Cabot landed. For finding distance east and west the
navigators of the fifteenth century had no such appliances
as our modern chronometer and instruments of observation.
They could tell how far they had sailed only by 'dead
reckoning'; this means that if their ship was going at
such and such a speed, it was supposed to have made such
and such a distance in a given time. But when ships were
being driven to and fro, and buffeted by adverse winds,
this reckoning became extremely uncertain.

John Cabot and his men mere tossed about considerably in
their little ship. Though they seem to have set out early
in May of 1497, it was not until June 24 that they sighted
land. What the land was like, and what they thought of
it, we know from letters written in England by various
persons after their return. Thus we learn that it was a
'very good and temperate country,' and that 'Brazil wood
and silks grow there.' 'The sea,' they reported, 'is
covered with fishes, which are caught not only with the
net, but with baskets, a stone being tied to them in
order that the baskets may sink in the water.' Henceforth,
it was said, England would have no more need to buy fish
from Iceland, for the waters of the new land abounded in
fish. Cabot and his men saw no savages, but they found
proof that the land was inhabited. Here and there in the
forest they saw trees which had been felled, and also
snares of a rude kind set to catch game. They were
enthusiastic over their success. They reported that the
new land must certainly be connected with Cipango, from
which all the spices and precious stones of the world