CAETOGEAPHY TO CHAMPLAIN. 27 



know of auy other records whatever that he could have possessed. If he had anything 

 of the sort, they were probably derived from the fishermen who frequented the New- 

 foundland region. 



It has beer, held by most writers' that Cartier himself was familiar with the Gulf. I 

 cannot find that there is any direct evidence for this, though it is known that he visited 

 the Newfoundland coast. His actions and language in the narrative are those of an ex- 

 plorer, except for the earliest part of the course. He mentions several places by name, 

 but the first that he says he named himself was the Islets in Bradore Harbor. This 

 region was well-known indeed to French fishermen, and doubtless Cartier would have 

 taken among his men some such as pilots. After passing Brest on the coast of Labrador, 

 he gave new names to all prominent places, as he did also throughout the west coast of 

 Newfoundland. Again in the Magdalenes and on the coasts to the west, nearly every 

 name he mentions, he says he himself gave. "Would a man, familiar with the west coast 

 of the Gulf, have gone coasting along Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick looking 

 for a western passage, and then think he had found it when he reached Bay Chaleur ? 

 Would he not rather have skipped this part of the coast if he had known it ? And if he 

 knew the coast, would he have missed the mouth of the St. Lawrence by crossing to 

 Anticosti as he did ? Cartier very rarely tells us in his narrative why he did a thing — 

 only that he did it. It is not worth while to speculate further on this subject, but it 

 seems there is very little ground for supposing that he or his companions knew any part 

 of the Gulf, except that near the Strait of Belle Isle. 



> 

 II. 



Influence of Cartier's Voyages on Early Cartography. 



In reviewing the influence of Cartier's voyages on subsequent cartography and 

 development of geographical knowledge, the first question which presents itself is, did 

 Cartier leave any maps? None whatever are known, but there are three distinct lines of 

 evidence to show that he did. (1) Upon a priori grounds we might infer it. The value 

 of maps was fully recognized in those days, and it would be a part of Cartier's duty, as 

 an official explorer, to make them, to illustrate his explorations to his master, Francis I. 

 It is probable that these were in manuscript only. (2) "We are told positively by Cartier's 

 nephew or grand-nephew, Jacques Noel, of St. Malo, that there were such maps. In 

 two letters" from the latter to his friend, John Growte, one of which is dated June 

 19th, l-SSI, and the other undated, but written only a short time later, it is said that Noel 



map of 1550, (Kohl, op. cit., pp. 226 et seij., and America, iv. 86, 88) is supposed to represent ideas current as 

 to the Gulf before Cartier. If this could be proven, it would show much greater knowledge than we have any 

 other evidence of. Dr. Kohl expresses the belief {op. cit , p. 350) partly founded upon the Viegas' map, that " the 

 Portuguese and French fishermen had circumnavigated the Gulf long before Cartier, which, indeed, is rendered 

 probable by other reasons." 



' Garneau, for instance, (Hist, du Canada,) says, " Dans ce premier voyage, il ne fit aucune découverte 

 importante, les parages qu'il visita étant déjà connus en grande partie des pêcheurs, qui y avaient même donné 

 des noms à plusieurs caps, comme le cap Royal, le cap d'Orléans, près de Miramichi, le cap de Montmorency," 

 and Cartier distinctly says he named the former cape, and implies that he named the latter. 



2 Hakluyt, Voyages and Navigations, iii. 290, 291, ed. 1810. 



