82 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
“have drawne together all the farre stretched greatnesse, all the 
“pride, crueltie, and ambition of men” (Sir W. Raleigh). Literally 
in the Basque it reads, “is here,” or, “here is.” Da. is the third 
person singular of the verb to be. Hemen, here. The next line 
contains the word Hila J, then a blank space and then O. The word 
Hila means dead, mortuus. The letter I, according to Mgr. LeGasse, 
belongs to another word, the body of which is effaced, leaving only 
this first letter I and the final O. It probably refers to the day of 
the week. ‘This portion of the inscription then means “ Here lies dead.” 
In the “Hand Book of Newfoundland, and Tourists’ Guide,” published 
by the late Rev. Dr. M. Harvey, the following incorrect explanation 
of these words is given. “The name of the occupant of the grave 
was probably Dahemen Hilaire”! 
The third and last line of the inscription on this side of the 
stone reads MAII 1676. 
In copying this inscription for the first time, I took this word 
for the Latin Mai, the genitive case of Maius, May. This, together 
with the words Anno and Hila (ri) O caused me to assert in my 
History, “ that the language is distinctly Latin.” On close examina- 
tion, however, there appears a space between the two I’s thus MAT I 
showing that they do not belong to the same word and that the correct, 
reading is Mai I (one or first), viz, May 1st. The word is Frencn 
and is the only French word on the tombstone. The Basque word 
for May is Mayatcea, and “in May,” Mayatcean. Thus, for exam- 
ple: —“ Mayatcean egina da,” It is done in May. Literally, “ May 
in done (or made) is.” 
Next comes the date 1676 which, as I stated before, is the oldest 
yet found. It is about thirty-six years previous to the abandonment 
of Placentia by the French and Basques at the Treaty of Utrecht 
(1713). Beneath this is the well known Christian monogram I.H.S., 
surmounted by the Cross, being the initials of Jesus Hominum 
Salvator: (Jesus Saviour of men). 
On the back of the stone we read as follows: — First line, 
GANWNIS, pronounced Gannish, this is a correct form of the 
name of John in the Basque tongue. 
There are three other forms or methods of spelling this name, 
viz.: — Joanes, Joannis and Jouannes, all of which are to be found 
on these inscriptions as we shall see. The next word De Sale gives 
the family name of the deceased. The name is one of nobility as 
designated by the prefix De. It is still a frequent name in the Basque 
Provinces. Monseigneur LeGasse states that he had schoolfellows 
who bore the name. The renowned St. Francis De Sales, Bishop of 
Geneva, was a member of this family. The third line is somewhat 
