104. An idle story had been circulated, and even found a place on the pages
of sober history, that on the Penobscot, or Norumbegue, as it was then
called, there existed a fair town, a populous city, with the
accessories of luxury and wealth. Champlain here takes pains to show,
in the fullest manner, that this story was a baseless dream of fancy,
and utterly without foundation. Of it Lescarbot naively says, "If this
beautiful town hath ever existed in nature, I would fain know who hath
pulled it down, for there are now only a few scattered wigwams made of
poles covered with the bark of trees and the skins of wild beasts."
There is no evidence, and no probability, that this river had been
navigated by Europeans anterior to this exploration of Champlain. The
existence of the bay and the river had been noted long before. They
are indicated on the map of Ribero in 1529. Rio de Gamas and Rio
Grande appear on early maps as names of this river, but are soon
displaced for Norumbega, a name which was sometimes extended to a wide
range of territory on both sides of the Penobscot. On the Mappe-Monde
of 1543-47, issued by the late M. Jomard, it is denominated
Auorobagra, evidently intended for Norumbega. Thevet, who visited it,
or sailed along its mouth in 1556, speaks of it as Norumbegue. It is
alleged that the aborigines called it Agguncia. According to Jean
Alfonse, it was discovered by the Portuguese and Spaniards.--_Vide
His. de la N. France_, par M. Lescarbot, Paris, 1612, Qvat. Liv.
p. 495. The orthography of this name is various among early writers,
but Norumbegue is adopted by the most approved modern authors.




CHAPTER VI.