“Shortly after that yowr Maiestie came to the citie of Toledo, there arryved in the moneth of November, Stephen Gomes the pylot who the yeare before of 1524 by the commandement of yowre maiestie sayled to the Northe partes and founde a greate parte of lande continuate from that which is cauled Baccaleos discoursynge towarde the West to the XL and XLI degree, fro whense he brought certeyne Indians, of the whiche he brought sum with hym from thense who are yet in Toledo at this present, and of greater stature than other of the firme land as they are commonlye.  Theyr coloure is much like the other of the firme lande.  They are great archers, and go couered with the skinnes of dyuers beastes both wylde and tame.  In this lande are many excellent furres, as marterns, sables and such other rych furres, of the which the sayde pilot brought summe with hym into Spayne.  They have sylver and copper and certeyne other metalles.  They are Idolaters and honoure the soonne and moone, and are seduced with suche superstitions and errours as are they of the firme.” [Footnote:  Oviedo de la natural hystoria de las Indias. (Toledo, 15 Feby. 1526), fol. 14; and under the title of Relucion Sumaria, p. 16, in Barcia’s Historiadores primitivas, tome 1.  Translated in Eden’s Decades of the new worlde, fol. 213-14.]

The details of the exploration appear more distinctly upon the charts which the royal cosmographers at Seville prepared, with the names given to the prominent points of the coast.  Two of these maps are still extant, bearing the respective dates of 1527 and 1529, the first by an anonymous cartographer, and the last by Ribero. [Footnote:  Both these maps, so far as they relate to America, have been reproduced, with very valuable notes and illustrations, by Mr. Kohl in Die beiden altesten general karten von Amerika.  Weimar 1860.] The whole line of coast from the river Jordan, in latitude 33 degrees 10’, visited by both the expeditions of Ayllon, to Cape Breton, is laid down upon them with sufficient exactitude.  The names indicate the exploration to have been made by Gomez the whole distance between those points; for no other navigator of Spain, in the language of which they are given, had sailed within those limits up to the time these maps bear date.  The only question which has been raised in this regard relates to the expeditions of Ayllon; but the first of these, a joint descent upon the coast to carry off Indians in 1520 by two vessels belonging to the licentiates Ayllon and Matienzo of St. Domingo, proceeded no further than the Jordan, as we learn from the testimony of Pedro de Quejo, the pilot of Matienzo. [Footnote:  Proceedings before the Auditors at St Domingo, by virtues of a royal decree of Nov. 1525, in relation to the dispute between Ayllon and Matienzo concerning their discovery, preserved in Ms. at Seville.] The expedition which Ayllon made afterwards in 1526, in person, to the same coast, proceeded directly to the river Jordan, and after remaining there a few days,