never heard the like.'

After a busy and cheerful autumn came a mild winter. The
snow did not fall till December 20, and there was much
rain. Scurvy still caused trouble; but though twelve
died, the mortality was not so high as at St Croix.
Everything considered, Port Royal enjoyed good
fortune--according to the colonial standards of the
period, when a winter death-rate of twenty-six per cent
was below the average.

At the beginning of March 1606 Pontgrave fitted out a
barque of eighteen tons in order to undertake 'a voyage
of discovery along the coast of Florida'; and on the 16th
of the month a start was made. Favoured by good weather,
he and Champlain would have reached the Hudson three
years before the Dutch. But, short of drowning, every
possible mischance happened. They had hardly set out when
a storm cast them ashore near Grand Manan. Having repaired
the damage they made for St Croix, where fog and contrary
winds held them back eight days. Then Pontgrave decided
to return to Port Royal 'to see in what condition our
companions were whom we had left there sick.' On their
arrival Pontgrave himself was taken ill, but soon
re-embarked, though still unwell. Their second start was
followed by immediate disaster. Leaving the mouth of the
harbour, two leagues distant from Port Royal, they were
carried out of the channel by the tide and went aground.
'At the first blow of our boat upon the rocks the rudder
broke, a part of the keel and three or four planks were