IN NORTHERN MISTS 



have already found part of Newfoundland, and in that case he 

 would be likely to make straight for it again; but Pas- 

 qualigo's letter gives one the impression that Caspar Cortereal 

 may have been interested in finding out whether the land he had 

 found was mainland and continuous with the country (Green- 

 land) which in the previous year (1500) had been seen by the 

 other caravels (Joao Fernandez?), and thus it may have been 

 natural that he should first steer in that direction, but he was then 

 forced by the ice westward towards the land he himself had dis- 

 covered. 



That it was really Newfoundland, and not the coast of 

 Labrador farther north, that Cortereal arrived at, appears 



c 6e boawentoto 



\a^ Jr be re 



am /VaiTCi %qiio 



cavetaio 



Modern Cantino Reinel's King 



map. map. map. map. 



The eastern coast-line of Newfoundland, with possibly the 



southern part of Labrador 



plainly enough from the maps (the Cantino map, the King 

 map, etc.), and may also be concluded from the descriptions 

 in the letters of Pasqualigo and Cantino. We read, among 

 other things, that many great rivers ran through that country 

 into the sea. The east coast of Labrador has no rivers of 

 importance, with the exception of Hamilton River; but 

 the entrance to this is by a long estuary, Hamilton Inlet and 

 Lake Melville, up which they would hardly have sailed. On 

 the other hand, there are in Newfoundland several considerable 

 rivers falling into the sea on the east coast, up the mouths 

 of which Caspar Cortereal might have sailed. The allusion 

 364 



