32 GANONG ON ST. LAWEENCE 



clear ; it is the Brion Island of our charts. Alezay, I hope, has been shown to be Dead- 

 man's Island. What can be the large, unnamed island, other than the large island of the 

 Magdalene group, to which, in his narrative, strangely enough, Cartier gives no name ? 

 Its position and shape are both exceedingly accurate for the time, and for the hasty 

 survey Cartier was able to give it. On two or three maps subsequently to be considered, 

 the same island is marked " ille de sablôes," and " I. dareas," both Portuguese forms for 

 " Isle of Sands," ' and so Cartier described it. In his own words, " semble de loiug que se 

 soinct butterolles de sables, pour ce que se sont terres-basses et araineusses," i.e. " it seemed 

 from afar to be little hills of sand, for it is a very low and sandy land." How well this 

 describes the great island of the Magdalenes, composed as it is of four or five distinct rocky 

 islands, joined by long lines of sand dunes, everybody knows. Does it not seem strange in 

 the face of these facts, that this island has been considered up to the present, to represent 

 Prince Edward Island ? Harrisse, for instance, so considers it, for in his description of 

 another and very similar map by the same author, made in 1550, he says that what is 

 clearly the island we are considering, represents Prince Edward Island of to-day. I call 

 particular attention to this point, for it is connected with one of the most important parts 

 of our present study. 



Passing to the mainland, we meet with our familiar " R. des barques," and " C. dan- 

 goulesme," which stands, of course, in place of Cape Orleans. Cape of the Savages is not 

 named, but running out to the north-east we see represented the reef, spoken of by 

 Cartier, which ran half a league into the sea. These places of course appear to be on the 

 mainland. It is hardly necessary to repeat that this is because Prince Edward Island 

 was not known to be an Island, and is therefore shown as apart of the mainland. All of 

 the topography of the Gulf in this region was given to the cartographers exclusively by 

 Cartier, and no writer whatever has ever pretended that Cartier explored or passed 

 through the Strait of Northumberland. The Bay of St. Luuario, really the northern end 

 of the Strait, is clearly shown, but we have a new name for it. It seems to read " Baye 

 de Se. maue," which I believe is a misprint, and meant to read "Se. Marie." It will be 

 remembered ^ that Cartier found he was in his supposed bay on July 2nd, but as he had 

 actually entered it on the 1st, he named it after the saint of that day, St. Leonarius. Now, 

 July 2nd, is the day of the visitation of the Virgin Mary, and it seems as if this name 

 bad been substituted either by Cartier or the maker of this map, as an alternative for 

 St. Lunario.' 



The name " Gr. Somaw " I cannot explain.^ Just north of it is a triangular indentation 

 which is probably meant for Miramichi Bay, though it is separated from St. Luuario by 

 a distance quite unusual in these old maps. "C. despoir" is perfectly clear, — Cartier's 



' And Harris.se describes, (op. cit. p. 231,) another map by the same author, made in 1550, in wliich what is 

 clearly the same island, is called " II. des arènes." 



^ See these Transactions, v. 131-132. 



■' An interesting possibility is suggested to us here. Cartier saw Miramichi Bay on tlie 2nd, and described it 

 as a triangular bay, lying north-east, but gives it no name in his narrative. He had named so many places after 

 saints, that we are tempted to wonder whether he did not call Miramichi Bay, Bay of St. Mary, and the name has 

 got displaced on the map. I must say I have as yet seen no facts to substantiate this very hazy theory. 



* I have no doubt that anyone familiar with the old French, Spanish and Portuguese, familiar with Cartier's 

 narratives, and wliowill allow for the abominably bad spelling and carelessness of early cartographers, could solve 

 all the puzzling questions about these names, left unsolved in these pages. 



