CHAPTER II

ACADIA--STE. CROIX ISLAND--PORT ROYAL


Soon after the period mentioned at the close of the previous chapter,
Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, Governor of Pont, a native of the ancient
province of Saintonge, who had served under Henry IV, obtained a
commission as "Lieutenant genéral au pays de Cadie, du 40° au 46°," on
the condition that his energies should be especially directed to the
propagation of the Catholic faith.

De Monts was a Huguenot; nevertheless he agreed to take with him to
America a number of Catholic priests, and to see that they were
respected and obeyed. Champlain was not satisfied with the choice of a
Protestant to colonize a country which he had intended to make solely
Catholic, and he states, "that those enterprises made hastily never
succeed."

De Monts was not a stranger to America. He had first visited the country
with Chauvin in 1600, but when he left Tadousac he was so discouraged
that he determined, in the event of his becoming master of the
situation, to attempt colonization only in Acadia, or on the eastern
borders of the Atlantic running towards Florida.

It was well known in France that Acadia was the richest and most
fertile part of the New World. Excellent harbours and good soil were