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The National Geographic Magazine 



course of their sailings came upon the coast of 

 Greenland. Cabot, visiting in Lisbon previous 

 to leaving on this 1498 voyage, met there a cer- 

 tain Joas Fernandes, llavrador (or land-owner, 

 as we would now translate the word), who had 

 gone in 1492 on a voyage of exploration and 

 had seen land, a description of which he gave 

 to Cabot. 



Fernandes returned with Cabot to Bristol 

 and discoursed with its merchants about the 

 land he had seen. On the voyage out he no 

 doubt talked often with the sailors about the 

 land they would surely see. When, therefore, 

 those on board Cabot's vessel" saw the land 

 they recognized it at once and cried out, "The 

 Labrador's land," and so it was marked down 

 on the ship's chart. 



Later on the whole land from Newfoundland 

 northward was marked Labrador on some 

 maps,* the Straits of Davis, separating Green- 

 land from Ungava, having been deemed to be 

 a gulf and the Straits of Belleisle being then 

 thought a mere indentation of the coast line. 

 When it was found that the coast Cabot called 

 Labrador was really Greenland and was sepa- 

 rated entirely from this continent, and, further, 

 that Newfoundland was an island, 'the map- 

 makers gave both lands their present designa- 

 tions and confined the name Labrador to the 

 central portion, its present bounds. 



The above is the derivation given by H. P. 

 Biggar, whose work on the Early Trading 

 Companies of New France 'evidences the care 

 and consideration which he has given to every 

 point he discusses. 



After testing every explanation of the der- 

 ivation of the word, I came to the conclusion 

 that Biggar's was the correct one, his long 

 residence in Portugal giving him singular op- 

 portunities for investigation. 



(Dr) George Johnson., 



Statistician. 



Grand Pre, N. S., August 14, 1906. 



*Descelier's Mappe Monde (1546) gives the 

 name La Terre du Labouriere to Greenland 

 and to the lands to the south, now known as 

 Labrador. 



EXECUTIVE ORDER 



The official title of the United States Board 

 on Geographic Names is changed to United 

 States Geographic Board. 



In addition to its present duties, advisory 

 powers are hereby granted to this board con- 

 cerning the preparation of maps compiled, or to 

 be compiled, in the various bureaus and offices 

 of the government, with a special view to the 

 avoidance of unnecessary duplications of work; 

 and for the unification and improvement of the 

 scales of maps, of the symbols and conventions 

 used upon them, and of the methods of repre- 

 senting relief. Hereafter all such projects as 

 are of importance shall be submitted to this 

 board for advice before being undertaken. 



Theodore RoosevEi/t. 



The White House, August 10, 1906. 



At a recent meeting of the Norwegian Geo- 

 graphical Society, in Christiania, the gold 

 medal of the society was awarded to Dr Carl 

 Lumholtz for his- scientific explorations in 

 Mexico and Australia. 



Panama, The Isthmus and Canal. By C H. 



Forbes-Lindsey. Pp. 368. 5 x 7J^ inches. 

 Illustrated with two attached maps. Phila- 

 delphia : The John C. Winston Co. 1906. 

 $1.00. 



The author of "India, Past and Present," 

 "America's Insular Possessions," etc., has given 

 in this volume the story of the great project 

 from the earliest Spanish explorations to the 

 present time. The history of the French Com- 

 pany is told and much information of the De 

 Lesseps regime given. There are interesting 

 chapters on the labor question and the sanitary 

 and health problems, which are the most seri- 

 ous obstacles confronting our engineers today. 

 The lock and sea-level controversy is taken up 

 and plans and estimates of experts given, while 

 many illustrations and several late maps and an 

 appendix, entitled "Great Canal 3 of the World," 

 make the volume a valuable one. J. O. L. 



