at the biggest end which is flat one putteth some grease to it mingled with butter then all the sailes are stricken downe and the sound cast and when that the bottome is felt and the lead draweth no more line they leaue off leting downe of it So our sound being drawen vp brought with it some small stones with a white one and a peece of shell hauing moreouer a pit in the grease whereby they iudged that the bottome was a rocke I cannot expresse the Ioy that we had seeing vs there where we had so much desired to be There was not any one of vs more sicke euery one did leape for Ioy and did seeme vnto vs to be in our owne country though we were come but to the halse of our voyage at least for the time that passed before we came to Port Royall whther we were bound Heere I will before I proceed any further decipher vnto you what meaneth this word Bancke which paraduenture putteth some in paine to know what it is They somtimes call Banckes a sandy bottome which is very shallow or which is a drie at low water Such places be mortall for ships that meete with them But the Bancke whereof we speake are mountaines grounded in the depth of the waters which are raised vp to 30. 36. and 40. fadams neere to the vpper face of the sea This Bancke is holden to be of 200. leagues in lenght and 18. 20. and 24. leagues broad which being passed there is no more bottome found out then in these parts vntill one come to the land The ships being there arriued the sailes are rowled vp and there fishing is made of the greene fish as I haue said whereof we shall speake in the booke following For the satisfying of my reader I haue drawen it in my Geography call Map of New-found-land with prickes which is all may be done to represent it There is farther off other banckes as I haue marked in the said Map vpon the which good fishing may be made and many goe thither that know the places When that we parted from Rochel there was as it were a forrest of ships lying at Chef de Bois whereof that place hath taken his name which went all in a company to that country preuenting vs in their going but onely of two daies Hauing seene and noted the Bancke wee hoisted vp sailes and bare all night keeping still our course to the West But the dawne of day being come which was Saint Iohn Baptists Eue in Gods name we pulled downe sailes passing that day a fishing of Cod-fish with a thousand mirthes and contentments by reason of fresh meates whereof we had asmuch as we would hauing long before wished for them Monsieur De Poutrincourt and a yong man of Retel named Le Feure who by reason of the sea-sicknesse were not come out from their beds nor cabanes from the beginning of the Nauigation came vpon the hatches that day and had the pleasure not onely of fishing of Cod but also of those birds that bee called by French mariners Happe-foyes that is to say Liuer-catchers because of their greedinesse to deuour the liuers of the Cod-fishes that are cast into the sea after their bellies bee opened whereof they are so couetous that though they see a great powle ouer their heads ready to strike them downe yet they aduenture themselues to come neere to the ship to catch some of them at what price soeuer And they which were not occupied in fishing did passe their time in that sport And so did they by their diligence that wee tooke some thirty of them But in this action one of our shipwrights fell downe in the sea And it was good for him that the ship went but slow which gaue him meanes to saue himselfe by taking hold of the rudder from which he was pulled in a boord but for his paines was well beaten by Captaine Foulques In this fishing we sometimes did take sea-dogges whose skinnes our Ioyners did keepe carefully to smooth their worke withall Item fishes called by Frenchmen Merlus which be better then Cod and sometimes another kinde of fish called Bars which diuersity did augment our delight They which were not busie in taking neither fishes nor birdes did passe their time in gathering the hearts guts and other inward parts most delicate of the Cod-fish which they did mince with lard and spices and with those things did make as good Bolonia sausiges as any can be made in Paris and we did eat of them with a very good stomacke On the euening we made ready to continue our course hauing first made our Canons to roare as well because of Saint Iohn his holy day as for Monsieur De Poutrincourts sake which beareth the name of that Saint The next day some of our men tolde vs they had seene a Bancke of Ice And thereupon was recited vnto vs how that the yeare before a ship of Olone was cast away by approaching too neere to it and that two men hauing saued themselues vpon the Ice had this good fortune that another ship passing by the men tooke them in aboord them It is to be noted that from the 18. of Iune vntill wee did arriue at Port Royall we haue found the weather quite otherwise to that we had before For as we haue already said we had colde mistes or fogges before our comming to the Bancke where we came in faire sunshine but the next day we fell to the fogges againe which a far off we might perceiue to come and wrappe vs about holding vs continually prisoners three whole daies for two daies of faire weather that they permitted vs which was alwaies accompanied with colde by reason of the Summers absence Yea euen diuers times wee haue seene our selues a whole sennight continually in thicke fogges twice without any shew of Sunne but very little as I will recite heereafter And I will bring foorth a reason for such effects which seemeth vnto me probable As wee see the fire to draw the moistnesse of a wet cloath opposite vnto it likewise the sunne draweth moistnesse and vapours both from the sea and from the land But for the dissoluing of them there is heere one vertue and beyond those parts another according to the accidents and circumstances that are found In these our countries it raiseth vp vapours onely from the ground and from our riuers which earthly vapours grosse and waighty and participating lesse of the moist ellement doe cause vs a hot aire and the earth discharged of those vapours becomes thereby more hot and parching From thence it commeth that the said vapors hauing the earth of the one part and the Sunne on the other which heateth them they are easily dissolued not remaining long in the aire vnlesse it be in winter when the earth is waxen colde and the Sunne beyond the Equinoctiall line farre off from vs. From the same reason proceedeth the cause why mistes and
as these fresh meats And I find by my reckening that Pythagoras was very ignorant forbidding in his faire goulden sentences the vse of fishes without distinction One may excuse him in that fish being dumbe hath some conformity with his sect wherein dumbnesse or silence was much commended It is also said that he did it because that fish is nourished in an Element enemy to mankinde Item that it is a great sinne to kill and to eat a creature thar doth not hurt vs. Item that it is a delicious luxurious meat not of necessity as indeed in the Hieroglyphiques of Orus Apollo fish is put for a marke of delicacie and voluptuousnesse Item that he the said Pythagoras did eat but meats that might be offered to the gods which is not done with fishes and other such toies recited by Plutarch in his Convivial questions But all those superstions be foolish and I would faine demand of such a man if being in Canada he had rather die for hunger then to eat fish So many anciently to follow their owne fancies and to say these be we haue forbidden their followers the vse of meats that God hath giuen to man and sometimes laied yoakes vpon men that they themselues would not beare Now whatsoeuer the Philosophy of Pythagoras is I am none of his I finde better the rule of our good religious men which please themselues in eating of flesh which I liked well in New France neither am I yet displeased when I meet with such fare If this Philosopher did liue with Ambrosia and of the food of the Gods and not of fishes of which none are sacrificed vnto them Our said good religious as the Cordeliers or Franciscans of Saint Maloes and others of the maritime townes together with the Priests may say that in eating sometimes fish they eate of the meat consecrated to God For when the New found land men doe meet with some woonderfull faire Codde they make of it a Sanctorum so doe they call it and doe vow and consecrate it to Saint Frances Saint Nicholas Saint Leonard and others head and all whereas in their fishing they cast the heads into the sea I should be forced to make a whole booke if I would discourse of all the fishes that are cōmon to the Brasilians Floridians Armouchiquois Canadians Souriquois But I will restrain my selfe to two or three hauing first told that in Port Royall there is great beds of Muscles wherewith we did fill our Shallops when that sometimes wee went into those parts There be also Scallops twise as bigge as Oysters in quantitie Item Cockles which haue neuer failed vs As also there is Chatagnes demer sea Chestnuts the most delicious fish that is possible to bee Item Crabbes and Lobstarts those be the shell fishes But one must take the pleasure to fetch them and are not all in one place Now the said Port being eight leagues compasse there is by the abouesaid Philosophers leaue good sport to row in it for so pleasant a fishing And seeing wee are in the Countrie where the Coddes are taken I will not yet leaue off worke vntill I haue spoken something thereof For so many people and in so great number goe to fetch them out of all the parts of Europe euery yeere that I know not from whence such a swarme may come The Coddes that bee brought into these parts are either drie or wet The fishing of the wee fish is on the banke in the open sea on this side New found land as may be noted by my Geographicall mappe Fifteene or twentie more or lesse mariners haue euery one a lyne it is a corde of fortie or fiftie fathams long at the end whereof is a hooke baited and a lead of three pounds waight to bring it to the bottome with this implement they fish their Coddes which are so greedie that no sooner let downe but as soone caught where good fishing is The fish being drawen a shippe-boord there are boords in forme of narrow tables along the ship where the fish is dressed There is one that cutteth off their heads and casteth them commonly in the sea Another cutteth their bellies and garbelleth them and sendeth backe to his fellow the biggest part of the backe-bone which hee cutteth away That done they are put into the salting tubbe for fower and twentie houres then they are laid vp And in this sort doe they worke continually without respecting the Sunday which is the Lords day for the space of almost three moneths their sailes downe vntill the lading be fully made And because the poore mariners doe endure there some cold among the fogges specially them that be most hastie which begin their voiage in Februarie from thence commeth the saying that it is cold in Canada As for the drie Codde one must goe a land There is in New-found-land and in Bacaillos great number ef Ports where Ships lie at Ancker for three months At the very breake of day the Mariners doe goe two or three leagues off in the sea to take their lading They haue euery one filled their shaloupe by one or two a clock in the afternoone and do returne into the Port where being there is a great Scaffold built one the sea shoare whereon the fish is cast as one cast sheaues of corne through a barne window There is a great table whereon the fish cast is dressed as aboue said After six houres they are turned and so fundry times Then all is gathered and piled together and againe at the end of eight daies put to the aire In the end being dried it is laid vp But there must be no fogges when it is a drying for then it will rot not too much heat for it would become red but a temperate and windy weather They doe not fish by night because then the Cod will not bite I durst beleeue that they be of the fishes which suffer themselues to be taken sleeping although that Oppian is of opinion that fishes warring and deuouring one another as doe the Brasilians and Canibals are alwaies watchfull and sleepe not excepting neuerthelesse the Sargot onely which he saith putteth himselfe in certaine caues to take his sleepe Which I might well beleeue and this fish deserueth not to be warred vpon seeing he maketh warrs vpon none others and liueth of weeds by reason whereof all the Authours doe say that he chaweth his cudde like the Sheepe But as the same Oppian saith that this fish onely in chawing his cudde doth render a moist voice and in that he is deceaued because that my selfe haue heard many times the Seales or Sea woolues in open sea as I haue said elsewhere He might also haue aequiuocated in this The same Cod leaueth biting after the month of September is passed but retireth himselfe to the bottome of the broad sea or else goeth to a hotter country vntill the Spring time Whereupon I will heere aleadge what Pliny
infinite paines to stanch her by pomping In the end being come about they found a great leake by the keele which they stopped with all diligence CHAP. VI. The buildings of the I le Saint Croix The French-mens discommodities in the said place Vnknowen Sicknesses of their causes of the people that be subiect to it of diets bad waters aire windes lakes corruption of woods seasons disposition of bodies of yongue and old the Authors aduice vpon the gouernment of health and cure of the said diseases DVring the foresaid Nauigation Monsieur De Monts his people did worke about the Fort which hee seated at the end of the Iland opposite to the place where he had lodged his Canon Which was wisely considered to the end to command the riuer vp down But there was an inconuenience the said Fort did lie towards the North and without any shelter but of the trees that were on the I le shore which all about hee commanded to be kept and not cut downe And out of the same Fort was the Switzers lodging great and large and other small lodgings representing as it were a Suburbe Some had housed themselues on the firme land neere the brook But within the Fort was Monsieur De Monts his lodging made with very faire artificiall Carpentrie worke with the Banner of France vpon the same At another part was the store-house wherin consisted the safety life of euerie one likewise made with faire Carpentry worke and couered with reedes Right ouer against the said store-house were the lodgings and houses of these Gentlemen Monsieur D'oruille Monsieur Champlein Monsieur Champdorè and other men of reckoning Opposite to Monsieur De Monts his said lodging there was a gallerie couered for to exercise themselues either in play or for the workmen in time of raine And betweene the said Fort and the Platforme where lay the Canon all was full of gardens wherunto euerie one exercised himselfe willingly All Autumne quarter was passed on these works and it was well for them to haue lodged themselues and to manure the ground of the Iland before Winter whilest that in these parts pamphlets were set out vnder the name of Maistre Guillaume stuffed with all sorts of newes By the which amongst other things this Prognosticator did say that Monsieur De Monts did pull out thornes in Canada and all well considered it may well be termed the pulling out of thornes to take in hand such enterprises full of toiles and continuall perils with cares vexations and discommodities But vertue and courage that ouer commeth all these things makes those thornes to be but Gilliflowers and Roses to them that resoule themselues in these heroicall actions to make themselues praise-worthy and famous in the memorie of men despising the vaine pleasures of delicate and effeminated men good for nothing but to coffer themselues in a chamber The most vrgent things being done and hoarie snowie father being come that is to say Winter then they were forced to keepe within doores and to liue euery one at his owne home during which time our men had three speciall discommodities in this Hand videlicet want of wood for that which was in the said Ile was spent in buildings lacke of fresh water and the continuall watch made by night fearing some surprise from the Sauages that had lodged themselues at the foot of the said Iland or some other enemie For the malediction and rage of many Christians is such that one must take heed of them much more than of Infidels A thing which grieueth me to speak would to God I were a liar in this respect and that I had no cause to speake it When they had need of water or wood they were constrained to crosse ouer the riuer which is thrice as broad of euery side as the riuer of Seine It was a thing painfull and tedious in such sort that it was needfull to keepe the boat a whole day before one might get those necessaries In the meane while the cold and snowes came vpon them and the Ice so strong that the Sider was frozen in the vessels and euery one his measure was giuen him out by waight As for wine it was distributed but at certaine daies of the weeke Many idle sluggish companions dranke snow-water not willing to take the paines to crosse the riuer Briefly the vnknowen sicknesses like to those described vnto vs by Iames Quartier in his relation assailed vs. For remedies there was none to be found In the meane while the poore sicke creatures did languish pining away by little and little for want of sweet meats as milke or spoon-meat for to sustain their stomacks which could not receaue the hard meats by reason of let proceeding from a rotten flesh which grew and ouer-abounded within their mouths And when one thought to root it out it did grow againe in one nights space more abundantly than before As for the tree called Annedda mentioned by the said Quartier the Sauages of these lands know it not So that it was most pitifull to behold euery one very few excepted in this miserie and the miserable sicke folkes to die as it were full of life without any possibilitie to be succoured There died of this sicknesse 36 and 36 or 40 more that were stricken with it recouered themselues by the helpe of the Spring assoone as the comfortable season appeared But the deadly season for that sicknesse is in the end of Ianuarie the moneths of February and March wherein most commonly the sicke doe die euery one at his turne according to the time they haue begun to be sicke in such sort that hee which began to bee ill in Februarie and March may escape but hee that shall ouer-haste himselfe and betake him to his bed in December and Ianuarie hee is in danger to die in Februarie March or the beginning of Aprill which time being passed he is in good hope and as it were assured of his safetie Notwithstanding some haue felt some touch thereof hauing beene sharply handled with it Monsieur De monts being returned into France did consult with our Doctors of Physicke vpon the sicknesse which in my opinion they found very new vnknown for I doe not see that when we went away our Pothecarie was charged with any order for the cure thereof and notwithstanding it seemeth that Hippocrates hath had knowledge of it or at least of some that was very like to it For in the Booke De internis affect he speaketh of a certaine maladie where the belly and afterward the spleene doe swell and harden it selfe and feele grieuous and sharpe gripes the skinne becommeth blacke and pale drawing towards the colour of a greene Pomgranet the eares and gums doe render and yeeld a bad sent the said gums disioining themselues from the teeth the legs full of blisters the limbes are weakned c. But specially the Northerly people are more subiect to
it than other more Southerly nations Witnesse the Hollanders Frizeland men and other thereabout amongst whom the said Hollanders doe write in their nauigations that going to the East Indies many of them were taken with the same disease being vpon the coast of Guinie a dangerous coast bearing a pestiferous aire a hundred leagues farre in the sea And the same I meane the Hollanders being in the yeere 1606 gone vpon the coast of Spaine to keepe the same coast and to annoy the Spanish Nauie were constrained to with-draw themselues by reason of this disease hauing cast into the sea two and twentie of their dead And if one will heare the witnesse of Olaus magnus writing of the Northerly Nations of which part himselfe was let him hearken to his report which is this There is saith he yet an other martiall sicknesse that is a sicknesse that afflicteth them which follow the warres which tormenteth and afflicteth them that are besieged such whose limbes thickned by a certaine fleshy heauinesse and by a corrupted bloud which is betweene the flesh and the skinne dilating it selfe like wax they sinke with the least impression made on them with the finger and disioineth the teeth as ready to fall out changeth the white colour of the skinne into blew and causeth a benumming with a distaste to take Physicke and that disease is called in the vulgar tongue of the countrey Sorbut in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per aduenture because of this putrifying softnesse which is vnder the skinne which seemeth to proceede of indigesting and salt meats and to be continued by the cold exhalation of the walles But it shall not haue so much force where the houses are inward wainscotted with boords If it continue longer it must be driuen out by taking euery day wormwood as one expelleth out the roote of the stone by a decoction of stale Beere drunke with butter The same Author doth yet say in an other place a thing much to be noted In the beginning saith he they sustaine the siege with force but in the end the Souldier being by continuance weakned they take away the prouisions from the inuaders by artificiall meanes subtilties and ambushments specially the sheepe which they carry away and make them to grase in grassie places of their houses for feare that through want of fresh meats they fall into the lothsomest sicknesse of all sicknesses called in the country language Sorbut that is to say a wounded stomacke dried by cruell torments and long anguishes for the cold and indigesting meats greedily taken seeme to be the true cause of this sicknesse I haue delighted my selfe to recite heere the very words of this Author because he speaketh thereof as being skilfull and setteth foorth sufficiently enough the land disease of New France sauing that he maketh no mention of the stiffening of the hammes nor of a superfluous flesh which groweth and aboundeth within the mouth and that if one thinke to take it away it increaseth still but well speaketh he of the bad stomacke For Monsieur De Poutrincourt made a Negroe to be opened that died of that sicknesse in our voyage who was found to haue the inward parts very sound except the stomacke that had wrinckles as though they were vlcered And as for the cause proceeding from salt meats it is verie true there are many other causes concurring which feed and entertaine this sicknesse Amongst which I will place in generall the bad food comprehending with it the drinks then the vice of the aire of the countrey and after the euill disposition of the bodie leauing the Physicians to sift it out more curiously Whereunto Hippocrates saith that the Physicion ought also carefully to take heed in considering the seasons the windes the aspects of the Sunne the waters the land it selfe the nature and situation of it the nature of men their maner of liuing and exercise As for the food this sicknesse is caused by cold meats without iuice grosse and corrupted One must then take heed of salt meats smokie mustie raw and of an euill sent likewise of dried fishes as New-found land fish and stinking Raies Briefly from all melancholy meates which are of hard digesting are easily corrupted and breed a grosse and melancholie bloud I would not for all that be so scrupulous as the Physicians which do put in the number of grosse and melancholie meates Beeuesflesh Beares wilde Bores and Hogges flesh they might as well adde vnto them Beuers flesh which notwithstanding we haue found very good as they do amongst fishes the Tons Dolphins all those that carie lard among the birds the Hernes Duckes and all other water birds for in being an ouer curious obseruator of these things one might fall into the danger of staruing and to die for hunger They place yet among the meats that are to be shunned bisket beanes and pulse the often vsing of miâ—ke cheese the grosse and harsh wine and that which is too small white wine and the vse of vineger Beere which is not well sodden nor well scummed and that hath not hoppes enow Also waters that runne thorow rotten wood and those of lakes and bogges still and corrupted waters such as is much in Holland and Frizeland where is obserued that they of Amsterdam are more subiect to paulfies and stifning of sinewes than they of Roterdam for the abouesaid cause of still and sleepie waters which besides doe ingender dropfies dysenteries fluxes quarten agues and burning feuers swellings vlcers of the lights shortnesse of breath ruptures in children swelling in the veines sores in the legges finally they wholly belong to the disease whereof we speake being drawen by the spleene where they leaue all their corruption Sometimes this sicknesse doth also come by a vice which is euen in waters of running fountaines as if they be among or neere bogges or if they issue from a muddie ground or from a place that hath not the Suns aspect So Pliny reciteth that in the voiage which the prince Caesar Germanicus made into Germany hauing giuen order to his armie to passe the riuer of Rhine to the end to get still forward in the countrie he did set his campe on the sea shore vpon the coast of Frizeland in a place where was but one onely fountaine of fresh water to be found which notwithstanding was so pernicious that all they that dranke of it lost their teeth in lesse than two yeeres space and had their knees so weake and disiointed that they could not beare themselues Which is verily the sicknesse whereof we speake which the Physicians doe call Stomaccacè that is to say mouthes sore and Scelotyrbè which is as much to say as the shaking of thighs and legs And it was not possible to finde any remedie but by the meanes of an hearbe called Britannica or Scuruie-grasse which besides is very good for the sinewes against the sores and accidents
cordes not only to the maine top and to the very height of the maine mast but also without ladder steps to the top of another mast fastened to the first held onely with the force of their armes and feet winding about the highest tacklings Yea much more that if in this great tossing and rowling it chanceth that the maine saile which they call Paphil or Papefust be vntied at the higher ends he who is first commanded will put himselfe stradling vpon the maine yard that is the tree which crossed the maine mast and with a hammer at his girdle and halfe a dosen nailes in his mouth will tie againe and make fast that which was vntied to the perill of a thousand liues I haue sometimes heard great account made of a Switzers bouldnesse who after the siege of Laon and the citie being rendered to the Kings obedience climbed and stood stradling vpon the thwart branch of the crosse of our Ladies church steeple of the said towne and stood there forked wise his feet vpward But that in my iudgement is nothing in regard of this the said Switzer being vpon a firme and solide body and without motion and this contrariwise hanging ouer an vnconstant sea tossed with boistrous windes as we haue sometimes seene After we had left these Pirats spoken of before we were vntill the 18. of Iune tossed with diuers and almost contrary windes without any discouery but of one ship far off from vs which we did not boord and yet notwithstanding the very sight thereof did comfort vs. And the same day we met a ship of Honfleur wherein Captaine La Roche did command going for New-found-landes who had no better fortune vpon the sea then we The custome is at sea that when some particular ship meeteth with the King his ship as ours was to come vnder the lee and to present herselfe not side by side but bias wise Also to pull down her flagge as this Captain La Roche did except the flagge for shee had non no more had we being not needfull in so great a voyage but in approaching the land or when one must fight Our sailers did cast then their computation on the course that we had made For in euery ship the Master the Pilot and Masters Mate doe write downe euery day of their courses and windes that they haue followed for how many houres and the estimation of leagues The said La Roche did account that they were then in the Fourty fiue degrees and within a hundred leagues of the Bancke Our Pilot called Master Oliuer Fleuriot of Saint Maloe by his computation said that we were within 60. leagues of it And Captaine Foulques within 120. leagues I beleeue he gaue the best iudgement We receiued much contentment by the meeting of this ship and did greatly encourage vs seeing wee did begin to meete with ships seeming vnto vs that wee did enter in a place of acquaintance But by the way a thing must be noted which I haue found admirable and which giueth vs occasion to play the Philosophers For about the same 18. day of Iune wee found the sea-water during three daies space very warme and by the same warmth our wine also was warme in the bottome of our ship yet the aire was not hotter then before And the 21. of the said moneth quite contrarie we were 2. or 3. daies so much compassed with mistes and coldes that we thought our selues to be in the moneth of Ianuary and the water of the sea was extreame colde Which continued with vs vntill we came vpon the said Bancke by reason of the said mistes which outwardly did procure this colde vnto vs. When I seeke out the cause of this Antiperistase I attribute it to the Ices of the North which come floating downe vpon the coast and sea adioyning to New-found-land and Labrador which wee haue said else-where is brought thither with the sea by her naturall motion which is greater there then else-where because of the great space it hath to runne as in a gulfe in the depth of America where the nature and situation of the vniuersall earth doth beare it easily Now these Ices which sometimes are seene in banckes of tenne leagues length and as high as Mountaines and hils and thrice as deepe in the waters holding as it were an Empire in this sea driue out farre from them that which is contrary to their coldnesse and consequently doe binde and close on this side that small quantity of milde temperature that the Summer may bring to that part where they come to seat and place themselues Yet for all that I will not deny but this region in one and the selfe-same paralell is somewhat colder then those of our part of Europe for the reasons that we will aleage heereafter when we shall speake of the fowlnesse of seasons Such is my opinion being ready to heare another mans reason And being mindefull heereof I did of purpose take heed of the same at my returne from New France and found the same warmenesse of water or very neere though it was in the Moneth of September within fiue or six daies sailing on this side of the said bancke whereof we will now intreate CHAP. XII Of the great Bancke of Morues or Coddes of the Sound our comming to the said Bancke the description thereof the fishing of New-found-land-fish and of birds the greedinesse of birds called by Frenchmen Hap-foyes that is to say liuer-catchers diuers perils the fauours of God the causes of frequent and long mistes in the Western sea Land-markes the sight of it maruellous odours the boording of two Shaloupes the landing at the Port du Moutton the comming into Port Royall of two Frenchmen remaining there alone amongst the Sauages BEfore wee come to the Bancke spoken of before which is the great Bancke where the fishing of greene Cod-fishes is made so are they called when they are not dry for one must goe alande for the drying of them the sea-faring-men besides the computation they make of their course haue warnings when they come neere to it by birds which are knowen euen as one doth them of these our parts returning backe into France when one is within 100. or 120. leagues neere it The most frequent of these birds towards the said Bancke be Godes Fouquets and other called Happe-foyes for a reason that we will declare anone When these birds then were seene which were not like to them that we had seene in the middest of the great sea we began to thinke our selues not to be farre from the said Bancke Which made vs to sound with our lead vpon a Thursday the 22. of Iune but then we found no bottom The same day in the euening we cast againe with better successe for we found bottome at 36. fadams The said sound is a peece of lead of seuen or eight pound waight made piramidall wise fastened at one or diuers lines and
to her ancient glory and giue vnto her being a roiall daughter the proprietie of that Basilic fastened to the temple of Apollo who by an hidden vertue did hinder that the Spiders should weaue their webbe along his walles But will also establish his New France and bring to the bosome of the Church so many poore soules which that countrey beareth al starued for the want of the word of God who are as a pray vnto hell And that for to doe this hee will giue meanes to conduct thither Christian Sarronides and Bardes bearing the Flower-deluce in their hearts who will instruct and bring to ciuilitie those barbarous people and will bring them to his obedience CHAP. IX Of their clothing and wearing of their haires GOd in the beginning did create man naked and innocent made all the parts of his body to bee of honest sight But sin hath made the members of generation to become shamefull vnto vs and not vnto beasts which haue no sinne It is the cause why our first parents hauing knowen their nakednesse destitute of clothes did sow figge leaues together for to hide their shame therewith But God made vnto them coates of skinnes and clothed them with it and this before they went out of the gardē of Eden Clothing then is not only to defend vs from cold but also for decencie and to couer our shame And neuerthelesse many nations haue anciently liued and at this day doe liue naked without apprehension of this shame decencie and honestie And I maruell not of the Brasilien Sauages that are such as well men as women nor of the ancient Picts a nation of great Britaine who Herodian saith had not any vse of clothes in the time of Seuerus the Emperour nor of a great number of other nations that haue beene and yet are naked for one may say of them that they be people fallen into a reprobate sense and forsaken of God But of Christians which are in Aethiopia vnder the great Negus whom we call Prester-Ihon which by the report of the Portingals that haue writen histories of them haue not their parts which wee call priuie members any waies couered But the Sauages of New France and of Florida haue better learned and kept in minde the lesson of honestie than those of Aethiopia For they couer them with a skinne tied to a latch or girdle of leather which passing between their buttocks ioineth the other end of the said latch behind And for the rest of their garments they haue a cloake on their backs made with many skinnes whether they be of Otters or of Beauers and one only skin whether it be of Ellan or Stagges skinne Beare or Luserne which cloake is tied vpward with a leather riband and they thrust commonly one arme out but being in their cabins they put it off vnlesse it be cold And I cannot better compare it than to pictures that are made of Hercules who killed a lion and put the skinne thereof on his backe Notwithstanding they haue more ciuilitie in that they couer their priuie members As for the women they differ onely in one thing that is they haue a girdle ouer the skin they haue on and doe resemble without comparison the pictures that be made of Saint Iohn Baptist But in Winter they make good Beuer sleeues tied behind which keepe them very warme And after this maner were the ancient Germans clothed by the report of Caesar and Tacitus hauing the most part of the body naked As for the Armouchiquois and Floridians they haue no furres but onely shamois yea the said Armouchiquois haue very often but a peece of matte vpon their backe for fashions sake hauing neuerthelesse their priuie members couered God hauing so wisely prouided for mans infirmitie that in cold countries he hath giuen furres and not in the hot because that otherwise men would make no esteeme of them And so for that which concerneth the body Let vs come to the legges and feet then we will end with the head Our Sauages in the Winter going to sea or a hunting doe vse great and high stockings like to our boote-hosen which they tie to their girdles and at the sides outward there is a great number of points without tagges I doe not see that they of Brasil or Florida doe vse of them but seeing they haue leather they may as well make of them if they haue need as the others Besides these long stockings our Sauages doe vse shooes which they call Mekezin which they fashion very properly but they cannot dure long specially when they goe into watrie places because they be not curried nor hardened but onely made after the maner of Buffe which is the hide of an Ellan Howsoeuer it be yet are they in better order then were the ancient Gottes which were not throughly hosed but with buskins or halfe bootes which came somewhat higher than the anckle of the foote where they made a knot which they bound with horse haires hauing the calfe of the legge the knees and thighes naked And for the rest of their garments they had leather coates pleated as greasie as Lard and the sleeues downe to the beginning of the arme And on those Ierkins in stead of gold lace they made red borders as our Sauages doe Behold the state of those that ransacked the Romane Empire whom Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Auuergne doth describe after this maner going to the Councell of Auitus the Emperour for to treat of peace Squalent vestes acsordidamacro Linteapinguescunt tergo nec tangere possunt Altatae suram pelles ac poplite nudo Peronem pauper nudis suspendit equinum c. As for the head attire none of the Sauages haue any vnlesse it bee that some of the hether lands trucke his skinnes with Frenchmen for Hattes and Cappes but rather both men and women weare their haires flittring ouer their shoulders neither bound nor tied except that the men doe trusse them vpon the crowne of the head some foure fingers length with a leather lace which they let hang downe behinde But for the Armouchiquois Floridians as well men as women they haue their haires much longer and they hang them downe lower than the girdle when they are vntrussed for to auoide then the hindrance that they might bring to them they trusse them vp as our horse-keepers doe a horses taile and the men doe sticke in them some feather that like them and the women a needle or bodkin with three points after the fashion of the french Ladies who also weare their needles or bodkins that serue them partly for an ornament of the head All the ancient had this custome to goe bareheaded and the vse of hats is but lately come in The faire Absalon was hanged by his haires at an Oake after he had lost the battell against his fathers army and they did neuer couer their heads in those daies but when they did mourne