IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I IIIIM IIIIM lllitt 11^ iM lllll 2.0 .8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation fv S <^\^ -% V ^ \ \ 4^t^% % V ^. 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEI'T£R,N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 w. C!HM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagee Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverturs restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e Cc.er title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents D □ D Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge int6rieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors dune restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplementaires. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la m^rhode normale de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. n D D n □ D D n D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul6es Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6color6es, tachet^es ou piquees Pages detached/ Pages detachees Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualite in^gale de I'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 film^es d nouveau de facon i ohtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X V 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque nationale du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover anc ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — ^> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different eduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprim^e sont film6s en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ol d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film^s en commengant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des syrnboles suivants apparaltra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — ♦► signifie "A SUIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN ". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent etre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour etre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 mmmmmm 3isc TH THE THJ LO The Discovery of North America by John Cabot THE ALLEGED DATE AND LANDFALL ALSO THE SHIPS NAME, THE "MATTHEW," A FORGERY OF CHATTERTON? BY HENRY HARRISSE THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED LONDON : 4, TRAFALGAR SQUARE B. F. STEVENS, PUBLISHER June, 1897 %>, Di TI '•wyxivioaERan: The Discovery of North America by John Cabot THE ALLEGED DATE AND LANDFALL ALSO THE SHIP'S NAME, THE "MATTHEW," A FORGERY OF CHATTERTON ? BY HENRY HARRISSE THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED LONDON : 4, TRAFALGAR SQUARE B. F. STEVENS, PUBLISHER June, 1897 i^ptmpi^pas!^illliss|Re t^WH*WiJST I >-»hV LANh, LONDON. / THE DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA BY JOHN CABOT/ EXTENSIVE preparations are being made at Bristol, England, in Canada, and in Newfoundland to commemorate, on the twenty- fourth of this present month, the landing of John Cabot on the coast of the North-American continent. The intention is praiseworthy ; but it is well to recollect that we do not know exactly when and where he first sighted the New World. Nor do we possess means of ascertaining these two points, admittedly of paramount importance in a celebration of that character. I. The alleged date of the landfall rests exclusively upun a statement brought forward, for the first ^ The greatest part of the present paper first appeared in the June, 1897, number of "The Forum." iSKii'. t »*«-*,« r.fl.»*»*l '''.t"§'';*'*'tli.:l^'*^*^.''^^*\***^f^ time, forty-seven years after the event, and which, thus far, stands uncorroborated. It is contained in a pamphlet in Spanish, written about 1544 by one Dr. Grajales, of the Puerto de Santa Maria,^ concerning whom we do not know anything else. It was printed out of Spain, and was intended to accompany a map by Sebastian Cabot, apparently engraved in the Netherlands. The type which served for print- ing the pamphlet was also used to print two series of legends pasted on the right and left of the only copy of that map known, which is now in the National Library at Paris. Translated, the passage relating to the date reads as follows : " No. 8. This land was discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian, and Sebastian Cabot, his son, in the year of the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ fourteen hundred and ninety-four, on the twenty-fourth of June in the morning, to which ' " Tratado de la Carta de nauegar hecho por el Doctor Grajales en el Puerto de Sancta Maria": — "An exposi- tion (or treatise) of the Sailing chart, made (or composed) by Dr. Grajales in Puerto de Sancta Maria"; in "De- claratio Chartas nauigatorice Domini Almirantis," MS. in the King's Library at Madrid. The reader will notice that the title explicitly states that the treatise is the work of Dr. Grajales. • the virt 149 for tur vo; wr L( ar VI a tl o :-r=.H?iivi^l^T::V;:y 't^nt, and iAb'A*:i.l«ani3l?T«*9.-<>»r«4nk«n(ri«uui««»«.«it«k. viaBSBaammBmBm!!mmmiimmaami 8 he must have taken the necessary rest in the new land, made the indispensable repairs, effected landings, and renewed his stock of pro- visions, besides coasting six hundred leagues (or miles), all within eight days ! The date June 24, therefore, is highly im- probable. It may have originated in connection with an imaginary island which figures in old Portuguese charts, close to the north-east coast, in about 50° lat. In some maps, Wolfenbiittel B, for instance, the cartographer has placed it within the Gulf of St. Lawrence. That island was probably supposed by Sebastian Cabot, in 1544, to be identical with the one — also im- aginary, as I propose to show — which he then borrowed from a French map, where it is in- serted in the same place. Dr. Grajales, who knew of the almost constant practice in those days of naming islands after the saints on whose days they were discovered, may well have as- sumed the date of June 24 — that of the festival of St. John the Baptist — on seeing that the island was labelled in those maps, " I. de San Juan." II. As regards the landfall, the first cartographical mention of the transatlantic discoveries of the English is to be found in the planisphere executed between June and August, 1500, by Juan de la Cosa, the owner and master of Columbus's flagship during his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. In that celebrated chart, there is in the proximity and to the west of Cuba an unbroken coast-line, delineated like a continent, and extending northward to the extremity of the map. On the northern portion of that seaboard La Cosa has placed a con- tinuous line of British flags. The most southern inscription in that part of the coast in the chart is, "Mar descubierta por ingleses " ("Sea dis- covered by the English "). The northernmost reads, " Cabo de ynglaterra" ("The Cape of England"). On July 25, 1498, Pedro de Ayala wrote from London to Ferdinand and Isabella that he possessed the chart or mappamundi which Cabot had brought with him, and that he would send it to their Majesties.' It is fair therefore * "Vuestras Altezas ya tendran aviso de todo lo y ':teii4liit'ii.i«iMiy iilH is ^tattakUiJiia UBui -.r tafiili IBO!"-imi\tmiiv.^imi'Kimnn\mmmnHmm pp. Major, and according to models necessarily con- structed from data furnished by him. It lies with the believers in the authenticity of the landfall at Cape Breton to account for this sudden and unexpected change, and to explain why, after constantly inscribing the discovery in Labrador, Sebastian Cabot came at such a late hour to place it at least lo degrees farther south. His admirers have hitherto neglected to answer this all-important question seriously, and with an adequate knowledge of the subject. They allege that as the Spanish government was very jealous of imparting to foreigners any informa- tion concerning its colonial enterprises and dis- coveries, chart-makers were prohibited — even under penalty of death !— from marking on maps any geographical data of the kind. This theory I myself believed in to a degree when I com- menced studying American cartography thirty- four years ago, and even subsequently. It is, nevertheless, erroneous in every respect. In the first place, there is no evidence what- ever that, notwithstanding the rights conveyed by the Bull of Demarcation, Spain ever laid claim to the north-east coast of America. The inference is rather the other way. The famous map of Juan de la Cosa, Columbus's own pilot, B mi^immi^^iim^ I8 and Chief Cartographer of Spain, not only sets forth that the north-eastern borders of America were discovered by the English, but acknow- ledges tacitly the supremacy of England over the region, by dotting it entirely with British flags. True it is that, in 151 1, one Juan de Agra- monte obtained from Queen Juana leave to go with two vessels " to ascertain the secret of the new land," that is, the strait which was supposed to lead to Cathay through the Baccalaos ; but it was " on condition that two of his pilots should be Bretons brought direct from Brittany." This shows that Spain was not yet then in possession of the geographical knowledge requisite for such an enterprise. The Spaniards in fact never sailed north of the Carolinas until 1524, when Estevan Gomez went in search of the western passage. Nor do we find them visiting that coast again until 1541, when Ares de Sea was commissioned by Charles V. to see " what Jacques Cartier had discovered in the country called Canada." Further, we have the positive statement of Oviedo, then State Chronicler for the Indies, that his countrymen and himself had no know- ledge of the Northern regions ; and that was ii|B^B miijUMtttmmutw «M «<>^ .yf«Kffltei^ f.k,^mf\m%mimmmmmiammmmmmam!mBmwm:mmirmmmm ^m nly sets America Lcknow- nd over British J Agra- e to go t of the ipposed ; but it should " This isession "or such h of the ez went do we il 1541, led by ier had anada." lent of Indies, ' know- at was 19 the reason why the model map of Chaves did not extend beyond 21° 15'. Spain, therefore, had nothing to conceal regarding the geography of the north-east coast of America. In the second place, there is not a shadow of evidence that Spain ever concealed her trans- atlantic discoveries, or prohibited cartographical information concerning them. Thus do we see Christopher Columbus himself, who, more than anyone else, was interested in preventing trans- gressions of his privileges and of the rights of the Crown, order, without any hesitation, for the use even of a Venetian admiral, " a map of the newly discovered lands, detailed and complete." When Magellan had accomplished his famous discovery of the straits that bear his name, which one might suppose Spain would have reserved exclusively to herself, it was at once graphically described in all maps and globes, with the exact route. And what is more, the information was conveyed openly to the Archbishop of Salzburg, by Maximilianus Transylvanus, the secretary of Charles V. Several other instances of the kind could be cited. It stands to reason that it would have been impossible to keep such information secret. Did not the numerous ships equipped in Seville, in jwiupipgBaiiiiiPiiuuwii^^ 20 Cadiz, and in Palos for the New World carry charts ? And was it not indispensable that such maps should be as exact and complete as pos- sible? Look at the relatively numerous speci- mens of Sevillian hydrography which have come down to us. Do they not set forth all and singular the geographical knowledge of the New World which the Spanish pilots and cosmo- graphers possessed in the first half of the six- teenth century? When once in the hands of the four hundred pilots and masters who at one time were in the employ of Castile, ex- clusively for the American trade, how could they escape the curiosity of the numerous mer- chants and adventurers who flocked into the southern ports, waiting for a favourable oppor- tunity to cross the ocean and explore new countries ? My opponents reply by quoting the following passage from the above-mentioned letter sent in 1527 from Seville, by Robert Thorn e, with a map, to Dr. Lee : " That it [the map] is not to be showed or communicated there [in England] with many of that court. For though there is nothing in it prejudicial! to the emperor, yet it may be a cause of paine to the maker, as well for that none may make these cards but certayne •tnVsVii'i'airtS-HHWI' rlHHfelTf^Br.:- ' 31 appointed and allowed masters." What does this prove ? Only that Thome's map had not been indorsed by the competent authorities, as the law required.' But this obligation was not intended to withhold geographical information. The government acted in the interest of the fisc, and more particularly of navigation, which suffered greatly from a competition created by incompetent cartographers." And we have only to cast a glance at Thome's map in Hakluyt to see that it is scarcely possible to imagine a poorer specimen of cartographical handiwork. The wore in Thome's letter, " though there is nothing in it [the map] prejudiciall to the emperor," the reference to the pilots, who alone are authorized to make maps, and the fact that its configurations are identical with those in all the charts of the time, without any addition whatever, show conclusively that the proviso accompe,nying the transmission of the map to Dr. Lee was not prompted by the motives which certain critics allege. Again, if the Spanish government had any particular reasons for making a secret of the geography of the Baccalaos region, how is it ^ "Discovery," pp. 257-259 ; "John Cabot," pp. 74-75. ■•' See the " CoUoquio " written by Fernando Columbus. ^r-fftjiiimeiK T 22 that Sebastian Cabot, who was Pilot-Major of Spain, inscribes so fully — and as exactly as he could — in a map intended to be engraved, the configurations of Cape Breton, Newfoundland, and Labrador, and this chiefly in the interest of a rival nation ? Moreover the history of Spanish jurisprudence in the sixteenth century leaves no room to doubt that had it been so great a crime to mark maritime discoveries in maps, we should find some ordinance or law on the subject. There are no traces of anything of the kind in the numerous Recopilaciones de Leyes published in Spain. I venture to suggest another explanation. It is, I think, now admitted by all who have read the authentic documents published in my latest work ^ on the subject, that Sebastian Cabot was an unmitigated charlatan, who frequently dis- guised the truth, and was constantly engaged in plotting and corresponding in secret with foreign rulers, all whom he betrayed in turn. He had tried several times to ingratiate himself with the English king. In 1538, he intrigued to influence Sir Thomas Wyatt, resident ambassador at the court of Spain, to recommend his services to ^ " John and Sebastian Cabot." London : B. F. Stevens, and New York : Dodd, Mead & Co., 1896. 23 Henry VIII., which in fact was done by Sir I Philip Hoby when he rettwned to London. But the manoeuvre succeeded only several years later. f At that time, a great change had taken place in the relative importance of the northern coast of the new continent. The seas which bordered the Baccalaos region were no longer a mere common fishing - ground frequented by the smacks of Portugal, Biscay, Normandy, and England. The successful explorations of Jacques Cartier had been followed by the planting of wf French colonies. The part selected was not Labrador, on which, in all the maps of the period, was inscribed the uninviting legend, " No ay en ella cosa de provecho '* (" Here there is nothing of utility "). On the contrary, the j French had chosen the country around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Cape Breton, which the reports of Cartier and Roberval to Francis I. represented to be a beautiful and fertile country, with rich copper-mines, fine ports, and the most navigable rivers in the world. Under the circumstances, the cartographical statement of Sebastian Cabot, as embodied in the planisphere of 1544, may well have been a liUggestion of British claims, and a bid ■ rjaauBUHMHiisiiiiiaB 24 for the favour of the King of England. To place near the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence the landfall of 1497, was tantamount to declaring that region to be English do- minion, as the discovery had been accomplished by a vessel sailing under the British flag — " sub banneris vexillis et insigniis nostris," said Henry VI I. Nor was the hint conveyed by Sebastian at an unseasonable time ; England being then at war with France, and continuing so until 1547. At all events, it is certain that, to use the language of Hakluyt, " the title which England has to that part of America which is from Florida sixty-seven degrees northward " is or wa,= de- rived " from the letters granted to John Cabot and his three sons." Convinced that the location of the landfall at Cape Breton is an after-thought of Sebastian Cabot and devoid of all authenticity, there is nothing left but to examine the data furnished in 1497 by John Cabot himself. These are con- tained in the first dispatch of Soncino, which I translate : " After sailing from Bristol . . the ship passed Ireland more to the west ; then sailed toward the north, and afterward east [Error for " west "], in^tw' mssmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmiimmmi nd. To ' of St. tamount lish do- tiplfshed I flag- is," said stian at then at :il 1547. use the England Florida ra.= de- Cabot ifall at bastian liere is nished re con- ^hich I passed oward ^est "J, 25 when, after a few days, the North Star was to the right." ' This is all we possess, in the nature of positive data, to determine where, in 1497, John Cabot effected his landfall. Technically speaking, the only conclusion which geographers could infer from such scanty details was that the landfall had to be sought north of 5 1 ° 1 5' N. lat., being that of the southern extremity of Ireland. Ireland, however, extends to 55° 15' N. lat. From what point between these two parallels did John Cabot sail westward ? Supposing that it was Valencia, and that the route continued due west, he would have sighted Belle Isle or its vicinity. But Cabot said positively that he altered his course when to the west of Ireland and stood to the northward. From what latitude exactly, and where he again put his ship on the western tack, are questions which no one can answer beyond stating that it was north of 5 1 ° 15'. I have surmised and said that, according to Soncino's statement, and taking into account the extremely northern latitudes in which all * "Partitosi da Bristo . . . Passato Ibernia piu occi- dentale, e poi alzatosi verso el septentrione, commencio ad navigare ale parte orientale, lassandosi— fra qualche giorni— la tramontana ad mano drita." [■.•^(^^■(^iiiii ' ll i lll l iWIWWI( l »| ll li l ii l ^"— ""•- ii'i i:i!; 26 the Spanish maps located the British discoveries in the New World, the landfall must have been in Labrador, west of Belle Isle, somewhere about Sandwich Bay or Invuctoke ^ or about 530 30' N. lat. But this estimate I bring forward only as a supposition. Dr. S. E. Dawson, in an able and interesting paper published in the twelfth volume of the " Transactions " of the Royal Society of Canada has opposed this conclusion ; and his arguments deserve to be attentively examined. A remarkable circumstance related in John Cabot's verbal account of his first transatlantic voyage, was the extraordinary number of cod- fish which he saw in the sea laving the newly discovered regions. I referred to Cape Chudley as a locality where cod were more plentiful than anywhere else. My opponent shows that now cod arrive there only after August 15, at which date Cabot was already back in England, and, that, consequently, Cape Chudley cannot have been his landfall. But I have never said that Cape Chudley was John Cabot's landfall. I only advanced the supposition that this cape may have been the ^ See Plate I. in the " Discovery of America," and in "John Cabot, the Discoverer of North America," p. in. 11 27 :overies ve been ewhere about brward resting of the I^anada uments 1 John itlantic of cod- newly ^ where 5e. My re only »t was Liently, ndfall. -y was id the 2n the and in p. III. • terminus of Cabot's exploration of the three hundred marine leagues (or miles) westward. The most therefore that can be made out of the argument is that C^bot found no cod at Cape Chudley when he reached the place. Nor can it be inferred from the absence of cod in Southern Labrador before the twentieth of June that Cabot's landfall must be located where the fish is already to be found at that date ; i.e.^ . Jewfoundland, or Nova Scotia. Cabot does not say when and where exactly "that sea is covered with fishes." He may have observed the fact only when returning from Cape Chudley, homeward bound. Now if, according to my hypothesis, he effected his return from Labrador to Bristol in about thirty-four days, arriving in the latter port on August 5, he might well have noticed the amazing number of codfish in Southern Labrador, or on the coast of New- foundland, between June 20 and the first week in July, and have continued to see it for a long distance. A more important question mooted by Dr. Dawson — and in the true scientific spirit, but with singularly erroneous conclusions — is that of the deviation of the magnetic needle. The patriotic critic, avowedly availing himself I'tttttHK^ u,saj«5i!iii--.i" .....i-.t 28 of the data furnished by Mr. Charles A. Scott in his valuable paper on the variation of the com- pass off the Bahama Islands at the time of the landfall of Columbus in 1492, has formed the following opinion : — "If Columbus on a direct western course dropped two hundred and forty miles from Gomara, his point of departure to his landfall in the Antilles, in 1492, with a variation of one point west, it is altogether probable that John Cabot, with a variation of a point and a half, would have dropped, in 1497, three hundred and sixty miles to the south on his western course across the Atlantic ; and, again, if John Cabot laid his course to the west by compass from latitude 53° north, the variation, so much greater than that observed by Columbus, would have carried him clear of Cape Race, and to the next probable landfall. Cape Breton." — Trans. Royal Society of Canada y Sect, xi., 1894, p. 58. Such are the principal reasons alleged against the probability of the landing of Cabot on the coast of Labrador, and in favour of the opinion that it was in the vicinity of Cape Breton. The argument so far from being decisive is, on the contrary, entirely hypothetical, problematic, and erroneous in every respect. •IUIflWIMMIVIU«UI]U!UUUIIIUU;iBBDgmDBB Scott in le com- e of the ned the course 's from idfall in of one at John a half, red and I course 1 Cabot 3s from greater Id have 'le next '. Royal against on the )pinion The 3n the ic, and 29 The laws of the secular motion of the curves of equal variation on the surface of the globe are yet too little known to enable anyone to infer, from the variations which Columbus experienced in or about 25° N. lat., the variations which Cabot experienced in 53° N. lat. There is nothing whatever to show that the variations experienced by Cabot were not inferior to one point and a half west, or that they were not nil, or even eastwardly. Again : If the variations experienced by Columbus can be determined more or less approximately by inferences drawn from his own journal, we possess no such in- formation concerning the route followed by Cabot. There is no ground, therefore, to say that if the variation experienced by Columbus was one point west, the variation experienced by Cabot must have been one point and a half; nor can such consequence be inferred from any known fact. It is not exact to infer that if with a variation of one point Columbus dropped two hundred and forty miles in a course of about 3,150 miles, Cabot dropped proportionately in a course of about 1,600 miles, that is, three hundred and sixty miles for a variation of a point and a half In the first place, such deviations are to each i 30 other as the tangents of the angles of variation, and not as the variations themselves. This, however, is inconsiderable in the present case, because the angles are small ; although in nautical calculations every item tells. But Dr. Dawson commits an egregious mistake when he reasons as if Cabot's course and Columbus's course had actually been of equal length. Now, the course of Columbus was, we admit, about 3,150 miles, whilst Cabot's was, as we have just said, about 1,600 miles only. If with a variation of one point west on a direct western course of about 3,150 miles, Columbus dropped 240 miles, Cabot, in a course of about 1,600 miles, with an alleged variation of a point and a half, certainly did not drop " 360 miles." Far from it ! Any mathematician might have told Dr. Dawson that Cabot then would have dropped only 179 miles} This ^ In a course of 1,600 miles, an angular deviation of 16° 52' in Cabot's route would, at the landfall, correspond with a deviation equal to tan 16° 52' x 1,600 = 179 miles. The deviation of Columbus must be reduced from one point (11° 15') to 4° 15', to obtain 240 miles of linear deviation, in a course of about 3, 1 50 miles ; Cabot's deviation will have to be similarly reduced from one point and a half (16" 52' 30") to 6° 22', which gives 179 miles of linear deviation. Other errors quite as important could be pointed out. ariatfon, This, nt case, 'Ugh in But Dr. [when he umbus's Now, t, about ave just St on a miles, I course ariation ot drop natician ot then This iation of [■respond '9 miles, ne point -viation, vill have (i6° 52' ation. ted out. 31 enormous diflference of about one half demolishes the vaunted theory of my learned opponent from top to bottom. And Cabot, instead of making his landfall at the northern extremity of Cape Breton Island, as Dr. Dawson alleges, would have made it 1 8 1 mi/es more to the northivards ; that is to say, in Newfoundland, on the eastern shore of Cape Bauld, at the entrance of White Bay, about 90 miles south of Cape Bauld. Nor is it logical to take into account only the differences in the variations of the compass. The route of Columbus was entirely in latitudes where fine weather and a smooth sea prevailed. It was besides in the region of north-east trade- winds. The navigator has not then to contend against the errors of reckoning due to beating against head-winds and to changes of course and speed in bad weather. The currents, as well as the winds, were favourable to Columbus. Finally, if he did experience a variation of one For instance, taking as a basis Dr. Dawson's own data — for Cabot in a course laid to the W. by compass from lat. 53° N., and near the Irish coast, to be "carried clear of Cape Race and to Cape Breton" — the variation ex- perienced cannot have been a magnetic variation of " a point and a half" (16° 52'), but a variation of more than two points and a half (29 degrees !). Here, again, what becomes of Dr. Dawson's initial theory.? \wimmmmmmm mmm 32 point westward, it was only in the meridian of 40° W. East of that meridian the variations were much less, and possibly in a contrary direction, as he probably cut the line of no variation between 28° and 32° W. long.^ There was therefore, as regards the variation, a partial compensation. If we now examine the regions necessarily traversed by Cabot, we find that he did not enjoy such advantages. He sailed constantly in the region of the brave west winds, that is, with head-winds which compelled him to tack nearly the whole time. This tacking nad to be carried out in latitudes where gales and heavy seas are almost constant. The consequence of these difficulties is made apparent in the expression of Soncino, that Cabot was compelled " to wander a good deal." In such a case it is im- possible to ascertain the error, or deviation between the course actually made by the navi- gator and that which he believed himself to have made. Under these circumstances, it is bold to assume, as Dr. Dawson does, that Cabot's course was "west magnetic," and that the corresponding true course was this magnetic course west, cor- * Schott, " Method and Results," chart and p. 7. imm!W!l!W"!HHIHWIllUi.iJWHi.i>Mi"wi idian of nations ontrary ; of no There partial essarily did not intly in is, with : nearly carried jeas are ' these )ression ;d "to is im- iviation le navi- to have 33 rected exactly by i{ points of variation north- westerly. Yet, my opponent's belief that the landfall actually was at Cape Breton rests mainly upon this supposition. Well may we say, therefore, that with our present sources of information no one is war- ranted in asserting that John Cabot discovered the continent of North America on June 24, 1497, and that his landfall was Cape Breton. issume, se was onding st, cor- 3.7. .r««MHi|. ^f^^mf^^^^^'^ ' MATHEMATICAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE FALLACY. I. Dr. Dawson alleges that "if Columbus on a direct western course dropped 240 miles from Gomara, with a variation of one point west, it is altogether probable that John Cabot, with a variation of a point and a half, would have dropped 360 miles to the south on his western course across the Atlantic." Yes, it is probable that then Cabot would have dropped about 360 miles, provided his course had been precisely of the same length as tlie course of Columbtis. Unfortunately for Dr. Dawson's theory, the course of Columbus was about 3,150 miles, whilst Cabot's was (in round figures) 1,600 miles only. If Columbus, in a course of 3,150 miles, with a variation of one point (11'' 15'), experienced a deviation of 240 m>'es, as Dr. Dawson says, this linear deviation corres.'onds with an angular de- viation expressed aiJ lollows : in ..^■•>.*^*-'^^*'^*^ 2' 30" X ,048155 1,204120 ',252275 laid his Jde 53° '* would i to the In the "ive the ' north that a as the d have besides, ide and le Cape mgular viation f 3,150 37 miles was only 240 miles, corresponding with an angular variation of 4° 15', although the mag- netic variation was supposed to have been 11° 15', and that the course of Cabot with an alleged magnetic variation of one point and a half (16° 52') had to experience proportionally an angular deviation of 6° 22' only, according to the pro- portion : 4° 15' 6° 22' 11° 15' 16° 52^ So, for Cabot's course, which experienced ar; angular deviation of 1 1 ° necessary to pass in the vicinity of Cape Race, the magnetic variation, which we call x^ will have to be in conformity with the equality of the relations : II X 4115' 11° 15' 6° 22' - le 52' That is, the magnetic variation which Cabot must have expeiienced in order to double Cape Race is equal to 11° X 11° 15' 4° 15' 29° West. Consequently, !f Cabot actually doubled Cape Race, he did not exj^i^rience a magnetic varia*:io!i of one point and u half only, as Dr. Daw "n says, but a variat ic n of over fivo points and a half, viz., of 29 de^T'ies ! i:";;i 38 POST SCRIPTUM. This mathematical demonstration, and the reasons given on pages 29-31, apply with as much force to Sir Clements Markham's theory of Cabot's landfall at Bonavista Bay, as set forth in the paper read at the Roy-^I Geographical Society, April 12th, 1897 ("Geo- graphical Journal " for June, 1897, page 6.">8). ! nd the y with sham's a Bay, Roy:*! ;"Ceo. e 60S). APPENDIX. THE SHIP'S NAME THE "MATTHEW" A FORGERY OF CHATTERTON?^ The occasion of the fourth centenary of the dis- covery of North America by John Cabot, under the British flag, may lend interest to the follow- ing remarks : Barrett's " History of Bristol" (Bristol, 1789, 4to, p. 172) contains this statement : "In the year 1497, the 24th of June, on St. John's day, was Newfoundland found by Bristol men, in a ship called the Matthew ; — as it is in a manuscript in my possession." \.'7**-h one '' two exceptions, all the historians of C-'.bot have placed implicit confidence in that it^.rtion, and henceforth the ship's name, the " i/'^tt^ew," hitherto absolutely unknown, and which stands uncorroborated, became as famous as; that of the " Mayflower." ' Reprinted from "Notes and Queries." :U]^aHlH'MIIIWIMIW"i KW HHjfWl tW Iij tin j ■iHililliriiilillill wmmmm 40 Endeavours were made to discover Barrett's manuscript, inasmuch as alleged old Bristoliian documents are not always to be trusted, particu- larly those quoted by Barrett, owing to his con- stant personal dealings with Chatterton (" Notes and Queries," Vol. V., Feb. 20th, 1858, p. 154, and "Dictionary of National Biography," Vol. III., 1885, pp. 285, 286). But the searchers have failed thus far to find it. In Ir. G. E. Weare s " Cabot's Discovery of Nortii lica," just published (London, 8vo, pp. 115-i..^) there is an account of a MS. Chronicle, formerly in the possession of the Fust family of Hill Court, Gloucestershire, which MS. was certainly akin to Barrett's. The earliest mention of the existence of that MS. in the Fust family is relatively recent. It dates only from the death of Sir John Dutton Colt, who had inherited the MS. from a niece of Sir John Fust, who died in 1779. After Sir John Dutton's death, in 1845, it passed to Sir E. H. Vaughan Colt, who sold it to Mr. William Strong, a Bristol bookseller. Mr. Strong re- quested his assistant " to collate the entries therein with Barrett's and Seyer's Histories, with a view to the extraction from the Chronicle of all the entries which were yet unpublished, or Barrett's istoliian particu- his con- (" Notes . p. 154. y." Vol. ers have Dvery of on, 8vo, a MS. the Fust ich MS. : of that ent. It Button niece of fter Sir 1 to Sir WiHiam ong re- entries ies, with nicle of ihed, or 41 which contained information supplemental to any matter or event already published in either of those histories." Mr. Strong subsequently sold the MS. Chronicle, together with the ex- cerpta, to Mr. John Hugh Smyth-Pigott. In the year 1849 a sale was held of Mr. Smyth-Pigott's collection. The catalogue men- tions the MS. as being " from Sir Francis Fust's library." In that case it would be trajed back to 1769, which is the date of Sir Francis's death. The MS. was bought in by Mr. Pigott, after whose decease it was again sold, in 1853, and purchased by Mr. Kerslake, a Bristol bookseller, for ;^i i 5^. Finally, it was burnt to ashes in the conflagra- tion of his store, February 14th, i860. But the excerpta or " collations " made by Mr. Strong's assistant escaped, and they are now in the possession of Mr. William George, a Bristollian bookseller. I borrow all these details from Mr. Weare's book. It is one of those excerpta which this writer has inserted in his work ; but he omitted to state that it was already published twenty years ago (in Vol. IV., p. 350, of the "Encyclopaedia Britan- nica") and from the same extracts. The com- plete text is as follows : " [Copy Entry.] " 1496. John Drewes [Mayor]. Thomas Vaughan, Hugh Johnes [Sheriff]. John Elyott [Bailitfs]. '* This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day, the land of America was found by the Merchants of Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew ; the which said ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following. " 1497. Henry Dale [Mayor]. John Spencer, Richard Vaughan [Sheriffs?] William Lane [Bailiffs]." The reader will notice that the above citation is pi esented in the form of and as if it were a literal copy of an official document originally wrilten in 1497. The old time civic entries of years dating, we are informed by Mr. Weare, from the 29th of September and ending on the 28th of September. Now, the name of " America," which is conspicuous in that extract, was not invented until ten years afterwards, in April, 1507, at St. Diey, in Lorraine, by a German geographer, called Martin Waltzemiiller or Hylacomylus,^ in these words : " Nunc vero et hse partes sunt latius lustrata^ et alia 1 " Cosmographiae introductio "... Urbs Deodate . . . Finit. vij Kalend. Maij Anno supra sesqui Millesium vij. (" Bibliotheca Americana Vetustissima," p. 94.) |WR