PROCEEDINGS FOR 1897 CXVII 



hundred leagues. Da Soncino, in his first hurried note, speaks of the 

 finding of the " two ishinds," says nothing about their distance, but adds 

 that " they have also found the seven cities," which are thought to be 

 about four hundred leagues distant. The Spanish ambassador, too, 

 speaks of the " seven cities," and believes them to be distant four hun- 

 dred leagues. We have nothing to show how far the islands first seen 

 were from the supposed " seven cities," but they were not the same land. 

 This is perfectly clear from the text of da Soncino. We can easily locate 

 the "seven cities," and thus give an additional proof of our theory. 

 As Cabot neared Belle Isle, Chateau Harbour, with its magnificent 

 scenery, came in view. " It has two wall-sided and flat-topped hills, 

 composed of basaltic columns, which cap the summits of Castle and 

 Henly Islands, and are two hundred feet in height above the sea." ' We 

 €an now readily understand why the crew of the "Matthew" should 

 report that they had found '' seven cities." Five centui'ies previously, as 

 we learn from Adam of Bremen, some Norse adventurers driven thither 

 thought they had found a city. Thirty-seven years after Cabot, Jacques 

 Cartier recognized the likeness of this natural formation to the handi- 

 craft of man, and named the place Chateau Bay. We have thus a natural 

 explanation of the report set afloat, no doubt by the crew, of the dis- 

 covery of the " seven cities," and since they wei-e thought to be so near 

 Bristol, the voyage must have been a short one. After da Soncino had 

 seen and talked with Cabot, he said nothing about these cities, but he 

 gives us the priceless information regarding the soil, climate and richness 

 of growth of the islands, as well as that of their latitude being lower than 

 Tarais. The Spanish ambassador, hearing of the quick run from Belle 

 Isle to Bristol, concluded that it was much nearer than it really is to 

 England. Thus by taking the testimony as a whole, and giving equal 

 «redibility to all its parts, any apparent discrepancies are reconciled, and 

 nothing is left unexplained. But, some may say, " Cabot could not have 

 known of the gulf, for it does not appear on maps until many years 

 later." This is merely negative and proves nothing. Moreover, whilst 

 we have Cabot's chart, we have not his map. Again, a hundred difti- 

 culties do not make up one doubt, much less do they constitute a dis- 

 proof. We may say, however, that Cabot had full knowledge of the 

 existence of the gulf after the voyage of 1498, as we shall see. Thus the 

 ditficulty would remain even were we to say he did not sail round the 

 gulf, but only out of it, in 1497. 



Dr. S. E. Dawson, in his able paper on the voyages of the Cabots in 

 1407 and 1498,^ labours strenuously to show that Cabot did not know of 

 the existence of the gulf, much less of Prince Edward Island — in fact 



1 Xewfoundland and Labrador Pilot, 2nd edition, page 3G4. 



2 Trans, R. S. C. 1»94. 



