VOYAGES OF THP] CABOTS IN 1497 AND U98. 97 



The perplexing part of this question is that Fabyan's Chronicle was printed and published in 

 1516, in 1533, in 1542, and in 1559, (see Lowndes) before Ilakluyt and Stow wrote, and in none of 

 these editions is there the slightest notice of the Cabots or their voyages. Harrisse has found in the 

 British Museum a MS. chronicle from which he quotes in his "Jean et Sébastien Cabot." He thinks 

 it is a copy of Fabyan, but Winsor (Nan-. & Crit. Hist.) denies that it is a Fabyan and says that there 

 is in the museum a genuine MS. Fabyan but it also says not one word of Cabot. 



Harrisse's MS. is as follows : — 



" In Anno 13, Henry VII,"— (Aug. 22, 1497, to Aug. 21, 1498.) 



" This yere the king at the besy request and supplicacion of a Stramujer venisian, which by a 

 " Cœartmade hym self expert in knowj ng of the world caused the Kynir to mannea ship w' vytaill 

 " and other necessairies for to seche an Ilande wheryn the said Straunger surmysed to be grete com- 

 " modities: w' which ship by the Kyngo's grace so Eygged went 3 or 4 moo owte of Bristowe, the 

 " said Straunger beying Oonditor of the saide Flete, whoreyn dyuers ^terchaunts as well of London as 

 " Bristow adventured goodes and sleight Merchandises, which departed from the West Cuntrey in the 

 " begynning of Somer bid to this present moneth came never Knowlege of their exployts." 



The substance of all tlie.se exti-acts is the same, and they in no way aftect the conclusions of this 

 paper. The " Patrone," the "Gonditor" of the fleet is the "Venetian," the "Stranger Venetian," 

 which indicates that John Cabot sailed in command on the voyage of 1498. Sebastian's name is put 

 forward by Hakluyt in 1582, but withdrawn in 1600. In Stow's version in 1580 there is no indication 

 of any other. This would show that he sailed on the voyage and that in 15S0, twenty-three years 

 after his death, the memory of the elder Cabot, who died in 1498, eighty-two years before, had well 

 nigh faded out, and that it is only when Hakluyt made his researches for his great work that he 

 came upon documents — perhaps the letters patent — which revealed the name of the chief discoverer. 

 All the extracts will be seen to refer to the same, viz., to the second voyage. 



APPENDIX D. 

 EsTEVAN Gomez. 



The voyage of Gomez was made in 1525 in one small vessel and occupied ten months. He 

 appears to have been in search of an opening into the great southern ocean. When Alonzode Chaves 

 revised the official chart of Spain in 1536 he availed himself of the information brought back by 

 Gomez, and no doubt Gomez himself made a chart and wrote an account of his voyage, but all these 

 documents have been lost. Oviedo gave in 1537 a description of the coast, based upon Do Chaves' re- 

 vised chart which he had before hiro. A further summary was made by Alonzo de Santa Cruz**' in his 

 Islario of 1560, and Harrisse quotes largely from a manuscript Islario by Cespedes compiled in 1598. 

 A very interesting discussion has been carried on for many years over these writings, into which it 

 would be irrelevant to the present purpose to enter. Many of the localities are in dispute and 

 Oviedo's description is far from being easy to follow ; but some points are clear, and among them it 

 should be noticed that Gomez most certainly sailed along the coast of Cape Breton. The island is 

 mentioned by the name of the island of St. John and the strait of Canso, separating it from the main- 

 land, under the name of the canal of St. Julian.'' Passing along the coast Gomez saw columns of 

 smoke and concluded that the country was inhabited. He reported it as well wooded with large 

 rivers opening into the sea. The smoky cliffs of Cap Enfumé, and the openings of the Bras d'Or 

 with the pleasant forest land around them plainly mark the localitJ^ There are no indications, either 

 in books or maps, that Gomez sailed into the gulf of St. Lawrence. The description extant follows 

 along the south coast of Newfoundland to Cape Race. 



Mr. Harrisse (Discovery of America, p. 237) is much exercised about this voyage, but his per- 

 plexity arises from his fixed idea that the island of St. John was a delusion of the Portugue.'re pilots. 



Sec. II., 1894. 13. 



