The New Land (_Nuova Terra_), discovered by Verrazzano, was first seen by him on the tenth of March, (_old style_,) being that part of the coast of the continent now included in the present territory of North Carolina, north of Cape Fear,[378] on the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude. It appears that Verrazzano had thought of finding land on his way to the Indies, for he says: “My intention in this voyage was to reach Cathay, on the extreme coast of Asia, expecting, however, to find in the newly discovered land some such obstacle as I found.” “Ordering a boat to carry us ashore, we beheld,” says Verrazzano, “many people who had collected on the beach. Seeing us approaching, they fled. Some, however, turned and gazed at us with much curiosity. Assuring them by various signs, a number came near, manifesting great delight in scrutinizing the peculiarities of our clothing, figure, and whiteness. They indicated by signs where we could most easily land with the boat, and proffered us some of their food. What we were able to learn of their life and customs while on land, I will briefly relate to your majesty. “They go nearly naked, wearing only about the loins some skins of small animals similar to the martens. A girdle of woven grass encircles the body, to which they fasten the tails of animals, which hang down as far as the knees. All the rest of the body is nude, as is also the head. Some of them wear drapery in like manner made of the feathers of birds. The color of these people is black (_neri_), not very different from that of the Ethiopians. Their hair is black and thick, but not very long; it is worn tied back upon the head in the form of a little tail.[379] In person they are of good proportion, of middle-stature, a little above our own, broad across the breast, strong in the arms, and well-formed in the legs and other parts of the body; the only exception to their good looks is that they have broad faces, but not all of them, for we saw many who had sharp ones, with large black eyes and a fixed expression. They are not very strong in body, but acute in mind, active and swift of foot as far as we could perceive by observation. They greatly resemble in these two last particulars the people of the East, especially those of the remote regions. We were not able to learn much concerning their habits on account of our short stay on land and the distance of our ship from the shore.” Verrazzano designated his first landing-place on the coast of the New Land by calling it Diepa, the Italian form of the French name Dieppe, that of the port from which he had sailed to make discoveries in the western hemisphere. Visconte de Maiollo, on his map of the world made in 1527, places the name Diepa on the coast of Francesca, a little north of Terra Florida.[380]