[s. E. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS ISl 



If it be relevant it will prove the claim of Bonavista, for that was the 

 spot fixed by the Treaty of Utrecht.^^ We are then informed that it is, 

 as an island, a very early name on the maps, and that such transfers of 

 names were "quite a customary thing " in those days. It is no doubt a 

 fact that the name occurs 26 years before that of Bonavista, and, as 

 Bishop Howley observes, there is no island at Bonavista lying " before 

 " the land." There ai-e two islands there, but they are small, and are 

 inside the cape. He then quotes (p. 37) Cabot's map of 1544 to prove 

 that there was " a large island " marking the landftiU. He forgets, how- 

 ever, that he is quoting from the printed legends on the map he saw at 

 Paris, and which he pronounces to be of "very recent date," -^ and that, 

 elsenrhere, in another ai-gument (on page 22), he had quoted from Clement 

 Adams's copy of the map to show that it was " a small island." Without 

 stopping to reconcile this contradiction, he goes on to point out that near 

 Cape St. John is an island with the remarkable name of " New World 

 island," and another called Fogo island — an old name on the maps. 

 These islands are, it must be observed however, on the opposite side of 

 Notre Dame bay and adjacent to the opposite headland, forty miles from 

 Cape St. John. Either island might answer, for neither of them is very 

 largo or very small. There is no lack of islands, for the bays on the east 

 coast of Newfoundland are clustered with islands. Finally, there is a 

 *' tradition " here also, for we learn that "it is stated in the chronicle 

 " that he (Yerazzano) came to the land formerly [i.e., in 149*7] discovered 

 " by Cabot, which is in latitude 50° "—"the exact latitude of Cape St. 

 " John." This shows, we ai'e told, "that at that early period the tradi- 

 " tion was in favour of Cape St. John as the site of the landfall " (p. 38). 

 This statement occure again on page 36, with particulars which enable 

 the reference to be identified. He says of Verazzano, that he coasted 

 " north until he came to the land, which in times past [viz., 1497] was dis- 

 " covered by the Britons [viz., Cabot], which is in latitude 50° north." 

 The passage is thus seen to be a quotation from Verazzano's report to the 

 King of France, Francis I., excepting the explanatory words which the 

 bishop has inclosed in brackets. The reader would naturally infer that 

 the Britons are the English under Cabot — a manifest error, for Hakluyt, 

 whose tran.slation is used, meant Bretons, not English, and throughout 

 his work (as Eden also does) he spells the word Briton (sometimes Brit- 

 ayne), as, for one instance out of many, in Drake's voyage to the Isle of 

 Ramea he speaks of the " Britons of Saint Malo and the Baskes of Saint 

 " John de Luz." Verazzano was sailing on the coast to create a claim 

 for Prance, and he was pointing out to the king that the land in question 

 had been discovered by Bretons, subjects of France. The French ahvays 

 disputed the English claim on the strength of this very voyage. In 

 Hakluyt Cape Breton is always spelled Cape Briton. The bishop has in- 

 advertently disproved his own case. 



