And Forbidding All The Subjects Of England From Frequenting Or
Visiting Their Discoveries, Unless By License From The Cabots, Their Heirs
Or Deputies, Under Forfeiture Of Their Ships And Goods[10].
In pursuance of the authority of this patent, and of a farther licence
dated 13th February 1497, allowing John Cabot
To sail from any of the
ports of England with six ships of 200 tons burthen or under, John Cabot
and his son Sebastian sailed from Bristol, and discovered a land which had
never been before seen, on the 24th June 1497, about five in the morning,
to which they gave the name of Prima Vista, because that part was first
seen from sea. The island seen opposite, they named the Island of St John,
because discovered on the day of St John the Baptist. The inhabitants of
this island wore the skins of beasts, which they held in as much
estimation as we do our finest garments. In their wars they used bows,
arrows, spears, darts, wooden clubs, and slings. The land is barren and
unfruitful, but has white bears, and stags of unusual size. It abounds in
fish of great size, as seawolves, or seals, salmon, and soles above a yard
long; but chiefly in immense quantities of that kind which is vulgarly
called bacalaos. The hawks of this island are as black as crows, and the
eagles and partridges are likewise black[11].
The foregoing account is given by Hakluyt on the authority of a map,
engraved by Clement Adams after the design of Sebastian Cabot, which map
was then to be seen in the private gallery of Queen Elizabeth at
Westminster, and in the houses of many of the merchants of London.
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