130 W. P. GANONG ON 



for considering this to be so. It was upon this coast, too, that he entered and named the 

 Kiver of Boats. It must be remembered, in tracing his course from this time on, that we 

 have no reason whatever to believe that Cartier had any knowledge that Prince Edward 

 Island was an island, but rather very good reason to believe the contrary.' There are two 

 large bays on the coast, Richmond Bay and Oascumpeque Harbour, either of which would 

 seem to him- like the mouth of a large river, and either of which might correspond to his 

 beautiful but shallow River of Boats. But there is a strong probability that it was the 

 former rather than the latter. Richmond Bay is much the larger of the two, and has a far 

 more conspicuous entrance. It is worth noting too, in connection with the fact that Cartier 

 saw many Indians in his River of Boats, that there have always been Indian villages 

 around this bay,'' one of them indeed existing on Lennox Island until 1861, if not later; 

 but this fact is of no value as an argument, as there may have been, and probably were, 

 Indians around Cascumpeque Harbour also. But the strongest reason we have for consi- 

 dering Richmond Bay to have been the River of Boats, is given us by his subsequent 

 course. Immediately after leaving the River of Boats, the strong wind blowing on shore 

 compelled them to put to sea, and they sailed away to the north-east until sunrise next 

 day. They then lay to until 10 o'clock, when the mists cleared away and gave them sight 

 of Cape Orleans and another cape about seven leagues " to the N. a point to the N. E." of 

 it,' to which they gave the name of Cape of the Savages. The latter we shall presently 

 shew to be the present North Point : the former must, therefore be, though the distance 

 is not exact. Cape Kildare of to-day. Now, had Cascumpeque Harbour been the River 

 of Boats, in sailing from it to the north-east, he must have passed very close indeed to 

 Cape Orleans, and it seems likely that he would have mentioned it, had he done so. It 

 is evident, moreover, upon consulting the map, that his all-night's sail to the north-east, 

 if it began at the latter harbour, would put him in a position from which the way he 

 expresses the sighting of the coast next day would not be nearly so natural, as it would 

 be were his course laid from Richmond Bay. On the whole, the probability seems very 

 strongly to be that the latter was the River of Boats. 



The next morning, July 1st, Cartier, off to the east of the island, saw Cape 

 Orleans and Cape of the Savages. He went to the latter, which he thus describes : — " To the 

 north-east of which, about half a league, there is a very dangerous reef and bank of stones." 

 This description, brief but clear, enables us easily to fix the identity of the place. Upon 

 the charts, as shewn upon the accompanying map, such a reef is marked as running out 

 from North Point, and in the work last quoted, ^ we read : " North Point ... is formed of 

 low, red cliffs, with dangerous reefs running out to the northward and eastward more than 

 a mile." Remembering that Cartier's league included somewhat less than three English 

 miles, these two descriptions, written over three hundred years apart, are so remarkably 

 alike as not to allow of doubt that they refer to the same place. Cape of the Savages then 



' Indeed, tbo writer has collected evidence enough (too long for insertion here) upon the question, to warrant 

 the assertion that Prince Edward Island was not generally known to be other than a part of the mainland, until 

 after the year 1600. The island marked upon maps of before tliat date, which has been taken for it, can be shewn 

 to be meant for one of the Magdalen Islands. 



'^ The Progress and Prospects of Prince Edward Island, by C. B. Bagster, 1861. An old work on Cape Breton, 

 printed in London, in 1760, mentions that one island in this bay was entirely given up to the Indians. 



= In both Rel. orig. and the ed. 1598; Hakluyt has "from us," which destroys the sense of the whole passage. 



* Progress and Prospects of P. E. I. 



