178 J. G. BOUEINOT 



Johu Cabot aud his sou saw iu America early iu the moruiug towards the last of June 

 — without doubt iu 1497 — when they had made their way from Bristol to the uukuowu 

 countries of the West. The northern part of Cape Breton in many respects corresponds 

 with the general features of the description given of the new laud, of its iuhabitants, of 

 its animals, and of its fisheries, in the legend or inscription' on the map in question — a 

 legend which has also giveu rise to much speculation as to its authorship aud authen- 

 ticity, but which nevertheless must be takeu into the account unless we ignore the docu- 

 ment in its entirety. The people clothed in the skius of animals — that the voyagers saw 

 on the shore — were probably the Micmacs who were a coast tribe, and must have fre- 

 quented the uorthern parts of Cape Breton in considerable numbers in early times on 

 account of the abundance of game. The great deer — cieuros muy grades como cauallos — 

 were no doubt the moose which in great numbers roamed among the hilly fastnesses aud 

 fed on the barrens — the tierra muy steril — of northern Cape Bretou until they have been in 

 the course of time almost exterminated by reckless hunters. The advocates of the claim of 

 Labrador argue that the mention of the appearance of white bears in this uew found laud 

 of Cabot is in favour of their conteutiou, but it is not at all uulikely that these animals 

 frequented the uorthern coast of Cape Bretou in those early tiiues when the island 

 contained great numbers of wild creatures, many of which have entirely disappeared with 

 the progress of settlement. It is a powerful fact in support of the Cape Bretou theory 

 that, in a work written by one Pichou on the island of Cape Breton two centuries aud a 

 half later than the Cabot voyages he tells us in his chapter ou the natural features of the 

 country that the bears of Cape Breton and of St. Johu are " much the same as those in 

 Europe, and some of them are white " — a statement which is almost conclusive on the 

 point at issue. " It is quite probable too, that the ice-Jloes that have always comedown 



' In App. II to this work will be found the Spauisli inscription on the siippDseil Seljastian Cabot mappe 

 monde, but for the information of the reader the hteral translation i.s given here : " No. 8. This land was dis- 

 covered by .lolin Cabot, a Venetian, and Sebastian Cabot, his son, iu the year of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 

 M.CCCC.XCIIIL, on the 24th of June in the morning, which country they called ' prima tierra vista;' and a large 

 island over against the said land they named the island of St. John because they discovered it on the same day. The 

 inhabitants wear skins of animal-^, use in their battles bows, arrows, lances, darts, wooden clubs and slings. The 

 soil is very bairen, and there are many white bear.s and stags as laige as horses, and many other beasts ; likewise 

 great quantities of fl.sh, pike, salmon, soles as long as a yard, and many other sorts, besides a great abundance of the 

 kind called baccalaos. There are also iu the same land hawks as black as ravens, eagles, partridges, redpoles, and 

 many other birds of various descriptions." M.CCCC.XCIIII. is an error, corrected by joining the first two letters 

 after XC at the bottom, thus making a V, and M.CCCC.XCVII. Fiske, " Dis. of Am.,'' ii. 5, 10. 



- White bears in early times were probaldy found in considerable numbers in the northeastern parts of 

 Canada. Sagard, " Histoire du Canada et Voyages " (i. 14'.', ii. 682, ed. of 1866, Paris), tells us that in the time 

 (1633-4) he wrote his work that "they inhabited not only the island of Anticosti, but also the country at the mouth 

 of the St. Lawrence, which was frequented by very few Indians, but the placée where they are generally found is 

 among the high mountains and very cold countries." See also Ch.amplain's works, Abbe Laverdicre's éd., iv. 

 1088. The Montagnais Indians call the island " Natascoueh," which means the place where they take bears. 

 Ilj., i. 07, note by Abbé Laverdière. The mountainous, wild district of northern Cape Breton would most likely 

 centuries ago be tho most southerly limit of these animals. The fact that it is only on the northern parts of 

 Labrador they are now seen, and hardly at all on tho Atlantic sea-board of that dreary region, shows how their 

 habitat has receded north in the course of several centuries since Cabot entered the Gulf. 



Many animals that formerly existed in the Gulf have disappeared within a century or two. Dr. Patterson in a 

 paper on the Magdalen Islands ('Trans, of the Nova Scotia Inst, of Science,' Jan. 18M), shows that the walrus which 

 was once found in such numbers on their shores— a place is still called Vache de Marino— is now practically extinct. 

 The same animal was found en the southern shores of Cape Breton and on Sable Island- 



