Note 179 — Chapter II
Reading edition
It might indeed be supposed that Roberval, instead of reaching Canada in the autumn of 1541, wintered on the Atlantic coast, and thus met Cartier at Newfoundland in 1542. Indeed, Sir William Alexander says, in his Encouragement to Colonies (p. 15), that Roberval lived “one winter at Cape Breton;” but for the statement he gives no authority, while his style is loose, and by Cape Breton he probably meant Canada, since Roberval would have sailed direct from Cape Breton to the St. Lawrence, instead of circumnavigating Newfoundland.