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.


SECTION II.