' They saw many natives,
occupied in hunting and fishing. Following the custom of
the time, they seized fifty or sixty natives, and crowded
these unhappy captives into the holds of their ships, to
carry home as evidence of the reality of their discoveries,
and to be sold as slaves. These savages are described by
those who saw them in Portugal as of shapely form and
gentle manner, though uncouth and even dirty in person.
They wore otter skins, and their faces were marked with
lines. The description would answer to any of the Algonquin
tribes of the eastern coast. Among the natives seen on
the coast there was a boy who had in his ears two silver
rings of Venetian make. The circumstance led the Portuguese
to suppose that they were on the coast of Asia, and that
a European ship had recently visited the same spot. The
true explanation, if the circumstance is correctly
reported, would seem to be that the rings were relics of
Cabot's voyages and of his trade in the trinkets supplied
by the merchants.
Gaspar Corte-Real sent his consort ships home, promising
to explore the coast further, and to return later in the
season.
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