48 GANONG ON ST. LAWRENCE 



But the Cabot map has not been proven to be apocryphal. If it is all genuine, and 

 the Cabots did sight Cape Breton as their land-fall, then the Island marked " Isle St. John " 

 probably was their Isle St. John. But it is none the less true that this " Isle St. John " 

 was not our Prince Edward ; the topography of the map none can doubt is that of Cartier ; 

 if it be comjjared with other maps showing Cartier's influence it will be seen as before, 

 that this is the same as on all other maps represents the Magdalene group, and Cabot's 

 Isle St. John must have been the larger of the Magdalenes. 



It has been claimed in the early part of this paper that Prince Edward Island is, in 

 all these early maps, fused with the mainland, and in no way distinguished from it. This 

 is the case, I believe, in every map of the century, that is, every engraved map. I have no 

 doubt that the French fishermen had MS. maps showing, or that at all events they knew 

 of, the existence of the island, but no ofScial map showed it. Lescarbot's well-known map 

 of 1G09' shows no trace whateA'er of it, nor indeed does Champlain's 1612 map, unless the 

 very small round island in the south of the Grulf marked "ille St. Jean" be intended for 

 it. Yet Champlain knew of it as early as 1603, but by hearsay only. In "Des Sauvages" 

 published in 1604, chapter xii, he tells us the story of the Sieur Prevert's attempt to find 

 mines on the Bay of Fundy, by crossing overland from the Gulf, in connection with 

 which he mentions " the Island of St. John, which is some thirty or thirty-five leagues 

 long and some six leagues from the mainland on the south." This is the very first 

 mention of the name " Isle St. John," as applied unquestionably to Prince Edward Island, 

 that I have been able to find. The patent of De Monts of 1603, which names many 

 important places in the Grulf, does not mention it. "We admire the honesty of Champlain, 

 who would not place the island from hearsay only, upon his 1612 map, but instead placed 

 along the shore the legend, " lauteur na point encore recognu cette coste." It is, how- 

 ever, distinctly shown upon his 1632 map, and the latter is the first map- of which I have 

 any knowledge, which shows Prince Edward Island in its proper shape and in its proper 

 position. 



That the south-western part of the Grulf, the basin in which Prince Edward Island 

 lies, was A'ery little known prior to 1600, is shown by documentary as well as cartogra- 

 phical evidence. De Laet, a writer of high repute, writing as late as 1633, in describing 

 the Grulf, says that from St. Lunaire (which he, apparently, uses to designate Miramichi 

 Bay or the head of Northumberland Strait), to Isle St. Lawrence (Cape Breton), "the coast 

 is little known, and is difficult of access on account of the shallows." Champlain himself 

 speaks of the region as being almost unknown. Still more satisfactory evidence, because 

 coming much earlier, is found in Thevet's description of the Gulf Though the latter's 

 reputation for trustworthiness is none of the best, he certainly in general tells the truth, 

 and the following passage bears on its face evidence of its own reliability. In the " Sin- 

 gularitez de la France antarticjue," published in 1558, p. 147, he says, referring to Cape 

 Lawrence on Cape Breton: — "and going from the said cape towards the west and south- 

 west, one coasts for about two hundred leagues, and it is nothing but sandbanks without 

 any port or harbor." Cartier, in his narrative, speaks frequeutly of the shoals and sands 



' Marcel (Cartographie de la Nouvelle France, Paris, 1885, p. 7) describes a fine manuscript map of 1607, show- 

 ing Champlain's explorations. 



- I find later that Sir William Alexander's 1624 map shows it, but gives it no name. 



