he castle at the ship,
which was bearing in for the port; on which the ship put about, and the
people in the boat went again on board. They then sailed to the island of
St John, or Porto Rico, where they went into the harbour of St Germaine,
where they required provisions and other necessaries for their ship, and
complained against the inhabitants of St Domingo, saying that they came
not to do any harm, but to trade for what they wanted, paying in money or
merchandize. In this place they procured provisions, and paid in certain
vessels of wrought tin and other things. They afterwards departed towards
Europe, where it was thought they never arrived, as we never heard any
more news of them[16]."

From the above hint respecting the riches of Peru finding their way to the
Tower of London, and as combined with the former voyage of Cabot to the
north-west; in search of a passage to India, it may be inferred, that the
object of the present voyage was to discover a passage to India by the
south-west, or by what is now called Cape Horn. The passage to India by
the Cape of Good Hope, had been granted exclusively by the Pope to the
Portuguese; and Henry VIII. then a good catholic, wished to evade this
exclusive privilege by endeavouring to discover a new route. It was well
observed by one of the kings of France, in reference to the Pope having
granted all the East to the Portuguese, and all the West to the Spaniards,
"I wish my brothers of Spain and Portugal would shew me the testament of
our father Adam, by which they claim such ample inheritance." The
supposition that Cabot had perished on his voyage from Porto Rico to
England was unfounded. He was alive there in 1549, in which year Edward VI.
granted a yearly pension for life to him and his assigns, of L.166, 13s.
4d. to be paid quarterly, in consideration of the good and acceptable
service done and to be done by him[17].

We have been induced to insert this long digression in this place, because
no journals remain of the voyages to which they relate. The other early
voyages of the English to the New World, were all for the purpose of
discovering a N.W. passage by sea to India, or for colonizing the
provinces of North America, and will fail to be particularly noticed in
other divisions of our work.

[1] Novus Orbis, p. 111.

[2] Vol. I. 262, and Vol. V. 479.

[3] Nov. Orb. 87.

[4] Mod. Geogr. III. 8.

[5] Harris, Col. of Voy. and Trav. II. 167.

[6] Harris, Coll. o