CAETIKE'S COUESB. 157 



On the 9th of June (Tuesday) Cartier left Kirpon and saikMl u]) the straits. He does 

 not say that he entered the harhour of 



Blanc Sablox, 



though he gives a minute account of it and the adjoining coast. Tliis harhour retains its 

 name to the present day and is a place of considerahle importance. It is the frontier point 

 of Canadian and Kewfoundlaml territory, and is the headquarters of the customs' officials 

 and revenue cutters sent every summer by the 8t. John's Government. There is here also one 

 of the tinest fishing " rooms," perhaps, now in existence, belonging to the energetic Hon. 

 Captain Blandtbrd. The harbour takes its name from the banks of sand surrounding it. 

 Nearly all the harbours of this coast are remarkable for vast quantities of this sand formed 

 by the detritus of the Granite Mountains. It is ot a light fawn colour, but when bleached 

 and seen from a distance with the sun's rays reflected from it, it appears quite white, hence 

 the name. Between Châteaux and Blanc Sablon Cartier mentions two harbours. Havre 

 des Buttes, or harbour of sand heaps, which he says is 12J leagues from Châteaux, and is 

 probably Greenish Harbour of the present day, and Havre de la Ballaine, two leagues from 

 the former, is Red Bay. The Relation Originale has a blank for the distance from 

 Hr. Ballaiue to Blanc Sablon. The edition of 1598 gives 25 leagues, Hakluyt 15 leagues. 

 Both of these figures are entirely too much. By attentively reading the nari'ative, it will 

 be seen that Cartier did not visit these harbours or explore this coast personally. He sailed 

 direct from Kirpon to the harbour of Brest, now Old Fort, and must have taken these 

 distances at second hand. He speaks of a cove about three leagues from Blanc Sablon 

 where there is no shelter from the S. or S. E. This is Bradore Bay. To the S. S. W. of 

 this cove are two islands, which he calls "Isle de Bouays," to-day Woody Island, and " Isle 

 des Ouaiseaulx," to-day Greenly Island. The next harbour mentioned is 



Brest, 



so called by the Breton fishermen after the town of the same name in their own country. 

 He arrived here on Wednesday, June 10th, the day after leaving Kirpon ; so he could not 

 have made any delay at the intervening places. Brest is the harbour known at the present 

 day as Old Fort. The ruins of a fort of the XVI. Century are still visible there. " The 

 latitude given by Cartier," says Ganong, " 51° 50', is about 30' too far north." What the 

 Relation Originale gives is " Cinquante et ung degrez, quarante, cinquante cine mynuttes," 

 which probably means 51° 40' 55". The true latitude is 51° 26', so that Cartier would be 

 only about 14' out. 



Immediately after mentioning Havre Ballaine (Red Bay), Cartier adds " Le travers du 

 quel liable, sçavoir, a tierce partie de la dite baye ya trante huyt brasses et fond de 

 taygnay." This passage has been a puzzle to commentators, but it is quite clear to me. 

 He is not speaking of the harbour of Baleine, which lie did not visit, but of the Straits of 

 Belle Isle (La dite liaye). He sailed, as mentioned, direct from Cape Norman to Brest, and 

 when "otF" Harbour Ballaine ; i. e., "Le travers du quel hable," and about one-thii-d of the 

 distance between the coast of Lalirador and Newfoundland (the strait here is about 18 miles 

 wide, so he would be six miles off the Labrador coast), he found 38 fathoms and a weedy or 

 kelpy bottom (taygnay).' 



■ He frequently uses this word. It means teigneux, the same as rogneux or rognouse, scabby or scruffy. It 

 is a nautical term applied to a rock covered with kelp or sea-weed which gives it a scabby or scruffy appearance. 



