66 SAMUEL EDWAED DAWSON ON THE 



liimsc'lt' tlio sole originator and commander of the expedition, wliicli was clearly false. He 

 said that he found laml on a westerly course; that has been shown to be true of the first 

 expedition, but he suppresses the fact that there were two, and that not he but his father 

 found the land. He adds to this westerlj- landfall an exjiloration as far as 56^ north and 

 Florida on the south, whereas in the short period of three months it was impossible that 

 such an extensive voyage could have been made. He said that when he returned to Eng- 

 land there was great confusion because of a war with Scotland, whereas the war with 

 Scotland had been concluded by a seven years' truce in 1497, and the second expedition sailed 

 in 14:98. He stated that the voyage was not repeated on acccixut of the confusion caused 

 by rebellion, whereas the rebellion was quelled in 1497, ami in 1498 the pretended Richard 

 of York was a prisoner in the Tower. He said that he went to Spain at that time, whereas 

 he did not go until 1512, fourteen years later ; and he stated that he took service under 

 Ferdinand and Isabella, while Isabella died in 1504, eight years before he removed to Spain. 

 If Cabot had said there were two voyages, and if he had mentioned John Cabot's name, the 

 guest would probably have remembered it, and Ramusio would have recorded facts so 

 salient. 



The account given by Gomara is short, and it also attributes to Sebastian Cabot the 

 sole conception and conduct of the enterprise.' Gomara knows of one voyage only, and that 

 was the voyage in 1498. It was a northern voyage, " by way of Iceland " ; and the con- 

 tinuous daylight, the immense masses of ice, and the number of men (three hundred) taken 

 leave no room for doubt. 



In Galvano's " Discourse of the World," before cited, the two voyages are also con- 

 fused into one ; although, as he wrote in 1563, he followed previous writers, excepting in the 

 latitude of the landfall, and did not, like his predecessors, take his information from Sebastian 

 Cabot. In one version of the Portuguese text, that used by Hakluyt, John Cabot's name 

 even appears ; but the indefatigable Harrisse has turned up an original copy which does not 

 contain it, so Hakluyt would appear to have had another edition or to have glossed his 

 original from other authorities. 



I have now gone over all the authorities for the second voyage. Their testimony is 

 irreconcilable in many respects, but, nevertheless, some firm ground can be found. These 

 points are established : That the expedition was a large and important one ; that it sailed to 

 the north, and that the landfall was far in the north in a region of ice and continual day- 

 light ; that from the extreme north it coasted south to latitude 38- in search of an open 

 ocean to Cathay ; that having been provisioned for a year, the expedition was fitted for 

 such an exploration, and had the time to perform it. 



There is, beside the above, a i)assage from Fabj-an's " Chronicle," cited in Stow's 

 "Chronicle," published in 1580, and, with variations, copied into Hakluyt's "Divers Voy- 

 ages," published in 1582; but, on reference to all the editions of Fabyannow extant, not only 

 can the originals of these citations not be found, but no mention whatever of the Cabt)ts is 

 made. I have referred the consideration of this matter to appendix C. The passage 

 contains no additional particulars of importance. 



VII. Maps and Map Drawing in the 16th Century. 



In Hakluyt"s time there was at AVcstniinster. in the private gallery of the rpieen, a 

 copy of a map attributed to Sebastian Cabot engraved by (or under the supervision of) 



