36 THE GEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION OF LABRADOR. 



if it passed on the other side. Then they sailed back 

 again to the south." 



From this and other statements by Humboldt and 

 D'Avezac, Kohl concludes that "Cabot in 1498, without 

 doubt, sailed along the coast of Labrador and the west- 

 ern shores of Davis's Strait. Finally, after a struggle 

 with the ice off the Cumberland peninsula in 67^° north 

 latitude, where he probably lost a number of his men, 

 he abandoned any further advance. He then retraced 

 his course southward along the coast of Labrador, and 

 probably came to anchor in some bay on the eastern 

 coast of Newfoundland, where he rested his men and 

 repaired the damage done to his vessels by the Arctic 

 ice. His vessel was probably the forerunner of the fleet 

 of English, Portuguese, Basque, French, and Spanish 

 fishermen which in the next two centuries visited those 

 shores, opening to the Old World a source of revenue 

 more available than the fabled wealth of Cathay. 



Still, dreams of the Indies led Cabot on southward,, 

 past Newfoundland, past No.va Scotia, along the New 

 England shores, and probably southward near Cape 

 Hatteras, with the hope of finding a direct passage to 

 the East. 



Although on their return from their first voyage of 

 1497 the Cabots believed that the land they had dis- 

 covered was some part of Asia, to them must be given 

 the credit of beholding the American continent before 

 Columbus; while, with little or no doubt, Sebastian 

 Cabot beheld in July, 1498, the mainland of Labrador,, 

 for, says Hakluyt, " Columbus first saw the firme lande, 

 August I, 1498."* 



* Kohl, p. 131, foot-note. 



