“This region is situated on the parallel of Rome, in 41⅔ degrees, as I shall narrate hereafter to your serene majesty.[403] At present I shall describe the situation of this place. At its south end the 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 the 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 Refuge on Gastaldi’s map of 1553,[404] 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 (_old style_), he and his crew held familiar intercourse with the friendly Indians inhabiting the islands and the main-land in the vicinity of the anchorage of the Dauphine. The latitude of the bay given by Verrazzano cannot be gainsaid.[405] Departing, on the sixth of May, from Port du Refuge, the Dauphine sailed on a southeasterly course to pass the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Having steered fifty leagues in this direction, Verrazzano found the coast to trend toward the north, which he followed until he again cast anchor off the coast of Maine, a little north of the forty-third parallel. The wary aborigines of this part of the New Land would not venture near the Dauphine, nor could they be induced to part with their commodities until they were remunerated with such things as were most useful to them. The landing of twenty-five men from the vessel provoked an attack, and yet after this show of hostility the Indians fled to the woods. Speaking of his departure from Narragansett Bay, Verrazzano writes: “Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on the sixth of May [_old style_], we departed from the port, and sailed one hundred and fifty leagues, keeping close enough to the coast not to lose it from our sight. The character of the country appeared much the same as before, but the mountains were a little higher, and in all appearance rich in minerals. “We did not stop to land, as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, and the country presented no variety. The shore stretched to the east, and fifty leagues beyond more to the north, where we found a more elevated country, full of very dense woods of pine, cypress, and the like, indicative of a cold climate.