434 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



to trado them of! witli the Latins. Ile? also tells us that the Palus 

 Maeotus of Ptolemy was called by various names by different nations ; 

 by the Italians it was named "The Sea of Tanais/' (Italis, mar della 

 Tana). 



In view of all these facts it is not rash to conclude that before, dur- 

 ing and after Cabot's time, the city, river and country of Tanais were 

 well known, to Italians at least, as definite localities in Europe, bor- 

 dering on what was then called Asia. Also, that it was most natural a 

 Venetian captain, speaking to an Italian about his discovery, should 

 take that great trading centre so well known to both, as a standard of 

 latitude. 



Xow, as to the latitude of Tanais, and the blunder into which Dr. 

 Dawson thinks I fell, the blame for which he kindly throws upon the 

 person who consulted Ptolemy for me, a few words must be said. I fell 

 into no blunder, and I consulted Ptolemy myself, not in a hurry, not 

 with noisy surroundings, but in the quiet of my study. Among many 

 treasures St. Mary's College Library, Halifax, has a Ptolemy, Mercators 

 great atlas, Jodocus Hondius' edition, and Bleau's veiT rare and beauti- 

 ful works. 



In the Address, it was, I thought, made clear that I used Ptolemy 

 only for the purpose of showing the location, of the Tanaitœ. After 

 having done this the Address said : — " If now we look on the map," 

 viz : — the map anyone might have before him, not Ptolemy's, "we shall 

 see that the Don begins its great bend at the fiftieth degree." The 

 latitude of Bristol too is given as it appears on modern maps. I did 

 this because I knew the human mind had not been inactive during the 

 Middle Ages, and that Ptolemy's latitudes had been frequently cor- 

 rected, and that places in America would be as much too high as were 

 those in Europe in Cabot's time. 



Dr. Dawson assumes that Cabot could have consulted only two 

 editions of Ptolemy, that of 1478 and another of 1490. Why might he 

 not have had a copy of the Latin version by Boethius, although several 

 centuries old ? Or why might he not have had a copy of that of 

 Nicholas Cardinal de Cusa (Cusanus) of about 1464 ? Mercator had 

 one, as he testifies in the preface to his corrections of Ptolemy. There 

 weïe other sources of information open to Cabot, but before considering 

 them let us argue from Ptolemy. The latitude of the country of Tanais 

 was, of course, for seamen and practically for all others, that of its 

 ])ort. In those days the city was everything, the country a mere ad- 

 junct. The latitude of the "Country of Venice" would be that of the 

 city. The latitude of the mouth of its harbour is, for seamen, the 



