IN NORTHERN MISTS 



we find the easternmost headland, Cauo de Yngla- 

 terra (Cape England), on the coast discovered by Cabot 

 lies four hundred leagues from Ireland, while the distance 

 from it to the most western headland with a name, Cauo 

 descubierto (the discovered cape), is about three hundred 

 leagues.^ Furthermore, this coast lies on the map due west of 

 Bristol and southern England, as it should according to Son- 

 cino's first letter. 



There is thus full agreement between this map and all the 

 contemporary information we have of the voyage, and there 

 is no room for doubt that its names represent John Cabot's 

 discoveries of 1497, which thus extended from Cauo de Yngla- 

 terra on the east (with two islands, Y. Verde and S. Grigor, 

 to the east of it) to Cauo descubierto on the west. But it 

 seems to me that this tract must be either the south coast of 

 Newfoundland or the south-east coast of Nova Scotia, and 

 Cauo de Ynglaterra must be either Cape Race or Cape Breton; 

 the latter is more probable ; - this also agrees best with all 



1 To be perfectly accurate, the distance on La Cosa's map between Ireland 

 and Cauo de Ynglaterra is 1290 geographical miles; between Bristol and the 

 same cape 1620 miles; while the distance between Cauo de Ynglaterra and the 

 name of Cauo descubierto is 1080 miles. If we reckon 17J leagues to a degree, 

 these distances correspond respectively to 376, 472, and 315 leagues; while 20 

 leagues to a degree give 430, 540, and 360 leagues. As the name of Cauo 

 descubierto stands out in the sea to the west of the cape it belongs to, the dis- 

 tance will be less, very nearly 300 leagues. Along the upper margin of the map 

 a scale is provided, each division of which, according to the usual practice, cor- 

 responds to 50 miglia. This gives us the distance from Ireland to Cauo de 

 Ynglaterra as 1425 miglia, and from the latter to the name of Cauo descubierto, 

 1200. Reckoning 4 miglia to a legua, these distances will be 356 and 300 leagues. 



2 I here disregard altogether the common assertions that Cabot arrived on 

 the east coast of Newfoundland (at Cape Bonavista, or to the north of it), or 

 even on the coast of Labrador. This cannot possibly be reconciled with La 

 Cosa's map, nor does it agree with the accounts of Pasqualigo and Soncino, 

 nor, again, with the information on the map of 1544 (by Sebastian Cabot?), if 

 we are to attach any weight to this. Other trustworthy documents are un- 

 knov(m. No importance can be attributed to the evidence of Cabot's having 

 arrived in Labrador in 1497 which Harrisse [1896, pp. 78 f.] thinks may be seen 

 in the circumstance that the English discoveries are placed in the northern- 

 most part of the east coast of North America (between 56° and 60°) on the offi- 



