IN NORTHERN MISTS 



enough about the men. The women have small breasts and a very beautiful 

 figure, and have a very attractive face; their color may more nearly be de- 

 scribed as white than anything* else, but that of the males is a good deal 

 darker. Altogether, if it were not for the wild look of the men, it seems to me 

 that they are quite like us in everything else. All parts of the body are naked, 

 with the exception of the loins, which are kept covered with the skin of the 

 aforesaid stag. They have no weapons, nor iron, but all the work they pro- 

 duce is done with a very hard and sharp stone, and there is nothing so hard 

 that they cannot cut it with this. This ship came thence in one month, and 

 they say that it is 2800 miglia [miles] distant; the other consort has decided 

 to sail along this coast far enough to determine whether it is an island or 

 mainland, and thus the King is waiting the arrival of this [the consort] and 

 the others [i.e., his companions] with much impatience, and when they have 

 come, if they communicate anything worthy of Your Excellency's attention, I 

 shall immediately inform you of it . . ." [cf. Harrisse, 1883, pp. 204 f.]. 



At the request of the Duke of Ferrara, Cantino had a map 

 made at Lisbon, chiefly for the purpose of representing the 

 Portuguese discoveries, and sent it to the duke in 1502. In 

 a letter to the duke, dated November 19, 1502, he mentions 

 having already sent it. This map, commonly called the " Can- 

 tino map," and now preserved at IVIodena, gives a remarkably 

 good representation of southern Greenland, which is called " A 

 ponta de [asia] " (i.e., a point of Asia). On its east coast are 

 two Portuguese flags to show that it is a Portuguese discovery, 

 one flag somewhat to the north of the Arctic Circle, the other 

 a little to the west of the southern point, and this coast bears the 

 following legend : 



" This country, which was discovered by the command of the most highly 

 renowned prince Dom Manuel, King of Portugal, is a point of Asia [esta a 

 ponta d'asia]. Those who made the discovery did not land but saw the land, 

 and could see nothing but precipitous mountains. Therefore it is assumed, ac- 

 cording to the opinion of the cosmographers, to be a point of Asia." 



To the west of Greenland on the same map a country is 

 marked, called " Terra del Rey de portuguall " (" the land of 

 the King of Portugal ") ; it answers approximately to Newfound- 

 land, possibly with the southern part of Labrador (?). The 

 north and south ends are marked with two Portuguese flags, 

 and the country bears the following legend : 



" This land was discovered by command of the most exalted and most 

 renowned royal prince Dom Manuel, King of Portugal; Caspar de Cortereal, 

 a nobleman of the said King's household, discovered it, and when he had dis- 



