI, Relazioni, vol. ii. The Venetian ambassadors were appointed only for two years, and upon their return to Venice they read an account before the Senate of what happened and of what they noticed during that time in the country to which they were accredited. The present contains only the following mention of the preparations for Cabot's expedition to the Moluccas : " Hora la maesta cesarea havea fatta un' armata di cinque navi in Siviglia, et fatto capitano vSebastiano Caboto perche andasse a investigare tutta quella costa primieramente, poi che andasse etiam nell' Indie." This passage is nevertheless very important. See Supra, p. 190. XLVIII, 1528.] SYLLABUS. 407 XLVI. 1527. 28th May. LETTERS FROM HERNAND CORTES TO THE MEMBERS OF CABOT'S EXPEDITION GENERALLY; AND TO SEBASTIAN CABOT PERSONALLY. ( Archiv. of the Indies, Seville. Patronato A'ea/, leg. 6. ) In Spanish : NAVARRETE, op. tit., vol. v, docs, xxxi-ii, pp. 456-457-459. These letters were written by the order of Charles V., to be remitted to Cabot in the Pacific, and entrusted to Alvaro de Saavedra. XLVII. 1528. MEMORANDUM OF ANDREA NAVAGARO. (Venice; Cicogna MSS., cod. 1985, p. 933.) In Italian : BULLO, op. rit., p. 69. It contains only the following : " Delle Molucche e delle armate vi son andate ; de le nave spagnole, die io intesi in Franza ch' erano arrivate all' isole di Brazil carghe de speciarie che potrian esser di quelle che partiron [sic pro partiva ?] di Siviglia con Sebastian Cabotto Venetiano." XLVIII. 1528. ioth July. LETTER OF Luis RAMIREZ. In Spanish : Revista trimensaldo Instituto Historico e Geografico do Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, vol. xv (1852), pp. 14-41. Published by Adolfo DE VARNHAGEN, from a manuscript of the time which he found in the " Biblioteca alta," of the Escorial. In French : Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, Paris, vol. iii (1843), pp. 39-73, " traduite du manuscrit inedit de la bibliotheque de M. Ternaux- Compans." What that text was, we are unable to say. It does not figure in the catalogue of the important sale which he made of his Spanish books and manuscripts in 1836 (Catalogue des livres et manuscrits de la Bibliotheque defeu. M. Raetzel, Paris, 1836), and 408 SYLLABUS. [XLIX, 1528. it is not known what became of the books and manuscripts which he acquired until his death (by suicide) in December 1864. We regret that the lack of space prevents us from adding here a translation into English of that very valuable account of Cabot's expedition to La Plata. Supra, p. 201. XLIX. 1528. iQth October. LETTER FROM LOPE HURTADO TO CHARLES V. (Brit. Mus., Addit. MSS., No. 28,577, f. 298.) In English : GAYANGOS, Calendar of Letters, Dispatches and State Papers relating to the negotiations between England and Spain. 1527- 1529. Vol. iii, p. ii, part 823, No. 572. This letter announces the arrival at Lisbon of the Trinidad (with Hernando de Calderon, Roger Barlow, &c. on board). Supra, p. 219. 1530. OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF DIEGO GARCIA'S VOYAGE TO LA PLATA. The title of the manuscript is as follows : " Relacion que presento a S.M. de su derrota en el 2 viaje, que hizo al descubrimiento del Rio de la Plata, desde su salida de la Coruna a 15 de enero 1526 : Relation which [Diego Garcia, Fleet General] presented to His Majesty, of his route in the second voyage made by him to discover the Rio de la Plata, since his departure from Coruna, January I5th, 1526." GARCIA'S own title is different ; viz. : " Memoria de la navegacion que hice este viaje en la parte del mar Oceano dende que sali de la Ciudad de la Corona, que alii me fue entregada la armada por los Oficiales de S.M., que fue en el ano de 1526 : Account of the naviga- tion made in this voyage in the Ocean Sea, from the time of the sailing from the city of Coruna, where the fleet was entrusted to me by the Officials of His Majesty, in the year 1526." In Spanish : Revista Trimensal, vol. xv (1852), pp. 6-14. Published by Adolfo DE VARNHAGEN, from the MS., as we suppose, preserved in the Archives of the Indies at Seville, " Leg. 3 de los rotulados de Descripciones y poblaciones ; papeles llevados de Simancas" This important document, which we regret we are unable, from want of space, to publish here in English, was first indicated by NAVARRETE in 1837 (Colecdon de viajes, vol. v, p. 170, note), and in 1851 (Biblioteca Maritima, vol. i, p. 331). It is not dated, Li, 153.] SYLLABUS. 409 but as reference is made therein to events which took place in Brazil when Garcia was homeward bound, we presume that he wrote it soon after his arrival in Spain. It should be noted that Garcia, in this MS., states that he sailed out January i5th, 1526, from Cape Finisterre. Herrera, however, who evidently has consulted the original account, says : " August 1 5th (Decad. iii, lib. x, cap. i, p. 278)," which, as Mr. D' A vezac justly observes, " s'accorde avec la date de septembre, pour la relache aux Canaries." (Bulletin in de la Sodete de Geographic. Aout et Sept. 1857, p. 109, note 3.) Supra, p. 218. LI. 1530. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF CABOT'S VOYAGE FROM THE NORTH-EAST COAST OF BRAZIL TO LA PLATA, WRITTEN BY ALONSO DE SANTA CRUZ. We make our extracts from the manuscript work of Santa Cruz preserved in the Besanc,on Library (No. 460) and entitled as follows : " El yslario general de todas las yslas del mondo endresado ala S. C. C. Magt. del Emperador y Rey nuestro Senor, por Alonso de Sancta Cruz, su Cosmografo maior : The general Insulario (or description) of all the islands in the world. Dedicated to His Catholic Majesty the Emperor and King our Lord, by Alonso de Sancta Cruz, his Cosmographer-Major." This work was written only in 1560 (Discovery of North America^ No. 227, p. 621), but, so far as those regions are concerned, with data collected by Santa Cruz during Cabot's voyage to La Plata, of which he was an eye-witness throughout. The use which we have made of the Islario in our description of Cabot's exploration of that country (Supra, chapter vi, pp. 201-211) makes it incumbent on us to publish the original text on which we base our geographical allegations. " Casial principle de lacosta del brasil apartadode lapuntaafe/^to/[Ribeiro] al nordeste por sesenta y cinco leguas hasta un ysla de hasta ocho o diez leguas de largo norte sur y quatro, o cinco de ancho con unos baxos al sudueste della donde se perdio una nao de hernando de lorona portugues que yva cargado dc Brassil a espana de donde comunmente es dicho de hernatido de lorona [sic pro Noronha. Discovery of N. America, p. 696.] esta en tres grades de altura. Una pequena isla de hasta tres leguas de largo y una de ancho con unos baxos al sudueste della donde se perdio la nao dicha habitada de yndios y algo esteril es alto alta llamada ysla de la assension. En esta ysla vimos yo y otros yendo a Lomar el estrecho de magallanas para passar a las yslas de las malvias el afio mill y quinientos y vinte y seis. . . . Una baya que se llama de todos sanctos en laqual hay algunas yslas aunque pequeno habitatos de yndios y do tienen sementeras estan en altura de catorze grades. En altura de diez y nueve salen a la costa unos baxos que entran en la mar 410 SYLLABUS. [LI, 1530- mas de treinta leguas dichas abreojo dentro de las quales esta una ysla llamada sancta barbara [Ribeiro] laqual es habitada tiene diez leguas de largo y quatro de ancho. Antes del cabo frio sale un rio a la mar muy grande y antes de su salida haze una gran bay mas de diez leguas de largo y mas de quatro de ancho dentro dal qual hay muchas ysletas algunas deshabitadas y otras en que tienen las yndios sementeras. Junto asta baya fue donde amerigo bespucho piloto mayor de Castilla en el ultimo viaje que hizo fundo una casa donde dexo veinte y quatro christianos con sus armas y tiros de artilleria proveidas por seis meses de todas las cosas necessarias a los quales despues mataron yndios por los muchos desordenes y parcialidades que entre ellos huvo. En la baya de genera ay algunos yndios que tienen algunas casas porque es toda esta parte de tierra tan habitada de yndios ... los quales son comederos de carne humana. Tienen muchas bastimientos de la tierra como de mais y cagabi patatas es una fruta como piniones que llaman los Portugueses frisuelos, muchas gallinas muchos pescados de diversas maneras muchos veneidos dantas faysanles y otros muchos generos de animales y aves La baya de los reyes en la qual esta una buena ysla con otros ysleos la ysla sta habitada de yndios que tiene en ella sus sementaras y pescas. Ay muchos ysletas y penascos principalmente una que pusimos nombre debuen abrigo porque como arriba tocamos en aquel viaje que llevavamos para el strecho de Magallanes tuvimos noticia de todas las yslas de esta costa llamamos assi porque passada una gran tormenta que tuvimo una noche en aquel mar acaso nos hallamos ala manana junto a ella en la qual nos abrigamos hasta que sosego el mar de la brabeza y alteracion que traya. Dentro el puerto de sanct bicente hay dos yslas grandes deshabitades de yndios y en la mar oriental a la parte ocidental della estuvimos mas de un mes . . . En la ocidental tienen los Portugueses un pueblo dicho sanct bicente de hasta diez a doze casas y una hecha de piedias con sus rejados, una torre para defender de los yndios. En tiempo de necessidad estan proveidas de las cosas de la tierra de gallinas y puercos de los de espafia en mucha abundancia y ortaliza. Tienen estas yslas un ysleo en medio que se sirven del para tener los puercos . . . estan todas las yslas dichas desde veinte y dos hasta veinte y quatro grados de altura. Una baya dicha de la Cananea dentro de la qual hay algunas yslas las mas habitadas y do hazen los yndios sus sementeras. Tienen las dos que estan a la boca a la rredonda de sy buenos surgidores y estan en veinte y seis grados de altura. La Baya de Sanct Francisco dentro de la qual se haze una buena ysla e bien poblado de yndios casi redonda de seis leguas por lo mas ancho, al mediodia de laqual quatro o cinco leguas esta otra a la qual pusieron nombre de Sancta Cathalina prolongada norte sur por doze leguas poco mas, o menos, y de ancho quatro y tres y una menos (?). Esta poblada de yndios, tiene mucha arboleda y fuentes de muy buena agua y entre ella y el continente hay muy grandes pesquerias de muchos y muy buenos pescados. A la parte de oriente tiene algunos puertos, aunque no tan seguros como los que tienen al ocidente, donde stuvimos surtos ; a quella entrada perdimos unas nao la mayor y la mejor que llevamos en un ysleo que sta a la boca del canal llano de baxo donde se perdio toda casi quanto en ella yva que fue causa no solo detenzion en este puerto mas de lo que pensavamos mas aun de tomar acuerdo de mudar el viaje que llevamos que era las yslas de los malacos assi per la falta de los bastimientos que alii se perdieron, como por la gente de aquella nao se havia de rrepartir en las otras que no se sufrian, e yr al rio que comunmente se llama de la plata, movidos por informacion de dos christianos que aqui hallamos, que havian que- dado de la armada de Joan Diaz Solis que se perdio en el rio. Dize a nos havia que nos hizieron cietas de loque despues no hallamos que era abundar la tierra de mucho oro y plata y bastimentos y acordamos de harer una gallera para fin de la conquista del rio, y en estos gastamos tiempo de tres meses donde LI, 1530.] SYLLABUS. 411 fuymos bien proveidos de las cosas necessarias de la tierra, laqual es dicho de las patos por los muchos dellos que alii se vieron la primera vez que fue descubierta. Al rrededor de esta ysla [de Santa Catalina] estan muchas yslas pequenas y deshabitadas entre las quales ay una dicha del rreparo porque fue la primera donde surgimos despues que partimos de hernanbuco en la costa de brasil rreparando nos en ella de un rezio viento que traymos del este. Estas yslas estan desde veinte y siete hasta veinte nuevo grades. En toda esta costa hasta el rio de la plata no ay ysla ninguno salvo un ysleo llamado el farayol deshabitado, muy alto que se vee de lexos. Antes de entrar en el rio de la plata ay quatro o cinco ysletas lasquales van puesto levante poniente unos en pos de otras apartadas por una legua y media y se llaman yslas de rodrigo alvares por las aver descubierto un piloto que con nosotros llevavamos dicho assi. Al austro de estas ay otros dichos de Christoval Jaques, que era un portugues llamado asi que les descubrio venienclo a este rio por capitan de una caravela desde la costa de Brasil a fama del oro que se hazia aver. En el junto al cabo de sancta maria que es a la entrada del rio esta una ysla de los lobos por aver en ella muchos lobos marinos. Es ysla deserta y sin aqua. Dentro del rio de la plata ay gran numero de yslas grandes y pequenas todas las mas despopladas por ser baxas y cada auno cubre las el rio de las advenidas que trae aunque los veranes algunas de estas se habitan por causa de las sementeras que en ellas tienen los yndios. Un grande rio dicho huray el qual tiene muchas yslas aunque deshabitadas y pequenas por que el rio principal que los yndios llaman paraana que tiene dezir mar grande tienen las yslas mucho mayor . . . Esta la boca de este rio de la plata de treinta y cinco a treinta y siete grades. Cient leguas del torna a bolver al norte por mas de doscientas de las quales nosotros subimos por el mas de las ciento y tuvimos lengua que havia mas de otras tantas hasta su orijen y nascimiento. " Document now first published. In connection with the above ruttier, it is necessary to add the geographical description inserted by OVIEDO in his Historia General de las Indias, Madrid, 1851, 4to, vol. ii. However, here again the lack of space compels us to indicate only the passages which refer more especially to the localities visited by Cabot. Book xxi, chapter ii, page 114. From "Pero porque yo no las he navegado," to the end of page 121. Book^xxiii, chapter ii, pages 169-170. From " El ano de mill e quinientos e veinte," to " con doscientos cinquenta hombres." Ibidem, page 171. From "digo, que en la costa primera," to the end of the chapter. Book xxiii, chapter iii, page 172. From "Quiero de9ir," to "son sus moradas," page 173. Ibidem, page 173. From "desde el rio de los guyrandos," to "este rio Paraguay." Ibidem, page 174. From " Estas ciento e cinquenta leguas," to " Solis." Book xxiii, chapter iv, page 176. From "Desde el puerto," to the end of the chapter. Supra, pp. 201-213. 412 SYLLABUS. [LII, 1528-1532. LII. 1528-1532. SYNOPSIS OF THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS RELATIVE TO CABOT'S EXPEDITION TO LA PLATA. The Archives of the Indies, at Seville, still preserve a great number of documents relative to Sebastian Cabot's expedition to La Plata. There are others in the archives of the House of Alba, in Madrid. Of all those documents, the following only have come to light, thus far, viz. : A "Information hecha en el Puerto de San Salvador fecha 23 Junio por el Capitan Sebastian Caboto sobre el proceso que comedo a formar desde 1526 contra Francisco de Roxas, y Martin [Mendez] e Miguel de Rodas, para luego presentado al Consejo." B " Pareceres que dieroix varies pilotos y capitanes en el puerto de San Salvador en 6 de Octubre a peticion del Capitan Sebastian Caboto sobre lo que conviendria hacer se con su armada y que determinacion tomar." C " Information hecha en el puerto de San Salvador en 12 de Octubre por mandado de Sebastian Caboto mediante un ynterrogatorio que prexentcS tocante a todos los sucesos que pasaron en un armada para luego despues pre- sentadaaS. M." D " Requerimiento que hizo Sebastian Caboto a Francisco de Rojas y respuestas de este. En el puerto de San Vincente." 1 E ' ' Information hecha en Sevilla en 28 Julio dentro de la nao S ta Maria donde venia Sebastian Caboto, por los oficiales de la Casa de la Contratacion acerca de todo lo ocurrido en su viaje." F " Information hecha en Sevilla 2 de Agosto a peticion de Catalina Vasquez madre de Martin Mendez, y de Isabel de Rodas muger de Miguel de Rodas contra el capitan Sebastian Caboto." G " Information hecha en Sevilla a pedimento de Sebastian Caboto en 27 Agosto sobre lo quele sucedio con las rebeliones que tuvo en su armada." We possess under the title of "Dos relaciones de probanzas en el pleito entre Sebastian Caboto y Catalina Vazquez, madre de Martin Mendez, teniente de la expedicion que fu'e al Maluco al mando de Caboto" a bulky MS. of 153 pages, copied from the file exhibited 1 The archivists of the Archive de de Rojas per haberse este opuesto a la Indias, have been unable to find for us arribada que hizo al Rio de la Plata, en the document, which is described by vez de seguir el viaje de la Especeria Navarrete as follows : " Declaracion al socorro del comendador Loaisa: que di6 en el puerto de San Vincente Hallabase en Sev. leg. de Papeles de la del Brazil sobre las tropelias del general armada del Snr, anos 1624 a 1626. Sebastian Gaboto al capitan Francisco (Bibloteca Maritima, vol. i, p. 30.) " Lll, 1528-1532.] SYLLABUS. 413 at Madrid in the Exposicion Americanista in 1881 (B. 54, 55), which seems to be an amalgamation of F and G. It consists of thirty-two questions addressed on behalf of Catalina Vazquez, mother of the two Mendezes, in the action brought by her, but in the interest of their two sisters, to the following witnesses, and their replies thereto : Francisco HOGAC/DN Maestre JUAN Juan DE JUNCO Dr. SALAYA Pedro Diaz DE VALDERAS Antonio DE MONTOYA Andres DAYCAGA Boso DE ARAGUS (?) Luys DE LEON Marco VENECIANO Hernando CALDERON. To those interrogatories are added the questions and answers on behalf of Cabot. His witnesses were : Anton FALCON Juan GREGO Andres DE VENECIA Pedro DE NIZA Luys DE LEON Marcos DE VENECIA Bojo DE AVANJO (?) Maestre JUAN Francisco CESAR Alonso DE VALDIVIESO. With the exception of -the surgeon Juan, and of Cesar, who was promoted from the ranks to a sort of command by Cabot in La Plata, his witnesses are all common sailors, chiefly foreigners, and the most officious of all, Anton Falcon, a mere ship boy. Their depositions are also given in a very concise form, and nearly always from hearsay only. 1 Nor do the interrogatories relate to the important questions at issue, viz. : the change of direction when off Cape Verd Islands ; Cabot deserting the flagship, before any- one else, immediately upon her striking the rock at the time of the shipwreck, and, finally, the information conveyed to him by the Portuguese at Pernambuco concerning the mineral wealth of the Parana region, alleged to have been the cause of his abandon- ing the voyage of the Moluccas. H " Ejecutoria de Isabel Mendez y Francisca Vazquez contra el capitan Sebastian Caboto. Fecha en la villa de Madrid a 15 dias del mes de Setiembre de 1530." (Archives of the House of Alba. ) I " Probanza hecha en Ocana a petition del Capitan Francisco de Rojas, en 2 de Noviembre de 1530, con arreglo a un interrogatorio que presento de 26 preguntas, acerca de lo que le sucedio en la armada de Sebastian Caboto y las vegaciones que este le hizo." i The reader will find an abstract of translation of the same, Detroit, 1893, 8vo. these " Dos Relaciones " in Appendices Concerning this work, see DRAPEYRON'S xxxiv-xxxvi of Mr. TARDUCCI'S Di Gio- Revue de gtographie, Nov. 1894- March vanni e Sebastiano Caboto, Venice, 1892 ; 1895. 8vo, pp. 376-392, and in the English 414 SYLLABUS. [01,1528-1532. This important file contains the depositions of the following witnesses : Antonio DE MONTOYA Dr. JUAN Fernando CALDERON Diego Garcia DE CELLS Francisco HOGAC;ON Juan DE JUNCO Gregorio CARO. Twenty-seven questions were addressed to them. The principal ones were the following : Whether Sebastian Cabot was a proper person to command such an expedition ? Whether he disobeyed the instructions given to him by the Council of the Indies ? Whether he acted unjustly and tyrannically towards his officers ? Whether it was not through his fault and lack of professional abilities that he lost the flagship on the coast of Brazil ? Whether he was not the first man on board to desert the flag- ship when she struck on a rock, and was wrecked ? Whether he was not induced to abandon the expedition to the Moluccas, and, instead, to go to La Plata, by the representations of certain Portugueses that precious metals would be found in abundance in the latter country ? Whether it was not unjustly and through malevolence that he abandoned among cannibals the chief officers of his squadron ? " Acusacion del Fiscal Villalobos contra Sebastian Caboto por los ecesos come- tidos con la gente de mar y perdida de la armada de la Especeria y en virtud de Real Cedula. Receptoria de 6 de Octubre 1530." K " Informacion presentada por Isabel de Rodas viuda del piloto Miguel de Rodas acerca de la muerte que occasiono Sebastian Caboto. Fecha en Sevilla 3 Enero." L " Sentencia dada por los Senores del Consejo de las Indias en el pleito entre Catalina Vazquez e sus hijas e el Capitan Sebastian Caboto. En Avila a 4 de Julio de 1531." (Archives of the House of Alba. ) M " Informacion hecha en Sevilla en 21 Julio presentada por el capitan Sebastian Caboto para el pleito que siguio contra Francisco de Rojas." N " Informacion hecha en Sevilla en 16 Agosto 1531, y presentada por Isabel de Rodas contra Sebastian Caboto."' O " Sentencia definitiva dada por los Senores del Consejo de las Indas en el pleito entre Francisco Vazquez e Isabel Mendez y Sebastian Caboto. En Medina del Campo, a I dia de Hebrero de 1532." (Archives of the House of Alba.) LIU, 153-] SYLLABUS. 415 P " Sentencia definitiva dada por los Senores del Consejo de las Indias en el pleito entre el Capitan Francisco de Rojas y Sebastian Caboto. Medina del Campo, i Febrero 1532." c ' Informacion pedida por Francisco Leardo y Francisco de Santa Cruz contra Sebastian Caboto. En Medina del Campo a 5 de Junio, es en Segovia a 28 de Setiembre 1532." (Archives of the House of Alba. ) The documents in the archives of the Duke of Alba, above described, have all been published in the work entitled : Autografos de Cristobal Colon y Papeles de America. Los publica la Duquesa de Berwick y de Alba, Condessa de Siruela. Madrid, 1892, folio, pp. 109-120. The publication of the entire series of documents above men- tioned would swell the present work to excessive dimensions, without presenting much interest to the general reader. We only publish, therefore, the most important of them, viz. : the judicial inquest made by the officers of the Casa de Contratacion on board the ship, upon the arrival of Sebastian Cabot and his companions into the port of Seville, July 28th and 29th, 1530. It contains the depositions of three leading witnesses, viz. : Juan de Junco, Casimir Nuremberger, and Alonso de Santa Cruz, and the declara- tions of Cabot in his own behalf. LIII. 1530. 28th-29th July. JUDICIAL INQUEST MADE ON BOARD THE SHIP SANTA MARIA DEL ESPINAR UPON HER ARRIVAL AT SEVILLE. (Archives of the Indies. Pto. I-2-J.) " En el Rio de Sevilla jueves veynte e ocho dias de Jullio de mille quinientos e treynta anos dentro enla nao nonbrada santa maria donde vino Sebastian Caboto capitan e piloto mayor, estando dentro el Senor Juan de Aranda fator dela clicha casa [de Contratacion] en presencia de mi Juan de heguivar escrivano de sus magestades fue rescebido juramento en forma devida de derecho de Juan de Junco que fue por tesorero el qual so cargo del juramento que hizo siendole pre- guntado dixo lo siguiente. DEPOSITION OF JUAN DE JUNCO. Fuele pregimtado si fue en este viage de que fue por capitan general Sebastian Caboto y que cargo llebo e que mercaderias e otras cosas lefueron entregados e ques lo que fizo dello y que les a acaescido en este viage y que cosas ay en la tierra que descubrieron dixo quel fue por thesorero desta nao eque agora viene y en quanto al cargo que se le fizo delo que yva en esta nao dixo que esta en los libros que los diputaclos del armada tienen, y en los del contador desta nao questa en poder de enrique patimer, y dixo que este testigo por man dado del capitan metio toda la dicha hacienda en una casa que se hizo por mandado del dicho capitan, questava sesenta leguas arriba de donde que davan las naos 416 SYLLABUS. [LIII, 1530. e alll los yndios vinieron sobre la dicha casa y la quemaron toda la dicha hacienda y mucha parte dela gente. Preguntado que se hizo dela otra hacienda que yva en los otros naos dixo que lo mismo que se hizo dela que yva en esta nao se puso en aquella casa y se quemo preguntado que cosas ay en aquella tierra. Dixo que avisto mucho mucho metal delo que truxo Roger barlo y Calderon que le parecia oro y queste testigo vio plata fina en poder delos dichos yndios y que ay obejas delas que vinieron aca y que ay algunos aforros buenos y tierra aparejada pora toda labranga trigo cebada porque este testigo la esperimento. Preguntado sy vienen en esto nao algunas muestros de oro e plata de las otras cosas que ay en la dicha tierra dixo quel capitan trae algunas muestras de oro e plata en poca cantitad fasta media libra poco mas 6 menos e que podra traer toda la conpafia . . . (claro en el original} . . . yndios e yndias los quales son esclavos de tierra de cabo de san biceynte los quales conpro la gente de un portugues que se los vendio fiados a pagar en estas partes los quales costaron a tres ducados e a quatro y a cinco ducados segun la piega. Hera preguntado que se hizo de toda la otra gente que fue en la dicha armada dixo que toda e muerta, que la mataron los yndios, y de hanbre e otras enfer- medades, syno treynta e quatro personas que enbio el capitan en dos vergantines a hacer carnaje sesenta leguas adelante de donde estava las naos que hera al puerto de san Salvador y que para esto yva con la dicha gente el contador mon- toya, alos quales el dicho capitan general Sebastian Caboto les dixo que les esperaria alii y desprendieron los yndios sobre las naos y les fue forgado de salir de alii y pasaron avista de donde estava el dicho montoya con la dicha gente que hera al cabo de santa maria otra de una legua de donde ellos estavan, y la gente questava con montoya les fizo humos en tierra para que los acojese mostrando como estava alii, y el dicho capitan Sebastian Caboto no los quizo a coger aunque este testigo y otros le dixeron que tomase aquellos cristianos que ellos heran sus hermanosy el dicho capitan general le dixo que entendeys que faga y este testigo le dixo que surjamos aqui y en la barca vaya a tierra a saber sy ay alguna costa e aquella cruz que paresce alii y que los tomemos que aquellos humos son dellos y la carta nos dira lo que ha fecho e lo que a sucedido dellos porque capitan deza que los avian muerto los yndios y este testigo le respondio que no podia ser por que aquellos yndios de aquella tierra donde ellos fueron heran sus amigos e que no hera posible averlo muertos y que aquellos humos heran cierto dellos y el dicho capitan respondio que no heran y luego mando meter la barca en la nao al partaron y asy se vinyeron y los dexaron y que el piloto ingles que se llama enrrique patimer e niculao de napoles maestre fueron dela opinion del dicho capitan e no quizo mas escuchar niguna buena razon que le dixeren y asi se vinieron la via de Castilla por el brasil para tomar bastmento. Fuele preguntado si a fecho dicho capitan o alguno delos otros capitanes y gente algunos agravios e malos tratamientos a algunos delos que yvan en la dicha armada e de los que estavan alia. Dixo quel dicho Capitan general a fecho muchos malos tratamientos a los que vienen en la dicha nao especialmente que dexo al capitan Francisco de Rojas e a martin mendez e a miguel de Rodas que heran delos principales y mas necesarios para el viaje en el puerto delos patos ques una ysla de yndios que comen carne umana. Preguntado que fizieron ellos e porque los dexo. Dixo que a este testigo ny a oficial del Rey no dio parte dello ny pudieron alcangan el porque mas de que vio sacar desta misma nao a Rojas e a martin mendez estando presos en esta nao con frio y calentura que no podian yr y los fizo llevar de brago a un batel para los echar en tierra. Preguntado porquestavan presos. Dixo que en el pernanbuco mando el dicho capitan prender alos suso dichos y queste testigo no alcango la cabra por que mas de que dixo quel daria quenta dello a su magestad e que azy mismo vido este testigo que el dicho LIII, 1530.] SYLLABUS. 417 capitan ahorco a Francisco de Lepe criado de don Sancho de Castilla diziendo que le amotinava la gente e ahorco a otro vyscaino porque un dia muerto de hambre se entro en una canoa e tomo ciertos yndios para que le pasasen a otra nacion de yndios para que le diesen de comer e que asy mismo a avoca calafate desta nao estando todos en una ysla yendo para el paguey el dicho avofa entro con una hacha enla ysla con los otros cristianos abuscar yerva y alguna palma para comer y el dicho capitan mando tocar el pito para recoger la gente y el dicho avoa no vyno y mando luego partir la galera syn es perarle sabendo que el dicho avo9a quedaba en tierra y en la dicha tierra avia honas que comen hombres y hera ysla yerma y no le quiso esperar y asi se quedo alii y que asy mismo fizo aotar y enclabar manos y cortar orejas a muchos de la dicha armada por muy livianas cosas de los quales ay en esta nao bivos dos que son aguirre biscayno y el coro y que no se acuerda al presente delos nombres delos otros que son ya muertos. Fue preguntado que se fizo delos dichos martin mendez e Rodas e Rojas o si supieron mas dellos. Dixo queste testigo ynformo delos yndios dela dicha tierra agora ala buelta y de algunos cristianos comarcanos y supo que los dichos martin mendez y miguel de Rodas entraron en una canoa para venir en demanda del Rio de genero para buscar alguna nao en que se venir a estas partes y se ahogaron en la mar viniendo en la dicha canoa y que Rojas escape en un vergantin de Diego Garcia de moguer y que cree este testigo que quel dicho capitan general ynjurava e tratava mal alos capitanes e oficiales del Rey y esta es la verdad por el juramento que fizo e firmolo de su nombre Juan de Junco." DEPOSITION OF CASIMIR NUREMBERGUER. " Despues desto en este dicho dia e mes e ano suso dicho dende a poca de ora estando dentro en la casa dela contratacion desta cibdad de Sevilla el dicho senor fator tomo e rescubio juramento de Casamieres norenberguer aleman que vino en la nao en que vino el dicho capitan Sebastian Caboto por dios e por santa maria e por las palabras delos santos evangelios e por la serial dela cruz en que puzo su mano derecha corporalmente so uirtud de lo qual le fueron fechas las preguntas syguentes, &c. Preguntado como le llaman dixo que Casamires norenberguer. Preguntado que si fue este viaje de que fue por capitan general Sebastian Caboto con el y que cargo llebo y que mercaderias e otras cosas e que cosas les acaescio en el dicho viaje y que tierra es e que ay en ella y que descubrieron dixo que lo que sabe es queste testigo quando la dicha armada se partio desta cibdad que puede aver mas de quatro afios fue en ella de gentil honbre dela dicha armada y que llevo cosas para resgate e mantenimientos como los otros y que valieron del puerto de Sanlucar de barrameda por el mes de abril del ano que paso del nascimiento de nuestro Salvador jesucristo de mill e quinientos e veynte e seys anos e de alii fueron ala ysla dela palma ques en las yslas de Canarias e alii se proveyron de agua y lena e otros mantenimientos e alii estuvieron diez e siete dias e de alii se hizieron ala vela a veynte e siete de abril del dicho ano y fueron su viaje fasta llegar al cabo de san agustin ques enla costa del brasyl a quatro dias del mes de junio del dicho ano e alii surgieron porque el viento hera con- trario y las corrientes grandes y no podian nevegar e que en aquella costa esta un Rio pequeno que pueden entrar alii nao a cabsa ques muy baxo y que llegados alii estava hecha una fortaleza del senor Rey de Portugal que esta alii un fator del Rey de Portugal que se llama manuel de braga e la fortaleza llaman hernanbuco e que alii estavan treze o catorce cristianos portugeses porque alii es el trato del brasil del Rey de Portugal e alii les fizieron a este testigo e alos otros dela dicha armada muy buen tratamiento y les dieron lo que avian menester e alii estuvieron quatro meses que no pudieron pasar adelante a cabsa de los tiempos contrarios e gran corrientes que fizo e alii fizieron un batel por mandado de Sebastian Caboto capitan general para servicio dela nao capitana 2D 418 SYLLABUS. [LIU, 153- y que estando alii en aquella costa surtos el dicho Sebastian Caboto prendio al capitan Rojas y asy mismo prendio a martin mendez que yva por teniente de capitan general dela dicha armada en la nao capitana e que los envio presos dela dicha nao capitana a esta nao que agora vyno que se dize santa maria deles- pinar elos entrego presos al capitan caro e que alii estuvieron presos ciertos dias e a cabo de ciertos dias el dicho Sebastian Caboto solto dela dicha prysion al dicho capitan Rojas e los torno ala nao donde yva por capitan y de alii fueron su viaje fasta el puerto que dizen delos patos ques en la misma costa del brasyl y que en aquel puerto delos patos ques una ysla poblada de yndios que comen carne umana echo a los dichos martin mendez e capitan Rojas porque despues lo avia tornado aprender y asy mismo a miguel de Rodas. Preguntado que por cabsa los echo alii o que avian fecho dixo que nunca supo ni oyo dezir que fisiesen cosa por donde los dexase alii e que alii se perdio la nao capitana e de alii se fueron al Rio de Solis con una galeota que fyzieron. Preguntado que cosas ay en la tierra dixo que avia plata porque este testigo la vio alos yndios dela tierra porque los trayan hechos bronchas e otras pie^as e que asy mismo vio cierto metal queste testigo tenia por oro e un plateroque iba en la dicha compania dixo que dello hera oro y dello no, y que ay ganados como los que truxo Rojer barlo e obejas como la de aca porque este testigo vio pellejos dellas e que asy mismo ay aforros de servales y raposos y de otros animal es de agua que son muy buenos e ques tierra muy sana e frutifera e que da qualquier cosa que se sienbra en ella e que ellos senbraron cierto trigo e cebada e acudio muy bien, Preguntado que cosas traen en aquesta nao dixo que en esta nao no viene cosa ninguna sy no ciertas muestras de metales que trae el capitan en muy poca cantidad y ciertos pellejas de animales pora aforros que venen enla nao y obra de cinquenta esclavos que ovieron en el Puerto de San Viceynte que es en los terminos de Portugal que los conpraron alii la gente que viene en esta dicha nao los quales conpraron a quatro o cinco ducados de un goncalo de la costa que viene con Diego garcia fiador a portugal aca en espana e otros conpraron de otros Portugueses e se los pagaron en cosas de rescates que llevaban particu- lares. Preguntado que se fizo dela hazienda e rescates del Rey y delos otros arma- dores que yvan en las dichas naos dixo que parte dello se dio por mandado del capitan a algunos principales delos yndios y lo otro se gasto en mantenimientos que conpraron y dello se perdio en la nao capitano y questos mantenimientos se repetian entre la gente pero que no bastava syno porque ello conpraran mas con los rescates particulars que llavaban. Preguntado que se fizo de toda la otra gente que fue en la dicha armada e como los tratava el dicho capitan general e si mato e fizo otros justicias de algunos dellos y porque cabsas, dixo que toda la gente hera dozientos e diez o dozientos e veynte honbres y en el puerto delos patos tomaron otros quinze e diez e seys cristianos, dos del armada de Solis e los otros dela de don Rodrigo y que dellos murieron de dolencia e otros mataron los yndios que podian ser en todos fasta ochenta honbres poco ma o menos y quel capitan general hahorco a uno que se llamava Francisco de Lepe e a un viscayno delos de don Rodrigo que se llamava martin e que a9oto y desorejo a muchos dela dicha armada e que al Francisco Lepe lo haorco diziendo que se queria juntar con otros veynte y dexar al capitan porque no tenian de comer e yr a buscar donde lo fallasen e al otro martin viscayno por- que se fue con otro para pasarse a una nacion de yndios donde le diesen de comer y el otro honbre con quien este martin yva se llamaba avo9a lo perdono y despues torno en compania de otros en tierra a buscar de comer y el dicho capitan tomo el pito para recogellos y tro ciertos tros y este Avo9a estava soliente e no vyno e otro dia le fueron a buscar e no vyno e que a los otros que a9oto y desorejo fue algunos por hurtos e a otros porque avian resgatado syn licencia del capitan y que ansy mismo enclabo a uno una mano que echo mano ala espada contra el thesorero Calderon a que asy mismo el dicho capitan en bio LIII, 1530.] SYLLABUS. 419 al contador montoya con dos vergantines en que yvan cinquenta honbres poco mas o menos a fazer carne para la gente de la armada a una ysla sesenta leguas el Rio abaxo por donde la dicha armada avia de pasar y les dixo quellos bolviesen al puerto donde el capitan estaba y que alii lo esperaria y como los yndios acomotieron alas naos fueles fo^ado al capitan general e a la otra gente de partir con las otras naos de alii e alii fueron el Rio abaxo a una ysla e alii tomaron carne y pasaron que en otra ysla que esta mas adelante fallarian al dicho montoya con los dichos cinquenta honbres y pensaron que avian de surgir alii a tomar mas carne y que alii vyeron en el cabo de la tierra firme que es el cabo de Sta maria ni fuegos e humos y en la ysla vieron una cruz y que enton- ces pensaron que ellos debian aver puesto y que muchos personas dixeron al capitan general que surgiesen en la dicha ysla donde estava la cruz para sy alii avia algund resto dellos y syno esto viena alii que fuesen al cabo donde estavan los humos creyendo que alii los falla porque ellos quando partieron dixeron que avian de yr al dicho puerto y cabo y que no podrian estar en otro syno alii y que el dicho capitan general dixo que metiesen el batel e venyesen porque ellos no estavian alii y vendria algund tenporal y que no avia persona que no le pesase mucho porque no los yban a reager e asy selo dezian al capitan porque hera lastima dexallos asy perdidos aviendo los enviado a buscar de comer para todos y el capitan no quizo y que asy mismo se per- dieron otros diez e doze personas con un vergantin con tenporal que les dio en la ysla de San gabriel questa es la uerdad para el juramento que fizo e firmolo de su nonbre casamirez norenberguer." DEPOSITION OF ALONSO DE SANTA CRUZ " E despues desto en esto dicho dia desde a poca ora el dicho sefior fator tomo e rescibio juramento de Alonso de Santa cruz fijo de Francisco de Sta cruz alcalde delos alcarares desta dicha cibdad enforma de derecho e dixo lo sig- mente: Fue preguntado delo que a sucedido en el viaje del descubrimiento que fue a fazer Sebastian Caboto e que se a fecho dela gente e mercaderias e res- cate e otras cosas que llevaban e que cosas fallaron e que ay en las tierras que descubrieron, Dixo quellos partieron de Sevilla a tres de Abril del ano de veyn- te e seys yvan dozientos honbres poco mas o menos en tres naos e una carabela de que yva por capitan general Sebastian Caboto y que en las yslas de Canarias tomaron otros ocho marineros porque se quedaron quatro de los que de aca avyan partido y que en canaria un Francisco de Rojas capitan dela nao trinidad que yva en la dicha armada se confezo con un frayle prior o guardian de san francisco en la dicha ysla dela palma acusandose de cierto juramento que avia que trantado en los oficiales que yvan de su magestad y es que antes que partiesen desta cibdad los capitanes e oficiales que yvan de su magestad en la dicha armada se juntaron en el monasterio de san pablo desta cibdad e fizieron jura- mento solene en un area consagrada de tenerse hermandad los unos con los otros y lo que el uno tocase que tocase a todos los demas e que el dicho Francisco de Rojas se acusaba deste juramento por aver renido con el thesorero gon9alo nunez dosuna y que el dicho frayle con quien confeso el dicho Francisco de Rojas dixo al dicho capitan Sebastian Caboto como el yva vendido en el armada con mucha gente que en ella yva porque cierta persona le avia confesado un juramento que contra el avian fecho y le dixo como hera el dicho Francisco de Rojas el dicho capitan oyendo esto nolo atribuyo a questa confederacion y juramento pasava entre los dichos oficiales syno entre otras personas aquien el tenia mala voluntad que fue al dicho Francisco de Rojas e a martin mendez que yva por teniente de capitan e a este testigo que yva por veedor del armada e a otavian de brene que yva asy mismo por veedor e a miguel de Rodas que yva por piloto mayor e a camacho hijo del dotor morales e a fernando mendez hermano del dicho martin mendez e otros ciertas personas que no se acuerda de sus nonbres e que entonces el capitan Sebastian Caboto lo disimulo fasta tanto que llegaron en pernanbuco ques en la costa del brasyl e alii fizo ynformacion el dicho 420 SYLLABUS. [011,1530. capitan Sebastian Caboto del dicho juramento tomando por testigos alas per- sonas quel via que avian de desirlo quel dicho capitan avia gana, y questos dixeron como se juntavan los suso dichos en casa deste testigo en la ysla dela Palma por que no declararon de cosa ninguna mala en contra el dicho capitan se obiese entrellos fablado y que asi mismo rescibio los dichos testigos e de todos los otros de quien el tenia enojo que dicho tiene e dixeron todos que hera falsedad lo que contra ellos se avia dicho e que no obstante esto el dicho capi- tan envio preso al dicho Francisco de Rojas e a martin mendez e a otavian de brane mudandolos delas naos en que yvan a otra e desde a ocho dias le solto al dicho Francisco de Rojas dela prision e le torno ala nao en que yva e dexo presos alos dichos martin mendez e a octaviano e los llevo asy fasta el puerto delos patos e alii perdio la nao capitana y entrose en un Rio questa sobre dicho puerto delos patos e alii fizo una galera para yr al Rio de Solis en este Rio e dicho Martin mendez e otaviano viendose presos fizieron ciertos requerimientos al dicho capitan Sebastian Caboto les fiziese justicia y si los fallase culpados que los castigase y sino que castigase alos que avian ynformado falzamente contra ellos y quel dicho capitan prendio entonces a Francisco de Rojas por ciertas palabras que ovo con un despensero dela nao Capitana perdida e que con el enojo que ovo delos Requerimientos que le avian fecho los dexo alos dichos martin mendez e a Francisco de Rojas e a miguel de Rodas preguntado si ovo alguna otra cabsa para que los dexase alii dixo que no mas de quanto desia el dicho capitan quel dicho miguel de Rodas le avia perdido la nao e que por esto los dexava e alos otros por lo que dicho tiene y en la ysla donde los dexo hera poblada de yndios que comen carne umana y de alii se fue al Rio de Solis y que subieron con las naos por el Rio arriba sesenta leguas e que no pudieron las naos pasar mas arriba porque hera baxo e que en todas aquestas sesenta leguas no fallaron poblazon ni gente ninguna e que alii el capitan Sebastian Caboto con parescer delos oficiales de su magestad que yvan enla dicha armada creo un tenedor delos bienes delos defiunctos e fizo almoneda y vendio todos sus bienes salvo los rescates y que el tenedor hera antonio ponce Catalan que tiene la quenta y razon de todo ello el qual viene en esta nao e alii dexaron las naos y se entraron en una cavarela y una galera y subieron otras sesenta leguas por el Rio ariba y que alii fallaron un mayoral con una cofia que tenia muchas hojas que parescian de plata baxa y el mayoral la dio al capitan general e que podia pezar fasta una libra de plata y que alii supieron por dicha de tres naciones de yndios que unos se dezian carcaraes e otras erandies e otras tinbues e que la tierra adentro avia mucha riqueza de oro e de plata y que no pudieron entenderles que tan lexos heran de alii y despues subieron por el Rio ariba con un vergantin e una galera otras ciento e veynte leguas e que alii les salieron muchos yndios que trayan ponchos y orejeras que algunos desian que hera oro e otros non ques delo que aca se envio y que aqui tanbien les dixeron que obra de sesenta o setenta leguas avia mucho oro e plata e despues fueron a donde ellos dezian e no fallaron nada antes alii les mataron diez e siete honbres e que a las ciento e veynte leguas desde la boca del Rio avian fecho una casa de tapia cubierta de paja en que esta bon resgates en mucha cantidad e obra de veynte honbres y los yndios les quemaron la casa y todo lo que en ella estava y la gente questava en la casa se salvo que no se quemo e despues los yndios tras de estos cristianos questavan en la dicha casa e otros que estavan alii cerca que se juntaron con ellos e les mataron obra de veynte e cinco honbres e que despues que los yndios se apartaron de alii el capitan recojio algunos tros e ciertas barras de tierro que los yndios habian dexado delo que estaba en la dicha casa y se recojio a las naos con toda la gente qui le avian quedado y recogido en las naos con proposyto para se venir a Castilla enbio en dos vergatitines al contador montoya con fasta treynta honbres poco mas o menos a una ysla questa par del cabo de santa maria a facer carnaje de lobos marinos para fazer fasti- mento para todos y les dixo que viniesen donde el quedava con las naos y como los yndios les acometieron alas naos donde estava el capitan y la otra gente se fueron de alii y pazaron por la ysla donde el dicho capitan montoya y la otra LIII,i5 3 o.] SYLLABUS. 421 gente avia ydo a fazer carnaje e alii vieron en el cabo de santa maria que hera a leguas y media dela dicha ysla que fazian humos y senas para que fuesen por ellos y toda la mas dela gente dezia e rogava al dicho capitan quelos recojese por que heran cristianos e amigos y el los abia enviado a fazer el dicho carnaje, e nunca quizo, diziendo que vernia algun tenporal que darian con el ala costa, e questa no hera escusa porque en el tienpo que entonces faza hera el mejor del mundo e que la gente querian yr por ellos en la barca dela nao e la nao se podia estar surta y esperarlos y no quizo antes mando meter la barca en la nao y se vino a Castilla. Preguntaclo si ahorco e agoto o desorejo el dicho capitan o fizo algunas otras justicias de algunas personas delas que yvan en la armada y que a cabza tuvo para ello dixo que ahorco un vyzcaino que avian hallado en el puerto delos patos delos del armada de loaysa el qual ahorco donde tenian la casa que los yndios les quemaron porque se fue por el Rio abaxo en una canoa a buscar de comer porque morian de hambre y iueron a buscarle e fallaron a el e a otro que yva en su conpania que se llamava avo9a e al viscayno le ahorco e al avoga entonces no le fizo malniniguno e despueslo dexo en una ysla donde el dicho avoga avia entrado abuscar de comer e asy mismo ahorco a francisco de lepe criado del contador montoya que solia bivir con don sancho de castilla diziendo que se avia juntado con otros conpaneros dela dicha armada para yr a buscar de comer y que por esto los ahorco a entranbos por las cabzas que dicho tiene e no sabe que tubiese otra cabza para los ahorcar e que desorejo otros dos porque avian hurtado cierto rescate e que agoto a otros syete o ocho porque yvan alas casas delos yndios abuscar cosas de comer. Preguntado si tenian los man- tenimientos que avian menester en las nao o vi por necesidad que avia dellas que las yvan a buscar a otros partes dixo que les davan poco de comer y estaban flacos y con esta necesidad para tomar fuergas los yvan a buscar y que otro acoto por saltar en tierra dela galea syn su licencia. Preguntado que cosas vienen en esta nao y en la otro que partio en in conpania del dicho descubri- miento dixo quel capitan trae algunas muestras del oro e plata que dicho tiene en muy poca cantidad e algunos pellejos que traen los marineros de animales dela tierra y quatro yndios fijos del mayoral e que trae el capitan Sebastian Caboto que tomo en el puerto delos patos ala venida que los tray, porque no queria venir con el un clerigo e otro honbre delos desta conpania del dicho capitan de miedo que tenian del de que los avian de matar e un enrique montes porque era al dicho Sebastian Caboto muy enojado dellos le dixo que si queria que los yndios matasen a este clerigo e al otro su conpanero que les tomase los dichos quatro yndios y que sus padres matarian al dicho clerigo e al en conpanero bienclo que*le trayan a sus hijos y que por esta cabza el dicho capitan truxo los dichos quatro yndios consygo y que asy mismo vienen en esta nao cantidad de yndios que no tiene memoria quanto son de que los tres dellos ovo el capitan general en el fuerto de san viceynte ques enla costa del brasyl a trueque de artilleria del armada los quales ovo de un portugues que alii estava e otros dos conpro en el Rio de solis de su propio rescate e que asy mismo trae otro yndio del dicho Rio de Solis que es delos libres e que asy mismo trae otros tres yndios libres que heran mugures delos cristianos que dexo en el cabo de santa maria que avia enbiado a fazer el carnaje y los otros yndios los con- praron la gente que vienen enla dicho nao en el puerto de san viceynte de unos Portugueses a quatro e a cinco ducados cada uno fiados a pagar aqui a este testigo aquien los duenos delos dichos yndios dieron poder que puede ser la mitad delos que aqui vienen e la otro mitad fueron resgatados a trueque de hierro del cuerpo del armada y que el dicho Sebastian Caboto dio el fierro con que pagaron estos esclavos. Preguntado quien son los que traen estos yndios que fueron resgatados con el dicho hierro dixo que el no tiene agora memoria dello pero que el tiene la raron y la vera y dara manana. Preguntado que se fizo de toda la hacienda de su magestad y delos armadores que yvan en la dicha armada. Dixo quel dicho capitan dispuso della e lo demas se quemo en la dicha casa 422 SYLLABUS. [LIII, 1530. que quemaron los yndios y se perdio enla nao capitana e que la cuenta e razon desto terna los oficiales de su magestad que tenian cargo dello e que esta es la verdad para el juramento que fizo e firmolo de su nonbre alonso de santa cruz." DEPOSITION OF SEBASTIAN CABOT. "En sevilla viernes veynte e nueve dias del mes de Jullio de mill e quinientos e treynta anos por el senor fator fue recibido juramento en forma debida de derecho de Sebastian Caboto capitan general del armada que fue al descu- brimiento del especeria so virtud del qual le fueron fechas las preguntas syguyentes : Fue preguntado como le llaman, dixo que Sebastian Caboto. Preguntado si fue por Capitan general de tres naos e una caravela que su magestad mando yr al descubrimiento del especeria dixo que si fue por capitan general delos dichas tres naos e una caravela conforme ala capitulacion e instruccion que le fue dada por su magestad donde esta declaraclo donde abia de yr e asy rnismo por dos cartas missivas que le enviaron los senores obispo dosma presidente del consejo delas yndias y el secretario cobos. Preguntado quanta gente iba en la dicha armada dixo que docientos honbres poco mas o menos que se refiere ala rason que desto ay en los libros dela casa dela contratacion. Preguntado que donde fue a pasar con la dicha armada dixo que a pernanbuco ques en la costa del brasil con tiempo contrario y de alii fueron vela quando fizo tienpo y fueron al Rio de Solis donde este declarante fallo un Francisco del puerto que avian presidido los yndios quando mataron a Solis el qual le dio grandisimas nuevas de la riquesas dela tierra y con a cuerdo delos capitanes e oficiales de su magestad acordo de entrar en el Rio de Parana fasta otro Rio que se llama Caracarana ques donde aquel Francisco del Puerto les avia dicho que desendia delas Sierras donde comenzaban las minas del oro e plata e que del un Rio al otro ay sesenta leguas en las quales su vio persona de quien tomase lengua de ninguna cosa eceto a doze leguas deste cabo del dicho Rio de caracarana que fallo un may- oral dela nacion delos chandules que le salio a rescebir de pas el qual le pre- sento una cofia con cierta chaperia de oro e cobre e cierta plata baxa la qual se quito dela cabe9a para darsela y este declarante la tomo visto como se la quito dela cabea la tono e se la tono a dar e le rogo que la truxesen por el y los otros yndios que con el venian trayan algun metal delo que truxo calderon e aqui fizo una casa de tapias cobierta con madera e paja e de allf envio las lenguas alas naciones comarcanas para que le viniesen a ver y dar relacion delas cosas dela tierra las quales le vinieron a ver e le dieron relacion como la tierra dentro a setenta e ochenta leguas de donde fizieron la casa avia oro e plata porque dezian que hera el oro metal amarillo e la plata metal bianco y quel amarillo hera muy blando y este declarante les mostro e nos dixeron que hera de aquel lo e avida esta relacion ovo acuerdo con los capitanes e oficiales de su magestad para fazer una entrada la tierra adentro para ver la dicha riqueza y estando prestos para partir y estando adere^ando para ello vinieron ciertos yndios dela nacion delos queerandis los quales son enemigos delos chandules e son vezinos del pie delasierra donde tenian relacion que avia la dicha riqueza los quales le dieron mas larga relacion dela que el tenia delas dichas riquezas y les mostraron ciertos plumajes que trayan en la cabe5a hechos a su parescer deste declarante de oro baxo e buena plata e queste declarante se quiziera yr con ellos con la gente que tenia presta e les rogo que lo oviesen por bien los quales no quisieron porque dezian que no podrian sufrir el trabajo del camino porque en ocho jornadas no fallarian agua y este declarante les dixo que como ellos venian que asy yrian ellos los quales dixeron que ellos se sufrian dos 6 tres dias syn bever e quando bevian hera sangre de venados que mataran para este efecto y visto por la gente esto que las lenguas les dixeron como por el Rio del paraguay arriba el qual esta va cient leguas de donde habia fecho la casa falarian tanta que traerian el vergantin e la galera cargada dello porque las viejas e viejos yndios que yvan alia navian cargado dello e vista esta Relacion LIII, 1530.] SYLLABUS. 423 con acuerdo delos capitanes e oficiales de su magestad dexo de yr aquel viaje por tierra e adereco la galera y el vergantin y fuese en ellos con ciento e treynta honbres por el dicho Rio de parana arriba ciento e veynte leguas fasta pasar adelante dela boca del paraguay veynte leguas fasta unas casas de unos chandules que heran sus amigos para tomar ciertos bastimentos porque alii avia abundancia dello donde vido ciertas muestras de oro e plata que le parescio bueno e aquellos yndios que alii fallo le dieron la misma relacion del paraguay que le avian dado los otros que avia alii mucha riquesa y estando alii tomando los dichos basti- mentos tovo nueva de aver venido una armada al dicho Rio de Solis por lo qual envio por la tierra a un Francisco lengua a que ynformase de los dichos chandules a certificarse que hera verdad la venida dela dicha armada el qual le dixo tornando con respuesta que a lo que pudo conprehendei hera la misma armada deste declarante que quedo en Santa Catalina aunque antes desto avia dicho el dicho francisco a un enrique montes lengua que hera estavan porques un capitan del Rey de Portugal e visto como el dicho francisco le certifico que no heran otra armada syno la suya determine de yr por el dicho paraguay arriba e subidos quarenta leguas por el arriba les comedo a faltar el bastimento e acordo con los capitanes e oficiales de enviar el vergantin adelante a que tomasen bastimentos en unas casas de chandules questa van adelante por no verse en tanta hambre como Ja pasada alos que les mando en con la nacion delos agazes que fiziesen pazes por todas maneras e porque heran aquellos en cuyo poder estavan las dichas riquezas e los que yvan en el dicho vergantin heran el thesorero go^alo nunez y el contador montoya e miguel Rifos e obra de otras veynte e cinco personas los quales pasaron por los dichos agazes syn los ver y llegaron alas casas delos dichos chandules a donde avian de tomar los dichos bastimentos y enviaron al dicho francisco lengua alas dichas casas a les dezir quien heran e a que venian y la mafiana siguiente vinieron ciertos yndios arogar al dicho go^alo nunez e ala otra conpana que saliesen a tierra a comer con ellos y les preguntaron por el dicho francisco porque no podian salir syn el y los dichos yndios enviaron a llamar al dicho francisco el qual vyno el qual les dixo que bien podian yr a comer con ellos e asy salieron veynte personas poco mas o menos e los yndios los mataron e quedo que el dicho vergantin montoya porque estava doliente y los indios vinieron a tomar el dicho vergantin e los flecharon y el dicho vergantin se vino huyendo por el Rio abajo a donde estaba este declar- ante y le dixeron lo que avia acaescido e quel dicho francisco lengua avia avido ciertos palabras con el dicho thesorero gon9alo nunez e por esto cree este declarante quel dicho francisco los vendio alos dichos yndios e queste declarante viendo este dicho desbarate e toda la tierra rebuelta se torno a donde avia fecho la casa porque enrrique montes lengua le certificava que el dicho francisco lengua le avia dicho quel armada que avia venido al Rio de Solis hera de cristoval jaques e viniendo para la dicha casa cincuenta leguas della fallo a diego garcia que venia en busca deste declarante entranbos se bolvieron ala dicha casa y el dicho diego garcia otro dia de manana se partyo syn dezir nada a este declarante y este declarante se portio luego tras el para despachar la caravela que despacho con calderon para su magestad preguntado que riquezas e otras cosas de calidad vio mas en la dicha tierra de que se deba hacer relacion a su magestad dixo que este declarante vio alguna plata buena e otra non tal en poder de un mayoral delos querandes e no vio este declarante otra cosa salvo que le dezian en la tierra a dentro avia muy gran riqueza y este declarante envio por tres partes la tierra a dentro para que se ynformasen dello y en quanto fueron se junto este declarante con el dicho diego garcia e tornaron al dicho Rio Paraguay con syete vergantines que avian fecho donde un esclavo deste declarante les aviso de cierta traycion que les estava armada e que tenian concertado los chandules que estavan sobre deia dicha casa y naos con los chandules de arriba que confinan con el dicho Paraguay que los matasen e que asy farian ellos alos dela casa y naos y con esto se tornaron porque vieron evidentemente la dicha traycion e asy bueltos acordaron que en la dicha casa se que dasen ochenta honbres e tres vergantines con los rescates que avian llevado y este declarante con el dicho Diego Garcia 424 SYLLABUS. [LIU, 1530. se fueron a poner cobro en las naos para puesto el dicho cobro tornasen ala dicha casa e de alii entrar todos la tierra a dentro porque por Relacion del capitan cesar que fue uno de los queste declarante enbio la tierra a dentro que bolvio con syete conpaneros les avian dicho que avian visto grandes riquezas de oro e plata e piedras presiosas y estando este declarante en las dichas naos vyno el capitan gregorio caro con fasta cinquenta honbres en un vergantin desnudos e le dieron nueva como los dichos yndios avian quemado la dicha casa con lo que en ella estava e quel resgate dela gente avia quedado y dos vergantines en el caracarana medio ahogados este declarante se partio luego para la dicha fortaleza con el dicho capitan Diego Garcia e vido la dicha casa quemada e la gente ahogada e los vergantines perdidos e cobro unos ver . . . . e dos paramuros que fallo junto a la dicha casa e asy ceso la entrada en la dicha tierra e questo sabe destas riquezas. Fue preguntado que se fizo toda la otro gente que a su cargo llevo que yendo este declarante la via del dicho Rio de Solis dexo en santa catalina junto al puerto de los patos al capitan Francisco de Rojas e a martin mendez e a miguel de Rodas. Fue preguntado porque cabza o porque los dexo allf. Dixo que porque avia avido cierta ynformacion contra ellos porque conspiraban su muerte el proceso de lo qual envio a su magestad con calderon e quel original quedo en poder de martin ybanez escrivano dela dicha armada que murio en lo dela dicha casa en todas las dichos escrituras se quemaron allf puesto que en e puerto de san viceynte questa poblado de Portugueses fallo al dicho Rojas agora 'ala venida que obra quatro meses poco mas 6 menos que fizo cierta ynformacion que agora trae consigo. Preguntado que de que manera supo que conspiraba su muerte dixo que se refiere al dicho proceso e ala dicha ynformacion preguntado que si al tienpo que los echo enla dicha tierra estavan sanos o enfermos e que calidad de gente avia en la dicha tierra e que se fizo dellos e que provisyones les dexo. Dixo que quando los echo enla dicha ysla estavan sanos e les dejo dos botas de vino e cierto vircolhos e los dexo encomendados a un yndio principal que se llama topavera diziendole porque Enrrique montes lengua que avia estado en aquella tierra catorce anos e que heran sus parientes que los tratase bien fasta su buelta porque los dexava en truque del dicho enrrique montes e de su gente e les dexo todos sus rescates, armas e cierta polvoro que le pidieron. Preguntado si los dichos yndios de aquella tierra comian carne umana dixo que la comian de sus enemigos presto quel dicho enrrique montes les avia dicho cosas por donde ya no la comian e que viniendo este declarante agora a Castilla a dar relacion a su magestad de lo sucedido se vyno por la dicha tierra para los tomar e traer consigo e allf supo como entre los dichos Francisco de Rojas e martin mendez e Rodas ovo algunas diferencias por donde los dichos martin mendez e Rodas se apartaron del dicho Rojas e asy apartados se salieron en una canoa con dos esclavos syn dar parte al dicho Rojas e supo este declarante que se fallo en la costa mas adelante de donde se enbarcaron uno delos esclavos que yva con ellos ahogado en una rodela del dicho miguel de Rodas e una redoma de agua de azahar e desta avo cierta ynformacion de testigos que en su poder trae en que dixeron a este declarante que un vergantin del dicho diego garcia avia tornado al dicho rojas e llebado a san viceynte y este declarante fue al dicho puerto de san vyceynte donde lo fallo para traerlo consygo el qual le envio a dezir que no osaria venir antes syn salvo conducto porque la gente de diego garcia le dezia avia dicho que le querian matar y este declarante le envio dos salvo conduto y el uno dellos con juramento e que no quiso benir como mas largamente paresce por una ynformacion que este declarante trae e que estando este declarante en el puerto de san Salvador ques de un Rio que entra en el de Solis se acordo por la gran necesidad de hambre que la gente padescia quel con- tador montoya con obra de treynta persones e dos vergantines fuese ala dicha ysla delos lobos a fazer carne pora la gente del armada el qual fue ala dicha ysla que esta obra de quarenta leguas el Rio abajo de donde este declarante LIII, 1530.] SYLLABUS. 425 estava e queste declarante estuvo surto en el dicho puerto de san Salvador obra de veyntedia despues que portya el dicho montoya e vinieron yndios e le mataron dos honbres que son Anton de grajeda e un calafate e le hizieron otros por donde le fue fo^ados salir de alii e yrse por el Rio abaxo. Preguntado sy hera camino dela ysla delos lobos donde avya ido el dicho montoya dixo que hera camino derecho. Fue preguntado sy surgio en la dicha ysla para saber si estaba allf el dicho montoya e recogerle e a la gente. Dixo que si e que surgio en la dicha ysla e echo en tierra al thesorero Juan de Junco e al capitan cesar con ciertas personas los quales fizieron carnaje e las truxeron alos naos e fallaron asy ciertos tasajos hechos quando llegaron que ya olian mal fue preguntado si avia gente alguna en la dicha ysla dixo que no que hera despoblada. Fue preguntado sy fallo alguno rastro dela dicha gente e que diligencia fizo en buscarla. Dixo que no fallo rastro ninguno dellos e que la dicha ysla se vee toda por- que es rara e que no parescian en ella ni podrian estar en ella porque quando crece la cubre. Preguntado s tuvo noticia 6 fue avisado questaban en el cabo de santa maria ques una legua poco mas 6 menos de alii dela dicha ysla e que otra parte alguna. Dixo que viniendo el "Rio abaxo topo con ciertos canoas e yndios e ynfor- mose dellos sy avian visto dos vergantines con cierta gente deste declarante los quales dixeron que venian del cabo de santa maria y respondieron que no avian visto vergantin ny gente ninguna e questo fue antes queste declarante llegase ala dicha ysla delos lobos obra de catorse leguas poco mas p menos e que nin- guna persona le dixo ni dio avrio donde pudieran estar salvo que uno que no se acuerda quien fue dello que con este declarante venian le dixo que podria ser que los fallasen en otra ysla que ay de lobos questa dos leguas del cabo de santa maria que esta seys leguas adelante desta otra ysla delos Tobos que dicho tiene y pasa por entre la dicha ysla e la tierra firme e no vio cosa ninguna. Preguntado si en la dicha tierra firme ques el cabo de santa maria junto ala dicha ysla delos lobos avia una cruz que la avia puesto el vergantin del dicho diego garcia e que des que partieron del dicho puerto de san Salvador fasta llegar a cerca del cabo de santa maria syempre vio humos de una parte e de otra de yndios que se juntavan a dar sobre ellos. Preguntado si en el dicho cabo vio lumbre o humo. Dixo que no sino la tierra a dentro y si cristianos ovieran que fizieran senos de fuego avia de ser a la orilla del agua fazia el Rio e no la tierra dentro ; como estava aquella preguntado si le fue dicho por algunos de los que con el venian que supiese que humos heran aquellos e que alii estavan el dicho montoya e la otra gente e que se echase la barca para que los fuesen a recoger e ver lo que hera. Dixo que no le dixeron cosa ninguna desto. Antes algunos dellos le dixeron que si el dicho montoya fuese que faria humos ala parte de la orilla del Rio e no la tierra dentro e puesto caso quel padre deste declarante con ellos estoviera segund el tenporal que vino travesia dela costa no pudiera yr a ellos. Fue preguntado que personas le dixeron que seria dellos e lo que dicho tiene. Dixo que fue* el thesorero santa cruz e nicolas de napoles patron e anrrique patimer e otros personas. Preguntado que personas ahorco e acoto e desorejo e fizo otras justicias della en el dicho viaje e que cabza tuvo para lo fazer. Dixo que ahorco a uno del armada de loaysa que fallo en la tierra que al presente no se acuerda de su nonbre salvo que hera viscayno e que lo ahorco porque entro en casa de nun yndio e lo maltrato e firio e le hurto una canoa e tomo dos yndios dela dicha casa por fuerca e le tomo ciertos planchas de metal 426 SYLLABUS. [LIU, 1530. e otros cosas que avian fecho que al presente no se acuerda que se refiere al proceso que se quemo con los otros cosas que dicho tiene e asy mismo ahorco a un francisco lepe criado del contador montoya por principal movedor de un motin de treynta honbres que se querian juntar con los yndios contra este declante de que tambien fizo proceso a que se refiere que tanbien se quemo en la dicha casa e que calderon como su teniente deste declarante fue el que lo sentencio e que no ahorco a otra persona ninguna e que los otros del motin se castigaron con prisiones e otras penas liviana e que el dicho teniente calderon a9oto e desorejo a uno porque avia hurtado ciertos rescates e se entrava la tierra adentro e que otros algunos a9oto y enclabo mano por echar mano a espada e otros delitos que en los procesos paresceria o si se fallasen los quales se quema- ron todos en la dicha casa e asy no trae ninguno. Preguntado sy trae algunas muestras del oro e plata e otras cosas dela dicha tierra. Dixo que trae una hon9a poco mas 6 menos de plata e ciertos orejeras e lunas de metal que truxo el dicho calderon en cantidad de una libra. Preguntado que se fizo la hazienda de su magestad e armadores que yva en la dicha armada. Dixo que se quemo en la dicha casa segund este testigo vido e los dichos thesoreros le dixeron eceto unas quinze o veynte planchas de cobre que vienen en esta nao y el hierro delos rescates que llebaron los dichos yndios quando quemaron la dicha casa que no dejaron sino los dichos versos e pasamuros. Fue preguntado si se gastaron alguno delos dichos resgates para cosas suyas de su provecho o de alguno dela dicha armada. Dixo que se conpro cierto mantenimiento de cierto hierro e camaras de lom- bardas quebradas lo. quel se conpro en santa catalina y en san viceynte e que del Resgate de su magestad ny delos armadores no se conpro otra cosa ninguna queste declarante sepa. Preguntado que cosas trae en la dicha nao dixo que no traen otra cosa syno unos yndios fasta cinquenta o sesenta que la conpana conpro por esclavos en san viceynte a Portugueses dellos a pagar luego e dellos a pagar en estos Reynos. Preguntado en que pagaron los yndios que se conpraron alii a pagar luego. Dixo queste declarante por los que conpro que son tres o quatro dio por ellos cierto resgates de conteria que avia quedado en su caxa e otros daban anzuelos e pedacillos de hierro que no sabe este declarante donde lo ovieron e que asy mismo se dio un pasamuro roto a un portugues que se llama fernand mallo en la dicha tierra de san viceynte por cierta farina e abati para la gente e que asy mismo traen un mayoral dela nacion delos chandules e otros tres fijos de mayorales para que vean las cosas de aca para que bueltos en la dicha tierra scan lenguas e medianeros en la paz los quales son de cient leguas mas aca del dicho Rio de Solis. Preguntado porque dejo a una avo9a en una ysla. Dixo queste declarante sabe que en una ysla quedo un viscayno que se llama avo9a que se entro en una ysla e que este declarante espero dos dias por el e envio gente a buscarle e tiro tiros e no syno. Preguntado si avia tigres e hon9as en la dicha tierra. Dixo que si preguntado que a que entro el dicho avo9a en la dicha ysla dixo que a buscar cosas de comer como otros dela dicha armada entraron. Preguntado si mando este declarante vender e vendio los bienes delos difuntos que avian fallescido en la dicha armada. Dixo que este declarante con acuerdo delos oficiales, e capitanes de su mages- tad nonbraron por tenedor delos bienes de difuntos a un anton ponce que al presente viene en esta nao al qual se le pida quenta dello e que este declarante no se enpacho en cosa ninguna dello. Preguntado sy vienen en esta nao algunos aforros e lo que ay en la dicha tierra que sean de valor dixo que algunos marineros traen unos pellejos con que se cubren y este confesante trae una ropa aforrada de aforros que parescian unas L1V, 1530. SYLLABUS. 427 manias e nutrias delo qual ay muchas cantidad en la dicha tierra e asy mismo de servales e asy mismo otros como grises. Preguntado si se da en la dicha tierra trigo e cebada. Dixo que si porque este declarante lo provo y se da dos vezes en el afio e asy mismo ay muchas obejas delas que truxo el dicho calderon e avetruzes la tierra a dentro e que las dichas ovejas son malas de tomar. Preguntado sy ay algunas ovejas como de aca. Dixo que este testigo supo por ynformacion de yndios que en la dicha tierra avia unas ovejas pequenas de que fazian ropa y eran mansas e questo es verdad delo que sabe alo que le fue preguntado su cargo del juramento que fizo e firmolo de su nonbre Sebastian Caboto. Fue preguntado como se llama la tierra donde tomo el dicho mayoral e los otros fijos de mayorales. Dixo queste testigo le puso el puerto de san Sebastian por llegar allf visperas de san Sebastian. Preguntado que donde quedo un clerigo e otro honbre de su conpania. Dixo que quedaron en el dicho puerto porque asy lo pidieron ellos por unas peticiones que consygo este declarante trae. Preguntado sy tomo los dichos yndios porque queria mal al dicho clerigo e al otro su conpafiero y porque le dixo cierta persona que sy tomase los dichos yndios que sus padres dellos matarian al dicho clerigo e al otro su conpafiero. Dixo que no tomo los dichos yndios syno por las cabzas que dicho tiene, e que no le dixo ninguna persona que trayendolos matarian al dicho clerigo e honbre los padres de los dichos yndios, e que los dichos yndios e otros en unas canoas vinyeron ala nao de este declarante, y este declarante, rogo algunos delos dichos yndios que le truxesen un marinero que se avia entrado la tierra dentro, porque tenia falta de marineros, e les prometio dadivas, e los dichos yndios fueron e dejaron los dichos yndios como en rehenes, y estando asy, este confes- ante envio tambien al dicho clerigo que le enviase al dicho marinero, porque le dezian los yndios que estava con el, y el dicho clerigo le envio a dezir quel hera un vasallo del Rey de portugal que no tenia que fazer con este confesante, e que en este comedio vyno tienpo y este confesante se fizo ala vela e se vyno e firmolo de su nonbre Sebastian Caboto. En fe delo qual di la presente escriptura de testimonio alos dichos sefiores juezes para la enviar a su magestad e a su Real Consejo delas Indias ques fecha e sacada en los dichos dias e mes e ano suso dicho e yo johan Gutierrez Calderon escribano de sus cesarea Catolicas magestades e escrivano publico en la su corte y en todos los sus Reynos et senorios et escrivano que soy en el oficio e obdiencia delos dichos senores juezes oficiales dela dicha casa dela Contratacion lo fizo escrebir et fiz aqui myo signo a tal en testimonio de verdad = Johan Gutierrez escrivano de sus magestades = "hay un signo = hay una rubrica." Document now first published. LIV. 1530. 2nd August. LETTER OF DR. SIMAO AFFONSO. In Portuguese : Historia Geral do Brazil, isto e do descobrimento, colonesacao, legislacao . . . Por un socio do Institute historico do Brazil, natural deSorocaba [Adolfo DE VARNHAGEN], s.l. \sed Madrid], 1854, square 428 S YLLAB US. [LV, 1531. 8vo, vol. i, p. 439, note 2 &- There is a second edition, printed at Vienna, but under the printer's mark of Rio de Janeiro. The passage which we have quoted supra, p. 256, is as follows : " El veo muy desbaratado e pobre porque dize que nao tras ouro nem prata nem cousa algua de proveito a os armadores e de duzentos homens que leuou nao tras vyte que todos los outras dyzen que la ficao mortos hums de trabalho e fame outros de guera que eos mouros tiverao por que as frechadas dize que matarao muitos deles." LV. nth March. THE QUEEN ORDERS THE CASA DE CONTRATACION TO PAY SEBASTIAN DE CABOTO 30 GOLD DUCATS, OR 1250 MARAVEDIS ON ACCOUNT OF HIS SALARY. (Archives of the Indies, Seville ; Est. 148, Caj. 2, Leg. I.) In Spanish : Coleccion de documentos ineditos de Indicts^ vol. xxxii, pp. 449-450. " Esta preso e detenido en esta Nuestra Corte, e que a cabsa de lo suso dicho e de aber estado enfermo, e thiene muy gran necesidad, e non thiene con que se alimentar et seguir sus pleytos." LVI. nth May. THE QUEEN ORDERS THE CASA DE CONTRATACION TO GIVE CABOTO 7500 MARAVEDIS. (Archives of the Indies, Seville ; Est. 148, Caj. 2, Leg. I.) In Spanish : Coleccion de documentos ineditos de Indias, vol. xxxii, p. 451. That sum is not a gratuity, but a payment on account of his salary of Captain and Pilot Major, and only upon his giving security for the amount, as all monies due to him have been attached to satisfy the judgments obtained by Rojas and others. LVI I. 1532. 1 2th March. THE QUEEN ORDERS THE CASA DE CONTRATACION TO PAY, OUT OF CABOTO'S MONIES, THE FINES AND DAMAGES TO WHICH HE HAS BEEN CONDEMNED. (Archives of the Indies, Seville ; Est. 148, Caj. 2, Leg. I.) l/\ *<$> *-< & 4 ti^ >>r^cut/i . f j -J J al */S ^ 5 fossil 4-i^^ il-p R , 8Pt^P! ^^ii^^J 3 ' MJ^f? LIX, IS33-] SYLLABUS. 429 In Spanish : Coleccion de documentos ineditos de Indias, vol. xxxii, p. 459-61. This order, which is on behalf of the sisters of Martin and Fernand Mendez, was made out at Cabot's request, so that his person should not be seized for non-satisfaction of the judgment rendered against him. There is in the same volume and under the same date, a similar order for the judgment obtained by Rojas. LVIII. 1532. 1 2th March. THE QUEEN OF SPAIN (REGENT IN THE ABSENCE OF CHARLES V.) ORDERS THAT 50,000 MARAVEDIS BE PAID TO CABOTO. (Archives of the Indies; Est. 148, Caj. 2, Leg. i.) In Spanish : Op. tit., pp. 455-8. That sum was to come out of Cabot's attached monies, but only after satisfaction of all claims against him. LIX. I533- 24th June. LETTER FROM CABOT TO JUAN DE SAMANO. (Archives of the Indies at Seville ; Est. 143, Caj. 3, Leg. 2, and Mufioz Manuscripts, vol. Ixxix, fo. 287, recto.) In Spanish : Relaciones geograficas de Indias ; Madrid, 1885, 8vo, vol. ii, p. xii. This letter was exhibited in the Exposition Americanista at Madrid in 1881 ; pointed out the following year in our Jean et Sebastien Cabot (p. 124, note 5), and, for the most part, appeared in print, as above stated, in 1885. The complete text was published, with some mistakes, in Mr TARDUCCI'S Di Giovanni e Sebastiano Caboto ; Venezia, 1892, 8vo, pp. 404-405, from a copy furnished by the Archive de Indias. As that letter is an auto- graph, and probably the only specimen of Sebastian Cabot's handwriting known, we reproduce it, for the first time, in facsimile. The text itself is as follows : * muy magnjco Senor 1 oy dia del bien aventurado San Juan recebi vna carta del adelantado de 2 canaria por la qual me parece que toda via tiene gana de tomar la 430 SYLLABUS. LX, 1533. 3 enpresa del rio de parana que tan caro me questa Vn criado del dicho 4 adelantado me dio la carta y me dixo que va alia y lleua cartas 5 del dicho adelantado para los sefiores del conseyo sobra la dicha enpre 6 sa plega dios nuestro sefior de encaminar lo todo como su santa fe catolica 7 sea aumentada y el ynperador nuesfro sefior seruido. 8 Senor la carta que vuestra. merced me enbio amandar que yziese ya la tengo 9 acabada y dada al contador de la casa de la contratacion para que 10 la enbie a vuestra. merced suplico a vuestra. merced me perdone por no auer la 1 1 acabado mas presto y en verdad sino fuera por la muerte de 12 my hjya y por la dolencia de my muger y mya dias ha que vuestra, 13 merced la hubyera recebido bien pense de lleuarla yo mismo 14 con otras dos qtie tengo fecho para su magestad creo que su magestad y los 15 sefiores del conseyo qudaran [sic] satisfechos dellas por que veran co 1 6 mo se puede navegar por redondo por sus derotas como se aze por 17 vna carta y la causa por que nordestea y noruestea laguya y como es 1 8 forcoso que lo aga y que tantas quartas a de nordestear y norueste 19 ar antes que torna aboluerse azia el norte y en que meridiano 20 y con esto terna [sic] su magestad la regla cierta para tomar la longitud 21 Senor suplico a vuestra merced de escriuir a estos Sefiores 22 officiales de la casa de la contratacion que me socoran con vn 23 ter9io de my salario adelantado para que me pueda desenpachar 24 de aqui e yr alia a besar las manos de vuestra merced y a ablar con los 25 sefiores del conseyo y lleuarles vn criado myo que quedo en la 26 costa del brasil el qual vino con los Portugueses que de alia vinie 27 ron para que de relaciow de to [lo sic] que alia an fecho los Portugueses 28 y esto suplico a vuestra. merced allende de otras muchas mercedes que 29 de vuestra. merced tengo recebidas nuesfro Sefior guarde la magnica per 30 sona de vuestra merced y estado acreciente como por vuestra merced es desea 31 do y \uestros seruidores desean. a my Senora dona Juana beso las 32 manos. de seuilla oy dia del bien aventurado San Juan del 33 1533 anos. 34 besa las manos de vuestra. merced Psu muy 9ierto seruidor Sebastian 37 Caboto A tergo : Al muy magnjco Sefior el Senor Juan de Samano secretario de su magestad mi sefior en madrid. For a translation into English of the most important portion of this letter, see supra, part ii, chap, xi, p. 282. LX. 1533- CABOT'S OWN ACCOUNT OF THE INDIANS OF LA PLATA. In Spanish : HERRERA, Decad. iv, lib. viii, cap. xi, p. 168. It is an extract of the memoir (now lost) addressed by Cabot to LXIII, 1536.]. SYLLABUS. 431 Charles V., concerning the natural resources of those regions, and in his own words, being printed by Herrera in italics. LXI. I534- 1 3th March. CEDULA FROM CHARLES V. ORDERING THE CASA DE CONTRA- TACION TO INVESTIGATE THE CONDUCT OF CABOT AS EXAMINER OF PILOTS. (Archives of the Indies, Seville; E. 148. C. 3L. I.) In Spanish : Colecdon de documentos ineditos de Indias^ vol. xxxii, p. 479. Supra, p. 272. LXI I. 1534- nth Decembre. ROYAL ORDER TO THE CASA DE CONTRATACION THAT ALL PILOTS INTENDING TO CONDUCT SHIPS TO THE INDIES SHALL BE EXAMINED BY CABOT. (Archives of the Indies, Seville; Est. 148. Co/. 2. Leg. i Lib. 3.) The same order was addressed to Sebastian Cabotto. In Spanish : Colecdon de docnmentos ineditos de Indias, vol. xlii (1884), pp. 481, 482. LXIII. 1536. ACCOUNT OF MARCANTONIO CONTARINI'S DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO SPAIN, READ BEFORE THE SENATE OF VENICE. (Foscarini MSS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna.) In Italian : Raccolta Colombian^ part iii, vol. i, No. xxxviii, p. 137. " Sebastiano Caboto, figlio di un Veneziano, qual andette in Inghilterra suso le galie venete cum phantasia di cercar paesi . . . ebbe do nave da Henrico re d'Anglia, padre de Henrico moderno, che si e fatto luterano e peggio, e cum. 300. homeni navigo tanto che trovo il mar congelato . . . onde convene al Caboto ritornarsene senza haver lo intento suo, cum presuposito pero di ritornarsene a quella impresa a tempo che il mar non fosse congelato, trov6 il re morto, ed il figlio curarsi poco di tale impresa." 432 SYLLABUS. [LXIV, 1538. LXIV. 1538. NOTE OF REMEMBRANCE FROM SlR THOMAS WYATT, RECOM- MENDING CABOT TO HENRY VIII. James GAIRDNER, Letters and papers foreign and domestic of the reign of Henry VIII^ vol. xiii, 1892, part i, vol. ii, No. 974, P- 4i5. LXV. 1541. 26th May. DISPATCH FROM EUSTACE CHAPUYS TO THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY (Imperial Archives at Vienna; Rep. P. Fasc. C. 232, ff. 24-7.) In English : GAYANGOS, Calendar, vol. vi, part i, No. 163, p. 327. (Original in French.) This Queen was Mary of Austria, sister of Charles V. LXVI. 1544. INSCRIPTIONS ON CABOT'S MAP. I. In the preceding chapters we have had occasion to speak several times of the legends inscribed, in two columns, and placed, one (Tabvla Prima) on the left, the other (Tabvla Secvnda), on the right of the reader, in Cabot's planisphere of 1544. Three of these legends interest us more particularly. Their original Spanish text and the translation into Latin of one, are as follows : LEGEND RELATIVE TO THE VOYAGE OF 1497. " No. 8. Esta tierra fue descubierta por loan Caboto Veneciano, y Sebastian Caboto su hijo, anno del nascimiento de nuestro Saluador lesu || Christo de M.CCCC.XCIIII. a ueinte y quatro de lunio, por la mannana, ala qual pusieron novzbre prima tierra uista, y a una isla gra/zde que || esta par de la dzVha tierra, le pusieron nombre sant loan, por auer sido descubierta el mismo dia la gente della andan uestidos de pieles de animales, usan en sus guerras arcos, y flechas, lancas, y dardos, y unas porras de palo, y hondas. Es tierra muy steril, ay en ella muchos orsos plancos, y cieruos muy grawdes como cauallos y otras muchas animales y semeiantemewte ay pescado infinite, sollos, salmowes, lenguados, muy grandes de uara enlargo y otras muchas diuersidades LXVI, 1544.] SYLLABUS. 433 de pescados, y la mayor multitud dellos se dizen baccallaos, y asi mismo ay enla dzVha tierra Halcones prietos como cueruos, Aguillas, Perdices, Pardillas, y otras muchas aues de diuersas maneras.|| No. 8. Terram hanc olim nobis clausam, aperuit loannes Cabotus Venetus, necnow Sebastianus Cabotus eius filius, anno ab orbe redem = || pto 1494. die uero 24. lulij (sic), hora 5. sub diluculo, qua.m terras primuw uisam appella- ruwt, & Insulaw quandawz magna^z ei opposita/, Insular diui lo || annis nomi- naruwt, quippe quas solenni die festo diui Io-|| annis aperta fuit. Huius terrae incolse pellibus animaliuw induuwtur, arcu in bello, sa = || gittis, hastis, spiculis, clauis ligneis, & fundis utu?ztur : sterilis incultaqza? tellus fuit, leonibus, ursis albis, procerisq ceruis, piscibus innume || ris lupis scilicet, salmonibus, & ingewtibus soleis unius ulnae lowgitudine, alijsqz^ diuersis pisciuvz generibus abu/zdat, horu?/z aute#z maxima copia || est, quos uulgus Bacallios appellat, ad haec insunt accipitres nigri coruoruw similes, aquilse, perdicesq fusco colore, alideque diuersae uolucres.H" Supra, pp. 56-62. B LEGEND RELATIVE TO LA PLATA. "No. 7. Llaman los Indios aeste gran Rio el Ryo huruai, en Castellano el Rio de la plata tomaw este nombre del Rio hurnai \sic\ el qual es un Rio muy candaloso que entra en el gran Rio de Parana descubriolo loan Diaz de Solis piloto mayor de los catholicos reyes de gloriosa memoria y descubrio hasta una isla que el dicho loan Diaz puso nombre la ista \_sic\ de Martin Garcia, porque enella entierro un marinero, f\ue se decia Martin Garzia, la qual dicha isla esta obra de treynta leguas arriba de la boco deste Rio, y costele bien caro el dicho descubrirni-Hentio, por que los yndios de la dzVha tierra lo mataron y lo comieron, y despues passados muchos Annos lo boluio a hallar Sebastian Callboto Capitan y Piloto mayor de S. c.c. m. del Imperador don Carlos quinto deste nombre, y Rey nuestro sennor, el qual yua por Ca||pitan general de una armada que su maiestad mando hazer para el descubrimewto de Tarsis, y Ofir, y Catayo oriental, el qua dzVho capi||tan Sebastian Caboto uino a este Rio por caso fortuito, porque la nao capitana en que yua sele perdio, y uisto que no podia seguir el dzVho su uiaie, accordo de descubrir con la gewte que Illeuaua el dicho || Rio, uista la grandissima ralacion, que los Indios de la tierra le dieron de la || grawdissima riqueza de oro, y plata, que enla dzVha tierra auia, y no sin grawdissimo trabaio y hambre, y peligros asi de su persona como || de los que con el yuan, y procuro el dzVho capitan de hazer cerca del dicho rio algunas poblatioTzes de la gewte que lleuo de espana. Este Rio es || mayor que nynguno de quawtos aca se conoscen tiene de ancho enla entrada, que entra enla mar, ueinte y cinco leguas, y treziewtas leguas arri || ba de la dzVha entrada, tiene dos leguas, en ancho la causa de ser tan grawde y poderoso, es que entran enel otros muchos rios gra/zdes y canda || os. Es rio de infinitissimo pescado, y el meior que ay enel mu/zdo, la gewte en llegado a qz^lla tierra quiso conoscer si era fertil, y apareiada para labrar y lleuar pan y senbraron en el mes de setiembre LII. granos de trigo que no se hallo mas enlas naos y cogiero luego enel mes de || deziembre cinque;zta, y dos mill granos de trigro, que esta misma fertilidad se hallo entodas las otras semillas. Los que en aquella tierra biuew || dizen que no lexos de ay enla tierra a dentro que ay unas grawdes sierras de donde sacan infinitissimo oro, y que mas adelante enlas misma || sierras, sacan infinita plata. Ay en esta tierra unas aueias grandes como asnos comunes, de figura de camellos, saluo q^te tienen la lana tan || fina como seda, y otras muy diuersas animales. La gente de la dz'cha tierra es muy diferewte entre si, porque los que biuen enlas aldas de las sier || ras, son blancos como nosotros, y los que estan hazia la Ribera del rio, son morenos. Algunos dellos dizen que enlas dzVhas sierras ay horn || bres que tienen el Rostro como de perro, y otros de la rodilla 2 E 434 SYLLABUS. [LXVI, 1544. abaxo como de Abestruz, y que estos son grandes trabaiadores, y qra,pp. 302-306. LXXXVI. I5S5- 25th March. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. ' ' Sebastiano Caboto armigero de annuitate sua ad centum marcas per annum sibi debitas pro dimidio anni finiti in festo Annunciacionis beate Marie virginis annis primo et secundo regnorum Philippi et Marie recepte denariis per manus Thome Tyrrell per breve dominorum 33, 6s. &/." (Tellers' Rolls, 103.) Sebastian Cabot receives on the day of the Annunciation, by the hands of Thomas TYRRELL, one half of his pension of 100 marks per annum. LXXXVI. 1556. 27th April. STEPHEN BURROUGH'S ACCOUNT* OF CABOT. HAKLUYT, vol. i., p. 274, in "The Nauigation and discouerie toward the riuer of Ob, made by Master Steuen Burrough, Master of the Pinnesse called the Serchthrift." LXXXIX, 1556. SYLLABUS. 457 LXXXVII. 1555- 2 Qth September. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. " Sebastiano Caboto armigero de annuitate sua ad centum marcas per annum sibi debitas pro dimidio anni finiti in festo Sancti Michaelis annis secondo et iii regnorum Ph. et Marie receptis denariis per manus Wm Worthington iiii xx iijli vjs viiid. " (Tellers' Rolls, 104.) Sebastian Cabot receives on the day of St. Michael, by the hands of William WORTHINGTON, ^83, 6s. 8^., which is neither the whole nor the half of the 100 marks mentioned in the body of the entry, but half of the ,166, 135-. $d. annual pension. This discrepancy we are unable to account for. LXXXVIII. 1555- 25th December. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. " Sebastiano Caboto armigero de annuitate sua ad ,166, 135. 4^. per annum sibi concessas per litteras patentes ad terminam vite et debitas pro quarterio anni finiti in festo natalis Domini annis secundo et iiitio regnorum Ph. et Marie receptis denariis per manus Wm. Worthington armigeri et attornati sui, 41, 13*. 4^." (Tellers' Rolls, 104.) Sebastian Cabot receives on Christmas day, by the hands of William WORTHINGTON, his attorney, one quarter of his pension for life of ;i66, 133. 4d. LXXXIX. 1556. 25th March. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. " Sebastiano Caboto armigero de annuitate sua ad 166, iy. $d. per annum sibi concessas per litteres patentes ad terminum vite et debiti pro quarterio anni finiti in festo annunciacionis beate Marie virginis annis secundo et iiitio regnorum Ph. et Marie recepte denariis per manus Wm. Worthington armigeri attornati sui." (Tellers' Rolls, 104. Sebastian Cabot receives on the day of the Annunciation, by the hands of W ra . WORTHINGTON, Esq., his attorney, one quarter of his annual pension for life of ;i66, 135. 4^. 458 SYLLABUS. [XC, 1556. XC. 1556. 24th June. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. " Sebastiano Caboto armigero de annuitate sua ad 166, 131. qd. per annum sibi concessas per litteras patentes ad terminum vite no weak in festo nativitatis Sancti Joahnnis Baptiste pro quarterio anni, annis secundo et iiiis regnorum Ph. et Marie recepte denariis per manus Thomse Longworth servientis Wm. Worth- ngton." Tellers' Rolls, 104. ) Cabot, by the hands of Thomas LONGWORTH, the servant of W m . WORTHINGTON, receives on the day of St. John the Baptist, one quarter of his pension of .166, 135. 4^. XCI. 1556. 2 Qth September and December 25th. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. ". , . . pro quarterio anni finiti in festo Sancti Michaelis arch., annis iii to et quarto regnorum Philippi et Marie . . . per manus W m . Worthington. .... pro quarterio anni finiti in festo natalis Dominum, annis iiito et quarto regnorum Ph. et Marie . . . per manus Wm. Worthington." (Teller's Rolls, 105.) On the day of St. Michael, and on Christmas day, Sebastian Cabot receives by the hands of William WORTHINGTON, one quarter of his pension of ^166, 13^. 4^. XCII. 1557. 25th March, 24th June, 2 Qth September. CABOT DRAWS HIS PENSION. u Sebastiano Caboto armigerio de annuitate sua ad ^166, 13^. qd. per annum sibi concessas per litteras patentes ad terminam vite et debitus pro quarterio anni finite in festo annunciacionis beate virginis annis iiito et iiiito per manus proprias per breve Dominorum, .41, 135-. qd. Id. pro quarterio anni finiti in festo nativitatis Sancti lohannis Baptiste, annis iiito et iiiito per manus Wm. Worthington. Id. pro quarterio anni finiti in festo Sancti Michaelis, annis iiiito e t vo per manus Thomae Longworth." (Tellers' Rolls, 105 and 106.) Sebastian Cabot, March 25th, 1557, receives in person, June 24th following, by the hands of WORTHINGTON, and September 2pth following, by the hands of Thomas LONGWORTH (Worthington's servant), one quarter of his pension of ^166, 13*. 4^. XCIII, 1557- ] SYLLABUS. 459 XCIII. 1557. 2 Qth May. RETROCESSION OF CABOT'S PENSION OF 1555, AND NEW GRANT OF THE SAME TO CABOT AND WORTHINGTON JOINTLY. In Latin : RYMER, Fczdera, vol. vi, part iv, p. 55. In English, as follows : c ' The King and Queen to all whom [these present shall come send] greeting : Know ye that by our letters patent dated Westminister, November 27th, the second and third years of our reign, by virtue of our special grace, certain knowledge, mere motion, and also in consideration of the good, true and acceptable service done and to be done unto us by our beloved servant Sebastian Caboto, esquire, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, have given and granted to the aforesaid Sebastian a certain annuity, or yearly revenue of one hundred, three score and six pounds, thirteen shillings, fourpence, lawful money of England. The said Sebastian and his assigns to enjoy and receive the said annuity, or yearly revenue of ^i 16, 13^. ^d. from the feast of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary last past, for and during the term of the life of the said Sebastian, out of our Treasury, and out of the Treasury of our heirs and successors at the receipt of our Exchequer, and of the Exchequer of our heirs and successors, at the hands of our Treasurers and chamberlains there remaining for the time being. The same to be paid annually by equal portions at the feasts of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, St. Michael the Archangel, the Nativity of our Lord, and the Annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Mary, the first payment to be made at the feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, just past, as will more fully appear from the said Letters Patent. And whereas the said Sebastian Caboto has returned and retroceded the said Letters Patent to our Chancery to be recorded, and which are now recorded, as we are credibly informed, that we may deign give and grant other our Letters Patent relative to the said annuity, to the said Sebastian, and to our beloved servant William Worthington, Esquire, and the survivor of them. Know ye, therefore, that in consideration of the above, and also in considera- tion of the good, true, and acceptable service done and to be done by our said beloved servants Sebastian Caboto and William Worthington, Esquires, by virtue of our special grace, certain knowledge, mere motion, have given and granted, and by these presents do give and grant, for ourselves, our heirs, and successors of We, the said Queen, to the said Sebastian and William, and the survivor of them, the said annuity or yearly revenue of 166, i$s. ^d. in lawful English money. The said Sebastian Caboto and William Worthington to enjoy and receive yearly the same annuity, or yearly revenue of 166, 13^. 4^., they and the survivor of them, their assigns, and the assigns of the survivor of them, from the feast day of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary last past, for the term and terms of the lives of the said Sebastian and William, and the survivor of them, payable annually by equal portions out of our Treasury, and out of the Treasury of our heirs and successors, of We, the said Queen, at the receipt of our Exchequer at Westminster, at the hands of our Treasurer and chamber- lains, and the treasurer and chamberlains of our heirs and successors, of We, the said Queen, there remaining for the time being, at the Feast of the Nativity 460 SYLLABUS. [XCIV, 1557. of St. John the Baptist, at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, at the feast of the Nativity of our Lord, and that of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary. Witness the King and Queen at Westminster on the 29th of May (1557)." Document now first translated. XCIV. 1557. 2 5th December. WORTHINGTON DRAWS THE PENSION. '* William Wbrthington, armigero, de annuitate sua ad cxlxvili xiiiis iiiid per annum sibi debit pro quarterio anni finiti in festo natalis Domini annis iiijto et vo regnorum Ph. et Marie rege et regine recepte denariis per manus proprias per breve dominorum, xljli xiiis iiijd." (Tellers' Rolls 106. The importance of this entry lies in the fact that the name of Sebastian Cabot is no longer connected with this pension, and that William Worthington now receives it alone and in his own name. The inference is that either Cabot relinquished it (as in 1554-1555, but without compensation), or that he died between September 2 Qth and December 25th, 1557. CONTEMPORARY HISTORIANS. xcv. 1515. PETER MARTYR D'ANGHIERA. De orbe nouo Decades, Alcala, 1530, folio; Decad. iii, lib. vi, leaf xlvi ; Decad. vii, lib. vii, leaf xcvii. For extract in Latin of Decad. iii. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot ', doc. xix, pp. 335-36. Also in English : EDEN, The Decades of the newe Worlde; London, 1555, 4to, p. 119. Decad. iii was written in 1515, but given to the printer only in October 1516, owing to the author's wish to insert news which he had just received and had been expecting. It is also necessary to compare the lib. vi of Decad. iii, with RAMUSIO'S Italian paraphrase, in his Raccolta, 1565, vol. iii, P. 35. B 1532. JACOB ZIEGLER. In the chapter de Schondia, f. xcii, verso. Opera varia, Strasburg, 1532, folio. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot ', doc. xxi, pp. 339-40. In English : EDEN, op. tit., p. 266. This account is said by ZIEGLER himself to have been borrowed 462 S YLLAB US. [XCV, about 1547. from PETER MARTYR, and is curious only on account of his calling Sebastian Cabot " Anthony," and of the remark which it prompted SANTA CRUZ to make in his Islario (MS., f. 56, verso). C About 1547. GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Is las y Tierra-Firme del mar Oceano. Publicala la Real Academia de la Historia, cotejada con el codice original, enriquecida con las enmiadas y adidones del autor. Madrid, 1851-55. 4 vols. 4to. Book xxiii, chap, ii, vol. ii, p. 169. The following is the original text of the passage translated, supra, pp. 203 and 228-29. "Armo quatro caravelas a costa de muchos cobc^iosos, enganados de sus palabras y confiados de su cosmographia, . . . Pero porque de personas fide- dignas, que en este viaje se hallaron e se les da fee, yo fui informado, dire alguna cosa con brevedad de lo que entendi del camino, en espe9ial, de Alonso de Sancta Cruz y del capitan N. de Rojas, que son hombres hijosdalgos, y de otras personas que le vieron : y dire lo que comprendf, si lo supe entender, en lo que toca a la verdadera region de la historia y camino, ques lo que ha9e al propossito del letor y mio. Y no curare de las passiones particulares, aunque vi quexojos de la persona e negligencia de Sebastian Gaboto en las cosas desta su empressa, puesto ques buena persona e diestro en su offisio de la cosmographia y de ha9er una carta universal de todo el orbe en piano 6 en un cuerpo espherico ; pero otra cosa es mandar y gobernar gente que apuntar un quadrante o estro- labio." It was by the order of Charles V., who had appointed him, we do not know exactly when, Royal Chronicler of the Indies, that OVIEDO wrote his " General History." If we judge from the petition which he addressed to the government in 1532 (MUNOZ MSS., vol. Ixxv, f. 78 n.), the first nineteen books had then already been written out; but they were not published until 1535. That first instalment extends only to the year 1527, and does not mention Sebastian Cabot. 1 It is only in the books which remained in MS. after his death, and were not published before 1852, that his name begins to appear. OVIEDO may have known Cabot so early as his arrival in the Peninsula in 1512. But it is in the course of the twelve visits which he paid to Spain, between 1514, when Ferdinand appointed him to an important office in America, to the time of his death, which occurred on the 27th of June I557, 2 at Santo Domingo, 1 Yet, OVIEDO refers, lib. vi, caps. General, after the edition of 1535 had xxxv, xlii, lib. xx. cap. i, to the rio de been published. la Plata, and even to Pedro de MENDOgA 2 E. TEJERA, El Telefono, No. of and Diego DE ORDAZ, but he added July igth, 1891. those details to his MS. of the Historia XCV, before 1548.] S YLLAB US. 463 and not in Valladolid as it is generally believed, that he he must have acquired the personal details set forth in the parts of his Historia which extend to the year 1548, and terminate what we possess of that work. D Before 1548. GIO.-BATTISTA RAMUSIO. Particularly the account of the " Mantuan Gentleman." In Italian : RAMUSIO; Raccolta^ edition of 1550, f 415; of 1563, vol. i, f. 374; vol. iii, preface, vers off . 4. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xx, pp. 336-338. In English : EDEN, The decades of the newe worlde, f. 255. HAKLUYT (not from RAMUSIO, notwithstanding his marginal note ; but borrowed from EDEN), under the title of " A discourse of Sebastian Cabot touching his discovery of part of the West India out of England in the time of King Henry the Seventh, vsed to Galeacius Butrigarius the Pope's Legate in Spaine, and reported by the sayd Legate." The statements contained in that Discourse are so important, that we have taken pains to ascertain whether the attribution to Galeazzo Bottrigari is correct. First, as to the time when the conversation with Sebastian Cabot took place. It must have been before 1548, as it was in Spain, and Cabot left the country, never to return, at the end of 1547, or beginning of 1548. On the other hand, the language attributed to him, implies that he met his interlocutor long after the explora- tion of La Plata. "I found," said he, "an exceeding great and large river named at this present Rio de la plata . . . After this, I made many other voyages, which I nowe pretermit, and waxing olde, I giue myselfe to rest from such trauels." We infer therefore that the conversation with Cabot was held not long before he removed to England. We were in hopes to obtain a more precise date by the mention of Ramusio that the great architect Michele DA SAN MICHELE was present at the interview, and the statement so often printed that he died in 1549. Unfortunately the latter date is erroneous, as Michele's will is dated April 29th, 1559 (TEMANZA, Vite, 1778, p. 192). Now let us examine the alleged interlocutor. Galeazzo Bottri- gari, or Butrigario, was born in Bologna in 1476. He appears in documents, for the first time, under the date of October 1502, 464 S YLLABUS. [XC V, before 1548. as secretary to Cardinal Giovanni Bentivoglio, and is mentioned then as " huomo zovene, savio, et una lengua dignissima : a young man, learned, and very eloquent." (SANUTO, Diarii^ vol. iv, col. 377.) In November 1503, "Galeatius de Butrigeriis clericus Bono- niensis," figures among the attendants of Cardinal Francois Desprats, at the conclave where Julius II. was elected pope (BURCHARD, Diarium, vol. iii, p. 302). We are told that in the letters of Cardinal Ximenes mention is made of " Micer Galeazo, como Nuncio, 1509 " (DE LA FUENTE, Historia eccksiastica de Espana\ Madrid, 1875, v l- y i> P- 44 8 )- That " Galeazo " is evidently our Butrigario ; but modern Spanish writers on history are, as a rule, so superficial and unreliable, that we place no confidence in the unsupported statement of Senor La Fuente. At all events, the only mention of the kind which we ever could find in the letters of Cardinal Ximenez, is dated "Alcala, i, de Enero 1514" (Epistolario Espanol; Madrid, 1870, vol. ii, p. 236, Epist. xxxix). This tallies with Peter Martyr's letter of " x Calend. Januarii MDXIV," where he relates the arrival of Bottrigari at the Court of Spain, in these words : " A Pontifice VIII. die hujus mensis Januarii Curiam ingressus est ad Regem nuncius Galeatius Butrigarius, vir Bononiensis, egregius quippe et literis, et animi bonitate pollens, nobili ortus familia (Epist. Dxxxv, p. 293)." See also his reference to "Galeatius Butrigarius of Bononie who came to the catholyke Kynge of Spayne of youre holines (Julius II., in Decad. ii, book i, which was completed in 1514)." March 6th, 1515, Butrigario received a prebend from Leo X., but no other title is given to him, then, than "clerico Bononiensi Utriusque Juris Doctori et archicancellarie Romane Curie cor- rectori : Bolognese clerk [i.e., ecclesiastic], doctor of both Laws [Civil and Canon], and corrector of the Roman Arch-Chancery " (HERGENROETHER, LeonisXPontificisMaximiRegesta; Frib. Brisg., 1891, fasc. vii-viii, p. 42). In the index to vol. xxi, col. 522, of Sanuto's Diarij\ Butrigario is called " Vescovo e nuncio del Papa in Spagna"; yet the passage referred to, which is a letter from Avignon, dated February 5th, 1515 (1516), mentioning the death of Ferdinand of Aragon, does not speak of Butrigario either by name, or as having then been a bishop. In fact, he was not appointed to that dignity until December roth, 1518, when Leo X. conferred on him the see of Cafazzo (GAMS, p. 863) ; but he died before the news reached him (UGHELLI, Italia Sacra, 1717, vol. i, col. 543), at the age of forty-one years and ten months ("vixit annos xli. mens. x;" epitaph in the Church of St. Francesco, in Bologna, apud UGHELLI, vol. vi, col. 452). Galeazzo Butrigario therefore, is not the interlocutor in the conversation with Cabot reported by Ramusio. XCV, before 1551.] S YLLABUS. 465 In fine, Hakluyt's attribution of the account to the Bologna prelate is simply borrowed from EDEN'S Discourse of dyvers voyages, whilst under the latter's pen, it is a gratuitous inference from the remark of Peter Martyr (Decad. ii, book i, f. 25) translated by him, that Galeazzo Botrigari was the Pope's legate, and taking an interest in geography. Marco FOSCARINI (MS. No. 6142, of the Vienna Imperial Library, cited by Mr. BULLO, op. tit., p. 28) attributes the account to a gentleman from Mantua, called Giangiacomo BARDOLO. This we believe to be also a gratuitous inference from the fact that GIUNTI (RAMUSIO, Raccolta, ed. of 1613) calls him a Mantuan, and that one of the imaginary interlocutors of the dialogue Naugerius sive de Poetica, dedicated by Fracastor to Ramusio (FRACASTOR, Opera omnia, Venet., 1584, 4to, p. 112), is designated under the names of " Joannes Jacobus Bardulo, Mantuanus civis." Be that as it may, for the sake of brevity, we call him " The Mantuan Gentleman." Before 1551. LIVIO SANUTO. Geografia distinta in xii libri. Vinegia, D. Zenaro, 1 588, folio. Lib. i, f. 2, recto. In English : Supra, p. 289-291. This work was not published in SANUTO'S lifetime. The date of his death is unknown, but we suppose that it took place not long after the publication of his versified translation of Claudianus, De raptu Proserpina (La rapina di Proserpina, Vinegia, 1551, 8vo), which is apparently the last of his works printed while he was yet living. On the other hand, EDWARD VI., who is made to figure as king in the account furnished to Sanuto by Guido GIANNETI DA FANO, and repeated by Bartolomeo COMPAGNI, had been on the throne since 1547, but as at the latter date he had only attained the age of ten, whilst Cabot did not arrive in England until the following year, the date of Sanuto's statements cannot be given in a more precise form than " between 1548 and 1551." We have been unable to ascertain anything relative either to Gianneti, or to Compagni. But BIDDLE (p. 30), and Mr. DEANE (p. 41) are mistaken when the first states that Gianneti was " ambassador at London," and when the second gives to under- stand that Compagni was "Venetian ambassador there resident." The only ambassadors of Venice in England, from the time of Cabot's final return to the latter country until his death, were Domenico Bollani (1547-1549), Daniele Barbaro (1549-1551), 2G 466 SYLLABUS. [XCV, 1552. Giacomo Soranzo (1551-1554), and Giovanni Michiel (1554- 1557), who was the last ambassador Venice sent to England until 1602. F 1552. FRANCISCO LOPEZ DE GOMARA. Primer a y Segunda Parte de la Historia General de las Indias ; Caragoga, 1552, fol., part i, cap. "de los Baccalaos." Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxii, p. 341. In English : EDEN, op. cit., p. 317 ; ARBER'S edit., p. 343. The only detail to be noted in that short account, is the phrase \ " camino la vuelta de Islandia sobre cabo del Labrador y hasta se poner en cincuenta y ocho grades. Aunque el dice mucho mas : He went in the direction of Iceland to the Cape of Labrador, reaching 58, although he says much more" GOMARA doubtless knew Sebastian Gabot personally, as in the capacity of Fernando Cortes's secretary, 1 he frequented the Court of Charles V. from 1540 until 1546. G Before 1557. ANTONIO GALVAM. Trutado que compos os nobre e notauel capitano Antonio Galvao . . . Lisboa, Joao de Barriera, 1563, 12. Hakluyt Soc. reprint. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxiii, p. 342. In English : HAKLUYT, The discoveries of the world, from their first originall vnto the yeere of our Lord 1555. Briefly written in the Portuguese tongue by Antonio Galvano . . . London, 1601, 4to. H Before 1558. ANDRE THEVET. Le grand Insulaire et Pilotage d* Andre Theuet Angoumoisin Cosmographe de Roy (MS. Paris National Library, Fonds Francais, No. i5,45 2 > vo1 - i fo - I 43)- Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxv, p. 343. 1 "Siendo su capellan y criado [de CASAS, Historia de las Indias, Book iii, Cortes] despues de Marque's, cuando chap, cxiv, vol. iv, p. 448. volvi6 la postrera vez a Espana." LAS XCV, 1559.] SYLLABUS. 467 See also : Les Singularitez de la France Antarctiqm autrement nommee Amerique, et de plusieurs terres et isles decouvertes de nostre temps. Paris, chez les heritiers de Maurice de la Porte, 1558, 4to. Chapter Ixxiv, f. 148. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, p. 344. In English : The New found worlde, or Antarctike, wherein is contained woderful and strange things, as well as humaine creatures, as Beastes, Fishes, Foules, and Serpents, Trees, Plants, Mines of Golde and Siluer : garnished with many learned aucthorities, trauailed and written in the French tong, by that excellent learned man master Andrevve Thevet. And now newly translated into Englishe, wherein is reformed the errours of the auncient Cosmo- graphers. Imprinted at London, by Henrie Bynneman for Thomas Racket, 1568, 4to. Cosmographie Universelle ; Paris, 1575, folio; Book xxiii, f. 1022. THEVET is said to have left a Histoire naturelle et generale des Indes Ocddentales, yet existing in MS., which may contain additional statements concerning " Sebastian Babate," as he calls Cabot. I 1559. LANQUET COOPER CROWLEY. An Epitome of cronicles. Conteyninge the whole discourse of the histories as well of this realme of England as all other countreys, gathered out of most probable auctours. Firste by Thomas LANQUET, from the beginning of the worlde to the incarnation of Christe, Secondely, to the reigne of our soueraigne lord King Edward the sixt by Tliomas COOPER, and thirdly to the reigne of our soueraigne Ladye Quene Elizabeth, by Robert CROWLEY. Anno 1559, Londini, In cedibus Thomce. Marshe. Imprinted at London by William Seres . . . 1559. 4to. See sub anno 1552. This is not the first edition, but as LANQUET died in 1545, there could be no mention of Cabot, in connection with Willoughby's voyage. In the editions of 1560 and 1565, we read only: " Sebastian Cabot born in Bristoll," and the words : " Genoways sonne " are omitted. Jean et S'ebastien Cabot, doc. xxxvii A, pp. 363-4. 468 S YLLA B US. [XC V, 1568-1569. J 1568-1569. RICHARD GRAFTON. A Chronicle at large and meere History of the Affayres of Englande and Kinges of the same, deduced from the creation of the worlde, and so by contynuaunce unto the first yere of the reigne of our queene Elizabeth. London, Denham, 1568 and 1569, 2 vols. folio. Vol. ii, p. 1323. In ELLIS'S edition, London, 1809, 4to, vol. ii, p. 532. The passage concerning Cabot is also to be found in the Abridgments which Grafton published from 1563 till 1572; see the edition of 1571, fo. 174, recto and verso. But he omits to speak of him in his continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxxvii B, p. 364. K 1576. SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT. A Discovrse Of a Discouverie for a new Passage to Cataia. Written by Sir Hvmfrey Gilbert, Knight. Imprinted at London by Henry Middleton, for Richarde Ihones. Anno Domini, 1576. Aprilis, 12. 4to. See in leaf signed D iii. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxiv, p. 343. GILBERTS'S sole authorities for his statements are the Cabotian planisphere, either of 1544 or 1549, and Ramusio, to whom he refers in the margin : " Written in the Discourses of Navigation." The Discourse of Gilbert was written so early, at least, as 1566. L 1577- RALPH HOLINSHED. The Chronicles of Englande, Scotlande, and Irelande, by Raphael! Ho Unshed. London, for George Bishop, 1577, 2 vols. folio. See vol. ii, p. 1714. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. xxxvii C, p. 365. XCV, 1580.] SYLLABUS. 469 M 1580. JOHN STOW. The Chronicles of England, from Brute vnto this present yeare of Christ 1580 collected by lohn Stowe citizen of London. Printed at London by Ralphe Neivberie, at the assignement of Henrie Bynneman cum privilegio regies. Maiestatis. 4to. Page 872, close to the marginal note anno reg. 14, and p. 875, Id., p. 1057. Edit, of 1605, p. 804 ; 1631, p. 477, where, owing to a printer's mistake, the date of 1489 is given instead of 1498. The passage concerning Cabot is not to be found in any of the Summaries which STOW commenced publishing in 1 56 1 . It appears for the first time in the edition of 1580. Jean et Sebastien Cabot, doc. vi B, p. 317; xiv, p. 330; XXXVU'D, P- S^S- INDEX. ABERDEEN, 357. Abrejo, 207. Abreojos, Cabo de, 207. Acuna, Etor de, a Portuguese, 193- Acuna, Hector de, 195, 196. Acuna, Rodrigo de, 208, 210, 251, 418 ; island named after, 208 ; port named after, 210. Adam of Bremen, 287. Adams, Clement, editor of the Cabotian planisphere, 62, 113, 320, 342, 343, 345, 346, 349, 362, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448. Affonso, Dr. Simao, 196, 256, 427. Africa, 203. Agaces, The, a tribe of Indians, 217-18, 220, 423. Agnese, Battista, 435. Agramonte, Juan de, expedition of, 153- Aguilar, Luis de, 185. Aguirre, the Basque, 193, 251, 258. Akpatok island, no. Alais, a French town, 383, 384. Alaminos, Antonio de, 139, 140. Alba, Archives of the House of, 185, 191, 195, 197, 232, 233, 269, 413, 415. Albo, Francisco, 434. Alcala, 64, 464. Alday, John, 329. Allezay, 90, 92, 102, 103, 104. Allibone, 332. Alvarez, Rodrigo, pilot, 193 ; dis- coverer of the little islands in the estuary of the Rio de la Plata which are named after him, 199, 211, 411. Amazona, river, 365. America : believed to have been named after Americus its discoverer, 165. America, North, discovery of, 21, 25, 66 ; continent of, dis- covered by John Cabot, 62 ; Sebastian Cabot the reputed sole discoverer of, 131 ; con- tradictory statements of Seb- astian Cabot regarding his first landfall in, 109-11; exhibition of savages brought from, 22, 24, 146. America, North east coast of, Cabot's description of, 52-5 ; discoveries made on the, 70, 97 ; map exhibiting the, 76. America, South, 188. Ames, 1 8. Anaga point, 310. Andalusia, 61, 436; ports of, 71 ; pilotage and hydrography taught in, 71. Anderson's Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, 331. Andrada, Hernando (or Fernando) de, 218, 248. Andres of Venice, 194, 258. Angelis, Pedro de, 195, 212, 214, 253, 261. Anghiera, Pietro Martire d' (Peter Martyr), 33, 36, 37, 87, 127, 137? 139> Mij I5> i? 1 * 22 5> 345 ; speaks authoritatively of the birth-place of Seb- 472 INDEX. astian Cabot, 30, 32 ; his information obtained direct from Sebastian Cabot, 36, 39> 49) 5, I2 7, 128, 150, 151 ; account by, of the first voyage of discovery, 64, 65 ; chart belonging to, 77 ; De- cades of, 49, 112, 115, 1 1 6, 117, 118, 156, 225, 345, 445, 461, 462, 464, 465 ; intimacy with Sebastian Cabot, 118, 120, 121, 227 ; statement of, respecting Sebastian Cabot, 154, 155 ; advice of, respecting bartering with the natives, 187 ; member of the Council of the Indies and Royal Chronicler, 186, 188, 189. Anglo - Portuguese Transatlantic expeditions, 158. Angouleme lake, 93, 94, 95. Angoulesme isles, 93. Ano Nuebo, Isla de, 214. Anspach, L. A., 40. Anticosti island, 89, 90, 91, 92, 104. Antiquitates Americana, Ram's, 40. Antonio, Biblioteca Hisp. Nova, 247. Antonio of Balabio, 388. Antwerp, 41, 112, 436, 447. Apianus, 296, 301, 302. Appleton's Encyclopaedia, 127. Aquitaine, six thousand men to be sent to, by Henry VIII., 152. Aragon, 14. Aragus, Boso de (?), a Hungarian furbisher, 193, 205, 413. Aranda, Juan de, officer of the Casa de Contratacion, 415. Araynes, Les, 91, 92, 103. Arber, Prof. Edward, 65, 165, 208, 340, 373- Archangel, Gulf of, 362. Archbold, W. A. J., 173. Archivo dos Azores, 85. Ardiconibus, Antonio de, 389. Argentina, Guzman's, 195, 196. Arias, Pedro, 189. Arnold, Richard, historian, u. Arsola, Juan de, cooper, 193, 249, 250, 257. Artc de navigar, by Pedro de Medina, 280. Arthur, Prince of Wales, 14. Arundel, Earl of, 320. Ascoitia, Miguel Martinez de, 258. See Martinez of Azcutia. Ashehurst, Thomas, of Bristol, letters patent granted to, 31, 138, 144, 145, 146, 147, 336, 398. Ashmolean Museum, 374. Asia, project of reaching, 43. Assension, Isla de la, 204, 409. Atlantic, crossing of the, 66. Augsburg, 112. Aurifici, Nicolas, 389. Avalon, peninsula of, 1 1 1. Avanjo, Bojo de(?), 413. See Aragus. Avezac, M. D', 42, 83, 154, 259, 261, 292, 409. Avignon, 464. Avila, 267, 414. Aviles, 192. Avoca, a calker, 193, 217. Avon, river, 29. Ayala, Pedro de, adjunct to Dr. Puebla, Spanish ambassador, 11, 13, 15, 43, 45, 59, 120, 127, 130, 132, 134, 138; the " Hyalas " of Halle and Grafton and the "Elias" of Bacon, 1 5 ; reference to John Cabot's occupation made by, 39 ; statement of, 38, 63 ; his repre- sentation of John Cabot, 38 ; despatch from, 42, 396. Ayolas, Juan de, 253, 319. Ayllon, Lucas Vasquez de, explor- ations of, 140, 198, 247. Azara, 215, 217. Azcoitia or Azcutia, 192, 193. Azores, the, 79, 145, 284, 293, 298, 299, 300, 310, 435. BACCALAOS Regions, 81, 96, 139, 152, 228, 274, 279 ; derivation of the word, 86, 87. Bachaglia, Tera (Terra) del, posi- tion of, 77. " Bachillers," list of, 172. Bacon, Francis, 15. Badajoz, council of, 83-84, 183, 197, 198 ; Cabot at, 173- INDEX. 473 Baffin's Bay, 339. Bahama channel, 140. Balabio, 6, 388. Balboa, Alvaro Nunez de, 194, 198. Balboa, Gongalo Nunez de, treasurer of the ship " La Trinidad," 192, 198, 217. Balboa, Juan Nunez de, 194, 198. Bancroft, George, 127, 369. Barbaro, Daniele, Venetian ambassador in England, 465. Barcellos, Diogo de, 85. Barcellos, Pedro de, 85. Barcia, 248, 290. Barcques, la ripuiere de, 90, 93. Bardolo, Giangiacomo, 465. Bargos (Burgos ?), Luis Perez de, 195. Barlow, Roger, 194, 202, 219, 220, 248, 408, 416, 418. Barnes, Sir George, 20, 334, 373. Barret, Win., 30. Barros, 15. Bartolomeo of Brescia, 388. Bartolomeo of Pergamo, 388. Bartolomeo, son of Antonio Casarolo, 388, Barwick, George F., 329. Basante, Ruy, 248. Basinana, Pero Benito de, 185. Basque pilots, school of, 71. Bastidas, Rodrigo de, sails with Juan de la Cosa for the New World, 82. Bauvieux, Lieut., 306, 313. Bavaria, 447. Bedford, Earl of, 113, 446. Belgium, 436, 437, 438, 447. Belle Isle, 52. Belle-Isle, Strait of, 82, 88, 89, 90, 91, 104, 105 ; shown for the first time on Jacques Cartier's map, 90. Belleforest, 163. Bellin, 95. Beltran, Diego, 265. Benavides, Rodrigo de, 194. Beneventanus, Marcus, 291. Bentivoglio, Cardinal Giovanni, 464. Bergamo, 6, 7, 388. Bergenroth, 14, 43, 57, 134, 152, 390, 396. Berghaus, 294. Bernal, Juan, 265. Bernaldez, 152. Bernardo, son of Bartolomeo of Pergamo, 388. Besancon Library, 409. Besson, Jacques, 372. Best, Robert, 356. Bibliotheca Americana Vetustis- sima, 46, 165, 280. Biddle, Richard, i, 11, 24, 31, 60, 61, 117, 123, 127, 145, 146, 174, 186, 201, 247, 291, 328, 329> 330, 332, 333, 336, 358, 359, 36o, 368, 369, 370, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 393, 397, 398, 444, 465. Biscay, 122; fishermen of, frequent the Newfoundland fishing - ground, 87. Biscayan mariners, teachers of hydrography and pilotage, 71. Bishop, George, 468. Blackfriars, 41. Blackheath, battle of, 67, 120. Blackstone, 31. Blandratio, Giacomo de, 389. Bogota, 198. Boisdauphin, Montmorency- Laval-, 365. Bollani, Domenico, Venetian ambassador in England, 465. Bologna, 463, 464, 465. " Bona Confidentia," a ship, 344, 346, 355, 357- " Bona Esperanza, a ship, 335, 344, 346, 355, 357. Boselli, Mr., 447. Bottrigari, Galeazzo, 463, 464, 465. Brabant, 437. Bracamonte, Diego de, 195, 213. Bradley, Thomas, 133, 395. Braga, Manoel de, 47, 204, 205, 239- Brandt, Sebastian, 12. Brane, Otavian de. See Brene. Brasil, Rio del, 206. Brazil, pretended expedition of Sebastian Cabot to, 120, 121, 149, 158 ; his voyage to, 196, 204, 208, 226, 229, 254, 261, 272, 311, 3 12 , 316, 409, 411, 414, 416, 417, 418, 419. 474 INDEX. Brazil, Island of, Bristol expedi- tions to find the imaginary, and the Seven Cities, 11, 38, 40, 42, 43, 59, 395 ; John Cabot said to have discovered, 126. Brazilian rivers, the course of, depicted in the early maps of the New World, 189. Brazil-wood, new country supposed to yield, 52. Brene(?), Otavian de, 193, 244, 249, 419, 420. Brescia, 6, 7. Brest, 90, 91, 93. Breton, Dr., 14. Bretons, Terre des, 103. Brevoort, J. Carson, 79. Brewer, J. S., 82, 121, 152, 160, 162, 172, 338, 339, 399, 405. Brion or Bryon island, 91 ; named by Jacques Cartier, 89, 102. Brion, Admiral de, island named after, 102. Bristol, 21, 38-43, 45, 48, 51, 59, 63, 79, 82, 83,89,99, 118-20, 122, 126, 130, 134, 144-7, 1 66, 373, 375 38i 5 392, 394, 398, 443, 467 ; inhabitants of, fit out ships to find the island of Brazil, 11, 38, 40, 43, 59; Cabot lives here, 323 ; alleged birth-place of Seb- astian Cabot, 27; probable residence of John Cabot, 38 ; centre of English trade with the northern countries, 39 ; interruption to the trade of the merchants of, 40 ; Cabot's expedition sails from, 5 T > 133? 134; tides in the vicinity of, 53; distance to Cape Nord from, 99 ; letters patent granted to merchants of, 167. British Museum, 128, 394, 395, 396, 408, 437, 448, 449. Brittany, fishermen of, frequent the Newfoundland fishing- grounds, 87, 122. Brooke, John, merchant, 351. Brotherhood of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, 331. Brown, Rawdon, i, 15, 27, 46, 49, 67, 120,175,176,180,181,182, 183, 326, 348, 35i, 36o, 387, 391,403,404,405,451. Brown, Sir Wolston, member of Henry VIII.'s council, 169. Bruges, 15. Brugge, Sir John, Lord Mayor of London, subscription towards the expenses of the expedi- tion, 172. See London, Lord Mayor of. Brunn, Dr. C. H., 41. Brussels, 365, 449. Bryon, Ille de. See Brion. Buckland, John, 344, 351, 353, 354, 356. Buen Abrigo, Isleta de, 207, 410. Bueno, Alonso, pilot, 194, 198, 245, 252,257,264. Bullo, Signer Carlo, 9, 27, 171, 185, 197, 389, 391, 403, 404, 405, 451, 465. Bullon, Sancho de, 194. Burchard's Diarium^ 464. Burgos, 152, 154, 401. Burgos, bishop of, 179. Burgundy, 10, 53. Burrough, Stephen, 328, 329, 344, 346, 354, 355, 356, 358,366,456. Busignolo, Hieronymo Marin de, a Ragusian adventurer, 34, 174, 178, 179 ; carries secret message to the Council of Ten, 174, 175, 176, 178 ; re- ward to, 403 ; letter from, 404. Bustamente, Hermando de, 197. Bynneman, Henrie, 467. CABOOTR (Cabot), 394. Cabot, Elizabeth, daughter of Sebastian Cabot, 380. Cabot, Jean I., 382, 383. Cabot, Jean II., 383. Cabot, Jehan, 382. Cabot, John, vel : Caboote, Cabota, Cabote, Cabott, Cabotte, Caboto, Cabotto, Cabotus, INDEX. 475 Calbot, Cavocto, Gabato, Gabote, Gaboto, Kabotto, Tabot, Talbot, decrees conferring the full privilege of citizenship on, 2, 5 ; birthplace of, 7, 8, 10 ; nationality of, i, 2, n, 12, 13, 16, 23, 24, 40; not a Venetian by birth, 1-9 ; naturalization of, 2, 6, 8, 26, 30, 3i> 3^7) 389; was he a Genoese ? 10-26 ; likened to Columbus, 10, n, 42, 132, 393 ; presents his barber (surgeon ?) with an island, 10, 53 ; successful voyage of, 23, 24 ; reception of, by the English, 23 ; wife of, 27, 37 ; his wife's sister, 27 ; obtains letters patent for a voyage of discovery, 28 ; life of, in England, 36-41 ; date of birth, 37 ; three sons of, 37 ; avocations of, 38, 39 ; letters patent granted to, 32, 47, 48, 124, 390, 391 ; date of removal to England, 38; seeks royal aid to undertake Trans- atlantic discoveries, 38, 40 ; reasons for coming to London, 39 ; character of, 40 ; em- ployed as a Venetian agent, 40, 41 ; introduced to Henry VII., 40 ; reported successful negotiations of, at the Court of Denmark, 40 ; talent as a mariner and discoverer, 40 ; first efforts of, 42-47 ; date of visit to Spain and Portugal, 43 ; endeavour of, to discover other lands, 43 ; idea of crossing the Ocean, 43, 44; belief in the spheri- city of the earth, 45 ; desire to confer new lands on the King of England, 45 ; first voyage across the Atlantic, 45, 50, 129 ; visit to Mecca, 45 ; petition of, 46, 57 ; re- turn of, from his first voyage of discovery, 48, 51, 62, 64, no; information concerning his first expedition obtained from, 49 ; first expedition of, 50-55, 109, in, 112; course adopted in the first voyage of, 51, 70 ; date of the first voyage of, 51, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62 ; probable landfall of, 52 ; description of the new country and its inhabi- tants visited by, 52-5 ; pre- sents his companions with islands, 53 ; conversation of, with the Milanese ambas- sador, 54 ; Northern Labrador the place probably visited by in 1497, 55 ; errors respect- ing the date of the first voyage f> 56, 57 ; proofs as to the correct date of the first voyage, 57-60 ; reward of Henry VII. to, 58, 117, 392, 394, 395; alleged landfall of, 60-84 ; new letters patent granted to, 60, 127, 144, 145, 393, 396, 397, 444, 445, 446 ; reference made to the voyage of, 79 ; pension granted to, 116, 126, 390, 392 ; receives a gratuity from the King, 126 ; impression in England on receipt of the news of his discoveries, 126 ; has some difficulty in collecting his pension, 126; date of his return from his first expedi- tion, 126, 134 ; discoveries of, 126 ; second expedition of, 126-142 ; return of, to London, 129 ; gratuity granted to, 129 ; comparison of three accounts of the preparations for the second expedition of, 131 ; discloses to Soncino his plans for his second-expedition, 132, 136, 138 ; extract from a petition addressed to the King by, 132 ; extract from the letters patent granted to, *32, 133 ; equipping of ships 476 INDEX. by, for his second voyage, 133; little known of the places visited in his second expedi- tion, 135 ; ultimate object of his second voyage, 137 ; distance he travelled south- wards on his second expedi- tion, 137 ; failure of the second expedition, 141 ; petition of John Cabot, Lewes, Sebastian, and Sancto his sons, 389. Cabot, Lewis and Sancto, sons of John Cabot, 380, 381 ; obtain letters patent for a voyage of discovery, 28, 390 ; petition of, 46, 399- Cabot, Louis, 383. Cabot, Pierre, 383. Cabot, Pierre, 382, 383. Cabot, Sancto. See Cabot, Lewis. Cabot, Sebastian, birth and birth- place of, 12, 13, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 121 ; age and nationality of, 12, 13, 17,20, 21,26, 27-36, 118; character of, 115-125; lectures on cosmography delivered by, 19 ; letters patent for a voyage of dis- covery, 28 ; childhood of, 36, 37 ; taken by his parents to England when an infant, 33 ; educated in England, 37 ; sends an agent to Venice, 34, 174 ; Venetian naturalization conferred on, 36; Pilot-Major of Spain, 34 ; commander of an expedition to the New World, 34 ; no personal know- ledge of the New World, 34 ; his statement made to the Venetian ambassador at Valla- dolid, 34; claims the sole merit of the success of the first Eng- lish expedition, 45, 115 ; ac- counts by, of the first voyage of discovery, 64-68 ; information concerning John Cabot's first expedition obtained from, 49 ; alleged discovery of North America by, 66, 97, 115 ; petition of, 46 ; improbability of his accompanying his father on his first voyage, 48 ; conversation with the Mantuan gentleman, 65 ; appointed naval captain, 33-, 153 ; first visit to Spain, 81 ; offices held in Spain by, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78 ; in charge of the u Padron Real," 81 ; intended visit to the Moluccas, 76 ; has daily intercourse with Diego Ribero, 83, 84 ; colleague of Diego Ribero at the Council of Badajoz, 84 ; absence from Spain of, 76, So ; instrumental in supplying the Spanish cosmographers with particulars concerning the northern extremity of the New Continent, 84 ; French map copied by, 85 - 95 ; records the mishap of Jacques Cartier in September 1535, 93 ; discovery of the island of San Juan impossible, 97, 98, 99, 1 06 ; letters patent granted to, by Henry VII., 36, 124 ; erroneous statements of, 99> IJ 5> I2 , 121, 122 ; the Livery Companies object to his commanding an expedi- tion, 34, 1 1 8, 119, 168-72, 402 ; guest of Peter Martyr, 115; reason given for his leaving England, 119, 120; seeks employment in Spain, 119, 120; desirous that his services be recommended to Henry VIII., 124; intrigues of, to better his position, 124 ; motives of, in making false representations, 122 ; secret correspondence of, with foreign rulers, 124 ; new letters patent not granted to, 127 ; requested by the King of Spain to return to Spain, 124 ; resides at Seville, 124, 153 ; settles in Spain, J 49~57 j summoned as a witness on behalf of Luis Columbus, 138 ; declaration of, made before the Council of the Indies, 139 ; requests a copy of the first letters INDEX. 477 patent, 146 ; and receives them, 450 ; alleged third voyage, 142-48; his alleged bringing of Indians into Eng- land discussed, 142-48 ; pre- tended expedition to Brazil of, 149 ; no authentic record of his doings for ten years, 149 ; receives a nominal fee from Henry VIII. for a map of Gascony and Guyenne, 152, 399 ; accompanies Lord Willoughby to Spain, 33, 152; proffers his services to King Ferdinand, 152; interview with Lope Conchillos, 152; infor- mation sought from, concern- ing the Baccalaos, 152 ; sum- moned to the Court of Spain, 153, 400 ; asks permission to go to England and to bring his family to Seville, 153 ; salary of, as naval captain, I 53? 1 7% '> nioney advanced to, by the Spanish ambas- sador in London, 153; office of pilot-major held by, 150, 154, 156, 161, 162, 1 68, 178, 191, 402 ; allowance of 10,000 maravedis from King Ferdi- nand to, 154, 401 ; his de- position as to the latitude of Cape St. Augustine, 155, 401 ; alleged voyage of 1517, 1 57-67; leaves Seville and returns to England, 162 ; may have joined Sir Thomas Pert's (Spert's) expedition, 161, 162 ; pretends to reject an offer to command an expedition on the plea of his duty to Charles V., 168, 174, 178, 1 80; offered the com- mand of an expedition, 1 68, 171, 172 ; statement of, concerning Cardinal Wolsey's offer to him, 171, 172 ; sends a Ra- gusian adventurer to Venice, 174 ; offers information to the Venetian Government, !75> J 795 interview of, with the Venetian Envoy, 1 76-80 ; desires to disclose to Venice a route leading to the Spice islands, 177 ; mistrusted by Charles V., 175, 176; secret visit of, to Contarini, 177-80 ; salary received from King Ferdinand, 178 ; dowry and estate of his mother, 176, 179, 181 ; seeks leave of absence from Charles V. to visit Venice, 181 ; presence of, as pilot-major needed in Spain, 182; compelled to pay the pen- sion of Vespuccius' widow, 183, 405 ; commands expedition to discover the Spice islands,! 86, 433 ; secures approbation of the Council of the Indies, 186; the course and object of his expedition, 188-90 ; is allowed to transfer to his wife the gratification of 25,000 maravedis, 191, 406 ; office of Captain-General of the Fleet held by, 191 ; difference of opinion as to the number of men who accompanied him on his expedition, 196, 197 ; route followed by, from San Lucar to Paraguay, 202-4 '> speculators allured by the representations of, 203 ; suffer- ings of his crew, 204-6 ; acts in opposition to the views of the officers on his ship, 203, 204; holds a secret inquiry concerning the alleged mis- deeds of his officers, 204 ; voyage to La Plata, 209-226 ; as a commander and seaman, 227-55 *' returns to Spain, 256 - 63 ; arrested and prosecuted, 264-69 ; resumes office, 270 - 80 ; his carto- graphical works, 281 - 88 ; his alleged discoveries in magnetics, 289 - 95 ; his first method for finding the longi- tude at sea, 296-300 ; his second method for taking the longitude, 301-8; its Spanish text, 454; his nautical theories and sailing direc- tions, 309 - 17, 435, 436 ; 478 INDEX. Cabot, Sebastian continued. again settles in England, 318- 27 ; his employment in England, 328 - 35 ; advises the merchant adventurers, 343 - 45 ; his pension re- newed, 358 ; his alleged influence, 360-63 ; last years, 364-71 ; the end, 372-84; letters from Hernand Cortes to, 407 ; list of legal documents relative to the expedition to La Plata, 412, 413, 414, 415 ; Spanish text of the deposi- tions as to his conduct in the expedition, 415-27 ; his own deposition, 422 ; Queen orders the Casa de Contratacion to pay him 30 gold ducats, 428 ; Queen orders that 50,000 maravedis be paid to, 429 ; letter to Juan de Samano, 429-30 ; autograph of, 429 ; his account of the Indians of La Plata, 430 ; Charles V. orders the Casa de Contra- tacion to investigate the conduct of, 431 ; pilots to be examined by, 431 ; recom- mended to Henry VIII., 432 ; expenses for bringing to England, 448 ; pension granted by Edward VI. to, 449 ; answer to Charles V., 449 ; gratuity of ^200 from Edward VI. to, 450 ; draws his pension, 451, 454, 456, 457, 458; ordinances, instructions, &c. for voyage to Cathay made by, 452 ; letter to Charles V., 453, 454; pension of 250 marks granted by Queen Mary to, 454 ; Stephen Burrough's account of, 456 ; retrocession of pension of '55 5, 459) 46o, 462, 463, 464, 465, 466; called "Sebastian Babate," 467, 468, 469 ; his wife (Catalina Medrano), 151, I9 1 * 379) 38) 4o6, 430; his daughter, 380, 430 ; his map or planisphere, 12,49, 62, 74) 84, 85, 91 ; its data drawn from Cartier, 92-95 ; its delineation of San Juan Island, 96-108; its alleged genuineness, 109-114; its legends or inscriptions, 56, 61, 63, 69, 93, 97, 99, 106, 123- 25, 140, 432-38 ; its copies, 438-48. Cabot, Vincent, 383. Cabot de Carresvielles, Loys, 384. Cabot de la Fare, 382, 383. Caboote (Cabot), 394. Cabota (Cabot), 27, 329, 335, 374, 453- Cabote (Cabot), 30, 113, 318, 440, 447, 450- Caboto (Cabot), 2, 5, 11, 56, 69, 379) 387, 389) 4oo, 401, 402, 406, 412, 415, 430, 431, 432, 435, 451, 454, 458, 459. Cabott, 172. Cabotte (Cabot), 20, 26, 389, 449. Cabotto (Cabot), 28, 35, 46, 405, 449- Cabotus, 33, 56, 443. Cabrera, Alonso, 257. Cabrero, Mosen Martin, ordered to pay Sebastian Cabot 10,000 maravedis, 401. Cadiz, School of Basque pilots at, 71, 82. Cafazzo, 464. Calbot (Cabot), John, 220, 392. Calbot (Cabot), Zuam, 58. Calderario de Columbis, Gulielmo, 388. Calderon, Hernando de, 200, 202, 217, 219, 220, 231, 237, 241, 246, 248, 249, 256, 311, 408, 413, 414, 416, 418, 422, 426 ; treasurer of the flag-ship or " Capitana," 192 ; despatched in a caravel to Spain, 423 ; carries to Spain the legal- process instituted against Rojas, &c, 424. Calderon, Johan Gutierrez, scri- vener, 427. Camacho, son of Dr. Morales, 244, 410, 419. Cambridge, 441, 442. Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, 331, 332, 334) 335) 36i, 381. Canada, 103, 105, 286. INDEX. 479 Cananea, Baya de la, 208. Canary Islands, The, 183, 203, 233, 273, 293, 313, 409, 417, 419 5 Adelantado of the, 270, 429 ; Bishop of the, 199. Cape Breton, 83, 90, 91, 94, 96, 98, 99, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107, 1 08 ; alleged landfall at, 96, 97, 112 ; position of, 69, 80 ; description of the locality round, 123, 340, 445. Cape of Good Hope, 190, 313. Cape Verd Islands, 155, 183, 197, 203, 233, 311, 312, 313, 315, 3i6, 317, 330, 413- "Capitana," The, 192, 418, 420,422. Capotto, Family of the name of, 9. Caracarana or Carcarana River, Cabot reaches the, 214, 216, 217, 422, 424. Caravels sent by Bristol in search of Brazil and the Seven Cities, 43, 59- Carcaraes, Rio de los, 215, 216. Carcarass, Tribe of, 216. Carcarana region, Indians of, 220. Cardenas z Cano, 248. Caribbean Sea, The, 138. Caro, Gregorio, captain of the ship "La Sancta Maria del Espinar," 185, 192, 199, 214, 218, 230, 235, 238, 240, 242- 50, 312, 414, 424- Caro, Luis, 121. Carolina, the coast of, 140. Carolinas, The, 137. Carrioces, The, Indians, 223. Cartagena, 198. Carte, Thomas, 333, 334. Carter, John, 395. Carthagena, Province of, 274. Cartier, Jacques, 87, 100, 101, 102, 104, 279 ; voyages of, 86 ; account of his first voyage, 88-90 ; account of his second voyage, 91-92 ; account of his third expedition, 105 ; maps by, copied by Sebastian Cabot, 92, 93 ; unable to cross with his ship the western extremity of St. Pierre Lake, 93, 94 ; places named by, compared with those shown on map of Sebastian Cabot, 93 ; winters at Charlesbourg Royal, 105 ; mistook Prince Edward Island for conti- nental territory; 103, 104 ; meets Roberval near Cape Double, 105 ; delineations shown on the map of his first expedition, 90 ; description of a course taken by, during his first expedition, 103, 104 ; ignorant of the Strait of Northumberland, 103 ; dis- coveries made by, 109 ; suc- cessful explorations of, 122, 123. Carvajal, Garcia Lopez de, 15. Carvajal, Juan Suarez de, one of the Council of the Indies, 265, 266, 275. Carvajal, Lorenzo Galindez de, one of the Council of the Indies, 265. Carvalho Joao de, 88. Carvalho, Vasco Gallego, 260. Casa de Contratacion, 71, 72, 73, 75> 78, 155, 184, 196, 264, 266, 272, 276, 278, 279, 321, 364, 412, 415, 427, 428, 430, 43i- Casarolo, Antonio, 388. Casas. See Las Casas. Casimir of Nuremberg, 194. See Nuremberger, Casimir. Castiglione, 10. Castile, 14, 151,410, 416, 420, 421, 424. Castilla, Don Sancho de, 417, 421. Castione Genovese, 10. Castro, Inez de, of Paraguay, 196. Cathay, route to, 45 ; passage to, .174; voyages to, 65, 66, 157, 191, 201, 320, 327, 338, 34i-59> 36i, 433, 452- Catherine of Aragon, 14. Cavarzere, 8. Cavocto (Cabot), Sebastian, 220. Caxton, 12. Cazal, Ayres de, 261. Cecchetti, 4. Celada, Caspar de, 194. Celis, Diego Garcia de, 194, 200, 231, 236, 242, 245, 247, 257, 311, 414. 480 INDEX. Centenera, Del Barco, 221. Centurione, Paulo, a Genoese navigator, 337, 338, 361. Cerezo, Maria, widow of Vespuc- cius, 183, 184. Cerrado or Serrado, Rio, 211. Cesar, Francisco, Captain, 194, 241, 245, 254, 257, 413, 424, 425. Cespedes, Andres de, 77, 183, 248, 284. Cespedes, Garcia de, 197. Cha' Botto, 9. Chaco Desert, 270. Chaleur, la Baye de, 90. Chancelor, Richard, pilot-major, 12, 207, 344, 345, 346, 348, 349, 35 1> 352, 35 6 > 357, 361, 362, 446, 452. Chandules, a tribe, 217, 258, 262. Chapuys, Eustace, 319, 432. Charles V., King of Spain, 74, 75, 80,83, 112, 123, 168, 1 86, 199, 202, 203, 218, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 246, 247, 253, 259, 266, 270, 271, 272, 302, 309, 318, 319, 320, 364, 379, 407, 408, 429, 431, 432, 449, 462, 466 ; Court of, 33, 34, 1 50, 190 ; nautical charts designed by the cosmographers of, 70 ; order of, 75 ; map designed by the pilots of, 77 ; appre- hensive of giving information to the English and French regarding the north-west passage, 85 ; requests the re- turn of Sebastian Cabot to, 124 ; to provide vessels for Henry VIII.'s. troops to Aqui- taine, 152 ; the Cortes sum- moned by, 156 ; appoints Sebastian Cabot as his pilot- major, 156, 161, 162; favours shown to Sebastian Cabot, by, 174 ; mistrusts Sebastian Cabot, 175 ; Sebastian Cabot seeks leave of absence from, to visit Venice, 181 ; ships and sums of money for an expedition provided by, 1 86, 187, 190 ; object of, in encouraging Cabot's under- taking, 1 88 ; bestows fresh favours on Sebastian Cabot, 191 ; grants an annuity and coat-of-arms to Martin Mendez, 197 ; recommends Martin Mendez, 197 ; rewards Miguel de Rodas, 198 ; arrival of, at Seville, 201 ; promises to help Cabot, 220 ; ordi- nances by, 278 ; expeditions sent by, 279 ; has confidence in Cabot, 281 ; receives a mappamundi from Cabot, 283, 293 ; recalls Cabot to Spain, 364 ; Cabot's letter to, 365, 366, 449; cedula for the in- vestigation of Cabot's conduct, 431 ; letters from, 452, 453. Charles VIII., King of France, 42. Charlesbourg Royal, 105. Charlevoix, 95, 196, 259. Chart-making and cosmography, teaching of, 71. Charts and maps, The sale of, by unauthorized pilots, 74. Chatterton, 50. Chauveton, 163. Chavarri, Geronimo de, 193. Chaves, Alonso de, 271, 274, 276, 279, 280, 320, 364. Chester, William, 334. Cheyney, Sir Thomas, 321, 364, 448. Cheyney, Mr., 376. Cheynies, 113, 446. Chiavari, 10. Chioggia, 8, 9, 389. Christian I., King of Denmark, 40. Chudleigh, Cape, 54, 55, no, in. Chytraeus. See KochhafT, Na- than. Cicogna, 157. Cipango, Island of, 136. Cisio, Domenico Giovanni de la, 389- Ciuile. See Seville. Claudianus, 465. Cobos, Francisco de los, Secretary, sends letter-missive to Cabot, 422. Cod, The abundance of, in the seas of North America, 54, 55- INDEX. 481 Codfish country, 152, 156, 274, 279. See Baccalaos. Coffin Island, 97. Colchinar, Rio, 215. Coles, Isla de, 207. Collona, Sebastian, a friar, 179. Columbus, Christopher, n, 15, 39, 43544,45,46,116,139,151,268, 394, 437 ; first voyage of, 45 ; John Cabot likened to, 10, n, 42, 132, 393; did he discover the West Indies ? 273 ; his heirs deprived of rights, 274 ; he observes the magnetic declin- ation, 292-93 ; endeavours to find the longitude at sea by means of the needle, 298-99. Columbus, Fernando, commis- sioned to construct a sailing- chart, 74, 183, 185 ; his ColoquiO) 74 ; his Historie, 292, 298. Columbus, Luis, 268 ; Sebastian Cabot, a witness on behalf of, 138 ; revindicates the rights granted to his grandfather, 273- . Commission, for establishing official patterns of sailing- charts formed, 72 ; formed by Spain to treat with Portugal with respect to the Spice Islands, 182. Compagni, Bartolommeo, 294, 465. Concha, or de la Concha, Fran- cisco, purser of the flag-ship, 192. Conchillos, Lope, secretary of Queen Juana, interviews Sebastian Cabot, 152. Condon, Robert Pierce, 341. Contarini, Gasparo, Venetian ambassador at the Court of Charles V., 34, 37, 168, 171, 190, 324 ; successor of, 35 ; statements made by Sebastian Cabot to, 37, 121, 168, 172 ; in- structed to interview Sebastian Cabot, 171 ; despatch for- warded by the Venetian Government to, 175 ; de- spatches from, 157, 174, 176, 177, 181, 182, 297, 403, 404 ; despatches to, 181, 403, 404 ; secretly visited by Sebastian Cabot, 177-80 ; reports his interviews with Sebastian Cabot to the Council of Ten, J73> !77, 406 ; report of, 406. Contarini, Marc- Antonio, Venetian Ambassador to the Court of Charles V., 1 50 ; account of diplomatic mission of, 149, 431. Cooper, Bishop Thomas, 16, 17, 18, 467. Corgo, Sebastian, 251, 258. Corcuera, Rodrigo de, 295. Coro, Geronimo, 193. Correa, Caspar, 27. Corrientes, 287. Corte, Rodrigo de la, 265. Cortes, Hernando, 190, 255, 279, 407, 466. Cortes, Martin, 291. Cortes, The, 139 ; summoned by Charles V., 156. Corte-Real, Gaspard, 87. Cortez, Luis, 268. Coruria, 188, 408. Corzo, Sebastian, 194. Cosa, Juan de la, celebrated planisphere of, 76, 82, 135, 136, 137, 395- Cosmographia written by Sebas- tian Minister, 159. Cosmography and chart-making in Spain, teaching of, 71. Cosmos, Rio de los, 206. Costa, Gonzalo da, 224, 225, 226. Goto, Francisco, 154, 401. Cotton, Robert, Collection of, 12. Cottonian MS., Quotation from a, 25, 51, 128. Council of Ten, 171, 174, 175, 177 ; report of the Chief of the, 34 ; despatch from the, 35 ; de- spatches between the Spanish ambassador and the, 174 ; Ragusian adventurer's speech before the, 176, 178; anxious for a personal interview with Sebastian Cabot, 180 ; de- spatches to Contarini, 181, 403-4 ; despatch to Soranzo, 381,451. Council of the Indies, the, 154, 219, 2H INDEX. 246, 280, 412, 427, 430 ; de claration made by Sebastian Cabot before, 139 ; approves of an expedition to the Moluccas, 1 86 ; Mendez complains to, 232 ; Caspar de Montoya, a member of, 247 ; charges against Cabot adjudged proven by, 249 ; Cabot tried before, 251, 265- 269 ; its sittings held at Ocafia, 265 ; members of, 265 ; Count Osorno presides at, 266 ; Charles V. writes to, 266 ; reply to Charles V., 267 ; Adelantado of the Canaries petitions, 270, 430 ; con- demnation of Cabot by, 271 ; Suarez de Carvajal a mem- ber of, 275 ; a mappamundi ordered for, 282 ; sentences of, in the suits against Cabot, 414,415. Cremona, 7. Crignon, Pierre, 296. Cronicon regum Anglia ', &c., 25, 128, 134, 396 ; reference in, to John Cabot's occupation, 39 ; date of John Cabot's second voyage recorded in, 129-31 ; account of John Cabot's expedition given in the, 129- 33- Crowley or Crole, Robert, printer, bookseller, poet, and preacher, 17, 18, 19, 25, 26, 467. Cuba, 65, 135, 286. Cuellar, or of Cuelar, a sailor, 193- Cumana, Province of, 274. DAHLGREN, 201, 210. Dalmatia, 7. Dansell, Sir William, 335. Darien, Province of, 274, 279. Dasent, J. R., 320, 321, 322, 324, 332,334, 335,367, 448, 449, 45 1- Daulphin, Cap du, named by Jacques Cartier, 102. Davila, Francisco, 434. Davila, Gil Gonzales, 188. Davis Strait, Exploration of, 67, 82. Daycaga, Andres, page on the ship "Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192,257,379,413. Deane, Charles, 117, 126, 166, 323, 392, 465. Delaware, River, 141. Delgado, Rio, 207. Delisle, 296. Demarcation line marking the Western boundary of Spain, 182. Denis, 261. Denmark, 179, 438 ; archives and old chronicles of, 41 ; war with England referred to, 41. Desceliers, Pierre, charts of, 93, 95, 101, 102, 106. Desimoni, Cornelio, i, n, 28, 79, I35> 389, 392- Desliens, Nicolas, 93, 101, 106, 107; cartographer of Dieppe, 94, 95 ; charts of, 102, 103. Desprats, Cardinal Francois, 464. Diaz, Bernal, 140. Dieppe, 92, 101, 102, 106, 107, 287; French maps constructed in, 86 ; cartographers of, avail themselves of the information fathered by Jacques Cartier, a o. Doge of Venice. See Gritti, Mocenigo, Trono, Vendramin. Doneaud, G., 9. Donnacona, Canadian chief, 93. Dorset, Marquis of, 119, 152. Double, Cape, 105. Drake, Sir Francis, 378. Drapeyron, Mr., 122. Drontheim (Drenton), Port of, 357, 358- Dugdale, 152. Duran, Toma's, 183. Durfoorth, Cornelius, 344. Duro, Captain Fernandez, 280, 321. Dwina, river, Chancelor anchors at mouth of, 349 ; the " Edward Bonaventure " in, 352, 355 356; Chancelor arrives at mouth of, 357 ; "Searchthrift" at mouth of, 358 ; Chancelor ascends, 362. INDEX. 483 EAST CAPE, 98. East India Islands, 141. Easterlings, The, 330, 331, 333, 342- Eau Doulce, Riuiere d', 93. Ecija, 195. Eden, Richard, 19, 24, 29, 30, 112-13, H5, J22, 207,446-47 ; statements of, 154, 158, 159, 161, 163, 165, 166 ; derives his information from Sebastian Cabot, 158-59; reminiscence of Sebastian Cabot by, 372 ; lived in London, 373 ; The Decades of the Neive Worlde by, 208, 285, 434, 436, 461, 463 ; Discourse of dyvers voyages by, 465-66. " Edward Bonaventure," the, 344, 348,349,351-57. Edward IV., King of England, disregards the complaints of the King of Denmark, 40. Edward VI., 16, 18-20, 146, 322, 326, 332, 359, 376, 378, 390, 452, 465, 467 ; death of, 18 ; Sebastian Cabot seeks new favours from, 121 ; extract from the Council Register of, 124 ; grants pension to Sebastian Cabot, 320, 449 ; gratuity to Sebastian Cabot from, 450-51. El Cano, specimens of spices brought from the Indian Seas by, 185, 197, 198. El Dorado, 239. Elizabeth, Queen of England, 16, 17, 378, 467, 468. Elliott, Hugh, of Bristol, letters patent granted to, 145, 146, 147, 167, 336. Ellis, 22. Ellis, Henry, 54. Elsynges, manor of Sir Thomas Lovell, 172. Emecoretaes, Rio de los, 215. Enfield, 172. England, 10, II, 14, 15, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 41, 48, 116-25, 128, 134, 137, 160, 162, 165, 168, 172, 173, 183, 353, 355, 357, 375, 378-79, 4o8, 454, 463, 465 ; importation of Genoa and Savona cloths into, 23 ; war with Denmark alluded to, 41 ; Cabot's return to, owing to want of victuals, 66 ; war with Scotland, 67; return of John Cabot to, 1 10 ; circulation of the Cabotian planisphere in, 112; reason ascribed by Sebastian Cabotfor his leaving, 119, 120; effect produced in, by the news of the discoveries of John Cabot, 126 ; news of the success of John Cabot's expedition received in, 130 ; wife and home of Sebastian Cabot in, 151 ; Sebastian Cabot obtains permission to go to, 1 53 ; visit of Sebastian Cabot to, 156 ; Cabot said to be the author of the maritime strength of, viii, 361 ; Cabot's disguised flight to, 365 ; Charles V. and, 366 ; financial condition of, 369 ; Philip of Spain's visits to, 370-74; Cabot living in, 380; Soranzo, Venetian ambassador in, 381, 45 1 ; Ruy Gonzales de Puebla, Spanish ambassador in, 390, 395 ; Pedro de Ayala, junior Spanish ambassador in, 396 ; letter from King Ferdinand to Villaragut in, 400 ; Nathan KochhafiPs tour in, 438 ; engraving in, 441 ; Ortelius visits, 446 ; expenses for bringing Cabot to, 448 ; Giovanni Michiel, Venetian ambassador to, 466 ; chron- icles of, by Holinshed, 468. England, Cape of, in La Cosa's map, 135. England, Court of, 16, 357. English Admiralty, 72. English, The, discovery of Labra- dor and the north-east coast of America by, 83, 85. Engronland [Greenland], 318. Equator and the Tropic of Capri- corn, search for Spice islands between the, 189. Erasso, Francisco de, 284. 484 INDEX. Eskimos, The, 54. Espada, M. Jimenez de la, 283. Este, Hercules d', Duke of Ferrara, despatch from, 44. Ethica, River, 217, 220, 263. Etiquari, Rio, 211. Eton, 442. Exposition Americanista at Madrid, 413, 429. Extract from a play, referring to a voyage undertaken by Englishmen to the north- western region of the New World, 164, 165. FABYAN, Robert, 24, 25, 51, 128, 142, 143, 146 ; chronicles of, 21, 22, 131, 134, 396-97 ; death of, 22, 23 ; offices held by, 23 ; draper by trade, 23 ; deal- ings of, with the Ligurian merchants in London, 23. Fagundes, Joao Alvarez, 100. Faillon, Abb, 95. Falcon, Anton, 194, 205, 249 ; one of Cabot's witnesses, 245, 413 ; mentioned in list of survivors, 258. Faleiros, the, 88. Falmouth, 152. Farallon, Rio del, 210. Farayol, El, a rock or islet, 210, 411. Fare, Cabot de la. See Cabot. Ferdinand of Aragon, King of Spain, 15, 151, 152, 178,279; cedula of, 33 ; gratuities and emoluments granted to Cabot by, 65 ; requires a general revision of all maps and charts, 73 ; engages Sebastian Cabot, 8 1 ; desire of, to ascertain the secret of the newly discovered lands, 153 ; recommends Sebastian Cabot to the Spanish ambassador in London, 153; death of, 156, 160, 161, 162 ; expected to oppose an expedition from Venice, 179 ; writes to Luis Carroz de Villagarut recom- mending Cabot, 378 ; expedi- tion to the south of France by Henry VIII. and, 399; letter to Villagarut, 400 ; letter mentioning death of, 464. Ferdinand and Isabella, 57, 121, 149, 178, 266 ; Dr. Puebla, the ambassador of, 10, 14 ; Ayala, a commissioner of, 16 ; de- spatch addressed to, 42 ; ordinance of, 71 ; create the Casa de Contratacion, 71 ; said to have entertained Seb- astian Cabot, 119; and to have sent him to discover Brazil, 120, 121 ; order to Hojeda, 138 ; despatch from Ruy Gon- zales de Puebla to, 390, 395 ; despatch from Pedro de Ayala to, 396. Fernandez, Francisco, of the Azores, letters patent granted to, 144, 146, 147, 336; pension granted to, 147, 397-98. Fernandez, Joao, of the Azores, letters patent granted to, 144, 146, 147, 336, 398. Fernandez, Pero, pilot of the ship " La Trinidad," 192. Fefrara, Duke of, addresses an important despatch to his ambassador, 44 ; desire of, to see the writings of Paulo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, 44. Ferro, Marco, 3, 4. Figini, Martino, 388. Finisterre, Cape, 309, 409, 435. Finmark, 346. Fish, enormous quantity of, in the northern seas of America, 54 ; native mode of catching, de- scribed by John Cabot, 55. Fisher, Richard, 441. Fleuriais, Admiral, 306. Florence, despatch addressed by the Duke of Ferrara to his ambassador at, 44. Florentine astronomers, theories of the, 44. Flores, Island of, one of the Azores, 284, 293, 310, 435. Florida, 66, 123, 137-40, 274. Flying Dutchman, legend of the, 349- INDEX. 485 Fadera by Rymer, 31, 47, 336, 358, 390, 399, 449, 454, 459- Fonseca, Rodriguez de, Bishop of Palencia, 152, 181. Fontana, Aloysio, 388. Fontenelle'sfftstotre de FAcadtmie des Sciences, 290-91. Fonvielle, Wilfried de, 293. Forcellini, 37. Foreigners excluded from partici- pating in privileges granted by Henry VI I. , 145. Fornari, Cipriano de, 16. Fortana, Benedetto Lancelotti, 389. Fortunate Islands. See Canary Islands. Foscarini, Marco, 290, 465. Foscarini MSS., 431. Fossa, Clodia, maggiore and minore, 8. Fournier, Father George, 290. Fracastor's Opera Omnia, 465. France, 16, 105, 438 ; return of Jacques Cartier from his first voyage, 104 ; Boisdauphin ambassador of, 365 ; and re- called to, 366 ; English war with, 369; alleged descendants of Cabot in, 382 ; expedition to the south of, 399. Francis I., King of France, at war with England, 123. Frankfort, 18. Freire's portolano, 107. Fretum Herculeum, The sea called, 65. Frio, Cape, 207, 208, 410. Frioul, 7. Frobisher, 163, 339, 378. Frome, River, 29. Fuenleal, Sebastian Ramirez de, 265. Fuente, Sefior de la, 464. Fust, family of Gloucester, 51. GABATO (Sebastian Cabot), 13,21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 131. Gabota (Sebastian Cabot), 90. Gabote (Sebastian Cabot), 113, 131, 143- Gaboto (Sebastian Cabot), 12, 17, 35, 229, 231, 233, 236. " Gabriell Royal," The, 338. Gaeta, 9. Gairdner, Mr., of the Public Record Office, 128, 318, 432. Galicia, 198. Gallego, Vasco, 88 ; appointment of, 154; colleague of Cabot, 401. Galliacioli, Giambattista, 2. Galvam or Galvao, Antonio, 64, 466 ; information of John Cabot's first expedition given by, 50. Ganong, W. F., 100, 101, 103. Garay, Juan de, 221. Garcia,Alejo, 195, 261. Garcia, Captain Diego, 204, 213, 214, 218, 219, 222-24, 225, 229, 246, 247, 248, 257, 312, 316, 408, 409, 417, 418, 424, 435 ; expedition of, 189 ; island named after, 248 ; meets Cabot at La Plata, 423. Garcia, Francisco, priest on the ship " La Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192, 245. Garcia, Martin, steward of de Solis, island named after, 212, 433- Garcia, Miguel, 191, 271. Garcia de Celis. See Celis. Garcia de Mosquera, Ruy. See Mosquera. Garcia de Toreno. See Toreno. Garrard, Sir William, 20. Gascony, map of, made by Sebas- tian Cabot for Henry VIII., 152, 399- Gaspe, 104. Gattinara, Mercurino de, High Chancellor of Spain, 181. Gavoto (Sebastian Cabot), 229. Gayangos, 220, 319, 408, 432. Gefferson, William, master of the " Bona Esperanza," 344. Genero, or Jenero, Baya de, 207, 410. Genero, Rio de, 417. Genoa, 15, 23, 26, 381. Genoese, The, positions held by, in the Court of Henry VII., 46. Genoese residents in London in the 1 5th century, 45. 486 INDEX. Genoese galleys, means of trans- porting merchandise between Great Britain and Italy, 46. Genoese war, diminution of popu- lation in consequence of the, 3.4- Geographical Commission, 276. Georgia, 140. Germany, 112, 179, 437, 438- Geronimo, of Chavarri, 258. Gesio (or Gessio), Giovanni Bat- tista, 283. Ghillany, F. W., 82, 260, 291. Giabuto, family of the name of, 9- Gianeti da Fano, Guido, 281, 284, 289-90, 465. Gibraltar, 137, 139, 179 ; Strait of, 67. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 85, 88, 163, 378, 468. Gilbert, William, 290, 298. Gilbertus, G., 290. Giovanni, son of Bartolomeo of Brescia, 388. Giovanni, son of Giacomo, 388. Giunti, 465. Giustiniani, Agostino, 337. Goa, 284. Goderyk, John, 172, 405. Godwin, Francis, 27. Golden Castile, 255, 274. Gomara, the historian, 24, 50, 64, 113, 123, 196, 206, 208, 213, 253, 257, 435, 447, 466. Gomez, Estevao, or Estevam, the navigator, 77, 88, 183, 225; ex- pedition of, depends upon the ruling of the Council of Badajoz, 83 ; discoveries of, 140 ; explorations of, 273, 286, 3I9. 34i. Gonzales, Joao, of the Azores, 336, 398 ; letters patent granted to, 144, 146, 147 ; pension granted to, 147. Grado, 8. Grafton, Richard, printer of Edward VI., 18 ; chronicle of, 12, 13, 1 8, 19, 20, 25, 468. Grajales, Dr., 106-8 ; writer of the legends in Sebastian Cabot's maps, 61, 63, 112, 436, 447. Grajeda, Antonio de, master of the flag-ship, 192, 213, 221, 234, 425. Gravesend, 355, 365, 366, 367. Graviere, Jurien de la, 42. Gray, 356, 368. Great Britain, 27, 286. Great Britain and Italy, commerce carried on between, 46. Green Island, no. Greenland (Engronland), 291, 318, 319; 34i. Greenwich, Willoughby's expedi- tion passes, 345. Grego, Juan (a Greek ?), 194, 249, 258, 413. Gregory's Chronicle, 128. Gresham, Sir John, 373. Grey, Richard, 351, 356. Grey, Thomas, Marquis of Dorset, commander of the English army, 152. Griego, Juan, 241. Grimasco, Giovanni Giacomo, 389. Gritti, Andrea, Doge of Venice, 404. Grube, Master, expedition of, 340. Guadalquivir, 256. Guatemala, 247 ; discovery of emerald mines in, 198. Guevara, Christoval de, 194, 249, 250, 257. Guevara, Father Jose, 261. Guillen, Felipe, 295, 296. Guinea, Gulf of, 314, 315. Guinea, Rivers of, 312, 313, 316. Gutierrez, Diego, 274, 275 ; Cabot prohibits him from construct- ing maps, 279 ; Cabot appoints him his deputy, 280, 321. Gutierrez, Diego, junior, 320, 437. Guyenne, map of, made by Sebastian Cabot for Henry VIII., 152, 399. Guyrandos, Rio de los, 214. Guzman, Alonso Riquelme de, 195. Guzman, Dias de, 212, 213, 216, 221, 253, 257, 261. Guzman, Nufio de, 276. Guzman, Ruy Bias de, 195, 196. Guzmao, Alexandre de, 260. TNDEX. 487 HACKET, Thomas, 467. Hakluyt, Richard, 20, 21, 23, 24 25 47, 5i, 83, 89, 113, 124 128, 133, 134, 163, 167, 185 194, 210, 320, 333, 336, 337 338, 341-345, 347, 348, 349 35i, 352, 356, 357, 358, 361 367, 368, 37i, 373, 378, 390 396, 397, 440, 44i, 442, 443 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449 452, 453, 456, 463, 465, 466 unreliableness of the chronicles of, 23, 24 ; account of John Cabot's second expedition compared with that of Stow 131 ; on Sebastian Cabot's discoveries, 284-85, 321, 328 330, 335, 353, 354, 3555 reports the arrival of three Indians in London, 142, 143; compari- son of the date of Sebastian Cabot's third voyage with that of Stow, 142, 143, 147. Hale, E. E., 396. Halle or Hall, Edward, historian, ii, i8,339. Hanse, The, 334. Hansecresse, The, 41. Hardy, Sir Thomas, 452. Hardyng, John, historian, u, 468. Harford, Charles J., 375, 376. Harleyan Chart, 102, 107. Haro, Christoval de, 187, 248. Harpsfield, John, historian, u. Harvey, Rev. M., in. Haukshead, 359. Havre Catalan Atlas, 434. Henry IV. of England, 331. Henry VI., 331. Henry VII., i, 14, 15, 16, 22, 24, 28,30, 31, 32, 41,42,80, 115, 116, 123, 126, 128, 129, 132, 144, 158, 159, 331, 363, 376, 377, 383; letters patent of 1496 granted by, to John Cabot, 36, 43, 57, 60, 132, 133, 144, 1.45, 390 5 Court of, 45 ; posi- tions held by the Genoese in the Court of, 46 ; petition of John Cabot and his sons to, 47, 48, 132 ; ships equipped by, for a voyage of discovery, 50 ; projects of John Cabot submitted to, 57 ; rewards John Cabot, 58, 117; new letters patent granted by, 60, 144, 393 J caravels fitted by, 6 5> 395 ; first Transatlantic voyage carried out under the auspices of, 66; truce with James IV., 67 ; grants a pen- sion to John Cabot, 116, 126, 392, 394 5 grant of a licence to Sebastian Cabot by, 120; gratuity granted to John Cabot by, 126, 129, 130, 391 ; avari- ciousness of, 127 ; death of, 120, 121, 150, 151, 158, 166; difference of opinion as to the number of ships equipped by, for John Cabot's second ex- pedition, 130, 131, 133, 150; lends a sum of money to Thomas Bradley and Launce- lot Thirkill, 133, 394 ; other loans, 395, 397, 444, 445, 450, 463 ; repaid part of the money lent to Launcelot Thirkill, 135 ; pensions granted by, 147 ; Indians presented to, 142, 143; monopoly of trade granted to patentees by, 145 ; foreigners excluded from participating in the privileges granted by, 145; entries taken from the account of Privy Purse expenses of, 147. Henry VIII., 18, 21, 22, 25, 33, 34, 83, 124, 125, 159-63, 168, 170, 172, 173, 179, 361, 363, 378, 399 ; calls upon the Livery Companies of London to contribute towards the fitting of ships to be placed under the command of Sebastian Cabot, 1 1 8, 169; demands of, opposed by the Livery Companies of London, 118, 119, 169, 172 ; encourages the voyage of Master Hore, 123 ; at war with France, 123 ; desire of, to receive the title of "Most Christian King," 151 ; to send 6000 men to Aquitaine, 152 ; equipment of an expedition by, 156, 159, 488 INDEX. 161 ; vessels required by, for a maritime expedition, 169 ; Council of, 1 69 ; offers to equip vessels for voyage of dis- covery, 337 ; Cabot recom- mended to, 432. " Henry Grace a Dieu " or " Great Harry," the, 160. Henry of Valois, 366. Hepetin, Rio, 215. Herbert, William, 119, 152, 402. Hergenroether, Cardinal, 464. Hermoso, Golfo, 207. Hernanbuco. See Pernambuco. Hernandez, 196. Herrera, 72, 73, 81, 140, 153, 185, 186, 1 88, 190, 191, 194, 195, 196-99, 201, 202, 206, 215, 217, 218, 220, 230, 231, 252, 253, 270, 271, 272, 276, 340, 399, 409, 431, 435. Hesperides, 273. Heyd, 46. Hind, Professor, 54, 55; description of the north coast of Labrador, no. Hipihi, Rio, 216. Hoby, Sir Philip, 125, 281, 318, 321, 322, 448. Hogagon, Francisco, of Valde- porras, 193, 200, 231, 236, 257,311,413,414. Hojeda, Alonso de, 135, 138 ; sails with Juan de la Cosa for the New World, 82. Holbein, 374, 375, 376. Holinshed, Ralph, chronicler, 12, 13, 19, 20, 25, 119, 120,468. Holkham Library, 22. Holland's Heroologia Anglice, 378. Homem, Diogo, 88. Homo, Andreas, 88. Hondius, Jodocus, 284. Honguedo (Onguedo), 91, 92, 93. Hooper, Clement, 124, 364, 448, 452. Hore, Master, expedition of, 123, 340. Howard, Lord Edmund, 339. Howlet, John, 351, 357. Hozier, D', 382. Hudson River, 141. Hudson's Strait, 1 10 ; quantity of cod near the entrance of, 55. Humboldt, 82, 291, 292, 293. Hume, 117, 151, 369. Hungary, Lewis, King of, 319. Hungary, Mary, Queen of, 319, 432. Huray or Huruai River, Indian name for the La Plata, 411, 433- Hurtado, Lope, 408. Hurtado, Sebastian de, of Ecija, 195. Hussie, Anthony, 367, 371, 373. Hydrographical Bureau at Seville, 71, 78. Hydrography and Pilotage taught in Andalusia, 71. ICELAND, 40, 286, 288, 318, 319, 341, 466 ; governor of, killed by Englishmen, 40. Icelandic Sea, fish in the, 54. India, Columbus's supposed dis- covery of the coast of, 151. India, Rio de la, 207. Indian Seas, spices brought from the, 185 ; passage leading to the, 189. Indians (of North America) alleged to have been brought to Eng- land by Sebastian Cabot, 142-48. Indians (of South America), 409, 410, 411, 418, 420, 421, 422, 426, 427, 433 ; murder Juan Dias de Solis, 1 56 ; abducted by Sebastian Cabot, 223-24 ; burn property of the Spaniards, 221, 416 ; and mutilate the dead, 221 ; bought by Cabot, 421, 426. Indies, 66, 431 ; projected voyage to the, 154, 405, 406. Indies, Archives of the, 270, 407, 408, 415, 428, 429, 431. Ingram, Richard, 344. Invuctoke, in. Ipiti, 263. Irala, Domingo de, 253. Irausi, Fabian de, 194, 258. Ireland, 51, 52, 70, 109, 134, 286, 288, 468. INDEX. 489 Isabella, Queen of Portugal, 266 ; order of, to Fernando Columbus, 75. Isabella, Queen of Spain, date of death of, 121, 149. See Ferdi- nand and Isabella. Islario, Manuscript of Alonso de Santa Cruz, 80 ; text of, 409- .4 11 -. . Italian cities, trade of, in the East, 46. Italian cosmographers furnish data for making maps and charts, 73. Italian princes, Legations in London maintained by, 46. Italians, colony of, in London, 46. Italy, 9, 37, 43, 438 ; the receptacle of news of transatlantic dis- coveries, 46 ; sojourn of Charles V. in, 75 ; commerce carried on with Great Britain, 46. I wan Wasilejevitch, Tzar of Russia, 349, 356, 357, 362; Philip and Mary write to, 350. JACOME, Greek sailor on the " Capitana," 192. Jaen, Fernando de, 185. Jal, 344- Jalobert, brother-in-law to Jacques Cartier, 105. James I. of England, 20, 375. James IV. of Scotland, 15, 120 ; truce between Henry VII. and, 67. Janaez, Rio, 215. Jaquaron, an Indian chief, 216. Jaques, Christoval, 261, 423 ; island named after, 211. Jaqui. See St. Jacques, la ripuiere. Jay, John, junior, of Bristol, equip- ment of a ship at the cost of, 42, 59. Jenero, or Genero, Baya de, 207, 410. Jenkinson, Anthony, 347, 441. Joao II., King of Portugal, 15, 16, 219. Joao III., 296. John of Antwerp, 375. Jomard, 362, 447. Jordan, Rio, 260, 434. Juan, Master (de la Hinojosa), surgeon and alguazil of the ship "La Trinidad," 192, 200, 234, 235, 236, 245, 247, 250, 257, 311, 315, 413,414- Juan esteuez, island, 107. uana, Queen, 152. udd, Sir Andrew, 373. ulius II., Pope, 151, 464. unco, Juan de, treasurer of the ship " Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192, 198, 230, 231, 235, 242, 245, 247, 249, 251, 253, 254, 257, 264, 311, 413, 414, 415, 425 ; biographical data concerning, 198; Spanish text of his deposition at Cabot's trial, 415-17. Jurien de laGraviere. 5^Graviere. Justes, Juan de, 195. KABOTTO, John (John Cabot), i, 117,132,393. Kamn, Cape, 356, 358. Kara Strait, 358. Kelton, Arthur, u. Kemys, Arthure, 394, 398. Kerhallet, Philippe de, 316. Kholmogory, 358. Kidder, Mr., 53. Killingworth, George, 348, 349, 351,352,353,356,368. Kircher, Father Athanasius, 290. Klumpke, Miss Dorothea, 305. Knights of St. Mary of Jerusalem, 360. Kochhaff, Nathan (known as Chytraeus), 290, 330, 434, 436, 438, 439, 440, 442, 443, 444, 445, 447- Kohl, Johann G., 39, 42, 78, 82, 86, 94, 98, 163, 202, 260, 286 ; his remarks on Cabot's plani- sphere, 285, 287. Kolgujew Islands, 346. LABRADOR, 53, 54, 89, 91, 94, 98, 105, no, 114, 120, 122, 136, 140, 274, 275, 286, 339, 445 ; probable landfall of John Cabot in his first voyage, 69 ; position of, 79 ; discovery of, 490 INDEX. 79, 80, 83 ; description of the north coast of, no ; Cape of, 466. Labrosse, 316. Ladrillero, Juan Fernandez, 272. Laestadius, 348. Lane, Henry, 347, 348, 353, 354, 356, 368. Langley, Manor of, 147. Languedoc, 383, 384. Lanquet, Thomas, chronicler, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 27, 467. Lapland, 346-48, 352, 353, 354, 362. Lara, Nuno de, of Paraguay, 196, 213. La Rochelle visited by Senneterre, 105. Las Casas, 39, 434. Latimer, Henry, English pilot with Cabot, 194, 225, 257, 415, 416, 425. Leardo, Francisco> a Genoese, 185,415. Lee, Dr., ambassador of Henry VIII. in Spain, 166. Lemon, R., 350, 453. Leo X., Pope, 155,464- Leon, Antonio de, 437. Leon, Juan Ponce de, expedition of, 140. Leon, Luis de, sailor on the ship " Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192,242,246,251,258,413. Lepe, Francisco de, hung by order of Cabot, 216, 217, 251, 417, 418, 421, 426. Lepe, in Andalusia, 200. Lescarbot, 92. Lewis, King of Hungary, 319. Libri, 292. Libri della historia delle Indie occidental^ 77. Liguria, 9, 10. Lilly, George, n. Linage, Veitia, 71, 278. Lisboa, Joao de, 260. Lisbon, 42, 43, 408. Littre, 87. Livery Companies of London. See London. Livonia, 360. Lloyd, Humphrey, 442. Llyde (Lloyd), Thomas, 42, 43, 59. Loaysa, Garcia de, 188, 190, 210, 232, 241, 412, 421, 425. Lobos, Isla de, or Isla de las Palmas, 211, 222, 253, 254, 411,424,425. Lodi, 6, 389. Loffoden Isles, 345, 355. Logrono, 153. Lok, Michael, 339, 445. Lombard Street, 1 5 ; daily meeting- place of Italians, 46. London, 15, 17, 1 8, 19, 23, 24, 25, 42, 49*62, 119, 125, 144, 146, I48,i53,i59>i6i, 162,172-74, 353, 357, 358, 368, 370, 372, 373, 375, 379, 380, 389, 39' 394, 395, 396, 400, 402, 405, 440, 442, 446, 447, 448, 465, 467, 468, 469 ; savages from the New World in, 20, 21, 143, 144, 148 ; Ligurian merchants in, 23 ; the residence of Sebastian Cabot, 35 ; emi- gration of John Cabot and family to, 39 ; residence of numerous Genoese, 45 ; lega- tions in, maintained by Italian princes, the Republic of Venice, and by Spain, 46 ; return of John Cabot to, from his first voyage, 126 ; mer- chants of, 133 ; Lord Mayor of, commanded to make pre- parations for the Transat- lantic expedition, and sum- mons the Liveries of London to the Drapers' Hall, 170. Livery Companies of, re- quired to contribute towards the fitting of ships to be placed under the command of Sebastian Cabot, 33, 1 18, 169 ; distrust of Sebastian Cabot by the, n 8, 119, 163; opposed to the demands of Henry VIII., 169; accede to the request of Henry VIII. in part, 170 ; object to a foreigner taking command of the ex- pedition, 170, 172. Drapers' and Mercers' Com- pany of, object to Sebastian INDEX. 491 Cabot as commander of the expedition, 34 ; distrust of Sebastian Cabot by the, 118, 1 19 ; assume the leadership of the Liveries, 169 ; arguments of the, against the expediency of an expedition, 171, 172 ; report drawn up by the war- dens of the, 169. Londono, 14. Longworth, Thomas, 458. Lope or Lopez, Franciscus. See Gomara. Lopez, Pero, 434. Lorenzo, Giacomo, Venetian am- bassador in England, 325. Louis XII., League against, 152. Lovell, Sir Thomas, steward and marshal of the house of Henry VIII., 173 ; death of, 172. Lowndes, 333. Luco, Diaz de, 266. Ludovic the Moor, 15. Ludovico, Mr., nephew of Tos- canelli, 44. Lugo, Bishop of, 276, 294. Luintianilla, Diego de, priest, 252. MACHYN, Henry, Diary of, 160, 367, 373- MacPherson's Annals of Com- merce, 360. Madre de Dios, Gaspard de, 259. Madrid, 190, 200, 430 ; Exposition Americanista at, 413, 429 ; King's Library at, 437; Biblio- teca National at, 456. Mafra, Joao Rodriguez de, 88. Mafra, , second mate of the ship " La Trinidad," 192. Magdalen Islands, 89, 90-92, 97, 101-4. Magdalena, Rio de la, 206. Magellan, the navigator, 177, 185, 188, 198, 229, 231. Magellan's expedition, 182, 187, 197 ; pilots in, 88. Magellan, Strait of, 140, 189, 190, 201, 231, 238, 255, 274, 287, 3U, 313, 3i5>409, 4io. Maggiolo, Vesconte de, 83, 100, 107, 1 88, 434 ; map made by, 79- Magnusen, Finn, 39. Major, Henry, 61. Malacos, Islas de los. See Moluc- cas. Malaver, Gomez, 193, 249, 250, 257. Maldonado, , alguazil of the ship "Capitana," 192. Maldonado, Diego, 279. Maldonado, Francisco, 194, 199. Malines, Great Council of, 437. Mallo, Fernan, 426. Malvias, Islas de las, 409. Malynes, Gerard de, 342. Manacapana, Province of, 274. Manfredo, ambassador at Florence, 44. Manrique, Garcia Fernandez, Count Osorno, 266. Mantua, 465. Mantuan Gentleman, The, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 281, 282, 440, 463, 465 ; account of John Cabot's first expedition given by, 49, 50 ; conversation with Sebastian Cabot, 65 ; positive date of the granting of the first letters patent to John Cabot, 66. Manuel, Nuno, 259. Marcello, Nicolao, Doge of Venice, 388. Marciana Library at Venice, 391. Marcos (Marco) of Venice, 194,258. " Maria de Loreta," a ship, 339. Marino, Hieronimo de, letter to Cabot, 1 8 1, 404. See Busig- nolo. Markham, Clements R., 173, 334, 445- Marshe, Thomas, 17, 18. Martin of Biscay executed by Cabot's order, 251, 418. Martinez, Diego, apothecary, 193. Martinez, Miguel, of Azcutia, 193. Martyr, Peter. See Anghiera. 'Mary of Austria, 319. Mary Tudor, Queen of England, 1 8, 366, 368, 374, 378, 453, 454 ; grants pension to Seb- astian Cabot, 358, 371, 454; Emperor writes to, 364, 452. Mary, Queen of Hungary, 432. Mary of Guilford," the, 339, 340. 492 INDEX. " Mary Rose," the, 160, 161. " Matthew," the, 50, 51. Mecca, voyage of John Cabot to, 38. Medina, Bartolomd Saez de, 193. Medina, Juan de, 194. Medina, Pedro de, 280, 291, 320. Medina del Campo, 1 54, 267, 268 ; judicial sentences dated at, 414,415- Mediterranean, 286, 293. Medrano, Catalina, wife of Sebas- tian Cabot, 264, 379, 406. Meerman, Gerard, 202. Melo, Jorge de, 248. Mendez, Fernando or Hernan, 194, 198, 244, 249, 250, 264, 380, 419, 429. Mendez, Isabel, 267, 414 ; writ against Cabot, 413. Mendez, Martin, lieutenant-gene- ral of the ship " Capitana," 183, 192, 198, 219, 229, 232, 233, 241, 242, 243, 244, 246, 249, 250, 264, 265, 268, 380, 412, 419, 424, 429 ; biogra- phical data concerning, 197 ; arrested and confined on board ship, 204, 205, 209, 210, 418, 420 ; left by Cabot in the Puerto de los Patos, 416, 418, 420, 424 ; swamped at sea, 250, 417. Mendoga, Lope Hurtado de, 219. Mendoza, Antonio de, 253. Mendoza, Gongalo de, 257. Mendoza, Pedro de, 196, 252, 253, 258, 270, 271 ; services ren- dered to, by Romero, 199. Menestrier, Father, 377. Merchant Adventurers of England, Company of, 330, 331, 333, 334, 335, 342, 343, 35, 35*, 355, 36o, 37i, 375, 442; Se- bastian Cabot governor of the, 452 ; Philip and Mary incorporate the, 453. See Muscovy Company. Meryk, Richard, 394, 398. Meta Incognita, country so-called, 339- Meteren, Emmanuel, 446* Mexia, 280. Mexico, Gulf of, 139, 141, 274, 287. Michael, the Genoese, 249. Michiel, Giovanni, Venetian am- bassador in England, 347-48, 351,360,466. Middlesex, 172. Middleton, Henry, 468. Miguel, Juan, caterer of the ship " Capitana," 192, 240. Milan, 6, 388, 392. Milan, Duke of, 15, 391, 392 ; despatch to, 43, 49, 58. Milanese ambassador, John Cabot's conversation with the, 54. Milton, 347, 353 ; his History of Muscovy ', 354. Mines of gold and silver said to be at La Plata, 422. " Minion," the, 340. Miranda, Lucia de, 195. Mississippi, 139. Mitchell, Henry, 53. Mocenigo, Giovanni, Doge of Venice, 6, 388, 389. Mocenigo, Pietro, Doge, 388. Moguer, 248. Mohacz, Battle of, 319. Moluccas, The, 76, 173, 182, 185, 188, 197, 205, 228, 231, 236, 237, 241, 242, 254, 264, 271, 311,406,410,413,414; expedi- tion to, 185-200 ; Magellan's route to, 185. Molyneux map of the world, 445. Mondejar, Marquis de, 301. Monson, Sir William, 338. Montes, Enriques or Henrique 210, 223, 239, 421, 423, 424. Montoya, Alonso de, 231, 258. Montoya, Antonio de, purser of the ship " La Trinidad," 192, 199, 217, 222, 230, 235, 237, 241, 245, 247, 253, 254, 257, 311, 413, 414, 416, 419, 420, 421, 423, 424, 425, 426. Montoya, Gaspar de, 247, 265. Montreal, 92, 105. Mont Royal, name given by Jacques Cartier to a locality on the River St. Lawrence, 91. Moraena, a species of fish, 288. Morales, Andres de, 155. INDEX. 493 Morales, Camacho de, 193, 244, 410, 419. Morales, Dr., 244, 419. Morocco, place of Cabot's exile, 268. Morton, John, Archbishop of Canterbury, 392. Moscow, 353, 356, 362. Mosquera, Ruy Garcia de, 195, 259. Mozambique, 284. Muiioz, 276 ; MSS. of, 74, 76, 156, 187, 198. Munster, Sebastian, Cosmograpkia by, 159. Muratori, 9. Murphy, Henry C., 79. Muscovy Company, The, 31, 320, 337, 350, 356, 361, 362, 367, 37 1> 375- See Merchant Ad- venturers. Mychell, Rev. William, legacy to Cabot's daughter, 161, 380, 402. Mydelton, Thomas, 395. NARVAEZ, Pamphilo de, 139. Nash, Prof. B. H., 392. Navagero, Andrea, 35, 185, 405, 407 ; successor to Contarini, 35- Navarrete, 71, 72, 73, 76, 83, 136, 140, 153, 182, 183, 184, 189, 197, 198, 199, 210, 240, 255, 264, 267, 271, 272, 276, 277, 278, 280, 292, 294, 295, 297, 379, 401, 402, 408, 412, 434. Navarro, Gines, 340. Negro, Bautista de, 241. Negro, Rio, 213. Negron, Bautista de, cockswain of the ship "La Trinidad," 192, 198. Nepeja, Ossip Gregorjevitsch, 357. Netherlands, 61, 112. Newberie, Ralphe, 469. New Brunswick, 89, 90, 103, 104, 106. New England, coast north of, 55. Newfoundland, 88, 89, 90-92, 95, 99, loo, 102, 105, 1 1 1, 1 17, 1 19, 136, 147, 171, 274, 279, 286, 287, 339, 340, 376, 440 ; navi- gation round, 64 ; quantity of cod off the coast of, 55 ; Portu- guese, the most reliable pilots for, 87, 88 ; shown as an in- tegral part of the Continent, 88 ; represented as an archi- pelago, 94, in ; discovery of the banks of, 87 ; the fisheries, 86, 87. See Baccalaos. New World, the, 71 ; expedition to, 33 ; date of Cabot's sight- ing, 63 ; maps of, 73, 74, 189 ; discoveries made in the northern regions of the, 78. New York, 286. Nichols, J. G., 322, 332, 334, 367, 373, 449- Nicholson, William, 16. Nicolao of Naples, boatswain, 193, 425. Nicolas, N. Harris, 58, 147, 391, 394, 395, 398. Nino, Andres Garcia, 401 ; appoint- ment of, 154. Niza, Pedro de, 241, 249, 413. Noel, nephew of Jacques Cartier, 105. Nordenskiold, 345, 347. Normandy, 122, 382 ; fishermen of, frequent the Newfoundland fishing-grounds, 87. Noronha, Hernando de, 409 ; island named after, 204. North or Nord Cape (Is. of Cape Breton), 97, 98, 99. North Cape (Norway), 346, 355. North-East Passage, 338, 343, 352. North Pole, the, 83. North- West Passage, reported ex- pedition to, 155 ; expedition in search of, 161, 162, 340; infor- mation relative to a, 171. Northumberland, Duke of, 158, 365, 366. Northumberland, Strait of, 103, 104. Norway, 354, 355, 357. Novaia Zemlia, 358. Novara, 6, 388. Nova Scotia, 53, 69, 86, 103, 106, 140, 286. Nunez, Gonc,alo, treasurer, 423. Nunez, Pedro, 291. Nuremberger, Casimir, or of Nu- 494 INDEX. remberg, 251, 257, 264, 415; Spanish text of his deposi- tion, 417-19. Nyngatues, the region called, 215. OCANA, 265, 272, 413. Old Harry Point, Coffin Island, 97- Onguedo. See Honguedo. Ophir, 191, 201, 433. Oppenheim, M., 126, 363,394, 398, 452. Orontius, 305. Orozco, a Basque, carpenter, 193, 216. Ortelius, 441, 442, 446. Osma, Bishop d', sends letter- missive to Cabot, 422. Osorno, Count, 266. Ostras, Rio de las, 206. Osuna, Gongalo Nunez d', 419. Ovando, Juan de, 282, 283. Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernandez de, historian, 140, 193-196, 198, 199, 206, 211, 212, 213, 216, 217, 220, 228, 247, 248, 251, 252, 253, 256, 271, 274, 279, 290, 291, 294, 319, 411, 462; personally acquainted with Sebastian Cabot, 33 ; his de- scription of Alonso de Chaves' chart, 75, 85, 86; Historio- grapher Royal for the Indies, 201-6 ; preamble to his de- scription of the voyage to La Plata, 203. Oviedo, Mendo Rodriguez de, 195. Oxford, 1 6, 1 8, 374, 438, 439, 440. Oystryge, Henry, 321, 448. PACIFIC Coast of South America, exploration of the, 189, 190. Pacific Ocean, 255 ; discovered by Balboa, 198. Padoua, 7. Padron General, charges made against the, 74. Padron Real, official pattern of sailing-charts, 72 ; Cabot has charge of, 81 ; revisions to be made in the, 72, 75, 76; of Chaves, 202. Padua, 7. Palencia, Bishop of, 152. Palma, one of the Canary Islands, Cabot's squadron stops at, 203, 417 ; and leaves four men at, 197, 203 ; Rojas demands statement from Cabot at, 233 ; meetings of the officers at, 204, 240, 244, 420 ; Rojas' con- fession to a friar at, 243, 419 ; change of route on leaving, Palma, Lorenzo de la, 194 ; whipped, 217. Palmas, Isla de las (or Isla de Lobos), 211. Palmero, Melchor, testimony of, 252. Panama, 190 ; isthmus of, 198. Panti, Zacharia de, of Lodi, 389. Par, Thomas, 395. Paraguay, River, 196, 202, 216, 217, 219, 246, 248, 254, 262, 263, 270, 287, 312, 422, 423. Parana, River, 239, 250, 254, 260, 261, 262, 287, 411, 422, 423, 430, 433, 434. Parandguazu, River, 213, 214, 215, 219, 262. Pargos, Baxos de los, 207. Paria, Gulf of, 135 ; province of, 274. Paris National Library, 94, 285, 438, 447, 466. Paris, Rio de. See Barcques, ripuiere de. Parvus. See Rosefantanus. Pasages, Lord Willoughby de Broke lands at, 152, 399. Pasini, Luigi, 348, 351. Pasqualigo, Lorenzo, I, 23, 27, 52, 79, 99, 1 10, 117, 1 1 8, 126, 127, !3o, 132, 380, 391 ; writes of John Cabot's return, 48, 49, 51, 58 ; statements of, 50, 51, 63 ; witnesses the return of Sebastian Cabot after his first expedition, 116. Pasqualigo, Alvise and Francesco, brothers of Lorenzo, 49. Patimer, Henry. See Latimer. Patos, Isla de, does not exist, 249. INDEX. 495 Patos, Los, country so-called, 208, 411. Patos or Los Patos, Puerto de, 257,418, 421 ; Cabot's officers abandoned at, 416, 418, 420, 424. Patos, Rio de los, 222. Patos or Los Patos, Bay, 225, 240. Pavia, 389. Peckham, Sir Edmund, treasurer, 320, 448. Pedro, Master, surgeon, 193. Pelestrina, 9. Penafiel, 193. Pefialosa, Pedro Mercado de, 266. Peraga, , 193, 245. Pergamo, 388. Pernambuco, 204-6, 236, 237, 238, 244, 245, 317, 411, 413, 416, 417, 419. Pernambuco, Baya de, 204. Perrenot, Antoine, Bishop of Arras, 321- Pert (or Spert), Sir Thomas, ex- pedition of, to discover the north - west passage to America, 159-62; cowardice of, 159-61, 337; yeoman of the Crown, 160 ; engaged in ballasting the " Mary Rose," 161. Peru, 200, 239, 254, 270, 365 ; riches brought from, 159 ; Cabot in search of, 215. Perularia, 159. Pesaro, 388. Peschel, Oscar, 140. Petchora, River, 358. Petit, Pierre, 383, 384. Pettislego Bay, 357. Philip II. of Spain, 199, 368, 369, 370, 37i, 374- Philip and Mary, 454, 456 ; write to the Tzar, 350 ; incorporate the Company of Merchant Adventurers, 453. "Philip and Mary/' the, ship of the Muscovy Company, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 357, 358. Piedras, Rio de las, 204. Pietro of Nice, 258. Pigafetta, 434. Pilot- Major of Spain, office and duties of, 72, 277-78 ; selling of maps by the, 73 ; Cabot holds the office of, 320, 321, 328, 364. Pilotage and Hydrography taught in Andalusia, 71. Pilots (of Spain), 72; Cabot as examiner of, 431. Pineda, Alonso Alvarez, 139. Pinzon, Vincente Yanez, Royal Pilot, 72, 1 88. Pires, Eduardo, 259. Pittsburg, 376. Pizarro, Hernando, 200, 239. Plata, Rio de la, 76, 156, 195, 196, 198, 202, 203, 208, 209, 211, 212, 213, 227, 237, 238, 239, 242, 247, 248, 250, 252, 253, 254, 256, 259, 260, 261, 262, 270, 271, 272, 330, 379, 408, 409, 410,411, 413, 414, 43, 433, 434, 435, 4^3 ; discovery of the little islands in the estuary of, 199 ; Sebastian Cabot's voyage to, 201 - 26 ; mineral wealth of, 205 ; Cabot returns from, 276 ; Cabot sails up, 285 ; inaccur- ately shown on map, 286, 287, 288 ; voyage of Garcia to, 312 ; legend relative to, on Cabot's map, 433, 434, 436, 446, 463 ; text of legend, 433. See Solis, Rio de. Playa, Golfo de la, 206. Plazel, Punta del, 409. Pliny, 439. Poblado, Rio, 211, 215. Poland, 438. Ponce, Antonio, a Catalonian clerk, J 93, 257 ; keeper of the pro- perty of the deceased in Cabot's squadron, 420, 426. Ponce, Vargas, 276. Pope, The, 14, 1 6. Porta, Giambattista della, 298. Porto Maurizio, 9. Portsmouth, 161, 162 ; John Rut sails from, 81, 82. . Portugal, 1 6, 43 83, 86, 122, 236, 259, 396 ; visit of John Cabot to, 38 ; new lands acquired by, 45 ; fishermen of, frequent the 496 INDEX. Newfoundland fishing-ground, 87 ; direction of the Line of Demarcation between Spain and, 155; fortresses and fleets of, to prevent Venetian trade, 179 ; negotiations of, with Spain, relative to the Molucca Islands, 182 ; fails to come to an understanding with Spain respecting the partition line in the Moluccas, 183. Portugal, King of, 423, 427 ; ex- pected to oppose an expedition from Venice, 179; his agent at Pernambuco, 417. Portuguese, The, the most reliable pilots for Newfoundland, 87, 88 ; value of the geographical information possessed by, relative to the north-east coast of America, 88; detain Martin Mendez at Cape Verde, 197. cosmographers furnish data for making maps and charts, 73- Potomac River, 141. Prato, Albertus de, 82, 339, 340. Price, Edward, 356. Primero, Rio, 206. Prince Edward Island, 70, 89, 90, 92, 98-101, 102, 103, 104, 105 ; discovery of, as an island, 101; mistaken for Continental terri- tory, 103, 104. Privy Council, The, 28, 449. Ptolemy, mentioned in a legend on Cabot's planisphere, 304, 35, 39, 435 ; and in Cabot's method for taking the longi- tude, 455, 456. Public Record Office, London, 389, 390, 392, 393, 394, 449- Puebla, Ruy Gonzales de, Doctor of Law and Spanish ambas- sador to England, 10, u, 13, 14, 15, 42, 57, 127, 130, 132, 134, 138, 39, 395 ; character of, 14, 15. Puercos, Isla de los, 207. Puerto, Francisco del, 260 ; tells Cabot of the richness of the La Plata, 422 ; island named after him, 213. Puerto de Don Rodrigo de Acuna, 210. Puerto de la Barca, 208. Puerto Real, Rio de, 206. Punta Segura, 206. Purchas, Samuel, 82, 160, 338, 339, 340, 347, 374, 375, 442, 445, 446, 448. Purchas, William, mayor of London, 113, 134, 143, 146. Pynson and Rastell, publishers, 22. RACE, Cape, 92, 339, 340. Rafaele, son of Antonio de Ardiconibus, 389. Rafn, statement of, concerning John Cabot, 40. Ragusa, Marin de Busignolo a native of, 175. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 378. Ramirez, Luis, 193, 195, 200, 201, 204, 205, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 238, 239, 248, 317, 407, 434. Ramirez, Melchior, 239. Ramirez of Lepe, 210. Ramon, Juan Alvarez, 195, 212. Ramusio, Gio-Battista, secretary to the Council of Ten, and historian, 24, 39, 45, 66, 77, 92, 116, 157, 276, 281, 282- 291, 325, 326, 358, 440, 445, 461, 463, 464, 465, 468 ; re- ference of, to Sebastian Cabot, 35, 36 ; account of John Cabot's first expedition given to, 49 ; account of the first voyage of discovery by, 65 ; extract from the third volume of his Collection of Voyages, 157 ; statements of, 157-59, 161, 163, 165. Rastell, publisher, 22 . Ratcliffe, 81. Ravenna, 7. Rawle, 375. Red Sea, 179, 180. Reinel, Pedro, 107. Reinels, the, 73, 88. Rembielinski, E., 362, 447. Reparo, Isla del, 210, 211, 411. Resolution Island, 110. INDEX. 497 Reyes, Baya de los, 207, 410. Rhode Island, 286. Ribas, Caspar de, chief alguazil of the ship "La Trinidad," 192, 210, 242. Ribeiro, Diego, 79, 88, 139, 183, 206, 215, 262, 271, 279, 286, 409 ; planisphere of, 202 ; commissioned to construct a sailing-chart, 74; date of death of, 76 ; asserts that the northern regions were first seen by mariners from Bristol, 82, 83 ; entrusted with the making of nautical instru- ments, 83 ; colleague of Se- bastian Cabot at the Council of Badajoz, 83, 84 ; furnishes the Council of Badajoz with information concerning the northern latitudes, 84 ; inscrip- tion on his map, 214. Richard III., 22. Rifos, Miguel, 191, 214, 215, 217, 218, 232, 233, 237, 264, 423. Rio de Janeiro, 250, 428. Rivera, Francisco de, 195. Roberval, 105, 123. Robins, John, pilot, 351. Rodas, Isabel de, suit against Cabot, 265, 412, 414. Rodas, Miguel de, pilot of the ship " Capitana," 192, 197, 198, 219, 234, 243, 244, 265, 412, 414, 419, 424 ; abandoned by Cabot, 249, 250, 416, 418, 420, 424. Rodas (Galicia), 198. Rodriguez, Fernando, of Penafiel, 193, 258. Roffet, 92. Rojas, Francisco de, captain of the ship " La Trinidad," 192, 194, 200, 203, 209, 210, 219, 224, 225, 233, 237, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 248, 257, 258, 265, 266, 267, 268, 413, 414, 429 ; commissioned by the Crown to collect colonists in Spain for the West Indies, 197; arrested and confined on board ship, 204, 205, 418, 420 ; released from his imprison- ment, 205 ; confession to a friar at La Palma, 243, 419 ; abandoned by Cabot, 249, 250, 416, 418, 420, 424 ; saved (by a brigantine of Diego Garcia), 250, 417, 424 ; requisi- tion or summons from Cabot to, 412 ; trial, 413. Romanin, 2, 388. Romero, Gonzalo, 193; abandoned by Cabot at La Plata, 199. Rose, Jehan. See Rotz. Rosefontanus, P. Parvus, 41. Rostock, University of, 439. Rotz (Jehan Rose), 101, 106. Rouen, Isle of, 382. Roxas. See Rojas. Rueda, Martin de, joins Cabot's expedition, 194. Ruge, Dr. Sophus, 94. Rundall, Thomas, 347. Russia, Tzar of, 350, 353, 356, 357, 362, 367. See Iwan. Rut, John, of Ratcliff, 81, 338, 339> 340. Ruysch, 291. Rymer's Feeder a^ I, 28, 31, 32, 46, 47, 145, 152, 321, 336, 358, 369,370, 37i, 378, 390. 399, 449,454, 459. SAA, Jacobo de, 291. Saavedra, Alvaro de, 190, 407. Sable, Cape, 140. Saddler, Robert, 380. Saguenay, La riuiere de, 91, 92, 93> 105. Sainsbury, W. N., 452. St. Augustin, Cape, 155, 205, 233, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 317, 401, 417. St. Bartholomew by the Royal Exchange, London, 380. Sainte Croix, 105. Sainct Jacques, La ripuiere, 93. St. John, John Rut casts anchor in, 339- St. John or San Juan Island, 94, 102, 107, 108, 443, 4445 naming and discovery of, 57, 1 06 ; Sebastian Cabot asserts that he discovered and named, 97 ; discovery of, by Seb- 2 I 498 INDEX. astian Cabot an impossibility, 97, 98, 99J an imaginary configuration borrowed by Sebastian Cabot from a French map, 100 ; said to be dis- covered on St. John's day, 106-7. Sainct Laurens, La baye, named by Jacques Cartier, 91, 92, 93- St. Lawrence, Gulf of, 69, 80, 85, 86, 90-92, 95, 97, 100-2, 106, 108, 114, 122, 123 ; navigation in the, 64 ; inaccurate repre- sentation of the, 88 ; few geographical data relative to the, known before Cartier's voyages, 100; description of the locality round, 123. St. Lawrence River, 91, 92, 95, 105. Sainct Limaire, Bay of, or St. Leonarius, 104. St. Malo, 88, 89, 91, 92, 185. St. Mark, Privilege of sailing under the flag of, 5. St. Nicholas Bay. See White Sea. St. Paul, Islet of, 97. St. Paul-la-Coste, 383, 384. St. Pierre Lake, 93, 94, 95. St. Roque, Cape, 313, 314. Salamanca, Alonso de, 248. Salamanca, Bishop of, 199. Salaya, Dr. Sancho, 183, 413. Salazar, Dr., 183. Sallynas (Salinas), 93. Salmedina, 310, 435. Saluayos. See Sauuaiges, Le cap dez. Samano, Juan de, 271, 282, 293 ; text of Cabot's letter to, 429- 30- Sam Joam or Joha, Isle of. See St. John. " Samson," The, 339: Sanderson, William, 354. Sandi, Vettor, 2, 3, 4, 8. Sandwich Bay, no, in. Sanct Agostin, Rio de, 206. Sant Alexo, Rio de, 205. Sanct Christoval, Rio de, 206, 260. Santo Domingo, 198, 462. Santo Francesco, Church of, 464. Sanct Francisco, Baya de, 410. San Francisco, Convent of, 243. Sanct Francisco, Rio de, 206, 208. Sanct Gabriel, Isla de, 212, 252, 419. Sanct Gregorio, Rio de, 206. Sanct Hieronimo, Rio de, 206. Santiago, Island of, 155. Sant Joan. See St. John. Sanct Johan, Rio de, 206. Sanct Jorge, Rio de, 206. San Juan Island. See St. John. Sanct Lazaro, 212-13, 2I 4- San Lucar de Barrameda, 76, 201, 202, 203, 252, 310, 417, 435. San Martin, Andres de, appoint- ment of, 154, 401. Sanct Matheo, Rio de, 206. San Michele, Michele da, 463. San Pablo, Monastery 0^243,419. Sanct Pedro, Cabo de, 207. Sanct Roque, Rio de, 206. Sanct Salvador, A fort erected by Cabot, 213, 219, 220, 221, 416, 424, 425; legal processes dated at, 4 1 2. Sanct Salvador, Rio (Baya?) de, 207. San Salvador, Rio de, 212. San Sebastian, 152. Sanct Sebastian, Puerto de, 208, 222, 223. San Sebastian, Rio de, 258. Sancti Spiritus fort, 214, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 246, 251. Santi Spiritus, Rio de, 274. Sanct Thome, Cabo de, 207. San Vicente, Cabo de, 309,416, 435. San Vincente, Puerto de, 208, 223, 224, 241, 248, 250, 256, 257, 258, 410, 418, 421, 424, 426; requisition or summons dated at, against Rojas, 412; Indians bought by Cabot at, 225, 421, 426. Santa Anna (or Ana), Bay of, 216, 217, 262, 263. Sancta Ana, Rio de, 206. Sancta Barbara, Isla de, 207, 410. Sancta Barbara, Rio de, 207, 212. Santa Catalina, Island of, 209, 211. 212, 223, 224, 231, 234, 238, INDEX. 242, 243, 244, 249, 250, 251, 410, 411, 423, 424, 426. Santa Cruz, Alonso de, 201-4, 206-8, 210, 211, 213, 220, 226, 228, 241, 244, 245, 247, 249, 253, 257, 263, 264, 269, 274, 275, 279, 294, 295, 301, 302, 305, 306, 320, 328, 409, 415, 419, 425, 456, 462; office held by, 80 ; manuscript of, 80 ; supercargo on the ship " La Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192 ; biographical data con- cerning, 199 ; his Islario, 194, 195, 209, 228 ; text of his deposition, 419-22. Santa Cruz, Francisco de, 185, 199,269,415,419. Sancta Elena, Rio de, 206. Sancta Lucia, Baya de, 207. Santa Maria, Cape, 211, 222, 225, 253, 257, 258, 411, 419, 420, 421, 425. Santa Maria, Puerto de, 61, 82, 112,436,437. Santa Maria, Province of, 274. Santa Maria, Rio de, name for the La Plata, 434. " Santa Maria del Espinar," The, one of Cabot's squadron, 192, 204, 205, 213, 222, 224, 226, 240, 242, 244, 248, 250, 264, 312, 415, 418; judicial inquiry held on, 412, 415. Sanuto, Livio, 281, 284, 289, 290, 291-293, 294, 298, 465. Sanuto, Marin, 391, 406, 464. Sauuaiges, Le cap dez, 90, 93. Savona, 9, 23. Schafer, Dietrich, 41. Scheyfve, Jean, ambassador in England, 284. Schiller and Lubbler's Mittel Deutsches Worterbuch^ 86. Schmidel, Ulrich, 252, 253. Scotland, 15, 67, 286, 375, 468. Sea, Ares de, 279. " Searchthrift," the, one of the Muscovy Company's ships, 354, 355> 358. Segovia, legal process dated at, 415. Segundo, Rio, 206. Sejournant, de, 60. Selden's Titles of Honour > 377. Sellius, 54. Senien Islands, 346. Senneterre, sent to La Rochelle by Roberval, 105. Seres, or Ceres, William, 17, 18. Serrano, Juan, 154, 401. Seven Cities, The, 1 1 ; expedition to search for, 42, 43, 59; alleged discovery of, 126. Seville, 42, 43, 63, 65, 75, 80, 83, 139, 153, i59> 162, 1 66, 168, 175, 179, 181, 185, 189, 196, 198, 199, 201, 225, 254, 256, 257, 258, 264, 271, 272, 273, 295 ? 303, 304, 305> 374, 379, 380, 400, 407, 408, 415, 419, 428, 429, 431, 447, 455; Casa de Contratacion created at, 71 ; Hydrographical Bureau at, 71 ; maps designed in, 76 ; cartographers of, obtain their information from Sebastian Cabot, 8 1, 83, 84 ; carto- graphers of, have no geogra- phical knowledge of the northern regions of the New World, 86; residence of Sebastian Cabot, 124, 276, 319 ; behaviour of the Com- pany of Merchants at, 190 ; arrival of Charles V. at, 201 ; Junta of pilots at, 294 ; an apothecary of, 296 ; fleet in preparation at, 405, 406 ; legal processes dated at, 412, 414 ; judicial inquiry held at, 415 ; letter dated from, 430. Seville associates, 219, 220, 225, 229,232,258,269. Sevillian maps, cause of the dis- crepancies between the Cabot planisphere and the, 85 ; configurations of N. America in the, 78, 274. Sevillian merchants form a com- pany to go in quest of the Spice islands, 185. Seyer, 375. Sforzas, Archives of the, 391. Shetland Islands, 286. Sidney, Sir Philip, 124, 285, 445, 500 INDEX. Simancas, Archives of, 270, 374, 390, 395, 40i, 453- Sin Fondo, Rio, 208. Slaves bought by Cabot in Brazil, 418, 421, 426. Smith, Miss Toulmin, 119. Solayret, Guillaume, 384. Solinus, an historical cosmo- grapher, 273. Solis, Juan Diaz de, Royal Pilot and navigator, 72, 73, 81, 183, 210, 212, 213, 214, 237, 250, 259, 261, 434, 435 ; monopoly of the sale of maps enjoyed by, 74 ; appointment of, as Pilot-Major, 154; death of, 156 ; voyage of, 188, 189 ; in- struction given to, 189 ; lost at the Rio de la Plata, 410 ; some of his men found by Cabot, 418; killed by Indians, 422 ; his discovery of the La Plata and his fate, 433. Solis, Rio de, 189, 205, 237, 238, 252, 418, 420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 426. See Plata, Rio de la. Soncino, Raimondo di, ambas- sador of Ludovic the Moor, i, 10, 15, 38, 45, 99, 1 10, 127, 130, 132, 136, 138, 391, 392 ; despatch from, concerning John Cabot's expedition, 39, 43,49, 5i, 55, 58; statements of, concerning John Cabot's expedition, 50, 51 ; witnesses the return of Sebastian Cabot after his first expedition, 116 ; plans of John Cabot's second voyage explained to, 132, 136. Soranzo, Giacomo, ambassador of the Republic to England, 35, 324, 326,381,451,466. Soto, Hernandez de, 248. Sousa, Lopez de, 257, 260. Southampton, 152. South Sea, 252, 255. Spain, 15, 33, 43, 48, 64, 82, 83, 86,96, 112, 149, 154, 156, 162, 166, 168, 172, 174, 190, 196, 197, 198, 200, 203, 363, 366, 371, 376, 400, 402, 408, 409, 43i, 435, 44i, 448, 463, 464 5 visit of John Cabot to, 38 ; new lands acquired by, 45 ; legations in London main- tained by, 46 ; maps current in, 73; Sebastian Cabot's first visit to, 8 1 ; Sebastian Cabot seeks employment in, 1 19, 120; direction of the Line of De- marcation between Portugal and, 155 ; negotiations of, with Portugal, relative to the Molucca Islands, 182 ; care- lessly represented on Cabot's map, 286 ; Cabot to return to, 364, 365; Court of, 154, 171, 175 ; Sebastian Cabot sum- moned to the Court of, 153 ; Imperial Treasury of, pro- vides funds for an expedition, 1 86 ; Queen of, 428, 429. Spaniards,The, deny that Sebastian Cabot was the first finder of the land of the Bacallaos, 1 18 ; route to the Spice islands dis- covered by, 177 ; their know- ledge of S. America, 188. Spanish charts, defective char- acter of the, 86. Spanish Western division as marked by the Demarcation Line, 182. Speer, Cape, 339. Spelman, 377, 378. Spert, Sir Thomas. See Pert, Sir Thomas. Spice Islands, 265, 341 ; route leading to the, 177. See Moluccas. Spice trade, Sebastian Cabot to be interviewed on matters connected with the, 1 76. Spices brought from the Indian Seas, 185. Spinola, Agostino, 16. Spinola, Antonio, 16. Spinola, Benedetto, 16. Spinola, Francesco, 16. S. quenain, Rio de. See Saguenay, ripuiere de. Stadacone, 93. Stafford, John, 344. Stanley, H. M., 96. Steel- Yard, The, 330, 333, 334. INDEX. 501 Stefano, M., the son of Aurifici, 389- Stephano, 389. Stevens, B. F., 274. Stow, John, 20-26, 128, 133, 396, 397, 469; annals of, 13 ; life of, 19, 20 ; services of, acknow- ledged and rewarded, 20 ; death of, 20 ; instances given of his aquaintance with Seb- astian Cabot, 20, 21 ; declara- tion as to the nationality of Sebastian Cabot, .21, 22 ; account of John Cabot's second expedition compared with that of Hakluyt, 131 ; comparison of the date of Sebastian Cabot's third voyage with that of Hakluyt, 142, 143, 147, 148. Stratchey, William, assertion of, 41. Strikland, Walter, 395. Strype, 322, 323, 324, 329, 332, 333,337,343,448,451. Sturgeon, John, 335. Suarez de Carvajal. See Carvajal. Suchona, The, river, 356. Switzerland, 438. Sydney region, 107. TABIA, Zoane Battista de, 16. Taisnier, Jean, 19, 372. Talamanco, 199. Tabot (Cabot), Sebastian, 399. Talbot, Zuam (John Cabot), 132. Tamayo y Baus, D. Manuel, 456. Tarducci, Signer, 429. Tarragona, Simon, 183. Tarsis or Tharsis, 191, 201, 433. Techo, Father Nicolao del, 196. Teneriffe, 435. Tentori, Cristoforo, 2, 3, 4, 8. Ternaux, 201. Thames, River, 161. Thevet, Andre, 466, 467. Thiennot, Cap de, named by Jacques Carrier on his first voyage, 89, 90, 91, 93. Thirkill, Launcelot, 134 ; loan from the King to, 133, 394 ; repays the loan he borrowed of the King, 135. Thirkill, Thomas, 395. Thomas, John, of Bristol, letters patent granted to, 31, 144, 146, 147, 336, 398. Thomassy, 79. Thorne, Nicholas, expedition undertaken by, 167. Thorne, Robert, merchant in Seville, 83, 166, 167, 185, 194, 220, 338. Thule, expedition to, 39. Tibiquari, Rio, 211. Tidor, 197. Timbus, tribe of Indians, 216. Timbuz, Rio, 215. Todos Sanctos, Baya de, 206, 226, 409. Toledo, 199 ; cedula dated at, 406. Topavera, an Indian, 424. See Totavera. Tordesillas, Treaty of, 396. Toreno, Nuno Garcia de, a re- nowned Spanish cartographer, 77, 78, loo, 155, 183, 260. Torres, Francisco de, 401 ; ap- pointment of, 1 54. Toscanelli, Paul dal Pozzo, a physician, Writings of, 44. Toscanelli, Pietro, 44. Totavera, 250. See Topavera. Toutes Isles, 93. Traigon, Rio de la, 262. Trent, Council of, 323. "Trinidad," The, one of Cabot's squadron, 192, 197, 213, 219, 240, 241, 247, 250, 256, 408. " Trinitie," The, 340. Trinity Island, 314. Trono, Nicolao, Doge of Venice, 4, 5, 387, 389- Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator, search for Spice islands between, 189. Turco, Giovanni Piedro de, 388. Turin, 4, 434 ; State Archives at, 406. Turin map, 188. Turnbull, W. B., 326, 364, 452, 453- Twiss, Travers, 161, 380. Tyrell, Thomas, 454, 456. Tytler, 378, 397- 502 INDEX. UBAY, Rio, 208. Ughelli, 464. U. S. Coast Survey, Maps issued by the, 72. Urista, Francisco de, 283, 365. Uruay, Rio, 213. Uruguay, River, 434. Uzielli, Gustavo, 44, 45. VAC A, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de, 195, 196, 253. Valdeporras, 193, 200. Valderas, Pedro Diaz de, 413. Valdes, Miguel, accountant of the ship " La Sancta Maria del Espinar," 192. Valdivieso, Alonso de, 194, 241, 245, 258, 413. Valencia, 52. Valladolid, 34, 156, 174, 176, 177, 1 80, 297, 463. Vallard, 93. Vannes, Peter, English ambas- sador at Venice, 28, 325, 326, 452. Vardce, Island of, 346, 349, 352, 353, 354, 355- See Ward- house. Varela, Alonso Gomez, 224, 225. Varnhagen, Adolfo de, 196, 201, 256, 259, 260, 261, 264, 407, 408, 427. Varzma, River, 346, 347, 353, 355, 357- Vasconcellos, Alvaro Mendez de, 259. Vazquez, Catalina, 245, 264, 379, 412, 413, 414. Vazquez, Francisca, 267, 413,414. Vegetius, 228. Velho, Bartolomeu, 298. Vendramin, Andrea, Doge of Venice, 6, 26, 389. Venecia, Andres de, 241, 413. See Andres of Venice. Venecia, Marcos (Marco) de, 241, 249, 413. See Marcos of Venice. Veneciano, Marco, 258, 413. Venegas, 295. Venetian galleys, means of trans- porting merchandise between Great Britain and Italy, 46. Venetian Government forwards a despatch to Contarini, 175. Venetian merchants, Agents of the, 40. Venetians, The, commercial pur- suits of, 39 ; factories of, 40. Venezuela, coast of, 135 ; province of, 274. Venice, i-io, 27-31, 49, 58, . 121, 157, 171, 381, 382, 383, 388, 391, 403, 405, 406, 407, 452, 465, 466 ; laws of naturaliza- tion, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; Provedi- tor of, 4 ; birth-place of Seb- astian Cabot, 30 ; Sebastian Cabot's treacherous intrigues with, 34, 174-83 ; Sebastian Cabot claims to be of the city of, 34 ; residence of John Cabot in, 38, 44 ; legations in London maintained by, 46 ; map engraved at, 77 ; diffi- culties in the way of an ex- pedition from, 179 ; means of conveying merchandise to and from, 180 ; Senate of, 2, 122, 190, 387, 403, 404, 431 ; account of Contarini's mission to Spain read before the Senate of, 149. Vera Cruz, 139. Vernerio [Johannes Werner], 305. Verona, 7. Verrazzano, Giovanni, explorations of, 274. Verrazzano, Hieronymo, 79, 100, 108, 286. Vespuccius, Americus, n, 81, 191, 410 ; pilot-major and presi- dent pf the commission for establishing official patterns of sailing-charts, 72, 73, 277 ; voyages of, 155 ; believed to be the discoverer of America, 1 66 ; allowance made to the widow of, 183-84. Vespuccius, Juan (nephew of Americus), 183, 271, 401 ; monopoly of the sale of maps enjoyed by, 74; office held by, 76, 191 ; map devised by, 76, 77 ; appointment of, 154. Veytia Linage. See Linage. INDEX. 503 Vicente, Gil, 296. Vicenza, 7. "Victoria," The, 197, 198, 405. Viegas, Caspar, 90, 100, 107 ; im- portant map possessed by, 88. Vienna, 428 ; Imperial Library at, 431, 465 ; Imperial Archives at, 432. Villafuente, Juan de, 193. Villalobos, Juan de, fiscal, charges against Cabot, 265, 272, 414. Villaragut, Luis Carroz de, Spanish ambassador in London, 153, 378, 400. Villegas, Pedro Ruiz de, 77, 183. Virgines, Rio de las, 206. Virginia, 140. Virtudes, Rio de las, 204. Vispuche (Vespuccius), Juan, 73. Viterbo, Sousa, 297, 298. Vizcaino, Martin, hanged, 216. Vologda, 356. WAIGATY Island, 358. Warbeck, Perkin, Rebellion of, 67. Warde, Richard, letters patent granted to, 31, 144, 146, 147, 336; expedition of, 138, 147, 398; his ships convey Indians to London, 147. Wardhouse,355. Wardcehus. See Vardce. Warton, 333. Watson, Henry, 12. Webeck, Cape, 54. Weimar maps, The, 100, 188, 434. Weimar, Grand Ducal Library at, 276. Werner, 296. West Indies, 198 ; gold from, 167; colonists for the, 197 ; did Columbus discover them? 273, 286. Westminster, King's court at, Indians in the, 142, 143 ; Queen's gallery at, Cabot's map on view in the, 113, 440, 443, 445, 446 ; John Cabot's petition delivered to the Chan- cellor at, 389. Westminster, Marquis of, 350. Wheeler, John, 331, 333, 335 ; his Treatise of Commerce, 330. Whitehall, 12 ; King's gallery at, 374, 375- White Sea (Bay of St. Nicholas), 349, 354, 30, 357, 358, 361, 562 ; expedition to the, 350. Willes, Richard, 24, 113, 446. Willoughby, Gabriel, 347. Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 12, 25, 26, 153, 333, 335, 343, 345, 346, 347, 348, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356, 361, 362, 366, 378, 446, 452, 467. Willoughby de Broke, Lord, 33, 152, 153, 3995 wl "Uliby, Milord," 152. Wilson, Roger, 344. Windham, Thomas, 333. Winsor, Justin, 166. Winter, Sir William, 372. Wolfenbiittel map B., 79, 107, 108. Wolsey, Cardinal, 34, 118, 119, 163,168,170-73, 176,178,228. Woltmann, 374-6. Wood, 359. Worcester, 373. Worcestre, William de, 42. Worthington, William, 284, 368, 369, 370, 373, 374, 457, 458, 459, 460. Wriothesley, Lord, 325. Wyatt, Sir Thomas, English ambassador in France, 124, 3i8,432. Wynken de Worde, 12. Wynkfeld, Sir Robert, member of Henry VIII.'s council, 169. XERES, Bartolome de, 185. Ximenes, Cardinal, 464 ; governs the kingdom of Spain in the absence of Charles V., 156, 160. Ximenez, Gonzalo, 198. YBANEZ, Martin, notary of the fleet, 193, 244, 424. Ybafiez de Urquigo, Martin, gentleman recommended by Charles V. who joined the expedition, 194. Yebra, 270. Yelverton, Sir Henry, 359. Yucatan, Province of, 274. ZIEGLER, Jacob, 46 1. EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY NEILL AND COMPANY. BY THE SAME AUTHOR: BIBLIOTHECA BARLOwiANA. New York, 1864; small 8vo. LETTERS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS DESCRIBING HIS FIRST VOYAGE TO THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS. New York, 1865; folio, with facsimiles. NOTES ON COLUMBUS. New York, 1866; folio, with plates. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA VETUSTISSIMA. A DESCRIPTION OF WORKS RELATING TO AMERICA PUBLISHED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1491 AND 1551. New York, 1866; 4to, and large 8vo, with facsimiles. D. FERNANDO COLON, HISTORIADOR DE su PADRE; ENSAYO CRfTico. Seville, 1871 ; 4to. BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA VETUSTISSIMA. ADDITIONS. Paris, 1872 ; 4to, and large 8vo, with facsimiles. NOTES POUR SERVIR A L'HISTOIRE, A LA BIBLIOGRAPHIE ET A LA CARTOGRAPHIE DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE ET DES PAYS ADJA- CENTS, 1545-1700. Paris, 1872; 8vo. INTRODUCCION DE LA IMPRENTA EN AMERICA, CON UNA BIBLIO- GRAFIA DE LAS OBRAS IMPRESAS EN AQUEL HEMISFERIO DESDE 1540 A 1600. Madrid, 1872; 8vo. FERNAND COLOMB, SA VIE, SES GEUVRES. ESSAI CRITIQUE. Paris, 1872 ; large 8vo. LES COLOMBO DE FRANCE ET D'ITALIE, FAMEUX MARINS DU xv e SIECLE; 1461-1491. D'apres des documents nouveaux ou ine"dits tires des archives de Milan, de Paris et de Venise. Memoire hi a 1' Academic des inscriptions et belles-lettres dans ses seances des i er et 15 mai 1874. Paris, 1874; 4to. L'HISTOIRE DE CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ATTRIBUEE A SON FILS FERNAND. EXAMEN CRITIQUE. Paris, 1875; 8vo. (Separate issue of articles in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographic.) LE VOYAGE DE VERRAZZANO (Critical review of the work of the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, with new documents, in the Revue Critique). Paris, 1876; 8vo. Los RESTOS DE DON CRISTOVAL COLON. DISQUISICION. Seville, 1878; small 4to. LES SEPULTURES DE CHRISTOPHE COLOMB. REVUE CRITIQUE DU PREMIER RAPPORT OFFICIEL PUBLIE SUR CE SUJET. Paris, 1879; 8vo. 2 JEAN ET SEBASTIEN CABOT, LEUR ORIGINE ET LEURS VOYAGES. ETUDE D'HISTOIRE CRITIQUE, SUIVIE D'UNE CARTOGRAPHY, D'UNE BIBLIOGRAPHIE ET D'UNE CHRONOLOGIE DES VOYAGES AU NORD-OUEST, DE 1497 A 1 559. D'apres des documents inedits. Paris, 1882 ; large 8vo, with facsimile of the North American section of the Cabotian planisphere of 1544. CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ET LA CORSE. OBSERVATIONS SUR UN DECRET RECENT DU GOUVERNEMENT FRANCAIS. Paris, 1883 ; 8vo. LES CORTE-REAL ET LEURS VOYAGES AU NOUVEAU-MONDE. D'apres des documents nouveaux ou peu connus tires des archives de Lisbonne et de Modene, suivi du texte inedit d'un recit de la troisieme expedition de Caspar Corte-Real et d'une importante carte nautique portugaise de 1'annee 1502, repro- duite ici pour la premiere fois. Memoire lu a 1' Academic des inscriptions et belles-lettres dans sa seance du i er juin 1883. Paris, 1883 ; large 8vo, with facsimile of the American section of the Cantino planisphere. CASPAR CORTE-REAL. LA DATE EXACTE DE SA DERNIERE EXPEDITION AU NOUVEAU-MONDE. D'apres des documents inedits recemment tires des archives de la Torre do Tombo a Lisbonne. Paris, 1883 ; large 8vo, with facsimiles. CHRISTOPHE COLOMB, SON ORIGINS, SA VIE, SES VOYAGES, SA FAMILLE ET SES DESCENDANTS. D'apres des documents inedits tires des archives de Genes, de Savone, de Seville et de Madrid. Etudes d'histoire critique. Paris, 1884; 2 thick volumes large 8vo, with map, plates and numerous genealogical tables. L'ORIGINE DE CHRISTOPHE COLOMB. Demonstration critique et documentaire. Paris, 1885 ; 8vo. GRANDEUR ET DECADENCE DE LA COLOMBINE. Paris, 1885 ; Svo. LA COLOMBINE ET CLEMENT MAROT. Paris, 1886; Svo. GRANDEZA Y DECADENCIA DE LA COLOMBINA (Translation, and controversial articles reprinted from the Spanish papers). Seville, 1886; 12 mo. EXCERPTA COLOMBINIANA. Bibliographic de quatre cents pikes gothiques, franchises, italiennes et latines du commencement du xvi e siecle, non decrites jusqu'ici. Precedee d'une histoire de la Bibliotheque Colombine et de son fondateur. Paris, 1887; Svo, with numerous facsimiles of original types and illustrations. LE QUATRIEME CENTENAIRE DE LA DECOUVERTE DU NOUVEAU- MONDE. Lettre adressee a Son Excellence le Ministre de ITnstruction publique du royaume d'ltalie. Par un Citoyen Americain. Genoa, 1887 ; large Svo. CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ET SAVONE. VERZELLINO ET SES " MEMORIE." Etudes d'histoire critique et documentaire. Genoa, 1887; 8vo. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE BANK OF SAINT GEORGE. New York (London), 1888; large 4to, with plates and facsimiles. CHRISTOPH COLUMBUS IM ORIENT. Leipzig, 1888; 8vo (Separate issue of an essay published in the Centralblatt fur Bibliotheks- wesen). CRISTOFORO COLOMBO E GLI ORIENTALI. Genoa, 1889 ; 8vo (Separate issue of an Italian version of the above, published in the Giornale Ligustico). DOCUMENT INEDIT CONCERNANT VASCO DA GAMA. Relation adressee a Hercule d'Este, due de Ferrare. Paris, 1889 ; 8vo. THE LATE SAMUEL LATHAM MITCHILL BARLOW. Introduction to the Catalogue of his American Library. New York, 1889 ; 8vo (Separate issue, with corrections, and portrait). CHRISTOPHE COLOMB, LES CORSES ET LE GOUVERNEMENT FRANCAIS. Paris, 1890; 8vo. CRISTOFORO COLOMBO E IL BANCO DI S. GIORGIO. Saggio storico- critico sui rapporti del grande navigatore con quell' istituto \ sull' uffizio e sulle operazioni di banco nel medio evo e dimo- strazione documentata dell' origine di Colombo dalla citta di Genova sulla base di inediti o poco noti documenti. Geneva, a spese del Municipio, 1890 ; folio, with plates and facsimiles. (For private distribution by the City Council of Genoa). NOUVELLES RECHERCHES SUR L'HISTOIRE DE L'AMERIQUE. Paris, 1890; 8vo (Separate issue of an article published in the Revue Historique). QUI A IMPRIMF, LA PREMIERE LETTRE DE CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ? Leipzig, 1892 8vo (Separate issue of a critical dissertation published in the Centralblatt fur Bibliothekswesen\ THE DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. A Critical, Documentary, and Historic Investigation, with an Essay on the Early Carto- graphy of the New World, including descriptions of Two Hun- dred and Fifty Maps or Globes, existing or lost, constructed before the year 1536. To which are added a Chronology of One Hundred Voyages Westward, Projected, Attempted, or Accomplished between 1431 and 15 04; Biographical Accounts of the Three Hundred Pilots who first crossed the Atlantic ; and a copious List of the Original Names of American Regions, Caciqueships, Mountains, Islands, Capes, Gulfs, Rivers, Towns, and Harbours. Paris, H. Welter, 1 892 ; large 4to, with twenty- three facsimiles of ancient charts and globes. CHRISTOPHE COLOMB DEVANT L'HISTOIRE. Paris, 1892 ; Svo. COLOMB N'EST PAS NE A SAVONE (Article in the Revue Historique, November-December, 1892). CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ET SES HISTORIENS ESPAGNOLS. Paris, 1892 ; 8vo (Separate issue of an article published in the Revue Critique). AUTOGRAPHES DE CHRISTOPHE COLOMB RECEMMENT DECOUVERTS. Paris, 1893 ; 8vo (Separate issue of an article published in the Revue Historique). COLOMB ET TOSCANELLI. Paris, 1893; 8vo (Separate issue of an article published in the Revue Critique). INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS'S OWN BOOK OF PRIVILEGES, 1502, compiled and edited by B. F. Stevens. London, 1893; folio (Separate issue). THE EARLY PARIS EDITIONS OF COLUMBUS'S FIRST " EPISTOLA." Leipzig, 1893 ; 8vo (Separate issue of an article in the Centra l- blattfur Bibliothekswesen). A PROPOS D'UNMANUSCRITDUMINISTEREDES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES. Paris, 1894 (Separate issue, 8vo and folio, with additions, of an article published in the Revue Critique}. CHRISTOPHE COLOMB ET LES ACADEMICIENS ESPAGNOLS. Notes pour servir a 1'histoire de la science en Espagne au xix e siecle. Paris, 1 894 ; small 8vo. SEBASTIEN CABOT, NAVIGATEUR VENITIEN. Paris, 1895; 8vo (Separate issue of a series of articles published in Drapeyron's Revue de Geographic). PRO ACADEMIA HISPANIENSI. Paris, 1895 ; 8vo (Separate issue of an article in the Revue Critique). AMERICUS VESPUCCIUS, A Critical and Documentary Review of Two recent English Books concerning that Navigator. Lon- don, 1895: B. F. STEVENS, Publisher; fcap. 4to. UN NOUVEAU GLOBE VERRAZANIEN. Paris, 1895; 8vo (Separate issue of an article published in Drapeyron's Revue de Geographic). IN THE PRESS: L'ABBE PREVOST. HISTOIRE DE SA VIE ET DE SES OZUVRES, D'APRES DES DOCUMENTS NOUVEAUX ; large Svo. FASTI COLUMBINI : a Chronological Epitome of the important and authentic events in the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 1446-1506. London : B. F. STEVENS, Publisher; 4to. SOME PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY B. F. STEVENS, 4, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON, W.C. 1895. ;;?; ; rf:;;';4 These Books will be forwarded free of charge (except Customs Duty, if any) on receipt of the publication price. B. F. STEVENS'S FACSIMILES OF MANUSCRIPTS IN EUROPEAN ARCHIVES RELATING TO AME- RICA, 1773-1783, WITH DESCRIPTIONS, EDITO- RIAL NOTES, COLLATIONS, REFERENCES, AND TRANSLATIONS. 25 vols. of 500 pp. foolscap folio, on handmade paper, in cardboard boxes, with leather-covered wood backs, cloth sides, and jointed flaps. Offered to Subscribers only in complete sets, $500 [^102 14*. 10^.] nett, or in half- morocco extra, gilt tops, $550 [113] nett. Arrange- ments may be made to suit the subscriber s convenience as to delivery and payment. Twenty-two of these large folio volumes are already issued, vols. 23 and 24 are in the press, and vol. 25, with the copious alphabetical sub- ject-matter and general Index, is far advanced. These Facsimiles of Civil, Confidential, Diplomatic, and Political Papers during the period of the American Revolution comprise many hitherto unpublished letters of Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, William Carmichael, Arthur Lee, and other Americans in Paris with the French Government; a mass of correspondence addressed to William Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland) as Under Secretary of State, with curious letters of informants and spies of various ranks in society ; letters of De Beaumarchais, Le Ray de Chaumont, Baron de Kalb, and other Frenchmen ; the original almost unknown correspondence of the British Commissioners who in 1778 went to America to negotiate peace with Congress, while the American Commissioners were at the same time carrying on negotiations in Paris ; that of the Marquis de Lafayette with Count de Ver- gennes and others ; the letters of Lord Stofmont, the English Ambassador in Paris, never before published ; papers relating to the capture of Henry Laurens and his sojourn in the Tower of London; many of General Sir Henry Clinton's letters, etc., etc. The advantages of reproducing valuable MSS. in Facsimile have long been admitted, and in this case such Facsimile repro- ductions are especially important because no facilities exist in America for consulting the original MSS. 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' THE CRITIC : " Mr. Stevens' s work grows more interesting with each volume, for not only are these facsimiles of high importance to the American historian* but they will be found fascinating and instructive reading by all who take an interest in that history which is ^past politics.' " THE NATION, NEW YORK : " There can be no question of accuracy in copying or proof-reading, and the student has the advantage of seeing the exact handwriting, erasures, interlineations, and signatures" THE NATION : " The entire frankness [of these documents'] and want of the least savour of international ethics are cynically destructive of some of the illusions which still hover about an American idealization of the Revolution." THE NATION, Notice of vol. xxi. : " It seems a fitting moment to speak once more in praise of the performance as it advances towards completion. Not only is the interesting character of the documents fully maintained . . . but there is no discernible falling-ojf in the quality of the paper, or in the well-nigh faultless execution (in facsimiles) of the originals, and of the clear and beautifully written translations. The technical effect is brilliant and stately a thorough and careful piece of workmanship." THE CHURCHMAN, NEW YORK : " A phenomenal work . . . a library of our revolutionary annals in itself." CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS ; His OWN BOOK OF PRIVILEGES, 1502. PHOTOGRAPHIC FACSIMILE OF THE MANUSCRIPT IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE IN PARIS, NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME PUBLISHED, WITH EXPANDED TEXT, TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH, AND AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. THE TRANS- LITERATION AND TRANSLATION BY GEORGE F. BARWICK, B.A., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. THE INTRODUCTION BY HENRY HARRISSE. THE WHOLE COMPILED AND EDITED WITH PREFACE BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS. Now ready, limited edition on thick handmade paper, foolscap folio, half pigskin, with plankwood sides and clasps, pp. Ixvi and 284. Price 5 $s. nett in London, or of MESSRS. DODD, MEAD & Co., New York, at $30. One of the only two cartularies of Columbus known to exist, photographed, by the almost unexampled courtesy of the French authorities, in Mr. Stevens's own temporary studio erected in the grounds of the Foreign Office. By skilful interleaving, the English translation, with the transliteration into readable Spanish of the much abbreviated manuscript, is placed opposite the facsimile, all facing pages whatever their length containing the corresponding quantity of matter. The scholarly introduction by the great authority on Columbian literature deals with the origin and sub- sequent history of the four cartularies, and contains a critical description of the separate documents and chapters on the. coat of arms, the heraldic motto and the monastery of Las Cuevas. Three holograph letters of Columbus are added. The illuminated coat of arms is accurately reproduced, and a photograph of the bag of Cordovan leather now preserved in Genoa is also given. Both paper and binding are in imitation of those in use in the sixteenth century, and altogether the book is one of the handsomest ever produced at the Chiswick Press. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. THE STANDARD LONDON:"/* may be regarded as the last of that long series of works which owed their existence to the fourth centenary of the famous mariner. But if the latest, it is also the noblest of its family Indeed we know of no work on the by-ways of American history with which it can be compared" THE TIMES: "A volume of rare magnificence . . . its value is im- mensely enhanced by the pains with which the text has been edited and the sk l llwith which it has been reproduced. Students of American onVines must be very hard to please if this sumptuous volume is not in all respects, alike scholarly and artistic, entirely to their taste." THE DAILY NEWS : Apart from its intrinsic value as an historical " St ****** ^^"^ of ibe printing, binding, and THF DAILY CHRONICLE :- Tfc world OW es a debt of gratitude to Mr. Stevens for this most sumptuous volume ... a book that may last J o * THE SCOTSMAN EDINBURGH:-"^ 600* that not only students of his- tory will value, but which Americans who love their native land will desire to possess as a tangible symbol of their patriotism." ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS : -A more worthy monument to Columbus has seldom been raised, and there is no collection of rare and magnificent books, no public library, and no Spanish, Italian, or American patriot but may well covet this splendid and scholarly volume." ) DAILY TELEGRAPH, LONDON . A volume which will rank for all time as one of the most superb monuments of the discovery of America We LTV7T 7 V^r T tculaied to ff r Alight to the most learned student and bibliographer, no less than to intelligent readers." BOSTON HERALD : ft is one O f the handsomest and stateliest volumes that bare appeared since the invention of printing." NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE:-"^. Stevens has the right traditions He does not condescend to cheapness. He has done hif best to send Jortb this transcript of a precious document in a garb worthy of it the bll S k-lover^ * *" ""^ **"*"** contrib ti * the treasury 'of TRIBUNE, 2nd notice :~^ The bibliophile . . . will gaze with admira- tion at the pages, every one a triumph of the printer's art. The ^ageman . . will not have to travel to Paris in the hope, perhaps vain, of studying a codex which he can now have in his. own library." AMERICUS VESPUCCIUS. All books and manuscripts associating this name, rightly or wrongly, with voyages or expeditions are of importance to collectors of Americana. THE VOYAGE FROM LISBON TO INDIA, 1505-6, BEING AN ACCOUNT AND JOURNAL BY AL- BERICUS VESPUCCIUS. TRANSLATED FROM THE CONTEMPORARY FLEMISH, AND EDITED WITH PROLOGUE AND NOTES BY C. H. COOTE, DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS (GEOGRA- PHICAL SECTION), BRITISH MUSEUM. This is a reproduction in photographic facsimile, inter- leaved with a translation into English, of the hitherto unknown Flemish tract. Handmade paper, foolscap ^to, parchment backs and paper sides, pp. xxvii and 56, price 1 5^. nett. Two hundred and fifty copies only printed and numbered. For a controversial twin volume see page 12 of this List. THE MASTERS OF WOOD-ENGRAVING. BY W. J. LINTON. For Subscribers only. Edition limited to five hundred copies, folio, \>\ x 12 inches, 229 //., with nearly 200 cuts, mostly on India paper, and 48 full-page Illustra- tions, at 10 ictf. nett, and one hundred copies, large folio, 20 x 15 inches, at 21 nett. This work occupies new ground. Not without ample account of the books n which Wood-Engraving has been used, and careful sifting of old judgments through technical knowledge, it also undertakes a history of the art by exhibition of the choicest works from the earliest times. Toward the fulfilment of this pur-; pose the Library and Print Room of the British Museum have been thoroughly searched, and many prints beyond the reach or] cognizance of ordinary students examined and chosen for reprc duction, edition after edition looked to for the purest impres- sions, from which alone photographs have been taken for Messrs. Dawson's excellent facsimile processes, the reproduction being always of the same size as the original in order to give as clearly as possible the actual work of the engraver. No such collection, farther added to from unique proofs in the author's possession, has ever been attempted, has ever been possible until now. TNie l\ edition has certain cuts (such as Harvey's celebrated Denta- tus) printed full size, the smaller edition not being large enough to take them so. This edition also contains in a pocket that rarest and most important of Durer's works in wood the Triumphal Car of Maximilian measuring seven feet and four inches with a height of eighteen inches. OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. ART JOURNAL : " The copiously illustrated volume by Mr. W. J. Linton, in which the plates are works of choice art, selected by one who has long held high rank in his profession, is the most important publica- tion of its class ; and besides this, there runs through it a strenuous vein of protest against amateurism in art at large, especially that sort which affects ' criticism ' proper, and disregards, or pretends to disregard, the technical experience and learning of experts, including all that artists claim as their exclusive province. So stringent are these protests, and so reasonable do they appear, that we propose to consider them as briefly as may be before studying the book in those other respects with which they are very closely bound up. It is the more desirable to do this because it is seldom an expert so distinguished as Mr. Linton descends into the lists against untechnical persons, and is not himself so lost in technics that his voice resembles that of one crying in the wilderness, where no man listens and few men understand." ATHEN^UM : " A magnificent volume, admirable for printing, bind- ing, and typography, and most admirable for illustrations, from both ancient and modern examples, printed with great skill and care, and im- mensely superior to those generally used in books of the sort, and some- what boldly called facsimiles. Not a page without interest and extreme pleasure and profit." PORTFOLIO : " The history of the art by an expert of experts. If any one be competent to teach the true merits of wood engraving, it is Mr. W. J. Linton. Well filled with letterpress. Mr. Linton has absolute knowledge of his subject." / ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE : " Mr. Linton's crowning achieve- ment as historian of wood engraving. The most luxurious thing of its kind that has yet been produced. Unquestionably the one authoritative treatise by the greatest living master" THE CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA, 1781. AN EXACT REPRINT OF Six RARE PAMPHLETS ON THE. CLINTON-CORNWALLIS CONTROVERSY, WITH NUMEROUS IMPORTANT UNPUBLISHED MANU- SCRIPT NOTES BY SIR HENRY CLINTON, K.B., AND THE OMITTED AND HITHERTO UNPUB- LISHED PORTIONS OF THE LETTERS IN THEIR APPENDICES ADDED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS. WITH A SUPPLEMENT CON- TAINING EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, A FRENCH TRANS- LATION OF PAPERS LAID BEFORE THE HOUSE, AND A CATALOGUE OF THE ADDITIONAL CORRESPONDENCE OF CLINTON AND OF CORN- WALLIS IN 1780-81 : ABOUT 3,456 PAPERS RELATING TO THE CONTROVERSY OR BEARING ON AFFAIRS IN AMERICA. COMPILED, COL- LATED, AND EDITED (WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES IN A COPIOUS INDEX) BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS. In two vols. royal 8v0, pp. xxix> 507, and 465, cloth, gilt tops, 243. nett. These two volumes relating to the military controversy between Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis will be found to be a valuable contribution to the History of the American Campaign of 1781, by which the Independence of the United States was virtually secured. The six pamphlets here reprinted are of such rarity that only one library that of the Department of State, Washington possesses all of them, and of the " Parting Word" no other copy is known. In the copious Index many biographical notices are given, of which the bulk of the information has grown out of Mr. Stevens's memo- randa and indexes of American correspondence and documents in the European archives. PRESS NOTICES. SCOTSMAN, EDINBURGH : " The collection regarded as a whole forms a most valuable contribution to the history of the American War of Inde- pendence. It is a mine of information upon the various movements of the Campaign 0/1781." BOSTON POST : " Our countryman, Mr. B. F. Stevens, has done a real service to historical students in the publication of this very care- fully prepared edition of the Clinton and Cornwallis pamphlets. One of the pamphlets is believed to be unique at least, Mr. Stevens knows of only one copy, which is in the State Department at Washington." GENERAL SIR WILLIAM HOWE'S ORDERLY BOOK AT CHARLESTOWN, BOSTON, AND ^HALIFAX, JUNE 17, 1775, TO MAY 26, 1776, TO WHICH IS ADDED THE OFFICIAL ABRIDGMENT OF GENERAL HOWE'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT DURING THE SIEGE OF BOSTON, AND SOME MILITARY RETURNS. Now FIRST PRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, WITH AN HISTORI- CAL INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE, THE WHOLE COLLECTED AND EDITED BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEVENS. In one vol. royal $>vo,pp. xxi and 357, cloth, gilt top, at 125. nett. This curious Orderly Book, which presents every detail of the administration and discipline of the English army in the Siege of Boston, has been happily preserved for the use of historians among the American manuscripts in the Library of the Royal Institution in London. This edition is carefully printed from the original MS. by permission of the managers of the Royal Institution, the spell- ing and punctuation being preserved even when evidently incorrect. The copious Index will be found of great service. The edition published by the N.Y. Historical Society contains only about one-half of the matter in the above volume. AMERICUS VESPUCCIUS. A CRITICAL AND DOCUMENTARY REVIEW OF Two RECENT ENGLISH BOOKS CONCERNING THAT NAVI- GATOR. BY HENRY HARRISSE. Handmade paper, foolscap 4/0, parchment backs and paper sides, pp. 68, price 1 2s. nett. Two hundred and fifty copies only printed and numbered. This is the controversial twin volume mentioned on page 8. Mr. Coote discovered in the Library of the British Museum one of the only two known copies in Flemish (Antwerp, 1 508) of the book he so ably edited, and in which the name of Albericus as the author is definitely mentioned. It bears as its title, " The Voyage from Lisbon to sail unto the island of N a gore which lieth in Great India, beyond Calicut and Cochin, wherein is the staple of the spices. Wondrous things befell us therein, and we beheld much, as hereinafter is described. This said voyage was undertaken by the will and com- mand of Emanuel, the most serene King of Portugal" Mr. Harrisse discovered in the Bavarian Library at Munich the unique copy in German (Augsburg, 1509) of the sea voyage by Balthasar Sprenger. Its full title is, " The Sea Voyage, new navi- gation and ascertained route towards many unknown Islands and King- doms of the Mighty Portuguese King Emanuel, explored, found, warred against and conquered. Also, the astonishing fights, organization, life, customs and wonderful works of the people of Thyre thou wilt find in this little book, truly described and reproduced, such as I, myself, Balthasar Sprenger, have seen and ascertained, etc." As Publisher, I have only to present both sides of the question, and leave the reader to judge for himself. Meanwhile, it will be readily granted that these two publications possess the merit of reviving, in one form or another, the fullest and most authentic account, long since forgotten, of one of the greatest achievements in the history of maritime enterprise. This, of itself, would suffice to enlist the goodwill of the historical student. CHISWICK PRESS : CHARLES WH1TTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 5 7 8 3 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ This book is due on the last DATE stamped below. NOV 031999WD 50m-l,'69(J5643s8)2373 3A,1 3 2106 00055 9002