140 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



vol. xii.), revived the discussion, it may not seem presumptuous if he 

 attempts to summarize it to the present date. In doing so he would 

 repeat that, like the landfall of Columbus, the landfall of Cabot can 

 only be demonstrated to a very high degree of probability, for there has 

 not been in either case any succeeding occupancy, as in the case of the 

 Plj-mouth landing, to prove the landfall by that continuous oral testi- 

 mony known as tradition ; and here may be repeated, what will be seen 

 from the report of the committee (Proceedings of 1896, p. xxx,), that there 

 was never any intention to commit the corporate society to any expression 

 of opinion as to the conflicting theories. The opinion of individual mem- 

 bers of the committee was clearly stated ; but the present writer, who 

 drew up and moved the report, was careful to guard against any mis- 

 conception on that point. 



In studying the subject the reader should bear in mind that the 

 landftill of the voyage of John Cabot in 1497 was tirst detinitely located, 

 in the year 1544, on the east coast of Cape Breton. That is not only the 

 first locality specified (eighty years before the suggestion of any other), 

 but it is the only one for which any positive evidence exists. Without 

 anticipating the argument which must follow, the sim^île fact stands 

 clearly out that the indication of the Cape Breton landfall rests upon the 

 evidence of Sebastian Cabot reduced to graphic form in his lifetime. 

 This had been forgotten and was rediscovered in 1843. In the mean- 

 time other theories had replaced it, and the present writer has done 

 nothing beyond vindicating the first— the original — and the almost con- 

 temporary statement. In this present paper he has sought to place 

 before the reader the means of forming for himself a reasoned opinion. 

 For that purpose the two great maps round which the controversy has 

 raged have been reproduced, and citations from the authorities referred 

 to are made in the very words of their respective writers. 



2. — The Question Opened in 1S31. 



Richard Biddle's work, published in 1831, marks an era in the 

 history of the Cabot vo3'ages. Up to that date there had, for a long time, 

 existed in England, although not on the continent of Europe, a belief 

 that the landfall of the voyage of 1497 was in Newfoundland. He shook 

 that theory by his researches ; in fact he was the first who applied modern 

 critical methods to the subject, and the result among students was the 

 general adoption of an opinion that the landfall was on Labrador north of 

 the latitude of 53° — from 53° to 58° — on that part of the coast known as 

 Northern Labrador. To that theory many scholars adhere to the present 

 day. Other documentary evidence, however, unknown in Biddle's time 

 came to light in succeeding years and largely influenced opinion, for it 

 was of the nature of contemporary testimony. The result was a review 



