 This
is the seventeenth in a continuing series of entries from the Voyages
of Samuel de Champlain, first published in 1613. To view Part I,
click here. For Champlain's
account of the discovery of the lake that bears his name, click
here...
Original
translation from the French by Charles Pomeroy Otis, Ph.D.
Republished by the Prince Society, Boston: 1878.
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL DE
CHAMPLAIN
Volume II
1604-1610
CHAPTER XVII.
THE SETTLEMENT ABANDONED. RETURN TO FRANCE OF SIEUR DE POUTRINCOURT
AND ALL HIS COMPANY.
On the 11th of August, we set out from
our settlement in a shallop, and coasted along as far as Cape
Fourchu, where I had previously been.
Continuing our course along the coast as far as Cap de la Hève,
where we first landed with Sieur de Monts, on the 8th of May, 1604,
[262] we examined the coast from this place as far as Canseau, a
distance of nearly sixty leagues. This I had not yet done, and I
observed it very carefully, making a map of it as of the other
coasts.
Departing from Cap de la Hève, we went as far as Sesambre, an island
so called by some people from St. Malo, [263] and distant fifteen
leagues from La Hève. Along the route are a large number of islands,
which we named Les Martyres, [264] since some Frenchmen were once
killed there by the savages. These islands lie in several inlets and
bays. In one of them is a river named St. Marguerite, [265] distant
seven leagues from Sesambre, which is in latitude 44° 25'. The
islands and coasts are thickly covered with pines, firs, birches,
and other trees of inferior quality. Fish and also fowl are
abundant.
After leaving Sesambre, we passed a bay which is unobstructed, of
seven or eight leagues in extent, with no islands except at the
extremity, where is the mouth of a small river, containing but
little water. [266] Then, heading north-east a quarter east, we
arrived at a harbor distant eight leagues from Sesambre, which is
very suitable for vessels of a hundred or a hundred and twenty tons.
At its entrance is an island from which one can walk to the main
land at low tide. We named this place Port Saincte Helaine, [267]
which is in latitude 44° 40' more or less.
From this place we proceeded to a bay called La Baye de Toutes
Isles, [268] of some fourteen or fifteen leagues in extent, a
dangerous place on account of the presence of banks, shoals, and
reefs. The country presents a very unfavorable appearance, being
filled with the same kind of trees which I have mentioned before.
Here we encountered bad weather.
Hence we passed on near a river, six leagues distant, called Rivière
de l'Isle Verte,[269] there being a green island at its entrance.
This short distance which we traversed is filled with numerous rocks
extending nearly a league out to sea, where the breakers are high,
the latitude being 45° 15'.
Thence we went to a place where there is an inlet, with two or three
islands, and a very good harbor, [270] distant three leagues from
l'Isle Verte. We passed also by several islands near and in a line
with each other, which we named Isles Rangées, [271] and which are
distant six or seven leagues from l'Isle Verte. Afterwards we passed
by another bay [272] containing several islands, and proceeded to a
place where we found a vessel engaged in fishing between some
islands, which are a short distance from the main land, and distant
four leagues from the Rangées. This place we named Port de Savalette,
[273] the name of the master of the vessel engaged in fishing, a
Basque, who entertained us bountifully; and was very glad to see us,
since there were savages there who purposed some harm to him, which
we prevented. [274]
Leaving this place, we arrived on the 27th of the month at Canseau,
distant six leagues from Port de Savalette, having passed on our way
a large number of islands. At Canseau, we found that the three
barques had arrived at port in safety. Champdoré and Lescarbot came
out to receive us. We also found the vessel ready to sail, having
finished its fishing and awaiting only fair weather to return.
Meanwhile, we had much enjoyment among these islands, where we found
the greatest possible quantity of raspberries.
All the coast which we passed along from Cape Sable to this place is
moderately high and rocky, in most places bordered by numerous
islands and breakers, which extend out to sea nearly two leagues in
places, and are very unfavorable for the approach of vessels. Yet
there cannot but be good harbors and roadsteads along the coasts and
islands, if they were explored. As to the country, it is worse and
less promising than in other places which we had seen, except on
some rivers or brooks, where it is very pleasant; but there is no
doubt that the winter in these regions is cold, lasting from six to
seven months.
The harbor of Canseau [275] is a place surrounded by islands, to
which the approach is very difficult, except in fair weather, on
account of the rocks and breakers about it. Fishing, both green and
dry, is carried on here.
From this place to the Island of Cape Breton, which is in latitude
45° 45' and 14° 50' of the deflection of the magnetic needle, [276]
it is eight leagues, and to Cape Breton twenty-five. Between the two
there is a large bay, [277] extending Some nine or ten leagues into
the interior and making a passage between the Island of Cape Breton
and the main land through to the great Bay of St. Lawrence, by which
they go to Gaspé and Isle Percée, where fishing is carried on. This
passage along the Island of Cape Breton is very narrow. Although
there is water enough, large vessels do not pass there at all on
account of the strong currents and the impetuosity of the tides
which prevail. This we named Le Passage Courant, [278] and it is in
latitude 45° 45'.
The Island of Cape Breton is of a triangular shape, with a circuit
of about eighty leagues. Most of the country is mountainous, yet in
some parts very pleasant. In the centre of it there is a kind of
lake, [279] where the sea enters by the north a quarter north-west,
and also by the south a quarter Southeast. [280] Here are many
islands filled with plenty of game, and shell-fish of various kinds,
including oysters, which, however, are not of very good flavor. In
this place there are two harbors, where fishing is carried on;
namely, Le Port aux Anglois, [281] distant from Cape Breton some two
or three leagues, and Niganis, eighteen or twenty leagues north a
quarter north-west. The Portuguese once made an attempt to settle
this island, and spent a winter here; but the inclemency of the
season and the cold caused them to abandon their settlement.
On the 3rd of September, we set out from Canseau. On the 4th, we
were off Sable Island. On the 6th, we reached the Grand Bank, where
the catching of green fish is carried on, in latitude 45° 30'. On
the 26th, we entered the sound near the shores of Brittany and
England, in sixty-five fathoms of water and in latitude 49° 30'. On
the 28th, we put in at Roscou, [282] in lower Brittany, where we
were detained by bad weather until the last day of September, when,
the wind coming round favorable, we put to sea in order to pursue
our route to St. Malo, [283] which formed the termination of these
voyages, in which God had guided us without shipwreck or danger.
END OF THE VOYAGES FROM THE YEAR 1604 TO 1608.
ENDNOTES:
262. _Vide antea_, p. 9 and note 22.
263. Sesambre. This name was probably suggested by the little islet,
_Cézembre_, one of several on which are military works for the
defence of St. Malo. On De Laet's map of 1633, it is written _Sesembre_;
on that of Charlevoix. 1744, _Sincenibre_. It now appears on the
Admiralty maps corrupted into Sambro. There is a cape and a harbor
near this island which bear the same name.
264. The islands stretching along from Cap de la Hève to Sambro
Island are called the _Martyres Iles_ on De Laet's map, 1633.
265. The bay into which this river empties still retains the name of
St. Margaret.
266. Halifax Harbor. Its Indian name was Chebucto, written on the
map of the English and French Commissaries _Shebûctû_. On
Champlain's map, 1612, as likewise on that of De Laet, 1633, it is
called "_Baye Senne_," perhaps from _saine_, signifying the
unobstructed bay.
267. Eight leagues from the Island Sesambre or Sambro Island would
take them to Perpisawick Inlet, which is doubtless _Le Port Saincte
Helaine_ of Champlain. The latitude of this harbor is 44° 41',
differing but a single minute from that of the text, which is
extraordinary, the usual variation being from ten to thirty minutes.
268. Nicomtau Bay is fifteen leagues from Perpisawick Inlet, but _La
Baye de Toutes Isles_ is, more strictly speaking, an archipelago,
extending along the coast, say from Clam Bay to Liscomb Point, as
may be seen by reference to Champlain's map, 1612, and that of De
Laet, 1633, Cruxius, 1660, and of Charlevoix, 1744. The
north-eastern portion of this archipelago is now called, according
to Laverdière, Island Bay.
269. _Rivière de l'Isle Verte_, or Green Island River, is the River
St. Mary; and Green Island is Wedge Island near its mouth. The
latitude at the mouth of the river is 45° 3'. This little island is
called _I. Verte_ on De Laet's map, and likewise on that of
Charlevoix; on the map of the English and French Commissaries,
Liscomb or Green Island.
270. This inlet has now the incongruous name of Country Harbor: the
three islands at its mouth are Harbor, Goose, and Green Islands. The
inlet is called Mocodome on Charlevoix's map.
271. There are several islets on the east of St. Catharine's River,
near the shore, which Laverdière suggests are the _Isles Rangées_.
They are exceedingly small, and no name is given them on the
Admiralty charts.
272. Tor Bay.
273. _Le Port de Savalette_. Obviously White Haven, which is four
leagues from the Rangées and six from Canseau, as stated in the
text. Lescarbot gives a very interesting account of Captain
Savalette, the old Basque fisherman, who had made forty-two voyages
into these waters. He had been eminently successful in fishing,
having taken daily, according to his own account, fifty crowns'
worth of codfish, and expected his voyage would yield, ten thousand
francs. His vessel was of eighty tons burden, and could take in a
hundred thousand dry codfish. He was well known, and a great
favorite with the voyagers to this coast. He was from St. Jean de
Luz, a small seaport town in the department of the Lower Pyrenees in
France, near the borders of Spain, distinguished even at this day
for its fishing interest.
274. The Indians were in the habit of selecting from day to day the
best of Savalette's fish when they came in, and appropriating them
to their own use, _nolens volens_.
275. _Canseau_. Currency has been given to an idle fancy that this
name was derived from that of a French navigator, but it has been
abundantly disproved by the Abbé Laverdière. It is undoubtedly a
word of Indian origin.
276. The variation of the magnetic needle in 1871, fifteen miles
South of the Harbor of Canseau, was, according to the Admiralty
charts, 23 degrees west. The magnetic needle was employed in
navigation as early as the year 1200, and its variation had been
discovered before the time of Columbus. But for a long period its
variation was supposed to be fixed; that is to say, was supposed to
be always the same in the same locality. A few years before
Champlain made his voyages to America, it was discovered that its
variation in Paris was not fixed, but that it changed from year to
year. If Champlain was aware of this, his design in noting its exact
variation, as he did at numerous points on our coast, may have been
to furnish data for determining at some future day whether the
variation were changeable here as well as in France. But, whether he
was aware of the discovery then recently made in Paris or not, he
probably intended, by noting the declination of the needle, to
indicate his longitude, at least approximately.
277. Chedabucto Bay.
278. The Strait of Canseau. Champlain gives it on his map, 1612. _Pasage
du glas;_ De Laet, 1633, _Passage du glas;_ Creuxius, 1660, Fretum
Campseium; Charlevoix, 1744, _Passage de Canceau_. It appears from
the above that the early name was soon superseded by that which it
now bears.
279. Now called _La Bras d'Or_, The Golden Arm.
280. There is, in fact, no passage of La Bras d'Or on the
south-west; and Champlain corrects his error, as may be seen by
reference to his map of 1612. It may also be stated that the sea
enters from the north-east. _Nordouest_ in the original is here
probably a typographical error for _nordest_. There are, indeed, two
passages, both on the north-east, distinguished as the Great and the
Little Bras d'Or.
281. _Le Port aux Anglois_, the Harbor of the English. On De Laet's
map, Port aux Angloix. This is the Harbor of Louisburgh, famous in
the history of the Island of Cape Breton.
282. Roscofs, a small seaport town. On Mercator's Atlas of 1623, it
is written Roscou, as in the text.
283. According to Lescarbot, they remained at St. Malo eight days,
when they went in a barque to Honfleur, narrowly escaping shipwreck.
Poutrincourt proceeded to Paris, where he exhibited to Henry IV.
corn, wheat, rye, barley, and oats, products of the colony which he
had so often promised to cherish, but whose means of subsistence he
had now nevertheless ungraciously taken away. Poutrincourt also
presented to him five _oustards_, or wild geese, which he had bred
from the shell. The king was greatly delighted with them, and had
them preserved at Fontainebleau. These exhibitions of the products
of New France had the desired effect upon the generous heart of
Henry IV.; and De Monts's monopoly of the fur-trade was renewed for
one year, to furnish some slight aid in establishing his colonies in
New France.
This
is the conclusion of Chapter 17 of Voyages
1604-1608
Click here for Voyages, Volume II,
Chapter I- 1608-1612
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