Of this person we are told, "He knew well all the havens, as they were,
From Gothland to the Cape of Finisterre, And every creek in Brittany and
Spain: His barque ycleped was the _Magdalen_." The strange puzzle in
navigation that he propounded was as follows.
"Here be a chart," quoth the Shipman, "of five islands, with the
inhabitants of which I do trade. In each year my good ship doth sail over
every one of the ten courses depicted thereon, but never may she pass
along the same course twice in any year. Is there any among the company
who can tell me in how many different ways I may direct the _Magdalen's_
ten yearly voyages, always setting out from the same island?"
[Illustration: CHART of ye MAGDALEN]