48 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Nova Scotia, which were sometimes described as the " Land of the 

 Corte Reals," and as the " country discovered by Joao Alvares." 



We now know that the person to whom these Christian names 

 belonged was Joao Alvares Fagundes, who early in the sixteenth cent- 

 ury carried on explorations in Northeastern America, and who, in 1521, 

 had a grant of the country between the land of the Corte Reals and 

 the northern boundary of the Spanish colonies, including the " terra 

 firma and islands " discovered by him, a grant which for the first time 

 included a portion of the United States. 



Traditions as to an early settlement still linger among the Mic- 

 macs, who aver that certain earth-mounds at St. Peter's, Cape Breton, 

 were built by white men before the arrival of the French. This be- 

 lief received many years ago a confirmation by the discovery in one 

 of these mounds of an archaic cannon formed of bars of iron fastened 

 with iron bands or hoops, those toward the breech being the strong- 

 est. This gun attracted little attention at the time, and was broken 

 up. My knowledge of this circumstance is derived from the historian 

 of that province,* who for more than twenty years was on circuit in 

 Cape Breton once, if not twice, a year. He frequently spoke of the 

 enigma, and regretted the stupidity and utter want of interest which 

 prevailed at that time with respect to the early history of the country. 

 An inquiry into the date of the manufacture of such guns showed 

 clearly that it must have been brought out before the arrival of the 

 French in Cape Breton, f Were these remains at St. Peter's vestiges 

 of this early Portuguese colony ? 



From a rare pamphlet, " Tractado das Ilhas Novas," by Francisco 

 de Sousa, written in 1570, and published at San Miguel in 1877, Senhor 

 do Canto, in his " Os Corte-Reaes " (pp. 89-93) copies an account of 

 the colony in question, and has also given us a description of the dis- 

 coveries, and a copy of the commission of Joao Alvares Fagundes. 



It appears from this that the colony was planned by some noble- 

 men at Viana, consequent upon the discoveries made by Joao Alvares 

 Fagundes. They sent out a ship and a caravel, but Newfoundland 

 (Baccalaos) having been found too cold, the settlers sailed to the west 

 and southwest, and, having lost their ships, were obliged to remain. 

 News was subsequently received from them through Biscayans, who 

 were then in the habit of frequenting that coast. They asked for 

 priests ; said that the natives were well disposed ; and that the coun- 

 try produced " nuts, chestnuts, grapes, and other fruits, showing the 

 goodness of the soil." 



Allusions in early writers point to the existence of this early Portu- 

 guese colony. Anthony Parkhurst, in a letter published in 1578, when 

 speaking of the excellent timber in Cape Breton, says : " I could not 



* Judge Haliburton, the author's father. 



f The article " Artillery," in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," says that such guns 

 were made from 1500 to 1545, when cast-iron guns were first introduced. 



