5 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



been received. It is also clear that a Portuguese colony existed for 

 some time at Inganish, which was abandoned on account of the cold. 

 Was Inganish the site also of Fagundes's colony, as well as of the 

 settlement made in 1567? It seems improbable that the colony of 

 1521, cut off from all communication from the mother-country for 

 half a century, should have survived until 1567, and we are forced 

 to conclude that the cattle and swine left on Sable Island in 1553 

 were the property of the Fagundes colonists, who had abandoned 

 their settlements. It seems clear, at the same time, that the colonists 

 who sailed in 1567 were aware that Fagundes had found Newfound- 

 land too cold for a settlement, and had given the preference to Cape 

 Breton. We must assume, therefore, that the colonists of 1567 settled 

 some place in Cape Breton or Nova Scotia. Champlain says the Port- 

 uguese abandoned their settlement at Ningani (Inganish) on account 

 of the cold. A Portuguese gentleman informed me last winter that 

 there existed a tradition at Viana that the colony of Terra Nova was 

 sold to the English on account of the cold climate. Senhor do Canto 

 refers to a similar tradition, but applies it to the colony of 1521, in- 

 stead of to that of 1567. This 6ale must have taken place after 1567, 

 for otherwise the Portuguese, having sold out their rights to the Eng- 

 lish, would hardly have attempted, after the transfer, to make a settle- 

 ment in that country. 



IV. A Spanish Settlement at Sydney, Cape Breton (Spanish 

 Harbor), between 1580-'97. We are told that in the seventeenth cent- 

 ury Louisburg (called English Harbor) was frequented by the Eng- 

 lish fishermen ; St Ann's by the French ; and Spanish Harbor by the 

 Spaniards. Why was Sydney at one time known as Spanish Harbor 

 the favorite resort of Spanish fishermen ? About the time Fagundes 

 sailed to Cape Breton, the Spaniards seemed to question his right to 

 that country, as appears from the Spanish map of 1527, where the 

 Spanish line of demarkation includes Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, 

 leaving Newfoundland to the Portuguese. It is probable, however, 

 that the Spaniards did not practically question the claims of the Portu- 

 guese, which were specially guarded in commissions to Spanish explor- 

 ers. In 1580, however, the question was settled by the annexation of 

 Portugal and its dominions by Spain. We know that toward the close 

 of the sixteenth century a Spanish colony was sent to Cape Breton, and 

 we can assume that it sailed some time after 1580. Our only account of 

 it is a melancholy one, for Charlevoix says that the forty poor wretches 

 whom the Marquis de la Roche left on Sable Island (1598) "found on 

 the sea-shore some wrecks of vessels, out of which they built barracks 

 to protect themselves. They were the remains of fyatiish vessels 

 which had sailed to settle Cape Breton." Any one who has seen the 

 wreck-strewed coast of Sable Island must remember it as suggesting 

 a graveyard of vessels. Those that have been there a few years are 

 soon covered by the drifting sands, and the half-buried skeletons of 



