{ 
 
THE STORY OF EXPLORATION 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., Sec. R.G.S. 
 
 THE SAINT LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 BY 
 
 S. E. DAWSON, LITT.D., F.R.S.C. 
 

Go-Home Bay ; Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. 
 
THE 
 
 SAINT LAWRENCE 
 
 BASIN 
 
 AND ITS BORDER-LANDS 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 STORY OF THEIR DISCOVERY, EXPLORATION 
 
 AND OCCUPATION 
 
 SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSON, LITT.D., F.R.S.C. 
 
 Author, of “The Voyages of the Cabots,” “Canada and 
 Newfoundland,” etc., etc. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS, 
 PHOTOGRAPHS , AND MAPS 
 
 AND MAPS BY J. G. BARTHOLOMEW 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, Ltd. 
 
 j6 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W,C. 
 
 1905 
 
Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, 
 
 BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND 
 BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. 
 
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 SIR WILFRID LAURIER 
 
 P.C., G.C.M.G., D.C.L., etc. 
 
 PRIME MINISTER OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA, 
 
 THE FOREMOST REPRESENTATIVE IN THE PRESENT DAY OF THE 
 PEOPLE WHOSE DEEDS ARE RECORDED HEREIN; WHO, BY 
 THEIR COURAGE AND ENDURANCE, WON TO CIVILIZATION 
 THE WILDERNESS OF THE GREAT TRANSVERSE 
 VALLEY OF THE CONTINENT AND ITS 
 BORDER LANDS, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS, BY KIND PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY 
 
 DEDICATED 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In the following pages an attempt has been made to 
 set forth in order the chief facts relating to the discovery 
 and exploration of the northeastern part of the continent 
 of North America. It is the nearest to Europe, and has 
 an interest of its own, inasmuch as it was the first part 
 of the main continent to be reached from the Old World. 
 
 No attempts to penetrate beyond the sea coast of this 
 region have been recorded, until the Cartier voyages 
 opened up the Gulf and the River St. Lawrence as a 
 broad waterway leading to the mysterious West, or, 
 as often called in the language of that day, to the East. 
 The limits of exploration remained for sixty years after 
 Cartier at the site of the present city of Montreal, eighty- 
 six miles above the head of tide water. The foundation 
 of Quebec by Champlain in 1608 initiated a new series 
 of explorations. These extended over the whole basin of 
 the St. Lawrence and over the water-parting into the 
 basin of the Mississippi contiguous to it. The story is 
 full of geographic and historic interest, and abounds 
 with romantic adventure. This also forms a part of our 
 theme. 
 
 To narrate intelligibly the achievements of these ex- 
 plorers, it is necessary, incidentally, to dwell upon the 
 geography of these regions. Following up the avenue of 
 “ the River of Canada,” the French pioneers outflanked 
 the barrier of the Alleghenies, “ the endless mountains ” 
 which so long retarded discovery at the south. They 
 passed readily up into the great fresh-water seas in 
 the centre of the continent and over the portages at the 
 heads of their tributaries into the adjoining basins at the 
 north, the west, and the south, unlocking all the river 
 communications of the interior. Reference must also 
 frequently be made to that confederacy of astute and poli- 
 tic savages which, seated on the water-parting of the 
 
 Vll 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 St. Lawrence, Ohio, Susquehanna, and Hudson rivers, 
 held for a hundred years the balance between the English 
 and French nations and stamped its impress on the des- 
 tiny of the continent. 
 
 Nor is it possible to present the subject without dwell- 
 ing upon the progressive occupation of those immense 
 territories, where the steam whistle has replaced the war- 
 whoop, and where great cities have grown up on the 
 portages ; where the enormous silences of inland oceans, 
 once scarcely ruffled by the wary dip of the paddles of 
 some war party gliding upon its bloody errand, now 
 resound to the blare of gigantic and demonstrative whale- 
 backs, or of steam tugs towing long trains of loaded 
 barges. These are themes worthy of more adequate pre- 
 sentment than they can receive within the limits of a 
 single volume. They are subjects of never-ending inter- 
 est, for when the New World was discovered the Old 
 World itself had recently been reborn, and, alive to all 
 new influences, regarded the new continent with a newly 
 awakened curiosity and a pardonable credulity — for what 
 might not be possible in a world unknown to Aristotle 
 and Ptolemy! 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 List of Illustrations ........ xix 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Newfoundland — Acadia — The St. Lawrence Basin . . xxiii 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Early charts — Estimation of longitude and latitude — Revival 
 of Greek science — Geography in the Dark Ages — Geog- 
 raphy at the era of the Renaissance — Columbus — Dis- 
 coveries of the Portuguese — Legendary islands of the 
 Atlantic — Behaim’s globe — Rapid extension of explora- 
 tion i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE — DISCOVERY 
 
 Discovery of the mainland — Previous attempts of Bristol 
 sailors — Cabot at Bristol — First voyage — Cathay the - 
 objective point — Variation of the compass in 1497 — 
 Nature of the country found — Cape Breton the landfall 
 — La Cosa’s map — Cape Race the key to North Ameri- 
 can geography — John Cabot’s testimony — Sebastian 
 
 Cabot’s testimony — Historic importance of the question 13 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 JOHN CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE — DISAPPOINTMENT 
 
 John Cabot’s brief triumph — New letters patent — Expedition 
 on a large scale — Merchandise for Cathay — Sebastian 
 Cabot’s experience — His subsequent career — First record 
 of ice — Extent of the coasting — Robert Thorne’s evi- 
 dence — First and second voyages contrasted — Miscon- 
 ceptions as to Sebastian Cabot — His service in Spain 
 and return to England — Neglect of English historians . 35 
 
 IX 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CORTE-REALS AND PORTUGUESE! DISCOVERY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Golden era of Portugal — The Corte-Real family — First 
 expedition under Gaspar Corte-Real to the North — 
 
 The different voyages confused — Second expedition of 
 Gaspar Corte-Real to the West and Northwest — A slave 
 coast in America — Gaspar Corte-Real does not return — 
 Unsuccessful efforts of his brothers to learn his fate — 
 Maps of Cantino and Reinel 47 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MYTHICAL PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 
 
 Discovery of America easy in theory — Claimed for all western 
 nations — Claims of the Portuguese — of the Azoreans — of 
 the Basques — of the Bretons — of the Normans — Atlas of 
 Andrea Bianco — Stokafixa — Origin of the name Labra- 
 dor — of the name Bacallaos — Beothiks (Red Indians) 
 of Newfoundland — Fishing vessels, Breton, Portuguese, 
 Basque, early on the coast 59 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PRIVATE ADVENTURERS — CABOT TO CARTIER 
 
 The Cabot patents superseded — English adventurers with 
 Azorean partners — Slow development of English fish- 
 eries — Sebastian Cabot not concerned in English enter- 
 prises — John Rut’s voyage — Voyage of Master Hore and 
 the lawyers — Bretons and Normans flock to the fisheries 
 — Prominence of the Portuguese in early days — Fagun- 
 dez — Breton and Portuguese names on coast — Earliest 
 voyages of French and Spanish Basques . . . *74 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 
 
 Disbelief in the continuity of the American coast — Francis 
 I. seeks a share in the New World — Commencement of 
 national navies — French corsairs prey on Spanish com- 
 merce — Juan Verrazano — Engaged to lead an expedition 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 for France — He sails to the West — Extent of his voyage 
 — His own account to the King — Unreasonable doubts of 
 its authenticity — The sea of Verrazano — He sails on 
 another expedition and is not heard of again — Juan Ver- 
 razano a different person from Juan Florin, who was 
 hanged by the Spaniards 87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 
 
 Gomez a Portuguese pilot in the service of Spain — He deserts 
 Magellan — Engaged by Charles V. to search for a cen- 
 tral opening to the South Sea — Sails in the winter of 
 1524-25 — Extent of his exploration — Carries back a cargo 
 of slaves — The coast of Acadia examined from the 
 Penobscot eastward — The Bay of Fundy — The Gut of 
 Canso — The Island of St. John — Cape Breton — Cape 
 Smoky — Cape North — The Bay of the Bretons . . 98 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 RESULTS OF EXPLORATION UP TO JACQUES CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 
 
 Atlantic seaboard completely explored — Viegas’ map — De- 
 fects of the early maps — The Gulf of St. Lawrence 
 unknown — Philippe de Chabot, Seigneur de Brion — Car- 
 tier selected to explore for a western passage to Asia — 
 Cartier’s birth and previous life 114 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 cartier’s first voyage, 1534 
 
 Sources of information — “Relation Originale” — Departure 
 from St. Malo — Arrival at Bonavista — Coast blocked with 
 field ice — Strait of Belle-Isle — Course . inside the Gulf 
 — Arrival at Blanc Sablon ; the first point of the present 
 province of Quebec — Inner coasts of -Labrador and New- 
 foundland — Discovery of the Magdalen group — North 
 coast of Prince Edward Island supposed to be mainland 
 — Coast of New Brunswick at Miramichi — Chaleur Bay 
 — Gaspe — Anticosti — Return to St. Malo. Note — The 
 birds mentioned by Cartier 121 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 cartier’s second voyage, 1535-36 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Second expedition commissioned — Cartier sails May 19, 
 
 1535 — Rendezvous at Blanc Sablon — Course through the 
 Gulf — Arrives at the kingdom of Saguenay — Indian inter- 
 preters at home — Grand river of Hochelaga reached — 
 Pushes on to Canada — The three kingdoms — Arrives at 
 Stadacona — Beauty of the country — The lord of Canada 
 — Winter quarters chosen — Proceeds to Hochelaga 
 — Indian jugglery — Passes Ochelay — Reception at Hoche- 
 laga — Productions of the country — Cartier’s religious 
 sendee — His view from the mountain (Montreal) — 
 Return to Stadacona — Winter quarters on the St. 
 Charles — Winter sufferings — Scurvy — Despair of the 
 crew — The wonderful tree of healing — Arrival of spring 
 — Departure for St. Malo — Donnacona and his chiefs 
 carried off — Newfoundland proved to be an island . .151 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME DISPUTED POINTS OF CARTIER’S VOYAGES 
 
 The Indian nations of the St. Lawrence valley — Algonquins 
 — Huron-Iroquois — The healing tree, Ameda — The chap- 
 lains of Cartier’s expeditions — Etymology of the word 
 Canada — The Ste. Croix of Cartier’s winter quarters . 179 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE — ROBERVAL — 1 54 1 -43 
 
 Delay of Cartier’s third expedition — Cartier commissioned, 
 October, 1540 — Disgrace of Admiral Chabot de Brion — 
 Cartier’s commission revoked — New commission places 
 Roberval in command — Cartier sails in May, 1541 — 
 Roberval’ s delays — Jealousy of Spain — Cartier estab- 
 lishes himself at Cap Rouge — Revisits Hochelaga — 
 Examines the Lachine Rapids — Indian distrust — Rober- 
 val sails in April, 1542 — Cartier encounters him in St 
 Johns harbour — Cartier sails away to France and Rober- 
 val proceeds up the river — Roberval establishes his winter 
 quarters — His harsh rule — His incompetence — Visits 
 Hochelaga — Return to France in 1543 — The story of 
 Marguerite and the Isle of Demons — Cartier’s life and 
 character. Note — Cartographical results of the Cartier 
 Voyages 192 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Xlll 
 
 CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Private traders in the Gulf and River — Cartier’s discoveries 
 shown in the maps reproduced in the “ Bibliotheca Lin- 
 desiana” — The Cabot map of A. D. 1544 — Jean Alle- 
 fonsce — Breton and Norman fishermen and traders — 
 Neglect of the French Court — Basques upon the coast — 
 Decline of Portugal — English enterprise aroused — Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert’s expedition — English begin to enter 
 the Gulf — La Roche’s expedition — Convicts abandoned 
 on Sable Island — Legend of the Franciscan monk . . 215 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 
 
 Critical point of Canadian history, A. D. 1600 — Chauvin 
 builds a trading post at Tadoussac — Pont-Grave — De 
 Chastes — Samuel de Champlain enters upon his life 
 work — His family and previous history — First arrival in 
 Canada — At Tadoussac — He goes up the river to the sites 
 of Quebec and Montreal — Returns to Tadoussac and ex- 
 plores the lower river — The Sieur Prevert’s marvellous 
 reports — Champlain returns to France — Death of De 
 Chastes — De Monts takes his place and is commissioned 
 Lieutenant Governor for the King — Opposition of the 
 merchants — Character of De Monts — De Monts sails for 
 Acadia, 1604 — Champlain joins the expedition and ex- 
 plores the Acadian coasts — Lescarbot — Basin of Anna- 
 polis Royal — St. John harbour and river — Settlement at 
 Ste. Croix — Poutrincourt — Colony removed to Port 
 Royal — L’Ordre de Bon-Temps — Commercial jealousy 
 thwarts De Monts’ plans — Poutrincourt’s family clings 
 to Acadia. Notes — M eaning of the name Acadia — An- 
 napolis Basin — Settlement at St. Sauveur— Early English 
 voyages to the New England coast . . . .231 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 
 
 Champlain the founder of Canada — Settlement at Quebec in 
 1608 — First winter at Quebec — War between Algonquins 
 and Iroquois — Necessity of siding with the Algonquins — 
 
 War party against the Mohawks — Lake Champlain dis- 
 covered — Defeat of the Iroquois — Second conflict, at the 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Richelieu — Assassination of Henry IV., the patron of 
 Champlain and De Monts — Champlain in 1611 goes to the 
 Sault — Makes a clearing on the site of the city of Mon- 
 treal — He meets the Indians of the Ottawa and lake 
 regions — Champlain returns to France — Continued hos- 
 tility of merchants — Company reorganised — Champlain 
 arrives at the Sault — Proceeds up the Ottawa River to 
 find the Northern Sea — Narrow escape at the Chute a 
 Blondeau — The site of the present capital described — 
 Arrives at Allumette Island — Vignau’s falsehoods ex- 
 posed — Disappointment of Champlain — He returns to 
 France — Conciliates opposition and brings out Recollet 
 missionaries 253 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 
 
 Champlain goes up the Ottawa — His course by Lake Nipis- 
 sing and French River into Lake Huron — The Huron 
 nation — The Huron territory — The great war-party as- 
 sembles — Route down the Otonabee and Trent — Lake 
 Ontario crossed — The Iroquois territory — Terror inspired 
 by Iroquois among surrounding nations — Champlain and 
 the Hurons assault an Onondaga town without success — 
 Retreat — War-party breaks up and Champlain unable to 
 reach Quebec — He visits the country between Kingston 
 and Ottawa — Returns to Huron country and winters 
 there — Visits the Tobacco nation and the Ottawas — Re- 
 turns to Quebec in May, 1616 — Extent of Champlain’s 
 explorations in Canada — Religious differences — Hugue- 
 nots and Jesuits — Moderation and constancy of Cham- 
 plain 273 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 EXPLORATION OF THE WEST, FROM CHAMPLAIN TO THE DISPERSION 
 
 OF THE HURONS 
 
 Explorers trained under Champlain continue the work — 
 Physical features of the country favour exploration — 
 Interpreters and traders lead the way — Adventures of 
 Etienne Brule — Recollet missionaries commence their 
 labours — Assistance of the Jesuits invited — Missionaries 
 established in the Huron country — They visit the Neutral 
 nation — Quebec taken by the English — Champlain and 
 most of the colonists carried to England — Canada re- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 xv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 stored to France — Return of Champlain — Jesuits the only 
 missionaries allowed to return — Nicollet starts to discover 
 the Great South Sea — Jesuits resume missions to the 
 Hurons — Michilimaclcinac — Lake Michigan discovered — 
 Green Bay or Baie des Puants — The Winnebago nation 
 of Dakota stock — Nicollet reaches the water-parting of 
 the Mississippi basin — Jesuit mission to the Hurons — 
 
 St. Mary on the Wye — Sault Ste. Marie visited by the 
 Jesuits — The Lake system begins to be understood — Bre- 
 boeuf among the Neutrals — Premonitions of martyrdom — 
 Destruction of the Huron nation ...... 289 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 EXPLORATION RESUMED AND POSSESSION TAKEN FOR FRANCE 
 
 The Huron country abandoned — Fear of the Iroquois — 
 Jesuits and Huron converts retire to Quebec— Desolation 
 and massacre extend over the West — Peace, in 1654, 
 permits resumption of the fur trade — Missions resumed 
 — Radisson and Chouart — Radisson among the Iroquois 
 — Radisson and Chouart on Lake Michigan — Pass Sault 
 Ste. Marie into Lake Superior — Make a trading post at 
 Chequamegon Bay — Explore the country over the water- 
 parting — Return to Three Rivers — Second expedition of 
 Chouart and Radisson — They resolve to discover the 
 Sea of the North — Go up to Lake Superior to Chequame- 
 gon Bay — They are conducted by Cree Indians to Hud- 
 son’s Bay — Return and subsequent adventures — Father 
 Menard perishes south of Lake Superior — Father Al- 
 louez founds a mission at Chequamegon Bay and on Lake 
 Michigan — De Tracy and Talon arrive in Canada — Iro- 
 quois sue for peace — The route by Lake Ontario opened 
 — The Sulpicians commence to establish missions — Expe- 
 dition of Dollier and Galinee — They find an earthly para- 
 dise on Lake Erie — Return by Michilimackinac — St. 
 Lusson is sent to the Sault Ste. Marie and takes cere- 
 monial possession for France 3 12 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 JOLLIET AND LA SALLE — THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY UNVEILED 
 
 All westward routes opened — Louis Jolliet and Father Mar- 
 quette — They start for the Mississippi — Fox and Wiscon- 
 sin portage — Arrive at the prairie region — The Missis- 
 sippi reached — Paddle down as far as the Arkansas — 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Return by the Chicago portage — Marquette remains on 
 Lake Michigan — Jolliet goes down to Quebec — His maps 
 and papers lost — Death of Marquette — St. Ignace de 
 Michilimackinac — Robert Cavelier de La Salle — His post 
 at Lachine — Starts with Galinee and Dollier, but separates 
 from them — Discovers the Ohio — Controversy about the 
 discovery of the Mississippi — Arrival of Frontenac — La 
 Salle’s western schemes supported by Frontenac — The 
 first step, Fort Frontenac — Henri de Tonty — La Salle at 
 Niagara — He builds the Griffon for the upper lakes — 
 Loss of the Griffon — La Salle’s indomitable spirit strug- 
 gles against disaster — Overcomes all obstacles — Fort 
 Crevecoeur destroyed — La Salle reaches the Mississippi — 
 Goes down to the Gulf of Mexico and takes possession 
 for France 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 HENNEPIN AND DULHUT — WESTERN EXPLORATION CONTINUED 
 
 Mississippi and St. Lawrence divide south of Lake Superior 
 — Wild rice region — The Dakota nation reached — Henne- 
 pin on the Illinois — He reaches the Mississippi — His 
 pretended discoveries — His captivity among the Sioux — 
 Weeping Indians — Rescue by Dulhut — Mendacity of 
 Hennepin — Daniel de Greysolon, Sieur Dulhut arrives 
 in Canada — He establishes himself at the head of Lake 
 Superior — His adventurous life — His explorations to the 
 extreme western limit of the St. Lawrence valley . 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH AND EAST 
 
 Champlain’s early attempt to reach the Sea of the North— 
 The quest continued — Chief routes from Canada to Hud- 
 son’s Bay — Expedition of De Troyes — Father Buteux 
 killed on the St. Maurice — Unrecognised devotion of the 
 missionaries to the North and East — Lake St. John dis- 
 covered — Fathers Druillettes and Dablon start for Hud- 
 son’s Bay — They turn back at Lake Nekouba — Talon 
 sends Father Albanel — He reaches Hudson’s Bay — Finds 
 the English flag there — Injustice of the Governor of 
 Canada to Chouart and Radisson — They transfer their 
 services to England — Lead Gillam’s expedition to Ru- 
 pert’s River — Father Albanel’s second journey — Taken 
 prisoner by the English — Chouart and Radisson return 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XVII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 to their allegiance — Radisson founds a French fort on the 
 Bay — He turns English again and captures it — Jolliet at 
 Hudson’s Bay — The Traite de Tadoussac — The Labrador 
 wilderness — The missionaries on its southern border — 
 
 The desolate plateau — The Grand Falls discovered . . 375 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 OCCUPATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY 
 
 Close of the era of discovery — Physiography of the continent 
 favours French and retards English exploration — The 
 Iroquois bar the route by the lower lakes — Great war- 
 feast at Montreal — Iroquois opposition ceases — Expedi- 
 tion to the interior of Labrador — Rumours of the Grand 
 Falls stimulate the efforts of explorers — Remarkable 
 exploration of A. P. Low for the Geological Survey of 
 Canada — The grim territory traversed in two directions — 
 
 The occupation of the valley of the St. Lawrence on the 
 far west — Headquarters of the great fur companies on 
 Lake Superior — Course of occupation along the southern 
 water-parting — Lowness of the divide of Lakes Michigan, 
 Erie, and Ontario — Divides of Lake Champlain, the Con- 
 necticut, the Chaudiere, and the St. John — Arrival of the 
 loyalists and English settlement of Ontario and Acadia 401 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 OCCUPATION OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 
 
 The history of the French settlements in Acadia — Vicissi- 
 tudes of English and French Conquest — Alexander, La 
 Tour, and Charnisay — Nicholas Denys — Port Royal (An- 
 napolis) repeatedly changes masters — It becomes nomi - 
 nally English — Settlements on the St. John River and 
 Prince Edward Island — Settlement at Halifax — Deporta- 
 tion of the Acadian French — Anticosti — The Island of 
 Newfoundland — Exploration and settlement impeded by 
 Government — Cormack’s expedition — The interior opened 
 
 up by a railway 415 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 List of the Chief Works Consulted or Referred to . . 429 
 
 Index 443 
 
 b 
 
) 
 
/ 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 1. Go-Home Bay; Georgian Bay of 
 
 Lake Huron Frontispiece 
 
 2. Extract from Martin Behaim’s Globe Facing page 8 
 
 3. The Cabot Tower at Bristol . . “ 18 
 
 4. The Key Point of North American 
 
 Geography — Fig. 1, Ruysch 
 Map, A. D. 1508 — C. de Porto- 
 gesi. Fig. 2, King Map, A. D. 
 
 1502 — Cape Race. Fig. 3, Cape 
 
 Race, A. D. 1900 “ 28 
 
 5. Juan de La Cosa’s Map, A. D. 1500 “ 30 
 
 6. Extract from Sebastian Cabot’s 
 
 Map of 1544, showing the point 
 of Cape Breton as the landfall. 
 
 Fig. 4 Page 32 
 
 7. Robert Thorne’s Map, A. D. 1527. 
 
 Fig. 5 “ 4i 
 
 8. Sebastian Cabot — From a contem- 
 
 poraneous portrait, last owned 
 by Richard Biddle; destroyed by 
 fire in 1845 Facing page 44 
 
 9. The Cantino Map, A. D. 1501 -2. 
 
 Fig. 6 Page 54 
 
 xix 
 
XX 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 10. Pedro Reinel’s Map, A.D. 1505. 
 
 7 •••••••*• Page 57 
 
 11. Ribeiro’s Map, A. D. 1529 . . . Facing page 80 
 
 12. Cape Blomidon — at the entrance of 
 
 the Basin of Minas “ 106 
 
 13. View on the Gut of Canso ... “ no 
 
 14. Gaspar Viegas’ Map, A. D. 1534. 
 
 Fig. 8 Page 115 
 
 15. Portrait of Jacques Cartier . . . Facing page 120 
 
 16. The Great Bird Rock, from an 
 
 Admiralty Chart. Fig. 9 . . . Page 134 
 
 17. The Magdalen Group, true shape. 
 
 Fig. 10 “ 136 
 
 18. Deadman’s Island (Alezay), from 
 
 an Admiralty Chart. Fig. n “ 138 
 
 19. Representations of the Magdalen 
 
 Group on early maps. Fig. 12 . “ 139 
 
 20. Plan of Hochelaga — from Ramusio Facing page 168 
 
 21. Cartographical results of the Car- 
 
 tier Voyages. A — Harleyan 
 
 World Map, circa A. D. 1536. 
 
 C — Desceliers’ World Map, A. 
 
 D. 1550 “ 214 
 
 22. The Sebastian Cabot Map of A. D. 
 
 1544 “ 216 
 
 23. View of Tadoussac “ 232 
 
 24. Champlain’s Chart of Tadoussac 
 
 Harbour “ 234 
 
 25. Champlain’s Map of Sault St. Louis 
 
 and site of the city of Mont- 
 real ..... “ 236 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 26. Digby Gut — The entrance to An- 
 
 napolis (Port Royal) Basin . . 
 
 27. Portrait of Champlain 
 
 28. Champlain’s. Map of Quebec Basin 
 
 29. Defeat of the Iroquois on Lake 
 
 Champlain 
 
 30. Running the Sault St. Louis in 
 
 the present day 
 
 31. Chandiere Falls, Ottawa .... 
 
 32. Entrance to French River, Lake 
 
 Nipissing District 
 
 33. Barrie on Lake Simcoe .... 
 
 34. Onondaga Town 
 
 35. Site of Old Fort Ste. Marie . . . 
 
 36. Shadowy River, Muskoka . . . 
 
 37. Junction of the River Lynn and 
 
 Black Creek 
 
 38. Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de 
 
 Maisonneuve 
 
 39. Sketch Map of Strait of Michili- 
 
 mackinac. Fig. 13 
 
 40. Fort of the Gentlemen of the 
 
 Seminary of St. Sulpice . . . 
 
 41. Niagara from Falls View .... 
 
 42. Map showing the interlacing of 
 
 the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, 
 and Red River of the North 
 
 43. Quaint Conception of Canada from 
 
 Herman Moll’s Map, 17 1 5 • • 
 
 44. Quebec about 1700 
 
 45. Grand Discharge Rapids, Lake 
 
 St. John 
 
 XXI 
 
 Facing page 246 
 
 « 
 
 252 
 
 (( 
 
 254 
 
 (( 
 
 260 
 
 (( 
 
 264 
 
 t( 
 
 268 
 
 « 
 
 274 
 
 « 
 
 276 
 
 « 
 
 278 
 
 a 
 
 308 
 
 <c 
 
 314 
 
 M 
 
 334 
 
 <( 
 
 342 
 
 Page 
 
 349 
 
 :ing page 
 
 350 
 
 u 
 
 356 
 
 <( 
 
 364 
 
 t' 
 
 373 
 
 « 
 
 376 
 
 « 
 
 382 
 
XXII 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 4 6. The Town and Fortifications of 
 
 Montreal, & c 
 
 47. View from the Site of the Old 
 
 French Fort at Port Royal 
 (Annapolis) 
 
 48. Panorama of Sault Ste. Marie, 
 
 A.D. 1904 
 
 Facing page 412 
 
 a 416 
 
 (C 
 
 426 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Although in such a work as this it is frequently 
 necessary to dwell from time to time upon the geography 
 of the country, it will be convenient to review in one 
 general survey the physical features of the entire region 
 discovered by the men whose deeds are recorded. The 
 characteristics of the Atlantic border region first pre- 
 sented to the early sailors differ much from those of the 
 interior valley, and to that region it is necessary first to 
 direct the attention of the reader. Much of the extreme 
 northeastern part of the continent where it stretches far 
 across the ocean towards Europe is still comparatively 
 unknown. Until the last ten years the interior of Labra- 
 dor was a great blank upon our maps, and little was 
 known even of the interior of the island of Newfound- 
 land until the opening of the railway a few years ago. 
 
 The portion of the Atlantic coast which falls within 
 the scope of this volume extends through seventeen de- 
 grees of latitude, from the mouth of the Penobscot in 
 Maine to Cape Chidley on Hudson’s Strait, the northern 
 point of Labrador. Of the Atlantic Labrador very little 
 can be said. Along its stern front rise cliffs, abruptly 
 from the sea, at Cape Chidley 1500 feet high, and 2000 
 feet 50 miles further south. The bays and inlets in this 
 rocky barrier and the surf-lashed islands which fringe 
 the coast afford shelter, but it is a forbidding coast, 
 and the region behind the steep barrier of cliffs is 
 unknown. 
 
 Nearest to Europe is the oldest colony of England, the 
 island of 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND 
 
 It has an area of 42,000 square miles — considerably 
 larger than the united areas of Ireland and Wales. Its 
 coast is most profoundly indented by the sea, so much 
 so that, for a long time after its discovery, it appeared 
 
 xxiii 
 
xxiv GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 on all the maps as a group of islands. The bays reach 
 from 30 to 50 miles inland; in its whole circumference 
 it is studded with harbours affording unlimited shelter to 
 the fishing craft on the coast. The shape of the island 
 is roughly an equilateral triangle — the extreme distance 
 from north to south being 317, and from west to east 316 
 miles. 
 
 The coasts are rocky and forbidding, even in the 
 bays, and along the Atlantic they present for long 
 stretches a rampart of rock from 200 to 400 feet high. 
 The entrance to the harbour of St. John’s is by a cleft 
 only a half mile wide. The harbour is one of the best 
 in America, deep and perfectly landlocked. A range of 
 mountains 2000 feet high extends along the greater part 
 of the west coast, but is fringed in most places with a 
 band, a few miles wide, of low shore. The interior is a 
 low, undulating tableland, with moors covered with moss 
 and patches of low trees, and with marshes and innumer- 
 able lakes and ponds. Along the river valleys and the 
 lakes there are extensive regions of excellent land with 
 fine timber. Many detached peaks, locally called “ tolts,” 
 rise abruptly from the plain. 
 
 Three large rivers extend almost across the island. 
 Two of them, the Gander and the Exploits, rise in the 
 southwest and flow northeast, and the third, the Humber, 
 rises in the northeast and flows southwest. The rivers 
 abound with fish — salmon and trout ; the coasts and bays 
 swarm with codfish ; and large herds of caribou migrate 
 spring and fall through the centre of the island. Copper 
 and iron are mined, and coal is found, though the deposits 
 are not worked. Fish, lobsters, oils, and minerals are 
 the chief exports, and provide a livelihood for the popu- 
 lation which fringes the eastern and southern coasts. The 
 west coast has been kept vacant by the French claims, 
 happily disposed of by a treaty recently ratified. 
 
 NOVA SCOTIA 
 
 The Province of Nova Scotia is a peninsula, and, politi- 
 cally, it also includes the island of Cape Breton, separated 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxv 
 
 from it by the deep Gut, or Strait of Canso, only three- 
 quarters of a mile wide at its narrowest part, at which 
 place a bridge is projected. The peninsula is 268 miles 
 long, with a width of 60 to 100 miles, and the island is 
 108 miles long; but in width is very irregular, for the 
 interior of the island is occupied by the Bras d’Or, an arm 
 of the sea. The area of the whole province is 20,600 
 square miles. 
 
 The Atlantic coast is low, but rocky. It abounds in 
 excellent harbours; that of Halifax is accounted to be 
 among the finest in the world. The coast facing the Bay 
 of Fundy is high and steep, because of a mountain ridge 
 running close to the shore. A remarkable gap opens at 
 Digby and admits the largest vessels into Annapolis 
 Basin, an excellent landlocked harbour, the only one of 
 note on that coast. The Basin of Minas opens out from 
 the Bay of Fundy, and extends sixty miles into the land 
 with a breadth of twenty miles. The entrance is remark- 
 able for the bold headlands on either side. Cape d’Or 
 and Cape Chignecto belong to the Cobequid mountain 
 range, and Cape Split and Cape Blomidon are the bluff 
 terminations of the ranges which shut in the Annapolis 
 River. 
 
 The interior of the peninsula is of moderate height and 
 abounds with lakes. The side facing the Atlantic is less 
 fertile than the parts facing the inner bays. Two ranges 
 of mountains, known as the North and South Mountain, 
 bound the valley of the Annapolis River, and the Cobe- 
 quid Mountains extend from Cape Chignecto, on the 
 Bay of Fundy, through the peninsula to Cape Canso on 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 CAPE BRETON 
 
 This beautiful island is worthy of note because of the 
 Bras d’Or, a remarkable loch which occupies its centre. 
 Two ranges of mountains open at an angle from the 
 southwest to form a basin communicating with the ocean 
 by two narrow passages on the northeast. Large ships 
 can pass into it and moor close to the shores. The west- 
 
xxvi GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 ern range is the higher, and, as a tableland 1200 feet high, 
 is prolonged to a promontory, steep on both sides, and 
 ending in the bold headlands of Cape North and Cape St. 
 Lawrence. The chief town is Sydney, where are large 
 coal mines. The old harbour of Louisbourg is being 
 again frequented, not as of old by ships of war, but by 
 collier steamers. The island is underlaid by coal seams, 
 which crop out at the east, south, and southwest shores. 
 A narrow isthmus only a mile wide separates the Bras 
 d’Or from the entrance of the Strait of Canso. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK 
 
 The Bay of Fundy is a remarkable arm of the North 
 Atlantic, extending 180 miles towards the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence, and separating the peninsula of Nova Scotia 
 from the Province of New Brunswick. Into this deep 
 funnel the tides sweep on a broad front and gather force 
 and height, as the shores close in, until they form a bore 
 five feet four inches high. The tidal wave increases in 
 swiftness, from three miles an hour at Cape Sable, to 
 seven at the head of the bay. The rivers are all tidal, and 
 at ebb present immense flats of red mud, through which 
 the fresh water trickles to the sea; but suddenly, at 
 flow, they become wide brimming streams. Rich dyked 
 meadowland surrounds the head of the bay and all its 
 branches. 
 
 The broad estuary of the Penobscot River, crowded 
 with islands, is the Rio do Gamas of the old Portuguese 
 maps and the Norumbegue of later years. It is the west- 
 ern boundary, on the sea coast, of the region treated of in 
 this volume, and is the true boundary between the English 
 and French colonies ; though Canada has been negotiated 
 out of the country between it and the St. Croix in one of 
 the many diplomatic surrenders which have shorn her 
 ample proportions. 
 
 At the St. Croix River is the present boundary between 
 Canada and the State of Maine. The country is rugged 
 and the shore is low, but rocky, and continues the same 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxvii 
 
 f 
 
 for some distance eastward along the New Brunswick 
 coast. The Province of New Brunswick is almost 
 square, being 230 miles from north to south, and 200 
 miles from east to west. It extends over an area of 
 28,200 square miles, and, for the most part, is a plain 
 originally densely forested. It is now largely settled and 
 cleared, especially along the rivers, but large portions of 
 the interior are still a wilderness, the cherished resort of 
 sportsmen. 
 
 New Brunswick in its general aspect is a rolling plain, 
 furrowed by numberless river courses, which, in the 
 interior, have cut deeply into the softer rocks and have 
 formed wide valleys — flooded by the spring freshets, but 
 productive meadows for the rest of the year. The River 
 St. John is the chief feature of the Province. It drains 
 one-half of it and a goodly portion of the State of Maine. 
 It is navigable without a break as far as Grand Falls, 216 
 miles from its mouth. Its course is north and south, and 
 its numerous affluents touch at their sources all the rivers 
 which water the remaining half of the Province. The 
 Miramichi and Richibucto are important rivers, flowing 
 directly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence; the Nipisiquit 
 and Restigouche flow into Chaleur Bay. These are the 
 chief streams, and with their many affluents cover the 
 country with a network of flowing waters. Dividing 
 ridges of highlands separate the basin of the streams 
 draining into the Gulf from a narrow strip along the Bay 
 of Fundy and from the basin of the St. John. 
 
 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 The St. Lawrence basin is a great transverse valley 
 530,000 square miles in area leading from .the Atlantic 
 Ocean to the heart of the continent, and commanding all 
 the avenues of communication throughout its whole ex- 
 tent. It is not only possible, but it was in old days usual, 
 to pass in canoes from St. Lawrence waters to Hudson’s 
 Bay, to the Gulf of Mexico, and into the Mackenzie 
 River, draining into the Arctic Ocean. The headwaters 
 
xxviii GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 of the Peace and Liard rivers, tributaries of the Mac- 
 kenzie, rise close to the sources of the Fraser and Yukon, 
 flowing into the Pacific Ocean, and the Saskatchewan and 
 Athabasca lead up close to the chief passes of the Rocky 
 Mountains. Though canoes are not carried across the 
 last divide, the St. Lawrence basin is the gateway of 
 access to all these river systems. 
 
 The length of the River St. Lawrence, if measured 
 from the open ocean at the Strait of Belle-Isle to the 
 head of Lake Superior, is 2388 miles, and the largest 
 ocean steamships may pass up 986 miles to the city of 
 Montreal. Beyond that, canals, in the aggregate 71 
 miles long, open up 1402 miles of inland navigation 
 through the river and lakes. 
 
 The width of the river proper is on an average a mile 
 and three-quarters. Its narrowest points are at Detroit 
 and Quebec. It is generally deep. The shallowest 
 places are the expansions of Lake St. Peter, below Mont- 
 real, and Lake St. Clair, above Detroit. Deep channels 
 have been dredged at these localities, and the canals admit 
 of the passage of craft drawing fourteen feet of water. 
 
 The basin of the St. Lawrence lies chiefly north of the 
 river, for all its great tributaries flow from that direction. 
 It is separated on the north by a low divide from the 
 basin of Hudson’s Bay. Myriads of lakes are the per- 
 ennial sources of the countless streams which swell the 
 flood of the “ River of Canada,” and sustain its volume 
 throughout the year. 
 
 While the basin of the St. Lawrence system extends to 
 the headwaters of all its tributaries, the valley of the 
 river in a narrower sense has a character of its own, since 
 it is level and largely alluvial and of more recent geologi- 
 cal age. The Archaean nucleus of the continent, known 
 as Laurentian, bounds it all the length of its northern 
 border. This is a plateau 1000 to 1600 feet in height, at 
 varying distances from the river, but never very far away. 
 The lofty and precipitous northern shore of Lake Su- 
 perior belongs to the Laurentian system, and it continues 
 along the north shore of Lake Huron and extends over 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxix 
 
 the northern part of the Province of Ontario. It crosses 
 the Ottawa thirty miles above Ottawa city, and is visible 
 on the far horizon from the river valley as a range of 
 rounded mountains. Over the southern margin of this 
 plateau the innumerable feeders of the river fall in rapids 
 or cascades, representing a wealth of energy only real- 
 ised since the recent application of hydraulic power to 
 the generation of the electrical forces. All along the 
 river from Montreal the range of mountains may be seen, 
 far away, but coming gradually closer until Quebec is 
 reached. At Cape Tourmente, twenty miles below Que- 
 bec, these highlands come out on the river as a mountain 
 1919 feet high. They follow on along the shore past the 
 mouth of the Saguenay, rising to 2547 feet at Les Lboule- 
 ments, and 1800 feet on the Saguenay. They retreat on 
 the lower river and continue at varying distances in rear 
 of the Labrador coast to the Strait of Belle-Isle. 
 
 On the southern side the valley is invaded by an ex- 
 tension of the Appalachian system, known as the Green 
 and White Mountains, in Vermont and New Hampshire 
 respectively. This range enters the valley near Lake 
 Memphremagog, and passes through the eastern town- 
 ships of Quebec Province. It forms a mountain back- 
 ground for a long distance below the city of Quebec, and 
 at Matane comes out on the southern shore. The moun- 
 tains continue thence along the south shore and form the 
 rough tableland of Gaspe. In their course they occasion- 
 ally rise to 3700 and 4000 feet. The average height on 
 the peninsula of Gaspe is 3000 feet. These ranges of 
 highlands bound the valley of the river on both sides. 
 
 To the west the St. Lawrence basin is bounded by the 
 sub-basin of Lake Winnipeg, which approaches to a dis- 
 tance of 60 miles from Lake Superior. The divide is 
 1000 feet high, but the distance is not great, though the 
 portages are heavy. On the south the divide separating 
 the basin of the Mississippi and the sub-basin of the 
 Ohio from that of the St. Lawrence is low and obscure, 
 and reaches very close to the southern shores of the Great 
 Lakes. That is the feature which gives to the great river 
 
xxx GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 its special importance in unlocking the communications 
 of the inner continent. East of Lake Ontario the water- 
 parting passes more southward and sweeps round the 
 heads of Lakes George and Champlain, from whence it 
 turns abruptly to the north to exclude the head of the 
 Connecticut River a little south of Lake Memphremagog. 
 The White Mountains and the highlands at the sources of 
 the Kennebec, Penobscot, and St. John mark out the 
 remainder of the divide by very strong features. 
 
 THE LAKES 
 
 The St. Lawrence River is remarkable for the great 
 number of expansions in its course. Apart from the 
 Great Lakes, there are on its lower waters Lakes St. 
 Francis, St. Louis, and St. Peter, but the great inland 
 seas of the upper river are unique, for they cover a total 
 area of 98,510 square miles. They occupy the inner basin 
 of the continent, and yet from Lake Superior, the last of 
 the series, to tide water at Three Rivers, halfway between 
 Quebec and Montreal, is a fall of only 602 feet in the 
 whole course of 1500 miles. Their depth is very great, 
 and in two of them reaches below the sea level. Superior 
 is 900 feet, Huron 500, Michigan 1000, and Ontario 412 
 feet deep. Lake Erie is shallow, for its average depth is 
 only 90 feet. 
 
 We may now consider this great river more closely, 
 and it will be convenient to follow the flow of its waters. 
 Its source is the St. Louis River, a stream rising in the 
 cramped watershed west of Lake Superior, where the 
 Mississippi and Winnipeg divides press within 60 to 100 
 miles of the Lake basin. At its mouth is the brand- 
 new but very important city of Duluth — a recent creation 
 of centring railways, not of the river, which is chiefly 
 important as a harbour, for it is not navigable for more 
 than 20 miles. 
 
 Lake Superior is the uppermost of all the St. Law- 
 rence lakes, and the largest, although few rivers of mag- 
 nitude contribute to its volume. It is 420 miles long and 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxi 
 
 8o miles in average breadth. Its area is 31,240 miles, 
 but the area of the basin in which it rests is surprisingly 
 small, for the water-parting of Hudson's Bay approaches 
 close to its northern shore. The basin extends to the 
 north to enclose Lake Nipigon, and, turning westward at 
 the head of Lake Nipigon, it encounters the water-parting 
 of the Winnipeg sub-basin. The divide of this latter 
 basin reaches to within 60 miles of the western shore of 
 Lake Superior, and touches on the south the water-part- 
 ing of the Mississippi. 
 
 The north shore of Lake Superior is rugged and lofty. 
 The country gives promise of mineral production only. 
 Lake Nipigon is very deep, and its whole area is studded 
 with islands. The coast of Lake Superior retains its 
 character as it turns to the southwest. Thunder Cape 
 marks Thunder Bay, surrounded by cliffs 1000 feet high, 
 where Port Arthur and Fort William carry on the Cana- 
 dian trade of the lake. The Kaministiquia River falls in 
 at Fort William. 
 
 The south shore of the lake and the extreme western 
 end, where the Mississippi basin reaches close, is not so 
 high. Bluffs of sandstone, worn by the waves into pic- 
 turesque forms, or sandy beaches, are its chief character- 
 istics. Keweenaw Point is a promontory 20 miles wide, 
 stretching 60 miles into the lake. Portage Lake, at its 
 base, extends nearly all the way across, and this old canoe 
 short cut, supplemented by a ship canal, saves 120 miles 
 of dangerous coasting round the Point. The Pictured 
 Rocks are the most attractive feature of the south shore. 
 They are perpendicular sandstone bluffs, 50 to 200 feet 
 high, worn into fantastic forms of castle, chapel, or por- 
 tal, and stained in all shades of brown, yellow, and grey, 
 with occasional blues and greens, by the minerals abound- 
 ing in the vicinity. From the Pictured Rocks to the 
 Sault the coast is sandy. At Sault St. Mary the lake dis- 
 charges in rapids, which are overcome by canals, one on 
 each side, each consisting of one lock larger and longer 
 than any other lock in the world. At this point the St. 
 Lawrence is known as the St. Mary’s River, and drops, 
 
xxxii GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 at the Rapids, 22 feet in a quarter of a mile. It is the 
 only noticeable drop in level until Niagara is reached. 
 Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie are one many-armed 
 sea, indenting in vast bays some of the most productive 
 territory in the world. 
 
 The St. Mary’s River requires continual dredging, as 
 it passes through Hay Lake and Mud Lake, to keep suffi- 
 cient depth in the channels for the very large craft now 
 navigating the upper lakes. At Detour — the easternmost 
 extremity of northern Michigan, almost exactly on the 
 parallel of 46° N. — two great routes diverge. The 
 traveller may either continue east into Lake Huron or 
 turn (as the name suggests) west and then southwards 
 through the Straits of Michilimackinac into Lake Michi- 
 gan. It is a cardinal point, for the great Laurentian 
 backbone of Canada here strikes directly to the eastwards 
 following the north shore of Lake Huron. It cuts across 
 the base of the peninsula of Ontario, crosses the Ottawa 
 River 30 miles above Ottawa city, and, passing 30 miles 
 in rear of Montreal, emerges upon the river 20 miles be- 
 low Quebec. The junction of the three great lakes at 
 Detour is in summer one of the most interesting and 
 beautiful spots in the whole valley — the blue sky, and the 
 clear water reflecting it, and the wooded islands on the 
 far margin of the sea-like expanse make a striking scene 
 of natural beauty enhanced by the human interest of the 
 occasional smoke of huge lake craft wending their diverg- 
 ing ways on the far horizon. 
 
 Lake Michigan is 345 miles long by 58 miles wide, and 
 covers an area of 25,590 square miles. It is the deepest 
 of the lakes, and its bottom is 400 feet below the level of 
 the sea. Its most remarkable feature is Green Bay, — a 
 corruption of Grand Bay, — but known in early history as 
 Baie des Puants, or simply as La Baie. The Bay 
 reaches far into the country, and receives the Meno- 
 monee and Fox rivers from the interior of the present 
 State of Wisconsin. The route by the Fox River, 
 through Lake Winnebago and into the Wisconsin River, 
 was Jolliet’s route to discover the Mississippi. At Chi- 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxiii 
 
 cago the Mississippi sends up the Des Plaines River, one 
 of its tributaries, to within 9 miles of the lake shore, and 
 the waters of the two great basins are now continuous by 
 means of a canal. The country is level and the lake 
 shores are clay bluffs of very moderate height, washed 
 down into sand dunes and sandy beaches at the southern 
 end of the lake, where the waves have full sweep from 
 the north. The St. Joseph River — a tortuous stream 
 draining northern Indiana and southern Michigan — falls 
 in on the southeast side, but the basins of the Mississippi 
 and Ohio approach so near that there are few affluents of 
 importance. 
 
 Lake Huron covers an area of 23,780 square miles. It 
 is 400 miles long, with an average breadth of 70 miles. 
 The water is deep and very clear. The north shore is 
 high and rocky, and the Archaean rocks extend down the 
 coast of Georgian Bay, giving that region physical char- 
 acteristics very different from the other lakes, and even 
 from the rest of the lake shore. At the north the Man- 
 itoulin Islands and the long promontory of Cabot Head 
 separate the Georgian Bay and the North Channel, and 
 that part of it is studded with islands. It is a region of 
 wonderful beauty. In Georgian Bay alone the islands 
 have been estimated to exceed thirty thousand in number. 
 The rest of the lake is free from islands, and the shores 
 sink into clay bluffs from the level land as do those of 
 the other lakes, excepting Superior. The peninsula of 
 Michigan is enclosed between Lakes Huron and Michi- 
 gan, and on the Huron side it is deeply indented by Sagi- 
 naw Bay, — the widest and stormiest part of the lake, — • 
 where the traveller may be out of sight of land and easily 
 believe himself upon the ocean. 
 
 The St. Lawrence leaving Lake Huron is called the St. 
 Clair River, and leads into Lake St. Clair, a shallow lake 
 25 miles long and 20 miles wide, where dredging is neces- 
 sary to maintain in the channels sufficient draught for 
 large vessels. From Lake St. Clair it passes, as the 
 Detroit River, into Lake Erie through a channel requiring 
 constant dredging. 
 
xxxiv GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Lake Erie is 250 miles long, with an average width of 
 38 miles. It is a shallow lake, especially at its western 
 end. The average depth over its whole area of 10,030 
 miles is only 90 feet. The shores of the lake are level 
 and low, and the region is one of unparalleled fertility. 
 The sub-basin of the Ohio approaches the south shore of 
 Lake Erie closer and closer as it extends eastwards, until 
 at Chautauqua Lake the distance is only 6 miles. Large 
 cities, Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, are on the south 
 shore, for the great basins of the Mississippi and St. 
 Lawrence there exchange their traffic by the most direct 
 route east and west. 
 
 Under the name Niagara River the St. Lawrence 
 thence pursues its course to Lake Ontario, a distance of 
 33 miles. Here occurs a drop in the elevation of the 
 whole country over an escarpment extending across the 
 peninsula of Ontario to Cabot Head, projecting into Lake 
 Huron. From the upper to the lower plain the whole 
 river — the discharge of the four upper lakes — precipitates 
 itself in one leap at Niagara Falls at the estimated rate of 
 seven thousand tons a second. The river flows evenly, 
 though fast, past Grand Island, when it unites into a 
 stream two and a half miles wide, and rushes swiftly 
 down in foaming rapids an incline of 55 feet to the edge 
 of the fall. There it is divided by Goat Island. One 
 part, called the American Fall, drops 167 feet with a 
 straight crest line of 1080 feet, and the other, the Cana- 
 dian or Horseshoe Fall, with a crest line 3010 feet in 
 length, in an immense concave curve drops 158 feet into 
 the gorge below. Lengthened description would be 
 superfluous in these days of universal travel and innumer- 
 able guide books. 
 
 The original line of the escarpment where it crossed 
 the river was in remote ages 7 miles lower down, at 
 Queenston Heights, and the river has worn its way 
 backwards and cut out for itself a gorge 200 feet deep, 
 in which it foams its impetuous way through rapids and 
 whirlpools down another declivity of 1 1 1 feet to the 
 level of Lake Ontario, 240 feet above tide water. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH XXXV 
 
 Lake Ontario — the last of the series — is 190 miles long 
 by 40 miles (average) wide. Its average depth is 412 
 feet, and it covers an area of 7330 miles. The shores 
 are low, as in the case of the other lower lakes, not rising 
 above the surface of the lake more than 50 to 100 feet. 
 A remarkable peninsula on the north shore shuts in the 
 tranquil landlocked Bay of Quinte. Toronto, the second 
 city of the Dominion, is on this lake at the beginning of 
 an old portage route to Georgian Bay. Hamilton is an 
 important city at the head of the lake, and Kingston (the 
 Fort Frontenac of the Indian wars) is at its outlet. 
 Rochester is on the southern shore at the mouth of the 
 Genesee (the river of the Senecas), and Oswego at the 
 end of the Mohawk portage route. At the eastern end 
 the river encloses in its narrowing channel the islands 
 known as the Thousand Islands. Then assuming its 
 proper name, it flows as the St. Lawrence to the sea. It 
 loses the 240 feet of level from the lake in a series of 
 rapids until it reaches tide water. 
 
 The St. Lawrence (River of Canada, or Cataraqui of 
 old books) is a stately river of clear and bright water 
 flowing from one to three miles in width in its course to 
 Quebec between low banks formerly densely forested, but 
 now cleared and very fertile. Near Prescott, 119 miles 
 above Montreal, the rapids commence. The Galops, 
 Rapide Plat, and Long Sault are the first group; after 
 which follows Lake St. Francis, an expanse of tranquil 
 water 38 miles long. Then follow in quick succession the 
 Coteau, Cedars, and Cascades Rapids to Lake St. Louis, 
 15 miles long; after which the final and most formidable 
 of the series, the Sault St. Louis, drops the river down 45 
 feet to Montreal. The 12 remaining feet are accounted 
 for by the current St. Mary, at Montreal, and the 86 
 miles to Three Rivers, where the tide is reached. All 
 these rapids are run in descending from Niagara to Que- 
 bec by large steamers carrying hundreds of passengers. 
 
 At Montreal is the commercial centre of the country — 
 the natural point of exchange, the end of ocean naviga- 
 tion, and the beginning of inland navigation, where the 
 
xxxvi GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Lachine canal commences the series of upward steps. 
 The step which overcomes Niagara is the Welland canal, 
 from Port Dalhousie on Lake Ontario to Port Colborne 
 on Lake Erie, and the final step is the Sault Ste. Marie 
 canal. This series of canals is the great stairway to the 
 heart of the continent, and a stream of vessels drawing 
 14 feet is constantly passing up to return by the more 
 exhilarating method of running down hill. 
 
 The river from Montreal to Quebec flows quietly 
 through a very level valley and an almost continuous 
 settlement on both sides. As it expands to form Lake 
 St. Peter it becomes shallower, and much dredging has 
 been done to enable ocean vessels drawing 27J feet to 
 reach Montreal. The tide is first felt at Three Rivers, 
 and at a place called the Richelieu large vessels wait for 
 high tide to pass through. This place must not be con- 
 founded with the Richelieu River. It is named from an 
 island where Champlain built a post and called it Riche- 
 lieu Island. As the river nears Quebec, mountains 
 begin to close in on both sides over the level valley. Op- 
 posite Quebec the river forms a deep basin — one of the 
 great harbours of the world, though so far from the 
 ocean. The mountains close round in a great amphithe- 
 atre, and Cape Diamond crowned with fortifications rises 
 steep over the city. The St. Lawrence now takes on a 
 new character. It becomes a tidal river. The tides rise 
 16 feet, and the largest ships pass up and down with them. 
 The Island of Orleans at first obscures the width, but 
 beyond it the river rapidly widens, and where the Sague- 
 nay falls in it is 25 miles across. The water, which is 
 brackish and undrinkable 30 miles below Quebec, is salt 
 at the mouth of the Saguenay. 
 
 It is impossible within the limits of this sketch to men- 
 tion, even in the briefest way, all the rivers tributary to 
 the St. Lawrence. The tributaries to Lake Superior are 
 small streams on the southern watershed, and on the 
 north the Nipigon River is the only one of importance. 
 
 The Menomonee and Fox rivers of Green Bay and the 
 St. Joseph and Grand rivers on the east side are the 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxvii 
 
 principal feeders of Lake Michigan. Lake Huron, de- 
 spite its wide area, has no great river falling into it. The 
 eastern watershed of the peninsula of Michigan is not 
 wide enough to beget great rivers, and the watershed at 
 the north is also very narrow. The chief affluents are 
 from the Province of Ontario — the French River, dis- 
 charging Lake Nipissing, the drainage of the Muskoka 
 Lakes, and the Severn River, draining Lake Simcoe. 
 The Thames, one of the largest rivers of the peninsula 
 of Ontario, drains into the shallow Lake St. Clair. 
 
 The water-parting of the Ohio approaches so close to 
 Lake Erie that its feeders from the south are small in 
 volume. The largest are the Maumee and the Sandusky. 
 On the north shore the Grand River drains into it a large 
 part of the Ontario peninsula. Lake Ontario has the 
 Genesee and the Oswego rivers as its largest feeders 
 from the south, and on the north the Trent draws into it 
 the waters from the lakes east of Lake Simcoe and south 
 of the Ottawa basin. It is not the magnitude, but the 
 number, of the streams which swells the volume of the 
 St. Lawrence as it passes through its lake expansions, and 
 the stately river flows out of its great settling basins deep 
 and broad, in a clear and transparent flood. 
 
 Eastward of Lake Huron the basin of the St. Law- 
 rence broadens out on the north and from thence come 
 its great tributaries. Chief of all is the Ottawa, a river 
 780 miles long, and draining an area of 80,000 square 
 miles. It rises in the Grand Lake Victoria, and, after a 
 circuitous course through many small lakes, reaches 
 Lake Temiscaming, whence it flows eastward to make, 
 at its junction with the St. Lawrence, the delta island on 
 which stands the city of Montreal. It is a broad and 
 deep river expanding into lakes; not a quiet stream, 
 though there are long stretches of tranquil water, but 
 vexed with rapids ; and at the city of Ottawa dropping 40 
 feet over the Chaudiere Falls. Its darker water joins 
 the bright blue St. Lawrence at an acute angle and flows 
 side by side, clearly distinguishable until the tide is 
 reached in Lake St. Peter. 
 
xxxviii GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Many other rivers flow in from the north; for the 
 northland, with its innumerable lakes, is the fertile mother 
 of streams, and though none equals the Ottawa, many are 
 of large volume. The St. Maurice is 300 miles long, and 
 joins the main river at Three Rivers — a turbulent stream 
 which, 25 miles above that city, flings itself into a chasm 
 150 feet deep as the Shawinigan Falls. The Batiscan, the 
 St. Anne, and the Jacques Cartier join the great river 
 before it reaches Quebec. Below that city the sullen 
 waters of the Saguenay silently add their volume, black 
 with the shadows of its grim gateway, and leading up 
 60 miles an estuary deep enough to float the largest 
 battleship before relaxing its sternness at the appropri- 
 ately named Ha ! Ha ! Bay. 
 
 Eastward of the Saguenay are many large rivers flow- 
 ing in from the Quebec Labrador — a convenient name 
 used to denote that part of the main Labrador coast which 
 drains into the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Chief 
 among them are the Betsiamites, the twin rivers Outarde 
 and Manicouagan, the St. John, the Moisic, and a hun- 
 dred others — turbulent streams foaming down from the 
 interior wilderness plateau. 
 
 On its southern shore the tributaries of the St. Law- 
 rence, with one exception, are not large; for the water- 
 sheds of the Hudson, the Connecticut, the Kennebec, the 
 Penobscot, and the St. John press hard upon the basin 
 of the great river. But between the Mohawk (a tribu- 
 tary of the Hudson) and the Connecticut the St. Law- 
 rence reaches far into the south by the water of Lake 
 Champlain and Lake George, which discharge north- 
 wards by the beautiful river Richelieu — a long stretch of 
 navigable water of great commercial importance before 
 the era of railways, and always the gateway of military 
 attack and defence on the south. Other streams of im- 
 portance are the St. Francis, the Yamaska, the Chaudiere, 
 the lower Du Loup, until the valley of the Matapedia is 
 reached, which leads behind the mountains of Gaspe into 
 Chaleur Bay. 
 
 The axis of the St. Lawrence valley does not lie east 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH xxxix 
 
 and west. From the Straits of Belle-Isle in lat. 52 0 it 
 leads southwest to Detroit in lat. 42 0 ; then, turning to the 
 northwest, it attains at Lake Nipigon a height of 50° N., 
 so that the form of a gigantic “ V ” is roughly traced in 
 its course. This indicates a great variety of climatic 
 conditions, modified also by the influences of large bodies 
 of water ; and from the region of grapes and peaches on 
 Lake Erie one may pass to the stern and barren shores 
 of Belle-Isle. The climate of the valley is, speaking 
 generally, continental — a region of cold winters and warm 
 summers — where winter passes suddenly into summer 
 without any hesitating spring, and where the autumn (or 
 fall, as the natives properly call it) delays long before it 
 yields the heat stored in its ample treasures of waters, and 
 a summer warmth of long days, quick and energetic — for 
 maize and tobacco and melons ripen at Quebec and Sault 
 Ste. Marie. The Tobacco nation of the Hurons were so 
 named by the French discoverers from the quality of 
 their tobacco grown on the eastern shores of Lake Huron, 
 and Cartier describes, with wondering curiosity, the 
 maize used as food at Quebec and Montreal. 
 
 The peculiar “ V ” shaped course of the main river val- 
 ley is due to the fact that the primary Laurentian nucleus 
 of the continent is of that shape, and, along its edge, in 
 an alluvial valley resting on Silurian rocks, the river flows 
 and expands into broad lakes. It is a broad generaliza- 
 tion, but to describe it more in detail would unduly 
 lengthen this sketch. All the valley was clothed with 
 forest when it was discovered, and the level and fertile 
 fields which now support a large population have been 
 wrested from the wilderness by the axe of the early 
 settlers. 
 
 The characteristics of the Laurentian country, which 
 forms and feeds the great river from the north, are very 
 marked. It is a plateau, two or three hundred miles 
 wide, of ancient hills or mountains 1000 to 1600 feet 
 above the sea, rounded in form by the immense lapse of 
 ages, and forest-clad to their summits. Myriads of lakes, 
 connected by countless mazes of streams, gather up the 
 
xl 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 waters which flow down to the lower level in rapids and 
 falls along the entire edge of the valley. At the heads of 
 the streams and their tributaries the waters interlock so 
 that, in the early days of the colony, the Indians would 
 pass from one to the other, and bring their furs to market 
 by the Ottawa, St. Maurice, or Saguenay, according as 
 one or the other was free from hostile Indians. 
 
 Such are the broad general features of the region with 
 which this volume is concerned. Imperfect as this sketch 
 is, it may be of assistance in explaining the incidental 
 geographical notices scattered throughout the narrative. 
 
THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 T HE subject of the present volume is the discov- 
 ery and exploration of the northeast coast of 
 North America and of the great transverse val- 
 ley of the St. Lawrence which searches the con- 
 tinent to its very heart. It is limited to regions still subject 
 to the British Crown, exclusive of those territories north 
 of Hudson’s Strait, which can more conveniently be 
 treated under the heading of Arctic geography. The 
 theme is thus limited, not because of any intermingling of 
 political ideas with a question of geographical history, but 
 because the great features of the Bay of Fundy and the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence mark off a region easily separable 
 from the remaining coast, and distinguished by peculiar 
 and striking characteristics. After following the discov- 
 ery and exploration of the coast, the exploration of the 
 basin of the St. Lawrence River, and its expansions of 
 inland fresh-water seas, will be followed up to the water- 
 partings of the tributaries of Hudson’s Bay on the north 
 and west, and of the Mississippi and other streams drain- 
 ing into the Gulf of Mexico and the main Atlantic Ocean 
 on the south. In this part of the work it will be necessary 
 to take into consideration those portions of the western 
 United States which belong to the great basin. 
 
 Besides the difficulties proper to historical investiga- 
 tion, such inquiries as these present additional difficul- 
 ties in documents, such as maps and charts, quasi-scien- 
 tific in their nature, but drawn up under widely erroneous 
 
2 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 notions. Much of the confusion which has been intro- 
 duced into the history of American discovery is due 
 to efforts to treat these cartographical documents with 
 the minute seriousness due only to the careful production 
 of modern scientific research. The early cartographers 
 embodied in their works the mythology of their day. 
 The unknown interiors of continental masses were filled 
 up with legends and pictorial illustrations drawn from 
 sacred and profane history. We may see upon them 
 Prester John with his mitre, the Queen of Sheba, and the 
 three Kings of the East. Gog and Magog are shut up in 
 the far north behind a chain of mountains waiting for the 
 time appointed in Ezekiel xxxix. for their irruption, and 
 Jerusalem, adorned with towered structures, is set, 
 according to the prophets, in the centre of the whole 
 earth. Then there are strange monsters portrayed in all 
 seriousness — men with pigs’ heads, men with only one 
 foot, men with ears large enough to cover their bodies, 
 and, even in the sea, are strange mythical creatures like 
 the remora , a fish six inches long which has the power to 
 stop a ship under full sail. It requires discursive read- 
 ing to understand all these allusions. When, on an 
 important map made in Jacques Cartier’s time, we see 
 pigmies drawn up with bows and arrows in deadly con- 
 flict with an army of cranes in the region surrounding the 
 present capital of Canada, we know that the cartographer 
 thought he was portraying a part of Tartary. The dis- 
 covery of America was a very gradual process, and out- 
 side of Spain, Portugal, and Italy it attracted, for a 
 long time, very little attention. English literature is 
 unconscious of Cabot, Columbus, and Vespucci until 
 A. D. 1553, when Richard Eden began to write. 
 
 Then again we must take into account the fact that 
 these old maps are drawn to magnetic meridians, while 
 ours are always drawn to the true meridian. This prin- 
 ciple alters the lie of a coast and the direction of a 
 course and the neglect of considering it has been the 
 cause of much controversy. Thus the course from Cape 
 Race to Cape Breton is laid down on the oldest maps on 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 3 
 
 a due west line, and in the contemporary description 
 these points are plainly said to lie east and west. So they 
 do by compass, but the true course is more nearly west- 
 southwest, for Cape Breton is in lat. 45 ° 57', and Cape 
 Race in lat. 46° 39', and there is a drop of 42 miles to the 
 south in that short stretch of coast. The coast line on 
 La Cosa’s map thus explained becomes intelligible. It 
 will be seen, later on, how seriously a long course across 
 the ocean is affected by magnetic variation, but attention 
 is now directed to its effect in distorting the coast lines. 
 
 Determinations of latitude were not easily made from 
 the deck of a vessel with the imperfect instruments of 
 that period ; but when made on firm land they were fairly 
 accurate. Nevertheless it is a fact that, in the earlier 
 maps, the Antilles are laid down eight degrees too far 
 north, being all placed north of the tropic, instead of 
 being all south of it. Longitudes are, however, far astray, 
 for, before chronometers, it was only on rare occa- 
 sions that longitude could be determined with the least 
 degree of accuracy. On the northeast coast of America 
 the longitudes were from fourteen to twenty degrees out 
 of the way, but in estimating longitudes in the Eastern 
 Hemisphere the Spanish and Portuguese experts differed 
 to the extent of forty-six degrees. The subject is fur- 
 ther complicated by the different estimations of the cir- 
 cumference of the earth and the consequent length of a 
 degree. Translating all these differences into our 
 standard nautical miles, it will appear that a degree upon 
 the equator of Columbus was 45.33 miles, of Ptolemy 50 
 miles, of current opinion in Spain (in A. D. 1500), 53.33 
 miles, of the Badajos convention and of Champlain, 
 56 miles. When, therefore, we transfer distances from 
 early maps to our maps made with degrees of 60 
 nautical miles, we shall go astray if we do not make the 
 necessary compensations. 
 
 Finally the old maps abound in errors of spelling, and 
 of transcription and translation, where a cartographer or 
 engraver is following the copy of a language he does not 
 understand. Only slowly, and with occasional relapses, 
 
4 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 did geographical science struggle to its present perfec- 
 tion. Only slowly did the popular mind go back to the 
 science of the Greeks, and as slowly did modern science 
 pass beyond it. 
 
 That the earth is spherical is a belief which, in the 
 fourth century before Christ, was generally accepted by 
 the Greeks. Their astronomers observed in eclipses of 
 the moon that the shadow of the earth is circular and the 
 phenomena attending the appearance or disappearance on 
 the horizon of arriving and departing ships were familiar 
 to a sea-faring people. This belief was held in a thor- 
 oughly scientific manner. Latitudes were determined by 
 the shadow of the gnomon, and attempts were made to 
 measure the circumference of the earth, with results 
 which became the basis of calculation for the sailors who 
 discovered America. 
 
 In the decay and destruction of the old civilisation and 
 the confusion, long protracted, which attended the migra- 
 tion and settlement of the new nations, the geographical 
 science of the Greeks was lost, and very crude and 
 erroneous notions prevailed generally in Europe. The 
 study of geography first revived among the Arabs; for 
 the works of the Greek philosophers were translated into 
 Arabic, and schools of geography flourished at Bagdad 
 and Cordova in the ninth century of our era. The works 
 of the Arabian geographers were translated into Latin, 
 and in that way the writings of the Greek philosophers 
 again became known in the West. In the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries the dawn of reviving literature and 
 science in Europe appeared with the founding of the 
 great universities and the rise of the philosophy of the 
 schools. 
 
 To allude to many of those scholars who, in the 
 seclusion of a cloister, kept the lamp of learning alight 
 during the Dark Ages would lead too far afield. Friar 
 Roger Bacon in his “ Opus Majus ” (1267) and Cardinal 
 d’Ailly, in his “ Imago Mundi ” (1410), are the two who 
 had the most influence in geography; for Bacon’s views, 
 as presented and reinforced in d’Ailly’s work, were the 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 5 
 
 chief springs of the convictions of Columbus. The great 
 sailors of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were not 
 direct students of the Greek and Arab science ; but 
 derived their knowledge indirectly through the writings 
 of the great scholars of the Middle Ages which, being in 
 Latin, were then open to all. That the belief in the 
 sphericity of the earth had not been lost, but, on the con- 
 trary, was generally accepted by the learned, is manifest 
 in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Without hesitation he 
 assumes it and makes Virgil conduct him down, through 
 the earth, to the centre of gravity, where Lucifer is fixed, 
 as it was impossible he could fall lower. From that point 
 Dante ascends, with his guide, to the surface of the earth 
 in the opposite hemisphere, where he sees, for the first 
 time, the constellation of the Southern Cross. Dante 
 had studied at the great universities of Europe, and the 
 state of geographic and astronomic knowledge at that 
 time is reflected in his poem. Grotesque as is the idea of 
 having to turn head over heels in the centre of the earth, 
 which they of course had to do in order to ascend, it is 
 of interest in showing that the conception of the earth as 
 a sphere was firmly grasped, and that gravitation towards 
 the centre of the earth was recognised as pervading all 
 nature. The treatise on the astrolabe, which Chaucer 
 compiled for the use of his little son Lewis, also shows 
 that the study of astronomy in its practical application to 
 latitude and longitude was a favourite one among the 
 learned in England in the fourteenth century. 
 
 Two centuries, very nearly, elapsed from Dante to 
 Columbus, and in them had occurred the stir of thought 
 caused by the popularisation of ancient learning and 
 science consequent upon the invention of the art of 
 printing. Then was the very height of the Renaissance, 
 and the great cities of the south of Europe became cen- 
 tres of keen interest in geographical science. In this 
 interest popes and princes shared to such an extent that 
 these studies became the fashion among courtiers, while 
 the daring and skilful sailors of the maritime cites of 
 Italy and of Portugal, Catalonia and Minorca were 
 
6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 extending the bounds of discovery into all seas. It is 
 difficult to realise at the present time how little England 
 counted for in all this stir of maritime extension, and yet 
 it was an English ship and an English crew which first 
 touched the continent of America, though the moving 
 spirit and captain commanding was an Italian, born in 
 Genoa and trained in Venice. 
 
 It may seem surprising that the Western Ocean was first 
 crossed at its widest part ; but the surprise will disappear 
 upon a comparison of the different conditions of naviga- 
 tion in the North and South Atlantic. Columbus sailed 
 in the region of the trade winds and, throughout the 
 whole voyage, the weather was fair and the wind con- 
 stant on the ship’s quarter. He was in the great equa- 
 torial current, and the drift of the ocean was with him on 
 his western course. It was fair-weather sailing, and 
 the constant favouring conditions themselves alarmed the 
 common sailors, for they thought they had reached a 
 region where the winds never blew back towards Spain. 
 In the North Atlantic it is far different. North of lat. 
 40° the drift of the ocean is towards Europe, and the pre- 
 vailing winds are from the west. Westward from Ire- 
 land to America is one of the most unquiet regions of 
 ocean in the world, and a vessel on a westward course in 
 those latitudes will have to contend, not only with adverse 
 winds and broken weather, but with frequent and dense 
 fogs. Therefore it was that, although in the north the 
 continents draw together and the degrees of longitude 
 are much shorter, the efforts made from Bristol were 
 baffled until the success of Columbus had demonstrated 
 the existence of land within reach across the ocean. 
 
 It does not lie within the scope of this volume to dwell 
 upon the voyages of Columbus or upon the Bulls of par- 
 tition and the treaties which are supposed to have divided 
 the world between Spain and Portugal. It is important, 
 however, to observe that as the sailors of that day had 
 no means of ascertaining longitudes excepting by dead 
 reckoning, it could and did happen that the line of parti- 
 tion, settled in 1494 between Spain and Portugal at 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 7 
 
 Tordesillas, was supposed to cut the coast of North Amer- 
 ica at what is now Novia Scotia. After some hesitation 
 on the part of Spain, all the coast of the maritime prov- 
 inces of Canada and of Newfoundland were, under these 
 documents, tacitly conceded to Portugal. The present 
 volume then will deal only incidentally with Spanish 
 voyages or Spanish maps. It is with Portuguese and 
 French sailors and with their maps it will be most con- 
 cerned; for, although the English under the leading of 
 Cabot first discovered the coast of North America from 
 Labrador to Cape Hatteras, they did not follow up the 
 discovery by such occupation as would give them a title 
 under international law; nor did they even attempt it 
 until over one hundred years had elapsed, and prior occu- 
 pation had established the French title to that portion of 
 North America now known as Canada. 
 
 The circumstances which led up to the discovery of 
 America cannot be fully explained without some refer- 
 ence to the groups of islands in mid-ocean which were 
 the outposts of Spain and Portugal in their maritime 
 enterprises. The Canary Islands are only sixty-five 
 miles from the coast of Africa. They were known to 
 the Carthaginians and Romans as the Fortunate Islands, 
 and Ptolemy fixed there his first meridian of longitude. 
 They had been forgotten, but in the thirteenth century 
 were occupied by the Genoese and at the opening of the 
 fifteenth century were conquered by Norman adventurers 
 who held them under Spanish protection. They were 
 for Spain the point of departure for the New World, and 
 ships bound to the West Indies reached there the regions 
 of the favouring trade winds, and could refit if necessary. 
 They were little connected with the discoveries on the 
 northeast coast of America. They are chiefly interest- 
 ing because, during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
 turies, the first meridian of longitude for most of the 
 European nations passed through Ferro (Hierro), a 
 small island, the most western of the group. 
 
 The other groups belonged to Portugal and had been 
 colonised by active and energetic settlers seasoned by 
 
8 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 long familiarity with the hazards of the ocean. The Cape 
 de Verde Islands are in lat. i6° N. They are 300 miles 
 from Africa and were of great assistance to the Portu- 
 guese sailors on their way to the East Indies. The names 
 of two of them, Fogo and Bonavista (Boavista), 
 repeated on the east coast of Newfoundland, mark the 
 presence of Portuguese there at an early date. Fogo 
 (fire) is an appropriate name for an island with an active 
 volcano, but on the coast of Newfoundland it is evidently 
 a reminiscence, as is also Bonavista. The Madeira 
 Islands were rediscovered about A. D. 1420. Columbus 
 married a daughter of Perestrello, a distinguished sailor 
 for Prince Henry of Portugal and coloniser of Porto 
 Santo, one of the group. He resided for a time on the 
 island, and his son Diego was born there. There also, 
 by Perestrello’s papers and charts (which he had access 
 to), all the secrets of the Portuguese discoveries were 
 opened to him, and on the strand 560 miles from the 
 mainland of Europe the billows of the great Western 
 Ocean washed up strange fragments from the hidden 
 and mysterious world beyond. 
 
 Furthest to the west and north, in the latitude of Lis- 
 bon and 850 miles from the continent of Europe, is the 
 group of the iVzores, rediscovered and colonised by the 
 Portuguese in A. D. 1431-32. On the island of Fayal in 
 this group resided for some time Martin Behaim, one of 
 the great navigators and geographers of the age of dis- 
 covery. He married the daughter of Job de Huertar, 
 who colonised it in 14 66, and in 1489 he had a son born 
 there. He spent much of his life in Portugal and the 
 Azores, although he was born at Nuremburg. While 
 Columbus was at sea on his first voyage of discovery 
 Behaim was in Nuremburg, and he constructed a globe 
 which he presented to the city. It is still preserved there 
 and is one of the most important historical monuments 
 extant. All inquiries concerning the early history of 
 America should be preceded by a careful study of 
 Behaim’s globe, for on it is the contour of the eastern 
 coast of Asia based on accounts of Marco Polo, and the 
 
/ 
 
 Extract from Martin Behaim’s Globe, a,d. 149 
 

 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 9 
 
 earliest maps of America adopted these outlines to fill in 
 the undiscovered portions of the coast line of the west. 
 
 While these actually existing island outposts upon the 
 Western Ocean strongly assisted in the discovery of 
 the Western World, there were many islands non-ex- 
 istent, save in the imagination, which nevertheless 
 stimulated the efforts of the sailors of that age. The old 
 maps contain many imaginary islands, and, while their 
 positions often change on the maps, the legendary asso- 
 ciations of some of them were of special interest to the 
 south and of others to the north of Europe. Antilia was 
 laid down on almost all charts in the latitude of the 
 Strait of Gibraltar. It was sometimes confounded (as 
 in the legends on BehainTs globe) with the island of 
 the Seven Cities. Both were firmly believed in by the 
 learned as well as the unlearned in Spain and Portugal. 
 The name of the former persists to this day in the 
 Greater and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies. The 
 latter island was believed to be the refuge of seven 
 bishops who, with their flocks, fled, after the defeat of 
 Don Roderick, from the fury of the Moors. Later the 
 name was transferred to the mainland of America and 
 to a region northeast from Mexico. Two other islands, 
 Isle Maida and Isle Verde, are found on all old charts 
 and in Faden’s Atlas, published as late as 1776, Mayda 
 Island is laid down in long. 20° W., and Green Island in 
 long. 24 0 W. 
 
 These islands appealed to Mediterranean sailors. The 
 imagination of the northern people was stirred by legends 
 of the island of St. Brandan and of Brazil. The 
 imaginary island of O’Brazil may be found in Jeffrey’s 
 American Atlas (published in 1776) west of Cape Clear 
 in long. 17 0 35' W. The legend of St. Brandan is Celtic 
 and is of very old date. The Saint was accompanied, on 
 his voyage to the Island of the Saints, by St. Malo of 
 Brittany, known in Normandy as St. Maelou, whose 
 beautiful church is one of the chief ornaments of Rouen. 
 Martin Behaim (a German by birth) placed the island 
 far to the south, but it was usually supposed to lie west 
 
10 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 from Ireland. He gave the date of the voyage as A. D. 
 565. It may be found on maps as late as 1755. The 
 legends relating to the adventurous expeditions of these 
 two Saints are very numerous and interesting. Tenny- 
 son’s poem “ The Voyage of Maeldune ” is one of them. 
 Maeldune found the island and one of Brandan’s com- 
 panions upon it. 
 
 The island of Brasil, O’Brazil, or Bresil is a persistent, 
 but more mysterious, island; for the etymology of the 
 name is unknown. It is probably a corruption of the 
 name of an Oriental dye-wood yielding a rich red colour, 
 and, when such wood was brought from South America, 
 the land (first called Santa Cruz) where it was found 
 was named Brazil. The word is used by Chaucer in 
 the sense of a dye, and the island of Brazil may be “ the 
 crimson island ” seen by strained imagination in the 
 crimson sunsets of the stormy North Atlantic. No 
 legends are attached to it, but from A. D. 1480 to the 
 year of Cabot’s voyage the Bristol people had been trying 
 to find it. It was usually laid down as west and north of 
 Ireland and so it is found on Behaim’s globe. We may 
 safely dismiss as mythical all that has been claimed for 
 Basque discoveries in America prior to Columbus and 
 Cabot. They are vague and legendary statements, based 
 on no records or authorities of any weight. Some 
 writers cite Andrea Bianco’s Atlas (A. D. 1436) in proof; 
 for they find in it an island “ Scorafixa or Stokafixa,” as 
 they think in the northwest Atlantic which they take to 
 signify stockfish and to lie in the position of Newfound- 
 land. Others have attempted to show a similiarity 
 between the Basque and American languages, but with- 
 out success, and it has been said that Cabot found the 
 “ Basque word bacallaos ” in use for codfish on the New- 
 foundland coast. These statements will be fully dis- 
 cussed in later chapters. The voyage of Skolno (for the 
 king of Denmark) to the Labrador coast in 1476 is also 
 apocryphal. 
 
 The globe of Behaim, then, is of the utmost importance 
 in American history. It is a contemporary graphic 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 ii 
 
 record by a sailor and geographer of the first rank, who 
 was mixed up, theoretically and practically, with the mar- 
 itime enterprises of the age. It shows clearly that it was 
 not a surprise to learned scholars or skilled mariners in 
 Europe when Columbus found land across the Western 
 Ocean. A greater problem presented itself later when 
 men began to see that the land found was not Cathay and 
 that there existed a barrier continental mass unsuspected 
 and undreamed of, which shut off direct communication 
 with Asia. Against this barrier the sailors of western 
 Europe were to strive for two hundred years more, and 
 their efforts were continued in that passionate search for 
 a northwest passage which has calmed down only in our 
 own time. 
 
 In the earliest documents of discovery every land found 
 in the West was supposed to be an island more or less 
 large — an island in an archipelago which we see on 
 Behaim’s globe guarding the eastern coast of Asia. These 
 coalesced into a continent as the coast was more narrowly 
 searched. Sebastain Cabot wrote to Ramusio that he 
 verily believed that all the north part of America is 
 divided into islands. He was right, as any map of that 
 region will show, but he had not reckoned upon a bar- 
 rier of ice. He seems to have suspected the existence of 
 an opening somewhere in the region of Bacallaos, and 
 Stephen Gomez certainly did. That suspicion it was the 
 task of Jacques Cartier to justify and, although he did 
 not find a passage to the Great South Sea, he found an 
 avenue into the very heart of the continent through the 
 most wonderful system of waterways in the world. 
 
 Although Balboa, Cortes, and Pizarro demonstrated 
 that at the south, America was separate from Asia, it was 
 confidently believed until much later times that, on the 
 north, Asia was continuous with the northern part 
 of America, and that the Great South Sea washed the 
 southern shore of this immensely prolonged joint conti- 
 nent. In the royal commission to Cartier this belief is 
 plainly apparent. Jean Allefonse, the pilot of Roberval, 
 wrote that “these lands (Canada) belong to Tartary,” 
 
i2 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and are a “ continuation of Asia/’ and his belief is em- 
 bodied in the maps of the French school of cartography. 
 The early explorers persistently reiterate that “ hawks ” 
 % were found; as if that fact had some bearing on their 
 discoveries. Hawks are not characteristic specially of 
 the northern parts of America, but when we read in 
 Marco Polo that Kublai Khan took 10,000 falconers on 
 his hunting expeditions with gerfalcons and other hawks 
 in great numbers we can guess what the minds of the 
 old navigators were dwelling upon. 
 
 And so for a hundred and fifty years the French sought 
 unwearying for the gateway of the west. Cartier sailed 
 up the St. Lawrence to Montreal and heard stories of 
 great seas a few weeks’ journey westward — nay, at 
 Hochelaga, from the top of Mount Royal, he saw with his 
 own eyes the glimmer of Lake St. Louis and the Lake of 
 Two Mountains ; and he might well have wondered 
 whether the way to Cathay led by the west over the one, 
 or by the southwest over the other. Champlain, lured 
 by the same hope, followed up the Ottawa in a bark 
 canoe, and was brought by his Indian guides to the Mer 
 Douce — the fresh-water sea of Lake Huron. The same 
 dream distracted the cares of the missionary on the 
 shores of Lake Superior, harassed by the perverse malig- 
 nity of his savage flock; it inspired the saintly Mar- 
 quette and the tireless Jolliet on their lonely journey 
 down the unknown Mississippi, wondering as they 
 paddled whether it fell into the Gulf of Mexico or into 
 the Vermilion Sea ; and still, at the present day, a suburb 
 of the busy city of Montreal re-echoes the same quest in 
 its name Lachine, and recalls the memory of an indomit- 
 able spirit, a ruined fortune, and a tragic death. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 JOHN CABOT'S FIRST VOYAGE — DISCOVERY 
 
 C ANADA, in the strict sense of the word, consists 
 of the ancient Province of Quebec, which, in 
 1791, was divided into the provinces of Upper 
 and Lower Canada. In 1841 these were re- 
 united into one province. Of that Canada Jacques Cartier 
 was the discoverer. As Egypt depends upon the River 
 Nile and is inseparable from it in thought, so that Canada 
 — old Canada — is inseparable from the River St. Law- 
 rence and its lake expansions, and upon the waters of that 
 great river Jacques Cartier, a Breton of St. Malo, was the 
 first European to sail. On July 1, 1867, the British 
 provinces, excepting Newfoundland, were confederated 
 and merged into one Dominion. This, with its after 
 accretions, is the Canada now existing; and of Canada 
 so constituted John Cabot was the discoverer; for in 1497 
 he landed upon the shore of one of its eastern provinces 
 and in that and the following year he sailed along its 
 Atlantic seaboard, as well as along the outer coasts of 
 Newfoundland. 
 
 The circumstances of this momentous discovery were 
 well known in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and some of 
 them are recorded by Hakluyt, but in the contemporary 
 annals of England there are only scanty notices of them. 
 For one hundred years the English thought little of 
 their discoveries across the ocean, and did not take 
 enough interest in them to claim exclusive rights. In the 
 meantime other nations also entered upon them and when, 
 two hundred years after the primary discovery, a struggle 
 arose among the colonising nations for these western 
 lands, the diplomatists of the other nations either chal- 
 lenged the fact of any discovery by England, or accepted 
 it only for the barren and icy regions of Northern Labra- 
 
 13 
 
14 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 dor, or Greenland. It was Richard Biddle of Pittsburg, 
 Pennsylvania, who re-opened the whole question in a 
 work based upon documentary authorities and first 
 printed at Philadelphia in 1831. He wrote with great 
 originality and independent research, but new and most 
 important material has since his time been brought to 
 light, during the long controversy which was inaugurated 
 by his stimulating book. 
 
 There are now between seventy and eighty millions 
 of English-speaking people in North America ; but 
 the early history of the continent must be sought in 
 Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian literature. The first 
 ship to touch the mainland of the Western World was 
 an English ship ; but the main proofs of that fact must be 
 gleaned from the archives of Southern Europe. The 
 testimony is more weighty for that reason, since it is not 
 coloured by national pride, and it is impartial, because it 
 is unconscious. The intellectual as well as the com- 
 mercial prominence of the Italian people is emphasised 
 by the facts that Columbus, a Genoese, discovered 
 America for Spain; John Cabot, a Genoese- Venetian, 
 discovered the mainland for England; Juan Verrazano, 
 a Florentine, created a claim for France by his voyage 
 along the coast of tfye Northern United States and 
 Acadia; and the whole Western World was named Amer- 
 ica after another Florentine, Amerigo Vespucci. 
 
 In those days Bristol was, in all England, second only 
 to London in importance. Wealthy merchants carried 
 on extensive trade with the northern parts of Europe and 
 especially with Iceland. There was, in truth, more mari- 
 time enterprise in Bristol than in any other part of the 
 realm. The trade in codfish was very large on account 
 of the numerous fast days of the church, and it centred 
 at Bristol. Recent scepticism has thrown doubt upon 
 the recorded voyage of Columbus from Bristol to Iceland 
 in 1477; but even if that story be entirely false, it is of 
 very early invention, and is sufficient to establish the 
 importance of Bristol as the key-point of northern com- 
 merce. It is not smooth-water sailing in these northern 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 15 
 
 seas, and in the west of England a hardy breed of mari- 
 ners was trained, who were the predecessors of the fisher- 
 men of the Banks of Newfoundland. We read of many 
 attempts of Bristol sailors before A. D. 1497 to discover 
 the secret of the Western Ocean, and one expedition, made 
 in 1480, under command of Captain Thlyde, was out 
 for nine weeks. It was a most determined attempt, but, 
 although Thlyde is described in contemporary annals as 
 the most scientific mariner in all England, the west winds 
 were too much for him, and he was driven back, in 
 September, to shelter on the west coast of Ireland. In 
 the seven years immediately preceding Cabot’s voyage 
 two or three attempts were made every year to discover 
 the island of Brasil. There is in fact one solitary pointed 
 crag in that part of the ocean, and it firstappears as Rock- 
 all on the charts about A. D. 1600. It is 260 miles north- 
 west from Ireland — a sheer cliff of black granite, white 
 at top with sea birds ; only 100 yards in circumference at 
 its base, but surrounded by a bank of considerable extent, 
 the resort of innumerable codfish. There is evidence to 
 show that within 200 or 300 years an exposed sandbank 
 existed round the rock, but it could never have been the 
 Crimson Island — Brasil — of the Bristol sailor’s quest. 
 
 At what time John Cabot arrived in Bristol is not 
 definitely known. He was Genoese by birth, but had been 
 naturalised in Venice after fifteen years’ residence, and 
 he came with his wife and three sons into a community 
 prepared for any maritime enterprise. To the tales of 
 the island of Brandan and Brasil in the North he could 
 add the legends of Antilia and the Seven Cities of more 
 southern latitudes. He added also, what was far more 
 important, the experience of one trained in the wide- 
 extended commerce of Venice, and a firm belief in the 
 rotundity of the earth and all which that implied. Of 
 his three sons, Sebastian only is heard of again. He rose 
 to eminent positions in the naval service, first of Spain 
 and then of England. 
 
 News of the success of Columbus in 1492 spread over 
 Europe, and incited the emulation of Cabot. He was an 
 
1 6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Italian stranger, poor and without friends. The Bristol 
 merchants may have lent him influence at court to attract 
 the attention of Henry VII., but that monarch remem- 
 bered the application of Bartholomew Columbus, and was 
 ready enough to approve of an enterprise which, without 
 cost to himself, might result in extending his power. It 
 is worthy of note that the petition to the king was in the 
 names of John Cabot, citizen of Venice, and his sons 
 Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius. There was no other 
 name upon it. Letters patent were granted, dated 
 March 5, 1496, and were made out to John Cabot and his 
 sons alone. The letters gave “ full and free authority 
 &c., of navigation to all parts, countries and seas of the 
 east, west, and north, under our banners, flags, and 
 ensigns.” The King did not authorise any discovery to 
 the south; for there the Spaniards were in occupation. 
 The Cabots were empowered to sail “ with five ships or 
 vessels of whatever burden or quality soever they be, and 
 with as many mariners or men as they will have with 
 them in the said ships upon their own proper costs and 
 charges ; to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever 
 islands, countries, regions or provinces of the heathens 
 or infidels, in whatever part of the world they be, which 
 before this time have been unknown to all Christians.” 
 The letters patent then go on to grant the right to fly 
 the English flag over such new lands and “ conquer, 
 occupy and possess as vassals or governors, &c., &c.,” 
 and to acquire “ for us the dominion, title, and jurisdic- 
 tion over those towns, castles, islands, and mainlands so 
 discovered.” It is further stipulated that all arrivals 
 from discovered lands shall be confined to the port of 
 Bristol, and that one-fifth of the whole profits shall be 
 reserved to the King’s use. On the other hand all goods 
 imported from the new lands are to be free of duty, and 
 the Cabots are to have a monopoly of the trade there- 
 with. Finally, the King enjoins his subjects to give to the 
 grantees “ all favour and help as well in arming the ships 
 or vessels, as in supplying them with stores and victuals 
 to be paid for by their own money .” The King was 
 
JOHN , CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 17 
 
 very careful not to risk anything. The Cabots had the 
 risk, and the King was to have one-fifth of the profits. 
 The chief advantage of the letters patent was to give 
 official status to the voyage, and to enable Cabot to 
 take possession, under the protection of England, of any 
 country he might discover. 
 
 Cabot’s movements at once attracted the attention of 
 Dr. de Puebla, the Spanish ambassador at London; and 
 he wrote to inform his master, Ferdinand of Aragon, of 
 the proposed voyage. This letter is not extant, but its 
 contents may be gathered from the King’s reply. This 
 is dated March 28, 1496, and was written from Tortosa 
 in Aragon; so that de Puebla’s letter must have been 
 written before the letters patent were actually issued. 
 Cabot could not have been very long in England, for the 
 ambassador wrote “ that a person like Columbus had 
 come to England to engage the King in a similar enter- 
 prise to that of the Indies, but without prejudice to Spain 
 or Portugal.” The King replied that “ he was at liberty, 
 but that it could not be done without infringing upon the 
 rights of those nations,” thus implying that he understood 
 the Bull of partition to apply to the whole of the regions 
 across the ocean. We learn from another despatch that 
 Cabot had been previously in Lisbon and Seville seeking 
 aid for his enterprise, without success. He must have 
 had difficulty also in Bristol, for he could only fit out one 
 small vessel, although the patent permitted him to take 
 five. He was, indeed, as both the Spanish ambassadors 
 wrote, “ one like Columbus,” poor, visionary, skilful, dar- 
 ing, persevering, and boastful. Of the trials and dis- 
 appointments he experienced we know nothing, while the 
 rebuffs of Columbus are the theme of many volumes. 
 Spain gave Columbus and his posterity honours and re- 
 wards, but Cabot sank into an unknown and unhonoured 
 grave, and the millions upon millions of English for 
 whom he pre-empted the continent of the West decreed to 
 his memory, after four hundred years of neglect, only the 
 small memorial tower on Brandon Hill at Bristol. 
 Honour to the Bristol people who assisted him in I 497 > 
 
1 8 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and honour to those who commemorated him in 1897, but 
 greater honour to Spain, that even in her day of humilia- 
 tion she could yet care for the remains of Columbus, and 
 that his descendants are still grandees of her sadly 
 shrunken empire. 
 
 The neglect of the English people does not derogate 
 from the merit of John Cabot’s discovery. It is a fact to 
 be remembered that Cabot touched the continent of Amer- 
 ica thirteen months before Columbus saw the mainland 
 at the Boca del Sierpe, on the coast of Venezuela. Many 
 of the details are known to us now, from the letters of 
 some intelligent foreigners then resident in England, and 
 other important documents which have, in recent years, 
 come to light. A spirited controversy preceded the cele- 
 bration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discov- 
 ery; and in its course these new facts and documents 
 have been thoroughly sifted and placed beyond all danger 
 of ever again being obscured. 
 
 Early in the month of May, 1497, Cabot sailed from 
 Bristol on his lonely voyage. If we may believe Bar- 
 rett’s “ History of Bristol,” his ship was called the Mat- 
 thew. Barrett copied from older records not now in 
 existence. The rest of his statement is confirmed by 
 independent evidence, and that he, or anyone else, should 
 falsify a record to insert so unessential a matter as the 
 name of a ship does not appear to be a reasonable suppo- 
 sition. She was a very small vessel, and carried only 
 eighteen of a crew. 
 
 The objective point of the voyage was Cathay (North- 
 ern China), of which province Cambaluc (Pekin) was 
 the chief city and the residence of the Grand Khan. The 
 localities will be found on Behaim’s globe, the particular 
 descriptions are in Marco Polo’s travels. That was the 
 country which Cabot reported on his return that he had 
 found. In those days, when longitude could only be 
 known by dead reckoning, it was the custom to make the 
 latitude sure in familiar waters, before turning to the wide 
 ocean. So Columbus, in 1492, first went to the Canaries 
 to take his western departure for Zipango. Again, on 
 
The Cabot Tower at Bristol. 
 
 [Face page 18 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 19 
 
 his third voyage, when he set out to discover the land to 
 the south he had heard of in Hispaniola, he made his 
 southing to the Cape Verde Islands and struck directly 
 west from there. A similar reason would induce Cabot 
 to turn north upon the outer coast of Ireland, until, hav- 
 ing got the supposed latitude of his objective point, he 
 struck for it across the ocean. If his destination had 
 been to the north, the familiar course to Iceland, inside 
 the channel and north of Ireland, would have taken him 
 well on his way. How far up the west coast of Ireland 
 he sailed we do not know. It may have been to 
 Blacksod Bay in lat. 54 0 N., as assumed by a very 
 competent authority. It could not have been farther 
 north. It is recorded in connection with Ruysch’s map, 
 in the Ptolemy of 1508, that the ship Ruysch sailed in 
 turned to the west in lat. 53 0 N. There can be no doubt 
 as to Cabot’s course. The letters make that abundantly 
 clear. 
 
 It was west. But what is west? or rather, what did 
 the sailors of that day mean by west? It was then 
 always west by compass. We may be sure of that, and 
 also that their compasses were the same as ours. When 
 Columbus sailed west from the Canaries he dropped 240 
 miles south of his landfall at Guanahani, and, again, in 
 his third voyage, when he sailed west from the Cape Verde 
 Islands in lat. 14 0 53' N. he struck land at the south coast 
 of Trinidad in lat. io° N., having dropped 293 miles to 
 the south. He followed his compass, though he was 
 sailing in a region of clear skies, where the stars came out 
 brightly every night. Cabot, on the contrary, was sail- 
 ing in latitudes of adverse winds and dense and pro- 
 tracted fogs. Of necessity he followed his compass, for 
 how otherwise could he retrace his course over the grey 
 measureless waste of ocean, where he might not be able 
 for days to get an observation of the sun, or to see the 
 stars by night? It was not a new thing that the needle 
 should deviate from the North Star. That had already 
 been observed, and, all over the west of Europe, the de- 
 viation was recognized as about one point east of north. 
 
20 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 What was new was western variation — the crossing over 
 of the needle from east to west. That indicated to those 
 who first saw it that they had entered into a sphere of 
 unknown conditions. In sailing westward from Ireland, 
 Cabot very soon ran into a region where, on a western 
 course, the curves of magnetic variation are very rapidly 
 traversed. He would, of necessity, in latitudes so far 
 north, experience a variation double that recorded by 
 Columbus. This was a condition of which he could 
 have had no previous knowledge. Columbus had been 
 the first to notice the phenomenon in a region of slight 
 variation, but in the North Atlantic Cabot would have 
 found it increase steadily throughout the whole distance, 
 until he reached the American coast. Here then is an 
 additional and very strong reason why he had to follow 
 his compass. On our charts, made to the true meridian, 
 Labrador is west from Ireland, but on a magnetic merid- 
 ian it is far to the north of west. The question of mag- 
 netic variation was soon grappled with and calculated 
 upon by sailors, and we are able to form an approximate 
 of what it was in 1492. We have, even in Pedro Reiners 
 map of 1505, positive evidence of what it was on the 
 northeast coast of America at that time, for on his map 
 is a secondary staff pointing true north, and marked 
 with truer latitudes than those on the line which marks 
 the magnetic meridian. It was somewhat less than it is 
 now; but an average variation of 12 0 45' would have 
 carried Cabot south of Cape Race, and by the course 
 steered the landfall of Cabot is indicated as not only south 
 of Labrador, but south of Newfoundland. Those, there- 
 fore, who decide the question from the study of a modern 
 globe or a Mercator chart must be misled; for these are 
 drawn to the true meridian, while Cabot was always sail- 
 ing on a magnetic course, ever swerving to the south. 
 Labrador on a Mercator chart is opposite Ireland on a 
 true west course. For that very reason, if for no other, 
 Labrador was not the landfall. If Cabot started from 
 53 0 N. his landfall was, of necessity, far to the south of it 
 when he arrived upon the coast of America, where the 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 21 
 
 variation was over two points. We must thoroughly 
 recognise these facts before we can profitably follow the 
 charts and courses of the early navigators. They are 
 nowhere more clearly explained than by Champlain. He 
 says : “ The early navigators, who sailed to parts of 
 
 New France (Canada) in the west, thought they would 
 not be more astray in going thither, than when going to 
 the Azores, or other places near France, where the varia- 
 tion is almost insensible in navigation, and where the 
 pilots have no other compasses than those of France set 
 to northeast, and representing the true meridian there. 
 And so, when sailing continually toward the west and 
 wishing to keep on a certain latitude, they would shape 
 their course straight towards the west by their compass, 
 thinking they were sailing on the parallel they wished to 
 go upon. But, continuing on in a straight line, and not 
 in a circle, like all parallel lines on the globe, after a long 
 distance, when in sight of land they sometimes found 
 themselves three, four, or five degrees more southerly 
 than necessary, and thus they were deceived in their lati- 
 tude and reckoning, . . . and thus, as the meridian 
 
 changed, the points of the compass changed, and con- 
 sequently the course. It is then most necessary to know 
 the meridian, and the variation of the magnetic needle, 
 and it is of service for all pilots sailing round the world, 
 and especially at the north and south, where the greatest 
 variations of the magnetic needle occur, and also where 
 the circles of longitude are smaller, since their error 
 would be the greater if they did not know the variation 
 of the magnetic needle.’ 5 
 
 No better authority than Champlain could be cited. 
 He was a master sailor in theory and practice, and for 
 thirty years sailed backward and forward between the 
 English Channel and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The 
 whole treatise on this subject will be found translated 
 from Champlain’s Voyages in the Transactions of the 
 Royal Society of Canada for 1894 as Appendix A to a 
 paper on the Cabot voyages. 
 
 These considerations may seem tedious; but they are 
 
22 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 all important in the study of the early voyages. They are 
 laws written in the book of Nature, and cannot be realised 
 in the atmosphere of libraries. One look into the bin- 
 nacle of a west-bound ship and one glance at the head- 
 light and at the North Star will clear away the miscon- 
 ceptions which have obscured the subject, and have 
 caused no little waste of time and ink. One such glance 
 will show why every west-bound course must, of neces- 
 sity, be a diagonal to the south. 
 
 We have it on record that the voyage was not a smooth 
 one. Land was found on June 24, and, if the date of 
 sailing, given as “ early in May,” be fixed as the 5th, it 
 would have lasted fifty days. He “ wandered for a long 
 time, and at length hit upon land.” There was not likely 
 to be much straight sailing in such a voyage, and Cabot 
 must have fought his way with great perseverance. 
 With fair wind and weather it is recorded, in A. D. 1583, 
 that the voyage might be made in twenty-two days or 
 even less. The indications of the letters are that Cabot 
 had neither. 
 
 The contemporary accounts give some particulars of 
 the place where John Cabot first touched land. “ The 
 land is excellent and the climate temperate, suggesting 
 that brasil and silk grow there.” Brasil is a tropical dye- 
 wood, then extensively used, and imported from the East. 
 Silk culture was an industry of warm climates. “ The 
 sea is full of fish, which are not only taken in a net, but 
 also with a basket; a stone being fastened to it in order 
 to keep it in the water.” This is a point strongly made : 
 “ they took so many fish that this kingdom will no longer 
 have need of Iceland; from which country there is an 
 immense trade in the fish they call stock-fish.” This in- 
 formation is recorded as taken direct from the lips of 
 John Cabot himself. No human being was seen, but 
 Cabot judged there were inhabitants “ from certain 
 snares spread to take game, and a needle for making nets, 
 and some notched trees which he found.” Such are the 
 special marks recorded to identify the spot where Cabot 
 landed. That the “ tides are slack ” may be said of the 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 23 
 
 whole Atlantic coast, but there can be no question as to 
 the nature of the country found, for the same writer in 
 another letter calls them “ fertile islands.” 
 
 Cabot did not remain long. Although “ he saw no 
 man,” he did not go far into the country. His crew was 
 small, and “ being in doubt he came back to the ship.” 
 Nor did he see anyone on the coast along which he sailed 
 in returning, “ but he did not wish to land lest he should 
 lose time, for he was in want of provisions.” 
 
 The aim of the expedition had been achieved. Land 
 had been found to the west. They were sure that it was 
 “ the mainland of the country of the Grand Cam,” just 
 what they had expected to find. This first voyage was a 
 simple reconnoitring expedition, in a small unarmed 
 vessel, with a crew of only eighteen men. Cabot took 
 possession of the country by hoisting the flag of Eng- 
 land, as he was empowered to do by the letters patent, 
 and then returned. Being a Venetian he hoisted also the 
 flag of St. Mark, for which he had no warrant. He was 
 certainly back in London on August 10, 1497, and there 
 is highly probable ground for believing that August 6 
 was the day he arrived at Bristol. His voyage to the 
 landfall had occupied from fifty to fifty-three days. The 
 return voyage was made in forty-three days, but 
 Raimondo da Soncino reported to his master, the Duke 
 of Milan, “ now that they know where to go, they say the 
 voyage thither will not occupy more than fifteen days 
 after leaving Ibernia (Ireland).” After making the 
 landfall he coasted, according to one report, along the 
 land for three hundred leagues. This is one of the dif- 
 ficulties in the narrative, for there was not time for so 
 long a coasting voyage, and it conflicts with the prompt 
 return enforced by the scarcity of provisions. It is clear 
 that he coasted along the south of Newfoundland as he 
 returned. That, in a straight line, is 316 miles. He 
 followed the coast which, however, could hardly have 
 lengthened his course to so great a degree. 
 
 In view of the prevailing influence of the English 
 language on the North American continent the landfall 
 
24 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of Cabot assumes great historic interest, for, excepting 
 the Northmen in the tenth century, the handful of Eng- 
 lishmen on his little vessel were the first Europeans to 
 touch the mainland of the Western World. After long 
 controversy the smoke has cleared away, and an intelli- 
 gent opinion upon the subject may be readily formed. 
 Three localities only call for serious consideration. 
 Taking them in order from the north they are, first : 
 
 Some point on the coast of Labrador from lat. 53 ° to 
 Cape Chidley. The more the physical characteristics of 
 this coast are known the more it is seen to be absolutely 
 irreconcilable with the mild climate and semi-tropical 
 conditions described in the contemporary records. The 
 following passage from a work written by one familiar 
 with the coast (published in A. D. 1900) will show the 
 contrast : 
 
 “ The climate is rigorous in the extreme. The snow 
 lies from September to June. In winter the whole coast 
 is blocked with ice-fields, drifting from Baffin’s Bay and 
 other outlets of the Arctic Ocean, while in summer the 
 glittering icebergs, stranded or floating, impart a stern 
 beauty to its storm-beaten shore. Perhaps no country on 
 the face of the globe is less attractive as an abode of 
 civilised man. Much of the surface of the country is 
 covered with low mountains and barren plateaus, on 
 which are vast plains of moss interspersed with rocks and 
 boulders. At the heads of the bays and fiords only, is 
 there a large growth of timber, and along the margin of 
 some of the rivers, patches of cultivable land are to be 
 found. The Atlantic coast of Labrador is a grim and 
 terrible wilderness, but having many scenes of awe- 
 inspiring beauty.” That is Labrador in A. D. 1900. 
 What it was in A. D. 1534, Jacques Cartier reported on 
 his first voyage, as recorded in Hakluyt’s quaint version : 
 
 “ If the soil were as good as the harboroughs are, it 
 were a great commoditee ; but it is not to be called the 
 new Land but rather stones and wilde cragges,and a place 
 fit for wilde beasts, for in all the North Land I did not see 
 a cart-load of good earth; yet went I on shoare in many 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 25 
 
 places, and in the Hand of White Sand there is nothing 
 else but mosse and small thornes scattered here and there 
 withered and dry. To be sure, 1 beleeve that this was the 
 land that God allotted to Caine.” This was said of the 
 coast of Labrador, inside of the Strait of Belle-Isle, and 
 from lat. 51 ° southwards. The contemporary account of 
 John Cabot and his companions, recorded in the letter of 
 the Milanese envoy, dated December 18, 1497, was : 
 “ And they say that there the land is excellent and the 
 climate temperate, suggesting that brasil and silk grow 
 there.” 
 
 The theory of a landfall in Labrador is still copied from 
 book to book, and the voyages, which can no longer be 
 disputed, are explained so as to thrust the English on a 
 barren and inclement coast far to the north. When Bid- 
 dle revived the question in 1833 the documents had not 
 come to light which reveal the true landfall. They have 
 been found since in the archives of foreign countries — 
 the La Cosa map of 1500, the Cabot map of 1544, the 
 documents at Simancas and Venice. These are decisive 
 evidences which have rewarded the research of scholars 
 since Biddle’s time. Then the coast of Labrador was un- 
 frequented, and its interior was a blank on the maps and 
 one might safely affirm almost anything concerning it; 
 but in the present state of geographical knowledge that is 
 no longer possible. The British Admiralty Pilot, refer- 
 ring to the coast southward from Cape St. Lewis, in 52 0 
 30', to a point within the Strait of Belle-Isle, describes 
 it, as Jacques Cartier did, consisting of bare granite hills, 
 rising abruptly about 700 feet from the sea level. The 
 water is said to be deep and navigation not intricate, “ but 
 the frequent fogs, the heavy easterly swell rolled in from 
 the Atlantic, and the icebergs, which are almost always 
 drifting along with the current from the northward, all 
 contribute in making the condition of the coast hazardous 
 to vessels.” Belle-Isle is in 52 °, so to strike Labrador the 
 landfall is, of necessity, placed north of 53 0 . In Dr. 
 Grenfell’s “ Vikings of To-day ” is a characteristic picture 
 of the coast between 53 0 and 54 0 . On July 13 he 
 
26 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 crossed from Belle-Isle to the mainland, and he says : “ By 
 mid-day we ventured to make a start and headed direct 
 for Cape Charles, close inside the island of Belle-Isle. 
 As we brought the hills and steep cliffs of Labrador into 
 view we found there was still much snow in the gulfs and 
 crevices ; while it was necessary carefully to thread our 
 way among the numbers of icebergs, which, up to this 
 very week, had been blocking the straits.” 
 
 Again the landfall described by Cabot was remarkable 
 for its abundance of fish. The date was June 24, old 
 style, which, in that century, would be equivalent to July 
 3 of the present calendar; but it was proved before the 
 Commission of the Fishery clauses of the Treaty of Wash- 
 ington, in 1877, that the fish do not set in upon the coast 
 at lat. 53 0 24' until July 12, and, farther north, until Au- 
 gust. The cause which determines the movement of the 
 fish is the ice thrown upon the coast by the Arctic cur- 
 rent; but Cabot makes no mention of ice or of icebergs 
 upon this voyage, although they are a striking feature of 
 his second voyage. John Cabot could not possibly have 
 been upon the coast of Labrador without meeting many 
 icebergs, for we read in the Admiralty Sailing Directions, 
 “ Icebergs may be encountered all the year round, but are 
 most numerous from June till August.” June 24, old 
 style, is just the time of year when the imposing proces- 
 sion of icebergs, passing southwards, is densest, and when 
 stranded bergs most frequently obstruct the harbours all 
 along the Labrador coast, from the Strait of Belle-Isle 
 northward. 
 
 Passing southward, the second locality, cited as the 
 landfall of the first English voyage across the western 
 ocean, is Cape Bonavista, on the east coast of Newfound- 
 land. This idea has nothing to suggest it but the similar- 
 ity of sound to the words prima vista. It has not the 
 transcendent impossibility of Labrador; but it is ex- 
 cluded by the documents. It is fatal to the theory that 
 neither it, nor any other name, is found on the east coast 
 of Newfoundland on La Cosa’s map. It is evident from 
 that map that, when Cabot arrived at Cape Race, the Cape 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 27 
 
 of England (Cavo de Inglaterra), he struck home for 
 England without turning up along the east coast. 
 
 Moreover, the name is not found among the names 
 upon the east coast, shown in the earlier maps after 
 La Cosa’s. In Visconte de Maiollo’s map of A. D. 1 527, 
 the name ben posta occurs, but it is not until A. D. 1534 
 upon Viegas’ map (Portuguese) that the name is found, 
 and it is there spelled Boavista, though pronounced Bona- 
 vista, after the rules of the Portuguese language. As will 
 appear in a succeeding chapter, the east coast of New- 
 foundland was discovered and named by the Portuguese. 
 The first mention of a landfall at Bonavista is as late as 
 A. D. 1625, on a printed English map, known as Mason’s, 
 and on a French manuscript map, of the same year, by 
 Dupont of Dieppe. Much importance is attached to what 
 is called an “ immemorial tradition ” on the coast ; but as 
 there were no settlers there for a hundred years, there 
 was no material to create and continue a tradition. The 
 name Bonavista (“ happy sight,” as it is translated), may 
 have suggested the tradition, but the name was 
 doubtless given from some fancied resemblance to a 
 familiar home island in the Cape Verde group. 
 
 The third, and most southern, point claimed as Cabot’s 
 landfall is Cape Breton. To this locality both circum- 
 stantial evidence and positive testimony plainly point. 
 The country around is one of the most beautiful regions 
 in North America. Its summer climate corresponds to 
 John Cabot’s description. “ The summers of Cape Bre- 
 tion,” writes an Englishman who resided there for many 
 years, “ challenge comparison with those of any country 
 within the temperate regions of the world. During all 
 that time there are, perhaps, not more than ten foggy days 
 in any part of the island, except along the southern coast, 
 between the Gut of Canso and Scatari. Bright, 
 sunny days, with balmy westerly winds, follow each other 
 in succession week after week, while the mid-day heats 
 are often tempered by cool, refreshing sea-breezes.” The 
 eastern coast of the island was renowned for its abundant 
 fisheries, and became the resort of English, French, 
 
28 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Spanish and Portuguese fishermen from the earliest times 
 of discovery. From the year 1504 it was the favourite 
 fishing ground of the Bretons ; and Cape Breton is one of 
 the earliest names on the maps; while the adjacent sea, 
 bounded by the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova 
 Scotia, was called the Bay of the Bretons. The eastern- 
 most point of the island — the very cape itself — is wave- 
 washed and rocky; for a narrow barrier of primordial 
 rock protects the carboniferous basin from the wash of 
 the open Atlantic. It is, as appears on La Cosa’s map, 
 on the line of magnetic west from Cabot’s point of de- 
 parture and thus, in every way, fulfils the conditions 
 described. It is also the only point of the island which 
 the geography of the coast permits to be a primary land- 
 fall; moreover, it is the first place ever named as the 
 landfall; for it is called Prima tierra vista (first land 
 seen), on the map of 1544, compiled with data received 
 from Sebastian Cabot. All other landfalls were devised 
 subsequently to this first mention, — they are hypotheses 
 of later times. 
 
 There is, in fact, positive evidence for Cape Breton, and 
 for no other spot on the Atlantic coast. Pedro de Ayala, 
 Spanish ambassador at London, wrote to the sovereigns 
 of Spain, on July 25, 1498 (before Cabot had returned 
 from his second voyage), that he had obtained from him a 
 chart and would send it to them. In the year 1500 the 
 king of Spain employed Juan de La Cosa, a celebrated 
 pilot, who had been a companion of Columbus, to make 
 for him a map of the world, and this very map, after many 
 vicissitudes, was, in 1853, restored to the archives of 
 Spain. It is worthy of the closest attention, not only 
 from the celebrity of its compiler, but because it is the 
 earliest map extant showing any part of the New World* 
 It was completed in October, 1500, six years before the 
 death of Columbus. From the first it was an authorita- 
 tive public map, and now it is the venerated treasure of 
 the Naval Museum at Madrid. A tracing of the North 
 American portion of the map is given at page 30. It 
 is drawn to compass bearings, and the trend of the coast 
 
T ERi* 
 
 Fig. i. Ruysch’s Map, a.d. 1508. Fig. 2. King Map, a.d. 1502. 
 
 (C. DE PORTOGESI.) (CAPO RasO.) 
 
 Fig. 3. Cape Race, a.d. 1900. 
 
 The Key Point of North American Geography. 
 
 [Face page 28. 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 29 
 
 upon the true meridian inclines towards the south by the 
 whole extent of the variation of the needle. No mistake 
 is possible about the date, for it is on the map itself, and 
 is A. D. 1500. No Englishmen had been upon the coast 
 but the Cabots. Therefore, when we find upon it “ Mar 
 descubierto por les Yngleses ” (Sea discovered by the 
 English), we may be sure that in compiling the map for 
 the king of Spain, La Cosa availed himself of John 
 Cabot’s map, sent to the same king by Pedro de Ayala, his 
 ambassador in England. The English discoveries are 
 marked by English flags for a certain distance along the 
 northeast coast of the continent, and the Spanish dis- 
 coveries are marked by Spanish flags upon the West 
 India islands to the south. The only names on the 
 northern continental coast are the names on the “ sea 
 discovered by the English ” — necessarily Cabot’s names. 
 
 The salient point on the map is that remarkable head- 
 land, Cape Race, which, since the discovery of the conti- 
 nent, has been the great landmark of all mariners sailing 
 on the Western Ocean. It stands on La Cosa’s map 
 looking across the unbroken ocean waste, in A. D. 1 500, 
 as it does still on a Mercator chart, facing the projecting 
 coast of South America, then just discovered. It is 
 called Cavo de Ynglaterra (Cape of England) ; for it 
 is the last point of the New World looking towards Eng- 
 land. On Ruysch’s map it is called' C. de Portogesi, see 
 Fig. 1 (Portuguese Cape) ; but on the King map, A. D. 
 1502, it is called Capo Raso, see Fig. 2, and, ever since, 
 as Cape Raso, Rasso, Razo or Race, the name has ex- 
 pressed the physical character of the locality. The figure 
 3, page 28, is a reproduction of a photograph in the 
 Canadian Marine Department, taken at some happily 
 quiet moment. The English form “ Race ” obscures the 
 meaning. It is the “ flat cape ” — worn smooth in its 
 aeonian resistance to the Atlantic surf. It is the first 
 permanent name on the continental coast of North 
 America. 
 
 We need not discuss the longitudes of any of these 
 early maps, for longitudes could not be correctly ascer- 
 
30 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 tained in those days. It is evident, from the position of 
 the Azores, that the longitude of this map is 25 ° out. It 
 has already been observed that, up to A. D. 1520, the 
 latitudes of the Antilles are almost 8° too far north, and 
 this plainly appears in La Cosa’s map, for Cuba and His- 
 paniola are entirely north of the tropic instead of being 
 entirely south of it. The map is not graduated, but the 
 distance between the equator and the tropic gives a meas- 
 ure by which we may see that the latitude of Cape Race 
 is too high to the same extent that the latitude of Cuba 
 is too high, and it is also pertinent to observe that 
 Cape Race is at the same distance from the equator as 
 Bristol. 
 
 On the east side of Newfoundland, north of Cape Race, 
 there are no names, the coast line is hypothetical, but 
 from Cape Race westward the coast is named, and the 
 last name to the west, Cavo descubierto, reveals the secret 
 of the first landfall on the continent of America. As 
 plainly as words can express it that point is Discovery 
 Cape. It corresponds with the Prima tierra vista of the 
 Sebastian Cabot map of 1544 and is the east point of 
 Cape Breton. 
 
 The moment this is apprehended, everything becomes 
 clear. All the evidence falls into line. Ayala, with John 
 Cabot’s chart before his eyes, wrote (July 25, 1498) to 
 King Ferdinand that the land found was “ at the end of 
 that which belongs to your Highness by the convention 
 with Portugal ” (i. e., the Treaty of Tordesillas), and we 
 know the line of demarcation was held to cut the Nova 
 Scotia coast at the equivalent of our meridian of 6o°, and 
 close to Cape Breton. Those who frequent the coast 
 know that in June, July, and August Cape Race is seldom 
 seen. The southeast corner of Newfoundland is wrapped 
 in fog for twenty-four days out of thirty. Appendix C 
 of a paper in the Transactions of the Royal Society of 
 Canada for 1897 is a table compiled from the records 
 of the lighthouse keeper at Cape Race for the month of 
 June in four successive years 1894-1897, establishing that 
 fact, if indeed, so patent a fact in physical geography 
 
<V) 
 
 $ 
 
 North American Portion of Juan de la Cosa’s Map, a.d. 1500. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 31 
 
 needed establishing. Passing Cape Race in foggy 
 weather Cabot continued on his western course and 
 could not fail therefore to arrive at Cape Breton. There, 
 as we know from the contemporary letters, he did not 
 stay, but, being short of provisions, he returned at once. 
 In returning he coasted and named the south coast of 
 Newfoundland, and took his departure for England from 
 the Cape of England (Cape Race). The reason the 
 return voyage took 43 days is thus apparent. 
 
 Such is the testimony of John Cabot to the discoveries 
 of the English, embodied in a contemporaneous map made 
 for the King of Spain by the master and owner of the 
 flagship of Columbus on his first voyage in 1492 and the 
 pilot of his fleet. The testimony of Cabot’s son, Sebas- 
 tian, is contained in a world-map, dated 1544, of which 
 the copy in the National Library at Paris is the only one 
 known to exist. It is a printed map and was found as 
 recently as A. D. 1843. The information given upon it 
 is partly by numbered legends on the map itself, and 
 partly by legends, in Spanish and Latin versions, printed 
 separately and attached to it — forming one document 
 with it. The map has been the occasion of much contro- 
 versy. The American portion of it is given in Chap. XIV, 
 and its chronological place, A. D. 1544, must be borne in 
 mind, because it has sometimes been taken to be a map of 
 Sebastian Cabot’s own discoveries. After a long con- 
 troversy it is now admitted that, while Sebastian Cabot 
 may not have drawn the map, he at least contributed 
 to the materials upon which it was constructed, and that, 
 among other things, the information concerning north- 
 east America was contributed by him. 
 
 Figure 4 is a tracing from a photographic enlarge- 
 ment of the original map, and on it the words Prima 
 tierra vista indicate that the landfall — the Cavo descu- 
 bierto — was on the east point of Cape Breton Island. Of 
 the two points shown the words refer to the easternmost, 
 and indeed Cape North could not have been discovered 
 first, for the land around is too high to be passed unob- 
 served, and the course would require to be abruptly 
 
32 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 changed to reach it. Legend No. 8, upon the map of 
 1544, refers to the first voyage and states that the land 
 was first found on June 24, 1494, now recognised as a 
 misprint for 1497. An island was discovered the same 
 day lying opposite and close, to the landfall, which they 
 called St. John, because it was St. John the Baptist’s day. 
 Then follows in the Latin text a full point, and the next 
 word, Hu jus, begins with a capital letter. The rest of the 
 
 Fig. 4. Extract from the Sebastian Cabot Map of A. D. 1544, 
 showing the point of Cape Breton as the Landfall 
 
 legend refers to the whole region of the north, and various 
 particulars are given of the country, the people, the bears 
 and other animals, the birds, and the fish. Much confu- 
 sion has arisen from reading this legend, as if it formed 
 
JOHN CABOT’S FIRST VOYAGE 33 
 
 part of a special description of the island, instead of a 
 general description of an extensive region, characterized 
 by the two bears drawn upon the map, which the discov- 
 eries of forty succeeding years, and especially those of 
 Cartier, had made known. The Magdalen group of 
 islands discovered by Cartier in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
 are marked, by error, “ island of St. John,” although they 
 do not lie near, or opposite, the landfall and could not be 
 discovered on the same day. 
 
 The scope of this volume will not admit of further dis- 
 cussion. Those who care to follow the question further 
 may do so in the books and papers mentioned at the end 
 of this volume. The Island of Cape Breton must be 
 carefully distinguished from the cape itself, from which it 
 was named. The region was not known as an island, 
 and is shown on the map for a hundred years as a part of 
 the peninsula of Nova Scotia. The Gut of Canso, divid- 
 ing it from the mainland, is only 4518 feet across at its 
 narrowest part — not so wide as the East River at New 
 York, for the Brooklyn bridge is 5989 feet; nor so wide 
 as the St. Lawrence, for the Victoria bridge at Montreal 
 is 9184 feet long. 
 
 Let it not be thought that this event is unworthy of the 
 time devoted to its elucidation. That the English were 
 the first to tread the soil of the continent of the New 
 World is a fact of supreme historic importance. For 
 almost a century they neglected, and undervalued their 
 new acquisition. Silent as to the momentous achieve- 
 ment of Cabot, their annals were crowded with the 
 ephemeral doings of men whose names and deeds might 
 well have passed into oblivion. Nevertheless, when they 
 came to the New World, they did not come as interlopers. 
 They did not come with a title only to rocky and unin- 
 habitable wastes of ice and storm. They came as of right 
 to the regions best adapted to develop a strong industrial 
 civilisation. Not to the relaxing climate of dreamy 
 islands in southern seas, but to those temperate latitudes 
 where the European races attain their highest level. 
 When the forest wilderness of Cape Breton listened to the 
 3 
 
34 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 voices of Cabot’s little company, it was the first faint 
 whisper of the mighty flood of English speech which was 
 destined to overflow the continent, to the shores of an- 
 other ocean, far-distant and undreamed of for many 
 years. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CABOTS SECOND VOYAGE — DISAPPOINTMENT 
 
 K ING HENRY VII., although cautious and not 
 subject to enthusiasms of any kind, was elated 
 at the success of the first voyage; for a great 
 success it appeared to be. On August 10 he 
 granted from the Privy Purse a reward of ten pounds 
 “ to hym that founde the new isle.” Not a large sum, 
 for King Henry VII. was “ not prodigal ” ; but it repre- 
 sented many times that amount in these days. On 
 December 13, 1497, he granted to John Cabot a pension 
 of twenty pounds a year, charged upon the customs 
 revenue of the port of Bristol. Pending preparations 
 prospects were in truth most promising, for “ the country 
 of the Grand Cam ” had been reached, and what 
 that signified Marco Polo had taught to Europe. The 
 expedition had reached Cathay, of which empire the 
 capital was Cambaluc (Pekin), the winter residence of the 
 Grand Khan, a city “ twenty-four miles square and admir- 
 ably built ” ; the emporium of an amount and variety of 
 merchandise so vast that Marco Polo found it beyond his 
 powers of description. There, he wrote, were “ to be 
 seen, in wonderful abundance, the precious stones, the 
 pearls, the silks and the diverse perfumes of the east. 
 Scarce a day passes that there does not arrive nearly a 
 thousand waggons laden with silk, of which they make 
 admirable stuffs in the city.” There was no shadow of 
 doubt but that Asia had been reached. La Cosa filled 
 up on his map the unexplored gap between the discov- 
 eries of Cabot and Columbus with conjectural outlines 
 from the eastern coast, of Asia. The Cantino map (A. D. 
 
 35 
 
36 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 1502) inscribed upon Greenland the legend ponta d’ Asia 
 and added “ it is believed that this is the extremity of 
 Asia.” Ruysch’s map (A. D. 1508) showed the sup- 
 posed connection — Terra Nova, an extension of North- 
 ern Asia, Cathay, Tebet, Bangala, and Quinsay forming 
 one continent with it, and the great river Polisacus 
 (Hoang Ho) falling into the Sinus Plisacus of the great 
 ocean; in which, far to the south, were the Antilles and 
 South America shown as islands. Other maps might be 
 cited, but these are sufficient to show the current belief. 
 What a prospect for trade was opened up by this Italian 
 adventurer! His previous attempts in Seville and Lis- 
 bon to obtain aid for an expedition, in more northern lat- 
 itudes than Columbus had sailed in, had failed, and it had 
 taken him twelve months to equip one little vessel, and get 
 together a crew of eighteen men to make this attempt. 
 “ A foreigner and poor, he would not have been believed 
 if his crew, who were nearly all English of Bristol, had 
 not testified that what he said was true.” We read also 
 that Cabot was “ of gentle disposition ” and he must have 
 been a man of great patience and resolution ; “ another,” 
 we are informed, “ like Columbus ” ; and, though natural- 
 ised in Venice, he was in another respect like Columbus, 
 for he was born in Genoa. It is worthy of note that 
 although he had resided fifteen years in Venice to qualify 
 him for naturalisation, Cabot was evidently unknown to 
 the Venetian representative in London, or to his two 
 brothers in Venice, Alvise and Francesco Pasqualigo, 
 with whom he corresponded. 
 
 Then came the short hour of John Cabot’s triumph 
 and, for a time, he was lionised in London. The King, 
 miserly though he was, “ granted him money to amuse 
 himself with.” He was “ called the Great Admiral ” and 
 “ great honour was paid him.” He “ went about dressed 
 in silk ” and made promises of lands in his new domains. 
 To a Burgundian who was with him he promised an 
 island, and he promised another to a Genoese friend. Two 
 poor friars, who were to go on the next voyage, were to 
 have bishoprics. The Bristol merchants took up the 
 
CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE 37 
 
 enterprise warmly, and Cabot went back to Bristol to his 
 wife and family; for there the next expedition also was 
 to be fitted out. Additional letters patent were issued by 
 the King, not cancelling or traversing the former let- 
 ters, but giving to John Cabot the additional and excep- 
 tional power to take any six ships suitable for the pro- 
 posed expedition, in any port of the kingdom, together 
 with such accessories as were necessary, paying for them 
 such a price as the King would pay, if they were taken for 
 the royal service. In these letters Cabot's sons were not 
 mentioned. 
 
 During the winter of 1497-98 preparations went on and 
 others joined in the enterprise. The King assisted by 
 advancing loans to those who fitted out ships. The fol- 
 lowing sums are on record: “To Lanslot Thirkill of 
 
 London, twenty pounds ; to Thomas Thirkill, thirty 
 pounds; to Thomas Bradley, thirty pounds; and forty 
 pounds five shillings to John Carter ” for the same 
 object. There is no record of the day of sailing of 
 the expedition, but it was early in May. The observant 
 letter-writers whose reports we have been quoting now 
 desert us, and few details can be gleaned elsewhere. Dr. 
 de Puebla, the senior Spanish Ambassador, wrote to the 
 Spanish monarchs, at the end of July, that the expedi- 
 tion had sailed and that the King had sent five armed 
 ships. From a chronicle quoted by Hakluyt we gather 
 that divers merchants of London ventured small stocks 
 of goods, and that there were three or four small 
 ships that went in company laden with merchandise 
 “ such as coarse cloth, caps, laces, points, and other 
 trifles.” This is a practical commentary on the report 
 given by Cabot and his sailors concerning the character 
 of the land found. It is incredible that such consign- 
 ments should be made to countries like Labrador or 
 Greenland. The English merchants risked their money 
 upon the productiveness of the “ new found land.” De 
 Ayala, the second Spanish Ambassador, writing at the 
 same time, adds that the fleet was provisioned for one 
 year, and that, at the date of the letter (July 25) one of 
 
38 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the ships, on board of which was a certain friar Bull, had 
 been driven back to Ireland in distress. The chronicle, 
 cited in Hakluyt, adds that the fleet “ so departed from 
 Bristowe (Bristol) in the beginning of May; of whom 
 in this Mayor’s time (October 28, 1498) returned no 
 tidings ” ; and of that expedition, so full of hope and 
 promise, no tidings are to be found in the annals of Eng- 
 land to this day. John Cabot disappears, and his memory 
 was nearly lost forever. His sons Lewis and Sancius are 
 heard of no more, and although Sir George Peckham, in 
 Hakluyt’s Voyages, says that “ a fair haven in New- 
 foundland is to this day (A. D. 1583) known and called 
 Sancius’ haven,” no such haven can be found on any map, 
 or exists now upon the island. Placentia, which some 
 have supposed to be the haven intended, is named for a 
 Basque town in the district of Vizcaya. His son Sebas- 
 tian, however, became an important person in the history 
 of maritime discovery. It is easy to see that an expedi- 
 tion with such aims and based upon such expectations 
 must have failed, and that all concerned in it must have 
 been miserably disappointed; but the details of disaster 
 will never be known. 
 
 It is not probable that the younger Cabot was among 
 the eighteen men on the first voyage with his father, but 
 he did take part in the second voyage. We have not only 
 his own statement, but every indication points to his hav- 
 ing seen the new lands with his own eyes. He described 
 to Peter Martyr the icebergs of the north (seen, not on an 
 expedition with eighteen men, but on an expedition with 
 three hundred men) and the bears which swam and 
 caught fish in the sea. These are strange experiences, 
 not likely to be invented or even repeated at second hand. 
 Moreover King Ferdinand, himself, wrote to Sebastian 
 Cabot (September 13, 1512) and the “navigation to the 
 Bacallaos ” is mentioned in the letter, in a way to prove 
 that it was the cause of the invitation to enter the service 
 of Spain. Ferdinand of Aragon was not a prince easily 
 deceived, or one to be deceived with impunity. That 
 Sebastian said he had been there is not, on any theory 
 
CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE 39 
 
 concerning his veracity, to be taken as proof that he had 
 not been there. It would indeed be strange if a young 
 man of capacity and intelligence, as he most certainly 
 was, did not take part in an expedition of such magnitude, 
 sailing with such eclat under Royal auspices, and with his 
 father in command. 
 
 Nothing is on record concerning him for fourteen years 
 after until, in May, 1512, in the following reign, his name 
 appears in the public accounts as receiving twenty shil- 
 lings for making a map of Gascony and Guyenne to be 
 used in a campaign in the south of France concerted 
 between Henry VIII. and Ferdinand of Aragon. Later 
 in the same year he entered the service of the Spanish 
 King and removed to Seville with his wife and family, 
 where he was appointed to the rank of captain, and was 
 subsequently advanced to be pilot major with very im- 
 portant functions in the naval service of Spain. What 
 knowledge we possess of the results of the second voyage 
 is mainly derived from the statements of Sebastian Cabot 
 as recorded in the works of Spanish and Italian authors, 
 especially from Peter Martyr, Ramusio, and Gomara. 
 Sidelights and confirmations may be gathered from many 
 other sources, but it is remarkable that all our informa- 
 tion concerning the second voyage upon which English 
 diplomacy chiefly relied in making claims in the New 
 World should be drawn, not from the records of Eng- 
 land, but from foreign sources. The historic value of 
 these accounts and the character of Sebastian Cabot have 
 been of late discussed so thoroughly that it is unneces- 
 sary to enter into further details. 
 
 Peter Martyr (in the sixth book of his third Decade), 
 gives an account of Sebastian Cabot’s expedition from 
 information received from his own lips; but it has been 
 overlooked that the account is only incidental to another 
 inquiry. The passage has been too frequently read 
 only in extract and, to apprehend its true bearing, it 
 must be read with the context. Martyr is really discuss- 
 ing the equatorial current. He observes that the sea 
 flows from east to west, and, not knowing of the Gulf 
 
4 o THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Stream, he is speculating as to what becomes of the over- 
 flow. He discusses various theories, and at last reaches 
 that which supposes the overflow to return to the north. 
 He is not satisfied with that either, for he says those who 
 have sailed on the northern seas affirm that the sea flows 
 to the west there also, though not so swiftly. Then he 
 goes on to say that “ these northern seas have been 
 searched by one Sebastian Cabot,” an intimate friend then 
 with him at Seville, and continues by reporting what he 
 had heard from Cabot’s own lips bearing upon the diffi- 
 culty present in his mind, which done, he says : “ But it 
 
 shall suffice to have said that much of the gulfs and straits 
 and of Sebastian Cabot. Let us now, therefore, return 
 to the Spaniards.” That is, return to the main subject 
 of his work, of which these Cabot notes were an incident 
 or a digression. Bearing this in mind — remembering 
 that Martyr was not concerning himself with the doings 
 of the English, — we may see why no mention of John 
 Cabot is made, without supposing Sebastian Cabot to 
 have been a liar. We learn from the “ Decades ” that it 
 was a large expedition, with three hundred men. That 
 one note marks it as a description of the second voyage. 
 The son Sebastian seems to arrogate to himself the whole 
 inception and conduct of the enterprise. He “fyrst with 
 three hundred men, directed his course so farre towards 
 the North Pole that, even in the moneth of July, he founde 
 monstrous heapes of ise swymming on the sea, and, in 
 manner, continuall daylight; yet sawe he land in that 
 tract free from ise. Thus, seeing such heapes of ise be- 
 fore hym, he was enforced to turne his sayles and folowe 
 the west, so coastynge styll by the shore, that he was 
 thereby brought so farre into the south by reason of the 
 land bending so much southwarde that it was almost 
 equall in latitude with the sea called Fretum Hercula- 
 naum.” This means, in short, that he sailed first to the 
 coast of Labrador, where he pushed his way north 
 among the icebergs, as far as he could go, and then 
 he turned south and coasted along shore nearly as far 
 as the latitude of the Strait of Gibraltar. All of this 
 
CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE 
 
 4i 
 
 is in accord with the physical geography of the 
 coast. Robert Thorne, an English merchant, resid- 
 ing in Seville, sent privately to King Henry VIII., 
 in 1527, a rough sketch of a map in order to 
 show the King his rightful claim, by prior discovery, 
 to a large part of the American coast. Robert Thorne’s 
 father had been upon an expedition to that coast. The 
 
 Fig. 5. Robert Thorne’s Map, A. D. 1527 
 
 family was of Bristol, and Robert Thorne himself was 
 much concerned with shipping. At Seville he was in a 
 position to know Sebastian Cabot, and Seville was then 
 the centre of western discovery. His map has, for- 
 tunately, been preserved in Hakluyt’s “ Divers Voyages,” 
 and the inscription on it, Terra hac ab Anglis prima fuit 
 inventa, marks the coast from the extreme north of 
 Labrador to a latitude as far south as Lisbon ; thus con- 
 firming Peter Martyr’s report of Sebastian Cabot’s state- 
 
42 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 ment. Another proof that this voyage was the second of 
 the Cabot voyages is the fact that the fleet was victualled 
 for a year, whereas, the contemporary evidence proved, 
 beyond a doubt, that the little vessel of the first voyage 
 had to return for want of provisions, and was absent only 
 ninety-three days. Moreover, there is no mention made 
 of ice in the accounts of the first voyage, and in all 
 accounts of the second ice and icebergs are strongly 
 emphasised characteristics. Still another confirmation is 
 that, inasmuch as the second expedition sailed early in 
 May, provisioned for a year, and had not returned on 
 October 28, there was abundant time to make the exten- 
 sive explorations reported by Peter Martyr, while it is 
 plainly evident that there was not time on the first voyage. 
 
 Gomara, in his “ General History of the Indies,” gives 
 an account of the same voyage. His account appears to 
 have been taken from the “ Decades ” of Martyr, though 
 he adds some details from another source. He specifies 
 58° as the latitude reached in the north (Hebron, on the 
 Labrador coast), and 38° on the south (Cape Henlopen, 
 State of Delaware). These two accounts, the former 
 published in 1516, when Cabot was in Seville, and the 
 latter in 1552, after he had gone to live in England, con- 
 firm each other, and they also accord with the physical 
 geography of the coast of Labrador as it exists at the 
 present day. “ Considering the cold,” writes Gomara, 
 “ and the forbidding nature of the country, he turned to 
 the south, and passing the Baccalaos, he proceeded as 
 far as 38°, returning thence to England.” 
 
 The high latitude reached by the early sailors bears 
 evidence to their wonderful skill and courage in navigat- 
 ing their little craft. Greely observes that the latitude 
 77 0 45' N. attained by Baffin, in 1616, was unequalled in 
 that sea for two hundred and thirty-six years. The lati- 
 tude reached by Cabot is variously stated from 56° N. to 
 6 7 0 30', but it is certain, from Ruysch’s map, that some 
 years before 1508 an expedition had reached the mouth 
 of Hudson’s Strait. Probably Ruysch, who had been to 
 America on a Bristol vessel, was on this very expedition. 
 
CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE 43 
 
 Anyway, he appears to be drawing from his own experi- 
 ences in the legend on his map. “ Here a raging sea 
 begins, here the compasses of ships do not hold their prop- 
 erties, and vessels having iron are not able to return.” 
 On the Hakluyt map, at the same locality, is inscribed 
 “ a furious overfall,” and Davis, on his third voyage, in 
 1586, says “we passed a very great gulfe, the water 
 whirling and roaring as it were the meeting of tides.” 
 These are unalterable physical facts which fix the locality 
 beyond cavil. Admiral Markham, who was a passenger 
 on the Canadian Government expedition in 1886, under 
 Captain Gordon, remarked the commotion peculiar to 
 Hudson’s Strait. He “ repeatedly observed comparatively 
 large pieces of ice being swept with great velocity in 
 opposite directions.” Captain Gordon found the dip of 
 the needle at the western end of the strait to be 8o°. He 
 had much difficulty because of the sluggishness of the 
 compass, and, in singular conformity with Ruysch’s note 
 in A. D. 1508, records his opinion that the compasses of 
 an iron ship passing through the strait would not work. 
 
 The main features of the voyage of 1498 are given 
 in the above citations from contemporary writings. 
 Certain characteristic indications demonstrate that 
 the second voyage was actually made to the regions 
 stated. The icebergs, the field ice, the polar bears, 
 the fish, the continual daylight, and especially the 
 casual observation that the natives possessed cop- 
 per, are incidental notes which could not have been 
 invented. Over the whole theatre of controversy it 
 is unnecessary to go. Those who believe that the region 
 of silk and brasil-wood of the first voyage was on the 
 coast of Labrador between 53 0 and 6o°, cannot be con- 
 vinced by futher evidence. Sebastian Cabot had little 
 further connection with exploration on the northeast 
 coast of America. We learn from a letter, written in 
 1522, to his government by the Venetian ambassador to 
 Spain, that Cabot told him that he had visited England in 
 1519, and that, while there, Cardinal Wolsey had pro- 
 posed to fit out an expedition if he would command it. 
 
44 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and that he had refused because he was in the service of 
 Spain. It is more than probable that he told the truth 
 about Bacallaos to Ferdinand of Aragon, that there was 
 nothing there for Spain, and, if any passage to Cathay 
 did exist, it was far to the north, and if passable, it would 
 be within the demarcation line of Portugal. This was 
 the opinion of Stephen Gomez also, later in 1525. Both, 
 in all probability, suspected the existence of an opening 
 by Hudson’s Strait, but such a passage, if found, would 
 be more injurious than beneficial to Spanish interests, 
 which lay entirely in the latitudes near the equator. 
 When Cabot, in his old age, went to occupy a high posi- 
 tion in the naval service of England, he devoted his ener- 
 gies to the discovery of a passage to China by the north- 
 east. He was deficient in candour and greedy of 
 reputation, and like Columbus, he would take credit for 
 himself at anybody’s expense. He subordinated his 
 father’s merits as a discoverer to his own, and, therefore, 
 his father has narrowly escaped complete oblivion; but 
 it must be noted to his credit that in the only 
 instance where information comes direct from him- 
 self, as in the legend attached to the map of 1544, 
 he did mention his father, and gives precedence to 
 his father’s name. He was an intriguer in an age of 
 intrigue, but to quote from a recent writer, “ it is a 
 monstrous improbability that a man without any advant- 
 ages of birth, wealth or influential connections, a for- 
 eigner among two jealous nations, should be no geog- 
 rapher, and yet incessantly making maps for public 
 departments; no cosmographer, and yet called on as an 
 expert in important suits, and as a commissioner to deter- 
 mine the line of demarcation ; that he should be no sailor, 
 and the examiner and certificator of all the pilots of 
 Spain, or no man of science, and the censor of the chair 
 of cosmography for the council of the Indies and the 
 admiralty of Spain.” To the English people he is im- 
 portant, mainly because he preserved the knowledge of 
 the second and more extensive voyage, and promul- 
 gated it through Peter Martyr, Ramusio, Gomara, and 
 
Sebastian Cabot. 
 
 (From a contemporaneous portrait — last owned by Richard Biddle — 
 
 destroyed by fire in 1845.) 
 
 [Face page 44 . 
 
CABOT’S SECOND VOYAGE 45 
 
 others, but John Cabot is the real discoverer, the real hero 
 of both voyages, and to him alone the Bristol people have 
 erected a monument. The eccentric and able Henry 
 Stevens summed up the whole question in a short for- 
 mula: “Sebastian Cabot — John Cabot=o.” Whatever 
 
 claims of priority England possesses on the American 
 continent she owes to John Cabot. They are geographi- 
 cally summarised in Robert Thorne’s rough sketch. It 
 shows a discovery of the coast line from northern Labra- 
 dor along the Acadian shores of the Dominion, and along 
 the coast of the United States as far south as Chesapeake 
 Bay. The facts are succinctly set forth in the writers 
 quoted above. Those who care to enter more fully into 
 the vexed questions of detail will find them set forth in 
 the works enumerated in the list at the close of this 
 volume. 
 
 The absolute silence of English chronicles concerning 
 the return of this elaborately planned expedition tells of 
 disappointment and pecuniary loss. There could not 
 have been any great and overwhelming disaster ; for that 
 would have been recorded by the survivors ; or if there 
 had been no survivors, the catastrophe would have been 
 so great that it could not have failed to find place in our 
 annals. We know that one of the ships, at least, re- 
 turned, for Launcelot Thirkill repaid, in 1501, the loan of 
 thirty pounds, made to him by the King on March 22, 
 1498. No Cathay, no Cambaluc, nor Mangi, nor Zip- 
 ango, were found. There was no outlet for “ points ” or 
 “ cloth ” or “ laces ” among the fur-clad Esquimaux, or 
 the half-naked Algonquin tribes of the more southern 
 region. It must have been a collapse of all expectations, 
 and there are vague indications of dissensions which, in 
 cases of disappointed hope, are sure to arrive. Doubt- 
 less the fleet was scattered, and the ships came back, one 
 by one, with survivors embittered against the Italian ad- 
 venturer, who they would think had deceived them. In 
 his address at the Cabot Commemoration, at Bristol, on 
 June 24, 1897, the late Marquis of Dufferin and Ava 
 brought to public notice, for the first time, some manu- 
 
46 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 script accounts of the collectors of customs at Bristol, in 
 1497, 1498, and 1499, which by the diligence of Mr. 
 Edward Scott and the late Mr. Coote, both of the British 
 Museum staff, had been discovered in the Chapter House 
 of Westminster Abbey, and deciphered and translated. 
 These prove that two years of John Cabot’s pension of 
 twenty pounds had been paid. The grant dated from 
 Lady-day (March 25), 1497. The first year, therefore, 
 had elapsed, and the second commenced to accrue before 
 Cabot sailed in May, 1498. The accounts show that on 
 September 29, 1499, there were two tallies in the treas- 
 ury for twenty pounds, so that the second year’s pension, 
 ending with Lady-day (March 25), 1499, had been 
 drawn. No later entry has been found, and nothing ap- 
 pears on the documents to indicate whether the money 
 was paid to John Cabot, personally, or to his wife, or to 
 his assigns, in his absence. And so the great admiral of 
 a few months, who promised islands and bishoprics to his 
 followers, passed out of English history. The English 
 nation did not know the time of its opportunity, and had 
 to win back with blood and treasure much of the terri- 
 tory it had thrown away. From those despised coasts 
 of Bacallaos, for centuries, a large portion of the food of 
 western Europe was drawn. Richer than the mines of 
 Potosi, these treasures replaced themselves by a peren- 
 nial reproduction. On the continent, in rear of the 
 shores coasted by Cabot, have grown up the strength of 
 the Northern States, and the promise of the Dominion of 
 the north. That growth was not the work of princes or 
 parliaments; it was the unconscious work of free com- 
 munities of self-exiled emigrants, building better than 
 they knew. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE CORTE-REALS AND PORTUGUESE DISCOVERY 
 
 I N A. D. 1500, and during the reign of King Em- 
 manuel, called “ The Fortunate,” Portugal was at 
 the summit of her greatness. She was the most 
 enterprising maritime power in Europe, and the 
 commerce of Europe crowded her ports. Emmanuel suc- 
 ceeded in 1495, and Vasco da Gama was sent in 1497 on 
 his successful expedition to the East Indies. In 1500 Ca- 
 bral chanced upon the discovery of the coast of Brazil, 
 which thenceforth became a possession of Portugal, as it 
 was east of the line of demarcation settled by the treaty 
 of Tordesillas. The age corresponded, in Portuguese his- 
 tory, with the age of Elizabeth in England. The court 
 was thronged with skilful and enterprising sailors from 
 every land, and the noblemen of the country were com- 
 petent and eager for maritime adventure. They, as well 
 as the King, felt that a great opportunity had been lost in 
 rejecting the proposals of Columbus. The idea of a 
 passage to India by the west was not new to them, for a 
 letter written from Florence in 1474, by Toscanelli to 
 Fernan Martins, Canon at Lisbon, proves that such an 
 idea had been in the mind of Alphonso V., then King. 
 Portuguese sailors had discovered and occupied the Cape 
 Verde Islands, Madeira, and the Azores, from which out- 
 posts on the Western Ocean new attempts at discovery 
 were being incessantly made. The predecessor of Emman- 
 uel (John II.) had been disposed to listen to Columbus, 
 but had been dissuaded by the advice of his council- 
 lors. The reigning monarch, however, supported, if he 
 did not instigate, a similar enterprise somewhat different 
 in direction. There might be — probably was, so they 
 thought — land in the north, falling within the Portu- 
 
 47 
 
48 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 guese limits under the treaty ; and a passage to the East 
 Indies free from Spanish domination might in that way 
 be attained. 
 
 Among the noble families of Portugal was that of 
 Corte-Real, a name bestowed by one of the kings upon a 
 gentleman adventurer, Vasqueanes da Costa, on account 
 of the magnificence of his house or of his suite. One of 
 his descendants was Joao Vaz Corte-Real, hereditary 
 governor of Angra, one-half of the island of Terceira, 
 one of the Azores. He had three sons ; the eldest, Vas- 
 queanes Corte-Real, became a royal councillor, comp- 
 troller of the King’s household and captain-governor of 
 the islands of Terceira and St. George of the Azores; 
 the other sons were Miguel and Gaspar. From their 
 close connection with this group, halfway across the 
 Western Ocean, the family were from youth familiar 
 with the sea and absorbed in maritime enterprises. Gas- 
 par is described as a man “ enterprising, valorous, and 
 eager to gain honour.” He had been an attached servant 
 of the Duke of Beja, and when the Duke succeeded as 
 King Emmanuel, Gaspar Corte-Real became a favourite 
 courtier. He had made some previous attempt, it is not 
 clear what, at western discovery; but it had not suc- 
 ceeded, and on May 12, 1500, the King commissioned 
 him to make discoveries in the north and northwest, and 
 gave him a grant of all the lands he might find. Some re- 
 port of the Cabot voyages had doubtless reached Portu- 
 gal, and the King would naturally be anxious to assert his 
 right to the lands Cabot had intruded upon. The chroni- 
 cles vary as to the share the King took in the expedition. 
 It had the full royal authority, but much, if not all, of the 
 expense was borne by the Corte-Reals. There were two 
 voyages by Gaspar Corte-Real, in the latter of which he 
 perished. These separate voyages have been for a long 
 time confused, and that by many writers. They are 
 distinguished by Kohl, but historical geography is in- 
 debted to Henry Harrisse for the discovery and publica- 
 tion of documents which clear up the whole question. 
 As in the case of the voyages of Cabot, we are indebted 
 
THE CORTE-REALS 
 
 49 
 
 mainly to the news letters of intelligent Italian envoys 
 for what we know of the Corte-Real discoveries. A 
 letter from Pietro Pasqualigo, Venetian ambassador, to 
 his government and another to his brothers at Venice, a 
 letter from Albert Cantino to the Duke of Ferrara, ac- 
 companied by a map to show the discoveries made, and 
 short extracts from the histories of Antonio Galvano and 
 Damian de Goes, are all the documents we can rely upon 
 for details of the expeditions. 
 
 The first expedition sailed from Lisbon under com- 
 mand of Gaspar in the beginning of the summer of A. D. 
 1500, and with one ship, according to De Goes ; but Gal- 
 vano says he sailed from Terceira with two ships. The 
 fact seems to be that the expedition touched at the family 
 island in the Azores, and there a second ship probably 
 joined. The direction sailed was north, and he came to a 
 “ cool region with great woods,” to which he gave the 
 name of Green Land (Terra Verde). This feature of 
 “ woods ” marks the landfall of the first voyage as south 
 of a definite latitude. It is applicable to any part of 
 North America south of Labrador. On the Cantino map 
 “ woods ” are plainly portrayed in the interior of the 
 central land. This Terra Verde is not the Greenland of 
 our maps, or of the Northmen of the tenth century, but 
 the east coast of Newfoundland. According to Galvano 
 Corte-Real reached a region lying in the latitude of 50° 
 N. He found the inhabitants barbarous, and of a dark 
 colour. For defence they used bows and arrows, and 
 darts of wood with points hardened in the fire. They 
 were dressed in skins of animals, and they lived in caves 
 and huts. He coasted along the shores of the country. 
 A letter from Albert Cantino to the Duke of Ferrara, 
 dated October 17, 1501, is very important as confirming, 
 from an independent source, the information given in 
 the two letters of Pietro Pasqualigo, but, read at this dis- 
 tance of time, it appears to confuse together the voyages 
 of 1500 and 1501. The commission to Gaspar Corte- 
 Real was dated May 12, 1500, and, necessarily, was prior 
 
 to his departure. Cantino writes of a voyage north for 
 4 
 
50 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 five months and then of a change of direction to north- 
 west and west for three months, when land was found, to 
 which must be added the time spent in coasting and re- 
 turning. The confusion is evident, for it is certain that 
 Corte-Real returned the same year from his first expedi- 
 tion. The first few sentences of Cantino’s letter embody 
 information concerning the first voyage, and then it 
 passes on to repeat what he learned regarding the second. 
 Pasqualigo, in both his letters, made distinct references 
 to a previous voyage in 1 500, but dwells on the details of 
 the voyage of 1501. From Cantino’s map we learn that 
 Corte-Real went as far north as the southern point of 
 Greenland. They found it a region of serrated moun- 
 tains, and did not land. The cosmographers of the day 
 considered it to be a point of Asia, and it is set down on 
 the map as such. Corte-Real attempted to push farther 
 northward, but was stopped by “ enormous masses of 
 frozen snow floating upon the sea [field ice], and moving 
 under the influence of the waves.” Then follows a touch 
 in the narrative which proves that it is based on the re- 
 port of men who had really seen the icebergs of the 
 north. “Owing to the heat of the sun, sweet and clear 
 water is melted on their summits, and descending, by 
 small channels, formed by the water itself, it eats away at 
 the base where it falls. The ships now being in want of 
 water the boats were sent in, and in that way as much 
 was taken as was needed.” The fact of watering a ship 
 at an iceberg on the ocean could not have been invented. 
 Then he encountered “ the frozen sea,” probably large 
 masses of field ice, and could go no farther north. He 
 reached, says Ramusio, a place he named Rio Nevado, in 
 lat. 6o° N. — a river loaded with snow. This was prob- 
 ably Hudson’s Strait. He returned in safety to Lisbon 
 latre in the year. His exploration of the eastern coast of 
 Newfoundland was very complete, for the profiles on the 
 earliest maps are more accurate than those of much later 
 date, and he seems to have named many places on the 
 coast. Thus, by A. D. 1500, the whole of the Atlantic 
 coast of Newfoundland had been discovered — on the 
 
THE CORTE-REALS 
 
 5i 
 
 south by Cabot and on the east by Corte-Real, blit it was 
 by both supposed to be a part of the mainland. Besides 
 this, both these navigators had gone north along the coast 
 of Labrador, as far as Hudson’s Strait, and Corte-Real 
 had even reached Davis’ Strait. 
 
 Gaspar Corte-Real sailed again from Lisbon on May 
 15, 1501. The expedition consisted of two ships,* and the 
 King again gave his active concurrence. The course, 
 however, was different, and land not before known to 
 anyone, 2000 miles from Lisbon, was discovered to the 
 west and northwest, evidently not the same land as on 
 the former voyage. The accounts, in substance, are 
 that, after finding land, they coasted to the north and 
 found it continuous with that discovered on their previ- 
 ous voyage, only they could not go so far north because 
 the ice was in greater quantity. They also thought that 
 the new land was joined to the region discovered at the 
 Antilles by the Spaniards. The country they describe 
 corresponds to the coast of Acadia and the northern 
 United States — they could find no end to it in either 
 direction. It was wooded with very fine timber fit for 
 masts of ships, and there were very large rivers, and 
 “ when they landed they found delicious fruits of various 
 kinds and trees and pines of marvellous height and 
 girth.” It was a populous country. The natives were 
 clad in skins and lived solely by hunting and fishing. 
 They kidnapped a number of them. Fifty were in 
 Corte-Real’s own ship and seven were in the companion 
 vessel which reached Lisbon safely between the 8th and 
 nth of October, 1501. It is important to take into ac- 
 count the different directions if we would understand 
 this second voyage. It was not, says Pasqualigo, 
 
 * Like Kohl, I can find only two ships. Galvano, Cantino, Pas- 
 qualigo, and the Cantino map say two, and although it may be 
 possible to argue from the dates of return that there were three, 
 it is better to read the documents in a concurrent sense, where 
 that can be done. Pasqualigo gives the date of return as 
 October 9, and Cantino says it was October 11. All the refer- 
 ences are to the same vessel. 
 
52 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 “ north as in the past year,” but “ northwest and west.” 
 Delaware Bay is true west from Lisbon, and, as in the 
 cases of Cabot and Columbus, the tendencies bearing 
 southwards on a western course of such a length as 2000 
 miles must also be considered. Pietro Pasqualigo wrote 
 to his government, and to his brothers at Venice, ac- 
 counts of the voyage heard from the sailors, and Alberto 
 Cantino did the same for the Duke of Ferrara. They 
 saw some of the kidnapped natives, and describe them as 
 shapely in form and modest and gentle in manner, but 
 dirty in their habits. They were marked with lines on 
 their faces, and were clothed with skins of animals, 
 chiefly otters. From the description, in which both cor- 
 respondents agree, the captives could not have been 
 Esquimaux, but may have been any of the Algonquin 
 tribes of the American coast. Gaspar Corte-Real never 
 returned. His vessel was doubtless the larger of the two, 
 and he had sent his consort back, intending to explore the 
 coast further. Whether he was wrecked or fell a victim 
 to the resentment of the fellow tribesmen of his kid- 
 napped captives was never known. One point of great 
 interest is related by Pasqualigo. The sailors brought 
 home a piece of a broken sword, gilded and of Italian 
 make. He said also that “ a native boy had two 
 silver rings in his ears which, without doubt, seem to 
 have been manufactured at Venice.” Pasqualigo argued 
 from that that the land discovered “ must be the main- 
 land [meaning Asia], because it is not possible that a ship 
 could ever have reached that place without being heard 
 of.” He thought the articles had come overland. We 
 recognise them as relics of Cabot’s voyages. 
 
 Miguel Corte-Real could not be convinced of his 
 brother’s death. He had assisted in fitting out the expedi- 
 tion, and had even prepared a vessel to join the second 
 one, but had been prevented, in the first instance, by 
 royal orders and then by contrary winds. He obtained 
 the King’s consent and organised a search expedition of 
 three vessels. They sailed from Lisbon on May 10, 1502, 
 but nothing was ever heard again of the vessel in which 
 
THE CORTE-REALS 
 
 53 
 
 Miguel sailed. They had arranged that in order to 
 search the coast more thoroughly the vessels should 
 separate and meet on August 20, at an appointed rendez- 
 vous. After waiting some time for Miguel’s ship the 
 other two returned without him to Lisbon. The King, 
 grieved at the loss of his favourite, organised an expedi- 
 tion the following year (1503), but it returned without 
 success. Then the eldest brother, Vasqueanes Corte- 
 Real, the governor of Terceira, sought permission to 
 organise another searching expedition. King Emmanuel, 
 however, refused his consent. Thus closed this inter- 
 esting chapter of maritime history. 
 
 The early geographical history of the maritime prov- 
 inces of Canada is plainly written in the earliest Portu- 
 guese maps. From Cape Chidley at Hudson’s Strait to 
 the Bay of Fundy Portuguese sailors gave names, some 
 of which have persisted to this day, though most have 
 been overlaid by the subsequent activities of the Bretons, 
 while of the names given by Cabot not one survives. 
 
 The earliest delineation of the northeast coast of Amer- 
 ica which we possess subsequent to that of Juan de la 
 Cosa is the map which Albert Cantino had drawn by a 
 cartographer in Lisbon to show the Corte-Real dis- 
 coveries, and sent to the Duke of Ferrara, before Novem- 
 ber 19, 1502. The title is “Carta da navigar per le 
 isole novamente trovate in le parte de l’lndia ” ( Sailing 
 chart for the islands recently discovered in the regions of 
 India). That cannot be pressed too far because, as 
 pointed out by Harrisse, the map covers much more than 
 the newly found regions. The upper part shows the re- 
 sults of the first voyage. Our present Greenland is seen 
 at the top. Lower down is the east coast of Newfound- 
 land, marked Terra del Rey de Portuguall. These coasts 
 are not named, and they are drawn well to the east of 
 the line of demarcation, which on the sketch is indicated 
 by a dotted line. Beyond this, far to the west, but not 
 to the south, is the coast of America found on the second 
 voyage. There are names along the coast in the original, 
 and much difference of opinion exists as to what is really 
 
54 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 indicated. The position of Cuba close to a point of land 
 naturally suggests that the point is Florida, as on our pres- 
 ent maps ; but, on examination, it will be seen that not 
 only Cuba, but every one of the Antilles is north of the 
 line of the Tropic, whereas, in fact, the entire group is 
 south of that line. The latitude is io° out of the truth. 
 If these islands be referred to their true latitude, and if 
 
 Fig. 6. Cantino Map, A. D. 1501-02 
 
 the land discovered be on a western course from Lisbon, 
 as recorded by Pasqualigo, there will be a proper propor- 
 tionate gap between the continental coast and the island 
 of Cuba, and the point of land indicated will at once be 
 seen to be Cape Hatteras, where the American coast 
 bends plainly westward. The documents and the map 
 will then harmonise, and there will be no need of hypo- 
 theses of “ unknown navigators ” to account for the 
 
THE CORTE-REALS 
 
 55 
 
 names. This view is confirmed by referring to the Euro- 
 pean side of the map. The southern point of the 
 American coast is opposite to the Strait of Gibraltar. 
 Gibraltar and Cape Hatteras are both very nearly on the 
 parallel of 35 0 N. It must be borne in mind that Corte- 
 Real’s own maps are not extant, and that Cantino had 
 this map drawn for him by some unknown cartographer 
 after the “ cardes ” (charts) of Corte-Real, or some of 
 his sailors. The Azores are laid down as well as part of 
 the coast of Europe and Africa, and a study of the map 
 may reconcile some of the discrepancies of the different 
 accounts as to distance. Cantino gives the distance as 
 2800 miles ; Pasqualigo, writing to the Signiory of 
 Venice, gives it at 1800 miles; but the following day 
 writes his brother that it is 2000 miles. In those days 
 longitude being calculated by dead reckoning, errors of 
 great magnitude constantly occur on the early maps, but 
 it has been pointed out that Corte-Real made his last de- 
 parture from the Azores. Lisbon is nearly on the merid- 
 ian of io° W. — the Azores are on 30° W., and the mouth 
 of Delaware Bay is 75 0 W. Sailing on that latitude de- 
 grees of longitude are forty-six geographical miles. The 
 distance from Lisbon, his first departure, directly west to 
 the mainland of America, is 2990 miles, but from the last 
 departure, the Azores, it is 2070 miles. Italian miles are 
 shorter than geographical miles, but the distances given 
 should be and are proportionate. 
 
 The descriptions given afford conclusive evidence as 
 to the region indicated. We learn that the land of 1501 
 was believed to be continuous with that discovered in the 
 north in 1500. The nature of this coast should be noted. 
 There were a “ multitude of large rivers ” — “ a very 
 great country ” — “ with delicious fruits ” — “ trees and 
 pines of marvellous height and girth.” Then Galvano 
 says there were “ so many mouths of rivers [bocas de 
 rois] and harbours [abras] that the vessels of the search 
 expedition of 1502 had to scatter along the coast.” All 
 these indicate, not the coast of Greenland, not of Labra- 
 dor certainly, and not the coast of Newfoundland, where 
 
56 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 there are no large rivers of fresh water, but the coast of 
 the northern United States and of Acadia up to a locality 
 “ where there is a very great abundance of salmon, 
 herrings, cod [stockafis] and similar fish.” On the prin- 
 ciple of not invoking an unknown cause to account for 
 anything where a known and sufficient agent exists, it is 
 clearly more reasonable to think that these coasts were 
 examined by some of the Corte-Real expeditions than to 
 invoke the intervention of any unknown navigators. 
 
 The next map showing these discoveries at the north 
 is a Portuguese chart of A. D. 1502 or 1504. Some 
 names are given, and two of the five still persist on the 
 coast. The landfall was evidently close to Conception 
 Bay, and is marked Cabo de Concepicion. The Baya de 
 Santa Cyria is the present Trinity Bay. Next to the 
 north is Cabo de San Antonio, evidently the present Cape 
 Bonavista. Then follows Rio de Rosa, Bonavista Bay, 
 (for the name Bonavista does not appear upon the coast 
 at so early a date). The next name, Ilha de Frey Luiz, 
 still persists — distorted into Cape Freels. The last, 
 Baxos do medo, is not a name, but a note, “ dangerous 
 shoal.” It is near the north of Newfoundland. A little 
 beyond that point the coast of Labrador trends away to the 
 northwest, as in fact it does, and opposite is the coast of 
 Greenland. The Strait of Belle-Isle was then, and for 
 many years after, taken for a bay. From the accurate 
 contour of this map it appears that the statement of Ra- 
 musio is correct — that Corte-Real went up as far as 6o° N. 
 to the Rio Nevado, the position of which is shown on 
 later Portuguese maps. It will be observed that the coast 
 of Newfoundland is continued south from Conception 
 to what must be Cape Race, where it turns, but there is a 
 line running west from Conception as a double coast line, 
 the intention of which is not clear. 
 
 The most striking feature on the whole northeast coast 
 of America is beyond question Cape Race. As has been 
 shown, it appears on La Cosa’s map as Cavo di Yngla- 
 terra, but on what is known as the “ King map,” dated 
 1501 (figure 2), it is laid down — the only name — on a 
 
THE CORTE-REALS 
 
 57 
 
 profile of the Newfoundland coast, beyond doubt taken 
 from Corte-Real’s explorations. The name Capo Raso 
 (flat cape) is Portuguese, and figure 3 shows that it is 
 an excellent summary of its physical characteristics. 
 
 Figure 7 is an extract from a chart of the Atlantic, 
 made in 1504 or ’05, by a celebrated Portuguese pilot 
 —Pedro Reinel — who afterwards left Portugal and 
 entered the service of Spain. It shows how thoroughly 
 
 the Portuguese had explored the east coast of Newfound- 
 land at that early date. Three more names are upon it 
 which survive under distorted forms, Rio de San Fran- 
 cisque (Cape St. Francis) ; C. da Espera (Cape Spear), 
 and Isla dos Bacalhas (Bacalhao Island). Cape Bona- 
 vista is not marked, and it should be observed that the 
 Island of Sam Joha (St. John) is laid down, and that it is 
 opposite a point of the adjoining coast, which can be none 
 other than Cape Breton. It was pointed out in a preced- 
 ing chapter that Cabot’s landfall of 1497 was marked by 
 a single island, which he named St. John. Reinel has 
 
58 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 shown it plainly. This chart is also of prime importance, 
 because, not only does the name C. Raso establish the 
 early recognition of Cape Race, — the key point of the 
 geography of the whole coast, — but it declares by the sub- 
 sidiary staff pointing to the true north that the variation 
 of the compass in that part of the Atlantic at that time 
 was 2i° W. If the latitude of Cape Race and Sam Joha 
 are read to the true meridian on the inclined staff they 
 will be found nearly correct. Cape Race is actually 46° 
 39', and Scatari Island is 45 0 50'. Thus early were the 
 Atlantic shores of British North America discovered, 
 while it was reserved to Jacques Cartier to open up, thirty 
 years later, the great avenue to the west — the St. Law- 
 rence valley. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MYTHICAL PRE-COLUMBIAN DISCOVERIES 
 
 A NYONE may see what an easy task it was to dis- 
 /% cover America if he will sit down in a library to 
 / \ study a good globe; and some writers, after 
 
 proving that the Basques could have discovered 
 America, suddenly assume that they did discover it, 
 and then -add that what the Basques found so easy 
 in recent times was also easily practicable in times 
 more remote. With equal appositeness a Portuguese 
 writer observes that the Portuguese fishermen went 
 as far as the Basque fishermen. That may be ad- 
 mitted, but it is no evidence that either reached 
 Newfoundland before Cabot. Nothing seems easier on 
 a globe. In fact, whoever started out at any time from 
 the western shores of Europe to do it could not fail to hit 
 America somewhere if he only stayed afloat and alive, 
 and kept his vessel’s head to any point between north- 
 west and southwest. So we have disquisitions upon the 
 nautical enterprises of the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, 
 the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Welsh, the 
 Bretons, the Normans, and others, until it seems that 
 every nation in Europe or Asia must have discovered 
 America at some time or other before Columbus. It is 
 not the object of the present volume to inquire into the 
 marine of these nations which could, but did not, discover 
 the western hemisphere. The voyages of the Northmen 
 are of set purpose reserved from consideration in this 
 volume, but it is germane to the present theme to discuss 
 shortly those supposed discoveries on the northeastern 
 coast of America which, it is claimed, had an influence 
 upon the mind of Columbus and led up to the great pub- 
 
 59 
 
6o THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 lie discovery which has transformed the world. It is 
 only possible to discuss such of them as have taken on 
 definite shape. “ Immemorial traditions ” do not admit of 
 discussion; for whatsoever things men may choose to 
 believe without evidence fall within the domain of faith. 
 Besides, some of these “ immemorial traditions ” started 
 up in quite recent times. They are “ traditions ” because 
 they have no foundation capable of proof, and they are 
 “ immemorial ” because no one knows who started them. 
 
 Many Portuguese writers are not content with the 
 unquestioned achievements of their countrymen — of Gas- 
 par Corte-Real, of Diaz, of Vasco da Gama, and the other 
 great sailors who carried the flag of Portugal into all 
 seas ; they dispute, not only with England, but with 
 Spain, priority in the discovery of America ; and as their 
 claims refer to the Atlantic seaboard of British America, 
 they call for examination here. The only one which has 
 been put forth in definite form is that, in A. D. 1464, Joao 
 Vaz Corte-Real (the father of Gaspar), in conjunction 
 with Alvaro Martins Homem, discovered the “ Isle of 
 Codfish,” and that, in the same year, a royal grant for it 
 was issued to them on condition that they would divide 
 it between them. This claim appeared first in print in 
 the “ Historia Insulana ” of Antonio Cordeiro, published 
 in 1717. It was copied by Sir John Barrow in his 
 “ Chronological List of Voyages, London, 1818,” as an 
 established fact ; and, from his work, it has been repeated. 
 It has been put forward of late years with much ability 
 by Ernesto do Canto and Luciano Cordeiro, and every 
 little while it crops up as something new and important. 
 The story has been carefully sifted and has been pro- 
 nounced unfounded by Humboldt, Biddle, Winsor, Kohl, 
 Harrisse, Major, Gafifarel, and almost all scholars of 
 eminence, and it bears its refutation on its face. Martin 
 Behaim spent many years in Portugal and at Fayal in the 
 Azores, and he married the daughter of the governor of 
 that island, but no hint of such a discovery exists upon 
 his globe. If it were true that such a discovery had been 
 made, it would certainly have been known also to the 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 61 
 
 King of Portugal, who is stated to have made the grant. 
 Such knowledge could not have failed to come out in the 
 endless disputes concerning the line of demarcation, dur- 
 ing which all the eminent pilots of Spain and Portugal 
 gave evidence. It would have won the case for Portugal, 
 but it was never pleaded; nor did it come out in the 
 defence of the suit of the heirs of Columbus against the 
 Crown. 
 
 The Portuguese writers who advocate these claims cite 
 a large number of documentary authorities, and so give 
 them an appearance of documentary support. But when 
 examined they all fade away into vague general state- 
 ments or prove irrelevant to the question. It is true that 
 there would be nothing extraordinary if a discovery had 
 been made by Joao Vaz, seeing that he was addicted to 
 nautical pursuits, and it is also true that Francesco de 
 Souza might, perhaps, have mentioned such a voyage in 
 a manuscript which was lost in the great earthquake at 
 Lisbon, but that is not proof that there ever was such a 
 voyage or that Souza did make such mention. Then the 
 numerous grants cited as having been made are all pros- 
 pective. They are for islands to be discovered ; for the 
 island of the Seven Cities “ pretended to have been dis- 
 covered,” and for islands in directions unstated and which 
 the documents show had not actually been discovered. 
 
 It might be said without reserve that all theories of 
 discoveries on the northeast coast of America made for 
 Portuguese sailors before Cabot and Gaspar Corte-Real 
 have no foundation in fact. More recently the locality of 
 a supposed pre-Columbian discovery of America has 
 shifted to the Antilles and the South American continent. 
 These are beyond the scope of the present work ; but one 
 consideration is fatal to them all. The court of Portu- 
 gal in 1492 was the resort of the most skilled and active 
 pilots in Europe, and nautical science was cultivated with 
 the keenest interest. The proposals of Columbus were 
 twice submitted to committees of experts on his council 
 by the King and if these claims had any foundation it is 
 impossible to imagine that there was no one in Portugal 
 
62 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 who knew of these early voyages, or could point out on 
 the early charts those lands and names which have 
 recently been taken to stand for portions of the western 
 world. This question is now academic, — of interest to 
 students of history and not of practical moment, — but 
 then, at the end of the fifteenth century, it was burning 
 in the hearts of men wakening up to the new learning, 
 and we can never scan the charts of Andrea Bianco or 
 others of his day with the eager curiosity of the daring 
 seamen of Lisbon and the Atlantic Islands of Portugal ; 
 nor can we read as they could the archaisms and con- 
 ventionalities of their methods of cartography. All the 
 mass of citation piled up upon the question on the 
 authority of Azorean documents and writers is not proof, 
 nor even presumptive proof. On candid examination it 
 leaves upon the mind the effect of disproof. 
 
 The voyages of the Basques have, strange to say, 
 received, in proportion, more attention from Canadian 
 writers than from the writers of Europe. The claims of 
 the Portuguese have attracted little notice in Canada, 
 though far more plausible. There is a romantic mystery 
 enshrouding this inscrutable people in which all things 
 become possible. In a collection of documents relating 
 to the history of Canada published by the government of 
 the Province of Quebec, among the earliest (No. 4), 
 under the heading “ Basques in the Gulf of St. Law- 
 rence,” is one to the effect that although “ there are no 
 records of the first voyages of the French there are never- 
 theless ample proofs that they made several voyages of 
 great extent prior to the discoveries of the Portuguese and 
 Spaniards.” It continues, “ the Basques and the Bretons 
 have been for several centuries the only people who fol- 
 low the whale and cod fisheries, and it is very remarkable 
 that Sebastian Cabot when he discovered the coast of 
 Labrador found there the name Bacallos which in the 
 Basque language signifies codfish.” This extract is said 
 to be from an old manuscript without a date, although it 
 is placed in the collection at A. D. 1497 to the confusion 
 of the unwary reader. 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 63 
 
 That somebody, somewhere, and at some time, held 
 such opinions is not important and hardly demands a 
 position in the forefront of any collection of historical 
 documents. The Basques and Bretons were early on the 
 coasts of Canada, as will appear in the following chapter, 
 and the fact is admitted by all ; but that they were there 
 before Cabot is disproved by the evidence of the greatest 
 Basque sailor of the age of Columbus. In like manner 
 we read in an important Canadian history that while 
 Jacques Cartier is “ generally regarded as the first who 
 penetrated into the interior of Canada,” that country had 
 then been already known to the French, and that the 
 Basques had, one hundred years before Columbus, not 
 only discovered Newfoundland and its fishing banks, but 
 Canada as well. Moreover, that a Basque sailor, familiar 
 with the Newfoundland coasts, had imparted the infor- 
 mation to Columbus. 
 
 Such statements as these tending to detract from the 
 achievements of Columbus, Cabot, Cartier, and other 
 great sailors should not be made excepting upon good 
 evidence. They have often been disproved, nevertheless 
 they are so incessantly repeated that we seem to be per- 
 ilously near another “ immemorial tradition ” in Canada, 
 and it is necessary in a volume concerning discoveries on 
 the northeast coast of America to consider them once 
 more. 
 
 During the six weary years of poverty and disappoint- 
 ment passed by Columbus while urging his proposals for 
 the discovery of lands across the Atlantic; while his 
 theories were examined and reported upon by commis- 
 sions of men versed in all the nautical knowledge exist- 
 ing in Spain and Portugal, no one arose and said that 
 Basque sailors had been fishing for a hundred years upon 
 the coasts of Bacallaos in the far northwest across the 
 ocean. If any sailors had been fishing there it was not 
 for amusement; it must have been a commercial enter- 
 prise, and they had to dispose of their fish. They could 
 not have kept the knowledge secret; for the vessels, of 
 necessity, would have to frequent many ports to dispose 
 
64 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of the immense quantities of their catch. Such treasures 
 of ocean could no more have been kept secret then than 
 the treasures of California or Australia in our day. Let 
 it be supposed that they made the attempt to keep the 
 secret to themselves. Juan de La Cosa was a Basque, 
 one of themselves, born at Santona on the Bay of Biscay, 
 not only a sailor, but a ship owner. As owner and captain 
 of the Santa Maria he chartered her to Columbus, and 
 sailed in her on the memorable first voyage of 1492. In 
 the year 1500 he was employed by the King, Ferdinand, to 
 make a map of the world. This map is still extant, and 
 upon those very coasts of British America, said to have 
 been frequented by Basque sailors for a hundred years, 
 he wrote for the King of Spain’s own eye “ Mar descu- 
 bierto por les Yngleses ” (Sea discovered by the English), 
 and he placed English flags all along the northeast coast. 
 
 It is unquestioned that the Basques both of Spain and 
 France were from early times the boldest seamen along 
 the coasts of the Bay of Biscay and were skilled to dare 
 the dangers of the most storm-vext region of the turbu- 
 lent Western Ocean. It is not disputed that at the period 
 now treated upon they were the most successful whale- 
 hunters, and that they followed the whales far out to sea 
 when, in the middle of the sixteenth century, they became 
 scarce near the coast. It is quite true that they were 
 capable of discovering America so far as seamanship is 
 concerned, but that they did discover America is an 
 assertion without any basis of proof. 
 
 As soon as the evidence, or what is called evidence, is 
 examined, it fades away into that kind of assertion 
 euphemistically called “ immemorial tradition.” These 
 traditions were diligently inquired into by Martin Fernan- 
 dez de Navarrete for his great collection of voyages and 
 discoveries published in 1825-37 at Madrid under royal 
 authority. He searched the records of San Sebastian 
 and the ports of Guipuzcoa, and of the other Basque 
 provinces, most thoroughly, and found no traces of Basque 
 voyages until after the return of Stephen Gomez in 1526. 
 He concluded, however, that from the year 1502 Basque, 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 65 
 
 conjointly with Breton fishermen, began to frequent the 
 coasts of Newfoundland. A similar inquiry was made 
 by Mr. (now Sir Clements) Markham. He visited every 
 important town in the Basque provinces of Spain, from 
 Cape Penas to the French frontier. The results were 
 presented to the Zoological Society of London. He 
 found that ywhales began to be scarce in the seventeenth 
 century and then the whalers began to make long voyages. 
 Mateas de Echeveste, who some suppose to have dis- 
 covered Newfoundland before Columbus, did really fre- 
 quent that coast, but his series of twenty-eight voyages 
 began in the year 1545, and Columbus died in 1506. 
 
 The most definite form in which the Basque claim of 
 priority appears is that Juan de Echaide, of San Sebas- 
 tian, in the province of Guipuzcoa, discovered the Banks 
 as well as the Island of Newfoundland at the end of the 
 fourteenth century. No authority is found upon which 
 the statement is based. This being accepted for fact, 
 some proceed to confirm it by the surprising assertion 
 that the “ Canadian Indians would not trade with the 
 French in any other language than Basque.” Support 
 for this grotesquely absurd statement is offered by refer- 
 ences to “ Pierre de l’Ancre,” “ Tableau de l’inconstance 
 des mauvais anges,” and to “ Leonce Goyetche,” “ St. 
 Jean de Luz Historique et pittoresque,” Bayonne, 1856. 
 Reference is also made to Father Lallemant (Jesuit Rela- 
 tions, A. D. 1626), who wrote: “The Indians [of 
 Acadia] call the sun Jesus, and it is belived the Basques, 
 who formerly frequented these places, introduced the 
 name.” 
 
 The preceding are claims on behalf of the Basques of 
 Spain (Guipuzcoans), but similar claims are put forward 
 for the French Basques of St. Jean de Luz, of Siboure, 
 and of other Basque ports in the south of France. These 
 are, if possible, vaguer still, and no name or approximate 
 date is given. It is only that “ there is reason to believe,” 
 or that “ the respective writers believe that the Basques 
 discovered Newfoundland one hundred years before the 
 voyage of Columbus.” The passage in the “ Jugemens 
 5 
 
66 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 d’Oleron,” sometimes referred to, is such a statement in 
 the work “ Les Us et Coutumes de la Mer,” dated 1671, 
 and is a note upon the text of the main work. 
 
 Margry (Navigations Frangaises), without commit- 
 ting himself to their truth, dwells at length upon the 
 claims of the French Basques; but gives only the usual 
 traditions. He quotes from a manuscript memorial, pur- 
 porting to have been presented, in 1710, by the merchants 
 of St. Jean de Luz and of Siboure, in which it was set 
 forth that, from time immemorial, the Basques of France 
 had been whalers, and that they had gone westwards 
 until they came upon the Banks of Newfoundland, and 
 found a prodigious quantity of fish. This memorial is 
 not authenticated by names, and gives no date to the time 
 of discovery. No one disputes that the Basques of France 
 also frequented the coasts of Newfoundland and Canada 
 at a very early date. What remains to be proved is that 
 they went there before A. D. 1501. 
 
 In connection with these theories, reference is some- 
 times made to the Atlas of Andrea Bianco, A. D. 1436. 
 It was urged by Formaleoni, in 1783, and has been 
 pressed, in connection with these mythical voyages an- 
 terior to Columbus, that, on the seventh sheet, is an island 
 called “ Scorafixa or Stokafixa,” very far west in the 
 Atlantic, and corresponding to the position of Newfound- 
 land. An examination of the photographic fac-similes 
 in the Lenox Library, New York, made with the kind 
 permission of Mr. Eames, the learned librarian, does not 
 confirm this statement. The place is not “ far to the west 
 of the Atlantic/’ but on the northwest corner of the map, 
 and the edges of the map cut it. It is to the north of 
 Stilanda, which is also cut by the edge, but which stands 
 for the Shetlands, as is shown in the works on northern 
 voyages, while the land to the north may be either the 
 Faroe Islands, or Iceland. The name on the island is 
 ya Novercha stockds. To follow this inquiry further 
 would lead to a discussion of the Zeni voyages. For our 
 present purpose it is sufficient to say that both these lands 
 (Novercha and Stilanda), are close to the coast of Nor- 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 67 
 
 way. The position of both absolutely excludes the west- 
 ern Atlantic, or the possibility of any portion of America 
 being intended. These northern islands belonged to 
 Norway, and were the sources of the supply of stockfish 
 (cod) at that period. Lelewel, commenting upon the 
 map, observes that “ these [Novercha and Stockfis] are 
 not two names, but a note to the effect that the stockfish 
 exported from Norway is caught there.” 
 
 The claims of the French of Dieppe do not call for 
 remark in this volume, inasmuch as they have reference 
 to the coast of South America, and to the adventures of 
 Jean Cousin and Vincent Pinzon, his insubordinate lieu- 
 tenant. The claim made for Skolno, the Polish pilot, in 
 the services of Christian I. of Denmark, may also be 
 passed over, for the voyage has no basis of authentic 
 fact. The expeditions of Prince Madoc of Wales, with 
 which Hakluyt opens his American Voyages, are supposed 
 to relate to Florida, and the Welsh-speaking Indians are 
 taken to be either the Tuscaroras, the Shawnees, or the 
 Mandans. The subject is better left with the poets. The 
 Zeni voyages are accepted by some, but their authenticity 
 has not been maintained; and in any case, they can be 
 most conveniently discussed in connection with the voy- 
 ages of the Northmen, nor is it profitable to discuss what 
 “ unknown voyagers ” may have done, save to remark 
 that from all the indications existing, their field was in 
 the southern regions discovered by Columbus. 
 
 A discussion of the early traces of Portuguese and 
 Basque sailors upon these coasts leads, naturally, into an 
 inquiry into the meaning of the two very early names, 
 Labrador and Bacallaos. There is no completely satis- 
 factory account of the origin of the name of Labrador. 
 Its position varies on the earliest maps. Sometimes it is 
 on the coast of Greenland, and sometimes on the present 
 Labrador. The coast of Newfoundland, which in early 
 maps is a part of the mainland, is at first Terra Corterealis, 
 but the name Bacallaos is soon substituted. To the 
 north of these names is Terra Laboratoris, Labrador, 
 Lavrador, or Lavradore. Labrador is Spanish, and Lav- 
 
68 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 rador is Portuguese, meaning an agricultural labourer, 
 and to the present day in Mexico a peon, or field 
 hand, is called a “ labrador.” In the letter of Pietro 
 Pasqualigo to his brothers at Venice, dated October 19, 
 1501, he gives a description of seven of the natives, men, 
 women, and children, who, only a few days before, had 
 been brought to Lisbon by one of Corte-Real’s vessels. 
 Fifty others, he adds, are expected every hour to arrive 
 on the other caravel. Cantino’s letter to the Duke of 
 Ferrara confirms this, and he states that he has “ seen, 
 touched and examined them,” and that they are “ bigger 
 than our people, and with well formed limbs to cor- 
 respond.” Pasqualigo adds : “ This most serene King 
 
 hopes to derive very great profit from the new land, both 
 from the wood for ships, of which they have need, and 
 from the men, who will be excellent for labour, and the 
 best slaves that have hitherto been obtained This re- 
 corded opinion of the King has, since Biddle’s time, been 
 generally accepted as the origin of the name; or the 
 name was, at least, supposed to have been derived from 
 this extensive kidnapping. Other navigators in the 
 North, in later years, were content to take a few natives 
 to train them as interpreters; but this voyage developed 
 into a slaving voyage, hence the name “ labourer’s coast ” 
 was almost equivalent to “ slave coast,” and with refer- 
 ence to Corte-Real’s voyage it was appropriate. 
 
 Many other etymologies have been suggested ; but 
 only one of them has any probable ground. Mr. 
 Harrisse mentions a manuscript map at Wolfenbuttel, 
 ascribed to A. D. 1534, which bears a legend, referred to 
 the English discovery of Labrador, as follows : “ And as 
 the one who first gave notice of it was a labourer of the 
 Azores they [the English] gave it the name.” He quotes, 
 in connection with this, a passage in the manuscript 
 “ Xslario ” of Alonzo de Santa Cruz. “ It was called 
 the land of Labrador, because he who gave notice and in- 
 dication of it was a labourer from the Azores to the King 
 of England when he sent on discovery Anthony Gabot 
 [sic], an English pilot, and the father of Sebastian 
 Gabot, at present Pilot-Major of your Majesty.” To 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 69 
 
 this may be added the fact recorded in the English 
 records that, on March 19, 1501, King Henry VII. 
 granted a new patent of discovery and exclusive trade, 
 covering the same ground as that of John Cabot, to 
 Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas 
 of Bristol, conjointly with Joao Fernandez. Francisco 
 Fernandez, and Joao Gonzales of the Azores. It is also 
 recorded that, on September 26, 1502, a pension of £10, 
 during pleasure, was granted to Francis Fernandez and 
 John Gonzales for services relating to the new lands, and 
 the Portuguese writers say that documents in a law-suit 
 exist in the Azores, to the effect that Joao Fernandez, 
 labourer of Terceira, went away in company with Pedro 
 de Barcellos “ to discover new lands,” and was away for 
 three years, and on his return found his property occupied 
 by somebody else. 
 
 The dates of these documents are not given ; but 
 another Portuguese writer states that, in 1491-92, King 
 John of Portugal commissioned Pedro de Barcellos and 
 Joao Fernandez Lavrador to discover lands to the north- 
 west. If they had found anything the same King John 
 would have known it, and it would have modified his dis- 
 appointment at the success of Columbus. He could not 
 have failed to have put in an effective objection to the 
 extensive claims of Columbus and of Spain. All the 
 demarcation negotiations would have proceeded upon 
 other lines. The advocates of the Azorean theory differ 
 as to whether Lavrador was the family name or the name 
 of the business of this discoverer. The name Lavrador 
 was not given by Corte-Real, and is not on the Cantino 
 map. It appears first on the King map of 1502 — an un- 
 questioned Portuguese map — and, in his latest book, 
 “ Terre Neuve,” Mr. Harrisse conclusively argues that 
 any connection of any English voyage with the name 
 Labrador must be rejected. The name is on the Oliver- 
 iana map of 1503, on the Maggiolo map of 15 11, and, 
 though differing in location, soon became established on 
 the maps. 
 
 The natives carried off by Corte-Real were not Esqui- 
 
70 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 maux, but, from the descriptions given by the Italian 
 letter writers, were Algonquins to the south, or Beothiks 
 (commonly called Red Indians) of Newfoundland. 
 These also were of Algonquin stock, and were probably 
 akin to the Montagnais of the mainland. They were 
 mercilessly slaughtered during the two following cen- 
 turies by the Europeans of all nations, who resorted to 
 the coasts for fish. None were spared; men, women, 
 and children fared alike. The Beothiks retired into the 
 wilderness fastnesses of the island, where they could live 
 on the abundant supply of game and fish. Whenever 
 they were seen by the whites they were shot. For two 
 hundred years this wretched people were hunted to exter- 
 mination, until, too late, the conscience of the English 
 was aroused. No overtures could then induce the scat- 
 tered families to hold any communication with the 
 whites, whom they doubtless regarded as perfidious and 
 malignant beings. Famine and disease reduced their 
 numbers, until, some time in the year 1827, the remains 
 of the last family were found at Red Indian Lake in the 
 centre of the island. They died without making any sign 
 for assistance to the white people, who would then gladly 
 have done anything to relieve them. In 1819 a Beothik 
 woman was captured and treated with great kindness. 
 She was taught English, and called Mary March, from 
 the month of her capture. Through her, attempts were 
 made to win the confidence of her people, but she died of 
 consumption the following year. A miniature portrait, 
 drawn by the wife of the governor, is the only existing 
 record of the type of a deeply injured race. 
 
 Taking all the evidence together it would seem that the 
 theory generally accepted is the true one. The kid- 
 napping of these poor people impressed all the chron- 
 iclers. 
 
 The name Bacallaos, applied in the early maps to New- 
 foundland and Acadia, has been the subject of very keen 
 controversy. The initial difficulty arose from a sentence 
 in the “ Decades ” of Peter Martyr, where he gives an 
 account of Sebastian Cabot’s voyage. He says, as if 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 71 
 
 reporting Cabot’s statement : “ Cabot himself named 
 
 those lands^Bacallaos, because, in the surrounding sea, 
 he found a certain kind of large fishes resembling tun- 
 nies, so-called by the inhabitants, in such great multitudes 
 that they sometimes impeded his ships.” There is 
 nothing said about Basques. Lescarbot imported the 
 Basques into the question a hundred years later. The 
 passage seems to state that Cabot found the “ inhabit- 
 ants ” using the word bacallaos for a fish which swarmed 
 on their coasts, and named the land from the word found 
 in their mouths. Martyr, apparently, did not know any- 
 thing more about these fishes than that they resembled 
 tunnies (tinnos — thynnos), but at that time, and long 
 before, the common people of Spain called the codfish, or 
 haddock, of the north of Europe “ bacallaos,” — the 
 Romance equivalent of the Teutonic “ stockfish.” It is 
 clear, however, that the word is pure Spanish, and that 
 the equivalent Romance form had long been in use 
 throughout the south of Europe ; such a statement, if really 
 made by Cabot, would have been equal to the admission 
 that Spaniards had been there before him, whereas the 
 whole purport of the communication was that he had 
 been the first discoverer of the region. Careful con- 
 sideration of the passage will suggest that what Cabot 
 really said was that these swarming fish were the same 
 as those which were used as food by the peasants of 
 Spain, and called by them bacallaos; for Cabot was then 
 living at Seville, and doubtless was speaking in Spanish. 
 Such a statement would tend to magnify the importance 
 of the country discovered. Martyr probably misunder- 
 stood, or forgot, the bearing of the word, and transferred 
 to the people of Newfoundland the word long in use by 
 the country people of Spain. 
 
 Again, we know that, upon the first voyage, “ Cabot 
 saw no man.” The second voyage was also purely an 
 English expedition, commissioned by the English Crown, 
 and fitted out and manned by Englishmen. Cabot was 
 not a Spaniard, but a resident in England, and it is im- 
 possible he would have given a Spanish name to the 
 
72 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 country he discovered for the King of England. With 
 far greater probability Kohl asserts that the Portuguese 
 gave the name; for it is first found on Pedro Reinel’s 
 map (1505) as y dos Bocalhas , in Portuguese form, and 
 in Ruysch’s map (1508) it appears in Latin ( insula 
 Baccalauras) . Cabot did not go to Spain until 1512, after 
 that map had been four years published. He was in 
 charge of the official maps of Spain, and what he may 
 have done was to adopt the name on the Spanish maps 
 because it was characteristic of the region. 
 
 No argument or claim was ever put forward on ac- 
 count of this name Bacallaos until Lescarbot, in his “ His- 
 tory of New France” (1612), sets out to explain the 
 words Canada and “ Bacalos.” As to the first, he differs 
 from Cartier ; and is hopelessly wrong ; and, as to the sec- 
 ond, he says the name was given by the Basques of France 
 (nos Basques), “who call a codfish becaillos ” He adds 
 that the Acadian Indian name is apege — it is now pegoo 
 in Micmac, evidently the same word. If it be agreed 
 that the Newfoundland Indians were not Micmacs, the 
 vocabularies of Mary March show that their name was 
 bobboosoret , and, therefore, as a matter of fact, it is not 
 true that the Indian name was bacallaos. Lescarbot is a 
 very lively writer, and must not be taken too seriously, 
 when in his discursive moods. 
 
 The word bacallaos is a Romance word, found in all 
 the Romance languages for dried codfish. The curing 
 was formerly done by stretching on sticks and, in the 
 north of Europe, stockfish is the expressive name ; but 
 the Mediterranean nations, who derive their languages 
 from the Latin, express the same idea in derivative forms 
 of the classic word baculum , or in post-classical use 
 baculns, a stick. In Portuguese it is in the singular num- 
 ber bacalhao, in Spanish bacallao, in Italian baccala, in 
 French bacaliau. The Basque word is bacaillaba, and is 
 evidently a derivative from the Romance word. The 
 Basques did not impose the names of their archaic tongue 
 upon the nations around. Their name for oyster is the 
 Spanish ostra, and their name for whale is the Spanish 
 
MYTHICAL DISCOVERIES 73 
 
 balena ; botfv Romance words. Others might be cited 
 from Basque vocabularies, but these are sufficient to show 
 that bacaillaba is not exceptional in its derivation. 
 
 No sooner were the northeastern waters of America 
 made known by the voyages of Cabot and Corte-Real 
 than Portuguese, Spanish, and Breton vessels thronged 
 there for the cod fishery ; and Basque vessels for cod fish- 
 ing to a certain extent, and later for whaling. Nearly a 
 hundred years passed, of trading and fishing along the 
 coast, before there was a permanent settlement, and what- 
 ever the Indians may have known of European words 
 could easily have been learned then. Father Lallemant, 
 in the Jesuit Relations for 1626, as already observed, says 
 the Acadian Indians call the sun Jesus, and that they 
 learned it from the Basques. If so, they had a hundred 
 years to learn it in without antedating Columbus. The 
 same remark applies to Lescarbot’s extravagant state- 
 ment that so long and so intimate was the connection 
 between the Basques and the Indians of Newfoundland 
 and the Gulf shores, that the language of the latter was 
 half Basque ; and this expanded by another writer into a 
 statement that the Indians would not trade in any other 
 language. 
 
 Attempts have been made to set up a philological con- 
 nection between the Basque and the American languages, 
 but without success. After a long examination of the 
 question, M. Julien Vinson recorded his conclusion that it 
 is abundantly clear that no real relationship exists be- 
 tween them. The Basque belongs to the agglutinative 
 type, and so do the American languages, but so also do 
 the Japanese, the Manchu, and many other Asiatic 
 groups. The subject cannot be followed further in the 
 present work. If, before the lost continent Atlantis dis- 
 appeared in the ocean, the Basques were the chief people 
 of western Europe, and if they then came to America and 
 founded the Huron-Iroquois group of nations, it is too 
 long ago to detract from the fame of Cabot or Corte-Real 
 or Columbus. It is a speculation of dreamland, and 
 beyond the region of historical geography. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PRIVATE ADVENTURERS — CABOT TO CARTIER 
 
 W ITH the departure of the expedition of 1498, 
 John Cabot and two of his sons — Lewis and 
 Sancius — disappear from English history. Se- 
 bastian seems to have remained in England, 
 and supported himself, as Columbus did for years, by 
 drawing maps. He emerged from obscurity again in 
 1512, when he was employed by Henry VIII. to draw a 
 map of Gascony and Guyenne, to be used for a campaign 
 in the south of France, projected by the English and 
 Spanish monarchs. The privileges granted to the Cabots 
 were annulled by letters patent to others dated March 19, 
 1501. The Cabot grants are not mentioned by name ; but 
 a monopoly is granted to the new patentees with a warn- 
 ing to all other subjects of the King not to disturb them 
 in their title and possession. A clause was added in the 
 draft extending the same warning specially to any who 
 might interfere with them under colour of any conces- 
 sion to any foreigner or foreigners made previously 
 under the great seal. This clause stands on the record 
 with a line drawn through it as if erased. It was not 
 necessary — the Cabots were excluded by the general 
 grant and prohibition, and the work of discovery was 
 continued by others. 
 
 Although a few of the more enterprising of the mer- 
 chants of Bristol followed up the voyages to the “new 
 land,” the real significance of Cabot’s discovery was only 
 slowly realised by the English nation. This is not sur- 
 prising, because the English had at that time a large and 
 steady trade for codfish with Iceland, for which they paid 
 in manufactured goods. English vessels carried the 
 dried fish to all the continental markets, and Bristol was 
 
 74 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 75 
 
 the chief emporium of a trade of very much more impor- 
 tance then than it afterwards became, for all Europe was 
 Roman Catholic, and church fasts were numerous and 
 better observed. Stockfish, or bacalao, was a staple food 
 in great demand, and its price was high; nevertheless, 
 those who ventured their stocks of “ caps, laces, points, 
 and other trifles ” in Cabot’s voyage, as they supposed 
 to the rich country of Cathay, not only lost their money, 
 but could see no prospect for a new outlet for English 
 manufactures. Gradually it dawned upon them that in 
 the seas swarming with codfish, not very much farther 
 off than Iceland, they had treasures richer than the 
 Spanish Indies. The west of England people took up 
 the trade and undersold the Iceland fish so that the 
 northern trade rapidly decayed in proportion as the 
 Newfoundland trade increased. Difficulties were con- 
 stantly arising also with the Danish Government, and 
 the English fishermen in the northern seas were ham- 
 pered by foreign imposts and regulations from which 
 the Newfoundland fishing fleet was free. All this the 
 English people, with characteristic slowness, took time 
 to realise. 
 
 The patent of March 19, 1501, which annulled the 
 Cabot patents, was granted to Richard Warde, Thomas 
 Ashehurst, and John Thomas, of Bristol, with whom 
 were associated Joao Fernandez, Francisco Fernandez, 
 and Joao Gonzales of the Azores. On December 9, 
 1502, new letters patent were issued to some of the 
 former holders; viz., to Thomas Ashehurst, Joao Fer- 
 nandez, Francisco Fernandez, Joao Gonzales, and Hugh 
 Elliott, granting very extensive powers and a monopoly 
 for forty years. Patents cost King Henry nothing, and 
 he took no share or risk himself. All expenses were 
 borne by the patentees. The voyages made under these 
 grants were at first led by the Portuguese; and we 
 know at least of one voyage under the patent of 1502, 
 for Robert Thorne of Seville, writing in 1527, to Dr. 
 Leigh (the English Ambassador), says that his 
 father sailed with Hugh Elliott. Of this voyage Robert 
 
76 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Thorne says that “ if the mariners would then have been 
 ruled and followed their pilot’s minde, there is no doubt 
 but the lands of the West Indies, from whence all the 
 golde cometh, had been ours.” Other voyages were 
 made, for there is an entry in the public accounts, “ to 
 men of Bristol that founde Th’isle £5.” That was on 
 January 7, 1502, and on September 30, of the same year, 
 there is another, “ to the merchants of Bristol that have 
 been in the Newe founde Launde, £20.” There is an 
 entry the following year (1503), on November 17, “to 
 one that brought hawkes from the Newfounde Island, 
 £ 1 ” The following spring (April 8, 1504,) a payment 
 was made “ to a preste that goeth to the New Islands, 
 £ 2 .” In 1505 (August 25) is another entry showing 
 that the voyages were still going on, “ to Clays going to 
 Richmond with wylde catts and popyngays of the New- 
 found Island for his costs 13/4,” and on September 25 
 the men who brought them over are indicated — “ to Port- 
 zugales that brought popyngais and catts of the moun- 
 taigne and other stuf to the Kinges grace, £5.” 
 
 It has been supposed by a few writers that Sebastian 
 Cabot was engaged upon some of these voyages, but 
 there is no real ground for thinking so. All the ex- 
 periences described by Martyr, Ramusio, Gomara, and 
 the other early writers are fully covered by the two 
 Cabot voyages in 1497 and 1498, and, in fact, the impres- 
 sion left by their narratives is that there was only one 
 voyage, that upon which ice was encountered. Stress is 
 laid upon a passage in Stow’s Chronicle to the effect 
 that in 1502 three men taken in the new-found islands 
 were brought to the King. Hakluyt twice records the 
 incident, first in his “ Divers Voyages,” as having oc- 
 curred in 1501, but in his final work, “ Principall Naviga- 
 tions,” he changed the date, and assigned the capture of 
 the men to the year in which William Purchas was 
 Mayor, and to the fourteenth year of the King — that is, 
 to the year 1498-99. Mr. Harrisse has collated these 
 passages most convincingly, and if Hakluyt’s authority 
 be accepted, these natives must have been brought on 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 
 
 77 
 
 Cabot’s second voyage. If, however, anyone should in- 
 cline to accept the authority of Stow, Mr. Harrisse demon- 
 strates that Cabot was not upon the voyage of 1502, be- 
 cause the new patent granted to Warde and the Portu- 
 guese was then in force, and he puts the matter beyond 
 doubt by bringing forward, for the first time, a document 
 proving that on September 25, 1502, the King granted a 
 pension of £10 each, yearly, during pleasure, to Francisco 
 Fernandez and Joao Gonzales, “ in consideration of the 
 true service which they have done unto us, to our singular 
 pleasure as captaines unto the newe founde lande.” It 
 was the Azoreans then who commanded in the expedition 
 under the patent, and, moreover, as these same Azoreans 
 were among the patentees of December, 1502, for a mo- 
 nopoly of forty years, there cannot be any way of includ- 
 ing Sabastian Cabot in any voyage after that of 1498. 
 That he was upon the voyage of 1498 we may be assured 
 quite apart from his own statements, since Ferdinand of 
 Aragon took him into the service of Spain because of his 
 personal knowledge of Bacallaos. 
 
 The preceding considerations exclude also all possi- 
 bility of an expedition in 1508, despatched by King 
 Henry VII., and commanded by Sebastian Cabot. The 
 argument for this rests mainly upon a manuscript report 
 made by Marcantonio Contarini to the Signiory of Venice 
 in 1536, twenty-seven years after the event. King 
 Henry VII. was not one to fit out at his own cost another 
 expedition of discovery, with three hundred men, and if 
 he did so, there would, of necessity, be some trace of it 
 in the public records or accounts. The conclusion of 
 Kohl must be accepted as correct, “ that there is nothing 
 to show that Sebastian Cabot entered on a new enterprise 
 for a long time ; while others, stimulated by the fame of 
 his discoveries, followed his track,” or rather, let us add, 
 his father’s track. 
 
 Following up the traces of English enterprise on the 
 northern coasts of America we come to an incidental 
 remark of Richard Eden that Henry VIII. “ furnished 
 and sent forth certain ships under the governance of 
 
78 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Sebastian Cabot, yet living, and one Sir Thomas Perte, 
 whose faint heart was the cause that voyage took none 
 effect.” The wording is peculiar, and taken with the 
 context, it conveys the idea that, whatever expedition is 
 referred to, it was abortive from the beginning and did 
 not actually sail. The statement is repeated by later 
 writers, but is controverted by the fact that at the time 
 stated, about A. D. 1517, Cabot was high in office in 
 Spain, where the following year he was made Grand 
 Pilot. This is the voyage in which he is reported to have 
 reached 6 y\° N., “ where he found the sea open, on June 
 1 1 ” ; and recent writers, still improving on that im- 
 possible feat, make him enter Hudson’s Strait and pass 
 into the Bay one hundred years before Hudson. As if 
 that were not enough, he is made by some to pass up Fox 
 Channel to 67J 0 until Sir Thomas Pert’s faint heart failed 
 him. So easy is it to sail ships on library globes, where 
 the ice does not show ! The Canadian Government sent 
 expeditions into the Bay in 1884 and 1887, with steam 
 vessels fitted specially for Arctic voyages and com- 
 manded by experienced sailors. It was a month later 
 before they could enter the strait. The best commentary 
 on this mythical voyage was made only four years after, 
 in 1521, when the Livery Companies of London protested 
 against being assessed for a voyage to the west, projected 
 by King Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey, to be con- 
 ducted by Sebastian Cabot, who was to be brought from 
 Spain. They protested that “ it was a sore risk to 
 jeopard five ships with men and goods, trusting to one 
 man, called as we understand, Sebastyan, who as we 
 here say, was never in that land hym self,” but reports 
 what he has heard his father and others say. 
 
 But all the while the west of England fishermen kept 
 on sailing to Newfoundland in increasing numbers, so 
 that in A. D. 1522 the Vice-Admiral Fitz William 
 thought it necessary to send armed ships to the mouth of 
 the channel to meet the returning vessels and protect them 
 from French privateers. The competition of the French 
 and Portuguese forced the English out of their old chan- 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 
 
 79 
 
 nels of trade and opened their eyes to the abundant 
 treasures which John Cabot’s discovery had placed at 
 their disposal. Their neglect was a benefit to the world, 
 for all shared in the exhaustless new food supply. 
 
 In 1527 King Henry VIII sent out an expedition, con- 
 sisting of two ships, under John Rut. He was an officer 
 of the incipient Royal Navy, and the object was to dis- 
 cover the regions of the Grand Khan by going further to 
 the west. One of the ships was wrecked near the Straits 
 of Belle-Isle, where, in lat. 53 0 N., they encountered 
 “ many great islands of ice,” and durst go no further. 
 These particulars are interesting, because 53 0 is the lati- 
 tude, on Labrador, where some suppose Cabot to have 
 made his landfall in 1497, an d to have found a semi- 
 tropical climate a month earlier in the year. The other 
 vessel, the Mary of Guilford, then turned south and 
 visited, on August 3, a “ good haven in Newfoundland, 
 called St. John, where they found eleven sails of Nor- 
 mandy, one of Brittany and two Portuguese barks, all a 
 fishing.” Rut continued on to the south, visiting and 
 landing on the shores of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and 
 New England, and returning to England in the beginning 
 of October. He wrote a letter to the King from the har- 
 bour of St. John, on August 3, and sent it home by an 
 English ship. It has been preserved by Purchas, and is 
 the first letter on record sent to England from America. 
 In the thirty-third year of Henry VIII, the first Act of 
 Parliament was passed making mention of Newfound- 
 land, called therein “ Newland,” and, as pointed out by 
 Prowse, it is also the first English statute referring to 
 America. 
 
 One of the English voyages during this period is the 
 oddest on record. Master Hore, an enthusiastic gentle- 
 man geographer, persuaded some thirty gentlemen, 
 mostly lawyers, “ of the Innes of Court and of the Chan- 
 cerie,” to get up an expedition for discovery in the west. 
 They sailed in 1536, and, after divers interesting observa- 
 tions, the provisions they brought with them gave out 
 while they were on the shores of Newfoundland, Famine 
 
8o THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 grew to such a height that one of the crew killed his mate 
 while they were digging for roots. This being dis- 
 covered, the captain assembled the crew and made “ a 
 notable oration,” the heads of which Hakluyt records with 
 much approval, pointing out the wickedness of eating 
 each other, and exhorting them to repentance and to 
 prayer for relief. The famine increased and they agreed 
 “ to cast lots who should be killed.” The narrative goes 
 on, “ and such was the mercie of God that the same night 
 there arrived a French ship in that port well furnished 
 with vittaile.” So they seized the French ship by a ruse, 
 and, changing vessels, returned to England. These pro- 
 vidential Frenchmen were sailors, and had come out, not 
 for geographic study, but for a cargo of food, and did 
 not need to eat each other on a coast where the sea 
 swarms with fish, and the woods abound in game; so a 
 few months afterwards they also arrived safely home, 
 and made a claim on King Henry VIII, for damages, 
 which he paid up liberally. This is the only naval ex- 
 pedition managed by lawyers to be found in the records 
 of these coasts, and their experiences and rules of pro- 
 cedure were unique. 
 
 This entertaining episode leads up to the observation 
 that the French, and especially the Bretons and Normans, 
 recognised the value of the fisheries of Newfoundland 
 and Acadia before the English, and in the sixteenth 
 century exploited them to a far greater extent. On a 
 Portuguese chart (1514-1520), to be seen at Munich, 
 Cape Breton is laid down as the land discovered by the 
 Bretons, and on Ribeiro’s Spanish official chart the same 
 region is inscribed “ land of the Bretons.” Cape Breton 
 is called in Ramusio the “ Cape of the Bretons,” because 
 they made it the central point of their fishery from the 
 earliest period, as their operations extended chiefly along 
 the Acadian coast and the south coast of Newfoundland. 
 Indeed, we find the expanse of sea marked off by Cape 
 Race and Cape Canso called, by Alonzo de Santa Cruz, 
 the “ Bay of the Bretons.” The Bretons of St. Malo and 
 the Normans of Dieppe were on the coast as early as 
 
TlERA DEL1ABRA 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 Ribeiro’s Map, a.d. 1529. 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 
 
 81 
 
 1504, the year after the last voyage of the Corte-Reals. 
 The accounts of the voyage of Jean Denys of Honfleur, 
 in 1506, and of Captain Velasco, often quoted from Char- 
 levoix, are, says that historian, so confused and so much 
 mixed up with fabulous matter as to be very doubtful. 
 That is true as to Velasco, but Ramusio in “ Discorso 
 d’un Gran’ Capitaine,” refers to the voyage of Denys, 
 and mentions the name of the pilot Gamart, and Harrisse 
 found a MS. in the National Library at Paris with the 
 following direction : “ Let a note be made of the mark 
 of my boats and barks which I leave in Newfoundland 
 in the haven of Jean Denys ‘ called Rougenoust ’ ” (the 
 present Renews). The voyage in 1508 of Thomas 
 Aubert in the ship La Pensee, owned by Ango of Dieppe, 
 is well authenticated. He attempted to found a colony 
 in Newfoundland, but it was unsuccessful. Several 
 voyages seem to have been made, and Aubert was the 
 first French captain to carry natives to France. It is 
 recorded by Eusebius that in A. D. 1509, “ Seven wild 
 men were brought from that island (which is called the 
 New Land) to Rouen with their canoe, clothing and 
 weapons.” The story, however, that Aubert in con- 
 junction with Verrazano sailed eighty leagues up the St. 
 Lawrence River and gave it that name has no foundation. 
 
 There are many incidental notices during the years 
 intervening between 1504 and Cartier’s first voyage 
 which show that a large and increasing fishery was car- 
 ried on in the new lands of the west from Breton and 
 Norman ports. The most striking is a fact recorded by 
 Navarrete that, in A. D. 15 11, Queen Joanna of Spain 
 commissioned Juan de Agramonte to go on a voyage to 
 Bacallaos “ to discover the secret of that country.” 
 Whether he really sailed or not is not known, but the 
 fact that the French were then frequenting the coast is 
 established by instructions given him to engage two 
 pilots for Brittany “ who are well acquainted with those 
 parts.” The same fact is established by the readiness 
 with which the Emperor Charles in 1526 listened to the 
 
 proposals of Nicholas Don, a Breton fisherman, who 
 6 
 
82 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 “ had come upon new lands to the south of Bacallaos.” 
 Herrera records the conditions, no results followed, but 
 the general admission of the special familiarity of the 
 Breton sailors with that region is apparent. 
 
 The attempt made by Baron de Lery in A. D. 1517 
 does not rest on any solid basis, and it seems in itself 
 problematical. Many recent histories contain reports 
 of such an expedition, but Charlevoix simply notices it as 
 a report incidental to the voyage of La Roche and refers 
 it to A. D. 1508. The animals found on the island in 
 later years were placed there by the Portuguese about 
 A. D. 1553. This was related to Edward Haies in 1563 
 while Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s expedition lay in St. 
 John’s harbour by a Portuguese sailor who was present 
 when it was done. In 1523 a Captain Coo made prize 
 of a Newfoundland fishing ship of Rouen, laden with fish 
 and tackle, and in that year five vessels from La Rochelle 
 went to Newfoundland. The French fishing fleet on that 
 coast far exceeded that of the English and, in these 
 early years, amounted to seventy or eighty sail, fitted 
 out in all the chief ports in the north of France. 
 
 The Portuguese were, however, for a long time the 
 most enterprising in developing the fisheries of the New 
 Land, and their chief field of action was on the east 
 coast. Representatives of the Corte-Real family held 
 the hereditary title of “ Governors of Terra Nova,” until 
 the direct line became extinct. It has been shown above 
 that the first English voyages, after Cabot’s second 
 expedition, were led by Portuguese captains from the 
 Azores. Very shortly afterwards a company was 
 organised by the merchants of Terceira in the Azores 
 and Aveiro and Vianna in Portugal for carrying on the 
 fishery in an organised manner and establishing a colony. 
 The business grew so rapidly that in 1506 King Emman- 
 uel passed an edict that one-tenth of the profits of the 
 fishing vessels from Newfoundland trading to Vianna 
 and Aveiro should be paid to the Royal Customs. Noth- 
 ing is recorded with any definiteness concerning these 
 attempts at colonisation and, in fact, it is not probable 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 83 
 
 that they went beyond the erection of permanent fishing 
 stages to be available year after year when the vessels 
 went back in the spring. Still some serious efforts must 
 have been made, and there are traces of an attempt to 
 colonise Cape Breton from Vianna in 1525. Niganis, now 
 Ingonish, is said by De Laet to have been a Portuguese 
 settlement, and he states that the settler^ moved away 
 because of the cold. From Aveiro alone sixty vessels 
 went every year to Newfoundland, and later, in 1550, 
 the number increased to 150. From Mira, a town near 
 Aveiro, or from the River Mira in the south of Portugal. 
 Mira River and Mira Bay doubtless received their names, 
 showing that the Portuguese had been active in Cape 
 Breton at one time. They searched out the east coast 
 of Newfoundland for convenient harbours, and explored 
 the coast of Labrador in the track of Gaspar Corte- 
 Real. Many names on the east coast, such as Cape Race 
 (Raso) the flat cape, Cape Spear (Espera), Cape St. 
 Francis (San Francisco), Cape Freels (Frey Luis), Fogo 
 Island, Bonavista (Boa Vista), Bonaventure (Boa Ven- 
 tura), Bacallhao Island, Conception Bay, Carbonear 
 (Cape Carvoeiro), Fermeuse Harbour (Fermoso), still 
 attest their presence in early days. 
 
 But while much credit must be conceded to the Portu- 
 guese explorers and fishermen in opening up, in 
 conjunction with the Breton fishermen, the coasts of 
 Newfoundland and Acadia, there is no ground for sup- 
 posing that they had any knowledge of the St. Lawrence 
 River, or of the Gulf, before Cartier’s voyages. They 
 were (after the Corte-Reals) fishermen visiting the coast 
 annually for the cod fishery, and the Atlantic coasts had 
 all the fish they could desire. It was trade, not 
 knowledge, they were interested in, and although the 
 Gulf also abounded in fish, the Atlantic coast abounded 
 yet more. The maps of the time confirm this view. 
 Stress has been laid upon a commission, granted A. D. 
 1521, to Joao Alvarez Fagundez, but the commission 
 itself is the best answer to those who would extend it 
 up the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The grant was described 
 
84 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 from the point where the line of demarcation of Torde- 
 sillas cut the coast “ to the beginning of the land discov- 
 ered by the Corte-Reals.” These limits were never 
 definite, but the line of demarcation was, on the maps, 
 laid down to cut the coast of Nova Scotia. Fagundez’ 
 grant extended then from St. Pierre on the south coast 
 of Newfoundland westwards, including Cape Breton and 
 an indefinite part of Nova Scotia. It included the 
 islands along the coast, most of which are known, e. g., 
 St. John, off the point of Cape Breton ; St. Pierre, which 
 still retains that name; the Archipelago of the eleven 
 thousand virgins laid down on the old maps as in For- 
 tune Bay; St. Cruz, which is off the Nova Scotia coast 
 in all the old maps, and St. Ann’s, on the maps of that 
 time placed off the south coast of Newfoundland. The 
 Archipelago of St. Pantaleon may be either of the groups 
 on the same coast, now known as the Burgeo and the 
 Ramea Islands. In Wytfliet’s map the group of islands 
 off that coast are called the Fagundez Islands, and 
 Aguada Bay can be no other than Fortune Bay, which 
 is distinguished also by the three islands, Great and Little 
 Miquelon and St. Pierre, at its mouth. The map of 
 Lazaro Luis (1563) on inspection refutes the theories 
 attempted to be built upon it. The configuration of the 
 gulf and river is from Cartier, and in another Portu- 
 guese map of similar type (Homem’s) made in 1558 
 (five years later) Cartier’s names are given. 
 
 The Spaniards did very little to develop the northeast 
 coast, for it fell, as they thought, outside the limits of 
 their sphere of influence; and, moreover, the West 
 Indies and Gulf of Mexico occupied all their attention. 
 It is on record that Ferdinand sent for Juan Dornelos in 
 A. D. 1500 to plan an expedition which it is supposed 
 was intended to find out what Cabot had discovered. 
 The sequence of the summons is not known. Later, in 
 15 1 1, when Queen Joanna commissioned Juan de Agra- 
 monte to prepare an expedition to the New Land, he was 
 to found a colony there without infringing on the terri- 
 tory of Portugal. Only subjects of the Queen (Castil- 
 
CABOT TO CARTIER 85 
 
 ians) were to be taken, excepting the two Breton pilots. 
 Of this project also no further records have survived. 
 The subject must, however, have been constantly in the 
 minds of the Spanish sovereigns, for the following year 
 King Ferdinand invited Sebastian Cabot into his service, 
 and he was meditating another expedition to the same 
 region when he died in A. D. 1516. Doubtless there 
 were jishing voyages of private merchants to the Banks, 
 but we do not read of them, and the next attempt of the 
 Government was not made until A. D. 1525, by the 
 expedition of Stephen Gomez. It is worthy of note that 
 in the negotiations for the treaty of Utrecht in 1712 the 
 claims of the Spaniards upon the fisheries of New- 
 foundland were based upon ancient fishing rights of 
 the Guipuzcoans, without mention of any other part of 
 Spain. 
 
 Compared with the Bretons and Portuguese the 
 Spanish Basques (Guipuzcoans and Viscayans) were 
 late comers upon the coast, and that is borne out by the 
 testimony of the Basques themselves, for whenever they 
 pass from generalities to particulars, their dates are 
 later than Stephen Gomez’ voyage. A memorial in a 
 lawsuit by the son of Martin de Echevete claims that his 
 father was the first Spaniard to go to Newfoundland, 
 and that his first voyage was made in A. D. 1545, after 
 which he made twenty-eight voyages up to A. D. 1599. 
 Again in A. D. 1561 in a suit for Church dues, in St. 
 Sebastian, some of the witnesses were very old men, 
 and they testified that the Newfoundland fisheries had 
 been resorted to for only a few years before that 
 time by vessels from that port, the chief port of Gui- 
 puzcoa. This confirms the memorial of Echevete. 
 Others put the date back to A. D. 1 540, but said that the 
 fisheries were discovered in 1525, which was the year of 
 Gomez’ voyage. In 1697 evidence was taken at St. 
 Sabastian concerning the assumption by the French of a 
 right to exclude the Spaniards from the fisheries. One 
 of the witnesses, a Biscayan captain, said that he had 
 known Echaide, who died about 1650, being then eighty 
 
86 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 years old. The birth, then, of this sailor, who some sup- 
 pose to have anticipated Columbus, was assigned to about 
 A. D. 1570 by a fellow citizen giving his testimony in 
 the city where both were born. These two are the only 
 Basques who are named as discoverers. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 V 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 
 
 I T seemed, in the early days of discovery, a very irra- 
 tional supposition that a barrier should extend 
 almost from pole to pole, and shut off Europe from 
 the coveted regions of the Eastern seas. Only by de- 
 grees did the truth dawn upon the minds of cosmogra- 
 phers and only with reluctance was it received at last. 
 A village, now a suburb of Montreal, still bears the name 
 “ Lachine,” telling of belief, as late as the end of the 
 seventeenth century, in a waterway across Canada to 
 Cathay, and the close of the nineteenth century witnessed 
 the final efforts for a northwest passage thither. West- 
 ern civilisation, chafing under so unreasonable a limita- 
 tion, is at last cutting for itself the waterway which 
 Nature denied; but for long years the old sailors made 
 confident search up and down the opposing coast for the 
 hidden secret. The belief of these early days was that 
 the land they constantly encountered consisted of islands, 
 •through which passages must exist, and therefore we 
 meet constantly the expression “ discovery of new 
 islands ” when new portions of what we now know to 
 be continental land were reached and reported. 
 
 Magellan had found a passage, but it was far to the 
 south, and in 1526 Sebastian Cabot sailed ostensibly 
 for the same strait, but with the secret intention of 
 searching for a nearer way. Indeed it has been con- 
 jectured with much plausibility that he had instructions 
 from the Emperor so to do, and in that way they account 
 for the remarkable fact that, although the expedition 
 grievously miscarried, Cabot never lost the favour of 
 the Emperor during the vexatious litigation which 
 ensued. In truth Sebastian Cabot was a better courtier 
 
 37 
 
88 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 than sailor, and, when the captains under his command 
 remonstrated that his course was too far to the west, he 
 replied that he had a secret understanding with the 
 Emperor about the course to be followed. For a while 
 he thought he had found the long-sought passage in the 
 La Plata River, and on the maps based on his report the 
 width of that river is enormously exaggerated. 
 
 As has been shown, French vessels from the ports of 
 Normandy and Brittany had frequented the coasts of 
 Newfoundland and Acadia since 1504. Unconcerned 
 with the Italian wars which absorbed the attentions and 
 energies of the King and court of France, the merchants 
 pursued their own course in developing the oversea 
 fisheries. In A. D. 1515 Francis I. succeeded to the 
 throne, and his marriage with Claude, the heiress of 
 Bretagne, united that hitherto independent duchy to the 
 crown of France. The formal union did not take place 
 until A. D. 1532, and it was long before a common 
 national sentiment welded the Breton duchy with the 
 rest of the kingdom. Francis was a great patron of 
 science and letters. A prince of his intelligence would 
 in any event have felt the stimulus of the discoveries of 
 the Spaniards in the New World; but a bitter rivalry 
 with Charles V., who had competed successfully against 
 him for the Imperial crown in A. D. 1519, brought on a 
 struggle which lasted during his whole life, and the 
 world beyond the ocean which was infusing new energy 
 into his rival’s kingdom excited his jealousy. What the 
 Bretons and Normans had been doing in the West since 
 1504 had attracted no notice at the royal court. There 
 was little in common between the brave and serious 
 mariners and the equally brave but frivolous soldiers 
 who thronged the court of the French king and poured 
 out their life-blood like water upon the Italian plains. 
 
 It is necessary in treating of these times to remember 
 that there were then no royal or national navies. Henry 
 VII. of England made a beginning by building a large 
 royal ship, but it was Henry VIII. who later instituted 
 the Admiralty and royal dockyards and commenced to 
 
VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 89 
 
 make a distinct naval service. It was the same in 
 France. The king had a few galleys and two or three 
 large ships, and he was urged by some of his coun- 
 cillors to found a “ sea army.” Whenever vessels were 
 wanted the king had to impress them from the merchants 
 who owned them, in Dieppe, or Harfleur, Rochelle, St. 
 Malo, or some other port. The words armateur, pri- 
 vateer, corsair, rover, when there were no public armed 
 ships and no permanent naval service, connoted a very 
 different group of ideas from that which they suggest 
 at the present day. They were the only sea forces of 
 their respective monarchs and they were countenanced, 
 if not commissioned, by public authority ; but, being 
 volunteers, they paid for their own armament, and reim- 
 bursed themselves out of the commerce of the enemies 
 of the state. The archives of Dieppe and Rochelle were 
 destroyed in the bombardments which befell those cities, 
 but it is on record that Jean Ango, a merchant prince of 
 Dieppe, ravaged the Portuguese coast and blockaded 
 Lisbon with his own ships alone. In the succeeding 
 reign of Henry II. in 1555 the King ordered the Admiral 
 Coligny to punish some outrages on French commerce 
 by Flemish ships. It was done by a fleet of fishing ships 
 of Dieppe. They chose their own captains and attacked 
 and destroyed the Flemish fleet. There was no royal 
 fleet to call upon and these fishermen were a volunteer 
 sea army. 
 
 War broke out between Francis I. and Charles V. in 
 A. D. 1521, and we learn from Herrera that French 
 corsairs were pillaging the ships from India, as they 
 arrived at the coast of Spain, until a squadron was 
 raised by a levy upon the merchants to repel them. 
 Similar harassing attacks continued in the following 
 year, and the vessels returning from the West Indies 
 had to wait at the Azores for a convoy. In 1523 
 Herrera chronicles the loss of the treasure ships sent by 
 Cortez from Mexico to Charles V. It was a severe 
 blow. The attack was made only ten leagues from Cape 
 St f Vincent and only one Spanish ship escaped. The 
 
90 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 French fleet consisted of six ships of La Rochelle, and 
 thither they conducted their prizes and prisoners. The 
 name of the commander is recorded as “ Florin de La 
 Rochelle.” It is surprising that in the very same “ Decade 
 III.” Herrera relates at length the voyage of discovery 
 made in A. D. 1524, by Juan Verrazano in the service 
 of France, without the least suspicion that he and Juan 
 Florin or Florentin were the same person. No one 
 thought of that for nearly two hundred years, until in 
 1723 Barcia said so. Then was a legitimate opportunity 
 offered for a little of the superabundant scepticism which 
 has characterised recent American history, but strangely 
 enough, the identification has been very generally 
 accepted. 
 
 Francis, says Herrera, persuaded by some of his sub- 
 jects to follow the example of Charles V., for whom 
 every day new lands were being discovered, resolved to 
 send out a French expedition to those western lands 
 which he thought “ God had not created for Castilians 
 solely.” To this he was the more easily persuaded 
 because the cosmographers of all nations believed there 
 was a passage yet to be discovered, leading from the 
 North Atlantic to the southern ocean of fabulous riches. 
 Juan Verrazano (Giovanni da Verrazano), a Florentine 
 of good family, was chosen as leader. He had been in 
 the East Indies in 1517 and had resided at Cairo and in 
 Syria. He is also said, with less certainty, to have 
 been on the Newfoundland coast in command of a ship 
 with Aubert of Dieppe in A. D. 1508. It may well be 
 surmised that upon the outbreak of the war with Charles 
 V. an enterprising sailor in a seaport like Dieppe, dom- 
 inated by such men as Jean Ango, should have taken up 
 the career of corsair, or as we now say, privateer, and in 
 that way he may have recommended himself to the 
 King; but however that may have been, we meet with 
 him first in a letter preserved by Ramusio, dated at Dieppe 
 July 8, 1524, immediately after his return, and addressed 
 to King Francis I. At that particular juncture the King 
 was not in a position to entertain questions of cosmog- 
 
VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 91 
 
 raphy. The defection of the Constable of Bourbon 
 had developed into an invasion of France, and on July 
 7, the day prior to the date of Verrazano’s letter, Bour- 
 bon at the head of an army had entered Provence and 
 was pressing on to the siege of Marseilles. Francis 
 was assembling an army and hurrying to the south, in 
 defence of his kingdom. It is not surprising if the 
 original of Verrazano’s letter is not now to be found in 
 the public records, and the absence of it is very slight 
 ground upon which to base a charge of fraud. It is 
 surprising how ready in recent years authors have been 
 to charge deliberate fraud against collectors and com- 
 pilers like Ramusio and Hakluyt, who could have had no 
 motive but a simple desire for truth. Credulous they 
 may have been, in believing reports of mariners, and 
 ignorant they were, of necessity, about much that we 
 have learned; but there is no reason to impugn their 
 good faith. Nothing but a real love for their subject 
 could have stimulated them to such literary labour. 
 
 Verrazano’s letter appears first in Ramusio’s collection 
 of voyages, published at Venice in 1556. From thence 
 it was translated by Hakluyt and published in his 
 “ Divers Voyages ” in 1582. Another copy of the let- 
 ter, known in 1767 to be in existence, was found and 
 first printed in 1841. These two copies agree in sub- 
 stance, but in phraseology they differ so much that 
 they could not have been copied one from the other. 
 The two versions are like the evidence of two witnesses 
 who have never met and who testify to the same facts 
 in different language. They are translations into Italian 
 made separately from a French original. That there 
 was a French original Dr. Da Costa proves by many 
 arguments, and especially by an extract from Pinello, a 
 Spanish writer in 1627; and the late Abbe Verrau of 
 Montreal, when searching the French archives for the 
 Canadian Government, reports an incidental statement 
 found in a manuscript in the Bibliotheque Nationale at 
 Paris “ that the Memoir of Verrazano was in the pos- 
 session of Chatillon.” The person intended was doubt- 
 
92 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 less the Marechal de Chatillon, a most important noble- 
 man of that day, a favourite of the King and of the 
 Queen Louise (sometime Regent), and father of the cele- 
 brated Admiral Coligny of after fame. 
 
 The debt that European literature and science owe to 
 Italy is nowhere more apparent than in the early history 
 of America. Columbus, Vespucci, Cabot, and Verra- 
 zano gave to Spain, England, and France their primary 
 claims upon the western continent, and the Italian letter- 
 writers, Soncino, the two Pasqualigos, Cantino, and 
 others have preserved memories of deeds forgotten in the 
 countries which reaped the benefit of the services of their 
 countrymen. The second version of Verrazano’s report 
 is found in a letter from one Fernando Carli, at Lyons, 
 addressed to his father in Florence, bearing on its face 
 evidence of its genuineness in its omissions as well as 
 its allusions — a most unaffected and natural letter. 
 
 Although the major part of Verrazano’s voyage lay 
 along the shores of the present United States, it included 
 also the coasts of Acadia and southern Newfoundland, 
 and is furthermore within the scope of the present 
 volume because upon it the French kings based a primary 
 claim to New France in all its extent. The expedition 
 had been some time in preparation, for we learn, by a 
 letter of the Portuguese ambassador to France to his 
 master King John III., that on the 25th of April, 1523, 
 Verrazano was “ going on the discovery of Cathay but 
 had not then left for want of opportunity and because of 
 differences with his men.” The ships were watched in 
 the interests of Portuguese merchants, who feared that 
 they were going to Brazil, and we may therefore be sure 
 that the matter was not done in a corner. From Ver- 
 razano’s letter we learn that four ships sailed and that 
 they were scattered by bad weather. Two — the Nor- 
 mandie and the Dauphine — were driven back to Brittany 
 in distress. These he refitted and started, first on a cruise 
 along the coast of Spain, which lay right in his track. He 
 went on to Madeira, and, changing his original plan, he 
 continued his voyage with one, the Dauphine , alone. 
 
VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 
 
 93 
 
 What became of the other ships he nowhere says. He 
 took his final departure on January 17, 1524, from the 
 Desertas — two desolate rocky islands near Madeira, 
 occupied, even now, by only a few hundred fishermen. 
 This locality, he says, is on the extreme verge of the 
 West. It is in fact almost exactly on the prime meridian 
 of these days, and in lat. 32 0 N. From thence, after the 
 custom of the early sailors, he struck due west on the 
 same parallel across the ocean. He sailed west for 
 twenty-five days, when he encountered a hurricane ; then 
 inclining to the north he sailed on for twenty-four days 
 until he found land in lat. 34 0 , which is close to Cape 
 Fear in North Carolina. 
 
 The description which Verrazano gives of the coast 
 and the incidents of his coasting do not fall within the 
 plan of this volume. Of the two able writers who have 
 denied the reality of this voyage one finds it incredible 
 because the description is so inaccurate and the other 
 because it is so accurate ; both circumstances being 
 equally held to prove that the writer of the letter appro- 
 priated the results of Stephen Gomez’ voyage of the fol- 
 lowing year. After a short excursion to the south, 
 Verrazano sailed northward. Those who have followed 
 his course trace it to Raleigh, N. C., New York, Block 
 Island, Newport, and Portsmouth, N. H. He continued 
 to the east without again landing, along the coast of 
 Maine, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the south and east 
 coast of Newfoundland, to the latitude of 50° N. “ Be- 
 yond that point,” he says, “ the Portuguese had already 
 sailed as far as the Arctic Circle without coming to the 
 termination of the land.” He had touched the Spanish 
 explorations on the south and the Portuguese on the 
 north, without finding the opening to Cathay he was in 
 search of. At 50° N. he was in the latitude of Dieppe, to 
 which he directly sailed, and arrived there on July 8, 
 I 5 2 4- 
 
 The copy of Verrazano’s letter, sent by Carli to his 
 father, had appended to it “a cosmographical exposi- 
 tion ” in which Verrazano sets forth, in some detail, his 
 
94 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 distances, latitudes, and longitudes. These are of little 
 value. The distances are too great, for they were cal- 
 culated only by dead reckoning, and must have included 
 the deviations necessary in a voyage close along shore. 
 Again his longitudes are hopelessly out of the way, 
 among other reasons, from the fact that he used 
 Ptolemy’s datum of 62-J Italian miles, instead of seventy- 
 five (sixty nautical miles), to a degree, as is really the 
 case. With these data he concludes that he sailed 90 
 degrees westward to his landfall ; whereas, taking the 
 Desertas as o°, the distance to Cape Fear is only (in 
 round numbers), sixty-one degrees. Scepticism con- 
 cerning this voyage is singularly unjustifiable, seeing 
 that there could be no motive for forgery. The only 
 country to be benefited was France, and it is not upon 
 French, but upon Italian records that the narrative rests. 
 The only city which might gain some credit is Florence, 
 and the first printed account is by the Venetian Ramusio, 
 and he not only prints the letter, but supports it by his 
 own opinion, and the testimony of “ the Gran’ Capitaine 
 of Dieppe,” that Verrazano was the discoverer of Norum- 
 begue, in his work, only fifteen years after the event. 
 The letter is inserted in his “ Decades,” by Herrera, a 
 Spaniard, and by Hakluyt, an Englishman, in his 
 “ Divers Voyages,” “ Principall Navigations,” and 
 “Western Planting.” It is accepted by Ribaut (1562), 
 Laudonniere (1564-65), Belleforest (1570), and, gener- 
 ally, by all writers until 1864, when Mr. Buckingham 
 Smith raised objections. 
 
 The voyage of Verrazano is recorded also upon some 
 authentic and important maps; notably upon a large 
 world map in the Collegio de Propaganda Fide at 
 Rome, made by “ Hieronimus de Verrazano” (a brother 
 of the navigator), in 1529. In it all the region from the 
 Carolinas to Cape Breton, inclusive, is inscribed “ Nova 
 Gallia sive Iucatanet,” and marked with French flags ; the 
 region about what is now known as Cabot Strait, in Nova 
 Scotia, is marked by the shield and ermines of the duchy 
 of Bretagne. There is also a legend in Italian that 
 
VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 95 
 
 “ Verrazana or New France, was discovered by 
 Giovanni de Verrazano, the Florentine, by order of the 
 most Christian King of France.” In a map, by Vesconte 
 di Maggiolo, dated 1527, the same region is inscribed 
 “ Francesca,” and on the Ulpius globe, dated 1542, also 
 is the inscription “ Verrazana or New France discov- 
 ered by Verrazano, the Florentine, in 15 — .” In Hak- 
 luyt’s “ Divers Voyages ” is what is known as Lok’s map, 
 upon which are shown the geographical features of the 
 preceding maps, including what is called the Sea of Ver- 
 razano. It is made, Hakluyt says, after the “ plat of Ver- 
 razano,” and he refers to a “ mighty large olde map 
 in the custody of Mr. Richard Locke,” and to “ an olde 
 excellent globe in the Queen’s private gallery at West- 
 minster,” both by Verrazano. These two last have dis- 
 appeared. They, and all maps influenced by Verrazano’s 
 voyage, show a little neck of land at about lat. 40° N., 
 separating the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Sea 
 like another isthmus of Darien. This “ Sea of Ver- 
 razano ” came close to the Atlantic coast, and dwelt long 
 in the imaginations of the French geographers. Cartier, 
 Champlain, and the voyageur explorers of Canada, in 
 after years, wondered over each great river they came 
 upon whether it discharged into the Gulf of Mexico or 
 into the Great South Sea. 
 
 There was slight leisure for cosmography in France 
 when Verrazano returned. Francis was off to the Italian 
 wars, and in the following February (1525), he was de- 
 feated at Pavia, and carried captive to Spain. He did 
 not regain his liberty until March, 1526. How Ver- 
 razano was occupied in the meantime does not appear, 
 but we next find him in an enterprise, jointly with 
 Philippe Chabot de Brion, Admiral of France, Guillaume 
 Preudhomme, “ General ” of Normandy, Jean Ango of 
 Dieppe, and several others, to fit out an expedition, under 
 the command of Verrazano, to the East Indies, for spices. 
 The shares, both of the profits of trade, and of any prizes 
 from the enemies of the Faith, and of the King, were 
 fully specified. Some have written as if Verrazano was 
 
96 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 a pirate, but this was legitimate warfare at sea in those 
 days. All property of enemies of the King was fair 
 prize, and modern distinctions of contraband of war were 
 unknown. He sailed after May n, 1526, for on that 
 date Verrazano gave a power of attorney to his brother 
 Jerome (the maker of the map), to act for him in his 
 absence. That is the last record — he thenceforth disap- 
 pears ; but the imagination of subsequent writers has not 
 been content, save with a tragical ending. Ramusio 
 states that he went on another voyage to America, and 
 was killed and eaten by Indians. Biddle combines this 
 with Rut’s voyage in 1527, and identifies him with the 
 Piedmontese pilot who was killed in Norumbega, but 
 there was an Italian, Albert de Prato, known to have 
 been with Rut, and, therefore, there is no need of draw- 
 ing upon Verrazano, who would, moreover, not be likely 
 to have gone as subordinate in such an expedition. In 
 1723 Barcia (“ Ensayo Chronologico ”) identified him 
 with Juan Florin or Florentin, the corsair, who had cap- 
 tured the treasure ships of Cortez. This Juan Florin was 
 certainly hanged as a pirate, in October, 1527, at Colmenar 
 de Arenas in Spain, for that we have the evidence of the 
 judge who condemned him, but who had no suspicion 
 that he was hanging Juan Varrazano for deeds done 
 when a captain in the service of France. 
 
 Charlevoix thinks he made another voyage, attempted 
 to found a colony, and was killed in 1525, while building 
 a fort. With such a variety of tragedies to choose from 
 no reader can be at a loss. None of them have any real 
 foundation, though the majority of writers, since Barcia, 
 state that he was hanged by the Spaniards. It is, how- 
 ever, certain that the hanging of Florin was done in 
 October, 1527. The following extract shows that Ver- 
 razano was alive in Paris on December 24, 15 27. It is 
 from a letter to Joao III., King of Portugal, written by 
 his ambassador at Paris : “ As it may happen that the 
 
 letters I am sending to Your Majesty, by this bearer, 
 may not reach their destination, he takes with him this 
 one in a more secret manner, so that Your Majesty be 
 
VOYAGE OF VERRAZANO 97 
 
 acquainted with their substance; id est , that Master 
 Giovanni Verrazano is to leave from here with five battle 
 ships, which he had been ordered by the Admiral to take 
 to a large river on the coast of Brazil, which river is said 
 to have been discovered by a Castilian. I have made 
 many inquiries about this matter, and asked full partic- 
 ulars in writing, but so far the answer has been verbal 
 only, that the Admiral, and the said Verrazano, are 
 to leave in February or March. I think the river, above 
 referred to, is the same as discovered by Christovao 
 Jacques. It would seem to me they will establish a basis 
 of operation, and then proceed further up the river,” 
 etc., etc., etc. 
 
 This letter was discovered in the archives of the Torre 
 do Tombo, and has been published in the Memorie della 
 Societd Geografica , Roma, 1897. It is evident, therefore, 
 that Verrazano and Florin were different persons. From 
 Hakluyt we learn that Verrazano had some communica- 
 tion with Henry VIII. of England, probably after his 
 return from the voyage of 1524, while Francis was a 
 prisoner- and France was in consternation. As to his 
 ultimate fate the statement of Ramusio is most likely to 
 be right, that he went on another expedition to America, 
 and was killed. It is not necessary, however, to defend 
 the Indians of North America from the charge of eating 
 him, because the circumstance, whatever it was, occurred 
 on the coast of South America. 
 
 7 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 
 
 T HE voyage of Stephen Gomez is of great interest 
 because it was one of serious, leisurely explora- 
 tion, and, while that part of the coast first, in 
 the strictest sense, discovered by him was a 
 region of the United States coast, yet it is certain that he 
 visited and examined the Atlantic coast of British 
 America, with more diligence than Verrazano, and 
 reported upon it more fully than any explorer until 
 Champlain. His original report has not come down to 
 us, but the results of the voyage are embodied in later 
 documents. Hitherto these have not yielded as much 
 information as might have been expected ; perhaps 
 because the learned and careful scholars who have 
 studied them had not that familiarity with the coast and 
 localities described, which is of so great value in 
 doubtful questions. Every sea and every coast has its 
 particular physical characteristics, and statements which 
 appear reasonable to a student of books and charts 
 in a distant country are often felt by a native of the 
 locality in question to be incredible or impossible. To 
 one familiar with the region under debate, the whole 
 scene rises vividly before the mind, associated with at- 
 tendant circumstances of pleasure or adventure, and to 
 any such a person it will become certain that Stephen 
 Gomez really sailed along the coast of British America, 
 and saw the places he described. 
 
 Much unnecessary discussion has been caused by the 
 loose use of the word “ discover ” by early writers. At 
 the present day the phrase “ first discover ” seems tauto- 
 logical; not so, however, with the old writers. Thus 
 Hakluyt writes, “ this coast from Cape Breton, &c., was 
 again discovered,” and elsewhere he narrates the “ dis- 
 
 93 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 99 
 
 covery " of the Isle of Ramea by James in 1591, and, on 
 turning the page, we find that Cartier “ discovered the 
 said Isle of Ramea in the year 1534, as you may reade in 
 page 250 of this present volume’' ; and again “ John 
 Verasanus and Stephen Gomez bothe which in one year 
 1524 discovered the said countries.” A similar latitude 
 obtained with the corresponding words in other lan- 
 guages at that time. It is proper to notice this usage 
 here, for we have now to consider the voyage of Stephen 
 Gomez, in so far as it was made along the same coast 
 “ discovered,” as Hakluyt might say, by Cabot in 1498, 
 and Verrazano in 1524. 
 
 Stephen Gomez was a Portuguese by birth — born at 
 Oporto — who, in the same year as did his more distin- 
 guished fellow-countryman Magellan, transferred his 
 services to Spain. Such a transfer was an ordinary 
 occurrence at that time and elicited no comment; but, 
 by a strange anachronism in the case of Sebastian Cabot, 
 it has been exaggerated into treason. Gomez was a 
 navigator of great ability, and urged upon Charles V. 
 the despatch of an expedition to the southwest to find a 
 passage to the Indies. The expedition sailed in 1519, 
 but the chief command was given to Magellan, and 
 Gomez was sent as pilot. Actuated by jealousy he 
 deserted in the strait now named after Magellan, and, 
 seizing one of the ships, returned to Spain, where he 
 prophesied evil of the expedition. Certainly an envious 
 and treacherous man; yet there is no word of reproach 
 for him in all the modern books so eloquent in condemna- 
 tion of Sebastian Cabot. In A. D. 1522 Sebastian del 
 Cano returned to Spain with one of Magellan’s ships. 
 That great sailor had been killed ; but his enterprise had 
 succeeded, and Del Cano, first of all men, had in the 
 little vessel, well named the Victory , circumnavigated the 
 world — a feat, which, as Herrera well says, is worthy of 
 eternal memory. 
 
 The return of Del Cano made the Emperor more 
 anxious to discover the strait at the North, which the 
 cosmographers, with the a priori reasoning of their day, 
 
100 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 believed must exist, and lead to the South Sea by a more 
 direct route. Among them Stephen Gomez was the most 
 confident and insistent ; for, if such a direct passage were 
 found at the North, the longer and more perilous voyage 
 by the strait, named after his rival Magellan, would be 
 superseded. Orders were given by the Emperor, in 
 1523, to fit out an expedition, and preparations were 
 going forward when Gomez was summoned to Badajoz, 
 to attend, as an expert, the sittings of the commission to 
 settle the line of demarcation of the treaty of Tordesillas. 
 As soon as he was able to get away he resumed his prep- 
 arations. There were others concerned besides the Em- 
 peror (Charles V.), because it was stipulated that if any 
 prizes were captured, one-third was to belong to Gomez 
 and the crew, and the other two-thirds to the King, and 
 to those who had supplied the equipment. In this 
 economical method the advancement of science was com- 
 bined with a little trading and a little cruising, at 
 the expense of the enemies of the faith and of the 
 Emperor. 
 
 Gomez sailed from Corunna very late in 1524, or early 
 in 1525 (November, 1524, to February, 1525). He had 
 only one ship. She was of fifty tons burden, provisioned 
 for a year, and thoroughly well fitted out. No direct 
 narrative or journal, and no maps from his hand have 
 survived. It has been much discussed whether his 
 course along the American coast was from north to 
 south, or the reverse. The Royal instructions have been 
 discovered and published by a writer in Santiago de 
 Chili quoted by Harrisse. They were, “ to examine all 
 the coast from Florida to Bacallaos,” and D’Avezac is 
 clear that the course was from south to north — from 
 Florida to Cape Race, but it must be observed that the 
 opposite direction is implied by many authorities, and 
 Kohl is very positive on that point. On the other hand, 
 however, Galvano distinctly gives his course as from 
 south to north, from Corunna direct to Cuba, and thence 
 to Florida and northward until he struck homewards to 
 Corunna again. Galvano wrote about 1555, and his 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ ioi 
 
 book was printed in 1563, a few years after his death. 
 He was a man of the rarest ability, as a soldier and ad- 
 ministrator for Portugal in the Moluccas for many years, 
 and he was as competent as a captain at sea. His book 
 was written at Lisbon, where all information on such 
 matters was available. That Gomez was absent for 
 about ten months is well established, and it is also known 
 that he sailed in the mid- winter of 1524-25. That being 
 the case it is far more probable that he commenced at 
 the south; for no sailor of experience would have sailed 
 to the north in mid-winter, with the intention of working 
 his way to the south. It would have been to fight 
 against the succession of the seasons, and to run deliber- 
 ately into the most unfavourable conditions of naviga- 
 tion on the northeast coast of America. He would have 
 run counter to the trade winds and equatorial current, 
 and to the Gulf Stream — influences by that time well 
 recognised. Galvano’s work is a concise abstract, and 
 Herrera, forty years later, gives a fuller account. He 
 says (Dec. Ill, Bk. 8, Cap. 8), that “ Gomez sailed with 
 the intention of going to the north, and he ran along the 
 whole coast as far as Florida, covering a great stretch of 
 land beyond that which had been sailed along by any 
 Spanish ship up to that time; although Sebastian Cabot, 
 Jean Verrazano, and others had navigated there.” Un- 
 able to reach Cathay, he kidnapped, against the King’s 
 orders, as many Indians as he could get into his ship, and 
 carried them to Spain. He crossed from Florida to 
 Cuba, to the port of Santiago, where he refreshed his 
 crew. He arrived at Corunna after ten months’ ab- 
 sence, bringing back with him, not spices from the dis- 
 tant East, but a cargo of slaves. He had special instruc- 
 tions not to trespass upon territory assigned by treaty to 
 Portugal, and did not go north of Cape Race. 
 
 Gomez had the strongest motives for effort — hatred of 
 Magellan’s reputation, and the desire to surpass it. 
 Galvano describes, in a few words, his painstaking 
 search, “ sailing by day because the land was unknown 
 to him, and so that he could see into every bay, creek. 
 
102 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 river, and inlet, whether it extended over to the other 
 side [of the land].” 
 
 The report of Gomez was made to the King, and it 
 passed, as such papers always did, to the official board 
 of cosmographers and pilots, who had permanent charge 
 of the Spanish marine, and of the Padron Real, or 
 standard official map, upon which all discoveries were 
 recorded. We know that it went there, for we find its 
 traces on the official maps, and in 1536 Alonzo de Chaves, 
 a distinguished Royal pilot and cosmographer, was in- 
 structed by the King to revise the official map, and bring 
 it down to date. This revised map has not come down 
 to us either, but Oviedo wrote his “ Historia General y 
 Natural de las Indias ” at the command of Charles V., 
 with Chaves’ revision before him. The first nineteen 
 books were printed at Seville in 1535, and reprinted at 
 Salamanca in 1547. The remaining part lay in manu- 
 script until 1852, when it w r as printed by the Spanish 
 Academy of History. In the second part is a detailed 
 description of the coast based upon Chaves’ map up to 
 51 0 30' N., and continued to the north upon Ribeiro’s map, 
 the official map previous in date. 
 
 x\lonzo de Santa Cruz held the office of Chief Royal 
 Cosmographer under Charles V. and Philip II., at 
 Seville. He wrote, in 1560, an “ Islario General,” which 
 has not been printed. Several manuscript copies are, 
 however, extant, and Mr. Harrisse has published some 
 interesting extracts from them. The information Santa 
 Cruz used was De Chaves’ map and Gomez’ report. 
 They were among the documents in his office, and besides 
 he was associated with De Chaves in the revision of 1536. 
 He also gives a description of the northeast coast of 
 America; but he makes his description follow the map 
 from north to south, while Oviedo’s account was from 
 south to north, but the basis of both is the report of 
 Gomez. The narrative of Oviedo is more diffuse, but is 
 obscure, in parts, while the account of the sailor cos- 
 mographer is clearer, though shorter. Alonzo de Santa 
 Cruz made a world map in 1542, which has survived, 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 103 
 
 and is at Stockholm, where it has been reproduced in 
 facsimile. There is, also, a sketch map in his manu- 
 script “ Islario,” which Mr. Harrisse has reproduced. 
 These are the materials available to form a judgment. 
 
 There is often a semblance of precision in these old 
 documents which is disappointing on close examination. 
 The distances are given in leagues ; but are stated in 
 round numbers, such as twenty, forty, sixty, one hun- 
 dred. Natural objects of interest do not lie at such even 
 distances, and it is not, therefore, surprising to find 
 these figures seriously astray. They are always in ex- 
 cess of the direct distances measured on a modern map ; 
 for they were, of necessity, the distances actually sailed, 
 and in following a coast line the courses could not have 
 been direct, as the explorers groped their way along with- 
 out a guide, and with winds from all quarters. The 
 latitudes are, with one exception, from one degree to a 
 degree and a half too far north. Thus Cape Breton is 
 given at 47 0 30', instead of 46°, and Cape Race at 
 47 0 30', also, instead of 46° 40', so that Cape Breton and 
 Cape Race are made to be exactly east and west. That 
 is usually the case, on the earlier maps, because they are 
 drawn to a magnetic meridian. In comparing them with 
 maps of the present day, drawn invariably to the true 
 meridian, the bearings will always appear discrepant, in 
 the ratio of the local variation. The leagues must also 
 be reduced to nautical miles, sixty to a degree. The 
 Spanish league in general use at that time measured 
 four Italian miles, and there were seventeen and a half 
 of them to a degree ; or seventy miles to a degree of the 
 world’s circumference as then known. The exacter 
 measurements of modern science have resulted in a 
 degree five Italian miles longer. Therefore it requires 
 seventy-five Italian miles to be the equivalent of the 
 sixty nautical miles of our maps. 
 
 With all these drawbacks, however, we may arrive at 
 some certain results, and from them we may proceed to 
 sound conclusions upon other points. The natural fea- 
 tures of the coast are unchanged, and they afford sure 
 
io 4 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 ground. Passing over the coast of the United States we 
 find, at the Penobscot, close to the Canadian border, a 
 sure point of departure. It is known on the Spanish 
 maps as the Rio de las Gamas — Deer River. Santa 
 Cruz says it is a large and deep river, with many islands, 
 and Gomez sailed up confidently thinking he had found 
 the passage to the west. He found the climate temper- 
 ate. There were oak, birch, and olive trees (he was not 
 a botanist), and wild vines with grapes. We may feel 
 sure, then, that Gomez was not there in January, Feb- 
 ruary, or March, which would have been the case if he 
 had commenced his exploration at the North. He re- 
 ported having found a mineral, which he took for gold, 
 and he must, therefore, have landed, which will account 
 for the near accuracy, in this instance, of the latitude 
 recorded. The estuary is very wide. Oviedo gives it 
 at 20 leagues (64 nautical miles) — an excessive meas- 
 urement, for it is only forty miles. The name has sur- 
 vived all the vicissitudes of centuries, for the largest 
 island at the mouth of the Penobscot is still called Deer 
 Island. 
 
 At the eastern end of the course is another firm datum 
 for a judgment — the Bay of the Bretons. This is not 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is the expanse enclosed 
 between Cape Canso, in Nova Scotia, and the south 
 coast of Newfoundland. Santa Cruz leaves no doubt 
 as to that. He tells us that every year the Bretons come 
 to fish in that bay, and that in it are the islands of the 
 eleven thousand virgins, which are shown on many maps 
 on the south coast of Newfoundland; and he makes it 
 certain, by adding that passing the bay to the west we 
 come to a point of land called Cape Breton. 
 
 Another solidly established locality is the island of St. 
 John. This is not Prince Edward Island. Santa Cruz 
 says it is an island which extends to the east and the 
 west, close to the point of Cape Breton. It is 56 leagues 
 long by 20 leagues wide. Oviedo says it is 70 leagues 
 long on the north, 55 leagues on the south, 20 leagues on 
 the east, and that it runs to a point on the west, and is 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 105 
 
 145 leagues, more or less, in circumference. The meas- 
 urement is excessive, but it is a large triangular island 
 close to the land, and on the west of the Bay of the 
 Bretons. Furthermore, Santa Cruz says it is of good 
 appearance, with many trees, and rivers, which empty 
 into the sea, and that it extends from 46° to 48° N. lat. 
 It really extends from 45 0 30' to 47 0 N. The most in- 
 teresting point of Santa Cruz’ statement is that Gomez 
 changed the position of the island on the map. Before 
 his time the island of St. John was in the Bay of the 
 Bretons ; but Gomez, he says, reported that it is adjacent 
 to the land. He adds that no one had said anything 
 about this island before. Evidently then Gomez dis- 
 covered Cape Breton to be an island, and transferred to 
 it the name of an island called St. John, which was 
 shown by other cartographers to be in the bay. 
 
 Another firm geographical fact demonstrated by 
 Gomez is the existence and location of the Gut of Canso. 
 This is by no means the passage into the Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence between Cape North and Cape Ray, recently 
 named Cabot Strait. Santa Cruz informs us that be- 
 tween the island of St. John and the mainland is a chan- 
 nel (Sp. canal), and Oviedo gives the latitude of the 
 point of it as 46° 40' N. The latitude of the north point 
 is really 45 0 30' but, as stated before, all the latitudes are 
 i° to i° 30' too much to the north. Santa Cruz calls the 
 passage the “canal” of St. Julian, but whether St. 
 Julian or St. John ( Sand Julian or Sand Johan) it 
 cannot possibly be other than the Gut of Canso. Thus we 
 have a firm terminus a quo on the west — the Penobscot 
 — and a firm terminus ad quern on the east — the Gut 
 of Canso; all between is of necessity on the coast of 
 the mainland of Acadia. It is scarcely possible that 
 Gomez could have overlooked the Bay of Fundy in so 
 close an examination as he evidently made. Sailing 
 from the south as the season indicates that he did, it 
 would not be possible, and, sailing from the north, it 
 would be highly improbable, to pass it over; for sailing 
 south, there was nothing to lead him to strike one 
 
io6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 hundred miles across from Cape Sable to the Penobscot ; 
 and sailing north, he would, of necessity, have followed 
 the coast in his search until he got involved in the bay 
 and saw land on the other side. It has always been a 
 cause of wonder that so remarkable a feature as the Bay 
 of Fundy should have passed unmarked on the maps 
 until Homem’s in 1558. It was not necessary to sail to 
 the head of it to know that there was no passage through. 
 The phenomenally high tides and muddy water would 
 soon reveal that; but one seeking for a passage through 
 would get a long way up, and would see high land on 
 the right, before being sure that this wide stretch was 
 only a bay. 
 
 Having thus established firm ground at these two 
 points the task of filling up the interval will be narrowed. 
 Commencing then at the Penobscot, the next name to the 
 east is Costa de Medanos , which is translated by Kohl 
 “ sandbanks/' The word medanos is an old Portuguese 
 word, and is defined as “ large heaps of sand covered by 
 shallow water near the seashore.” It is the augmentative 
 of meda, a rick or stack of anything, as hay, corn, sand 
 (low Latin meta, a heap, acervus). The coast from the 
 Penobscot to the St Croix is described by Champlain, 
 who examined it closely in 1604. “ Nous passames par 
 grande quantite d’isles, bancs, battures et rochers qui 
 jettent plus de quatre lieux a la mer par endroicts.” 
 The main shore is low, and consists of hard Cambrian 
 rocks, and it is fringed with numerous detached rocks 
 and rocky islets. The tides rise from twenty to twenty- 
 six feet, and at ebb, or half tide, the rocks show up clad 
 with kelp and seaweeds, as far as the swash of the sea 
 reaches. It is a very monotonous coast, and anyone 
 passing along it near the shore at ebb tide will recognise 
 the feature which Gomez meant to describe. 
 
 The next name is simply Golfo — a gulf — Oviedo calls 
 it “ another bay”; after that follows Rio de Montanas , 
 the River of Mountains — a physical indication which 
 identifies the locality. It is fifty leagues, or 160 nautical 
 miles from the Penobscot, and in lat. 44 0 15' N., but, in 
 
Cape Blomidon, at the Entrance of the Basin of Minas. 
 
$ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 107 
 
 the map to the Islario, is at 45 °. There is no locality on 
 the New Brunswick coast answering to the description, 
 but a course of 180 miles would bring Gomez as far up 
 the bay as the opening of the Basin of Minas, where the 
 Cobequid Mountains on the north terminate in Capes 
 Chignecto and Cape d’Or, and, 011 the opposite side of the 
 opening the two ranges which border the Annapolis 
 valley terminate in Cape Split and Cape Blomidon — four 
 headlands which might well suggest the name Rio de 
 Montanas. Whether he went further up the bay there is 
 no basis for a guess; but the Chignecto channel would 
 be the Golfo of the maps and the descriptions, and, on 
 later maps, we see this Golfo fork into the two arms of 
 Chepody Bay and Cumberland Basin on either side of 
 Cape Merangouin fifty miles farther up. 
 
 Oviedo gives twenty leagues (sixty-four miles), as 
 the distance to the next point, Rio de Castahas. There is 
 no river on the coast until the Annapolis River breaks 
 through the long mountain ridge at Digby Gut. It is 
 seventy miles direct from Rio de Montanas. The name, 
 River of Chestnut Trees, indicates that the place was on 
 the sheltered west side of Nova Scotia, and certainly not 
 along the Atlantic coast. Gomez was not strong as 
 a botanist, seeing that he found olive trees on the 
 Penobscot. 
 
 The chestnut is not found on the coast of Acadia, but 
 the beech is very abundant on the western shores of 
 Nova Scotia, and, on Lescarbot’s map of 1607, he in- 
 scribes C. des Noyers — Cape of nut-trees — at the west 
 point of Digby Gut. In the memory of the oldest inhabi- 
 ant that locality has been forested with beech trees, and, 
 after long years, the name would still be appropriate, 
 for the beech trees have reproduced themselves. The 
 American beech ( F . ferruginea) differs from the Euro- 
 pean beech ( F . sylvatica), but in the autumn when the 
 nuts are ripe the flavour is pleasant. The nuts grow in 
 large quantities, and would attract the attention of an 
 explorer. 
 
 The next point noted is the Bahia de la Ensenada — the 
 
io8 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Bay of the Bay. This, says Oviedo, is at 45 °. Bearing 
 in mind that all his latitudes are i° to i° 30' too high, we 
 shall find that St. Mary’s Bay, the mouth of which is at 
 44 0 10', will well answer to this name. It is a very re- 
 markable, long and narrow bay. Oviedo calls it in 
 another place Ensenada 0 bahia, and he says “ from the 
 Bay of the Ensenada to the mouth of which it is ten 
 leagues” (thirty-two miles). The phrase is vague, but 
 he does not count the ten leagues in with the distance 
 along the coast, and it apparently indicates the length of 
 the inlet or bay, and St. Mary’s Bay is really twenty- 
 eight miles long. Then from the mouth of this bay the 
 distance commences to be measured anew along the 
 coast, for exactly at this point terminates the first half of 
 the entire distance between the two known and fixed 
 points. 
 
 The next point named is Rio de la Vuelta — we meet 
 this frequently on later maps as Rio or Cabo de Buelta. 
 This has been translated the “river of return,” where some- 
 body is supposed to have returned, or turned back; but 
 Harrisse happily translates it into French riviere du 
 detour — the river of the turning or changing direction. 
 This point is twenty leagues (sixty-four miles), from 
 Ensenada , and at sixty-five miles wq find Cape Sable at 
 Barrington harbour on the S. E. point of Nova Scotia, 
 where the coast does indeed turn ; as, in the Portuguese 
 map of Viegas, C. de Volta is Cape Ray, where the New- 
 foundland coast turns to the north. 
 
 We are now upon the Atlantic coast, and the next 
 point named is Rio Grande (Great River), at a distance 
 of forty leagues (128 miles), marked by three islets at 
 its mouth, and in lat. 45 0 45' N. The islands do not 
 assist ; for many other harbours on the coast have 
 islands, but Halifax harbour at a distance of 130 miles, 
 and in lat. 44 0 40' would correspond to the indications, 
 and, as a matter of fact, three islets are there. 
 
 Lastly, we come to our terminus ad quern — the fixed 
 point at the east — sixty leagues (192 miles) from Rio 
 Grande, is in Oviedo’s words : “ The channel made by 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 109 
 
 the island of St. John between it and the mainland.” The 
 total distance is recapitulated by Oviedo as 240 leagues, 
 divided into two exact halves — from Rio de las Gamas 
 to Bahia de la Ensenada 120 leagues, and from Bahia de 
 la Ensenada to the Canal de San Julian 120 leagues. We 
 may well believe that no coast will divide up into such 
 even portions, and that Gomez’ distances are lengthened 
 by the sinuosities of the coast. The following table will, 
 however, indicate to what extent the explanation given 
 accords with them. The difference between the two 
 totals may be accounted for by the nature of Gomez’ 
 coasting, as described by Galvano: 
 
 TABLE COMPILED FROM OVIEDO’S DATA 
 
 DISTANCES GIVEN LEAGUES MILES 
 
 Rio de las Gamas to 
 
 Rio de Montanas 50 160 
 
 Rio de Castanas 20 64 
 
 Rio de la Ensenada 50 160 
 
 120 384 
 
 Rio de la Ensenada to 
 
 Rio de la Vuelta 20 64 
 
 Rio Grande 40 128 
 
 Canal St. Julian 60 192 
 
 120 384 
 
 DISTANCES ON A MODERN MAP MILES 
 
 Penobscot to 
 
 Basin of Minas 220 
 
 Digby Gut 70 
 
 St. Mary’s Bay 50 
 
 340 
 
 St. Mary’s Bay to 
 
 Cape Sable 65 
 
 Halifax 130 
 
 Canso 130 
 
 325 
 
 Total course of two equal portions reported by Oviedo 768 miles 
 Total course, measured on a chart 665 miles 
 
no THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 The most interesting part of Gomez’ narrative, and 
 that which conclusively demonstrates his capacity as an 
 explorer and observer, is the information he brought 
 back of the northeast coast of Cape Breton. That he 
 was there is certain, and also that his coasting was along 
 Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the southern coast of 
 Newfoundland to Cape Race. He was the first to ex- 
 plore the whole coast in a thorough and connected man- 
 ner. The most interesting part of his report is that 
 relating to the Island of St. John, known to us as the 
 Island of Cape Breton. It is misleading to suppose that 
 anyone sailing round that island would know how pro- 
 foundly the Bras d’Or eats into the heart of the land. A 
 stranger might visit the island now, and if he had no 
 books or map, and was not told of it, he would know 
 nothing of the Bras d’Or unless he went into the island, 
 and sailed through the inland waters. No one seeing 
 the two narrow openings (Rio de dos Bocas), or even 
 landing on the narrow isthmus, at St. Peter’s, could 
 dream of the sylvan loveliness of those far-reaching 
 stretches of bright water searching among the hills. It 
 does not help us in this difficult inquiry to divide Cape 
 Breton into two islands. It was one solid island to 
 Stephen Gomez, as it is to every stranger; beautiful 
 enough, even when its inmost landscape treasures are 
 unrevealed. Gomez reported its peculiar exterior 
 characteristics with the precision of an actual observer. 
 It is an island to the west of the Bay of the Bretons, and 
 adjacent to the mainland, from which it is separated by 
 the “ Canal de St. Julian ” (the word is canal , and is not 
 used elsewhere). The width of the canal is given as five 
 to ten leagues, and there are islands in it which, being 
 small, have no names (this is the eastern approach by 
 Chedabucto Bay with Isle Madame and other islands), 
 but it is narrowest at its western end (the Gut of Canso). 
 On the Island of St. John “ is the point of Cape Breton.” 
 The island is pleasant to the sight, and clad with trees; 
 there are rivers which fall into the sea, and there are 
 abundant fisheries close to it. Thirty-five leagues north 
 
View on the Gut of Canso. 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ m 
 
 of the point of Cape Breton is Cabo Grueso (large cape, 
 Cape North), and halfway between the two capes is the 
 Rio de dos Bocas (two mouths, the two narrow openings 
 through the hills of the Bras d’Or), and, as if to leave us 
 no room for doubt, Santa Cruz adds : “ Stephen Gomez 
 
 relates that in sailing along that coast he saw a great deal 
 of smoke on it, and signs of its being inhabited.” 
 Stephen Gomez saw what the tourist will see from any 
 steamer’s deck to-day. Within a few miles of halfway 
 to Cape North (from Cape Breton), on turning Point 
 Aconi, he will see on his left the two mouths of the Bras 
 d’Or; and before him will be Cape Smoky (Cape En- 
 fume of the French maps). He will be in the Baia dos 
 Fumos of the old Portuguese charts; before his eyes 
 the smoke-like mists — the unique feature of the place — 
 will still climb the steep cliffs, and on the north, to the 
 right, will rise the lofty bulk of Cape North, the C. 
 Grueso of the old Spanish sailor. There can be no 
 doubt about the place. There is nothing like it along 
 the whole coast of North America. Its singularity justi- 
 fies the characteristic name it bears in all the languages 
 of western Europe. 
 
 We may now proceed to follow the reports of Gomez, 
 as represented by De Chaves, Oviedo, and Santa Cruz, 
 concerning Cabot Strait, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 
 the south coast of Newfoundland, for in following his 
 course we have arrived at a definitely ascertained point. 
 We know that Gomez found no western passage, and, 
 though he firmly believed one to exist close to Bacallaos 
 and Labrador, he believed it would be of no use because 
 of the cold. To the northeast of Cape Grueso forty 
 leagues “ is a river without a name,” excepting that of 
 Rio de Muchas Islas, and “ this coast is full of islands.” 
 Then follow the islands of St. Elmo, the Eleven Thou- 
 sand Virgins, Cape St. Mary, and at last Cape Race. 
 These four names show that he is dealing with the south 
 coast of Newfoundland. The description reverts to 
 Cape Grueso as follows : “ Before the said [nameless] 
 river there is a bay farther on from the same Cape 
 
1 12 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Grueso, which bay is twenty leagues across.” This can 
 be no other than Cabot Strait taken as a bay; for from 
 Cape North across to Cape Ray is actually fifty-six miles, 
 and Gomez reports it as twenty leagues, or sixty-four 
 miles. So far it is plain, but then follows a confused 
 and contradictory passage; which is yet important, be- 
 cause of its very obscurity, for it proves that at that time 
 nothing was known of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 
 that Cabot Strait was taken to be a bay : “ And it [the 
 bay] is called by the cosmographer Alonzo de Chaves 
 up to the said cape, which is more to the east, River de 
 Muchas Islas. But the bay between these two capes is 
 130 leagues or more across; which I neither deny nor 
 approve, because in this land little knowledge is had of 
 the details of the northern bays, and I think that in re- 
 gard to what he drew upon the map he was perhaps less 
 accurately informed than he might have been. And thus 
 there are many differences on this northern coast on the 
 navigators’ charts and among cosmographers, and as it 
 is a very cold and savage land, few care to navigate 
 there.” There is thus a bay twenty leagues across — 
 Cabot Strait ; a distance of forty leagues northeast to the 
 Rio de Muchas Islas — on the Newfoundland coast; and 
 a bay of 130 leagues across, between two capes not in- 
 dicated, which can be no other than the Bay of the Bre- 
 tons; for it is abundantly clear that all these distances 
 are east of Cape North and of the Island of St. John 
 (Cape Breton), and are measured outwards to Cape 
 Race. 
 
 It must not be supposed that too much attention has 
 been given to the voyage of Gomez, and the accounts of 
 the above cited authorities, for upon the view taken of it 
 depends our estimate of the extent of the discoveries of 
 Jacques Cartier. We shall see later on that Cartier did 
 not pass through Cabot Strait until his return from his 
 second voyage. To him also, until then, it was a bay, 
 and as a bay it was laid down on all the maps until the 
 results of Cartier’s discoveries were made known 
 throughout Europe, and on the great map of Santa 
 
VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ 113 
 
 Cruz (1542) it is still a bay. As for the Bay of Fundy, 
 Champlain relates that in 1607, when Poutrincourt first 
 visited the Basin of Minas he found there a very old 
 cross covered with moss and nearly all rotted away. 
 Champlain thought it conclusive evidence that Christians 
 had been there a long time before him, and from the 
 tenor of the preceding chapter it will appear probable 
 that the cross was a vestige of the voyage of Gomez. 
 
 8 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 RESULTS OF EXPLORATION UP TO JACQUES CARTIER^S FIRST 
 
 VOYAGE 
 
 B Y 1534, when Jacques Cartier first appeared in the 
 history of discovery, the whole Atlantic seaboard 
 1 of the Dominion of Canada had been explored. 
 Cabot had touched it in 1497, an d, i n his second 
 voyage, in 1498, had sailed along its full extent from 
 Labrador far beyond its southern border. Verrazano, as 
 we have seen, sailed along it from south to north as far 
 as lat. 50 0 N., when he turned off towards France, but 
 there is no record of his having landed north of the 
 present New Hampshire. Stephen Gomez, in 1525, made 
 a real exploration of the whole Acadian coast, and John 
 Rut sailed in 1527 from Belle-Isle to the West Indies and 
 seems to have landed at several places in Acadia. 
 
 The Portuguese and Bretons had been fishing on the 
 coast with increasing activity since 1504. The Portu- 
 guese had resorts on the Acadian coasts, and the islands 
 off the south shore of Newfoundland had been included 
 in the grant of 1521 to Fagundez, as well as that ocean 
 terror now known as Sable Island. They had pushed 
 up the east coast to Newfoundland, and yet, so far as the 
 contour of the Labrador coast is concerned, the map of 
 Salvat de Pilestrina (1503) is nearer the truth than the 
 maps made fifty years later. 
 
 There are a number of Portuguese maps, dated in 
 1534 or a little before, which show graphically the results 
 of discovery up to the time of Cartier, and of these the 
 most characteristic is one of Gaspar Viegas, 1534. 
 (See page 115.) Here appears in rudimentary form the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is shown, as Gomez sup- 
 
RESULTS OF EXPLORATION 115 
 
 posed it to be, as a bay. Cabot Strait is there leading 
 into it, but the west coast of Newfoundland is brought 
 round to enclose the bay by connecting with the coast of 
 Acadia. The island of Cape Breton is shown separated 
 by a narrow channel from the mainland. A map of the 
 same year in the Riccardiana Library (No. xxxiii. of 
 
 Fig. 8. Gaspar Viegas’ Map, A. D. 1534 
 
 Kretschmer) shows the same features in the main. In 
 both maps rudimentary and conjectural rivers are in- 
 dicated opening into the round basin, the nucleus from 
 which the Gulf of St. Lawrence was soon to be developed 
 and in the Riccardiana map the Island of Cape Breton 
 is named the Island of St. John. In all these maps it is 
 
ii6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 necessary first to find Cape Race if we would not go 
 astray. It is the key to all maps, for its name never 
 changes. It is shown in these maps at the east end of the 
 south coast of Newfoundland, and at the west end is C. 
 de Volta (Cape Ray), where the 'coast turns sharply to 
 the north. The same rudimentary gulf is seen on the 
 Wolfenbuttel map (1534), and the contour given de- 
 lineates the Bay of the Bretons, as described by Oviedo 
 and Santa Cruz, marked out by Cape Race and Cape 
 Canso with the Island of St. John (beyond question Cape 
 Breton Island), on its western side. 
 
 As shown in the previous chapter, the Bay of Fundy 
 was not passed over by Gomez. On the Weimar map 
 (1527), sometimes ascribed to Fernan Columbus, the 
 name Golfo marks its place ; and upon the map of Santa 
 Cruz the same name also appears, where we expect to 
 find it, between the Costa de Medanos and Cabo de 
 Montanas. But these maps, and many others, show 
 plainly why the distances are so frequently excessive. 
 Even profound indentations, like the Bay of Fundy, are 
 not laid down in their proportions, but are, as in this 
 case, marked by small conventional river-mouths, which 
 do not count in the measurement along the shore, 
 though the bay or gulf was actually sailed round. In 
 that way, until advancing knowledge checked the dis- 
 tances by actual observations of latitudes, made on land 
 with care and precision, the coast of America was 
 straightened and stretched out abnormally. In the case 
 of Oviedo’s description of the coast in the preceding 
 chapter all the latitudes are shown to be too high ; and, 
 as he goes on, following northwards up the coast, the 
 excess increases to io° until it reaches at last a total 
 latitude of 70° N., while Cape Chidley is really only at 
 6o°. What is more suggestive is that the point of 70°, 
 up to which the American coast is followed, is said to 
 be “ on the west-east line with Ireland and with Scot- 
 land.” The American coast, compared with that of 
 Europe, is thus stretched by fifteen degrees of latitude. 
 
 Before the year 1534, therefore, Cabot Strait was 
 
RESULTS OE EXPLORATION 117 
 
 known only as the entrance to a bay of unknown extent. 
 In like manner, to the north of Newfoundland, the 
 Strait of Belle-Isle was known as the entrance to a bay, 
 also of unknown extent. These openings had been laid 
 down as early as 1505 in Pedro Reinehs map (page 57) ; 
 but there are no indications that they had been followed 
 up. There is no reason to suppose they were. The 
 coast was resorted to every summer by fishermen for the 
 sole object of commerce, and there was no inducement 
 to exploration, since the eastern shores of Newfound- 
 land and Acadia swarmed with fish and abounded in safe 
 and commodious harbours. It is, of course, possible 
 that some sailor, more curious than the rest, may have 
 penetrated farther; but, if so, not a vestige of his enter- 
 prise has come down to our day. The vessels frequent- 
 ing the coasts were owned by merchants in the ports of 
 western Europe. The merchants of St. Malo may be 
 taken as a type of the rest. They did not care for dis- 
 coveries, and they set themselves obstinately against 
 Cartier’s enterprise, and hid away their sailors and pilots 
 to prevent them joining his expedition, until the King’s 
 authority was appealed to in court. In that very appeal, 
 however, it is clear that the Strait of Belle-Isle was well 
 known, for Cartier’s intention is avowed “ passer le des- 
 troict de la baye des Chasteaux” to go beyond the Strait 
 off Chateau Bay — for that was the name by which the 
 Strait of Belle-Isle was then known. Cartier’s com- 
 plaint was that these merchants, for their own private 
 profit, were opposing the public interest as well as the 
 express command of the King. 
 
 In the following chapters it will be seen that Cartier 
 went to the east coast of Newfoundland with previous 
 knowledge of its chief harbours. We shall find that his 
 knowledge did not give out until he had reached what 
 is now known on the charts as Esquimaux Bay; well 
 to the westward of Blanc Sablon, the present boundary 
 of the Province of Quebec. The name Brest, already at 
 his visit attached to that locality, proves that Breton 
 sailors had been there before him, and the name clung 
 
ii8 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 there for one hundred and fifty years. It is, therefore, 
 incorrect to say that Cartier discovered the Strait of 
 Belle-Isle ; and it is also incorrect to say that in the Gulf 
 of St. Lawrence he was antedated by moose or whale 
 hunters of any nation. His own plain, straightforward 
 narrative shows where his discoveries begin. We have 
 now to follow him into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and up 
 the flood of its great river to the site of the present city 
 of Montreal, the centre and heart of the commercial life 
 of the Dominion of Canada. All attempts to detract from 
 the merit of this achievement in favour of imaginary 
 Basques or other problematical people will be found to 
 be futile. As soon as the distracted state of France per- 
 mitted it, the attention of the King and Court once more 
 turned to the world beyond the sea, and Cartier was 
 commissioned to demonstrate what had previously only 
 been suspected. 
 
 Verrazano had returned from his voyage at a very un- 
 fortunate time; for the six months of his absence had 
 been fraught with danger to France. It is doubtful 
 whether Verrazano’s letters reached the King, for he was 
 then assembling a force to repel invasion, and was enter- 
 ing upon the fatal campaign which resulted in the over- 
 whelming disaster at Pavia. Francis did not regain his 
 liberty until March, 1526, and a period of exhaustion 
 followed, during which France recovered from the losses 
 and confusion of the Italian war. 
 
 The Duchy of Bretagne was becoming an integral part 
 of France, although it was nominally, in 1534, a separate 
 principality. Anne of Bretagne, the last Duchess, had 
 successively married Charles VIII. and Louis XII. of 
 France, but reigned all her life with her own Parliament 
 in her own duchy. She had bequeathed the succession to 
 her daughter Claude, who married Francis I.; and, al- 
 though the estates had sworn allegiance to the joint sov- 
 ereigns, they did not thereby annex the duchy to France, 
 and Queen Claude at her death, in 1524, left the inherit- 
 ance to her son — the Dauphin — and the revenues only to 
 her husband during his life. Even that disposition was re- 
 
RESULTS OF EXPLORATION 119 
 
 sisted by the Bretons as illegal, and the Parliament of 
 Bretagne, while admitting the right of the King to 
 govern them as Duke, subject to their own laws, claimed 
 the right of separating the duchy from the Crown and 
 settling it upon any of the younger princes, or even of 
 continuing the succession in the female line. This danger 
 to the monarchy was overcome in August, 1532, when 
 the estates were won over by adroit management; and, 
 although the Dauphin was proclaimed as Duke, the 
 annexation of Bretagne to the crown of France was 
 declared irrevocable, and the antagonism between Bretons 
 and Frenchmen disappeared. In Hakluyt and the older 
 writers, however, the distinction was for a long time 
 maintained ; and it has, sometimes, led to misunderstand- 
 ings of the texts ; for the word “ Breton ” was very often 
 spelled “ Briton,” and was read as if it were equivalent to 
 English. The period of Cartier’s voyage, therefore, was 
 an epoch in the history of France, for the Breton sailors, 
 who had pursued their vocation undisturbed by the 
 Italian wars, found themselves Frenchmen, with an un- 
 divided allegiance. Between 1529 and 1540 the French 
 marine made great strides; for, disappointed abroad, 
 France turned back upon herself, and there found that: 
 recuperative strength which has so often astonished her 
 enemies. 
 
 The renewal of efforts towards discovery in the New 
 World was due to Philippe de Chabot, seigneur de Brion, 
 Admiral of France, a favourite courtier of King Francis 
 and companion of his youthful years. He brought the 
 subject before the King, and, this time, with a view 
 to ultimate occupation and perhaps colonisation. The 
 leader he selected to receive the Royal Commission was 
 a Breton of St. Malo — Jacques Cartier — the revealer of 
 the highway to the centre of the continent, the St. Law- 
 rence valley. 
 
 Cartier was born at St. Malo in 1491, and, at the time 
 of his first recorded voyage, was forty-three years old. 
 From incidental remarks upon some new objects which 
 he saw in Canada it is most probable that he had made 
 
120 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 a voyage in a Portuguese vessel to Brazil. He was 
 acquainted with the Portuguese language, for on one 
 occasion he acted as interpreter in court, and on another 
 occasion was called upon to testify to the sufficiency of 
 an interpreter in a trial at St. Malo for the adjudication 
 of a Portuguese prize taken by some Breton privateers. 
 His portrait hangs up in the town hall of St. Malo. It 
 is, says Parkman, a painting of modern date, and of 
 doubtful authenticity. Another portrait has been found 
 in the print collection of the Bibliotheque Imperiale; it 
 is not idealised like the St. Malo portrait, and has not the 
 same self-conscious look, but the one in the town hall has 
 been received so long as an authentic portrait of the Bre- 
 ton sailor, and has been so generally accepted throughout 
 Canada, that we give it here once more. 
 
 Lescarbot relates that Cartier himself made the first 
 move and brought the enterprise under Admiral Cha- 
 bot’s notice, and, indeed, it may well have happened that 
 Cartier on a previous voyage to the Strait of Belle-Isle 
 had seen the shores widening to the west, and suspected 
 that there lay the avenue to Cathay. To that spot he 
 went confidently, as to a place he knew. Others also 
 knew of the country; the “gran capitano Francese ” of 
 Ramusio told of Jean Denys and the pilot Gamart, who 
 sailed from Honfleur in 1506, and of Thomas Aubert, 
 of Dieppe, in 1508, and recent Norman writers have dis- 
 covered and published the names of a number of vessels 
 which sailed in those early times for Newfoundland from 
 Norman ports. There were other ports in France famed 
 for maritime enterprise besides those of Normandy and 
 Brittany, and it was a ship of La Rochelle which Cartier 
 met with, on his first voyage, inside the Strait of Belle- 
 Isle, and within the present limits of the Province of 
 Quebec. 
 
Jacques Cartier. 
 
 (From Shea’s translation of Charlevoix’s History of New France , 
 by permission of Mr. Francis P. Harper, New York.) 
 
 [Face page 120. 
 
( 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 cartier's first voyage, a. d. 1534 
 
 AGAIN we must turn to Italy, even from the France 
 /% of Francis I., if we wish to read the earliest 
 % printed accounts of Jacques Cartier’s first voy- 
 age. Yet it was a time of great literary activity 
 in France. Robert Estienne had been chosen by Francis 
 as Royal Printer and was at the height of his fame. The 
 presses teemed with books, but Cartier’s first voyage was 
 not of sufficient interest to be printed ; so difficult has it 
 been in every age to estimate the relative importance of 
 contemporary events and of contemporary men. The 
 narrative appeared first in the third volume of the great 
 collection of Ramusio, printed at Venice in 1556, and 
 from it John Florio made an English translation, pub- 
 lished in 1580, which Hakluyt adopted and included in 
 his collection a few years later. This is the version 
 which has continually been reprinted and referred to. 
 The first French version was published at Rouen, in 
 1598, by a book-seller — Raphael du Petit- Val. Only one 
 copy has survived, and, strange as it may seem, it pur- 
 ports to be a translation from a version in some foreign 
 language. This is the version used by Lescarbot for his 
 “ History of New France,” in 1612. It was reprinted in 
 1843 by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 
 and by Tross (Paris) in 1865. It was not until 1867 
 that M. Michelant printed an original manuscript ac- 
 count which he had discovered in the Imperial Library 
 at Paris. This version is distinguished as the “ Relation 
 Originale.” 
 
 Those who have endeavoured to trace Cartier’s course 
 on his first voyage have complained of the obscurity of 
 
 121 
 
122 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the records, and of its many contradictions. Even 
 Lescarbot made that complaint, and Charlevoix re- 
 marks that the disappearance of Cartier’s names from 
 the coast has imparted much obscurity to his narrative. 
 But the difficulty was really due to the fact that students 
 had not Cartier’s own narrative until 1867, and were en- 
 deavouring to understand narratives which were trans- 
 lations of translations. The translator from French into 
 Italian had misunderstood many of the nautical terms 
 used by Cartier ; and Hakluyt, who, though a clergyman, 
 was well informed in nautical matters, and might have 
 understood them if he had seen the original, simply 
 followed Florio’s translation from Ramusio. What 
 version Petit-Val’s edition was translated from is not 
 Certain. It differs from Ramusio and from Hakluyt in 
 minor ways, although there is a general correspondence 
 among them all. 
 
 As might reasonably be expected, Jacques Cartier has 
 found his best expositors in the country he discovered, 
 since they could best know the localities he described. 
 Very many writers in Canada have published expositions 
 of his voyages, and the names of some of them will be 
 found in the list of authorities at the end of this volume. 
 The learned and careful Abbe Ferland had, among 
 others, identified many of the places mentioned, but 
 difficulties still remained. These were almost all solved 
 in original studies by Dr. W. F. Ganong and Bishop 
 Howley, so that the course of Cartier on his first voyage 
 is now as clear from end to end as a voyage made nearly 
 four hundred years ago can be expected to be. Mr. 
 Ganong succeeded by subordinating all versions to the 
 “ Relation Originale,” and Bishop Howley frankly ig- 
 nored every other. Owing to that, and to the fact that he 
 was familiar with many of the localities, because they 
 were in his diocese, he cleared up some points on the 
 coast of Newfoundland which had remained in doubt. 
 
 The “ Relation Originale ” is evidently from the hand 
 of Jacques Cartier; for, although with singular modesty 
 he has suppressed all direct mention of himself, there 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 123 
 
 shows out from time to time in his inexperienced effort 
 an indication that the commander of the expedition is the 
 narrator. The style is that of a man unaccustomed to 
 write, excepting in the technical and abrupt manner of a 
 sailor’s log. It is a sailor’s style, abounding in nautical 
 expressions. The language is Breton French, with 
 technical locutions, and the grammar and spelling are 
 very incorrect. Spelling was unsettled at that period, 
 both in England and France, but the spelling of the “ Re- 
 lation Originate ” far exceeds the then current average of 
 eccentricity. Nevertheless the narrative is clear, and in- 
 telligible compared with all the versions, and very rarely 
 do these translations at second hand contribute anything 
 to the elucidation of a difficulty; on the contrary, by 
 their explanatory glosses, and their efforts to improve 
 the mariner’s style, they rendered it more obscure. 
 Other difficulties arose from the fact that Cartier sailed 
 in a region of great magnetic variation. Not only was 
 that great in degree, but it varied abruptly, as it does at 
 the present day. While the direction is affected by that 
 cause, the distances are measured, not in the leagues of 
 Columbus and the southern sailors, but in a league of 
 three Roman miles. If then we would measure Cartier’s 
 courses on an Admiralty chart we must allow only two 
 and a half nautical miles for each league, for that is the 
 equivalent value to a small fraction. This old French 
 league, as may be seen in Chabert’s “ Voyage,” lingered 
 even as late as 1753, and maps were made some of 
 twenty and some of twenty-five leagues to a degree. His 
 distances, moreover, tend to err by excess, for his course 
 was not always in the most direct line. 
 
 The expedition consisted of two vessels, each of about 
 sixty tons’ burthen, and carrying in all sixty-one men, 
 who took the oath of obedience before the Vice-Admiral 
 of France in person. It sailed from St. Malo on the 20th 
 of April, 1534. They had favourable weather, and 
 arrived on the coast of Newfoundland on May 10, after 
 a voyage of twenty days. The distance is about 2052 
 nautical miles, and from the voyage we may assume that 
 
124 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 ships in those days, when sailed by competent captains, 
 and under the most favourable circumstances, could 
 make one hundred miles a day, or a fraction over four 
 admiralty knots an hour. Pedro de Medina in his “ Arte 
 de navegar ” (1545) rates the utmost speed of a ship at 
 four Italian miles an hour, so that the first voyage to 
 Canada was exceptionally prosperous. 
 
 Cartier’s landfall was at Cape Bonavista, on the east 
 coast of Newfoundland — Cap de Bonneviste, as he calls 
 it. He gives the latitude at 48° 30' N. — not far astray, 
 for it is really 48° 42' N. He found the coast blocked 
 with field ice. The conditions of navigation have not 
 since changed. The easterly winds which sped Cartier 
 on his way had blocked the east coast of Newfoundland 
 with the Arctic ice. It was actually only May 1 of our 
 present style, for the calendar had not been revised, and 
 the dates had got ahead of the seasons by nine days. He 
 was therefore obliged to go into a harbour five leagues 
 S. S. W., called Ste. Catherine, and now known by the 
 Spanish equivalent Catalina. There, sheltered from the 
 northeast, he remained for ten days, waiting for the ice 
 to clear away, and employing the time in fitting up his 
 boats. 
 
 On May 21 the wind changed to the west, and he 
 sailed N. N. E. from Cape Bonavista to the Isle aux 
 Oiseaux; on some Portuguese maps ysla de los aves, 
 but now known as Funk Island. He found it packed 
 around with field ice, but managed to reach the island in 
 his boats. It was a league in circumference, and so full 
 of sea fowl that “ it would be incredible to any one who 
 had not seen it for himself.” There has been so much 
 difference of opinion concerning the birds mentioned by 
 Cartier that the question is treated in a separate note. 
 Cartier was much impressed by their number, and 
 described them at unusual length. His crew were not 
 the only creatures on the coast who enjoyed such food. 
 The bears swam out to regale themselves, although the 
 island was fourteen leagues from the mainland. They 
 saw one jump into the water as they approached. It 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 125 
 
 was “ as large as a cow, and as white as a swan.” They 
 missed it then, but the next day (which was Whit- 
 sunday) they found it halfway to shore, swimming as 
 fast as they could sail, so they gave chase in their boats 
 and killed it. They found the flesh as good “ as that of 
 a two-year-old heifer.” 
 
 On Wednesday, May 27, they arrived at the entrance 
 to the B ay e des Chasteaulx, now known as the Strait 
 of Belle-Isle. This must not be confounded with our 
 Chateau Bay, for Cartier distinguishes that as Hable des 
 Chasteaulx. He knew the place, but did not go there. 
 The sheet of water opening thence in rear of Newfound- 
 land was afterwards long known as la grande baye. The 
 wind was contrary, and there was a great deal of ice in 
 the strait, so they decided to enter a harbour near, called 
 Rapont, in 51 0 30' N. lat., where they remained until 
 June 9, without being able to get out. This harbour is 
 down on the maps as Carpont, and is the Kirpon harbour 
 of to-day. Its real latitude is 51 0 35'. 
 
 While Cartier was waiting, as he says “ to pass on 
 further by God’s help,” he must have examined the 
 adjacent coast, for he inserted in his narrative a descrip- 
 tion of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, from 
 Cape Rouge, on the east coast of Newfoundland, round 
 to Brest Harbour, beyond the Strait of Belle-Isle. He 
 had not spoken of Cape Rouge before. The locality still 
 bears the same name, and is found on our charts. He 
 tells us that the coast from Cape Rouge to Cape Degrat 
 lies N. N. E. and S. S. W., and that it is the tongue of 
 land which forms the entrance to “ the bay ” ; that is, to 
 the great bay in the rear of Newfoundland. He says 
 that all that region consists of islands closely adjacent 
 one to the other, and that they are separated by small 
 channels, through which boats may pass. Here is the 
 beginning of the error which, for a hundred years, cut 
 up, upon the maps, Newfoundland into small islands. 
 Kirpon Island, at the extreme northern point, is indeed 
 a small island, and T in the channel between it and the 
 main island, Cartier had taken refuge, but there are no 
 
126 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 other channels there, although the inlets cut in deeply 
 from both sides. The extreme point of Kirpon Island 
 is Cape Bauld. Cartier speaks of Cape Degrat, a name 
 now restricted to the eastern point of the same island. 
 He does not notice Cape Bauld, but took Cape Degrat 
 for the characteristic point, which, indeed, it is, for it is 
 the highest point on that part of the coast. Cartier evi- 
 dently examined the place closely, for he tells us that 
 from Cape Degrat two islands opposite Cape Rouge may 
 be clearly seen. These are Groix Island and Bell Island, 
 forty miles away to the south, in the Atlantic, and the 
 distance is over-estimated, at twenty-five leagues. Stand- 
 ing on Cape Degrat and seeing the deep inlets which eat 
 into the land, it is not surprising that Cartier supposed 
 them to be connected through by narrow channels to the 
 bay in the rear. Continuing, Cartier describes Kirpon 
 harbour with much accuracy, giving the soundings and 
 noticing the dangers of both entrances. 
 
 Passing on to the Strait of Belle-Isle from Cape Degrat 
 on a W. N. W. course, Cartier noticed two islands on the 
 port side. One was three leagues from the cape and the 
 other seven leagues further on. This last was flat, and 
 it closed in with the land. Bishop Howley rightly ob- 
 serves that there is no question here of Belle-Isle Island, 
 which lay out of Cartier’s course, far away to the star- 
 board side, and, moreover, is detached in the ocean, and 
 consists of high land. The first of Cartier’s islands must 
 be Sacred Island, and the second Schooner Island in 
 Pistolet Bay. Here, for a moment, Cartier forgets his 
 modest reserve, and says plainly, “ I named this island 
 Saint Catherine.” It was the first land he named in the 
 New World, and he named it for his wife, Catherine des 
 Granches ; for Cartier was attached to his wife after the 
 simple Breton fashion, without any admixture of 
 Renaissance manners. His Most Christian Majesty 
 Francis I. might, with vast advantage to himself and 
 his kindom, have taken pattern in this respect from the 
 plain mariner of St. Malo. The island is further identi- 
 fied by Cartier’s statement that it lies N. N. E. with 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 127 
 
 Chateau harbour, which is precisely correct, though the 
 distance (fifteen leagues) is over-estimated. 
 
 The description then passes to the Labrador coast, and 
 taking the well-known Hable des Chasteaulx (our Cha- 
 teau Bay) as a well-known point of departure (for he 
 did not go there), Cartier refers to some points on that 
 coast which, as he correctly says, lie W. S. W. Distant 
 twelve and a half leagues is the harbour of Buttes 
 (Hable des Buttes) — that is, of hills or hillocks. This 
 beyond doubt is Red Bay ; for that is nearly the distance 
 given, and it is described in the “ St. Lawrence Pilot ” 
 plainly enough : “ The eastern side of the harbour is 
 surmounted by a series of hillocks from 62 to 205 feet 
 high connected by marshes with ponds in them.” This 
 harbour has sometimes been supposed to be Greenish 
 Harbour; but the name Buttes implies a physical 
 peculiarity which exists only at Red Bay. Stearns, 
 sailing along the coast in 1881, describes its remarkable 
 appearance incidentally, without any reference to Car- 
 tier’s voyage — “ a harbour at the foot of high, receding 
 unevenly sloped and gorged hillocks that look like a 
 vast amphitheatre.” Two leagues further on Cartier 
 places Hable de la Baleine (Whale Harbour), which 
 may be Carroll’s Cove, five miles distant. There are 
 several other harbours in the next indentation of the 
 coast, shown as Black Bay on the maps, but Carroll’s 
 Cove is at the given distance, and the name Whale 
 Harbour is not descriptive. 
 
 Some defect or obscurity must have existed in the 
 first copy at this point, for two blanks occur here in the 
 “ Relation Originale.” The distance between the Hable 
 de la Baleine and Blanc Sablon is left out. Hakluyt 
 gives fifteen, and Petit-Val twenty-five leagues, but the 
 locality of Blanc Sablon is, fortunately, well known. 
 The three or four lines which have puzzled so many 
 have been explained in a satisfactory way. Cartier did 
 not stay at any of these places along the coast, and when 
 sailing abreast of Hable de la Baleine at a distance from 
 land of one-third of the main strait he sounded and, at 
 
128 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 38 fathoms, found bottom “ taygnay,” meaning a bottom 
 of rocks covered with sea-weed. The word is used 
 several times by Cartier in giving the results of his 
 soundings. It is a sailor’s word, and is not found 
 in the ordinary dictionaries, but may be referred to 
 teigne — strangle weed. Hakluyt skips it, and Petit-Val 
 changes it to fond a plomb, which does not help. As a 
 matter of fact the soundings in the strait in that locality 
 are from 30 to 40 fathoms and the bottom is stony or 
 rocky. Continuing west-south-west along the coast is 
 Blanc Sablon (White Sands) ; a place well known then, 
 and one which has retained its name. It is the boundary 
 between the province of Quebec and that part of the 
 Labrador coast which belongs to the Government of 
 Newfoundland. The Canadian custom house is there, 
 and it has been from the earliest times, and still is, an 
 important fishing station. 
 
 Cartier was an observant navigator, and records all 
 the dangers to ships in making the port of Blanc Sablon. 
 He notices the two islands which form the harbour. 
 One of them, Isle de Bouays (Wood Island) retains 
 its name. The other is now called Greenly Island. It 
 was, to Cartier, another Isle des Ouaiseaulx, the home 
 of innumerable “ godez,” and of “ richars,” with red 
 beaks and feet, which burrowed like rabbits. Doubling 
 a cape (Long Point, also called Grand Point) a league 
 from Blanc Sablon he entered a harbour which, in his 
 time, was called Les Islettes (Bradore Bay) — a better 
 harbour than the last, and one where, he says, a great 
 deal of fishing is carried on. Ten leagues further on 
 was a harbour called Brest ; the latitude is given at 51 0 
 40' (or 55', the MS. is uncertain; it is really 51 0 25'), 
 and there are islands all the way to it. Brest itself is 
 an island, and for three leagues out all the coast is ranged 
 for more than twelve leagues with low islands over 
 which the high mainland appears. Cartier entered 
 the harbour of Brest on June 10, to take in wood and 
 water, and to prepare for the exploration of the new 
 region he was entering upon. There the digressive 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 129 
 
 description of the coast ends, and he resumes his 
 diary or log. All his distances and directions are in 
 the main correct and his descriptions are clear and 
 accurate. 
 
 This harbour of Brest was the terminus of the pre- 
 viously discovered and named coast — named doubtless 
 by the Breton fishermen who resorted thither in summer. 
 As the business grew and the place became better known 
 temporary structures may have been erected; but none 
 such were there in Cartier’s time, nor were there any 
 residents for 150 years later. Nevertheless a story has 
 crept into the books, of a town founded there 100 years 
 before Quebec, with 200 houses, 1000 permanent inhab- 
 itants and a resident governor. The whole story is a 
 myth, with less foundation than the mythical city of 
 Norumbegue. In Brest harbour Cartier left his vessels 
 at anchor and, on June 11, commenced an exploration 
 westwards in his boats. They passed for ten leagues 
 along a coast studded with innumerable islands, and 
 camped for the night on one of the islands, where they 
 found a great quantity of eggs of ducks and other birds. 
 This range of coast was called T outes Isles. 
 
 On the 1 2th of June, having got through most of the 
 islands, they reached a harbour which was named St. 
 Anthony. The 13th was the feast of St. Anthony of 
 Padua, and, though he does not say so in express terms, 
 Cartier must have given the name. It is now known as 
 Rocky Bay. A league or two further he entered a 
 harbour very deep — that is, running far into the land. 
 There can be no mistake about this locality, for the 
 physical characteristics recorded by Cartier identify it 
 with Lobster Bay. The “ St. Lawrence Pilot ” describes 
 it as a narrow inlet between steep shores, extending four 
 and a half miles to the northeast. Cartier notices a small 
 island about a league to the southwest, as round as an 
 oven. This is now known as the Boulet, and the “ St. 
 Lawrence Pilot ” describes it as a smooth, round islet in 
 the position indicated by Cartier. He named the place 
 St Servan, after an important suburb of St. Malo, and 
 
i 3 o THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 there he erected a cross. Here occurs one of the very 
 few instances where the translations are of assistance in 
 correcting the error of a copyist. They concur in giving 
 the distance at two leagues (instead of ten leagues, as in 
 the “Relation Originate”) to the next harbour — a large 
 harbour which Cartier called the River St. Jacques, 
 without doubt Shecatica Bay ; and here occurred an 
 incident which proves that Cartier was not the discov- 
 erer of the Strait of Belle-Isle, and that before 1534 it 
 was a resort of French fishing vessels. He met there a 
 large vessel from La Rochelle, which had come out to 
 fish, and had been looking for Brest (evidently a har- 
 bour known to the crew), but having passed it in the 
 night they did not know where they were. Cartier 
 boarded the vessel and took her into another harbour 
 now called Cumberland harbour, one league further to 
 the west : which, adds Cartier, “ I consider to be one of 
 the good harbours of the world, and it was called the 
 harbour Jacques Cartier.” In this the Breton sailor 
 anticipates the judgment of the Admiralty Pilot, which 
 pronounces it to be “ the best and easiest of access on the 
 coast.” It is apropos of this harbour that Cartier pro- 
 nounces the unqualified condemnation of the Labrador 
 coast which has been quoted at page 24. The practical 
 eye of the explorer was not content with atmospheric 
 effects of craggy hills and rocky shores sharply defined 
 in the clear northern air or clothed with tender purple 
 by the setting sun. What impressed itself upon his 
 mind, and what, in his terse and vigorous style, he 
 reported was that “ white harbours were plenty there 
 was not one cartload of earth on the whole stretch of 
 coast.” This was inside the Strait of Belle-Isle, for 
 Cartier did not go north ; he turned abruptly west 
 round the head of Newfoundland, into the strait, without 
 even going near Belle-Isle Island. What would have 
 been his report of the grim rampart north of the strait 
 battered for long ages by the surges of two thousand 
 mites of the stormiest ocean on the globe? 
 
 This was the terminus of Cartier’s exploration on the 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE i 3 t 
 
 Labrador coast. The boats returned to Brest harbour, 
 where in the meantime his ships had been making prepa- 
 rations for entering upon the unknown regions beyond. 
 He gives a short description of the natives he met ; from 
 which it clearly appears that they were not Esquimaux, 
 and had come from a more southern country for seal 
 fishing. They were doubtless of some Montagnais 
 tribe of Algonquin stock. On Monday, 15th, they set 
 sail and steered southward across the bay to examine 
 a country which had caught their attention, and when 
 first seen from across the bay had the appearance of two 
 islands. 
 
 The west coast of Newfoundland, towards which Car- 
 tier now sailed, is bordered by a range of mountains 
 from 1900 to 2000 feet high, running from Cape 
 Anguille on the south to beyond Cape Riche, where they 
 commence to lower as they stretch northwards. As 
 they drew near the middle of the bay they saw that what 
 they had taken for two islands was a double cape on the 
 mainland — one point rising above the other. Their 
 course had been south and the distance was about twenty 
 leagues, which brought them to Cape Riche. The High- 
 lands of St. John rise in rear of the cape to two points, 
 respectively 1500 and 1600 feet. They named the spot 
 Cap Double. The trend of the coast Cartier gives as 
 N. N. E. and S. S. W., and he observed the belt of low 
 land between the mountains and the sea, all which char- 
 acteristics appear on the admiralty charts to-day. All 
 the next day they sailed along the coast for about thirty- 
 five leagues. The mountains were high and formidable, 
 with cloven and craggy outlines — among them was one 
 which had the appearance of a granche (old French for 
 grange or farm building) — for which reason they called 
 the whole range the Granches Mountains, all the more 
 willingly, perhaps, because Cartier’s wife’s family name 
 was des Granches. As night drew in they saw obscurely 
 through the gathering mists an opening in the hills, as 
 if of a river mouth, and a cape three leagues away, which 
 they called Cap Pointu. It is now known as Cow 
 
13 ^ THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Head, and is identified by the low, flat island (Stearing 
 Island) three-quarters of a mile to the north of it. Car- 
 tier wished to examine the land more closely by daylight 
 and the ships shortened sail for the night 
 
 And now the Gulf began to show another of its phases. 
 A northeast storm broke upon them and they took in 
 all but the mainsail and lay to the wind, but were driven 
 to the southwest for thirty-seven leagues until Thursday 
 morning (18th), when they found themselves abreast of 
 a bay full of islands (Bay of Islands) — they called the 
 islands les Coulonbiers because of their shape and 
 the bay St. Julian. There can be no mistake about the 
 locality; the high and steep islands occur nowhere else 
 on the coast. Seven leagues further Cartier notes 
 another cape, which he called Cap Royal. It is a very 
 conspicuous headland 1200 feet high, now called Bear 
 Head. Without giving the distance he next mentions 
 a cape W. S. W. of Cape Royal, which he called Cap 
 Delatte, about which there has been doubt. The name 
 in Petit- Vafs version is Cap de Laid; Hakluyt has it 
 Cape of Milk , but it is Delatte in the “ Relation Origi- 
 nale.” There is a Pointe de la Latte in the English Chan- 
 nel near Brest. The name has nothing to do with milk; 
 it is a marine term for a particular kind of thin, narrow 
 beam. The word exists in England as lath: Italian, latta, 
 and is of Teutonic origin. Some peculiarity of shape sug- 
 gested the name. The description, when followed closely, 
 will identify it with Cape Cormorant, a perpendicular 
 limestone cliff rising 700 feet, and then sloping up to a 
 conical top 268 feet higher. Red Island is a mile north- 
 west of it and marks the locality. It is 290 feet above 
 the sea, and would not be called low, excepting relatively 
 to the lofty cape in juxtaposition to it. Cartier describes 
 it as a headland eaten away at the base and round at the 
 summit, with a low island to the north. He describes 
 the land between these two capes as low, with high 
 lands behind it and an appearance as if there were 
 rivers within, all perfectly in accordance with the 
 present charts. What he saw was the long spit which 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 133 
 
 makes the sea face of Port au Port. He describes it 
 as a wonderful place for cod fishing, which is still 
 the case, and while waiting for their consort they took 
 more than one hundred large codfish in less than an 
 hour. 
 
 The Gulf did not cease to show its teeth; for on the 
 following day (18th) the wind was contrary, and it 
 blew very heavily, so that Cartier turned back to Cape 
 Royal seeking a shelter harbour. He searched with 
 the boats, and, between Cape Royal and Cape De- 
 latte they found what is now called Port au Port, 
 which Cartier describes in his usual accurate manner. 
 It is, he says, a great deep bay with islands enclosed 
 towards the south by low lands, with flats which extend 
 beyond them and shut in the bay on one side while Cape 
 Royal closes in on the other. There is an island in the 
 middle of the entrance to the bay (Fox Island), and 
 the anchorage is bad. The “ Admiralty Pilot ” confirms 
 Cartier’s quick judgment: “ Port au Port cannot be con- 
 sidered to afford secure anchorage round any of its 
 shores, although the bottom is generally mud.” So Car- 
 tier, rather than trust his ships there, put to sea for the 
 night, and from that time until the 24th there was a con- 
 tinued heavy storm, with contrary wind, and the weather 
 so thick that he did not once get a sight of land. On St. 
 John the Baptist’s day (24th) they saw a cape to the 
 southeast which they judged to be thirty-five leagues 
 from Cape Royal. They were very nearly right. It 
 was Cape Anguille — a bold headland 1700 feet high, the 
 projecting spur of a range of mountains in rear. They 
 called it Cape St. John, but the weather was too rough 
 to permit approach. 
 
 The weather the next day, 25th, was equally bad, with 
 high wind and fog. For a part of the day they ran 
 W. N. W. and toward night they hove to until the second 
 watch, when they again set sail. They judged that they 
 were seventeen leagues and a half northwest by west 
 of Cape St. John. When they set sail the wind was 
 from the northwest, and they ran southwest for fifteen 
 
i 3 4 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 leagues, when they discovered three islands. These were 
 the Bird Rocks, for Cartier counted in a little rock which 
 he saw between the two. This has now disappeared, but 
 a patch of breakers still shows its position. The two 
 islands were as steep as walls, and it was not possible 
 to climb them. They were “ as full of birds as a 
 meadow is of grass.” The larger one was full of mar- 
 gaux. It is now called the Great Bird ; it is to the south- 
 east and is 105 feet high. The other — the North Bird — 
 was full of “ godez ” and “ apponats.” The disputed 
 question of the species of birds found is treated in a 
 separate note, only remarking here that the sailors 
 managed to get on the lower ledge of the North Bird, 
 for there is no proper shore, and killed in a short time 
 more than a thousand of “ godez ” and “ apponats.” 
 They filled their boats with them, and in an hour’s time 
 they might have filled thirty such boats. Cartier named 
 the group Isles de Margaulx , and that name, or a syn- 
 
 Fig. 9. The Great Bird Rock, from an Admiralty Chart 
 
 onym of it, it has ever since retained. Five leagues 
 to the westward was another island, which he named 
 Brion Island, after his patron, Philippe de Chabot, Sieur 
 de Brion, and Admiral of France. The name still sur- 
 vives, though some English maps absurdly call it Byron 
 Island. Cartier lay there all night to procure wood 
 and water. There is a good roadstead east of the 
 island, which he found without the aid of sailing direc- 
 tions. He notes with his usual correctness that the 
 soundings round the island are six or seven fathoms. 
 He was pleased with it after his experiences on the 
 Labrador coast, and records in his terse way his opinion 
 that one arpent of it was worth the whole of the Terre 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 135 
 
 Neuve. He pauses to describe it, and almost waxes 
 eloquent. There was a sandy beach all round it, it was 
 full of fine trees, prairies, fields of wild corn, and of peas 
 in flower as thick and as fine as any he ever saw in 
 Bretagne, and in appearance as if they had been sown. 
 There were in abundance gooseberries, strawberries, and 
 Provence roses; parsley and other plants pleasant to 
 smell. Brion Island does not seem such a paradise in 
 the present day, but to Cartier, who had been coasting 
 along Labrador and northern Newfoundland, it was 
 delightful by contrast. Here also he had a new expe- 
 rience, for there was around the island a number of 
 “ beasts like large oxen, which had two tusks in their 
 mouths like elephants.” The Gulf abounded in those 
 days with walruses, and Cartier met them first here, in 
 their favourite haunt, the Magdalen Islands. They were 
 hunted to extermination in after years, not only there, 
 but all over the Gulf. A few were seen on the Mag- 
 dalens and Anticosti as late as 1775. Cartier’s sailors 
 found one asleep on the shore and tried to take it, but 
 it jumped into the sea. Then follows a remark which 
 shows that the Gulf was unknown previous to his voy- 
 age. Cartier recognised that he had got in between 
 Newfoundland and the continent; but was it a penin- 
 sula or an island? He says: “ I think more than I did 
 before from what I have seen that there may be some 
 passage between the Terre Neuve (Newfoundland) 
 and la Terre des Bretons (Cape Breton). If so it would 
 shorten, not only in length, but in time, the accomplish- 
 ment of this voyage.” The passage is now called Cabot 
 Strait, but not until on his return from his second voyage 
 did Cartier pass through it. 
 
 Cartier lingered for a day at Brion Island, and on the 
 26th of June he passed on to a cape four leagues distant, 
 which he named after the Dauphin — a name of special 
 honour “ because it was the beginning of good land.” 
 It was North Cape of the Great Magdalen Island, and 
 all the 27th he sailed along the west coast outside the 
 island, for the wind, which was evidently westerly, threw 
 
136 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 a heavy surf on the shore and he could not land. But 
 he could see the island in the clear weather, and he 
 described it as low and sandy, with hills of sand. With- 
 out a careful study of this group of islands on a large 
 
 Fig. 10. The Magdalen Group — The Key to the Gulf 
 True shape, from an Admiralty Chart 
 
 scale map it will be impossible to understand, not only 
 Cartier’s voyages, but all the voyages during the next 
 hundred years. The Great Magdalen is the key of the 
 Gulf, and every ship bound to the St. Lawrence passes 
 in sight of one of the group around it. The main 
 Magdalen, although at a distance it appears to be several 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 137 
 
 hilly islands, is really one long island, lying, as Cartier 
 says, E. N. E., for the hills are connected by a double 
 line of low sand bars enclosing large lagoons opening 
 at high tide by narrow channels to the sea. It lies in a 
 curved, or rather bracket-like, shape, hollow towards the 
 southeast. In the mouth of the bracket is a detached 
 island (Entry Island), and west of the southwest elbow 
 of the bracket is another (Deadman’s Island). These 
 peculiar characteristics stand out on the most archaic 
 maps, and the three little islands adjacent to the north 
 add to the certainty of identification. The names also 
 point them out. That of the large island may always 
 be translated “ isle of sand,” for it is in French maps 
 isle d’arenes, and in Portuguese maps y de Sabloen 
 or Sabloes, or sometimes dorean , a corruption of 
 d’arenes. This point being fixed, the early geography 
 of the Gulf is clear. From this point the expositors of 
 Cartier’s route differ radically, and until Ganong’s study 
 (in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada 
 for 1887) the subject was hopelessly confused. All day 
 Cartier sailed along the west side of the Great Magda- 
 len, and the next day (28th) he sailed for ten leagues 
 along the south coast until he came to a wave-eaten cape 
 of red land, and inside of it was a bay (Pleasant Bay) 
 looking northward to low land. The cape is easily 
 identified as Entry Island. Opposite to this cape at a 
 distance of about four leagues there was another 
 cape — the hill (550 feet) of Grindstone Island, and 
 between these two points the land was ranged round in 
 a semicircle of sandy beach enclosing, as far as he could 
 see, a sort of marsh or lake ( etang ). This view is sup- 
 posed to be from Entry Island, the first cape. Opposite 
 was Grindstone Island, the second cape, and from it, five 
 leagues, or twelve and a half miles, to the southwest was 
 a very high pointed island, which he named Alezay. 
 Entry Island he called St. Pierre, for the 29th was St. 
 Peter and St. Paul’s day. Alezay is identified by its 
 shape (see cut). It was Deadman’s Island, described 
 in the “ Admiralty Pilot ” as “ 170 feet high, with steeply 
 
138 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 sloping sides meeting at the summit like a prism.” The 
 maps all show it in its place with its name, as, for 
 instance, the Dauphin map (see cut), where Entry 
 Island is given, looking inward over the bay, and 
 Alezay named to the southwest, as described. Cartier 
 hove to and examined the place closely, and gives the 
 soundings and the kind of bottom. 
 
 The wind changed to S. S. W. on the 29th and 
 they left the Magdalens, sailing westward, and until mid- 
 day of the 30th they saw no land. After the sun turned, 
 however, they saw to the W. S. W., about nine or ten 
 leagues off, what seemed to be two islands. They were 
 coming upon the north shore of Prince Edward Island, 
 which is very low, and they had caught sight of two com- 
 
 Fig. 11. Deadman’s Island, from an Admiralty Chart 
 
 paratively high points, Cape Tryon and Cape Turner. 
 The capes are not over 120 feet high, but are the highest 
 land on the coast, and rise first out of the water. As they 
 sailed along they saw that the country was a continuous 
 mainland to a cape which they saw in the distance, and 
 named Cap d’ Orleans — Cape Kildare of our maps. 
 They continued coasting until the morning of the follow- 
 ing day, July 1, when a fog set in and they lowered 
 their sails, for Cartier was anxious to examine the land. 
 At 10 a. m. the fog lifted and they saw Cap d’Orleans 
 close, and, further on, another cape (North Cape), which 
 they called Cap des Sauvages. Their boats were got out 
 and landings were made in several places. Cartier 
 describes the country as a low, level land as beautiful as 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 139 
 
 could be seen, with fine trees and meadows, but not a 
 harbour, and the coast ranged along with sandbars. 
 The description of the north coast of the garden province 
 of the Dominion could not be more accurate. 
 
 Among the places he saw, Cartier specially mentions 
 one which he named the River of Boats (Ripuiere de 
 Baroques). He said it was a fine river, but shallow, 
 
 Fig. 12. Representations of the Magdalen Group on early maps. 
 1. Correct outline for comparison. 2. Dauphin or Henry II. 
 Map, 1546. 3. Homem’s Map, 1558. 4. Mercator’s Map, 1569. 
 5. Sebastian Cabot’s Map, 1544. 6. Vallard Map, 1543. 7. 
 Rotz Globe, 1543. 8. Hakluyt’s Map, 1600. 
 
 and in several places he saw the natives in boats. He 
 did not communicate with them, for the wind rose from 
 the sea and he had to hurry back to the ship. The 
 place is now known as Richmond or Malpeque Bay, and 
 has always been frequented by the Indians, for there is 
 a portage on its southern shore, barely two miles across, 
 by which they pass from Northumberland Strait to the 
 Gulf. It is the narrowest spot of the whole island. 
 
140 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Cap des Sauvages is described in a few words. The 
 Breton sailor noted that off it there are a reef and a 
 dangerous bank of stones. The Admiralty Pilot gives 
 the same report. Here an Indian came running along 
 shore making signs, but he had not courage enough to 
 wait until they went ashore, so they left him a knife and 
 a piece of cloth tied to a stick and went on. They 
 examined the west coast very carefully, but found no 
 harbour. Cartier is enthusiastic in praise of the country. 
 The trees were marvellously beautiful and pleasant in 
 odour — cedars, pines, yews, white elms, ash trees, wil- 
 lows, and others unknown. Where the land was clear 
 of trees it was good, and abounded in red and white 
 gooseberries, peas, strawberries, raspberries, and wild 
 corn, like rye, having almost the appearance of cultiva- 
 tion. The climate was most pleasant and warm. There 
 were doves and pigeons and many other birds. In short, 
 Cartier thought that if the country only possessed a 
 few harbours it would be perfect. He had touched 
 Prince Edward Island at a bad spot, for there is not a 
 harbour for thirty-three miles from North Point round 
 to Egmont Bay. 
 
 Cartier had no idea that he had to do with an island, 
 and as he sailed round North Cape and passed the west 
 shore he saw before him the land to the east closing in 
 to form a great bay. It was the projecting point of 
 Nova Scotia, on the south, interlocking with the capes 
 on the north. This part of the voyage was a stumbling 
 block to all commentators, and, although the appearance 
 which deceived Cartier may be seen by any tourist who 
 crosses from Shediac in New Brunswick to Summer- 
 side, Ganong was the first to apply it to elucidate the 
 question. This apparent bay Cartier named the Bay of 
 St. Lunario, from Leonarius, a Breton saint of early 
 times. It continued upon the maps for a hundred years 
 longer, until what is now Prince Edward Island was 
 recognised as an island, and called the Island of St. 
 John. Seeing, as he supposed, the land thus closed 
 before him, to the east, Cartier turned, on July 2, to a 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 141 
 
 land he saw at the north, which appeared to him to be 
 continuous with the other and went, in his boats, to 
 examine it. His description is accurate — a cape 
 (Escuminac) of low land with shallow water in the 
 offing; at the northeast another cape, and between the 
 two a triangular bay running far into the land ; a 
 level country with sandy shores, and, as far out as ten 
 leagues only twenty fathoms of water. What he saw 
 was the coast of New Brunswick, and the remarkable 
 triangular bay was Miramichi Bay, with its two low 
 headlands. 
 
 The land stretched away to the north, one cape after 
 another. The wind rose and the weather grew bad 
 toward night, so that they had to lie to until the morning 
 of July 3, when the wind came from the west and they 
 made sail to the north; for they saw over the low head- 
 land (Miscou) high lands to the N. N. W., and they 
 found between the low cape to the south and the moun- 
 tains to the north a great bay, fifteen leagues across, 
 with fifty-five fathoms of water. The whole passage 
 is as correct as if it had been an abstract from a modern 
 book of sailing directions. The low cape at the south 
 was Miscou, the high lands were the Gaspe Mountains, 
 and between, stretching westward to an unknown dis- 
 tance, were the bright waters of Chaleur Bay, blue under 
 the clear, sunny sky, and the hope rose within them 
 that here was the long looked for passage. The warm 
 sun and the balmy weather quickened their anticipations 
 almost to certainty, therefore they called the southern 
 point Cape d’Esperance — Hope Cape. It was a golden 
 dream, but the sequence was leaden, for the name was, 
 in the lapse of years, unconsciously transferred to the 
 north shore, just opposite, where it still mocks Cartier’s 
 hopes as Cape Despair, the English corruption of Cap 
 d’Espoir. 
 
 Cartier describes the bay with his usual accuracy. 
 His grammar may be faulty and his vocabularly nautical, 
 but those who know the localities can see them again in 
 his terse descriptions. He named it la Baye de Chaleur , 
 
142 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 because he found it as warm there as in Spain. He 
 describes the New Brunswick side as a beautiful open 
 country with arable land and meadows as fine as he had 
 ever seen, and level as a lake. The Gaspe side was 
 lofty, with mountains densely clothed with forests, 
 among them cedars and firs of great size, fit for masts 
 of ships of more than three hundred tons. Only in one 
 or two places was the land clear of trees, and there it 
 was low, with fine ponds ( etangs ). The latitude of the 
 middle of the bay he fixes at 47 ° 30' N., about twenty 
 miles too far south, and the longitude at 73 0 W., which, 
 taking Ferro as the prime meridian, is 25 0 40' too far 
 west. It is impossible to guess how he arrived at that 
 longitude, but it was probably worked out after his 
 return, perhaps by someone else, for in other places the 
 longitude is left blank. This instance shows how little ‘ 
 dependence is to be placed on the longitudes of early 
 explorers. 
 
 The 4th of July, Cartier says, was St. Martin’s 
 day, and although in the Roman Breviary that saint is 
 commemorated at Martinmas, November 11, there still 
 survives in the Anglican calendar a festival of the 
 “ translation of Martin,” on July 4, indicating some 
 pecularity in the devotion of St. Martin in those days 
 common to Britain and Bretagne. Cartier sailed along the 
 Gaspe coast westward, looking for a harbour, and he 
 found on that day la couche St. Martin , now Port Daniel. 
 There the vessels lay from the 4th to the 12th of July, 
 while the boats went further up the bay to explore. 
 They went to the extreme end of the bay, and found 
 that it ended in low lands with high mountains in rear, 
 and, to their great disappointment, that there was no 
 passage through. 
 
 While examining the coast from Port Daniel they 
 came into contact with the natives. Chaleur Bay was 
 the debatable region between the Indians of Canada and 
 the Micmac tribes of Acadia. One of the boats met 
 some canoes, and saw a large number of savages on the 
 shores, who made signs to them to land, but being few in 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 143 
 
 number the French turned away. The savages quickly 
 got out seven canoes and tried to surround the boat, 
 and did not desist until the French had fired two or 
 three shots. The next morning the savages came in 
 their canoes to where the vessels were anchored, and 
 after a little while confidence was established and the 
 Indians gave the strangers a hearty welcome, with much 
 dancing and singing. Cartier formed an opinion that 
 they would be easy to convert to the Christian religion, 
 but his reasons are not on record. 
 
 Disappointed in their search, they made sail July 12, 
 and followed about eighteen leagues along the Gaspe 
 shore and came to a point (White Head), which Cartier 
 called Cape Pratto. The weather began to threaten, and 
 they got shelter between the land and an island (Bon- 
 aventure Island) one league to the east of it. There 
 they anchored safely for the night, but they found strong 
 currents and a heavy sea. The next morning they made 
 sail again, but had to return to the same shelter for the 
 night. Starting again the following day they pushed 
 along the coast, five or six leagues, when they came 
 abreast of a river (Gaspe Bay), where they anchored 
 until the 16th. Then the wind rose so high that one of 
 the ships lost her anchor, and they were forced to go 
 further up into a good and safe harbour, which their 
 boats had discovered. There, in Gaspe basin, the finest 
 shelter on the coast, they remained until July 25, and, 
 strange to say, Cartier did not give it a name. At the 
 entrance of the basin he erected a cross, with an escutch- 
 eon, on which were three fleur-de-lis, and, in large 
 letters, “ Vive le Roy de France.” 
 
 At Gaspe Cartier met a great number of Indians, who 
 had come down the River St. Lawrence from about 
 Quebec for the mackerel fishery. He recognised that 
 they differed both in nature and in language from the 
 Indians he had previously seen. They were the first he 
 met of the Huron-Iroquois stock. They came freely 
 and frankly to visit the ships — men, women, and children, 
 and welcomed the French with singing and dancing; 
 
144 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 but they objected to the cross and explained by signs 
 that the land was theirs. The French got possession of 
 two of the sons of one of the chiefs, and managed to 
 reconcile them and their friends by presents, telling 
 the Indians by signs that they would bring them back 
 with many more presents. The names of the youths were 
 Taignoagny and Domagaya. They gave their old rags 
 to their companions, and accepted the French dress. 
 They were not altogether averse to being carried away, 
 Cartier took them to France, and they were useful as 
 interpreters on his next voyage. 
 
 At this point occurred the most unaccountable thing 
 in all Cartier’s narrative. He set sail on the 25th, and 
 when he got out of Gaspe Bay he went in a direction to 
 east-north-east, because the land swept round from the 
 mouth of the bay making, as he saw it from his ship, 
 a bay like a semicircle ; and, in fact, there is such a bay 
 from Cape Gaspe to N. N. E. (magnetic) as far as Cape 
 Rosier. But Cartier, in sailing out, caught sight of 
 Anticosti, about twenty leagues away, and he appears to 
 have concluded that it formed part of the same bay, and 
 that there was no opening through. If he had passed 
 Cape Rosier he would have seen the land turning to the 
 west, and, as he crossed the estuary, he must have seen 
 open water to the west. He does not say plainly that 
 he thought the land closed round ; he merely says that he 
 went to examine the new land which he had caught sight 
 of. It has been supposed that a fog shut off the opening 
 to the west, but the same fog would have hidden the low 
 coast of Anticosti. The disappointment at finding no 
 passage at Chaleur Bay may have influenced his judg- 
 ment, but the fact is indisputable that he did cross over 
 the main entrance to the river, and when he struck 
 Anticosti followed its coast to the east, and not west- 
 ward. 
 
 This apparent slip of Cartier does not stand alone. 
 In 1818 John Ross was deceived by a fogbank, and not 
 only imagined he saw a mountain range closing Lan- 
 caster Sound, but named the range after an Under Sec- 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 145 
 
 retary of Admiralty. In 1778 the celebrated Captain 
 Cook sailed along the west coast of Vancouver Island, 
 and thought it was the main continent. In Cartier’s case, 
 however, there was no fog, for Anticosti was visible. 
 Could it have been that he intended to go no further 
 west that year? He could not have been deceived. He 
 was not prepared to winter in the country, and it might 
 well be that he had gone as far as he thought safe that 
 year. If, so, his judgment must be approved; only, it 
 would have been more satisfactory to his commentators 
 if he had said so. 
 
 Cartier coasted eastward along the south coast of Anti- 
 costi until he reached a point (South Point) where 
 the land began to turn to the east. Fifteen leagues fur- 
 ther was a point he called Cape St. Louis, because it was 
 the festival of that saint, when the land turned again 
 (Heath Point). He describes the country at that place 
 as level prairie and more clear of forest than the other 
 part of the coast. He estimated the latitude at 49 0 15' 
 (it is 49 0 05'), and he gives the longitude at 63° 30', 
 nearly 20° too far west. It is characteristic of the wild 
 longitude estimations, not only of Cartier, but of all the 
 old mariners, that he makes a difference of io° between 
 Chaleur Bay and the east point of Anticosti, whereas 
 the difference is only three degrees; but these figures 
 may have been filled into the blanks in Cartier’s manu- 
 script in France by another hand; for there are many 
 blanks for longitude still remaining, and, seeing that 
 these also are blank in both Hakluyt’s and Petit- Val’s 
 versions, that would be the most probable supposition. 
 Here also occurs one of the few instances in which these 
 translations assist to clear the meaning. The “ Relation 
 Originale ” says that the coast from Cape St. Louis to the 
 next turn in the coast, Cape Montmorency (Fox Point), 
 trends to the northeast, but northwest is given in the 
 versions, and that is really the only possible turn there 
 could be. 
 
 At sunrise on Saturday, August 1, having followed 
 round the channel north of Anticosti, they caught sight 
 
 10 
 
146 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of other land (the Quebec Labrador), lying to the north 
 and northeast, appearing to consist of highlands, with 
 mountains in rear of low wooded lands with rivers. 
 They continued coasting, examining both sides until 
 August 5, looking for a passage on the north side. The 
 distance between the two shores is given as about fifteen 
 leagues, and the latitude of the centre of the channel as 
 50° 20' N. It is really nearly 50°. They were able to 
 make only twenty-five leagues in all that time, for they 
 had to struggle against strong head-winds and opposing 
 currents, and just when they reached the narrowest 
 place, where the land was easily visible on both sides, 
 and began to widen out, they had to continue the explo- 
 ration in their boats, for the ships kept constantly falling 
 off their course before the heavy head-wind. They 
 started for a cape five leagues to the west, which pro- 
 jected furthest from the south shore, hoping to get a 
 view from thence, and they found it consisted of rocks, 
 and the soundings showed a rocky bottom. The spot 
 indicated is High Cliff Point, the only point on that coast 
 where the foot of the cliff has a talus of fragments of 
 rock. The tide carried them westward against the wind, 
 and one of the boats touched a rock, but they still rowed 
 westward for two hours, when the tide turned, and the 
 ebb was so strong that, with thirteen oars, they could not 
 advance more than a stone’s throw. Then they landed, 
 and sent ten or twelve men on to the cape ahead, where 
 the land began to trend to the southwest. Having seen 
 and satisfied themselves of that, they all returned to 
 the ships, which, though under sail, had dropped down 
 more than four leagues. They had made their farthest 
 west on this voyage, and had reached what is now 
 called the north point of Anticosti. The 1st of August 
 was the feast of St. Peter in chains, — the day they 
 saw land to the north, — so they named it the Strait of 
 St. Peter. 
 
 Cartier had now definitely ascertained that there was a 
 great sea opening to the westward, but he was not pre- 
 pared to undertake a discovery so extensive as the 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 147 
 
 appearances indicated; and, besides, although his skilful 
 seamanship had carried him round these unknown 
 coasts with only a loss of one anchor, he had expe- 
 rienced an unusual amount of bad weather. When he 
 got back to his ship he called together all the captains, 
 pilots, masters, and companions of the expedition to con- 
 sult upon the best course to take, for the engagement 
 made with them was for a voyage, and did not include a 
 residence over the winter, nor, in fact, was the expedi- 
 tion fitted out or provisioned for so long an absence. 
 They decided to return to France for the reasons that 
 the season of strong westerly winds was beginning; 
 that they could not make head against the strong tides ; 
 that they could not explore any further during that sea- 
 son; that the stormy season on the coast of Newfound- 
 land was approaching; that they were far from home 
 and exposed to unknown dangers. In short, it seemed 
 that they should either decide to winter where they were, 
 or return at once ; because if the north winds set in they 
 could not get away. In all that company not one knew 
 of the route south of Newfoundland, through Cabot 
 Strait. 
 
 Now that their ships were heading homewards the 
 wind was fair, and they had plenty of it. They coasted 
 along the north shore, and on the projecting point of 
 Natashquan they saw the smoke of the camp-fires of the 
 natives ; but the wind was on shore, and they could not 
 approach. , Seeing that the ships were passing on, about 
 twelve of the savages came out in their canoes and came 
 on board, without any more hesitation than if they had 
 been Frenchmen. They informed Cartier that they had 
 been on the coast in the Grand Bay, and were now on 
 their way, laden with fish, to their own country, whence 
 he had last come. The chief of the band was waiting 
 on the cape, and Cartier called it Cape Thiennot after 
 him. The ships were headed first for the coast of New- 
 foundland, which they reached at Cape Double (Cape 
 Riche), and from there they went to Blanc Sablon, which 
 they reached on August 9. On August 15 they started 
 
i4S THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 homewards through the Strait of Belle-Isle, and after 
 experiencing some very heavy weather they arrived at 
 St. Malo on September 5. The Gulf Coast of the 
 Dominion had been thoroughly explored. 
 
 NOTE A 
 
 BIRDS MENTIONED BY JACQUES CARTIER 
 
 Much conflict of opinion exists concerning the sea-birds of 
 Cartier’s first voyage; for the names he called them have dis- 
 appeared from the dictionaries, and one of the species — the most 
 remarkable in many respects — has become extinct. Cartier was 
 much impressed with the prodigious numbers of these birds, 
 and devoted, comparatively, a great deal of space to describing 
 them. 
 
 The first locality mentioned is Funk Island, the Isle des 
 Ouaiseaulx of Cartier. This is a flat island, forty-six feet high, 
 off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, thirty-three miles 
 north of Cape Freels, and the same distance east of Fogo Island. 
 He describes the number of birds as incredible, and, although 
 the island is a league in circumference, it was so full of birds 
 that they seemed as if they were stowed there as close as if in 
 ship’s hold; and, besides those on the island, there were a hun- 
 dred times as many more hovering in the air and swimming in 
 the water. They were of three kinds — “ apponatz,” “ godez,” 
 and “ margaulx.” 
 
 The apponatz were as large as geese, black and white in 
 colour, and with beaks like a crow. They could not fly, but 
 were always in the water; for their wings were very small, and 
 they used them only for swimming, as other birds use their 
 wings for flying. Two boats were filled with these birds in 
 less than half an hour. The sailors loaded them on as quickly 
 as if they were stones. They were wondrously fat, and four or 
 five hogsheads were salted down for food. 
 
 The bird so graphically described by Cartier was the great 
 auk, Alca impennis, now and for eighty years back as extinct 
 as the dodo; but then as abundant on the coasts of America 
 as the buffalo was on its prairies. “ These birds,” wrote Anthony 
 Parkhurst in 1578, “ are also called penguins, and cannot flie ; 
 there is more meate in one of these than in a goose : the 
 Frenchmen that fish neere the grande baie, doe bring small 
 store of flesh with them but victuall themselves always with 
 these birdes.” Richard Whitbourne, writing a few years later, 
 says: “ These penguins are as big as geese and fly not, for 
 
CARTIER’S FIRST VOYAGE 149 
 
 they have but a little short wing, and they multiply so infinitely 
 upon a certain flat island, that men drive them from thence upon 
 a board into their boats by hundreds at a time.” The work of 
 extermination was so thorough and ended so suddenly, that most 
 of the museums of natural history found themselves without 
 specimens. The last bird was shot in 1844, and is in the 
 museum at Copenhagen. Several expeditions have been made 
 to Funk Island to obtain skeletons ; notably one in 1887, when a 
 vessel belonging to the United States Government went there, 
 and Mr. Frederick A. Lucas made a collection for the Smith- 
 sonian Institution. These auks were harmless creatures, help- 
 less on land. Their legs were so short and placed so far behind 
 that they seemed to squat with their bodies upright. As late as 
 1796, Cartwright tells us, the sailors would lay a gangway from 
 the shore to the gunwales of the boats and drive those poor 
 creatures on board. The memory of the great auk still persists 
 on the coast in the repetition of such names as “the Penguin 
 Islands.” 
 
 Besides the apponatz (or apponath of Lescarbot), Cartier 
 continues, there are incredible numbers of a smaller bird he 
 calls godez. They pack themselves away among and under the 
 large birds. These not only swim in the water, but fly in the 
 air. They are now called guillemots — sometimes murres, and 
 are yet numerous on the coast. There are several species; the 
 one which Cartier saw was the “ common or foolish guillemot,” 
 a confiding sort of a creature that does not know enough to get 
 out of the way of a destructive animal like a white man. Still, 
 as it can fly, it has survived. Sailors call them guds to the 
 present day. 
 
 The birds Cartier calls margaulx are larger than geese, and 
 are white in colour. They do not associate with the other two 
 kinds, but live by themselves in a separate part of the island. 
 “ They bite like dogs,” he adds, “ when attacked.” 
 
 On the coast of Labrador, off Blanc Sablon, Cartier found 
 another Isle des Ouaiseaulx, in what is now called Greenly 
 Island. There he found innumerable godetz and birds he calls 
 richars. These last have red feet and beaks, and make their 
 nests in holes in the earth like rabbits. They were puffins; and 
 Greenly Island is still, from June to October, the resort of 
 myriads of puffins. Farther down, on the coast he explored in 
 his boats from Brest and called Toutes Isles, Cartier found, 
 among others, great quantities of eggs of ducks. He calls them 
 Cannes, and the French people of the lower St. _ Lawrence 
 brought the word over in early colony days, and use it yet. 
 
 The islets near the Magdalens known as the Bird Rocks were 
 called by Cartier Isles de Margaulx. These islands are still 
 white with birds, for their summits are almost inaccessible, and 
 the lighthouse keeper is the only human inhabitant. The 
 southern one is called the Great Bird; Audubon calls it the 
 
150 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Great Gannet Rock. With characteristic accuracy Cartier 
 records the fact that the gannets (margaulx) occupy the larger 
 island. The other island, he says, was full of godetz and 
 apponatz, and there again his men secured for food a large 
 number of birds. The auks being on the lowest ledges were the 
 chief victims; the godetz were higher up. 
 
 The birds of the Gulf are much the same now, save that there 
 are fewer of them, and the great auk is gone. The razor-billed 
 auk still frequents the coasts in immense numbers, and breeds 
 in company with the guillemots, as in Cartier’s time. This 
 species of the auk can fly well. It is sometimes called tinker, 
 and sometimes turre. The puffins are called sea parrots and Per- 
 roquet Island is named from them. The island is tunnelled with 
 their burrows. They bite viciously, as a confiding stranger 
 quickly discovers when he is persuaded to put his hand into 
 one of the holes. Some idea of the impression made upon Car- 
 tier may be gathered from Audubon’s description of his visit, 
 in 1833, to the Bird Rocks. There was no lighthouse for fifty 
 years after, and the birds had been practically undisturbed. He 
 was approaching the “ Great Gannet Rock.” “At length we 
 discovered at a distance a white speck which our pilot assured 
 us was the celebrated rock of our wishes. We thought it was 
 still covered with snow several feet deep. As we approached it 
 I imagined that the atmosphere around us was filled with flakes ; 
 but on my turning to the pilot, who smiled at my simplicity, I 
 was assured that nothing was in sight but the gannets and their 
 island home. I rubbed my eyes, took out my glass, and saw that 
 the strange dimness of the air before us was caused by the 
 innumerable birds, whose white bodies and black-tipped pinions 
 produced a blended tint of light grey. When we advanced to 
 half a mile the magnificent veil of floating gannets was easily 
 seen, now shooting upwards as if intent on reaching the sky, 
 then descending as if to join the feathered masses below, and 
 again diverging towards either side, and sweeping over the 
 surface of the ocean.” 
 
 Who will dispute with Audubon as to the species of these 
 birds ? Then, as if confirming Cartier’s account, he tells us : 
 “ The whole surface of the upper platform is closely covered 
 with nests, placed about two feet asunder and in such regular 
 order that a person may see between the lines which run north 
 and south, as if looking along the furrows of a deeply ploughed 
 field.” Cartier observed this at Funk Island, and he expressed 
 it by one word. It seemed as if they had been “ arimez ” — a 
 word used by sailors for stowing away cargo. 
 
 Cartier makes no reference to gulls, no doubt because they 
 were, and are, common birds upon the Atlantic Ocean and its 
 coasts in both hemispheres. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 Cartier's second voyage, 1535-36 
 
 r IJ ^HE view which opened up before Cartier’s eyes 
 pi when he stood upon the north point of Anti- 
 costi decided his action. It is the narrowest 
 part of the Mingan Channel. On both sides 
 the land receded, but upon the south more than the north. 
 The point itself is not high, but the turn in the trend of 
 the coast is very decided, and Cartier could see the inner 
 basin of the Gulf spreading out as far as his eye could 
 reach. Here, then, opened up at last the passage to the 
 South Sea, and on returning to his ships he straightway 
 called his captains and pilots together and they decided to 
 return home. The decision was wise. This voyage was 
 only a reconnaissance, and they were not fitted out to 
 remain over the season. Now the path was found, the 
 sooner he could get home the better, for he could the 
 quicker begin his preparations for a greater enterprise. 
 
 He lost very little time. He arrived at St. Malo on 
 September 5, and October 30 is the date of the new com- 
 mission from the Admiral of France for a second voy- 
 age “ to complete the navigation in the lands which he 
 had commenced to discover ” No one thought then, or 
 suspected, that French Basques, or any other Basques, 
 had sailed up into that bright basin whose waves rip- 
 pled before Cartier’s gaze under the clear blue August 
 sky. Philippe de Chabot, the Admiral of France, knew, 
 and the King of France knew, and so should we all know, 
 that the Breton sailor was the first European to enter 
 what they fondly believed to be the gateway of the sun- 
 set. To follow up the enterprise Cartier’s commission 
 empowered him to engage three ships, for the succeeding 
 season, and to victual them for fifteen months. 
 
 The merchants of St. Malo met the preparations of 
 
152 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Cartier for his second voyage with the same covert 
 opposition as they presented to the first. He had to 
 appear before the municipal assembly and to invoke the 
 authority of the admiral, and have his commission read 
 and recorded. Under it he had the first choice of the 
 vessels of the port, and until his had been manned and 
 equipped no vessels could sail to the fisheries of the 
 west. It was Chabot’s influence which carried Cartier 
 through ; for he was then one of the most powerful nobles 
 of the court. Enterprising and high-spirited, he had 
 been one of the best of the youthful comrades of the 
 monarch, and retained his favour for many years. Dur- 
 ing the preparations we find Cartier’s name in the rec- 
 ords of St. Malo, taking part in the deliberations of the 
 municipality. He was genial in his disposition and 
 sociable in his habits, but not a man to be moved from his 
 purpose by the opposition of a few interested traders. 
 
 The original narrative of this voyage, generally cited 
 as the “ Bref Recit,” exists in French. It was published 
 at Paris in 1545, and is one of the scarcest books in the 
 world, for only one copy has survived, and it is in the 
 British Museum. Three manuscript narratives, similar 
 in handwriting and differing very slightly from each 
 other, and from the printed version, have been found in 
 the Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris. Ramusio has a 
 version in his great collection, translated from the 
 French edition of 1545, and the version of Hakluyt has 
 evidently been translated from Ramusio. While we may 
 be assured from internal evidence that the version of 
 1545 was written by one who took part in the expedition, 
 we are, on the same evidence, convinced that it was not, 
 like the “ Relation Originate ” of the first voyage, written 
 by Cartier himself. The vocabulary is not that of a 
 sailor and the style is more correct and less like that of 
 a ship’s log. It is prefaced by a letter to the king 
 written in high-flown style, and full of far-fetched allu- 
 sions. Most certainly Cartier did not write that. It is 
 usually attributed to Belleforest. In the literature of 
 the sixteenth century we will find nothing to gratify our 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 153 
 
 curiosity concerning Cartier’s life, while the annals are 
 full of the doings of Madame de Chateaubriand, Madame 
 d’Etampes, Diane de Poitiers, and such like persons. 
 Cartier’s discovery had a very wide influence upon the 
 destiny of France, and for a period it was possible that 
 his voyage might secure to France the whole interior of 
 the continent from Quebec to New Orleans. But, as 
 D’Avezac mournfully remarks, the French have taken 
 very little interest in the distant discoveries of their sail- 
 ors, and, even now, in one of the most important his- 
 tories of France Cartier is mentioned in a few words as 
 Jean Cartier, and the same error is repeated in a learned 
 German work recently published on Norse discoveries 
 in America. 
 
 At last everything was ready, and on Whitsunday, 
 May 16, 1535, Cartier with his whole command received 
 the sacrament at the Cathedral of St. Malo, and were 
 afterwards all presented to the bishop in the choir and 
 received his blessing. The expedition consisted of three 
 ships, the Grande H ermine, of 120 tons, Thomas Fros- 
 mond, master, in which Cartier sailed; the Petite H er- 
 mine, of 60 tons, Mace Jalobert, captain, and V Emerillon, 
 of 40 tons, under Captain Guillaume le Breton. There 
 were a few gentlemen, volunteer companions, with Car- 
 tier on the Grande Hermine. The names of 74 of the 
 crew are preserved in the official records of the port, 
 and 10 more, not on that list, are mentioned in the nar- 
 rative. The two Indians whom Cartier took to France 
 on his return from his first voyage were taken back as 
 interpreters, and, together with a number whose names 
 are not recorded, the total amounted to 112 souls. Two 
 names on the official list have been the occasion of keen 
 controversy in Canada, — Dom Guillaume le Breton and 
 Dom Anthoine; some writers insisting that they were 
 priests, “ aumoniers,” attached to the expedition, and 
 others being equally certain that there were no clergy- 
 men present on either voyage. The matter is discussed 
 later, for a good deal may be said on both sides ; though 
 fortunately it is not important from a geographical 
 
154 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 point of view. It is important, however, to observe that 
 no basis exists for the statement that any portion of Car- 
 tier’s crew, on this voyage, consisted of “ impressed 
 criminals,” and therefore it is ungracious and uncharit- 
 able to characterise as “ a motley crew ” the party which 
 Cartier led to church on that memorable Whitsunday to 
 partake of the Holy Sacrament and receive the episcopal 
 benediction under all the safeguards which the Roman 
 Church has prescribed. 
 
 On Wednesday, May 19, 1535, the wind turned fair, 
 and the expedition sailed, but Cartier did not have the 
 good fortune of the previous year. He had five weeks 
 of the worst weather the North Atlantic could produce: 
 contrary wind, thick fog, and heavy storms, so that the 
 ships parted company and did not see each other until 
 they arrived at the rendezvous at Blanc Sablon. Cartier 
 arrived on July 15, but it was the 26th before the other 
 two ships joined him. At Blanc Sablon he refitted the 
 ships and took in wood and water, and he sailed west- 
 ward on July 29. They did not cross to Newfound- 
 land, as before, but followed along the Labrador coast, 
 which he describes as peaked and rocky and thickly 
 ranged with islands. At twenty leagues from Brest, 
 at sundown, he came to Great Meccatina Island, and 
 named the group the Isles de St. Guillaume. Cartier 
 was upon a very dangerous coast, and he struck sail 
 every night and lay to until daylight. There is nothing 
 remarkable upon it — it is uniformly rocky and danger- 
 ous. He noticed a roadstead full of islands (Watagheis- 
 tic Sound), and named the group Isles Ste. Marthe — 
 they are now called St. Mary Islands. Slowly feeling 
 his way along he notices what he called the Isles de St. 
 Germain. It is difficult to identify these among the mul- 
 titude of islands. The ragged coast is monotonous with 
 dangers, and the water is so deep that the lead gives no 
 warning. At last, on July 31, the coast changed its char- 
 acter. It became flat and sandy, and shoals took the 
 place of reefs — a wooded shore with no sign of har- 
 bours. He recognised Cape Thiennot of his former 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 155 
 
 voyage, now Natashquan Point. On some modern maps 
 there is a mountain there marked Mont Joli; but Cartier 
 saw no such mountain, and describes the coast as it is, 
 flat and sandy, and turning away to the northwest. He 
 had reached familiar waters, and was able again to sail 
 at night. 
 
 The wind turned contrary and Cartier took refuge in 
 a harbour he called Havre St. Nicholas. He gives the 
 distance from Cape Thiennot as seven leagues and a 
 half. Charlevoix says this is the only name of Cartier’s 
 which persists upon the coast, and, indeed, the name is 
 found in Sanson’s atlas of 1676, but in a manner which 
 gives no clew to its identification. Here Cartier lay from 
 August 1 to August 7, and he planted a cross as a beacon 
 on one of the four islands which he says form the har- 
 bour. It was probably Pashasheeboo Bay. 
 
 From Havre St. Nicholas Cartier sailed to cross over 
 to the Anticosti shore towards Cape Rabast, that is, to 
 the north point of the island, his extreme west point on 
 the previous voyage, where the land began to fall away 
 (■ rabattre ) or widen out; but the wind changed and 
 there were no harbours on that shore, so he turned back 
 to the Labrador coast. He entered “ a very fine and 
 large bay, full of islands, and with channels of entrance 
 and exit in all winds. It was marked by a large island 
 at its mouth ” (St. Genevieve Island). This bay is now 
 called Pillage Bay. Cartier named it Baye Sainct 
 Laurens , because he entered it on August 10, the feast of 
 St. Lawrence. Gradually and insensibly the name 
 spread until it finally extended over the whole St. Law- 
 rence Gulf and River. There cannot be any doubt about 
 the locality, for its physical features are described by 
 Cartier with his usual accuracy. “ I have seen,” writes 
 a missionary priest on the coast, “ the mountain shaped 
 like a stack of wheat, and I have seen the large island 
 like a headland which projects beyond the others.” 
 
 On August 12 Cartier resumed his westward course 
 and steered for a cape upon the land to the south (Anti- 
 costi), and now the two Indians began to recognize the 
 
156 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 coast familiar to them. They told Cartier that the land 
 on the south was an island, and south of it again was 
 Honguedo (Gaspe), from whence he had taken them 
 the previous year. Two days’ sail from there com- 
 menced the kingdom of Saguenay, beyond which was 
 Canada. These names occur here for the first time, and, 
 as Cartier could not have heard them, save from his 
 Indian companions, they must have been the names then 
 current in the speech of the nation to which Taignoagny 
 and Domagaya belonged. The words are Huron- 
 Iroquois, and settle the question as to the race then 
 occupying Canada. This has been the subject of so 
 much controversy that it has been reserved for separate 
 discussion. Doubtless much had been said by the cap- 
 tured Indians during their winter in France about their 
 native country, for the names come in without explana- 
 tion, as if well known. Cartier sailed across the estuary 
 of the river to the Gaspe shore, and his incidental remark 
 that the number of whales they saw during the traverse 
 passed all experience throws much light upon the con- 
 ditions of the Gulf at that time. He named the island 
 (Anticosti) L’ Assumption, for on that festival he passed 
 out of the Mingan Channel and saw the west point of 
 Anticosti. On that day and the next he followed along 
 the lofty Gaspe coast, remarking upon the high moun- 
 tains : for the whole peninsula of Gaspe is a high table- 
 land, and the Shickshock and Notre Dame mountains 
 rise from three thousand to four thousand feet above the 
 sea and come down bluff to the shore. 
 
 The two Indians were now thoroughly at home, and 
 they told Cartier that he was about to enter upon the 
 great river of Hochelaga, and that it was the highway to 
 Canada, and would grow narrower all the way to Canada, 
 evidently meaning Quebec, and that there he would find 
 the water fresh. They said that they had never heard 
 of any man who had been to the end of it, and that he 
 would have to use his boats — all of which was true, for 
 at Cape Rouge, nine miles above Quebec, is the narrow- 
 est point on the river, and thirty miles below Quebec the 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 157 
 
 water becomes fresh. This information was disappoint- 
 ing, for it appeared to close the avenue to the west, and 
 Cartier was in search of a passage to the great South 
 Sea, and seeing to the north, on the opposite side in the 
 distance, a range of high mountains in rear of the shore, 
 he turned back on his course and surveyed the coast east- 
 wards lest by any chance he might miss the through pas- 
 sage of which he was in search. 
 
 It was Wednesday, August 18, when he put about. 
 He had reached Point de Monts, for he observed the 
 great arc which sweeps from it round to the northeast. 
 At that point is, properly, the commencement of the 
 estuary of the river, and it narrows there to twenty-five 
 miles. The Indians said it was the beginning of Sague- 
 nay, where red copper was found. Cartier’s quick eye 
 could not miss the magnificent harbour of Seven Islands 
 Bay — the best on the whole coast. The islands are, as he 
 describes them, very high, and a few miles in rear of the 
 shore the tableland of Labrador rises from 1300 to 1700 
 feet. He named the place Isles Rondes, and there he left 
 his ships and explored in his boats every mile of the coast 
 he had omitted, back to the point where he crossed to the 
 south — stopping on his way to examine the river Moisic. 
 He had now seen the whole Labrador coast — not at a 
 distance, but close to, and, without one accident, he had 
 run in and out among islands and reefs and shoals in 
 places where only the most experienced skippers now 
 venture with the aid of the charts of modern surveys. 
 Those old sailors seemed to sail by instinct. At the 
 Moisic Cartier saw some strange fishes, shaped like 
 horses, and his Indians told him that they went on land 
 at night, but remained in the sea by day. He saw plenty 
 of them in the river, but none on land, nor has anyone 
 seen such fishes since. Lescarbot tries to explain them 
 in a chapter heading by calling them hippopotames. 
 Unless they were walruses, it is impossible to guess what 
 they were. Disappointed in his search, Cartier re- 
 turned to his ships in Seven Islands harbour. There 
 was clearly no passage on that shore. 
 
158 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Contrary winds and fog detained the ships until 
 August 24. The south shore of the Gulf had been ex- 
 amined on his first voyage, and the only course open was 
 to follow up the great river before him — a magnificent 
 avenue leading to the southwest. Who could guess 
 what possibilities it might reveal? On August 24, then, 
 Cartier set sail from Seven Islands, and on the 29th he 
 arrived at Bic. Nothing had escaped his notice by the 
 way. He observed the Outarde and Manicouagan 
 rivers. They seemed to him one large stream opening 
 out upon the low lands with high lands in rear, and he 
 observed the extensive Manicouagan shoal a long dis- 
 tance from shore. He took soundings at several points, 
 and records his opinion that it is a very dangerous local- 
 ity ; in which everyone will concur who has seen the line 
 of white foam curling along its outer reef. The river 
 widens out to nearly thirty miles, and he kept up a sharp 
 lookout on both sides. Bic and the adjacent roadstead 
 of Rimouski are the first secure roadsteads in the river; 
 and vessels passing inwards now take on pilots there. 
 As the 29th was the anniversary of the beheading of St. 
 John the Baptist, he called the islands the Islots de Saint 
 Jean. 
 
 “ On the first day of September,” writes Cartier, “ we 
 set sail from the said harbour for Canada.” Canada was 
 to him a town — the chief town of a territory. The name 
 is in the vocabulary at the end of his narrative. It is a 
 Huron-Iroquois word, and is a generic name for any 
 town or village. He soon arrived at three islands in the 
 middle of the river (Green Island, Red Island, and Basque 
 Island), and abreast of them on the north shore was 
 the mouth of a profoundly deep river between high 
 mountains of bare rock, and, notwithstanding the scarc- 
 ity of earth, they were clothed with forest. Many trees 
 large enough to make masts for a thirty-ton vessel 
 seemed to grow straight out of the rock. It struck Car- 
 tier as being very strange — these precipitous mountains 
 green with forest, yet without earth. His Indians told 
 him that this great river was the main avenue to the 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 159 
 
 kingdom of Saguenay. Four canoes of savages were 
 fishing there, and two of them approached, and at the 
 call of an Indian tongue the people came confidently on 
 board. Taignoagny and Domagaya were at last among 
 acquaintances. 
 
 On the following day Cartier pushed on “ for Canada,” 
 and here it should be noted that, for him, the whole 
 region was divided into three kingdoms — Saguenay, 
 where he then was ; Canada, which he was then entering ; 
 and Hochelaga, which he was to visit later. Kingdoms 
 they are called in the old books, and their chiefs were 
 kings ; but these kings we know to have been sachems, 
 and their kingdoms the tribal hunting grounds. At this 
 point occur some difficulties of navigation in the river. 
 In the present day, when the river has been surveyed and 
 charted minutely, and when the channel is lighted like 
 a city street, it is easy to pass up or down ; but Cartier’s 
 seamanship was here strained to the utmost, for the ebb 
 and flow of the tides are swift and eddies are formed by 
 the nature of the bottom and the character of the reefs 
 and islands. The galleon would have touched if they 
 had not got out the boats; for there were two islands 
 (the Pilgrims) on the south shore, with shoals all around 
 them strewed with great boulders. He tried to anchor 
 abreast of a high island on the north side (Hare Island) 
 to wait over the ebb tide, but he could not find an anchor- 
 age, and had to run back to the islands at the Saguenay. 
 
 At the mouth of the Saguenay Cartier was surprised 
 to find large numbers of white whales : “ a kind of fish,” 
 he says, “ which no man had ever before seen or heard 
 of.” They were “ as large as porpoises, and had no 
 sword,” like swordfishes. They were shaped like grey- 
 hounds as to the head and body, and they were as “ white 
 as snow, and without a spot.” The Indians called them 
 adhothuys, and told Cartier that they frequented only 
 places between fresh and salt water. These creatures 
 still exist in the same locality, but in largely reduced 
 numbers, and in Canada are now called white porpoises 
 (beluga). There can be no doubt as to what fish was 
 
160 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 meant, though the head is not pointed like a grey- 
 hound’s. 
 
 The following day (September 6) a fair wind arose, 
 and Cartier pushed on to the west as far as an island on 
 the north shore, which made, with the land, a good road- 
 stead. He called it Isle aux Coudres, because of the 
 wild hazel trees found there (Hakluyt translates the 
 word, filbert, loaded with nuts) ; but he was chiefly 
 struck with the rush of the flowing and ebbing tides, re- 
 minding him of the Garonne at Bordeaux. The next 
 day, Cartier says, was the 7th, and the day of the 
 Nativity of Our Lady, and before they started they heard 
 mass. His voyages have been very thoroughly dis- 
 cussed in Canada, and it has been supposed that Cartier 
 was wrong, for the festival is on the 8th. Hakluyt, 
 following Ramusio, says it was the eve of Our Lady’s 
 Day, but Lescarbot and all the MSS. concur with the 
 “ Bref Recit ” of 1545. It is not likely that the vigils of 
 the Church were observed on an expedition like this, but 
 as the question is not geographical it does not require dis- 
 cussion here. On that day he arrived at the Traverse at 
 the lower point of the Isle of Orleans. The fourteen 
 islands he reports are the islands now known as Crane 
 Island, Goose Island, Grosse Island, and others smaller. 
 Here, the Indians said, was the division between the 
 territories of Saguenay and Canada. The ships were 
 anchored in the channel between the Island of Orleans 
 and the north shore, and Cartier landed, taking his two 
 Indian passengers as interpreters. 
 
 It will be remembered that Taignoagny and Dom- 
 agaya were taken by Cartier on his first voyage, when he 
 knew nothing of Canada or the great river, and they 
 were taken from the Gaspe coast. Nevertheless this 
 locality (the present Quebec) was their real home, and 
 there were their friends and relatives. There were people 
 fishing on the island, who began to run away until the 
 two Indians called after them and told them their names, 
 and that they had come back. Whereupon they 
 crowded around and there was much dancing and rejoic- 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 161 
 
 ing, and the people came from all sides as the news 
 spread, — men, women and children, — and food was 
 brought and presents made. The event was as startling 
 and sensational as would be, in our day, the return of two 
 missing friends telling us that they had come from the 
 moon. We may, therefore, conclude with safety that 
 the Huron-Iroquois race were spread far more widely 
 to the east than when Champlain arrived sixty years 
 later. 
 
 The following day “ the lord of Canada ” came down 
 the river with twelve canoes and many people. His 
 name was Donnacona, and his title was Agouhanna, 
 which we shall translate by the more appropriate word 
 chief. The consequent ceremonies became familiar in 
 after years, but they were new to Cartier. The long 
 harangues, with “ surprising movements of body and 
 limbs ” and the dancing astonished him. Then Donna- 
 cona came on board the captain’s ship, and Taignoagny 
 and Domagaya told him of the wonders they had seen in 
 France and of the kind treatment they had received; at 
 which the chief’s welcome became more demonstrative. 
 The interview closed by Cartier getting into Donnacona’s 
 canoe and ordering bread and wine to be brought for 
 him and his party, which pleased them all. As soon as 
 the Indians left Cartier got out his boats and started up 
 the river to find a secure harbour. He followed the 
 north channel, and at the end of the island he came upon 
 a very beautiful and pleasant bay (the basin of Quebec 
 harbour), and they found a small river falling into it, 
 with a bar with two or three fathoms upon it at high 
 water. This Cartier settled upon as a suitable place in 
 which to lay up his vessels in safety. He did not move 
 them there until Holy Cross Day, September 14, and for 
 that reason he named the place Sainte Croix. The little 
 river is now called the Saint Charles. 
 
 In September the environs of Quebec are at the height 
 of that beauty which is equalled by very few of the most 
 favoured localities in the world. The great river con- 
 tracts to the narrowest point in its whole course. The 
 1 1 
 
1 62 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Island of Orleans divides the channel below, and, above, 
 the river sweeps round in a curve from the southwest. 
 In front of the city is a deep basin, forming a harbour, 
 where the largest ships afloat may swing at anchor with 
 the flowing or ebbing tide. The blue hills close the 
 horizon with the rounded outlines characteristic of the 
 Laurentides, and curve round in a vast amphitheatre 
 clothed with forest and sloping down to the border of 
 level land on the margin. Just as the river begins to 
 expand the northern bank rises to the lofty prom- 
 ontory of Cape Diamond, and at that point the little 
 river St. Charles falls in at an acute angle. A populous 
 suburb of the city has extended across and obscured its 
 beauty, but the memory of the older men of the present 
 generation vividly reproduces the lovely stream winding 
 in long curves through the meadow lands interspersed 
 with groves of elms and maples. Few who have seen 
 Quebec can ever forget its charm, and Cartier’s narra- 
 tive rises out of its log-book style as he tells of the rich 
 and fruitful land, the beautiful trees, as fine as any in 
 France, the oaks, the elms, the ash trees, the chestnuts, 
 the cedars, the hawthorns. The Island of Orleans par- 
 ticularly excited his admiration for its beauty and fertil- 
 ity, and, from the quantity of vines upon it, he named it 
 the Isle of Bacchus. Donnacona and his people assidu- 
 ously assisted at his exploration of the vicinity, but it is 
 evident that if the old chief had not possessed so 
 remarkable a gift of orator}' Cartier would have been 
 better pleased. These preachments (preschements ) , al- 
 though enlivened by dancing and gesticulation, must 
 have been tedious in the Huron language, or in any 
 other; but all who in future years came in contact with 
 the Huron-Iroquios race had to learn to endure them 
 without wincing. 
 
 The place which Cartier had selected for his winter 
 settlement was a point less than two miles up the St. 
 Croix (St. Charles) River, where a small stream, now 
 called the Lairet, falls in. At the point of junction he 
 ordered a fort to be built, and the Quebec people have 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 163 
 
 marked the site by a monument, inaugurated at a national 
 fete with orations which would have delighted the old 
 Huron chief could he have heard them. The Indian 
 town of Stadacona was situated on the opposite side of 
 the valley of the St. Charles, on the Coteau Ste. Gene- 
 vieve, sloping down to the bank of the little river on the 
 reverse side of Cape Diamond ; for these Huron- 
 Iroquois were sedentary tribes, with fixed habitations, 
 and cultivated, to some extent and in a rude manner, the 
 adjacent land. 
 
 The two larger vessels were warped into their winter 
 dock in the St. Charles River on the 14th, and 
 Cartier had marks (balises) placed in the stream to in- 
 dicate the channel ; but his mind was set upon going 
 further up the river to the chief city of the next kingdom 
 westwards, for he had heard from his Indian inter- 
 preters of its importance. He, therefore, left the Eme- 
 rillon out in the stream, and called upon Taignoagny and 
 Domagaya to fulfil their promise and go with him to 
 Hochelaga. At first they assented, but a sudden change 
 came over them and they showed by their conduct dis- 
 trust and ill-will towards the French. They would no 
 longer enter the ships at the captain’s invitation, and 
 would stay apart with a band of their people on a neigh- 
 bouring point of land. Taignoagny, who in fickleness 
 was a typical Huron, came forward and told Cartier that 
 Donnacona was grieved because the French always wore 
 their arms while the Indians went unarmed. Cartier 
 replied that the French always wore their arms when at 
 home, as he and Domagaya well knew. Taignoagny 
 turned out to be a treacherous rascal. He could not be 
 blamed for taking part with his own people and putting 
 them up to the slight value of the presents the strangers 
 were scattering around, but later on Cartier learned 
 that he was stirring up mischief, and that the proposal 
 for the French to lay aside their arms originated with 
 him. 
 
 That cloud passed away and the Indians crowded 
 around the ships again; but the two interpreters told 
 
1 64 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Cartier that they would not go to Hochelaga, and that 
 Donnacona was sorry that Cartier wanted to go, and that 
 he had forbidden all his people to take part in the pro- 
 posed expedition. Every possible effort was put forth 
 to dissuade Cartier from his purpose, and the ill-will and 
 malice of Taignoagny was evident through it all. As a 
 last resource the Indians concocted a piece of theatrical 
 deviltry. The Indians assembled in large numbers in 
 the woods near the ships and, suddenly at the set time, a 
 canoe came swiftly down the river containing three men 
 dressed in dogskins with faces blackened and with long 
 horns. They passed the French without turning their 
 heads and went on towards the shore. The middle 
 devil made a speech, and, as soon as the canoe touched 
 land, all three fell down, as if dead. The Indians carried 
 them all into the woods and made the whole place re- 
 sound with their howlings. At last Taignoagny and 
 Domagaya came out with gestures of consternation, and 
 with many exclamations told Cartier that their god 
 Cudragny had sent them word from Hochelaga that 
 there was so much ice and snow that it would be death 
 for anyone to go there. Much palavering followed, with 
 yells and dancing, as the Indians swarmed out of the 
 woods on hearing Cartier’s contemptuous reply to this 
 jugglery, and then the interpreters told him that Donna- 
 cona would not consent to let them go unless they left 
 hostages to stay with him until the expedition returned. 
 
 Unmoved by the representations and jugglery of the 
 Indians and by the defection of his promised guides, 
 Cartier started, at the turn of the tide, on the following 
 morning (September 19), with the Emerillon and two 
 boats. It was a bold undertaking in view of the opposi- 
 tion of the Indians and the evident malice of Taig- 
 noagny. He took with him fifty sailors and all the 
 gentlemen companions on the expedition. He soon 
 passed the narrowest point, and the great river spread out 
 to a width of from two to three miles. Its course is 
 approximately directly from the southwest, and it flows 
 through the alluvial plain with few windings, looking 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 165 
 
 more like an arm of the sea than a river. On both sides 
 the rich plain spreads out level to the far distance. The 
 voyagers were delighted. Better land, reports Cartier, 
 could not be found anywhere. The beauty of the trees 
 pleased him, and the profusion with which the native 
 vines grew surprised him. They almost seemed, as he 
 thought, to have been planted. The grapes were not so 
 large and sweet as in France, but that he ascribes to 
 want of pruning and cultivation. He found huts along 
 the banks, for many of the people were fishing, and they 
 came out without fear to greet the strangers and to 
 bring them fish. At a distance of twenty-five leagues 
 from “ Canada ” (Stadacona) he came to a place called 
 Ochelay (variously spelled in the MSS. and versions, 
 Achelay, Hochelay, Achelacy), where the currents are 
 very swift and dangerous and the channel is obstructed 
 with large stones. The place is called the Riche- 
 lieu (from an island there so named by Champlain, who 
 built a fort upon it), and ocean steamships time their de- 
 parture from Montreal or Quebec so as to pass it at high 
 tide. It appears on all the old maps, and there was a vil- 
 lage near, probably at what is now called Point Platon, a 
 conspicuous point at a bend of the river. The chief of 
 the place came on board the vessel with demonstrations 
 of welcome. He presented Cartier with two of his 
 children, but the captain would accept only one, a little 
 girl of seven or eight years. This little girl survived all 
 the other Indians whom Cartier carried to France the 
 following spring. The distance as given, 25 leagues, 
 is far too great. It is really only 35 statute miles. 
 The total distance from Quebec to Montreal is really 
 160 statute miles, but Lescarbot puts it down as 200 
 leagues. The name Richelieu, given later to this place 
 by Champlain, has led to much misconception among 
 writers who do not know the locality, and even an 
 accurate scholar like D’Avezac takes the name of the 
 chief to be Ochelay, and supposes a river to exist there, 
 which he calls the Richelieu. The River Richelieu is 
 seventy-five miles further up, and is at the western end 
 
1 66 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of Lake St. Peter. It is very surprising also that Char- 
 levoix, Lescarbot and Pere Le Tac should suppose that 
 Cartier wintered at this very dangerous point; in fact, 
 more misconceptions have gathered round this locality 
 than round any other spot on the river. 
 
 On the 28th they arrived at the expanse now called 
 Lake St. Peter. It is not recorded that Cartier 
 named it, but on the maps made in his time it is put 
 down as Lac d’Angoulesme, after the title of Francis 
 before his accession. At the western end of the lake he 
 found no inlet, and the water which had been two 
 fathoms all over the lake fell to one fathom and a half ; 
 so he anchored the Emerillon and searched for the chan- 
 nel in his boats. Three important rivers fall in close 
 together from the south, the Richelieu, the Yamaska, and 
 the St. Francis, and from the north another, the Mask- 
 inonge, and at their junction with the St. Lawrence they 
 form an archipelago of low islands, in which it is very 
 easy to miss the channel. Cartier observed by the banks 
 that it was the season of lowest water, and that there 
 had been three fathoms more upon the bars at high 
 water. He decided to leave the Emerillon there and 
 make the rest of his journey in his two boats. There 
 he met five Indians, who came on board without the 
 least hesitation, and when the boats touched the bank 
 one of the Indians lifted Cartier in his arms and carried 
 him to shore as easily as if he had been a child. From 
 them he learned, by signs, that he was still on the right 
 way to Hochelaga. 
 
 It was the 2d of October when the boats arrived at 
 Hochelaga. More than a thousand people came down to 
 the bank, manifesting their welcome by dancing — men, 
 women, and children in separate bands, and they loaded 
 the boats with fish and bread made into cakes from their 
 corn. Cartier made them presents as they clustered 
 round him when he landed. They brought their 
 children in arms to touch the strangers. No wel- 
 come could be warmer, and when evening came and the 
 Frenchmen went to their boats for supper and sleep 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 167 
 
 the Indians made fires and danced all night on the shore 
 adjacent. Early the following morning Cartier and his 
 people put on their best accoutrements and prepared to 
 visit the town. He had with him his gentlemen com- 
 panions and twenty-eight sailors. The boats were left 
 in charge of eight men at a place now called Hochelaga, 
 below the current St. Mary. It is the eastern suburb of 
 the present city of Montreal, and the river runs there 
 with a current of eight miles an hour. The Indian 
 town was about two leagues away, and, from the descrip- 
 tion in the narrative, was upon the first rise or terrace on 
 which the present city stands, somewhere near the site 
 of the present Windsor Hotel, or of St. James Cathedral 
 on Dorchester Street. Cartier took three Indians as 
 guides, and, well armed and in regular order, marched 
 up along a thoroughly well beaten road to the town. 
 After a league and a half they came to a large fire, 
 where a chief, surrounded by many attendants, made 
 signs that they were to rest. The bonfire of welcome 
 still persists among the remains of the Iroquois tribes 
 on the Grand River in Ontario. Then followed the 
 usual preachment and giving of presents. A half a 
 league further the cultivated fields of Indian corn com- 
 menced, and in the midst was Hochelaga, near to the 
 mountain. 
 
 Ramusio has handed down to us a plan of this town, 
 upon what authority based is not known. The following 
 illustration fairly represents the written description of 
 the narrative, and will give an approximate idea of the 
 construction of the towns of the Huron-Iroquois race. 
 It was circular in outline, and surrounded by a stockade 
 of three rows of upright timbers. The centre row was 
 perpendicular, and the inner and outer rows leaned to- 
 wards each other inward and touched, so that, in section, 
 the rampart was pyramidal. The wall was about the 
 height of two lances, and on the outside the framework 
 was tied together and made solid by timbers, laid length- 
 wise all around. Inside, at a convenient height, a plat- 
 form ran round the rampart with a store of stones ready 
 
1 68 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 to repel assailants. One door only pierced the rampart, 
 and inside there were about fifty houses surrounding a 
 public square where the inhabitants could make fires. 
 The houses were about fifty paces long by twelve or 
 fifteen wide. They were covered with bark and above 
 they had storerooms for food. The people of each house 
 ate in common, cooking their food by the same fire 
 made upon a spot of earth left in the centre of every 
 house, and each family had its own room. 
 
 Cartier then goes on to describe their method of mak- 
 ing bread. Maize he saw for the first time, and he called 
 up his Brazilian experience to describe it. “ It is as 
 large or larger than peas, and like the millet of Brazil/’ 
 He describes the wampum which answered for money, 
 and gives a far-fetched account of how it is obtained. 
 We must not, however, suppose, with Hakluyt, that the 
 melons he saw were muskmelons, and wander with 
 others into far-fetched theories of unknown Europeans 
 having brought the seed at unknown times. They were 
 the pumpkins and squashes indigenous to America and 
 cultivated everywhere by the Indians. They are called by 
 later writers citrouilles du pays , or citrouilles Iroquoises. 
 
 Cartier and his companions entered the town and met 
 with the warmest possible welcome. Men, women, and 
 children crowded around seeking only to touch them, 
 and bringing their babies to have them touched by the 
 strangers, whom they took for superhuman beings. 
 Then mats were laid, and when he and his company were 
 seated they brought their sick and lame and blind to be 
 healed; and among them their great chief or agou- 
 hanna, and signed to Cartier to stroke his palsied limbs. 
 At this part of the narrative we should expect the priest 
 to come forward, if there was one in the party. Evi- 
 dently there was none, for Cartier, touched with pity for 
 the groundless confidence of these poor people, repeated 
 the “ In principio ” — the first part of the first chapter of 
 St. John’s Gospel — and signed them with the sign of the 
 cross, praying that God might give them knowledge of 
 the faith and grace to receive Christianity and baptism. 
 
Plan of Hochelaga. 
 
 (From Ramusio’s Voyage de Jacques Cartier .) 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 169 
 
 Then he took his “ Book of Hours,” or Prayer Book, and 
 slowly read the story of Our Lord’s Passion, word by 
 word, pointing to heaven and making other gestures of 
 devotion, the Indians all the while listening with great 
 attention. When we compare the conduct of this brave 
 and simple sailor with that of the reckless swash- 
 bucklers who in the southern parts of America for the 
 most part abused the confidence of the natives, we can- 
 not but feel touched with the childlike faith of the Bre- 
 ton captain, who relates it so simply, and impressed with 
 the true instinct which suggested his selection for read- 
 ing. It was a happy augury for the fair city of future 
 years that the opening words of St. John’s Gospel and 
 the recital of the Passion of Our Lord inaugurated its 
 appearance on the field of history. Might it perchance 
 be that some charm lingered on the leafy slopes of 
 Mount Royal and spread up the diverging streams of 
 the great valley? — for in all that land persecution has 
 never reared its hateful head, and there are no arrears of 
 religious violence and bloodshed in its history to be 
 atoned for. 
 
 Cartier and his people ascended the mountain, and his 
 narrative witnesses to the deep impression the view from 
 its summit made upon his mind. Looking in the direc- 
 tion of all his efforts — the mysterious west — he saw the 
 Ottawa River opened out into the Lake of the Two 
 Mountains — to the southwest was the main flood of the 
 St. Lawrence broadened in its far distance into Lake St. 
 Louis. Nearer, and of a still evening within hearing, 
 were the rapids where the great river rushes down forty- 
 five feet in seven miles. On his right, on the north, was 
 the Laurentian range in the dim distance fringing the 
 fertile valley, and on the south were the Adirondack 
 Mountains of New York and the Green Mountains of 
 Vermont, looking far nearer in the clear October air 
 than they really were. Three detached hills sprang up 
 through the forest-clad plain on the south. All these 
 Cartier noted, and on turning he saw the Indian town 
 just below, and his boats five miles away lying at the foot 
 
170 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of the current. He again grew enthusiastic over the 
 beautiful level valley, and he called the place Mont 
 Royal. It still bears that name, and has communicated 
 it to the busy city of Montreal, which lies below, and is 
 fast encircling it. 
 
 Cartier’s guides tried to understand and answer his 
 questions, but with little success. He gathered from 
 them that the river he saw flowing from the west sur- 
 rounded the Saguenay country, and that from the same 
 country came metal like some red copper he showed 
 them. From the narrative it is clear that the Saguenay 
 of the Hochelagans was the far west of the upper lakes. 
 At last the day of novel incidents drew to a close, and 
 the Frenchmen turned back towards their boats. Such 
 of them as seemed tired the Indians took up and carried 
 on their backs. The Indians parted with their strange 
 guests with sorrow, and followed the boats along the 
 river bank until night closed in. The day was Sunday. 
 Many churches now adorn the city, and near where Car- 
 tier stood when he read to the wondering Indians of the 
 Passion of Our Lord stands a stately cathedral, but that 
 first day in Montreal with its service of intercession and 
 the simple appealing prayer of the devout sailor captain 
 still touches the religious imagination through the mists 
 of three hundred and fifty years. 
 
 It did not take long to reach the Emerillon at the head 
 of Lake St. Peter. They stopped at the present Three 
 Rivers on the way down and searched the lower reach of 
 the St. Maurice. Cartier called it the Riviere dn Fouez, 
 a name which has puzzled many; but Cartier was not 
 strong in orthography, and, to borrow the words of Les- 
 carbot, “ I think he meant Foix.” On Monday, 
 October n, he arrived at the “Province of Canada” 
 and the “ Harbour of St. Croix.” He found that his 
 crew had worked faithfully during his absence and had 
 constructed a fort with heavy timber close to the ships, 
 and mounted cannon and made the place defensible 
 against any force the natives could bring against it. 
 
 The extreme western point of exploration for sixty 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 171 
 
 years to come had now been reached, and it is un- 
 necessary to dwell at length upon the relations between 
 Cartier’s people and the Indians of Stadacona. They 
 were glad to welcome him back, and he went in formal 
 state to visit Donnacona and the town. He found the 
 houses well stocked with food for the winter, and the 
 chief showed him five scalps stretched on wood. They 
 had been taken from a hostile tribe called Toudamans, 
 dwelling to the south, with whom his people were con- 
 stantly at war. These we shall meet with in Champlain’s 
 time as Mohawks. Cartier again betrays the extent of 
 his voyaging by remarking that the Indians lived in a 
 community of goods “ as is the custom in Brazil.” He 
 saw tobacco for the first time, and his description of the 
 way the men filled themselves up with smoke until it 
 poured out of their mouths and nostrils as out of a 
 chimney stack is very quaint. The town was a league 
 distant from the ships, and the natives came down, at 
 first, in crowds to visit them, but Taignoagny and 
 Domagaya sowed distrust between them and the French, 
 so that the chief of Hagonchenda, a neighbouring town, 
 as well as some of the people of Canada (Stadacona) 
 warned Cartier to be on his guard. Nor is it necessary 
 to repeat his favourable descriptions of the country, the 
 birds, the beasts, the fishes, and the trees. Vague ac- 
 counts reached him of the Saguenay, by which name he 
 indicates a region west of Hochelaga, for he thought the 
 Ottawa beyond Montreal joined the Saguenay. He 
 heard also of two or three great lakes, evidently the ex- 
 pansions of the St. Lawrence, west of Montreal, and of a 
 great lake of fresh water, of which no one had seen the 
 end. The Indians had not been there, but had heard of 
 it from the people of Saguenay. He heard also of a 
 river (the Richelieu) leading to the southwest, where, 
 after a month’s travel, one would reach a region where 
 there is no ice or snow, and oranges, apples, nuts, and 
 almonds and other fruits grow in abundance. The peo- 
 ple there are constantly at war. Cartier thought by their 
 signs and marks that this country was near Florida. 
 
172 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Thus early was the wonderful river system of Canada 
 indicated by the rough diagrams of the natives. 
 
 Cartier strengthened his fort as the distrust grew 
 deeper, and prepared for the coming winter as well as 
 one might who had never known what a winter in 
 Canada could be. Still, in all his trouble, he does not 
 complain of the cold, unusual as he found it to be; nor 
 did any of his people suffer from frost. As December 
 came in he discovered that the Indians were suffering 
 from some disease, and he stopped communication for 
 fear of contagion; but in vain. It was scurvy, — land 
 scurvy, — and the same conditions and the same food 
 brought it among the Frenchmen. Day by day they 
 grew weaker and weaker, and the disease, with all its 
 loathsome symptoms, attacked man after man, until 
 there were barely ten men of the whole crew in good 
 health. It speaks well for Cartier and his men that no 
 sign of insubordination showed itself. This was no 
 “ motley crew,” as injuriously represented by a learned 
 writer in a moment of negligence, and they had not, in a 
 body, partaken of the sacrament at the cathedral of St. 
 Malo unworthily. Patiently they bore the infliction of 
 an unknown and dreadful malady in all obedience and 
 without a murmur; but as they tried to bury their dead 
 comrades and had to leave the bodies in the deep snow 
 because they had not strength to dig the frozen ground, 
 they lost all hope of seeing France again. The surround- 
 ings were strange and threatened new and mysterious 
 dangers. Shut up in the heart of an unknown continent, 
 wasted by an unknown disease, the ships fast in ice- 
 bound waters, the ground covered with snow, such as 
 they had never seen before in depth, surrounded by 
 strange tribes whose good will they had reason to mis- 
 trust, it is no wonder their hearts sank and increasing 
 discouragement increased their predisposition to disease. 
 In this very darkness and shadow of death they fell back 
 for help and comfort upon the teachings of their Church. 
 About a bowshot from the ships they erected a statue 
 of the Virgin Mary, and Cartier ordered mass to be said 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 173 
 
 there on the following Sunday. On that day all who 
 could walk went in procession, singing the Seven Pen- 
 itential Psalms and the Litany, and mass was celebrated 
 and prayer offered for the intercession of Our Lady in 
 their behalf. They were, in truth, in sore distress. That 
 same day Philippe Rougemont died, a youth of twenty-two 
 years, and an autopsy was held to see if, perchance, the 
 cause of the malady might be found. The appearances 
 now so well known gave no clew to the origin of the 
 disease, and it raged unchecked until only three sound 
 men remained in the whole crew. Cartier himself kept 
 well, and used every means to conceal from the Indians 
 the weakness of his party. They were kept away and led 
 to suppose work was being done in the fort and ships. 
 His ingenuity and resource as captain were exercised to 
 the utmost, and with success, for the Indians did not dis- 
 cover the helplessness of the strangers. 
 
 At last the tide turned. Donnacona, Taignoagny, and 
 many of their people were away on their winter’s hunt, 
 but Domagaya had remained, and Cartier met him well 
 and strong, although he had seen him, only ten days be- 
 fore, grievously afflicted by disease. In answer to his 
 inquiries Domagaya told him of the healing virtues of a 
 tree called ameda. On Cartier’s explaining that one of 
 his servants was sick, Domagaya got two women to 
 bring branches and show how to make an extract for 
 drinking from the leaves and bark, and how to apply 
 the residue to the inflamed limbs. One or two at first 
 doubtfully drank of the extract, but its beneficial power 
 was immediately felt, and so eager were the others for 
 the remedy that they quickly used up a tree as large as an 
 oak in preparing it. The effect was miraculous, for in 
 six days all the crew were sound and well. They would 
 never have seen France again, writes Cartier, “ unless 
 God in His infinite goodness and mercy had not looked 
 upon them in pity and given them knowledge of a remedy 
 against all diseases, the most excellent that was ever 
 seen or known in all the earth.” Twenty-five persons, 
 among the best and most companionable of the crew, 
 
174 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 died of the disease. Cartier, with his usual good judg- 
 ment, limits the miracle to the apparent accident of the 
 way he obtained knowledge of the remedy by his meet- 
 ing with Domagaya; but some late writers go further, 
 and, forgetting that the pagan Indians partook of the 
 benefit to an equal extent as the Frenchmen, imagine that 
 the virtues of the tree were specially conferred and did 
 not avail on subsequent occasions. The tree has been the 
 subject of much discussion. It is now known as balsam 
 fir, Abies balsamea, and will be found among medicinal 
 trees in the United States pharmacopoeia. 
 
 From the middle of November, 1535, to April 15, 
 1536, the ships were shut in. The ice was two fathoms 
 thick, so Cartier reports, and doubtless it seemed very 
 thick to his unaccustomed eye ; but the snow was only 
 four feet deep, so probably the measurements should be 
 interchanged, and then largely abated. Naturally all 
 the drinkable liquids were frozen, and the ice was four 
 inches thick on the sides of the vessel. What is re- 
 markable is the courage and continued subordination of 
 the men. We need not dwell upon the other incidents of 
 the winter. Monotonous and weary as it was, spring 
 came at last, and the vessels were got out into the main 
 river, but there were not men enough left to navigate all 
 three, and La Petite H ermine was abandoned and the hull 
 given to some Indians of a neighbouring village for the 
 sake of the iron, so precious to savages. Donnacona 
 had returned from his hunt, but a very large number 
 of Indians had come with him — a gathering quite 
 unaccountable, Cartier thought, unless in contemplation 
 of mischief, though it might well have resulted from a 
 natural curiosity to see the strangers. Taignoagny 
 was back and scheming in his characteristic manner. 
 The huts in Stadacona were full of men, and Donnacona 
 feigned illness, so as to avoid seeing Cartier’s messengers 
 or allowing them to enter the house. Taignoagny was 
 a characteristic type of Huron, and tried to engage 
 Cartier to carry off one of the chiefs who apparently 
 stood in his way. But Cartier was meditating a plan 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 175 
 
 to carry off Donnacona, Taignoagny, and five or six of 
 the chief men besides. 
 
 Donnacona was a man past middle age u who had seen a 
 great deal of the country, and he was addicted to telling 
 very astonishing tales of things seen on his extensive ex- 
 cursions in the west, in the fabulous Saguenay region. 
 Infinite gold and silver might be found there, with rubies 
 and other riches. Another country he had visited where 
 the natives never ate, and had no occasion to digest, and 
 still another where the people have only one leg. Such 
 facts as these related to the King of France by a poten- 
 tate as important and as widely travelled as the “ lord of 
 Canada ” would carry conviction and lead to future voy- 
 ages. Donnacona was a victim to his own imagination, 
 for Cartier felt that he needed him in France. 
 
 On May 3 the ships were ready to sail, and by a sud- 
 den manoeuvre Cartier seized Donnacona and the other 
 men he wanted. The Indians howled and lamented all 
 night, and next day Donnacona was set up to speak to 
 them, and told them that Cartier had promised to treat 
 him well, and would certainly bring him back the follow- 
 ing year, and that the King would give him great pres- 
 ents. This partly reconciled the people, and Cartier 
 allowed the leading men to come on board and talk to 
 their chief, and the same communication was permitted 
 until the ships finally got away. It was not a proceeding 
 to be proud of, for it savoured strongly of the very 
 treachery they had suspected in the Indians. Compared, 
 however, with the conduct of other nations toward these 
 wild people, that of the French was very humane. They 
 did not take these poor Indians as slaves ; but with the 
 intention of treating them kindly, teaching them the 
 Christian religion, and bringing them back to their 
 homes. This aspect of Christianity does not accord with 
 present notions of righteousness, but Cartier must be 
 judged by the practice and belief current in his time. Of 
 all the European nations who came in contact with the 
 Indians the French have ever been the most kind and 
 considerate. 
 
176 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 The ships got away on May 6, but had to wait at Isle 
 aux Coudres for a fair wind until the 16th, and Donna- 
 cona’s people visited him and brought presents to the last 
 moment. Among them was a great knife of red copper, 
 which came from the Saguenay region, showing that 
 there was communication among the eastern tribes and 
 those on Lake Superior, where native copper was found 
 and worked. Cartier returned to France by the channel 
 between Gaspe and Anticosti, which, he says expressly, 
 had not before been discovered. The wind being fair, 
 he sailed day and night, and the following day he made 
 Brion Island. This was the point he sailed for, and that 
 he should have struck it at the centre shows how care- 
 fully he had recorded his previous courses. The “ Bref 
 Recit ” must be corrected by the three manuscripts and 
 Lescarbot, for Cartier’s intention, as clearly expressed 
 in the same sentence, was to shorten the passage home by 
 that route. He gives the latitude of Brion Island as 47 0 
 30'. It is really 47 0 48'. 
 
 From Brion Island he sailed to Magdalen Island. On 
 his first voyage he had struck it at the North Cape and 
 coasted along its western shore. Now he touched at 
 East Cape and followed down the eastern coast. He 
 had not given it any name on his first voyage, but now he 
 called the island Les Araynes , — the sands, — and so we 
 shall find it in various languages on succeeding maps, 
 under some orthographic modification of sablon or 
 arene. The wind changed, and Cartier could not make 
 any outward progress, so he went back to Brion Island. 
 
 There follows now the most obscure passage in the 
 narrative. In several places the “ Bref Recit ” is clearly 
 wrong and must be corrected by the three manuscripts. 
 On June 1 Cartier set sail again on a southeast course 
 from Brion Island, and he went to examine a high 
 land which appeared to be an island. He ranged along 
 the coast of that land for 22J leagues, according to all 
 three manuscripts and Lescarbot. The “ Bref Recit ” says 
 2\ leagues, but that is too short a distance to be called 
 “ ranging ” a coast, and while so coasting he saw three 
 
CARTIER’S SECOND VOYAGE 177 
 
 high islands, which were towards the Araynes. Here we 
 must supply from the three manuscripts and Lescarbot 
 an omitted sentence, “ and we likewise perceived that the 
 Araynes was an island and that the aforesaid land was 
 certainly a high and continuous mainland, inclining to 
 the northwest.” Cartier had been coasting some distance 
 down the western shore of Cape Breton, and the three 
 high islands were three lofty capes on that coast looking 
 toward Les Araynes. The passage is obscure, but the 
 only real difficulty is the direction “ northwest,” for the 
 whole western coast of these lands — that which faces 
 inwards upon the Gulf — runs to the east of north. We 
 must suspect an error in copying. 
 
 The narrative continues : “ After we perceived these 
 things we returned to the cape of the aforesaid land,” 
 that is, to the headland of the coast he had been ranging, 
 now called Cape St. Lawrence. There he found two or 
 three capes wonderfully lofty, with a great depth of 
 water and a strong current, thus describing accurately 
 the north point of Cape Breton Island with its two bold 
 headlands, Cape St. Lawrence and Cape North. There 
 is a bay sweeping round between them, the land is high 
 and steep all around, the water is deep and the main 
 outflow of the River St. Lawrence is on that side of the 
 strait. On the same day they arrived at Cape Lor- 
 raine — a name given by Cartier. The place is identified 
 as the present Cape Ray by his description ; for the land 
 is low at the shore and three miles inland Table Moun- 
 tain rises abruptly 1700 feet, and there are “ barachois,” 
 suggesting a river mouth, although, as Cartier remarks, 
 there is no harbour there worth anything. The lat- 
 itude is given by an evident error at 46° 30' instead of 
 47 0 30', as it is in Hakluyt; it is really 47 0 37'. This 
 is made clear by the remark that they saw another cape 
 to the south in latitude 47 0 15', which they named Cape 
 St. Paul. The place is now known as St. Paul’s Island, 
 and is really in 47 0 12'. 
 
 The dates are now clear. On June 4, Whitsunday, 
 Cartier recognised that he was on the coast of New- 
 12 
 
178 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 foundland, running east-south-east. It was true east, 
 but the remark showed that the variation experienced 
 was two points west, not quite so much as it is now. 
 The wind turning foul, the vessel took shelter for two 
 days at a harbour they named de Saint Esprit , probably 
 the present Port aux Basques. Then they sailed to the 
 well-known island of St. Pierre, where they found 
 French and Breton fishing vessels, and from whence 
 they went to Cape Race. They stopped at Rougnoze, 
 the present Renews, for wood and water, — the place had 
 been known by that name since 1506, — and from thence 
 Cartier took his final departure for St. Malo, where he 
 arrived on July 6, after a prosperous voyage of seven- 
 teen days. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 SOME DISPUTED POINTS OF CARTIER’S VOYAGES 
 
 W HEN Cartier returned to France in 1536 Can- 
 ada had been discovered to its very heart. 
 Four of its seven provinces had been revealed, 
 and at Montreal the central point of its di- 
 verging waterways had been touched. There are, how- 
 ever, some questions, apart from the discovery of the 
 country, which demand notice from everyone who may 
 write upon the subject. These voyages are a never-fail- 
 ing source of interest in Canada, and Canadians have 
 unceasingly discussed them ; for the most part with learn- 
 ing and diligence, and always with earnestness. In the 
 United States also, and in France, they have occupied the 
 attention of many scholars, and some questions concern- 
 ing them have been the subject of warm controversy. 
 
 It is therefore within the scope of this volume to 
 inquire what were the tribes or races of Indians with 
 whom Cartier came in contact. To this it may be an- 
 swered first negatively — they were not Esquimaux. Car- 
 tier met the natives first on the Labrador coast near Blanc 
 Sablon. He describes their hair as twisted on the top of 
 their heads and tied like a handful of hay ; something of 
 the nature of a pin was passed through it and for orna- 
 ment they used birds’ feathers. They were clothed in 
 the skins of beasts and they painted themselves with dark 
 reddish colours. But the characteristic mark is that 
 their boats were made of birch bark. If the men had been 
 Esquimaux their canoes would have been made of skins. 
 Cartier, however, disposes of the question by adding — 
 “ Since I saw them I have learned that they come from 
 warmer countries to kill seals and other things for their 
 sustenance.” Later on, when returning, he met some of 
 these same Indians at Cape Thiennot (Natashquan 
 
 179 
 
180 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Point). They came freely on board and told him that 
 they had come from “the Grand Bay” (Strait of Belle- 
 Isle), and that they were on their way home in the direc- 
 tion whence Cartier was returning, and they informed 
 him that the ships (the fishing fleet) had sailed from the 
 bay laden with fish. It will not then be necessary to 
 discuss the migrations of the Esquimaux; these savages 
 were not Esquimaux, they were Montagnais. 
 
 Cartier on his first voyage saw Indians on the coast 
 of Prince Edward Island. He could not get speech 
 with them, but during the time he was exploring 
 Chaleur Bay and waiting for fair weather in Gaspe 
 Basin he had much communication with the natives. 
 Those he met in Chaleur Bay at first attempted to sur- 
 round one of his boats, and he fired some shots to frighten 
 them, but afterwards he found them very friendly. He 
 describes those he met at Gaspe as very poor, going 
 almost naked, and their whole possessions, excepting 
 their canoes and nets, not being worth five sous. They 
 were not of the same race or speech as the Indians 
 he met in Chaleur Bay. Their heads were shaven, ex- 
 cepting one long lock, which they wound upon the top 
 of their heads and tied with thongs. He afterwards 
 learned that Gaspe was not their home and that they 
 came there in summer to fish. Their nets were made 
 of hemp grown in their own country, and they used for 
 bread maize grown there also. It is clear that these 
 people seemed poor because they were far from their 
 homes and, in fact, two of the sons of their chief, Taig- 
 noagny and Domagaya, who acted as interpreters on 
 Cartier’s second voyage, were found to have their homes 
 at Stadacona (Quebec.) We conclude, therefore, that 
 the Indians on Chaleur Bay were a tribe of Algonquins, 
 probably Micmacs, and those who were making their 
 summer fishery at Gaspe were of the same race and 
 tongue as the Quebec and Hochelaga Indians. In short 
 they were Hurons and not Algonquins. A comparison 
 of the few words embodied in Cartier’s vocabulary will 
 put this beyond doubt. 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 181 
 
 It should be observed that, although Cartier carried 
 off these two Indians, it was to prepare them to act as 
 interpreters, and that they and their relatives, though 
 alarmed at first, were reconciled and content with his 
 promises. The two youths were provided with good 
 clothes and their people received presents and came off 
 in numbers to take leave of them and bring them food, 
 and they promised that the cross Cartier had erected 
 should not be interfered with. It is not accurate, there- 
 fore, to say that “ he bore away to France, carrying 
 thither as a sample of the natural products of the New 
 World two young Indians, lured into their clutches by 
 an act of villainous treachery.” 
 
 There is no reason to believe, with some, that these 
 Gaspesians were a separate race or tribe of Indians, or 
 in the myth that they had been, from old times, wor- 
 shippers of the cross. Whether the stories of the worship 
 of the cross by the natives of Central America are 
 or are not true is irrelevant; they are certainly untrue 
 here. The Porte-Croix Indians, as some enthusiasts 
 have called them, were Micmacs, or Souriquois, among 
 whom neither the Jesuits nor Boutrincourt, Lescarbot nor 
 Champlain ever found a trace of such devotion. The 
 Porte-Croix tribe may be classed among the other myth- 
 ical Indians who spoke Basque or Irish or Welsh. 
 
 The discoverers and early settlers of Canada came in 
 contact with two races of Indians only — the Algonquins 
 and the Huron-Iroquois. These were radically dis- 
 tinct in language, as the most cursory consideration of 
 the surviving Indian names of localities will show. In 
 the Maritime Provinces, formerly Acadia, names such 
 as Musquodoboit, Kouchibouguac, Kennebecasis, Buc- 
 touche, Chebucto indicate that the primitive occupants 
 of these provinces were of Algonquin race ; while 
 such names as Ottawa, Toronto, Hochelaga, Stada- 
 cona, Caughnawaga, Cataraqui testify to the presence 
 of a people of the Huron-Iroquois stock, and that their 
 ears and tongues were formed to a different class of 
 sounds. It is better to use the compound word Huron- 
 
1 82 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Iroquois, because they were originally the same people; 
 although, when the Europeans arrived, a war had com- 
 menced which ended in the practical extermination of 
 the Hurons. The Algonquins were hunters, and had no 
 settled abode. The Huron-Iroquois lived in palisaded 
 towns, in wood and bark houses, and supported them- 
 selves chiefly by agriculture. Although the cultivation 
 of their crops of maize and pumpkins was left to the 
 women, while the men hunted or made war, the Huron- 
 Iroquois were sedentary tribes and developed a political 
 system superior to anything which existed among the 
 nomadic tribes around them. 
 
 On his second voyage Cartier came in contact solely 
 with Huron-Iroquois tribes, for they were the occupants 
 of the valley of the St. Lawrence from the sea to the 
 upper lakes. To the south the tribes of New England and 
 New York were Algonquins, and to the north the scat- 
 tered tribes extending, inclusively from the Montagnais 
 on the northeast to the Ojibways on the northwest, were 
 all Algonquin, so that the Huron-Iroquois people were en- 
 circled by alien tribes inferior in organisation and skill 
 in politics and war. A great revolution was impending 
 at the period of the Cartier voyages. Tragedies of un- 
 known horror would be enacted before many years, but 
 the St. Lawrence valley seemed peaceful then, though 
 there were indications of gathering storm on the south 
 and west. 
 
 There is much diversity of opinion as to the race of 
 the Indians who gave Cartier so warm a welcome at 
 Montreal; but of late years it has been generally con- 
 ceded that they were of Huron-Iroquois stock, and the 
 doubt is, mainly, whether they were Hurons or Hurons 
 and Iroquois side by side. The fact that all Cartier’s 
 vocabularies are Huron should put the question beyond 
 dispute, for there were differences of dialect between 
 tribes of the same race, and the Mohawk (the oldest 
 dialect of Iroquois) is the nearest to Huron. That 
 being the case, it follows from the facts recorded that 
 the people of Stadacona were of the same stock, because 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 183 
 
 their speech was the same, their god Cudragny was the 
 same, the name of their town Stadacona was Huron, and 
 the manners and customs of both people were the same. 
 It also follows that Taignoagny and Domagaya, whom 
 Cartier took to France on his first voyage, were Hurons, 
 and the Indians who were at Gaspe Basin were Hurons, 
 for the relatives of the two interpreters were met by Car- 
 tier at Stadacona, and that most certainly was their 
 home. The first act of a long tragedy had been played. 
 The Iroquois had been expelled from their homes be- 
 side the Hurons in the St. Lawrence valley, and in their 
 retreats on the south and west were gathering strength 
 for their great revenge. 
 
 It is, moreover, evident that the town of Hochelaga 
 was then in some real sense the chief place on the river. 
 Cartier says “ that notwithstanding the Indians of that 
 town are sedentary and do not move about, like the 
 people of Canada and Saguenay, these people [the Cana- 
 dians] are subject to them, as also are eight or nine 
 other nations who live upon the river.” Cartier had 
 heard of Hochelaga from his two interpreters before his 
 second voyage, probably in France, for on arrival he 
 claimed from them the redemption of a promise to go 
 there with him, and when they tried to dissuade him 
 he said that he had orders from the King to go there. 
 We find, then, the Hurons in possession of the river 
 from Gaspe to the Saults above Hochelaga and an 
 indefinite distance beyond. 
 
 The country was, however, by no means populous. 
 In the whole stretch of the river from Stadacona to 
 Hochelaga one town only is mentioned by Cartier — 
 Achelay, at the Richelieu rapids. Below Stadacona he 
 mentions Araste, Starnatau, Tailla (which he says is 
 on a mountain), and Scitadin. Apparently not far from 
 Stadacona was the town of Tequenondahi, also situated 
 on a mountain. These are the only places mentioned 
 in the narrative as having inhabitants, although fre- 
 quent mention is made of houses — fishing huts — both 
 above and below Stadacona, and in a general way of 
 
184 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 several tribes living in open towns. These places had 
 their own chiefs, over whom Donnacona seems to have 
 had no authority, but the people and the chiefs are met 
 at Stadacona as visitors. The people of Scitadin were 
 very friendly, and the chief of a town Cartier calls 
 Hagonchenda warned him of the treachery of Donna- 
 cona and the two interpreters. 
 
 From Donnacona Cartier heard of a hostile people 
 to the south — the Trudemans. These were the Mo- 
 hawks who had been expelled from the St. Lawrence 
 valley. Donnacona exhibited five scalps taken from 
 them, and told a story which is corroborated by Mohawk 
 tradition. Only two years before a party of his people, 
 on their way to Gaspe, were encamped on an island 
 opposite the Saguenay. The Trudemans attacked them 
 at night, set fire to their fort, and killed the whole party, 
 men, women, and children, save five who escaped. This 
 incident confirms the presence of people from Stadacona 
 at Gaspe Basin, and explains their apparent poverty. 
 They were there for their summer fishing only. The 
 island is at the entrance of Bic harbour and is still 
 known as Isle an Massacre, and in recent years a cave 
 strewed with human bones was discovered there. At 
 Hochelaga Cartier was told of another evil nation 
 called Agouionda, dwelling up the river and waging con- 
 tinual war among themselves, and who wore defensive 
 armour made of strips of wood laced with cord. 
 These were other tribes of Iroquois in league with the 
 Mohawks and constantly at war with the Hurons and 
 Algonquins. 
 
 Much interest has been taken, not only in Canada, but 
 in the United States, in the tree called in the “ Bref 
 Recit ” ameda, in the Paris MSS. amedda, and by Lescar- 
 bot annedda, whose healing power saved Cartier’s whole 
 party from death by scurvy. Justin Winsor and J. G. 
 Shea attribute the cure to the bark of the white pine. 
 Parkman thinks the wonderful tree was a spruce, or more 
 probably an arbor vitae. The Abbes Ferland and Fail- 
 Ion suppose it to have been the white spruce, and that is 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 185 
 
 apparently the opinion of Charlevoix; but he identifies 
 the tree he means. He was a skilled botanist, but botan- 
 ical nomenclature, especially that of the large and com- 
 plicated family of pines and spruces, was then not settled, 
 and the white spruce, abies alba of our books, was not the 
 tree he meant. It was, as he says, the tree from which 
 Canada balsam and oil of terebinthine is derived. This 
 tree is found in our books as abies balsamea, or balsam fir 
 (Gray). It is sometimes called the balm of Gilead, and 
 sometimes the American silver fir, and will readily be 
 found in the pharmacopoeias. The oil of terebinthine 
 is the active healing constituent of the balsam. It is 
 a volatile oil, and possesses strong antiseptic proper- 
 ties, besides being a stimulant. It has not lost its heal- 
 ing virtues, although other anti-scorbutics may have 
 displaced it. All the spruces yield an extract of value 
 in medicine ; but in old colony days, and still in the old- 
 fashioned towns on the seaboard, spruce beer is made in 
 the spring with an extract from the young branches of 
 the black spruce, abies nigra , and this used to be taken 
 to sea as an anti-scorbutic by the sailors of the American 
 colonies. It is a pleasant and healthful drink at any 
 time. 
 
 Another unfailing subject of interest in Canada pre- 
 sents a problem absolutely insoluble, fortunately not an 
 important one. In the narrative of the first voyage three 
 expressions, “ after hearing mass,” “ we caused mass 
 to be sung,” and “ after having heard mass,” lead the 
 reader to suppose a priest was with the expedition, 
 although one would expect to have seen him come for- 
 ward on such an occasion as the elevation of the cross 
 at Gaspe. On the second voyage a list of the crew, 
 almost complete, has been preserved, and among them are 
 Dom Guilliaume Le Breton and Dorn Anthoine. No 
 other mention is made of these two men, and the most 
 diligent research has discovered no single fact concern- 
 ing them. Ordinarily their clerical status would not be 
 doubted, for even in old English writers the word 
 “ Dom,” for “ Dominus,” was recognised as an aca- 
 
1 86 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 demical title, and translated by “ Sir ” ; so a curate or 
 parson was called Sir, as we find in Shakespeare, — “ Sir 
 Hugh Evans, a Welsh parson,” and “ Sir Oliver Mar- 
 text, a vicar.” It was likewise the custom in Bretagne 
 to use the word “ Dom ” for an unbeneficed priest or 
 chaplain, quite independently of its application to cer- 
 tain religious orders. Naturally one expects to hear of 
 these persons, if they were clergymen, for in certain 
 junctures of the second voyage their offices were needed, 
 if ever the ministrations of the Church were needed; but 
 they never appear exercising their functions of baptising, 
 comforting, exhorting, or burying. On one occasion, 
 at Isle aux Coudres, the vessels are said to sail “ after 
 hearing mass,” but at Hochelaga, Cartier himself read 
 the Gospel of St. John and the Story of the Passion out 
 of his Book of Hours. He stroked the limbs of the 
 paralytic chief and prayed for the conversion of the 
 savages. He may have left the priests behind on that 
 occasion, but a little later on, at Stadacona, we find him 
 explaining the Christian faith to the Indians with some 
 apparent result, for a number of the people, and among 
 them Donnacona and the two interpreters, asked several 
 times for baptism, but he refused, as he says, “ because 
 he did not know their minds and their resolution, and 
 there was no one then who could teach them the faith.” 
 He told Taignoagny and Domagaya (the interpreters) 
 to say that he would return on another voyage “ and 
 would bring priests and chrism and that he could not 
 baptise without chrism.” No priest could have been 
 there when he said that, for the excuse was not valid. 
 Afterwards, when the scurvy was at its height, and he 
 had an image of the Virgin Mary erected, “ he ordered 
 that mass should be said there the following Sunday,” 
 and “ mass was said and celebrated before the said 
 image.” These two passages cannot be taken in their 
 obvious meaning and be consistent with the other state- 
 ments, for mass in any proper sense cannot be celebrated 
 without a priest. While the clergymen in Canada who 
 have treated the subject are for the most part certain 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 187 
 
 that priests were present, other writers of authority are 
 certain of the contrary, and others are content to remain 
 in doubt. This last is in fact the most philosophical 
 course, because the narrative is self-contradictory, and 
 everyone must decide according to his own sense of 
 the probabilities. Hakluyt, who was a Protestant 
 clergyman and well knew the meaning of the word 
 “ mass,” translates it “ service,” recognising the difficulty, 
 and knowing the usage on English ships in his day — 
 as in ours, where the captain leads service in the absence 
 of a clergyman. One thing only is certain, that if there 
 were clergymen on the expedition they were of a milder 
 and more self-effacing type than any met with elsewhere 
 in the history of the continent of America. Cartier 
 could not talk Huron any better than the other French- 
 men. All communication was through interpreters, and 
 if there were priests with him one expects to read that 
 he was told to attend to his ships and leave theology 
 alone. 
 
 It might have been supposed that the origin and mean- 
 ing of the word “ Canada ” would have rested undis- 
 turbed where Cartier placed it. At the end of his 
 account of the second voyage is a vocabulary of the 
 language of the country and kingdoms of “ Hochelaga 
 and Canada,” where it is expressly stated that the natives 
 “ call a town Canada.” Stadacona was only the specific 
 name of the town he found, and this is abundantly evi- 
 dent in the narrative, as, in one instance out of many, 
 where Donnacona asks Cartier to go the following day 
 to see Canada — that is, Stadacona — just as one man 
 might ask another to come to town. Nevertheless, some 
 suppose that, at some unspecified time — any time will do 
 so long as it is prior to Cartier — the Portuguese went 
 up the river, and, in their disappointment at finding it 
 a river, said Cd nada (nothing here). The natives, by 
 theory, caught up that phrase and repeated it to Cartier, 
 as the only Portuguese they knew. Still another Portu- 
 guese theory is that Canada is an old Portuguese word, 
 still in use in the Atlantic islands, meaning a strait, and 
 
1 88 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 that the pre-Cartier discoverers, when they arrived at 
 Quebec, thought the river was a channel by which they 
 might pass to the East Indies. Charlevoix reports 
 another theory — that the pre-Cartier sailors were Span- 
 iards who, finding no gold mines, exclaimed Aca nada 
 (nothing here). Thevet, Belief orest, and Lescarbot 
 have each a theory ; but the most far-fetched is the deri- 
 vation from the Sanscrit “ Kanada — one who eats lit- 
 tle.” All this learned labour, and there is a good deal 
 more of it, might have been saved by permitting the 
 Huron-Iroquois to know their own language. We have 
 Cartier’s testimony that Canada signified in Donna- 
 cona’s mouth a town, and the missionaries in after years 
 — many of whom, like the late Father Cuoq, spent their 
 lives preaching and teaching in the Indian languages of 
 Canada, — testify that Kanata, which Charlevoix says was 
 pronounced Canada, signified, in Iroquois, town, village, 
 or collection of huts ; and from Quebec it was extended 
 over the whole country. 
 
 Like many other points of Cartier’s voyages, the place 
 where he laid up his ships for the winter has been dis- 
 puted. Twenty-nine miles up the river from Quebec is 
 a place called Ste. Croix, and on the north shore oppo- 
 site is a river now bearing the name Jacques Cartier. 
 Some writers have supposed that to be the site of Car- 
 tier’s winter quarters. Lescarbot led the way into the 
 error; but, as he was never in Canada proper, he is not 
 to be credited when in Canadian questions he contra- 
 dicts Champlain. Wherever the Ste. Croix was, Cartier 
 most clearly asserts that he left two of his ships there, 
 and then went twenty-five leagues up the river in the 
 galleon and two boats to a place he calls Achelay, where 
 the river was swift, full of rocks, and dangerous. Les- 
 carbot betrays his ignorance of the localities in the note 
 No. 74 to his map, for he there says that Champlain’s 
 Quebec is Cartier’s Achelay, while he identifies the 
 former place by the narrows and the high ( Mont- 
 morenci) fall close to it. This is to confuse Quebec 
 with the Richelieu rapids and to ignore Cartier’s plain 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 
 
 189 
 
 statement that when he was at Achelay his two largest 
 ships were safe in winter quarters in the Ste. Croix, 
 twenty-five leagues down the river. Pere Le Tac fol- 
 lows Lescarbot, and tries to reconcile the difference by 
 introducing a new error in supposing that Cartier win- 
 tered at the St. Charles only on his third voyage, instead 
 of at Cap Rouge; and again in stating that the river 
 narrows across from Ste. Croix to the Jacques Cartier 
 River. Even across from Pointe Platon it is not nearly 
 so narrow as at Quebec. The channel is narrow be- 
 cause of obstructions, but the river there is wide. Pere 
 Le Tac says, moreover, that the Recollet convent was on 
 the far side of the St. Charles, close to the little river de 
 la Raye (Lairet), at a place commonly called “Jacques 
 Cartier’s Fort,” just in fact where the monument has 
 been erected. The site of the convent is clearly iden- 
 tified by Pere Sagard. Charlevoix has varied the error 
 by confusing the Ste. Croix and Jacques Cartier; the 
 Ste. Croix opposite the Jacques Cartier was not a river, 
 but a point of land. 
 
 The question should be set at rest by the testimony of 
 Champlain and his conclusive reasoning. He says of 
 the St. Charles: 
 
 “ I am of the opinion that this river, which is north- 
 north-west from our settlement, is the place where 
 Jacques Cartier wintered, since there are still, a league 
 up the river, remains of what seems to have been a chim- 
 ney, the foundation of which has been found, and indi- 
 cations of there having been ditches surrounding their 
 dwellings, which were small. We found also large 
 pieces of hewn worm-eaten timber, and some three or 
 four cannon balls. All these things show clearly that 
 there was a settlement there, founded by Christians; 
 and what leads me to say and believe that it was that of 
 Jacques Cartier is the fact that there is no evidence 
 whatever that anyone wintered and built a house in 
 these places except Jacques Cartier, at the time of his 
 discoveries. This place, as I think, must have been 
 called Ste. Croix, as he named it, which name has since 
 
190 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 been transferred to another place fifteen leagues west of 
 our settlement. But there is no evidence of his having 
 wintered in the place now called Ste. Croix, nor in any 
 other there, since in this direction there is no river or any 
 other place large enough for vessels, except the main 
 river or that of which I spoke above.’' 
 
 He then goes on to demonstrate that it was not pos- 
 sible to lay up vessels for the winter in a place such as 
 Ste. Croix, exposed to strong currents and ice, and that 
 the place so claimed for Cartier’s winter quarters was 
 then called Achelacy, where the river is swift and dan- 
 gerous, and can only be passed at flood tide. He points 
 out that there are no narrows on the river excepting 
 those near Quebec, and adds that he was astonished, 
 when he was told that Cartier wintered at Pointe Ste. 
 Croix, to find there no trace of a river for vessels. That 
 led him to make a careful examination of the question, 
 which no one had previously done. The astonishment 
 of Champlain will be shared by anyone familiar with the 
 narrative and the localities. 
 
 Another theory has been stated — that Cartier lost a 
 vessel in the St. Lawrence, near the Jacques Cartier 
 River; but there is no record of any such loss having 
 occurred. According to J. G. Shea this report originated 
 with La Potherie. Cartier’s vessels are all accounted 
 for. Cartier did, indeed, abandon to the Indians one of 
 his vessels, the Petite Hermine, which he could not man 
 for the return voyage in consequence of the ravages of 
 the scurvy. He presented the dismantled hull for the 
 sake of the bolts and nails to some Indians who had 
 been very friendly to him. In 1843 the remains of a 
 vessel were found a little higher up the St. Charles, at 
 the junction of the rivulet St. Michel. These remains 
 were assumed to be the hull of the Petite Hermine, and 
 were presented to the town of St. Malo, where they are 
 preserved as relics of Cartier’s vessel, and are supposed 
 to identify the site of Cartier’s fort. But it was not 
 shown that the iron had been removed ; in fact, the spikes 
 and bolts were still in good preservation. Moreover, 
 
DISPUTED POINTS 
 
 191 
 
 the site at the junction of the Lairet is identified by 
 the location of the Recollets’ and Jesuits’ houses, as 
 recorded in the annals of those orders, and after much 
 controversy it has been accepted by the people of Quebec 
 and marked by the monument they have erected. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 cartier's third voyage; roberval, 1541-43 
 
 F RANCE was again in confusion when Cartier 
 arrived home in the summer of 1536. The 
 sudden death (attributed to poison) of the Dau- 
 phin and the impending invasion of Provence by 
 the Emperor Charles V. absorbed the attention of the 
 King and his court, and effectually threw Cartier and his 
 ten abducted Indian notables into the shade. We may 
 well imagine that in the midst of private calamity and 
 public danger Francis had neither time nor inclination to 
 listen to Donnacona’s marvellous stories about Saguenay, 
 or about men with one leg, and suchlike prodigies. Car- 
 tier was, therefore, unable to keep his promise to the 
 Indians of Canada. He could not return in a year, nor 
 in several years; but the poor savage exiles in France 
 were in the meantime well treated and cared for bodily 
 and spiritually. They were instructed in the Christian 
 religion and baptised. Thevet reports that he had often 
 talked with Donnacona, and that the chief had become a 
 good Christian. That was possibly the case ; but Thevet 
 was as great a romancer as Donnacona, and had more 
 opportunities to display his natural gifts, so he must not 
 be taken too seriously. Cartier did, however, make a 
 report to the King, both verbally and in writing, and the 
 savages were presented at court and the King talked 
 with them; but time passed in delays, and the poor wild 
 people all died, excepting the one little girl from Pointe 
 au Platon, whom the chief of Achelay had given to Car- 
 tier on his way down from Hochelaga. One would 
 gladly know more of the fate of this little savage lady 
 from Lotbiniere, for she was the daughter of a chief (un 
 grand seigneur), but the records are silent, and she, no 
 
 192 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 193 
 
 doubt, died like Pocahontas, a victim to the diseases of 
 civilised life. 
 
 In 1538 a truce for ten years was signed. It did not 
 last long, but the turmoil of war quieted down for a 
 while, and in the following year Francis, with a gen- 
 erosity wasted upon Charles V., permitted the Emperor 
 to pass from Spain through France in order to reach 
 more quickly his turbulent provinces in the north. At 
 last, in 1540, Francis resumed his Canadian plans; and 
 on October 17, 1540, his commission to Cartier for a 
 new voyage was issued. This document is worthy of 
 close attention, for it places beyond doubt Cartier’s claim 
 to be the “ discoverer of the countries of Canada and 
 Hochelaga,” without the least deduction for Spaniards, 
 Portuguese, or Basques. It sets forth the intention of 
 pressing the discovery of the country of Saguenay. 
 This region was, as has been observed, not the region of 
 the Saguenay River, but the upper regions from whence 
 the great river came which Cartier saw from the top of 
 Mount Royal — the region where copper was found, and 
 where there was a real fresh water sea of which no man 
 had seen the end. These lands, the commission sets 
 forth, are “ a portion of Asia on its western side,” and 
 the object of the expedition was, not only to discover 
 them, but, if need be, to settle there. Cartier was com- 
 missioned in the amplest manner as captain-general and 
 master pilot, with corresponding honours and privileges, 
 and all upon the expedition were to be obedient to him. 
 This commission was sent by the Dauphin, as Duke, to 
 the estates of Bretagne on October 20; and on Decem- 
 ber 12, 1540, tne King sent a mandement to the Seneschal 
 of Rennes, ordering him to prevent the people of the 
 seaport towns of Bretagne from obstructing Cartier in 
 collecting his crew. 
 
 Suddenly there came a change in the councils of the 
 King; and this, as pointed out by the late Abbe Verreau 
 (one of the most painstaking and learned scholars of 
 Canada), could only have been caused by the disgrace 
 of Cartier’s patron, the Admiral Chabot de Brion. 
 
194 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Never was disgrace more unmerited, but it reacted upon 
 Cartier ; and on January 15, 1541, the King issued a com- 
 mission of Jean Frangois de La Roque, Sieur de Rober- 
 val, giving him the chief command. This change of 
 counsel has been obscured by many writers from want 
 of attention to the fact that at that time in France the 
 year commenced at Easter, and therefore while Car- 
 tier’s commission is really October 17, 1540, Roberval’s 
 is subsequent, and its true date in our reckoning of time 
 is January 15, 1541, although the date it bore in the 
 French calendar was 1540. The commission will be 
 found at length in Harrisse’s “ Notes sur la Nouvelle 
 France.” 
 
 Roberval’s commission was wider than that to Cartier. 
 It created him lieutenant-general, and chief leader and 
 captain of the expedition, over each and every ship, and 
 over all persons, sailors as well as soldiers ; with power 
 to appoint, remove, or change captains and pilots from 
 ship to ship, and to replace them at his pleasure. He 
 had the power to appoint lieutenants and to invest them 
 with authority as he saw fit. He was authorised to 
 enter upon these distant lands, peaceably or by force, and 
 to build forts and castles, and to grant lands in fiefs and 
 seigniories to worthy followers ; but without touching 
 territories occupied by the Emperor or the King of Por- 
 tugal. All these, and such like powers, were granted in 
 the most absolute and unreserved way ; but what is chiefly 
 important is that Cartier’s commission was revoked, for 
 the document plainly stated “ that if we have previously 
 granted any letters or power to any person contrary tq 
 the tenor of these letters we from the present time have 
 revoked, and do revoke, cancel, and annul them, except- 
 ing so far and so long as our said lieutenant may allow 
 and permit.” 
 
 Here, then, was created a totally new condition of 
 things. The experienced and successful sailor who had 
 conducted two expeditions with success was rudely de- 
 posed and put under the command of a courtier, a lands- 
 man, a soldier, a person of no experience, nor even of 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 195 
 
 especial note in the history of the time. In all this long 
 document Cartier is not mentioned, nor are his discov- 
 eries recognised. Cartier had been given power to 
 select fifty criminals from the gaols, such as might seem 
 to him suitable for the expedition; but to Roberval all 
 the prisons of France were thrown open. It was the 
 scheme of a foolish courtier, and success was impossible. 
 Cartier was already involved in preparations, and could 
 not retreat. The plain mariner of St. Malo had no 
 friends at court powerful enough to protest against this 
 injustice. He did not expect any good result from an 
 expedition so organised, and, before leaving France, 
 made his will. 
 
 The expedition was to consist of five ships. The 
 King advanced 30,000 livres to Cartier, and 15,000 to 
 Roberval. Early in May Cartier had the five ships 
 ready, the Grande Hermine and Emerillon among them, 
 and they had dropped down to the outer harbour of St. 
 Malo victualled for two years, waiting only for the 
 arrival of Roberval. The King’s command was urgent, 
 for he had written to Cartier charging him to sail imme- 
 diately after receipt of his letter, upon pain of incurring 
 the royal displeasure and of being held responsible for 
 all the delay. When Roberval came down he found 
 that the powder and artillery and provisions he had 
 ordered in Champagne and Normandy had not arrived. 
 His convicts also were only beginning to arrive, in 
 chained gangs, and it was decided that Cartier should 
 sail with his five ships and Roberval should follow forth- 
 with with two others, bringing the belated supplies and 
 the rest of the expedition. A few days before Cartier 
 sailed Roberval left St. Malo for Honfleur with all his 
 people. The haughty and inexperienced lieutenant of 
 the King having departed, difficulties ceased, and Cartier 
 sailed on May 20, 1541, but as representing Roberval, not 
 the King of France. 
 
 While the two previous expeditions had attracted no 
 attention outside of a small circle in France, and were, as 
 the maps show, unknown in the rest of Europe, the fuss 
 
196 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and stir made in getting up this expedition excited the 
 jealousy of Charles V., and the Council of the Indies sent 
 spies to France to watch and report on all that was done. 
 It was admitted that the Bacallaos was outside the demar- 
 cation of Spain; but according to the Treaty of Tor- 
 desillas it was within the line of Portuguese authority, 
 and pressure was put upon the King of Portugal to 
 induce him to despatch an armed force to crush this 
 attempt of the French to interfere with the ownership 
 of the New World. The King of Portugal would not 
 move, and the Council of the Indies apprehended no evil 
 results. They seem to have had a fairly clear idea of the 
 American coast. The Cardinal of Seville expressed it 
 plainly: “ The motives of the French are that they sup- 
 
 pose these lands are rich in gold and silver. In my 
 opinion they are wrong, because the whole coast as far 
 as Florida contains no other wealth than that dependent 
 on the fisheries.” Both were sure the French would fail, 
 but it is believed by some excellent writers that the 
 Emperor did send Ares de Sea, one of his chief captains, 
 to Terreneuve to see what Cartier was doing. If he 
 sailed on that errand in July, 1541, Cartier was safe up 
 the river before he could have arrived. 
 
 We are indebted to the indefatigable Richard Hakluyt 
 for all we know about the actual occurrences upon this 
 voyage, and that of Roberval the following year. Neither 
 Lescarbot, nor Ramusio, nor Champlain appears to have 
 known of them. The untiring research of Rame, Joiion 
 des Longrais, Harrisse, and a few others has unearthed 
 a number of documents from which much may be gath- 
 ered concerning transactions in France; but it is to the 
 enthusiastic efforts of the Anglican parson that we are 
 indebted for information as to the voyages themselves. 
 This has not been as cordially recognised as it ought 
 to have been. The voyage was tedious. Roberval’s 
 delays had postponed the time of sailing until May 23, 
 after the easterly winds were over; and, what with the 
 delays caused by bad weather and fighting against the 
 westerly winds, and the delays taking in wood and water 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 197 
 
 and waiting at Newfoundland for the arrival of Rober- 
 val, which they expected from day to day, it was August 
 23 before the five ships, reunited after having been 
 separated by storms, reached Stadacona. No sooner 
 had they arrived than the Indians pressed on board to 
 inquire after their countrymen. They were told that 
 Donnacona was dead, and the others had become great 
 lords in France, and were married, and did not wish to 
 return. The Indians concealed their real feelings and 
 manifested great joy at seeing the Frenchmen again, 
 but Cartier now felt the recoil of his error in abducting 
 their chief men ; for, he adds, “ it was all dissimulation, 
 as afterwards appeared.” He decided that the former 
 harbour was not sufficiently secure from attack, and he 
 selected a spot now known as Cap Rouge, also on the 
 north shore, four leagues above the other, where a small 
 stream falls into the main St. Lawrence. There he 
 landed his stores, and in the little river he put up three 
 of his ships. The other two anchored in mid-stream, 
 and on September 2 they sailed for St. Malo, one under 
 the charge of his brother-in-law, Mace Jalobert, and the 
 other under charge of his nephew, Stephen Noel, — both 
 skilful pilots, — with letters to the King, informing him of 
 the non-arrival of Roberval, and their fears for his 
 safety. The ships arrived in France a few days pre- 
 vious to October 19. 
 
 The little river chosen for a harbour was not more 
 than fifty paces wide, and while at low water there was 
 nothing but a channel a foot deep, there were three 
 fathoms at high tide. The country around was very 
 beautiful, as it still is, and the trees — oaks, maples, 
 beeches, and others — were finer than in France. Among 
 them, to his great content, Cartier recognised the ameda, 
 and he gratefully says “ that it hath the most excellent 
 virtue of all the trees in the world.” What it did for 
 him on this occasion he promises to narrate. At the 
 mouth of the little stream is a steep cliff. He built a fort 
 on the top of it, to protect a lower fort at the level of the 
 water. He found there some things which, unlike the 
 
198 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 fine trees and beautiful landscape, have since disappeared 
 — an iron mine and leaves of fine gold. Near by there 
 was “ slate, stone with mineral veins looking like gold and 
 silver, and stones like diamonds, the most fair-polished 
 and excellent cut that it is possible for a man to see. 
 When the sun shineth upon them they glisten as it were 
 sparkles of fire.” From the crystals of quartz supposed 
 by Cartier to be diamonds the cape on which Quebec 
 now stands still retains the name Cape Diamond. 
 
 While the main body of the sailors was engaged in 
 erecting the forts and landing the stores, under the 
 supervision of the Viscount de Beaupre, Cartier started 
 up the river with two boats to revisit Hochelaga. His 
 main object, however, was to examine what he called the 
 three Saults (the Lachine rapids). These he had par- 
 tially seen from Mount Royal on his previous visit, and 
 he gathered from the Indians that they were the only 
 obstacle to navigation on the route to the country of 
 Saguenay — the country whose wealth loomed so large 
 in the imagination of the French, from Donnacona’s 
 mystifying romancing. His intention was to get ready 
 during the winter and to push westwards in the early 
 spring. He could not, however, think of passing Ache- 
 lay without calling on the chief who had given him the 
 little girl, still living in France, and who had so often 
 put him on his guard against the schemes of Taig- 
 noagny and Domagaya. He was received with much 
 gladness, in appearance, and he bestowed gifts of more 
 than usual importance upon the “ lord ” of the land, and 
 such was his confidence in the said “ lord ” that he left 
 two young boys there to learn the language. But the 
 glamour of the former voyage had worn off, and the 
 poor savages, though they dissembled their distrust, 
 remembered their abducted leaders. As soon as Cartier 
 passed up, the potentate of Pointe au Platon went down 
 to Stadacona to concert with his fellow tribesmen hos- 
 tile schemes against the people who had carried away 
 their friends to an unknown fate. 
 
 On September 11 Cartier arrived at the place where, 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 199 
 
 six years before, was the town of Hochelaga. Perhaps 
 it was there still, only he does not make the least allusion 
 to it; but he speaks of a town of Tutonagay, or rather 
 Hakluyt so reports the name, and we have no other au- 
 thority by which to check him. On the Desceliers map C, 
 however, Ochelaga has become a district, and Tutona- 
 gay occupies the position at the junction of the two 
 rivers where the Hochelaga of the second voyage stood. 
 This is a real difficulty not to be cleared up until a 
 “ relation originale ” of this voyage also turns up in some 
 neglected corner. From Hakluyt’s narrative we learn 
 that the two boats were moored at the foot of the cur- 
 rent St. Mary, and that Cartier double-manned one of 
 them and rowed past the site of the present city of 
 Montreal. When he arrived at the foot of what are 
 now known as the Lachine Rapids he could go no fur- 
 ther; for, not only was the current too swift, but there 
 were great rocks and “ bad ground,” as there are still in 
 the same place. He therefore landed and found close by 
 the waterside a beaten track, now replaced by the 
 “ lower Lachine road,” which he followed for some dis- 
 tance, and on the road he found another town of 
 friendly people, who gave him a warm welcome and by 
 means of short sticks showed that there was one more 
 sault not much further up. We may gather from the 
 record that Cartier did not go as far as the quiet water of 
 Lake St. Louis, probably not further than the sharp turn 
 of the river, but accepted the statement of the Indians 
 that the river was not navigable to Saguenay. The total 
 distance, as Cartier estimated, from the foot of the cur- 
 rent St. Mary to the head of the last of the three saults 
 was six leagues, or fifteen miles by land. The day was 
 far spent, and his people had neither eaten nor drunk, so 
 they were glad to get back to their boats. The natives 
 seemed friendly and manifested signs of joy and wel- 
 come. Cartier made them presents, but he felt that the 
 former confidence and good-will were gone, and, he 
 adds, “ a man must not trust them for all their fair cere- 
 monies and signs of joy, for if they had thought they had 
 
200 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 been too strong for us, then would they have done their 
 best to have killed us, as we understood afterwards.” 
 So Cartier did not delay, but having ascertained that the 
 country of Saguenay could not be reached by boat he 
 dropped down the river to his fort near Stadacona, which 
 he had named Charlesbourg Royal. There he found 
 that the savages seemed unfriendly and kept away from 
 the fort, nor would they bring in provisions as before. 
 Some of the crew who had been at Stadacona reported 
 that Indians from the country around were assembled in 
 great numbers ; Cartier therefore strengthened his forts 
 and prepared for an effective defence. 
 
 Here the narrative preserved by the diligent care of 
 the most worthy Richard Hakluyt ceases, and there is no 
 other source of information now extant. We may sur- 
 mise from scattered indications that Cartier passed a 
 miserable winter at Charlesbourg Royal. There does 
 not seem to have been any actual fighting with the In- 
 dians, but suspicion and distrust on both sides isolated 
 the garrison. Nothing has survived about any attack of 
 scurvy, and Cartier’s ameda, or “ hanneda, the most 
 excellent tree in the world,” as Hakluyt has it, was there 
 in plenty. His promise to tell more of its virtues may 
 have been carried out, but as the narrative is cut ab- 
 ruptly off we are only able to gather that it stood him in 
 good stead once more. 
 
 Roberval had, as we have seen, left St. Malo and gone 
 to Honfleur a week before Cartier sailed. It had been 
 arranged that he should sail in a few days, and Cartier 
 lost much time waiting for him on the coast of New- 
 foundland. But he delayed all through the summer, 
 being apparently unable to bring his preparations to a 
 completion. He did hire two vessels at Honfleur; but 
 not until June 19. In July the King complained of his 
 procrastination. The records show that he was in 
 France, still preparing to sail, on August 15. And, 
 again, that one of his vessels was at Honfleur at Christ- 
 mas, 1541 ; from which it is evident that he did not sail 
 during that year. During the winter he did some free- 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE - 201 
 
 booting work in the Channel, for we find a private letter 
 to the King, from the French Ambassador at London, 
 complaining of his operations. He had established his 
 headquarters at Camaret, on the coast of Bretagne, a 
 few miles south of Brest, from whence under various 
 pretexts he plundered not only friendly foreigners, but 
 even subjects of France. This work was more con- 
 genial to his nature than colonisation. The special feat 
 which provoked the letter referred to was the plunder 
 of an English ship, from which he took six hundred 
 quintals of iron and four hundred skins of morocco, 
 which he sold for his own profit. These facts are estab- 
 lished by documents, and it follows that the theories of 
 his having made a voyage to Cape Breton and built a 
 fort there are unfounded. There is a great deal of 
 obscurity about the doings of Roberval, and it is mainly 
 caused by a disregard of the calendar then in use in 
 France. To this fertile source of error must be added 
 the contradictory statements of Charlevoix, Lescarbot, 
 and many others who, although nearer to the time, had 
 not the records before them which the diligent research 
 of recent writers has brought to light. Without dwell- 
 ing upon these errors, one fact must be noted, that Paul 
 d’Auxillon, Seigneur de Saineterre, was captain of one 
 of Roberval’s ships, the Ste. Anne , lying, at Christmas, 
 1541, in the harbour of Audemer close to Honfleur; and, 
 a tumult having arisen, he killed a sailor called Barbot. 
 Noting this for the present, we may pass on to the estab- 
 lished fact that Roberval really did sail for America on 
 April 16, 1542, and from La Rochelle, not from Honfleur. 
 
 We are dependent upon Hakluyt for the only account 
 of this voyage which exists, and his narrative of this also, 
 unfortunately, breaks off abruptly in the middle; but we 
 learn that Roberval’s fleet consisted of three ships, with 
 two hundred persons, men and women, for his object 
 was to found a colony. His lieutenant was M. de 
 Saineterre, above mentioned, and his pilot the well-known 
 Jean Alphonse of Saintonge. There were some gentle- 
 men of quality upon the expedition, but on the other 
 
202 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 hand many of the crew were convicts from the prisons. 
 The weather was so bad that the fleet had to seek refuge 
 for a time at Belle-Isle in Bretagne. It was not until 
 June 7 that they reached Newfoundland, and on June 
 8 the ships entered the harbour of St. John’s. He had 
 not been long there when, to his great surprise, three 
 ships arrived bearing Cartier and all the survivors of 
 the party which had left St. Malo the preceding spring. 
 They had abandoned Charlesbourg Royal and were on 
 the way to France. Cartier at once paid his respects to 
 Roberval, but we may gather from Hakluyt that the in- 
 terview was stormy. Cartier gave a good account of the 
 country, and showed what he supposed to be diamonds 
 and gold ore. He reported that the Indians had been 
 incessantly hostile, and that, his party not being strong 
 enough to resist them longer, he had decided to return to 
 France. Roberval ordered Cartier to put back and join 
 the expedition, but in the night Cartier weighed anchor 
 and sailed for St. Malo, where he arrived in safety. Car- 
 tier and his companions had suffered enough from Rober- 
 val, and would not risk a winter in Canada under his 
 inexperienced command. Roberval’s haughty and im- 
 perious character would have led him to exercise force to 
 compel obedience, and Cartier settled the matter very 
 simply without bloodshed. He had fulfilled the orders of 
 the King in conducting the expedition to Canada. He 
 had not engaged for an indefinite time dependent upon 
 the will of Roberval. His vessels had been fitted out in 
 great part before his commission had been superseded by 
 that of Roberval. No reproach was made to Cartier 
 upon his return, for, although he may have fallen into dis- 
 favour with the court, his conduct was not contrary to 
 the usage of the period, or some attempt would have 
 been made to blame him in the after suit at law with 
 Roberval. 
 
 Roberval remained at St. John’s all the month of June, 
 His voyage had been long, and he had to take in wood 
 and water; but his time was chiefly wasted in deciding 
 quarrels between the French and Portuguese, for there 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 203 
 
 were seventeen sail of fishing vessels in the harbour when 
 he arrived. His commission did not cover Newfound- 
 land, and a delay of three weeks might easily have been 
 prejudicial to his main enterprise, but the opportunity to 
 exercise a little additional authority could not be lost. 
 He sailed at the end of June, and by the end of July he 
 was landing his stores and erecting forts and buildings at 
 Charlesbourg Royal. The fact that Roberval reached 
 Canada from St. John’s by way of the Strait of Belle-Isle 
 shows how little was known of the passage through 
 Cabot Strait. 
 
 The narrative we have been following is Hakluyt’s. 
 It may be checked occasionally by contemporary docu- 
 ments, but there is no other narrative extant, and nothing 
 has been found to shake its authority. Roberval settled 
 upon the site of the Charlesbourg of Cartier, and there 
 erected forts and buildings on a large scale. He named 
 the place “the fort of Frangoys Roy,” and it was situated, 
 says Hakluyt, upon “ the great river of Canada, com- 
 monly called France prime by Monsieur Roberval.” The 
 names were not happily chosen. They appear in various 
 other forms, as “ France roy,” “ Franci Roy,” “ Frangoys 
 prime,” in the books and documents. The great viceroy 
 could hardly be expected to have rested content with 
 names given in his domain by a mere sailor like Car- 
 tier. All through the months of August and September 
 the men worked at these buildings. There is no trace of 
 them now, but as they were all of wood, and it was three 
 hundred and sixty years ago, that is not surprising. 
 
 On September 15 Roberval sent back two ships to 
 France. One of them was under the command of his 
 lieutenant, Monsieur de Saineterre, the same who, on or 
 about Christmas of the preceding year (1541), had killed 
 one of the crew of the Ste. Anne in the harbour of Aude- 
 mer. He had been found guilty of manslaughter at the 
 time. Roberval issued a formal pardon (the first official 
 document issued in Canada), under his great seal in 
 lofty vice-regal style addressed “ to all royal judges, 
 seneschals, and other officers,” setting forth the circum- 
 
204 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 stances of the homicide, and that the people who convicted 
 Saineterre did not understand the matter. These ships 
 carried intelligence of the expedition, and were to return 
 in the following spring with such supplies as the King 
 might grant. 
 
 After the ships had left an inquiry was made as to the 
 stores and provisions for the winter, when it was found 
 that they were short, and the company had forthwith to go 
 upon a stinted allowance. The Breton pilot had taken 
 the great nobleman at his true value. The viceroy, upon 
 whom all depended, had not been able to foresee the 
 requirements of his own party for a year. He was able, 
 however, to maintain discipline. Hakluyt’s narrative 
 gives a good idea of it : “ One was hanged for theft ; 
 
 John of Nantes was laid in irons and kept a prisoner for 
 his offence, and others also were put in irons and divers 
 were whipped, as well men as women; by which means 
 they lived in quiet.” Parkman quotes from a MS. by 
 Thevet, showing that the arbitrary viceroy made a little 
 inferno at Cap Rouge : “Forced to unceasing labour and 
 
 chafed by arbitrary rules, some of the soldiers fell under 
 Roberval’s displeasure, and six of them, formerly his 
 favourites, were hanged in one day. Others were ban- 
 ished to an island and there kept in fetters ; while for 
 various offences several, both men and women, were shot. 
 Even the Indians were moved to pity and wept at the 
 sight of their woes.” With all allowance for Thevet’s 
 powers of exaggeration they were an unhappy lot, and 
 the day when they all went back to France was a for- 
 tunate day for Canada. To crown their miseries, the 
 scurvy broke out among them and about fifty of the party 
 died. 
 
 The ice broke up in April, and on June 5, 1543, Rober- 
 val started with eight boats up the river “ for the said 
 provinces of Saguenay,” by which phrasing we may be 
 sure that the “ said province ” had no relation to the river 
 of that name east of Quebec, excepting that the river was 
 supposed to rise somewhere there. He left thirty men 
 as a garrison, with orders that if he did not return by 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 205 
 
 July i they were to sail for France. Some of his party 
 returned to the fort on June 14, and some more on June 
 19, with letters postponing the time of departure to July 
 22, and bringing news that one boat had been lost and 
 eight men drowned. Here the narrative of Hakluyt 
 abruptly ends, and we have nothing but scattered inci- 
 dental notices to guide us. No reports exist of discoveries 
 or adventures on his western journey. He was not a man 
 to succeed in any serious enterprise, and is not likely to 
 have discovered anything. He did, however, get back to 
 France that summer with all the survivors of the ex- 
 pedition. How he got back is a question much disputed. 
 
 It has been shown above, by the evidence of a document 
 given at length by Harrisse, that Paul d’Auxillon, Seign- 
 eur de Saineterre, was captain of the Ste. Anne on or 
 about Christmas, 1541, while Cartier was wintering in 
 Canada. It has also been shown by Hakluyt’s narrative 
 that he sailed with Roberval from La Rochelle, and that 
 he acted as Roberval’s lieutenant. Moreover, that Rober- 
 val, having on September 9, 1542, issued a formal pardon 
 for the homicide committed by him near Honfleur, Saine- 
 terre was sent back to France from Canada on September 
 14, 1542. Harrisse has given in his “ Notes ” two docu- 
 ments which, taken with these facts, conclusively settle 
 the question as to how Roberval got back. The first is 
 dated January 26, 1542; that is really January 26, 1543, 
 when translated into our reckoning, because by the calen- 
 dar in use in France the new year 1543 did not commence 
 until Easter, which fell that year on March 25. Saine- 
 terre then being in France and appealing to the King for 
 aid to Roberval in Canada, Francis issued the document 
 (dated St. Laurent, January 26), ordering two ships to 
 be got ready and despatched to the relief of Roberval. It 
 then sets forth that M. de Saineterre, having been the 
 lieutenant of Roberval, and having already made the voy- 
 age, he, Saineterre, is competent to carry out the King’s 
 intention in that respect “ as well and better than any 
 other person.” How far these last words are a reflection 
 on Cartier it is not necessary to inquire ; but they com- 
 
206 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 pletely exclude the idea that Cartier was sent to relieve 
 Roberval, and they establish the fact that the relief ex- 
 pedition was to sail under Saineterre’s command. The 
 second document confirms this. It is a power of attor- 
 ney, executed by Roberval, then in France, dated Septem- 
 ber ii, 1543, to Saineterre, empowering him to proceed 
 to La Rochelle and to sell or charter his ship, the Ste. 
 Anne , and dispose of the stores and artillery to the best 
 advantage. He was also to dispose of the other vessel, 
 “ the gabion/’ which was a King’s ship, and to pay off all 
 the soldiers and mariners. The evidence is thus com- 
 plete. Saineterre sailed in the spring of 1543, and 
 brought Roberval and all his people back to France, 
 where they arrived at some date not long prior to Septem- 
 ber 11. 
 
 The idea of Jacques Cartier having made a fourth voy- 
 age to Canada is thus effectually disposed of; and the 
 documents printed by Joiion des Longrais confirm this 
 conclusion. We find that Cartier was present at a bap- 
 tism on March 25, 1543, and is witness in a lawsuit on 
 July 3, 1543, in both cases at St. Malo. M. Joiion, who 
 otherwise would incline to a fourth voyage, in view of 
 this last date, leaves the question in doubt; but Cartier, 
 if absent, would hardly be summoned as a witness, and he 
 could not have testified by attorney. The question has 
 been much debated in Canada, and opinion is divided as 
 to whether the supposed fourth voyage was in the sum- 
 mer of 1543 or extended from the autumn of 1543 to the 
 summer of 1544, thus giving Cartier another winter in 
 Canada, and making Roberval stay over two winters. 
 The basis upon which the theory of a fourth voyage has 
 been built up is a sentence in the award of the Commis- 
 sioner of Inquiry into the accounts of Cartier and Rober- 
 val, which Lescarbot took to refer to Cartier; but the 
 Abbe Verreau has justly pointed out that the point is one 
 solely of the hire of a vessel for a second voyage, and 
 does not involve any statement that Cartier had sailed in 
 the vessel. 
 
 Roberval, having returned in the autumn of 1543, soon 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 207 
 
 got into a dispute with Cartier about the accounts for the 
 expedition, and the King, on April 3, 1544, appointed a 
 commission to inquire into the whole matter. After 
 minute inquiry it reported that Cartier had paid out more 
 than he had received, and there was due to him the sum of 
 8638 livres, 4 sols, 6 deniers. This sum was never 
 repaid him. Roberval was ruined. He had dissi- 
 pated his great patrimony in extravagant living, and had 
 procured the vice-royalty of Canada in hope of restoring 
 his fortune by mines of gold and precious stones to be 
 found there. He is met with, later in the documents, as 
 holding a royal commission to rebuild the fortifications 
 of Senlis;then, in 1553, as commissioner and controller 
 of all the mines in France, and again as commissioner on 
 the fortifications of Paris. He disappears about the year 
 1560, and Thevet records that he was assassinated at 
 night near the Church of the Innocents at Paris — which, 
 like all of Thevet’s statements, requires collateral con- 
 firmation. Another story is that he again made an effort 
 to take possession of his Canadian vice-royalty and per- 
 ished in the attempt. It was not by men such as he that 
 Canada was to be explored or colonised. 
 
 It is impossible to close this episode of Canadian dis- 
 covery without reference to the romantic story of Mar- 
 guerite, the niece of Roberval. Passed through the 
 alembic of Thevet’s imagination, an island on the coast of 
 Labrador became the theatre of a struggle for a human 
 soul between the powers of the celestial world and the 
 demons of the pit. As a piece of constructive mendacity 
 it has been successful in inspiring the graceful prose of 
 Parkman and in becoming the theme of a Canadian poem 
 of much merit. Like all good story-tellers, Thevet per- 
 sonally knew the parties. Marguerite, a high-born dam- 
 sel, niece of Roberval, with her duenna had sailed with 
 her harsh uncle for his Canadian domain. Her secret 
 lover sailed also upon the expedition, and on the voyage 
 her passion became known. Roberval dissembled his 
 anger until they were off the Isle of Demons, when he 
 ordered the sailors to put his niece and her old nurse 
 
208 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 ashore and leave them to their fate. Four guns were 
 given them and a small supply of provisions. Her lover, 
 thereupon scorning concealment, threw himself into the 
 surf and got safely ashore ; Thevet says with two more 
 guns and a supply of ammunition and other necessary 
 things. Let no sceptic doubt, however, the existence of 
 the Demon’s Isle, for it is in the maps of the period, and is 
 especially prominent in the map “ of that most excellent 
 cosmographer, Jacomo di Gastaldi,” in Ramusio’s Col- 
 lection of Voyages. There may be seen the devils, with 
 wings, tails, and claws, eagerly alert for poor human 
 souls. Abandoned in this savage wilderness the lovers 
 made out to live upon the wild creatures on the island; 
 but the youth died, and the child which came to them 
 died, and at last the old nurse died, and the poor lady 
 was left alone with the wild beasts. The bears, “ white 
 as an egg,” and creatures still more hideous and repulsive 
 thronged round ; but worse than them all were 
 
 “ The shrieks and howls 
 Of fiends malignant high o’er roar of waves 
 Torturing the souls of men.” 
 
 But Heaven was on the side of the repentant Mar- 
 guerite, and Our Lady of Pity barred her round with 
 invisible safeguards. The story lends itself readily to 
 the most touching embellishments, but we cannot follow 
 them farther. For nineteen months Marguerite strug- 
 gled with beasts and demons, until at last a passing fish- 
 ing vessel, seeing smoke, as of a fire kindled by human 
 hands, and the despairing gestures of a wild human being 
 dressed in skins, ventured upon these shores of evil omen 
 and carried away the poor lady to her home in France. 
 The story, says Parkman, has no doubt a nucleus of 
 truth; and the ever- judicious Abbe Ferland says it con- 
 tains very much less truth than falsehood. This nucleus 
 of truth may surely be found in the “ Heptameron ” of 
 the “ pearl of Marguerites,” the sister of Francis, Queen 
 Margaret of Navarre. It is the sixty-seventh tale, and re- 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 209 
 
 lates how a poor woman, to save the life of her husband, 
 risked her own, and never left him until his death. Here 
 everything falls into rational order, and as it was pub- 
 lished in 1559, only fifteen years after the occurrence, we 
 may reasonably accept it. She relates that Roberval, when 
 by the King’s orders he went to “ the island of Canada,” 
 took with him all sorts of artisans to build his projected 
 cities and castles, and among them was a man whom 
 Roberval pronounced guilty of treason, and condemned to 
 death. His wife, with tears and supplications, and plead- 
 ing his former services, endeavoured in vain to soften the 
 viceroy’s anger. She was only able to modify his sen- 
 tence to abandonment upon a small island inhabited 
 solely by wild beasts. She would not leave her husband, 
 but willingly shared his fate. There they built a little 
 hut and lived upon herbs and the animals they killed. 
 The man died, and the poor woman buried him as best 
 she could, and fought off the wild beasts which came to 
 devour his body. She supported herself by her arquebus, 
 killing the game so abundant in those early days, until at 
 last she was taken off by some passing sailors and carried 
 to Rochelle. There, says the Queen, when her story be- 
 came known, she was received in great honour among 
 ladies, because of her great confidence in God, and as an 
 example of his great mercy. Jean Allefonse was Rober- 
 val’s pilot, and must have witnessed the incident, what- 
 ever it was. In his “ Routier ” he partially confirms the 
 story by giving the name “ Isle de la damoiselle ” to what 
 are now called the Meccatina Islands on the coast of the 
 Quebec Labrador. It will add some interest to Grand 
 Meccatina Island to know that it is the scene of this 
 touching story. 
 
 The character and voyages of Cartier are an unfailing 
 subject of interest, not only to the people of the Canada 
 he discovered, but to the scholars of the United States 
 who have done so much for Canadian history. The na- 
 tional pride of Canadians of French origin has, with the 
 aid of a few kindred scholars in France, followed with 
 
 pious diligence every trace of his career. The Literary 
 14 
 
2io THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and Historical Society of Quebec published in 1843 an 
 edition of his voyages, in which, following Lescarbot, his 
 name is spelled Quartier; but as he himself spelled it 
 Cartier, w T e may be content therewith. He was the prime 
 mover in the first expedition to follow up the avenue 
 opening to the west by the Grand Bay — Belle-Isle Strait. 
 He made the proposals to the Admiral Chabot de Brion, 
 and the latter carried them before the King. The King 
 contributed the chief part of the expense, but Cartier in 
 the sequel lost heavily out of his own private means. 
 
 It has been said that Cartier was ennobled, but there 
 is no proof of it, and the evidence inclines the other way. 
 It has also been said that the King gave him the manor 
 of Limoileu, but Cartier bought and paid for that out 
 of his private means. It w T as his home in summer, 
 looking over the open sea, as a sailor’s house should do. 
 In winter he lived in the town of St. Malo near by. If 
 he is occasionally styled Sieur de Limoileu, it by no 
 means implies the existence of a patent of nobility, for 
 it was not uncommon for proprietors, even small pro- 
 prietors, to be called sieurs or seigneurs of any estate 
 they might own, no matter how acquired. The discov- 
 erer of Canada owes nothing to the King. When he 
 had opened up the St. Lawrence valley leading to un- 
 known possibilities of wealth and power, Francis gave 
 the lordship and the command to an unworthy court 
 favourite who had squandered his own patrimony and 
 whose only qualifications were arrogance and harsh- 
 ness. The King used his royal power to compel Cartier 
 to put his abilities at the service of a man without knowl- 
 edge, capacity, or foresight, and it was owing solely to 
 his practical assistance that the first part of Roberval’s 
 expedition was got off. Roberval was fitted to dissipate, 
 not to administer, to intimidate his followers by whip- 
 ping, hanging, and shooting, or to abandon them to per- 
 ish for imagined crimes. Cartier conducted three expe- 
 ditions, and his men gave him the willing obedience which 
 only a competent master can obtain. There were no 
 mutinies, no treasons, no punishments in Cartier’s crews. 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 21 1 
 
 When Cartier took out the first portion of Roberval’s 
 expedition he obeyed the command of the King and per- 
 formed his task. He was not bound to serve perma- 
 nently under Roberval in Canada, the more especially 
 since Roberval had failed to follow and support the first 
 detachment. The incompetence of Roberval is evident 
 from the one fact that instead of having provisions for 
 two years he had to put his party on short allowance 
 within a month of their arrival in Canada. Cartier 
 could have done nothing under Roberval, for he would 
 have been subordinate even to the viceroy’s favourites. 
 He was no courtier to keep his ground by fawning and 
 intrigue, and his career would have ended by being shot 
 or marooned on some desert island by order of the trucu- 
 lent viceroy, who was all the more jealous of his dignity 
 and suspicious of his followers because of his own unfit- 
 ness to command. 
 
 In previous chapters we have seen great sailors coast- 
 ing along the northeastern shores of the continent, but 
 Cartier penetrated to its heart. To borrow the words of 
 the King’s commission, it was he “ who discovered the 
 great country of the lands belonging to Canada and 
 Hochelaga ” — who discovered the regions of Quebec 
 and Montreal and the adjacent lands, and opened up the 
 great river to the impassable rapids of Lachine. We 
 shall come to another Frenchman of the same stamp, who 
 took up Cartier’s task and revealed the upper valley as 
 Cartier did the lower. Not to Cabot, to Verrazano, to 
 Corte-Real, to Gomez, or to Fagundez, — not to English, 
 to Spaniards, to Portuguese, or to mythical Basques was 
 it given to discover the valley of the majestic river of the 
 north, — but to the brave, good-hearted, practical, com- 
 petent sailor of St. Malo. 
 
 In his profession Cartier may be easily counted in the 
 front rank. He never lost a vessel, although when on 
 the shores of Labrador he sailed close in examining the 
 most dangerous coast in the gulf ; and elsewhere in 
 the gulf and river he followed along the shores, noting the 
 rocks and other dangers and recording them with won- 
 
2i2 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 derful accuracy. His powers of observation were quick 
 and strong, and his curiosity led him to note and describe 
 with accuracy the strange objects which presented them- 
 selves in the New World. He was a religious man in 
 the fullest and best sense of the word. That he was a 
 good Catholic would naturally follow from his Breton 
 birth; but Cartier’s religion led him to perform all the 
 ordinary duties of life faithfully and in a kindly spirit, 
 whether in his family or among his fellow-townsmen. 
 His social qualities enabled him to enjoy the life of his 
 native town. Everywhere his name is found in its 
 records. Sometimes he is found acting as an expert in 
 trials about captures at sea, about the price of ships’ 
 stores, about the number of vessels available in the ports 
 of Bretagne, about the currents in the waters near St. 
 Malo. We find him acting as Portuguese interpreter in 
 a case before the court and taking part in family coun- 
 cils and settlements. He had no children, but it was his 
 delight to assist at baptisms, often as sponsor, and the 
 dates of his career are traced by his presence at more 
 than seventy. In these days, in the simple customs of 
 the province, a baptism was a great social event and cel- 
 ebrated with rejoicing and a generous feast. One of 
 them, in 1552, throws a sidelight on the natural gaiety 
 of his character, for it is gravely recorded that the entry 
 was made in the presence of Captain Jacques Cartier 
 “ et aultres bons biberons.” This little touch of humour 
 in the formality of the register reveals the discoverer of 
 Canada off duty, mixing as a joyous companion in the 
 social affairs of his fellow-citizens — equal not only to 
 watch over his comrades in the wilds of the New World, 
 but to join heartily in the gaieties of their social life at 
 home. Five years later, on September 1, 1557, Cartier 
 died at the age of sixty-six years, probably of the plague 
 then prevalent at St. Malo. 
 
 Compared with Columbus, the Breton captain was 
 inferior in education, learning, and intellectual power. 
 Bretagne was far removed from the influence of the 
 Renaissance, then at its height. The duchy had kept, aloof 
 
CARTIER’S THIRD VOYAGE 213 
 
 from the national life of France, and French influences 
 were not always welcome. The narrow life of a town 
 in a remote province was far different from the brilliant 
 activity of cities like Rome, Venice, Genoa, Seville, or 
 Lisbon, where the life of Columbus was passed. But he 
 was as brave, and possessed greater ability as a com- 
 mander of men. The morbid vanity of Columbus and 
 his overweening estimate of his own merits unfitted him 
 to secure the willing obedience of his men. He was 
 envious of the merits of others and insatiable in exacting 
 recognition of his own. The achievement of Cartier 
 was infinitely less, for Columbus showed the way to the 
 New World; but on the moral and religious side of char- 
 acter Cartier is a fitter subject for canonisation than 
 Columbus. Cartier carried away ten natives, intending 
 to bring them back baptised Christians as interpreters 
 to their people ; but Columbus inaugurated the system 
 of deceit and cruelty, of forced labour and slavery, 
 which exterminated the Carib race in one generation and 
 ran up a score of bloodshed and oppression which long 
 years of despotism, confusion, and anarchy have not yet 
 worked out. 
 
 Cartographical Results of the Cartier Voyages 
 
 Students of the history of exploration in the New World are 
 much indebted to the Earl of Crawford for the reproduction of 
 the three world-maps, A, B, and C, in the “ Bibliotheca 
 Lindesiana.” The Harleyan map (lettered A) was described 
 by Harrisse, in 1882, at p. 197 of his “Jean et Sebastien Cabot.” 
 A tracing of the northern part of the American coast had been 
 communicated by Jomard to Kohl. It was a mere outline, and 
 is No. 157 in the Kohl Collection at Washington. Winsor repro- 
 duced the same outline (“ Narr. & Crit. Hist.,” Vol. IV., pp. 
 88-89), in 1889, having received it from Kohl, and, from the fact 
 that the tracing had been originally received from Jomard, it 
 was. called in America the Jomard Map. Winsor did not rec- 
 ognise its importance nor identify it with the Harleyan Map of 
 Harrisse in the British Museum. 
 
 Map B of Lord Crawford’s collection has long been known to 
 scholars from the fac-simile reproduction in Jomard’s “Monu- 
 ments de la Geographie,” 1862. Extracts from it have frequently 
 
214 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 been published in the United States and Canada. It was usually 
 referred to as the “ Henry II.,” or sometimes the “ Dauphin,” 
 map. It has become discoloured by age, and on that account is 
 difficult to reproduce. It is of great historical value. 
 
 Map C was fully described by Harrisse, at p. 229 of his “Jean 
 et Sebastien Cabot,” in 1882, and is mentioned by Winsor; but its 
 value was not recognised and no extract from it has appeared. 
 The extracts from Maps A and C now given reproduce in effect 
 Cartier’s lost maps, for the information upon which they are 
 based must have been communicated by him, and hence arises 
 their great importance in the history of the St. Lawrence valley. 
 
Cartographical Results of the Cartier Voyages! 
 

CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 
 
 iL LTHOUGH, as we shall see, the Gulf of St. Law- 
 /\ rence continued to be visited, it was by private 
 / ^ traders, and no advance was made in the cartog- 
 
 raphy of that part of North America for fifty 
 years after the result of Cartier’s last voyage became 
 known. This will not be surprising if we reflect that 
 those who frequented the gulf had every reason to keep 
 their information secret, lest when one had discovered a 
 good place for trade and had established relations with 
 the natives some rival merchant should intervene and 
 destroy his profits. Newfoundland had, indeed, been 
 demonstrated by Cartier to be separated from the main 
 continent, but for many years the cartographers broke it 
 up into an archipelago of fragments corresponding to 
 the deep indentations of its coast line. These islands 
 gradually coalesced as knowledge increased. Mr. Har- 
 risse, in his “ Decouverte et Evolution Cartographique de 
 Terre-neuve,” has set forth the process of disintegration 
 and reintegration so thoroughly that to go over it again 
 would be lost time. In the St. Lawrence river valley 
 there was no progress in geography. As Cartier left it 
 Champlain found it, and we may pause for a moment to 
 consider the results recorded on the maps. 
 
 The motive of Cartier’s voyage is shown by a map of 
 Agnese, dated 1536. In it the routes to Cathay are given. 
 To the south is Magellan’s Strait; in the centre is the 
 route by Panama ; and further north a dotted line shows 
 the direct route from France to Quinsay, by that ocean 
 which Verrazano thought he saw when he looked into 
 Cheasapeake Bay, or into one of the sounds on the Caro- 
 
 215 
 
216 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 lina coast, across the isthmus reported to be only six miles 
 wide. Another map, bearing the same date, 1536, bears 
 evidence of Cartier’s influence, for a dotted line indicat- 
 ing the route to Cathay passes through an opening 
 between Newfoundland and Cape Breton, showing that 
 some report of the promise of Cartier’s first voyage had 
 reached the cartographer. 
 
 The results of Cartier’s efforts began to appear clearly 
 in a world map, dated 1541, by Nicholas Desliens of 
 Dieppe. This map embodies the discoveries of the sec- 
 ond voyage as far up the St. Lawrence as Quebec, but 
 not beyond. It is in the Harleyan world map, given to 
 scholars among the reproductions of the “ Bibliotheca 
 Lindesiana,” that we find the complete discoveries of the 
 Cartier voyages for the first time. An extract from the 
 American portion of this important map is given at page 
 216. All the names given by Cartier in his first and 
 second voyages are laid down in it. Hochelaga is rep- 
 resented as a territory, not as a town, and the junction of 
 the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence is shown there as 
 Cartier saw it from Mount Royal. No one but he could 
 have given information so detailed and so nearly accu- 
 rate. The river is recognisable at a glance, and com- 
 pared with the delineations of the Penobscot and the La 
 Plata, repeated for so long a period in distorted and ex- 
 aggerated forms, this map of the great river of Canada 
 marks the careful accuracy of Cartier’s reports. The 
 map is anonymous, but is supposed to have been drawn at 
 Arques, near Dieppe, by Desceliers, upon the information, 
 as regards Canada, of Cartier’s own maps. One point of 
 special interest appears on the map, though not in the 
 narrative — the name of his native town and point of de- 
 parture, St. Malo, marks the farthest point west reached 
 by Cartier. The date assigned on the reproduction, 
 “ Circa 1 536,” must be liberally interpreted, for Cartier 
 did not return from his second voyage until July, 1536, 
 and this is a world-map requiring considerable time to 
 compile after the information had reached Dieppe. The 
 delusion of a central route to China goes in this map to 
 
VO 
 
 N 
 
 North American Portion of the Cabot Map of a.d. 1544. 
 

 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 217 
 
 its farthest limit, for the “ Great South Sea ” of Ver- 
 razano not only sweeps through the continent to within 
 a few miles of the Atlantic coast at North Carolina, but a 
 channel, the River de Ste. Helene, connects the two 
 oceans across the imagined isthmus. 
 
 Another map has been reproduced in the “ Bibliotheca 
 Lindesiana,” very important in this connection, for it con- 
 tains the results of the third expedition under Cartier, in 
 1541-42, and Roberval, in 1542-43. It also was made by 
 Desceliers at Arques, and is dated 1546. Jomard pub- 
 lished an excellent fac-simile in his Atlas, but the map is 
 known in the American books as the Henry II. or Dauphin 
 map. The geography of the St. Lawrence and the names 
 are a repetition of the Harleyan map, but the additional 
 name, Franciroy, and the drawing of Roberval and his 
 men mark the later date. From this we may see that 
 Roberval went no farther west than Cartier. 
 
 The third of this invaluable series of reproductions is 
 another by Desceliers, dated 1550; a beautiful specimen 
 of cartographic art, profusely adorned with pictures of 
 the quaint notions then current about Canada — among 
 them a battle between the pygmies and the cranes in the 
 region around the present city of Ottawa. These annual 
 battles in Homer’s time were in Africa, but succeeding 
 authors changed their habitat northwards, and one an- 
 cient commentator places them in England. In the Mid- 
 dle Ages Tartary was the field of these perennial conflicts, 
 and Jean Allefonce, Roberval’s pilot, expressed the opin- 
 ion, then and for many years later current in France, 
 when he wrote of the regions west of Hochelaga, that 
 “ these countries form part of Tartary.” In Cartier’s 
 commission Canada is said to be the “ end of Asia in the 
 west,” and the Dieppe cartographer saw nothing irra- 
 tional in portraying so usual an occurrence in Tartary. 
 The map, although at least six years later than the 
 Harleyan map, is as regards Canada hardly as correct 
 geographically. The location of “ Totunagay ” and the 
 remark, at the junction of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, 
 that “ Monsieur Roberval went as far as here,” shows 
 
218 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 that the latest reports of Cartier and Roberval are 
 embodied. 
 
 At this point also comes in the map of Sebastian Cabot, 
 dated 1544, the subject of much misconception and con- 
 troversy. This map, though published in the Nether- 
 lands, was based upon the information of Cabot, who was 
 then at Seville. Its conclusive testimony in favour of 
 Cape Breton as the landfall of John Cabot’s first voyage 
 has been already pointed out. A sketch of the Cape 
 Breton portion has been given, see page 32. It will 
 be seen at once that the American portion, at least, is 
 little more than a copy of Desliens’ map of 1541, with 
 additional information from Cartier’s reports or maps, 
 and the name tuttonaer at the most western point on the 
 St. Lawrence shows that the information was brought 
 down closely to date, for it is the Tutonagay of Cartier’s 
 third voyage. The Ottawa River is not shown, but in 
 their strangely distorted Spanish translation the French 
 names of Cartier will be recognised. 
 
 The maps drawn by Cartier have perished, and while 
 those above mentioned embody, so far as the scale of 
 world maps would allow, most of his discoveries, we learn 
 from a letter from Jacques Noel, a nephew of Cartier, 
 written in 1587, and preserved by Hakluyt, that there 
 was laid down on Cartier’s own charts a great lake west 
 of Hochelaga. Cartier learned of it from the Indians at 
 the saults (Lachine Rapids), and that it was ten days’ 
 journey distance from thence. This is the first indication 
 we meet with of Lake Ontario, and Noel says, in another 
 letter, that upon a sea chart at St. Malo, the only map of 
 Cartier’s he could find, he saw in his uncle’s own writing 
 at the place beyond the junction of the two rivers (St. 
 Lawrence and Ottawa) the words, “ By the people of 
 Canada and Hochelaga it was said; that here is the land 
 of Saguenay, which is rich and wealthy in precious 
 stones.” This map also has disappeared, but the chief 
 results of Cartier’s expeditions are recorded on the maps 
 cited above, and the geography of what is now known as 
 Canada remained unchanged for sixty years. 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 2x9 
 
 Although the name of Jean Allefonsce, or Alphonse, 
 occurs frequently in the records of early voyages, he does 
 not seem to have added anything to existing knowledge. 
 He was celebrated in those days for his skill and experi- 
 ence, and after Cartier left France in 1541 he was en- 
 gaged by Roberval and sailed with him in 1542. His 
 Routier in Hakluyt’s voyages goes only as far as 
 France Roy, giving the compass bearings and latitudes 
 of the different places with much detail. He supposed 
 the Saguenay River to connect with the Sea of Cathay, 
 and in one of the sketch maps of his manuscript Cosmog- 
 raphy a sea called the Sea of Saguenay is laid down. 
 Some report of the Indians concerning Lake St. John, at 
 the head of the river, must have misled him. He has 
 left, also, a description of the coast from Cape Breton 
 southward, which, while interesting as bearing upon the 
 fabled Norumbege, does not contain any original dis- 
 coveries. He was convinced that what we now know as 
 the Penobscot connected with the St. Lawrence near 
 Hochelaga, an opinion held also by Cartier. This notion 
 accounts for some of the distortions of Gastaldi’s map in 
 Ramusio’s collection. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell in detail upon the succeeding 
 records of voyages to Canada, or to New France, as Jean 
 Allefonsce informs us the country “ for just and proper 
 reasons ” was commencing to be called. The people of 
 Bretagne, and particularly of St. Malo, not only con- 
 tinued their voyages for fishing on the coasts of New- 
 foundland and Acadia, but gradually extended their oper- 
 ations into the Gulf and up the River St. Lawrence, 
 not so much for fishing as for trading with the Indians 
 and buying furs. The long confusion of the wars of 
 religion of Charles IX. and St. Bartholomew, of the 
 League and Henry III., interfered very little with the 
 steady conduct of this business. It was free to all — a 
 period of untrammelled free trade — in which, by degrees, 
 the cities of Normandy, Rouen, Dieppe, Havre, and Hon- 
 fleur took part; with more or less jealously on the part 
 of the citizens of St. Malo (Malouins, as they were 
 
220 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 called), who claimed a prior right from their townsman, 
 Jacques Cartier. For a long time the trade was in pri- 
 vate hands. The energies of people of influence at court 
 were absorbed in politics or war. The records compre- 
 hend all the northeast coast under the general name 
 Terreneuve, and the sailors or owners did not care for 
 geographical discoveries. They made no settlements, but 
 traded everywhere along the coast, and their relations 
 with the Indians were most amicable. The French were 
 trusted and liked by the natives, and in the records of St. 
 Malo we meet with baptisms of Indians, and of Indians 
 brought over to be taught French and act as interpre- 
 ters. As for the fisheries on the coast, they were well 
 established before Cartier’s voyages and rapidly grew in 
 importance. The letters from Jacques Noel, preserved 
 by Hakluyt, throw light on this period. He, too, had 
 been up the “ great river of Canada ” to Hochelaga, and 
 had stood on the top of Mount Royal. He had gone even 
 a little further, and had passed the saults and seen the 
 river widening into the Lake St. Louis beyond, and had 
 also heard from the natives of the great lake ten days’ 
 journey to the west. In the meantime the nomenclature 
 was becoming settled as the name St. Lawrence gradually 
 extended itself over the whole gulf and river. The 
 Spaniards knew the former as the Golfo Quadrado (the 
 Square Gulf), from its shape. La Grande Baye was 
 the French name from Cartier’s time for the upper part 
 near the Strait of Belle-Isle. Gomara, in 1555, wrote of 
 a great river named San Lorengo, which fell into a square 
 gulf, and in 1565 Ramusio reports the “ Gran’ Capitano 
 Francese ” as speaking fifteen or twenty years before of 
 a great river called San Lorenzo. But Cartier’s nephew, 
 in 1587, has no name for it but the “ River of Canada,” 
 and even Champlain, in 1603, calls it by that name. In 
 1609, on Lescarbot’s map, is Golfe du Canada; but on 
 Whytfliet’s, in 1597, is Sinus St. Laurentii, so that the 
 present names, St. Lawrence River and Gulf, seem to 
 have been imposed from without. 
 
 In 1588 we meet with the first attempt at monopoly. 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 221 
 
 Cartier, as has been shown, was a loser by his voyages in 
 the King’s service to the extent of 8630 livres. Henry 
 III. granted to his nephew, Jacques Noel, and to one 
 Chaton, Sieur de la Jaunaye, who had performed some 
 service as captain of marine, a monopoly of trade with 
 Canada for twelve years, including the fur trade and gen- 
 eral traffic in merchandise of all kinds, but excluding 
 fisheries. They obtained, also, a monopoly of all mines 
 and the right of settlement, of building forts, and of taking 
 over a certain number of convicts. All this was under the 
 pretext of continuing the memory of the discoverer of 
 Canada and recompensing him vicariously, through his 
 heirs, for his loss. The grant struck at the interests of too 
 many citizens of St. Malo to pass unchallenged, and in 
 consequence of urgent remonstrances made the Par- 
 liament of Bretagne it was revoked the same year. 
 Canada again escaped a colony of convicts, and the times 
 of monopoly were postponed for a few years. 
 
 Normandy was more involved in the wars of religion 
 than Bretagne, and was the theatre of severe struggles; 
 but, whether Catholic or Huguenot, the people required 
 food, and private ship-owners and merchants of Dieppe, 
 Honfleur, and Havre shared the fisheries and the trade of 
 Terreneuve with the Bretons in continually increasing 
 proportion as the times became more settled. It was in 
 Normandy that the first successful settlements in Canada 
 were planned, and the French Canadians are not of Bre- 
 ton, but of Norman origin. 
 
 Lescarbot in his “ History of New France ” records his 
 meeting at Canso, in 1607, with a Basque from St. Jean 
 de Luz, Captain Savalet, who had made forty-two an- 
 nual voyages to that place. This old “ Terre-neuvier,” 
 as those who sailed to these regions were called, em- 
 ployed sixteen men fishing and drying cod. He was a 
 type of many in those days who frequented the northeast 
 coasts of America. His first voyage must have been in 
 1562, but, as pointed out elsewhere, the Basques began 
 to frequent these waters shortly after the voyage of 
 Gomez in 1525, and for many years both French and 
 
222 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Spanish Basques in great numbers followed the cod 
 fisheries. The Spanish Basques declined in number at 
 the time of the war between Spain and England, and 
 later, when the French became firmly established, they 
 prohibited the Spaniards from cod fishing on the coasts. 
 The Basques have left their traces along the south and 
 west shores of Newfoundland. Trepassy, Placentia, 
 Santa Maria, Portochova, Miquelon, among many other 
 places, are mentioned in the records of Basque towns in 
 northern Spain. On Vallard’s map (1547) and on Des- 
 celiers’ map (1550) we meet with the name Placentia, 
 called after the town of that name on the Rio Deva in 
 Guipuzcoa. Tombstones with Basque inscriptions have 
 recently been deciphered at Placentia bearing date of 
 1676 and later. These apparently mark the graves of 
 French Basques; but they were Spanish Basques who 
 named the place. Port au Basque still retains the name 
 telling of its former days. It is near Cape Ray, and is 
 the terminus of the Newfoundland railway where pas- 
 sengers cross to Sydney, Cape Breton. Rogneuse, 
 where Cartier called on his return from Canada in 1536, 
 still retains its name in the English corruption, Renews; 
 but the word is claimed for the Basques as derived from 
 Orrougne or Urugne, the last post station in France on 
 the Spanish frontier. 
 
 In the years immediately succeeding their discovery 
 by Cartier, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the adjoining 
 waters, as well as the estuary of the river, became known 
 to the Basque whalers, both French and Spanish, for the 
 abundance of whales, walruses, and seals to be found 
 there. From the central station of the Magdalen 
 Islands, then called the Ramea Islands, the Basques fol- 
 lowed up the river at least as far as the Saguenay, for 
 their presence is still witnessed by the names Echafaud 
 aux Basques and Basque roads a little west of its mouth. 
 From walrus and whale hunters the Basques developed 
 into traders, and De Monts and Champlain found them 
 far up the river trafficking with the Indians for furs — very 
 successfully, it would seem, since thence arose the myth- 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 223 
 
 ical story that the natives would not trade in any other 
 language than Basque. When Champlain appeared in 
 these waters the activity of the Basques was at its height. 
 We find them in 1608 resisting Pont-Grave at Tadous- 
 sac and firing on his ship, and in 1623 we hear of a 
 Basque establishment at Miscou. The men who con- 
 spired against Champlain at Quebec in 1608 intended to 
 take refuge with Spaniards (Basques) then at Tadous- 
 sac. The paralysing hand of Philip II. killed the marine 
 enterprise of the Spanish Basques, and the grants of 
 monopoly to trading companies of merchants interfered 
 with the trading of the French Basques, so that the 
 memory of that interesting people survives only in 
 names here and there persisting on the coast. When 
 in more recent times the Basques commenced to emi- 
 grate they went to South America. 
 
 The history of the Portuguese is the saddest story, 
 for their claims to these waters were antecedent to all, 
 and in their annals the captaincy of Terra Nova was 
 continued in the family of the Corte-Reals down to 1567. 
 In 1580 Philip II. seized the brilliant little kingdom, and 
 for sixty years it remained in bondage. It recovered 
 its independence, but not its maritime importance. The 
 memory of the Portuguese has faded off the coasts of 
 America, and only in old maps and records, studied by 
 a few scholars, may we learn of their skill and daring 
 as sailors and their enterprise as fishermen on the north- 
 east coast of America. 
 
 We have seen how England neglected — almost for- 
 got — her transatlantic discoveries; how she was content 
 with a very small part of all she might have claimed as 
 her own; how she imperilled by non-use her presump- 
 tive right of prior discovery ; and we will leave to the 
 general historian the narrative of its revindication in 
 later years. We have seen English merchants who per- 
 mitted the Cabots to fall into obscurity willing to send 
 their vessels to Newfoundland under Portuguese pilots, 
 and entering into partnership with sailors of the Azores 
 to follow in a hesitating way the road the Cabots had 
 
224 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 pointed out. The first notice of the “ new-lands ” on 
 the English statute book is an Act, 1541-42 (33 Henry 
 VIII. c. 11 ), and it brings out into strong light the re- 
 missness of the English sailors who, instead of going 
 themselves to fish, waylaid off the coasts the returning 
 fleets of foreign fishing vessels and bought fish to supply 
 the English markets. A penalty of ten pounds was later 
 enacted for buying fish at sea or in foreign ports. The 
 Tudors had many faults, but they were real monarchs, 
 and under their strong rule the English marine was 
 formed. Doubtless some English vessels made the voy- 
 age, but the King was determined that all should do so, 
 or give up the profit of selling fish in English ports. In 
 1548-49 an Act was passed under Edward VI. to protect 
 fishermen from certain exactions of the Admiralty, and 
 the provisions of both Acts were re-enacted in 1580-81 
 under Elizabeth with injunctions “touching certain poli- 
 tick constitutions for the maintenance of the Navy,” that 
 fish should be eaten on Wednesdays and Saturdays 
 throughout the year — solely, however, as a matter of 
 national policy, for Her Majesty also enjoins that any 
 man who teaches that eating fish has the least connection 
 with the service of God shall be severely punished. 
 
 This view is confirmed by Hakluyt. He states that 
 the fisheries were common and frequented by the English 
 about the beginning of the reign of Edward VI., A. D. 
 1548; but the Bretons and Portuguese were there in great 
 numbers before that. Parkhurst, in a letter to Hak- 
 luyt (1578), tells him that he had made four voyages to 
 Newfoundland, and that the English ships had increased 
 in that short time from 30 to 50; but he gives also the 
 number of vessels of other nations. There were 100 
 sail of Spaniards, 30 sail of Basque whalers, 50 sail of 
 Portuguese, and 150 sail of French and Bretons. Park- 
 hurst accounts for the comparatively small number of 
 English by the trade carried on with Iceland. This is 
 even more strongly set forth by Edward Hayes, in 1583, 
 for, writing of these coasts, he speaks of “ the little we 
 do yet actually possess therein and by our ignorance of 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 225 
 
 the riches and secrets within those lands which unto this 
 day we know chiefly by the travel and report of other 
 nations and most of the French who albeit they cannot 
 challenge such right and interest into the said countries 
 as we, neither these many years have had opportunities 
 nor means so great to discover and plant (being vexed 
 with the calamities of intestine wars) as we have had by 
 the inestimable benefit of our long and happy peace; 
 yet have they both ways performed more.” 
 
 It was in 1578, while Newfoundland and Acadia were 
 a common ground of enterprise for the nations of west- 
 ern Europe, that Queen Elizabeth issued letters patent to 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert for taking formal possession of 
 and colonising the new lands across the ocean. Cartier 
 and Roberval had taken possession of Canada, but their 
 attempts at settlement had failed, and there was not a 
 single settled post of Europeans on the coast north of 
 Florida. Gilbert was the first Englishman to make an 
 attempt at colonisation, after Cabot’s unfortunate voyage 
 of 1498. He sailed in 1583 and touched at Newfoundland 
 on his way, intending to go further south. On arriving 
 at St. John’s he found many vessels, Portuguese, Spanish, 
 and French as well as English. He took possession in 
 the Queen’s name, and set up the arms of England with 
 the usual ceremonies. No objection was made by any 
 of the foreigners, but all assisted at the ceremony and 
 they contributed of their stores such provisions as were 
 required for Sir Humphrey’s fleet. The enterprise failed ; 
 for, of the five ships, one deserted and returned home 
 after being out only a few days, another was sent home 
 from St. John’s, a third was cast away on Sable Island. 
 Gilbert’s own vessel foundered at sea on the return voy- 
 age, and the fifth reached England with the broken and 
 discouraged remnant. 
 
 Although the English were in smaller number upon the 
 coast, their ships were larger, and it is recorded by Hak- 
 luyt that the admirals in the harbours of the southern 
 ports of Newfoundland were usually English. These 
 wild regions were like the far west mining camps in the 
 15 
 
226 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 years of early discovery. Law was improvised on the 
 spot, and in these harbours of the west a usage grew up 
 of choosing a “ fishing admiral ” in each, who kept a 
 rough order over all the vessels of whatever nation. 
 Usually the first captain to arrive was “ admiral ” for the 
 season, but the Portuguese custom was that the office 
 should be held for a week only and by the captains in 
 orderly succession. While the English increased in num- 
 ber constantly on the coast of Newfoundland, it was not 
 until the last years of the century that they began to enter 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus we find Thomas James 
 writing to Lord Burleigh in 1591 to tell him of an island 
 (Magdalen) he had heard of from two smaller vessels of 
 St. Malo which he had captured. Hakluyt knew of the 
 island and of the immense number of the walruses there, 
 but the Bristol merchants evidently had heard of it for 
 the first time. In 1593 the knowledge was utilised, for 
 two ships sailed from Falmouth for the “ Island of 
 Ramea ” (Magdalen) to kill “the huge and mighty sea 
 oxen with great teeth,” whereof fifteen hundred “ were 
 killed by one small bark in the year 1591.” To this Hak- 
 luyt appends a note of information received from Mr. 
 George Drake, who made the same voyage that year, 
 and adds “ that these are the first for aught that hitherto 
 has come to my knowledge of our own nation, that have 
 conducted English ships so farre within this Gulf of St. 
 Lawrence and have brought us true relation of the mani- 
 fold gaine which the French, Bretaynes, Baskes and 
 Biskaines do yerely returne from the sayd partes; while 
 wee this long time have stood still and have bene idle 
 lookers on.” 
 
 The following year the English got as far as Anticosti 
 in the Grace of Bristol. Everywhere they met or found 
 traces of the Basques of St. Jean de Luz whale hunting 
 in the Gulf. Returning they called at Placentia Bay, and 
 found over sixty Basque vessels there, of which eight 
 were Spanish. In 1597 we read of the Hopewell and 
 Chancewel of London sailing for “ the river of Canada,” 
 and touching at the places discovered by Cartier sixty 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 227 
 
 years before. There they had many adventures with 
 “ Britaines, Baskes and Biskaines,” showing that the 
 Basque cities were then at the height of their activity in 
 the transatlantic fisheries. 
 
 When Sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed for Sable Island he 
 was acting upon information received at St. John’s from 
 a Portuguese sailor who had been present when, thirty 
 years previously, the Portuguese had placed upon it neat 
 cattle and swine to breed. He thought it would be a 
 good place from whence to procure a supply of food for 
 the settlement he intended to make near by in Nova 
 Scotia or New England. To us, who know the place as 
 the “ graveyard of the North Atlantic,” the idea seems 
 absurd, but the sailors of these early days seem to have 
 had no dread of it. The island is on the earliest maps, 
 under the name of Santa Cruz, and finds place often in 
 grants and commissions, as in that to Fagundez, in 1521. 
 It is now not over twenty miles long, some three or four 
 miles having been washed into the ocean during the last 
 fifty years. It must have been much larger in early days, 
 for as it is now a bar of seventeen miles projects at each 
 end, and in heavy weather the ocean rages with a roar 
 like thunder against the island and its banks in a continu- 
 ous line of breakers extending for fifty miles. 
 
 The century closed with a tragedy on this island. In 
 1577 and 1578 Henry III. had granted commissions to 
 the Marquis de La Roche, a Catholic nobleman of Bre- 
 tagne, as viceroy of the new region across the ocean, 
 couched in the extravagant terms of the commission 
 formerly given to Roberval. These powers, in the con- 
 fusion of the wars of religion, lay dormant. The wars 
 ceased in 1596, when the leaders of the League submitted 
 to Henry IV. In 1598, on January 12, Henry IV. re- 
 newed this commission. The date of the voyage has 
 been disputed, but there can be no reasonable doubt 
 about it, for the document may be found in Lescarbot. 
 The commission has also been published in Volume II. 
 of the “ Edits et Ordonnances ” in Canada. La Roche 
 raked the prisons to make up a crew, and with sixty con- 
 
228 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 victs for prospective settlers he sailed across the Atlantic. 
 He stopped at Sable Island under some such notion as 
 influenced Sir Humphrey Gilbert, for, in fact, he did not 
 know where he would finally place his colony. In the 
 meantime he landed fifty of his convicts and his stores on 
 the island, and sailed in a small vessel to reconnoitre the 
 coast, intending to return for them when he had decided 
 on a suitable place. But a very heavy storm set in and 
 blew his little ship back to France. The convicts thus 
 abandoned did not lack for food, for they had the cattle 
 left there by the Portuguese; marine animals, such as 
 seals and walruses, frequented the shores, and fish were 
 abundant, as were also ducks and other sea fowl ; but the 
 evil passions of such a crew made a pandemonium of 
 hatred and murder. For five years it lasted, until in 
 1603 the matter came to the ears of the King, and he 
 gave order to send a skilful Norman pilot, Chefd’otel, to 
 rescue them. Eleven shaggy men, clothed in sealskins, 
 and with long, untrimmed beards, were presented to the 
 King — the sole surviviors of the fifty who had been left. 
 Human cupidity could steal even from these wretches, for 
 the pilot robbed them of the furs they had collected and 
 had to be forced by law to make restitution. Canada 
 and Acadia again escaped being made convict settle- 
 ments, and the close of the sixteenth century left the 
 northeast coast of the American continent clear of Euro- 
 pean settlers of every kind. From St. Augustine, in 
 Florida, to the arctic circle every attempt had happily 
 failed. A remark of Lescarbot has set many writers 
 astray. He states that when La Roche landed in France, 
 on his return, he was thrown into prison by the Duke de 
 Mercoeur. That could not have been the case, for the 
 leader of the League had then submitted, and France was 
 at last united and tranquil under the Edict of Nantes. 
 That La Roche should have left these men so long was 
 probably due to want of means, for his losses ruined him, 
 and he died of grief not long after. The interpolation of 
 the Duke de Mercoeur has led to much controversy. It 
 is, however, recorded that the Marquis de La Roche made 
 
CARTIER TO CHAMPLAIN 229 
 
 an abortive attempt previously, for Hakluyt, in his “West- 
 ern Planting,” twice speaks of an expedition under him 
 in 1584, with three hundred men, which “was luckily 
 overthrown, in respect of us, by reason that his great ship 
 was thrown away on the Travers of Burwage (Brou- 
 age).” An imprisonment by the Duke de Mercoeur, or 
 some other political occurrence of that stormy period (for 
 La Roche was an active partisan of Catharine de Medici), 
 may then have intervened to prevent a renewal of that at- 
 tempt; but the expedition now in question was in 1598. 
 There is no room for doubt, since the charters of two ves- 
 sels which sailed in it survive. They were dated on the 
 15th and 1 6th of March of that year, and were signed by 
 La Roche at Honfleur. With the ruin of La Roche and 
 the collapse of his attempt at colonisation the sixteenth 
 century closes. The springs of the history of Acadia and 
 Canada were freed from the suspicion even of moral con- 
 tamination when the eleven convicts of Sable Island were 
 carried back to France. 
 
 A legend has grown up to brighten the gloom of this 
 island of terror. The fishermen tell of a Franciscan 
 monk who shared the horrors of exile with the convicts, 
 whom he incessantly, but vainly, strove to influence for 
 good. When the ship came to carry away the survivors 
 he refused to leave the island. He was sick unto death, 
 and in a few hours his heart-break would be over and the 
 wind would bury him in the ever-shifting sand. So they 
 left him. But the story goes on to relate that he 
 recovered and lived for many years, passing the time not 
 occupied in tending his little garden, in prayer and medi- 
 tation, or in collecting shell fish for his daily food. The 
 ocean threw upon the island shipwrecked sailors to whose 
 spiritual needs he ministered, and fishermen from the 
 neighbouring coasts often visited him. These last brought 
 him presents of the elements necessary for celebration of 
 the mass, and he requited them with advice and consola- 
 tion. The spirit of the holy monk yet hovers round the 
 scene of his trial and victory ; for the fishermen sometimes 
 see him still in fair weather pacing the shore or outlined 
 
230 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 aloft against the blue sky. At other times they see his 
 figure bright against the black wall of storm cloud, his 
 arms stretched out as at the foot of the altar, in suppli- 
 cation for the sailors in peril of impending wreck, or 
 extended in blessing or absolution as some vessel on the 
 crest of the breaking surf is dashed against the shore. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 CHAMPLAIN 
 
 W ITH the opening years of the seventeenth 
 century came a turning point in the history 
 of New France. The idea began to impress 
 itself strongly upon the minds of far-seeing 
 and enterprising Frenchmen that the new regions ex- 
 ploited only by fishermen and traders might be useful 
 as colonies, and that it might be advantageous to 
 establish real extensions of France there; not penal 
 settlements or dumping grounds for criminals, but 
 settlements of honest, sturdy Frenchmen who would 
 loyally serve France in the New World and permanently 
 occupy the road to Cathay and the East. Practical 
 statesmen were against it. The Duke de Sully has left 
 it on record “ that to make plantation in Canada was 
 absolutely contrary to his opinion,” and he opposed 
 every attempt in that direction, laying down with con- 
 fidence the maxim that no advantages were to be derived 
 from America north of 40° lat. That is to say, in the 
 language of our day, there was nothing of value north of 
 Philadelphia. Practical statesmanship must look for its 
 reward in its own generation. It was the policy of prac- 
 tical statesmen which blocked the development of New- 
 foundland and forbade in England’s oldest colony, until 
 after A. D. 1820, the inclosure and cultivation of land 
 and the building or repairing of houses without the 
 license of the royal governor. 
 
 For many years Tadoussac had been a rendezvous for 
 the fur trade on the St. Lawrence. No settlement or 
 permanent post had been founded, but there the Indians 
 in spring and early summer used to meet the vessels 
 of the traders. Francois Grave, Sieur du Pont (whose 
 
 231 
 
232 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 name continually recurs in Canadian history as Pont- 
 Grave, Pontgrave or Dupont-Grave), an adventurous 
 sailor merchant originally of St. Malo, seeing that the 
 competition of private traders rendered a promising busi- 
 ness unprofitable, sought the co-operation of someone 
 with influence at court sufficient to obtain a monopoly of 
 the trade with Canada. He applied to Pierre de Chauvin, 
 a shipowner of Honfleur who had been a distinguished 
 captain in the service of Henry IV. in the wars of the 
 League, and Chauvin procured a commission as Lieu- 
 tenant of the King in Canada, with exclusive privilege 
 of trade under the stipulation that he would take out peo- 
 ple to settle and defend the country. Chauvin was not a 
 courtier, but a man of abundant energy and capacity. In 
 the year 1600 he himself sailed for Tadoussac, with Pont- 
 Grave as his lieutenant in charge of another vessel. 
 It was a memorable voyage, for the Sieur de Monts 
 went as passenger to see the country. It was the first 
 voyage in what M. Suite has happily called “ the Cana- 
 dian movement,” and it was taken by three men, of 
 whom two were Huguenots, for the Edict of Nantes had 
 opened to all Frenchmen, without distinction of religion, 
 a career in the service of their common country. Pont- 
 Grave advised settlement at Three Rivers, for he had 
 made several voyages to Canada and knew the place, but 
 Chauvin would go no further than Tadoussac, and there, 
 on a site overlooking the roadstead, he built a house. The 
 voyage was really a fur-trading venture, but sixteen men 
 were left to winter at Tadoussac, so that it was a colour- 
 able commencement of settlement. But it did not 
 succeed, for Tadoussac is a bleak, exposed place, and 
 insufficient precaution had been taken against the winter. 
 The men were not under control, and the provisions, 
 were wasted. Some of the men died, and the rest took 
 refuge with the Indians and anxiously awaited the spring 
 and the return of the ships. Chauvin made a second 
 voyage in 1602, and in 1603, while preparing for a third, 
 he died. 
 
 Pont-Grave was a good man of business and did not 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 233 
 
 allow his project to drop. Aymar de Chastes, governor 
 of Dieppe, a Catholic nobleman who had done notable 
 service for Henry IV. in the recent wars, obtained a 
 similar commission and became the head of the enterprise. 
 Pont-Grave was the ruling spirit, but leading merchants 
 of St. Malo, Rouen, and Rochelle had an interest in the 
 profits. De Chastes intended to go out to Canada in 
 person, but in the meantime an expedition was sent 
 out in 1603. Pont-Grave had charge of the business 
 of trading, and Champlain — the real founder and father 
 of Canada — made his first appearance in the country in 
 charge of the projected explorations and discoveries. 
 The influence of Pont-Grave upon the history of Canada 
 was slight, but he and his family were interested for 
 generations in the trade of the country, and long after- 
 wards he brought out his little grandchild, at the age of 
 twelve years, to see the Indians in their own homes and 
 early learn to bear privation and face danger. 
 
 Samuel de Champlain was born about the year 1567 
 at Brouage, now a small town on the Bay of Biscay 
 seven miles south of Rochefort, but then a port of consid- 
 erable trade, held as a fortified city during the wars of 
 the League. He came of bourgeois stock, but the offices 
 and positions he held would of themselves raise him to 
 the class of nobles. Those who dispute his right to the 
 particle de are more fastidious than King Louis XIII., 
 who addressed his commission, dated April 27, 1628, to 
 “ nostre cher et bien ame le sieur de Champlain ” and 
 signed it with his own hand. Champlain’s father was a 
 sailor by profession and his uncle held the position of 
 pilot-major in the service of Spain’. From boyhood he 
 had a passion for the sea, and during all his life he held 
 navigation to be the most useful and excellent of the arts. 
 His first service, was, however, as a soldier for Henry IV., 
 and at the close of the war he held the rank of quarter- 
 master. Brouage was in the centre of a Protestant dis- 
 trict, but there is no reason to believe that the family of 
 Champlain was Huguenot. He himself was an unwaver- 
 ing Catholic, and in fighting for Henry IV. he did as very 
 
234 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 many other Catholics were doing — he fought for France 
 against a conspiracy hatched in Spain to supplant the 
 legitimate line of monarchs by the offspring of a foreign 
 adventurer, and to graft Spanish narrowness and bigotry 
 upon the broader and more tolerant character of the 
 French people. At the close of the war the town of 
 Blavet, in Bretagne, where Champlain was serving, was 
 occupied by a Spanish garrison, and Champlain’s uncle 
 was commissioned by the King of Spain to carry back 
 the soldiers to Spain. Young Champlain went with his 
 relative, and when in Spain managed so well that he 
 was permitted to visit the West Indies as captain of a 
 ship chartered for the service of the King. It was a 
 rare chance, as foreigners were jealously excluded from 
 the Spanish colonies. Champlain availed himself of it to 
 the fullest extent. He was absent over two years and vis- 
 ited not only the chief islands, but the city and territory 
 of Mexico. It is characteristic of his quick eye and far- 
 sighted intelligence that he pointed out the possibility of 
 a canal at Panama, and that, by making use of a small 
 river falling in near Porto Bello, there would be only 
 four leagues of canal to cut. On his return he presented 
 to Henry IV. a full report upon these regions, illustrated 
 by many plans and drawings which, though not very 
 artistic, are sufficient. Henry IV. was pleased with the 
 work, and gave the author a pension and the title of 
 Geographer to the King. While disengaged he happened 
 to visit M. de Chastes at Dieppe, who was then prepar- 
 ing an expedition to Canada under the command of 
 Pont-Grave and meditated an exploration of the country 
 to find a better site for a settlement than Tadoussac. 
 For such a task Champlain was of all men most fitted, 
 and, the King’s assent to his absence being obtained, 
 Champlain sailed from Honfleur on March 15, 1603, in a 
 ship happily named La Bonne-Renommee. This voy- 
 age was the commencement of a life-long companion- 
 ship and sincere friendship between him and Pont- 
 Grave. The men were very different. Pont-Grave was 
 a merchant, a loyal friend, and a loyal Frenchman, but 
 
Champlain Chart of Tadoussac. 
 (From Laverdiere’s (Euvres de Champlain.) 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 235 
 
 busied with trade and cognate matters; and Champlain, 
 while practical and efficient in his daily duties, aimed 
 at establishing a settled industrial colony which should 
 hold for France the gateway of the golden East. With 
 unflagging perseverance and imperturbable patience he 
 devoted his whole life to this patriotic task — the most 
 single-hearted and single-eyed servant France ever 
 possessed. 
 
 The vessel arrived at Tadoussac on May 24. They 
 had brought with them two Indians, who had been taken 
 to France the preceding year by Pont-Grave to make a 
 report to their countrymen concerning the wonders of 
 the world across the sea. A number of Indians were 
 encamped on the western point of the mouth of the 
 Saguenay, including bands from the Etchemins of New 
 Brunswick, the Algonquins from the Ottawa, and the 
 Montagnais of the Saguenay. They had been on an ex- 
 pedition against the Iroquois, and had brought back a 
 hundred scalps, over which they were making great re- 
 joicings. A formal assembly was held, at which the two 
 Indians made an address, and told of the power and 
 greatness of the French people; and, it should be espec- 
 ially noted, they told their people of the good reception 
 accorded them by the King, and that he had promised to 
 be their ally, and either to make peace, or to send men to 
 assist them against their enemies, the Iroquois. Here, 
 therefore, before Champlain had set foot in the country, 
 a definite policy had been decided upon and announced, 
 which he has been blamed by some for carrying out. 
 With one voice the assembled savages cried out, Ho! Ho! 
 Ho! in their satisfaction that they were to have the sup- 
 port of so great an ally. 
 
 Champlain, after the formal assemblies and festivities 
 of the Indians were got through, lost no time in commenc- 
 ing his explorations. He ascended the Saguenay about 
 sixty-three miles, to a point a little beyond Chicoutimi, 
 where the river becomes impassable from rapids and 
 rocks. He questioned the Indians very closely, and 
 gathered from them a very fair idea of the upper coun- 
 
236 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 try. They told him of the lower rapids, of the stretch of 
 quiet water on the upper river, of the rapids of the 
 Decharge, of Lake St. John, of the three large rivers 
 which fall into it, of the height of land and the savages 
 from the north who lived in sight of a sea which was 
 salt. Champlain concluded correctly that it was a gulf 
 of the ocean stretching in from the north, and seven 
 years later it was discovered so to be by Henry Hudson. 
 
 On June 18 Champlain, accompanied by Pont-Grave, 
 started for the Sault. Cartier’s name, “ Hochelega,” 
 had passed away, and until the city of Montreal was 
 founded the place was known from the rapids which 
 blocked navigation, as “ The Sault.” He noted on the 
 way the falls of Montmorenci, and named them after the 
 Seigneur de Montmorenci, admiral of France, to whom 
 he dedicated the narrative of his voyage. There was no 
 settlement of any kind at Quebec. The name Stadacona 
 had disappeared with the Huron-Iroquois people who 
 were there in Cartier’s time, and now for the first time 
 the name appears as Quebec, — the strait or narrows, — 
 because the river is narrower there than anywhere else in 
 its whole course. As Detroit in the west is the French 
 word for the narrows on the upper river, so Quebec is 
 the Algonquin word for the narrows on the lower river. 
 Detroit and Quebec are synonyms, and it is trifling with 
 history to drag the Portuguese or their discoveries in 
 Africa into an etymology so obvious. 
 
 Champlain left Quebec on the 23d, and went as far as 
 Ste. Croix — the Ochelay of Cartier — “ a low point ris- 
 ing from both sides.” This cannot have been other 
 than “ the Platon,” or Pointe au Platon. The place now 
 called Ste. Croix is a village six miles lower down, and 
 both are on the south shore. On the north shore, oppo- 
 site the village of Ste. Croix, the Jacques Cartier River 
 falls in. The St. Lawrence is very nearly three miles 
 wide at that point. Here Champlain, no doubt taking 
 his information from Pont-Grave, observes that it was 
 the limit of Cartier’s explorations. It was his first visit 
 to Canada, and he had not read Cartier’s narrative. 
 
< 
 
 w 
 
 & 
 
 H 
 
 Z 
 
 O 
 
 fa 
 
 o 
 
 ;> 
 
 H 
 
 6 
 
 W 
 
 H 
 
 fa 
 
 C 
 
 w 
 
 H 
 
 CO 
 
 Q 
 
 Z 
 
 < 
 
 B 
 
 c 
 
 ft] 
 
 H 
 
 co 
 
 co 
 
 fa 
 
 c 
 
 y} 
 
 Z 
 
 < 
 
 <2 
 
 2 
 
 C^s 
 
 (3 
 
 <v 
 
 > 
 
 a 
 
 ft 
 
 "O 
 
 <u 
 
 c 
 
 St 
 
 o 
 
 St 
 
 o 
 
 "W 
 
 §H 
 e a 
 
 o 
 
 to O 
 3 co 
 
 | U^3 
 
 •• (D CO 
 
 <U J2- 
 o ftS # co 
 
 5 JJ £ 
 
 <D > , . 
 
 U > <+- 
 
 ^ u 
 
 c.S 5 
 5 nl fe 
 
 S-< ** 0. 
 
 o S' rt 
 ftB . 
 
 £ jH jT 
 
 « CJT3 . 
 ir. V XI 
 O >> Jr; C 
 
 u « 
 
 TJ g £ 
 
 a 
 
 £ 
 
 c 
 
 a 
 
 £ 
 
 (O 
 
 "fl 
 
 ^3 
 
 ft 
 
 E 
 
 cj 
 
 X2 
 
 O 
 
 £ 
 
 Jft <U 
 C 
 
 o 
 
 > CO h 
 
 Ctf CJ 
 
 § ^ 
 
 o 
 
 a jv 
 
 br «u -a £ § 
 
 •s s 
 
 oO-MCfi^ 
 
 : < O 06 Z 
 
 -c 
 
 H 
 
 <5 
 
 < 
 
 CJ 
 
 
 'Vl 
 
 >o 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 237 
 
 Later, in 1608, when he founded Quebec and began to 
 explore the upper country, he examined the question at 
 length, and recorded his conviction that Cartier’s Ste. 
 Croix was the St. Charles River, at Quebec. That is the 
 received opinion now, but this passage has led many 
 writers astray, and it is a warning against what is called 
 “ immemorial tradition,” for the erroneous notion must 
 have existed as early as 1600. Champlain observed the 
 advantages of Three Rivers as a site for a trading post, 
 and learned from the Indians that the head-waters of the 
 rivers St. Maurice and Saguenay were close together. 
 These wild people are of necessity good geographers, 
 and Champlain, all his life, drew incessantly from their 
 information. After passing Lake St. Peter, which he 
 named, he attempted to ascend the Riviere des Iroquois 
 (the Richelieu), but finding the current too strong 
 returned after reaching St. Ours, and passed on to the 
 Sault (Montreal). 
 
 The localities around the present city of Montreal are 
 described with much detail in his first volume. He was 
 evidently struck by the natural advantages of the place, 
 and, the rapids being impassable, he went on foot to the 
 lake (St. Louis) above. The Indians told him of the 
 upper river and its rapids and expansions, and of the 
 great lake (Ontario), and then of a fall “ somewhat high, 
 and with but little water.” We must suspect here a mis- 
 understanding in interpretation, for that was the notion 
 Champlain got of Niagara. After that came another 
 great lake, and then a strait (Detroit), which led into a 
 very large lake (Huron), so large that the Indians would 
 not venture upon it. Reflecting upon what he had seen, 
 and what he had gathered from the Indians, Champlain 
 thought that this distant water was the “ South Sea,” but 
 with the good judgment natural to his character he 
 observes that, before forming a conclusion, more evidence 
 is necessary. He sought it from other Indians on his 
 way back, but although he got more information as to 
 the rivers falling into the lakes, and concerning the lakes 
 (Champlain and George) to the south, and the river 
 
238 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 (Hudson) flowing to “ Florida,” he could not learn with 
 any certainty that any of the water flowed westward or 
 that anywhere it was salt. 
 
 Immediately after his return to Tadoussac Champlain 
 sailed to explore the lower river, and visited Gaspe and 
 Perce. At Perce he met the Sieur Prevert of St. Malo, 
 who had gone in another vessel, which stopped at Gaspe, 
 to discover a mine in Acadia. The locality he was in 
 search of was Cape d’Or, at the mouth of the Basin of 
 Mines on the Bay of Fundy, and could only be reached 
 overland. How he had heard of it does not appear, but 
 all were confident about it, and, indeed, the cape derives 
 its name from small quantities of native copper found 
 there. This Sieur Prevert was a romancer, for he said 
 that he had been to the mine, whereas he had only per- 
 suaded some Indians to go there, as Champlain found out 
 later. He reported concerning a formidable tribe of 
 savages — the Armouchiquois — of strange form, for their 
 heads and bodies were small and their arms and thighs 
 as thin as skeletons. Their legs were of the same size all 
 the way down, but so long that when they squatted on 
 their heels their knees were half a foot above their heads. 
 Very agile savages they were, and the Sieur Prevert did 
 not trust himself among them. He reported a super- 
 natural danger, even more serious, the Gougou — a female 
 monster dwelling at Miscou head, where Chaleur Bay 
 turns on the New Brunswick side. The masts of a large 
 ship did not reach to the waist of this creature, and it 
 caught and devoured many savages, putting into its 
 enormous pocket any surplus of human beings it had no 
 immediate need for. Some savages who had managed 
 to escape said that the pocket was large enough to hold a 
 ship. The Sieur Prevert naturally did not trust his per- 
 son near enough to the Gougou to run any risk of being 
 pocketed, but he went so near that he and all his crew 
 heard the horrible noises and strange hissings made by 
 the monster. Evidence so unanimous, confirmed as it 
 was by the testimony of the Indians, led Champlain to 
 believe that the Gougou was some devil which tormented 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 239 
 
 the poor pagan Indians. Miscou Island was a good posi- 
 tion, for a creature of that size could reach a long way 
 over the bay. This, concludes Champlain, “ is what I 
 have learned about the Gougou.” 
 
 On August 24 they set sail from Gaspe for France, the 
 Sieur Prevert’s vessel in company. The Montagnais sent 
 a son of one of their chiefs with Pont-Grave, and they, 
 kindly acceding to his request, also threw in an Iroquois 
 woman whom they had intended to eat. The Sieur Pre- 
 vert took home in his ship four savages, and as one was 
 from the coast of “ La Cadie ” the citizens of St. Malo 
 doubtless heard from the mouths of numerous witnesses 
 many other particulars concerning the Gougou and the 
 long-legged Armouchiquois. Champlain describes the 
 coast of the south and west shore of the Gulf, not from 
 his own knowledge, but from hearsay. He heard of Tre- 
 gate (Tracadie) and Misamichy (Miramichi), and of a 
 strait (Gut of Canso) separating the island upon which is 
 Cape Breton from the mainland. He calls the island the 
 Island of St. Lawrence. He speaks of many rivers fall- 
 ing in on the New Brunswick shore, and of the Island of 
 St. John (Prince Edward Island), but the island had not 
 then got into the maps. In the two maps with the voyage 
 of 1611 this island is not shown, and in the map drawn 
 in 1612 it is given only as a little round island. Along 
 the shore of the adjoining mainland of Nova Scotia is a 
 notice that the “ author was not acquainted with the 
 coast.” In Lescarbot’s map of 1608 there is no sign of 
 Prince Edward Island, so that up to this time it was not 
 distinguished from the mainland either in the mind of 
 Champlain, who sailed into the gulf northward of it, or in 
 the mind of Lescarbot, who was as near to it as Canso on 
 the south. Whatever knowledge existed of it could not 
 have been recorded on any map accessible to either up to 
 that time. 
 
 During the absence of the expedition De Chastes died, 
 and another head had to be found for the association. 
 Champlain, who was always welcome at court, made his 
 
2 4 o THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 report to Henry IV., and presented his maps. He pre- 
 pared an account of what he had seen and heard in 
 Canada, which was published the same year. The King 
 recognised the importance of settling a permanent colony 
 in the New World, and of securing by actual occupation 
 the prescriptive rights which France had obtained. But 
 the royal exchequer was low, and, above all, the influence 
 of the Superintendent of Finance, the Duke de Sully, was 
 hostile. It was pointed out that there was no need to 
 draw upon the treasury. The enterprise would be self- 
 supporting if the King would grant to the company a 
 monopoly of the trade with Canada frittered away in com- 
 petition among a few merchants of St. Malo and Dieppe. 
 The fisheries were not to be included, but would still be 
 open to all. The trade in furs would pay for the expense 
 of the projected and much desired colony. 
 
 The project was reasonable, Sully was not called upon 
 for money, and there was no reason to consider the trad- 
 ers, who for many years had exploited these regions 
 beyond sea without one thought for France, or for any- 
 thing beyond their own profit. The place of De Chastes 
 was taken by Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, a native of 
 Champlain’s own province, Saintonge. He was a Hugue- 
 not who had done good service for the King in the late 
 wars, and had strong influence at court. To him Henry 
 gave the required privilege; he was commissioned as 
 Lieutenant Governor for the King, and notices were forth- 
 with posted in the maritime cities of France warning all 
 against infringing on the rights of the company. Imme- 
 diately an outcry arose from the little knots of merchants 
 in St Malo, Dieppe, Honfleur, and Rouen who had not 
 joined the association, but had been sending vessels out 
 to the coast, and unhampered by any obligations had been 
 exploiting the trade with a single eye to their own inter- 
 est. The parliament of Normandy refused twice to reg- 
 ister the letters patent, and it required a special letter of 
 the King to overcome its resistance. The first reply of 
 the King states that he had given orders that clergymen, 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 241 
 
 of sound belief and good reputation, should be sent out, 
 and he endeavoured in that way to remove the newborn 
 anxiety of the merchants lest the eternal welfare of the 
 Indians should be imperilled by the “ pretended reformed 
 religion of De Monts.” Seeing that, in the fifty preced- 
 ing years of “ free trade,” no sign of anxiety for the 
 souls of the Indians had ever been manifested, it was 
 transparent hypocrisy to put it forth then as the chief 
 ground for opposition. Passing to the real reason, the 
 King points out that the object of the enterprise is the 
 public interest of France, of which the royal council is 
 the best judge; that the association of De Monts is, and 
 was, open to all who might desire to enter it, and it was 
 inadvisable to allow an irresponsible and irregular trade 
 to thwart so laudable an undertaking. This reply of the 
 King is the key to all the early obstacles to the settle- 
 ment of Canada. 
 
 De Monts was a man of singular energy and enterprise, 
 and the fact of his having made as a pleasure trip a visit 
 to Canada with Pont-Grave in 1603 shows the breadth 
 of his views, and the interest he had taken in the country. 
 What he had seen at Tadoussac had prejudiced him 
 against Canada as being too far north, and, indeed, as 
 the object aimed at was to found a self-supporting agri- 
 cultural colony, Tadoussac was utterly unsuitable. He 
 decided upon settling somewhere in Acadia or in the 
 mythical region of Norumbegue, corresponding vaguely 
 to the present New England. 
 
 On April 7, 1604, De Monts sailed from Havre, taking 
 with him some gentlemen, including Champlain, and one 
 hundred and twenty artisans. It was a colony he was 
 leading out in good faith. Pont-Grave followed on the 
 10th with supplies, and the rendezvous was fixed at 
 Canso. On the voyage De Monts changed his mind and 
 steered for Port au Mouton, still called Port Mouton in 
 the maps of Nova Scotia. After narrowly escaping ship- 
 wreck on Sable Island, they sighted Cap de la Heve, still 
 
 known by the same name, and they touched at Port Ros- 
 16 
 
242 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 signol (Liverpool). At Port Mouton they landed and 
 encamped. A small pinnace was sent to Canso to meet 
 Pont-Grave, and Champlain was sent in the opposite 
 direction to explore for good harbours for the ships. He 
 examined the southwest coast of Nova Scotia round as 
 far as the head of St. Mary’s Bay. Many of his names 
 still survive on the maps, — as Cape Negro, Cape Sable, 
 Cape Fourchu, St. Mary’s Bay, Long Island, — while 
 others, such as Shag Island (Isle au Cormorans), are 
 translated. 
 
 Champlain returned safely to Port Mouton, much to De 
 Monts’ relief. Pont-Grave had joined in the meantime, 
 and, as Lescarbot puts it in his bright style, “ all of New 
 France being assembled in two vessels,” they weighed 
 anchor and sailed round Cape Sable into the great bay, 
 named by De Monts la Baye Frangaise (French Bay), but 
 which the Portuguese knew long before as Baia Fundo 
 (the Deep Bay), and is now called the Bay of Fundy. 
 After examining St. Mary’s Bay they sailed out into the 
 main bay by what is still known as the Petite Passage, 
 and followed along the coast until, to quote Champlain, 
 they found “ one of the finest harbours I had seen along 
 the coasts, in which two thousand vessels might lie in 
 safety.” It was Annapolis basin, and Champlain’s en- 
 thusiasm for the place was well founded. It was in his 
 opinion the most favourable and agreeable place for a 
 settlement they had seen, but they sailed on in search of 
 the copper mine reported by the Sieur Prevert. They 
 reached Advocate’s Harbour at Cape d’Or, but did not 
 find the place as described. They then knew that Prevert 
 had not been there, and that his story of the mine was as 
 mythical as that of the Gougou. Nevertheless the ex- 
 panse of water inclosed by Cape d’Or is called the Basin 
 of Mines to this day. Still searching, they coasted to 
 Cape Chignecto, crossed the Bay to Quaco, and followed 
 westward to a river called by the savages Ouygoudy, and 
 as it was June 24, St. John the Baptist’s Day, they named 
 it after him. The river is still called the St. John, and 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 243 
 
 gave its name in after years to the city at its mouth. 
 Champlain gives a 'chart of the harbour. He describes 
 the place 
 
 “ Where Ouygoudy’s wondrous stream 
 Flows in and outward with a double fall,” 
 
 but, writing some years afterwards, he has made full tide, 
 instead of half tide, the proper time to pass through it in 
 a vessel. There was an Indian village at the mouth of 
 the river — a large enclosure on a hillock — where a 
 sagamo called Chkoudun lived. Lescarbot afterwards 
 met many savages from Gaspe there, for the St. John 
 was the highway to the waters of the St. Lawrence and 
 of the rivers falling into Chaleur Bay. Still sailing along 
 the coast they came to Passamaquoddy Bay, studded with 
 islands, and noted the Schoodic or Ste. Croix (river of 
 the Etchemins) falling into it. De Monts selected an 
 island at the mouth of that river to be the site of his set- 
 tlement, and called it Ste. Croix. 
 
 The descriptive details given in Champlain’s narrative 
 are very accurate and exceedingly interesting. With the 
 unwearying patience of an enthusiast in geography he 
 noted the peculiarities of each locality along the coast; 
 supplementing his observations by questioning the 
 Indians. He learned from them of the portage from the 
 upper St. John to the rivers falling into the St. Lawrence 
 at Tadoussac, as well as many other interesting facts 
 about the country. He fixed the latitude at 45 0 20', 
 twelve miles too far north, and he noted the variation of 
 the compass to be 17 0 32' west. 
 
 The other vessel, waiting in St. Mary’s Bay, was sent 
 for and “ all New France ” being assembled on Ste. 
 Croix Island (now Dochet Island), De Monts set all 
 to work clearing and building and planting. Champlain 
 designed the plans, and so far-reaching has the influence 
 of this single man been in Canadian history, that the 
 foundations of the buildings he erected, when discovered 
 in 1797 during a boundary dispute with the United States, 
 
244 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 fixed the starting point of the boundary and saved to 
 Canada a threatened mutilation of her eastern territory. 
 
 Among the gentlemen who accompanied De Monts was 
 Jean de Biencourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt, Baron de St. 
 Just, a name highly honoured in Canadian history. He 
 fell in love with Port Royal (Annapolis Basin), and 
 determined to bring out his wife and family and dwell 
 there for the rest of his life. He readily obtained a con- 
 cession of the locality from De Monts, whose grant cov- 
 ered from 40° to 46° north latitude. He had come out 
 only for pleasure, but he went back with the returning 
 ships on August 31, 1604, to arrange for removal to the 
 land of his adoption. The King confirmed his grant, and 
 he spent the winter of 1604-5 i n preparation. Poutrin- 
 court was a strong Catholic, and had fought in the armies 
 of the League against the King. His personal worth had 
 won for him the King’s favour, he had filled important 
 positions in the public service, and won high considera- 
 tion as a brave and capable soldier. After the ships sailed 
 Champlain was sent westwards along the coast, and he 
 examined it as far as the Kennebec. It was the region 
 known since Verrazano’s time as Norumbegue, and fabu- 
 lous tales were told of its wealth and of a great and rich 
 city on the Penobscot which was often called the river of 
 Norumbegue. Champlain reported that none of the mar- 
 vellous things ascribed to that region had any existence, 
 and Lescarbot, who had a very low opinion of the “ Voy- 
 ages Advantureaux ” ascribed to Jean Allefonsce, asks 
 “ who pulled down this beautiful city, if it ever ex- 
 isted? for now only a few bark wigwams can be found 
 there.” 
 
 The Island of Ste. Croix was badly chosen for a set- 
 tlement. During the winter thirty-nine died of scurvy, 
 out of a total of seventy-nine. The party suffered much 
 from the cold of an unusually early winter as well as from 
 lack of proper food, so that when in June, 1605, Pont- 
 Grave arrived from St. Malo with supplies everyone 
 was eager to leave. Champlain went with De Monts to 
 examine again the coast to the west for a better site, and 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 245 
 
 this time he. went as for as Mallebarre (Nauset), beyond 
 Cape Cod. Some of the names he gave still survive, as 
 Monts Deserts, Isle Haute, but most have been overlaid 
 by English names. He visited, among other places, 
 Menane (Grand Manan, in New Brunswick) ; the River 
 Quinibequy (Kennebec) ; Chouacouet (Saco), a bay 
 unnamed, now known as Boston Bay ; the Riviere du Gas 
 (St. Charles) and Port St. Louis (Plymouth). Cham- 
 plain gives a chart of this harbour, where fifteen years 
 later the Pilgrims were to land on their storied rock; 
 Cape Cod he called Cap Blanc, because of its sand dunes. 
 On this voyage he became acquainted with the Armouch- 
 iquois — the people whose knees, when they squatted on 
 their heels, reached, according to the veracious Sieur Pre- 
 vert, a half a foot above their heads. The patient Cham- 
 plain makes no comment. He confirms the statement 
 that they were “ agile,” but found them well formed. 
 
 As a result of this reconnaissance De Monts resolved 
 to remove his colony to Port Royal. He established 
 himself, not at Annapolis, as is often supposed, but on 
 the north shore of the Basin at Lower Granville and 
 opposite Goat Island. There, with renewed hope, they 
 cleared the ground and erected buildings, partly with the 
 lumber brought from the dismantled settlement at Ste. 
 Croix. De Monts had to return to France, and Pont- 
 Grave was left in charge for the winter. Champlain 
 remained also, in the hope of making further explora- 
 tions towards Florida. The winter was passed more 
 successfully than the previous one, although they lost 
 twelve out of forty-five men by scurvy. On leaving for 
 France De Monts had instructed Pont-Grave to return 
 home in case no communication should arrive from him 
 by July 1 6. When that time arrived, no intelligence 
 having been received, all the party set out to return, 
 except two men who volunteered to remain with the 
 stores. Membertou, the grand chief of the Micmacs, 
 promised to take care of them as if they were his own 
 children. One cannot resist expressing admiration for 
 the French who led in the settlement of Canada, because 
 
246 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 of the way they won the confidence of the savage tribes 
 around them. Champlain, De Monts, Poutrincourt, Les- 
 carbot, were a galaxy of men of lofty character, wide 
 charity, and exceptional capacity. 
 
 The two brave Frenchmen who remained under Mem- 
 bertou’s protection now stood alone for New France. The 
 rest of the colony sailed in two little vessels for Canso, 
 to find some fishing craft to take them back to France. 
 After a narrow escape, through the loss of their rudder 
 in a storm, they were rejoiced at meeting a small shallop 
 off Cape Sable under charge of Ralleau, the secretary of 
 De Monts, from whom they learned that De Monts had 
 sent out another vessel with Poutrincourt in command as 
 Lieutenant General. He himself had to remain in France, 
 but Poutrincourt came out to stay, and had brought out 
 a number of people to settle. The ship had touched at 
 Canso, and the shallop had been sent inshore to meet any 
 of the garrison of Port Royal who might happen to be on 
 their way back, as ordered. All returned in high spirits, 
 and at Port Royal they found Poutrincourt. The little 
 colony once more resumed its building and clearing and 
 planting. The site of the present town of Annapolis 
 was cleared as a farm, and a mill was erected on a little 
 stream near by. Then Pont-Grave returned with some 
 of the men who had wintered over, and Poutrincourt and 
 Champlain started once more to explore along the New 
 England coast, for De Monts was still desirous of hav- 
 ing his settlement in a warmer climate farther south than 
 Mallebarre. 
 
 Among those who came with Poutrincourt was Marc 
 Lescarbot, Seigneur de St. Audebert, a bright, witty 
 advocate of Parliament of good family. The enthusiasm 
 of his friend for Port Royal had fired the imagination of 
 the genial lawyer, and he enlivened the winter of 1606-07 
 with his gaiety. He was not only witty, but industrious, 
 and his information was wide and accurate. His “ His- 
 tory of New France ” is highly esteemed, not only for its 
 matter, but for its style, and in its pages the doings of the 
 early French explorers are recorded in vivid as well as 
 
Digby Gut, the Entrance to Annapolis (Port Royal) Basin. 
 

CHAMPLAIN 
 
 247 
 
 truthful colours. Lescarbot was not an explorer or a 
 trader, and not much of a sailor. He went no farther 
 than the St. John and the Ste. Croix rivers. Champlain 
 and Poutrincourt searched the Bay of Fundy to its farth- 
 est depths. They went, of course, to the Sieur Prevert’s 
 mine, and with difficulty got a few specimens of native 
 copper. There was as little then as now. Lescarbot 
 worked busily at his garden, and long before Boston was 
 founded he cultivated the Muses on the forest-clad shores 
 of the Annapolis basin. It was a bright group which as- 
 sembled that winter at Port Royal. Champlain, with the 
 experience of two winters in the New World, knew the 
 importance of cheerfulness and good food. He instituted 
 the Ordre de B on-Temps, an association of practical 
 good-fellowship, by which each one who sat at Poutrin- 
 court’s table was charged, in turn, with providing the food 
 for the day. At dinner time the brethren of the order 
 marched in procession into the dining hall headed by the 
 purveyor of the day with his napkin on his shoulder and 
 the badge of the order around his neck. The members 
 followed, bearing the dishes he had provided, largely from 
 the surrounding woods and waters ; for game was plenty 
 around Annapolis in those days. 
 
 The winter passed pleasantly enough, but with the 
 spring ship came evil tidings. De Monts’ privilege had 
 been revoked, and with it fell the fund necessary to sup- 
 port the colony. Orders came for all to return, and 
 Lescarbot went, with most of the settlers, to Canso to 
 take a fishing vessel for France. Poutrincourt waited to 
 get in his harvest so as to demonstrate to the King the 
 fertility of the soil. Champlain waited to finish his map, 
 and, without a touch of impatience at the wreck of the 
 colony, calmly describes those points along the coast 
 which he had not noted before. Among them was an 
 island called Sesambre (from a small island near St. 
 Malo), now corrupted into Sambro, and an adjacent bay 
 very clear of all obstruction, now Halifax harbour. 
 They all sailed together from Canso on September 3, 
 1607. That same year the English made at Jamestown 
 
248 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 in Virginia their first permanent settlement in the Western 
 World. 
 
 During the term of De Monts’ privilege his officers had 
 seized some vessels trading on the coast of Acadia, and 
 when he arrived in France he found an outcry from the 
 maritime cities against his privilege of exclusive trading. 
 He had sent out a number of men, erected buildings, en- 
 gaged and built vessels, and supported a colony during 
 three consecutive years. Nothing had been drawn from 
 the public treasury and yet the enterprise was supremely 
 in the public interest. Cartier had been a heavy loser, 
 Roberval had been ruined, La Roche had died broken 
 down by his losses, and De Monts, no trader, but a high- 
 spirited soldier who had left his easy position in France 
 to encounter the hardships and perils of the New World 
 and attempt the almost desperate effort of founding a 
 colony for France, was now sacrificed to the selfish 
 clamour of a few traders who had no thought beyond 
 their individual profit. De Monts’ privilege was for ten 
 years, and in that time he might have established his 
 colony and built up a permanent trade open to all and for 
 the benefit of all. Not content with the cry of “ free 
 trade for all,” these traders, who during all the years they 
 had been on the coast had never thought of it before, 
 mourned that no Indians were being baptised and that 
 souls were being lost because De Monts was a Protestant. 
 This latter cry waked up a number of people who really 
 believed it, and under their united attack the exclusive 
 privilege was revoked. De Monts got only 6000 livres 
 to recompense him for all his outlay, and that had to be 
 recovered from the traders, so that the cost of suits to 
 collect the amount in small sums would swallow up the 
 total amount. 
 
 The chapter of discovery in Acadia now closes. What 
 follows is history — history touched with passion and inci- 
 dent so romantic that it is difficult to pass it over. The 
 French did not forsake Acadia. Poutrincourt and his 
 family kept up a small colony at Port Royal, — not a colony 
 of fur traders, but an agricultural colony, — and titles of 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 249 
 
 concession were granted as early at 1610. In the following 
 year Madame de Poutrincourt came out, and, although 
 she returned in 1612, her son, a young man of enterprise, 
 kept up the colony in spite of determined opposition in 
 France. It was untrue that no attempt was made to 
 convert the Indians. The Abbe Aubry went out with 
 Poutrincourt, and Lescarbot, an unquestioned Catholic, 
 taught the Indians during the winter of 1606-07. His 
 address to France breathes a sincere spirit of love of 
 country and zeal for the spread of the gospel, with hatred 
 of Spanish and Portuguese cruelty. Poutrincourt had 
 been a prominent soldier of the League, and his orthodoxy 
 could not be questioned. Champlain was a sincere Cath- 
 olic all his life. The influences which prevented the 
 success of the colony were incongruous and insincere, but 
 to set them forth further is beyond the scope of the pres- 
 ent volume. Champlain, De Monts, Poutrincourt, and 
 Lescarbot were far-seeing and patriotic men. They were 
 Frenchmen of the highest type of their race. They 
 founded the first permanent settlement of Europeans on 
 the continent north of the Spaniards. They won the 
 hearts of the Indians of Acadia, and if those who con- 
 trolled the destiny of France could have risen to the 
 height of Henry IV., or Richelieu, or could have seen 
 beyond frivolous gallantries and ephemeral court in- 
 trigues, North America would now be a French continent. 
 
 NOTES TO CHAPTER XV 
 
 ACADIA 
 
 The origin and meaning of the word Acadia has been much 
 discussed ; but the opinion generally held in America is that it 
 is derived from the Micmac word, akade, signifying a place or 
 locality. This word was not used alone, but in conjunction with 
 some other word to express the distinguishing peculiarity of the 
 place. Thus in Nova Scotia Shubenacadie, the place of ground 
 nuts. In New Brunswick, by the change of dialect of a kindred 
 tribe, it becomes quoddy as in Passamaquoddy, the place where 
 
250 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 pollock are abundant There is no question that the word exists 
 as a locative suffix in all the aboriginal dialects of the maritime 
 provinces of Canada, and therefore it would of necessity be con- 
 stantly in the mouths of the Indians. Dr. Rand, the most learned 
 of scholars in these languages, gives a long list of Micmac place 
 names ending in akade, and many still survive upon the maps. 
 The word Acadia therefore, in this view, has a rational origin 
 and significance. It first occurs in the books in De Monts’ peti- 
 tion for a commission in 1603 as la Cadie. Champlain in his first 
 voyage spells the word Ar cadie and afterwards Accadie or 
 Cadie. 
 
 It has, however, been argued recently that it is a European 
 word of doubtful origin and meaning. This theory is based on 
 the fact that in Gastaldi’s map (1548) and Zaltieri’s (1566), as 
 well as on some others, it appears as Larcadia, and it is pointed 
 out that the letter r does not occur in the Micmac language. But 
 the a is long and the sound is similar. Moreover, the spelling on 
 these old maps is too erratic to permit of any argument being 
 based upon a letter. The argument from Ribeiro’s “ largales ” 
 falls to the ground, because both Kohl and Harrisse read the 
 word “ sargales ” ; Kohl translates it “ brambles.” It is the name 
 of a bay on the coast of Nova Scotia, apparently near the present 
 Halifax. Larcadia as a European word has no significance, and 
 is more likely to be a misspelling, suggested by the classic word 
 “ Arcadia ” common on the maps of Greece. 
 
 The name Acadia is now used to denote the three Atlantic 
 provinces of the Dominion when taken collectively. 
 
 ANNAPOLIS BASIN 
 
 Annapolis Basin, the old Port Royal of the French, has an 
 enduring charm even for those most familiar with it. The 
 Baron de Poutrincourt was willing to abandon his position and 
 lands in Old France to dwell there, and the vivid Lescarbot 
 becomes idyllic in his description. He quotes Moses in Deut. 
 viii. 7: “ For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a 
 
 land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out 
 of valleys and hills ; . . . a land whose stones are iron, and out 
 of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” And again in Deut. xi. 10, 
 to the same effect. Then he goes on to apply the texts, and points 
 out the wooded hills round the still basin and the brooks falling 
 in cascades of white foam against the green background. A little 
 further westward, on the basin of Mines, are the hills “ whose 
 stones are iron,” and the copper at Cape d’Or represents the 
 hills whence one may “ dig brass.” Then he goes on to describe 
 the meadows on the river where Annapolis now stands. The 
 charm this part of Nova Scotia always had for the French is 
 most remarkable in view of the way they now cling to the cities 
 of France and their preference for an asphalt pavement over a 
 
CHAMPLAIN 
 
 2Si 
 
 carpet of greensward. In the sorrowful days of the dispersion 
 the hearts of the exiles yearned for their home in Acadia with 
 the yearning of the captives by the waters of Babylon, and many 
 returned in the face of incredible hardships. Pont-Grave did 
 not like Port Royal, on account of the narrowness of the entrance 
 from the sea, and Charlevoix thought that Canso was the most 
 suitable place for the capital of Acadia. 
 
 ST. SAUVEUR 
 
 It is foreign to the object of this volume to enter into the 
 reasons which led to the weakening of the colony at Port Royal 
 by the foundation of another, in 1613, on the Island of Mont 
 Desert at the mouth of the Penobscot. This last was founded 
 under the patronage and at the cost of Madame de Guerche- 
 ville; and De Saussure, whom she sent out with some colonists, 
 erected her escutcheon instead of the arms of France. The two 
 Jesuit missionaries who in 1611 had come to Port Royal left for 
 St. Sauveur, for so they called it, and at a place now called 
 Frenchman’s Bay on the desolate rocky island of Mont Desert 
 they made their landing. The English under Argali destroyed it 
 the same year and carried all the people off to Virginia, for 
 settlers they could scarcely be called, who had chosen so savage 
 a wilderness. 
 
 ENGLISH VOYAGES 
 
 The conflicting claims of the English and French to the 
 northeastern regions of America are manifest in the grants, 
 commissions, and patents issued by the two governments. They 
 overlap each other and ignore all opposing pretensions. As has 
 been shown in the earlier chapters, Spain claimed the whole 
 continent up to Nova Scotia, and Portugal claimed the rest. 
 England claimed everything north and east of the Carolinas, on 
 the strength of the Cabot voyages, and France claimed nearly 
 the same region, partly because of the voyage of Verrazano, and 
 also because of the early fishing enterprises of the Bretons. The 
 discussion of the charters granted to Roberval and De Monts by 
 France, and to Gilbert, Raleigh, the Virginia and New England 
 companies, and Sir William Alexander are beyond the scope of 
 this volume, for they are documents of policy, not facts of 
 discovery. The fact is plain that the French under De Monts 
 made the first permanent settlement, and that although the settle- 
 ment on the Ste. Croix in 1604 was removed to the opposite shore 
 at Port Royal (Annapolis) in 1605, the colony through all its 
 vicissitudes was continuous, and the French never dropped their 
 hold from the Penobscot northwards and eastwards. That river 
 was the true boundary between the two nations. 
 
 Before and at the time of Champlain’s surveys English sailors 
 
252 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 had examined the coast of New England under the vague name 
 of Norumbega; but until the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 
 1620 there was no permanent, continuous settlement. Simon 
 Ferdinando, a Portuguese living in England, made a voyage to 
 Norumbega in 1579, and John Walker, under the authority of Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert, in 1578 made a voyage preliminary to Gilbert’s 
 own expedition, which got no farther than Newfoundland. In 
 1602 an attempt at colonisation was made by Captain Barthol- 
 omew Gosnold. He made a landfall about Casco in Maine, and 
 coasted New England westwards as far as Massachusetts. He 
 landed his colonists and built a house for them, but they would 
 not stay, and he had to carry them all back. In the following 
 year (1603) two vessels under Pring went to the Massachusetts 
 coast for a cargo of sassafras. In 1605, while De Monts and 
 Champlain were examining the coast west of the Ste. Croix, they 
 heard of an English vessel having been there. This was the 
 Archangel from Dartmouth, commanded by Captain George 
 Waymouth. He anchored at Monhegan Island off the Penobscot 
 on May 18. He explored the Kennebec River and planted a cross 
 some distance up the stream. Then kidnapping five Indians, he 
 sailed home without making any attempt to settle. Then followed 
 the attempt of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Sir John Popham 
 under English patents. Their first ship, was captured by the 
 Spaniards in 1606, but in 1607 an expedition sent out by them 
 coasted Nova Scotia, visited the Bay of Fundy, and settled at 
 Sagadanoc at the mouth of the Kennebec. The settlers built a 
 fort and remained there during the winter of 1607-08, when they 
 returned to England. 
 
Samuel de Champlain. 
 
 (After a painting by Hamel, from an engraving by Moncornet. Reproduced 
 from Ur. Shea’s translation of Charlevoix’s History of New France , by 
 permission of Mr, F. P, Harper, New York.) 
 

CHAPTER XVI 
 
 CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 
 
 H ITHERTO we have seen Champlain as explorer 
 and cartographer, sailor and soldier, builder and 
 planter, writer and amateur artist; but not in 
 chief command. Now, in 1608, he enters upon 
 his lifework as chief. What had passed was exploration, 
 but now his career commences as discoverer and colo- 
 niser, as the real father of Canada — the far-sighted leader 
 who, with a prophet’s instinct, if not with clear vision, 
 recognised the real pathway to the west and sought to 
 seize for France the continent at its every heart. If in the 
 sequel France failed to reap the harvest he had sown, 
 the fault lay with those in after generations who 
 squandered her resources by peculation and wasted in 
 the pursuit of trifling aims the energies which might 
 have built an empire. 
 
 After an absence of three years and four months in 
 Acadia Champlain landed at St. Malo. He went at once 
 to De Monts, with his maps and plans, and related all 
 he had learned of the country from Cape Cod along the 
 coast of Acadia and up the Gulf and River of Canada 
 as far as the rapids at Montreal. De Monts resolved to 
 make another attempt, and having procured from the 
 King an exclusive privilege of trade for one year only, 
 sent out Champlain as his lieutenant, and in another ves- 
 sel Pont-Grave to attend to the fur trading out of which 
 the expenses were to be recouped. The St. Lawrence 
 River was chosen as the field of the enterprise. Cham- 
 plain was to remain there over the winter and Pont-Grave 
 was to return with the furs in the autumn. The name of 
 De Monts does indeed survive in Point de Monts, the 
 
 253 
 
254 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 point of land on the north shore which marks off the gulf 
 from the river, but his initiative in the history of New 
 France has not been sufficiently recognised. The vessel 
 sailed from Honfleur, and Champlain arrived in Tadous- 
 sac on June 3, where he found Pont-Grave wounded in 
 an attempt to seize the ship of some irrepressible Basques 
 whom he had found trading, instead of whaling, as they 
 had been sent out to do. The matter having been settled, 
 Champlain built a small vessel for use upon the river, and 
 went up to the narrows, called Quebec, he expressly says, 
 “ by the savages This place he rightly judged to be the 
 key of the river, and after searching around the basin he 
 selected for the site of his settlement a level spot covered 
 with nut trees between the cliff and the narrowest point 
 of the river. He commenced to clear and build close to 
 the place where the Champlain market now stands in the 
 lower town of the present city, and partly on the site now 
 occupied by the Church of Notre Dame des Victoires. 
 
 The “ abitation,” to use Champlain’s name, consisted of 
 several two-story buildings surrounded by ditches, outside 
 of which were spurs ( tenailles ) with platforms for can- 
 non. Two are shown on the plan — there was probably 
 another in rear. The gate was approached by a draw- 
 bridge, a promenade ran round the lower story and a 
 gallery round the upper one. A lookout tower ( colom - 
 bier) stood at the angle. Gardens were laid out and 
 planted (for the soil was good), and in superintending all 
 these works Champlain was occupied until autumn. On 
 September 18 Pont-Grave set sail for France and left 
 Champlain to face his first winter in Canada. 
 
 The winter passed without any unusual occurrences. 
 Eighteen of the party were attacked by the scurvy, and of 
 these ten died. Nothing was heard of the ameda — Car- 
 tier’s tree of health — either here or previously at Ste. 
 Croix Island on the Acadian coast. Lescarbot says that 
 Champlain made diligent inquiry about it without suc- 
 cess, and he shrewdly conjectures that the savages at 
 Quebec in Champlain’s time were of a different race 
 from those Cartier found there. This we now know 
 
o 
 
 £ 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 <D 
 
 S’ 
 
 •s 
 
 £ 
 
 CO 
 
 < 
 
 PQ 
 
 fa 
 
 <1 
 
 W 
 
 Z 
 
 < 
 
 i-l 
 
 fa 
 
 < 
 
 ffi 
 
 U 
 
 Nj 
 
 £ 
 
 
 u 
 w 
 
 fa *0 
 fa 
 
 £ <-> 
 
 O' §J 
 
 , ^ 
 fa 
 
 o 
 
 !9 
 
 <u 
 
 O 
 
 -r 5 
 
 U 
 
 <u 
 
 > 
 
 rt 
 
 g 
 
 O 
 
 in 
 
 fa* 
 
 rt 
 
 P 3 
 
 u 
 
 co 
 
 ? 
 
 o 
 
 >5 
 
 'o 
 
 — 
 
 U 
 
 CO 
 
 <u 
 
 J 3 
 
 o 
 
 X! 
 
 Tj 
 
 c 
 
 rt 
 
 <u 
 
 ^c 
 
 o 
 
 fa 
 
 4> 
 
 Ph 
 
 H 
 
 > c 
 
 <U 41 
 
 J > 
 
 OX) 
 
 rt 
 
 tn 
 
 4) 
 
 u 
 
 c 
 
 fS 
 
 J-t 
 
 o 
 
 fa 
 
 E 
 
 * 
 
 £ 
 
 <n 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN' QUEBEC 255 
 
 to have been the case. The Huron-Iroquois race was 
 farther advanced than the unsettled tribes with whom 
 Champlain was now brought into close relation. 
 
 Pont-Grave returned to Tadoussac on May 28, 1609, 
 and on June 7 Champlain went down to meet him and 
 talk over the exploration to the west, which formed part 
 of the original plan. Exploration was a passion with 
 Champlain, and in their representations to the King, while 
 De Monts would dwell upon the fertility of the soil, the 
 prospect of a new route to China was the theme of Cham- 
 plain’s discourse, as it was ever in his mind. So without 
 loss of time he started on June 18, with twenty men in a 
 shallop, to meet some Indians who had promised to be his 
 guides. He found them encamped on an island near St. 
 Mary’s River (now the Ste. Anne). There were two or 
 three hundred on their way to Quebec ; they had planned 
 a large war party to invade the country of the Iroquois, 
 and they were counting upon Champlain’s assistance. 
 
 It is necessary to dwell for a moment upon some points 
 of Indian history and politics, since Champlain has been 
 blamed by many because the course of action he now 
 entered upon involved, in the sequel, many disasters to 
 the colony. When Champlain first saw Canada in 1603, 
 with no thought of any further relations with it, he found 
 the war between the Algonquins and Iroquois in full force, 
 and the French already committed to the policy of an 
 alliance. Nor in fact even in the light of succeeding 
 history would any other course have been possible, be- 
 cause the settled policy of the Iroquois confederacy was 
 to force every nation they came into contact with either 
 into their political system or into strict alliance. There 
 was no neutrality possible, for the Iroquois, with the 
 astuteness of the old Romans, concentrated their energies 
 on one enemy at a time and temporised with the others. 
 When a hostile tribe was conquered the work never had 
 to be done over again. They used no half measures — 
 they utterly rooted it up and renewed their own losses 
 by the adoption into their tribes of the remnants. Then 
 they turned their energies upon some other people and 
 
256 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 readily found ground for quarrel. The tribes — kindred 
 to themselves — who occupied the peninsula of the present 
 Province of Ontario were neutral in the war between the 
 Iroquois and the Hurons, but that did not prevent the 
 Iroquois, after they had destroyed the Hurons, from 
 turning first upon the Tobacco nation and then upon the 
 Neutral nation, whose very name testified to their policy, 
 and utterly destroying them also. Even if the French 
 had possessed less than the usual aggressiveness of Euro- 
 peans, no other course was open than to take sides with 
 the tribe in occupation of the valley of the St. Law- 
 rence. 
 
 The French court, while exhausting the energies of the 
 nation and squandering incalculable blood and treasure 
 upon unnecessary wars for trivial causes in Europe, per- 
 mitted a savage nation, not strong in numbers, but formid- 
 able by political intelligence and public spirit, to bring the 
 French colony repeatedly to the brink of destruction and 
 to destroy their Indian allies. Champlain saw the remedy 
 clearly and in 1635, only four months before his death, 
 writing from Quebec to Cardinal Richelieu, he tells of 
 the beauty and richness of the land, of the avenue to 
 commerce and the open door to the preaching of Chris- 
 tianity — a land stretching more than fifteen hundred 
 leagues from east to west and watered by one of the 
 world’s noblest rivers. He asks for only 120 men, light 
 armed against arrows, and with them and 2000 or 3000 
 Indian allies he asserts that a peace could speedily be 
 conquered in one year. He pleads that 120 men are so 
 little for France, and that the enterprise is so honourable. 
 It would bring incalculable benefits to France, he urges, 
 for the English and Dutch, who were commencing to 
 settle, would be confined to the coasts, while the whole 
 interior would be open to French trade. Champlain was 
 not responsible for the initial policy nor for the succeed- 
 ing neglect to carry it out. The hostility of the Iroquois 
 diverted the course of exploration from the St. Law- 
 rence, and was the reason that Lake Huron and even 
 Lake Superior were discovered before Lake Erie. 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 257 
 
 Champlain at the urgent request of the Indians returned 
 with them to Quebec, where five or six days were spent 
 in festivities — feasting, and dancing, and speech-making. 
 The war party consisted of Hurons from Georgian Bay 
 and Algonquins from the Ottawa. The former had not 
 yet received the nickname of Hurons (bristled heads). 
 Champlain calls them Ochasteguins, after the name of 
 their chief. Their real name was Wyandots, Wendots, 
 or Yendats. He knew of their racial identity with the 
 hostile tribes at the south, and in telling his adventures to 
 the King he calls them “ the good Iroquois.” The other 
 tribe which he already knew as Algonquemins (Algon- 
 quins) were under a chief called Iroquet. The use of 
 “ Algonquin ” as a generic word, including a great family 
 of tribes of cognate speech, was not then known. 
 
 On June 28 the war party started from Quebec. There 
 were only twelve Frenchmen in all, for Pont-Grave re- 
 turned to Tadoussac with his people. Many new features 
 of the country were observed by Champlain, and he drew 
 from the Indians much information about the surround- 
 ing country. He gave names to places on the route, some 
 of which have survived. Lake St. Peter (the Lac d’An- 
 goulesme of Cartier’s maps) had by this time received its 
 present name. The mouth of the St. Maurice (the Riviere 
 de Fouez or Foix of Cartier) was known as Three Rivers. 
 Pont-Grave had traded there and had advocated building 
 a fort there ; other localities have not retained their names. 
 The Ste. Suzanne of Champlain is now the Riviere du 
 Loup, his Riviere du Pont is the St. Francis, and the 
 Riviere de Gennes is the present Yamaska. They stopped 
 for two days to hunt and fish at the mouth of the Riviere 
 des Iroquois (now the Richelieu). This is the most im- 
 portant tributary of the St. Lawrence from the south. 
 It drains Lake George and Lake Champlain, and from 
 the former by a short portage the head-waters of the Hud- 
 son River are reached, flowing directly south to the ocean 
 at New York. This was the route leading to Florida 
 which Cartier heard of from Donnacona. The Mohawk 
 tribe of the Iroquois league occupied the water-parting, 
 
258 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and the expedition was striking at the heart of their 
 territory. 
 
 The river is navigable for large vessels for forty-five 
 miles to Chambly, where there are rapids now overcome 
 by a canal of seven locks. The Indians had told Cham- 
 plain that the navigation was unobstructed, and that his 
 shallop could pass up into the lake ; but here he found an 
 impassable obstruction, and, after landing, and searching 
 in vain for some way of carrying his vessel round through 
 the woods, he had to abandon the idea. But he would 
 still keep his promise to the Indians at any hazard. Two 
 Frenchmen volunteered to go with him, and he sent the 
 shallop back with the rest of his men to Quebec. The 
 canoes of the Indians were carried round the rapids, and 
 the three intrepid Frenchmen, in the bark canoes of their 
 savage allies, continued on their hazardous journey. The 
 primaeval forest clothed the banks in dense continuous 
 masses, and the broad stream, shimmering in the summer 
 sun, seemed an avenue of light opening upon unknown 
 mysteries; but in these tangled woods might lurk bands 
 of hostile Iroquois to cut off their return. If any 
 thoughts of fear could disturb the calm of Champlain’s 
 mind, here would certainly have been justification for it, 
 but duty was the dominant motive in his character. He 
 had been sent to Canada to make explorations and to 
 found a colony; this Indian war being part of the policy 
 adopted, no other course was possible for him; besides, 
 he had given his word, and although his wild allies had 
 deceived him about the obstruction to navigaton, he 
 would not break his promise even to savages. 
 
 Some of the Indians, with characteristic inconstancy, 
 had abandoned the expedition when at the mouth of the 
 river, and after passing the rapids they had a review of 
 their force, and found they had remaining sixty men with 
 twenty-four canoes. They stopped at an island (Isle 
 Ste. Therese), where they hunted and then proceeded to 
 a place somewhere near the present town of St. Johns 
 and encamped. The chiefs now indicated to each man 
 his position in action, using for that purpose small sticks, 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 259 
 
 which they stuck into the ground for the men, and longer 
 sticks for the chiefs. The Indians crowded round to 
 study the plan and learn their places. Their canoes were 
 drawn up on the river bank, and as they were in an 
 enemy’s country they erected at night a breastwork of 
 trees to cover their camp — a task which, to Champlain’s 
 surprise, they completed in two hours. The next day 
 they continued their course up the river and into the lake, 
 to which he gave its present name, Lake Champlain. 
 His eyes dwelt upon all points of interest, and he records 
 his impressions with much detail. The trees, the game, 
 the beauty of the country, the signs of former occupation 
 before the ruinous war with the Iroquois, all caught 
 his attention. Then as they went up the lake he noted 
 the Green Mountains of Vermont in the distance on the 
 left, and on the right the Adirondacks of New York 
 State, closer to the shore. They were now in the Mo- 
 hawk country, and they travelled only by night, resting 
 during the day. At last near the point of Ticonderoga, 
 the outlet of Lake George, where a short portage leads 
 from one lake to the other, they met a party of Iroquois. 
 The spot became historic in after years, for it was the key 
 of French Canada on the south and the scene of many 
 conflicts. There, a hundred and fifty years later, Aber- 
 crombie ordered a magnificent British army to slaughter, 
 and was beaten by an inferior force with a loss of two 
 thousand men. There fell the gallant and capable Lord 
 Howe, and there Campbell of Inverawe struggled through 
 the tangle of fallen trees to meet the doom seen in vision 
 years before on the hills of Scotland. A fatal field of 
 bloody memories. The ruined fortress still bears silent 
 witness to the wrath of man, but nature has clothed the 
 place with abounding beauty, and summer tourists linger 
 long on the spot where lurking savages awaited their 
 approaching victims, and where the French bugles rang 
 defiance for so many years to the assailants of New 
 France. 
 
 Champlain gives an account of the battle, and illus- 
 trated it by a drawing, which is interesting, for it shows 
 
260 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 that the Indians changed their tactics after the introduc- 
 tion of fire-arms. Here we see compact bodies of men 
 advancing steadily under the lead of chiefs, and we see 
 the stockade which the Iroquois quickly improvised when 
 they discovered their enemies. For the first time they 
 encountered fire-arms, and quickly realised as their two 
 leading chiefs fell at the first discharge of Champlain’s 
 arquebuse that some deadly magical power was before 
 them. The two Frenchmen had been sent to the flank 
 and began to fire from the woods. This completed their 
 discomfiture ; they broke and fled before the strange and 
 malignant power, and the allies had an easy victory. 
 Many prisoners were taken, and for the first time Cham- 
 plain saw a captive tortured at the stake, and in pity he 
 ended the poor creature’s sufferings by a shot. The cruel 
 customs of the Indians shocked him as they have shocked 
 all Europeans since. Yet torture at the stake was com- 
 mon then all over Europe, though not for the same 
 reasons. The savages tortured their enemies only, and 
 as a retaliation for their own losses and sufferings. 
 Europeans burned their own countrymen. 
 
 The expedition then returned, and on the way Cham- 
 plain learned much from the prisoners concerning the 
 country to the south of the water-parting of the St. Law- 
 rence and Hudson. The Indian allies separated at the 
 “Falls of the Iroquois” (Chambly) for their respective 
 homes. Champlain went to Tadoussac to confer with 
 Pont-Grave, and they decided to return to France and to 
 leave Capt. Pierre de Chauvin, Sieur de la Pierre, of 
 Dieppe, in charge of the settlement at Quebec. He was 
 of the same family, probably nephew of Pierre de Chau- 
 vin, Sieur de Tontuit, who died in 1603, and who had 
 first attempted settlement at Tadoussac. 
 
 On his arrival in France Champlain hastened to court 
 to meet De Monts. He narrated his adventures to King 
 Henry, who took great delight in such matters, and 
 presented him with two scarlet tanagers, a girdle of por- 
 cupine quills, and the head of a gar-pike caught in Lake 
 Champlain. But opposing interests were too powerful. 
 
Defeat of the Iroquois on Lake Champlain. 
 (From Laverdiere’s CEuvres de Champlain .) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 261 
 
 An extension of their privilege of exclusive trade could 
 not be got, and De Monts and Champlain went down to 
 Rouen to consult with their partners as to their future 
 course. It was decided that Pont-Grave should go to 
 Tadoussac to cover expenses by trading, and Champlain 
 was to continue exploration up the St. Lawrence with 
 the aid of the Hurons, whom he was to assist in their 
 wars. On arrival at Quebec the following spring he found 
 that everything had gone on well; the winter had been 
 unusually mild, they had had plenty of fresh meat, and 
 consequently there had been no sickness. The Mon- 
 tagnais had been expecting him at Tadoussac, and, as 
 had been arranged the year previous, went ahead of him 
 up the river to the mouth of the Richelieu. The Hurons 
 had engaged to meet Champlain there with two hundred 
 men, and Iroquet, the Algonquin chief, was to bring two 
 hundred more. 
 
 On June 19, 1610, when Champlain’s people and the 
 Montagnais were preparing to camp on an island (prob- 
 ably St. Ignace) opposite the mouth of the Richelieu, 
 word came that the Algonquins were not far off, and 
 were engaged with a war party of a hundred Iroquois 
 who had built a fort and that assistance was urgently 
 required. Getting through the woods and swamps with 
 much difficulty, the Frenchmen arrived before the fort 
 and found that their allies had been repulsed with loss 
 and that the Iroquois were holding out successfully. 
 The fort was circular, built of large trees piled one upon 
 another, and afforded perfect shelter to the garrison. 
 Champlain was wounded in the neck by an arrow as he 
 was firing his first shot, but he continued in action and 
 directed an assault upon the stockade. A few inde- 
 pendent fur traders who had gone to the rendezvous on 
 their own account joined in, and the fort was carried. 
 The Iroquois tried to escape, but were all killed or 
 captured. 
 
 After the battle trading commenced, and to Cham- 
 plain’s disgust the private traders carried off most of the 
 peltries. “ It was a great service to them,” he writes, 
 
262 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 r “ to find out a strange people in order that others should, 
 without risk or danger, carry off the profit.” The next 
 day the chief Iroquet arrived, and another band of Hu- 
 rons. Three days were spent together on the island, when 
 each tribe returned to its own country. Champlain took 
 with him a Huron youth to be sent to France, and he left 
 with the Algonquins a young French boy, of whom we 
 shall hear later, to go to their country and learn the 
 language. The year 1610 passed without any further 
 enterprises, for while Pont-Grave and Champlain were 
 consulting upon their plans for the winter, news arrived 
 of the assassination of their patron, Henry IV., and 
 they both returned to France. A palisade had been 
 erected during the summer to protect the buildings at 
 Quebec, and Du Parc, who had spent the previous winter 
 with Chauvin, was left in command of the settlement. 
 
 Champlain sailed again for New France from Honfleur 
 on March i, 1611, but gained nothing by so early a start, 
 for he got into the ice and passed through many dangers, 
 arriving at Tadoussac only on May 13. On the 17th he 
 set out up the river to the Sault (Montreal) to meet 
 the Indians from the Ottawa, as arranged the year before. 
 He stopped at Quebec to repair his shallop, and found 
 that there had been no sickness, and that during the 
 winter everything had gone on well. He arrived at the 
 Sault on May 28 with the Huron he had taken to France, 
 but the Indians had not arrived. He examined the 
 locality with great care, with the view of founding another 
 settlement, and decided that the most suitable spot was 
 what is now called Pointe a Callieres, and there he 
 ordered the trees to be cut down and a clearing made. It 
 is the centre of the present city of Montreal. The Custom 
 House now stands upon the site he chose, and the Mon- 
 treal ocean steamships discharge their cargoes there. A 
 little river, now covered in and utilised for drainage, fell 
 in at that point, and on its banks were the clearings culti- 
 vated by the Hochelagans of Cartier before the great war 
 drove them westwards. He found the deposit of blue 
 clay on the upper levels of the present city, and tested it 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 263 
 
 0 
 
 by making bricks, with which he built a wall to see the 
 effect of the ice and high water of winter. The river 
 broadened there to an expanse like a lake, and south of 
 the rapids were beautiful prairies at the place still called 
 La Prairie de la Madelaine. While the party waited for 
 the Indians and explored the country around, they heard 
 of an island in the rapids where there were so many 
 herons that the air was darkened with them. A keen 
 sportsman, servant to Champlain, called Louis, contrived 
 to reach the spot in the middle of the rapids, but he over- 
 loaded his canoe with birds, and was drowned. The 
 island is still called Isle aux Herons, and the Grand Sault 
 commenced from that time to be called Sault St. Louis — 
 a name it still bears. 
 
 On the 13th of June a large party of Indians arrived. 
 They expected to meet Champlain only, but besides his 
 boats they found a swarm of independent fur traders 
 who came up for their own profit, without care or respon- 
 sibility for anything beyond. Later on people such as 
 these made a pandemonium on the river by selling the 
 savages brandy and fire-arms, until wholesome restric- 
 tions of trade were again enforced. The Indians dis- 
 trusted the traders, and moved their camp to the Lake of 
 Two Mountains, where the shallops could not go, and 
 they invited Champlain to a midnight council. They 
 renewed their alliance with him and Pont-Grave. The 
 Frenchman who had wintered with the Hurons, and the 
 Huron who had wintered in Paris, related their experi- 
 ences and acted as interpreters. The Indians promised 
 to show the wonders of the upper country to Champlain 
 or anyone he would send with them. The result was 
 that the chief Iroquet took with him as far as the Petite 
 Nation a youth from one of the trading barques, and the 
 Algonquins of Allumette Island, on the upper Ottawa, 
 took a youth from Champlain’s party who, like Ananias, 
 is remembered in history for his effrontery as a liar. 
 Champlain returned to France and arrived at La Rochelle 
 on September 16, 1611. 
 
 New difficulties arose, which De Monts and Champlain 
 
264 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 could not overcome, and the latter had to stay over the 
 following year in France, to the great disappointment of 
 the Indians, who came down to the Sault St. Louis to 
 meet him. Champlain’s men told them he would come 
 the following year, but the free traders asserted loudly 
 that he was dead. In France the shareholders in De 
 Mont’s company very naturally refused to go on with an 
 enterprise when all the risk was theirs and the profits 
 were gathered by others. De Monts bought out their 
 shares and left the management to Champlain, who, see- 
 ing that the death of Henry IV. had changed the channels 
 of court influence, arranged that the Count de Soissons 
 should be head of the company. That nobleman, how- 
 ever, died shortly afterwards and the Prince de Conde 
 took his place. He appointed Champlain as his lieuten- 
 ant, and a commission of exclusive trade was granted for 
 twelve years. The old free trade cry was raised again, 
 and the Parliament of Rouen thrice refused to register 
 the papers. At last it was compelled to do so, and in 
 response to the clamour of the merchants they were told 
 if they wanted profits to take shares in the company, 
 which was open to all. “ It is not reasonable,” argued 
 Champlain, “ that one should capture the lamb and an- 
 other go off with the fleece.” The opposition from St. 
 Malo was very strong, and the Breton merchants claimed 
 the trade because of the discovery of the country by their 
 countryman Cartier. From about this period the influ- 
 ence of the Bretons in Canada began to wane and the 
 Norman ports took the lead in the trade. A movement 
 towards colonisation commenced, and the colonists were 
 nearly all from Normandy. 
 
 On March 6, 1613, Champlain sailed from Honfleur 
 with Pont-Grave, and after a short stay at Tadoussac he 
 arrived at Quebec on May 7, where he found everything 
 to his satisfaction. The winter had been mild. The 
 river had remained open and everyone had kept in good 
 health. On the 21st he arrived at the Sault St. Louis 
 (Montreal). The results of the free trade clamoured for 
 by the merchants were evident. There were no Indians 
 
Running the Sault St. Louis in the Present Day. 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 265 
 
 there. They had been disgusted with the ill-treatment 
 they had received from the traders, who had also told 
 them falsehoods about Champlain, and said that he 
 would never return. This decided Champlain to push 
 his explorations further up the river of the Algonquins 
 (Ottawa), and seek the Indians in their own homes. 
 The young man, Vignau, whom he had sent with the 
 Algonquins in 1611, had wintered with them at Allumette 
 Island, and had returned to France in the fall of 1612. 
 He there reported that he had seen the Northern Sea, 
 that the river took its rise in a lake which also com- 
 municated with the sea, that he had seen the wreck of 
 an English ship on the shore, that he had seen the scalps 
 of eighty Englishmen whom the Indians had killed, and 
 that there was a young English boy still a captive among 
 them. All this was absolutely false, but he swore to it, 
 and added such details that Champlain laid the matter 
 before the leading men of the company in Paris, and 
 they instructed him to follow up the clew and discover 
 the great northern sea. The story seemed to be con- 
 firmed by the news of Hudson’s discovery of the Bay, — 
 brought to England in 1612 by the mutineers, — and the 
 report of the expedition under Sir Thomas Button, sent 
 to rescue him in the same year. 
 
 With four Frenchmen, one of whom was Vignau, and 
 with one savage as guide, Champlain started from St. 
 Helen’s Island, opposite Montreal, on May 27, 1613, with 
 two canoes. He carried them over the portage to Lake 
 St. Louis, and from there commenced his memorable 
 exploration of the Ottawa, then called the River of the 
 Algonquins, and later the Grand River. Passing through 
 Lake St. Louis he noticed three rivers falling into it — one 
 from the Iroquois territory at the south (the Chateau- 
 guay), another from the Huron territory from the west 
 (the St. Lawrence), and the third, which he followed to 
 the north (Ottawa), from the country of the Algon- 
 quins and Nipissings (Nebicerini). He made a short 
 portage (Ste. Anne’s) the same day, and spent the night 
 upon one of the small islands just above the rapids. The 
 
266 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 following day (May 31, 1613) was spent in passing 
 through the tranquil reaches of the Lake of Two Moun- 
 tains, — he called it Lac de Soissons, — but on June 1 he 
 arrived at the Long Sault, a series of rapids now over- 
 come by the Carillon and Grenville canals — twelve miles 
 of very turbulent water. Here he narrowly escaped death, 
 for the woods were so dense they could not carry their 
 canoes by land, and they had to pull them up the stream 
 with ropes. There was only one Indian in the party, and 
 the Frenchmen were awkward at managing canoes in 
 such difficult water. His canoe dragged him in, and if 
 he had not fallen between two rocks, he would have been 
 drowned. The rope was twisted round his wrist, and 
 he was seriously hurt, but held on to his canoe. This 
 experience at the Chute a Blondeau gave him a severe 
 lesson in the art of canoeing. Two years before, shortly 
 after his servant Louis was drowned, Champlain insisted 
 upon the Indians taking him down the Sault St. Louis, 
 but they made him strip to his shirt, and warned him to 
 hang on to his canoe if it should upset. He ran the 
 Lachine rapids in safety, but it was the Indians who man- 
 aged the canoe. He had courage enough for anything, 
 but to track a canoe up the Long Sault of the Ottawa 
 required skill, and after they had got up they rested for 
 the remainder of that day, “ having done enough.” The 
 following day he met a party of Algonquins on their way 
 down, and he changed off the most awkward Frenchman 
 of his party for an Indian guide to manage the second 
 canoe. Continuing on along the north bank the Petite 
 Nation River attracted his notice by the islands and the 
 beautiful woods near it. This part of the Ottawa country 
 was the hunting ground of the “ Little Algonquins,” and 
 the river is called the Little Nation River to this day 
 (Petite Nation). 
 
 It was the 4th of June, 1613, when Champlain reached 
 the site of the capital of the Dominion — Ottawa. He 
 mentions a river with a countless number of falls (the 
 Gatineau), from the north, and just opposite, falling in 
 from the south, another at whose mouth is a marvellous 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 267 
 
 fall, making an arch under which the savages delight to 
 go. The French called it, in after years, the Rideau 
 (curtain) — a descriptive name; for the river flows 
 smoothly over, and even now, disfigured as it is by saw- 
 mills, enough remains of its pristine beauty to suggest the 
 features which attracted attention in those early years, 
 when issuing out of a dense background of pine forest it 
 fell in a curtain of white foam over the bank and into 
 the main riv^r. It must have been a very beautiful spot, 
 for the fur trader Henry speaks of it when passing up in 
 1761 : “ The fall presented itself to my view with extraor- 
 dinary beauty and magnificence and decorated with 
 a variety of colours.” A league farther up, “ rowing 
 against a strong current,” they reached the (Chaudiere) 
 falls, where the main Ottawa drops forty feet between 
 many little rocky islands covered with brushwood. In 
 one place he observes that the falling water had hollowed 
 out a large and deep basin, round which it forms swift 
 eddies. The natives, he adds, call this Asticou — the 
 kettle. The French translated the word, and the falls are 
 called Chaudiere (Kettle) Falls to this day. The chasm 
 in the rock may still be seen, and the sound of falling 
 water, which Champlain heard two leagues away, still 
 soothes the ear on a calm evening. The islands are all 
 bridged and built over, but even yet, cribbed and confined 
 though it is with sawmills and paper mills and other 
 factories, the great “ Kettle ” foams and steams before 
 the eyes of every visitor to Parliament Hill, an object of 
 admiration, though its wild forest setting has disappeared. 
 
 The carrying place (portage) at the fall was short; 
 only a quarter of a league, says Champlain. According 
 to Mackenzie it was 643 paces, and Henry says a quarter 
 of a mile, over smooth rock, though to Champlain’s 
 unaccustomed efforts the rock seemed rough enough. 
 The Recollet Sagard, in passing this portage a few years 
 later, made the first palaeontological observation on record 
 in Canada, for he remarked the fucoids in the Trenton 
 Limestone, and took them to be slugs petrified by the 
 cool spray. Champlain had to make a second portage, 
 
268 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 higher up, of about three hundred paces (the fur traders 
 with heavily laden canoes used to make three), and then 
 he entered a lake now called Lake des Chenes, from the 
 oak trees at the third portage — a long stretch of quiet 
 water until the Chats rapids were reached. Here the 
 river falls over a long circular ridge of rock in a fall 
 interrupted by islands, and forms a series of foaming 
 falls looking like banks of white snow around a curve 
 two miles long of forest. At that spot he lightened his 
 burden by leaving the least necessary food and clothing, 
 trusting to hunting and fishing for support. The falls 
 and lake are now known as “ Des Chats,” from the 
 number of raccoons (chats sauvages) which were found 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 He continued up the river, noting everything out of 
 the usual course. The mosquitoes troubled him more 
 than the portages. He writes “ their persistency is so 
 marvellous that one cannot describe it,” and no doubt, 
 as he scrambled over the portages, although he was 
 “ laden only with three arquebuses, three paddles, his 
 cloak, and some small articles,” the flies availed them- 
 selves of the novel chance at a European skin. He passed 
 a river (the Madawaska), where a people dwelt called 
 Matou-ouescarini, and, having left the main river to 
 avoid the heavy rapids, he found a number of savages 
 settled at Muskrat Lake, who gave them a kind reception 
 and sent some people to assist them and guide them to 
 Allumette Island, where they regained the Ottawa. 
 
 Allumette Island, where Champlain now arrived, fig- 
 ured largely in the early history of Canada. It was the 
 stronghold of the greater Algonquins as distinguished 
 from La Petite Nation , who hunted near the site of the 
 present capital. Their chief Tessouat (who had met 
 Champlain at Tadoussac in 1603) was an important per- 
 sonage, and as the river all round the island was broken 
 by rapids be availed himself of its unique position to levy 
 toll on the western Indians on their way down the river to 
 dispose of their furs. He received Champlain very cor- 
 dially, and made a great feast (tabagie) in his honour, 
 
haudiere Falls, Ottawa. (The Big Kettle.) 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 269 
 
 after which a formal council was held. Champlain told 
 them that he had come with the intention of going to 
 visit the Nebicerini (Nipissings), and that he wanted 
 four canoes with eight savages as guides. Tessouat, 
 as spokesman for his people, replied that while Cham- 
 plain had always shown himself their friend, and had 
 gone with them to war, he had not kept his promise and 
 met them at the Sault (Montreal) the year before. Two 
 thousand of their people had gone there, and were not 
 only disappointed at not seeing him, but had been badly 
 treated by the French traders, and had decided not to go 
 there again. Moreover, that the Nipissings were sorcer- 
 ers, and that they were cowardly, and were no help in 
 war, but would kill them by charms and poisons, and 
 also that the way was long and difficult. Champlain 
 reproached them for unfriendliness, and brought for- 
 ward Vignau, who had wintered with them in 1611, who 
 insisted that he had visited the Nipissings ; and then 
 Champlain told them Vignau’s story of the North Sea, 
 and the wrecked English ships, and the eighty English 
 scalps, and the English captive. This tissue of lies scan- 
 dalised the Indians, and they were eager to put Vignau 
 to death. At last, confronted with the indignant savages, 
 Vignau broke down and confessed that he had never left 
 Tessouat’s Island, and that the whole story was false from 
 end to end. Champlain was greatly disturbed, for this 
 journey to the North Sea had been concerted at Paris 
 with the leading men of the company on the strength of 
 Vignau’s reports. It is the only instance in Champlain’s 
 record when his even temper was ruffled, and although 
 Vignau was eventually pardoned, his position for a short 
 time was critical. 
 
 There was nothing to be done but to return, and he 
 started for the Sault (Montreal), but with a retinue of 
 forty canoes, increased on the way to sixty. Nothing 
 occurred to be noted, excepting that they stopped at the 
 Chaudiere Falls (at Ottawa) to perform a ceremony, 
 immemorial among them, of propitiating the presiding 
 spirit of the place. All assembled in one spot and took 
 
270 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 up a collection on a wooden plate. Each savage put in 
 a little piece of tobacco. They then put the plate in the 
 middle of the group and danced around it, singing in 
 their usual style; after which one of the chiefs made an 
 address, and when that was over he emptied the plate 
 into the Chaudiere. Their religious instincts being satis- 
 fied they passed down to Montreal. There, besides some 
 boats belonging to the company, they found the Sieur de 
 Maisonneuve of St. Malo. He had procured a permit 
 from the Prince de Conde to bring out three vessels. It 
 is a name to be ever remembered in Montreal, for twenty- 
 nine years later Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, 
 founded the city. Until then it was only a fur trading 
 centre for a few weeks in summer, where the Indians 
 from the west and north congregated to meet the French 
 trading boats. Here, before assembled white men and 
 savages, Vignau made an open confession of his false- 
 hoods, for the object of Champlain’s voyage was known 
 to all connected with the company. The Indians took 
 back with them two young men at Champlain’s request, 
 but none of them would have anything to do with 
 Vignau. Champlain then sailed for France. 
 
 There was much for him to do — much that only he 
 could do, for in all the tangle of conflicting interests and 
 court intrigues he was the only man with a single eye for 
 the good of France, the advancement of exploration, and 
 the social and spiritual welfare of the savages. He will- 
 ingly left the trading to others — he wanted nothing for 
 himself but his narrow salary. Pont-Grave managed 
 the commercial part of the enterprise; he assumed for 
 his share the cares of the infant colony, the labours of ex- 
 ploration, and the risks of warfare. Upon his noble and 
 unselfish devotion was built the colony of New France, 
 and in years long after it fell by the greed, luxury, and 
 corruption of men who embodied the negation of every- 
 thing he held dear. His first care was to conciliate the 
 jarring Interests of the merchants by pointing out that no 
 one could be benefited by the reckless competition which 
 was their only wisdom. By personal efforts with the 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN QUEBEC 271 
 
 court and the Prince of Conde, and by personal represen- 
 tations to the merchants of the maritime cities, he matured 
 the plan of a company, with an exclusive charter for 
 eleven years, but open to all to join — one-third of the 
 stock to be held in Normandy, one-third in Bretagne, and 
 one-third in La Rochelle. The Rochellois delayed until 
 the time set had expired, when the Normans and Bretons 
 divided their third between them. Champlain then 
 turned his attention to the spiritual interests of the sav- 
 ages, and arranged with the Recollets (a branch of the 
 Franciscan Order) to send out four brothers to make a 
 commencement of a mission ; he himself obtained contri- 
 butions for the expense and procured the requisite ecclesi- 
 astical authority. At last everything was ready, and on 
 April 24, 1615, he sailed with the friars in the St. Etienne 
 from Honfleur under the command of Pont-Grave. 
 
 With the arrival of these four Recollet fathers com- 
 mences the era of Catholic missions in Canada. Up to 
 that time the Huguenot influence had been very strong in 
 the councils of the trading and colonising companies. 
 Many of the merchants of Normandy were Huguenots, 
 and if the wrong-headed burghers of La Rochelle had 
 taken up . the shares reserved for them, the Huguenot 
 influence would have maintained its ground. The mer- 
 chants had never taken any interest in the colonisation of 
 the country, but looked upon it as a field for trade, and in 
 that respect they were not in sympathy with Champlain, 
 who, apart from his interest in the spiritual welfare of the 
 savages, felt that the work of the missionaries would lead 
 to the opening up of trade in the interior. The Hugue- 
 nots lost their lead, and the religious orders of the 
 Catholic Church took up at that juncture the work of 
 missionary exploration, and by the natural sequence of 
 events Canada became a Catholic country. 
 
 A large number of Indians had assembled at the Sault 
 St. Louis, and when Champlain arrived they reminded 
 him of his promise to assist in their wars. After con- 
 sultation with Pont-Grave he decided to join them in 
 another expedition, and so obtain an opening for the 
 
272 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 exploration of the upper country. The Indians promised 
 to gather 2500 men, and Champlain was to supply as 
 many Frenchmen as he could. Leaving most of his 
 people behind, he started for Quebec to make arrange- 
 ments for an absence which would probably extend over 
 three or four months. When he returned to the Sault 
 the Indians had all gone home, taking with them the 
 Recollet, Father Le Caron, and the twelve Frenchmen 
 who were to assist on the expedition. They had grown 
 impatient and supposed that Champlain would not return, 
 or that he had been captured on the way by the Iroquois. 
 Champlain at once started off with two Frenchmen and 
 ten savages to follow into the region now known as the 
 Province of Ontario. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 
 
 W E have followed Champlain in his explora- 
 tions in the present provinces of Nova 
 Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec. As 
 stated in the preceding chapter, in the year 
 1615 he entered the Province of Ontario, and before 
 he returned he had explored all the older part of the 
 province except the Niagara peninsula. He followed 
 up the Ottawa in the track of the returning Indians 
 to Allumette Island, where he had been in 1613, and 
 passed through what he called the Lake of Algon- 
 quins (Lac des Allumettes), and up the Deep River and 
 the stream beyond until he reached the Mattawa. There 
 he branched to the left and followed that river up to its 
 head. Thence by a short portage he crossed over to Lake 
 Nipissing, and followed down the French River, its outlet, 
 into the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The route looks 
 easier upon the map than it is in reality, for there are 
 many falls and rapids to be overcome only by laborious 
 portages ; nevertheless, it continued to be the fur traders’ 
 highroad to the west until the days of steamboat naviga- 
 tion. In the early years of the colony it was beyond the 
 usual reach of Iroquois war parties, and it is, in fact, the 
 shortest and most direct course to Lake Superior, for 
 from the Strait of Michilimackinac to the head of tide 
 water, at Lake St. Peter, below Montreal, is an absolutely 
 due east line — the parallel of 46° N. On the French 
 River he met a party of the Cheveux Releves — a people 
 who went absolutely naked, but were very particular 
 about their hair, which they dressed high up on their 
 heads with great pains. They were afterwards known 
 to the English as the Ottawas, and the river derived its 
 
 18 273 
 
274 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 name from them in after years. In fact, they claimed an 
 especial right in the river, for they used it for trade more 
 continuously than the other tribes. 
 
 The Huron nation, whose homes Champlain was now 
 to visit, had been driven from their original seat at Mont- 
 real and Quebec by the incessant incursions of the Iro- 
 quois. They were the elder branch of the main stock of 
 the Huron-Iroquois race, and their language more closely 
 resembled the Mohawk dialect than the other dialects of 
 the Iroquois league. The French afterwards, because 
 they wore their hair in a ridge, called them Hurons, and 
 the name clung to them and was applied to the lake on 
 which they dwelt. If we are to believe the dim traditions 
 of their tribe, the cause of all their “ unnumbered woes ” 
 originated with a woman. The war which followed was 
 internecine, demanding the absolute extinction of one or 
 the other nation. Fortune was against the Hurons, and, 
 making friends with the alien tribes of Algonquins on the 
 Ottawa, they retired to a region in the west, beyond, as 
 they hoped, the reach of Iroquois war parties. Like 
 the Iroquois, they were sedentary tribes, living in villages 
 and drawing much of their support from the cultivation 
 of the soil. Rough and primitive as was their agriculture, 
 it raised them above the level of the surrounding Algon- 
 quins, who were hunters, and for the most part had no 
 settled abodes. The French found the Hurons dwelling 
 in a fertile territory south of the River Severn, and be- 
 tween Lake Simcoe and Nottawassaga Bay, approxi- 
 mately corresponding to the present county of Simcoe. 
 In that comparatively narrow territory there was a pop- 
 ulation variously estimated at from twelve to thirty 
 thousand souls, living in towns and villages estimated to 
 be thirty-two in number. These were connected by well- 
 worn trails, and the density of the population may be 
 gathered from the fact that in three days Champlain 
 visited five villages. The towns on the southern margin 
 of the territory were fortified after the manner of Hoche- 
 laga, as seen by Jacques Cartier. The drawing from 
 Ramusio, given at page 167, shows a perfectly circular 
 
Entrance to French River, Lake Nipissing District. 
 (Champlain’s route to Lake Huron.) 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 275 
 
 rampart, and was doubtless made from the description in 
 the text. The cut following, at page 278, is from a draw- 
 ing by Champlain of the Onondaga town he assisted to 
 attack. It is a type of all the fortified towns of the 
 Huron-Iroquois tribes. At one of these towns, Carha- 
 gouha, there was a warm welcome, for Father Le 
 Caron had settled there, and with him were the twelve 
 Frenchmen of his party. These with Champlain and his 
 two men made a good congregation, and the happy priest 
 celebrated for the occasion the first mass in the Province 
 of Ontario. 
 
 After issuing from French River upon Lake Huron, 
 Champlain’s course was south along the shores of the 
 region now known as the counties of Parry Sound and 
 Muskoka. He crossed Matchedash Bay and landed not 
 far from the present town of Midland in Simcoe county. 
 It was in the territory of the Attigouautan, a sub-tribe 
 under the totem of the Bear, the chief of the four tribes 
 constituting the Huron nation, and from them at first 
 Champlain called the lake, but afterwards he named it 
 the Mer Douce (Freshwater Sea). From thence he went 
 from town to town, everywhere received with welcome 
 and feasted with a greater joy inasmuch as they thought 
 he had been taken by the Iroquois. They had given up 
 all hope of seeing him again, and had postponed their 
 intended war party ; now they commenced anew to 
 assemble their forces, and in the meantime he examined 
 the country. He found great quantities of Indian corn 
 (maize) and squashes growing. Sunflowers grew also 
 in abundance, from the seed of which they extracted oil. 
 He noted the soil, which he says is a little sandy, 
 but good for Indian corn, and he comments on many 
 other productions of the country around. He remained 
 longer with the Arendaronons, or tribe of the Rock, 
 than with the others. They dwelt at the outlet of Lake 
 Couchiching, and were especially friendly with the 
 French. 
 
 Meantime the warriors were gathering, and news kept 
 coming in from all sides. Word came that a kindred 
 
276 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 people beyond the Iroquois, to the south, were preparing 
 five hundred men to take part in the proposed attack. 
 These were the Andastes (called also Conestogas and 
 Susquehannocks), who dwelt on the head-waters of the 
 Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. They also, though 
 kindred in race, were enemies of the Iroquois. They had 
 come into contact with the Dutch, who had just made the 
 beginning of a settlement in the Mohawk territory near 
 Albany on the Hudson and were in close alliance with 
 the Iroquois. 
 
 At last, early in September, everything was ready and 
 the great war party started. They passed through Lake 
 Simcoe, then carried their canoes over the portage trail 
 to Balsam Lake, from thence down the Otonabee River, 
 passing the site of Peterborough, to Rice Lake. From the 
 extreme end of Rice Lake the River Trent flows south- 
 wards, and they followed it down to the Bay of Quinte, 
 where, at the site of the present town of Trenton, they 
 issued out upon the waters of Lake Ontario. The route 
 is much broken by falls and rapids, but in recent years it 
 has been improved by canals and other aids to navigation, 
 under the general name of the Trent River Navigation 
 System. 
 
 Two of the great lakes were now discovered. Father 
 Le Caron had reached Lake Huron before him, but 
 Champlain was the first white man, excepting, perhaps, 
 Etienne Brule, to dip a paddle into Lake Ontario. The 
 war party followed along the north shore to the eastern 
 end of the lake, where there “ are many large and beauti- 
 ful islands,” but the point where they crossed is not pre- 
 cisely ascertained, nor is it absolutely certain where they 
 landed upon the south shore. There they hid their 
 canoes in the woods, and for four days marched by land 
 until they crossed a river containing some fine islands, 
 which discharges a large lake. The place is easily identi- 
 fied as Oneida River and Lake. They were striking at 
 the very heart of the confederacy, at the country of the 
 Onondagas, where burned the central council fire of the 
 formidable league of the Five Nations. 
 
Barrie, on Lake Simcoe. 
 (In the Huron country.) 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 277 
 
 The Iroquois confederacy at that time occupied the 
 southern water-parting of the St. Lawrence River and 
 Lake Ontario, from Lake Champlain on the east to the 
 Genesee River on the west. They commanded the head- 
 waters of the Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna 
 rivers, and their war parties had depopulated an enor- 
 mous extent of adjacent territory. The league was com- 
 posed of five tribes, and was at first called the Five 
 Nations by the English. In after years the Tuscaroras, 
 a kindred tribe from North Carolina, took refuge with 
 them, and thereafter they were known as the Six Nations. 
 The idea of an offensive and defensive league in per- 
 petuity originated in the mind of Hiawatha, not a myth- 
 ical person, but a real historical character, around 
 whose name many myths have gathered. One such myth 
 is embodied in Longfellow’s beautiful poem, for it is 
 absolutely certain that Hiawatha was not an O jibway of 
 Algonquin stock, dwelling near Lake Superior, but an 
 Onondaga of Huron-Iroquois stock, dwelling south of 
 Lake Ontario. Some time about the middle of the 
 fifteenth century he conceived the idea of putting an end 
 to the incessant wars which raged among the Indians, 
 by an offensive and defensive league. The idea was dis- 
 tasteful to the Onondagas, and, like Mahomet, he had his 
 hegira, for he had to flee to the Mohawks. They re- 
 ceived him and accepted his views, and from them the 
 league extended westward. They were called the “ elder 
 brethren ” from this fact, and they wielded great in- 
 fluence at the councils of the confederacy. Their home 
 was at the head-waters of the Mohawk River, and from 
 that point their war parties kept the whole region to the 
 north and east in terror. Next, to the west, were the 
 Oneidas, who dwelt near Oneida Creek and Lake. 
 The Onondagas were the central tribe, and the fire of 
 the grand council of the league was kept burning among 
 them. Their headquarters were on the Onondaga 
 River. Then succeeded to the west the Cayugas on 
 Cayuga Lake, and the western gate of the “ Long 
 House,” as they figuratively called their league,, was kept 
 
278 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 by the Senecas, who reached to the Genesee valley. The 
 turnpike roads from the head-waters of the Hudson 
 River to Buffalo on Lake Erie are on the main trail 
 which used to connect the chief towns of the Iroquois 
 league. At the time of their greatest extension, about 
 1650, they had subdued the whole extent of territory 
 now known as Ontario as far as the Sault Ste. Marie; 
 they kept the French in constant alarm at Quebec, and 
 their war parties struck even as far east as Chaleur Bay, 
 and far north among the Montagnais. They held all the 
 tribes in subjection as far south as the Tennessee River; 
 on the west they reached the Mississippi, where they met 
 the powerful tribes of the Sioux, and on the northwest 
 they were held in check by the warlike nation of the 
 Ojibways, with whom they had been for two hundred 
 years at peace. They were never very numerous, for 
 their total population is estimated by Parkman at 10,000 
 to 12,000 souls. Their fighting strength was from 2000 
 to 2300 warriors of all the tribes, but the Dutch first, and 
 then the English, supplied them with fire-arms before the 
 other savage tribes were able to procure them. They 
 were the most politic nation of Indians on the continent, 
 and for one hundred and fifty years preserved their 
 independence by playing off the English on the south 
 against the French on the north. In the main they clung 
 to the English alliance, and their policy preserved the 
 continent to the English, for if they had thrown their 
 strength on the side of the French the English colonies 
 would have been confined to the seaboard. They utterly 
 destroyed the Huron and Tobacco nations in 1650, the 
 Neuter nation in 1651, and the Eries in 1654; they sub- 
 dued the Andastes in 1675 ; they terrorised the wander- 
 ing Algonquins, and domineered over all the central 
 tribes east of the Mississippi. Their numbers wasted in 
 war were renewed by their custom of adopting into their 
 nation the residue, and especially the youth, of the nations 
 they conquered. They were not more cruel than other 
 Indians, and Lescarbot says, with much truth, that when 
 he recalls the troubles in Europe he thinks that neither 
 
Attack by the Hurons and Algonquins and their French auxiliaries. 
 
 (From CEuvres de Champlain .) 
 
 [ Face page 278 . 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 279 
 
 Spaniards, Flemings, nor French owe the Indians any- 
 thing in respect of cruelty. This formidable nation of 
 warriors — the Romans of the New World — Champlain 
 now marched to attack in their strongholds. 
 
 It was the 9th of October when the scouts of the war 
 party first met any of the Iroquois, and the next day they 
 arrived at one of the fortified towns of the Onondagas. 
 The site of the town has been much disputed, but has 
 been ascertained with reasonable certainty to have been 
 in Madison County, New York, at Nichol’s Pond, a little 
 southeast of Oneida Lake. It was a position well 
 selected for defence, and was strongly fortified, as will be 
 seen upon the plan given by Champlain, page 278. It 
 was in the shape of a hexagon, one side rested on the 
 pond, and streams making a sort of moat were made to 
 flow along the bases of four other sides. The whole vil- 
 lage was inclosed within a rampart made of palisades 
 four deep, interlaced together and made of strong tim- 
 bers thirty feet high and about six inches apart. Gal- 
 leries ran around the inside for the defenders, with loop- 
 holes for discharging missiles. The insubordination of 
 the Huron character soon manifested itself. It had been 
 planned not to show their strength until all preparations 
 were complete, but the Indians could not be restrained 
 from a premature attack, and Champlain and his French- 
 men had to disclose themselves to cover the retreat of 
 the attacking party. Although angry at their wilfulness, 
 he devised a plan of assault which they agreed to carry 
 out. A sort of tower of wood, called a cavalier, was pre- 
 pared higher than the palisades, and on it some of the 
 Frenchmen with arquebuses were placed so as to clear 
 the rampart, mantelets were also made to cover the 
 attacking parties in setting fire to the palisades. The 
 Indians were discouraged at the non-arrival of the five 
 hundred men promised by the Andastes, but as the 
 Iroquois were availing themselves of every delay to 
 strengthen their position, and the assailants were suffi- 
 ciently strong to carry the fort, Champlain urged on an 
 immediate attack. The cavalier was carried and placed 
 
280 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 by two hundred savages, and the arquebusiers cleared 
 the rampart, but instead of bringing up the mantelets 
 the Indians got excited and capered round, yelling and 
 shooting their arrows without any result. They brought 
 up wood, but it was insufficient in quantity, and in their 
 excitement they placed it on the lee side, so that the 
 flames were carried away from the palisades. Cham- 
 plain’s efforts to direct the savages were in vain; his 
 orders and shouts were unheeded in the din of their 
 whooping and capering. The result was that the attack 
 failed. The Iroquois had abundance of water and 
 extinguished the fire, and the Hurons, discouraged, 
 returned to their camp. Two of the chiefs and fifteen 
 other Indians were wounded, and Champlain received an 
 arrow wound in his leg and one in the knee. With great 
 difficulty he prevailed on the Indians to wait four days 
 longer for the arrival of the Andastes. The time was 
 spent in skirmishes, and the impetuosity of the Hurons 
 repeatedly led them into difficulties, from which Cham- 
 plain’s arquebusiers had to extricate them ; but they could 
 not be induced to make another assault, and in spite of 
 his councils resolved to retreat. The only thing Cham- 
 plain found to commend in their tactics was the secure 
 way they conducted their retreat, by covering their flanks 
 and rear and carrying their wounded in baskets placed 
 in the centre of the main body. Champlain was strapped 
 up and carried on the back of a sturdy savage. After a 
 long retreat, harassed for a while by the Iroquois, they 
 arrived at the place where they had left their canoes, and 
 found them safe. Then the party prepared to break up — 
 some to fish, some to hunt, some to trap beaver, and some 
 to return to their homes. 
 
 Champlain was anxious to return to Quebec, but the 
 savages had other designs. They wanted him and his 
 Frenchmen, partly for the protection of their fire-arms and 
 partly for their aid, to arrange in winter council for an- 
 other expedition. He could not get a canoe to carry him 
 home, and was obliged to go back to the Huron country 
 with his intractable allies. They crossed the end of the 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 281 
 
 lake and went hunting for their winter supplies up the 
 Cataraqui and among the lakes between Kingston and 
 Ottawa. They spent a month in that locality. Three 
 days and two nights of it were anxious ones for Cham- 
 plain, for in his eagerness to shoot a strange-looking bird 
 he lost his way in the woods. He was without his com- 
 pass, and wandered round in the forest, for the weather 
 was cloudy and rainy. It is good evidence of his re- 
 sourcefulness that he supported himself by his gun, and 
 could kindle a fire and cook the birds he shot. Coming 
 upon a stream he followed the flowing water. He came 
 out upon a fall and an opening in the forest leading to a 
 far-reaching meadow, where there was a large number 
 of wild animals, and then he saw a long stretch of broad 
 river and recognised the portage track he had been over. 
 That night he slept in better spirits, after making his sup- 
 per of the rest of the birds. The next morning he con- 
 sidered carefully the lie of the country and the bearings 
 of the mountains on the river bank, and concluded that 
 the camp was four or five leagues further down. He 
 could now walk with leisure along the stream until he 
 perceived the smoke of the camp. After that the Indians 
 never would allow him to go alone into the woods, and 
 he was careful never again to leave his compass in 
 camp. 
 
 December had come, and the lakes and streams were 
 frozen. The Indians started for home, going across the 
 country in a toilsome march, laden with the deer they 
 had killed. The Indians each carried a load of a hun- 
 dred pounds, but Champlain found twenty pounds very 
 heavy in tramping through the woods. For passing over 
 the ice they used “ trainees de bois ” — flat sledges, still 
 used in Canada, and called traineaux and toboggans. 
 They were sixteen days on the march, over a broken 
 country, from somewhere northeast of Kingston, not far 
 from Rideau Lake, to Lake Simcoe ; and to add to their 
 labours they had a few days’ thaw. Soldiering on the 
 open plains of France or sailing on the stormy North 
 Atlantic did not try Champlain’s courage and endurance 
 
282 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 so much as this march, but he was a many-sided man, 
 strong in body as in mind. He was as much at home in 
 the brilliant court of France as in a wigwam on a Cana- 
 dian lake, as patient and politic with a wild band of 
 savages on Lake Huron as with a crowd of grasping 
 traders in St. Malo or Dieppe. Always calm, always un- 
 selfish, always depending on God, in whom he believed 
 and trusted, and thinking of France, which he loved, this 
 single-hearted man resolutely followed the path of his 
 duty under all circumstances ; never looking for ease or 
 asking for profit, loved by the wild people of the forest, 
 respected by the courtiers of the King, and trusted by 
 the close-fisted merchants of the maritime cities of 
 France. 
 
 It was close upon Christmas, 1615, when he arrived 
 at the Huron town of Cahiague, near the site of the pres- 
 ent town of Orillia, at the outlet of Lake Simcoe. To 
 the same town also came the chief Iroquet and his band 
 of Algonquins from the Ottawa. Champlain did not rest 
 long there, but in the first week of the new year set out to 
 visit a neighbouring tribe to the west — the Tobacco nation. 
 They were kindred to the Hurons, and spoke the same 
 language. Their name was derived from the fact that 
 they gave great attention to growing a kind of tobacco 
 much valued by the Indians. They were a sedentary 
 people, living in villages and growing maize for support, 
 and occupied an extent of land to the southwest of the 
 Hurons, corresponding to the present counties of Duf- 
 ferin and Grey. From thence he went to the Cheveux 
 Releves (Ottawas), who dwelt on the shores of the lake 
 in the present counties of Bruce and Huron. They were 
 of Algonquin stock, and were friendly with the Hurons, 
 though their language was different; but they were in 
 deadly enmity with the Mascoutins, an Algonquin people 
 dwelling to the west of Lake Huron. South of the 
 Tobacco nation and the Cheveux Releves dwelt the 
 Neutral nation, whom Champlain was dissuaded from 
 visiting — a powerful and fierce people, living in villages 
 and occupying a wide extent of territory reaching down 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 283 
 
 to Lake Erie and across the Niagara River. They 
 touched the Seneca tribe of Iroquois at the Genessee 
 River on the east and the Erie nation on the west. All 
 were of the kindred Huron-Iroquois stock. In the wars 
 between the Iroquois and Hurons they preserved a care- 
 ful neutrality, which, however, did not preserve them 
 from extermination after the Iroquois had rooted up the 
 Huron nation. The manners and customs of all these 
 tribes are described by Champlain with many details, but 
 all fall under one of the two great families — Algonquin 
 or Huron-Iroquois. Their customs differed little within 
 each of these families. 
 
 On returning from this journey it had been Cham- 
 plain’s intention to go northwards to the great northern 
 sea of which he had heard, but in his absence a quarrel 
 had broken out between the Hurons and visiting Algon- 
 quins, and he was appointed umpire by both parties. It 
 was a difficult task, for there had been bloodshed, and the 
 process of reconciliation was slow. The northern jour- 
 ney had to be abandoned, and on May 20, 1616, Cham- 
 plain set out on his return to Quebec, in company with the 
 Nipissings and Algonquins of the Ottawa. They took 
 the route of French River, Lake Nipissing, the Mattawa 
 and the Ottawa. After a journey of forty days he 
 arrived safely at Montreal, where he found Pont-Grave 
 and the Recollet Fathers, who had despaired of seeing 
 him again. On July 11, 1616, he reached Quebec, and 
 after putting matters in order sailed for France with 
 Pont-Grave and arrived at Honfleur September 10. 
 
 Champlain’s work as an explorer was now done. He 
 had searched out every part of the Atlantic coast of Nova 
 Scotia and New Brunswick. He had not seen Prince 
 Edward Island because vessels bound for the St. Law- 
 rence pass too far north and see only the Magdalen 
 Islands, or the Bird Rocks, on their course. The Prov- 
 ince of Quebec was well known to him. He had been 
 up the Saguenay and up the St. Maurice to the head of 
 navigation of each river, and knew, from Indian reports, 
 the geography of the country farther to the north. He 
 
284 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 had penetrated to the southern edge of the St. Lawrence 
 basin at the Strait of Ticonderoga and at Oneida Lake. 
 He had followed to the west up the Ottawa, up the Mat- 
 tawa, and down Lake Nipissing and French River to 
 Georgian Bay. He knew the eastern shores of Lake 
 Huron, and apprehended its vast extent ; he had heard of 
 Lake Superior, to the westward, and he had paddled 
 across Lake Ontario, and knew its relation to the St. 
 Lawrence water system. Not only was the present Prov- 
 ince of Quebec well known to him, but he had penetrated 
 to the heart of the Province of Ontario and had entered 
 the northern regions of the State of New York. He had 
 hunted in the country between Kingston and Ottawa ; he 
 had passed down the whole series of waters from Lake 
 Simcoe to the Bay of Quinte; he had gone on foot 
 through the northern portions of the counties of Fron- 
 tenac, Addington, Hastings, Peterborough, and Vic- 
 toria, in central Ontario. In the western peninsula he 
 had visited the counties of Grey, Bruce, Huron, Welling- 
 ton, Simcoe, and Dufferin, and had touched the head- 
 waters of the Grand River. His “ Voyages ” are the rec- 
 ord of magnificent achievements. Few Canadians, even 
 in these days of railways and steamboats, have such an 
 extensive personal knowledge of Canada as Champlain 
 acquired in the years of his activity as an explorer. His 
 powers of observation were great. He noticed the 
 quality of the soil and the natural productions of all 
 the country he passed through, and his descriptions of 
 the different tribes of Indians he met are accurate and 
 full. 
 
 We must not, however, take his map of 1632 as the 
 result of his own personal experience, for there are indi- 
 cations of lakes west of Lake Huron which he never saw, 
 and which were reported by men he trained, and by mis- 
 sionaries, after his own explorations were over. Even 
 then Lake Erie was unknown. The restless activity of 
 the hostile Iroquois sealed for many years the lower route, 
 and that lake was not known until all the sister lakes to 
 the west had been discovered. Lake Michigan is shown 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 285 
 
 as stretching north instead of south from the Sault, and 
 upon it are placed the copper mines which belong to Lake 
 Superior. The Sault Ste. Marie is laid down as the 
 Sault de Gaston, and it broadens out into a great un- 
 named lake. Champlain’s idea of Niagara Falls was 
 very inadequate, for he supposed them to be merely 
 rapids, like the Sault at Montreal. They are marked on 
 his great map, in 1632, with more emphasis as “ very 
 high,” but evidently with inadequate information. 
 
 The contradictory reports of the Indians, which had 
 misled Champlain, were disposed of by his journey of 
 1615. He reached the great sea, and the water was not 
 salt, and it did not flow to the west — but might there not 
 be a double discharge from so great a basin ? Lescarbot, 
 while he knew that the St. Lawrence flowed from lakes, 
 thought that there was also a western opening from them 
 to the South Sea, and instanced the Nile as a parallel 
 case, for it flows from a lake which discharged into the 
 main ocean, in opposite directions, by several rivers. 
 Champlain’s merits as a cartographer are very great. 
 His maps are entirely modern in their methods, and for 
 New France and New England are original and based 
 on survey. Every entry on his maps has some founda- 
 tion. There are no long strings of purely fictitious names, 
 nor drawings of fictitious monsters, nor revivals of old- 
 world myths, such as the battles of the pygmies and the 
 cranes on the site of Ottawa, portrayed only fifty years 
 before on Desceliers’ maps. There is in his maps a 
 strenuous effort to convey the exact truth to his readers, 
 as when, in his map of 1612, he writes along the south- 
 west coast of the Gulf, where Prince Edward Island was 
 in a few years to detach itself from the mainland, “ the 
 author has not examined this coast.” His knowledge of 
 America was so extensive that he could use all pre- 
 existing materials critically, and if he misunderstood his 
 Indian informants, as he did in the case of Lake 
 Michigan, he was at least working upon something and 
 not making the geography out of his own head. 
 
 The remainder of Champlain’s life was spent in con- 
 
286 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 stant efforts to establish the colony at Quebec on a solid, 
 self-supporting basis. In this he had to overcome the 
 antagonism of the merchants who controlled the com- 
 panies, and of their servants in the colony. His aim had 
 a farther reach than theirs. He saw that the only way to 
 open up the country to commerce was to win over the 
 Indians by evangelising them. Every missionary estab- 
 lished in a savage tribe was a pioneer of civilisation and 
 of trade. His aim also was to win a peace for the west- 
 ern tribes, and to do that it was necessary to make the 
 Iroquois feel the power of France. He asked for a hun- 
 dred men only, and though they were not sent, his vigor- 
 ous policy made him respected by the Iroquois, and in 
 1622 they sent emissaries to Quebec and concluded a peace 
 with the French and their Indian allies. It lasted for 
 nearly five years, and was broken by the reckless folly of 
 the Algonquins in 1627. It was in the time of his suc- 
 cessors that the allies of the French were crushed, and 
 for years the scanty colonists did not dare to move away 
 from the immediate neighbourhood of Quebec. The 
 merchants were opposed to settlement, lest it might inter- 
 fere with the fur trade and detract from the large divi- 
 dends on their investments. The majority were Hugue- 
 nots, and if their hostility was not open, it was persistent, 
 and they favoured neither Recollet nor Jesuit. This 
 selfish policy led to the destruction of the Huron nation, 
 and in consequence the Iroquois held the upper country 
 and for years cut off communication with the west. The 
 successive viceroys — the Count de Soissons, the Prince de 
 Conde, the Duke de Montmorenci, the Duke de Venta- 
 dour — all appointed Champlain as their lieutenant and 
 representative, but the servants of the trading companies 
 were subject to their own masters, and discouraged the 
 colonists from extending the cultivation of the soil, while 
 the company left them insufficiently provided with food 
 and with the means of defence. Recollets and Jesuits 
 were well, but a few soldiers would have opened up the 
 country very much more quickly. 
 
 Without entering upon debatable ground, it is evident 
 
CHAMPLAIN IN ONTARIO 287 
 
 that the colony was retarded by religious dissension. 
 Champlain was above all narrowness, but he was a sin- 
 cerely religious man, and a convinced Catholic, tolerant, 
 not with the tolerance of scepticism, but with the toler- 
 ance of charity. The traders and settlers at Quebec 
 formed too small a community to agitate religious con- 
 troversies with safety. The Huguenot side of the story 
 has not been recorded, but enough appears through the 
 writings of the Recollet and Jesuit authors to indicate 
 that there were faults on both sides. The Recollets were 
 the first to petition for the exclusion of Protestants, and 
 when at last the colony was formally declared to be a 
 Catholic community, open only to settlement by Catholics, 
 it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that it was 
 the only possible course to secure the unity necessary to 
 its continued existence. The United States historians 
 unduly magnify this exclusion and exaggerate the free- 
 dom of the English colonies. There was no religious 
 toleration in the English colonies in early times, and if 
 Huguenots were not allowed to settle in New France 
 Roman Catholics were not allowed to settle in New 
 England. 
 
 For these reasons the growth of the colony was very 
 slow. When the English took Quebec there were 
 scarcely one hundred Frenchmen in all Canada. This 
 handful was, however, the beginning of the Canadian 
 people — no trace existed of any settlers previous to 
 Champlain’s settlement in 1608 at Quebec and De Monts’ 
 in Acadia in 1604. The company of merchants was at 
 last superseded and the trading privileges transferred to 
 the De Caens, uncle and nephew, — Huguenots of Nor- 
 mandy, — but no improvement followed. At last Cardinal 
 Richelieu took up the matter and established, in 1627, the 
 company called the One Hundred Associates, of which 
 he became the head. The business was managed by a 
 small committee of merchants of Rouen, Dieppe, and 
 Paris. But in 1629, before the new system was fairly 
 installed, the English took Quebec and sent Champlain 
 to England as a prisoner of war. He did not even then 
 
288 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 lose heart, but encouraged the colonists to remain loyal 
 to Canada and to France. He was rewarded for his 
 constancy by finding, on arrival in England, that the 
 capture of Quebec had been made after the declaration of 
 peace, and that it would be restored to France. Faithful 
 to the passion of his life, he returned to Canada in 1633, 
 and on December 25, 1635, he died at Quebec, the city 
 he founded and loved. The destruction caused by the 
 bombardment under Wolfe and the changes of years 
 have destroyed the marks which might indicate the exact 
 resting place of his remains, but the somewhat tardy piety 
 of recent years has erected a statue to his memory on 
 the magnificent terrace which overlooks the great river 
 where his lifework was spent. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 EXPLORATION OF THE WEST, FROM CHAMPLAIN TO THE 
 DISPERSION OF THE HURONS 
 
 T HE work of exploration passed on to a small 
 band of men whom Champlain had, with char- 
 acteristic foresight, selected and prepared by 
 sending them to winter with the Indians to 
 learn their languages and to become a ready means of 
 communication and a bond of union between them and 
 the French. There were indeed other interpreters, but 
 they left no trace in history, and their influence, like that 
 of the traders who employed them, was often hostile to 
 Champlain and his aims. The men formed by Cham- 
 plain, after living for years with the Indians, for the 
 most part returned to the settlements, married and 
 reared families, and their descendants are numerous in 
 Canada to the present day. The others either left the 
 country or disappeared into the woods, and, taking 
 Indian wives, became the forerunners of the coureurs de 
 bois, or wood rangers, who made the labours of the 
 missionaries doubly difficult by their disorders and evil 
 example. 
 
 Exploration in Canada was not as difficult as in other 
 continental regions. The Acadian provinces are deeply 
 indented by the sea, and no part is at any considerable 
 distance from the shore. Old Canada is, in brief, the 
 valley of the St. Lawrence, and myriads of tributaries 
 pour into the lap of the great river. In the summer the 
 streams are a network of water-roads, and the light 
 canoes of birch bark may penetrate with ease into the 
 farthest recesses, following up the rivers and the streams 
 to their ultimate sources in morasses or lakes. Oft- 
 times these are on water-partings and issue forth in two 
 19 289 
 
290 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 streams flowing in different directions. More frequently 
 the portages are short, and the voyageur, turning his 
 canoe over and taking it upon his shoulders, carries it 
 across the intervening distance and launches it upon a 
 new system of waterways. In the English colonies 
 these intervals were called “ carries,” but in Canada the 
 French word “ portage ” has never been displaced. The 
 French Canadians were ideal voyageurs, and such trav- 
 elling became in them an instinct. Water is everywhere, 
 and it stretches out by rivers, streams, and lakes into an 
 immense system of anastomosis gravitating to the main 
 arteries of the country. The streams open up gateways 
 through the forests and tunnel through the overhanging 
 foliage of the densest woods, — or in reedy places where 
 no channel is visible to the untrained eye the guide, skilled 
 in forest lore, parting the reeds with his paddle, leads the 
 light skiff into sudden expanses of lake or into unex- 
 pected river turnings. The St. Lawrence River was thus 
 the main highway of the continent, for its valley cuts 
 transversely across and touches the head-waters of the 
 rivers flowing north and south. Especially does it open 
 up communication with the great river of the interior, 
 the Mississippi, for at certain places, such as Chicago 
 and the heads of the St. Joseph and Fox rivers, during 
 times of spring freshet the water flowed indifferently 
 in either direction. In the winter the country is still 
 accessible, for the streams are frozen and land and water 
 is covered with a mantle of snow. The hunter or trav- 
 eller may go anywhere on snowshoes, and draw after him 
 his necessary outfit as before explained (p. 281) on a 
 toboggan. Only in spring, at the break-up of the ice, 
 is travelling impossible. For these reasons the country 
 was very rapidly explored as soon as the Indian wars 
 ceased and voyageurs could move about without endan- 
 gering their scalps. 
 
 The Recollet friars whom Champlain brought out 
 in 1615 were the pioneer missionaries of the west, and 
 led the way into those fastnesses of heathendom where 
 the Jesuit fathers who followed them laboured with 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 291 
 
 such heroic self-sacrifice ; but, in truth, the fur-trader or 
 interpreter preceded the missionary in most of the dis- 
 coveries on the western waters, for the missionary was 
 helpless until he could communicate with his savage 
 hearers, and communication at its first stage was by the 
 means of some interpreter, who of necessity had learned 
 the language by a residence more or less extended. 
 Some of these men were educated and very intelligent, 
 and their adventurous explorations have only in recent 
 years received adequate acknowledgment. That fol- 
 lowed naturally from the fact that the books and other 
 literature were written by ecclesiastics, and are chiefly 
 concerned with matters of spiritual interest. Mention 
 is no doubt made in the Jesuit Relations of some of these 
 pioneers of commerce, but these Relations are, primarily, 
 missionary reports published for the purpose of enlisting 
 sympathy and obtaining support for the extension of 
 missions and the salvation of souls. Bancroft’s state- 
 ment that “ not a cape was turned nor a river entered 
 but a Jesuit led the way ” must be taken with a large 
 deduction for rhetorical effect. The “ Relations ” them- 
 selves make no such claim. They are precious records 
 of the experiences and trials of devoted men, and inas- 
 much as the missionaries were highly educated and 
 trained in the science of that day, their letters contain 
 most important observations and even treatises upon the 
 ethnology, philology, and natural history of the regions 
 they traversed; but these latter themes were accessory 
 to the ground subject of their thoughts. It was nothing 
 to them who first, from a geographical standpoint, had 
 reached this river or that lake or had dwelt with some 
 distant tribe; the question with them was, who had first 
 brought the Gospel there. Consequently, while the 
 reader may detect minimising or even suppression of 
 due credit to Recollet, Jesuit, or Sulpician, according 
 as the writer may lean to one or the other of these orders, 
 any failure to dwell upon the mere priority of discovery 
 is probably unintentional and due to a want of appre- 
 ciation of its importance. 
 
292 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 In the remnant of eight souls who survived the terrible 
 winter of 1608-9 Quebec was Etienne Brule, a quick- 
 witted, adventurous youth whom Champlain took with 
 him when, in 1610, he went to the Indian rendezvous at 
 the Richelieu. When the savages prepared to return 
 to their homes Brule asked to go with the Algonquins to 
 learn their language, which was a veritable lingua franca , 
 from the Micmacs on the Atlantic to the farthest tribes 
 on the west and north. Champlain willingly consented 
 and entrusted the lad to Iroquet, a chief of the Little 
 Algonquins (Petite Nation), who hunted over the terri- 
 tory of the lower Ottawa, and this youth was the first 
 white man to visit the site of the capital of the Dominion 
 of Canada. For the other great family of Indian lan- 
 guages Champlain provided by taking with him to 
 France a young Huron, whom he brought back the fol- 
 lowing year — a bright, intelligent youth who took kindly 
 to French ways. They named him Savignon, and when 
 the following year they all met at the appointed ren- 
 dezvous at Montreal, Champlain could communicate with 
 all the assembled tribes. He had them both with him 
 to interpret at the great midnight council on the Lake of 
 the Two Mountains, and in relating his descent of the 
 Lachine Rapids he states that he was the first Christian 
 to run them, excepting Brule; but whether he meant that 
 Brule had run the rapids with his Indian hosts when 
 descending to the rendezvous, or that Brule was with 
 him on that occasion, does not clearly appear. 
 
 In the summer of 1611 one of the private traders 
 wished to send a youth to winter in the Indian country, 
 and Champlain consented, with the stipulation that he 
 should go with Iroquet where Brule had been. He him- 
 self sent a youth up to the Huron country, and Brule, 
 who disappears for four years, probably went up also. 
 These were the first white men to reach Lake Huron. 
 Champlain sent the impostor Vignau to the Algonquins 
 of Allumette Island at the same time. 
 
 In 1615, when Champlain started off to join the great 
 war party, he found Brule at Montreal and took him, 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 293' 
 
 together with another Frenchman, along with him. 
 After the expedition had assembled there was a grand 
 council at the outlet of Lake Simcoe, and it was decided 
 to send a deputation to the Andastes to inform them of 
 the departure of the war party and to hurry up the prom- 
 ised contingent. Twelve Indians were selected, and 
 Brule begged to go with them. The opportunity for 
 discovery induced Champlain to consent, and the depu- 
 tation departed on September 8. It was an enterprise 
 of great peril, for the country of the Andastes lay far 
 to the south, on the head-waters of the Susquehanna, 
 and the direct route passed through the country of the 
 Senecas — the western canton of the Iroquois. The only 
 safe route was by a long circuitous trail through the 
 country of the Neutrals and across the Niagara River. 
 The route they followed is indicated by the fact that they 
 took two canoes, and by the necessity of reaching their 
 destination well before the arrival of the war party. It 
 was by the portage from Lake Simcoe to the Humber 
 River and down to the site of the present city of Toronto, 
 thence directly across the head of the lake to that part 
 of the Neutral territory east of Niagara. By that route 
 they would avoid the main Iroquois trails and traverse 
 the southwestern corner only of the Seneca country. 
 By dint of great circumspection they accomplished their 
 task safely, capturing on the way, or killing, a small 
 party of Senecas. Brule, then, was the first white man 
 to stand on the site of Toronto and to paddle on Lake 
 Ontario, but he heard nothing of Niagara Falls, and 
 must have landed on the southern shore well to the east 
 of the mouth of the Niagara River. 
 
 As we have seen, Brule was not able to move the 
 Andastes out of the conventional Indian routine of 
 feasts and harangues, and the contingent arrived, there- 
 fore, two days too late. He spent the winter at Caran- 
 touan, the chief town of the Andastes, and from thence 
 explored the surrounding region of central Pennsylvania. 
 He went down the Susquehanna River to Chesapeake 
 Bay, and his explorations thus touched those of the 
 
294 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 English and the Dutch on the coast and the Hudson 
 River. Chesapeake Bay had been thoroughly examined 
 seven years before by the English under Captain John 
 Smith. 
 
 In the spring of 1616 he set out, with guides from the 
 Andastes, to return to the Huron country, but the party 
 fell in with a stronger party of Senecas and was scat- 
 tered. Brule lost his way, and after much wandering 
 chose to take his chances with the Senecas rather than 
 starve. They were friendly at first, but soon discovered 
 his real nationality and commenced to torture him. 
 While he was being stripped for burning the Indians 
 snatched away an Agnus Dei which he, though not in 
 the least a pious person, wore next to his skin. He 
 solemnly warned them that it was a medicine of great 
 power and would certainly kill them. At that moment 
 a storm of unexampled fury suddenly burst, and the 
 superstitious Indians, terrified by lightning and thunder, 
 quickly following a serene sky, realised that they had to 
 do with a being of supernatural powers. They released 
 him, bound up his wounds, and took him to their towns, 
 where he became so popular that no feast or dance was 
 held without him, and at last they gave him guides to 
 return to the Huron country. 
 
 He disappeared for a while among the Indians, but in 
 1618 he came down with the Hurons to trade, and met 
 Champlain at Three Rivers, to whom he related his 
 adventures and described the country explored. Cham- 
 plain encouraged him to go back with his Indian friends 
 and continue his discoveries. We hear of him occasion- 
 ally at the trading posts, and in fact he had a salary of 
 one hundred pistoles a year to induce the Hurons to come 
 down regularly to trade. In 1621 he was at Toanche, 
 a town of the Hurons, and with a Frenchman named 
 Grenolle he went on an expedition of discovery to the 
 north and reached a place where there was a mine of 
 native copper. Later he pushed farther to the west, and 
 from the narrative of the Recollet Sagard it is certain 
 that he was the discoverer of Sault Ste. Marie, and was 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 295 
 
 the first white man on Lake Superior. He was also the 
 first white man to visit the Neutral nation. Champlain 
 had been upon their borders, but deterred by reports of 
 his Huron guides he did not cross. Brule went over the 
 country and gave a glowing account of it to the Recollet 
 father Le Caron. Still there is no hint anywhere of his 
 having seen the Falls of Niagara. 
 
 Brule seems to have been almost ubiquitous, and also 
 to have absorbed from his Huron friends some of their 
 fickleness, for we find him in 1629 at Quebec and Tadous- 
 sac, assisting the English commander Kirke, and with 
 Marsolet, one of Champlain’s interpreters in Monta- 
 gnais, accepting service under the English. The influence 
 of the “ noble red man ” of the novelists is not elevating, 
 and the Hurons were not up to the level even of the 
 Iroquois in questions of morality or fidelity and honour. 
 Whoever edited the last volume of Champlain’s voyages 
 (1632) denounces Brule, not only for accepting English 
 pay, but for his licentious life among the savages. The 
 passage is too rhetorical to have been written by Cham- 
 plain, but Brule’s conduct nevertheless was more con- 
 sonant with his Huron associations than with his French 
 birth. He went back to the Huron country, and in 1632 
 he was murdered by his savage friends — who also boiled 
 and ate him. Their superstitious fears led them to 
 abandon Toanche, the village where the murder occurred, 
 and in 1635 the missionary Brebeuf was surprised to 
 find it burned. The Indians attributed to Brule the 
 pestilence which shortly after broke out, and one of the 
 sorcerers saw the spirit of the murdered man’s sister 
 flying over the infected town, though most of the Indians 
 said that it was the spirit of his uncle. 
 
 From 1615, when Champlain brought out the four 
 friars, to 1629, when the English broke up the colony at 
 Quebec, the Recollets, or reformed Franciscans, were 
 the pioneers in Christian missions throughout Canada. 
 While Le Caron went up to the Huron country, Father 
 d’Olbeau undertook the mission from Tadoussac to the 
 Montagnais, and the others, Father Jamay and the 
 
296 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Brother Pacifique Du Plessis, ministered to the French at 
 Quebec and Three Rivers and to the Indians who gath- 
 ered around these posts. Other Recollets soon came out 
 and laboured among the Indians at Miscou and on the 
 St. John River in New Brunswick, and at Ste. Anne’s on 
 Cape Breton Island. Putting aside the question as to 
 whether Cartier had or had not priests with him, it is 
 indisputable that the services of the Roman Catholic 
 church at Tadoussac, Quebec, Three Rivers, Montreal, 
 and on the shores of Lake Huron were celebrated first 
 by the spiritual children of St. Francis of Assisi. Le 
 Caron was with Champlain on his visit to the Tobacco 
 nation and the Cheveux Releves. In 1616 they both 
 returned to Quebec, and the same season when Champlain 
 went to France Jamay and Le Caron went with him, leav- 
 ing Dolbeau and Du Plessis at Quebec. The fathers 
 went and returned frequently, and their number was in- 
 creased, but no new explorations in the west are recorded 
 for a few years. In 1623 Father Le Caron brought 
 out Fathers Nicholas Viel and Gabriel Sagard, and all 
 three went up to the west with the Hurons or Ottawas 
 returning from their annual trade. With them went 
 eleven Frenchmen, who might be useful as protectors of 
 the mission or as promoters of the fur trade. In the 
 winter of that year the Recollet Father Bernardin per- 
 ished of cold and hunger in attempting to go from Mis- 
 cou, across New Brunswick, to the mouth of the St. 
 John — the first missionary to perish in the work of evan- 
 gelisation. We learn also from Champlain that the 
 Recollet missionaries had obtained great influence over 
 the Acadian savages, although their labours have not 
 been as widely known as they deserved. 
 
 The Recollets, who returned to the Hurons in 1623, 
 found there five or six Frenchmen living in the cabin 
 built by Le Caron. Sagard and Le Caron came down 
 the following spring (1624) and with them came Etienne 
 Brule, from whom Sagard obtained the information con- 
 cerning Lake Superior recorded in his book. Brule told 
 him that beyond the Mer Douce (Lake Huron) was 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 297 
 
 another very large lake discharging by a fall, and that 
 the length of both lakes was four hundred leagues. 
 Sagard, writing in 1632, adds that the fall had been 
 called the Sault de Gaston and under that name it is laid 
 down in the Champlain map of 1632. It cannot be 
 shown, however, that Brule went to the head of the lake. 
 On the map the shores are portrayed widening out, but 
 the outline is unfinished. 
 
 It was in 1624 that Champlain negotiated at Three 
 Rivers a peace between the Iroquois on one side and the 
 Hurons, Algonquins, and Montagnais on the other. The 
 same year he took Madame de Champlain, who had been 
 four years in Canada, back to France. The merchant 
 company had left the colony without provisions and even 
 without munitions for defence. Sagard went to France 
 at the same time and with him went Father Irenseus 
 Piet — the latter charged with a mission fraught with 
 far-reaching consequences. The Recollets in Canada 
 felt that the resources of their order were unequal to the 
 task of evangelising the country. The company of mer- 
 chants were indeed bound to support six Recollets, but 
 it was against their will and they discouraged and starved 
 the missions, as well as the colonists, as far as they dared. 
 The Jesuits had powerful friends at court and, if they 
 chose to use them, they had independent resources of 
 their own. The Recollets resolved to invoke their assist- 
 ance, but they concealed their design, for they knew that 
 Champlain and everybody else in the colony would 
 oppose it. They arrived in France at an opportune mo- 
 ment; for the Duke de Montmorenci, wearied by the 
 incessant quarrels of merchants and colonists and the 
 religious jealousies of Huguenot and Catholic, had 
 turned over the Vice royalty to the Duke de Ventadour, 
 a very strong Catholic whose zeal had led him so far as 
 to take orders in the church. Father Irenseus succeeded ; 
 but, on going to take passage in the spring ships, the 
 Recollets were astonished to find that, while it had been 
 settled that two Jesuits were to go out, it had also been 
 arranged that their sustenance was to be charged against 
 
298 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the six missionaries the Company was bound to support ; 
 so that a substitution of two Jesuits for two Recollets on 
 the Company’s funds was all that had been effected. 
 
 A controversy has long existed concerning the trans- 
 fer of the Canadian missions to the Jesuits, but the de- 
 tails are foreign to the object of this book. In 1625 three 
 Jesuit Fathers embarked for Canada, Charles Lalemant, 
 Ennemond Masse, and Jean de Brebeuf, with two lay 
 brothers, and the Recollets sent Father Joseph de la 
 Roche d’Aillon. On their arrival no one would receive 
 the Jesuits. The employees of the Company pleaded 
 that they had no orders to take them into the fort and it 
 seemed, for a time, as if they would have to go back to 
 France. The Recollets, however, offered them half of 
 their convent, which was gratefully accepted and en- 
 joyed for two years, until the Jesuits could build a house 
 of their own. There is no reason for doubting the 
 sincerity of these apostolic men ; for, from whatever 
 quarter came the influence which six years later excluded 
 the Recollet missionaries, it most certainly was not from 
 them or from any Canadian source whatever. 
 
 In the meantime Father Nicholas Viel had been left in 
 charge of the Huron mission. The Recollect Father 
 d’Aillon and the Jesuit Father Brebeuf went up to Three 
 Rivers to meet him, for he was to come down with the 
 Huron trading canoes. He reached as far as the rapids 
 in rear of Montreal, and there the pagan Hurons, who 
 were paddling, threw him and a young Huron Christian 
 with him into the whirling waters. The place is known 
 to this day as the Sault au Recollet, and the scene of the 
 first Christian martyrdom in Canada is now a pleasure 
 resort for the citizens of Montreal. The new mission- 
 aries had counted on Viel’s aid, and as they were without 
 knowledge of the language or of the needs of the mis- 
 sion, they returned to Quebec, where they spent the win- 
 ter in preparation, and where Le Caron assisted them 
 with the dictionary he had compiled on his mission of 
 1615-16. In the following year ( 1626) D’Aillon went up, 
 and with him two Jesuits, Brebeuf and La Noiie. Then 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 299 
 
 the Company of Jesus entered upon those western waters, 
 doomed to become the scene of brilliant promise but of 
 ultimate defeat — then commenced an attack on the strong- 
 hold of paganism, to which the storm of Pampeluna was 
 child’s play; and as, through long years, the devoted 
 children of Loyola mounted to the assault and the long 
 story of war and blood and fire and fiendish cruelty is 
 unrolled, the reader is amazed at the indomitable courage, 
 the unshrinking fortitude, and the boundless charity of 
 these chosen soldiers of the cross. 
 
 Leaving La Noiie and Brebeuf in the Huron mission, 
 Father d’Aillon went south into the territory of the Neu- 
 tral nation. Brule, the interpreter, had been the only 
 white man to visit this region, and he had told such won- 
 ders of its fertility and beauty that Father Le Caron wrote 
 to D’Aillon to make the attempt. It is a region often 
 spoken of as the garden of the present Province of On- 
 tario. A line drawn from Toronto, on Lake Ontario, to 
 Goderich, on Lake Huron, would roughly indicate its 
 northern boundary, and from thence it extended south to 
 the north shore of Lake Erie. To the east it reached 
 across the Niagara River to within a day’s journey of the 
 Genessee River — the western boundary of the Iroquois. 
 D’Aillon describes the country as exceeding rich, abound- 
 ing in game of all kinds and with a climate less severe 
 than the other parts of Canada. It had twenty-eight 
 towns and six or eight villages. The people were numer- 
 ous and warlike and could turn out four thousand war- 
 riors. At first they received D’Aillon with politeness, 
 but when he began to inquire about the entrance to the 
 river where the lake discharged and to suggest a traffic 
 directly down the lake and river to the French posts, the 
 Hurons took the alarm lest the fur trade with the French 
 should go direct instead of passing through their hands. 
 They secretly whispered that D’Aillon was a sorcerer 
 who cast evil spells bringing sickness and death. Black 
 looks and hatred and blows followed, until the Recollet 
 was forced to leave and postpone to a more auspicious 
 time the evangelisation of this fierce people. 
 
300 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 The war between the Iroquois and the northern Indians 
 broke out with renewed fury in 1627. No further dis- 
 coveries are recorded for some years, and the mission- 
 aries busied themselves in establishing their footing. 
 D’Aillon, and Brebeuf, with most of the French in the 
 Huron country, went down to Quebec in 1627, 1628, and 
 1629, and the three Recollets working in Acadia were also 
 summoned there, so that, in 1629, when Quebec was sur- 
 rendered to the English, all the ecclesiastics in New 
 France were at Quebec and Tadoussac. They were all 
 carried off to England, and the incipient churches of the 
 Montagnais at Tadoussac, the Algonquins at Three Rivers 
 and Lake Nipissing, and the Hurons on the Freshwater 
 Sea were abandoned. The few converts who had been 
 made were left without spiritual support. Le Caron, the 
 Superior of the Recollets, was afterwards blamed 
 because even the French who remained at Quebec were 
 deserted. The English would have permitted the Recol- 
 lets to stay, and they respected their convent, but they 
 had many old scores to pay off with the Jesuit order in 
 Europe, and their convent was pillaged and wrecked. 
 Missions and discoveries alike ceased until the country 
 was restored to France. The Recollet order disappeared 
 from the annals of Canada until 1670, when the days 
 of discovery in the St. Lawrence valley were almost 
 over. 
 
 It was July, 1632, when Emery de Caen arrived at Que- 
 bec and again took over, for France, the sovereignty of 
 the country. He had obtained a monopoly of the fur 
 trade for a year to indemnify him for his losses in the 
 war. With him came the Jesuits Le Jeune and La 
 Noiie. Champlain arrived the following year and re- 
 tained command for the “ Company of One Hundred 
 Associates,” formed by Richelieu in 1627, and with him 
 came Jean de Brebeuf, hastening to the post of danger, 
 and to the cross he was to bear and the crown of martyr- 
 dom he was to win. There was a pause for a few years 
 in discovery in order to gather up the threads of the work 
 done previously, not only by themselves, but by the Rec- 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 301 
 
 ollets, for the latter were not allowed to return. The 
 first thought of Cardinal Richelieu was to replace both 
 orders by the Capuchins; and in fact a few Capuchins 
 were sent to Acadia; but, representations being made on 
 behalf of the Jesuits even by the Capuchins themselves, 
 he modified his commands in regard to the Jesuits only. 
 That, after their reorganisation of the missions, the 
 Jesuits may have objected to the introduction of other 
 religious orders is probable enough, but it is not just to 
 blame them for the original exclusion of the Recollets. 
 Richelieu did not favour the Jesuit order and his action 
 must have been taken with regard to the interest of the 
 colony, which had suffered from dissensions. 
 
 In Champlain’s commission, as late as 1625, he was 
 empowered to follow up the river flowing past Quebec 
 and to seek out a direct passage to the kingdom of China 
 and the Eastern Indies. The thought never left him 
 throughout all his troubles, and while the Jesuits were 
 reorganising their mission-stations he turned, in 1634, 
 only one year before his death, to Jean Nicollet and 
 charged him with the discovery of the secret of the west- 
 ern sea — the great water of the west of which he had 
 heard reports from Brule and from the Indians. Nicollet 
 had arrived in Canada in 1618. He was born in Nor- 
 mandy, almost certainly in Cherbourg. At Quebec his 
 courage and spirit at once attracted notice and his 
 natural capacity, excellent memory, and happy temper- 
 ament marked him out as suited to become a skilful 
 interpreter and manager of the fitful Indian allies of 
 France. He was not more than eighteen or twenty years 
 old when he was sent to the Algonquins of Allumette 
 Island. He lived with them for two years as one of 
 themselves, going with them on all their expeditions 
 and living on the same food — feasting or starving as the 
 fortune of Indian life might require. He had learned 
 their language perfectly, and went with four hundred 
 Algonquins to negotiate the peace of 1622 with the 
 Iroquois, on which occasion he acquitted himself well. 
 Afterwards he went to the Nipissings and settled down 
 
302 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 among them for eight or nine years. They adopted him 
 as a member of their tribe and he took part in all their 
 councils. His skill in swaying the Indians to his will 
 was very remarkable, and when Champlain determined 
 upon another attempt to reach the great western water 
 there was no other man so well fitted as Nicollet for the 
 task. He had returned to the settlement, after the restor- 
 ation of the colony, and was acting as clerk and inter- 
 preter to the Company at Quebec. 
 
 On the same day of July, 1634, three expeditions 
 started from Quebec: Brebeuf to restore the Huron mis- 
 sion, Nicollet on his western exploration, and a party of 
 men sent to build a fort and make a permanent settle- 
 ment at Three Rivers — then the centre of the western 
 fur traffic. All joined in the ceremonies at Three Rivers 
 and then the western voyageurs proceeded on their way 
 up the Ottawa. Nicollet left Brebeuf at Allumette 
 Island and went on to his old friends the Nipissings. 
 But the task he had undertaken lay first among the 
 Hurons ; for he was to arrange a treaty of peace between 
 them and a mysterious people further west, whose home 
 was near the great western sea and who had lived upon 
 its shores in former years. To the Huron country he 
 therefore proceeded, and having made his preparations, 
 he started in a bark canoe with seven Hurons on his 
 adventurous journey. There is no reason to suppose 
 that his object was to visit the Strait of Ste. Marie. 
 That was already known and, as the Sault de Gaston, it 
 had been laid down on Champlain’s map, published in 
 1632, two years before. What was not known, however, 
 was the Strait of Michilimackinac leading into Lake 
 Michigan. And the utter confusion of the geography 
 of that region is shown on the same map. Upon that 
 map we may see some results of Brule’s explorations to 
 the north, in the copper mine laid down on the north 
 shore of Lake Huron and in the Sault de Gaston; but, 
 with an extraordinary inversion of geographical fact, 
 Fox River, falling into Green Bay, Lake Michigan, is 
 made to flow from the north and to drain Lake Winne- 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 303 
 
 bago into the north channel of Lake Huron close to the 
 Sault. We may easily conclude then that Nicollet’s 
 course would be directed to clear up this confusion and 
 that in passing out of Georgian Bay he would follow the 
 north channel, inside of the Manitoulin islands, up to the 
 Sault. This view is confirmed by the Jesuit Relation of 
 1640, in which the Superior, Vimont, writing from Que- 
 bec, gives a list of the Indian nations from the Hurons, 
 on Georgian Bay, round to the Sault, evidently following 
 the information of Nicollet, then permanently resident in 
 Three Rivers. Returning from the Sault we may trace 
 Nicollet’s course backwards following the south channel 
 through “ a smaller lake ” “ from which one passes into 
 the second Freshwater Sea.” There are difficulties in 
 the narrative, but, translated into the language of our 
 present maps, it appears to be in effect that Nicollet’s 
 course from the Sault was along the southern passages, 
 inside of St. Joseph’s Island, which, though now called 
 Hay Lake and Mud Lake, are plainly seen in passing 
 through to be simple outlets. These open out into an 
 expanse, Potaganissing Bay, which is so closed in by 
 overlapping islands as to present the appearance of a 
 lake — the “ smaller lake ” of the Relation. Then turn- 
 ing suddenly to the right, Nicollet passed by the Detour 
 channel and the Strait of Michilimackinac into “ the 
 second Freshwater Sea ” — Lake Michigan. 
 
 When Jean Nicollet guided his bark canoe through 
 the Strait of Michilimackinac he turned the first leaf of 
 the final chapter of the exploration of the St. Lawrence 
 basin. It is the key-point of the western lakes, for there 
 Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan touch each other 
 and, near the west shore of Lake Michigan, the two 
 enormous basins of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi 
 come not only into close proximity, but their waters brim 
 over so that at certain seasons a canoe might pass at cer- 
 tain points either down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence or 
 down to the Gulf of Mexico without being lifted out of 
 the water. Indian tribes ebbed and flowed through this 
 strait in the ceaseless vicissitudes of savage warfare, and 
 
304 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 romantic legends clustered round every headland and 
 haunted every island. In the very neck of the strait the 
 forest-clad island of Miehilimackinac seems to float on 
 the water, rising towards the centre in sweeping curves — 
 the delightful resort of pleasure-seekers now, as in far- 
 off times it was the favourite abode of the great dancing 
 spirits of Algonquin mythology. First among white men 
 Nicollet passed through this fairy portal going to he 
 knew not what of mystery ; looking for and expecting to 
 find the pathway to the golden East. He was prepared 
 for any contingency of Eastern state, for among the 
 scanty baggage in his birch canoe was his dress of cere- 
 mony of Chinese damask, embroidered with birds and 
 flowers of all colours. The ripple which lapped against 
 the bow of his canoe came over three hundred and fifty 
 miles of water, but he did not know it. On his right was 
 Point St. Ignace, soon to be sanctified by the presence of 
 the saintly Jesuit, Marquette, and on his left was Mack- 
 inac Point, to be the scene in later years of Pontiac’s per- 
 fidious massacre of a British garrison. It is a spot of 
 unrivalled beauty. Where Nicollet’s solitary canoe glided 
 quietly on with no sound but the dip of the paddles, an 
 enormous traffic from the western lakes now passes. 
 Monstrous steamers glide up and down on inland voyages 
 of perhaps a thousand miles; but the distances are so 
 great that the effect of calm still dwells there ; and whether 
 the smoke on the distant horizon be from a steamer 
 bound to Port Arthur, on Lake Superior, from Chi- 
 cago, or Detroit, or even Montreal, there is space as of the 
 ocean itself and no sense of hurry or thronging jars even 
 yet the restful quiet of the scene. 
 
 Much history was to be enacted round this charmed 
 region, and Nicollet was opening the book as he pressed 
 on. His mission was, in the first instance, to the Win- 
 nebagoes — the men of the sea; how should he know yet 
 of what sea? Champlain had heard of them from the 
 Hurons, with whom they were at war, and now he was 
 sending Nicollet to discover them and their sea, if it were 
 possible; and to negotiate a peace also and open up 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 305 
 
 trade — trade -west of Chicago — and the Pilgrims only 
 fourteen years landed at Plymouth! The clew to the 
 secret of America lay along the St. Lawrence waters, 
 and Champlain almost solved it while the sound of the 
 wash of the Atlantic was still in the ears of the English 
 settlers. 
 
 Hitherto the French had come into contact with only 
 two families of Indian nations — the Huron-Iroquois and 
 the Algonquins; and the Algonquin language had been 
 a lingua franca intelligible, through many dialects, from 
 the Atlantic to Lake Superior. But now Nicollet reached 
 the eastern outlier of a race different from both, and 
 neither the Huron nor the Algonquin tongue was of any 
 service. The Winnebagoes were of Dakota stock — a 
 powerful family of nations of which the Sioux confedera- 
 tion and the Assiniboines are the chief members. Their 
 home is on the plains of the Mississippi and Missouri, but 
 these Winnebagoes had drifted away eastward nearly to 
 Lake Michigan. The French followed the more usual 
 meaning of the Indian name and translated it Puant; so 
 that the Winnebagoes are laid down on the French maps 
 and figure in French works for a hundred years as the Na- 
 tion des Puants, and Green Bay as La Baie des Puants — a 
 malodorous and misleading name. This was recognised 
 from the first, for Vimont, in the Jesuit Relation of 1640, 
 writing almost from Nicollet’s lips, thus explains the 
 word : “ Some Frenchmen call them the Nation des 
 
 Puants (Nation of Stinkards) because the Algonquin 
 word Ouinipeg means stinking water; but they call the 
 water of the salt sea by the same name, so that these 
 people are called Ouinipegu (Winnebago) because they 
 come from the shores of a sea unknown to us, and conse- 
 quently they ought not to be called the Nation des Puants 
 but the Nation de la mer (Nation of the Sea).” The 
 word is an Algonquin translation of the name of these 
 people, who had formerly lived upon the “ great water ” 
 (Mississippi), but the great water of the ocean is dirty 
 water in the Algonquin languages. Bishop Barega in his 
 
 O jibway Dictionary explains it as follows: “ Winni- 
 
 20 
 
3 o6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 peg — Swamp, or, better, salt water, unclean water. The 
 Indians call Lake Winnipeg the great water, the great 
 sea, and use the same expression for the salt water of the 
 sea.” The Relation of 1640 is confirmed in that explana- 
 tion by the Relation of 1656. But the Relation of 1660, 
 while it admits that salt water is dirty water in Indian 
 phrase, goes on to explain that the reason of the name 
 was the frequency of sulphur springs in that re- 
 gion — which certainly is not true. Father Marquette 
 was struck with the inappropriateness of the name, and 
 when he passed there in 1673 wrote: “ This bay bears a 
 
 name which had not so bad a meaning in the Indian lan- 
 guage, for they call it rather ‘ Salt Bay ’ than 4 Fetid 
 Bay/ although among them it is almost the same, and 
 this is also the name they give to the sea. This induced 
 us to make very exact researches to discover whether 
 there were not in those parts some salt springs, as there 
 are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any. We 
 accordingly concluded that the name has been given on 
 account of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly 
 exhaling noisome vapours which cause the loudest and 
 longest peals of thunder that I ever heard.” The good 
 father was beyond question mistaken ; for the country has 
 no such characteristics; in fact, the valley of the Fox 
 River from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay is now the 
 seat of some of the largest paper mills of the West, and in 
 a country where water power is abundant such an indus- 
 try as paper making would not be extensively established 
 unless the water was pure. The name puant has no 
 foundation in fact, and is a curious reminder of the per- 
 sistent expectation in those days , of finding the great sea 
 of China and Japan in every extensive sheet of water 
 reported by Indians to exist in the unknown and mys- 
 terious West. 
 
 To reach the “people of the sea” ( gens de la mer), 
 then, Nicollet paddled along the western shore of Lake 
 Michigan, and keeping still to the right hand, turned into 
 what is now Green Bay. There on the Menominee River, 
 which falls in on the north shore of the bay, he met the 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 307 
 
 Indians called by the French Les Folles Avoines, by the 
 English in after years Menomonees, an Algonquin word 
 signifying wild rice (called wild oats by the French), for 
 those Indians used it largely as food. They were of 
 Algonquin stock and doubtless Nicollet remained a short 
 time with them, for it is recorded that he sent one of the 
 Hurons in advance to announce his approach to these 
 people of strange speech. Then he pushed on to the head 
 of the bay, where, at the mouth of Fox River, he found 
 the Winnebagoes. His envoy had been well received and 
 four or five thousand people came to meet him and young 
 men were sent to carry his baggage to the village. They 
 had heard of the wonderful white men and supposed them 
 to be spirits. Nicollet donned his embroidered robe of 
 Chinese damask and advanced, discharging a pistol in 
 each hand. It was a Manitou wielding thunder and light- 
 ning, and the women and children fled in terror. The 
 chiefs gave him a warm welcome and a course of feasting 
 on a lavish scale, for one chief served up one hundred and 
 twenty beavers at a single entertainment. The peace he 
 was sent to arrange was soon negotiated and Nicollet had 
 leisure to examine the country and become acquainted 
 with the neighbouring tribes. He went up the Fox River, 
 passed through Lake Winnebago and followed the upper 
 river as far as the portage to the Wisconsin. Nicollet 
 told Father Le Jeune that three days’ more travel would 
 have brought him to the sea, for the Algonquin word 
 Mississippi means great water, not “ father of waters,” 
 and, misled by the name, he thought he was only three 
 days’ distance from the south sea. Father Vimont wrote 
 in 1640: “ I have a strong conviction that this sea is part 
 of that on the north of New Mexico and by it is a passage 
 to Japan and China.” There is no reason to believe that 
 Nicollet passed into the Wisconsin River, but it seems 
 clear that he stood upon the water-parting between the 
 basins of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence. It is only a 
 mile and a half wide. 
 
 After his voyage Nicollet returned to the Huron 
 country, where the Jesuit Fathers had been labouring with 
 
308 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 some success. Abandoning their first idea of setting up 
 a separate mission in each of the larger towns they decided 
 upon one central establishment from which to work all 
 their stations, and they chose a spot on the right bank of 
 the river Wye, where it issues from Mud Lake to fall 
 into Gloucester Bay, near the present city of Midland. 
 There they built the residence or mission of Sainte Marie 
 of the Hurons, fortified with palisades and flanked with 
 bastions — an establishment of considerable extent, with a 
 church, and buildings for various uses, and lodgings for 
 sixty men. The three Jesuit priests, Brebeuf, Daniel, and 
 Davost, who went up with Nicollet, were gradually 
 increased to eighteen. There were, besides, four lay 
 brothers and forty to fifty Frenchmen. Fifteen of the 
 priests went out to their different stations, and those in 
 residence carried on the services of the church with a 
 ceremony which impressed the Indians. It was a busy 
 community, for the fathers exercised a generous hospi- 
 tality and provided for all wants by cultivating maize and 
 procuring game and fish from the woods and waters 
 around. Starving Indians clustered about it in time of 
 scarcity, and were never refused food. It was a time of 
 organisation, not of discovery, and during these years 
 there is no record of any notable exploration, but the 
 Jesuit Fathers were constantly adding to their knowledge, 
 and extending their operations among neighbouring 
 tribes. 
 
 In 1641, at a great “ feast for the dead,” held by the 
 Nipissings, there was a great assemblage of people of dif- 
 ferent nations, and Fathers Pi j art and Raymbault, who 
 were there serving the mission of St. Esprit, made great 
 effort to gain the good-will of all, and were invited by 
 the Algonquins who lived at the Sault to visit their coun- 
 try. These people were afterwards known as the Sau- 
 teurs and the O jib ways. Fathers Raymbault and Jogues 
 were selected for the attempt and left Ste. Marie of the 
 Hurons in September. It took them seventeen days to 
 paddle along the north shore of Lake Huron to the 
 Sault. They found two thousand savages assembled 
 
Site of Old Fort Ste. Marie, on the Wye. 
 

EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 309 
 
 there and met people of many nations at a council. There 
 they heard of the great nation of the Nadouessieux, now 
 abbreviated to Sioux, who dwelt eighteen days’ journey 
 from the Sault across the lake (Superior) and upon a 
 river cutting through the country. If Brule had tra- 
 versed the lake the information of the Jesuits would have 
 been more precise, but they knew very little about it, and 
 did not know that the river of the Sioux was the great 
 water Nicollet had been in search of and had been within 
 three days of reaching. 
 
 By this expedition and by Lalemant’s narrative, em- 
 bodied in Vimont’s Relation of 1641, it will be seen that 
 the Jesuits had grasped in idea the main feature of the 
 geographical system of the lake region. Vimont writes 
 of the Niagara River as the “ famous river of the Neutral 
 Nation,” and continues : “ This is that river by which 
 
 our great Lake of the Hurons is discharged. It flows 
 first into Lake Erie, or the Lake of the Cat nation, and at 
 that point it enters the territory of the Neutral nation and 
 takes the name of Onguiaaha up to where it is discharged 
 into Ontario, or the Lake of St. Louis, from whence issues 
 the St. Lawrence River, which flows past Quebec.” This 
 information would have been obtained by Fathers Brebeuf 
 and Chaumonot, who went in 1640 on a mission, more 
 perilous than any forlorn hope, to the Neutral nation, 
 the fiercest and most intractable savages of the St. Law- 
 rence valley. But no hint appears of the Falls of 
 Niagara, which could not have escaped remark if they 
 had been seen. The two priests could not have reached 
 the river, for from the first they encountered the curses 
 of every village they entered, and having suffered every 
 kind of indignity and violence, barely escaped with their 
 lives. It is not until 1648 that we learn of the Falls from 
 Father Rageneau. After writing of Lake Erie he adds 
 that it “ passes on to precipitate itself by a fall of a fright- 
 ful height into a third lake called Ontario, which we call 
 St. Louis.” Still, however, there is nothing to indicate 
 that any white explorer had seen the Falls, and certainly 
 if any missionary had walked along the Niagara River he 
 
310 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 would not fail to have left a record of a scene so remark- 
 able and, in many respects, unique. 
 
 The storm, long blackening in the South and breaking 
 out from time to time in intermitting flashes, now began 
 to gather for its final outbreak. The devoted Brebeuf, 
 with the mystical insight which often enlightens a lofty 
 soul as the end of its earthly career draws near, saw it 
 coming and rose to meet it with passion for a martyr’s 
 death. “ Sentio me vehementer impelli ad moriendum pro 
 Christo,” he wrote. The time was near, but had not come 
 when, driven out of the Neutral country in the winter, 
 the two priests were struggling back towards St. Mary of 
 the Hurons, Brebeuf left his comrade to the sleep of ex- 
 haustion and went to pray in the neighbouring forest. 
 Before he reached the shadow he looked up into the clear 
 starlight and he saw a great bright cross moving swiftly 
 towards him from the southeast — from the country of the 
 Iroquois, and its meaning was borne in upon his soul. 
 The following day they resumed their journey and as 
 Brebeuf described the mystic cross, Chaumonot asked 
 “ Was it large ? ” “ Large enough,” replied the other, “ to 
 crucify us all.” In the clear, thin atmosphere of ecstatic 
 vision the boundaries of the physical and metaphysical 
 overlap, and by some radiancy of the soul the supernatural 
 becomes the natural. Who shall say that the light which 
 irradiated the face of the protomartyr, Stephen, disdained 
 the upturned visage of the solitary wayworn priest kneel- 
 ing in earnest supplication at the edge of the dark, 
 primaeval forest? 
 
 From 1641 communication between Quebec and the 
 upper country became increasingly difficult, for small war 
 parties of Iroquois infested all the routes of travel. Mon- 
 treal was founded in 1642, but no settler dared venture 
 away from the fort to hunt or fish or clear the forest. 
 The Mohawks prowled incessantly round the little settle- 
 ment and the war whoop from the adjoining forest often 
 startled Jeanne Mance and her devoted hospital sisters 
 from their slumbers. A few months of peace supervened 
 in 1645-46, and then, in 1648, the war broke out with in- 
 
EXPLORATION OF THE WEST 31 1 
 
 creased intensity. In 1649 the Huron towns were taken, 
 one after the other, by assault. The pitiless ferocity of 
 the Iroquois warriors raged throughout the whole country 
 of the Hurons, insatiable in massacre and torture. The 
 Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf and Lalemant, perished at 
 the stake, after exhausting the fiendish ingenuity of 
 Indian tortures. Gamier, Daniel, and Chabanel were 
 tomahawked. The remains of the Huron nation were 
 scattered among the neighbouring tribes and the 
 triumphant Iroquois gloated over a wilderness de- 
 populated from the palisades of the French fort at 
 Montreal to the Strait of Michilimackinac. Champlain 
 was right. It was well to send the missionaries to 
 evangelise the Hurons, but the six-score light-armed 
 soldiers he applied for would have been a solid nucleus 
 around which the Hurons and Algonquins might have 
 rallied and become a firm basis for the spread of civilisa- 
 tion to more distant tribes. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 EXPLORATION RESUMED AND POSSESSION TAKEN FOR 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 HE scene of interest now shifts, and for a few 
 B years exploration paused. The Huron country, 
 formerly so populous, lay silent, and the forest 
 ' began to grow over the ashes of the burned 
 villages. The Huron church, planted with so great toil 
 and hardship, was blasted; the banner of the Gospel 
 was thrown down, and for a time paganism triumphed 
 over the cross. It was a sore trial of faith to the 
 Jesuit Fathers. As for their wild neophytes we must 
 not despise them. Their Christianity may have been 
 rudimentary, but their opportunity had been short. For 
 sixteen centuries Christianity had been striving with the 
 nations of Europe, and the result had not been so perfect 
 as to lead us to expect more from the sixteen years of 
 Huron missions. The cruelties of savage warfare were 
 indeed appalling; but from the sack of Magdeburg in 
 1631 to the destruction of the Huron towns in 1649 is not 
 a far stretch, either in time or in cruelty. Nature over- 
 flowed to cover quickly the scars made by the hate of 
 man. The blood-stained soil was soon clothed with a 
 dense mantle of forest, and when the English settlers a 
 hundred and seventy years later cleared the land, unde- 
 fined mounds and bone pits and relics of domestic utensils, 
 or warlike weapons, alone witnessed to the tragedy of 
 blood which had been enacted in that sylvan paradise. 
 
 It was a pious reflection of some of the good fathers 
 and one that served to support the strain upon their faith, 
 that Providence, in permitting the Huron nation to be 
 scattered, designed to scatter also the seeds of Christianity 
 and to open up the western tribes to the influence of the 
 
 312 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 313 
 
 Gospel. So at least it turned out; for, subsequently, in 
 following up those remnants who went westward, the 
 Jesuit Fathers found the paths which led to the “ great 
 water ” nearly reached by Nicollet in 1634. In 1639 they 
 dreamed of it as the avenue to the Vermilion Sea of the 
 Southern Ocean and, in 1641, Jogues and Raymbault 
 stood for a short time upon its threshold at the Sault. 
 
 The tide of massacre had swept up close to the palisades 
 of St. Mary on the Wye. There were forty Frenchmen 
 within the fort, who would have sold their lives dearly, 
 waiting hour after hour with strained attention for the 
 impending assault. A party of Christian Hurons, after 
 inflicting severe loss on the Iroquois, had been overborne 
 until scarcely twenty were left. The enemy’s scouts 
 began to peer through the outskirts of the surrounding 
 forest, while all through the night the priests within the 
 chapel put up incessant supplication, especially to St. 
 Joseph. The day dawned — it was St. Joseph’s own fes- 
 tival — when they found that an uncontrollable panic had 
 seized the Iroquois, who were retiring with their prison- 
 ers. They had lost a hundred of their best warriors in 
 the last battle and they did not care to attack a garrison 
 of forty desperate Frenchmen armed with fire-arms. In 
 those days, as in all times of supreme trial, the super- 
 natural seemed very near, and in the sudden retreat of the 
 Iroquois the good fathers recognised the influence of an 
 unseen power. They knew that respite would be short, 
 and, moved by the entreaties of the remaining Hurons, 
 they set fire to their fort — to the chapel where they had 
 found the support which had sustained them in all their 
 trials, and to all the buildings, and retreated to an island 
 off the northern point of Nottawasaga Bay, which they 
 called St. Joseph’s Island, but which now appears as 
 Christian Island on our maps. There they built a fort 
 and around it gathered about three hundred families of 
 Hurons ; but the island was small and all communication 
 with Quebec was cut off. During the winter famine 
 drove a swarm of starving savages in upon the fort to be 
 fed by the charity of the fathers. No one dared to set 
 
3 H THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 foot upon the mainland, for Iroquois war parties infested 
 the whole region. Urged by the chiefs to lead them to a 
 place of safety, the Jesuits resolved to abandon all the 
 missions in the West, and taking with them about three 
 hundred souls — the remnant of their flock — they started 
 on a melancholy retreat down the Ottawa. “ With 
 tears” (writes the narrator of 1650) “ we left the coun- 
 try which we loved, around which all our hopes had 
 centred and which, reddened by the blood of our glori- 
 fied brethren, promised to open up to us also the road to 
 Heaven and the gate of Paradise.” All the way was 
 marked by traces of Iroquois triumph. The Nipissings 
 had been massacred. The Algonquins of Allumette 
 Island were slaughtered or dispersed. The retreating 
 Hurons were completely cowed and, refusing to stop even 
 at Montreal, hastened to the shelter of the guns of Quebec. 
 They settled first on the Island of Orleans; but even 
 there, a few years later, the Mohawk scalping knife 
 reached them. At last they removed to Lorette, on the 
 St. Charles, near Quebec, where to this day a few indi- 
 viduals represent in their earliest home the people who, 
 under Donnacona, first greeted the French under Cartier. 
 
 In the West the work of destruction went on. The 
 powerful Neutral nation was scattered. The Erie na- 
 tion was annihilated. Tradition tells of more than a 
 thousand fires alight at one time and in each fire a stake 
 to which was bound a writhing Erie. The picture may 
 be somewhat overdrawn as to the number at one time, but 
 it is in the main true, and there is nothing in Dante’s 
 Inferno more horrible. The Hurons and their near rela- 
 tives, the Tobacco nation, long wandered in search of a 
 safe retreat, A large band of them fled to the Manitoulin 
 Islands and from thence to Michilimackinac, but Iroquois 
 war parties sought them out. They went to the islands 
 at the mouth of Green Bay of Lake Michigan, but found 
 no safety. Hunted thence they fled to the territories of 
 the Illinois and the Sioux, upon the Mississippi, and 
 from thence they retired up the St. Croix and Black 
 rivers. At last they found refuge at Chequamegon Bay 
 
Shadowy River, Muskoka. 
 
 (On the northern border of the Huron country.) 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 315 
 
 in the southwest corner of Lake Superior. There, within 
 reach of the head-waters of the Mississippi, they dwelt 
 until their renewed arrogance provoked the Sioux to 
 drive them out. 
 
 In 1653, when the whole colony of New France was in 
 despair from the incursions of the Iroquois, to the sur- 
 prise of all the Onondagas made proposals of peace, and 
 the exploration of the western country recommenced with 
 the reviving fur trade. In 1654 two young French- 
 men left for the far West and the Relation of 1656 
 chronicles their return with fifty loaded canoes and two 
 hundred and fifty savages. Their names have not been 
 recorded, nor the localities they visited; but from the 
 names of the tribes mentioned, it is clear that they had 
 been on Lake Michigan, on the Fox River, and probably 
 on Lake Superior. They brought messages from distant 
 nations asking for missionaries. Thirty young French- 
 men started to return with them, but their courage failed 
 them when they heard of the dangers on the road. 
 Fathers Druillettes and Garreau, with a lay brother and 
 three other Frenchmen of their party, persevered until 
 they fell into an ambuscade of Mohawks, who mortally 
 wounded Father Garreau. The Algonquins escaped in 
 the night, leaving all the Frenchmen behind. The Iro- 
 quois were at peace with the French, but not with the 
 Hurons and Algonquins. The Mohawks carried Father 
 Garreau to Montreal, where he died, and, after the cus- 
 tom of their people, they made their apology by giving a 
 present, and the haughty savages took care that it was a 
 small one. 
 
 The way to the west was opened up again by two fur- 
 traders, whose daring enterprise places them among the 
 chief of western pioneers. Medard Chouart, called after 
 some property he had, Sieur des Groseilliers, had been in 
 the employ of the Jesuits and, with them, had shared the 
 dangers and excitements of the Huron missions and 
 become familiar with the Ottawa route and the Huron 
 waters. In 1646 he left their service and began trading 
 on his own account with the Indians and, in 1647, he 
 
3 1 6 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 married, as his first wife, Helene, daughter of Abraham 
 Martin, whose name has been perpetuated in history in 
 the “ Plains of Abraham/’ the theatre of the struggle be- 
 tween Wolfe and Montcalm. Three Rivers was then the 
 focus of the fur trade, and in 1651 the Radisson family 
 came out from France and settled there. Two daughters 
 came and one son, Pierre Esprit Radisson — whose life 
 and adventures, written two hundred years ago, and only 
 recently discovered and published, surpass in interest the 
 creations of any writer of romances. He had not been 
 long in Canada when he was captured by Mohawks while 
 hunting near Three Rivers. He was tied at the stake for 
 burning, and after suffering the preliminary tortures of 
 having some of his finger nails torn out and being a target 
 for the arrows of the village youth, he was adopted by a 
 Mohawk woman and became a member of her family and 
 a favourite in the tribe. He escaped in company with 
 some Algonquin captives, and when he had nearly reached 
 home, was again captured. Although three Mohawks 
 had been killed in his flight his adopted relatives again 
 saved him when at the stake. A second attempt suc- 
 ceeded. He got away to the Dutch post at Orange 
 (Albany) and was taken to Holland, from whence he 
 returned to Canada. 
 
 The Jesuits had opened a mission among the Onon- 
 dagas, and in 1657 two of the fathers were sent to 
 strengthen it, and with them went a small party of 
 Frenchmen, Radisson could not resist the opportunity, 
 and his knowledge of the Iroquois language and customs 
 made him a welcome addition to the party. As the 
 spring approached the Jesuits became aware that the Iro- 
 quois were preparing to massacre the whole mission. 
 Their position was difficult. The fort was built on 
 Onondaga Lake in the heart of the Iroquois country; a 
 small stream led into the Oswego River, which, after a 
 course of about thirty-five miles, falls into Lake Ontario. 
 The French dissembled their suspicions, and, in the loft 
 over their fort, built canoes. When the spring sun 
 opened the river they made a great feast, and invited the 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 317 
 
 whole village — and here we may conceive that Radisson’s 
 Mohawk experience was especially useful. It was a re- 
 ligious feast savouring dangerously of paganism, and 
 savage ceremonial imperatively required that everything 
 presented should be eaten. The lives of the party 
 depended upon it, and never in the Indian country was 
 hospitality so profuse — maize, hogs, bustards, ducks, 
 turtles, eels, carp, and everything else that could be 
 thought of were brought in, while the savages solemnly 
 ate until even they could eat no more. In vain did they 
 beg for surcease. The French urged upon them their 
 religious duty, and even soothed their gastronomic efforts 
 by playing on some musical instruments they had. At 
 last, gorged like boa-constrictors, the Indians fell back, 
 their eyelids closed over their bulging eyeballs, and they 
 slept the sleep of repletion. When the last man dropped 
 the French got their canoes, and by the time day dawned, 
 and the savages recovered, they were far down the 
 Oswego River. A fortunate snowfall obliterated their 
 tracks, and to the puzzled savages it seemed as if the 
 Frenchmen had flown away in the night. The episode is 
 Homeric — it is Ulysses escaping from the cave of Poly- 
 phemus ; but this plot was far better designed, and better 
 executed. 
 
 Radisson arrived at Three Rivers the same spring, and 
 found his brother-in-law Chouart preparing for a voy- 
 age to the great lakes. It was another opportunity for 
 adventure not to be resisted. Chouart had heard from the 
 Indians of new tribes in the further West, and these he 
 was intent on discovering. This voyage was the begin- 
 ning of a joint career, which united the brothers-in-law 
 (for Chouart had married Radisson’s sister Marguerite 
 for his second wife) in a loyal and warm partnership of 
 adventure and friendship throughout their lives. In the 
 middle of June, 1658, they started westward with twenty- 
 nine Frenchmen in the party, and a number of savages. 
 They had to take up a few more at Montreal, but as 
 Iroquois spies were watching all movements there, they 
 got them away as quietly as possible. On the lake above 
 
3 18 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 they overtook a party of boisterous young Frenchmen 
 who were making a picnic of passing through a country 
 infested by Iroquois. The natural result followed. The 
 straggling and disorderly party were attacked suddenly, 
 a number were killed, others were captured, and the rest 
 got back as best they could to Montreal. Chouart and 
 Radisson were, however, made of different stuff. They 
 escaped westwards, and, with their own Indians, hurried 
 up the Ottawa with a speed which outstripped pursuit 
 until they reached Lake Nipissing (Lake of the Castors), 
 where they could rest. From thence they passed down 
 French River to the “ bay of crystal water, full of islands, 
 and abounding in fish,” which we at once recognise as 
 Georgian Bay. There the party divided; those for the 
 Sault went west-north-west, and the rest went south. 
 
 Chouart and Radisson were not yet ready to explore 
 the North. They went with the south-bound party, and, 
 in a course of many days, they made very nearly a cir- 
 cuit of Lake Huron. They coasted along the pleasant 
 shores of the deserted paradise of Jesuit hope, and saw 
 the clearings of its former population. They penetrated 
 to the south of the lake, and noted its freedom from 
 islands; then returning northwards they stayed for a 
 while on one of the Manitoulin islands. The sheet of 
 water cut off by islands from the “ great lake of the 
 Hurons,” they call the “ Lake of the Staring Hairs.” It 
 included what is now known as the north channel, and 
 was named from the Cheveux Releves, or Ottawas, who 
 lived on the Manitoulin Islands. Some Iroquois were 
 traced lurking round, and Radisson won the heart of his 
 hosts by leading a war party and bringing home eight 
 dead and three living of the prowlers. The dead, he 
 calmly writes, were eaten, and “ the living burned with a 
 slow fire to the rigour of cruelties,” which, he adds, “ com- 
 forted the desolate ” relatives of slain Ottawas. While 
 staying with the Ottawas some Pottawatomies arrived, 
 and the two adventurers went with them to their home at 
 the mouth of Green Bay on Lake Michigan. This was 
 the “ Baie des Puants,” on the “ Lac des Puants,” or, to 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 319 
 
 use once for all the names of Radisson’s narrative — “ the 
 small Lake of the Stinkings ” on the “ great Lake of the 
 Stinkings,” an undeservedly disagreeable name applied, 
 as already explained, by a persistent philological freak to 
 a charming region. There they made the acquaintance 
 of the Mascoutins, or “ Nation of Fire,” as the name 
 was mistranslated. 
 
 During the whole winter of 1658, and the spring of 
 1659, the two brothers-in-law wandered at their will from 
 their camp at Green Bay, up the Fox River, and over 
 Wisconsin and the adjoining territories, and saw many 
 sedentary nations, living in villages, all of whom were 
 kind and hospitable. They met some people of the 
 Sioux, a great nation of the West, and of the Crees, a 
 roaming nation of the North, whose summer wanderings 
 extended to the shores of the great salt water “ Sea of 
 the North ” (Hudson’s Bay). They visited the great sea 
 (Mississippi), fourteen years before Jolliet and Mar- 
 quette, and described it to one of the Jesuit fathers as a 
 beautiful river, great, wide, and deep, comparable to the 
 great river St. Lawrence. Especially were they pleased 
 with Michigan, “ the delightfullest lake of the world,” 
 “ uncomparable,” “ finer than Italy, as to climate, and 
 more delightful the farther south one goes.” The phil- 
 anthropy which “ consoled the desolate ” at the north of 
 the lake breaks out in a more legitimate form in Radis- 
 son’s lament that the starving poor of Europe cannot be 
 brought out to a land so fertile, and abounding in game. 
 The poor of Europe came two hundred years later, for 
 the crowded streets of Milwaukee and Chicago are now 
 vociferous in every European tongue, and, though the 
 game has long since been exterminated, the fields of 
 maize are more productive than ever. So passed the 
 summer, and, as the fall came on, the two adventurers 
 retired up the lake. They passed through the Strait of 
 Michilimackinac, and we read with startled resentment 
 the name “ Strait of the Stinkings,” applied to the beauty- 
 spot of the northern waters. They did not stay at the 
 Sault, but passed up Lake Superior to Chequamegon Bay, 
 
320 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 that part of the south shore where the head-waters of 
 affluents of the Mississippi approach the lake. There they 
 established their headquarters, and from thence they 
 explored over a large portion of the present State of 
 Wisconsin. They were the first white men known to 
 have paddled upon Lake Superior beyond the Sault or 
 Strait of St. Mary. 
 
 Around this central point of Indian life the two adven- 
 turers moved during the winter of 1659-60. Iroquois 
 raids had driven the Saulteurs (or Sault Indians) there, 
 and there also were remnants of the Tobacco nation of 
 the Hurons, and many Ottawas. Thither also came the 
 Crees, bringing intelligence of their summer wanderings 
 on the shores of the northern sea. Radisson went on 
 snowshoes into the interior, and down one of the streams 
 leading into the Mississippi. Here his narrative reverts 
 to his previous visit to that river. He identifies it by call- 
 ing it the “ great river,” where the Hurons and Ottawas 
 had taken refuge — “ the forked river,” of which one 
 branch went south to Mexico, and the other (the Mis- 
 souri) to the west — the first notice of the Missouri. As 
 the summer of 1660 approached the two traders prepared 
 to go down to the settlements, and, after many difficulties 
 arising from the terror of Iroquois hostility existing even 
 in that remote region, they got away with a party of five 
 hundred savages, and, after some encounters on the 
 Ottawa, reached Montreal and Three Rivers, in the 
 month of August, 1660. 
 
 The region about the head-waters of the Mississippi 
 was thus revealed in this adventurous expedition. The 
 voyageurs not only had been over the Wisconsin portage, 
 but had been over the southern water-parting of Lake 
 Superior, and gone down streams flowing south-westward 
 until they reached the great river (Mississippi) itself. 
 They had visited the extreme south of Lake Michigan, 
 and explored beyond its western water-parting. They 
 had seen much, but they had not seen the “ Bay of the 
 North ” ; they had heard of it from the Crees, and they 
 resolved to rest at Three Rivers for a year, and say as 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 321 
 
 little as possible about their travels until they could suc- 
 ceed in reaching its shores. The objective point of their 
 next expedition was to be Hudson’s Bay, passing thither 
 by way of Lake Superior. It is perfectly clear from the 
 Relation of 1660 that the Jesuits at that time knew noth- 
 ing of the lake beyond the Sault, nor of the Bay, beyond 
 what they had gathered from Indian reports. They were 
 confident that the Southern Ocean joined the Bay of the 
 North by means of a connecting water at the west, and 
 that thus the sea leading to Japan and China was only a 
 few days’ journey from Lake Superior. 
 
 In the summer of 1661 Chouart and Radisson prepared 
 their outfit for their new enterprise, and applied to the 
 Governor for a license to leave; but, although he had 
 only just arrived, the Baron d’Avaugour had already 
 learned to consult his own private interest in public mat- 
 ters, and he refused to allow them to leave unless they 
 took with them two of his own servants, and gave them 
 half the profits of the venture. Chouart resented the 
 injustice of being compelled to impart to green hands 
 the experience of a lifetime of danger, and to divide his 
 profits with two useless men, raw from France, who had 
 never seen a canoe or an Indian; and he, together with 
 Radisson, escaped in the night from Three Rivers, and 
 by concerted arrangement met on the river a party of 
 savages, Saulteurs and Nipissings, who were about to 
 return to their homes. 
 
 Once more the two brothers-in-law were in the midst 
 of the wild life they loved. Above Montreal, on the Ot- 
 tawa, the Iroquois lay in wait, as usual, and, in a number 
 of skirmishes and fights, owing to the skill in Indian war- 
 fare of the two white leaders, the Iroquois got the worst 
 of it. They lost ten killed, and were shut up in a fort. 
 The two traders, whose object was trading, not fighting, 
 seized the opportunity, and started with all speed up the 
 river, taking with them four Iroquois prisoners to burn 
 as soon as they got leisure. They did not slacken their 
 speed until they reached Lake Nipissing, then, following 
 
 down the French River and along the north shore of 
 21 
 
322 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Lake Huron, they arrived at the Sault, through which 
 Lake Superior discharges its waters. 
 
 Game was plentiful at the Sault, and whitefish, then as 
 now, were abundant, and the adventurers rested for a lit- 
 tle while. What became of the Iroquois prisoners does 
 not appear — probably they had been knocked on the head 
 to lighten the canoes. The voyage was resumed by the 
 way of the south shore of the lake, and it can be easily 
 traced in Radisson’s narrative. The long range of sand- 
 dunes, the pictured rocks, the copper region, Keweenaw 
 Bay, and its long projecting point, are fully described. 
 They did not round the point, but crossed it near the base 
 by a convenient portage always followed by the savages. 
 At the Montreal River, now the boundary between 
 Northern Michigan and Wisconsin, some of the savages 
 went south to the portages for the Mississippi waters. 
 Chouart and Radisson went on until they reached the 
 present Chequamegon Bay, near the site of the present 
 Ashland. There, on a convenient point, they built a trad- 
 ing fort. Three or four years later the Jesuits established 
 there the mission of St. Esprit, and it became known as 
 La Pointe. It is near the portages to the Chippewa and 
 the St. Croix rivers, which fall into the Mississippi, near 
 Lake Pepin, and the locality was the favourite resort of 
 many tribes of savages from Lake Michigan, the Missis- 
 sippi, and Hudson’s Bay. 
 
 During the winter of 1661-62 they went through many 
 experiences. They wandered over a portion of what is 
 now the State of Minnesota. They made a long visit to 
 a lake, the resort of eighteen tribes, and there they built 
 a trading fort, and made it a centre of operations. There, 
 also, a grand council was held, at which five hundred 
 savages were present. The two traders went, by invita- 
 tion, to visit the “ Nation of Beef” ( Nation du Bceuf), 
 where they found seven thousand men, and they stayed 
 there six weeks, then they returned to La Pointe on Lake 
 Superior. 
 
 So far there have been only minor difficulties in the 
 narrative, due mainly to the indescribably bad English 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 323 
 
 which Radisson wrote. Some of the sentences might as 
 well have been written in Cree; for, although the words 
 taken separately may be English, taken collectively, they 
 yield no intelligible meaning, but now comes a question 
 which is supposed to have a political bearing. French 
 writers maintain that Chouart and Radisson went to 
 Hudson’s Bay, which few English writers will admit. 
 No political question is really involved, for they made no 
 settlement there. That the English discovered and first 
 wintered on the bay cannot be disputed — Hudson in 
 1610, Button in 1612, James in 1631, had wintered there, 
 and, by them, and Baffin, and Bylot, the whole bay had 
 been explored. If, however, the question be made to 
 turn on first settlement, the priority of the English can 
 easily be established also. When it is considered that 
 Chouart and Radisson deliberately planned this voyage 
 with Hudson’s Bay as its objective point — that they 
 openly stated that intention only a few weeks before their 
 departure — that they subsequently led the English there, 
 and were the first to suggest the formation of the Hud- 
 son’s Bay Company, a presumption is created which in 
 all fairness should guide the interpretation of Radisson’s 
 English. 
 
 Among the Indians resorting to La Pointe and the 
 portages they had met a band of Crees, and had arranged 
 to make them a visit the following year. They con- 
 cealed their intention from the other Indians, and got 
 away, in the spring of 1662, to carry out their design. 
 They crossed the western end of the lake, and found, 
 after some trouble, the camp of their Cree friends. 
 They started at once for what they call the “ great 
 river,” and “ following it they came to the seaside,” 
 where “ they found an old house all demolished battered 
 with bullets.” Apropos of the old house the Crees 
 began to tell Indian yarns about two nations who had 
 been there, and of the “ peculiarities of European,” but 
 Radisson, in his peculiar English, says : “ We know 
 
 ourselves, and what Europe is, therefore in vaine they 
 tell us as for that.” All this points to Hudson’s Bay as 
 
324 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the place they had reached. Further indications lead to 
 the same conclusion. “We passed that summer quietly 
 coasting the seaside/’ writes Radisson, “ and as the cold 
 began we prevented the ice. We have the commoditie 
 of the river to carry our things in our boats to the best 
 place, where we are most bests.” This means that they 
 left the bay before the ice began to form, and chose for 
 their return the most convenient river — which would be 
 the Moose River. Further confirmation will be found in 
 the statement, “ We went further in the bay to see ye 
 place that they weare to passe that summer. That river 
 comes from the lake, and empties itselfe in ye river of 
 Sagnes, called Tadousack, which is a hundred leagues 
 in the great river of Canada as where we are in ye Bay 
 of ye North.” This passage determines the place they 
 reached, and must, fairly, mean that, having reached the 
 shore of the bay, they coasted to the outlet of a river 
 which led to the Saguenay, that might be Rupert River, 
 flowing from Lake Mistassini. From that lake there 
 is a portage over the height of land to the head-waters of 
 the Saguenay. Radisson adds : “We left in this place 
 our marks and rendezvous,” and to that place Chouart 
 conducted Gillam in 1667. Somewhere near there Hud- 
 son wintered in 1610, and James in 1631. The old ruined 
 house with bullet marks may thus be accounted for, and 
 there was the first settlement on the bay. This view is 
 incidentally confirmed by a passage in the Jesuit Relation 
 of 1 667, where it is recorded that a Cree Indian told 
 Allouez that he had seen a ship on the bay and on its 
 shore had seen a house made of boards and wood (sawn 
 lumber) such as Allouez and the French used. 
 
 Doubtless there are difficulties in the narrative, for in 
 another passage Radisson says : “We went from isle to 
 isle all that summer,” and “ this place hath a great store 
 of cows,” meaning buffalo. These are notes pointing to 
 the Lake of the Woods, or to Lake Nipigon, but in close 
 succession he writes : “ We promised them [the Crees] 
 to come with such shipps as we invented.” That cannot 
 apply to any inland lake, for only at Hudson’s Bay could 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 325 
 
 they reach the Crees by ships. For these special reasons, 
 and from the whole sequence of events the conclusion 
 that Chouart and Radisson reached Hudson’s Bay is irre- 
 sistible, and when it is considered that Summit Lake dis- 
 charges both ways, by the Albany River into Hudson’s 
 Bay, and by the Ombabike River into Lake Nipigon, 
 which discharges into Lake Superior, it is apparent how 
 easily the passage could be made. 
 
 There is no need to dwell upon the succeeding ad- 
 ventures of the two traders in this expedition. They 
 returned to their fort on Chequamegon Bay on Lake 
 Superior, and in the spring of 1663 prepared to descend 
 to Three Rivers. They had great difficulty in persuad- 
 ing the savages to go down. The fear of the Iroquois 
 was upon all the tribes. They succeeded at last, and in 
 company with several hundred savages arrived at Three 
 Rivers in the summer of 1663. There they fell into 
 D’Avaugour’s clutches, and from his injustice they ap- 
 pealed in vain to the courts of France. Their resentment 
 led to the offer of their services to England, and brought 
 on the formation of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The 
 remaining years of these remarkable men were full of 
 adventures, but the story is beyond the scope of this vol- 
 ume. Radisson’s narrative, in spite of its occasional 
 obscurity, is generally clear enough. There are some 
 transpositions, which show that it was in part, at least, 
 written from memory, a few years after the events. In 
 the vicissitudes of such a life as his it is not surprising if 
 papers should have been lost, but the main facts of the 
 discoveries are confirmed by other contemporary author- 
 ities, which give the reader confidence in the general truth 
 of the narrative. 
 
 The Jesuit fathers could not forget their scattered 
 flock in the distant west. We have seen how their 
 attempt to pass up in 1656 had failed; but in 1660, when 
 Chouart and Radisson returned, Father Rene Menard, 
 though fifty-five years old, and broken by hardships, 
 resolved to go up with the returning Ottawas to the 
 upper lakes. He left at the end of August in company 
 
326 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 with a few French traders. The Ottawas, who seemed to 
 have been the most intractable ruffians of all the western 
 savages, ill-treated him on the route ; nevertheless he re- 
 mained with them during the winter at a place on Lake 
 Superior, he called Ste. Therese, supposed to have been on 
 Keweenaw Bay. After eight months of hardship and 
 semi-starvation, finding that the Ottawas were abso- 
 lutely irreclaimable, he resolved to go to La Pointe (St. 
 Michel, he called it), where some Hurons had taken 
 refuge, and had sent to invite him. He started with 
 one Frenchman and a party of Huron guides. The jour- 
 ney was long, and the Hurons abandoned him under the 
 pretense of going to their village for food. The French- 
 man, Jean Guerin, remained with him and they waited two 
 weeks for the promised return of the Hurons until, their 
 food running short, they repaired a canoe which they 
 found hidden in the brush, and followed on. At one of 
 the portages Guerin went ahead with a load, expecting the 
 father to follow, but Menard wandered into the forest 
 and was lost. His companion searched for him in vain. 
 Guerin succeeded in arriving at the Huron village, and 
 a young Indian was sent in search, but without suc- 
 cess. 
 
 The priest’s body was never found. Some articles be- 
 longing to him were found among the Sacs, and, years 
 after, his cassock and breviary were found among the 
 Sioux, as objects of worship. Some suppose that the 
 Keweenaw portage was the place of his death, but, in 
 going over the particulars recorded in the Jesuit Rela- 
 tion of 1663, and in the memoir of Nicholas Perrot, it 
 seems evident that when he arrived at La Pointe the 
 Hurons had retired up one of the rivers into the interior. 
 Perrot says they were on the Black River, and the father 
 was following their traces. 
 
 It was late in 1663 when the news of Father Menard’s 
 death reached Quebec, and, in 1665, Father Allouez 
 went up to Ottawa to continue his work. The Indians 
 had flatly refused to take him, although they willingly 
 took some white traders ; but he persisted in going. His 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 327 
 
 canoe was wrecked and the Indians left him to starve, 
 but an Ottawa chief, passing not long after, took him into 
 his canoe and made him work his way by paddling. He 
 did not stop at the Sault, but pressed on to Keweenaw Bay 
 (Ste. Therese). After staying there a short time he 
 decided that La Pointe was the most important Indian 
 rendezvous on the lake, and, going by the portage through 
 Keweenaw Point, he went there and founded the mission 
 he called Saint Esprit upon a point of the mainland on 
 Chequamegon Bay. A hundred and thirty years later, 
 in 1765, Henry, the fur trader, established a post there 
 among the Ojibways, and said it might be called the 
 metropolis of that tribe. The lake affords abundance of 
 food. In a short time his men took two thousand trout 
 and whitefish. In winter they caught them by spearing, 
 and the trout weighed on an average twenty pounds 
 each. 
 
 It was a well-chosen spot. Allouez was a skilled linguist 
 and could preach in six languages — a most important 
 qualification at that polyglot post. There were two vil- 
 lages there — one of the refugee Hurons of the Tobacco 
 tribe and the other of Algonquins. He built his chapel 
 between the two, and began his labours among the shift- 
 ing throng of Sacs, Foxes, Illinois, Crees, Sioux, Potta- 
 watomies, Ojibways, and Saulteurs. The Nipissings had 
 retired to Lake Nipigon (Alimebegong), in the country 
 of the Crees, and Allouez visited them — the first mis- 
 sionary to touch the north shore of the lake. All these 
 nations resorted peaceably to La Pointe. The country 
 properly belonged to the Ojibways, but they, like the 
 Sioux and Crees, though addicted to war, had not the 
 truculence and cruelty of the eastern tribes. They did 
 not even torture their prisoners. In fact, burning at the 
 stake was a custom practised only by the semi-civilised 
 Indians of eastern America, and the fully civilised nations 
 of western Europe. The western tribes, after the Iro- 
 quois wars, adopted it to a limited extent in retaliation; 
 but, though careless of life, they did not delight in cruelty 
 for its own sake. 
 
328 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 In such a centre of Indian life Allouez soon learned of 
 the Mississippi from the Sioux and Illinois, and also of 
 the populous nations on its banks. The field opened out 
 before him and he went down to Quebec to obtain help. 
 He stayed there only two days, and returned with another 
 Jesuit, Father Nicholas, a lay brother, and four hired 
 men. His active labours led him to the extreme western 
 end of the lake to make a visit to the Sioux. He crossed 
 to the north shore, went up to Lake Nipigon and thor- 
 oughly examined it around all its shores and islands. He 
 was following the Nipissings, who took refuge there 
 after the Iroquois war, although the region properly be- 
 longed to the Crees. For three years he laboured at La 
 Pointe with indifferent success. Those of the Hurons 
 who had learned something of Christianity in their old 
 home on Lake Huron had relapsed into paganism. In 
 full council he took off his shoes and “ shook off the dust 
 of his feet as a witness against them.” He told them 
 that the people of the Sault had sent to invite him, and 
 he would leave them to their sins. They were impressed, 
 but only for a short time. Allouez left them in 1669 to 
 found the mission of St. Frangois Xavier on the Fox 
 River of Green Bay.. There he spent the winter among 
 the Pottawatomies, Sacs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, and Mas- 
 coutins, and in the spring he went up the river beyond 
 the portage and saw the Wisconsin flowing to the south- 
 west, to fall into “ the great river called the Messi Sipi, 
 only six days’ journey distant.” He prepared the way 
 for Marquette and Jolliet by founding the first mission 
 on Lake Michigan. 
 
 Meantime, at Quebec and Montreal, great changes 
 were taking place. The King had sent out a very capa- 
 ble soldier, De Courcelles, as governor, and as intendant 
 he had sent Talon, one of Colbert’s most trusted scholars. 
 He sent also the Marquis de Tracy as lieutenant-general 
 with vice-regal powers, and, most important of all, he 
 sent a regiment twelve hundred strong — the Carignan- 
 Salieres regiment of veteran soldiers, seasoned in the 
 Turkish wars. They arrived in 1665, and, without losing 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 329 
 
 time, De Courcelles, in January, 1666, marched an ex- 
 pedition, on snowshoes, to attack the Mohawks in their 
 homes. In the summer the Marquis de Tracy invaded 
 the Mohawk territory with a strong force, burned all 
 their towns and destroyed all their standing crops and 
 stores of provisions. The troops were the missionaries 
 needed by the Mohawks. They were the peacemakers, 
 and, for twenty years after, there was peace along the 
 waterways of Canada, and the communications with the 
 missions on the Great Lakes were unmolested. Cham- 
 plain was justified. If France had sent him the six score 
 men he asked for, before the power of her Huron and 
 Algonquin allies had been broken, the Iroquois would 
 never have attained such pre-eminence, hundreds of 
 Canadians would have been saved from the scalping knife 
 and the stake, and the French would have been en- 
 trenched in the country before the English had time to 
 gather strength. At the peace commenced the era of 
 the great expansion, and men like Frontenac and Talon 
 began to dream of a great transatlantic France, extend- 
 ing from Hudson’s Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 crowding the English back upon a narrow strip of the 
 seacoast. 
 
 The way was now open. Allouez once more went 
 down to Quebec with earnest representations, and Father 
 Dablon went up to the lakes, taking with him Father Mar- 
 quette. In 1669 the Jesuits had three fixed stations in 
 the West. The chief one was the mission of St. Mary at 
 the Sault, the others were St. Esprit at La Pointe on Lake 
 Superior, and St. Frangois Xavier on Fox River of Green 
 Bay in Lake Michigan. Father Dablon, who was the 
 Superior of western missions, visited these stations, and 
 in 1670, he and Allouez went to Green Bay and up the 
 Fox River to the Mascoutins and doubtless stood upon 
 the portage and saw the smooth current of the Wisconsin 
 inviting them westwards. He saw that the Sault was the 
 key of the West, and founded the residence on the south 
 shore of the Strait just below the rapids. He and Mar- 
 quette were there in 1669. Not long after he was re- 
 
330 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 called to Quebec, Allouez went to the Sault, Marquette 
 to La Pointe, and Fathers Druillettes and Andre were 
 sent to Green Bay. The results of these explorations are 
 shown upon a map in the Jesuit Relation of 1670-71. 
 
 It is doubtful if there ever have been so many excep- 
 tionally able men in power at one time in Canada as at 
 this period. The Governor, De Courcelles, soon to be 
 followed by Frontenac, the Intendant Talon, and Bishop 
 Laval, were at the head of affairs. The Abbe de Queylus 
 was Superior of the Sulpicians, the hot-headed Abbe 
 Fenelon, and the ex-captain of cavalry, the Abbe Dollier 
 de Casson, were missionaries. Jolliet, the versatile and 
 good-natured Canadian, and La Salle, the intractable and 
 reserved Norman, were on the eve of the discoveries 
 which have written their names in history. The saintly 
 Marquette, who is almost canonised throughout the 
 Western States of the Union, had just gone to the Sault, 
 and some of the most able of the Jesuit fathers, Druil- 
 lettes, Dablon, and Allouez, were still active in their work. 
 These men were to lift the veil which had hidden the 
 West when the soldier, De Tracy, had swept the way 
 clear of the hostile Iroquois. 
 
 In 1663 the company of religious enthusiasts who had 
 founded the City of Montreal in 1642 and held it as a 
 “ Castle Dangerous,” in spite of incessant Mohawk war 
 parties, transferred to the Seminary of St. Sulpice their 
 property and rights in the Island of Montreal, and five 
 years later the Abbe de Queylus returned to Canada as 
 Superior. He was not content to leave to the Jesuits a 
 monopoly of mission work. The peace had opened up 
 the lower lakes. The Ottawa route and the upper lakes 
 had been made known by the Recollets and the Jesuits, 
 and the south shore of Lake Ontario was occupied by 
 Jesuit missions. The Sulpicians now inaugurated mis- 
 sion stations along the north shore of Lake Ontario, 
 where Iroquois bands were establishing themselves. 
 Their first post was on the Bay of Quinte (Kente). A 
 band of Cayugas had settled there and the Abbes Trouve 
 and Fenelon were sent to evangelise them. Shortly after 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 331 
 
 the Abbe Fenelon (a brother of the celebrated Arch- 
 bishop) went to Gandaseteiagon, near the site of the 
 present city of Toronto. It is laid down on a contempo- 
 raneous map at the lake terminus of the route to Lake 
 Toronto, the present Lake Simcoe, and near a river which 
 cannot be other than the Humber. Another mission was 
 at Ganeraska, probably Bowmanville. 
 
 The zealous Superior heard the rumours of populous 
 tribes in the far West, more tractable than the Iroquois, 
 who were calling for news of the Gospel, and, in 1669, 
 he despatched two Sulpicians, Dollier de Casson and 
 Galinee, to discover some of them, and more particularly 
 one in the southwest, of which he had heard from a cap- 
 tive given him by the Iroquois. They started from Mon- 
 treal on July 6 with seven canoes and twenty-one men. 
 With them was La Salle, of whom we shall hear later, 
 and they had as guides two canoes of Seneca Indians. 
 The Abbe Dollier de Casson had served under Turenne 
 and was a priest of the most imperturbable good nature ; 
 his companion, Galinee, was in minor orders and had 
 some skill in practical mathematics and cartography. His 
 accounts of the voyage and map have been preserved and 
 are of great geographical value because up to that time 
 Lake Erie was almost unknown. 
 
 The route taken was up the St. Lawrence and across 
 Lake Ontario to Irondequoit Bay (Karontogouat) near 
 the mouth of the Genessee River. The Seneca towns 
 were not far from there and the largest of them, which 
 Galinee calls Seneca, was the first point on their voyage, 
 for there they expected to obtain guides, and there the 
 Jesuit Father Fremin had a mission. The town was six 
 leagues from the lake shore where the Frenchmen en- 
 camped and there was much parleying, for the Indians 
 were never in a hurry and the business had to be consid- 
 ered in council. They were unwilling that the expedition 
 should go further, and it was delayed several weeks, wait- 
 ing for a decision. At last, hearing from an Indian that 
 there was an Iroquois town at the end of the lake, where 
 they would be certain to find slaves of the western nations 
 
332 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 who could act as guides, the Frenchmen went on. They 
 passed the mouth of the Niagara River and although 
 they heard the roar of the cataract, they were content to 
 accept the Indian accounts of it. It is almost incredible 
 at this date, but Galinee says distinctly that they were in 
 such haste to arrive at the Iroquois town they did not go 
 to see “ this wonder,” and from the narrative it is clear 
 that no Frenchman up to that time had described it or 
 recorded a visit there. Even the Sulpician Trouve, who 
 told Galinee that he had heard the sound of the fall across 
 the lake, does not seem to have visited it. 
 
 They arrived at a large sandy bay at the end of the 
 lake at the outlet of a little lake, evidently near the pres- 
 ent city of Hamilton. The village they were in search 
 of was five or six leagues distant and the inhabitants be- 
 ing few were in fear of the French and begged that they 
 might not be burned as were the Mohawks. Here the 
 voyagers were more successful. The Indians gave them 
 two slaves. One, a Shawnee from the Ohio, fell to La 
 Salle, and the other, a Nez-Perce, from the upper Lake 
 Huron, fell to the party of Galinee. At the Indian vil- 
 lage they were amazed to find two Frenchmen on their 
 way down from the upper lakes. It was a memorable 
 meeting. Jolliet had been sent to Lake Superior with 
 Jean Pere of Quebec to look for the copper mine, of 
 which so much had been heard ever since Cartier’s time, 
 and was returning. In this little Indian village the two 
 who were to be rival discoverers of the Mississippi met, 
 and, with characteristic openness, Jolliet gave the others 
 the results of his explorations and sketches of the routes 
 he had been following. He had gone up by way of the 
 Ottawa and on his return had persuaded the Ottawas to 
 let him take back with him one of their Iroquois prison- 
 ers as a preliminary to a peace. This Iroquois had 
 shown him the easier route down by Lake Huron and the 
 Detroit River, but was afraid of the Niagara portage, 
 because it was infested by war parties of the Andastes. 
 Jolliet, therefore, went down Lake Erie only as far as the 
 mouth of the Grand River. He did not see Niagara, but 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 333 
 
 leaving his canoe on Lake Erie made a portage over to 
 the head of Lake Ontario. He was the first to make a 
 passage by way of Detroit, but while the upper lakes were 
 all discovered, Niagara, the most remarkable point on the 
 whole St. Lawrence system and the earliest to be talked 
 about, was the last to be seen and described. 
 
 The rift in this ill-assorted expedition now began to 
 appear. The enthusiastic priest, Dollier de Casson, heard 
 from Jolliet of a populous tribe in the West, the Potta- 
 watomies, who had asked for missionaries, and to them 
 he decided to go — the readier because they were of Al- 
 gonquin stock, and he could speak with them. It was 
 true that the expedition had been designed to discover an 
 unknown river, the Ohio, but he would go there by way 
 of Lake Erie and this well-disposed tribe of savages. 
 La Salle had other views. With characteristic reticence 
 he dissembled them, and with an obstinacy equally char- 
 acteristic clung to them. He was convinced that the 
 way to the Ohio lay through the Seneca country ; and in 
 fact, it was through the Senecas he had first heard of it. 
 He had been constrained by the authority of the Governor 
 to take part in this expedition and it was repugnant to his 
 nature to share responsibility with anyone. At the Iro- 
 quois village he pleaded illness and would not, or could 
 not, proceed. Jolliet went on his way eastward down to 
 Quebec, and the two priests went westward to Lake Erie 
 with their party, over Jolliet’s trail. Where La Salle 
 went is a fruitful source of dispute. 
 
 It was October 1, 1669, when they started, and half 
 the village turned out to carry the baggage and canoes of 
 the Sulpicians over to the Grand River ; but they had only 
 three canoes for twelve people, and the water in the river 
 was low and very rapid, so their interpreter and two In- 
 dians volunteered to walk over the trail and search for 
 the canoe Jolliet had left on the lake. The men were 
 never seen again, and it is probable they deserted. When 
 the two priests arrived on the lake the waves, under a 
 gale from the south, were rolling in as on an ocean beach. 
 The season was getting late and they resolved to winter 
 
334 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 on the lake, so they ran up along shore inside of Long 
 Point Bay to a place now known as Port Dover, in the 
 county of Norfolk. They went a little way up the Lynn 
 River to the junction of Black Creek and there settled 
 down in what Galinee calls the “ Earthly Paradise ” of 
 Canada. He writes : “There is assuredly no more 
 
 beautiful region in all Canada. The woods are open, 
 interspersed with beautiful meadows, watered by rivers 
 and rivulets filled with fish and beaver, an abundance of 
 fruits, and what is more important, so full of game that 
 we saw there at one time more than a hundred roebucks 
 in a single band/' There, on the bank of the stream, in a 
 nook among the trees, sheltered from the stormy lake, 
 they built their cabin with a small chapel attached, where 
 they said mass three times a week. It was an ideal life 
 for an ecclesiastic. Galinee writes : “ Monsieur Dollier 
 
 often told us that that winter ought to be worth more for 
 our eternal welfare than the best ten years of our lives.” 
 They were undisturbed all winter and unvisited save by 
 an occasional Iroquois hunter in search of beaver. 
 
 In the spring of 1670 they started again, and after 
 nearly six months of peace and plenty, their troubles 
 commenced. One of their canoes was blown into the 
 lake and some of the party had to walk along the trail, 
 where they got entangled in the marshes. At last they 
 all safely reached the portage at Long Point neck, and 
 finding again Jolliet’s canoe, which some Iroquois had 
 been using, they launched upon the main lake westwards, 
 camping at night upon the shore. When they arrived at 
 Point Pelee they were very tired and left their packs upon 
 the beach. They slept very soundly and during the night 
 the wind rose and the rising water carried away some of 
 Dollier’s baggage, and would have stripped them clean if 
 one of the party had not chanced to waken. Fortunately 
 the canoes themselves had been carried up to higher land 
 and were safe. Dollier’s altar service was lost, and also 
 the goods they had for use in payment for provisions. 
 This accident destroyed in their view the object of their 
 journey, for it put it out of their power to administer the 
 
Junction of the River Lynn and Black Creek. 
 
 The Earthly Paradise” where Dollier and Galinee wintered.) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 335 
 
 sacraments. After much deliberation they decided to 
 give up the Pottawatomies and to return to Montreal with 
 the Indians, who would be going down in the summer 
 from the Sault St. Mary. This detour seemed to them 
 very little longer and would enable them to see the coun- 
 try. They resumed their westward course, passed up the 
 Detroit River, through Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair 
 River, and into Lake Huron. At a sharp turn in the 
 river they encountered a stone idol painted with red paint, 
 the object of the veneration of passing savages. In some 
 occult way they associated it with the loss of their altar 
 service. It was, in their notion, a demon who objected 
 to the opening of missions. “ In short/’ says Galinee, 
 “ there was no one whose hatred it had not incurred.” So 
 they smashed it and sank the pieces in the deep river, and, 
 adds the pious father, “ God rewarded us immediately for 
 this good action, for we killed a roebuck and a bear that 
 very day.” They were surprised to find that the water in 
 Lake St. Clair was fresh, for Sanson on his map of 1656 
 had marked it “ Lake of Sea-Water.” 
 
 It must be noted that .Galinee, both in his narrative and 
 in his map, confused together Lake Michigan and Lake 
 Huron. He writes that the fresh-water sea of the Hurons 
 is called in Algonquin “ Michigane,” and his Lake of the 
 Hurons is evidently the North Channel of that lake. 
 They found no mission post at the Strait of Michilimack- 
 inac. At last they arrived at the Sault, where they found 
 Fathers Dablon and Marquette comfortably settled in a 
 fortified mission with a house and chapel and large clear- 
 ings around for crops. They were received “ with all 
 charity.” but their welcome is open to doubt, for their 
 stay was very short. Galinee comments with freedom 
 upon what he saw, and as he and Dollier were ecclesias- 
 tics, his remarks are of the nature of expert evidence. 
 He says : “ I saw no particular sign of Christianity 
 
 amongst the Indians of this place, nor in any other coun- 
 try of the Ottawas,” and he thinks that the fruit of the 
 missions is rather for the French, “ of whom there are 
 twenty or twenty-five there, than for the Indians, of whom 
 
336 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 there are so far none sufficiently good Catholics to attend 
 divine service at high mass or vespers.” Too much 
 importance must not be attributed to these comments, for 
 there were serious differences at Quebec in those days 
 between the Sulpicians and the Jesuits; nor should too 
 much be expected from these poor savages ; at the same 
 time it is evident' that while the published relations of 
 the Jesuit missionaries had been too optimistic as regards 
 the spiritual progress of the Indians, they had erred in the 
 opposite direction in reporting the scarcity of food in the 
 country. The abundance of fish at La Pointe has been 
 noted, the whitefish at Michilimackinac were in astonish- 
 ing numbers, and even to the present day the Great Lakes 
 abound with fish. The countless streams are full of trout 
 and the woods of game. The two Sulpicians had gone 
 into this wilderness of anticipated hardships and had lived 
 in a sportsman’s paradise for six months, evidently much 
 to their surprise, and they found the Jesuit mission very 
 comfortably supplied. The Relations were by no means 
 adapted to encourage immigration and that may help to 
 account for their suppression a few years later. The two 
 travellers left the Sault with hired guides on May 28 
 and arrived at Montreal on June 18, 1670, by way of the 
 Ottawa River. The expedition did much to stimulate 
 exploration. These two priests, not long out from 
 France, had not only wintered in comfort and abun- 
 dance, but had reached the extreme point of Jesuit mis- 
 sions and returned in safety. 
 
 Father Marquette, the sweet-souled hero of western 
 discovery, had gone up to the Ottawa country in 1668 
 and in 1670 was at the Sault. From thence he went to 
 the mission of St. Esprit at La Pointe. There the Illinois 
 and other western and southern tribes fired his religious 
 zeal by stories of the great water (Mississippi) and its 
 teeming nations. The fugitive Hurons and Ottawas, who 
 had settled at La Pointe and on the streams to the south, 
 had been hospitably received by the Sioux; but, after a 
 few years, growing arrogant with the possession of guns 
 and iron weapons, they sought to drive their generous 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 337 
 
 hosts away and obtain exclusive possession of the coun- 
 try. The indignant Sioux declared war, and with Indian 
 ceremony before commencing hostilities, they sent back 
 to Father Marquette all the religious pictures he had 
 given them. The anger of that redoubtable nation — the 
 Iroquois of the West — was too serious to face, and the 
 Hurons and Ottawas, who never knew how to be quiet, 
 had again to fly. Some beginning of a mission seems to 
 have been made in 1670, probably by Father Allouez, 
 upon the Island of Michilimackinac, and thither in 1671 
 went Marquette with the retreating Hurons. Father An- 
 dre with the Ottawas went to the Manitoulin Islands. 
 
 Michilimackinac is the name of a region, as well as of 
 an island, and much confusion has arisen in consequence. 
 It is applied properly to the holy island of Algonquin 
 mythology in the middle of the strait leading out of Lake 
 Michigan, and also to the northern and southern points of 
 land which form the strait. Of late the northern point 
 has been called Ancient Michilimackinac and the southern 
 point Old Mackinac. It is a convenient distinction. In 
 1671 Father Marquette moved from the island to the 
 north point of the strait and founded there the mission of 
 St. Ignace. It was a more convenient location because 
 a trail led directly across the peninsula to the mission at 
 the Sault. At St. Ignace he erected a chapel and a mis- 
 sion post, and soon two villages gathered on either side, 
 one of Hurons and the other of Algonquins. It speedily 
 became the most important rendezvous of the fur trade in 
 the Northwest and was besides the head of four missions. 
 La Motte Cadillac was sent there by Frontenac as gover- 
 nor in 1694, but in 1701 he founded Detroit and, as he 
 drew thither most of the Indians, Michilimackinac lost 
 much of its importance. The French Government, in one 
 of its fits of contraction, withdrew the garrison and no 
 one was left there but a pack of wood-rangers ( coureurs 
 de bois) and traders who, being under no control, made a 
 pandemonium of the place. There was not a Christian 
 Indian left and the Frenchmen were a disgrace to the 
 
 name. The scandalised missionaries, in 1705, set fire to 
 22 
 
338 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 their church and residence and retired in disgust to 
 Quebec, and the post of Ancient Michilimackinac on the 
 north side — St. Ignace of Marquette — was abandoned. 
 This aroused the governor, Vaudreuil, and he persuaded 
 Father Marest to return to the mission the following year 
 and sent an officer, De Louvigny, to restore order. In 
 1712 the cold fit of the French court having passed off, 
 orders were given to restore the post, and De Louvigny 
 was sent up with a garrison. Then the fort was built on 
 the south point, now known as Old Mackinac, or simply 
 Mackinac, and that was the post given over to the English 
 at the cession. If then La Hontan or Hennepin, or any 
 other writer previous to 1712 be referred to, Michili- 
 mackinac means the point on the north still known as St. 
 Ignace or Ancient Michilimackinac. If the reference be 
 to Charlevoix’ works, Henry’s Travels, Pontiac’s War, 
 or any other matter later, the south point of the strait or 
 Old Mackinac will be meant. That fort, was, however, 
 also abandoned, and in 1780 the English built a fort upon 
 the island. The last was the Fort Michilimackinac taken 
 by the Canadians in 1812 and held until the close of the 
 war, and it is now the only place known by the name. 
 Thus the fact that the maps in Charlevoix’ Travels and 
 later works, place the fort and mission on the south point 
 is reconciled with the earlier maps of Hennepin and La 
 Hontan. Again it is clear that the fort and the mission 
 on the south point were not identical, although there was 
 a chapel inside the palisades. When the mission moved 
 to the south shore, it was fixed about twenty miles west- 
 ward from the fort, at a place across the point of land 
 called L’Arbre Croche. On Charlevoix’ map they are 
 separately shown, and Henry, who was there in 1761, 
 makes the matter very plain. The mission was at the 
 Ottawa village of L’Arbre Croche and the missionary’s 
 house was halfway between it and the fort. These 
 changes and the extended application of the name have 
 led to much dispute. 
 
 The French Government had now adopted a definite 
 policy concerning Canada and, in 1670, the Intendant 
 
EXPLORATION RESUMED 339 
 
 Talon prepared to take, on behalf of the French crown, 
 full and formal possession of all the region of the western 
 lakes together with the avenues opening up from them 
 leading, as was confidently thought, in some way to the 
 Great South Sea. Acting under his instructions, Dau- 
 mont de St. Lusson went up the country and, while he 
 was wintering on the Manitoulin Islands, Nicholas Per- 
 rot, who had been engaged as interpreter, was sent round 
 the Indian country to summon representatives to attend 
 the ceremony. The great assembly was held at the Sault 
 Ste. Marie, upon a hill overlooking the Indian village, and 
 nothing was omitted which might impress the minds of 
 the savages. The principal chiefs of the Pottawatomies, 
 Sacs, Winnebagoes, Menomonees, Foxes, Mascoutins, 
 Kickapoos and Miamis were there from Lake Michigan. 
 The Crees and Ojibways from the north, the Nippissings, 
 the Beavers and many other tribes, fourteen in all, were 
 represented. The Saulteurs were at home there, and the 
 Hurons and Ottawas gave in their adhesion later; for 
 they were engaged at that time in escaping from the 
 Sioux, whom their insolence had provoked. The French 
 were represented by the Jesuit fathers Dablon, Allouez, 
 Druillettes, and Andre. Jolliet was present, and many 
 others, traders and interpreters. A cross was erected 
 and blessed, with all the ceremonies of the church, and 
 the V exilla Regis prodeunt was chanted by all the French- 
 men present — an ancient hymn of the Roman Church, 
 familiar in English hymbooks as 
 
 The Royal Banners forward go, 
 
 The Cross shines forth with mystic glow. 
 
 Then, below the cross, an escutcheon bearing the arms of 
 France was raised upon a cedar pole, and all chanted 
 Exaudiat — the twentieth Psalm in Latin, the equivalent 
 of the English “ God Save the King.” The Proces Ver- 
 bal was then read, followed by shouts of Vive la Roi and 
 a general discharge of fire-arms. Father Allouez then 
 addressed the Indians in their own language and, with 
 skilful ease, employed their own rhetorical style. He 
 
340 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 told them of the powerful King of France, who had ten 
 thousand captains as great as the Governor of Quebec, 
 who had beaten the Iroquois, and of the enormous num- 
 ber of his troops and ships. He pictured the air ablaze 
 with his cannons, and the King, covered with the blood 
 of his enemies, riding in the middle of his squadrons. 
 He told them that the King ordered so many to be slain 
 that he kept no count of the number of scalps, but only 
 that the blood flowed in rivers. The salient points of 
 this edifying discourse are preserved in the Relation of 
 1671. St. Lusson then followed in a less flowery style, 
 and set forth the meaning of the ceremony, and told the 
 assembled nations that they were all under the protection 
 of this great King across the sea, of whom they had just 
 heard. Then the Te Deum was chanted and a grand 
 fusillade closed the proceedings. The Indians were pro- 
 foundly impressed. The formal ceremony, the rich vest- 
 ments of the priests, the chanting, the firing, and the 
 shouting appealed to their innate love of ceremonial, and, 
 in the sermon of Father Allouez and St. Lusson’s address, 
 with Perrot’s embellishments in interpretation, they 
 carried away matter for narration and discussion at the 
 lodge fires of many tribes for long years to come. In 
 such manner did France enter into possession of the 
 head-waters of the great valleys of the St. Lawrence and 
 Mississippi. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 JOLLIET AND LA SALLE — THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY UNVEILED 
 
 T HE period of Catholic puritanism passed away 
 with the arrival of the troops, and men and 
 women, being relieved of fear for their scalps, 
 became less anxious concerning their souls. 
 One of the pious sisters writes : “ The golden age is 
 
 over — the officers and soldiers have ruined the vineyard 
 of the Lord.” On the ioth of January, 1667, there was 
 a ball at Quebec — the first ball. “ God grant,” prays 
 the “ Journal ” of the Jesuit fathers, “ that it may not be 
 a precedent.” Maisonneuve, the belated crusader who 
 led a forlorn hope to found the city of Montreal in 
 the debatable land, was retired to France in 1665 — 
 an impossible person under the new conditions. There 
 was, however, no relaxation of orthodoxy. Huguenots 
 might indeed go to Canada and pass through and trade 
 in it, but they could not assemble to practise “ their 
 false religion,” nor settle down to permanent residence. 
 There was no attempt at persecution, although there were 
 many of the reformed religion in the country. 
 
 The peace had opened up all routes to the upper lakes, 
 and the active and capable intendant, Talon, together with 
 Courcelles and Frontenac, the successive governors, 
 thought of nothing so much as to develop the fur trade, 
 discover the mines of copper in the far West, and open up 
 the country in its full extent. The great river of the 
 West had indeed been long since discovered near its 
 mouth by Hernando de Soto, but the importance of his 
 discovery was not recognised. The knowledge had been 
 practically lost, and the Mississippi had been confused, 
 upon the Spanish maps, with other large rivers falling 
 into the Gulf of Mexico. Chouart and Radisson had, 
 indeed, reached its upper waters, but they had not appre- 
 
 34i 
 
342 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 dated the magnitude of the river. That had been 
 gradually revealed by the reports of the Indians who 
 congregated at La Pointe and the Sault on Lake Su- 
 perior, and at Green Bay on Lake Michigan. Father 
 Dablon, in the Relation of 1671, gave a general review of 
 the geography of the West which displays considerable 
 knowledge of the great river and the Indians upon its 
 upper reaches. He was in doubt, however, whether it 
 discharged into the Gulf of Mexico or into the Vermilion 
 Sea. Talon was determined to know its real outlet, and 
 recommended Jolliet to Frontenac, the newly arrived 
 governor, as the most suitable person for that purpose. 
 
 Jolliet was a Canadian by birth, born in Quebec in 
 1645, an d had already been up to Lake Superior. While 
 free from those salient peculiarities which are often 
 associated with genius, he was endowed with great 
 courage and enterprise tempered by good nature and 
 common sense. He had been well educated by the Jesuits 
 in Quebec, for he had intended to enter their order, and, 
 indeed, had taken some preliminary steps towards the 
 priesthood ; but the woods and streams called him, and he 
 adopted the life of an explorer and trader. His know- 
 ledge of mathematics was considerable, and after Fran- 
 quelin’s death he became royal hydrographer. On 
 returning from his western explorations he married, in 
 1675, Claire, daughter of Frangois Bissot, a Quebec mer- 
 chant who had obtained the concession of an immense 
 extent of coast on the north shore of the gulf. This 
 drew his energies eastward, and in 1679 he explored the 
 country up the Saguenay as far as Hudson’s Bay. For 
 this and for his western discoveries the Island of Anti- 
 costi was granted to him. He had an extensive fishing 
 establishment on that island, and its destruction by the 
 English impoverished him. He died poor, and the place 
 of his death is unknown. It is supposed to have been 
 somewhere on the Labrador coast. No explorer in 
 Canada covered so extensive a field — from the Mississippi 
 on the west to Hudson’s Bay on the north and Labrador 
 on the east. 
 
Founder of Montreal. 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 343 
 
 Frontenac had hardly arrived in Canada, in the autumn 
 of 1672, when Jolliet was despatched on his memorable 
 voyage. He reached Michilimackinac on December 8, 
 1672, and found Father Marquette (who had been desig- 
 nated as his companion) at the mission of St. Ignace. 
 It was a happy combination, for Jolliet was a favourite 
 of the Jesuits, and Marquette, ever since he had gone to 
 La Pointe, had dreamed of such an expedition. He had 
 been studying the Illinois dialect, and during the winter 
 of 1672-73 he and Jolliet made plans and gathered infor- 
 mation for the voyage. On May 17, 1673, they started 
 with five men. It was a slight outfit for so important an 
 enterprise, and the traders and Indians who thronged the 
 sandy shore of the cove to see them off watched with 
 doubtful minds as the two slight bark canoes rounded 
 Point St. Ignace to the right and turned into the broad 
 waters of Lake Michigan. The course was westwards 
 until Green Bay was reached, where it turned to the south- 
 west, and halfway up the bay Marquette stopped to 
 preach to the Folles Avoines, or Menomonees, whose 
 name still clings to the river which bounds Wisconsin on 
 the northeast. The “ wild oats ” which formed their 
 chief food grows abundantly in the marshes and in the 
 shallow watercourses and innumerable small lakes of the 
 Northwest. All the tribes of that region (Wisconsin 
 and Minnesota) use it for food, but the French met 
 it first in extensive use with this tribe. They were an 
 Algonquin people, as indeed were all the surrounding 
 nations excepting the Winnebagoes, and Marquette was 
 master of all the dialects of Algonquin speech. 
 
 The voyagers continued their way to the Fox River at 
 the head of the bay — a river with many falls and rapids, 
 utilised in our day for many large mills. Allouez had 
 already founded the mission of St. Frangois Xavier at 
 the first rapid of the ascent, still called De Pere, from the 
 fact that the Jesuit fathers’ chapel was erected there. 
 They made no stay, but pushed on to the town of the 
 Mascoutins, the extreme limit up to that time reached 
 by the French missionaries. Three nations, the Miamis, 
 
344 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the Kickapoos, and the Mascoutins, dwelt there in har- 
 mony, and there the good father was encouraged by find- 
 ing a large cross which Allouez, his predecessor, had 
 planted in the middle of the town, and to which the 
 natives had attached votive offerings. The Mascoutins 
 are usually called, in the old French narratives, “ the Fire 
 Nation ” ( Nation de Feu) by a philological mistake 
 similar to that pointed out in the case of the Puants. The 
 real signification of the name is “ prairie ” nation, for in 
 their country the French came upon the open prairie land. 
 The word for fire, in Algonquin, is similar in sound to 
 that for land bare of trees. A council was held and the 
 voyagers stated the object of their visit and asked for 
 guides. Two Miami Indians were given them, and on 
 June io the Frenchmen resumed their journey up the Fox 
 River. Through the maze of marshes and little lakes at 
 the head of the Fox their guides led them to a point only 
 twenty-seven hundred paces distant from an elbow of the 
 Wisconsin, where that river turns to the southwest. The 
 place is now occupied by a town called Portage, which 
 extends to both streams. The savages helped them across 
 with their baggage and canoes, and saw them safely away 
 to the southwest, alone on their adventurous journey. 
 The country was very beautiful and moose and deer were 
 numerous ; but all their skill as canoemen was taxed, for 
 the river, though wide and quiet, abounded with sandy 
 shallows. After paddling about forty leagues the two 
 canoes glided out into the broad Mississippi at a place 
 now marked by the town Prairie du Chien. 
 
 The voyagers were now over the threshold of the great 
 central basin of the continent and were floating on the 
 current of a grand and beautiful stream — floating south- 
 wards — but whither? Was it to the Vermilion Sea 
 (Gulf of California), as Frontenac told Jolliet would be 
 probable, or to the Gulf of Mexico ? It was necessary 
 to know, for profound and far-reaching results would 
 follow if this were indeed an avenue to the great South 
 Sea and the spice islands of Cathay. 
 
 It is not within the scope of this volume to follow the 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 345 
 
 wondering Frenchmen down the ever broadening river 
 of the West; nor to dwell upon the bands of bison and 
 flocks of turkeys which took the place of the game of the 
 St. Lawrence valley. They noticed the great river from 
 the west, known afterwards as the Missouri, and the 
 stream from the east, which La Salle knew as the Ohio. 
 They began to think the river they were floating on would 
 carry them to the Gulf of Mexico, but that great turbu- 
 lent western stream they thought would surely lead them 
 to the Vermilion Sea. They had no time to follow it up, 
 for it was necessary first to ascertain the outflow of the 
 Mississippi. They communicated with the Indians, whom 
 they found to be Illinois, and they floated down from 
 tribe to tribe, with many adventures, until they reached 
 the river Akamsea (Arkansas), which they were told was 
 ten days’ journey from the sea. They took the latitude 
 and concluded that they were not more than three days 
 distant from the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, into 
 which they then became certain that the great river dis- 
 charged. They knew that if they fell into the hands of 
 Spaniards they would be imprisoned, or more likely 
 killed, and the fruits of their discovery would be lost ; 
 so they turned their canoes northwards and soon found 
 the difference between floating down the Mississippi and 
 stemming its current. On the return voyage they learned 
 from the Indians of a better route. They ascended the 
 Illinois, and branching northwards into the Des Plaines 
 River they came to the portage at the Chicago River — 
 one of the cardinal points of the hydrography of the con- 
 tinent, for there the brim of the two great river basins is 
 almost obliterated. On the west and south Lake Michi- 
 gan is bounded by a low rim of rock which, in the glacial 
 age, had been worn through and a channel had existed 
 connecting the two great basins. In the course of ages 
 the channel had been filled and the only barrier to the 
 lake was a long, low ridge of glacial drift from six to 
 ten feet higher than the lake level. The distance between 
 the ridge and the lake margin varied, and between them 
 the Chicago River flowed with a fork from the north and 
 
346 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 a fork from the south. These unite in the centre of the 
 business part of the present city into a short stream, not 
 a mile long, opening into the lake, and formed in early 
 times a shelter harbour in the low, reedy marshland. 
 There canoes bound to the southwest turned in from the 
 lake to seek the portage. Dablon, in August, 1674, de- 
 scribing the place from Jolliet’s lips, writes that it is a 
 harbour very convenient for “ receiving vessels and 
 sheltering them from the wind.” Jolliet and Marquette 
 were on the return voyage northward, and followed up 
 the Des Plaines to its nearest point of approach to the 
 southern fork of the Chicago River, which would be at a 
 place now known as Summit, about four miles outside 
 the city limits. The distance across the portage varied 
 with the season from four to nine miles, and in a wet 
 season it might even be possible to paddle a canoe from 
 one water to another, for the south fork of the Chicago 
 River rises in a swamp which communicates with the Des 
 Plaines. Many changes have resulted from the making 
 and winning of land in building a great city, but such 
 were the natural features of the site before the city was 
 founded. Jolliet’s account of it is in Father Dablon’s 
 narrative. He writes again: “ We could go with facil- 
 ity to Florida in a barque and with very easy navigation. 
 It would only be necessary to make a canal by cutting 
 through but half a league of prairie to pass from the foot 
 of the lake of Illinois [Michigan] to the river St. Louis 
 [Des Plaines].” Jolliet’s idea has been carried out dur- 
 ing the last few years in the great Sanitary and Ship 
 Canal connecting the south fork of the Chicago River 
 with the Des Plaines River at the present town of Joliet, 
 and the curious traveller may see, in the heart of the 
 great city which strides across the portage, the water 
 running in a steady current from the lake a mile behind 
 him towards the Gulf of Mexico, sixteen hundred miles 
 distant. In 1673 the seven Frenchmen carried their 
 canoes over the low ridge and launched them into St. 
 Lawrence water, bearing with them the secret of the 
 West. 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 347 
 
 From the Chicago portage the voyagers pursued their 
 way along the shore of Lake Michigan. Once more they 
 lifted their canoes from the water to cross the portage 
 at Sturgeon Bay and cut off the promontory which forms 
 the eastern side of Green Bay. At last, after 2800 miles 
 of travel, they arrived at the first rapids of the Fox River 
 — at the mission station of St. Franqois Xavier. It was 
 late in September — too late to go down to Quebec that 
 year, and the travellers needed rest. Marquette had in 
 the meantime been transferred to this station and had 
 reached the end of his journey. It was well; for the 
 hardships he had gone through had implanted the 
 beginnings of the disease which was soon to carry him 
 off. Jolliet was eager to report to Frontenac at Quebec, 
 but now there was nothing to be done but to rest and 
 prepare an account of their discoveries. In the spring 
 of 1674 Jolliet started, but his canoe upset in going down 
 the Lachine Rapids, near Montreal, and all his maps and 
 papers were lost. With difficulty he escaped. His crew 
 and a young Indian he was bringing down were drowned. 
 Father Marquette’s report and map were sent in usual 
 course to his Superior, and have survived. It is upon 
 those records that authentic knowledge of the details 
 of the voyage rests. 
 
 The remaining life of the gentle-souled Jesuit was short. 
 All through the summer of 1674 he struggled with disease, 
 but in October he thought he was well enough to start 
 for the Illinois country, where he intended to found a 
 mission. The winter set in and his progress was slow. 
 It was December before he reached the Chicago portage, 
 and there he had to spend the winter in a little hut erected 
 by his attendants. In the spring of 1675 he succeeded in 
 reaching the chief town of the Illinois tribe where, to the 
 assembled people, he preached the Gospel with great 
 power and with the earnestness of a man whose end was 
 near. Then he set his face homewards to the mission of 
 St. Ignace of Michilimackinac and his men followed up 
 the eastern shore of the lake to avail themselves of the 
 northward current. When his time drew near they 
 
348 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 stopped at the mouth of a river where now stands the city 
 of Ludington, and his attendants put up a slight shelter 
 of bark, under which they placed the dying priest. About 
 midnight he passed away. His men heard his voice in 
 the darkness, as he gave thanks that he had been permitted 
 to die as a missionary of the Gospel of Christ to the 
 heathen. Without a struggle, his last sleep came quietly 
 upon him, and in the morning his men buried him there 
 in the forest wilderness on the lake shore and marked his 
 grave with a cross. He was not forgotten; for a year 
 later some Kiskakon Indians, hunting on the shores of 
 the lake, went to see the grave of “ their father.” They 
 disinterred the body, and after the custom of their people 
 dissected and washed the bones and dried them in the sun, 
 and reverently, as if of a dead kinsman, placed them in a 
 box of bark. Other Indians joined them and a proces- 
 sion of thirty canoes carried the remains of the priest 
 to the resting place of his choice on the Strait of Michili- 
 mackinac and delivered them to Fathers Nonvel and Pier- 
 son. They were buried on June 9, 1677, in the chapel 
 he had built. Thirty years after, when, as has been 
 related, the station was abandoned, all the buildings, 
 including the church, were burned lest they should be 
 desecrated, and when a new establishment was ordered 
 it was made upon the opposite side of the strait. In the 
 stir of trade and military activity which followed, the site 
 of the old mission was neglected and the landmarks for- 
 gotten until, in recent years, St. Ignace became a railway 
 town and an intelligent interest in its past history arose. 
 In 1877 the foundations of Marquette’s church were dis- 
 covered, and in a vault the bark casket was found con- 
 taining the remains brought by the savages two hundred 
 years before. An insignificant pillar with an inscription 
 was erected to mark the spot and a small square sur- 
 rounds it, open to the sandy beach where the canoes were 
 pulled up in early days. Opposite the Island of Michili- 
 mackinac is in full view; across the strait, on the right, 
 is the site of the second fort and mission and the main 
 channel to Lake Huron, and to the left the coast leads 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 349 
 
 along the Detour passage into Lake Superior. It is 
 a quiet spot, only disturbed when the huge ferryboat 
 arrives to transfer a railway train across the strait. 
 
 Father Marquette, so far as the respect and sympathy 
 of the West can extend, is already canonised ; but the pil- 
 grim to St. Ignace de Michilimackinac must content him- 
 self with the natural features of the place, for although 
 
 limackinac, where the present Fort is situated. See p. 337. 
 
 the inscription on the little monument asserts that it covers 
 the relics of the good priest, the assertion is not generally 
 accepted to its full extent. A high authority states that 
 some of the relics are shown at the Jesuit college named 
 after Marquette, in Milwaukee. Popular imagination 
 loves to adorn the memory of its favourites, and although 
 Jolliet was the chief of the expedition, his leadership has 
 been obscured by veneration for the humble and saintly 
 Jesuit and sympathy for his early death. 
 
350 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 It has already been related that when Jolliet was on 
 his way down from his voyage with Pere to Lake Su- 
 perior in search of copper mines, he met at the portage 
 from the head of Lake Ontario to the Grand River the 
 party of Sulpician priests in company with La Salle, and 
 that La Salle, under the pretext of illness, turned back. 
 That incident was the beginning of a series of independent 
 enterprises which completed the exploration and defini- 
 tion of the St. Lawrence basin on the southwest. 
 
 In the year 1667 Robert Cavelier, better known from 
 a property he held in France as La Salle or de La Salle, 
 arrived in Canada. He was of a good Norman merchant 
 family. His brother, Abbe Jean Cavelier, was at the 
 time in Canada as a priest of the Seminary of St. Sulpice 
 at Montreal. La Salle was well educated, for he had 
 intended to enter the Jesuit order and had been trained in 
 their schools, but had changed his mind and determined 
 to seek his fortune at Montreal — then the portal of west- 
 ern adventure. He was only twenty-three years old, but 
 his character was formed — self-reliant, proud, reticent, 
 persevering, and indomitable. No enterprise appalled him 
 by its magnitude and no complication of misfortune could 
 crush him. He was not amiable, nor had he the power of 
 attaching men to himself by sympathy, or of awakening 
 enthusiasm in his followers ; yet he won the respect of 
 the Indians and was the object of the unbounded friend- 
 ship and fidelity of one Frenchman to so remarkable a 
 degree that to find a parallel to the devotion of Henri de 
 Tonty to La Salle we must go back to the history of Jona- 
 than and David. The distrustful and taciturn La Salle 
 was no David, yet he had the power of impressing men 
 high in rank with the importance of his schemes. In 
 carrying out his plans, however, he had not the necessary 
 personal magnetism which secures obedience, fidelity, and 
 aid, for no man can carry out a great enterprise single- 
 handed. The fickleness apprehended by Galinee at. the 
 commencement of the voyage was rather intractability 
 than inconstancy. 
 
 La Salle was a favourite of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, 
 

 Fort of the Gentlemen of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal. 
 (From an old print— the two towers alone remain at present.) 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 351 
 
 and as seigneurs of the island of Montreal they gave 
 him, in the year of his arrival, a grant of land west of the 
 city, just at the head of the rapids — Sault St. Louis, or 
 Lachine Rapids of to-day. There was at that time no 
 road, save the trail beside the river, and there were no 
 settlers. It was prairie on the lower level, and where the 
 land rises at the entrance to the present canal the forest 
 came down to the waterside. La Salle commenced clear- 
 ing, built a house for himself and obtained a few settlers ; 
 but the broad avenue of Lake St. Louis led his thoughts 
 far away into the mysterious west. Some Seneca Indians 
 stayed with him during the winter of 1668-69 and told 
 him of the Ohio, a great and beautiful river of the West 
 accessible from their country. The course of his life was 
 decided. He disposed of all his property and improve- 
 ments and applied the proceeds to a new enterprise. He 
 presented to the Governor, De Courcelles, his plan of 
 exploration, and the Governor persuaded him to join his 
 expedition to that of Dollier de Casson and Galinee. The 
 united party started from the lake shore opposite his own 
 seigniory on July 6, 1669. 
 
 It is clear that at the start all were of one mind and 
 that their object was to discover the Ohio of the Senecas. 
 For that reason they went straight to Irondequoit Bay, 
 near the Genessee River, and to the chief town of the 
 Senecas. It is also clear that at the portage where they 
 met Jolliet MM. Dollier and Galinee changed their 
 minds, while the defection of La Salle indicates that his 
 purpose was unaltered. The Ohio of his aim was not in 
 the direction whence Jolliet had come, but was a river 
 which took its rise three days’ journey from the chief 
 town of the Senecas. They parted on the last day of 
 September, 1669, and from that time until August 6, 
 1671, when he signed a notarial deed at Montreal, La 
 Salle’s movements are unrecorded and unknown. Some 
 of his men deserted and returned to Montreal, and from 
 that day the seigniory of La Salle was called Lachine 
 (China), in derision, and the name extends to the whole 
 town and parish to this day — an unconscious tribute to 
 
352 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 the memory of a great explorer. In this interval of un- 
 recorded activity the discovery was made which some 
 have maintained to have been the Mississippi, but which 
 beyond all reasonable doubt was the Ohio. 
 
 That controversy should ever have arisen on a matter 
 so plain is one of the many unaccountable things in 
 American history. La Salle never claimed the discovery 
 of the Mississippi ; nor did his patron Frontenac ever 
 claim it for him. On the contrary, in Frontenac’s des- 
 patch to the French Government, dated November 14, 
 1674, he reported that Jolliet had recently returned and 
 had discovered a great river flowing from north to south, 
 and had followed it to within a few days’ journey of the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and had sent a map of the country dis- 
 covered. All the contemporaneous maps are clear upon 
 the point and subsequent vague expressions of detraction 
 cannot weigh against the mass of positive evidence. No 
 amount of speculative argument can dispose of the fact, 
 recorded in the registers at Quebec, that in 1680 the 
 intendant, Duchesneau, and the governor, Frontenac, con- 
 curred in a grant to Jolliet of the Island of Anticosti in 
 consideration of this very discovery “ which the said 
 Sieur Jolliet has made of the country of the Illinois, 
 whereof he has given us the plan on which was drawn 
 the map which we sent two years ago to Monseigneur 
 Colbert.” Although Jolliet’s first maps and papers were 
 lost, he presented a map to Frontenac in 1674, showing 
 his discoveries. The Mississippi is called La Riviere 
 Buade, after Frontenac’s family name. The chief facts 
 are set forth upon the map in a signed letter. There are 
 several later maps by Jolliet extant, on some of which the 
 discovery of the Ohio is ascribed to La Salle. These are 
 dedicated to Colbert. An official memoir, attached to a 
 despatch from M. de Denonville to the French govern- 
 ment on November 6, 1687, states the real facts simply 
 and precisely as they have been elucidated after long con- 
 troversy. “ The year after, in 1672, the Mississippi river 
 was discovered, as well as the Illinois Chaounanons and 
 other tribes unknown to the Europeans by Sieur Jolliet 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 353 
 
 and the Jesuit Father Marquette, who reached the 
 thirty-second degree, planting the Royal arms and taking 
 over, in the king’s name, the newly discovered countries. 
 A few years later Sieur de La Salle pushed his discoveries 
 farther onward, as far as the sea, taking possession every- 
 where by planting the Royal Arms.” The subject is ex- 
 haustively discussed by Parkman (“Discovery of the 
 Great West”), and Harrisse (“Notes pour servir ”) 
 summarises the question conclusively. It is not, however, 
 necessary to suppose with Parkman that La Salle, after 
 turning back, went to Onondaga to get guides to the por- 
 tages from Lake Erie. The Genessee River flows through 
 the Seneca country, and from it there is a portage to the 
 head-waters of the Allegheny, which at the “ Forks ” 
 unites with the Monongahela to form the Ohio. This last 
 was the river “ three days’ journey distant,” which the 
 Senecas described to La Salle. It was the route of Iro- 
 quois war parties to the southwest. As Harrisse tacitly 
 intimates, it was not necessary to go to Lake Erie to reach 
 the Ohio. All the available evidence goes to show that 
 La Salle on that occasion went down the Ohio as far only 
 as the falls at the present Louisville, and that he did not 
 reach the “ great river ” — the Mississippi. 
 
 As has been shown, La Salle was certainly back in 
 1671 from his obscure voyage ; for in August of that 
 year he was raising money in Montreal. He must have 
 been concerned in new enterprises connected with the fur 
 trade, for he was again in Montreal on December 16, 
 1672, signing an obligation to make certain payments 
 either in cash or in furs. We may conceive of his spend- 
 ing time also in acquiring the Indian languages and in 
 maturing his ambitious scheme for opening up the West. 
 
 The new governor, the Count de Frontenac, arrived 
 in the autumn of 1672 and in him La Salle found a 
 spirit responsive to any daring enterprise. The scheme 
 which was visionary to the merchants of Montreal and 
 Quebec was sober reason to Frontenac, and in 1673, 
 while Jolliet and Marquette were on their journey to the 
 Mississippi, Frontenac took the first step by building a 
 23 
 
354 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 fort at the outlet of Lake Ontario on the site of the present 
 city of Kingston. He had acted on the recommendation 
 of La Salle in selecting the site, and early in the spring 
 had sent him to Onondaga to invite the Iroquois chiefs 
 to meet him in council at the site selected. The governor 
 went up the river with an escort of four hundred men 
 and with a military pomp and circumstance which deeply 
 impressed the Indians. Sixty of the leading chiefs of the 
 Iroquois confederacy attended the council. The territory 
 was theirs and they knew well the importance of the 
 move; but Frontenac carried them by imposing cere- 
 monies ; and partly by blandishments, partly by effron- 
 tery, disarmed their opposition. The fort was traced by 
 his engineers and half built before the speeches were 
 over. La Salle, who became a firm partisan of the gov- 
 ernor, was left in command. He was now established in 
 an important trading post on the margin of the West, and 
 it became evident that his plans would interfere with the 
 business of the merchants of Quebec and Montreal and 
 traverse the designs of the Jesuit fathers. Hence arose 
 a bitter and sometimes unscrupulous opposition, which in 
 the end thwarted his enterprise. 
 
 The following year La Salle, provided with strong 
 recommendations from Frontenac, went to France, and in 
 1675 he was successful in obtaining a patent of nobility 
 and a grant of the seigniory of Fort Frontenac upon the 
 condition, among others, of repaying the cost of its 
 establishment. All the conditions were faithfully carried 
 out ; a nucleus of settlers began to form, bands of Indians 
 began to resort to the post, Recollet friars were stationed 
 there to attend to their spiritual needs (for neither La 
 Salle nor Frontenac liked the Jesuits), and vessels began 
 to appear upon the lake. A firm basis for advance was 
 established. 
 
 It was time for the next step, and in the autumn of 
 1677 La Salle again went to France upon the advice of the 
 governor. He succeeded in enlisting the support of 
 Colbert, Seignelay, the Prince de Conti, and other influen- 
 tial noblemen, and obtained authority to establish, at his 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 355 
 
 own cost and risk, not only two, but as many posts in the 
 West as he wished. He made large purchases of goods 
 for the Indian trade, and in July, 1678, sailed from La 
 Rochelle in company with Henri de Tonty, whom the 
 Prince de Conti had strongly recommended as his lieu- 
 tenant. No time was lost after his return. La Motte 
 was sent on in November to the Niagara River to build 
 a fort, and with him was Father Hennepin, one of the 
 Recollet friars stationed at Fort Frontenac. At the end 
 of the year La Salle arrived. He succeeded in obtaining 
 the consent of the Seneca tribe for the fort he purposed 
 building, but not without much difficulty, for his enemies 
 had sown suspicion in their minds. 
 
 We have seen that, on account of the long-continued 
 hostility of the Iroquois, communication with the West 
 had been carried on by way of the Ottawa, and although 
 the existence of a great fall interrupting navigation be- 
 tween lakes Erie and Ontario was known, there is nothing 
 on record to show that such knowledge had any other 
 basis than Indian report. Hennepin was the first Euro- 
 pean to describe the Falls of Niagara. There have been 
 changes since his day, made by the retrocession continu- 
 ally going on, but Hennepin’s description is fairly correct 
 save that his ill-regulated imagination interpolated three 
 mountains into the locality and exaggerated the height 
 of the fall to over six hundred feet. It is really 158 
 feet on the Canadian and 167 on the American side. At 
 that cardinal point the entire drainage water of the upper 
 St. Lawrence basin falls to the lower plain over an escarp- 
 ment stretching across the country to Lake Huron. The 
 waters, in the erosion of long ages, have eaten away the 
 rock and have formed a ravine or trough now seven miles 
 in length back from the edge of the escarpment. Hen- 
 nepin supplements his description by a bird’s-eye view of 
 the falls and the upper level of country as far as Lake 
 Erie. It is drawn from memory, and he has placed the 
 Griffon on the distant Lake Erie, but nevertheless the 
 drawing conveys a fair, if rough, idea of the locality and 
 proves that he really saw it. The party landed on the 
 
356 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 eastern or American side, and passing a few miles up the 
 river erected a storehouse near the present Lewiston at 
 the foot of the escarpment ; not, however, without having 
 first examined the opposite, or Canadian, side as far up as 
 the Chippewa River. If anything had previously been 
 known of the place there would have been no need of 
 prospecting for the shortest and most convenient portage. 
 
 La Salle, with Tonty, sailed in a brigantine from Fort 
 Frontenac late in December, 1678. His iron determina- 
 tion sought to overrule all inclemencies of season. He 
 passed by the south shore to make a conciliatory visit to 
 the Iroquois. He got from them permission to build a 
 vessel on the upper lake, to carry supplies over the 
 Niagara portage, and under the pretext of erecting a 
 blacksmith’s forge to build a fort at the mouth of the 
 river. Proceeding onwards his vessel got becalmed, and 
 impatient at the delay he and Tonty landed and proceeded 
 on foot. The vessel was wrecked in a sudden storm and 
 all the supplies but the anchors for the projected ship 
 were lost. It was the first of a long series of misfortunes. 
 La Salle’s enemies were already beginning to corrupt his 
 men. 
 
 Shortlv after his arrival La Salle selected a suitable 
 •/ 
 
 place above the falls to build his vessel. The contro- 
 versy which at one time existed as to the precise locality 
 of his shipyard was decided by the research of Mr. O. H. 
 Marshall, of Buffalo. Halfway between Tonawanda 
 and the town of Niagara Falls a small stream called 
 Cayuga Creek falls into the Niagara River, and at its 
 mouth is a small, low island (Cayuga Island) separated 
 from the shore by a narrow channel of the main river, 
 locally called the “ little river,” into which the creek dis- 
 charges. The little village at the place is now called La 
 Salle. It is at the foot of Grand Island in a spot where 
 the water is quiet, being sheltered by Grand Island and 
 Cayuga Island, from the main current of the river. 
 There stocks were prepared, trees were felled in the ad- 
 joining forest, planks and timbers were sawn and shaped, 
 and on January 26, 1679, was laid the keel of the first 
 
Niagara, from Falls View. 
 

JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 357 
 
 ship to sail upon the upper lakes. Within the memory 
 of old residents the spot has been known as “the old 
 shipyard/’ for the United States Government in the early 
 part of the nineteenth eentury built some vessels there 
 for service on the upper lakes. It was on the mainland 
 just above the mouth of the creek. In May the vessel 
 was launched and named the Griffon and floated in the 
 Cayuga channel, safe from the jealousy of the suspicious 
 Senecas, who had attempted to set her on fire. At her 
 prow was a carved griffin, for the supporters of the arms 
 of Frontenac were griffins, and five small cannon formed 
 her armament. On August 7, 1679, she passed out into 
 Lake Erie and spread her sails over its almost unknown 
 waters. 
 
 The loss of the brigantine had seriously interfered with 
 La Salle’s plans, and as soon as the construction of the 
 Griffon was well under way he left his faithful lieuten- 
 ant in charge, and in the depth of winter, with only two 
 men as attendants and a dog to draw his baggage, started 
 on snowshoes for Fort Frontenac to arrange for sup- 
 plies to replace the outfit lost in the wrecked vessel. 
 These, as soon as the lake opened, were sent forward in 
 another brigantine and carried up the steep and long por- 
 tage. It was a weary and laborious task, but at last 
 everything was ready. La Salle, Hennepin, and another 
 Recollet friar, thirty-two of a crew in all, were on board, 
 as, with a salvo of cannon and chanting Te Deum, they 
 started on their voyage westward. On St. Clare’s Day, 
 August 12, they reached the shallow water of Lake St. 
 Clair, and by careful sounding got through safely and 
 launched out into Lake Huron, where they encountered a 
 gale which staggered even the imperturbable La Salle. 
 At last they reached Michilimackinac and dropped an- 
 chor in the quiet cove of St. Ignace. There the Griffon 
 became the centre of a swarm of canoes, and the amazed 
 savages of the two villages of Ottawas and Hurons were 
 startled by the novel sound of cannon. The vessel pro- 
 ceeded on her course into Lake Michigan and anchored 
 at one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here 
 
358 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 a quantity of furs had been collected by an advance party 
 of La Salle’s men, and, adding the furs collected by him- 
 self, he loaded all upon the Griffon and sent her back to 
 appease his clamorous creditors. It was a fatal error, 
 for the ship was never again heard of. Some trifling 
 wreckage alone indicated that she had foundered in a gale 
 which came on not long after her departure. The pilot 
 was an incompetent who had already twice imperilled 
 the ship. All on board perished, and with them went 
 down the furs which would have satisfied La Salle’s 
 creditors — as well as all the surplus supplies sent back to 
 be stored at Niagara. La Salle himself continued his 
 voyage up the lake with four canoes and fourteen men, 
 but before he had gone far he had to take refuge from 
 the same storm in a small bay, where he was detained five 
 days. Resuming his route he went up the lake and pass- 
 ing the Chicago portage went round by the south to the 
 eastern shore, to the mouth of what Hennepin calls the 
 Miami River, now known as the St. Joseph. There 
 he waited until his party was reunited by the arrival of the 
 detachment of Henri de Tonty. He passed the time in 
 building a fort, called the Fort of the Miamis by Henne- 
 pin. It must be distinguished from a later fort of the 
 same name built on the Maumee River at the portage to 
 the Wabash — a shorter route by Lake Erie to the Missis- 
 sippi, afterwards much frequented. His party being re- 
 assembled, La Salle started up the river on December 3, 
 and after some difficulty found the portage at a place 
 now known at South Bend in Indiana. It was about four 
 miles long, over level and marshy ground, and led to the 
 head springs of the Kankakee River — an affluent of the 
 Illinois. Hennepin calls it the Illinois ; but in later 
 years that name was restricted to the river formed by 
 the union of the Des Plaines from the Chicago portage 
 with the Kankakee from the St. Joseph portage. Here 
 they first met the buffalo of the western prairies. 
 
 The year drew to a close as they reached the chief 
 town of the Illinois. It was deserted, for all the people 
 were away hunting buffalo, and it was not until January 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 359 
 
 4, 1680, that they came upon an inhabited town on Peoria 
 Lake. The Indians, at first hospitable, were soon alien- 
 ated by Indian emissaries, instigated by La Salle’s 
 enemies. He therefore removed a short distance fur- 
 ther down the river and erected a fort, which he called 
 Crevecoeur, — Heartbreak, — a name expressive of the ruin 
 which stared him in the face, for he now realised the fact 
 that the Griffon was lost. In spite of the jealous reti- 
 cence of the Illinois Indians, he obtained information that 
 his canoes could, without interruption of fall or rapid, 
 pass down the Illinois River to the Mississippi, and that 
 the tribes on its banks were friendly and hospitable. He 
 deputed one of his men, Accault, accompanied by Father 
 Hennepin as chaplain, to explore the river down to its 
 junction with the Mississippi; he himself would return 
 to Montreal to stay his falling fortunes and procure fresh 
 supplies, and Tonty would take command at Fort Creve- 
 coeur. On February 29, 1680, Hennepin started with 
 two companions and on March 2 La Salle with four 
 Frenchmen and a Mohegan Indian, who had been faith- 
 ful in all vicissitudes, set his face eastward. 
 
 To those who are familiar with the explorations of the 
 Hudson’s Bay Company’s officers, and the long journeys 
 they were, and are, accustomed to make on snowshoes 
 in the conduct of their ordinary business, it will not be 
 surprising that La Salle set out to go on foot from Lake 
 Peoria in northern Illinois to Kingston at the outlet of 
 Lake Ontario. The difficulty of La Salle’s journey was 
 not the length of the way, nor the snow ; it was that the 
 winter was breaking up, the ice was rotten, the snow was 
 melting, the spring rains were commencing, the morasses 
 were treacherous, and, above all, the route lay through 
 a region infested by war parties of implacable Iroquois. 
 Travelling is scarcely possible under such conditions, 
 and if La Salle’s resolution ever failed him, it might well 
 have failed when he bade farewell to the staunch De 
 Tonty in his isolated post. They tried in vain to work 
 their canoes up the Illinois against the drifting ice, and 
 were compelled to abandon them and make their way 
 
360 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 across the streams and marshes of the sodden prairie 
 round the head of Lake Michigan to the fort at St. 
 Joseph, where La Salle found two of his men. Thence 
 he struck across the south of Michigan to the Detroit 
 River. Crossing it on a raft, he pushed on across the 
 country to Lake Erie, where he made a canoe in which he 
 reached the fort at Niagara, where his worst forebodings 
 of the loss of the Griffon were confirmed, and to crown 
 his misfortunes he learned of the wreck, at the mouth of 
 the St. Lawrence, of a vessel from France laden with 
 supplies for his enterprise. He was the only one of the 
 party in health, and, leaving his sick companions, he 
 took two fresh men and reached Fort Frontenac, on May 
 6, from whence he pushed on to Montreal. 
 
 While he was procuring fresh supplies at Montreal his 
 men in the West, not expecting his return, were deserting 
 to the Indians, plundering his stores of furs and wreck- 
 ing his forts. Tonty’s garrison had been fifteen men, 
 but during a short absence most of them deserted, and 
 having only three left besides the two Recollets, he 
 decided to go to live in the great Illinois village. Mean- 
 while the indomitable La Salle, with fresh supplies and 
 fresh men, started from Fort Frontenac on August 10 
 to rebuild his shattered enterprises. Passing by way of 
 Toronto, Lake Simcoe, and Georgian Bay, he reached 
 Michilimackinac and hastened on to St. Joseph, where he 
 found the fort plundered and wrecked by deserters from 
 his own garrison. Crossing the portage and paddling 
 down the river he found to his dismay that the Iroquois 
 had swept over the country, and the ghastly evidences of 
 their cruelty were everywhere visible. The Illinois 
 tribes had disappeared, their great town had been burned, 
 and mutilated bodies were scattered around. Fort 
 Crevecceur was abandoned and no written sign left to 
 tell of De Tonty’s fate. La Salle searched among the 
 dead bodies with painful scrutiny, but no trace of the 
 Frenchmen could be found. The skulls scattered round 
 were not French, for the scanty hair which the Iroquois 
 and the wolves had left was the long coarse hair of In- 
 
JOLLIET AND LA SALLE 361 
 
 dians. Leaving a small guard for the baggage, La Salle, 
 with four men, proceeded down the river, and as he went 
 on the circumstances of the catastrophe began to be un- 
 ravelled. The Illinois had retreated in a body, followed 
 on the opposite bank of the river by the Iroquois. La 
 Salle searched the opposing camps and examined the 
 remains of every victim at the stakes for traces of the 
 Frenchmen, but in vain. At last he reached the Miss- 
 issippi, seven years after Jolliet and Marquette; and 
 although his men offered to follow him down the river 
 he was compelled to return by the exigency of his affairs, 
 for this new calamity wrecked his whole enterprise. The 
 steadfast mind of La Salle, however, was unshaken. 
 The winter was approaching and he turned back to the 
 St. Joseph River. A happy chance led him to take the 
 northern fork of the Illinois, the Des Plaines River, and 
 on the Chicago portage the quick eyes of the woodsmen 
 detected a faint but indubitable trace of the passage of De 
 Tonty’s men. La Salle, undismayed by misfortune, spent 
 the winter on the St. Joseph River in organising the 
 scattered tribes against a repetition of Iroquois invasion. 
 The deadly wars had broken up the nations. There were 
 bands of Abenaquis and Mohicans — strangers from the 
 Atlantic, Shawnees from the Ohio, Miamis of the locality, 
 and Illinois returning from beyond the Mississippi to 
 their ruined towns. Then, in May, 1681, he once more 
 turned his face eastwards to seek the means to renew 
 once more his shattered fortunes. On the way, at 
 Michilimackinac, he met De Tonty and with renewed 
 hopes they started for Montreal. Once more Frontenac’s 
 influence availed on his behalf, and his wealthy rela- 
 tives lent their aid, and, although powerful interests in the 
 colony were opposed to his undertaking and had even 
 instigated the bloody ravages of the Iroquois, his resolu- 
 tion triumphed over every obstacle; and, as the autumn 
 began to colour the foliage, he was once more at the To- 
 ronto portage with a well-equipped party on his way to 
 Fort Miami on the St. Joseph River. 
 
 Success at last was near. Frost had rendered the nar- 
 
362 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 row stream of the upper Kankakee unavailable, for it 
 was December 21, 1681, when they started from St. 
 Joseph. The still open lake enabled them to use canoes 
 as far as the Chicago portage, and as they had to carry 
 their canoes over the snow on sledges the portages on 
 the Des Plaines made no delay. At Lake Peoria they 
 put their canoes into open water, and on February 6, 
 1682, they dipped their paddles into the “ great water ” — 
 the Mississippi. The remainder of the story and the 
 tragic death of the explorers do not belong to the history 
 of the St. Lawrence valley, nor does the scope of this 
 volume include the romantic story of the Rock of St. 
 Louis of the Illinois, and of De Tonty’s heroic devotion 
 to his leader and friend. La Salle continued down the 
 Mississippi to the sea. His party divided and followed 
 the three great branches of its delta, and La Salle 
 issued out upon the Gulf of Mexico. On April 9, 1682, 
 a pillar was erected bearing the arms of Louis XIV. and 
 possession was taken of the region with the usual formal- 
 ities. The great problem was solved, the task was 
 achieved, and from the chilly shadows of the cliffs of 
 the Saguenay to the steaming lagoons of the delta of 
 the Mississippi the whole magnificent avenue of waters 
 passed into the possession of France. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 WESTERN EXPLORATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 COMPLETED — HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 
 
 rr^HE northeastern part of the State of Minne- 
 sota must be attentively studied by those who 
 seek to understand the ground plan of the 
 " North American continent east of the basin of 
 the Mackenzie River and the ranges of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. It is a plain, nowhere more than fifteen hundred 
 feet above the sea, studded with lakes innumerable, con- 
 nected with each other by a mesh of streams of all 
 grades of magnitude, which are fed by countless marshes 
 from whose spongy recesses issue forth the infant springs 
 of great rivers. There, within the area of a few square 
 miles, separated by insensible inequalities of ground, flow 
 and interflow the tiny rivulets which, as mighty floods, 
 issue out on the north into Hudson’s Bay, on the east into 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on the south into the Gulf 
 of Mexico. A mazy region where in a bark canoe, if 
 he knows the country, a man may go anywhere ; and if he 
 does not know it he will be forthwith hopelessly lost. 
 Indian reservations still cover much of the region, for it 
 is unsuitable for settlement or cultivation. In the south- 
 east corner of the White Earth Indian Reserve are the 
 springs of the Mississippi, and close to them the brooks 
 which lead into the Red River of the North take their 
 rise. The main stream of the Red River flows from 
 Lake Traverse south of the source of the Mississippi, and 
 the Minnesota River has its source differing only eight 
 feet in level in Bigstone Lake adjoining. On the east, 
 not far off, the St. Louis River, the ultimate source of 
 the St. Lawrence system, takes its rise — separated by 
 
 363 
 
364 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 an obscure water-parting and falling to Lake Superior 
 at Fond du Lac. South of that lake large affluents of 
 the Mississippi reach up close to its shores, spreading 
 out fanlike into small streams, sufficient in a region where 
 drought is unknown, to float a canoe. 
 
 The St. Croix draws its water thus from the region 
 near Fond du Lac, the Chippewa reaches close to Che- 
 quamegon Bay, near Ashland, and the Flambeau River, 
 one of its affluents, rises very near the head of the Mont- 
 real River, all three drain their waters into the great river 
 of the West. 
 
 This region must not be supposed destitute of food 
 resources. Apart from the fact that the Great Lakes 
 were then, as they are still, the source of most productive 
 fisheries, the streams were full of fish, and, moreover, the 
 whole network of streams, marshes, and lakes were the 
 reedy water-fields where the wild rice, zizania aquatica, 
 chiefly delights to grow and the wild fowl delight to feed. 
 The plant is known by many names. The French called 
 it Folle Avoine or riz du Canada ; the English, among 
 many other names, wild oats, wild rice, Indian rice, 
 Canadian rice; the Indians used some derivative of the 
 Algonquin word Manomin, signifying “ good berry.” 
 The region most abounding in this valuable article of 
 food extended across Wisconsin to Lake Michigan, and 
 the rivers and lakes between Green Bay and Lake Su- 
 perior were covered with this graceful reedlike plant. 
 It is an annual, self-sown from the ripe grain shed into 
 the water of a sluggish or gently flowing stream and 
 falling upon a muddy bottom. It grows abundantly any- 
 where in Canada or the Northwest where the conditions 
 are favourable. Mrs. Traill, a writer resident near Rice 
 Lake, not far from Peterborough in Ontario, describes 
 the rice beds as looking in the distance like green islands. 
 She thus writes of their appearance in June: “Passing 
 through one of these rice beds, where the rice is in 
 flower, it has a beautiful appearance, with its broad 
 grassy leaves and light waving spikes garnished with 
 pale yellow-green blossoms delicately shaded with red- 
 
fa 
 
 o 
 
 z 
 
 fa 
 
 £ 
 
 <1 
 
 ►fa 
 
 H 
 
 r S) 
 
 fa 
 
 X 
 
 H 
 
 fa 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 z 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 fa 
 
 fa 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 Z 
 
 fa 
 
 PC 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 Z 
 
 >— I 
 
 > 
 
 ►> 
 
 O 
 
 PC 
 
 C/2 
 
 fa 
 
 <1 
 
 £ 
 
 "ft, 
 
 k 
 
 H 
 
 fa 
 
 o 
 
 £ 
 
 fa 
 
 HH 
 
 H 
 
 fa 
 
 C 
 
 fa 
 
 fa 
 
 t> 
 
 pZ 
 >— * 
 
 Q 
 
 fa 
 
 fa 
 
 z 
 
 < 
 
 fa 
 
 fa 
 
 co 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 365 
 
 dish purple, from beneath which fall three straw-coloured 
 anthers, which move with every breath of air or slightest 
 motion of the water.” 
 
 The Indians were not touched by such sesthetical con- 
 siderations, and to them the possession of these rice fields 
 was an economical question of prime importance, and on 
 that account the Sioux (or Dakotas) contended inces- 
 santly with the Ojibways and Menomonees. The last- 
 named people are the Folles Avoines of the French narra- 
 tives, and their river, still called the Menominee, reaches 
 far into the rice-producing region. As a food the wild 
 rice is fully as nourishing as maize, or wheat, or any 
 other of our cereals. It is collected by the women, who 
 pole their bark canoes into the rice fields when the grain 
 is ripe, and reaching out draw over the heads, on both 
 sides, and beat out the grain into the canoe. It was the 
 explorations of Nicollet, Radisson, Jolliet, Marquette, 
 Allouez, and Perrot on the borders of this region which 
 brought to the knowledge of the French the rice fields 
 and the populous tribes dependent upon them for a large 
 part of their food supply. The region extended over the 
 divide between the St. Lawrence and Mississippi waters, 
 and was the scene of the captivity of Hennepin and the 
 enterprise of Dulhut. 
 
 We have seen that at the end of February, 1680, 
 Father Hennepin started with two companions in a bark 
 canoe from Fort Crevecceur to explore the Illinois River 
 to its junction with the Mississippi. He also had instruc- 
 tions, after reaching the great river, to explore its upper 
 course. This he did, and in his first book he claims no 
 more; but in his second book, published in 1698, he lays 
 claim to the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi 
 southwards to the sea, giving several palpably false rea- 
 sons for having suppressed his claim until after La Salle’s 
 death. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the character of 
 this vain and mendacious friar. His frauds have been 
 sufficiently exposed. Not only did he claim to have pre- 
 ceded La Salle in exploring the river to the sea, but he 
 asserts that Jolliet had not been upon the river at all, 
 
366 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and had merely contented himself with remaining and 
 trading among the Ottawas and Hurons. He represents 
 Jolliet as having admitted this to him upon frequent 
 canoe voyages they had made together — all of which is 
 not only palpably false, but is glossed over with a dis- 
 agreeable religiosity. Hennepin’s discoveries extend 
 from the mouth of the Wisconsin River to the Falls of 
 St. Anthony, or, in more familiar terms, from Prairie 
 du Chien to Minneapolis — and no farther. The expedi- 
 tion was really under the command of Accault, one of 
 his two companions, although throughout the narrative 
 Hennepin represents himself as having been the leader. 
 
 The voyage down the Illinois River was made without 
 any incident of note. The current was gentle and the 
 stream was deep. It flowed between low banks through 
 a prairie country, where large herds of buffalo were seen 
 feeding. On arriving at the Mississippi they found the 
 ice still coming down, and were delayed until March 12, 
 although in another place he stretches the time out four 
 days more. 
 
 With unblushing effrontery Hennepin, in his second 
 book, asserts that before going north he turned south- 
 wards and went to the mouth of the Mississippi. From 
 the mouth of the Illinois it is a distance of 1293 miles 
 to New Orleans, to which must be added the distance 
 to the sea, which, although less then than it is now, 
 could not have been less than 75 miles. To do this 
 he must have paddled at the rate of over one hundred 
 miles a day, and without stopping to sleep or eat. He 
 states that he came to where the river forms a delta, and 
 that he passed down the centre channel to a point where 
 the water was completely salt, and that, passing further 
 on, he reached the sea and finally landed on the east side 
 at the mouth of the river. This point he attained on 
 March 25. Then the details are added of the formal 
 possession taken. The two men are represented as 
 anxious to get back; they wanted to trade with the In- 
 dians, and were in terror of the Spaniards. He had not 
 much time, but a cross was erected and Hennepin and 
 
HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 367 
 
 his two companions kneeled and sang hymns proper to 
 the occasion, such as the Vexilla regis. On April i they 
 began their return voyage, and were captured by the 
 Sioux, above the mouth of the Wisconsin, on April 12. 
 The distance is 1861 miles, so that in ascending the cur- 
 rent they made about 155 miles a day — much better time 
 than in going down, and this in spite of the delay they 
 made to repair their canoes and the precaution of trav- 
 elling only by night as they neared the mouth of the 
 Illinois for fear of being arrested by the garrison of 
 Fort Crevecoeur. The description of the country and 
 the details of the voyage are stolen from Father Mem- 
 bre’s narrative of La Salle’s discovery two years after, 
 but Hennepin found it impossible to fit in the new piece, 
 and his dates are therefore hopelessly muddled. Thus 
 he says that when on the lower Mississippi near the sea, 
 not having any wine he was unable to celebrate mass on 
 March 23, Easter Day; but Easter Day fell on April 21 
 in that year, and, moreover, in his first narrative he 
 reports having spent Easter at the Issati village, on Mille 
 Lacs, at the head of an affluent of the Mississippi near 
 Lake Superior. The dates of the pretended voyage are 
 not only inconsistent with those of the first narrative, 
 but in the second narrative itself are inconsistent with 
 each other. This incident of Easter is cited because no 
 Catholic priest could have been mistaken about that date. 
 The story is a plain falsehood. Father Membre cele- 
 brated the first mass on the lower Mississippi with La 
 Salle in 1682, and Easter fell, as he records it, on March 
 29 of that year. Hennepin, in concocting his fictitious 
 voyage, omitted to consult the calendar. 
 
 It will be a waste of time to follow in detail this tissue 
 of falsehood. The first narrative, published at Paris in 
 1684, contains no allusion to the apocryphal trip to the 
 sea — indeed, it plainly says that he did not go there, 
 although he thought of doing so. He was, however, 
 beyond doubt upon the upper Mississippi, and his narra- 
 tive does contain many facts confirmed from other 
 sources. In a general description of the upper river, 
 
368 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 with which he introduces the story of his capture, while 
 noting the streams now known as the Iowa and Minne- 
 sota, he observes that the tributaries from the east are 
 more numerous than from the west. He indicates the 
 Rock River and the Wisconsin leading to the portage to 
 Green Bay, the Black River, and the Chippeway River. 
 He mentions a river full of rapids (the St. Croix), by 
 which there is a route to Lake Superior. He describes 
 St. Anthony’s Falls, at the present Minneapolis, named 
 for St. Anthony of Padua, “ in gratitude,” he adds, “ for 
 the favours done me by the Almighty through the inter- 
 cession of that great saint.” Eight leagues beyond was 
 the Issati (or Nadoussion) River, leading to Lake Issati, 
 or Buade (Mille Lacs). This last river he called after 
 St. Francis, a name which has been displaced by the 
 vulgar appellation of Rum River. This is the extent of 
 Hennepin’s discoveries, for from the Wisconsin to the 
 Illinois had been explored by Jolliet and Marquette. Re- 
 turning now to the real voyage and adventures of Father 
 Hennepin, the Frenchmen had issued out upon the Miss- 
 issippi and had reached about as far north as the Wis- 
 consin River, when, on April n, they were suddenly 
 surrounded and captured by a war party of a hundred 
 and twenty Sioux on the way to attack the Miamis. The 
 Indians refused the proffered peace pipe and carried 
 them up the river. After the first excitement was over 
 the prisoners were not in danger of their lives, for the 
 western Indians were not bloodthirsty, like the Iroquois. 
 That they were treated without any studied cruelty ap- 
 pears through Hennepin’s exaggerated narrative. They 
 were robbed of their goods, but they had the same food 
 the Indians had. They were, no doubt, in great fear at 
 first, for the Miamis had escaped and some of the Sioux 
 who had lost relations were anxious to kill them. At 
 Lake Pepin these homicidal feelings sought expression 
 by weeping over the prisoners, a proceeding which will 
 shock any notions of Indians derived from “ Gertrude of 
 Wyoming,” or Cooper’s novels. 
 
 “ The stoic of the woods — the man without a tear,” 
 
HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 369 
 
 wept and howled all night with many companions in 
 distress, and in memory of that impressive ceremony 
 Hennepin called the place the Lake of Tears (Lac des 
 Pleurs). On other occasions when the Indians were 
 overcome by the remembrance of their departed friends, 
 Hennepin wiped away their tears “ with a wretched hand- 
 kerchief he had left” and sought to assuage their grief 
 by giving them presents. The leading chiefs always 
 intervened when matters seemed serious, but the relations 
 between the prisoners and these bereaved Sioux were for 
 a long time strained. If this curious custom rested on 
 Hennepin’s evidence alone it would not be believed, but 
 the same peculiarity has been recorded by other early 
 writers, and Henry met with it at the Lake of the Woods 
 among the Assiniboines, a Siouan people. At a council 
 “ several of the Indians began to weep and they were soon 
 joined by the whole party.” He adds: “ Had I not 
 
 previously been witness to a weeping scene of this 
 description, I should certainly have been apprehensive of 
 some disastrous catastrophe.” The fur trader’s nerves 
 were steadier than the friar’s. Henry inquired of the 
 people why they always wept at their feasts, and was 
 informed that such occasions brought back the memory 
 of departed friends who had formerly been present at 
 them and reminded them of the brevity of their own 
 lives. 
 
 The party went steadily up the river, and when near 
 the Falls of St. Anthony held a council to decide upon 
 the fate of the Frenchmen. It resulted in their being 
 adopted into different families. Hennepin was taken to 
 the chief town of the tribe on the shores of Mille Lacs, 
 and although he makes much moan over his hardships 
 he was evidently treated by the Sioux as one of them- 
 selves. It was painful for him to see his embroidered 
 chasuble paraded through the town on the shoulders of 
 a naked Indian boy, but he was allowed to go about 
 freely, explaining Christian doctrine in such scraps of 
 Dakota as he could command. During his detention at 
 Mille Lacs an embassy arrived from a distant western 
 
 24 
 
370 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 tribe, and Hennepin concluded from what they told 
 him that there was no Strait of Anian, as laid down on 
 the maps of the time, and that the land was continuous 
 from Louisiana to China. He seems to have gathered 
 from the same source information which led him to 
 believe that large vessels might pass down by the rivers 
 of the West into the Pacific Ocean and go to Japan and 
 China without crossing the equator. In the interchange 
 of presents with the deputies the friar’s chasuble was 
 utilised and the western Sioux carried it off to the plains' 
 of the Missouri. 
 
 The Indians started in July, 1680, for their summer 
 hunt and the French went with them. Hennepin’s 
 companions do not seem to have had much respect for 
 him, for they would not have him in their canoe, saying 
 they had had enough of him. Accault preferred to stay 
 among these good-natured savages, but Hennepin’s 
 imagination did not fail. He gave out that La Salle had 
 promised to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin and 
 he started thither with the other Frenchmen. Some 
 Indians went also to meet these “ spirits,” as they called 
 the white men. There were, of course, no Frenchmen 
 found there; but, while the Indians were hunting and 
 moving up and down the river as the buffalo appeared, 
 word came to the camp that a party of Indians who had 
 been hunting towards the end of Lake Superior had met 
 some “ spirits,” who were interested in hearing that there 
 were white people among the Indians, and before long 
 the Sieur Dulhut, with two Frenchmen, an Indian inter- 
 preter, and a Sioux guide, arrived at the camp. Hennepin 
 was at once relieved from his disagreeable position, for 
 Dulhut assumed a lofty tone and reproached the Indians 
 with robbing and ill-treating “ his brother.” 
 
 He had come down over the portage to the St. Croix 
 River from Lake Superior, where he had established a 
 trading post. Dulhut’s boldness and influence with these 
 wild people is accounted for by his efforts among them at 
 a great council on Lake Superior. He had been at the 
 Indian town at Mille Lacs the previous year, 1679, and 
 
HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 371 
 
 had planted there the arms of France. He did not come 
 as a stranger; but with characteristic effrontery Hen- 
 nepin, in his narrative, at once assumes the conduct of 
 the whole party. He represents that as he had some 
 knowledge of the language Dulhut begged that he would 
 accompany him to' the villages of the Sioux — “to which,” 
 adds the friar, “ I readily agreed, knowing that these 
 Frenchmen had not approached the sacraments for two 
 years.” After this there is no word of Dulhut, nor is the 
 least gratitude expressed for his rescue. Dulhut, a captain 
 of the King’s troops and the most capable partisan leader 
 in the West, is effaced, and with the pronouns “ I ” and 
 “ we ” the boastful friar substitutes himself. Dulhut deter- 
 mined to return by Jolliet and Marquette’s route up the 
 Wisconsin, and Hennepin and his companions went with 
 him. As Hennepin relates it, the season wore on and 
 “ we resolved to tell these people that, for their bene- 
 fit, we would have to return to the French settlements; 
 the grand chief of the Issati or Nadouessieuz [Sioux] 
 consented and traced, in pencil on a paper / gave him, 
 the route we should take for four hundred leagues. 
 With this we set out, eight Frenchmen in two canoes.” 
 They returned by the Wisconsin and Fox rivers to Green 
 Bay. The Jesuits had three missions there, but Hen- 
 nepin, without mention of them, says mass and all the 
 Frenchmen go to confession and communion. From 
 Green Bay he went to Michilimackinac, and although he 
 stayed there all winter at the mission of St. Ignace he 
 utterly ignores the Jesuits and their missions. He 
 reports that he preached every holy-day and on the Sun- 
 days of Advent, but says nothing of the mission church. 
 He states that he found forty- two French traders there 
 and that they begged him to give them the cord of St. 
 Francis, which he did, making a suitable exhortation to 
 each recipient. In his second book he admits having 
 met Father Pierson at Michilimackinac, who, he says, 
 had gone there to learn the language. There is not one 
 word to indicate that Christian missionaries had ever 
 been in that country. He left Canada shortly after the 
 
372 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 completion of his western voyage and never returned. 
 A monastic Munchausen, devoid of the saving grace of 
 humour, he fell into disgrace in France and was dis- 
 frocked. His books were, however, translated into many 
 European languages and were widely read and believed 
 until of late years, when Jared Sparks exposed the fraud. 
 
 Daniel de Greysolon, Sieur du L’hut, at the commence- 
 ment of his adventurous career completed the circuit of 
 exploration of the St. Lawrence basin in the Northwest. 
 His name is spelled in as many ways as Shakespeare’s. 
 The name of the prosperous city at the head of Lake 
 Superior is spelled Duluth, but the explorer generally 
 spelled his name “ Dulhut,” and we shall not go far 
 astray in following his example. He was of a noble 
 family, as is clear from the fact that he was a gendarme 
 of the King’s Guard, but having connections in Canada 
 he decided to seek his fortune there and procured a com- 
 mission as captain in the troops of marine. His brother- 
 in-law was De Lussigny, an officer of Frontenac’s guard, 
 and his cousin was La Salle’s lieutenant, Henri de Tonty. 
 He was in Canada in 1674, and having occasion to go 
 back to France he arrived there in time to serve in his 
 old regiment as esquire to the Marquis de Lassay and to 
 take part in the bloody battle of Seneff, on August 11, 
 1674. 
 
 He returned to Canada shortly after and settled in 
 Montreal, and set up what for those days was a hand- 
 some establishment, where also resided with him his 
 younger brother, Claude Greysolon de la Tourette. He 
 had long meditated a design to visit the country of the 
 Sioux on the upper Mississippi and endeavour to arrange 
 a peace which would open up to trade all the region con- 
 tiguous to Lake Superior. In the autumn of 1678 he 
 sold all his property in Montreal, and with his brother and 
 three Indian guides left for the far Northwest. It was the 
 commencement of a career of adventure. He went to 
 the southwest shore of Lake Superior, across to the head- 
 waters of the Mississippi, and down one of the streams, 
 probably the St. Croix, until he reached the chief village 
 
a .s 
 
 
 <v 
 
 H 
 
HENNEPIN AND DULHUT 373 
 
 of the Issati or Sioux. There on July 2, 1679, planted 
 the arms of France.’ That was a year before Hennepin’s 
 capture, and yet the friar records that Dulhut solicited 
 him to act as guide thither. Other towns of the Sioux 
 were also visited, and Dulhut gathered in September of the 
 same year a great council at Fond du Lac, the extreme 
 western end of Lake Superior. The Sioux from the 
 upper Mississippi, the Assiniboines from the Lake of the 
 Woods, and the Crees from Lake Nipigon were repre- 
 sented there and a peace was arranged. The following 
 year, while exploring a river which led to the Mississippi, 
 he heard of Hennepin’s ignominious captivity and 
 hastened to rescue him, taking with him an interpreter — 
 although Hennepin reports that Dulhut solicited him to 
 act as interpreter. 
 
 To follow the adventures of Dulhut during the thirty 
 years of his stirring life among the western Indians is 
 beyond the scope of this volume. While it is true that 
 Chouart and Radisson had already been in these regions, 
 their stay was short and their observations imperfect. 
 The Jesuits Allouez and Dablon had established missions 
 on the southern shore of the lake, Marquette and Jolliet 
 had reached the Mississippi from Lake Michigan, but 
 Dulhut lived there and knew thoroughly all the region on 
 the divide between the great lake and the great river, 
 where no white man had previously been. He established 
 his main post at the mouth of the River Kaministiquia — 
 the chief portage, in after years, of the Northwest and 
 Hudson’s Bay companies and the site of the present town 
 of Fort William. From thence he explored and traded, 
 not only into the basin of the Mississippi, but with the 
 Assiniboines around the Lake of the Woods and into the 
 basin of the Winnipeg. On the north he had a post on 
 Lake Nipigon, called La Tourette, after his brother, and 
 from thence he traded with the Crees over the divide into 
 the Hudson’s Bay basin. He acquired immense influence 
 among the Indian nations of the West, and more than 
 once brought large contingents to the assistance of the 
 governors of New France. The great Dakota nation 
 
374 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 had indeed been known before his establishment on the 
 lake, but they had not previously been visited at their 
 homes. He was a friend of Frontenac and therefore was 
 hated by the intendant, Duchesneau, who stigmatised him 
 falsely as a coureur de bois (bush ranger) and a law- 
 less infringer of the royal ordinances. He, at the request 
 of the Governor, Denonville, built in 1686 the first fort at 
 Detroit and occupied it with fifty men of his own follow- 
 ing. One daring feat has been specially recorded. In 
 1684 two Frenchmen were murdered, and he knew that 
 the safety of the whites on Lake Superior depended on 
 the punishment of the murderers. He arrested them 
 in the midst of their people, tried them fairly, and shot 
 two of them in the presence of five hundred savages. His 
 own followers were a handful among these populous 
 tribes, but his procedure was as bold and unhesitating as 
 that of a patrol of mounted police at the present day. 
 
 He was the first to strike a return blow after the great 
 massacre by the Iroquois on the Island of Montreal, and 
 in 1695 he was in command at Fort Frontenac. A chiv- 
 alrous, fearless, and tactful leader, he swayed the tribes 
 of the Northwest and made the name of France respected 
 on the divide around the lakes and over into the adjoining 
 river basins. He died at Montreal in 1710 with the repu- 
 tation of being the bravest officer who had ever served 
 the King in New France. 
 
 With Dulhut closed the roll of daring and capable men 
 who won for France the St. Lawrence valley to its 
 utmost bounds. Churchmen and soldiers each in his 
 own path fought and suffered and conquered — a brilliant 
 and heroic band of whom any nation might be proud. 
 They carried their lives ever in their hands and their 
 daring was their safety. Their careers were crowded 
 with picturesque adventure, and might have been the 
 theme of novelist and poet were it not that the truth is 
 stranger than fiction and there is nothing which imagi- 
 nation could add or improve. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH AND EAST — THE CIRCUIT OF 
 THE VALLEY COMPLETED 
 
 T HE great inland ocean of Hudson's Bay drains 
 an area of three millions of square miles. Its 
 basin not only bounds the St. Lawrence valley 
 in its whole length on the north, but, outflank- 
 ing it on the west, extends southwards and interlocks 
 the head-waters of its rivers with the sources of the 
 Mississippi. We have followed the progress of discov- 
 every over the southern and western edges of the St. 
 Lawrence basin and it now remains to retrace to the 
 east the circuit of exploration along its northern border. 
 
 Champlain had scarcely founded Quebec when Henry 
 Hudson, in an English ship, searched to the extremity of 
 the great bay and spent the winter of 1610-11 at that part 
 of it which reaches the farthest south towards Canada. 
 In a map published in 1613 Champlain laid down “ the 
 bay where Hudson did winter ” at the bottom of the 
 present James Bay, but to him it was a bay of the north- 
 ern ocean, “ Mare Magnum ” extending round by the 
 north to the Pacific Ocean; and in his last map, that in 
 the voyages of 1632, the belief is still manifest. Button, 
 Bylot, Baffin, and Fox followed. Button had wintered 
 at the mouth of the Nelson River in 1612 and James at the 
 mouth of Rupert’s River in 1631, before Lake St. John 
 on the Saguenay had been discovered or any permanent 
 post had been founded west of Quebec. It is plain on 
 James' map of 1633 that the English had by that time 
 circumnavigated the bay, for the entire shore line is closed 
 in; but Sanson's map of 1656 shows a small opening 
 where a strait to the western ocean might lurk. To reach 
 that supposed Mare Magnum at the north and so find a 
 
 375 
 
376 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 way to the West was the motive of Champlain’s voyage 
 up the Ottawa in 1613, and an explanation of the ready 
 credence given to the impostor Vignau. 
 
 The natural development of the colony of New France 
 was, as has been pointed out, retarded by the Iroquois 
 war until the English colonies had time to grow strong. 
 Not only did these truculent savages root up and destroy 
 the Huron nation and extinguish the Jesuit missions in 
 the West, but their war parties enveloped the eastern 
 settlements and reached far to the north — to the upper 
 St. Maurice, to Lake St. John, and even beyond the 
 water-parting of Hudson’s Bay. When, however, in 
 1665, the French Government waked up to its oppor- 
 tunities and sent out in quick succession Courcelles, De 
 Tracy, Talon, and Frontenac, the colony began to extend 
 on all sides. The Indian reports of vessels on Hudson’s 
 Bay were then taken by the government as signs of a 
 new danger, while at the same time the fur traders began 
 to feel the competition of the English merchants. 
 
 In the diplomatic discussions of later years the French 
 Government put forth some claims which had no founda- 
 tion in fact. It was confidently asserted, and the asser- 
 tion is even now occasionally repeated, that in 1656 the 
 Sovereign Council of Quebec authorised an expedition 
 under Jean Bourdon, and that he went to Hudson’s Bay 
 and took possession for France. This is easily disproved. 
 The Sovereign Council was not created until 1663, and 
 the Jesuit Relation of 1658 records the fact that Bour- 
 don’s voyage was made in 1657, an d also that he returned 
 to Quebec on August 11 of that year and reported that on 
 account of the ice he was unable to go along the Labrador 
 coast further than lat. 55 0 N. — or five degrees south of 
 the entrance to the bay. It was also asserted that a Cana- 
 dian fur company in 1661 built a fort on Lake Nemiskau. 
 That is abundantly disproved by Father Albanel’s narra- 
 tive of his voyage in 1672. It is on record that savages 
 coming down from the north asked for missionaries ; but 
 that is proof that no missionaries had penetrated to their 
 country, wherever it was. It was also claimed that in 
 
Quebec about 1700. 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 377 
 
 1 663 “ a missionary, the Sieur Couture,” was sent north 
 with five men and that he planted the arms of France on 
 the shore of Hudson’s Bay. No record of such a thing 
 exists. All that exists is a short permit of ten lines, dated 
 May 10, 1663, by the Governor d’Avaugour to “ Lieut. 
 Couture ” to be absent, with some savages from the 
 north, for so long as he may deem it advisable in the 
 public interest. No one in those days could be absent in 
 the woods without a permit. Couture in the early part of 
 his life was a “ donne ” of the Jesuits — a lay worker with- 
 out pay. If he had been to the bay the Jesuits could not 
 have been ignorant of it, as they unquestionably were, and 
 any act so important would have been recorded. The 
 closer the records are examined the more certain it will 
 appear that, excepting Chouart and Radisson, as related 
 in a previous chapter, Father Albanel, in 1672, was the 
 first Frenchman to cross the height of land. Chouart 
 and Radisson made no stay and Father Albanel found, at 
 his arrival, the English flag flying on a vessel and build- 
 ings erected by the English ; so that whether the title be 
 claimed by discovery or possession, it must be awarded 
 to the English. 
 
 It is a very remarkable fact that from Lake Mistassini 
 on the east to the longitude of Lake Nipigon on the west, 
 all the rivers north of the water-parting converge, like the 
 spokes of a wheel, to James’ Bay. The bay is very shal- 
 low, from the silt brought down by so many large and 
 rapid rivers. The height of land is obscure, winding 
 about and threading its way through myriads of small 
 lakes and the interlocking sources of countless streams. 
 Often the same lake gives rise to two rivers flowing in 
 opposite directions. The height of the divide ranges only 
 from 850 to 1350 feet above the sea level, but the country 
 is rough and the portage routes used by the Indians were 
 few. That from Lake Nipigon leads to a lake discharg- 
 ing both ways and issues upon the Albany River. The 
 next towards the east is by the Michipicoton River on 
 the east of Lake Superior and leads into the Moose River. 
 One of these two, doubtless the first, Chouart and Radis- 
 
378 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 son followed into James’ Bay. The second is the route 
 now generally used. 
 
 The next route is by the Ottawa, and there is no record 
 of exploration to the north by that river until 1686, when 
 an expedition started from Montreal to attack the English 
 posts on the bay. It was in a time of profound peace and 
 the English had no suspicion of danger; still, to take a 
 body of a hundred men over such a route and bring them 
 back without mishap was a very arduous task. The 
 party consisted of sixty-eight Canadian militia and 
 thirty soldiers. Three brothers of the Le Moyne family 
 of Montreal, who subsequently won high distinction in 
 the French service, were in leading positions, but De 
 Troyes was in chief command. They assembled in win- 
 ter on snowshoes at the head of the Long Sault on the 
 Ottawa, where they made canoes, and as soon as the ice 
 came down they proceeded up the river. Passing on the 
 left hand the Mattawa route to Lake Huron, they went 
 on northward to Lake Temiscaming, and thence by a 
 chain of lakes and streams with short portages across the 
 height of land into Lake Abitibi, 830 feet above the sea. 
 They followed down the Abitibi River into the Moose 
 River, and came out at the fort at its mouth, then called 
 Hayes Factory, which they surprised, and then proceeded 
 to seize the forts at Rupert’s River on the east and at the 
 Albany River on the west. The English were sent home 
 in the arriving ships and French-Canadian garrisons were 
 left in charge of the posts. A small post was established 
 on Lake Abitibi as a connecting link. That the English 
 were in effective possession of the bay is proved by the 
 fact that they were holding, besides the captured forts, 
 posts on the Severn and Nelson rivers. Under the rules 
 of international law current at that period, and for a long 
 time subsequent, the English had a valid claim as far as 
 the height of land, and so it is formulated in the Royal 
 Charter of 1670 to the Hudson’s Bay Company. The 
 French disputed it; but a hundred years later set up a 
 similar claim to the whole valley of the Ohio. It is not 
 the justice or equity of a pretension, but the power of the 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 379 
 
 nation making it, which renders a claim under interna- 
 tional law so serious to the weaker party. 
 
 Thirty years previous to De Troyes’ raid the Indians 
 on the north and west, in order to escape the Iroquois war 
 parties, frequently crossed from the head-waters of the 
 Ottawa into those of the St. Maurice or Saguenay and 
 came down to Three Rivers or Tadoussac. Although the 
 St. Maurice is a large and important river it does not 
 directly lead to any convenient route to the bay, but owing 
 to the wide reach of its northern sources the post called 
 Three Rivers at its mouth early became an important 
 centre of the fur trade. Pont-Grave had noticed the 
 suitability of the place, and Champlain, and even Cartier, 
 had ascended the river to the first rapids. There was no 
 permanent post, however, at the mouth of the river until 
 the town of Three Rivers was founded in 1634. Far up 
 the river were the hunting grounds of the Attikamegues, 
 or Whitefish Indians, a gentle and docile people, very 
 amenable to instruction, though as apt to forget it; and 
 at their solicitation Father Buteux, the Jesuit missionary 
 at Three Rivers, ascended the river to the height of land. 
 It was a long and laborious journey, but the good father 
 was more than recompensed by the exemplary piety of his 
 flock. He was absent from March 27 to June 18, 1651. 
 He met many parties of savages, but the precise places 
 visited are not easy to identify, for many of the mission- 
 aries were not as much interested in geography as might 
 be wished, but the Shawinigan Falls may be easily rec- 
 ognised from his description. On his first voyage he 
 had with him the Sieur de Normanville and two men. 
 The poor savages besought him to make them another 
 visit, and as a pledge of return he left his portable chapel 
 to the care of the chief. He kept his promise at the sacri- 
 fice of his life, for he and a young Frenchman, his com- 
 panion, were murdered at a portage by a war party of 
 Iroquois. The territory to the height of land was reached, 
 and two more martyrs were added to the honour roll of 
 the Company of Jesus. 
 
 Yet farther to the east the Saguenay opens its gloomy 
 
380 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 portals, leading the earliest sailors, by the profound depth 
 of its waters, black with overshadowing mountains, to 
 believe it to be an avenue to the western ocean. Nor can 
 we wonder at their error, for the largest battle-ship of 
 our days can pass fifty-seven miles up, and the tide rises 
 twelve feet at Chicoutimi. A stern and savage wilder- 
 ness it still is, but at Chicoutimi nature relaxes her frown- 
 ing aspect, and in the basin of Lake St. John spreads out 
 a broad region of fertile land. Beyond that is a vast 
 wilderness unvisited save by wandering tribes of Indians, 
 and unsettled save by trading posts of the Hudson’s Bay 
 Company. 
 
 The missionaries who laboured in the West suffered in 
 their lifetime, but their names are honoured by millions, 
 even of people who are strangers to their faith. Cities are 
 named after them, monuments are erected and orations 
 are made in their honour, but the names of those whose 
 burning zeal spent itself in the regions beyond the 
 Saguenay are little known, save to the special student. 
 Although the statue of “ a bearded athlete ” in the Capi- 
 tol at Washington may misrepresent to our eyes the out- 
 ward aspect of the saintly Jesuit, the real Marquette is 
 almost canonised in Wisconsin, and Brebeuf is still vener- 
 ated at Quebec. There is a monument to Allouez in Mil- 
 waukee, but the names of De Quen, and Nonvel, and 
 Laure, and De Crepieul are comparatively unknown. 
 These last did not have to contend with the truculent Iro- 
 quois, the shifty Hurons, or the chivalrous Sioux; their 
 flocks were the timid savages of the northern wilds whose 
 arms were trained to ply the paddle rather than the toma- 
 hawk. To win the souls of these wandering savages 
 Frangois de Crepieul renounced the prospects of a bril- 
 liant career in France. He followed them to their hunt- 
 ing grounds, sharing their food and sleeping in the woods 
 and in the snow — followed them in regions scarcely 
 yet explored, and bore with them the hardships of the 
 long winters of the northern wilds. For thirty years he 
 laboured in the missions of Tadoussac and Lake St. John, 
 and when at last, worn out, he went to die at Quebec, the 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 381 
 
 covered dwellings of civilisation had become strange and 
 distasteful to him. 
 
 The Recollet Friar Dolbeau was the first to attempt to 
 visit the northern Indians. He started in December, 
 1615, to winter with the Montagnais. How far he went 
 does not appear, but his efforts were along the north shore 
 of the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence rather than 
 towards the interior. He was obliged to abandon the 
 attempt, for, his eyes being weak, the smoke of the Indian 
 lodges nearly blinded him. 
 
 It was not until 1647 that the upper Saguenay was 
 explored. On July 11 of that year Father de Quen left 
 Tadoussac to visit the nation of the Porc-epic (Porcupine 
 nation), so named from the number of these creatures 
 found in their country. His guides took him by Lake 
 Kenogami and a short portage into a stream falling into 
 Lake St. John, thus avoiding the heavy portages on the 
 main river and especially the long and violent rapids at 
 the discharge of the lake. The Indian name of Lake St. 
 John is Piouagamik — the fiat lake — and here the mis- 
 sionary was surprised to issue upon an immense plain 
 surrounding a lake almost circular in shape. High moun- 
 tains bounded the level landscape, excepting on the north, 
 and many streams falling into the lake brought down 
 numerous scattered tribes to its shores. The priest 
 remained several days with the Porc-epics, who thronged 
 round to welcome the first white man to visit their coun- 
 try. In 1652 he returned and the Indians built him a 
 little church and house, where he commenced the mission 
 of St. John. It was at the mouth of the River Metabetch- 
 ouan. Father de Crepieul established the mission firmly 
 in 1676 and made it a centre of evangelisation, and the 
 merchants made it also a post of the fur trade. The 
 broad clearings of the Jesuit mission still witness to 
 the fertility of the soil, but the buildings are gone. When 
 the English took Canada the whole northeastern region 
 was forgotten. Under the name of the King’s Posts 
 ( Domaine du Roi ) it was successively leased to the Labra- 
 dor Company, the Northwest Company, and, lastly, to the 
 
382 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Hudson’s Bay Company, and was supposed to be a “ great 
 and terrible wilderness.” The first settlers began to 
 arrive upon Lake St. John in 1861, and it was not until 
 1868 that a missionary was sent there, where Father de 
 Quen had preached in 1647! 
 
 This lake of the north, isolated on the map for so 
 many years, has been the centre of many legends. It is 
 remarkable on many accounts. Five large rivers and 
 many smaller streams discharge into it, and in spring 
 the melting snow raises its level twenty-five feet; for it 
 has only one outlet — where by a double channel of foam- 
 ing rapids the Saguenay drains its waters into the St. 
 Lawrence, amidst scenery of wild and surpassing gran- 
 deur. Nothing can be more beautiful than the upper 
 Saguenay when the hills between which it flows take on 
 their autumn adornment of crimson and yellow. There 
 is none of the depressing gloom of the lower river, for 
 the woods clothing the hills are deciduous, and show as 
 many colours as the sunset. The broad, level country 
 round the lake produces bountiful crops of wheat and 
 barley, and there also maize ripens and the tobacco 
 plant flowers. The great tributaries open up the whole 
 interior by their interlocking sources. On the west the 
 St. Maurice and Ottawa and, on the north, Lake Mis- 
 tassini are easily reached. From Lake Mistassini Ru- 
 pert’s River flows into Hudson’s Bay and, from Rupert’s 
 River, there is ready transit to the East Main River, which 
 latter stream flows also into the Bay on the west, but, on 
 the east, leads to a portage to Lake Nichicun. From 
 Lake Nichicun, the central point of the plateau of savage 
 Labrador, Low, in 1892-94, explored the whole immense 
 peninsula, until then a blank on our maps. 
 
 In this Lake St. John region the old scenes are still 
 reproduced. In 1652 Father de Quen met a second time 
 the converts he had taught there and at Tadoussac. It 
 was Whitsunday, and the poor savages dressed the altar. 
 They attended mass, and sang with their priest hymns in 
 their language and the tunes they had been taught. Two 
 hundred and thirty-six years later the writer witnessed. 
 
Photo. Notman. ] 
 
 Grand Discharge Rapids, Lake St. John. 
 
 [Face page 382 . 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 383 
 
 at Pointe Bleue on the same lake, a similar service con- 
 ducted by a priest of the Oblate Order. From all parts 
 of the interior the Indians had assembled for their fall 
 trade at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post. Marriages 
 and baptisms were performed, confessions were heard, 
 and counsel given by the devoted missionary. At the 
 service of the Benediction (Saint), kneeling before the 
 altar, the men and women sang the church hymn respon- 
 sively in Montagnais — the men in a deep bass and 
 the women in a high treble, of a peculiar metallic quality 
 not unpleasing, but like the high notes of a piano. It 
 was an impressive service, for it vividly reproduced the 
 scenes described by Father de Quen in the Relation of 
 1652, and many similar in the Relations of other years. 
 The Jesuits are gone, and their buildings are gone, but 
 some of their work in the hearts of these poor wild people 
 has endured. 
 
 The Jesuit Relation of 1661 gives a clear statement of 
 the views then prevalent concerning Hudson’s Bay. 
 Writing from Quebec the narrative says : “ We have 
 
 long known that, in our rear, we have the Northern Sea; 
 that it is adjacent to the sea of China, and that only the 
 gateway has to be found. There is that famous bay, 
 first discovered by Hudson, who gave it his name, without 
 reaping any other fame than that of having first opened 
 the road which ends with unknown empires.” All the 
 previous winter a Nipissing chief had been telling the 
 people of Quebec about the north, and especially of a 
 general fair to be held the following summer, and to 
 which the Indians of Quebec and Tadoussac had been 
 invited. Such an opportunity of meeting the assembled 
 tribes was not to be missed, and two of the most capable 
 and experienced fathers — Gabriel Druillettes and Claude 
 Dablon — were chosen for the expedition. 
 
 If any Canadian had previously visited Hudson’s Bay 
 these fathers must have known it ; but the Relation is very 
 definite on that point. The heading of the Journal of 
 the expedition is “ Journal of the first voyage made to- 
 wards the Sea of the North.” The voyagers say dis- 
 
384 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 tinctly that they did not cross the height of land, but 
 stopped at Lake Nekouba, the meeting place fixed, and 
 from thence returned. The expedition started from Tad- 
 oussac on June 1, 1661, in forty canoes, and went up the 
 Saguenay to Lake St. John by the usual route through 
 Lake Kenogami. They rested a few days on the lake, 
 which they describe, and add that “ no Frenchman has 
 passed beyond it.” They then entered a country, which 
 they say was, “ up to now unknown to the French,” and, 
 on June 19 commenced the ascent of the Chamouchouan 
 River. After much labour they at last reached Lake 
 Nekouba, a central point in the northern wilds, where, 
 write the voyagers, every year a sort of a fair is held, 
 at which the northern savages meet to trade. It is 
 worthy of remark that the only note of climate is that 
 the party suffered from heat. The fathers, however, 
 gave a very bad account of the land they passed through 
 and complain of the smoke from forest fires. At Lake 
 Nekouba the voyagers met representatives of eight or ten 
 tribes, but even here the implacable Mohawks had pene- 
 trated and were haunting the portages. News came that 
 they had killed many and had destroyed the whole tribe 
 of the Escurieux. The assembly broke up in fear and 
 scattered to their homes. The ubiquitous Iroquois 
 checked the French advance on the north as they had in 
 the far West. From Lake Nekouba to Lake Michigan 
 is a long stretch, and yet that redoubtable confederacy 
 was able to command it. Nothing could thenceforth hold 
 the Indians of the party together, and the missionaries 
 had to abandon the idea of going further, and returned 
 to Tadoussac by the same route. 
 
 All had changed in New France by 1670. De Tracy 
 and Courcelles and the regiment of Carignan-Salieres had 
 brought the Iroquois to terms, but in the meantime the 
 English had become strong. In 1670 they were firmly 
 established on Hudson’s Bay and by the streams con- 
 verging into James’ Bay the news reached Quebec 
 almost simultaneously from Tadoussac and Sault Ste. 
 Marie, and produced a great sensation. The watchful 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 385 
 
 intendant, Talon, learned from the Algonquins that two 
 ships had been in the bay, and in 1671 selected Father 
 Albanel, Denys de St. Simon, with another Frenchman 
 and six Indians, to go to the bay and ascertain what the 
 English were doing and to plant the flag of France on its 
 shore. The party left Quebec for Tadoussac on August 
 6, 1671, where with much difficulty they procured a 
 guide. Proceeding by way of Chicoutimi and Lake 
 Kenogami they arrived at Lake St. John, where they 
 found a party of Whitefish Indians from the source of the 
 St. Maurice and some Mistassinis, who told them that 
 there were two vessels trading on the bay and that there 
 had been some conflict with the Indians. Albanel 
 decided to send back to Quebec for letters of authorisa- 
 tion or passports, and in the meantime to pass the winter 
 on the lake. 
 
 On June 1, 1672, the party started for the north. 
 They went up the Chamouchouan to Lake Nekouba, the 
 limit of the expedition of Druillettes and Dablon in 1661, 
 and from thence to Lake Palistaskau, the summit, 1360 
 feet above the sea, where a little tongue of land separates 
 two lakes discharging in opposite directions. The por- 
 tage across is about half a mile. A party of Mistassini 
 Indians endeavoured to stop the voyagers, but Albanel 
 made presents and addressed them, exhorting them to 
 carry their furs to Tadoussac and not to trade with the 
 men on the bay, “ who did not pray to God.” On June 
 18 he arrived at Lake Mistassini, of which he was the 
 discoverer, and coasted it until he found the Nemiscau 
 (Rupert’s River). He gives a good account of the lake 
 and surrounding country. Even in that remote region 
 they found an abandoned Iroquois fort. On June 28 they 
 arrived at the shore of the bay, where they found a small 
 sloop (hoy) flying the English flag, and two houses, 
 but no people in them. 
 
 To quote the opinion of one of his own order, Father 
 Albanel was more of a discoverer than a missionary, and 
 he might have added more of a politician than either. 
 Albanel entered into communication with the natives, and 
 
 25 
 
386 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 his own account will explain his subsequent difficulties 
 with the English. He found that the savages, under the 
 pretext of favouring the English, with whom they were 
 accustomed to trade, were taking umbrage at his visit 
 and were suspicious of his object. He writes: “To 
 
 make them take a correct view of our action I determined 
 to convince them that I was entirely disinterested in my 
 visit, and that I had not come to carry on any trading or 
 to enrich myself at their expense, or to the prejudice of 
 the people with whom they were accustomed to deal — 
 but rather to enrich them by giving them all we had 
 brought so far.” Then the politic father assembled all 
 the chiefs and made an oration, giving them presents, 
 telling them the benefits the French had bestowed on 
 them by conquering the Iroquois, and that they had no 
 motive in doing so but to constrain the northern tribes to 
 pray to God in earnest. He adds : “ I well know that it 
 is for God alone to touch the heart; but these presents 
 produced such an effect on the hearers that, under the 
 influence of the Holy Ghost, which touched their hearts, 
 they adopted the resolution to have themselves all in- 
 structed.” Albanel was five days with the Indians, most 
 of which time he spent in teaching and baptising some 
 sixty-two persons, children and adults. He promised 
 to return the following year, or to send someone in his 
 place, and he says he left the Indians in tears. He 
 returned by the same route and did not omit to plant the 
 standard of France on Lake Nemiskau. He met none of 
 the English, though he slept in their houses. From the 
 complaints subsequently made by the Hudson’s Bay Com- 
 pany he would seem to have pulled down the English 
 flag he found flying on the bay. He left on July 5 and 
 arrived at Tadoussac on August 1. The trained intel- 
 ligence of the Jesuit records the physical peculiarities of 
 James’ Bay — the brackish water, its shallowness, and the 
 incredibly long reflux of the tide. One observation is so 
 apropos to present-day discussion that it may properly 
 be quoted. After dwelling on the abundance of wild 
 fowl and the plenty and variety of fruits, he writes: 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 387 
 
 “ They are in error who have held this region, whether 
 by reason of the intense cold, the ice and snow, or lack of 
 wood suitable for building and heating, is uninhabitable. 
 They have not seen these vast and dense forests, these 
 beautiful plains and these wild prairies which border the 
 rivers in various places covered with every kind of grass 
 suitable for cattle. I can confidently say that on the fif- 
 teenth of June there were wild roses here as beautiful and 
 fragrant as those at Quebec. The season seemed to me 
 farther advanced, the air extremely mild and agreeable. 
 There was no night during my visit ; the twilight had not 
 faded in the west when the dawn appeared in the east.” 
 The Jesuit Relations put it beyond all doubt that 
 Albanel was the first Frenchman to reach Hudson’s Bay 
 — excepting, as before explained, Chouart and Radisson. 
 In the opening letter of the Relation of 1672 Father 
 Dablon, the Superior of the missions, speaks of the “ dis- 
 covery ” of the northern sea just made, and in that of 
 1671 he announces the departure of Albanel for that sea 
 “ which no Frenchman had hitherto reached.” Albanel 
 writes: “ Hitherto this journey had been deemed impos- 
 sible for the French, who had already thrice attempted it, 
 but unable to overcome the obstacles in its way, had been 
 forced to abandon it in despair of success.” 
 
 It has been related in a former chapter how Chouart 
 and Radisson were robbed by the Governor of Canada 
 of the results of their northern voyage and were unable 
 to obtain redress on appeal to France. They were not 
 people to sit quiet under an injury so great. They trans- 
 ferred their services to England and made known to in- 
 fluential persons the resources of Hudson’s Bay with such 
 success that in 1668 two vessels were fitted out and 
 sailed for the bay. The Nonsuch, commanded by a New 
 England skipper, Captain Zachary Gillam, and carrying 
 Chouart, arrived at the bay; the other, the Eaglet , with 
 Radisson on board, had to put back. Chouart directed 
 Gillam to the mouth of Rupert’s River and there the 
 party spent the winter of 1668-69. They returned to 
 England in 1669, and in 1670 the Hudson’s Bay Company 
 
388 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 was chartered and an expedition was sent out to establish 
 posts upon the bay. The first governor, Charles Bayly, 
 was sent in command and he built the first post at Ru- 
 pert’s River. These were the people who were on the 
 bay when Albanel arrived. 
 
 Father Albanel did go back as he promised, but he does 
 not appear to have been sent by ecclesiastical authority. 
 He went armed with a letter from the Governor, Fron- 
 tenac, addressed to the “ Commandant for the King of 
 Great Britain at Hudson’s Bay.” It was dated October 
 8, 1673, and, after setting forth the harmony existing 
 between their respective monarchs and his own determi- 
 nation to maintain friendly relations with the English on 
 the bay, Frontenac asks that the commandant will favour 
 Father Albanel to the utmost of his ability. He gives no 
 hint of the object of Albanel’s visit. 
 
 Father Albanel left Quebec that year and wintered at 
 some place north of the Saguenay, and on the route to 
 Lake Mistassini Father de Crepieul met him in January 
 and again in February, 1674, laid up in an Indian hut 
 from the effects of a bad fall. The place of meeting was 
 on a river which falls into the Saguenay on the north 
 shore opposite Chicoutimi. Such a route to Lake Mis- 
 tassini is laid down on Father Laure’s map of 1733, and 
 was better known by the Jesuit missionaries then than it 
 is now. Nothing was heard of him in Quebec for some 
 years ; but from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s records it 
 appears that he arrived at the bay on August 30, 1674, 
 and presented his letters to the commandant. Suspicion 
 was aroused by letters which he brought to Chouart, who 
 was then at Fort Rupert. The result was that they sent 
 him to England as a prisoner, charged with drawing 
 away the Indians from the English alliance, with pulling 
 down the English flag in the absence of the English, and 
 with bringing letters to seduce Chouart from the service 
 of the company. The petition in which these complaints 
 are set forth is dated January 26, 1676, and further states 
 that after Albanel had promised not to interfere again 
 they had released him, whereupon he went to Paris, and 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 389 
 
 was then there with Chouart and Radisson planning new 
 schemes to injure the company. The petition prays that 
 the Ambassador to France be instructed to lay these com- 
 plaints before the King of France with a view to prevent 
 their schemes being carried out. The matter came to the 
 King in council, and instructions were given in accord- 
 ance with the petition. Albanel did return to Canada, 
 but not to the Saguenay mission, and he troubled the 
 company no more. 
 
 Not so, however, was it with the shifty Radisson. 
 Whether tied by Mohawks to a stake for torture or out- 
 witting the Onondagas at an “ eat all ” feast ; whether 
 with the Sioux on the Mississippi or the Crees on Lake 
 Nipigon; with the Governors of New France or the 
 Ministers at the French court, he was always superior to 
 the occasion — a most interesting Canadian Ulysses, not 
 to be overreached by courtier, merchant, or savage. The 
 Hudson’s Bay Company unwisely quarrelled with him 
 and his brother-in-law, Chouart, whereupon they resumed 
 their allegiance to France, and after a year or two of 
 adventures in the Antilles in the service of France Radis- 
 son, in 1682, organised a Canadian company, and with 
 two vessels started on July n to Hudson’s Bay to found 
 a post at the mouth of Nelson River. After two cen- 
 turies of neglect such keen interest in Hudson’s Bay 
 seems strange to us, but it happened that others besides 
 Radisson had fixed upon the same locality for a post, and 
 when the French ships arrived they found that Captain 
 Benjamin Gillam of Boston had preceded them by four- 
 teen days. This Gillam must not be confounded with his 
 father, Zachary Gillam, who was at the time in the com- 
 pany’s service. Ten days later Governor Bridgar arrived 
 with workmen and materials to build a fort in the same 
 locality, and was warned off by Radisson. The details 
 are too long to narrate ; it will be sufficient to say that 
 they all settled amicably down to winter on the Nelson 
 River, and on the Hayes River, quite near. In the 
 spring, however, Radisson got the better of both his 
 competitors. He carried off Bridgar and Gillam to 
 
390 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Quebec and sent the rest of the English home. All this 
 happened in time of peace, and therefore on arrival in 
 Canada the prisoners were at once released, but Radisson 
 had succeeded in establishing a French fort on the bay 
 and had left a garrison there under the command of his 
 nephew, young Chouart. In 1683 Radisson went to 
 France and began to prepare another expedition, but 
 suddenly in May, 1684, he again entered the English 
 service and led out in the same year an expedition which 
 captured the fort he had himself built and garrisoned, 
 and also twenty thousand skins of furs belonging to the 
 French Canadian company. This feat was the cause of 
 De Troyes’ expedition from Montreal in 1686, already 
 narrated. 
 
 In relating these rapid changes it has been impossible 
 to follow the course of events in strict order of time. 
 Albanel’s second expedition was in 1673-74. In 1679 
 Louis Jolliet, who with Father Marquette had discovered 
 the Mississippi, went to Hudson’s Bay by the Saguenay 
 and Lake Mistassini. He was received kindly on account 
 of his western discoveries, but he remained only a short 
 time and returned the same way he went. He reported to 
 Frontenac that the English had forts' at the Rupert, 
 Moose, and Albany rivers, and intended to extend their 
 posts farther to the west, and also that they had a ship of 
 twenty guns, and two barques to carry on their trade. 
 They were, in fact, in possession of the bay they had dis- 
 covered. 
 
 The region we are now considering is yet a wilderness. 
 Chicoutimi is a thriving town, and during the last thirty 
 years the valley of Lake St. John has been settled, but 
 beyond that the country is wild. No cities have arisen 
 in the tracks of the early explorers, nor are any likely to 
 arise. On the north shore of the St. Lawrence from Isle 
 aux Coudres eastward to Cape Cormorant stretched the 
 Domaine du Roi, extending into the interior for an 
 indefinite distance — at least as far as the height of land. 
 That region was always leased as fur trading reserve, 
 and the farmers of the revenue during the French regime 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 391 
 
 from time to time secured it. After the conquest it was 
 leased to the Northwest Company and their successors, 
 the Hudson’s Bay Company, until the provinces of Can- 
 ada in 1867 were formed into one dominion and the 
 lease expired. Under the French regime the country was 
 penetrated by trading posts, and the same was the case 
 under the Hudson’s Bay Company, but a veil was drawn 
 down over the whole territory and it was forgotten. 
 
 The region was known also to the French as the Trait e 
 de Tadoussac , — the Tadoussac trading post, — for Ta- 
 doussac was the point from which the trade was con- 
 trolled. There, before Quebec was founded, a house was 
 built by Chauvin, — the first house in Canada, — but the 
 place was never more than a post under the French, and 
 even now it is barely a village. It was, however, widely 
 known as the “ mission of Tadoussac,” and a chapter of 
 each annual Jesuit Relation was devoted to it, for it was 
 the centre of the missions, not only to the northern tribes, 
 but to the tribes along the north shore as far as the Esqui- 
 maux. When the Indians came down to trade their lodges 
 clustered round the church and the few buildings of the 
 post and the missionary catechised, preached, and bap- 
 tised ; but after a short time the trading was over and the 
 Indians scattered to their hunting grounds in the far 
 recesses of inner Labrador. In that way, and by often 
 following the Indians in their migrations, the mission- 
 aries gained a knowledge of the north country, which was 
 forgotten for a hundred years subsequent to the conquest. 
 
 Probably information concerning all this territory ex- 
 isted in the archives of the Hudson’s Bay Company, but 
 outside of their officers the whole region was an unknown 
 wilderness, even to the Canadians themselves. Only those 
 who were familiar with the Jesuit Relations and the old 
 colony records knew the extent of what had been for- 
 gotten. In 1782 Michaux, the French botanist, reached 
 Lake Mistassini with the intention of going to Hudson’s 
 Bay, but was unable to proceed farther. In i860 the 
 rivers Mistassini and Chamouchouan were surveyed by 
 A. F. Blaiklock, and in 1870 a partial survey was made 
 
392 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 by the Geological Survey officers ; but Lake Mistassini 
 was either omitted from many of the modern maps or ap- 
 peared in distorted shapes, although in Father Laure’s 
 map of 1733 it is laid down with its own very distinctive 
 shape, divided into what are practically three long and 
 narrow parallel lakes. There are a number of forgotten 
 names laid down upon that old map besides the mission 
 on Isle Ste. Croix on the lake. So little was known of the 
 region by the general public that in 1880 a report was 
 spread of an enormous lake, larger than Lake Superior, 
 which occupied the interior of the peninsula of Labrador, 
 and an expedition had to be fitted out in 1884-85 to sur- 
 vey the lake and dispel the absurd misconceptions then 
 prevalent. Even then some newspapers persisted for a 
 long time in asserting that only a bay of the prodigious 
 sea of their imagination had been reached. 
 
 The coast of Labrador, inside the Strait of Belle-Isle, 
 was, as narrated in earlier chapters, explored by Jacques 
 Cartier, and it continued ever after to be the annual 
 resort of fishermen and whalers from the western nations 
 of Europe. In 1661 the Canadians began to take up the 
 shore fisheries, and in that year a grant of a narrow strip 
 along the north shore of the gulf was made to Frangois 
 Bissot of Quebec. The islands opposite, fringing the 
 shore, were granted in 1679 to his son-in-law, Louis Jol- 
 liet, and a relative named Lalande. In the following year 
 Jolliet received for himself a grant of the whole island 
 of Anticosti. These grants extended along the entire 
 north shore of the gulf from Cape Cormorant, a little east 
 of Seven Islands, to Bradore Bay, within a few miles of 
 the Strait of Belle-Isle. Jolliet spent some years in 
 exploration there and in carrying on the fisheries. The 
 Jesuits established mission stations at the mouths of the 
 most important rivers, and often followed the savages up 
 to their hunting grounds. In that way Father Bailloquet 
 visited the Papinachoix on the upper Bersimis and was 
 followed by Father Boucher. Father Nouvel, as early 
 as 1664, had gone up the Manicouagan River to Mani- 
 couagan Lake, which he named Lake Barnabe. He had 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 393 
 
 planned a journey to Hudson’s Bay, but the Indians re- 
 fused to take him. It may also be supposed that he knew, 
 what we have only learned in 1895, that Summit Lake, 
 the source of the Manicouagan, discharges also to the 
 north by the Kaniapiskau River into Ungava Bay. In 
 these expeditions the fathers must often have reached the 
 edge of the central pleatau of Labrador. Father Nicholas 
 in 1673 opened a mission at Seven Islands. That was the 
 most eastern mission post established on the north shore. 
 
 On the south shore of the St. Lawrence, and in Acadia 
 as far as the Penobscot, the missionaries were in constant 
 communication with Tadoussac; and in the course of 
 their duties were continually acquiring new information 
 concerning the geography of the country. Father Druil- 
 lettes in 1646 was the first Frenchman to penetrate, by 
 way of the Chaudiere River (opposite Quebec) and the 
 Kennebec River, to the Atlantic seaboard, but, in 1640, 
 an Englishman with a party of twenty Algonquins, in 
 search of a passage to the northern sea reached Quebec 
 by that route. He was sent to Tadoussac to return 
 to England by way of France. The missions to the 
 Etchemins in New Brunswick were carried on by the 
 River du Loup, opposite Tadoussac. The route was over 
 the portage to Lake Temiscouata and by the Madawaska 
 into the St. John River. Miscou and Perce, at the mouth 
 of Chaleur Bay, became favourite resorts for fishermen 
 from France at a very early date. Restigouche and 
 Nipisiquit, within the bay, were mission stations, as also 
 were Richibucto and Miramichi on the gulf coast of New 
 Brunswick. From the mouths of these rivers the interior 
 of the country could easily be reached and traversed. 
 The Recollets had not time before their exclusion to do 
 more than touch at a few places. After their readmis- 
 sion in 1670 they resumed their work in Gaspe, but 
 from 1629 to 1670 the missions were in the hands of the 
 Jesuits and they had stations as far east as Ste. Anne on 
 Cape Breton Island. Descriptions of the country round 
 the gulf are contained in the Jesuit Relations from 1636 
 onwards. 
 
394 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Reaching far eastward towards Europe the grim ram- 
 parts of the Labrador coast tower steeply up against the 
 lashing surf of the North Atlantic and the grinding ice 
 thrown against them by the Arctic current bearing away 
 the overflow of the polar ocean. We have seen in for- 
 mer chapters that this coast was well known to the earliest 
 sailors on the western ocean. Whalers soon found that 
 the cool waters of the Labrador current were the best 
 hunting grounds for whales. Seals swarmed down on the 
 ice fields, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 Canadians from Quebec began to establish sedentary fish- 
 eries along the coast beyond the Strait of Belle-Isle. 
 These were checked by the English conquest, and for a 
 while the government fluctuated between the French law 
 of Quebec and the English law of Newfoundland. 
 When in 1777 the first English settlers arrived at Ham- 
 ilton Inlet, they found traces of French establishments, 
 abandoned for years. Further to the north the Moravian 
 Brethren established mission stations. They made the 
 first attempt in 1764, and in 1771 founded their first set- 
 tlement at Nain; afterwards extending their stations from 
 Hopedale on the south (a little north of Hamilton Inlet) 
 to Ramah, near Nachvak Inlet, on the north — from 55 0 
 30' to 59 0 N. The Hudson’s Bay Company about 1832 
 founded their post at Rigolet, at the head of Hamilton 
 Inlet at the narrows leading into the long expanse of 
 Lake Melville. 
 
 From this stern coast westwards approximately to a 
 line drawn northwards up the Manicouagan River 
 stretched the vast peninsula of Labrador, a blank upon 
 the map until the last few years ; and even still, over large 
 areas, unexplored — an enormous tableland abounding 
 in rock and moss and morass. The streams have cut no 
 deep drainage valleys in the hard rock, but fall over the 
 edges of the plateau in swift rapids or cataracts, barring 
 the advance of explorers through their foaming channels. 
 An explorer who in 1862 forced his way 120 miles up 
 the Moisic River and got a peep over the edge of the 
 plateau reported that “ language fails to depict the awful 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 395 
 
 desolation of the tableland of the Labrador peninsula.” 
 Since then we have learned more of that region and 
 think somewhat better of it. It had to be taken in reverse 
 to be understood, not stormed from the front, but entered 
 from the rear by Lake Mistassini. The interior table- 
 land is a network of streams and lakes, with rocks and 
 morass in very truth, but also with many forests of sub- 
 arctic trees. Even the wilderness relaxes its grimness 
 when boldly faced, and a discovery of minerals would 
 tame the unfinished giant-land of the Northeast as the 
 Yukon and Alaska territories are being overcome at the 
 Northwest. 
 
 The first attempt to penetrate this region was made by 
 Mr. John McLean, an officer in charge of Fort Chimo, 
 the Hudson’s Bay post on Ungava Bay. In the winter 
 of 1838 he started with a few men and succeeded in 
 reaching the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post on Hamilton 
 Inlet. He went across the country to Lake Michikamau 
 and thence by the Northwest River. The journey being 
 in the depth of winter the ice was an assistance in travel- 
 ling, but the labour was great and the route was found 
 impracticable as a means of regular communication. In 
 1839 he made another attempt — this time in summer, with 
 canoes. He went by the George River, and passing to 
 the west of Lake Michikamau crossed the divide into a 
 tributary of the Hamilton or Grand River. Paddling care- 
 lessly down the stream the voyagers heard, one evening, 
 the warning roar of a mighty cataract. They had come 
 upon the Grand Falls, and McLean was the first white 
 man to see them or even hear of them. It was, he writes, 
 “ one of the grandest spectacles in the world ” ; but he 
 had to turn back, for not only the fall itself, but the suc- 
 ceeding thirty miles of rapids, had to be passed, and he 
 could find no way round. The following year he heard 
 from an old Indian at Ungava Bay of a chain of small 
 lakes by which a portage around the falls and the canyon 
 could be made. In 1841 he followed that route with 
 success, and not only went down to Hamilton Inlet, but 
 returned the same way. The following year he went 
 
396 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 again down to the coast, but as the post at Ungava was 
 soon after abandoned for a few years, the route fell into 
 disuse. 
 
 The Hudson’s Bay Company a few years later estab- 
 lished posts at Lakes Nichicun, Kaniapiscau, and Petitsi- 
 kapau. These are key points upon the central tableland 
 and unlock all the interior water courses. Whatever 
 information the company acquired was not published. It 
 remained for Mr. A. P. Low of the Canadian Geological 
 Survey, in a series of arduous explorations extending 
 from 1892 to 1895, to reveal to the world the geography 
 of the inner peninsula. For the most of the time he was 
 assisted by Mr. D. I. V. Eaton, who compiled the map 
 accompanying his report. That the officers of the Hud- 
 son’s Bay Company were acquainted with the geography 
 of this region is evident from the fact that when at the 
 H. B. Co. post at Lake Nichicun Low saw a manuscript 
 map, made in 1842, showing the courses and connections 
 of the great rivers upon the central plateau. 
 
 Meantime most exaggerated reports of the Grand Falls 
 of the Hamilton, or Grand River of Labrador, had got 
 abroad, and indeed are still abroad. In a standard gaz- 
 etteer published as late as 1895 their height is given as 
 “ about 2000 feet,” for McLean’s book has been very 
 little known and no other published information existed 
 concerning them. Not long after McLean’s visit a Mr. 
 Joseph McPherson is said to have been conducted there 
 by an Iroquois Indian attached to the Hudson’s Bay post 
 at Rigolet, and a missionary of the Oblate Order, Father 
 Rebel, did really visit the Grand Falls about 1870, when 
 following his wandering flock, but of this nothing was 
 publicly known. At last in 1887 a bold attempt was made 
 by an Englishman, Mr. R. F. Holme. Misled into sup- 
 posing the distance from the sea to be not more than a 
 hundred miles he ran short of food, and after a most 
 laborious effort had to turn back at Lake Winokapau. 
 Incited by these difficulties two American expeditions set 
 out in 1891. One is known as the Bowdoin College ex- 
 pedition. It was under the direction of Professor Lee. 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 397 
 
 Four of the students went up the river without guides;, 
 the rest sailed further along the coast. One of the boats 
 of the explorers was upset and the distance being un- 
 known, while provisions were short, two of the party were 
 obliged to turn back. The other two, Messrs. Cary and 
 Cole, continued on a most difficult course along the river 
 almost until they reached the cataract, but by an acci- 
 dent with their campfire in their absence their boat and 
 outfit were burned and they had no alternative but to 
 hurry back as fast as possible on foot over the whole 
 distance. 
 
 The second expedition was undertaken by Mr. H. G. 
 Bryant of Philadelphia and Professor Kenaston of Wash- 
 ington. They started on August 3 from the Hudson’s 
 Bay Company’s post where the Northwest River falls in 
 at the head of Lake Melville. None of the Indians around 
 the post would go with them, for they have a supersti- 
 tious dread of the falls, and believe that to see them will 
 bring on an early death. They took with them a young 
 Scotchman, resident at the post, and an Esquimau. Mon- 
 tague, the Scotchman, had been with Holme in his plucky 
 attempt, and knew the lower river well. They hired at 
 the post a strong river boat eighteen feet long, and 
 towed their canoe at the stern. They slowly and labori- 
 ously worked up the river, for the most part by “ track- 
 ing,” for the current is strong and there are many rapids, 
 until after three weeks’ incessant toil they reached Big 
 Hill. At that point commences the portage route round 
 the canyon and the falls to the quiet water above. It was 
 the portage which McLean had followed in 1841. The 
 trail was very indistinct, for when Fort Chimo was re- 
 opened communication by sea was preferred. After long 
 search they found it, and leaving their heavy boat they 
 started with their canoe through a circuit of small lakes. 
 That was the reason they did not meet Messrs. Cary and 
 Cole on their way back, for these two explorers followed 
 the river bank as nearly as possible. On September 2 
 they arrived at the Grand Falls, having struck across 
 from the upper lake, guided by a column of ascending 
 
398 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 mist and by the roar of the cataract. They were fortu- 
 nate in being able to make measurements and take photo- 
 graphs of the falls, so that by their descriptions and those 
 of Mr. Low a sufficiently accurate idea may be formed of 
 this wilderness wonder. 
 
 Mr. Low entered upon the tableland by way of the 
 Saguenay, Lake St. John, and Lake Mistassini. He 
 examined the country down to Hudson’s Bay by the upper 
 Rupert River and the lower East Main River. He then 
 followed up the East Main River to its source and made 
 a portage to a stream falling into Lake Nichicun. From 
 that lake he passed by a short portage into Lake Kania- 
 piscau and followed down by the river of that name into 
 the Koksoak, which flows past Fort Chimo into Ungava 
 Bay. From Fort Chimo he went round by sea to Rigolet 
 on Hamilton Inlet. He passed the winter of 1893-94 at 
 the Northwest River at the head of the inlet. From 
 thence he went up the Hamilton River, visited the Grand 
 Falls, and passed up the Ashuanippi Branch to Petitsik- 
 apau Lake. He then explored the southern or Attikonak 
 branch to its head and crossed the parting to the Romaine 
 River, flowing southwards. Finally he crossed over to the 
 St. John River and followed it to the Gulf of St. Law- 
 rence. It was a very remarkable exploration, and has a 
 right to rank high in the geographical history of the 
 country. From north to south and from east to west he 
 cut through the very heart of the unknown region by 
 routes for which, oftentimes, he could get no guides. 
 His work opened up 289,000 square miles of territory and 
 his report covers the geology, botany, and zoology of the 
 country, not only explored, but examined. It was a 
 journey in Labrador of 2960 miles by canoe, 500 miles 
 with dogs, and 1000 miles on foot over a country bristling 
 with difficulties and under a severe climate. Besides the 
 main routes given above, the head-waters of the Mani- 
 couagan and Outarde Rivers were explored and careful 
 examinations were made of the large central lakes which 
 are the sources of the great rivers of the peninsula. 
 
 The Grand Falls mark a wide distinction in character 
 
EXPLORATION TO THE NORTH 399 
 
 between the Upper and Lower Hamilton River. The 
 upper river, like all other rivers on the great central table- 
 land of Labrador, flows broadly on the surface between 
 low banks fringed with a thick growth of brushwood. 
 As it approaches the fall the river enters into a rocky 
 channel, which gradually narrows. Down this trough the 
 whole stream rushes in a steep descent, swirling in 
 great waves twenty feet high, as the ever-narrowing walls 
 compress it more and more, until as from a gigantic 
 spout, only fifty yards in width, the whole river, of a 
 volume as great as the Ottawa at Ottawa City, is projected 
 into space over a fall 302 feet deep, to drop into a cir- 
 cular basin with steep walls of rock 500 feet high. 
 Thence it flows away, at first at right angles, through a 
 zigzag canyon eight miles long, cut straight down from 
 the surface without any preparatory slope, where, hid- 
 den from sight save to an observer looking directly over, 
 it rages boiling down a further descent of 260 feet. 
 Thence it issues out into a valley deeply furrowed into 
 the plain, from 500 to 800 feet below the general level, 
 and with few intervals of quiet water rushes from rapid 
 to fall and fall to rapid, until it discharges at sea level 
 into the upper arm of the inlet called Lake Melville. The 
 level of the river as it nears the fall is 1660 feet above the 
 sea. Twelve miles below it has dropped 760 feet and it 
 falls the remaining 900 feet down the remainder of its 
 course to tide water. The total drop from the central 
 plateau to the sea is indeed 1660 feet, the error has been 
 in supposing that to be done all in one leap. 
 
 The story of exploration in Labrador closes with a 
 tragedy, for hardly had the preceding lines been written 
 when the news came by a courier, who reached the coast 
 on March 18, of the death by starvation of Mr. Leonidas 
 Hubbard, Jr., somewhere beyond Northwest River. Mr. 
 Hubbard was the assistant editor of Outing, a well- 
 known monthly magazine published in New York. He 
 left for Labrador early in June, 1903. He had studied all 
 that was known of the country, and determined to learn 
 more of those parts of it which had not been explored. 
 
4 oo THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 He had made a cache of his provisions on the Northwest 
 River, and with a companion and a guide had pushed for- 
 ward, trusting to find game on the way. They found no 
 game, and as starvation threatened the whole party they 
 started to return to their cache. Hubbard’s strength gave 
 out and his companions had to leave him to hurry back 
 for food. They reached the cache and hastened back, 
 but though absent for a short time only they found Hub- 
 bard dead. He died on October 18, 1903. His com- 
 panions made their way back to the coast with the body, 
 but could not reach communication with the outer world 
 until the following March. 
 
 We have now traced the course of discovery back to the 
 points from I whence it started — to Tadoussac, where 
 Chauvin built the first house, to Labrador, which Cartier 
 called the “ land of Cain,” and to Cape Breton Island, of 
 which Cabot brought back such a glowing account. We 
 have followed up the great avenue of waters to the west 
 and reached the portals of another west, to be followed 
 by yet another, before we reach the sunset. League after 
 league our forefathers were tempted along their arduous 
 course by the promise of the great Southern Ocean. The 
 men whose names are now so often on our tongues died 
 poor and unrewarded. We have entered into their labours 
 and they have passed into their rest. All we can do is 
 not to grudge an occasional recognition, by commemora- 
 tion or monument, of lives so laborious and achievements 
 so heroic. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 OCCUPATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY 
 
 T HE era of discovery closed with the seventeenth 
 century. The region of mystery moved west- 
 ward, for the pathway of the two great rivers 
 had been followed from the Gulf of St. Law- 
 rence to the Gulf of Mexico. The movement was 
 from Canada, — from Quebec and Montreal, — and the 
 arms of France were planted at the sources as well as 
 at the mouths of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi. 
 But while these streams were the main arteries of the 
 continent upon its Atlantic side and revealed the funda- 
 mental plan upon which it was constructed, a great deal 
 remained to be done before the immense regions drained 
 by their tributaries could be fully known and occupied. 
 The eighteenth century was a period of conflict for the 
 dominion of these two great valleys, and the struggle 
 commenced when the outposts of France and England 
 met upon the parting of their waters. 
 
 The physical conditions of the English and French 
 colonies differed widely. For a long time the English 
 settlers were hedged in by the Allegheny Mountains and 
 by a barrier of broad and dense forests which concealed 
 in their leafy recesses the springs of the westward-flowing 
 streams. Gaps there were in “ the endless mountains,” 
 and Indian war trails tunnelled the forest wilderness, but 
 they were untravelled by the English and unknown, while 
 the light French canoes glided everywhere along the 
 interior waterways and their echoes rang with the speech 
 of Norman France. Whatever may have been the 
 strategic value of the great westward trails in the middle 
 colonies, in Canada the streams were the roads alike in 
 winter and summer, and the portages were the strategic 
 keys which unlocked the whole northland. 
 
 26 V 
 
 401 
 
402 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Exploration along the lower lakes ceased for a time 
 after the recall in 1682 of the Count de Frontenac. His 
 incapable successors La Barre and Denonville irritated 
 the Iroquios by abortive hostilities and tempted them by 
 manifestations of weakness. To gratify a passing whim 
 of the French court Denonville treacherously seized fifty- 
 one Iroquois Indians and sent them to France to work 
 in the galleys. They were neutral Indians residing on 
 the Bay of Quinte and were on friendly terms with the 
 garrison at Fort Frontenac. The colony paid dearly for 
 this perfidy. The Iroquois with profound craft dis- 
 sembled their resentment, until in the night of August 4, 
 1689, fifteen hundred warriors landed at Lachine and 
 swept the Island of Montreal of every inhabitant up to 
 the palisades of the forts. More than two hundred un- 
 suspecting settlers were killed and scalped, and one hun- 
 dred were carried away prisoners to the Iroquois towns. 
 It is a dark and bloody day in the annals of Canada, long 
 remembered as the “ Massacre of Lachine.” While the 
 discouraged colonists were stunned by the suddenness and 
 severity of the blow, Frontenac arrived for a second 
 term of office — the one and only man who could rally 
 them against the exultant Iroquois. He brought no 
 troops, but he brought back thirteen of the captives — all 
 who had survived the confinement and degrading labour 
 of the slave galleys. With these he opened up negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 Never did the colony stand in greater need, for the 
 Iroquois raged like demons along the whole line of set- 
 tlement and on the river and the lower lakes. Frontenac 
 found to his disgust that the post at Niagara had been 
 deserted and that Fort Frontenac had been abandoned and 
 blown up. But the route by the Ottawa to the upper 
 lakes are still available and the French traders at Mich- 
 ilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie were not intimidated. 
 The narrow streets of Montreal soon again swarmed with 
 life. One hundred and sixty-five canoes laden with 
 furs brought down Ojibways and Crees from Lake 
 Superior, Hurons and Ottawas from Mackinac, and the 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 403 
 
 Manitoulins, Pottawatomies from Lake Michigan, and 
 Algonquins from Lake Nipissing, together with French 
 fur traders and their men, and in the stir of reviving busi- 
 ness the Montrealers with characteristic elasticity recov- 
 ered their wonted spirits. A great council was held and 
 the Count de Frontenac, a nobleman of the court of 
 France who had held high command in the royal army 
 and was Lieutenant General for the King, led the war 
 dance, tomahawk in hand and whooping, in spite of his 
 seventy years, with a vigour hardly surpassed by the wild- 
 est savage of them all. Then came the solemn war-feast, 
 and two oxen and six large dogs assuaged the appetites 
 of the Indian chieftains and tested the politic com- 
 plaisance of their distinguished coryphaeus. The fiery old 
 governor soon rallied the forces of the colonists and his 
 first care was to rebuild La Salle’s Fort Frontenac. Then 
 he carried the war across Lake Ontario into the Iroquois 
 country, and although the Indians escaped into the forests 
 he burned the Onondaga and Oneida towns and destroyed 
 their stores of provisions for the winter. He died in 1698, 
 and his successors reaped the benefit of his labours, for 
 the Iroquois were so weakened by his attacks that after 
 the peace of 1701 they ceased to be formidable. It was 
 in fact with them as with the Romans of old whose policy 
 they so singularly reproduced, the original stubborn 
 fighting stock was reduced by incessant wars and the 
 adopted stock did not possess the same stoical character- 
 istics. 
 
 Peace with the Iroquois opened up again the routes to 
 the west by the lower lakes — very fortunately for the 
 colony, for the Fox Indians on the Michigan portages 
 began to manifest an implacable hostility to the French, 
 which closed the route by the Fox River and menaced the 
 Chicago and Kankakee portages. La Salle had perished, 
 but his projects survived and access to the Mississippi 
 valley became the chief object of the Canadians. This 
 was much more direct by Lake Erie and the Ohio than 
 by the circuitous route through the Straits of Michili- 
 mackinac, for the main affluents of the Ohio approach 
 
404 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 very closely to the shore of the lake. Great cities now 
 mark the river mouths leading to the portages, and great 
 railways carry an enormous traffic along the old lines of 
 canoe travel. These new routes were not discoveries, but 
 they now began to be frequented and to draw away from 
 the Ottawa route the main part of the western travel. 
 Detroit began to supplant Michilimackinac as a centre of 
 traffic, and the portages along the south shore of Lake 
 Erie were developed successively. It will be convenient 
 to review the results of exploration at the commencement 
 of the new century and to trace along its western and 
 southern margin the complete definition of the basin of 
 the great river of Canada. 
 
 Commencing then on the north of Lake Superior, near 
 the great double divide where the waters flow north, west, 
 and south to James’ Bay, Lake Winnipeg, and Lake 
 Superior, we find that in 1683, acting under orders of 
 Governor La Barre, the adventurous Dulhut had estab- 
 lished a post on Lake Nipigon. It was a commanding 
 situation, for from it the Indians descending to the Eng- 
 lish factories on Hudson’s Bay could be headed off, and 
 there he stationed his younger brother, Claude. Beyond 
 this point the Winnipeg divide approaches Lake Superior 
 and closes the St. Lawrence basin in on the west at a dis- 
 tance of only forty-five to sixty miles. Dulhut founded 
 his main station at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River, 
 now known as Fort William. A century later it was the 
 headquarters of the Northwest and Hudson’s Bay fur 
 trading companies, for it was the key to the whole North- 
 west, and there the brigades of canoes met and crossed — 
 some bound to Montreal over the waters of the lake, some 
 to the Mackenzie River basin and the Arctic Ocean, and 
 some to the Saskatchewan and the great south sea. 
 There after business was over the barons of the fur 
 trade held high carnival and exchanged experiences of 
 perils by land and by water — perils of hunger, of hostile 
 Indians, of rushing streams and of sealike lakes — true 
 tales beyond the dreams of the wildest romancer. Now 
 it is the shipping point upon St. Lawrence waters of the 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 405 
 
 Canadian Pacific Railway. From that point Dulhut 
 swayed the Crees, Assiniboines, and Ojibways, and even 
 reached the Sioux of the Upper Mississippi. At the 
 extreme western end of the lake is the mouth of the St. 
 Louis River, a small stream considered to be the source 
 of the St. Lawrence. 
 
 South of the lake was the mission of La Pointe, on 
 Chequamegon Bay, concerning which much has been said 
 in former chapters. Although it was abandoned by Mar- 
 quette and the Hurons the locality retained its importance 
 as a centre of traffic, for it commanded the most conven- 
 ient portages to the upper Mississippi. In later days the 
 post of La Pointe was on Madaline Island, at the mouth 
 of the bay. The American Fur Company built a post 
 there in the beginning of the nineteenth century, and in 
 1835 Bishop Baraga re-established the mission of St. 
 Esprit, intermitted for over one hundred and fifty years. 
 Henry’s post, however, was on the old site on the main- 
 land, and though the position of the old La Pointe cannot 
 now be precisely fixed, it must not be confounded with 
 the comparatively recent La Pointe of existing maps. At 
 the eastern end of Lake Superior is Sault Ste. Marie, con- 
 cerning which enough has already been said, and from 
 thence the route by the north shore of Lake Huron and 
 French River, Lake Nipissing, and the Ottawa to Mont- 
 real was well known and had been frequented from the 
 earliest days of the colony. 
 
 Sufficient has also been said of Michilimackinac, the 
 gateway of Lake Michigan, and of the three main routes 
 to the Mississippi from its shores. The route by Green 
 Bay and Fox River, and that by the Chicago portage into 
 the Des Plaines branch of the Illinois River, have been 
 frequently mentioned. On the Illinois River Tonty held 
 the fort of St. Louis during the absence and for some 
 time after the death of La Salle. Passing round the end 
 of the lake to its eastern shore was the third route, that by 
 the St. Joseph River, which, as has been shown, was much 
 used by La Salle. This stream divides into two branches ; 
 the eastern fork leads to an affluent of the Wabash and 
 
406 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 thence into the Ohio, and the southern leads to the Kan- 
 kakee, a tributary of the Illinois. La Salle built his Fort 
 St. Joseph at the mouth of the river, but in 1712 the 
 French built another of the same name at the portage on 
 the upper river near the present town of South Bend, 
 Indiana. Although it commanded a network of interior 
 communication, it soon was superseded by more direct 
 routes to the Mississippi. There were usually missions 
 at all established posts and the country around soon be- 
 came well known. 
 
 All thoughts in Canada were now turned to the Miss- 
 issippi. At the close of the seventeenth century it was 
 known in its full extent. As early as 1689 Nicholas 
 Perrot had forts on the upper river at the mouth of the 
 Wisconsin and on Lake Pepin. The missionaries Mon- 
 tigny, St. Cosme, Davion, and Thaumur de la Source, 
 starting from Michilimackinac and passing over the 
 Chicago portage, went down in 1699 as far as the present 
 Baton Rouge, establishing missions. In 1700 Father 
 Gravier followed by the same route to the gulf, and in the 
 same year Le Sueur went from the gulf up the river 
 as far as the present St. Paul and some distance up the 
 Minnesota River. In the same years (1699-1702) expe- 
 ditions from France under Iberville and Bienville, two 
 brothers of the Le Moyne family of Montreal, so cele- 
 brated in Canadian history, founded Biloxi and Mobile 
 on the Gulf of Mexico to guard the mouths of the Miss- 
 issippi. The mission priests from the posts on the 
 Mississippi went down to visit the new settlers, and the 
 chivalrous Tonty, abandoning by royal order his Fort of 
 St. Louis on the Illinois, went down to another Fort St. 
 Louis at Mobile, to die there in 1704. At many places 
 along the river Canadians had settled among the Indians. 
 The problem of its true source among the myriads of 
 Minnesota lakes remained in dispute until very recent 
 years, but when the eighteenth century opened the river 
 was known in its whole course. It was to open more 
 direct access to it that the south shore of Lake Erie 
 was explored. 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 407 
 
 The foundation of Detroit marked the change. In 
 1686 Dulhut, under Denonville’s orders, had established 
 a temporary post there with a garrison of fifty men, but 
 it was not until 1701 that La Mothe Cadillac made a 
 permanent settlement and became the founder of the 
 city. By his influence among the Indians and the post’s 
 proximity to the Erie portages it grew at the expense 
 of Michilimackinac, and the southern waters of Lake 
 Huron ceased to be frequented. This was the cause of 
 the lateness of exploration and settlement in the Huron 
 tract in Canada and on the peninsula of Michigan. 
 
 Following the geographical development of the coun- 
 try, we must cross the southern part of the peninsula of 
 Michigan to the western shore of Lake Erie. There the 
 City of Toledo, Ohio, at the mouth of the Maumee River, 
 fifty-three miles east of Detroit, marks the entrance to the 
 route by the Wabash leading by the Ohio into the Miss- 
 issippi. This is the most direct and soon became the 
 chief route of travel. It is important also from its 
 extensive interior communications. The Maumee River 
 is formed by two branches, the St. Mary and St. Joseph, 
 uniting at the present Fort Wayne (Indiana), and a 
 portage of eight miles at that point leads to a branch of 
 the Wabash ; but by following up the St. Joseph River a 
 short portage leads to the other St. Joseph (for both rise 
 in Hillsdale County, Michigan), and by that means a 
 voyager could either pass down to La Salle’s Fort at St. 
 Joseph on Lake Michigan, or might carry his canoe into 
 the Kankakee at La Salle’s portage and so drop down into 
 the Illinois. The route became so important that several 
 forts were built upon it — Fort Miami at the Wabash 
 portage, Fort Ouitanon, built in 1720, on the upper river, 
 and Vincennes, nearer to the junction with the Ohio, 
 founded perhaps as early as 1702, but certainly before 
 1709. In that year Bissot de Vincennes returned from 
 the West to Montreal and sold out his interest in a 
 seigniory on the Labrador coast. 
 
 Eastwards fifty-seven miles along the lake shore is 
 the present city of Sandusky, not far from the mouth of a 
 
408 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 river of the same name, from the head of which, by a 
 short portage, the Scioto River is reached. The next 
 point to be noted is Cleveland, fifty-six miles further, at 
 the mouth of the Cuyahoga, leading to a portage into the 
 Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers, draining into the 
 Ohio. These two routes were not so much frequented as 
 the others. 
 
 The Ohio divide approaches the lake shore closer and 
 closer as it passes to the east, and French Creek, a branch 
 of the Allegheny, rises near the site of the present city of 
 Erie, Pennsylvania, ninety-five miles east of Cleveland, 
 where the Island of Presque Isle makes an admirably 
 sheltered harbour. This was a very important route, for 
 it led down to the very spot where the English were 
 beginning to cross the mountains into the Ohio valley. 
 The Allegheny is the northern of the two main forks 
 which unite to form the Ohio at the site of the present 
 Pittsburgh, where in 1754 the Virginians built a fort 
 which the French seized the same year and named Fort 
 Duquesne. In that obscure spot in the North American 
 woods originated the seven years’ war which transferred 
 to England the dominion of the St. Lawrence valley, and 
 there, as a major in the service of the English king, 
 George Washington struck the first blow in the fateful 
 contest. Last of the Erie routes is the portage to Chau- 
 tauqua Lake in the extreme west of New York State. 
 The outlet of this beautiful lake is one of the sources 
 of the Allegheny. It is only eight miles distant from 
 the Lake Erie shore, but its level is 726 feet higher 
 and the portage is steep. Fort Le Boeuf guarded 
 the end of the Presqu’ile portage at French Creek, 
 and Fort Venango at the junction of French Creek with 
 the Allegheny River controlled both routes. On the lake 
 shore Fort Presqu’ile was built in 1752. The portage 
 by Presqu’ile was twenty miles long, but much less labo- 
 rious than that by Chautauqua Lake. This route and 
 that by the Wabash were the most used of all the routes 
 to the Mississippi valley, as is evident by the number of 
 forts guarding them. In the early part of the eighteenth 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 409 
 
 century the Ohio basin adjoining the St. Lawrence was 
 well known to the French, and the English traders were 
 beginning to pass over the mountains. To check their in- 
 roads the French Governor, La Galissoniere, sent Celeron 
 de Bienville with a party and a notary as witnesses to a 
 renewal of possession of the whole region in the most for- 
 mal way. He carried with him a number of metal plates 
 engraved with the claims of France, which he buried at 
 the chief points of his route. He went by the Chautauqua 
 portage and passed down the Allegheny into the Ohio, 
 which he followed to the Great Miami. He went up the 
 last stream and made a portage to the Maumee and 
 descended by it to Lake Erie. 
 
 We have seen in a previous chapter that La Salle 
 erected a small post at the Niagara portage. That had 
 been given up when in 1687 the governor, Denonville, 
 after summoning to his aid in his inglorious Iroquois 
 expedition all the French from the far West, ordered Dul- 
 hut, Durantaye, Tonty, and De Troyes to build and garri- 
 son a fort at Niagara. Garrison life did not suit such 
 rovers, and one after another left. In 1688 the remainder 
 of the garrison abandoned the fort by the governor’s 
 order, and the Senecas were once more relieved of the 
 presence of white men at a place which they watched most 
 jealously. Joncaire, a half-breed Seneca in the service of 
 the French, settled there in 1721, and in that year Father 
 Charlevoix on his journey up the lakes lodged in his 
 cabin. In 1726 Joncaire got permission to build a fort, 
 and the French held and strengthened it, for it was a most 
 important strategic point and barred the English traders 
 from the upper lakes. This the English resented, the more 
 keenly inasmuch as, through their alliance with the Iro- 
 quois, they laid claim to an exclusive influence over their 
 territory — such a claim as would now be set up in what 
 is called a sphere of influence. 
 
 Following along the south shore of Lake Ontario, the 
 Genesee River has already been indicated as the probable 
 route of La Salle’s first voyage down the Ohio. Charle- 
 voix described it, in 1721, from descriptions of the French 
 
410 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 officers, and they evidently knew it in its whole length — 
 not only the falls on its upper reaches, but the ultimate 
 portage to the Allegheny. Both rivers rise in Potter 
 County, Pennsylvania, and not far away the springs of 
 the Susquehanna, flowing into the Atlantic, overlap. 
 From the Genesee eastward the water south of the St. 
 Lawrence divide ceases to flow into the Gulf of Mexico 
 and drains by the Susquehanna, Delaware, and Mohawk 
 rivers down the eastern slope of the Allegheny Moun- 
 tains into the Atlantic. From Niagara to Lake Cham- 
 plain — from the Seneca to the Mohawk towns — the great 
 Iroquois trail passed, well known from the earliest days 
 of the colony down even to our time, for the main road 
 still follows it. The English as an offset to Niagara built 
 a fort at Oswego, from whence they were extending their 
 trade across Lake Ontario to Lake Huron by the Toronto 
 portages. The French replied by building Fort Rouille 
 on the site of the present Toronto. 
 
 All these routes of access or exit to the valley of the 
 St. Lawrence were of minor importance in comparison 
 with the avenue by Lakes George and Champlain, and 
 their outlet, the Richelieu River. That was the high- 
 road between Canada and the English colonies to the 
 south, and invading armies passed both ways during the 
 constant struggle for empire, for a broad and deep nav- 
 igable waterway extends the basin of the St. Lawrence 
 far into the present United States. The heads of Lakes 
 George and Champlain are close to the sources of the 
 Hudson, and the water-parting is low. Large steamers 
 may now ply from St. Johns on the Richelieu, only 
 twenty-seven miles from Montreal, to Whitehall, in the 
 State of New York. In the seventeenth century the 
 river was known as Riviere aux Iroquois, for it led to 
 the heart of the Mohawk country. The route was 
 studded with forts, both English and French, and the 
 whole region is rich in romantic and historical associa- 
 tions. Additional importance was attached to this route 
 because it led to the Mohawk River. By following up 
 the Mohawk to a short portage of over one mile the 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 4x1 
 
 traveller could cross into Wood Creek, flowing into 
 Oneida Lake, and from thence down the Oswego River 
 to Lake Ontario. Fort Stanwix was built on the portage 
 where the city of Rome now stands — a spot full of stir- 
 ring historical associations, smothered under a venerable 
 Old World name, meaningless there. Oswego on the 
 lake shore was strongly fortified by the English. At the 
 present time, when so much is said about expeditionary 
 forces, it may be useful to recall the fact that Amherst 
 in 1760 assembled his main army at Oswego by this route, 
 and from thence went down the St. Lawrence with 11,000 
 men and 822 boats and batteaux to the attack of Montreal. 
 This immense flotilla ran all the rapids of the river to 
 Lachine, and though a few batteaux were wrecked the 
 success of the expedition testified to the rare military 
 skill of its leaders. 
 
 East of Lake Champlain the Connecticut River was the 
 main avenue for French and Indian raids upon the back 
 settlements of the English colonies. Otter Creek, which 
 falls into Lake Champlain opposite Ticonderoga, was a 
 common route, and Onion, now called Winooski River, 
 was also followed. There were routes from the St. 
 Francis River and Lake Memphremagog leading to the 
 sources of the Connecticut, but they were laborious and 
 used mainly by the Abenaqui Indians in their merciless 
 war parties against the hated New Englanders. 
 
 The historic portage route from Quebec to New Eng- 
 land has been mentioned in a previous chapter. It was 
 up the Chaudiere River opposite Quebec and through 
 Lake Megantic to its source, then by a portage across 
 the height of land to Dead River, — a branch of the Kenne- 
 bec, — and down the Kennebec to the sea near the present 
 Portland, Maine. The route was well known to the 
 Jesuits, who served their coast missions by it, and Father 
 Druillettes several times passed down that way on his 
 errands to Boston. There was nothing surprising in 
 Arnold’s expedition to Quebec by that route in 1775. 
 The portage had been “ blazed ” and could not have been 
 missed. The feat has been greatly exaggerated in the 
 
412 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 books of history. Below Quebec there were many routes 
 leading south to the sea. That chiefly followed was by 
 the Riviere du Loup and a portage to Lake Temiscouata, 
 from whence the Madawaska led into the River St. John. 
 It was known from the earliest years of French discovery. 
 The portage routes between Chaleur Bay and the St. 
 Lawrence were well known also, but the peninsula of 
 Gaspe was not explored. It is a rough mountain table- 
 land, and until it was examined by Messrs. Macoun and 
 Low of the Geological Survey, twenty years ago, little 
 was known about the interior of that region. 
 
 In this chapter and the one immediately preceding, the 
 water-parting of the St. Lawrence basin has been traced 
 throughout its whole length and its relations to the 
 adjoining river basins have been shown. When the 
 French handed Canada over to the English Crown it was 
 a definite and mapped country very much larger than it 
 is now. The valleys of the Ohio and upper Mississippi — 
 including the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota — formed part of it, 
 for the whole region had been discovered from Canada 
 and was governed from Quebec. After the conquest 
 came the Indian war stirred up by Pontiac, and then fol- 
 lowed the war of the American Revolution. 
 
 After the peace of 1783 those in the thirteen revolted 
 colonies who had sided with the Crown were proscribed 
 and their property was confiscated. Then began the settle- 
 ment of the western part of Canada, now known as the 
 Province of Ontario. The French grants extended as 
 far as Coteau du Lac on Lake St. Francis, forty miles 
 above Montreal; beyond that was a forest wilderness. 
 The military posts existed, but there was not one settler 
 until Detroit was reached. There were a few farms on 
 the Detroit River, and west of that, excepting the military 
 posts, was wilderness again. The great immigration 
 commenced in 1783. The exiles with their families 
 arrived on foot, bringing their scanty baggage on carts 
 — some of them all the way from the Carolinas. They 
 crossed Lake Ontario in open boats, coasting along the 
 
Thk Town and Fortifications of Montreal. 
 (From an old engraving.) 
 
OCCUPATION OF THE VALLEY 413 
 
 shore and camping at night. Then came the surveyors, 
 who laid off township after township on the river, com- 
 mencing where the French grants ended; continuing at 
 the present Kingston and on the Bay of Quinte and 
 extending their surveys rapidly westwards along Lakes 
 Ontario and Erie as the loyalist regiments were disbanded. 
 It was not exploration, it was settlement. The story of 
 the struggle with the wilderness is too long to narrate. 
 It is full of courage and devotion, but it does not fall 
 within our scheme. 
 
 The loyalist settlers had been driven from the lands 
 where were the roads and bridges they had helped to 
 build. Everything was to be done over again, and they 
 set bravely to work to tame the wilderness. Attempts 
 were made to improve the channel of the St. Lawrence 
 close to the shore as early as 1779. A little later the pro- 
 jecting points of the river banks were cut through and 
 boats of light draught were “ tracked up ” at places 
 where, in the French period, portages were necessary. 
 Gradually these cuts were improved, and the present mag- 
 nificent system of canals was evolved, until a chain of 
 canals opened up, for vessels drawing fourteen feet, a 
 stretch of 1274 miles of inland navigation; so that from 
 the quay opposite Dulhut’s old home in Montreal a 
 steamer could pass, without breaking bulk, to Port 
 Arthur at the head of Lake Superior, the headquarters of 
 his busy life in the West. The last to be completed was 
 the Sault Ste. Marie canal on the Canada side — a great 
 work, consisting of one lock 900 feet long by 60 feet 
 wide and with 20 feet depth of water. The route from 
 Lake Simcoe to Lake Ontario which Champlain followed 
 with the Huron war party is being rapidly improved by 
 a system of works, and proposals are entertained for a 
 series of canals to overcome the portages along the 
 Ottawa and the French rivers to the Georgian Bay of 
 Lake Huron, up which Champlain went, in 1615, on his 
 visit to the Huron country. 
 
 In 1791 Upper Canada, now Ontario, was set off from 
 the French province of Lower Canada as a separate gov- 
 
4H THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 ernment under English laws. The first survey of the 
 harbour of the present Toronto was made in 1793. Two 
 wigwams of Mississauga Indians were then the sole fore- 
 runners of the crowds which hurry along the streets of 
 the busy capital of Ontario. 
 
 At the end of the portage where Jolliet and La Salle 
 met the city of Hamilton now stands. The lakes are 
 covered with steamboats and barges, railways run along 
 the rivers and centre in the strategic points of the old por- 
 tages, the forests are replaced by farms, and the lumber- 
 men have to go up to the height of land on the north; 
 but the process from the French times was one of survey 
 and settlement. The story does not belong to geography, 
 but to history, and in the pages of the historians it should 
 be sought. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 OCCUPATION OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 
 
 I N previous chapters the discovery and exploration of 
 the Acadian coast have been narrated up to the first 
 settlement in 1604, by De Monts, Champlain, and 
 Poutrincourt. The exploration of the coast, not 
 only of the Atlantic, but of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, from 
 the date of discovery was carried on continuously by the 
 fishermen of Western Europe. One after another the bays 
 and creeks and rivers were searched out, as prospects of a 
 bountiful catch of fish and profitable trade with the 
 natives presented themselves, until all of a sudden we find 
 in Champlain’s maps complete and fairly correct outlines 
 of all the coast of Acadia and Newfoundland. While he 
 had himself coasted nearly the whole of Acadia, Cham- 
 plain made use of information derived from all sources. 
 In his first map (1610) there is, however, no sign of 
 Prince Edward Island; in the second, bearing upon it 
 the date 1612, is a small, round island off the north coast 
 of Nova Scotia, marked Ille St. Jean, and a legend states 
 that the author had not visited that coast ; but in the latest 
 map — that of 1632 — Isle St. Jean is laid down of full 
 size and in correct position, although there is no record 
 of Champlain ever having been there. These maps indi- 
 cate that only between 1608 and 1632 the Island of St. 
 John (Prince Edward Island) was recognised as sepa- 
 rated from the mainland of Acadia. 
 
 The settlement of Poutrincourt at Port Royal was 
 scattered and destroyed in 1613 by an English expedi- 
 tion from Virginia, and for nearly thirty years Acadia 
 was the theatre of much romance and much history, but 
 of little recorded exploration. The French, driven out of 
 Port Royal, did not all leave Acadia, but some retired 
 
 415 
 
416 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 among the Indians and married Indian women. The 
 attention of the English was, however, directed towards 
 the country — or, to be precise, the attention of the Scotch 
 — for in 1621 James I., as King of Scotland, with the 
 concurrence of the Privy Council of Scotland, granted 
 a charter to Sir William Alexander for an immense 
 region, including all the present Maritime Provinces of 
 Canada with the eastern part of the Province of Quebec. 
 An abortive attempt was made in 1628 by Alexander’s 
 son to found a Scotch settlement at Port Royal. They 
 built a fort on the site of Champlain’s fort, but all that 
 commemorates the attempt is the name Nova Scotia and 
 the empty title, “ Baronet of Nova Scotia,” still borne by 
 many noble families in Scotland. At the peace of St. 
 Germain-en-Laye Acadia was restored to France and the 
 Scotch settlers returned to Scotland, though it is main- 
 tained thaLa few of them remained with the Indians. 
 The history immediately succeeding is confused. Bien- 
 court, son and heir of the original grantee, Poutrincourt, 
 transferred his rights to Charles de La Tour, to whose 
 father, Claude de La Tour (who became an English 
 subject and a Baronet of Nova Scotia), Sir William 
 Alexander transferred a portion of what he considered his 
 rights under the Scottish patent. The younger La Tour 
 (Charles) had a post at Cape Sable, and held it for the 
 French Crown against his father, notwithstanding which 
 proof of loyalty the French King superseded him and 
 sent out as Governor Isaac de Razilly, who founded a 
 post at La Heve. In the meantime Charles de La Tour 
 had removed his establishment to the mouth of the St. 
 John River — the site of the present city of that name. 
 When Razilly died, in 1636, he left his interests in Nova 
 Scotia to d’Aulnay Charnisay, who was appointed by the 
 French King. Private war ensued, and Charnisay 
 besieged the fort at St. John, which in her husband’s 
 absence was bravely defended by Madame de La Tour. 
 Treason led to the surrender of the fort and treachery 
 led to the breach of the conditions of surrender. The 
 garrison were all hanged, and the high-spirited lady was 
 
View from the Site of the Old French Fort at Port Royal (Annapolis). 
 
 Looking down the river and across the basin. Champlain’s settlement was on the opposite side and lower down. 
 
 [Face page 416. 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 417 
 
 forced to witness, with a rope round her own neck, the 
 execution of her faithful servants. She died shortly 
 after the indignity, and Charnisay was drowned five years 
 later in the Annapolis River. It was he who transferred 
 the settlement to the present site of the town of Annapo- 
 lis. This quiet little town of to-day was a very storm 
 centre in the seventeenth century. It was captured by 
 Sedgwick in 1654 by the order of Cromwell — it was 
 restored in 1668 by Charles II. ; it was captured again by 
 Phips in 1690 by order of William III., and was restored 
 at the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 ; it was captured again 
 by Nicholson in 1710 for Queen Anne, and at last, in 
 1713, its destiny was settled at the Peace of Utrecht, when 
 Acadia was ceded to the English Crown. 
 
 Among those who came to Acadia with De Razilly 
 was Nicholas Denys, a man of different stamp — a man 
 of peace, a coloniser and organiser. While Razilly lived 
 at his post at La Heve Denys carried on a shore fishery 
 at Port Rossignol (now Liverpool), but Charnisay was 
 an impossible neighbour and Denys removed to the east- 
 ern end of Nova Scotia and established posts at Cheda- 
 bucto (Guysborough), at St. Peter’s and St. Anne’s on 
 Cape Breton Island, and at Miscou far up the gulf at the 
 southern point of the opening of Chaleur Bay. At these 
 posts he made clearings and plantations, and built forts 
 for their protection. His thorough acquaintance with the 
 country is manifest by the admirable situation of his 
 establishments. At Miscou he secured the fisheries of 
 Chaleur Bay, so productive that its Indian name was 
 “ sea of fish.” At St. Peter’s the Bras d’Or, which 
 occupies the centre of the island, is separated from the 
 outer sea by an isthmus only a mile wide, across which he 
 made a road ; and his post at St. Anne’s, at the other end 
 of the Bras d’Or, commanded the entrance from the 
 ocean. Denys held his grant from the King of France. 
 It was dated in 1654, and extended from Cape Canso in 
 Nova Scotia to Cape Rosier in Gaspe. He wrote a 
 volume, published at Paris in 1672 with a map, describing 
 
 all the region. The coal of Cape Breton was first ex- 
 27 
 
4 i 8 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 plaited by him — not a difficult task, however, for it crops 
 out on the sea shore. Denys stands out an admirable 
 type of organising coloniser in a period of confusion. 
 
 Under the French rule the Acadians had been over- 
 governed; but they prospered under the sleepy govern- 
 ment of the little English garrison at Port Royal 
 (Annapolis). Their clearings spread along the valley of 
 the Annapolis River and the shores of the Basin of Minas 
 and the head of the Bay of Fundy, but they never liked 
 the English, whom they considered to be heretics, and 
 they inspired the Indians with the same feeling. They 
 dwelt in constant hope that the country would be again 
 restored to France, and in the meantime they did as they 
 liked and paid no taxes. At last the British Government 
 decided to occupy Nova Scotia strongly, and in 1749 
 founded the city of Halifax. The expedition included 
 all classes of society and artificers in all trades. The 
 dreams of the Acadians received a rude shock, for they 
 never expected the English to settle in Acadia, and 
 indeed under the influence of the French in Canada and 
 Cape Breton, and being very ignorant and simple in 
 their isolation, they even doubted the right of the English 
 to occupy the country. The pitiful story of the expatria- 
 tion of the Acadians does not fall within the scope of 
 this volume — it is long and difficult to narrate with 
 justice, and full of sorrow and tears. Then came the 
 recoil of Frontenac’s and Vaudreuil’s system of terror- 
 ising the English frontier by war parties of Indians led 
 by Frenchmen. The aftermath of the bloody raids of 
 Schenectady, Salmon Falls, and Casco, of Deerfield, 
 Haverhill, and many other English settlements, fell upon 
 this unfortunate people. The plan was conceived in 
 Massachusetts and colonial troops carried it out. 
 
 The lands of the expelled Acadian French were slowly 
 taken up, for the Micmac Indians scalped every English- 
 man who strayed outside the protection of the forts, but 
 settlers came in after the peace of 1763, and after the 
 Revolutionary War large numbers of loyalist refugees 
 and disbanded troops settled in Nova Scotia. Lunen- 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 419 
 
 burg was settled by Germans in 1753, Pictou and Antig- 
 onish by Scotch Highlanders about 1773. Colonel 
 Robert Morse of the Royal Engineers wrote in 1784 a 
 full description of Nova Scotia in its widest sense, 
 including all Acadia. He found settlements dotted all 
 along the shores of the peninsula and mainland, and since 
 then the settlement of the province has steadily pro- 
 ceeded. There are unsettled parts in the interior, but as 
 the peninsula is nowhere more than seventy-five miles 
 across, and deep inlets indent the shores, and rivers and 
 lakes lead into the interior, the country is well known 
 to sportsmen and lumbermen and cannot be called un- 
 explored. Similar conditions exist generally in all the 
 provinces. Exploration was early completed. Every- 
 where the rivers and streams and lakes covered the forest 
 wilderness with a network of roads and lanes of clear, 
 bright water, and trails led from one cardinal point to 
 another. As settlements progressed on the coast the lum- 
 bermen worked up the streams and cut the choice timber 
 in the interior forests, floating it down to tide water. 
 Every lumber firm had, and still has, “ explorers ” search- 
 ing out good localities for the following year’s cut, but 
 the topography of the country in all its essential points 
 was in the meantime well known, though not surveyed, 
 nor always accurately mapped. Even yet there are dis- 
 cordances upon Canadian maps, for every provincial 
 government and different departments of the Dominion 
 Government make their own maps — there is no official 
 central geographical authority as in England and other 
 countries of Europe. 
 
 As appears in preceding chapters, the point of Cape 
 Breton was the very first spot on the northeast coast of 
 the continent known to Europeans. It was the point of 
 discovery in 1497, and a well-known rendezvous for 
 sailors after 1504. Sailors of all nations fished on the 
 coast. Special harbours were preferred by each nation, 
 as is clear from their old names. Thus 5 t. Anne’s Bay 
 was resorted to chiefly by the French, the present Sydney 
 harbour was known as la Baye des Espagnols, and the 
 
420 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 Louisbourg of after times as Havre aux Anglais ; 
 Niganis, now Ingonish, was the site of an abortive Portu- 
 guese colony in 1521, and Mira Bay and River are names 
 transferred from Portugal. Under the authority of King 
 James’ patent to Sir William Alexander, Sir James 
 Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, in 1629, made an attempt to 
 found a colony. He had sixty people with him, including 
 women and children. He selected Baleine harbour, two 
 miles west of the point of Cape Breton, for his settlement, 
 and there he built a fort and forthwith proceeded to exer- 
 cise authority. He had not been many months there when 
 Captain Daniel of Dieppe seized the fort and hoisted the 
 French flag. He deported the English settlers to Eng- 
 land and France, razed the fort and carried off the guns 
 and ammunition to Grand Cibou, where he established a 
 post, which he called Ste. Anne — known after 1713 as 
 Port Dauphin. After the Treaty of Utrecht had ceded 
 Nova Scotia to England France determined to create at 
 Louisbourg a western Gibraltar to guard the entrance of 
 the gulf, a plan which was achieved with so much success 
 that the English could not carry out any successful settle- 
 ment in Acadia because of incessant intrigues carried on 
 from thence among the Micmac Indians. In 1747 the 
 New England troops, in conjunction with a British fleet, 
 captured the stronghold which had been so long a thorn 
 in their side. It was restored at the peace, and had to be 
 taken again in 1758 by Wolfe before it was possible to 
 attack Quebec. The island was made a separate gov- 
 ernment in 1784, and Sydney, the capital, was founded 
 by the first governor, Des Barres, in 1785. Settlement 
 was slow and the island was in 1820 annexed to the 
 Province of Nova Scotia. It was thoroughly well known 
 to the French, excepting the long mountainous prolon- 
 gation to the north. The interior of that peninsula 
 remained unexplored until within the last twenty years, 
 when it was examined by an officer (Mr. Fletcher) of the 
 Geological Survey. 
 
 The Province of New Brunswick was set off from 
 Nova Scotia in 1784 and the city of St. John was founded 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 421 
 
 in 1783, but, as we have seen, Champlain surveyed the 
 harbour in 1604, and we have his chart with his sound- 
 ings laid down upon it. La Tour built a fort there in 
 1635, and from that time to the conquest and cession of 
 Canada there was always an establishment of more or 
 less importance there. The River St. John is remarkable 
 for navigability throughout its entire course. Only at 
 one spot, the Grand Falls, two hundred and twelve miles 
 from its mouth, is it necessary to make a portage. Its 
 branches spread widely over the province and interlock 
 with the head-waters of many important streams open- 
 ing up the interior of what is now Maine, as well as 
 New Brunswick, and giving access by several routes 
 to the St. Lawrence. The whole province is singularly 
 well watered, and in the French period, not only were 
 there posts at the mouths of the rivers, but at cardinal 
 points on their courses There was no formal exploration, 
 but gradual advance along the streams. Among the 
 grants registered at Quebec were a number of seigniories 
 on the St. John River, as well as in other places in Acadia. 
 There was a fort at the junction of the Nashwaak (near 
 the present Fredericton), which the English besieged in 
 1696, and one at Jemseg, built first by the English in 
 1659, and strengthened by the French in later years. 
 The country round the head of the Bay of Fundy was 
 early settled and forts were built by the English and 
 French. The concession to Nicholas Denys before men- 
 tioned ran along the New Brunswick coast on the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence, and at the end of the seventeenth century 
 there were posts and grants at the mouths of the Richi- 
 bucto, Miramichi, and Nipisiquit rivers, as well as ,at 
 Miscou. 
 
 The deportation of the Acadians, the break-up of the 
 French trade, and the withdrawal of all the little gar- 
 risons put back the development of this region until the 
 outcome of the civil war among the English threw, in 
 1783, into New Brunswick a loyalist immigration, which 
 really laid the foundation of the present province. To 
 dwell farther upon the subject is beyond the scope of this 
 
422 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 volume. What occurred was settlement, for the explora- 
 tion had previously been done. Parts of the interior are 
 still wild — sacred to the moose and caribou, where the 
 hunter and fisherman may leave behind all sign of civil- 
 isation, and where the rivers and portage trails are the 
 only roads. 
 
 Prince Edward Island is the only completely occupied 
 province of the Dominion. Although, as we have seen, 
 Cartier coasted a part of its shore in 1534, he supposed 
 it to be a part of the mainland, and so it remained on the 
 maps for nearly a hundred years. We first hear of this 
 Island of St. John (for there were others) in 1623, when 
 the Basques, who for a time resisted the royal conces- 
 sions to the companies trading and fishing in the gulf, 
 seized one of Champlain’s vessels and took it to a post 
 they had fortified on the island for their own account. 
 The island in 1661 was included with the Magdalen 
 Islands in a concession made to the Sieur Doublet and 
 others. After Louisbourg was founded attention was 
 directed to the Island of St. John as a source of supply, 
 and in 1720 it was regranted to a company of which 
 the Count de St. Pierre was chief. The other islands in 
 the gulf were again included, together with a post at 
 Miscou. An attempt was made at colonisation, but 
 although the fertility of the island was recognised, very 
 little was done until 1733, when a fort was built and a 
 garrison placed at Port La Joie, the present Charlotte- 
 town. The French Acadians were expelled from there 
 also, and in 1769 the British Government granted the 
 island to a number of proprietors. Settlement was slow 
 at first, but about 1800 the current of settlers increased. 
 The absentee proprietors clung in after years to their 
 grants with great tenacity, and it was not until after 
 confederation they could be compelled to sell out. 
 
 The islands in the gulf have been referred to inci- 
 dentally in previous chapters. The Magdalen Islands 
 were included in the grants first to Doublet and then to 
 St. Pierre. The English Government granted them to 
 Admiral Coffin in 1798, in whose family they have 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 423 
 
 remained. They are inhabited by a contented popula- 
 tion of fishermen. The Island of Anticosti, facing the 
 estuary of the river, challenges attention from its size and 
 position. It is 122 miles long and 30 miles wide, and 
 until the last few years it was known only as one of the 
 dangers of navigation in the gulf, and associated with 
 gruesome stories of shipwreck and starvation. The 
 coasts have long been accurately surveyed and charted, 
 but the interior has been, until recently, unknown, and 
 much of it is still unexplored. It was a favourite ground 
 for hunting walruses, and Hakluyt records voyages 
 thither, but the walruses have long since been extermi- 
 nated. Jolliet made an attempt to settle there after the 
 island was granted to him in 1680, and he wintered there 
 with his family for several seasons, but in 1690 the Eng- 
 lish, under Admiral Phips, destroyed his establishments 
 and ruined him. The property passed by inheritance 
 through several generations until after the conquest, 
 when some English people bought it, but none of them 
 made any serious attempt to colonise or use the island 
 in any way. It existed solely as a terror to sailors. At 
 last in 1874 a company made an attempt at colonisation, 
 but failed. No one would believe the island was good 
 for anything but wrecking ships. After many abortive 
 attempts to dispose of it, the island was in 1895 pur- 
 chased for $125,000 by M. Henry Menier of Paris, and 
 is now his property in fee simple. He is restocking it 
 with game, bringing in settlers, establishing fisheries, 
 leasing farms, making roads, and building mills for lum- 
 ber, grain, and pulp. A village has started up at the 
 place where M. Menier has fixed the seat of what is prac- 
 tically his government, and it has now been discovered 
 that the thick matted brushwood along the coast is merely 
 a screen concealing much good land and good timber. 
 M. Menier has, in fact, a principality of 2600 square 
 miles in extent — larger than Prince Edward Island — 
 where, subject only to the public law of Canada, he is 
 supreme. Attempts are now and then made to excite 
 prejudice on account of M. Menier’s nationality, but in 
 
424 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 vain, for he is redeeming a waste portion of Canada and 
 making a wilderness into a home for a settled popula- 
 tion. Such aliens are benefactors, and it will be time 
 enough to fear M. Menier when he begins to rear for- 
 tresses and raise troops. 
 
 The island province of Newfoundland is a standing 
 witness of the power of bad laws to retard the settlement 
 of a fine colony. It is the oldest transatlantic possession 
 of the British Crown, and it has been for hundreds of 
 years the unfortunate subject of constant imperial legisla- 
 tion. Its early discovery has been sufficiently dwelt upon 
 in previous chapters. At the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century the coast line of the island was fully 
 explored. Almost every harbour was then frequented by 
 fishermen from Western Europe, and no more than that 
 could be said at the close of the eighteenth century. 
 Even yet the population is a fringe on the sea coast at 
 the east and south, and it is only within the last few 
 months that the foreign influence which for two hun- 
 dred years kept the north and west coasts a wilderness, 
 has, by a stroke of wise and happy statesmanship, been 
 removed. 
 
 The dominant idea of all legislation from 1633 to 1800 
 regarding Newfoundland was that it should be a nursery 
 of English seamen, and to that end the fishing industry 
 was alone sanctioned. Every other interest was re- 
 pressed. Such permanent settlers as there were were 
 discouraged and more than once orders-in-council were 
 passed to compel them to remove to another colony, by 
 tearing down their homes. Buildings could not be 
 erected without the permission of the governor, and 
 vessels were forbidden to carry settlers to the island. 
 The object was to make it a fishing station only, from 
 which, when the season was over, all the inhabitants 
 should return to England. 
 
 It is unprofitable to dwell upon such perversities of 
 government excepting to explain the otherwise unac- 
 countable fact that a large portion of the interior of 
 Newfoundland is to this day unexplored. It is not sur- 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 425 
 
 prising that a lake not laid down upon the maps should be 
 announced as discovered in September, 1903. There are 
 many blanks upon the map yet to be filled up, especially 
 in the northern peninsula and in the southern part of the 
 interior. Communication, until the railway was con- 
 structed, was almost solely by sea, and the first piece of 
 ordinary road was not built until the year 1825. 
 
 The first attempt at exploration of the interior was 
 made in 1822 by Mr, W. E. Cormack. He had arranged 
 to have a companion from the colony with him, and a 
 Micmac Indian as guide, but the governor opposed the 
 attempt, and as the colonist held some civil appointment 
 Cormack had to go with the Indian only, the governor, 
 fortunately, having no hold on the Micmacs. Cormack 
 started from the head of Random Sound, in Trinity Bay, 
 September 3, and arrived at St. George’s Bay, on the 
 west coast, on November 2, having crossed the island on 
 foot at its widest part. He found game plentiful, and in 
 the ponds and lakes were geese, ducks, and fish in abun- 
 dance. The woods were all furrowed with paths made by 
 caribou in their migrations. There were marshes and 
 barrens, but also green plains and good timber. No simi- 
 lar attempt was made until 1864, when a Geological Sur- 
 vey was instituted under Mr. Alexander Murray, and it 
 has been successfully continued under his successor, Mr. 
 James Howley, to the present day. Exploration has been 
 directed chiefly to those parts of the island giving 
 promise of minerals and along the valleys of the rivers, 
 which all flow diagonally southwest and northeast across 
 the centre of the island, and where the best land and 
 timber are found. 
 
 The telegraph lines in connection with the ocean cables 
 at Heart’s Content on Trinity Bay do indeed cross the 
 island to Port aux Basques, but they follow the heads of 
 the great southern bays. A survey for a projected rail- 
 way was made in 1875, an< ^ the route selected was not far 
 from Cormack’s track in 1822, across the broad southern 
 portion of the island. Although no engineering difficul- 
 ties were encountered, the project was not carried out, 
 
426 THE ST. LAWRENCE BASIN 
 
 and in fact that part of the island gives little promise of 
 resources to support a railway or to attract settlement. 
 In 1882 railway building began with a line to connect the 
 settlements along the east coast, and at last, in 1893, the 
 Northern & Western Railway was commenced. It 
 leads first to the north, touching the heads of the great 
 eastern bays and serving the chief settlements; crosses 
 the valley of the Gander to the Exploits River, which it 
 follows westward for some distance, then strikes across 
 the centre of the island to the head of Grand Lake and 
 the Humber River, thus opening up the best part of the 
 interior. The road follows the Humber to the head of 
 the Bay of Islands on the west coast, and turning south 
 it passes on to St. George’s Bay, and thence to Port aux 
 Basques on Cabot Strait, thus making a great semi- 
 circle through the heart of the island. 
 
 The unexplored regions lie to the north and south of 
 the great river valleys which cross the centre of the island 
 in a northeast and southwest direction. Along these 
 valleys are the most promising regions. Large tracts 
 of good land with fine timber are found there, and 
 through them any movement towards settlement will pro- 
 ceed. What is known of the unexplored parts of the 
 island indicates a plateau of no great height, abounding in 
 lakes and ponds of all sizes connected by streams and 
 with frequent marshes. There are large tracts of 
 “ barrens,” bare of trees, but covered with caribou moss 
 and interspersed with patches of stunted pines and larch. 
 Great herds of caribou inhabit the interior and migrate 
 to the south in the autumn to return in the spring to the 
 north. When the fishing season is over the fishermen 
 on the coast go up the deep inlets and the rivers to shoot 
 the caribou on their migrations, and sportsmen from Eng- 
 land and the United States resort to the island for the 
 same purpose. Such excursions are made by men who 
 do not concern themselves with geography, and there is, 
 therefore, much knowledge of the country not recorded 
 upon maps. To follow Cormack’s track of 1822, or 
 even the track of the railway survey of 1875, may be an 
 
Panorama of Sault Ste. Marie, a.d. 1904. 
 
 Showing chiefly the Canadian side and Canadian Canal. In the distance across the river to the right is the Michigan (U.S.) side, and the entrance to the United States Canal. In the corner to the left is the old Hudsons Bay Company s blockhouse. 
 
 0 1 [Fare />agni6. 
 
THE ATLANTIC COAST 427 
 
 arduous undertaking, but by the river valleys the island 
 may be readily crossed. That so much should remain 
 unexplored of that part of America which lies nearest to 
 Europe is indeed surprising, until the history of the 
 country is taken into account. 
 
 Our task is now achieved. From the landfall of 1497 
 we have traced, step by step, the progress of discovery 
 and exploration into the heart of the Western World. It 
 is a story of four hundred years. Its incidents, though 
 of great interest and of vast eventual importance, for a 
 long time attracted little attention in the great centres of 
 civilisation and letters. Empires in the Old World have 
 waxed and waned, but, in the New World, growth, feeble 
 at first, has increased, and is increasing at a rate inces- 
 santly accelerating. We have passed from John Cabot’s 
 little vessel two thousand miles into the interior of the 
 mainland he first touched, to the Sault of Lake Superior, 
 where locks nine hundred feet long bear the monstrous 
 craft which carry a traffic already larger in volume, if 
 not in value, than the traffic through the Suez Canal 
 between the hoary continents of Europe and Asia. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 List of the Chief Works Consulted or Referred to in Pre- 
 paring this Volume 
 
 WORKS OF GENERAL REFERENCE 
 
 1. The Literature of American History. A bibliographical 
 
 guide, in which the scope, character, and comparative 
 worth of books in selected lists are set forth in brief 
 notes by critics of authority. Edited for the American 
 Library Association by J. N. Larned. 8vo, Boston; 1902. 
 
 2. A History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and 
 
 Romans, from the Earliest Ages to the Fall of the 
 Roman Empire. By E. H. Bunbury. 2 vols., 8vo, Lon- 
 don ; 1883. 
 
 3. Geographie du Moyen Age, Sac., &c. 5 vols. in four; 8vo, 
 
 with atlas, oblong folio. By Joachim Lelewel. Brussels. 
 
 1852-57. 
 
 4. The Dawn of Modern Geography. A History of Explo- 
 
 ration and Geographical Science. By C. Raymond 
 Beazley. 8vo, London; 1897. 
 
 5. The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian; concerning the 
 
 Kingdoms and Marvels of the East. Translated and 
 edited with notes by Colonel Henry Yule. 2 vols., 8vo, 
 second edition, London; 1875. 
 
 6. Fonti Italiani per la storia della scoperta del Nuovo Mondo. 
 
 Raccolte da Guglielmo Berchet. 2 vols., folio, Rome; 
 !8 9 2. 
 
 7. Delle Navigationi et Viaggi. Raccolte da M. Gio. Battista 
 
 Ramusio. 3 vols., folio, Venice, 1554-65. 
 
 8. Narrative and Critical History of America. Edited by 
 
 Justin Winsor. 8 vols., imp. 8vo. Boston. 
 
 This work is the joint production of a number of 
 scholars, each writing on his own subject. It is especially 
 valuable for the bibliographical and cartographical notes 
 and appendices contributed by the editor. 
 
 9. Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos que hicieron por 
 
 mar los Espanoles desde fines del Siglo XV. Por D. 
 Martin Fernandez de Navarrete. 5 vols. in 4to, Ma- 
 drid ; 1825-37. 
 
 429 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 430 
 
 10. Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-ferme 
 
 del mar oceano. Por el Capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de 
 Oviedo y Valdez. 4 vols., folio. Madrid; 1851-55. 
 
 11. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las 
 
 Islas i Tierre firme del Mar oceano. Escrita por Antonio 
 de Herrera — in eight Decades. 3 vols., folio. Madrid; 
 1726-30. Translation into French of the three first De- 
 cades by N. de La Coste. 3 vols., 4to, Paris; 1659-71. 
 
 12. Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Por J. B. Munoz. Vol. 1, 
 
 Madrid; 1793. 
 
 13. The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the 
 
 English nation made by sea or over land, . . . within 
 the compasse of these 1500 years, &c., &c. By Richard 
 Hakluyt. Edition by Edmund Goldsmid, 16 vols., 8vo. 
 Edinburgh; 1885-90. 
 
 14. Diuers Voyages touching the Discoverie of America and 
 
 the islands adjacent. Edited by Richard Hakluyt, 1582. 
 Reprint, 8vo, London, 1850. 
 
 15. The Discoveries of the World from their first original unto 
 
 the year of Our Lord 1555. By Antonio Galvano. 
 Corrected, quoted, and published in England by Richard 
 Hakluyt (1601). Reprinted with the original Portu- 
 guese text and edited by Vice-Admiral Bethune. 8vo, 
 London ; 1862. 
 
 16. The First Three English Books on America (1511-1555). 
 
 Being chiefly translations, compilations, &c., by Richard 
 Eden, from the writings of Peter Martyr of Anghiera, 
 Sebastian Munster, the cosmographer, Sebastian Cabot 
 of Bristol, with extracts from the works of other Span- 
 ish, Italian, and German Writers of the Time. Edited 
 by Edward Arber. 4to, Birmingham; 1885. 
 
 17. America : Its Geographical History. By W. P. Scaife. 8vo, 
 
 Baltimore ; 1892. 
 
 18. The Discovery of North America: A critical, documentary 
 
 and historic investigation, with an essay on the early 
 Cartography of the New World, before the year 1536. 
 By Henry Harrisse. 4to, London; 1892. 
 
 Students of American history must always avail them- 
 selves of Mr. Harrisse’s works, and should not fail to 
 express their obligations to his exact and exhaustive re- 
 searches. They cover the whole field of the history of 
 the Western World. 
 
 19. Decouverte et Evolution cartographique de Terre-Neuve et 
 
 des pays circonvoisins, 1497-1501-1769. Essais de Geo- 
 graphic historique et documentaire. Par Henry Har- 
 risse. 4to, London, Henry Stevens, Son & Stiles; 1890. 
 
 20. Historical and Biographical Notes on the Earliest Dis- 
 
APPENDIX 431 
 
 coveries in America, 1493-1530, etc. By Henry Stevens. 
 New Haven; 1869. 
 
 21. A History of the Discovery of Maine. By J. G« Kohl. 
 
 With an Appendix on the Voyages of the Cabots, by M. 
 d’Avezac. This work is Vol. 1 of the Documentary 
 History of the State of Maine. 8vo, Portland; 1869. 
 
 22. The Early History of Cartography. By Charles P. Daly. 
 
 8vo. Address before the Am. Geog. Society, New York, 
 1879. 
 
 23. Lecture on American Maps. By J. G. Kohl. 8vo, Wash- 
 
 ington; 1857. 
 
 24. Les Monuments de la Geographic. Recueil d’anciennes 
 
 Cartes Europeenes et Orientates. Par E. F. Jomard. 
 Imperial folio, Paris; 1854-56. 
 
 25. Die Entdeckung Amerikas, &c., &c. Text and Atlas. By 
 
 F. Kunstmann. 4to and imperial folio. Munich; 1859. 
 
 26. Die Entdeckung Amerikas in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Ge- 
 
 schichte des Weltbildes. Text and atlas by Konrad 
 Kretschmer. 4to and royal folio, Berlin; 1892. 
 
 27. Map of the World by the Spanish cosmographer, Alonzo de 
 
 Santa Cruz, 1542. Reproduction in fac-simile edited by 
 E. W. Dahlgren. Stockholm; 1892. 
 
 28. Fac-simile Atlas to the Early History of Cartography. By 
 
 Baron A. E. Nordenskiold; with English text rendered 
 from the Swedish by J. A. Ekelof and Clements R. 
 Markham. Folio, Stockholm; 1889. 
 
 29. Ensayo Biografico del celebre navegante y consumado cos- 
 
 mografo Juan de La Cosa y Descripcion e Historia de su 
 famoso Carta Geografica. Por Antonio Vascano. i2mo, 
 Madrid; 1892. With a fac-simile reproduction of La 
 Cosa’s map of 1500, of full size. 
 
 30. The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525. By Arthur 
 
 James Weise. 8vo, London; 1884. 
 
 31. The Discovery of America. By John Fiske. 2 vols., 8vo, 
 
 Boston ; 1892. 
 
 32. The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, together 
 
 with the Voyages of his Companions. By Washington 
 Irving. 
 
 33. Christopher Columbus, and How he received and imparted 
 
 the Spirit of Discovery. By Justin Winsor. 8vo, 
 Boston. 
 
 34. The Diplomatic History of America; its first chapter, 1452- 
 
 1493-1494. By Henry Harrisse. i2mo, London; 1897. 
 
 35. The Line of Demarcation of Pope Alexander VI. in A. D. 
 
 1493 and that of the Treaty of Tordesillas in A. D. 1494; 
 with an Inquiry concerning the Metrology of Ancient 
 and Mediaeval Times. By Samuel Edward Dawson. 
 
432 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 8vo, Ottawa; 1900. Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada for 
 1899, and published separately. 
 
 36. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of 
 Canada. Published annually since 1883. First series, 12 
 vols., 4to; second series (now current) in 8vo. Ottawa 
 and Montreal. 
 
 Sections 1 and 2 (French and English History and 
 Archaeology) contain many important studies on the sub- 
 jects of this volume. 
 
 CABOT AND CORTE-REAL VOYAGES. 
 
 37. Cabot Bibliography. With an introductory essay on the 
 
 careers of the Cabots, based upon an independent ex- 
 amination of the cources of information. By George 
 Parker Winship. London and New York; 1900. 
 
 This is an exhaustive work, leaving nothing to be de- 
 sired. The notes are luminous and judicious. 
 
 38. A Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, with a Review of the History 
 
 of Maritime Discovery. By Richard Biddle. 8vo, Phila- 
 delphia; 1831. 
 
 39. Presidential Address for 1897. By Sir Clements Markham. 
 
 Geographical Journal, 1897 ; London. 
 
 40. John and Sebastian Cabot. Biographical Notice with Docu- 
 
 ments by Francesco Tarducci. Translated from the 
 Italian by Henry F. Brownson. 8vo, Detroit; 1893. 
 
 This work contains extracts of the originals, in Latin, 
 Spanish, English, and Italian, of all the references to the 
 Cabot voyages scattered throughout the larger and rarer 
 works. 
 
 41. Jean et Sebastian Cabot; leur origine et leurs Voyages. 
 
 Etude d’Histoire Critique; suivie d’une Bibliographic 
 et d’une Chronologie des Voyages au Nord-ouest de 
 1497 a 1550, etc. Par Henry Harrisse. Royal 8vo, Paris ; 
 1882. 
 
 42. John Cabot, the Discoverer of North America, and Sebas- 
 
 tian, his son: a Chapter of the Maritime History of Eng- 
 land under the Tudors, 1496-1557. By Henry Harrisse. 
 8vo, London; 1896. 
 
 43. Papers by Samuel Edward Dawson in the Trans. Roy. Soc. 
 
 of Canada. 
 
 The Voyages of the Cabots in 14971 and 1498. Vol. 12, 1st 
 series. 
 
 The Voyages of the Cabots. A Sequel. Vol. 2, 2d series. 
 The Voyages of the Cabots. Latest phases of the contro- 
 versy. Vol. 3, 2d series. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 433 
 
 In the Appendix to Vol. 3 the legends on the Cabot map 
 of 1544, as translated under the supervision of Dr. Charles 
 Deane, are reprinted with the Spanish and Latin originals 
 from Vol. 6. Series 2, Trans. Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 
 44. John and Sebastian Cabot, The Discovery of North America. 
 
 — By C. Raymond Beazley. i2mo, London and New 
 York; 1898. 
 
 45. Cabot’s Discovery of North America. By G. E. Weare. 
 
 i2mo, London; 1897. 
 
 46. Papers and Studies by M. d’Avezac in the “ Bulletin de la 
 
 Societe de Geographic,” Paris, his introduction to the 
 “ Bref Recit” of the second voyage of Jacques Cartier 
 (reprint by Tross), and his letter on the Cabot discovery 
 of America addressed to the editor of Kohl’s “ Discovery 
 of Maine,” and published as a supplement thereto. 
 
 47. The Journal of Christopher Columbus (during his first 
 
 voyage, 1492-93) and Documents Relating to the Voyages 
 of John Cabot and Gaspar Corte-Real. Translated with 
 notes and an introduction by Clements R. Markham. 
 8vo, London; 1893. 
 
 This work contains the translations of the essential 
 documents bearing upon the Cabot and Corte-Real voy- 
 ages. In this volume, together with Nos. 40, 41, and 42, 
 the original sources scattered through many rare and 
 costly works are available. 
 
 48. Review of Historical Publications Relating to Canada. Edited 
 
 by George M. Wrong. University of Toronto Studies in 
 History. Published annually. 6 vols., 8vo, 1896-1903 ; 
 Toronto. 
 
 This publication is valuable in this connection, for it con- 
 tains reviews by Canadian scholars of all recently pub- 
 lished works on the history and exploration of Canada. 
 
 49. Etude sur les Rapports de l’Amerique et de l’Ancien Con- 
 
 tinent avant Christophe Colomb. Par Paul Gaffarel. 
 8vo, Paris; 1869. 
 
 50. Les Corte-Reals, et leurs Voyages au Nouveau Monde 
 
 d’apres des documents nouveaux ou peu connus, suivi de 
 texte inedit d’un recit de la troisieme expedition de 
 Gaspar Corte-Real. Royal 8vo, Paris; 1883. 
 
 This work is exhaustive of its special subject, for it 
 contains all existing documents of importance, relating to 
 these voyages. They are given in the original Portu- 
 guese without translation. Translations of the most im- 
 portant will be found in No. 47. 
 
 51. La Part prise par les Portugais dans le decouverte de 
 
 l’Amerique. Par Luciano Cordeiro. Transactions of the 
 Congress of Americanistes at Nancy in 1875. Paris; 
 
 1875. 
 
 28 
 
434 APPENDIX 
 
 52. Archivo dos Azores, vol. 12. Ponte Delgada, 1894, containing 
 
 a paper by Ernesto do Canto on the Portuguese discovery 
 of America. Also Vol. 4 of the same series, containing a 
 memoir on the Corte-Reals by Do Canto. 
 
 53. Papers by H. Yule Oldham and J. Batalha Reis on Dis- 
 
 coveries of America by the Portuguese prior to Columbus. 
 Geog. Soc., Nov., 1894; Geog. Journal, March, 1895; 
 April, 1895. 
 
 BASQUE, BRETON, AND NORMAN VOYAGES 
 
 54. Historia de la Provincia de Guipuzcoa. Por Don Nicholas 
 
 de Soraluce. i2mo, Madrid; 1864. 
 
 55. Memoria acerca del origen y curso de las Pescas y Pes- 
 
 querias de Ballenas y de Bacallaos, Asi que sobre el 
 Descubrimiento de los Bancos e Isla de Terranova. Por 
 Don Nicholas de Soraluce. i2mo, Vitoria; 1878. 
 
 56. Le Pays Basque. Par F. Michel. Paris; 1857. 
 
 57. Le Basque et les langues Americaines. Par M. Julien Vinson. 
 
 Compte-Rendu du Congres International des American- 
 istes; 1875. Paris; 1875. 
 
 58. Papers of the Rev. George Patterson in the Trans. Roy. 
 
 Soc. of Canada. 
 
 The Portuguese on the North-west Coast of North 
 America. Vol. 8, 1st series. 
 
 The Beothiks or Red Indians of Newfoundland. Vol. 
 9, 1st series. 
 
 Sable Island. Vol. 12, 1st series. 
 
 Last Years of Charles de Biencourt. Vol. 2, 2d series. 
 Supplementary Notes on Sable Island. Vol. 3, 2d series. 
 
 59. Basques, Bretons, et Normands sur les cotes de l’Amerique 
 
 de Nord pendant les premieres annees du XVIeme Siecle. 
 Par Paul Gaffarel. Congres des Americanistes. Sess. 7 a 
 Berlin ; 1890. 
 
 60. Histoire de Dieppe. Par M. L. Vitet. 2 vols., 8vo, Paris; 
 
 i 8 33 - 
 
 61. Les Navigations Frangaises. Par Pierre Margry. 8vo, 
 
 Paris; 1867. 
 
 62. Recherches sur les Voyages et Decouvertes des Navigateurs 
 
 Normands. Par L. Estancelin. Paris; 1832. 
 
 63. Documents relatifs a la Marine Normande et a ses arma- 
 
 ments aux XVIe et XVI le siecles pour le Canada, 
 l’Afrique, &c. Recueillis, annotes et publies par Charles et 
 Paul Breard. 8vo, Rouen; 1889. 
 
 64. Les Us et Coutumes de la Mer. 4to> Rouen, 1671. Con- 
 
 taining Les Jugemens d’Oleron. 
 
 65. An Inquiry into the authenticity of documents concerning a 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 435 
 
 discovery of America claimed to have been made by 
 Verrazzano. Essay read before the New York Historical 
 Society. By Buckingham Smith. 8vo, New York; 1864. 
 
 66. The Voyage of Verrazano. By Henry C. Murphy. 8vo, 
 
 New York; 1875. 
 
 67. Notes on Giovanni da Verrazano and on a Planisphere of 
 
 1529, Illustrating his American Voyage in 1524, with a Re- 
 duced copy of the map. By James Carson Brevoort. 8vo. 
 In the Journal of the American Geographical Society of 
 New York for 1873, and also separately. New York; 
 
 1874. 
 
 68. Verrazano the Explorer; a Vindication of his Letter and 
 
 Voyage by B. F. Da Costa. .4to, New York; 1881. 
 
 CANADIAN HISTORY: CARTIER’S VOYAGES, ETC. 
 
 69. Notes pour servir a l’Histoire, a la Bibliographic, et a la 
 
 Cartographie de la Nouvelle France et des Pays adjacents, 
 1545-1703 (par Henri Harrisse). 8vo, Paris; 1872. 
 
 70. Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Contenant les navigations, 
 
 decouvertes, et habitations faites par les Francois es 
 Indes Occidentales et Nouvelle France. Par Marc Les- 
 carbot. Paris; 1612. Reprint, 3 vols., Paris; 1866. 
 
 71. Histoire et Description generale de la Nouvelle France et 
 
 Journal d’un Voyage dans l’Amerique Septentrionale. 
 Par le P. de Charlevoix de la Compagnie de Jesus. 3 vols., 
 4to, Paris; 1744. There is an English translation of this 
 work by John Gilmary Shea, enriched with valuable 
 notes. 6 vols., 8vo, New York; 1886. 
 
 72. Bibliotheca Lindesiana. Fac-simile of Three Mappe-mondes. 
 
 With collations and notes by C. H. Coote. Atlas folio, 
 London; 1898. (Harleian, Dauphin and Desceliers’ 
 Maps.) There is a paper by Harrisse upon this work. 
 “Dieppe World Maps,” Goettingen; 1899. 
 
 73. The Works of Francis Parkman: Pioneers of France; The 
 
 Old Regime in Canada; The Jesuits in North America; 
 La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West; Frontenac 
 and New France. Boston. 
 
 These are the titles of Parkman’s works bearing upon 
 the subject of this volume. 
 
 74. La Nouvelle France de Cartier a Champlain, 1540-1603. Par 
 
 N. E. Dionne. 8vo, Quebec; 1901. 
 
 75. Historiae Canadensis seu Novae Franciae libri decern ad 
 
 annum usque Christi, 1656. Small 4to (Father Francis 
 du Creux), Paris; 1664. 
 
 76. Histoire du Canada et Voyages que les Freres Mineurs 
 
43^ 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Recollects y ont faicts. Par le Frere Gabriel Sagard. 4 
 vols., i2mo, Paris ; 1886. 
 
 77. Histoire Chronologique de la Nouvelle France ou Canada 
 
 depuis sa decouverte (1504) jusques en l’an 1632. Par la 
 Pere Sixte Le Tac, Recollect Publiee pour la premiere fois 
 d’apres le manuscript original de 1689 et accompagnee de 
 Notes et d’un Appendice tout compose de documents 
 originaux et inedits par Eug. Reveillaud. 8vo. Paris ; 
 18 88. 
 
 78. Cours d’Histoire du Canada. Par 1 ’Abbe J. B. Ferland, 2 
 
 vols., 8vo, Quebec; 1861. 
 
 79. The History of Canada. By William Kingsford, 10 vols., 
 
 8vo, Toronto; 1887-98. 
 
 80. Histoire des Canadians-Frangais. Par Benjamin Suite. 8 
 
 vols., 4to, Montreal ; 1882-84. 
 
 81. New France and New England. By John Fiske. i2mo, Bos- 
 
 ton. 
 
 82. Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island of Cape 
 
 Breton. By J. G. Bourinot. 4to, Montreal; 1892. 
 
 83. The Early Trading Companies of New France. A Contribu- 
 
 tion to the History of Commerce and Discovery in North 
 America. By H. P. Biggar (University of Toronto Series 
 of Studies). Royal 8vo, Toronto; 1901. 
 
 84. The Anticipations of Cartier’s Voyages, 1492-1534. By Justin 
 
 Winsor. From the Proceedings of the Massachusetts His- 
 torical Society. Cambridge, Mass.; 1893. 
 
 85. Voyages de Decouverte au Canada entre les Annees 1534 et 
 
 1542 par Jacques Cartier, le sieur de Roberval, Jean Al- 
 phonse de Xanctoigne, &c. Publies sous la direction de la 
 Societe Litteraire et Historique de Quebec. 8vo, Que- 
 bec ; 1843. 
 
 86. Voyage de Jaques Cartier au Canada en 1534- Publiee 
 
 d’apres l’edition de 1598 et d’apres Ramusio. Par M. H. 
 Michelant. Documents indedits sur Jaques Cartier et le 
 Canada communiques. Par M. Alfred Rame. i2mo, Paris ; 
 1865. 
 
 87. Relation Originale du Voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada 
 
 en 1534. Documents inedits sur Jacques Cartier et le 
 Canada. Publies par H. Michelant et A. Rame. i2mo, 
 Paris ; 1867. 
 
 88. Bref Recit et Succincte Narration de la Navigation faite en 
 
 1535-36 par le Capitaine Jacques Cartier aux lies de 
 Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, et Autres. Re-impression 
 de l’edition originale precedee d’une introduction histor- 
 ique. Par D’Avezac. i2mo, Paris; 1863. 
 
 89. Jacques Cartier; Documents Nouveaux recueillis par F. 
 
 Joiion des Longrais. i2mo, Paris; 1888. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 437 
 
 90. Papers by Bishop Howley in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 Cartier’s Course. Vol. 12, 1st series. 
 
 The Old Basque Tombstones of Placentia. Vol. 8, 2d 
 series. 
 
 91. Jacques Cartier; His Life and Voyages. By Joseph Pope. 
 
 i2mo, Ottawa; (1890). 
 
 92. Jacques Cartier. Par N. E. Dionne. i2mo, Quebec; 1889. 
 
 93. Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyages to Canada. An essay 
 
 with historical, explanatory and philological notes, by 
 Hiram B. Stephens. Royal 8vo, Montreal (1890). 
 
 94. Papers by the Abbe Verreau in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of 
 
 Canada. 
 
 Les Fondateurs de Montreal. Vol. 5, 1st series. 
 
 Jacques Cartier; Questions de Calendrier. Vol. 8, 1st 
 series. 
 
 Jacques Cartier; Questions de Droit et d’usage mari- 
 time. Vol. 9, 1st series. 
 
 Jacques Cartier; Questions de Loi et Coutumes Mari- 
 times. Vol. 3, 2d series. 
 
 Samuel de Champlain. Vol. 5, 2d series. 
 
 95. Papers by W. F. Ganong in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 Jacques Cartier’s First Voyage. Vol. 5, 1st series. 
 Cartography of the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Cartier 
 to Champlain. Vol. 7, 1st series. 
 
 Dochet (St. Croix) Island. Vol. 8, 2d series. 
 
 96. Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique autrement nom- 
 
 inee Amerique, . . . Par Andre Thevet. Small 8vo, 
 Paris ; Reprint, 1878. 
 
 97. La Cosmographie Universelle. . . . Par Andre Thevet. 
 
 2 vols., fol., Paris; 1575. 
 
 98. Papers by Paul de Cazes in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 Deux points d’Histoire — (1) Quatrieme Voyage de 
 Jacques Cartier. (2) Expedition du Marquis de La 
 Roche. Vol. 1, 1st series. 
 
 Les Points obscurs des Voyages de Jacques Cartier. Vol. 
 8, 1st series. 
 
 99. Papers by John Reade in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 The Making of Canada. Vol. 2, 1st series. 
 
 The Basques in North America. Vol. 4, 1st series. 
 
 CHAMPLAIN VOYAGES AND COMMENCEMENTS OF 
 EXPLORATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE, ETC. 
 
 100. CEuvres de Champlain. Publiees sous le patronage de 
 
 l’Universite Laval par l’Abbe C. H. Laverdiere. 6 vols., 
 4to, Quebec; 1870. 
 
 101. Voyages of Champlain. Translated by Chas. P. Otis. Edited 
 
43 8 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 with memoir and notes by Edmund F. Slafter. 3 vols., 
 sm. 4to. Boston (Prince Society) ; 1878-82. 
 
 102. Vie de Samuel Champlain, fondateur de la Nouvelle France 
 
 (1567-1635). Par Gabriel Gravier. 8vo, Paris; 1900. 
 
 103. Papers by Benjamin Suite in Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 Les Interpretes du temps de Champlain. Vol. 1, 1st series. 
 Poutrincourt en Acadie. Vol. 2, 1st series. 
 
 Le Golfe St. Laurent (1600-1625). Vols. 4 and 7, 1st 
 series. 
 
 Les Tonty. Vol. 12, 1st series. 
 
 Pierre Boucher et son livre. Vol. 2, 2d series. 
 
 La Guerre aux Iroquois, 1600-1653. Vol. 4, 2d series. 
 
 The Valley of the Grand River. Vol. 4, 2d series. 
 
 104. Cartier to Frontenac. Geographical Discovery in the In- 
 
 terior of North America in Its Historical Relations, 1534- 
 1700. By Justin Winsor. 8vo, Boston; 1900. 
 
 105. Le Journal des Jesuites, 1645-68. 4to, Quebec; 1871. 
 
 106. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Travels and 
 
 Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 
 1610-1791. The original French, Latin, and Italian texts, 
 with English translations and notes. Illustrated by por- 
 traits, maps, and fac-similes. Edited by Reuben Gold 
 Thwaites. 73 vols., 8vo, Cleveland; 1896-1901. 
 
 107. Relations des Jesuites. Contenant ce qui s’est passe de plus 
 
 remarquable dans les Missions des Peres de la Compagnie 
 de Jesus dans la Nouvelle France. Quebec, 3 vols., 8vo; 
 1858. 
 
 108. Relations Inedites de la Nouvelle France, 1672-79, pour 
 
 faire suite aux anciennes Relations. 2 vols., i2mo, Paris; 
 1861. 
 
 Cited by the name of the publisher, Charles Douniol. 
 They are included in Thwaites’ Series. See No. 106. 
 
 109. Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle France au XVIIme siecle. Par 
 
 la R. P. Camille Rochemonteix. 3 vols., 8vo, Paris ; 
 i 8 95 - 
 
 no. Relation Abregee de quelques Missions des Peres de la Com- 
 pagnie de Jesus dans la Nouvelle France. Par le R. P. F. 
 I. Bressany de la meme compagnie. Traduit de l’ltalian. 
 . . par la R. P. F. Martin. 8vo, Montreal; 1852. 
 in Etablissement de la Foy dans la Nouvelle France. Conte- 
 nant 1 ’histoire des Colonies Frangaises et des decouvertes, 
 . . avec une relation exacte des expeditions, &c., sous 
 la conduite de Sieur de La Salle. i2mo, Paris; 1671. 
 
 There is an English translation of the above by John 
 Gilmary Shea, enriched with valuable notes. 2 vols., 8vo, 
 New York; 1881. 
 
 1 12. Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, qui contient les Mceurs et 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 439 
 
 la Religion des Sauvages Gaspesiens. Par Chrestien Le 
 Clercq. i2mo, Paris; 1691. 
 
 1 13. The Annual Reports on Canadian Archives, with Calendars 
 
 of Documents, by Douglas Brymner, 1883 to 1902. Ottawa. 
 
 1 14. The First English Conquest of Canada. By Henry Kirke. 
 
 8vo, London; 1871. 
 
 1 15. Histoire de la Colonie Frangaise en Canada. (By the 
 
 Abbe Faillon.) 3 vols., imp. 8vo, Villemarie (Montreal) ; 
 1866. 
 
 1 16. Histoire veritable et naturelle du Canada. Par Pierre 
 
 Boucher. i2mo, Paris ; 1654. 
 
 1 17. Decouvertes et Etablissements des Frangais dans l’Ouest et 
 
 dans le Sud de l’Amerique Septentrionale, 1614-98. Par 
 Pierre Margry. 6 vols., 8vo, Paris ; 1879-88. 
 
 1 18. The Iroquois Book of Rites. By Horatio Hale. 8vo, Phila- 
 
 delphia ; 1883. 
 
 1 19. Papers by Horatio Hale in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 An Iroquois Condoling Council. Vol. 1, 2d series. 
 
 120. League of the Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee, or Iroquois. By Lewis H. 
 
 Morgan. New ed. with notes by Herbert M. Lloyd. 2 
 vols., 8vo, New York; 1901. 
 
 121. Paper by Sir Daniel Wilson in Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 The Huron-Iroquois of Canada. Vol. 2, 1st series. 
 
 122. The History of the Five Indian Nations which are depend- 
 
 ent on the Province of New York in America. By Cad- 
 wallader Colden. 2 vols., i2mo, London; 1755. 
 
 123. The Traditional History and Characteristic Sketches of the 
 
 Ojibway Nation. By G. Copway (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh), 
 Chief of the Ojibway Nation. i2tno, London; 1850. 
 
 124. Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts. By Peter 
 
 Dooyentate Clarke. i2mo, Toronto; 1870. 
 
 125. Moeurs des Sauvages Americains. Par le Pere Lafiteau. 2 
 
 vols., 4V0, Paris; 1725. 
 
 126. Histoire de l’Amerique Septentrionale. Par M. de Bacque- 
 
 ville de la Potherie. 4 vols., i2mo, Paris; 1753. 
 
 127. Memoire sur les Moeurs, Coutumes, et Religion des Sau- 
 
 vages de l’Amerique Septentrionale. Par Nicholas Perrot, 
 publie pour la premiere fois par le L. P. J. Tailhan. i2mo. 
 Paris and Leipzic ; 1864. 
 
 128. History of Brule’s Discoveries and Explorations, 1610-1626, 
 
 &c., &c., with a Biographical Notice by Consul Willshire 
 Butterfield. 8vo, Cleveland ; 1898. 
 
 129. History of the Discovery of the Northwest by John Nicolet 
 
 in 1634, with a sketch of his life. By C. W. Butterfield, 
 l2mo, Cincinnati; 1881. 
 
 130. Melanges d’Histoire et de Litterature. Par B. Suite. i2mo, 
 
 Ottawa ; 1876. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 440 
 
 13 1. History of Early Missions in Western Canada. By Rev. W. 
 
 Harris. i2mo, Toronto; 1893. 
 
 132. The Country of the Neutrals. By Jas. H. Coyne. 8vo, St. 
 
 Thomas ; 1895. 
 
 EXPLORATIONS ON THE LAKES, ETC, ETC. 
 
 133. Papers by N. E. Dionne in the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada. 
 
 Chouart et Radisson. Vol. 11, 1st series. 
 
 Chouart et Radisson. Vol. 12, 1st series. 
 
 Jean Frangois de la Rocque, Seigneur de Roberval. 
 Vol. 5, 2d series. 
 
 134. Voyages. Being an account of his Travels and Experiences 
 
 among the North American Indians, 1652-84, by Pierre 
 Esprit Radisson. With historical illustrations and intro- 
 duction by Gideon D. Scull. Sm. 4to, Boston (Prince 
 Society) ; 1885. 
 
 135. Annals of Fort Mackinac. By Dwight H. Kelton. i2mo, 
 
 Detroit ; 1888. 
 
 136. Mackinac; formerly Michilimackinac. ... By John P. 
 
 Bailey. i2mo, Lansing, Michigan; 1899. 
 
 137. Early Mackinac: a Sketch Historical and Descriptive. By 
 
 Meade C. Williams. i2mo, St. Louis; 1901. 
 
 138. Exploration of the Great Lakes, 1669-70, by Dollier de Cas- 
 
 son and de Brehant de Galinee. A reprint of the original 
 with an English translation and reproduction of the map 
 with all the legends. By James H. Coyne. 8vo, Ontario 
 Historical Society, Toronto; 1903. 
 
 139. Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, with 
 
 the Original Narratives of Marquette, Allouez, Membre, 
 Hennepin, and Anastase Douay. By John Gilmary Shea. 
 2d ed, 8vo, Albany; 1903. 
 
 140. Louis Jolliet; Decouvreur du Mississippi et du Pays des 
 
 Illinois, Premier Seigneur de ITle d’ Anticosti. Par Ernest 
 Gagnon. 8vo, Quebec; 1902. 
 
 141. La Revue Canadienne. Vol. 9, containing a series of papers 
 
 by Pierre Margry on Jolliet’s life and voyages. 8vo, 
 Montreal. 
 
 142. Father Marquette. By Reuben Gold Thwaites. i2mo, New 
 
 York ; 1902. 
 
 143. Lake St. Louis — old and new — illustrated, and Cavelier de 
 
 La Salle. By Desire Girouard. Imp. 8vo, Montreal ; 1893. 
 
 144. The Ship-yard of the Griffon. By Cyrus K. Remington. 
 
 8vo, Buffalo; 1891. 
 
 145. Hulbert, H. H. Historic Highways of America. 10 vols., 
 
 i2tno, Cleveland; 1903. 
 
 146. The Mississippi Basin. By Justin Winsor. 8vo, Boston. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 441 
 
 147. Nouvelle Decouverte d’un tres grand pays situe dans 
 
 l’Amerique, entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale, 
 &c. Par le R. P. Louis Hennepin. i2mo, Amsterdam; 
 1698. 
 
 148. The Niagara Region in History. By Peter A. Porter, in 
 
 The Harnessing of Niagara, Cassier’s Magazine. 8vo, 
 London; 1899; and published separately. 
 
 149. Publications of the Buffalo Historical Society. Volume I, 
 
 containing Marshall’s paper on early Niagara. 8vo, Buf- 
 falo. 
 
 150. Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier. By Frank H. Severance. 
 
 Second edition. 8vo, Cleveland; 1903. 
 
 15 1. Daniel de Greysolon Du L’Hut — a Gentleman of the Royal 
 
 Guard. By William McLennan. Harper’s Magazine, Sep- 
 tember, 1893. 
 
 152. Nouveaux Voyages de M. le Baron de Lahontan dans 
 
 l’Amerique Septentrionale. 2 vols., i2mo, La Haye; 1703. 
 
 15 3. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 
 
 Edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites. 8vo, vols. 1-16; Madi- 
 son; especially vols. 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, which contain ex- 
 ceedingly valuable papers on the French explorations of 
 the west. 
 
 154. Minnesota Historical Society. Collections. 8 vols., 8vo, 
 
 St. Paul; 1860-98. Volume 2, containing Early French 
 Forts and Footprints in the Valley of the Upper Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 155. Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Terri- 
 
 tories between the Years 1760 and 1776. By Alexander 
 Henry. New ed., edited with notes by James Bain. 8vo, 
 Toronto; 1901. 
 
 The notes add much to the value of the edition. 
 
 156. Papers by the Rev. George Bryce in the Trans. Roy. Soc. 
 
 of Canada. 
 
 The Further History of Pierre Esprit Radisson. Vol. 4, 
 2d series. 
 
 157. The British Empire in America (by John Oldmixon). 2 
 
 vols., 8vo, London; 1741. Hudson’s Bay in vol. 1. 
 
 158. An Account of Six Years’ Residence in Hudson’s Bay, . . . 
 
 By Joseph Robson. 8vo, London; 1752. Appendix con- 
 taining a short history. 
 
 159. The Remarkable History of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 
 
 &c. By Rev. George Bryce. 8vo, Toronto; 1900. 
 
 NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR. 
 
 160. The Golden Fleece, divided into three parts. 
 
 Transported from Cambrioll Colchos out of the Southern- 
 
442 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 most part of the island called Newfoundland. By Orpheus 
 Junior (Sir William Vaughan). Small 4to, London; 
 1626. 
 
 161. A Discourse and Discovery of Newfoundland, &c., &c. By 
 
 Richard Whitbourne. 4to, London ; 1622. 
 
 162. A History of Newfoundland, from the English, Colonial and 
 
 Foreign Records. By D. W. Prowse, LL.D., with numer- 
 ous illustrations and maps. Second Edition, 8vo, London; 
 1896. 
 
 163. Newfoundland; its History and Present Condition, &c., &c. 
 
 By Rev* M. Harvey and J. Hatton. 8vo, Boston; 1888. 
 
 164. History of the Island of Newfoundland. By the Rev. Lewis 
 
 A. Anspach. 2 vols., 8vo, London; 1819. 
 
 165. Narrative of a Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland. 
 
 By W. E. Cormack. i2mo, St. John’s, N. F. ; 1873. (Re- 
 print of original edition of 1836.) 
 
 166. Notes of a Twenty-five Years’ Service in the Hudson’s Bay 
 
 Company. By John Maclean. 2 vols., i2mo, London; 
 1849. 
 
 167. The Grand Falls of Labrador. By Henry G. Bryant. Cen- 
 
 tury Magazine, September, 1892. 
 
 168. Labrador; a Sketch of the People, Its Industries and Its 
 
 Natural History. By W. A. Stearns. i2mo, Boston; 1884. 
 
 The author resided on the coast for two years. The 
 most generally useful book. 
 
 169. The Labrador Coast. Journal of Two Summer Cruises. By 
 
 A. S. Packard. 8vo, New York; 1891. 
 
 170. Report of the Geological Survey of Canada for 1895, 
 
 containing A. P. Low’s account of his explorations. 
 Ottawa. 
 
 This report contains a summary of all that is known of 
 the interior of Labrador. 
 
 171. Holme, Randle F. Journey in the Interior of Labrador. 
 
 Proc. Royal Geog. Soc., April, 1888. 
 
 172. Cary, Austin. Exploration in Labrador. Journal of the 
 
 American Geographical Society. Vol. 24 (New York), 
 No. 1 of 1892. 
 
 173. Guay, Monsiegneur Charles. Lettres sur File d’ Anticosti. 
 
 8vo, Montreal; 1902. 
 

 umiski I. 
 
 
 ilii'v'i' 1 
 
 J v \ ij 
 
 SBil 
 
 
 
 
 , e Bv" loU 
 ls \a* A 
 
 sbinaW> ' 
 
 ifuE 
 
 
 COLOURING 
 
 
 ABOVE 5000 FEET 
 
 ;«TJ 
 
 
 
 
 fp"/ «'iw»r.'i‘- 
 
 
 CONTINUATION OF 
 
 LABRAOOR PENINSULA 
 on smaller scale 
 £*ftuKMa~ t 
 
 
 Tllouct -i 
 
 '"TUlir, 
 
 JOSTON 
 
 
 KlienVW* 
 
 S\.i,u.l.i{> H 
 S|inluclu‘l 
 
 
 OROGRAPHICAL map 
 
 OF THE 
 
 -v W'rcT-'r-W 
 
 tPiuifnn 
 
 
 
 D"Afwi 
 
 ■ 
 
 “‘-i 
 
 J^RS E Y ( 
 
 HAHTHOLOMK"’ 
 
 s°°fe M°££?°° 
 
 
 Lawrence Basin Is shown 
 
INDEX 
 
 \ 
 
 Abenaquis Indians, 361, 41 1 
 Abitibi, Lake, 378 
 
 Acadia, 51, 56, 73, 80, 83, 92, 238, 
 249, 4 i 5 
 Accault, 359 
 Achelay, 188 
 
 Adirondack Mountains, 169, 259 
 Advocates’ harbour, 242 
 Agnese map, 215 
 Agramonte, Juan de, 81 
 Aguada Bay, 84 
 Akamsea, River, 345 
 Albanel, Father, 377, 385 
 Albany River, 325, 377 
 Alexander, Sir William, 416 
 Alezay, 137 
 
 Algonquin Indians, 45, 52, 70, 261, 
 305 
 
 Algonquins of Allumette Island, 301 
 Allefonse, Jean, 11, 201, 209, 219 
 Allegheny River, 408 
 Allouez, Father, 324, 380 
 Allumette Island, 265, 268, 301 
 Alphonso V., 47 
 Ameda, 173, 184, i97> 254 
 Andastes, 276, 293, 332 
 Andre, Father, 330 
 Anian, Strait of, 369 
 Annapolis, valley, basin, town, 107, 
 242, 250, 417 
 
 Anticosti Island, 135, 342, 352, 423 
 Antilia, 9 
 
 Antilles, 3, 36, 51, 61 
 Appoiiats, 134, 148 
 Archipelago of 11,000 Virgins, 84, 
 104, hi 
 
 Arendaronons, 275 
 
 Ares de Sea, 196 
 
 Armouchiquois, 238, 245 
 
 Ashehurst, Thomas, 69, 75 
 
 Ashuanippi River, 398 
 
 Assjniboines, 369 
 
 Asticou, 267 
 
 Attigouautan, 275 
 
 Attikamegues, 379 
 
 Attikonak River, 398 
 
 Aubert, Thomas, 81, 90, 120 
 
 Aubrey, Abbe, 249 
 
 Audubon, 150 
 
 Ango, Jean, 81, 89, 95 
 
 Auk, the great, 148, note 
 
 Ayala, Pedro de, 28, 30, 37 
 
 Azores, 8, 47, 55, 68, 82, 89, 223 
 
 Bacallaos, 10, 38, 42, 46, 62, 71, 75, 
 81, 100, hi, 196 
 Bacallhao Island, 57, 83 
 Baffin, 42, 323, 375 
 Bailloquet, Father, 392 
 Baleine harbour, 111, 420 
 Baleine, Hable de la, 127 
 Barcellos, Pedro de, 69 
 Barcia, 90, 96 
 Barnabe Lake, 392 
 Barrington harbour, 108 
 Basin of Minas, 107, 113, 418 
 Basque discoveries, 62, 64, 85 
 fishermen, 59, 73 
 Island, 158 
 names, 10, 38, 72 
 tombstones, 222 
 voyages, 62 
 Basques, 59, 151, 254 
 Spanish, 222 
 Baya de Santa Cyria, 56 
 Baye des Chasteaulx, 125 
 Baye Sainct Laurens, 155 
 Bay of the Bay, 108 
 Bay of the Bretons, 28, 80, 105 
 Bay of Fundy, 1, 53, 105, 112, 242, 
 421 
 
 Bay of Quinte, 276, 330, 402 
 Bear Head, 132 
 Beaupre, Viscount de, 198 
 Beaver Indians, 339 
 Bebel, Father, 396 
 Behaim, Martin, 9, 18, 60 
 Belle-Isle, Straits of, 25, 56, 12s, 
 148 
 
 Bell Island, 126 
 Beothiks, 70 
 
 Bianco, Andrea, 10, 62, 66 
 Bic, 158 
 
 Biddle, Richard, 13, 25, 60, 96 
 Bienville, Celeron de, 409 
 Biloxi, 406 
 Bird Rocks, 134 
 Bissot, Frangois, 342 
 Black Bay, 127 
 River, 326 
 
 Blanc Sablon, 117, 127, 147, 154 
 
 Bonaventure, 83; island, 143 
 
 Bonavista, 56, 83 
 
 Boston Bay, 245 
 
 Boucher, Father, 392 
 
 Boulet, islet, 129 
 
 Bourdon, Jean, 376 
 
444 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Bowdoin College expedition, 396 
 Bradore Bay, 128, 392 
 Bras. d’Or, 417 
 Brasil, Island of, 9, 15 
 Brazil, 10, 47, 92, 97 
 Breboeuf, Father, 295, 380 
 “ Bref Recit,” 152, 160 
 Brest harbour, 117, 125, 128, 154 
 Breton fishermen, 73, 104 
 merchants, 264 
 sailors, 119 
 
 Bretons, 28, 53, 59, 119 
 
 Brion Island, 134 
 
 Brule, Etienne, 276, 293 
 
 Bryant, H. G., 397 
 
 Buffalo, 324 
 
 Burgeo Islands, 84 
 
 Buteux, Father, 379 
 
 Buttes, Hable des, 127 
 
 Button, Sir Thomas, 265, 323, 375 
 
 Bylot, 323, 375 
 
 Cabo de Concepcion, 56 
 Cabo de San Antonio, 56 
 Cabo Grueso, 111 
 
 Cabot, John, 14, et seq., 35 et seq., 
 57, 7 8, 225 
 
 Cabot, Sancius, 38, 74 
 Cabot, Sebastian, 31, 39, 77, 85, 87, 
 218 
 
 Cabot Strait, 105, 112, 135 
 
 Cahiague, 282 
 
 Camaret, 201 
 
 Cambaluc, 18, 35, 45 
 
 Canada, origin of word, 158, 187 
 
 Canary Islands, 7, 19 
 
 Cano, Sebastian del, 99 
 
 Canso, Gut of, 33, 105, 239 
 
 Cantino map, 35, 49, 53, 69, 92 
 
 Canto, Ernesto do, 60 
 
 Cap Blanc, 245 
 
 Cap de la Heve, 241 
 
 C. de Portogesi, 29, 
 
 C. des Noyers, 107 
 Cap des Sauvages, 138 
 Cap d’Orleans, 138 
 Cap Rouge, 125, 156, 197, 204 
 Cape Anguille, 13 1 
 Cape Bauld, 126 
 Cape Blomidon, 107 
 Cape Bonavista, 26, 124 
 Cape Breton, 27, 57, 93, 103, 177, 
 419 
 
 Cape Canso, 80, 104 
 Cape Chidley, 24, 116 
 Cape Chignecto, 242 
 Cape Cod, 245 
 Cape Cormorant, 132, 390 
 Cape Degrat, 125 
 Cape Delatte, 132 
 Cape Despair, 141 
 Cape d’Esperance, 141 
 Cape de Verde Islands, 8 
 Cape d’Or, 107, 238, 242 
 Cape Double, 131, 147 
 
 Cape Enfume, 111 
 
 Cape Fear, 93 
 
 Cape Fourchu, 242 
 
 Cape Freels, 56, 83, 148 
 
 Cape Grueso, in 
 
 Cape Kildare, 138 
 
 Cape Lorraine, 177 
 
 Cape Merangouin, 107 
 
 Cape Montmorency, 145 
 
 Cape Negro, 242 
 
 Cape North, 31, 105, in 
 
 Cape of England, 31 
 
 Cape Pointu, 13 1 
 
 Cape Pratto, 143 
 
 Cape Rabast, 155 
 
 Cape Race, 29, 58, 80, 83, 103 
 
 Cape Ray, 105, 178, 222 
 
 Cape Riche, 13 1 
 
 Cape Rosier, 144 
 
 Cape Royal, 132 
 
 Cape Sable, 106, 242, 416 
 
 Cape St. Francis, 57, 83 
 
 Cape St. Louis, 145 
 
 Cape St. Mary, in 
 
 Cape St. Vincent, 89 
 
 Cape Spear, 57, 83 
 
 Cape Split, 107 
 
 Cape Thiennot, 147, 154 
 
 Cape Tryon, 138 
 
 Cape Turner, 138 
 
 Capuchins, 301 
 
 Carantouan, 293 
 
 Carbonear, 83 
 
 Carhagouha, 275 
 
 Carignan-Salieres regiment, 328, 
 384 
 
 Carpont, 125 
 Carroll’s Cove, 127 
 Cartier, Jacques, 114 et seq., 151 et 
 seq., 179 et seq., 379 
 Castanas, Rio de, 109 
 Cathay, n, 45, 75, 92, 93, 120, 215, 
 344. 
 
 Cavelier, Abbe Jean, 350 
 Cavo descubierto, 30 
 Cavo de Inglaterra, 27 
 Cayuga creek, 356 
 Lake, 277 
 
 Cayugas, Indians, 331 
 Chabanel, Father, 311 
 Chabot, Philippe de, Sieur de Brion, 
 95, 119, 134, I5D 193, 210 
 Chaleur Lay, 141, 243, 393, 417 
 Chambly, 258, 260 
 Chamouchouan River, 385 
 Champlain, Samuel de, 21, 112, 223, 
 231 et seq., 253 et seq., 273 et 
 seq., 289 et seq., 379, 415 
 Charlesbourg Royal, 200 
 Charles V., 88, 90, 192 
 Charles VIII., 118 
 Charles IX., 219 
 
 Charlevoix, Father, 81, 96, 155, 185, 
 338,. 409 
 
 Charnisay, d’Aulnay, 416 
 
INDEX 445 
 
 Chastes, Aymar de, 233 
 Chateau Bay, 125 
 Chateauguay River, 265 
 Chateau harbour, 126 
 Chatillon, Marechal de, 92 
 Chaton, Sieur de la Jaunaye, 221 
 Chats rapids, 268 
 Chaudiere Falls, 267 
 Chaumonot, Father, 309 
 Chautauqua Lake, 408 
 Chauvin, Pierre de, 232, 260, 391 
 Chedabucto Bay, no, 417 
 
 Chepody Bay, 107 
 
 Chequamegon Bay, 3!4> 3&4> 4° 5 
 
 Chesapeake Bay, 215 
 
 Cheveux Releves, Indians, 273, 282, 
 
 318 
 
 Chicago River, 345 
 Chicoutimi, 235, 380 
 China, 216, 255, 301,. 321, 37 o 
 Chouart, Medard, Sieur des Gro- 
 seilliers, 317 et seq., 3 77 
 Christian Island, 313 
 Cobequid Mountains, 107 
 “ Codfish,” Isle of, 60 
 Coligny, Admiral, 89 
 Columbus, 6, 15, 47> 63 
 Company of One Hundred Asso- 
 ciates, 287 
 
 Conception Bay, 56, 83 
 Conestogas, 276 
 
 Copper, 157, 238, 294, 302, 232,349 
 Cordeiro, Antonio, 60 
 Cormack, W. E., 425 
 Corte-Real, Gaspar, 48 et seq. 
 
 Cortez, 11, 89 
 
 Corunna, 100 
 
 Costa de Medanos, 106 
 
 Coulombiers, Les, 132 
 
 Coureurs de bois, 289, 337, 373 
 
 Cousin, Jean, 67 
 Couture, Sieur, 377 
 Cow Head, 131 
 Crane Island, 160 
 Crees, 319, 339 
 Crevecoeur, Fort, 359 
 Cumberland basin, 107 
 harbour, 130 
 Cuoq, Father, 188 
 
 D’Aillon, Father de la Roche, 298 
 
 Dablon, Father, 329, 346 
 
 Dakota Indians, 305 
 
 Daniel, Capt., 420 
 
 Daniel, Father, 308, 31 1 
 
 Dauphine, 92 
 
 Dauphin map, 138, 217 
 
 D’Avaugour, Baron, 321, 325, 377 
 
 D’Avezac, 100, 153 
 
 Deadman’s Island, 137 
 
 De Caens, 287, 300 
 
 De Casson, Abbe Dollier, 330 
 
 De Chastes, 239 
 
 De Chaves, Alonzo, 102, 112 
 
 De Crepieul, Father Frangois, 380 
 Deer Island, 104 
 River, 104 
 
 De la Tour, Charles, 416 
 Delaware Bay, 52 
 Del Cano, Sebastian, 99 
 De Louvigny, 338 
 De Lussigny, 372 
 De Monts, Sieur, 222, 232, 264 
 Denonville, M. de, 352, 374 , 402 
 Denys, Jean, 81, 120 
 Denys, Nicholas, 417 
 De Puebla, Ambassador, 17, 37 
 De Quen, 380 
 De Queylus, Abbe, 330 
 De Razilly, Isaac, 416 
 Desceliers’ maps, 199, 216, 285 
 Desertas, 93 
 Desliens’ map, 216 
 Des Plaines River, 345 
 De Tonty, Henri, 350 
 Detroit, meaning of word, 236 
 city, 337. 4°4 
 River, 360 
 De Troyes, 378, 409 
 Digby Gut, 107 
 Discovery, Cape, 30 
 Dochet Island, 243 
 D’Olbeau, Father, 295, 381 
 Domagaya, 144, 160, 198 
 Donnacona, 161, 257 
 Dornelos, Juan, 84 
 Doublet, Sieur, 422 . 
 
 Druillettes, Father Gabriel, 315, 
 383, 393 
 
 Dulhut, Sieur, 370, 4 °7 
 Du Plessis, Brother Pacifique, 296 
 Dupont of Dieppe, 27 
 
 East Cape, 176 
 East Indies, 90, 95 
 East Main River, 382, 398 
 Echafaud aux Basques, 222 
 Echaide, Juan de, 65, 85 
 Echeveste, Mateas de, 65, 85 
 Eden, Richard, 2, 77 
 Egmont Bay, 140 
 Elliott, Hugh, 75 
 Emerillon, l’ , i53> I ®4> T 95 
 Emmanuel, King, 47> 82 
 Ensenada, Bahia de la, 108 
 Entry Island, 137 
 Erie nation, 283, 314 
 Escuminac, Point, 141 
 Escurieux, Indians, 384 
 Esquimaux Bay, 117 
 tribe, 45..39I 
 Etchemins, Indians, 3 93 
 
 Fagundez, Joao Alvarez, 83, H 4> 
 227 
 
 Fagundez Islands, 84 
 
INDEX 
 
 Faroe Islands, 66 
 Ferdinand, King, 17, 30, 64 
 Ferland, Abbe, 122, 184 
 Fermeuse harbour, 83 
 Fernandez, Francisco, 69, 75 
 Fernandez, Joao, 69, 75 
 Ferro, 142 
 
 Ferro (Hierro) Island, 7 
 Firearms supplied to Indians, 278 
 Fish, fisheries, fishermen, 26, 83, 
 
 117, 130, 159, 180, 203, 219, 240, 
 336, 364, 394, 419 
 Fogo Island, 8, 83, 148 
 Flambeau River, 364 
 Florin, Juan. See also Verrazano, 
 90 
 
 Folles Avoines, Indians, 306, 343, 
 
 365 
 
 Formaleom, 66 
 Fort Chimo, 395 
 Fort Duquesne, 408 
 Fort Frontenac, 353 
 Fort Le Boeuf, 408 
 Fort Miami, 407 
 Fort Ouitanon, 407 
 Fort Rouille, 410 
 Fort St. Joseph, 406 
 Fort Stanwix, 41 1 
 Fortune Bay, 84 
 Fort Venango, 408 
 Fort William, 373 
 Fox River, 307, 315, 343, 405 
 Foxes, Indians, 339 
 Franciroy, 203, 217 
 Francis I., 88, 118, 126, 193 
 Fremin, Father, 331 
 French Basques, 221 
 French River, 273, 322 
 Frontenac, 329, 352, 402 
 Frosmond, Thomas, 153 
 Funk Island, 124, 148 
 Furs and fur traders, 219, 231, 263, 
 358, 376 
 
 Galinee, 331, 350 
 Galvano, Antonio, 49, 100 
 Gamart, pilot, 81, 120 
 Gandaseteiagon, 331 
 Ganeraska, 331 
 
 Ganong, Dr. W. F., 122, 137 
 Gamier, Father, 31 1 
 Garreau, Father, 315 
 Gaspe, 238 
 
 basin, 143 
 Mountains, 141 
 Gastaldi, Jacomo di, 208, 219 
 Gatineau River, 266 
 Genesee River, 277, 353, 409 
 George River, 395 
 Georgian Bay, 273 
 Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 82, 225 
 Gillam, Capt., 324, 389 
 “ Godez,” r ‘ godets,” 128, 149 
 Goes, Damian de, 49 
 Gomara, 39, 76, 220 
 
 Gomez, Stephen, 11, 44, 64, 85, 98 
 et seq. 
 
 Gonzales, Joao, 69, 75 
 Gougou, the, 238 
 Granches, Catherine des, 126 
 Granches Mountains, 13 1 
 Grand Falls (Labrador), 395 
 (New Brunswick), 421 
 Grand Manan, 245 
 Grand Meccatina Island, 154, 209 
 Grand River, 265 
 Gravier,. Father, 406 
 Great Bird Island, 134 
 Green Bay, 306, 318, 347, 357, 405 
 Island, 158 
 Mountains, 169, 259 
 Greenly Island, 149 
 Grenolle, 294 
 Griffon, The, 35 7 
 Grindstone Island, 137 
 Groix Island, 126 
 Grosse Island, 160 
 Guerin, Jean, 326 
 Guipuzcoa, 64, 85, 222 
 
 Hable des Chasteaulx, 125 
 Hagonchenda, 171 
 Haies, Edward, 82, 224 
 Hakluyt, 13, 24, 37, 67, 76, 91, 119, 
 122, 145, 187, 196, 219 
 Halifax, city, 418 
 
 harbour, 108, 247 
 Hamilton inlet, 394 
 Hare Island, 159 
 Harleyan world map, 216 
 Harrisse, Henry, 48, 53, 60, 68, 76, 
 102, 194, 215, 353 
 Hatteras, Cape, 54 
 Havre St. Nicholas, 155 
 Hayes Factory, 378 
 Heath Point, 145 
 Henlopen, Cape, 42 
 Hennepin, Father, 338, 365 
 Henry, Alex., fur trader, 267, 327, 
 
 369 
 
 Henry II., 89 
 Henry III., 219, 227 
 Henry IV., 227, 262 
 Henry VII., 35, 69, 77, 88 
 Henry VIII., 74, 77, 9 7 
 Herrera, 81, 90 
 Hiawatha, 277 
 High Cliff point, 146 
 Hochelaga, 163, 167 
 River, 156 
 Holme, R. F., 396 
 Homem, Alvaro Martins, 60, 84 
 Honguedo, 156 
 Hopedale, 394 
 
 Hopewell and Cliancewel, 226 
 Hore, Master, 79 
 Howley, Bishop, 122, 126 
 Hubbard, Leonidas, Jr., 399 
 Hudson, Henry, 78, 265, 323, 375, 
 
 383 
 
INDEX 
 
 447 
 
 Hudson River, 238, 257 
 Hudson’s Bay, 319, 324, 342 
 
 Bay Company, 323, 325, 359, 
 373 
 
 Strait, 42, 50 
 Humber River, 426 
 Humboldt, 60 
 
 Huron-Iroquois group of nations, 
 73, 143, 162 
 
 Icebergs, 26, 38, 40, 50 
 Ilha de Frey Luiz, 56 
 Illinois tribes, 328, 347 
 Ingonish, 83 
 IrondequoitBay, 331 
 Iroquet, Chief, 257, 261, 282, 292 
 Iroquois confederacy, 276 
 wars, 300, 314 
 Island of Orleans, 314 
 Island of St. John, 32, 109, 140, 415 
 Island of St. Laurence, 239 
 Isle au Cormorans, 242 
 Isle au Massacre, 184 
 Isle aux Coudres, 160, 390 
 Isle aux Herons, 263 
 Isle aux Oiseaux, 124 
 Isle de Bouays, 128 
 Isle de la Damoiselle, 209 
 Isle Haute, 245 
 Isle of Bacchus, 162 
 Isle of Demons, 207 
 Isles de St. Germain, 154 
 Isle Ste. Therese, 258 
 Isles de St. Guillaume, 154 
 Isles Rondes, 157 
 Isles Ste. Marthe, 154 
 Islettes, les, 128 
 Islots de Saint Jean, 158 
 Issati, Indians, 371 
 
 Jacques Cartier River, 188, 236 
 Jamay, Father, 295 
 James Bay, 37s 
 James’ map, 375 
 Jemseg, 421 
 Jogues, Father, 308 
 John III., 69, 92, 96 
 Jolliet, 319, 330 et seq., 341 et seq., 
 423 . 
 
 Joncaire, 409 
 
 Joiion des Longrais, 206 
 
 Kaministiquia River, 373 
 Kaniapiscau, Lake, 396 
 Kankakee River, 358 
 Kenaston, Professor, 397 
 Kennebec, 244 
 
 River, 245 
 
 Kenogami, Lake, 381 
 Keweenaw Bay, 322 
 Kickapoos, 339 
 King map, 29, 69 
 Kingston, 359 
 
 Kirpon harbour, 125 
 Kiskakon Indians, 348 
 Kohl, J. G., 48, 60, 72, 77, 100 
 Koksoak River, 398 
 
 La Barre, Governor, 402 
 Labrador, 24, 67, 83, 111, 130, 157, 
 392 
 
 Lac d’Angoulesme, 1 66, 257 
 Lac des Soissons, 266 
 Lachine, 87 
 
 massacre at, 402 
 rapids, 198, 266, 292, 351 
 La Cosa, Juan de, 3, 25, 28, 35, 64 
 La Galissoniere, 409 
 La Grande Baie, 220 
 La Hontan, 338 
 La Heve, 416 
 La Noiie, Father, 298 
 Lairet, the, 162, 189 
 Lake Champlain, 237, 257, 410 
 Lake Couchiching, 275 
 Lake des Chenes, 268 
 Lake Erie, 309, 409 
 Lake George, 237, 257, 410 
 Lake Huron, 237, 275, 292 
 Lake Melville, 394, 397 
 Lake Memphremagog, 41 1 
 Lake Michigan, 303, 320, 328, 346 
 Lake Mistassini, 324, 377, 395 
 Lake Nipigon, 324 
 Lake Nipissing, 273, 318 
 Lake of Tears, 369 
 Lake of Two Mountains, 169, 263, 
 292 
 
 Lake of the Woods, 325, 373 
 Lake Ontario, 218, 309 
 Lake Pepin, 322 
 Lake St. Clair, 335 
 
 Lake St. John, 236, 380 
 
 Lake St. Louis, 169, 199, 236, 351 
 
 Lake St. Peter, 166, 237 
 
 Lake Superior, 368 
 Lake Temiscouata, 393 
 Lalemant, Father, 65, 73, 298, 309 
 La Motte Cadillac, 337, 407 
 La Pointe, 322, 326, 342, 405 
 La Potherie, 190 
 La Prairie de la Madeleine, 263 
 La Roche, Marquis de, 227 
 La Roque, Jean Francois de, 194 
 La Salle, Robert Cavelier de, 330, 
 350, 407. 
 
 L’ Assumption, 156 
 Laure, Father, 380, 388 
 Laurentides, 162 
 Laval, Bishop, 330 
 Le Caron, Father, 272, 296 
 Leigh, Dr., 75 
 Le Jeune, Father, 300 
 Lelewel, 67 
 
 Le Moyne family, 378, 406 
 Lery, Baron de, 82 
 Les Araynes, 176 
 
INDEX 
 
 448 
 
 Lescarbot, 71, 107, 120, 157, 220, 
 228, 239, 246, 285 
 Le Sueur, 406 
 Le Tac, Pere, 1 66, 189 
 Lobster Bay, 129 
 Lok’s map, 95 
 Long Point, 128 
 Long Point Bay, 334 
 Longitudes, determinations of, 3 
 Long Sault, 266 
 Long Sault on the Ottawa, 378 
 Lorette, 314 
 Louisbourg, 420 
 Louis XII., 1 18 
 Louis XIV., 362 
 Low, A. P., 382, 396 
 Loyalists, 413, 418, 421 
 Luis, Lazaro, 84 
 
 Mackenzie River, 363 
 McLean, John, 395 
 Madawaska River, 268 
 Mackinac, Old, 338 
 Magdalen Islands, 33, 135, 222, 283, 
 422 
 
 Magellan, 87, 99 
 
 Straits of, 215 
 
 Maggiolo, Vesconte di, 27, 69, 95 
 Magnetic variation, 20, 123 
 Maisonneuve, Sieur de, Paul de 
 Chomedey, 270, 341 
 Maize, 168, 180, 27s, 317, 365 
 MalleSarre, 245 
 Mance, Jeanne, 310 
 Manicouagan River, 158, 392 
 Manitoulin Islands, 314, 339 
 Marest, Father, 338 
 Margaulx, 134, 148 
 Marguerite, niece of Roberval, 207 
 Marquette, Father, 319, 336, 380 
 Marsh, Mary, 70, 72 
 Marshall, O. H., 356 
 Marsolet, interpreter, 295 
 Martyr, Peter, 38, 39, 70, 76 
 Mary of Guilford, 79 
 Mascoutins, 319, 339, 344 
 Maskinonge River, 166 
 Mason’s map, 27 
 Masse, Father Ennemond, 298 
 Matchedash Bay, 275 
 Mattawa River, 273 
 Maumee River, 358, 407 
 Mayda Island, 9 
 Meccatina Islands, 209 
 Medina, Pedro de, 124 
 Membertou, 245 
 Membre, Father, 367^ 
 
 Menard, Father Rene, 325 
 Menomonee River, 306 
 Menomonees, Indians, 339 
 Mercoeur, Duke de, 228 
 Mer Douce, 275, 296 
 Meridian, magnetic, 103 
 Metabetchouan River, 381 
 
 Miami River, 358 
 Miamis, Indians, 339 
 Michaux, 391 
 Michelant, M., 12 1 
 Michikamau, Lake, 395 
 Michilimackinac, 302, 314, 337, 371, 
 4°5 
 
 Michipicoton River, 377 
 Micmac Indians, 72, 142, 148 
 Midland, 308 
 Mille Lacs, 367 
 Mingan channel, 151 
 Miquelon, 84, 222 
 Mira, Bay and River, 83, 420 
 Miramichi, 239 
 Bay, 141 
 mission, 393 
 Miscou, 141, 223, 417 
 Island, 239 
 
 Mississauga Indians, 414 
 Mississippi River, 307, 320, 341 
 Missouri River, 320 
 Mohawks, 182, 257, 310, 316, 329 
 Mohegan Indians, 359 
 Moisic River, 157, 394 
 Moluccas, 1 01 
 
 Montagnais Indians, 70, 13 1, 261 
 Montanas, Rio de, 106 
 Montigny, missionary, 406 
 Montmorenci, Duke de, 286 
 Montmorenci Falls, 236 
 Montreal, 118, 167, 170, 262, 270 
 Montreal River, 322, 364 
 Monts Deserts, 245 
 Moose River, 324, 378 
 Moravian Brethren, 394 
 Morse, Col. Robert, 419 
 Mount Royal, 169, 216 
 Muskingum River, 408 
 Muskrat Lake, 268 
 
 Nadouessieux, 309 
 Natashquan, 147 
 Nation de Feu, Indians, 344 
 Nation of Beef, Indians, 322 
 Natives, kidnapped and sent to 
 France, 51, 70, 76, 101, 144, 165, 
 175, 192, 197, 213, 239, 262, 292, 
 402 
 
 Navarette, Martin Fernandez de, 64, 
 81 
 
 Nebicerini, 265 
 Nekouba, Lake, 384 
 Nemiskau Lake, 376 
 River, 385 
 
 Neutral nation, 256, 278, 282, 295, 
 
 309, 3i4 
 
 New Brunswick, 107, 420 
 Newfoundland, 56, 65, 70, 79, 85, 
 104, 117, 123, 131, 424 
 Niagara, 237 
 
 Falls, 284, 295, 332, 355 
 post, 402 
 
 River, 293, 309, 332 
 
INDEX 
 
 449 
 
 Nichicun Lake, 382, 396 
 Nicholas, Father, 328, 393 
 Nicollet, Jean, 301 
 Nipisiquit mission, 393 
 Nipissings, 265, 269, 301, 339 
 Noel, Jacques, 218 
 Noel, Stephen, 197 
 Nonsuch, The, 387 
 Normans, 59, 120 
 North Bird Island, 134 
 North Cape, 140 
 Northmen, voyages of, 59, 67 
 Northumberland Strait, 139 
 Northwest River, 395 
 Norumbegue, 96, 129, 219, 241 
 Notre Dame Mountains, 156 
 Nottawasaga Bay, 313 
 Nouvel, Father, 348, 380 
 Nova Scotia, 93, 107, 418 
 Novercha, 66 
 
 Ochiltree, Lord, 420 
 Ohio River, 353 
 Ojibways, 182, 308, 327 
 Oneida River and Lake, 276 
 Onion River, 41 1 
 Onondaga Lake mission, 316 
 tribe, 315 
 town, 275 
 Orange, 316 
 Orleans, Island of, 160 
 Oswego, Fort, 410 
 River, 316 
 
 Otonabee River, 276 
 Ottawa (city), 217, 266 
 Indians, 273, 326 
 River, 169, 218, 265 
 Outarde River, 158, 398 
 Oviedo, 102, 107, 109 
 
 Palistaskau, Lake, 385 
 Parkhurst, Anthony, 148, 224 
 Parkman, 120, 184, 204, 278, 353 
 Pashasheeboo Bay, 155 
 Pasqualigo, 36, 49, 68, 92 
 Passamaquoddy Bay, 243 
 Peckham, Sir George, 38 
 Penobscot, 104, 216, 219 
 Peoria Lake, 359 
 Perce, 238 
 Pere, Jean, 332 
 Perroquet Island, 150 
 Perrot, Nicholas, 326, 339, 406 
 Petite nation, Indians, 263 
 River, 266 
 
 Petitsikapau Lake, 396 
 
 Petit-Val, Raphael du, 121, 132, 
 
 _ . . M5 
 
 Philip II., 102, 223 
 Phips, Admiral, 417 
 Pierson, Father, 348, 371 
 Piet, Father Irenaeus, 297 
 Pijart, Father, 308 
 29 
 
 Pilestrina, Salvat de, 114 
 Pilgrims Islands, 159 
 Pillage Bay, 155 
 Piouagamik, Lake, 381 
 Pistolet Bay, 126 
 Placentia, 38, 222 
 Pleasant Bay, 137 
 Point de Monts, 157, 253 
 Pointe a Callieres, 262 
 Pointe au Platon, 165, 189, 236 
 Pointe Bleue, 382 
 Pointe de la Latte, 132 
 Point Pelee, 334 
 Polo, Marco, 12, 35 
 Pont-Grave, Sieur Francois, 223 
 231, 264, 379 
 Porcupine nation, 381 
 Port au Mouton, 241 
 Port au Port, 133 
 Port aux Basques, 178, 222, 426 
 Port Daniel, 142. 
 
 Porte Croix Indians, 181 
 Port la Joie, 422 
 Porto Bello, 234 
 Portochova, 222 
 Port Rossignol, 241, 417 
 Port Royal, 244, 245, 415 
 Port St. Louis, 245 
 Portuguese influence, 47 
 fishermen, 73, 82 
 maps, 53, 56, 1 14 
 names, 8, 53, 72 
 sailors, 47, 82 
 settlements, 83 
 Potaganissing Bay, 303 
 Pottawatamies, 318, 335 
 Poutrincourt, 112, 244, 416 
 Prairie du Chien, 344, 366 
 Prato, Albert de, 96 
 Prevert, Sieur, 238 
 Prince Edward Island, 140, 415, 422 
 Prowse, Judge, 79 
 Prudhomme, Guillaume, 95 
 Puants, Baie des, 305, 318 
 nation des, 305 
 Purchas, William, 76, 79 
 
 Quebec, meaning of word, 236 
 
 Radisson, Pierre Esprit, 316, 378,. 
 389 
 
 Rageneau, Father, 309 
 Ralleau, 246 
 
 Ramea Islands, 84, 99, 222 
 Ramusio, 56, 76, 90, 121, 152, 196, 
 274 
 
 Rapont harbour, 125 
 
 Raymbault, Father, 308 
 
 Recollet missionaries, 271, 290, 393 
 
 Red Bay, 127 
 
 Red Indians, 17 
 
 Island, 132, 158 
 River, 363 
 
450 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Reinel, Pedro, 20, 57, 72, 117 
 
 Renews, 81, 178, 222 
 
 “ Relation Originate, ” 122, 130, 145 
 
 Restigouche Mission, 393 
 
 Rice Lake, 275 
 
 Richars, 128, 149 
 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 249, 287, 300 
 
 Richelieu, fort, 165 
 
 River, 165, 257, 410 
 Richibucto mission, 393 
 Richmond or Malpeque Bay, 139 
 Rideau Falls, 267 
 Rimouski, 1 58 
 Rio de dos Bocas, in 
 Rio de las Gamas, 109 
 Rio de Muchas Islas, in 
 Rio de Rosa, 56 
 Rio Grande, 108 
 Rio Nevado, 50 
 River de Ste. Helene, 217 
 River of Boats, 139 
 River of Chestnut Trees, 107 
 River St. Jacques, 130 
 River of the Algonquins, 265 
 Riviere Buade, 352 
 Riviere de Fouez, 257 
 Riviere des Iroquois, 237, 257, 410 
 Riviere du Detour, 108 
 Roberval, Sieur de, 192 et seq. 
 Rock River, 368 
 Romaine River, 398 
 Rougemont, Philippe, 173 
 Rupert’s River, 324, 375 
 Rut, John, 79, 96 
 Ruysch’s map, 19, 29, 36 
 
 Sable Island, 114, 225 
 
 Franciscan monk on, 229 
 Sacred Island, 126 
 Sacs, Indians, 326, 339 
 Sagard, Father, 189, 267 
 Saguenay, kingdom of, 156 
 
 River, 235, 283, 324, 342, 
 
 381 
 
 Saineterre, M. de, 201, 205 
 Sambro Island, 247 
 San Sebastian, 64 
 Santa Cruz, map, 68, 102, 116 
 Island, 227 
 
 Sault, The (Lachine rapids), 218, 
 236, 262 
 
 Sault au Recollet, 298 
 
 Sault de Gaston, 285, 302 
 
 Saulteaux, Indians, 308, 320, 339 
 
 Sault St. Louis, 263, 271 
 
 Sault Ste. Marie, 285, 294, 339, 405 
 
 Savignon, 292 
 
 Schoodic, 243 
 
 Schooner Island, 126 
 
 Scioto River, 408 
 
 Scitadin, 184 
 
 Scorafixa, 10, 66 
 
 Seneca Indians, 278, 331, 409 
 
 Seven Cities, Island of," 9, 15, 61 
 Seven Islands Bay, 157 
 Severn River, 274, 378 
 Shawinigan Falls, 379 
 Shawnee Indians, 67, 232 
 Shecatica Bay, 130 
 Shickshock Mountains, 156 
 Siboure, 66 
 Sioux, 278, 369 
 Soissons, Count de, 264, 286 
 Souriquois, 181 
 South Point (Anticosti), 143 
 South Sea, 11, 237, 285, 344 
 Stadacona, 163, 171, 187, 197 
 Stearing Island, 132 
 Stilanda, 66 
 
 Stockfish, 22, 66, 72, 75 
 Stow’s Chronicle, 76 
 Sturgeon Bay, 347 
 post at, 417 
 
 St. Anthony harbour, 129 
 
 St. Brandan, Island of, 10, 15 
 
 St. Charles River, 161, 237 
 
 St. Cosme, missionary, 406 
 
 Ste. Anne’s, portage, 265 
 
 Ste. Catherine, 124 
 
 Ste. Croix (Etchemins) River, 243- 
 
 Ste. Croix (St. Charles) River, 161, 
 
 ^190 
 
 Ste. Croix (village), 236 
 St. Elmo Islands, 111 
 St. Francis River, 166, 257, 41 1 
 St. Francis Xavier mission, 328 
 _ 329 , 347 
 
 St. Esprit mission, 308, 322, 329,, 
 
 405 
 
 Ste. Genevieve Island, 155 
 Ste. Marie mission, 308 
 Ste. Suzanne River, 257 
 Ste. Therese, 327 
 St. Helen’s Island, 265 
 
 St. Ignace mission, 337, 349 
 
 Island, 261 
 
 St. Jean de Luz, 65, 226 
 St. John, haven, 79 
 
 (Prince Edward Island), 239,, 
 415 
 
 Island (Cape Breton), 32, 57, 
 .104, iis 
 
 River, 242, 416, 421 
 St. John’s, Newfoundland, 79, 224 
 
 St. Johns, Que., 258 
 St. Joseph’s Island, 303, 313 
 River, 361 
 
 St. Julian, Bay of, 132 
 canal of, 105 
 
 St. Lawrence, Gulf and River, 
 exploration of, 83, 115, 148, 155. 
 basin, exploration of, 363 et 
 seq. 
 
 valley, 401 et seq. 
 
 St. Louis River, 363, 405 
 St. Lunario, Bay of, 140 
 St. Lusson, Daumont de, 339 
 
INDEX 
 
 45i 
 
 St. Martin, 142 
 St. Mary’s, Bay, 108, 24 2 
 Islands, 154 
 mission, 329 
 on-the-Wye, 313 
 
 St. Maurice River, 170, 237, 283, 
 379 
 
 St. Pantaleon, Archipelago of, 84 
 St. Paul’s Island, 177 
 St. Peter, Strait of, 146 
 St. Peters, no, 417 
 St. Pierre, 84 
 
 Count de, 422 
 Island, 137 
 St. Sauveur, 251 
 St. Servan, 129 
 St. Simon, Denys de, 385 
 St. Sulpice, Seminary of, 330, 350 
 Suite, Benjamin, 232 
 Summit Lake, 325 
 Susquehanna River, 293 
 Susquehannocks, 276 
 Sydney harbour, 420 
 
 Tabagie, 268 
 Table Mountain, 177 
 Tadoussac, 223, 231, 385, 391 
 Taignoagny, 144, 159, 198 
 Talon, Intendant, 328 
 Terceira, 48, 69 
 Terra Corterealis, 67 
 Terra Verde, 49 
 Tessouat, 268 
 
 Thaumur de la Source, missionary, 
 406 
 
 Thevet, 188, 204 
 Thorne, Robert, 41, 75 
 Three Rivers, 170, 232, 237, 296, 
 316, 379 
 
 liconderoga, 67, 109 
 Toanche, 295 
 Tobacco, 1 71 
 
 nation, 256, 282, 314 
 Tonty, Henri de, 405 
 Tordesillas, Treaty of, 7, 30, 47, 
 84, 100, 196 
 Toronto, 293, 414 
 Totunagay, 199, 218 
 Toudamans, 171, 184 
 Toutes Isles, 129, 149 
 Tracy, Marquis de, 328 
 
 Traverse, The, 160 
 Trent, River, 276 
 Trepassy, 222 
 Trouve, Abbe, 331 
 Tuscarawas River, 408 
 
 Ulpius globe, 95 
 Ungava Bay, 393 
 Utrecht, Treaty of, 85, 417 
 
 Vallard’s map, 222 
 Vaudreuil, 338 
 Ventadour, Duke de, 286 
 Verde, Cape, 47 
 
 Vermilion Sea, 12, 313, 342, 344 
 Verrazano, Juan, 81, 87 et seq., 
 118, 215 
 
 Hieronimus de, 94 
 sea of, 95 
 
 Verreau, Abbe, 91, 193 
 Vespucci, Amerigo, 14, 92 
 Vianna, 82 
 
 Viegas, Gaspar, 27, 108, 114 
 Viel, Father Nicholas, 296 
 Vignau, 265, 270, 376 
 Vimont, Father, 303 
 Vinson, Julien, 73 
 Vuelta, Rio de la, 108 
 
 Watagheistic sound, 154 
 Weimar map, 116 
 West Indies, 29, 76, 84, 89' 
 Whale harbour, 127 
 Whitbourne, Richard, 148 
 White Head, 143 
 Winnebagoes, 304, 339 
 Winokapau, 396 
 Winsor, Justin, 60, 184 
 Wisconsin portage, 320 
 Wolfenbuttel map, 116 
 Wood Island, 128 
 Wyandots, 257 
 Wytfliet’s map, 84, 220 
 
 Yamaska River, 166, 257 
 
 Zaltieri’s map, 250 
 Zeni voyages, 66, 67 
 
Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, 
 
 BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND 
 BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. 
 
THE FIELD. — “ If all the volumes of the Story of Exploration series 
 maintain the same standard of excellence as those which have already appeared , 
 they will form a most valuable addition to geographical literature , and shoula 
 find a place on the shelves of every well ordered library 
 
 THE STORY OF EXPLORATION 
 
 A Complete History of the Discovery of the Globe from the Earliest 
 Records up to the Present Time. 
 
 Edited by J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D., Sec.R.G.S. 
 
 Demy 8vo. Price ys. 6 d. per Volume. 
 
 P ROBABLY few of the stories that tell of the achievements due to 
 the curiosity of humanity have a wider or more lasting interest 
 than that which is concerned with the exploration of the lands and 
 seas which give feature to the face of the earth. The story starts 
 more than three thousand years ago, and so far as the pioneer work 
 of Exploration is concerned, may be taken to have practically 
 concluded with the end of the nineteenth century. It seems, there- 
 fore, an opportune time to gather together and recount the leading 
 episodes in this long record of incessant human effort in such a 
 manner as will appeal to and interest all intelligent readers. 
 
 In planning “The Story of Exploration,” the authors, editor, 
 and publishers have co-operated with the main object of making each 
 volume tell the complete story of the discovery of one region of the 
 globe, so that while one volume may be read independently of the 
 others, the whole series will form a complete history of the 
 adventurous journeys which led to the unveiling of the face of 
 the earth. 
 
 The volumes already arranged for publication, besides those which are 
 already issued, are : — 
 
 THE SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
 
 EARLY WANDERERS IN CENTRAL 
 ASIA 
 
 TIBET THE MYSTERIOUS . 
 
 THE AUSTRAL CONTINENT AND 
 ITS SURROUNDINGS . 
 
 THE AMAZON AND ITS FEEDERS 
 
 By Hugh R. Mill, D.Sc., LL.D. 
 
 [In Preparation. 
 
 By C. Raymond Beazley, M.A., F.R.G.S. 
 
 By Colonel Sir Thomas Holdich, K.C.M.G. 
 K.C.I.E., C.B. 
 
 By E. J. Payne. 
 
 By Colonel George Earle Church. 
 
 N.B. — Other volumes are in contemplation, and will be announced in due 
 course; these include a volume on “The Siege of the North Pole,” by 
 Dr. Fridtjof Nansen. 
 
 London : LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Limited, 
 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 
 
 I 
 
[The Story of Exploration, Vol. I.] 
 
 THE NILE QUEST 
 
 A Record of the Exploration of the Nile and its Basin. 
 
 By Sir HARRY H. JOHNSTON, 
 
 G.C.M.G., IC.C.B. 
 
 (President of the African Society). 
 
 With over Seventy Illustrations from Drawings and Photographs 
 by the Author and by others. Maps by J. G. Bartholomew. 
 
 Some Extracts from the Press: 
 
 The Spectator*. — “The record of the quest, beginning in the dimmest 
 ages of history and extending down to our own day, could not fail to be a 
 fascinating story. . . . Sir Harry Johnston has done a useful service in 
 setting forth the often tangled results of African exploration in a clear narrative. ” 
 
 The Times. — “Few men are better fitted than Sir Harry Johnston to tell 
 the tale of ‘ The Nile Quest.’ He traces the routes of successive travellers, 
 prefacing each narrative with brief biographical sketches. . . . He holds the 
 balance with judicial impartiality, and vindicates some unjustly discredited 
 reputations. ... It is singularly attractive, and some of his descriptions of 
 scenery and the native races may vie with the best of the extracts from the 
 works of eloquent travellers.” 
 
 The Morning Post. — “ Sir Harry Johnston has admirably succeeded in 
 presenting us with the story of the exploration and discovery of the Nile Basin. 
 His intimate personal knowledge of the African continent enables him to 
 reconstruct, as no one without that knowledge could hope to do, the conditions 
 under which, little by little, the information brought from the interior of the 
 continent was pieced together by the geographers of succeeding ages. . . . 
 The publishers have admirably done their part.” 
 
 The Daily Chronicle. — “A fascinating record brilliantly told. It is 
 a wonderful tale, . . . the interest of the reader is perpetually stimulated by 
 sundry picked photographs magnificently executed. An excellent map, 
 together with a full and carefully compiled index, completes a standard work.” 
 
 St. James’s Gazette.— “ This volume is a good send-off to the series. 
 It is a story of intense, even thrilling interest, and is told with literary skill and 
 in the manner of a man who has a thorough knowledge of his subject.” 
 
 The Manchester Guardian.— “ We know of no book in which the 
 whole history of Nile exploration, from the earliest times up to the very latest 
 discoveries in the Sobat and Bahr-el-Ghazel regions, is narrated so fully and 
 accurately as it is here.” 
 
 London : LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Limited, 
 
 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 
 
 2 
 
[The Story of Exploration, VoS. 11.] 
 
 THE PENETRATION 
 OF ARABIA 
 
 A Record of the Development of Western Knowledge 
 concerning the Arabian Peninsula. 
 
 By D. G. HOGARTH, M.A. 
 
 (Fellow of Magdalen, Oxford), 
 
 Author of “ A Wandering Scholar in the Levant.” 
 
 With over Fifty Illustrations and Maps , and also Two large Maps in Colour 
 
 by J. G. Bartholomew. 
 
 Extracts from some Reviews: 
 
 The Athenaeum, — “It is a literary, scientific, and, we may add, a 
 political gain to be placed in possession of a standard work describing the 
 exploration of Arabia.” 
 
 The Times. — “ Mr. Hogarth rises to true eloquence, and speaks with 
 freedom and mastery. There is strength and justice, moreover, in his judg- 
 ments of men. He has produced a work which is not only a valuable addition 
 to Dr. Keltie’s series, but, to use his own word, is the ‘polarization’ of 
 almost all our knowledge of Arabia. It is the first effective competitor that 
 has appeared to Carl Ritter’s discussion of Arabian geography, now some 
 fifty years old. ” 
 
 The Morning Post. — “ An encyclopaedia of knowledge concerning this 
 famous peninsula. The story is replete with important lessons as to the 
 vitality and character of the Moslem population.” 
 
 The Standard.— “A summary — luminous and exact — of the literature of 
 travel in that part of the world. ... A scholarly survey of adventurous 
 though tardy geographical research.” 
 
 The St. James’s Gazette. — “Mr. Hogarth’s compilation of the history 
 of the inscrutable land is scholarly as well as comprehensive. It is a notable 
 addition to the series.” ' 
 
 The World. — “Arabia has always produced intrepid and entertaining 
 travellers, on whose naive accounts of their journeys Mr. Hogarth draws with 
 good effect. His book is full of interest, and a worthy successor to Sir Harry 
 Johnston’s work on the Nile.” 
 
 London : LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Limited, 
 
 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 
 
 3 
 
[The Story of Exploration, Vol. 111.] 
 
 FURTHER INDIA 
 
 Being the Story of Exploration from the Earliest Times 
 in Burma, Malaya, Siam, and Indo-China. 
 
 By HUGH CLIFFORD, C.M.G., 
 
 Author of “In Court and Kampong,” “Studies in Brown 
 
 Humanity,” &c., &C. 
 
 With Forty-eight Illustrations fro? 7 i Drawings , Photographs, and Maps ; and 
 Two large Maps in Colour by J. G. Bartholomew. 
 
 Extracts from some Reviews : 
 
 The Morning Post. — “It has chapters which are as fascinating as any 
 which are to be found in the story of exploration. The volume, which is 
 supplied with an admirable series of maps, fully sustains the promise held out 
 by the two earlier volumes of the series.” 
 
 The Daily Chronicle. — “ No more competent authority to tell the 
 complete tale, and at the same time to present the local view could have been 
 found than Mr. Hugh Clifford. The book is a complete compilation ; it is 
 written with an enthusiasm and a charm worthy of the subject, and with an 
 insistence born of personal knowledge.” 
 
 The Westminster Gazette. — “All that has been written and published 
 Mr. Clifford has industriously examined and collated, and he has arranged it 
 in consecutive narratives, abounding in dramatic episodes or exciting incidents. 
 The story is as intricate as it is interesting.” 
 
 The Athenaeum. — “ It is difficult to do justice in brief space to a 
 work extending over so large a field, but the book, written by one who has 
 personal knowledge of part of the country described, will be valuable bot 1 o 
 those who desire general information, and to students.” 
 
 The Spectator. — “ Mr. Clifford has given us an excellent monograph, 
 written with much grace of style, and containing matter of high interest both 
 to the geographer and the historian.” 
 
 The Field.— “ Those who desire to gain a better knowledge of the past 
 and present history of exploration in India cannot do better than read this 
 excellent book.” 
 
 The Academy. — “Another volume in this most excellent series. Mr. 
 Clifford has produced a thoroughly readable, trustworthy, and fascinating book, 
 well indexed and well illustrated.” 
 
 London : LAWRENCE & BULLEN, Limited, 
 
 16 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C. 
 
 4 
 
I 
 
 i