a bearded man passing from the prime of life to its
decline. The head is slightly bowed with the weight of
years, and the face is wanting in that suggestion of
unconquerable will which is the dominating feature of
the portrait of St Malo. This is the picture that appears
in the form of a medallion, or ring-shaped illustration,
in more than one of the modern works upon the great
adventurer. But here again we have no proofs of identity,
for we know nothing of the origin of the portrait.

Curiously enough an accidental discovery of recent years
seems to confirm in some degree the genuineness of the
St Malo portrait. There stood until the autumn of 1908,
in the French-Canadian fishing village of Cap-des-Rosiers,
near the mouth of the St Lawrence, a house of very ancient
date. Precisely how old it was no one could say, but it
was said to be the oldest existing habitation of the
settlement. Ravaged by perhaps two centuries of wind and
weather, the old house afforded but little shelter against
the boisterous gales and the bitter cold of the rude
climate of the Gulf. Its owner decided to tear it down,
and in doing so he stumbled upon a startling discovery.
He found a dummy window that, generations before, had
evidently been built over and concealed. From the cavity
thus disclosed he drew forth a large wooden medallion,
about twenty inches across, with the portrait of a man
carved in relief. Here again are the tufted hat, the
bearded face, and the features of the picture of St Malo.
On the back of the wood, the deeply graven initials J.
C. seemed to prove that the image which had lain hidden