[s. B. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 19 



describes the coast in his • Vikings of To-day ' as follows. By quoting 

 the "Encyclopaedia Britannica ' he adopts the opinion given : 



•• Sterile and forbidding it lies among fogs and icebergs, famous 

 " only besides for dogs and cod. ' God made this country last ' says an 

 " old navigator.'' 



•• As a permanent abode for civilized man. says the • Encyclopaedia 

 " Britannica.' Labrador is on the whole one of the most uninviting spots 

 " on the face of the earth. The Atlantic coast is the edge of a vast 

 '• solitude of rocky hills, split and blasted by frost and beaten by waves. 

 '• Headlands grim and naked, tower over the watei"S^-often fantastic and 

 " picturesque in shape, while miles and miles of rocky precipices or tame 

 '• monotonous slopes alternate with stony valleys, winding away among 

 " the blue hills of the interior.'' 



On July 13th Dr. Grenfell crossed the Strait of Belle Isle. He 

 thus describes it ; '■ As we rounded Cape Bauld a most magnificent 

 " crimson Hght lit up the whole horizon. Against it stood out many 

 " stately icebergs, rising weird and ghostly from the deep purple of the 

 " sea. One of immense height looked like some gigantic cathedral. As 

 '• we brought the hills and steep clitfs of Labrador into view we found 

 '• there was still much snow in the gulfs and crevices, while it was 

 '• necessary cal^?fully to thread our way among the numbers of icebergs 

 " which up to this very week had been blocking the straits." 



The following is from the ■• Newfoundland and Labrador Pilot." 

 published bv the British Admiraltv (Cape St. Lewis to Cape Chidlev), 

 page 381: 



" The northeast coast of Labrador is extremely barren and rug- 

 " ged. * * The hills fall steeply to the sea, often in cliffs with ragged, 

 '• rocky points, the exception being the sti-and on each side of Cape 

 '• Porcupine, the only sandy beach of any extent on the whole coast as 

 '• far as Xaiu.'" 



•' The climate on the outer coast is rigorous in the extreme, so that 

 '• vegetables are only raised with great ditiiculty and rarely reach matur- 

 " ity. Ei\3St may occur at any time of the year, and snow was experi- 

 " enced in the neighbourhood of Indian Harbour in July, August and 

 " September of 1S75. * * * Large patches of snow, five or six feet 

 " deep, were lying in the valleys along the whole coast in the middle of 

 '• July, 1875. and some of them had not disappeared when the first large 

 " fall of snow occurred in September." 



•■ Field ice remains in the vicinity of Greedy Harbour until about 

 " the middle of July, soon after which the fishing fleet are enabled to sail 

 " northward. ^ ^ ^ Icebergs may be encountei-ed all the year round. 

 '' but are most numerous from June till August.'" 



The strength of this argument is not affected by the fact that New- 

 foundland and Dundee sealei-s go into the ice in spring after seals. They 

 are fitted for it and strengthened specially, and for manv veai-s have been 

 propelled by steam. The seais are killed on the ice, and' where thei-e is 

 no ice there are no seals. Cabot knew none of those things. He could 

 never have seen an iceberg or s;\iled among ice, and his liule vessel was 

 unfitted for such work. If Labrador had been his landfall he would 

 necessarily have made novel and startling experiences and could not have 

 failed to record them. Such experiences were encountered and recorded 

 on the second voyage. It is simply incredible that if John Cabot had 

 ever seen the coast of Labrador he would have taken out an expedition 



