CXVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Bearing these facts in mind, lot ns consider the question calmly. 

 On the 24th June he discovered land. Mr. Harrisse thinks he delayed to 

 catch and salt game. AVell, Pasqualigo says they remained ashore a very 

 short time {per dubito), or for fear the natives might be on them. Na 

 doubt they caught some tish and took in wood and water. Dr. Dawson 

 allows four days' delay. Let it be so. There is no reason to suppose 

 they arrived home on the 28th July ; but there are strong grounds for 

 saying they arrived about the 4th or 5th of August, as the payment of 

 ten jîounds by the king, for the discovery, was made on the 10th. 

 Allowing four days' delay, thirty-eight still remained. Now, with a ves- 

 sel capable of making over one hundred miles a day on the Atlantic, we 

 are quite safe in asserting that Cabot could easily sail nine hundred miles 

 around the gulf in ten or eleven days. Both tide and southerly or south- 

 west winds would be in his favour when passing through the narrowest 

 part of the Straits of Korthumberland ; after having rounded West Cape, 

 Prince Edward Island, he would have tide and current setting to the 

 north, until well clear of that island. With the prevailing summer 

 winds and smooth water, the rest of his voj-age in the gulf and out the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, would certainly be made in eight days. Twenty- 

 seven or twenty-eight would still remain for the voyage from Belle Isle 

 to Bristol, Captains of sailing vessels, the most competent authorities on 

 this question, will tell you that, as a rule, the voyage to Europe is made 

 in one-third less time than the return one. Now, Cabol. was going east- 

 ward at a season of the year (July) Avhen fine weather and Avesterly 

 winds are almost a matter of certainty. Moreover, he knew exactly the 

 point towards which he was steering. Under such circumstances there 

 can be no reasonable doubt that twent3"-seven days would amply suffice 

 to carry him home.^ In fact, it is almost certain that he made the trip 

 from the " seven cities " in a considerably shorter time. For the report 

 went abroad that the " seven cities," which had also been found, and 

 which were quite distinct from the " two large and fertile islands," were 

 distant only fifteen days' sail, now that they knew the place. Whatever 

 we may think of the " seven cities " and their fabulous wealth, we must 

 find a reasonable explanation for this part of the narrative. There are not, 

 as many assume, any contradictor}- statem.ents about the distance from 

 Bristol to the first discovered land. The confusion and contradiction are 

 on the part of those who jump at conclusions without analysing the 

 evidence. Industry of research will procui-e many reliable documents; 

 but the analytical faculty must be brought to bear on them in order to 

 separate and co-ordinate the facts related, Pasqualigo is the onl}' one 

 Avho speaks of the distance of the " two islands," and he gives it as seven 



1 In the log book referred to the voyage from Harwich, England, to the Gulf of 

 Corpus Christi in the Wliite Sea, a distance con.siderably greater than that from 

 Belle Isle to Bristol, was made in twenty-six days. 



