26 GANONG ON ST. LAWEENCE 



not, applying it apparently to the present Mai Bay.' Cartier's Honguedo he changes to 

 Oo-nedoc (on his map Unguedor)," and describes very faithfully nnder this name Graspé 

 Harbor. He uses the name Seven Islands, to which Cartier at first gave the name of 

 Round Islands. But Cartier himself afterwards called them Seven Islands (sept ysles) 

 in the same narrative in which he called them Eound Islands. Allefonsce's description 

 of the river does not concern us at present, and his reference to Isle St. John will be 

 considered further on."' A complete list of Cartier's place-names, for use in the study of 

 the descriptions of maps to follow, will be found at the end of this paper. 



F. — Cartier'' s Previous Knowledge. 







An important question connected with Cartier's voyages, especially his first, is: 

 What previous knowledge had he of the region he was about to explore ? How much of 

 his course was real exploration, and how much merely revisiting places known to him ? 

 What maps or other records had he to aid him ? 



As to maps, we have no knowledge that he had any. No map is known to us which 

 gives the topography of the Gulf in a recognizable form prior to those which show his 

 explorations. It is quite certain, as Dr. Deane has shown,* that the Cabots left maps 

 showing their explorations. It is thought that the outline of the coast in this region on 

 La Cosa's map of 1500 was taken from them. Some writers have thought that John 

 Cabot, in his first voyage in 1497, circumnavigated the Grulf, ' a view which will have to 

 be alluded to again " ; but, if he did so, no map known to us down to 1534 shows any trace 

 whatever of it. John Denys, of Hon fleur, is said to have made a map of the Gulf in 

 1508, but if it ever existed at all, it produced no influence on later ones. Several maps 

 prior to 1534 do show, however, very distinctly both entrances to the Gulf, such as those 

 of Euysch (1508), Maiollo (152*7), Ribero (1529), Verrazano " (1529), and several others. 

 It is hard to believe that Cartier was ignorant of the entrance between Cape Breton 

 and Newfoundland' (we know he had previously been in New^foundland), though he 

 may not have known whither it led," or that it was more than a shallow bay. So far as 

 maps are concerned then, we know of none which Cartier had to help him." Nor do we 



' Abbé Laverdiêre, in his superb edition of Champlain's "Works, p. 1084, points out that this word is an English 

 corruption of Baie des Molues (or Morues). It is hence one of the oldest names in the Gulf 



■•' See sketches of Allefonsce's maps in America, iv. 74-77. 



3 See post, pp. 45, 46. * America, iii. 



* INIr. Stevens (Historical Notes) thinks that La Cosa's map represents the Labrador coast of the Gulf, New- 

 foundland being entirely absent. This is not very complimentary to the Cabots as navigators, or else to La Cosa 

 (whose accuracy Mr. Stevens otherwise highly praises) as a map-maker. 



^ See post, p. 46, note 4. 



' Tracings of these may be found in America respectively as follows : iii. 9, iv. 39, 38 and 37. 



** In the narrative of his first voyage, however, he speaks as if he had not known of it. (See footnote 2 on p. 44. 

 of this paper.) The earliest known map showing Newfoundland as an island, or rather a collection of islands, was 

 Mercator's, of 1538. Of. America, iv. 74. 



"The very improbable claim of the exploration of the Gulf by Alvarez Fagundes, a Portuguese, is referred 

 to in America, iv. 37, 74. 



'" The map of Gaspar Viegas, given by Kohl (Discovery of Maine, p. 34cS), shows the Gulf as a small, nearly 

 circular bay, having no connection with the Strait of Belle Isle. But it is in MS. and bears date 1534, and we can 

 hardly suppose Cartier knew much more than it embodies. It must be remembered also that the famous Gastaldi 



