[8. E. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF ÏIIE CABOTS S 



In the tirst ranlc of that class of estimable scholars must be reckoned 

 Mr. Justice Prowse, whose valuable and exhaustive history of Newfound- 

 land appeared in the year 1895. In a note at page 30 he refers to the 

 monograph in courteous terms and gives the reasons why he holds to the 

 theory that Cape Bonavista in ISTcwfoundland was Cabot's landfall. These 

 reasons are set forth concisely in his text at page 10 as follows : 



" In this colony an unbroken tradition points to Cape Bonavista, 

 " Newfoundland, as the tirst land seen. This tradition is confirmed by an 

 '* English map of iSTewfouudland made by John Mason, a distinguished 

 " captain in the Royal Navy of England about 1616. Opposite to Cape 

 " Bonavista he writes these words, pi'obably copying the wording of an 

 " older map : First found by Cabot, A Cabote primum reperta. On this 

 " ground and for other reasons as a Newfoundlander, I claim for Cape 

 " Bonavista the honour of being the first land seen in North America. 

 " In all probability St. .John's was also discovered either on Cabot's tirst or 

 " second voyage." 



This is practically all which can be urged in favour of Newfoundland ; 

 because if the •' other reasons" were of weight they would find their ap- 

 propriate place there. Judge Prowse is no doubt referring to the reasons 

 he urges against other theories, but the above are the reasons in favour 

 of his own — the jiositive and substantial reasons — in short, the only 

 reasons. 



That the learned judge is a Newfoundlander is irrelevant as a reason. 

 If indeed, it had any bearing upon the discussion it might be thought to 

 obscure that impartial clearness of vision so essential in estimating evi- 

 dence. Moreover, Newfoundlanders are not all in accord with Judge 

 Prowse. Mr. J. P. Howley, the director of the Geological Survey of 

 Newfoundland, is the advocate of a landftiU at Labrador, and the Rev. Dr. 

 Harvey, also of Newfoundland, is an advocate of a landfall at Cape 

 Breton. There is no more dangerous snare in the investigation of such 

 questions than national or local feeling. The student of history must 

 eliminate from his reasoning all such " idols of the ti'ibe " — to borrow a 

 phrase fx'om Lord Bacon. The present writer came to this inquiry with 

 the belief that Newfoundland was the landfall and was astonished to find 

 on investigation no substantial evidence for it. Judge Prowse's second 

 reason, viz., the unbroken tradition of the coast, cannot possibly have 

 weight because there were no inhabitants on the coast by whom a tradi- 

 tion could be preserved. A tradition pre-supposes settlers on the coast to 

 hand it down. But there were no settlei-s for a hundred years after Cabot. 

 The charter for the first settlement was for Guy's colony in 1610 and that 

 was the tirst colony. Judge Prowse himself calls the century pi-evious 

 to that date the chaotic period and describes the island as a veritable 

 no-man's-land, without law, religion or government, the resort alike of 

 English and foreign fishermen. Even the Indians all perished — their only 



