But since a report had been made to the king on the fertility of the soil
by him, and by me on the feasibility of discovering the passage to China,
[11] without the inconveniences of the ice of the north or the heats of the
torrid zone, through which our sailors pass twice in going and twice in
returning, with inconceivable hardships and risks, his Majesty directed
Sieur de Monts to make a new outfit, and send men to continue what he had
commenced. This he did. And, in view of the uncertainty of his commission,
[12] he chose a new spot for his settlement, in order to deprive jealous
persons of any such distrust as they had previously conceived. He was also
influenced by the hope of greater advantages in case of settling in the
interior, where the people are civilized, and where it is easier to plant
the Christian faith and establish such order as is necessary for the
protection of a country, than along the sea-shore, where the savages
generally dwell. From this course, he believed the king would derive an
inestimable profit; for it is easy to suppose that Europeans will seek out
this advantage rather than those of a jealous and intractable disposition
to be found on the shores, and the barbarous tribes. [13]

ENDNOTES:

1. The first commission was granted by Henry VII. of England to John Cabot
and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, March 5, 1496.--
_Rymer's Foedera_, Vol. XII. p. 595. The first voyage, however, was made
in 1497. The second commission was granted to John Cabot alone, in
1498.--_Vide Hakluyt_, 1600, London, ed. 1810, Vol. III. pp. 25-31.

2. Cortereal made two voyages under the patronage of Emmanuel, King of
Portugal, the first in 1500, the second in 1501. In the latter year, he
sailed with two ships from Lisbon, and explored six hundred miles or
more on our northern coast. The vessel in which he sailed was lost; and