Days of the Discoverers

ants'

ea coast. The Lisbon slavers get more

een to the Gold Coast, where wild African chiefs conjured elephants' tusks out of the mysterious back country and traded them for beads, trinkets and gay cloth. In Dieppe this ivory was carved by deft a

er like convicts, to Lisbon or Seville and sell them for fat gold moidores and doubloons. The Spanish conquistadores had not been ten years in the West Indies before they found that Indian slaver

uld burn forever rather than go to a heaven where Spaniards lived,"

way of thinking," agreed Captain Parmentie

bral claims tha

of the others think that there may be a way to India. Sebastian Cabot tried for it and found only icebergs, but Aube

," the youth repeated; "Cape Br

Jean Parmentie

there he had been known as Florin-the Florentine. In his boyhood the magnificent Medici, the merchant princes, had ruled Florence. After the fall of Constantinople he had seen the mastery of the sea pass from Venice to Lisbon. When he left Florence he followed the call of the sea-wind westward until now he had cast his lot with the seafarers of northern France, the only bit of the Continent that was outside the

dest prosperity to the cod. Baccalao, codfish or stockfish, all its names referred to the beating of the fish while drying, with a stick, to make it more tender; it was c

The natives were barbarous and unfriendly. North of Newfoundland were two small islands known as the Isles of Demons, where nobody ever went. Veteran pilots told of hearing the unseen devils howling and shrieking in the air. "Saint Michael!

ighty leagues the water was still salt. The banks had drawn closer together and rude fortifications appeared on the heights. Canoes

f a river, to ascend it might result in being cut off by hostile savages, which would be most unpleasant. A third consideration was that the inhabitants were said to live on fish, game, and berries, none of which could be secured, either peacea

anish held in the tropics. Except in the brief season when the swarming cod filled the seines of the fishermen, it yield

ing else. Italian dukedoms were overrun by troops from France, Spain, Austria and Switzerland, and Francis welcomed Italian artists, architects and poets to his capital. When the plague attacked Paris he removed to one of the royal chateaux in the country or paid visits

med at his own risk, and fought Spanish galleons wherever he met them. This helped to embarrass the King of Spain in his wars abroad. Galleons eastward bound were usually treasure-ships. The colonial governors, planters, captains and common soldiers took all the gold they could get for themselves, and the gold, silver and pearls that went a

st French chateaux, which were built on low lands among the hunting forests, it stood on a hill in a great park, and was surrounded with terraces, fountains, and gardens in the Italian style. Moreover its furniture was permanent, not brought in for royal guests and then taken away. The richness and beauty of its tapestries, state b

h, the turbot. Then came heron, cooked in the fashion of the day, with sugar, spice and orange-juice; olives, capers and sour fruits; pheasants, red-legged partridges, and the favorite roast, sucking-pig parboiled and then roasted with a stuffing of chopped meats, herbs, raisins and damson plums. There were salads of fruit,-such as the King's favorite of oranges, lemons and sugar with sweet herbs,-or of herbs, such as parsley and mint with pepper, cinnamo

said Francis when they were seated together in a private room. "H

t a quill of gold-dust nor an ingot of silver nor a seed-pearl comes honestly to Spain. It is all cruelty, bribery, slavery. Savonarola

never heard of Father Adam making any will dividing the earth between our brother of Spain and our brother of Portugal. Unless they can find such a document-" the lau

other, the discovery of other countries from which wealth might be gained, in territory not yet explored. Verrazzano pointed out the fact that, as the ear

preparations, use your own discretion, and if any Spaniards try to interfere with you-" the

Verrazzano was again making ready to sail for regions unknown. Perhaps he did not h

h had been sent home by Cortes loaded with Aztec gold. In convoying this prize to France he had caught another galleon coming from Hispaniola with a cargo of gold

, out of his original fleet of four, and neither friend nor foe caught a glimpse of him during the voyage. In March, 1524, having sailed midway between the usual course of the West

of blossoming trees and vines far out to sea. For fifty leagues the Dauphine followed the coast southward, looking for a harbor, for Verrazzano knew that pearl fisheries and spices were far more likely to be found in southern than in northern waters. No harbor appeared. The dar

hip. They wore hardly any clothing except the skin of some small animal like a marten, attached to a belt of wov

hese folk have never seen Spaniards-or Portuguese. Even on the Labrad

ts for gifts. The surf ran so high that the boat could not land, and Fran?ois leaped overboard and swam ashore. Here he scattered his wares among the watching Indians, and then, leaping into the waves again, stru

ing as if they were about to roast him alive. But it appeared presently that they only wished to dry his clothes and comfort him, for they

ed northward, and found a coast rich in grapes, the vines often covering large trees around which the natives kept the ground clear of shrubs that might interfere with this natural vineyard. Wild roses, violets, lilies, iris and many other plants and flowers, some quite unknown to Europe, greeted the admiring gaze of the commander. His quick mind pictured a royal garden adorned with these foreign shrubs and herbs, the wainscoting a

nce, where more than thirty canoes were assembled, filled with people. Sudd

has taken you?"

-the Grand Scarp. This is one of their great trading places, Captain.

mpum be?" asked

belt. There is an island in this bay where they make it out of their shell-fish midd

rnered island. Here he met two chiefs of that country, a man of about forty, and a young fellow of twenty-four, dressed in quaintly decorated deerskin mantles, with chains set with colored stones about their necks. He stayed two weeks, refitting the ship with provisions and other necessaries, and observing the place. The crew got by tradi

strat

ed to traffic in all peace

e just then to consider further explorations. The war was not fairly over w

o

ordinary misconceptions in the maps and charts of the time. It was not until the early part of the seventee

nte

E

ods with my

he D

he blood-red fl

the sacrifice, t

terro

call to his

the

rpent, the S

bear a

t shores of

, listening

ce tha

at falling bo

rren

is the voice

the

all to the Wa

ipoca's powe

White

ire of the b

e, the

nte