34 r4AN0NG ON ST. LAWEENCE 



as a river of fresh water. It was in this he saw fishes like horses, so that this aud the 

 " R. de chevaulx " should not be removed from each other, but should be both given to 

 the same river, as they are in Mercator's map. " Mille E. millas," I find no direct reference 

 to in the narrative, and the only circumstance likely to be connected with it, was his 

 meeting at this place with great numbers of whales, " Et n'est mémoire de iamais auoir 

 tant veu de ballaynes' que nous vismes cette iournee." That "so many" should become 

 " mille " and " R. millas," should be a corruption and misprint for perhaps " Balinas," 

 seems a violent supposition at first sight, but it is no stranger a history than many 

 geographical names are vrell known to have had. It receives considerable confirmation 

 also from the fact that the Cabot maii, to be referred to below, has commemorated the 

 presence of the whales by the name " numinas saliuas " - (or balinas), and as nearly 

 every name on the Cabot map is on this, and as the two names under discussion are in 

 nearly the same position on the two maps, it seems quite reasonable to suppose that they 

 have the same origin. 



"6«po" I do not understand. "St. Laurens," "St. nicollas," " C. tiemot," are all 

 familiar and in place ; " tonty«s " refers, without doubt, to the many islands he saw in this 

 region. " R. damùt" is, probably, a corruption of "Isle of Demons," found in this region 

 upon some maps, and explicitly placed there by Allefonsce. " R. Cartier " is clear, but I 

 do not see why " R. blanc sablon" has been placed here in addition to "blanc sablon." 



Upon the west coast of Newfoundland we have but three names given out of all the 

 number Cartier placed there, "Les granges," " coullôbier " (Couloubiers), " C. Real" (Cap 

 Royal) are easily recognized. Yet even these three are far more than any other cartographer 

 gives us up to Lescarbot. In the many maps of this region that I have examined, I have 

 not seen another which places any names on the west coast of Newfoundland, aud the 

 three in this might readily have been supplied from narrative or hearsay. I shall return 

 to this point again. The two islands nearly blocking up the entrance to the Gulf are, of 

 course, a part of Newfoundland, which in earlier maps is represented as cut up into even 

 a larger number of islands than is shown upon this. We notice " St. paul " on the north 

 of Cape Breton. 



This map, though in some details less accurate than that of Mercator, presently to be 

 referred to, must be acknowledged to be, in general, the most accurate picture of Cartier's 

 voyages which has descended to u.s from the sixteenth century. Its topography is, for that 

 time, exceedingly accurate. Newfoundland, though broken up into many islands, has a 

 more correct outline than in any other map of the century. The Magdalenes are proportion- 

 ately too large, but want of proportion is a fault of all early maps without exception. 

 Prince Edward Island is fused with the mainland, but so it is on all maps nearly up to 

 Champlain's large map of 1632. Cape Breton Island is likewise fused with the mainland, 

 as it is for a long time thereafter. Latitude and longitude are both very erroneous. 

 These are its chief faults. Its general excellence must command our admiration. 



' Cartier spells very badly. It is not to be expected that his chart would be more accurate in this respect than 

 his narrative, or licc versa, or that they should always agree. 



^ I'he letter e added to " salinas '' on the Cabot map (see next page) does not belong there ; it is an error ot 

 transcription. 



