218 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



the south, and that there is, therefore, a strong preponderance of proba- 

 bility in favour of a landfall at Cape Breton. 



To that same conclusion the positive evidence of the strictly contem- 

 porary documents also points, and that same landfall was set forth eighty 

 years before any other was specifically named. It has been shown that 

 John Cabot gave to Pedro de Ayala, Spanish ambassador in London, a 

 map of his discoveries on his first voyage, and that maj) was sent to Fer- 

 dinand of Spain late in the year 1498, before the second expedition re- 

 turned. The same king employed Juan de La Cosa to make a mappe- 

 monde in the year 1500, and that cartographer compiled it out of the 

 materials then accessible. His mappe-monde contains the English dis- 

 coveries on the northeast American coast, to wit, the discoveries of the 

 Cabots, for there were none others made at the time, and the conclusion 

 is, therefore, irresistible that La Cosa's map contains the results of John 

 Cabot's first voyage. 



It has been, moreover, made clear, and admitted by very high 

 authorityj that Cavo de Ynglaterra on that map is Cape Eace, and it 

 therefore follows that the coast discovered and named was the south 

 coast of Newfoundland, and was directly west of Cape Eace. At the 

 end of the list of names is Cavo descubierto, in a position, and direction 

 on a magnetic course, corresponding to Cape Breton. Cavo descubierto 

 is a Spanish name, meaning "the cape discovered," and denotes, when 

 put plainly, the cape of landfall. 



Further proof is given that the landfall was a southern one in the 

 despatch of Dr. Puebla to their Catholic majesties expressing his belief 

 that the land found belonged to Spain. This belief is shared by De 

 Ayala, who says that from the direction he is certain the lands belong to 

 Spain, and because the map does not show the islands known to be the 

 property of Spain, i.e., the Antilles, he thinks the map is false. This 

 proves that the direction and discovery was well to the south and west, 

 but also near to the line of demarcation ; and the line of demarcation 

 passed a little east of Cape Breton and cuts off Newfoundland and 

 Labrador. 



It is proved that the land of the first landfall was in a temperate, 

 well-wooded, pleasant region, where the sea abounded in fish. This cuts- 

 oif the whole northern region. There was no ice there, for ice was a 

 novelty to sailors, and it is not mentioned. It is a region where brazil 

 wood and silk might be expected to grow. 



That is John Cabot's testimony to his landfall of 1-497. 



It has been proved that maps were made in the years 1544-49, if not 

 by Sebastian Cabot, yet on information received from him, and one dated 

 1549 was cut by, or for, Clement Adams in England, when Cabot was at 

 the head of the nautical affairs of that kingdom and the official examiner 

 of all pilots. 



