The Discovery and Occupation by the French of the Gulf and River of Saint Lawrence, 1534-43.— Though during the course of the first three decades of the 16th century various English, Portuguese, French and Spanish expeditions had explored the sea board of eastern North America none of them had penetrated into the interior. The first to do this were the French in 1534. The French fishermen who resorted every summer to that portion of this main coast which was rich in cod had noticed that a bay, called by them the "Bay of Castles" from the formation of the land thereabout, extended so far inland that not one had ever been able to reach the head of it. It was just possible, therefore, that this might be the entrance to a strait similar to that found by Magellan in the south. On this being reported to the authorities at home an expedition was dispatched from Saint Malo in the spring of 1534 under the pilot Jacques Car tier with orders to explore this opening. Car tier reached Bonne Esperance Harbor inside the Strait of Belle Isle (then called the °Bay of Castles") on Wednesday, 10 June. Having dis covered on examining the coast beyond this point with the long-boats, that it was com pletely barren and rocky, sail was made on Monday, 15 June, from Bonne Esperance Har bor in order to explore the land seen to the south. Following this south shore of the Strait of Belle Isle they were led steadily down the west coast of what we now call the island of Newfoundland. Off Saint George's Bay to the north of Cape Ray they had stormy weather for a week, which forced them to beat up and down. On resuming their course southward they fell in with the Bird Rocks, which lie 55 miles north-northwest of Cape Breton Island. The island to the south of these they named "Brion Island" after the Admiral of France. From the currents observed here Cartier sur mised that the opening beside Cape Breton Island was a strait and that one could sail from Brion Island directly into the Atlantic. °Should this prove to be the case," added Cartier, lit would mean a great saving both in time and distance should anything of importance be dis covered on this voyage." As is well known, this opening, Cabot Strait, is now used quite as much as the Strait of Belle Isle. Leaving Brion Island on Saturday, 27 June, they crossed over to the Magdalen Islands, of which they coasted the northwestern corner until the following Monday, 29 June, when on the wind veering to the south they had to set sail toward the west. They were under the impression that these islands formed the main shore on the south side of the gulf, and when on Tuesday morning, 30 June, they reached Cascumpeque Bay in Prince Edward Island, they believed that this latter formed part of the same main shore with the Magdalens. The western end ofNorthumberland Strait, which separates Prince Edward Island from the mainland, was mistaken for a bay and called "Saint Leonore's Bay" in memory of a Breton bishop whose fes tival is celebrated on 1 July. Coasting north ward along the New Brunswick shore they be lieved on reaching Chaleur Bay that they had at last found a passage into the South Sea. On Thursday, 9 July, they discovered that it was merely a deep bay; "whereat," says Cartier, "we were much put out." On account of the heat experienced there they christened it "the Bay of Heat." Pursuing their course north, ward they entered Gaspe Bay, where they were detained for ten days by bad weather. On Friday, 24 July, the day before they set sail, they set up a cross 30 feet high as a landmark and also seized the two sons of an Indian chief who had come down to the sea with his tribe to fish. Rounding the peninsula of Gaspe, they were heading straight for the mouth . of the Saint Lawrence, when one of the mirages so common in those parts led them to believe that this passage between Gaspe and Anticosti was merely a land-locked bay. They consequently crossed over and followed the south shore of Anticosti as far as the eastern extremity of that island. Continuing on along the north shore of Anticosti they at length caught sight of the Quebec coast opposite and saw that they were entering a passage which they called "Saint Peter's Strait." At this point a con sultation was held at which it was decided that since there was a great probability of this pas sage being the one they were in search of, it would be advisable as the season was late to postpone their exploration of it until the fol lowing year. They consequently headed east along the north shore of the gulf and were finally brought back to the Strait of Belle Isle or the "Bay of Castles,* whence they had set out. The fishermen's statement had been fully confirmed. This narrow opening had turned out to be a great gulf with probably a second entrance into the Atlantic near Brion Island. There was also a prospect that the opening they had just discovered in the north west corner of this gulf would yet lead them into the South Sea. Setting sail from Belle Isle on Saturday, 15 August, they reached Saint Maio in safety on Saturday, 5 September. As they were in great hopes that the opening in the northwest corner of this large inland gulf would eventually lead them to the South Sea, a fresh expedition consisting of three vessels was sent out under Cartier in the spring of 1535 in order to explore it. Passing through the Strait of Belle Isle and along the north shore of the gulf they anchored on Monday, 9 August, in a small bay on the Quebet shore, opposite Anticosti. As the following day was the feast of Saint Lawrence, this bay was christened "Saint Lawrence's Bay." The name afterward spread by mistake to the whole gulf and was finally extended to the river. The two savages who had passed the winter with Cartier in France, now informed him that the land on the south side of this Saint Peter's Strait was an island and that further west he would come to the mouth of a very large river. Where that river rose they did not know. With this information to help him Cartier proceeded through the passage north of Anticosti and passing on up the gulf entered the river Saint Lawrence or as the savages called it the "River of Hochelaga." On arriving -at the mouth of the Saguenay his Indian guides informed him that this river took its name from a kingdom lying toward the northwest which was "rich and wealthy in precious stones." Pleased with this information Cartier pushed on up the "River of Hochelaga" until he reached a large island which he named the "Island of Orleans* after Francis I's third son, Charles, Duke of Orleans. On the banks of a email stream which here enters the Saint Lawrence stood the home of the two Indians who had passed the winter in France. For this and other reasons Cartier laid up his two largest vessels in this stream and with his third vessel and two long-boats pushed on westward to visit another Indian village called Hochelaga. The shallow water at the head of Lake Saint Peter, which he named the "Lake of Angouleme" after Charles, Duke of Orleans, checked the further progress of the sailing vessel which had to be left behind here. Pushing on in their long-boats they reached the Huron-Iroquois village of Hoche laga on the island of Montreal at the foot of the Lachine rapids on Saturday, 2 October. On the following morning a visit was paid to this village and an ascent was also made of a moun tain near at hand which Cartier named "Mount Royal." From this point they had a magnificent view of the surrounding country. They spe cially noticed the rapids, which checked further progress westward and heard from the savages that there were more such "falls of water" be yond. Just above the rapids another river en tered the main stream. According to the sav ages this was the best route to the kingdom of Saguenay, whose inhabitants were clothed like the French and had great stores of gold and other precious metals.
Cartier made his way back to his vessels on the Saint Charles and in the course of the winter, during which part of his crew was carried off by scurvy, sought to obtain as much information as possible about this northern Mexico called by the savages the "kingdom of Saguenay." That King Francis might have as much information as possible on this subject Cartier, on the day he had a large cross erected to mark the French possession of this region, ordered his men to seize the chief of this vil lage and eleven others whom he placed on board his vessels as prisoners. Leaving the Saint Charles with only two of his vessels on Saturday, 6 May, he passed down the south shore of the Saint Lawrence and through the passage to the south of Anticosti Island, which on his first voyage he had mistaken for a bay. From Chaleur Bay he steered for Brion Island and discovered after leaving it that the coast to the south was not the main shore but a group of islands. Heading still to the east be reached Cape Breton Island and found his conjecture as to the existence of a strait here to be cor rect. After touching at the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon he left one of his long boats in a small harbor 10 miles north of Cape Race and then on Monday, 9 June, set sail for home. They reached Saint Malo in safety on Sunday, 16 July.
uly.
Owing to the wars in which France was then engaged, nothing further was done until the winter of 1540-41, when an expedition was organized to proceed to the conquest of this rich kingdom of Saguenay. While Cattier was to act as pilot, the command of the land forces was given to a Picard nobleman named Rober val, who had distinguished himself in the recent wars. Through a delay about the artillery, the latter was not able to be ready in time, so Car tier set sail from Saint Malo alone with five vessels on Monday, 23 May. They had a bad passage out and having waited some time in Newfoundland for Roberval did not reach the island of Orleans until the end of August. Car tier took up his quarters this time at the river of Cap-Rouge, nine miles above Quebec. A week later he sent back two of his vessels to France °with letters unto the King and to ad vertise him what had been done and found: and how Monsieur de Roberval was not yet come, and that hee feared that by occasion of contrary winds and tempests he was driven backe againe into France.' Five days later Cartier set off in two long-boats to re-examine the rapids of Hochelaga and find out what arrangements should be made for passing them in the spring with the troops. He was in formed by the Indians living alongside the rapids that after passing this one there were several others of the same sort before the Saguenay could be reached. With this infor mation to help him Cattier returned to Cap Rouge, where he spent the winter. Neither in that autumn nor in the spring of 1542 was any thing heard of Roberval. The latter did not set sail from France until the middle of April 1542 and was unable to reach Newfoundland until the first week in June. When at anchor there in the harbor oSaint John's he was much surprised one morning to see Cartier arrive. According to Cartier's account Thee could not with his small company withstand the Savages, which went about dayly to annoy him.° On being commanded, however, by, Roberval to return °he and his company, mooved as it seemeth with ambition, because they would have all the glory of the discoverie of those panes themselves, stole privly away the next night and departed home for Brittany.' Roberval was thus obliged toward the end of June to make his way up the Saint Lawrence alone. He took up his quarters in the build ings at Cap-Rouge which Cartier had vacated.
On 14 September he sent back to France two ships °to carte newel unto the king and to come backe againe the yeere next ensuing fur nished with victuals and other things.° Dur ing the course of the winter 50 of his people were carried off by scurvy, so that when he set off early in June 1543 to conquer the king dom of Saguenay he had only 8 boats and 40 men. The remainder who only numbered 30 were left in charge of the fort. How far up the Saint Lawrence Roberval penetrated we do not know : for no further account of his move meats has come dOwn to us. It seems probable, however, that after penetrating a short div tance up the Ottawa and finding no trace of gold he returned to Cap-Rouge where he found Cartier, who had been sent out to bring him home. In the course of the autumn the rest of the men returned. On the failure of this expedition becoming generally known a new proverb was coined. When any object in ap pearance of value was found to be worthless, it was called a °Canadian diamond.° The Rise of the Fur Trade, 1544-1612.— During the 10 years in which the French had been busy exploring the gulf and river Saint Lawrence and seeking to reach the mysterious kingdom of Saguenay, the number of vessels of various nationalities engaged in. the fishing trade along the Atlantic seaboard had been steadily increasing. On his arrival at Saint John's, Newfoundland, on 8 June 1542, Rober val had found aseventeene shippes of fishers,' which were six more than Rut had met there in August 1527. Out of this annual fishing trade, which was carried on along the coast from Belle Isle as far south as Cape Cod, gradually grew the fur trade. The fishermen, when riding at anchor in a bay or inlet, found that the savages of the neighborhood were always ready to part with their furs for a mere trifle. Since these furs sold in Europe for a high price, the practice grew up among the fishermen of bringing out each year a supply of trinkets on purpose to barter for furs. The returns were so good that in process of time some vessels made a specialty of the fur trade. Thus in 1569 we hear of a French vessel from Havre that °had a trade with' the people of divers sortes of fine furres.x. In 1581 some Saint Malo merchants sent a small barque of 30 tons into the upper Saint Lawrence,•and so successful did the voyage prove that in the following year they dispatched a ship of 80 tons. In 1583, in which year the merchants of Saint Malo sent three vessels to the Saint Lawrence, Stephen Bellinger of Rouen °brought home a kynde of muske called castor; divers beastes skynnes, as bevers, otters, mar tenes, lucernes, seales, buffs, dere skynnes, all dressed and painted on the innerside with divers excellent colours? In the following year the merchants of Saint Malo brought back with them two savages in order that they should learn French and afterward facilitate more ex tended trading relations. The result was that in 1585 they sent 10 ships into the Saint Law rence. In January 1588 two of Cartier's de scendants obtained a monopoly of this fur trade, but so great was the outcry raised by the other excluded merchants that in May the monopoly was revoked. The trade continued to remain open like the fishing trade until 1599. In addition to cod, some of the vessels fished for furs, and toward the close of the century there was a great development of the walrus fishing. In the spring of 1591 the Bonaventure of Saint Malo made her way to the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, where she aslewe and killed to the number of fifteen hundred morses or Sea-oxen,' as the walruses were then called. With the 40 tons of train-oil into which these were boiled down she reached the month of the English Channel in safety, but was there captured by an English vessel from Bristol. Relying on the information thus ob tamed, a vessel was sent thither from Falmouth in 1593, and though she "tooke certaine Sea oxen,° it was "nothing such numbers as they might have had, if they had come in due sea for they arrived late in the summer. In the spring of 1594 the Grace of Bristol set sail to Anticosti, "being informed that the Whales which are deadly wounded in the grand Bay (the Gulf of Saint Lawrence), and yet escape the fisher for a time, are wont usually to shoot themselves on shore there." Finding no whales she made her way back to the bay of Placentia in Newfoundland, where she met "fishermen of Saint John de Luz and of Sibiburo [Ciboure] and of Biskay to the number of threescore and odde sayles.° After fishing there for some time she made her way to Ferryland on the east coast, where lay "two and twentie sayles of Englishmen.° In that port she "made up her fishing voyage° and set sail for home. In the summer of 1597 the Hopewell of London, of 120 tons, was driven away from the Magdalens by two ships of Saint Malo and two others of Ciboure, which united their forces against her. Meeting with a similar hostile welcome from five French ships in a harbor of Cape Breton Island, she repaired to the port of Sainte Marie in Newfoundland, where she found a vessel from La Rochelle and another from Belle-Isle en-Terre at the mouth of the Loire. Since this latter hailed from a Catholic part of France it was decided to capture her. "We first" says the account, "sent our boat aboord the Rocheller to certifie him that we were his friends and to request him not to hinder our fight with the enemy. This message being sent, we made all the haste we could unto the ship of Belle Isle, which first began with us with three great shot, one whereof hit our maintop saile, but both the other missed us. And we also sent one unto them; then being approached mere unto them ten or twelve of us went in a shallop to enter them. And when we boorded them in our boat, they betooke themselves to their close fights, playing chiefly upon us with shot and pikes out at two ports, between which we entered very dangerously, escaping meere dangers both by shot and pike. Some of our men were wounded, but no great hartne was done.° With this prize the.Hopewell returned to England. In the following year an unsuc cessful attempt was made to establish a colony on Sable Island. The Marquis de la Roche had obtained his first letters patent author izing him to occupy land in the region of Newfoundland in 1577, and in 1578 he had set sail thither with two vessels. The "pinnace,° however, had been obliged to return through "fowell weather,° and, though the larger vessel, after being "well beaten by four English ships which this French ship had thought to have robbed,° had "taken her course for New found land,° we do not know what was done there. It is probable, however, that La Roche merely selected a spot for settlement, since it was not until 1584 that the colonists were embarked. Unfortunately "his greatest ship of 300 tons was caste away over against Brouage° on the west coast of France, and so the expedition came to naught. From 1589 to 1596 La Roche was kept a prisoner by the Duc de Mercceur, but on his release he made a fresh attempt to establish a colony. In the summer of 1598 he landed on Sable Island 60 "sturdy male and female beggars,° taken from the prisons of Normandy. On returning thither from the mainland he was blown all the way back to France. No fresh attempt was made to con tinue his colony, and when the remnant was succored by a fishing vessel in 1603, only 11 persons were still alive. On this failure of La Roche's colony, no sign was left that France claimed the region of the Saint Lawrence as her own. To remedy this state of affairs a monopoly of the fur trade for 10 years was granted in the spring of 1599 to a fur trader of Honfleur, who yearly sent out four vessels to the Saint Lawrence. The condition was that he should people the country each year with 50 colonists. In fulfilment of this agreement, on the conclusion of his annual barter with the Montagnais at Tadoussac in the summer of 1599, he left behind 16 men huddled together for warmth in a small log hut at the mouth of the Saguenay. On the return of the vessels in the following summer, no fresh colonists were landed and only five of the former batch were found alive. These had only saved them selves from perishing by taking refuge among the neighboring Indians. In the meantime the remaining traders, who were well aware that the few colonists taken out were only to throw dust in the eyes of the government, loudly com plained against their exclusion from the fur trade. To quiet matters, a commission was appointed in the winter of 1602-.03, which recommended the admission of certain Rouen and Saint Malo traders on condition they should bear their share of the cost of coloniza tion. Before, however, more colonists were sent out it was deemed advisable to explore the country in detail in order that the best site available might be chosen for the settlement. This survey was carried out in the summer of 1603 by Samuel de Champlain, an officer of the navy, and Dupont-Grave, one of the fur traders. The result was that in the spring of 1604 a fresh monopoly for 10 years was given to a company formed by the Sieur de Monts on condition that 60 colonists a year should be taken out. The first settlement was formed in the summer of 1604 on the island of Sainte Croix, in the Bay of Fundy. "The Fort hee [De Monts] 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 river up and down. And out of the same Fort was the Switzers lodging, great and large, and other small lodgings, representing as it were a suburb. Some had housed themselves on the firme lande neere the brook. But within the Fort was Monsieur de Monts his lodging made with very faire and artificial' Carpentrie worke, with the Banner of France upon the same. At another part was the storehouse wherein consisted the safety and life of everie one likewise made with faire Carpentry worke and covered with reedes. Right over against the said store-house were the lodgings and houses of these Gentlemen; Monsieur D'Orville, Monsieur Champlain, Mon sieur Champdore and other men of reckoning. Opposite to Monsieur de Monts, his said lodging, there was a galerie covered for to exercise themselves either in play or for the workmen in time of mine. And between the said Forte and the Platforme, where lay the Canon, all was full of gardens whereunto everie one exercised himself e willingly? The winter of 1604-05 proved so severe on the exposed island Of Sainte Croix, the soil of which turned out to be extremely sandy, that in the following summer the settlement was transported across the Bay of Fundy to the harbor of Port Royal (now Annapolis Basin), where the buildings were put together in the form of a large square. The winter of 1605-06 again proved a hard one, however, and, owing to the late arrival of the company's vessel, not only were all the furs taken by interlopers, but the colonists themselves finally embarked in two small boats in order to find a fishing vessel willing to take them back to France. They fortunately met their own vessel, in which they returned to Port Royal. In the spring of 1607, however, the company's monopoly, which had legally seven years more to run, was suddenly repealed through the intrigues of the Hatters' Cor poration of Paris. Nothing remained but to send out a vessel to bring home the colonists at Port Royal, which was done.