[GANONG ] BOUNDARIES OF NEW BRUNSWICK 157 
separated, and hence in a measure bounded, from those of the Spaniards, 
in the West Indies by the long interval of unexplored coast, supposed 
of course to be Asia, reaching to Florida. In that and the next year, 
1500-1501, the King of Portugal sent the Cortereals to his territory, 
and they explored Newfoundland and Labrador, with results recorded 
upon several well-known maps, which represent the region explored by 
them as a huge island in the Atlantic, and with no trace of the earlier 
voyages of Cabot. Another Portuguese voyage to Newfoundland was 
that of Fagundes in 1521, but it is very obscure. In 1524 France 
took a hand in the great game, and the King sent Verrazano into the 
Spanish preserves, mainly to seek a passage to Asia through what was 
now recognized as a new continent. Verrazano explored the east coast 
of America from about 34° to Newfoundland, here overlapping earlier 
discoveries (see map No. 3), and full maps exist recording his route. 
The very next year the King of Spain sent Gomez to the same coast, 
which he explored in probably the reverse direction from Verrazano, 
and maps of his showing his results still exist, and became the type 
maps for this coast during the remainder of the sixteenth century." 
In the maps showing these voyages, as one may see in the great 
fac-simile atlases of Jomard, Kunstmann, Kretschmer, Nordenskjold, 
Miiller and others, the limits of the different explorations are usually 
marked by the flags of the respective nations, which thus establish 
limits and a sort of boundaries. But all such boundaries are of a very 
vague sort, and it is impossible to identify most of the localities, while 
the different explorations overlap in the most confusing way. None of 
them secured recognition, nor did one of them give origin to any line 
existent to-day. The voyages did, however, give the respective nations 
certain claims to general regions of the new world, as we shall presently 
see, and thus indirectly helped to determine present boundaries. 
We come now to a voyage which powerfully affected the history of 
the new world, especially in its northern part. In 1534 the King of 
France sent Cartier to seek a western passage to Asia. Cartier explored 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence (map No. 3), and in later voyages the river, 
leaving ample records in narratives and maps of so accurate a character 
that the limits of his explorations are indubitable. From his journey 
sprang the French claim to Canada, and from him sprang that New 
France, of hazy and indefinite bounds it is true, of which our present 
Province of New Brunswick was a part, and whose lineal descendant 
modern Canada is. Passing over voyages not of moment to our present 
inquiry, we have to note that Sir Humphrey Gilbert took formal posses- 
sion of Newfoundland for England in 1583, of course on the strength 

1 These maps I have in part deseribed and reproduced in a preceding 
monograph of this series, ‘‘ The Cartography of New Brunswick.” 
