[o'cRiKN] CABOT'S LANDFALL AND CHART 449 



St. John. If evidence can settle any question the existence of P. E. 

 Ish\nd on early maps, has been put beyond controversy. We might add 

 Mercator's and Hondius' maps to the foregoing. 



The arguments in the Address which went to show how every fact 

 related by Pasqualigo and Da Soncino proclaimed a landfall within the 

 Gulf, need not be repeated. The criticism of Dr. Dawson does not 

 refute them. ITe has produced, as he tells us, a "catena" of authorities 

 regarding the climate and soil of Cape Breton. Yes, but no chain is 

 stronger than its weakest link. In this chain the weak link is where the 

 strong one should be, if it is to be of service to his cause. We know 

 that John Cabot could not have examined the ground to any extent, he 

 only remained on shore a short time, as we are expressly told. Hence 

 the coast on which he landed must have been good soil. This is not 

 the case with the soil around about the headland Cape Breton, as Dr. 

 Dawson admits. Hence it could not have been the landfall. 



It is somewhat surprising that so keen 'an observer as Dr. Dawson 

 should fall into the mistake of taking the words "upon the very Cape," 

 in Hakluyt's account of the voyage of the "Marigold," as meaning the 

 lieadl'and Cape Breton. (Trans. 1897, p. 201). It is safe to say it 

 would be almost a physical impossibility to land on that point. Cer- 

 tainly no one except a drowning man would attempt it, and the crew 

 of the "Marigold" were not in that extremity. The incident rel'ated is 

 a strong confinnation of what was said in the Address about Cabot's 

 experience. We must bear in mind that the restriction of the name 

 Oape Breton to the headland so marked on modern maps, was not known 

 in 1593, in fact it is not generally known to-day. Seventy-five per cent 

 of the inhabitants of Kova Scotia will tell you there is no such Cape. 

 Several well educated gentlemen who live on Cape Breton Island when 

 questioned by me replied there was no Oape Breton except the Island. 

 On early maps, and in the minds of early navigators, Oape Breton stood 

 for all the northern part of the Island, or for Cape Xorth, as seen on 

 Viegas' and Kretschmer's maps. Like Cabot's ship, the "]\Iarigold''' 

 had "wandered much,'' and finally made Cape Breton Island, evidently 

 within the Gulf. Of this the description alone leaves no doubt. Some 

 of the crew landed "on the very Cape," then they sailed four leagues to 

 the west, and went ashore for water. Precisely, they landed in St. 

 Lawrence Bay, about four leagues west of Cape North on the Gulf 

 shore, where they found abundance of good water, and where they met 

 Indians. The description, too, of the trees and berries is quite applic- 

 able to the country around this bay, but not to the land around the 

 headland Cape Breton. Oaks never grew there as can be e'asily ascer- 



