208 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



"islands" in these old documents must not be construed too strictly. 

 Humboldt warns the student against that. He says (Ex. Ciit., i., 359) : 

 " Dans les premiers temps de la conquête de l'Amérique on avait coutume 

 " de considérer chaque partie nouvellement découverte comme une île 

 " plus ou moins grande. Peu à peu on reconnaissait la contiguïté de ces 

 " parties, et lorbque les observations manquaient, on hasardait sur les 

 " cartes de réunir et de prolonger les côtes d'après de vagues indications." 



On examining the contemj^orary statements it will appear that Pas- 

 qualigo says that the distance sailed was 700 leagues, or 2,100 miles, " to 

 " the mainland of the country of the Grand Khan." The others indicate 

 that some nearer land was at a distance of 400 leagues. Soncino saj^s 

 that two large and fertile islands were discovered, he does not give the 

 distance, and adds then, " having, it would seem, discovered the Seven 

 " Cities 400 leagues from England to the westward.""' A reference to 

 the original will show the distinction between the two j^ropositions : 

 " Et a ritrovato due insule novo, grandissime et fructiffere, et etiam 

 " trovato le septe citade lontaue da I'insula de Ingliterra lege 400 per lo 

 '* camino de ponente." Weare's translation is more accurate than Mark- 

 ham's, " having likewise discovered." If the statements of Ayala and 

 Puebla be now examined, they will be seen to agree that something had 

 been found not more than 400 leagues away. In other words, they are 

 chiefly dwelling on the point that there was land 400 leagues west of 

 England ; and Soncino says what was 400 leagues away was the Seven 

 Cities, while Pasqualigo alone gives the landfall as being on the mainland 

 of the Grand Khan. This particular point has been most clearly brought 

 out by Archbishop O'Brien, and had not previously received sufficient 

 consideration. 



The difficulty is not with the 700 leagues ; it is with the 400 leagues, 

 and that is one of the reasons why Bishop Howley sends Cabot to St. 

 Kilda's, in the Hebrides, straight north through seven degrees, or 420 

 miles, of latitude, in order to get him to a place where he would be 400 

 leagues away from something. St. Kilda's is exactly 1,135 miles distant 

 from Cape Farewell, and it is 420 miles from Cape Clear. That will not 

 solve the problem, for Cabot is made to sail 1,550 miles to Cape Farewell 

 instead of 1,200, and it is not, moreover, in accord with fact to say that 

 the distance of Cape Farewell is 400 leagues west of England. It is not 

 correct either as to distance or direction. Archbishop O'Brien dwells 

 upon the name " Seven Cities," and thinks that Chateau bay, on Labra- 

 dor, is intended ; but that will not help, because the theory introduces 

 many new difficulties both as regards the Seven Cities (see Appendix B) 

 and as to the distance, which is not 1,200, but 2,000 miles away. 



Under these circumstances we must make a distinction between what 

 was found at these two distances, and, as nothing exists upon the Atlan- 

 tic so near to England as Cape Eace, either that is intended or some error 



