nd afterwards
absorbed by some panting Demogorgon. This theory would, up to a
certain point, furnish an explanation of the ebb and flow.

[Note 1: The word _Bacallaos_ is thought to be of Basque origin.
This designation for codfish is extremely ancient, and the land thus
named appears on the earliest maps of America.]

Cabotto calls these lands Terra de Bacallaos, because the neighbouring
waters swarm with fish similar to tunnies, which the natives call by
this name. These fish are so numerous that sometimes they interfere
with the progress of ships. The natives of these regions wear furs,
and appear to be intelligent. Cabotto reports that there are many
bears in the country, which live on fish. These animals plunge into
the midst of thick schools of fish, and seizing one fast in their
claws they drag it ashore to be devoured. They are not dangerous to
men. He claims to have seen the natives in many places in possession
of copper. Cabotto frequents my house, and I have him sometimes at my
table.[2] He was called from England by our Catholic King after the
death of Henry, King of that country, and he lives at court with us.
He is waiting, from day to day, to be furnished with ships with which
he will be able to discover this mystery of nature. I think he will
leave on this expedition towards the month of March of next year,
1516. If God gives me life, Your Holiness shall hear from me what
happens to him. There are not wanting people in Spain who affirm that
Cabotto is not the first discoverer of Terra de Bacallaos; they only
concede him the merit of having pushed out a little farther to the
west.[3] But this is enough about the strait and Cabotto.

[Note 2: Again we see Peter Martyr's system of collecting
information illustrated. Cabot's discoveries on this voyage are
indicated on Juan de la Cosa's map, of 1500. Henry VII. gave little
support, and Cabot, therefore, withdrew from England. In 1516 he was
given an appointment by King Ferdinand, with 50,000 maravedis yearly
and an estate in Andalusia.]

[Note 3: The Bacallaos coast was discovered by the Scandinavians
in the tenth century, and was known to the Venetians in the
fourteenth. Basque, Breton, and Norman fishermen visited it in the
following century.]

Let us now return to the Spaniards. Pedro Arias and his men passed
the length of the harbour of Carthagena and the islands inhabited by
Caribs, named San Bernardo's Islands. They left the entire country of
Car