On July 2, the ships, sailing on westward from the head
of Prince Edward Island, came in sight of the New Brunswick
coast. They had thus crossed Northumberland Strait, which
separates the island from the mainland. Cartier, however,
supposed this to be merely a deep bay, extending inland
on his left, and named it the Bay of St Lunario. Before
him on the northern horizon was another headland, and to
the left the deep triangular bay known now as Miramichi.
The shallowness of the water and the low sunken aspect
of the shore led him to decide, rightly, that there was
to be found here no passage to the west. It was his hope,
of course, that at some point on his path the shore might
fold back and disclose to him the westward passage to
the fabled empires of the East. The deep opening of the
Chaleur Bay, which extended on the left hand as the ships
proceeded north, looked like such an opening. Hopes ran
high, and Cartier named the projecting horn which marks
the southern side of the mouth of the bay the Cape of
Good Hope. Like Vasco da Gama, when he rounded South
Africa, Cartier now thought that he had found the gateway
of a new world. The cheery name has, however, vanished
from the map in favour of the less striking one of Point
Miscou.

Cartier sailed across the broad mouth of the bay to a
point on the north shore, now known as Port Daniel. Here
his ships lay at anchor till July 12, in order that he
might carry on, in boats, the exploration of the shore.