446 ItOYAL SOCIKTV OK CANADA 



of til is. Dr. Dawson's theories make too lar^^e a demand on oiir goo3 

 oi)inion of the elementary knowledge of early cartographers. Even 

 if we admit, and it is not a fact, that in those days Cape Breton marked 

 the headland of that name and not the northern part of the island, 

 still these careful map drawers must Imve carried the name more than 

 seventy miles west to Cape Canso. This distance is of no account when 

 one wishes to make a point. Dr. Dawson speaks of Cape Canso in 

 ivlation to Cape lîreton headland, as "the neighbouring point of Xova 

 Scotia." 



Again, if San J09 be Cape Breton, how were the Straits of Canso dis- 

 covered? The map drawer scarcely entered, by them, he must have gone 

 out through them. As he made the circuit of the Gulf we must suppose 

 he entered Cabot's Straits, and went along the north shore examining 

 nnd naming rivers, he eventually found the St. Lawrence and ascer- 

 tained it was the head of the great sea, and so named it. liio dos fudo^ 

 assures us of this, as does also the C. do golf a, "the head of the gulf." 

 Coming down southward he saw B'aie de Chaleur and named it TJiver 

 of the People, and Miramielii which he called St. Paul's River. Why 

 instead of following the coast of New Brunswick he should strike out 

 for what he could not see, viz.. North Cape, P. E. Island, and sail along 

 to East Point, and then instead of trending northward to his place of 

 entrance, should dash dowTi south only to find himself back between 

 ]\riramichi and Baie de Chaleur (for on his map that is where the so- 

 called Straits of Canso begin), is more than a Chinese puzzle. Small 

 Avonder when he discovered that after having sailed two hundred miles 

 away from a certain point he was back to it again, he should feel like 

 crawling out by the smallest hole possible, and thus come forth by the 

 Straits of Canso. This is no fancy sketch, this is what must have been 

 the experience of that adventurous navigator when he sailed round the 

 Gulf, and out by Canso, as his map shows, — always, of course, supposing 

 that San Joa is Cape Breton. On the other hand, taking it for P. E. 

 Island everything is plain and intelligible, except that the southward 

 trend of the coast from Cape Gaspé to Shediac, is carried on to Cape 

 North. In view of many similar distortions of the shore line on num- 

 erous early maps, this need not excite our wonder. 



Finally, if we read the names on the Ivretschmer map along the 

 southeastern shore we lind three rivers named, then we come to Bi dos 

 Berloes, " Bay of the Bretons." We now know with certainty where 

 we are, viz: at St. Peter's Bay. Of this there can be no doubt. Now 

 the southern mouth of the Straits of Canso is just west of this Bay. 

 Consequently one map-drawer did not know Cape Breton was an island, 



