When Verrazzano was on land with the twenty men, he crossed the narrow peninsula of Virginia and beheld the wide expanse of Chesapeake Bay.[388] This great body of water, stretching toward the north and south as far as he could see, and spreading westward to an unknown distance, led the surprised explorer to imagine that it was a part of the Indian Ocean, (_Mare Indicum_), by which, if there were a navigable entrance to it, he might sail to Cathay.[389] Ignorant of the fact that he had already passed at night the channel leading to this expanse of water, Verrazzano entertained the thought that he might discover one along the coast farther northward. Although he determined not to sail again at night along the New Land, and resolved to inspect its coast more closely thereafter, he failed to find a passage to the assumed western sea, when he sailed northward. After returning to France, he made a map on which he represented this sea separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow neck of land, similar in outline and situation to the northern part of the peninsula of Virginia. This is corroborated by Hakluyt, the English collector, who says: “Master John Verazanus, which had been thrise on that coast, in an olde excellent mappe which he gave to King Henrie the eight, and is yet in the custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out.”[390] [Illustration: FIELD OF VOYAGES TO AMERICA. ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.] Verrazzano’s brother, Hieronymus, also made a map of New France, on which he placed this explanatory inscription respecting this part of the coast, which he also delineates as a narrow tract of land: “From this eastern sea [the Atlantic] one beholds the western sea; there are six miles of land between them.”[391] The Sea of Verrazzano (_Mare de Verrazana_), represented on the fan-shaped map made by Michael Locke, in 1582, was, as Hakluyt affirms, “according to Verazanus plat,” which “laieth out the sea makinge a little necke of land in 40 degrees of latitude much like the streyte necke or istmus of Dariena.”[392] Sailing northwardly from the peninsula of Virginia, Verrazzano proceeded leisurely along the coast searching for an entrance to the so-called western sea. Although he does not speak of entering Delaware Bay, there is no testimony to contradict the assertion that he explored it. Describing his voyage along the coasts of the present states of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey, Verrazzano writes: “After having remained here three days, riding at anchor off the coast [of Virginia], for we could not find a harbor, we determined to depart, sailing always along the shore, which trended to the northeast, only navigating in day-time and coming to anchor at night.”