1S6 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the Cabot family, after its return, fell into the background, and the 

 letters patent were cancelled by the issue of new letters in the year 1501 

 to others. Yet of this formidable coast John Cabot is supposed to have 

 reported that "it had an excellent climate where silk and dye-woods 

 *' grow." 1 can understand that in Cape Breton in the warm, sunny 

 days of summer (Appendix D) a man might think anything possible in 

 80 pleasant a country, but if John Cabot did see Northern Labrador and 

 said that about it, Sebastian did not inherit the full power of the paternal 

 mendacity. 



8. — The Point of Westward Departure. 



It is evident from Soncino's second letter that John Cabot made 

 some northing after he passed the southern point of Ireland, and there is 

 no mention in the papers of group A of how far he went north. Arch- 

 bishop O'Brien thinks he made only a slight deflection to the north, but 

 does not dwell upon the point, for he recognizes that the course could 

 only be west. Sir Clements Markham supposes he was driven north by 

 stress of weather. It is possible that he went north far enough to get 

 his true course in sailing westerly upon a globe, as is usually done to the 

 present day.'^* Markham says, with great reason, " His course is clearly 

 " pointed out by the object of his voyage, which was, like that of Colum- 

 " bus, to reach the territory of the Grand Khan. The course of Colum- 

 " bus was west, and that of John Cabot must also have been west." ^* 

 This was also manifestly the opinion of both the Spanish ambassadors. 

 Puebla wrote that " a person like Columbus had come to England to 

 *' persuade the king to enter into an undertaking like that of the Indies," 

 and later, when Cabot told them where he had been and the direction he 

 had sailed, they both reported that the land he had found was already in 

 the possession of Spain. The Italian correspondents reported that it was 

 in the territory of the Grand Khan. The latitude of that country was 

 known to Toscanelli and Behaim from the reports of Marco Polo and 

 other travellers. A reference to the map of Toscanelli, ante p. 152, will 

 show that Cambaluc, the capital city of the Grand Khan, is in lat. 50°. 

 It is Marco Polo's name for Pekin (which is really in lat. 40"), and 

 Quinsay is laid down in lat. 45°. Columbus sailed south to Gomera to 

 get upon the parallel of Zipango and Mangi, which he gave out he had 

 found, and Cabot, hy sailing west from the English channel, would strike 

 the territory near the northern capital of the Grand Khan. These con- 

 siderations all point to a westerly course. It was not Iceland Cabot 

 promised to King Henry VII. '1 he Bristol merchants knew more about 

 Iceland than Cabot did. It was the land of silks, spices and brazil-wood 

 he promised and thought he too had found. 



Obscure though this point may be, we are not left without a guide. 

 The latitude of 53°, which I assumed to be the point of departure, is 



