[273] Two editions are reproduced in Nordenskiöld [1897, p. 61] and Ongania [Pl. XIV.].
[274] Reproduced by Nordenskiöld [1897, p. 5] and Lelewel [1851, Pl. XXXIII.]; Miller, 1895, iii. p. 138.
[275] Björnbo, by the way, only speaks of two islands, whereas in Lelewel’s reproduction there are four islands, which is no doubt correct. It seems, too, as though all four could be faintly distinguished in Björnbo’s photographic reproduction [1910, p. 74].
[276] As to Behaim, see in particular Ravenstein, 1908.
[277] Cf. Storm, 1899, p. 5.
[278] Cf. Harrisse, 1892, pp. 655, ff.
[279] As is well known, the possibility has been suggested that during his visit to Iceland in 1477 Columbus may have heard of the Norsemen’s voyages to Greenland, Markland and Wineland, and that this may have given him the idea of his plan. Storm has pointed out, convincingly it seems to me, the untenability of the latter supposition. But it appears to me that he has overlooked the possibility of Columbus having heard tales of these voyages in Bristol, or, still more probably, on a Bristol vessel. As, of course, he must have been able to make himself understood among the other sailors on board, it would be unlikely that he should not have heard such tales, if they were known to his ship-mates.
[280] Willelmus Botoner, alias de Worcester (1415-1484). MS. in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, No. 210; printed in “Itineraria Symonis Simeonis et Willelmi de Worcestre,” ed. J. Nasmyth, Cambridge, 1778, pp. 223, 267. Cf. H. Harrisse, 1892, p. 659; Kretschmer, 1892, p. 219.
[281] The Island of the Seven Cities was a fabulous island out in the Atlantic which is frequently alluded to in the latter part of the Middle Ages.
[282] As to John Cabot and his voyages, see in particular Henry Harrisse [1882, 1892, 1896, 1900], F. Tarducci [1892, 1894], Sir Clements R. Markham [1893, 1897], Samuel Edward Dawson [1894, 1896, 1897], C. R. Beazley [1898], G. Parker Winship [1899, 1900]. Harrisse amongst recent authors has the special merit of having collected and arranged all the authorities on John and Sebastian Cabot. Unfortunately I am unable to follow him in his conclusions from these authorities as to the voyages of John and Sebastian. It seems to me that, like most other writers, he pays too much attention to later statements, derived directly or indirectly from Sebastian Cabot, while he places too little reliance on what, in my opinion, may be concluded with tolerable certainty from contemporary sources. Sebastian Cabot’s statements on various occasions, so far as we know them, prove to be mutually conflicting, and it looks as if this wily man seldom expressed himself without some arrière-pensée or other, which was more to his own advantage than to that of the truth. My views of John Cabot’s voyage of 1497 on several points agree more nearly with those of S. E. Dawson, and for later voyages with those of G. Parker Winship.