Part 15

NOVA Francia Gallis adeuntibus gemino littore patet; altero, quod angusta fronte Oceano nostro, & Orienti obtenditur: altero, quod productiore tractu ad Floridæ vsque confinia Austro obiacet. Istud latus portubus, atque ostiis fluminum frequens est, quibus commodè penetrari possit in regionis mediterranea, & hàc ferè Galli terras illas ineunt: illud verò, Franciæ nostræ obiectum littus, quoniam oppositu ingentis insulæ, quam Nouam Terram appellant, importuosum pænè est, ea regione nostrates non subeunt. Eius orbis vastissimã planitiem ingentissimi aluei, aquis copiosissimum flumen irrigat, directo limite ab vltimo pænè occasu ad ortum, quoad angusto freto ad insulam Terræ [566] Nouæ, ipsiúsque insulæ oppositu, eius ostia in Austrinum littus inflectantur. Ei fluuio gentile nomen est _Sacqué_, Sanctum Laurentium Galli appellarunt; cuius caput ampliùs quingentis inde leucis indigenæ ab lacu in trecentas patente leucas repetunt. In hunc amnium principem alij amnes nobiles ab Aquilone influunt, nempe Saguenaiüm, Tergeminus amnis, seu tres amnes, simul coëuntes, Algomequium, & cæteri non pauci. Saguenaij quingentarum, Tergemini quadringentarum leucarum nauigatio longè porrigitur in Boream. E montibus, ad ripam Austrinam Saquéi amnis, transuersi feruntur in Meridianum Oceani littus alij quoque fluuij celebres; vnde populis, atque illius tractus regionibus plerisque gentilia ducta sunt nomina; sed eorum nonnullis sui moris appellationes Franci posteà indiderunt. Fluuij autem sunt hi ad Austrum conuersi, Sanctus Ioannes, Pentegoëtius, Quinibequius, Choüacoetius, Norembega, quem postremum amnem Champlænius eumdem ac Pentegoetium esse contendit. Populi trans Saquéum, Sanctúmve-Laurentium, versùs Aquilonem, non procul illius ostiis, sunt Canadij & Excomminquij: longè verò ab his, eadem Boreali ripa, versùs occasum, è regione Floridæ, incolunt Algomeguij, atque Ochasteguij. Cis Sanctum-Laurentium, in Australi ora degunt item Canadij, ad ipsum magni amnis flexum, ab Euro in Austrum declinãtis. Post eos ad Occasum vergũt Souriquij, Acadiæ regionis incolæ: deinde ad Pentegoetium, seu Norembegam fluuium, Pentegoetij: [567] ad horum dextram, Occasum spectantium, circa _Quebecum_ arcem, Montagnetij: post Pentegoetios recto tractu Eteminquij, ad amnem Quinibequium: inde Almochiquij ad flumen Choüacoetium, latissimis campis diffusi: denique inter Floridam, & Sacquéum magnum amnem, Iroquij campestribus, montosisque locis latissimè habitant. Reliquos Nouæ Franciæ populos multos, præsertim trans magnum Sacquéum amnem, Aquilonares, Galli nostrates non nisi ex auditione norunt. Ex notis autem, amicos, ac pæne Socios habent Souriquios, Eteminquios, Montagnetios, Almochiquios, Algomequios, & Ochasteguios: istis capitales hostes Iroquios, hostili quoque in se animo experiuntur, eo maximè nomine, quòd Iroquiis Galli cum ipsorum hostibus bellum intulerint. Horum quidem populorum soli agriculturam, inscienter tamen, exercent Almochiquij, Iroquij, & Ochasteguij, miliumque Indicum, & fabam Brasilicam ferunt.

NEW France presents to the French, as they approach it, two coasts, one which borders with a narrow frontage upon our Ocean to the East; and another far longer, which extends Southward to the confines of Florida. The former side abounds in bays and estuaries, by which one may readily penetrate into the interior; by these routes the French usually enter these regions; but, since the other coast, lying opposite our France, is rendered almost inaccessible by the intervention of a great island which they call Newfoundland, our people do not approach in that direction. The immense plain in that quarter is watered by a river of vast size and mighty volume, its course directly eastward from almost the farthest west, until, by reason of the narrow strait at the island of Newfoundland [566] and the opposition of the island itself, its mouth is broadly curved towards the Southern coast. The native name of that river is _Sacqué_;[50] the French have called it St. Lawrence; its source the natives seek more than 500 leagues distant, in a lake 300 leagues in width. Into this main stream other noble rivers flow from the North, such as the Saguenay,[51] the Three Rivers,[52]--or three rivers flowing together,--the Algomequi,[53] and many others. These rivers are open for navigation far Northward--the Saguenay five hundred leagues, the Three Rivers four hundred leagues, From the mountains[54] upon the Southern bank of the Sacqué River other notable streams flow across to the Southern coast of the Ocean, and from these the native names for most of the tribes and districts of that region are derived; but upon some of them the French afterward conferred names after their own fashion. The rivers flowing Southward are the St. John, Pentegoët, Quinibequi, Choüacoet,[11] and Norembega, which last stream Champlain[55] asserts to be the same as the Pentegoët. The tribes across the Sacqué or St. Lawrence, towards the North, not far from its mouth, are the Canadis[56] and Excomminquis;[10] but at a distance from these, on the same Northern shore, toward the west, in the direction of Florida, dwell the Algomeguis[57] and the Ochasteguis.[58] Across the St Lawrence, on the Southern bank, the Canadi live also, directly at the bend of the great river, which turns from the East towards the South.[59] Beyond them, toward the West, lie the Souriquois, inhabitants of the country of Acadia;[60] thence, toward the Pentegoët or Norembega River, the Pentegoëts;[6] [567] to their right, looking Westward, about the fortress at _Quebec_,[59] the Montagnais; beyond the Pentegoëts; directly toward the Quinibequi River, the Eteminquis; then the Almochiquois, at the Choüacoet River, scattered over a very extensive region; finally, between Florida and the great Sacqué River, the Iroquois inhabit enormous tracts of both level and mountainous country. Many of the remaining tribes of New France, especially those of the North, across the great Sacqué River, our French countrymen know only from hearsay. Among those whom they know, however, they have secured as friends, and almost as allies, the Souriquois, Eteminquis, Montagnais, Almochiquois, Algomequois, and Ochasteguis. The Iroquois, who are deadly enemies of these tribes, prove hostile to the French also, mainly because the latter have waged war against them, in company with their enemies. Certain of these tribes--the Almochiquois, Iroquois, and Ochasteguis--practice agriculture, though unskillfully, and plant Indian corn and the Brazilian bean.[61]

PROMONTORIA celebria Franciam Nouam ineuntibus Meridiano littore occurrunt, Britonicum, ad ipsa ostia magni amnis, hoc est Sancti Laurentij; ab hoc deinde Heuæum, Arietinum, Sabulosum, Bifidum, Sanctus Ludouicus, Album, Sancta Helena. Eamdem oram à Promontorio Britonico legentibus obuij fiunt portus, Campsæus, Sesambræus, Regius, Pulcher. Mediterranea verò per Sacquéum amnem, & Canadiæ fines subire volentibus, præteruehenda sunt, Britonicum, ad ostia eiusdem fluuij; Sanctus-Laurentius; Episcopium, [568] Chatæum, & alia nonnulla promontoria: Tadoussacus denique portus ad Saguenaij fluminis ostia Sacqéum ineuntis.

NUMEROUS headlands meet those who approach New France by the Southern coast: Breton, at the very mouth of the great river St. Lawrence; next in order, La Hève, Mouton, Sable, Fourchu, St. Louis, Blanc, Ste. Hélène.[62] Those who coast along the same shore from Cape Breton meet the harbors called Campseau, Sesambre, Port Royal, and Beaubassin.[63] But those who wish to journey inland, beyond the borders of Canada, by way of the Sacqué river, must pass Cape Breton, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence; Cap de l'Evêque, [568] Cap Chat,[64] and some other headlands,--finally reaching Tadoussac bay, at the mouth of the Saguenay river, where it enters the Sacqué.

Porrò in tam immenso terrarum ambitu, frequentibus expeditionibus, annis ampliùs centum, Franci domicilia omnino quinque constituerunt, quorum primum posuit Iacobus Quartierus posteriore sua nauigatione, non ad _Sanctæ Crucis_, quæ nunc est, importuosas angustias, & cautes: sed in iis pænè vestigiis vbi nunc est Quebecum, Sancta Cruce quindenis leucis citerius. Altertum Petrus du Gas, dominus de Monts, anno quarto supra millesimum sexcentesimum erexit, in angusta insula, inter Eteminquios, in Australi propemodum littore: cui domicilio ac insulæ nomen _Sancta Crux_ indidit. Idem eodem anno, in quasi peninsula, oræ Acadicæ, ad Regium Portum, eiusdem nominis exiguam arcem fossa & aggere munitam exstruxit. Portus Regius, & portui cognominis arx, sunt in ea, quam Franciam _Baïam_ vocant, centum quinquaginta leucis à Campsæo promontorio, leucas octo intra continentem. _Baïa_ scilicet Francis, sicut Hispanis, est amplior terræ sinus ad oram maris, aut fluminis maioris, angulato orbiculatóve recessu, influenti aquæ ad interiora continentis præbens aditum. In extremo Francico Sinu portus est octingentorum passuum ostio peruius, duas leucas longus, vnam latus, duûm millium capax maiorum nauium, cui ab nobilitate _Regius Portus_ nomen à Champlænio Franco est inditum. Tertiam sedem quarto pòst anno condidit dominus de [569] Monts ad Quebecium cornu, in Australi ripa Sacquéi amnis, è regione Aurelianæ insulæ, in Montagnetiorum solo; quam arcem Champlænius, qui operi præfuit, Quebecum à soli nomine appellauit, & eodem pænè loco Sanctam Crucem Iacobi Quartieri arcem olim conditam fuisse obseruauit. Quinti & vltimi Francici domicilij fundamenta Patres nostri iaciebant, ad ostium amnis Pentegoetij, cùm ab irrumpentibus Anglis opere prohibiti, atque in captiuitatem contra fas, & ius gentium abducti sunt. Iis ad hunc modum præmissis capitibus, quæ alioqui moratura erant institutam rerum narrationem, ad susceptam à Patribus nostris Canadicam expeditionem stylum conferamus.

Moreover, in this great extent of territory, by means of numerous expeditions and in more than a century, the French have established only five settlements;[65] the first of these was founded by Jacques Quartier during his last voyage, not at the inaccessible narrows and rocks of the place now called _Saincte Croix_,[66] but in almost the very spot where now stands Quebec, fifteen leagues on this side of Ste. Croix. Another was built by Pierre du Gas, sieur de Monts, in the year 1604, upon a small island, among the Eteminquis, close to their Southern shore, to which settlement and island he gave the name of _Saincte Croix_. He also in the same year, upon a sort of peninsula on the Acadian coast, near Port Royal, erected a small fort of the same name, defended by a ditch and a rampart. Port Royal, and the fort of the same name as the harbor, are on what is called French _Bay_, one hundred and fifty leagues from Cape Campseau, eight leagues from the sea. A _bay_ among the French, as among the Spanish, is a large indentation in the land at the shore of the sea or of a great river, angular or round in shape, giving the waters entrance to the interior regions. At the head of French Bay is a harbor, reached by a channel three-quarters of a mile long; it is two leagues long and one wide, capable of receiving 2,000 large ships, and because of its majestic appearance was named _Port Royal_ by the Frenchman Champlain. A third settlement was founded by sieur de [569] Monts, four years later, at the point of Quebec, on the Southern bank of the Sacqué river, near the isle of Orleans,[67] in the territory of the Montagnais; Champlain, who was in charge of the work, called this fort Quebec, from the name of the district,[41] and observed that in almost the same place Jacques Quartier's post of Ste. Croix had in former days been built. Our Fathers were laying the foundations of the fifth and last French settlement at the mouth of the Pentegoët river, when they were prevented from prosecuting the work by a descent of the English, and carried off into captivity, contrary to justice and the law of nations. These details, which otherwise would have delayed the orderly narrative of events, having been thus first explained, let us devote our pen to the Canadian expedition undertaken by our Fathers.

Potrincourtius Regij Portus castellum à domino de Monts sibi dono datum, eo ipso tempore, quo condebatur, ab Henrico Quarto petiuerat, eo iure, quo optimo, sibi asseri, vindicarique? ac eius non modò vindicias, sed nexum etiam impetrauerat. Secundum quod ius arcis, & imperij prætereà certis finibus in Noua Francia Potrincourtio attributi, Rex Patri Cotono significat, velle se vti Sociorum opera in Barbaris illis ad Christum adiugendis; proinde scriberet ad Generalem Societatis Præpositum suo nomine, vti designarentur Patres in eam rem, quos primo quoque tempore illuc mittendos ipse Rex ad se accerseret, annuis duûm millium Librarum vectigalibus illi Missioni attributis. Annus huius sæculi octauus agebatur, cùm Rex ita de Canadicis rebus decerneret, cuius tamen cogitationes grauioribus negotiis aliò seuocantibus, [570] eius quoque interueniente obitu, sed eorum maximè negligentia, qui Regio nomine Canadicam prouinciam, administrabant, nostrorum profectio in tertium pòst annum est dilata. Siue autem casu quopiam, siue hominum consilio, eam proferri trienni toto contigit, cùm iam in procinctu nostri essent; obortæ tamen subitò sunt eæ difficultates, quibus planum fieret, Cacodæmoni esse inuisa nostrorum in ea profectione consilia. Regina quingentos aureos nummos, ex defuncti Regis decreto numerauerat: Domina _de Vernueil_, _de Sourdis_, _de Guercheuille_, alia sacrum aræ instrumentum, alia linteam vestem copiosam, alia peramplum viaticum munificè contribuerant: Pater Petrus Biardus, & Pater Enemundus Massæus eò destinati animis ingentibus se comparauerant, vela & ventos auidè præstolantes. Status condictus dies vela faciendi eis conuenerat cum Biencourtio Potrincourtij filio, & Thoma Robinio, expeditionis ducibus, ad octauum calendas Nouembris anni decimi supra sexcentesimum; sed cùm eo die adfuissent, nauigium sarciebatur, & oscitanter quidem, in continenti; tantum aberat, vt idoneo commeatu & nauigationis, & Canadicæ familiæ instructum esset. Instaurandæ naui suas operas, materiamque locauerant Caluiniani duo, & quia Biencourtio ac Robinio ad operarum mercedem deerant facultates, Caluiniani mercatores certam nautici fructus partem pacti sibi erant, eóque nomine, pro dominis in ea naue gerere posse sibi videbantur Iesuitis igitur locum in nauigio [571] non futurum palam, & asseueranter edicunt, aut si futurum sit, ab illius operis redemtura, & cætera omni pactione se iamiam discedere: qua de sententia nec ipsius Reginæ auctoritas, ab Domino _de Cicoigne_, Dieppensis vrbis regio Præside, grauiter, seuereque denunciata, Caluini asseclas non potuit dimouere. Desperata res planè videbatur, quòd hæc vna modò nauis in Nouam Franciam anno illo adornaretur; & non paterentur duo illi Caluiniani vlla se ratione demitigari: quæ nostra destitutio Dominam Guercheuillæam, religiosissimam, & ingentis animi feminam, acriter pupugit; sed ea qua est sollertia, confestim ad manum habuit rationem, qua non iam vt vectores nos, sed vt partiarios, exclusis inhumanis Hæreticis, in nauem induceret. Quattuor igitur millium Librarum stipem de principibus viris ac feminis ex Aula, paucis diebus, corrogat, quantum erat opus ad nauem instruendam; eaque collate summa, Caluinianos illos duos nautica societate deiicit, simulque idoneam fortem constituit, vnde Canadicæ negotiationis præfecti perpetuam quotannis pensionem nostræ Missioni penderent. Sublatis itaque, illius feminæ industria, quæ nos morabantur impedimentis, ternis serè mensibus adornandæ naui consumtis, huius tandem sæculi anno vndecimo, ante diem sextum calendas Februarias, è littore Dieppensi, Deo duce, soluimus, totóque quadrimestri nauigantes Campsæum in portum, Australis littoris Nouæ Franciæ appulsi sumus; inde centum viginti leucarum vel maritima, vel terrestri via Portum [572] Regium lætantes iniuimus. Quæ sollemnia sunt Societatis hominibus in eo nautico cursu pietatis, demissionis, humanitatis erga omne hominum genus, hæc, tantò minùs ab nostris omissa sunt, quòd ingentis momenti expeditio instituebatur, & præter Caluinianos nonnullos, iis præfectis vel sociis rei nauticæ vtebamur, quos, nostræ consuetudinis ratione, omnino oportebat de Societatis Instituto rectiùs, quàm imbuti accesserant, imbui. Appellentibus nobis ad illius orbis littora nauigium, factus est obuiam Champlænius, cum cætera virtute, tum septenni iam illius maris nauigatione clarus, quem summo nostro stupore spectauimus aduersum glaciatas aquæ moles, ingentibus terræ collibus magnitudine pares, maximis animis, ac singulari industria & arte decertantem, interque illa pericula fortiter enauigantem. De Sancto-Laurentio, amne Canadiensium maximo, scribit idem Camplænius in nauigationum commentariis, eius summas aquas tribus totis in imum vlnis conglaciari Ianuario, & insequentibus mensibus duobus ab ostio sursum versùs, centum leucarum itinere, nec vltrà procedere rigorem aquæ, cum tamen nulla pars fluminis, directo alueo ab occasu in ortum manantis, sit Aquilonibus altera propior, aut montibus ad apricationem tectior. Addit etiam, ineunte Aprili, soluta glaciei tanta vi, Sancti-Laurenti laxissimum ostium congelatis molibus pæne obstrui, quas ait in altum mare longiùs prouectas, duodenis diebus, quotannis ferè liquari.