CHAPTER gradually established. The northern regions, abounding III. in furs, seemed of greater commercial value than the 1598. country further south; and the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of Brittany, presently obtained a commission to conquer CANADA, and other adjacent countries "not possessed by any Christian prince.” To find men for this enterprise, La Roche was authorized, as Robertval had been, to sweep the jails. A colony of forty convicts was established on the miserable Island of Sables, some of whom remained seven years on that inhospitable sand-bank, subsisting on fish, and clothed in seal-skins. On the death of La Roche, Chauvin, a naval officer, 1600. obtained a similar commission. He formed a connection with Pontgravé, a merchant of St. Malo, who for years had been concerned in the fur trade, making profitable voyages to Tadousac, at the entrance of the Saguenay 1601. into the St. Lawrence. Chauvin died a year or two after, when M. de Chatte, governor of Dieppe, obtained a commission as governor of Canada, and, in conjunction with Pontgravé, formed a company of merchants to carry on the traffic. The name Canada was originally confined to the district on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, opposite the mouth of the Saguenay, but was ultimately extended so as to include the whole interior territory watered by the St. Lawrence and its tributaries. A few English vessels visited, meanwhile, the coast of Virginia, principally in search of sassafras, then becoming fashionable as a medicinal drug. Hitherto, ships bound on that voyage had taken a roundabout course by the 1602. West Indies; Bartholomew Gosnold, master of a small vessel in the employ of Raleigh's assignees, avoided that unnecessary circuit. Pursuing a more direct course, in seven weeks he made land, far to the north of Roa IIL noke. Turning southward, he discovered, landed on, CHAPTER and named Cape Cod. Keeping still to the southward and then to the westward, he passed the islands now 1602. known as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, but prefer- May 12. red to land on the westernmost of the little group of the Elizabeth Islands, to one of which he first gave that name. On a rocky islet in the midst of a pond he built a fort and store-house, intending to leave a few men to keep possession. The lading of the ship was soon completed, principally with sassafras gathered on the island, to which were added furs purchased on the main land of the Indians, with whom a friendly intercourse was opened. When the ship was laden and ready to sail, those who were to remain lost heart; all embarked, and a prosperous voyage of five weeks carried them to England. The coasts and islands visited by Gosnold were not remarkable for fertility; but that navigator, having seen them in all the fresh verdure of June, gave a very flattering account of his discoveries, and, at the instance of Hakluyt, some merchants of Bristol sent two vessels, under Martin Pring, to collect sassafras and to pursue the exploration. Pring entered Penobscot Bay, and, coast- 1603. ing southerly, discovered the harbors of Kennebunk, Agamenticus, and Piscataqua, whence he traced the coast as far south as Martha's Vineyard. One ship was laden with sassafras, the other with furs and skins purchased from the natives. The pecuniary results of this voyage proved very satisfactory to the undertakers. During these explorations by Gosnold and Pring, Pontgravé, in the employ of the French company to which he belonged, made a new voyage to the St. Lawrence, having as a companion Samuel Champlain, afterward for many years governor of Canada. They ascended as high as Hochalaga; but the Indian village which June. CHAPTER Cartier had found on that island was no longer in existence. III. 1603. Returning to France, they found De Chatte dead, and a patent or commission issued to Pierre de Gast, Sieur de Monts, a Protestant gentleman of the king's bed-chamber, for a vast tract called ACADIE, including the whole of North America between the fortieth and forty-sixth degree of north latitude, from a point, that is, south of New York, as far northerly as Cape Breton. A monopoly of the fur trade within these vast limits was also secured. 1604. Four ships were soon fitted out by a company which De Monts formed; one under Pontgravé, to drive away interloping traders; another, to purchase furs in the St. Lawrence; and two others, commanded by De Monts in person, attended by Champlain and Poutrincourt, to select a site and to establish a colony. These two vessels touched first at La Hâve, a short distance south of the present town of Halifax, a harbor already known and frequented by the French fur traders. Following the shore to the southward, they doubled Cape Sable, and, tracing the coast to the northeast, they discovered and entered a beautiful harbor, surrounded by hills, and bordered by fertile meadows. Poutrincourt begged and obtained of De Monts a grant of this harbor, which he called Port Royal, now Annapolis. While De Monts followed the coast to the northeast to find an imaginary copper mine, Champlain, in search of a fit spot for settlement, explored the Bay of Fundy, discovered and named the River St. John's, entered Passamaquoddy Bay, and, ascending to the mouth of its tributary, the Schoodic, selected there for settlement a small island, which he called St. Croix, a name presently given to the river itself. He was joined by De Monts, the colony was landed, and a fort was built. But the site was ill chosen. Confined III. to a small island, the settlers suffered much during the CHAPTER winter for wood, water, and provisions, and half the number died. De Monts set sail in the spring in search of a 1605. better situation. He looked into the Penobscot, which Pring had discovered two years before, entered the Kennebec, Casco Bay, and the Saco; and, following the track of Pring, examined the coast as far south as Cape Cod, which he called Malabarre. He landed on the cape, and had some thought of removing his colony thither, but was discouraged by the hostility of the natives. Additional settlers having arrived from France, he presently transferred his settlement from St. Croix to Port Royal. But even that situation was not wholly satisfactory, and Poutrincourt undertook, the next sum- 1606. mer, a further exploration of the shores of Cape Cod. The natives, however, were still hostile; some of the French were slain; and it appeared dangerous to attempt. the occupation of that coast. The complaints of the French fishermen and fur traders had procured, meanwhile, the recall of De Monts's commission; and, during the following winter, even Port Royal was deserted. The commerce with India, so long coveted, had at length been commenced by the English and Dutch, whose East India Companies, presently so famous, had just been 1600. incorporated. The hopes of a short western passage to 1602. India were not yet abandoned. Captain Weymouth, dispatched in search of such a passage by the Earl of Arundel, an enterprising nobleman of that day, had again entered and examined Penobscot Bay, within a few months 1605. after De Monts's visit. He carried with him to England five of the natives. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, governor of Plymouth, was beginning to feel a strong interest in American colonization. He took from Weymouth three of these Indians, whom he kept about him, and afterward CHAPTER employed, with some others who came into his hands, as III. pilots and interpreters in his American enterprises. 1603. The recent accession of James I. to the English throne, 1604. and the peace which he negotiated with Spain, having put an end to privateering expeditions against the Spanish settlements, the attention of English merchants, navigators, and adventurers was now directed to more peaceful enterprises. Commerce and colonization took the place of piracy and plunder. Sir Walter Raleigh was in the Tower, attainted of high treason for his attempt to substitute Arabella Stuart instead of James I. as Elizabeth's successor. His patent being forfeit by his 1606. attainder, James I. granted a new charter, by which the April 10. American coast, between the thirty-fourth and the fortyfifth degree of north latitude-from Cape Fear to Passamaquoddy Bay-was set apart to be colonized by two rival companies, one composed chiefly of London adventurers, the other of residents in the west of England, especially at Plymouth and Bristol, at that time the chief seats of the west country trade. Liverpool, as yet, was an inconsiderable village, and the north of England a pastoral country. The advancement of the Divine glory, "by bringing the Indians and savages resident in those parts to human civility and a settled and quiet government," was alleged as the principal motive of James's grant. The undertakers, however, looked chiefly to a gainful commerce and profitable returns. By the provisions of the charter, the London Company, whose settlement was to be distinguished as the First Colony of Virginia, might plant any where between thirty-four and forty-one degrees of north latitude, or between Cape Fear and the east end of Long Island, The Plym. outh Company, whose settlement was to be called the |