Note 287 — Chapter II
Reading edition
The Cosmographie says: “Passing about twenty leagues west-northwest along the coast, you will find an island, called St. Jean, in the centre of the district, and nearer to the Breton region than to Terra Nova. This entry to the Bretons is twelve leagues wide, and in 47° 30′ north. From St. Jean’s Island to Ascension [Assumption] Island, in the Canadian Sea, it is forty leagues across, northwest-by-west. St. Jean and Bryon and Bird Island are 47° north.” A little farther on he says: “Southeast of Cape Ratz [Race] there are two lost islands, which are called Isle St. Jean, D’Estevan,—lost because they consisted of sand.” He also mentions the Isle of St. Brandon, and “a large island called the Seven Cities, forming one large island, and there are many persons who have seen it as well as myself, and can testify; but I do not know how things look in the interior, for I did not land upon it. It is in 28° 30′ north latitude.”