had frequently passed through the narrow passage of Belle
Isle that separates Newfoundland from the coast of
Labrador. Of the waters, however, that seemed to open up
beyond, or of the exact relation of the Newfoundland
coastline to the rest of the great continent nothing
accurate was known. It might well be that the inner waters
behind the inhospitable headlands of Belle Isle would
prove the gateway to the great empires of the East.
Cartier's business at any rate was to explore, to see
all that could be seen, and to bring news of it to his
royal master. This he set himself to do, with the
persevering thoroughness that was the secret of his final
success. He coasted along the shore from cape to cape
and from island to island, sounding and charting as he
went, noting the shelter for ships that might be found,
and laying down the bearing of the compass from point to
point. It was his intent, good pilot as he was, that
those who sailed after him should find it easy to sail
on these coasts.

From St Catherine's Harbour the ships sailed on May 21
with a fine off-shore wind that made it easy to run on
a course almost due north. As they advanced on this course
the mainland sank again from sight, but presently they
came to an island. It lay far out in the sea, and was
surrounded by a great upheaval of jagged and broken ice.
On it and around it they saw so dense a mass of birds
that no one, declares Cartier, could have believed it
who had not seen it for himself. The birds were as large
as jays, they were coloured black and white, and they