When the customary ceremonies of eating and drinking,
speech-making, and presentations had ended, Cartier,
after first exploring with his boats, sailed with his
ships a few miles above Stadacona to a little river where
good anchorage was found, now known as the Cap Rouge
river. It enters the St Lawrence a little above Quebec.
Here preparations were at once made for the winter's
sojourn. Cannon were brought ashore from three of the
ships. A strong fort was constructed, and the little
settlement received the pretentious name Charlesbourg
Royal. The remaining part of the month of August 1541
was spent in making fortifications and in unloading the
ships. On September 2 two of the ships, commanded by Mace
Jalobert, Cartier's brother-in-law and companion of the
preceding voyage, and Etienne Nouel, his nephew, were
sent back to France to tell the king of what had been
done, and to let him know that Roberval had not yet
arrived.

As on his preceding voyages, Cartier was greatly impressed
by the aspect of the country about him. All round were
splendid forests of oak and maple and cedar and beech,
which surpassed even the beautiful woodlands of France.
Grape vines loaded with ripe fruit hung like garlands
from the trees. Nor was the forest thick and tangled,
but rather like an open park, so that among the trees
were great stretches of ground wanting only to be tilled.
Twenty of Cartier's men were set to turn the soil, and
in one day had prepared and sown about an acre and a half
of ground. The cabbage, lettuce, and turnip seed that