differentiating terms. On the distinctions which they make rests
Hudson's claim to take practical precedence of Verrazano and of
Gomez, who sailed in past Sandy Hook nearly a hundred years ahead
of him; and of those shadowy nameless shipmen who in the
intervening time, until his coming, may have made our harbor one of
their stations--for refitting and watering--on their voyages from
and to Portugal and Spain.

The exploring work of John and of Sebastian Cabot, who sailed along
our coast, but who missed our harbor, does not come within my
range: save to note that Sebastian Cabot pretty certainly was one
of the several navigators, including Frobisher and Davis, who
entered Hudson's Strait before Hudson's time.

Verrazano was an Italian, sailing in the French service. Gomez was
a Portuguese, sailing in the Spanish service. Both sought a
westerly way to the Indies, and both sought it in the same
year--1524. Verrazano has left a report of his voyage, written
immediately upon his return to France; and with it a vaguely drawn
chart of the coasts which he explored. (It is my duty to add that
certain zealous historians have denounced his report as a forgery,
and his chart as a "fake"--a matter so much too large for
discussion here that I content myself with expressing the opinion
that these charges have not been sustained.) Gomez has left no
report of his voyage, but a partial account of it may be pieced
together from the maritime chronicles of his time. He also charted,
with an approximate accuracy, the lands which he coasted; and while
his chart has not been preserved in its original shape, there is
good reason for believing that we have it embodied in the
planisphere drawn by Juan Ribero, geographer to Charles V., in the