'He was three months on the voyage, and on his return he saw two islands to starboard, but would not land, time being precious as he was short of provisions. He says that the tides are slack and do not flow as they do here. The King of England is much pleased with this intelligence.
'The King has promised that in the spring our countryman shall have ten ships, armed to his order, and at his request has conceded him all the prisoners, except such as are confined for high treason, to man his fleet. The King has also given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then, and he is now at Bristol with his wife, who is also Venetian, and with his sons; his name is Zuan Cabot, and he is styled the Great Admiral. Vast honour is paid him; he dresses in silk, and these English run after him like mad people, so that he can enlist as many of them as he pleases, and a number of our own rogues besides.
'The discoverer of these places planted on his new found land a large cross, with one flag of England and another of S. Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian, so that our banner has floated very far afield.
‘London, 23rd August, 1497.’[[45]]
Raimondo de Soncino to the Duke of Milan, August 24, 1497.
‘... Also some months ago His Majesty sent out a Venetian, who is a very good mariner, and has good skill in discovering new islands, and he has returned safe, and has found two very large and fertile new islands; having likewise discovered the seven cities, four hundred leagues from England, on a western passage. This next spring, his majesty means to send him with 15 to 20 ships.’[[46]]
Raimondo de Soncino to the Duke of Milan, December 18, 1497. From the State Archives of Milan. Printed for the first time in English in Narrative and Critical History of America, edited by Justin Winsor, Cambridge, Mass., 1886, vol. iii. The Cabot section is by Charles Deane, F.S.A.
‘Most illustrious and excellent my lord:
‘Perhaps among your Excellency’s many occupations, it may not displease you to learn how his Majesty here has won a part of Asia without a stroke of the sword. There is in this Kingdom a Venetian fellow, master John Caboto by name, of a fine mind, greatly skilled in navigation, who seeing that those most serene kings, first he of Portugal, then the one of Spain, have occupied unknown islands, determined to make a like acquisition for his Majesty aforesaid. And having obtained royal grants that he should have the usufruct of all that he should discover, provided that the ownership of the same is reserved to the crown, with a small ship and 18 persons he committed himself to fortune; and having set out from Bristol, a western port of this kingdom, and passed the western limits of Hibernia, and then standing to the northward he began to steer eastward (sic), having (after a few days) the north star on his right hand; and having wandered about considerably, 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 and from Bristol, 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 he (or the chart and the globe) shows where he landed, and that going towards the east (sic) he passed considerably beyond the country of the Tanais. And they say that it is a very good and temperate country, and they think that Brasil wood and silks grow there; and they affirm that the sea is covered with fishes, which are caught not only with the net, but with baskets, a stone being tied in 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 say they will bring so many fishes that the kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country there comes a great store of fish called stockfish. But Master John has set his mind on something greater; for he expects to go further on towards 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 distant countries, and that those who brought them, on being asked where the said spices grow, answered that they do not know, but that other caravans came to their homes with this merchandise from distant countries, and these again say that they are brought to them from other remote regions. And he argues thus—that if the Orientals affirmed to the southerners that these things came 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 towards 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 puts some faith in him; for since his return he has made good provision for him, as the same Master John tells me. And it is said that, in the spring, his Majesty aforenamed will fit out some ships, and will besides give him all the convicts, that they will go to that country to make a colony, by means of which they hope to establish in London a greater storehouse of spices than there is in Alexandria; and the chief men of the enterprise are of Bristol, great sailors, who, now that they know where to go, say that it is not a voyage of more than fifteen days, nor do they ever have storms after they get away from Hibernia. I have also talked with a Burgundian, a comrade of Master John’s, who confirms everything, and wishes to return thither because the Admiral (for so Master John already entitles himself) has given him an island; and he has given another one to a barber of his from Castiglione of Genoa, and both of them regard themselves as counts, nor does my Lord the Admiral esteem himself anything less than a Prince. I think that with this expedition there will go several poor Italian monks, who have all been promised bishoprics. And, as I have become a friend of the Admiral’s, if I wished to go thither I should get an archbishopric. I humbly commend myself,
‘Your Excellency’s