CAETIEE'S FIEST VOYAGE. 127 



About seven leagues S.S.W. of this bay there is a cape which they named Cape Royal 

 (Cap Royal), and to the W.S.W. of it, another, about half a league on the north of which is 

 an island. Between the two capes there are many islands. The latter cape was named Cape 

 of Milk {Cap Delatte), to-day called both Capi^ of Milk and South Head. The islands are 

 in the present Bay of Islands, and the former cape would seem to be, on account of its dis- 

 tance of seven leagues from the Bay of St. Julian, the present Cape Gregory. The directions 

 are not accurate, but there can be no doubt as to the identity of the places. The next day, 

 the 18th, they explored the Bay of Islands, giving it, however, no name. Its latitude, as 

 given by Cartier, 48°. 30', is about 3*7' too far soiith. 



That night, June 18th, they put to sea, and such a storm arose that they were 

 tossed about by great winds without having sight of laud until the 24th. On that 

 day they sighted a cape of land towards the south-east, to which they gave the name, 

 in honour of the day. Cape St. John (cap saiiict Jehan). They estimated that it was about 

 thirty-five leagues soi;th-west of Cape lioyal ; aud had we no other evidence on the point, 

 we might think it was the present Cape St. George. But storm-driven as they were, their 

 estimate can be of little value, and their subsequent course proves beyond question that 

 their Cape St. John ' could only have been the present Cape Anguille. ^ 



Cape St. John was the last land they sighted in Newfoundland. From it they sailed 

 away north-westerly, and the next day, after changing their course, they came to two 

 small islands, the description of which shews them to be the Bird Rocks of to-day. With 

 regard to the course after leaving Cape St. Johu, the account iu the edition of 1598 is con- 

 fused and altogether erroneous in its distances aud directions. The "Relation originale " 

 on the other hand, gives correct distances and clear and accurate directions. They went 

 north-west and by west seventeen and one-half leagues from Cape St. John, and then to 

 the south-west fifteen leagues, which brought them to Bird Islands (idea des Margaulx). 



Five leagues to the west of the latter, Cartier describes another island, two leagues iu 

 length and as much in breadth, which he named Isle Bryon (ille de Bryon). This name 

 it still retains, though it is sometimes corrupted to Byron. He was greatly pleased with 

 the fertility of its soil ' which must have presented a great contrast to the barrenness of 

 Labrador aud Newfoundland. 



Four leagues from Bryon Island they saw a fine cape which they named Cape Daul- 

 phin (cap du Daulphin) because it was the beginning of good lands. This must have been 

 the present North Cape of the Magdalen Islands ; it could not have been East Point, for the 

 latter is represented on the charts as low, while at the former is a hill. On the 27th of the 

 iTOonth (June), they coasted along a land which lay E.N.E. aud "W.S.W., clearly the north- 



' Some writers have held that Cartier's Cape St. John was on Prince Edward Island, and that it was from this 

 circumstance the island took the name Isle St. John, by which it was known until 1798. It is needless to point out 

 how groundless such an idea is. It has as little in its favour as the theory that it was the island discovered and so 

 named by Cabot. 



'' The chart last referred to (Cape Cod to Belle Isle: Imray & Son, London) gives both Anguille and St. John 

 for this cape. It gives also Milk Cape or South Point, Gulf of St. Julien or Bonne Bay, and Cow Head or Pointed 

 Cape. Up to this point the interpretation of the course given in these pages corresponds pretty closely with that in 

 the footnotes of the edition of Cartier's voyages published by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec in 1843. 

 Beyond this, however, the two are quite independent of each other. 



^ " It is nearly surrounded with high capes, and on the North side is some land of tolerably good quality." 

 Dictionary of Lower Canada, by Jos. Boucette, 1832. 



