[thacher] the CABOTIAN DISCOVERY 291 



out a stroke of the sword. There is in this kingdom a Venetian fellow, 

 Master John Caboto by name, of tine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, 

 who, seeing that those most serene kings, first he of Portugal, and then 

 the one of Spain, have ovcupied unknown islands, determined to make a 

 like acquisition for his majesty aforesaid. And having obtained royal 

 gluants that he should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, 

 provided that the owner--hip of the same is reserved to the crown, with a 

 small ship and eighteen persons he committed himself to fortune ; and 

 iaving set out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed 

 the western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward, keejMng 

 (after a few days) the north star on his right hand ; and having wan- 

 dered about considei-ably, at last he fell in with terra firma, where, having 

 planted the royal banner and taken possession on behalf of this king, and 

 taken certain tokens, he has returned thence. The said Master John, as 

 being foreign born and poor, would not be believed if his comrades, who 

 are almost all Englishmen from Eristol, did not testify that what he says 

 is true. This Master John has the description of the world in a chart, 

 and also in a solid globe, which he has made, and it shows where he 

 landed, and that going toward the east he passed considerably beyond 

 the countr}' of theTanais. And they say that it is a vevy good and tem- 

 perate countr}', and they think that brazil wood and silks grow there ; 

 and they atiirni that that sea is covered with fishes, which are caught not 

 -only with the net, but with baskets, a stone being tied to them in order 

 that the baskets may sink in the water. And this I heard the said 

 Master John relate, and the aforesaid Englishmen, his comrades, saj-- that 

 they will bring so many fishes that this kingdom will no longer have 

 need of Iceland, from which country there comes a very great store of 

 fish which are called stock-fish. But Master John has set his mind on 

 something greater ; for he expects to go farther on toward the east 

 (Levant) from that place already occupied, constantly hugging the 

 shore, until he shall be over against an island, by him called Cipango, 

 situated in the equinoctial region, where he thinks all the spices of the 

 world, and also the precious stones, originate ; and he says that in former 

 times he was at Mecca, whither spices are brought by caravans from dis- 

 tant countries, and that those who bi'ought them, on being asked where 

 the said spices grow, answered that the}^ do not know, but that other 

 caravans come to their homes with this merchandise from distant coun- 

 tries, and these again say that they are brought to them from other re- 

 mote regions. And he argues thus, that if the orientals affirmed to the 

 southerners that these things come from a distance from them, and so 

 from hand to hand, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be 

 that the last ones get them at the north toward the west; and he said it 

 in such a way, that, having nothing to gain or lose by it, I, too, believe 

 it ; and what is more, the king here, who is wise and not lavish, likewise 



