PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES 



ward from it. It is possible that this may be derived from these 

 expeditions, and in the same way all the Portuguese names along 

 Newfoundland, the coast-line of which must be taken from the 

 same source as the Cantino map. It is, however, more prob- 

 able that the names are due to Portuguese fishermen; though 

 there is also a possibility that Reinel's additions may be referred 

 to the Anglo-Portuguese expeditions from Bristol in 1501 and 

 the following years. His island, Sam Joha (St. John), points, 

 as has been said (p. 321), to a possible connection with John 

 Cabot's discoveries. 



Northern portion of an Italian map, possibly drawn by Pilestrina, 151 1. 

 Only a few of the names are given. [Bjornbo and Petersen, 1908] 



When neither of the brothers returned, the eldest brother, 

 Vasqueanes Cortereal, who held very high positions both 

 at the king's court and as governor of the islands of Sao 

 Jorge and Terceira in the Azores, wished "to fit out ships 

 at his own expense in order to go out and search for them. 

 But when he asked the king to excuse his absence, his majesty 

 could not consent to his going further in the matter, and insisted 

 that it was useless, and that all had been done that could be 

 done." [De Goes.] Thus the spirit of the capable and enter- 

 prising Portuguese for further exploration in these difficult 

 northern waters seems to have become cooled, and we do 

 not hear much more of official expeditions despatched from 

 Portugal to find other new countries in that quarter. Mean- 



377 



