CAETIBR'S COURSE. 173 



am inclined to believe that the modern St. Genevieve, was the St. Nicholas of Cartier. And 

 Cartier's St. Lawrence was the present Mingan. I am not aware that Bayfield had access 

 to a correct copy of Cartier's MSS. He may have only seen the imperfect ones which have 

 been hitherto used by historians. 



The narrative for the few following days is not very clear. On the 12th of August 

 (Thursday) he left the Harbour St. Lawrence and sailed towards the west, thus crossing the 

 Strait of St. Peter towards the north point of Anticosti. He then saw a cape towards the 

 south, which lay about west by south from St. Lawrence, and about 25 leagues. Both from 

 the direction mentioned, and from the fact that the Lidians whom he had with him told him 

 that this land, on which the cape was situated, is an island, and that to the south of it was 

 the passage to Honguedo (Gaspë) where he had taken them the previous year, it is clear 

 that this cape was' on the northeast coast of Anticosti, probably Higli Cliff Point, 13 miles 

 east of î^orth Point. The distance is a good deal over-estimated, but it is not clear whether 

 Cartier means twenty leagues from St. Lawrence or from his ship at the time of sighting the 

 cape. Cartier here jumps from the 12th to the 15th of August (Sunday), the feast of the 

 Assumption, but he tells us he crossed the strait (/. e. from St. Lawrence to north point of 

 Anticosti) the previous night, 14th. Then he saw the high lands of Gaspè shore to the south. 

 He gave the name of Isle of the Assumption to Anticosti. The course from the said Cape 

 of Anticosti to the high lands of Honguedo (about Cape Magdelaine) is given as east-north- 

 east and west-southwest which is correct, and the distance twenty-five leagues, also correct 

 according to his measurement, (it is about sixty miles.) He then coasted along the south 

 shore of the river till Tuesday I7th, when he crossed over to the north side, and on the 19th 

 arrived at the Seven Islands which still bears the name (Sept lies) given by him. 



It is not the purpose of the present paper to follow Cartier further up the river, especi- 

 ally as there is no difficulty in recognizing all the points mentioned by him. I shall merely 

 notice one fact. The Abbé Beaudouin, in Le Canada-Français, October, 1888, makes an 

 elaborate effort to prove that Cabot entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence by Cape ISTorth (of C. 

 Breton) in 1497, and penetrated the estuary of the river as far as the present islands of Bic 

 and Trois Pistoles. These islands are marked on the pretended Cabot map of 1544 as YsS. 

 Juan. "There is then," writes the learned Abbé in support of his tlieory, "a strong pre- 

 sumption that John Cabot ascended the river as far as Bic, and gave his own name to the 

 isles on the south coast, the terminus of his course." Now we learn from Cartier that it was 

 he who gave this name to these islands. He describes them most minutely and correctly 

 and says "we named them Les Ysleaux Sainct ./e/îan because we entered there the day of the 

 decollation of the said saint," (i. e. 29th August.) 



Cartier wintered in Canada, built a fortress at the River St. Charles, near Quebec, and 

 penetrated as far as Hochelaga (Montreal). On the 6th of May, 1536, he set out on his 

 return voyage from the fort of Holy Cross (St. Charles, Quebec). On the 21st of Maj^ he 

 passed out through the passage of Honguedo, between Anticosti and the Gaspè shore, thus 

 verifying for himself what the Indians had told him. He thought he had seen land all 

 across this passage. Strangely enough, he makes no other remark upon it than " this 

 passage had not been discovered before." When off Cape de Pratto, or Prato, " which is the 

 commencement of the Bay de Chaleur" (Mt. Percé), he steered his course for Bryon Island, 

 which " lies southeast by east, about 50 leagues," course and distance e.xact ; and this shows 

 that he must have mapped out the previous year's voj^age with wonderful precision. 



