Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, vol 2 | Page 4

them had not received assistance, who had not
succeeded, in one nor even two years' time, in making the acquaintance
of the regions and people there, nor in finding harbors adapted for a
settlement. He proposed to his Majesty a means for covering these
expenses, without drawing any thing from the royal revenues; viz., by
granting to him the monopoly of the fur-trade in this land. This having
been granted to him, he made great and excessive outlays, and carried
out with him a large number of men of various vocations. Upon his
arrival, he caused the necessary number of habitations for his followers
to be constructed. This expenditure he continued for three consecutive
years, after which, in consequence of the jealousy and annoyance of
certain Basque merchants, together with some from Brittany, the

monopoly which had been granted to him was revoked by the Council
to the great injury and loss of Sieur de Monts, who, in consequence of
this revocation, was compelled to abandon his entire undertaking,
sacrificing his labors and the outfit for his settlement.
But since a report had been made to the king on the fertility of the soil
by him, and by me on the feasibility of discovering the passage to
China, [11] without the inconveniences of the ice of the north or the
heats of the torrid zone, through which our sailors pass twice in going
and twice in returning, with inconceivable hardships and risks, his
Majesty directed Sieur de Monts to make a new outfit, and send men to
continue what he had commenced. This he did. And, in view of the
uncertainty of his commission, [12] he chose a new spot for his
settlement, in order to deprive jealous persons of any such distrust as
they had previously conceived. He was also influenced by the hope of
greater advantages in case of settling in the interior, where the people
are civilized, and where it is easier to plant the Christian faith and
establish such order as is necessary for the protection of a country, than
along the sea-shore, where the savages generally dwell. From this
course, he believed the king would derive an inestimable profit; for it is
easy to suppose that Europeans will seek out this advantage rather than
those of a jealous and intractable disposition to be found on the shores,
and the barbarous tribes. [13]
ENDNOTES:
1. The first commission was granted by Henry VII. of England to John
Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, March 5,
1496.-- _Rymer's Foedera_, Vol. XII. p. 595. The first voyage,
however, was made in 1497. The second commission was granted to
John Cabot alone, in 1498.--Vide Hakluyt, 1600, London, ed. 1810, Vol.
III. pp. 25-31.
2. Cortereal made two voyages under the patronage of Emmanuel, King
of Portugal, the first in 1500, the second in 1501. In the latter year, he
sailed with two ships from Lisbon, and explored six hundred miles or
more on our northern coast. The vessel in which he sailed was lost; and
he perished, together with fifty natives whom he had captured. The

other vessel returned, and reported the incidents of the expedition. The
next year, Michael Cortereal, the brother of Gaspar, obtained a
commission, and went in search of his brother; but he did not return,
and no tidings were ever heard of him.
3. Jacques Cartier made three voyages in 1534, 1535, and 1540,
respectively, in which he effected very important discoveries; and
Charlevoix justly remarks that Cartier's Memoirs long served as a guide
to those who after him navigated the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. For
Cartier's commission, see _Hazard's State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 19.
4. Roberval's voyage was made in 1542, and is reported by Jean
Alfonse.-- Vide Hakluyt, 1600, London, ed. 1810, Vol. III. p. 291. On
an old map, drawn about the middle of the sixteenth century, Roberval
is represented in a full-length portrait, clad in mail, with sword and
spear, at the head of a band of armed soldiers, penetrating into the wilds
of Canada, near the head-waters of the Saguenay. The name, "Monsr.
de Roberual," is inserted near his feet,--_Vide Monuments de la
Géographie_, XIX., par M. Jomard, Paris.
5. For the narrative of the voyages of Frobisher, Gilbert, and Davis,
vide Hakluyt, Vol. III. Of the fleet of five vessels commanded by Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, in 1583, the Ralegh put back to England, on
account of sickness on board; the Golden Hinde returned safely to port;
the Swallow was left at Newfoundland, to bring home the sick; the
Delight was lost near Sable Island; and the Squirrel went down on its
way to England, some days after leaving Sable Island. Thus two only
were lost, while a third was left.
There must have been