The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

75

This is the first discovery of the River St. Lawrence, called by the natives the River Hochelaga, or the River of Canada. Jacques Cartier accurately determined the breadth of its mouth ninety miles across. Cape Rosier, a small distance to the north of the point of Gaspé, is properly the place which marks the opening of the gigantic river. "V'è tra le terre d'ostro e quelle di tramontana la distantia di trenta leghe in circa, e più di dugento braccia di fondo. Ci dissero anche i detti salvatichi e certificarono quivi essere il cammino e principio del gran fiume di Hochelaga e strada di Canada."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.

J. Cartier always afterward speaks of the St. Lawrence as the River of Hochelaga, or Canada. Charlevoix says, "Parceque le fleuve qu'on appelloit auparavant la Rivière de Canada se décharge dans le Golphe de St. Laurent, il a insensiblement pris le nom de Fleuve de St. Laurent, qu'il porte aujourd'hui (1720)."

76

"Lorsque Jacques Carthier découvrit cette île, il la trouva toute remplie de vignes, et la nomma l'Île de Bacchus. Ce navigateur était Bréton, après lui sont venus des Normands qui ont arraché les vignes et à Bacchus ont substituté Pomone et Cérès. En effet elle produit de bon froment et d'excellent fruits."—Journal Historique, lettre ii., p. 102.

Charlevoix also mentions that, when he visited the islands in 1720, the inhabitants were famed for their skill in sorcery, and were supposed to hold intercourse with the devil!

The Isle of Orleans was, in 1676, created an earldom, by the title of St. Laurent, which, however, has long been extinct. The first Comte de St. Laurent was of the name of Berthelot.—Charlevoix, vol. v., p. 99.

77

"Il signor de Canada (chiamato Donnacona per nome, ma per signore il chiamano Agouhanna)."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442. Agouhanna signified chief or lord.

Here, says Jacques Cartier, begins the country of Canada. "Il settimo giorno di detto mese la vigilia della Madonna, dopo udita la messa ci partimmo dall' isola de' nocellari per andar all'insu di detta fiume, e arrivamo a quattordici isole distanti dall' isola de Nocellari intorno setto in otto leghe, e quivi è il principio della provincia, e terra di Canada."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.

78

The writer of these pages adds the testimony of an eye-witness to the opinion of the ingenious author of the "Picture of Quebec," as to the localities here described. The old writers, even Charlevoix himself, have asserted that the "Port St. Croix was at the entrance of the river now called Jacques Cartier, which flows into the St. Lawrence about fifteen miles above Quebec." Charlevoix, indeed, mentions that "Champlain prétend que cette rivière est celle de St. Charles, mais," he adds, "il se trompe," &c. However, the localities are still unchanged; though three centuries have since elapsed, the description of Jacques Cartier is easily recognized at the present day, and marks out the mouth of the little River St. Charles[ It received this name, according to La Potherie, in compliment to Charles des Boües, grand vicar of Pontoise, founder of the first mission of Recollets in New France. The River St. Charles was called Coubal Coubat by the natives, from its windings and meanderings.—Smith's Canada, vol. i., p. 104] as the first winter station of the Europeans in Canada. The following are J. Cartier's words: "Per cercar luogo e porto sicuro da metter le navé, e andammo al contrario per detto fiume intorno di dieci leghe costezziando detta isola (di Bacchus) e in capo di quella trovammo un gorgo d'acqua bello e ameno ("the beautiful basin of Quebec," as it is called in the "Picture of Quebec")—nel quel luogo e un picciol fiume e porto, dove per il flusso è alta l'acqua intorno a tre braccia, ne parve questo luogo comodo per metter le nostre navi, per il che quivi le mettemmo in sicuro, e lo chiamammo Santa Croce, percio che nel detto giorno v' eramo giunti.... Alla riva e lito di quell' isola di Bacchus verso ponente v'è un goejo d'acque molto bello e dilettevole, e convenientemente da mettere navilij, dove è uno stretto del detto fiume molto corrente e profondo ma non e lungo più d'un terzo di lega intorno, per traverso del quale vi è una terra tutta di colline di buona altezza … quive è la stanza e la terra di Donnacona, e chiamasi il luogo Stadacona … sotto la qual alta terra verso tramontana è il fiume e porto di Santa Croce, nel qual luogo e porto siamo stati dalli 15 di Settembre fino alli 16 di Maggio 1536, nel qual luogo le navi rimasero in secco." The "one place" in the River St. Lawrence, "deep and swift running," means, of course, that part directly opposite the Lower Town, and no doubt it appeared, by comparison, "very narrow" to those who had hitherto seen the noble river only in its grandest forms. The town of Stadacona stood on that part of Quebec which is now covered by the suburbs of St. Roch, with part of those of St. John, looking toward the St. Charles. The area, or ground adjoining, is thus described by Cartier, as it appeared three centuries ago: "terra Tanta buona, quanto sia possibile di vedere, e è molto fertile, piena di bellissimi arbori della sorte di quelli di Francia, come sarebbeno quercie, olmi, frassinè, najare, nassi, cedri, vigne, specie bianchi, i quali producono il frutto cosi grosso come susinè damaschini, e di molte altre specie d'arbori, sotto de quali vi nasce e cresce cosi bel canapo come quel di Francia, e nondimeno vi nasce senza semenza, e senza opera umana o lavoro alcuno."—Jacques Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 443, 449, 450.

The exact spot in the River St. Charles where the French passed the winter is supposed, on good authority, to have been the site of the old bridge, called Dorchester Bridge, where there is a ford at low water, close to the Marine Hospital. That it was on the east bank, not far from the residence of Charles Smith, Esq., is evident from the river having been frequently crossed by the natives coming from Stadacona to visit the French.—Picture of Quebec, p. 43-46; 1834.

79

"Quebec en langue Algonquine signifie retrécissement. Les Abenaquis dont la langue est une dialecte Algonquine, le nomment Quelibec, qui veut dire ce qui est ferme, parceque de l'entrée de la petite rivière de la Chaudière par où ces sauvages venaient à Quebec, le port de Quebec ne paroit qu'une grande barge."—Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 50.

"Trouvant un lieu le plus étroit de la rivière que les habitans du pays nomment Québec;" "la pointe de Québec, ainsi appellée des sauvages."—Champlain, vol. i., p. 115, 124.

Others give a Norman derivation for the word: it is said that Quebec was so called after Caudebec, on the Seine.

La Potherie's words are: "On tient que les Normands qui étoient avec J. Cartier à sa première découverte, apercevant en bout de l'isle d'Orléans, un cap fort élevé, s'écrièrent 'Quel bec!' et qu' à la suite du tems la nom de Quebec lui est reste. Je ne suis point garant de cette étymologie." Mr. Hawkins terms this "a derivation entirely illusory and improbable," and asserts that the word is of Norman origin. He gives an engraving of a seal belonging to William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, dated in the 7th of Henry V., or A.D. 1420. The legend or motto is, "Sigillum Willielmi de la Pole, Comitis Suffolckiæ, Domine de Hamburg et de Quebec." Suffolk was impeached by the Commons of England in 1450, and one of the charges brought against him was, his unbounded influence in Normandy, where he lived and ruled like an independent prince; it is not, therefore, improbable that he enjoyed the French title of Quebec in addition to his English honors.

The Indian name Stadacona had perished before the time of Champlain, owing, probably, to the migration of the principal tribe and the succession of others. The inhabitants of Hochelaga, we are told by Jacques Cartier, were the only people in the surrounding neighborhood who were not migratory.

80

"In mezzo di quelle campagne, è posta la terra d'Hochelaga appresso e congiunta con una montagna coltivata tutta attorno e molto fertile, sopra la qual si vede molto lontano. Noi la chiamammo il Monto Regal.... Parecchi uomini e donne ci vennero a condur e menar sopra la montagna, qui dinanzi detta, la qual chiamammo Monte Regal, distante da detto luogo poco manco d'un miglio, sopra la quale essendo noi, vedemmo e avemmo notitia di più di trenta leghe attorno di quella, e verso la parte di tramontana si vede una continuazione di montagne, li quali corrono avante e ponente, e altra tante verso il mezzo giorno, fra le quali montagna è la terra, più bella che sia possibile a veder."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 447, 448.

"Cartier donna le nom de Mont Royal à la montagne au pied de laquelle étoit la bourgade de Hochelaga. Il découvrit de là une grande étendue de pays dont la vue le charma, et avec raison, car il en est peu au monde de plus beau et de meilleur."—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 20.

81

"This tree is supposed to have been the spruce fir, Pinus Canadensis. It is called 'Ameda' by the natives. Spruce-beer is known to be a powerful anti-scorbutic."—Champlain. part i., p. 124.

Charlevoix calls the tree Epinette Blanche.

82

Any information given by the natives as to the existence of mines was vague and unsatisfactory, "Poscia ci mostrarono con segni, che passate dette tre cadute si poteva navigar per detto fiume il spazio di tre lune: noi pensammo che quello sia il fiume che passa per il passe di Saguenay, e senza che li facessimo dimanda presero la catena del subiotto del capitano che era d'argento, e il manico del pugnale di uno de nostre compagni marinari, qual era d'ottone giallo quanto l'oro, e ci mostrarono che quello veniva di sopra di detto fiume … Il capitan mostro loro del rame rosso, qual chiamano Caignetadze dimostrandoli con segni voltandosi verso detto paese li dimandava se veniva da quelle parti, e eglino cominciarono a crollar il capo, volendo dir no, ma ben ne significarono che veniva da Saguenay.

"Più ci hanno detto e fatto intendere, che in quel paese di Saguenay sono genti vestite di drappi come noi, … e che hanno gran quantità d'oro e rame rosso … e che gli nomini e donne di quella terra sono vestite di pelli come loro, noi li dimandammo se ci è oro e rame rosso, ci risposero di si. Io penso che questo luogo sia verso la Florida per quanto ho potuto intendere dalli loro segni e indicij."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 448-450.

83

The only valuable the natives seemed to have in their possession was a substance called esurgny, white as snow, of which they made beads and wore them about their necks. This they looked upon as the most precious gift they could bestow on the white men. The mode in which it was prepared is said by Cartier to be the following: When any one was adjudged to death for a crime, or when their enemies are taken in war, having first slain the person, they make long gashes over the whole of the body, and sink it to the bottom of the river in a certain place, where the esurgny abounds. After remaining ten or twelve hours, the body is drawn up and the esurgny or cornibotz is found in the gashes. These necklaces of beads the French found had the power to stop bleeding at the nose. It is supposed that in the above account the French misunderstood the natives or were imposed upon by them; and there is no doubt that the "valuable substance" described by Cartier was the Indian wampum.

84

See Appendix, No. XIV. (vol. II.)

85

The precise spot on which the upper fort of Jacques Cartier was built, afterward enlarged by Roberval, has been fixed by an ingenious gentleman at Quebec at the top of Cape Rouge Height, a short distance from the handsome villa of Mr. Atkinson. A few months ago, Mr. Atkinson's workmen, in leveling the lawn in front of the house, and close to the point of Cape Rouge Height, found beneath the surface some loose stones which had apparently been the foundation of some building or fortification. Among these stones were found several iron balls of different sizes, adapted to the caliber of the ship guns used at the period of Jacques Cartier's and Roberval's visit. Upon the whole, the evidence of the presence of the French at Cape Rouge may be considered as conclusive. Nor is there any good reason to doubt that Roberval took up his quarters in the part which Jacques Cartier had left.—Picture of Quebec, p. 62-469.

86

Jacques Cartier was born at St. Malo about 1500. The day of his birth can not be discovered, nor the time and place of his death. Most probably he finished his useful life at St. Malo; for we find, under the date of the 29th of November, 1549, that the celebrated navigator with his wife, Catharine des Granges, founded an obit in the Cathedral of St. Malo, assigning the sum of four francs for that purpose. The mortuary registers of St. Malo make no mention of his death, nor is there any tradition on the subject.

87

The name of America was first given to the New World in 1507. "L'opinion anciennement émise et encore très répandue que Vespuce, dans l'exercice de son emploi de Piloto mayor, et chargé de corriger les cartes hydrographiques de 1508 à 1512, ait profité de sa position pour appeler de son nom le Nouveau Monde, n'a aucun fondement. La dénomination d'Amérique a été proposée loin de Seville, en Lorraine, en 1507, une année avant la création de l'office d'un Piloto mayor de Indias. Les Mappe Mondes qui portent le nom d'Amérique n'ont paru que 8 our 10 ans après la mort de Vespuce, et dans des pays sur lequels ni lui ni ses parents n'exerçaient aucune influence. Il est probable que Vespuce n'a jamais su quelle dangereuse gloire on lui préparoit à Saint Dié, dans un petit endroit, situé au pied des Vosges, et dont vraisembablement le nom même lui étoit inconnu. Jusqu' à l'époque de sa mort, le mot Amérique, employé comme dénomination d'un continent ne s'est trouve imprimé que dans deux seuls ouvrages, dans la Cosmographiæ Introductio de Martin Waldseemüller, et dans le Globus Mundi (Argentor, 1509). On n'a jusqu'ici aucun rapport direct de Waldseemüller imprimateur de Saint Dié, avec le navigateur Florentin."—Humboldt's Geogr. du Nouveau Continent, vol. v., p. 206.

88

Nomœsi-Sipu, Fish River, Mœsisip by corruption. This river is called Cucagna by Garcilasso.

89

For the romantic details of Ferdinand de Soto's perilous enterprise, see Vega Garcilasso de Florida del Ynca, b. i., ch. iii., iv.; Herrera, Dec. VI., b. vii., ch. ix.; Purchas, 4, 1532; "Purchas, his Pilgrimage," otherwise called "Hackluytus Posthumus;" a voluminous compilation by a chaplain of Archbishop Abbot's, designed to comprise whatever had been related concerning the religion of all nations, from the earliest times.—Miss Aikin's Charles I., vol. i., p. 39.

90

"La colonie Française établie sous Charles IX. comprenoit la partie méridionnale de la Caroline Angloise, la Nouvelle Georgie, d'aujourd'hui (1740) San Matteo, appellé par Laudonnière Caroline en l'honneur du roi Charles, St. Augustin, et tout ce que les Espagnols ont sur cette côte jusqu'au Cap François, n'a jamais été appellée autrement que la Floride Française, ou la Nouvelle France, ou la France Occidentale."—Charlevoix, tom. vi., p. 383.

91

See Appendix, Nos. XV., XVI. (vol. II.)

92

"Parceque les relations et les voyageurs parloient beaucoup de Tadoussac, les Géographes ont supposé que e'était une ville, mais il n'y a jamais eu qu'une maison Française, et quelques cabannes de sauvages, qui y venoient au tems de la traité, et qui emportoient ensuite leurs cabannes; comme on fait les loges d'une foire. Il est vrai que ce port a été lontemps l'abord de toutes les nations sauvages du nord et de l'est; que les François s'y rendoient des que la navigation étoit libre; soil de France, soil du Canada; que les missionnaires profitoient de l'occasion, et y venoient négocier pour le ciel.... Au reste Tadoussac est un bon port, et on m'a assuré que vingt cinq vaisseaux de guerre y pouvoient être à l'abri de tous les vents, que l'ancrage y est sur, et que l'entrée en est facile."—Charlevoix, tom. v., p. 96, 1721.

"Tadoussac, one hundred and forty miles below Quebec, is a post belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and is the residence of one of its partners and an agent. They alone are allowed to trade with the Indians in the interior. At Tadoussac is a Roman Catholic chapel, a store and warehouse, and some eight or ten dwellings. Here is erected a flag-staff, surrounded by several pieces of cannon, on an eminence elevated about fifty feet, and overlooking the inner warehouse, where is a sufficient depth of water to float the largest vessels. This place was early settled by the French, who are said to have here erected the first dwelling built of stone and mortar in Canada, and the remains of it are still to be seen. The view is exceedingly picturesque from this point. The southern shore of the St. Lawrence may be traced, even with the naked eye, for many a league; the undulating line of snow-white cottages stretching far away to the east and west; while the scene is rendered gay and animated by the frequent passage of the merchant vessel plowing its way toward the port of Quebec, or hurrying upon the descending tide to the Gulf; while, from the summit of the hill upon which Tadoussac stands, the sublime and impressive scenery of the Saguenay rises to view."—Picturesque Tourist, p. 267 (New York, 1844).

93

"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 de Monts."—Memoirs of Sully, b. xvi., p. 241, English translation.

94

The pious Romanist, Champlain, thus details the inconveniences caused by the different creeds of the Frenchmen composing the expedition of De Monts: "Il se trouva quelque chose à redire en cette entreprise, qui est en ce que deux religions contraires ne font jamais un grand fruit pour la gloire de Dieu parmi les infidèles que l'on veut convertir. J'ai vu le ministre et notre curé s'entre battre à coups de poing, sur le différend de la religion. Je ne sçais pas qui étoit le plus vaillant et qui donnoit le meilleur coup, mas je sçais très bien que le ministre se plaignoit quelquefois au Sieur de Monts d'avoir été battue, et vuidoit en cette façon les points de controversie. Je vous laisse à penser si cela étoit beau à voir; les sauvages étoient tantôt d'une partie, tantôt d'une autre, et les François mêlés selon leurs diverses croyances, disoit pis que pendre de l'une et de l'autre religion, quoique le Sieur de Monts y apportât la paix le plus qu'il pouvoit."—Voyages de la Nouvelle France Occidentale, dite Canada, faits par le Sieur de Champlain à Paris, 1632.

95

De Poutrincourt had been accompanied, in his last voyage from France, by Marc Lescarbot, well known as one of the best historians of the early French colonists. His memoirs and himself are thus described by Charlevoix: "Un avocat de Paris, nommé Marc L'Escarbot, homme d'esprit et fort attaché à M. de Poutrincourt, avoit eu la curiosité de voir le Nouveau Monde. Il animoit les uns, il piequoit les autres d'honneur, il se faisoit aimer de tous, et ne s'épargnoit lui-même en rien. Il inventoit tous les jours quelque chose de nouveau pour l'utilité publique, et jamais on ne comprit mieux de quelle ressource peut être dans un nouvel établissement, un esprit cultivé par l'étude.... C'est à cet avocat, que nous sommes redevable des meilleurs mémoires que nous ayons de ce qui s'est passé sous ses yeux. On y voit un auteur exact, judicieux, et un homme, qui eut été aussi capable d'établir une colonie que d'en écrire une histoire." (Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 185.) The title of L'Escarbot's work is "Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc L'Escarbot, Avocat en Parlement, témoin oculaire d'une partie des choses y récitées: à Paris, 1609."

96

"Argall se fondait sur une concession de Jacques I., qui avait permis à ses sujets de s'etablir jusqu'au quarante cinq degrés, et il crut pouvoir profiter de la foiblesse des Français pour les traitre en usurpateurs.... Si Poutrincourt avoit été dans son fort avec trente hommes bien armés, Argall n'auroit pas même eu l'assurance de l'attaquer … en deux heures de tems le fen consuma tout ce que les Français possedoient dans une colonie où l'on avait déjà depensé plus de cent mille écus.... Celui qui y perdit davantage, fut M. de Poutrincourt qui, depuis ce tems là ne songea plus a l'Amérique. Il rentra dans le service, où il s'était déjà par plusieurs belles actions et mourut au lit d'honneur."—Jean de Laët.

In 1621, James I. conferred Acadia upon Sir William Alexander, who gave it the name of Nova Scotia. At the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, in 1632, it was restored to the French; again taken by the English, it was again restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667. In 1710, when Acadia was taken by General Nicholson, the English perceived its importance for their commerce. They obtained its formal and final cession at the treaty of Utrecht, 1713.

97

"It was at this time that the name of New France was first given to Canada."—Charlevoix. tom. i., p. 232.

98

Champlain, part i., p. 231; Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 236.

99

Seven or eight years before the arrival of the PP. Recollets at Quebec, Roman Catholic missionaries had found their way to Nova Scotia. They were Jesuits. It was remarkable that Henry IV., whose life had been twice attempted by the Jesuits,[ By Barrière in 1593; by Jean Châtel in 1594. He finally perished by the hand of Ravaillac, in 1610. See Sully's Memoirs, b. vi., vii.; Cayet, Chron. Noven., b.v.; Père de Chalons, tom. iii., p. 245, quoted by Sully] should have earnestly urged their establishment in America. When Port Royal was ceded to Poutrincourt by De Monts, the king intimated to him that it was time to think of the conversion of the savages, and that it was his desire that the Jesuits should be employed in this work. Charlevoix acknowledges that De Poutrincourt was "un fort honnête homme, et sincèrement attaché à la religion Catholique"—nevertheless, his prejudices against Jesuits were so strong, that "il étoit bien résolu de ne les point mene au Port Royal." On various pretexts he evaded obeying the royal commands, and when, the year after, the Jesuits were sent out to him, at the expense of Madame de Gruercheville, and by the orders of the queen's mother, he rendered their stay at Port Royal as uncomfortable as was consistent with his noble and generous character, vigilantly guarding against their acquiring any dangerous influence. His former prejudices could not have been lessened by the assassination of Henry IV.[ Henri s' était montré bienveillant pour les Jésuites, encore que les parlemens et tous ceux qui tenoient, á la magistrature ressentoient plus de prévention contre ces religieux que les Hugonots eux-mêmes.... Henri IV. fit abattre la pyramide qui avait été élevée en mémoire de l' attentat de Jean Châtel contre lui, parce que l' inscription qu' elle portait inculpait les Jésuites d'avoir excité à cet assassinat.—Sismondi: Histoire des Français. See De Thou, tom. ix., p. 696, 704; tom. x., p. 26 à 30] The two Jesuits selected by P. Cotton, Henry IV.'s confessor, for missionary labors in Acadia, were P. Pierre Biast and P. Enemond Masse. They were taken prisoners at the time of Argall's descent on Acadia, 1614, and conveyed to England.—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 189, 216.

100

When Champlain first laid the foundations of the fort in 1623, to which he gave the name of St. Louis, it is evident that he was actuated by views, not of a political, but a commercial character. When Montmagny rebuilt the fort in 1635, it covered about four acres of ground, and formed nearly a parallelogram. Of these works only a few vestiges remain, except the eastern wall, which is kept in solid repair.—Bonchette.