132 HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



Englishman there before, and perhaps in two or three years 

 I might come and take all their ships from there in case of 

 a \var '. Five years later he made his trip along the south 

 coast to Cape Ray. rinding French fishermen from the Basque 

 ports of St. Jean de Luz, and Bayonne, Breton traders, 

 Micmac hunters from Ingonish, and the detached French 

 colony at Port-aux-Basques to which reference has been 

 made. He wished now to complete the circuit of the island 

 by sailing up or down the west coast. No Englishmen had 

 visited it since Wyet visited St. George Bay in 1594.* 

 Many Basque and a few Breton ships visited the northern 

 parts of this coast from Belle Isle Strait during the seventeenth 

 century, and at the close of the century Spaniards still fished 

 at Port-au-Choix. Otherwise the west of the island was ' waste 

 and never yet possessed.' 2 After the Treaty of Utrecht the 

 north-west coast was visited every winter by 'the French 

 Governor of Grand Bay in Nova Francia' clearly M. de 

 Courtemanche of Fort Ponchartrain in Bradore Bay with 

 seventy or eighty Montagnais Indians from Labrador. So 

 at least Taverner was told, and he longed to explore these 

 lonely regions ; but his longing was unfulfilled, nor was the 

 truth of these rumours ever tested. It is clear, however, that 

 the culture (if any) of the west coast differed from the culture 

 of the south and east coasts ; and it was dotted with French 

 or Basque names of inaccurately marked Bays, such as St. 

 John (or Port-au-Choix) Bay, Ingornachoix Bay, Bonne (or 

 Belle) Bay, Bay of (Three) Islands, Port-a-Port Bay, and of 

 obscure and shifty Capes, of which the most obscure and 

 shifty was assuredly Point Rich. 



and as to During fifty years Point Rich and Cape Bonavista had 

 j?*.;' been defined as the two termini of French fishing-rights, and 

 which was men spoke of Point Rich and Cape Bonavista with the same 

 Anewji &^k anc * con fident familiarity as they spoke of Flamborough 

 place in and Holyhead. Nevertheless few maps noted the critical 

 spite of 



Captain J Ante, pp. 27, 41. 2 La Honta-.i, Voyages, ed. Thwaites, p. 332. 

 Cook ; 



