IN NORTHERN MISTS 



The remainder of this legend — that the natives wear the 

 skins of animals, that the country is unfertile, that there are 

 many white bears, vast quantities of fish, mostly called 

 ** bacallaos," etc., etc., cannot refer, as Harrisse appears to 

 think, to this land (Cape Breton) which was first discovered, 

 but to the northern regions of the new continent as a whole. 

 It is characteristic of this map, as of the earlier French ones, 



Northern portion of the map of the world of 1544, attributed to 

 Sebastian Cabot 



that Newfoundland is cut up into a number of small islands. If 

 the view is correct that Y. Verde and S. Grigor on La Cosa's 

 map are also parts of Newfoundland, it may explain the fact of 

 Sebastian Cabot having no difficulty in bringing this map, or his 

 father's, into agreement with the French ones, since he must 

 have thought that a number of " islands," discovered later, had 

 been added. 



No Island of St. John is to be found on La Cosa's map, 

 but there is a Cauo S. Johan not far from Cauo de Ynglaterra 

 and close to the island that is called " Ilia de la trinidat." That 

 the name is attached to a cape instead of to an island may be 

 due to a transposition in the course of repeated copyings. 



the certainly erroneous date, 1494, got on to the map of 1544 is unknown; it 

 may be supposed that MCCCCXCIIII is an error of reading or writing for 

 MCCCCXCVII, the two strokes of V being taken to be divided: II [cf. Har- 

 risse, 1896, p. 61]. 

 320 



