believe, it was the first part seen by them from the sea. The
inhabitants use the skins and furs of wild beasts for garments, which
they hold in as high estimation as we do our finest clothes. The soil
yields no useful production, but it abounds in white bears and deer
much larger than ours. Its coasts produce vast quantities of large
fish--great seals, salmons, soles above a yard in length, and
prodigious quantities of cod."

[Illustration: PART OF NORTH AMERICA, SHOWING SEBASTIAN CABOT'S
VOYAGE TO NEWFOUNDLAND. From the Map of 1544, usually ascribed to Cabot.
The names in brackets are inserted in order to make this extract and
its reference to Cabot's discoveries clear.]

So much for the contemporary account of this historic voyage. A letter
from England to Italy describes the effect of the voyage on England.
"The Venetian, our countryman, who went with a ship from Bristol in
quest of new islands, is returned and says that seven hundred leagues
hence he discovered land, the territory of the Great Khan. He coasted
for three hundred leagues and landed; he saw no human beings, but he
has brought hither to the King certain snares which had been set to
catch game and a needle for making nets. He also found some felled
trees. Wherefore he supposed there were inhabitants, and returned to
his ships in alarm. He was there three months on the voyage, and on
his return he saw two islands to starboard, but would not land, time
being precious, as he was short of provisions. He says the tides are
slack and do not flow as they do here. The King of England is much
pleased with this intelligence. The King has promised that in the
spring our countryman shall have ten ships to his order, and at his
request has conceded to him all the prisoners to man his fleet. The
King has also given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then,
and he is now at Bristol with his wife and sons. His name is Cabot,
and he is styled the great Admiral. Vast honour is paid to him; he
dresses in silk, and the English run after him like mad people."

Yet another letter of the time tells how "Master John Cabot has won
a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword." This Master John, too,
"has the description of the world in a chart and also in a solid globe
which he has made, and he shows where he landed. And they say that
it is a good and temperate country, and they think that Brazil wood
and silks grow there, and they affirm that that sea is covered with