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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, Vol. 1

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On this occasion he received a valuable jewel as a present from the
English queen. He afterwards directed the ceremonies and entertainment
of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was deputed to receive the ratification
of the before-mentioned treaty by Henry IV. _Vide Busk's His. Spain and
Portugal_, London, 1833, p. 129 _et passim_; _Denis' His. Portugal_,
Paris, 1846, p. 296; _Freer's Life of Henry IV._, Vol. I. p. 121, _et
passim_; _Memoirs of Sully_, Philadelphia, 1817, Vol. I. p. 204;
_Birch's Memoirs Queen Elizabeth_, London, 1754, Vol. II. pp. 121, 145,
151, 154, 155; _Asselini MSS. Chron._, cited by Shaw in _Nar Voyage to
West Ind. and Mexico_, Hakluyt Soc., 1859, p. xv.

27. "Au même tems les nouvelles vinrent.... que le Commandeur de Chastes
dressoit une grande Armée de Mer en Bretagne."--_Journal de Henri III._
(1586), Paris, 1744, Tom. III. p. 279.

28. Du Pont Gravé was a merchant of St Malo. He had been associated with
Chauvin in the Canada trade, and continued to visit the St Lawrence for
this purpose almost yearly for thirty years.

He was greatly respected by Champlain, and was closely associated with
him till 1629. After the English captured Quebec, he appears to have
retired, forced to do so by the infirmities of age.

29. Jean Parmentier, of Dieppe, author of the _Discorso d'un gran capitano_
in Ramusio, Vol. III., p. 423, wrote in the year 1539, and he says the
Bretons and Normans were in our northern waters thirty-five years
before, which would be in 1504. _Vide_ Mr. Parkman's learned note and
citations in _Pioneers of France in the New World_, pp. 171, 172. The
above is doubtless the authority on which the early writers, such as
Pierre Biard, Champlain, and others, make the year 1504 the period when
the French voyages for fishing commenced.

30. _Vide Voyage of Iohn Alphonse of Xanctoigne_, Hakluyt, Vol. III., p.
293.

31. Compare the result of these inquiries as stated by Champlain, p.252 of
this vol and _New Voyages_, by Baron La Hontan, 1684, ed. 1735, Vol I.
p. 30.

32. The Duke of Sully's disapprobation is expressed in the following words:
"The colony that was sent to Canada this year, was among the number of
those things that had not my approbation; there was no kind of riches
to be expected from all those countries of the new world, which are
beyond the fortieth degree of latitude. His majesty gave the conduct of
this expedition to the Sieur du Mont."--_Memoirs of Sully_,
Philadelphia, 1817, Vol. III. p. 185.

33. "Frequenter, négocier, et communiquer durant ledit temps de dix ans,
depuis le Cap de Raze jusques au quarantième degré, comprenant toute la
côte de la Cadie, terre et Cap Breton, Bayes de Sainct-Cler, de
Chaleur, Ile Percée, Gachepé, Chinschedec, Mesamichi, Lesquemin,
Tadoussac, et la rivière de Canada, tant d'un côté que d'aurre, et
toutes les Bayes et rivières qui entrent au dedans désdites côtes."--
Extract of Commission, _Histoire de la Nouvelle-France_, par Lescarbot,
Paris, 1866, Vol. II. p. 416.




CHAPTER III.

DE MONTS LEAVES FOR LA CADIE--THE COASTS OF NOVA SCOTIA.--THE BAY OF FUNDY
--SEARCH FOR COPPER MINE--CHAMPLAIN EXPLORES THE PENOBSCOT--DE MONTS'S
ISLAND--SUFFERINGS OF THE COLONY--EXPLORATION OF THE COAST AS FAR AS
NAUSET, ON CAPE COD

De Monts, with Champlain and the other noblemen, left Havre de Grâce on the
7th April, 1604, while Pont Gravé, with the other vessel, followed three
days later, to rendezvous at Canseau.

Taking a more southerly course than he had originally intended, De Monts
came in sight of La Hève on the 8th of May, and on the 12th entered
Liverpool harbor, where he found Captain Rossignol, of Havre de Grâce,
carrying on a contraband trade in furs with the Indians, whom he arrested,
and confiscated his vessel.

The next day they anchored at Port Mouton, where they lingered three or
four weeks, awaiting news from Pont Gravé, who had in the mean time arrived
at Canseau, the rendezvous agreed upon before leaving France. Pont Gravé
had there discovered several Basque ships engaged in the fur-trade. Taking
possession of them, he sent their masters to De Monts. The ships were
subsequently confiscated and sent to Rochelle.

Captain Fouques was despatched to Canseau in the vessel which had been
taken from Rossignol, to bring forward the supplies which had been brought
over by Pont Gravé. Having transshipped the provisions intended for the
colony, Pont Gravé proceeded through the Straits of Canseau up the St.
Lawrence, to trade with the Indians, upon the profits of which the company
relied largely for replenishing their treasury.

In the mean time Champlain was sent in a barque of eight tons, with the
secretary Sieur Ralleau, Mr. Simon, the miner, and ten men, to reconnoitre
the coast towards the west. Sailing along the shore, touching at numerous
points, doubling Cape Sable, he entered the Bay of Fundy, and after
exploring St. Mary's Bay, and discovering several mines of both Silver and
iron, returned to Port Mouton and made to De Monts a minute and careful
report.

De Monts immediately weighed anchor and sailed for the Bay of St. Mary,
where he left his vessel, and, with Champlain, the miner, and some others,
proceeded to explore the Bay of Fundy. They entered and examined Annapolis
harbor, coasted along the western shores of Nova Scotia, touching at the
Bay of Mines, passing over to New Brunswick, skirting its whole
southeastern coast, entering the harbor of St. John, and finally
penetrating Passamaquoddy Bay as far as the mouth of the river St. Croix,
and fixed upon De Monts's Island [34] as the seat of their colony. The
vessel at St. Mary's with the colonists was ordered to join them, and
immediately active measures were taken for laying out gardens, erecting
dwellings and storehouses, and all the necessary preparations for the
coming winter. Champlain was commissioned to design and lay out the town,
if so it could be called.

When the work was somewhat advanced, he was sent in a barque of five or six
tons, manned with nine sailors, to search for a mine of pure copper, which
an Indian named Messamoüet had assured them he could point out to them on
the coast towards the river St. John. Some twenty-five miles from the river
St. Croix, they found a mine yielding eighteen per cent, as estimated by
the miner; but they did not discover any pure copper, as they had hoped.

On the last day of August, 1604, the vessel which had brought out the
colony, together with that which had been taken from Rossignol, took their
departure for the shores of France. In it sailed Poutrincourt, Ralleau the
secretary of De Monts, and Captain Rossignol.

From the moment of his arrival on the coast of America, Champlain employed
his leisure hours in making sketches and drawings of the most important
rivers, harbors, and Indian settlements which they had visited.

While the little colony at De Monts's Island was active in getting its
appointments arranged and settled, De Monts wisely determined, though he
could not accompany it himself, nevertheless to send out an expedition
during the mild days of autumn, to explore the region still further to the
south, then called by the Indians Norumbegue. Greatly to the satisfaction
of Champlain, he was personally charged, with this important expedition. He
set out on the 2d of September, in a barque of seventeen or eighteen tons,
with twelve sailors and two Indian guides. The inevitable fogs of that
region detained them nearly a fortnight before they were able to leave the
banks of Passamaquoddy. Passing along the rugged shores of Maine, with its
endless chain of islands rising one after another into view, which they
called the Ranges, they at length came to the ancient Pemetiq, lying close
in to the shore, having the appearance at sea of seven or eight mountains
drawn together and springing from the same base. This Champlain named
_Monts Déserts_, which we have anglicized into Mount Desert, [35] an
appellation which has survived the vicissitudes of two hundred and
seventy-five years, and now that the island, with its salubrious air and
cool shades, its bold and picturesque scenery, is attracting thousands from
the great cities during the heats of summer, the name is likely to abide
far down into a distant and indefinite future.

Leaving Mount Desert, winding their way among numerous islands, taking a
northerly direction, they soon entered the Penobscot, [36] known by the
early navigators as the river Norumbegue. They proceeded up the river as
far as the mouth of an affluent now known as the Kenduskeag, [37] which was
then called, or rather the place where it made a junction with the
Penobscot was called by the natives, _Kadesquit_, situated at the head of
tide-water, near the present site of the city of Bangor. The falls above
the city intercepted their further progress. The river-banks about the
harbor were fringed with a luxurious growth of forest trees. On one side,
lofty pines reared their gray trunks, forming a natural palisade along the
shore. On the other, massive oaks alone were to be seen, lifting their
sturdy branches to the skies, gathered into clumps or stretching out into
long lines, as if a landscape gardener had planted them to please the eye
and gratify the taste. An exploration revealed the whole surrounding region
clothed in a similar wild and primitive beauty.

After a leisurely survey of the country, they returned to the mouth of the
river. Contrary to what might have been expected, Champlain found scarcely
any inhabitants dwelling on the borders of the Penobscot. Here and there
they saw a few deserted wigwams, which were the only marks of human
occupation. At the mouth of the river, on the borders of Penobscot Bay, the
native inhabitants were numerous. They were of a friendly disposition, and
gave their visitors a cordial welcome, readily entered into negotiations
for the sale of beaver-skins, and the two parties mutually agreed to
maintain a friendly intercourse in the future.

Having obtained from the Indians some valuable information as to the source
of the Penobscot, and observed their mode of life, which did not differ
from that which they had seen still further east, Champlain departed on the
20th of September, directing his course towards the Kennebec. But,
encountering bad weather, he found it necessary to take shelter under the
lee of the island of Monhegan.

After sailing three or four leagues farther, finding that his provisions
would not warrant the continuance of the voyage, he determined, on the 23d
of September, to return to the settlement at Saint Croix, or what is now
known as De Monts's Island, where they arrived on the 2d day of October,
1604.

De Monts's Island, having an area of not more than six or seven acres, is
situated in the river Saint Croix, midway between its opposite shores,
directly upon the dividing line between the townships of Calais and
Robinston in the State of Maine. At the northern end of the island, the
buildings of the settlement were clustered together in the form of a
quadrangle with an open court in the centre. First came the magazine and
lodgings of the soldiers, then the mansion of the governor, De Monts,
surmounted by the colors of France. Houses for Champlain and the other
gentlemen, [38] for the curé, the artisans and workmen, filled up and
completed the quadrangle. Below the houses, gardens were laid out for the
several gentlemen, and at the southern extremity of the island cannon were
mounted for protection against a sudden assault.

In the ample forests of Maine or New Brunswick, rich in oak and maple and
pine, abounding in deer, partridge, and other wild game, watered by crystal
fountains springing from every acre of the soil, we naturally picture for
our colonists a winter of robust health, physical comfort, and social
enjoyment. The little island which they had chosen was indeed a charming
spot in a summer's day, but we can hardly comprehend in what view it could
have been regarded as suitable for a colonial plantation. In space it was
wholly inadequate; it was destitute of wood and fresh water, and its soil
was sandy and unproductive. In fixing the location of their settlement and
in the construction of their houses, it is obvious that they had entirely
misapprehended the character of the climate. While the latitude was nearly
the same, the temperature was far more rigorous than that of the sunny
France which they had left. The snow began to fall on the 6th of October.
On the 3d of December the ice was seen floating on the surface of the
water. As the season advanced, and the tide came and went, huge floes of
ice, day after day, swept by the island, rendering it impracticable to
navigate the river or pass over to the mainland. They were therefore
imprisoned in their own home. Thus cut off from the game with which the
neighboring forests abounded, they were compelled to subsist almost
exclusively upon salted meats. Nearly all the forest trees on the island
had been used in the construction of their houses, and they had
consequently but a meagre supply of fuel to resist the chilling winds and
penetrating frosts. For fresh water, their only reliance was upon melted
snow and ice. Their store-house had not been furnished with a cellar, and
the frost left nothing untouched; even cider was dispensed in solid blocks.
To crown the gloom and wretchedness of their situation, the colony was
visited with disease of a virulent and fatal character. As the malady was
beyond the knowledge, so it baffled the skill of the surgeons. They called
it _mal de la terre_. Of the seventy-nine persons, composing the whole
number of the colony, thirty-five died, and twenty others were brought to
the verge of the grave. In May, having been liberated from the baleful
influence of their winter prison and revived by the genial warmth of the
vernal sun and by the fresh meats obtained from the savages, the disease
abated, and the survivors gradually regained their strength.

Disheartened by the bitter experiences of the winter, the governor, having
fully determined to abandon his present establishment, ordered two boats to
be constructed, one of fifteen and the other of seven tons, in which to
transport his colony to Gaspé, in case he received no supplies from France,
with the hope of obtaining a passage home in some of the fishing vessels on
that coast. But from this disagreeable alternative he was happily relieved.
On the 15th of June, 1605, Pont Gravé arrived, to the great joy of the
little colony, with all needed supplies. The purpose of returning to France
was at once abandoned, and, as no time was to be lost, on the 18th of the
same month, De Monts, Champlain, several gentlemen, twenty sailors, two
Indians, Panounias and his wife, set sail for the purpose of discovering a
more eligible site for his colony somewhere on the shores of the present
New England. Passing slowly along the coast, with which Champlain was
already familiar, and consequently without extensive explorations, they at
length reached the waters of the Kennebec, [39] where the survey of the
previous year had terminated and that of the present was about to begin.

On the 5th of July, they entered the Kennebec, and, bearing to the right,
passed through Back River, [40] grazing their barque on the rocks in the
narrow channel, and then sweeping down round the southern point of
Jerremisquam Island, or Westport, they ascended along its eastern shores
till they came near the present site of Wiscasset, from whence they
returned on the western side of the island, through Monseag Bay, and
threading the narrow passage between Arrowsick and Woolwich, called the
Upper Hell-gate, and again entering the Kennebec, they finally reached
Merrymeeting Bay. Lingering here but a short time, they returned through
the Sagadahock, or lower Kennebec, to the mouth of the river.

This exploration did not yield to the voyagers any very interesting or
important results. Several friendly interviews were held with the savages
at different points along the route. Near the head waters of the Sheepscot,
probably in Wiscasset Bay, they had an interview, an interesting and joyous
meeting, with the chief Manthomerme and twenty-five or thirty followers,
with whom they exchanged tokens of friendship. Along the shores of the
Sheepscot their attention was attracted by several pleasant streams and
fine expanses of meadow; but the soil observed on this expedition
generally, and especially on the Sagadahock, [41] or lower Kennebec, was
rough and barren, and offered, in the judgment of De Monts and Champlain,
no eligible site for a new settlement.

Proceeding, therefore, on their voyage, they struck directly across Casco
Bay, not attempting, in their ignorance, to enter the fine harbor of
Portland.

On the 9th of July, they made the bay that stretches from Cape Elizabeth to
Fletcher's Neck, and anchored under the lee of Stratton Island, directly in
sight of Old Orchard Beach, now a famous watering place during the summer
months.

The savages having seen the little French barque approaching in the
distance, had built sires to attract its attention, and came down upon the
shore at Prout's Neck, formerly known as Black Point, in large numbers,
indicating their friendliness by lively demonstrations of joy. From this
anchorage, while awaiting the influx of the tide to enable them to pass
over the bar and enter a river which they saw flowing into the bay, De
Monts paid a visit to Richmond's Island, about four miles distant, which he
was greatly delighted, as he found it richly studded with oak and hickory,
whose bending branches were wreathed with luxuriant grapevines loaded with
green clusters of unripe fruit. In honor of the god of wine, they gave to
the island the classic name of Bacchus. [42] At full tide they passed over
the bar and cast anchor within the channel of the Saco.

The Indians whom they found here were called Almouchiquois, and differed in
many respects from any which they had seen before, from the Sourequois of
Nova Scotia and the Etechemins of the northern part of Maine and New
Brunswick. They spoke a different language, and, unlike their neighbors on
the east, did not subsist mainly by the chase, but upon the products of the
soil, supplemented by fish, which were plentiful and of excellent quality,
and which they took with facility about the mouth of the river. De Monts
and Champlain made an excursion upon the shore, where their eyes were
refreshed by fields of waving corn, and gardens of squashes, beans, and
pumpkins, which were then bursting into flower. [43] Here they saw in
cultivation the rank narcotic _petun_, or tobacco, [44] just beginning to
spread out its broad velvet leaves to the sun, the sole luxury of savage
life. The forests were thinly wooded, but were nevertheless rich in
primitive oak, in lofty ash and elm, and in the more humble and sturdy
beech. As on Richmond's Island so here, along the bank of the river they
found grapes in luxurious growth, from which the sailors busied themselves
in making verjuice, a delicious beverage in the meridian heats of a July
sun. The natives were gentle and amiable, graceful in figure, agile in
movement, and exhibited unusual taste, dressing their hair in a variety of
twists and braids, intertwined with ornamental feathers.

Champlain observed their method of cultivating Indian corn, which the
experience of two hundred and seventy-five years has in no essential point
improved or even changed. They planted three or four seeds in hills three
feet apart, and heaped the earth about them, and kept the soil clear of
weeds. Such is the method of the successful New England farmer to-day. The
experience of the savage had taught him how many individuals of the rank
plant could occupy prolifically a given area, how the soil must be gathered
about the roots to sustain the heavy stock, and that there must be no rival
near it to draw away the nutriment on which the voracious plant feeds and
grows. Civilization has invented implements to facilitate the processes of
culture, but the observation of the savage had led him to a knowledge of
all that is absolutely necessary to ensure a prolific harvest.

After lingering two days at Saco, our explorers proceeded on their voyage.
When they had advanced not more than twenty miles, driven by a fierce wind,
they were forced to cast anchor near the salt marshes of Wells. Having been
driven by Cape Porpoise, on the subsidence of the wind, they returned to
it, reconnoitred its harbor and adjacent islands, together with Little
River, a few miles still further to the east. The shores were lined all
along with nut-trees and grape-vines. The islands about Cape Porpoise were
matted all over with wild currants, so that the eye could scarcely discern
any thing else. Attracted doubtless by this fruit, clouds of wild pigeons
had assembled there, and were having a midsummer's festival, fearless of
the treacherous snare or the hunter's deadly aim. Large numbers of them
were taken, which added a coveted luxury to the not over-stocked larder of
the little French barque.

On the 15th of July, De Monts and his party left Cape Porpoise,
keeping in and following closely the sinuosities of the shore. They
saw no savages during the day, nor any evidences of any, except a
rising smoke, which they approached, but found to be a lone beacon,
without any surroundings of human life. Those who had kindled the fire
had doubtless concealed themselves, or had fled in dismay. Possibly
they had never seen a ship under sail. The fishermen who frequented
our northern coast rarely came into these waters, and the little craft
of our voyagers, moving without oars or any apparent human aid, seemed
doubtless to them a monster gliding upon the wings of the wind. At the
setting of the sun, they were near the flat and sandy coast, now known
as Wallace's Sands. They fought in vain for a roadstead where they
might anchor safely for the night. When they were opposite to Little
Boar's Head, with the Isles of Shoals directly east of them, and the
reflected rays of the sun were still throwing their light upon the
waters, they saw in the distance the dim outline of Cape Anne, whither
they directed their course, and, before morning, came to anchor near
its eastern extremity, in sixteen fathoms of water. Near them were the
three well-known islands at the apex of the cape, covered with
forest-trees, and the woodless cluster of rocks, now called the
Savages, a little further from the shore.

The next morning five or six Indians timidly approached them in a canoe,
and then retired and set up a dance on the shore, as a token of friendly
greeting. Armed with crayon and drawing-paper, Champlain was despatched to
seek from the natives some important geographical information. Dispensing
knives and biscuit as a friendly invitation, the savages gathered about
him, assured by their gifts, when he proceeded to impart to them their
first lesson in topographical drawing. He pictured to them the bay on the
north side of Cape Anne, which he had just traversed, and signifying to
them that he desired to know the course of the shore on the south, they
immediately gave him an example of their apt scholarship by drawing with
the same crayon an accurate outline of Massachusetts Bay, and finished up
Champlain's own sketch by introducing the Merrimac River, which, not having
been seen, owing to the presence of Plum Island, which stretches like a
curtain before its mouth, he had omitted to portray. The intelligent
natives volunteered a bit of history. By placing six pebbles at equal
distances, they intimated that Massachusetts Bay was occupied by six
tribes, and governed by as many chiefs. [45] He learned from them,
likewise, that the inhabitants of this region subsisted by agriculture, as
did those at the mouth of the Saco, and that they were very numerous.

Leaving Cape Anne on Saturday the 16th of July, De Monts entered
Massachusetts Bay, sailed into Boston harbor, and anchored on the western
side of Noddle's Island, now better known as East Boston. In passing into
the bay, they observed large patches of cleared land, and many fields of
waving corn both upon the islands and the mainland. The water and the
islands, the open fields and lofty forest-trees, presented fine contrasts,
and rendered the scenery attractive and beautiful. Here for the first time
Champlain observed the log canoe. It was a clumsy though serviceable boat
in still waters, nevertheless unstable and dangerous in unskilful hands.
They saw, issuing into the bay, a large river, coming from the west, which
they named River du Guast, in honor of Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, the
patentee of La Cadie, and the patron and director of this expedition. This
was Charles River, seen, evidently just at its confluence with the Mystic.
[46]

On Sunday, the 17th of July, 1605, they left Boston harbor, threading their
way among the islands, passing leisurely along the south shore, rounding
Point Allerton on the peninsula of Nantasket, gliding along near Cohasset
and Scituate, and finally cast anchor at Brant Point, upon the southern
borders of Marshfield. When they left the harbor of Boston, the islands and
mainland were swarming with the native population. The Indians were,
naturally enough, intensely interested in this visit of the little French
barque. It may have been the first that had ever made its appearance in the
bay. Its size was many times greater than any water-craft of their own.
Spreading its white wings and gliding silently away without oarsmen, it
filled them with surprise and admiration. The whole population was astir.
The cornfields and fishing stations were deserted. Every canoe was manned,
and a flotilla of their tiny craft came to attend, honor, and speed the
parting guests, experiencing, doubtless, a sense of relief that they were
going, and filled with a painful curiosity to know the meaning of this
mysterious visit.

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