[423-1] This letter was received in Venice on September 23, 1497, and a
copy of it was incorporated by Marino Sanuto in his diary. It was first
brought to light by Rawdon Brown in his _Ragguagli sulla Vita e sulle
Opere di Marin Sanuto_, etc. (Venezia, 1837). It was published in English
in a generally accessible form in 1864 in the _Calendar of State Papers_,
_Venetian Series_, I. 262, edited by Rawdon Brown. The translation here
given is a revision of Brown's version. Another translation is printed in
Markham, _The Journal of Columbus_ (London, 1893).
[423-2] This reference to the Grand Cham probably indicates familiarity
with Columbus's views of what he had discovered as expressed in his
letters to Santangel and to Sanchez; see above, p. 268.
The landfall of John Cabot has been the subject of prolonged discussion.
Labrador, Newfoundland, and Cape Breton are the principal places
advocated. Of late years, owing to the vigorous and learned arguments of
Dr. S.E. Dawson there has been an increasing disposition to accept Cape
Breton on Cape Breton Island as the most probable location. See Winship,
_Cabot Bibliography_, for the literature.
[423-3] The words "to starboard" have been inserted at this point in all
English translations. Biggar has pointed out that the words _al dreto_ so
translated are Venetian dialect for _addietro_, which is an alternate
form for the more common _indietro_, back. The earlier translators
thought _al dreto_ equivalent to _al dritto_, on the right. _Al tornar al
dreto_ means simply "in going back."
[424-1] "August 10, 1497: To hym that founde the New Isle, 10L." British
Museum, Add. MSS. No. 7099, 12 Henry VII., fol. 41. From Weare, _Cabot's
Discovery of North America_, 124.
[424-2] So in Sanuto's text. This form indicates perhaps that Pasqualigo
had only heard the name and not seen it written.
[424-3] This letter was found in the archives of the Sforza family in
Milan. The manuscript is apparently no longer extant. There are two
somewhat divergent texts. The one translated here is the one sent by
Rawdon Brown to the Public Record Office in London. Both are printed in
Weare, _Cabot's Discovery_, pp. 142-143. The translation given here is by
Rawdon Brown as printed in the _Calendar of State Papers, Venetian
Series_, I. 259-260.
[425-1] The Seven Cities was a legendary island in the Atlantic. They are
all placed and named on the legendary island of Antilia on the map of
Grazioso Benincasa in 1482. See E.G. Bourne, _Spain in America_, pp. 6
and 7, and Kretschmer, _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, Atlas, plate 4.
Columbus reported in Portugal that he had discovered Antilia (see p. 225,
note 1); hence the deduction either of John Cabot or of Raimondo that the
region explored by Cabot, being far to the west in the ocean, was the
same as that visited by Columbus. _Cf._ also art. "Brazil, Island of,"
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.
[425-2] This letter is preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Milan. It
was first published in the _Annuario Scientifico del 1865_ (Milan, 1866).
It was first printed in English in Winsor, _Narrative and Critical
History of America_, III. 54-55 (Boston, 1884), in the chapter by Charles
Deane, entitled "The Voyages of the Cabots." This translation was revised
by Professor B.H. Nash of Harvard University and is given here with only
one or two slight changes.
[425-3] In this passage Cabot's immediate impulse is attributed to the
voyages of Columbus and their results.
[426-1] No satisfactory explanation of this can be given. Bellemo, in the
_Raccolta Colombiana_, pt. III., vol. I., p. 197, interprets this
sentence to mean that Cabot showed on the globe the place he had reached
on the voyage and then to that statement the remark is added, referring
to earlier journeys, "and going toward the east he has passed
considerably beyond the land of the Tanais." Tanais is the Latin name for
the Don, and at the mouth of the Don was the important Venetian trading
station of La Tana. _Cf._ Biggar, _Voyages of the Cabots and
Corte-Reals_, pp. 33-34, note. Biggar dissents from this interpretation.
I would offer the conjecture that "the land of the Tanais" stands for the
land of Tana. In Marco Polo the kingdom of Tana, on the western side of
India, is described as powerful and having an extensive commerce. See
Marco Polo, pt. III., ch. XXX. Raimondo, if unfamiliar with Marco Polo,
would understand La Tana by Tana and then naturally assume that "the
country of Tana" was a slip for "country of the Tanais." Cabot on the
other hand might have heard of Tana when in Mecca without getting any
very definite idea of its location except that it was far to the East in
India. The phrase "toward the East," like the one earlier in the letter
"toward the Oriental regions," is used of the ultimate destination, not
the direction, and of the destination as a known spot always thought of
in Europe as "the East."
[426-2] _El brasilio_ for _el legno brasilio_. Brazil wood was an East
Indian red wood imported into Europe. It is the _Caesalpina sappan_. Its
bright color led to its being compared to glowing coals, _brazia_,
_brascia_, etc., Eng. brazier, and then to its being called, as it were,
"glowing coals wood," _lignum brasile_, _lignum brasilium_, etc., and in
Italian most commonly _brasile_ and _verzino_, a popular corruption.
Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age_, II. 587. On the
transference of the name of this wood to a mythical island in the
Atlantic and then, after the discoveries, to the present country of
Brazil which produced dye-woods similar to _Brasilio_, see Yule's art.
"Brazil, Island of," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and Winsor, _Narrative
and Critical History_, I. 49-51.
[427-1] _Stochfissi._ The English word "stockfish" Italianized. Of the
English fish trade with Iceland, Biggar gives a full account, _Voyages of
the Cabots_, pp. 53-62, making frequent citations from G.W. Dasent,
_Icelandic Annals_, IV. 427-437. He quotes also a passage from the
_Libell of English Policy_, 1436, beginning:
"Of Yseland to wryte is lytille nede Save of stokfische;" etc.
[427-2] _El Levante_, here again as a known place, oriented from Europe.
His destination, not the direction of his route.
[427-3] In Cabot's mind the Cipango of Marco Polo is confused with the
Spice Islands. Marco Polo says nothing of the production of spices in his
account of Cipango. The confusion is probably to be traced to Columbus's
reports that he had discovered Cipango and that the islands he had
discovered produced spices.
[427-4] From 1425 Jiddah on the east shore of the Red Sea rapidly
displaced Aden as an emporium of the spice trade where the cargoes were
transshipped from Indian to Egyptian vessels. Jiddah is the port of entry
for Mecca, distant about forty-five miles, and Mecca became a great spice
market. See Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age_, II. 445
_et seqq._, and Biggar, _Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals_, pp.
31-36. Biggar quotes interesting passages on the Mecca trade from _The
Travels of Ludovico di Varthema_, Hakluyt Society (London, 1863).
[428-1] _I.e._, a place far enough east from Arabia to be thought of as
west from Europe. After making all due allowances one may be excused for
feeling some misgiving whether John Cabot actually ever was in Mecca.
While some of the spices and eastern commodities were brought overland by
caravan from Ormuz or Bassora, the greater part came by water to Jiddah.
At Jiddah he could hardly have failed to get fairly accurate information
as to where the spices came from. That one who had seen that great
commerce should have remained so much in the dark as to conclude that
spices came from northeastern Asia is strange enough.
[428-2] In imitation of Columbus.
[429-1] English social joys in the fifteenth century did not appeal to
the more refined Italians. An interesting parallel to this comment of
Raimondo de Soncino is to be found in Vespasiano's life of Poggio. "Pope
Martin sent him with letters to England. He strongly condemned their
life, consuming the time in eating and drinking. He was used to say in
pleasantry that oftentimes being invited by those prelates or English
gentlemen to dinner or to supper and staying four hours at the table he
must needs rise from the table many times to wash his eyes with cold
water so as not to fall asleep." Vespasiano da Bisticci, _Vite di Uomini
Illustri del Secolo XV._ (Florence, 1859), p. 420.
[429-2] The original is in the archives at Simancas partly in cipher. It
was discovered and deciphered by Bergenroth and published in the
_Calendar of State Papers, Spanish Series_, I., pp. 176-177. The Spanish
text was published by Harrisse, _Jean et Sebastien Cabot_, pp. 329-330,
and in Weare, _Cabot's Discovery_, pp. 160-161. Bergenroth's translation
is given here, carefully revised. The contents of this letter were
briefly summarized in a despatch to the Catholic sovereigns by Dr.
Puebla, their senior ambassador, which was transmitted at or about the
same time with that of Ayala. The Puebla despatch, which contains nothing
not in the Ayala despatch, can be seen in Weare, p. 159.
[430-1] In this Ayala would seem to have been misinformed. _Cf._ pp. 423,
425.
[430-2] The "and" is not in the original, but is supplied by all the
editors. It is not absolutely certain that it belongs there. If it does,
the passage implies that Cabot had recently been in Seville and Lisbon to
enlist interest in his second voyage.
[430-3] This information is not elsewhere confirmed. On Brazil and the
Seven Cities, see p. 426, note 2, and p. 425, note 1.
[430-4] One Friar Buil went with Columbus on his second voyage.
[430-5] The treaty of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494; see p. 323, note 3.