156 BISHOP HOWLEY ON 



The Gulf of St. Lawrence 



by the Straits of Belle Isle. 



The Gulf of St. Lawrence at this time was called " The Bay," " La Baye " par excellence, 

 and sometimes " La Grande Baye." It was well known to the Breton fishermen, as we shall 

 see, and they already carried on large fisheries there. It was sometimes also called " La 

 Baye des Chasteaulx," because the harbour of Château (which still retains the name) is at the 

 entrance to this Grand Bay — on the northern or Labrador side. Cartier clearly distinguishes 

 between " La Baye des Chasteaulx," (p. 5) and the " Hable des Chasteaulx," (p. 8). He 

 here (p. 7) says " La Dite Baye " (the Gulf) because he had already mentioned it (p. 6.) It is 

 called "The Grand Bay " by Whitbourne as late as 1619. The two islands which Cartier 

 saw on the left or port side {babort) were what are now called Big Sacred Island, and 

 Schooner Island in Pistolet Bay. The former, Cartier says, is three leagues from C. Degrat 

 (or C. Bauld.) The latter seven leagues from the first, allowing 2| miles to the league the 

 distances are pretty correct. This Schooner Island, is the island which, as mentioned some- 

 time back, Cartier called St. Catherine's, and it is a pity it did not preserve the name. He 

 describes it as a " flat island, appearing to belong to the main land." Some writers (among 

 whom Professor Ganong, Harvard) have thought this "Isle Saincte Katherine" was the 

 modern Belle Isle, but that island is altogether in another direction to the starboard of 

 Cartier's route. It is lofty, rugged, and barren, and stands out in mid-ocean fourteen miles 

 from hmd in all directions. Schooner Island on the contrary is described in the "Sailing 

 Directions" as tolerably well timbered. It is "adjoining Cape Norman," Cook's Harbour 

 lying between, so that from Cartier's position it seemed "to belong to the main land." "At 

 the N. E. of this island " says Cartier, " there are breakers and bad bottom for about a 

 quarter of a league, on account of which it is necessary to give it a wide berth." {Luy fault 

 donner rim !) (qy., JRumb ?) ' 



" Care is required," say the " Sailing Directions," on entering (Cooke's Harbour) to 

 avoid the sunken ledges oft" ITorman Point, and the reef extending a mile eastward from 

 Schooner Island." 



Cartier says this Island of St. Catherine, and the harbour of Châteaux, " lie N. IST.E. and 

 S. S.W. from each other, and there is 15 leaguesbetweeu the two." The course and distance 

 are absolutely correct. 



The Harbour of Chateaux, 



which fortunately preserves its name, is situated on the Labrador coast, in latitude 52°, 

 directly westward of Belle Isle. It takes its name from " the fantastic formation of the cUAb 

 " which show a remarkable resemblance to an ancient castle with its turrets, arches, loop- 

 " holes, keeps, &c., which are beautifully represented by a series of basaltic columns." 

 (Chappel, "Cruise of the Rosamond," 1813.) In the curious chronicle of Adam Bremensis, 

 a Canon of the Cathedral of Hamburg, in the XL Century (1073-76), the author describes 

 in quaint Latin the voyage of the Norsemen : the discovery of Iceland, Greenland, Hallag- 

 land, and Winland. There is a very remarkable passage which would seem to describe this 

 natural phenomenon of Châteaux : "Ai^pulerunt ad quamdam insulam, altissimis in 

 cirçuitu scopulis, ritu ojypidi munitam " (they landed at a certain island, surrounded liy lofty 

 clifis, after the fashion of a walled town). 



' The space between any two [wiuts of the compass. 



