and told to each other what each one had seen and knew. They said that from the cape of Breton they go to the northwest until they reach the mainland and afterwards coast down toward the southwest, as the coast runs in this direction, and they come upon the entrance which, although it seems very small, yet is large and deep. Then sailing to this sea of China to the west-southwest, they said that at the mouth of the strait, toward the South Sea as toward the North Sea, there are many small islands, although more . . . in the direction of the north, coming from China outside of . . . which to Manil . . . The country of China is very high, and wooded with pine trees and . . . partly lower, also with forests. He said that in the strait they use no wind at all, but that the currents take them in and float them through. They said that those who consider that the island of Bacallao is all one are wrong; for it consists of several small islands in a chain, reaching to Cape Gata, which is in sixty-two degrees, and where there is a deep channel which enters into the great bay. They say that the point of Vacallaos is in fifty degrees, and they run along the coast of this island as far as Cape Breton, about eighty leguas. Those who place Cape Breton on the maps should put it on the same large island, and it lies nearer to the point of Vacallaos than to Cape Gata.[1]
- ↑ For accounts of early explorations on North American coasts, see the following works: On the northeastern coast, Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, iv, pp. 33-102. On the Pacific coast, H. H. Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast, i, pp. 1-136. The voyages mentioned in this document are regarded by Bancroft as apocryphal. Bacallaos ("cod-fish") was an early designation of the island of Newfoundland, but was afterward extended to the mainland of eastern Canada. The cape of Breton evidently refers to Cape Breton, on the island of that name.
