[s. B. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 13 



That point was shown to be the key of the question, and pains were taken 

 to make it clear to anyone who has been upon the coast, or who would 

 attentively study a chart of the North Atlantic in connection with La 

 Cosa's map. Tn that way it became evident that the coast named and 

 marked out by English flags could be none other than the south coast of 

 Newfoundland and the adjacent coast to the southwest. 



Attention was then called to the fact that the coast line north of 

 Cape Eace (that is the east coast of Newfoundland) had neither name 

 nor flag — that the coast line there was drawn with a Arm line and was 

 totally difterent from the remarkably indented eastern outline of New- 

 foundland discovered by Corte Eeal and shown upon the Portuguese 

 maps continuously from the year 1501, that the line could not be the line 

 of a discovered coast and nothing in North America corresponded to it. 

 It was explained by a theory, not original with the writer, that the lines 

 of unvisited territory were taken from Toscanelli's map of Asia on which 

 •Columbus had sailed ; for at that time America was not known save as 

 the western coast of Asia and La Cosa's map was a mapa mundi, or a 

 representation of all the geographical knowledge of the time. In this 

 way Bonavista and the whole east coast of Newfoundland was excluded 

 as well as Labrador. 



Dealing then with La Cosa's map as one of the south coast of New- 

 foundland, the methods of the old map-makers were inquired into, and 

 in an appendix, a long extract from the works of Samuel de Champlain 

 was given, setting forth the whole subject in detail and showing that the 

 old cartographers invariably drew their charts upon a magnetic meridian. 

 Champlain had illustrated his thesis by two maps of these very same 

 regions ; one upon a true meridian, as we draw maps now, and one upon 

 a magnetic meridian, as drawn then for the use of sailors. Sketches 

 from these two maps were given, confined to the coast-line in question, 

 and it was shown that the bearing of Cape Breton from Cape Eace was 

 west, as on La Cosa's map, but west-southwcvSt on maps like ours, as in 

 truth it is. 



The question of the magnetic variation was also considered, and the 

 fact that it had been first observed by Columbus, only five years before, 

 when sailing on a parallel where the variation was slight. Attention was 

 directed to the fact that in the latitudes of Cabot's course the vari- 

 ation was very much greater and, at a point in mid-ocean, increased 

 rapidly, and also that a steady and strong current (the Arctic current) 

 set to the south, with a high probability of thick weather ; all of which 

 would tend to throw a sailor, feeling his way over an unknown sea, to 

 the .south in any westerly course. 



Studying La Cosa's vaap, it was noticed that the line of names on the 

 coast commenced with Cape Eace (Cavo de Ynglaterra) and terminated 

 with Cavo Descubierto. The latter name itself, it was argued, indicated 



