the Bay of Fundy, he finally determined to effect a settlement on a little island1 just within the mouth of the St. Croix River. Here several small ED.] 2 [This is a fac-simile of Champlain's engraving in his edition of 1613. The key is as follows: A, Habitation. B, Gardens. C, Isles with cannon. D, Platform for cannon. E, Burial-place. F, Chapel. G, Rocky shoals. H, Islet. I, De Monts's water-mill begun here. L, Place for making coal. M and N, Gardens. O, Mountains (Chamcook Hill, 627 feet high). P, River of the Etechemins (called later Schoodic River, till the name St. Croix was restored). Slafter describes the island as about 540 feet wide at the broadest part, and it contains now six or seven acres. Five small cannon-balls, two and one quarter inches in diameter, were dug up at the southern end some years ago. Slafter's edition, ii. 33. 1 [This island, now known as Douchet Island, is a few miles within the mouth of the St. Croix River, which empties into Passamaquoddy Bay. In the latter part of the last century, when the commissioners of Great Britain and the United States were endeavoring to define the St. Croix River, which by treaty had been fixed as the eastern bound of the new nation, this VOL. IV. - 18. The maps island played an important part. were not conclusive respecting the historic St. Croix, some of them, like that of Bellin in Charlevoix's History (1744), rather indicating the Magaguadavic River, on the eastern side of the bay; but the discovery in 1797 of the foundation-stones of De Monts's houses on this island, with large trees growing above them, 1 buildings were erected, and the little company of seventy-nine in all prepared to pass the winter. Before spring nearly one half of their number died; and in the following summer, after the arrival of a small reinforcement, it was decided to abandon the place. The coast was carefully explored as far south as Cape Cod, but without finding any spot which satisfied their fastidious tastes; 1 and the settlement was then transferred to the other side of the bay, to what is now called Annapolis Basin, but which De Monts had designated the year before as Port Royal. Here a portion of the company was left to pass a second winter, while De Monts returned to France, to prevent, if possible, the withdrawal of any part of the monopoly granted him by the Crown. Nearly a year elapsed before he again reached his settlement, only to find it reduced to two individuals. After a winter of great suffering, Pontgravé, who had been left in command during the absence of De Monts, weary with waiting for succor, had determined to sail for France, leaving these two brave men to guard the buildings and other property. He had but just sailed when Jean de Poutrincourt, the lieutenant of De Monts, arrived with the long-expected help. Measures were immediately taken to recall Pontgravé, if he could be found on the coast, and these were fortunately successful. He was discovered at Cape Sable, and at once returned; but soon afterward he sailed again for France.2 Another winter was passed at Port Royal, pleasantly enough according to the accounts of Champlain and Lescarbot; but in the early summer, orders to abandon the settlement were received from De Monts, whose monopoly of the trade with the Indians had been rescinded. The settlers reluctantly left their new home, and the greater part of them reached St. Malo, in Brittany, in October, 1607. The first attempt at French colonization in Acadia was as abortive as Popham's English colony at the mouth of the Sagadahock in the following year.3 Three years later, Poutrincourt, to whom De Monts had granted Port settled the question. The island bears evidence of having considerably wasted by the wash of the river, and its few acres are at present hardly large enough for the purpose it served in 1604. It is known that then the colonists resorted to the main shore for their planting. The island now has a cottage upon it, which bears aloft a small light, to aid river navigation, and is maintained by the United States Government, the deepest water being on the easterly side. The Editor examined the island in 1882, but could not find that any traces of De Monts's colony now remained, though fragments of "French brick" were found there by William Willis twenty years ago. Cf. Hannay's Acadia, p. 74; Parkman's Pioneers of France, p. 227; Williamson's Maine, i. 190; ii. 578; Holmes's Annals, i. 149. In a survey of 1798 the island is called Bone Island; and it has sometimes been called, because of its position, Neutral Island. A plan of the buildings is given on the opposite page. - ED.] 1 [For this exploration, see ch. iii. — ED.] 2 [There is an essay on Pontgravé in the Mélanges of Benjamin Sulte, Ottawa, 1876, P. 31. - ED.] 3 [The question of early Dutch sojourns or settlements on the coast is examined in J. W. De Peyster's The Dutch at the North Pole, and the Dutch in Maine, 1857, and his Proofs considered of the Early Settlement of Acadie by the Dutch, 1858; and traces of remains at Pemaquid have been assigned to the Dutch; but see Johnston in the Popham Memorial, and in History of Bristol and Bremen ; Sewall's Ancient Dominions of Maine. The early settlements of this region are also tracked in B. F. De Costa's Coasts of Maine. Cf. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1853, p. 213; 1877, p. 337. — ED.] Royal, set sail from Dieppe to found a new colony on the site of the abandoned settlement. The deserted houses were again occupied, and a brighter future seemed to await the new enterprise. But this expectation was doomed to a speedy disappointment. After a few years of struggling truders on the territory belonging to them. under the command of Captain Samuel Argall, appeared off Mount Desert, existence, the English colonists determined to expel the French as inIn 1613 an English ship, PORT ROYAL (after Champlain).1 1 [This is Champlain's plan (edition of 1613) a little reduced. The letters can be thus interpreted: A, Our habitation. B, Champlain's garden. C, Road made by Poutrincourt. D, Island. E, Entrance. F, Shoals, dry at low water. (Annapolis). I, Poutrincourt's mill. L, Meadows under water at highest tides. M, Equille River. G, St. Antoine River. H, Wheat-field tains. P, Island. Q, Rocky Brook. R, Brook. S, Mill River. T, Lake. V, Herring-fishing by the natives. X, Trout-brook. Y, Passage made by Champlain. Harrisse (nos. 245-246) cites two plans of Port Royal in the French Archives. — ED.] Indians. The French were too few to offer even a show of resistance, and tesse de Guercheville,1 had established themselves for the conversion of the where a little company of the French, under the patronage of the Com biographical dictionaries of Hoefer and Michaud tices of Madame de Guercheville in the French 1 [According to Parkman, the elaborate no - ED.] |