The next voyage of the Cabots, for the same purpose, was in the following year 1497 ; when a royal licence, dated the 13th of Henry VII., was granted to John Ca bot, to take six English ships, each of 200 tons and tin der, from any haven in the realm, and also as many of the king's subjects for mariners as might willingly ac company him. One ship was fitted out at the king's expence, and the merchants of London added three or four smaller ones. The following particulars of this voyage are taken from the great map of Sebastian, on which they were written in Latin by a hand of those times. The reader will not be displeased to have it from the black-letter translation of Hakluyt.
" In the yere of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Vene tian, and his some Sebastian, (with an English fleet set out from Bristoll,) discovered that land which no man before that time had attempted, on the 24 of June, about five of the clocke early in the morning. This land he called Prima Vista, that is to say, First scene, because as I suppose it was that part whereof they had the first sight from sea. That Island which lieth out before the land, he called the Island of St John, upon the occasion as I thinke, because it was discovered upon the clay of John the Baptist. The inhabitants of this island use to wear beasts skinnes, and have them in as great estima tion as we have our finest garments. In their wanes they use Bowes, arrowes, pikes, darts, wooden clubs, and slings. The soille is barren in some places, and yieldeth little fruit, but it is fulle of white bearer and stagges farre greater than ours. It yieldeth plenty of fish, and those very great, as scales, and those which commonly we call sahnons. There are soles also above a yard in length ; but especially there is a great abun dance of that kinde of fish which the savages call bacca los. In the same island also there breed hanks, but they are so very blacke that they are very like to ravens, as also their partridges, and eagles, which are in like sorts blacke." Three of the wretched natives of this island of I3ac calos, now bater known by the name of Newfound land, were carried home by Cabot, and are describ ed by cotemporary writers in terms of great wonder ment. The island, called St John's, mentioned in the above narration as lying out bekre the land, is sup posed to have been only a projection of the main island itself.
After this period we hear no more of the elder Cabot, and indeed for twenty years little is related of Sebastian ; though it is highly probable that his restless disposition, which he himself describes as " with desire" to do something memorable, did not suffer him to be long on shore. In the eighth year of Henry VIII. we find him in strict coalition with Sir Thomas Pert, then vice-admiral of England, by whose interest he obtained a good ship to prosecute his constant and favourite ob ject, the discovery of a passage to the Indies. Baffled in his attempts in the north and west, he now directed his course to the south, and sailed to the coast of Brasil. Here, however, the courage of Sir Thomas failing, Ca bot was obliged to desist from his purpose ; and having steered for Hispaniola and Porto Rico, wLere he traf ficked for some time, he returned disappointed and cha grined to England. From England he soon after re
moved to Spain, at that time the seat of commercial and geographical information, and resided at Seville ; at once perfecting himself in the knowledge of the globe, and communicating the particulars of his own observa tion. Here he is said to have met with great encou ragement, being appointed Pilot Major, an office of great consideration, and constituted inspector of all projects of discovery, which were then frequent and suc cessful.
In 1524, an association of Spanish merchants agreed to entrust him with an expedition to the Moluccas or Spice Islands, through the newly discovered Straits of Magellan. He accordingly sailed fi on) Cadiz in April 1525, with four ships laden with stores and articles of commerce ; and touched successively at the Canaries, Cape Verd Islands, Cape St Augustine, and the Island of Paros, or of Geese. At the bay of All-Saints, he was guilty, if we are accurately informed, of a most barba rous and ungrateful action. After being liberally sup plied with necessaries by the hospitable inhabitants, he seized and carried off four young men, sons of the prin cipal people in that place. To this piece of cruelty, he soon after added another : for proceeding towards the river Plata, he landed on a desert island Martin Mendez his admiral, Captain Francis de Rojas, and Michael de Rojas, where he left them because they had censured his conduct. His eagerness to reach the Spice Islands was once more destined to be disappointed, -by a mutiny of his crews, and the want of provisions. Sailing, therefore, up the Plata about 30 leagues, he there discovered an island which he named St Gabriel : it was about a league in circumference, and half a league from the left bank of the river ; and here he dropped anchor. Three leagues higher up, his boats discovering a deep and well sheltered river, which he called St Salvador, he removed his fleet thither, unloaded his vessels, and built a fort, to keep the numerous natives in awe. Having left his fleet in this commodious harbour, and carrying along m ith him, in a float and small boats, several articles of traffic, he advanced thirty leagues more, when he came to ano ther river called Zarcamana. The inhabitants here Nvere intelligent and not unfriendly ; for which reason he con structed on this river also a small station, and named it Santi Espiritu, though his followers called it after him self, Cabot's fort. After discovering the river Parana, and many other rivers and islands of less note, he at last arrived at the great river Paraguay ; and, for the first time since his arrival on this coast, observed the inhabi tants tilling the ground. Here a bloody conflict took place between his people and the Indians, of whom he made a considerable slaughter ; not however without a loss on his part of 25 men killed, and three prisoners. During his excursions in those hitherto unexplored coun tries, Cabot was chiefly struck with two circumstances,— the number and immensity of the waters, and the innu merable population on their banks.