Ojeda, in his report of this voyage, stated that he met with English voyagers near _Venezuela_, or _Coquibacoa_. Of the expedition here alluded to, no other record has yet been brought to light. The North-American continent had ere this time been visited in 1497, by John Cabot, a Venetian, in the service of Henry VII., together with his son, the celebrated Sebastian Cabot, of whom more will be said hereafter. These navigators discovered the coast of _Newfoundland_ on the 24th of June of the above-mentioned year, and coasted southwards as far as to _Florida_. The Cabots were thus the first discoverers of the mainland of America, having preceded Columbus by one year. Ojeda continued his route along the western shores of the Gulf of _Venezuela_, doubling Cape _Maracaibo_ and following the coast until he reached the headland of Cape _de la Vela_, whence he stood across the Caribbean Sea for _Hispaniola_. He reached Cadiz on his return in June 1500. [Sidenote: 1499.] Contemporary with this voyage of Ojeda was a similar one by Pedro Alonzo Niño, undertaken, not with the object of discovery, but for gain. This mariner sailed from Palos, and, following the chart of Columbus, reached the coast of _Paria_, where he landed to cut dye-wood, and where he established friendly relations with the natives. He, too, passed through the _Boca del Drago_, and encountered the Carib pirates, by whom he was boldly assailed, but who fled at the discharge of his artillery. Niño and his companions then steered for the island of _Margarita_, where they obtained a large quantity of pearls. They afterwards skirted the coast of _Cumana_, and were invariably well treated by the natives; and they inferred that this was a part of the mainland from the fact of their meeting with deer and rabbits, these animals not having been seen by them on any of the islands. Niño next proceeded to a country called _Cauchieto_, where, however, the inhabitants, who had been visited by Ojeda, prepared to resist his landing. Not wishing to provoke hostilities, Niño returned to _Cumana_; whence, when he had amassed a sufficient number of pearls, he set sail for Spain, where he arrived in April [Sidenote: 1500.]