h is to be seene
in her Maiesties priuie gallerie at Westminster, and in many other
ancient merchants houses.

Anno Domini 1497 Ioannes Cabotus Venetus, et Sebastianus illius filius eam
terram fecerunt peruiam, quam nullus prius adire ausus fuit, die 24 Junij,
circiter horam quintam bene mane. Hanc autem appellauit Terram primum
visam, credo quod ex mari in eam partem primum oculos iniecerat. Nam quae ex
aduerso sita est insula eam appellauit insulam Diui Ioannis, hac opinor
ratione, quod aperta fuit eo die qui est sacer Diuo Ioanni Baptistae: Huius
incolae pelles animalium, exuuiasque ferarum pro indumentis habent, easque
tanti faciunt, quanti nos vestes preciosissimas. Cum bellum gerunt, vtuntur
arcu, sagittis, hastis, spiculis, clauis ligneis et fundis. Tellus sterilis
est, neque vllos fructus affert, ex quo fit, vt vrsis albo colore, et
ceruis inusitatae apud nos magnitudinis referta sit: piscibus abundat,
ijsque sane magnis, quales sunt lupi marini, et quos salmones vulgus
appellat; soleae autem reperiuntur tam longae, vt vlnae mensuram excedant.
Imprimis autem magna est copia eorum piscium, quos vulgari sermone vocant
Bacallaos. Gignuntur in ea insula accipitres ita nigri, vt coruorum
similitudinem mirum in modum exprimant, perdices autem et aquilae sunt nigri
coloris.

The same in English.

In the yeere of our Lord 1497 Iohn Cabot a Venetian, and his sonne
Sebastian (with an English fleet set out from Bristoll) discouered that
land which no man before that time had attempted, on the 24 of Iune,[13]
about fiue of the clocke early in the morning. This land he called Prima
vista, that is to say, First seene, because as I suppose it was that part
whereof they had the first sight from sea. That Island which lieth out
before the land, he called the Island of S. Iohn vpon this occasion, as I
thinke, because it was discouered vpon the day of Iohn the Baptist. The
inhabitants of this Island vse to weare beasts skinnes, and haue them in as
great estimation as we haue our finest garments. In their warres they vse
bowes, arrowes, pikes, darts, woodden clubs, and slings. The soile is
barren in some places, and yeeldeth litle fruit, but it is full of white
beares, and stagges farre greater then ours. It yeeldeth plenty of fish,
and those very great, as seales, and those which commonly we call salmons:
there are soles also aboue a yard in length: but especially there is great
abundance of that kinde of fish which the Sa