JOHN CABOT'S VOYAGES 



" mar descubierta por jnglese " (" sea discovered by the Eng- 

 lish "). La Cosa's " mar " will then be probably the whole gulf 

 between Cape Sable and Cape Cod.^ 



Cabot now thought he had found what he so eagerly sought. 

 He was not provisioned for any long stay, and with his small 

 crew he could not expose himself to possible attacks of the 

 inhabitants of the country. Consequently, he had good rea- 

 son for turning back. To provide himself with the necessary 

 water, and perhaps wood, for the homeward voyage, would 

 not take long. Food was a greater difficulty, and we are told 

 that he was so short of it that on the way back he would not 

 stop at new islands; it is true that we hear of abundance of 

 fish, but this cannot have been sufficient. He then returned 

 to Cauo de Ynglaterra, and thence homeward as quickly as 

 possible.^ The distance from Cape Breton past the southern 

 point of Nova Scotia to the coast of Maine is 420 geographical 

 miles. There and back, with a cruise in the open sea towards 

 Cape Cod, it might be 1200 miles. If we suppose Cabot to have 

 taken twenty days to do it, including the time occupied in 

 going ashore, this will be sixty miles a day, which may seem 

 a good deal; but if on the way back he had a favorable 

 wind and was able to sail a somewhat straight course, it is 

 possible; and, in that case, he may have been back at Cape 

 Breton or Cauo de Ynglaterra about July 14 (23, N.S.), and then 

 have laid his course for home east by compass out to sea. 

 This course took him off Newfoundland, and he had the 

 island of Grand Miquelon, with Burin Peninsula to the east 

 of it (S. Grigor, on La Cosa's map?) in sight on his star- 

 board bow, or on his right hand, as Pasqualigo says. As 



1 It must always be remembered that La Cosa did not have Cabot's original 

 chart, on which the coast and the Bay of Fundy may have been represented 

 more in accordance with reality. 



~ La Cosa's map may point to his having made a cruise in the open sea 

 westward from Cauo descubierto before turning, and having seen the coast 

 extending on, until in the far west it turned southward towards a headland, 

 perhaps Cape Cod, where La Cosa put his westernmost flag. But this seems 

 doubtful, and is only guessing. 



