CAETIER'S FIEST VOYAGE. 123 



liug of single words. We have noticed two important instances of this. For the port in 

 Newfoundland, which the former calls Rapont, the latter has Carpunl. That the latter is 

 the correct reading is shewn by the fact that it was used in the year 1.542, in a description 

 of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by Allefouscc, Roberval's pilot, who was perfectly familiar 

 with Cartier's explorations. The other instance is that of the bay called St. Limaire in the 

 " Relation originale " and St. Lunaire in the edition of 1598. All early maps hav^e the 

 latter reading ; besides which the bay was clearly named, as will be shown later, after St. 

 Leonarius, upon whose day Cartier entered it. 



Cartier, with two ships and one hundred and twenty-two men, set out from St. Malo, 

 on April 20th, 1534, and after a prosperous voyage sighted Cape Bouavista {Cap de Bonne 

 visile) ' in Newfoundland, on May 10th. The ice at this place drove them to the harbour 

 of St. Catherine {Saincte Katherine), the present Cataliua, five leagues to the south. 

 Here they were detained ten days by bad weather, a time which they improved by refit- 

 ting and repairing their ships. On May 21st, they sailed north and by east to the Island 

 of Birds {isle des Ouaiseaulx), the present Funk Island. They found the birds so abundant 

 here that " unlesse a man did see them, he would thinke it an incredible thing," " and so 

 tame that they could be taken in any numbers without trouble. 



This was on the 21st. In all relations of the voyage there is a break here until the 

 27th, when they reached the mouth of the Bay of Castles {baije des Chasleaulx), the present 

 St^rait of Belle Isle. Where they went in the meantime we are not told, but as there is 

 given, immediately after the description of the Island of Birds, a brief account of the coast 

 from Cape Rouge (Rel. orig. ; Rasé, ed. 1598 ; Raso, Hakl.) to Cape Degrat, it is probable 

 that they coasted along the shore among the islands. The latter cape is the most northerly 

 point of Newfoundland. It is usually marked Cape Bauld on later maps, but Cartier's name 

 Degrat is retained on De Barre's charts of the last century and some others.^ The 

 former cape is marked Cape Rouge and Red Cape on some modern maps, and Cape Reige 

 on others. It is on the main island to the west of Groais or Groix Island, sixty miles south 

 of Cape Bauld. Cartier describes its distance (25 leagues), and direction (S.S.W.) from 

 Cape Degrat, in a way which leaves no room for doubt as to the identity of the place. The 

 two low islands which he says are visible from the highest island near Cape Degrat would 

 seem to be Groais and Belle Isle South. 



Bad weather and ice detained them in the harbour of Rapont (Rel. orig. ; Curpunt, ed. 

 1598) till June 9th. Of Carpunt or Carpont, the true reading of the word, we probably 

 have a survival in the name of the Island of Kirpou or Quirpon. The harbour is appar- 

 ently the Noddy Harbour of to-day, immediately to the west of the island. 



There is some confusion in the account after leaving this place. Sailing to the west 

 from Cape Degrat, Cartier says there are on the right two islands, one three leagues distant 

 from this point, and the other, appearing like a part of the main land, seven leagues ("about 

 seven," Rel. orig.; "more or less," ed. 1598) from the first. The latter he named St 



' The names given in brackets are, unless it is otherwise stated, those of the " Relation originate." 



'' Hakluyt. It will be noticed that in the following pages the writer frequently follows the diction of Hakluyt, 



though not closely enough to require special acknowledgement. Those parts of the narrative which are placed in 



quotation marks are the writer's own translations as literal as he can make them. 



•' Some old maps have both names, making Capo Bauld the most northerly point, and Cape Degrat a point on 



the east of Kirpon Island. 



