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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE HISTORY OF ACADIA, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVEEY *fQ ITS SURRENDER TO ENGLAND BY THE TREATY OF PARIS. BY iJ^IMIES TLJ^lSTlSTJiJ^. ST. JOHN, K B. : PRINTED BY J. & A. McMlLLAN. ■ 1879. /— ' ^ ^5" Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canad.i, in tlie year 1875), by JAMKS II ANN AY, In the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. T»V PREFACE. This Book is the result of a resolve formed some fifteen years ago to write a History of Acadia during the period of its occupation by the French, and up to the time when it was finally surrendered to England by the Treaty of Paris. No doubt I entered upon the undertaking with but a slight con- ception of the labor it would involve ; but that, perhaps, was a fortunate circumstance, for otherwise I might have been deterred by the magnitude of the task. Owing to the lack of well equipped libraries in New Brunswick, I had to collect, at great labor and nmch expense, all the books and publica- tions bearing on the early history of New England and Acadia; and having collected them, I had the satisfaction of discovering that very few of them were of the slightest value as works of authority. The only use of most of them is to put the inquirer on his guard and to stimulate him to more exhaustive researches into the annals of the period of which he proposes to write. After years spent in collecting books, in preliminary inquiries, in making myself familiar with minute matters of detail, which, perhaps, belong rather to the antiquarian than the historian, and after having to lay aside my work many times, often for months together, in co£...4uence of the IV PREFACE. demands of a most exacting and laborious profession, this history was to have been published in the Summer of 1877. I was at Oak Point, on the St. John River, whither I had gone to obtain quiet and complete the last chapters of this volume, when one pleasant morning in June a little boy came running across the fields with the tidings that the city of St. John had been burnt down the previous day. Before night I reached the city, and di^•covered the worst, that my book, then half printed, my library, and the whole of the manuscript in the printing office had been destroyed in the great conflagration, which carried ruin to so many homes. With the exception of about one hundred and eighty pages, of which I had a printed copy, the whole work of writing the history of Acadia had to be done over again. This has been accomplished, and now the result is before the reader. In this volume I have not adopted the plan which is usual in historical works of original research, of placing the names of the authorities in notes on each page. In cases where it seemed necessary to do so, I have rather chosen to name the auth rity in the text, as the more simple and convenient method. For the discoveries of Charaplain and the settlement at Port Royal, the authorities I have mainly relied on are, Champlain's work, Lescarbot, and the first volume of the Jesuit Relations. For the subsequent events, up to the capture of Port Royal by the English in 1654, the work of Denys, Governor Winthrop's Diary^, and a vast number of public documents in the Aolume of the E. and F. Commissioners, Hazard's and Hutchinson's collections and similar works have been consulted. After the surrender of Acadia to France in 1670, the memoirs and despatches obtained by the PREFACE. several Provincial Governments from the archives of Paris, furnish abundance of historical material down to the taking of Port Royal in 1710. After that period, the public docu- ments of Nova Scotia, some of which have been reprinted by the Government of that Province, serve as the basis of my story. My aim has been to trace every statement to its original source, and to accept no fact from a printed book at second hand where it was possible to avoid doing so. Champlain, Lescarbot, Denys, Winthrop, and one or two other books, I consider nearly of equal authority with documentary evidence, because these authors relate facts which happened in their own time, and which mainly came under their own personal observation. Winthrop, especially, is of great value, and without his aid it would have been impossible to give an accurate statement of the singular story of La Tour. The first and principal object I have kept in view has been to tell the simple truth, and for the sake of this I have been willing to sacrifice mere picturesque effect and all attempts at fine writing. Indeed, the necessarily annalistic character of much of the narrative would prove an effectual barrier against anything more ambitious, and it w ould be ridiculous to clothe the petty struggles of Acadian history in grandiloquent lan- guage. Up to the capture of Port Royal in 1710, 1 have been very full in my treatment of events in Acadia, but from that date to the end of the period of which the volume treats, I have disregarded everything relative to the mere English Colony of Nova Scotia, which did not properl} fall within the scope of my narrative. I have given a good deal of space to the question of the expulsion of the Acadians, and I think vi PREFACE. that very few po()})le, who follow the .story to the end, will be prepared to say that it wa.s not a necosisury measure of self- preservation on the part of the English authorities in Nova Scotia. When I had made some progress in my researches, the manuscripts of the late Profe.ssor Kobb, of the University of New Brunswick, who had devoted a good deal of attention to Acadian history, were placed in my hand.s. Dr. Robb had made copious extracts from the manuscripts in the library of Quebiv', and I derived much assistance from the result of his labors, i am indebted to Mr. E. Jack of Fredericton for much valuable aid, and to Mr. I. Allen Jack of St. John for manuscripti? and maps. Mr. Thomas B. Aikcns of Halifax is also entitled to my thanks for assistance courteously and promptly rendered on one occasion. But my thanks are especially due to Miss E. Wagstaff of St. John, whose aid in making transk.tions of difficult French manuscripts has been invaluable. This lady during the great St. John fire let her own property burn while she saved two of the precious volumes of manuscripts copied from the archives of Paris. I cannot close this Preface without paying my tribute of respect to the labors of the late Beamish Murdoch, my prede- cessor in this field, whose history of Nova Scotia is a wonderful monument of industry and research, which will serve as a guide to all future historians to the sources of the history of Acadia. Mr. Murdoch only essayed " the task of collecting and reducing into annals, facts of interest" with reference to the history of his native Province ; had he done more, this book would never have been written. But having paused at that point, I felt tha'v the field was free for me to attempt to rUKl'-ACK. Vii w(ave into a cork^istint murutivo tlic facts wliidi he had trout((l in a more ihiguwutavy way. It will he for the reader U> si.y with what inea.sure of success this has been ucconi- plislicd. St. John, N. B., March, 1879. r HISTORY OF ACADIA. CHAPTKK J KARLY VOYAGES TO TlIK NOUTIIEIJN I'ARTS OF AMKKIC'A. The 4th of March, 1493, wa.s a day of glatl tidings for Enrojx^ and for mankind. Yot it was not the witness of any great trinniph on the Held of arn)s; nor the birth day of any man of ilhistrious name; nor the date of any royal pageant, lint on that (hiy a litth; bark, leaky, frail, and shattered by the tempest, songht shelter in the ])ort of Lis- bon ; no anxions merchant awaited her arrival ; no salnti; thnndered her a welcome, but she brought to the shores of Europe " the richest freight that ever lay u|)on the bosom of the deep — the tidings of a new world." J^'or ages before, connucrce had languishetl within the narrow comj)ass of the IMcditerranean Sea, and tlu> enterprise of man had been restrained by the stormy Atlantic, now the highway of nations, but which was l)elieved by the men of those days to be a limitless ocean. It took a succession of the boldest Portuguese navigators upwards of seventy years to reach that stormy Cape which marks the southern limit of the c'intinent of Africa, and no man but Columbus had dreamed oi passing over that vast waste of water which rolled in untamed majesty to the west. The discovery of America dispelled in a moment the superstitious fears which had enslaved the minds of men for so many centuries, and swept away, so lar as geography was concerned, the nnich vaunted wisdom of antiquity. A iir IIJSTOKY OF ACADIA. I Here was ;i field fur the ('iiterpri.si' of nuiii such as had uuver hofore been opeiicd up, and Avhich modern discovery has niado it iui])ossihle to ])arallel in these (hiys. Kuroix! was in a '/^xvnt f'erniont o\'er the event, which disclosed new visions of wealth and power to the enterprisinj:; and hohl. I'iVery needy adventurer saw in it a means of bettering liis fortune, auvl every monai'ch recognized in it an easy mode of extendinj:; his dominions. The goklen hu'e stinudated national as well as individual cupidity, and thousands were ready to brave the dangers of that s:imo stormy Atlantic which they h:ul considered (^olumbus ;i madman for at- tempting to pass. The thirst for gold was as keen in the fifteentli century as it is to-day. Amongst those who tunu^d their eyes towards the new continent was Jlenry VII. of England, a monarch who combined in a surprising degree, caution, with a spirit of enterprise, and avarice with ambi- tion, lie had only been prevented l»y a narrow chance from becoming the patron of Columbus in his great discov- ery, and had this prudent P^nglish King been the lirst to obtain i)ossession of the rich tropical portions of the western continent, the hi^'tory of the British Colonies of America, and probably of the mother country also, would have been different. INIore colonial gold might have flowed into the coffers of England, but a colony planted 'x'ueatli the equa- tor would have had little in common, either in mental or ])hysical characteristics, Avith that hardy race of men which seized w'ith iron hand the rugged shores of New England. At the close of the fifteenth century the position of Eng- land as a maritime power was very different from that which she occupied a hundred years later. Her war ships were few; th) first of that long line of illustrious admirals, ■who have borne her flag in triumph on every sea, had not then been born ; and he would have been a bold man who HISTORY OF ACADIA 3 would then have venturoii to predict that England would hecome the first nuiritimo nation in the world, without a rival in commercial enterprit^c or naval power, unloss she found one among the vigorous (iolonies she planted with her own hand. In consequence of the lack of exjiericnced navigators of English birth, Henry VII. was obliged to accept the services of foreigners to carry out his plans of discovery. In 1495 there was residing in Bristol a native of Venice named John Cabot, who in his youth had been a pilot, but who subsequently had embarked in mercantile pursuits. No part of the world was at that period more famous for the skill of its navigators than the Italian Peninsula, and Venice, fron: its favorable situation in the Mediterranean, and its large commerce, was, above all others, the place from which a bold and skilful mariner might be expected to come. Cabot had caught the enthusiasm which the discovery of America had wrought upon the minds of men, and embraced the idea that by sailing to the north-west a passage to India might be found. He found in the English monarch a wil- ling and eager patron, and on the 5th March, 1495, received from the King a royal commission granting to him and his sons Sebastian, Loui.i and Santius, full authority to «iil to all countries and seas of the east, Avest and north, under the flag of England, for the discovery of the " isles, regions and provinces of the heatlien and infidels," with power to set up the banner of England in the newly discovered countries, and to s.ubdue and possess them as lieutenants of ths King. Cabot and his sons Avere to enjoy the privileges of the excIusiA'c trade, but one-fifth of the profit Avas to go to the King. In the Spring of 1497 Cabot set sail in a ship named the MatthcAV, provided by the King, and essayed for the 4 HISTORY OF ACAr)lA. Hrst time tlio passaj^c; of the North Atlantic. He was ac- (iompauicd by liis son Sebastian, and in company with their ship, sailed three or fonr sniall vess(!ls fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, and laden with goods for the purpose of tradinjj; with the natives. On the 24th of June they dis- covered the main Itiiid ol' America, probably the coast of Labrador in the vicinity <»f the Straits of lielleisle, and on the same day they saw an if^land lyinj;- oj)posite to the main- land. To the land first discovered Cabot gave the njime of Prima Vista, while the island received the name of St. John, probably from the circumstance of the day of its dis- covery being St. John's day. There are good grounds for believing that this island of Cabot's discovery was New- foundland, although, unfortunately, the meagre record of the voyage which has survived, is insufficient to determine the matter with absolute certainty. The inhabitants of this new hind were clad in the skins of wild animals, and armed Avith bows and arrows, spears, darts, slings and wooden clubs. The country was sterile and uncultivated, produc- ing no fruit. White bears, and stngs of an usuisual height and size, were numerous. The waters around it abounded in fish, especially a kind called by the natives baccalaos, which, (luring the centuries which have passed since then, has been the means of bringing vast fleets from Europe to gather the rich harvest of this now famous sea.* Salmon were also found in great plenty in the rivers of the new laud, and seals were abundant along its shores. It Iiad, likewise, so the chronicle informs us, hawks which were black like ravens, and partridges and eagles with dark plumage. Cabot, after skirting along the coast for some distance, took two of the natives and returned to England, which he *This flsh has since then received the less musical name of the cod. m HISTORY OF ACADTA. 5 reached in August. Tluis was the continent of America discovered under the auspices of tlic crown of England, more than a year l)cfore Colnm})ns reached tlie coast of South America.* In the following year the King granted a new patent to the Cabots, and gave them authority to engage in another voyasre of discovery to the coast of North America. John Cabot, who had been knighted for the discoveries made by him on the former voyage, was unable to accompany this second expedition, and the command of it was given to his son Sebastian. Two sliips were provided and fitted out for the voyage, and on board of them embarked three hundred sailors, traders, and adventurers. Pearly in the summer of 1498 they set sail. The discovery of a north-west pa.ssage to India was one of the main objects of this, as it had been of the former voyage, and, .■.v-<'ordingly, Cabot, after reacli- ing the coast of Newfoundland, turned the bows of his ships towards the north-Avest. He did not dream then that the solution of the curious geograi)hical problem which he was the first to attem})t, would not be attained until more than three centuries and a half had passed, and hundreds of human lives and an untold amount of treasure had been sacrificed in the endeavour, or he would scarcely liave ven- tured with his frail shi])s to brave the dangers of that unknown northern sea. IJut men, hai)py in their iguoranoc of the future, press forward in searc^h of an unattainable goal, and so Cabot, undismaye( Cubut was iiiadt' (lio rouiKlalioii ul' tin' Ijiglisli claiiii!* to North Aniciiea. • u 6 HISTORY OF ACADIA. ut the apjK'arance of numerous icebergs seaward, and before many days the field ice became so abundant that he found it impossible to proceed, and Avas reluctantly obliged to return south. Jle followed the coast of America, looking for ii passar'T to India, uutii ]k reached the coast of Florida; then he gave up the attemjjt iu despair and returned to England. Cabot subseq icntly received high honors from the English King, and, during the reigu of Edward VI., was mad(^ grand ]>ilot of Eugland, aud granted a large pension. No nation during the fifteenth century exceeded the Por- tuguese in maritime enterprise. Beginning in 1412, they, with equal perseverance and success, pushed forward the work of exploring the western coast of Africa, which before that time had only been known to Europeans as far south as Cajx? Non. Six years later they succeeded in reaching Cape Bojador. In 1420 tliev discovered Madeira. In 1 433 Cape Bojador, which had been so long the limit of their navigation, was doubled, and in 1449 the Cape de Verd Islands were discovered. In 1471 they ventured to cross the equinoctial line, which they — following the absurd teachings of tlu; ancients — had believed to be impassable. Finally, Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, attained that lofty promontory which he called the Cape of Storms, but which his King re-nained the Cape of Good Hope. Thus had the Portuguese, in the course of three quarters of a century, explored the whole west coast of Africa to its southern limit, and showed the way by which India might be reached. It is, therefore not surprising that a people so enterprising and sagacious should have looked with interest, not unmix- ed with jealousy, on the discoveries which the English and Spaniards were making iu the new world. Of the Portu- guese adventurers who were thus animated by a desire to HISTORY OF ACADTA. make discoveries in America, there Mas none more ardent and rcsolnte than (laspar de Cortcreal. Ho resolved to pnrsue the track of Cabot to the north and ;ainst liis fonntling any colonics in America, an act which lie consulcred an invasion of his rifjjhts, bnt the French Kiiifj sarcastically replied that he wonld like to see the clanse in father Adam's will which l)0(pieath('d to his royal brother alone, so vast a heritage. Vera^^'/ano set sail from a rocky island near Ma- deira on the 17th of Jannary, in a ship named the Dolphin, with a crew of fifty men, and provisions for ei;ht of a conntry, u|) to that time nnknown, which was thickly inhabited by a race of friendly savajjfes, who In^held the white strangers with astonishment and delight. The diffi- culty of landing on account of the surf made trading impossible, but a bold young sailor who swam ashore was treated by tliosc simple-minded natives with much kindness. This land, according to Vera/zano's reckoning, was in thirty -four north latitude, and was doubtless part of North Carolina. \"erazzano followed the coast to the northward, landing at many places to barter with the natives, whom he found more savaw and less frieudlv the further north he went. 1I(( sailed as far as tifty degrtH's of north latitude, having explored seven hundred leagues of the coast of America. An enterprise of such magnitude entitles Vcraz- zano to a high jdace among the navigators of the sixteenth century, and the record of his voyage, which has l)een pre- served, shows him to have been a man of nuich judgment and ability. To the whole of the newly explored regiosi he gave the name of New France, and, after his return to Euroix', he propounded a schenjc for the further exploration and colo- nization of the new land, which received the countenance of the King, lint this ])lan was never carried to success, and the subsecpient fate of the navigator is at this day a , "I 1 'av, ( 'art ler sai led t owai'( Istl ic north th and, roundinti; l*oint Miscou, entered a fine bay to which, in conse(|uence of the excessive warmth of the climate, ho {ijave th(! name of l>ay Chaleur or I>ay of ifeat. Crossini^ to the northern shore; of this IJay he entered an open liaven now known as J*ort I)aniel, and from this point explored the whole of the I>ay, goin}^ within it a distance of twenty- five leajj^ues, which must have bronj^jht him very near the mouth of the Jiestijjjouchi^ Iviver. Sini>scln'rries, strawberries, tilaeUlierries and wild corn even like unto rye, which seemeth to have lieen sown and plon;,'lu'cl. The eouiitry is of better teni|(eratur(> than any other that ean hi' seen, and very hot. There are many thrushes, stock doves and other birds ; to be short, then' waiiletli nothing hut good harimrs." — Ilaekluyt. .'t Vol., ]> i">. fllSToUY OF ACADIA. la siiiiH' rvil i'ortimi! wliicli caused liiiii U) miss tlic «liscov»'rv of the Minimiclii Ivivcr, ii»»\v attended liiin, and Uv liinieacific disposition and friendly conduct, ('artier lormed the impression that they mij^ht easily bo converted to the Christian relifjjion. Their habits, he says, were mi- gratory, and they lived i)rinci[>ally by llshinj*;. Cartier speaks of the j^reat abundance of salmon in the rivers on that (!oa.st, a (juality for which they are still celebrated. Leavinj^ behind the beautiful and fertile country on the southern shore of the Bay (.'haleur and its friendly and hos- pitable inhabitants, Cartier sailed north-<>ast and entered the harbor of Gaspe. The inhabitants were of an entirely distinct tribe from those of Bay Chaleur, speaking a differ- ent language, eating their food almost raw, and having no other dwellings but their canoes. On a point of land which lies at the entrance of this harbor, the French erected a cross thirty feet high, and hung upon it a shield with the * This was established in a very singular inaiiiUT. When Chaniplaiii had settled his colony at Port Royal in 1605, he was visited hy the Mieinae Indians, headed liy their chief Membertou, who was nearly one luindrcd years of age. This aged warrior remembered Carticr'.s visit to the Bay Clialeur, and was at that time a married man with a family. Membertou became a Christian, and was baptized at Port Royal in IGIO. lie died iu the following year. 14 HISTOKY OK ACADIA. il anus of France. This typical act of taking possession of the country was ingoniously j)erforino(l so as to aj)|)C'ar to lli(^ natives a religions ceremony. After the cross was erected tlie old (^Jliief seems to have had his snspicions arousi'd that something more than worshij) was intended, and he visited the ships to remonstrate with Cartier. He was however as.siu'e(l that the cross was merely for a land- mark to guit'e the white visitors to the entrancx; of the harbor on their next voyage. On the 25th July Cartier departed from (Jaspd, taking Avith him two sons of the Chief whom he had seized hy stratagem. They were, in some measure, reconciled to their lot by liberal presents of savage liuery antl promises of being brought back to their own country in the following year. Cartier sailed north as far as the north sh' re of the St. liawrence, but, although he was actually within the estuary of that river, he dtK's not appear to have suspected its ex- istence. He was on the verge of a great discovery ; the noblest river in America was ojKin before him, but he was unaware of its presence. The weather suddenly grew stormy and temi>estuous; autumn was approaching. Strong east- erly winds began to prevail, and he feared that if he remained longer they would be obliged to pass the wiuter in that unknown region. These considerations induced him to resolve on an immediate return to Europe, and, shaping his course once more towards the east, the little fleet reached St. Malo in safety on the 5th September. The favorable account which Cartier gave of his discov- eries, made the French King eager to found a colony in the new world, and another expedition was accordingly under- taken under the command of the same great navigator. Three ships were fitted out, the largest of one hundred and twenty tons, and the others of sixty and forty tons respec- IIISTOKY OK A< ADIA. 15 lively. Araiiy ;;fiitlciiicii <»l nicaiis Jiad Itccii induced <<• ,.iijr;iife ill llie adventure. TIio vovaj^e was inaugurated as heeaiiK; so iiiij)(>i'tai)t an uiidei'takiii<>;, and IH-I'ore einhark- iiig, the crews witli tlieir cDiiimanders rc[)aired to IIk; catln.'- dral (»!' St. Mal(» and received tin; hlessinjj; of the Hisliop. Oil tlie liMli May, l")l5r), the; e.\|K!diti()n set sjiil iVoiu St. iMalo. Shortly after their de|iartiire a \:;n]v. s|)raug up which s|»C'ediIy increased to a teiii|>est, and the ships wen; in dan- ger t)i' heinj:; htst. (\irtier's vessel hecaine se[)iu'ated froiii lh(! other two, hut on the 'JfJth July, met ihein a<;ain at the a|)poiiited rendezvous in Xewloiiiidland. It was August hef'ore they entered the (iiiU'ol' St. FiawreiuH'. Keeping more t(» lh(! north than \u' had y were near the kingdom of Sagiieiiay, and tliut beyond it was Canada, j Passing up the river St. Law- rence, the adventurers enterwl the deep and gloomy Sague- nay, where they mot four canoo hiads of natives, wlio were timid at first, but came to them when spoken U) by Carticr's Indians, wlio understood their kuiguage. The kitoness of tiie season prevented them from e.\pk)ring the Saguenay, and they continued their voyage up the St. Lawrence. On "the 6th September they reached an isUmd which abounded in hazel trees, Avhicli in consequence received from Cartier the name Isle an Coudrcs, which it still bears. On the 7th they came to a large and fertile island of great beauty, which abonnded in vines. This Cartier named Isle dc Bacchus : * Anticosti is an cviilenl corruption of Natiscotcc, tlic name which the Indians gave it. fThe name CnnaJa, wliich has since been applied to the whole of this region, is an Indian word, and slgnilics a collection of huts, a town. 'I 1(J HISTORY OF At'ADIA. III'''' •mi 'I 18' « Si 4 :•!' :i it is now ('iilloil Orloiins. Tlici'd they oast anchor and went ashore, talcinj^- tlu? two Indians with them. By their aid, they were at once ])Ut on a friendly footinji; witli the natives, and the I'eelinjj; of distrust with which tiie savages had re- garded the white visitors was entirely extinguished. On th(! following day Doiuiacona, King of the country, ciune to visit them accomiKinied by twelve canoes filled M'itii warriors. An interchange of civilities took ])lace, and the Indian King testified by signs his delight at the arrival of the white strangers. Cartier now advanced nj) the river to find a secure haven for hip vessels, and he found a jdace in every respect suitable, at the mouth of a small river now known as the St. Charles. Close by, on a high blutf over- looking the St. Lawrence, stood the Indian town of Stada- cona, tmd beneath the black antl frowning precipice the great stream, cramped and confined within a narrow chan- nel, swept swiftly onwards to the sea. To this passage the Indians had given the name of Quebec, which in their lan- guage signifies a strait, — a name destined to become great and glorious in our counr "'s story. It needs not the gilding of romance to invest (^uel)ee with the dignity which belongs to it as the scene of illus- trious deeds and the birth-place of Canadian history. The rock upon whidi it stands will not be more enduring than the fiune of the achievements which it has witnessed, or the renown of the soldiers who contended for it in wager of battle. The ancient Indian town of Stadaeona, which stood upon its site, has long since perished ; the warlike ra(v who made it their home have been driven iortli, and are now a feeble and desj)ise(l tribe ; the great forest which extended on every side like a boundless ocean, has been cut down by the patient industry of man ; all is changed save the beetling cliff which overshadows it; for the frowning battlements HISTORY OF ACADIA. 17 of a walled and fortified city have usurped the place of the fragile homes of the Algonquin race. This*city was for a century and a half the capital of the great French empire in America, the heart whose pulsations were felt from the coast of Labrador to the mouth of the Mississippi. Its name has been in times past ominous of disaster and bloodshed to the English race, and it has also yielded our country triumphs which illuminated every city in Britain, and filled the hearts of its people with joy and pride. From it the bloody edicts went forth which gave over the border settlements of New ICngland to the hands of the merciless savage, and which covered her villages with mourning. Over the sea from this barren rock echoed the tidings of that famous victory which gave the vast territory of Canada to the English crown, and in which Wolfe by a soldier's death, immortalized his name. Nor should it be forgotten, that during the war of the Revolution, in a dark hour for England, the strong battlements of Quebec re- siste!: i;i I ill from the Indians, whose friendship he had good reason to doubt. Fortunately for him, the savages were affected by the same malady, and, by pretending that one of his serv- ants who had been with them had taken the disease, he managed to discover the remedy they used, which was to drink the liquor in which the bark and leaves of a certain tree had been boiled. In a few days they used up an entire tree in this way, and in a week every man Avas cured. Indeed so marvellous were the effects of its use that the old chronicle of the voyage declares, " If all the physicians of Mounti^elier had been there with all the drugs of Alexandria, they could not have done so much in one year as that tree did in six days." This Avonderful tree is believed to have been the white pine. When Spring returned, Cartier prepared to depart for France, and he signalised his leave-taking by an act that was alike treacherous and cruel. He invited the King, Donnacona, and four of his principal chiefs to a great feast, and in the midst of the festivities, violated the laws of hospitality by seizing and imprisoning them on board his vessels. He departed amidst the lamentations of the Indians, although he caused Donnacona to tell them that he was going to Europe of his own free will and would return to them in a year. But the promise was never ful- filled, for the Indian King died in the land of his captivity. Cartier reached France on the 8th July, 1536, bearing the tidings of his great discovery, which was thenceforward to be known to the world by the name of Canada. In the spring of 1536, Avhile he was still at Quebec, a number of London merchants sent out two vessels on a trading voyage to the coast of America, under the com- mand of one Master Hore. They spent some time in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and afterwards anchored in a harbor i.. I HISTORY OF ACADIA. 21 XM 'ard i ',-n' c, a J on the western coast of Newfoundland. They found the natives so shy that they were unable to communicate with them, and, falling short of provisions, were driven to the necessity of eating such herbs and roots as they could find, although, close to the finest fishery in the world, it is difficult to understand why they should have suffered from hunger. At last, when every other resource was exhausted, they were reduced to the extremity of casting lots to deter- mine who should perish for the sustenance of the remainder. They were finally relieved from their dreadful position by the arrival of a French vessel, which they immediately seized, and which was found to be well stored with pro- visions. The two countries were then at j^eace, and the Frenchmen complained of the outrage to Henry VIII. The King, on finding the great straits to which his subjects had been reduced, forgave the offence, and generously recompensed the Frenchmen out of his own private purse. The failure of Cartier to discover gold in the new world, added to the dreadful severity of the winter and the priva- tions his men had suffered, for a time put an end to any further expeditions to Canada, although the arrival of the Indian King at the French Court produced a profound sensation. But no human enterprise was ever suffered to languish for want of men bold enough to undertake it, and accordingly in 1.54], Cartier, in connexion with Francis de la lloche, lord of Roberval, prepared another expedition for the exploration of Canada. King Francis, who had ])rovided most of the funds for the enterprise, conferred the chief connnand on Roberval, making him his lieutenant general and viceroy in Canada. Cartier was appointed captain general of the fleet. Roberval's intention was to found a colony in Canada, and his preparations were made on so extensive a scale that "('! 22 HISTORY OF ACADIA. they "Nverc .still inconiplotc in tlie Spring of 1541, when Cartier was ready to depart. Tlie latter accordingly set sail on the 23rd May, without his chief, with five vessels and a large company of gentlemen, soMiers and mariners. He also took with him cattle, goats ar 1 hogs for the new colony. After a tempestuous passage they reached New- foundland, where thoy awaited the arrival of Roberval, but, after a long d(!lay, desjiairing of his coming, they sailed for Canada, arriving at Quebec on the 23rd August. The ships were immediately surrounded by an eager multitude of Indians enquiring for their King. Cartier was obliged to tell them that Donnacona was dead. Those savage stoics heard the tidings with apparent indifference, but from that moment they regarded the French as their enemies. Cartier felt that he had not deserved their friendship, and Ik; did not dare to trust it. He selected a spot higher uy* the river where ho laid up three of his vessels under the protection of two small forts which he erected. The remaining two he sent to France to inform the King of his position, and that Roberval had not arrived. He spent the winter without any serious encoun- ter with the Indians, but he was well aware that they only awaited a favorable opportunity to attack him. He had to be continually on the alert, and in the Spring he became so much disheartened by the difficulties which surrounded him and the continued absence of Roberval, that he re- solved to return to France. W.en he ai'rived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on his retuiii voyage, he found Roberval there with three ships on his way to the new colony. He informed Roberval that he had left Canada because with his small force he was unable to withstand the savages, Avho went about daily to annoy him. Roberval commanded Cartier to return 4 III8T0UY OF ACADIA. 28 i with him to Canada, but his ambition as a discoverer was satisfied, and he -was iniwilling to endure the dangers and privations of another winter in the midst of hostile savages. To avoid an open rupture with liis eonunander, lie weighed anchor silently in the night and departed for France. Roberval proceeded to Canada, took possession of the forts built by Cartier, and there spent the winter. Their provi- sions, however, fell short, and each man was put on a very meagre allowance. The scurvy broke out, and, not having llie remedy that Car4:ier had used, fifty of the colony died before Spring. Roberval's colonists nuist either have been a very bad lot or he an extremely severe ruler, for during the winter one man was hanged for theft,* several put in irons and many whipped, both men and women, "by which means," as the old chronicle informs us, "they lived in quiet." Koberval's colony was a failure, and next summer he returned to France with what remained of it. In 1549 he organized another cx])edition, but the ho))cs that were founded on it were doomed to be blasted, lie set sail for Canada aceomjianied by his brother Achille and a band of brave adventurers, but never reached the shores of the New World. Their fate is still one of the secrets of the sea. Canada had reason to regret the event, for the loss of that expedition retarded its colonization for more than fifty years. For many years after the loss of lloberval's expedition, C^anada was almost entirely forgotten by the French, lieligious wars and civil dissensions occupied the whole attention of the nation, and a court that was busily engaged in slaughtering its subjects at home, could not be expected *'riii.s was the fii'st civil execution in Canada. Tlie iianie of the ofl'endcr was Michael Gallion. One of ihoso kei)t in irons during tlie winter was John of Nantes. His oflcnco is not stated. 24 HISTORY OF ACADIA. to take much interest in an; chcnie for increasing their numbers abroad. \ Hugucnoi colony, whicii was founded in Florida in 15G 1, under the auspices of Admiral Coligny, was, after it had been u single year in existence, utterly destroyed by the Spaniards. All the colonists were bar- barously murdered, and Ribault, the governor, is said to ha\e been actually flayed, by order of Menendez, the Spanish leader. The corpses of the murdered colonists were hung on trees on which were placed the inscription : " These wretches have not been thus treated because they were Frenchmen, but because they were heretics and enemies of God." There is good reason to believe that the French Court connived at tiie destruction of this colony. This was worthy of the perpetratoi^s of the mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew. The unchristianized and unciv- ilized savages of America would have been more humane. England was the next power to engage in the work of colonizing the northern regions of America, and, although late in the field, was destined to eclipse all competitors in the end. Her first venture, however, was far from being encouraging. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an elder brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, set sail for the new world with a fleet of five vessels, for the purpose of founding a colony. No expedition of that day had left the shores of Europe better prepared for the purposes of discovery and colonization. Of the two hundred and sixty men who composed it, many were mechanics, such as shipwrights, masons, carpenteis, blacksmiths, workers in metal and refiners. A large stock of provisions and articles of traffic was also taken, and, indeed, nothing that the skill and ingenuity of that age could devise appears to have been omitted. But Gilbert Avas unlucky from the very inception of his voyage. He i HISTORY OF ACADIA. 25 had only been two days at sea when the Raleigh, the largest vessel in the fleet, turned back in consequence of a contagious sickness having broken out among her crew.* After a foggy and disagreeable passage, the fleet entered the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, where were found thirty-six vessels of different nationalities. Gilbert, by virtue of his commission, took possession of the Island in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and enacted and pro- claimed laws for the government of the inhabitants and traders.f Some time was spent there in searching for silver mines, and a quantity of ore was obtained which was believed to be precious. What its real value was can never be known for it was on board the Delight, which was lobL with most of her crew on the rocks of Cipe Breton. This event and the wishes of his officers induced Gilbert to return to England. He shifted his flag to the Squirrel, the smallest of his fleet, in fact a mere boat of ten tons burthen. When about mid-Atlantic on their wav back, a terrific gale arose which placed the vessels in immi- nent danger. The Squirrel during the day labored terribly and was nearly overwhelmed. Gilbert sat calmly in the stern with a book in his hand, and when the Golden Hind approached within hearing, called out to those on board of her : " W'^ are as near Heaven by sea as by land." At midnight the lights of the Squirrel suddenly disaj)- peared ; the mighty ocean had swallowed uj) both hor and *Tlii3 vessel was fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh. t"for a beginning he proposed and delivered three laws to be in force imme- diately. That is to say, the first for religion which in public exercise should lie according to the Church of England. The second for maintenance of her nuijcsty's right and possession of those territories against which, if anything wore uttem])ted Ijrejudicial, the party offending should be adjudged and c-iLeculcd as in case of high treason. The third, that if any person should utter words sounding to the dishonor of her majesty, he should lose his cars and have his ship and goods confiscated." — Hackluyt'* Voyages, 3 Vol., p. 193. 20 niSTOKY OK ACADIA. her gallant coinmaiulor. The (ioldcii Iliiifl, the hust (if this fleet Mhieh had left Kiigland under such proniisino- auspices a few mouths before, arri\'ed liome late in Sej)teni- ber. The death of Sir lluin})hrey fiilhert was a sad loss to the new world as well as to the old, for in his ocean <;rav<' was hurled the h )pe ol' Acadia heinj; made a British colony. I low ditferent mij^ht its history have l)cen had that naviji;ator's desi;i;ns been carried into eflect ! At length, after many years of gloom and misery, France obtained a respite from her religious wars, and Henry IV. was firmly seated on the throne. Then the spirit of adven- ture began to revive, and the attention of the more enter- ])rising was directed to the new world as a place where they might have scope for their and)ition. The olfice of lieutenant general and viceroy of Canada, which, since the death of Iloberval, had been an empty title, Mas in 1598 bestowed by Henry TV. on the JManpiis de la Roche, toirether with a commission which gave him very extensive ])owers in the regions he jiroposcd to colonize. In that year he sailed for America, taking with him forty-eight convicts from the French prisons. He left these unfortu- nate beings on Sable Island, a barren and desolate desert of sand which lies a hundred miles from the coast of Nova Scotia. He then proceeded towards the main land with the avowed object of seeking a suitable place for his colony. He visited the coast of Acadia and was returning to Sable Island when his ship was caught in a tempest and driven back to the coast of I"'ranco. The Avi'etched convicts Mere left to their fate. It was five years before Henry l^^ heard what had become of them, and then, Mith that spirit of hu- manity "which ever distinguished him, he immediately sent Chedotel, who had been de la Roche's pilot, M'ith a vessel to ascertain their fate. He found that twelve of them had 'I HISTORY OF ACADIA. 27 hA ■■^ 4 -^ survived the terrible har(lsliij)s (tf their coiuUtion. They had subsisted chiefly on cattle which were ruuuing wild on the island, j)r()bably the produce of animals which had escaped from wrecked vessels.* They wen; clothed in seal skins, and their shelter was a rude hut niade out of the planks of a wreck. It is a striking illustration of the acquisitive nature of man, that these unfortunates in their forlorn condition had collected a large quantity of valu:d)le furs. They presented themselves before the King on their return, by his desire, attired in their singidar dress just as they had been found. He commiserated their condition so nuich that he immediately gi*anted them their liberty and gave each of them fifty crowns. Their sufl'crings had indeed Ixjcn terrible enough to expiate almost any crime. Their faces, in consequence of the hardships they had endured, had assumed a savage and ferocious expression, so that they appeared more like wild animals than civilized men. De la Roche, whose cruelty or neglect had been the cause of their misfortunes, died miserably of a broken heart, harassed by lawsuits and ruined in fortune. While costly expeditions under the patronage of wealthy monarchs were contributing to the sum of human knowledge by trans-atlantic discoveries, a sot of humbler adventurers Avere not less busily engaged in making America known to the people of Europe. The fisheries of Newfoundland and Acadia attracted to their shores large numbers of adventur- ous men, who were equally ready to fish or to trade with the Indians as occasion offered. In this way the whole coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence became well known lonix before Canada or Acadia contained a single white settler, and the Atlantic coast of Acadia was equally familiar to those *The Bnron de Lcry is beliaved to have left some liorsos and cattle on Sable Island in 1518. 28 HISTORY OF ACADIA. tmders luul fislicniicii. There is no positive j)roof that they ever entered the Bay of Fundy dnrinp; the sixteenth ecntury, but the probabilities are strongly in favor of their Imving done so. Thus slowly but steadily the dim outline of the new world displayed its form to the people of Europe, and the spirit of adventure, no longer eonfined to the great and wealthy, grew in the breasts of the people. Already a new era of colonization and progress was begin- ning to dawn. Who could have ventured to predict the glory of its meridian splendor ? CHAPTER H TlIK ADORIGINKS OF ACADIA. The exploration of America cHtahliHhcd thje extent of territory on the continent withont its ([nota of natives. It then Ixicame an intcrestiiifj; qnestion for ])hiIosophers to determine from what part of the old world America Avas peopled, and by what means the ancestors of its inhabitants reached the new continent. Surronnded on both sides by vast oceans, it seemed incredible that savages who had no vessels larger than a canoe could come to America by sea, and although ingenuity has exhausted itself in conjectures, and modern research thrown all its available light upon the subject, the question of how America was jieopled has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It is not to be denied that in modern times this question lias assumed a very different juspect from that which it pre- sented a century ago, when Robertson wrote his history of America. He assumed — and he has been followed in this respect by many subsequent writers — that the inhabitants of the new world were all of one race, and in the partially civilized communities of INIexico and Peru, he recognized only races of people who had improved to some extent on the customs of the rude Tartar ancestors, from whom he conceived them to have S2)rung. Finding it difficult to make this hypothesis agree with the undoubted progress m 30 HISTORY OF ACADIA. they had made in the arts, he cavalierly treated the Spanish accounts of their skill as the exaggerations of a people who desired to augment, as much as possible, the importance of the nations they had subdued. While he did scant justice to the civdization of Mexico and Peru, he ignored altoge- ther the existence of any remains of civilization beyond their limits. It would, of course, be unjust to charge this distinguished historian with any desire to suppress the truth, but it would be equally absurd, at the present day, to adopt him as a guide. Since his day the substantial correctness of the Spanish accounts of the civilization of Mexico and Peru has been fully vindicated. The remains of their temples, pyramids and palaces still bear silent testimony to their former grandeur ; and in other portions of America have been brought to light the remains of cities whose inhabitants, although they have utterly perished and left no record, must have had some pretensions to cultivation and refinement. The arclueological remains of America arc of so exten- sive a character as to strike any one >vi. j pursues the subject lor the first time with astonishment. They are naturally divided into two classes, those that appear to have originated among cultivated races, and those that have manifestly belonged to uncivilized peoples. Of the former class Acadia is entirely destitute, and the same remark is true in regard to the whole Atlantic seaboard of the United States., as far south as Florida. But such remains abound fro u the State of New York along the western slope of tiic Alleghanies, through Georgia to the southern portion oi' Florida. They are veiy numerous in Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio, and are to be found in great numbers along the margins of all the western rivers, on the head waters and branches of the Mississippi and Missouri, and down to the m I HISTORY OF ACADIA. 31 (Jiilfof Mexico. They are abundant in Mexico, but are found in the greatest numbers and in the highest state of perfection in Central America. A large proportion of the remains of partially civilized races throughout the United States consists of the ruins of fortresses and fortified towns, and tumuli or pyramids of earth. In Onondaga county, New York, was the ruin of a fortified town which covered more than five hundred acres of ground, and there are said to be at least a hundred ruined fortifications of various sizes in tliat State. In many other States they are still more numerous. In short, throughout the whole extent of country from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, are found the ruins of a perpetual succession of intrenched camps, and fortresses of earth and stone, constructed on the most gigantic scale, with redoubts, breastworks, ramparts and mounds of observation. Still more stujiendous are the tumuli and pyramids which abound throughout the same territory, and which may be numbered by hundreds. One of the largest of these in Illinois, is seven hundred feet in length, five hundred feet wide at the base, and ninety feet in height, and its solid contents may be roughly estimated at twenty million cubic feet. Some of the smaller class of mounds appear to have been used for the purposes of sepul- ture. One near Circleville, Ohio, was found to contain an immense number of human skeletons of every size and age, all laid horizontally with tiieir heads towards the centre of the mound. In a mound near the town of Chillicothe in the same State was found a single human skeleton covered Avith a mat, and decorated with a stone ornament, a string of bone beads, and a piece of copper made in the shape of a cros'. Still more remarkable was the discovery made in ouo of the sepulchral mounds in INIarietta. There the skeleton of a warrior Avas found Avith the remains of 32 HISTORY OF ACADIA. a buckler of copper, overlaid with a thick silver plate, lying across his breast. By his side were several broken pieces of copper tubing filled with iron rust, the remains, it was thought, of his sword and its scabbard. A piece of iron ore was also found with them.* This discovery seems to prove that the use of iron was known to the natives of America at a very remote period, and that this knowledge was subsequently lost, for at the time of the con- quest of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, no iron utensils were in use. Implements of copper are very frequently found in these mounds, and specimens of pottery, some of them displaying excellent workmanship and a knowledge of chemistry, are abundant. In some of the mounds bracelets and rings of brass, ornaments of silver and speci- mens of sculpture have been brought to light. Some of these pieces of pottery have been compared in beauty and workmanship to the choicest antique vases of Europe ; others are remarkable for their enormous size. An earthen vessel was discovered in a mound at Lancaster, Ohio, which was eighteen feet long and six feet in width. Such discoveries incontestibly prove the former existence in those regions of a people who were acquainted with many of the arts of civilization, and the ancient character of the ruins is attested by the fact that in many instances a heavy growth of forest 'rees had arisen above them. But grand and imposing as are those ruined fortresses and pyramids, they are far surpassed by the ancient cities of Ceritral America. Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, in their wan- derings through Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, discovered the ruins of no less than fifty-four cities, and there were others of which they heard, but which they had * An interesting account of this discovery will be found in Vol. I. of the collec- tions of the American Antiquarian Society. mSTOKY OF ACADIA. 33 $ not time to visit. They brouti^ht back with them drawings of the principal objects of interest among tlie ruins, and, in many instances, i)lans of the cities themselves. One of tlje most reniarkaljle and probably the most ancient of tiiose cities is Copan, in the State of Honduras. It is situated on a river of the same name, and extends along its banks for upwards of two miles. The principal structure is what has been termed the temple, an oblong enclosure with a front on the i-iver of six hundred and twenty-four fcet,^ built of cut stone, the wall being from sixty to ninety feet in height. But the most interesting features of the ruins are the statues of Indian deities or kings, Avhich are very mnnerous. These are executed in bold alto-relievo, on stone columns from eleven to fourteen feet in height, and covered on the back with fantastic hieroglyphics. Jn front of several of tliese idols were altars, probably intended for the ])urposes of sacrifice. One of these, made out of a solid block six feet s(piare and four feet high, was ornamented on its side in a remarkable manner in bas-relief, M'ith sixteen figures of men wearing turbans, and sitting cross legged, in Oriental style, while the top of the altar was covered with hieroglyphics. Of the workmanship of these monuments of Oopan, i\Ir. Stephens, himself an Oriental traveller and entitled to speak with authority, declares that it is e(pial to the finest Egyptian sculpture, and that it would l)e impossible with the best instruments of modern times to cut stones more perfectly. Yet of the people who executed those great works or of their history wc have no record, and tradition has preserved nothing which can aid us in discovering the origin or fate of the inhabitants of this deserted city. The ruins of Palenque are of a still more remarkable character, and consist of temples and palaces, elevated on k I, 1' 34 HISTORY OF ACADIA. pyraniidsj of earth faced Avitli stone. The principal huikl- ina; is two hundred and t\vcntv-ei 36 HISTORY OF ACADJA. Ml immense time, .skill and labor re(juire