SALVE. Non statueram ad te scribere, cum in mentem veniret promissum literarum tuarum. Putabas te superiore iam Iunio nos subsecuturum. Itaque de meo statu ex doctore Humfredo certiorem te fieri iusseram. Verum sic tibi non esset satisfactum. Itaque scribam ad te iisdem fere verbis, quia nove meditari et sunonimezein mihi hoc tempore non vacat.

In: David B. Quinn & Neil M. Cheshire: The New Found Land of Stephen Parmenius. The life and writings of a Hungarian poet, drowned on a voyage from Newfoundland, 1583 (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1972), pp. 168, 170.

GREETINGS. I was not intending to write to you at the time when your promise of a letter came to mind. Last June you thought that you would be following us, and I had therefore left

word that you should be told about my situation by Dr Humfrey: but this would not satisfy you. So I shall write to you in almost the same words, because I have no leisure at the moment for new ideas and different façons de parler.

In the end we actually set sail from England, belatedly, on June 11, leaving port and dry land at Plymouth. The fleet consisted of five ships, the biggest of which had been provided by the admiral's brother and separated herself from us, for some unknown reason, on the third day. The rest of us carried on sailing together until July 23, when visibility was obscured by thick mist and we all took different courses.

We sighted the first land on our own on August 1, about latitude 50°, after we had gone down, a few days previously, beyond 41 degrees in the hope of finding southerly winds, which however never blew for us at their usual time. It was what your people call Penguin Island, owing to the number of that sort of bird there. But we neither saw the birds nor reached the island, because the winds were calling us elsewhere. And yet we all met in the same place, a little way out of the harbour which had been planned as our common destination (and that within two hours of each other), by the great goodness of God and to our own delight. The spot is a place in Newfoundland, between latitudes 47° and 48°, which they call St John's.

The admiral himself has had somewhat the harder-hit company, because of their large numbers and the cramped quarters of his ship, and he has already lost two of them from dysentery; there is good hope for the rest. Of our own men (for I attached myself to Maurice Browne, a young man of high character), two were drowned in some accident: but the rest are safe and a good deal more robust. I myself was never more healthy.

We put in to this place on August 3, and on the 5^th the admiral took these regions into the possession and authority of himself and of the realm of England, having passed certain laws about religion and obedience to the Queen of England. At the moment we are regaling ourselves rather more cheerfully and sumptuously. For you will surely have gathered, from considering the length of time we took, what sort of winds we have used and how exhausted we were able to become. From now on we shall not go short of anything, because apart from the English we have come across some twenty Portuguese and Spanish ships in this place, and they, being no match for us, will not allow us to go hungry. The English group, although strong enough themselves and unthreatened by us, attend us with all deference and kindness, respecting the authority of our letters patent from the Queen.

Now I ought to tell you about the customs, territories and inhabitants: and yet what am I to say, my dear Hakluyt, when I see nothing but desolation? There are inexhaustible supplies of fish, so that those who travel here do good business. Scarcely has the hook touched the bottom before it is loaded with some magnificent catch. The whole terrain is hilly and forested: the trees are for the most part pine. Some of these are growing old and others are just coming to maturity, but the majority have fallen with age, thus obstructing a good view of the land and the passage of travellers, so that no advance can be made anywhere. All the grass is tall, but scarcely any different from ours. Nature seems even to to want to struggle towards producing corn; for I found some blades and ears that resembled rye and they seem capable of being adapted easily to cultivation and sowing in the service of man. There are blackberries in the woods, or rather very sweet strawberries growing on bushes. Bears sometimes appear round the shelters and are killed: but they are white, so far as I have been able to make out from their skins, and smaller than ours. I am not clear whether there are any inhabitants in this area, nor have I met anyone who was in a position to say (and who could be, I ask you, since it is impossible to travel any distance?) Nor do we know any better whether there is any metal in the mountains; and for the same reason, even though their appearance may indicate underlying minerals.

We made representations to the admiral to burn the forests down, so as to clear an open space for surveying the area; nor was he averse to the idea, if it had not seemed likely to bring a considerable disadvantage. For some reliable people asserted that, when this had occurred by accident at some other settlement post, no fish had been seen for seven whole years, because the sea-water had been turned bitter by the turpentine that flowed down from the trees burning along the rivers.

At this time of the year the weather so hot that if the fish which are put to dry in the sun were not regularly turned over they could not be prevented from scorching. But the huge masses of ice out to sea have taught us how cold it is in winter. Some of our company have reported that in the month of May they were stuck for sixteen whole days on end in so much ice that some of the icebergs were sixty fathoms thick; and when their sides facing the sun melted, the entire mass was turned over, as it were on a sort of pivot, in such a way that what had previously been facing upwards was then facing down, to the great danger of any people at hand, as you can well imagine. The atmosphere on land is moderately clear, but there is continuous fog over the sea toward the east. And on the sea itself around the Bank (which is what they call the place about forty miles off shore where the bottom can be reached and they start catching fish) there is scarcely a day without rain.

When we have provided for all our requirements in this place we shall advance southwards, with God's help; and the more that is reported about the regions we are making for, the greater will our expectations be from day to day.

So much for us; now I want to hear about you. But I fear my wish may be in vain. But, above all, I would especially like to know how my patron Unton is taking my absence. He will have my ready respect and service as long as I live. I sincerely hope that this expedition of ours will be of some service to his own project. Now it remains that you should think me yours, and so much yours that no-one else is more so. May the Son of God prosper our efforts to such an extent that you also can take part. Goodbye, Hakluyt, my most delightful and distinguished friend: keep me in your affection.

Yours, Stephen Parmenius of Buda

St John's Harbour, Newfoundland, 6 August 1583

In: David B. Quinn & Neil M. Cheshire: The New Found Land of Stephen Parmenius. The life and writings of a Hungarian poet, drowned on a voyage from Newfoundland, 1583 (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 1972), pp. 169, 171, 173.