[s. B. DAWSON] THE VOYAGES OF THE CABOTS 241 



APPENDIX F. 



Prince Edward Island not Cabot's St. John. 



I come now to a point of very great interest, not only in relation to 

 the (Jabot yoyages, but to the early history of the Dominion, and on the 

 threshold, I would express my indebtedness to Prof. W. F. Ganong, whose 

 researches ^-^ on the cartography of the Gulf of St. Lawrence have cleared 

 up a subject very much obscured by hasty assumptions and imperfect 

 information. 



The question has been raised anew in the president's address pub- 

 lished at the commemoration, and to be found in permanent form in the- 

 " Proceedings " in the present volume. His position briefly stated is, that 

 Cabot not only missed Cape Race, but passed through Cabot strait with- 

 out seeing land ; that he got to the south after passing the strait, and 

 that he made his landfall near Mount Squirrel on the inside (or gulf side)' 

 of Cape Breton island. He supposes that Cabot remained on land for 

 only two hours, and then sailed west at 8 o'clock a.m., and discovered 

 Prince Edward island about 6 p.m. on the same day, which island thus 

 became his Island of St. John ; that thereupon he sailed through North- 

 umberland strait and went northwest, inside of Anticosti, which he cir- 

 cumnavigated, and passed out by Belle-isle, seeing Chateau bay as he 

 passed and taking it to be the Seven Cities. 



The reasons I gave in my paper of 1894 against a landfall at Cape 

 North I still hold to be conclusive. Cabot's westerly course by compass 

 would bear him to Cape Breton, and, as he was sailing on an unknown 

 ocean, and had not seen land, there was nothing to suggest to him, at a 

 certain point south of Newfoundland, to turn sharply to the northwest 

 and strike the centre of Cabot strait. This is fully covered in my first 

 paper, and nothing has occurred since bearing upon it, save the surveys 

 of Mr. W. Bell Dawson, to be considered later on. 



A careful consideration of the presidential address will reveal the 

 highly theoretical bases upon which its conclusions rest. There are 

 three conditions declared to be essential : First, the landfall must be west 

 of Bristol — no one disputes that. Then, it must be south of the Tanais, 

 which is assumed to be in 48° and south of Bristol, whereas a reference to 

 Appendix E will show that, according to the knowledge of that day, as- 

 well as according to the authorities he has cited, the country taken by 

 the archbishop to be the Tanais was in 5G°, and north of Bristol. Then 

 the landfall must be 2,100 miles distant from Bristol. This is near 

 enough for an approximate distance; if, however, we are to make the 

 landfall inside the Gulf of St. Lawrence at Mount Squirrel, we shall be 

 compelled to add at least 125 miles, for we shall have to sail round the 

 whole northern part of the island (if wo can do so) without seeing land. 

 The landfall inside the gulf fails, therefore, to comply as fully as a land- 

 fall at the cape with the condition of distance. 



The archbishop, moreover, concludes that the landfall could not be 

 on the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton, because no part of that coast com- 

 plies with the required conditions of soil and climate. In answer to this 



Sec. II., 1897. 13. 



