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APPENDIX. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL AND CRITICAL NOTES. 



In these notes it is the object of the writer to give a complete summary of all the historical 

 and other works which relate, in whole or in part, to Cape Breton, or He Eojale. The books and 

 pamphlets which refer exclusively to this island are few in number, not more tlian a dozen or so in 

 all; but there was a jjeriod in French, English and American history when it obtained an important 

 place in oflScial and historical records. The historians of the wars between England and France from 

 1740 to ITGS — wars for supremacy in America — give prominence to the struggle for the posses- 

 sion of Cape Breton, then a bulwark of French ambition on the continent. In the English and 

 French archives, and in the journals, memoirs and current literature of the time, Cape Breton takes 

 uf) no inconsiderable space. References are given to all this literature, which has been consulted by 

 the author, whenever accessible to him. Fortunately for hira in Canada and New England the 

 public libraries or the collections of private individuals possess all the more important sources of in- 

 formation from which he has drawn in the preparation of this work. He has not deemed it neces- 

 sary to dwell at any great length on subjects where there is much literature of a debatable and argu- 

 mentative character, like the Norse, Basq^ue and Cabot voyages, but has confined himself to a meagre 

 reference to the books on such questions and to a few critical remarks on points touching Cape 

 Breton. In such cases the Narrative and Critical History of America aifords, as a rule, all the mate- 

 rial necessary for a complete examination of the subject. In these notes it is not intended to do more 

 than make special allusion to works relating to Cape Breton, and the various episodes of its history, 

 and to supplement as far as possible the information alreadj' collated by other writers. 



I. The Voyages op the Noethmbn. 



Here we come to a field of literature, replete with vague speculation, and remarkable opportunities for the dis- 

 play not only of archreological knowledge, but of imaginative power. In saying this, the writer must not be 

 understood as doubting the visits of Scandinavian voyagers to some part of northeastern America nine centuries 

 ago. Labrador, Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and even parts of New England may have been seen 

 by Biarne, Lief, and otliers of his countrymen, and there is obviously a liistoric substratum of truth in the sagas 

 of the North. But at the same time one feels that none of the writers on the subject have been able to lift the 

 veil of mystery that envelopes the lands the Norsemen visited, or to detract from the fame of Columbus, of the 

 Cabots, or even of the Portuguese and Bretons who have at least left the impress of their language on the coasts of 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Without further preface, I may now refer my readers to the following works as afiford- 

 ing them abundant materials for the study of this subject, which is very attractive in many respects, and 

 illustrates the remarkable original research that is given now-a-days to American history and its sources of 

 information. 



" Antiquitates Americante sive Scriptores rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America. Samling af de LNordens 

 Oldskrifter indeholdte Efterretninger om de gamle Nordboers Opdagelsesreiser til America fra det lOde til det 

 14de Aarhundrede. Edidit Societas Regia Antiquarior. Septentrionalium. Hafnia? (Copenhagen), 1837." This 

 work of Professor Carl Christian Rafn, was the commencement practically of the investigations and studies of the 

 Norse voyages for the past fifty years, although Torfseus, more than a century before, had written a book on the 

 Vinland Discovery (" Historia Vinlaudice Antiqute, etc.," Hafniaî, 170,5). AVith Professor Pvafn, were associated 

 Finn Magnusen and Sveinbiorn Egilsson, but the former is really entitled to all the credit of the work. Bafn is 

 re?pon.sible for t!:e theories respecting the Old Stone Tower at Newport, Rhode Island, and the Dighton Rock near 

 Taunton, ÎMassachusetts, as relics of the Northmen; but while the bold speculations and conjectures in which he 

 indulged are now pretty well discredited, his work must always obtain recognition as a standard authority to be 

 consulted on the main question of the Norse voyages. It has been translated into several languages. 



