IN NORTHERN MISTS 



before August 21st?). They were most likely Eskimo, since 

 Indians with their darker skin could scarcely have looked 

 like Englishmen. It might even be supposed that they came 

 from Greenland, and were descendants of the Norsemen 

 there, in which case their resemblance to Englishmen is 

 most naturally explained. 



On December 9 (18, N.S.), 1502, Henry VII. again granted 

 letters patent to Thomas Ashehurst, Joam Gonzales, Francisco 



North-western portion of Robert Thome's map, o£ 1527 (copy 

 of a Spanish map of the world) 



Fernandes, and Hugh Eliot for a voyage of discovery to 

 parts not hitherto found by English subjects. That this 

 projected expedition took place in 1503 is possibly shown by 

 an entry in the accounts of the King's privy purse: "1503, 

 Nov. 17. To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded 

 Island, i.L." [cf. Harrisse, 1882, p. 270]. 



It seems that it must be the same voyage to the north- 

 west that is mentioned by Robert Thome of Bristol in his 

 letter of 1527 to Henry VIII.'s Ambassador in Spain. Thorne 

 was then living in Seville, and was interested in Indian enter- 

 prises. He tries to induce Henry VIII. to send an expedition 

 to the Indies by way of the Polar Sea, and sends with his project 

 a rough copy he has had made of a Spanish mappamundi. 

 He says that he has inherited the " inclination or desire of 

 this discoverie " from his 



"father, which with another marchant of Bristow named Hugh Eliot, were 

 334 



