the tast of wine which they tooke with a pipe The same hath preserued many of them from death The yong buds of hearbs in the Spring time be also very soueraigne And besides that reason requireth to beleeue it I haue tried it being my selfe gone many times to gather some for our sicke people before that those of our garden might be vsed which restored them to their taste againe and comforted their weake stomacks And as for that which concerneth the exterior parts of the body we haue found great good in wearing woodden pantaphles or patins with our shooes for to avoide the moistnesse The houses neede no opening nor windowes on the Northwest side being a winde very dangerous but rather on the East side or the South It is very good to haue good bedding it was good for me to haue caried things necessary to this purpose and aboue all to keepe himselfe neat I would like well the vse of Stooues such as they haue in Germany by meanes whereof they feele no Winter being at home but as much as they please Yea they haue of them in many places in their gardens which doe so temper the coldnesse of winter that in this rough and sharpe season there one may see Orenge-trees Limon-trees Figge-trees Pomgranet-trees and all such sorts of trees bring foorth fruit as good as in Prouence Which is so much the more easie to doe in this new land for that it is all couered ouer with woods except when one comes in the Armonchiquois countrie a hundred leagues further of then Port Royall And in making of winter a sommer one shall discouer the land Which not hauing any more those great obstacles that hinder the Sunne to court her and from warming it with his heat without doubt it will become very temperate and yeeld a most milde aire and well agreeing with our humour not hauing there euen at this time neither colde nor heat that is excessiue The Sauages that know not Germany nor the customes thereof doe teach vs the same lesson which being subiect to those sicknesse as we haue seene in the voiage of Iames Quartier vse sweatings often as it were euery moneth and by this meanes they preserue themselues driuing out by sweate all the colde and euell humors they might haue gathered But one singular preseruatiue against this perfidious sicknesse which commeth so stealingly and which hauing once lodged it selfe within vs will not be put out is to follow the counsell of him that is wise amonst the wise who hauing considered all the afflictions that man giue to himselfe during his life hath found nothing better then to reioice himselfe and doe good and to take pleasure in his owne workes They that haue done so in our company haue found themselues well by it contrawise some alwaies grudging repining neuer content idle haue beene found out by the same disease True it is that for to inioy mirth it is good to haue the sweetnesse of fresh meates fleshes fishes milke butter oyles fruits and such like which we had not at will I meane the common sort for alwaies some one or other of the company did furnish Monsieur De Poutrincourt his table with wilde foule venison or fresh fish And if we had had halfe a dosen kyne I beleeue that no body had died there It resteth a preseruatiue necessarie for the accomplishment of mirth and to the end one may take pleasure on the worke of his hands is euery one to haue the honest company of his lawfull wife for without that the cheare is neuer perfect ones minde is alwaies vpon that which one loues and desireth there is still some sorrow the bodie becomes full of ill humours and so the sicknesse doth breede And for the last and soueraigne remedie I send backe the patient to the tree of life for so one may well qualifie it which Iames Quartier doth call Anneda yet vnknowen in the coast of Port Royall vnlesse it bee peraduenture the Sasafras whereof there is quantitie in certaine places And it is an assured thing that the said tree is very excellent But Monsieur Champlain who is now in the great riuer of Canada passing his winter in the same part where the said Quartier did winter hath charge to finde it out and to make prouision thereof CHAP. VII The discouery of new Lands by Monsieur De Monts fabulous tales and reports of the riuer and fained towne of Norombega The refuting of the authors that haue written thereof Fish bankes in New found land Kinibeki Chouacoet Mallebarre Armouchiquois The death of a French man killed Mortality of Englishmen in Virginia THe rough season being passed Monsieur De Monts wearied with his badde dwelling at Saint Croix determined to seeke out another Port in a warrner countrie and more to the South And to that end made a Pinnesse to be armed and furnished with victuals to follow the coast and discouering new countries to seeke out some happier Port in a more temperate aire And because that in seeking one cannot set forward so much as when in full sailes one goeth in open sea and that finding out baies and gulfes lying betweene two lands one must put in because that there one may assoone finde that which is sought for as else where he made in this voyage but about six score leagues as wee will tell you now From Saint Croix to 60. leagues forward the coast lieth East and West at the end of which 60. leagues is the riuer called by the Sauages Kinibeki From which place to Malebarre it lieth North and South and there is yet from one to the other 60. leagues in right line not following the baies So farre stretcheth Monsieur De Monts his voyage wherein he had for Pilot in his vessell Monsieur De Champdore In all this coast so farre as Kinibeki there is many places where shippes may be harbored amongst the Ilands but the people there is not so frequent as is beyond that And there is no remarkable thing at least that may be seene in the outside of the lands but a riuer whereof many haue written fables one after another like to those that they who grounding themselues vpon Hannos his Commentaries a Carthaginian captain haue fained of Townes built by him in great number vpon the coasts of Africa which is watered with the Ocean sea for that hee plaied an heroycall part in sailing so farre as the Iles of Cap Vert where long time since no body hath beene the Nauigation not being so secure then vpon that great sea as it is at this day by the benefit of the Compasse Therefore without alleaging that which the first writers Spaniards and Portingals haue said I will recite that which is in the last booke intituled The vniuersall Historie of the West Indies Printed at Douay the last yeere 1607. in the place where he speaketh of Norombega For in reporting this
As our greatest care and labour is and hath alwaies beene since our comming to this crowne to maintaine and conserue it in the ancient dignitie greatnesse and splendor thereof to extend and amplifie as much as lawfully may be done the bounds and limits of the same We being of a long time informed of the situation and condition of the lands and territories of La Cadia mooued aboue all things with a singular zeale and deuout and constant resolution which we haue taken with the helpe and assistance of God author distributor and protector of all kingdomes and estates to cause the people which doe inhabite the Countrie men at this present time barbarous Atheists without faith or religion to be conuerted to Christianitie and to the beleefe and profession of our faith and religion and to draw them from the ignorance and vnbeleefe wherein they are Hauing also of a long time knowen by the relation of the sea Captaines Pilots Marchants and others who of long time haue haunted frequented and trafficked with the people that are found in the said places how fruitfull commodious and profitable may bee vnto vs to our estates and subiects the dwelling possession and habitation of those countries for the great and apparent profit which may be drawen by the greater frequentation habitude which may be had with the people that are found there the trafficke and commerce which may be by that means safely treated and negotiated Wee then for these causes fully trusting on your great wisedome and in the knowledge and experience that you haue of the qualitie condition and situation of the said countrie of La Cadia for the diuers and sundry nauigations voiages and frequentations that you haue made into those parts and others neere and bordering vpon it Assuring our selues that this our resolution and intention being committed vnto you you will attentiuely diligently and no lesse couragiously and valourously execute and bring to such perfection as we desire Haue expresly appointed and established you and by these Presents signed with our owne hands doe commit ordaine make constitute and establish you our Lieutenant generall for to represent our person in the countries territories coasts and confines of La Cadia To begin from the 40 degree vnto the 46. And in the same distance or part of it as farre as may be done to establish extend and make to be knowne our name might and authoritie And vnder the same to subiect submit and bring to obedience all the people of the said land and the borderers thereof And by the meanes thereof and all lawfull waies to call make instruct prouoke and incite them to the knowledge of God and to the light of the faith and Christian Religion to establish it there And in the exercise and profession of the same keepe and conserue the said people and all other inhabitants in the said places and there to command in peace rest and tranquillitie as well by sea as by land to ordaine decide and cause to be executed all that which you shall iudge fit and necessarie to be done for to maintaine keepe and conserue the said places vnder our power and authoritie by the formes waies and meanes prescribed by our lawes And for to haue there a care of the same with you to appoint establish and constitute all officers as well in the affaires of warre as for Iustice and policie for the first time and from thence forward to name and present them vnto vs for to be disposed by vs and to giue letters titles and such prouisoes as shall be necessarie And according to the occurrences of affaires yourselfe with the aduice of wise and capable men to prescribe vnder our good pleasure lawes statutes and ordinances conformable as much as may be possible vnto ours specially in things and matters that are not prouided by them To treat and contract to the same effect peace alliance and confederacy good amitie correspondencie and cōmunication with the said people their Princes or others hauing power or command ouer them To entertaine keepe and carefully to obserue the treatises and alliances wherein you shall couenant with them vpon condition that they themselues performe the same of their part And for want thereof to make open warres against them to constraine and bring them to such reason as you shall thinke needfull for the honour obedience and seruice of God and the establishment maintenance and conseruation of our said authoritie amongst them at least to haunt and frequent by you and all our subiects with them in all assurance libertie frequentation and communication there to negociate and trafficke louingly and peaceably To giue and grant vnto them fauors and priuiledges charges and honors Which intire power abouesaid we will likewise and ordaine that you haue ouerall our said subiects that will goe in that voiage with you and inhabite there trafficke negociate and remaine in the said places to retaine take reserue and appropriate vnto you what you will and shall see to be most commodious for you and proper to your charge qualitie and vse of the said lands to distribute such parts and portions thereof to giue and attribute vnto them such titles honors rights powers and faculties as you shall see necessarie according to the qualities conditions and merits of the persons of the same countrie or others Chiefely to populate to manure and to make the said lands to be inhabited as speedily carefully skilfully as time places commodities may permit To make thereof or cause to be made to that end discouerie and view along the maritime coastes and other countries of the maine land which you shall order prescribe in the foresaid space of the 40 degree to the 46 degree or otherwise as much and as farre as may be along the said coast and in the firme land To make carefully to be sought and marked all sorts of mines of gold and of siluer copper and other mettals and minerals to make them to be digged drawne from the earth purified and refined for to be conuerted into vse to dispose according as we haue prescribed by Edicts and orders which we haue made in this realme of the profit and benefit of them by you or them whom you shall establish to that effect reseruing vnto vs onely the tenth penie of that which shall issue from them of gold siluer and copper leauing vnto you that which we might take of the other said mettals and minerals for to aide and ease you in the great expenses that the foresaid charge may bring vnto you Willing in the meane while that as well for your securitie and commoditie as for the securitie and commoditie of all our subiects who will goe inhabite and trafficke in the said lands as generally of all others that will accommodate themselues there vnder our power and authoritie you may cause to bee built and frame one or many forts places Townes and all other houses dwellings and habitations Ports Hauens retiring places
and lodgings as you shall know to be fit profitable and necessarie for the performing of the said enterprise To establish garrisons and souldiers for the keeping of them To aide and serue you for the effects aboue said with the vagrant idle persons and masterlesse as well out of townes as of the countrie and with them that be condemned to perpetuall banishment or for three yeeres at the least out of our Realme Prouided alwaies that it be done by the aduice consent and authoritie of our officers Ouer and besides that which is aboue mentioned and that which is moreouer prescribed commanded and ordained vnto you by the commissions and powers which our most deare cosen the Lord of Ampuille Admirall of France hath giuen vnto you for that which concerneth the affaires and the charge of the Admiraltie in the exploit expedition and executing of the things aboue said to doe generally whatsoeuer may make for the conquest peopling inhabiting and preseruation of the said land of La Cadia and of the coastes territories adioining and of their appurtenances and dependencies vnder our name and authoritie whatsoeuer our selues would might doe if we were there present in person although that the case should require a more speciall order then we prescribe vnto you by these Presents To the contents whereof wee command ordaine and most expreslie doe enioine all our Iusticers officers and subiects to conforme themselues And to obey and giue attention vnto you in all and euery the things abouesaid their circumstances and dependencies Also to giue vnto you in the executing of them all such aid and comfort helpe and assistance as you shall haue need of and whereof they shall be by you required and this vpon paine of disobedience and rebellion And to the end no body may pretend cause of ignorance of this our intention and to busie himselfe in all or in part of the charge dignitie and authoritie which we giue vnto you by these presents Wee haue of our certaine knowledge full power and regall authoritie reuoked suppressed and declared voide and of none effect heereafter and from this present time al other powers and commissions letters and expeditions giuen and deliuered to any person soeuer for to discouer people and inhabite in the foresaid extention of the said lands situated from the said 40 degree to the 46 whatsoeuer they be And furthermore we command and ordaine all our said officers of what qualitie condition soeuer they be that after these Presents or the duplicate of them shall be duely examined by one of our beloued and trusty Counsellers Notaries and Secretaries or other Notarie Royall they doe vpon your request demand and sute or vpon the sute of any our Atturneis cause the same to be read published and recorded in the records of their Iurisdictions powers and precincts seeking as much as shall appertaine vnto them to quiet and appease all troubles and hinderances which may contradict the same For such is our pleasure Giuen at Fountain-Bleau the 8 day of Nouember in the yeere ofour Lord 1603 And of our reigne the 15. Signed HENRY and vnderneath by the King Potier And sealed vpon single labell with yellow waxe CHAP. II. The voyage of Monsieur De Monts into New France what accidents hapned in the said voyage The causes of the Icie banks in New found land The imposing of names to certaine Ports The perplexitie wherein they were by reason of the stay of the other ship MOnsieur De Monts hauing made the Commissions and Prohibitions before said to be proclaimed thorow the Realme of France and especially thorow the Ports and maritime townes thereof caused two ships to be rigged and furnished the one vnder the conduct of captaine Timothy of New-hauen the other of captaine Morell of Honfleur In the first he shipped himselfe with good number of men of account as well Gentlemen as others And forasmuch as Monsieur De Poutrincourt was and had beene of a long time desirous to see those countries of New France and there to finde out and chuse some fit place to retire himselfe into with his familie wife and children not meaning to be the last that should follow and participate in the glory of so faire and generous an enterprise would needs goe thither and shipped himselfe with the said Monsieur De Monts carrying with him some quantitie of armours and munitions of warre and so weighed anckers from New-hauen the seuenth day of March 1604. But being departed somewhat too soone before the Winter had yet left off her frozen weed they found store of Icie banks against the which they were in danger to strike and so to be cast away But God which hitherto hath prospered the nauigation of these voiages preserued them One might wonder and not without cause why in the same parallel there is more Ice in this sea than in that of France Whereunto I answer that the Ices that be found in those seas are not originary frō the same climate but rather come from the Northerly parts driuen without any let thorow the vast of this great sea by the waues stormes and boisterous flouds which the Easterly and Northerly windes doe cause in Winter and Spring time and driue them towards the South and West But the French seas are sheltered by Scotland England and Ireland which is the cause that the Ices cannot fall into it An other reason also might be alleaged and that is the motion of the sea which beareth more towards those parts because of the larger course that it maketh towards America than towards the lands of these our parts The perill of this voyage was not onely in the meeting of the said bankes of Ice but also in the stormes that vexed them One of them they had that brake the galleries of the ship And in these turmoiles a Ioyner was caried away by a sea or flash of water to the next doore of death ouerboord but he held himselfe fast at a tackling which by chance hung out of the said shippe The voyage was long by reason of contrarie windes which seldome hapneth to them that set out in March for the New found lands which are ordinarilie caried with an East or Northren winde fit to goe to those lands And hauing taken their course to the South of the I le of Sand or Sablon or Sand for to shunne the said Ices they almost fell from Caribdis into Scylla going to strike towards the said Ile during the thicke mists that are frequent in that sea In the end the sixt of May they came to a certain Port where they found captaine Rossignol of New-hauen who did trucke for skins with the Sauages contrarie to the Kings inhibitions which was the cause that his ship was confiscated This Port was called Le Port du Rossignol hauing in this his hard fortune this onely good that a good and fit Harborough or Port in those coasts beareth his name From thence coasting and
rockes couered with Diamons fixed to them I will not assure them for fine but that is very pleasing to the sight There are also certaine shining blew stones which are of no lesse value or woorth than Turkie stones Monsieur De Champdorè our guide for the nauigations in those countries hauing cut within a rocke one of those stones at his returne from New France he brake it in two and gaue one part of it to Monsieur De Monts the other to Monsieur De Poutrincourt which they made to be put in gold and were found woorthy to be presented the one to the King by the said Poutrincourt the other to the Queene by the said De Monts and were very well accepted I remember that a Gold-smith did offer fifteene crownes to Monsieur De Poutrincourt for that he presented to his Maiestie There be many other secrets rare and faire things within the ground of those Countries which are yet vnknowen vnto vs and will come to the knowledge and euidence by inhabiting the prouince CHAP. IIII. The description of the riuer Saint Iohn and of the I le Saint Croix The man lost in the woods found out 16. daies after Examples of some strange abstinences The discord of the Sauages deferred to the iudgement of Monsieur De Monts The fatherly authoritie amongst the said Sauages What husbands they chuse to their Daughters HAuing viewed the said Mine the companie passed to the other side of the French Baye and went towards the bottome of the same Then turning backe came to the riuer of Saint Iohn so called as I thinke because they arriued thither the soure twentieth of Iune which is S. Iohn Baptists day There is a faire Port but the entrie or mouth is dangerous to them that know not the best waies because that before the comming in there is a long banke of rockes which are not seene nor discouered but onely at low water which doe serue as for defence to this Port within which when one hath gone about a league there is found a violent fall of the said riuer which falleth downe from the rockes when that the sea doth ebbe with a maruellous noise for being sometimes at an ker at sea we haue heard it from aboue twelue leagues off But at full sea one may passe it with great ships This riuer is one of the fairest that may be seene hauing store of Ilands and swarming with fishes This last yeere 1608. the said Monsieur de Champdorè with one of the said Monsieur De Monts his men hath beene some 50 leagues vp the said riuer and do witnesse that there is great quantitie of Vines along the shore but the grapes are not so bigge as they bee in the country of the Armouchiquois There are also Onions many other sorts of good hearbs As for the trees they are the fayrest that may be seene When we were there we saw great number of Cedar trees Concerning fishes the said Champdorè hath related vnto vs that putting the kettle ouer the fire they had taken fish sufficient for their diner before that the water was hot Moreouer this riuer stretching it selfe farre within the lands of the Sauages doth maruellously shorten the long trauels by meanes thereof For in six daies they goe to Gashepè coming to the bay or gulfe of Chaleur or heate when they are at the end of it in carying their Canowes some few leagues And by the same riuer in eight daies they goe to Tadoussac by a branch of the same which commeth from the North-West In such sort that in Port Royall one may haue within 15. or 18. daies newes from the Frenchmen dwelling in the great riuer of Canada by these waies which could not be done in one moneth by sea nor without danger Leauing Saint Iohns riuer they came following the coast 20. leagues from that place to a great riuer which is properlie sea where they fortified themselues in a little Iland seated in the middest of this riuer which the said Champlein had beene to discouer and view And seeing it strong by nature and of easie defence and keeping besides that the season began to slide away and therefore it was behouefull to prouide of lodging without running any farther they resolued to make their abode there I will not sift out curiously the reasons of all parts vpon the resolution of this their dwelling but I will alwaies be of opinion that whosoeuer goes into a countrie to possesse it must not stay in the Iles there to be a prisoner For before all things the culter and tillage of the ground must be regarded And I would faine know how one shall till and manure it if it behoueth at euery houre in the morning at noone and the euening to crosse a great passage of water to goe for things requisite from the firme land And if one feareth the enemy how shall he that husbandeth the land or otherwise busie in necessarie affaires saue himselfe if he be pursued for one findeth not alwaies a boat in hand in time of neede nor two men to conduct it Besides out life requiring many commodities an Iland is not fit for to begin the establishment and seat of a Colony vnlesse there be Currents and streames of sweet water for to drinke and to supplie other necessaries in houshold which is not in small Ilands There needeth wood for fuell which also is not there But aboue all there must be shelters from the hurtfull winds and colde which is hardly found in a small continent inuironed with water of all sides Neuerthelesse the Companie soiorned there in the midest of a broad riuer where the North wind and North-West bloweth at will And because that two leagues higher there be brooks that come crosse-wise to fall within this large branch of sea the I le of the Frenchmens retreat was called Saint Croix 25. leagues distant from Port Royal. Whilest that they begin to cut downe Cedars and other trees of the said Ile to make necessary buildings let vs returne to seeke out Master Nicolas Aubri lost in the woods which long time since is holden for dead As they began to visit and search the Iland Monsieur de Champdorè of whom we shal henceforth make mentiō by reason he dwelt foure yeeres in those parts conducting the voyages made there was sent backe to the Bay of Saint Mary with a Mine-finder that had beene caried thither for to get some Mines of siluer Iron which they did And as they had crossed the French Baie they entred into the said Baie of Saint Marie by a narrow strait or passage which is betweene the land of Port Royal and an Iland called the Long I le where after some abode they going afishing the said Aubri perceaued them and began with a feeble voice to call as loud as he could and for to helpe his voice he aduised himselfe to doe as Ariadne did heeretofore to
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
that one could passe no further without perill for sholds that stretch farre into the sea in such wise that the farther one goeth from the land lesser depth there is But before departing a Carpenter of Saint Mallos died casually who going to fetch water with some kettles an Armouchiquois seeing fit opportunity to steale one of those kettles when that the Frenchman tooke no heede tooke it and ran away speedily with his bootie The Malouin running after was killed by this wicked people And although the same had not happened it was in vaine to pursue after this theefe for all these Armouchiquois are as swift in running as Gray-houndes as we will yet further say in speaking of the voiage that Monsieur De Poutrincourt made in the same Country in the yeere 1606. It greeued sore Monsieur De Monts to see such a thing and his men were earnest for reuenge which they might doe for the other Barbarians were not so far from the Frenchmen but that a musket shot might haue skared them which they had already on rest to leuell euery one at his man but the said Monsieur De Monts vpon some considerations which many other of his place and dignitie might haue missed to consider made euery one to put downe their musket cockes and left them alone not hauing hitherto found a fit place to make a setled dwelling And so the said Monsieur De Monts caused all things to be in a readinesse for the returne to Saint Croix where he had left a good number of his men yet weake by the winter sicknesse of whose health he was carefull Many that know not what belongeth to the sea doe thinke that the setting of an habitation in an vnknowen land is easie but by the discourse of this voiage and others that follow they shall find that it is far easier to say than to doe and that Monsieur de Monts hath exploited many things this first yeare in viewing all the coast of this land euen to Malebarre which is 400. leagues following the same coast and searching to the bottome of the Baies besides the labour hee was forced to in causing houses to be made at Saint Croix the care he had of those which he had brought thither and of their returne into France if any perill or ship-wracke should come to those that had promised him to fetch him at the end of the yeere But one may runne and take paine to seeke Ports and Hauens where fortune fauoureth yet she is alwaies like to herself It is good for one to lodge himself in a sweet milde Climat when one may chuse notwithstanding death follows vs euery where I haue heard of a Pilot of New Hauen that was with the Englishmen in Virginia 24. yeares agoe that being come thither there died 36. of them in three moneths Neuertheles Virginia is taken to be in the 36. 37. and 38. degrees of latitude which is a good temperate country Which considering I yet beleeue as I haue already said before that such mortality commeth by the bad fare And it is altogether needfull to haue in such a countrie at the very beginning houshold and tame cattell of all sorts and to cary store of fruit trees and grafts for to haue there quickly recreation necessarie to the health of them that desire to people the land That if the Sauages themselues be subiect to the sicknesse wherof we haue spoken I attribute that to the same cause of euill fare For they haue nothing that may correct the vise of the meates which they take and are alwaies naked amongst the moistures of the ground which is the very meanes to gather quantitie of corrupted humours which cause those sicknesses vnto them as well as to the strangers that goe thither although they be borne to that kinde of life CHAP. VIII The arriuall of Monsieur Du Pont to Saint Croix The habitation transferred in Port Royall returne of Monsieur De Monts into France the difficultie of hand Milles The furniture of the said Monsieur Du Pont for the discouery of new lands beyond Malebarre shippe-wracke forecast for the returne into France Comparison of these voyages with them of Florida the blame of those that dispraise the tillage of the lande THe Spring time season being passed in the voyage of the Armouchiquois Monsieur De Monts did temporise at Saint Croix for the time that he had agreed vpon in the which if he had no newes from France hee might depart and come to seeke some shippe of them that come to New found land for the drying of fish to the end to repasse in France within the same he and his companie if it were possible This time was alreadie expired and they were readie to set sailes not expecting more any succour nor refreshing When Monsieur Du Point surnamed Grauè dwelling at Honfleur did arriue with a company of some fortie men for to ease the said Monsieur De Monts and his troupe which was to the great ioy of all as one may well imagine and canon shots were free and plentiful at the comming according to custome and the sound of trumpets The said Monsieur Du Pont not knowing yet the state of our French men did thinke to finde there an assured dwelling and his lodgings readie but considering the accidents of the strange sicknesse whereof we haue spoken he tooke aduice to change place Monsieur De Monts was very desirous that the new habitation had beene about 40. degrees that is to say 4. degrees farther then Saint Croix but hauing viewed the coast as farre as Malebarre and with much paine not finding what hee desired it was deliberated to goe and make their dwelling in Port Royal vntill meanes were had to make an ampler discouery So euery one began to packe vp his things That which was built with infinite labour was pulled downe except the Store-house which was too great and painefull to be transported and in executing of this many voyages are made All being come to Port Royal they found out new labours the abiding place is chosen right ouer against the Iland that is at the comming in of the riuer L' Equille in a place where all is couered ouer and full of woods as thicke as possible may be The Moneth of September did already begin to come and care was to be taken for the vnlading of Monsieur Du Pont his ship to make roome for them that should returne backe into France Finally there is worke enough for all When the ship was in a readinesse to put to sailes Monsieur De Monts hauing seene the beginning of the new habitation shipped himselfe for his returne with them that would follow him Notwithstanding many of good courage forgetting the griefes and labours passed did tary behinde amongst whom were Monsieur Champlain and Monsieur Champdorè the one for Geographie and the other for the conducting and guiding of the voyages that should be necessary to be
not charge himselfe with so much furniture corne meat and marchandises as were there which he had beene forced to cast into the sea and which had been greatly to our preiudice and we did feare it very much if these two men had not aduentured themselues to tary there for the preseruing of those things which they did with a willing and ioyfull minde CHAP. XIII The happy meeting of Monsieur Du Pont his returne vnto Port Royall reioycing description of the confines of the said Port coniecture touching the head and spring of the great Riuer of Canada sowing of Corne the returne of Monsieur Du Pont into France the voyage of Monsieur De Poutrincourt vnto the countrie of the Armouchiquois faire Rie sprung vp without tillage the exercises and maner of liuing in Port Royall the Medowes of the riuer De L'Equille THe Friday next day after our arriuall Monsieur De Poutrincourt affected to this enterprise as for himselfe put part of his people to worke in the tillage and manuring of the ground whilest the others were emploied in making cleane of the chambers and euery one to make ready that which belonged to his trade In the meane time those people of ours that had left vs at Campseau to come along the coast met as it were miraculously with Monsieur Du Pont among Ilands that be in great number in those parts To declare how great was the ioy of each side is a thing not to be expressed The said Monsieur Du Pont at this happy and fortunate meeting returned backe to see vs in Port Royall and to ship himselfe in the Ionas to returne into France As this chance was beneficiall vnto him so was it vnto vs by the meanes of his ships that he left with vs For without that we had been in such extremity that we had not been able to goe nor come any where our ship being once returned into France He arriued there on Mondy the last of Iuly and tarried yet in Port Royall vntill the 28. of August All this moneth we made merry Monsieur De Poutrincourt did set vp and opened a Hogshed of wine one of them that was giuen him for his owne drinking giuing leaue to all commers to drinke as long as it should hold so that some of them drunke vntill their caps turned round At the very beginning we were desirous to see the country vp the riuer where we found medowes almost continually aboue twelue leagues of ground among which brookes doe run without number which come from the hils and mountaines adioyning The woods very thicke on the water shoares and so thicke that sometimes one cannot goe thorow them Yet for all that I would not make them such as Ioseph Acosta reciteth those of Peru to be when he saith One of our brethren a man of credit told vs that being gone astray and lost in the Mountaines not knowing what part nor which way he should goe found himselfe among bushes so thicke that he was constrained to trauell vpon them without putting his feet on the ground a whole fortnights space I refer the beleeuing of that to any one that will but this beleefe cannot reach so farre as to haue place with me Now in the land whereof we speake the woods are thinner farre off from the shoares and watrish places And the felicity thereof is so much the more to be hoped for in that it is like the land which God did promise to his people by the mouth of Moyses saying The Lord thy God doth bring thee into a good land of riuers of waters with fountaines and depthes which doe spring in fields c. A land where thou shalt eat thy bread without scarsitie wherein nothing shall faile thee a land whose stones are of Iron and from whose Mountaines thou shalt digge brasse And further in another place confirming the promises for the goodnesse and state of the land that he would giue them The country saith he wherin you are going for to possesse it is not as the land of Aegypt from whence you are come foorth where thou diddest sow thy seed and wateredst it with the labour of they feet as a garden of hearbes But the country thorow which you are going to passe for to possesse it is a land of mountaines and fields and is watred with waters that raineth from heauen Now according to the description that heeretofore we haue made of Port Royall and the confines thereof in describing the first voiage of Monsieur De Monts and as yet we doe mention it heere brookes doe there abound at will and for this respect this land is no lesse happy than the country of the Gaules now called France to whom King Agrippa making an oration to the Iewes recited by Iosephus in his warre of the Iewes attributed a particular felicity because they had store of domesticall fountaines And also that a part of those countries is called Aquitaine for the same consideration As for the stones which our God promiseth that should be of iron and the mountaines of Brasse that signifieth nothing else but the Mines of Copper of Iron and of steele whereof we haue already heeretofore spoken and will speake yet heereafter And as for the fields wherof we haue not yet spoken there be some on the West side of the said Port Royall And aboue the Mountaines there be some faire ones where I haue seene lakes and brookes euen as in the vallies Yea euen in the passage to come foorth from the same fort for to go to sea there is a brooke which falleth from the high rockes downe and in falling disperseth it self into a small raine which is very delightfull in Summer because that at the foote of the rocke there are caues wherin one is couered whilest that this raine falleth so pleasantly And in the caue wherein the raine of this brooke falleth is made as it were a Raine-bow when the Sunne shineth which hath giuen me great cause of admiration Once we went from our fort as farre as the sea thorow the woods the space of three leagues but in our returne we were pleasantly deceiued for at the end of our iourny thinking to be in a plaine champion country we found our selues on the top of a high Mountaine and were forced to come downe with paine enough by reason of snowes But Mountaines be not perpetual in a country Within 15. leagues of our dwelling the country thorow which the Riuer L' Equille passeth is all plaine and euen I haue seene in those parts many countries where the land is all euen and the fairest of the world But the perfection thereof is that it is well watered And for witnesse whereof not onely in Port Royall but also in all New France the great riuer of Canada is proofe thereof which at the end of 400. leagues is as broade as the greatest riuers of the world replenished with Iles and rockes innumerable taking her
dainty thing besides that which was of our ordinary allowance So well that at breakfast we neuer wanted some modicum or other of fish or flesh and at the repast of dinners and suppers yet lesse for it was the great banquet where the Gouernour of the feast or Steward whom the Sauages doe call Atoctegi hauing made the Cooke to make all things ready did march with his napkin on his shoulder and his staffe of office in his hand with the colar of the order about his necke which was worth aboue foure crownes and all them of the order following of him bearing euery one a dish The like also was at the bringing in of the fruit but not with so great a traine And at night after grace was said he resigned the Colar of the order with a cup of wine to his successor in that charge and they dranke one to another I haue heeretofore said that we had abundance of fowle as Mallards Outards Geese gray and whit Partriges and other birds Item of Ellans or stagge flesh of Caribous or Deere Beuers Otters Beares Rabbets Wilde-cats or Leopards Nibachès and such like which the Sauages did take wherwith we made as good dishes of meat as in the Cookes shops that be in La rue aux Ours Beare street and greater store for of all meates none is so tender as Ellans flesh whereof we made good pasties nor so delicate as the Beuerstaile Yea we haue had sometimes halfe a dosen Sturgions at one clap which the Sauages did bring to vs part whereof we did take paying for it and the rest was permitted them to sell publikely and to truck it for bread whereof our people had abundantly And as for the ordinarie meat brought out of France that was distributed equally as much to the least as to the biggest And the like with wine as we haue said In such actions we had alwaies 20. or 30. Sauages men women girles and boies who beheld vs doing our offices Bread was giuen them gratis as we doe heere to the poore But as for the Sagamos Membertou and other Sagamos when any came to vs they sat at table eating and drinking as we did and we tooke pleasure in seeing them as contrariwise their absence was irkesome vnto vs as it came to passe three or foure times that all went away to the places where they knew that game and Venison was and brought one of our men with them who liued some six weekes as they did without salt without bread and without wine lying on the ground vpon skinnes and that in snowy weather Moreouer they had greater care of him as also of others that haue often gone with them than of themselues saying that if they should chance to die it would be laid to their charges to haue killed them And heereby it may be knowen that we were not as it were pent vp in an Iland as Monsieur De Villegagnon was in Brafill For this people loue Frenchmen and would all at a neede arme themselues for to maintaine them But to vse no digression such gouernment as we haue spoken of did serue vs for preseruatiues against the country disease And yet foure of ours died in February and March of them who were of a fretful conditiō or sluggish And I remember I obserued that all had their lodgings on the West side and looking towards the wide open Port which is almost foure leagues long shaped ouale-wise besides they had all of them ill bedding For the former sicknesses and the going away of Monsieur Du Pont in that maner as we haue said caused the quilt beds to be cast away for they were rotten And they that went with the said Monsieur Du Pont carried away the sheetes and blankets challenging them as theirs So that some of our people had sore mouthes and swollen legges like to the Phthisiques which is the sicknesse that God sent to his people in the desert in punishment for that they would fill themselues with flesh not contenting themselues with that whereof the desert furnished them by the diuine prouidence We had faire weather almost during all the Winter For neither raines nor fogges are so frequent there as heere whether it be at sea or on the land The reason is because the Sunne beames by the long distance haue not the force to raise vp vapours from the ground heere chiefely in a country all woody But in Summer it doth both from the sea and the land when as their force is augmented and those vapours are dissolued suddenly or slowly according as one approcheth to the Equinoctial line For we see that betweene the two Tropiques it raineth in more abundance both at sea and on the land specially in Peru and Mexico than in Africa because the Sunne by so long space of sea hauing drawen vp much moistnes from the maine Ocean hee dissolueth them in a moment by the great force of his heat where contrariwise towards the New found lands they maintaine themselues along time in the aire before they be turned into raine or be dispersed which is done in Summer as we haue said and not in winter and at sea more than on the land For on the land the morning mists serue for a dew and fall about eight a clocke and at sea they dure two three and eight daies as oftentimes wee haue tried Seeing then wee are speaking of Winter wee say that raines being in those parts rare in that season the Sunne likewise shineth there very faire after the fall of snowes which we haue had seuen or eight times but it is easily melted in open places and the longest abiding haue beene in February How so euer it be the snow is very profitable for the fruits of the earth to preserue them against the frost and to serue them as a fur-gowne Which is done by the admirable prouidence of God for the preseruation of men and as the Psalme saith He giueth Snow like wooll hore frost Like ashes he doth spread Like morsels casts his Ice And as the skie is seldome couered with clouds towards New found landes in Winter time so are there morning frostes which doe increase in the end of Ianuary Februarie and in the beginning of March for vntill the very time of Ianuarie we kept vs still in our dublets And I remember that on a Sunday the 14. day of that Moneth in the afternoone we sported our selues singing in musike vpon the riuer L' Equille and in the same moneth we went to see the Corne two leagues off from our fort and did dine merily in the Sunn-shine I would not for all that say that all other yeares were like vnto this For as that winter was as milde in these parts these last Winters of the yeares 1607. 1608. haue beene the hardest that euer was seene it hath also been a like in those countries in such sort that many Sauages died through
the rigor of the weather as in these our parts many poore people trauellers haue been killed through the same hardnesse of Winter weather But I will say that the yeare before we were in New France the Winter had not beene so hard as they which dwelt there before vs haue testified vnto me Let this suffice for that which concerneth the winter season But I am not yet fully satisfied in searching the cause why in one and the selfesame parallell the season is in those parts of New France more slow by a moneth than in these parts and the leaues appeare not vpon the trees but towards the end of the Moneth of May vnlesse we say that the thicknesse of the woods and greatnesse of Forrests doe hinder the Sunne from warming of the ground Item that the country where we were is ioyning to the sea and therby more subiect to cold as participating of Peru a country likewise cold in regard of Africa And besides that this land hauing neuer beene tilled is the more dampish the trees and plants not being able easily to draw sap from their mother the earth In recompence whereof the Winter there is also more slow as wee haue heererofore spoken The cold being passed about the end of March the best disposed amongst vs striued who should best till the ground and make gardens to sow in them and gather fruits thereof Which was to very good purpose for we found great discommodity in the Winter for want of garden hearbes When euery one had done his sowing it was a maruellous pleasure in seeing them daily grow and spring vp and yet greater contentment to vse thereof so abundantly as we did so that this beginning of good hope made vs almost to forget our natiue country and especially when the fish began to haunt fresh-water and came abundantly into our brookes in such innumerable quantity that we knew not what to doe with it Which thing when I consider I cannot wonder enough how it is possible that they which haue beene in Florida haue suffered so great famins considering the temperature of the aire which is there almost without Winter and that their famine began in the moneths of April May and Iune wherein they could want for no fish Whilest some laboured on the ground Monsieur De Poutrincourt made some buildings to be prepared for to lodge them which he hoped should succeed vs. And considering how troublesome the hand mill was he caused a water-mill to be made which caused the Sauages to admire much at it For indeed it is an inuention which came not into the spirit of men from the first ages After that our workmen had much rest for the most part of them did almost nothing But I may say that this Mill by the diligence of our Millers did furnish vs with three times more Herrings then was needfull vnto vs for our sustenance Monsieur De Poutrincourt made two Hogsheads full of them to bee salted and one hogshead of Sardines or Pilchers to bring into France for a shew which were left in our returne at S. Maloes to some Merchants Among all these things the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt did not neglect to thinke on his returne Which was the part of a wiseman for one must neuer put so much trust in mens promises but one must consider that very often many disasters doe happen to them in a small moment of time And therefore euen in the Moneth of Aprill he made two Barkes to be prepared a great one and a small one to come to seeke out French-ships towards Campseau or New-found-land if it should happen that no supply should come vnto vs. But the Carpentry-worke being finished one onely inconuenience might hinder vs that is we had no pitch to calke our vessels This which was the chiefest thing was forgotten at our departure from Rochel In this important necessity the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt aduised himselfe to gather in the woods quantity of the gumme issuing from Firre-trees Which he did with much labour going thither himselfe most often with a boy or two so that in the end he got some hundred pounds weight of it Now after these labours it was not yet all for it was needfull to melt and purifie the same which was a necessary point and vnknowen to our ship-Master Monsieur De Champ-dorè and to his Mariners for as much as that the pitch we haue commeth from Norwege Suedland and Danzick Neuerthelesse the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt found the meanes to draw out the quintessence of these gummes and Firre-tree barkes and caused quantity of brickes to be made with the which he made an open furnance wherein he put a limbecke made with many kettles ioyned one in the other which he filled with those gums and barkes Then being well couered fire was put round about it by whose violence the gum enclosed within the said lembeckemelted and dropped downe into a bason but it was needfull to be very watchfull at it by reason that if the fire had taken hold of the gum all had beene lost That was admirable especially in a man that neuer saw any made Whereof the Sauages being astonied did say in words borrowed from the Basques Endia chauè Normandia that is to say that the Normands know many things Now they call all Frenchmen Normands except the Basques because the most part of fishermen that goe afishing there be of that nation This remedy came very fitly vnto vs for those which came to seeke vs were fallen into the same want that we were Now as he which is in expectation hath neither contentment nor rest vntill he hath that which he desireth likewise our men in this season had often their eies vpon the great compasse of Port Royall to see if they might discouer any ship a comming wherein they were oftentimes deceiued imagining sometimes they had heard a Canon-shot other while to perceiue a saile and very often taking the Sauages boates that came to see vs for French shaloups For at that time great number of Sauages assembled themselues at the passage of the said Port to goe to the wars against the Armouchiquois as we will declare in the booke following Finally that which was so much expected and wished for came at length and we had newes out of France on the Ascension day in the forenoone CHAP. XVII The arriuall of the French Monsieur De Monts his society is broken and why the couetousnesse of them that doe rob the dead bonfires for the natiuity of the Duke of Orleans the departing of the Sauages to goe to warres Sagamos Membertou voyages vpon the coast Bay Françoise base trafficke the towne of Ouigoudi how the Sauages doe make great voyages their bad intention a steele Mine The voyces of Sea woolues or Seales the state of the I le S. Croix the loue of the Sauages towards their children the returne into Port Royall THe
Membertou he taried yet one day But it was pitious to see at his departing those poore people weepe who had beene alwaies kept in hope that some of ours should alwaies tarry with them In the end promise was made vnto them that the yeare following housholds and families should be sent thither wholly to inhabit their land and teach them trades for to make them liue as we doe which promise did somewhat comfort them There was left remaining ten hogsheads of Meale which were giuen to them with the Corne that we had sowed and the possession of the Mannour if they would vse it which they haue not done For they cannot be constant in one place and liue as they doe The eleuenth of August the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt departed with eight in his company from the said Port Royall in a Shaloup to come to Campseau A thing maruellously dangerous to crosse so many baies and seas in so small a vessell laden with nine persons with victuals necessary for the voyage and reasonable great quantity of other stuffe Being arriued at the Port of Captaine Saualet he receiued them all as kindly as it was possible for him And from thence they came to vs to the said Port of Campseau where we taried yet eight daies The third day of September we weighed ankers and with much adoe came we from among the rockes that be about the said Campseau Which our Mariners did with two shaloups that did carry their ankers very farre into the sea for to vphold our ship to the end she should not strike against the rockes Finally being at sea one of the said shaloups was let goe and the other was taken into the Ionas which besides our lading did carry 100000. of fish as well drie as greene We had reasonable good winde vntill we came neere to the lands of Europe But we were not ouercloied with good cheere because that as I haue said they who came to fetch vs presuming we were dead did cramme themselues with our refreshing commodities Our workmen dranke no more wine after we had left Port Royall And we had but small portion thereof because that which did ouer abound with vs was drunke merrily in the company of them that brought vs newes from France The 26. of September we had sight of the Sorlingues which be at the lands end of Cornewall in England and the 28. thinking to come to Saint Maloes we were forced for want of good wind to fall into Roscoff in Base Bretaigne where we remained two daies and a halfe refreshing our selues We had a Sauage who wondred very much seeing the buildings steeples and Wind-mils in France yea also of the women whom he had neuer seene clothed after our maner From Roscoff giuing thankes to God we came with a good winde vnto Saint Maloes Wherein I cannot but praise the watchfull foresight of our Master Nicolas Martin in hauing so skilfully conducted vs in such a nauigation and among so many bankes and dangerous rocks wherewith the coast from the Cap of Vshant to Saint Maloes is full If this man be praise worthie in this his action Captaine Foulques deserueth no lesse praises hauing brought vs thorow so many contrary windes into vnknowen lands where the first foundations of New France haue beene laid Hauing taried three or foure daies at Saint Maloes Monsieur De Poutrincourts sonne and my selfe went to Mount Saint Michael where wee saw the relikes all sauing the Buckler of this holy Archangell It was told vs that the Lord Bishop of Auranches had foure or fiue yeares ago forbidden to shew it any more As for the building it meriteth to be called the 8. wonder of the world so faire and great is it vpon the point of one only rocke in the middest of the waues at full sea True it is that one may say that the sea came not thither when the said building was made But I will replie that howsoeuer it be it is admirable The complaint that may be made in this respect is that so many faire buildings are vnprofitable in these our daies as in the most part of the Abbies of France And would to God that by some Archimedes means they might be transported into New France there to be better emploied to Gods seruice and the Kings At the returne we came to see the fishing of Oysters at Cancale After we had soiorned eight daies at Saint Maloes we came in a Barke to Honfleur where Monsieur De Poutrincourt his experience stood vs in good stead who seeing our Pilots at their wits end when they saw themselues betweene the Iles of Ierzy and Sare not being accustomed to take that course where we were driuen by a great winde East South-East accompanied with fogs and rain he tooke his sea-chard in hand and plaied the part of a Pilot in such sort that we passed the Raz Blanchart a dangerous passage for small Barkes and we came easily following the coast of Normandie to Honfleur for which eternall praises be giuen to God Amen Being at Paris the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt presented the King with the fruits of the land from whence he came and especially the Corne Wheat Rie Barly and Oates as being the most precious thing that may bee brought from what country soeuer It had beene very fit to vow these first fruits to God and to place them in some church among the monuments of triumph with more iust cause than the ancient Romanes who presented to their country Gods and Goddesses Terminus Seia and Segesta the first fruits of their tillage by the hands of the Priests of the fields instituted by Romulus which was the first order in new Rome who had for Blason a hat of the eares of Corne. The said Monsieur De Poutrincourt had bred tenne Outards taken from the shell which he thought to bring all into France but fiue of them were lost and the other fiue he gaue to the King who delighted much in them and they are at Fonteine Belleau Vpon the faire shew of the fruites of the said Country the King did confirme to Monsieur De Monts the priuiledge for the trade of Beuers with the Sauages to the end to giue him meanes to establish his Colonies in New France And by this occasion he sent thither in March last Families there to begin Christian and French Common-wealths which God vouchsafe to blesse and increase The said ships being returned we haue had report by Monsieur De Champ-dorè and others of the state of the Country which we had left and of the wonderfull beauty of the Corne that the said Monsieur De Poutrincourt had sowed before his departure together of the graines that be fallen in the gardens which haue so increased that it is an incredible thing Membertou did gather six or seuen barrels of the corne that we had sowed and had yet one left which he reserued for the
backes their legges hanging downe then being returned into their Cabins they set them in this maner vp straight against a stone or some thing else And as in these our parts one giues small feathers and gilt things to little children so they hang quantity of beades and small square toies diuersly coloured in the vpper part of the said boord or plancke for the decking of theirs CHAP. IIII. Of their loue towards their children THat which we haue said euen now is a part of true loue which doth shame the Christian women But after the Children be weaned and at all times they loue them all obseruing this law that Nature hath grafted in the hearts of all creatures except in leaud slippery women to haue care of them And when it is question to demand of them some of their children I speake of the Sâ—â—riquois in whose land we dwelt for to bring them into France they wil not giue them but if any one of them doth yeeld vnto it presents must be giuen vnto him besides large promises We haue alreadie spoken of this at the end of the 17. chapter So then I finde that they haue wrong to be called Barbarous seeing that the ancient Romans were far more Brabarous than they who oftentimes sold their children for to haue meanes to liue Now that which causeth them to loue their children more than we doe in these parts is that they are the maintenance of their fathers in their old age whether it be to helpe them to liue or to defend them from their enemies And nature conserueth wholly in them her right in this respect By reason whereof that which they wish most is to haue number of children to be thereby so much the mightier as in the first age of the world when virginity was a thing reproouable because of Gods commandement to man and women to increase multiply and replenish the earth but after it was filled this loue waxed maruellous cold and children began to be a burthen to fathers and mothers whom many haue had in disdaine and haue verie often procured their death Now is the way open for France to haue a remedy for the same For if it please God to guide and prosper the voyages of New France whosoeuer in these parts shall finde himselfe oppressed may passe thither and there end his daies in rest and that without feeling any pouerty or if any one findeth himselfe ouerburthened with children he may send halfe of them thither and with a small portion they shall be rich and possesse the land which is the most assured condition of this life For we see at this day labor and paine in all vocations yea in them of the best sort which are often crossed through enuy and wants others will make a hundred cappings and crouchings for to liue and yet they doe but pine away But the ground neuer deceaueth vs if we earnestly cherish her Witnesse the fable of him who by his last will and testament did declare to his children that he had hidden a treasure in his Vineyard and as they had well and deepely digged and turned it they found nothing but the yeere being come about they gathered so great a quantity of grapes that they knew not where to bestow them So thorow all the holy Scripture the promises that God maketh to the Patriarches Abraham Isaac and Iacob and afterwards to the people of Israel by the mouth of Moses is that they shall possesse the land as a certaine heritage that cannot perish and where a man hath wherewith to sustaine his familie to make himselfe strong and to liue in innocency according to the speeches of the ancient Cato who did say that commonly Husbandmen or Farmers Sonnes be valiant and strong and doe thinke on no harme CHAP. 5. Of their Religion MAn being created after the image of God it is good reason that he acknowledge serue worship praise and blesse his Creator and that therein he imploy his whole desire his minde his strength and his courage But the nature of man hauing been corrupted by sinne this faire light that God had first giuen vnto him hath beene so darkned that he is becom therby to lose the knowledge of his beginning And for as much as God sheweth not himself vnto vs by a certaine visible forme as a father or a King might doe man finding himselfe ouercome with pouerty and infirmity not setling himselfe to the contemplation of the wonders of this Almighty workman and to seeke him as he ought to be sought for with a base and brutish spirit miserably hath he forged to himselfe gods according to his owne fancy And there is nothing visible in the world but hath beene deified in some place or other yea euen in that rancke and degree imaginary things hath also beene put as Vertue Hope Honour Fortune and a thousand such like things Item infernall gods and sicknesses and all sorts of plagues euery one worshipping the things that he stood in feare of But notwithstanding though Tuliie hath said speaking of the nature of the gods that there is no nation so sauage or brutish nor so barbarous but is seasoned with some opinion of them yet there haue been found in these later ages nations that haue no feeling thereof at all which is so much the stranger that among them there were and yet are Idolaters as in Mexico and Virginia If we will we may adde heereunto Florida And notwithstanding all being well considered seeing the condition both of the one and of the other is to be lamented I giue more praise to him that worshippeth nothing than to him who worshippeth creatures without either life or sense for at least as bad as he is he blasphemeth not and giueth not the glorie due to God to an other liuing indeed a life not much differing from brutishnesse but the same is yet more brutish that adoreth a dead thing and putteth his confidence in it And besides he which is not stained with any bad opinion is much more capable of true adoration than the other being like to a bare table which is ready to receiue what colour soeuer one will giue to it For when any people hath once receiued a bad impressioÌ„ of doctrine one must roote it out from them before another may be placed in them Which is very difficult as well for the obstinacy of men which doe say our fathers haue liued in this sort as for the hindrance that they giue them which doe teach them such a doctrine and others whose life dependeth thereupon who doe feare that their meanes of gain be taken from them euen as that Demetrius the siluer-smith mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles This is the reason why our Sauages of New France wil be found more easie to receiue the Christian doctrine if once the Prouince be thorowly inhabited For that we may begin with them of Canada Iames Quartier in his second relation reciteth that
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
noteth that fishes which haue stones on their heads doe feare winter and retire themselues betimes of whose number is the Cod which hath within her braines two white stones made gundole wise and iagged about which haue not those that be taken towards Scotland as some learned and curious man hath tould me This fish is wonderfully greedy and deuoureth others almost as bigg as himselfe yea euen lobsters which are like bigge Langoustes and I maruell how he may digest those bigge and hard shells Of the liuers of Cods our New-found-land-men doe make oiles casting those liuers into barels set in the Sunne where they melt of themselues There is great trafficke made in Europe of the oile of the fish of New-found-land And for this only cause many go to the fishing of the whale and of the Hippopotames which they call the beast with the great tooth or the Morses of whom some thing we must say The Almighty willing to shew vnto Iob how wonderfull are his works wilt thou draw saith he Leuiathan with a booke and his tongue with a string which thou hast cast in the water By this Leuiathan is the whale meant and all fishes of that reach whose hugenesse and chiefely of the whale is so great that it is a dreadfull thing as wee haue shewed elsewhere speaking of one that was cast on the Coast of Brasill by the tide And Plinie saith that there be some found in the Indies which haue fower acres of ground in length This is the cause why man is to be admired yea rather God who hath giuen him the courage to assaile so fearefull a monster which hath not his equall on the land I leaue the maner of taking of her described by Oppian and S. Basil for to come to our French-men and chiefely the Basques who doe goe euery yeare to the great riuer of Canada for the Whale Commonly the fishing thereof is made in the riuer called Lesquemin towards Tadoussac And for to doe it they goe by skowtes to make watch vpon the tops of rockes to see if they may haue the sight of some one and when they haue discouered any foorth with they goe with fower shaloupes after it and hauing cunningly borded her they strike her with a harping iron to the depth of her lard and to the quicke of the flesh Then this creature feeling herselfe rudely pricked with a dreadfull boisterousnesse casteth herselfe into the depth of the sea The men in the meane while are in their shirts which vere out the cord whereunto the harping iron is tied which the whale carrieth away But at the shaloupe side that hath giuen the blow there is a man redy with a hatchet in hand to cut the said cord least perchance some accident should happen that it were mingled or that the Whales force should be too violent which notwithstanding hauing found the bottome and being able to goe no further she mounteth vp againe leasurely aboue the water and then againe she is set vpon with glaue-staues or pertuifanes very sharp so hotly that the salt-water pierceing within her flesh she looseth her force and remaineth there Then one tieth her to a cable at whose end is an anker which is cast into the sea then at the end of six or eight daies they goe to fetch her when time and opportunity permits it they cut her in peeces and in great kettles doe seeth the fat which melteth it selfe into oile wherewith they may fill 400. Hogs-heads sometimes more and somtimes lesse according to the greatnesse of the beast and of the tongue commonly they draw fiue yea six hogs-heads full of traine If this be admirable in vs that haue industry it is more admirable in the Indian people naked and without artificiall instruments and neuerthelesse they execute the same thing which is recited by Ioseph Acosta saying that for to take those great monsters they put themselues in a Canow or Barke made of the barkes of trees and bording the Whale they leape nimbly on her necke and there doe stand as it were on horse-backe attending the fit meanes to take her and seeing their opportunity the boldest of them putteth a strong and sharpe stafe which he carrieth with him into the gap of the Whales nostrils I call nostrill the condut or hole thorow which they breath foorth with he thrust it in far with another very strong stafe and maketh it to enter in as deepe as he can In the meane while the Whale beateth the sea furiously and raiseth vp mountaines of water diuing downe with great violence then mounteth vp again not knowing what to do through very rage The Indian notwithstanding remaineth still sitting fast and for to pay her home for this trouble fixeth yet another like stalke in the other nostrill making it to enter in in such wise that it stoppeth her winde quite and taketh away her breath and he commeth againe into his Canow which he holdeth tied at the side of the Whale with a cord then retireth himselfe on land hauing first tied his cord to the Whale which he vereth out on her which whilest she findeth much water skippeth heere and there as touched with griefe and in the end draweth to land where foorth with for the huge enormity of her body she remaineth on the shore not being able to mooue or stur herselfe any more And then a great number of Indians doe come to finde out the Conquerer for to reape the fruit of his conquest and for that purpose they make an end of killing of her cutting her and making morsels of her flesh which is bad enough which they drie and stampe to make powder of it which they vse for meat that serueth them a long time As for the Hippopotames or Morses we haue said in the voiages of Iames Quartier that there be great number of them in the Gulfe of Canada and specially in the I le of Brion and in the seuen Iles which is the riuer of Chischedec It is a creature which is more like to a Cow then to a horse But we haue named it Hippopotamus that is to say the horse of the riuer because Pliny doth so call them that be in the riuer Nilus which notwithstanding do not altogether resemble the horse but doth participate also of an oxe or a cow He is of haire like to the seale that is to say daple graie and somewhat towards the redde the skinne very hard a small head like to a Barbarie Cowe hauing two ranks of teeth on ech side betweene which there is two of them of ech part hanging from the vpper iaw downward of the forme of a young Elephants tooth wherewith this creature helpeth her selfe to climbe on the rocks Because of those teeth our Mariners doe call it La beste a La grand ' dent the beast with the great teeth His eares be short and his taile also he loweth as an Oxe and hath wings or finnes at his