SEBASTIAN CABOT'S DISCOURSE 



discourse of Sebastian Cabot touching his dis- 

 covery of part of the West India out of England 

 in the time of king Henry the seventh, used 

 to Galeacius Butrigarius the Popes Legate in 

 Spaine, and reported by the sayd Legate in 

 this sort. 



Oe you not understand sayd he (speaking 

 to certaine Gentlemen of Venice) how to 

 passe to India toward the Northwest, as 

 did of late a citizen of Venice, so valiant 

 a man, and so well practised in all things 

 pertaining to navigations, and the science 

 of Cosmographie, that at this present he 



A.D. 



'497- 



Thls discourse 

 is taken out of 

 the second 

 volume of ye 

 voyages of 

 Baptista 

 Ramisius. 



Sebastian 

 Cabota 

 Pilot mayor 

 of Spaine. 



hath not his like in Spaine, insomuch that for his vertues 



he is preferred above all other pilots that saile to the 



West Indies, who may not passe thither without his 



licence, and is therefore called Piloto mayor, that is, the 



grand Pilot. And when we sayd that we knew him not, 



he proceeded, saying, that being certaine yeres in the city 



of Sivil, and desirous to have some knowledge of the 



navigations of the Spanyards, it was tolde him that there 



was in the city a valiant man, a Venetian borne named [III. 7.] 



Sebastian Cabot, who had the charge of those things, 



being an expert man in that science, and one that coulde 



make Cardes for the Sea with his owne hand, and that 



by this report, seeking his acquaintance, hee found him 



a very gentle person, who intertained him friendly, and 



shewed him many things, and among other a large Mappe 



of the world, with certaine particuler Navigations, as well 



of the Portugals, as of the Spaniards, and that he spake 



further unto him to this effect. 



When my father departed from Venice many yeeres 

 since to dwell in England, to follow the trade of mar- 

 chandises, hee tooke mee with him to the citie of London, 

 while I was very yong, yet having neverthelesse some 

 knowledge of letters of humanitie, and of the Sphere. 



147 



