CARTIER'S COURSE. 181 



Cartier St. Paul's was Cape I»(orth is certainly astounding. Cartier tells us it was to the 

 south of Cape Lorraine, not to the starboard, and he tells us it was on]y f/teen miles distant, 

 or a quarter of a degree, while Cape North is some sixty miles away to the westward, alto- 

 gether out of sight and unknown to Cartier. This second cape, which he saw a few miles 

 to the southward and called St. Paul's, was only the highlands above Port aux Basques, on 

 the N"ewfoundland coast. 



Now I ask the reader to remember Cartier's description of the land near Cape Lorrahie. 

 " To the south of the said cape there is a low land and the appearance of the entrance to a 

 river, but no good harbour." This is a perfect description of the "Cape Cove" and " Cape 

 Barrachois," as any one knowing the place must recognize. But let us hear the " Sailing 

 Directions" : "There is a sandy bay between Cape Ray and Point Enragée (four miles to 

 the south) wherein ships may anchor with the winds north-northwest to east, but they 

 should be cautious not to be surprised there with southwest winds. The ground is not the 

 best for holding, being tine sand." (11 n'y a hable que vaille.) 



From the waj^ he speaks of the second cape, which he calls St. Paul's, it seems to me 

 he saw it while he was at Cape Lorraine, because he saw over or across the land {par sur les 

 quelles terres). I consider this hill to be the highland at the bottom of Port aux Basques, 

 which is the next prominent high land on the coast. The distance, however, of fifteen miles, 

 or a quarter of a degree, is a little overestimated ; it is probably ten or twelve miles distant. 



There is only one other point to be cleared up. The confusion arises from a mistrans- 

 lation in Hakluyt, and I believe it was this which set Brown astraj'. He is the only one 

 since Lescarbot who got on the right track as far as Cape Ray, but the following sentence 

 from Hakluyt misled him. Hakluyt, says Dr. Bourinot (p. 155), is perplexing, for it says 

 that Cartier (after seeing Cape Lorraine and Cape St. Paul's) "had notice of the coast lying 

 east-southeast, distant from the Newfoundland about twenty-seven leagues." Not only is 

 it perplexing, but absolute nonsense. What Cartier really says is that " on tlie 4th of June, 

 the feast of Pentecost, (after having seen Cape Lorraine and Cape St. Paul's) we had (or 

 made) knowledge of the east-southeast coast of Newfoundland for some twenty-two leagues 

 from the cape " (Cape Lorraine). " Feusmes (or eusmes) congnoissance de la coste clest suest de 

 Terre Neufae, qui estait à enuirons vingt-deux lieues du cap." They coasted along the southern 

 shore of Newfoundland in an east-southeast course (the exact course of the present day) for 

 about twenty-two leagues from the cape, that is either Cape Ray (Lorraine) or Channel Head 

 (Port aux Basques). The wind then came contrary, and they entered a harbour, which, on 

 account of the festival of Pentecost (or the Holy Ghost), they called Le Hable de Sainct 

 Esperit. As that sliore is indented with harbours at every few miles' distance, it would be 

 vain to attempt to identify the port so called. It may be La Poile. I may, however, by 

 way of a last shot, remark that this also proves that the cape spoken of by Cartier as St. 

 Paul's must have been on the Newfoundland shore. Any cape on the Cape Breton shore 

 would have been sixty leagues from where Cartier now finds himself. 



He then steered his course for St. Pierre Miquelon, and at " twenty-three leagues to sea 

 he found many islands and dangerous rocks and shoals." These were the Rameas and 

 Penguin Islands. The distance, if we count from the nearest part of the coast of the main- 

 land, is much exaggerated, but probably Cartier is measuring from the Harbour of St. Esprit, 

 in which case he would be correct. He arrived at St. Pierre on the 11th of June, feast of 

 St. Barnabas, and remained till the IGth. He found a large number of fishing vessels there. 



