Exploit ofde la Roque.
The first discoverer of this Coast wasJaques Quartier, sent outAnno 1534.by theFrenchKing,Francisthe First, in which Expedition he spent five Months; and going from thence to St.Male, discover’d the InletLawrence,Terreneuf, andNatiscotec. The following year prosecuting his Voyage, he Sail’d into the great RiverCanada, and Winter’d near St.Croix, where he lost divers of his Men by the Scurvy, a Distemper till that time altogether unknown; and such was his condition, that none of his Men had escap’d with life, had not the Inhabitants taught him to cure the same with the Bark and Leaves of the TreeAnnedda; with which many recovering,QuartierWeigh’d Anchor, and treacherously carry’d the KingDonnaconawith many of his Nobles, Prisoners toFrance; but most of them dying,Quartierbrought only a few of them back with him in his third Voyage, six years after the first, when arriving in the Haven St.Croix, he cast up a strong Fort, which he nam’dCharlesbourg Royal, where he staid a whole Winter.Joan de la Roque, whom theFrenchKing had made Governor ofQuartier’s new-discover’d Countries, Sailing thither with three Ships, met withQuartier’s Fleet nearTerreneuf; from whence he was then going home, because he saw no hopes of subduing the Salvages with so small a Force as he had brought with him fromFrance. Butde la Roqueendeavoring to make a further discovery ofCanada, Sail’d up the RiverSaguenay, where spending both time and Money, he was Commanded home by theFrenchKing, and the fruitless Expeditions lay dead till about 1604.
Ofde Monts.
OfPoutrincourt.
WhenPeter de Montsobtaining Letters Patents to Trade for Furs in the foremention’d Countries, Sail’d with two Ships beyondAccadie, up St.Lawrence Bay, where he Landed on the Isle St.Croix, where of ninety seven Men, with which he staid there a whole Winter, he lost thirty five; but having fresh Supplies sent him fromFrance, he remov’d toPort Royal, where leaving forty Men, he return’d home; these forty being reduc’d to twenty three, and in great want, walking along the Sea-shore in a despairing condition, espy’d a Ship coming up with fullSail, which upon nearer approach, prov’d aFrenchVessel, of whichPoutrincourtwas Commander, who receiving his wretched Countrey-men with great joy, took them with him toPort Royal, being sent thither on purpose to settle a Plantation inAccadie: Meanwhile the Letters Patent granted toMonts, being call’d in, the first Planters inPort Royalwere forc’d to desert the same, and return home; and alsoPoutrincourtreturning, came back again three years after toPort Royal, where finding the Houses standing as he had left them, he Manur’d the Countrey all about, and endeavoring to PlantChristianityamong the Natives, Christen’d among others anAccadianLord, who was above a hundred years old; all whichPoutrincourtSailing back to France, related at the Court.
Remarkable Transactions of someJesuits.
TheJesuitsbeing also inform’d thereof, obtain’d leave of the Queen to sendPeter BiardandEuemond Massethither, on pretence, thatHenrythe Fourth had himself promis’d them the same Priviledge in his Life time. But the Merchants atDiep, which were concern’d in the new Plantations withPoutrincourt, opposing the going over of the foremention’dJesuits, express’d themselves very violent against them, and laid to their charge the Blood of the late King, which they said was yet reaking inParis:What assurance(alleadg’d they)had their Goods which were in the Custody of Men inclin’d to theSpaniards?Must theChristian Religionbe promulgated? There are so many Orders ofMonkswhich may easily produce two Men; but if the Queen was resolv’d to sendJesuitsthither, they desir’d restauration of the Monies which they had disburs’d: To whichBiardandMasseharkening, gather’d up the demanded Monies, under pretence of being requir’d towards the Preaching of theChristian Religionamongst these remoteHeathens; by this means getting great Sums, they bought out the foremention’d Merchants, so that the new Plantations fell half to theJesuits, who setting Sail, and arriving atPort Royal, turn’d all things topsiturvy, and so thwartedPoutrincourtin his designs, that he was forc’d to complain to theFrenchCourt of theJesuitsoppression, whose aim it was to get all things into their own Possession; whereupon they ExcommunicatedPoutrincourt’s Son (who serv’d in his Father’s place at Court), and gain’d the DukeGuerehevilleinFranceto be of their Party, by promising him, that he should share in the new Plantations for a contracted Sum of Money: After this they receiv’d all sorts of Arms and Ammunition, with several Brass Guns, of the then KingLewisthe XIII. and other gifts Collected and gather’d out of their several Societies, for two newAccadianApostles.Gilbert du Thet, a subtile man of the same Order, transported their Necessaries.
At this time all things going favorably with theJesuits, they made themselves Masters ofPort Royal, and began to raise a Fort on the RiverPemtagovet; but there their happy Proceedings were stop’d, for CaptainArgalbefore-mention’d, Sailing thither in vindication of theEnglish, was encounter’d bydu Thet, (who firing the first Gun onArgal, was by him taken off with Chain-shot) and takingBiardandMasse, carry’d them Prisoners toVirginia, and dismantled the Fort built atPort Royal, after which it was by KingJamesgiven by Patent to SirWilliam Alexander, as hath been already related, together with what of most remarkable hath happen’d since.
Sect. VI.Norumbegua.
Whence denominated.
Norumbegua, lying betweenNova ScotiaNorthward, andNew EnglandSouthward, is so utterly not taken notice of by many as a distinct Province, that it might seem to be swallow’d up and lost in the two Countreys between which it lies, or at least to be thought a part ofVirginiaorNew England(forVirginialargely taken is said to containNew England,Novum Belgium, andVirginia, especially so call’d) and that so much the rather, because theBessabees, accounted bySanson d’Abbevillean ancient People ofNew England, are written to have liv’d near the RiverPenobscot, which is reckon’d to be the same withPemtegovet, or (as some will have it)Norumbegua, from which, or from a certain great City of that Name, the Country for fancy’s sake must needs be denominated; but since most commonly we find it nam’d and treated of apart, it will not be improper to follow that method, carrying the Bounds ofNew Englandno farther Northward than the RiverQuinnebequiorSagadahoc, and so determining the main part of this Countrey to that space between the aforesaid River andPemtegovet, excepting a small Southerly portion upon the Banks of the RiverChovacovet; so that it appears chiefly situate under the forty third Degree of Northern Latitude.
Towns and Cities not certainly known.
As for the Towns or Cities of this Province, there is but a very uncertain account to be given, forasmuch as the pretended great CityNorumbegua, from whence the Province should take its Appellation, is not acknowledg’d by any of the most authentick modern Writers, nor in any late Voyage or Discovery any mention made either of that or any other considerable Town or City. Dr.Heylinsupposeth it to be no other thanAgguncia, a poor little Village, that seems compos’d of a company of Hutts or Sheaves, cover’d with the Skins of Beasts, or the Barks of Trees. But the most favourable conjecture is, that it might haply be the Ruines of an ancient Town, which the Natives call’dArambeck, and had probably deserted it long before the arrival of theEuropeansin those parts; however, it is not very probable that the Name of the Countrey should be deriv’d from this City, if ever there were any such, or from the River, which appears to have been term’dNorumbeguaon purpose to make way for this derivation, whereasPemtegovetis the ancient Appellation that properly belongs to it; nor hath any modern one been apply’d to it but that ofRio Grande, byBunoin hisCommentuponPhilip Cluverius, upon what ground is hard to tell, since it is observ’d byHeylinand others, to be neither large, nor otherwise much to be commended, being Navigable not above twenty or thirty Miles, in respect of its many great Cataracts and Falls of Water, an Inconvenience with which many other Rivers ofAmericaare prejudic’d, and rendred impassable.
Before and about the Mouth of this River, which is judg’d to be about eight or nine Miles broad, lie many small Islands, or rather Hills, inviron’d with Water, the chiefest of which is by theFrenchcall’dLa Haute Isle, from the high and Mountainous appearance of it to those that see it from afar off at Sea.
The aforemention’dBuno, though he names, as belonging toNorumbega, these several places,viz.Porto del Refugio,Porto Reale,Paradiso,Flora, andAngolema, from some obscureFrenchtestimonies, without particularising any Author, yet he afterwards confesses, that the Names given by theFrench, and those apply’d by theSpaniards, are so various and disagreeing, and breed such a confusion, that no Charts or Descriptions had concluded upon either.
As for those who will haveNorumbegaderiv’d fromNorwegia, in respect of a Colony brought thither fromNorwey, if the Etymologie be not a little too much forc’d, the Invention may pass well enough till a better be found out.
The temperature and nature of its Soil.
In this Countrey the temperature of the Air is not bad, nor the Soil unfruitful, if it were well cultivated, chiefly towards the Rivers, and where it is not either overgrown with Woods, or craggy with Hills and mountainous Rocks: neither are the Woods unprofitable, for they afford good Timber, and all kind of necessary and useful Wood, especially Beeches, Fir-trees, Wallnut-trees, and other Nuts: The Plains are very pleasant, and yield good Pasturage, onely the Maritime Coasts are so shallow and full of Sands, that the Sailing near them is accounted somewhat dangerous; and this may be imagin’d to be the reason that no Authors have yet met with any Ports or Havens belonging to this Countrey, which they have thought worthy their notice.