JOHN CABOT'S VOYAGES 



also with a dip-net [or bow-net ?] to which is fastened a stone to sink it in 

 the water, and this I have heard related by the said Messer Zoanne. And the 

 said Englishmen, his companions, say that they took so many fish that this 

 kingdom will no longer have any need of Iceland, from which country there 

 is a very great trade in the fish they call stockfish. But Messer Zoanne has 

 set his mind on higher things, and thinks of sailing from the place he has oc- 

 cupied, keeping along the coast farther to the east, until he arrives opposite to 

 an island called Cipango [i.e., Japan], lying in the equinoctial region, where he 

 thinks that all the spices of the world, as well as jewels, are to be found." 

 Then follows the reference to his visit to Mecca, already cited (p. 296). The 

 letter continues: "And what is more, this Majesty, who is prudent and not 

 prodigal, has such confidence in him on account of what he has accomplished, 

 that he gives him a very good subsidy, as Messer Zoanne himself tells me. 

 And it is said that his Majesty will shortly fit out some ships for him, and 

 will give him all the criminals to go out to this land and form a colony, so 

 that they hope to establish in London an even greater emporium of spices 

 than that at Alexandria. The principals in this enterprise belong to Bristol; 

 they are great sailors, and now that they know where to go, they say that the 

 voyage thither will not take more than fifteen days, if they have a favorable 

 wind on leaving Ireland. I have also spoken with a Burgundian of Messer 

 Zoanne's company, who confirms all this, and who wishes to return thither, 

 because the Admiral [for this is the title they give Messer Zoanne] has given 

 him an island; and he has given another to his barber [surgeon?] from Cas- 

 tione,^ a Genoese, and both consider themselves counts, nor do they reckon 

 Monsignor the Admiral for less than a prince. I believe some poor Italian 

 monks who have been promised bishoprics will also go on this voyage. And 

 if I had made friends with the Admiral when he was about to sail, I should at 

 least have got an archbishopric; but I thought the benefits that Your Excel- 

 lency has reserved for me were more certain . . ." [cf. Harrisse, 1882, pp. 

 324 f.]. 



As confirming and to some extent supplementing what is 

 said in these letters, we have various statements in the letters 

 of the two Spanish ambassadors about the voyage in the follow- 

 ing year (see later) ; they both say that the newly discovered 

 country lay not more than four hundred Spanish leagues distant. 



In IVTaurice Toby's Bristol chronicle of 1565, we read of 

 the year 1497: 



" This year, on St. John the Baptist's day, the land of America was found 

 by the merchants of Bristowe in a shippe of Bristowe called the ' Mathew,' 

 the which said shippe departed from the port of Bristowe the second day of 

 May, and came home again the 6th of August next following." 2 



1 Probably Castiglione, near Chivari, by Genoa. 



2 Cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., Edinburgh, 1875, iv. p. 350; and G, P. 

 Winship, 1900, p. 99. 



