126 W. R GANONG ON 



Cartier was very unfavourably impressed by what he saw in Labrador. He admired 

 its harbours, but says that in the whole of it he did not see a cart-load of good earth, and 

 he thought it must be the land allotted by God to Cain. 



On June 13th, they returned to the Port of Brest. On Monday the 15th, they left it 

 and sailed towards the south to explore the land which appeared to them like two islands. 

 But when they "reached to about the middle of the bay," they saw that it was firm land, 

 with a great double cape, one above the other. They, therefore, named it Cape Double, 

 and estimated its distance from Brest to be about twenty leagues. Both distance and 

 direction (allowing for magnetic variation) would place Cape Double at or near the present 

 Point Rich. But it could not have been Point Rich itself to which this name was given, 

 for in the atlas ' already referred to, plates are given shewing the appearance of the coast 

 from the sea, and Point Rich is c[uite low. Cartier says that Cape Double was visible 

 clear from the coast of Labrador, but Point Rich would not be visible half that distance. 

 The same plates, however, shew beautifully and conclusively what it was he did name 

 Cape Double ; it was the highest part of the Highlands of St. John, just east by north from 

 Point Rich. Here is most perfectly presented upon the plates, as seeu from about the 

 direction in which Cartier came, an appearance well described as " a great double cape, 

 one above the other," the whole towering high above Point Rich itself. That it is the 

 highest part of these highlands which corresponds thus perfectly with Cartier's descrip- 

 tion is very significant, as he saw Cape Double from Labrador and kept it in view lintil 

 he gave it its name. The name has, however, been applied quite naturally to the point 

 itself; in fact the very latest and lar the best chart - we have of this coast, marks it "Point 

 Rich or Cape Double." 



The next day they sailed about thirty-five leagues to the south where they came 

 to high mountains, among which (Rel. orig., but not ed. 15!)8) there is one like a grange 

 {grandie), whence they named them the Granges [les monts de Grandies). The one men- 

 tioned was probably the conspicuous mountain of Portland. That day, between the Granges 

 and a cape three leagues to the S. S. "W. of them, they saw an opening into the land, the 

 present Sandy Bay. The " Relation originale " is much more clear and consistent in the 

 description of this region than the edition of 1598. The cape to the south, on the north 

 of which is a low island they named Pointed Cape (cap Pointu) ; it is the present Cow 

 Head. The presence of the island settles its identity, for the latter is "low and rocky, and 

 the only island on the coast between the bay of islands and Point Rich." ^ 



The next day, the l7th, they ran before a high north-east wind to the south-west about 

 thirty-seven leagues, when they found themselves opposite a bay full of round islands like 

 dove-houses. They named them the Dove-houses (les Coulonbiers) and the bay in which 

 they were, St. Julian (Sainct Jnllian). The latter, as is shewn by its position relative to 

 places described later, is the present Bonne Bay, though Cartier has made its distance from 

 Pointed Cape much too great. Bonne Bay itself contains no small islands such as Cartier 

 mentions ; but on the northern side of its entrance is a small harbour, Roche or Rocky 

 Harbour which does contain many little islands. It must have been to these that he 

 gave the name of Dove-houses. 



' The North American Pilot for Newfoundland, etc. ^ Cape Cod to Belle Isle : Imray & Son, London, 1886. 



'' Pamphlet with the North American Pilot, etc. 



