2. Hakluyt here merely condenses the researches of Grotius, who had published, in 1542, his famous but rare Tract "On the Origin of the Native American Races," a translation of which the present Editor issued in his "Bibliotheca Curiosa," Edinburgh, 1884. Hakluyt was evidently ignorant of Gunnbjorn's glimpse of a Western land in 876, of Eric the Red's discovery of Greenland about 985, of Bjarni's and Leif's discoveries, or indeed of any of the traditions of the Voyages of the Northmen, or he would certainly have included them in his Collection. Those who are interested in these matters should consult Wheaton's History of the Northmen, London, 1831; Antiquitates Americanæ, edited by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquarians, Hafniæ, 1837; The Discovery of America by the Northmen, by N. L. Beamish, London, 1841; Historia Vinlandiæ Antiquæ, by Thermodus Torfoeus, Hafniæ, 1705; and the edition of the Flateyan MSS., lately published at Copenhagen.
3. I have, to the best of my ability, in Vols. I. to XI. of this edition, arranged the contents of Hakluyt's first two volumes in the order he would have desired, had he not "lacked sufficient store."
4. The History of Wales, written by Caradoc of Llancarvan, Glamorganshire,
in the British Language, translated into English by Humphrey Llwyd, and
edited by Dr. David Powel in 1584, is the book here quoted. It is very
rare.
5. If Madoc ever existed, it seems more probable that the land he
discovered was Madeira or the Azores. Such at least is the view taken by
Robertson, and also by Jeremiah Belknap (American Biography, 8vo,
Boston, 1774). Southey founded one of his poems on this tradition.
6. In Welsh, Meridith ap Rhees.
7. Marginal note.—These verses I receiued of my learned friend M. William
Camden.
8. The most interesting life of Columbus is that by Lamartine, a
translation of which appeared in the "Bibliotheca Curiosa."
9. Nothing is known of Cabot's early years. In the Archives of Venice is the record of his naturalization, dated 28 March 1476, which shows he had lived there fifteen years. (Archives of Venice: Senato Terra, 1473-1477. Vol vii p. 109.)
10. This patent was granted in reply to the following application by John Cabot:
"To the Kyng our Souvereigne lord,