[s. E. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 207 



entered into its influence at longitude 40° ; for there is the eastern limit 

 on the chart of the drift of icebergs. I must now ask my readers to 

 refer back to page 150, and they will see that Bishop Howley makes 

 Cabot, sailing west from Cape Farewell, 345 miles to the meridian of 

 Cape St. John, drojj south to that cape through a distance in latitude of 

 600 miles. That is, as I observed there, a very immoderate use of the 

 Arctic current. In my first paper I followed the Admiralty sailing 

 directions and rated it, not at two miles, but at an average of one mile an 

 hour. I submit, then, that all these influences must have carried Cabot 

 well south of his proposed course, and that it is not "absurd," "ridicu- 

 " lous " or " preposterous " to conclude that the " Matthew " did pass Cape 

 Eace and make a landfall at Cape Breton — a natural and probable land- 

 fall, moreover, to which every indication of the contemporary documents 

 (group A) points. 



From what precedes in this connection it will be clear to the reader 

 that it will be lost time to base any argument on the rate of sailing of 

 Cabot's vessel. Bishop Howley fixes upon a rate of 140 miles a day, or 

 nearly six miles an hour."*^ His argument is that the navigators said on 

 their return that, now they knew the way, they could sail the distance in 

 fifteen days ; then, taking the extreme distance, TOO leagues, as 2,100 

 miles, and dividing it by 15, he arrives at 6 miles an hour, or 140 miles as 

 a day's sail. But such a loose statement is not a basis for a mathematical 

 argument. To use it as a foundation of practical calculation is mislead- 

 ing, for it is arguing from the constancy of ideal conditions of weather. 

 It is better to inquire what was in other known instances really and 

 actually the average rate, and here the log of Columbus will be of assist- 

 ance. Now, I hope that no one will say again that I am arguing a pari, 

 for I am not. I am arguing a fortiori. Capt. Fox, U. S. N., has with 

 gi*eat pains gone over the log of Columbus, and, with the authority of a 

 professional seaman, has ascertained his average rate of sailing to have 

 been 4*4 miles an hour. I find also that, while on seven days he made 

 140 miles and a little over, on seven days he made less than 50 miles. My 

 argument, therefore, is that if Columbus, with fair winds, fair weather 

 and a straight course, made only 44 miles an hour on his whole course 

 Cabot, in a region of variable and, probably, much contrary wind, must 

 have made less. I shall not venture to say how much less, for fear that 

 Mr. Harrisse may again apply to a table of logarithms for a solution of 

 the problem. 



I come now to a really difficult point — to the varying statements 

 given by the contemporary documents as to the distances reported by 

 John Cabot, and here there must be some hj^pothetical argument, for the 

 distances cannot be reconciled with the distances actually existent on the 

 Atlantic, in whatever direction we may suppose the " Matthew " to have 

 sailed. Before proceeding I would, however, observe that the word 



