account of what he had learned about the latest western discovery. Among other things, he reports that Cabot "landed, and although he saw no human beings, he has brought back to the King some snares which had been set to catch game, and a needle for making nets. He also found some felled trees. Wherefore he supposed that there were inhabitants, and returned to his ship in alarm."
These statements are confirmed in a dispatch sent to the Duke of Milan in the following December, in which his diplomatic representative at London, Raimondo di Soncino, gave him an extended account of Cabot, his discovery, and future plans. Neither this nor any of the other early documents, however, add any information regarding the unseen natives. Such as it is, the evidence seems to prove that Cabot found land in the west, went ashore and took formal possession of the territory on behalf of his royal patron, Henry VII of England, looked about, and then hurried away as quickly as possible to carry the news of his success to England. He doubtless utilized the opportunity to refill his water-casks, but there is no reason to suppose that he spent more than a few hours on American soil during his first visit to this continent.
In the spring of 1498, John Cabot again started for the New World. There is, however, no evidence that he ever reached his destination, and none to prove that he succeeded in returning to Europe. Three or four years later, some Bristol merchants fitted out an expedition which made a voyage to America, and it is quite possible that Cabot's son Sebastian may have taken part in this venture. From the very scanty records which survive we learn that in 1502 there "were brought unto the King [Henry VII] three men taken in the New found Island (by Sebastian Gabato). … These men were clothed in Beasts skins, and did eate rawe Fleshe, and spake such speach, that no man could understand them, and in their demeanor like to brute beasts, … of the which three men, two of them were seene in the Kings Court at Westminster two yeares after, apparelled like Englishmen, and could not be discerned from Englishmen, but as for speech, I heard none of them utter one word."[1]
In one of the legends which accompany the famous Cabot mappemonde of 1544, there is a reference to the American aborigines. Whether written by Sebastian Cabot or not, the information contained in this legend must almost certainly have come from him directly. Referring to Labrador, this eighth legend states that "the people there go about clothed in the skins of animals. In their wars they use bows and
- ↑ Hakluyt, Principall Navigations, 1589, p. 515.
