gentlemen, [38] for the cure, the artisans and workmen, filled up and
completed the quadrangle. Below the houses, gardens were laid out for the
several gentlemen, and at the southern extremity of the island cannon were
mounted for protection against a sudden assault.

In the ample forests of Maine or New Brunswick, rich in oak and maple and
pine, abounding in deer, partridge, and other wild game, watered by crystal
fountains springing from every acre of the soil, we naturally picture for
our colonists a winter of robust health, physical comfort, and social
enjoyment. The little island which they had chosen was indeed a charming
spot in a summer's day, but we can hardly comprehend in what view it could
have been regarded as suitable for a colonial plantation. In space it was
wholly inadequate; it was destitute of wood and fresh water, and its soil
was sandy and unproductive. In fixing the location of their settlement and
in the construction of their houses, it is obvious that they had entirely
misapprehended the character of the climate. While the latitude was nearly
the same, the temperature was far more rigorous than that of the sunny
France which they had left. The snow began to fall on the 6th of October.
On the 3d of December the ice was seen floating on the surface of the
water. As the season advanced, and the tide came and went, huge floes of
ice, day after day, swept by the island, rendering it impracticable to
navigate the river or pass over to the mainland. They were therefore
imprisoned in their own home. Thus cut off from the game with which the
neighboring forests abounded, they were compelled to subsist almost
exclusively upon salted meats. Nearly all the forest trees on the island
had been used in the construction of their houses, and they had
consequently but a meagre supply of fuel to resist the chilling winds and
penetrating frosts. For fresh water, their only reliance was upon melted
snow and ice. Their store-house had not been furnished with a cellar, and
the frost left nothing untouched; even cider was dispensed in solid blocks.