14 



LABRADOR 



Reals; and the voyage of Estevan Gomez conducted the 

 Spaniards also to the northwest fisheries. What is now 

 Bradore Bay was long known as Baie des Espagnols: and 

 in 1704 there were still to be seen there the ruins of a Span- 

 ish fishing establishment. 



The English were slower in recognizing the value of 

 the new fisheries than the French or Spanish. They did 

 not realize at first that Cabot had opened to them a source 

 of revenue more valuable than the fabled wealth of Cathay. 

 But gradually they too awoke to the possibilities of the 

 new fisheries. They threw themselves into competition 

 with the French, and appropriated to themselves a large 

 part of the fishing-grounds. The French were driven back 

 to the west coast of Newfoundland, along what is known as 

 "the French shore." A study of the names on the map of 

 Newfoundland will show the limit of their fishing opera- 

 tions; from Bonne Esperance to Cape Charles, the names 

 are almost wholly French. It was not until about 1763 

 that the English entered upon the Labrador fisheries at all. 



A part of the history of Labrador which still remains 

 to be worked up is the story of the French Canadian 

 settlements along the so-called Quebec Labrador. No 

 full account of these settlements has yet been published; 

 the facts lie buried in the archives at Paris and Ottawa. 

 Most of what has found its way into print has been of the 

 most unreliable and mythical character. Nothing more 

 instructive could be found, for instance, of the way in which 

 history is sometimes manufactured than the legend of the 

 town of Brest. In 1608 there was published in Lyons, 

 France, a little book, the only surviving copy of which is 



