10 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



prove a delusion, and must inevitably prejudice the rights of 

 Spain or Portugal under the Treaty of Tordesillas.' l Seven- 

 teen months elapsed before two Italian letter-writers continued 

 in his the story which the Spanish official began. On August 23, 

 voyage of i^g^ Lorenzo Pasqualigo, a Venetian merchant resident in 

 London, wrote to his brother in Venice : ' Our Venetian, who 

 went with one Bristol ship to find new islands, has returned, 

 |/ and says that he found 700 leagues from here a continent 

 which is the country of the Gram Cham (sic). He sailed 

 along the coast for 300 leagues, landed, and found no one, 

 but brought back snares for game and a netting-needle. He 

 was three months on his voyage. The tides there were 

 feeble. On turning back 2 he saw two islands, but would not 

 land, as his victuals were running short. The King is 

 delighted, and has promised him next spring ten ships 

 equipped according to his wishes, and has given him all the 

 prisoners (except traitors) he wants to sail with him. He 

 calls himself the grand admiral, and walks abroad in silk attire, 

 Englishmen running after him like madmen. On taking pos- 

 session, he hoisted the Venetian as well as the English flag.' 8 

 Hardly less alert than Pasqualigo, Raimondo di Raimondi, 

 Archpriest of Soncino, wrote to Duke Sforza of Milan, 

 August 24, and December 18, 1497, that 'John Cabot had 

 started out with a royal commission some months past, that 

 he had discovered the Seven Cities and two very big and 

 fertile islands, that he had taken possession, and that 

 Henry VII had gained a part of Asia without striking 

 a blow. After passing Ireland, Cabot steered north, then 

 east (sic).* A penniless foreigner like him would not have 

 been believed had not his companions, almost all of whom 



1 Reale Commissione Colombiana : Kaccolta di Documents e Studi, 

 Pt. V, vol. ii, p. 217, Rome, 1893. My quotations from these letters in 

 the A'. C. C. are all abridged. 



2 Aldrelo = ' back ', not ' to the right '. 



3 Reale Commissione Colombiana, Pt. Ill, vol. ii, p. 109; Calendar 

 of State Papers, Venetian Series, vol. i, p. 262. 



1 Confusing the objective (Asia) with the direction (west). 



