The Portland daily press., 1897-06-24

was shown by the length of time that
elapsed before its settlement. At the time
of the American revolution, the white
population of America consisted of only
four millions of people scattered along the
Atlantic coast.
DIR. BURRAGE'S PAPER.
In his aper on "The Cartography of
the Perio6l,'' Rev. DIR. BuTage called at
tention to fifteen maps from about 400 to
1541, which indicate the growth of the
new geogr. aphical ideas that found cur
rency in is remarkable period. The first
map on which is found any part of the
continent of America, he said, is the So
called sea CHART of the zeni brothers,
drawn abo'at the year 14OO. The map of
Andrea B:anco in 1896 represents the
islands of the Atlantic which at that time
had been reached by adventurous voyages.
The Fra Nlauro mappemonde Of 1859 re-
corded the results of recent explorations
along the African coast. Still better
knowledge of the African coast is indi-
Gated on Martin Bepami's globe, 1899.
The globe gives no indication of CONT
nent west of European Africa, and east of
Asia. Shortly after the voyages of
Columbus and Cabot, however, on the
maps of the 10th century the existence of
such continent comes into clearer and
clearer view. Reference was made to
typical maps. Cosa's map of 1900, the
Cantino planisphere Of 1902, the Canerio
map Of 1903 or 1904, map by Pedro Reinel
Of about 1906, map of Johann Ruysch,
1903, Stobnicza's map of 1919 and the map
of Waldseelnuller, 1913. On the last two
the unbroken eastern coast line of the
New World appears. But while the union
of North and South America had thus
early been recognized by some
geographers, there were others who con-
tinued to represent the two continents as
separated by a strait, as in Schoner's
Globe Of 1920, and the Maiollo map of
1927. A reaction is also in the map of
Orontius Fineaus, 1881, the Nancy Globe
of 1910. and the Globe of Vopel in 1913, in
all of which North America is represented
as Eastern Asia. But with the continued
progress of discovery the strait separating
North and South America disappeared
and the fact that new continent had
been found was fully conceded, and in
the cores made by Mercator in 154l, we
not only have North and South America
correctly represented in their general feat
ures, but the name America is applied to
both parts of the western hemisphere.
Much remained to be done by later car
tographers, but the great facts were now
everywhere accepted.
Professor William Mcdonald of Bow
doin, read a paper on "The landfall Of
John Cabot and the extent of his dis
coveries.'
Professor Mcdonald said that the
records Of Cabo5's first voyage, if records
there were, were lost. In their place we
have only the fragnentary accounts of
those who derived their information at
second hand. Extracts were read from
these accounts and with them as a basis.
the speaker stated what seemed to him
the best hypothesis as to the route fol-
lowed by the explorer. Professor Me
Donald said that he did not speak az an
expert, but based his conclusions on the
literature on the su,Sect From the frag-
mentary documentary evidence, written
by the contemporaries Of the explorer, it
may be accepted that after sailing 400 or
700 leagues, Cabot found land, where the
weather was described as temperate He
sailed along this land 300 leagues, seeing
no inhabitants, but he took to England
snares which he had found set in the
woods and from which he concluded that
the land WAS inhabited. 1t is also recorded
found land, he saw on his right two large
islands, and it is further known that the
tides in the waters through which
he sailed were slack as compared
with the tide at Bristol. That
| from these data any definite knowledge
regarded as triumph of modern his
torical methods. Cabot's orders were to
sail west and north. Owing perhaps to
the friendly relations between England
and Spain, he was not authorized to sail
| to the southwark. Now if Cabot sailed to
| bu0 oOuUl1 VI IIO4G1lu, uO WOuIu LOU
probably have gone to the south of the LIST
parallel. 1t may be doubted if he went as
far south as this. Had he followed the
| 51st parallel in accordance with the Gus
| tom of the mariners of the day, Cabot
would have found land near the Straits of
Belle Isle at the north of Newfoundland
but we may safely conclude that it was
somewhere on the coast Of Labrador. One
authority holds that the explorer sailed
along the shores of the Gulf of ST. Law
renee and the two large islands which he
saw as he sailed away were part of New
foundland, then set down on the maps as
an archipelago. At best it is but a matter
of hypothesis. There are things which
are hard to reconcile as for instance the
statement that the land was temperate,
but that many have been due to some
body's desire to make it appear that the
new land was of the kind for which all
explorers were looking. ri
PROF. SEWALL'S~ PAPER.