428 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



authentic records : ami as tnitli is always clear to those who seek it in 

 nil unbiassed frame of mind, long dissert-ations an- not only unneces- 

 sary, they are wearisome. 



The Address showed wo had two undoulitod facts regarding the 

 Cabot voyage of 1497, viz : — The course was west from England, and 

 the Islands found were distant seven hundred leagues. Confined to 

 these two facts the landfall might be on some part of the Labrador, 

 or on the northeastern Coast of Newfoundland, or on some part of Cape 

 Breton. Each locality had its champions : but as a third known 

 quantity was required to convince a reader of a logical turn of mind, 

 theories more or less ingenious, and, we shall say, more or less prob- 

 able, were elaborated into facts, and each champion had his case proved 

 — to his own satisfaction at least. Now the Address affirmed that Da 

 Soncino's letter, the reliability of which is beyond question, supplied 

 the third known quantity in a pas-sage the value of which had been 

 strangely overlooked. We have been gently reprimanded by Dr. Daw- 

 son for this assertion, yet, perforce we must repeat it. 



When, however, we reflect that Mr. Ilarrisse asserts that Tanais 

 was a " well defined coast bordering the Eastern Seaboard of Asia,"' 

 and Dr. Dawson took it as a vague expression for some eastern lanTls, 

 we must cease to marvel that others should pass it by unheeded. 



The Address stated that Da Soncino gave us a clue to the latitude 

 of the landfall by saying, "et andando verso el levante ha passato assai 

 el passe del Tanais." ("And going lowards the east he passed consider- 

 ably beyond the Country of Tanais.'') Dr. Dawson truly says that the 

 translation of the passage "seems easy enough." Yet, strange to say, 

 we have seen translations that are inaccurate and misleading. That of 

 Mr. Ilarrisse is only slightly faulty: "considerably beyond," not "far 

 beyond," is the correct rendering of " Passato assai " when written. 

 In conversation, by tone and accent, assai could be made to signify fur. 



In the Address it was maintained that this passage indicated ap- 

 proximately the latitude of the landfall. Cabot sailed from Bristol 

 and he " passed considerably beyond the country of Tanais" before 

 sighting land. As Bristol is north of Tanais the landfall should be 

 considerably south of it. Thus Labrador and the Newfoundland 

 Coflst would be excluded, being too far north. The only land, 700 

 leagues west of Bristol and considerably south of Tanais is Cape Breton 

 Island, on some part of which the landfall must be located. 



Dr. Dawson still maintains that Tanais was an "indefinite region" 

 not in " Europe l)ut in Asia," and "not likely to be taken as a standard 

 of location for newly discovered regions." Moreover, he asserts that 



