A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. II. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED GOMARA. Of the passage in Gomara, Hakluyt presents the following version: ? The testimonre of Francis Lopez de Gomara, a Spaniard, in the fourth chapter of the second booke of his generall history of the West Indies, concerning the first discoverie of a great part of the...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. II. THE SUBJECT CONTINUED GOMARA. Of the passage in Gomara, Hakluyt presents the following version: ? The testimonre of Francis Lopez de Gomara, a Spaniard, in the fourth chapter of the second booke of his generall history of the West Indies, concerning the first discoverie of a great part of the West Indies, to wit, from 58 to 38 degrees of latitude, by Sebastian Cabota out of England. He whict brought most certaine newes of the countrey and people of Sac- calaos, (saith Gomara, was Sebastian Cabote, a Venetian, which rigged up two ships at the cost of king Henry the Seventh of England, having great desire to traffique for the spices as the Portugals did. He carried with him three hundred men, and topke the way towards Island from beyond the Cape of Labrador, until he found himselfe in 58 degrees and better. He made relation, that in the moneth of July it was so cold, and the ice so great, that hee durst not passe any further: that the dayes were very long in a maner without any night, and for that short night that they had, it was very cleare. Cabot feeling the cold, turned towards the West, refreshing himselfe at Baccalaos; and afterwards he sailed along the coast unto 38 degrees, and from thence he shaped his course to returne into England. There is to be noted here another of Hakluyt's loose and suspicious references. The Spanish work is not divided into books, and the passage quoted occurs in the first part. This is said, after consulting the Saragossa edition of 1552? that of Medina del Campo, 1553?that of Antwerp, 1554? and the reprint of the work in Barcia's Historiadores Primitivos in 1749. A ready conjecture presents itself as to the source of Hakluyt's error. The work of Gomara was, at an early period, translated into French, by Fumee, in ...