Acadia from the main route that led to the heart of the
interior. Port Royal, on the Bay of Fundy, was one centre
and Quebec another. Between them stretched either an
impenetrable wilderness or an inland sea. Hence Acadia
remained separate from the Laurentian valley, which was
the heart of Canada--although Acadia and Canada combined
to form New France. Of these two sister districts Canada
was the more secure. The fate of Acadia shows how much
less vulnerable to English attack were Quebec, Three
Rivers, and Montreal than the seaboard settlements of
Port Royal, Grand Pre, and Louisbourg.

It is a striking fact that Champlain had helped to found
Port Royal before he founded Quebec. He was not the
pioneer of Acadian colonization: De Monts deserves the
praise of turning the first sod. But Champlain was a
leading figure in the hard fight at St Croix and Port
Royal; he it was who first charted in any detail the
Atlantic seaboard from Cape Breton to Cape Cod; and his
narrative joins with that of Lescarbot to preserve the
story of the episode.

Although unprosperous, the first attempt of the French
to colonize Acadia is among the bright deeds of their
colonial history. While the death of De Chastes was most
inopportune, the future of the French race in America
did not hinge upon any one man. In 1603 fishing on the
Grand Bank off Newfoundland was a well-established
occupation of Normans and Bretons, the fur trade held
out hope of great profit, and the spirit of national