VOYAGES OP THE CABOTS IN U97 AXD 1498. 99 



water on his return home. That may, as well as any other, have been " Watering bay." It was con- 

 venient before starting on the home voyage, but water can be got anywhere where there is a harbour 

 along the coast. The map of Lazaro Luis has an inscription along the coast of Nova Scotia to the 

 effect that it was discovered by Gomez, "Costa rj^ue doscobrio Estevau Gomez," and yet in the interior 

 of the country is inscribed "Lavrador q descobrio Joani Alvarez, " so that Fagundes wouW seem, if 

 the words are taken seriously, to have discovered the interior of a continental land in 1521 of which 

 the sea coast was not discovered until 1525, or four years later, by Stephen Gomez. The grant was of 

 a line of coast and of islands all in the Atlantic, and Dr. Patterson's suggestion that Aug.iada bay was 

 Fortune bay is most probably correct. It is impossible for any one familiar with the gulf to enter- 

 tain Mr. Harrisse's opinion that Anticosti or the Magdalen or Prince Edward islands were known to 

 Fagundes from being seen by him when sailing through the gulf to get fresh water in the St. Law- 

 rence, nor does it seem reasonable to invoke the aid of a map dated 1563 to prove a discovery affirmed 

 to have been made in 1521. 



APPENDIX F. 



The Magdalen Islands. 



As jjointed out in the main body of this paper this group of islands, as it is generally considered 

 ought rather to be treated as one large island after the manner of the early maps. In fact the Henry 

 ir. map of 1546" gives a fairly correct idea of the outline of the island. The description given in " The 

 Cruise of the Alice May," p. 51, will make this clear.''^ 



" The main group is practically one island ; that is it consists of several islands composed of real 

 " soil or rocks, more or less covered with trees, connected by long stretches of sand which are broken 

 " at intervals by inlets. Between are shallow lagoons, generally not deep enough for a boat. Thus 

 " Amherst is connected with Grindstone island, and Grindstone and Alright are connected with Coffin 

 " island. Were it not for the inlets, one might go continuously drysho I from Amherst to Coffin 

 " island. But the water in the inlets is so shoal that in places thej' can be forded — not, however, 

 " without some danger, as quicksands abound. Several detached islands lie outside of the main group. 

 " These are Deadman island, the Bird rocks and Bryon island." 



Magdalen island then, is one large island, and a neglect of that fact has led Kohl, Da Costa, and 

 many others to suppose that the large island in the gulf laid down on early maps is of necessity 

 Prince Edward island, and that it is drawn out of its place. Markham in his introduction to the 

 Hakluyt Society volume for 1893 has interpreted the maps correctly, and Ganong in 1889, ' Trans. 

 Eoy. Soc. Can.', resisted the misconception growing out of the map of 1544. These errors have 

 obtained such currency that it is important to check them before the geographical history of the gulf 

 is hopelessly confounded, and with this view it must be borne in mind that only one island is known 

 in all the maps before Champlain's in 1632, and it is placed in the track of vessels sailing to the St. 

 Lawrence river. That island is taken for Prince Edward, and the Magdalen is supposed to be omitted, 

 while in reality it is the Magdalen which is shown and Prince Edward omitted, because this latter 

 island is, in all the maps prior to that date, still adherent to the mainland. The sketch on the 

 following page will make it clear that the Magdalen is the island portrayed. 



Those who have sailed much in the gulf know, what the charts bear witness to, that it is impos- 

 sible to pass in or out of it by St. Paul's without seeing the great Magdalen or one of its attendant 

 islands, usuallj' the Great Bird. Prince Edward island is never seen, not only because its shores are 

 low and the whole island is very flat, but because it is very much out of the way of vessels (see p. 78) 

 and, unless they steer directly for it, ships might sail in and out of the river St. Lawrence for a hun- 

 dred years (as in fact they did) without suspecting its existence. Even when entering the gulf from 

 the strait of Canso the island, if seen, would appear to be part of the mainland just as it is laid down 

 on the mops of Eotz, Vallard, Henry II., Freire, Jomard, Homem and Lazaro Luis. The last men- 

 tioned map very clearly shows the coast line of the north shore of Piince Edward island considered 

 as part of the mainland ; and that fact alone disposes of the supposition that Fagundes saw it or that 



