V

THE FRENCH VOYAGEURS

HEN Spain and Portugal undertook, in 1494, to

WHE

divide the unexplored portions of the globe between them, under the Pope's two edicts of the previous year, that impertinent proposal was received by England and France in very characteristic ways. England met it with blunt contempt, and France with an epigram. "The King of France sent word to our great Emperor," says Bernal Diaz, describing the capture of some Spanish treasure - ships by a French pirate, "that as he and the King of Portugal had divided the earth between themselves, without giving him a share of it, he should like them to show him our father Adam's will, in order to know if he had made them his sole heirs." (Que mostrassen el testamento de nuestro padre Adan, si les dexo á ellos solamente por herederos.) In the meanwhile he warned them that he should feel quite free to take all he could, upon the ocean.

France was not long content with laying claim to the sea, but wished to have the land also. The name of "New France" may still be seen on early maps and globes, sometimes covering all that part of the Atlantic coast north of Florida, and sometimes-as in the map of Ortelius, made in 1572-the whole of North and South America. All this claim was based upon the

explorations, first of Verrazzano (1524), and then of Cartier (1534-1540). The first of these two voyagers sailed along the coast; the second penetrated into the interior, and the great river St. Lawrence was earliest known to Europeans through the graphic narrative of its original French explorer. Perhaps no two expeditions since Columbus and Cabot have added more to the geographical knowledge of the world—or would have added to it but for the doubt that still rests in some minds over the authenticity of Verrazzano's narrative. To such extremes has this doubt been carried that Bancroft, in the revised edition of his history, did not so much as mention the name of Verrazzano, though the general opinon of authorities now accepts his narrative as genuine.

Like many Italian navigators of that age, he served other nations than his own, and sailed by order of Francis I., whose attention had just been called from royal festivals and combats of lions to take part in the exploration of the world. For this purpose he sent out Verrazzano with four ships" to discover new lands" (a discoprir nuove terre), and it was to describe these same regions that a letter was written by the explorer from Dieppe to the King, July 8, 1524. This letter was published by Ramusio about forty years later, and an English translation of it appeared in Hakluyt's famous collection. A manuscript copy of the letter was discovered by Professor George W. Greene, at Florence, about 1840, and the letter itself was reprinted from this copy by the New York Historical Society. If authentic, it is the earliest original account of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Verrazzano saw land first at what is now North Carolina-"a newe land never before

seen by any man, either auncient or moderne”—and afterwards sailed northward, putting in at many harbors. The natives everywhere received him kindly at first, and saved the life of a young sailor who was sent ashore with presents for them, and became exhausted with swimming. In return, the Frenchmen carried off a child, and attempted to carry off a young girl, tall and very beautiful (di molta bellezza e d'alta statura), whom they found hidden with an older woman near the shore, and whom they vainly tried to tempt by presents. Everything which they offered was thrown down by the Indian girl in great anger (e con ira a terra gittava), and when they attempted to seize her, she shrieked so loudly that they let her alone. After such a transaction, we can understand why Verrazzano, in the latter part of his voyage, found it impossible to command the confidence of the natives, so that on the northern coast of New England the Indians would not suffer him to land, but would only let down their furs and provisions into the boats from the rocks, insisting on instant payment, and making signs of disdain and contempt (dispregio e verecondia). In accordance with the usual logic of adventurers at that day, Verrazzano made up his mind that these poor creatures had no sense of religion.

This early explorer's observations on the natives have little value; but his descriptions of the coast, especially of the harbors of New York and Newport, have peculiar interest, and his charts, although not now preserved, had much influence upon contemporary geography. He sailed northward as far as. Newfoundland, having explored the coast from 34° to 50° of north latitude, and left on record the earliest

description of the whole region. As to the ultimate fate of Verrazzano reports differ, some asserting that he was killed and eaten by savages, and others that he was hanged by the Spaniards as a pirate. Something of the same shadowy uncertainty still attaches to his reputation.

A greater than Verrazzano followed him, aroused and stimulated by what he had done. The first explorer of the St. Lawrence was Jacques Cartier, who had sailed for years on fishing voyages from St. Malo, which was and is the nursery of the hardiest sailors of France. Having visited Labrador, he longed to penetrate farther; and sailing in April, 1534, he visited Newfoundland and the Bay of Chaleur, and set up a cross at Gaspé, telling the natives with pious fraud that it was only intended for a beacon. He then sailed up the St. Lawrence nearly to Anticosti, supposing that this great stream was the long-sought passage to Cathay and the Indies. The next year he sailed again, with three vessels, and for the first time described to the world what he calls "the river of Hochelaga." He applied the name of Canada to a certain part of the banks of the St. Lawrence, calling all below Saguenay, and all above Hochelaga, these being Indian names. There has been, however, much discussion about the word "Canada," which means "a village" in certain Indian dialects, and also signifies, curiously enough, "a ravine" in Spanish, and "a lane" in Portuguese.

In the greatest delight over the beauty of the river, the Frenchmen sailed onward. They visited Stadaconé, the site of Quebec, and Hochelaga, the site of Montreal, Cartier being the first to give the name of Mont Royal or Réal to the neighboring mountain.

At Hochelaga they found the carefully built forts of the Indians which Cartier minutely describes, and the large communal houses already mentioned. They met everywhere with a cordial reception, except that the Indians brought to bear strange pretences to keep them from ascending the river too far. The chief device was the following:

While the Frenchmen lay at Stadaconé they saw one morning a boat come forth from the woods bearing three men "dressed like devils, wrapped in dog's skins, white and black, their faces besmeared as black as any coals, with horns on their heads more than a yard long," and as this passed the ships, one of the men made a long oration, neither of them looking towards the ships; then they all three fell flat in the boat, when the Indians came out to meet them, and guided them to the shore. It was afterwards explained that these were messengers from the god Cudraigny, to tell the Frenchmen to go no farther lest they should perish with cold. The Frenchmen answered that the alleged god was but a fool-that Jesus Christ would protect his followers from cold. Then the Indians, dancing and shouting, accepted. this interpretation, and made no further objection. But when at a later period Cartier and his companions passed the dreary winter, first of all Europeans, in what he called the Harbor of the Holy Crosssomewhere on the banks of the St. Charles Riverhe learned by suffering that the threats of the god Cudraigny had some terror in them, after all. He returned to France the following summer, leaving no colony in the New World.

For the first French efforts at actual colonization we must look southward on the map of America