Nova Scotia, which were sometimes described as the "Land of the Corte Reals," and as the "country discovered by João Alvares."
We now know that the person to whom these Christian names belonged was João Alvares Fagundes, who early in the sixteenth century carried on explorations in Northeastern America, and who, in 1521, had a grant of the country between the land of the Corte Reals and the northern boundary of the Spanish colonies, including the "terra firma and islands" discovered by him, a grant which for the first time included a portion of the United States.
Traditions as to an early settlement still linger among the Micmacs, who aver that certain earth-mounds at St. Peter's, Cape Breton, were built by white men before the arrival of the French. This belief received many years ago a confirmation by the discovery in one of these mounds of an archaic cannon formed of bars of iron fastened with iron bands or hoops, those toward the breech being the strongest. This gun attracted little attention at the time, and was broken up. My knowledge of this circumstance is derived from the historian of that province,[1] who for more than twenty years was on circuit in Cape Breton once, if not twice, a year. He frequently spoke of the enigma, and regretted the stupidity and utter want of interest which prevailed at that time with respect to the early history of the country. An inquiry into the date of the manufacture of such guns showed clearly that it must have been brought out before the arrival of the French in Cape Breton,[2] Were these remains at St. Peter's vestiges of this early Portuguese colony?
From a rare pamphlet, "Tractado das Ilhas Novas," by Francisco de Sousa, written in 1570, and published at San Miguel in 1877, Senhor do Canto, in his "Os Corte-Reaes" (pp. 89-93) copies an account of the colony in question, and has also given us a description of the discoveries, and a copy of the commission of João Alvares Fagundes.
It appears from this that the colony was planned by some noblemen at Viana, consequent upon the discoveries made by João Alvares Fagundes. They sent out a ship and a caravel, but Newfoundland (Baccalaos) having been found too cold, the settlers sailed to the west and southwest, and, having lost their ships, were obliged to remain. News was subsequently received from them through Biscayans, who were then in the habit of frequenting that coast. They asked for priests; said that the natives were well disposed; and that the country produced "nuts, chestnuts, grapes, and other fruits, showing the goodness of the soil."
Allusions in early writers point to the existence of this early Portuguese colony. Anthony Parkhurst, in a letter published in 1578, when speaking of the excellent timber in Cape Breton, says: "I could not
