The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

Leif returned to Greenland in the spring; his brother Thorvald succeeded him, and remained two winters in Vinland exploring much of the coast and country.[16 - Rafn, Antiq. Amer.] In the course of the third summer the natives, now called Esquimaux, were first seen; on account of their diminutive stature the adventurers gave them the name of Skrælingar.[17 - The Esquimaux were at that time spread much further south than they are at present.—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 268.] These poor savages, irritated by an act of barbarous cruelty, attacked the Northmen with darts and arrows, and Thorvald fell a victim to their vengeance. A wealthy Icelander, named Thorfinn, established a regular colony in Vinland soon after this event; the settlers increased rapidly in numbers, and traded with the natives for furs and skins to great advantage. After three years the adventurers returned to Iceland enriched by the expedition, and reported favorably upon the new country. Little is known of this settlement after Thorfinn's departure till early in the twelfth century, when a bishop of Greenland[18 - Eric Upsi, a native of Iceland, and the first Greenland bishop, undertook to go to Vinland as a Christian missionary in 1121.] went there to promulgate the Christian faith among the colonists; beyond that time scarcely a notice of its existence occurs, and the name and situation of the ancient Vinland soon passed away from the knowledge of man. Whether the adventurous colonists ever returned, or became blended with the natives,[19 - "The learned Grotius founds an argument for the colonization of America by the Norwegians on the similarity between the names of Norway and La Norimbègue, a district bordering on New England."—Grotius, De Origine Gentium Americanarum, in quarto, 1642. See, also, the Controversy between Grotius and Jean de Laët.] or perished by their hands, no record remains to tell.[20 - Accurate information respecting the former intercourse of the Northmen with the Continent of America reaches only as far as the middle of the fourteenth century. In the year 1349 a ship was sent from Greenland to Markland (New Scotland) to collect timber and other necessaries. Upon their return from Markland, the ship was overtaken by storms, and compelled to land at Straumfjord, in the west of Iceland. This is the last account of the "Norman America," preserved for us in the ancient Scandinavian writings. The settlements upon the west coast of Greenland, which were in a very flourishing condition until the middle of the fourteenth century, gradually declined, from the fatal influence of monopoly of trade, by the invasion of the Esquimaux, by the black death which depopulated the north from the year 1347 to 1351, and also by the arrival of a hostile fleet, from what country is not known.By means of the critical and most praiseworthy efforts of Christian Rafn, and the Royal Society for Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen, the traditions and ancient accounts of the voyage of the Normans to Helluland (Newfoundland), to Markland (the mouth of the River St. Lawrence at Nova Scotia), and at Winland (Massachusetts), have been separately printed and satisfactorily commented upon. The length of the voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of the rising and setting of the sun, are accurately laid down. The principal sources of information are the historical narrations of Erik the Red, Thorfinn Karlsefne, and Snorre Thorbrandson, probably written in Greenland itself, as early as the twelfth century, partly by descendants of the settlers born in Winland.—Rafn, Antiq. Amer., p. 7, 14, 16. The care with which the tables of their pedigrees was kept was so great, that the table of the family of Thorfinn Karlsefne, whose son, Snorre Thorbrandson, was born in America, was kept from the year 1007 to 1811.The name of the colonized countries is found in the ancient national songs of the natives of the Färöe Islands.—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 268-452.]

Discoveries such as these by the ancient Scandinavians—fruitless to the world and almost buried in oblivion—can not dim the glory of that transcendant genius to whom we owe the knowledge of a New World.

The claim of the Welsh to the first discovery of America seems to rest upon no better original authority than that of Meridith-ap-Rees, a bard who died in the year 1477. His verses only relate that Prince Madoc, wearied with dissensions at home, searched the ocean for a new kingdom. The tale of this adventurer's voyages and colonization was written one hundred years subsequent to the early Spanish discoveries, and seems to be merely a fanciful completion of his history: he probably perished in the unknown seas. It is certain that neither the ancient principality nor the world reaped any benefit from these alleged discoveries.[21 - See Appendix, No. IV. (vol. II.)]

In the middle of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, the Venetian Marco Polo[22 - See Appendix, No. V. (vol. II.)] and the Englishman Mandeville[23 - See Appendix, No. VI. (vol. II.)] awakened the curiosity of Europe with respect to the remote parts of the earth. Wise and discerning men selected the more valuable portions of their observations; ideas were enlarged, and a desire for more perfect information excited a thirst for discovery. While this spirit was gaining strength in Europe, the wonderful powers of the magnet were revealed to the Western World.[24 - See Appendix, No. VII. (vol. II.)] The invention of the mariner's compass aided and extended navigation more than all the experience and adventure of preceding ages: the light of the stars, the guidance of the sea-coast, were no longer necessary; trusting to the mysterious powers of his new friend, the sailor steered out fearlessly into the ocean, through the bewildering mists or the darkness of night.

The Spaniards were the first to profit by the bolder spirit and improved science of navigation. About the beginning of the fourteenth century, they were led to the accidental discovery of the Canary Islands,[25 - The numerous data which have come down to us from antiquity, and an acute examination of the local relations, especially the great vicinity of the settlements upon the African coast, which incontestably existed, lead me to believe that Phœnicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans, and probably even the Etruscans, were acquainted with the group of the Canary Islands.—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 414."Porro occidentalis navigatio, quantum etiam famâ assequi Plinius potuit, tantum ad Fortunatas Insulas cursum protendit, earumque præcipuam à multitudine canum Canariam vocatam refert."—Acosta, De Natura Novi Orbis, lib. i., cap. ii.Respecting the probability of the Semitic origin of the name of the Canary Islands, Pliny, in his Latinizing etymological notions, considered them to be Dog Islands! (Vide Credner's Biblical Representation of Paradise, in Illgen's Journal for Historical Theology, 1836, vol. vi., p. 166-186.)—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 414.The most fundamental, and, in a literary point of view, the most complete account of the Canary Islands, that was written in ancient times, down to the Middle Ages, was collected in a work of Joachim José da Costa de Macedo, with the title "Memoria cem que se pretende provar que os Arabes não connecerão as Canarias autes dos Portuguesques, 1844." (See, also, Viera y Clavigo, Notic. de la Hist. de Canaria.)—Humboldt's Cosmos.] and made repeated voyages thither, plundering the wretched inhabitants, and carrying them off as slaves.[26 - See Appendix, No. VIII. (vol. II.)] Pope Clement VI. conferred these countries as a kingdom upon Louis de la Cerda, of the royal race of Castile; he, however, was powerless to avail himself of the gift, and it passed to the stronger hand of John de Bethancourt, a Norman baron.[27 - "Jean de Bethancourt knew that before the expedition of Alvaro Beccara, that is to say, before the end of the fourteenth century, Norman adventurers had penetrated as far as Sierra Leone (lat. 8° 30'), and he sought to follow their traces. Before the Portuguese, however, no European nation appears to have crossed the equator."—Humboldt."Les Normands et les Arabes sont les seules nations qui, jusqu'au commencement du douzième siècle, aient partagé la gloire des grandes expéditions maritimes, le goût des aventures étranges, la passion du pillage et des conquêtes éphémères. Les Normands ont occupé successivement l'Islande et la Neustrie, ravagé les sanctuaires de l'Italie, ravagé la Pouille sur les Grecs, inscrit leurs caractères runiques jusque sur les flancs d'un des lions que Morosini enleva au Pirée d'Athènes pour en orner l'arsenal de Venise."—Humboldt's Géog. du Nouveau Continent, vol. ii., p. 86.] The countrymen of this bold adventurer explored the seas far to the south of the Canary Islands, and acquired some knowledge of the coast of Africa.

The glory of leading the career of systematic exploration belongs to the Portuguese:[28 - "No nation," says Southey, "has ever accomplished such great things in proportion to its means as the Portuguese." Its early maritime history does, indeed, present a striking picture of enterprise and restless energy, but the annals of Europe afford no similar instance of rapid degeneracy. There was an age when less than forty thousand armed Portuguese kept the whole coasts of the ocean in awe, from Morocco to China; when one hundred and fifty sovereign princes paid tribute to the treasury of Lisbon. But in all their enterprises they aimed at conquest, and not at colonization. The government at home exercised little control over the arms of its piratical mariners; the mother country derived no benefit from their achievements. To the age of conquest succeeded one of effeminacy and corruption.—Merivale's Lectures on Colonization, vol. i., p. 44.] their attempts were not only attended with considerable success, but gave encouragement and energy to those efforts that were crowned by the discovery of a world: among them the great Genoese was trained, and their steps in advance matured the idea, and aided the execution of his design. The nations of Europe had now begun to cast aside the errors and prejudices of their ancestors. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans were eagerly searched for information, and former discoveries brought to light.[29 - See Appendix, No. IX. (vol. II.)] The science of the Arabians was introduced and cultivated by the Moors and Jews, and geometry, astronomy, and geography were studied as essential to the art of navigation.

In the year 1412, the Portuguese doubled Cape Non, the limit of ancient enterprise. For upward of seventy years afterward they pursued their explorations, with more or less of vigor and success, along the African coast, and among the adjacent islands. By intercourse with the people of these countries they gradually acquired some knowledge of lands yet unvisited. Experience proved that the torrid zone was not closed to the enterprise of man.[30 - The zones were imaginary bands or circles in the heavens, producing an effect of climate on corresponding belts on the globe of the earth. The frigid zones, between the polar circles and the poles, were considered uninhabitable and unnavigable, on account of the extreme cold. The torrid zone, lying beneath the track of the sun, or rather the central part of it, immediately about the equator, was considered uninhabitable, unproductive, and impassable, on account of the excessive heat. The temperate zones, lying between the torrid and the frigid zones, were supposed to be the only parts of the globe suited to the purposes of life. Parmenides, according to Strabo, was the inventor of this theory of the five zones. Aristotle supported the same doctrine. He believed that there was habitable earth in the southern hemisphere, but that it was forever divided from the part of the world already known by the impassable zone of scorching heat at the equator. (Aristot., Met., ii., cap. v.) Pliny supported the opinion of Aristotle concerning the burning zones. (Pliny, lib. i., cap. lxvi.) Strabo (lib. ii.), in mentioning this theory, gives it likewise his support; and others of the ancient philosophers, as well as the poets, might be cited, to show the general prevalence of the belief.—Cicero, Somnium Scipionis, cap. vi.; Geminus, cap. xiii., p. 31; ap. Petavii Opus de Doctr. Tempor. in quo Uranologium sive Systemata var. Auctorum. Amst., 1705, vol. iii.] They found that the form of the continent contracted as it stretched southward, and that it tended toward the east. Then they brought to mind the accounts of the ancient Phoenician voyagers round Africa,[31 - See Appendix, No. X. (vol. II.)] long deemed fabulous, and the hope arose that they might pursue the same career, and win for themselves the magnificent prize of Indian commerce. In the year 1486 the adventurous Bartholomew Diaz[32 - Barros, Dec. I., lib. iii., cap. iv., p. 190, says distinctly, "Bartholomeu Diaz, e os de sua compantica per causa dos perigos, e tormentas, que em o dobrar delle passáram che puyeram nome Tormentoso." The merit of the first circumnavigation, therefore, does not belong to Vasco de Gama, as is generally supposed. Diaz was at the Cape in May, 1487, and, therefore, almost at the same time that Pedro de Covilham and Alonzo de Payva of Barcelona commenced their expedition. As early as December, 1487, Diaz himself brought to Portugal the account of his important discovery. The mission of Pedro Covilham and Alonzo de Payva, in 1487, was set on foot by King John II., in order to search for "the African priest Johannes." Believing the accounts which he had obtained from Indian and Arabian pilots in Calicut, Goa, Aden, as well as in Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa, Covilham informed King John II., by means of two Jews from Cairo, that if the Portuguese were to continue their voyages of discovery upon the western coast in a southerly direction, they would come to the end of Africa, whence a voyage to the Island of the Moon, to Zanzibar, and the gold country of Sofala, would be very easy. Accounts of the Indian and Arabian trading stations upon the east coast of Africa, and of the form of the southern extremity of the Continent, may have extended to Venice, through Egypt, Abyssinia, and Arabia. The triangular form of Africa was actually delineated upon the map of Sanuto, made in 1306, and discovered in the "Portulano della Mediceo-Laurenziana," by Count Baldelli in 1351, and also in the chart of the world by Fra Mauro.—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 290, 461.] first reached the Cape of Good Hope; soon afterward the information gained by Pedro de Covilham, in his overland journey, confirmed the consequent sanguine expectations of success. The attention of Europe was now fully aroused, and the progress of the Portuguese was watched with admiration and suspense. But during this interval, while all eyes were turned with anxious interest toward the East, a little bark, leaky and tempest-tossed, sought shelter in the Tagus.[33 - Faria y Sousa complains that "the admiral entered Lisbon with a vain-glorious exultation, in order to make Portugal feel, by displaying the tokens of his discovery, how much she had erred in not acceding to his propositions."—Europa Portuguesa, t. ii., p. 402, 403.Ruy de Pina asserts that King John was much importuned to kill Columbus on the spot, since, with his death, the prosecution of the undertaking, as far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned, would cease, from want of a suitable person to take charge of it; but the king had too much magnanimity to adopt the iniquitous measure proposed.—Vasconcellos, Vida del Rie Don Juan II., lib. vi,; Garcia de Resende, Vide da Dom Joam II.; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i., cap. lxxiv.; MS. quoted by Prescott.] It had come from the Far West—over that stormy sea where, from the creation until then, had brooded an impenetrable mystery. It bore the richest freight[34 - See Appendix, No. XI. (vol. II.)] that ever lay upon the bosom of the deep—the tidings of a New World.[35 - "A Castilla y a Leon Nuevo Mumto dió Colon," was the inscription on the costly monument that was raised over the remains of Columbus in the Carthusian Monastery of La Cuevas at Seville. "The like of which," says his son Ferdinand, with as much truth as simplicity, "was never recorded of any man in ancient or modern times."—Hist. del Almirante, cap. cviii.His ashes were finally removed to Cuba, where they now repose in the Cathedral church of its capital.—Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii."E dandogli il titol di Don volsero che egli aggiungesse presso all'armè di casa sua quattro altre, cioè quelle del Regno de Castiglio di Leon, e il Mar Oceano con tutte l'isole e quattro anchore per dimostrare l'ufficio d'Almirante, con un motto d'intorno che dicea, 'Per Castiglia e per Leon, Nuovo Mundo trovo Colon.'"—Ramusio, Discorio, tom. iii.The heir of Columbus was always to bear the arms of the admiral, to seal with them, and in his signature never to use any other title than simply "the Admiral."]

It would be but tedious to repeat here all the well-known story of Christopher Columbus;[36 - See Appendix, No. XII.– (vol. II.) In the Middle Ages the prevalent opinion was that the sea covered but one seventh of the surface of the globe; an opinion which Cardinal d'Ailly (Imago Mundi, cap. viii.) founded on the apocryphal fourth book of Ezra. Columbus, who always derived much of his cosmological knowledge from the cardinal's work, was much interested in upholding this idea of the smallness of the sea, to which the misunderstood expression of "the ocean-stream" contributed not a little. He was also accustomed to cite Aristotle, and Seneca, and St. Augustine, in confirmation of this opinion.—Humboldt's Examen Critique de l'Hist. de la Géographie, tom. i., p. 186.] his early dangers and adventures, his numerous voyages, his industry, acquirements, and speculations, and how at length the great idea arose in his mind, and matured itself into a conviction; then how conviction led to action, checked and interrupted, but not weakened, by the doubts of pedantic ignorance,[37 - See, especially, the details of the conference held at Salamanca (the great seat of learning in Spain), given in the fourth chapter of Washington Irving's "Columbus." One of the objections advanced was, that, admitting the earth to be spherical, and should a ship succeed in reaching in this way the extremity of India, she could never get back again; for the rotundity of the globe would present a kind of mountain, up which it would be impossible for her to sail with the most favorable wind.—Hist. del Almirante, cap. ii.; Hist. de Chiapa por Remesel, lib. ii., cap. 27.] and the treachery,[38 - Columbus was required by King John II., of Portugal, to furnish a detailed plan of his proposed voyages, with the charts and other documents according to which he proposed to shape his course, for the alleged purpose of having them examined by the royal counselors. He readily complied; but while he remained in anxious suspense as to the decision of the council, a caravel was secretly dispatched with instructions to pursue the route designated in the papers of Columbus. This voyage had the ostensible pretext of carrying provisions to the Cape de Verde Islands; the private instructions given were carried into effect when the caravel departed thence. It stood westward for several days; but then the weather grew stormy, and the pilots having no zeal to stimulate them, and seeing nothing but an immeasurable waste of wild, trembling waves still extending before them, lost all courage to proceed. They put back to the Cape de Verde Islands, and thence to Lisbon, excusing their own want of resolution by ridiculing the project of Columbus. On discovering this act of treachery, Columbus instantly quitted Portugal.—Hist. del Almirante, cap. viii.; Herrera, Dec. I., lib. i., cap. vii.; Munoz, Hist. del Nuevo Mundo, lib. ii.—Quoted by Prescott.] coolness, or contempt of courts. On Friday,[39 - "Le Vendredi n'étant pas regardé dans la Chrétienté comme un jour de bon augure pour le commencement d'une entreprise, les historiens du 17

siècle, qui gémissaient déjà sur les maux dont, selon eux, l'Europe a été accablé par la découverte de l'Amérique, on fait remarque que Colomb est parti pour la première expédition vendredi, 3 août 1492, et que la première terre d'Amérique a été découverte vendredi 12 Octobre de la même année. La réformation du calendrier appliquée au journal de Colomb, qui indique toujours à la fois, les jours de la semaine et la date du mois, feroit disparoître le pronostic du jour fatal."—Humboldt's Géog. du Nouveau Continent, vol. iii., p. 160.] the 3d of August, 1492, a squadron of three small, crazy ships, bearing ninety men, sailed from the port of Palos, in Andalusia. Columbus, the commander and pilot, was deeply impressed with sentiments of religion; and, as the spread of Christianity was one great object of the expedition, he and his followers before their departure had implored the blessing of Heaven[40 - His first landing in the New World partook of the same character as his departure from the Old."Christoforo Colombo—primo con una bandiera nella quale era figurato il nostro Signore Jesu Christo in croce, saltô in terra, e quella piantò, e poi tutti gli alti smontarono, e inginocchiati baciarono la terra, tre volti piangendo di allegrezza. Di poi Colombo alzate le mani al cielo lagrimando disse, Signor Dio Eterno, Signore omnipotente, tu creasti il cielo, e la terra, e il mare con la tua santa parola, sia benedetto e glorificato il nome tuo, sia ringraziata la tua Maestà, la quale si è degnata per mano d' uno umil suo servo far ch' el suo santo nome sia conosciuto e divulgato in questa altra parte del mondo."—Pietro Martire, Dell' Indie Occidentali, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen. dell' India.] upon the voyage, from which they might never return.

They steered at first for the Canaries, over a well-known course; but on the 6th of September they sailed from Gomera, the most distant of those islands, and, leaving the usual track of navigation, stretched westward into the unknown sea. And still ever westward for six-and-thirty days they bent their course through the dreary desert of waters; terrified by the changeless wind that wafted them hour after hour further into the awful solitude, and seemed to forbid the prospect of return; bewildered by the altered hours of day and night, and more than all by the mysterious variation of their only guide, for the magnetic needle no longer pointed to the pole.[41 - Columbus not only has, incontestably, the merit of first discovering the line where there is no declination of the needle, but also of first inducing a study of terrestrial magnetism in Europe, by his observations concerning the increasing declination as he sailed in a westerly direction from that line. It had been already easily recognized in the Mediterranean, and in all places where, in the twelfth century, the declination was as much as eight or ten degrees, even though their instruments were so imperfect that the ends of a magnetic needle did not point exactly to the geographical north or south. It is improbable that the Arabs or Crusaders drew attention to the fact of the compass pointing to the northeast and northwest in different parts of the world, as to a phenomenon which had long been known. The merit which belongs to Columbus is, not for the first observance of the existence of the declination, which is given, for example, upon the map of Andrew Bianca, in 1436, but for the remark which he made on the 13th of September, 1492, that about two degrees and a half to the east of the Island of Corvo the magnetic variation changed, and that it passed over from northeast to northwest. This discovery of a magnetic line without any variation indicates a remarkable epoch in nautical astronomy. It was celebrated with just praise by Oviedo, Casas, and Herrera. If with Livio Sanuto we ascribe it to the renowned mariner Sebastian Cabot, we forget that his first voyage, which was undertaken at the expense of some merchants of Bristol, and which was crowned with success by his touching the main-land of America, falls five years later than the first expedition of Columbus.—Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii., p. 318; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i., cap. 6.] Then strange appearances in the sea aroused new fears: vast quantities of weeds covered the surface, retarding the motion of the vessels; the sailors imagined that they had reached the utmost boundary of the navigable ocean, and that they were rushing blindly into the rocks and quicksands of some submerged continent.

The master mind turned all these strange novelties into omens of success. The changeless wind was the favoring breath of the Omnipotent; the day lengthened as they followed the sun's course; an ingenious fiction explained the inconstancy of the needle; the vast fields of sea-weed bespoke a neighboring shore; and the flight of unknown birds[42 - "In sailing toward the West India Islands birds are often seen at the distance of two hundred leagues from the nearest coast."—Sloane's Nat. Hist. of Jamaica, vol. i., p. 30.Captain Cook says, "No one yet knows to what distance any of the Oceanic birds go to sea; for my own part, I do not believe that there is any one of the whole tribe that can be relied on in pointing out the vicinity of land."—Voyage toward the South Pole, vol. i., p. 275.The Portuguese, however, only keeping along the African coast and watching the flight of birds with attention, concluded that they did not venture to fly far from land. Columbus adopted this erroneous opinion from his early instructors in navigation.] was hailed with happy promise. But as time passed on, and brought no fulfillment of their hopes, the spirits of the timid began to fail; the flattering appearances of land had repeatedly deceived them; they were now very far beyond the limit of any former voyage. From the timid and ignorant these doubts spread upward, and by degrees the contagion extended from ship to ship: secret murmurs rose to conspiracies, complaints, and mutiny. They affirmed that they had already performed their duty in so long pursuing an unknown and hopeless course, and that they would no more follow a desperate adventurer to destruction. Some even proposed to cast their leader into the sea.

The menaces and persuasions that had so often enabled Columbus to overcome the turbulence and fears of his followers now ceased to be of any avail. He gave way to an irresistible necessity, and promised that he would return to Spain, if unsuccessful in their search for three days more. To this brief delay the mutineers consented. The signs of land now brought almost certainty to the mind of the great leader. The sounding-line brought up such soil as is only found near the shore: birds were seen of a kind supposed never to venture on a long flight. A piece of newly-cut cane floated past, and a branch of a tree bearing fresh berries was taken up by the sailors. The clouds around the setting sun wore a new aspect, and the breeze became warm and variable. On the evening of the 11th of October every sail was furled, and strict watch kept, lest the ships might drift ashore during the night.

On board the admiral's vessel all hands were invariably assembled for the evening hymn; on this occasion a public prayer for success was added, and with those holy sounds Columbus hailed the appearance of that small, shifting light,[43 - "Puesto que el amirante a los diez de la noche viò lumbre … y era como una candelilla de cera que se alzaba y levantaba, lo cual a pocos pareciera ser indicio de tierra. Pero el amirante tuvò por cierto estar junto a la tierra. Por lo qual quando dijeron la 'Salve' que acostumbran decir y cantar a su manera todos los marineros, y de hallan todos, vogo y amonestòlos el amirante que hiciesen buena guarda al castillo de proa, y mirasen bien por la tierra."—Diar. de Colon. Prem. Viag. 11 de Oct.] which crowned with certainty his long-cherished hope,[44 - "Let those who are disposed to faint under difficulties, in the prosecution of any great and worthy undertaking, remember that eighteen years elapsed after the time that Columbus conceived his enterprise before he was enabled to carry it into effect; that most of that time was passed in almost hopeless solicitation, amid poverty, neglect, and taunting ridicule; that the prime of his life had wasted away in the struggle, and that, when his perseverance was finally crowned with success, he was about in his fifty-sixth year. This example should encourage the enterprising never to despair."—Washington Irving's Life of Columbus, vol. i., p. 174.] turned his faith into realization,[45 - "While Columbus lay on a sick-bed by the River Belem, he was addressed in a dream by an unknown voice, distinctly uttering these words: 'Maravillósamente Dios hizo sonar tu nombre en la tierra; de los atamientos de la Mar Oceana, que estaban cerradas con cadenas tan fuertes, te dió las llaves.' (Letter to the Catholic monarch, July 7th, 1503.)"—Humboldt's Cosmos.] and stamped his name forever upon the memory of man.[46 - See Appendix, No. XIII. (vol. II.)]

It was by accident only that England had been deprived of the glory of these great discoveries. Columbus, when repulsed by the courts of Portugal and Spain, sent his brother Bartholomew to London,[47 - "The application to King Henry VII. was not made until 1488, as would appear from the inscription on a map which Bartholomew presented to the king. Las Casas intimates, from letters and writings of Bartholomew Columbus, in his possession, that the latter accompanied Bartholomew Diaz in his voyage from Lisbon, in 1486, along the coast of Africa, in the course of which he discovered the Cape of Good Hope."—Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. i., cap. vii.] to lay his projects before Henry VII., and seek assistance for their execution. The king, although the most penurious of European princes, saw the vast advantage of the offer, and at once invited the great Genoese to his court. Bartholomew was, however, captured by pirates on his return voyage, and detained till too late, for in the mean while Isabella of Castile had adopted the project of Columbus, and supplied the means for the expedition.

Henry VII. was not discouraged by this disappointment: two years after the discoveries of Columbus became known in England, the king entered into an arrangement with John Cabot, an adventurous Venetian merchant, resident at Bristol, and, on the 5th of March, 1495, granted him letters patent for conquest and discovery. Henry stipulated that one fifth of the gains in this enterprise was to be retained for the crown, and that the vessels engaged in it should return to the port of Bristol. On the 24th of June, 1497, Cabot discovered the coast of Labrador, and gave it the name of Primavista. This was, without doubt, the first visit of Europeans to the Continent of North America,[48 - "The American Continent was first discovered under the auspices of the English, and the coast of the United States by a native of England (Sebastian Cabot told me that he was born in Bristowe)."—History of the Travayles in the East and West Indies, by R. Eden and R. Willes, 1577. fol. 267. Posterity hardly remembered that they[ "The only immediate fruit of Cabot's first enterprise is said to have been the importation from America of the first turkeys ever seen in Europe. Why this bird received the name it enjoys in England has never been satisfactorily explained. By the French it was called 'Coq d'Inde,' on account of its American original, America being then generally termed Western India."—Graham's Hist. of the United States, vol. i., p. 7] (the Cabots) had reached the American Continent nearly four months before Columbus, on his third voyage, came in sight of the main-land.—Bancroft's Hist. of the United States, vol. i., p. 11. Charlevoix's "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," and the "Fastes Chronologiques," endeavor to discredit the discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot, but the testimonies of cotemporary authors are decisive. Unfortunately, no journal or relation remains of the voyages of the Cabots to North America, but several authors have handed down accounts of them, which they received from the lips of Sebastian Cabot himself. See Hakluyt, iii., 27; Galearius Butrigarius, in Ramusio, tom. ii.; Ramusio, Preface to tom. iii.; Peter Martyr ab Angleria, Dec. III., cap. vi.; Gomara, Gen. Hist. of the West Indies, b. ii., c. vi. In Fabian's Chronicle, the writer asserts that he saw, in the sixteenth year of Henry VII., two out of three men who had been brought from "Newfound Island" two years before. The grant made by Edward VI. to Sebastian Cabot of a pension equal to £1000 per annum of our money, attests that "the good and acceptable service" for which it was conferred was of a very important nature. The words of the grant are handed down to us by Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 31.—See Life of Henry VII., by Lord Bacon; Bacon's Works, vol. iii., p. 356, 357.] since the time of the Scandinavian voyages. A large island lay opposite to this shore: from the vast quantity of fish frequenting the neighboring waters, the sailors called it Bacallaos.[49 - Baccalaos was the name given by the natives to the codfish with which these waters abounded. Pietro Martire, who calls Sebastian Cabot his "dear and familiar friend," speaks of Newfoundland as Baccalaos; also, Lopez de Gomara and Ramusio.] Cabot gave this country the name of St. John's, having landed there on St. John's day. Newfoundland has long since superseded both appellations. John Cabot returned to England in August of the same year, and was knighted and otherwise rewarded by the king; he survived but a very short time in the enjoyment of his fame, and his son Sebastian Cabot, although only twenty-three years of age, succeeded him in the command of an expedition destined to seek a northwest passage to the South Seas.

Sebastian Cabot sailed in the summer of 1498: he soon reached Newfoundland, and thence proceeded north as far as the fifty-eighth degree. Having failed in discovering the hoped-for passage, he returned toward the south, examining the coast as far as the southern boundary of Maryland, and perhaps Virginia. After a long interval, the enterprising mariner again, in 1517, sailed for America, and entered the bay[50 - Mr. Bancroft pronounces this "fact to be indisputable," though he acknowledges that "the testimony respecting this expedition is confused and difficult of explanation." Sebastian Cabot wrote "A Discourse of Navigation," in which the entrance of the strait leading into Hudson's Bay was laid down with great precision "on a card, drawn by his own hand."—Ortelius, Map of America in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; Eden and Willis, p. 223; Sir H. Gilbert, in Hakluyt, vol. iii., p. 49, 50; Bancroft, vol. i., p. 12.] which, a century afterward, received the name of Hudson. If prior discovery confer a right of possession, there is no doubt that the whole eastern coast of the North American Continent may be justly claimed by the English race.[51 - The learned and ingenious author of the "Memoirs of Sebastian Cabot" has brought forward strong arguments against the discovery of the Continent of America by Jean Vas Cortereal in 1494.—Humboldt's Géog. du Nouveau Continent, vol. i., p. 279; vol. ii., p. 25."The discoverer of the territory of our country was one of the most extraordinary men of his age. There is deep cause for regret that time has spared so few memorials of his career. He gave England a continent, and no one knows his burial-place."—Bancroft, vol. i., p. 14.]

Gaspar Cortereal was the next voyager in the succession of discoverers: he had been brought up in the household of the King of Portugal, but nourished an ardent spirit of enterprise and thirst for glory, despite the enervating influences of a court. He sailed early in the year 1500, and pursued the track of John Cabot as far as the northern point of Newfoundland; to him is due the discovery of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,[52 - Ramusio, vol. iii., p. 417. This discovery is also attributed to Jacques Cartier, who entered the gulf on the 10th of August, 1535, and gave it the name of the saint whose festival was celebrated on that day.—Charlevoix.] and he also pushed on northward, by the coast of Labrador,[53 - In an old map published in 1508, the Labrador coast is called Terra Corterealis.] almost to the entrance of Hudson's Bay. The adventurer returned to Lisbon in October of the same year. This expedition was undertaken more for mercantile advantage than for the advancement of knowledge; timber and slaves seem to have been the objects; no less than fifty-seven of the natives were brought back to Portugal, and doomed to bondage. These unhappy savages proved so robust and useful, that great benefits were anticipated from trading on their servitude;[54 - It has been conjectured that the name Terra de Laborador was given to this coast by the Portuguese slave merchants, on account of the admirable qualities of the natives as laborers.—Picture of Quebec.] the dreary and distant land of their birth, covered with snow for half the year, was despised by the Portuguese, whose thoughts and hopes were ever turned to the fertile plains, the sunny skies, and the inexhaustible treasures of the East.[55 - It was an idea entertained by Columbus, that, as he extended his discoveries to climates more and more under the torrid influence of the sun, he should find the productions of nature sublimated by its rays to more perfect and precious qualities. He was strengthened in this belief by a letter written to him, at the command of the queen, by one Jayme Ferrer, an eminent and learned lapidary, who, in the course of his trading for precious stones and metals, had been in the Levant and in various parts of the East; had conversed with the merchants of the remote parts of Asia and Africa, and the natives of India, Arabia, and Ethiopia, and was considered deeply versed in geography generally, but especially in the nature of those countries from whence the valuable merchandise in which he dealt was procured. In this letter Ferrer assured Columbus that, according to his experience, the rarest objects of commerce, such as gold, precious stones, drugs, and spices, were chiefly to be found in the regions about the equinoctial line, where the inhabitants were black, or darkly colored, and that until the admiral should arrive among people of such complexions, he did not think he would find those articles in great abundance.—Navarrete, Coleccion, tom. ii., Document 68.]

But disaster and destruction soon fell upon these bold and merciless adventurers. In a second voyage, the ensuing year, Cortereal and all his followers were lost at sea: when some time had elapsed without tidings of their fate, his brother sailed to seek them; but he too, probably, perished in the stormy waters of the North Atlantic, for none of them were ever heard of more. The King of Portugal, feeling a deep interest in these brothers, fitted out three armed vessels and sent them to the northwest. Inquiries were made along the wild shores which Cortereal had first explored, without trace or tidings being found of the bold mariner, and the ocean was searched for many months, but the deep still keeps it secret.

Florida was discovered in 1512 by Ponce de Leon, one of the most eminent among the followers of Columbus. The Indians had told him wonderful tales of a fountain called Bimini, in an island of these seas; the fountain possessed the power, they said, of restoring instantly youth and vigor to those who bathed in its waters. He sailed for months in search of this miraculous spring, landing at every point, entering each port, however shallow or dangerous, still ever hoping; but in the weak and presumptuous effort to grasp at a new life, he wasted away his strength and energy, and prematurely brought on those ills of age he had vainly hoped to shun. Nevertheless, this wild adventure bore its wholesome fruits, for Ponce de Leon then first brought to the notice of Europe that beautiful land which, from its wonderful fertility and the splendor of its flowers, obtained the name of Florida.[56 - Ramusio, vol. iii., p. 347; Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 36; see Osorio, History of the Portuguese, b. i.; Barrow's Voyages, p. 37-48; Herrera, Dec. 1., lib. vii., cap. ix.; Ensayo Chronologico para la Historia general de la Florida. En Madrid, 1723.—Quoted by Murray.]

The first attempt made by the French to share in the advantages of these discoveries was in the year 1504. Some Basque and Breton fishermen at that time began to ply their calling on the Great Bank of Newfoundland, and along the adjacent shores. From them the Island of Cape Breton received its name. In 1506, Jean Denys, a man of Harfleur, drew a map of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two years afterward, a pilot of Dieppe, named Thomas Aubert, excited great curiosity in France by bringing over some of the savage natives from the New World: there is no record whence they were taken, but it is supposed from Cape Breton. The reports borne back to France by these hardy fishermen and adventurers were not such as to raise sanguine hopes of riches from the bleak northern regions they had visited: no teeming fertility or genial climate tempted the settler, no mines of gold or silver excited the avarice of the soldier;[57 - "Les demandes ordinaires qu'on nous fait sont, 'Y a-t-il des trésors? Y a-t-il de l'or et de l'argent?' Et personne ne demande, 'Ces peuples là sont il disposés à entendre la doctrine Chrétienne?' Et quant aux mines, il y en a vraiment, mais il les faut fouiller avec industrie, labeur et patience. La plus belle mine que je sache, c'est du bled et du vin, avec la nourriture du bestial; qui a de ceci, il a de l'argent, et des mines, nous n'en vivons point."—Marc l'Escarbot.] and for many years the French altogether neglected to profit by their discoveries.

In the mean time, Pope Alexander VI. issued a bull bestowing the whole of the New World upon the kings of Spain and Portugal.[58 - This bold stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed as chimerical and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event, since it did, in fact, determine the principle on which the vast extent of unappropriated empire in the eastern and western hemispheres was ultimately divided between two petty states of Europe. Alexander had not even the excuse that he thought he was disposing of uncultivated and uninhabited regions, since he specifies in his donation both towns and castles: "Civitates et castra in perpetuum tenore præsentium donamus."] Neither England nor France allowed the right of conferring this magnificent and undefined gift; it did not throw the slightest obstacle in the path of British enterprise and discovery, and the high-spirited Francis I. of France refused to acknowledge the papal decree.[59 - "What," said Francis I., "shall the kings of Spain and Portugal divide all America between them, without suffering me to take a share as their brother? I would fain see the article in Adam's will that bequeaths that vast inheritance to them."—Encyclopedia, vol. iv., p. 695.]

In the year 1523, Francis I. fitted out a squadron of four ships to pursue discovery[60 - "In the latter years of his life, Francis, by a strict economy of the public money, repaired the evils of his early extravagance, while, at the same time, he was enabled to spare sufficient for carrying on the magnificent public institutions he had undertaken, and for forwarding the progress of discovery, of the fine arts, and of literature."—Bacon's Life and Times of Francis I., p. 399-401.] in the west; the command was intrusted to Giovanni Verazzano, of Florence, a navigator of great skill and experience, then residing in France: he was about thirty-eight years of age, nobly born, and liberally educated; the causes that induced him to leave his own country and take service in France are not known. It has often been remarked as strange that three Italians should have directed the discoveries of Spain, England, and France, and thus become the instruments of dividing the dominions of the New World among alien powers, while their own classic land reaped neither glory nor advantage from the genius and courage of her sons. Of this first voyage the only record remaining is a letter from Verazzano to Francis I., dated 8th of July, 1524, merely stating that he had returned in safety to Dieppe.

At the beginning of the following year Verazzano fitted out and armed a vessel called the Dauphine, manned with a crew of thirty hands, and provisioned for eight months. He first directed his course to Madeira; having reached that island in safety, he left it on the 17th of January and steered for the west. After a narrow escape from the violence of a tempest, and having proceeded for about nine hundred leagues, a long, low line of coast rose to view, never before seen by ancient or modern navigators. This country appeared thickly peopled by a vigorous race, of tall stature and athletic form; fearing to risk a landing at first with his weak force, the adventurer contented himself with admiring at a distance the grandeur and beauty of the scenery, and enjoying the delightful mildness of the climate. From this place he followed the coast for about fifty leagues to the south, without discovering any harbor or inlet where he might shelter his vessel; he then retraced his course and steered to the north. After some time Verazzano ventured to send a small boat on shore to examine the country more closely: numbers of savages came to the water's edge to meet the strangers, and gazed on them with mingled feelings of surprise, admiration, joy, and fear. He again resumed his northward course, till, driven by want of water, he armed the small boat and sent it once more toward the land to seek a supply; the waves and surf, however, were so great that it could not reach the shore. The natives assembled on the beach, by their signs and gestures, eagerly invited the French to approach: one young sailor, a bold swimmer, threw himself into the water, bearing some presents for the savages, but his heart failed him on a nearer approach, and he turned to regain the boat; his strength was exhausted, however, and a heavy sea washed him, almost insensible, up upon the beach. The Indians treated him with great kindness, and, when he had sufficiently recovered, sent him back in safety to the ship.[61 - See Appendix, No. XIV. (vol. II.)]

Verazzano pursued his examination of the coast with untiring zeal, narrowly searching every inlet for a passage through to the westward, until he reached the great island known to the Breton fishermen—Newfoundland. In this important voyage he surveyed more than two thousand miles of coast, nearly all that of the present United States, and a great portion of British North America.

A short time after Verazzano's return to Europe, he fitted out another expedition, with the sanction of Francis I., for the establishment of a colony in the newly-discovered countries. Nothing certain is known of the fate of this enterprise, but the bold navigator returned to France no more; the dread inspired by his supposed fate[62 - "Navigò anche lungo la detta terra l'anno 1524 un gran capitano del Re Christianissimo Francesco, detto Giovanni da Verazzano, Fiorentino, e scorse tutta la costa fino alla Florida, come per una sua lettera scritta al detto Re, particolarmente si vedià la qual sola abbiamo potuto avere perciocchè l'altre si sono smarrite nelli travagli della povera città di Fiorenza e nell' ultimo viaggio che esso fece, avendo voluto smontar in terra con alcuni compagni, furono tutti morti da quei popoli, e in presentia di colóro che erano rimasi nelle navi, furono arrostiti e mangeati." (Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 416.) The Baron La Houtan and La Potherie give the same account of Verazzano's end; they are not, however, very trustworthy authorities. Le Beau repeats the same story; but Charlevoix's words are, "Je ne trouve aucun fondement à ce que quelques uns ont publié, qu'ayant mis pied à terre dans un endroit où il voulait bâtir un fort, les sauvages se jetèrent sur lui, le massacrèrent avec tous ses gens et le mangèrent." A Spanish historian has asserted, contrary to all probability, that Verazzano was taken by the Spaniards, and hung as a pirate.—D. Andrès Gonzalez de Barcia, Ensayo Chronologico para la Historia della Florida.] deterred the French king and people from any further adventure across the Atlantic during many succeeding years. In later times it has come to light that Verazzano was alive thirteen years after this period:[63 - Tiraboschi, Storia della Literatura Italiana, vol. vii., p. 261, 262.—Quoted in the Picture of Quebec, to which valuable work J.C. Fisher, Esq., president of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, largely contributed.] those best informed on the subject are of opinion that the enterprise fell to the ground in consequence of Francis I. having been captured by the Emperor Charles V., and that the adventurer withdrew himself from the service of France, having lost his patron's support.

The year after the failure of Verazzano's last enterprise, 1525, Stefano Gomez sailed from Spain for Cuba and Florida; thence he steered northward in search of the long-hoped-for passage to India, till he reached Cape Race, on the south-eastern extremity of Newfoundland. The further details of his voyage remain unknown, but there is reason to suppose that he entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and traded upon its shores. An ancient Castilian tradition existed that the Spaniards visited these coasts before the French, and having perceived no appearance of mines or riches, they exclaimed frequently, "Aca nada;"[64 - Signifying "here is nothing." The insatiable thirst of the Spanish discoverers for gold is justified by the greatest of all discoverers, the disinterested Columbus himself, on high religious principles. When acquainting their Castilian majesties with the abundance of gold[ The historian Herrera, writing in the light of experience, makes use of the strong expression, that "mines were a lure devised by the evil spirit to draw the Spaniards on to destruction." "L'Espagne," says Montesquieu, "a fait comme ce roi insensé, qui demanda que tout ce qu'il toucheroit se convertit en or, et qui fut obligé de revenir aux Dieux, pour les prier de finir sa misère."—Esprit des Loix, lib. xxi., cap. 22."Les mines du Pérou et du Mexique ne valoient pas même pour l'Espagne ce qu'elle auroit tire du son propre fonds en los cultivant. Avec tant de trésors Philippe II. fit banqueroute."—Millot. "Pâturage et labourage," said the wise Sully, "valent mieux que tout l'or du Pérou."] to be procured in the newly-found countries, he thus speaks, "El oro es excelentisimo, del oro se hace tesoro; y con el quien lo tiene hace quanto quiere en el mundo, y elega a que echa las animas al paraiso." (Navarrete, Coleccion de los Viages, vol. i., p. 309.) A passage which the modern editor of his papers affirms to be in conformity with many texts of Scripture.] the natives caught up the sound, and when other Europeans arrived, repeated it to them. The strangers concluded that these words were a designation, and from that time this magnificent country bore the name of Canada.[65 - Father Hennepin asserts that the Spaniards were the first discoverers of Canada, and that, finding nothing there to gratify their extensive desires for gold, they bestowed upon it the appellation of El Capo di Nada, "Cape Nothing," whence, by corruption, its present name.—Nouvelle Description d'un très grand pays situé dans l'Amérique entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale, depuis l'an 1667 jusqu' en 1670. Par le Père Louis Hennepin, Missionaire Recollet à Utrecht, 1697.La Potherie gives the same derivation. Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale par M. de Bacqueville de la Potherie, à Paris, 1722. The opinion expressed in a note of Charlevoix (Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. i., p. 13), is that deserving most credit. "D'autres dérivent ce nom du mot Iroquois 'Kannata,' qui se prononce Cannada, et signifie un amas de cabanes." This derivation would reconcile the different assertions of the early discoverers, some of whom give the name of Canada to the whole valley of the St. Lawrence; others, equally worthy of credit, confine it to a small district in the neighborhood of Stadacona (now Quebec). Seconda Relatione di Jacques Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442, 447. "Questo popolo (di Hochelaga) non partendo mai del lore paese, ne essendo vagabondi, come quelli di Canada e di Saguenay benchè dette di Canada sieno lor suggetti con otte o nove altri villaggi posti sopra detto fiume." Father du Creux, who arrived in Canada about the year 1625, in his "Historia Canadensis," gives the name of Canada to the whole valley of the St. Lawrence, confessing, however, his ignorance of the etymology: "Porro de Etymologiâ vocis Canada nihil satis certè potui comperire; priscam quidem esse, constat ex eo, quod illam ante annos prope sexaginta passim usurpari audiebam puer."Duponçeau, in the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, founds his conjecture of the Indian origin of the name of Canada upon the fact that, in the translation of the Gospel of St. Matthew into the Mohawk tongue, made by Brandt, the Indian chief, the word Canada is always used to signify a village. The mistake of the early discoverers, in taking the name of a part for that of the whole, is very pardonable in persons ignorant of the Indian language. It is highly improbable that at the period of its discovery the name of Canada was extended over this immense country. The migratory habits of the aborigines are alone conclusive against it. They distinguished themselves by their different tribes, not by the country over which they hunted and rode at will. They more probably gave names to localities than adopted their own from any fixed place of residence. The Iroquois and the Ottawas conferred their appellations on the rivers that ran through their hunting grounds, and the Huron tribe gave theirs to the vast lake now bearing their name. It has, however, never been pretended that any Indian tribe bore the name of Canada, and the natural conclusion therefore is, that the word "Canada" was a mere local appellation, without reference to the country; that each tribe had their own "Canada," or collection of huts, which shifted its position according to their migrations.Dr. Douglas, in his "American History," pretends that Canada derives its name from Monsieur Kane or Cane, whom he advances to have been the first adventurer in the River St. Lawrence.—Knox's Historical Journal, vol. i., p. 303.]

CHAPTER II

In the year 1534, Philip Chabot, admiral of France, urged the king to establish a colony in the New World,[66 - Hist. de la Nouvelle France, par le Père Charlevoix, de la Compagnie de Jésus, vol. i., p. 11; Fastes Chronologiques, 1534.] by representing to him in glowing colors the great riches and power derived by the Spaniards from their transatlantic possessions. Francis I., alive to the importance of the design, soon agreed to carry it out. Jacques Cartier, an experienced navigator of St. Malo, was recommended by the admiral to be intrusted with the expedition, and was approved of by the king. On the 20th of April, 1534, Cartier sailed from St. Malo with two ships of only sixty tons burden each, and one hundred and twenty men for their crews:[67 - Prima Relatione de Jacques Cartier della Terra Nouva, detta la Nouva Francia, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 435.] he directed his course westward, inclining rather to the north; the winds proved so favorable, that on the twentieth day of the voyage he made Cape Bonavista, in Newfoundland. But the harbors of that dreary country were still locked up in the winter's ice, forbidding the approach of shipping: he then bent to the southeast, and at length found anchorage at St. Catharine, six degrees lower in latitude. Having remained here ten days, he again turned to the north, and on the 21st of May reached Bird Island, fourteen leagues from the coast.

Jacques Cartier examined all the northern shores of Newfoundland, without having ascertained that it was an island, and then passed southward through the Straits of Belleisle. The country appeared every where the same bleak and inhospitable wilderness;[68 - "Se la terra fosse cosi buono; come vi sono buoni porti, sarebbe un gran bene, ma ella non si debba chiamar Terra Nouva, anzi sassi e grebani salvatichi, e proprij luoghi da fiere, per ciò che in tutto l'isola di Tramontana—[translated by Hakluyt "the northern part of the island"]—io non vidi tanta terra che se ne potesse coricar un carro, e vi smontai in parecchi luoghi, e all' isola di Bianco Sabbione non v'è altro che musco, e piccioli spini dispersi, secchi, e morti, e in somma io penso che questa sia la terra che Iddio dette a Caino."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 436.The journal of the first two voyages of Cartier is preserved almost entire in the "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," by L'Escarbot; there is an Italian translation in the third volume of Ramusio. They are written in the third person, and it does not appear that he was himself the author.] but the harbors were numerous, convenient, and abounding in fish. He describes the natives as well-proportioned men, wearing their hair tied up over their heads like bundles of hay, quaintly interlaced with birds' feathers.[69 - "Sono uomini d'assai bella vita e grandezza ma indomiti e salvatichi: portano i capelli in cuna legati e stretti a guisa d'un pugno di fieno rivolto, mettendone in mezzo un legnetto, o altra cosa in vece di chiodo, e vi legano insieme certe penne d'uccelli."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 436.] Changing his course still more to the south, he then traversed the Gulf of St. Lawrence, approached the main-land, and on the 9th of July entered a deep bay; from the intense heat experienced there, he named it the "Baye de Chaleurs." The beauty of the country, and the kindness and hospitality of his reception, alike charmed him; he carried on a little trade with the friendly savages, exchanging European goods for their furs and provisions.

Leaving this bay, Jacques Cartier visited a considerable extent of the gulf coast; on the 24th of July he erected a cross thirty feet high, with a shield bearing the fleurs-de-lys of France, on the shore of Gaspé Bay.[70 - De Laët., vol. i., p. 58.] Having thus taken possession[71 - This was ingeniously represented to the natives as a religious ceremony, and, as such, excited nothing but the "grandissima ammirazione" of the natives present; it was, however, differently understood by their chief. "Ma essendo noi ritornati allé nostra navi, venne il Capitano lor vestito d'im pella vecchia d'orso negro in una barca con tre suoi figliuoli, e ci fece un lungo sermone mostrandaci detta croce e facendo il segno della croce con due dita poi ci mostrava la terra tutta intorno di noi come s'avesse voluto dice che tutta era sua, e che noi non dovevamo piantar detta croce senza sua licenza."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 439.] of the country for his king in the usual manner of those days, he sailed, the 25th of July, on his homeward voyage: at this place two of the natives were seized by stratagem, carried on board the ships, and borne away to France. Cartier coasted along the northern shores of the Gulf till the 15th of August, and even entered the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, but the weather becoming stormy, he determined to delay his departure no longer: he passed again through the Straits of Belleisle, and arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of September, 1534, contented with his success, and full of hope for the future.

Jacques Cartier was received with the consideration due to the importance of his report. The court at once perceived the advantage of an establishment in this part of America, and resolved to take steps for its foundation. Charles de Moncy, Sieur de la Mailleraye, vice-admiral of France, was the most active patron of the undertaking; through his influence Cartier obtained a more effective force, and a new commission, with ampler powers than before. When the preparations for the voyage were completed, the adventurers all assembled in the Cathedral of St. Malo, on Whitsunday, 1535, by the command of their pious leader; the bishop then gave them a solemn benediction, with all the imposing ceremonials of the Romish Church.

On the 19th of May Jacques Cartier embarked, and started on his voyage with fair wind and weather. The fleet consisted of three small ships, the largest being only one hundred and twenty tons burden. Many adventurers and young men of good family accompanied the expedition as volunteers. On the morrow the wind became adverse, and rose to a storm; the heavens lowered over the tempestuous sea; for more than a month the utmost skill of the mariners could only enable them to keep their ships afloat, while tossed about at the mercy of the waves. The little fleet was dispersed on the 25th of June: each vessel then made for the coast of Newfoundland as it best might. The general's vessel, as that of Cartier was called, was the first to gain the land, on the 7th of July, and there awaited her consorts; but they did not arrive till the 26th of the month. Having taken in supplies of fuel and water, they sailed in company to explore the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A violent storm arose on the 1st of August, forcing them to seek shelter. They happily found a port on the north shore, at the entrance of the Great River, where, though difficult of access, there was a safe anchorage. Jacques Cartier called it St. Nicolas, and it is now almost the only place still bearing the name he gave. They left their harbor on the 7th, coasting westward along the north shore, and on the 10th came to a gulf filled with numerous and beautiful islands.[72 - "Trovavamo un molto bello e gran golfo pieno d'isole e buone entrate e passaggi, verso qual vento si possa fare."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 441.] Cartier gave this gulf the name of St. Lawrence, having discovered it on that saint's festival day.[73 - "Carthier donna au golphe le nom de St. Laurent, ou plutôt il le donna à une baye qui est entre l'isle d'Anticoste et la côte septentrionale, d'où ce nom s'est étendu à tout le golphe dont cette baye fait partie."—Hist. de la Nouvelle France, tom. i., p. 15.]

On the 15th of August they reached a long, rocky island toward the south, which Cartier named L'Isle de l'Assumption, now called Anticosti.[74 - "Des sauvages l'appelloient Natiscotec, le nom d'Anticosti paraît lui avoir été donné par les Anglais."—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 16. This island is one hundred and twenty-five miles long, and in its widest part thirty miles, dividing the River St. Lawrence into two channels. Throughout its whole extent it has neither bay nor harbor sufficiently safe to shelter ships. It is uncultivated, being generally of an unprofitable soil, upon which any attempted improvements have met with very unpromising results. Since the year 1809, establishments have been formed on the island for the relief of shipwrecked persons; two men reside there, at two different stations, all the year round, furnished with provisions for the use of those who may have the misfortune to need them. Boards are placed in different parts describing the distance and direction to these friendly spots; instances of the most flagrant inattention have, however, occurred, which were attended with the most distressing and fatal consequences."—Bonchette, vol. i., p. 169."At present the whole island might be purchased for a few hundred pounds. It belongs to some gentlemen in Quebec; and you might, for a very small sum, become one of the greatest land-owners in the world, and a Canadian seigneur into the bargain."—Grey's Canada.] Thence they continued their course, examining carefully both shores of the Great River,[75 - This is the first discovery of the River St. Lawrence, called by the natives the River Hochelaga, or the River of Canada. Jacques Cartier accurately determined the breadth of its mouth ninety miles across. Cape Rosier, a small distance to the north of the point of Gaspé, is properly the place which marks the opening of the gigantic river. "V'è tra le terre d'ostro e quelle di tramontana la distantia di trenta leghe in circa, e più di dugento braccia di fondo. Ci dissero anche i detti salvatichi e certificarono quivi essere il cammino e principio del gran fiume di Hochelaga e strada di Canada."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.J. Cartier always afterward speaks of the St. Lawrence as the River of Hochelaga, or Canada. Charlevoix says, "Parceque le fleuve qu'on appelloit auparavant la Rivière de Canada se décharge dans le Golphe de St. Laurent, il a insensiblement pris le nom de Fleuve de St. Laurent, qu'il porte aujourd'hui (1720)."] and occasionally holding communication with the inhabitants, till, on the 1st of September, they entered the mouth of the deep and gloomy Saguenay. The entrance of this great tributary was all they had leisure to survey; but the huge rocks, dense forests, and vast body of water, forming a scene of somber magnificence such as had never before met their view, inspired them with an exalted idea of the country they had discovered. Still passing to the southwest up the St. Lawrence, on the 6th they reached an island abounding in delicious filberts, and on that account named by the voyagers Isle aux Coudres. Cartier, being now so far advanced into an unknown country, looked out anxiously for a port where his vessels might winter in safety. He pursued his voyage till he came upon another island, of great extent, fertility, and beauty, covered with woods and thick, clustering vines. This he named Isle de Bacchus:[76 - "Lorsque Jacques Carthier découvrit cette île, il la trouva toute remplie de vignes, et la nomma l'Île de Bacchus. Ce navigateur était Bréton, après lui sont venus des Normands qui ont arraché les vignes et à Bacchus ont substituté Pomone et Cérès. En effet elle produit de bon froment et d'excellent fruits."—Journal Historique, lettre ii., p. 102.Charlevoix also mentions that, when he visited the islands in 1720, the inhabitants were famed for their skill in sorcery, and were supposed to hold intercourse with the devil!The Isle of Orleans was, in 1676, created an earldom, by the title of St. Laurent, which, however, has long been extinct. The first Comte de St. Laurent was of the name of Berthelot.—Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 99.] it is now called Orleans. On the 7th of September, Donnacona, the chief of the country,[77 - "Il signor de Canada (chiamato Donnacona per nome, ma per signore il chiamano Agouhanna)."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442. Agouhanna signified chief or lord.Here, says Jacques Cartier, begins the country of Canada. "Il settimo giorno di detto mese la vigilia della Madonna, dopo udita la messa ci partimmo dall' isola de' nocellari per andar all'insu di detta fiume, e arrivamo a quattordici isole distanti dall' isola de Nocellari intorno setto in otto leghe, e quivi è il principio della provincia, e terra di Canada."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.] came with twelve canoes filled by his train, to hold converse with the strangers, whose ships lay at anchor between the island and the north shore of the Great River. The Indian chief approached the smallest of the ships with only two canoes, fearful of causing alarm, and began an oration, accompanied with strange and uncouth gestures. After a time he conversed with the Indians who had been seized on the former voyage, and now acted as interpreters. He heard from them of their wonderful visit to the great nation over the salt lake, of the wisdom and power of the white men, and of the kind treatment they had received among the strangers. Donnacona appeared moved with deep respect and admiration; he took Jacques Cartier's arm and placed it gently over his own bended neck, in token of confidence and regard. The admiral cordially returned these friendly demonstrations. He entered the Indian's canoe, and presented bread and wine, which they ate and drank together. They then parted in all amity.

After this happy interview, Jacques Cartier, with his boats, pushed up the north shore against the stream, till he reached a spot where a little river flowed into a "goodly and pleasant sound," forming a convenient haven.[78 - The writer of these pages adds the testimony of an eye-witness to the opinion of the ingenious author of the "Picture of Quebec," as to the localities here described. The old writers, even Charlevoix himself, have asserted that the "Port St. Croix was at the entrance of the river now called Jacques Cartier, which flows into the St. Lawrence about fifteen miles above Quebec." Charlevoix, indeed, mentions that "Champlain prétend que cette rivière est celle de St. Charles, mais," he adds, "il se trompe," &c. However, the localities are still unchanged; though three centuries have since elapsed, the description of Jacques Cartier is easily recognized at the present day, and marks out the mouth of the little River St. Charles[ It received this name, according to La Potherie, in compliment to Charles des Boües, grand vicar of Pontoise, founder of the first mission of Recollets in New France. The River St. Charles was called Coubal Coubat by the natives, from its windings and meanderings.—Smith's Canada, vol. i., p. 104] as the first winter station of the Europeans in Canada. The following are J. Cartier's words: "Per cercar luogo e porto sicuro da metter le navé, e andammo al contrario per detto fiume intorno di dieci leghe costezziando detta isola (di Bacchus) e in capo di quella trovammo un gorgo d'acqua bello e ameno ("the beautiful basin of Quebec," as it is called in the "Picture of Quebec")—nel quel luogo e un picciol fiume e porto, dove per il flusso è alta l'acqua intorno a tre braccia, ne parve questo luogo comodo per metter le nostre navi, per il che quivi le mettemmo in sicuro, e lo chiamammo Santa Croce, percio che nel detto giorno v' eramo giunti.... Alla riva e lito di quell' isola di Bacchus verso ponente v'è un goejo d'acque molto bello e dilettevole, e convenientemente da mettere navilij, dove è uno stretto del detto fiume molto corrente e profondo ma non e lungo più d'un terzo di lega intorno, per traverso del quale vi è una terra tutta di colline di buona altezza … quive è la stanza e la terra di Donnacona, e chiamasi il luogo Stadacona … sotto la qual alta terra verso tramontana è il fiume e porto di Santa Croce, nel qual luogo e porto siamo stati dalli 15 di Settembre fino alli 16 di Maggio 1536, nel qual luogo le navi rimasero in secco." The "one place" in the River St. Lawrence, "deep and swift running," means, of course, that part directly opposite the Lower Town, and no doubt it appeared, by comparison, "very narrow" to those who had hitherto seen the noble river only in its grandest forms. The town of Stadacona stood on that part of Quebec which is now covered by the suburbs of St. Roch, with part of those of St. John, looking toward the St. Charles. The area, or ground adjoining, is thus described by Cartier, as it appeared three centuries ago: "terra Tanta buona, quanto sia possibile di vedere, e è molto fertile, piena di bellissimi arbori della sorte di quelli di Francia, come sarebbeno quercie, olmi, frassinè, najare, nassi, cedri, vigne, specie bianchi, i quali producono il frutto cosi grosso come susinè damaschini, e di molte altre specie d'arbori, sotto de quali vi nasce e cresce cosi bel canapo come quel di Francia, e nondimeno vi nasce senza semenza, e senza opera umana o lavoro alcuno."—Jacques Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 443, 449, 450.The exact spot in the River St. Charles where the French passed the winter is supposed, on good authority, to have been the site of the old bridge, called Dorchester Bridge, where there is a ford at low water, close to the Marine Hospital. That it was on the east bank, not far from the residence of Charles Smith, Esq., is evident from the river having been frequently crossed by the natives coming from Stadacona to visit the French.—Picture of Quebec, p. 43-46; 1834.] He moored his vessels here for the winter on the 16th of September, and gave the name of St. Croix to the stream, in honor of the day on which he first entered its waters; Donnacona, accompanied by a train of five hundred Indians, came to welcome his arrival with generous friendship. In the angle formed by the tributary stream and the Great River, stood the town of Stadacona, the dwelling-place of the chief; thence an irregular slope ascended to a lofty height of table-land: from this eminence a bold headland frowned over the St. Lawrence, forming a rocky wall three hundred feet in height. The waters of the Great River—here narrowed to less than a mile in breath—rolled deeply and rapidly past into the broad basin beyond. When the white men first stood on the summit of this bold headland, above their port of shelter, most of the country was fresh from the hand of the Creator; save the three small barks lying at the mouth of the stream, and the Indian village, no sign of human habitation met their view. Far as the eye could reach, the dark forest spread; over hill and valley, mountain and plain; up to the craggy peaks, down to the blue water's edge; along the gentle slopes of the rich Isle of Bacchus, and even from projecting rocks, and in fissures of the lofty precipice, the deep green mantle of the summer foliage hung its graceful folds. In the dim distance, north, south, east, and west, where mountain rose above mountain in tumultuous variety of outline, it was still the same; one vast leafy vail concealed the virgin face of Nature from the stranger's sight. On the eminence commanding this scene of wild but magnificent beauty, a prosperous city now stands; the patient industry of man has felled that dense forest, tree by tree, for miles and miles around, and where it stood, rich fields rejoice the eye; the once silent waters of the Great River below now surge against hundreds of stately ships; commerce has enriched this spot, art adorned it; a memory of glory endears it to every British heart. But the name Quebec[79 - "Quebec en langue Algonquine signifie retrécissement. Les Abenaquis dont la langue est une dialecte Algonquine, le nomment Quelibec, qui veut dire ce qui est ferme, parceque de l'entrée de la petite rivière de la Chaudière par où ces sauvages venaient à Quebec, le port de Quebec ne paroit qu'une grande barge."—Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 50."Trouvant un lieu le plus étroit de la rivière que les habitans du pays nomment Québec;" "la pointe de Québec, ainsi appellée des sauvages."—Champlain, vol. i., p. 115, 124.Others give a Norman derivation for the word: it is said that Quebec was so called after Caudebec, on the Seine.La Potherie's words are: "On tient que les Normands qui étoient avec J. Cartier à sa première découverte, apercevant en bout de l'isle d'Orléans, un cap fort élevé, s'écrièrent 'Quel bec!' et qu' à la suite du tems la nom de Quebec lui est reste. Je ne suis point garant de cette étymologie." Mr. Hawkins terms this "a derivation entirely illusory and improbable," and asserts that the word is of Norman origin. He gives an engraving of a seal belonging to William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, dated in the 7th of Henry V., or A.D. 1420. The legend or motto is, "Sigillum Willielmi de la Pole, Comitis Suffolckiæ, Domine de Hamburg et de Quebec." Suffolk was impeached by the Commons of England in 1450, and one of the charges brought against him was, his unbounded influence in Normandy, where he lived and ruled like an independent prince; it is not, therefore, improbable that he enjoyed the French title of Quebec in addition to his English honors.The Indian name Stadacona had perished before the time of Champlain, owing, probably, to the migration of the principal tribe and the succession of others. The inhabitants of Hochelaga, we are told by Jacques Cartier, were the only people in the surrounding neighborhood who were not migratory.] still remains unchanged; as the savage first pronounced it to the white stranger, it stands to-day among the proudest records of our country's story.

The chief Donnacona and the French continued in friendly intercourse, day by day exchanging good offices and tokens of regard. But Jacques Cartier was eager for further discoveries; the two Indian interpreters told him that a city of much larger size than Stadacona lay further up the river, the capital of a great country; it was called in the native tongue Hochelaga; thither he resolved to find his way. The Indians endeavored vainly to dissuade their dangerous guests from this expedition; they represented the distance, the lateness of the season, the danger of the great lakes and rapid currents; at length they had recourse to a kind of masquerade or pantomime, to represent the perils of the voyage, and the ferocity of the tribes inhabiting that distant land. The interpreters earnestly strove to dissuade Jacques Cartier from proceeding on his enterprise, and one of them refused to accompany him. The brave Frenchman would not hearken to such dissuasions, and treated with equal contempt the verbal and pantomimic warnings of the alleged difficulties. As a precautionary measure to impress the savages with an exalted idea of his power as a friend or foe, he caused twelve cannon loaded with bullets to be fired in their presence against a wood; amazed and terrified at the noise, and the effects of this discharge, they fled, howling and shrieking, away.

Jacques Cartier sailed for Hochelaga on the 19th of September; he took with him the Hermerillon, one of his smallest ships, the pinnace, and two long-boats, bearing thirty-five armed men, with their provisions and ammunition. The two larger vessels and their crews were left in the harbor of St. Croix, protected by poles and stakes driven into the water so as to form a barricade. The voyage presented few of the threatened difficulties; the country on both sides of the Great River was rich and varied, covered with stately timber, and abounding in vines. The natives were every where friendly and hospitable; all that they possessed was freely offered to the strangers. At a place called Hochelai, the chief of the district visited the French, and showed much friendship and confidence, presenting Jacques Cartier with a girl seven years of age, one of his own children.

On the 29th, the expedition was stopped in Lake St. Pierre by the shallows, not having hit upon the right channel. Jacques Cartier took the resolution of leaving his larger vessels behind and proceeding with his two boats; he met with no further interruption, and at length reached Hochelaga on the 2d of October, accompanied by De Pontbriand, De la Pommeraye, and De Gozelle, three of his volunteers. The natives welcomed him with every demonstration of joy and hospitality; above a thousand people, of all ages and sexes, come forth to meet the strangers, greeting them with affectionate kindness. Jacques Cartier, in return for their generous reception, bestowed presents of tin, beads, and other bawbles upon all the women, and gave some knives to the men. He returned to pass the night in the boats, while the savages made great fires on the shore, and danced merrily all night long. The place where the French first landed was probably about eleven miles from the city of Hochelaga, below the rapid of St. Mary.

On the day after his arrival Jacques Cartier proceeded to the town; his volunteers and some others of his followers accompanied him, arrayed in full dress; three of the natives undertook to guide them on their way. The road was well beaten, and bore evidence of having been much frequented: the country through which it passed was exceedingly rich and fertile. Hochelaga stood in the midst of great fields of Indian corn; it was of a circular form, containing about fifty large huts, each fifty paces long and from fourteen to fifteen wide, all built in the shape of tunnels, formed of wood, and covered with birch bark; the dwellings were divided into several rooms, surrounding an open court in the center, where the fires burned. Three rows of palisades encircled the town, with only one entrance; above the gate, and over the whole length of the outer ring of defense, there was a gallery, approached by flights of steps, and plentifully provided with stones and other missiles to resist attack. This was a place of considerable importance, even in those remote days, as the capital of a great extent of country, and as having eight or ten villages subject to its sway.

The inhabitants spoke the language of the great Huron nation, and were more advanced in civilization than any of their neighbors: unlike other tribes, they cultivated the ground and remained stationary. The French were well received by the people of Hochelaga; they made presents, the Indians gave fêtes; their fire-arms, trumpets, and other warlike equipments filled the minds of their simple hosts with wonder and admiration, and their beards and clothing excited a curiosity which the difficulties of an unknown language prevented from being satisfied. So great was the veneration for the white men, that the chief of the town, and many of the maimed, sick, and infirm, came to Jacques Cartier, entreating him, by expressive signs, to cure their ills. The pious Frenchman disclaimed any supernatural power, but he read aloud part of the Gospel of St. John, made the sign of the cross over the sufferers, and presented them with chaplets and other holy symbols; he then prayed earnestly that the poor savages might be freed from the night of ignorance and infidelity. The Indians regarded these acts and words with deep gratitude and respectful admiration.

Three miles from Hochelaga, there was a lofty hill, well tilled and very fertile;[80 - "In mezzo di quelle campagne, è posta la terra d'Hochelaga appresso e congiunta con una montagna coltivata tutta attorno e molto fertile, sopra la qual si vede molto lontano. Noi la chiamammo il Monto Regal.... Parecchi uomini e donne ci vennero a condur e menar sopra la montagna, qui dinanzi detta, la qual chiamammo Monte Regal, distante da detto luogo poco manco d'un miglio, sopra la quale essendo noi, vedemmo e avemmo notitia di più di trenta leghe attorno di quella, e verso la parte di tramontana si vede una continuazione di montagne, li quali corrono avante e ponente, e altra tante verso il mezzo giorno, fra le quali montagna è la terra, più bella che sia possibile a veder."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 447, 448."Cartier donna le nom de Mont Royal à la montagne au pied de laquelle étoit la bourgade de Hochelaga. Il découvrit de là une grande étendue de pays dont la vue le charma, et avec raison, car il en est peu au monde de plus beau et de meilleur."—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 20.] thither Jacques Cartier bent his way, after having examined the town. From the summit he saw the river and the country for thirty leagues around, a scene of singular beauty. To this hill he gave the name of Mont Royal; since extended to the large and fertile island on which it stands, and to the city below. Time has now swept away every trace of Hochelaga; on its site the modern capital of Canada has arisen; fifty thousand people of European race, and stately buildings of carved stone, replace the simple Indians and the huts of the ancient town.

Jacques Cartier, having made his observations, returned to the boats, attended by a great concourse; when any of his men appeared fatigued with their journey, the kind Indians carried them on their shoulders. This short stay of the French seemed to sadden and displease these hospitable people, and on the departure of the boats they followed their course for some distance along the banks of the river. On the 4th of October Jacques Cartier reached the shallows, where the pinnace had been left; he resumed his course the following day, and arrived at St. Croix on the 11th of the same month.

The men who had remained at St. Croix had busied themselves during their leader's absence in strengthening their position, so as to secure it against surprise, a wise precaution under any circumstances among a savage people, but especially in the neighborhood of a populous town, the residence of a chief whose friendship they could not but distrust, in spite of his apparent hospitality.

The day after Jacques Cartier's arrival, Donnacona came to bid him welcome, and entreated him to visit Stadacona. He accepted the invitation, and proceeded with his volunteers and fifty sailors to the village, about three miles from where the ships lay. As they journeyed on, they observed that the houses were well provided and stored for the coming winter, and the country tilled in a manner showing that the inhabitants were not ignorant of agriculture; thus they formed, on the whole, a favorable impression of the docility and intelligence of the Indians during this expedition.

When the awful and unexpected severity of the winter set in, the French were unprovided with necessary clothing and proper provisions; the scurvy attacked them, and by the month of March twenty-five were dead, and nearly all were infected; the remainder would probably have also perished; but when Jacques Cartier was himself attacked with the dreadful disease, the Indians revealed to him the secret of its cure: this was the decoction of the leaf and bark of a certain tree, which proved so excellent a remedy that in a few days all were restored to health.[81 - "This tree is supposed to have been the spruce fir, Pinus Canadensis. It is called 'Ameda' by the natives. Spruce-beer is known to be a powerful anti-scorbutic."—Champlain. part i., p. 124.Charlevoix calls the tree Epinette Blanche.]

Jacques Cartier, on the 21st of April, was first led to suspect the friendship of the natives from seeing a number of strong and active young men make their appearance in the neighboring town; these were probably the warriors of the tribe, who had just then returned from the hunting grounds, where they had passed the winter, but there is now no reason to suppose that their presence indicated any hostility. However, Jacques Cartier, fearing treachery, determined to anticipate it. He had already arranged to depart for France. On the 3d of May he seized the chief, the interpreters, and two other Indians, to present them to Francis I.: as some amends for this cruel and flagrant violation of hospitality, he treated his prisoners with great kindness; they soon became satisfied with their fate. On the 6th of May he made sail for Europe, and, after having encountered some difficulties and delays, arrived safely at St. Malo the 8th of July, 1536.

The result of Jacques Cartier's expedition was not encouraging to the spirit of enterprise in France; no mines had been discovered,[82 - Any information given by the natives as to the existence of mines was vague and unsatisfactory, "Poscia ci mostrarono con segni, che passate dette tre cadute si poteva navigar per detto fiume il spazio di tre lune: noi pensammo che quello sia il fiume che passa per il passe di Saguenay, e senza che li facessimo dimanda presero la catena del subiotto del capitano che era d'argento, e il manico del pugnale di uno de nostre compagni marinari, qual era d'ottone giallo quanto l'oro, e ci mostrarono che quello veniva di sopra di detto fiume … Il capitan mostro loro del rame rosso, qual chiamano Caignetadze dimostrandoli con segni voltandosi verso detto paese li dimandava se veniva da quelle parti, e eglino cominciarono a crollar il capo, volendo dir no, ma ben ne significarono che veniva da Saguenay."Più ci hanno detto e fatto intendere, che in quel paese di Saguenay sono genti vestite di drappi come noi, … e che hanno gran quantità d'oro e rame rosso … e che gli nomini e donne di quella terra sono vestite di pelli come loro, noi li dimandammo se ci è oro e rame rosso, ci risposero di si. Io penso che questo luogo sia verso la Florida per quanto ho potuto intendere dalli loro segni e indicij."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 448-450.] no rare and valuable productions found.[83 - The only valuable the natives seemed to have in their possession was a substance called esurgny, white as snow, of which they made beads and wore them about their necks. This they looked upon as the most precious gift they could bestow on the white men. The mode in which it was prepared is said by Cartier to be the following: When any one was adjudged to death for a crime, or when their enemies are taken in war, having first slain the person, they make long gashes over the whole of the body, and sink it to the bottom of the river in a certain place, where the esurgny abounds. After remaining ten or twelve hours, the body is drawn up and the esurgny or cornibotz is found in the gashes. These necklaces of beads the French found had the power to stop bleeding at the nose. It is supposed that in the above account the French misunderstood the natives or were imposed upon by them; and there is no doubt that the "valuable substance" described by Cartier was the Indian wampum.] The miserable state to which the adventurers had been reduced by the rigorous climate and loathsome diseases, the privations they had endured, the poverty of their condition, were sufficient to cool the ardor of those who might otherwise have wished to follow up their discoveries. But, happily for the cause of civilization, some of those powerful in France judged more favorably of Jacques Cartier's reports, and were not to be disheartened by the unsuccessful issue of one undertaking; the dominion over such a vast extent of country, with fertile soil and healthy climate, inhabited by a docile and hospitable people, was too great an object to be lightly abandoned. The presence of Donnacona, the Indian chief, tended to keep alive an interest in the land whence he had come; as soon as he could render himself intelligible in the French language, he confirmed all that had been said of the salubrity, beauty, and richness of his native country. The pious Jacques Cartier most of all strove to impress upon the king the glory and merit of extending the blessed knowledge of a Savior to the dark and hopeless heathens of the West; a deed well worthy of the prince who bore the title of Most Christian King and Eldest Son of the Church.

Jean François de la Roque, lord of Roberval, a gentleman of Picardy, was the most earnest and energetic of those who desired to colonize the lands discovered by Jacques Cartier; he bore a high reputation in his own province, and was favored by the friendship of the king. With these advantages he found little difficulty in obtaining a commission to command an expedition to North America; the title and authority of lieutenant general and viceroy was conferred upon him; his rule to extend over Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belle Isle, Carpon, Labrador, La Grand Baye, and Baccalaos, with the delegated rights and powers of the crown. This patent was dated the 15th of January, 1540. Jacques Cartier was named second in command. The orders to the leaders of the expedition enjoined them to discover more than had been hitherto accomplished, and, if possible, to reach the country of Saguenay, where, from some reports of the Indians, they still hoped to find mines of gold and silver. The port of St. Malo was again chosen for the fitting out of the expedition: the king furnished a sum of money to defray the expenses.[84 - See Appendix, No. XIV. (vol. II.)]

Jacques Cartier exerted himself vigorously in preparing the little fleet for the voyage, and awaited the arrival of his chief with the necessary arms, stores, and ammunition; Roberval was meanwhile engaged at Honfleur in fitting out two other vessels at his own cost, and being urged to hasten by the king, he gave his lieutenant orders to start at once, with full authority to act as if he himself were present. He also promised to follow from Honfleur with all the required supplies. Jacques Cartier sailed on the 23d of May, 1541, having provisioned his fleet for two years. Storms and adverse winds dispersed the ships for some time, but in about a month they all met again on the coast of Newfoundland, where they hoped Roberval would join them. They awaited his coming for some weeks, but at length proceeded without him to the St. Lawrence; on the 23d of August they reached their old station near the magnificent headland of Quebec.

Donnacona's successor as chief of the Indians at Stadacona came in state to welcome the French on their return, and to inquire after his absent countrymen. They told him of the chief's death, but concealed the fate of the other Indians, stating that they were enjoying great honor and happiness in France, and would not return to their own country. The savages displayed no symptoms of anger, surprise, or distrust at this news; their countenances exhibited the same impassive calm, their manners the same quiet dignity as ever; but from that hour their hearts were changed; hatred and hostility took the place of admiration and respect, and a sad foreboding of their approaching destruction darkened their simple minds. Henceforth the French were hindered and molested by the inhabitants of Stadacona to such an extent that it was deemed advisable to seek another settlement for the winter. Jacques Cartier chose his new position at the mouth of a small river three leagues higher on the St. Lawrence;[85 - The precise spot on which the upper fort of Jacques Cartier was built, afterward enlarged by Roberval, has been fixed by an ingenious gentleman at Quebec at the top of Cape Rouge Height, a short distance from the handsome villa of Mr. Atkinson. A few months ago, Mr. Atkinson's workmen, in leveling the lawn in front of the house, and close to the point of Cape Rouge Height, found beneath the surface some loose stones which had apparently been the foundation of some building or fortification. Among these stones were found several iron balls of different sizes, adapted to the caliber of the ship guns used at the period of Jacques Cartier's and Roberval's visit. Upon the whole, the evidence of the presence of the French at Cape Rouge may be considered as conclusive. Nor is there any good reason to doubt that Roberval took up his quarters in the part which Jacques Cartier had left.—Picture of Quebec, p. 62-469.] here he laid up some of his vessels under the protection of two forts, one on a level with the water, the other on the summit of an overhanging cliff; these strongholds communicated with each other by steps cut in the solid rock; he gave the name of Charlesbourg Royal to this new station. The two remaining vessels of the fleet he sent back to France with letters to the king, stating that Roberval had not yet arrived.

Under the impression that the country of the Saguenay, the land of fabled wealth, could be reached by pursuing the line of the St. Lawrence, Jacques Cartier set forth to explore the rapids above Hochelaga on the 7th of September, 1541. The season being so far advanced, he only undertook this expedition with a view to being better acquainted with the route, and to being provided with all necessary preparations for a more extensive exploration in the spring. In passing up the Great River he renewed acquaintance with the friendly and hospitable chief of Hochelai, and there left two boys under charge of the Indians to learn the language. On the 11th he reached the sault or rapids above Hochelaga, where the progress of the boats was arrested by the force of the stream; he then landed and made his way to the second rapid. The natives gave him to understand that above the next sault there lay a great lake; Cartier, having obtained this information, returned to where he had left the boats; about four hundred Indians had assembled and met him with demonstrations of friendship; he received their good offices and made them presents in return, but still regarded them with distrust on account of their unusual numbers. Having gained as much information as he could, he set out on his return to Charlesbourg Royal, his winter-quarters. The chief was absent when Jacques Cartier stopped at Hochelai on descending the river; he had gone to Stadacona to hold counsel with the natives of that district for the destruction of the white men. On arriving at Charlesbourg Royal, Jacques Cartier found confirmation of his suspicions against the Indians; they now avoided the French, and never approached the ships with their usual offerings of fish and other provisions; a great number of men had also assembled at Stadacona. He accordingly made every possible preparation for defense in the forts, and took due precautions against a surprise. There are no records extant of the events of this winter in Canada, but it is probable that no serious encounter took place with the natives; the French, however, must have suffered severely from the confinement rendered necessary by their perilous position, as well as from want of the provisions and supplies which the bitter climate made requisite.