AJ-094: Verrazzano, Coast of North America (1524)

              VERAZZINO'S voykGE.    45
size from
ours, and of a very delicious flavour. Besides they take
birds and fish for food, using snares and bows made of hard
wood, with reeds for arrows, in the ends of which they put..
the bones of fish and other animals. The animals in these
regions are wilder than in Europe from being continually
molested by the hunters. We saw many of their boats made of
one tree twenty feet long and four feet broad, without the
aid of stone or iron or other kind of metal. In the whole
country, for the space of two hundred leagues, which we
visited, we saw no stone of any sort. To hollow out their
boats they burn out as much of a log as is requisite, and
also from the prow and stern to make them float well on the
sea. The land, in situation, fertility and beauty, is like
the other, abounding also in forests filled with various
kinds of trees, but not of such fragrance, as it is more
northern and colder.
We saw in this country many vines
growing naturally, which entwine about the trees, and run up
upon them as they do in the plains of. Lombardy. These vines
would doubtless produce excellent wine if they were properly
cultivated and attended to, as we have often seen the grapes
which they produce very sweet and pleasant, and not unlike
our own. They must be held in estimation by them, as they
carefully remove the shrubbery from around them, wherever
they grow, to allow the fruit to ripen better. We found also
wild roses, violets, lilies, and many sorts of plants and
fragrant flowers different from our own. We cannot describe
their habitations, as they are in the interior of the
country, but from various indications we conclude they must
bee formed of trees and shrubs. We' saw also many grounds
for conjecturing that they often sleep in the open air,
without any covering but the sky. Of their other usages we
know nothing; we believe, however, that all the people we
were among live in the same way.
I After having remained
here three days, riding at anchor on the coast, as we could
find no harbour, we determined to depart, and coast along
the shore to the north-east, keeping sail on the vessel only
by clay, and coming to anchor by night. After proceeding one
hundred leagues, we found a very pleasant situation among
some steep hills, through which a very large river, deep at
its mouth, forced its way to the sea; from the sea to the
estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might pass,
with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as we
were riding dina at anchor in a good berth, we would not
venture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth;
therefore we took the boat, and entering the river, we found
the country on its banks well peopled, the inhabitants not
differing much from the others, being dressed out with the
feathers of birds of various colours. They came towards us
with