become vacant by the death of Jacome Bruges, they solicited the appointment, and in reward for their services the request was granted, their patent commission being dated in Evora, 2d April, 1464.

Notwithstanding this early date of a voyage across the Atlantic, there exists no document to prove that any thing further was done by the Portugueze, in the way of discovery, till towards the close of the fifteenth century; and if the evidence of that in question rested on this single testimony of Cordeiro, and on the fact of the patent, it would scarcely be considered as sufficiently strong to deprive the Cabotas of the honour of being the first who discovered Newfoundland; at the same time if the patent should specify the service for which it was granted, and that service is stated to be the discovery of Newfoundland, the evidence would

go far in favour of the elder Cortereal. But there is another indirect testimony afforded by Francisco de Souza, who in 1570 wrote a treatise on the New Islands, and of their discovery; as also concerning those Portugueze who went from Vianna, and from the islands of the Azores, to people the Terra Nova do Baccalhao twenty years before that period; which would prove that the Portugueze not only were in the habit of fishing on the banks

* Tratado das Ilhas novas, &c. 1570.

Bibliotheca Lusitana.

of Newfoundland, but of settling there also, towards the close of the fifteenth century.

The arduous enterprize of prosecuting discoveries in the northern seas would seem however to have been reserved exclusively for the family of the Cortereals; for it does not appear that any person had attempted, on the part of Portugal, to explore those seas navigated by John Vaz Cortereal, the father, nor by any nation, except Cabota in behalf of England, until the time of his son Gaspar Cortereal.

The two ships which had been prepared for this voyage, and put under his command, sailed from Lisbon in the summer of 1500-for although Galvam says that they sailed from the island of Terceira, this must only be understood on account of their having touched there to receive refreshments, to complete their crews, and to afford Cortereal an opportunity of taking leave of that part of his family which was settled in that island.

Departing from the Azores, or Western Islands, they steered a course which, as far as they knew, had never but once before been traced by any navigator, till they discovered land to the northward, to which they gave the name of Terra Verde-that is, Greenland. Galvam places it (although with little accuracy) in 50°*—and others, particularly

* Misprinted probably for 60°, which would be correct.

Goes, describe the qualities of the country, and the manners of the inhabitants.

In the first collection of voyages which is known to have been published in Europe, and printed in Vicenza, by Francazano Montaboldo,* there is inserted a letter from Pedro Pascoal, ambassador from the republic of Venice to the court of Lisbon, addressed to his brother in Italy, and dated 29th October 1501, in which he details the voyage of Cortereal, as told by himself on his return.

From this authority, it appears that, having employed nearly a year in this voyage, he had discovered, between west and northwest, a con-. tinent until then unknown to the rest of the world; that he had run along the coast upwards of eight hundred miles; that according to his conjecture this land lay near a region formerly approached by the Venetians,† almost at the North Pole; and that he was unable to proceed farther on account of the great mountains of ice which. incumbered the sea, and the continued snows which fell from the sky.

He further relates that Cortereal brought fiftyseven of the natives in his vessels-he extols the country on account of the timber which it pro

* Mundo Nuovo é Paesi nuovamente retrovati, &c. Vicenza, 1507; a very rare book; translated into Latin, by Madrigano, under the title of " Itinerarium Portugalensium è Lusitania in Indiam, &c."

+ Nicolo and Antonio Zeno.

duces, the abundance of fish upon its coasts, and the inhabitants being robust and laborious.

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To this evidence may also be added that of Ramusio, whose accuracy in such matters is well known. The following extract is taken from his discourse on Terra Firma and the Oriental Islands. "In the part of the new world which runs to "the northwest, opposite to our habitable con"tinent of Europe, some navigators have sailed, "the first of whom, as far as can be ascertained, was Gaspar Cortereal, a Portugueze, who arrived "there in the year 1500 with two caravels, "thinking that he might discover some strait "through which he might pass, by a shorter voyage than round Africa, to the Spice islands. "They prosecuted their voyage in those seas "until they arrived at a region of extreme cold; "and in the latitude of 60° north they discovered "a river filled with ice, to which they gave the "name of Rio Nevado-that is, Snow River.

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They had not courage however to proceed farther, "all the coast which runs from Rio Nevado to "Porto das Malvas (Mallow Port) which lies in 56°, and which is a space of two hundred leagues, was well peopled, and they landed and brought away some of the inhabitants-Cortereal also "discovered many islands, all inhabited, and to "each of which he gave a name. We shall presently see what islands these were..

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* Ramusio, Navigat. et Viaggi.

This great country discovered by Cortereal is evidently that which at present is known under the name of Labrador, or rather Lavrador-a Portugueze word which characterises the inhabitants.

As a further proof that this is the fact, there is a map in an old edition of Ptolemy, published in Rome in 1508, which gives to the land of Lavrador the name of "Corterealis," and on it is laid down the island of Demonios (Demons) on account of the trouble which the ships had there experienced.

Sebastian Munster, in his Chorography, printed for the first time in Basle in 1544, gives to Newfoundland itself (Terra Nova) the name of Cortereal, and the celebrated Abraham Ortelius not only calls the land of Lavrador, Cortereal, but he marks the Rio Nevado, and Bahia da Serra, close to the entrance of the strait now named Hudson's; and he places nearly in the middle of it, a river which he calls Rio da Tormenta, (Storm River,) to which succeeds another bay called Bahia das Medas (Rick Bay.) It does not however follow that, because all these names are Portugueze, they must have first been given by Gaspar Cortereal, nor that he actually entered Hudson's Bay, though the probability is in favour of such a supposition, if we take into consideration all the collateral circumstances of the narrative.

The same doubt however does not occur in