expert seaman, gave him the command of his fleet, consisting of thirteen vessels, of which two only were rowed with oars; one was a ship, and the rest were small barks. With this fleet he made conquests and depredations in Ledovo, and Ilofo, and other small islands, several barks laden with fish being a part of his capture.

Nicolo wrote to his brother Antonio Zeno at Venice, inviting him to Frisland, whither he went, and, being taken into the service of Zichmni, continued with him fourteen years. The fleet sailed on an expedition to Estland, where they committed great ravages; but, hearing that the King of Norway was coming against them with a superior fleet, they departed, and were driven by a storm on shoals, where part of the fleet was wrecked, and the rest were saved on Grisland, "a great island, but not inhabited."

Zichmni then determined to attack Iceland, which belonged to the King of Norway; but, finding it well fortified and defended, and his fleet being diminished, he retired and built a fort in Bress, one of seven small islands, where he left Nicolo and returned to Frisland.

In the next spring Zeno, with three small

barks, sailed to the northward on discovery, and arrived at Engroenland, where he found a monastery of friars, and a church dedicated to St. Thomas, situate near a volcano, and heated by warm springs flowing from the

mountain.

After the death of Nicolo, which happened in about four years, Antonio succeeded him in the command of the fleet; and the Prince Zichmni, aiming at the sovereignty of the sea, undertook an expedition westward, because that some fishermen had discovered rich and populous islands in that quarter.

The report of the fishermen was, that above a thousand miles westward from Frisland, to which distance they had been driven by a tempest, there was an island called Estotiland, which they had discovered twenty-six years before; that six men in one boat were driven upon the island, and, being taken by the inhabitants, were brought into a fair and populous city; that the king of the place sent for many interpreters, but none was found who could understand the language of the fishermen, except one who could speak Latin, and he had formerly been cast ashore on the island; that, on his reporting their case to the king, he detained them five years, in

which time they learned the language; that one of them visited divers parts of the island, and reported that it was a very rich country, abounding with all the commodities of the world; that it was less than Iceland, but far more fruitful, having in the middle a very high mountain, from which originated four rivers.

The inhabitants were described as very ingenious, having all mechanic arts. They had a peculiar kind of language and letters; in the king's library were preserved Latin books, which they did not understand. They had all kinds of metals (but especially gold, with which they mightily abounded.*) They held traffic with the people of Engroenland, from whence they brought furs, pitch, and brimstone. They had many great forests, which supplied them with timber for the building of ships, houses, and fortifications. The use of the loadstone was not known; but these fishermen having the mariner's compass, were held in so high estimation that the king sent them with twelve barks to a country at the southward, called Drogio, where

This passage is in Hakluyt's translation, and the abridgment by Ortelius; but Dr. Forster could not find it in the Italian original of Ramusio.-Northern Voyages, p. 189.

the most of them were killed and devoured by cannibals; but one of them saved himself by showing the savages a way of taking fish by nets, in much greater plenty than by any other mode before known among them. This fisherman was in so great demand with the princes of the country, that they frequently made war on each other for the sake of gaining him. In this manner he passed from one to another, till, in the space of thirteen years, he had lived with twenty-five different princes, to whom he communicated his "miraculous" art of fishing with nets.

He thus became acquainted with every part of the country, which he described to be so extensive as to merit the name of a new world. The people were rude, and ignorant of the use of clothing, though their climate was cold, and afforded beasts for the chase. In their hunting and wars they used the bow and the lance, but they knew not the use of metal.

Farther to the southwest the air was said to be more temperate and the people more civil. They dwelt in cities, built temples, and worshipped idols, to whom they offered human victims; and they had plenty of gold and silver.

The fisherman, having become fully ac

quainted with the country, meditated a return. Having fled through the woods to Drogio, after three years some boats arrived from Estotiland, in one of which he embarked for that country; and having acquired considerable property, he fitted out a bark of his own and returned to Frisland.

Such was the report of the fisherman, upon hearing of which Zichmni resolved to equip his fleet and go in search of the new country, Antonio Zeno being the second in command. But "the preparation for the voyage to Estotiland was begun in an evil hour; the fisherman, who was to have been the pilot, died three days before their departure."

However, taking certain mariners who had sailed with the fisherman, Ziehmni began the intended voyage. When he had sailed a small distance to the westward, he was overtaken by a storm which lasted eight days, at the end of which they discovered land, which the natives called Icaria. They were numerous and formidable, and would not permit him to come on shore. From this place they sailed six days to the westward with a fair wind, but a heavy gale from the southward drove them four days before it, when they discovered land, in which was a volcano.