[s. E. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 17S 



" coast of Newfoundland, Labrador or Cape Breton, the learned may de- 

 ^' termine to be his landfall ; " ^^ a sentence, in its non-committal preg- 

 nancy, worthy of a diplomatist of his lordship's great experience. He 

 was evidently not anxious to be the subject of " infinite pains " from any- 

 body. 



A careful perusal of Sir Clements Mai'kham's paper does not, how- 

 ever, confirm the " recantation " represented by Judge Prowse. The 

 paper is easily accessible, and I may spare the space of long extracts by 

 a brief summary of those conclusions which bear on this special question. 

 Sir Clements gives his opinion that Cabot set out to go west ; that, owing 

 to bad weather, he at first made northing, being driven probjibly as far 

 out of his projected course as Blacksod bay in lat. 54° ; that the magnetic 

 variation existing then would probably bring him on a westerly course to 

 Bonavista, which, if Soncino's evidence alone be taken, was his landfall ; 

 that there is nothing impossible about a landfall at Cape Breton ; that 

 the drift may have taken him there, although it was unlikely at that 

 time of the year ; that a chart by John Cahot of his first voyage was sent 

 to the king of Spain ; that it was incorpoi'ated in La Cosa's map ; that 

 Cavo de Ynglaterra is Cape Eace ; that the coast with names, to the west, 

 is the south coast of Newfoundland ; that Cavo Descubierto is Cape Bre- 

 ton. He sums up his opinion that if the map of 1544 is rejected, the 

 landfall will be at Bonavista. 



Everything Sir Clements Markham says must be taken in the most 

 serious manner. Two conditions must be noted in this very restrained 

 recantation, viz., the testimony of Soncino must be taken alone, and the 

 map attributed to Sebastian Cabot must be rejected. He does not cate- 

 gorically decide to adopt this course, and thus leaves the field open to 

 those who take into account the whole evidence and accept the map of 

 1544 either in whole or in part. So far, then, the judge's illustrious con- 

 verts leave the question open to an unlimited liberty of philosophising, 

 and I return untrammelled to the subject of Bonavista. 



Judge Prowse, who, as has been shown, is the only witness, "contra 

 " mundum," for Bonavista, puts his argument thus : " M}^ argument is 

 " founded on the name Bonavista — it is distinctly Italian. In Spanish it 

 "would be Buena Vista, in Portuguese Boavista."" He does not add 

 that in Italian it would be Buonavista, and that it is actually Boavista on 

 the first map where the name is found . The fact is that Bonavista is an un- 

 changed Portuguese word. The nasal sound, though omitted in spelling, 

 is sounded in the pronunciation. It is the name of the easternmost island 

 of the Cape de Verde group, belonging to Portugal, and another of the 

 same group is called Fogo. So, in Newfoundland, one headland of the 

 same bay is Bonavista and the other Fogo — names given by the Portu- 

 guese after their own home islands. All this argument about Boavista is 

 the result of not considering that in Portuguese the nasal sound is not 



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