454 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Dawson in fields less profitable. I fear his excuse for inaction, viz., 

 " It ^rill be necessary to cite some authority for La Cosa's classical 

 attainments before discussing his etjonologies," will be found disap- 

 pointing. It might satisfy the galleries, but it will not convince the 

 boxes. If a man makes use of compound words which express an in- 

 telligible idea, we have proof, at first hand, that he has a fair knowledge 

 of their sejmrate meanings, and a deftness in compounding them. In 

 this way La Cosa has given testimony to his attainments. We know, 

 moreover, that cartography did not come before "Humanities" in the 

 schools frequented by La Cosa. It is scarcely necessary to add that 

 the "Humanities" were thoroughly classical. 



The method which I endeavoured to follow in the Address, and 

 which I have continued in this paper, is based on the accepted canons 

 of interpretation. The authenticity and reliability of documents such 

 as Pasqualigo's and Da Soncino's letters, as well as the various testi- 

 monies regarding the highest degree of latitude attained by Cabot on 

 liis second voyage, were established. From the two first, the landfall 

 was shown to be on the gulf shore of Cape Breton, and P. E. Island 

 the island seen on the same day, and named St. John. This was done 

 by simply taking the words of the text in their plain meaning, down to 

 the minutest detail. When Cabot says he sailed "three hundred 

 leagues" along the coast newly discovered, we do not make it three 

 hundred mile's, nor do we accuse the writers of vagueness of meaning 

 regarding well known localities. We show how every detail of these 

 letters is verified in our account of the landfall. So far as I have seen, 

 no one else has attempted to harmonize those unsuspected testimonies 

 with their theory, no doubt for the very sufficient reason that it cannot 

 be done. It can no longer be held that "the country of Tanais" was 

 an indefinitely located district in Eastern Asia for such men us Cabot, 

 Da Soncino and the Duke of Milan, or in fact for Italians in general 

 in the fifteenth century, neither can it be held that the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence was not opened up before Cartier's time. The proofs brought 

 forward in this paper settle conclusively these points, and add, if it 

 were needed, additional strength to the conclusions reached in the 

 Address. By pursuing this course we have never found it necessai7 to 

 make any accusations against either the competency or honesty of our 

 authorities, in order to discount the force of their testimony. By 

 orientating Cabot's chart We do not imply, much less assert, that Lt\ 

 Cosa was not a celebrated cartographer ; no one will deny the value of 

 Ptolemy's maps, yet even school children will proclaim (I know it from 

 having shown them, his Great Britain) that Scotland is misplaced. 



