Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/50

28 fire. Death comes to them at last from extreme old age. We judged them to be very affectionate and charitable toward their relatives, for. they make loud lamentations in their adversity, and in their misery call to remembrance all their good deeds. When they die their relations mutually join in weeping mingled with singing for a long while. That is all that we could learn of them.

"This region is situated on the parallel of Rome, in 41 2·3 degrees, as I shall narrate hereafter to your serene majesty. At present I shall describe the situation of this place. At its south end its channel is narrow and a half league wide. It extends, between east (south?), and north, twelve leagues. Then it enlarges and forms a very spacious bay twenty leagues in circuit, in which are five small islands, very fertile and attractive, and covered with high trees. The bay is so spacious that between these islands any number of vessels might ride at ease without fear of tempests and other dangers. At the entrance of the bay, farther south, there are very attractive hills on both sides of the channel, and many streams of clear water flow from these eminences into the sea. In the middle of the mouth there is a rock of freestone (uno scoglio di viva pietra), formed by nature and suitable for the construction of any kind of machine or bulwark for the defence of the haven."

Verrazzano's description of Narragansett Bay, named Port du Refugio on Gastaldi's map of 1553, is so accurate that without any other information it would be easy to determine the situation of the place where for fifteen days, ending the sixth of May, he and his crew held familiar intercourse with the friendly Indians, inhabiting the islands and the mainland in the vicinity of the anchorage of the Dauphine. The latitude of the bay given by Verrazzano cannot be gainsaid, but he has left us no record as to where he landed, and it is wholly a matter of conjecture whether he trod our soil or not. That he made a survey of our bay, islands, and the main, is all that can be affirmed.

Verrazzano sailed from Port du Refugio, probably