V.

year, (1601,) made a second voyage with the same SECT. good fortune as the first, and sailed up the St. Law. rence as high as Trois Rivieres; but while prepar- 1601. ing for a third voyage, (in the year after,) he died.

The many specimens of profit to be made by the Canadian trade, led the public to think favourably of it. M. de Chatte, the governour of Dieppe, succeeded Chauvin as governour of Canada. De Chatte's scheme seems to have been, to have carried on that trade with France, by a company of Rouen merchants and adventurers. An armament for this purpose, was accordingly equipped, and the command of it given to Pontgravé, with powers to extend his discoveries up the river St. Lawrence. Pontgrave, with his squadron, sailed in 1603, having in his company Samuel Champlain, afterwards Pontthe famous founder of Quebec, who had been a grave's captain in the navy, and was a man of talents and the St. enterprise. Arriving at Tadoussac, they left their ships there, and in a long-boat they proceeded up the river as far as the falls of St. Louis, and then returned to France.

pa

1603.

voyage up

Lawrence.

The Sieur de Mont's commis

voyages

While Pontgravé was engaged in this voyage of. 1603, De Chatte died, and was succeeded in his tent by Pierre du Gast, Sieur de Monts, styled in sion, and the king's commission to him, "gentilhomme ordi- under it. naire de notre chambre." The tenor of his letters patent, (as we have it at large in Hazard's Collections, Vol. 1, p. 45,) bearing date November 8th, 1603, appears to have been as well for colonising the country then called Acadié, (which comprehended Canada, as well as what is now called Nova Scotia,) as for encouraging the fur-trade carried on

1604.

SECT. there. A difference of opinion is said to have taken V. place, on the occasion of granting these letters patent, between king Henry and his very able minister, the duke of Sully. The duke declared roundly, that all settlements in America above the fortieth degree of north latitude, could be of no utility; and that all pretended advantages insisted upon in their favour, were but so many commercial chimeras. Here again, (observes the historian,*) the monarch was right and the minister wrong, as we know by experience. By these letters patent, the Sieur de Monts was constituted and appointed the king's lieutenant-general, to represent his person, in the country, territory, coasts, and confines of Acadié, from the fortieth degree of north latitude to the forty-sixth. The extent of this portion of the continent was, from that part of the coast of New Jersey, in the latitude of Philadelphia, to the northern extremity of Cape Breton. Had the Sieur de Monts fixed his settlement or colony, at this time, on that part of the continent as low as, or near to the fortieth degree, which he might have done, the country being then unsettled by any Europeans, and entirely open to him, very different indeed might have been the present situation of affairs in North America. But it is probable, that as all northern furs are said to be much better than those of a southern climate, the French found greater profits from that trade in . Canada, than the English did from the southern part of the continent, which they were at this time exploring. The Sieur de Monts, was therefore, soon

Mod. Univ. Hist. Vol. 24, p. 406.

V.

1604.

enabled to form a company under his patent, more SECT. considerable than any that had yet undertaken that trade. For their further encouragement, it seems, the king, soon after the former patent to the Sieur de Monts, granted also to him and his associates, an exclusive right to the commerce of peltry in Acadié, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Thus encouraged, they fitted out four ships. De Monts, in person, took the command of two of them, and was attended by Champlain, and a gentleman called Pontrincourt, with a number of volunteer adventurers.*

Another of the ships was destined to carry on the fur trade at Tadoussac; and the fourth was

* Some were Protestants and some Catholics. De Monts himself was a Calvinist; but the king allowed him and his people the exercise of their religion in America. A passage is cited in Holmes's Annals, Vol. 1, p. 147, from Charlevoix, wherein it is said, that De Monts engaged on his part, to establish the Catholic religion among the natives. But the original letters patent, as in Hazard's Collections, above-cited, do not warrant this assertion; and it is not probable, from the well known character of Henry, that any such stipulation was made by verbal agreement. It is true, that in the preamble of the letters patent, Henry sets forth his resolution, (as was usual in the first planting of America, both North and South,) to cause the native inhabitants of that country to be converted, 66 au Christianisme et en la créance et profession de notre foi et religion." But this seems to be explained further along in the letters, where he authorises De Monts, "les (peuples) appeler, faire instruire, provoquer et emouvoir à la connoissance de Dieu et à la lumiere de la foi et religion chretienne." It is not impossible, but that Charlevoix, being of the order of Jesuits, might very dextrously suppose, that the Christian religion could mean nothing else than the Catholic religion, and so set it down.

SECT. given to Pontgravé, who was ordered, after touchV. ing at Canso, (the eastern extremity of Nova Sco1604. tia) to scour the sea between Cape Breton and St. John's islands, and to clear it of all interlopers.

De Monts, with his two ships, sailed from Havre de Grace on the 7th of March, 1604, and, after a passage of only one month, arrived at Cap de la Hêve, in Nova Scotia. In a harbour very near this cape, to the southwest, he met with an interloping vessel, commanded by one Rossignol, a Frenchman, who was trading there with the Indians without license; for which reason he seized his ship and cargo, and called the harbour Port Rossignol. Coasting thence further to the southwest, he arrrived at another haven, which his people named Port Mutton, on account of a sheep which either leaped or tumbled overboard here, and was drowned. From this port they coasted the peninsula to the southwest; doubled Cape Sable, and came to anchor in the bay of St. Mary. They afterwards proceeded to examine an extensive bay on the northwest of the peninsula, to which they gave the name of La Baye Francois, but which is now called the Bay of Fundy. On the southeastern side of this bay they dis covered a narrow strait, into which they entered, and soon found themselves in a spacious bason, environed with hills, and bordered with fertile meadows. Pontrincourt was so delighted with this place, that he determined to make it his residence, and proposed to send for his family, and settle there. Upon which De Monts, in virtue of his commission, made him a grant of it; and Pontrincourt gave it the name

V.

of Port Royal, which grant was afterwards, in the SECT. year 1607, confirmed to him by Henry IV. It has since been known by the name of Annapolis Royal. 1604. From Port Royal or Annapolis, De Monts sailed still further up the Bay of Fundy, in search of a copper mine, then said to lie at the head of that bay. While De Monts was thus engaged in his coasting voyage, Champlain, who had been despatched in a long-boat, immediately after their arrival at Cap de la Hêve, to search for a proper place for a settlement, in examining the Bay of Fundy, pursuant to the instructions of De Monts, came to a large river on the northwest side of the bay, which he called St. John's, originally called by the natives Ouy-gondy. From this river, Champlain coasted the bay southwestwardly twenty leagues, until he came to another river, in exploring which he met with a small island, in the middle of that river, and about half a league in circumference, to which he gave the name of L'Isle de St. Croix. This island he deemed to be a proper situation on which they might begin a settlement. He was soon followed thither by De Monts, who resolved to build a fort, and pass the winter there. This they did, but from their account they must have endured great hardships. The insular situation of the settlement precluded them from many advantages. When the winter came on, which was said to have been severe, they found themselves without fresh water, without wood for firing, and without fresh provisions. These inconveniences soon filled the little colony with diseases, particularly the scurvy. By the ensuing spring thirty-six