XXX ■ ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



this report is in accordancH' with the views of the whole committee, inas- 

 much us the archbisliop has expressed his views in letters, and Mr. 

 Sandford Fleming in several conversations with the remaining members. 



While the committee are of opinion that the greatly preponderating 

 weight of evidence points to the easternmost cape of Cape Breton as the 

 landfall of John Cabot in 1497, they would observe that the commemor- 

 ation now proposed will not commit the Eoyal Society of Canada, as a 

 whole, to the detinite acceptance of that theory. The alternative theory 

 of a landfall on Labrador excludes any possibility of a commemoration 

 there ; because no locality on a coast extending over eight degrees of 

 latitude has been specially indicated, excepting Cape Chidley, which is un- 

 a])i>roachable because of ice at the time of the landfall, and, if a lower 

 latitude be assumed, the w^ant of means of communication on the coast of 

 Labrador renders it for such a purpose inaccessible. The event to be 

 commemorated is the discovery of the continent of America on the 24th 

 of June, 1497 — an event of profound importance, the far-reaching conse- 

 quences of which cannot be over-estimated. Such an event the Eoyal 

 Society of Canada cannot aftbrd to ignore. 



Nevertheless, although the society may not definitely decide upon 

 the locality of the landfall, it is fitting that the commemoration should 

 take place upon the Atlantic coast of the Dominion ; for, beyond ail 

 question, it was along that coast that Cabot sailed, and he did not pene- 

 trate into any part of the gulf. For this reason the proposal to hold the 

 next meeting'of the society at Halifax seems most appropriate ; and that 

 cit}', from its accessibility and the facilities it ])Ossesses for such a meet- 

 ing, is well suited for the celebration. 



If the resolution of the society, at its last meeting, to hold the ses- 

 sion of 1897 at Halifax be sustained, it will be necessary to appoint, at 

 this meeting, a committee to make the requisite arrangements. That 

 committee should be commissioned to act in concert with a committee of 

 citizens of Halifax who may be disposed to co-operate with them. That 

 would be their tirst duty, and the joint committee would then make such 

 further arrangements as might appear necessary. 



It will be remembered that the council of the Eoyal Society, at the 

 meeting in May last, suggested that a permanent memento of the great 

 achievement of Cabot should be erected upon some point of the Nova 

 Scotia coast. Your committee would remark that no place on the whole 

 Atlantic coast seems so suitable as Sydney. On the brow of the hill over- 

 looking the mouth of the harbour is an ideal si)ot for such a monument. 

 Standing there the spectator may look out eastwards upon a stretch of 

 ocean, unbroken and uninterrupted, until it washes the western shore of 

 Brittany or extends into the English Channel. This spot is about twenty 

 miles in a direct line from the easternmost point of land in the ])rovince. 

 At this remote period it is ini])os,sible to locate Avith certainty, within a 



