[8] A Reference to the discovery of Newfoundland in 1497.




CARTIER'S EXPLORATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE

(1534)

I

THE ACCOUNT GIVEN BY JOHN A. DOYLE[1]


Jacques Cartier was a brave and experienced sea captain from St. Malo.
In 1534, Cartier made a preliminary voyage of exploration. Touching at
Newfoundland, he sailed through the straits of Belle Isle and explored
the east shore of the island, a region which for the barrenness of its
soil and the severity of its climate seemed the very spot whither Cain
had been banished. The coast of New Brunswick held out a more inviting
prospect. The fertility of the soil reminded the voyagers of their
native Brittany, and one field there seemed worth more than the whole
of Newfoundland. Thence Cartier sailed into the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
and would have explored the great river of Canada, but storms arose
and he deemed it prudent to return to France before bad weather set
in. His report of the country was encouraging. The soil, as we have
seen, promised well, and the voyagers had not yet learned the terrors
of a Canadian winter. The natives were rude in their habits, but they
were uniformly peaceful and ready to trade on easy terms for such
goods as they possest. There seemed good reason to hope, too, that