mes which survived. The outlines of some very early maps are
given by Kunstmann, Kretschmer, and Winsor, but until 1505 they have
no bearing upon our problem. In that year Reinel's map was made, and,
although Newfoundland forms part of _terra firma_, the openings north
and south of it are plainly indicated by unclosed lines. Cape Race has
received its permanent name, "_Raso_" and, although only the east coast
of Newfoundland is named, there is no possibility of mistaking the
easternmost point of Cape Breton. Just opposite _(ex adverso_) is laid
down and named the island of Sam Joha, in latitude 46 deg., the precise
latitude of Scatari Island. Here, then, in 1505, is in this island of
St. John an independent testimony to the landfall of 1497--not off Cape
North, which does not yet appear, nor inside the gulf, for it is not even
indicated--but in the Atlantic Ocean, at the cape of Cape Breton--the
"Cavo descubierto" of La Cosa.

I have not considered it necessary to prove that if Cabot's landfall were
Cape North he could not have discovered the low lying shore of Prince
Edward Island on the same day. I have preferred to show that Prince
Edward Island was not known as an island and did not appear on any map
for one hundred years after John Cabot's death. If Cabot had possessed a
modern map, and had been looking for Prince Edward Island, and had pushed
on without landing at the north cape of Cape Breton, and had shaped his
course southward, he might have seen it in a long Midsummer Day, but
Cabot did not press on. He landed and examined the country, and found
close to it St. John's Island, which he also examined. Upon that
easternmost point of this Nova Scotian land of our common country John
Cabot planted the banner of St. George on June 24, 1497, more than one
year before Columbus set foot upon the main continent of America, and
now, after four hundred years, despite all the chances and changes of
this Western World, that banner is floating there, a witness to our
existing union with our distant mother-land across the ocean.

THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA

VASCO DA GAMA SAILS AROUND AFRICA

A.D. 1498

CASPAR CORREA[1]

The same goal which attracted the Spaniards westward drew the Portuguese
south, the desire to find a sea route to India, and thus garner the
enormous profits of the trade in spices and other Indian wealth. In the
early years of the fifteenth century the Portuguese, overshadowed by the
Spanish kingdom,