The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1. George Warburton

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