o'bbiex] CABOT'S LANDFALL AND CHART 433 



Rialto in 1455, he saw two Tartars wlio were held as slaves by the owner 

 of the shop. He complained to the authorities who, after investiga- 

 tion, set the men free. Our author took them to his house and kept 

 them until "the ships were leaving for Tanais," when he sent them 

 home. These were really the Tanais line of ships for the words are, 

 " Col partir delle navi della Tana io li mandai a casa." Trade between 

 Venice and Tanais was still brisk in 1455. At that time John Cabot 

 Avas an able-bodied seaman, and it is more than probable he commanded 

 a ship of the Tanaian line. 



Some of the leading merchants of Venice were interested in the 

 traffic, as the names of the "seven merchants" who met at Tanais in 

 1437 disclose. The trip therefore to that place was both profitable 

 and adventurous. Who can doubt that Cabot made it more than once. 



"We may add that from the first ages of the Christian era Tanais 

 was an Episcopal Sec. Although for centuries no Bishop has resided 

 in it, it is still a Titular one. In 1827 Bishop Fraser was consecrated 

 with the title of Bishop of Tanais, and appointed Vicar Apostolic of 

 ISTova Scotia. 



Incidentally our author refers to a Friar of the Order of St. Fran- 

 cis, showing that a monastery of that Order existed at Tanais in 1438. 



I do not know when this interesting booklet first appeared. There 

 is positive internal evidence that it was not written until, at least, 

 thirty-five years after an event which took place in 1438. As our 

 author returned from a long sojourn in Persia, an account of which is 

 also published, in the year 1473, and as he must then have been verging 

 on 70, it is probable the story of his voyages appeared in 1474 or 1475. 



Notwithstanding the blighting influence of Turkish rule which 

 destroyed the trade of Capha and other ports, Tanais remained a great 

 commercial centre for at least one hundred years after its capture. The 

 Venetians and Turks frequently fought, but they exchanged commodi- 

 ties more frequently. Gerardus Mercator in his description of "Taurica 

 Chersonesus," written before 1569 for his great Atlas, speaking of 

 Tanais, wliich the " Ruthenians call Azac," says : — " It is a noble em- 

 porium to which merchants from various parts of the world sail, where 

 there is free access for everyone', free permission to buy and sell." 

 "Estque nobiU emporium, ad quod mercatores ex diversis Oriis partibus 

 commeant, uhi cinque liber patet accessus, libera emendendi et vendendi 

 facultas." Evidently it was the real "open door' of which we have 

 lately heard so much. 



The Tartars and Turks, as Mercator insinuates, had a superabund- 

 ance of fish of which they rarely partook, and were very well pleased 



