VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS IN 1407 AND 1-108. 



61 



that Cabot discovered two large and fertile islands ; but the two islands of Pasqualigo were 

 passed without examination. They were prol)al)ly the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon ; 

 but tbat John Cabot had no idea of a nortliward voyao-e at that time in his mind would 

 appear from his inteiitidu tn sail further to the east on his next voyage until he reached the 

 longitude of Cipango. Moreover, the reward recorded in the king's privy purse accounts 

 " to hym that fbuude the new ile " and the wording, thrice repeated, of the second letters 

 patent, " the land and isles of late found by the said John " indicate that it was not at that 

 time kniiwu whrther tlie uiaiiilaiid of Cathay had Ijeen reached or, as in the discoveries of 

 Columbus, islands upon the coast of Asia. 



From tiie preceding narrative, based solely upon documents written within twelve 

 months of tiie event ; which documents are records ot statements taken from tlie lips of 

 John Cabot, the chief actor, at the very time of his return from the first voyage, it will, I 

 trust, ajipcar that in 14M7, at a time of year when the ice was not clear from the coasts of 

 Lalirador, he discovered a part of America in a temperate climate ; and that this was done 

 without the name of Seljastian Cabot once coming to the surface, excepting when it appears 

 in the patent of 1496, together with the names of Lewis and Sancio, his brothers. "While 

 the circumstances recorded are iucompatihle with a landfall at Lal)rador they do not exclude 

 the possibility of a landfall on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, which is .so varied in its 

 character as to correspond with almost any conditions likely to be found in a landfall on the 

 American coast ; but inasmuch as, from other reasons, it will, I think, appear that the land- 

 fall was at Cape Breton it will be a shorter process to prove by a positive argument where 

 it was than to show by a negative argument where it was not ; — and now, before passing to 

 another branch of mj^ subject it will be proper to notice a theory which Humboldt based on 

 Juan de la Cosa's map that John Cabot passed in between St. Paul's Island and Cape Ra}', 

 circumnavigated the gulf of St. Lawrence and returned to England through the straits of 

 Belle-Isle. 



Juan de la Cosa's map is a document of such prime importance that it merits separate 

 consideration, but I think, that every one who knows the gulf will share Kohl's astonish- 

 ment that such a theory should have been held by so eminent a cosraographer. Henry 

 Stevens *' follows ILunboldt, and Dr. Deane doubtingl}- says, " If the statement about coast- 

 ing 300 leagues be true he (Cabot) may have made a peri[ilus of the gulf returnino- by 

 Belle-Isle.'' The statement is based on a remark made by I'asqualigo, and if there had been 

 time sufficient to sail so far we might be bound to accept it ; but there was not. The lo»- of 

 Columbus ■*' sailing in a southern latitude with a steady northeast trade-wind l)ehin(l iiim 



shows an average of 4-4 miles an hour. Cabot sailed in the region of variable wi 



nd 



there- 



fore the log of John Cabot could not have shown such an average progress, and it did not on 

 the outer voyage for he left Bristol early in May — say the fifth — and saw laud on June the 

 24tb, thus making good on a straight course 2,200 miles in .50 days or 44 miJi's '' a dav, almost 

 two miles an hour. If he delayed only four days to examine the laiul he had found, and 

 then sailed straiglit for home he would have made the passage in 30 days, for lie certainly 

 arrived at Bristol about the end (say the 28th) of July. That would give a log of 75 miles 

 a day or 3 miles an hour on a straight continuous course. But he did not make such a 

 course, for Juau de la Cosa's map shows that he coasted along and named the south shore 

 of Newfoundland a distance of 300 miles, not leagues. He could not have coasted 935 miles 

 more along the continent of America and have returned home in the time specified, still less 



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