The two butterflies at the top are, left the
male Brimstone (Gonepterx rahmi. On the right the female Bergers Clouded Yellow Colias australis.
The instruments shown are,
on the left a linstock; a wooden tool used by gunners to hold the burning fuse in an end shaped like a clenched fist.
The spike on the other end is to stick in the ground or deck to keep the burning fuse out of harm’s way. On the right
a steelyard, a quadrangular bronze bar beaten into a flat strip of metal terminating in an elaborate fishtail and used
to weigh provisions and other items.
(The mid-scene shows Weymouth, as a devout Christian planting a cross (on what is now Allen
Island in Maine) in June. The cross has the letters IHS engraved on it from the old Greek word for Jesus, still used
on gravestones today.
In the lower main scene Weymouth continues to explore the area noting the flora and fauna and when he comes into contact
with the natives tries to impress them as a god with his ‘magical powers’. This consists of
magnetising his sword with a lodestone then picking up the Indians’ knives by its magnetic attraction. Note one of his
crew holds the lodestone. His brief survey comes to an end and he sets out to return to England by mid-June – not
as shown here July – it’s a mistake on the canvas.
Richard Aldworth of Aldworth
in Berkshire (arms shown here) is another backer of Weymouth’s expedition and is a relation of Thomas Aldworth
of Bristol named on the 1583 panel.
