No strait appeared, but at one point Verrazzano, landing and marching into the interior with an exploring party, found a vast expanse of water on the other side of what seemed a neck of land between the two seas, about six miles in width. If this were the South Sea, the same which Balboa had seen from the Isthmus of Darien, so narrow a strip of land was at least as good or better than anything possessed by Spain. Verrazzano continued northward, and found a coast rich in grapes, the vines often covering large trees around which the natives kept the ground clear of shrubs that might interfere with this natural vineyard. Wild roses, violets, lilies, iris and many other plants and flowers, some quite unknown to Europe, greeted the admiring gaze of the commander. His quick mind pictured a royal garden adorned with these foreign shrubs and herbs, the wainscoting and furniture to be made by French and Italian joiners from these endless leagues of timber, the stately churches and castles which might be built by skilful masons from the abundant stone along these shores. Here was a province which, if it had not gold, had the material for many luxuries which must otherwise be bought with gold, and his clear Italian brain perceived that ingots of gold and silver are not the only treasure of kings. At last the _Dauphine_ came into a harbor or lake three leagues in circumference, where more than thirty canoes were assembled, filled with people. Suddenly Francois Parmentier leaped to his feet and waved his cap with a shout. "Now what madness has taken you?" queried Verrazzano. "I know where we are, that's all. This is Wampum Town,--L'Anorme Berge--the Grand Scarp. This is one of their great trading places, Captain. Father heard about it at Cape Breton from some south-country savages." "And what may wampum be?" asked Verrazzano coolly. "'T is the stuff they use for money--bits of shell made into beads and strung into a belt. There is an island in this bay where they make it out of their shell-fish middens--two kinds--purple and white. On my word, this big chief has on a wampum belt now!"