384 General Notes. [April, 
and probably a large portion of the east coast of the United 
States, was by far the oldest European colony in the new world, 
since the date 1500 is but two years after the discovery of Amer- 
ica by Columbus and six years after its discovery by Cabot. In 
1500 Gaspar Corte Real explored Labrador, probably nearly to 
Hudson strait, and also Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. In 1521 
Fagundes obtained a grant of the country between the land of the 
Corte Reals (Newfoundland) and the Spanish colonies, and a settle- 
ment was made at Cape Breton. Traditions of this settlement 
exist among the Micmacs, who aver that certain earth-mounds at St. 
Peter’s, Cape Breton, were made by white men before the French 
came. An archaic cannon, formed of bars of iron, was found 
many years ago, and an inquiry into the date of the manufacture 
of such guns showed that it must have been made between 1500 
and 1545. Terra Nova was not actually settled, but the fisheries 
were actively prosecuted. The fate of this colony is not known, 
but in 1567 a Portuguese settlement was made at Inganish, Cape ` 
reton. In 1580 the annexation of Portugal to Spain brought 
the region under Spanish authority, and a colony was sent out 
which appears to have had a melanchcly end, since our only 
account of it is that the French convicts left on Sable island in 
1598 built barracks to protect themselves out of the wrecks of 
the Spanish vessels, The name of “ Spanish Harbor” is all that 
marks their passage. Few persons imagine that the Bay of Fundy 
is “ Baya Fonda,’ the deep bay, and that Cape Race is “ Cabo 
Raso,” or bare cape, names given by the Portuguese. 
Source of the Mississippi—The true source of the Mississippi 
was found by Captain Glazier to be in a lake in lat. 47° 13’ 25”, 
and situated three feet above Lake Itasca, the hitherto supposed 
source of the river. The source is therefore 1578 feet above 
the Atlantic, and the length of the river, taking former data as 
il 
