VOYAGES OP THE CABOTS IX 1497 AND 1498. 101 



Eamea," and again, " A Voyage of Charles Leigh to the Isle of Ramea." From these narratives it 

 appears that the Magdalen was a place of eroat resort in those days by fishing craft of all the mari- 

 time nations of Europe. Some of the names in the first relation are interesting. The " Isle Biioron " 

 shows that a Portuguese map was i-eferred to. On Vaz Dourado's map (circa 1580) it is "Isle 

 Dorean ; " both are corruptions of the French " Isle d'Arènes " ; then Isle Rrion is changed to " Isle 

 Biton " and the " Isles of Aponas " recall Jacques Cartier's first voyage, when he found a large number 

 of birds he calls apponats on the shores of one of thorn. The Bird rocks were those he called 

 Isles Margaux, and on the mainland he found an immense number of birds he called godets and grands 

 apponats of which his sailors killed more than a thousand. To this day Alright island is by the inhabi- 

 tants sometimes called isJe aux Cormorants. While these islands were thus frequented, the island of 

 Prince Edward was not known excepting as forming part of the coast line of the present Nova Scotia. 

 How the name " Magdalen " was first given does not anywhere appear. The supposition that Cartier 

 gave the name is incorrect, for it is first found in Champlain's large map of 1632, and Lescarbot calls 

 them Isle Colombaires ou Ramées. In 1663 the Company of New Prance, in conjunction with the Miscou 

 Company, conceded these islands to François Doublet, and when he sailed to take po.ssession his son 

 Jean Doublet (celebrated afterwards as a corsair and as a naval oflH.cer under Louis XIV.) then not 

 eight years old hid himself on board his father's vessel to make the voyage. Jean Doublet states in 

 his "Journal" that his father changed the name of the largest island from Isle Brion to Isle de la 

 Madelaine in honour of his mother. That, however, cannot be true, for the name occurs in the very 

 concession itself, besides being found in Champlain's map. Denys also (in whose jurisdiction all these 

 islands were) gives the name Madelaine to the large island (see map in Bourinot's Cape Breton.) 

 Doublet's enterprise was unsuccessful and the islands were re-granted to M. de St. Pierre in 1719. Even 

 then the names were not settled for in the grant they are styled the " Magdalen Islands, Brion or 

 Eamées." 



APPENDIX G. 



Two Memoirs op Sebastian Cabot. 



There are several jDoints in the discussion of this question which could not be considered in the 

 main portion of the present paper without overloading it with detail, and among them is the singular 

 warmth which some writers have imported into it. Chief among the books of authority is the 

 "Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot," by Richard Biddle, 1831. This is a work of very great research and 

 indispensable to all students; but it is marred by its manner which ia that of a lawyer's brief for 

 Sebastian Cabot against all persons whomsoev'er. It is impossible to say anything against John Cabot 

 because so few notices of him survive, but he describes him out of his own head as an old merchant 

 who did not go to sea '^ and then ignores him. That is not surprising for the documents upon which 

 the elder Cabot's reputation is based were found in the Spanish and Italian archives long after Mr. 

 Biddle's death, but all the authors from whom he differs he has treated as if they were hostile wit- 

 nesses in a criminal trial. Thus of " Bai-row's Chronological History of Voyages " he writes 

 sarcastically, as being "invaluable, as it not only embodies in a cheap and convenient form all the 

 " mistakes of its predecessors but generally supplies a good deal of curious original error." If the old 

 writers even do not record suitable facts, Mr. Biddle is equally severe; thus, Gomara, in his " General 

 History, 1552," says of the east coast of America " Gomez visited a region which had never before him 

 " been visited by any one though they say that it was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot." Gomara 

 was merely repeating what was said in Spain and what the Spanish maps, authorized by Cabot as 

 Grand Pilot bear witness of to this day, and yet Mr. Biddle adds '' churlish expressions," " despicable 

 temper." If any one was responsible for Gomara's statement it was Mr. Biddle's OTrn hero who from 

 1512 to 1547 was the chief official in Spain to guarantee the correctness of the very maps which denied 

 his discovery. The Eolls Office in London is censured for " unpardonable carelessness in letting a map 

 become illegible," while in fact the wonder is that so many documents, even trivial entries in the records 



