sixteen years on the coast of Labrador." It is remarkable, that most English writers have been rather reluctant to copy Cabot's representation on this point, supposing it inapplicable to Newfoundland, where, though white bears may be occasionally seen, they are not "native here and to the manner born."

The introduction of an Island, "St John," into the "Extract," has contributed to mislead, the reader naturally referring it to the one of that name in the Gulf of St Lawrence. If we recollect, however, that the Terra primum visa was discovered on the 24th June, and the island on the same day (St John's day), it will seem improbable that Cabot, on the very day of discovery, could have penetrated so far. The description, also, is inapplicable, "quæ ex adverso sita est Insula"-"that island which lieth out before the land." We must remark, further, that the present St John was so named by Cartier, in 1534 (3 Hakluyt, p. 204), he having been employed from the 10th May, when he reached Newfoundland, to 24th June, in making a circuit of the Gulf which he entered through the strait of Belle Isle. But the most important, and conclusive piece of testimony, is furnished by Ortelius, who had the map of Cabot before him, and who places an island of St John in the latitude of 56° immediately on the coast of Labrador. This is, doubtless, the one so designated by Cabot.

Thus, without calling to our aid the terms of the second patent to Cabot, which recites the discovery of a land and islands on the first voyage, we reach the conclusion, that the main discovery-the "Terra," as distinguished from the "Insula❞—could not have been the present island of Newfoundland.

There is little difficulty in tracing the history of this epithet. The whole of the northern region is designated, on the old maps, as Terra Nova, or New Land, and it has the appellation of "Newland," in the statute 33 Henry VIII. cap. ii.*

* Ruffhead's Statutes at large, vol. ii. p. 304.

Robert Throne of Bristol, in 1527, speaking (Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 214) of the North-West passage, says, "and if they will take this course after they be past the Pole towards the West, they should go in the back of the Newfoundland which of late was discovered by your Grace's subjects, until they come to the back side and South Seas of the Indies Occidental;" and again (p. 219), “if between our Newfoundlands, or Norway, or Island, the seas toward the North be navigable, we should go to these Islands a shorter way by more than 2000 leagues." On the same page, he mentions the circumstance of his father having been one of the "discoverers of Newfoundland ;"-at p. 216, refers to "the land that we found, which is called here (in Spain) Terra de Labrador,”—and in another part of the same document speaks of "the Newfound island that we discovered."

The term, then, was employed, in the first instance, as a designation of all the English discoveries in the North. That it should afterwards settle down upon an inconsiderable portion, and come to be familiarly so applied, will not appear surprising if we recollect, that for almost a century the whole region was known only as a fishing station, and regarded as an appendage to the Grand Bank, and that the island was used, exclusively, in connexion with such pursuits. When long established, these designations are beyond the reach of considerations of taste or propriety. Thus, the term West Indies, once covering the whole of America, is now limited to groups of islands on its eastern side, even after a Continent and the Pacific Ocean are known to be interposed between them and that India in a supposed connexion with which the name had its origin. Parks and Squares may be laid out and named at will, but the familiar appellation of a thronged place of business will not yield even to an Act of Parliament; "expellas furca tamen usque recurret."

THE question as to the name Prima Vista stands apart from that which has just been dismissed, and is in itself sufficiently curious.

It is to be remembered, that the description, in Latin, is not only the highest but the only authority on the subject, and that Hakluyt had no better materials for conjecture than we now possess. From this document we gather that John and Sebastian Cabot,

"Eam terram fecerunt perviam quam nullus prius adire ausus fuit die 24 Junii circiter horam quintam bene mane. Hanc autem appellavit Terram primum visam credo quod ex mari in eam partem primum oculos injecerat.”

A passage thus translated by Hakluyt—

66 They discovered that land which no man before that time had attempted, on the 24th June, about five of the clock, early in the morning. This land he called Prima Vista, that is to say, first seen, because as I suppose it was that part whereof they had the first sight from sea.”

It is plain, that the original map could have furnished no clue to the motive for conferring the appellation, because the suggestion of the person who prepared the "Extract," is offered, confessedly, as a conjecture. We know only that there was something on the map which led him to consider the region as designated, "Terra primum visa." This bare statement will show how utterly gratuitous is Hakluyt's assumption, that the name given was Prima Vista; for it is obviously impossible to determine, whether it was in Latin, Italian, or English.

If the name Prima Vista, or Terra primum Visa, or First Sight, was conferred, why is nothing said of it in the various conversations of Sebastian Cabot? We hear continually of

H

Baccalaos, and find that name on all the old maps, but not a word of the other, which yet is represented as the designation applied to the more important item of discovery-to the "terra," as distinguished from the "insula."

The origin of the misconception is suspected to have been this: The Map of the New World which accompanies the copy of Hakluyt's work, in the King's Library, has the following inscription on the present Labrador, "This land was discovered by John et Sebastian Cabote, for Kinge Henry VII., 1497." Now, the "Extract" which we are considering, says, that John and Sebastian Cabot first discovered the land "which no man before that time had attempted" (" quam nullus prius adire ausus fuit"). These expressions are, of course, intended to convey an assertion found on the original map, of which it professes to give an abstract-an assertion equivalent, doubtless, to the language quoted from the map in Hakluyt. How would such an inscription run? Probably, thus: "Terra primum visa Joanne Caboto et Sebastiano illius filio die, 24 Junio, 1497, circiter horam quintam bene mane." To us who have just been called on to expose the absurd mistakes committed by men of the highest reputation for learning and sagacity, is it incredible, that the artist who prepared the broad sheet, should have hastily supposed the initial words to be intended as a designation of the country discovered particularly, when in the Law, we have to seek at every turn a similar explanation of such titles, as Scirefacias, Mandamus, Quo Warranto, &c. &c.?

Such a designation might even have got into use without necessarily involving misconception. There is a tendency, in the absence of a convenient epithet, to seize, even absurdly, on the leading words of a description, particularly when couched in a foreign language. Thus the earliest collection of voyages to the New World is entitled, "Paesi novamente retrovati et Novo Mondo da Alberico Vespucio Florentino intitulato." It is usually quoted as the "Paesi novamente retrovati," and a bookseller, therefore, when asked for "Land

lately discovered," exhibits a thin quarto volume, published at Vicenza, in 1507. The same is the case with the "Novus Orbis," the "Fœdera," &c.

Another consideration may be mentioned. The island which "stands out from the land" was discovered on the 24th June, and named from that circumstance. One would suppose this to have been first encountered; and if so, the designation of "First Sight," would hardly be given to a point subsequently seen on the same day. Not only were the chances in its favour from its position, but we cannot presume that Cabot would have quitted immediately his main discovery, had that been first recognized, and stood out to sea to examine a small island, or that he would have dedicated to the Saint the inferior, and later, discovery of the day.

We repeat, all that is known on the subject is the appearance of the three Latin words in question on the original map. The rest is mere conjecture; first, of the artist, as to the meaning of the words, and then, of Hakluyt, yet wilder, that "Terra primum visa," must have been a translation of something in Italian. This solution explains why there is no reference to any such title in the conversations of Cabot, or in Ortelius who had the map of that navigator before him.

It is not improbable, that Hakluyt was assisted to his conclusion by the prominence given on the early maps of Newfoundland to a name conferred by the Portuguese. Though he has not put into words the reflection which silently passed through his mind, it becomes perceptible in others who have adopted his hypothesis. Thus, for example, we recognise its vague influence on Forster (p. 267), who supposes "that Sebastian Cabot had the first sight of Newfoundland off Cape Bonavista."

The subject seems, indeed, on every side, the sport of rash and even puerile conceits. Dr Robertson tells us (Hist. of America, book ix.), "after sailing for some weeks due West, and nearly on the parallel of the port from which he took his departure, he discovered a large Island, which he called