Chapter IV: Section I

_Discovery of Newfoundland by John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497, in the service of Henry VII. of England._

"In the year 1497, John Cabot a Venetian and his son Sebastian, discovered on the 24th of June, about five in the morning, that land to which no person had before ventured to sail, which they named _Prima Vista_[3], or, _first-seen_, because as I believe it was the first part seen by them from the sea. The island which is opposite[4] he named St Johns Island, because discovered on the day of St John the Baptist. The inhabitants of this island use the skins and furs of wild beasts for garments, which they hold in as high estimation as we do our finest clothes. In war they use bows and arrows, spears, darts, clubs, and slings. The soil is sterile and yields no useful production; but it abounds in white bears and deer much larger than ours. Its coasts produce vast quantities of large fish, among which are _great seals_, salmons, soles above a yard in length, and prodigious quantities especially of cod, which are commonly called _bacallaos_[5]. The hawks, partridges, and eagles of this island are all black."

[Footnote 3: Presuming that this discovery was Newfoundland, a name nearly of the same import, perhaps the land first seen was what is now called Cape Bonavista, in lat. 48° 50' N. long. 62° 32' W. from London. In the text, there is every reason to believe that it is meant to indicate, that Cabot named the island he discovered St Johns, and only the first seen point of land Prima-Vista.--E.]

[Footnote 4: By this phrase is probably to be understood, the island behind this first-seen cape named _Prima-Vista_.--E.]

[Footnote 5: _Vulgari Sermoni_, is translated by Hakluyt, _in the language of the savages_; but we have given it a different sense in the text, that used by Hakluyt having no sufficient warrant in the original.--E.]

Besides the foregoing memorandum on the ancient map, Hakluyt gives the following testimonies respecting the discovery of the northern part of America, by Cabot.