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THE 
PUBLICATIONS OF 
Suk CHAMPLAIN 
SOCIETY 


DENYS. 


DESCRIPTION & NATURAL HISTORY 


OF THE COASTS OF NORTH 
AMERICA (ACADIA) 


TORONTO 
THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY 


Five Hundred and Twenty Copies of 
this Volume have been printed. Twenty 
are reserved for Editorial purposes. 
The remaining Five Hundred are 
supplied only to Members of the 
Society and to Subscribing Libraries. 


This copy is No. Z % Z 


THE DESCRIPTION AND 
NWATURAL HISTORY 
mr THE COASTS OF 


NORTH AMERICA 
(ACADIA) 


BY 


NYS 
NICOLAS WE 


TRANSLATED AND EDITED, WITH A MEMOIR OF THE 
AUTHOR, COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS, AND A 
REPRINT OF THE ORIGINAL, BY 


WILLIAM F. GANONG, Pu.D. 


PROFESSOR IN SMITH COLLEGE 


TORONTO 


THE CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY 
1908 


PREFACE 


T will be agreed by all, I believe, that Denys’ Description 
and Natural History of the Coasts of North America is 
the most important early French work on Canada 

which has not until now been either translated or reprinted. 
The reasons for this tardy recognition of a worthy work are, 
however, manifest. They arise in part from its restricted 
geographical interest, for, despite its wide-ranging title, it is 
really confined to Acadia only. They result in larger part 
from its unattractive style and composition, for it abounds in 
every possible literary fault. But chiefly are they due to the 
confusion in the presentation of much of its most valuable 
material, a confusion which is intensified by divers sorts of 
errors to such a degree that some scholars have dismissed its 
statements as unintelligible. The task presented to a trans- 
lator, accordingly, has been not simply to render a book of 
bad French into one of good English, but also to discover, 
and to show by proper annotation, the author’s real meaning 
when he is obscure, and the actual truth when he is in error. 
In other words, the book demanded not only a translator, but 
also a commentator who had local knowledge of the places, 
the objects, and the contemporary records bearing on the 
events which Denys describes. It is some knowledge of these 
matters, gained through a good many years of loving study, 
which has been my chief qualification for undertaking this 
work, rather than my knowledge of old French, which is but 
mediocre and has had to be supplemented by much help from 
others. And I cannot forbear to add this further personal 


Vil 


Vill PREFACE 


remark, that I consider it one of the greatest pieces of good 
fortune of my life that this work had not earlier been done, and 
that there has fallen to me the highly congenial task of trans- 
lating and editing this important book, devoted to a country 
and to subjects which interest me so much. 

In making the translation my first intention was to keep 
as closely to the original as was consistent with making its 
meaning clear, but later I realised that it was best to try to 
render into plain English the exact meaning of the author as 
I understand it, making adherence to the form but secondary. 
It is probable that the translation suffers somewhat from relics 
of the earlier in the later plan. In order to make the mean- 
ing clear I have had often to depart rather widely from the 
literal diction, and especially from the arrangement of phrases 
and sentences, of the original. In places it has been necessary 
to add explanatory or equivalent words, but these I have always 
enclosed within square brackets; and in the same way I have 
added the pages of the original at the proper places, so that 
the reader may very readily turn from translation to original 
and vice versa. In every case I have retained Denys’ own 
spelling of Acadian proper names, though I have capitalised 
them. But I have translated the geographical terms Cap, Baye, 
Isle, &c., except when these form an integral or inseparable 
part of the name; then they are left untranslated. In the 
interests of brevity I have omitted from the notes any discus- 
sion of the many philological or grammatical problems, no 
matter how curious or difficult, raised by the book, so long 
as the meaning is certain, though I have briefly discussed 
them in those few cases in which even the aid of competent 
scholars has failed to make the meaning perfectly plain. In 
addition to reprinting Denys’ own illustrations, ] have added 
various maps which I have myself drawn expressly to supple- 
ment the notes and text; and I have added also some photo- 
graphs of the places most closely associated with the life of 
Denys in Acadia, in order to give the reader a somewhat 


PREFACE ix 


more vivid conception of the surroundings in which our 
author’s life was passed, and of their present appearance. 

As to the reprint of the original, I need only say that the 
aim has been to reproduce it in every particular, letter for 
letter, misprints, errors and all, as nearly as modern type can 
be made to do it. Every possible care has been taken to 
ensure an exact reproduction, and while one can hardly hope 
for perfection in such a matter, I feel confident that very few 
errors have managed to insinuate themselves into this part of 
the work. Since the various copies of Denys’ book differ 
from one another in some details of the text, as will be found 
explained in the Bibliography later in this volume, it has been 
necessary to follow some one copy, which, of course, should 
be one of the later and more correct. Accordingly I have 
followed exactly, both in translation and reprint, the Harvard 
College Library copy, which therefore is the type copy, so to 
speak, of the present work. The pagination of the original 
has been inserted, enclosed within square brackets, at the 
proper places in the text. Since, however, certain pages, 
including all those preceding Chapter I. in Volume I., and the 
few after 486 at the end of Volume II., lack pagination in the 
original, and since numbers are necessary for reference to 
these pages, I have added these in Roman numerals, all of 
which are to be understood as not in the original. 

In the preparation of this work I have had to ask aid 
from a great many persons, practically all of whom have 
responded with that ready and kindly courtesy which is dis- 
tinctive of the brotherhood of scholars. They are far too 
many to mention here, but I have tried to make suitable 
acknowledgment in the proper places in the notes. But 
there are certain ones whose aid has been so constant and so 
important that I wish to make express and grateful mention 
of it in this place. First among these is M. Phileas Gagnon, 
keeper of the Judicial Archives of Quebec and foremost 
among Canadian bibliographers, who has not only brought to 


Xx PREFACE 


my attention and aided me in translating several very im- 
portant legal documents bearing upon Denys’ life and work, 
but has also read my translation of the work throughout, and, 
by his pertinent criticisms and suggestions, has improved my 
wording at many places and saved me from errors which 
would have been mortifying. Again, in the many places 
where the French of Denys is especially obscure, I have had 
the ready assistance of my colleague, Mademoiselle Vincens, 
Professor of French in Smith College. Further, I have had, 
throughout the work, the sympathetic aid of my friend Mr. 
Victor H. Paltsits, formerly Assistant Librarian of the Lenox 
Library, and now State Historian of New York, whose biblio- 
graphical and other assistance is represented only in small 
measure by the Bibliography which bears his name. To Mr. 
H. P. Biggar, a well-known authority upon the early French 
period of Canadian history, I am indebted for some important 
documents and references bearing upon Denys’ life; and I 
have had aid, which is not especially mentioned in the work, 
from Dr. N. E. Dionne, Librarian of the Legislature of 
Quebec, and from Professor J. M. Clarke of the State 
Museum at Albany, New York. I wish especially to state 
my obligation to the authorities of the Harvard College 
Library, and to Mr. Thomas J. Kiernan, the Superintendent 
of Circulation, in particular, for the loan, repeatedly and 
many months together, of the copy of Denys’ book from 
which this work has been translated and reprinted. Likewise 
I am indebted to the authorities of the Lenox Library, New 
York, for permission to make the photographs of their 
original Denys’ map, plates, and title-pages. I feel also a 
great obligation to the Champlain Society for the publication 
of the work in its present beautiful form, and to its officers 
for their personal sympathy and assistance—to the President, 
Dr. B. E. Walker, for many suggestions made during his 
reading of the proofs, to the Treasurer, Dr. James Bain, for 
having had made the copy for the reprint, and especially to 


PREFACE XI 


the Secretary, Professor Wrong, who has read all my proofs, 
much to their profit, and whose editorial patience must at 
times have been sorely taxed in other ways. To all I have 
here named, and to those others mentioned in the following 
pages, for their contribution of so much that is best in the 
book, I bespeak the thanks of the reader as well as express 
my own. 
W. F. GANONG. 


February 10, 1908. 


Uy Ry LB tear 
OT Le 
Ae aR 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE . 
INTRODUCTION 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF DENYS’ BOOK 


(By Vicror H. Pa.rsirs.) 
COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 
TRANSLATION OF VOLUME Bin 
TRANSLATION OF VOLUME II. 
TEXT OF VOLUME I. . 

TEXT OF VOLUME II.. 


INDEX 


xiii 


241 


453 


515 


O11 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


A SPECIMEN PAGE OF DENYS’ BOOK 
AUTOGRAPH OF NICOLAS DENYS 

TITLE-PAGE OF DENYS’ BOOK . 

TITLE-PAGE OF VOLUME II. OF DENYS’ BOOK 


TITLE-PAGE OF THE DUTCH TRANSLATION OF 
DENYS’ BOOK 


THE INTERPOLATED COPPERPLATE PICTURES 
OF THE DUTCH TRANSLATION OF DENYS’ 
BOOK 


THE PROBABLE SITE OF DENYS’ ESTABLISH- 
MENT AT PORT ROSSIGNOL 


THE SITES OF RAZILLY’S AND DENYS’ ESTAB- 
LISHMENTS AT LA HAVE 


PART OF A MS. MAP OF DATE BETWEEN 1654 
AND 1658 


fie Site OF DENYS’ ESTABLISHMENT AT 
CHEDABUCTO 


THE SITE OF DENYS’ FORT AT SAINT PETERS 


nee sorth OF DENYS ESTABLISHMENT AT 
MISCOU 


tee ott h OL DENYS’ ESTABLISHMENT. AT 
WEPISIGUIT . 


XV 


To face p. 
On page 


To face p. 


25 


50 


So 


80 


143 


148 


160 


169 


177 


203 


XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


CONSTRUCTION OF THE STAGING USED IN 
THE COD-FISHERY . : ; : : : . Lo face pg. 264 


ARTICLES USED IN THE COD-FISHERY : : 289 


ILLUSTRATION OF METHODS USED IN THE 
COD-FISHERY 


” 311 
MAPS 

MAP OF — THE COUNTRY ‘DESCRIBED (Ea 
NICOLAS DENYS “<0 .°) .)..° “\ \. 7SiSSee 
SAINT JOHN HARBOUR...) . 9) pee 
PORT ROYAL ; ; : i , ‘ ; ; ‘ és 122 
CAPE SABLE AND PORT LA TOUR . 59 192 
PORT ROSSIGNOL . : . ’ : ‘ : + 142 
LA HAVE i 148 
CHEDABUCTO 93 168 
SAINT) PETERE: RiWosh ello Lona ee fs 177 
SAINT ANNES . : : ; : ‘ F : : - 183 
MISCOU . e 201 
NEPISIGUIT . he 213 
PERCE AND MAL BAY ..\) 2 @ ite (4p 222 


DENYS’ MAP OF L7AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE (7o face p. 240 
LATITUDES OF ACADIA AND FRANCE . : . On page 249 


OUTLINE MAP OF FRANCE. 


INTRODUCTION 


NICOLAS DENYS 


THE TIMES, THE MAN, AND THE BOOK 


extension towards Europe, lies the country known 

of old as Acadia, or to our author as l’Amerique 
Septentrionale. It covered most of that huge peninsula 
which is nearly encircled by the great River Saint Lawrence, 
the Gulf, and the Atlantic Ocean, with a western limit at 
the River Penobscot. To-day it is parted into five political 
divisions: the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, 
Prince Edward Island and a portion of Quebec, together with 
a part of the State of Maine. It is a fair land, charming in 
summer though stern in winter, moderate in resources, varied 
in aspect, modest in relief, deeply dissected by the sea. Once 
it bore an unbroken mantle of forest, the shelter of a wandering 
Indian race and nurse of a great fur-trade, while its ample 
waters have ever yielded a rich return from the fisheries. 
Such was the scene of our author’s life-work, and of such was 
the theme of his book. 

The discovery of Acadia followed close upon that of 
America, for John Cabot saw its shores in 1497, or at least 
in 1498. ‘The records are most obscure, but upon them rests 
England’s nominal right to the country. Of the other ex- 
plorers who came later Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 and 
Jacques Cartier in 1534 were the chief, for their voyages gave 

: A 


g the eastern part of Northern America, near its farthest 


2 INTRODUCTION 


France her title to this land. Yet these legal rights, based 
upon discovery, are of more academic interest than practical 
importance, since they had little weight with the final arbiters 
of the ownership of Acadia, which were might of arms and 
colonising genius. Then followed a long interval marked 
only by the summer visits of traders and fishermen; and the 
first period of Acadian history, the period of exploration, 
drew to a close with the end of the sixteenth century. 

The period of settlement began in 1604. In that year 
the Sieur de Monts, obtaining from the King of France 
viceregal powers of government and a monopoly of trade in 
all Acadia, came to the country with a strong expedition. He 
aided his historian and geographer, Champlain, to map its 
Atlantic coast, established a settlement at Saint Croix Island 
and later another at Port Royal, was worsted by his foes at 
court, and had to abandon the country in 1607 just as the 
English were establishing themselves in Virginia. But the 
fruits of his labour were not wholly lost, for a companion of 
his voyage, the Sieur de Poutrincourt, re-established the settle- 
ment of Port Royal in 1610 and placed it in charge of his 
son Biencourt. It was only three years later when, sharing 
the fate of a new French settlement forming at Mount 
Desert, Port Royal was destroyed by the Virginia English 
under Argal; and Biencourt with his few French companions, 
the two La Tours and some others, was forced to a wandering 
life with the Indians. Then for well-nigh twenty years the 
French Government, expending upon Quebec such colonising 
strength as it could afford, ignored Acadia well-nigh utterly, 
and left it without defence or a capital. Yet Frenchmen did 
not abandon it. Missionaries came to convert the Indians, 
especially on the Saint John and at Nepisiguit; trading 
companies were formed to exploit the trade and fisheries, the 
most important being that of Miscou, founded in 1619; fishing 
vessels continued to resort every summer to all the harbours 
of the coast to catch and dry the cod. Gradually, too, the 


INTRODUCTION 3 


wandering companions of Biencourt settled down. ‘The elder 
La Tour established himself for trade at the mouth of the 
Penobscot until driven thence by the English in 1628; and 
his son, after the death of Biencourt in 1623, built up a 
strong post near Cape Sable. In 1626-27, men wintered for 
the first time at the trading-post of Miscou; and here and 
there, at Port Lomeron near Cape Sable, at Yarmouth near 
Cape Fourchu, and perhaps elsewhere at the places of greatest 
resort of the fishing ships, adventurous individuals established 
the beginnings of settlements which, intended to be per- 
manent, were mostly destroyed by New Englanders, who had 
come to establish themselves at Plymouth in 1620. Thus 
it came about that, in the year 1627, there was only a single 
French post of any strength in all Acadia, Charles de la Tour’s 
Fort Saint Louis near Cape Sable; and La Tour was in fact, 
iinet in) name, the French ruler of the country. Then in 
that year war broke out between England and France. The 
English attempted in 1628 to relieve the Huguenots besieged 
in La Rochelle by the armies of the Catholic King of France, 
but failed. In America they were more successful, for, under 
Thomas Kirk, they seized Port Royal, nominal capital of 
Acadia (leaving La Tour’s fort, no doubt, because it was strong 
and they were hurried), and captured some French ships, on 
one of which was the elder La Tour. The next year they 
took Quebec, and for the first time England possessed both 
Canada ana Acadia. Then followed some events of no great 
concern to history, but of some importance to our present 
subject. The Scot, Sir William Alexander, had received from 
the King of England in 1621 a grant of Acadia, under the 
name of Nova Scotia, despite the fact that it was nominally 
French; but he had made little attempt to settle it. In 1629, 
however, he sent a colony to Port Royal. In the same year, 
Sir James Stuart, to whom Alexander had granted a Barony, 
attempted a settlement at Baleine Cove in Cape Breton, whence 
he was promptly ousted by the French Captain Daniel, who 


A INTRODUCTION 


built himself a fort at Saint Annes, the first in that important 
place. The next year, 1630, Alexander sent a second colony 
to Port Royal, and on one of his ships was the elder La Tour, 
who, during his two years of residence in England, had re- 
nounced his French allegiance, married an Englishwoman of 
quality, and accepted a Baronetcy of Nova Scotia from Sir 
William Alexander. But he did more than this, for he 
accepted a similar Baronetcy on behalf of his son, together 
with a great grant of the coast to them conjointly; and he 
promised to bring over his son to British allegiance. But 
when the ships carrying La Tour and the Scots colony of 
1630 stopped at Cape Sable, Charles de la Tour refused 
utterly to make good his father’s promises, and resisted first 
his entreaties, then his threats, and finally an attempt at force. 
The father was obliged to go on in disgrace to Port Royal, 
whence he later returned by his son’s invitation to Fort Saint 
Louis and his French allegiance. Meantime it had become 
known that Canada and Acadia were to be returned to France, 
for reasons which were personal with the two Kings and 
concerned not the good of their empires. This restitution 
was finally effected by the Treaty of Saint Germain early in 
1632, and with it ended the period of tentative settlement 
in Acadia. 

The new period which now opened is of especial im- 
portance to us because our author, Denys, early became a 
part of its history. It began in 1632 with Acadia restored 
to France but still well-nigh a wilderness. Through all its 
great extent there were only some four small settlements: 
the post near Cape Sable commanded by Charles de la Tour, 
who in 1631 had been created Lieutenant-General for the King, 
a weak fort at Saint Annes in Cape Breton, a trading-post 
at Miscou, and a small Scots colony at Port Royal. The time 
was ripe for a change, and immediately the great Company 
of New France, a powerful organisation formed in 1627 to 
manage the affairs of France in America, prepared to exploit 


INTRODUCTION 5 


Acadia. They chose as leader of the enterprise one of the 
most capable of their members, the chivalrous Commandeur 
Isaac de Razilly, who, in the same year, 1632, came to the 
country with full authority and ample means for its govern- 
ment and settlement. He received the surrender of the Scots 
at Port Royal, but fixed his own capital at La Have, a great 
centre for the fishery, where he established himself strongly. 
Here, later, he settled a number of French families, and thus 
made the first planting of the Acadian race in America. 
With him were two men, who later became leaders in the 
land. One was his cousin, Charles de Menou, Sieur d’Aulnay 
Charnisay, and the other was Nicolas Denys. D’Aulnay was 
given charge of the Penobscot, from which he drove the 
English, and where he built, or rebuilt, a fort and trading- 
post, which he held successfully for several years; Denys at 
first remained near Razilly, and founded fishing and lumbering 
establishments at Rossignol (Liverpool) and La Have. Mean- 
time Charles de la Tour remained at Fort Saint Louis until 
1635, when he removed toa new and strong fort at the mouth 
of the River Saint John and engaged in the Indian trade. 
Then, just as these various settlements began to gather head- 
way, in 1635, Razilly died, and a time of confusion and civil 
strife began. 

The successor of Razilly as commander, and probably by 
his choice, was D’Aulnay, who later also purchased Razilly’s 
property-rights from the latter’s brother. He assumed full 
authority and removed the settlers of La Have to Port Royal, 
which he made his capital. Meanwhile Charles de la Tour, 
whose commission as Lieutenant-General for the King had 
never been revoked, continued to control the rich trade of 
the Saint John. Naturally it was not long before he and 
D’Aulnay, both masterful and ambitious men with indefinite 
spheres of command, came into conflict; and the history of 
Acadia for the next ten years is little more than a record of 
the strife, partly of diplomacy and partly of arms, between 


6 INTRODUCTION 


these two men. In 1638 the King of France intervened, and 
divided between them all that part of Acadia lying west of 
Canso, the eastern part being omitted, presumably, because 
then considered to belong rather to Canada than to Acadia, 
though possibly because of some existent understanding with 
Denys, who early began to trade and fish in that region. 
But with two such men as D’Aulnay and La Tour no divi- 
sion of authority was possible, and the struggle for mastery 
continued, until finally D’Aulnay, already victor at court, 
triumphed also in the field. In 1645 he captured La Tour’s 
fort at Saint John, despite its heroic defence by La Tour’s wife, 
and drove his rival into exile from Acadia. Two years later, in 
1647, he was made Governor of the entire country from New 
England to the Saint Lawrence, expelled Denys from a post 
founded at Miscou two years before, and for some years 
ruled as absolute master in Acadia. He devoted himself to 
the extension of trade, but did little to promote the prosperity 
of the country in other respects. Then suddenly, in 1650, 
in the very height of his career, he died, and discord once 
more prevailed in the land. 

The death of D’Aulnay was a signal which brought back 
to the country the two men, La Tour and Denys, whom he 
had dispossessed, and which called thither a third, Le Borgne, 
to whom he was heavily in debt. In 1651 La Tour, bear- 
ing a new commission from the King of France as Governor 
and Lieutenant-General of Acadia, returned to his fort on the 
Saint John. ‘The next year he married the widow of his rival, 
D’Aulnay, and with her, so far as history reveals, he lived 
happily ever after. Meanwhile Denys, after sundry earlier 
attempts, established himself at Saint Peters in Cape Breton, 
an admirable station for the Indian trade and the fishery. 
Then Le Borgne, as claimant of the entire estate of D’Aulnay, 
attempted to evict both La Tour and Denys. La Tour he 
found too strong, but Denys he captured by stratagem, though 
he later allowed him to return to France. There, in the 


INTRODUCTION 7 


winter of 1653-54 Denys bought from the Company of New 
France all the great territory comprising the coasts and islands 
of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from Canso to Gaspé, and was 
made Governor and Lieutenant-General thereof by the King. 
Then he returned immediately to Saint Peters. No doubt 
he and his friend La Tour would soon have worsted Le 
Borgne, and thenceforth would have divided the govern- 
ment of Acadia peaceably between them, but suddenly again, 
as so often in Acadian history, there fell the usual mis- 
fortune. In that very year, without any warning, an English 
force, instigated by New England, seized the principal French 
posts, and another period of Acadian history came to an end. 
But while the English seized Penobscot with La Tour’s fort 
at Saint John and Le Borgne’s possessions at Port Royal, they 
left Governor Denys quite undisturbed at Saint Peters, nor did 
they, during the fifteen years they held Acadia, ever attempt 
to molest him. This was at first, no doubt, because his estab- 
lishments seemed too weak and too remote to be worth the 
effort of suppression, combined with which was the feeling, it 
is likely, that this distant region belonged rather to Canada 
than to the Acadia with which New Englanders had especial 
concern. Perhaps his immunity later was due to the friend- 
ship of La Tour, who had great influence with the English. 
However this may be, we have in the fact itself a manifestation 
of that difference in history and development which has distin- 
guished the Saint Lawrence from the Atlantic slope of Acadia 
down even to our own day. Then during the fifteen years of 
the English possession there was no progress, for the French 
could not, and the English did not, materially improve the 
country. La Tour became a friend of the English, and lived in 
quiet at Saint John until his death in 1666. Denys, though 
undisturbed politically, could make no headway, partly be- 
cause of the uncertain status of the country, and partly because 
of a series of personal reverses which finally drove him, in 


1669, from Saint Peters to Nepisiguit. But in 1667, by the 


8 INTRODUCTION 


Treaty of Breda, Acadia, which had been seized unjustly, was 
restored to France, and a new period of French rule began. 

The actual restoration of the posts of Acadia did not occur 
until 1670, but thereafter for twenty years, under a succession 
of French Governors, the southern parts of the country, from 
Canso to Penobscot, made a slow advance marked by the 
expansion of the Acadian people. But all of the eastern part, 
from Canso to Gaspé, under the government of Denys, re- 
mained as backward as ever; for Denys, despite all efforts, was 
unable to settle it even to the small extent required by the 
conditions of his grant. As a result, his rights gradually 
lapsed, and were finally revoked a year before his death in 1688. 
Nor did those to whom portions of his lands were re-granted 
succeed much better, and the permanent settlement of all the 
Gulf coast had to wait half a century longer. 

The later history of Acadia hardly concerns our present 
subject, but we may add this much. Port Royal was seized 
again by the English in 1690 and restored to France in 1697. 
The English took it again in 1710; but this time they did 
not cede it back, and have held it ever since. From 1713 to 
1763, however, all that part now included in New Brunswick 
was claimed by both France and England, and this kept it a 
waste and contributed greatly to the causes which produced 
the unhappy expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. Finally, in 
1763, all Canada and the remainder of Acadia passed to 
England, and then began the steady development which con- 
tinues to our own day. The Atlantic coast of old Acadia 
gradually received a population from the New England States 
and the other English colonies to the southward; while the 
Saint Lawrence slope, the old government of Nicolas Denys, 
has been peopled in part by the expansion of the Acadian 
French and in part by later immigrants from Great Britain 
and Ireland. But the French are increasing much faster than 
the English, and time may yet work a strange revenge by 
restoring to the French race through this peaceful conquest 


INTRODUCTION 9 


the land which the English possess not by right but by 
might. 

Such in brief were the surroundings in which our author 
passed most of his life. Weseek now a closer acquaintance 
with the man himself. 

Nicolas Denys was born at Tours in 1598, according to 
the Biographie Universelle ; the date is confirmed by his son’s 
memorial of 1689 and the place by St. Ovide’s declaration of 
1713. These documents, by the way, like all others men- 
tioned in brief in the present memoir, may be traced through 
the bibliography which follows. The recently published 
Memorial of the Family of Forsyth de Fronsac claims that he 
was a descendant of Jehan Denys of Honfleur, the navigator 
who is supposed to have made a map of a part of Canada in 
1506. Jehan’s son was Pierre Denys, Intendant of Finance 
for Tours, whose son was Mathurin Denys, Sieur de la 
Thibaudiere, Captain of the Royal Guard of King Henry IIL, 
in whose service he fell. Mathurin married Mlle. Aubert, 
and their son was Jacques Denys, Sieur de la Thibaudiere, 
who succeeded his father as Captain of the Royal Guard, and 
married Marie Cosnier. ‘Their sons were Nicolas, our author, 
his younger brother Simon, one who was Sieur de Vitre, and two 
others, Jacques and Henri, both killed in battle in the King’s 
service. Additional facts about these ancestors of Nicolas are 
given in the Memorial; and toa considerable extent they are 
confirmed by an independent document of 1680 by the Inten- 
dant Du Chesneau. Our author’s family was therefore one of 
some distinction, and it is possible that he was connected with 
his eminent patron, Isaac de Razilly, who was also from 
Touraine. 

Of the youth of Denys we know nothing. His de- 
fective education, very manifest in his book, in the face of his 
somewhat superior parentage, would suggest that he took 
early to the sea; and it is possible that he made voyages to 
Acadia as one of those fishing apprentices whose duties and 


10 INTRODUCTION 


lot he describes for us so fully. However that may be, 
it is as expert master of the fishery that he first appears in 
history. It was in 1633, as his son’s memorial and his own 
book (II. 356) imply, that in partnership with Razilly and a 
merchant of Brittany and with the help of his brother De Vitre 
he established his first sedentary fishery at Port Rossignol, 
probably at the present Brooklyn, near Liverpool, Nova Scotia. 
The site of this, and as well of all other localities associated 
with Denys, will be found discussed in the notes under the 
appropriate pages in the translation of his book which follows. 
This first venture was a failure, for reasons which were no 
fault of his, and which he relates very fully in his book (I. 86— 
94). A little later he established himself at La Have, at the 
present Riverport, opposite the fort of his friend and patron 
Razilly, and here he prepared various forms of timber, which 
he exported to France in Razilly’s ships. But the death of 
Razilly, which, according to Moreau, occurred in November 
1635, brought this occupation to a close; for D’Aulnay, 
Razilly’s successor, refused to allow the timber to be exported 
in his ships. Denys tells fully of this matter in his book 
Cie fren): 

It was not long after Razilly’s death, apparently, that 
Denys left La Have, and for the next ten years his life is 
almost an entire blank to us, Yet, as he implies in the Dedi- 
cation of his book, he continued to frequent or reside in the 
country, and it is altogether likely that during this time he 
was making annual voyages for the cod fishery and the Indian 
trade to that coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence where he 
later was in command. He certainly had some legal rights 
there, for he tells us in his book (I. 192) that in establishing his 
post at Miscou, which was in 1645, he had a concession from 
the Company; and again (1. 4) when he established himself 
at Saint Peters in 1653, he did so under a commission from the 
Company. No concession or commission to him of such early 
date is known. ‘The most probable explanation seems to be 


INTRODUCTION 11 


that he had some understanding with Razilly in the name of the 
Company of New France. Indeed, the trend of events seems 
to imply that Razilly before his death subdivided Acadia into 
three Lieutenancies, one west of the Saint Croix assigned to 
D’Aulnay, one from Saint Croix to Canso (or to Cape Sable) 
assigned to La Tour, and one from Canso to Gaspé intended 
for Denys. Denys’ post at Miscou, on a site well known on 
the southern shore of the harbour, was a place of some conse- 
quence, where he had gardens; and it was probably his first real 
home in Acadia. But in 1647, as shown by a valuable Decree 
of the Privy Council of 1655, his establishment there was 
seized by D’Aulnay, who in that year had been made Lieu- 
tenant-General of all Acadia. D’Aulnay promised to pay him 
for his goods, but never did so; and thus a third time did our 
author suffer a great reverse through no fault of his own. 
For the next two years we know nothing positively as to 
Denys’ movements. It is possible, however, that during this 
time he established a temporary trading-post on the Mira- 
michi, for the map of about 1658, given later in this work, 
shows an establishment of his seemingly at that place. Then 
iene yorand 1651, as the Decree of 1655 informs us, he 
had forts at Saint Peters and Saint Annes in Cape Breton, 
which were seized in that year by a force apparently sent by the 
widow of D’Aulnay. ‘The reasonable interpretation of these 
facts, with others later given, would be that immediately after 
the death of his enemy D’Aulnay in May 1650, Denys, with his 
brother Simon, attempted to establish himself in Cape Breton, 
Simon at Saint Annes and Nicolas at Saint Peters; but they 
and their establishments were taken by Madame d’Aulnay’s 
forces. This is amply confirmed by an entry in the Journal of 
the Jesuits for October 1651, which reads: ‘‘ Messieurs Denys, 
who had been taken prisoners by Madame Daunay, were sent 
back to Quebec ina frigate.” Simon Denys seems then to have 
settled down in Quebec, where he became the head of a large 
and influential family, which included many members of pro- 


12 INTRODUCTION 


minence in the history of Canada and Acadia, Whe emt 
spring, as the same Journal tells us, Monsieur Denys—of 
course our author Nicolas—‘‘ goes to find Monsieur la Tour 
to establish himself again towards Miscou.”’ The place to- 
wards Miscou where he established himself at this time was 
no doubt Nepisiguit, for, two years later, as the Decree of 1655 
implies, Nepisiguit was restored to him after its capture, pre- 
sumably by Le Borgne in 1653. It must have been either in 
the same year or the next that he established himself again at 
Saint Peters; for it was in 1653 (not 1654 as his book 
records) that he was captured there by Le Borgne, who 
apparently found him just beginning his new establishment, 
and who later appears to have seized his post at Nepisiguit. 
His capture by Le Borgne and his ignominious imprisonment 
at Port Royal are described in a heat of indignation in his 
book (I. 4—7), where he tells also of his heavy losses for which 
he could never recover any compensation. Thence he went to 
France, and, on December 3, 1653, bought from the Company 
of New France, ‘‘ assembled with that of Miscou,” a grant of 
the coasts and islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from 
Cape Canso to Cape Rosiers in Gaspé, a region including all 
of the Saint Lawrence slope of the present Nova Scotia with 
Cape Breton, of New Brunswick with Prince Edward Island 
and the Magdalens, and a part of Gaspé. The grant carried 
a monopoly of the fur trade with other important privileges. 
A little later, January 31, 1654, he received from the King 
Letters Patent as Governor and Lieutenant-General over the 
same great territory with Newfoundland, and to this was added 
a monopoly of the establishment of the sedentary or fixed 
fishery anywhere upon the coast of Acadia “as far as Virginia.” 
His Grant and Commission will both be found printed later 
in this volume. Thus armed he returned in 1654 to Acadia, 
received the surrender of his forts at Saint Peters and Nepisi- 
guit from Le Borgne’s commanders, and for the first time ruled 
secure in his own principality. 


INTRODUCTION 13 


Our author was now at the culmination of his career. He 
was fifty-six years of age, was undisputed proprietor and 
governor of a princely domain, was a friend of the powerful 
La Tour, who was Governor of all the remainder of Acadia, 
and was well established at Saint Peters and Nepisiguit, two 
admirable centres for the Indian trade and the fishery. Then 
for some years he seems to have lived with his wife and his 
two children in peace at Saint Peters. He was undisturbed 
by the capture of the country by the English, who left him 
alone, though he gave shelter to the children of his old enemy 
D’Aulnay when they had to leave the captured Port Royal in 
1654. His business was fishing, trading with the Indians, farm- 
ing a little, building small vessels, and making some timber. 
We hear of him in command at Cape Breton in 1659, and he 
was at Saint Peters also in 1663 or 1664 when the Sieur Doublet, 
to whom the Company had granted a part of his territory (the 
Magdalens and the Island of Saint John), came to visit him 
(his book, II. 239). This grant he resented as an infringe- 
ment upon his own rights, but the Company no doubt con- 
sidered that it was justified by Denys’ failure to settle his 
lands as required by his grants. It marked the beginning of 
the breaking up of his vast property. He was also living in 
Acadia in the year of the great earthquake (his book, II. 
348), which we know was in 1663. Some years earlier 
than this, apparently, he established his fishing station at 
Chedabucto (now Guysborough), where in 1667 he had the 
encounter with La Giraudiere, which he relates at length in 
his book (J. 12-18). This caused him losses from which he 
never recovered, despite his eventual triumph in principle. 
The same year he obtained a confirmation of his rights, in a 
grant of November 9, 1667, reproduced later in this book. 
This document renews all his privileges, so that under it he 
was given a new opportunity to settle and hold his original 
lands. Then he returned to Saint Peters, no doubt in the 
summer of 1668, and soon after, in the winter of 1668-69, 


14 INTRODUCTION 


he met with the greatest reverse of his career. His establish- 
ment at Saint Peters with all its contents was totally destroyed 
by fire, and this loss must have nearly or quite ruined him 
financially. He retired at once to his post at Nepisiguit (his 
pook, I. 210), but seems to have spent the next winter, 
1669-70, in France (his book, I. 123), and the following 
year at Nepisiguit (his son’s memorial of 1689). In 1671, 
as his son’s memorial tells us, he went to France-on business, — 
business of importance to our present subject, for it was no 
doubt connected with the publication of his book. 

Denys’ book, the subject of the present work, bears the 
date 1672, but the Extract from the King’s License at the 
end of the first volume shows that it had been composed 
before September 1671. As the composition of so large a 
book by so unskilled a writer could not have been accom- 
plished in the few months between his coming to France and 
September 1671, it seems reasonably certain that he brought 
the manuscript, in large part at least, from Nepisiguit. It is 
true that in places, especially in the second volume, the lan- 
guage implies that he was writing in France; but that form 
of diction was natural in any case where he was telling his 
fellow-countrymen of a land strange to them. It is probable 
therefore that the book was largely written at Nepisiguit in 
the time our author spent there after the burning of Saint 
Peters. Perhaps Denys wrote it in the hope that the returns 
from its sale might help to recoup his heavy losses, though, 
as will presently appear, this was by no means the first stimulus 
to its production. 

After the publication of his book Denys continued to 
reside in France for many years, leaving his son Richard to 
command as lieutenant in his stead. He was now seventy- 
four years old, and surely had earned his rest. But his days 
were troubled by the gradual breaking up of his estate. His 
original grant of 1653 had carried conditions as to settlement 
which he had never been able to meet, not, we may believe, 


INTRODUCTION 15 


through lack of effort on his part, but through difficulty of 
inducing Frenchmen to settle in that country. Accordingly 
his rights early became legally forfeit, as the French Govern- 
ment plainly understood ; but until near the end of his life, 
as various documents testify, Denys continued to assume that 
they remained in full force and effect. It is difficult to trace 
a clear sequence through the series of grants, edicts, decrees, 
re-grants, and renewals which mark the decline of Denys’ 
great privileges, for some of the documents are not yet acces- 
sible, and some are absolutely inconsistent with one another. 
In any case, the subject concerns rather our author’s son than 
himself, and I have traced it in general in my recently pub- 
lished biography of Richard Denys, where the authority for 
all of my statements on the subject may be found. Denys’ 
original grant was in 1653; andas early as 1663 the Company 
of New France re-granted the Magdalen Islands and Isle Saint 
John, both within Denys’ grant, to the Sieur Doublet. But 
in 1667 the Company of the West Indies, successor of the 
Company of New France, renewed all the rights carried 
by his concession of 1653 and with similar conditions as to 
settlement. Again the conditions were not fulfilled, and in 
1671 the Intendant Talon granted from Denys’ lands at 
Perce a tract of two leagues square for the establishment of 
a sedentary fishery, and this was confirmed as a seigniory in 
1676. The grantees were Pierre Denys, Sieur de la Ronde, 
son of Simon and nephew of Nicolas, with Sieur Bazire. 
Against this grant Denys appears to have protested, for a 
despatch of Colbert of 1676 refers to differences between the 
uncle and the nephew, and approves the side of the nephew. 
In 1676 a great seigniory from Denys’ lands, including all 
the Isthmus of Chignecto, was granted by the Intendant at 
Quebec to the Sieur de Ja Valliere, who had married a daughter 
of our author. But the next year Denys obtained from the 
Intendant at Quebec an Ordinance afirming his right to collect 
a royalty on all coal and plaster mined in Cape Breton and 


16 INTRODUCTION 


vicinity, and reaffirming his monopoly of the fur trade through- 
out the extent of his grant of 1653. In 1680 Denys was 
negotiating with Sieur Bergier for the formation by the latter 
of a sedentary fishery in Acadia, and gave him a letter of 
commendation to his son Richard. But Bergier’s grant, two 
years later, for the establishment of a sedentary fishery in 
Acadia was from the King and not from Denys, who seems to 
have been ignored in the affair. In this same year Denys had 
a business settlement with his son Richard for the latter’s 
eleven years of service as his lieutenant, and gave him a re- 
newal of his commission. In 1684 additional tracts of Denys’ 
lands were granted to others, one to Sieur Bergier’s company at 
Canso, and a large seigniory at Richibucto to Sieur de Chauf- 
fours. ‘The next year, 1685, Richard Denys, acting for his 
father and assuming the integrity of all his territorial rights, 
granted to the Recollets for Missions three leagues square 
of lands at Restigouche, Miramichi, and Cape Breton; and 
the same year Richard made grants of lands to actual settlers 
at Percé, where the seigniory appears to have been abandoned 
by Denys de la Ronde. But these are the last traces I have 
found of the exercise of their old territorial rights by either 
Nicolas or Richard Denys. ‘The next year, 1686, Cape Breton 
and the Magdalens were granted to a company; and finally, 
on April 17, 1687, a decree was issued which appears to have 
formally revoked all the old grants to Denys, giving him in 
lieu thereof a large seignory later tobe chosen. This seigniory 
was not selected until after his death; but in 1690 it was 
granted his son Richard at Miramichi, as I have traced fully 
in the biography of Richard Denys above-mentioned. Denys’ 
rights as Governor, though in a shadowy and somewhat nominal 
form, appear to have outlasted his estate, for Richard continued 
to serve as his lieutenant until the father’s death in 1688. 
The next year, 1689, Richard was appointed to substantially 
the same command in his own name, and held it until his 
death two years later. 


INTRODUCTION 17 


But in the meantime Denys had returned to Nepisiguit. 
A letter written early in 1685 by the Intendant de Meulles 
states that he was then living in beggary at Paris; but either 
in that very year, on June 20, or else in 1687, he addressed 
to the King of France from Nepisiguit the interesting letter 
which is printed later in this book. From these facts it 
seems plain that he had actually been reduced to great 
poverty, and that in the spring of 1685, though perhaps not 
until 1687, he came out to Nepisiguit, where his son Richard 
still maintained his establishment. These last years of the 
twilight of his life, for he was now nearing ninety years of age, 
must have been saddened by disappointment and grief over 
the miscarriage of all his great plans, and the apparent failure 
of all his life-work. In 1688, as his son’s memorial informs 
us, at the age of nearly ninety, he died, and although there is 
no mention of the place of his death, there can hardly be any 
doubt that it was at Nepisiguit. Local tradition asserts that 
near the great willow tree now standing close to the site of his 
old establishment, there are buried some priests ‘and a French 
admiral.”” ‘This admiral, I believe, is Nicolas Denys. It is a 
satisfaction to think that here, beside this pleasant basin where 
the least troubled of his days in Acadia were spent, in the last 
embrace of the land he loved so well, rests the mortal part of 
the first proprietor and governor of all the Gulf coast of 
Acadia, the first great citizen of that noble domain, a goodly 
man who fought the good fight and kept the faith, Nicolas 
Denys. 

These are the facts we have about the life of the man, but 
they tell us little of his personality, of which we fain would 
know much. His physical appearance is known to us in but 
a single feature, though that, happily, is pleasing. A letter of 
1710 informs us that he was surnamed “greatbeard” (/a 
grande barbe). No portrait of him is known to exist, though 
a theory might be advanced that the figure of the navigator 
engraved on the frontispiece of the volume containing the 

B 


18 INTRODUCTION 


Dutch translation of his book may be intended to represent 
him, though the scantily bearded face can hardly be that of 
our “‘greatbeard.”” Of his disposition we know just so much 
as his own book reveals. It shows that he was, above all, a 
lover of the quiet pursuit of business. Everything in his book 
confirms the correctness of his own statement (I. 12), that he 
took no part in the wars of his time, but ‘had no other aim 
than to devote myself in my district to my establishment and 
my business without mixing in the affairs of others.” That 
man was above all a merchant who could write as he 
does (II. 246) that ‘‘ profit is the first motive of all con- 
ditions of men.”’ And in business his greatest interest was 
the fishery ; for the portion of his book treating thereof is by 
far the best written of the entire work, and proves by many a 
turn and phrase that the subject was one familiar and dear to 
the writer’s heart. But business requires peace, and he was 
out of place in the Acadia of the seventeenth century, where 
men went ever armed to the teeth, found joy in stirring feats 
of arms, and considered it a proper occupation for a gentleman 
to rob his peaceful neighbours. His sincere and patriotic 
affection for his adopted country shows through all his 
writings, and he had a perfect conception of the only possible 
basis for prosperity in a country,—its settlement by a contented 
population enjoying full security of property. His defective 
literary powers, of which he was fully conscious and for which 
he apologises more than once, tend to give a too unfavourable 
impression of his mental ability. Though he lacked the power 
of the scholar, Denys had, without doubt, those qualities,— 
physical hardihood, personal bravery, power of command, 
ability to drudge, and business skill,—essential to a mastery of 
his principal business. He could do things well even though 
he could not tell of them well. His book also shows that he 
was a very matter-of-fact person, defective in imagination, 
with little perception of the beautiful, and with no sense of 
humour. His indignant, almost bitter condemnation of loud 


INTRODUCTION 19 


talkers and promoters (II. 241), implies that he himself had 
small skill in those directions. He had none of the qualities 
of the courtier, which was a large reason, no doubt, for his 
failures at a time when power at Court was more essential 
than native worth. But all evidence we possess combines to 
show that he was an honest man, a little too prejudiced, it 
may be, against those who had caused him loss, a little too 
prone, perhaps, to magnify the virtues of his friends, but ever 
steadfast, upright, and sincere. 

In estimating the value of his life-work, it is plain that so 
far as visible evidence goes, it is almost as if he had never 
been. His great estate passed wholly from his family; his 
settlements had all to be re-established later by others; and 
his honours as Governor have been so far forgotten that he is 
not even mentioned in the official lists of the French governors 
of Canada and Acadia published by the present Canadian 
Government. His book: a small place in the history of 
Acadia: a large place in the memory of Acadians: some 
ancient ruins and traditions which attract only the antiquarian : 
a few place-names, of which Cocagne is the chief,—these are 
all the memorials of Denys that remain. Of these, the greatest 
by far is his book. Yet we must not underrate the value of 
the labours of the pioneer who, even through his very failures, 
opens up the way for others to succeed; and of such real, 
even though invisible, service Denys rendered much to his 
adopted country. 

It will be fitting to add here a few facts which, while more 
curious than important, have an interest in this attempt to 
present completely all that concerns our author. One of 
the most beautiful and moving of the bird-songs heard 
throughout the country which Denys governed, is that of 
the Veery, or Wilson’s Thrush. The Maliseet Indians of the 
Saint John River, as Mr. Tappan Adney has recently told us, 
say this bird is calling Ta-né-4-ain’, Ni-kd-la Deén'-i-Dén'-i ?, 
that is, ‘‘ Where are you going, Nicolas Denys?” and Mr, 


20 INTRODUCTION 


Adney thinks this an actual echo from the days of our author. 
A memorial of another kind was proposed a few years ago by 
the present writer, when he named a prominent mountain on 
Denys’ own river, the Nepisiguit, Mount Denys, in his honour. 
It is very probable that the River Denys in Cape Breton derives 
its name from him, but this is unproven. The thought that 
Denys should be honoured by a worthy statue, erected in 
some part of his government, has no doubt occurred to many 
students of Acadian history, but it has been given definite 
expression by Mr. R. R. MacLeod in his Markland, or Nova 
Scotia (Halifax, 1903, page 187). Mr. MacLeod suggests 
that the statue should be placed at Chedabucto (Guysborough) ; 
but it would surely be better that it stand at a place more 
closely associated with Denys, either at Saint Peters, where he 
lived so long, or at Nepisiguit (Bathurst), where he wrote his 
book and lies buried. The erection of such a statue, which 
of course must be an idealised one, would form a worthy 
method of commemorating, in 1954, the three hundredth 
anniversary of Denys’ appointment as Governor of the North 
Shore. In this connection, too, we may note another personal 
matter,—the spelling of our author’s name. Many documents 
spell it Denis, but in some of these, including several of the 
more important, and in every case where Denys or his son 
sign their names, it is written, Denys, which ought therefore 
to be considered the correct form. As to its pronunciation, 
although in some parts of France the s would be sounded, 
this, I am told upon good authority, would be unlikely in 
Touraine, his native province, so that we may best leave the 
s silent. 

Another incidental matter of some interest concerns the 
extension inland of Denys’ grant and government. His grant 
gave him the mainland and islands from Cape Canso to 
Cape Rosiers in Gaspé, without mention of depth into the 
country. This omission was never of the slightest practical 
consequence, but it would rapidly have become so had the 


a EE a rea a a en ——— ay 


INTRODUCTION 21 


country been settled as Denys wished. The most natural 
supposition would be that his rights extended to the heads of 
all the rivers of the Gulf slope, but this would have carried 
his boundary inland far beyond limits then contemplated. It 
is altogether probable that both the Company of New France 
and Denys himself had in mind a band of moderate depth 
along the coasts. ‘This is the view which has been taken in 
the construction of the only two maps on which an attempt 
has been made to lay down his boundaries, the map prepared 
by the French Boundary Commissioners in 1755, and Genest’s 
historical map of 1875. 

The wife of Nicolas Denys, according to Tanguay’s great 
Dictionnaire Généalogigue, was Marguerite de la Faye. She 
accompanied her husband to Acadia, as Denys’ book implies 
(I. xii. 104, and 118), and in one place states (I. 123). She 
is probably the Madam Denis mentioned by Le Clercq (99) 
as in charge of Richard Denys’ fort at Miramichi in 1680; 
and in a document of 1688 (given in my biography of Richard 
Denys), it is stated that she was then deceased. The only 
child of Nicolas and Marguerite Denys mentioned by Tanguay 
is Richard, but the Memorial of Forsyth de Fronsac states, 
without mention of authority, that they had also a daughter 
Marguerite, who married her cousin (several times removed) 
David Forsyth. From them the author of the Memorial 
claims to be descended. But Nicolas Denys, as a document 
of 1736 attests, had also a daughter Marie, who married 
Michel le Neuf, Sieur de le Valliere. Richard Denys must 
have been born about 1655, probably at Saint Peters, for his 
own memorial states that he was very young when appointed 
his father’s lieutenant in 1671. Since I have recently pub- 
lished a biography of Richard Denys, I need here only 
indicate such facts about him as have connection with our 
present subject. When Denys went to France in 1671, he 
made Richard his lieutenant to command in his absence; and 
this office the son filled for twenty years thereafter to his father’s 


22 INTRODUCTION 


entire satisfaction, as ample documents attest. He aided in 
capturing English poachers upon his father’s coal lands at 
Cape Breton in 1676. He strove to promote settlement, and 
with such success that in 1689 he had built up, against great 
obstacles, a strong establishment at Miramichi, with branches 
at Restigouche and elsewhere, while the lands of northern 
_ New Brunswick and Gaspé, then under his rule, had a popu- 
lation of one hundred and three French residents. He assumed 
the title of Sieur de Fronsac (or Frongac) prior to 1677. After 
his father’s death in 1688, he was made commander over the 
region which he had governed in his father’s name. In 1690 
he was granted, as heir of his father, the extensive seigniory 
of Miramichi, and soon after bought the seigniories of Nepisi- 
guit and Restigouche. Thus he became owner on a new basis 
of much of northern New Brunswick. But in 1691, at the 
early age of about thirty-six, he perished by shipwreck. His 
death was a loss to his native land, for without his guiding 
hand his settlements languished and were abandoned, and all 
the results of his labours were lost. His first wife was an 
Indian woman, by whom he left descendants in Quebec. His 
second wife married again, and her descendants by her second 
husband inherited Richard’s seigniories. All rights to French 
seigniories in New Brunswick were, however, extinguished by 
a law of the province of Nova Scotia in 1759, with which 
vanished the last traces of the Denys’ estates in America. 

It remains now to add some further information about our 
author from another point of view. The profuse and hasty 
writing of this age is prolific in errors which spread widely ; 
and it becomes as much the duty of the historian to expose 
these as to promulgate new truth. Several errors about Denys 
have attained so wide a circulation in recent books as to 
demand a formal denial. The principal are these :— 

Error 1. That Nicolas Denys was Sieur de Fronsac. This 
is a result of confusing him with his son Richard, who was 
Sieur de Fronsac. Denys himself never used the title in his 


INTRODUCTION 23 


book, nor in any of the documents in which his name appears, 
nor was it applied to him by his contemporaries. Saint 
Valier, for example, speaks of ‘““M. de Fronsac, son of M. 
Denis.” ‘Tanguay also makes the distinction perfectly plain. 
Furthermore, the very fact that Richard Denys used the title 
during his father’s lifetime, as several documents show that he 
did, is conclusive evidence that his father never bore it. The 
source of the error, however, is fairly plain. The original 
grant of the seigniory of Miramichi, of 1690, speaks of 
Nicolas Denys and his son Richard Denys de Fronsac, while the 
abbreviated confirmation of the grant of the next year, by 
some clerk’s mistake, runs them together as Nicolas Denys de 
Fronsac. This confirmation was printed in connection with 
seigniorial documents, and it was this no doubt which led 
Bourinot into the error which he seems to have been the first 
to publish. As Tanguay shows, the title passed from Richard 
to his half-Indian son Nicolas, on whose death it must have 
reverted to the family of his sister Anne, among whose 
descendants it should now belong. The statement made by 
the author of the Memorial of the Family of Forsyth de Fronsac, 
that Nicolas Denys assumed the title of Viscount de Fronsac, 
is, so far as I can discover, absolutely without any foundation 
whatever. 

Error 2. That Nicolas Denys was Governor of the Gulf 
Coast as early as 1636. ‘This originated with Charlevoix, 
who has been followed by many others. Charlevoix inferred 
it no doubt from the fact that the King’s letter of 1638, 
which divided the government of Acadia between D’Aulnay 
gitwieaes our, excluded the part east of Canso. There is 
evidence, as I have shown a few pages earlier (page 10), that 
Denys had rights in that region before 1654, but none at all 
that he had any appointment as Governor or Licutenant- 
General. 

Error 3. That Denys had become blind in 1679. This 
arises from a letter of 1679, from Frontenac to the King 


24 INTRODUCTION 


(published in Collection de Manuscrits, Quebec, 1883, I. 373), 
but the further mention of his many children shows that 
it could not have been Nicolas, but must have been one 
of that family in Quebec. An unpublished document in the 
Clairambault Collection in the Bibliotheque Nationale shows 
that it was Pierre Denys, Sieur de la Ronde, who had lost his 
sight. 

Error 4. ‘That Denys lived at Passamaquoddy after his 
book was published, and left descendants there. The argu- 
ment, advanced at length in 1893 in a journal cited in the 
bibliography, was based in part on the occurrence of the name 
Denys among the Passamaquoddy Indians, and in part upon a 
confusion of Denys with Donee, who was D’ Aulnay (Charnisay). 
I exposed this fallacy a little later in the same journal. That 
the occurrence of the name Denys among the Indians of 
Acadia need have no connection with the presence of our 
author is shown by the fact that in his book (I. 176), he 
mentions an Indian chief at Richibucto named Denis, who 
was a contemporary of his own. 

Minor errors also exist. ‘Thus Tanguay’s usually reliable 
Dictionnaire Généalogique by mentioning with Sieur de la 
Valliere only his second wife Francoise Denys, daughter of 
Simon, and omitting his first wife, who was mother of his 
children, Marie, daughter of Nicolas, makes Simon instead of 
Nicolas an ancestor of La Valliere’s descendants. Again, and 
very curiously, one Denys de la Ronde, in a letter of 1714, 
printed in part later in this book, seems to claim our author as 
his grandfather, whereas it is perfectly plain, as Tanguay will 
show, that Nicolas Denys was his granduncle. Unless De la 
Ronde was misinformed, or was wilfully mistaken for personal 
or diplomatic reasons, it must be that his grandfather, Simon 
Denys, had the establishment of which he speaks at Saint 
Annes (while Nicolas held that at Saint Peters), and that the 
brothers shared the rights under which they first established 
themselves in Cape Breton. Such an explanation is perfectly 


~, 


3] 


A SPECIMEN PAGE OF DENYS’ BOOK 


(Original size) 


INTRODUCTION 25 


consistent with the other facts we possess. Again, Father 
Joseph Denys was not a grandson of Nicolas, as has been 
stated, but a grandnephew. Again, the Rey-Gaillards of 
Quebec, who inherited Richard Denys’ estates, were not 
descendants of his, but of his second wife by her second 
husband, as Tanguay amply shows. Again, it was not Nicolas 
Denys who was a member of the Council at Quebec in 1665, 
but either Simon or one of his sons, for Nicolas was then 
living in Cape Breton. And yet other minor errors are 
current, though it is needless to follow them farther in this 
place. 

We come now to consider our author’s book, and its 
place in the literature of Acadia. Mechanically it consists 
of two staid little volumes of nearly eight hundred taste- 
fully printed pages, all the bibliographical details of which 
are presented later in a separate section. (AAs to literary merit, 
the book has none; nor has it, properly speaking, any style. 
It is thus in great contrast to those other classics of Acadian 
history: Lescarbot with his smooth flow, Champlain with his 
rugged action, and Le Clercq with his scholarly polish. Our 
author was well aware of this defect, and apologises while he 
explains it. Thus in his introduction (ix), he speaks of the 
little attention he had given all his life “to the symmetry of 
words or to their arrangement,” and of his style ‘‘ which these 
fifty years past I have practised, without my maritime occu- 
pations and my association of nearly forty years with the 
Indians ever allowing me the leisure to change it.””. And again 
(II. 231) after his very full description of the fishery for 
cod, he adds, ‘‘it is the clearest that I have been able to make 
it. You will excuse a fisherman. If I had given as much 
time to study as I have to instructing myself, and to inves- 
tigating means, for following the cod... .I1 would have 
given you more satisfaction in all this account than I have 
done.’ Our author’s diction is monotonous and inelastic, 
unrelieved by imagination, and almost unenlivened by humour. 


26 INTRODUCTION 


H{[e uses many technical, local, and unusual phrases, far from 
the learned forms of the time. Moreover, he is often un- 
grammatical, sometimes ambiguous, and occasionally unin- 
telligible, while here and there his memory lapses to the use 
of a wrong word. And to make matters worse, the printer 
has added many misprints, some of which are apparently due 
to illegible manuscript. But if Denys had not goodness of 
style, he had that which is far better, something of value to 
say. It were better could he have had both; but if one or 
the other must be wanting it is best as it is. 

The book is the work of one who knew no joy in com- 
position, but who laboured to put down facts which he wished 
to make known and have preserved. Its motive is plain 
enough,—not, it is true, in its formal title, but between the 
lines of its text. Its first great object was to explain and 
justify the failure of its author’s life-work as due principally 
to the machinations of his enemies. They had ruined him, 
and the only resource left him was to show up their characters 
to the world in a book which would have a form and interest 
to make it read. He cannot advance three pages on his 
description of the geography of Acadia before his indignation 
hurries him into a disclosure of the injustice done him by 
Le Borgne, D’Aulnay, and La Giraudiere, and he returns again 
and again to these themes in his later pages. Its second 
great object was to attract notice, population, capital, and 
government-protection to a country in which he had abound- 
ing faith. To this end he magnifies every advantage and 
minimises every drawback the country possesses. The book 
is thus very like those immigration handbooks which all the 
Canadian provinces are issuing to this day. Denys’ book 1s 
in fact the first Acadian, and Canadian, immigration tract. 
Naturally he expected himself to have the oversight of new 
business attracted to the country. Again and again he alludes 
to the value of such long experience as his own, and several 
times he hints, especially under the seal-fishery, the timber 


INTRODUCTION 27 


trade, and the sedentary fishery for cod, at methods he had 
discovered or developed which would, in modern phrase, re- 
volmtionise those industries (II. 245, 25'7,°313).' Whether 
in addition our author felt the desire to preserve some part 
of his life from oblivion; whether he thought by the sale of 
a book to recoup some part of his shattered fortunes ; whether 
he felt some stirring of the scholar’s instinct to express and 
preserve his knowledge, I do not know. Men’s motives are 
mixed, and all things are possible. But this much seems to 
me certain, that the book sprang not primarily from a desire 
to set forth the geography, the history, and the natural history 
of Acadia, but from other motives which adopted this appro- 
priate and fortunate form for their setting. 

There is one important fact, shown by internal evidence, 
about the book which is of the utmost consequence, not only 
to an understanding of some of its peculiarities, but also 
to its practical use as an authority. It is this. The book 
was not prepared from materials collected by the author from 
time to time during his long life, but was written as an after- 
thought almost wholly from memory when its author was past 
seventy years of age. In some cases he is describing events 
which had occurred, or places he had seen, well-nigh forty years 
before. Denys sought always to tell only the truth, but the 
failings and freaks of memory, the gradual unconscious dis- 
tortion of distant facts by the sympathies, the tendency to 
show always the best side of his own and his friends’ affairs, 
the desire to make as interesting a narrative as possible, all 
invest his solid nucleus of fact with a penumbra of error 
against which the student must be upon his guard. His 
book is like a photograph a little out of focus, or one in 
which the camera was moved; in its main features, and as 
viewed comprehensively, it is accurate and sufficiently correct, 
but in details it is dim and untrustworthy. Yet the picture is 
sharper in some parts than in others. In those matters which 
he knew intimately by long association, such as the cod fishery 


28 INTRODUCTION 


or the customs of the Indians, and for those events which 
had happened, or those places he had seen, recently, the work 
is to be trusted even in detail. But for events of long ago, 
the facts he had from hearsay, the matters in which friends 
or enemies were intimately concerned, the scenes and localities 
associated with his earlier life, the geography or animals of 
the interior which he had seen but little,—his accounts of these 
must be taken with a liberal allowance for possible error. 

The substance of the book is for the most part well, 
though in one particular badly, described by its title. It is a 
geographical and historical description (the historical parts 
being interpolated into the accounts of the places where the 
events occurred), and it is a natural history, of the coasts of 
a certain country; but that country is not l’Amérique sep- 
tentrionale, or North America, but only a small part of it. 
Yet if we view the matter in the light of its own times it 
will appear that the title had some excuse. At that period 
the country our author describes, though a natural geo- 
graphical division, had no recognised name; it was still only 
a part of New France, and had not yet appropriated from the 
peninsula the name Acadia by which it was later known. It 
could only be designated, therefore, by some descriptive phrase, 
and our author first applied to it, as shown by the King’s 
License on page 267 verso of Volume I. of his book, the 
appropriate and correct appellation ‘‘ Coasts of North America 
from New England to the River Saint Lawrence.” But, in 
the interest of brevity no doubt, and at the very last moment 
as it would seem, he dropped the qualifying words without 
making any compensating change in the remainder of the title, 
which was thus left, to our ears at least, glaringly inaccurate. 
Yet it is probable that the title did not mislead our author’s 
audience, for this work, written by a Frenchman for his own 
countrymen, was no doubt by them assumed to apply not to 
the English but to the French possessions in North America, 
the coasts of which it does in fact actually describe. 


INTRODUCTION 29 


The first volume opens with a Dedication to the King. 
This is one of the best written parts of the book, almost the 
only one with a distinct literary savour, and in its composition 
our author may have had the aid of a more skilful pen. 
Then the reader is told of the plan and outline of the book 
in a pleasantly worded introduction. There follows the 
systematic description of the coasts, beginning at the Pen- 
obscot, with comments upon the navigation, animals, and 
plants of each place, and a narrative of the events known to 
the author to have occurred there, especially those in which 
he had himself taken some part. These historical narra- 
tives are very largely not elsewhere recorded, and constitute 
one of the three most valuable features of the book. In his 
description of the country from Penobscot to La Have, 
parts of which he had not seen since early in life and parts not 
at all, the book is less satisfactory than later. Internal 
evidence shows that here he used Champlain’s narratives, the 
edition of 1632, as an aid to his memory. But from La 
Have onward, and especially from Canso to Gaspé, his de- 
scription is entirely original, and for most of that extent is 
the very first ever given to the world. Dealing as it does 
also with the region under the author’s own government, 
and with the places which he had intimately known in later 
life, this part of the book is in every respect more satisfactory 
and locally valuable than the earlier portions. The effects of 
writing from memory show in a good many minor errors of 
topography, but especially in his erroneous distances, which 
are almost invariably magnified for short spaces and mini- 
mised for long ones. And it is an interesting illustration of 
the dangers of navigation in uncharted waters that he con- 
stantly exaggerates the shoalness and dangers of coasts and 
harbours. But the errors of the book are of small account 
in comparison with the truth it holds. Let us not commit 
the unpardonable historical blunder of judging it in the light 
of our own times. It was well calculated to give the reader 


30 INTRODUCTION 


in France a correct general idea of the geography, the natural 
productions, the resources, the misgovernment of Acadia, and 
in its field it was without a rival. The first volume closes 
with a reprint of a treaty of 1632, which has slight connection 
with the book and might better have been omitted. 

The second volume opens with a comparison of the 
climates of France and Acadia, laboriously, ingeniously, but 
vainly elaborated to prove them practically identical. Then 
nearly half the volume is given to a description of the cod- 
fishery. A first sight of the length and presumable lack of 
interest of these two hundred and fifty pages is very likely to 
repel the reader, whereas in fact they are replete with interest 
from start to finish. Furthermore they constitute by far the 
most complete and authoritative exposition we possess of 
that summer fishery for cod which played so large a part 
in the early relations between Europe and North-eastern 
America. It is, moreover, the best and clearest part of our 
author’s book, the only part, apparently, which he really en- 
joyed writing. His description, for example, of so special a 
subject as the construction of the fishing-boats is so clear as 
to make the subject plain even to one without knowledge of 
such matters. It is the one part of his book also in which 
he is roused to express admiration ; for in describing the fisher- 
men at work, he says (II. 147): ‘“‘It is a pleasure to see 
them work their arms and bodies as they turn from one side 
to the other.” And he even rises to suggestions of humour 
as when he tells (II. 143) how the boatswains, in preparing 
their drink for the fishermen, ‘‘ from one barrel of wine make 
four or sometimes five without other miracle than some 
water.” With excellent arrangement and all completeness, 
and withal by aid of many a vivid phrase, happy turn, and 
illustrative incident, he brings before us with the greatest 
clearness every detail of that business of which he was a 
thorough master, and a master in love with his work. It is 
only under pressure of limited space that I resist the temp- 


INTRODUCTION 31 


tation to dwell further upon his picture of the life of the 
summer fisherman, but I commend these chapters to the 
reader in the confidence that they will make him say with 
me,—would that I too might have been a fisherman! The 
narrative gives us an understanding of that fascination in the 
fisherman’s life which led into it so many strong men regard- 
less of its dangers and its labour. It gratified many of their 
most primitive instincts. There was adventure a-plenty, the 
joy of rugged health, the lure of the unknown just beyond, 
the charm of outdoor life beside a fair harbour during the 
beautiful Acadian summer, the gratification of taking wild 
things at will without any to hinder, the gaming it was to 
find perhaps no fish at all, but perhaps the greatest of loads, 
the triumph of overcoming physical difficulties, the satis- 
faction of seeing the fruits of hard labour growing daily 
in visible piles before the eyes, the delight of embarking 
much goodly spoils to return full sail to far away homes and 
families. Our author then adds his ideas upon the sedentary 
or fixed fishery which up to that time had been a failure. 
But here he is less satisfactory, for although he saw clearly 
that this was the only form of fishery which could add to the 
permanent welfare of the country, it is evident that he had 
not himself a definite notion of how it could be made profit- 
able; and hence he veils his ideas in some obscurity, with 
allusions to methods which he does not explain. It is of 
interest to note that in Acadia to-day the fishery is conducted 
entirely upon the principles he advocated, and to the great 
prosperity of that land. ‘Then follow his chapters upon the 
animals and plants of the country. Here accurate observation 
and the idle tales of the time are hopelessly intermingled, and 
one has trouble to know what to believe. His folk-fiction 
reaches its climax in the description of the works of the beaver, 
which is indeed a chapter of wonders. Denys had in mind, 
without doubt, his sensation-loving audience in France, and, 
like divers of the animal romancers of our own day, served 


32 INTRODUCTION 


up to his readers not what he knew to be the truth but what 
he knew they would like to hear. His natural history is of 
considerable value as such, but it is more valuable as a reflec- 
tion of the beliefs and statements current about animals at 
that time. Then follows his account of the customs of the 
Indians, which forms the third valuable feature of his book, 
the account of the fishery being the second. His knowledge 
of his Indian friends was minute and accurate, and I have no 
question that this part of his book is fully trustworthy, even 
though tinged with somewhat marked optimism as to their 
primitive morals and virtues. His defective literary instinct, 
and his lack of organised material show here, as elsewhere, 
in badness of proportioning and in omissions of important 
matters which naturally should be told. He does not, for 
example, tell us the name of the tribe he is describing. He 
closes with an important chapter on the changes wrought 
in the customs of the Indians by contact with the French. 
Here he draws an appalling picture, no worse, however, than 
that of Le Clercq and the Jesuit missionaries, of the havoc 
wrought to their lives and morals by the drink supplied 
through the fishermen. It may be that Denys as an authorised 
trader puts the case a little too strongly against the illicit 
trading of the fishermen, but we can make large allowance 
for this and have still a harrowing picture. And thus comes 
to an end a book which has a value of content rarely to be 
found in so bad a setting. 

A feature of the book to which I am unable to do justice 
is its interesting philological problems. Aside from its 
grammatical blemishes, it contains many odd forms, phrases, 
and words whose meaning is usually rendered plain by the 
context, but whose precise affinities form attractive material 
for philological study. There is, I believe, much in the 
language of the book showing affinities with present Acadian 
French. This I know to be true in the names used for some 
animals, as will be noted in the translation, and I think it is 


INTRODUCTION 33 


true of many other words and phrases. L’ Abbe Casgrain, in 
his Pélerinage au Pays d’ Evangéline, chapter nineteen, points out 
the fact that Denys, throughout his book, uses the form molue 
instead of morue for cod, precisely as the Acadians do to this 
day. Another interesting philological feature of the book is 
the use of several words from the Micmac Indian language: 
moyaque, pounamon, mignognon, cacaoily, cacamo, peschipoty, chica- 
mins, some of which still survive in the Acadian tongue. 

The book contains three plates of illustrations, all repro- 
duced herewith. Two of them deal with matters concerning 
the fishery, and to them I have added the remarkable picture 
from Moll’s map, which illustrates Denys’ descriptions so well 
that it seems almost made for that purpose. The other plate 
is the map of Acadia. Of it our author says, in his Introduc- 
tion (xi), ‘‘I have made a Map to serve as a guide to the 
position of each place conformably to the altitudes which I 
have determined there.” He used of course all the data he 
possessed as a navigator, perhaps consulted other maps to aid 
in the general outline (though it shows the influence of no 
others that I can discover), and then obviously sketched in 
the details to fit the narrative in his book. As was usual in 
such cases he greatly magnifies the size of the harbours and 
rivers he mentions. But, curiously enough, his errors are 
less upon the southern coasts than upon the northern, which 
he knew better. His representation of the Bay of Restigouche 
in particular is so poor as to approach the grotesque. This 
fact makes it seem likely that he was aided by some other map 
for the southern coast, but sketched the northern wholly out 
of his own memory. The original copperplate was very 
crudely engraved, and contains many imperfections, which are 
explained in the Bibliography following. The map produced 
no appreciable effect upon contemporary cartography, and was 
apparently almost ignored. 

Aside from his book I have found but one other writing 


by Denys, and that known to us only in English translation. 
C 


34 INTRODUCTION 


It is the letter of 1685 (or 1687), printed among the col- 
lateral documents later in this volume. The various docu- 
ments signed by him are obviously legal instruments drawn 
by lawyers. Moreau, in his Fiistorre del Acadie Frangoise, page 
122, speaks of two letters of his which have escaped destruc- 
tion, but they are quite unknown to me. 

We consider finally the influence the book has had upon 
later works, and its use by historians. Its very first use 
appears to have been by the Sieur Dassié, Prétre, whose 
Description Generale des Costes de ? Amerique, published at Rouen 
in 1677, takes the entire description of the Gulf Coast from 
its pages; and I have no doubt that it was used extensively 
by various geographical works from that time onward. Its 
statements were cited, with quotation of considerable portions, 
by the heirs of La Tour in support of certain claims, as shown 
by their Memoir published in the Quebec Collection de Manu- 
scrits, II. 353. It played a part of some prominence in the 
French-English boundary disputes of 1751 to 1754, where 
it was cited by the French, as shown in their elaborate 
Mémoires des Commissaires du Roy, in support of their claim that 
Acadia was limited to the southern part of Nova Scotia, as our 
author applies it. But the first historian to make use of the 
work was Charlevoix in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France 
(1744). Of Denys, he says: “‘ The author of this book was 
a man of merit, who would have founded a good colony in 
New France had he not been traversed in his projects. He 
tells nothing but what he saw himself”? (Shea’s Translation, 
1902, II. 81). And he gives with perfect correctness the 
historical status of the work when he says: ‘‘ He adds some 
historical sketches of the settlements of those who shared 
with him the ownership and government of Acadia and its 
neighbourhood.”” And Charlevoix cites Denys very frequently 
in the course of his work. The early and favourable 
prominence thus given our author’s book supplied the cue 
to most later writers, who accepted Charlevoix’s estimate. 


INTRODUCTION 35 


In more recent times, however, there has been dissent from 
this view, which finds its extreme expression 1n Moreau’s 
Histoire de ? Acadie Frangoise of 1873. Moreau attacks Denys 
at all possible points, makes the worst of the illiteracies, 
inconsistencies, omissions, and other faults of the book, and 
even impugns the author’s veracity. But the motive for 
it all is plain, and indeed frankly acknowledged. Moreau 
wrote his book confessedly to vindicate the memory of 
D’Aulnay Charnisay, and therefore it was necessary for him 
to discredit to the utmost the testimony of D’Aulnay’s 
severest and most damnatory critic, Denys. There is much 
that is just in his opinion of our author’s book, but as a 
whole his attack is ineffective, and leaves Denys’ testimony 
substantially unshaken. More recently Winsor, in his Nar- 
rative and Critical History (1V. 151, 1884), points out that 
its historical part is confused and perplexing ; this it is with- 
out thorough study, though I think the present volume will 
show that these difficulties have now been removed. Bourinot, 
in his Cape Breton, 1901, has given a somewhat similar esti- 
mate, which undoubtedly he would later have modified had 
he been able to carry out his published intention of translating 
and annotating the work. Its comparative inaccessibility, 
combined with the apparent confusion in the historical part, 
has kept Canadian writers from utilising its full value. 
Another use, though apparently a limited one, is by some lexico- 
graphers. Thus Fleming and Tibbins’ Dictionary defines godé 
(as I read in Baxter’s Cartier, page 78), as ‘‘oiseau de mer blanc et 
noir qui vole trés vite,” which is almost precisely the characteri- 
Sation given by our author (II. 306); and Richelet’s Diction- 
naire’ or 1728 (1. li.) cites Denys by name. The earliest 
translation of the book, including its greater part, was, curi- 
ously enough, into Dutch in 1688, and full details of this 
interesting edition are given in the bibliography below. In- 
terpolated into the text of the Dutch edition are two long 
passages which are given in English translation among the 


36 INTRODUCTION 


collateral documents following. These were without doubt 
inserted by the editor to explain the two copperplate pictures, 
which in turn were placed in the book to add to its attractive- 
ness, and thereby increase its sale. Limited portions of Denys’ 
book have been translated into English in the various publi- 
cations noted in the bibliography, but no complete English 
translation, and likewise no reprint of the original, has here- 


tofore been published. 


The only known autograph of Nicolas Denys 


From the Bergier Pass of 1680 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


DESIGNED TO INCLUDE THE TITLE OF EVERY KNOWN PUBLICATION 
AND MANUSCRIPT CONTAINING ORIGINAL INFORMATION 
ABOUT DENYS, OR DISTINCTIVE MATTER BEAR- 

ING UPON HIS LIFE AND BOOK 


1651, Octobre 12. [Journal of the Jesuits, with a reference to 
Denys.] Thwaites Jesuit Relations, xxxvi. 143. 
This passage, containing the earliest known documentary mention of 


Denys, relates to his capture by Madame d’Aulnay (Charnisay) and his 
arrival at Quebec. 


1652, Mai 4. [Journal of the Jesuits, with a reference to Denys.] 
Thwaites Jesuit Relations, xxxvii. 98. 


This passage relates the departure of Denys from Quebec in order 
to find M. de la Tour and to reéstablish himself towards Miscou. 


1652. [Letters Patent from the King confirming a treaty between 
the Duc de Vendéme and the widow of D’Aulnay Charnisay.] 
MS. in Paris ; abstract in Report on Canadian Archives for 1883, 
124. 

Contains a mention of protecting Madame d’Aulnay Charnisay against 
La Tour and Denis. 


1653, Aott 6. Ignace, Father. [A letter on the death of D’Aulnay.] 
In Collection de Manuscrits relatif a la Nouvelle France, i. 136-139. 
Quebec, 1883. 


Contains a reference to business disputes between D’Aulnay and 
M. Deruys (misprint for Denys). 


1653, Decembre 3. Concession de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle 
France en faveur du Sieur Nicolas Denys, ZS. in the Archives 
du Ministére de la Marine, Paris, Amérique du Nord, Acadie, i., 
Correspondance générale, 1603-1685, f. 933 there is a copy in 

37 


38 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Canadian Archives, Series F, vol. cxii. p. 208; Report on do., 
1887, p. ccxl. 

This important document, the foundation of all Denys’ property rights 
to the mainland and islands of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from Canso to 


Gaspé, is printed in full with translation as No. I. of the Collateral 
Documents on page 57 of this volume. 


1654, Janvier 30. [Provisions pour le sieur Nicolas Denys, de Gouver- 
neur & Lieutenant général en Canada, renfermant & désignant 
les bornes & étendiie de son gouvernement.| Contemporary printed 
copy in folto, in Archives du Ministéere des Colontes, Paris, Collection 
Moreau de Saint-Meéry, Canada, i. 1556-1669, p. 250; also printed 
again May 24, 1746 (a copy in possession of MZ. Denys de Bonaventure 
of Aytré, France); in Memorials of the Enghsh and French Com- 
missaries (London, 1755), p- 7193 and in the equivalent French 
Memoires (Paris, 1755), ii. 5033 in the Edits et Ordonnances 
(Quebec, 1856), iii. 17 5 im the Collection de Manuscrits . . . relatif 
a la Nouvelle France (Quebec, 1883), i. 141 5 and in large part in 
Sulte’s Histotre des Canadiens Frangais (Montreal, 1882), iv. 144 ; 
MS. copies exist in the Archives du Dépot de la Marine in Paris, in the 
Judicial Archives of Quebec (accompanying documents of 1685), among 
the:Parkman papers in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society (Abenaquis, 1. 157), and in the Canadian Archives (Report for 
1889, Supplement, 52) 3 there is a translation into English in Brown's 
History of Cape Breton (London, 1869), 92. 

This very important document, confirming all the rights granted 
Denys by the preceding, and in addition giving him a monopoly of the 
sedentary fishery throughout all Acadia, and making him governor and 
lieutenant-general over all his grant in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 


together with Newfoundland, is printed in full with translation as Docu- 
ment No. II. of the Collateral Documents on page 61 of this volume. 


1655, Octobre 15. Arrest du Conseil privé rendu en faveur de Nicolas 
Denys Ecuyer contre Emanuel Le Borgne Marchand, &c. Con- 
temporary printed copy in Archives du Muinistére des Colonies, Paris, 
Collection Moreau de Saint-Meéry, Canada, i. 1556-16609, p. 253; 
there is a MS. copy in Canadian Archives, Series F, vol, clxxvii. 
p. 2293; Report on do., 1899, Supplement, 52. 

This very valuable document, giving important new facts about Denys’ 
establishments in Acadia, is printed with translation, for those parts 


concerning our present subject, as No. III. of the Collateral Documents 
at page 67 of this volume. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 


1658 (?) [1654-1658]. Anon. [Map of Canada showing three estab- 
lishments of Denys.] ZS. in the Kohl Collection of Maps (No. 172) 
in the Library of Congress ; sketched in outline in Winsor’s Narrative 
and Critical History of America, IV. 202. 

This map, of interest to us because it is the only known contemporary 
map which marks any of the establishments of Denys, is reproduced, in 


its important part, in this work opposite page 160, on which page are 
further remarks upon it. 


1659. [Relations of the Jesuits, with a reference to Denys.| Thwaites’ 
Jesuit Relations, xlv. 59. 


Contains a mention of Monsieur Denis as commander of Cape Breton. 


1667, Novembre 9. [Renewal by the Company of the West Indies of 
the Concession by the Company of New France, December 3, 
1653.] ZS. in the Archives du Ministére de la Marine, Paris, 
Amérique du Nord, Acadie, Correspondance générale, 1603-1685, 
fi 1223 there is a copy in the Canadian Archives, Series F, vol. cxii. 
p- 2753 Report on de. 1887, p. ccxl.; printed, with some verbal 
differences, in the Baxter MS. in Collections of the Maine Historical 
Society, second series, iv. 438. 

This document, valuable for the completion of the series of grants 


to Denys, is published with translation as No. IV. of the Collateral Docu- 
ments on page 71 of this volume. 


1672. Denys, Monsieur. Description geographique et historique des 
costes de l’Amerique septentrionale. Avec l’Histoire naturelle du 
Eas, Paris, 2 vols. 


Denys’ own book, reprinted and translated in this volume. For a biblio- 
graphical treatment of it consult Mr. Paltsits’ description on page 49. 


1676, Avril 15. [Colbert to Du Chesneau, instructions concerning 
grants of land.] In Clément’s Lettres, Instructions et Mémoires de 


Colbert, Paris, 1865, III. ii. 607. 


Mentions a dispute between Sieur Denis, uncle, and Sieur Denis de la 
Ronde, nephew, concerning lands [at Percé], in which the nephew is 
in the right. 


1677, Aoust 21. Ordonnances de M. du Chesneau, Intendant en 
Canada au profit du Sr. Denis. ZS. in Archives du Ministére de 
la Marine, Paris, Amérique du Nord, Acadie, i., Correspondance 


40 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


générale, 1603-1685 ; there is a copy in Canadian Archives ; Report, 
1887, p. ccxl. 
This document, which has an important bearing upon the status of 


Denys’ rights at this date, is printed with translation as No. V. of the 
Collateral Documents at page 73 of this volume. 


1677. Dassié, Le Sieur, Prétre. Description Generale des Costes de 
’Amerique. Rouen, 421 pp. 


Closely follows Denys’ work in the description of most of Acadia. 


1680. Mars 1. Chesneau, Jacques du. Certificat touchant la noblesse 
de la Famille Denis. ZS. among the papers of Henri Hiché in the 
Judicial Archives of Quebec ; printed in translation in the Collections 
of the New Brunswick Historical Society, iii. 1907, p. 13. 


This interesting document confirms some of the statements of the 
Forsyth de Fronsac Memorial as to the ancestry of Denys. 


1680, Novembre 5. [Pass granted by Denys to Sieur Bergier to visit 
Acadia.] MS. in the Bibhothéque nationale, Paris, Collection 
Clairambault, 1016, f. 3063 printed in translation in the Collections 
of the New Brunswick Historical Society, ii. 1907, p. 15. 

This document shows that Denys still assumed the validity of all 
his former rights and privileges ; and it throws light upon his attempts 
at settlement. But it is also of special interest in that it is signed by 


Denys himself, and supplies his only known autograph, which is repro- 
duced earlier in this volume (page 36). 


1682, Fevrier 21. Arrété de comptes et engagement de Richard Denys 
a Nicolas son pere. AS. in the Judicial Archives of Quebec, Genaple 
papers ; printed in translation in the Collections of the New Brunswick 
Historical Society, iii. 1907, p. 16. 

This document shows that Denys was then living in Paris without 


intention of returning to Acadia; and it gives much information upon 
his business relations with his son and lieutenant Richard. 


1682, Fevrier 25. Commission de Nicolas Denys a Richard, son fils. 
MS. in the Judicial Archives of Quebec, Genaple papers ; printed in 
translation in the Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 
ili, LQO7, fi Ld; 

This document shows how completely Denys had relinquished all his 
command to his son. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 41 


1685. [Letter from the Intendant de Meulles to the Minister, with 
a reference to Denys.] ZS. known to me only from the reference in 
Sulte’s Histoire des Canadiens Francais, v. 106, 


In this letter, according to Sulte, is the statement that Denys was 
then living at Paris in poverty. (“M. Nicolas Denys, ajoute-t-il, qui 
a été gouverneur de ’Acadie . . . vit A Paris dans la mendicité ”). 


1685, June 20. [Letter from Nicolas Denys to the King of France, 
written from Pisquit (Nepisiguit), translated into English] ZS. 
in the Public Record Office, London, America, and West Indies, vol. 
lviii. p. 58; there zs a copy in Canadian Archives (Report for 1883, 
38) ; there is another copy of this letter, with a few verbal changes, 
dated May 10, 1687, in the Public Record Office, Board of Trade, 
Nova Scotia, vol. xxxii. p. 169, and the same vol., 1, 4, 54 (Report 
on Canadian Archives, 1894, p. 9) 3 the original French is not known. 


This very interesting letter is the only known writing of Denys apart 
from his book. It is printed in full as No. IX. of the Collateral Documents 
at page 79 of this volume. There is a curious problem about its date, 
for I am assured by the copyist in the Public Record Office that two 
copies exist there differing only in a few verbal details, but dated June 20, 
1685, and May Io, 1687, respectively. It is wholly unlikely that two such 
similar letters could have been sent and translated two years apart, and 
it seems probable that the date on one is an error. The history of the 
letter is given, I believe, in a despatch of the Earl of Bellamont to the 
Lords of Trade, dated Boston, June 22, 1700, which reads, “I also send 
the copy of Monsr. Denys’s letter to the French King. . . . Capt. 
Southack, Commander of this Province galley, commanded a private 
ship of war during the last war, and took Monsieur Denys prisoner, and 
with him seized this letter” (Documentary History of New York, ww. 
677). I take it the Monsieur Denys who was taken prisoner was Richard, 
on his way to France, since it is wholly unlikely that Nicolas would be 
carrying his own letter. Unfortunately the expression “ during the last 

_war” is too indefinite to fix the date. In any case the letter shows that 
Denys returned in his old age to Acadia. 


1687, Avril 17. [Arrest du Conseil du Roy, granting to Nicolas 
Denys a large Seigniory later to be chosen.] Original not known 
but mentioned in the document of 1690, April 18, following. 


The mention of this Arrest in the document of 1690 implies that 
it carried a revocation of Denys’ earlier grants and privileges for non- 
fulfilment of conditions, in compensation for which he was granted a 
seigniory of the largest size, later to be chosen. It was placed and 
bounded at Miramichi by the document of April 18, 1690. 


42 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
1687, May 1o. Letter from Denys to the King of France. 


Compare under 1685, June 20. 


1688. Saint Valier. Estat présent de l’église et de la Colonie Francaise 
en la Nouvelle France. Paris, Reprinted in Quebec, 1856. 


This very valuable book contains several references to matters con- 
nected with Denys’ territory. I have used the Quebec edition of 1856. 


1688. Denys, Heer. Geographische en Historische Beschrijving der 
Kusten van Noord-America, Met de Natuurlijke Historie des 
Landts. Amsterdam: by Jan ten Hoorn. vi.+200 pp. 


The Dutch translation of the greater part of Denys’ book. The 
bibliographical details are given in Mr. Paltsits’ description on page 53. 
The matter interpolated to explain two inserted pictures will be found 
translated, accompanied by the pictures themselves, as Document X. on 
page 80 of this volume. 


1688. [Memoir of claims of the heirs of La Tour, citing Denys’ work. ] 
Contemporary printed folio; also Collection de Manuscrits, Quebec, i. 


1883, 439. 


An interesting use of Denys’ narrative of the affairs of 1630 at Cape 
Sable in illustration of La Tour’s loyalty, &c. 


1689, Fevrier (?). [Memorial of Richard Denys to Monseigneur Le 
Marquis de Seignelay.] AZS. in the Archives du Ministére de la 
Marine, Paris, Amérique du Nord, Acadie, Correspondance générale, 
1686-1695, p. 108; also in Bibliotheque nationale, Collection 
Clairambault, f. 6243; there is a copy in Canadian Archives, Series 
FY, vol. cxiv., p. 223; Report on do., 1887, p. ccxlii.; printed in 
translation in Saint John Sun, Jan. 16, 1883, and in Collections of 
the New Brunswick Historical Society, iil. 1907, p. 37. 


This document is of the greatest interest as showing the results of 
the energetic and skilled efforts of Richard Denys to settle some part 
of his father’s lands. Incidentally it contains some items important to 
our present subject (among others the date of the death of Denys), and 
these are printed as No. VI. of the Collateral Documents at page 76 of 
this volume. 


1690, Avril 18. [Decree of the Intendant Champigny, placing and 
bounding the Seigniory, granted April 17, 1687, to Nicolas 
Denys, at Muramichi.] ZS. in Registre des Insinuations au 
Conseil Souverain at Quebec, 1679-1705, B, No. 2, f. 103; printed 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 43 


in translation in Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 
lil, 1907, p. 43. 
Denys having died between the date of the original grant and this 


time, the seigniory, though granted in his name, passed to his son 
Richard as his heir. Compare the document under date 1687, Avril 17. 


1691, Mars 16. [Ratification by the King of the grant of April 18, 
1690, of the Seigniory of Miramichi.] ZS. with that of the grant 
just mentioned, printed in translation with it, and also in a Return 
to an Address of the Legislative Assembly for copies of certain seigniorial 
documents, Quebec, 1853, 49. 

In this document, by some clerical error, the names of Nicolas Denys 
and of his son Denys de Fronsac are run together as Nicolas Denys de 


Fronsac, thus originating the error, apparently, that Nicolas Denys was 
Sieur de Fronsac. 


1691. Le Clercq, Chrestien. Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, &c. 
Paris, xxvi.+572 pp. 
Shows the influence of Denys’ book in the treatment of many subjects, 


and has valuable matter upon Richard Denys’ settlements, and upon 
those of Gaspé. 


1706. Anon. Memoir on the French Dominions in Canada, 1504- 
1706. In Documentary History of the State of New York, ix. 683. 
New York, 1855. 


Contains a reference to Denys’ grant and fishing ihe and to his 
expelling the English of Boston therefrom. 


1710, Octobre 11. [Letter of M. Raudot to the Minister.] ZS, in 

Archives du Ministére de la Marine, Paris, Canada, C. II., vol. v. 

p. 863; there is a copy in the Canadian Archives, Series F, vol. 
clxxxiv. p. 68 ; Report on do., 1899, Supplement, 225. 

This letter contains the only known reference to Denys’ personal 


appearance ; the part relating thereto is printed as No. VII. of the Col- 
lateral Documents at page 78 of this volume. 


1713, Septembre g. Declaration of MM. de St. Ovide and others. 
MS. in Paris, copy in Canadian Archives ; Report on do., 1905, i. 
482. 


Contains a statement that Cape Breton was granted about eighty 
years before to the MM. Denys of Tours, who had built forts at Saint 
Annes and Saint Peters, remains of which had been found. 


4A, BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1713, Octobre 9. Letter of Denys de la Ronde to the Minister. 
MS. in Archives du Ministére de la Marine, Paris, Isle Royale, 
Correspondance générale, 1712-1716, vol. 1. p. 223; there is a copy in 
Canadian Archives, Series F, vol. cxiii. p. 32; Report on do., 1887, 
p. cclxxxii. 


This document contains some statements concerning Denys likely 
to mislead the student; they are discussed earlier at page 24 of this 
volume, and the important parts are printed as No. VIII. of the Collateral 
Documents at page 78 of this volume. 


1728. Richelet, Pierre. Dictionnaire de la langue frangaise, ancienne 
et moderne. Lyon, 3 vols. 


Contains a biographical note on Denys and on other authors of the 
same name, refers to others who have mentioned him, and cites his book 
as “curieux et utile” (vol. i. page lii.). 


1736. Denys de la Ronde et Denys de St. Simon. Une partie en 
abrégé de la lignée descendante de Nicolas Denys, frére du dit 
Simon Denys. ZS. genealogy in possession of the descendants of Pierre 
Denys de la Ronde in New Orleans, U.S.A. 


This valuable, almost contemporary, document, for a copy of which I 
am indebted to M. Philéas Gagnon, of Quebec, and to Mr. J. W. Cruzat, 
of New Orleans, shows that Nicolas Denys had a daughter Marie, wife of 
the Sieur de la Valliére and mother of his children, through whom Nicolas 
Denys thus has descendants. The correctness of this information is con- 
firmed by contemporary documents of 1676 (Collection de Manuscrits, 
Quebec, 1. 1883, 237) and 1685 (Murdoch, ova Scoéza, i. 168). The same 
document describes the arms of the Denys family as “ Une grappe de 
raisin d’argent en champ de gueule le casque enfacé, deux cerfs pour 
support.” (A bunch of grapes in silver on a red field, the helmet out- 
facing, two stags as supporters.) They are pictured, slightly differently, 
in Forsyth de Fronsac’s Memorial of 1903, page 42. 


1744. Charlevoix, P. F. X. de. Histoire et Description Générale de 
la Nouvelle France. Paris, 1744. English Translation, by J. G. 
Shea, 6 vols., 1866-1872 ; reprinted in 1902; maps and illus. 

Introduces Denys as an historical authority, makes use of his book, 


praises his honesty, and gives some slight errors about him; in all of 
which he has been followed by most later writers. 


1755. Carte d’une Partie de l’Amérique Septentrionale pour servir a 
’Intelligence du Mémoire sur les prétentions des Anglois au sujet 
des Limites a regler avec La France dans cette partie du Monde. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 45 


In the Mémoires des Commissaires du Roi, Paris, 1755, Vol. I. 
Reprinted in Winsor’s Narrative and Critical History of America, 
v. 478. 


Shows the supposed limits of Denys’ government, the first known 
map to do so. The limits are followed by Genest of 1873. On these 
compare earlier, page 20 of this volume. 


1816. Anon. [Review of Denys’ book.] In North American Review, 
i, p. 9: 
A brief descriptive review, not appreciative of its merits, but interesting 
as being (probably) the earliest American mention of the work. 


1865. Murdoch, Beamish. A History of Nova Scotia or Acadie. 
Halifax, N.S., vol. i 


Contains much accurate information about Denys, from which later 
- writers have largely drawn, with translations of a few important portions 
of his book. 


1869. Brown, Richard. A History of the Island of Cape Breton, 
London. 
Contains a full and appreciative account of Denys at Cape Breton, 


translates the Letters Patent of 1654, and gives a copy of Denys’ map 
of Cape Breton, though with many changes. 


1871. ‘Tanguay, L’Abbé Cyprien. Dictionnaire Généalogique des 
Familles Canadiennes. Montreal, vol. i. 


Contains at page 180 the families of Nicolas and Simon Denys. 
There is also some matter in vol. iil. p. 342. 


1873. Moreau, M. Histoire de ’Acadie Frangoise (Amérique Sep- 
tentrionale) de 1598 A 1755. Paris, xi. +359 pp. 8vo. It 
appeared first serially in Le Cabinet Historique, and is the OM of 
the many Acadian references in that periodical. 

A work confessedly written to re-habilitate the memory of Sieur 


d’Aulnay Charnisay, and in consequence very antagonistic to Denys, who 
is D’Aulnay’s most condemnatory witness. 


1875. Genest, P. M. A. Carte de la Nouvelle France pour servir a 
Yétude de l’Histoire du Canada depuis sa Découverte jusqu’en 
1760. 


Marks the limits of Denys’ government, as noted earlier, on page 21. 


46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1877. Patterson, George. History of the County of Pictou. Montreal. 


Translates Denys’ narrative relating to Pictou, with comments. 


1882-1884. Sulte, Benjamin. Histoire des Canadiens Frangais, 1608— 
1880. Montreal, 8 vols. 


Contains many items concerning Denys, though with some errors 
of detail. 


1884. Winsor, Justin. [Discussion of Denys’ work.] In his Nar- 
rative and Critical History of America, iv. 151. 
Contains an independent opinion, cited on page 35 of this volume, 
of Denys and his work. 
1886. Jack, Edward. Denys’ Opinion of Saint John River. Sainz 
John Daily Sun, July or August. 


A translation of the larger part of Denys’ description of the River 
Saint John. 


1888. Dufossé, E. (publisher). [Facsimile of the map and two plates 
belonging to Denys’ book.] 

Published to replace the originals missing from most copies. They 
are very well done, in close imitation of the original, though omitting 
some of the accidental imperfections in the latter (compare page 51 of 
this work). It is from this that Bourinot took his reduced reproduction 
in his Cage Breton, 1891. 


1889. Dionne, N. E. Miscou: Hommes de Mer et Hommes de Dieu. 
In Le Canada-Frangais, ii. 432-447 and 514-531. 
Gives a somewhat full treatment of the early history of Miscou and 


Nepisiguit, and of Denys’ connection therewith. Has some errors of 
location. 


1891. Hamilton, P. S. Biography of Nicolas Denys. Jn the Toronto 
Week, Dec. 18. 


Known to me only from the reference in Bourinot’s Cafe Lreton, 
1901, 309. Apparently of slight value. 


1891. Bourinot, J. G. Cape Breton and its Memorials of the French 
Régime. In Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, IX. ii. 
173-343. Maps and illustrations. 

Contains a somewhat full treatment of Denys’ connection with Cape 
Breton, and a translation of his chapter on the island, but with a consider- 
able number of minor errors ; reproduces, reduced, the facsimile of Denys’ 
map of 1888. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 47 


1892. Anon. Nicholas Denys, Governor of Acadia, 1632-1662. Jn 
Maine Historical Magazine, vii. 150-153. 
Claims that Denys settled at Passamaquoddy after 1672 and left 


descendants there. The complete fallacy of the data is shown in the 
next following. 


1893. Ganong, W. F. Nicholas Denys, Governor of Acadia, 1632— 
1662. In Maine Historical Magazine, vill. 48, 49. 


An answer to the errors of the article in the same magazine in 1892. 


1896-1901. Thwaites, R. G. (editor). The Jesuit Relations and 
Allied Documents. Cleveland, Burrows Brothers Co., 73 vols. 
Contains several references in notes (which may be traced through 


the index) to Denys, though with some slight errors of detail, and many 
references to matters connected with his times. 


1899. Ganong, W. F. [Proposal for naming mountains on the 
Nepisiguit River in honour of Denys, and of his son De Fronsac.] 
In Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, iv. 255. 


It is yet too early to tell whether the names will come into general use, 
but it is to be hoped that they will. 


1899. Ganong, W. F. [Discussion of the exact site of Denys’ estab- 
lishments at Miscou and at Nepisiguit.] In Transactions of the 
Royal Society of Canada, V. ii. 298, 300. 


Some error in the account of the Miscou site is corrected in the much 
better discussion in the same journal for 1906, as noted below. 


1900. Hannay, James. Nicholas Denys. In Hays Canadian History 
Readings, St. John, 175-178. 


A brief and appreciative biography, though with no new matter. 


1900. Ganong, W. F. A Description of the River St. John before 


1672, by Nicolas Denys. Jn Hay’s Canadian History Readings, 
St. John, 74-78. 


An annotated translation of Denys’ description of the Saint John River. 


1902. Ignotus. Nicolas Denys. In Bulletin des Recherches Historiques, 
Levis (Quebec), viii. 219-223. 

A description of Denys’ book, with biographical and critical notes of 

some value; points out the error of calling him “the first historian of 


North America.” The same publication contains references to Denys, 
V. 192 ; Vi. 94-95. 


48 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


1903. Forsyth de Fronsac, F. G. Memorial of the Family of Forsyth 
de Fronsac. Boston, 5. J. Parkhill & Co. vi.+95 pp., illustrated. 
Contains much about Denys, his ancestry and relationships. Authori- 
ties are not cited, and the parts coming within my own knowledge 
contain so many errors of detail that I consider its statements must 
be received with much caution. It translates most of the Dedication 

to the King. 


1906. Ganong, W. F. [Discussion, with map, ot the exact site of 
Denys’ establishment at Miscou.] In Transactions of the Royal 
Society of Canada, XII. ii. 133. 


1907. Ganong, W. F. (editor). Richard Denys, Sieur de Fronsac, 
and his attempts to settle northern New Brunswick. In Collections 

of the New Brunswick Historical Society, ii.. 1907, 7-54. 
Contains translations in full of several documents mentioned in the 


preceding titles, together with others which illustrate the life and work 
of the son of Nicolas Denys. 


iW) 


DESCRIPTION 
GEOGRAPHIQUE 


Biel ORTOUR 
DESSCOSTES 


DE LAMERIQVE 
SEPTENTRIONALE. 


Avec l’Hiftoire naturelle du Pais. 


Par Monficur DENYS, Gouverneur Lieutenant 

_ General pour le Roy, @ proprietaire de tcntcs 
ls Terres t Ifles qui font depuis le Cap de 
Campleaux, jiufques au Cap des Roziers. 


LOALE SL, 


Ae PARES : 
Chez Lotits Birtaine, au fecond 
pillier de la grand’ Salle du Palais, 
- ala Palme & au grand Cefar. 


oe ee 


—_ —— + aw ee, 


M. DC. LXXII. 
eZvec Privilege dw Rov. 


TITLE-PAGE OF DENYS’ BOOK 


(Original size) 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF 
DENYS’ BOOK 


By VICTOR HUGO PALTSITS 


State Historian of New York, formerly Assistant Librarian of the Lenox Library 


Tue book appears with the imprint of two different pub- 
lishers, viz. Claude Barbin and Louis Billaine, to whom 
Denys ceded his rights. The volumes printed for both are 
identical, and from the same type, differing only in the 
publisher’s imprint on the title-pages. The title-page of 
Volume I. covers both volumes, but Volume II. has never- 
theless a separate title-page of its own. 


Description | Geographique | et Historique | des 
Costes | de  Ameriqve | Septentrionale. | Avec lHif- 
toire naturelle du Pais. | Par Monfieur Denys, Gouv- 
erneur Lieutenant | General pour le Roy, & pro- 
Pitctaire Ge toutes | les Terres & Ifles qui font 
depuis le Cap de | Campfeaux, jufques au Cap des 
Roziers. | Tome I. | [Combination of four similar type- 
ornaments. | | 

A Paris, | Chez Claude Barbin, au Palais, | fur le 
Pemomede ta iainte Chapelle. | mM. pc. rxxu. | Avec 
Privilege du Roy. | 

Collation: ‘Title, verso blank; “Epitre” to the King, pp. (7); 
“ Avertissement av Lectevr,” pp. (15); ‘“‘ Table des Chapitres contenus 
eayce, premicr Lome,” pp. (8); text, nine chapters, pp. [1]|—-237 ; 
“‘ Articles arrestez,” pp. 238-253; ‘“Enfuit la teneur du Pouvoir 


dudit fieur Ifaac Wake,” pp. 254-261 ; “ Enfuit la teneur du Pouvoir 
49 D 


50 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


defdits fieurs de Bullion & Bouthillier,” pp. 262-267. “Extrait du 
Privilege du Roy,” of September 29, 1671, giving a statement of the 
cession of rights by Denys to the Booksellers, and of the registration 
of the book in March 1672, on verso of page 267. Signatures: a in 
eight, € and i in fours, A-Y alternately eights and fours, and Z in two. 
Some commonplace ornamental tailpieces are scattered through the 
work. 

The title-page for the Billaine issue is set up line for line 
and ornament like the Barbin issue (except that in all copies 
the e of /es in line 10 has pulled out), but with the following 
publisher’s imprint. : 

A Paris, | Chez Loiiis Billaine, au fecond | pillier 
de la erand’ Salle du Palais, | 4 la Palme & au grand 
Cefar. lim pe. Lax. | Avec Privilege du Roy. | 


VOLUME II 


Histoire | Naturelle | Des Peuples, des Animaux, 
des | Arbres & Plantes de l’Amerique | Septentrionale, 
& de fes | divers Climats, | Avec une Defcription 
exacte de la | Pefche des Molués, tant fur le | Grand- 
Banc qu’ a la Cofte; & de | tout ce qui s’y pratique 
de plus | particulier, &c. | Par Monfieur Denys, Gou- 
verneur | Lieutenant General pour le Roy, & | Pro- 
prietaire de toutes les Terres & | Ifles qui font depuis 
le Cap de Camp-— | feaux, jufques au Cap des Roziers. 

| Tome Second. | [Combination of two type-ornaments.| | 

A Paris, | Chez Claude Barbin, au Palais, | fur le 
Perron’ de’ la ‘fainte Chapelle: mpc. txxte ies 
Privilege du Roy. | 

Collation: ‘Title, verso blank; text, twenty-seven chapters, pp. 
3-480; “Table des Chapitres contenus au fecond Tome,” pp. (6). 


mISTOIDRE 


Mma to R EL LE 


Des Peuples, des Animaux, des 
Arbres & Plantes del’ Amerique - 
Septentrionale , & de {es 
divers Climats. 


‘Avec une Defcription exathe de la 
Pefche des Molués , tant fur le 
Grand. Bane qua la Coffe; ec de 

tout ce qui Sy pratique de plus 
particulier , pc. 


Par Monfieurr DEN YS, Gouverneur 
Lieutenant General pour le Roy, & 
Proprictaire de toutes les Terres & 
Ifles qui font depuis le Cap de Camp. 
feaux, jufques au Cap des Roziers, 


Tome Second. 
CES) 
ene) 

A PARIS, 


Chez Lotits Brrrarne, au fecond 
pillicr de la grand’Salle du Palais, 
dla Palme & au grand Cefar. 


Mi D Gy Ex S Ti 
edvec Privilege dw Koy. | 


TITLE-PAGE OF VOLUME II. OF DENYS’ BOOK 


(Original size) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 51 


The pagination of p. 88 is 90; 89 is 91; 386 is 328; 408 is 480; 
477 is 4713; 475 to 480 are duplicated, the second series standing 
really for [481 to 486]; chapter xxiv is mis-numbered xxvi; signa- 
tures: A-Rr alternately in eights and fours, and Ss in six. 


This title-page for the Billaine issue is set up line for line 
and ornament like the Barbin issue, but with the following 
publisher’s imprint. 


A Paris, | Chez Loiiis Billaine, au fecond | pillier 
de la grand’ Salle du Palais, | a la Palme & au grand 
Cefar. | m. pc. txxu. | Avec Privilege du Roy. | 


Map and Plates.—The illustrations, mentioned by the author in 
his Notice to the Reader (p. xi.), consist of a map of the country at 
the end of Volume I., and two plates illustrative of the fishery at 
pages 90 and 102 of Volume II.—all copperplates. ‘The plate of the 
map, reproduced in facsimile (reduced) in the present work, measures 
20 X 15% inches, is poorly engraved, apparently by a ’prentice hand, 
and has many erasures and other defects. “[hese are due chiefly to 
attempts to correct the plate, not only in topography, but by the 
erasure of numerous names, some of the earliest engraved of which 
have been only imperfectly obliterated. In many cases these are still 
faintly legible, and show that the changes were made because of 
erroneous locations or spellings, which do not always agree with the 
text of the book. Further, the original plate held a great number of 
figures, also imperfectly erased, which were evidently intended as keys 
to marginal notes, and there are other imperfections due seemingly to 
flaws in the wax coating of the plate. “The Lenox Library copy, repro- 
duced in the accompanying photograph, shows also faint shadows due 
to the placing of damp sheets of the maps upon one another. Most of 
these minor imperfections, including all of the imperfectly obliterated 
names and figures, have been omitted from the Dufossé reproduction 
of the map. The original paper has as watermarks a bunch of thirty- 
six grapes and a small oblong about twelve inches apart. The larger 
plate of figures, that giving the éschaffaut or staging, reproduced (reduced) 
in this work, measures 5 x 10} inches or a little less, while the smaller, 
reproduced full size in the present work, measures 42 X 352; inches. 

These illustrations are missing in whole or in part from most 


52 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


known copies. Harrisse, in preparing his Notes sur la Nouvelle 
France, was unable to find them in eight copies examined. Yet 
several copies do possess them, and they are reproduced in this work 
from the very perfect copy in the Lenox Branch of the New York 
Public Library. It was in order to supply their frequent absence 
that E. Dufossé, of Paris, issued in 1888 a few copies in excellent 
engraved facsimile upon old paper, and it is from this source that 
most copies having facsimile map and plates have been supplied. 

Textual and Typographical Variations—A comparison of copies has 
shown that while but a single edition of the book was issued, a number 
of minor corrections, in part of typography and in part of statement, 
were made in the pages during the printing of the book. ‘These 
were not all made at one time, and there is no regularity in their 
appearance, yet in a general way some copies are later and better 
corrected than others. “Thus the copy in the Toronto Public Library 
represents one of the earlier issues, while the Harvard copy, which 
has been followed exactly throughout the present work, appears to 
include practically all of the corrections. “The chief differences observed 
are the following, the incorrect reading being given first and the cor- 
rected second. Volume I., Avertissement, page xxii. line 6: estre de 
mon versus estre plus de mon; page 169, line 12: plusieurs Isles en prairies 
& nombre dances des deux costez, ou il se trouve encore abondance de gibier : 
allant trois leues plus avant, ou rencontre une autre ance bien plus grande, 
garnie versus plusteurs Isles & nombre dances des deux costez ou il se trouve 
force prairies &F du gibier en abondance: allant trois lheués plus avant on 
rencontre une autre ance bien plus grande aussi, garnie ; page 180, line 13: 
dans les rivieres versus dans des étans ; page 239, line 1: VYvak versus 
Wak; page 254, line 2: Wak versus Wake. In Volume II. page 157, 
line 2: genouil versus genoux ; page 171, the signature F 77 versus P 7 ; 
page 268, line 22: prené versus prend; page 375, line 15: alant 
versus a//ant. ‘The erratic pagination in Volume II. is the same in 
all copies. 

Despite the various corrections, however, the book still contains 
many typographical errors, misprints, and other faults. 

Copies and Prices.—In all some twenty-three copies of this work are 
known to us, although there must be many more, especially in Europe. 
They are owned by: The British Museum (3 copies); Bibliotheque 
Nationale; M. Denys de Bonaventure of Aytré, France; Library 
of Parliament at Ottawa; Legislative Library of Quebec; Laval 
University Library (2 copies); Toronto Public Library ; Nova Scotia 


fa 
— 


TITLE-PAGE OF THE DUTCH TRANSLATION OF DENYS’ BOOK 
(Original size) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 53 


Historical Society; Philéas Gagnon, Quebec; New York Public 
Library (2 copies) ; Harvard College Library (1 copy and also Vol. I.) ; 
John Carter Brown Library; Edward E. Ayer, Chicago; New York 
State Library (Albany N.Y.); Library of Congress (2 copies) ; 
E. Dwight Church, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. 

These copies are most diverse in their make-up, some having both 
volumes of the Barbin imprint, some having both Billaine, while others 
are part one and part the other. A few, six in all (viz., a British 
Museum, both Laval, Lenox, Toronto Public Library, and Ayer 
copies), are reported to have the original map and plates, but others 
have them in part original, in part facsimile, wholly in facsimile, or 
wanting. ‘The prices for which the book has sold in recent years 
are most diverse. Defective copies have sold at from $10.50 up to 
$62.00. Perfect copies have been sold by dealers at much higher 
prices, up to 800 francs. A defective copy is now offered by a New 
York firm at $175.00. ‘The set of facsimile map and plates was sold 
by Dufossé at 25 francs, later reduced to 10 francs. 


The only reprint or translation of Denys’ work which has 
appeared heretofore is the Dutch translation of 1688. 


Geographifche en Hiftorifche, | Befchrijving der 
Kuften | van | Noord-America, | Met de Natuurlijke 
Historie des Landts: | Door den Heer Denys, | Gouv- 
erneur Lieutenant Generaal voor den Koning van | 
Vrankrijk, en Eigenaar van alle de Landen en Ejilan— 
| den welke gelegen zijn van Cap de Campfeaux af | 
tot aan Cap des Roziers. | [Ornament, a bouquet of 
triangular form.| | 

t’ Amsterdam, | By Jan ten Hoorn, Boekverkooper 
overt Oude | Heeren Logement, in de Hiftori- 


Schryver. A. 1688. | 


Collation: Title, verso blank; “Aan den Leezer,” pp. (2); text 
of Part I. (nine chapters), pp. 1-84; half-title to Part II. (Natuurlijke 
Historie), with verso blank, pp. [85-86]; text of Part II. (sixteen 
chapters), pp. 87-200; ‘“Blad-Wyzer | Op de Befchrijving der 


54 BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Kuften en Natuurlijke Historie | van | Noord-America,” pp. (4). 
Two copperplates, one opposite p. 44, showing the lassoing of a 
merman, the other opposite p. 68, exhibiting Indians riotously and 
murderously intoxicated. No mispaging. Signatures: * in two; 
A-—Bb in fours; Cc in two. 


The Denys forms the larger half of a composite volume, of which 
the remainder is the Dutch translation of Father Louis Hennepin’s 
Louisiana. ‘The Hennepin section has not a particular title-page, but 
the following general title-page serves for it as well as for the whole 
volume :— 


Beschrijving | van | Louisana, | Nieuwelijks ontdekt ten Zuid- 
Weften | van | Nieuw-Vrankryk, | Door order van den ae | 
. | Door Den | Vader Lodewyk Hennepin, | . a, 
Mitseadets de | Geographifche en Hiftorifche Befchrij vial fi iiuttien 
| van | Noord-America, | Met de Natuurlijke Hiftorie des Landts. | 
Door den Heer Denys, |...]...]|.... | Verciert imetsieogeee 
Figuren. | [Cut of Dutch Coat-of-Arms] | PAmstereiny | By Jan ten 
Hoorn, Boekverkooper over’t Oude | Heeren Logement, in de Hiftori- 
Schryver. A. 1688. | There is also an engraved general title-page, 
showing a navigator with map, compass, and astrolabe, as follows: 
Ontdekking van | Louisania | Door den Vader L. Hennepin. | 
Benevens de Befchrijving van | Noord-America | door den Heer 
Denys. | t Amfterdam by Jan ten Hoorn over het Oude Heere 
Logement 1688. | 


The Dutch translation shows numerous aberrations from the French 
original. It adds words in the text, explanatory of the French, some- 
times with, sometimes without brackets; runs paragraphs of the 
original together and separates paragraphs of the original into two or 
three parts. In the translation the “ Blad-Wyzer ” is an addition ; the 
‘‘Epitre”’ of the original is omitted, and so are, in Vol. I., paragraphs 
3, 4, 8, 9, and last of the “ Avertissement,” all of the “Table des 
Chapitres,” all of the “Articles arrestez” (pp. 238-267) and the 
“ Privilege” on verso of p. 267; the Dutch interpolates in this volume 
in “ Hoofdstuk V.” from ’£ Moet on p. 44 to aanknoopen on p. 46; 
and in “Hoofdstuk VII.” from Terwi/ on p. 67 to berooven on 
p. 68. These passages are given in translation, together with the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 565 


two copperplates they explain, at page 80 in the present work. In 
Vol. II. the Dutch translation omits portions of chap. iii., all of 
Giaps. vv. to xv., and the *Table des Chapitres.” These are the 
main variations. 

Copies and Prices.—This Dutch edition is not especially rare or 
valued. It brings prices of from five to fifteen dollars. 


Rey 
DO FN 


q ita ae at ? 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


THE following documents include some which are fundamental to an 
understanding of the life and work of Nicolas Denys, some which 
give entirely new information about him, and some which are of 
particular interest in other ways. ‘Their source is fully explained in 
every case in the accompanying Bibliography. Almost without ex- 
ceptions, and those clearly noted, they are now for the first time 
published. ‘To ensure all possible accuracy, I have had those from the 
Paris archives collated by an expert, the late M. Victor Tantet, expressly 
for their present appearance, while equal care has been taken in the 
case of the others. “They are all printed exactly as written, errors of all 
kinds included. Needless, perhaps, to say the involved diction of the 
legal papers belongs to them, and is not the fault of the translator. 


I 
1653, DECEMBER 3 


Concession by the Company of New France in favour of the 
Szeur Nicolas Denys 


The Company of New France, assembled with that of Miscou 
and with its consent, has made the agreements and contracts below 
declared with the Sieur Nicolas Denys, Esquire: that is to say, that 
the said Company of Miscou having agreed, in return for all com- 
pensation claimed by it from him, to the sum of fifteen thousand 


Concession de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle France en faveur du 
Szeur Nicolas Denys 


La Compagnie de la nouvelle france assemblée avec celle de Miscou et de 
son consentement ont fait les acords et conventions cy apres déclarez avec le 
sieur Nicolas Denys Escuyer, c’est asscavoir que la ditte Compagnie de Miscou 


ayant convenu pour tout le de dommagement par elle pretendu envers luy a la 
57 


58 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


livres, the said Sieur Denys is bound, and binds himself by these 
presents to pay the said sum into the hands of the one who will be 
named by it, in three consecutive years in equal portions. ‘The first 
payment shall become due and shall be made on the day and feast of 
Christmas that will be reckoned one thousand six hundred and fifty- 
eight, and this to be continued from year to year until the completion 
of the payment of the said sum of fifteen thousand livres. In con- 
sideration of which payment thus made, the said Company of New 
France, with the consent of that of Miscou, has granted and grants 
and has conceded by these presents to the said Sieur Denys in per- 
petuity in full property and seigniory, to him and to his heirs and 
assigns, the countries, lands, woods, coasts, ports, and islands situated 
in the Great Bay of Saint Laurent, to commence from the Cap de 
Canceaux as far as Cap des Rozieres, together with the right and 
privilege of bartering for peltries with the Indians, to enjoy it as 
aforesaid, and according as and just as the said Company of Miscou 
has enjoyed it, with a reservation of the mines and deposits of tin 
which will be found and discovered within ten leagues from the said 
Cap des Rozieres extending towards Miscou, which the said Company 
retains in order to work them, with timber sufficiently close to them 
to make them of use, on the charge and condition that the said Sieur 
Denys and his successors shall be considered to hold from the said 
Company of New France, on account of the said countries and lands 


somme de quinze mille livres le dit sieur Denys s’est obligé et s’oblige par ces 
presentes de payer la ditte somme entre les mains de celuy qui sera par Elle 
proposé en trois années consecutives par egalles portions le premier payement 
eschera et se fera au jour et feste de Noel que l’on comptera mil six cents 
cinquante huit et sera continué d’année en année jusques au parfait payement 
de la ditte somme de quinze mil Livres moyennant lequel payement ainsy fait 
la ditte Compagnie de la nouvelle france du Consentement de celle de Miscou 
a donné et donne et concédé, par ces presentes audit Sieur Denys a perpetuité 
en proprieté et Seigneurie a luy et aux siens et ayant cause les pais terres, bois, 
Costes ports et Isles scituez En la Grande Baye de St. Laurent a commancer 
Depuis le Cap de Canceaux jusques au Cap des Rozieres ensemble le droit et 
faculté de la traitte des pelleteries avec les Sauvages pour en jouir comme dit 
est, suivant et ainsy qu’en jouissoit la ditte Compagnie de Miscou a la reserve 
des Mines et Minieres d’Estain qui se trouveront et seront découverts a dix 
lieux depuis ledit Cap des Rozieres tirant sur Miscou que la ditte Compagnie 
retient pour les faire travailler et des bois suffisamment proche dicelle pour 
les faire valoir a la charge et condition que le dit Sieur Denys Et ses succes- 
seurs seront tenus relever de la ditte Compagnie de la Nouvelle france acause 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 59 


contained in the present concession, by one single liege homage 
which shall be rendered to the said Company in this City of Paris on 
each change of Seignior with a maz/le d’Or of the weight of two 
ounces, and further on condition of making within the extent of the 
said countries, lands, coasts, or islands conceded to him, within the 
time and space of six years, at least two settlements, each of forty 
families of Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman French, or a single one of 
eighty families, of maintaining a sufficient number of good and virtuous 
ecclesiastics for holding divine service, aiding the said families, and 
labouring for the conversion of the Indians. And inasmuch as the said 
Company has respect for the person and for the merit of the said 
Sieur Denys, because of the experience that he has acquired in the 
frequent sea-faring voyages that he has made in the said countries, and 
because of the service he is able to render to the King and to the said 
Company, it has promised him and does promise to nominate and 
present him to his Majesty to be under his good pleasure entrusted 
with the government of the said country, lands, and islands thus 
conceded to him, during the period of nine years, after the expiration 
of which the said Sieur Denys shall be bound to ask and obtain from 
the said Company a new nomination. And in case of the decease 
of the said Sieur Denys, one of his successors, if he be of sufficient age, 
will have the right to accept the said nomination, in default of which 
and awaiting it there shall be nominated by the said company one of 


des dits pays et terres contenues en la presente Concession par un seul 
hommage Lige qui sera rendu a la ditte Compagnie En cette ville de Paris a 
chaque Mutation de Seigneur d’une maille d’or du poids de deux onces, Et 
outre a la charge de faire dans l’/Estendue des dits pays, terres, Costes ou Isle 
a luy concedez dans le temps et espace de six années au moins de deux 
habitations de quarantes familles chacune francois Catholique Apostoliques et 
Romaines ou une seule de quatre vingt familles d’entretenir nombre suffisant 
de bons et vertueux Ecclesiastiques pour faire le service divin assister les 
dittes familles et vaquer a la conversion des Sauvages Et d’autant que la ditte 
Compagnie fait consideration de la personne et du Merite du dit Sieur Denys 
par experiance qu’ils s’est acquis dans les frequantes navigations qu'il a faittes 
es dits pais et du service qu’il peut rendre au Roy et a la ditte Compagnie elle 
luy a promis et promet Le nommer et presenter a Sa Majesté pour estre sous 
son bon plaisir pourveu du Gouvernement du dit pays Terres et Isles a luy 
ainsy concedez pendant lespace de neuf années apres lesquelles expirées le dit 
Sieur Denys sera tenu demander et prendre de la ditte Compagnie nouvelle 
Nomination. Et en cas du decés du dit Sieur Denys un de ses successeurs s’il 
est en aage capable aura droit de prendre la ditte Nomination sinon a faute de 
ce et en attendant sera nommé par la ditte Compagnie un de ses amis pour 


60 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


his friends, who is to be entrusted with the said government during the 
minority of his heir, and who is to restore this government to the 
latter on attaining his majority. And in default of satisfaction by 
the said Sieur Denys in the matter of the payment of the said fifteen 
thousand livres promised by him in the cession stated above [or] of 
making go and live in the extent of the said concessions the number of 
families to which he is bound during the said six years, the present 
concession and the Letters Patent which will be granted him for the 
government of the said country upon the nomination and presentation 
by the said Company, shall become void, and the said Company shall 
have power to dispose of the said concession and to make the presenta- 
tion and nomination for the said government in favour of any one 
whom they may see fit, without that through reason thereof either he 
or his heirs will be able to claim any compensation and share. Made 
and passed at the office of the said Company the third day of December 
one thousand six hundred and fifty-three. And below is written : 
Extract from the Proceedings of the Company of New France, by me 
signed, Cheffault, Secretary, with paraph. 

Collated with the original on paper by the undersigned notaries 
gardes-notes of his Majesty at the Chastelet of Paris. This being 
done [the original] was returned the sixteenth of February one 
thousand six hundred and eighty-two. 

Decours. DELaBassE. 


estre pourveu du dit Gouvernement pandant la bas aage de son Successeur et 
pour luy remettre le dit Gouvernement estant devenu Majeur, Et a faute de 
satisfaire par le dit Sieur Denys au payement des dits quinze mil Livres par 
luy promis dans les delais portez cy devant, de faire passer et habiter dans 
lestendue des dittes Concessions le nombre de familles aquoy il s’est obligé 
pendant les dittes six années la presante concession et les provisions qui luy 
auront eté expediées pour le Gouvernement du dit pais sur la nomination Et 
presenta’tion de la ditte Compagnie deviendra nulle & Pourra laditte Com- 
pagnie disposer de la ditte concession et faire la présentation et nomination 
pour le dit Gouvernement en faveur de qui bon luy semblera sans que pour 
raison d’icelles luy ni ses successeurs puissent pretendre aucun dedommage- 
ment Et Interests fait et passé au Bureau de La ditte Compagnie le jour 
Troisiesme decembre mil six cens cinquante trois et plus bas est escript 
Extrait des deliberations de la Compagnie de la Nouvelle france par moy. 
Signe Cheffault, secretaire avec Paraphe. 

Collationné a l’original en Papier par les notaires garde-notes de sa Majisti 
au Chastelet de Paris soubz signez Ce faict rendu le seize fevrier mil six cent 
quatre vingt deux. DECOURS. DELABASSE. 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 61 


II 
1654, JANUARY 30 


LETTERS PATENT for the Sieur Nicolas Denys, as Governor and 
Lieutenant General in Canada, limiting and describing the bounds and 
extent of his government. 


LOUIS, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre ; 
To all present and to come. Being well informed and assured of 
the laudable and praiseworthy affection, care, and industry of the 
Sieur Nicolas Denys, Esquire, who was formerly appointed and con- 
stituted by the Company of New France Governor in all the 
extent of the Great Bay of Saint-Laurens and islands adjacent, 
beginning with the Cap de Canceaux as far as Cap de Rosiers in 
New France; and who during nine or ten years past has devoted and 
usefully employed all his efforts there, as well in the conversion of 
the Indians of that country to the Christian faith and religion, as 
also in the establishment of our authority through all the extent of 
the said country, where he has built two forts and contributed 
his utmost to the support of sundry religious ecclesiastics to instruct 
the children of the said Indians, and has worked at clearing the lands 
where he has had several habitations built, and would have continued 
this work had he not been prevented by Charles de Menou, Sieur 


[PROVISIONS pour le steur Nicolas Denys, de Gouverneur & Lieutenant 
général en Canada, renfermant & désignant les bornes & étendiie de son 
gouvernement. | 


LOUIS, par la grace de Dieu, Roy de France & de Navarre; A tous 
présens & 4 venir. Estans bien informéz & assuréz de la loiiable & recom- 
mandable affection, peine & diligence que le St Nicolas Denys Escuyer, 
qui estoit cy-devant institué et étably par la Compagnie de la Nouvelle 
France, Gouverneur en toute l’étendtie de la grande Baye Saint-Laurens & 
Isles adjacentes, 4 commencer depuis le cap de Canceaux jusques au cap 
de Rosiers, en la Nouvelle France; .& lequel depuis neuf ou dix ans en 
ca, a apporté & utilement employé tous ses soins, tant a la conversion des 
Sauvages dudit Pays, a la foy & religion chrestienne, qu’a l’establissement de 
nostre Autorité, en toute létendiie dudit Pays, ayant construit deux forts, 
& contribué de son possible 4 lentretien de plusieurs Ecclésiastiques religieux, 
pour instruction des enfans desdits Sauvages, & travaillé au défrichement 
des terres, ou il auroit fait bastir plusieurs habitations. Ce qu il auroit 
continué de faire, sil n’en efit été empesché par Charles de Menou sieur 


62 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


Daulnay Charnisé, who, by force of arms and without any right, 
had driven him therefrom, depriving him on his own private authority 
of the said forts, provisions, and merchandise without making any 
return therefor, and had even destroyed the said habitations: Such is 
the result that in order to restore the said country, and to re-establish 
it in its original condition so that it may be capable of receiving the 
colonies which had begun to be established through means of the said 
habitations which had been there made and established, together with 
the forts which the said Charnisé has seized upon, it is necessary to 
send there a man of ability, versed in the knowledge of those parts and 
faithful to our service, in order to take back the said forts or to 
construct others, and to replace the said country under our dominion 
and the said company in its rights granted it by the edict of its 
establishment : and for the defence of the said country to fortify and 
guard the said forts and those which will be built, with a sufficient 
number of soldiers and other things necessary, where it is expedient to 
make large disbursements: ‘To render us a service of this importance, 
being assured of the zeal, devotion, industry, courage, valour, good and 
wise conduct of the said Sieur Denys, who has been nominated and 
presented to us by the said Company, we have, of our certain knowledge, 
full power and royal authority confirmed, and do confirm anew, this 
Sieur Denys in so far as is or may be necessary, and have ordered and 
established, and do order and establish by these presents, signed by our 


Daulnay charnisé lequel, a main armée & sans aucun droit l’en auroit chassé, 
pris de son autorité privée lesdits Forts, Victuailles & Marchandises, sans en 
faire aucune satisfaction: & mesme ruiné lesdites habitations. De sorte que 
pour remettre ledit Pays, le restablir en son premier estat, pour estre capable 
d’y recevoir les colomnies qui y avoient commencé leur establissement, par le 
moyen desdites habitations qui y estoient faites & construites & des Forts 
dont ledit Charnisé s’est emparé: I] est nécessaire d’y envoyer homme capable 
& instruit en la connoissance des lieux, fidél a notre Service, pour reprendre 
lesdits Forts, ou en construire d’autres, & remettre le dit Pays sous notre 
domination, & la dite Compagnie dans ses droits, portéz par Edit de son 
establissement ; & pour la défense du dit Pays munir & garder les dits Forts, 
& ceux qui seront faits de nombre suffisant de gens de guerre, & autres choses 
nécessaires, oui il convient faire de grandes dépenses : Et pour nous rendre un 
service de cette importance, estant assuré du zéle, soin, industrie, courage, 
valeur, bonne & sage conduite du dit Sieur Denys, lequel nous auroit esté 
nommé & présenté par la dite Compagnie : Avons, de nostre certaine Science, 
pleine puissance & Autorité Royale, iceluy Sieur Denys, confirmé & confirmons 
de nouveau, en tant que besoin est ou seroit, ordonné & estably, ordonnons & 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 63 


own hand, [as] Governor and our Lieutenant-General, representing 
our person, in all the country, territory, coasts, and confines of the 
Great Bay of Saint Laurens, to commence with the Cap de Canceaux 
as far as the Cap des Rosiers, Isles de Terre-neufve, Isles du Cap- 
Breton, de Saint-Jean, and other Islands adjacent, in order to re-establish 
our rule there and the said Company of New France in its rights; to 
make known there our name, power, and authority, to subjugate, subdue, 
and bring into obedience the peoples who live there, and to have them 
instructed in the knowledge of the true God and in the light of the 
Christian faith and religion; and to command there both by sea and 
by land, to decree and to have done everything that he may believe 
ought and could be done to support and keep the said places under our 
authority and sway, with power to appoint, establish, and institute all 
officers, as well of war as of justice, both for the first time and thereafter 
in future, to nominate and present them to us for their appointments, 
and to give them our Letters necessary thereto; and in accordance 
with the trend of events, with the advice and counsel of the most 
prudent and capable persons, to establish laws, statutes, and ordinances 
conformable (so far as he may be able) to our own; to make treaties 
and to contract for peace alliance and confederation with the said 
peoples or others having power and command over them; to make 
open war upon them for establishing and maintaining our authority, 


establissons par ces présentes signées de nostre main, Gouverneur & nostre 
Lieutenant Général, représentant nostre Personne, en tout le Pays, Territoire, 
Costes & Confins de la grande Baye de saint Laurens, 4 commencer du Cap 
de Canceaux, jusques au Cap des Rosiers, Isles de Terre-neufve, Isles du 
Cap-Breton, de Saint-Jean, & autres Isles adjacentes, pour y restablir notre 
domination, & ladite Compagnie de la nouvelle France, dans ses droits; y 
faire reconnoistre nostre Nom, Puissance & Autorité, assujettir, soimettre & 
faire obéir les Peuples qui y habitent, & les faire instruire en la connoissance du 
vray Dieu & en la lumiére de la Foy & Religion Chréstienne : & y commander 
tant par mer que par terre ; ordonner & faire exécuter tout ce qu'il connoistra 
se devoir & pouvoir faire pour maintenir & conserver lesdits lieux sous nostre 
Autorité & Puissance, avec pouvoir de commettre, establir & instituer tous 
officiers, tant de Guerre que de Justice, pour la premiére fois; & de-la en 
avant, Nous les nommer & présenter pour les pourvoir, & leur donner nos 
Lettres a ce nécessaires, & selon les occurrences des affaires avec l’avis & 
conseil des plus prudens & capables: Establir Loix, Statuts & Ordonnances, 
(le plus qu'il se pourra) conformes aux nostres: Traiter & contracter paix, 
alliance & confédération avec lesdits peuples, ou autres, ayant pouvoir & 
commandement sur eux; leur faire Guerre ouverte, pour establir & conserver 


64 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


and freedom of trade and business between our subjects and them, and 
in other matters that he may consider appropriate: To enjoy and 
grant to our subjects who will live there, or will trade in the said 
country or with the natives thereof, favours, privileges and honours 
according to the qualities and merits of the persons under our good 
pleasure. IT IS OUR WILL and intention that the said Sieur Denys 
shall reserve to himself, appropriate, and enjoy fully and peacefully all 
the lands previously conceded to him by the said Company of New 
France, to him and his heirs, and to grant and alienate such part of 
these as he may think best, as well to our said subjects who shall 
inhabit them, as to the said natives so far as he shall judge it to be 
well, according to the qualities, merits, and services of the respective 
persons ; [that he shall] have careful search made for mines of Gold, 
Silver, Copper, and other metals and minerals, and have them brought 
and converted to use, as is prescribed by our ordinances, reserving for 
us, from the profit which shall arise from those of Gold and Silver only, 
ten per cent., and we leave and assign to him that which would 
appertain to us from any of the other metals and minerals, in order to 
help him to meet the other expenses which his said charge will bring 
him. IT IS OUR WILL that the said Sieur Denys, exclusively and 
over all others, shall enjoy the privilege, power, and right to traffic and 
make the fur trade with the said Indians throughout all the extent of 
the said country of mainland and coast of the Great Bay of Saint- 


notre Autorité, & la liberté du trafic & négoce, entre nos Sujets & eux, & 
autres cas qu'il jugera 4 propos: Jouir & octroyér a nos Sujets qui habiteront 
ou négocieront audit Pays & aux originaires d’iceluy, graces, priviléges & 
honneurs, selon les qualitiéz & mérites des personnes sous nostre bon Plaisir ; 
VOULONS & entendons que ledit Sieur Denys se réserve, approprie & joiiisse 
pleinement & paisiblement de toutes les terres a luy cy-davant concédées par 
ladite Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, luy & les siens, & d’icelles en donner 
& départir telle part qu’il avisera, tant a nosdits Sujets qui s’y habiteront, 
qu ’auxdits originaires, ainsi qu’il jugera bon estre, selon les qualités, mérites & 
services des personnes : faire soigneusement chercher les mines d’or, d'argent, 
cuivre & autres métaux & minéraux & de les faire mettre & convertir en usage, 
comme il est prescrit par nos Ordonnances, Nous réservant du profit qui en 
viendra de celles d’or & d’argent seulement, le dixiesme denier, & lui délaissons 
& affectons ce qui nous en pourroit appartenir aux autres métaux & minéraux, 
pour luy aider 4 supporter les autres depences que sadite charge lui apporte. 
VOULONS que ledit sieur Denys, privativement a toute autre, joiiisse du 
privilege, pouvoir & faculté de trafiquer & faire la traicte de Pelleteries avec 
lesdits Sauvages, dans toute l’Etendiie dudit Pays de Terre-ferme & Coste de 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 65 


Laurens, Terre-neufve, Cap-Breton, and other islands adjacent, to 
enjoy all the privileges above declared, [himself] and those whom he 
will appoint, and to whom he will wish to give the charge; and that 
right should be done him by the widow of the said Daulnay Charnisé 
and her heirs for all the losses and damages that he has suffered because 
of the said Daulnay Charnisé. Furthermore, we have given and do 
give, granted and do grant, to the said Sieur Denys the right, power, 
and authority to form a sedentary Company for the fishery of Cod, 
Salmon, Mackerel, Herring, Sardines, Sea-cows, Seals, and other fishes 
which are found throughout the extent of the said country, the coast 
of Acadia as far as the Virginias, and the adjacent islands. Into which 
company will be received all the inhabitants of the said country, for 
such part as they may wish to enter upon, and to participate in the 
profits in accordance with what each one shall have put into it. And 
it is forbidden to all persons, of whatsoever quality and condition they 
may be, to undertake over his said company to make the said sedentary 
fishery through all the extent of this said country, but with exception, 
however, for our subjects, to whom it is our will and intention to pro- 
vide that throughout the said country of New France, with ships and 
in such harbours and ports as may seem to them good, they may make 
the fishery of green and dry fish, quite in the usual way, without any 
possibility of being in any way disturbed by the said company. We 
make very express prohibition and refusal to all merchants, masters, 


la grande Baye Saint-Laurens, Terre-neufve, Cap-Breton, & autres Isles 
adjacentes, pour en jouir de toutes les choses cy-dessus déclarées, & par ceux 
qu'il commettra, & 4 qui il en voudra donner la charge: & qu'il lui soit fait 
raison par la vefve dudit Daulnay-Charnisé & ses héritiers, de toutes les pertes 
& dommages qu'il a souffert de la part dudit Daulnay-Charnisé. De plus nous 
avons donné & donnons, attribué & attribuons audit sieur Denys, le droit, 
faculté, & pouvoir de faire une Compagnie sédentaire de la pesche des Molues, 
Saumons, Macquereaux, Harans, Sardines, Vaches marines, Loups marins, & 
autres Poissons qui se trouveront en toute l’Etendiie dudit Pays, Coste de la 
Cadie jusques aux Virginies & Isles adjacentes. A laquelle Compagnie seront 
receus tous les habitans dudit pays, pour telle part quwils y voudront entrer, 
pour des profits y participer, de ce que chacun y aura mis. Et deffenses a 
toutes personnes de quelque qualité & condition qu’ils soient, d’entreprendre 
sur ladite Compagnie pour faire ladite Pesche sedentaire en toute l’éstendiie 
dudit Pays, 4 la réserve toutefois de nos Sujets, que nous voulons & entendons 
pourvoir par tout ledit Pays de la Nouvelle France, avec Navires & en tels 
Ports & Havres que bon leur semblera, pour y faire pesche verte & seiche, 
tout ainsi qu’a lordinaire, sans y pouvoir estre troubléz en aucune facgon par 
ladite Compagnie: Faisant trés-expresses inhibitions & déffenses a tous 
E 


66 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


and captains of vessels, and others of our native subjects of the said 
country, of whatsoever state or condition they may be, to carry on the 
fur trade with the Indians of the said country, as well as the said 
sedentary fishery, without his express leave and permission, on penalty 
in case of disobedience of entire confiscation of their vessels, arms, 
munitions, and merchandise to the profit of the said Sieur Denys, and 
of ten thousand livres fine. Authority is given the said Sieur Denys to 
stop them by all means, and to arrest those contravening our said 
prohibitions, their ships, arms, and provisions, to bring them into the 
hands of justice for proceedings to be taken against the persons and 
goods of those disobeying, as will be deemed fitting. And in order 
that this intention and will may be well known, and that no one 
may pretend that he was ignorant of it, We decree and order all 
of our officers and justices to whom it appertains, that at the request 
of the said Sieur Denys they are obliged to have these presents read, 
published, and registered, and to have the contents of them kept and 
observed punctually, being bound to post and publish in the ports 
and harbours and other places in our Kingdom, in countries and lands 
under our authority, as need may arise, a summary extract of their 
contents. It is our will that to copies which shall be duly collated by 
any of our well-beloved and trusty Counsellors, Secretaries, or Royal 
Notary, by this requirement, credit shall be given [as] to the present 
original. For such is our pleasure. In witness whereof we have had 


Marchands, Maistres & Capitaines de Navires, & autres nos Sujets originaires 
dudit Pays, de quelque estat & condition qu’ils soient, de faire la traicte des 
Pelleteries avec les Sauvages dudit Pays, ny ladite Pesche sédentaire, sans son 
exprés congé & permission, 4 peine de desobéissance & confiscation entiére de 
eurs Vaisseaux, armes, munitions & marchandises au profit dudit Sieur Denys, 
& de dix mil livres d’amande. Permettons au dit Sieur Denys de les em- 
pescher par toutes voyes, & d’arrester les contrevenans 4 nosdites déffenses, 
leurs Navires, armes, & victuailles, pour les remettre és mains de la Justice, & 
estre procédé contre la personne & biens des désobéissans, ainsi qu’il appar- 
tiendra : Et a ce que cette intention & volonté soit notoire, & qu’aucun n’en 
prétende cause dignorance: Mandons & ordonnons a tous nos Officiers, 
Justiciers qu’il appartiendra, qu’a la Requeste dudit sieur Denys, ils ayent a 
faire lire, publier & registrer ces présentes ; & le contenu en icelles faire garder 
& observer ponctuellement ; faisant mettre & afficher és Ports, Havres & 
autres lieux de nostre Royaume, Pays & Terres de notre Obéissance que 
besoin sera, un Extraict sommaire du contenu en icelles. Voulant qu’aux 
Copies qui en seront deuément collationnées par de nos améz & féaux Conseiller, 
Secrétaire ou Notaire Royal sur ce requis, foy soit ajotitée au présent Original : 
Car tel est notre Plaisir. En témoin de quoy Nous avons fait mettre notre 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 67 


our seal affixed to these presents. GIVEN at Paris, the thirtieth of 
January, one thousand six hundred and fifty-four, and of our reign the 
eleventh. Sealed with the great seal of green wax, in strings of red 
and green silk. Signed, LOUIS. And upon the fold, By the King, 
DE LOMENIE. And upon the margin, Visa. And under, collated 
with the original by me, Counsellor and Secretary of the King, 
King’s Household and Crown of France, and of his finances, signed 


LA BORIE, with paraph. 


III 
1655, OcTroBER I5 


Decree of the Privy Council rendered in favour of Nicolas Denys, Esqutre, 
against Emanuel Le Borgne, Merchant, iving at La Rochelle, which 
accords replevin to the said Denys of the Peltry goods, Beaver and 
Moose skins seized at the request of the said Le Borgne from the Sieur 
de la Milleray, to whom the said Denys had delivered them, and 
discharged the securities. And in conformity to the Letters Patent of 
Fis Majesty of the 30th January 1654: It is forbidden to the said 
Le Borgne and to all others pretending right to the succession of the 
Szeur D’Aulnay Charnisay to undertake any enterprize in the places 


Scel & cesdites présente. DONNE A Paris, le trentiéme janvier mil six cens 
cinquante-quatre, & de nostre Régne le unziéme: Scellé du grand Sceau de 
cire verte en lacs de soye rouge & verte. Signé LOUIS. £¢ sur le reply. 
Par le Roy, DE LOMENIE. £¢ @ costé, Visa. Et Plus bas, Collationné a 
POriginal par moy Conseiller Secrétaire du Roy, Maison, Couronne du France, 
& de ses Finances, Signé LA BORIE, avec paraphe. 


Arrest du Conseil privé rendu en faveur de Nicolas Denys Ecuyer contre 
Emanuel Le Borgne Marchand, demeurant a la Rochelle, gui accorde 
matnlevée au dit Denys des Marchindises de Pelleteries,Castors et orignaux 
satsis ala Reqguéte du dit Le Borgne sur le Sieur de la Milleraye a qui le 
ait Denys les auroit livré, et déchargé les cautions. et gue conformement aux 
Lettres patentes de Sa Majesté du 30 Janvier 1654. Il est deffendu au ait 
Le Lorgne et a tous autres préitendans droit & la successton du Sieur 
LD Aulnay Charnisay, de rien entreprendre sur les lieux delaisses au adit 


68 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


left to the said Denys by the Directors and Associates of the Company of 
Canada and others, etc. (Extracts.) 


Extracts from the Registers of the Privy Council of the King. 


Between Nicolas Denys, Esquire, plaintiff by Petition according to 
the Decree of the Council of the 12th of February 1655, on the one 
part, and Emanuel Le Borgne, Merchant, living at La Rochelle, 
creditor of the late Charles de Menou, Chevalier and Seignior Daulnay 
and Subdelegate to the Sieur de la Fosse, Councillor of State, de- 
fendant, on the other part. . . . After which is the notification, the 
said letters of Provision accorded by the said Company of New France, 
the 15th January 1654, to the said Denys, of the extent of lands, coasts, 
ports, and harbours therein mentioned, upon the conditions therein 
recited. Printed copies of other Letters Patent of His Majesty of the 
30th January 1654 bearing confirmation of the preceding, with 
establishment of the said Denys as Governor and Lieutenant-general 
of his said Majesty in the said countries on conditions therein men- 
tioned. Inventory made the 9th September 1647, of the arms, muni- 
tions of war, merchandize of provision and traffic, and other materials 
found in the habitation of Miscou, and its environs, belonging to the 
said Denys, and by him abandoned to the said Sieur Daulnay, estimated 
at eight thousand three hundred and forty-two livres, which sum the 


Denys par les Directeurs et associés de la Compagnie de Canada et autres, 
etc. 


Extraict des Registres du Conseil Privé du Roy. 


Entre Nicolas Denys Escuyer, demandeur en Requeste suivant l’arrest du 
Conseil du 12 Fevrier 1655 d’une part; Et Emanuel Le Borgne, Marchand 
demeurant 4 la Rochelle, créancier de Charles de Menou, vivant Chevalier 
Seigneur Daulnay et Subdélégué du Sieur de la Fosse Conseiller d’Estat, 
deffendeur d’autre part. . . . En Suite est la signification, les dites Lettres de 
provision accordées par la dite Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, le 15 Janvier 
1654, au dit Denys, de lestendue des terres, costes, ports et havres y men- 
tionnez, aux conditions y contenues. Copies imprimées d’autres Lettres 
Patentes de sa Majesté du 30 Janvier 1654. portant confirmation des précé- 
dentes, avec establissement du dit Denys pour Gouverneur et Lieutenant 
général de sa dite Majesté es dits pays, aux conditions y mentionées. Inven- 
taire fait le 9 Septembre 1647. des armes munitions de guerre, marchandises 
de bouche et de traicte, et autres choses trouvees en habitation de Miscou, et 
es environs, appartenantes au dit Denys, et par luy délaissez au dit Sieur 
Daulnay estimées a huit mil trois cens quarante deux livres, laquelle somme le 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 69 


said Sieur Daulnay had promised to pay to the said Denys at the end 
of July 1648. Process served the 10th June 1654, at the request of 
the plaintiff to the Sieur Papon, Commandant at the fort of Saint 
Pierre, for the widow of the said late Sieur Daulnay, to restore the 
said forts conformably to the said Letters Patent ; that which the said 
Papon had done on the conditions therein contained. Articles of the 
capitulation of the said fort on the 11th of the said month of June. 
Proceedings of the 15th July 1654, containing that which took place 
at the retaking of Nepeziguit. Writ of the 20th of the said month of 
July, which contains the signification made to the Lady, widow of 
the said late Sieur Daulnay, of the said Letters Patent of the month of 
January, with inventory of the furniture, tools, merchandize and 
munitions of war and of provisions taken from the said petitioner in 
the said forts of Saint Pierre and Sainte Anne in the Island of Cape 
Breton, in the years 1650 and 1651. ‘Two other inventories made by 
the petitioner in the month of June 1654 of the furniture and mer- 
chandize which have been found at the time of the reduction of the 
said forts, of which the said Denys has taken on account of that which 
is due him by the estate of the said late Sieur Daulnay. Another writ 
of assignation given to the said Sieur Papon found at La Rochelle the 
toth September 1654, to identify and certify the said inventories. 
Sentence of the Admiralty of La Rochelle of the 7th December 1654 
made upon the subject of the said identification . . . and in conse- 


dit Sieur Daulnay auroit promis payer au dit Denys a la fin de Juillet 1648. 
Sommation faite le 10 Juin 1654, a la requeste du demandeur au Sieur Papon, 
Commandant au Fort de St. Pierre pour la vefve du dit feu Sieur Daulnay, 
de remettre les dits Forts conformement aux dittes Lettres Patentes ; ce que le 
dit Papon auroit fait aux conditions y contenues. Articles de la Capitulation 
du dit Fort du 11 du dit mois de Juin. Procez verbal du 15 Juillet 1654, con- 
tenant ce qui s’est passé en la reprise de Nepeziguit. Exploict du 20 du dit 
mois de Juillet, qui contient la signification faite 4 la Dame vefve du dit feu 
Sieur Daulnay des dittes Lettres Patentes du mois de Janvier, avec inventaire 
des meubles, ustanciles, marchandises et munitions deguerre et de vivres, 
prises sur le dit demandeur, dans le dits Forts St. Pierre et Sainte Anne en 
PIsle du Cap Breton, és annees 1650 et 1651. Deux autres Inventaires faits 
par le demandeur au mois de Juin 1654, des meubles et marchandises qui ont 
esté trouvées lors de la réduction des dits Forts, desquels le dit Denys s’est 
chargé sur et tant moins de ce qui luy est detib par la succession du dit deffunct 
Sieur Daulnay. Autre exploict d’assignation donné au dit Sieur Papon trouvé 
a La Rochelle le 10 Septembre 1654 pour recognoistre et certifer les dits 
Inventaires, Sentence de |’Admiraute de la Rochelle du 7 Decembre 1654 
faite sur le sujet de la ditte recognoissance . . . et en consequence, Sa Majesté, 


70 ~~ COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


quence, His Majesty, conformably to his said Letters Patent of the 
30th January 1654, makes very explicit prohibition to the said Le 
Borgne, and to all other creditors, heirs, and pretenders to right in the 
estate of the late Sieur Daulnay Charnisay, not to undertake anything 
in the places which have been abandoned to the said Denys by the 
said Directors and associates designated in the said letters, and to all 
masters of Ships, Captains, Sailors, and others, from troubling him in 
his use of the said establishments, on penalty of corporal punishment, 
likewise from carrying any provisions, arms, and munitions of war, to 
the places and forts of the said establishments without the express 
consent of the said Denys, or those who will have charge for him, on 
penalty of confiscation of ships, arms, and munitions, ten thousand 
livres fine, costs, damages, and interest ; it is enjoined on the Captains, 
Sailors, and Soldiers and other persons who will be found in the said 
places and forts to hand them over to the said Denys or those who 
will have power for him. . . . Done at the Council of the King, held 
at Paris, the fifteenth day of October, one thousand six hundred and 
fifty-five. (Signed) ForcoAaL. 


conformement & ses dites Lettres Patentes du 30 Janvier 1654 fait trés-espresses 
deffenses au dit Le Borgne, et a tous autres créanciers, héritiers et prétendans 
droict en la succession du dit Sieur Daulnay Charnisay, de rien entreprendre 
sur les lieux qui ont esté délaissés au dit Denys par les dits Directeurs et 
associez designez és dites Lettres et 4 tous Maitres de Navires, Capitaines, 
Matelots et autres, de le troubler dans usage des dites habitations, a peine de 
punition corporelle, mesme de porter aucuns vivres, armes et Munitions de 
guerre, és Places et Forts des dites habitations sans l’exprés consentement du 
dit Denys, ou ceux qui auront charge de luy, 4 peine -de confiscation des 
vaisseaux, armes et munitions; dix mils livres d’amande, despens, dommages 
et interest; enjoint aux Capitaines, Matelots, et Soldats et autres personnes qui 
se trouveront dans les dittes Places et Forts de les remettre au dit Denys, ou 
ceux qui auront .. . Fait au Conseil du Roy, tenu a Paris le quinzesme jour 


d’Octobre mil six cens cinquante cinq. 
(Signé) FORCOAL. 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 71 


IV 
1667, NOVEMBER 9 


Renewal by the Company of the West Indies of the Concession by the Company 
of New France, December 3, 1653. 


The Company of the West Indies, upon that which has been 
represented to us by the Sieur Nicolas Denis, Esquire, at present in 
this city of Paris, that in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty- 
three the oid Company of New France had granted and conceded to him 
all the Lands and Islands situated from the Cap de Canceaux to Cap 
des Rosieres in the said country of New France, which concession had 
been confirmed by Letters Patent of His Majesty of the thirtieth of 
January one thousand six hundred and fifty-four, with power to the 
said Sieur Denis to grant and allot such part of the said Lands as he 
thought best, as well to the subjects of His Majesty who might dwell 
there, as to the natives of the said country: but inasmuch as the said 
Lands are comprised within the extent of territory granted to the 
Company by the Edict of its Establishment in the month of May one 
thousand six hundred and sixty-four, which revokes all the concessions 
which had been made previously, the said Sieur Denis had requested 
us to be willing to confirm him, or so far as there is, or will be, need 
to grant and concede anew the said Lands and Islands, with all the 
privileges, rights, advantages, stipulations or conditions carried by the 


9g NVobre. 1667. 


La Compagnie des Indes Occidentalles sur ce qui nous a representé par le 
sieur Nicolas Denis Ecuyer de present en cette ville de Paris, que des ’année 
mil six cens cinquante trois ’ancienne Compagnie de la Nouvelle France Luy 
auroit donné et concedé toutes les terres et Isles scituées depuis Le Cap de 
Canceaux jusques au Cap des Rosieres au dit pays de la Nouvelle france, 
Laquelle concession auroit esté Confirmée par lettres patentes de sa Majesté 
du trente janvier mil six cens cinquante quatre avec pouvoir aud’. Sieur denis 
de donner et departir telle part des d® terres qu’il aviseroit tant aux sujets de sa 
Majesté qui s’y habitueroient qu’aux Originaires du d’ pays; mais d autant que 
les d* Terres sont comprises dans l’estendiie des pais concedés a la Compagnie 
par |’Edit de son Etablissement du mois de may mil six cens soixante quatre, 
lequel revoque toutes les concessions qui auroient esté accordées auparavant, 
Le d* sieur denis nous auroit requis de luy vouloir confirmer ou autand que 
besoin est ou seroit donner et conceder de Nouveau les d* Terres & Isles avec 
tous les privileges, droits, avantages, clauses ou conditions porteés dans la dite 


72 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


said first Concession and Letters of Confirmation thereof, in order to 
give him means of continuing to maintain the establishments which he 
has formed and sustained in the said country with much care and 
expense : For THESE Reasons, WE, THE Directors GENERAL of the 
said Company, recognising how important it is for the good of religion 
and increase of the Colonies of New France that this region should be 
immediately peopled by subjects who can work at the clearing and 
cultivation of the lands, Have in the name of the said Company 
confirmed, and do confirm, and so far as is or may be necessary, have 
conceded and do concede anew to the said Sieur Denis the said Lands 
and Islands in full propriety and Seigniory on the conditions carried by 
the said Concession of the old Company of New France, situated as 
above from the Cap de Canceaux to the Cap de Rosieres, with all the 
privileges, rights, advantages, stipulations, and conditions carried in the 
said Concession and Letters Patent of confirmation of the same, and 
on the express condition that the said Sieur Denis shall cause to go to 
the said country during ten years, in each one of them, fifty persons of 
both sexes to people and cultivate it: And in case that in certain years 
he is unable to make that number go, he will replace it the following 
year up to the complete number, it being equally understood that in 
case the Sieur Denis shall send in a single year a number exceeding 
fifty persons, that which is found above that number will be con- 
sidered as a substitute for the sending which he will be obliged to 


premiere Concession et Lettres de Confirmation d icelle afin de luy donner 
moyen de Continiier a entretenir les Etablissemens qu’il a formés et maintenir 
dans les d§ pays avec beaucoup de soin et de depenses, A CES CAUSES, Nous 
DIRECTEURS GENERAUX de lad® Compagnie reconnoissant combien il est 
Important pour le bien de la Religion et augmentation des Colonyes de la 
Nouvelle france que cette partie soit incessament peuplée de sujets qui puissent 
travailler au defrichement et culture des terres, Avons au nom de la d*. Com- 
pagnie Confirmé et confirmons, Et autant que besoin est ou seroit concedé et 
Concedons de Nouveau au dit Sieur denis Les d® terres et Isles en toute 
proprieté et Seigneurie aux charges portées par la d* Concession de L’ancienne 
Compagnie de la Nouvelle france scituées comme dessus depuis le Cap de 
Canceaux jusques au Cap de Rosieres avec tous les privileges, droits, avantages, 
clauses et conditions portées dans la d® Concession et Lettres patentes de 
Confirmation d’icelle, Et a condition expresse que le d*. sieur Denis fera passer 
au dit pays pendant dix années a chacunne d’icelles cinquante personnes de l'un 
et autre sexe pour le peupler et cultiver, Et en cas qu’ en quelques années, il 
n’en puisse faire passer le dt. nombre il le remplacera l’annee suivant jusques a 
nombre parfait, bien entendu aussy que ou le d* sieur denis envoyeroit en une 
année un nombre excedant Cinquante personnes ce qui se trouvera au dessus 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 73 


make the succeeding years: In default of this the lands which shall 
not then be occupied will be reunited to the domain of the said 
Company, which will have power to dispose of them according as may 
seem best to it, without the said Sieur Denis being able to pretend 
to any claim of seigniory or proprietorship, which conditions have 
been accepted by the said Sieur Denis: In faith whereof we have 
signed these presents, and have had them countersigned by the secre- 
tary general of the said Company and sealed with its Arms, at Paris 
the Ninth day of November one thousand six hundred and sixty-seven. 
Signed Bechamiel, Berthelot, Dalibert, Thomas, Landais, and under- 
neath by the said Sieurs the Directors General, Daulier and sealed with 
red wax. 


V 


1677, AUGUST 21 


Ordinance of M. du Chesneau, Intendant in Canada in the interest 
of the Sieur Denis, 


Jacques pu CHENEAU, Chevalier, Seigneur de la Doussiniere et 
Dembrault, Councillor of the King in his state and privy Councils, 
Intendant of Justice, police, and finances in Canada, in Accadie, Illes 
de Terres neuves, and other countries of France Septentrionalle. 


tiendra lieu pour l’envoy qu’il seroit obligé de faire les années suivantes, A faute 
de quoy Les Terres qui ne seront lors occupées seront reunies au domaine de 
lad*. Compagnie qui en poura disposer ainsy que l’on lui semblera, sans que 
le d*. sieur Denis y puisse pretendre aucunne Seigneurie ny propriété, Les- 
quelles conditions ont esté acceptées par le d*. Sieur Denis, En foy de quoy 
Nous avons signe ce presentes, Icelles fait contresigner par le secretaire 
general de lad Compagnie et sceller des Armes d’ycelle, a Paris le Neufviesme 
Jour de Novembre mil six cent soixante sept Signe Bechamiel, Berthelot, 
Dalibert, Thomas, Landais, et Plus bas par Mesdits Sieurs Les Directeurs 
Gnaux, Daulier et scelle de Sire Rouge. 


Ordonnances de M. du Chesneau Intendent en Canada au profit du Sr. Denis 
au 21° Jour a’ Aoust 1677. 


JACQUES DU CHENEAU, chevalier Seigneur de la doussiniere et dembrault, 
conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils d’estat et privé, Intandant de la Justice, 
polices et finances en Canada en Accadie Illes de Terres neuves at autres pays 
de la France Septentrionalle. 


74 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


Considering the request presented to us by Charles Hagnuet, 
Esquire, Sieur de Nargonne, in the name and as attorney to Nicolas 
Denis, also esquire, REPRESENTING that the said Sieur Denis had ob- 
tained Letters Patent from His Majesty confirming him anew in his 
office as Governor and Lieutenant-General in all the country, territory, 
coasts, and limits of the Grande Baye Saint Laurent, to commence at 
the Cap des Canceaux as far as Cap des Roziers, Isles de terres neuves, Cap 
Brethon, de Saint Jean, and other islands, in which Cap Brethon there 
is found coal and in the passage of the said Canceaux plaster, which he 
has always permitted the residents of this country to go and take for 
their needs on payment to him of a moderate royalty, in order to 
contribute in every way that he could to their advantage: nevertheless 
abusing his good nature, they do not alone content themselves with 
removing constantly plaster and coal from his lands without paying him 
anything, but they make use of the privilege he has given them to ruin 
him, and to make under this pretext trade in furs with the Indians 
who are in those lands, to the prejudice of the intentions of the King, 
whose paternal vigilance extends over everything which has the honour 
and advantage to be under his authority through whatever extent it 
may be, and who wishes that every one shall in future apply himself 
more assiduously than ever to the cultivation of the land and may 
enjoy for this purpose the little profits which are met with in that 
which belongs to him: in order to facilitate the execution and in 


Veu la req'®. a nous presentée par Charles Hagnuet, escy*. Sieur de 
Nargonne au nom et comme ayant charge de J/Vicolas Denis aussy escYer 
CONTENANT que led. Sieur denis auroit obtenu par lettres pattentes de Sa 
Majesté confirméon de nouveau de la charge de Gouverneur et lieutenant gial 
dans tous les pays, territoire costes et confins de la grande baye Saint Laurent 
a commancer du Cap des Canceaux jusques au Cap des ‘ozzers Isles de zerres 
neuves Cap Brethon de Saint Jean et autres Isles dans lequel Cap Brethon il se 
trouve du Charbon de Terre et dans le passage dud. Canceaux du plastre qu'il 
a tousiours souffert aux habitans de ce pays de venir prendre pour leur besoins 
en luy payant un droict modique afin de contribuer en tout ce qui luy a esté 
possible a leur advantage cepand'*. abusant de sa facilité Ils ne se contentent 
pas non seulement d’enlever tous les jours le Alastre et charbon de dessus ses 
terres sans luy payer aucunne chose, mais se servent de la grace gwil leur 
accorde pour le ruiner et faire soubs ce pretexte la traitte des pelletries avec les 
Sauvages qui sont dans les Terres au prejud®. des Intentions du Roy dont la 
vigilance paternelle s’estend sur tout ce qui a Phonneur et lavantage de luy 
estre soubmis de quelque estendue qu’il soit qui veut que chin s’applique 
doresnavant plus fortement que jamais a la culture de la Terre et jouisse pour 
cet effet des petits profits qu’il se rencontrent en ce qui luy appartient pour en 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 75 


conformity with his ordinance of the 15th of April of last year, 1676, 
imposing very specific prohibition and refusal to all persons of what- 
soever quality and condition they may be from going to trade for furs 
in the settlements of the Indians and depths of the woods, on penalty 
against any individuals, for the first time that they go on the said 
trading, of confiscation of the merchandise with which they shall be 
found provided, as well in going as returning from their voyage, and 
also 2000 livres fine, and for the second such offence any such severe 
penalty as will be by us adjudged: And, in conclusion, asking orders 
to prevent the said residents and other individuals from trading in the 
said places, because if this were allowed it would be impossible to 
promote the settlement of the country granted to him and the cultiva- 
tion of it, which he has not yet found it possible to do up to the present 
to the extent that he would have desired, having been prevented from it 
by the troubles brought on him as well by the English as by the 
French, and we order that they shall not take coal and plaster from 
the said lands without his permission and unless they pay him four 
livres per ton for plaster and three livres per ton for coal. ‘The Letters 
Patent of His Majesty forwarded to the said Sieur Denis, given at 
Paris the 30th of January 1654, signed by Collation the 

And the ordinance of the King of the said day, the 15th of April of 
the said year, 1676, and everything considered. 


faciliter le moyen et au mespris de son ordonnance du quinzieme Avril de 
Yannée defe 1676 portant tres expresse inhibitions et deffences a touttes 
personnes de quelque qualité et condition qu’elles soyent d’aller a la traicte 
des pelletries dans les habitaéns des Sauvages et profondeur des bois, a peine 
contre les particuliers pour la p* fois quwils yront a lad. traicte de confiscaon 
des marchandises dont ils seront trouvez saysies, tant en allant que revenant 
de leurs voyage et de deux mil livres d’amandes et pour la seconde de telle 
autre peine afflictive qu'il seroit par nous juge concluant a ce qu'il nous pleust 
empescher lesd. habitans et autres particulliers de traicter sur lesd. lieux, parce 
que si cela estoit tolleré il seroit hors d’estat de faire habiter les pays qui luy 
sont conceddez et cultiver la terre ce qu’il n’a pitt faire jusques a pit Dans toutte 
lestendue qu’il auroit desiré en ayant esté empesché par les troubles que luy 
ont fait tant les Anglois que les Francois et ordonnent qu’ils ne pourront 
prendre du charbon et plastre sur lesd. Terres sans sa permission et quils luy 
payeront par tonneau de plastre quatre livres et par tonneau de charbon trois 
livres Les lettres pattentes de Sa Majesté expediées aud. Sieur Denis donne a 
Paris le trantiesme Jan® 1654 signées par collaon la et Pordonnance 
du Roy dud. jour quinziesme Avril de lad. annee 1676 et tout considere. 


76 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


WE orRDER that the said ordinance shall be executed according to 
its form and tenor, and this done we have made very specific pro- 
hibitions and refusals to all residents and others against making any 
traffic in the places belonging to the said Sieur Denis and forming 
part of the concessions made to him, under the penalties carried thereby, 
and that no person shall take coal and plaster that may be found on 
those said lands without the permission of the said Sieur Denis and 
paying him therefor, that is to say, for each ton of plaster making 
four barrels thirty sols, and twenty sols per ton of coal upon the penalties 
which will appertain thereto. Wr COMMAND the first officer or royal 
sergeant by this requirement to take in virtue of our present ordinance 
all necessary steps. Done at Quebec the twenty-first day of August 
one thousand six hundred and seventy-seven. Signed Du Chesneau, 
by Monseigneur Chevalier with paraph. 


VI 
1689, FEBRUARY (2) 
Memorial of Richard Denys to Monseigneur Le Marquts de Seignelay. 
(Extracts.) 


Richard Denys represents very humbly to Your Highness, that the 
late Nicolas Denys, his father, having the intention of establishing 


NOUS ORDONNONS que lad. ordon® sera executtée selon sa forme et 
teneur et ce faisant avons fait tres expresses inhibitions et deffenses a tous 
habitans et autres de faire aucun traicte dans les lieux appartenants aud. 
S™ Denis et faisant partie des concessions données a luy sur les peinnes portées 
par icelle et que personne ne pourra prendre du charbon et plastre qui se 
trouvera sur cesd. terres sans la permission dud. Sieur Denis et en luy payant 
scavoir par chiin tonneau de plastre faisant quatre barriques trente sols et 
vingt sols par tonneau de charbon sur les peinnes qui y appartiendront. 
MANDONS au premier huissier ou sergent Royal sur ce requis faire en 
vertu de nostre pite ordonnance tous actes necessaires Faict a Quebec le 
Vingt unieme jour d’aoust mil six cens soix** et dix sept signe du Chesneau par 
Monseigneur Chevalier avec paraphe. 


A Monsetgneur Le Marquis de Seignelay. 


Richard Denys, remontre trés humblement a Votre Grandeur, que feu 
Nicolas Denys, son pere, alant dessein d’établir quelque colonie dans Amérique 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS i'd 


some colony in Amerique Septentrionale, removed to Acadie in 1633 
with the Commandeur de Razilly. He devoted himself for some 
time to the cultivation of the land and to developing a trade with 
France in timber and fish; but his plans were shattered by the death 
of his commander and by various embarrassing accidents caused by 
sundry individuals, both French and English, who pillaged his establish- 
ments, and made him suffer very considerable losses. Finally he 
bought, in 1653, from the old Company of New France, a part of the 
mainland and of the islands of the Gulf of Saint Laurent. This 
acquisition was confirmed by Letters Patent of the year 1654, and by 
a decree of Council of the following year, 1655, of which a copy 
is annexed. Moreover his Majesty, by his Letters Patent, accorded to 
the said late Sieur Denys the commission of Governor of the said 
lands of which he was proprietor. He established himself at Nepigiguit 
in the Baye des Chaleurs, where he had a fort built. But his affairs 
having obliged him to return to France, he left in his place and as his 
lieutenant Richard Denys, his son and his heir to all his rights, although 
he was still very young. The said Richard Denys has acquitted 
himself in that employment during eighteen years to the satisfaction 
of everybody. . . . The death of his father, deceased last year at the 
age of ninety years, has obliged him to come to France. ..... 


septentrionale, se transporta 4 Acadie en 1633, avec M™ le Commandeur de 
Razilly. Il s’apliqua quelque temps 4 la culture de la terre, et a faire commerce 
en France de bois, de poisson; Mais ses projets furent interrompus par la 
mort de se commandeur et par divers accidens entravés par divers part's 
francois et Anglois qui pillérent ses habita’ons et luy firent soufrir des pertes 
trés considérables. Enfin il acheta en 1653 de lancienne compagnie de la 
Nouvelle France, une partie de la terre ferme et des isles du golfe St. Laurent. 
Cette acquisition fut confirmée par des lettres patentes de année 1654 et par 
une arrét du Con! de l’année suivante 1655 dont copie est cy jointe. Méme sa 
Majesté par ses lettres patentes accorda au dit feu Sieur Denys, la commission 
de gouverneur des dits pais dont il etoit proprietaire. I] s’etablit 4 Nepigiguit 
dans la Baye des chaleurs ou il fit construire un fort ; mais ses affaires laiant 
obligé de passer en France, il laissa en sa place et pour son lieutenant Richard 
Denys son fils et son héritier en tous ses droits, quoy qu’il fut encore fort jeune. 
Le dit Richard Denys s’est acquité de cet employ durant dix huit ans 4 la 
satisfaction de tout le monde. . . . La mort de son pére décédé l'année 
derniere agé de 90 ans I’a obligé de venir en France...... 


78 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


Vil 
1710, OCTOBER II 
Letter of M. Raudot to the Minister. (Extract.) 


. . . We believe that the right of the King for that island [Cape 
Breton] is well established, because, aside from the fact that it is an 
island adjacent to Acadie, it was granted by the King fifty-six years 
ago to the Sieur Denis, surnamed Greatbeard, and this concession was 
only a renewal of another which had been given him by the Company 
Of ENAECOUNETY. (3. /. 


VII 
1713, OCTOBER 9 
Letter of Denys de la Ronde to the Minister, (Extracts.) 


... It is not fifty years since my late grandfather Denys had 
there [at Saint Annes] a fort of which one can still see the remains ; 
and the Indians have told us that he raised there the finest wheat in 
the world ; we have even seen the fields which he farmed, and one 
sees there very fine apple trees, from which we have eaten fruit very 
good for the season . . . in consideration of the expense that my late 
grandfather Denys expended upon the island of Cape Breton when his 
Majesty granted it tohim...... 


. nous croyons que la possession du Roy pour cette isle est bien etablie 
puis qu’outre que cest une isle adjacente a L’accadie, elle a esté concedée par 
le Roy il y a 56 ans au Sieur Denis surnommé La grande Barbe, et cette con- 
cession n’a esté qu’un renouvellement d’une autre qui luy avoit este donnée par 
La Compagnie de ce pays...... 


. 11 nia pas cinquante ans que defeun mon grand pére Denys y avoit un 
fort don lon nan vois ancore les vestige et les sauvage nous on dit qu'il y fesois 
le plus baux bleid du monde et nous avons encore veu les champs ou il labourois, 
et lon ni voit de trés baux pomié don nous an avons mangé de trés bon fruit 
pour la saison . . . an consideration des depense que défeun mon grand pere 
Denys a fait dans l’isle du Cap Breton lorsque sa Majeste luy avoit consedé.... 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 79 


IX 
1685, JUNE 20 
Letter from Nicolas Denys to the King of France." 


PISQUIT, ST. LAURANCE, June 20, 1685. 


Sr..—The Lustre of your Majesty, when I came before you to 
Present your Majesty with a Fox, (a Creature not so Considerable for its 
Fineness as Rarety tho coming from a Country under your Majesties 
own Dominion) made me forgett what I had purposed to lay before 
your Majestye concerning the Expences you have been at for Quebeck 
And also of what your Majesty might doe (tho much less) for New 
France, that is for that part of your Dominion from the Mouth of the 
great River St. Laurance to the English Possessions I have not Skill 
enough, by writing Sufficiently to explaine myself; on this head, so as 
to give your Majesty full Knowledge of the Advantages that, hereby 
would accrue However this I may assure your Majesty, that by 
Bestewing on this Country, only one Quarter of the Expence you 
have bestowed on Quebeck it would produce you more in one year, 
than Quebeck can do in fourty it being a Country that would produce 
Wine Salt and Corn in plenty it is full of wood fit for Plank and 
Shipping there is also Tarr and other things fit for the Sea in a very 
great plenty with very good trade of Cod fish herring Mackerell and 
Salmon of which hetherto we have been beholden to England and 
Holland for a Supply; which trade being well estableshed ; would 
bring in a Revenue of near two Millions a year to your Majesty and 
besides would be Nursery of Able Seamen to Serve in your Majestyes 
Fletts and unto all this I might add a great many other things of very 
great Advantage and Importance butt this is too large a Subject for 
my dull pen. must therefore bee reserved till your Majesty will please 
to favor me with an Oppurtunity to do it by word of Mouth; which 
makes me beseech your Majesty to grant me an Audience that So 
I might fully enforme you what the Experience of My Age has gotten 
me having lived there fourty years. 


Yor. Most humble Obedient & Faithfull Subject 


DENYES. 
endorsed : To y¢ French King. 


' The reason why this letter is in English is explained in the Bibliography, 
page 41. 


80 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


xX 
1688 


Translation into English of the two passages interpolated into the Dutch 
Translation of Denys’ Book.* 


[Page 44 of the Dutch ; inserted at page 128 of Vol. I. of the French, 


after the words se prenant a la ligne.] 


I must here make a little digression in order to relate a matter 
which deserves special notice and of which there have been eye- 
witnesses enough so as not to bring the truth of the same into doubt. 
While in the year 1656 three ships were lying on this coast for the 
sake of catching cod, the men of Captain Pzerre Rouleau, lying farthest 
away from the shore, noticed some distance away in the sea a peculiar 
commotion that was not caused by anything which had the form 
of any known fish. ‘They stared at it for some time without knowing 
what to make of it. Since the opinions about it were very much 
divided, as it usually is among men who have little knowledge, they 
rowed in the boats to the ship to get a telescope. Then they saw 
clearly that this fish, or to say better, this monster, which still retained 
the same appearance, seemed to take pleasure in the beams of the 
sun (for it was about 2 P.M. and very clear and fine weather); it 
seemed to play in the gently undulating water, and looked somewhat 
like a human being. ‘This caused general astonishment and likewise 
great curiosity to see this strange creature near by, and, if possible, to 
catch it. Upon the order of the Captain they therefore kept very 
quiet, in order not to drive it away by any noise, and descended 
quickly into the boats with ropes and other things, by means of which 
they thought they could most easily get the monster alive into their 


! For this translation I am indebted to the kind aid of my colleague, 
Professor Ernst Mensel of Smith College. The two pictures which the 
passages explain, and which were no doubt introduced for purely business 
reasons (compare earlier, page 36 of this work), are reproduced herewith. 

It is probable both passages are based upon some earlier obscure records, 
and very likely the pictures also have appeared before, though I have not been 
able to trace them. There is a somewhat detailed account of a merman in 
Captain Whitbourne’s Discourse and Discovery of Nevu-Found-Land (London, 
1622), though there is little resemblance between his and the one described 
below. . 


(A218 7DULS2L0 Sp12YyJ-O027 JN0GD 07 paInpay) 


MOOd .SANHC HO NOILWISNVUL HOLNG AHL AO SHANLOId ALVIdedddOO GALVIOdYALNI AHL 


enema na See erate 


a a ee 
seca 


nas 
t} 
= | 
t 
= 
io 
2; 
, 
¢ 
ay 
vii 
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Gre 
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‘ 
* in 
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* 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 81 


hands, But while the men of the Captain named were thus engaged, 
those also of the other two ships, although they had lain farther away, 
had caught sight of the same object, and being extremely curious to 
get a nearer acquaintance, had betaken themselves to their boats and 
had taken the oars in hand. Captain Rouleau, who was himself in one 
of his boats, rightly understanding that in this way they would by no 
means attain their end, but, on the contrary, would by untimely noise 
drive away the monster, beckoned all these vessels together and gave 
command to row out a long way on both sides, in order thus unforeseen 
to fall upon it from behind. ‘This was done in all quietness, but it 
came to pass that one of the sailors, or the fishermen, throwing out 
overboard away from the boat, cast a rope over the head of the Merman 
(for it was in fact a Merman), but since he did not quickly enough 
draw it shut, he shot down through the loop and away under water, 
presenting in his lowest part, which because of the quick movement 
could not well be made out, the appearance of a great beast. At once 
all the boats gathered round in order to catch him in case he should 
come up once more, each one holding himself ready for that purpose 
with ropes and cords, But instead of showing himself there again 
above water, he came to view farther out to sea, and with his hands, 
whereof the fingers (if indeed the things were fingers that stood in the 
place of fingers) were firmly bound to each other with membranes just 
as those of swans’ feet or geese feet, he brushed out of his eyes his mossy 
hair, with which he also seemed to be covered over the whole body as 
far as it was seen above water, in some places more, in others less. 
The fishermen distributed themselves again, and went a long way 
around, in order to make another attempt ; but the Merman, apparently 
noticing that they had designs on him, shot under water, and after 
that did not show himself again, to the great dejection of the fisher- 
men, who many a time went there to be on the lookout, and inces- 
santly racked their brains to invent stratagems to catch him. 

I am sure this digression has not been unpleasant to the reader, 
yet one might have wished that the trouble of the fishers had had 
better success, and that they might have gotten that monster of a 
Merman into their power. Now let us take up again the broken 
thread of our story. 


82 COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 


[Page 67 of the Dutch ; inserted at page 191 of Vol. I. of the French, 


after the words le reste de la mer.] 


While in the year 1657 some fishermen were lying here, a sad 
thing occurred, of which I must here give an account. The Indians 
are in the habit of betaking themselves to the vicinity of places 
whither they know the fishermen will come to stand with their ships. 
As soon as they catch sight of these, they make a great smoke in order 
to inform their people that they are there. The ship thereupon 
approaches the land, and the Indians take a few skins and sit down in 
their canoes in order to row nearer. ‘They are well received, and are 
given to eat and drink as much as they wish, to help things going 5 
and then it is found out whether they have any skins and whether 
there are more Indians thereabouts, as here now in the description of 
their customs is to be spoken of more fully. "These skins are bartered 
for brandy, for which they, ever since they have begun to trade with 
fishermen, are very greedy; and they herewith fill themselves up to 
such an extent that they frequently fall over backwards, for they do 
not call it drinking unless they overload themselves with this strong 
drink in beastly fashion. Now, there had been on these ships some 
[ndians who had sold a number of skins to the fishermen, for which 
they had received a great quantity of brandy. In the evening, when 
they had come to land, they all together began to drink, next to brag 
and bluster, and finally to fight, inasmuch as their quarrels mostly 
spring from their condition, the ones desiring to be more than the 
others bragging of their bravery. One of the two that first had 
got to quarrelling took up a bottle by the neck and hit his opponent 
with such force on the head that he fell to the earth stunned, where- 
upon, with the knife that he had hanging down from his neck, he 
stuck four deep wounds into his body, so that the blood rushed out in 
a stream. A brother of this wounded Indian at once flew up, and 
finding a gun, he meant to shoot the other one through. This one 
knocked the muzzle aside, so that the ball went obliquely through 
the neck of some one else who was entirely without blame in the 
matter. 

Thereupon the quarrel became general, and all that they could lay 
their hands on served as weapons. To be brief, they found next day 
five dead on the field of battle, and of the nine persons which there 


COLLATERAL DOCUMENTS 83 


had been all told, those left over were altogether more or less wounded. 
Such deadly consequences does brandy sometimes work among these 
folk, and it would have been much better if the fishermen had never 
done any trading with them than that they should send them the 
means to deprive each other of life. 


M 
My 


Setar een 
—>~ 


nog espe ea 


Sind 


¥q 


Map of the 
Country described 
by Nicolas Denys 


Ly 
Pres 
hippegan Guily 


an’ wel oink yy ah 
fa ere yh, * eee 7 a 


eo Ge 
FN agi: ONL 
. fe 
Pur 
FF 1) rien puree te vin atria dbeaied 


pao Cee 
iY 


> 


fae tli 


meoeUCRIPTION 


fe OGRAPHICAL 


AND HISTORICAL 
OF THE COASTS 


OF NORTH AMERICA 
With the Natural History of the Country 


By Monsieur DENYS, Governor [and | Lieutenant-General for 
the King, and Proprietor of all the Lands and Islands 
which occur from the Cap de Campseaux, as 
far as the Cao des Roziers 


VOLUME I 


PAR TD 


At CrLaupe Barsin’s, at the Court-house 
on the Steps of the Holy Chapel 


MDCLXXIi 
With the King’s License 


Ri be Yt) 


fii Ga a 


i 


ae att 


[i] To the KING 


SIRE, 


HE effects of your Royal protection are so 
markedly felt in every part where Commerce [11] 
and Navigation can extend that even if my duty 

and my inclination had not led me to dedicate this work to 
you, reason alone would oblige me to do it. Canada is com- 
mencing to live only since the care that Your MAJESTY 1s 
taking to give a new aspect to that unstable colony. Acadia 
would be still unjustly in the hands of our neighbours were it 
not for that same care which watches incessantly over every- 
thing which can enrich your subjects through commerce on the 
sea. But, SIRE, since the country of which [111] I take the 
liberty of presenting to you the Description forms the principal 
part of New France, the most useful and the easiest to people, 
I dare to hope that Your MAJESTY will be pleased to give 
it some part of that comprehensive attention through which 
we see daily changing to abundance all that formerly appeared 
so unproductive. ‘Thirty-five or forty years of resort or of 
residence in that part of America, in which I have had the 
honour to command for Your MAJESTY [iv] during fifteen 
years past, have given me ample knowledge of its fertility. I 
have had, moreover, the leisure to study it, and to become 
convinced as to the advantages which can be derived from it for 
naval architecture, and also as to the means for establishing 
there a sedentary Fishery. The profits [would be] almost 
unbelievable for one who understood the management of it, 
and could do with a dozen men that which it has not been 
possible up to the present to accomplish with fifty. But, SIRE, 
87 


88 DEDICATION 


this land, such as and even better than I represent it, in order 
to become useful to our own has need of those very fortunate 
influences with which [v] it has pleased Your MAJESTY to 
look upon its neighbours. So much of the treasure with which 
Spain is enriched might perhaps still be in America, but for 
the protection which Christopher Columbus received from 
Ferdinand and Isabella. Although there were only quasi- 
conjectures of the country of which he proposed the dis- 
covery, and although the riches which have actually come 
from it existed as yet only in the imagination, his constancy 
at length triumphed over the refusals by which every other 
except himself would have been disheartened, and a favourable 
audience procured for the King of Spain that which one of 
the Predeces- [vi] sors of Your MAJESTY had considered 
a chimera. I do not come, SIRE, to propose the discovery 
of a land of which I have no knowledge, nor to promise 
Mines of gold, though such there may be in New France; 
I only come to offer the experience ] have gained there and 
in the Marine during so many years. I hope that these will 
have power to procure me an audience, which will give me the 
opportunity to explain in person to Your MAJESTY sundry 
matters which I believe I ought not to lay before the Public. 
A- [vii] waiting this favour, may it please you, SIRE, that 
along with my Work I consecrate anew all that remains to 
me of life to the service of Your MAJESTY, and that I 
take advantage of this occasion to testify with how much of 
respect, of zeal, and of submission, I am, 
SIRE, 
Your MAJEST 75" 
Very humble, very obedient, and very 
faithful subject and servant, DENYS. 


1 The King to whom this dedication is addressed was Louis XIV. The 
mention of Acadia, “unjustly in the hands of our neighbours,” refers to its 
unjustifiable seizure by the British in 1654, and its restoration in 1670 under the 
Treaty of Breda of 1667. 


[viii] Notice to thee READER 


finally: acceded to the request of some of my friends, 

and have gratified their curiosity with the Description 
which I am giving you of the most beautiful part of 
New France. My hesitancy in the matter did not arise from 
a scarcity of things I had to say, [ix] but in fact from the 
little attention I have given all my life to the symmetry 
of words or to their arrangement. Indeed it were to have 
been wished, for the satisfaction of the Reader, that this 
Work had been written in a style different from that which, 
these fifty years past, I have practised without my maritime 
occupations and my association of nearly forty years with 
the Indians ever allowing me the leisure to change it. But 
if there is not found all the grace and regularity which 
ought to be in [x] the discourse, at least I can give the 
assurance that sincerity will make up for it in all the matters 
enact treat here. 

The divers voyages I have made in all the maritime parts 
of New France, and the length of time that I have had the 
honour to command there for the King, as well in the Islands 
of the Great Bay of Saint Laurens, as on the Mainland, 
and that I have lived there with my family, has allowed 
me leisure to make, as I felt inclined, observations upon 
everything in that country which has seemed to me use- 
[xi] ful or unusual. 

I have made a Map to serve as a guide to the position 
of each place, conformably to the altitudes which I have 


determined there, and to which I refer the Reader for the 
89 


3 has not been without much hesitation that I have 


90 NOTICE 


latitudes of the places I describe. I have had inserted also 
certain figures of objects connected with the fishery, and 
which the description alone would not have rendered sufh- 
ciently intelligible. 

I have explained so far as I was able, in the body of 
the narrative, the terms used in navigation, in naval archi- 
tecture, [xii] and in fishing, for the accommodation of those 
who have but little or no knowledge of them. 

It is through my personal experience that I am disabused 
of the opinion which has long been held, that the excessive 
cold renders this great country uninhabitable, and I have 
observed that it does not last longer there than in France. 
And as to the places which have been cleared, the land there 
is nearly everywhere fitted to produce all the kinds of fruits, 
of grains, and of vegetables which we have in our Provinces. 
And this [xi] cannot be called into question, seeing that 
the climate is like our own, and under the same latitude. 
It is easier to people than any of the lands of America 
where we have colonies, because the voyage to it is short 
and is made almost entirely upon the same parallel as that 
from which one is accustomed to set out to go there. 

All of the woods which are cut down in clearing the land 
are fitted either for the construction of houses, or for the 
building and masting of vessels, or for ashes,* and for all the 
[xiv] other uses in which wood can be employed. Aside 
from this the great quantity of safe harbours which are along 
the whole coast will facilitate greatly the commerce which 
can be made there. 

There are mines of coal within the limits of my con- 
cession and upon the border of the sea;* this is found to 
be as good as that of Scotland, according to the tests I have 
had made of it, sundry times, upon the spot and as well 


1 Hardwood ashes, from which potash for soap-making was formerly 
obtained. 


2 At the present Sydney in Cape Breton ; compare his book, I. 154. 


TO THE READER 91 


in France, where I have had samples taken. In fine, every- 
thing there unites to assure success to the purpose which 
the [xv] King has of making prosperous the colonies 
which he sends into foreign lands. 

And since no one as yet has bethought himself to de- 
scribe the fishing for Cod, as well upon the Grand Banc 
as upon the coast of New France and adjacent islands; and 
since with the exception of the captains and sailors who 
are employed at that work, hardly any one is informed of the 
way in which it is done, and of that which happens there, 
I give a particular account of it, in which I have done 
my best not to omit anything which can serve to make it 
readily [xvi] understood. I have described the most minutely 
that I could the police system which is observed between 
the captains, their management, their discipline, the instru- 
ments and the utensils of which they make use in the 
fishery, the hardships they are exposed to, the risks that 
they run, and plenty of other curious particulars, which 
will perhaps be excused for their novelty though they would 
otherwise not be generally appreciated in this Work. 

One can speak to advantage of this inexhaustible manna, 
[xvii] since as yet few people are informed as to the details 
of this fishery, either as to the seasons and the places 
which are fitting for it, or of many other circumstances 
which concern it. It is nevertheless certain that there is 
no merchandise better known or better saleable in Europe, 
not to mention that which is transported continually into other 
parts of the world by voyages of long duration. If one 
considers that it is not thirty-five years since more than 
five hundred French vessels were annually [xviii] occupied 
with this fishery, and that not three hundred are employed 
there at present, more diligence will perhaps be used in 
maintaining ourselves in the possession of all those places, 
where we have been from time immemorial, in which this 
fish is found in the greatest abundance. 


92 NOTICE TO THE READER 


Since the fishery for Cod has attracted our ships to those 
coasts, the intercourse has produced the same effect [as 
usual] upon the Indians, who are so changed in customs 
through the frequentation [there] of the French, that [xix] 
I have thought it appropriate to make comment upon the 
difference which there is in their present conduct and manner 
of life, as compared with that which they practised before 
debauchery with brandy and wine had corrupted their original 
desires. 

With regard to the animals which are met there, perhaps 
nothing so remarkable has been seen as that which I tell of 
the instinct of the Beaver, of their industry, of their discipline, 
of their subordination, of their obedience in labour, of the 
greatness of their works, [xx] and of the solidity in the 
construction of their public edifices which the care for their 
preservation makes them build. 

It will also be agreed that the ability of the Foxes in 
catching the Wild Geese surpasses in that country all that 
is said of their cleverness in this; and the adaptability of 
the dogs in imitating them seems not less surprising. The 
care which the Owls take in preserving animals alive to serve 
them as food during the winter, would pass for a fable, 
were it not for the thousands of men [xxi] witnessing to 
its truth. 

I had hoped to give at the end of this treatise, in favour 
of those who are fond of navigation, an attempt at tables 
to serve for finding, for all the hours of the day when the 
sun is visible, the latitude of each place by a single operation 
and with the ordinary instruments which the pilots have been 
accustomed to use. But as the calculation could not be 
accomplished without much more time than I contemplated, 
I have preferred to {gratify my friends who [xxii] urged me 
to give them this Work rather than to make them wait for 
another which they did not ask of me, and which is perhaps 
more to my own inclination than to their taste. 


[xxiii] 
TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS 


CONTAINED IN THIS FIRST VOLUME 


CHAPTER I 


Which treats of all the coasts, islands and rivers; of the goodness of the 
land, of the quality of the woods, of the birds, fishes, animals, and 
other objects con- [xxiv ] tained in all the extent of the coasts from 
the River of Pantagouet as far as that ot Saint Jean, with the sur- 
render that the English have made of it, and that which has befallen 
the Author there. : a pagel Koz 


CHAPTER II 


Which treats of the River Saint Jean, of Mines, of Port Royal, of all 
the Baye Francoise, of the land, of the woods, of the hunting, and 
of all that has occurred there. : Wasi) x13 


CHAPTER) Tl 


Description of the coast from Isle Longue as far as La Haive, of the 
rivers, of the islands, of the hunting, of the [xxv] fishery, of the 
land, and of divers kinds of woods; the establishment of a sedentary 
fishery, how it has been ruined, and other particulars. [58] 126 


CEOLAPTER Vv 


Continuation of the coast of Acadie from La Haive as far as Campseaux, 
where it ends; in which are described all the rivers, the islands, the 
woods, the goodness of the land, the divers kinds of hunting and of 
fishing, and the incidents and adventures which have befallen the 


Author . é . 4 : f : ; A ErOsiia mings 


1 Of the present translation. 
93 


94 TABLE 


CELAPTER’ V, 


Description of Campseaux, of the Bay and [xxvi] Little Passage of 
Campseaux, as far as the Cape of Saint Louis; of the rivers, of the 
islands, of the harbours, of the woods, of the hunting, of the fishing, 
and of that which is of greatest interest there [126] 


CHAPTER? V1 


Which describes the Island of Cap Breton, its ports, harbours, its rivers 
and the islands which are dependencies of it; the nature of the land ; 
of the kinds of ici of the nee of she sia: and of all that 
it contains ; , [145 ] 


CHAPTER: VII 


Containing the description of the Great Bay of Saint Laurent, from the 
Cape Saint Louis as [xxvii] far as the entrance to the Baye des 
Chaleurs, with all the rivers and islands which are along the coast 
of the Mainland and of Isle Saint Jean; the quality of the lands, the 
kinds of woods; of the fishing, of the hunting, and something of 
the behaviour and of the customs of the Indians . :; [164 ] 


CHAPTER VIII 


Description of Isle Saint Jean and of the other islands which are in 
the Great Bay of Saint Laurent as far as its entrance, including 
Isle de Sable; and of all which concerns them, whether in regard 
to the land, [xxvii] to the woods, and to the fishing, hunting, 
rivers, and other particulars ; : : E [195 ] 


CHAP PER ix 


Description of the Baye des Chaleurs, and of all the remainder of the coast 
of the great Bay as far as the entrance of the great River of Saint 
Laurent, comprising therein all the rivers, ports, and harbours; the 
qualities of the lands, of the woods, of the kinds of hunting [204 ] 


PAGE 


164 


175 


188 


205 


z10 


TABLE 95 


PAGE 
Articles concluded between the Sieur Wake, Knight and Ambassador of 
the King of Great Britain, deputized by the said Lord King, and the 
[xxix ] Sieurs de Buillion, Councillors of his Most Christian Majesty 
in his State and Privy Councils, and Bouthillier, Councillor of his 
Majesty in his said Councils, and Secretary of his Orders, Commis- 
sioners deputized by His Majesty for the restitution of those things 
which have been taken since the treaty made between the two 
Crowns, the twenty-fourth of April, one thousand six hundred and 
twenty-nine. : : E233 226 


Following is the text of the Power of the said Sieur Isaac Wake, Knight, 
Ambassador of the King of Great Brit- [xxx] ain. E54) 235 


Following is the text of the Power of the said Sieurs de Buillion 
and Bouthillier, Commissaries deputized ey His Most Christian 
Majesty . ; P ; , : ‘ ; (262i) 4237 


The Author begs the Reader to make allowance for the faults which can be found in 
the present edition. 


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GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION 
OF THE COASTS OF NORTH AMERICA 


CharT ik’ i 


Which treats of all the coasts, islands and rivers ; of the goodness 
of the land, of the quality of the woods, of the birds, fishes, 
animals and other objects contained in all the extent of the 
coasts from the River of Pentagoiiet as far as that of Saint 
Jean, with the surrender that the English have made of it, 
and that which has befallen the Author there. 


HE River of Pentagotiet* [Penobscot], thus named 
by the In- [2] dians is the one which adjoins 
la Nouvelle Angleterre [New England], which I 
Maye mot Seen, nor the coast as far as the River Saint 
Jean. This is why I shall tell only that which I have learned 
through information given me by those who lived there 
during the time that the late Monsieur le Commandeur de 
Razilly went to live in that country after the siege of La 
Rochelle? The fort of Pentagotiet had been built by the 


* The French form of the name of this river was first used by Champlain as 
Pemetegott and Pecmtegoviet, while the English form appears first in the Popham 
Narrative of 1607 as Penobscot. Students differ as to whether the English and 
French forms of the name are variations of the same Indian word, or are two 
independent Indian names applied originally to different localities. Compare 
the discussions in Laverdiére’s and the Otis-Slafter Champlacn, in Shea’s 
Charlevoix, and in Wheeler’s works mentioned in a note on the following page. 
Critical study is likely to show that the two forms are really from one origin. 

* This siege was in 1628, and Razilly lived in Acadia from 1632 to 1635, 


during a part at least of which years D’Aulnay Charnisay was in command at 
97 


98 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


late Monsieur de la Tour, and having been taken from the 
French by the English during the wars, was, by an arrange- 
ment made with France,’ on the petition of the Gentle- 
men of the Company of Canada, restored into the hands of 
the Sieur de Razilly, on conditions enacted by the Treaty 
inserted hereafter at the [3] end of this book. From that 
time on he always maintained a garrison there until his 
death, after which Monsieur d’Aunay Charnize succeeded 
him through an arrangement which he made with the brother 
of the Sieur de Razilly. Later the Sieur le Borgne, from 
La Rochelle, took possession of it by Decree of the Parlia- 
ment of Paris, and as a creditor of the said Sieur d’Aunay, 
as well Penobscot and Port Royal as La Hive, the first 
establishment of the said Sieur de Razilly, on which he had 
made great expenditures, both for his buildings and fortifica- 
tions and for providing people to inhabit it.2 He had there 
already a fine clearing, which he would have greatly increased, 
and he would have brought the country into a state different 


Penobscot (Murdoch, ova Scotia, 1. 86). It must have been some of his 
garrison, if not Charnisay himself, who gave our author his information. On 
the Commandeur de Razilly, consult the note later under page 96 of Volume I. 
of our author’s book. 

1 The history and site of the old French fort at Penobscot are very fully 
discussed by G. A. Wheeler in his Astory of Castine Penobscot and Brooksville 
(Bangor, 1875) and in his “Fort Pentagoet” in Collections of the Maine 
Historical Society, second series, IV., 1893, 113, 123. The fort stood on a site 
still locally known, and marked by some remains, in the southern part of the 
village of Castine. It is altogether probable that the first French fort or post 
was established here by Claude de la Tour soon after 1613 (Hannay, Azszory 
of Acadia, 114; Wheeler, “Fort Pentagoet”), and the other evidence to this 
effect receives the strongest confirmation from the statement of Denys above. 
It was taken by Kirk in 1628 (Aefort on Canadian Archives, 1894, page ix.) 
and was occupied by the New Englanders in 1629 (Wheeler), who were dis- 
possessed by the French under the Treaty of Saint Germain in 1632. The 
French held it until 1654, when it was seized by the English, who restored it in 
1670; the French garrisoned it until its seizure by the Dutch in 1674, after 
which it was abandoned and went to ruin. 

2 The facts here related with some slight ambiguity have been stated earlier 
in this work (pages 6, 12), while a full account of La Haive (now La Have) is 
given later under page 96 of Volume I. of our author’s book. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 99 


[4] from that produced by those who succeeded him. These 
latter in place of making any expansion there, have on the 
contrary destroyed La Haive, removed the inhabitants to Port 
Royal, and made war on all their neighbours. In the year 
16547* Le Borgne, who pretended to be Seignior of all that 
country as creditor of the Sieur d’Aunay, having learned that 
I had come to the Island of Cap Breton with a commission ? 
from the Gentlemen of the Company to make a settlement 
there, took advantage of a time to dispossess me when, having 
set all my men ashore to work at making clearings, I had 
[myself] gone to Sainte Anne to look at that harbour. He 
sent sixty men to Cap Breton, who surprised my people and 
took possession of them, as well as of the [5] vessel which I 
had left there, and everything on board of her. They sent next 
twenty-five men into ambush upon the road which they knew 
that I must take.*. They captured me, as I had with me only 
three men, and those without arms, and took me prisoner to 
Port Royal with all my company. The equipment which 
they had plundered, and my ship and merchandise, meant a 
loss to me of fifty-three thousand livres,* which the cargo had 
cost me, of which I have never been able to recover anything. 
Le Borgne, the year following, placed a commander® in the 
fort which I had built at Cap Breton, in the place called Saint 
Pierre [Saint Peters]. [6] Carrying me as prisoner to Port 
Royal, we went to La Haive. Those who conducted me had 

1 This date should read 1653, since the later-obtained new commission, 
confirmed by Letters Patent from the King, mentioned by Denys on page 6 
of his book, bears date December 3, 1653. 

2 This commission, doubtless the same as the concession under which he 
established his post at Miscou, as related on page 192 of Volume I. of his 
book, is unknown. 

3 Evidently the road across the narrow isthmus between Saint Peters and 
the Bras d’Or ; compare page 148 of this volume of our author’s book. 

4 Somewhat less than the same number of francs, or about $10,000, the 
purchasing power of which was about three times its present amount. 

® Sieur Papon, as the Decree of 1655, printed at page 67 in this work, 


indicates. Saint Peters is fully described under page 148 of Volume I. of 
our author’s book. 


100 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


orders to set fire to everything without sparing even the 
chapel. It was consumed in three or four hours with the 
fortress and other buildings, on which the loss amounted to 
more than a hundred thousand livres. I was no sooner at 
Port Royal than I was placed in a dungeon, with irons on my 
feet. Being released from these sometime after, I returned to 
France to make my protests. Having later obtained there 
another commission from the Gentlemen of the Company, 
which was confirmed to me by Letters Patent from the 
King? for my reinstatement, I returned in 1654 to the 
establishment [7] of Saint Pierre at Cap Breton, which was 
given up to me, by virtue of my Letters Patent and my 
Commission, by the one who commanded there for Le Borgne. 
The latter was away at that time at the River Saint Jean, to 
attempt to surprise the Sieur de la Tour, to whom it belonged, 
under pretext of obliging him with some provisions. This | 
have since learned through a man whom I had sent on purpose 
to show him my Letters Patent, which the man did by virtue 
of the authority he had. ‘This compelled Le Borgne to post- 
pone the execution of the design which he had against the 
Sieur de la Tour until another time, in order that, with the 
aid of his company, whom he had reembark in two boats [8] 
and return to Port Royal, he might attempt to surprise on his 
return the man who had notified him of my commission and 
to seize the originals, so that next he might come and surprise 
me and dispossess me as he had done before. But it turned 
out quite differently for him, for the very next day after 
their departure the English arrived * at the River of Saint Jean, 
attacked the Sieur de la Tour, and summoned him to sur- 


1 It is not clear why Le Borgne ordered this burning of La Have. It was 
apparently property which he himself possessed as the creditor of Charnisay. 
The loss would be about 100,000 francs or 520,000. 

2 Both the Commission (of December 3, 1653) and the Letters Patent (of 
January 30, 1654) are printed earlier (pages 57, 61) in the present work. 

3 This, of course, is the English seizure of Acadia by orders of Cromwell in 
1654. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 101 


render. To this he was obliged to agree, as he was without 
provisions, not having received any from the Sieur le Borgne 
as he expected, which made it impossible for him to hold out. 
The English went from there to Port Royal where Le Borgne 
commanded, and summoned him likewise to surrender. As 
he was unwilling to [9] do this, the English landed three 
hundred men. To oppose them the said Le Borgne sent his 
sergeant with a part of his company. There was a combat 
between the two parties, in which the said sergeant was killed 
and the others put to flight. Le Borgne found himself truly 
in straits, for among his hundred and twenty men, together with 
the inhabitants who made fully a hundred and fifty, he was not 
able to find a single one capable of commanding. It was this 
which obliged them to surrender upon terms,—rather lack of 
courage than of all kinds of munitions of war and provisions, 
of which he had ample to hold out well rather than to 
capitulate. The English, being masters of the fort, did not 
wish [10] to keep to any of the articles which had been 
agreed upon, the cowardice of the vanquished serving as a 
pretext for the victors. Since that time the English have 
constantly remained in possession of the forts of Pentagotet, 
of the River Saint Jean, of Port Royal and of La Haive, up 
to the present, when the King has withdrawn them." 

Some time afterwards the son of the Sieur le Borgne came 
back to establish himself at La Haive, where he built a fort 
of pickets. He had with him a person named Guilbault,? a 
merchant of La Rochelle, who furnished him with all pro- 
visions and merchandize of which he had need, and for which 
he was to obtain his reimbursement in the trade to be done 
there. But the English knowing [11] that Le Borgne was at 
La Haive, went there to take him. Seeing them coming 

1 This withdrawal was actually effected in 1670, in accord with the Treaty 
of Breda of three years before. 

2 There was a Pierre Guillebaut, possibly a relative of this merchant, living 
at Port Royal in 1671, as shown by the census of that year (Report on 


Canadian Archives, 1905, 11. Appendix A, 4). 
H 


102 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Le Borgne retired into the woods with some of his men, of 
whom much the greater part remained with Guilbault in the 
fort with the intention of defending it. In fact they resisted 
an attack by the English of whom several were killed on the 
spot, among others their commander. This compelled them 
to retire for some time. But Guilbault, who had no other 
interest in this affair than to save his goods, agreed then with 
the English to deliver the fort into their hands on condition 
that everything which belonged to him, or to those who were 
with him, should be restored to them, and this was carried 
out. [12] But the English having entered the fort, and not 
having found Le Borgne there, were not willing that he should 
be included in the capitulation. This compelled him, having 
gone into the woods without provisions, to come in a little 
later and give himself up as a prisoner. They carried him off 
to Baston [Boston], where, having kept him under guard for 
a long time, they finally set him at liberty under an under- 
standing which has not since been kept.t It was this which 
produced later several wars between them, which in fact caused 
me heavy losses, although I took no part in them and had no 
other aim than to devote myself in my district to my establish- 
ment and my business without mixing in the affairs of others. 
But I was destined for other [13] misfortunes, no matter 
what trouble I took to develop my concession in the most 
peaceful manner I could. ‘The Sieur de la Giraudiere, who 
had come and established himself sometime before at the 
River of Sainte Marie,? obtained by stealth a second con- 
cession from the Gentlemen of the Company, giving them to 


1 These events occurred in 1658 according to Hannay (/zstory of Acadia, 
202), who gives some additional details. I do not understand what wars 
resulted therefrom, nor how our author suffered loss in consequence. 

2 Some further account of La Giraudiere, and of his establishment at Saint 
Marys River, may be found later in this volume of our authors book at page 
116, with yet other matter in Volume II., page 237. The date and text of both 
of La Giraudiere’s concessions, the first of which of course covered his settlement 
at Saint Marys River, are unknown. Both, however, as a reference on page 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 108 


understand that Cape of Campseaux [Canso] was at Cape Saint 
Lois,’ when it is [in reality] distant from it over twenty-five 
leagues. He brought out a hundred men to the country, 
who arrived at Campseaux, where they knew that my ship 
must arrive, as it did soon after. This he detained, and 
forbade the captain to give up anything, in virtue of his new 
concession, of which he sent to notify me and to [14] com- 
mand me to give up to him my establishment * with all that I 
claimed as far as Cape Saint Loiiis, which had been said to be 
this Cape of Campseaux. Having been in truth a little sur- 
prised, I made answer that some one had reported falsely to 
the Gentlemen of the Company, who could not give away that 
which they had already sold to me. But he having said to 
me that if I would not give it up amicably they would make 
me give it up by force, over a hundred and twenty men whom 
I had with me, knowing that my ship was stopped and that I 
had not sufficient provisions to maintain them, demanded their 
discharge, which I gave them. ‘This was, however, after em- 
ploying them to enclose and to fortify all my [15] dwellings 
with two little bastions, which, furnished with eight pieces of 
cannon and some swivel-guns, with an enclosure of barrels 
filled with earth, put me in a state of defence. After this, 
having kept from all my company only a dozen men, I sent 
the remainder to the Island of Cap Breton with letters to the 
captains of the fishermen, [asking them] to receive them, to 
give them passage, and to send me some provisions if they 
had any. And this they did the best that they could. Some 
time afterwards La Giraudiere and his brother with all their 
men, knowing of the departure of mine, and not expecting to 


117 shows, must have been obtained from the Company of New France prior to 
1663, though the incidents here related apparently did not happen until 1667 
(compare note under page 18 following). 

1 The present Cape Saint George. 

* This establishment, as the context shows, was at Chedabucto, now 
Guysborough. Its site is discussed later under page 133 of this volume of 
our author’s book. 


104 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


meet any resistance, came with the intention of forcing me to 
give up to him that which I had refused them. But [16] 
they were much astonished to see me in condition to resist 
their undertaking. They gave me a second command to 
surrender the place to them, as otherwise they would take it 
by force, and [saying] I ought not to expose my life in this 
fashion. But I made response that they should have more 
care for their own, and that having a dozen men with me as 
resolved to defend my property as they were for taking it 
unjustly, we would not spare them. They contented them- 
selves with remaining three days in sight of the fort without 
doing anything more than to move about from place to place, 
after which they went back. Some time afterwards the Sieur 
le Bay, brother of La Giraudiere came to see me again, and 
asked to speak with me. [17] He told me that he had taken 
my establishment at Saint Pierre, where there were only five 
men whom I kept at that place solely for trading. Having 
proposed to me that we make an arrangement together, after 
several discussions that we had at this conference we reached 
an agreement that he should deliver Saint Pierre to me, and 
that I should give up Chedaboutou [Chedabucto] to them, at 
which place I was at that time, that they should take me back 
to France in their ship, there being no other upon the coast, 
that we should place our claims in the hands of the Gentlemen 
of the Company to settle, and that we should hold ourselves 
bound by what they decided. ‘This was signed by both parties. 

They took me then to [18] France according to our 
agreement, and after having explained our differences to the 
Gentlemen of the Company, the latter declared they had been 
deceived, and gave a decision by which they cancelled all that 
Monsieur de la Giraudiere had obtained from them, and re- 
established me in my rights.’ This affair nevertheless caused 


1 Since the document (printed earlier in the present work, page 71) which 
re-established our author in his rights is dated November 9, 1667, it seems plain 
that this encounter with La Giraudiere occurred in the summer of 1667. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 105 


me more than fifteen thousand ecus of loss,’ as well for the 
advances I had made for the maintenance and management of 
a hundred and twenty men, as for my clearings, buildings and 
cattle, which were totally lost and ruined. This disarranged 
all my affairs to such a degree that I have never been able to 
reéstablish them, in consequence of which I was obliged to 
retire to Saint Pierre at Cap Bre- [19] ton. Here I would 
without doubt have recouped my losses, through the meeting 
with some Indians, who were unknown [to me] before, and 
who came to find me, and brought me two boats full of peltry 
outside of my regular trade, a matter which might well have 
reached a value of twenty-five thousand livres,” had it not 
been for a misfortune of which it has never been possible to 
learn the cause. A fire having caught by night in a granary, 
where it was never the custom to take one, consumed all my 
buildings, all my merchandise, furniture, ammunition, pro- 
visions, flour, wine, arms; in brief, everything I had in the 
place was consumed, without the possibility of saving a thing.’ 
All my people were [20] obliged like myself to flee its 
violence entirely naked in shirt only. Nothing was saved 
except half a cask of brandy, and as much of wine, with about 
five hundred sheaves of wheat, which we had much trouble in 
rescuing from a barn where the fire had not yet caught. 
Without this we should all have been obliged to go and 
seek a living in the woods with the Indians, while awaiting 
the following spring. This is why up to the present I have 
not been able to accomplish anything in that country, as much 
because of the wars which have been stirred up against me by 
envy, as through the misfortune of the fire, of which I have 


1 That is somewhat over $15,000 in money of that time. 

2 About $5000 in our money—a striking illustration of the great profits 
which could be derived from the fur-trade. 

3 As our author was in France in November 1667, he returned no doubt to 
Saint Peters in the summer of 1668, and the fire probably occurred in the 
winter of 1668-69. He did not rebuild here, but retired to his establishment 
at Nepisiguit, as he tells us on page 210 of this volume of his book. 


106 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


never been able, as I have said above, to discover the cause. 
This [failure] ought not to be imputed either to negligence 
of mine, or to any defect in the [21] land, nor yet to any 
lack of knowledge of the country, of which I knew well the 
advantages. It is this [knowledge] which makes me affirm 
with confidence that except for my misfortunes I should have 
made in a short time a considerable establishment as a result 
of my care and labour, and should have derived from that 
country all the advantages it offered me. 

It is indeed quite certain that one can live there with as 
much satisfaction as in France itself, provided that the envy 
of the French, one against another, does not ruin the best- 
intentioned plans, and that whatever part of the country 
shall have been once given to a private individual to improve 
shall remain to him without his being disturbed, or being 
dispossessed of his concession. Otherwise no- [22] body 
will ever work with zeal to make this land habitable, and 
it will continue always exposed to the encroachments of the 
strongest, or of those who will have the greatest influence. 
This will ruin all good undertakings, such as those who 
have knowledge of them could make there, with much 
glory for his Majesty and a great advantage for France 
herself. 

But here let us leave my misfortunes and continue my de- 
scription. The River of Pentagotet is rather large at its mouth, 
and extends ten or twelve leagues’ into the country. Vessels 
of two or three hundred tons are able to ascend as far as the 
Fort of the French, which is on the right in entering. The 


1 The league in Denys’ day had more than one value. As compared with 
English miles, the common league of France was 2.76 miles, the legal league 
2.42 miles, and the marine league 3.45 miles. There is nothing to show which 
of these our author had in mind, though presumably they were marine leagues. 
Practically, however, it does not matter greatly, since upon any basis his dis- 
tances, being merely estimations from memory, are extremely erroneous. As 
the following pages will show, he very commonly overestimates the shorter 
distances and underestimates the longer. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 107 


English are established on the left,’ [23] where they have a 
large population with a great extent of cleared land. ‘The 
country there is very pleasing, and the land good. Along 
both shores of the river the trees are beautiful, and in great 
abundance, such as Oaks, Birches, Beeches, Ashes, Maples,” 
and all other kinds that we have in France. ‘There is also a 
great number of native Pines * which have not the grain of the 
wood very coarse, but they are of forty to sixty feet in height 
without branches, [and] very suitable for making planks for 
building both for sea and land use. There are also many Firs 
[sapins|, of three species, of which some have the leaf flat, of 
the length and breadth of a little needle, pointedly ar- [24] 
ranged along the branch, and this is the kind with the coarsest 
grain. [he second species has really the leaves the same, but 
they come out all round the branches and they prick. The 
third has also the leaves all around, but thinner and separated 
and they do not prick; this is called Prusse [spruce] and has 
a grain much more compact than the others, and is much 
better fitted for making masts and is the best [of them all].* 


1 This refers, in all probability, as I am informed by the Rev. Dr. Burrage, 
to the English settlements at Thomaston and vicinity, established under the 
Mescognus grant in 1630, and continued until broken up by King Philip’s war, 
which ended in 1678. 

* The identity of all these trees is discussed under their descriptions in 
chapter xx. of Volume II. of our author’s book. 

Throughout this work I shall give, with very rare exceptions, only the 
common English names of animals and plants, largely for the reason that the 
quarrels among themselves of the zoologists and botanists of this country over 
nomenclature have rendered the common names more stable and distinctive 
than the scientific names. 

* This pine is, of course, the invaluable white pine for which the Penobscot 
has ever been famous. 

4 The French used the word sapin, literally ‘‘ fir,” in much the same com- 
prehensive way that the English commonly use the word spruce, that is, to 
include our three species of spruce, our one fir, and sometimes also the hem- 
lock. But our author’s description does not fit accurately any three trees of 
this region. The third is plainly (from the context) the red spruce, the most 
valuable timber tree of them all, but it is really somewhat “prickly”; the 
second may be either the white or the black spruce, perhaps both collectively ; 
while the first is probably the balsam fir, though it may be the hemlock. 


108 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


The Oaks of this locality are also better than in all other 
parts of New France,’ and the farther north one goes the less 
excellent are all kinds of woods. 

There is also a great abundance of masting in New 
England, which at present furnishes all England with it; this 
is [25] found to be much better than that which comes from 
Norway. The explanation that I can give of the fact is 
that the more this Fir has the grain compact, the better is 
its value. That of Norway is of this character, which happens 
in my opinion through this, that those trees grow upon moun- 
tains where they are dry at the root, and the great cold pre- 
vailing in those parts shrinks up the wood, so that the sap 
cannot supply enough nourishment to make the grain increase, 
but only the height, and it increases in girth only in propor- 
tion as it grows [tall]. 

In New England the heat produces the same effect, for 
the Firs occur there also in places dry and elevated. But the 
sun by its strength, drying out [26] the superfluous moisture 
from these trees, prevents the grain from thickening, keeping 
it more compact. This gives it much greater cohesion, which 
makes it of a better quality than that which is imparted to 
those of the north by the cold.” 

The proof of my reasoning is this, that all the masting 
which occurs in New France from La Haive all the way to 
the mouth of the great River of Saint Laurent, where the 
country has a temperate clime, is not good, because it has a 
much coarser grain than that which occurs at Port Royal, 
on the River Saint Jean, or on that of Pentagotet, which is 
the best of all. 

As to that of Kébec, it ought also to be of the good kind 

1 A correct statement explained by the fact that the white oak, the most 
valuable of the oaks, occurs in some abundance in this region, but becomes 
scarce and finally wanting farther north, where it is replaced by the inferior 
red oak. 


2 Our author’s reasoning is by no means in accord with modern knowledge 
of this subject, but it shows some ingenuity nevertheless, 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 109 


[27] for this reason, that there is cold on the lower part of 
the river and heat on the upper. This is what I venture to 
say without having seen it.’ 

But to return to the River of Pentagotiet. Quantities of 
Bears occur, which subsist upon the acorns that are found 
there; their flesh is very delicate and white as that of veal. 
There are also a great many Moose or Elks, a few Beaver and 
Otter, but abundance of Hares, Partridges, Pigeons, and all 
kinds of land birds in the spring.” In the winter there are 
still more of those of river and sea which occur there in very 
great quantity, such as Wild Geese, Ducks, Teal, Eiders,’ 
Cormorants, and several other species which in summer go 
towards [28] the north, and return here in winter when the 
rivers freeze up, something which happens very rarely on the 
southern coast. 

In front of the entrance of the river there are many 
islands a little way off, around which the English take a 
great number of Mackerel as well as at the mouth of the 
river, where lies the Isle des Monts Deserts. Going towards 
Baston there is still 2 number of islands where the English 
carry on in the spring their fishery for Mackerel, of which 


1 He means, apparently, that he has not seen the trees along the Saint 
Lawrence. On page 237 of Volume I. of his book he tells us he had seen the 
coast on the lower part of the Saint Lawrence only from a distance as he passed 
on his way to Quebec. 

2 The identity of all these mammals and birds is discussed under the 
chapters devoted to their natural history in the second volume of our author’s 
book, and the reader may readily trace any individual kind through the index 
at the end of this work. 

8 Moyagues. This bird is not mentioned by our author in his natural history 
of the birds in his second volume, though he refers to it elsewhere in this volume. 
The name is, without doubt, Micmac Indian. It is given by Rand in his Micmac 
Reader (Halifax, N.S., 1875, 48) as Mooe-ak, meaning “the sea-duck.” The 
sea-duck, Zar excellence, is the American eider, and I am told by Professor C. 
E. Dionne of Quebec that this bird is called Moyaque in Quebec to this day, 
as it appears to be also by the Acadians, according to information given me 
by Dr. A. C. Smith of Tracadie, N.B. Our author’s account of its habitat at 
page 143 of this volume fully confirms this identification. 


110 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


they make a great trade throughout their Islands of Barbadoes 
or Antilles, something which has greatly enriched them. As 
for Herring they have not much of that, but plenty of 
Gaspereau, which is one kind thereof, but is not so good by 
a great [29] deal. During the winter only they fish round 
these islands for Cod, which they dry by freezing. Our 
French go there to buy |[them| in the spring, and give the 
English salt, wine, brandy, and other goods in exchange. In 
the upper part of this river, there is a great deal of Salmon, 
Trout, and many other sea-fish; but as for those of the fresh 
water, I have never heard tell that they have been fished for.* 

From the River of Pentagowet as far as that of Saint Jean 
there may be forty to forty-five leagues.” The first river met 
with along the coast is that of Etechemins,® which bears the 
[30] name of the country between Baston and Port Royal, 
whilst the Indians which inhabit all this extent bear also the 
same name.” There are in this river a great number of 
islands, some of two leagues in circumference, others more 
or less; they are all in a cove of great circuit where it 
is possible to take vessels of a hundred and fifty tons with 
entire safety.” At the head of this cove discharge little 
streams in which are found Salmon, Trout, Bass, Gaspereau, 
and along the coast are caught Cod and other fish of all kinds. 


* Down to this point our author’s description appears to be independent of 
that of any other writer ; and it is no doubt, as he says, based upon statements 
of those who had been there. But for all the coast from Penobscot to the Saint 
John he depends largely upon Champlain, using, as a careful comparison has 
shown, Champlain’s edition of 1632. 

2 It is about one hundred and fifty miles. 

% One of the names applied by Champlain to the Saint Croix, suggested by 
that of the Indian tribe of the region. 

4 Etechemins or Coste des Etechemins is frequently applied to the country 
between Penobscot and Saint John in documents and maps of the seventeenth 
century, especially its earlier half. 

5 Passamaquoddy Bay, as comparison with Champlain will show. Our 
author’s account, however, differs in some details from Champlain’s, whether 
from intention or from carelessness I cannot say. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 111 


Going towards the River Saint Jean, one meets with islands 
and great coves which [31] are similarly filled. At four or 
five leagues from the [River of the] Etechemins there is 
another river which is of about half a league in breadth, in 
which, ascending two or three leagues, one comes upon little 
islands covered with Firs, Birches, some Oaks, and other 
woods.’ Farther up this river is a fall which hinders vessels 
from going farther, [though] canoes can travel there. I have 
not been able to learn its extent. Some mountains appear 
there in the upper part, and a number of meadows bordering 
the place; of these some are rather large, as it is said. All the 
woods there seem to be fine; there is a great deal of Oak, and 
of other kinds of trees of which I have already [32] spoken. 
It is claimed that this place was formerly called Sainte Croix, 
and that it is where the Sieurs de Mont and de Champlain 
wished to construct a settlement, to such a degree had they 
found the locality good and pleasing beyond all others they 
had seen.? 

Opposite the last cove, some distance out to sea, occur some 
islands, the largest of which is called the Island of Menane ;° 
it can be seen from afar, as one comes from the sea, and gives 
cognizance of the River Saint Jean, although it is distant some 
six to seven leagues from its entrance. 

On all these islands which are in the sea, two or three 
leagues from the mainland, there is a great number of all 
sorts of [33] birds which go there in spring to produce 


1 The River Saint Croix with the two Dochet Islands. By a certain loose- 
ness in Champlain’s use of the names Azver Sainte Croix and River des Eteche- 
mins, our author has been misled into thinking them two distinct and well- 
separated rivers, an error reflected in his map, whereas they are one and the 
same. His account differs in some details from Champlain. 

2 Our author is correct. A monographic treatment of this settlement, by the 
editor of this work, is in the Zransactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 
VIII., 1902, 11. 127-231. 

3 First so called by Champlain; it is simply the Passamaquoddy Indian 
word munaan, meaning an island. It is now called Grand Manan. 


112 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 


their young." Among others is a great plenty of Gannets, 
which are birds as large as hens; they have very large 
wings and their young are fine to eat. These birds catch 
Mackerel, Herring and Gaspereau wherever they find them. 
There are also Wild Geese,? Ducks, Eiders, Herring Gulls, 
Mackerel Gulls, Puffins, Black Guillemots, and all other kinds 
of birds in great number. 

From the last cove, going towards the River Saint Jean, 
there are only rocks six or seven leagues continuously; the 
coast where they are is very dangerous. About three-fourths 
of a league further out to sea than the Island of Menane, there 
[34] is a rock which is only uncovered every six or seven 
years, and it is, according to report of the Indians, of lapis 
Lazuli. I have seen a fragment of it which they presented to 
the late Commandeur de Razilly, who sent it to France to be 
examined. It was reported to him that it was genuinely lapis 
Lazuli, of which azure could be made, having a value of ten 
écus an ounce. All that was possible was afterwards done 
to learn from the Indians the place where the rock was, but 
this they would never point out no matter what they were 
promised.’ They would only say that it was near Menane, 
as I have stated. 


1 These islands, as comparison with Champlain will show, are those now 
called the Wolves. Champlain speaks of the gannets (Margots), but does not 
mention the other birds, which our author may have added from other informa- 
tion, or perhaps simply from a belief that they must be there. 

2 All the birds mentioned on this page except three are described by our 
author in chapter xix. of the second volume of his book, to which the reader 
may turn for details as to their identity. The exceptions are :— 

Margots or gannets. Their identity is rendered certain both by the descrip- 
tions, and also by the fact that the Acadian hunters (fide Dr. A. C. Smith) and 
the people of Quebec (jide Professor C. E. Dionne) call them thus to this day. 

Perroguets de mer, literally sea-parrots, a familiar and very descriptive name 
for the common puffin, abundant in this region. 

Pigeons de mer, literally sea-pigeons. There is every probability that this 
was our sea-pigeon, which is the black guillemot. 

’ Nothing further is known of this rock, nor is lapis-lazuli known to occur in 
this part of the world. 


[35] CHAPTER II 


Which treats of the River Saint Fean, of Mines, of Port Royal, 
of all the Baye Frangoise, of the land, of the woods, of the 
hunting, and of all that has occurred there. 


HE entrance of the River Saint Jean* is dangerous 
of approach [to one] coasting the land along either 
shore. The best entrance is on the starboard or 

right hand side without approaching too near the shore. 
This entrance is narrow because of a little island which is 
to larboard, or on the left side, [36] which being passed, the 
river is markedly larger. On the same side as the island there 
are large marshes or meadows which are covered at high tide. 
The shore is of muddy sand and forms a point. This being 
passed, there is a cove which makes into the said marshes, 
and has a narrow entrance.” Here the late Monsieur de la 
Tour had a weir built in which were caught a great number 
of those Gaspereaux which were salted down for winter. 
Sometimes there was caught so great a quantity that he was 
obliged to break the weir and throw them into the sea, as 
Otherwise they would have befouled the weir which would 
thus have been ruined. Sometimes there were also found 


' Named, as is well known, by Champlain in 1604 in honour of the saint on 
whose day it was discovered, and still so called in its English form Saint John. 

2 Our author's description may readily be followed by aid of the map two 
pages later. Its topography is taken from the Bruce map of 1761, showing 
Saint John Harbour prior to modern changes, but the nomenclature of places is 
that now in use. The island is, of course, Partridge Island, the point is Sand 
Point, the cove is the present Mill-pond. La Tour’s weir must have stood near 


the present outlet of the Mill-pond. 
113 


114 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 
Salmon, [37] Shad and Bass, which [latter] is the maigre! of 


La Rochelle, and serves every Spring as a grand manna for 
the people of that country. 

A little farther on, beyond the said weir, there is a little 
knoll,* on which D’Aunay had his fort built, which I have 
not found well placed according to my idea, because it is 
commanded by an island which is very near and more elevated ; 
and behind it all vessels are able to lie under shelter from 
the Fort, in which the only water is from pits, and not very 
good, no better than that outside the fort. It would have been, 
according to my idea, better placed behind the island where 
vessels anchor, and where it would have been more elevated, 
and hence [38] not commanded by other neighbouring places, 
and would have had good water, as in the one which the late 
Sieur de la Tour had built,? [and] which was destroyed by 
D’Aunay after he had quite wrongfully made himself master 
of it, as he had no right to do. This he would have had 
great trouble in accomplishing had he not been informed of 
the absence of the said Sieur de la Tour who had taken with 
him a part of his garrison, and had left only his wife and the 
remainder of his people as a guard to the fort. She, after 


1 This valued but now rare European food fish, Sctaena aguz/a (figured in 
Wood's /llustrated Natural History, 11. 265) is a distant relative of our bass, 
which it superficially resembles. 

2 The location of this knoll, at the place now called ‘Old Fort” on the 
west side of the harbour of Saint John, is made certain by the description and 
map. It was originally separated trom the mainland by a marsh above which 
it rose but little. It was occupied by a succession of French and English forts, 
which are traced in the 7vazsactions of the Royal Society of Canada, V. 1899, 
If 270: 

The mention of the badness of the water at this site, and its command 
by the island (Navy Island), is confirmed by an independent statement of 
De Brouillon in 1701 (Collection de Manuscrits relatif a La Nouvelle France, 
II. 390). The “other neighbouring place” which commanded it was the 
elevated ground beside the river to the westward of the fort. 

8 Our author, unfortunately, does not make plain the exact site of La Tour's 
fort, the scene of the most dramatic event in the history of New Brunswick. 
He does show that it was not at Old Fort, and he implies that it stood on 
high ground “behind the island where vessels anchor.” The latter locality is 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 115 


having sustained for three days and three nights all the attacks 
of D’Aunay, and after having compelled him to withdraw 
beyond range of her cannon, was in the end obliged to [39] 
surrender on the fourth day, which was Easter Day, having 
been betrayed by a Swiss who was then on guard, whilst 
she was making her men rest, hoping for some respite. The 


very happily identified for us by testimony in a lawsuit in 1792 (Vew Brunswick 
Magazine, 1. 137) in which a pilot who had known the harbour many years 
testified “that in early times the places of anchorage in the harbour were at the 
flats on the west side between Fort Frederick and Sand Point, and at Portland 
Point.” The first of these two 

places has no relation to any 

island, but at Portland Point there 

is known, and is still visible, an- 

other ancient French fort site, 

the only one known upon the east 

side of the harbour. All the pro- 

babilities, therefore, would seem 

to indicate this as the site of La 

Tour’s fort. Before this evidence - 
was known, however, local students, 

quite naturally, had fixed upon Old 

Fort as its probable site, a conclu- 

sion to which we now know that 

not only Denys’ narrative, but also 

substantially all early cartographi- 

cal evidence, which places it on the 

east side of the harbour, is opposed. 

I have set forth the evidence for 

the Portland Point site at length 

in the 7ransactions of the Royal 

Society of Canada, 1X. 1891, ii. 61, 

and V. 1899, 276, and in the Vew 

Brunswick Magazine, 1. 20, 165. 

The only accessible recent brief for the Old Fort site is by Dr. James 
Hannay in the Vew Brunswick Magazine, 1. 89. The strongest argument 
known to me for the Old Fort site is a mention in a document in Moreau’s 
Histoire de ?Acadie Francoise that D’Aulnay, after taking La Tour’s fort, 
repaired it for his own use ; for it is unlikely that he both repaired the old fort 
and built a new one. But against this is the positive testimony of our author, 
who had visited Saint John Harbour at least once (pages 43, 57 of Volume I. of 
his book) and had employed some of La Tour’s men (zézd. 43). The collective 
evidence seems to me to make it extremely probable, even though it does not 
prove, that Fort La Tour stood at Portland Point. 


Scale J mile folinch 


116 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Swiss yielded to bribery by the men of D’Aunay, and allowed 
them to mount to the assault, which was again resisted for 
some time by the Lady Commandant at the head of her men. 
She only yielded at the last extremity, and under the condition 
that the said D’Aunay should give quarter to all. This he 
did not do, for, having become master of the place, he threw 
them all into prison, including the Lady Commandant, and 
later, by advice of his council, hung them with the exception 
of a single one who [40] had his life spared on condition that 
he would perform the execution; and the Lady Commandant 
accompanied them at the gallows, with a cord around her 
neck as though she had been the greatest villain." Such is 
the title which Le Borgne has made use of to claim, as a 
creditor of the said Sieur d’Aunay, the proprietorship of the 
River Saint Jean. | 

The island of which I have spoken being passed, below 
which vessels anchor in order to be better sheltered, it is 
only a good cannon shot to the falls, where there is no pass- 
ing except by boats and small craft, and that at high tide 


1 This is by far the most detailed account of the capture of Fort La Tour 
which has come down to us, and it is the basis of nearly all that has been 
written upon this striking incident by local historians. The only other con- 
temporary references to the event, which occurred in 1645, are the following. 
Winthrop (/7/zstory of New England, II. 238) writes: “We understood for 
certain afterwards that Monsieur La Tour’s fort was taken by assault and 
scalado, that Monsieur d’Aunay lost in the attempt twelve men and had many 
wounded, and that he had put to death all the men (both French and English) 
and had taken the lady, who died within three weeks after.” Again, Sir Thomas 
Temple’s letters of 1661 and 1668 in the Public Record Office (Sainsbury, 
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, Vol. VI. Relating to America, 39,596) 
give a brief but substantially similar account of this event, adding that 
Madame de la Tour was believed in Acadia to have been poisoned by 
D’Aulnay. The only other account is that contained in the Procés Verbal 
of André Certain (printed by Parkman in the Appendix to his Old Régime 
in Canada, recently translated by Gilbert Bent in Acadiensis, V. 39). This 
latter document is frankly favourable to D’Aulnay, and gives a much less 
harsh account of his treatment of the prisoners. Its value, however, must 
be weighed in conjunction with the testimony of the three independent 
witnesses above cited. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 117 


only.' But before entering farther into the river, there is 
one thing surprising enough. In the pitch of the fall [41] is 
a great hollow, of about three or four hundred feet around ; 
this is made by the rush of the water as it passes between 
two rocks which form a narrow place in the river, an arrange- 
ment rendering it more swift at this spot.” In this hollow 
is a great upright tree which floats, but no matter how the 
water runs it never gets out; it only makes its appearance 
from time to time, and sometimes is not seen for eight, ten or 
fifteen days. ‘The end which appears above the water is a 
little larger around than a hogshead, and when it appears 
it is sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. All 
of the Indians who passed by there in former times, and they 
are in great number in these parts, rendered it [42] homage, 
but they give it little at present, having been undeceived. 
They called this tree the Manitou, that is to say the Devil. 
The homage which they formerly rendered it consisted of one 
or two beaver skins, or other peltry, which they attached to 
the top of the tree with an arrow head made of a moose bone 
sharpened with stones. When they passed this spot and 
their Manitou did not appear, they took it for a bad omen, 
saying that he was angry with them. Since the French have 
come to these parts, and they have been given arrowheads of 
iron, they no longer use any others, and the poor Manitou has 
his head so covered with them that [43] scarcely could one 
stick a pin therein. I have seen it, and some of the men of 


1 An inaccurate statement, which our author apparently took from Cham- 
plain. In fact at high tide there is a fall inward nearly as dangerous as that 
outward at low tide. The water is level, and vessels can pass for a few minutes, 
somewhat above half-tide. 

2 This is the locally well-known whirlpool called “The Pot.” It is on the 
west side just above Union Point, and is formed only on the flood tide. Float- 
ing objects are often caught there and drift round and round for hours, and 
residents go out in boats to gather anything of value that may thus collect. 
This is called “skimming the pot”; and it has found a place in literature, for 
it is described in the first chapter of Mrs. E. D. Cheney’s novel, Zhe Child of 
the Tide (Boston, 1874). 

I 


118 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Monsieur de la Tour, who lived formerly with him and after- 
wards with me, have assured me that he once had ropes 
attached to the head of this tree, and that boats with ten 
oarsmen, rowing with all their strength and aided by the 
current, were never able to pull it out of the hollow.’ 

The falls being passed, the river enlarges, much more in 
one place than another because of certain islands. There are 
three of these which are large, and in which there are very 
fine meadows, as there are also along both shores of the 
river.” ‘These are inundated every year by the melting of 
the snows, which occurs [44] as arule in spring. It extends 
very far inland, to such a degree that the Indians by means of 
this river, and crossing some land, pass into other rivers, of 
which some empty into that of Saint Laurent, others fall into 
the Bay of Saint Laurent and at Nepiziguit in the Baye des 
Chaleurs.* There are along each route two or three canoe- 


* Hannay, in his Azstory of Acadia, 54, insinuates that La Tour anchored 
this tree there in order that he might collect the tribute of beaver for himself. 
Needless to say such a theory has no better status than a pleasantry. 

The description of the respect paid by the Abenakis to a certain tree, 
related in Lafitau’s Meurs des Sauvages Amériguains, 1. 149, probably is based 
upon this passage in our author’s work. Champlain tells of an analogous cere- 
mony of the Indians at Chaudiére Falls on the Ottawa (chapter v. of his 
voyage of 1613). For an instance in our own days, see Campbell Hardy’s 
Forest Life in Acadie, page 94. 

2 No islands above the falls fit this description, but the cause of our 
author’s error is easy to find. Evidently he had not himself been above the 
falls, and for that part had to depend upon others. As to the islands and 
meadows he plainly follows Champlain, edition of 1632, who makes an almost 
identical remark. But tracing the matter back to Champlain’s fuller edition 
of 1613, we find that the statements about the three islands and about the 
meadows, &c., are quite distinct and separated by some words omitted from the 
condensed edition of 1632. The earlier edition makes it clear that the three 
islands are those on the east side just above the falls (locally called Blind, Goat, 
and Flat Islands), while the meadows are much farther up the river. The 
statement as to the yearly inundation is correct. 

* These ancient routes of Indian travel are fully discussed in the 7vamsac- 
tions of the Royal Society of Canada, V., 1899, ii. 233, and XII., 1906, i1. 84, 
while those mentioned by our author are shown upon the large map given 
earlier in this volume. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 119 


portages through the woods, where are found the paths which 
run from one river to the other, and these they call Louni- 
guins.. The other portages are at places along the rivers 
where the navigation is impeded by waterfalls or rapids caused 
by the [45] rocks which hold the [waters] back and narrow 
their passage. This renders the current so swift, and makes 
the water fall from such a height, that it is necessary to 
carry the canoes upon the shoulders or upon the head as far 
as the place where the course of the river is smooth. Most 
frequently these portages are of five to six leagues, sometimes 
as much as ten, which, however, is rare.” It is these which 
the Indians call Louniguins, and of which they willingly 
undertake the traverse on account of the ease with which they 
carry their canoes ;* these are very light, as will be easily 
understood from the description which I shall give of them 
in the proper place. Boats cannot go up this [46] river 
higher than eighteen to twenty leagues* because of falls and 
of rocks which are scattered there, thus compelling a resort 
to canoes. 

Besides all the woods I have already named to you, there are 
also here a great number of very beautiful Oaks, which would 
be fine for building ships, and which ought to be better than 
those of the northern coast of which the wood is too soft. 
There are also Beeches in plenty, very tall and with branches 


* This is the Maliseet Indian word for “ portage,” now pronounced by them 
00-ne-gunce. It is interesting to note that the great map of Franquelin and 
De Meulles, of 1686 (Zvansactions of the Royal Society of Canada, I11., 1897, 
li. 364), marks Onigwen between the heads of the Tobique and the Nepisiguit. 
Our author’s L is simply the French article. 

* They are in fact, so far as the St. John is concerned, mostly very much 
shorter. 

* Over a hundred years later another writer said this of the Indians at the 
portages: “As to the canoes, the men make it a play to convey them across” 
(John Allan, 1777, in Kidder’s Military Operations in Eastern Maine and 
Nova Scotia, Albany, 1867, 117.) Our author’s description of the canoes is in 
his second volume, p. 405. 


* The head of boat-navigation is at Springhill, ninety miles from the sea. 


120 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


high up. Abundance of wild Walnuts* also occur, of which 
the nuts are triangular and hard to open; though when placed 
by the fire they open easily, and that which is inside has the 
taste of walnuts. ‘There is found here also a great quantity 
[47] of Wild Grapes, on wild vines which bear grapes, the 
fruit of which is large and of very good taste; but its skin is 
thick and hard. It comes to maturity, and if it were culti- 
vated and transplanted I do not doubt that it would produce 
very good wine.” This is a sign that the cold there is not so 
severe, nor the snows so abundant as everyone says. I believe 
that there are actually districts in France which are not worth 
so much as this place, so far as climate is concerned, and 
where many people live in less comfort than they would have 
in these parts, distant though they are. 

From the entrance of the River Saint Jean to that of Port 
Royal there are a dozen leagues to cross,* over that which 
[48] we call the Baye Frangoise [Bay of Fundy],* and which 
extends ten or a dozen leagues farther into the land. In 
leaving the River Saint Jean there is, upon the left hand, a 
point which advances into the sea,’ and this being rounded, 
one enters a large bay which extends about a league into the 


1 This must be the butternut (the only “ walnut” of this region), though its 
nut is not triangular. It was formerly very abundant in this valley. I do not 
know whether the statement about the fire is correct. 

2 The early English settlers on the Saint John are known to have made wine 
from the wild grapes, which are somewhat abundant along this river. 

3 It is about forty miles. 

4 La Baye Francotse was thus named by De Monts in 1604 in honour of his 
nationality. With the passing of the French régime the name became gradually 
replaced by the older /wzdy, of Spanish origin. The bay extends much farther 
into the land than our author states. 

In this description of the Bay of Fundy there is a decided suggestion of the 
narratives of Champlain, but with much additional information which Denys no 
doubt obtained from ‘those who go there to trade.” He speaks of these traders 
on the next page. 

5 This may be Cape Spencer, with the cove east of it which contains some 
rocks called ‘‘ The Sisters” ; but I am inclined to think that these places, like the 
two little bays with the iron mines which follow, do not represent so much 
actual localities as a distorted excerpt from Champlain. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 121 


land. At its bottom there are two islands. Continuing along 
the coast, about three or four leagues, one finds two little bays 
distant a league from one another, where there are said to be 
mines of iron. Continuing this route one sees a great point ex- 
tending into the sea, behind which isa little river.* Going still 
farther, one sees a cape [49] which is named the Cap des Deux 
Bayes.” Their entrances are narrow and they advance fifteen or 
sixteen leagues into the land. ‘There are plenty of rocks in 
these bays and they are dangerous, because the tide rises eight 
or ten fathoms and covers them.? This I have heard said by 
those who go there in longboats to trade, as also that they are 
obliged to cast anchor in fifteen to sixteen fathoms in order to 
be safe. There are several rivers falling into these bays, by 
means of which the Indians pass into that of Saint Jean; by 
others they proceed into lakes which empty towards Campseaux 
and Cape Saint Lots, which is in the Great Bay of Saint 
Laurens.* There are some [| 50] lands to traverse in going from 
one place to the other. The Indians of those parts carry their 
peltry to the English at the River Saint Jean. The Sieur d’Aunay 
traded there in his time even to the extent of three thousand 
Moose [skins| a year, not counting Beaver and Otter, and this 
was the reason why he dispossessed the Sieur de la Tour of it. 
These bays are called des Mines,® because here occur some of 
those flint stones * such as were used formerly in wheel-arque- 

1 No doubt Quaco Head and River, mentioned also by Champlain. 

* Literally Cape of the Two Bays ; sonamed by Champlain in description of 
its position. It is now called Cape Chignecto. 

* This height ascribed to the great tides of the two Bas is accurate. 

* He refers to the Petitcodiac, which had important portages into the Ken- 
nebecasis and Washademoac branches of the Saint John; to the Shubenacadie 
with a portage to the head of Saint Marys River emptying near Canso ; and to 
Salmon River with a portage into the Pictou, leading to near Cape Saint Louis, 
now Cape Saint George. These portages are marked upon old maps. 

® This name, which persists as (/zzas for one of the bays, originated with 
Champlain in the form mzzes, descriptive of the mines he sought there. 

° Pierres de mines in the original. Our author is mistaken, as the preceding 


note will show, in his explanation of the name. Champlain mentions white 
limestone there (Laverdiére’s Champlain, 272). 


122 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


busses ; and all who have been there say there are also mines 
of copper in several places. 

In these bays are plenty of mountains back in the country, 
some of them really high. There are also flat lands, and a 
great number of Pines, Firs, and Spruces, [51] mixed with 
other good woods. But there is little of them on the margin 
of the sea all round the two bays for about a league or a league 
andahalf. Farther inland there are beautiful woods, which are 
much more open. From the report of all the Indians there 
should be found an abundance of mast materials and plank- 
ings, as well of Oak as of other kinds. 

Leaving these Bayes des Mines, and continuing the way 
towards Port Royal there occurs an island of great height, 
and of one and a quarter leagues of circumference or there- 
abouts.” It is flat on top, and despite its height a spring 
of water occurs there, [and] it is said, also a mine of copper. 
Thence coasting along the land six to seven leagues, through 
which extent [52] are only rocks, one comes to the entrance 
of Port Royal. This is rather narrow, which causes a great 
tidal current, and if one wishes to take a vessel in or out with 
the tide, it is necessary that this shall be done stern first, and 
even so it is needful to take great care for oneself. 

Port Royal? is a very beautiful place [including] a very 


* Isle Holt of our maps, the Isle Haut of Champlain. Our author’s descrip- 
tion is closely like, but not identical with, that of Champlain. 

* Thus named, descriptively, by 
De Monts and Champlain in 1604. 
The description of the place, while 
suggestive of Champlain in places, 
is largely independent of his narra- 
tives, as we might expect from the 
fact that our author had been there 
at least once, in 1653, as he tells 
us on page 5 of Volume I. of his 
book. The history of this interest- 
ing and important locality is traced 
fully in Calnek’s and Savary’s A7zs- 
tory of the County of Annapolis 
(Toronto, 1897). 


8 miles fo Linch 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 123 


fine basin with more than a league of breadth and about two 
of length. At the entrance there are eighteen to twenty 
fathoms of water; there are not less than four to six fathoms 
between the land and the island, called Isle aux Chevres,' 
which lies about in the middle of the basin. There it is 
possible to anchor large vessels, and in as great security as 
ina box. The bottom is everywhere good. In the extremity 
of the ba- [53] sin there is a kind of point of land where 
Monsieur d’Aunay had a fine and good fort built. This 
point is between two rivers, one on the right and the other 
on the left, which do not extend far inland. One is broad 
at its mouth; the other is not so broad but much deeper, 
amaythe tide runs up eight to ten leagues.*. There are 
numbers of meadows on both shores, and two islands which 
possess meadows, [and] which are three or four leagues from 
the fort in ascending. ‘There is a great extent of meadows 
which the sea used to cover, and which the Sieur d’Aunay 
had drained. It bears now fine and good wheat, and since 
the English have been masters of the country, the residents 
[54] who were lodged near the fort have for the most 
part abandoned their houses and have gone to settle on the 
upper part of the river. They have made their clearings 
below and above this great meadow, which belongs at present 
to Madame de la Tour. There they have again drained 
other lands which bear wheat in much greater abundance than 
those which they cultivated round the fort, good though 
those were.* All the inhabitants there are the ones whom 


1 Meaning Goat Island, by which name it is now known. This is its first 
known use. 

2 At Annapolis where the remains of the old fort, not D’Aulnay’s alone but 
including a succession of later ones on the same site, are now carefully 
preserved. 

° The first is now called Allans River and the second Annapolis River; the 
description is accurate. 

* The reclaimed marshes along the Annapolis River are all very clearly 
shown on a map of 1733, published in Acadzensts, III. 294. 


124 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Monsieur le Commandeur de Razilly had brought from France 
to La Haive;* since that time they have multiplied much at 
Port Royal, where they have a great number of cattle and 
swine. Aside from the two [55] rivers of which I have just 
been speaking, another? discharges into the basin, and it is 
very full of fish, as are the two others. Here is caught a 
great quantity of fish, such as Gaspereau, Salmon, Trout, 
Fsguilles [sand-eels],? and other kinds. 

On the upper parts of these ‘three Tivers;eiMene mies 
quantity of Oaks, and upon the banks are Pines, Firs of 
three sorts, Birches, Black Birches, Beeches, Aspens, Maples, 
Ashes and Oaks. This country is not very mountainous. 
The Grape-vine and the Butternut are also present. There 
is very little snow in this country, and very little winter. 
The hunting is good throughout the year for Hares, for 
Partridges, for Pigeons, and other [56] game of the woods. 
As to water game, there is a great abundance of it. Summer 
and winter the country is very pleasing. 

Leaving Port Royal and going towards Isle Longue, after 
two or three leagues one finds a big cove where vessels can 
anchor.* It has a good bottom, but the shelter there is not 
from all sides, and it is properly only a roadstead. Con- 
tinuing along the coast six or seven leagues, one finds coves 


1 As our author also relates at page 95 of Volume I. of his book. These 
inhabitants, of course, were Acadians, ancestors of the present Acadian people. 

* Bear River, no doubt. 

3 In mentioning this fish at this place, and nowhere else in his book, our 
author is following Champlain, who noted its presence at Port Royal and 
named our present Annapolis River, A. de 2Eguzlle. It is the sand-eel or 
lant, a very close relative of the fish called equille or lanson in France ; it is 
not used for human food, but is a valued bait for cod. 

4 Now called Gullivers Hole; mentioned also by Champlain. Although 
our author calls it a cove, the map shows but a slight inbending of the coast. 
Again and again in the following pages Denys speaks of places as coves or 
bays which the charts show to be merely slight inbendings of the coast line. 
Yet in fact, as I know from experience, many places shown, and correctly, by 
the maps, as but slight inlets of the coast have actually on the ground the 
appearance of coves of considerable penetration into the land. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 125 


and rocks covered with trees as far as Isle Longue,’ which is 
about six or seven leagues in length. It forms a passage for 
leaving the Baye Francoise and for going to reach the land of 
Acadie.” There are between Isle Longue and the mainland 
of Port Royal, rocks which [57] make the Grand and the 
Petit Passage.” The currents there are very rough, among 
other places at the Petit Passage which is only for longboats. 
I once wished to pass through there, but the wind not being 
favourable for stemming the tide, or to carry us to the Grand 
Passage, 1 wished to have the anchor cast, even though 
there were only two and a half fathoms of water in the en- 
trance. The current was so strong that the anchor could 
not take hold, and we lost it along with our cable which ran 
out to the end. We had to bear away for the River Saint 
Jean, where I was given an anchor and another cable. From 
there I returned and went through the Grand Passage of 
Isle Longue. 


1 Thus named by Champlain, descriptively, in 1604, and still so called. 
Our author, following Champlain, greatly exaggerates its length. 

2 On the use of this important name compare the note on the next page. 

* Named by Champlain and still so called; but our author’s location of 
them is not exact, as the map will show. Petit Passage is safe for large 
vessels and steamers. 


[58] CHAPTER III 


Description of the coast from Isle Longue as far as La Haive, of 
the rivers, of the islands, of the hunting, of the fishing, of 
the land, and of divers kinds of woods ; the establishment 
of a sedentary fishery, how it has been ruined, and other 
particulars. 


EAVING the Baye Francoise to enter upon the coast 
of Acadie,* one takes a course towards Cape Fourchu 
which is [59] distant from Isle Longue some twelve 

or fifteen leagues. All this coast is safe and without 
rocks. Six leagues from Isle Longue there is a river into 


1 Our author restricts the name Acadie to the country between Long 
Island and Canso, in this following various early documents and maps. 
His book was therefore cited by the French Commissioners when, in 175I- 
1755, they were trying to prove that the Acadia or Nova Scotia ceded to 
England by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 included only the southern part 
of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. The English Commissioners were able, 
however, to cite examples of much wider use of the name, which as a matter 
of fact was applied very differently by different writers. The history of the 
entire controversy over the subject is given in a “ Monograph on the Evolution 
of the Boundaries of the Province of New Brunswick” in the 7vransactions 
of the Royal Soctety of Canada, VII., 1901, i. 196-212. 

It is commonly but wrongly supposed that this word Acadie is of Micmac 
Indian origin, derived from the termination acadie of many of their names for 
places. This theory rests solely upon the coincidence of form of the two 
words, and absolutely ignores the history of the name. In fact, however, 
Acadie or Acadia can be traced back through an unbroken series of documents, 
books, and maps to a very different origin. Champlain in his earlier works 
always has Arcadia or Arcadie, as has Thevet in 1570; and this is obviously 
the same word as the Larcadia upon a large series of maps of the sixteenth 
century, where the name appears among words wholly European in origin 
with no trace of an Indian nomenclature. I have traced the matter in detail 
in the New Brunswick Magazine, III. 1899, 153; and in the Zransactions of 
the Royal Society of Canada, 11., 1896, mare : and VII., 1901, 1. 16%¢ 

I2 


DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 127 


which small vessels can enter. It is called Riviere aux Ours; ' 
it takes its name from the great number of Bears which are 
found there. Few Pines and Firs occur, but quantities 
of Oaks intermixed with other fine trees, like those J have 
already mentioned. The country is fine and seems rather 
flat. There are many meadows all along it and the land 
ought to be very good, in so far as I have been able to 
judge. There is fishing for Cod on the coast, and for 
Salmon, Trout, and Smelt on the upper part of the river. 

[60] Continuing on to Cape Fourchu, the coast seems 
very fine. Few Firs occur, but many other species of trees, 
and extensive meadows. There is fine hunting all along this 
coast for all kinds of game. Keeping on the same route one 
comes, five leagues from Riviere aux Ours, to an inlet between 
two rocks admitting a boat.” I was once there, and saw a 
number of ponds of salt water which were full of Ducks, 
Wild Geese, Geese,’ Brant, Teal, and all other game, of which 
we killed more than five hundred specimens of all kinds. 
Miereare quantities of very fine trees like those I have 
already named. The country is flat‘ and the soil cannot but 
[61] be very good. ‘The locality there is very pleasing. 
Thence to Cape Fourchu may be six or seven leagues. 

Cape Fourchu is so named because it is formed like a 
[ee vessels can there be placed under shelter. The 
fishery for Cod is abundant, and not far off shore; and it 
comes earlier there than in any other place in Acadia. The 


1 That is, Bear River. This is apparently the river emptying into the 
cove, still called Bear Cove, just south of Cape Saint Mary. 

2 Apparently the present Allans Lake of the charts, with the ponds near by. 

8 Oyes in the original, most likely the snow geese, which elsewhere (page 
85) he calls white and grey geese, oves blanches & grises. The other birds here 
mentioned are all identified under chapter xix. of the second volume of our 
author’s book. 

* Champlain gives a somewhat similar mention of this coast; and both 
authors, as I know in part from my own observation, are accurate. 

° It was thus named in 1604 by Champlain for the reason our author gives. 


128 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


country is very fine and good. As for the woods, they are 
like the others, but there are Oaks, Maples, and Aspens in 
much greater number. A certain De Lomeron formerly had 
an establishment there, and it has been called Port Lomeron 
from the time of the Sieur de la Tour. Soon after the begin- 
ning thus made in those parts, this establish- [62] ment was 
ruined by the English at the time of the war of La Rochelle.’ 

From Cape Fourchu going towards Cap de Sable, one finds 
a great bay in which there are many islands called the Isles 
of Tousquet.” They are all covered with fine and good 


1 In thus locating Port Lomeron near Cape Fourchu, apparently at or near 
the present Yarmouth, our author makes some error. For it is certain that 
Port Lomeron was identical with Port La Tour east of Cape Sable. This is 
rendered probable by the fact that La Tour, who is known to have lived at 
Port La Tour, addressed a letter from Port Lomeron in 1627 (Murdoch, ova 
Scotia, I. 67); but it is made certain by a grant of 1630 from Sir William 
Alexander to the La Tours, a document undoubtedly drawn with the aid of 
the elder La Tour who knew these localities perfectly (Slafter’s Szr Wzlizam 
Alexander, 75), which reads, “Port de la Tour formerly named L’Omeroy.” 
This statement is repeated with only a slight change of spelling in another 
grant of 1656 (Memorials of the English and French Commissaries, 727). The 
Port La Tour establishment was not ruined by the English during the war of 
La Rochelle (viz. in 1628), for La Tour resided there during that time, as our 
author himself tells us a little later (page 68 of this volume of his book), 
and which other evidence confirms. On the other hand, there does appear 
to have been some kind of early French establishment at Yarmouth, for 
Champlain clearly places there a flag, indicative of settlement, on his map of 
1632. I am inclined to believe the truth is this, that Denys, writing from 
memory long after the events, has confused the names of places, but otherwise 
is correct, and is describing an actual former minor French settlement at 
Yarmouth which was destroyed in 1628 by New Englanders, who came in 
that year to Acadia on a marauding expedition (Murdoch, ova Scoéza, 1. 
73, 74), but who found La Tour’s establishment too strong to be taken. 
Nothing further is known of Lomeron, but Rameau (Colonie Féodale, 1. 69) 
supposes him to have been a companion of Poutrincourt in 1610, while Moreau 
(L’Acadie Francoise, 98) conjectures that he was a member of the Chinon 
(Touraine) family of that name. Further notes on Port La Tour will be found 
under page 68 of this volume of our author’s book. 

2 This name, now Tusket, appears first, apparently applied to the river, as 
Touguechet on Sanson’s map of 1656. The word is said, in Brown’s Aizstory 
of Yarmouth, N.S., page 96, to be Micmac, from 7ukseit or Niketaouksit, 
meaning a “great forked tidal river.” Rand, the Micmac scholar, does not 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 129 


woods of the same kinds as the others of which I have already 
spoken. Many meadows occur on the islands, where abound 
all kinds of birds which here also make their nests. There 
are Geese,’ Cranes, Wild Geese, Ducks, Teal, Herons, Snipe 
large and small, Crows, Turnstones, Sandpipers, and so many 
of other kinds of birds that it is astonishing. The country 
is of the most pleasing and the best that I have yet seen. 
It is [63] flat and the land there is very good. ‘The fishery 
abounds in Trout, and Salmon; and the Smelt are present 
there in spring in great quantity, in the streams where they 
come to deposit their eggs. It is as large, generally, as a 
miectum sized herring. The Sieur la Tour had there an 
establishment for trade in peltry, or traffic with the Indians, 
who came hither from several localities. It is not distant 
more than two or three leagues from the mainland.” 

One goes thence to Cap de Sable, which has flats and rocks 
in front; nevertheless the port is good, and the cod fishery 
there is abundant. Between Cape Fourchu and Cap de Sable, 
three or four leagues out [64] to sea, there are several Islands, 
some of a league, others of two, three and up to four in 
circumference, which are named the Isles aux Loups Marins° 


give it as Indian in his works. Denys seems to apply the same name also, 
on page 205 of this volume of his book, to Pokesuedie and Caraquet Islands 
near Miscou, but apparently only by a misprint for Caraquet. 

* These birds are identified under chapter xix. of the second volume of 
our author’s book, with the exception of two, which are :— 

Gries, literally cranes. No true crane occurs in this region, and this was 
no doubt the common blue heron, generally called “crane” in this vicinity. 

Tournevires, or tourne-pierres in modern French, unmistakably the well- 
known and common turnstone of this region. 

* Nothing further about this establishment of La Tour’s appears to have 
been recorded in history, nor is anything known of it locally so far as I can 
find by inquiry. I can only surmise that it was on the larger of the Tusket 
Islands, perhaps at or near the Frenchmans Point of the charts. It may be 
that it is wrongly placed by our author, and was really at or near Pubnico, 
where there was a very early French settlement and where descendants of 
La Tour still live. 

* Our author here uses expressions almost identical with those employed by 


130 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


[Seal Islands]. They are rather difficult to approach because 
of the rocks which surround them. They are covered with 
Firs, Birches, and other woods which are not very large. 
They are called Seal Islands because those [animals] go there 
to bring forth their young, which are large and strong. ‘There 
are several species of them, of which | shall make a paragraph 
separately... They come for lying-in about the month of 
February; they climb out upon the rocks, and take position 
around the islands where they give birth to their young. 
These are at birth stouter than the largest pig that one 
ever sees, and [65] longer. They remain on land only a brief 
time, after which their father and mother drive them into the 
sea; they return sometimes to land, or to the rocks, where 
the mother suckles them. Monsieur d’Aunay sent men from 
Port Royal with longboats to make a fishery of them in the 
season, which is in the month of February while the young 
are there. The men go all round the islands with strong 
clubs; the fathers and mothers flee into the sea, and the young 
which are trying to follow them are stopped, being given a 
blow of the club upon the nose of which they die. One 
moves as quickly as possible, for the fathers and mothers, 
being in the sea, make a great disturbance thus giving the 
alarm for [66] all, which makes them all flee. But few young 
ones save themselves, for there is not time allowed them. 
There are days on which there have been killed as many as 
six, seven and eight hundred. It is the young which are 
fattest, for the father and mother are thin in winter. Fully 
three or four young ones are needed to make one barrel 
of oil, which is good to eat when fresh, and as good for 


Champlain ; but he applies to the Seal Islands a description which Champlain 
evidently means for the Tusket Islands. Yet Denys, here as elsewhere, in 
using Champlain, is by no means a plagiarist, for he gives us a good deal of 
additional and independent information. 

1 In Volume II. of his book, page 253, where it is shown that the species 
described in the present chapter is the gray seal. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 131 


burning as olive oil. It has not the odour in burning of 
other fish oils, which are always full of thick dregs or of 
settlings at the bottom of the barrels; but this is always 
clear. Upon these Seal Islands 1s so great a number of all 
kinds of birds that [67] it is past belief, and especially during 
the spring when they build their nests. If one goes there he 
makes them rise in such vast numbers that they form a cloud 
in the air which the sun cannot pierce; and to kill them it 
is not necessary to use guns, but simply clubs, for they are 
sluggish in rising from their nests. As to the young ones, 
they can be taken as many as wished even to loading the 
boats, and the same with eggs. 

From this place, crossing the Bay of Tousquet, one comes 
upon the Cap de Sable* which is an island making a point 
projecting into the sea. Between the mainland and the island 
there is a passage for boats, but outside of the island towards 
the sea, there are rocks [68] and flats which advance a good 
league into the sea. Having passed beyond them two leagues, 
one enters the Baye de Sable, which is very large, and in which 
ships can anchor in perfect safety. In passing there in 1651 
I met Monsieur Gabaret * Captain for the King in the Marine, 
who was anchored there after returning from a cruise to the 
Gulf of Mexico. And inthis same place Monsieur de la 
Tour had an establishment, where he resided during the siege 
of La Rochelle. He had there a good fort * which stood him 


+ The word sad/e is no doubt a corruption of sad/on, meaning “sand.” The 
name appears first, so far as I can find, upon the Diego Homem map of 1558 
as Lat Sablon. 

2 This was no doubt Jean de Gabaret, a distinguished naval officer. He 
was born about 1620, promoted to the grade of captain “‘about 1653,” made 
governor of Martinique in 1693, and died in 1697 (Larousse, Dzctionnatre 
Universelle). 

$ Our author has been very plainly describing Sable Bay, now called Bar- 
rington Bay ; and if there were any doubt upon this point it is settled by his 
further account of the place on page 81 of this volume of his book, which fits 
well this locality but no other in the vicinity. It is therefore surprising that 
Denys proceeds to say La Tour’s establishment and fort, which he had himself 


132 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


in good stead, and in this respect. His father was at one time 
in England where he married a maid of honour of the Queen, 
of high rank; and on account of this marriage, the King of 


visited, were at this place, whereas the combined testimony of historical re- 
cords, of tradition, and of persistent place-names locates it at Port La Tour, 
the next harbour to the eastward. Champlain’s map of 1632 attempts to 
mark the site of the settlement by a flag, as does our authors own map, 
though in both cases this is inconclusive. But in the explanation of his 
map Champlain says: “Port of Cape Negro. In this place there is an 
establishment of Frenchmen, in the Bay of the said Cape, where the Sieur 
de la Tour commands, which they have named Port La Tour, and where 
the Recollet fathers are living in the year 1630.” As to local tradition, 
Mr. Arnold Doane, of Barrington, who has made a long study of the history 
of that region, assures me that local 
tradition universally places Fort La 
Tour (or Saint Louis) at Port La Tour, 
at the site shown upon the accompany- 
ing map, and that no site of a fort is 
known round Barrington Bay. The 
explanation of the seeming error of 
our author is, however, fairly plain. 
A comparison of his book with the 
1632 edition of Champlain shows that 
he closely follows that author in many 
places in this region, using the work, as 
I have no doubt, to refresh his memory 
for places he had not seen for many 
years. Now Champlain’s work, under 
date 1631, contains this passage: “the 
Fort and establishment of Saint Louis situated at Cape Sable, coast of Acadie, 
on the entrance to a good harbour” (“le Fort & habitation sainct Louys, 
scitué au Cap de Sable coste d’Acadie, sur ’entrée d’vn bon haure”). Evidently 
Champlain has in mind the same place which he described on his map as 
being in Port La Tour, his expression “at Cape Sable” being a natural one 
in speaking of the locality from a distance. Now I take it that our author in 
using Champlain followed this expression, either forgetting the exact location 
of the fort at the moment or thinking it of no consequence. To this day some 
of our writers, who know perfectly the exact locations, speak of Fort Saint 
Louis as at Cape Sable. 

For local information about the fort-site I have had to depend upon others ; 
for this and Percé are the only parts of Acadia prominently mentioned by our 
author which I have not myself been able to visit and study. Mr. G. Stanley 
Bruce, principal of the Academy at Shelburne, has been so kind as to obtain 
for me the following information from a person who knows the locality well. 
The site of the fort is well known locally; it was on Fort Point adjoining 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 188 
England [69] made him Knight of the Garter,! in order to 


oblige him to go find his son, and induce him to transfer 
the fort to the allegiance of His Britannic Majesty. To this 
end two ships of war were armed, in one of which La Tour 
and his wife embarked. ‘They were no sooner arrived within 
sight of the fort, than La Tour, father, landed, and did his 
utmost to induce his son to transfer the fort to the allegiance 
of the King of England, [saying] that he should continue 
to command there as absolutely as he had up to this time, 
and that he [the father] and his wife would reside there 
for his security. To bring this into effect Commissions had 


Port La Tour village, in the position shown by the accompanying map; the 
only visible remains of it consist of an embankment overlooking the harbour 
on the east; there are no buildings on the site, which slopes northerly to a 
marshy beach, westerly across a hayfield to the pretty Fort Creek, and southerly 
to Fort Point ; various relics, such as cannon balls, pipes, pieces of pottery, &c., 
are often dug up in the neighbouring fields. 

Port La Tour was at first called Port Lomeron, as mentioned in an earlier 
note (under page 62 of this volume of our author’s work). It was occupied by 
Charles de la Tour at least as early as 1627, and there he was living, as our 
author states, during the war of La Rochelle in 1628. It was of course located 
primarily as a centre for trade with the Indians of both the east and west 
coasts. It was, no doubt, placed here instead of on Barrington Bay, because 
the harbour was very much better. At the same time it was easily accessible, 
without an outside passage, by short portages from Barrington Bay and Cape 
Negro Harbour. La Tour left the place in 1635 and went to occupy his new 
and more famous fort at the mouth of the River Saint John. He probably left 
Fort Saint Louis in charge of his father, who no doubt ended his days there, 
for he does not again appear in Acadian history.. The place is mentioned in 
an old document of 1653 as Vieux Logis (“old residence” ) and its Indian name 
is given as Pipegueniche (Rameau, Colonie Féodale, II. 412), or Pepignéset 
(Collection de Manuscrits : Quebec, 1884, II. 439). Haliburton (ova Scotia, 
1829, II. 191) mentions the remains of the fort, but I have found no further 
references to it. Another early resident of this vicinity was one Rivedou, of 
whom our author tells us something of interest on page 235 of Volume II. of 
his book. 

1 Chevalier de la Jarretiere in the original. As Murdoch (/Vova Scoiza, 
I.75) points out, this is a mistake of our author, caused of course by confusion 
with the very different Order of the Knights Baronets of Nova Scotia, of which 
La Tour and his)son were actually made members, as recorded in works upon 
the Baronetage. 

K 


134 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


been brought made out in [70] his name, with the Order 
of the Garter in their honour, and other advantages were 
promised by those in command of the vessels. All this 
occurred without their entering into the fort. The young 
La Tour answered them, that he was under great obligation 
to the King of England for so much good-will towards 
him, but that he had a master able to appreciate the loyalty 
which he owed to him, and that he could not deliver the 
place into their hands, nor accept any commission other 
than that which he held’; that he thanked the King of 
England for the honour which was done him, but that he could 
not accept any rewards except from the King his [71] master. 
This [answer] obliged his father and all the commanders of 
the vessels to use the very finest language on earth to persuade 
him. But it was in vain, for he remained firm in his resolu- 
tion, and boldly told his father that neither he nor his wife 
should ever enter his fort. Hence his father had to retire with 
the others and return on board the ships. Thence the next 
day they sent a man on shore with a letter from the father, in 
which he wrote him [the son] everything which could serve 
to lead him to surrender in good friendship, [and saying] that 
otherwise it was determined to make him yield by force, that 
they had enough men for this, that he should take care not 
to [72] bring upon himself the enmity of the King of Eng- 
land, for this was a true method of ruining himself, and that 
he was not in condition to resist their forces. All this had 
no more effect than what had gone before, and for his whole 
reply, [given] verbally to him who had brought the letter, 
he said that the commanders and his father could act as they 
thought best, and that he and his garrison were entirely ready 
to receive them. The messenger returned to convey this 


1 La Tour did not yet hold a commission, which was first granted him in 
1631. But he had applied for one in 1627, with reason to think it would be 
granted, and hence he held himself morally commissioned no doubt. But the 
point is not important, for the phrase is of course Denys’ own. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 135 


communication, upon which they immediately determined to 
attack the fort. The next day they landed their forces in their 
big boats, and attacked the fort. The battle lasted all the 
day and night. They [73] tried to approach in order to cut the 
stakes, or to set them on fire; but those inside were so well 
upon their guard that the others were unable to come near. 
Many of the English were killed or wounded in this attack, 
a matter which proved to them only too well the resolution 
of the young La Tour. The next day they disembarked all 
the sailors and soldiers in order to intimidate him by the 
great number they could exhibit. They disposed them 
behind earth entrenchments which they had made during 
the night at the four corners of the fort, whence they directed 
a heavy fire; those inside did the same, and they did not 
shoot amiss, but killed some more of them and wounded 
others. This made the English [74] give up the taking of 
the fort, the sailors not being willing to do more, and the 
soldiers being in no great number, only so many having been 
brought as were necessary to form a garrison, for they were 
fully assured by the account of the senior La Tour that they 
would not meet with any resistance, after he should have told 
his son of the honours and privileges with which his Majesty 
had honoured him. 

De la Tour, perceiving that the captains of the ships 
were determined to abandon the enterprise and depart, was 
thunderstruck, since he did not dare return to England for 
fear lest he should be made to suffer. His wife was also 
a great embarrassment to him; to her he did not dare 
confess, though in the end he was [75] obliged to do so, 
telling her that he could find nothing better, nor any other 
course to take, than to remain with his son, for there 
was no more safety for him in France than in England after 
the attempt he had hazarded. [He said] that she could go 
there if it seemed best to her, and that for his part he should 
beg his son to permit him to live with him. His wife assured 


136 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


him that she would not abandon him if his son would permit 
them to remain with him. Having taken this resolve they 
communicated it to the captain who approved of it. La 
Tour wrote to his son, and begged him to permit his wife and 
himself to remain in the country, since after what had passed, 
he did not dare return to England [76] because he would 
there lose his head. His son answered him that he did 
not wish to be the cause of his death, but that he could only 
grant the request on condition that neither he nor his wife 
should enter the fort, that he would have a little dwelling 
built for them outside, and that this was all he could do. 
The father accepted the condition which his son imposed. 
The captain sent all their baggage ashore, and La Tour senior 
landed with his wife, two men as servants, and two maids for 
his wife. The young La Tour had a dwelling built for them 
a short distance from his fort, where they settled themselves 
the best they could. They had brought some [77 | provisions, 
which were no sooner consumed than La Tour the son replaced 


them, supporting his father and all his family." About the 


' This striking episode in Acadian history is in part confirmed by Champ- 
lain, but in details rests chiefly upon the narrative of our author. Champlain, 
under date of 1630 (Laverdiére’s Champlain, 1298), says the younger La Tour at 
Cape Sable had not allowed himself to be influenced by the persuasions of his 
father, who was with the English, preferring death to such iniquity as treason 
to his King, and that this made the English unfriendly to the senior La Tour, 
who had assured them that his son would enter their service. Champlain adds 
that the father was later with the English at Port Royal, that he was invited by 
his son to return to the French, and that, seeing he could have no future with 
the English, he accepted and returned to Cape Sable (Port La Tour) ; but 
Champlain says nothing of the attack on his son’s fort. Denys’ account has 
been accepted, either as he gives it or with a modification necessitated by 
Champlain’s statements, by most historians. Moreau, however (in his Z’Acadie 
Frrancotse), whose frankly expressed intention to exalt the memory of D’Aulnay 
makes it needful for him to discredit Denys, D’Aulnay’s severest critic, challenges 
the truth of Denys’ narrative of the attack on the fort, claiming that this was 
an invention of the younger La Tour, who told it to Denys for his own glorifica- 
tion ; and Moreau makes the most of the inconsistencies in the narratives and 
the lack of confirmation in records of the time. But Moreau’s case is ex parte 
and strained, and we possess more knowledge than he admits. Gathering all 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 137 


year sixteen hundred and thirty-five, I passed by there. I 
went to see the young La Tour, who received me very well, 
and permitted me to see his father in the dwelling of which 
I have spoken, and this I did. He received me well, and 
insisted that I should dine with him and his wife. They were 
very amply provided. During the time I was there, a Recollet 
father* arrived, to whom the wife confided the pleasure that 
she had in seeing me. Then I discoursed with the Recollet 
who gave me an account of his garden; he invited me to go 


the evidence together, and remembering that Denys wrote from memory thirty- 
Six years after the event was narrated to him by La Tour in 1635, it is possible 
to state the facts with much probability. They are correctly given, I believe, 
in Hannay’s Azstory of Acadia (117-122), and, in brief, are as follows. In 1628 
the senior La Tour was captured by Kirk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and taken 
to England. He was a Protestant, in sympathy with his Huguenot brethren, 
on whose behalf the English were then fighting France, and he cast in his lot 
with the English. He married an Englishwoman of standing, and became 
acquainted with Sir William Alexander, who was then endeavouring to colonise 
Acadia, which had been granted to him under the name of Nova Scotia. 
Thinking he could induce his son, then at Port La Tour, also to join the 
English, he accepted from Alexander for himself and his son baronetcies of 
Nova Scotia and a joint grant, dated April 1630, of Acadia from Cape Fourchu 
to Mirlegash (Lunenburg). An agreement, dated October 6, 1629, between 
Alexander and Claude and Charles de la Tour exists (Report on Canadian 
Archives, 1883, 121). A little later, in 1630, with two ships carrying Scottish 
colonists to Port Royal, he appeared before Port La Tour, and then occurred 
the various incidents, including the attack on the fort, narrated by Denys. It 
is altogether likely, however, that our author, writing so long after, and in- 
fluenced by his friendship with the younger La Tour, does exaggerate somewhat 
the details. Also Denys is probably at fault in saying the father landed at 
once to reside with his son, for Champlain shows that he went on with the ships 
to Port Royal. Soon after this a French expedition under Captain Marot 
arrived to aid the younger La Tour, and a little later, all in 1630, the invitation 
was sent by the son and accepted by the father, as Champlain relates. On his 
arrival at Cape Sable the father no doubt was received and settled outside the 
fort, as Denys tells. It must be remembered that Denys was there only five 
years after these events, and visited both the younger La Tour in his fort and 
the father in his separate residence. It is possible that Denys’ visit was in 
1634, Since it was in 1635 the younger La Tour removed to the Saint John 
River. 

* The presence of Recollets at this settlement is confirmed by Champlain 
(Laverdiére’s Champlain, 1299, and the explanation of figure 41 on the map 
of 1632). 


138 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


see it, and I accepted. JI was curious to [78] see everything 
and to observe also anything which turned up worthy of note. 
He had me embark with him in his canoe without making 
any comment upon the danger to which I exposed myself, 
having never as yet tried this kind of navigation. The father 
adjusted his sail, and spread it to the wind, [and] we crossed 
the bay which was a league and a half broad. In approaching 
the land my conductor wished to lower his sail, for fear of 
grounding too roughly and breaking his canoe. From the 
front where he had placed me, I took a notion to look behind, 
and although J did little more than turn the head, never- 
theless by this slight movement the canoe was thrown out of 
the balance in which it [79] was, and it overturned in an 
instant. Happily we were close to the shore. This kind of 
navigation is unnatural, difficult and dangerous, especially when 
one makes his first attempts at it. We arrived at the garden,’ 
[and] he told me that he had cleared it all alone. He might 
have had about a half arpent of ground, and he had there a 
quantity of very fine well-headed cabbages, and of all other 
sorts of pot herbs and vegetables. He had also some apple 
and pear trees, which were well started and very fine, but not 


1 While our author does not locate the priest’s garden for us, we can yet 
place it with some probability. That it was on Port La Tour, and not at some 
of the known French sites round Sable (Barrington) Bay, is proven by 
Champlain’s statement, cited under page 68 of this volume of our author’s book, 
that the Recollet fathers were living in Port La Tour in 1630. Our author’s own 
account shows that it was across the harbour or “bay” (as Champlain also 
called it). Iam told by Mr. Doane that while most of the east coast of the 
harbour is rocky and unsuited for good gardens, the narrow neck connecting 
Cape Negro peninsula with the mainland is of excellent fertile land, and, 
further, that at this place there is a flat, formerly a marsh or meadow, still 
called “French Meadows.” That the distance from the fort is not so great 
as Denys states is of no consequence, since nearly all of his distances are 
exaggerated. There is now a boat canal cut across the neck, where no doubt 
the Indians had once a short portage into Cape Negro Harbour. Here on the 
good land of this neck, I believe, the priest had his garden and lived, selecting 
this situation, presumably, because central for labour among the Indians who 
resorted to these harbours. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 139 


yet in condition to bear, since they were brought small from 
France, and had been planted only in the preceding year. I was 
much pleased to see all this, but much more when he showed 
me [80] his peas and his wheat which he had sowed. It 
charmed me to see the height of the peas; they were staked, 
but so covered with pods that it could only be believed by 
seeing it, and the wheat was the same. There was not a 
grain of the wheat which had not [produced] seven to eight 
stems at least, and others twelve and thirteen. The smallest 
ear was half a foot in length, [and] well filled with grain. 
But among others he showed me a seed of wheat which had 
come up by itself; it had a hundred and fifty stems all 
bearing ear, which I counted. He had a large circle or 
hoop of a hogshead surrounding them, to maintain and 
support them for fear of their being thrown down by the 
wind. The [81] young La Tour had also a garden near his 
fort, with wheat and with peas which were not so carefully 
cared for as were those of the Recollet. The land is flat in 
the bottom of this bay; and the trees there are very fine, 
of the kinds I have already named, [but] without so great 
an abundance of Firs. ‘There are several streams which fall 
into the said bay, in which fish are caught,—small Cod, 
Mackerel, Flounders and other kinds, and, at the mouths of 
the streams, a great quantity of Smelts in the spring. There 
is also here a river in which are caught Salmon and Trout, 
and towards Cap de Sable, there are found plenty of shell-fishes, 
as Clams,’ Whelks,” [82] Mussels,* Razor-clams,* and other 

1 Cocgues ; this name is applied to this day by the Acadians to the common 
clam. All these molluscs are fully described, and discussed as to their range 
in Acadia, in a work, ““The Economic Mollusca of Acadia,” in the Bulletin of 
the Natural Flistory Society of New Brunswick, No. VUII., 1889, 1-116. 

2 Bourgos; this is no doubt the same word as the Bregaux of Champlain, 


and durvgau in modern French. It was probably not applied to any particular 
species, but was used as a generic name for the several species of large whelks 
and spindle-shells of this region. 

* Moulles in the original ; mussels are very abundant on all this coast. 

* Coutellieres in the original ; they occur upon sandy coasts. 


140 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


molluscs, and Lobsters,’ which are Sea-crayfishes. There are 
some of which the shell of the front claw holds a pint or 
more. Plenty of fine meadows are found in ascending this 
river, and along the streams which empty into it.’ 

Leaving the Baye de Sable, and continuing the route, one 
sees a little cape or point, and some islands which are along 
the coast,® covered with trees and Firs. ‘There is abundance 
of birds everywhere which come here to build their nests 
in spring, [and] the coast is also likewise provided with 
them. The country does not seem mountainous. This 
coast is full of rocks which push out into the sea, a fact 
which [83] makes it very dangerous to approach. ‘Three 
or four leagues away* is found a port where there is a 
little river which runs somewhat far into the country. The 
port is good, and vessels of reasonable size can anchor there 
in complete safety. It is called the Port of Cap Naigre. All 
the woods are like the others which I have enumerated, 
and the land there is also good, as far as I have been able 
to judge. The cod fishery is very excellent, though in fact 
I have never seen a ship there. Passing farther along one 


1 Our author’s apt comparison of the lobster (Zozar) with the crayfish 
was no doubt introduced because the little fresh-water crayfish was much better 
known to his readers in France than the larger salt-water lobster. 

2 The description of the bay on this and the preceding page is simply the 
continuation of that on page 68 preceding, and it applies, I think, without doubt, 
to Sable or Barrington Bay. I am assured by Mr. Thomas W. Watson and by 
Mr. Arnold Doane, of Barrington, that the description fits Barrington Bay and 
Harbour, taken collectively, very well, but does not fit Port La Tour or any 
other in the vicinity. And this is fully confirmed by the context. The river 
mentioned would be Barrington River, which has meadows as here described, 
so Mr. Watson tells me. 

3 Evidently the present Baccaro Point and the islands of Cape Negro 
Harbour. 

4 Viz., from the place last described, which was Sable (Barrington) Bay. 
The river is the Clyde, and the port (/e ort du cap Naigre in the original) is 
the present Negro Harbour. The cape was named Cape Negro in 1604 by 
Champlain after a rock, four leagues away, which resembled a negro from a 
distance. This rock may have been Blue Gull Island at the mouth of Jordan 
River. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 141 


meets a large island which forms a good port between itself 
and the mainland ; it is called the Port aux Moutons.’ Vessels 
can enter and leave it from both [84] sides. I have seen 
ships there making the cod fishery; they go about two 
or two and a half leagues to find the Cod, which they dry 
upon flakes; these are a kind of hurdles, on which one is 
obliged to dry the fish when there occur at the place of the 
fishery only sand and grass. ‘The latter are not fitted for 
the purpose as I shall explain in the proper place. The 
island is covered with woods, with an abundance of Firs. 
Behind this island towards the main land, is a large bay,” 
which has fully three good leagues of breadth and as much 
of depth. At the bottom there are two little rivers which 
cannot be entered by boats very far because of the big [85] 
rocks which occur there in very great number. The land 
is almost all covered with rocks. There are no mountains 
to be seen on the upper parts of the rivers and the trees look 
fine and large. 

Proceeding along the coast to reach the other side of the 
bay, One meets a great extent of marshes, through about two 
leagues of length and one of breadth, which the sea covers, 
forming a great number of little ponds.* These are all full 
of game, Wild Geese, Brant, Ducks, Teal, white and gray 

1 So named in 1604 by De Monts and Champlain from a trivial incident re- 
lated by Lescarbot, the falling overboard of a sheep, and still called Port Mouton. 
In skipping, as he does, all the extent of coast from Cape Negro Harbour to Port 
Mouton, our author follows Champlain, while there are other expressions which 
show that he used Champlain’s narrative of 1632, to which, however, he adds a 
great deal of new information. There can be no doubt, I believe, that Denys, 
writing so many years after he had last seen this coast, which was probably never 
very familiar to him, and not wishing to trust his memory alone, used Champ- 
lain’s description as a foundation for his own, adding thereto all matter that he 
could from his own recollection. 

* Port Mouton, reputed one of the finest harbours on the coast. The rivers 
are Broad River and Jones Creek. Champlain gives a map of this harbour in 
his Voyages. 

* Champlain also speaks of the ponds andthe game. The marshes are well 
shown on the modern charts. 


142 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Geese,’ large and small Snipe, Plover, Curlews,’ and many 
other kinds of good game, and all these marshes are covered 
with very good meadow grass. 

[86] Continuing the route along the coast, one meets a 
little harbour which is at the other extremity of the bay, 
distant two leagues from Isle aux Moutons, and which is 
called Port Rossignol.* It is very well situated for the cod 
fishery which there abounds. 

This place is the first locality in which I wished to estab- 
lish the sedentary fishery, and for this purpose I had entered 
into partnership with the late Monsieur de Razilly and a 
merchant of Auray in Brittany. The Commandeur de Razilly 
lived at that time in La Haive, and he was my patron. My 
fishery was successful enough for this voyage. I sent back 


1 Oyes blanches et grises in the original. These are without doubt the 
greater snow geese, of which the young are gray and the adults white. This 
seems well confirmed by Lescarbot (A/zstozre de la Nouvelle France, 1612, 815), 
who speaks of the gray geese in the meadows in spring and the white geese in 
fall. All the birds in the list except this and the following are identified in 
chapter xix. of the second volume of our author’s work. 

* Corbegeos in the original. It is coréigeau in modern French, and Dr. 
Smith tells me the Acadian hunters to this day call the big curlew “ corbigo.” 

3 Now called Liverpool Bay, though the name Rossignol persists in the 
lake at the head of the river. It was named by De Monts and Champlain in 
1604 from a captain found trading 
there, and Champlain gives a map 
of it. 

As to the site of our author’s 
fishing establishment, we have no 
knowledge beyond that which he 
gives in this brief statement. More 
in his Hzstory of Queen's County, 
V.S. (6, 58, 69), says of it: “The 
fishery was in all probability estab- 
lished at Herring Cove, for some 
years ago, in preparing to build a 
public wharf, timber fastened with copper was found imbedded in the beach.” 
I have myself visited Liverpool Bay, and examined its shores from Western 
Head around to Coffins Island Harbour to find whether physical features 
or tradition might throw any light upon the subject. Only a single ancient 
site or work seems to be known around the harbour, that mentioned by 


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"IONOISSOU LYOd LV LNYWHSITEVLISA .SANHC HO ALIS AIAVEOUd AHL 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 143 


the ship loaded to Brittany, where the fish was sold to tolerably 
good advantage. This [87] obliged us to obtain a larger ship. 
One named the Catherine, of 200 tons, which we bought 
from the King, we had equipped for the fishery, and one 
of my brothers, named de Vitray,t who has since been 
Captain of a King’s ship, was put in charge as commander. 
He brought her to me in New France, where we used her for 
the fishery, which succeeded again very well. When she was 
loaded with Cod, we gave orders to my brother to proceed 
to Porte [Oporto] in Portugal to sell it, which he did to 
advantage. As soon as he had arrived there he received 
about the value of a third of his cargo in reals, which he had 
taken to La Rochelle. But whilst he was accomplishing the 
discharging and weighing of [88] the remainder, war was 


More; but an old resident, who witnessed the finding of the copper-fastened 
timbers in the beach, informed me they were found off the little point just 
to the north of the wharf in Herring Cove (Brooklyn). Around the Bay 
are three or four inferior, and three excellent fishing stands, the latter 
being (a) Liverpool town, (4) Brooklyn, and (c) Coffins Island Harbour. 
Since our author’s establishment was a sedentary one, occupied all the year 
round, Coffins Island Harbour, which is very imperfectly sheltered, would 
seem excluded. Thus the sailing directions for this coast read: “ Liverpool 
Bay ... is dangerous, especially during the fall of the year and winter 
months, for all vessels excepting those of a sufficiently small draught to 
anchor in Herring Cove.” As to Liverpool and Brooklyn, the latter to-day is 
much the better station and somewhat nearer the cod fishery, which indeed 
extends clear up the harbour to this point, while Herring Cove offers a very 
superior shelter for fishing boats and small schooners. These facts taken in 
conjunction with the presence of the ancient work, presumably the remains 
of a fishing stage such as our author later describes and figures, make the 
probabilities very strong that Denys’ station was at Brooklyn, at the point north 
of the present wharf, which place is shown by the accompanying photograph. 

1 The identity of the Sieur de Vitré is not certain, but it is possible that he was 
Simon Denys, in which case the latter was associated with his brother Nicolas 
in this fishery, as he surely was in the foundation of his first settlements in 
Cape Breton. Simon Denys settled at Quebec in 1651, and became a prominent 
resident, and the head of a numerous and influential family. The Sieurs Denys 
de la Ronde and de Bonaventure, both prominent in Acadian affairs, were 
his grandsons. He did not, as I understand it, have the title of Sieur de Vitré 
at the time to which our author is referring, but having obtained it with 
letters of nobility in 1668, he was so called at the time Denys wrote his book. 


144 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


declared between the two crowns,’ and three months were 
granted the French in which to remove from the possessions 
of the King of Spain, of which Portugal at that time formed 
a part. In order not to be surprised before the expiration of 
the three months, my brother pressed his payment. Never- 
theless there arrived an order from the King of Spain to stop 
all vessels with the exception of ours, which was permitted to 
retire. But our fish merchants did not hurry themselves to 
pay, making always delays, and a month before the three 
months had expired, they proposed to my brother to buy the 
vessel for their voyage to the Indies. The bargain for her 
was made and closed on condition [89] that they should pay 
him cash, and that my brother should be permitted to embark 
his money and his crew in another French vessel which was 
there, and was expected to sail within seven or eight days. A 
large part of the money had been paid him, and he had taken 
it on board the vessel which was already in the roadstead, 
when there came a second order from the King to stop all. 
Upon receipt of this order, the Governor stopped my brother’s 
vessel, saying that she belonged to Spanish merchants, and 
that she was adapted for war purposes. My brother com- 
plained to the Governor, and asked either the rest of 
his payment or his ship. The Governor promised to have 
him paid, and for this purpose sent a man with him [90] 
bearing a command to the merchants to complete the pay- 
ment. ‘They promised it and did nothing. On the contrary 
they resorted to so much trickery that [nothing had been done 
when| the three months expired. The day before the term 
ended, they seized the ship on which was the money, which 
they took possession of, and maintained before the Court that 
they were not obliged to pay it because the King had put 
himself into possession of it before it came into their hands. 
[And they said] my brother must have his recourse against 


1 This was in the winter of 1634-35. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 145 


the King, who had taken possession of the ship before the 
three months had expired. 

The Governor gave him letters to that effect, with which 
he went to Madrid, where he urged his business, and made his 
just right so clearly known, that they were obliged, in order 
to avoid rendering him [91] justice, to involve him in a 
groundless quarrel, in virtue of which he was thrown into 
prison, and this was his only payment. 

The French ambassador, who was at that time at Madrid, 
went to see him in the prison where he was. My brother 
discussed the affair with him, but could not obtain therefrom 
either consolation or hope, the Ambassador having assured 
him that he could not expect anything, as he had to deal with 
scoundrels who had no other intention than to make him lose 
his ship and merchandise. Nevertheless [he said] he would 
speak of it, and in two or three days would send him some 
answer, which he did. But it was as fruitless as on the first 
occasion, and he assured him that he had only been made 
prisoner [92] in order to keep him from demanding his due, 
and that he could go free provided that he would demand 
nothing. This he did on the bail of a cobbler for one écu. 
Being at liberty he went from time to time to see the Am- 
bassador, who had taken a liking to him, and thought him 
a proper person to make known to Cardinal Richelieu things 
which were occurring in Spain against France; and as he 
was not able to write to the latter for fear of the letters 
being intercepted, he had my brother learn by heart all which 
he had to communicate, and sent him into France with a 
credential letter to Cardinal Richelieu. After having pre- 
sented his letter to this first Minister, and having told him 
that he had [93] to converse with him privately upon matters 
of importance with which the Ambassador had entrusted him, 
he acquitted himself in such fashion that the Cardinal testified 
his satisfaction with him, and promised him his protection 
in an effort to have him obtain payment for his vessel. But 


146 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


these good words were all the recompense that we have yet 
achieved, so far as concerns the Commandeur de Razilly, the 
Merchant of Brittany, and myself; for with respect to my 
brother, the Cardinal gave him the command of a King’s ship." 
Such, approximately, was the fate of the project I had under- 
taken with the aim of establishing in course of time a sedentary 
fishery. Although it has been believed that my principal object 
in all my enterprises in these [94] parts has always been the 
trading in furs with the Indians, I have never considered 
that as anything other than an accessory which could serve in 
some measure to make capital for that which might be done 
in the country, which is the settlement fishery and the cultiva- 
tion of the land, presuming the establishment of one or several 
colonies in all those places of the coast where one or the other 
can be advantageously carried on. 

Continuing the route one meets a coast all along which 
there are islands from place to place.” There is a passage 
for small longboats and boats between the mainland and the 
islands, which are covered with Firs and Birches. Having 
made six to seven leagues [95] along this coast, there is found 
a little river,® of which the entrance is good for longboats. 
It does not come from very far inland, but it is a very 
beautiful and very excellent region. This is the place where 
the Commandeur de Razilly had caused a part of his clearing 
to be made. There were there about forty residents, who 
had already harvested a quantity of wheat when he died. He 


1 Yet it 1s possible that his brother was later associated with our author in 
his settlements at Cape Breton. Compare pages I1, 143, earlier in this work. 
No other reference to the incident related in the preceding pages is known 
to me. 

2 Coffins Island, and those off Port Medway. 

3 Named Petite Riviére by Champlain, who mapped it, together with the 
neighbouring bay now called Green Bay. The name persists, and is pro- 
nounced in English fashion by the English-speaking residents, who have a 
small village there. The settlers whom Razilly placed here were the ancestors 
of the Acadian people, to whom this place should be endeared as the cradle 
of their race in America. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 147 


had no other desire than to people this land, and every 
year he had brought here as many people as he possibly could 
for this purpose.’ One went from this place to La Haive by 
land ;* and it was about a halfa league of distance, but by 
sea a league. There was only a point to round in order to 
enter [96] the harbour of La Haive.’? At the entrance, on 
the left, there is an island which is called Isle aux Framboises * 
[Raspberry Island], its top being nothing but raspberry bushes. 
In the spring it is all covered with Pigeons which go there to 
eat the berries. At the right in entering there is a great rocky 
cape which is called Cap Dore, because when the sun strikes 
it on top, it seems all gilded.’ The entrance is between the 
island and the cape; it isnot very wide. Being inside one finds 
a beautiful basin which could contain even a thousand vessels. 
The dwelling of Monsieur de Razilly was a league from the 
entrance upon a little point® which has on one side the 


1 All historical testimony seems to agree as to the noble character and 
marked ability of Razilly. Compare Moreau, /Yistotre de? Acadie Francotse, 
112; Thwaites’ Jesuzt Relations, VIII. 287, 1X. 135; Biggar, Karly Trading 
Companies of New France,135. Presumably Razilly died at La Have, and 
was buried in or near the chapel, the site of which is locally known, as ex- 
plained in the note on the next page. 

* That is, to Razilly’s dwelling and fort, described on the next page. 

* This name was undoubtedly given in 1604 by De Monts and Champlain 
to the cape at the west entrance to the harbour, the first they had reached in 
Acadia, in recollection of the cape of the same name in France, which they 
had passed as they set out upon their voyage. 

4 The context shows plainly enough that this was the island now called 
Moshers Island. 

6 This cape, as I am informed by Mr. J. F. Risser, of Riverport, is not that 
on West Ironbound Island as might be supposed, but is on the mainland, in 
the position shown by the map. It is locally called Shou Bay Hill, is about 
one hundred feet high, and is composed of yellow clay, which gives it a gilded 
appearance when the sun strikes it. Mr. H. M. Wolfe, lightkeeper on West 
Ironbound Island, tells me that Cape La Have presents a similar appearance. 

* Our author’s description, happily, makes the site of Razilly’s residence 
perfectly plain, and his testimony is sustained by local tradition and still- 
existent remains. It stood upon the elevated point, almost a peninsula, now 
called Fort Point and occupied by a lighthouse, at the western entrance to 
La Have River. The site, an extremely charming and commanding one, is still 


148 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


river, while on the other there are a pond and marshes which 
advance into the [97] land about five hundred paces; and at 
the end there is not much land to cut through in order to 
enclose by water three or four arpents of land, where the 
fort was built. The river runs five or six leagues into the 
country, as far as one is able to go with boats; this being 


unoccupied except by the buildings of the lighthouse. It shows many traces of 
ancient occupation, the most important of which are rapidly disappearing before 
the encroachment of the sea. These remains, however, do not all represent 
relics of Razilly’s establishment, for many later forts and trading posts occu- 
pied the same site. The locality, 
the remains, and the local tradi- 
tions concerning them were very 
fully described by Des Brisay in 
his Hzstory of Lunenburg County 
(second edition): Toronto, 1895. 
I have myself, in August 1906, 
visited, studied, and photographed 
the place with results presented 
herewith. Of the fort nothing now 
remains except a portion of one 
landward wall standing near the 
edge of a bank of clay and gravel, 
which slopes down abruptly twenty 
feet to a rocky beach and is ob- 
viously rapidly washing away. I 
should judge from the slopes of 
the ground that the fort stood on 
higher land than any now remaining. Near by a well, some stone heaps, 
and some other work, possibly a corner bastion, can be seen. Farther 
north are the rock foundations locally attributed to the chapel, in part 
covered with a small Roman Catholic burial-ground, and contiguous to 
three or four other small burial-grounds. So far as I could learn by inquiry 
or determine by observation these are all the traces of former works which now 
remain, and to what extent they appertain to Razilly’s original settlement, I 
cannot, nor do I think others can, say with certainty. It was probably on 
this site the younger Le Borgne and the merchant Guilbault had their establish- 
ment, of which our author speaks earlier, on page 10 of this volume of his book, 
and here also the chapel was burnt by Le Borgne’s orders in 1653, as our author 
relates on page 6 of this volume. The later establishments there may be 
traced through the pages of Murdoch and Des Brisay. Charlevoix gave a 
good plan of the harbour in his History of 1744, and there is matter of interest 
in Thwaites’ /esuzt Relations, 1. 315. My photograph, taken from the hill to 
the westward, looks over the point and the “ pond and marshes which advance 
into the land about five hundred paces” of which our author speaks. . 


Scale _& miles fo Linch | 


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S]]!Y 24} Ul UOIssosdap ay} JO WYSI4 ay} 0} YsNf ‘vouULySIpP 9W943xa dy} UI SSuIpyINg 243 
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puod 9y} puofaq juIod 9y3 JO pus 9WI.13x9 JY} UO POO} ZI0J SAT[IZVY “JIATYT DAVY VT VY} SSOIDV PsBM}SVO MIA 


AAVH VI LV SLNAWHSITAVLISA SANACGC GNV SATUZVA AO SALIS AHL 


AMERICA. CHAP. ITI 149 


passed, it is necessary to make use of canoes.’ All along this 
river are fine and good lands, with abundance of good woods 
of the kinds which I have already named. But the Oaks and 
the Elms there are most abundant on both banks of the river, 
in which there is an infinity of Scallops, [conniffle]” which 
are huge shells like those which the pilgrims bring from Saint 
Michel and Saint Jacques. It is good toeat. [98] The Eel 
there is excellent, as are Shad, Salmon, Cod and other kinds of 
good fishes. The hunting throughout the year is no less abund- 
ant for all kinds of birds which I have already named. This 
was the place which the Commandeur de Razilly had chosen 
for his retreat. As for me I had selected another place on 
the other bank of the river, where the land was very good. 
It was upon the shore of another little river which fell into 
the larger, and here I had a dwelling built.’ I had a dozen men 


1 The tide runs to Bridgewater, ten miles from the mouth of the river, 
which is a very attractive, safe, well-settled stream, whose goodly woods and 
comfortable farms form a great contrast to the rocky and more sterile country 
prevailing farther west. 

* The scallop, Pecten tenutcostatus, is very abundant on the Atlantic coast 
of Nova Scotia (Willis and others, cited in Audletin of the Natural History 
Society of New Brunswick, No. VII1., 1889, 66). Local inquiry has failed to 
show that it is now considered especially abundant in this river. 

$ Our author gives us scant information for the location of his own establish- 
ment, but I believe it can be placed very nearly. He tells us it was on a little 
river emptying into the La Have on the side opposite to that of Razilly’s fort. 
Hence it was on the east side, and must have been on either Parks Cove, or 
Ritceys Cove, as no other localities meet the requirements. He adds further (on 
the next page) that there were ponds on the upper part of his river where he 
went for game. The maps do not alone solve the problem, but on visiting the 
places in person I found that while there are no ponds draining into Parks Cove, 
there is one pond on the stream emptying into Ritceys Cove ; and moreover it is 
about the right distance into the woods and is of the shallow, marshy, and boggy 
type preferred by waterfowl. Though there is but a single pond here it is only a 
short distance through to the marshes and creeks of Mirligaiche or Lunenburg 
Harbour. I have no doubt, therefore, especially in the absence of any com- 
peting site, that Ritceys Cove was Denys’ “little river,” and his establishment 
was on it. But where was it exactly? The present bridge crosses at the 
boundary between waters deep enough for large boats, or even small vessels, 
and the very shallow waters above, so that it is altogether likely it stood at 


one end or the other of the bridge. But the south side, that occupied by the 
L 


150 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


with me, some labourers, others makers of planks or staves 
for barrels, [others] carpenters, and others for hunting. I 
was provided with all kinds of [99] provisions, [and] we 
made good cheer, for the game never failed us. On the 
upper part of my little river, passing four or five hundred 
paces into the woods, I went to large ponds’ full of game, 
where I did my hunting, leaving the main river to the 
Commander. Jn these places all the woods were nothing 
but Oaks, and this was what I sought. There I set my 
makers of planks and carpenters at work, and in two years 
] had a lot of planking and of beams for building all squared, 
as well as rafters. Monsieur de Razilly who wished only 
to make known the goodness of the country in order to 
attract people there, was charmed that I [100] could load all 
the timber upon the vessels which brought him his provisions, 
as Otherwise they would have been obliged to return empty 
to France. 

This was for me an accommodation which cost him 
nothing, [but it] all gave him a great satisfaction, and would 
have yielded a good profit to me and to the company of the 
sedentary fishery, which I wished to establish as I have related. 
But this failed, not only on account of the loss of our ship, 
but later through the death of Monsieur de Razilly, whom 
the Sieur d’Aunay succeeded through an arrangement made 
with the brother of the Commander. This brought about 


modern village of Riverport, is much the pleasanter, more elevated and best 
placed for shipping, and moreover is close beside a hill said locally to have 
abounded formerly in oak timber. Here, therefore, somewhere on or near 
the knoll where stands the present post-office, the probabilities all indicate 
that Denys’ establishment was. There is no local tradition of it, nor of any 
French site on that side of the river ; but this is not surprising in view of the 
fact that it was simply a timber-working establishment, and hence, unlike a fort, 
would leave no traces to fix tradition. The place can be seen in the distance in 
the photograph showing the site of Razilly’s fort. The very fact that this 
place is in view from Razilly’s site is some confirmation of its correctness. 

1 So large a description of a single small pond shows the magnifying power 
of imagination when it dwells upon happy events long past. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 151 


indeed a change in the country. The first desired nothing 
except to make known its good- [101] ness and to people it, 
while the other, on the contrary, feared that it would become 
inhabited, and not only brought no one there, but he took 
away all the residents of La Haive to Port Royal, holding 
them there as serfs, without allowing them to make any gain. 
His disposition and that of his council was to reign, some- 
thing which they would not have been able to do if the 
goodness of the country had become known, and it had 
been peopled." They made me well aware of this, for after 
the death of Monsieur de Razilly, I was never able to obtain 
liberty to bring over my timber, nor did he ever allow his 
ships to bring me any, but they returned empty, although I 
had been willing to give him half the proceeds of the sale 
of the timber. My master [102] workman of planking went 
to see him at Port Royal. I had given him the half of that 
which I could claim, which had been a quarter for him and 
a quarter for me. Seeing that this man was urgent to 
have liberty to remove his timber, he [D’Aunay], gave him 
permission in case he could find a vessel therefor. At that 
time a little longboat from Baston [Boston] was there, which 
had brought them some provisions. He spoke of the matter 
to her commander, who told him that she could be bought in 
Baston. He asked permission to go there and it was granted. 
D’Aunay on his return accused him of treason under pre- 
text of coming to seek his timber, [saying] that it was to 


1 This unfavourable estimate of D’Aulnay’s character (compare also the 
page following), has been accepted by most of our local historians, including 
Haliburton, Murdoch, Hannay, and others. But in recent years there has been 
a reaction in his favour. Not counting Moreau, whose Histoire de 1 Acadie 
Francoise was frankly written to vindicate the reputation of D’Aulnay, Park- 
man has leaned rather strongly to his favour in his discussion of the relations of 
D’Aulnay and La Tour in the later edition of his Old Régime in Canada; and 
Mr. Gilbert Bent in Acadiensis (V. 37) adopts this view. The whole subject of 
the relations and the characters of these two men needs re-investigation, for 
which there is still unused material in the Paris Archives. 


152 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 


surprise them. He had him [103] thrown into a deep 
dungeon, in which he could see no light, with irons of fifty 
pounds weight on his feet, and he was made to die of 
misery.” So long as D’Aunay lived, his custom was always 
to maltreat those whom he believed capable of bringing about 
the peopling of the country through their example. Thus I 
was forced to abandon the country and more than twenty 
thousand livres worth of timber all manufactured. This 
makes it very plain that howsoever good a land may be, there 
is no man who can derive any benefit from it if he is persecuted 
in his undertakings; and what is the use of having talents, 
experience and tact, if one’s hands are tied, and if one is [104] 
prevented from making use of them, as is amply proven in 
my case? And after all the disorders which D’Aunay caused 
in the land, his children were very fortunate in finding an 
asylum with me, after having been dispossessed by the English.” 
My establishment has served not only for the subsistence of 
my own family, but also for his during more than a year of 
their need, and [also] to all those who have persecuted me. 


1 | have not found in our historical literature any other references to this 
matter. 

2 He refers here, without doubt, to the events of 1654 when the English 
took Port Royal, where D’Aulnay’s children were then living. Our author 
seems to state that he gave shelter to them at his establishment at Saint 
Peters. Another to whom he returned good for evil was La Giraudiere, some 
of whose men were given a refuge all one winter at Denys’ establishment at 
Nepisiguit, as he relates on page 123 of this volume of his book. 


[105 | CHAPTER IV 


Continuation of the coast of Acadie from La Haive to Camp- 
seaux, where 1t ends; in which are described all the rivers, 
the 1slands, the woods, the goodness of the land, the divers 
kinds of hunting and of fishing, and the incidents and adven- 
tures which have befallen the Author. 


ETTING out from La Haive, and having rounded 
Cape Doré about a league, one enters the Bay of 
Mirligaiche* which is about three leagues in depth, 

and [106] filled by numerous islands. Amongst others 
there is one” of a quarter of a league in circuit; it is only 
a rock covered with little trees like heathers. I was [once] 
in this bay with Monsieur de Razilly and some Indians who 
were guiding us; an interpreter told us, as we were passing 
near this island, that the Indians never landed upon it. When 
we asked of him the reason, he made answer that when a 
man set foot upon this island instantly a fire would seize 
upon his privy parts, and they would burn up, so the Indians 
said. This afforded us matter for laughter, and especially 
when the Commandeur de Razilly told a Capuchin priest 
aged sixty years and more to go there [107] in order to 
disabuse these people of their errors, and he refused and was 


1 The Micmac Indian name of Lunenburg Bay, still known to the older 
people. It first appears in a grant of 1630 (page 137 of this work). 

2 The island which best fits this description is Duck Island, one mile off the 
eastern point of Lunenburg Harbour, as I am told by Mr. J. F. Risser of River- 
port, who adds that it is difficult to land upon, covered with scrubby trees and 
shrubs to the water’s edge, and of very uninviting aspect. Mr. Risser has never 


heard of the Indian tradition here mentioned. 
153 


154 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


not willing to do anything of the kind, no matter what 
Monsieur de Razilly could say to him. Then continuing on, 
we went clear to the head of this bay, where we found some 
other fine islands filled in part with big Oaks. 

Continuing our route we coasted along to the place’ 
where my men worked timber for carpentry and planking, 
with which Monsieur de Razilly was charmed, seeing so great 
a quantity of timber, and in such fine condition. He said 
a thousand good things about the excellence of the land, 
[and] about the great numbers of people who suffer in France 
but could live in comfort in this country. He said much 
more about it [108] when I had him enter a hall which I 
had built, covered with branches, where he found a table very 
well furnished, with pigeon soup, with Wild Geese and Brant ; 
with these all his retinue enjoyed themselves as well as he, 
for they all had good appetites. To this course there fol- 
lowed another, of Brant and of Teal, and to that a third of 
large and small Snipe, and Plover in pyramids. It was a 
delight to all the men to see so much game at once, but 
all of it did not cost more than two days’ work of my 
hunters. Raspberries and Strawberries in abundance served 
for dessert, these having been brought for me by the children 
of the Indians whom I had employed in order [109] not to 
divert my men from their work. White wine and claret 
were not wanting at this little feast, so that Monsieur de 
Razilly and all his retinue were very well pleased, as indeed 
were my own men, who hoped that Monsieur de Razilly 
would come often to see them. ‘To this I would not have 
found myself in agreement, not because of the expense of 


1 It is wholly likely that this place, where our author had his second timber- 
working station, and where, as he tells on the next page, he entertained Razilly 
so acceptably, was in the very pleasant cove at the western end of Mirligaiche 
Bay. This place is but a few hundred yards from his establishment on Ritceys 
Cove, described a few pages earlier (98), and it is not probable that his second 
station was at any great distance from the first. In this case they coasted back 
to this place from the head of the bay. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IV 155 


the game which never failed me—they had it every day— 
but because of the hindrance to my work. 

Leaving the bay and going along the coast, at three or 
four leagues distance there is found a river having two 
entrances formed by an island which is between them. On 
the shore of the first entrance there are very fine [110] and 
good lands covered with big and beautiful trees. At the 
other entrance on the right one does not find good woods 
until one ascends into the river. ‘There is nothing here but 
bald rocks, rather high. Among these rocks there is a little 
harbour where vessels anchor, and where men are often found 
making their fishery and drying their fish upon the rocks 
which are isolated. The boats which go out to the fishing 
enter and leave on both sides. A little outside these islands 
the fishery is very good, and abounds in Cod. Mackerel 
and Herring are very abundant on the coast. This place is 
called Passepec.t Along the sea-coast there is nothing but 
rocks, which are all bald for the space of four to five leagues. 
Along [111] this coast occur only Firs intermixed with certain 
other trees. Continuing for a distance of five or six leagues 
along the coast,” one meets with a bay of about a league of 
breadth, where there are several islands. There the trees 
and the land begin to be agreeable, and opposite, three or 
four leagues out to sea, occurs a rocky island which is large 
[and| with low trees upon it. It is rather difficult to land 


1 Evidently a Micmac Indian word, meaning unknown, which has become 
corrupted into its present English name of Prospect. The charts show the two 
entrances separated by the island. It was early a place of some importance 
and its name occurs in the Jesuit Relations (Thwaites, /esuzt Relations, II. 
263, which is in error in identifying it on page 310 with Perpisawick, east of 
Halifax). 

2 Although our. author’s distances are all erroneous, the identity of his 
places is plain. The bay, a league broad with islands, is, of course, Halifax 
Harbour (Chebucto Bay of early records), while the island is Sambro Island, as 
is shown by Denys’ map which marks it /sle de Saint Cembro. Champlain says 
the name was given by people from Saint Malo; hence it is no doubt named 
after the island called Cézembre off Saint Malo in France. 


156 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


upon. I was once there with a boat, at the time when 
the birds make their nests. We found so great an abund- 
ance of all the kinds I have named that all my crew and 
myself, having cut clubs for ourselves, killed so great a 
number, as well of young as of their fathers [112] and 
mothers, which were very sluggish in rising from their nests, 
that we were unable to carry them all away. And aside from 
these the number of those which were spared and which rose into 
the air, made a cloud so thick that the rays of the sun could 
scarcely penetrate through it. We embarked again with our 
quarry, and returned to the mainland to make good cheer. 
Continuing our route about five leagues, there is met a river 
called the River of Theodore,’ which has a good entrance for 
ships. Boats can ascend it five to six leagues; the rest needs 
canoes. The land there is very pleasing. The soil is good, 
though there are some rocks [113] scattered here and there, 
which are not very large, and not very firm in the ground. 
As to the woods, these are of all kinds, and they are stout 
and of good height. The Firs are not so common as the 
wild Pines. 

At five leagues from this river, continuing along the coast, 
is found the Baye de Toutes Isles,” which is a good eighteen 
leagues in breadth. Before entering it one finds rocks along 
the coast, and all the islands which are in this bay are rocks. 
Some contain of course a greater circumference than others. 

1 This name has become corrupted, through a series of stages which can be 
followed on the old maps, to the present /eddore. This is the earliest use of 
the word I can find, and I have no idea as to its origin. 

2 This name was used by Champlain. Here and there in the description 
of the coast between La Have and Canso our author uses expressions sugges- 
tive of Champlain’s work, but he deviates so much therefrom, and gives so 


much additional information, as to make the two narratives almost wholly 
independent. 

This “ Bay of All Islands” is properly not a bay at all, at least nothing 
more than a slight inbending of the coast, copiously studded with islands ; and 
it bears little resemblance to our author’s conventional representation upon his 
map. He applies the name apparently to the coast from about Ship Harbour 
to about Liscomb Harbour. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IV 157 


There is a considerable part of them which have upon them 
only moss; others have heathers or low shrubs; others have 
little Firs, very [114] low and much branched. Entering into 
the bay, there are larger islands where the Firs are more 
attractive, and throughout all this extent of eighteen leagues 
there are only islands, of which I have never been able to learn 
the number, nor that of the game which abounds there in all 
parts. There is a passage from one of the points of this bay 
to the other, among the islands, for a boat and for a longboat, 
but it is necessary to be well acquainted with the route in 
order to pass there. This bay has nearly four leagues of 
depth, and there are several rivers which discharge into it. 
These are small and are only, as it were, large brooks, 
[though] by them the Indians go and come. The Indians are 
there in great number because of the hunting, which is good 
in [115] the interior of the country, where are mountains all 
abounding in Moose. There are not wanting fine woods and 
good land, and spots beautiful and pleasing. Leaving this bay, 
one finds, three or four leagues from there, a river which little 
ships can enter.’ But there is a kind of island which pushes out 
shoals of sand, on which the sea breaks strongly. It is neces- 
sary to pass the shoals, and then to return along the land; 
there is a little canal, through which one can enter. Being 
inside one finds plenty of water, and the river seems very fine, 
[with] an excellent flat country. The trees there are beauti- 
ful, and always of the same kinds as those of which I have 
formerly spoken. The hunting is very good, and game is 
abundant. 

[116] Continuing the route, and having made five leagues, 
One meets another river, with a little round island at the 
entrance covered with grass. It is called Isle Verte,* and the 
river has been named Sainte Marie * by La Giraudiere who has 

* Apparently Liscomb Harbour, though this is not certain. 


2 Thus called by Champlain ; now known as Wedge Island. 
3 Still so called, in the English form Saint Marys. 


158 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


come there to live." He had built a house at three leagues 
above its entrance, it being unnavigable higher for boats.” 
The country there is flat from the entrance of the river, and up 
to half a league above the dwelling, but higher up there are 
only rocks. ‘The river issues from a large lake which is two 
leagues or thereabouts above the rocks.* All the buildings 
of La Giraudiere were enclosed by a fort of four little bastions, 
the whole made of [117] great pickets or stakes. There 
were two pieces of brass cannon and some swivel-guns, the 
whole in a good state of defence. 

La Giraudiere had caused some clearing to be made, but 
the soil there was not of the best, for it was sandy. He did 
not fail nevertheless to report good wheat, but that has not 
continued. As for the rest, the hunting and the fishing 
were abundant, but not being content therewith, it did not 
satisfy him. This made him take pains to find a way to 


1 The date of La Giraudiere’s coming to Saint Marys River is not stated, but 
it must have been prior to 1658, as shown by the map of that year later given 
(page 160 of the present work), and also by the La Montagne incident described 
and discussed four pages later (120). Further, our author states, at page 237 
of his second volume, that La Giraudiere had settled at this place, and made a 
failure of the fishery at Canso, prior to the arrival of Sieur Doublet, which is 
known to have been in 1664. 

2 Our author’s description would locate La Giraudiere’s fort near the present 
village of Sherbrooke, where, in fact, its site is locally well known. I have 
not myself been able to visit this place, but the postmistress of Sherbrooke, 
Mrs. A. D. MacDonald, has been so kind as to send me a copy of an old 
plan, with information in substance as follows : The fort site is well known, a few 
hundred yards below the village, close beside the steamboat wharf ; it is clear 
of buildings, and crossed by a public road; a few years ago foundation-stones 
could be seen ; the first settlers, between 1790 and 1800, found the old gate of 
this fort still standing. Inside of it an old cannon made of iron bars hooped 
together with iron, and other relics, were obtained. It is also said there was 
a stockade at Elys Cove, some four miles down the river. This is of interest, 
for the reason that on Du Val’s map of 1677 and some others, two forts are 
marked on this river, a Fort Sainte Marie (that above described) on the upper 
part of the river, and Fort Saint Charles below it. 

3 This lake, with a portage thence to the Stewiacke, is shown upon a map of 
Acadia of 1744 in Charlevoix’s Azstory of New France. The lake is very much 
higher up the river than our author states. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IV 159 


quarrel with me, which he accomplished. He went to France, 
circumvented the proprietors of the old Company* and made 
them give him my establishment and twenty-five leagues of 
land granted to me (of which I shall speak when I [118] 
shall have arrived there). The said La Giraudiere who had 
come to France with me on that business, finding himself 
denied of his pretensions by the Company, has not returned 
there; and De Bay, his brother, who commanded in the 
country in his stead, has also returned to France. He left 
in his place a person named Huret,’ who has remained there 
ever since down to the year sixteen hundred and sixty-nine. 

A person named La Montagne who had been with me, and 
whom I had married to one of the servants of my wife, worked 
upon his own account at Saint Pierre on the Island of Cap 
Breton. He had there some six arpents of good land cleared 
and without stumps, where he harvested good wheat, peas 
and [119] beans, and this by means of the advances I had 
made him. La Giraudiere had enticed him away from me 
at the time when he came to see me in the guise of friendship. 
He induced him and his wife to ask their leave of me to 
return to France. They importuned me so strongly that I 
was constrained to grant it to them. They went to Camp- 
seaux to obtain passage, and there remained through the time 
of the fishery. The ships being ready to depart, La Giraudiere 
said to the captains that they should refuse them their 


1 As narrated fully by our author at pages 13-18 of this volume of his book. 
The old company is obviously the Company of New France which was dis- 
solved in 1663 and replaced by the Company of the West Indies in 1664. La 
Giraudiere must therefore have obtained his second grant, covering Denys’ 
territory, in 1662 or 1663. Yet it seems perfectly plain that his attempt to take 
Denys’ establishment at Chedabucto was in the summer of 1667, for it was in 
the autumn of the latter year that Denys obtained the renewal of his rights, 
which immediately followed La Giraudiere’s attempt (note under p. 18 of this 
volume of our author’s book). The interval, from 1663 to 1667, was perhaps 
used by La Giraudiere in his attempts to get together the capital and his force 
of one hundred men to attack Denys. 

2 Some further account of Huret is given a few pages later, 121-123. 


160 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


passage in order to give me reason to believe that if he 
received them into his establishment it was through charity, 
they not knowing where to go through lack of a passage 
[to France]. He was not satisfied with having [120] enticed 
these away from me, [but] he drew away others also. La 
Montagne lived there about two years, but perceiving that he 
would not make anything and that the promises made him 
would not be kept, he wished much to return to take up 
his clearing, but I would no longer put any trust in him. 
Le Borgne* took him, his wife and his children; there he 
lived indeed with much labour and no gain. He did not 
know what trade to follow in France where he had not the 
means of living. Nevertheless Le Borgne thought he was 
giving him enough when he fed them all; but finally La Mon- 
tagne left Le Borgne as he had La Giraudiere. 

Not knowing where to lay his head, [121] he resolved to 
go to Port Royal with all his family.” He made himself of 
use to the English, and obtained from them powder and lead. 
After this he retired to the coast, where he built a little cabin 
in the Indian fashion. He prepared some skins, for which he 
obtained powder, lead, brandy, and other goods from the 
captains of the fishing vessels. He was living in this fashion 
when he fell in with an English longboat which was coming 
from Sainte Marie [where it had been] to surprise Huret, com- 
mander in the establishment of the Sieur de Cange.* The 


1 This was, of course, the younger Le Borgne, who lived for a time at 
La Have, as shown by our author earlier in his book (page Io). Since 
Le Borgne was driven from La Have in 1658, and since La Montagne had 
previously lived two years with La Giraudiere, the latter must have been 
established at Saint Marys at least as early as 1655 or 1656. 

? In 1748 there was a Margaret la Montagne, presumably a descendant, at 
Port Royal (Murdoch, Wova Scotia, II. 118). 

* Since a few pages earlier (118) Huret is said to have commanded for 
La Giraudiere, Sieur de Cangé and La Giraudiere must have been one 
and the same person. Curiously enough a map exists, and is repro- 
duced herewith, which marks the “abitation de Cangers,” evidently our 
Sieur de Cangé. The same interesting map marks also the establishment of 


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AMERICA. CHAP. IV 161 


English told him the secret of their enterprise, and how they 
had missed Huret; but La Montagne promised [122] to 
make them succeed in their scheme if they would return 
there, [saying] that he would accompany them willingly to 
avenge the wrong which he had received from the French, and 
that he would serve them as guide, knowing all the routes 
and the manner of life [of the garrison]. He led them 
through the woods close to the fort, exactly at the dinner 
hour. He went on a scouting tour, and found that the French 
were at dinner with the gate open. He informed the English 
who made a run to enter the fort. As they were rushing 
forward, a man came out by chance, and having perceived 
them, he closed the gates, and called ‘‘’T’o arms.” But the 
English gained the embrasures, through which they passed 
their guns; they took aim at the first who came out from 
the | 123] building, and then at another, and held them thus 
besieged. They worked to force an entrance, and threatened 
to kill all who would not give themselves up, which indeed 
they did. The English, being masters [of the place], bound 
the French, whom some guarded while the remainder plun- 
dered and loaded everything on their vessel.* Having set fire 


Le Borgne at La Have; hence it must belong before 1658, in which year 
Le Borgne was driven thence by the English. It marks also three establish- 
ments of Denys, that at Saint Peters, that at Nepisiguit, and a third, of which 
there is no other record known to me, apparently at Miramichi. Our author's 
son Richard had an establishment near Beaubears Island at Miramichi before 
1685 (Zransactions of the Royal Society of Canada, X11., 1906, 1. 125), and 
this map would suggest that our author had some kind of temporary post 
there much earlier, perhaps between 1647 and 1650, as indicated at page II 
ef the present work. But it is curious that he does not mention it in 
his book. 

* This attack by the English took place apparently in the summer of 1660. 
This is implied by our author’s statement a few pages earlier (118) that Huret had 
remained there (viz., at La Giraudiere’s establishment) until 1669 ; and it must 
certainly have been after the burning of Saint Peters in the winter of 1668-1669, 
or Huret and his men would have gone there instead of to the very distant 
Nepisiguit. As to the English force which made the attack, it may have been 
some piratical excursion from New England, but it was in all probability a 


162 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


to the fort, the English took them on board, and gave them 
a boat to go where they could. Not knowing where to lay 
his head, Huret and his crew went to my establishment of 
Nipigiguit, at the head of the Baye des Chaleurs, where my 
wife in my absence supported them a whole winter.’ I have 
his note, for which I have not yet been paid. [124] Thus 
have my industry and my labour given me opportunity to aid 
in their misfortunes those who thought they could never have 
enough land for their desire, and who only sought to oppose 
and to destroy me, in the [very] time when Providence was 
making me work for their support and to give them bread in 
their misery.” And this is said without reproach. 

From the River Sainte Marie to Cape of Campseaux there is 
a good ten leagues. Having made four to five leagues along 
the coast, one comes to a bay where there are rocks. There 
is no refuge here save for boats. About three leagues out 
are islands* where one or two vessels [125] can anchor, but 


part of the force which Temple had sent in the late autumn of 1668 to expel 
Le Borgne de Belleisle from Port Royal, where he had just been instailed as 
governor in accordance with the Treaty of Breda of 1667 (Murdoch, ova 
Scotta, 1. 142-144). Temple did this as Governor of Nova Scotia, on the 
ground that Port Royal was not within the limits of the Acadia which had 
been restored to France by the Treaty of Breda. Since La Giraudiere’s 
establishment at Sainte Marie was likewise outside the limits of that Acadia, 
his expulsion also would have been natural. 

1 The winter spent by Huret at Nepisiguit would, then, have been that 
of 1669-1670. The absence of Denys would most naturally be explained by 
the supposition that he was in France trying to arrange his affairs for a new 
start after his ruin by the burning of Saint Peters. Heno doubt returned in the 
spring of 1670 to Nepisiguit, for we know from his son’s memorial of 1689 that 
he left there for France the next year, 1671. 

* The other case of succour to his enemies is mentioned on page 104 of this 
volume of his book ; apparently he kept the children of his enemy D’Aulnay 
all one winter, 1654-55, after they had been expelled from Port Royal by the 
English. 

® Apparently the islands can only be Green, Goose, and Harbour Islands, 
though their distance off shore is much exaggerated by our author. In this 
case the bay with rocks must be Coddle Harbour (for Tor Bay is too distant), 
though it is curious he does not mention the fine Country Harbour just to the 
westward. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IV 163 


with little safety. Here they make their fishery, and dry 
the fish upon the islands where there is not much woods. 
From this bay, continuing the route along the coast, there are 
only high lands and rocks without refuges.’ 


1 This account is not accurate, for good harbours occur in this interval. 


[126] CHAPTER V 


Description of Campseaux, of the Bay and Little Passage of 
Campseaux as far as the Cape of Saint Louis; of the 
rivers, of the islands, of the harbours, of the woods, of 
the hunting, of the fishing, and of that which has happened 
there of greatest interest. 


AMPSEAUX’? is a harbour which has at least three 
leagues of depth, and from the cape |[Campseaux]| 
commences the entrance of the Great Bay of 

Saint Laurent. The harbour [127] is composed only 
of a number of islands. There is a large one of about 
four leagues in circumference where there are streams and 
springs. It is covered with rather fine trees, but the greater 
part of them are only Firs, which is a convenience to the 
fishermen for making their stages, of which I shall speak in 
the proper place. This island is in the midst of the others, 
and forms two harbours; one for the Admiral, or the first 
ship to arrive, and this is the nearest to the entrance from 
the side towards the sea. The anchorage for the ship is be- 
tween two islands, where it lies in safety. The other harbour 
is for the Vice-admiral, and is on the other side of the island, 
where the ships are not under such good shelter. These 
two places have gravel beaches, but they have not enough 


1 Now written Canso; it was used first by Champlain. It is no doubt 
of Micmac Indian origin, and Rand, our best authority, derives it from Camsof, 
meaning ‘‘opposite a high bluff” (A/zcmac Reader, Halifax, 1875, 85). The 
origin from a sailor named Canse, introduced by Bressani, has been shown 


by Laverdiére (Champlain, 278) to be due to a mistaken reading of Thevet. 
164 


DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 165 


[128] to dispense with flakes; I shall explain these two 
terms when I come to speak of the cod-fishery.! The third 
place is at the little entrance from the side of the Bay 
of Campseaux. That has no beach, and there flakes are 
used, All the entrances from both sides are dangerous, 
[and] it is necessary that ships pass between rocks,” The 
coast there abounds greatly in fish, above all in Cod,* Mackerel, 
and Herring, with which [latter] the fishermen make their 
bait [doze] for catching Cod, which is very fond of it. The 
fishermen call boite* that which we name bait [appas]; it 


1 He explains them very fully in chapter vi. of the second volume of 
his book. 

2 Although our author was no doubt well acquainted with this important 
locality, his description does not suffice to identify with certainty the places 
he mentions, even though aided by the best charts and the extensive local 
knowledge of a resident. The latter is Mr. C. H. Whitman, of Canso, to 
whom I am indebted for much information about that place. It seems certain 
that the large island mentioned is the present George Island, including 
Piscatiqui, which is practically a part of it. The harbour for the admiral, 
which had good gravel beaches and was nearest the entrance from the sea, 
must have been one enabling that ship to use the fine series of beaches, 
the finest in the region, extending from Petit Pas Island along George to 
Grassy Island ; hence the ship may have been moored in the deep and fairly 
sheltered harbour between Oliver and Petit Pas Islands, or possibly between 
Petit Pas and Grassy Islands, where the chart shows a deep though rather 
exposed basin, or (and most probably) in Squid Cove, between Grassy, 
Piscatiqui, and George Islands, where the good beach on the western end 
of Grassy Island could have been used. The second harbour, without such 
good shelter but with gravel beach, could only have been the present Canso 
Harbour, for it has the only other important beach in the vicinity (Lanigans 
Beach). The third, without beach, in the little entrance from the Bay of Camp- 
seaux, would be somewhere north of Piscatiqui Island, very likely in Georges 
Harbour between Piscatiqui and Hog Island. 

° Canso has been from the very earliest times a cod-fishing centre of the 
greatest importance, by far the most important in Nova Scotia. 

‘ This word dozfe appears to be peculiar to the Acadian and Canadian 
fishermen and not known in France. It is still in use. Bishop Plessis, in 
his journal of 1811 (published in Le Foyer Canadien, 1865, 132), says of the 
Canadian fishermen, that they call douefte that with which the cod is baited ; 
“on appelle douette le poisson (hareng ou maquereau) avec lequel on appate 
la morue.” No doubt it is simply the English word “bait,” early adopted by 
French from English fishermen. 

M 


166 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


is that which is attached to the hook, the Cod being taken 
on a line.’ 

Entering towards the head of the Bay of Campseaux,” 
which is eight [129] leagues in depth, and setting out from 
Campseaux and going along the coast, one finds three leagues 
of continuous rocks. After this appears a great cove with 
an island in its midst,’ behind which boats can be placed 
in shelter. The farther one goes into this bay, the finer is 
the country found to be. Three leagues from the cove, is 
found a little river which I have named Riviere au Saumon.* 
Having gone there once to fish, ] made a cast of the seine 
at its entrance, where it took so great a quantity of Salmon 
that ten men could not haul it to land, and although it was 
new, had it not broken the Salmon would have carried it off. 
We had still [130] a boat full of them. The Salmon there 
are large; the smallest are three feet long. On another 
occasion I went to fish four leagues up the river, as high as 
boats could go. There are two pools into which I had the 
seine cast; in one I took enough Salmon Trout to fill a 
barrel, and in the other a hundred and twenty Salmon. The 
river runs much farther inland, but only canoes can go there. 
On the left bank of this river there are high lands covered 
with beautiful trees, and along this bank near the water there 
are many Pines. On the bank at the right the land becomes 
lower, and is covered with the same kinds of trees which I 
have already described. In ascending [131] the river one 
finds meadows as high up as boats can go, [and] the river 
makes an island which is likewise meadows. ‘The grass 


1 It is at this point in our author’s book that the Dutch edition of 1688 
interpolates the description and picture of the merman and the attempts 
to capture him. This is printed earlier, with the illustration, at page 80 in 
this work. 

2 Now called Chedabucto Bay. 

2 A good description of Queensport, with Rook Island. The account of 
the coast and of the country is accurate, as I know from observation. 

4 Salmon River, by which name it is now known. 


AMERICA. CHAP. V 167 


there is fine, and grows as high asa man.’ It was the fodder 
for our cows when we were at Chedabouctou, which is two 
leagues farther into the head of the bay. 

Chedabouctou* is the Indian name which this river 
bears. A fine harbour is formed there by means of a 
dike of gravel of six hundred feet in length. This bars 
the mouth of this river, with the exception of the entrance 
which is a pistol shot wide, and makes inside a sort of 
basin. This dike still stands out five or six feet at high 
Meese that the [132] entrance thereto is very easy.” A 
ship of a hundred tons can enter there easily and remain 
always afloat. The land is very good, although the two 
banks of the river are bordered with rocks. Higher up 
there are very fine trees, of the kinds which I have already 
named. 

This was the place which I had chosen for constructing 
my storehouses in order to establish a sedentary fishery. I 
had a hundred and twenty men at work there, as well at 
building as at farming. I had about thirty arpents of land 
cleared, of which a part was in crops. All these lands are 
returned to their primitive state and the buildings are ruined. 
I had already two of them constructed, of sixty feet in 
length, with one [133] other of equal size, of which the 
frame was ready to be raised, when La Giraudiere came to 


1 This account of Salmon River, as I am informed by Dr. A. C. Jost, 
of Guysborough, is in the main accurate, but the distance to the head of tide 
is only about two miles. The two banks of the river are as Denys describes, 
the south side being still in forest and the north under cultivation, while 
the meadow island exists near the head of tide. Salmon and trout abound 
there, though the salmon have not now a reputation for exceptional size. 

2A Micmac Indian name from Sedabooktook, meaning “running far 
back,” according to Rand (Micmac Reader, 85) ; it is descriptive, I presume, 
of the great length of Guysborough Harbour. Its earliest use known to me 
is in the Jesuit Relation of 1661 (Thwaites’ Jesuzt Relations, VIII. 292, XXIV. 
310). 

® This account of the harbour is strictly accurate, as I can say from my 
own knowledge, and as shown in part by the accompanying map. 


168 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


attack me.* It was this which compelled me to leave 
everything and retire to the fort of Saint Pierre in the 
Island of Cap Breton; and it ruined me in all my business 
to such an extent that it has hardly ever been within my 
power to put my affairs again upon the basis where they 
were formerly. 

Leaving Chedabouctou and going to the entrance of the 
Little Passage of Campseaux, one passes four leagues of high 
lands and of rocks, which continue to grow lower as far 


1 The full account of this affair with La Giraudiere is given by our author 
earlier in his book, at pages 13 and 117, where it is shown that it occurred 
in 1667. No facts exist, so far as I can find, to prove in what year the establish- 
ment at Chedabucto was founded. Since Denys had buildings erected and 
considerable land in crops, it must have been founded a year or two before 
1667, though the language implies that it was not long before. Further, he 
was living at Saint Peters in 1664 when Sieur Doublet came to see him, as he 
tells in his book (Volume II. page 239), and hence apparently had not made his 
principal residence at Chedabucto. On the other hand, the Relation of 1661 
(Thwaites’ Jesuzt Relations, XX1V. 310), shows 
there was a mission at Chedabucto in 1661 ; it 
is not made plain whether it was for the Indians 
alone or for a French settlement, though the 
use of the word “habitation” in the Relation 
implies the latter. It would seem most likely, 
therefore, that Denys established his fishing- 
station at Chedabucto as early as 1660, though 
he kept Saint Peters as a trading post and his 
principal residence. 

Except for the flag shown upon his map, 
our author gives us no hint as to the exact 
site of his establishment at Chedabucto. But I believe there can be no 
doubt it was at Fort Point at the western entrance to the harbour, where 
later stood Bergiers Fort, of which the remains can still be seen. This 
is the local tradition, and there is no competing site about the harbour ; 
it is in agreement with the position of the flag on our author’s map, and all 
physiographical and other evidence from probability favours it. I have myself 
been able to study the place. The fort site is the best centre for the cod- 
fishery in the vicinity, being within the shelter of the harbour, though close 
to the fishing grounds outside, has an admirable landing beach just above 
the point, is very near the great bar which must have been very well adapted 
to the drying of fish, and in the immediate vicinity has ample fertile upland 
for cultivation, of which Denys speaks. The fort site itself is on an elevated 
clay-and-gravel point, now an open hayfield, commanding a remarkable view 


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AMERICA. CHAP. V 169 


as a little island.’ And there the lands are low, marshy, and 
full of little salt-water ponds, in which there is found a great 
abundance of game. A league farther on, one [134] finds 
another bay into which there runs a great tidal current. The 
entrance is narrow; there is a bar of sand, and boats can only 
enter at high tide. Inside it becomes dry at low tide, and 
into it there run two little streams. This place is named the 
Riviere du Mouton.” The hunting is excellent on the land, 
which is very good; the country is pleasing. The woods 
there are very fine; there are few Firs. All the coast is the 
same as far as the Little Passage of Campseaux,’ which is 
between the mainland and the Island of Cap Breton, on 
which appears a great cape of red soil.* Continuing eight 
or nine leagues, one finds a great cape, very high; and all 
this coast is high, with rocks [135] covered with large Firs. 


not only along both coasts, but over the beautiful basin forming Guysborough 
Harbour. 

The earth ramparts, stone heaps, hollows, and well, which are still visible, 
are without doubt remains of Bergier’s Fort Saint Louis, of 1685, which is de- 
scribed by Murdoch (ova Scotia, 1.164). Some idea of the situation is given 
by the accompanying photograph, for which I am indebted to Dr. Jost. The 
site is wonderfully adapted for the defence of the harbour, but this probably 
had no influence in fixing Denys’ establishment there, since, as he tells us, it 
was not fortified except hastily and temporarily to resist La Giraudiere’s attack. 
Charlevoix gives a good plan of Chedabucto in his History of 1744, and there 
is very interesting matter about it by De Meulles in 1686, in Memorials of the 
English and French Commissaries, 1755, 768. 

1 Ragged Island: the charts show the several ponds. 

2 Now called the Goose Pond. The charts show its agreement with our 
author’s description, and the best maps show the two streams, which are 
of some size. 

’ The Strait (or Gut) of Canso. It was called Little Passage to distinguish 
it from the Grand Passage between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, which 
is now called Cabot Strait. Champlain used Passage de Canceau. After 1672 
it became known for a time as Passage or Detroit de Fronsac, for a reason 
given on the next page of our author’s book. 

It is surprising that Denys dismisses with such brevity this noble water- 
way, so charming in its bold scenery and so important in the geography of 
this region. 

4 Undoubtedly the conspicuous red Flat Head, just east of, and perhaps 
including, Bear Head, at the southern entrance to the strait. 


170 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


At the foot of this great cape, which is steep clear to its 
base, there is a cove; those vessels which are going into 
the Great Bay of Saint Laurens to make) theipanemeny, 
and which arrive on the coast at a very early time and are 
not able to enter into the Great Bay of Saint Taurens 
by the Grand Passage because of the ice-fields, come to 
seek this Little Passage, and place themselves at anchor in 
this cove to let the ice pass by. This place is called Fronsac.* 
I have seen there as many as eight or ten vessels, and although 
the current was extremely strong in this Little Passage, the 
ice did not inconvenience the vessels at this place, because 
of a great point which advances and [136] turns aside the 
tide which would carry the ice from the Great Bay, and 
throws it off on the side of the Island of Cap Breton. 
That which would come from the other direction is also 
thrown by the great cape against the side of this island.’ 


1 The identity of these localities is unmistakable. The “great cape” is 
Cape Porcupine, a massive abrupt head, over 600 feet high ; while the cove 
called Fronsac, the Havre de /ronsac of our author's map, is the cove just to 
the southward, formerly called McNairs Cove, now Port Mulgrave. 

It was, of course, from this Harbour of Fronsac that the Strait of Canso 
took its temporary name of Passage de Fronsac (compare note 3 on the preced- 
ing page). We have no knowledge as to why, when, or by whom Fronsac 
was first used, but presumably it was given by French fishermen, perhaps by 
Denys himself, to honour Cardinal Richelieu, who, according to Forsyth de 
Fronsac’s Memorial (59), became Duc de Fronsac in 1634. It is very likely 
that it was from this place our author’s son Richard assumed his title of Sieur 
de Fronsac. As earlier shown (page 22 of this book), the current statement 
that Nicolas Denys was Sieur de Fronsac is an error. 

* This “great point,” as shown by the context, can only be that forming 
the western side of the northern entrance to the strait. It would naturally 
be supposed that Cape Jack was the point, but that is excluded by our author's 
later description. That this point thus tends to throw the drift ice of the 
gulf across the head of the strait seems to some extent confirmed by the set 
of the tidal currents shown by the charts, while the fact that Cape Porcupine 
throws the ice over against Cape Breton, leaving Port Mulgrave in safety, is a 
well-known fact of local importance. Mr. David Murray, of Mulgrave, writes 
me : “Theice runs from Porcupine to the Cape Breton side, thence south to Eddy 
Point, now called Sand Point. McNairs Cove (Mulgrave) was and is the only 
harbour in the spring of the year for shelter for vessels from the drift ice.” 


AMERICA. CHAP. V 171 


This place is the narrowest in the Little Passage, and it 
can only be a cannon shot from the mainland to the 
island. 

Setting out from this cove, and before passing by the 
point, there are ponds’ of salt water in which are found 
quantities of good Oysters which are very large, and of 
Mussels in yet greater abundance. Having passed the 
point one finds a little river into which boats can enter. 
Inside is found an island which separates a large [137] bay 
into two, into which fall two streams. Here is found 
also an abundance of Oysters and Mussels. The country is 
pleasing and beautiful; the trees are like the others, but with 
more Cedars and Poplars. The land there is flat. The bay 
has some two leagues of circuit, and is shallow in some places. 
It is dry at low water. Muddy sands are formed where are 
found quantities of shell-fish of all kinds good to eat. This 
forms the chief subsistence of the Indians during the spring. 
From there, after having gone some two leagues farther 
along the coast,” one finds another bay named Articoug- 
nesche.” Along this coast everywhere are sands, which at 
low tide become dry [138] as much as three leagues towards 
the sea. And along the border of the land there are many 
ponds of salt water, and fine meadows in which is found a 


1 These ponds must be Aulds Cove (Mill Cove) and Archie Pond (Irwins 
Pond); the point must be that at North Canso; the little river, with the bay 
and the two islands can only be the present Harbour Bouché. But I am 
informed by Mr. David Murray, of Mulgrave, that no oysters now occur in any 
of these places, nor have old residents heard of their former occurrence there. 
Yet it is quite probable they did occur there in Denys’ time, since they still 
exist at the Oyster Pond, Goose Pond, and Carney Shoal, between the Gut of 
Canso and Guysborough, according to Mr. Murray. 

* These two leagues would bring one past Cape Jack, where begins that 
great bight, including all the southern part of Saint Georges Bay, which our 
author calls the Bay of Antigonish. 

3 This is the earliest known use of this name, which persists as Antigonish. 
It is of Micmac Indian origin, according to Rand (Micmac Reader, 82), from 
“ Nalegttkooneéch, meaning ‘where branches are torn off, viz. by the bears 
gathering beechnuts.” 


172 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


great quantity of game.’ Beyond the meadows the lands 
are good, and with very fine trees. Then having advanced 
about six leagues, continuing the route along the coast, there 
occurs a river” by which the Indians come in canoes in the 
spring to bring their furs secretly to the fishermen, to whom 
this is not permitted, but who nevertheless give them tobacco 
and brandy in exchange. 

Continuing the tour of the bay, the land there is diver- 
sified with ponds and meadows, with the exception of certain 
places covered [139] with Firs and Cedars. In the extremity 
of this bay, there is found a little entrance between two 
points leading into a great cove, all flat, in which there is a 
channel admitting boats. At a good cannon shot from this 
entrance is found the river of Mirliguesche* which gives its 
name to this bay. It is deep and extends far into the country. 
During the spring and the autumn, this cove is quite covered 
with Wild Geese, Ducks, Teal and all other kinds of game. 
Their number is so great that it cannot be imagined. They 
remain there until after All Saints. In this same place there 
are excellent Oysters, and at the [140] entrance of the river on 
the left, there are still more of them. They are [piled] like 
rocks one over the other.* In ascending this river there are 


1 This coast is not known to me personally, but the best charts show that in 
general our author’s description is correct, though the distance the dry sands 
extend out to sea is exaggerated. 

2 This river I take to be the Pomquet. The illicit trading of the fishermen 
with the Indians is very fully described by our author in Volume II. of his 
book, page 471 e¢ seg. 

3 Our author is obviously here describing the Antigonish River, and I can 
only interpret A/zrliguesche as a bad misprint for Avticougnesche. This is con- 
firmed both by his map and by his earlier remark (on page 137) that the name 
of the bay was Articougnesche. His description of the river perfectly fixes its 
identity ; the continuous rocks of plaster (intermixed, in fact, with limestones) 
are described by Dawson in his Acadian Geology (4th ed., 347). The two 
rivers are, of course, the South and West Rivers. 

4 Our authors very frequent mention of the oyster along this coast, con- 
tinuing all the way to Bay Chaleur, and his lack of any mention of them on the 
Atlantic coast or in the Bay of Fundy, corresponds precisely with their actual 


AMERICA. CHAP. V 173 


on the left bank two leagues of continuous rocks of plaster, 
which are rather high. This being passed the lands are good 
for three leagues along both banks, and covered with fine trees, 
large and very high, intermixed with Oaks and with some Pines. 
At the end of these three leagues one meets with two other 
rivers forming a fork, which empty into the former. These 
come from far inland and by them the Indians, who live there 
in great numbers, come in the spring to trade their furs. The 
hunting there is rather good. The country is flat with a great 
extent [141] of meadows upon both banks. These two rivers 
come from lakes which are at their heads, and in which the 
Indians kill a quantity of Beavers.’ 

Three leagues from this river, continuing the route along 
the coast, there is found a little cove where the sea enters; 
its bottom is nothing but mud, through the middle of which 
flows a stream.” During the spring and autumn there are 
caught there a great quantity of Bass, which is a very good 
fish of two or three feet in length. The Indians take them 
with a lance fastened to a shaft of about seven feet in length, 
which they thrust at the fish when they perceive it; and in an 
[142] hour they load a canoe with them, which means about 
two hundred of these fish. Thence the coast runs to Cape 
Saint Louis,’ always ascending, for a distance of four leagues. 


geographical distribution in this region. The distribution of the oyster in Acadia 
is described, with a mention of the testimony of Denys on the subject, in the 
Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, No. V111., 1889, 46 ; 
while the geological causes of its remarkably anomalous distribution are fully dis- 
cussed in the Zvamsactions of the Royal Society of Canada, V1I1., 1890, iv. 167. 

1 The statement is correct as to the lakes; the South River in particular 
not only has lakes of its own, but these lie in close proximity to a considerable 
group on the heads of the Saint Marys, Country Harbour, and Salmon Rivers. 

* This must be the present Morriston Pond. 

> Appears first, in Latin, on the Creuxius map of 1660; it persisted upon 
French charts until 1744 or later, when it became replaced by Cape Saint George, 
which appears to have been given by Des Barres in making his charts for his 
great work, 7e Atlantic Neptune. The cape is very high, as our author states, 
being fully 600 feet. The little basin at the foot of the cape is shown by the 
chart on its northern side. 


174 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 


That cape 1s also extremely high, and it is visible for twenty 
leagues. I have ascended to its top, where there are fine trees, 
very high and stout, although from below they seem only like 
bushes. Descending in the direction of the Great Bay of 
Saint Laurens the land is covered with the same woods. At 
the foot of this cape there are rocks which form a little basin ; 
here it is possible to find shelter for a boat in bad weather in 
case of need; it has entrances from both sides. There are 
found quantities of Lobsters among all [143] those rocks. If 
one is imprisoned here by bad weather, he can always find 
something for subsistence. There occur also some Ducks and 
Eiders along the coast; these place themselves under shelter 
behind certain rocks to avoid the billows of the sea, which 
rage furiously when the winds blow against the coast. If one 
is passing by this cape, it is necessary to take great care against 
carrying full sail, and the wisest persons take them down 
entirely to render it a homage. I am referring to boats, for 
vessels pass at a distance and do not approach so close as do 
boats even if there is only wind enough just to fill the sail. 
The height of this cape makes a squall so bad [144] no matter 
how little wind there may be, that if it were to strike the full 
sail it would turn the boat keel up, many having thus turned 
over there. It is necessary to pass this place with the oar for 
the greatest surety, and it is no sooner passed than one finds 
the wind entirely calm. 


[145] CHAPTER VI 


Which describes the Island of Cap Breton, its ports, harbours, 
iis rivers and the islands which are dependencies of it; the 
nature of the land; of the kinds of woods, of the jishing, of 
the hunting, and all that it contains. 


RETURN to the Island of Cap Breton before passing 

farther along.’ It is distant some ten leagues from the 

Cape of Campseaux. It is eighty leagues in circuit, 
comprising the Island of Sainte Marie* which is adjacent 
to it, and situated in such manner that it forms [146] 
two passages. One is between it and the mainland called 
the entrance of the Little Passage of Campseaux, of which 
I have already spoken earlier, while the other entrance is 
a stretch of six leagues between it and the Island of Cap 
Breton,’ by means of which one goes from the Little Passage 


? Our author’s description of Cape Breton, inadequate though it is to the 
interest and importance of the place, is yet an immense advance over that of 
its only predecessor—the brief account by Champlain. As elsewhere, Denys’ 
description is accurate in general, though often erroneous in detail, especially 
as to distances. 

The most recent and authoritative source of information upon Cape Breton 
is Bourinot’s Monograph in the Zyransactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 
1X., 1891, 11. 173-342, though unfortunately this work contains a number of 
minor errors relative to our author. Through Bourinot’s work all others of 
earlier date, including Brown’s admirable history of the island, may be traced. 
An important early map of the island is that in Charlevoix’s History of 1744. 
On the origin of the name Cape Breton, consult note under page 153 of this 
volume of our author’s book. 

2 Later called Isle Madame, now Madam Island. It is called Sainte Marie 
(in Latin) on the Creuxius map of 1660, and Bellin’s map of 1744 of Cape 
Breton names Arichat Harbour Port Se. Marie. 


’ The account is somewhat confused. The first passage is evidently that 
175 


176 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


of Campseaux to the Fort of Saint Pierre." The passage can 
only be made by longboats, and even with them it is 
necessary to be on the lookout for the channel or canal from 
the entrance of the Little Passage. Proceeding along the 
Island of Sainte Marie, on its outer side, one comes to a little 
island, quite round, [and] three leagues distant, called Isle 
Verte. To go there it is necessary to hold out to sea. This 
coast 1s strewn with rocks which advance a good league into 
the sea for three leagues [147] continuously, where formerly 
vessels were lost. This being passed and coming to Isle 
Verte,” it is needful to leave it on the right in order to enter 
into the Bay of Saint Pierre. There one anchors in front of 
a point of sand a little out from the land.’ Vessels cannot 
approach nearer to Saint Pierre than a distance of three 
leagues; longboats are able to come up to it. But it is 
necessary to be well acquainted with the channel, which 
winds about; and besides there is a quantity of rocks which 
are not visible. The fort is built at the foot of a mountain 
which is almost quite vertical. It is difficult to ascend to its 
top from that side. There is a pond on its top which gives 
rise to a number of springs at the foot of the mountain, 
which runs in falling on one side towards La- [148] brador 
eight or nine hundred paces of length. On the other side, 
that of the entrance, it falls about five hundred paces to a 


through Chedabucto Bay to the Strait of Canso, while the second is that from 
the strait to Saint Peters, now called Lennox Passage, and correctly described by 
our author. 

1 This name appears first on Sanson’s map of 1656. Probably it was given 
by our author when he established his post here in 1650. 

2 Some difficulty in the identification of this island is introduced by a 
reference later, on page 152; but I think without doubt it is the little island 
still called Green Island on our charts. The course for one going around Isle 
Madame to Saint Peters would be between it and Petitdegrat Island, that is, 
leaving it on the right. 

8 Apparently off Double Head of the modern charts. There is a safe 
channel for large vessels right up to Saint Peters, though it is somewhat tor- 
tuous ; it is used constantly by vessels passing through Saint Peters Canal. 


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AMERICA. CHAP. VI 177 


cove, into which a little river empties. In this are taken in 
winter plenty of ponnamon’; this is a little fish almost like 
a gudgeon, which is excellent. All the top of this mountain 
is of good land; the trees are fine, and it is there, on its 
top, I had my clearing made. I have here a good eighty 
arpents of cultivated land, which I had sown every year 


before my fire.” 


1 The Micmac Indian name for the tomcod, a common fish of this region. 
Rand’s Micmac Dictionary, 266, gives it as foonamoo. Lescarbot uses the 
form dounamou, and Le Clercq (160) has fomamon. The name is in common 
use among the Acadians to this day as ‘ate atleade as I am informed by 
Dr. A. C. Smith. 

2 Our author’s account of Saint Peters, as I know from personal study of the 
place, is accurate, and recognisable in every feature, despite some changes 
in the immediate vicinity of the fort-site, caused by the building of the 
Saint Peters Canal. The moun- 
tain, Mount Granville, rises 
steeply from near the fort, as 
Denys states. At its foot, near 
the canal, are three or four 
springs, and, if one follows up 
the hollow, or swale, above them, 
he will come to the little pond 
supposed by our author to feed 
them ; it is now a marsh, some 
35 to 40 yards long and 15 to 20 
wide, filled with flags and rushes, 
but no doubt was a genuine pond “5 i 
two hundred and fifty years ago. <sme iis 
The mountain does fall in one a Gene 4, of a mile to 1 inch 
direction to the Bras d’Or, and 
in the other to a cove into which flows the little river, Kavanagh Creek. On 
top the mountain is not now cultivated, but mostly covered with dense, second- 
growth spruce, from one of the openings in which, commanding a fine view to 
the west, the accompanying photograph of Saint Peters was taken. 

The site of Denys’ fort is perfectly well known locally and marked with 
ample remains. Even without these the detail of our author’s description would 
enable us to locate it. Yet there is much error about it current in our principal 
books. In an article in the Popular Science Monthly for May 1885, R. G. Hali- 
burton cites Indian tradition to the effect that these remains antedated the arrival 
of the French, and, on the basis of a curious cannon found here, he suggests 
that they may be Portuguese. This was adopted as probable by Patterson 
in his work on the Portuguese in North America in 7vansactions of the Royal 
Society of Canada, V\I11., 1890, ii. 168. Both writers were entirely ignorant of 


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178 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


The land which is at the foot of the other side of the 
mountain from the fort extends more than ten leagues with 
nothing but Firs upon it, and with land of no value as far 
as [149] a little river where good land is found, and in 
which Salmon are caught. There are also meadows there. 


The way is rather good, for approaching Labrador.* That 


Denys’ establishment here, and their theory is wholly groundless. Again, 
Bourinot, apparently following Brown’s usually accurate book, gives in his work 
on Cape Breton a very unfortunate, if not erroneous, location to the site of 
Denys’ fort, which he seems to have confused with the ruins of Fort Toulouse, 
erected much later just east of Jerome Point ; and he has been followed by 
MacLeod in his Markland, 494, who has attributed to Denys’ fort the extant 
plans of Fort Toulouse mentioned below. 

Denys’ fort stood on an elevated glacial bank about two hundred and fifty 
feet west of the present entrance to the canal. It commands a charming and 
characteristic coast view. The site slopes gently towards the sea, and is 
surrounded on three sides by a low embankment, from one or two up to three 
feet in height, which formed, no doubt, the foundation for the stout wall of 
pickets which enclosed the fort. Within the enclosure stands the lockmaster’s 
house, the dwelling in the foreground of the accompanying photograph, just 
beyond the long building. The enclosure is forty paces across and thirty-four 
deep, and no doubt was originally square, but the front embankment is now 
missing. The residents agree that it was carried away by the sea, which 
formerly washed against a steep bank, the edge of which was in the position of 
the dotted line on the accompanying map. All of the present point outside 
this line is artificial, and was built up to dispose of material dug from the canal. 
The appearance of the place prior to the building of the canal is well shown in 
the map given by Haliburton (Vova Scotia, II. 239), where it is designated as 
“Old Redoubt.” The other “Old Redoubt” on the mountain, the remains of 
which are still visible, is a much later work, locally said to have been erected 
by Hon. Geo. Moore, by order of the British Government, but never used. 
The fort is shown, marked “ Redoute ruinée,” on a plan of Port Toulouse, of 
1734, mentioned in the Report on Canadian Archives, 1905, 1. Zaventory, 20. 

The residents say that few relics have been found on thesite. The principal 
one was a cannon made of iron bars hooped together, which was dug up in the 
north-east corner of the embankment ; it is a relic of some interest, since it was 
largely upon this that Haliburton and Patterson built their Portuguese theory. 

The site of the fort is now owned by the Dominion Government, and this 
fact encourages the hope that its remains may be preserved indefinitely without 
further change. Surely the interest of this historic place, and the memory of 
that great Acadian, Denys, are entitled to this consideration. 

1 Tt seems quite certain that this “little river of the salmon” is identical 
with the detzt R. du Somon of Denys’ map, which is plainly the present Grand 
River. The Grand in this word, by the way, does not refer to size, but, as in 


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AMERICA. CHAP. VI 179 


which is called Labrador’ is a stretch of sea, cutting in 
half the Island of Cap Breton, with the exception of eight 
hundred paces or thereabouts of land which remain between 
the Fort of Saint Pierre and the extremity of this sea of 
Labrador. It forms a kind of gulf with an entrance on the 
eastward of the Island of Cap Breton, while it ends on the west 
on the side of the Fort of Saint Pierre. I have had a road made 
through this distance * in order to transport boats, by dragging, 
from one water to the other, and to avoid the circuit which 
[150] it would be necessary to make by way of the sea. 
The tide rises even to the extremity of the gulf, and it is 
reckoned twenty leagues from its entrance up to within 
eight hundred paces from the Fort where it ends. When 
it is high tide in Labrador, it is low tide on the other shore 
opposite the Fort.? The opening of this little sea of Labrador 


the case of other Grand Rivers in these provinces, has reference to its use as a 
route of travel (like a grand chemin, a “highway”). The best maps show that 
it heads close over to the Bras d’Or, to which no doubt there was an Indian 
portage. These facts lead me to believe that our author’s sentence, “la traite y 
est assez bonne en tirant vers Labrador,” has the significance I give it in the 
translation above, rather than its more literal rendering, “the trading there is 
rather good in approaching Labrador.” 

1 Our author gives the earliest known use of this remarkable name, whose 
origin, despite much learned discussion, is still unknown. On the various 
theories, compare Bourinot, of. czt., 261. It is important to note that the 
original form, used both in text and on map by Denys, is Labrador. The 
present form, 4vas @’Or, apparently originated with Des Barres, and represents 
one of those modern attempts to give a French form to a supposedly French 
name, of which there are several other examples in Acadia. It seems not to 
be a corruption of the Micmac Indian name, which is Petoobok or Biteauboc. 
There is no connection of any kind, so far as known, between this name 
Labrador and that of the great peninsula north of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. 

2 An interesting later reference to this road occurs, under date 1716, in 
instructions for Sr. ’ Hermite, who is to survey Cape Breton Island. He is to 
“examine whether the road made by Sr. Denys, formerly Governor of the 
island, extending from the Gulf called Labrador, to Port Toulouse [later name 
for Saint Peters Bay] still exists, and can be used” (Report on Canadian 
Archives, 1899, Supplement, 509). 

’ This statement about the tides is misleading, if not inaccurate, according 
to information sent me by Dr. Bissett of Saint Peters. The level of the Bras 
d’Or does not vary with the tide, but fluctuates a few inches under the influence 


180 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


is at the east, exactly opposite to the other end. The cause 
of this difference of tide is that the Bay of Saint Pierre has 
its opening directly towards the west, in addition to which it 
is never high tide in a harbour except the moon is directly 
opposite the entrance of the harbour, whether it be above or 
below the horizon. In Labrador, there is a great basin or 
pond of eight leagues in length and five in [151] breadth, 
with coves on each side which enter a good way into the 
lands. All around Labrador is bordered with mountains, a 
part of which are of plaster. The lands are not very good, 
although the hills are covered with trees, of which the greater 
part are Pines and Firs mingled with Birches and Beeches.’ 
The fishery there is not of much worth. There are found 
only oysters, which are not good when they are first taken 
because they are far too fresh.* But they have a peculiarity 
which is that one can keep them eight or ten days without 
their losing their water, after which they are salted, and 
lose the insipidity which is produced in them by the fresh 
water of the rivers at [152] the mouths of which they are 
found. 


Setting out from the port of Saint Pierre, in the direction of — 


Campseaux, to make the circuit of the island, and turning 
towards its eastern part, one meets with the Isle Verte.* 


of strong winds. Its level is about that of high tide. Hence, when the tide is — 


high at Saint Peters, it and the waters of La Bras d’Or are at about the same 
level, but when low at Saint Peters it is from four to seven feet below the level 
of the Bras d’Or. It is possible it is the latter statement only which our author 
meant to make. 

1 This, of course, is the Bras d’Or Lake. 

2 Our author knew the Bras d’Or personally, as his book more than once 
implies (compare pages 4, 5 of Volume I.); and his account, judging from 


charts and modern descriptions, is in general accurate. The mountains of © 


plaster occur there with frequency. One of the many arms he mentions 


receives the River Denys, which presumably, but by no means assuredly (for — 


there were Indian chiefs of this name), was named after our author. 


3 These oysters still have this reputation, though not to the extreme of our 


author’s statement. 
4 This presumably is the same Green Island mentioned earlier, on page 146, 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 18] 


Thence one goes to the Michaur’ Islands which are three 
leagues from it; these are rocks which are thus named. The 
fishery for Cod there is good. Thence to Havre L’Anglois? is 
reckoned ten leagues. All the coast is nothing but rocks, 
and at the entrance of this harbour is found an island which 
must be kept on the left. Ships being once inside are in 
safety. The anchorage there is good. All the lands around 
it are nothing but banks of rather high rocks. At their feet 
is a little pond where are caught [153] great numbers of 
mes Phe fishery for Cod is very good there. The men 
of Olonne* came here in old times to winter in order to be 
first upon the Grand Banc for the fishery of green Cod, and to 
be the first back to France, because the fish 1s sold much better 
when first brought in. Three leagues therefrom is found 
the Port de la Baleine,* which is another good harbour but 
dificult of entrance because of the quantity of rocks which 
are met with there. Thence one goes to the Fourillon? which 


yet one hardly meets (¢vouve) it in going on the route our author is taking. 
This difficulty has led Bourinot to identify it, but wrongly asI think, with Saint 
Peters Island of the chart. 

1 This name, which on our author’s map occurs as ichou, and on modern 
charts Michaux, appears to be the same as the /. Michaelis of Creuxius’ map 
of 1660. The origin is not obvious. 

2 This name, apparently due to the early resort there of English fishing 
vessels, occurs first in an English narrative of 1597 as English port (Hakluyt, 
reprinted by Bourinot, o/. czz., 306). It later became famous as the Harbour of 
Louisbourg. The island is Goat, or Green, Island, and the pond is that at the 
western angle of the harbour. 

’ That is, from Les Sables d’Olonne, not far from La Rochelle. Our author 
speaks again of these men in his second volume, page 32, when treating of 
the fishery. 

4 Used by Champlain, and still persists as Baleine Cove. It means, of 
course, ‘‘ Whale Harbour.” It was here that Sir James Stuart established him- 
self in 1629, but was expelled by Captain Daniel, who built a new fort at Saint 
Annes. Port Baleine is but a small place despite its brave appearance on our 
author’s map. 

® Of this name I find but one other record—in an undated, anonymous map 
which I possess belonging not long after Denys wrote. It occurs also at Gaspé, 
where it is still in use, as noted later under page 234 of this volume of our 
author’s work. 

N 


182 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


is behind Cap Breton. Cap Breton* is only an island, and the 
part of the island which bears this name, and which looks to 
the south-east is all rocks; among these, nevertheless, ships 
are placed [154] under shelter for the fishery, which is very 
good there. All the lands of this country are worth very 
little, although there are fine woods on the tops of the hills, 
such as Birches, Beeches, and for the greater part Firs and 
some Pines. Passing farther along one comes to the Riviere des 
Espagnols,? at whose entrance ships can anchor in safety. 
There 1s a hill of very good coal four leagues farther within the 
river. The land there is rather good. On the other side it 
is covered with Birches, Beeches, Maples, Ashes, and some 
few Oaks. Pines and Firs are also found there. From the 
head of the river one crosses to Labrador; it is necessary to 
pass two [155] or three leagues of forest for this purpose. 
Leaving the Riviere des Espagnols to go to the entrance of 
Labrador, one travels three leagues where are nothing but 
rocks, and at their end is the entrance of Petit Chibou,® or 
of Labrador. In this inlet there is also coal. Here begins 


1 The small island on which is the original Cape Breton is shown by the 
charts. The name is very old, perhaps the oldest European name on the con- 
tinent of North America. It goes back certainly to the Maggiolo map of 1527, 
and perhaps to 1504, and is probably descriptive of the resort there of Breton 
fishermen. Originally applied to the cape only, it had been extended to the 
entire large island at least as early as 1597, and perhaps 1594, as shown by 
English narratives of those dates (Hakluyt, reprinted by Bourinot, 305). 

* The earliest known use of this name (presumably so called from the early 
resort there of Spanish fishing vessels) which persists as Spanish Bay, though 
the “river” 1s called now Sydney Harbour. The “hill of coal” now forms the 
source of the prosperity of the mining town of Sydney. On our authors map 
the harbour is called La Rk. Denys, no doubt after himself; it was there the coal 
was mined by the settlers and others who paid him a royalty (compare earlier 
under page 74 of this work). The short portage to an arm of Bras d’Or is 
shown by the charts. 

3 This name is undoubtedly Micmac Indian, meaning “river.” It first 
appears in an English narrative of 1597 as Czbo (Hakluyt, reprinted by Bourinot, 
op. cit., 306), and it is used, and the place described, in the /Jesuzt Relation of 
1634. It still survives in the Ciboux Rocks and Islands off Cape Dauphin. 
Presumably our author applies the “ Little” and “Great” correctly. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 183 


a great bay which extends near to Niganiche; it is eight or 
ten leagues in breadth. Within this bay are quantities of rocks 
where the Cormorants make their nests. Into the land of all 
these rocks, at the right, enters the Grand Chibou, which is the 
entrance of the Harbour of Sainte Anne.* This is good and 
very spacious. Its entrance is between two points, and is not 
a hundred feet in breadth. Vessels of three or four hundred 
tons can [156] enter there at all tides. The anchorage is 
good, and if the cables were to fail one would run aground 
only upon mud flats. The harbour can hold a thousand 
vessels. The basin is surrounded with hills, and with very high 
rocks. Ships can bring the bowsprit to the land on the right 
in entering, that is to say, can bring themselves so close to the 
land without danger that the spar of the bowsprit, which is in 
front of the ship, can touchthere. The rock there is cliff-like. 
There are some little rivers and streams which fall into it and 
which come from all these mountains. At the end or ex- 
tremity of the harbour there is a mountain of rock, white as 
milk, which is also as hard as marble.” In another place there 


1 This name appears first in Champlain, and persists to this day. 

2 Our author’s account of Saint Annes, which he knew well, is accurate, 
as the charts and descriptions testify. I have not myself seen it, but I have 
received ample information from one who 
knows it intimately, Hon. William Ross, of Se 
Halifax. The harbour is considered one of |: 
the finest in Nova Scotia, and for this reason 
came near being chosen as the site of Louis- 
bourg. The white mountain is no doubt the 
cliff of gypsum between the North and South 
Gut, while the land of coloured pebbles must 
be the “gypsiferous conglomerate” marked 
by the map of the Geological Survey on the 
north side of Mill Creek. 

The statement occurs in many books that 
Nicolas Denys had an establishment or fort at 
Saint Annes, but, as shown earlier in this work 
(page 24), this is not strictly correct. This 
indeed we might infer from the fact that, while 
he describes in detail every establishment he is known to have had in Acadia 


Scale ¢mues f Linch 


184 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


is a |157]| deposit of fine gravel all mixed in several colours. 
Fragments of it of considerable size have fallen out on the 
coast, against which the sea beats without their being shattered 
to pieces. But on the contrary they harden so much in the 
air and water that tools cannot force out the least little piece, 
a fact which makes me believe that they would not be less 
beautiful to polish than marble, as would be also the white rock 
of which I have just been speaking, if one would be willing 
to make trial of them. There is fishing for Salmon in the 
harbour, but the Mackerel there is [especially] abundant. 
Some are caught there of monstrous bigness and length; 
they are taken with the line at the entrance to the harbour. 
This is a point of sand [158] where is found an abundance of 
shellfish. There are also ponds at the foot of the hills where 
there is very good hunting for Wild Geese, Ducks and all 


other kinds of game. 
Leaving there and going to Niganiche* one passes eight 


nowhere in his book does he mention one at Saint Annes. Yet it is likely 
his brother Simon Denys did have there the post described by his grand- 
son, Denys de la Ronde, in 1713 (see Document, page 78)—a fort with 
cultivated fields and an orchard. We have no direct evidence as to the 
site of this establishment, yet the probabilities point definitely to one posi- 
tion. On the commanding high land on the south side of the entrance to 
the harbour is an old fort-site, the only one known about the harbour. It 
was here, as the /Jesuzt Relations for 1634 (Thwaites’ ed., VIII. 157), clearly 
show, that Captain Daniel built his fort in 1629, as related by Champlain ; 
and here after 1713 was built the Fort Dauphin, contemporary of Louisbourg, 
shown on Charlevoix’s detailed plan, and of which traces still remain. Con- 
sidering the commanding position of this site, its convenience for the fishery 
(including, perhaps, a fine great drying beach opposite), the lack of any 
other known early French site about the harbour, the presence of earlier 
clearings and defences, and the occurrence of cultivable land close by, it seems 
altogether likely that Simon Denys’ establishment, which was founded about 
1650, stood here. But there is no evidence that it was ever re-established after 
its seizure by Madame d’Aulnay in 1650 or 1651, and this is confirmed by its 
absence from the map of 1658. Of course all traces of it were obliterated by 
the building of Fort Dauphin later on the same site. The statement that 
D’Aulnay had an establishment there (Murdoch, Nova Scofza, 1. 181), is simply 
a reference to the seizure of Simon Denys’ post (page 11) earlier. 

1 Now Ingonish; it appears first in Champlain as Niganis. Our author 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 185 


leagues of coast having shores of rocks extremely high and 
steep asa wall. If a ship were to be lost, there would be no 
rescue for anyone, while Niganiche, which is two leagues from 
the point, is not a bit better. This is properly nothing but a 
roadstead, between islands which make a little out to sea 
opposite 2 cove of sand. Ships anchor there between the 
islands and the main land. Sometimes as many as three ships 
are there, but they are not in [159] safety. It is nevertheless 
the place first occupied on all the coast, because the fishing 
there is good and early [prime]. ‘This word prime is the same 
as to say that the fish abounds there and 1s caught early. From 
Fourillon or Cap Breton, it may be eighteen to twenty leagues to 
Niganiche, and thence to Cap de Nort? is five to six leagues, 
the entire coast being of rocks. At Cap de Nort is a place for 
a vessel, which is able to make its fishery there. From Cap de 
Nort to Le Chadye”* there are about fifteen to sixteen leagues. 
All this coast is nothing but rocks covered with Firs, inter- 
mingled with some little Birches. There are found some 
sandy coves into which hardly even a boat can enter. This 
coast is [160] dangerous. Le Chadye is a great cove which 
has about two leagues of depth. In its extremity is a beach 
of sand intermingled with gravel which the sea has made, 
behind which is a pond of salt water. This cove is bor- 
dered with rocks on both shores. ‘The Cod is very abundant 


plainly applies the name to Ingonish Island, which is very high andsteep. Not 
only is it thus on his map, but his statement on this page, that it was two leagues 
from the point, which can only be the point to the southward at the end of the 
eight leagues of cliffs, seems to settle this. Andon a preceding page, 155, he 
speaks of the bay west of the entrance of Labrador as extending near to 
Niganiche. The word is no doubt of Micmac Indian origin. 

* The earliest known use of this descriptive name, which still persists as 
Cape North. 

* This place seems to be the same as our modern Cheticamp (or Chetican). 
It appears upon an undated anonymous MS. map I possess as Le Grand Chaay, 
suggesting the possibility that Cheticamp is a corruption of Chady grand, the 
Chady being Micmac Indian. It occurs on the Cononelli map of 1689 as 
Ochatis, evidently taken from the Creuxius map of 1660. 


186 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


in this bay, and this attracts vessels there, although they are 
often lost because of the little shelter it affords. 

Continuing the route along the coast, which ts only hills 
of rocks, as far as four leagues from there, one meets with a 
little island * opposite a sandy cove suitable for placing boats 
under shelter. Within this cove there is a hill of black rock 
_which the Carpenters [161] use to mark their materials. It is 
not of the best, being a little hard. After having made eight 
leagues more along the coast, one finds the lands low and flat 
and covered with woods of all sorts, such as Ashes, Birches, 
Beeches, Maples, Pines, and Firs, but all these woods are not 
of the finest. From there one enters into a little river for 
boats, where great numbers of Salmon are caught.” There is 
also a mine of coal. JI have been told that there is also 
plaster there, but I have not seen it. ‘The woods are rather 
good in this river, and the country is not hilly. From the 
mouth of this little river, to the entrance of the Little Passage 
of [162] Campseaux at its northern end, there are only three 
leagues. And from there to the other entrance at the south end 
[it is] about ten leagues. There I commenced to make the 
tour, and there is finished the circuit of this Island of Cap 
Breton. To it there is commonly ascribed eighty leagues of 
circumference, of which the margin and the interior contain 
almost nothing but mountains of rocks. But that which 
makes it valued are the ports and roadsteads which the ships 
use to make their fishery. Mackerel and Herring are very 
abundant around the island, and the fishermen make their 
boitte or bait of them for catching the Cod, which is very fond 
of them, preferring them above everything else. This [163] 


1 Doubtless Sea-Wolf (Margaree) Island, while the cove, the Zzce [Anse] 2 
la pierre Noire of our author’s map, is probably that south of Marsh Point, where 
the geological map marks “ Black Shale.” 

2 Evidently the Mabou River, which has the coal mine and plaster, and as 
well is a good salmon stream. The island near it, called /sle du Cafot on our 
author’s map, must be either Henry or Smith Island, probably the former. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 187 


island has also been esteemed for the hunting of Moose. 
They were found formerly in great numbers, but at present 
there are no more. The Indians have destroyed everything,’ 
and have abandoned the island, finding there no longer the 
wherewithal for living. It is not that the chase of small game 
is not good and abundant there, but this does not suffice for 
their support, besides which it costs them too much in powder 
and ball. For with one shot of a gun, with which they kill 
a Moose, they will kill only one Wild Goose or two, sometimes 
three, and this does not suffice to support them and their 
families as a big animal does. 


1 The moose is now abundant on the island, and probably never was really 
exterminated. 


[164] CHAPTER VII 


Containing the description of the Great Bay of S. Laurent, from 
the Cape of §. Loiiis as far as the entrance to the Baye des 
Chaleurs, with all the rivers and islands which are along 
the coast of the Mainland, and of Isle 8. ean; the 
quality of the lands, the kinds of woods ; of the fishing, of 
the hunting, and some matters concerning the behaviour and 
customs of the Indians. 


T is necessary to return to Cape Saint Loiis to follow 

the rest of the coast as far as the entrance of the 

[165] Baye des Chaleurs. Leaving this cape, [and] 

ten leagues therefrom, one meets a little river, of which 
the entrance has a bar. It is closed up at times when the 
weather is bad, and when the sea shifts the sands at its 
entrance." But when the river becomes swollen it passes 
over it and makes an opening. Only boats can enter. It 
does not extend far into the country, which is rather good 
and covered with trees of all the kinds which I have already 
named. Continuing the route for about a dozen leagues the 
coast is nothing but rocks, with the exception of some coves” 
of divers sizes. ‘The lands are low in those places; they seem 
good and covered with fine trees, amongst which there are 


1 This little river must be, I think, that at Malignant Bay. Our author's dis- 
tances make it somewhat less than half-way from Cape Saint Louis to Pictou 
River, and this is the only place in that vicinity it can possibly be. This 
identification is sustained by our author’s map, which places a small river in 
that position. Patterson, in his Azstory of Pictou (25), considers this little river 
of Denys to be the former eastern entrance, now closed, to Merigomish 
Harbour, but the facts above given seem to me quite opposed to this. 


2 These coves were doubtless Merigomish and Little Harbours. 
188 


DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 189 


[166] quantities of Oaks. Then one arrives at a large river," 
of which the entrance is very shallow for about a league and 
a half towards the sea; it has a good three leagues of breadth 
at its mouth. This becomes dry almost throughout at low 
tide, to such an extent that one easily sees that the bottom 
is of sand. No sea-going vessels can enter it except small 
ones, such as longboats of a dozen to fifteen tons, and 
even they must await the high tide. One finds just at the 
entrance some reefs of rocks.” At the left of this mouth 
is a little river which is only separated from the large one 
by a point of sand’; it enters well into the land and is 
very narrow at the entrance. ‘This* being passed, one finds 
[167] 2 great opening’ where many coves are formed by 
means of the points of low lands, or meadows; in these are 
many ponds, where there is so great an abundance of game 
of all the kinds that it is astonishing. And if the hunting 
there is abundant, the land is no less good. There are some 
little hillocks which are not unpleasing. All the trees are 


1 Pictou River, as our author states two pages later. But the difficulty of 
access is exaggerated, as is the case with most rivers he describes. 

In the case of the Pictou River and surroundings, as in so many other 
instances, our author is obviously describing from memory places which he 
had not seen for many years, and in consequence his account is generalised 
and somewhat vague, and the distances are inaccurate. Nevertheless I believe 
all the localities can be identified with reasonable certainty. I do not myself 
know this region, but I have had the valuable aid of an observant resident, 
Mr. C. L. Moore, of the Pictou Academy, who has given me an identification 
of the respective places which agrees almost at every point with that which 
1 had worked out from the charts, and these identifications are embodied in 
the following notes. It will be observed that they differ in some respects from 
those of Patterson in his Astory of Pictou, but the treatment of Denys in 
that work is neither appreciative nor critical. 

2 These reefs are those at Cole Point and at Mackenzie Head and thence 
westward. 

® Obviously the present Boat Harbour, whose location is exactly described. 

* He seems here to refer to the previously mentioned point of sand. 

° The great opening beyond the sand point, with its low lands and marshes, 
can only be the present Moodie Cove, making in to Rustico Beach, and 
including also the cove on the north behind Londin Beach. Hillocks occur 
here and there, and oak still grows on the shore north of Londin Beach. 


190 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


very fine and large. "There are Oaks, Beeches, Maples, Black 
Birches, Cedars, Pines, Firs and every other kind of woods. 
The large river’ is straight in the entrance ; boats go seven 
or eight leagues up it, after which there is met a little island 
covered with the same woods, and with [168] grape vines, 
and above which one cannot go higher towards its source 
except with canoes. The land on both sides of the river 
towards its source is covered with large and small Pines for 
the space of a league. On both sides, in ascending, the trees 
are all fine, just as above. ‘he hillocks there are a little 
higher than those of the little river, but the land is not 
less good. There are also along its borders coves and cu/ de 
sacs with meadows, where the hunting is good. It is called 
the River of Pictou.’ 

At a league and a half within the river, upon the left, 
there is a large cove,’ in which is found a quantity of excellent 
Oysters. Some in one place are almost [169] wholly round, 
and, farther into the cove, they are immense. ‘Some are found 
there larger than a shoe and almost of the same shape. They 
are all very plump and of good taste. And at the entrance 
of this river, upon the right, at a half league from its mouth, 
there is another large bay * which extends nearly three leagues 


1 Obviously he regards the large or main river of Pictou as extending from 
Moodie Cove up through the harbour and thence up the East River. The 
island is well-known, and still locally called “‘ The Island” two miles or more 
above New Glasgow, where the river forks. This marks the limit of boat navi- 
gation, which our author, as usual, makes extend much too high. 

2 This is the first known use of this name Pictou, which is of Micmac 
Indian origin. Rand (Micmac Reader, 97) derives it from Piktook, meaning “an 
explosion,” which, in another work, he explains as referring to bubbles of gas 
which rise in the water there from the coal veins. Other meanings are 
discussed by Patterson in his A7zstory of Pictou, 21. 

3 This cove is without doubt that just below and north of the Big Gut or 
Narrows. Mr. Moore tells me it still yields oysters of good size and quality, 
and that they are said locally to have been once very large there. 

4 This large bay, no doubt, is the West River. It has but three or four 
actual islands, but possesses some headlands which might be taken for islands 
from a distance. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 191 


into the land, and which contains several islands and a number 
of coves on both banks; in these are found plenty of meadows 
and game in abundance. Going three leagues farther, one 
meets with another cove,’ very much larger indeed, furnished 
with a number of islands of unequal sizes; some are covered 
with trees, the others with meadows and an infinity of birds of 
all kinds. [170] All the lands are beautiful and good. They 
are not too hilly, but covered with fine trees, among which 
are quantities of Pines and of Oaks. 

Passing eight or nine leagues farther along, the coast is 
high, with rocks. It is not very safe, [and] it is necessary 
to keep a little off shore. One finds here nevertheless an 
occasional cove, where the land is low; but there is not 
much shelter for boats, and the sea breaks strongly. Then 
another river is met with,” which has abundance of rocks at 
its entrance; and a little off shore towards the sea is another 
little island covered with woods, which is called Isle l’Ormet.* 
Before entering into this river one finds [171] a large bay 
of two good leagues of depth and one of breadth.* In several 
places the low land is all covered with beautiful trees. In 
the extremity of this bay one sees two points of land which 
approach one another, and form a strait, and this is the entrance 
of the river. It comes from three or four leagues inland. 
It is flat at its entrance, [and] boats cannot go far into it. 
The land there is rather fine. Some hills appear inland, 
but of moderate height. An abundance of Oysters and 
Shellfish is also taken here. Setting out from there, and 


* This cove can only be Caribou Harbour, which the description fits fairly 
well. 

* Tatamagouche River and Harbour; the description is accurate. 

* The earliest known use of this name, which persists to this day corrupted 
to Amet,on earlier maps Armeft. Its origin is not known, though possibly it 
may have suggested some resemblance to Armed, “a helmet.” The little island 
is rapidly being washed away by the sea, and thence is now very much smaller 
than when our author saw it. 

4 Of course, Tatamagouche Bay. 


192 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


following the coast two leagues or thereabouts, one finds still 
another river,’ which runs somewhat far inland. [172] Both 
banks are hilly. 

Continuing farther, [and] following the coast about twelve 
leagues,” one comes upon Cape Tourmentin.’ It is a great 
point which advances into the sea, and is only two leagues 
and a half from Isle Saint Jean.* This is the narrowest place 
in all this strait. The coast is only hills and very dangerous 
rocks, which are far out from shore. In front of it some are 
visible, while others are uncovered only at low water. ‘This 
point 1s between two large bays bordered with hills and rocks. 
All over the top is hardly anything but Pines and Firs, and 
some few other trees. Having doubled this point and made 
about ten leagues along this coast, one comes to [173] another 
river into which longboats enter. It is necessary to keep close 
in the channel, and having passed a little island, one is well 
under shelter, and finds water enough. The anchorage is in 
front of a large meadow which makes a cove of reasonable 
extent where one is placed in shelter. I have named this river 
the River of Cocagne,’® because I found there so much with 


1 This is, of course, Wallace River, which he names on his map &. de 
Mainchi. This word is, no doubt, a corruption of the Indian name of Wallace 
River, which Rand (Wzcmac Reader, 102) gives as Emsik or Pémstk, but which 
I have found on various early maps as Memchic, Emchic, Remsheg, &c. 

2 On his map our author marks one other unnamed river in this interval, 
probably meant for the Pugwash. 

® The earliest known use of this name, which still persists. Zourvmentin 
means in French either “a kind of petrel,” (little petrel or storm-finch), or “a 
fore stay-sail,” and perhaps some peculiarity of the place in one or the other 
connection suggested the name. Without the termination zz it might mean, 
like Cape Tourmente on the Saint Lawrence, ‘“ Cape of Storms,” and indeed — 
it is so translated on some early English maps (Jefferys, 1755 ez a/.) 

4 Now Prince Edward Island ; compare later under page 195. 

° Thus in the original, though differently spelled on our authors map. The 
name has persisted tothis day. It means, as Denys implies, a land of the greatest 
abundance, and has something of the significance of the English Utopia. 

Denys here, as in other cases, makes no distinction between the harbour 
and the river, but treats them as one. The little island he mentions is, of 
course, Cocagne Island, while I think there is no doubt the large meadow 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 193 


which to make good cheer during the eight days which bad 
weather obliged me to remain there. All my people were 
so surfeited with game and fish that they wished no more, 
whether Wild Geese, Ducks, Teal, Plover,’ Snipe large and 
small, Pigeons, Hares, Partridges, young Partridges, Salmon, 
Trout, Mackerel, Smelt, Oysters, [174] and other kinds of 
good fish. All that I can tell you of it is this, that our dogs 
lay beside the meat and the fish, so much were they satiated 
with it. The country there is as pleasing as the good cheer. 
The land is flat and covered with trees which are very fine, as 
well in their stoutness as in their height, of all the kinds 
which I must have already named. There are also great 
meadows along the river, which runs about five to six leagues 
inland. The remainder is only navigable by canoe, and many 
more Pines than other trees are found there.’ 


forming a cove is that within the northern side of the entrance to the river 
itself, the anchorage being in the deep water about where the bridge crosses. 
He is speaking of longboats and not of vessels, which would anchor farther 
out, just inside the entrance to the harbour. 

This description of Cocagne is so general that it might seem applicable to 
Shediac as well as to Cocagne, suggesting that possibly Denys’ Cocagne really 
was the present Shediac. To settle this point I have made a comparative 
study of both harbours and rivers, travelling by canoe with Denys’ narrative 
in hand. This has made it plain that the description really does apply to our 
Cocagne. While some features might apply equally well to either place, the 
mention of the meadows (or marshes) is conclusive, for these are an abundant 
and characteristic feature along the Cocagne River, but are almost wanting 
along the Shediac above its mouth. 

While at Cocagne in August 1906, I was shown by a merchant of that place 
a fine old clay portrait pipe, which had recently been brought up from the 
bottom of the harbour by the rake of a quahog-digger. On it was moulded 
the word Chafleau, the name apparently of the one whose handsome features 
the portrait represents, and also Camdzer, Paris, and the date 1622. Being in 
good condition, though used, it must have been lost not many years after its 
date, and it is at least a pleasing speculation that it is a relic of this visit of 
our author’s so long ago. 

* Pluviers in the original. Whether this is simply another name (as I 
think likely) for the allouettes he mentions elsewhere, or a distinct kind, I do 
not think it is possible to say. 

* This description of Cocagne (except for his great exaggeration of the 
distance to the head of boat navigation) is accurate and appreciative. 


194 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Continuing our route we went into the river of Rechi- 
bouctou,” which is about ten leagues from the latter of which I 
[175] have just finished speaking. This river has great sand 
flats at its entrance, which extend almost a league. In the 
midst of them is a channel for the passage of vessels of two hun- 
dred tons. After one is inside there is found a basin of great 
extent, but shoal in some places. Vessels cannot go very far 
into this river, but longboats navigate there for nearly three 
leagues. Two other rivers fall into this basin, of which one 
is little and the other rather large.* By the latter the Indians 
go to the River Saint Jean, twice portaging their canoes in crossing 
from one river to the other.’ From the head of the latter 
they proceed into a large lake, and then reach [176] another 
river which falls into that of Saint Jean. They employ two 
days in making this passage when they do not want to tarry ; 
this latter hardly ever happens, for they are never much in a 
hurry. It is by this means that the Indians of the River of 
Saint Jean and those of this place often visit one another. With 
regard to the little river * which is on the right in entering, it 


1 Still called Richibucto. It appeared first in one of the Jesuzt Relations ot 
1646 in the form Regibouctou. It is of Micmac Indian origin, but uncertain 
meaning. 

2 Like most of our author’s topographical descriptions, this account is true 
in general but incorrect in particular. Vessels can go much higher than he 
implies, and boats much higher than he states. 

8 This is a somewhat confused account of the well-known old portage route 
which ran from the head of the Richibucto by a three-mile portage to Salmon ) 
River, and down the latter to Grand Lake, whence a short-cut route to the 
upper part of the river might involve another portage from the Portobello to the 
Saint John. This, and the other ancient Indian portages of New Brunswick, are 
fully described in the Zvansactions of the Royal Society of Canada, V., 1899, ii. 
248, and XII., 1906, ii. 91. 

4 This little river was, of course, the Aldouane, but all my efforts have so far 
failed to disclose any other record of such a portage as our author mentions, or 
any tradition of it among the present Indians. One might suppose that our 
author refers here simply to the shore route through the lagoons and through 
Portage River to Bay du Vin (of. czt., 253), but this seems excluded by his re- 
ference to the other end thereof a little later, on page 183. It is, however, possible 
there was such a route as Denys implies, in which case it may have run vzé@ 


a 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 195 


serves, with the aid of another portage, for communication with 
Miramichi, which is the establishment that J] have in the 
Baye des Chaleurs." The Chief at Rechibouctou, named Denis, 
is a conceited and vicious Indian. All the others of the Great 
Bay fear him. He has upon the border of the basin of this 
river a rather large fort of stakes, |[177]| with two kinds of 
bastions”; inside is his wigwam, and the other Indians are 
encamped around him. MHe has had a great piece of wood 
placed upright to the top of a tree, with large pegs which 
pass through it in the manner of an estrapade’® and serve as 
steps for ascending to the top. There from time to time he 
sends an Indian to see if he can perceive anything along the 
coasts. From this place one can see far out to sea. If any 
vessels or canoes are seen, he has his entire force brought under 
arms with their bows and arrows and their muskets, places a 
sentinel on the approach to ask what persons they are, and 
then according to his whim he makes them wait, or [178] has 
them come immediately. Before entering it is required that 
they make a discharge of their guns, as a salute, and sometimes 
two. Then the leader enters, and his suite after him. He 
never goes out from his wigwam to receive those who come 


Kouchibouguacsis and Sabbies Branch of Cains River, or to Kouchibouguac 
(by a route, of which I have recently found traces, from the branch just above 
Saint Louis village through to Clarks Creek on Kouchibouguac) and thence to 
Barnaby River. 

1 A curious lapse of mind or pen. His establishment in Bay Chaleur was 
Nepisiguit, though the portage ran to Miramichi. 

* The existence of an Indian fort at Richibucto is confirmed by St. Valier 
in 1688 (32). It is not certain where it stood, but the strongest probability 
favours Indian Island, where the present Indians say their most important 
village was in early times. This island, now abandoned and grown up with 
scrubby woods, is rather more elevated than any other land in the vicinity of 
the basin, and moreover is the only one of the known Indian village sites 
of Richibucto (discussed in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, X11., 
1906, 11. 80), which commands the views mentioned by our author along the 
coast. 

® The estrapade was a framework used for a cruel punishment of sailors. 
No description of it that I have found explains the present allusion, but pre- 
sumably some part of it had pegs driven through to project upon both sides. 


196 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


to visit him. He is always there planted upon his haunches 
like an ape, his pipe in his mouth if he has any tobacco. He 
never speaks first. He expects that he shall be paid a com- 
pliment; and sometime later he replies with the gravity of a 
magistrate. If he goes to the wigwam of some Indian, on 
arriving he has a musket discharged to inform the other 
Indians, who come out from their wigwams, and go to meet him 
with their muskets. Then he lands from his [179] boat and 
sets foot upon shore, and all the Indians who are there dis- 
charge their muskets. ‘Then they accompany him to the wig- 
wams, [and] when he goes inside they again fire each one a 
shot from his musket. Such is the manner in which he makes 
them receive him, more through fear than through friendship. 
They all wish for his death; he is not liked by a single one. 
If they are delinquent in their duty, he beats them, but not 
when they are together, for in this case he could not do it 
with impunity. But when he catches them alone he makes 
them remember their duty. If the Indians make a debauch, 
he is never of their number, [but] he hides himself; for in 
drunkenness they are as great chiefs as he,’ and if he were to 
say to them something which made them angry, they [180] 
would murder him. At such times he is wise, and never 
speaks of his greatness. It is well to observe that the Indians 
of the coast use canoes only for the rivers, and all have boats 
for the sea. These they sometimes buy from the Captains 
who are about to leave after having completed their fishery ; 
but the greater part they take from the places in which the 
Captains have had them hidden on the coast or in the ponds,’ 
in order to make use of them on another voyage. But when 
the proprietors, or others having a right to them, recognise 
them, they make no more ceremony of taking them back than 


1 A matter which our author treats more fully in the second volume of his 
book, page 465. 

2 Our author speaks more fully of this matter in the second volume of his 
book, page 230. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 197 


the Indians do in making use of them. To return to Chief 
Denis, his country of Rechibouctou is beautiful; the lands are 
good, and [181] not too low nor too high. The hunting 
there is plentiful, and also the fishing for Mackerel, which are 
very large. As for the woods, they are like those of other 
places, intermixed with Firs and Pines. 

Setting out from Rechibouctou to go to Miramichi, on 
the left one finds great flats of sand* which advance far out 
into the sea; and the same [is true] of all this coast, which it is 
necessary not to approach too near for a space of eight to ten 
leagues. After this one comes to a great bay which enters 
more than two leagues into the land, and which has fully as 
much of breadth.? All this bay has also flats, of which the 
greater part are uncovered at low tide. The sea there is very 
dangerous in bad weather, because [182] it breaks everywhere. 
There is nevertheless a little channel which leads into the 
tiver, but it is very crooked; and it is needful to know it 
well in order to enter.* Even then it is only passable for long- 
boats of a dozen to fifteen tons, at high tide. The entire 
extent of these flats includes even to the mouth of the river of 
Miramichy,* of which the entrance is very narrow because of 
a little island which is on the right in entering [and] which 
closes the opening.” This being passed, one reaches a fine 


1 These flats of sand ( platins de sable), of which our author speaks, are the 
great sand bars or “beaches,” which extend in a line, enclosing lagoons and 
cut by occasional gulleys, nearly all the way from Richibucto to Miramichi. 

* There is evidently some slip here. Our author is describing Kouchi- 
bouguac Bay, which has about the depth given but a far greater breadth. 
Very likely his “‘as much” refers to the “eight to ten leagues” a little earlier. 
Otherwise the account is accurate. 

° Evidently the Kouchibouguac River and lagoon. 

4 This name is very old, probably extending back to the voyage of Cartier 
of 1534, though its original form and its origin, whether Indian or European, is 
unknown. The current explanation that it is Micmac Indian, meaning ‘“‘ Happy 
Retreat,” is absolutely erroneous, It is discussed fully in the 7vamnsactions of 
the Royal Society of Canada, V11., 1889, ii. 54; and II., 1896, ii. 252. 

* This must refer to Sheldrake Island, though the narrowness is ex- 
aggerated. 

O 


198 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


river, a cannon shot broad, which is rather deep. The two 
sides are of rocks somewhat elevated, upon which there are fine 
woods. One finds, nevertheless, some little low coves where it 
is possible to approach and land with boats [183] or canoes. 
This river has five to six leagues of length through which 
vessels can ascend, and there one finds two other rather large 
rivers, which empty into it, and both come together in a point 
which forms a fork. But it is possible to ascend them only in 
canoes because of the rocks which are scattered here and 
there.’ That which is on the left in ascending goes towards 
the Rechibouctou river.” The other which is on the right 
leads in the direction of the Baye des Chaleurs. From the 
head of this river, one goes, by means of a canoe portage, into 
the river of Nepigiguit which is in the extremity of the Baye 
des Chaleurs. The Indians have told me that on the upper 
parts of these rivers the lands are fine and flat, that the trees 
are [184] fine, large, and in open formation, and that there 
are no little trees which hinder them in the hunting of the 
Moose.* They are of the same species of woods that I have 
previously named. In the valleys where the waters make a 
swamp, there are a great many Firs, but small and very 
dense. As for the lower part of the rivers, where they make 


their fork, on the left there are rocks, and on the right is a 


flat country where there is a great meadow, of more than two — 
leagues in length and a half league of breadth in one place, | 


1 In a general way our author’s account of the Miramichi River is correct. 
But he is wrong in saying that only canoes can go above the fork (viz., that of 


the Main Southwest and the Northwest branches at Beaubears Island), for even 
small vessels can go to the head of tide above Indiantown, sixteen miles up the 
former, and to near the head of tide at Redbank, twelve miles up the latter. 


2 This portage is the same as that discussed earlier, page 176. The route © 


of the next-mentioned portage, from the Northwest Miramichi vzé@ Portage » 


River to the Nepisiguit, is well-known, and described in the Zvazsactions of the 
Royal Society of Canada, X11., 1906, il. 99. 

3 The Indians evidently referred to the extensive forests of white pine which 
formerly clothed the banks of these rivers in their middle courses. Their 
sources are all in an extremely rough country. 


{ 


; 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 199 


and of three-fourths of a league in another. There are some 
little trees on it, much removed from one another.! On it are 
found also a great quantity of Strawberries and Raspberries, 
and here collects so great a number of [185] Pigeons” that 
it is incredible. I once remained there eight days towards the 
feast of Saint Jean, during which every morning and evening we 
saw flocks of them passing, and of these the smallest were of 
five to six hundred. Some alighted on the meadows, and 
others opposite upon a point of sand on the other side of the 
river. They did not remain on the ground more than a 
quarter of an hour at most, when there came other flocks of 
them to rest in the same place; the first ones then arose and 
passed along. I leave you to imagine whether they were not 
killed in quantities, and eaten in all fashions. If the Pigeons 
plagued us by their abundance, the Salmon gave us even more 
trouble. [186] So large a quantity of them enters into this 
river that at night one is unable to sleep, so great 1s the noise 
they make in falling upon the water after having thrown or 
darted themselves into the air. This comes about because of 
the trouble they have had in passing over the flats, on account 
of the paucity of water thereon; afterwards they enjoy them- 
selves at their ease when they meet with places of greater 
depth. Then they ascend into the rivers, which extend far 
inland; these descend from some lakes which empty one into 
another. On all these lakes is found abundance of Beaver, but 
little Moose. As for the hunting of small game, it is also 
very good and very abundant. Shellfish are not wanting there ; 
the flats are always full of them. The [187] Indians live on 
those rivers in much greater numbers than on any others.® 


1 This reference is plainly to the Canadian Marsh on the south bank of the 
} fiver, opposite the low rocky cliffs between Newcastle and Douglastown. 
| Denys is evidently now taking the reader down the river, thus bringing the 
_ marsh on the right. 

) * The wild pigeon, excessively abundant in this region to within the memory 
, of men still living, but now nearly extinct. 

3 For which reason, no doubt, our author’s son, Richard, later established 


} 
; 
} 


200 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


To leave this place, it is necessary to pass all these flats, 
then to follow the coast as far as the Isle of Miscou,’ which is 
distant therefrom some ten to twelve leagues. The coast is 
well-nigh entirely of sand. There occur many coves, great 
and small, in which are meadows, and ponds of salt water 
formed by the sea in rising. There are also found some large 
streams”; and in all these places the hunting for birds 
of all kinds never fails. The coast is all filled with woods 
like the others, with the exception that the Cedars are more 
common there. ‘Two leagues before coming to the Isles of 
Miscou, one finds [188] a large cove, which is the passage of 
Caraquet,® ending at the Baye des Chaleurs, where there are 
islands of which I shall speak in the proper place. 

After having made two leagues along the coast, one finds 
another little entrance for longboats, which is between the 
two Isles of Miscou.* The entrance is dangerous in bad 
weather, because of a bar of sand which breaks furiously. 
From the two sides of the islands there are points of sand 
which make the entrance narrow, but immediately one has 
passed inside, then it enlarges. On the right in entering is 
the small Isle of Miscou, which has four or five leagues of 
circuit. Having passed the point, there appears a part of it 


a fort and trading post here. It was at the fork of the river on the northern 
bank just opposite the western end of Beaubears Island. The subject is 
fully discussed in the Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Soctety, 
III., 1907, 29-32. The map of 1658 reproduced earlier, opposite page 160 
of this work, implies that Denys himself had an establishment here before 
that date, perhaps between 1647 and 1650 (compare page 11 of the present 
work). 

1 This name occurs first in Champlain’s works, and is doubtless a Micmac 
Indian name, meaning, probably, “ boggy land.” 

2 This account of the coast, as I know from observation, is accurate. The 
streams, emptying into irregular shallow lagoons inside great sand bars, are 
the Tabusintac, Tracadie, and Pokemouche. 

3 The passage is now called Shippegan Gully. He does speak of the 
islands later, under page 205. 

4 Miscou Gully, correctly described. The two islands of Miscou are now 
called, respectively, Miscou and Shippegan. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 201 


which is like a great extent of land without trees. This is 
[189] only morasses all filled with heaths. When one walks 
upon them, they are made to tremble for more than fifty 
paces around him. There the Wild Geese come to produce 
their young, and to moult during the spring. Those which 
moult do not lay eggs that year, and the others which do not 
moult lay eggs. I shall tell you the details about it when | 
come to speak of the peculiarities of the birds of this country.’ 

In continuing the route, after having passed the morasses, 
one comes to land all covered with Firs intermingled with some 
little Birches.” After this a long sand point is met, which 
makes a cove of considerable size. It is there that [190] 
the vessels anchor, which go to make their fisheries under 
shelter of the two islands.* One can say that he has there his 
ship in safety. I have seen as many as five or six ships here 
making their fishery. ‘They make flakes upon this point of 


1 As would be expected from the fact that our author had his residence for 
two years at Miscou, as he tells us a little later (at page 192), his account of 
the locality is very accurate. This I can affirm from my own knowledge. 
The morasses filled with heaths are 
the great open moss bogs which form 
a large part of the surface of Miscou, 
as shown by the detailed physiographic 


a 
‘ . 
Uy eee 
«0 ° “vcd sa 
Wires. SME y 
poe yary 
AAs SP ee 
Tw) 


‘A 


map of the island published, with an ef arp ; 
account of the physical geography Toes. me an nS toon 
of Miscou, in Bulletin of the Natural & wi a 4 4) 
History Society of New Brunswick, V., Bi ov 
: PRE AY 
1906, 450. They are conspicuous from “pt 


the harbour, as here described, and in 
places tremble, as Denys mentions. 
Also I learn from Dr. J. Orne Green, 
who has known the game birds of the 
island for some thirty years back, that the wild geese formerly bred there in 
large numbers, though now they do not. It is in Volume II., chapter xix., of 
his work that Denys writes further of their breeding habits. 

2 In Volume II., page 350, of his book, our author gives an account of the 
burning of the woods on Miscou. 

’ This long sand point is Harpers Point ; behind it to this day the fishing 
vessels find an ample and secure harbour, and whole fleets of them resort there 
to ride out storms. 


” Grandé Isle: #354 
de Mistov °°: f" 5 
en ite onciie Mati Stale umiles fo Linch 


202 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


sand, for there is no gravel on it, a matter which I shall 
explain more at length when I come to speak of the fishery. 
Fresh water is far removed from this place, but, as a recom- 
pense therefor, some two hundred paces from the coast, 
opposite or about the middle of those woods of which I have 
just spoken, there issues from the bottom of the sea a spring 
of fresh water as large as the two fists, which preserves its 
freshness for a circuit of twenty feet without mixing in any 
manner whatsoever, either [191] by the flowing or the ebbing 
of the tide. ‘Thus the spring of fresh water rises and falls 
with the tide. The fishermen, to obtain their water, go there 
with their boats full of barrels, which they fill with buckets as 
if they were drawing from the basin of a fountain. At the 
place where this extraordinary spring occurs, there is a fathom 
of water at the lowest : HSB and the water is salt all round 
like the rest of the sea.” 

The large Isle of Miscou ” ee seven to eight leagues of 
circuit; it has several large coves, near which are some 
meadows and ponds into which the tide rises, and where is 
found a plenty of hunting of all kinds of birds. There occur 
here also many [192] Partridges and Hares. There are four 
streams which empty into the sea, of which two can carry 
canoes, the others not.* The woods are as in other places, but 


1 A spring such as our author describes does not now occur in this harbour, so 
far as known to the best informed residents. But on West’s original map of the 
island, of 1820, close to the shore just west of Landrys River, is marked “A good 
spring at low water”; while a short distance up Landrys River, in a marsh on 
its western side, is a very powerful spring of the best water, to which boats from 
the fishing vessels now sometimes resort for their supply. It is quite likely that 
local topographical changes have extinguished the spring our author describes 
and made it break out anew in one or the other of the above-described places. 

At this point the Dutch edition of our author’s book interpolates a narrative 
of a fatal quarrel between drunken Indians. It is printed in translation, with 
the picture it accompanies, on page 82 of the present work. 

2 Now Shippegan Island. 

5 The identity of these streams is not evident, though it is possible the two 
that are navigable are Big and Little Lamec, while the others are Grand 
Ruisseau and Island River. 


OE Re Ses 


Fobl "sup ‘suouwmy 7 “yy AQ °070Nq 
SUIBWOI EY} []w SI STY puv ‘yuUBq IY} JO BSpo 94} ye SMOYS 
, UOIWHQVH ,, WY} 07 Sursuojaq seyJao asavy W “puvysy uvseddiys jo pua yzs0U Jy} WOJy 9zIS 9Y} JOAO PaveMysoM MIA 


NOOSIW LV LNAWHSITAVLISH SANHG dO ALIS AHL 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 203 


there are, however, more Firs. The land is sandy, but is ” 


nevertheless good. All kinds of herbs thrive very well, and 
when I had an establishment? there, I planted many nuts of 
Peaches, Nectarines, and Clingstones, and of all kinds of nut 
fruits, which came on marvellously. I also had the Vine 
planted there, which succeeded admirably. But two years later 
D’Aunay dispossessed me of it by virtue of a Decree of the 
Council, although I had a concession from the Company, in 
consideration of which he made an arrangement | 193] with the 
one who commanded there for me. Inventory was made of 
all the merchandise and provisions which I had there, for 
the value of which he gave his promissory note payable the 
following year, with the risks of the bottomry.? But of 
this I have never been able to recover anything. Thus, just 
so long as there is no order there, and one is not assured of 


1 The site of our author’s establishment, which he places plainly on 
Shippegan Island, is, I believe, known to a certainty. It stood on a very 
pleasing, low, upland point, the only advantageous site for a long distance 
east or west, with an admirable tract behind for his gardens, on Shippegan, 
south of Harpers Point. It is also beside the best landing in the vicinity, 
as shown by the fact that the Miscou ferry now lands there. It is located 
on the preceding map, and I have given a much more detailed map of the 
immediate surroundings, with evidence for its identity as well as for that of 
the other ancient sites around the harbour, in the 7ransactions of the Royal 
Society of Canada, XII1., 1906, 11. 133. Some traces, locally ascribed to a 
“French Fort,” still remain, consisting of a large hollow or cellar surrounded 
by peculiar low embankments, which show in the accompanying photograph ; 
but they are rapidly disappearing before the encroaching sea, and will soon 
have vanished utterly. 

_ A very full account, with, however, some errors in detail of the early French 
occupation of Miscou is given by Dionne in Le Canada-Francais, I1., 1899, 
432-477 and 514-531, and I have given a synopsis of its later history in 
Acadiensis, V1., 1906, 79-94. 

2 As a document cited earlier in this work will show (page 68), it was in 
1647 that D’Aulnay seized this establishment (giving an inventory as our author 
Says) ; and hence it was in 1645 it was founded. The concession from the 
Company is unknown ; it was most probably from Razilly, in the name of the 
Company of New France, or it may have been from the Company of Miscou 
(page 10 of this work). Nor is the Decree of Council to D’Aulnay known ; 
I suspect this was simply his commission as Governor of Acadia, which he 
obtained from the King of France in that year. 


Ws 


204 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 


the enjoyment of his concessions, the country will never be 
populated, and will always be the prey of the enemies of 
France. 

The exit and entrance for ships is between the large island 
and this long sand point of the small island. It is necessary 
to coast along the large island to take the good channel, 
which has everywhere a fathom and a half and two fathoms 
of water. [194] Setting out from this place, it is necessary 
to enter into the Baye des Chaleurs and to make the circuit 
of it, in going to Isle Percée. 


[195] CHAPTER VIII 


Description of Isle S. ‘ean and of the other Islands which are 
in the Great Bay of Saint Laurent as far as its entrance, 
including Isle de Sable; and of all which concerns them, 
whether in regard to the land, to the woods, to the fishing, 
hunting, rivers, and other particulars. 


EFORE entering into the Baye des Chaleurs, I will 
here give you the description of the Isle of Saint Jean,’ 
and of all the other islands which are in the Great 

Bay of Saint Laurent. 

I take up again my itinerary [196] at the great entrance 
which is between Cap de Rest [Cape Ray] in the Isle de 
Terre neufve | Newfoundland] and Cap de Nort [Cape North] 
in the Island of Cap Breton. In this space one meets with the 
Island of Saint Paul,’ which is distant about five leagues from 
Cap de Nort, and eighteen from Cap de Rest. Thence 
entering twenty leagues into the Great Bay of S. Laurent, 
one comes to the Isles aux Oiseaux [Bird Islands].* They 
bear this name because of the great number [of birds] which 
are found there. And if the fishing vessels which enter this 
bay have good weather in passing, they send ashore their 
boats and load them with eggs and with birds. Then passing 


along the Isles Ramées,* which are seven in number spread 


| The old name for Prince Edward Island, of uncertain origin but ancient ; 
discussed in 7ransactions of the Royal Society of Canada, V11., 1889, ii. 45, 53; 
and by S. E. Dawson, in the same, XII. 1894, ii. 51. 
* Used apparently by Cartier in 1536, by Champlain in 1603, and still in use. 
’ Thus named, descriptively, by Cartier in 1534, and still called Bird Rocks. 
4 The early name for the main group now called the Magdalen Islands ; 


its first known appearance is in accounts of voyages to them between 1590 
205 


206 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


along the Island of Cap Breton at seven or eight leagues out 
to sea, [197] there is passage between the two for large vessels.’ 
I have passed through there in a vessel of five hundred tons 
which I was taking to Miscou to make the fishery and to 
carry provisions to my establishment. At the end of the 
Isles Ramees is the Isle de la Magdeleine,? which is much 
larger than all the others. There is a little harbour for vessels 
of eighty or a hundred tons. The fishery for Cod is abundant, 
[and] Seals are also found there. The English have tried 
to settle there already a number of times, but I have chased 
them thence.’ The French have been in possession of those 
places from time immemorial, and it is not just for them |the 
English] to come to trouble us in our very ancient concessions 
when we leave them [198] to enjoy in peace so many new 
colonies which they have established in our vicinity.* Besides 


and 1597, given by Hakluyt; also used by Champlain as /s/es ramées-brion. 
The name is now applied to a small group on the south shore of Newfound- 
land. The origin of the name is unknown, but it may represent a corruption of 
some word applied to them by Cartier on his first voyage. On his map, and 
also later in his book (page 199), Denys applies to them the name Brion. 

1 This phrase, “between the two,” means, I believe, between the Bird 
Islands and the Ramées or Magdalen group, though it reads as if it meant 
between the Magdalens and Cape Breton. 

2 The name appears first on Champlain’s map of 1632, applied, as our 
author uses it, to the largest island, the present Amherst Island, whence it has 
gradually extended to include the entire group. 

3 The only confirmation of this statement I have been able to find is in a 
Memoir on the French Dominions in America: Canada, 1504-1706, which is 
translated in the Documentary History of New York, 1X. 783, and reads: 
**Sieur Denis was appointed governor of Accadia extending from Cape de 
Rosiers to Cape de Canseaux. ... The English of Boston having come to 
establish themselves in his government and built a fort there, he expelled them 
from it.” It is rather remarkable that no other mention of such an event 
occurs in any of our historical records, at least so far as I can find. No doubt 
these English were small parties of adventurers in pursuit of the valuable 
walrus which formerly abounded there. The best descriptive account of these 
islands is given by S. G. W. Benjamin, in the Century Magazine for April 
1884, while an excellent scientific account by G. Patterson is in the 7vamsactions 
of the Nova Scotzan Institute of Natural Science, New Ser., I., 1891, 31-57. 

* Denys refers to those, of course, at the Penobscot and thence west to the 
Kennebec, which the French considered their boundary. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VIII 207 


they do not permit any Frenchman to make a fishery any- 
where whatsoever on their coast. By the same right they 
ought not to make it on ours. They have nevertheless 
come to make it on Isle de Sable‘ [Sable Island], which is 
fifteen leagues from Cap Breton in the Bay of Campseaux. 
This island was filled with cattle | vaches|, but when they came 
there to live they destroyed all these during the sojourn that 
they have made there.” They designed also to make a fishery 
for Walrus, but they were not able to accomplish it, and were 
constrained to abandon it. ‘There is in its middle a pond 
of fresh water, and some little grass, which pushes [199] up 
through the sand. It has all of twenty or twenty-five leagues of 
length, and a cannon-shot of breadth. It is dangerous because 
of the flats which it has on the margin of the sea, and these 
extend three or four leagues out and are all shallow. ‘They are 
dry at low water for more than a league. ‘There is no longer 
anything upon it except the pond and some grass, there being no 
cattle left. These have been killed solely to obtain their skins. 

Returning to our Islands of Brion* and Magdeleine, these 
are only rocks, and upon them are Firs intermingled with 
little Birches. At eight or ten leagues therefrom one meets 
with Isle Saint Jean, upon the route to Isle Percée. One 
passes in view of it [or not] according to the direction [200] 


* The name first appears as J. de Sablon, that is, “Isle of Sand,’ upon 
Freire’s map of 1546, and persists, corrupted by the English to Sable Island. 
A full description of this interesting place, of which our author’s account is 
in general accurate, is contained in G. Patterson’s excellent paper in the 
Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, X11., 1894, il. 3-49. This paper 
contains references to all earlier literature. Compare also Slafter’s note in 
Otis’s translation of Champlain, II. 9. 

* This incident is well known, as described by Hannay (Atstory of Acadia, 
136) and Patterson (of. cz¢., 10), but it appears that the cattle were killed rather 
by French than by English. 

° The island still bearing this name (sometimes corrupted to Bryon and 
Byron) was so named by Cartier in 1534 in honour of a prominent admiral. 
Our author, however, both in this passage and on his map, extends the name 
to almost the entire group. Compare the note under his name Ramées two 
pages earlier. 


208 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


of the winds. It is necessary not to approach near to it, for 
all the coast on this side of the Bay is nothing but sand, 
which forms flats for more than a league out to sea. This 
island has all of twenty-five or thirty leagues of length, and one 
league of breadth in the middle. It is almost the shape of 
a crescent, and pointed at the two ends. The side which is 
opposite the mainland is bordered with rocks. There are two 
coves, through which two rivers pass to discharge into the 
sea.. Longboats are able to enter, for within are a kind of 
small harbours. On this side the woods are very fine. Such 
land as it has seems rather good. This island is covered with 
almost nothing but Firs mingled with some Beeches and 
Birches. On the side [201] which faces the Great Bay 
there are also two harbours,” from which issue two little 
streams, but the entrances are very shallow, [though] there is 
water enough within. I once entered that which is nearest to 
the point of Miscou. I have seen there three large Basque 
vessels, but, in order to enter, it was necessary to discharge 
them of everything in the roadstead, to carry everything on 
shore, and to leave only the ballast to sustain the vessel. 
Then it was necessary to lay her upon her side as though she 
was careened, then to tow her inside with the boats. They 
came out in the same manner, after which all the fish were 
taken to the roadstead for loading. One can no more go there 
at present, its entrances being closed up, and the [202] risk too 
great. [hat which induced them to go there was the abund- 
ance of fish which exists on this coast. Besides they were 
near the Banc aux Orphelins* [Orphan Bank] on which the 


1 Doubtless the present Hillsborough Bay and Bedeque Bay. 

2 Judging from our author’s map alone these would be the present Rich- 
mond Bay, together with another much farther east, either Tracadie Harbour 
or Saint Peters Bay. But it seems more probable he had in mind the two 
larger harbours, Richmond Bay and Cascumpeque Bay; of these the latter 
would be the one nearest Miscou of which he speaks below. 

8 The name appears in Champlain, and is doubtless much older, and it persists 
in both the English and French forms. This bank is still a great fishing place. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VIII 209 


fish are as large as those of the Grand Banc. The sea enters 
very far into parts of this island, and thus produces great 
meadows, and many ponds.’ In all these places waterfowl 
are abundant, and there occurs plenty of feeding-ground. 
They make their nests, and moult, there. One finds here 
Cranes, [and] Geese white and gray as in France. As for 
Moose, there are none of them. There are Caribou, which 
are another species of Moose. They have not such strong 
antlers: the hair is denser and longer, and nearly all white. 
They are [203] excellent to eat. Their flesh is whiter than 
that of Moose. Few of them are found there; the Indians 
find them too good to let them increase. This beast has the 
brain divided into two by a membrane which makes it like 
two brains.” 


1 In a general way our author’s account of Prince Edward Island is accu- 
rate, though he greatly underestimates its size ; but his brevity and failure to 
do justice to its resources and attractions show that he was personally little 
acquainted with it. Further it is to be remembered that in 1663 and 1664, as 
shown in the second volume, page 238, of his book, this island, though within 
his own grant, was regranted to Sieur Doublet and others. Hence our author 
had, perhaps, a personal reason for not waxing enthusiastic over its advantages. 

2 Our author does not again mention the caribou even in his natural history 
in the second volume. His account is correct in general, except as to the peculi- 
arity about the brain, which is simply a bit of folk-fiction. 


[204 | CHAPTER IX 


Description of the Baye des Chaleurs, and of all the remainder of 
the coast of the Great Bay as far as the entrance of the great 
River of Saint Laurent, comprising therein all the rivers, 
ports, and harbours ; the qualities of the lands, of the woods, 
of the kinds of fishing, of hunting, €Sc. 


RETURN to enter into the Baye des Chaleurs." Having 
set out from the harbour of Miscou, [and] leaving 
the large Isle [de Miscou] on the left, one coasts 
about three leagues along it, after which is found the [205] 
little passage ® which comes from the Bay of Miramichy, of 
which I have already indicated the entrance to you earlier. 
This passage is suitable for longboats which one would wish 
to take through it into the Baye des Chaleurs, and to coast 
along the Isles of Tousquet,’ which are properly speaking only 


1 Thus named by Cartier in 1534 for the heat he experienced there in July 
of that year, and so called down to this day. 

2 The little passage through Shippegan Gully mentioned earlier, on page 
188 of our author’s book. It was originally navigable only for boats, but is 
now improved by dredging. 

3 The “Isles de Tousquet” introduce us to another curious feature of our 
author’s book ; for not only do no islands of such name exist in this region, 
but on his map he calls them the Isles of Caraquet. Further, on page 188, in 
speaking of this same passage which runs past these islands, he calls it the 
“ Passage of Caraquet.” Hence I infer that the word Tousquet is either a slip 
of the author’s mind in this place (there are Tousquet Islands near Cape Sable 
described by him earlier, on page 62 of this volume of his book) or else, as is 
far more likely, is a bad misprint of the compositor. One might suppose that 
Caraquet and not Tousquet is the misprint, but two considerations negative 
this :—first, Caraquet is used in the text on page 188, and, second, the fine map 
of the Gulf made in 1685 by Emanuel Jumeau, and which shows no influence 
whatever of Denys, has Caraquet with no trace of Tousquet. The origin of the 


name Caraquet is unknown, though it is presumably Micmac Indian. 
210 


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DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 211 


flats or banks of sand of which a part are dry at low tide. 
But at the large island there are two places in which the 
fishing vessels can anchor. It is necessary to enter by the 
Baye des Chaleurs to reach them. ‘Two canals or channels 
are found, of which one goes to one end of the island and 
one to the other end, where the vessels anchor between four 
radiating cables. The large island of Tousquet has four to 
five leagues of circuit; it [206] has two large coves in which 
vessels anchor. These are near their stagings. They have 
gravel beaches and flakes in order to dry their fish. The 
fishery is very good in those parts. ‘The Herring is there in 
abundance as well as the Mackerel. A great quantity 1s 
taken at the stagings, although the greater part of the coast 
is only sand and fine gravel which the sea rolls on the shore. 
It makes that which is called gravel [grave], suitable for 
drying fish. In some places are only rocks. As for the 
woods, the greater part are Firs. In the interior of the 
island there are found some fine trees. The other island’ is 
not so large; as for the land and the woods they are much 
the same thing. [207] The hunting is good in all these 


islands, which are surrounded by coves and meadows, where 


the game finds plenty of feeding ground. The shores are 
lined with Rose-bushes, Peas and wild Raspberries. This Bay 
of Tousquet has about three to four leagues of extent. 

Setting out from there, and entering the Baye des Chaleurs, 
One coasts ten leagues along cliffs at the foot of which beats 
the sea. It is such that if a ship should be lost there, no 
one could be saved. The top is covered with poor little 
Firs. This being passed, one finds a little river,” of which 
the entrance is fit for nothing but boats, and at high tide only. 

1 The identity of these islands seems plain in general ; they can be only 
Pokesuedie (with the two coves near Point Marcelle), Little Pokesuedie (locally 
L’llette) and Caraquet Island. But on our author’s map they are unrecog- 
nisable. The Bay of Tousquet would be Caraquet Bay. 


* This account of the coast is accurate, and the distance is about correct. 
The little river is apparently Teagues Brook. 


212 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


Three leagues farther along there is a big cove [208] from 
which a point advancing into the sea makes one side of 
the entrance of the basin of Nepegiguit.". The whole extent 
of this large cove is a league of length. It has behind it 
large and fine meadows, which extend a good half league 
beyond the entrance of the basin. This has more than a 
league and a half of length, and nearly one of breadth. At 
three leagues outside, and opposite its entrance in the sea, 
there are flats, of which the half are dry at low water.” There 
remains a little canal by which boats can enter about a musket 
shot into the basin, and all the rest of the basin is dry at 
low tide. So great a quantity of Wild Geese, Ducks, and 
Brant is seen there that it [209] is not believable, and 
they all make so great a noise at night that one has trouble 
to sleep. When the tide rises they retire to the coast, where 
one can kill them in plenty from the shelter of the woods. 
Four rivers empty into this basin, of which three come from 
the hills which are visible at their heads; and the other 
which is larger, falls into this basin on the left side in entering.’ 
It is that by which one goes and comes from Miramichy, but ' 
it is only for canoes. An abundance of Salmon ascend the 
three others, and there has never [elsewhere] been seen such 
an abundance of all kinds of shellfish, of Flounders, and of / 
Lobsters as are found on these flats. There is hardly any-- 
thing but meadows [210] on both sides of this basin, beyond — 


1 Of Micmac Indian origin: Winpekijawik, meaning “ rough water,” which — 
is descriptive. It appears first in a Jesuzt Relation of 1643. It is now commonly ~ 
spelled Nepisiguit. 

2 There is some mistake here, as no such flats exist, though sandy shallows © 
do extend for some distance out on each side of the entrance to the basin. 

3 As Nepisiguit was our author’s residence while his book was being © 
written, or at all events just before it was written, his description of the place — 
ought to be, and in fact is, accurate. The larger river on the left is the 
Nepisiguit, or Big River, which has a portage to Miramichi, as Denys mentions ~ 
earlier, on page 183 of this volume of his book. The falls and rapids begin ~ 
three miles from its mouth. The other rivers are the Little, Middle, and 
Tetagouche. 


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AMERICA. CHAP. IX 213 


which the land is crowded with fine trees of all the kinds 
which I have mentioned earlier. There is also on the right in 
entering a large point of sand, which corresponds and is about 
opposite to the other, and these render the entrance to the 
basin narrow. When the sea rises and enters there, one 
catches at this entrance a great number of Mackerel. There 
also enter there Sturgeons which are more than six feet in 
length, and which go out again with the tide, as do an 
abundance of Salmon which ascend the rivers. My establish- 
ment of Nepigiguit is on the border of this basin, at a league 
on the right from its entrance.t_ At low water a canoe could 
scarcely approach it. It is there that I have been [211] 


obliged to retire after the burning of my Fort of Saint Pierre 


in the Island of Cap Breton.” My house there is flanked by 


1 Our author’s description, confirmed by local tradition, seems to leave no 
doubt as to the location of his establishment. It stood on low upland on 
Fergusons Point (the Pointe au Pére of old maps), where various remains,— 
cannon balls, gun locks, and even quarried stone, are said to have been 
found. The place is now washed by the 
highest tides, and all traces of his buildings 
have consequently vanished. But farther 
inland on the upland stands an old willow, 
clearly shown in the accompanying photo- 
graph, and this tree is said to mark an ancient 
burial-place where, tradition asserts, lie buried 
some priests and “‘a French admiral.” This 
admiral I take to be our author, Nicolas 
Denys, who seems to have died at Bathurst 
(compare page 17 of this work). It is 
pleasing to think that Denys, La Tour, 
D’Aulnay, and Razilly all sleep in their 
beloved Acadia. 

A further account of this site, and of 
the other early establishments around this n DS 
basin, is in Transactions of the Royal (AY 7 L Scale Lmiles bLinch 
Society of Canada, V., 1899, ii. 300, and 
XII., 1906, ii. 139. Dionne’s paper on “Miscou” and Thwaites’ /esuz¢ 
Relations (XX1V. 310), also have matter on this subject. Father Le Clercq 
was there in 1677, and gives some interesting facts thereon in his ouvelle 
Relation of 1691 (203 et seg.) 

* The burning of his fort at Saint Peters occurred in the winter of 1668-69, 

P 


214. DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


four little bastions with a palisade, of which the stakes are 
eighteen feet in height, with six pieces of cannon in batteries. 
The lands are not of the best: there are rocks in some places. 
I have there a large garden in which the land is good for vege- 
tables, which come on in a marvellous way. I have also sown 
the seeds of Pears and Apples, which have come up and are 
well established, although this is the coldest place that I have, 
and the one where there is most snow. The Peas and the Wheat 
come on passably well; the Raspberries and the Strawberries 
are abundant everywhere. 

[212] Leaving Nepegiguit to finish my route towards 
Isle Percee, after having made two leagues there is found a 
little river, into which a boat can enter about half a league, 
while canoes can ascend it much higher.* There enter it Salmon 
of an extraordinary length; some have been taken of six feet 
in length. Extremely good hunting also is found there. 
The land is good. The trees are fine of all) the species 
[earlier] mentioned. 

About three leagues farther along there is found a great 
bay which has four leagues across its entrance, and eighteen 
to twenty leagues of depth. The lands are high and nearly 
all hills of rocks. ‘There are several little streams and [213] 
rivers which fall into this bay. There are some by which the 
Indians are able to ascend so far into the country that by 
means of some canoe portages they enter into lakes which 
discharge into the great river of Saint Laurens, whence they 
go to Kebec. Such is the arrangement that from Nepegiguit 


as shown earlier, under page 19 of this volume of our author’s book. Hence, 
no doubt, he came here to live in the summer of 1669, and it was probably 
at this very place that these pages of his book were written. His establishment 
here was very much older, however, and was no doubt founded in 1652, as 
shown earlier, at page 12 of the present work. 

1 The distance would imply that this river, which on our authors map is 
called R. du Saumon (or, misprinted, Sazzfoz) is the Nigadoo; but the 
possibility of boats ascending it for half a league would seem better to fit 
Saint Peters River. I have found no other mention of the big salmon. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 215 


to the great river they take only three days ordinarily to 
cover this route.' There are also low lands found in this 
bay, and great coves where the sea enters, which produces 
meadows and ponds, and here is found a great abundance of 
all kinds of game. The land there is good in some spots; the 
woods are fine, such as Ashes, Birches, Black Birches, Maples, 
Cedars and [214] all other kinds of trees. Upon the slopes 
of the hills are found the same trees, but with many Firs 
and Pines. Setting out from this large bay, which is called 
the Bay of Ristigouche, and continuing the route, one finds 
still about five or six leagues of high lands and rocks. These 
being passed the land becomes lower, and a great cove is met 
with in which the sea forms meadows and ponds; this is a 
country for hunting.” And on the land which is at the back 
of these meadows, there are very fine trees. [hen one coasts 
two good leagues of land which projects towards the sea, 
and which thus forms a cape, called Petit Paspec-biac.° 
Here is a river in which boats are placed [215] for shelter, 


1 Our author treats the western part of Bay Chaleur, west of a line from 
Belledune Point to Bonaventure Point, as a separate bay, the Bay of Resti- 
gouche. But he makes its entrance far too narrow (it is really fully eighteen 
miles), especially upon his map, which grotesquely distorts the topography of 
this bay. Otherwise his account is fairly good, though it fails to do justice 
to that fine country, which, I suspect, Denys had never, or at least but rarely, 
visited. There are several portage routes from the Restigouche to the Saint 
Lawrence (as described in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, V., 1899, 
ii. 257), but our author refers, no doubt, to that vzé the Metapedia and Matane, 
the same of which Champlain early made mention. I cannot believe, however, 
that the Indians traversed this long and difficult route so quickly. The low 
lands and ponds refer to the little lagoons at the mouths of some of the rivers 
along the New Brunswick coast, and to Tracadigash Point on the north side. 

* This can only be the Bonaventure River. 

* The point must be Bonaventure Point, which on the fine Franquelin and 
de Meulles’ map of 1686 is named Pefchediachiche, that is, “ Little Pepchediach” 
(chiche meaning “little” in Micmac Indian), which latter name is applied to our 
Paspebiac. Its meaning is not plain; it is discussed in Rouillard’s Moms 
Géographiques ... empruntés aux langues sauvages (Quebec, 1906), and Roy’s 
Noms Géographigues de la Province de Quebec (Quebec, 1906). I think it 
possible the real Little Paspebiac was at New Carlisle, where there is a small 
lagoon. 


216 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


when they come to make their degrat from Grand Paspecbiac,’ 
which is four leagues from there. I will explain what the 
degrat is when I come to treat of the fishery.” The Cod is 
present at one place when it is absent at the other, but all 
the fishing vessels anchor at the Grand. The four leagues 
of coast are high and rocky, and at their foot the sea beats 
at high tide. This being passed one finds a great point of 
gravel, mingled with sand, which the sea’ has collected; it 
is this which is called grave, and upon which the fishermen 
dry their fish. At the point of this beach there is an entrance 
for boats into which the tide rises and makes great meadows 
and [216] ponds. Behind this river® are found plenty of 
Mussels, Flounders, Lobsters, and abundance of game. At 
the time for Pigeons there come an infinity of them, and of 
Geese white and gray. But they only tarry to feed, and then 
they pass on. A part go into the basin of Nepegiguit, and 
as soon as some arise others settle in their place. This beach 
forms a great cove in which fishing vessels anchor with four 
cables, for it is properly nothing but a roadstead, though it 
is not bad. The holding-ground is good near the land; two 
vessels can hold there at their ease in the middle of the cove.* 

In order to leave this place, it is necessary to double a 
great point of sand, after which one finds [217] another 
cove having about a league of depth. Then one coasts 
along a™league of steep rocks, at the end of which occurs 
yet another cove; this penetrates a good quarter of a league 
inland,*and in its extremity isa little river which can only be 


1 On the origin of this name, consult the note on preceding page. It appears 
first on the Sanson map of 1656 as Crotfapfequiac. Judging from the charts, 
sailing directions, and from the very full and appreciative description by 
S. G. W. Benjamin in the Cextury Magazine for March 1884, our author's 
description is accurate. To this day Paspebiac is the most important fishing 
centre in Bay Chaleur. 

2 He explains it fully in Volume II. page 1091. 

3 Apparently hejmeans inside the entrance. 

4 This account is in agreement with that given in the modern sailing 
directions. 


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AMERICA. CHAP. IX 217 


entered by boats.’ The land inside is good, and the woods 
very fine. From this river to Port Daniel? there are three to 
four leagues which are still coasts with only cliff-like rocks, 
at the foot of which beats the sea; so that all the way from 
Paspecbiac to Port Daniel no one could save himself from a 
shipwreck which might happen there, excepting in the little 
river or at Port Daniel. Its entrance has a good [218] half 
league of opening ; the two sides are nothing but rather high 
rocks. Its left in entering has rocks which advance towards 
the water in such manner that it is necessary to range the 
shore on the right in order to enter there. A ship cannot 
enter farther than a good quarter of a league. There it is 
possible to anchor. Opposite the anchorage is a great sandy 
cove on the right, where longboats go to anchor. En- 
tering farther along the same side, there is a great hill of 
rock which is of limestone. On the other side are flats 
which become dry at low water. There is a sandy point 
opposite the rock which makes a little strait where longboats 
can pass, and then one enters into a great basin which has 
[219] a full league of depth and little less of breadth. There 
fall into it two large streams and other small ones. This 
makes a channel which is only for canoes; all the rest is dry 
at low water. It is the very place that game requires, of 
which accordingly there is a great abundance of all kinds, 
Shellfish are never wanting on the flats, nor are Lobsters. 
There are also meadows all along this basin. The lands there 
are fine and low, all covered with very beautiful trees, and of 
all the kinds which I can have mentioned. This place is very 
pleasing.® 

Setting out from Port Daniel one coasts along two leagues 

1 Evidently Nouvelle River. 

* This name first occurs (in Latin) on the Creuxius map of 1660. Possibly 


it was named for the Captain Daniel who built the fort at Saint Annes, Cape 
Breton ; but of this there is no evidence. 


* According to the charts, maps, and sailing directions, this account of Port 
Daniel is accurate; our author must have known it well. 


218 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


more of rocks, after which occurs [220] a cape of rock, 
very high; this is called Pointe au Maquereau,' and opposite 
thereto great quantities of them are caught. There is also 
good fishing for Cod. This cape is twelve leagues from Cap 
d’Espoir, and between the two is a great cove which is all of 
fifteen leagues around. There are three rivers falling into 
it.” ‘The Cod is very abundant in all this bay, but there is 
no place to keep a ship, unless between two islands? which 
are a good league from Pointe au Maquereau ; yet this could 
only be a vessel of sixty or eighty tons. Three leagues farther 
along, continuing to follow the coast from this great cove, is 
found a little river of which the entrance [221]| is narrow. 
The sea there runs with a great current. Longboats can 
enter very easily provided one knows its entrance, for it is not 
straight. Being inside there is a large basin of two leagues 
of circuit, of which a part becomes dry.* The Mussels, 
the shellfish, and the Oysters® are there in abundance, and a 
great quantity of game. This place is beautiful and pleasing ; 
the land is good and flat; the trees are fine, mostly Cedars, 
Pines, Firs, around the margins, and farther inland, Maples, 
Ashes, Birches, Black Birches, Oaks, and other kinds of 
woods. Five leagues farther along one comes to another river 
called the Little River.6 There also nothing can enter but 
longboats. The entrance [222] is easier, since there is but 


1 The earliest use of the name known to me. It still persists.. 

2 The Pabos, Little Pabos, and Grand Rivers. 

3 The two little Mahy Islands of the charts. 

* Pabos River, made unmistakable by its characteristic basin; it is 
named on our authors map R. au mouclo, of which I do not know the 
meaning. 

5 This is without doubt an error of our author’s. The oyster does not now 
occur farther north than Caraquet, and physiographic reasons would make it un- 
likely that it has existed on the north side of the bay within recent times if ever. 
Moreover, I am informed by Rev. Father Bossé, of Pabos, that no oysters now 
occur, or are known to the oldest residents to have ever occurred, at this place 
or elsewhere on the north side of Bay Chaleur. 

 § Plainly Little Pabos River, though it is only two leagues beyond the 
preceding. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 219 


one strait to which the land leads. Inside it is not so large 
as the other. There is also more water, and it can be entered 
farther. The land is very nearly the same, both as to the 
soil and also as to the trees. The fishery for shellfish and 
the hunting is abundant, and besides the Mackerel is caught 
there. Four leagues farther along is found another river, 
called Grande Riviere,* because it is deeper; but the entrance 
to it is more difficult in that there is a bar. Here is found 
a dike of gravel and sand, which the sea brings up. The 
entrance is sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other, 
because it is in the extremity of the bay, and when the wind 
comes [223] from the sea in a storm, it drives right into the 
entrance and fills it with gravel, until the accumulation of the 
water which has been confined for some time exerts enough 
power to repulse this obstacle, and to make a free opening in 
the place where the tempest had accumulated the least gravel. 
It is in these two rivers that it has been customary for the 
batteaus of the Normans? from the Banc aux Orphelins to 
seek safety when they are too hard pressed by a storm whilst 
their ships are at Isle Percée. The [latter place] is eighteen or 
twenty leagues from Banc aux Orphelins, [and] they are not 
able to reach it unless the wind serves them to seek safety 
towards their vessels; otherwise they have no [224] other 
retreat than in these two rivers. A number of these boats 
were formerly lost there, [but] at present there no longer 
come so many Normans. The trade in furs is not so good 


1 The first use of the name, by which it is still called. It is very likely that 
here, as in some other cases, the adjective grande refers not to its size but to 
its Indian use as a “grand chemin,” or highway, to other streams. In this 
case the route of travel was, perhaps, vzé Portage Brook to Mal Bay. Compare 
the note under page 149 of this volume of our author’s book. 

2 This reference to the Normans is of interest, because this coast was first 
settled by Norman fishermen, some of whom married Indian women. Docu- 
ments of 1760 in the Canadian Archives (Report for 1887, CCXXIII.), give 
seventeen families of Normandes and Métisses as living at Gaspé, Pabos, &c. 
Some of their descendants settled at Caraquet, New Brunswick, and their 
history is traced in Acadiensis for April 1907. 


220 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


there as formerly. They sought that much more than the 
Cod. 

The inner part of the Grande Riviere is not large, although 
there is some meadow. ‘The hunting is no longer so good as 
in other places. The lands are higher, so there are more 
Firs than in other places. Continuing the same route about 
six leagues the coast is of high lands and of rocks, at the 
foot of which the sea beats. The top is crowded with Firs, 
with some other trees intermingled. This coast is dangerous. 
[225] A Basque vessel was lost here six or seven years ago. 
The end of this coast is Cap d’Espoir,’ distant four leagues 
from Isle Percée, and one league from Cap Enrage.” In this 
place there are found very often two contrary winds; a vessel, 
for example, will come from Miscou or Baye des Chaleurs, 
bringing a fine breeze of wind behind her; another vessel 
will come from Bay des Molués or Isle Percée, also with a wind 
behind, which is the opposite to that of the other. When they 
approach these capes they both find the wind altogether calm; 
or else it must happen that one of the two winds outweighs 
the other and repulses it, which occurs often in this place.® 
Thence to Isle Percee [226] all the coast is very high, of flat- 
topped rocks; the sea beats against their feet, and when a 
shipwreck happens there, it is hopeless. . But in the middle of 
it there is found a little cove in which a boat can be placed 
under cover.* 


1 First appears on Champlain’s map of 1632. It is corrupted to Cape 
Despair on most maps. It has been claimed that Cartier’s Cap ad’ Espérance 
(on some early maps appearing as Cap a@’Espoir), applied in 1534 to Cape 
Miscou, has been transferred to this place by some cartographical error. But 
the evidence therefor is not clear. 

* Cap Enragé I find upon a single MS. map, that of Sieur  Hermitte of 
1727, applied apparently to the present White Head near Percé, and it is here, 
apparently, our author puts it on his own map. It is, of course, descriptive. 

3 A confirmation of this statement about the winds, though for a little farther 
west, is given in S. G. W. Benjamin’s account of this region in the Century 
Magazine for March, 1884, 723. 

* Evidently Ance 4 Beaufils. 


| 
: 
} 
| 


| 
| 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 221 


Isle Percée1 is a great rock, which must be fifty to sixty 
fathoms in height, [and is] steep clear to the bottom on both 
sides. It must be three or four fathoms in breadth. At low 
tide one can go on firm ground, dry-shod, all around it. It 
must be three hundred and fifty or four hundred feet long. 
It has been much longer, extending formerly as far as Isle de 
Bonne-avanture, but the sea has eaten it out at the foot which 
has made it fall. I have seen [227] it when it had only one 
opening, in the form of an arcade, through which a boat 
passed under sail. It is this which has given it the name of 
Isle Percée. ‘There have since been formed two others, which 
are not so large; but these at present are growing every day. 
There is an appearance as if these openings weakened its 
foundation and they will finally cause its fall, after which vessels 
will no longer be able to remain there. All those which come 
here to make their fishery anchor under shelter of this island. 
At one or two cables’ lengths from it there are three or 
four fathoms of water, | but] moving away from it, one finds 
always a greater depth. Ships are all anchored by four 
cables, and place floats or pieces of wood [228] of cedar on 


their cables to support these, for fear of the rocks which 


are on the bottom. When bad weather comes from the sea, 
it throws against the island a swell which beats against it ; this 
makes a surf which returns against the ships, and prevents 


1 Isle Percée or Percé Rock, so called in description of its great arched 
opening which is large enough to allow a boat under sail to pass. The name 
first occurs in Champlain in 1603. It is 288 feet high, about a third of a mile 
long, very narrow, and separated from the mainland by a bar dry at low water. 
It is a striking feature of a remarkably striking and beautiful region, and has 
often been described and figured. Full accounts of it and the neighbouring 
coasts are given by Pye, in his Canadian Scenery, District of Gaspé (Mon- 
treal, 1866) ; by Faucher de Saint Maurice, in his Promenades dans le Golfe 
Saint-Laurent (Quebec, 1881) ; by S.G. W. Benjamin, in the Century Magazine 
for March 1884 ; by J.G. H. Creighton, in Pzcturesgue Canada; in Sweetser’s 
Maritime Provinces (1894); in Bacon’s Saint Lawrence River (New York, 
1906), and in some other books. An especially illustrative series of photo- 
graphs of the Rock is in Clarke’s sketch of the geology of Percé in the Refort 
of the New York State Paleontologist for 1903. 


222 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


the cables from working. At a distance of four or five cables 
from the island, there are three rocks which are covered at 
high tide, and the farthest out is two or three cable lengths 
from the shore. These rocks also break the force of the sea, 
which brings it about that it is not so rough.* 

I have seen there as many as eleven fishing vessels which 
have all loaded with Cod. The fishery is very abundant. 


1 They are shown as reefs upon the accompanying map. 

2 Percé is still the centre of a fishery of the first importance, and the village 
is one of the largest in the Gaspé Peninsula. 

This place is of especial interest to our present subject from the fact that 
other members of the Denys family early settled here and established a 
sedentary fishery. This interesting phase of the history of Percé has not yet 
been given in print, but ample materials upon it exist in the manuscripts of the 
Clairambault Collection in the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris. These papers 
I hope to publish in full in a work I have long had in contemplation as a com- 
panion to the present work, a translation of Father Le Clercq’s Nouvelle Rela- 
tion de la Gaspeste. There is also much in Le Tac’s Histoire Chronologigue de 
la Nouvelle France (1689; Paris, 
1888). For a knowledge of the 
localities at Gaspé, which I do not 
yet know myself, I have had to 
depend upon others, and I have 
had much information from Pro- 
fessor J. M. Clarke, of Albany, 
who has written on the geology 
of the region, and especially from 
the Rev. Father Lavoie, of Percé, 
the Rev. Father Bossé, of Sainte 
Adelaide de Pabos, and the Rev. 
Father Sirois, of Barachois, all of 
whom have responded with the 
greatest courtesy and liberality to 
all my inquiries. They have sent 

ey oe ea me far more information than I 
eae : SON st give in this work, but of which I 
sty | hope to make good use later. 

In brief, the facts are these. 
In 1672 July 20, the Intendant Talon granted to Pierre Denys, Sieur de la 
Ronde, a nephew of Nicolas Denys, and to Charles Bazire, one league of 
coast beginning at Isle Percée and extending towards Canso, with as much in 
depth, together with the lands thence around to Ance 4 Gaspé. This grant 
was confirmed as the Seigniory of Isle Percée by the Intendant du Chesneau, 
November 2, 1676. These lands were within the grant to Nicolas Denys, who 


: WAG aS 
Table a Rolant © “ges! 
how Mt Ste Anng yw C 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 223 


A great number of Mackerel are taken [229] and Herring 
for bait, and Smelt. The Caplin’ [/anson] occur also on the 
coast where they run ashore; they are also very good for bait. 
The Cod follow them, which renders the fishery good, and the 
land is not less so. Along the coast which is flat, the fisher- 
men have brought little pebbles to make a beach, in order to 
dry the Cod. Beyond this beach, there are meadows, where 


appears to have protested, but quite in vain (Letter of 1676 mentioned in the 
Bibliography on page 39 of this work). Meantime Pierre Denys went there 
to settle in 1672, was joined by his family in 1673, and established a Recollet 
Mission in 1675, in which year he received Le Clercq. The Clairambault 
documents show that Denys and Bazire built at the present Percé Village 
several buildings for the fishery (which probably stood at North Beach 
where tradition places them) with a chapel (which probably stood on the 
traditional site at Mount Joly), and a house for the priests; while Le Clercq 
shows that later a branch of the establishment, together with a chapel, was 
built on Bonaventure Island, probably in the position of the present 
settlement. In addition, Denys de la Ronde formed a considerable 
settlement, consisting of several buildings with cleared land, &c., intended 
for a winter residence, at Petite Riviére, which is described as two leagues 
from Isle Percée in the bottom of the Baye des Molués, now Mal Bay. 
The facts sent me by the Rev. Fathers Lavoie and Sirois make it seem 
probable almost to certainty that this establishment was on the site of the 
present village of Barachois, which is beside the boat harbour just inside the 
Gully or Tickle. As to the exact place called Petite Riviére, this seems settled 
by Le Clercq, who spent here the winter of 1675-76, and who tells us that the 
basin, now called Barachois, was then called Petite Riviére. Le Clercq speaks 
of the beautiful tongue of land separating the basin from the sea; this tongue 
is now an open beach, but is known to have been formerly densely wooded. 
The Clairambault documents give a full description of the buildings and outfit 
at this settlement. In 1676 Pierre Denys, whose sight was failing, and whose 
business had not been successful, retired from the establishment in favour of 
one of his brothers. But the establishment seems to have languished, for in 
1685 several residents of Percé and Petite Riviere, who had been in the employ 
of Pierre Denys, petitioned Richard Denys de Fronsac, apparently on the 
assumption that the Pierre Denys’ grant had become void and reverted to 
Nicolas Denys, for grants of the lands on which they lived ; and these grants 
were made by him. But in 1687, apparently, Denys de Bonaventure, son of 
Pierre, received from the Intendant Duchesneau a new grant at Percé. All 
these settlements were brought to an end and completely destroyed by the 
English in 1690, as fully described in the pages of Le Clercq. 

1 The identity of this fish is made certain by the fact that the Acadians 
thus use the name to this day, as Dr. A. C. Smith informs me. 


224 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


they build the flakes. These meadows were made by the great 
quantity of Firs which the fishermen have cut down there to 
make their stages, and which they continue to cut down every 
day. All this coast held nothing formerly but Firs; at 
present there are none except the little ones which are spring- 
ing up again. They must [230] at the present time go 
for them to the mountain, which is two musket shots from 
the coast, and bring them upon their shoulders, which is very 
fatiguing. Otherwise they have to go for them in boats to 
the extremity of Baye des Molués. They are necessary for 
making their stages, without which they could not dress the 
Cod. The mountain is very high, and is called the Table a 
Rolant.* It can be seen from the sea for eighteen to twenty 
leagues. It is flat and of square form, which fact has originated 
its name. There are other adjoining mountains, also high. 
These mountains all extend, but become lower, as far as the 
bottom of Baye des Molués, which is three good leagues 
from Isle Percée. [231] There the hunting is good in the 
season for Pigeons; and there the fishermen make great 
slaughter of them, and good cheer. They have gardens, 
where they grow Cabbages, Peas, Beans, and Salad-plants. 
They send men also to hunt in the Baye des Molueés in 
order to live well. But before entering into it let me speak 
of Isle de Bonne-avanture,” which is a league and a half from 


1 Now commonly called Mount Sainte Anne, though the older name, some- 
times printed Zable Roulante, is apparently known locally. This mention of 
the name by our author is its first known use; the “table” is descriptive of 
its remarkable square shape, but the origin of Rolante (or Roland) is wholly 
unknown. Its prominence is as great as our authorstates. A good description 
of it is given by S. G. W. Benjamin, and a photograph is given by Professor 
_ Clarke, in the paper earlier cited (note on page 221). It shows the matter-of-fact 
character of our author that he is not moved to admiration in describing the 
superb natural features of this lofty and rugged but beautiful country. 

2 This name appears first in Champlain, 1603, and persists to this day. Its 
origin is not known, though it is possible it is derived from a vessel of that 
name, as suggested by Roy in his Noms Géographiqgues. The Clairambault 
documents show that the Denys family had here a post or fishing station, 
doubtless as a branch of that at Percé ; hence it seems altogether likely that 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 225 


Isle Percée and opposite it. It is as high as Isle Percée, and of 
oval form. It has two leagues of circuit, and is all covered 
with Firs, amongst which are found also other trees. The 
hunting for Hares there is good. From thirty snares set 
in the evening, one obtains at least twenty Hares the next 
morning. The Pigeons abound there because of the [232] 
quantity of Strawberries and Raspberries of which they are 
fond. As for the fishery it is as good as at Isle Percee, but 
the convenience is not equal to the latter. There is only 
gravel beach for one ship. I have seen three ships at anchor 
there in front of a little cove by which one lands upon this 
island. All the other vessels in this place can have only 
flakes; but it is necessary for a road to be made with Firs, 
rising steadily, with the stages, from the edge of the water as 
high as twelve or fifteen fathoms in height, through which it 
is necessary for them to carry their fish in order to dry it upon 
their flakes. 

Leaving Bonne-aventure and Isle Percée, one enters into 
[233] the Baye des Molués,’ which has four leagues of opening, 
and three of depth. On the side which joins Isle Percée are 
those mountains which run descending as far as its extremity. 
From this bay, in which is the mouth of a little river with a 
bar,” the boats enter [the river] only in fine weather. The sea 
goes dry rather far from its entrance. There is not much 
water inside at low tide, except in a little channel for canoes. 
It has a great extent of flats and meadows, which make the 


this island suggested the title Sieur de Bonaventure which was adopted by 
one of the Denys’ family, and which is used by his descendants to this day. 
The account of the island seems correct, and some families live at the landing 
place of which our author speaks. 

1 The name, meaning Bay of Cod, appears first in Alphonse in 1542 
(Baxters Memoir of Jacques Cartier: New York, 1906, 251), was used by 
Champlain, and was early corrupted, presumably by English fishermen, to Mal 
Bay, in which form (Malbaye) it appears in a MS. by L’Hermitte of 1727, and 
persists to this day. 


* Our author, like Le Clercq, calls the Barachois, or more properly its 
outlet, a little river. 


226 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


hunting abundant, and a fishery for all kinds of shellfish. 
Salmon ascend there in quantity. This place is rather 
pleasing; the land there is good, and all kinds of trees are 
very large. Fine Firs are found there. If the fishermen [234] 
have need of masting, they go after it to this place. Thence 
following the coast to go to the other end of the bay, it is 
necessary to pass four to five leagues of coast, which con- 
tinues always ascending, but not so high as on the other side. 
It is of rocks covered with Firs, and some other little trees of 
Birches and Ashes. Few large ones are found there. This point 
is named the Forillon.’ There is a little island in front of it, 
where the fishermen from Gaspé come to make their degrat 
for taking the cod. From this island in to the River of 
Gaspé,” where the fishing vessels anchor, is considered four good 
leagues ; that is to say, two leagues to the entrance of the river, 
and two to the place where the vessels lie. The fishermen 
have there a [235] fine gravel beach, ample for two big vessels. 
The land in the vicinity of this beach is very high, and 
upon it is a great stretch all covered with grass, and beyond 
this are woods of all sorts, which are not very large, with 
quantities of Firs. A league farther into the river is a cove, 
where one can land.*? On the high land is the place where it 


1 Our author is in error in applying Forillon where he does at Point Saint 
Peter ; it belongs really at the extremity of Cape Gaspé, though the island he 
mentions is, of course, our present Flat Island. The name is first used by 
Champlain, in the form Farillon, of unknown origin, and he applies it to a 
separated island or rock, the Indian name for which is supposed by some 
writers to have originated the name Gaspé. Tradition affirms that this rock 
was formerly a tall column, known in later times as La Vieille, or “the old 
woman ;” but it has now fallen, and there is left only the rock called Flower- 
Pot Rock, or Ship Head, on the charts (compare the sailing directions). But 
the name Forillon was early extended to the lofty narrow peninsula terminating 
in Cape Gaspé. 

2 This name appears first in Alphonse in 1542 (Baxters Memoir of Jacques 
Cartier, 251), and was used by Champlain. It is no doubt of Micmac Indian 
origin, though its meaning is uncertain, as shown by the discussion in 
Rouillard’s Moms Géographiques. 

3 This account of Gaspé is somewhat confused and the distances are 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 227 


has been desired to find a mine of lead.1 Messieurs of the 
Company have been at much expense there, for the reason 
that some persons had brought them some fragments, which 
in fact were good. But it was only from some little veins 
which ran over the rock, and which the strength of the sun 
had purified. For all this mine is [236] nothing other than 
antimony, and that is not abundant. I was acquainted with 
it over twenty years ago. If it had been good I would not 
have left it unused. I have found persons enough who wished 
to undertake it upon the strength of the samples which I had 
shown, but I was never willing, knowing well that I should 
have deceived them. This is something which I am not 
capable of doing, at least not unless I were myself deceived 
without knowing it. Only high mountains appear at the 
head of this river. They are separated from one another, 
[and] all covered with woods. There is fishing for Herring 
at the entrance to this river, and quantities of Mackerel all 
around the anchorage for the vessels. ‘The fishery for the Cod 
there is [237] abundant, as is also the hunting for Pigeons. 
Setting out from this river, one passes a great cape,” and three 
or four leagues from that appears Cap des Roziers,’ which is 


erroneous. But I think our author’s “entrance to the river” is at Sandy Beach, 
and the place for the vessels is at Gaspé Basin, while the “ fine gravel beach ” 
is at Grand Grevé, five miles from Cape Gaspé. This is confirmed by the 
reference to the mines of lead in his next sentence. 

1 The only lead mines at Gaspé known to the Geological Survey are at 
Little Gaspé and Indian Cove, near Grand Grevé; and no doubt these, 
especially the latter, are the ones mentioned by our author, who is mistaken in 
calling it antimony. The Gentlemen of the Company thought it was tin, and 
considered it important enough to be withheld from our author’s concession in 
1653 (compare earlier, page 58 of this work). It was no doubt this mine which 
Father Bailloquet visited with miners in 1665, and did not find good (Thwaites’ 
Jesutt Relations, XLIX. 171). 

* The lofty Cape Gaspé, now sometimes called Le Forillon, projecting as a 
narrow ridge three miles into the sea. 

° This cape was, no doubt, chosen as the boundary of our author’s con- 
cession, because it marks with fair definition the transition on this coast 
between the River and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The name appears first 


228 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH AMERICA 


the limit of my concession. I have never been on that coast ; 
I have only seen it from a distance in passing on the way to 
Kebec. It makes the entrance of the great River of Saint 
Laurent on its southern coast, and limits my concession on 
the northern coast. Such is the extent of the coasts from 
New England, as far as the great River of Saint Laurent, 
and the islands, at least the principal ones. 


on Champlain’s map of 1632. Its origin is not known, but presumably it is 
simply the descriptive word voszers (“rosebushes”). It is an odd coincidence 
that our author’s description of Acadia should both begin (very nearly) and 
end with a cape named Rosier, for a cape just south of the old French fort at 
Castine is so called. In this case, also, as I am informed by the Rev. Dr. 
Burrage, the origin is not known. 


[238] <dricles* concluded between the Sieur Vuak, Knight, and 
Ambassador of the King of Great Britain, deputized by the 
said Lord King, and the Sieurs de Buillon, Councillor of 
Fits Most Christian Majesty in his State and Privy 
Councils, and Bouthiller, Councillor of his Majesty in his 
said Councils, and Secretary of his orders, Commissioners 
deputized by his said Majesty, for the restitution of those 
things which have been taken since the Treaty between the 
two Crowns, the 24th of April, 1629.” 


N behalf of his said Majesty of Great Britain, [239] 

Sieur Isaac Vvak, Knight,® and his Ambassador to 

the Most Christian King, by virtue of the power 

which he has, and which will be inserted at the end 


1 This document, extending from page 238 to page 267, is the Treaty of 
Saint Germain-en-Laye of 1632. It is difficult to understand why our author 
should have inserted it, since its connection with his subject is of the slightest 
—no greater than he indicates upon page 2 of this volume of his book. I can 
only surmise that he happened to possess a copy, thought it a rare document, 
and inserted it with the thought of giving somewhat greater value to his book. 
It is, moreover, badly printed—it has alterations, insertions, omissions, and 
misprints; it ignores the numbers and separation of the articles; and it has 
a part of its matter transposed,—the first and second articles, which ought to 
come first, being interpolated on pages 247-250. 

The treaty has been several times printed: in a contemporary pamphlet 
of eleven pages in 4to; in Le Mercure Francois, XVIII., 1633, 40-47; in 
Leonard’s Recueil des Traitez de Paix, Paris, 1693, Vol. V., and the same, 
Amsterdam et La Haye, 1700, V. 328-329; in Du Mont’s Corps Universel: 
Amsterdam et La Haye, 1728, VI. i. 31-32; in Mémoires des Commissaires du 
Roi: Paris, 1756, 12mo, III. 7-14, and 4to, II. 5; in Collection de Manuscrits: 
Quebec, 1883, I. 86. It has been printed at least once in English—in A 
General Collection of Treatys ... 2nd ed., London, 1732, II. 305-309. On 
several related documents, see Aefort on Canadian Archives, 1883, 120. 

* The Convention of Susa, which should have ended the war, but did not. 

® Sir Isaac Wake, diplomatist, born 1580, well educated, made ambassador 
to France, 1631 ; died at Paris, 1632. 

229 Q 


230 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


of these Presents, has promised and does promise, for and in 
the name of his said Majesty, to give up and restore to 
his said Most Christian Majesty all the places occupied 
in New France, Accadie, and Canadas, by the subjects 
of his said Majesty of Great Britain, and to have them 
removed from the said places. And to this end the said 
Lord Ambassador will deliver, at the time of the passing and 
signature of these presents, to the Commissioners of the Most 
Christian King, in good form, the Power which he has from 
his said Majesty of Great Britain for the restitution of the said 
places, together with the orders of [240] his said Majesty 
to all those who command in Port Royal, the Fort of Kebec 
and Cap Breton, that the said places and forts be given up 
and returned into the hands of whomsoever it may please his 
Most Christian Majesty to designate, eight days after the 
said orders shall have been notified to those who command 
or will command the said places, the said time of eight 
days being given them for taking outside the said places and 
forts, their arms, baggage, merchandise, gold, silver, utensils, 
and generally everything which belongs to them; to whom 
and to all others in the said places is granted the interval of 
three weeks after the said eight days have expired, in order 
during these weeks, or [241] sooner if it can be done, to embark 
upon their ships with their arms, munitions, baggage, gold, 
silver, utensils, merchandise, peltries, and in general every- 
thing which belongs to them, to remove thence into England 
without remaining any longer in the said parts. And since 
it 1s necessary that the English send into the said places to 
retake their people and remove them into England, it 1s 
agreed that General de Caen shall pay the expenses needful 
for the equipment of a ship of two hundred or two hundred 
and fifty tons burden which the English will send into the 
said places, that is to say the hire of the ship to go and return, © 
provisions for the men as well sailors for the management 
of the ship as [242] those who are on land and are to be 


AMERICA 231 


brought off, the pay of these, and in general everything which 
is needful for the equipment of a ship of the said tonnage 
for such a voyage, according to the usage and customs of 
England. And further, as for the genuine and marketable 
merchandise which may remain in the hands of the English 
still unbartered, he will make settlement with them in the said 
places in accordance with its original cost in England, with 
thirty per cent. profit, in consideration of the risks of the sea 
and carriage of the same paid by them. 

Proceeding to the restitution of the said places, by the 
subjects of his said Majesty of Great Britain they will be 
restored in the same state in which they were at the time of 
their capture. [243] The arms and munitions contained in 
the deposition of the Sieur de Champlain, together with the 
merchandise and utensils which were found at Kebec at the 
time of its capture, will be restored in kind or in value, 
according as it is stated in the deposition of the said Sieur 
de Champlain, and will, the contents thereof, together with 
all that is proven by the said deposition to have been found 
in the said place at the time of the capture, be returned and 


left at the said fort into the hands of the French. And it 


anything is wanting from the number of each kind, it will be 
compensated and paid for by the Sieur Philippes Burlamachy, 
to whomsoever shall be designated by his Most Christian 
Majesty, excepting the knives, beaver-skins and proceeds of 
the debts [244] carried off by the English, concerning which 
it has been agreed hereunder, and satisfaction has been given 
to the said General de Caen for and in the name of all those 
who could have any interest therein. 

Further, the Sieur Burlamachy on behalf of his Majesty 
of Great Britain for and in the name of his said Majesty, at 
the request and command of the said Lord Ambassador in 
accord with the order the latter has from the King, and 
also in his proper and private name, has promised and does 
promise to pay to the said General de Caen in two months, 


232 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


from the day and date of the signature of these Presents, 
for all and each of the said peltries, knives, debts due by 
the Indians to the said General de Caen, and other mer- 
chandise to him [245] belonging found in the said Forts of 
Kebec in the year 1629 the sum of 820,700! livres Tours 
currency, and further to have restored and given up to him 
in England the barque named the Helene [with] rigging, 
cannon, munitions and appurtenances according to the memoir 
which has been proved before the Lord of the Council of 
England. 

There shall further be restored to the said General de 
Caen in the establishment of Quebec all the casks of biscuits, 
barrels of peas, prunes, raisins, flour, and other merchandise 
and provisions for bartering which were in the said barque 
when she was taken in the year 1629, together with the 
merchandise belonging to him, which have been unloaded and 
left [246] last year at Kebec in the River S. Laurent, country 
of New France. 

And besides the said Sieur Burlamachy promises, in the 
same name as above, to pay or have paid in Paris to him 
whom his Most Christian Majesty shall designate, the sum of 
sixty thousand six hundred and two livres Tours currency 
within the said time, for the ships the Gabriel of Saint Gilles, 
Sainte Anne of Havre de Grace, the Trinité of the Sables 
d’Olone, the Saint Laurent of Saint Malo, and the Cap du 
Ciel of Calais, their cannon, munitions, rigging, cordages, 
provisions, merchandise, and in general everything comprised 
in the inventories and estimates of the said ships made by the 
Judges of the Admiralty in England. Likewise [shall be paid] 
for the barque [247] @’avis sent by the associates of Captain 
Bontemps, with her cannon, munitions, rigging, furniture, 
merchandise and provisions, the sum which it will be found 
that the said barque and merchandise, rigging, cannon and 


1 In another copy of the Treaty this reads 82,700, which is without doubt 
correct. 


| 


AMERICA 233 


munitions will be found worth when sold or valued by the 
order of the Judges of Admiralty of England, and the same 
for the vessel given by the said Bontemps to the English 
returning to England, according to the valuation which will 
have been made of her as above. } 
As also on behalf of his Most Christian Majesty, 
according to the Power which he has given to the Sieurs de 
Bullion, Councillor of the King in his State and Privy 
Councils, and Bouthillier, also Councillor of the King [248 | 
in the said Councils, and Secretary of his Commands, of 
which a copy will be inserted at the end of these presents, 
it is promised and agreed that the Sieurs Lumague or 
Vanelly shall give caution and security in the name of his 
said Majesty, and in their own personal and private name, this 
day date of these Presents, to pay within the space of two 
months, counting from the day of the said date, to the said 
Ambassador, or to him whom he shall indicate in the city of 
Paris, the sum of sixty-four thousand two hundred and forty- 
six livres, four sols, three deniers Tours currency, for the 
merchandise of the ship the Jacques, and the sum of sixty-nine 
thousand eight hundred and ninety-six livres, nine sols, two 
deniers Tours currency, for the merchandise [249] of the ship 
the Benediction, the whole at the legal rate of the King ; and 
that in fifteen days the said two vessels, the Jacques and the 
Benediction, which are now at the port of the harbour of 
Dieppe, with their cordages, cannon, munitions, rigging, 
furniture and provisions, which were found on their arrival 


| at the said Dieppe, will be restored to the said Lord Ambassa- 
_ dor of England, or to him whom he may designate, and if 


_ anything thereof shall be found to be wanting, it will be paid 


_ for in specie. 

| And as regards the ship the Bride ou Réponse,’ the 
, sums to which will amount what was sold at Calais, as well 
_ the provisions and other merchandises as the body of the 


| 
: 
| 


1 In other copies of the Treaty this word reads Espouse. 


234. DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


ship, the cannon, munitions, [250] rigging, furniture and 
provisions, shall be paid, as also the sums to which will be 
found to amount the remainder of the cargo of the ship 
found in her when she was taken, which will be paid on 
the basis of the last sale made at the said) Calais) Hor 
the payment of this the said Sieurs Lumague & Vanelly 
will give their pledge to pay at Paris to the said Ambas- 
sador or to him whom he may designate, and within the 
said interval. 

It has been agreed that from the sums which are to be 
restored for both English and French, shall be deducted the 
entry duties, as also that which will have been paid for the 
protection of the merchandise and repairs of the [251] said 
ships, and in particular twelve hundred livres for that 
which concerns the entry duties on the merchandise of the 
said General de Caen, and twelve hundred livres that he 
has to pay for the provisions furnished the French on their 
return to England and to France in 1629. 

Further it has been agreed upon both sides that if at the 
time of the taking of the said vessels the Jacques, the Bene- 
diction, the Gabriel of Saint Gilles, Sainte Anne of Havre de 
Grace, the Trinité of the Sables d’Olonne, the Saint Laurent 
of Saint Malo, the Cap du Ciel of Calais, there has been 
taken anything contained in the inventories, and which never- 
theless will not have been comprised in the official report of 
the sales and estimations, as also [252] if at the time of the 
taking of the said vessels, there has been subtracted or re- 
moved anything not comprised in the inventories, made both 
in England and in France by the Officers of the Admiralty, 
it will be permissible to those concerned in the said ships to 
proceed by the ordinary ways of Justice against those whom 
they will be able to prove culpable of this dereliction, in 
order to compel these bodily to restore that which will be 
proven to have been taken by them; and that they will be 
compelled to do this jointly, the solvent for the insolvent, 


] 


AMERICA 235 


but without in any case those interested being able on this 
account to claim any reparation for their grievances through 
reprisals or [253] letters of marque, whether it be by sea 
or land. 

For the execution of that which is above, all Letters and 
Decrees required will be expedited on both sides, and supplied 
within fifteen days. 


[254| Following is the text of the Power of the said Sieur Isaac 
Wake, Knight, Ambassador of the King of Great Britain.’ 


HIARLES, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, 

France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, 

&c. To all who shall see these letters, Greeting. 

Since certain difficulties and differences of opinion have 
hitherto made it impossible for the terms and articles 
of agreement lately entered into between ourselves and 
our very dear Brother, his most Serene and Potent [255] 
Majesty the most Christian King of the French, to be 
renewed and restored and also to be duly observed and 
fulfilled in accordance with the regular and formal manner of 
reconciliation and with that requisite and due form of pro- 
cedure which the very close bond of relationship, alliance and 
good-will that exists between us twain, and the mutual inter- 
course, neighbourhood and advantage on both sides prompt 
and require: and since moreover nothing is more pleasing to 
ourselves than that we on our part should by word and 
promise satisfy our royal brothers, and that we should expect 
nothing else on the part of the aforesaid most Christian King 
[256] than the same affectionate disposition towards us in 
The original of this document is not in French, but in Latin, and for the 


present translation I am indebted to Professor W. Tyng Raymond of the 
University of New Brunswick. 


236 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


return: We on our part understanding that nothing further 
is lacking for the accomplishment of so great an end except 
that commissioners and representatives of both powers, fur- 
nished with sufficient authority, should meet together, ought 
not and do not wish any longer to postpone making the 
effort to forward to the earnestly desired end and issue that 
holy and inevitable and also much-needed work of bringing 
about a reconciliation which has been so happily begun, and 
to establish mutual liberty in renewing and carrying on trade 
and in like measure the certainty of sincerely cultivating 
friendship and relations of intimacy ; [257] Know therefore 
that we have made, appointed and accredited a man of rank, 
our trusty and well-beloved Sir Isaac Wake, who is our 
Envoy and Ambassador at the court of the said our very 
dear Brother and most Christian King, in whose great ex- 
perience in affairs and in whose prudence, worth and honour 
we have the greatest confidence, and do by these presents 
make, appoint and accredit him as our true and sure ac- 
credited commissioner and representative, giving and entrust- 
ing to the aforesaid [258] [Sir Isaac Wake] full authority of 
every kind, and power in like degree, and a general and 
special commission to communicate, treat, hold interviews and 
conclude terms in our name with the aforesaid most Christian 
King, our very dear Brother, and with his accredited commis- 
sioners and representatives who possess sufficient power for 
this purpose, with regard to the said task of putting an end 
to differences of opinion and of establishing the aforesaid 
reconciliation and trade relations, and to do other things all 
and singular which are conducive to the said bringing about 
of mutual reconciliation and restoration of trade relations, 
[259] and also to the establishment of a more secure peace 
and friendship between us our crowns and subjects, and to 
draw up the necessary letters and instruments relating to 
these articles of agreement, and on the other hand to ask for 
them and to receive them, and finally to further everything 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


AMERICA 237 


that shall be necessary and favourable to these presents or in 
connection with the same: promising in good faith and upon 
our royal word that we will regard as valid, acceptable and 
binding the [terms] all and singular that shall in these pre- 
sents or in any one of these presents be made, compacted and 
concluded between the said our very dear Brother and most 
Christian King and his representatives, accredited agents and 
commissioners and the aforesaid Sir Isaac Wake our [260] repre- 
sentative and ambassador, and that we will give a more special 
commission, if that shall be necessary, and will make good all 
defects, if any shall be found in these letters, and will never 
contravene any one or more of the actual terms, but on the 
contrary will inviolably observe and cause to be observed 
whatever shall have been promised in our name. 

In witness whereof we have caused these letters to be made 
patent and after being duly signed by our hand to be con- 
firmed by the seal of our kingdom of England; Given | 261] 
in our palace at Greenwich on the 29th day of June in the year 
of Christ 1631 and the seventh of our reign. 

Thus signed CHARLES King. 
And sealed upon a double ribbon with yellow wax. 


[262] Following is the text of the Power of the said Sieurs de 
Bullion and Bouthillier Commissaries deputized by his Most 
Christian Majesty. 


OUIS, by the grace of God, King of France and of 
Navarre; To all those to whom these present Letters 
may come; greeting. Some difficulties having arisen 

which have prevented up to the present the completion and 
full execution of the last Articles arranged between us, and the 


very great, very powerful and very excellent Prince, our very 
dear and much loved Brother-in-law, Cousin and ancient ally, the 


238 DESCRIPTION OF NORTH 


King of [263] Great Britain: and since the Subjects of the two 
Crowns have not derived the benefits which we had anticipated 
therefrom for their common good : as we have never had any 
thing more at heart than to have seen truly kept and executed 
the things which have been promised by us, and to establish 
and to cement between us and the said King, our very dear 
Brother, the good and sincere friendship and understanding 
which ought to exist between us for the common good of our 
Crowns and the Public: likewise do we not desire anything 
more than to bring to an end and terminate as soon as possible 
the difficulties liable to prevent such a good work: and since 
we are assured that the said King of Great [264] Britain has 
on his side the same intention, and has even given power by 
his Letters Patent, of the 29th June last, to the Sieur Isaac 
Wake his Ambassador in ordinary residing near us to treat 
of his affairs: desiring to do the same upon our part, we have 
made choice for this negotiation of our beloved and faithful 
Councillors, in our Council of State, the Sieurs de Buillion 
and Bouthillier, Secretary of our Commands, as persons in 
whose devotion, fidelity and experience we have especial 
confidence. FoR THESE REASONS and other good considera- 
tions, moving us to this, we have commissioned and de- 
putized the said Sieurs de Buillion and Bouthillier, [265] 
[and] we do commission and deputize them by these Presents 
signed by our hand, with full Power and special command, in 
our name, to confer, negotiate and treat with the said Sieur 
Wake Ambassador, for an arrangement of the said difficulties 
concerning restitutions to be made of the things taken by 
both sides, for the establishment of a good, free, and safe com- 
merce and trade between the subjects of the two Crowns, and 
in general for everything which will prove to be necessary 
and convenient for a perfect reconciliation between us and 
our subjects, and for the consolidation of a good and durable 
peace between us and our Crowns, and for this to draw, give 
and receive all Articles [266] Agreements and Treaties of 


AMERICA 239 


which there shall be need. We promise by faith, and the 
word of a King to sanction, [and] to hold firmly and solidly 
to everything which shall be by our said Deputies done, 
managed and negotiated, concluded and agreed concerning this 
subject with the said Sieur Ambassador, without contravening 
it or suffering that it be contravened on our part in any 
manner whatsoever. For such is our pleasure. In witness 
whereof we have had our seal affixed to these Presents. 
Given at Mets the twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of 
Grace 1632, and of our reign the twenty-second. Signed, 
LOUIS. And upon the fold By the King, Dz Lomenig. 
And sealed upon a double ribbon with the great Seal of yellow 
wax. 

[267] In faith whereof We Ambassadors and Commis- 
sioners undermentioned, in virtue of our Powers, have signed 
the Present Articles at Saint Germain, the twenty-ninth day of 
March 1632. 

Signed, Isaacus Wakws, 
BULLION, 
BouTHILLeER. 


[267 verso] Extract from the King’s License. 


B favour and License of the King, granted at Saint 
Germain en Laye, the 29th of September, 1671, 
signed DaLence’, the Sieur Denys is permitted to have 
printed, by such printer as he may care to choose, during five 
years, a Book of his own composition entitled, Geographical 
Description of the Coasts of North America, from New England 
to the River Saint Lawrence, with the Natural History of the 
peoples and animals of the country, and prohibition is made to 
all persons, of whatsoever grade they may be, against printing 
it without the express consent of the said Sieur Denis or of 
those authorized by him, under penalties imposed by the said 
Wetters: 

And the said Sieur Denis has transferred his right of 
License to Louis Billaine and Claude Barbin, Merchant 
Booksellers at Paris, for them to enjoy according to the 
arrangement made between them. 


Entered in the register of the Guild of the Master-Printers 


and Merchant Booksellers, the March, 1672. 
Signed ‘THIERRY, Assignee. 


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DENYS’ MAP OF L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 
: Copperplate from Denys’ book 
., (Reduced to about three-fourths the original size) 


NATURAL 
mao l ORY 


Of the People, of the Animals, of the Trees 
and Plants of North America, and 
of its diverse Climates 


With an exact Description of the Fishery for Cod, as 
well upon the Grand Bank as upon the Coast; 
and of all that ts there the practice 

in the most detail, 8c. 


By Monsieur DENYS, Governor [and] Lieutenant-General for 
the King, and Proprietor of all the Lands and Islands 
which occur from the Cap de Campseaux, as 
far as the Cap des Roziers 


VOLUME SECOND 


PARIS 


At CrLaupe Barsin’s, at the Court-house 
on the Steps of the Holy Chapel 


MDCLX XII 
With the King’s License 


[i] 
TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS 


CONTAINED IN THE SECOND VOLUME 


CHAPTER I 


Which treats of the difference and the resemblance which there is between 
the climates of New France and of Old, with the reasons why that 
country can produce everything that grows in France . page [3] 2471 


PAGE 


CHAPTER II 


An account of the profits which are derived and which can be derived 
from the country through the fishery for Cod, green or white, as 
they are eaten at Paris; the method of fishing, dressing, and salting 
them : ; : : ! : : sea 257 


CHAPTER III 


The method of fishing the Cod called Merluche, of dressing it, of 
salting it, and of ae it, and of all the tools necessary 
therefor . : : : : Cr ligsiues 551) 269 


CHAP rERY 1V 


Containing that which is customary when the ships are approaching the 
place where the fishery is to be made: the manner of obtaining a 
position, that which is done at the landing, [ii] and how the 


company is set at work ; ; ‘ ; g ! em 278 
CHAPTER: V 
On the method of making the staging for the iene of the Cod, and of 
the work which it is to construct it . a) Slot ore. (80 | 283 


' Of the present translation. In the original this Table of Chapters is 


printed at the end of Volume II. ; for convenience of reference it is transposed 
to this place. 


243 


| 
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244: TABLE 


Ci APT ER Vi 


Containing the method of obtaining the oil from the livers of Cod, with a 
description of the instruments and tools which are used in dressing, 
salting, and washing the fish; what flakes and beach are, their con- 
struction and their use : ‘ ; : ; : [102] 


CHAPTER VII 


Containing the manner in which are built the boats which ought to be 
loaded in sections for transport to the fishing stations a ane 


CHAPTER) Vill 


Of the distribution which is made of the boats among the master fisher- 
men, and of the means which they use to keep them in safety during 
the night . : : : : ‘ ; [135] 


CHAPTER Tx 


The preparations of the boats for going to the fishing; that which is 
practised when they are upon the fishing grounds; that which is 
done on shore; on the [ii] return of the fishermen, and of their 
method of unloading their boats and of placing them in safety [142] 


CHAPTER) X 


On the method of dressing and salting the Cod, of making the oil which 
is obtained therefrom; how one prepares the roe, and what this is 
and its utilisation : ; : : : : [155] 


CHAPTER XI 


The administration of the provisions; how they are used during the 
fishing ; how the boite or bait is caught, and of the characteristics 
of the Cod and the Mackerel . t ‘ ; [172] 


CHAPTER XII 


The departure of the masters of boats to go upon the grounds, and that 
which is practised there; the explanation of the marigot; what the 
dégrat is, how it is made, and the reason for it, and other ideas on 


the same subject z 5 : p ¢ : : [185] 


PAGE 


289 


295 


302 


395 


310 


317 


322 


TABLE 


CHAPTER XIII 


The preparation of the fish at the degrat; and that which is done with 
it; the method of washing the Cod, and of placing it on the 
galaire; the great labour at the staging when the Cod is abundant, 
and the lights which are used yj. : : : : [197] 


CHAPTER XIV 


Of the work on land which is [iv] done in washing the Cod, carrying 
it to the galaire, to the flakes, to the beach, in turning it and placing 


it in piles . : , F ‘ ; } : ‘ [207] 


CHAPTER XV 


The method of making the piles of Cod; all that which is practised 
at the embarkation, as well of the Cod as provisions and other 
tings =. ; : ‘ K ‘ : : : [222] 


CrIArPTER Xvi 


General account of the sedentary fishery for Cod; the profits which have 
been derived from it by those who have undertaken it; the advan- 
tage that it can be made; its establishment, Treane that the land 
is peopled by sending colonies there. : Nu esau 


CHAPTER XVII 


Of the other sea fishes ; of those which approach the land ; their combats ; 
the method of taking them and their characteristics [255 viz. 253] 


CHAPTER XVIII 


Description of the fish of fresh water having four feet, their forms and 
peculiarities, their works and manner of acting and working [278] 


CHAPTER XIX 


Of the sea birds and their characteristics : : [295 viz. 299| 


CHAPTER XX 


The description of all [v] the kinds of woods which are inland; their 
characteristics, and the advantages which can be derived from 


them ‘ , t i , y : ; : [309] 
R 


2 A 5 


377 


se 


337 


341 


349 


361 


37° 


377 


246 TABLE 


CHAPTER XXI 


Which treats of the animals, birds, and reptiles; of their characteristics, 
and of the manner of capturing them. ‘ ‘ : [319] 


CHAPTER “XxX 


Which treats of the diversity of the seasons of the year, and of the 
different kinds of fruits 4 : : : ‘ : [345] 


CHAPTER XXIII 


Concerning the ways of the Indians, their polity and customs, their mode 
of life, their disposition, and that of their children; of their marriages; 
their method of building, of Te of feo -making, with other 
particulars. : : [355] 


CHAPTER XXIV 


Of their head-dress, of their ornaments, of their finery; of the regimen 
which they observe during their illnesses; of their amusements and 
conversations; of the work of the men and of the women, and of 


their more usual occupations : : : ‘ [389] 


CHAPTER XXV 


The hunting of Moose, of Bears, of Beavers, of Lynxes, and of other 
animals, according to their seasons : : : ‘ [419] 


[vi] CHAPTER XXVI 


The hunting of birds, and of fishes, as well by day as by night; and 
the ceremony of their burials; that which is customary when they 
are committed to the earth . : < : : A [442] 


CHAPTER XXVii 


The difference that there is between the ancient customs of the Indians, 
and those of the present. : ; : . [454 viz. 460] 


382 


394 


399 


414 


426 


435 


442 


. 
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[3] NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 
AMERICA 


CHAPTER | 


Which treats of the difference and of the resemblance which there ts 
between the climates of New France and of Old, with the 
reasons why that country can produce everything which grows 
in France. | 


FTER having exhibited the extent of the coast of New 
A France, from [4] New England as far as the en- 
trance of the great River of Saint Laurent, and 
having indicated everything from port to port, from harbour 
to harbour, and from river to river,—that which is contained 
in each place, the kinds of trees, their heights and girths, the 
quality and goodness of the land,—it is now appropriate to 
show that it is capable of bearing everything which France 1s 
able to produce, since it is situated under the same climate. 
The River of Pantagotiet [Penobscot] is situated under the 
latitude of forty-three and a half degrees; the other extremity 
adjoins the great River of Saint Laurent, under the forty-ninth 
degree, also of latitude. All this [5] extent of New France con- 
tains therefore only five degrees [of latitude] throughout its 
entire length of coast, which is about two hundred and fifty 


_ leagues. Bayonne which is the extremity of the coasts of France 


on the southern side [Costé du Midy] is in latitude forty-three 


degrees forty-five minutes. Calais, which is on the north side 
247 


248 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


[Costé du Nord] is in fifty-one degrees." Consequently the 
coasts of France ought to be much colder than those of New 
France, since the latter are two degrees and a quarter farther 
south [and opposite] our southern coast. Cap Breton is in lati- 
tude forty-five and two-thirds degrees, and this marks the 
main entrance of the Great Bay of Saint Laurent, which is 


between it and Cap de Rayes [Cape Ray]. From the said Cap 


1 Our author's argument about the comparative latitudes of Old and New 
France (meaning thereby his L’Amerique Septentrionale, or Acadia), is involved 
and not quite correct in its details. Nevertheless, as the accompanying dia- 
grammatic map will show, his meaning in the main is plain and correct in fact. 
He means that, taken as a whole, the latitudes including Acadia lie over two 


é Bayonne 
as 


cale 200 miles to Linch 43° 


Diagrammatic map to illustrate Denys’ argument about the corresponding latitudes of 
New France (L’Amerique Septentrionale, or Acadia) and France. 


degrees farther south than those including France ; thus they fall opposite the 
southern coast of France (Costé du Midy) ; while the northern coast of Acadia, 
from Cape Breton to the River Saint Lawrence, lies more southerly than the 
corresponding north shore of France, between Nantes and Calais. But while 
this is in general correct, his deductions therefrom are incorrect, as will later 
appear. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 249 


Breton to the [6] entrance of the great River [Saint Lawrence], 
there occur only two degrees fifty minutes of difference, and 
those more southerly than [the corresponding part of ] 
France. For the river of Nantes is in latitude forty-seven 
degrees twenty-four minutes, and Calais, which is at the other 
extremity of the northern side, is in fifty-one degrees, which 
makes the difference three degrees thirty-six minutes. Thus 
all the extent of lands between Nantes and Calais ought then 
to be as cold as, and even colder than, those which are between 
Cap Breton and the great River Saint Laurent, and so with 
all the rest of the country. For the Sun which is the master 
of all the Stars, and on which they all depend, ought to pro- 
duce the same [7] effect in one place as it does in the other 
so far as heat is concerned. But there are fortuitous circum- 
stances which mitigate the effects of its power, just as it is 
evident that under the same climate there are found lands of 
which some are much better than others. One place will 
have nothing but rocks, another will produce only heaths ; in 
another place there will be only mountains, with nothing but 
marshes and meadows in the valleys. Amongst all these are 
found good lands proper for wheat, fruits, and all other good 
plants. It is not then the fault of the Sun if all the lands 
which fall under the same degree of heat are not affected 
alike. New France [8] is an example of this. There are 
found there mountains, rocks, marshes, meadows, heaths, and 
good lands which can produce everything as well as can those 
of France. Another accidental circumstance is found there 
in the cold, which is said to be greater than in France 
and with more snow. This is true, provided that such is 
possible without a difference in climate. For if I were to 
change from one climate to another, all my reasoning would 
be worthless. I remain therefore within the same limits that 
I have fixed upon above." 


1 Our author’s reasoning about the climates of Acadia and France (viz., that 
aside from adventitious and alterable causes they are the same under the same 


250 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


First Iam going to give my reason for the cold and the 
snows Of New France. I maintain that the quantity of snow 
which is found there results from the fact that all the country 
is covered with [9] woods. ‘The snow which falls in those 
parts, commencing as in France sometimes at the end of Sep- 
tember or at mid-October according as the years behave, all 
these snows, [I say], do not at first remain on the ground, 
because that still has heat which melts them. At other times 
there occur rainy years, resulting from the temperature of the 
air which usually is the same there as in France. This I have 
many times remarked from the reports of those coming from 
France, of whom I asked the state of the winter, as well at its 
beginning, its middle part and its end; and from them | 
found almost an exact agreement. All the [10] snow which 
falls there about All Saints no longer melts, because of the 
woods which preserve it, whilst the earth has lost its heat and 
the Sun no longer has force enough to melt it through the 
[screen of the] woods. Thus all that falls thenceforth col- 
lects, one lot upon another, which brings it to pass that it is 
said there are six monthsof snow. ‘This duration of the snow 
comes also from this, that in spring the force of the Sun has 
not heat enough to melt it in the woods, which have reassumed 
their verdure before it becomes strong; this prevents the Sun 
from melting the snow straightway. I have observed that the 
snow in the woods never melts through force of the Sun, but 
by heat of the earth, which warms up [11] as soon as the 
spring arrives, and this makes the snows melt faster underneath 
than on top. This is not at all a bad indication of the excel- 


latitudes), while ingenious, and natural for the state of knowledge of the time, 
is fallacious. In fact Acadia, although averaging more southerly in latitude 
than France, has a much colder climate, not for the alterable causes our author 
mentions, but for a reason of which Denys could have no conception—namely, 
the circulation of air and water currents in the northern hemisphere is such that 
warm air and water from the south bathe western Europe, while cold air and 
water from the north bathe north-eastern America. A much juster estimate of 
the Acadian climate is given by Father Biard (Thwaites, /esuz¢t Relations, 111. 49). 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 251 


lence of the soil. Further, I affirm that in cleared places the 
snow melts five to six weeks sooner than in the woods, despite 
the fact that the neighbouring woods still communicate to them 
much of their frost. This is seen commonly enough in France, 
where all the lands which are near the woods are much more 
subject to frosts than those which are distant therefrom. And 
it can be proved yet better by the case of Kebec, which has two 
months of winter less than it had before the lands there were 
cleared, as I [12] have been assured by several of the old resi- 
dents of Kebec. If once the woods are farther removed from 
their lands they will have no more winter than in Paris. Conse- 
quently there is no longer any reason to decry this country for 
its great cold and deep snows; for the reasons which I give 
are plain enough to show that New France can produce every- 
thing as well as can Old. Buta population is necessary to work 
at the clearing. There are many people in France who can 
scarcely find the means of subsistence ; and were it not for the 
providence of God in giving to France so great an abundance 
of grain, of wine, of fruits and of vegetables, they would die 
of hunger [13] in great numbers, as has been seen in the year 
1661 in the largest part of the provinces of France. And if 
there should happen again a similar misfortune, even he who 
has the wherewithal to subsist will then find himself happy 
indeed to be in New France, where with a little labour one 
cannot die of hunger. Would it not be much better that 
many poor people should go into those parts to work and 
clear the lands, and thus make themselves happy? It only re- 
quires two years of work to secure grain, Peas, Beans, and all 
Kinds of vegetables with which to live there rather than to 
languish here. For aside from the fact that these suffer 
themselves, they make others suffer. They never pay any tax 
to the [14] King, and hinder those who have some little pro- 
perty from settling at their ease, when they could then pay 
their taxes more readily. 

Those who like much better to drink than to eat will tell 


252 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


me that no wine is produced there, and that one does not take 
les pigeons a la rape ;* and they do not consider that it is in the 
places where the wine does not grow that one drinks the best. 
Another who likes fruits will say to me that there are none of 
them. ‘Thus each one will ask of me things according to his 
own inclinations. To this I answer them that everything 
which one can gather in France occurs in these parts. At 
the same time some one asks me, why then have you none of 
them? And as J have none of them [15] at the moment they 
promptly condemn the country. There are those from whom 
these questions do not surprise me, but also I meet some who 
pretend to be intelligent and who think they know every- 
thing. But they have little judgment, since they would that 
everything there should be as now in France, without con- 
sidering that it 1s a new land which is not yet inhabited, and 
that it is the necessities towards which it is needful to work, 
such as grain, which one cannot do without, and vegetables, 
which are the staff of life; and having these one can then 
have beer. And all these can be had in two years or three at 
the most; the rest can be had with time, just as occurred in 
France in the beginning [16] when it was first inhabited. 
There was then nothing but woods here, as now in those 
parts. Our ancestors did not begin with the vine, with fruits, 
and with all other things which tickle the taste ; all that came 
little by little. And if, whilst one is working there, he has 
not everything which he could wish, he is forever seeking that 
» which is pleasing in foreign parts. In order to possess them 
one brings the plant of the vine from all the places where it 
produces good wine, and for fruits and vegetables the same. 
‘. Thirty to forty years ago at Paris gardens were hardly made 


1 The significance of this phrase in this place is not apparent to me, nor to 
any of the several students of old French whom I have consulted. Rage 
signifies a bunch of grapes without seeds, and birds are taken 4 /a rafe, that is, 
by aid of a glued bunch of grapes or substitute, but these meanings seem not | 
applicable. The phrase is no doubt a localism. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 253 


for anything but Cabbages, Leeks, and some other vegetables ; 
but at present very fine fruits are found in them. [17] Yet 
the greater part only come through industry and by force of 
money. And even with all that they have only the show; 
the taste is not as in those which grow in the country whence 
they are taken. Why? It is because one changes their 
@imate, and they have not the force of the Sun as in their 
native land. Have we not raised in France the Sugar Cane at 
Hieres,’ and also the Oranges of Portugal, which originally 
came from China, and also the flowers of Cassia and Tuberose 
which have been brought there from Spain and other still 
warmer climates, and also the Jasmine and Tulip? Are these 
not so well naturalised either because of their taste or their 
odour, that plants which were formerly so rare, [18] especially 
in Paris, have become very common there? Do not then any 
more condemn New France of ingratitude, but begin to be 
reasonable ; for it can be made a goodly land, and one as fertile 
as France in all things. 

Even though I have said that the good wine is drunk in 
the places where it does not grow, do not from that draw 
a conclusion depriving this land of the power to produce this 
sweet liquor, and of as pleasing a quality as that which is 
drunk in France. If vines have not yet been planted there, it 
is because the necessary plants have always first place, and these 
do not require so much time to obtain as wine, for which six or 
seven years are requisite [19] before a vine can come into bear- 
ing, that which it bears before that time being of small worth. 
For one, two, three, or four hogsheads* which one can obtain 
from the arpent are not of great account. This makes it very 
plain that it is much more needful to sow grain than to plant 
the vine. And besides wine is not so inconvenient to trans- 


1 All of the localities in France mentioned by our author may be found 
marked on the outline map of France, given a little later in this work 
(p. 259). 

* Muids, holding, of wine, 288 quarts, French measure. 


254 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


port as grain, and one can much more easily do without wine 
than without bread. 

Let us see now whether the vine can come there to full 
maturity. In the first place, it is certain that the country pro- 
duces the vine naturally, that it bears a grape which matures 
to perfection, the grain being as large, perhaps, as the Musca- 
dine. As to its juice, that is not so [20] pleasing, since it is wild, 
and its skin is a little harder. But if it were transplanted and 
cultivated as is done in France, I do not doubt that its wine 
would be as good. But let us leave that and see if the plant 
from France carried thence will bear as good wine as it pro- 
duces here. It is not necessary to speak of the growth [cred] 
of Nantes, nor of the cider’ [cidre] of Normandy; one will 
readily believe that this can grow there. But let us speak 
of the growth of the surroundings of Paris, Bourgogne, and 
Champagne. If one is once convinced that this is possible, 
one will have no more trouble in believing all the rest. 

I have already given you an account of the climates of all 
these parts, of the cause of the cold, and [21] of the duration 
of the snow. It is not necessary to repeat them in order to 
convince you that, the country once cleared, all these incidents 
of cold and of snow will be no more. This it is (as I have 
mentioned above) which will prevent the possibility of the vine 
thriving there as well as it does here. One finds there the 
same earth, mountains exposed to the south and under shelter 
from bad winds, and slopes adapted for the planting of the 
vine. As for the methods of treating it, those can be followed 
which are used in these parts of France, and where the practice 
is different from that in warm places. This [treatment] 1s 
one of the principal reasons why better wines come from cold 


1 The significance of this somewhat obscure passage seems to be that our 
author, before discussing the possibility of growing in Acadia the vine produc- 
ing the wine of the more favourable parts of France, wishes to dispose of the 
equivalent drink of Brittany and Normandy, which is cider, for the cre# of 
Nantes is also cider. 


AMERICA. CHAP. I 255 


lands than from [22] warm; at least they are more delicate 
and more pleasing to drink. Such are the wines of Champagne, 
much more delicate than those of Provence, although they 
grow in a much colder climate. As to the culture, one 
uncovers the roots in warm countries, to prepare them for 
winter, and in cold ones covers them. That is to say, the 
shoots of the vine are buried to protect them from the cold ; 
for being buried and covered from the cold, these shoots of the 
vine do not freeze. And at the commencement of spring it 
is uncovered and has still sufficient time to inure itself 
to the cold. After that it is pruned, and is placed on props 
Or On supports to come to bearing. Such is the method 
used in Champagne. [23] As to Bourgogne, I do not know 
if the same method is practised as in Champagne. Perhaps 
they have not so much snow and more rain. If this is the 
case it is necessary that they use another method of arranging 
their vines, something it will be easy to learn in order to do 
the same. At Paris the matter is arranged as in the remainder 
of France, with the exception of the pruning, which is slightly 


different. In conclusion, that which makes good wine is good 
climate, the Sun, the soil, and the good management, the practice 


of which it is necessary to know according to the places where 
it is planted. But the soil, with the Sun, is the chief thing, 
for one sees places where the wine is indeed better than in 
[24] some other, although the distance from one place to the 


other is not considerable. 


As for the products of the other lands which are between 
Cap Breton, which is in latitude forty-five and two-thirds 
degrees, and the River Pantagoiiet, which is forty-three degrees 
and a half, a distance of about a hundred and fifty leagues 
of coasts, the climates are much warmer than those of 
which I have just been speaking, and are almost like those 


from Nantes to Bayonne. Nantes is in latitude forty-seven 
degrees twenty-four minutes, and Bayonne is forty-three 


| 
| 
| 
| 


degrees forty-five minutes. There is thus little difference. 


256 NATURAL HISTORY 


I conclude then that everything which can grow in France in 
this extent of [25] land can grow in [the corresponding extent] 
of New France, for the reasons I have alleged above, the 
impediments being removed in the way I have said. As to 
the matter of salt, it can be made as fine and as good as in 
Brouage. I know that by experience; the test of it has been 
made. I have seen salt which has been made in marshes 
expressly prepared, which were broken soon afterwards. It 
was enough to know that it could be made there. I know a 
little about good salt, and the quality which it ought to have 
in order to be good. This is yet another proof of what I say, 
that anything which can be produced in one country can be 
produced in the other, both being under the same climate, 
whatsoever may be the distance from one to the other. It 
seems to me that everything [26] I have been saying is more 
than enough to disabuse those who have conceived so bad an 
opinion of New France. This is not to oblige any person of 
those who are in a good country to leave it, if he have there 
enough for his subsistence. But would not many poor un- 
fortunates, who have the health and could do good work, 
be more happy in that country than in begging their bread 
in this ? 


[27] CHAPTER II 


An account of the profits which are derived and which can be 
derived from the country through the fishery for Cod, green 
or white, as they are eaten at Parts; the method of fishing, 
dressing and salting them. 


FTER having demonstrated that that country can be 
A inhabited and [can] produce like this [everything | 
for its own subsistence, it is necessary to inform 
you of that which it has more than France, the profits that 
can be derived therefrom, and that one does derive from 
each thing one after another. Let us begin with the [28] Cod, 
so well known in France, the sale of which is carried on 
throughout Europe, but chiefly in Paris. You will then learn 
that the Cod, green or white, and the dry Cod or Stock-fish, 
[merluche| are nothing but the same fish, the name of which is 
different only because of the diverse methods in which it is 
prepared, the different places where the fishery is made in 
those parts, and their different sizes. The largest is found, as 
a rule, upon the Grand Bank, and is not suitable for drying, 
as is the small kind, which is caught on the coast and is salted 
and dried on land, as I shall explain below. 

All this fishery is made upon the coasts of New France; 
all of the fishery elsewhere [29] is inconsiderable. Although 
this fish constitutes a kind of inexhaustible manna, I cannot 
refrain from astonishment at the fact that it sells for so little, 
having regard to the trouble that it gives and the risks that 


are run both going and returning, which are so great that it is 


| 
: 
| 
| 
| 


_ well-nigh impossible to believe them. I will endeavour to 


inform you here as exactly as I can of all that is practised in 
257 


258 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


the fishery of the Cod of both sorts. Those who know already 
about it may laugh at it, but those who are not informed will 
perhaps be glad to learn about it, and the number of them is 
assuredly much greater than of the others. 

I will commence with the green Cod, which is that [30] 
eaten at Paris, and which is caught upon the Grand Bank of 
Newfoundland. The Bank which is thus called is a great 
elevation, lying in the sea but under water, distant twenty- 
five leagues or thereabouts from the Island of Newfoundland ; 
from it the green Cod takes its name. This bank is about 
a hundred and fifty leagues from one extremity to the other, 
and some fifty leagues in its greatest breadth. This elevation 
in the sea has on its top at its highest part twenty-five fathoms 
of water, and in other places thirty, thirty-five, forty, fifty, 
and sixty fathoms of water. All around it is cut almost 
vertically, and around its circumference one cannot find 
bottom with twelve to fifteen hundred fathoms of rope. 
From [31] that you can judge of the height of the elevation, 
which is of rock. All its top is flat, although it slopes off to 
greater depths. 

This is where the Cod is caught, and it finds there plenty 
of shellfish of several sorts, and other fish for its sustenance. 
This fish is a great glutton, and its gourmandising embraces 
everything, even to those of its own species; and often one 
catches those which, despite the fact that they are caught on 
the hook, during the time they are being drawn up half 
swallow one of their own kind if it is met with on the way.’ 
They find nothing too hard; sometimes the fishermen let 
their knives fall, or their mittens, or other things; if a Cod 
comes across them it [32] swallows them. Very often they 
catch the very Cod which has swallowed something which has 
fallen overboard, and they find it in its stomach, which the 
sailors call gau. ‘This fish has also a peculiarity which is this, 


1 A matter of which our author speaks again later at page 180 of his book. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 259 


that if it swallows anything which it cannot digest, it ejects it 
from its stomach, which it everts out of its mouth, and thus 
gets rid of everything which injures it, after which it draws in 
again, and reswallows, its stomach. ‘Those who go, as a rule, 
to make this fishery are the Normans from the harbour of 


\glanne . 
Lde Reg sfunis iM 
L.@Oléron % } oe & are Ps 


Provinces. 


ccoYzeres Is, 


Scale l50 miles lo linch 


Outline Map of France to show the localities mentioned by Denys. 


| Honfleur, from Dieppe, and from other little harbours of 
Normandy, likewise from Boulogne and from Calais, from 
Brittany, from Olonne, and from all the country of Aulnis. 
All those make up the number of two hundred [33] to two 
hundred and fifty fishing vessels every year. All their fishery 
is almost solely for Paris, at least three quarters. There are 


| 


260 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


ships which bring as much as thirty, forty, and fifty thousands 
of Cod. One ship of a hundred tons, for example, will have, 
counting even the captain, only fifteen or eighteen men at the 
most in her crew, and she will bring back twenty and even 
twenty-five thousands of fish. 

It 1s necessary that a captain who sets out from France for 
this fishery should make preparation in provisions for six 
months at least for all his crew, which is of more or fewer 
men according to the size of his vessel. After that they go 
to take on their [34] salt at Brouage, Oleron, Ré, or Brittany; 
this is worth ten, eleven, and twelve livres per hogshead, 
which is of twenty-eight heaping minots* of salt, [which 
makes up] almost all the rest of that which the ship can carry. 
This fishery consumes much salt. There is need, further, of 
lines as large as quills, of eighty fathoms in length; eight to 
ten are needed for each man, and sometimes as many as twelve. 
A much larger number of hooks is required, for they are lost 
by the Cod carrying them off. There is also needed for each 


man twelve to fifteen leads, of six pounds weight each, which ' 


are attached at the end of the line to carry it to the bottom; 
[also] knives for opening the Cod, [35] and others for dressing - 


it, that is, splitting it down to the tail, as it is seen in Paris. 


After she is equipped in this fashion, she sets sail and goes 


by the grace of God to find the Grand Bank. Having | 
arrived there, all the sails are furled, and the ship is pre-- 


pared for this fishery. The tiller of the rudder is attached | 


on one side, so that the vessel remains almost as if she were at 


anchor, though she drifts, nevertheless, when there is a wind.? 
After that some throw overboard the lines into the sea to find ] 


1 Minot was a measure containing a tenth more than our bushel. The livre, 
it will be remembered, was about equal to the franc. 


2 At the present time the vessels engaged in the Grand Bank fishery anchor ~ 
there. Compare a popular account of this fishery by P. T. M‘Grath in Review ~ 


of Reviews, May 1906, and the very detailed description in The Fisheries and 
Fishery Industries of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1887, Section Vv. 
Vol. I. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 261 


whether the fish are biting, while others work at building a 
staging along one side of the vessel [and] outside, that is to 
say, unless good weather had allowed the crew to build it [36] 
during the voyage or in approaching the Bank. Upon this 
staging are placed the barrels; these are half hogsheads, which 
reach to the height of the waist. Each fisherman places him- 
self inside his own. They have also a large leather apron 
which extends from the neck to the knees. ‘The lower end of 
the apron is placed over the barrel outside, in order to ensure 
that the water, which the line brings with it in drawing up the 
Cod from the bottom of the sea, shall not run into the barrel.’ 
The fisherman having sounded the depth, attaches his line to 
the barrel in which he stands, in such a manner as is necessary 
to ensure that the lead may not touch the bottom by about 
two fathoms. And it is also necessary to allow a fathom that 
the end of the line where the hook is, which is attached near 
[37] the lead, also may not touch. He catches only a single 
Cod at a time, and in order to know the number that he 
takes, each fisherman has a little pointed iron near him, and at 
the time when he removes the hook from the Cod, he cuts the 
tongue from it and strings it upon this iron. Each fisherman 
has two lines, and whilst he is drawing up one he throws over 
the other, which descends to the bottom; [this he does] when 
there is abundance of fish in the place where the ship is. 

A good fisherman is able to take as many as three hundred 


and fifty to four hundred [per day], but that greatly tires the 


arms. Ihe Cod is heavy, besides which it resists, and then 
thirty, forty, and, according to the depth, up to sixty fathoms 
[38] of lines are not so quickly drawn up. If they did this 
every day they would not be able to stand it. There are, 


1 The arrangement of the staging and barrels outside the ship is very clearly 
shown in the picture, taken from Moll’s map, given later in this work at page 
311. At the present day this arrangement is abandoned, among English 
fishermen at least. Indeed, the line-fishing upon the Grand Bank is not now 
made from the vessel itself, but from small dories in the vicinity. 


S 


262 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


indeed, days when they take nothing; at other times they 
only catch twenty-five, thirty, forty, a hundred, or two 
hundred each per day—it is all a matter of chance. As to 
the Joite* for the Cod, it is the bait which one places on the 
hook, on the point of which is stuck a piece of Herring; of 
this the skin has a certain lustre which glistens in the sea, 
When the Cod perceives this it rushes to it. Besides this they 
cover the hook entirely with the entrails of the Cod, in a mass 
as large as the two fists. But when they find in the gay or 
stomach of the Cod, shellfish or other [39] fish which are 
not digested, they use them in place of Herring.’ 

There are ships which will be fortunate enough to com- 
plete their fishery in a month or six weeks, whilst others will 
be three, four, and five months in achieving this. That 
depends upon good luck. None of the fishing vessels ever 
anchor upon the Grand Bank. By day they have a little 
square sail upon the sterns of their ships, which they call 
ring-tail [Zapecu/], in order to keep them up to ‘the wind and 
to prevent the drift; that is, that the ship may not move to 
one side. If they were to move thus, the lines would trail 
out too far from the ship, and would not be able to reach the 
bottom, where the Cod is. 

For the night they set their [40] mainsail, and all those 
[vessels] which are upon the Bank set them always upon the 
same side in order that the vessels may make their drift all 
alike, and by this means avoid collisions with one another. 
Otherwise they would run a risk of being lost, since the 
vessels might come together with a crash. 

Further, it is necessary to know that the Grand Bank is 
rarely without a mist or fog, which is sometimes so thick that 


1 As noted earlier, under page 128 of Vol. I. of our author’s book, this is 
a technical word of the fishery, probably a form of the English word bait. 

2 In our author’s time cod were taken only by the hand line, but at the 
present day they are taken also on trawls and by nets, as fully described in the 
Fisheries and Fishery Industries earlier cited. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 263 


one cannot see from one end of the ship to the other. It is 
this which obliges them to take this precaution to avoid 
shipwreck. 

When the fishermen who are upon this Grand Bank see 
that Lent is approaching, those who [41] have the half or two- 
thirds of their fish set out to endeavour to be the first to 
arrive for the sale, which is better than at any other time. 

In spring they set out also with less cargo, for those who 
arrive first find still the best sale, the trade therein being well 
assured in Paris. It is this which is called the New Cod.’ 

This diligence brings them yet another advantage, which 
is that of undertaking a second voyage in the same year as 
soon as they are unloaded. And if they make a good hit of 
fish upon the bank, they are able still to arrive in time for the 
Lenten sale. But all these advantages are accidental. [42] 
Happy is he who meets with them. Yet there is much trouble 
and ill to be endured, for this reason, that upon the Grand 
Bank it is colder in the month of June than it is in France in 
September. 

This is all the time they can have there, since the three 


months of summer are nearly always filled with a thick and 


rather cold fog. ‘This great cold in the spring proceeds from 
the ice which comes from the northern coast towards Sweden 


and Denmark, where the sea freezes very thick.?, The storms 


_ break it into fragments which the tide carries out to sea; then 


| 
} 
| 
| 
| 
} 
| 
| 
| 
| 


the north wind, which is common at those times, brings it upon 
the Grand Bank. [43] During its voyaging, the [water of 


the sea], which beats against and mounts upon it, freezes, 


1 Our author does not make it perfectly plain at what time the fishermen 
leave France for the Grand Bank. But this gap is supplied by Lescarbot 
(Histotre de la Nouvelle France, ed. 1612, 823), who says that the earliest left 
in February. The New England fishermen on the Grand Bank do not leave 
before March, and rarely so early as that. Lescarbot’s account of the Grand 
Bank fishery, here cited, is excellent, though brief. 

2 Our author is not at all correct as to the place of origin of this ice. It 
comes really from Greenland and vicinity. 


264 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


and this makes it grow ever thicker; and when the top is 
more heavily loaded than the bottom, it turns upside down." 
Thus it travels, always gaining. Sometimes they are seen 
higher than the towers of Notre Dame at Paris. When the 
sun strikes their tops they are visible eighteen to twenty leagues. 
If a ship meets with them, and is to leeward, it becomes aware 
of them from a long distance off by means of the cold which 
they yield and the wind which it 1s carrying. 

When one goes upon the Grand Bank or into New France 
in the month of May, June or July, it is necessary to keep 
good watch every night. If a ship were to [44] run against 
an iceberg she would break to pieces as if she had struck 
against a rock, and there is no salvation in such accidents. 
At fifty to sixty leagues out to sea on this side of the Bank, 
sometimes nearer the Bank, sometimes upon it, sometimes on 
the other side of it, they [the icebergs] go according to the 
winds which prevail. Sometimes there occurs so great a 


number, following one after the other, being all controlled by — 


the same wind, that it is found by ships making for land after 
dry fish who have met with them |that they extend] a hundred 
and fifty leagues in length or even more. They have coasted 
along them for a day or two, with the night, in good weather, 


carrying all sail without finding the end of them. They go | 


thus all along [45] to find some opening through which to pass 


their ships. If they meet with any they pass through as by 
a strait; otherwise it is necessary to go as far as their end in 


order to pass them, for the icebergs block the way.’ 
Those icebergs do not melt until they meet the warm 


1 Our author's account of the icebergs is in this particular also not correct. © 
They do not increase, as he says, but are greatest when they first break away 


from their Greenland glaciers. 


2 Champlain on his voyage to Canada in 1611 had an experience with ice- _ 
bergs, of which he gives an elaborate account, strongly corroborative of our 


author’s statement, and Lescarbot (/7stotve de la Nouvelle France, 1612, 448) 
also refers to them. Ina general way our author’s account of the icebergs is 


correct. 


elt 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 265 


waters towards the south, or until they are driven by the 
wind upon the land. They are aground even in twenty-five 
and thirty fathoms of water. Judge then of their height 
apart from that which is above water. Some fishermen have 
assured me that they have seen one aground on the Grand 
Bank in forty-five fathoms of water, which had ten leagues 
of circuit. It must have been of a great height. The [46] 
ships do not approach these icebergs for fear they will turn 
from one side over upon the other. In proportion as they 
grow lighter on the side where they are warmest, the heaviest 
comes to overbalance it. These icebergs are the cause in part 
why Canada is believed to be so cold. 

The fishermen on the Bank have nearly six months when 
the ice freezes upon their lines whilst they draw them up. 
This causes them much suffering and a great fatigue. I 
do not know how men are found for this fishery in which 
they obtain so little profit. When a fisherman makes on 
his voyage thirty to thirty-five or forty écus,* that is not bad. 
And these voyages [47] are of five, six, and seven months, 
including the time of the loading and unloading of the vessel, 
during which they make nothing. 

Let us return to the method of salting the Cod. Having 
cut out the tongue they throw the Cod upon the deck of the 
ship, where the boys give it to those who dress it. This 
being done, it is given to the salter, who arranges it in the 
bottom of the hold, head by tail. He makes a layer of them 
of the length of a fathom or two, according to the abundance 
of fish he foresees, such that the whole may be contained in 
one pile. The first layer being made it is covered entirely 


with salt, so much as it can take up, or, as the expression is, 
its entire fill, Then another layer is made above it, which 


1 That is, the écu being about six francs, thirty-six to forty-eight dollars of 
our money. 


266 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


day upon that of another. Having remained thus three or 
four days, so long that the water may be drained off and they 
may take the salt, they are taken up and all the surplus salt 
is removed ; then another layer is made in another part of the 
bottom of the vessel, and it is covered again with new salt, 
layer upon layer. After this they are not touched any more, 
and the same process is constantly repeated until the vessel 
has her load. If they were moved yet another time it would 
be necessary to supply new salt. 

It is also worth while to know that upon the Bank, which 
is twenty- [49] five leagues from the nearest land, there are to 
be seen so great a quantity of birds as to be almost unbe- 
lievable, such as Fulmars [Happefoye|, Petrels [Crozseurs], 
Guillemots [Poules de mer|, Great Auks [Pennegoins], and 
many other sorts. 

I shall speak only of these particular ones. The Fulmars 
[Happefoye*] are very gluttonous birds. They are thus 
called because they live on the liver of the Cod. If they see 
a ship engaged in fishing they assemble in very great numbers 
around her to seize the livers which fall into the sea. As 
soon as one of these is thrown in, more than fifty of these 
birds pounce upon it, and fight among themselves to secure 
it. They come close up to the vessel, and sometimes one is 
able to kill them [50] with a pole. Their gluttony makes 
them easily taken by means of hooks which are attached at 
the end of a little line, with which the fishermen are furnished 


1 That is, translated, “liver-snatchers.” Our author’s description of its 
appearance and habits places its identity beyond doubt ; it is the fulmar or 
noddy. Dieréville (Relation du Voyage du Port Royal, 1710, 44) also de- 
scribes it fully, and says the Normans call it fawguets, under which name 
Champlain gives some account of it in his Voyage of 1618 (Laverdiére’s 
edition, 600). Lescarbot also mentions it (Azstoire de la Nouvelle France, 
1612, 533). This is not to be confounded with the related hagdon, or greater — 
shearwater, which is also very abundant on the Grand Bank, and is very com- 
monly caught, and highly esteemed as food, by the fishermen of the present 
day, as related in the /7zsheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, 
Section V. Vol. I. 127, 132. 


AMERICA. CHAP. II 267 


on purpose. This line is supported upon the water by a piece 
of cork, and a fragment of liver is placed upon the hook. 
This is thrown as far off as possible. Immediately these birds 
fight as to which one will capture it. After a smart struggle, 
finally one seizes it, and is caught by the beak, [and] is drawn 
on board. It is necessary to take great care that it does not 
seize the hand. Its upper beak 1s hooked, and passes much 
over the under. If it bites it pierces the finger or the hand. 
When it has been taken from the hook, and allowed to go 
[51] upon the quarter-deck, it does not fly away. It does not 
know how to rise, at least when it is not on the water. This 
fishery provides a great amusement. 

The Petrels | Crotseurs*] are birds which also come to 
eat the livers, but they do not approach so near. ‘They are 
called Croiseurs because they are ever crossing on the sea from 
one side to the other. Their flight is different from that of 
other birds in this, that they fly, so to speak, crosswise, having 
one wing up towards the sky and the other towards the sea, 
so that, in order to turn, they bring the upper wing under- 
most. It is found always from the time one is at sea a 
hundred leagues from land as far as New France. [52] A 
day never passes that one does not see them go crossing from 
one side to the other. ‘This is in order to find some little 
fish to eat, of those which exist between wind and water, such 
as the Flying fish, the Herring, the Sardine, and others on 
which it lives. 

The Guillemot [Pou/e de mer?] is thus called for its re- 
semblance to this land animal. It lives also on little fish and 
livers. It is not gluttonous, but tamer than the others, It is 


! * Literally “crossers.” Our authors description makes it plain that this 
is the Wilson’s (also called stormy) petrel, or Mother Carey’s chicken. 

* Poule de mer (literally “‘sea-hen”) is given by Littré as the European 
jname for the guillemot, and I have no doubt our author applied the name to 
Bi common guillemot, whose habits are in full accord with this identi- 
; ication. 


| 
| 
| 
| 


268 NATURAL HISTORY 


always flying around the ship, and if it perceives any entrails, 
it throws itself upon them. 

The Great Auk [Pennegoin’] is another bird, variegated in 
white and black. It does not fly. It has only two stumps of 
wings, with which [§3] it beats upon the water to aid in fleeing 
or diving. It is claimed that it dives even to the bottom to 
seek its prey upon the Bank. It is found more than a hundred 
leagues from land, where, nevertheless, it comes to lay its eggs, 
like the others. When they have had their young, they plunge 
into the water; and their young place themselves upon their 
backs, and are carried like this as far as the Bank. ‘There 
one sees some no larger than chickens, although they grow as 
large as geese. All those birds are [considered] good to eat 
by the fishermen. As for myself I do not find them agree- 
able. They taste of oil because of the quantity of fish and of 
livers they eat; and they serve to make fish oil. [54] The 
fishermen collect them for this purpose. There are vessels 
which have made as much as ten to twelve puncheons of it. 
This is nearly everything which is practised in the fishery for 
green Cod upon the Grand Bank. 


1 Pennegoin, called by the English penguin, is well known to be the name 
applied by early voyagers to the great auk, now extinct. Compare the very 
full account of its names, with other facts as to its history, &c., by Lucas in 
Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum (Washington, D.C.) for 1888. Our 
author’s account is accurate. It seems to have been overlooked by all writers 
upon this bird. 

2 This statement is amply confirmed by other evidence : compare the paper 
of Lucas earlier cited. 


Aan | CHAPTER III 


The method of fishing the Cod called Merluche |Stockfsh or dry 
Cod], of dressing it, of salting it, and of drying it, and of all 


the tools necessary therefor. 


ET us speak now of the fishery for the dry fish, which 


is only, as I have said in the preceding chapter, 
fae same Cod, under the name of ,Merluche. It 
is smaller than the green Cod, which makes it easier to 
preserve, the salt penetrating it sooner than it does the green, 
which [56] is much larger and in consequence thicker, and 
which would be eaten by maggots before it was dry, because 
of its thickness. This does not happen to the smaller one, 
which keeps, and serves for provision for the longest voyages 
and in the warmest climates. It is not that they do not catch 
large ones near the land, and even larger than on the Bank, 
but they are not dried; they are put down green, that is to 
say, are salted, as is done upon the Bank. 
Among all those who are accustomed to make this kind 
of fishery, the Basques are the most skilled. Those of 
La Rochelle have the first rank after them, and the Islanders! 
who are in the vicinity, then the Bourdelois [men of Bordeaux] 
-and then [57] the Bretons. From all those places there may 
go a hundred, a hundred and twenty, and a hundred and fifty 
vessels every year, if there is no hindrance through a need 
for sailors who are retained for the vessels of the King. 
__ There is demanded in this fishery much more expense 
\than in that of the Grand Bank, for which there are only 


f 

| 

1 That is of the Isle de Ré and Isle d’Oléron. 
| 2 


69 
| 


| 


270 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


necessary the leads, lines, knives, salt and other tools of which 
I have spoken. A ship of two hundred tons for the Bank 
will have only twenty-five men, but for the dry-fishery 
[secherie] there are needed fifty at least, with provisions for 
eight to nine months. So far as concerns salt there is needed 
less than half as much, besides which if a [58] ship for the 
Bank carries forty-five to fifty thousands of fish, the other 
will carry two hundred thousands of them dry. With regard 
to the fishing crew and their sustenance, it is all different. 
Their chief provision is four quintals, or four hundred weight, 
of biscuit for the men, including boys, and a pipe, or two 
barrels, of wine, besides pork, Peas, Beans, Cod, Herring, butter, 
oil, vinegar, and other little conveniences to each ship in 
proportion to the number of the fishermen.’ 

As for the business arrangements, they are diverse. The 
Basques make their agreements on the basis of the cargo of 
the ship. It is estimated that the ship can carry so many 
quintals of [59] fish; the owners make an agreement with the 
crew, and make two or three hundred shares according to the 
number. They give to the captain a certain number of shares 
according to the reputation that he has in this business, to 
the beach-master so many, to the pilot so many, to the dressers 
so many, to the masters of boats so many, to each of the 
stowers’ and boatswains so many, and to each of the boys so 
many parts. On the return of the ship, if they do not bring 
the number of quintals on which the agreement is based, there 
is deducted from each one, for that which is wanting, a pro raia 
amount from that which he ought to have; but if she brings 


1 An interesting and somewhat more detailed account of the outfit necessary 
for the shore fishery for cod, is contained in a MS. of 1676 by Jean de Berraute 
of Biarritz, in the Bibliothéque Nationale, Collection Clairambault, 1016, fol. 295. 

2 Arimiers,a word meaning in translation “stowers” (or stevedores) but | 
having no exact equivalent among English fishermen so far as I can find. Our 
author nowhere explains the duties of the avzmier aside from his mention, on 
page 65, that he was one of the three men (evidently the least important of the | 
three) in each fishing-boat. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 271 


back more, they are increased in exactly the same pro- 
portion. 

The majority of the men of Bordeaux work for a third 
of the cargo; that is [60] to say, if the ship brings back 
eighteen thousands of fish, there are six thousand for the 
crew, who agree among themselves as to their shares. But it 
is the captain who arranges the crew, and promises to his 
pilot and beach-master, who often is only one person who 
performs two duties, so many parts, and to each one accord- 
ing to his duty. The captain settles his own share also. 
But all the boys belong to him, and to them he gives only 
three, four, five, and six écus for all their voyage, and takes 
their shares. There are sometimes four, five, six, or ten boys 
according to the size of the vessel, so that there is always a 
boy to a boat. 

Those of La Rochelle, and of the [61] Islands do dif- 
ferently. They have only a quarter of the fish,—of twenty 
thousand pounds, five thousand. Here also it is the captain 
who arranges his crew, and all are to share equally, the captain 
and the boys like the others, with a boy for each boat. The 
owners of the ship, who are also the proprietors, supply the 
provisions as I have said before, and give to the captain a 
hundred écus for [each of the] boats, to each of which there 
are always five men including the boys. To all of those men 
‘it is necessary to give a premium, to each according to his 
duty. It is for this the hundred écus are used,—to com- 
pensate the difference there is between [those having] the 
‘quarter as compared with those who have the third. From 
‘these the pilot will have, [62] for example, a hundred and 
fifty or two hundred livres, the beach-master about the same. 
If a single one fills both offices he will have three hundred 
livres. The masters of boats will have a hundred and twenty 
or a hundred and thirty livres according to what they are 
worth. ‘Those officers must know how to dress the fish. 
‘The stowers have twenty-five to thirty écus, the boatswains 


| 
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272 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


twenty-five, thirty, and forty livres, all according to their 
capacity." The captain sometimes gains from this hundred 
écus, and sometimes he loses, for the reason that the captains 
pride themselves upon having good men whom they all know; 
and this does not come to pass except by virtue of a premium, 
and treating them to drink, and also drinking pretty often 
with them, to [63] endeavour to secure them and to give 
them the earnest-penny. After that they are assured. Some- 
times the boatswains recompense them; this may be a good 
strong boy who wishes to learn the trade of sailor, for this is 
their apprenticeship. T’o him the captain gives only the value 
of his premium for his voyage, and keeps back his share. 
The canonier may be also a boatman; in this case his pre- 
mium is augmented. As for the carpenters, they have also 
a premium of thirty and forty écus, [and] the steward the 
same. It is the latter who has charge of the provisions. As 
for the doctor, he has his chest for premium, for which he 
is given two or three hundred livres; from [64] this he has 
to furnish medicines, instruments, and everything needful to 
take care of and to supply medicine for all the crew, and on 
his return the chest belongs to him. He has also twenty sols 
for each man for barbering them, and his share of the fish like 
the others. But he has also to serve on land; it is he who 1s 
one of the throaters, and carries the barrow like the least of 
the sailors, a matter which I shall explain in its proper place. 
The captain having all his crew, sets to work to get his 
salt embarked, his wine, and everything which is necessary for 
the fishery. Then, the wind being fair, he sets sail. Having 
made about a hundred or a hundred and fifty leagues, and 
when he is away from land, [65] he is careful to have prepared 
a good part of that which is necessary for the fishery. He 


1 As the one hundred écus would contain about five hundred livres (francs), 
it seems plain that the captain is given one hundred écus for each boat. The 
écus said to be paid to the stowers in the above list must, of course, be an error 
for livres. 


AMERICA. CHAP. III 273 


gives to each master of boats canvas for making the sail, and 
as much thread as is needed. ‘Then he assigns to each one 
his stower and boatswain, for although all were assured in 
leaving France of the employment they would have in these 
parts, nevertheless they hardly know certainly with whom 
they are to serve until the time when the captain informs them, 
and sometimes he makes them draw lots. Their boats are 
fitted like those of La Rochelle. They have only one mast. 
The halliard does not divide the spar equally. It 1s attached 
at a third its length, and has only one brace which is a rope 
attached at the [66] longest end of the spar. And on the 
other side the end of the spar is once larger than on the side 
of the brace, in order to make a counterweight. The brace 
serves for hauling the sail when the wind comes from behind, 
_ and the sheet which is attached to the corner of the sail on 
the other and lower side serves to haul the sail when the wind 
comes from in front, in order that the sail may receive more 
wind. For the latter purpose [also] a pole is used, with which 
_the bolt rope is pushed more in front, whereby the wind better 
fills the sail. This pole is called a Valleston. And then if 


there is a wind, the boat is so thrown upon its side that the 


————————— SOC 


water enters in over the gunwale. It is on such [67] occa- 
_ sions that the master of the boat has need of all his readiness 
to steer her well; and it is necessary he should have the sheet 
in his hand, to relax or tighten it, in order to make the boat 
right herself when she lies over too much, or when there come 
| squalls. If there is a good steersman there is norisk. There 
is more when the wind comes directly behind. One expects 
boat [safety] from the latter than from the former, since the 
| boat is always upright. Nevertheless more have perished 
\ 
| 


-/with the wind astern than with the wind in front, and for 


the reason that the boat is harder to steer and more subject to 
i ° 
/Swaying. 


reading, Sgualls are sudden renewals of the wind. 


| 


| 


| 


| 


| 1 Here our author gives a marginal note (the only one in his entire book), 


274 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


Let us continue to tell that which is necessary for the pre- 
paration of the fishing boats. The [68] captain gives, further, 
to each master of a boat, a mooring-rope, which is of cordage 
a little larger than the large canes which are carried in the 
hand. It is sixty to eighty fathoms long. It is necessary to 
protect an end of twelve to fifteen fathoms of length. This 
protection is made from the threads of an old cable and is 
called rope-yarn [ ji/s de carret|. With this the mooring-rope 
is enwrapped as tightly as possible for the length I have men- 
tioned. It is tarred in proportion as it is put on. They are 
given also an iron grapnel, which is the boat’s anchor. It is 
made like a hook for weighing meat, with the exception that 
it is larger, and that the shaft on which is the ring has a good ~ 
half fathom of length and [69] has points at the end. A 
piece of iron, flat and as large as the hand and which comes to ~ 
a point, is welded to the end of the grapnel, which weighs | 
fifty to sixty pounds. The mooring-rope is not attached to © 
the ring, as is done in the case of anchors, but to the flukes, — 
being held to the ring only by a thread of rope-yarn; this 1s | 
in order that if the grapnel should become caught in any " 
rocks, the rope-yarn would become broken by the effort to | 
raise it, and the grapnel could more easily disengage itself, the — 
strain being felt only upon the flukes where the rope is | 
attached. 4 

The captain, during the voyage, gives also six lines to © 
each boat, that is to say, two to each man, together with a 
[70] dozen hooks or hamecons, and two bars of lead, which © 
makes for each one three sinkers of three to four pounds — 
apiece. This being done, each one sets to work to prepare ; 
his equipment, in order to be ready to make use of it when it | 
is time to go to the fishery. This is as soon as they are ' 
arrived at the land, where they will not have the leisure [to 
prepare the equipment] on account of their stagings and — 
buildings. 


} 
1 
In order to prepare their lines, which are given them ina — 


AMERICA. CHAP. ITI 275 


bundle, it is necessary to untwist and stretch them. To 
accomplish this they attach at one end of the line a piece of 
wood which is thrown into the sea. In proportion as the ship 
travels, this end remains behind, until it is all straightened out. 
The end being reached, they attach there another piece of 
wood, which [71] is also thrown into the sea on the other side 
of the ship, and they draw in the first end to untwist that, 
whilst the last end falls also behind the ship in proportion 
as they draw in the first. They draw it thus from one 
side to the other seven, eight, and ten times, so that it may 
be entirely smoothed out. Then they wind it upon a reel. 
This is made of four pieces of wood, of which the two longest, 
of the length of about a foot, are flat at the ends and pierced ; 
: in the holes is placed a rod, round at each end, the whole 
making a square a little longer than wide. Upon this the 
lines are wound in order that they may dry more easily than 
when in a wad, and that they may not become entangled. 
_ Then they cap the [72] barbs or hooks, that is to say, they 
place about a foot of line in double upon the end of the hook 
at its upper end, which is a little flattened, and tie it there in 
such manner that it cannot become undone. For it is on the 
‘point of the hook there is placed the doite or bait, that is to 
4 a fragment of Herring or of entrails of Cod as large as the 
fist; this the Cod seizes, and in drawing the latter up it would 
‘carry off the hook if this were not well tied. From this hook 
\to the lead which is placed on the line there is an interval of a 
z0od fathom of line. 
As for those leads, the bar is cut into three or four pieces 
_ecording to its size; each piece makes one lead. Some make 
them round, [73] others make them square, and they are 
-jnuch larger at one end than at the other. The slender ends 
\re flattened a little at the tip. They are pierced, and in these 
_toles one places the line, also doubled to the same length as on 
he hook. They are tied with sail thread so that they cannot 
‘et off. Some give them more ornamentation than others, in 


| 


; 


—— ee 


" 


276 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


order to show their skill. This is called rigging the lead | 


[garnir le plomb}. 


When they are working it seems as if more than fifty 


farriers were pounding upon their anvils, from the noise that 
they make; some are pounding upon anchors, others on the 
cannon. ‘This goes on for three or four days. 

[74] Let us speak now of the outfit of the fishermen 
which serves for the fishery. As for that of the masters of 
boats, and all their men, they each have a pair of boots, strong 


and big, of such a kind that one is unbooted by kicking the | 


legs. ‘They have only the legs without knee-pieces. It 1s 
necessary that they do not leak. They have also a large apron 


of sheepskin dressed with the wool; the leather side is well- 
oiled, so that the water cannot pass through it. This apron 


goes lower than the boot. They have also a body-jacket of 


the same stuff and waterproof, which comes below the waist. 
and covers the apron. And this [75] body-jacket has a 
hood which is put on the head. Besides that there is a large 
apron of the same stuff which extends from the neck to the’ 
mid-leg. Such is the outfit of each of the three men_in the 
boat when they go out to sea after the Cod, at least of those 


who wish to protect themselves from the rain and the water 
in hauling their lines.* 


There are found few Basques who have not this entire 


outfit, and many of them have it in duplicate [for use] in case 


they become wet. They take a dry set the next day in re- 


turning to the fishing, whilst the other is drying. When they 
get out of those clothes they are no more wet than [76] if they 
had not stirred from a room, however hard it may have 
rained. 


1 This dress of the fishermen is in part well shown by the figure, designed 
to illustrate this very subject, in the picture from the Moll map, given later in 


this work at page 311. Although the dress of the present-day fisherman is 


different in some details, it still retains the most essential features of our author's 
day, especially as to the huge boots and the great leather apron, or darvel. 


¢ 


| 
| 
| 


% 
| 


r 
| 
i 
) 


AMERICA. CHAP. II] 7H i 


The men of La Rochelle, of Bordeaux, and of the 


Islands, or the sailors of the Isles Dieu, of Olleron, and others 


ime 208 SO well equipped. There are found some who have 
them, but rarely with a change. Ordinarily the greater part 
are content with their little cloth cloaks, with the hood, which 
come a little below their waists, 


like the others, and with sleeves of leather or of tarred linen. 


with the apron of sheepskin 


As for the boots, the fishermen all have them asarule. Such 


is their outfit for fishing. They acquire it all at their own 


expense, 


[77] CHAPTER IV 


Concerning that which 1s customary when the ships are approaching — 
the place where the fishery is to be made: the manner of 
obtaining a position, that which is done at the landing, and 


how the company is set at work. 


' , y Hilst all these preparations for the fishery are | 
being made on the vessel, she does not fail to. 
advance upon her way. When nearing the land 

and the position where they expect to go to make their fishery, 

they sometimes meet two or three vessels together which have. 
the intention of going all to the same [78] harbour, and each 
captain designs to be Admiral there. In order to obtain this) 

Admiralty, when they are eight, ten, or twelve leagues from land, 

they lower at night a boat with their best oarsmen, furnished 

with good oars. If they have a good wind which carries them. 
faster than the oars, they make use of the sail. If during the: 
day they perceive that the others are doing the same, they have 
no fear of capsizing, but vie with one another in carrying sail, 
in order to gain the lead. Sometimes the water passes over 
the gunwale of the boat. Nobody stirs for fear of losing the 
wind, excepting only the one who bails out the water. There 
are few persons who would wish to be in their company. If 
there is no [79] wind it is necessary to TOW. It is then indeed 
that they stretch their arms. There are no galley-slaves who 
pull so hard at the oars as they. No one speaks of eating or 
drinking for fear of causing delay. There is always some one 
who arrives some little time ahead of the others. The first 
who leaps on shore acquires the right of Admiral for his : 
27 


NATURAL HISTORY 279 


captain. It is for him to take the place he prefers, both for 
building his staging and for locating his vessel. If he finds on 
the shore wood from stagings which have been broken down 
during the winter, and which the sea has cast up there, he 
takes it, and anything else he finds there, as it suits him and 
by [right of] preference [over all others ].’ 

The ship having arrived there, they all change their 
occupation except the [80] captain, and each one takes up 
that duty to which he has been assigned according to 
his engagement made before his departure. Thus it results 
that one who was only a sailor during the voyage becomes a 
boat-master when he has arrived at the place of the fishery. 
At the same time the captain sends all the carpenters ashore 
to prepare quickly his boats, if he has any of them on land. 
But they rarely go to a place where they have not some, or 
else they carry some with them. If they are lacking one, and 

find any on the coast, they take it, as having first right, pro- 
vided always that the boats have no owner, and that there is 
no fisherman who claims them, either as proprietor or through 
[81] proxy from the owners, [and not if] the marks of the 
\boats are plain. This right of Admiralty does not hold for the 
‘boats of another, but only for those which are found as waifs, 
! of which he has the first right to make use. After he has a 
sufficiency of these things, the ships which have arrived in the 
same harbour have after him the same right in succession, 
according to the order of their arrival. An exception is 
Plaisance,” which is a harbour in the Island of Newfoundland, 


| * The right of Admiral was even more valued than our author implies. 

“Among the English fishermen of Newfoundland this right became so highly 

‘leveloped that the fishing admirals not only ruled over the other fishermen in 

q she same harbour, but even over the residents ashore. The subject is well 

liscussed by Prowse in his Hzstory of Newfoundland. 

_. # The French took possession of Plaisance in Newfoundland in 1662 and 
eld it until 1713, when they gave it up to England by the Treaty of Utrecht. 
I the same treaty the French were given the right to dry fish on the west 

_ dast of Newfoundland, a privilege which has led to much trouble in our own 

mes. This right they relinquished in 1904. 


2830 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


where a number of ships go to make their fishery ; there, when 
the Admiral has provided himself sufficiently with boats, he 
gives the balance to whomsoever he thinks best among those 
who have need of them, excepting always those of proprietors 
or the bearers of proxies. 

[82] The carpenters being on shore, the captain busies him- — 
self in placing his ship the best that he can, and to get her well 
moored. Then he leaves the mate with seven or eight men — 
to strip her, in just the same way as if she were in harbour in _ 
France to pass the winter. There is no cordage left except — 
the shrouds which serve to hold the masts upright. These : 
orders being given all the crew goes on shore. | 

Arrived on shore, some of them set to work at the lodging , 
for the fishermen, which is like a hall covered with a ship’s | 
sail. The sides at the bottom all around are lined with | 
branches of Fir, interlaced into pickets or stakes of four to 
five feet in height driven into the ground ; and the sail com-_ 
pletes [83] the two sides. With respect to the two ends, | 
which are, as it were, the two gables of this edifice, Fir poles. 
are placed distant a foot from one another; these are also 
interlaced with branches of Fir, which are compacted together 
as closely as possible, so that the wind can hardly pass through » 
them. In the middle of the interior are placed large poles | 
from end to end, distant the length of a man from one another, 
and these support the ridge. Other poles are placed from one’ 
to the other and are nailed at each interval, the whole so arranged ' 
that it does not shake. They make of them two stories, one 
above the other, where they put up their beds and sleep two © 
by two. The bottoms of their beds are [84] of ropes, which 
they interweave like a racket, but with openings much larger. | 
At each breadth of bed is placed a pole which keeps the two — 
men apart, and prevents them from annoying one another at ~ 
night by their weight, which otherwise would make them fall _ 
one on another if the cords which compose the bottom a 
not stretched tight by this pole in the middle. Their bed is a 


AMERICA. CHAP. IV 281 


mattress of dry grass; their covering is that which it may please 
them to bring with them; whence many have for this purpose 
nothing but their cloaks. As for their chests, they place them 
along the walls and their beds. Such is the lodging of the 
fishermen. With respect to the size of this lodging, it depends 
[85] as a rule upon that of the mainsail of the ship which 
covers it. 

Whilst some are working upon this lodging, others are 
constructing that of the captain, which is built in the same 
fashion. But there is in the middle a partition of poles set 
One against the other; in this is made a door, which is locked. 
One side is used for storing the provisions, and the other 
contains his table and his bed, [the latter] on one side or 
above, made of rope like the others. Sometimes it is bottomed 
with boards. He has a mattress and quilt. 

In another place the steward with some of the boys at work 
to build the kitchen, which is covered with large turfs arranged 
like tiles one upon another, [86] so that the rain cannot enter 
it. And from the roof downwards, there are Fir branches all 
around, interlaced like the others. These the boys bring from 
the woods, as well for this as for all the rest of the lodgings. It 
is usually the doctor whose duty it 1s to make them go to the 
woods. All this is being done at once, and is finished in two 
or three days, even though it is necessary to go and get all 
the branches and poles in the woods, to carry them back, and 
to smooth them, for fear they might pierce and injure the sails. 
: Whilst all this is under way, the beach-master and the 
pilot, who have ten or twelve men with them, are in the woods 
to cut down Firs as large as the thigh, of twelve, fifteen, [87] 
/ sixteen to twenty feet in length, to make their stagings and the 
lodgings. Everybody is at work. It is necessary to carry them 
all the way to the shore of the sea, some seven to eight hundred 
| Paces, and sometimes a thousand or twelve hundred. For every 
‘year they are being cut away, and the nearest are always the 
/first taken. There are places where so many have been cut away 


—$<—<$<$<$<$<$<<——Sa— 
eer 


282 NATURAL HISTORY 


that no more are left, [and] it is necessary to go after them 
three, four, five, and six leagues away, and sometimes farther. 
There are scarcely any places left where it is not necessary to go 
fetch them from a distance. They go there with boats of three 
men each, who go and come day and night, but are unable to 
carry more than fifty to sixty each. When once [g0, z.e. 88] 
the work has been commenced, it is almost useless to speak of 
sleeping, eating, or drinking unless by stealth, except for the 
supper. Whilst some are transporting all the logs, others are 
at work preparing the stagings. 


[g1, 2.e. 89] CHAPTER V 


On the method of constructing the staging for the dressing of the Cod, 
and of the work which it ts to build it. 


HE staging [ échaffaur] being so indispensable as it is 

in this fishery, it will not be inappropriate if I 

describe it here, in order to make its use better 
‘understood.’ It is necessary to know at the outset that all the 
wood of which it is made up is obtained in the same country 
where it is built. It may be forty, fifty, or sixty paces long, 
according to the size of the vessels, to which we assume 


1 The description of the shore fishery for cod in the following pages is, I 
believe, by far the most detailed that has come down to us, and is in fact well- 
nigh monographic. No doubt other French writers have given some account of 
_ the subject, though the only early writer on Acadia who describes it appears to 
_ be Lescarbot (Histoire de la Nouvelle France, ed. 1612, 824), who has a very 
brief but excellent comment upon it. There is a brief but good account of the 
| Newfoundland and Acadian fisheries in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1755 
(Vol. XXV. 217), and abstracts of other early accounts are contained in Prowse’s 
History of Newfoundland. Of later works the best I have found is in 
} M‘Gregors British America (London, 1832), Vol. I. 227. There is matter of 
interest also in M. H. Perley’s Refort on the Fisheries of New Brunswick 
(Fredericton, N.B., 1852), 7, and appendix; in T. F. Knight’s Shore and Deep 
Sea Fisheries of Nova Scotia (Halifax, N.S., 1867),24; and in Pierre Fortin’s 
Reports of Fisheries in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, a work I know only from the 
| citations in Knight’s pamphlet. A brief description of the fishery as practised 
by the Acadian fishermen of Bay Chaleur is given by Bishop Plessis in his 
| journal of his voyage of 1811-1812 (in Le Foyer Canadien, 1865, 99, 123, 135). 
A little pamphlet, Zzventory of Articles in the French Fishing Stations on the 
Coasts of Newfoundland, 1905, gives the modern French names of many articles 
used in the fishery. For most of the information about the terminology of the 
‘Newfoundland and Nova Scotian fisheries of the present day I am indebted to 
)the very kind aid of Archbishop Howley of St. Johns, Newfoundland, and to 

Mr. C. H. Whitman of Canso, N.S., both of whom have answered very fully my 
_ |Many inquiries. 
i 


| 


283 


284 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


[90] always that the number of men is in proportion. Its 
breadth is nearly a third of its length, and its end which 
is not covered is also about a quarter of its length; it ends 
sometimes in a point and sometimes square, and extends into 
the sea, so that the boats can always come alongside.* 

To begin the construction of the staging, there is placed 
at fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five feet out in the water a huge 
stake of eighteen to twenty feet in height. For this purpose, 
three or four men place themselves in the water when the tide 
is low, as far out as they can. ‘The stake being set upright, 
there are put in place three or four buttresses, the ends of — 
which are at the bottom of the sea, while the [91] other ends 
are against the stake as high as a man can reach to nail them, 
[which he does] with a nail as large as the finger. This stake 
being well fastened upright, another of the same kind is — 
planted on the land, and exactly opposite that [is placed] a | 
second, so that these two last determine the breadth of the 7 
staging. ‘This forms a triangle when the end of the staging, — 
or its stage-head, ends in a point. 

Between these two last-mentioned stakes and that which is | 
in the sea, there are also planted other stakes a fathom apalll 
along the two sides, so that the whole forms a triangle of — 
which the point is in the sea. All of those stakes being set 
upright, with the buttresses well nailed on, there are nailed | 
to each one of them three and four of those large [92] poles: 
from the bottom to the top, equally spaced, in such manner 
that they serve as a ladder for mounting upon the staging.” 


1 The staging is still an essential feature of the cod fishery, where extensively 
prosecuted, and it is still called chaugaud by the French and Acadian fisher- 
men. Our author’s very detailed description of its construction can be followed 
more readily by aid of his illustration, reproduced herewith. It happens, how- 
ever, that another illustration, given a few pages later (page 311), taken from — 
Moll’s map, agrees in some respects better with our author’s description than 
does his own illustration, while it supplies much additional detail. 

2 The present-day stagings made by the fishermen of Newfoundland, the 
English at least, are built with square ends (called stage-heads), while the 


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CONSTRUCTION OF THE STAGING USED IN THE COD-FISHERY 
Copperplate from Denys’ book 


(Reduced to about three-fourths the original size) 


uv 


| 


\ 
| 
| 


AMERICA. CHAP. V 285 


To strengthen this point, there are placed also under all the 
extent of this triangle a number of upright stakes well shored 
up. After this a quantity of large poles is placed crossing 
from one to the other, with others which run from top to 
bottom diagonally. ‘Thus this point is so well provided with 
beams, and is so solid and well nailed, that it is able to resist 
the roughest waves, as well as the impact of the boats which 
land there continually when they come from the fishing. The 
pile-work of this point being thus set up, there are placed across 
it large pieces [93] of wood at the height of eighteen to twenty 
feet from the bottom, beginning with this first stake which 
forms the point. These cross-pieces are properly the beams 
which support the flooring ; this, at high water, is elevated five 
feet or thereabouts above the surface of the water at the point 
of the staging. This being done, the staging is continued of the 
breadth of those two stakes which are on the land and which 
also determine the breadth of this point; and this breadth is 
continued thirty-five or forty paces always upon the same level. 
Thus the stakes which are planted upright to sustain the flooring 


of the staging become progressively less in length, because the 


shore runs ascending towards the land like a comedy theatre. 
All [94] these stakes are also well propped and strengthened 
with cross-pieces, as in the prow of the staging. Cross beams 
are continuously placed on top, a fathom apart, to finish the 
flooring of the staging. In the middle of these cross beams, 
large poles, of twenty-five or thirty feet [in length], are placed 
upright to support the ridge of the edifice; the larger ends of 
these rest upon the ground and are nailed to each alternate 
one of the cross beams, beginning with the base of the triangle 
and extending towards the land. All this having been finished, 
little poles, the longest that can be found, are obtained and 
laid lengthwise upon the cross beams, where they are arranged 
as closely as possible one against another, from [95] the point 


horizontal poles (called longers) which serve as ladders are placed upon pieces 
(called strouters) inclined against the end of the staging. 


286 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


clear to the end towards the land. This makes an efficient 
flooring for the staging. 

From these two stakes of the point, which determine the 
breadth of the staging, and extending on both sides towards 
the land, there are placed little poles which run from the 
ground straight up to pass above the flooring about four feet ; 
they are distant about two feet from one another. At the 
upper ends of these little poles, which make the two sides of 
the staging, another large pole is nailed to their tops, and thes 
holds them crosswise from one end to the other. 

Upon those large poles which are nailed to the middle ofl 


the cross beams, are placed other poles which are nailed upon ~ 
their [96] top ends from one extremity to the other, and these — 
poles form the ridge. Then other poles are arranged which — 


extend to rest or fall upon those other poles which are 
elevated four feet on the sides of the staging; and these 


. 
j 
{ 
| 
{ 


{ 
| 


serve as rafters. [his being done, a mainsail of the vessel is - 


placed on top, with the seams running like the rafters in order © 
that the water may run off more easily. To effect this, the © 
sail is stretched as much as possible by means of cords which 


are fastened to the poles on which rest the rafters. If the 


: 


sail is not large enough to cover the whole staging, the end | 


towards the land is left uncovered, for the chief place is the’ 
opposite end, where the hardest of the work is done. [97] To. 


close the two gables and the two sides of four feet in height, ” 


one begins with the gable towards the point, which is at those’ 
two large stakes which determine the breadth of the staging. | 
For this a large pole is nailed from one stake to the other, | 
with the exception of the breadth of a door which is left on 


one side to lead out upon the point. This pole, which is nailed 


underneath, is raised some two feet! above the floor, while 


1 This space of two feet, as our author tells later at page 159, and as is” 
shown both in his own figure and in the Moll engraving at page 311, is left 
open for the admission of the fresh fish. At the back gable, however, this space 


is not needed and is filled with poles and branches. 


AMERICA. CHAP. V 287 


thence upward as far as the ridge other poles are placed at 
a foot from one another, nailed above and below, which 
shorten with the pitch of the sail. The same is done with 
the opposite gable, where, however, the poles run from the 
bottom to the top. After this [98] the ends and the sides 
are lined with branches interwoven as compactly as possible 
between these poles. 

Whilst all this work is under way, the captain does not 
fail to send the boats to the fishing just as soon as the car- 
penters have put them into condition so they can go. The 
fish which they bring back every evening are dressed upon 
boards which are placed upon barrels. These form a sort 
of temporary tables which they use until the staging and its 
appurtenances shall be completed. This fish 1s salted and 
put into a pile exactly as if everything were in condition to 
receive it, as I shall tell you in the part to follow. 

The staging is no sooner [99] finished than they set to 
work to fill it up inside. There a table is made, of four feet 
wide and about three feet high, removed three feet from the 
partition of which I have just been speaking. This table 
is called the splitting-table [észd/y]. In the space between 
this splitting-table and the partition are placed the throaters 
[picqueurs| and the headers [deco/eurs], and on the other side 
are the splitters [Zabi/eurs]. These splitters are five, six, or 
Seven, according to the size of the vessel. Each splitter 
has a throater and a header. The splitters have on their 
tight side a kind of trough or box of wood, about a foot and 
a half wide and a little longer; its bottom is tipped up about 


1 I have given here the modern English equivalents, used by all the Eng- 
lish fishermen, for these three important terms, though they are not exactly 
translations of the French words. A Jicgueur, literally translated, would be 
a slitter, decoleur would be a beheader, while adil/eur would be a dresser. 
The ficgueur is called a cut-throat in Newfoundland, but a throater in Nova 
Scotia and New England. The French of Newfoundland do not now use the 
term habzlleur, but ¢rancheur or splitter. The éady, or splitting-table, is called 
by the French fishermen ¢a/, as our author also calls it on page 155. 


288 NATURAL HISTORY 


half a foot towards the floor, facing [100] inward,’ and the 
side towards which the bottom inclines is closed by a slide, 
and this is raised and lowered between two guide pieces. This 
is in order that the fish may fall of itself and all at once into 
the barrows, as I shall explain more at length when I speak of 
the dressing of the fish. At five or six feet farther on towards 
the land, in the middle of the building, there is made a 
kind of enclosure for containing the salt which is used to 
salt the fish. ‘This enclosure is called the salt-bin [saline], and 
is situated exactly under the ridge. Thus the stakes which 
support the ridge pass through the salt-bin, which may be 
twenty to twenty-five feet in length and more, according to 
the size of the vessel to which [101] it is proportioned, and 
it is about four feet wide. This bin is made of long stakes 
laid one upon another up to the height of a foot and a half 
or thereabouts. On the two sides of this building there are 
two doors, which are used in discharging the staging of fish 
when it is necessary to carry them to the water to wash them. | 
And that is about everything which can be said as to the 
staging, in order to give an understanding of it. 

1 This trough is well shown in the Moll engraving at page 311 of this work, 
where it is made plain that it was raised considerably from the floor. It faces 


inward relative to the staging, not to the table. The mode of emptying it is | 
explained by our author at page 163 of his book. . 


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[102 | CHAPTER VI 


Containing the method of obtaining the oil from the livers of Cod, 
with a description of the instruments and tools which are 
used in dressing, salting, and washing the fish; what flakes 
and beach are, their construction and their use. 


HILST this work is being done, others are en- 
gaged on the preparations necessary for making 
oil, which is accomplished in three ways. ‘The 

first is a kind of bin like that of a wine-press [103] in 
which the vintage is pressed, but in which the sides are very 
much higher all around. There are three planks, and four 
if they are narrow, one above another, well joined, well 
caulked, and well pitched, both on the bottom and on the 
sides, so that the oil cannot run out. This may be six to 
seven feet square. At one of the sides there is placed a 
wicker or basket-work, with mats of straw, of the height 
and breadth of the bin, inside along one side of the press. 
Between this wicker and mat and the side of the press, there 
is a little empty space. This is made to prevent all the 
cod livers, which are thrown every day into that large space 
which remains shut off from the empty space, from passing 
through, and [104] that there may remain a space for the 
oil in proportion as it is made.’ This happens only through 
power of the sun, which makes the livers melt. For the 
bin, or kind of press, is placed outside the staging in the 


* As our author’s drawing further shows, the wicker acted as a strainer to 
: | Beep the livers thrown into the larger space from entering the smaller, which 
| therefore contained only oil readily drawn off as described and as shown by 
| the engraving. 
289 


} 
} 
| 
| 
1 


290 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


most convenient place possible. The oil always rises to 
the top of the blood which the livers yield, whilst the water 
which falls when it rains settles below the oil; the latter is in 


the middle between the water and the livers which are thrown — 
in there every day and float upon the oil. When it is desired _ 
to draw it, a hole is made in the side of the press at about — 
a foot from the bottom on the side of the wicker, whilst — 
another hole is made lower to empty the water and blood. — 
In these holes is placed a good plug or a faucet, and the — 
oil is drawn off in [105] proportion as it is formed; and then — 
it is placed in barrels. All of the livers do not melt entirely, - 
and there form over the oil many vile matters which it is © 


necessary to empty and throw away from time to time; other- 


wise this would form a crust by virtue of its drying up, and this _ 


would keep the sun from melting the livers which are thrown 


in every day. ‘There is hardly anybody except the Basques — 


who make this kind of presses, and they are only necessary, — 


moreover, for large vessels. Others make use of a well-caulked | 


boat, which has one end placed some little higher than the © 


other; at the lower end is placed a wicker with mats, as in — 


the bin or press, to prevent the livers from passing. At | 
this end are made two holes, [106] one to empty the water, 
and the other to draw off the oil, which are emptied from » 
time to time [respectively] above and below, as in the bin — 
or press. In default of boats or press, use is made of good | 
barrels, knocked in at one end, and placed upright upon — 
stocks, somewhat raised. A wicker is placed therein, from — 
top to bottom, with mats, which make an empty space of | 
about a half foot in breadth from the top to the bottom ~ 
of the barrel. Two holes are also made in the lower part 


to empty the water and the oil, and one empties also from 


time to time all the filth or the residuum, which is formed 


on top. A. barrel of this oil 1s worth as much as twenty to 


twenty-five écus. All these three sorts of vessels which are — 


used [107] for making oil are called a Charnier by all the 


: 
} 


] 
} 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 291 


fishermen, with the exception of the Bretons, who call it a 
Treiiil.* 

Just as the entire crew does not work all at once upon 
a single duty, so each one has his special work. Let us look 
at those who are employed with the appliances which are used 
for preparing the Cod, such as the ga/aire ;* this is a kind of 
little staging which is made on land at the edge of the beach. 
For this there is made a foundation of stakes planted upright 
like those underneath the staging; they are increasingly tall 
towards the sea, in order that the flooring may be level. It 
is made in the same way as the staging, both as to the founda- 
tion and also as to the flooring of little poles, with the [108] 
exception that it is only twelve or fifteen feet both in length 
and breadth. The latter is a double one; the single ones 
have the same length along the beach, and half the breadth 
towards thesea. Some are made like this, but only three or four 
feet across, according to the size of the vessel, and always more 
rather than less through fear that bad weather may prevent the 
fish being spread out to dry. This galaire is covered above 
with poles in the form of an arbour, upon which are placed 
plenty of branches to prevent the sun, when striking upon 
the fish, from overheating them, something which would 
spoil them. 

There are also needed some barrows [Joyars], which we call 
handbarrows [siviéres d bras]in France.? Everybody[109] knows 


1 By the English fishermen it is called a “’ver-dutt, and is commonly made 
from a hogshead, at least on the fishing vessels. It is illustrated, along with 
some other articles used in the fishery, on the plate in our author's book re- 
produced herewith. By the French fishermen of Newfoundland it is called a 
fotesstere. 

* This galaire, which serves, as our author tells us on page 202 of his book, 


_ for a support to the pile of fish while draining after being washed clear of salt, 


finds its equivalent in Newfoundland in a small platform placed near the flakes, 
but I have not been able to find its name. The piles of draining fish are said 
to be 77” water-horse, an expression used also in Nova Scotia, and by the Acadian 
fishermen are said to be ex fumier. 

* Called civiadieres by the French fishermen of Newfoundland. 


2922 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


what they are.’ There are also wickerworks which are flat, 
made from long rods an inch thick, interlaced like a wicker- 
work for cleaning clothes, but they are much larger and 
stronger. They are used to throw the Cod upon when it 
is washed, in order that it may not take up sand. Another 
is also made of about a fathom and a half square. It is formed 
like a cage, except that it is not closed on top; the sticks in it 
are as large as the thumb, and it is bottomed with boards. 
This is placed in the water, the fish are thrown inside it for 
washing, and it is called a Timbre.” 

The wheelbarrows [4rodéettes] are nothing other [110] than 
two pieces of squared wood, as large as the arm or there- 
abouts, of four to five feet in length, [and having] the form 
of a crook at one end. On these are nailed staves of a foot 
and a half in length, the ends of which are nailed to the round 
part of these bars to form a bottom. In order that it may 
form a hollow, staves are also placed on the two sides, of 
which one end of the stave is nailed against the end of the 


crook, and the other end of the stave in the middle of the | 


bar where it commences to lose its curvature. Hence the cur- — 


vature of these bars, when thus prepared, makes a large hollow 


like a wheelbarrow.’ In place of a wheel there is added a . 


large roller of wood [111] pointed at both ends, which are 


passed into two iron eyes attached underneath this wheel- 


= 


barrow. Thus when it is dragged this roller serves as a wheel, © 
which makes it more easy to move. Its use is to carry the | 


fish from those troughs, which I have described as used by 
the splitters. This barrow is placed under the troughs, and 


1 If he does not, he will find one illustrated in the Moll picture (on the © 


beach) later at page 311 of this work. 


2 Shown by our author’s figure. This washing-box, the use of which is — 


explained by our author at page 1o1 of his book, is still in use and called, in 


Newfoundland, a vam’s horn. It is not placed on the beach, as our author — 


describes, but is lowered from the staging by a proper tackle. 


3 Its construction is made plain by our author’s plate. Such rolling hand- 
barrows are still in use, and in Newfoundland are called dyudge-barrows. The | 


French fishermen call it by the same name as our author. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VI 293 


no sooner is the slide raised than the fish fall therein with- 
out being touched. ‘This is done to save time and expedite 
labour. 

Whilst all these works are being constructed, the doctor, 
with some of the boys, is working to build the flakes 
[vignaux]. For this they have a quantity of little poles which 
are cut into pieces [112] of about five to six feet in length 
and pointed at one end; these are driven into the ground, 
so that there remain about three and a half or four feet above 
the ground. These pickets are distant one from another 
about a fathom; they are all arranged in a single line, and are 
all of the same height. They continue about twenty-five, 
thirty, or forty paces in length according to the extent of the 
place, which requires them sometimes to be longer and some- 
times shorter. ‘This first line of pickets being completed, 
another is made of the same sort, with a distance between the 
two lines of about five feet, a little more or less. Then long 
poles are placed in position and tied to the top ends of these 
pickets, [113] from one end to the other of the two sides. 
The strings which are used are threads of rope-yarn. All 
these poles being in position, others are placed across them, 
the ends of which rest upon those poles of the two sides; 
they are tied at each end to those poles at distances of about 
one foot from one another. This being done one covers all 
this length and breadth with branches, from which all the 
foliage is removed in order that the air may circulate as well 
from below as from above, whilst the Cod are upon the flakes 
to dry." There are needed for one ship about thirty, forty, or 
fifty of these flakes, according to the bigness of the vessel, and 
also according to the extent of the place, which is sometimes 
of [114] thirty, fifty, and even of a hundred paces in length. 


: " These flakes are made in substantially the same way at the present day. 
| They are always a conspicuous feature of any fishing village or station. They 
| are figured, though not well, in the Moll picture at page 31: of this work. They 
are still called vignots, or vigneaux, by the French and Acadian fishermen. 

| U 


| 
} 
| 


294 NATURAL HISTORY 


In another place the steward has some of the boys, whom 
he makes work on the gravel beach [grave']if there is no other 
business more pressing. But let us look at the work on the 


beach, and then I will tell that which is done in having this — 
beach prepared. That which is called beach is the little : 


pebbles which the sea throws upon the coast. This is flattened © 


as evenly as possible, and if there is too much in one place it 
is removed to fill up the hollows in other spots; or else the 
boys go to fetch it from the shore in hampers | mannes| (which | 
is a kind of basket, round, and without handle),’ and carry it — 


where it is needed. If the beach is old, and has not been} 
torn up [115] during the winter by the sea, grass is found | 


coming up amongst the gravel, and it is necessary for the boys | 


to tear it all out shoot by shoot, so that none at all is left. 
The duty of the steward, aside from the work on the 

beach, is to take charge of everything connected with the 

cooking every day for the whole crew, and to go occasionally 


( 
} 


with his boys, in a boat which he has, from land to the vessel to | 


fetch wine, biscuit, pork, butter, oil, and all other provisions. 
He goes to the spring with his barrels to fetch water to make! 
his drinks, and for the kettle. He goes also to the ship with 


\s 


his boat to fetch salt, and has it carried ashore and placed in ~ 


[116] a little pile by the boys, until the time when the “tuoi 


‘ 
‘ 


i 


may be finished and the salt-bin ready to receive it. This” 


salt, which is thus brought, is for salting the Cod which are) 
caught while this work is going on. This is done by the 
boats which go to the fishery, as I have said, in proportion as 
the carpenters get them ready; and it is these fish which I 


have described earlier as dressed upon those boards which are” 
laid upon the barrels. 


1 There is no exact English equivalent for this word grave, which our author 
applies to those accumulations of pebbles without sand which are formed only 
upon shores exposed to a strong surf. Its exact use in the drying of fish is’ 
described later under page 212 of our author’s book. Being thus economically 
important it has passed into a place-name (as Grevé) in Gaspé and elsewhere. © 

2 These brackets are our author's. 


[117] CHAPTER VII 


_ Containing the manner in which are built the boats which have to 
| be loaded in sections Sor transport to the Jishing stations 


| pO EVE it will not be out of place to describe also 
the work of the carpenters, who, although the first to be 
} 


landed to commence their work, are nevertheless the last 
_tofinish. To make the boats ready to go to the fishery, they 
_ begin with the Gee. rork which has/to be done on the 


| new boats brought from France. These are placed in [ 118] 


, sections on the ship. Some have t 


; 


he keel entire; others have 
; Store them. This keel [guile] is the bottom piece of the 
| boat, and the foundation of all the construction. Upon this 
keel are placed the floor-timbers [varangues], which are of 
squared wood about three inches thick ; they are three and a 
half feet or thereabouts in length, and are turned up a little at 
‘the ends. In going from the middle of the boat towards the 
‘two ends, they continuously grow less in size, because the boat 
is not so large at the two ends as in the middle. This 1S 
especially true on the bottom, because of the model [ fagons] 
it has in order that the bow May more easily cut the water 
when the boat is running under sail or [rowed] by the [119] 
car. The stern has not so high a model as the bow. That 
Which is called model is this, that the planking or boarding 
Which makes the enclosure of the boat is joined at the bow 
almost entirely together, from the keel to the top of the boat, 
n order that she may cut the water. At the stern it has this 
inch-form only in the lower part, in order that the water 
295 


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296 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


when the boat is under sail, or is being rowed, may strike the 
rudder, and in pushing against it may make her turn to one 
side or the other, or to go straight according as one wills. 
Below these floor-timbers are nailed two boards or planks 
from one end of the keel to the other on each side. ‘That 
is the first section. ‘To these floor-timbers are nailed [120] 
ribs [membres] with brads. ‘These ribs are of square wood 
of the thickness of the floor-timbers. They are bem 
below, and rise straight up to the height which it is 
wished to give the boat. Each floor-timber has its rib 
at each end, and these become steadily closer towards the 
two ends, in order to make the model mentioned above 
All these ribs being placed on the two sides, from one 
end of the keel to the other, there is nailed to this keel < 
stem-piece [estrave] at the bow; this is a piece of wood o 
about six inches square, which makes a curve in ascending fron 
the end of the keel upward to the height of the boat. At thi 
other end of the keel, at the stern, there is placed anothe 
piece of squared wood of the [121] same thickness as th 
stem; it is straight, but it inclines a little outwards, and als 
extends as high as the boat is to be. This piece is called 
stern-piece [e/ambot]. To this are fastened strips, of an inc 
of depth, on both sides inside, for nailing on the boardin 
when that is added to close in the outline of the boat. Tk 
stem has a strip also of the same kind for nailing on the enc 
of the boards. The stem and the stern, and all the ribs bein 
placed according to the model, or the shape which the boat mu’ 
have, it is necessary to board it in. To board in is to add th 
boards all around, and this is called boarding [ dordage]. | 
In placing the boarding from the keel at the bottom ar 
ascending upward, [122] care is taken that the ends do not jo. 
in the middle opposite one another. It is necessary that thc 
pass a foot and a half or two feet one beyond another in ord* 
to make the connection stronger; [and this is so] as well 1 
regard to the boards which run from the front backwards, § 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII > 297 


in regard to those which run from the stern forwards; it is as 
with the stones which are made to overlap one another in the 
construction of a house, a feature which the masons call 
“biting” [mordans|. ‘This is done from the bottom clear to 
the top on both sides of the boat, as the boards are placed 
continuously one above another. This is ordinarily done only 
for those boats which it is necessary so carry in sections through 
[123] inability to carry them entire on the ship. Having been 
thus assembled in France, they are taken apart to store them 
in sections. All the boards which I have mentioned as passing 
over one another in the middle, are nailed in that place only 
by brads. All the rest is nailed permanently, with the excep- 
tion of one side, belonging to the stem-piece, and the other 
side belonging to the stern-piece. Thus the stem and the 
stern are each held only on one side to one of the sections. 
Mo make these sections, the keel is cut in half, but if the 
vessel can carry it entire, the ribs are detached from the floor- 
timbers, where I have told you they were nailed with brads. 
Also all those ends of boards are detached [124] in the middle 
Where they run one over the other. Thus the boat remains 
divided into four’ sections when it is cut apart, and in five 
when the keel remains entire. 

After having spoken of the construction of the boats, and 
of the manner of reducing them to sections, it remains now to 
speak of how they are remounted or reassembled in that 
country. The whole is placed on land, the sections of the 
same boats by themselves; for each boat has its parts marked 
‘with one mark, and for the side where they ought to be, in 
order that the ends of the boards which ought to fit in the 
middle may be found exact. All the sorting of the boats 
being finished, the keel of one is placed [125] upon blocks, 
which are a kind of stocks or large pieces of wood for raising 
at from the ground. Then the part containing the stern-piece 
| 


* Apparently this should read six. 


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298 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


is placed at one end, followed by the stem-piece, which is nailed 
to the other end of the keel. Then the ribs are nailed to the 
floor-timbers, and then the two other sections are placed in 
position, the one on one side forwards, and the other on 
the other side sternwards. Thus the ends of the boards 
come together in the middle precisely as they should do. 
Being thus placed in position, the ribs are nailed permanently 
to the floor-timbers, and the ends of the boards are nailed 
upon the ribs, also permanently, as well as to the stem- and 
stern-pieces. And there is the boat remounted! There is 
lacking a strip, which is made from a [126] board sawn length- 
wise into pieces of about four or five inches wide. One is 
placed all around the boat, nailed inside at half a foot or 
thereabouts from the edge. This serves to strengthen the | 
boat, to hold the ribs in place, and to support the beams - 
[daux] or thwarts [¢outes], which are half a foot broad and | 
an inch thick. ‘The beams or thwarts are, in fact, the benches . 
on which the rowers are seated. There are six of this kind © 
from one end of the boat to the other. These thwarts have — 
each its place, that is to say three in front and three behind at — 
about two feet from one another, while between two is left 4a | 
space of five feet or thereabouts which is in the middle [of ‘ 
the boat.] [127] All of these are placed upon this strip, 
crossing the boat from one side to the other. On each of the - 
ends of a thwart is placed a short stick which is a piece of © 
wood made into a square knee, all of one piece, of which one ~ 
end is nailed upon the thwart and the other part upon the © 
edge of the boat. It is those thwarts which hold the boat in 
shape, and prevent it from spreading. Now it is necessary to 
add a gunwale [carreau] all around the boat. This gunwale is — 
a piece of wood of two good inches, or of two and a half, © 
square, which is placed all around the boat above the topmost - 
board, and which is nailed to the ends of the ribs which pass a 
little above the boarding. After this [128] the ribs are cut 
down to the level of the gunwale. 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 299 


It is necessary next to caulk this boat. Caulking is placing 
oakum in the joints, which are the openings existing between 
two boards. This oakum is made of old cables which are cut 
into pieces. Next the strands are untwisted and boiled in 
water. hen they are beaten with a mallet or other tool to 
render them supple, and to separate better the hemp into 
strands, a process called separating [décharpir], or making it 
into tow. Being separated it is rolled as large as the thumb, 
and made into distaffs as thick as the arm, and of half the 
length of the arm. Such is the oakum which is used in 
caulking ships [129] and boats. In order to force this oakum 
into the joints of the boarding there is needed an iron which is 
made like a chisel, of two fingers’ width and a good half-foot 
in length; one end is flat, and the other is all round and flat on 
the top, which is struck with a mallet in order to drive in the 
oakum by force. ‘Thus it becomes as hard as the wood. ‘The 
iron is called a caulking-iron [ga/fet | and the operation caulk- 
ing | galferter|, and that work makes it tight. The boat 


being well caulked upon one side, it is turned upon the other, 


and the sameis done there. The caulking being completed one 


side is well heated with brush or branches of Fir; for this 
little fagots are made which are attached to the end of a stick, 
in order that they may be lighted [130] and applied all flaming 
to the boat, to heat the planking well. When one fagot is 
burned out, another is lighted, and so on until it is well 
heated. Then one has some pitch in a large iron pot which 
has been well heated. It is this pitch which the players of 
the violin call colophony and use to rub their bows. This 


_ being good and hot, there is placed with it some fish oil 
_ to make it softer, and to prevent it from scaling off when 


ee 


a 


dry. The planking being well warmed, one takes a wad of 
wool, fastened at the end of a stick, which is called a mop 
[guipon|. It is plunged into this kettle containing the pitch, 
which is used as hot as possible. [131] This mop is passed 
over the joints and the planking itself in order that the whole 


300 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


may be well pitched. The one side having been done, the 
boat is turned over in order that the same may be done with 
the other. When it is well pitched the inside work of the 
boat is added. The spaces between the thwarts are separated 
one from the other by boards or barrel staves, which are 
nailed at one end to the thwarts, whilst the other is nailed at 
the bottom of the boat to a bar of wood which crosses the 
bottom ; these compartments are called rooms [vums].* Each 
fisherman has two of them, of which one serves to hold 
the fish as they are caught, and the other serves as a place for 
the fisherman himself. When his room is full, it is [132] 
emptied into the large space which is in the middle of the 
boat, and which is called the big room [grand rums|. The 
other fishermen also empty their rooms into this large one. 
When it is full and also the small ones, it is then the boat is 


said to be loaded, and it has five to six hundred Cod. There © 


are necessary also sideboards | fargues] for the boat in order that 


it may be all ready to go to the fishery. These sideboards 


are a band of canvas very heavily tarred, of about a foot in 
breadth; it is nailed upon the gunwale, which, as I have said, 
was placed upon the top of the boarding. This sideboard is 


nailed by one margin all around the boat; and along the | 
other margin of the sideboard there are eyelets, by means of — 
which [133] there is attached by rope-yarn a pole on each side, 
running from one end to the other of the boat. If one pole — 


is not enough, two or three are added. There are also needed 
round or square sticks of a half fathom in length, which are 
thrust between the side of the boat and that strip on which rest 
the thwarts. These sticks extend above the edge of the boat to 
the breadth of the sideboard, and are a half fathom distant 
one from another. They are pierced at the upper end for the 
passage of a string which is attached to that little pole of the 
sideboard that is raised, and which is used only when the 


1 The French word rus is said by the lexicons to have been adopted from 
the English “room.” 


AMERICA. CHAP. VII 301 


fishermen meet bad weather at sea, or when the boat is too 
heavily loaded. Then these [134] sticks are set, and the side- 
boards are raised by means of those little cords, which are 
then bound and tightened on the ends of those sticks, 
which are called espontilles. By this means the sideboard 
serves for a planking which prevents the water from entering 
into the boat. After the fishery is finished the sideboards are 
removed from the boats, which are left in the country. 
Those who make use of them the following year are obliged 
to add these sideboards to render them fit for the fishery, 
aside from the other repairs which it is necessary to make 
to them according to the state in which they are found. 


[135] CHAPTER VIII 


Of the distribution which is made of the boats among the master 
Jishermen, and of the means which are used to keep them in 
safety during the night. 


as they become ready therefor, all the masters of boats 

draw lots, on which is written first, second, third, and so 
for the rest. He to whom falls the first takes the first boat — 
completed by the carpenters, and thus with the others each in — 
his turn. It is the [136] masters and their crews who make , 
the rooms, the sideboards, the mast, and the boom for the | 
sail, the hooks, the leads, the lines, and all that 1s prepared 
during the voyage as I have described. This choice by lot is 
made to avoid dispute and quarrel among them, and that they — 
may not be able to complain if one has a better boat than ~ 
another ; for as a rule the carpenters fit up all the best boats, 
first, they being less work to complete, and in order that they — 
may be able to go constantly to the fishery whilst the others 
are being prepared. In proportion as there is one of chem 
finished, he to whom she belongs places on board all his. 
fishing outfit and all his fishermen, and then [137] goes to the 
fishery. Their fish is dressed as I have mentioned above. I 
shall give a description of it very fully when all the boats are 
ready, and all the | preparatory] work is finished. 

Now it is necessary to make arrangements to put all the 
boats in safety when they return at evening from the fishery, 
for fear that bad weather may overtake them at night, which 
might cause their loss. For this they have a cable as large as — 
the arm or larger, according to the bigness of the ship. For 


302 


|: order to know who will man the boats in proportion 


NATURAL HISTORY 303 


it must be much stronger for one having many boats than for 
one which has fewer. An end of this cable is carried out to 
sea as far as possible, and that is its whole length. It is then 
affixed or attached to [138] a good and strong anchor which is 
thrown to the bottom of the sea. Then the end on land is 
taken and hauled or drawn by the strength of the men. If 
there are several ships in one harbour they help one another. 
This cable being well stretched, it is turned around a very 
thick stake, which is sunken deeply into the earth. ‘That end 
being well secured, another stake is placed above this one, 
five or six fathoms away, which is also well sunken in the 
ground. ‘To this latter stake there is fastened another rope, 
which is attached to the head of the first stake to hold it firmly, 
and to prevent the boats which are fastened on the cable from 
loosening it in any tempest which is likely to arise. [139| To 
attach the boats to this cable there are good ropes’ ends which 
are attached from place to place by one end, while at the other 
is fastened a little piece of wood which always holds the end 


_ above the water. This [arrangement] is called a Boyon.* As 


many of them of this kind are added as there are boats; and 
they are spaced from one to the other, so that the tempest, 
when it occurs, does not bring them into collision, which 
would smash them. It is necessary that this cable shall stand 
all the strain of the boats and of the bad weather. 

To this same cable there is attached, eight or ten fathoms 
from the staging, a pulley through which is passed a rope. 
One end of it is fixed and fastened to the head of that great 
stake which makes the point of [140] the staging. The 
other end, which is of fifty to sixty fathoms, according to the 
bigness of the ship, remains upon the staging in order that 


* It is practically equivalent to the collar of the Newfoundland fishermen ; 
boats so moored are said to be “on the collar.” The word is no doubt con- 
nected with the English dvoy,and is perhaps a corruption of douée-orin (or a 
hybrid duoy-orin) meaning buoy-rope. The cable is not now used by the 
fishermen, who moor their boats separately. 


304 NATURAL HISTORY 


there may be attached to it the boats destined only for the 
land service, and not for the fishery. When they have been 
attached to this rope, the end which is fixed is pulled, and by 
this means the boat is caused to go a certain distance from 
the staging, the whole being so managed, however, that one 
can also add another in the same manner by drawing more on 
the end of the cord which is fixed and attached to the stake 
at the point of the staging. When there is need of these 
boats, or of a single one of them, it is only necessary to pull 
on the opposite end of this same [141] cord in order to make 
them come to the staging. This cord is called a voyal 
[ Tournevire|; others call it a go-come [Vas-iu, Viens-iu].’ Its 


use is to keep always afloat the two service-boats, the largest — 


of which is called charroy,” and to have them easily at hand 


when they are needed. Otherwise it would be necessary to | 
have boats to go fetch them, for they serve to go fetch those ' 


which are attached to the boyon and destined for the fishery. 


1 | have not been able to find technical English equivalents for these terms. | 


2 Presumably this is the same word as chaland, applied by the French 
fishermen of Newfoundland to a barge [boat]. 


[142] CHAPTER IX 


The preparations of the boats for going to the fishing. That which 
is practised when they are upon the fishing grounds. That 
which is done on land. On the return of the fishermen, and 
their method of unloading their boats, and of placing them in 


safety. 


OW that all of our works are finished and all of our 
N boats are ready to go to the fishery, it is necessary 
to send them away for that. [143] The day before 

they are to start to sea for fishing, the boatswain has the 
duty of filling his basket [cordz/lon|] with biscuit, which 1s 
not withheld from the men, but which they take at will. 
This corbillon is a large box like that in which are sent 


the prunes of Tours, but almost as large again. Then he 


goes to fill his barrel with drink, which does not intoxicate 
them; for from one barrel of wine there are made four and 
sometimes five without any other miracle than some water. 
It is free to all, and each one takes as much as he wants. 
The steward has charge of this economical magnification. 
The boys go in a boat to fetch the water in barrels, sometimes 
far off, [144] sometimes near, according to where the spring 
is situated. That is all the provision that any of the fisher- 
men have when they go upon the grounds [sur /e fonds], 
which is the term used by them to designate going to the 
fishery. 

The next day just at dawn they are made to arise. They 
go and take the boats on the voyal, in order to go out to 
their own which are moored upon those boyons. Being on 


board they set the sail, if there is wind, for they go where the 
395 


306 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


wind carries them. Or if they design to go to a particular 
place, they row to windward. At other times, when there is 
no wind, they go wholly by the oar [@ /a rame]. They do 
not make use of this word, but they say they go by the 
stroke [4 /a nage]; they say it is only galley slaves who pull on 
the oars. ‘There is hardly any harbour [145] in which there 
is not more than one ship, and every morning one sees thirty, 
forty, and fifty boats under sail, or being rowed, some of 
which go in one direction and some in another. Each master 
of a boat is free to go where he sees fit, and where he believes 
he can find most Cod. When they are a league or a league 
and a-half away, they lower their sail, or cease rowing if they 
are going under oars. They throw their lines overboard all 
baited, that is to say with Cod [entrails] or bait, which 1s 
similar to that of the Grand Bank with the exception that 
the line, the hook, and the bait are here not so large. 

The line being thrown over, if they find Cod biting at the 
hamegon, which is the hook and the [146] bait collectively,” 
then all those in the boat throw over their lines; and the 
boatswain, who is the one at the bow, throws the grapnel 
into the sea as is his duty. After that they set to work to 
draw up the Cod as fast as they can. They have each two 
lines, one on one side of the boat and one on the other. As 
soon as the Cod is hauled up, the hook is removed, and it is | 
thrown into the room, as I have mentioned earlier. If the 
bait was removed, he immediately puts on another, which he 
takes from the stomach of the Cod. If he finds there any- 
thing which is not digested, he puts it on the point of his | 
hook, then throws his line again into the sea. Whilst it 1s 
sinking to the bottom, he turns to the other side, [147] and | 
hauls up the other line if he feels a Cod is taken, which rarely — 
fails. So long as they find fish they do not stir from there. | 
All the others do the same. When the fish give out, they _ 


1 But amecon is used for the hook alone by the French fishermen of — 
Newfoundland. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX. 307 


raise the grapnel and go to another place. But when the 
fish abound, it is a pleasure to see them working arms and 
body as they turn from one side to the other. They do 
nothing but draw up the line and at the same time throw 
it over again, for it is soon unhooked. It is well to know 
that the lines are attached upon the edge of the boat, and 
so do not reach quite to the bottom. It 1s always necessary 
that the hook shall be a good fathom from the ground, and 
the lead two fathoms. [148] They work in competition, that 
is as to who shall haul up the most. They do not return until 
the evening. 

Awaiting their return, let us see what those on land are 
doing. The captain goes to visit the flakes, sees whether 
they are well made, whether they have enough branches upon 
them, and whether he will have enough to stretch out all his 
fish (that is to say, to spread it upon). If he thinks there is 
not enough, and if there is still space remaining, he gives 
orders for more of them to be made. He visits the beach, 
and sees if it is well prepared. The beach-master is with him, 
if he is not that himself, for often the one is also the other. 
They visit the barrows, the wicker-works, and everything 
which I have designated as for the land service. [149] If 
they find there is not enough of everything, he gives orders 
for more of it to be made. For some of them may break, 
and when the rush of the fishing is on, there is no time 
to waste on that sort of thing. In the beginning of the 
fishing, when there is not yet any number of fish caught, 
they have more time to work at those little matters. During 
this visit, the steward, some sailors, and the boys go to the ship 
with the land boats to bring provisions needed by the crew, 
and to see that nothing is in disorder on board. During this 
time, the sailors and boys carry salt to fill the salt-bin, and so 
soon as one boat is [150] loaded, it is taken ashore whilst 
they are loading another. There are five or six boat voyages 


1 The brackets are our author’s. 


308 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


needed to fill the salt-bin. When the bottom or anchorage 
permits the ship to be brought near the staging, no person 
remains on board, either by night or by day; no one goes to 
her unless he has business there. But when she is anchored 
at a distance from the staging, two, three, or four sailors are 
sent there to sleep in order to guard her. 

Whilst the captain and the beach-master are making their 
visits, and are giving their orders for that which remains to be 
done, and whilst the salt-bin is being filled with salt, the fisher- 
men who have been doing their work upon the fishing grounds 
appear under sail. It is about four o’clock in the afternoon 
when they begin [151] to raise the grapnel, and to set sail. 
They need at least an hour and a half, and two hours, and 
sometimes three, to go from the grounds to the staging, 
according to how distant they are. It is always near six 
o'clock before the first boat arrives at the staging. The 
others follow and arrive after a half hour, three quarters, or 
an hour, and sometimes later. They follow one another in — 
this manner in order to give time for unloading one after the - 
other. Nevertheless sometimes two or three of them arrive 
at once. ‘The first arrival fastens his boat to that point of the — 
staging which is advanced into the sea, and the other boats [are 
fastened] all around that point, upon which [152] the fisher- 
men throw their fish in proportion as they arrive to unload | 
their boats. To throw the fish up, they have a pew [sé ou 
daguet,' | which 1s an iron point half a foot long or thereabouts, 
which curves a little towards its point. It is fastened to the 
end of a stick of four to five feet long. They thrust this 
iron into the head of the Cod and throw it up. If the Cod 
is too large for one man to be able to lift it upon the staging, 
[he is aided by] a boy who is above with a gaff [gaffe]. Thats 
also an iron which is hooked; it is thick as a finger and 
pointed at one end, while at the other, which is somewhat 


1 Called Azguods by the French of Newfoundland, and a few by the English 
fishermen. 


AMERICA. CHAP. IX 309 


long, it is attached to the thick end of a large pole. This the 
boy, who is on the point of [153] the staging, extends to the 
boat, keeping hold always of the little end. Those on the 
boat pass the head of this large Cod over the hook of this 
gaff, and he who is above draws it up to him. There are 
sometimes Cod so large that two boys can hardly draw them 
up. When the masters of boats act as splitters, they do not 
waste time in unloading; they quickly abandon their fishing 
outfit, with the exception of their boots, whilst the stowers 
and boatswains unload their boats. As soon as one is un- 
loaded the stower ascends upon the staging to go to his 
work. Then the boatswain removes the boat thence, to make 
room for another which does the same, [154] and he goes 
at once to moor it to the boyon. There he washes and 
cleans his boat as well as he can, especially the thwarts which 
the Cod has made greasy, and which become so slippery that 
one would fall in walking upon them if they were not freed 
of the grease by dint of washing and cleaning them. This 
being done they rest, waiting until some one shall come to 
fetch them all at once with the service boats, or else until, 
their work being done, some one of those returning from the 
fishery may pick them up in passing. 


Pag) CHAPTER X 


On the method of dressing and salting the Cod, and of making the 
oil which is obtained therefrom; how one prepares the roe, 
what the latter is, and what it is used for. 


there are fish upon this point or stage-head, and the 

boat-masters and the stowers are upon the staging, then 
each according to his duty begins to prepare himself to go 
to the fish-table [a//er a /ézal], that is, to take his place around 
the table. For this purpose the splitters commence with their _ 
[156] knives, which are furnished them by the captain. They: 
sharpen them, and their sharpener is a piece of flat wood, 
four inches wide, three thick, and as long as the arm, upon 
which they place the sediment of a grindstone. This sedi- 
ment is made by the action of the carpenters in sharpening, 
their iron tools upon a large millstone, which is used up by dint 
of use; that which is consumed falls into the trough in which 
is the water. They take care to collect this, and some of 
them even carry it from France; with it they sharpen their 
knives which cut like razors. ‘They each have two of them. 
As soon as these are sharpened they put on a large leather 
apron, which takes them [157] under the chin, and extends to 
the knees. They have also sleeves of leather or of tarred 
linen. In this garb they take their places in barrels which 
come up to the mid-thigh. These barrels are between those 
little boxes which are attached to the table, and of which I 
have earlier spoken. They place their aprons outside or above 
the barrel to prevent the water, the blood, and other filth from 


310 


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NATURAL HISTORY 311 


entering it. Such are the splitters, arranged ready for work.* 
But they each need a throater and a header. These have also 
a big apron and sleeves like the others, but they have no 
barrels. In addition, those who work on the water have their 
boots, which they never leave except to sleep. Those who 
stay on land and take part [158] in this work, do not have 
them. The header has no knife, but the throater has one, 
different from that of the splitter. That of the splitter is 
square at the end, and very thick on the back in order to 
give it weight that it may have more power to cut the spine 
of the Cod. That of the throater is longer and pointed, the 
point rounding down on the side towards the edge. The 
throaters and headers are on the other side of the table near 
the partition, which is on the side towards the sea, adjoining 
that point on which the Cod are unloaded. Being thus all 
placed, the boys and others are also upon the point of the 
Staging with their pews, with which they pierce the Cod 
in [159] the head, and thrust it near the table under that 
| ‘Partition or gable which I have earlier described, and in which 
is left an opening of about two feet in height. Having thrust 
it there, other men who are between the throaters and the 
headers take the Cod and place it upon the table near the 


! The various operations of the fishery are shown, with pre-Raphaelite 
"detail and clearness, upon the accompanying picture, reproduced from Moll’s 
“map of North Biserica of 1713 (or thereabouts). Its agreement with the 
|descriptions of our author is so close as to suggest some connection between 
ais work and the picture, or else a remarkable uniformity in the methods of the 
ishery as practised by the French in Acadia and the English in Newfoundland. 
| tis to be noted, however, that while the picture is very like our author’s descrip- 
ion, it differs in some details, such as in showing several salt-bins instead of 
ine, the table set at right angles to the end partition instead of parallel, 
he door to the stage-head in the middle instead of one side. It is possible 
;he picture is much older than Moll’s map, but if so I do not know its origin. 
r is reproduced, reduced, in Prowse’s fiistory of Newfoundland (page 22), while 
be Same picture, crudely re-drawn and in greater part reversed, is given in 
Vinsor’s arrative and Critical History of America, \V. 2, where it is said to 


s taken from a map of America of 1738 in Keith’s Héstory of the British 
lantations in America, Part I. 1738. 


} 
| 
| 
} 


312 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


throater, who at the same time catches it and cuts the throat _ 
and then opens the belly clear to the anus, which is exactly 
that part by which it voids. Then he passes his knife very | 
near the gills to separate a bone which is between the ears 
and the head, and all at one operation thrusts the Cod to his 
neighbour, the header. The latter tears out the entrails from — 
the belly, and at the same moment he throws into two baskets _ 
[160] which he has in front of him, into one the livers and 

into the other the roe [rabdes], which is the eggs of the Cod. ; 
Then, all in a moment, he inverts the Cod belly down upon 
the table, takes the head in his two hands, reverts it upon the! 
back of the Cod and breaks its neck. He takes the head in 
one hand, throws it into a hole which is at his feet, through — 
which it falls into the sea, and with the other hand ee the 
Cod to the splitter. TIM latter seizes it by the ear [fin], with’ 

a mitten which he has on his left hand,’ without which he 
would not be able to hold it firmly, and places its back 
against a wooden strip. This is as long as the Cod, and two 
inches thick ; and it is nailed opposite him upon the table, its 

use being to hold the fish firmly and prevent it from slipping 
during the operation, [161] [which it would do] because of its 
fat. Then with his knife he strips the flesh from the greater 
part of the backbone on the side of the ear which he holds it 
his hand, beginning with the ear and running clear to the tail 
and at the same time he gives a blow of his knife upon the 

backbone, and cuts it in the position of the anus. Then hr ~ 

passes his knife underneath the backbone going towards thi 
ears, cuts all those little bones which serve as ribs for the fish — 
throws the backbone behind him, and with his knife throw — 
the Cod into the little box or trough which is at his right — 
They do this with such dexterity and quickness, as well th — 
throaters and headers as the splitters, that those who hav ~ 
nothing else to do but to collect the Cod and place then — 


1 The splitters among the English fishermen of Newfoundland still use th 
mitten, called a splitting cuff, on the left hand. 


AMERICA. CHAP. X 313 


upon the [162] table have trouble to furnish enough. With 
this backbone which they throw behind them is taken that 
which is called in France Cod tripe [¢rippe de molué|, but 
which the fishermen call zo#es; it is nothing other than the 
skin or membrane which encloses the intestines. All the 
fish have it alike, some larger, others smaller according to the 
size of the fish. I will tell below how these xoiies are pre- 
pared and used.’ 

The Cod being dressed as I have just been telling, it is 
[next] salted. This is done upon the same staging, covered 
with the sail, along those palisades of branches which are on 
the two sides of the staging, the salt-bin being in the middle 
in order that [163] salt can be taken more easily from either 
side. For this latter purpose there are men who have each 
one of those wheelbarrows which I have described, and they 
place them under those little boxes. Then they raise the 
slide and all the Cod fall inside [the wheelbarrows], because 
the box is inclined. Then they replace the slide in position, 
and drag the barrow to the place where the Cod is salted. 
They empty them there and return for others. Two or three 
men take those Cod by the ears, arrange them head by tail, 
and make of them a bed of a length which they judge about 
right to contain all the fish of this day’s catch. For to render 
the salting uniform, they never place [164] upon one another 
fish salted on mipeuent days. It is a maxim without exception 
that all the fish caught on one day has its separate mode of 
treatment thenceforth. The length of two Cod placed end 
to end determines always the breadth of the pile, and the 
= depends like the length upon the quantity of fish 


which will have been taken during the day. Always the skin 
side of the Cod is placed underneath. ‘This first layer being 
thus made of the length which he considers suitable, the salter 
has a large perfectly flat shovel, with which he takes salt from 
the salt-bin, which is behind him, and with it salts the Cod. 


1 But he does not do so, obviously through oversight. 


ee 
—<—$_— 


314 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


The salter is so skilled that as soon as his shovel is loaded 
with salt, he throws it upon this [165] Cod from the edge of 


his shovel at more than a long fathom distance, without — 


placing appreciably more in one place than another. If there 


is any place in which he has not enough, he adds some there: — 


and it falls off his shovel only as he wishes to place it. This 
Cod is salted very little; when it is given too much salt it 
burns, and is not so fine as others. This is why it is neces- 
sary the salter should be skilled in throwing his salt. When 


this first layer is finished, another is made above it in the same ~ 
fashion, and then it is salted like the other. This is repeated — 


until all of the fish are dressed. 

As for those huge Cod, which, as I have said, need a man 
and sometimes two [166] in order to lift them up with a gaff, 
it is called Gaff Cod, and is dressed and salted like those of the 


—— —_ 
=. =o 


Prey 


Grand Bank. This is why it is never intermixed with the 
others. A pile is made of them separately, at the end of the © 


salt-bin or on one side. For salting it is covered with salt, | 


— 


and especially at the upper part of the tail where the large © 
bone has been cut, for that is the place where it spoils most — 
quickly when it has not enough salt, as well as all along the ~ 
tail. If the latter were split like the body it would not need — 


so much salt. 


Let us see now what is done with those baskets in which \ 
the header places the livers and the roe, which is, as I have 
already said, the eggs of the Cod. A boy or a man empties © 


them [167] in proportion as they fill up; that is to say, the’ 


roe is placed at the end of the salt-bin, in which is made a 


little empty space into which they are thrown, and there they - 
are salted in proportion as they are arranged one above the | 


other. They do not need much salt. The livers are carried 


to the liver-butt which is outside the staging, and they are. 


placed therein daily in proportion as the fishery supplies them. - 


I have already described this liver-butt, though it is well to 
remark here that everything which is used for obtaining the 


AMERICA. CHAP. X 315 


oil from the livers is called liver-butt [charnier], whether it be 
press, trough, boat, or barrels. 

I return to our boatswains whom I have left going to moor 
their boats to their boyons which are attached to the large 
cable. After [168] having cleaned and washed them well, 
they furl their sail, placing it along one side of the boat 
where they arrange also all of their oars. Then they take 
down their masts, with the rigging wrapped all around them ; 
then they pass the large end, which is the lower, above the 
first or rear thwart of the large room, and make it pass 
through a hole made in the front partition or wall of the 
large room. And in order that the little end of the mast 
which rests upon the stern of the boat may not hinder the 
rowing when there is no wind, nor, likewise, manning the 

lines during the fishing, they have a large fork of which the 
lower end, three feet or thereabouts long, is flattened [169] 
that it may be inserted between the strip and the edge of the 
_boat,—the same place in which are set those pontilles or sticks 
which hold the sideboards. Being set there at the position of 
the little room which adjoins the great room behind, the mast 
1s placed upon this fork, which raises the end upwards so that 
‘it cannot be in the way. This fork is removed and replaced 
whenever desired. They remain there in their boats until 
such time as some one comes for them, which is when the end 
of the work has been reached on the staging. Then one of 
|the boys, in one of the land-boats, goes to fetch them one 
after another. They come with their barrels and baskets 


y 


hong they proceed to fill as soon as they have stepped on 
land, in order to be all ready the next day at dawn [170] to 
en upon the fishing grounds. 
When the work at the staging is finished, each one abandons 
} his Stage- dressing- and fishing-outfit, with the exception of the 
dressing knives, which they never let out of their possession 
‘or fear that some one may spoil their edge by cutting some- 
‘hing other than fish. It is the duty of the boys to wash the 


| 


| 
| 


316 NATURAL HISTORY 


aprons and the sleeves, and to have them dry in preparation 
for use on the evening of the next day, in default of which 
they are sure of being well beaten. For when a boy fails in 


anything which he ought to do, he is whipped, and all the © 
others for company. ‘This is why they warn one another to | 
do that which is given into their charge. Everything being © 
cleaned and [171] washed they go to supper. They are 


arranged seven by seven in a mess. If there is a man or two © 


over, there are made two messes of eight, and each places him- — 
self where he can. ‘This is excepting the captain, who eats in | 
his lodging, and with him the beach-master, the pilot, and the — 
doctor, who is the one who has charge of the cooking. He ~ 
has also a boy to serve him, and one at each mess; the boys © 


eat only the remains, and they have plenty with that. 


rye | CHAPTER XI 


The administration of the provisions ; how they are used during the 
fishing. How the boitte or bait is caught, and about the. 
characteristics of the Cod and of the Mackerel. 


which have been placed on the ship belong as much to all 

the crew as to the captain, and that he cannot dispose of 

them in favour of any one whatsoever except by consent of all 
the crew, although he has[173]the right to drink the wine pure * 
at his table during the voyage and during the stay. The crew . 
drink it pure at sea three times a week, and the other days 
have a drink which is half water. Whilst on shore during the 
fishery the drink is much more dilute; from a barrel of wine, 
there are made three or four. The reason is that during the 

_ time of the fishery the labour is extremely rough. They sleep 
little, and they are all day long in the sun, both on land and 
at the fishery ; and during that time they are always thirsty. 
It is better from all points of view that they abstain from pure 
| wine. ‘They content themselves with drinking it on Sundays 
at dinner and supper, because upon that day they do not go to 
| the fishing grounds. This is the day [174] they take to wash 
_ their linen, to put in order their clothes, and even their boats, 
if there is anything to be done to them. This frugality in 
wine which is practised is for their good health, and to let 
them drink it quite pure on their return voyage [to France], if 
‘there is enough of it, otherwise they make some little drink of 
half-wine. There are some crews which are not willing to 
\practise this economy during their work, and who prefer to 


‘drink water on their return. ‘This is their own affair; they 
| 317 


| 


| 


| is not out of place to state here that all the provisions 


318 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


are masters of their own provisions. The boys there have as 
much as their companions. 

As for the eating, those who go upon the grounds have as 
a rule only their barrel of drink and their basket of bread for 
three [175] men from the morning to supper-time in the 
evening. ‘There is an occasional one who takes a piece of Cod, 
of Mackerel, or of Herring roasted from the remains of his 
supper. ‘Those who remain ashore dine at nine o’clock upon 
boiled and roasted Cod or Mackerel, or Herring when that is 
caught. At two o'clock they have a lunch of bread with 
drink. Those who wish to eat anything else prepare it 
themselves. The captain has some cheese, but this provision 
is made at his own expense. He has a garden made on land 
which provides him with Salads, Peas, [and] Beans. Besides 
there is the game which he can take, along with the doctor, 
when they have leisure therefor—such as Pigeons, Ducks, 
Wild Geese, [176] Teal, Hares, and other game found along 
the margin of the sea or in the ponds. The captain also brings 
poultry from France, of which he has the eggs and chickens. 
There are economical ones who have nothing of all that, but 
who live like the crew. For supper they have a great kettle 
of boiled Cod, and little Cod which are fat; these are broken 
into fragments and roasted on a spit. And the same is done 


with Mackerel, which is cut also into slices. In addition ol © 
and vinegar are distributed to each mess, and besides they ~ 


have a plate of peas or boiled beans, with oil or butter placed 


in the kettle. But nobody takes supper until all the work at | 


the [177] staging is finished, not even the captain. On Sun- 


days everybody dines, lunches, and takes supper early. On that j 


day they have some pork, which is boiled with the peas or beans. 
If they have the one at dinner, they have the other at supper, 
besides great plates of fish boiled and roasted. As for brandy 


those who wish to drink it resort to their own boxes. 


The captain has the duty of sending every evening a boat — 
with men taking a net; this is anchored in the sea by a grapnel | 


AMERICA. CHAP. XI 319 


holding it below, and above there is a piece of wood to hold 
this net extended vertically. At the other end of the net, at 
the upper angle, is placed [178] another piece of wood, and 
this latter goes and comes as the tide takes it. To prevent 
the boats from passing over this net, there is upon one of these 
pieces of wood a Fir branch as a signal, to make it visible from 
afar, and thus a collision with it isavoided. The next morning 
he sends a boat about nine o’clock to raise the net. After all the 
Cod are washed, they go to fetch this net, which is brought on 
shore with the fish it has taken, that is to say, Mackerel and 
Herring. In the early part of the season they catch few, and 
those which are taken the captain divides in the evening among 
the fishing boats. After having left the fish-table, that is to 
say, when all the Cod is dressed and salted, the livers and the 
roes [179] are stowed away, and all the work of the day is done, 
then each boat is given at a time fifteen, twenty, thirty, and 
sometimes more or less of these fish according to how abundant 
they are. This is to make bait for their hooks, which are 
loaded with entrails of Cod to a size larger than the fist. 
Upon the point of the hook is placed a piece of Mackerel or 
Herring, which throws a certain lustre into the water, towards 
which the Cod rushes as soon as it sees it, for it 1s fond of it. 
By this means the fishermen make better fishing. Besides, the 
‘Cod is a great glutton, and they eat one another, and are 
never satisfied. But this lustre leads it to rush there rather 
than to attack other fish which it meets with [180]. If by 
chance a little Cod rushes to the hook and takes it, and then a 
| large Cod sees it, the larger swallows the smaller, hook and all, 
something which often occurs. And it even happens that a 
large Cod, like the Gaff-Cod, although it may be caught with 
‘a hook in its upper jaw, when the fisherman does not haul it 
up promptly enough, if it still happens to meet with a little 
Cod, it swallows it while on the way. There are often found 
Cod from the mouths of which, on being hauled up, still pro- 
ject the tails of Cod which they have hardly succeeded in 


| 
| 


| 


320 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


swallowing. As the Cod isa glutton, it has also the peculiarity 
of everting its stomach, which the fishermen call [181] gau. 
When it has something inside which incommodes it, it makes 
this return to its mouth, as one would turn out his pocket and 
then replace it. By this means it ejects everything it cannot 
digest, or which incommodes it. As a proof of this is the 
fact that there are Cod which swallow the hook and bait so 
greedily that the hook enters into their stomach. The fisher- 
men call that being engotté,? and of those which are engotté there 
are found some which have the stomach in the mouth, all 
inside out or reversed, when they are up. It is as if they 
wished to vomit the hook which incommoded them, but it 
does not let go like anything else they have swallowed. 

Let us return to our Mackerel. [182] When they come 
to the coast, they are quite blind. They have a web upon 


their eyes which does not fall until towards the end of | 


June. Then they see and are taken on the lime” Aig 


that time everybody eats them. But although they see, © 
they are nevertheless taken at night in the nets, but then no ~ 
more are given to the fishermen. They take as many as they — 
wish of them, in going mornings to the fishing grounds and in ~ 


returning evenings, using little lines which are carried expressly 


for that purpose. The captain gives one, with little hooks, to © 
each fisherman. For bait they use a little piece of Cod-skin, © 
of a small finger’s length and breadth, or a little piece of red — 


stuff. All this [183] is when Mackerel is wanting ; [when 
they have it] a bait of the same length and breadth is cut from 


1 Our author has already spoken of this matter at page 31 of this volume of — 


his book. 

2 Presumably this word is related to, if not a misprint for, engoudé, meaning 
gobbled up. 

3 It is a fact that the mackerel has a web over its eyes at this season, and 
many fishermen to this day believe this makes them blind so that they cannot 
see a bait and must be taken by a net. It is considered by ichthyologists, 
however, that while the web weakens the sight it does not blind the fish. 
Compare account of the mackerel in Fisheries and Fishing Industries of the 
United States, Sect. I. 


SS we 


AMERICA. CHAP. XI 321 


the belly, and that is the best. To fish Mackerel well it is 
needful that the boat be under way, with sail or oars. In the 
latter case they fasten the line upon the gunwale of the boat, 
for they cannot hold it in the hand as when they are under 
sail. When the Mackerel bites at the hook, they give a jerk 
to the line. There are some sailors who place there a little 
bell or sounder to warn them, but others are content with the 
jerk which the Mackerel gives. Sosoon as they perceive this, 
they place the end of their oar under one of their knees, haul 
in the line, unhook the Mackerel [184] and throw the line 
again into the sea. And it is not long before it has taken 
another. hey continue to take Mackerel until they are 
upon the grounds, and then they do not lack for bait, nor 
making a good fishery for the Cod. 


[185] CHAPTER XII 


The departure of the masters of boats to go upon the grounds, and 
that which is practised there. The explanation of the 
marigot, and its advantage to the fishermen. What the 


dégrat is; how it is made, the reason for it, and other ideas — 


on the same subject. 


HE next day, immediately on the first sign of dawn, — 

the captain and the beach-master call all the party. 

Each one goes to his work. But as to those who © 

[186] remain on land, I wait to speak of them until after I | 


shall have told all that which the fishermen do at sea. 


Hardly have they set out, going towards the fishing-grounds, - 
whether under oar or under sail, than they are fishing Mackerel — 
with the line. Being somewhat far from land, they stop and ~ 
throw the line to find whether there are any Cod there. If — 


they find any, they throw out the grapnel; but if not they go 
to another place, exactly as I have already related. But just 


as they never lack Mackerel, so they never lack Cod; and the ° 
most of the time they return to the staging loaded two-thirds — 
full, or at least with a half load. This gives no little joy to © 
the captain, who flatters them, and makes them drink a little | 
dram of brandy [187] incidentally—that is to say, only those — 
who load their boats. In this the old masters of boats havea — 


marked advantage, because they know nearly all the good 
places for fishing, and the best grounds. Having made this 


fishery in all the harbours of the coast, they are also much — 
more sought after by the captains when these make up their — 


a — “a = a 


_— 


-_ —_- 


crews, and have more premiums than the others. Being © 
known by all the captains, it is a question who will have them ~ 
322 


NATURAL HISTORY 323 


-—something which is settled only by dint of money. But all 
the masters of boats nevertheless become weary with the 
fatigue of so long a fishery; the slothful ones sleep and make 
no great fishery, bringing back at evening only a hundred and 
fifty or two hundred [188] Cod. This is something detested 
by the captains, who grumble and revile them, calling them 
coureurs de marigots. Courir le marigot’ is when the fishermen 
go and hide in some little cove of the shore, or under the lee 
of rocks, instead of going upon the fishing grounds; some- 
thing which happens only too often. There they make a fire 
for roasting Mackerel, and make good cheer. Then they 
sleep until one or two hours after noon, when they awake and 
go upon the grounds. There they take what they can, a 
hundred or a hundred and fifty Cod, and return to the 
staging like the others, fearful of being scolded. hey are 
the first to grumble, alleging their bad luck, and [saying] that 
they [189] have travelled about all day from one place to 
another, that they have cast the grapnel more than twenty 
times without finding any Cod, that they are more wearied 
than if they had caught five hundred, that they have been 
unfortunate since the morning, that they have caught only 
ten to a dozen Mackerel, that the next day they will go to 
another place, when they will be more fortunate. And in 
fact the next day they do bring Cod, for to go to the marigot 
twice running would be too much, although there are some 
lazy ones who do it. And for all this they never expose one 
another. ‘There are no masters who do not do it sometimes 
—some, however, more than others. In time of rain they are 
especially prone to it, not having clothes to change. [190] It 
is in this respect the Basques have an advantage. Possessing 
good garments of skins, they go rarely to the marigot and are 
little slothful. At evening they come to the stagings and 
have their boats loaded, while the other fishermen have not 


324 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


half as much. Also the latter call the former all sorcerers, 
and say that they play the cap [joier la Barrette]; the latter 
is a cap which they wear upon the head, and which they turn 
repeatedly when they are angry. All these reproaches are 
founded only upon the hate which all the fishermen bear 


towards them, because they are more skilled at the fishery — 


than all the other nations.! 


There are scarcely any harbours where there are not 


several vessels. At the Isle Percee I have seen as many as — 
[191] eleven, since this is the best place for the fishery. This — 


number of vessels which are found in one place nevertheless 


obtain fish. There are places where there are taken every day 


fifteen, twenty, and thirty thousands of fish, not counting that 


which is being done in all the other places, and a fishery of 
this extent lasts six weeks or two months. ‘This thins out the 


Cod immensely, and makes it depart, and the quantity of the — 


Cod [taken] makes also the Mackerel leave, and the Herring 


which the Cod chases. This brings it about that the fishermen _ 


no longer find the fishing upon the usual grounds. This — 
obliges the captains to make dégrats to follow the fish. For 


this purpose the captain sends [192] boats to the fishery at 
one place and another, at five, six, and seven leagues from the 


staging, to ascertain where perchance the fish have gone, © 


as 


They do not return until the evening of the next day, and | 


each one makes report of that which he has found. Upon © 
this the captain makes a selection, after having conferred with — 


‘his beach-master and his pilot. The selection of the place 


———s 


being determined, orders are given to all the boats to go on © 


the morning of the next day and make their fishery at that ~ 


1 The testimony as to the superiority of the Basques in the cod fishery | 


appears to be unanimous. There is an excellent synopsis of the subject, with 


citations from contemporary documents, in Prowse’s Hzstory of Newfoundland, — 


p. 47. There is a history of the Basque fisheries by Duro, mentioned by 
Winsor (Narrative and Critical History of America, iv. 86). The Basques, it is 


doubtless needless to remind the reader, were not Frenchmen, but a distinct — 
race occupying three of the northern provinces of Spain nearly contiguous to — 


France. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XII 325 


spot, and to carry their fish to the place of the degrat. In 
order to prepare that which is needful he also starts off the 
two land boats, one of which is a barge [charroy], a double 
boat in which the middle room is as large again [193] as the 
others, and bottomed with boards for carrying the salt from 
the ship to the staging. It is loaded with salt and with 
boards for making a table on barrels, which are also carried. 
The boat carries drink, bread, and everything which is neces- 
sary for the dressing of the fish. A part of the shore crew 
goes there also for that purpose, with the pilot. Having 
arrived at the dégrat, everything is unloaded on shore. Asa 
sleeping place for the men, a little camp is hastily made which 
is covered bya sail brought on purpose. Then the boards 
are arranged, with which is built a table on which the Cod are 
dressed as on the staging. It is salted in the same way. 
Each one sets to work after the fishermen have come, and 
[194] a boy prepares the supper whilst the fish are being 
dressed. {faving finished this they go to supper, and then to 
sleep. The boatswains go also to fill their barrels and baskets 
in order to set out the next day in the morning, to return to 
the sea as usual. 

The degrat will last sometimes eight, ten, or fifteen days 


before the fish move to another place.’ All the fishermen are 
f 


} 
1 
| 


1 Our author’s description of the d@grat makes the use of the term perfectly 
clear. I find a substantially equivalent description of it in a MS. Report of 
1727 by Sieur ? Hermitte, describing the coast from Gaspé to Miramichi (copy, 
from the Paris Archives, in the Canadian Archives). Littré’s Dictionary 
defines the word practically as our author uses it. The dégrat, while an im- 
‘portant feature of the summer or transitory fishery, has of course no place in 
Ie sedentary fishery which prevails now exclusively in Acadia and Newfound- 
land ; but, as commonly in such cases, the word persists with a changed mean- 
‘ng. Thus Archbishop Howley informs me the word is still used by the French 
of Saint Pierre for the fishery they make along the coast from a schooner. The 
vessel either drifts or is anchored and sends out her dories until a load is 
»btained, and this is taken back to Saint Pierre to be dried on shore. When 
n 1904 the French gave up their rights to dry fish on the west coast of New- 
oundland, they retained the right to fish thus ez dégra¢. Professor J. M. Clarke, 
tho knows Gaspé well, tells me the word is there used in a different sense, 


Y 


i 


— 


= 


326 NATURAL HISTORY | 


liable to this dégrat. If there are several vessels in one harbour _ 
they do not always go to make their dégrat at the same place; 
that depends upon the fancy of the captain, if he has experi- — 
ence, or according as the older masters of boats may counsel 
him. These relate the good fortune which has befallen them : 
at this same [195] juncture, when they were obliged to make © 
degrat. There is much chance in this, unless one has a great 
experience in the fishery and has long frequented the coast and | 
all the harbours in which [vessels] are placed for making the | 
fishery. For the Cod does not go every year to the same_ 
place. he fishery which will be one year upon one bank 
will be exterminated by the great number who go there | 
together. ‘Thus the year following the fishery is obliged to} 
seek another bank, where the Cod will not have occurred 
the preceding year. ‘here are also the Mackerel and the. 
Herring, which will take another route than that of the pre-, 
ceding year. This comes sometimes from the winds which. 
have prevailed during the winter, or from the young Herring, | 
the Smelt, the Caplin, and [196] other little fish which 
come in spring to lay their eggs upon the coast, and which 
come earlier or later according to the [nature of the] winter. 
These are the sustenance of the Mackerel and the Herring, and, 
the Mackerel and the Herring are the sustenance of the Cod. 
I have often noticed that wheresoever these little fish occur in’ 
the spring, there the fishery is always better than elsewhere. I 
have also made many other observations upon this fishery, but 
these I shall here pass by in silence, as being suited only to 
the fishermen, in whose favour I have not undertaken to 
describe all these matters, since they are or ought to be amply 
informed upon them. 


namely, for the pause or rest the fishermen take between the early summer ec iT 
the fall fishing. (a7 

The dégrat has given origin to at least one place-name in Acadia, viz., Petit- 
degrat Island, between Canso and Cape Breton. 


[197] CHAPTER XIII 


The preparaiion of the fish at the dégrat, and that which is done 
with tt. The method of washing the Cod and of placing it on 
the galatre ; the great labour at the staging when the Cod is 
abundant, and the lights which are used. 


ITH regard to the work on land, it is well to 
know that the number of men 1s always pro- 
portional to those who are occupied with the 


fishing, and this is regulated by the number of boats which 
‘each ship has. For example a ship has eight, nine, to ten boats 
which go [198] to the fishing, and each of these will have 
ko men, and for each boat two men on land, who include 
the captain, beach-master, pilot, doctor, and the carpenters, 
the remainder being sailors and boys. 
| I have already described earlier the work that was done in 
the dressing of the fish in the first journey of the boats, and 
10w on their return the preparation and salting is accom- 
olished. But it is necessary to tell what becomes of all the 
“ish which is caught and carried to this dégrat, where, as I 
have said, it is dressed and salted just like that on the staging. 
But there it is necessary after it is salted to cover the pile with 
een branches to keep the sun from heating it, which would 
poil it. [199] For it has no shelter like that on the staging, 
hich has the sail, even if one sometimes does not add foliage 
suring the great heat. The first day the fish which are 
rought to the degrat remain in the salt, [that 1s to say] the 
ight in which it is salted at evening, all of the next day, and the 
allowing night. That which is salted at the staging remains 


) long in the salt only in case bad weather does not allow it 
327 


328 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


to be removed. As for the dégrat, good weather or not, it is 
removed when the time is passed which it ought to remain in 
the salt. ‘This 1s done every morning; for as it is salted 
every day, so it is also removed every morning. As soon as 
the fishermen have gone out upon the grounds [200] it is 
loaded into the barge, and if that cannot carry it all, some: 
is placed also in the other boat. They have four men in 
the large and three in the small boat. If there is any wind 
which can be of aid to them they set the sail, and if not they. 
must pull at the oars, six, seven, and eight leagues sometimes. | 
As soon as they have arrived it is necessary to unload them 
whether it be day or night. The boats are brought close to: 
land and fastened to keep them in position. There is then’ 
placed very close to them in the water, between the boat and! 
the land, the large timbre which I have described as being’ 
made like a cage boarded below, and of which the top is not 
covered. From the barge and the boat the fish are thrown 
into it, and they cannot fall out, [201] all the sides being 
raised. Inside the timbre there are two or three boys all 
naked but for their shirts, who wash the Cod. ‘To wash them! 
they seize a Cod in each hand by the ears, beating the water 
with them and shaking them in the water, making them slide! 
from one side to the other without leaving the hand. Being’ 
thus well washed, to such a degree that there cannot remain 
any more salt, they throw them upon those wicker-works' 
which I have described as like those on which clothes are 
cleaned. These are near the timbre, but on the land, elevated 
upon pieces of wood, in order that the cod may not take up. 
sand. Thence it is loaded upon those barrows which I have 
told about, and it is carried to those galaires of which I have 
spoken, which are little stagings [202] on which they are 
placed in a pile, not so long as is made in salting them, but 
much higher. They are left there to drain for as long a ca 
as for the salting. That which is salted upon the staging is’ 
also carried upon the barrows every morning to be washed. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XIII 329 


It is thrown into this timbre, where the boys wash it as 1n the 
other case, and it is carried in the same way upon the galaire. 
The barge and the boat being unloaded, they are taken 
back to the dégrat, whether day or night. They have no 
rest. But before going, it is necessary that they proceed to 
load salt from the ship, and provisions, and everything which 
is needed by them, and they take back pure wine. They 
make their drink at the dégrat as [203] they please, even if it 
makes them drink water on the return voyage [to France]. 
The captain gives himself no concern about that, provided 
he loads his vessel with Cod. Every day the same things are 
done at the degrat, so long as it lasts. When the Cod no 
longer abounds at the degrat, it is needful to make another, 
and to follow where it goes, and there just the same thing is 
done. At the end of the fishery the Cod return upon the 
first grounds near the staging, where the load is completed. 
All this labour involves great fatigue, especially when the 
Cod comes in abundance; for they are at the table sometimes 
up to an hour or two after midnight before all the fish are 
dressed and salted, and everything [204] is finished. At such 
‘imes the boatswains have not the leisure to wash their boats 
aor to put them in order. The captain makes them come to 
yhe fish-table to work at night, and they must have light. 
Df this light there are two kinds. Some have lamps, with 
our large wicks, in number sufficient to light all over the 
‘taging. But at the table they have large brands of very dry 
vood; at the lower end of the brand are made three holes at 
yoints of a triangle, in which are placed three pegs forming a 


‘= to hold it upright. The upper end is lighted, and away 


bove it is placed a wooden shoe full of oil. There is a little 
sole underneath through which the oil [205] falls drop by 
rop upon the flame of the brand, which keeps always burning. 
“his gives more light than a torch. There are two or three 
| this kind upon the table. As the work is of long duration, 
\'€ captain has pure wine brought, but he has them drink 


| 


330 NATURAL HISTORY 


[only] one or two drams of it at most; otherwise it would spoil _ 
them. When they leave there to go to supper they are so 
tired that they fall asleep while eating, although they have a — 
good appetite. I believe that none will doubt that, they 
being of an age to eat well. And even after all that, no | 
sooner are they in bed than they are made to rise to go to the 

grounds. Those who work on land also rise [206] in the | 
morning [at the same time], but through the day they can | 
snatch an occasional hour for rest. | 


[207] CHAPTER XIV 


Of the work on land which is done in washing the Cod, carrying 
it to the galaire, to the flakes, to the beach, in turning 
and returning it, and placing it in piles. 


Having arisen, the first thing that they do every day 

: is to go to the staging to get the pile of Cod which is 
to be washed, carry it to the water, [place it] in that timbre, 
: wash it and carry it thence to the galaire. There is also on 
the galaire every day some [208] which must be carried to the 
flakes. That is loaded upon the barrows, and is taken to the 
flakes. “Those who take it arrange it upon the flakes tail 
against head, the skin upwards. When one flake is all 
covered, they commence to place it upon another. When 
| there is a question of carrying the barrow there is nobody 
(exempt, not even the captain, except he be some aged captain 
who has [long] had command and who has seen the world.’ 
During this time those who have brandy drink a little dram 
| of it by stealth without leaving their place at the work. [The 
fish] having remained thus up to nine o’clock, when the skin 
is had time to dry, they go and overturn it flesh upward, 
and there [209] it remains until about four o’clock, when 
ba go and overturn it, skin up, thus to pass the night. 
The flesh is never left up during the night, because of the 
dampness. ‘That is repeated every morning—the washing, 

the carrying to the galaire, and from the galaire to the flakes. 

All the Cod that is upon the flakes, as well those of that day 


| is necessary now to follow the work of those on land. 


1 Such seems to be the meaning of the expression, obviously local, guz a 
3 veu le loup. 


| 


| 


832 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


as of the preceding, is turned flesh up every morning about 
nine o'clock or thereabouts, when the sun has acquired the 
force to dry up the dew and the dampness of the night. 
Thus they are left until about four o’clock in the afternoon, 
if there does not appear any rain or appearance of rain. For 
once the Cod has been placed to dry, it must no more [210] 
be wet. And even if the rain continues it is always left with 
the skin up, and that which is upon the galaire remains there 
also, and that which is in salt remains unwashed. There 
occur sometimes six, seven, and eight days without the 
possibility of placing them upon the flakes, washing or over- 
turning them. When that happens, which is rarely, the Cod 
runs great risk of heating; and if that happens, they are 
obliged to throw it away. Even when this happens for two 
or three days [only], the Cod is never so good, and it is nearly 
always waste at the sale, when it is then necessary to give two 
quintals or two hundred pounds of it for one. 

When that which was first placed upon the flakes com- 
mences to be a little dry, and [211] when the beach-master 
judges that it may be in condition to be placed en mouton, 
instead of overturning it at evening in the usual manner, skin 
up, he has them placed, up to eight, ten, and twelve, tails 
against heads, one above another, the foundation of this little 
pile being only two Cod, which are called mouton. They 
are placed thus in order that they may preserve their heat, 
which they cannot do when overturned singly, for the reason 
that the night is always cool, and this moistens them too much 
in the open air and in the moist wind which strikes them from 
underneath upon the flakes. They enlarge these moutons 
every evening up to fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five Cod. 
When these have been [212] placed in this fashion in large 
moutons,’ at evening instead of being replaced upon the 
flakes, they are carried to the beach to unload the flakes and 


1 These piles are called by the English fishermen of Newfoundland and 
Nova Scotia faggo/s, but the Acadian fishermen still call them »zousons. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XIV 333 


make room for others. Of two moutons they make only one 
upon the beach. Then every evening there are removed 
from the flakes only those which are placed upon the beach. 
Every day some are placed on the flakes, and some are 
removed from and some are placed upon the beach, and so 
on to the end of the fishery. 

Having thus all the flakes and the beach covered with 
Cod, every morning after having washed and carried that on 
the galaire to the flakes, and having overturned all of that 
other flesh up, they overturn likewise that which is on the 
beach; and that which is there [213] in moutons they spread 
out one by one, skin upwards. Then they go to overturn 
that which they had brought from the galaire in the morning, 
flesh up, like the others. After this they return to do the 

same thing which they had just been doing [viz., turning the 
Cod flesh up] to that on the beach, which was in large moutons 
that had been selected and placed skin up. Presently all the 
Cod of the flakes and of the beach has all the flesh upwards. 
Such is the work that is done every day in the morning before 
‘dinner. I do not doubt that they have a good appetite for 
‘having done their duty well. But if, during the time of the 
‘dinner, there appears any sign of clouds, or if there is any 
appearance of rain, it is necessary for them to leave everything 
and to run [214] swiftly to the Cod to turn it skin up, for fear 
lest the flesh become wet. This being done, they go to finish 
their dinner. And if that cloud does not bring rain, or only a 
little, and the sun comes out again finely, it is necessary to 
leave their dinner yet again and go back to place the Cod as 
‘lit was before, where it remains until four o’clock in the 
2vening or thereabouts, 

| From the time of the dinner until the time when it is 
“jecessary to overturn the Cod, the captain visits everywhere, 
_eeks whether there is anything to be done, goes to have the 
\zaff Cod changed to another place, has that resalted which has 
een longest salted, has it placed in some spot on the staging 


: 
| 
| 


334 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


where it is not in the way, and there has a pile made of it. 
There it remains [215] until the time when it is necessary to 
load it. At another time he will fix up his rabbes or Cod 
eggs, which are salted daily at one of the ends of the salt-bin, 
as I have related. He has them taken up and carried thence 
to a corner of the staging, at the end on the land side; there 
he has them resalted and arranges them in a pile one above 
another. When the pile is large he has them placed in 
barrels, in which they are resalted once more, but lightly, 
since they are saturated. They are packed in, and remain 


there until the time when everything is loaded. At another | 
time he will visit his liver-butts, where oil is made. If they | 
are full, he has it drawn off and placed in barrels, which also _ 
remain there until the embarkment. At another time he will - 
have [216] his charniers emptied to get rid of the water and | 
blood, and to remove all the filth which forms on top of the | 
livers which are not melted. He always finds something to 
keep him busy, and.to keep the others at work, for fear lest | 
the blues [Zavives] may get possession of them." The steward — 
goes on board ship to have provisions brought ashore in pro- — 


portion as they are needed, or he goes to obtain water for his 
drink. He makes sure that the boys do that which is their 


duty, which is to obey everybody in everything, and to take | 


care that the aprons of the dressers, and their sleeves, are well 


washed and dried, that the knives of the throaters are clean 
and sharp, that the staging is washed and cleared of all those — 
bones of [217] Cod which the dressers throw behind them and ~ 
of the entrails which fall here and there, and that the aprons 
ee 
that is neglected, all the boys get the whip; they are not 
allowed to lay the blame one upon another. Other sailors, 


are clean and well washed. For the least thing of all these 


—— 


-—~« 


1 This word Zaviéves does not occur in French lexicons. As Professor 
Cohn, of Columbia University, has suggested to me, it is probably simplya 
misprint for Zazvdes, of which our modern form is emwuz. Our author's use of 


it, of course, involves a pleasantry. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XIV 335 


with the pilot, have the duty to go on board to fetch salt for 
filling up the salt-bin. The doctor works at his garden, or 
goes hunting for the table of the captain. The beach-master 
walks around his flakes and beach, visits his Cod at one place 
and another, notes that which it is necessary to place in 
moutons, large and small, both on the flakes and the beach, and 
visits also those in the little piles to see if it is time to make 
them [218] larger. He visits also the big piles, to see if there 
are any which need to be placed the next day in the sun. 
Nobody lacks occupation. At two hours after midday they 
have an hour for luncheon, to smoke, or to sleep. As four 
o'clock approaches, the beach-master, the captain, and the 
pilot keep looking from time to time to see if the fishing 
_ boats are not returning. As soon as they are seen, the beach- 
_ master begins to call the crew. When he calls they have to 
| leave every kind of work and go to him. Then he sends 
- some to turn the flakes, and tells them, ‘‘ You are to place 
| that in little moutons, that in large ; that [219] you will carry 
_ upon the beach,” and he sends others to the beach to do the 
_ same thing. 
The Cod which ought to be placed in a pile the beach- 
' master and the pilot have brought by armfuls, and make it into 
_ piles, some large and others small, according as they think best. 
_ Whilst that is being done, the fishermen arrive at the staging 
_and discharge their Cod. Then every one goes to prepare for 
| dressing it after the usual routine. 
| When the Cod has been placed several times in large 
| moutons, it is placed in little piles, and at another time from 
_ these little piles a much larger one is made. Thus they go on 
| every day making these piles larger, until the time when the 
| Cod is [220] entirely dry. Of these a huge pile is made, 
_which is not touched for more than twelve or fifteen days. 
Then it is rebuilt again in a pile [and remains] for a month 
without being touched. 


It is every day the same business of dressing and salting ; 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


336 NATURAL HISTORY 


every morning washing and building piles on the galaires ; 
carrying from the galaires to the flakes, from the flakes to the 
beach; on the beach building little piles at evening ; from the 
little piles making large ones. As to the latter, there are 
every morning piles to be placed upon the beach until the 
time when the Cod is well dried, when a pile is made which 
remains a month or five weeks without being touched. At 
the end of this time they are once more given the sun. Then 
they are replaced [221] ina pile for as longa time. This is 
done for fear lest the pile may take up some moisture, and to 


keep the fish always dry. 


[222] CHAPTER XV 


The method of making the piles of Cod; all that which is practised 
at the embarkation, as well of the Cod, as of provisions and 
other things. 


iy piles of fish are all made of a rounded form. 
It is the beach-master and the pilot, as a rule, 
who make them. For this purpose, there 1s 
made a foundation of rocks, which are arranged one against 
the other all in a circle of six, eight, ten, and twelve feet in 
diameter, according to the number of the fish it is desired 
to put on it. They are made on the most elevated [223] 
- parts of the beach, and these rocks are only to raise it in 
_ order that the pile may not become wet from beneath. Then 
they bring the Cod in their arms to him who makes the pile. 
He covers all these rocks with Cod, in a complete circle, the 
| skin down. Then he places all the armfuls of Cod one against 
another, the Cod upon the circumference with tails towards 
the centre and the heads outside, so arranged that one head 
does not extend beyond another. He fills the middle with 
Cod in proportion as the circumference heaps up. It is made 
| like the tower of a windmill, though less elevated, and differs 
only in this, that Cod are placed inside the pile. 
| The large Cod are chosen to make the cover, and this 
covering [224] runs up to a point, like that of a windmill, 
in which Cod serves as tile or as shingle, arranged in the 
same way one upon another so that the interior of the 
| pile cannot be wet. There are piles so large that a ladder 


is necessary for covering them. In addition to this covering 
337 


RO —e 


| 
| 
} 
| 


3388 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


sails also are placed upon it to prevent any moisture from 
entering.” 

When all the fishing is finished, and the fishermen have 
left their lines, there is still some time needed for drying the 
last fish. During this time they go to the woods to fetch 
branches which they carry to the ship to place upon the 
ballast. The latter is rocks or pebbles placed on the bottom 
of the [225] ship to hold her in trim, and to keep the wind 
from having power to throw her down on one side or the 
other, which makes the ship carry her sails better. The 
branches which are placed upon it are to smooth the bottom 
and to raise it, so that the water may not touch the Cod. 
They line all the sides of the vessel also with the same 
branches as [are on] the bottom, in order that the Cod may 
not feel the humidity of the sides. All that having been 
prepared they load the vessel. For this they take those large 
piles of Cod first dry, which it is necessary to expose to the 
sun two or three hours upon the beach. To transport them 
they are placed by lots of thirty-three Cods, which make 
[226] a hundred and thirty-two Cods to the hundred. This 
is the fishermen’s way of counting, because at the sale some 
are found spoiled and broken; of these two hundred are 
given for one, on account of its being refuse and unsaleable 
fish. If it is by weight two quintals are given for one. It 
is for this reason the fishermen make their hundred of a 
hundred and thirty-two, in order to make good at the sale, 
when there comes the loss which is almost inevitable.” 

To embark it, each takes his quarter which he carries into 
the barge. In lack of a barge, a boat is used. In proportion 
as they pass, the captain or the beach-master is there, and he 
places a little stone in his hat to record [227] the number of 

1 These piles are still made by the fishermen of Newfoundland, but they 
are roofed by a tarpaulin, or by “ rinds” of spruce bark. 

2 The quintal, theoretically of 100 pounds, is still given an excess, though 


only to 112 pounds, in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Dry cod are never 
exported now in bulk in a ship’s hold, but in drums or casks of different sizes. 


# 
‘ 


a a re 


AMERICA. CHAP. XV 339 


Cod which are embarked daily. This is provided the weather 
is good and dry, for the Cod would spoil if it were wet, and 
even if it were damp. 

Having been carried on board the vessel, they are placed 

between the two decks to be passed to those below, who 
arrange them upon the branches head against tail. They com- 
mence to load them either at the bow or the stern, according 
to the conveniency of the ship, one upon another, so many 
that they extend to touch the deck. And in proportion as 
they settle, the void is always filled up, so that the ship 
is full from bow to stern with the exception of the middle 
in front of the mainmast; this is to hold that [228] large 
Gaff Cod which has been salted green. 

The finest and largest of the dry fish are separated out 

every time the piles are spread in the sun; and they are 
placed in the store-room. ‘That is where the bread or biscuit 
is kept as being the dryest place. That which is left of the 
biscuit for the return voyage is placed between decks, as is 
also all the rest of the drink, provisions, and the baggage of 
the sailors. 
_ Whilst all that is being done, the mate [contre maistre] 
is on board with four or five men who are working to replace 
the ship in trim [ex funzns|, which means to replace all the 
Tigging and ropes in their places. Rigging [maneuvres] is 
all the ropes collectively. After that he bends his sails [229] 
and yardsthem. Yarding |exverguer] is to attach the sails to 
the yards. 

The steward works with the boys to make the drink for 
the return, and [to provide] water for the kettle. The 
carpenters are on board to supply aétances or estais ; these are 
upright stakes, which extend from the top of the first deck to 
that above, all along the ship on both sides. These are to prevent 
the barrels of wine, drink, and water, which are placed there, 
‘from running from one side to the other in case of meeting 
Pe weather. The place for the cannon is left free that they 
| 
| 


340 NATURAL HISTORY 


may be used in case of need. Everything is [230] carried on — 
board in proportion as it is ready, and it is arranged at the 
same time. It is only the Cod which needs good weather — 
for its embarking, and as soon as it is embarked everything | 
else is very soon ready. ‘There is then only the wind which — 
can keep them from setting out, in case that is contrary. | 

They take away ordinarily only one boat. They hide the — 
others in the woods, three or four leagues or farther, whereso- | 
ever they think that persons go the least. If there isa pond — 
somewhere they place them in that; they fill them with © 
water and with some rocks which they place therein, and sink — 
them so that they do not show. They hide them the best that — 
they can in order that they may not be taken [231] the 
following year by other fishermen, who carry them off from | 
one place and another where they may have need of them. © 
The latter, likewise, when their fishing is finished, leave — 
them hidden there. If two or three years later they return, ; 
they recover them; otherwise they sell them to some one else i 
who is going to make his fishery in that place. | 

Such is the manner and practice of the fishery for dry Cod, © 
the clearest that I have been able to make it. You will excuse | 
a fisherman. If I had given as much time to study as I~ 
have to instructing myself, and to investigating means, for 
following the Cod, to know the places where it abounds, | 
as well in spring as in autumn, and where is the place for , 
obtaining a load [232] more quickly than in other places, 1 
should have given you more satisfaction in all this account — 
than I have done. : 


n23 3 | CHAPTER XVI 


General account of the sedentary fishery for Cod; the profits which 
have been derived from it by those who have undertaken it; 
the advantage that it can be made ; its establishment, supposing 
that the country is peopled by sending colonies there. 


FTER having explained in detail that which is practised 
in the fishery for dry fish, or Merluche, by the 
fishermen who go every year from the coasts of 

‘France for that purpose, I have thought it would not be 
out of place [234] to inform you about the sedentary fishery ° 
for the same fish. I have thus named that fishery which can 
be made by the inhabitants or colonists who will be established 
there. J have commenced to practise it from the time when 
I undertook to live in New France with the Commandeur de 
Razilly, of which I have spoken at the beginning of my book,” 
‘where I made known the reasons which prevented me from 
establishing it there. But as I have always thought it would 
be advantageous for those who will be residents in the country, 
this has given me occasion to speak of it in the conversations 
‘Thave had upon this subject with several persons, who have 
‘talked with others about it. This has instilled a desire in 
\several [235] to undertake it, besides which they have seen 


1 We have no recognised English equivalent for this phrase esche sedentaire, 
though I have found “fixed fishery” and “family fishery” used in English 
works. Nor have I been able to devise a satisfactory translation. Accordingly 
| have rendered it simply as sedentary fishery, which is rather a sound-imitation 
han a sense-imitation of the French. It means of course a fishery carried on 
_)y residents of the country, in contradistinction to that conducted by fishermen 
vho come out in the summer for the purpose and return home in winter. 
Our author appears to claim to have invented the word. The earliest use 
le it I have found is in the Letters Patent granted him by the King in 1654. 
| * In Vol. I. of his book, page 86. 


| 
| 
| 
| 


341 Fis 


342 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


me persist, despite all my losses, in establishing myself in the 
country and in making dwellings there. But I have never made 
known how it is necessary to take up such an establishment, 
nor where it should be commenced. I have only demonstrated 
the profits founded upon the ordinary fishery, | which are | large 
enough to give a desire to undertake this sedentary fishery. 
The first to commence it was a man named Rivedou, at 
Cap de Sable; he went to establish himself there with his 
wife, under a commission of the Governor of New England. 
He made his embarkation at La Rochelle. He took with 


him a number of fishermen, both for Cod and [236] Seals, of | 


which a fishery is made at the Isles of Tousquet, and at Cap 
de Sable where he had his dwelling. He set his men to 
fishing, but it did not turn out well for him, the more so as he 
had arrived somewhat late. He sent back his ship to France 


to carry such fish as he had, and it was to return the following - 
year when he hoped to recoup himself. During the winter 
he sent to the Seal fishery a part of the men who remained | 
with him, but from this he derived little profit, the English 
having ruined the Isles of Tousquet where the fishery is made. ; 


The next year his ship came back early, with good provisions 


and a reinforcement of men. He set them at the fishing, and 
did so well that he [237] loaded his ship, and sent her back | 
to France. The fish having been sold, he found that he had | 
no profit; on the contrary he had not enough to reimburse - 
the half of his expenses. For this reason he did not return © 
from France the following season. Besides his establishment — 
took fire, by which he lost the little he had remaining. He — 


abandoned everything without desire or wish to return there.’ 


Then the Sieur de la Giraudiere wished to undertake © 
it. He made his embarkation at Nantes. He went to 


1 Yet he did later return, or else his son settled there, for the census of 2 


1671 gives Sieur de Rivedou with his family living at Cape Negro, which is — 
near Cape Sable (Report on Canadian Archives, 1905, Vol. I1., Appendix A, — 
page 6). Nothing is known as to his commission from the Governor of New 


England. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVI 343 


establish himself at Sainte Marie, and had his fishery made 
in Canso Harbour, which did not succeed any better than 
that of Rivedou. For he lost everything he had put into it.’ 
After that there came a man named [238] Doublet from 
Normandy, who thought himself more clever than all the 
others. It is true, judging from what he says himself, he is 
capable of many things. He had heard tell of the fishery 
from the fishermen of the country, how the work is done, and 
that which is practised there. Here was a man wise by hearsay. 
He imagined himself capable of undertaking this sedentary 
fishery. He went to Rouen, spoke of it to sundry persons, 
and accomplished so much by his arguments that he formed a 
company and went to establish himself at the Isles de la Mag- 
delaine. Through aid of his associates he obtained from the 
old Company of New France a concession’ of the Isles de la 
Magdelaine on condition that he should not make any traffic 
or trade [239] with the Indians. Then he made an embar- 
kation with two vessels, with everything he thought neces- 
sary for his establishment. He arrived at Isle Percée, and 
earned that these islands [the Magdalens| belonged to me, 
of which he did not take any great account. He went to La 
Magdelaine, where he made his establishment, and set at work 
ill his fishermen, [who were] Basques and Normans. All that 
yeing set agoing, he came with a large crew to find me, at 
aint Pierre in the Island of Cap Breton. He told me he 
‘iad come to inform me of the concession of the Company. 
‘le gave me an account of his plan, the means that he would 
ake to make his business successful, and all his supposed 
reat profits. Finally, I asked him if he had not [240] other 


-| + Much more about La Giraudiere and his establishment at Sainte Marie is 

Vol. I. of our author’s work at pages 13 and 116. 

* Dated roth January 1663. It included also Isle Saint Jean, and is given 

full in the Memorials of the English and French Commissaries (London, 

|55), page 736. A related document, containing a reference to a possibility 

_jat Doublet may acquire lands in Canada from Sieur Denis, is in the same 
rk, page 739. 


—— 


SSS 


344 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


means than those. He answered that this was infallible, and 
that it could not there turn out otherwise. ‘I am easy in 
mind,” said I to him, ‘through knowing your intentions; I | 
am now undisturbed ; I shall never have the trouble of going ~ 
to chase you away from a concession which the Company has — 
no power to grant you, since it has put me in possession of it — 
more than ten years ago. In three years you will leave it — 
ruined by the expense, and your associates there will lose 
everything they have put into it.” I took leave of him, 
and let him do it. He went away at the end of two years, as , 
I had predicted to him, his company being disheartened PY 
the losses in which this clever man had involved them. 

All this discourse is only to [241] make you see that ll | 
those who have undertaken that fishery there have lost, and - 
later ones since have not had better success. The only thing | 
which makes me angry is that all those ignoramuses with their » 
babble do wrong to others, and that ordinarily too much trust | 
is placed in these great talkers of nothing, who promise four : 
times more than they are able to perform .and [thus] get the” 
better of those who would not deceive people, but who never- | 
theless are not believed, because their experience is sustained © 
only by their sincerity. It 1s necessary to lie to accomplish any- - 
thing, to be a cheat in order to engage in these new enterprises, . 
to put a high value on all the profits and advantages, and to” 
minimise the expenses so that they do not discourage anybody, © 
[242] although it would have been more natural to distrust | 
their smallness of experience than to put faith in their empty | 
and vague discourse. It is also the truth to say that if there 
is profit to be made in the Cod-fishery and there are methods 
of increasing that profit, such methods will be more probably _ 
found by a person skilled by the experiences of thirty or forty — 
years than by those who suddenly take a notion to place 
themselves at the head of affairs of which they have scarcely j 
heard tell. These, nevertheless, embark the credulous in their ” 
enterprises, the bad success of which is capable in the future 


i 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVI B45 


of disheartening those with the best intentions, and of in- 
stilling distrust of those who have no [243] need other than 
of support in order to succeed. 

Let us return to our fishery. It is at least certain that it 
is a remarkable means of multiplying the power and industry 
of men. ‘Those who go to make it every year in the ordinary 
way, will find that more profitable than will those who under- 
take the sedentary fishery, if undertaken as it has been by 
those of whom we have spoken, on account of the fact that 
few fishermen will be found who are willing to leave for that 
purpose their families which they have in France. And even 
if they would be willing to do it, something which is not im- 
possible, in order to make some profit there it would be 
necessary that they be supported during four [244] or five 
‘months of the year by those who employ them, and they will 
‘remain all that time doing nothing. In place of this, in the 
ordinary fishery, they are no sooner back in France than one is 
tid of them. It was not that they were not glad to find em- 
ployment and to earn wages all the year; but that is not pos- 
isible, neither by the ordinary fishery nor by the sedentary fishery 
as it has been managed up to the present time. It 1s then neces- 
sary to have some method by which they can be continuously 
jemployed, and to give the means for earning [something] all 
the yearround. ‘This is something which no one has succeeded 
jin doing up to this time, because, perhaps, no one has reflected 
Jupon it. At least we have not yet seen any[245 ] effects thereof, 
pws it has been proposed to us several years ago ; but these 


me, I have had al] [needful] leisure to apply be peel to the 
‘bubject, to reflect upon it, and to test sundry times a method 
by which ten men can catch more fish in one day than fifty 
would be able to do by the common and ordinary methods.’ 


} 

7 1 This, if not mere “‘bluffing,” is perhaps a reference to experiments in the 
' jise of trawls or nets, which are now extensively employed in fishing cod upon 
|. large scale in Newfoundland and elsewhere (Fishery Industries of the 
 Snited States, Section V.). 


346 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


In the same manner the recent introduction of machines, — 
as well for silk stockings, ribbons, and silks, has multiplied the — 
industry of men without multiplying their number. I believe — 
that I have not altogether lost my time, even though it has — 
been thwarted by a thousand [246] misfortunes, since that, in — 
addition to the means of establishing securely the sedentary — 
fishery, and the sole means, in my opinion, which can make it — 
succeed profitably, I have also found in it the expedient for 
making the country inhabited, according to the intention of — 
the King. This is through the great advantages that could — 
be derived therefrom by the inhabitants, whom the gain will — 
turn into fishermen, and by the fishermen whom the great — 
profits will turn into inhabitants, profit being the first in-— 
centive of all conditions of men. In addition to this, the | 
King will derive therefrom also [another] very considerable ad- | 
vantage, which is this, that the fishery for dry fish, being | 
made for the future with a third less sailors than has been the — 
custom, the surplus, being able [247] to find employment only - 
on the sea, will be obliged to take part either in the naval » 
armies, or in voyages to the Orient or the Occident, or upon ~ 
the other merchant ships. This will facilitate maritime com- | 
merce, will render the sailors more tractable, and will reduce ; 
them to the necessity of seeking employment instead of © 
their being sought. The King will derive other yet more | 
considerable advantages from this establishment, but this is’ 
not the place to speak of them. I conclude only with the © 
assurance that it is impossible for one to find his profit in the” 
sedentary fishery, who does not at the same time make those - 
find it who will be working therein [for him], from the leaders i) 
down to the last man. And this profit cannot be [248] found | i 
therein, if one does not manage well both as to the time and 
the place, and if one has not the art of turning to his profit all _ 4 
the advantages which can be derived from the land, from I 
industry, and from repeated experience in the choice of hat-— 
bours and of seasons, and in the diverse wanderings of the fish. - 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVI 347 


Before finishing this chapter, let me say again, to emphasise 

that which I have advanced for the sedentary fishery carried on 
in the usual manner, and for all those who undertake it, that 
the ships which leave France every year for this fishery have 
a decided advantage over those which make the sedentary 
fishery, or at least those who are residents, as I have said. 
Since the fish does not occur anywhere on the coasts of [249] 
New France until the month of May, and so little in April as 
to be inconsiderable, if the ships which leave France can be 
on the coast in April they are there indeed as early as the 
sedentary residents, who will not have therein any advantage. 
The good fishing is only in May, June, July, August, and 
September. Yet this last month is devoted only to finishing 
‘up for the return. And if their load is not made, they have 
‘trouble to complete it. This is because the winds are rough, 
and the season difficult for sending the boats upon the 
| grounds. Also they do not find three days in the week for 
going there, and if they do go they have not more than an 
hour or an hour and a half to remain upon the grounds, and 
[250] they will catch only fifty or sixty Cod upon each voyage. 
This is not because there are no Cod on the coast, but the 
'weather does not permit the fishermen to remain on the 
‘grounds with the grapnel, and especially in so small a vessel as 
aboat. ‘Thus, load or no load, the month of September being 
‘passed it is necessary to return. And besides the expense that 
they would incur [if they remained longer] would amount to 
more than the fish could be worth. Further, at that time 
poe fishermen do not wish to go out, although their interest 
would be to complete the load. But the excess of difficulty, 
hoined to their desire to see again their wives and children, 
lifts them then above the hope of gain. 

Tell me now what advantage [251] will the sedentary 
ishermen have above those who leave France every year? 
jJn the contrary they will have less. For the others having 
itived in France are rid of their fishermen, in place of which 


| 
| 
| 
| 


: 


348 NATURAL HISTORY 


it is necessary to support and pay the sedentaries their wages 
all the winter. I wish that they could be made to work, but 
let us see if their work will be worth the expense and their 
wages. In the winter they can only make planking, and cut 
down trees, and distribute them for burning. I know by ex- 
perience that they lack much of being able to earn their expenses, 
something which does not happen when they are working for 
themselves and their little family. For then they do it from 
inclination, and the gain that they make [252] in the fishery 
renders them industrious to establish themselves comfortably 
in the place where they find so many advantages. Thus to 
undertake a sedentary fishery with considerable profit, it is 
necessary to people the land. But to make the land inha- 
bited, it is also necessary so to manage that the fishery shall 
produce a profit so great that the people, as I have already 


said, will greatly wish to come with their families as residents, 


and that the residents will wish to become fishermen there.’ 


1 Our author’s discussion of the sedentary fishery is involved, and his — 
language seems designed to convince the reader rather by confusion of words 


than by clarity of ideas. His argument seems to be that, while the sedentary 
fishery is the best for the prosperity of the country, nobody up to the present 


has been able to make it profitable, because the sedentary have as yet no — 
advantage over the transitory fishermen, and it has not been possible to keep / 


the former profitably employed over the winter. Denys, however, has dis- 
covered a method by which ten men may catch as many fish as fifty hitherto, 


which will render the fishery so profitable that men will go there with their — 
families to settle. But here the logic fails, for he does not show, as he must, — 


ae 


that his method can be practised only by the sedentary fishermen, for otherwise — 
they will still be at a disadvantage as compared with the transitory fishermen. — 


Weneed not follow the subject further, since it is perfectly plain that our author 


had no clear ideas on the subject in his own mind. Although his argument is 


thus faulty his conclusions as to the advantage of the sedentary fishery have 
been fully justified by history, for it is purely as a sedentary fishery that the 


great and prosperous fisheries of Acadia and Newfoundland are carried on at - 
this day. The French continued the transitory fishery, returning to France ~ 
every winter, upon the west coast of Newfoundland down to the year 1904, — 
when France gave up her rights to Great Britain. The only transitory fishery © 
now remaining in America is the summer fishery of the Newfoundland fishermen — 


to Labrador. 


[253] CHAPTER XVII 


Of the other sea-fshes ;* of those which approach the land ; their 
combats ; the method of taking them, and their characteristics. 


T remains now to speak of the fishery for Seals [ Loups 
marins|. ‘There are two species of them. I have 
spoken of the first at the Isles of Tousquet.” The 

second kind is much smaller, and they also bear their young 
on land at those islands, on the sand and on the rocks, 
and wheresoever coves of sand occur, to which they resort. 
[254] Places occur which they frequent more than others. 
_ There is scarcely anybody but the Indians who make wars upon 
_ them; they are good toeat. An oil is obtained from them un- 
| like that of the other Seals. This oil is to the Indians a relish 
at all the feasts they make among themselves. They use it also 
_ to grease their hair. ‘This kind of Seal comes out on land in 
_ all kinds of seasons, and scarcely scatters from the land. In 
| good weather they are found ashore on a sandy coast, or in- 
| deed upon the rocks, where they sleep in the sun. There is 


_ described in this chapter are not fish at all, but mammals. 

2 In Vol. I. of this book, page 64. That species can only be the gray seal, 
for that is the only one in addition to the harbour seal which breeds on land 
in Acadia. It is not now known to breed on the Tusket Islands, though it 
| does on Sable Island, but our author makes it plain enough that it was well- 
| 


i 
| * The reader will hardly need to be reminded that the first four animals 


nigh if not totally exterminated from the Tusket Islands by English fishermen 
(this volume, page 236). The second species, well described in the present 
chapter, is the smaller harbour seal, which is common throughout all the 
coasts of Acadia. Only two others are known to occur in this region, the harp 
seal and the hooded seal ; but they are rare, and moreover are pelagic species, 
breeding on ice-floes and very rarely resorting to land. The presence of these 


various forms in Nova Scotia is discussed by Gilpin in the 7vavsactions of the 
Nova Scotian Institute, V11. 1874, 377-384. 
349 


| 


350 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


always some one of them which acts as sentinel to give warn- 
ing if anything appears, whether it be a canoe, or some person 
along the coast. At the same time that it [255] perceives 
something, it throws itself into the water, and all the others 
after it. Then they return swimming near the land; they 
raise themselves upon their hind flippers, the head above the 
water, looking all along the coast [to find] whether they can 
see anything. If they see nothing some return to land, but 
others go out to sea. 

There are places where they land with two to three hun- — 
dred in a band. If they find rocks along the land, or in cul — 
de sacs where they usually resort, one finds them thereon — 
asleep in the sun. It is there they are easy to kill, being but — 
two or three on a rock, without a sentinel. They are easily . 
approached with a canoe. If they are mortally injured [256] | 
they fall into the water and thrash about, and there they are 
taken. But if they are killed instantly, and fall into the 
water, they go to the bottom like a stone. They are often 
lost when there is too much water at the foot of the rock. 

All the oil they can yield is about their bladder-full, and 
in this the Indians place it after having melted it. This oil 
is good to eat fresh, and for frying fish. It is also good to 
burn. It has neither odour nor smoke, no more than olive 
oil. In barrels it leaves no refuse nor dregs at the bottom. q 
If one were to bring it to Paris, it would sell there very well. | 

One sees also Walrus [Vaches marines],’ otherwise called — 
[257] beasts of the big tooth | Bétes a la grande-dent\, because 
they have two huge teeth, thick and long as half the arm, 
while the other teeth are four fingers’ breadth long. There 


1 The walrus, sea-cow, or sea-horse,now extinct in this region, though formerly 
occurring all along the Gulf of Saint Lawrence coast, on Sable Island, and pro- 
bably along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia. Its former occurrence in Nova — 
Scotia is discussed by Gilpin in 7yvansactions of the Nova Scotian Institute, 1l. 
126 ; in the Magdalen Islands by Patterson in the same journal, I., 1891, 38; 
in Prince Edward Island by Warburton in Acadzenszs, III. 116; and in New © 
Brunswick by the present writer in Bulletin of the Natural History Society of — 
New Brunswick, V.240 and 462. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVII 351 


is no ivory more beautiful. I have spoken of it at the Isle 
de Sable,* and how the English have done their best to capture 
it. [hose little Seals come ashore also on the same island. 
If one were to find a device for taking them it would return 
a great profit. I believe that I have found a certain method 
for the Sea-cows and Seals. Not having yet tested it, I will 
not say anything more about it, in order not to give assurance 
of that which is to me still uncertain. If I had been upon 
the ground I would have tried it, the expense of it not being 
great. Those are all the fish which come out on land. 
[258] Those which come near the land are the Porpoises 
[Marsoiiins|, of two kinds.” The larger are all white, almost 
the size of a Cow. They go leaping in the sea from place 
to place, at intervals of about a hundred feet from one leap 
to the other, sometimes more, sometimes less. This is accord- 
ing to the feed they find, which is Mackerel, Herring, or 
young Herring, upon which latter they pounce more than 
upon the others. They yield plenty of oil, almost a barrel 
_toeach one. Since I have never eaten it I say nothing as to 
its taste. 
_ The other Porpoise is that which is named Poursille.’ It 
goes always in large bands, and is found everywhere on the 
sea. They go also near the [259] land following the bait. 
They are good to eat. Black puddings and chitterlings are 
_made from their tripe; the pluck is excellent fried; its head 
i is better than that of mutton, but not so good as that of 
| veal. 
| There are also in these waters the Salmon [Saumon], the 
Shad [dloze], the Trout [Truite|, the Lamprey [Lemproye], the 
Smelt [Eperlan], the Sea-eel [ Anguille de mer|, the Mackerel 
|Maquereau|, the Herring [Harang], the Anchovy [Enchois], the 
1 In Vol. I. p. 198. 
2 This is the white whale, which grows up to fifteen or sixteen feet long ; 
itis still called zarsouin by the Canadian and Acadian French. 


* This is the common porpoise or herring hog, very abundant everywhere 
around the coasts of this region. It is still so called by the French residents. 


352 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


Small Herring [Sardine],1 and many other sorts of little fish, 
which are all taken in the seine or with lines near the land. 
When one is two or three leagues out at sea, he is 
acquainted only with those which are taken on the line, there 
being as yet no fishermen [with nets, &c.], as in France, 
[260] The Halibut [F/aizans] is the name given [a certain 
fish] by the fishermen, who curse them because they are so 
large. If they are taken on the line it must be a strong one 
if it is not to be broken, or if they are not to carry off the 
hook. If one is drawn up, it requires all the crew of the boat 
to bring it on board, using gaffs; and as quickly as possible 
they cut the backbone or the tail with a hatchet which they 
keep on purpose in their boats. The time this takes checks 
their fishery, and it is that which makes the fishermen detest 
them, and swear against them. ‘This Halibut is in my judg- 
ment the Sole;” it has the same form, is black above and 


white beneath, and the mouth is the same. It has only one — 
bone in the middle, and all around are the [261] fins with ' 


little bones like the Sole. It is the latter part which the 


fishermen eat, for it is the most tasty and the fattest part of — 


the Sole. They cut the fins all around, of the width of four 


large fingers’ breadth. Then it is cut into chunks which are | 
placed on a spigot and roasted. ‘They are eaten with vinegar, © 
being themselves so fat. This does not mean that they are | 


not very excellent also when boiled and placed in butter, and © 


1 The identity of most of these forms, which occur abundantly in this region, 
is so obvious as to call for no comment. The sea-cel is no doubt the conger 


eel, still called the sea-eel in New England. A true species of anchovy occurs — 
in New Jersey, and very likely also in this region, but as it is a very incon- — 
spicuous fish itis more probable that our author applied the name to young ~ 
gaspereau or shad which the anchovy somewhat resembles. No species of 


sardine occurs on this coast, and Denys probably applied the name, as it is 
extensively applied to-day, to young herring. 


2 The identity of the /laztan is, of course, perfectly clear, and indeed the — 


name is used for the halibut by the Acadians to this day. It is by no means 


identical with the sole, as our author supposes, but is a very much larger and — 
otherwise different fish. It is now very highly esteemed, and much sought, — 


as a food-fish. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVII 353 


in every other sauce that can be made for the Sole, and the body 
also [is excellent] on a short boiling with good herbs and orange. 
I have eaten of it several times and have found it good. 
So great a number are caught that one becomes tired of them, 
and they are so huge that one can hardly credit it. [262] 
One Flaitan or Sole is capable of furnishing a dinner for forty 
or fifty persons. It is all that two men can do to carry one 
on a barrow. 

There also occur there three sorts of Skates [ Rayes],—the 
Bouclée, one which is not that, and the Posteau.' The first is 
the best and the second after it, and the third is not very 
good. All three species are eaten in France. I find that 
these [above-mentioned] have something more agreeable to the 
taste [than those of France]. 

The Sturgeon [Esturgeon”|; I believe it is this which is 
called the Dolphin [Dauphin]. There are some of eight, ten, 
eleven, and twelve feet in length, and as thick in the body as 
a Sheep. There is upon the head a crown, raised [263] an 
inch. ‘The body is covered with scales, of the size of the 
circumference of a plate, a little oval in form. They are 


besprinkled with a sort of Fleur de lys. Their flesh is as good 


Waeevect, and like it is carved into slices; and its fat is 
yellow. It is necessary to boil it four or five hours in order 


to cook it. ‘That fish comes to the entrances of the rivers. 


It throws itself in a leap its height above the water. It is 


' The douclée is, no doubt, the very common barndoor skate, which is used 
to a small extent as a food-fish in New England and New York. But the other 
two I have not been able to distinguish. One of them is probably the little 
skate or hedgehog ray, which occurs in this region, while the other may be the 
tarer starry ray. The name fosteau or fostau is given in Jouain’s Patois 
Saintongeais as a smaller species of ray, not spined (zon bouclée). 

* The common sturgeon, once abundant though now rare in this region, is 
here well described by our author. It is, however, very surprising to find him 
connecting it with the dolphin, by which, of course, he means the cetacean of 
that name and not the fish. Perhaps his idea had no firmer basis than an 
association of ideas between the “crown” of the sturgeon and its “ fleur-de-lys,” 
and the name of the heir to the crown in France ! 


354 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


taken with a harpoon, which is made like a barbed rod,’ of 
eight to ten inches long, pointed at one end, and with a hole 
at the other in which is attached a line. ‘Then it is fastened 
at the end of a pole, so that it may be used asa dart. The 
fishery is made in the night. [264] Two Indians place them- 
selves in a canoe; the one in front is upright, with a harpoon 
in his hand, the other is behind to steer, and he holds a 
torch of birch bark, and allows the canoe to float with the 
current of the tide. When the Sturgeon perceives the fire, he 
comes and circles all around, turning from one side to the 
other. So soon as the harpooner sees his belly, he spears it 


below the scales. The fish, feeling himself struck, swims © 


with great fury. The line is attached to the bow of the 
canoe, which he drags along with the speed of an arrow. It 


is necessary that the one in the stern shall steer exactly as the © 
Sturgeon goes, or otherwise it will overturn the canoe, as 


sometimes happens. [265] It can swim well, but with all its — 


strength it does not go with fury more than a hundred and | 
fifty or two hundred paces. That being over, the line is — 


drawn in, and it is brought dead against the side of the canoe. | 


Then they pass a cord with a slip-knot over the tail, and they — 


draw it thus to land, not being able to take it into the canoe 
because it is too heavy. 


There are also small ones, which are another kind, having — 


nevertheless the flesh the same, but of better taste and more 


tender.” It is from this fish there is made the larger part of 
the isinglass. That would be worth something, and, if the — 


country were inhabited, numbers of them could be taken. 


1 Cramaillee in the original. Cvramaillére is the iron rod, with several uni- 
lateral, upward-projecting teeth, hung of old in a fireplace as a support to 
kettles, &c., and it is this, no doubt, our author had in mind. 

2 Only one species of sturgeon occurs in this region. The mention of the 


isinglass immediately after seems to imply that our author has in mind the hake © 


(or ling), which is conspicuous for the great abundance of that substance it 


yields. It is, however, wholly unlike a sturgeon, being more nearly like | 


the cod. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVII 355 


The Squid [ Lexcornet]* is another fish [266] made about 
like the Cuttle-fish [sezche]. It has tentacles around the head, 
half a foot in length or thereabouts, with which it takes fish to 
eat. To capture it, a fire is made on land on the edge of the 
water. At night on a rising tide it comes ashore; the tide 
falling, it remains high and dry on the beach, which is some- 
times found all covered with it. It is about a foot in length, 
quite round, and larger in the middle than at the ends. 
The end of the tail is pointed, and on it there is a border of 
two inches breadth all round, like a little buckler. It is good 
to eat roasted, boiled, and fried. It makes the sauce black 
like the casseron in France, which latter are little Cuttle-fishes. 
There occur [267] fishes of this kind in those seas as large as 
hogsheads; but those do not come ashore,” where one sees the 
small ones only in spring and autumn. 

There is also the Haddock [ Goderge],? which the fishermen 
call the fish of Saint Peter, because of two black marks which 
occur upon the two sides of the head. This is said to be the. 
_ place where our Saviour took hold of it. It is formed like a 
small Cod, is good to eat, and it is even dried just like the Cod. 

The Flounder [PJlaise, or Phe de mer],* occurs near the 
land on bottoms of sand when the tide is low. To take it 
there is used a shaft with an iron pointed at the end, having a 
little tooth which keeps it from coming out when [268] the 
fish is struck. It is much better eating than those of the 
rivers, being firmer and of better taste. 


? Our author’s excellent description makes the identity of this animal plain. 
It is the common short-finned squid abundant around the coasts of this region, 
as described in Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, No. 
WiI., 28. 


* This is a plain reference to the giant cuttle-fishes of Newfoundland and 


vicinity, which do become as large as our author states. 


* The identity is fixed by the name “ fish of St. Peter,” which is still applied 


} - to it by fishermen. 


* This is without doubt the common (winter) flounder, which occurs in 
abundance all through this region, but in our author’s mind it probably in- 
| cluded the similar sand dab, also abundant in Acadia. 


356 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


There are also taken Lobsters [ Hommars], which are Cray- _ 
fishes of the sea. There are some of them seen which have 
the claw or snapper so large that it will hold a pint of wine. 
They are taken on the coast around the rocks. ‘They come. | 
in the spring and remain until the winter. They are taken 
with the same iron as the Flounders. It is very good eating 
with all kinds of sauces. We have named them Sea-partridges _ 
on account of their goodness. f 

The Swordfish [Espadon]' is a fish as large as a cow, of 
six to eight feet in length, and it becomes slender towards the 
tail. It has upon its snout a sword, from which it takes [269] 
its name. ‘This is about three feet long, and about four good 
inches wide. ‘There are, on the two sides of this sword, points. 
of an inch long and of equal distance one from another, and | 
it narrows towards the end. It does not bend, and is hard | 
and very stiff. One of them once ran ashore near the Fort. , 
It is very good to eat in any manner. Its head is as good as. 
that of calf, though much larger and more square. Its eyesare as’ 
large as the fists. This fish is the enemy of the Whale [ Balene], 
If they meet they inevitably fight. I once came across a case | 
of this, and I had diversion for nearly an hour, though without — 
approaching nearer than three or four hundred paces, [270] as, 
I had then only a long boat which would not have been able’ 
to resist the blows of the tail of the Whale. I saw them 
sufficiently well. It is the Swordfish which attacks, being’ 
more active than the Whale. There were two Swordfish © 
against one Whale. The Swordfish threw itself from the 


1 The identity of the swordfish is perfectly clear. It occurs in this region 
somewhat abundantly. But our author makes a serious mistake about it, for , 
he gives it, in place of its proper sword, the saw of a saw-fish, thus confus- : 
ing the two, as is very commonlydone. This is all the more remarkable since | 
he had apparently seen the specimen which came ashore near his fort, and itis — 
possible that the latter really was a saw-fish, here wandering far outside its — 
usual tropical and sub-tropical limits. While the sword-fish does, in all pro- a 
bability, attack whales, a much more common and inveterate enemy of the ~ 
latter is the orca, or killer-whale ; and it is this, and not the sword-fish, our — 
author appears to have seen attacking the whale. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVII 357 


water more than its own height. While in the air it turned 
its snout downwards, and tried in falling to thrust its sword 
into the body of the Whale, which plunged into the water 
almost straight down, and, having its tail in the air, struck it 
upon the water with all its strength, seeking to catch its 
enemy. If it had struck the Swordfish, it would have done 
injury to the latter. But at the same time that the Swordfish 
falls upon the Whale it goes to the depths to find the latter 
again, and obliges it to return to the top of the water. Sosoon 
[271] as it comes up, the other Swordfish raises itself and also 
tries to give it its sword in the back. Sometimes they threw 
themselves out both at once, and fell upon the Whale, which 
had only its tail for defence, and, not being so agile as the 
other, accomplished nothing. But the Swordfish, which moved 
about very differently, was at its head underneath the water 
before it gave its blow of the tail, and obliged it to return to 
the top of the water, they at the same time [leaping] into the 
air to injure the Whale. This they cannot do, since its fat is 
thicker than the length of the sword, which cannot touch the 
flesh. And if they did touch it with these points, they would 
be liable to stick there, and this would make them remain and 
cause their loss. All their [272] combats come only from 
jmatred, without their being able to do one another any injury. 
‘Nevertheless, they compelled the Whale to flee, and it went 
0 the bottom, and came back no more to the fight. At least 
| did not see it appear again upon the surface, but only the 
\wordfish, as if they were victors. 

| There is also seen there a fish which the French sailors call 
hark [Requiem], and the Spanish Tiduron. It is five to six 


_2et long, more slender than the Sturgeon, lessening towards 


_| * Two species of shark occur somewhat commonly in this region, the basking 
_) bone shark and the thrasher shark, both much larger than the size given by 
ir author ; and other species may occur sporadically. The attacks upon man 
re detailed are, of course, simply the conventional attribute of the shark the 
orld over, and have little or no foundation so far as the Acadian species are 
mcerned. The shark is still called reguzn (or marache) by the Acadians. 
2A 


{ } 
. 


358 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


the tail, [with] the head pointed and very long. It has the 
mouth below, and it must turn upon its back to bite. It has 
seven rows of very slender teeth. If a man should fall into 
the water, or if he were in bathing and one of these fish should 
meet him there, he would [273] have trouble to save himself; 
at least he would have to swim well to gain the land until he 
could place his belly upon the sand. For if he were to give it 
time to be able to turn, it would bite him. And if it were to 
seize an arm, a leg, or the head, it would carry off the piece. 


We have no bone which they would not tear clean as one — 
would a radish. If one were to fall into the water in a place — 
where he could not gain the land, if he were not promptly — 


rescued he could not save himself. They are met with through 


all the sea, and on the coasts. Its skin 1s very rough; it can © 


be used to polish wood. I have never eaten it, nor have I © 


seen any person who had eaten it, or who had desire to eat it. | 
The sailors have a horror of them. [274] There occur also © 
Dogfish [Chiens de mer], which are formed the same as the » 
shark, but they are not thicker nor longer than the arm, 
They do not eat people. Also they have not so many teeth, © 


and they are good to eat. 
As for the fish of river or pond, I have seen very little of 


them. We have so many sea-fish all around the forts that one © 
does not take the trouble to go and search the ponds. Besides, — 
it would be necessary to have drag-nets for that. The seine can- _ 
not be used, there being too many plants and trees therein. In © 


some rivers the seine can be used. I have taken there the Chubs 


[ Barbeaux],’ the Petits Barbillons,and the Horned Pout [ Gowon]? — 


1 A very well-known fish, all too abundant throughout this region, where it | 


is a great nuisance to the cod fishermen. 


2 The barbel of Europe does not occur in America, and its nearest repre- 


sentative in our waters is the chub, an inferior though edible fish, everywhere — 


abundant. The fetits darbillons of our author are likely the common shiner 
or shining dace, though the “ petits” would suggest that he simply had minnows ~ 


and similar small fry in mind. 
® The goujon, or gudgeon, of Europe does not occur in this country, but 4 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVII 359 


In the winter my men have gone [275] to some ponds. 
A hole was made in the ice, and, with a little line and a 
little hook, they have caught little Salmon Trout? [Truzies 
Saumonées| of about a foot in length. They have taken indeed 
a hundred of them in one afternoon. They are very good. 
In the same ponds is taken the Tortoise [Tortue].2. Some of 
them are found as large around as the circumference of a hat. 
The shell above is streaked with red, white, and blue colours. 
It is a very good fish. Being boiled, the shell is removed: 
then it is skinned. It is cut into pieces and served as a stew 
or a fricassee with a white sauce. There are no pullets which 
are as good as this. 

I have spoken of the Oysters [ Huistres] in the first book,’ 
but I have not [276] told you that they are a great manna 
for the winter when the weather does not permit going on the 
hunt. They are in the coves or on the shore near the land. 
To obtain them the ice is broken, and a large opening is made. 
‘Then one has little poles long enough to reach to the bottom 
of the water. “Iwo of them are tied together about half-way 
up; then this [arrangement] is opened and closed like pincers. 
The Oysters are drawn from the water and thrown upon the 
ice. Men never go to this fishery except there are several 
jof them. Some fish, another makes the fire, another shells 


be close relative is our common horned pout, which is unquestionably meant 
py our author. The name goujon is actually applied to a related species found 
/\f parts of the United States. 

_| + This salmon trout, of which our author speaks elsewhere in his book 
_|I. 130), is that which is locally called sea-trout, and supposed by M. H. 
py ey and other local writers to be identical with the salmon trout of Europe. 
“he studies, however, of observant anglers, notably W. H. Venning and E. A. 
Baines, as set forth in Forest and Stream and elsewhere, seem to leave no 
_joubt that the sea-trout is simply large individuals of the common brook trout 
_\hich descend to spend the winter in the estuaries of the rivers, and in the spring 
ascend the streams to their spawning-grounds. I presume the ponds men- 
_joned by our author were brackish offsets of river estuaries. 

| ? This tortoise is evidently, from the description, the painted tortoise, the 
_)mmonest in this region. 

| ® At several places ; but see especially under pages 140, 168. 


| 


———<——$ 


360 NATURAL HISTORY 


Oysters for a fricassee, others place them upon the coals, two or | 
three in a large shell with their water, crumbs of bread, and a | 
little pepper or nutmeg. [277] They are cooked in this way, | 
and are good eating. When the men are sated, each one takes — 
a load; and the Dogs, harnessed like horses, draw each one a 
bagful on a little sledge which is made very light. They 
go always running over the ice or the snow. It is these which 
carry all the outfit of the hunters. When one goes in winter ) 
to sleep outside, he has less trouble than in France, although © 
it is said the country is so cold. I have suffered from cold 
less there than in Paris, especially when one is in the woods | 
under shelter from the wind.* 


t 


1 Other species of fish mentioned by our author in Vol. I. of his book, — 
but not included in this chapter, are the Amguzl/e or common eel, Barc or 
bass (30), Gasfarof or gaspereau (30), Esguzl/e or sand lance (55), Poumamon 
or tomcod (148), and the Zamzson or caplin (229). Of shell-fish he mentions | 
Cocques or clams (81), Bourgos or whelks (81), Moudles or mussels (81), Coutel- 


lieres or razor clams (82), and Conziffie or scallops (97). i 


[278] CHAPTER XVIII 


Description of the fish of fresh water having four feet; their forms 
and peculiarities, their industry, and manner of acting and 
working.’ 


HERE are also in these parts three kinds of fish of 

fresh water which have four feet, the Muskrat, the 

Otter, and the Beaver. It is permissible to eat det 
during Lent, as is the case with the Otter in France. The 
Muskrat [Rat Musqué] is a little stouter and longer than the 
Water-rat of France. Its element is the water, but it never- 
theless goes [279] sometimes upon land. It has a flat tail, 
eight to ten inches long and a finger-breadth wide, covered 
wwith little black scales. The skin is reddish to dark brown 
in colour. Its fur is very fine and somewhat long. It has 
scent glands near the testicles, and these have a very agreeable 
odour of musk, which is not disagreeable to all those whom 
musk makes uncomfortable. If it is killed in winter, when 
the skin is good for the furrier, the glands have no smell. 
In the spring they begin to assume their smell, which lasts 
untilautumn. Being killed at the right season, their glands 
seep their scent always. To preserve their good odour it is 
“aecessary to moisten them with a little oil; otherwise [280] 
when they are worn they dry up; and the moths get into 
hem, which spoils them. The skin is good for making fur 


i the end of autumn, when it has little of the smell. As for 


: 


1 The original reads ¢enaz//er, which I take to be a misprint for ¢vavazller. 
\n calling these mammals fish, our author is, of course, simply reflecting the 


elief of his time. 
361 


362 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


the flesh it has no taste of musk, and is excellent to eat roasted _ 


or fried with a white sauce. 


The Otter [Zoutre] is a fish known in France; many — 
persons eat it there. The taste is very much the same, but | 
they differ from those in France in this, that they are all in © 
common longer and blacker. There occur some which are ~ 
much more so than others, and there are also some which are — 
black as jet. When they have a commercial value, being — 
killed at the proper season, they have been sold for [281] as — 
- much as eight, ten, and twelve Louis d’Or each.’ ‘Those fine — 


ones are still much sought, but are no longer so dear. 


The Beaver [Castor] is a fish like the Otter. It is not so | 
long. It is almost as long and stout as a Sheep. The feet are — 
short,—the hind ones webbed like a Goose, while those in © 
front are like hands. Its tail is formed like a sole, covered ~ 
with little black scales. The inner part is a firm fat like the ~ 
gristle of veal, and is very good eating boiled or fried. The — 


flesh is eaten also boiled, but the thighs and the shoulders are 
much better roasted, and resemble a shoulder and a leg of 
roasted mutton. ‘The [282] backbones are the same, and the 
flesh of similar colour. As for the taste, it is somewhat 
different [from that of mutton]; otherwise it would not be 
fish. As to their colour, they are usually of a dark brown, 


leaning towards black or even red. They occur sometimes 
black, and even white. Those skins have had formerly a ~ 
great vogue when the beaver hats were popular, but they are | 
not so much [in fashion] at present. They are used never- © 
theless for furs in Germany, Poland, Russia, or other cold — 
countries to which they are sent. Although there are some © 


—s a — i om 


of them in Russia, the hair is not so beautiful nor so long. ~ 
Besides they have a secret in that country which we have not ~ 
yet in France, that of removing from a skin of [283] Beaver — 


all the down without injuring the long hair. Thus the skin 


1 The louis d’or was worth at various times from $4 to $4.60. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVIII 363 


is used for fur with the long hair; and they send the down 
to France, and it is that which is called Russian Wool. 

In France the long hair is cut from the skin in order to 
obtain the down, and the long hair is lost. But the skin is 
used to make the slippers or mules of the Court-house at 
Paris. That is all that can be said of the skin and the flesh. 
But these are not the most remarkable things about this 
animal, which consist rather in its laborious and orderly nature, 
and its industry and obedience in work. These are such 
that it will be difficult to believe that which I am going to 
tell, and which I would find it hard to believe myself had I 
not been an eye-witness thereof.’ 

[284] All the animals of which the industry has been the 
“most vaunted, without excepting even the Ape with all that 
One can teach him, and all the others, are only that which 
they are, that is to say, beasts, in comparison with the 
Beaver, which passes only for a fish. As such the water is 
“necessary to him. For this purpose he makes lakes and big 
ponds, and the greater part of all those which are in New 
France have been made by the Beavers.” For this they seek a 
stream which runs by some narrow place where the sides 


are high, as between two hills or banks, and where the woods, 
‘the land, and all the materials suitable for their work are 
found at the place itself. They [285] make {there] a dam 
orcauseway. These are seen of a hundred and fifty and two 
hundred paces and more in length, and of eight, ten, eleven, and 
‘twelve feet in height, and as large at their base; they have a 
‘slope proportioned to their height, so that they are sufficiently 
strong to sustain the weight of the water. 

For this work they assemble together as many as two, 


Lilixce, or four hundred Beavers, and more, as well large as 


1 Yet later in his book, page 428, he very clearly implies that he had seen 
nothing more than the repairing of a broken dam! 

2 So far as the ponds are concerned this statement is hardly an exaggeration, 
|but the lakes are different. 


364 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


small. It is necessary to know first of all that the Beaver has 
only four teeth, two above and two below.’ The largest are 
of two finger-breadths, the others have them in proportion 
to their size. They have rocks for sharpening them, rubbing 
them [286] on their tops. With their teeth they cut down 
trees as large as half barrels. ‘Two of them work together at 
it, and a man with an axe will not lay it low quicker than 
do they. They make it always fall on the side which they 
wish, and where it is most convenient for them. 

To place all these workmen at their business, and to make 
them do their work well, there is need of an architect and 
commanders. ‘Those are the old ones which have worked at 
it formerly. According to number there are eight to ten 
commanders, who nevertheless are all under one, who gives 
the orders. It is this architect who goes often to the atelier 
of one, often to that of the other, and is always in action. 
When he has fixed upon the place where it 1s necessary to 
make the [287] dam, he employs there a number of the 
Beavers to remove that which could injure it, such as fallen 
trees, which would be able to lead the water underneath the 
dam, and cause loss of the water. “Those are the masons. 
He sets others to cut down trees, and then to cut branches of 
the length of about two feet or more according to the thickness 
of the branch. These are the carpenters. Others have to 
carry the wood to the place of the work where the masons are, 
[thus acting] like the masons’ men. Others are destined for 
the land; they are the old ones, which have the largest tails, 
and they act as hod-carriers. There are some which dig the 
ground and scrape it with their hands; these are the diggers. 
Others have to load it. [288] Each does his duty without 
meddling with anything else. Each set of workmen at a task 
has a commandant with them who overlooks their work, and 
shows them how it should be done. The one who commands 


1 An error, for in addition to the incisors, here correctly described, it has 4 
supply of molar teeth. The sharpening of the teeth on stones is folk-fiction. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVIII 365 


the masons shows them how to arrange the trees, and how to 
place the earth properly. ‘Thus each one shows those who 
are under his charge. If they are neglectful of their duty he 
chastises them, beats them, throws himself on them, and bites 
them to keep them at their duty. 
Everything being thus arranged, which indeed is soon 
accomplished, every morning each one goes to his work. At 
eleven o'clock they go to find something to eat, and do not 
return until about two o’clock. I believe this is because of the 
great heat, which is against them, [289] for if it is bright 
moonlight they work at night more than by day. 
Let us watch them now all at work making their dam. 
There are the masons; their helpers bring them the wood cut 
into lengths. Each brings his piece according to his strength 
‘upon his shoulders. They walk entirely upright upon their 
hind feet. Arriving there they place their piece near the 
‘masons. The hod-carriers do the same; their tails serve them 
be hods. To load these they hold themselves fully erect, and 
lay their tails quite flat on the ground. The loaders place the 
) earth upon the tails, and trample it to make it hold, [ building it ] 
as high as they can, and bringing it to a sharp ridge at the 
top. Then those which are [290] loaded march quite upright 
jdrawing their tails behind them. They unload near the 
‘masons, who, having the materials, begin to arrange their 
‘sticks one above another, and make of them a bed of the 
jlength and breadth which they wish to use for the foundation of 
\the dam. In proportion as some place the wood, others bring 
handfuls of earth which they place upon it, packing it down 
to fill up the interstices between the sticks. When it is upon 
‘the sticks, they hammer it with the tail, with which they strike 
ie above to render it firm. This layer being made of earth 
ind of sticks the length of the dam, they add sticks and then 
‘arth on top as [291] before, and go on extending it always in 
eight. The side to the water, in proportion as it rises, is 
ined with earth, which they place there to fill up the holes 


i 


366 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


which the sticks might have made. In proportion as they 
deposit this earth, they place their posterior end on the edge of 
the dam, so that the tail hangs down; then raising the tail 
they strike against the earth to flatten it, and to make it enter 
into the holes which there may be at the ends of the sticks 
towards the water, so as to keep that from possibility of 
entering. They even place there two or three layers of earth 
one upon another, beating it from time to time with the tail, 
so that the water cannot pass through their[292]dam. When 
they are beating like that with their tails, they can be heard 
for a league in the woods. 


In order to be able to mount upon their dam, and to carry — 


up their materials in proportion as they build it up, they make, 
at the two ends, and both inside and outside, a stairway joined 
to the dam, which goes gradually ascending towards the middle 
thereof. They build it out from both sides, according as the 


materials are brought from one place or another. One might 


say that the water being stopped could overflow the dam and « 
hinder their work ; but as these are not large streams this does © 


not happen. 
Besides it is in summer and autumn that they do their 


work, whilst the waters are low, [293] and they advance their 


work faster than the water can rise, because of its extent. © 


But in the end the water must rise higher than the dam, and 


aS 


a 
x 


besides the water increases in winter and spring when the 


snows melt. ‘This would break the dam if there were no © 


outlet for it. At that time the water passes over the dam 
where they have made conduits, like gutters, at places here and 
there; by these the water escapes, and runs over the dam, 


which is so well arranged that rarely does the water make a ~ 


breach in it. 
All their work being finished, they let the pond fill up 


with water until it runs over the dam, to see just where the 


surface of the water reaches at its greatest height. This isi 


order that they may set to work to make their [294] houses, — 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVIII 367 


which they build all around the pond, unless there occurs 
some land rising within the water. On such [an island] 
several Beavers place themselves and make their houses there. 
These are built like ovens outside. They build them of 
branches of trees, of which one end is in the ground and the 
other interlocked one with another. This makes the vault. 
This having been finished, and well lined with sticks, they 
make an upper story inside. The under part is divided 
into two by a partition, whereby one part of the oven or 
house is in the water, and the other on land. All the upper 
part and the sides are mortared with earth, the same as the 
nest of a Swallow. 

| The house having been built, they make their provision 
for the winter. For the Beaver [295] does not eat fish. It 
_ lives on bark of the Aspen, which is a very light wood. He 
_ fells a tree [and] cuts it into sticks of a length to pile in his 
dwelling ; then each one takes his piece and enters by the 
opening from the land. They fill all the upper part with 
this wood, and also the lower part which is not under water. 

They arrange it as precisely as the logs of wood are floated 
ina lumber-yard. It is thus entirely filled, with the exception 
| of a hole which they leave for going on land. They fell huge 
| 


trees, which they cause to fall all around and over the house, 
quite in confusion, in order that the house may i be visible, 
and cannot be approached without making a noise.’ 


1 As the reader will hardly need to be informed, this account of the works 
of the beaver, while based upon a slender foundation of fact, is very largely 
‘fiction. The beaver, with his really remarkable habits and works, has ever 
been, and still is, a favourite subject for wonder tales of the woods. Denys is 
‘no doubt simply repeating the stories current in his time, and it is likely that 
Most if not all of his statements were in print long before his book appeared. 
_ Even the accurate Jesuit Relations (Thwaites’ edition, I. 249, IX. 129) give some 
of these exaggerations for fact. Another early romancer on the beaver, later 
than our author, was Le Beau, whose work is summarised in Martin’s book cited 
below. As a matter of fact the dams and houses of the beaver are but crude 
affairs in comparison with the popular idea of them, as all observers who really 
know them agree. I have myself seen much of the beaver works in remote 


368 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


Fach pair, male and female, occupies a house with the 
young, which they [296] take care of from one birth to another. 
They give birth only once a year as a rule, and they bring forth 
in the spring. ‘These little ones suck and eat nothing until 
they are two or three months old. Although they eat, they 
do not give up suckling until they are grown. When the 
mother is about to give birth all the young of the preceding 
year are chased from the house, and then they pair, and go to 
find a place to build a house, if they do not find one already 
built. 

When they are in their houses, which is in the winter, 
they all have the hinder parts in the water, and the head in 
the air, for they cannot remain long without breathing. For 
their food, they take one of those branches or pieces of [297] 
wood, or else two, according to the thickness these have, eat 
the bark, make the wood all clean, and then push this stick 
into the water through the hole where are their hinder parts; 
[this is] in order not to encumber their dwelling. Their wood 
which is their food is under cover for fear that it may become 
wet. If it were to get wet, the bark would spoil, and would 
no longer be good to eat. That is why they plaster their 
dwellings. 

For the summer they make no provision. They go on — 
land to eat, but remain in the water much the greater part of — 


the time. But in winter, when their pond freezes, they are — 


compelled to remain at home. If they were to go into the 
water, as they can do, underneath the ice, they would not be 
able to keep alive, being [298] everywhere imprisoned, and 


parts of New Brunswick and know this to be true. An account of the beaver 
and his works, which for information and style will always remain a classic, is 
that by Samuel Hearne, given in full by Martin, while an excellent modern 
account is that by H. P. Wells, in Harper's Magazine, Vol. LXXVIIL., 1889, 228. 
Recent studies also have shown that their works exhibit little engineering skill — 
(Sczence, XXV. 306). A very valuable work is Castorologia, or the History and 

Traditions of the Canadian Beaver, by Horace T. Martin, Montreal and London, ~ 
1892. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XVIII 369 


not having any opening for breathing. After all this I leave 
you to judge whether that instinct which is attributed to the 
other animals is very different in these from reason and good 
sense. As for me, I know well that there are many men, even 
skilled in many things, who would be greatly embarrassed if it 
were necessary for them to build their dwellings for themselves, 
especially if they had to take so many and important pre- 
cautions for the preservation of their life as the Beavers must 
take in regard to their breathing, their food, the water, and 
the care to conceal themselves from the knowledge of the 
hunters.’ 


1 On the hunting of the beaver by the Indians, our author gives a full account 
later at pages 427-430, 434-437. 


[299] CHAPTER XIX 
On the sea-birds and their characteristics. 


T’ remains for me to make known the sea-birds. | mean 
the principal ones, for the number is too great for me 
to remember them all. The first is the Wild Goose 

[Outarde.|* It is of the bigness of a Turkey. Its plumage is 
gray-brown after the fashion of that of a Goose, the under part 
of the throat white. The Indians make robes of it. It only 
lays every alternate year; the year in which it does not lay, it 
moults. 

The young Wild Geese do not lay until they are [300] four ° 
years old. They lay fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen eggs. They — 
make their nests in islands or in marshes, flat on the ground 
asarule. Nevertheless there are some which make them in 
trees; and when their little ones are hatched, these place them- 
selves on the backs of their father or their mother, which — 
carry them to the water, in one or two loads. Those on the « 
land take theirs also to the water as soon as they are hatched. ~ 
At night the mother leads them back to land to place them 


1 Oudarde is the name in France of the bustard ; this bird does not occur 
in America, but, following the usual custom in such cases, the early French 
voyagers applied this familiar name to that bird in the new world which seemed 
most nearly to take its place. That it was applied to the wild or Canada 
goose, and not, as some have supposed, to the brant, is made plain by the 
sense of this and other passages in our authors book, by Lescarbot’s express 
description of it as oye sauvage or wild goose, and above all by the fact that the 
Acadian hunters thus use the name to this day, as I am assured by Dr. A. C. 


Smith. 
Our author gives later an account of the hunting of this bird by the Indians, 


at pages 442-444. 
370 


NATURAL HISTORY 371 


under her, and always in some islands or marshes because of 
the Foxes, which make war upon them.’ 

There is also another species, which is much smaller.’ 
But in every other respect it is just the same. Its flesh is good, 
[301] and very excellent eating roasted and boiled. It makes 
very good stew. Its soup is white. It 1s also good salted. 
Its taste is much better than that of Goose, and it is not so 
hard to digest. ‘Those which have not yet laid their eggs taste 
much better than the others. They feed only upon grass. 
They go to feed in those marshes or meadows which are upon 
the border of the sea. If they can meet with places of muddy 
sand, where grows a grass of the length of a fathom and more, 
a kind which is very narrow and ascends to the surface of the 
water,” that is the feeding-ground they like the best. In those 
places they never fail to occur, besides which they [302] like 
better to be in the water than on the land, for fear of being 
surprised. 

At some point [near] where they are, if they be in great 
number, there are always one or two which act as sentries ; 
they do not feed, but walk about from one place to another, with 
an eye upon everything. If they see or hear anything in the 
woods, that very moment they make a cry; all the others 
taise their heads, and remain thus for atime. If the sentinel 
says no more, they resume eating. But if this sentinel hears 
Or perceives anything, it makes another cry, and takes wing, 
and so do all the others at the same time. 


* In most respects this account is accurate, though the number of eggs is 
exaggerated (at least as compared with the habits of this species at the present 
day) ; and the statement, which our author also makes at page 189 of Vol. I. of 
his book, that they moult and lay in alternate years, is untrue. 

* The identity of this smaller species is not plain. The description would 
perfectly fit Hutchins’ goose, but that species is not a resident of Acadia. I 
am inclined to think our author refers simply to smaller forms, perhaps young 
birds, of the Canada goose. 

’ This is the familiar eel-grass, so abundant in all the lagoons of the Gulf 
Coast. It is still called ?herde by the Acadians. 


3872, NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


The Brant [Cravan]' is scarcely smaller than the small 
Goose. Its taste is also very pleasant, [303] roasted and 
boiled, but not salted. It is browner in plumage, the neck 
is shorter, and there is no white under the throat. It is a bird 
of passage; it only comes into the country in summer, and it 
goes away in winter. It is not known whence it comes nor 
whither it goes. No one has ever seen it producing its young. 
If it were not for the taste, which is infinitely better than that 
of the Widgeon [Macreuse] I would say they were the same 
thing. The plumage is very much alike, but to eat it in Lent 
would be too delightful. They live also on grass, with some 
little shell-fish or worms which are found in the sand. 

The Ducks are all like those of France, as to plumage and 
goodness. Those which have the wing blue and the feet red 
are the [304] best. Those with grey feet, which have also the 
wing blue, hardly differ in goodness. There is another kind 
of them which has not the blue wing, but they are not so 
good. There is seen also another species which has the 
plumage bright brown; of this species the male is white, with 
black at the end of the wing.” The male and the female are 
never together, and only assemble in spring when they mate. 
When the females begin to make their nests they separate. 
The males go in flocks by themselves, and the females the 


same. If one fires upon the females, unless he kills them ~ 


entirely dead, they are lost; for so soon as they are wounded ~ 


1 Our author's description makes it perfectly plain that the cvavaz is the 
brant, and his account of its habits and appearance is accurate. But the name 
has not persisted, for it is unknown to the Acadian hunters, who call this bird 
brenaiche, 

2 It is not possible, I believe, to identify these ducks with certainty, but I 
think it probable the first mentioned is the mallard, the second is the black 
duck (though the colour of the feet is not grey), the third may be the scaup 
duck, while the fourth appears not to fit any member of the American fauna; 
it perhaps comes as near to the Labrador, or pied, duck, now apparently 
extinct, as to any other, though in some respects the account fits the true eider, 
which does not occur, or is very rare, in this region. The American eider he 
mentions in Vol. I. (27, 143), as 7zovaque. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XIX 373 


they dive, and they seize with their beak any, even the smallest, 


grass they find, [305] and die there, and do not come again to 
the surface. They are not good in other respects; they taste 
of oil like the Widgeon.* 


As for the Teal [Sarcelle],’ it is familiar in France. One 
knows its value as well as that of the Great Northern 
Diver [P/ongeon],? and the Mud-hen, or Coot [Poule 
@eau|,* and this is why I shall not speak further of them. 
There are seen also quantities of other birds of the bigness 
of Ducks, such as the Spoonbill [Palonne],> which has the 
beak about a foot long and round at the end like an oven 
shovel; the Night Heron [£grez],* which has three little 
feathers straight up on its head; the Sheldrake [Bec de scie],’ 
which has the beak formed like a saw; the Long-tailed 
Duck [ Cacaoity],* because it pronounces this word for its note ; 


1 A description of the widgeon or macreuse given by Larousse (Dictionnaire 
Universelle) seems to imply that this bird is not really so oily, but that a belief 
in the resemblance of its fat to fish-oil had grown up to justify its being eaten 
in Lent. 

2 Two species of teal occur in this region of which the green-winged is most 
abundant and nearest like that of Europe, and this no doubt our author has 
chiefly in mind. 

* The identity of the A/ozgeon, commonly called Loon, is unmistakable. 

4 The foule d’eau of France is the European coot, of which a very near 
representative is the American coot or mud-hen, which is abundant in this 
region. 

5 A bill of the length here described could only belong to a spoonbill, no 
species of which occurs in Acadia, though one is known in France. Accordingly 
I think our author really refers to the shoveller duck, whose bill he has greatly 
lengthened by some confusion with the true spoonbill. 

® This description fits perfectly the black-crowned night heron, which has 
three long plumes from the top of its head (though not “straight up”), and no 
doubt this is the form meant by our author. The true egret of the south strays 
into this region, but it has not the three feathers here mentioned. 

* The sheldrakes or mergansers are sometimes called sawbills because of 
their strongly serrated mandibles. Two species, the American merganser and 
the red-breasted merganser, occur in Acadia, and our author no doubt meant 
to include them both. They are still called dec-scze, that is, saw-beak, by the 
Acadians. 

§ The long-tailed or old squaw duck is called by the Canadians cacca-wee 
according to Baird Brewer and Ridgeway, while the Downs-Piers’ list of birds 


2 B 


3874 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


the Buffle-head Ducks [ Marionet [306] zes],* because they run 
leaping upon the water; the Razor-billed Auk [Gode],’ a bird 
which flies as swiftly as an arrow, black and white in its 
plumage ; the Cormorant [Cormorant] which devotes itself to 
the catching of fish. Their neck is tied near the stomach, 
which prevents them from swallowing, and being thus pre- 
vented, they carry their fish ashore.” 

There are Plover [ 4//oiiettes|* of three sorts. The largest 
are of the bigness of a large Robin [ Mer/e] of greyish colour, 
and they have long feet. Others, which are scarcely less large, 
have the beak longer. Others are like Sparrows and little 
Chaffinches. All that game goes in flocks together, always 
along the edge of the sea, where there is any beach. The 


of Nova Scotia gives cockaweeas alocalname. Its Indian name is Lakawegéchk, 
as I infer from Rand (J/tcmac Reader, 47), which may be the origin of the 
French name, though also they may have arisen independently. 


1 That the sarionette was the buffle-head duck, or dipper (as it is more ~ 
commonly called by the English in Acadia), is made certain by the fact that . 


the Acadians still call it by that name, as Dr. A. C. Smith informs me. It is 
also stated by Baird Brewer and Ridgeway that the same name is used for it 
about New Orleans ; the name was no doubt taken there by the Acadians in 
1755. 

* This gode is, of course, the same as the godez described by Cartier, whose 
description makes it plain that it was either the razor-billed auk or one of its 
near relatives, the murres or guillemots. But since our author names the 
common murre or guillemot the Joule de mer (on page 52 of this volume) it seems 


certain the gode was the-razor-bill. The account of the colouration is correct, 


but I have not been able to confirm the statement about its swiftness of 
flight. 

3 The common cormorant well known in this region. The reference to the 
tying of their neck, &c., is plainly an echo of the employment of cormorants in 
fishing by various peoples, but has no reference to such use in Acadia. In Vol. 1. 
of this book, page 155, our author mentions one of their breeding-places on the 
rocks between Labrador and Niganiche in Cape Breton. 

4 That the adloiietfes (literally “larks”) were plover is shown in part by 
probabilities based upon their appearance, but conclusively by the fact that they 
are so called by the Acadians to this day. Our author’s description is too 
brief to admit of certain identification of his three kinds, but it is likely the two 
larger are the black-bellied and the golden plover, while the third is the ring- 
neck or else the piping plover. I presume the J/uzviers of page 173 of Vol. I. is 
but another name for the adloviettes. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XIX 375 


Sandpipers [ Chevadliers|* are a kind of Snipe [Beccasse] which 
have the beak very long. They live [307] on small worms 
and other things which they find in the sand on the border of 
the sea. hey are of the same size, have legs as long, and the 
plumage redder than the Small Snipe [ Beccassine].” 

The Terns or Mackerel Gulls [ Ester/ats]* are other birds, 
large as a Pigeon, which live on fish. Flying always in the 
air, if they perceive their prey they fall upon it like a stone, 
seize it with their beak and swallow it. The Herring Gull 
| Gois/an]* is much larger, lives upon fish and livers or entrails of 
Cod, but only captures that which is floating upon the sea. 
There are also a number of others which I do not remember. 

All those kinds of birds are good to eat, as are also all their 
: eggs, aside from those of the Cormorant. Throughout the 
‘country, there [308] are found numbers of Herons [ Herons],° 
which are always upon the borders of the sea or of the ponds, 
and live on little fish which occur in the holes where the 


1 Our author’s description of the chevalliers would seem to make it certain 
‘they are sandpipers. Of these the spotted sandpiper is the commonest, and no 
doubt is the one our author had most in mind. 
, ? Although our author several times mentions Jdeccasse and beccassine, 
‘obviously snipe, he gives us nowhere any description that will enable us to 
distinguish any distinct species. Many kinds occur in this region, and it is 
altogether likely he uses the words simply in a generic sense to include large 
jand small forms respectively. The ?’éches on which they live are azches, a 
| ae s name for small worms used as bait. 

° The identification of esfev/azs is made certain by its use by the Acadians 
B day, who apply it to the common small gull, which I have no doubt is the 


mackerel gull or tern. It is by far the most abundant small gull of Acadia. 
|Our author’s account of it is accurate. 

* The French word goz/and is applied to a large gull of the genus Larus, 

\ind by far the commonest of these in this region is the herring gull; this 
\s called goz//an by the Acadians, which settles its identity. 

* Our author has in mind without doubt the great blue heron, which is very 
-|bundant throughout Acadia. His account of it is entirely accurate. In 
ids first volume, however, page 62, our author gives both eves (cranes) and 
_€rons in Acadia, though the former does not occur there. It is possible he 
_|sed one or the other of these names for the bittern, or perhaps the quawk. 
_n inquiry I find that nothing is known to ornithologists as to the seven galls, 
nd this is evidently another item of folk-fiction. 


376 NATURAL HISTORY 


water remains when the tide falls, or [else] on the border of 
the water in the ponds. They make their nests in the thick 
woods which occur on islands. They are good to eat and 
have seven galls and are always thin. As for the young 


they are better and always fat.’ 


1 Denys’ account of the sea-birds in this chapter is very incomplete, and 
does not take account of several which he mentions in the first volume of his 
book: the J/oyvague or American eider (pages 27, 143), Perroguets de Mer or 
puffins (33), Pigeons de Mer or black guillemots (33), Gries or cranes (62), 
Tournevires or turnstones (62), Oyes blanches et gris or snow geese (60, 85), | 
Corbegeos or curlews (85), argots or gannets (33), and of course the Happefoye 
or fulmars, Crozseurs or petrels, the Poules de Mer or guillemots, and Penne- 
gouins or great auks of page 49 of this volume. He gives an account of the 


principal land-birds later, pages 336-343. 


[309 | CHAPTER XX 


The description of all the kinds of woods which are inland; their 
characteristics, and the advantages which can be derived from 
them. 


FTER having described the larger part of the fishes 

and of the sea-birds, it is necessary to speak of the 

: land, of the greater part of the woods which it 
bears, and of the profits which can be derived from them. 
‘That which I have already said concerns only those of the 
‘coasts, and they are as nothing in comparison with those 
which are inland [310] and on the upper parts of the rivers. 
‘This is according to the report of the Indians, of which I 
have verified the truth in one place where | have traversed 
twenty-five or thirty leagues of woods; and that has made 
me put faith in the statements which they have made to 
me about them. Throughout the country is found a great 
number of meadows and ponds. The trees [there] are 
very much more beautiful in height and thickness, and 
stand more open and less confused. One could there chase 
a Moose on horseback.’ Only the old trees which are fallen 
in one place and another could offer any hindrance; [these 
‘are there] through lack of people to remove them, as do 
the poor people in the forests of France. The lands there 
are also much better, and easier to clear than [311] on 


the margin of the sea, and the country is finer. Beeches 
f 

| ‘ This account of the Acadian woods is incorrect. It is only in a few 
imited areas, especially in occasional pine or hardwood groves, that they 
jue Open; elsewhere they are dense, obstructed, and practically impassable 
or horses. 


377 


Se = 


378 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


[ Haistres|* occur there, which are large both in height and | 
thickness; from them can be made galley oars of forty | 
and fifty feet in length, and others for the fishermen, who — 
need a good many, which they are obliged to bring from | 
France. One could make of them fine and good planking © 
for the bottoms of ships, which would be as good as the Oak; 
for it does not rot in the water, and it is no less strong, 
nor so subject to splitting and to cracks, something which ~ 
happens often with Oaks, and causes leaks difficult to stop 
well. | 
The Black Birch | Mienogon']* is a kind of Birch, but its | 
wood is redder. From it also one can make [312] good 
planking, and it does not split too much. It is used for the — 
stocks of muskets. It would be good to place as the deck- 
ribs of a ship, and for the upper works. The Birch[ Bouleau]® | 
would serve there also very well. It is lighter, and does not | 
| 

: 


split nor crack in the sun, or very little. I have had several © 
vessels built of it, which are well preserved, though they . 
are drawn ashore in winter. They remain without injury - 
in cold and in heat. There never will be any lack of © 
trees for making ribs, floor-timbers, knees, and stem and 
stern pieces, although few crooked trees occur. The ribs © 
difficult to find are those with reversed curve for the rising- 
pieces, and for stems. As for forked pieces, they will be ( 
found, but the square bracket-knees [313] are rare there. ; 
But I have a certain means of obtaining plenty of them, of © 
very good kind, and of all the other sorts. | 
Let us speak of the Oak [ Chesne],* which is said to have — 


1 But one species of beech occurs in Acadia—the American beech ; it is a 
fine tree. 

? This is the black birch, as the description implies, and as its name proves, © 
for it is without doubt a form of the Micmac Indian Wzmmmogzn-k, meaning the 
black birch (Rand, M/zcmac Reader, 57). . 

3 The paper, or canoe, birch is here meant, as the reference to the lighter — 
wood implies. Yet that is less used for shipbuilding than the grey birch, 
which our author perhaps does not distinguish from it. 

4 The commonest large oak of Acadia is the red oak, and with this, no 


AMERICA. CHAP. XX 379 


no value for shipbuilding. That is not my feeling, though 
it may not be good for making barrels to contain liquid sub- 
stances, but only for dry merchandise, because it is too loose- 
textured, and its grain consequently too coarse. If one spits 
on one end of a piece of Oak of twenty-five to thirty feet, 
and then blows on the other, the spit will swell up. This 
is with the grain of the wood, but not across it. When | 
have said that barrels made of this wood do not hold liquors, 
this is because in order to make a [314] barrel, it is necessary 
to cut a notch, which is gouged into the staves, and cuts across 
the grain of the wood. Thus the liquor with which the barrel 
is filled enters into this joint, and, reaching the grain of the 
cut wood, passes along the staves; and this makes the barrel 
Jeak at the ends, although nothing passes through the staves 


or the joints. Consequently the Oak of New France having 
only this defect, it does not cease on that account to be good 


_ for building ships. 


Further, if a ship can be built only of Oak, how then do 


those manage who build such fine and good ones in the Indies 
where there is no Oak? If I were once [315] well established 
_ Ishould show that good ships can be built there, and as durable 
_as those of France, as I have already tested several times. 


There is also Pine [Piz] for making planks good for 
constructing decks, and Firs [Sapim]? for the finishings and 
the upper works and to line rooms. There occur also in 


‘the country forests of little Pines [Petits Pins]* Spruces 


_ doubt, our author’s experiments were made. But he was too sanguine as to its 

"uses, for it is rather an inferior timber-tree. 

| 1 This is the valuable white pine, formerly abundant throughout Acadia. 

| 2 Our author throughout his book uses the term safivs, literally ‘‘ firs,” in 

| somewhat the same comprehensive way that we use the word spruce, namely, 

'to include our three common spruces, together with the balsam fir and per- 

haps also the hemlock. Compare his attempt to distinguish between them on 

pages 23, 24 of Vol. I. of his book. 

* This is very likely the red pine, especially abundant on the Nepisiguit 
near where our author lived ; but he may also have had in mind the Banksian 
or Princes pine, also abundant in northern Acadia. 


880 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


[Prusses]1 and Firs, which will furnish me with pitch and 


tar, of the qualities of which I have already spoken. Ihave © 


a certain method of rendering the masting still better than 
it is. 

As for linen for sails and for cordage, the country will 
furnish no less than a superfluity when there is willingness to 
set at it. There remain only the iron and the copper to in- 
clude everything which [316] is needed to complete a vessel. 
I believe that if the country were well populated I should find 
the iron and the copper *as well as the limestone, which [latter] 
has been known only for fifteen years, since the time when I 
found it as well as plaster. 

As for carriages for cannon, there are very fine Elms 
[ Ormes]* for making the axles, the wheels, and all the rest. 
The Maple [Erade]* is yet another good wood which could 
also be used. That tree has sap different from that of all 
others. There is made from it a beverage very pleasing to 
drink, of the colour of Spanish wine but not so good. It has 
a sweetness which renders it of very good taste; it does not 
inconvenience the stomach. It passes as promptly as the waters 
of [317] Pougue.® I believe that it would be good for those 
who have the stone. ‘To obtain it in the spring and autumn, 
when the tree is in sap, a gash is made about half a foot 
deep, a little hollowed in the middle to receive the water. 
This gash has a height of about a foot, and almost the same 
breadth. Below the gash, five or six inches, there is made 
a hole with a drill or gimlet which penetrates to the middle 
of the gash where the water collects. There is inserted a 


1 This is, very probably, the black spruce, although his reference to little 
Pines Spruces and Firs may not mean actual species. 

2 The iron has been found and worked in several places, but copper has not 
yet been found in paying quantities anywhere in Acadia. 

8 The American or white elm, abundant throughout Acadia. 

4 Evidently the sugar maple. The white maple and red maple also occur 
in this region, but probably were not separated by our author. 

6 Pougues, in central France, with mineral springs still celebrated. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XX 381 


quill, or two end to end if one is not long enough, of which 
the lower extremity leads to some vessel to receive the water. 
In two or three hours it will yield three to four pots of the 
liquid. ‘This is the drink of the [318] Indians, and even of 
the French, who are fond of it.? 

As for the Ash [Fresne],2 some very fine and straight 
ones are seen. ‘They are used for making the Biscayan pike- 
staffs ; one could make enough of them to supply all the armies 
of the King. If those who command, or will command, in those 
countries have mechanical genius and the spirit of invention, 
they will find yet many [other] things to turn to account, 


and with which to employ their talents, aside from the trade 


and the fishery which are the best means for peopling the 
— country. | 


) 
| 
| 


———_$<—<$—$_<—<———S ran 


* It is remarkable that our author does not mention the making of sugar 
from this maple sap. Le Clercq, in his WMouvelle Relation of 1691, refers to it. 
2 Three spécies of ash, the white, red, and black, occur abundantly in this 
region, the first being the best. Our author probably did not distinguish 


_ between them. Other trees which our author omits from this list, though he 
| gives them in Vol. I. of his book, are Voyers (page 46) or walnuts, and 7remébles 


| 


(page 55) or aspens. 


[319] CHAPTER XXI 


Which treats of the animals, birds, and reptiles; of their 
characteristics, and of the manner of capturing them. 


F'TER having spoken of the forests and of the different 
kinds of woods which compose them, it will not be 
out of place to say two words about the divers animals 

which inhabit them. These are the Moose, otherwise called 
Elk, the Black Bear, the Lynx, the Porcupine, the Foxes, the 
Marten, the Wolverene, the Squirrels, the Ermine, the Mink, 
the Weasel and the Snakes. [320] The Moose [Orignac]? is 


as powerful as a mule. The head is almost the same; the ' 


neck is longer, the whole much more lightly built, the legs 
long and very lean, the hoof cleft, and a little stump of tail. 
Some have the hair grey-white, others red and black, and when 
they grow old the hair is hollow, as long as a finger, good 
for making mattresses, and for furnishing saddles for horses. 


It does not gall, and comes up again after being beaten down. | 
It carries great antlers on its head, flat and forked in © 
the form of a hand. Some are seen which have about a ~ 


fathom of breadth across the top, and which weigh as much 
as a hundred or a hundred and fifty pounds. They are shed like 
those of the deer. They are subject to fall from epilepsy. 
The Indians say that when the Moose feels it coming on 
[321] it stops, and then with the left hind foot it scratches 


1 There is, of course, no question as to the identity of this animal. The 
name ovignac is probably, as Lescarbot says, simply the Basque word for deer. 
Most of the statements about the animal are correct, though the spread of the 
antlers is somewhat exaggerated. Our author givesa full account of the hunting 
of the moose by the Indians later at pases 420-427, 431-434. 

362 


A i 
ar ——— eh aaa - 


NATURAL HISTORY 383 


itself behind the ear so much that the blood flows, and 
this cures it. Old ones are seen which have the hoof of 
a foot in length or more. All of it is good to eat. The 
male is fat in summer, and the female in winter. When 
One is pregnant, she bears one and sometimes two young. 
It is eaten roasted and boiled, and makes good stew. 
It is salted to preserve it. It does not inconvenience the 
stomach. One can eat all his fill of it, and then an hour 
later can eat as much again; it never gives any inconvenience. 
As for the taste it suggests venison a little, and is at least as 
pleasing to eat as the Stag.’ In its heart there occurs [322] a 
little bone of which the Indian women make use to aid them 
in childbirth; they reduce it to powder, and swallow it in 
water, or in the soup made from the animal.” 

The Bear [Ours]? is all black, is of the height of a large 
Pig, not so long but stouter in body, with long hair. It has 
a large flat head, little ears, and no tail, or so little that it 
seems as if wanting. It has long claws and climbs trees, lives 
On acorns, eats little of carrion, but goes along the edge of 
the sea where it eats Lobsters and other fish which the waves 
cast upon the coast. It never attacks man, at least unless 
injured. Its flesh is good to eat, and is white like [ 323] veal, 


_ as good to the taste and even more delicate. It spends six 


se 
eS 
$$ 


_ months of the winter hidden in a hollow tree, and during all 
| that time it does nothing but suck its paws for its entire 
living. This is the time when it is the fattest. The young 


of five to six months are of very excellent taste and very 
tender. 


The Canada Lynx [Loup-servier]* is a kind of Cat, but 


* He means, of course, the European stag. 

* This Indian custom is mentioned also by Le Clercq. 

* The black bear is the only species of this region, and it is still abundant. 
Our author gives a full account of its hunting by the Indians later on 
pages 438-440. 

* A well-known animal still occurring in this region. Our author gives an 
account of its hunting by the Indians later at page 441. 


3884 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


much larger. It also climbs trees, and lives on animals which 
it captures. Its hair is long, of a greyish-white, and it makes 
a good fur. The flesh is white and very good to eat. 

The Porcupine [Porc-épic] is of the size of a middling 
Dog, but shorter. Its hair’ is about four inches long, white 
and [324] thick as a straw. This is stiff though hollow. 
When it is attacked it darts its quills from its back and they 
prick. If one pierces the skin, however little, and is not 
promptly drawn out, whether it be in the hand, in the body, 
or in whatsoever other place, it will keep ever entering, and 
will pass clear through the place where it may be attached. 
Everything possible is done to keep the Dogs from throwing 
themselves upon the animal, for it injures them if they are not 
promptly aided. It is very good to eat. It is placed on the 
fire to be grilled like a Pig, but before that the Indian women 
draw all the quills from the back, which are the largest, and 
from them make beautiful works.2. Being singed, [325] well 
roasted, washed, and placed on the spit it is as good as suck- 
ling Pig. It is very good boiled, but less good than roasted. 

Of the Foxes | Renards]* there are several kinds dis- 
tinguished by colours. Some are found wholly black, but 
those are rare. ‘There are black ones mottled with white, but 
there occur more of grey mottled with white; but more 
commonly they are all grey and all red, leaning towards the 
reddish. ‘Those animals are only too common. All these 
kinds have the disposition of Foxes, and are cunning and 
subtle in capturing the Wild Geese and Ducks. If they see 
some flocks of these out on the sea, they go along the edge of 
the beach, make runs of thirty to forty paces, then retire from 
time to time over the same route [326] making leaps. The 


1 Our author’s word is oz/, for which we have no exact equivalent. Need- 
less to say, his statement about darting the quills is another folk-error. 

2 As our author later relates more fully on pages 386, 390, and elsewhere. 

3 All of these foxes are simply colour varieties of one species. It is now 
rarely that any colour other than red is found. 


' 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXI 385 


game which sees them doing this comes to them very quietly. 
When the Foxes see the game approaching, they run and 
jump; then they stop suddenly in one jump, and lie down 
upon their backs. ‘The Wild Goose or the Duck keeps con- 
stantly approaching. When these are near, the Foxes do not 
move anything but the tail. Those birds are so silly that 
they come even wishing to peck at the Foxes. The rogues 
take their time, and do not fail to catch one, which pays for 
the trouble. 

We train our Dogs to do the same, and they also make 
the game come up.’ One places himself in ambush at some 
spot where the game cannot see him; when it is within good 
shot, it is fired upon, and four, five, and six of them, and 
sometimes more are killed. [327] At the same time the Dog 
leaps to the water, and is always sent farther [and farther] 
out ; it brings them back, and then is sent to fetch them all 
one after another. 

The Wolverene [Quincajou|? is nearly like a Cat, with 


1 Dogs are still trained to attract ducks in this way—a process called toling 
(or tolling). Compare account in the Ceztury Dictionary, and especially in 
Forest and Stream, Oct. 26, 1907. 

2 Called also carcajou (another form of our author’s name) and Indian devil. 
It is a small animal of strength and ferocity far beyond its size. It formerly 
occurred in Acadia, but is now extinct in that region. Our author is wrong 
about the long tail, for it is really short. We have here no doubt another folk- 
error. But its habit of capturing moose receives full confirmation from another 
early voyager to Acadia, John Gyles, who was a captive among the Indians of 
the Saint John a few years after our author wrote. Gyles, in his Memoirs of 
Odd Adventures, describes the wolverene, and says: “ They will climb trees 
and wait for moose and other animals which feed below, and when opportunity 
presents, jump upon and strike their claws in them so fast that they will hang 
on them till they have gnawed the main nerve in their neck asunder, which 
causes their death. I have known many moose killed thus.” And he narrates 
a case in which he saw tracks in the snow showing how a wolverene has been 
swept by a tree from the back of amoose. Curiously enough the error about the 
animal’s long tail has persisted almost to our own days, for it is given by Cooney 
in his History of Northern New Brunswick and Gaspé, 1832, page 232. It was 
through this passage in our author’s work, apparently, that the word Quincajou 
obtained entrance to French dictionaries, for it is under this word that Richelet’s 
Dictionary of 1738 cites our author. (Compare Bibliography on page 44, earlier.) 


386 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


hair red brown. It has a long tail; holding it up, it makes 
two or three turns upon its back. It has claws. It climbs 
trees, stretches its length upon a branch, and there awaits 
some Moose. If one of these passes, it throws itself upon 
its back, grips it with its claws, encircles it with its tail, then 
gnaws its neck a little below the ears, so that it brings it 
down. The Moose swiftly runs and rubs against the trees, 
but the Quincajou never quits its prize. If the animal does 
not pass near, it runs [328] after it, chases it, and does not 
give it up. If it is once able to reach it, it leaps upon its 
rump, and proceeds to attach itself to its neck, and gnaws it 
so well that it brings it down. In order to save itself the 
Moose runs to the water as soon as it can and throws itself 
into it. But before it throws himself into it, the Quincajou 
lets go and jumps to the ground, for it does not wish to enter 
the water. Four years ago one of them captured a large 
heifer of mine three years old, and broke her neck.’ The 
next morning we set our Dogs upon the track, and we found 
her. It had eaten only her eyes and tongue. 

The Foxes and the Quincajou hunt together. The Quin- 
cajou has not a good sense of smell as the Foxes have. ‘These 
beat the woods to find the track [329] of a Moose, and they 
hunt without making a noise. If they meet with a track they 
follow it until they have found the animal. If they find it 
grazing or lying down they do nothing to it, but they go 
around and seek a place the most convenient to make their 
prey pass by. ‘Then the Quincajou which follows them places 
itself in ambush on the branch of a tree. It being placed, 
the Foxes return to fetch the animal. They place themselves 
at some distance in the woods, on both sides. Another Fox 
goes behind to make it rise, yelping very softly. If the 
animal goes directly where the Quincajou is, those which are 
on the sides make no sound; if it does not go there, those 


1 At that time Denys was living at Saint Peters in Cape Breton. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXI 387 


which are on the side towards which it is going yelp in order 
to turn it. They do so well that they [330] make it pass 
where the Quincajou is, which does not fail in its blow, and 
throws itself on its neck and gnaws it. When the Moose has 
fallen they throw themselves upon it, and make good cheer 
together as long as the beast lasts.’ 
As for the Marten [ Marthe],’ it is sufficiently well known ; 

it is seen in France. But these are much redder than those a 
this country, and have not so fine a hair. They keep them- 
selves as a rule rather far in the woods. ‘They are only seen 
upon the coast every two years, or three years. When they 
come there it is in great number, and when the Indians see 
them they rejoice, because it is a sign of a good year, that is 
to say, of much snow, without which they cannot make good 
hunting. This[331] fails them often. All that coast of New 
France does not abound in snow; in the years of snows we 
find that the grains bear better. 

_ Let us say a word of the Squirrels [Ecureiii/s].2 The 
largest is quite like those of France, and of the same hair. 
There is a kind a little smaller which is called Swiss [Swisse], 
because they are all striped from the head to the tail by white, 
red, and black lines, all of the same breadth and about half 
a finger’s width. The third kind is the size of the second, 
vand with hair something like those of France, but a little 
blacker ; these fly. They have wings which oad from the 
hind to the [332] fore limbs, and which open to the breadth 
of a good two fingers. It is a very delicate little fabric, 
jcovered above with a little downy hair. Its entire flight ex- 


| " Probably there is some truth mixed with much folk-error in this account. 
: k 2 The marthe (also written martre and marte) is, of course, the abundant 
ppiae marten or sable. I can find no further reference to their coming to the 
voast as here related. 

| * The three squirrels are perfectly recognisable. The first is the very 
ommon red squirrel ; the second is the ground squirrel or chipmunk, whose 
| Dalikeines suggest the striped uniforms of Swiss mercenaries ; the third is the 
-/omewhat common, though rarely seen, flying squirrel. 


388 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


tends in a straight line only thirty to forty paces. But if it is 
flying from one tree to another, sliding downwards, it will fly 
double the distance. All those animals are very easily tamed. 
But the flying kind is rarer than the others. They live 


on beech-nuts which are called foie.* They make their — 
provision from this in Autumn for the winter, [placing it] in | 


some hollow tree where the snow does not reach. This flying © 


animal is very curious. I have seen one of them in Paris at 
the residence of Monsieur Berruier, former Director of the 


Company of Canada. 


The White Weasel [Ermine]? is of the size of [333] the 


Squirrel but a little longer, of a beautiful white hair. It has 


the tail long, but the little tip is black as jet. It eats the 


egos of birds when it can get them, and also the little birds. 


The Mink [Pitois]° and the Weasel [ Foive]° are about the 
same thing, except that the Mink has the hair black, and not. 


so thick, but longer than that of the Weasel. Both of them. 


wage war against birds, large and small, against Hens, Pigeons, | if 


5 ‘7 


and all that they can catch. They enter freely into dwellings. » 


There occur also throughout that country plenty of » 


Snakes [Sevpens], of all colours, in the woods. Nevertheless | 
they have never yet been known to injure Indians or French.’ 


1 So called, no doubt, because of the resemblance of the husk to the /oim, i.¢. | 
the mass of spines on the underside, of the true artichoke of France. The | 
name is still applied to the beech-nut by the Acadians. 


2 The ermine of this region is simply the white or winter condition of the. 


common weasel. 


3 Our author’s account of the weasel-like animals is somewhat mixed. The 


pttois (commonly written pufozs) of Europe is the polecat, which does not if 
occur in this region; but his reference to colour seems to indicate that he — 


applies the name to the mink. The /oimze (commonly written fowzne, or, on 


page 319, earlier, Souinne) of Europe is the beech marten, whose nearest repre- 
sentative in Acadia is the marten or sable. But as Denys has already called | 
this animal the mar¢he, and moreover as he says the /owine enters freely into 
dwellings, he must have had the common weasel, in its brown or summer con- 
dition, in mind. 


4 All of the few species of snakes which occur in this region are, as our 


author says, perfectly harmless. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXI 389 


Although [334] they are stepped on they do no injury in that 
land. 
It is necessary not to forget the Rabbit [Zapzz],* with 
which the entire country is furnished in all its parts, as well on 
the mainland as on the islands, provided that one goes to 
places a little removed from the dwellings. Because the Dogs 
chase and even eat them, they are thus obliged to keep at a 
distance. They are hunted only in the winter, when they 
have paths beaten on the snow. Or else there is built a large 
hedge, very long, of branches; and in it are left little passages 
here and there. In these spots are placed little branches of 
Birch, which is their food in winter; and here are set snares, 
_which are nothing but very slender cords. [335] The snare 

is fastened to the end of a branch of a tree which 1s bent like 
-aspring. Or, in default of a branch, a large pole is taken, 
) which is placed upon a forked piece in such manner that the 
| large end [by its weight] raises the small one somewhat high, 
| so that the Rabbit may not be eaten by a Fox when captured 
| by the snare which is attached to the end of the pole. From 
: thirty snares set, one will have the next morning at least 
| twenty Rabbits, if the night has been a good one, that is to 
. say has been cold, and has had neither rain nor snow. For at 
such times the Rabbits do not run out. They are not formed 
like those of France. They have the hind limbs much larger, 
| but the flesh is alike. They are good roasted, and even 
boiled in the pot. In summer [336] they are red, and in 
winter they are all white. They are shedding their hair nearly 
all the time, which brings it about that the fur is not good. 
Its hair is fine. I believe it would be good for making hats. 
it has not yet pep brought, so far as I know, to France for 
making trial of it.? 


1 The /apin and the /zevre (hare), mentioned by our author on page 27 
and elsewhere of Vol. I., are the same animal. Only a single kind occurs in 
Acadia, and its habits xn structure are those of a hare and not a rabbit. 

2 In this enumeration of the mammals our author omits the caribou, which 


| 
| 
& 
| 
| 2c 
| 

| 


390 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


With regard to the birds of that country, the largest is the 
Eagle [4igle].' It has a white ruff. It takes the Rabbit in 


its claw and carries it off. A smaller species has not the ruff, 


and preys on birds not so large as the Duck. ‘Their plumage 
is greyish, the beak is large and strong, and the claw large. 

The Duck-hawk [Faucon], the Goshawk [Autour], and 
the Pigeon-hawk [ Tierceler]* have the plumage like those which 
are seen in France. The claw and the beak are the same. 
They prey on [337] the Partridge, the Pigeon, and other birds 
of that strength. The Pigeon-hawk has not a good claw for 
seizing the Partridge, though it is good for the Pigeon, and 
for other little birds. There occurs there another kind of Hawk. 
This captures only fish. It is always flying over the water; 
if it catches sight of some fish it drops upon it more swiftly 
than a stone can fall. It takes its prey in its claw and carries 
it off to a tree to devour it. 


There are three kinds of Partridges [Perdrix], the red, the 


grey, and the black.* The red is the best, equal to that of | 


France for flesh and taste. The grey has a different taste 
from that of France; it suggests venison. Some persons find 


he describes on page 202 of Vol. I. The beaver, otter, and muskrat have 
been described a little earlier in chapter xviil.,and the marine mammals in 
chapter xvii. The bat is given among birds later at page 344. 

1 This eagle is, of course, the bald eagle, abundant along the coast in all 


this region. The smaller species cannot be an eagle at all, since no othereagle 
of greyish colours occurs in this region, and I take it he refers to an eagle-like ~ 


hawk. The one most probable is the white or grey gerfalcon, which occurs 
occasionally along the coast of Acadia. 
2 These hawks were probably such as were most like those known to our 


author in France. /azconis there the name of the peregrine falcon, of which © 


our duck-hawk is a form, though this bird is now rare in this region. The 
autour is in France the goshawk, and the American goshawk is one of the 


most prominent and destructive hawks of Acadia. The word dercelet is — 


applied in France to the males of several small hawks, and very likely it here 
applies, as the mention of the pigeon indicates, to the pigeon hawk, 
3 This is a good characterisation of the familiar fish-hawk. 


4 The red and the grey partridges are not two species, but are different — 
varieties of the ruffed grouse. The black partridge is, of course, the Canada — 


grouse or spruce partridge, very well described by our author. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXI 391 


its taste better [338] than that of the red. As for the black 
it has the head and the eyes of a Pheasant [Faisant]; the flesh 
is brown, and the taste of venison so strong that I find it less 
good than the others. They taste of Juniper berries, with a 
flavour of Fir. They eat of these seeds which the others do 
not. All these kinds of Partridges have long tails. They 
open them, like a Turkey, intoa fan. They are very beautiful. 
The red has a medley of red, brown, and grey—the grey of 
two shades, one bright and the other brown, the black of grey 
and black. They have been brought into France and given to 
sundry persons, who have had fans made of them, which have 
been considered beautiful. ‘They all perch, and are so silly that 
if you meet with [339] a flock of them upon a tree, you may 
shoot them all one after the other without their flying away. 
| And indeed if theyare somewhat low, so that you can touch them 
with a pole, it is [only] necessary to cut one, and to attach to 
itsend a cord or a little tape with a running knot, then to 
pass it over their necks and pull them down. You may take 
them all alive one after another, carry them home, place them 


/on the ground in a room, and feed them with grain. They 
eat it promptly, but they must not be able to get out or they 
will fly away. I have twice tried to bring some of them to 
France. They stand well all the length of the voyage, but 
‘when approaching France [340] they die, which has made me 
(believe that our air must be contrary to their good. | 
There are also Woodcock [| Becasses de bois],’ but they are 

not common. They are found occasionally at the sources of 
\spring brooks. 

All the Crows [Corbeaux]” of this country are wholly 
black. The note is not the same [as ours]. They are also as 
Me to eat as chicken. 

| 


1 That is, snipe of the woods; there can be no doubt as to their 
jidentity. 
* He refers to the common crow and the raven, our only species. But 
crow is not considered good eating among us. 


| 
| 
| 


392 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


Also Night-hawks | Orfrayes]* are met there, not so large 
as those of France. In summer they are heard crying in the 
evening. ‘Their cry is not so disagreeable as in France. They 
cry mounting in the air very high; then they let themselves 
fall like a stone to within a good fathom of the ground, when 
they rise again; and this is a sign of good weather. [341] The 
Barred Owl [ Chat-huant]” is of the plumage and size of that of 
France, and has a little white ruff. Its cry is not similar, but 
there is little difference. All the birds make war upon it. It 
is better and more delicate eating than the chicken. It ts 
always fat. It feeds upon little Field-mice which are in the 
woods. It makes provision of them for the winter. It 
captures some of them, which it places in hollow trees. With 
its beak it breaks their fore legs in order that they may not 
escape or crawl out. It collects hay in another tree to 


nourish them, and brings them every day their provision, ' 
whilst it makes its own meals on these little animals in pro- | 


portion as they grow fat. 

[342] There is also a bird which is called the Robin 
[Merle]? It is related to the Starling [Ezourneau] being less 
black than the [our] Merle, and less grey than the [our] 
Etourneau. It is not bad to eat. 


One also meets there the Woodpeckers [Piguebois]. They . 
have plumage more beautiful than those of France, and are of | 


1 The description is plainly of the night-hawk or goatsucker, a very — 


different bird from the or/ray or osprey of Europe, from which its name is | 


taken. 


barred owl, which no doubt our author had in mind, though his mention of the 
white ruff seems to indicate rather the great horned owl, and the reference to 
war made upon it by birds applies rather to the screech owl. It is likely our 
author did not distinguish very clearly between them. The Acadians apply the 


2 The nearest American representative of the French chat-huant is the — 


name, as Dr. Smith tells me, to the cat owl. Of course the collecting of the | 


mice is another bit of folk-fiction. 

3 That the merle is our American robin is shown both by the description 
and by the fact that the Acadians thus use the name to this day. 

4 Several small species occur in Acadia ; we need not try to distinguish 
between them since our author does not. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXI 393 


the same size. There are others which are called Red-headed 
Woodpeckers [Gays],* which are of a beautiful plumage; the 
head is all red, and the neck of real flame-colour. 

The Humming Bird [Ozseau Mouche]? is a little bird no 
larger than a cockchafer. The female has plumage of a golden 
green, the male the same, excepting the throat, which is of ared 
brown. When it is seen in a certain light it emits [343] fire 
brighter than the ruby. They live only upon the honey which 
they collect from flowers. Their beak is long and of the thick- 
ness of alittle pin. Their tongue passes a little out of the beak, 
and isveryslender. Their flight is swift, and they make a great 
noise in flying. They make their nests in trees, and these are 
of the size of a fifteen-sou piece. Their eggs are the size of 

peas; they lay three of them, or four or five or more. The 
attempt has been made to rear them, but it has not been 
possible to bring it about. 

As for the Swallow [Hyrondelle]* it is the same as in 

| | France. It comes in spring, and returns at the end of autumn. 
They make their nests in houses, or against certain rocks 
_where they do not get wet. 
[344] The Bat [ Chauve-souris]" is also of the same sort 
as that of this country, but it is much larger. It retires in 
‘winter into the hollows of trees, or among the rocks, and only 
appears in summer. 


1 These gays (a word derived presumably from gaz, referring to the bright- 
ness of colour, rather than from geaz, meaning “ jay”), would seem to be the 
redheaded woodpecker, which occurs, though it is rare, in this region. The 
description fits this bird very perfectly. | 

* This is, of course, the ruby-throated humming-bird, here very well 
described, though with some error as to number of the eggs, which are usually 
only two. 
| Ofthe several species of this region, our author seems to have had in 
_mind the cliff or eave swallow. 
| * This is, of course, the brown bat, the commonest species of this region. 


[345] CHAPTER XXII 


Which treats of the diversity in the seasons of the year, and of 


the different kinds of fruits, 


FTER having given a description of the country, of — 
the climates, of the coasts, of the rivers, of the | 


fishes and sea-birds and land birds, I think it will 
not be a bad idea to speak of the seasons. 
The four seasons of the year are not equal in those parts 


any more than in France. The spring there is a little later, | 
and only commences in the month of April on the North — 


Shore. On the [346] most southern coast of Acadie it begins 


on the twentieth or twenty-fifth of March. The beginning of . 
spring is,asarule,rainy. This does not mean that there are — 


not intervals of fine weather. The month of May having 


arrived, the rains are not so common, but fogs form in the i 
mornings up to nine or ten o’clock, when the Sun overcomes | 
them, and all the rest of the day the weather is fine and © 


serene. 


The summer as a rule is always fine and very warm. ~ 


There is some rain of short duration, and still sometimes fog 
in the morning, but it does not last beyond seven to eight 
o'clock. All of the rest of the day it is fine sunshine without 
clouds. There are years when the fog lasts up to ten o’clock, 
[347] and sometimes all day long. ‘These fogs are not un- 
healthy. 

As for the autumn, few years occur in which it is not fine. 
I have seen people bathing up to All Saints. The cold does 
not begin until mid-November, and then with little melting 


snows on the ground which do not last. 
394 


NATURAL HISTORY 395 


The winter is agreeable in that it is never rainy nor filled 
with mists, nor hoar-frosts. It is a cold which is always dry 
and with a bright sun. One never sees a little cloud in the 
sky. It rarely snows more than twenty-four hours together, 
and as a rule this only falls during a day ora night. One goes 
from eight to fifteen days, and even three weeks, without 
seeing it snow, during which time it is always [348] good 
weather. That does not prevent the occurrence at times of 
furious gusts of wind, which overthrow trees, but they are 
not of long duration. As for earthquakes, I have never 
heard tell that any have come within the knowledge of man 
except one that I experienced about nine or ten years ago. 
Yet this was so small an affair that it was scarcely noticed. 
It had only three little shocks, and had it not been for some 
rattling of cooking utensils and table ware it would not have 
been perceived. There were some Indians who felt it. They 
were not even surprised. It was terrible at Quebec,” where 
apparently it began, but Iam not speaking of that country, 


and I leave the narration of it to those who have experienced 


its effects. 

[349] From the end of the spring and during the summer 
and autumn, there often occur thunderstorms, but they do 
not last. Nevertheless the thunder falls sometimes in fire and 
strikes in the woods,’ where everything is so dry that it continues 
there some three weeks or a month. Unless rains fall sufh- 
ciently to extinguish it, the fire will burn sometimes ten, twelve, 
and fifteen leagues of country. At evening and at night, one 


1 Our author’s account of the weather of the country is altogether too 
optimistic. The climate is in fact considerably more severe than he makes it. 

* This is a reference to the great earthquake of February 5, 1663, fully de- 
scribed in the /eswz¢ Relations and elsewhere. Earthquakes occasionally occur 
in Acadia, and those of which records exist have been enumerated by S. W. 
Kain in Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, Vol. IV. 
p. 16, and V. 243. 

® Le Clercq gives a similar origin for a great fire which before 1677 destroyed 
the woods of a wide territory south of the Nepisiguit (Vouvelle Relation, 213). 


396 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


sees the smoke ten and a dozen leagues away. On the side 
to which the wind is carrying it, it is seen very far off. Inthe 
places where that occurs all the animals flee from it fifteen 
and twenty leagues. If this happens upon the border of the 
sea, where the water from the rains can wash down into it, 
all the fish flee from it, [350] and there will be no fishery the 
following year, nor water-fowl on the coast ; hence the fishing 
vessels must seek other places, or else they will accomplish 
nothing. I have seen this happen not by the fire from the 
sky, but by the accident of a cannonier, who, drying his powder 
on Miscou, set it afire in using tobacco, and the fire reduced 
to cinders a good part of the woods of the island. The result 
was that the following year there were no Cod on the coast, 
so that the fishermen were obliged to go seek their fish else- 
where. 

‘With regard to the fruits which are found in the country, 
there are wild Cherry trees [Servizers sauvages].’ Their fruit 
is not large; as for the taste it [351] 1s close to the Cherry. 
Other trees are also seen there; all their fruit is very small. 
There are Raspberries [Framboises]” in all the places deprived 
of their woods, and also in our clearings. If one of the 
latter is left a year without cultivation, it all fills up with 
Raspberry bushes [Framboisters|. ‘The Raspberries are very 
large, of a very good taste, and better than those of France. 
It is troublesome to clear the land of them. If, after having 
removed them, the land is left without being cultivated and 
sown, it produces Hazelnut bushes [ Nozzi/fiers|* of which the 
Hazelnuts [ Notsettes] are good. Remove the Hazelnut bushes, 
and again do not cultivate the land, it produces woods as 
before. The land there is so good it cannot remain without 


1 Evidently the wild red cherry, common in all this region. 

2 The common red raspberry, whose habitat is here weli described. 

3 The common American hazelnut, which is very abundant in this region, 
and does tend somewhat to follow the raspberry in old clearings as a step in 
the transition to woods. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXII 397 


producing some-[352] thing. And in addition there occur 
rarely Thorn bushes [ Epines], Bramble [ Ronces], and Thistles 
[ Chardons]." 

There are seen also many kinds of Currant bushes [ Groze/- 
her|.2 There are the large green Gooseberries [Grosez/les] of 
France, which are only good when they are over-ripe; there are 
some which are only good when they are violet. The red 
Currant, which resembles that of France, is not common. There 
are other similar ones which are velvety. ‘There are also seen 
white and blue ones. This kind is not found commonly. 
All those kinds of Currants are good to eat. 

The Apple trees [Pommiers| of that country creep upon 
the ground.* They grow up only half a foot, and [353] have 

a leaf like the Myrtle. Its fruit is large as Hazelnuts. On 
one side it is all red, and on the other white. It is the pesiz 
lapis.“ They only appear in autumn, and are good to eat 
| Only in spring and summer when the snow and the winter 
| have passed over them. 

| There occurs a root which throws out a little green 
"sprout, like the Vez/ée or Bindweed, which twines around 
_that which it meets with but does not climb so high. 
Having met with it, if you dig at the foot you find the root, 


’ These three names are no doubt used in a general and not a specific 
sense. The éfzves or thorn-bushes would be principally hawthorns, of which 
| two or three kinds occur in this region; vonmces or brambles would include 
probably blackberries, perhaps roses, and possibly the introduced sweetbrier. 
Chardons or thistles would include one or two of the native species and very 
| probably the introduced Canada thistle. 

* Of these currants the wild red and the gooseberry are readily recognisable ; 
the velvety form is, of course, the fetid currant. The white and blue kinds I 
take to be not currants at all, but the white baneberry and the clintonia re- 
spectively (though the blue kind might be the black currant), but these are 
| certainly not good to eat. 

| * Apparently the familiar beech plum, abundant everywhere in this region 
and here well described. But in this case dommiers is a misnomer, and should 
jread pruners. 


* Our author appears to mean that the plant is the same as one called (in 
France) Zetit lapis. 


\ 


—— 


398 NATURAL HISTORY 


which has nuts as large as Chestnuts strung together like beads, 
the nuts being distant about half a foot from one another. 
There are some of these roots [354] that one will raise for 
from ten to a dozen paces all furnished with them. If one is 
lacking you can find another. The Indians are very fond of 
them. They have the taste of Chestnuts when they are boiled, 
and they are called Chicamins.* 


1 This is very plainly the well-known ground nut, which our author describes 
with some exaggeration as to the extent of the roots. The name is Micmac 
Indian, given by Rand (Micmac Dictionary, 125) as Segubun. The sounds of 
6 and m are often indistinguishable in Micmac. It is described, as Chiguebz 
by Father Biard (/Jesuzt Relations, 111. 259). The word is still used among the 
Acadians of Madawaska, as M. Prudent Mercure informs me, in the form 
Chicawben. 

A plant our author omits from this list, though he mentions it in Vol. I. 
(page 47), is the /ambruche de vigne or grape vine. 


wal CHAPTER XXIII 


Concerning the ways of the Indians, their polity and customs, their 
mode of life, their disposition and that of their children ; 
of their marriages, their method of building, of dressing, of 
speech-making, with other particulars.’ 


T remains for me now to set forth the ways of the 
Indians, their characteristics, their mode of life, their 
matriages, their burials, their work, their dances, their 

hunting, and how they governed themselves in former times, 
[356] as I have been able to learn it from them, and the way 
in which they did things thirty-seven to thirty-eight years 
ago when I was first in that country. They had as yet 
changed their customs little, but they were already making 
use of kettles, axes, knives, and of iron for their arrow-heads. 
There were still but few of them who had firearms. 

They still lived long lives. I have seen Indians of a 


1 Our author is, of course, describing the Micmac tribe of Indians which occu- 
pied all of Nova Scotia, and the entire extent of his government from Canso to 
Gaspé. As he was intimately acquainted with them through his long experi- 
ence as fur-trader and fisherman, this part of his book has a high value, and we 
would there were more of it. Most of his statements are in agreement with one 
or the other of the several works we are so fortunate as to possess about these 
Indians. Of these the following are of particular value. The references in 
Champlain’s writings are all too brief, and confined to some account of their 
hunting and burial customs. But Lescarbot (in his A7stoire de la Nouvelle 
France, Paris edition, 1612, cited) gives a systematic though condensed account 
of them, all the more valuable in that it is made from observation before the 
Indians had any extensive permanent contact with the whites. Nearly con- 
temporary are the valuable observations of Father Biard, fully given in the 
Jesuit Relations for 1611-1614 (Thwaites’ edition, II., I11.). Most extensive of 
all, however, though later than Denys, is Le Clercq’s Nouvelle Relation de la 


Gaspesie (Paris, 1691), a work almost entirely devoted to these Indians, whom 
399 


400 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


hundred and twenty to a hundred and forty years of age who 
still went to hunt the Moose; the oldest, who neared a 
hundred and sixty years, according to their account, no longer 
went.’ They count by moons.’ 

Before speaking of the way they live at present, it is neces- 
sary to look into the past. Their subsis- [357] tence was of 
fish and meat roasted and boiled. To roast the meat they cut 


he calls Gaspesiens. His book is not only an invaluable repository of fact 
about them, but it has a literary merit and a pleasant humour unfortunately 
absent from Denys’ book. There appears to be a certain connection between 
the works of Le Clercq and Denys, for the former describes many matters in a 
way strongly recalling the latter; and I believe that Le Clercq in writing his 
book used that of Denys, but more as a source of suggestion than of informa- 
tion. He gives many matters in far greater detail than Denys, and includes 
many topics which Denys omits altogether. In fact Lescarbot’s and Le 
Clercq’s works are attempts at orderly complete treatments of the Indians, while 
Denys, though perhaps aiming at completeness, shows his lack of scholarly 
training in his important omissions and defective proportioning of subjects. 
But he makes some amends for this in his more minute account of many in- 
teresting matters connected with their daily life, in which feature his work sur- 
passes that of any other writer. There is also some matter of value in St. 
Valier’s Estat present de  Eglise (Paris, 1688 ; Quebec edition of 1856 cited), 
and in Dieréville’s Relation du Voyage du Port Royal de ? Acadie (Amsterdam, 
1710)—the latter an independent book based upon personal observations made 
about 1700. Another systematic work, which must, however, be used with 
some caution, is an Account of the Customs and Manners of the Micmacs and 
Maricheets, Savage Nations, by a French Abbot [ Maillard], (London, 1758). 

Of modern accounts, based upon traditions, &c., the best is Silas Rand’s 
Lectures, delivered in Halifax in 1849, published 1850. Other works of lesser 
worth are mentioned by Bourinot in 7vams. Royal Soc. of Canada, 1X., 1891, ii. 
328. Of course there are many other accounts of these subjects both by early 
and by recent writers, but in all cases, I believe, they include no original infor- 
mation. The Micmacs in their customs were very like the Maliseets and other 
Algonkian tribes to the south-west, so that works treating of those tribes have 
a value also for our present subject. Among these the most valuable are refer- 
ences in the Memoirs of Odd Adventures, by John Gyles (Boston, 1736; re- 
printed Cincinnati, 1869), and the Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr. (printed 
New York, 1896), while the modern writings of Montague Chamberlain in the 
magazine Acadiensis give material from personal knowledge and tradition. 

1 These ages are probably exaggerated, though less by our author than by 
his Indian informants. Yet testimony as to the great age they attained is given 
by all other writers upon the Micmacs, by Lescarbot (770), St. Valier (14), 
Le Clercq (84), Dieréville (183), and Maillard (49). 

? As all authors agree. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII AO 


it into fillets, split a stick, placed it therein, then stuck up the 
stick in front of the fire, each person having his own. When 
it was cooked on one side, and in proportion as it cooked, 
they ate it. Biting into it, they cut off the piece with a bone, 
which they sharpened on rocks to make it cut. This served 
them in place of knives of iron and steel, the use of which we 
have since introduced among them. 

Having eaten all of it that was cooked, they replaced the 
meat in front of the fire, took another stick and went through 
the same process. When they had eaten all the meat from a 
stick, they [358] always replaced it with more, keeping this 
up all the day. 

They had another method of roasting, with a cord of bark 
from trees, attached to a pole which extended across the top 
of their wigwam, or from one tree to another, or upon two 
forked sticks stuck in the earth. The meat was attached to 
the lower end of the cord, through which was thrust a stick 
with which it was twisted several turns. After it was let go, 


by this means the meat turned a long time first one side then 


the other to the fire. When it turned no longer, the cord 


_ Was again twisted by means of the stick through its middle, 


and again allowed to go.’ The surface of the meat being 
cooked, they would bite the outside, and cut off the [359] 
piece close to the mouth, continuing thus until the whole was 
eaten. They also roasted it upon coals. 

As for fish, they roasted it on split sticks which served 
as a grill, or frequently upon coals, but it had to be wholly 
cooked before it was eaten. All the children do their cooking 
like the others, with split sticks and upon the coals. 

All these kinds of roasts were only an entrée to arouse the 
appetite ; in another place was the kettle, which was boiling. 
This kettle was of wood, made like a huge feeding-trough or 
stone watering-trough. ‘To make it they took the butt of a 


1 This method is mentioned also by Le Clercq (119). Our author’s account 
of the Indian cooking methods is much the most detailed we possess. 


402 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


huge tree which had fallen; [360] they did not cut it down, 
not having tools fitted for that, nor had they the means to 
transport it; they had them ready-made in nearly all the 
places to which they went. 

For making them, they employed stone axes, well- 
sharpened, and set into the end of a forked stick [where they 
were] well tied. With these axes they cut a little into the 
top of the wood at the length they wished the kettle. This 
done they placed fire on top and made the tree burn. 
When burnt about four inches in depth they removed the 
fire, and then with stones and huge pointed bones, as large as 
the thumb, they hollowed it out the best they could, remoy- 
ing all the burnt part. Then they replaced the fire, [361] 
and when it was again burnt they removed it all from the 
interior and commenced again to separate the burnt part, con- 
tinuing this until their kettle was big enough for their fancy, 
and that was oftener too big than too little.’ 

The kettle being finished, it had to be used. To this end 
they filled it with water, and placed therein that which they 
wished to have cooked. To make it boil, they had big stones 
which they placed in the fire to become red hot. When they 
were red, they took hold of them with pieces of wood and 
placed them in the kettle, [when] they made the water boil. 
Whilst these were in the kettle, others were heating. Then 
they removed those [362] which were in the kettle, replacing 
them there by others. This was continued until the meat 
was cooked. 

They had always a supply of soup, which was their greatest 
drink ; they drank little raw water formerly, as indeed they 
do at present.” Their greatest task was to feed well and to 

1 The only other references to these wooden kettles that I have found are in 
Lescarbot (805), where, however, it appears that they were easily and quickly 
made wherever wanted, and in Le Clercq (121), where they are barely mentioned. 
Later in his book (372 and 464) these kettles are again mentioned by our author. 


2 Le Clercq, on the contrary (127), says they drank pure water with pleasure 
in the summer. 


‘ 
: 
% 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 403 


goahunting. They did not lack animals, which they killed 
only in proportion as they had need of them. They often 


ate fish, especially Seals to obtain the oil, [which they used] 
as much for greasing themselves as for drinking; and [they 
ate] the Whale which frequently came ashore on the coast, 
and on the blubber of which they made good cheer. Their 


greatest liking is for grease; they eat it as [363] one does 


bread, and drink it liquid. 
There was formerly a much larger number of Indians than 
at present. ‘They lived without care, and never ate either salt 


-orspice. They drank only good soup, very fat. It was this 


which made them live long and multiply much. They would 
have multiplied still more were it not that the women, as soon 


_as they are delivered, wash the infant, no matter how cold it 


may be.1 Then they swaddle them in the skins of Marten or 


Beaver upon a board, to which they bind them. If it is a 


boy, they pass his penis through a hole, from which issues the 
urine; if a girl, they place a little gutter of bark between the 


legs, which carries the [364] urine outside. Under their back- 


| freezing weather the most sensitive part of the body, this 
' part freezes, which causes much mortality among them, princi- 


sides they place dry rotten wood reduced to powder, to receive 


the other excrements, so that they only unswathe them each 
twenty-four hours. But since they leave in the air during 


pally among the boys, who are more exposed to the air in 
that part than the girls. To this board there is attached at 


_ the top, by the two corners, a strap, so arranged that when it is 


| placed on the forehead the board hangs behind the shoulders ; 


' thus the mother has not her arms encumbered and is not pre- 


————— 


vented either from working or go- [365] ing to the woods, 
whilst the child cannot be hurt by the branches along the 


1 A custom mentioned also by Le Clercq (44), who gives a great deal more 
information about the treatment of the young children. The method of carry- 
ing the children here described was well-nigh universal among the Indian 
tribes, and is described by most early writers. 


404 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


paths. ‘They have three or four wives, and sometimes more. 


If one of them turns out to be sterile they can divorce her if — 


they see fit, and take another. Thus they are able to have 
plenty of children. But if a woman becomes pregnant whilst 
she is still suckling a child, she produces an abortion.’ A 
thing which is also ruinous to them is that they have a certain 
drug which they use for this purpose, and which they keep 
secret among themselves. The reason why they produce the 
abortion is, they say, because they cannot nourish two children 
at the same time, forasmuch as it 1s necessary that the child 
shall cease suckling of itself, [366] and it sucks for two or 


three years. It is not that they do not give them to eat of — 
that which they have, for in chewing a piece of anything they — 


place it in their mouths and the infant swallows it. 


Their children are not obstinate, since they give them | 
everything they ask for, without ever letting them cry for — 
that which they want. The greatest persons give way to the _ 
little ones. The father and the mother draw the morsel from 


the mouth if the child asks for it. They love their children 
greatly.” They are never afraid of having too many, for they 


are their wealth. The boys aid the father, going on the hunt, | 


and help in the support of the family. The girls work, [367] 


aiding the mother; they go for the wood, for the water, and — 


to find the animal in the woods. After the latter is killed 


I 


QR 


a 


they carry it to the wigwam. There is always some old — 
woman with the girls to conduct them and show them the © 


way, for often these animals which it is necessary to go and | 


find are killed at five or six leagues from the wigwam, and 
there are no beaten roads. 
The man will tell only the distance of the road, the woods 


1 Mentioned by most of the other writers on these Indians, e.g. Maillard (36), 
and Dieréville (145). Also the high value placed on fecundity, or upon having 
many children, is mentioned by all writers on these Indians. 

2 This love for their children is emphasised also by Lescarbot (659), by Le 
Clercq (45, and elsewhere), by Dieréville (145). 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 405 


that must be passed, the mountains, rivers, brooks, and 
meadows, if there are any on the route, and will specify the 
spot where the animal will be, and where he will have broken 
off three or four branches of trees to mark the place. This 
is enough to enable them to find it, to such a degree that they 
never [368] fail, and they bring it back.’ Sometimes they 
camp where the animal is. ‘They make broiled steaks and 
return next day. 
After they have lived for some time in one place, which 
they have beaten [for game] all around their camp, they go and 
camp fifteen or twenty leagues away. [hen the women and 
girls must carry the wigwam, their dishes, their bags, their 
skins, their robes, and everything they can take, for the men 
and the boys carry nothing, a P agelae they follow still at the 
present time. 

: Having arrived at the place where they wish to remain, 
the women must build the camp. Each one does that which 
is her duty. One goes to find poles [369] in the woods; 
| another goes to break off branches of Fir, which the little pile 
carry. The woman who is mistress, that is, she who has 
borne the first boy, takes command, and does not go to the 
'woods for anything. Everything is brought to her. She fits 
the poles to make the wigwam, and arranges the Fir to make 
the place on which each one disposes himself. This is their 
| carpet and the feathers of their bed. If the family is a large 
‘one they make it [the wigwam] long enough for two fires; 
‘otherwise they make it round, just like military tents, with 
only this difference that in place of canvas they are of barks 
‘of Birch. These are so well fitted that it never rains into 
‘their wigwams. The round kind holds ten to twelve persons, 
‘the long [370] twice as many. The fires are made in the 
| 


1 That it was the duty of the women to go and fetch home the game killed 
. | by the men is stated by Lescarbot (806), Le Clercq (116), and others. We may 

hi allowed to doubt, however, whether the women could find the game from 
such scanty directions. 


PANAD) 


406 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


middle of the round kind, and at the two ends of the long 
sort.’ 


To obtain these barks, they select all the biggest Birches 


they are able to find, and these are the thickness of a hogs- 
head. They cut the bark all around the tree as high up as — 


they can with their stone axes; then they cut it low down, also 
all around; after that they split it from above downwards, 
and with their knives of bone they separate it all around the 


tree, which ought to be in sap to loosen readily. When they — 
have enough of it, they sew it edge to edge, four pieces together _ 
or five together. Their thread is made from root of Fir,’ 
which they split in three, the same as the [371] Osier with — 
which the hoops of barrels are tied. They make it as fine as | 


they wish. 


Their needles are of bone, and they make them pointed as ‘ 


awls by dint of sharpening them. They pierce the barks, | 
and pass this root from hole to hole for the breadth of the | 
barks. This being finished they roll them as tightly as they | 
can that they may be the easier to carry. When they strip - 
them off the wigwam to carry them to another place, since © 
they are dried from the fire which had been made there, they - 
heat them again to make them more supple. In proportion + 
as they heat, they are rolled up; otherwise they would break | 


through being too dry. 


[372] At the present time they still do it in the same 
way, but they have good axes, knives more convenient for 
their work, and kettles easy to carry. This is a great con-— 


venience for them, as they are not obliged to go to the places © 
where were their kettles of wood, of which one never sees any — 


at present, as they have entirely abandoned the use of them.* 


1 A very similar account of the wigwams is given by Le Clercq (67), and 
they are described also by Biard (III. 77). 
2 The black spruce, used by the Indians for such purposes to this day. 


3 Other interesting references to these kettles occur on pages 362 and 464 


of this volume of our author’s book. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 407 


As to their marriage, in old times a boy who wished to 
have a girl was obliged to serve the father several years’ 
according to an agreement. His duty was to go a hunting, 
to show that he was a good hunter capable of supporting well 
his wife and family. He had to make bows, arrows, the 
frame of snowshoes, even a canoe—that is to say, to do the 
[373] work of men. Everything that he did during his time 
went to the father of the girl, but nevertheless he had use of it 
himself in case of need. 

His mistress corded the snowshoes, made his clothes, his 
moccasins and his stockings, as evidence that she was clever 

‘in work. The father, the mother, the daughter, and the 
‘suitor all slept in the same wigwam, the daughter near her 
mother, and the suitor on the other side, always with the fire 
between them. The other women and the children also slept 
‘there. There never occurred the least disorder. The girls 
‘were very modest at that time, always clothed with a well- 
dressed Moose skin which descended below the knees. They 
‘made their stockings [374] and their shoes from the same 
kind of skin for the summer. In winter they made robes 


of Beaver. ‘The modesty of the girls was such in those old 


‘times that they would often hold their water twenty-four 
‘hours rather than let themselves be seen in this action by 
a boy.” 

| The term being expired, it was time to speak of the 
marriage. The relatives of the boy came to visit those of the 


1 This term of service was apparently a year; it is thus given by Le Clercq 
(386, 441), whose account otherwise agrees closely with that of our author, 
while Lescarbot (738), Dieréville (140), and Gyles (45) thought this time was 
one of marriage but of continence. 
| * There is substantial unanimity among all the early writers as to the 
nodesty of the Indian women and girls, at least in earlier times. Thus it is 
emphasised more or less without reservation by Lescarbot (738,740), by Father 
Le Jeune in the Relation for 1635 (Thwaites’ edition, VIII. 157, 165-167), by St. 
\ahier (17), by Le Clercq (55, 416), by Dieréville (168), by Maillard (55), though 
his writer intermixes some details belonging to the Canadian Indians, while 
chamberlain (A cadiensis, 11, 81) emphasises it for all the Wapanaki tribes. 


| 


408 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


girl, and asked them if it were pleasing to them. If the © 


father of the girl was favourable to it, it was then necessary 


to learn from the two parties concerned if they were content — 


therewith; and if one of the two did not wish the marriage, _ 
nothing further was done. They were never compelled, 
But if all were in agreement, a day was chosen for making | 
a banquet ; in the meantime [375] the boy went a hunting, and 


did his very best to treat the entire assembly as well to roast 


as to boiled meat, and to have especially an abundance of — 


soup, good and fat. 
The day having arrived, all the relatives and ouests 


assembled, and everything being ready the men and older boys _ 
allentered the wigwam, the old men at the upper end near the _ 


father and mother. The upper end is the left in entering the 


wigwam, and a circuit is made passing to the right.’ No : 


other woman entered save the mother of the boy. Each one. 


having taken his place, all seated themselves upon their 
buttocks, like Apes, for that is their posture. The bridegroom 
brought in the meat in a huge bark dish, [376] divided it, | 


and placed it on as many plates as there were persons, as 


“ 


much as they could hold. There was in each plate enough © 
meat for a dozen persons. He gave each one his plate, and, 


they devoted themselves to eating. The bridegroom was 


i 
iq 


there also with a great dish of soup, which he gave to the i 


first one that he might drink his fill. He, having sufficiently - 


| 


quenched his thirst, passed the dish to his neighbour, who did — 
the same. When it was empty it was filled again. Then 
having drunk and feasted well, they took a [comfortable] — 
posture. The oldest of them made a speech in praise of the _ 
bridegroom, and gave an account of his genealogy, in which 


he was always found descended from some great chief ten or 
twelve generations back. He exaggerated everything [377] 
good that they had done, as well in war as in hunting, the 


1 But Le Clercq (73) says the chief place was on the right. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 409 


spirit they showed, the good counsel they had given, and 
everything of consequence they had done in their lives. He 
commenced with the most ancient, and, descending from 
generation to generation, he came to a conclusion with the 
father of the bridegroom. Then he exhorted the bridegroom 
not to degenerate from the worth of his ancestors." Having 
finished his speech, all the company made two or three cries, 
saying fau, hau, hau. After this the bridegroom thanked 
them, promising as much as, and more than, his ancestors ; 
then the assembly gave again the same cry. Then the bride- 
groom set about dancing ; he chanted war songs which he com- 
posed on the spot and which exalt- [378] ed his courage and 
‘his worth, the number of animals he had killed, and everything 
that he aspired to do. In dancing he took in his hands 
a bow, arrows, and a great shaft in which is set a bone of 
a Moose, sharply pointed, with which they kill animals in 
‘winter when there is a great depth of snow. This sort of 
‘thing [they did] one after another, each having his song, 
during which he would work himself into a fury, and seemed 
as if he wished to kill everybody. Having finished, the 
entire assembly recommenced their hau, hau, hau,” which 
‘signifies joy and contentment. 

' After this they commenced again to eat and drink until 
they were full. Then they called their wives and children who 
[379] were not far off; these came and each one gave them his 


| 


bo from which they proceeded to eat in their turn. 


If there were any women or girls who had their monthlies, 
‘she had to retire apart, and the others brought to each one 
her portion. In those [old] times they never ate except alone 
by themselves; they did no work, and did not dare touch any- 
| 


1 The grace and force of these Indian orations made at marriages, funerals, 
‘and upon other public occasions are emphasised by most of our early writers ; 
\iiroare especially Maillard (7), and Le Clercq (528). 

* Most of our early writers mention this expression of approval or applause, 


though it is sometimes written differently. Compare Le Clercq (179, 264), and 
Maillard (13, 15). 


410 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


thing, especially anything to be eaten. It was necessary they — 
should be always in retirement.’ | 
They have thus developed into a custom the recital of — 
their genealogies, both in the speeches they make at 
marriages, and also at funerals. This is in order to keep — 
alive the memory, and to preserve by tradition from father to | 
son, the history of their ancestors, and the example of i 
[380] their fine actions and of their greatest qualities, some- | 
thing which would otherwise be lost to them, and would 
deprive them of a knowledge of their relationships, which | 
they preserve by this means; and it serves to transmit their — 
[family] alliances to posterity. On these matters they are 
very inquisitive, especially those descended from the ancient | 
chiefs; this they sometimes claim for more than twenty | 
generations, something which makes them more honoured | 
by all the others. 
They observe certain degrees of relationship among them: 
which prevents their marrying together.” This is never done 
by brother to sister, by nephew to niece, or cousin to cousin, — 
that is to say, so far as the second degree, for beyond that they © 
can doit. If a young married woman [381] has no children © 
by her husband at the end of two or three years, he can divorce’ 
her, and turn her out to take another. He is not held to” 
service as in the case of the first; he simply makes presents of _ 
robes, skins, or wampum. I shall tell in its proper place what © 
this wampum is. He is obliged to make a feast for the father 
of the girl, but not so impressive a one as on the first occasion.” 
If she becomes pregnant he gives a great feast to his relatives 7 
otherwise he drives her out like the first, and marries another. — 
This wife being pregnant, he sees her no more. As to these — 
matters, they take as many women as they please provided that 


1 A very widespread aboriginal custom. For our Indians it is mentioned, ~ 
with more or less additional detail, by Biard (III. 105), Le Clercq (360), Dieré- 
ville (165), and Maillard (51). a 

2 Discussed also by Le Clercq (386), and by Lescarbot (741). 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 411 


they are good hunters, and not lazy.’ Otherwise the girls will 


not accept them. [382] One sees Indians who have two or 


| three wives pregnant at the same time; it is their greatest joy 


to have a large number of children. 
For all these festivities of weddings and feasts they adorn 


themselves with their most beautiful clothes. In summer the 


men have robes of Moose skin, well dressed, white, ornamented 


_ with embroidery two fingers’ breadth wide from top to bottom, 
both close and open work. Others have three rows at the 
_ bottom, some lengthwise, and others across, others in broken 


chevrons, or studded with figures of animals, according to the 


fancy of the workman.’ 


They work all these fashions in colours of red, violet, and 


blue, applied on the [383] skin with some isinglass. They 


had bones fashioned in different ways which they passed quite 
hot over the colours, in a manner somewhat like that in which 


one gilds the covers of books. When these colours are once 


| 


applied, they do not come off with water. 
‘To dress their skins, these are soaked and stretched in the 
sun, and are well-heated on the skin side for pulling out the 


_hair. Then they stretch them and pull out the hair with bone 


instruments made on purpose, somewhat as do those who pre- 


J 


| pare a skin for conversion into parchment. ‘Then they rub it 
with bird’s liver and a little oil. Next, having rubbed it well 


between the hands, they dress it over a piece of polished wood 


_made shelving on both sides [384] just as is done to dress the 


skins for making gloves upon an iron. ‘They rub it until it 
becomes supple and manageable. ‘Then they wash it and twist 


it with sticks many times, until it leaves the water clean. 
Then they spread it to dry. 
For the skins dressed with the hair, these are only treated 


* The marriage relations here described are confirmed in their main features 
by the other early writers. 
* Confirmed by Lescarbot (672, 719), by Biard (III. 75), and by Le 


Clercq (57). 


412 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


with the livers, with which they are well rubbed by hand ; they 
are passed repeatedly over the sticks to dress them well. If 
they are not then soft enough, more of the livers is added and 
they are once more rubbed until they are pliable; then they 
are dried. Allof those robes, whether for men or for women, 
are made like a blanket. [385] The men wear them upon — 
their shoulders, tying the two ends with strings of leather — 
under the chin, while all the remainder is not closed up. They © 
show the whole body with the exception of their privy parts, — 
which are hidden by means of a very supple and very thin — 
skin. This passes between their legs and is attached at the — 
two ends to a girdle of leather which they have around them; — 
and it is called a truss [drayer].’ 

The women wear this robe in Bohemian fashion. The — 
opening is on one side. They attach it with cords in two 
places, some distance apart, in such a way that the head can - 
pass through the middle and the arms on the two sides.” | 
Then they double the two ends one [328, viz. 386] above | 
the other, and over it they place a girdle which they tie very 
tightly, in such manner that it cannot fall off. In this way 
they are entirely covered. They have sleeves of skin which 
are attached together behind. They have also leggings of’ 
skin, like stirrup stockings, without feet ; the men wear these. 
likewise. j 

They also make moccasins of their old robes of Moose 
skin, which are greasy and better than new. Their moccasins | 
are rounded in front, and the sewing redoubles on the end of 
the foot, and is puckered as finely as a chemise. It is done 
very neatly; the girls make them for themselves embellished 


1 In Canadian French dvayet is now anything put on to cover the person 
in bathing. 

2 Le Clercq (53) gives a similar account of their dress, adding that the men > 
wear it somewhat as in the pictures Hercules wears the lion’s skin. Lescarbot 
(702) makes precisely the same comparison, and adds that the women wear _ 
theirs somewhat as in the pictures of Saint John the Baptist. Lescarbot gives 
a much fuller account of their winter dress. | 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIII 413 


with colours, the seams being ornamented with [387] quills 
of Porcupine, which they dye red and violet. 

They have some very beautiful colours, especially their 
flame-colour, which surpasses all that we see in this country of 
this nature. It is made from a little root as thick as a thread.’ 
As for the leaf, they are not willing to show it, something 
which is unusual with them. Such were approximately their 
summer clothes. During the winter their robes are of Beaver, 
of Otter, of Marten, of Lynx, or of Squirrel, always marta- 
chées,” that is to say, painted. 

Even their faces, when they go to ceremonies with their 
fine clothes, are painted in red or violet; or else they [388] 
make long and short rays of colour, according to fancy, on the 
nose, over the eyes, and along the cheeks, and they grease the 
hair with oil to make it shine. Those who are finest among 
_ them look like a masquerade. Such are their fineries on their 
_ days of holiday-making. 

1 This plant was without doubt the small bedstraw, the variety called in the 
| older, and as well in the newest, works Galium tinctorium. Its identity is made 


certain by Slafter, in the Otis-Slafter Champlain (III. 14, 15), who cites Kalm 
_ as stating that the Indians used the roots of this plant to dye their porcupine 


» quills red, and that the colour stood the weather well. 


* This word is apparently of Micmac origin; it is so stated by Lescarbot 
| (732). But I have not been able to find its equivalent in modern Micmac. The 
| word is said to be still in use among the Canadian French. 


[389] CHAPTER XXVI fie. XXIV] 


Of their head-dress, of their ornaments, and of their finery. Of the 
regimen which they observe during their illnesses ; of their 
amusements and conversations. Of the work of the men and 
of the women, and of their more usual occupations. 


a “AO distinguish the men and the women from the boys 
and the girls by their ornaments; the first have the 
hair cut below the ears. The boys wear theirs 

[390] of full length ; they tie it in tufts on the two sides with 

cords of leather. The dainty ones have theirs ornamented 

with coloured Porcupine quills. The girls wear theirs also 
full length, but tie it behind with the same cords. But the 
belles, who wish to appear pretty, and who know how to do 
good work, make ornamental pieces of the size of a foot or 
eight inches square, all embroidered with Porcupine quills of 
all colours. It is made on a frame, of which the warp 1s 
threads of leather from unborn Moose, a very delicate sort ; 
the quills of Porcupine form the woof which they pass through 
these threads, just as one makes tapestry, and it is very well 

made. All around they make a fringe of the same [391] 

threads, which are also encircled with these Porcupine quills in 

a medley of colours. In this fringe they place wampum, 

white and violet. They make of it also pendants for the ears, 

which they have pierced in two or three places. 
This wampum [porcelene] is nothing else than the teeth of 

a certain fish which is caught by the Indians of New England, 

and which was really rare among them.’ In those times it 


1 Our author is in error as to the source of wampum; it was really made 


from the shells of molluscs—the white from a species of Busycon and the purple 
414 


. 


He 


NATURAL HISTORY 415 


was valued greatly among them, though it is common at 
present. Each grain is the length of half the width of a 
finger. It was all their ornament, in every kind of work in 
which it was necessary to sew with aneedle. The latter was 
that awl of which I have already spoken, or a bodkin of bone, 
[392] well pointed for making a little hole, and they passed 
through it a thread, which was made from the tendon of a 
Moose, found along the spine of the back. When this tendon 
is well beaten it separates into threads, as fine as one wishes. 
It is with these they sew all their robes, which never rip out. 
Such is the ornamentation of the girls. As soon as they are 
married, the mother in delivering them to their husbands, cuts 
their hair. This is the symbol of marriage, as it is also for the 
husband. | 

The law which they observed in old times was this—to do 
to another only that which they wished to be done to them. 
They had no worship.’ All lived in good friendship and 
understanding. ‘They refused nothing to one [393] another. 


If one wigwam or family had not provisions enough, the 


neighbours supplied them, although they had only that which 
was necessary for themselves. And in all other things it was 
the same. ‘They lived pure lives; the wives were faithful to 
their husbands, and the girls very chaste. ‘They were not 
subject to diseases, and knew nothing of fevers. If any accident 
happened to them, by falling, by burning, or in cutting wood, 
[the latter happening] through lack of good axes, theirs being 
unsteady through failure to cut well, they did not need a 
physician. They had knowledge of herbs, of which they made 
use and straightway grew well. They were not subject to the 
from the round clam or quahog, Venus mercenaria. Anaccount of wampum in 
Acadia is in the Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, 
No. VIII., 1889, 12,91. Lescarbot (732) also says the Acadian Indians obtained 
it from those of New England. Compare also Thwaites, /esuzt Relations, VIII. 
312, where other references may be found. 


1 This is our author’s only reference to this subject, to which the other 
writers, Lescarbot, Biard, and Le Clercq especially, give much attention. 


416 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


gout, gravel, fevers, or rheumatism.’ ‘Their [394] general 
remedy was to make themselves sweat, something which they 
did every month and even oftener. I tell this for the men, 
for I have never had knowledge that the women made them- 
selves sweat. For this purpose, they constructed a little round 
wigwam to hold as many as four, five, six, seven, or eight or 
more. [hese wigwams were covered with bark from top to 
bottom, entirely closed up with the exception of a little 
opening for entering, and the whole was covered besides with 
their garments. Whilst this was being done, large rocks were 
gathered and placed in the fire, and made red hot. After this 
those who wished to sweat placed themselves wholly naked in 
the wigwam, seated on their buttocks all around. Being 
therein, [395] their wives, or some boys, gave them these 
rocks all red-hot, with a big dish full of water and another 
small dish for pouring the water upon the rocks which were 
placed in the middle of the circle. This water which they 
poured upon the rocks made a steam which filled the cabin, 
and heated it so much that it made them sweat. When they 
commenced to sweat they threw on more water only from 
time to time. When the rocks were cold they threw them 
outside, and they were given others all red-hot. They did 
not make haste in the sweating, but heated up little by little, 
but so thoroughly that the water trickled over them in all 
parts, and these they wiped down from time to time with 
the hand. ‘They remained there [396] as long as they could, 
and they stuck to it an hour and a half ortwohours. During 
this time they chanted songs, and told stories to make them- 
selves laugh. When they wished to come out, they dashed 
on the water as much as they could from head to foot, 
and then, making a run, went to throw themselves into 
the sea or ariver. Being refreshed they put their robes upon 
them; and then went into their wigwams as composed as 


1 Substantiated, with further particulars, by Le Clercq (394). 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIV 417 


ever. Our Frenchmen make themselves sweat like them, and 
throw themselves into the water similarly, and are never incom- 
moded thereby. The water in those parts never injures the 
health. In the winter when our men go a hunting, sometimes 
they have no Dogs, and [when] they kill [397] game those who 
know how to swim throw themselves into the water to go 
after it. On returning to the house and changing their 
clothes, they receive no inconvenience, and never catch cold 
therefrom. 

If they were ill and dying of old age, or by some accident 
happening through trees or other object falling upon them, 
or where there was no apparent cause, there were old men 
who claimed to speak to the manitou, that is to say, the Devil, 
who came to whisper to them.” These fellows put many 
superstitions into the mind, of which I have mentioned several 
in the foregoing. They were men who had some cunning 
more than the others, and made them believe all they wished, 
and passed for their physicians. ‘These fellows [398] came there 


‘to see the sick man, and asked of him where his ill was. 


After being well informed in all, they promised health, by 
blowing on him. For this purpose they set themselves a 
dancing, and speaking to their manitou. They danced with 
such fury that they emitted foam as big as the fists on both 
sides of the mouth. During this performance they approached 
the patient from time to time, and at the place where he had 
declared he felt the most pain, they placed the mouth upon it, 
and blew there with all their might for some time, and then 
commenced again to dance. Following this, they returned 
again to the sick man to do just the same as before. Then 
they said it was the manitou which had possession of him, and 

1 These sweat baths were very widely used by the American Indians. Le 
Clercq (512) and Dieréville (184) mention their use by our Micmacs. 

2 Among our Micmacs, as among all the American Indians, the Medicine- 
man played a very important part, and his various actions are fully described by 


all our writers, by Lescarbot (679), by Biard (III. 117), by Le Clercq (329), by 
Dieréville (163), and by Maillard (37). 


418 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


that he [the sick man] had passed through several places 
[399] where he had not rendered the accustomed homage,’ or 
some other similar follies. And [they said] that in time they 
hoped to make him get out. This lasted sometimes seven to 
eight days, and finally they made a pretence of drawing some- 
thing from his body by dexterously showing it, saying— 
‘‘ There, there, he has gone out; now he is ¢uped:7) yaaa 
often in fact the man got well through imagination. And 
if the patients did not grow well, they found some other 
excuse, such as that there were several manitous, that they 
had been unwilling to go out, and that they had too far 
ignored them. They always made out a good case for them- 
selves. One never omitted to give them something, though 
not so much as if he had been entirely [400] cured. Those 
medicine-men were lazy old fellows who would no longer go 
hunting, and who received from others everything they needed. 
If there were any fine robes, or other rarity in a wigwam, that 
was for Monsieur the Medicine-man. When animals were 
killed, all the best parts were sent to him. When they had 
cured three or four persons, they never lacked anything more, 
This it was not difficult for them to do, since the greatest 
malady of the Indians proceeded only from their imagination. 
This being removed from the mind, immediately they became 
well. 

The Indians were very fond of feats of agility, and of 
hearing stories. There were some [401] old men who com- 
posed them, as one would tell children of the times of the 
fairies, of the Asses’ skin, and the like. But they compose 
them about the Moose, the Foxes, and other animals, telling 
that they had seen some powerful enough to have taught others 
to work, like the Beavers, and had heard of others which 
could speak. ‘They composed stories which were pleasing and 
spirited. When they told one of them, it was always as 


1 Evidently of the kind mentioned by our author on pages 41, 42 of Vol. I. 
of his book. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIV 419 


heard from their grandfather. These made it appear that they 
had knowledge of the Deluge, and of matters of the ancient 
Law.' When they made their holiday feasts, after being well 
filled, there was always somebody [402] who told one so long 
that it required all the day and evening with intervals for 
laughing. ‘They were great laughers. If one was telling a 
story, all listened in deep silence; and if they began to laugh, 
the laugh became general. During such times they never 
failed to smoke. They had a certain green tobacco, the leaf 
of which was not longer than the finger, nor any broader.’ 
They dried it, and made it into a loaf, in the form of a cake, 
four inches thick. The smoke was not strong, the tobacco 


| good and very mild. Those story-tellers who seemed more 


clever than the others, even though their cleverness was 
nothing more than sportiveness, did not fail to make fun of 


_ those who took [403] pleasure in listening to them. 


As to the work of the men, it consisted in making their 


_ bows, which were of Maple, an unsplit piece. In fashioning 


them, they made use of their axes and knives; for polishing 


| them, they used shells of Oysters or other shells, with which 
_ they polished as can be done with glass. ‘Their arrows were 
_ of Cedar, which splits straight ; they were nearly half a fathom 
-inlength. They feathered them with Eagles’ quills. In place 
of iron they tipped them with bone. The frames of their 
- snow-shoes were of Beech, of the thickness of those used in 
‘playing tennis, but longer and thicker and of the same form 


without a handle. The length of each was as a rule the 


distance from the waist to the ground. They [404] placed 


+ Our author gives but a scant idea of the very rich legendary and folk-lore 


ofthe Micmacs. Their principal stories have been collected and published by 
Silas Rand, Legends of the Micmacs (New York, 1894), and in more popular 


form in The Algonquin Legends of New England, by C.G. Leland (Boston, 
1884), and in Kuloskap, the Master, by Leland and Prince (New York, 1902). 
Denys was in error in thinking they were composed upon the spot, and in fact 
they /ad been related by the narrator’s grandfather. 

* This, I presume, was the leaf of a willow. Le Clercq (515) gives some 
account of their use of tobacco. 


420 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


there two pieces of wood which ran across, at a distance from 
one another equal to the length of the foot. They were 
corded with Moose skin, dressed to parchment; this was 
cut into very long cords [which were] both thick and thin. 
The thick were placed in the middle part of the snow-shoe, 
where the foot rests between the two sticks, while the thin 
were used at the two ends.’ Close against the stick in front 
there was left an opening in the middle of the snow-shoe to 
admit the end of the foot in walking. This was in order that 
the snow-shoe might not rise behind, and that it might do 
nothing but drag. It was usually the women who did the 
cording. 

Their lances were also of Beech, at the end of which [405] 
they fixed a large pointed bone. They used them to spear 
animals when there was deep snow. 

For making their canoes they sought the largest Birch 
trees they could find. They removed the bark of the length 
of the canoe, which was of three to four fathoms and a half [in 
length]. The breadth was about two feet in the middle, and 
always diminished towards the two ends, falling away to 
nothing. The depth was such that for a man seated it came 
up to his armpits. The lining inside for strengthening it was 
of slats, of the length of the canoe and some four inches ~ 
broad, lessening towards the ends in order that they might " 
match together. On the inside the canoe was lined with — 
them [406] completely, as well as all along it from one end 
to the other. These slats were made of Cedar, which is light, 
and which they split in as great lengths as they wished, and 
also as thin as they pleased. They also made from the same 
wood half-circles to form ribs, and gave them their form in 
the fire. 

For sewing the canoe, they took roots of Fir of the 
thickness of the little finger, and even smaller; they were 


1 This description is accurate ; the Indians still make them thus. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIV 421 


very long." They split these roots into three or four parts, 
that is the largest ones. These split more easily than the 
Osiers used in making baskets. They made these into 
packages, which they placed in the water for fear lest they 
might dry up. There were also necessary two [407] sticks 
of the length of the canoe, entirely round, and of the thick- 
ness of a large cane, and four other shorter sticks of Beech. 
All these things being ready, they took their bark and bent 
and fixed it in the form the canoe should have; then they 
placed the two long pieces all along and sewed them to the 
rim inside with these roots. 
To sew they pierced the bark with a punch of pointed 
bone and passed through the hole an end of the wicker, 
| drawing and tightening the stick as closely as they could 
| against the bark, and always enwrapping the stick with the 
wicker so that hey were in contact with one another. The 
sticks being well sewed on all along, [480, viz. 408] they 
placed also the smaller pieces of beech crosswise, one in the 
middle, entering at its two ends into holes made in the pieces 
| with which the canoe is rimmed, and three others in front of 
it, distant a half fathom from one another, which lessened in 
length with the shape of the canoe. Three others also were 
placed backward at the same distances. All these pieces 
entered also at their ends into holes which were made in the 
Pieces sewed all along the canoe, to which they were so firmly 
attached on both sides that the canoe could neither enlarge 
nor narrow. 
| Then are placed in position those big slats with which they 
| lined all the interior of the canoe from top to bottom, [409] 
| 
| 


= eS 


and they were all made to touch one another. To hold them 
in place, they put over them those half-circles, the ends of 
| which were brought to join on both sides below those pieces 
which were sewn all around on the top. They drove these in 
with force, and they lined all the canoe with them from one 


1 These were roots of the black spruce, used by the Indians to this day. 
Die 


422 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


end to the other. This made the canoe stiff to such a degree 
that it did not yield at any point. 

There were seams in it, for in order to narrow it at the 
two ends, they split the bark from above downwards; they 
then overlapped the two edges one over the other, and sewed 
them. But to prevent the seams from admitting water, the 
women and girls chewed the gum of the Fir every day until 
it became a [410] salve which they applied by aid of fire all 
along the seams, and this tightened them better than pitch. 
All this being done, the canoe was finished, and it was so 
light that a single man could carry it on his head. 

The paddles were of Beech, the blade of an arm’s length 
and of the breadth of half a foot or thereabouts; the handle 
is a little longer than the blade, and both are in one piece. 
Three, four, and five persons, both men and women, rowed 


together, [so that] it went extremely swiftly. They also 
went with a sail, which was formerly of bark but oftener of | 
a well-dressed skin of a young Moose. Had they a favourable — 


wind they went as swiftly [411] as the throw of a stone. One 
canoe carried as many as eight or ten persons.’ 
The work of the women was to go fetch the animal 


after it was killed, to skin it, and cut it into pieces for cook- | 


ing. To accomplish this they made the rocks red hot, placed | 
them in and took them out of the kettle, collected all the | 
bones of the Moose, pounded them with rocks upon another | 


of larger size, [and] reduced them to a powder; then they — 


placed them in their kettle, and made them boil well. This 


brought out a grease which rose to the top of the water, and © 
they collected it with a wooden spoon. They kept the bones - 


boiling until they yielded nothing more, and with such success 


1 Our author is describing the large Micmac canoes, and his description is | 
accurate, for the Indians build them thus to this day. The only change in | 


their method lies in the use of nails for fastening the bark to the gunwales, 
and of pitch in place of gum, Compare the illustrated article on this subject 


by Tappan Adney in Oxting, for May 1900, 185-189. Lescarbot (774) has a — 


brief but good description of them. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIV 423 


that from the bones of one Moose, [412] without counting 
the marrow, they obtained five to six pounds of grease as 
white as snow, and firm as wax. It was this which they used 
as their entire provision for living when they went hunting. 
We call it Moose butter; and they Cacamo,' 

They made their dishes, large and small, of bark. They 

sewed them with the Fir roots so well that they held water. 
They ornamented some of them with quills of Porcupine. 
They made bags of flattened rushes, which they plaited one 
within another. They went to the woods to fetch dry fuel, 
which did not smoke, for warming and for burning in the 
-wigwam. Any other kind of wood was good for the kettle, 
since that was always outside the wigwam. [413] They 
fetched the water, dressed the skins, made the robes, the 
sleeves, the stockings, and the moccasins, corded the snow- 
shoes, put up and took down the wigwams. They went to 
fetch Fir with which they lined all the inside of the wigwam 
_ to four fingers’ depth, with the exception of the middle, 
where the fire was made, which was not so lined. They 
arranged it so well that it could be raised all as one piece. It 
served them also as mattress and as pillow for sleeping. 
, The coverlet was a skin of Bear or of young Moose, of 
which the hair is very long and thick. When they went to 
bed they unfastened their robes which served them as blankets. 
They all had their feet to the fire, [414] which never died 
out; they kept it always going, throwing on it wood of which 
the stock was at the door. 

When they changed their location in order to camp in 
another place, the women carried everything.” Their daughters 


1 Evidently a Micmac word ; it is, no doubt, the Awoo, “a cake of tallow,” 
of Rand’s Micmac Dictionary (261), with some prefix. Le Clercq (114) calls it 
pain de cacamos. 

2 That the women did all the menial work was simply in agreement with 
universal aboriginal custom, and all of our writers mention the fact for our 
Indians. Both Lescarbot and Biard have special sections on the work of the 
men and the women. 


424 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


big and little carried also according to their strength. They 
were thereby accustomed at a young age to work, as well as to 
everything they had to do, even to masticating the Fir gum. 
In consequence they never had toothache, and their teeth 
were well kept and white as snow.’ If the ladies of France 
would make use of this gum, I do not question they would 
obtain from it the same advantages. For it is well to note 
here that the men [415] who lived on the same diet neverthe- 
less had not teeth so fine as those of the women, who were 
obliged to chew the Fir gum for caulking their canoes. 

The work of the men was to make the frames of the 
snow-shoes, bend them, polish them, place the two bars across 
them, and make them all ready to be corded. They made 
their bows, their arrows, and the wooden handles to receive the 
big bones with which they killed the Moose, the Beavers, and 
everything which they speared. ‘They made also the boards 
on which the women placed their children, and all other 
articles of wood. 

They made also their pipes for holding their tobacco. 
They made them [416] of wood, with a claw of Lobster, which 
is properly a Sea-crayfish. They made them also of a certain 
green stone, and of another which is red, with the stem, the 
whole in one piece.” 

To hollow and pierce the stem, they made use of their 
bone, of which the point was a little flattened and sharpened; 
by dint of turning back and forth they hollowed the stone 


1 Le Clercq (393) gives a similar account. 

2 Pipes supposed to be of aboriginal Micmac manufacture have been 
described by G. Patterson (Proceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian 
Institute, V\1., 1889, 248), by Harry Piers (zézd., 286, and IX., 1896, 52), and 
by S. W. Kain (Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswith, 
XIX., 1901, 295), and there is a summary account of the subject by J. D. 
M‘Guire (in Report of the U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., 1897, 
p- 479). Among all of these pipes, however, there is no one in which bowl 
and stem forma single piece, though Mr. Piers, in his second paper, describes 
and figures one of this kind which he supposes not to be Micmac. Our authors 
description shows that it may, after all, be Micmac. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXIV 425 


and pierced the stem. In the same way, and by virtue of 
time, they came to the end of it. All of their work was never 
very pressing, and all that they did of this sort was only for 
their amusement. 
As to their other kinds of pipes, they were of two pieces. 
The stems were made of a certain wood which our sailors 
[417] call pipe [ca/umet] wood.’ They made the stems of 
them of a foot or a foot and a half in length. In order to 
pierce them they made a ring at an inch from one end, from 
which they removed the wood all around as far as the middle, 
which they left as large as the wick of a candle; this seems 
like the pith, but it has none of it, or so little that it seems 
like none. They took this wick in their teeth which they 
shut tightly, and [took] all the rest of the stick in their hands, 
which they turned little by little and very carefully. This 
: wick twisted so well that it detached itself inside the stick, 
| being loosened from one end to the other of its proper thick- 
/ness. It was then drawn out very carefully with a constant 
turning of the [418] stick which in this manner became pierced. 
| Then they polished it, and reduced it to the thickness neces- 
sary to make it enter the hole of the pipe. This was some- 
‘times of hard wood, sometimes of Moose bone, or the claw of 
Lobster, or Sea-crayfish, and of other material according to 
_the fancy of him who took it upon himself to make it. 
1 This was no doubt some species of willow, for not only is this probable in 


the nature of the case, but Rand in his Micmac Reader (58), gives an Indian 
name for “ Pipe-stem wood (a species of willow).” 


[419] CHAPTER XXV 


The Hunting of Moose, of Bears, of Beavers, of Lynxes, and 


other animals according to their seasons. 


Chk: hunting by the Indians in old times was easy for ~ 
them. They killed animals only in proportion as ~ 
they had need of them. When they were tired of — 
eating one sort, they killed some of another. If they did not ~ 
wish longer to eat meat, they caught some fish. They never — 
made an accumulation of skins of Moose, Beaver, Otter, or 
others, but only so far as they [420] needed them for personal ~ 
use. They left the remainder where the animals had been © 
killed, not taking the trouble to bring them to their camps. 
The hunting of the Moose in summer took place by 
surprising them. The Indians knew approximately the places — 
where they could be found. In those localities they beat the 
woods, going from one part to another to find their tracks. — 
Having found one they followed it, and they knew by the ~ 
track, and even from the dung, whether it was male or female, — 
and whether it was old or young. By its track they knew — 
also whether they were near the beast; then they considered — 
whether there was any thicket or meadow near by where the © 
beast would be likely to be, judging from the direction [421] — 
it was taking. They were rarely mistaken. They made a ~ 
circle around the place where it was, in order to get below 
the wind so as not to be discovered by the Moose. They — 
approached it very softly, fearful of making noise enough to 
reveal themselves to it. Having discovered it, if they were 
not near enough they approached closer until within arrow-shot, 
which is from forty-five to fifty paces. Then they launched 
426 


NATURAL HISTORY 4:27 


their blow against the beast, which rarely fell to a single arrow. 
Then it was necessary to follow its track. Sometimes the beast 
would stop, hearing no more noise. Knowing this from its 
pace, they went slowly and tried to approach it yet a- [422] 
gain, and gave it still another arrow-shot. If this did not 
make it drop, they had again to follow it, even to evening, 
when they camped near the beast, and in the morning went 
again to take up the track. The animal being sluggish in 
rising because of the blood it had lost, they gave it a third 
shot, and made it drop, [thus] accomplishing the killing. 
They then broke off some branches to mark the place, in 
order to send their wives to find it. 

But after having delivered the two first blows, they 
endeavoured to get in front of it to make it turn towards 
the camp, following it and making it approach until it fell 
dead from lack of strength. Often they [423] worked it up 
very close to the camp. They always found several together, 
but in summer they can never follow more than one. 

In the spring the hunting was still made thus, as it was 


except when the females enter on the rutting-time. At that 


time the hunting was done at night upon the rivers in a canoe. 
Counterfeiting the cry of the female, the Indians with a dish 
of bark would take up some water, and let it fall into the 
water from a height. ‘The noise brought the male, who 
thought it was a female making water. For this object they let 
themselves go softly along the stream; if they were ascending, 
they paddled very softly, and from time to time they made 
water fall, counterfeiting [424] always the female. They 
went all along the border of the river, and if there was any 
male in the woods who heard the sound of this water, he came 
there. Those who were in the canoe would hear him coming, 
because of the noise the beast made in the woods, and they 
kept on constantly imitating the cry of the female, which 
made him come close up to them. They were all ready to 
draw upon him, and never missed him. The darkest night 


428 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


was best for this hunting, and also the most calm, [since] the 
wind prevented the noise made by the fall of the water from 
being heard.’ 

In winter the hunting was different. Because of the snow, 
snow-shoes were used, by [425] means of which one marches 
over the snow without sinking in, especially in the morning, 
because of the freezing in the night. At that time it bears 
the Dogs, but the Moose does not find good going, because he 
sinks into the snow, which fatigues him greatly in travelling. 

To find the Moose, the Indians ran about from one place 
to another, seeking wood that was bitten. For at this time 
of year they eat only the twigs of wood of the year’s growth. 
Where they found the wood eaten, they met straightway with 
the animals, which were not far distant, and approached them 
easily, they being unable to travel swiftly. They then speared 
them with the lance, which is the large shaft of which I 
have spoken; [426] at its end is fixed that large pointed 
bone which pierces like a sword. But if there were several 
Moose in the band, they made them flee. At that season the 
Moose arranged themselves one after another, and made a 
large ring of a league and a half, or two leagues, and some- 
times of more, and beat down the snow so well by virtue of 
moving around, that they no longer sank into it.” The one 
in front becoming weary, dropped to the rear. But the 
Indians, who were more clever than they, placed themselves 
in ambush, and waited for them to pass, and there they 
speared them. ‘There was always one person chasing them; 
at each circuit always one of them fell; but in the end they 
scattered into the woods, some in one direction and some in 
another. There [427] fell always five or six, and, when the 
snow would carry, the Dogs followed whatever ones were left. 


1 This method of hunting the moose, by imitating the call and acts of the 
female, is that most practised by hunters to this day. Itis known as “ calling.” 
This is the earliest mention of it that I have found. Le Clercq (474) gives a 
similar description. 

2 This is an accurate description of the well-known habit of “ yarding.” 


VW 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXV 429 


Not a single one could escape. But in those times they killed 
only their provision, and they only went hunting in proportion 
as they had need of meat. All their hunting and fishing were 
done only as they had need for food.’ 

The hunting of the Beaver took place in summer with 
arrows, when they were taken in the woods, or else in the 
lakes or ponds, where the Indians placed themselves in canoes 
at a proper spot to watch until they came to the surface of the 
water to take air. But the commonest and most certain way 
was to break their dam, and make them lose the water. 
[428] Then the Beavers found themselves without water, and 
did not know any more where to go; their houses showed 
everywhere. The Indians took them with blows of arrows 
and of spears; and, having a sufficiency, they left all the rest. 

The Beavers, hearing no more noise, reassembled and set 
about repairing their dam. It is at this we have seen them 
working, and this makes it well believable that all I have said 
of their work is true.” I do not consider that the work of 
making their dams entirely anew is so difficult as to repair 


them when broken in the middle. 


In winter the hunting of them was done differently, the 
dams and the lakes being all frozen. Then the [429] Indians 
have their Dogs, which area kind of Mastiff, but more lightly 
built. ‘They have the head of a Fox, but do not yelp, having 
only a howl which is not of great sound.’ As for their teeth, 


’ The hunting of moose on the snow was a main reliance of the Indians in 
winter, and practically every writer from Champlain (191, Laverdiére ed.) on- 
ward speaks of it. In consequence in winters when the snow was scant, and 
they could not thus capture the moose, they were often reduced to misery if not 
Starvation, as several times shown in the Jesuzt relations (XXXII. 41, XLV. 61, 
XLIX. 159). Le Clercq gives a special account of their moose hunting (470), as 
in brief does Lescarbot (804). There is more about the moose in our author’s 
earlier chapter at page 320 of this volume of his book. 

2 He refers to the elaborate exaggerations given earlier, at page 284 of 
his book, where there is much other information about the beaver. The 
hunting of the beaver is described also, with some differences of detail, by 
Lescarbot (807), by Le Clercq (475), and by Dieréville (128). 

* Lescarbot (804) gives a brief account of the Indian dogs. 


430 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


these are longer and sharper than those of Mastiffs. These Dogs 
serve for hunting the Moose, as I have related, in the spring, 
summer, and autumn, and in the winter when the snows will 
bear them. ‘There is no hunter who has not from seven to 
eight of them. They cherish them greatly. If they have 
little ones which the mother cannot nourish, the women suckle 
them ; when they are large they are given soup. When they 
are in condition to be serviceable, they are given nothing 
but [430] the offal of the beasts which are killed. If eight 
days pass without any animals being killed, they are just so 
long without eating. As to the bones, they are not given any, 
for fear of damaging their teeth, not even those of the Beaver. 
If they should eat of that, it would keep the Indians from 
killing any, and the same if one were to burn them.’ For it is 
well to remark here that the Indians had many superstitions 
about such things, of which it has been much trouble to dis- 
abuse them. If they had roasted an Eel, they also believed 


that this would prevent them from catching one another time. | 
They had in old times many beliefs of this kind, which they — 


have no more at the present time, and of which we have 
disabused them. 


[431] Their wealth was in proportion to their Dogs, and as | 
a testimony to a friend of the esteem in which they held him, | 
they give him that Dog to eat which they valued the most; — 
[this was] a mark of friendship. ‘They say that it 1s very 

good eating. They still do this, and the French eat it when — 


they are present at their feasts, of which they tell great stories. 
They like it better than mutton. But that, nevertheless, has 
never given me any desire to eat it. 

When they took their Dogs to hunt the Moose in spring, 


summer, and autumn, the Dogs would run about for some — 


time, some in one direction and some in another. The one 


which first met some track followed it without giving tongue. — 
If he [432] overtook the beast, he got in front of it, jumping — 


1 Fully confirmed, with additional details, by Le Clercq (356, 357). 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXV 431 


for the nose. “Then he howled. [The Moose amused himself, 
and wished to kick the Dog in front. All the other Dogs 
which heard it came running up and attacked it from all 
sides. It defended itself with its feet in front; the Dogs tried 
to seize its nose or ears. In the meantime the Indian arrives, 
and tries without being seen to approach within shot below 
the wind. For if the animal perceives him or his smell, the 
Moose takes to flight and scorns the Dogs, unless the hunter 
gives it an arrow-shot. Being injured, it has difficulty in 
saving itself from the Dogs, which follow it incessantly, as 
does also the Indian, who overtakes it [433] and shoots again. 
But sometimes the Dogs, which have seized the ears or the 
muzzle, drag it to earth before the Indian has come up. They 
are not inclined to abandon it, for very often they have had 


nothing to eat for seven to eight days. The Indian arrives, 
completes the kill, splits open the belly, and gives all the 


entrails to his Dogs, which have a great junket. It is this 
which makes the Dogs keen in the chase. As for the winter, 
when it has rained upon the snow, which [thus] can carry the 
Dogs, they made use of them as I have already described, 
because they have not at that time so much trouble to catch 
the Moose. For these cannot then run so fast; being much 
heavier than the Dogs, they sink into the snow, and are unable 
[434] to advance farther except by leaps. 

As for that [hunting] of the Beavers, it also was done in 
winter with Dogs, but they were only used to find the houses 
in which they smelled the Beavers through the ice. Having 
found them, the Indians cut through the ice and made a hole 
large enough to let througha Beaver. Then they made another 
hole twenty-five or thirty paces away, on the open surface of 
the lake. In this place an Indian or two took their stand with 
a bow and an arrow which has a harpoon of bone at the end, 
made like a barbed rod, like that which was used in fishing 
the Sturgeon, but smaller.’ It has also a cord to which it is 


1 As described earlier by our author on page 263 of this volume of his book. 


432 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


attached at one end, and the Indian took hold of the other. 
Everything being ready, an- [435] other Indian went to the 
other hole near the house of the Beavers. Lying down on 
his belly upon the ice, he placed his arm through the hole to 
find the Beavers’ opening, that by which they place their tail 
in the water. There they are all arranged one against the 
other, that is to say, all those of one Beaver family. Having 
found them, the Indian passed his hand very gently along the 
back of one several times, and, approaching little by little to 
the tail, tried to seize it. 

I have heard it said by the Indians that they have kept the 
arm so long in the water that the ice froze all around the arm. 
When they once seized the tail they drew the Beaver all [436] 
at one swoop out from the water upon the ice, and at the same 
time gave it the axe upon the head. They killed it for fear 
lest the Beaver bite them, for wherever these set their teeth 
they take out the piece. Having thus drawn one out they tried 
to obtain another, which they did in the same way, rubbing 
them gently. That does not put them to flight, for they 
imagine they are touching one another. But nevertheless 
three or four of them having been removed, the remainder 
take to flight and throw themselves into the water. Not 
being able to remain long without breathing, the daylight 
which shows over the hole out on the surface leads them to 
go there to get the air. The other Indians who are there in 
ambush, so soon as they appear, give them an arrow shot; 
[437] the harpoon, which has teeth, holds in some part of the 
Beaver from which it cannot be drawn out. ‘The cord is then 
pulled and the Beaver is drawn out through the hole; then 
they raise it upon the ice and kill it. Some time after there 
comes another which is taken in the same way. Few in a 
house are saved; they would take all. The disposition of the 
Indians is not to spare the little ones any more than the big 

ones. They killed all of each kind of animal that there was 
_ when they could capture it. It is well to remark here that 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXV 433 


they were more fond of the young than of the grown of various 
species of animals, whatever these might be, to such a degree 
that often when they were chasing two Elks, male and female, 
they [438] quitted the male if they perceived that the female 
was pregnant, in order to obtain the young ones, for ordinarily 
they carry two, and it is for them a great dainty.’ 

As to the Bears, if they killed them in winter, it was 
necessary that they should happen upon them when hunting. 
Coming upon some large trees they looked to see whether 
there came out any breath in the form of vapour from within. 
If they saw any it was a sign that the Bear was there. 
They mounted upon the tree and killed the Bear with their 
spears; then they drew it out. In the spring they met them 
in the woods, when they followed their track. Or they 
killed them sometimes upon an Oak where they were eating 
acorns. ‘Then a shot [439] of an arrow straightway brought 
it to the ground, and so soon as it was down they gave it 
another arrow, and then they killed it with blows from axes. 


| If they meet it upon the ground, and they draw upon it, 


according to whether the Bear is hurt [or not] it [either] flees 


‘or comes to the man, who has immediately another arrow 


ready. If he does not bring it down, the Bear embraces him, 
and will very soon have torn him to pieces with its claws. 
But the Indian to escape this throws himself face down upon 
the ground. The Bear smells him, and if the man does not 
stir, the Bear turns him over and places its nose upon his 
mouth to find if he is breathing. If it does not smell the 
breath, it places its bottom on the [man’s] belly, crushes him 
as much as it can, and at the same time replaces its nose upon 
the mouth. If it [440] does not then smell the breath, and 
the man does not move, it leaves him there and goes fifteen or 
twenty paces away. Then it sits down on its haunches and 
watches [to see] if the man does not move. If the man re- 
mains some time immovable, it goes away. But if it sees him 


1 Fully confirmed by Le Clercq (356). 


434. NATURAL HISTORY 


move, it returns to the man, presses him once more upon the 
belly for a long time, then returns to smell at his mouth. If 
it perceives that the man breathes it will press him like that 
until it believes it has suffocated him, if in the meantime its 
wounds do not bring it down. ‘To guard against this, it is 
necessary to take good care neither to breathe nor to move 
until it is far off. They do not do any other harm. When 
one has Dogs one is guaranteed against all this. 

[441] As for the Lynxes, if the Indians meet them and they 
or their Dogs pursue them, this animal mounts intoa tree where 
it is easily killed, whilst the Dogs are terrifying it with their 
barkings. All the other animals are not really difficult to kill, 
and there is not one of them capable of attacking a man, at 
least unless it be attacked first. 

They kill with the arrow only all kinds of game, both 
water and land, whether flying or upon the ground. As for 
the Squirrel, the Partridge, and other small game, it is the 
children who amuse themselves with that. 


"3 Sea 


=— ———————e ee 


[442] CHAPTER XXVI 


The hunting of Birds and of Fishes, as well by day as by nighi ; 
and the ceremony of their Burial, with that which was cus- 
tomary when they were committed to the earth, 


‘ie had still another kind of hunting by night, and 
one rather interesting. In certain closed coves which 
are under cover from the wind, the Wild Geese, the 
Brant, and the Ducks go to sleep out upon the surface, 
for on land they would not be safe because of the Foxes. 
To those places [443] the Indians went, two or three in 
a canoe, with torches which they made of Birch bark; 
these burn more brightly than torches of wax. Reaching 


the place where all these birds are, they laid down in the 


canoe, which they allowed to drift without their being seen. 


The current carried them right into the midst of all these 


birds, which had no fear of them, supposing them to be 
logs of wood which the sea was carrying from one place to 
another, something that often happens, which makes them 
accustomed to it. When the Indians were in their midst they 
lighted their torches all at once. This surprised the birds and 
obliged them all at the same moment to rise into [444] the 
air. The darkness of the night makes this light very con- 
spicuous, so that they suppose it is the sun or other [such] 
thing. ‘They all proceeded to wheel in confusion around the 
torches which an Indian held, always approaching the fire, 
and so close that the Indians, with sticks they held, knocked 
them down as they passed. Besides, by virtue of much 


wheeling about, these birds became dizzy, so that they fell as 
435 


436 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


if dead; then the Indians took them and wrung their necks. 
As a result in a single night they filled their canoe. 

‘The Indians used these torches also for fishing the Salmon 
and the Salmon Trout,’ [445] which is as powerful as the 
Salmon. There are there two species of Salmon; one is like 
that of France, while the other has the lower jaw more 
pointed, with a hook at the end which turns upwards. | 
believe nevertheless that it is the one which we call in France 
Becars.”. They are not less good than the others. All of 
them come from the sea and ascend the rivers in spring. 
There occur many pools in these rivers, in which the Salmon 
play after having ascended, which they have trouble in doing 
because of the falls which are found there. There are places 
where the water falls from eight, ten, twelve, and fifteen feet in 
height, up which the Salmon ascends.* They dart into the 
waterfall, and with five or [446] six strokes of the tail they 
get up. It is not that there are falls in all these rivers, but — 
in certain ones only. After having thus ascended, they disport » 
themselves in these pools. Having remained there some time — 
they ascend again still higher. To these places of rest the 
Indians went at night with their canoes and their torches. 
Where the pools are, there they carried their canoes through | 
the woods, and launched them where the Salmon or the Trout © 
were. These rarely are found together in the same pool. — 
Being there, they lighted a torch. The Salmon or the Trout, © 
seeing the fire which shines upon the water, come wheeling 
around the canoe. He who is standing up has in his hand 

' On the identity of this fish consult the note earlier under page 275 of this 
volume of our author's book. 

* There is some confusion here. But one species occurs in Acadia. The — 
salmon with the hooked jaw is the male, but the decard of France appears to — 
be the female salmon. : 

5 The height of vertical fall up which a salmon can leap depends in part — 
upon the character of the pool below, but it certainly never exceeds the limit — 
given by our author. A striking study of leaping salmon, with a photograph, 


taken on one of the rivers within our authors government, is that by D. G. 
Smith in Forest and Stream, February 15, 1902. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVI 437 


a harpoon [447 |, which is the same as that used for Beaver, 
and likewise is fixed in the end of a long shaft. So soon as he 
saw a fish passing he speared at it, and rarely missed. But 
sometimes the spear did not take hold, for want of catching 
on some bone; thus they lost their fish. This did not prevent 
them from taking a hundred and fifty to two hundred in a 
night.’ 

They make use also of another device. At the narrowest 
place of the rivers, where there is the least water, they make 
a fence of wood clear across the river to hinder the passage of 
the fish. In the middle of it they leave an opening in which 
they place a bag-net like those used in France, so arranged 
that it is inevitable [448] the fish should run into them. 
These bag-nets, which are larger than ours, they raise two 
or three times a day, and they always find fish therein. It 
is in spring that the fish ascend, and in autumn they descend 
and return to the sea. At that time they placed the opening 
of their bag-net in the other direction. 

All that I have said so far about the customs of the 


Indians, and of their diverse ways of doing things, ought to 
_ be understood only as the way in which they did them in old 


times. To this I shall add their burials, and the ancient 
ceremonies of their funerals. When some one of them died, 


there was great weeping in his wigwam. All his re-[449] 
 latives and friends went there to weep, and this lasted three 


or four days without their eating. During this time there 
was delivered his funeral oration. Each one spoke one after 


_ another, for they never spoke two at a time, neither men nor 
women. In this respect these barbarians give a fine lesson to 


those people who consider themselves more polished and wiser 
than they. A recital was made of all the genealogy of the 
dead man, of that which he had done fine and good, of the 
stories that he [the orator] had heard told of his ancestors, of 
1 The Indians continued thus to spear salmon down to our own times, but 
they are now forbidden by law. 
O15 


438 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


the great feasts and acknowledgments he had made in large 
number, of the animals he had killed in the hunt, and of all 


the other matters they considered it fitting to tell in praise © 
of [450] his predecessors. After this they came to the dead — 


man; then the loud cries and weepings redoubled. This 


made the orator strike a pose, to which the men and women — 
responded from time to time by a general groaning, all at one — 
time and in the same tone. And often he who was speaking © 
struck postures, and set himself to cry and weep with the 


others. Having said all that he wished to say, another began | 


and said yet other things than the first. Then one after 
another, each after his own fashion, made his panegyric on — 


the dead man. This lasted three or four days before the 


funeral oration was finished.t 
After this it was necessary to make [451] great tabagie,” 


that is to say festival, and to rejoice in the great gratification — 


the deceased will have in going to see all his ancestors, his 


relatives and good friends, and in the joy that each of them — 


will have in seeing him, and the great feasts they will make , 


for him. They believed that, being dead, they went into — 


another land where everything abounded plentifully, and ~ 
where they never had to work. _ The festival of joy being © 


finished it was necessary to do some work for the dead. 


The women went to fetch fine pieces of bark from which 
they made a kind of bier on which they placed him well en- | 
wrapped. Then he was carried to a place where they had a 
staging built on purpose, and elevated eight or ten feet. On 


this they placed the bier, and there they [452] left it abouta | 


year, until the time when the sun had entirely dried the body. 


During that time the wives of the deceased wept every time | 


they met together in company, but not so long as the first 
time. Rarely the women re-married, or at least not until 


after the end of a year. Usually if they had children who > 


1 Le Clercq (261) describes also these funeral orations. 
2 This word is French, adopted by our Indians. Compare Lescarbot (693). 


{ 


————— 


— ~ = 
SS <5 ao 


im —————— 


—=> 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVI 439 


could support them, they did not re-marry at all, and lived 
always with their children in widowhood. 
The end of the year having passed, and the body [being] 
dry,’ it was taken thence and carried to a new place, which 1s 
their cemetery. There it was placed in a new coffin or bier, 
also of Birch bark, [453] and immediately after in a deep 
grave which they had made in the ground. Into this all his 
relatives and friends threw bows, arrows, snow-shoes, spears, 
‘robes of Moose, Otter, and Beaver, stockings, moccasins, 
and everything that was needful for him in hunting and in 
clothing himself. All the friends of the deceased made him 
each his present, of the finest and best that they had. They 
competed as to who would make the most beautiful gift. At 
a time when they were not yet disabused of their errors, I 
have seen them give to the dead man, guns, axes, iron arrow- 
heads, and kettles,” for they held all these to be much more 
convenient for their use than would have been [454] their 
kettles of wood, their axes of stone, and their knives of bone, 
. a their use in the other world. 
There have been dead men in my time who have taken 


away more than two thousand pounds of peltries. This 


aroused pity in the French, and perhaps envy with it; but 
nevertheless one did not dare to go take the things, for this 
would have caused hatred and everlasting war, which it was not 
prudent to risk since it would have ruined entirely the trade 
we had with them. All the burials of the women, boys, girls, 
and children were made in the same fashion, but the weeping 
did not last so long. They never omitted to place with each 
one that which [455] was fitting for his use, nor to bury it 
with him. 

It has been troublesome to disabuse them of that practice, 


1 Compare a slightly different account by Le Clercq (521). Champlain (266 
of Quebec ed.), Lescarbot (861), and Biard (III. 129) also give accounts of their 
mortuary customs, differing somewhat from our author’s description. 

2 All early writers agree as to this custom. Compare Lescarbot (875), 


440 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


although they have been told that all these things perished 
in the earth, and that if they would look there they would 
see that nothing had gone with the dead man. That was 
emphasised so much that finally they consented to open a 
grave, in which they were made to see that all was decayed. 
There was there among other things a kettle, all perforated 
with verdigris. An Indian having struck against it and found 
that it no longer sounded, began to make a great cry, and 
said that some one wished to deceive them. ‘‘ We see indeed,” 
said he, ‘the robes and all the rest, and if they are still there 
it is a sign that the dead man has not [456] had need of them 
in the other world, where they have enough of them because 
of the length of time that they have been furnished them.” 
““But with respect to the kettle,” said he, “they have 
need of it, since it is among us a utensil of new introduction, 


and with which the other world ‘cannot [yet] be furnished. — 


Do you not indeed see,” said he, rapping again upon the — 


kettle, ‘that it has no longer any sound, and that it no longer © 


says a word, because its spirit has abandoned it to go to be 
of use in the other world to the dead man to whom we have © 
given it?” 

It was indeed difficult to keep from laughing, but much | 
more difficult to disabuse him. For being shown another — 
which was worn out from use, and being made to hear — 
that it [457] spoke no word more than the other,—“ ha,” said — 
he, ‘‘that is because it is dead, and its soul has gone to the 
land where the souls of kettles are accustomed to go.” And 
no other reason could be given at that time. Nevertheless, — 
they have been disabused of that in the end, though with 
much difficulty, some by religion, [some by] the example of 
our own customs, and nearly all by the need for the things 
which come from us, the use of which has become to them > 
an indispensable necessity. They have abandoned all their 
own utensils, whether because of the trouble they had as 
well to make as to use them, or because of the facility of 


a -s SS — Sea 
ee ee 
= = —— aso 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVI 441 


obtaining from us, in exchange for skins which cost them 
almost nothing, the things which seemed to them invalu- [458] 
able, not so much for their novelty as for the convenience they 
derived therefrom. Above everything the kettle has always 
seemed to them, and seems still, the most valuable article 
they can obtain from us. This was rather pleasingly exempli- 
fied by an Indian whom the late Monsieur de Razilly sent 
from Acadia to Paris; for, passing by the Rue Aubry-bouche, 
where there were then many coppersmiths, he asked of his 
interpreter if they were not relatives of the King, and if this 
was not the trade of the grandest Seigniors of the Kingdom. 
This little digression must not make me forget to say here, 
before finishing this chapter on funerals, that to express a thing 
such [459] as it is when it can be no longer of use, they say 
‘that it is dead. For example, when their canoe is broken, they 


say that it is dead, and thus with all other things out of 
service. 


[460] CHAPTER XXVII 


The difference that there is between the ancient customs of the 
Indians, and those of the present. 


HE Indians to-day practise still their ancient form of 
burial in every respect, except that they no longer 
place anything in their graves, for of this they are 

entirely disabused. They have abandoned also those offerings, 
so frequent and usual, which they made as homage to their 
mantiou in passing by places in which there was some risk to 
be taken,’ or where indeed there had happened some [461] 
misfortune [or other]. This they did in order to avert the 
like from themselves or their families. They are also cured 
of other little superstitions which they had, such as giving the 
bones to the Dogs, roasting Eels,” and many others of that sort 
which are entirely abolished. [This is] as much through a 
spirit of self-interest as through any other reason; for they 
gave there often the most beautiful and rarest objects they had. 
But since they cannot now obtain the things which come from 
us with such ease as they had in obtaining robes of Marten, of 
Otter, or of Beaver, [or] bows and arrows, and since they have 
realised that guns and [462] other things were not found in 
their woods or in their rivers, they have become less devout. 
Or, it would be better to say, [they have become] less super- 
stitious since the time when their offerings have cost them 
so much. But they practise still all the same methods of 
hunting, with this difference, however, that in place of arming 


1 Compare a case of this, at the Falls of Saint John, in our author's Vol 


| Ie 
2 Of which our author speaks earlier at page 430 of this volume of his book. 
442 


t 


NATURAL HISTORY 443 


their arrows and spears with the bones of animals, pointed and 
sharpened, they arm them to-day with iron, which is made 
expressly for sale to them. Their spears now are made of 
a sword fixed at the end of a shaft of seven to eight feet 
in length. These they use in winter, when there is snow, 
to spear the Moose, or for fishing Salmon, [463] Trout, and 
Beaver. ‘They are also furnished with iron harpoons, of the 
use of which we have spoken before. 

The musket is used by them more than all other weapons, 
in their hunting in spring, summer, and autumn, both for 
animals and birds. With an arrow they killed only one Wild 
Goose; but with the shot of a gun they kill five or six of 
them. With the arrow it was necessary to approach an 
animal closely: with the gun they kill the animal from a 
distance with a bullet or two. The axes, the kettles, the 
knives, and everything that is supplied them, is much more 
convenient and portable than those which they had in former 
times, when they were obliged to go to camp near their 
grotesque [464] kettles, in place of which to-day they are 
free to go camp where they wish. One can say that in 
those times the immovable kettles were the chief regulators 
of their lives, since they were able to live only in places where 
these were.’ 

With respect to the hunting of the Beaver in winter, they 
do that the same as they did formerly, though they have 
nevertheless nowadays a greater advantage with their arrows 
and harpoons armed with iron than [they had] with the others 
which they used in old times, and of which they have totally 
abandoned the use. 

As for their festivals, they make these as they did formerly. 
The women do not take part in them; and those who have 


* Other references to these kettles occur earlier at pages 362 and 372 of this 
volume of our author’s book. No other writer, so far as I can find, speaks 
of these gigantic kettles and their curious determination of the camping- 
grounds. 


444 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


_ their monthlies [465] are always separate. They always make 
speeches there, and dances; but the outcome is not the same. 
Since they have taken to drinking wine and brandy they are 
subject to fighting. Their quarrelling comes ordinarily from 
their condition; for, being drunk, they say they are all great 
chiefs, which engenders quarrels between them. At first it 
needed little wine or brandy to make them drunk. 

But at present, and since they have frequented the fishing 
vessels, they drink in quite another fashion. They no longer 
have any regard for wine, and wish nothing but brandy. They 
do not call it drinking unless they become drunk, and do not 
think they have been drinking unless they fight and are hurt.’ 
[466] However when they set about drinking, their wives 
remove from their wigwams the guns, axes, the mounted 
swords [spears], the bows, the arrows, and [every weapon] 
even their knives, which the Indians carry hung from the 
neck. They leave nothing with which they can kill one 
another. ‘They permit that without saying a word, if it is 
before they commence to drink: otherwise the women do not 
dare enter the wigwams. Immediately after taking every- 
thing with which they can injure themselves, the women carry it 
into the woods, afar off, where they go to hide with all their 
children. After that they have a fine time, beating, injuring, 


and killing one another. Their wives do not return until the 


next day, when they are sober. [467] At that time the 
fighting can be done only with the poles of their wipwams, 
which they pull to pieces to allow this use. Afterwards their 
poor wives must go fetch other poles, and other pieces of bark 
to repair their lodging. And they must not grumble, other- 
wise they would be beaten. 

If it is found that any one among them is hurt, he who 
_ will have done it asks his pardon, saying that he was drunk; 


1 Our authors description, in the following pages, of the direful effects of 
liquor upon the morals and health of the Indians, is fully confirmed by Le Clereq 
(425 e¢ seg.), who gives also many additional details. 


6 eee eee 


ie 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVII 445 


and he is pardoned for that. But if some one has been killed, 
it is necessary that the murderer, aside from the confession of 
his drunkenness and the pardon he asks, should make to the 
widow some present to which all the others condemn him. 
And to make the peace complete, he must pay [468] for 
another drinking bout. If he has not the skins, it is as if 
one were to say “I have not the money.”’ To buy the 
brandy it was then necessary that he sell his gun, his blanket, 
or other thing in order to get it. This will cost them five to 
six skins; they will give this to the fishermen for a bottle or 
two of brandy. Then they commence again to drink. If the 
brandy they have is not sufficient to make them drunk they 
will give everything they possess to obtain more. That 1s 
only a way of saying they will not cease drinking so long 
as they possess anything. Thus the fishermen are ruining 


_ them entirely. 


For as to the [trading] establishments, no one will ever 
give them so much that they are able to drink to the point of 
killing one another, and one sells to them dearer [469] than 
do the ships. It is the captains and sailors who supply it to 
them, to whom it costs no more than the original price. 
Through this they do not fail to make great gain. For all 
the expenses and charges of the ship, these are upon the owner, 
besides which the crew trades or bargains with the Indians 
using biscuit, lead, quite new lines, sails, and many other 
things at the expense of the said owners. This allows them 
to give the Indians two or three times more than they are 
given at the establishments, where there is nothing on which the 
freight or carriage alone does not cost sixty livres a ton, aside 
from purchase price and leakage. And aside from this there 
is given the Indians every time they come [470] to the estab- 
lishments a drink of brandy, a bit of bread and of tobacco as. 
they enter, however many they may be, both men and women. 
As for the children they are given only bread. They are 
again given as much when they goaway. And in addition it is 


446 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


necessary to keep up a crew under wages aside from their keep. 
All of these attentions have been introduced in the past to 
attract the Indians to the establishments in order to be able 
more easily to instruct them in the Christian faith and religion. 
This has already been done for a very great number, through 
the labours of the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, who have retired 
thence seeing that there was nothing more to be done with 
these people, whom the frequentation of the ships kept [471] 
in perpetual drunkenness.’ 

At the present time, so soon as the Indians come out of 
the woods in spring, they hide all their best skins, bringing 
a few to the establishments in order to obtain their right to 
something to drink, eat, and smoke. They pay a part of that 
which was lent them in the autumn to support them, without 
which they would perish of hunger. They insist that this 
is all their hunting for the winter has produced. As soon as 
they have departed, they go to recover the skins which they 
have hidden in the woods, and go to the routes of the fishing 
ships and keep watch. If they see any vessels, they make 
great smokes to [472] let it be known that they are there. At 
the same time the ship nears the land, and the Indians take 
some skins and embark in their canoes to go to the ship, where 
they are well received. They are given as much as they want 
to drink and to eat to start them going. They are then asked 
if they have many skins, and if there are not other Indians, in 
addition to themselves, in the woods. If they say that there 
are, and that they have skins, presently a cannon-shot is fired 
from the largest piece, to let them know they are to come. 
This they do not fail to do as soon as they hear the cannon, 
and they bring their skins. During this time the ship shortens 
sail, and passes a day or two moving [473] back and forth 
awaiting the Indians who bring them one or two skins; they 
are received with the same cheer as the first, who have also a 


1 Denys refers evidently to the abandonment of the Jesuit Missions at 
Miscou and Nepisiguit. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVII 447 


part in the good reception tendered the later comers, and they 
drink again together afresh. It is well to remark that when 
skins | peaux] are mentioned, simply without any addition, it is 
the same as saying skins of Moose, from which are made the 
best Buffalo skins [ duffles]. 

The evening being come they return on shore with some 
casks of brandy, and fall to drinking, but little for fear of 
getting drunk. They send again only their wives to the ship, 
who carry a skin and bring back brandy; and they send their 
Wives again in the same manner from time to time [474] in 
order to obtain their bottles of brandy. But if you wish 
to know why they do not take all they want to drink at 
one time, it is because their wives do not make trips to the 
ships without bringing back twenty-five or thirty sea-biscuits 
as a present, which each one makes them in return for some 
bark dishes and peschipotys.1 I think I have already said that 
these peschipoty are purses of leather ornamented for holding 
tobacco; they are the work of the women, and rather nicely 
made. 

A peschipoty is anything which is closed by a string or 


secured like a purse, provided that the whole does not surpass 


in size a bag for [475] holding prayer-books. They are made of 
Marten, of Squirrel, of Muskrat, or other little animals ; others 
are of Moose skin, or of Sealskin; these are of the breadth of 
the hand and a little longer. One side is turned over the 
other with a little latchet which makes several turns to close 
it, in the fashion of our leather paper-holders. Those made 
of skins have strings like the purses, and all those peschipotys 
serve to hold tobacco or lead for hunting. The Indian women 
fix the price to the fishermen according to the kind of skin and 


1 A Micmac word ; it is given (for a “ pouch”) in Rand’s Micmac Dictionary 
(201) as mijepode. ‘The preliminary 77 in many Indian words is so sounded as 
to be caught by Europeans as 4 or Z—hence the form given by our author. It 
occurs, obviously misprinted, in a document of 1653 in Rameau, Colonie féodale, 
IT. 413. 


448 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


its fantastic ornamentation, which they call matachiez ; it is 
made from Porcupine quills, white, red, and violet, and some- 
times [476] with their wampum, of which I have already 
spoken. With these they obtain many things from the 
sailors. There is no one of these who is not willing to obtain 
the peschipoty at the expense of the corbz//on,' that is to say, 
ship’s biscuit and drink. They bring Martens and Squirrels 
for cravats, or other bagatelles which the women make. It is 
not that they sell at each voyage all they bring, [for] they 
know well how to manage their part, but [it is] only to show the 
goods and inculcate a desire for them. They promise things 
first to one then to another, but give nothing. During all the 
trading, they are promised much if they will go and find [the 
sailors] at the place where they are going to anchor to make 
their fishery, and this [471, viz. 477] the women make them 
hope [they will do]. After that each sailor gives them, secretly 
from one another, some ship’s biscuit; these they always take, 
assuring them they will go and meet them. But they do not 
go there at once, but remain still on shore, waiting for other 
ships to come past. Not one passes without their obtaining 
by the same methods two or three hundredweight of biscuit, 
and some good casks of brandy in return for two or three skins 
which they give. And there is this much certain, that as long 
as they are able to visit the ships, they never get drunk; 
for they would not then be able to preserve the judgment 
which is necessary for making dupes of the sailors and 
captains, and [478] for securing their bread. And besides 
so long as they can keep sober they drink without its costing 
them anything, both men and women. And they manage, 
moreover, so well that in the end they become drunk at the 
expense of the other party before having touched the brandy 
which they had obtained by trade. So much are they devoted 


1 The little box containing the day’s rations of biscuit. Our author speaks 
of it in connection with the fishery at page 143 of this volume of his book. 
Here it is used for the ship’s provisions. 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVII 449 


to their own interest, and their pleasure, and so clever in de- 
ceiving those who trust them.* 

The ships having left them, they commence to drink in 
earnest on land. If there remain with them some women who 
like to drink, although they are certain of being well beaten, 
they do not give themselves any concern provided that they 
may get drunk. Those who do not wish to drink at so 
dear a price re- [479] tire with their children into the woods, 
and do not return until all the drunken orgie is passed ; this 
will last sometimes two or three days without cessation. After 
that it is found that heads, arms, and legs are badly bruised, 
and much hair is pulled out. Thus there is no apology to be 
made; each one is scored and cares only to think of himself. 
Their greatest remedy is the gum of the Fir, which is sovereign 
as balsam for wounds, in case there is no broken bone. If 
there are any of the latter, they know how to mend them and 
restore them to their proper condition. All this being finished, 
it is necessary to return where the fishermen are. There they 
commence again the same life so far as they have anything to 
drink, and they strip themselves totally naked. That is [480] 
to say, they sell everything and drink everything, saving only the 
biscuit for the winter. Thus they pass all the summer and 
part of the autumn, so long as there are ships on the coast ; 
and never does a year pass that there are not some six, seven, 
or eight Indians killed along this coast by drunkenness. 

The women and the older girls also drink much but by 
stealth, and they go to hide themselves in the woods for 
that purpose. The sailors know well the rendezvous. It is 
those who furnish the brandy, and they bring them into so 
favourable a condition that they can do with them everything 
they will. All these frequentations of the ships have entirely 
ruined them, and they care no longer for Religion.” [475, 


1 Father Biard (III. 81) also speaks of this ability of the Indians to outwit 
the Europeans. 


All this, like the preceding, is fully confirmed by Le Clercq (430). 


450 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH 


viz. 481| They blaspheme the name of God, are thieves and 
cheats, and have no longer their former purity, neither women 
nor girls, at least those who drink. It is no longer a crime for 
a girl to bear children; indeed she is earlier married thereby, 
because there is assurance that she is not sterile. He who 
marries her takes the children. They do not divorce their 
wives now as they did formerly, and they have not so many, 
not being good hunters. This is because of their drunkenness, 
and because the animals are not so abundant. In addition to 
all the wickedness of which I have spoken, the fishermen have 
taught them to take vengeance upon one another. He who 
may desire ill to his companion, will make him drink in com- 
pany so much that it makes him [476, v7z. 482] drunk, during 
which time he holds himself in restraint. He acts as if he 
were as drunk as the others, and makes a quarrel. The fight 
being commenced, he has an axe or other weapon, which he 
had hidden before the drinking; this he draws and with it 
kills his man. He continues to make drunken orgie, and he 
is the last to awaken. The next day he is told that it is he 
who has killed the other man, at which he expresses regrets, 
and says that he was drunk. If the dead man was married, 
this false drunkard makes, or promises to make, a present to 
the widow ; if he is a boy, he testifies the same regrets to the 
father and mother, with promises also of making them pre- 
sents. If the dead man has brothers or relatives who are fond 
of him, he who has killed him 1s assured that [477, viz. 483] 
the same will be done to him, and sooner or later they will 
take vengeance. 

Such is the great difference between their present customs 
and those of the past. If they have always the liberty of 
frequenting the ships, it will be still worse in the future. 
For their skins are not worth so much as they have been. 
To obtain as much drink as they have had, it will be necessary 
for them to use force, as they have already done with the 
ships which they have found alone, something which is 


| 


| 
| 
| 
| 


| 
| 


em 


AMERICA. CHAP. XXVII 451 


happening rather often. They have already threatened them, 
and in the case of a little ship, which they found alone in a 
harbour, they have forced her to give them some. And they 
have plundered boats which were at the distant fishery.’ 
This is the return of all that which they have learned. And 
the Indians whom [478, viz. 484] the fishermen have taken 
to France have contributed still more to it through consort- 
ing there with blasphemers, in pot-houses and vile places, to 
which they have been taken. Then [there are] the wars 
which the French have made among themselves to dis- 
possess one another, through their ambition and desire to 


_ possess everything; these things the Indians know well, and, 


when one represents to them that they ought not to rob and 
‘to pillage vessels, they say in prompt answer that we do the 
same thing among ourselves. ‘‘ Do not take your establish- 
ments one from another,” they say to us, ‘“‘and do not kill 
one another for that purpose; have we not seen you do it, 
and why are you not willing that we should do it? If one 
[479, viz. 485] is not willing to give it to us, we will take it.” 
That is what they say at present, and I do not see any remedy 
for it except through peopling the country, and through its 
coming to pass that his Majesty will there maintain each 
one in that which belongs to him, without its being given to 
another after it will have been put into good condition. For 
this has been done almost always up to the present, and has 
ruined those who had good intention to people it; for these 
have been replaced by those who sought only the large returns 
of trade. This not having proven as abundant as they had 
expected, they have abandoned everything and lost their time 
with all their investments. And it has even ruined the 


country which should be at present in condition to be self 


supporting, and to pre-[480, viz. 486] serve for the King the 
great profits which he has drawn from it, as would be the 


’ Dégrat, fully explained by our author at page 191 of this volume of his book. 


452 NATURAL HISTORY 


case, the land being as good as it is, if it were only inhabited 
as it ought to be. Above all, I hope that God may inspire in 
those who have part in the government of the State, all the 
discretion which can lead them to the consummation of an 
enterprise as glorious for the King as it can be useful and 
advantageous to those who will take interest therein. This | 


hope they may do, chiefly for the glory of God. 


THE END 


meee ni PTILON 
GEOGRAPHIQUE 
Po HISTORIQUE 
PES COSTES 


DE LAMERIOVE 


BEPFENTRIONALE. 


Avec Histoire naturelle du Pais. 


Par Monsieur DENYS, Gouverneur Lieutenant 
General pour le Roy, && proprietaire de toutes 
les Terres {3 Isles qui sont depuis le Cap de 
Campseaux, jusques au Cap des Roziers. 


TOME > T: 


A PARIS, 
ier. raps, BARBIN, au Palais, 


sur le Perron de la sainte Chapelle. 


WE DCe) LXE, 
Avec Privilege du Roy. 


y Fe 
eln ue 
y , 


[i] AV ROY 


SIRE, 


ES effets de vostre Royale protection se font tellement sentir par tout ot 
le Commerce [ii] & la Navigation se peuvent étendre, que quand mon 
devoir & mon inclination ne me porteroient pas 4 vous dédier cét 
Ouvrage, la raison toute seule m’y obligeroit. Le Canada ne com- 

mence 4 respirer, que depuis les soins que prend Vostre MAIESTE, de 
donner une nouvelle face a cette Colonie chancelente. L’Acadie seroit encore 
injustement entre Jes mains de nos voisins sans ce mesme soin qui veille inces- 
samment 4 tout ce qui peut enrichir vos sujets par le Commerce Maritime ; 
Mais, SIRE, puis que le pays dont [ii] je prens la liberté de vous presenter la 
Description fait la principale partie de la Nouvelle France, la pe utile, & la 
plus aisée 4 peupler; j’ose esperer que Vostre MAIESTE, voudra bien luy 


faire quelque part de cette application universelle, par le moyen de laquelle nous 


voyons tous les jours changer en abondance ce qui avoit paru de plus infructueux 
jusques 4 cette heure. ‘Trente-cing ou caret années de frequentation ou de 
sejour en cette partie de Amerique, ou 12, Phonneur de Commander pour 
Vostre MAIESTE [iv] depuis quinze ans, m’ont donné assez de connoissance 
de sa fertilité: j’ay eu d’ailleurs le loisir d’examiner & d’estre convaincu des 
avantages qu’on en peut tirer pour |’ Architecture navale, & des moyens d’y 
etablir la Pesche sedentaire avec un gain presque incroyable 4 qui en entendra 
lceconomie, en faisant avec douze hommes ce qu’on n’a pti faire jusques 4 
present avec cinquante; Mais, SIRE, ce Pays tel & meilleur encore que je ne 
le represente, a besoin pour devenir utile au nostre de ses bien-heureuses in- 
fluences dont [v] il a pli a Vostre MAIESTE de regarder ses voisins. ‘ant 
de Tresors dont |’ Espagne s’est enrichie seroient peut estre encore en |’ Amerique 
sans la protection que Christophe Coulomb receut de Ferdinand & d’Isabeile : 
Bien qu'il n’eust quasi que des conjectures du pays dont il proposoit la 
découverte, & que les richesses qui en sont venués ne fussent encore qu’en idée, 
Sa constance enfin triompha des refus dont tout autre que any auroit esté rebuté, 
& une audience favorable acquit au Roy d’ Espagne ce qu’un des Predeces- [vi] 
seurs de Vostre MAIESTE avoit traité de chimere. Je ne viens pas, SIRE, 


luy proposer la découverte d’un Pays que je ne connoist point, ny luy promettre 
455 


456 - EPITRE 


des mines d’or, bien qu’il y en puisse avoir dans la Nouvelle France, je viens 
seulement luy offrir les experiences que j’y ay acquises & dans la Marine pendant 
tant d’années. Ie souhaite qu’elles me puissent procurer une audience qui me 
donne le moyen d’expliquer moy-mesme 4 Vostre MAIESTE des choses 
dont jay creu ne devoir pas informer le Public. En at- [vu] tendant cette 
grace, trouvez bon, SIRE, qu’avec mon Ouvrage je consacre encore ce qui me 
reste de vie au service de Vostre MAIESTE, & que je me serve de cette 
occasion pour luy témoigner avec combien de respect, de zele, & de sotimission, 


je suis, 
SIRE, 
de Vostre MAIESTE, 
Le tres-humble, tres obeyssant, & 
tres-fidel sujet & serviteur DENYS. 


ee 


wii} AVERTISSEMENT AV LECTEVR 


E n/a pas été sans beaucoup de peine que je me suis enfin rendu a la 
priere de quelques-uns de mes amis, & que j’ay accordé 4 leur 
curiosité Ja Description que je vous donne de la plus belle partie de la 
Nouvelle France; ma resistance en cela ne venoit pas de la disette 

des choses que j’avois 4 dire, [ix] mais bien du peu d’application que j’ay eu 
toute ma vie 4 Ja symmetrie des mots ou a leur arrengement: En effet il auroit 
esté a souhaiter pour la satisfaction du Lecteur, que cet Ouvrage eust esté écrit 
d’un stile differend de celuy qu'il y a cinquante ans que je pratique, sans que 
mes occupations maritimes & une frequentation de prés de quarante années avec 
des Sauvages m’aient jamais pti donner le loisir de le changer. Mais si |’on ne 
trouve pas toute la grace & la regularité qui devroit estre dans [x] le discours, 
du moins puis-je asseurer que la sincerité y supléra en toutes les choses que j’y 
traitte. 

Les divers voiages que j’ay fait en tous les lieux maritimes de la nouvelle 
France & le long-temps qu'il y a que j’ay Phonneur de commander pour le 


Roy, tant aux Isles de la grande Baye de saint Laurens qu’en la Terre ferme, 


& que j’y reside avec ma famille, m’a donné le loisir de faire suivant mon 
inclination, des observations sur tout ce qui m’a paru en ce pais-la d’uti- [xi] le 
ou de curieux. 

J’ay fait une Carte pour servir a l’intelligence de la position de chaque lieu 
conformément aux hauteurs que j’y ay prises, & a laquelle je renvoie le Lecteur 
pour la latitude des endroits que je décris. J’ai fait inserer aussi quelques 
figures des choses qui concernent la pesche, & que la Description toute seule 
Nauroit pas rendué assez intelligibles. 

J’ai expliqué autant que j’ai pi dans le corps du discours les termes de la 
navigation, d’architecture nava- [xii] le & de pesche pour la commodité de ceux 
qui n’en ont que peu ou point de connoissance. 

C’est par ma propre experience que je me suis desabusé de l’opinion 0% !’on 
a long-temps esté que le froid excessif rendoit ce grand pais inhabitable, & 
fai reconnu quil n’y dure pas plus qu’en France; & qu’aux lieux ot 
Pon a defriché, la terre y est presque par tout propre a produire toutes les 
especes de fruits, de grains & de legumes que nous avons en nos Provinces: ce 
qu’on ne [xiii] scauroit revoquer en doute, puis que le climat est pareil au nostre 
& sous la mesme élevation. I] est plus facile 4 peupler qu’aucune des terres de 
PAmerique ot nous avons des Colonies, parce que le voiage en est court, & se 
fait presque tout entier sous le mesme parallele d’ow |’on a coustume de partir 
pour y aller. 

Tout ce qu’on y couppe de bois pour deserter la terre, y est propre ou pour 

457 


458 AVERTISSEMENT 


la construction des maisons ou pour batir & mater des vaisseaux, ou pour des 
cendres, & tous les [xiv] autres usages ot le bois peut estre emploié, outre que 
la grande quantité de havres seurs qui sont par toute la coste faciliteront 
beaucoup le commerce qui s’y peut faire. 

I] y a des mines de charbon de terre dans |’étendué de ma concession & sur 
le bord de la mer, qui se trouve aussi bon que celui d’ Ecosse, par les épreuves 
que jen ay faites diverses fois sur le lieu & en France ot j’en ay fait apporter des 
essais: Enfin tout y contribué 4 faire retissir lintention qu’a le [xv] Roi de 
rendre heureuses les peuplades qu’il envoye dans les pais étrangers. 

Et parce que personne ne s’est encore avisé de décrire la pesche de la 
molué, tant sur le grand banc qu’a la coste de la nouvelle France & isles 
adjacentes, & qu’a la reserve des Capitaines & Matelots qui s’y emploient, qui 
que ce soit presque n’est informé de la maniere dont elle se fait ny de ce qui s’y 
passe, j’en donne un détail ot j’ay fait mon possible de ne rien obmettre de ce 
qui peut servir a la faire bien [xvi] comprendre. J’ai décrit le plus particulie- 
ment que j’ay pu la police qui s’observe entre les Capitaines, leur ceconomie, 
leur discipline, les instruments & les machines dont ils se servent a la pesche, 
les fatigues qu’on y essuie, les risques qu’on y court, & quantité d’autres par- 
ticularitez curieuses, qui feront peut-estre excuser par leur nouveauté ce qui 
pourroit d’ailleurs n’estre pas d’un goust general dans cet Ouvrage. 

On peut dire a l’avantage de cette manne inepuisable, [xvii] qu’encore que 
peu de personnes soient informées du détail de cette pesche, ny des saisons & 
des lieux qui y sont propres, ny de beaucoup d’autres circonstances qui la 
concernent; il est toute fois certain qu'il n’y a point de marchandise plus 
connué ny mieux debitée en Europe, sans ce qui se transporte continuellement 
dans les autres parties du monde par les voiages de long cours. Si 1’on con- 
sidere qu’il n’y a pas trente-cing ans que plus de cing cens navires Francois 
estoient annuellement [xviii] occupez a cette pesche, & qu’il n’i en a pas trois 
cens qui s’y emploient presentement. On s’appliquera peut-estre davantage 4 
nous maintenir en la possession ou nous sommes de temps immemorial de tous 
les lieux ot ce poisson se trouve en plus grande abondance. 

Que si la pesche des molués a attiré nos navires en ces cétes-la: le com- 
merce a produit le mesme effet a l’égard des Sauvages, qui sont tellement 
changez de meeurs par la frequentation des Francois, que [xix] jay jugé a 
propos de faire remarquer la difference qu’il y a entre leur conduite & maniere de 
vie presente d’avec celle qu’ils pratiquoient avant que les débauches d’eau de vie 
& du vin eussent corrompu leurs premieres inclinations. 

A Pégard des animaux qui s’y rencontrent, peut-estre n’a-ton rien veu de si 
singulier que ce que je dis de l’instinct des castors, de leur industrie, de leur 
discipline, de leur subordination, de leur obeissance dans le travail, de la 
grandeur de leurs ouvra- [xx] ges de la solidité de leur architecture aux 
édifices puplics, que le soin de leur conservation leur fait faire. 

On tombera aussi d’ accord que l’habileté des renards a attraper des outardes, 
passe en ce pajs-la tout ce qu’on dit en celui-ci de leurs finesses, & la souplesse 
des chiens pour les imiter ne paroistra pas moins surprenante. Le soin qu’ont 
les hiboux de conserver des animaux envie pour leur servir de provision pendant 
!’Hiver, passeroit pour une fable, s’il n’y avoit des milliers [xxi] d’hommes 
témoins de cette verité. 

J’esperois donner a la fin de ce traité en faveur de ceux qui aiment la 


AV LECTEVR 459 


navigation, un essai de tables pour servir a trouver a toutes les heures du jour 
que le Soleil paroist, la Latitude de chaque lieu par une seule operation, & avec 
les instruments ordinaires dont les Pilotes ont accoitumé de se servir: mais 
comme le calcul ne s’en peut achever qu’avec beacoup plus de temps que je ne 
m’étois proposé, j’ay mieux aimé satisfaire mes amis qui [xxii] me pressoient de 


leur donner cet Ouvrage, que de leur en faire attendre un autre qu’ils ne me 


demandoient pas, & qui est peut-estre plus de mon inclination que de leur 
goust. 


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fon) «© L ABLE DES CHAPITRES 


CONTENUS EN CE PREMIER TOME 


CHAPITRE PREMIER 


Qvi traite de toutes les costes, isles & rivieres, de la bonté de la terre, de 


THIS 


la qualité des bois, des oyseaux, poissons, animaux, & autres choses vo.ume 


con- [xxiv] tenués dans toute l’étendué des costes, depuis la riviere 
de Pantagotiet jusques a celle de saint Jean, avec la redition qu’en 
ont fait les Anglois, & ce qui y est arrivé al’Auteur . page [1] 


CHAP. If 


Qui traite de la riviere de saint Jean, des mines du Port royal, de toute 
la Baye Francoise, de la terre, des bois, de la chasse, & de tout ce 


qui s’y est passé , , : ; : 3 : - [35] 


CHAP. III 


Description de la coste depuis l’Isle longue jusques a la Haive, des 
rivieres, des isles, de la chasse, de la [xxv] pesche, de la terre, 
& de diverses sortes de bois, l’établissement d’une pesche sedentaire, 
comme elle a esté détruite, & autres particularitez . ; - [58] 


CHAP. IV 


Suite de la coste d’Acadie depuis la Haive jusques 4 Campseaux oi elle 
finit, ou sont décrites toutes les rivieres, les isles, les bois, la bonté 
de la terre, les diverses especes de chasses & de pesches, & des 


465 


471 


475 


rencontres & avantures qui sont arrivées a |’ Auteur : [105] 484 


461 


462 TABLE 


CHAP. V 


Description de Campseaux, de la Baye & [xxvil] petit passage de Camp- 
seaux jusques au cap de saint Louis, des rivieres, des isles, des 
havres, des bois, de la chasse, de la pesche, & de ce qui y est de 
plus particulier : 5 ‘ , : : . [126] 


CHAP. VI 


Qui décrit de l’Isle du Cap Breton, des ports, havres, ses rivieres & les 
isles qui en dépendent, la nature de la terre, des especes des bois, de 
la pesche, de la chasse & de tout ce qu’elle contient . [145] 


CHAP. Vil 


Contenant la Description de la grande Baye de saint Laurent, depuis le 
cap saint Louis jus- [xxvii] ques a l’entrée de la Baye des Chaleurs, 
avec toutes les rivieres & isles qui sont le long de la coste de Terre 
ferme & de l’isle saint Jean, la qualité des terres, les especes des 
bois: de la pesche, de la chasse, & pee chose de la conduite & 
des mceurs des Sauvages . : : : : [164] 


CHAP. VIII 


Description de l’Isle saint lean & des autres isles qui sont dans la grande 
Baye de saint Laurent jusqu’a son entrée, mesme de l’isle de Sable, 
& de tout ce qui les concerne; soit a l’égard de la terre, [xxviii] des 
bois, & de la pesche, chasse, rivierrs, & autres particularitez [195] 


CHAP.11TX 


Description de la Baye des Chaleurs, & de tout le reste de la coste de 
la grande Baye jusque’ a l’entrée de la grande riviere de saint 
Laurent, y compris toutes les rivieres, ports, & havres, les qualitez 
des terres, des bois, des especes de chasse . ‘ : [204] 


PAGE 


487 


500 


501 


TABLE 463 


PAGE 
Articles arrestez entre le sieur Vvak Chevalier & Ambassadeur du Ro 


de la grande Bretagne, deputé dudit Seigeur Roy, & les [xxix] 
sieurs de Buillion Conseillers du Roy tres-Chrestien en ses Conseils 
d’Etat & Privé, & Bouthillier Conseiller de sa Majesté en sesdits 
Conseils, & Secretaire de ses Commandemens, Commissaires deputez 
par sa Majesté pour la restitution des choses qui ont esté prises 
depuis le traité fait entre les deux Couronnes, le vingt-quatre Avril 
mil six cens vingt-neuf  . : : : : : [238] 508 


Ensuit la teneur du Pouvoir dudit sieur Isaac Vvak Chevalier, Ambas- 
sadeur du Roy de la grande Breta- [xxx] gne : (254) oanr 


Ensuit la teneur du Pouvoir desdits sieurs de Buillion & Bouthillier Com- 
missaires deputez par sa Majesté tres-Chrestienne . : [262512 


L’Auteur prie le Lecteur de supléer aux fautes qui se pourront rencontrer en la 
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DESCRIPTION GEOGRAPHIQUE 


DES COSTES DE L’AMERIQUE 
SEPTENTRIONALE 


CHAPITRE PREMIER 


Qui traite de toutes les Costes, Isles &5 Rivieres, de la bonté de la terre, de la 
qualité des bois, des oyseaux, poissons, animaux & autres choses contenués dans 
toute l’étendué des costes, depuis la riviere de Pentagoiiet jusques a celle de S. 
Lean, avec la redition qu’en ont fait les Anglois, && ce quit y est arrivé a 


P Autheur. 


A Riviere de Pentagotet, ainsi nommée par les Sau- [2] vages, est celle 
qui joint la nouvelle Angleterre, que je n’ay point veué, ny la coste 
jusques a la riviere de saint Jean, c’est pourquoy je n’en parleray que 
suivant le recit que m’en ont fait ceux qui y ont demeuré, pendant le 

temps que feu Monsieur le Commandeur de Razilly fut pour habiter ce pays-la 
aprés le siege de la Rochelle; le fort de Pentagotet avoit été basty par feu 
Monsieur de la Tour, & ayant esté pris sur les Francois par les Anglois durant 
les guerres, fut remis par un accommodement fait avec la France, 4 la priere de 
Messieurs de la Compagnie de Canada, entre les mains du sieur de Razilly, aux 
conditions portées par le T'raité, cy-aprés inseré a la [3] fin de ce Livre; 
Depuis ce temps Ia il y a tofijours entretenu garnison, jusques 4 sa mort, aprés 
quoy Monsieur d’Aunay Charnizé luy succeda par accommodement qu’il fit 
avec le frere du sieur de Razilly, ensuitte le sieur le Borgne de Ja Rochelle s’en 
mit en possession par Arrest du Parlement de Paris, & comme creancier dudit 
sieur d’Aunay, tant pour Pentagotiet, le Port Royal, que la Haive, premiere 
habitation dudit sieur de Razilly, ou il avoit fait de grandes dépences, tant en 
ses bastiments, & fortifications, qu’a y faire venir du monde pour y habiter; II 
y avoit déja un beau défrichement qu’il auroit bien augmenté, & mis ce pays en 
un autre estat, [4] que ceux qui luy ont succedé, lesquels au lieu d’y faire 
aucune augmentation, ont au contraire détruit la Haive, emmené les habitans au 
Port royal, fait la guerre 4 tous leurs voisins; & en l’année 1654. le Borgne, 
qui pretendoit estre Seigneur de tous ces pays-la4, comme creancier du sieur 
d’Aunay, ayant appris que j’estois venu a |’Isle du Cap Breton avec commis- 
sion de Messieurs de la Compagnie pour la faire habiter, prit le temps pour me 
465 


466 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


deposseder, qu’ayant mis tout mon monde aterre pour travailler au défrichement, 
j étois allé 4 sainte Anne pour y voir ce Havre ; ; Il envoya soixante hommes au 
Cap Breton, qui surprirent mes gens, & s’en rendirent maistres, aussi bien que du 
Na- [5] vire que j’y avois laissé, & de tout ce qui estoit dedans; ils envoyerent 
ensuitte vingt-cinq hommes en embuscades sur le chemin qu’ils sgavoient que je 
devois tenir; ils me prirent, n’ayant avec moy que trois hommes seulement, & 
sans armes, & m’emmenerent prisonnier au Port royal avec tous mes gens, 
Péquipage qu’ils avoient pillé, & mon Navire & marchandises, dont la perte se 
montoit pour moy 4a cinquante trois mil livres 4 quoy me revenoit |’embarque- 
ment, dont je n’ay jamais pi rien retirer; le Borgne mit l’année suivante un 
Commandant dans le fort que j’avois fait bastir au Cap Breton au lieu appellé 
saint Pierre. 

[6] Me menant prisonnier au Port royal, nous passames 4 la Haive; 
ceuX qul me conduisoient avoient ordre de mettre le feu par tout, sans 
épargner mesme la chapelle, qui fut consommée en trois ou quatre heures avec 
la forteresse, & autres logements, dont la perte se montoit a plus de cent mil 
livres. Je ne fus pas plitost arrivé au Port royal, qu’on me mit dans un cachot, 
les fers aux pieds, d’ou estant élargi quelque temps aprés, je revins en France 
pour faire mes plaintes; oi ayant ensuite obtenu une autre Commission de 
Messieurs de la Compagnie, qui me fut confirmée par Lettres patentes du Roy, 
pour mon rétablissement. Je retournay en 1654. en l’habita- [7] tion de saint 
Pierre, au Cap Breton qui me fut rendué en vertu de mes Lettres patentes & de 
ma Commission, par celuy qui y commandoit pour le Borgne, qui estoit allé 
pour lors a la riviere saint Jean, pour tascher de surprendre le sieur de la ‘Your, 
a qui elle appartenoit, sous pretexte de |’ accommoder de quelques victuailles, ce 
que j’ay sceu depuis par un homme que javois envoyé exprés pour luy signifer 
mes Patentes, ce qu’il executa en vertu du pouvoir qu’ il avoit. Cela obligea 
le Borgne a remettre |’execution du dessein qu'il avoit contre le sieur de la 
Tour a une autre fois, pour tascher par le moyen de son monde, qu'il fit 
rembarquer dans deux chaloupes [8] & retourner au Port royal, de surprendra 
a son retour celuy qui luy avoit signifié ma Commission, & se saisir des Origin- 
aux, pour ensuite me venir surprendre & me deposseder, comme il avoit déja 
fait; cela luy retissit tout autrement, car dés le lendemain de leur départ, les 
Anglois arriverent dans !a riviere de saint Jean, attaquerent le sieur de la Tour, 
& le sommerent de se rendre, 4 quoy il fut obligé de consentir, estant sans 
victuailles, & n’en ayant point eu du sieur le Borgne comme il pretendoit, ce 
qui l’empescha de tenir; Les Anglois furent de la au Port royal ou commandoit 
le Borgne qu’ils sommerent pareillement de se rendre, ce que n’ayant voulu 
[g] faire, les Anglois mirent 4 terre trois cens hommes; pour s’y opposer ledit 
le Borgne envoya son Sergent avec partie de son monde; il y eust combat entre 
les deux parties ot ledit Sergent fut tué, le reste s’étant mis en fuite, le Borgne 
se trouva bien en peine, car de six vingts hommes des siens avec les habitans, 
qui faisoient bien cent cinquante, il n’en pit pas trouver un seul capable de 
commander; ce qui les obligea de se rendre 4 composition, plitost manque de 
courage, que de toutes sortes de munitions de guerre & de bouche, dont ils 
avoient suffisamment pour tenir bon, pltitost que se rendre par composition ; Les 
Anglois, estans maistres du fort, ne voulurent [10] plus tenir aucun des articles, 
qui leur avoient accordées, la fachete des vincus servant de pretexte aux vic- 
torieux ; depuis ce temps les Anglois sont totijours demeurez en possession des 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. I 467 


forts de Pentagouet, de la riviere saint Jean, du Port royal, & de la Haive, 
jusques a present que le Roy les a retirés. 

Quelque temps aprés, le fils du sieur le Borgne revint pour s *établir a la 
Haive, ou il fit un fort de pieux; il avoit avec luy un nommé Guilbault Mar- 
chand de la Rochelle, qui luy fournissoit toutes les victuailles & marchandises 
dont il avoit besoin, & desquelles il devoit prendre le remboursement sur la 
traite qui se feroit ; "cependant les Anglois scachant [11] que le Borgne estoit 
ala Haive, y ue at pour le prendre ; ; mais les voyant venir, le Borgne se retira 
dans les bois avec quelques-uns des siens, dont la plus grande partie demeura avec 
Guilbault dans le fort en resolution de se deffendre; en effet ils soustinrent 
Pattaque des Anglois, dont il y eut plusieurs tuez sur la place, entre autres leur 
Commandant; ce qui les obligea a se retirer pour quelque temps; mais Guilbault 
qui n’avoit autre interest dans cette affaire que de sauver son bien, convint depuis 
avec les Anglois de leur remettre le Fort entre les mains, a la charge que tout 
ce qui luy appartenoit, ou a ceux qui estoient avec luy, leur seroit rendu, ce qui 
fut executé; [12] mais les Anglois estans entrez dans le Fort, & n’y ayant 
point trouvé le Borgne, ne voulurent point qu’il fut compris dans la capitulation ; 
ce qui |’obligea s’estant retiré dans les bois sans victuailles de se venir rendre peu 
de temps aprés prisonnier; Ils |’emmenerent a Baston, ot l’ayant gardé long- 
temps, le mirent enfin en liberté par un accommodement qui n’a pas tenu depuis, 
ce qui a causé ensuite plusieurs guerres entr’eux, qui ne laisserent pas de me 
causer beaucoup de pettes, bien que je n’y prisse point de part, & que je n’eusse 
pour but que de m’appliquer dans mon district, 4 mon établissement & 4 mes 
affaires, sans me méler de celles des autres. 

Mais j’étois reservé a d’autres [13] disgraces, & quelque peine que je prisse 
a faire valoir ma concession de Ja maniere la plus pacifique qui m’étoit possible ; 
le sieur de la Giraudiere qui s’étoit venu établir depuis quelque temps en la 
riviere de sainte Marie, obtint par surprise une seconde concession de Messieurs 
de la Compagnie, leur faisant entendre que le Cap de Campseaux estoit au Cap saint 
Louis, qui en est éloigné de plus de vingt cing lieues; il amena cent hommes au 
pays, qui arriverent 4 Campseaux, ou ils scavoient que mon navire devoit venir, 
comme il fit bien-tost aprés, lequel il arresta & fit deffenses au Capitaine de ne 
rien donner, en vertu de sa nouvelle concession qu'il m’envoya signifier, & faire 
com- [14] mandement de luy remettre mon habitation, avec tout ce que je pre- 
tendois | jusques au Cap saint Louis, que l’on avoit dit estre ce Cap de Camp- 
seaux; 4 la verité ayant esté un peu surpris, je fis réponse que !’on avoit exposé 
faux 4a Messieurs de la Compagnie, qui ne pouvoient pas donner ce qu’ils 
m’avoient déja vendu; mais m’ayant dit, que si je ne le rendois d’amitié |’on 
me le feroit rendre de force, plus de six vingt hommes que j’avois avec moy, 
scachans que mon Navire étoit arresté, & que je n’avois pas de victuailles suffi- 
samment pour les retenir, me demanderent leurs congez, que je leur accorday, 
aprés toutesfois les avoir employez 4 renfermer, & fortifier tous mes [ 1 5 | logemens, 
de deux petits bastions, qui garnis de huit pieces de canon & quelques pierriers 
avec une enceinte de bariques remplies de terre, me mirent en estat de deffences : 
ensuite de quoy n’ayant de tout mon monde retenu que douze hommes, je ren- 
voyay le reste a l’Isle du Cap Breton, avec lettres aux Capitaines des Pescheurs 
de les recevoir, leur donner passage, & m’envoyer quelques victuailles, s’ils en 
avoient; ce qu’ils firent du mieux qu’ils purent; Quelque-temps aprés la 
Giraudiere & son frere, avec tout leur monde, scachans le départ des miens & 


468 DESCRIPTION DE L7AMERIQUE 


ne croyant pas trouver de resistance, vinrent a dessein de me forcer a luy ceder, 
ce que je leur avois refusé; mais [16] ils furent bien étonnés de me voir en 
estat de resister 4 leur entreprise; ils me firent un second commandement de 
leur remettre la place, autrement qu’ils la forceroient, & que je ne devois pas 
exposer ma vie de la sorte, mais leur ayant fait réponse quils eussent plus de 
soin de la leur, & qu’ayant douze hommes avec moy aussi resolus de deffendre 
mon bien qu’ils estoient pour le prendre injustement, nous ne les épargnerions 
pas; ils se contenterent d’estre trois jours 4 la veué du Fort, sans rien faire que 
tourner d’un costé & d’autres, puis ils s’en retournerent; & quelque temps aprés 
le sieur le Bay, frere de la Giraudiere me vint revoir & demanda a me parler, 
[17] i me dit qu ‘al avoit pris mon habitation de saint Pierre, ou il n’y avoit que 
cing hommes que j’y tenois seulement pour la traite, & m’ayant proposé de nous 
accommoder ensemble aprés plusieurs contestations que nous eusmes en cette 
conference, nous tombasmes d’accord qu’il me rendroit saint Pierre, & que je 
leur remettrois Chedaboutou, ot j’étois pour lors, qu’ils me remmeneroient en 
France dans leur Navire n’y en ayant plus d’autre a la Coste, que nous remet- 
trions nos pretentions entre les mains de Messieurs de la Compagnie pour nous 
regler, & que nous nous en tiendrions 4 ce qu’ils en jugeroient, ce qui fut signé 
reciproquement. 

Ils m’amenent ensuitte en [18] France, suivant nostre accord & aprés avoir 
exposé nos differends, a Messieurs de la Compagnie, ils declarerent avoir esté 
surpris, & donnerent une Sentence, par laquelle ils cassoient tout ce que Mon- 
sieur de la Giraudiere avoit obtenu d’eux, & me rétablissoient dans tous mes 
droits: cette affaire ne laissa pas de me causer pour plus de quinze mil escus de 
perte, tant pour les advances que j’avois faites, pour |’entretien & la conduite de 
sIxX vingts hommes, que pour mes défrichemens, bastimens & bestiaux qui furent 
tous perdus & ruinez, ce qui rompit toutes mes mesures, en telle sorte que je 
n’ay pti m’y rétablir, de maniere que je fus obligé de me retirer 4 saint Pierre 
au Cap Bre- [19] ton, oti je me fusse sans doute remis de mes pertes, par la 
rencontre de quelques Sauvages que l’on ne connoissoit point encore, lesquels 
me vinrent trouver, & m’apporterent plain deux Chaloupes de peletrie outre ma 
traite ordinaire, ce qui pouvoit bien monter 4 vingt-cing mil livres sans que par 
un mal-heur, dont on n’a jamais pu connoistre la cause, le feu ayant pris de 
nuit 4 un grenier, ou on navoit point cotitume d’en porter, embrasa tous mes 
logemens ; toutes mes marchandises, meubles, munitions, victuailles, farines, vin, 
armes, bref tout ce que j’avois dans ce lieu fut consommé sans pouvoir rien 
sauver, & tout mon monde fut [20] obligé aussi bien que moy d’en éviter la 
violence tous nuds en chemise, & ne fut sauvé que demie barique d’eau de vie 
& autant de vin, avec environ cing cens gerbes de bled qu’on eut bien de la 
peine a tirer d’une grange ow le feu n’estoit pas encore pris, sams quoy nous 
eussions esté tous contraints d’aller chercher a vivre dans les bois, avec les 
Sauvages 5 en attendant le Printemps suivant: Voila comme jusques 4 present 
je n’ay rien pu faire dans ce pays-la, tant a cause des guerres que on ma suscitez 
par envie, que par la disgrace du feu, dont je n’ay jamais pu, comme j’ay déja 
dit, découvrir la cause, ce que l’on ne doit pas imputer, ny 4 ma negligence ny 
au deffaut de la [21] terre, non plus qu au manque de connoissance du pays, dont 
je scavois assez les avantages, ce qui me fait avancer avec certitude, que sans les 
disgraces j’aurois fait en peu de temps un établissement considerable par mes soins 
& mon travail, & aurois tiré de cette terre tous les avantages qu’elle m’offroit. 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. I 469 


I] est donc tres-certain qu’on la peut habiter avec autant de satisfaction que 
Ja France mesme, pourveu que l’envie des Francois, les uns contre les autres ne 
ruinent pas les desseins des mieux intentionnez, & que ce qui aura esté donné 
une fois 4 un Particulier de pays a4 cultiver, luy demeure sans pouvoir estre 
troublé, ny dépossedé de sa concession, autrement per- [22] sonne ne travaillera 
jamais avec affection pour rendre ce pays habitable, & il demeurera totjours 
exposé aux entreprises des plus forts, ou de ceux qui seront le plus en credit, 
& ce qui ruinera toutes les bonnes entreprises, que ceux qui en ont la con- 
noissance y peuvent faire, avec beaucoup de gloire pour sa Majesté, & un grand 
avantage pour la France mesme. 

Mais laissons la mes disgraces & continuons ma description; La riviere de 
Pentagouet est assés large 4 son entrée, & entre dix ou douze lieués dans les 
terres; les Vaisseaux de deux 4 trois cens tonneaux y peuvent monter jusques 
au fort des Francois qui est a la droite en entrant; les Anglois sont habituez 4 
la gauche, [23] & y ont beaucoup de monde avec grande estendué de terre 
défrichée; le pays y est fort agreable, & la terre bonne; des deux costez de la 
riviere les Arbres y sont beaux & en grande quantité, comme chesnes, boulleaux, 
haistres, fresnes, erables, & de toutes autres sortes que nous avons en France; I] 
y a aussi grand nombre de Pins sauvages qui n’ont pas le grain du bois bien 
gros, mais ils sont de quarante 4 soixante pieds de haut sans branches, fort 
propres a faire des planches, tant pour les bastimens de mer, que ceux de terre ; 
Il y a aussi beaucoup de Sapins de trois especes, dont les uns ont la feuille 
plate, de la longueur & largeur d’un fer d’aiguillette, en pointe ran- [24] gée le 
long de la branche, qui est celuy dont le grain est le plus gros; la seconde 
espece a bien la fetille de mesme, mais elle vient tout au tour de la branche & 
picque, & la troisiéme a aussi la feuille tout au tour, mais plus claire & éloignée 
& ne pique point; on l’appelle Prusse, ayant le grain beaucoup plus serré que 
les autres; il est bien plus propre pour la mature & le meilleur ; les chesnes de 
cet Sacioit, sont aussi meilleurs qu’ en tous les autres lieux de la nouvelle France, 
& plus l’on va vers le Nord & moins bons y sont toutes sortes de bois, 

Il y a aussi grand nombre de matures en la nouvelle Angleterre, qui en 
fournit 4 present toute |’ Angleterre, & que l’on [25] trouve beaucoup meilleure 
que celle qui vient de Norvegue; la raison que j’en puis donner, c’est que plus 
ce Sapin a le grain serré & mieux il vaut, celuy de la Norvegue estant de cette 
qualité, ce qui vient 4 mon advis, de ce que ces arbres croissent sur des montagnes 
ou ils ont le pied sec, & que les grands froids qu’1l fait en ces quartiers resser- 
rent le bois, en sorte que la séve ne luy donne pas assez de nourriture pour en 
faire enfler le grain, mais seulement pour sa hauteur, & ne grossit qu’a propor- 
tion qu’il croist. 

En la nouvelle Angleterre la chaleur fait le mesme effet, car les Sapins y 
viennent aussi dans les lieux secs & élevez, mais le Soleil par sa force dessechant 
[26] ’humeur superflué de ces arbres, qui empesche que le grain n’en grossisse, 
le tenant plus serré, leur donne une liaison bien plus forte, qui les rend de 
meilleure qualité que celle qui est communiquée 4 ceux du Nord par le froid. 

La preuve de mon raisonnement, est que toute la mature qui vient dans la 
nouvelle France, depuis la Haive jusqn’a |’entrée de la grande riviere de saint 
Laurent ov le pays est temperé, n’est pas bonne, parce qu'elle a le grain bien 
plus gros que celle qui vient au Port royal, en la riviere saint Jean, ou en celle 
de Pentagoiiet qui est la meilleure. 


2H 


470 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


Pour celle de Kébec, elle doit estre aussi de la bonne qualité, [27] en ce 
qu’il y a du froid au bas de la riviere, & de Ja chaleur dans le haut, c’est ce que 
jen puis dire n’en ayant point veu., 

Revenant a la riviere de Pentagouet, il y a quantité d’Ours, qui se nourris- 
sent du gland quils y trouvent, ils ont la chair fort delicate, & blanche comme 
celle du veau: il y a aussi grand nombre d’Orignaux, ou Eslans, peu de Castors, 
& de Loutres, mais force Lievres, Perdrix, Tourtres, & autres sortes d’oyseaux 
de terre, au Printemps, & encore plus |’ Hyver de ceux de riviere & de mer qui y 
viennent en tres-grande quantité, comme Outardes, Canards, Cercelles, Moyaques, 
Cormorans, & de plusieurs autres especes, qui |’ Esté vont vers [28] le Nord, & 
retournant la l’Hyver, quand les rivieres gelent, ce qui arrive tres-rarement du 
costé du Sud. 

Avant que d’entrer dans la riviere, il y a plusieurs Isles un peu au large, 
autour desquelles les Anglois peschent grand nombre de Maquereaux, & méme 
dés l’entrée de la riviere, ot est |’ Isle des Monts deserts; En allant vers Baston 
il y a encore nombre d’Isles ou: les Anglois font leurs pesches de Maquereaux 
au Printemps, dont ils font tres-grand trafic dans toutes leurs Isles des Barbades 
ou Antilles, ce qui les a le plus enrichis. Pour du Hareng, ils n’en ont pas 
beaucoup, mais bien du Gasparot, qui en est une espece, qui n’est pas si bon 4 
beaucoup [29] prés: Pendant l’Hyver seulement, ils y peschent autour de ces 
Isles de la Molue, qu’ils font sécher a la gelée; nos Francois la vont achepter 
au Printemps, & leur portent en eschange du Sel, du Vin, de l’eau de Vie & 
autres marchandises: Dans le haut de cette riviere il y a forces Saumons, 
Truites & beaucoup d’autres poissons de mer, car de celuy d’eau douce je n’ay 
point encore ouy dire qu’on en ait pesché. 

Depuis la riviere de Pentagouet, jusques 4 celle de saint Jean, il peut y avoir 
quarante a quarante cing lieues; la premiere riviere que l’on rencontre le long 
de la coste; est celle des Etechemins, qui porte le [30] nom du pays, depuis 
Baston jusques au Port royal, dont les Sauvages qui habitent toute cette étendue, 
portent aussi le mesme nom; II y a dans cette riviere grand nombre d’Isles, 
quelques-unes de deux lieues de tour, les autres plus ou moins, qui sont toutes 
dans une ance de grand circuit, ou il se peut mettre des Navires de cent 
cinquante tonneaux en toute seureté; dans le fond de cette ance ou se déchar- 
gent de petits ruisseaux, dans lesquels on trouve du Saulmon, de la Truitte, 
du Barc, du Gasparot, & le long de la coste ils y peschent de la Molué, & 
autres poissons de toutes sortes: Allant vers la riviere de saint Jean ils y 
rencontrent des Isles, & de grandes ances, qui [31] en sont aussi remplies, & a 
quatre ou cing lieués des Etechemins, il y a une autre riviere qui a environ 
demie lieve de large, dans laquelle montant deux ou trois lieues |’on rencontre 
de petites Isles couvertes de sapins, bouleaux, quelques chesnes, & autres bois: 
Plus haut 4 ladite riviere il y a un saut qui empesche les bastimens de passer 
plus outre ; les canots y peuvent aller. Je n’ay pas pi scavoir son étendue ; il y 
a quelques montagnes qui paroissent dans le haut & nombre de prairies qui la 
bordent, dont quelques-unes sont assez grandes, 4 ce qu’on dit, tous les bois y 
paroissent beaux, il y a force chesnes, & d’autres especes d’arbres, dont jay 
déja [32] parlé: On tient que ce lieu s’appelloit autrefois sainte Croix, & que 
c’est ot les sieurs de Mont & de Champlain, ont voulu faire bastir une habita- 
tion, tant ils trouverent ce lieu bon & agreable plus que tous les autres qu’ils 
avoient veus. 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. II 471 


Vis a vis de la derniere ance au large dans la mer, paroissent des Isles, 
Ja plus grande desquelles s’appelle I’Isle de Menane, qui se void de loing, 
vyenant de la mer, & sert de connoissance pour la riviere saint Jean, quoy qu'elle 
en soit éloignée de six 4 sept lieues de |’entrée. 

Dans toutes ces Isles qui sont en mer, a deux ou trois lieués de la grande 
terre, il y a grand nombre de toutes sortes d’oy- [33] seaux, qui vont au 
Printemps y faire leurs petits, & entre autres force Margots, qui sont des 
oyseaux gros comme des Poules, qui ont les aisles fort grandes, dont les petits 
sont excellens 4 manger: Ces oyseaux peschent le Maquereau, le Hareng & 
le Gasparot ou ils en trouvent: Il y a aussi des Outardes, des Canards, des 
Moyaques, des Goislans, Esterlets, Perroguets de mer, Pigeons de mer, & de 
toute autres sortes d’oyseaux en grand nombre. 

De la derniere ance en allant 4 la riviere de saint Jean, ce ne sont que des 
rochers six ou sept lieues durant, la coste en est fort dangereuse, & environ trois 
quarts de lieués plus en mer que |’Isle de Manane, il y [34] a un rocher qui ne 
se découvre que tous les six ou sept ans, qui est au rapport des Sauvages de 
lapis Lasuli: J’en ay veu un morceau dont ils firent present au feu Commandeur 
de Razilly, qui l’envoya en France pour le faire voir, auquel on rapporta que 
¢étoit veritablement du lapis Lasuli, dont on pouvoit faire de |’azur, qui auroit 
valu dix écus l’once: On fit ensuite ce que |’on pit pour apprendre des 
Sauvages l’endroit ot étoit le rocher, qu’ils ne voulurent jamais indiquer, quelque 
chose qu’on leur promist, mais seulement qu’il étoit proche de Menane, comme 


jay dit. 


[35] CHAPITRE II 


Qui traitte de la riviere saint Jean, des Mines, du Port royal, de toute la Baye 
Francoise, de la Terre, des Bois, de la Chasse, && de tout ce qui s’y est passé. 


"ENTREE de la riviere saint Jean, est de dangereux abord, rangeant la 
terre des deux cétez; le meilleur endroit est du cdté de Stribord ou 
main droite, sans trop approcher la terre: cette entrée est étroite, a 

| cause d’une petite Isle qui est a Basbord, ou costé gauche, [36] 

- laquelle passée, la riviere est bien plus large: du mesme coté de I’Isle, il y a de 
grands marais ou prairies qui sont couvertes de plaine mer, le rivage est sable 
vaseux, qui fait une pointe, laquelle passée, il y a une ance qui entre dans lesdits 

) marais, dont l’entrée est étroite, o1 feu Monsieur de la Tour avoit fait faire une 

_ écluse, ot l’on peschoit un grand nombre de ces Gasparots que |’on faisoit saller 

pour |’Hyver, il s’y en peschoit quelques-fois une si grande quantité que l’on 

» étoit obligé de rompre écluse, & de les jetter 4 la mer, autrement ils auroient 

| empuanty l’écluse, qui en auroit esté perduc, on y trouvoit aussi quelques-fois 

| des Saulmons, [37] des Alozes, & du Bar, qui est le maigre de la Rochelle, qui 

_servoit tous les Printemps d’une grande mane pour ceux de pays. 

Un peu plus avant, au dela de ladite écluse, il y a une petite butte, ot 

l@ Aunay fit batir son Fort que je n’ay pas trouvé bien placé 4 mon avis, pour 

) estre commandé d’une Isle qui est tout proche plus élevée, & derriere laquelle 


x 


tous Navires se peuvent mettre 4 couvert du Fort, dans lequel il n’y a que de 


472, DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


Peau de puits, qui n’est pas bien bonne non plus que celle qui est hors du Fort: 
I] auroit esté 4 mon avis mieux placé derriere |’ Isle o& mouillent les Vaisseaux, 
& ot il auroit esté plus élevé, & par conse- [38] quent point commandé d’autres 
endroits voisins, & auroit eu de bonne eau, comme dans celuy que fit bastir ledit 
feu sieur de la Tour, lequel fut riiiné par d’Aunay aprés s’en estre rendu le 
maistre aSseZ injustement, n’y ayant aucun droit, ce qu’il auroit eu bien de la 
peine a a executer s’il n’eust esté adverty de |’absence dudit sieur de la ‘Tour, qui 
avoit mené avec luy une partie de son monde, & n’avoit laissé que sa femme avec 
le reste des siens a la garde du Fort; laquelle aprés avoir sofitenu pendant trois 
jours & trois nuits toutes les attaques de d’Aunay, & l’avoir obligé de s’éloigner 
de la portée de ses canons, fust enfin obligée de [39] ceder le quatriéme jour qui 
étoit le jour de Pasques, ayant esté trahie par un Suisse qui étoit en garde ce 
jour-la, pendans qu’elle faisoit reposer ses gens, esperant quelques relaches, Le 
Suisse se laissa corrompre par les gens de d’Aunay, & souffrit qu’ils montassent 
a l’assaut, qui fut encore sotitenu quelque temps par la Commandante 4 la teste 
de son monde, qui ne se rendit qu’a l’éxtremité, & sous condition que ledit 
d’Aunay donneroit quartier 4 tous, ce qu’il n’executa pas, car s’étant rendu 
maistre de la place, il les fit mettre tous en prison avec la Commandante, 
ensuite de l’avis de son Conseil, les fit pendre, 4 la reserve d’un seul qui [40] 
eut la vie sauve a la charge qu'il en feroit l’execution, & la Commandante les 
assista 4 la potence la corde au col comme auroit esté le plus grand scelerat: 
Voila le tiltre dont le Borgne s’est servy pour pretendre comme Creancier dudit 
sieur d’Aunay la proprieté de la riviere saint Jean. 

Passé |’Isle, dont j’ay parlé, au dessous duquel mouillent les Vaisseaux pour 
estre plus a l’abry, il n’y a qu’une bonne portée de canon jusqu’au saut, ov ils 
ne peuvent passer, mais bien des chalouppes & petites barques, de plaine mer 
seulement: mais avant que d’entrer plus avant en la riviere, il y a une chose qui 
est assez surprenante; 4 la chfite du saut [41] est une grande fosse d’environ 
trois ou quatre cens pas de tour qui est faite par la chiite de |’eau qui passe entre 
deux rochers qui forment un détroit a la riviere, ce qui la rend plus ei en 
cet endroit. Dans cette fosse il yaun grand arbre debout, qui flotte, & quel- 
que courant qu’il y ait il n’en sort jamais & ne paroist que de temps en temps, 
Von est quelques-fois, huit, dix, ou quinze jours sans le voir, le bout qui paroist 
sur l’eau est a peu prés gros comme le tour d’une barique, & quand il paroist, — 
c’est tantost d’un costé & tantost d’un autre: ‘Tous les Sauvages qui passoient 
anciennement par Ja, qui sont en grand nombre en ces quartiers, luy rendoient 
[42] hommage, mais peu le font a present, ayans esté desabusez ; ils appelloient 
cét arbre le Manitou, qui est 4 dire le Diable. L’ hommage qu ils luy rendoient 
anciennement étoit un ou deux castors, ou autre pelletrie qu’ils attachoient sur la 
teste de cét arbre, avec un fer de fleche qui étoit fait d’un os d’Orignac, qu’ils 
appointissoient avec des roches: lors qu’ils passoient par la, & que leur Manitou 
ne parroissoit point ils tenoient cela 4 mauvais presage, disant qu'il estoit faché 
contre eux: Depuis que les Frangois sont en ces quartiers-la, que l’on leur a 
donné des fers de fleches de fer, ils ne se servent plus des autres, & le pauvre 
Manitou en a la teste si couverte qu’a [43] peine y pourroit-on mettre une 
épingle: Je l’ay veu, & des hommes de Monsieur de la Tour qui demeuroient 
avec luy, & depuis avec moy m’ont assuré qu’il fit une fois attacher des cordes a 
la teste de cét arbre, & que des chalouppes avec dix avirons a nager de toutes 
leur forces avec le courant ne |’ont jamais pu tirer hors de la fosse. 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. II 473 


Ayant passé le saut, la riviere s’élargit beaucoup plus en un endroit qu’en 
autre, a cause des Isles: I] y en a trois qui sont grandes, dans lesquelles il y a 
de fort belles prairies, & aussi tout le long des deux cétez de la riviere, les- 
quelles sont inondées tous les ans par la fonte des neges qui arrive [ 44] ordinaire- 
ment au Printemps. [Elle va fort avant dans les terres, & mesme les Sauvages 
par le moyen de cette riviere, en traversant quelques terres vont tomber en 
d’autres rivieres, dont les unes vont finir dans celle de saint Laurent, les autres 
tombent dans la grande baye de saint Laurent & 4 Nepiziguit dans la baye des 
chaleurs: I] y a a chaque traverse deux ou trois portages de canots, au travers 
des bois, ot l’on trouve des chemins qui vont d’une riviere a |’autre, qu’ils 
appellent Louniguins, les autres portages sont des endroits dans les rivieres ou 
la navigation est empeschée par les sauts ou cheuttes d’eau causée par des [45] 
rochers qui les retiennent & en retressissent le passage, ce qui rend le courant si 
rapide, & fait que l’eau tombe de si haut, que |’on est obligé de porter les canots 
sur les épaules ou sur la teste jusques au lieu ot le cours de la riviere est uny. 
Le plus souvent ces portages sont de cinq 4 six lieués, quelques fois jusques 4 
dix, ce qui est rare, c’est ce que les Sauvages appellent Louniguins, dont ils 
entreprennent volontiers le trajet par la facilité qu’ils ont de porter leurs canots 
qui sont tres legers, comme il sera aisé de remarquer par la description que j’en 
feray en son lieu. Les chalouppes ne peuvent entrer dans cette [46] riviere plus 
haut que dix-huit 4 vingt lieués, 4 cause des sauts & des rochers, qui y sont 
semez ce qui oblige de se servir de canots. 

Outre tous les bois que je vous ay déja nommés, il y a encore icy grands 
nombre de chesnes fort beaux, qui seroient bons 4 bastir des Navires, & doivent 
estre meilleurs que ceux du costé du Nord, dont le bois est trop gras: il y a 
aussi des haistres en quantité, tres gros & hauts de branches: il est aussi 


' abondant en noyers sauvages, dont les noix sont triangulaires qui sont difficiles a 


ouvrir, mais les presentant au feu elles s’ouvrent aisément, ce quil y a dedans a 


| le goust de noix: l’on y trouve encore grande quantité [ 47] de Lambruches, de 
_ vignes sauvages qui portent du raisin, dont le grain est gros & dé fort bon goust, 


mais l’écorse en est épaisse & dure: il vient 4 maturité, & si elle estoit cultivée 


| & transportée je ne doute point qu’elle ne produisist de tres-bon vin; ce n’est 


pas un signe que le froid y soit si aspre, ny les neges en si grande quantité, que 


) tout le monde dit: je croy qu'il y a bien des contrées en France qui ne vallent 
| pas ce pays, pour le climat, & ou il habite bien du monde, qui n’est pas si 4 son 


aise que l’on seroit dans ces regions quoy qu’éloignées. 
Depuis |’entrée de la riviere saint Jean, jusques 4 celle du Port royal, il y a 


 douze lieués de trajet, qui forme, ce que [48] nous appellons la baye Francoise, 
_& qui s’enfonce dix ou douze lieués avant dans les terres. En sortant de la 
Tiviere saint Jean sur la main gauche il y a une pointe qui avance en mer, & 


Payant doublée, on entre dans une grande baye qui s’avance dans la terre environ 


une lieué, au fonds de laquelle il y a deux Isles, & continuant le long de Ja 
| Coste, environ trois ou quatre lieués, l’on trouve deux petites bayes distantes 


d’une lieué l’une de l’autre, ot |’on dit y avoir des mines de fer: continuant 


' Cette route on voit une grande pointe qui avance a la mer, derriere laquelle il y 
a une petite riviere: allant plus avant, on voit un cap, [49] que l’on nomme le 
| cap des deux bayes dont les entrées sont étroites qui avancent dans les terres 
) quinze ou seize lieués, il y a force rochers dedans ces bayes qui sont dangereux, 


en ce que la mer y monte huit ou dix brasses & les couvre, ce que j’ay ouy dire 


AT 4 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


a ceux qui y vont en traitte avec des barques, & qu’ils sont obligés de mouiller 
’ancre a quinze & seize brasses pour estre en seureté: il y a plusieurs rivieres 
qui tombent dans ces bayes par le moyen desquelles les Sauvages vont dans celle 
de saint Jean, d’autres par ou ils vont tomber dans des lacs qui vont vers 
Campseaux, & le cap saint Louis qui est dans la grande baye saint Laurens: il 
y a des [50] terres 4 traverser pour aller d’un lieu a |’autre, & Jes Sauvages de 
ces quartiers-la, portent leur pelletrie dans la riviere saint Jean aux Anglois. 
Le sieur d’ Aunay y a traitté de son temps jusques 4 trois mille orignaux par an, 
sans les castors & loutres, ce qui fut la cause quil en déposseda le sieur de la 
Tour ; Ces bayes s’appellent des mines, parce qu'il y a de ces pierres de mines 
dont on se servoit anciennement pour les arquebuzes a rouet, & tous ceux qui y 
ont été disentqu’il y a aussi des mines de cuivre en plusieurs endroits. 

Dans ces bayes il y a force montagnes dans les terres, & quelques-unes bien 
hautes: il y a aussi du plat pays, & grand nombre de pins, sapins, prus- [51] se, 
mélez d’autres bons bois; mais peu sur les bords de la mer: tout le tour des 
deux bayes a environ une lieué, ou lieué & demie: Plus avant dans les terres il 
y a de beaux bois qui sont beaucoup plus clairs, 4 ce que tous les Sauvages 
rapportent, il s’en trouveroit la nombre pour matures & bordages, tant chesnes 
qu autres especes. 

En sortant de ces bayes des mines continuant son chemin vers le Port royal, 
il y a une Isle d’une grande hauteur, & de cinq quarts de lieués de tour ou 
environ; elle est platte au dessus, & nonobstant sa hauteur, il y a une source 
d’eau, on dit qu’il y a aussi une mine de cuivre: de Ja rengeant la terre six a 
sept lieués durant qui [52] ne sont que rochers: on trouve |’entrée du Port 
royal qui est assez étroite, ce qui fait un grand courant de marée, & si !’on veut 
faire entrer ou sortir un navire avec la marée, il faut que ce soit la poupe 
premiere, & si il faut bien prendre garde a soy. 

Le Port royal est un tres-beau lieu & un tres-beau bassin qui a plus d’une 
lieué de large & environ deux de longueur, a l’entrée il y a dix-huit a vingt 
brasses d’eau, il n’y 4 pas moins de quatre 4 six brasses d’eau entre la terre & 
’Isle que l’on nomme |’ Isle aux chevres qui est environ le milieu du bassin; la 
il peut moiiller de grands Navires & en seureté comme dans une boéste, le — 
fonds est bon par tout, dans le fonds du bas- [53] sin il y a comme une pointe © 
de terre ot Monsieur d’Aunay avoit fait faire un beau & bon Fort: cette pointe — 
a deux rivieres, |’une a droite & |’autre 4 gauche, qui ne vont pas bien avant © 
dans les terres, l’une large a son entrée, |’autre n’est pas si large, mais elle est 
bien plus profonde & la marée y monte huit 4 dix lieués: Il y a quantité de 
prairies des deux costez, & deux Isles qui ont des prairies qui sont a trois ou 
quatre lieués du Fort en montant: I] y a une grande étendué de prairies que la 
marée couvroit & que le sieur d’Aunay fit desecher: elle porte 4 present de beau 
& bon froment, & depuis que les Anglois ont esté maistres du pays, les habitans 
[54] qui s’estoient logez proche le Fort, ont la pluspart abandonné leurs 
logemens, & se sont allez establir au haut de la riviere, & ont fait leurs dé- 
frichemens au dessous & au dessus de cette grande prairie, qui appartient a 
present 4 Madame de la Tour, ot ils ont encore assechez d’autres terres qui 
portent du froment en plus grande abondance que celles qu’ils cultivoient autour 
du Fort, quoy qu’elles fussent bonnes: ‘T'ous ces habitans-la sont ceux que 
Moutieta le Commandeur de Razilly avoit fait venir de France 4 la Haive, qui 
depuis ce temps-14 ont bien multiplié au Port royal, ou ils ont grand nombre de 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. III 475 


vaches & de porcs: Outre les deux [55] rivieres dont je viens de parler, il s’en 
décharge encore une dans le bassin tres poissonneuse aussi bien que les deux 
autres, ou il se pesche une grande quantité de poisson, comme gasparots, saulmons, 
truittes, esguilles, & autres sortes. 

Dans le haut de ces trois rivieres, il y a quantité de chesnes, & sur leurs 
rivages des pins & sapins de trois fagons, bouleaux, mignogons, haistres trembles, 
herables, fresnes & chesnes. Ce pays n’est point trop montagneux, le lembruche 
de vigne, & le noyer y est aussi: il y a fort peu de neges en ce pays-la, & fort 
peu d’hyver: la chasse y est bonne toute |’année, du lapin, de la perdrix, des 
tourtres & autre [56] gibier de bois, pour le gibier d’eau il y en a grande 
abondance, Esté & Hyver le pays y est fort agreable. 

Sortant du Port royal allant vers l’Isle longue 4 deux ou trois lievés |’on 
trouve une grande ance, ot des vaisseaux peuvent mouiller, il y a bon fonds, 
mais |’abry n’est pas general, & ce n’est proprement qu’une rade: continuant le 
long de la coste six ou sept lieués, l’on trouve des ances & rochers couverts 
d’arbres jusques 4 |’Isle longue, qui a environ six a sept lieués de long, elle fait 
un passage pour sortir de la baye Francoise, & aller trouver la terre d’ Acadie: 
il y a entre I’ Isle longue & la terre du Port royal des rochers qui [57] font le 
grand & le petit passage, les courans y sont forts rudes, entre autres au petit 
passage qui n’est que pour des barques, j’y ay voulu passer une fois, mais le vent 
ne nous estant pas favorable pour refouler la marée & nous porter au grand 
passage, je voulus faire mouiller l’ancre quoy qu’il n’y eust que deux brasses & 
demie d’eau 4 l’entrée: le courant estoit si fort, que l’ancre n’ayant pti prendre 
fonds, nous la perdismes avec nostre cable qui fila par le bout, il nous falut 
relacher 4 la riviere saint Jean, ot |’on me donna un ancre & un autre cable; 
de-la je revins passer au grand passage de |’ Isle longue. 


[58] - CHAPITRE III 


Description de ta coste depuis 1’ Isle longue jusques a la Haive, des Rivieres, des 
Isles, de la Chasse, de la Pesche, de la Terre, §& de diverses sortes de bois, 
Pétablissement d’une Pesche sedentaire, comme elle a esté détruite, & autres 
particularitez. 


ORTANT de la baye Francoise, pour entrer 4 la coste d’Acadie, 
prenant la route vers le cap Fourchu, qui est [59] distant de I’isle 
longue de douze ou quinze lieués: Toute cette coste est saine & sans 
rochers, & a six lieués de |’Isle longue il y a une riviere ou de petits 

Navires peuvent entrer; elle se nommz la riviere aux Ours, elle prend son nom 
du grand nombre qui s’y en trouve, il y a peu de pins & de sapins, mais quantité 
de chesnes mélez d’autres beaux arbres, comme ceux que jay déja nommez ; 
le pays est beau & paroist assez plat, il y a force prairies tout le long, & la terre 
qui y doit estre tres-bonne, a ce que j’en ay pi juger. II y a pesche de molués 
a la coste, & de saulmons, truittes, & esperlans au haut de la riviere. 

[60] Continuant jusques au cap fourchu, la coste parroist fort belle, il y a 
peu de sapins, mais beaucoup d’autres especes de bois & de grandes prairies, il y 


476 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


a belle chasse tout le long de cette coste de toute sorte de gibier, & continuant la 
méme route, on trouve 4 cing lieués de la riviere aux Ours une entrée entre 
deux rochers pour une chalouppe, ot je fus & ou je vis quantité d’étangs d’eau 
de mer, qui estoient remplis de canards, outardes, oyes, cravans, sarcelles, & tout 
autre gibier, dont nous tuasmes plus de cing cens pieces de toutes facons: Il y a 
quantité de tres-beaux arbres, comme ceux que j’ay déja nommez; le pays est 
plat, & la terre n’y peut [6 Hi estre que tres-bonne, la situation y est tres-agreable, 
il peut y avoir dela au cap fourchu six ou sept lieués. 

Le cap fourchu se nomme ainsi en ce qu'il est fait comme une fourche, les 
vaisseauxX 8 y peuvent mettre a couvert, la pesche de la molué y est abondante & 
n’est pas loin de terre, & s’y fait plitost qu’en aucun lieu de |’Acadie. Le pays 
y est tres beau & bon, pour les bois ils sont comme les autres, mais li y a des 
chesnes, erables, & des trembles en plus grand nombre. Un nommé de Lomeron 
y a eu autrefois une habitation, & s’appelloit le port Lomeron du temps du sieur 
dela Tour: Dés le commencement qu’il fut en ces quartiers-la cette habita- 
[62] tion fut ruinée par les Anglois du temps de la guerre de la Rochelle. 

Du cap fourchu, allant au cap de sable, !’on trouve une grande baye, dans 
laquelle il y a force Isles, qu’on appelle les Isles de TTousquet; elles sont toutes 
couvertes de beaux & bons bois de mesmes especes que les autres dont nous 
avons déja parlé; il y a forces prairies en ces Isles ou abondent toutes sortes 
d’oyseaux qui y font mesme leurs nids; il y a des oyes, grués, outardes, canards, 
sarcelles, herons, beccasses, beccasines, corbeaux, tournevires, chevaliers, & tant 
d’autres sortes d’oyseaux que cela est surprenant; le pays est des plus agreables 
& des meilleurs que j’aye encore veus, il est [63] plat & la terre y est tres- 
bonne, la pesche y est abondante en truittes, saulmons, & |’esperlan y donne au 
Printemps en grande quantité, dans les ruisseaux ou il vient jetter ses ceufs; il 
est grand pour l’ordinaire comme un moyen harang. Le sieur la Tour y avoit 
une habitation pour la traite des pelleteries, ou trafic avec les Sauvages, qui y 
venoient de plusieurs endroits, & n’est pas éloignée de plus de deux ou trois 
lieués de la terre. 

L’on va de la au cap de sable qui a des battures & des rochers au large, 
neantmoins le Port est bon, & la pesche de la molué y est abondante: Entre le 
cap fourchu & le cap de sable, trois ou quatre lieués en [64] mer il y a plusieurs 
Isles, les unes d’une lieué, & les autres de deux, trois, & 4 quatre de tour, que 
Yon nomme les Isles aux loups marins, elles sont assez difficiles 4 approcher a 
cause des rochers qui sont 4 |’entour, elles sont couvertes de sapins, bouleaux, & 
autres bois qui n’y sont pas fort gros, elles s’appellent Isles aux loups marins, 
parce quils vont la faire leurs petits qui sont grands & puissans, il y en a de 
plusieurs especes dont je feray un article a part, ils viennent pour mettre bas vers 
le mois de Fevrier, montent sur les roches & se mettent autour des isles ot ils 
font leur petits, qui sont en naissant plus gros que le plus gros pore que l’on 
voye, & plus [65] longs. Ils ne demeurent 4 terre que peu de temps, aprés 
quoy leurs pere & mere les emmennent a la mer, ils reviennent quelques-fois 
a terre ou sur des roches, ot la mere les fait tetter. Monsieur d’Aunay y 
envoyoit du Port royal du monde avec des barques pour en faire la pesche dans 
la saison, qui est au mois de Fevrier lors que les petits y sont, l’on va tout 
autour des isles avec de forts bastons, les pere & mere fuyent a la mer, & on 
arreste les petits qui taschent de suivre, en leur donnant un coup de baston sur 
le nez dont ils meurent, |’on va le plus viste que |’on peut, car les pere & mere 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. III A77 


estans 4 Ja mer, font un grand bruit qui donnant |’alarme par [66] tout, ce qui 
les fait tous fuir, mais il se sauve peu de petits 4 qui l’on n’en donne pas le 
temps; il y a des journées que l’on en tué jusques a six, sept, & huit cens, ce 
sont les petits qui sont les plus gras, car les pere & mere sont maigres; |’ Hyver, 
il en faut bien trois ou quatre petits pour faire une barique d’huile qui est bonne 
4 manger estant fraiche, & aussi bonne a briller que l’huile d’olive, & n’a point 
d’odeur en brilant comme les autres huiles de poisson qui sont tofijours pleines 
de lie épaisse, ou de saletez au fonds des bariques, mais celle-cy est totijours 
claire. Sur ces isles aux loups marins il y a un si grand nombre de toutes 
sortes d’oyseaux, que [67] cela n’est pas croyable, & sur tout pendant le 
Printemps quwils y font tous leurs nids: si l’on y va, on en fait lever une si 
grande quantité qu’ils font un nuage en l’air que le Soleil ne peut pas penetrer, 
& pour les tuer il ne faut point de fuzils, mais seulement des bastons, car ils sont 
paresseux a se lever de leurs nids; pour des petits on en prend, tant que |’on 
yeut a charger des chalouppes & mesme des ceufs. 

De Ia traversant la baye de Tousquet, |’on va trouver le cap de sable, qui 
est une isle qui fait une pointe qui avance en la mer, & entre la grande terre & 
Visle, il y a passage pour des barques, mais au dela de l’isle vers l’eau, il y a des 
roches [68] & battures qui avancent une bonne lieué en la mer, les ayant passées 
environ de deux lieués l’on entre en la baye de sable, qui est fort grande; 1a les 
Navires peuvent mouiller en toute seureté, & en y passant, en 1651 j’y rencontray 
Monsieur Gabaret Capitaine pour le Roy en la marine, qui y estoit mouillé & 
revenoit de courses du Golfe de Mexique, & en ce mesme lieu 14, Monsieur de 
la Tour a eu une habitation, ot il estoit pendant le siege de la Rochelle, il y 
avoit un bon Fort qui luy servit bien, d’autant que son pere estoit pour lors en 
Angleterre ot il se maria 4 une Dame d’honneur de la Reine, de grande con- 
dition, & en faveur de ce mariage le Roy d’ Angleterre [69] le fit Chevalier de 
la Jarretiere, pour l’obliger d’aller trouver son fils & V’engager a remettre le 
Fort en l’obeyssance de sa Majesté Britanique. Pour cét effet on fit armer 
deux Navires de guerres, dans |’un desquels s’estoit embarqué la Tour & sa 
femme; ils ne furent pas plitost arrivez a la veué du Fort, que la Tour pere 
mit pied 4 terre, ou il fit son possible pour persuader son fils de remettre le Fort 
a Vobeyssance du Roy d’ Angleterre, qu’il continuéroit d’y commander aussi 
absolument qu’il avoit fait jusques alors, & que luy & sa femme y demeureroient 
aussi pour sa seureté. 

Que pour cét effet l’on avoit apporté des Commissions en [70] son nom, 
avec |’Ordre de la Jarretiere pour les honorer, & d’autres avantages qui luy 
| furent promis par ceux qui commandoient les vaisseaux, tout cela se passa sans 
 qu’ils entrassent dans le Fort, & le jeune la Tour leur fit réponse qu’il avoit 
beaucoup d’obligation au Roy d’ Angleterre d’avoir tant de bonne volonté pour 
luy; mais qu’il avoit un maistre capable de reconnoistre la fidelité qu’il estoit 
obligé de luy garder; qu’il ne pouvoit pas leur remettre la place entre les mains, 
ny prendre d’autre Commission que celle qu’il avoit, qu’il remercioit le Roy 
d’Angleterre de l’honneur qu’il luy faisoit, mais qu’il ne pouvoit recevoir de 
Tecompense que du Roy son [71] maistre; ce qui obligea son pere & tous les 
Commandans des vaisseaux, d’employer toutes les plus belles paroles du monde 
a le persuader, mais inutilement, car il demeura ferme dans sa resolution & dit 
courageusement 4 son pere que luy ny sa femme n’entreroient jamais dans son 
| Fort, ce qui le fit retirer avec les autres & retourner a bord de leurs Navires, 


478 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


d’ou ils envoyerent le lendemain un homme 4 terre, avec une lettre du pere, par 
laquelle il luy mandoit tout ce qui pouvoit servir, a l’obliger de se rendre de 
bonne amitié; autrement qu’on estoit resolu de luy faire rendre de force, qu’ils 
avoient du monde pour cela, qu’il prist garde de ne se [72] point mettre dans 
les mauvaises graces du Roy d’Angleterre, que c’estoit le vray moyen de se 
perdre, & qu’il n’estoit pas en estat de resister a ses forces. ‘Tout cela n’eut 
pas plus de pouvoir qu’auparavant, & pour toute réponse de bouche 4 celuy qui 
luy avoit apporté la lettre, il dit que les Commandans & son pere en useroient 
comme ils le jugeroient 4 propos, & qu’il estoit tout preparé & son monde a les 
recevoir; le messager s’en retourna porter cette nouvelle, ensuite de quoy ils 
prirent resolution d’attaquer le Fort, & le lendemain ils firent mettre du monde 
a terre avec leurs grands batteaux, attaquerent le Fort; le combat dura tout ce 
jour & la nuit: ils ta- [73] cherent d’approcher pour couper les pieux, ou pour 
mettre le feu, mais ceux de dedans estoient tellement sur leurs gardes qu’ils n’en 
peurent venir 4 bout; il y eut beaucoup d’Anglois tuez & de blessez en cette 
attaque, ce qui ne leur confirma que trop la resolution du jeune la Tour; le 
lendemain ils debarquerent tous les Matelots & Soldats pour |’épouvanter par le 
grand nombre qu’ils firent paroistre, & se rengeant derriere des retranchemens 
de terre, qu’ils avoient fait la nuit aux quatre coings du Fort, d’ou ils faisoient 
grand feu aussi bien que ceux de dedans, qui ne tiroient point a faux, & qui en 
tuerent encore & blesserent plusieurs, ce qui fit renoncer [74] les Anglois a la 
prise du Fort, les Matelots ne voulant plus donner, & les Soldats n’estant pas en 
grand nombre n’en ayant amené que ce qu'il en falloit pour y mettre en garnison, 
tant ils estoient asseurez, sur le recit de la Tour pere de n’y trouver aucune 
resistance, dés qu’il luy auroit parlé des honneurs & des ayvantages dont sa 
Majesté |’honnoroit. 

De la Tour voyant que les Capitaines des Vaisseaux étoient resolus 
d’abandonner |’entreprise & de partir, fut bien estonné, car il n’osoit pas 
retourner en Angleterre de crainte qu’on ne luy fit-la mauvais party; sa femme 
Pembarassoit fort aussi, 4 qui il n’osoit se découvrir, ce qu'il fut enfin [75] 
obligé de faire, en luy disant qu’il ne trouvoit rien de plus asseuré ny d’autre 
party 4 prendre que celuy de demeurer avec son fils n’y ayant pas plus de 
seureté en France pour luy qu’en Angleterre apres la tentative qu’il venoit 
d’hazarder; qu’elle pouvoit y aller si bon luy sembloit, qu’a son égard il 
prieroit son fils de luy permettre de demeurer avec luy, sa femme luy 
témoigna qu’elle ne |’abandonneroit point si son fils leur vouloit permettre de 
demeurer ; la resolution prise ils la communiquerent au Capitaine qui le trouva 
bon ; il écrivit 4 son fils, & le pria de souffrir que sa femme & luy demeurassent 
dans le pays, qu’aprés ce qui s’estoit passé ils n’osoient pas retourner en Angle- 
[76] terre puis qu’il y alloit de sa teste; son fils luy fit réponse qu’il ne vouloit 
point estre la cause de sa mort, mais qu'il ne luy pouvoit accorder sa demande, 
qu’a condition qu’il n’entreroit ny luy ny sa femme dans son Fort, qu'il leur 
feroit bastir un petit logement au dehors, que c’estoit tout ce qu'il pouvoit faire ; 
il receut la condition que son fils luy fit; le Capitaine envoya tout leur équipage 
4 terre, ot la Tour pere décendit avec sa femme, deux hommes pour le servir 
& deux filles de chambre pour sa femme ; le jeune de la Tour leur fit bastir un 
logement 4 quelque distance du Fort, ot ils s’accommoderent du mieux quils 
peurent, ils avoient apporté quelques [77] victuailles, qui ne furent pas plitost 
consommées que la Tour fils y supplea, en nourrissant son pere & toute 8a 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. III 479 


famille. Environ |’an mil six cens trente cinq, je passay par la; je fus voir le 
jeune de la Tour, qui me receut tres-bien, & me permit de voir son pere en son 
logement dont j’ay parlé, ce que je fis, il me receut bien, m’obligea de diner 
avec luy & sa femme; ils estoient fort proprement meublez ; dans le temps que 
jy estois il y arriva un Pere Recollet a qui la femme témoigna la joye qu’elle 
avoit de me voir, ensuite je m’entretins avec le Recollet qui me fit recit de son 
Jardin, & me convia de aller voir, ce que jacceptay ; j’estois curieux de [78] 
voir tout & d’observer mesme ce qui s’offroit digne de remarque; il me fit 
embarquer avec luy dans son canot, sans faire autrement reflexion sur le danger 
ou je m’exposois n’ayant point encore éprouvé cette espece de navigation. Le 
Pere accommoda sa voile & la mit au vent, nous traversames la baye qui avoit 
bien une lieué & demie, & comme en arrivant a terre mon Conducteur voulut 
baisser la voile de crainte d’échouer trop rudement & de briser son canot, sur le 
devant duquel il m’avoit placé, je m’avisay de regarder derriere moy, & pour 
n’avoir presque fait que tourné la teste & avoir mis le canot par ce petit mouve- 
ment hors de |’équilibre ot il é- [79] toit il fut renversé en un instant, bien 
nous prit d’estre proche de bord; cette sorte de navigation est bizarre, difficile 
& dangereuse, sur tout lors qu’on en fait les premieres experiences; nous 
arrivames au Jardin, il me dit qu’il l’avoit défriché tout seul, il pouvoit avoir 
demy arpent de terre, il y avoit quantité de tres-beaux choux pommez & de 
toutes autres sortes d’herbes potageres & de legumes; il y avoit quelques 
pommiers & poiriers qui étoient bien pris & tres-beaux, mais non pas encore en 
estat de porter, estans venus petits de France, & n’ayant esté plantez que de 
année precedente ; je fus content de voir tout cela, mais bien plus, lors qu il 
me montra [80] ses pois & son froment qu’il avoit semé; les pois me ravis- 
soient 4 voir leur hauteur, ils estoient ramez, mais si couverts de gousses, que 
cela ne se peut croire 4 moins que de le voir, & le froment de mesme, il n’y 
avoit grain de bled qui n’eust sept a huit pailles les moindres, les autres douze & 
treize; le moindre épy de demy pied le longueur, bien fournis de grain, mais 
entre autres, 11 me montra un grain de bled qui estoit venu a l’écart, qui avoit 
cent cinquante pailles toutes portant épy & que je comptay; il avoit un grand 
cercle, ou cerceau, de barique qui les entouroit pour les maintenir & supporter de 
crainte d’estre couchés par le vent. Le [81] jeune de la Tour avoit aussi un 
jardin proche de son Fort, du bled, & des pois, qui n’estoient pas si bien 
soignez que ceux du recollet; La terre est platte dans le fonds de cette baye 
les arbres y sont tres-beaux des sortes que j’ay nommez cy-devant, il ny a pas 
si grand nombre de sapins ; il y a plusieurs ruisseaux qui tombent en ladite baye, 
en laquelle il s’y pesche du poisson, de petites molués, maquereaux, plaises de 
mer, & autre sorte de poisson, & aux entrées des ruisseaux force esperlan au 
Printemps; il y a aussi une riviere, ou il se pesche du saumon & de la truite, & 
tirant vers le cap de sable, l’on y trouve nombre de cocquillage, comme cocques, 
bourgos, [82] moulles, coutellieres, & autres coquilles, & des hommars qui sont 
escrevisses de mer, il y en a dont la coquille de la patte de devant tient une 
pinte & plus; |’on trouve quantité de belles prairies en montant dans cette 
riviere & le long des ruisseaux qui s’y deschargent. 

Sortant de la baye de sable, continuant son chemin on appercoit un petit cap 
ou pointe, & quelques Isles qui sont le long de la coste couvertes d’arbres & 
sapins ; il y a force oyseaux tout autour qui y viennent faire leurs nids au Prin- 
temps, la coste en est aussi pareillement garnie, le pays ne parroist pas montag- 


480 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


neux ; cette coste est remplie de rochers qui avancent en la mer, ce qui [83] 
fait qu’elle est fort dangereuse a l’aborder; a trois ou quatre lieués de 14 on 
trouve un port ou il y a une petite riviere qui entre assez avant dans les terres ; 
le port est bon, & des Vaisseaux de raisonnable grandeur y peuvent moiiller en 
toute seureté, il s’appelle le port du cap Naigre; tous les bois y sont semblables 
aux autres que j’ay nommez, & la terre y est aussi bonne, 4 ce que j’en ay pil 
juger, la pesche de la moulué y est fort avantageuse, bien que je n’y aye point 
veu de Navire; passant plus outre on trouve une grande Isle qui fait un bon 
Port entre la terre & elle qui se nomme le Port aux Moutons, les Vaisseaux y 
peuvent entrer & en sortir des deux c6- [84] tez; j’ay veu des Navires y faire 
leur pesches de molués, ils vont environ deux lieués ou deux & demie pour 
trouver la moulué, l’on la fait secher sur des Vignaux, qui sont des especes de 
clayes sur lesquels on est obligé de la faire secher lors qu/il ne se trouve au lieu 
ou se fait la pesche que du sable & de I’herbe, ce qui n’y est pas propre, comme 
je V’expliqueray en son lieu; J|’Isle est couverte de bois, force sapins; au 
derriere de cette isle vers la grande terre est une grande baye qui a bien trois 
bonnes lieués de large & autant de profondeur; dans le fonds il y a deux petites 
rivieres ot l’on n’y peut entrer avec chalouppes bien avant a cause des gros [85] 
rochers qui y sont en grand nombre; la terre y est quasi toute couverte de 
pierres, il ne s’y voit point de montagnes au haut des rivieres & les arbres 
y paroissent beaux & grands. 

Venant le long de la coste pour trouver |’autre costé de la baye I’on trouve 
une grande étendué de marécages d’environ deux lieues de longueur & une de 
largeur ou la marée monte, qui fait une grande quantité de petits étangs qui 
sont tous remplis de gibier, outardes, cravans, canards, sarcelles, oyes blanches 
& grises, beccasses, beccassines, allouettes, corbegeos & beaucoup d’autres sortes 
de bon gibier, & tous ces marécages sont couverts de tres bonne herbe de [86] 
pré ; continuant la route le long de la coste !’on trouve un petit Havre qui est a 
l’autre extremité de la baye, distante de |’Isle aux Moutons de deux lieués, & 
cela s’appelle le Port Rossignol qui est tres bien situé pour la pesche de la 
moulué qui y est en abondance. 

Cet endroit est le premier lieu ot j’ay voulu établir la Pesche sedentaire, & 
pour cet effet j’avois fait compagnie avec feu Monsieur de Razilly, & un mar- 
chand d’Auray en Bretagne ; le Commandeur de Razilly demeuroit pour lors a 
la Haive qui me protegeoit ; ma pesche me reussit assez bien pour ce voyage, je 
renvoyay le Navire chargé en Bretagne, ot le poisson fut assez bien vendu, cela 
[87] nous obligea d’en avoir un plus grand. Un nommé la Catherine de deux 
cens tonneaux que nous achetames du Roy, nous le fismes équiper pour la 
pesche, & un de mes freres nommé de Vitray, qui a esté depuis Capitaine de 
Navire du Roy, fut mis dessus pour le commander, il me |’amena en la nouvelle 
France ot nous luy fismes faire sa pesche, qui nous reussit encore fort bien, 
estant chargé de molué nous donnames ordre 4 mon frere d’aller 4 Porte en 
Portugal pour le vendre, ce qu'il fit avec avantage; dés qu'il y fut arrivé il 
toucha environ la valeur du tiers de sa charge en reaux qu'il fit tenir a la 
Rochelle, mais pendant qu’il achevoit de décharger & livrer [88] le reste, la 
guerre fut declarée entre les deux Couronnes, & |’on accorda aux Francois trois 
mois pour se retirer des Estats du Roy d’Espagne, dont le Portugal en ce 
temps-la faisoit partie, pour n’estre point surpris avant les trois mois expirez 
mon frere pressa son payement: cependant il arriva un ordre du Roy d’ Espagne 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. III 481 


pour arréter tous les vaisseaux a la reserve du nostre qui se pouvoit retirer, 
mais nos Marchands de poisson ne se pressoient pas de payer faisans tofijours des 
remises, & un mois devant que les trois mois fussent expirez, ils proposerent 4 
mon frere d’achepter le navire pour leur voyage des Indes, le marché en fut fait 
& conclu, 4 condi- [89] tion de le payer comptant, & qu’il seroit permis 4 mon 
frere d’embarquer son argent & son monde dans un autre bastiment Francois qui 
estoit 1a, & devoit partir dans sept ou huit jours: l’on luy compte bonne partie 
de son argent qu’il fit porter au bord de ce vaisseau qui estoit déja en rade, il 
survint un second ordre du Roy d’arrester tout, sur cet ordre le Gouverneur 
arreste celuy de mon frere, disant appartenir aux Marchands Espagnols & qu’il 
estoit propre pour la guerre; mon frere se plaint au Gouverneur, il demande ou 
le reste de son payement ou son navire, le Gouverneur luy promit de le faire 
payer, & pour cet effet envoya un homme avec luy fai- [g0| re commandement 
aux marchands d’achever le payement, ils le promettent & n’en font rien, au 
contraire ils le font chicaner tant que les trois mois expirent, & le jour devant 
le terme expiré, ils firent arrester la navire ou estoit argent, qu’ils prirent & 
sotitinrent en Justice qu’ils n’estoient pas obligez de le payer, puis que le Roy 
sen estoit mis en possession avant qu'il fut 4 eux, qu’il pouvoit avoir son recours 
contre le Roy qui s’en estoit saisi avant les trois mois expirez. 

Le Gouverneur luy donna des lettres pour cela avec lesquelles il alla 4 Madrid 
ou il sollicita son affaire, & fit si bien connoitre son bon droit, qu’on fut obligé, 
pour éviter de luy ren- [91] dre justice de luy faire une querelle d’ Allemand, en 
vertu de laquelle on le mit en prison, ce qui fut tout son payement. 

L’ Ambassadeur de France qui estoit pour lors 4 Madrid le fut voir en la prison 
ou il estoit, il luy compta son affaire, mais il n’en tira point d’autre consolation ny 
esperance, |’ Ambassdeur |’ayant asseuré qu’il n’en devoit rien attendre, ayant a faire 
4 des fourbes qui n’avoient autre dessein que de luy faire perdre son navire & sa 
marchandise, neantmoins qu’il en parleroit, & que dans deux ou trois jours il luy en 
rendroit réponse, ce qu'il fit; mais aussi infructueusement que la premiere fois, 
Vayant asseuré que l’on ne |’avoit fait mettre pri- [92 sonnier que pour l’empescher 
de demander son deub, qu'il pouvoit sortir pourveu qu "il ne demandast rien, ce 
quwil fit 4 la caution d’un Savetier pour un écu. Estant en liberté il fut voir 
! Ambassadeur de temps en temps qui le prit en amitié, & le trouva propre pour 
faire scavoir au Cardinal de Richelieu ce qui se passoit lors en Espagne contre 
la France ne pouvant pas écrire de crainte que les lettres ne fussent interceptées ; 
il fit donc aprendre par coeur 4 mon frere tout ce qu’il avoit 4 mander & fut 
envoyé en France avec une lettre de creance pour le Cardinal de Richelieu. 
Apres avoir presenté sa lettre 4 ce premier Ministre & luy avoir dit qu’il avoit 
[93] a Pentretenir seul de choses de consequence dont |’ Ambassadeur l’avoit 
chargé, il s’en aquitta de telle sorte que le Cardinal témoigna en estre satisfait 
& luy promit sa protection pour tascher de luy faire tirer payement de son 
navire, mais ces belles paroles furent tout le recouvrement que nous en avons 
fait. Quant au Commandeur de Razilly, le Marchand Breton & moy, car a 
Pégard de mon frere, le Cardinal luy donna le commandement d’un navire du 
Roy. Voila 4 peu prés le succez qu’eut le projet que javois fait pour établir 
dans la suite une pesche sedentaire, & bien qu’on ait cri que mon principal but 
dans toutes mes entreprises en ces [94] pays-la a toujours esté le negoce des 
pelleteries avec les Sauvages; je n’ay jamais compté ]4-dessus que comme sur un 
accessoire qui pouvoit servir en quelque facon au capital de ce qui se peut faire 


482 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


dans le pais qui est la pesche sedentaire & la culture de la terre, supposé 
l’établissement d’une ou plusieurs colonies en tous les lieux de la coste ot |’un 
& autre se peuvent avantageusement pratiquer. 

Continuant la route, on trouve une coste, & tout le long des Isles de distance 
en distance il y a passage pour de petites barques & chalouppes, entre la grande 
terre, & les Isles qui sont couvertes de sapins & bouleaux. Ayant fait six 4 
sept lieués le [95] long de cette coste, l’on trouve une petite riviere dont 
Ventrée est bonne pour des barques; elle ne vient pas de bien loin dans la 
terre, mais c’est un tres-beau & tres-excellent pays; c’est le lieu ot le Com- 
mandeur de Razilly avoit fait faire une partie de son défrichement; il y avoit 
environ quarante habitans que recueilloient déja quantité de foment lors quwil 
mourut. II n’avoit point d’autre passion que de faire peupler le pays, & tous les 
ans il faisoit venir du monde le plus qu’il pouvoit 4 ce dessein. L’on alloit de la 
a la Haive par terre; il y avoit environ demie lieve de traverse, & par mer une 
lieué. I] n’y avoit qu'une pointe a doubler pour entrer dans [96] le havre de la 
Haive. A son entrée a la gauche il y a une isle qui s’apelle |’ Isle aux Fram- 
boises, le dessus n’estant que framboisiers; le Printemps elle est toutes couverte 
de tourtres qui les vont manger; 4 la droite en entrant il y a un gros cap de 
roche que |’on appelle le cap Doré, parce que quand le Soleil donne dessus il 
paroist tout doré, l’entrée est entre l’isle & le cap, elle n’est pas bien large; 
estant dedans l’on trouve un beau bassin ou il tiendroit bien mille vaisseaux. Le 
logement de Monsieur de Razilly estoit 4 une lieué de l’entrée sur une petite 
pointe, qui a d’un costé la riviere, & de l’autre il y a un étang & des marests 
qui s’avancent dans la [97] terre environ cing cens pas, & au bout il n’y a pas 
grande terre 4 couper pour enfermer d’eau environ trois ou quatre arpens de 
terre ou estoit basty le Fort, la riviere monte cing a six lieués dans les terres, 
jusques ov |’on peut aller avec des chalouppes; cela passé il se faut servir de 
canots. ‘Tout le long de cette riviere ce sont de belles & bonnes terres, fors 
beaux bois des especes que j’ay déja nommées, mais les chesnes, & les ormeaux 
y sont plus abondans des deux costez de la riviere, dans laquelle il y a une 
infinité de conniflle, qui sont de grandes coquilles comme celles que les Pelerins 
rapportent de saint Michel & de saint Jacques, c’est un excellent manger, l’an- 
[98] guille y est tres-bonne, l’aloze, le saumon, molué & d’autres sortes de 
bons poissons; la chasse ny est pas moins abondante toute |’année de toutes sortes 
d’oyseaux que j’ay déja nommez. C’est 1a le lieu que le Commandeur de Razilly 
avoit choisi pour sa retraite, pour moy j’avois choisi un autre endroit de l’autre 
costé de la riviere ot la terre estoit tres-bonne, & sur le bord d’une autre petite 
riviere qui tomboit dans la grande ot j’avois fait bastir un logement; j’avois 
douze hommes avec moy, les uns laboureurs, les autres faiseurs de mairrain ou 
douves pour barriques, charpentiers, & d’autres pour la chasse, j’étois muny de 
toutes sortes de [99] provisions, nous faisions bonne chere car le gibier ne nous 
manquoit point, du haut de ma petite riviere traversant quatre ou cing cens pas 
dans le bois j’allois en de grands étangs plains de gibier ot je faisois ma chasse, 
laisant la grande riviere au Commandeur. En ces endroits tout le bois n’étoit 
que chesnes, qui estoit ce que je chercheois. Je mis 1a mes ouvriers de mairrain 
& mes charpentiers en besongne; en deux années jeus quantité de mairrain, 
de poutres pour les bastimens toutes escaries, aussi bien que des solives. 
Monsieur de Razilly qui ne souhaitoit que de faire connoistre la bonté du pais 
pour y attirer du monde, estoit ravy que je chargeasse [100] tout le bois sur les 


SS Che 


—— 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. III 483 


navires qui luy apportoient ses provisions, sans qney ils auroient esté obligez de 
sen retourner a vuide en France. 

Ce m’estoit une commodité qui ne luy colitoit rien, tout cela luy donnoit une 
grande satisfaction, & m’eust donné un grand profit & 4 ma compagnie de la 
Pesche sedentaire que je voulois établir comme j’ay dit, & qui manqua, non 
seulement par la perte de nostre navire, & ensuite par la mort de Monsieur de 
Razilly 4 qui le sieur d’ Aunay succeda, par un accommodement avec le frere du 
Commandeur, cela apporta bien du changement dans le pais; le premier ne 
souhaitoit que de faire connoistre sa bon- [ror] té & le faire peupler, & l’autre 
tout au contraire apprehendoit qu'il s’habitast, & aussi n’y a-t’il fait passer per- 
sonne, & emmena tous les habitans de la Haive au Port royal, les tenans tofijours 
esclaves sans leur y laisser faire aucun profit, son humeur & celle de son conseil 
estoit de regner, ce qu’ils n’eussent pu faire si l’on eust conneu la bonté du pays, 
& qu’il eust esté peuplé, ils me |’ont bien fait connoistre, car depuis la mort de 
Monsieur de Razilly je n’ay pa avoir Ja liberté de faire venir mon bois, ny n’a 
jamais voulu que ces vaisseaux m’en ayent apporté, qui revenoient a vuide, quoy 
que je luy aye voulu donner la moitié de la vente du bois. Mon maistre [102] 
faiseur de marain le fut trouver au Port royal, 4 qui j’avois donné la moitié de 
ce que j’en pretendois, qui eust esté le quart pour luy & le quart pour moy. 

oyant que cét homme le pressoit pour avoir la liberté de faire enlever ses bois, 
il luy permit s’il pouvoit trouver un navire pour cela. Pour lors il y avoit une 
petite barque de Baston qui leur avoit apporté quelques victuailles, il en parla 4 
celuy que la commandoit, qui luy dit qu’on luy acheteroit 4 Baston, il demanda 
permission d’y aller, on luy accorda. D’Aunay, a son retour luy fit accroire 
qu'il les avoit trahis sous pretexte de venir querir son bois, que c’estoit pour les 
surprendre: il le fit [103] mettre en une basse fosse, ot il n’y avoit point de 


_ jour, avec des fers de cinquante livres aux pieds, & on l’y fit mourir de misere, 


& tant que d’Aunay 4 vécu, sa conduite a totijous esté de mal-traiter ceux qu il 
croyoit capable de faire peupler le pais par leur exemple, en sorte que je fus 
contraint d’abandonner le pais & pour plus de vingt mille livres de bois de toute 
sorte, tout faconné: ce qui fait bien connoistre que quelque bonne que puisse 
estre une terre, il n’est point d’homme qui en puisse tirer du fruit, s'il est 
persecuté dans ses entreprises, & il 4 beau avoir des talents, de |’experience 
& du scavoir faire, si on luy lie les mains, & qu’on [104] l’empesche de s’en 
servir, ce qui est assez bien prouvé par mon exemple. Et ensuite les desordres 
que d’ Aunay causa dans le pais; ses enfans furent bien heureux de trouver un 
azile chez moy, aprés avoir esté chassez des Anglois: mon établissement ayant 
servy, non seulement 4 la subsistance de ma famille, mais 4 le leur propre, pendant 
prés d’un an dans leur besoin, & 4 tous ceux qui m’ont persecuté. 


484 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


[105] CHAPITRE IV 


Suitte de la coste a’ Acadie depuis la Haive jusques d Campseaux ou elle finit, od sont 
décrites toutes les rivieres, les Isles, les bois, la bonté de la terre, les diverses especes 
de chasses §§ de pesches, &§ des rencontres {F avantures qui sont arrivees a 


? Autheur. 


ORT ANT de la Haive & ayant doublé le cap Doré environ une lieué, 
l’on entre dans la baye de Mirligaiche qui a prés de tros lieués de pro- 
fondeur, rem- [106 ] plie de plusieurs Isles, entre autres il y en a une 
d’un quart de lieué de tour, ce n’est qu’une roche couverte de petit bois 

comme des bruyeres; je fus en cette baye avec Monsieur de Razilly & des 
Sauvages qui nous conduisoient, & un T'ruchement nous dit, passant proche de 
cette Isle, que les Sauvages n’y mettoient jamais pied a terre, & luy en ayant 
demandé la raison, il fit réponse, que lors qu'un homme mettoit les pieds sur cette 
Isle, qu’en mesme temps le feu luy prenoit 4 ses parties, & qu’elles briloient, 
au rapport des Sauvages, ce qui nous donna sujet de rire, & encore plus lors que 
le Commandeur de Razilly dit 4 un Pere Capucin 4gé de soixante ans & plus 
d’y aller [107] pour desabuser ces gens-la de leurs erreurs, ce qu’il refusa & 
n’en voulut jamais rien faire, quoy que Monsieur de Razilly luy pat dire, l’on 
passa donc outre: nous allames jusques au fonds de cette baye ou nous trouvames 
plusieurs autres belles Isles remplies en partie de grands chesnes. 

Continuant nostre chemin nous abordémes au lieu of mon monde travailloit 
aux bois de charpente & au marrain, dont Monsieur de Razilly fut ravy voyant 
une si grande quantité de bois & si bien conditionné, il dit mille belles choses sur 
la bonté du pais, sur le grand nombre de monde qui patit en France & qui 
pourroit estre a son aise en ce pais; il en dit bien davantage [108] lors que je 
le fis entrer dans une salle que j’avois fait faire couverte de feuillages, ou il trouva 
une table assez bien garnie, des potages de tourtres, avec des outardes & cravans, 
ou tout son monde se réjouit bien autant que luy, car ils avoient tous bon apetit ; 
a ce service en succeda un autre de cravans & de sarcelles, & 4 celuy-cy un 
troisiéme de beccasses, beccassines & allotettes en piramides, ce fut un ravisse- 
ment a tout le monde de voir tant de gibier a la fois, tout cela n’avoit couté que 
deux journées de mes chasseurs. Des framboises & des fraises en abondance 
servirent de dessert m’ayant esté apportées par les enfans des Sauvages que J avois 
employez pour [109] ne point distraire mes gens de leur travail. Le vin blanc 
& clairet ne manqua pas 4 cette petite feste, en sorte que Monsieur de Razilly 
& toute sa suitte furent forts satisfaits aussi bien que mes gens qui eussent souhaité 
que Monsieur de Razilly les fust venu voir souvent, 4 quoy je n’aurois pas 
trouvé mon compte, non pour la dépence du gibier qui ne me manquoit point, ils 
en avoient tous les jours, mais pour le retardement de mon travail. 

Sortant de la baye allant le long de la coste, 4 trois ou quatre lieués de Ia l’on 
rencontre une riviere qui a deux entrées par le moyen d’une Isle qui est au 
milieu ; du costé de la premiere entrée il y a de tres-belles [110] & bonnes 
terres couvertes de grands & beaux arbres, a l’autre entrée a la droite on ne 
trouve point de beaux bois que l’on ne monte avant dans la riviere; il n’y a que 


SEPTENTRIONALE., CHAP. IV 485 


des roches pellées assés hautes; entre ces roches il y a un petit havre ow les 
navires mouillent, & ou il y en a souvent qui y font leur pesche & font secher 
leur poisson sur les roches qui sont Isolées, & les chalouppes qui vont en 
pescheries entrent & sortent des deux costez; un peu au large de ces Isles, la 
pescherie y est bonne & abondante en molue, ie maquereaux & le harang donne 
fort 4 la coste; ce lieu s’appelle Passepec, du costé de la mer ce n’est que 
rochers qui sont tous pelez l’espace de quatre a cing lieués. Lelong [111] de 
cette coste n’est que sapins meslés de quelques autres bois; continuant l’espace 
de cing a six lieués le long de la coste l’on trouve une baye d’environ une lievé 
de large ou il ya quelques Isles, la les arbres & la terre commencent d’estre agre- 
ables, & vis 4 vis trois ou quatre liués au large il y a une Isle de roches, qui est 
grande avec de petit bois dessus ; elle est assez mal-aisée 4 aborder, j’y ay esté 
une fois avec une chalouppe au temps que les oyseaux font leurs nids, nous y en 
trouvames une si grande abondance de toutes les sortes que j’ay nommez, que 
tout mon équipage & moy nous estans mis a couper des batons nous en tudmes un 
si grand nombre tant petits que peres [112] & meres, qui estoient si paresseux 
a se lever de dessus leurs nids, que nous ne les petimes emporter tous, outre que la 
quantité de ceux quis’estoient sauvez & élevez en l’air faisoient un nuage si épais, 
gue les rayons du Soleil ne pouvoient pas penetrer au travers. Nous nous rembar- 
quames avec notre chasse, & retourndmes a terre faire bonne chere. Continuant 
nostre route environ cing lievés, |’on trouve une riviere que l’on appelle la riviere 
de Theodore qui a belle entrée pour des navires, les chalouppes y peuvent monter 
cing a six lieués, le reste en.canots: le pays y est bien agreable, le terroir est bon, 
mais il y a quelques roches [113 | semées par cy par la qui ne sont pas bien grosses 
& ne tiennent pas en terre: pour les bois il y ena de toutes les sortes & y sont gros 
& de belle hauteur, les sapins ny sont pas si communs que les pins sauvages. 

_ Acing lieués de cette riviere continuant le long de la coste l’on trouve la 
baye de toutes Isles qui a bien dix-huit lieués de large: avant que d’y entrer 
l’on trouve des rochers le long de la coste, & toutes les Isles qui sont dans cette 
baye sont rochers, les unes contiennent bien plus de tour que les autres, il y en a 
une bonne partie ow il n’y a que de la mousse dessus, d’autres des brieres ou 
brandes, d’autres de petits sapins fort [114 ] bas & tout branchus. Entrant dans 
la baye il y a de plus grandes Isles ot les sapins sont plus beaux, & en toute 
cette espace de dix-huit lieués, ce ne sont qu’isles dont je n’ay jamais pti scavoir 
le nombre ny celuy du gibier qui y abonde de toute parts: il y a passage de |’une 
des pointes 4 l’autre de ladite baye entre ces Isles pour une chalouppe & pour 
une barque, mais il faut bien scavoir le chemin pour y passer: cette baye a bien 
prés de quatre lieués de profondeur, & plusieurs rivieres qui descendent dedans, 
elles sont petites, ce ne sont quasi que gros ruisseaux par ot les Sauvages vont & 
viennent, ils y sont en grand nombre a cause de la chasse qui est bonne dans 
[115] le haut des terres y ayant des montagnes toutes remplies d’orignaux : il 
ne laisse pas d’y avoir de beaux bois & de bonne terre & des endroits beaux & 
agreables: sortant de cette baye a trois ou quatre lieués de 14 on trouve une 
riviere ou de petits navires peuvent entrer, mais il y a une forme d’Isle qui jette 
des battures de sable au large ot la mer brise fort dessus, ils les faut passer, & 
puis revenir le long de la terre il y a un petit canal par ou |’on peut entrer, estant 
dedans |’on trouve assez d’eau & la riviere paroit fort belle, beau pais plat: les 
arbres y sont beaux, ce sont tofijours les mesmes especes de bois dont j’ay déja 
parlé, la chasse y est tres-bonne & force gibier. 


21 


486 DESCRIPTION DE L?AMERIQUE 


[116] Continuant sa route aprés avoir fait cinq lieués on trouve une autre 
riviere qui a une petite Isle ronde a l’entrée couverte d’herbe qui s’appelle I’ Isle 
Verte, & la riviere a esté nommée sainte Marie par la Giraudiere qui si est venu 
habiter, & qui avoit fait bastir une maison a trois lieués, au dessus de son em- 
bouchure les chalouppes ne pouvant pas aller plus avant: le pais y est plat depuis 
Ventrée de la riviere, & jusques a demic Jieué au dessus du logement & plus haut 
ce sont tous rochers, la riviere sort d’un grand lac qui est a deux lieués ou 
environ au dessus des rochers, tous les logemens de la Giraudiere estoient enclos 
d’un Fort de quatre petits bastions, le tout fait de [117] gros picquets ou pieux : 
il y avoit deux pieces de canon de fonte & des pierriers, le tout en assez bonne 
deffence. 

La Giraudiere avoit fait faire du défrichement, mais ce terroir la n’estoit pas 
des meilleurs pour estre sableux, il ne laissa pourtant pas de rapporter de bons 
bleds, mais cela n’a pas continué, au reste la pesche & la chasse y estoient 
abondantes, mais n’en estans pas contens cela ne le satisfaisoit pas; ce qui le fit 
songer a trouver moyen de me faire querelle comme il fit, passa en France, surprit 
les interessez de la Compagnie ancienne, se fit donner mon habitation & vingt 
cing lieués de terres 4 moy concedée (dont je parleray lors que j’y [118] seray 
arrivé.) Ledit dela Giraudiere qui estoit venu en France avec moy pour cette 
affaire, se voyant debouté de sa pretention par la Compagnie, n’y a pas retourné, 
& de Bay son frere qui commandoit au pais en sa place a aussi repassé en France, 
qui a laissé en sa place un nommé Huret, qui y a totijours demeuré depuis, 
jusques en mille six cens soixante neuf. 

Un nommé la Montagne qui avoit esté a moy & que j’avois marié 4 une des 
servantes de ma femme, travailloit pour son compte a saint Pierre en l’isle du 
cap Breton: il y avoit bien six arpens de bonne terre defrichée sans racine ou 
il receuilloit de bon froment, des pois, & des [1 19] féves, par le moyen des 
avances que je luy avois faites: la Giraudiere me l’avoit débauché dans le temps 
qu'il me venoit voir sous pretexte d’amitié, l’ayant engagé luy & sa femme de 
me demander leur congé gé pour retourner en F rance, ils m’importunerent tant 
que je fus contraint de leur accorder: ils furent 4 Campseaux pour trouver 
passage ot ils demeurerent tout le temps de la pesche: les navires estans prés 4 
partir, la Giraudiere dit aux Capitaines qu’ils leurs refusassent leur passage pour 
me donner lieu de croire que s’ils les retiroient en leur habitation c’étoit par 
charité, ne scachant ou aller manque de passage : il ne se contenta pas de m’avoir 
[120] débauché ceux-la, il en attira encore d’autres: la Montagne y demeura 
environ deux années, mais voyant qu’il ny trouvoit pas son compte & que l’on 
ne luy tenoit pas ce qu’on luy avoit promis, il eut bien voulu revenir trouver son 
défrichement, mais je ne me voulus plus fier en luy. Le Borgne le prist, sa 
femme & ses enfans, ot il demeura bien autant a travailler sans rien gagner, il ne 
scavoit quel mestier faire en France ou il n’avoit pas le moyen de vivre, cepen- 
dant le Borgne croit luy donner assez que de les nourrir tous, mais enfin la 
Montagne quite le Borgne comme il avoit fait la Giraudiere. 

Ne scachant ou donner de la [121] teste, il prit resolution d’aller au Port 
royal avec toute sa famille, il se Tendit serviable aux Anglois & en tira de la 
poudre & du plomb aprés quoy il se retira 4 la coste, ou il fit une petite cabane 
a la mode des Sauvages, il faisoit quelques peaux dont il avoit de la poudre, du 
plomb, de l’eau de vie & autres commodités des Capitaines des navires pescheurs : 
il vivoit de la sorte, lors qu’il rencontra une barque Angloise qui venoit de sainte 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. V 487 


Marie pour surprendre Huret Commandant dans l’habitation du sieur de Cangé: 
Les Anglois luy firent confidence de leur entreprise & comme ils les avoient 
manquez, mais Ja Montagne leur ayant promis de les [122] faire reussir en ce 
dessein s’ils y vouloient retourner, & qu’il les y accompagneroit volontiers pour 
se vanger du tort qu'il en avoit receu & leur serviroit de guide scachant toutes 
les routes & leur maniere d’agir: il les mena au travers les bois tout proche du 
Fort, justement a |’heure du diner : il va a la découverte, trouve que |’on étoit 4 
diner la porte ouverte, il avertit les Anglois qui prennent leurs courses pour entrer 
dans le Fort : comme ils courroient un homme vint a sortir par hazard, les ayant 
apperceus ils fermerent les portes & crierent aux armes, mais les Anglois gagnerent 
les embrazures, ou ayant passé leurs fuzils tirerent sur le premier qui sortit du 
lo- [123] gis, ensuite sur un autre, & les tinrent ainsi assiegez, ils travaillerent pour 
faire entrée, & menasserent de tuer tout s’ils ne se rendoient, ce qu’ils firent: 
Les Anglois estans les maistres les lierent, une partie les gardant pendant que 
les autres pillerent & chargerent tout en leur batiment, & apres avoir mis le teu 
dans le Fort, les emmenerent a leur bord ow ils leur donnerent une chalouppe 
pour aller ot ils pourroient, ne scachant ot donner de la teste, Huret & son monde 
vinrent en mon habitation de Nipigiguit dans le fonds de la baye des chaleurs, 
ou ma femme en mon absence les a nourris tout un Hyver, jay son billet dont je 
n’ay pas encore esté payé: [124] & voila comme mon assiduité & mon travail 
m’ ont donné occasion d’assister dans leurs disgraces ceux qui croyoient ne pouvoir 
jamais avoir assez de terre a leur gré, & qui n’aspiroient qu’a me traverser & me 
détruire dans le temps que la Providence me faisoit travailler 4 leur subsistance & 
4 leur donner du pain dans leur misere, cecy soit dit sans reproche. 

De la riviere sainte Marie au cap de Campseaux il y a bien dix lieués, & 
ayant fait quatre a cinq lieues le long de la coste, ]’on trouve une baye ou ily a 
des roches, il n’y a de retraite que pour des chalouppes: environ trois lieués au 
large il y a des Isles 00 un ou deux navires [125] peuvent mouiller, mais avec 
peu de seureté, 1a ils font leurs pesches & font sécher le poisson sur les Isles, ot 
il n’y a pas grand bois: de cette baye continuant son chemin tout le long de la 
coste il y a des terres hautes & rochers sans retraitte. 


[126] CHAPITRE V 


Description de Campseaux, de la baye (S petit passage de Campseaux jusques 
au cap de saint Louts, des rivieres, des Isles, des Havres, les Bois, de la 


Chasse, de la Pesche, go? de ce qui y est arrivé de plus particulier. 
AMPSEAUX est un Havre qui a bien trois lieues de profondeur, 


qui du cap commence |’entrée de la grande baye de saint Laurent. Le 
Havre [127] n’est composé que d’un nombre d’Isles, il y en a une 
grande d’environ quatre lieues de tour, ot il y a ruisseaux & fontaines : 
elle est couverte d’assez beaux arbres, mais la plus grande partie ne sont que 
sapins, qui est la commodité des pescheurs pour faire leurs échaffaux, dont je 
parleray en son lieu: cette Isle est dans le milieu des autres, & fait deux Havres, 
Pun pour |’ Amiral ou premier navire arrivé qui est le plus proche de l’entrée du 


488 DESCRIPTION DE L?AMERIQUE 


costé de la mer, l’ancrage du navire est entre deux Isles ow il est en seureté, & 
autre Havre, pour le vis-Amiral: & de l’autre costé de l’Isle od les nayvires 
n’ont pas un si bon abry: ces deux places ont de la grave, mais ils n’en ont pas 
assez [128 ] pour se passer de vignaux ; j expliqueray ces deux termes lors que 
je parleray de la pesche des molues: la troisiéme place est a la petite entrée du 
costé de la baye de Campseaux, celle-la n’a point de grave, |’on se sert de vignaux, 
toutes les entrées d’un costé & d’autre sont dangereuses, il faut que les navires 
passent entre des rochers: la coste y est fort poissonneuse, sur tout en molue, 
maquereau & en haran, dont les pescheurs font leurs boites pour prendre la molue 
qui en est fort friande: les pescheurs appellent boite ce que nous nommons appas 
qui s’attache a l’hamecon, la molué se prenant 4 la ligne. 

Entrant dans le fonds de la baye de Campseaux qui a huit [129] lieues 
de profondeur: sortant de Campseaux y: allant le long de la coste lon trouve 
trois lieues durant des roches, apres cela l’on trouve une grande ance qui a une 
Isle au milieu, derriere laquelle les chalouppes se peuvent mettre 4 couvert : plus 
’on va en avant dans la baye, plus ce pays se trouve beau, & a trois lieues de 
cette ance, on trouve une petite riviere que jay nommé la riviere au Saumon : y 
allant une fois pour y pescher, je fis donner un coup de saine a l’entrée, ou il se 
prit une si grande quantité de Saumon, que dix hommes ne la peurent amener 4 
terre, & quoy qu’elle fust neufve, si elle n’eust crevé le Saumon |’auroit emportée, 
nous en eusmes enco- [ 130 | re plein nostre chalouppe: les Saumons y sont forts, 
les moindres ont trois pieds de long. Une autre fois je fus pescher a quatre 
lieues dans le haut de la riviere jusques ou les chalouppes peuvent aller: il y a 
deux fosses ow je fis jetter la saine : en une je pris bien dequoy emplir une barique 
de truites saumonnées, & en |’autre six-vingts Saumons: la riviere monte bien 
avant dans les terres, il ny va que des canots: au costé gauche de cette riviere il 
y a des terres hautes couvertes de beaux arbres, & le long de cette coste proche 
de leau il y a force pins: au costé droit les terres y sont plus basses & couvertes 
des mesmes especes de bois que jay déja décris, & en montant | 131] la riviere on 
trouve des prairies, jusques ou les chalouppes peuvent monter, la riviere fait une 
Isle qui n’est encore que des prairies: I’herbe y est bonne & y vient aussi haute 
qu’un homme, c’estoit la provision de nos vaches, estant 4 Chedabouctou qui est 
a deux lieues plus avant au fonds de la baye. 

Chedabouctou est le mot sauvage que porte cette riviere, il s’y est fait un beau 
Havre par le moyen d’une digue de cailloux de six cens pas de long qui barre 
l’emboucheure de cette riviere, 4 la reserve de l’entrée quia une portée de pistolet 
de large & qui fait par dedans une espece de bassin: cette digue paroist encore de 
cing ou six pieds de haute mer, en sorte que !’en- [132] trée en est fort aisée; un 
navire de cent tonneaux y peut entrer facilement & y demeurer toaijours a flot: 
la terre y est bonne, quoy que les deux costez de la riviere soient bordez de rochers : 
sur le haut il y a de tres-beaux arbres, des especes que j "ay déja nommées. 

C’est le lieu que 7 avois choisi pour faire mes magazins pour |’établissement 
de ma Pesche sedentaire, j’avois six-vingt hommes 4 y travailler tant aux batimens 
qu’au labourage, j’avois environ trente arpens de terre défrichée dont une partie 
estoit ensemencée : toutes ces terres se sont remises en friches, & les batimens sont 
rilinez; jen avois déja fait achever deux de soixante pieds de long, & un [133 } 
autre pareil dont la charpente estoit preste 4 monter, lors que la Giraudiere me 
vint attaquer, ce qui m “obligea de quiter tout & me retirer au Fort saint Pierre 
enl’Isle du cap Breton, & m’a ruiné de telle sorte en toutes mes affaires, qu'il 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. V 489 


n’a presque pas esté en mon possible de les remettre sur le pied ou elles estoient 
auparavant. 

Sortant de Chedabouctou allant 4 l’entrée du petit passage de Campseaux 1’ on 
passe quatre lieues de terre hautes & de rochers, qui vont en descendant jusques 
a une petite Isle; & la les terres sont plattes, marécageuses & pleines de petits 
étangs d’eau salée, dans lesquels il se trouve grand nombre de gibier : une lieué plus 
avant on [134] trouve une autre baye ou il y entre un grand courant de marée : 
entrée y est estroite, 11 y a une barre de sable, & les chalouppes n’y peuvent 
entrer que de pleine mer, le dedans asseche de basse mer ou tombe deux petits 
ruisseaux : l’on nomme ce lieu, la riviere du Mouton; la chasse est excellente dans 
les terres qui sont tres-bonnes, le pais agreable: les bois y sont beaux, il y a peu 
de sapins, & toute la coste est de mesme jusqu’a !’entrée du petit passage de 
Campseaux qui est entre la terre ferme & l’Isle du cap Breton ot paroist un gros 
cap de terre rouge. Continuant huit ou neuf lieués !’on trouve un grand cap fort 
haut, & toute cette coste est haute avec des rochers cou- [135] verts de grands 
sapins: au bas de ce grand cap qui est escarpé a pied droit, il y a une ance ot les 
vaisseaux qui vont dans la grande baye de saint Laurens pour faire leur pesche, & 
qui arrivent 4 la coste de trop bonne heure, qui ne peuvent entrer dans la grande 
baye de saint Laurens par le grand passage a cause des glaces, viennent chercher 
ce petit passage, & se mettre 4l’ancre dans cette ance pour laisser passer les glaces : 
ce lieu s’appelle Fronsac ; j’y ay veu jusques a huit ou dix vaisseaux, & quoy que 
le courant soit extremement fort dans ce petit passage, les glaces n’incommodent 
point les vaisseaux en cet endroit, 4 cause d’une grande pointe qui avance, & [136] 
qui détourne la marée qui pourroit apporter ces glaces de la grande baye, les 
rejette du costé de I’Isle du cap Breton, & celles qui pourroient venir de |’autre 
costé sont jettées aussi par le gros cap du costé de cette Isle: cet endroit-la est 
le plus estroit du petit passage, & il n’y peut avoir que la portée d’un bon canon 
de la terre ferme a I’Isle. 

Sortant de cette ance, avant que d’en passer la pointe il y a des étangs d’eau 
sallée ou il se trouve quantité de bonnes huitres & fort grosses, & des moules encore 
davantage : passé la pointe on trouve une petite riviere ou des chalouppes peuvent 
entrer; estant dedans on trouve une Isle qui separe une gran-[ 137 | de baye endeux, 
ou tombent deux ruisseaux, il s’y trouve aussi force huistres & moules : le pais est 
agreable & beau, les arbres y sont comme les autres, mais il y a plus de cedres & de 
trembles, la terre y est basse; la baye a bien deux lieues de tour & platte en des 
endroits : elle asseche de basse mer ; ce sont sables vazeux, & l’on y trouve quantité 
de coquillages de toutes facons bonnes a manger, c’est la plus grande subsistance des 
Sauvages pendant le Printemps. Dela aprés avoir fait encore deux lieues suivant 
la coste, on trouve une autre baye qu’on nomme Articougnesche : suivant la coste 
ce sont tous sables, quide basse mer assechent [138 ] bien trois lieues vers ]’eau, 
& a entrée des terres il y a force étangs d’eau sallée & de belles prairies ot l’on 
trouve grand nombre de gibier, & plus avant que les prairies les terres y sont bonnes 
& de tres-beaux bois, puis ayant avancé environ six lieues, continuant Ja route 
le long de la coste l’on trouve une riviere par ot les Sauvages viennent au Printemps 
en canots apporter en cachette leurs pelleteries aux pescheurs 4 qui elle n’est pas 
permise, & qui ne laissent pas neantmoins de leur donner du tabac & de !’eau de 
vie en échange. 

Continuant le tour de la baye la terre y est diversifiée d’étangs & de prairies, 
a la reserve de quelques lieux couverts [139] de sapins & de cedres, & dans le 


490 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


fonds de la baye!’on trouve une petite entrée entre deux pointes qui va dans une 
grande ance toute plate, dans laquelle il y a un canal par ot les chalouppes peuvent 
entrer: a une bonne portée de canon de cette entrée l’on trouve la riviere de 
Mirliguesche qui donne le nom 4a cette baye: elle est profonde & s’étend bien 
avant dans les terres: pendant le Printemps & |’ Autommne, cette ance est toute 
couverte d’outardes, canards, sarcelles & de toutes autres sortes de gibier, le nombre 
en est si grand que cela ne se peut pas imaginer, ils y demeurent jusques apres la 
Toussaint : en ce mesme lieu il y a des huistres excellentes, & a l’en- [140] trée 
de la riviere 4 gauche il y en a encore davantage, elles sont en roches les unes sur 
les autres : en montant la riviere il y a du costé gauche deux lieues durant des roches 
de platre qui sont assez hautes; cela passé les terres sont bonnes trois lieues durant 
des deux costez, & couvertes de beaux arbres gros & fort hauts entremeslées de 
chesnes, & de quelques pins: au bout de ces trois lieues l’on rencontre deux autres 
rivieres en fourche qui tombent dans celle-la, qui viennent de loin dans les terres 
par ot les Sauvages qui y sont en grand nombre viennent au Printemps pour le 
trafic de leurs peaux: la chasse y est assez bonne: le pays y est plat, avec une 
grande esten- [ 141 | dué de prairies des deux costez. Ces deux rivieres viennent 
des lacs qui sont dans le haut des deux rivieres, & dans lesquels les Sauvages tuent 
quantité de castors. 

A trois lieués de cette riviere en continuant la route le long de la coste, l’on 
trouve une petite ance ou la marée entre, dont le fond n’est que vase, & au milieu 
de laquelle passe un ruisseau : pendant le Printemps & |’ Automne !’on y pesche une 
grande quantité de bars, qui est un tres-bon poisson long de deux a trois pieds; 
les Sauvages les prennent avec une épée anmanchée a un baston d’environ sept 
pieds de long qu’ils dardent sur le poisson lors qu’ils l’appergoivent, & en une 
heu- [142 ] re ils en chargent un canot qui est environ deux cens de ces poissons. 
Dela la coste va jusqu’au cap saint Louis toljours en montant quatre lieués 
durant ; ce cap la est aussi extremement haut, il se void de vingt lieues : j’ay monté 
jusques au haut ov il y a de beaux arbres, & fort hauts & gros, bien que d’embas 
ils ne paroissent que des bruieres : en descendant du costé de la grande baye de 
saint Laurens la terre est couverte des mesmes bois: au pied de ce capil y 
a des rochers qui font un petit bassin ot |’on se peut mettre a l’abry du mauvais 
temps en cas de besoin avec une chalouppe, il y a entrée des deux costez: 
il s’y trouve quantité de homars entre toutes [143] ces roches-la; s’y l’on 
y estoit assiegé de mauvais temps l’on y trouveroit totijours dequoy subsister: il 
sy trouve aussi quelques canards & moyaques, le long de la coste qui se mettent 
a Vabry derriere quelques roches pour éviter les brisants de la mer qui sont 
furieux lors que les vents portent 4 la coste: si l’on passe pardevant ce cap-la il 
faut bien se donner de garde de porter la voile haute, & les plus sages les 
mettent toutes basses pour luy rendre |’hommage, j’entends pour des chalouppes, 
car les vaisseaux passent au large & ne s’approchent pas de si prés que les 
chalouppes, encore qu'il ne fasse de vent que pour faire enfler la voile: la 
hauteur du cap fait une rafale si furieuse [144] de ce peu de vent qu'il y a, 
que s'il rencontroit la voile hautre il feroit renverser la chalouppe la quille en 


haut, plusieurs y ayant tourné, il faut passer cét endroit 4 la rame pour le plus. 


seur, & il n’est pas pliitost passé qu’on trouve le vent tout calme. 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. VI 491 


[145 | CHAPITRE VI 


Qui décrit de P Isle du cap Breton, des Ports, Havres, ses rivieres && les Isles qui 
en dépendent, la nature de la terre, des especes des bois, de la pesche, de la chasse 
ES tout ce qu'elle contient. 


E reviens 4 |’Isle du cap Breton avant que de passer plus avant. Elle est 
distante de dix lieués du cap de Campseaux ; elle a quatre vingt lieués 
de tour, y compris |’Isle de sainte Marie qui en est adjacente, & située 
en sorte qu’elle forme [146] deux passages ; l'un entre elle & la terre 

ferme appellée l’entrée du petit passage de Campseaux, dont nous avons parlé 
cy-dessus, & l’autre entrée est une intervale de six lieués qui est entre elle & |’Isle 
du cap Breton, par ot |’on va du petit passage de Campseaux au Fort de saint 
Pierre ; le trajet ne s’en peut faire que par des barques, encore faut-il bien prendre 
garde au chenal ou canal de |’entrée du petit passage: allant le long de |’ Isle de 
sainte Marie par dehors |’on trouve une petite Isle toute ronde 4 trois lieués de 
la nommée |’Isle Verte, pour y aller il faut tenir le large: la coste y est semée 
de rochers qui avancent une bonne lieué en mer, trois lieues [147] durant, & ow 
il s’est perdu autrefois des vaisseaux ; cela passé venant trouver |’Isle verte, il la 
faut laisser 4 droite pour entrer dans la baye de saint Pierre; !’on y mouille 
devant une pointe de sable un peu au large; les vaisseaux ne peuvent approcher 
plus prés de saint Pierre qu’a la distance de trois lieués les barques y peuvent 
venir, mais il faut bien scavoir le canal qui serpente, outre qu'il y a quantité de 
roches qui ne paroissent pas; le fort est basty au pied d’une montagne qui est 
quasi toute droite, l’on a peine a monter dessus de ce costé-la: il y a un étang 
au haut qui fait plusieurs fontaines, au pied de Ja montagne laquelle va en baissant 
d’un costé vers La- [148] brador huit ou neuf cens pas de long ; de l’autre costé 
de l’entrée elle descend environ cing cens pas, sur une ance ow une petite riviere 
tombe, dans laquelle on prend |’hiuer force ponnamon; c’est un petit poisson 
presque semblable au goujon qui est excellent. Tout le haut de cette montagne 
est de bonne terre ; les arbres y sont beaux, & c’est la dessus que j’ay fait faire 
mon défrichement: j’y ay bien quatre vingts arpens de terres labourables que je 
faisois ensemencer tous les ans avant mon incendie. 

L/’autre costé de terre qui est au pied de la montagne ou est le Fort a plus 
de dix lieués ; ce ne sont que sapins autour, ou la terre ne vaut rien jusques a 
[149] une petite riviere, ot il se trouve de bonnes terres & dans laquelle l’on 
pesche des Saumons: il y a aussi des prairies ; la traite y est assez bonne en 
tirant vers Labrador. Ce que l’on appelle Labrador est une intervale de mer, 
qui couppe par la moitié l’Isle du Cap Breton, a Ja reserve de huit cens pas de 
terre ou environ qu’il y a depuis le Fort saint Pierre jusques 4 |’extremité de 
cette mer de Labrador, qui fait une espece de golfe, dont l’ouverture est a 
Orient de Isle du cap Breton, & finit 4 l’Occident du costé du Fort saint 
Pierre. J’ay fait faire un chemin dans cette espace pour faire passer a force de 
bras des chalouppes d’une mer 4 !’autre, & pour éviter le circuit qu'il [150 
faudroit faire par mer: la marée monte jusques 4 |’extremité du golfe, & l’on 
compte vingt lieués depuis son entrée jusques 4 huit cens pas du Fort ou elle 


492 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


aboutit, & lors qu’il est pleine mer en Labrador, il est basse mer de l’autre costé 
vis 4 vis le Fort; l’ouverture de cette petite mer de Labrador est a Il’ Est juste- 
ment al’ oposite de Pautre costé: ce qui fait cette difference de marée, c’est que 
la baye de saint Pierre a son ouverture droit 4 I’ Ouest, joint qu’il n’est jamais 
pleine mer dans un Havre, que la Lune ne soit droit a l’opposite de entrée du 
Havre, soit dessus ou dessous l’orizon. Dans Labrador il y a un grand bassin 
ou étang de huit lieués de longueur & de cing de [151] largeur avec des ances 
de chaque costé qui entrent fort avant dans les terres: tout le tour de Labrador 
est bordé de montagnes dont partie sont de platre: les terres ny sont pas bien 
bonnes quoy que les montagnes soient couvertes d’arbres, dont la plus grande 
partie sont pins & sapins meslez de boulleaux & haistres: la pesche n’y est pas 
bonne ; il s’y trouve seulement des huistres qui ne sont pas bonnes quand elles 
sont houveliernece peschées a cause qu’elles sont trop douces, mais elles ont une 
proprieté, qui est que |’on les peut garder huit ou dix jours sans qu’elles perdent 
leur eau, apres quoy elles sont sallées & perdent cette fadeur que leur cause l’eau 
douce des rivieres, a [152] l’embouchure desquelles l’on les pesche. 

Sortant du port de saint Pierre par le costé de Campseaux pour faire le tour 
de l’Isle tirant vers la partie Orientale, l’on trouve l’Isle Verte; de la l’on va 
aux Isles Michaur qui en sont 4 trois lieués, ce sont des roches que l’on nomme 
ainsi: la pesche de la molué y est bonne, & de 1a au Havre |’ Anglois on compte 
dix lieués: toute la coste n’est que rochers, & a |’entrée de ce Havre |’on trouve 
une Isle qu’il faut laisser 4 gauche, les navires estans dedans y sont en seureté: 
Pancrage y est bon; toutes les terres du dedans ne sont que costes de rochers 
assez hautes; au bas il y a un petit étang ot |’on prend [153] grand nombre 
d’anguilles: la pesche de la molué y est tres-bonne; les Olonnois venoient 
anciennement hiverner ]4 pour estre des premiers sur le grand banc pour la pesche 
de la molué verte, & estre des premiers en France, parce que le poisson se vend 
beaucoup mieux 4 la nouveauté. AQ trois lieués de 14 |’on trouve le port de la 
Baleine, qui est encore un bon Havre, mais de difficile entrée, 4 cause de 
quantité de rochers qui s’y rencontrent: de 1a on va au Fourillon qui est derriere 
le cap Breton: le cap Breton n’est qu’une Isle, & la partie de |’Isle qui porte ce 
nom & qui regarde le Sudest, ce sont tous rochers entre lesquels |’on ne laisse 
pas de mettre des na- [154] vires a l’abry pour la pesche qui y est tres-bonne. 
Toutes les terres de ce pais-la ne vallent gueres, quoy qu’il y ait de beaux bois 
dans le haut des montagnes, comme bouleaux, haistres & la plus grande part 
sapins & quelques pins. Passant plus avant l’on trouve la riviere aux Espagnols, 
& a l’entrée de laquelle des navires peuvent estre en seureté : il y a une montagne 
de tres-bon charbon de terre 4 quatre lieués avant dans la riviere, la terre y est 
assez bonne; de !’autre costé elle est couverte de boulleaux, haistres, erables, 
fresnes, & quelques-peu de chesnes: il s’y trouve aussi des pins & des sapins: 
du haut de Ja riviere on traverse 4 Labrador ; il faut passer deux [155] ou trois 
lieugs de bois pour cela. Sortant de la riviere aux Espagnols pour aller 4 
Pentrée de Labrador, |’on fait trois lieués qui sont tous rochers, au bout desquels 
est l’entrée du petit Chibou ou de Labrador; en cette entrée il y a encore du 
charbon de terre: la commence une grande baye qui va proche de Niganiche, 
elle a huit ou dix lieués de large: dedans cette baye il y a forces roches ou les 
cormorans font leurs nids : en terre de toutes ces roches 4 la droite est le grand 
Chibou, qui est l’entrée du Havre de sainte Anne, qui est bon & fort spacieux ; 
son entrée est entre deux pointes & n’a pas cent pas de large; les vaisseaux de 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. VI 493 


trois ou quatre cens tonneaux y peu- [156] vent entrer de toutes marées: 
ancrage est bon, & quand les cables manqueroient |’on n’échoueroit que sur des 
vases ; le Havre peut contenir mille vaisseaux ; le bassin est entouré de mon- 
tagnes, de roches forts hautes ; les navires peuvent mettre le beau pré en terre 4 
la droite en entrant, c’est a ine se mettre sans danger si prés de terre que le 
mast de beaupré qui est 4 |’avant du navire y puisse toucher, la roche y est 
escarpée; il y a quelques Action rivieres & ruisseaux qui tombent dedans & qui 
viennent de toutes ces montagnes. Du bout ou extremité du Havre il y a une 
montagne de roche blanche comme lait, qui est aussi dure que le marbre: en un 
autre endroit il y a une [157] terre toute mélée de petits cailloux de plusieurs 
couleurs ; il en est tombé des morceaux 4 la coste d’assez bonne grosseur, contre 
lesquels la mer bat sans qu’elles se mettent en pleces ; ; bien au contraire elles 
sendurcissent si fort 4 l’air & a l’eau que les outils n’en scauroient faire sortir la 
moindre petite pierre, ce qui me fait croire qu’ils ne seroient pas moins beaux au 
poly que le marbre, aussi bien que la roche blanche dont je viens de parler, si 
Pon en vouloit faire l’essay. Il y a pesche de Saumon dans le Havre, mais le 
maquereau y est abondant, il s’y en pesche de monstrueux en grosseur & longueur, 
on les prend 4 la ligne a l’entrée du Havre: c’est une pointe de sable [1 58] ou 
l’on trouve force coquillage il y a aussi des étangs au bas des montagnes ou il y a 
tres-bonne chasse d’outardes, de canards & de toutes autres sortes de gibier. 

Sortant de Ja allant 4 Niganiche, l’on passe huit lieués de costes de roches 
extremement hautes & escarpées comme une muraille, si un navire s’y perdoit il 
n’y auroit point de ressource pour personne, & Niganiche qui est 4 deux lieués 
de la pointe ne vaut gueres non plus ; ; ce n'est proprement qu’une rade, entre des 
Isles qui sont un peu au large vis a vis une ance de sable; les navires mouillent 
la entre les Isles & la terre; il s’y met quelquefois jusques 4 trois navires, mais 
il n’y sont pas en [159] seureté; c’est pourtant la place la premiere prise de 
toute la coste, parce que la pesche y est bonne & prime; ce mot de prime veut 
dire que le poisson y donne & s’y pesche de bonne heure. Du Fourillon ou 
cap Breton il y peut avoir dix-huit 4 vingt lieués jusques 4 Niganiche, & de la 
au cap de Nort cing 4 six lieués, toutes costes de rochers: il y a place au cap de 
Nort pour un navire qui peut y faire sa pescherie: du cap de Nort au Chadye il 
y a environ quinze a seize lieués : toute cette coste-la n’est que rochers, couverts 
de sapins, mélez de quelques petits boulleaux: il s’y trouve quelques ances de 
sables ou 4 peine se peut retirer une chalouppe : cette coste est | 160] dangereuse : 
Le Chadye est une grande ance qui a environ deux lieués de profondeur ; dans 
le fonds est une grave de sable mélée de cailloux que la mer y a faite, derriere 
laquelle est un étang d’eau sallée, & cette ance est bordée de rochers des deux 
costez : la molué donne beaucoup dans cette baye, ce qui y attire les navires, bien 
quwil s’y en perde souvent a cause du peu d’abry qu’il y a. 

Continuant sa route le long de la coste qui sont montagnes de roches jusques 
a quatre lieués de Ja, l’on trouve une petite Isle vis 4 vis d’une ance de sable 
propre a mettre des chalouppes 4 couvert : dedans cette ance il y a une montagne 
de pierre noire dont les Charpen- [161] tiers se servent 4 marquer leurs ouvrages ; 
elle n’est pas des meilleures estant un peu dure: aprés avoir fait encore huit lieués 
de coste |’on trouve des terres basses & plattes couvertes de bois de toutes sortes, 
comme fresnes, boulleaux, haitres, erables, pins, & sapins, mais tous ces bois-la 
ne sont pas des plus beaux: de 1a |’on entre dans une petite riviere 4 chalouppes 
ou ]’on pesche force saumons: il y a une mine de charbon de terre; 1’on m’a 


494 DESCRIPTION DE L?AMERIQUE 


dit qu’il y avoit aussi du platre, mais je ne l’ay pas veu: le bois est assez beau 
en cette riviere, & le terrain n’en est pas montagneux: de l’emboucheure de 
cette petite riviere jusques a Ventrée du petit passage de [1 62] Campseaux du 
costé du Nord il n’y a que trois lieués ; & de la a lautre entrée du costé du Sud 
environ dix lieués, ou j’ay commencé pour faire le tour, & c’est ot finit le circuit 
de cette Isle du cap Breton, a laquelle on donne communement quatre vingt 
lieués de tour, dont la circonference & le dedans ne contiennent presque que des 
montagnes de roches ; mais ce qui la fait estimer sont les ports & rades ou les 
navires se mettent pour faire leur pescherie: le maquereau & le harang donne 
fort autour de |’ Isle, & les pescheurs en font leur boitte ou l’appast pour pescher 
Ja molué qui en est fort friande, & qu’elle court sur toute autre chose: cette 
[163] Isle a encore esté estimée pour la chasse de l’orignac ; il s’y en trouvoit 
autrefois grand nombre, mais 4 present il n’y en a plus, les Sauvages ont tout 
détruit & lont abandonnée n’y trouvant plus de quoy vivre; ce n’est pas que la 
chasse du gibier n’y soit bonne & abondante, mais cela n est pas suffisant pour 
leur nourriture, outre qu’il leur couste trop en poudre & en plomb; car d’un coup 
de fuzil, dont ils abattent un orignac, ils ne tueront qu’ue outarde ou deux, 
quelquefois trois, & cela n’est pas sufhsant pour les nourrir avec leurs familles 
comme fait une grande beste. 


[164] CHAPITRE VII 


Contenant la description de la grande Baye de S. Laurent, depuis le Cap de S. Loiiis 
jusques aT entrée de la Baye des chaleurs, avec toutes les rivieres && isles qut 
sont le long de la coste de Terre ferme, &5 de l’Isle S. Jean, la qualité des 
terres, les especes de bois: de la Pesche, de la Chasse, &§ quelques choses de 


la conduite §§ des meurs des Sauvages. 


L, faut retourner au cap saint Louis pour suivre le reste de la coste jusques 

a Ventrée de la [165] Baye des chaleurs, partant de ce cap a dix lieués 

de la l’on trouve une petite riviere dont l’entrée a une barre qui se 
bouche quelquefois, lors que le temps est mauvais & que la mer pousse 

les sables 4 l’entrée, mais quand la riviere se fait grosse elle passe par dessus & 
fait l’ouverture, il n’y peut entrer que des chaloupes: elle ne va pas avant dans 
les terres qui sont assez belles & couvertes d’arbres de toutes les especes que j’ay 
déja nommées. Continuant la route environ douze lieués la coste n’est que de 
rochers, a la reserve de quelques ances de differentes grandeurs, les terres sont 
basses en ces endroits-la, elles paroissent bonnes & couvertes de beaux arbres, 
parmy lesquels il y a [166] quantité de chesnes; l’on arrive ensuite 4 une 
grande riviere dont |’entrée est toute platte environ une lieué & demie vers la 
mer, & a bien trois lieués de large 4 son emboucheure, qui asseche presque par 
tout de basse mer, en sorte qu’on remarque aisément que son fonds est de sable; 
il n’y peut entrer que de petits bastimens de pleine mer comme barques de douze 
4 quinze tonneaux, encore faut-il qu’ils attendent la pleine mer, l’on trouve 
mesme a l’entrée quelques battures de roches. A la gauche de cette embou- 
cheure est une petite riviere qui n’est separée de la grande que par une pointe de 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. VII 495 


sable, elle entre avant dans les terres & est fort estroite 4 |’entrée: cela passé 
l’on trouve { 167] une grande ouverture ou il se fait plusieurs ances par le moyen 
des pointes de terres basses ou prairies, dans lesquels sont plusieurs étangs ou il y a 
une si grande abondance de gibier de toutes les facons que cela est surprenant, & 
si la chasse y est abondante, la terre n’y est pas moins bonne: il y a quelques 
petits costeaux qui ne sont pas desagreables: tous les arbres y sont tres-beaux & 
gros: il y a des chesnes, des haistres, des erables, des mignenogons, des cedres, 
pins, sapins, & toute autre sorte de bois: la grande riviere est droite a |’entrée, 
les chalouppes y vont sept a huit lieués dedans, aprés quoy l’on rencontre une 
petite Isle couverte des mesmes bois & des [168] lambrusques de vignes, au dela 
de laquelle l’on ne peut monter plus haut vers sa source qu’avec des canots: la 
terre des deux costez de la riviere vers sa source est couverte de pins gros & 
petits l’espace d’une lieué; en remontant des deux costez ce sont tous beaux 
arbres, comme cy-dessus: les costeaux y sont un peu plus hauts que ceux de la 
petite riviere, mais la terre n’y est pas moins bonne: il y a aussi le long de ses 
bords des ances & cul de sacs avec des prairies ot Ja chasse est bonne, cela 
s’appelle la riviere de Pictou. 

A une lieve & demie dans la riviere, sur la gauche il y a une grande ance ot 
on trouve quantité d’excellentes huistres, les unes en un endroit sont quasi 
[169] toutes rondes, & plus avant dans l’ance elles sont monstrueuses, il s’y en 
trouve de plus grandes qu’un soulier & 4 peu prés de mesme figure, & sont toutes 
fort pleines & de bon goust: & a l’entrée de cette riviere sur la droite 4 une 
demie lieué de son embouchure, il y a encore une grande baye qui entre prés de 
trois lieués dans la terre, & qui contient plusieurs Isles & nombre d’ances des 
deux costez ou il se trouve force prairies & du gibier en abondance: allant trois 
lieués plus avant on rencontre une autre ance bien plus grande aussi, garnie de 
quantité d’Isles d’inégales grandeurs, parties couvertes d’arbres, les autres de 
prairies, & une infinité d’oyseaux de toutes les espe- [170] ces: toutes les terres 
sont belles & bonnes, elles ne sont point trop montagneuses, mais couvertes de 
beaux arbres, entre lesquels il y a quantité de pins & de chesnes. 

Passant huit ou neuf lieués plus avant la coste est haute avec des rochers ; 
elle n’est pas trop saine, il faut un peu prendre le large, l’on y trouve pourtant 
quelque ance ou la terre est basse, mais il n’y a pas beaucoup d’abry pour des 
chalouppes, & la mer y brise fort. L’on trouve une autre riviere qui a force 
roches a son entrée, & un peu au large vers la mer, une autre petite Isle couverte 
de bois que l’on appelle l’Isle l?Ormet: avant que d’entrer dans cette riviere 
on trouve [171] une grande baye de deux bonnes lieués de profondeur & d’une 
de largeur; en plusieurs endroits la terre basse est totijours couverte de beaux 
arbres, dans le fonds de cette baye |’on void deux pointes de terre qui s’ap- 
prochent & font un détroit qui est l’entrée de la riviere qui vient de trois ou 
quatre lieués dans les terres: elle est platte 4 son entrée, les chalouppes n’y 
entrent pas bien avant: le pais est assez beau, il paroist quelques montagnes 
dans les terres d’une mediocre hauteur, il s’y pesche aussi force huistres & 
coquillages. Sortant de 14 suivant la coste 4 deux lieués ou environ, l’on trouve 
encore une autre riviere qui entre assez avant dans les terres, les [172] deux 
costes sont montagneuses. 

Passant plus avant suivant la coste environ douze lieués, ]’on va trouver le 
cap Tourmentin; c’est une grande pointe qui avance a la mer, & n’est qu’a 
deux lieués & demie de |’Isle saint Jean qui est le plus estroit de tout le passage : 


496 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


cette coste n’est que montagnes & rochers tres-dangereux qui sont fort au large, 
vis a vis de luy les unes paroissent & les autres découvrent de basse mer seule- 
ment. Cette pointe est entre deux grandes bayes bordées de montagnes & de 
roches; tout le dessus n’est quasi que pins & sapins, & quelque peu d’autres 
arbres: ayant doublé cette pointe & fait environ dix lieués le long de cette coste 
on trouve une [173] autre riviere ot les barques entrent, il faut bien prendre le 
canal, passé une petite Isle on est bien 4 couvert, & l’on trouve de l’eau assez : 
Pon mouille l’ancre devant une grande prairie qui fait une ance d’une raisonnable 
étendué ot l’on se met a l’abry: fay nommeé cette riviere la riviere de Cocagne, 
parce que j’y trouvay tant dequoy y faire bonne chere pendant huit jours que le 
mauvais temps m’obligea d’y demeurer, & tout mon monde estoit tellement 
rassasié de gibier & de poisson qu’ils n’en vouloient plus; soit d’outardes, canars, 
sarcelles, pluvier s, beccasses, beccassines, tourtres, lapins, perdrix, perdreaux, 
saumon, truites, maquereaux, esperlans, huistres, [174] & d’autres sortes de bons 
pOissons ; tout ce que je vous en puis dire, c’est que nos chiens se couchoient 
contre la viande & le poisson tant ils en estoient rassasiez: le pais est aussi 
agreable que la bonne chere, ce terroir 14 est plat, couvert de tres-beaux arbres, 
tant en grosseur qu’en hauteur de toutes les sortes que je puis avoir nommez; il 
y a aussi de grandes prairies le long de la riviere qui entre environ cing a six 
lieués dans les terres, le reste n’est navigable qu’en canot, & il s’y trouve 
beaucoup plus de pins que d’autres arbres. 

Continuant nostre chemin nous fusmes en la riviere de Rechibouctou, qui 
est environ 4 dix lieués de Ja derniere dont nous [175] venons de parler : : cette 
riviere a des grands platins de sables 4 son entrée qui vont prés d’une lieué, au 
milieu desquels il y a un canal pour le passage des navires de deux cens tonneaux, 
aprés qu’on y est entré l’on trouve un bassin d’une grande étendué, mais plat en 
quelques endroits: les navires ne peuvent pas aller bien avant dedans cette 
riviere, mais les barques y naviguent prés de trois lieués. Deux autres rivieres 
tombent dans ce bassin, dont l’une est petite & |’autre assez grande, par ou les 
Sauvages vont a la riviere saint Jean, en portant deux fois leurs canots pour 
traverser d’une riviere 4 |’autre, du haut de laquelle ils vont dans un grand lac 
& puis se rendent a [176] une autre riviere qui tombe dans celle de saint Jean; 
ils employent deux jours a faire ce trajet quand ils ne se veulent point arrester, 
ce qui ne leur arrive gueres n’estans jamais bien pressez, & c’est par ce moyen 
que les Sauvages de la riviere de saint Jean & ceux-cy se visitent souvent; 4 
Pégard de la petite riviere qui est a droit en entrant, elle sert par le moyen d’un 
autre portage 4 la communication de Miramichi, qui est l’habitation que jay 
dans la baye des chaleurs. Le Capitaine de Rechibouctou nommé Denis est un 
suffisant & pernicieux Sauvage, tous les autres de la grande baye |’aprehendent, 
& quia sur le bord du bassin de cette riviere un Fort fait de pieux assez gros, 
[177] avec deux formes de bastions, & dans lequel est sa cabanne & les autres 
Sauvages cabannent autour de luy: ii a fait mettre une grande piece de bois 
droit au haut d’un arbre avec de grandes chevilles qui passent au travers a la 
maniere d’une estrapade, qui servent d’eschelons pour monter au haut, ou il 
envoye de temps en temps un Sauvage pour voir s'il ne verra rien le long des 
costes; de la |’on découvre fort loin 4 la mer, si l’on appercoit quelque batiment 
ou canots, il fait mettre tout sont monde en armes avec leurs arcs & flesches & 
leurs fuzils, met une sentinelle 4 |’avenue pour demander quelles gens ce sont, & 
puis selon sa fantaisie il les fait attendre, ou [178] les fait venir sur le champ. 


eee 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. VII 497 


Avant que d’entrer il faut qu’ils fassent une décharge de leurs fuzils pour salut 
& quelquefois deux, puis ce Chef entre, & sa suite aprés: il ne sort jamais de sa 
cabanne pour recevoir ceux qui le viennent visiter ; il est todjours 1a planté sur 
son cul comme un Singe la pipe a la bouche, s’il a du tabac; il ne parle point 
le premier, il attend qu’on luy fasse compliment, quelque temps aprés il répond 
avec une gravité magistrale: s’il va ala cabanne de quelque Sauvage, en arrivant 
il fait tirer un coup de fuzil pour avertir tous les autres Sauvages qui sortent de 
leurs cabannes, & vont au devant de luy avec leurs fuzils, pour lors il descend 


-de sa cha- [179] loupe mettant pied a terre, tous les Sauvages qui sont 1a tirent 


leurs fuzils, puis ’accompagnent jusques a leur cabannes, Jors qu’il entre dedans 
ils tirent encore chacun un coup de fuzil. Voila la maniere dont il se fait 
recevoir, plus par crainte que par amitié; ils souhaittent tous sa mort, il n’est 
aimé de pas un; s’ils manquoient a leur devoir, il les battroit, non pas estans en 
nombre, car en ce cas il ne le feroit pas impunément; mais quand il les attrape 


‘seuls il les fait souvenir de leur devoir: si les Sauvages font la débauche, il 


n’est jamais de ja partie, il ce cache, car en l’ivrongnerie ils sont aussi grands 
Capitaines que luy, & s’il leur disoit quelque chose qui les fachast ils l’assom- 
[180] meroient. En ces temps-la il est sage, & ne parle jamais de sa grandeur. 
Il est bon de remarquer que les Sauvages de la céte ne se servent de canots que 
pour les rivieres & ont tous des chalouppes pour la mer, quils acheptent 
quelques fois des Capitaines qui sont sur leur depart, apres avoir achevé leur 
pesche, mais la pluspart les prennent ot les Capitaines les ont fait cacher 4 la 
coste ou dans des étans pour s’en servir en un autre voyage; mais lors que 
les proprietaires ou autres y ayant droit les reconnoissent, ils ne font pas plus de 
ceremonie 4 les reprendre que les Sauvages a s’en servir. Pour revenir au 
Capitaine Denis, son pais de Rechibouctou est beau, les terres bonnes qui [181] 
ne sont ny trop basses ny trop hautes: la chasse y est abondante, la pesche du 
Maquereau aussi, qui y est tresgros: pour les bois ils sont comme ceux des 
autres endroits mélez de sapins & de pins. Sortant de Rechibouctou pour 
aller 4 Miramichi, a la gauche l|’on trouve de grands platins de sables qui 
avancent fort au large vers la mer, & mesme toute la coste qu’il ne faut pas 
approcher de trop prés l’espace de huit 4 dix lieués, apres quoy |’on trouve une 
grande baye qui entre plus de deux lieués dans les terres & qui a bien autant 
de large: toute cette baye est aussi de platins dont la plus grande partie 
découvre de basse mer, & la mer y est tres-dangereuse de mauvais temps, parce 
qu’el- [182] le brise par tout. Il y a pourtant un petit canal qui conduit dans 
la riviere qui est bien tortu, & il le faut bien scavoir pour y entrer, encore n’y 
peut il passer que des barques de douze a quinze tonneaux de pleine mer: toute 
Yestendué de ces platins continue jusques 4a l’emboucheure de la riviere de 
Miramichy dont l’entrée est fort estroite, 4 cause d’une petite Isle qui est a la 
droite en entrant qui ferme l’ouverture. Cela passé |’on trouve une belle riviere 
large d’une portée de canon qui est assez profonde: les deux costez sont rochers 
assez hauts, sur lesquels il y a de beaux bois: l’on y trouve pourtant quelques 
petites ances basses ot |’on peut aborder & descendre avec des chaloup- [183] 
pes ou canots: cette riviere a cinq ou six lieués de long ot les bastiments 
peuvent monter, & la l’on trouve deux autres rivieres assez grosses qui tombent 
dedans & aboutissent toutes les deux en pointes qui font une fourche, mais il n’y 
peut monter que des canots a cause des roches qui y sont cd & 1a: Celle qui est 
a gauche en montant va a la riviere de Rechibouctou, |’autre qui est a droit va 


498 DESCRIPTION DE LAMERIQUE 


du costé de la baye des chaleurs: du haut de cette riviere |’on va tomber par le 
moyen d’un portage de canot en la riviere de Nepigiguit qui est dans le fonds de 
la baye des chaleurs. Les Sauvages m’ont dit que dans le haut de ces rivieres 
la terre est belle & platte, que les arbres y sont [184] beaux, gros & clairs 
semez, qu'il n’y a point de petits arbres qui les empeschent pour la course de 
Veslan, ce sont mesme especes de bois que j’ay cy-devant nommez: dans les 
vallons ot les eaux font un marescage il y a force sapins, mais petits & fort 
épais: pour le bas des rivieres ou se fait Ja fourche a la gauche ce sont rochers, 
& a la droite c’est un plat pais ot il y a une grande prairie de plus de deux 
lieues de long, & demie lieué de large en un endroit, & de trois quarts de lieué 
en l’autre: il y a quelques petits arbres dedans & fort éloignez les uns des 
autres : il se trouve aussi grande quantité de fraises & framboises dedans, ow il 
s’amasse un si grand nombre de [185] tourtres qu’il n’est pas croyable. J’y ay 
demeuré une fois huit jours vers la saint Jean, pendant quoy tous les matins & 
tous les soirs nous en voyions passer des bandes, dont les moindres étoient de 
cing 4 six cens, les unes se posoient dans les prairies, les autres vis 4 vis sur une 
pointe de sable, de l’autre costé de la riviere elles ne demeuroient pas posées 
plus d’un quart d’heure au plus, qu’il en venoit d’autres bandes se poser au 
mesme lieu, les premieres se levoient & passoient outre; je vous laisse a penser 
sil en fut tué en quantité & s’il en fut mangé de toutes facons: si les tourtres 
nous tourmentoient par leur abondance, les saumons nous donnoient bien plus de 
peine, [186] il en entre en cette riviere une si grande quantité, que la nuit |’on 
ne peut dormir tant est grand le bruit qu’ils font en tombant sur l’eau aprés 
s’estre jettez ou élancez en lair, ce qui vient de la peine qu "ils ont eus 4 passer 
sur ces platins pour le peu d’eau qu’il y a, apres quoy ils s’égayent a leur aise 
lors qu’ils recontrent plus de fonds, ensuite ils montent dans les rivieres qui 
vont bien avant dans les terres & qui descendent de plusieurs lacs qui dégorgent 
les uns dans les autres: en tous ces lacs l’on trouve force castors & peu 
d’orignaux ; pour la chasse du gibier elle est aussi tres-bonne & tres-abondante, 
le coquillage n’y manque pas, les platins en sont totijours remplis: les [187] 
_Sauvages sont dans ces rivieres en plus grand nombre que dans les autres : 

Pour en sortir il faut passer tous ces platins, puis suivre la coste jusques 4 
’Isle de Miscou qui en est éloignée de dix a douze lieués, la coste est quasi 
toijours de sable: il s’y trouve plusieurs ances grandes & petites, ot il y a 
des prairies & des étangs d’eau salée que la mer fait en montant: il se trouve 
aussi quelques gros ruisseaux, & en tous ces endroits la chasse des oyseaux 
de toutes especes n’y manque point: la coste est toute remplie de bois pareils 
aux autres, 4 la reserve que les cedres y sont plus communs. Deux lieués 
avant que de trouver les Isles de Miscou, l’on trouve [188] une grande ance 
qui est le passage de Caraquet qui aboutit 4 la baye des chaleurs, ot il y a 
des isles dont je parleray en leur lieu. 

Aprés avoir fait deux lieués Je long de la coste, l’on trouve une autre petite 
entrée pour des barques qui est entre les deux Isles de Miscou, |’entrée est dangereuse 
de mauvais temps parce qu’il y aune barre de sable qui brise furieusment, des deux 
costez des Isles il y a des pointes de sable qui rendent l’entrée étroite, mais dés 
qu’on les a passeés le dedans s’élargit, 4 la droite en entrant est la petite Isle de 
Miscou qui a quatre ou cing lieués de tour: ayant passé la pointe il en paroist 
une partie comme une grande étendue de terre sans arbres, qui ne [189 ] sont que 
marescages tous pleins de brandes, quand |’on marche 1a dessus !’on fait tout 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. VII 499 


trembler a plus de cinquante pas autour de soy, la les outardes vont faire leurs 
petits & se deplumer pendant le Printemps, ceux qui se déplument ne pondent 
point cette année-la, & les autres qui ne déplument point pondent : je vous en diray 
les particularitez quand je parleray des proprietez des oyseaux de ces pais-la. 

En suivant nostre route lors qu’oa a passé les marests, l’on trouve de la 
terre couverte de sapins mélez de quelques petits bouleaux, apres quoy |’on 
rencontre une grande pointe de sable qui fait une ance d’une grandeur con- 
siderable: c’est la que [190] mouillent les navires qui y vont faire leur 
pescheries a l’abry des deux Isles; l’on peut dire avoir la un navire en seureté : 
jy ay veu jusques a cinq ou six navires pour y faire leur pesche; ils font 
des Vignaux sur cette pointe de sable, car il n’y a point la de grave, ce que 
jexpliqueray plus au long lors que je parleray de la pesche. L’eau douce 
est fort éloignée de ce quartier-la, mais en en recompense, a quelque deux cens 
pas de la coste, vis 4 vis ou environ le milieu de ces bois dont je viens de parler, 
il sort du fonds de Ja mer un bouillon d’eau douce gros comme les deux poings 
qui conserve sa douceur dans un circuit de vingt pas, sans se méler en facon 
quelconque, soit [191] par le flux cu le reflux de la mer, en sorte que le 
bouillon d’eau douce hausse & baisse comme la marée: les pecheurs y vont 
faire leurs eaux avec leurs chalouppes pleines de bariques qu’ils emplissent 
a seaux, comme s’ils puisoient dans le bassin d’une fontaine. A I’endroit ou 
est cette source extraordinaire, il y a une brasse d’eau aux plus basses marées, 
& leau est salée tout autour comme le reste de la mer. 

La grande Isle de Miscou a sept a huit lieués de tour, avec plusieurs grandes 
ances, prés desquelles sont plusieurs prairies & étangs ou la mer monte & ot il 
se trouve une grande quantité de chasse de toutes sortes d’oiseaux, il s’y trouve 
aussi beaucoup [192] de perdrix & de lapins, il y ala quatre ruisseaux qui coulent 
en la mer, dont deux peuvent porter canots, les autres non; les bois y sont 
comme aux autres endroits, il y a neantmoins plus de sapins; la terre y est 
sablonneuse & ne laisse pas d’estre bonne, tous les herbages y viennent tres-bien, 
& lors que j’y avois une habitation j’y fis planter force noyaux de pesche, pavie, 
presse, & de toutes sortes de fruits 4 noyau qui y vinrent 4 merveille; j’y fis 
aussi planter de la vigne qui reussit admirableblement: mais deux ans aprés 
d’Aunay m’en deposseda en vertu d’un Arrest du Conseil, quoy que j’eusse 
une concession de la Compagnie, en consideration de laquelle il fit accom- 
mode- [193] ment avec celuy qui y commandoit pour moy, 1’on inventoria 
toutes les marchandises & victuailles que j’y avois, de la valeur desquelles il 
donna sa promesse payable |’année suivante, avec les risques de la grosse 
avanture dont je n’ay jamais pil rien retirer. Adinsi tant qu’il n’y aura point 
dordre & que |’on ne sera point asseuré de la jouissance de ses concessions, 
le pais ne se peuplera jamais & sera totijours a l’abandon des Ennemis de 
la France. 

La sortie & l’entrée des navires est entre la grande Isle & cette grande pointe 


de sable de la petite Isle, il faut costoyer la grande Isle pour prendre le bon 


chenal, qui a tofijours brasse & demie & deux brasses d’eau, sor- [194] tant de 
la il faut entrer dans la baye des Chaleurs & en faire le tour pour aller a 
Pisle Percée. 


500 DESCRIPTION DE L?AMERIQUE 


[195] CHAPITRE VIII 


Description de I’ Isle S. Jean &s° des autres Isles qui sont dans la grande Baye de 
saint Laurent 4 jus a son entrée, mesme del’ Isle de Sable {} de tout ce qui 
les concerne ; soit ad Pégard de la terre, des bois, &F de la pesche, chasse, 
rivieres, toe autres particularitez. 


VANT que d’entrer dans la baye des Chaleurs je vous feray icy la 
description de l’isle de saint Jean & de toutes les autres isles qui sont 
dans la grande baye de saint Laurent. 

Je reprends mon chemin [196] dés la grande entrée qui est 
entre le cap de Rest en l’isle de Terre neufve & le cap de Nort dans V’isle 
du cap Breton, dans cette espace l’on trouve l’isle de saint Paul qui est 
éloignée environ de cing lieués du cap de Nort, & dix-huit du cap de Rest: 
de 1a entrant vingt lieués dans la grande baye de S. Laurent l’on trouve les 
isles aux Oliseaux, elles portent ce nom a cause du grand nombre qui s’y 
trouve, & si les navires pescheurs qui entrent en cette baye ont beau temps 
en y passant, ils envoyent leurs chalouppes qui s’y chargent d’ceufs & d’oiseaux, 
puis passant le long des isles Ramées qui sont sept toutes rangées le long de 
isle du cap Breton a sept ou huit lieués au lar- [196] ge, il y a passage entre 
les deux pour de grands vaisseaux ; j’y ay passé avec un navire de cing cens 
tonneaux que je menois 4 Miscou faire la pesche & porter des victuailles 4 mon 
habitation. Au bout des isles Ramées est l’isle de la Magdeleine, qui est bien 
plus grande que toutes les autres, il y a un petit havre pour des vaisseaux de 
quatre vingts ou cent tonneaux, la pesche de la molué y est abondante, il s’y 
trouve aussi des loups marins; les Anglois ont voulu y habiter déja plusieurs 
fois d’o je les ay chassez, les Francois estant en possession de ces lieux-la 
de tems immemorial, & n’estant pas juste qu’ils nous viennent troubler dans 
nos concessions si annciennes, puisque nous les laissons [198] jouir en paix 
de tant de nouvelles Colonies qu’ils ont establies dans nostre voisinage, outre 
quils ne permettent 4 aucun Francois de faire pescherie quelle qu'elle soit 
en leur coste: par le mesme droit ils ne la doivent pas faire aux nostres, 
ils n’ont pas laissé de la venir faire en l’isle de Sable, qui est 4 quinze lieués 
du cap Breton dans la baye de Campseaux. Cette isle estoit remplie de vaches, 
y estant venus habiter ils ont tout détruit pendant le sejour quils y ont fait, 
ils pretendoient aussi y faire pesche de vaches marines mais ils n’en purent 
pas venir a bout, ils furent contraints de l’abandonner: il y a dans le milieu 
un estang d’eau douce & quelque peu d’herbes qui poussent [199 | au travers 
du sable, elle a bien vingt ou vingt-cing lieués de longueur & une portée de 
canon de largeur, elle est dangereuse 4 cause des battures qu’elle a du costé 
de la mer, qui mettént trois ou quatre lieués hors & sont toutes plattes, & 
asseichent de basse mer plus d’une lieué, il n’y a plus dessus que l’étang 
& de Vherbe, n’y estant resté aucunes vaches, on les a seulement tuées pour 
en avoir les peaux. 

Revenant a nos isles de Brion & de la Magdeleine, ce ne sont que rochers 
& dessus des sapins entremélez de petits bouleaux: a huit ou dix lieués de 
la on rencontre l’isle de saint Jean sur la route de l’isle Percée, l’on en passe 


~= wR eS I 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. [X 501 


4 la yeué selon la rencon- [200] tre des vents il ne la faut pas approcher de prés, 
car toute la cote du costé de la baye n’est que sable & qui a des battures a plus 
d’une lieué au large. Cette isle a bien vingt-cing ou trente lieués de longueur 
& une lieué de large au milieu, estant 4 peu prés de la figure d’un Croissant, 
& pointue des deux bouts: le costé qui regarde la Terre ferme est bordé 
de rochers, il y a deux ances ou deux ruisseaux viennent se décharger dans la 
mer, des barques y peuvent entrer y ayant dedans des especes de petits havres, 
de ce costé-la les bois y sont tres beaux, ce qu'il y a de terre y paroist assez 
bonne: cette isle n’est couverte presque que de sapins mélez de quelques 
hestres & bouleaux. Du costé [201] qui regarde la grande baye il y a aussi 
deux havres d’ou sortent deux petits ruisseaux, mais les entrées sont fort 
plattes, il y a assez d’eau dedans, j’ay autrefois entré dans celuy qui est le 
plus proche de la pointe de Miscou, j’y ay veu trois grands vaisseaux Basques, 
mais pour y entrer il leur falloit tout décharger en rade, porter tout 4 terre, 
& ne laisser de l’este que pour soustenir les vaisseaux, & puis le coucher 
sur le costé comme pour leur donner carenne, puis les remorquer dedans avec 
des chalouppes: ils sortoient de mesme maniere, apres quoy ils portoient 
tout leur poisson en rade pour le charger, l’on n’y peut plus aller 4 present 
les entrées en estant bouchées & le [202] risque trop grand, ce qui les 
obligeoit d’aller 1a estoit l’abondance du poisson qui est a cette coste, outre 
quils estoient proche du banc aux Orphelins oa le poisson est aussi grand que 
celuy du grand banc, la marée entre bien avant en des endroits de cette isle, 
ce qui fait de grandes prairies & plusieurs estangs; en tous ces lieux la le 
gibier y abonde, il s’y trouve force pasturage, ils y font leurs nids & s’y 
déplument: l’on y trouve des grués, des oyes blanches & des grises comme 
en France, pour des orignaux il n’y en a point, il y a des cariboux qui est 


une autre leis d’orignaux, ils n’ont pas les bois si puissant, le poil en est 


plus fourny & plus long, & presque tous blancs, ils sont ex- [203] cellents 
a manger, la chair en est plus blanche que celle d’orignac, il y en a peu, les 
Sauvages les trouvent trop bons pour les y laisser croistre: cette beste a la 
cervelle partagée en deux par une toile qui fait comme deux cervelles. 


[204] CHAPITRE IX 


Description de la Baye des chaleurs && de tout le reste de la coste de la grande Baye 
Jus ques a@ l’entrée de la grande riviere de saint Laurent, y compris toutes les 
rivieres, ports & havres, les qualitez des terres, des bois, aes especes de pesche, 


de chasse, (5c. 


E reviens pour entrer dans la Baye des chaleurs estant sorty du havre de 
Miscou, laissant la grande Isle 4 la gauche on la costoye environ trois 
lieués durant, apres quoy on trouve le [205 | petit passage qui vient de la baye 
de Miramichy dont je vous ay marqué l’entrée cy-dessus, ce passage est 

propre pour des barques qu’on voudroit faire aller par 1a en la baye des chaleurs, 
& leur faire cottoyer les Isles de Tousquet, qui ne sont 4 proprement parler que 
des platins ou bancs de sables dont partie assechent de basse mer, mais a la 


2K 


502 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


grande Isle il y a deux endroits ot les navires pescheurs peuvent moiuiller, il y 
faut entrer par la baye des chaleurs pour y aller, l’on trouve deux canoaux ou 
chenaux, dont l’un va a un bout de I’Isle & l’autre a l’autre bout o@ les vais- 
seaux mouillent 4 fourchez sur quatre cables, la grande Isle de Tousquet a 
quatre a cinq lieués de tour, elle [206] a deux grandes ances ow les vaisseaux 
mouillent, ils sont proches de leur échaffaux, ils ont de la grave & des vignaux 
pour faire secher leur poisson; la pesche est tres-bonne en ces quartiers-la, le 
harang y donne 4 force aussi bien que le maquereau, il s’en prend grande 
quantité aux eschaffaux quoy que la plus part de la coste ne soit que sable & 
petits cailloux que la mer roule au bord, & qui fait ce qu’on appelle grave, 
propre a secher le poisson, & en quelques endroits le tout est roches; pour les 
bois Ja plus grande partie sont sapins, dans le milieu de I’Isle il se trouve quel- 
ques beaux arbres; l’autre Isle n’est pas si grande pour la terre & le bois, c’est 
quasi la mesme at [207 ] se, la chasse est bonne en toutes ces Isles qui sont 
environnées d’ances & de prairies, ot le gibier trouve force pature, les costes 
sont bordées de roziers, pois & framboisses sauvages: cette baye de Tousquet a 
environ trois 4 quatre lieués d’étendué. 

Sortant de la entrant dans la baye des chaleurs, |’on costoye dix lieués de 
roches escarpée au pied desquels la mer bat, en sorte que si un navire s’y perdoit 
il ne s’en sauveroit personne, le dessus est couvert de méchans petits sapins: 
cela passé on trouve une petite riviere dont l’entr é en’est propre que pour des 
chalouppes, & de pleine mer seulement: trois lieués plus avant il y a une grande 
ance, [208] dont une pointe qui avance vers la mer fait un costé de l’entrée du 
bassin de Nepegiguit: toute l’estendué de cette grande ance est d’une lieué de 
long: elle a derriere elle de grandes & belles prairies qui s’étendent une grande 
demie lieué au dela de |’entrée du bassin, lequel a plus d’une lieué & demie de 
longueur & bien prés d’une de large: a trois lieués au large & vis a vis de son 
entrée en mer il y a des battures, dont la moitié assechent de basse mer, il reste 
un petit canal par ou des chalouppes peuvent entrer environ une portée de fuzil 
dans le bassin, & tout le reste du bassin asseiche de basse mer: il s’y voit une si 
grande quantité d’ outardes, canards & cravans, que cela [209] n’est pas croyable, 
& tout cela fait un si grand bruit la nuit que l’on a peine a dormir: lors que la 
mer monte elles se retirent 4 la coste ot |’on en tue en quantité a |’abry du bois, 
il se décharge quatre rivieres dans ce bassin, dont trois viennent des montagnes 
qui paroissent a leurs extremitez, & |’autre qui est la plus grande, tombe dans ce 
bassin 4 main gauche en entrant: c’est celle par ou l’on va & vient de 
Miramichy qui n’est que pour des canots: il y monte force saumon dans les 
trois autres, & l’on n’a jamais veu une si grande abondance de toutes sortes de 
coquillages, de plyes, & de homars, qu’il s’en trouve sur ces platins, ce ne sont 
presque que des prairies [210] d’un costé & d’autres de ce bassin, ensuite 
desquelles la terre est chargée de beaux arbres de toutes les especes que jay 
marquée cy-dessus: il y a aussi a la droite en entrant une grande pointe de 
sable, qui répond quasi vis a vis de |’autre, ce qui rend |’entrée du bassin 
étroite: lors que la mer monte & entre dedans, l’on pesche a cette entrée grand 
nombre de maquereaux : il y entre aussi des esturgeons qui ont plus de six pieds 
de long & qui ressortent avec la marée, & force saumons qui montent dans les 
rivieres. Mon habitation de Nepigiguit est sur le bord de ce bassin; a une 
lieué a la droite de son entrée de basse mer un canot n’en scauroit approcher : 
c’est ot j’ay esté obli- [211] gé de me retirer aprés incendie de mon Fort de 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. IX 503 


saint Pierre en |’Isle du cap Breton. Ma maison y est flanquée de quatre 
petits bastions avec une palissade. dont les pieux sont de dix-huit pieds de 
haut, avec six pieces de canon en batteries: les terres n’y sont pas des meil- 
leures, il y a des roches en quelques endroits: j’y ay un grand jardin dont 
Ja terre est bonne pour les legumes qui y viennent 4 merveille: jay aussi 
semé des pepins de poires & pommes, qui ont levé & s’y sont bien conser- 
vésq u oy que ce soit le lieu le plus froid que j’aye, & ot il y a plus de nege: 
les pois, & le bled y viennent passablement bien, les framboises & les fraises 
sont en abondance par toute 

[212] Sortant de Nepegiguit pour achever ma route vers |’Isle_percée, 
aprés avoir fait deux lieués l’on trouve une petite riviere ou entre une 
chalouppe environ demie lieué, les canots y montent fort haut, il y entre du 
saumon d’une longueur extraordinaire, il s’y en est pris de six pieds de long, 
il s’y trouve aussi grande abondance de chasse, la terre y est bonne, les arbres 
sont beaux de toutes les especes susdites. 

Environ trois lieués plus avant, l’on trouve une grande baye qui a quatre 
lieués d’ouverture, & dix-huit 4 vingt lieués de profondeur: les terres y sont 
hautes & presques toutes montagnes de roches: il y a plusieurs petits ruisseaux 
& ri- [213] vieres qui tombent dedans cette baye, il y en a par ou les Sauvages 
peuvent monter si avant dans les terres, que par le moyen de quelques portages 
de canots ils entrent dans des lacs qui se déchargent dans la grande riviere de 
saint Laurens d’ou ils vont 4 Kebec, en sorte que de Nepegiguit 4 la grande 
riviere, ils n’emploient pour l’ordinaire que trois jours a faire ce chemin: il se 
trouve aussi en cette baye des terres basses & de grandes ances ot la mer entre, 
ce qui fait des prairies & étangs ot |’on trouve grande abondance de toutes 
sortes de gibier, la terre y est bonne par des endroits, les bois y sont beaux, 
comme fresnes, bouleaux, mignogon, erables, cedres, & de [214] toutes autres 
sortes d’arbres; sur les costeaux des montagnes il s’y trouve des mesmes arbres, 
mais beaucoup de sapins & pins. Sortant de cette grande baye qui se nomme 
la baye de Ristigouche, continuant son chemin |’on trouve encore environ cing 
ou six lievés de terres hautes & rochers; cela pasfé la terre s’abaisse, & l’on 
trouve une grande ance oti la mer fait des prairies & des étangs qui est pais de 
chasse, & dans la terre qui est au fonds de ces prairies il y a de fort beaux 
arbres, puis |’on costoye deux bonnes lieués de terre qui s’avancent vers |’eau, 
ce qui fait un cap que l’on nomme le petit Paspec-biac: il y a une riviere ot 
les chalouppes se mettent 4 [215] l’abry lors qu’ils viennent faire leur degrat du 
grand Paspec-biac qui est a quatre lieués de 14. Nous expliquerons ce que c’est 
que dégrat lors que nous traiterons de la pesche: Ja molué donne a !’un quand 
elle manque a |’autre, mais tous les vaisseaux pescheurs mouillent au grand: les 
quatre lieués de costes sont hautes & de rochers, au pied desquels la mer bat 
quand elle est haute: Cela passé on trouve une grande pointe de cailloux que la 
mer y a amassez meslez de sable, c’est ce que l’on appelle grave, surquoy les 
pescheurs font secher leur poisson. A la pointe de cette grave il y a une entrée 
pour des chalouppes ou la mer monte, qui fait de grandes prairies & [216] 
étangs: derriere cette riviere l’on trouve force mousles, plyes, hommars, & 
abondance de gibier, & au temps des tourtres il y en vient une infinité, & d’oyes 
blanches & grises; mais elles n’y tardent que pour paistre, puis elles passent 
outre, partie vont dans le bassin de Nepegiguit, & si tost que les unes se levent 
les autres s’y posent: cette grave fait une grande ance ou les navires pescheurs 


504 DESCRIPTION DE LVAMERIQUE 


mouillent 4 quatre cables, car ce n’est proprement qu’une rade qui n’est pas 
mauvaise, & la tenué y est bonne proche de terre, deux vaisseaux y peuvent 
tenir 4 l’aise au milieu de |’ance. 

Pour en sortir il faut doubler une grande pointe de sable, aprés laquelle on 
trouve une [217] autre ance qui a bien une lieué de profondeur, ensuite dequoy 
!’on costoye une lieué de rochers escarpez, au bout desquels l’on trouve encore 
une autre ance qui s’enfonce un bon quart de lieué dans les terres, & dans le 
fonds est une petite riviere ou il ne peut entrer que des chalouppes: la terre y 
est bonne dedans & les bois fort beaux; de cette riviere au port Daniel il y a 
trois 4 quatre lieués qui ne sont encore que des costes de rochers escarpez, au 
pied desquels la mer bat, en sorte que depuis Paspecbiac jusques au port Daniel 
personne ne se pourroit sauver d’un naufrage qui s’y feroit, si ce n’est en cette 
petite riviere, ou au port Daniel; son entrée a une bouine [218] demie lieué 
d’ouverture, les deux costez ne sont que rochers assez hauts, sa gauche en 
entrant a des roches qui s’avancent vers l’eau en sorte qu’il faut ranger le 
costé 4 droit pour y entrer, un navire n’y peut entrer plus avant qu’un bon 
quart de lieué; on y peut mouiller l’ancre; vis 4 vis le mouillage il y a une 
grande ance de sable a la droite ot les barques vont mouiller: entrant plus 
avant du mesme costé c’est une grande montagne de roches qui est de pierre 
a chaux; de l’autre costé sont des platins qui assechent de basse mer: il y 
a une pointe de sable vis 4 vis du rocher qui fait un petit détroit ot les barques 
peuvent passer, & l’on entre dans un grand bassin qui a [219] bien une 
lieué de profondeur, & peu moins de largeur, il tombe dedans deux grands 
ruisseaux & d’autres petits, cela fait un canal qui n’est que pour les canots, 
tout le reste asseche de basse mer: c’est le lieu que le gibier demande, 
aussi y est-il en grande quantité de toutes facons, les coquillages ne manquent 
jamais dans les platins, non plus que les hommars: il y a aussi des prairies 
tout le long de ce bassin, les terres y sont belles & basses toutes couvertes 
de tres-beaux arbres & de toutes les especes que je puis avoir nommées, ce 
lieu est fort agreable. 

Sortant du port Daniel l’on costoye encore deux lieués de rochers, aprés 
quoy !’on trou- [220] ve un cap de roche fort haut qui se nomme la pointe 
au maquereau, vis a vis de laquelle il s’y en pesche grande quantité, il y a 
aussi bonne pesche de molué, ce cap la est 4 douze lieués du cap d’ Espoir, 
& entre les deux il y a une grande ance qui a bien quinze lieués de tour, il 
y a trois rivieres qui tombent dedans, la molvé donne fort en toute cette baye, 
mais il n’y a point de place pour mettre un navire, sinon entre deux Isles 
qui sont 4 une bonne lieué de la pointe au maquereau, encore ce ne peut estre 
qu’un vaisseau de soixante ou quatre vingts tonneaux; trois lieués plus avant 
toiijours en suivant la coste de cette grande ance, l’on trouve une petite riviere 
dont V’en- [221] trée est étroite, la mer y a grand courant, les barques y 
peuvent entrer bien aisement pourveu qu’on en scache l’entrée, car elle n’est 
pas droite: estant dedans il y a un grand bassin de deux lievés de circuit, 
& dont une partie asseche: les motiles, les coquillages, & les huistres y sont 
en abondance, & grande quantité de gibier: ce lieu est beau & plaisant, la terre 
bonne & basse, les arbres beaux, la pluspart cedres, pins, sapins, sur les bords, 
& plus avant dans les terres, erables, fresnes, bouleaux, mignoguon, chesnes, 
& autres sortes de bois: cing lieués plus avant l’on en trouve un autre qui 
se nomme la petite riviere, il n’y peut aussi entrer que des barques, l’entrée 


ree ei ee 
ee = 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. IX 505 


[222] est plus facile n’y ayant qu’un détroit of la terre conduit; le dedans 
n’est pas si large que |’autre, il y a aussi plus d’eau & |’on y entre plus avant ; 
le pais est 4 peu prés de mesme, tant pour le terroir que pour les arbres, la 
pesche du coquillage & la chasse y est abondante, & de plus l’on y prend 
du maquereau; a quatre lievés plus avant l’on en trouve une autre qui se nomme 
la grande riviere, parce qu’elle est plus profonde, mais l’entrée en est plus 
difficile en ce qu'il y a barre, & il s’y fait une digue de cailloux & sable que 
la mer y ammene; |’entrée est tantost 4 un endroit & tantost a l’autre, parce 
qu’elle est dans le fonds de la baye, & que quand le vent vient [223] de la mer 
par tourmente il donne droit dans l’embouchure, & l’emplit de cailioux jusques 
a ce que l’abondance de |’eau qui a esté renfermée quelque temps fasse assez 
d’effort pout repousser cét obstacle & en laisser |’ouverture libre par l’endroit 
ot la tourmente avoit moins poussé de cailloux: c’est dans ces deux rivieres 
qu’on a accotitumé de se sauver: les batteaux Normands du banc aux orphelins, 
lors gu’ils y sont trop pressez de la tempeste, pendant que leurs navires sont 
a VIsle percée qui est a dix-huit ou vingt lieués du banc aux orphelins ot 
ils ne peuvent gagner, 4 moins que le vent ne leur serve 4 se sauver vers 
leurs vaisseaux, sinon ils n’ont point d’au- [224] tre retraite qu’en ces deux 
rivieres: il s’est bien perdu de ces batteaux 14 autrefois, 4 present il n’y vient 
plus tant de Normands, la traitte des pelleteries n’y est pas si bonne que 
par le passé, ils cherchoient bien plitost cela que la molué. 

Le dedans de la grande riviere n’est pas large quoy qu'il y ait quelque 
prairie, la chasse n’y est pas non plus si abondante qu’aux autres lieux, les 
terres y sont plus hautes, aussi y a-t’il plus de sapins qu’aux autres endroits. 
Continuant la mesme route environ six lieués la coste est des terres hautes 
& des rochers, au pied desquels la mer bat, le haut est chargé de sapins & de 
quelques autres arbres meslez; cette coste est dan- [225] gereuse, il s’y est 
perdu un navire Basque il y a six ou sept ans; le bout de cette coste est le 
cap d’Espoir esloigné de quatre lieues de l’isle percée, & d’une lieve du cap 
Enragé; en cet endroit se trouve bien souvent deux vents contraires: un navire 
par exemple viendra de Miscou ou baye des chaleurs portant beau frais le vent 
arriere, l'autre navire viendra de la baye des molues ou l’Isle Percée avec 
aussi vent derriere, qui est a l’apposite l’un de I’autre, lors qu’ils approchent 
de ces caps ils trouvent le vent tout calme tous deux, ou bien il faut que l’un des 
deux vents |’emporte sur l’autre & le repouse, cela arrive souvent en cet endroit : 
de la al’ Isle Per- [226] cée toute la coste est fort haute de roches couppées, la mer 
bat au pied, & quand il y arrive quelque naufrage c’est sans ressource, mais dans 
le milieu!’ on trouve une petite ance ot une chalouppe se peut mettre a couvert. 

L’Isle Percée est une grande roche qui peut bien avoir cinquante 4 soixante 
brasses de hauteur escarpée a pied droit des deux costez, & peut avoir de largeur 
trois ou quatre brasses; de basse mer, ]’on y va de terre ferme 4 pied sec tout 
autour, elle peut avoir de long trois cens ciquante ou quatre cens pas: elle 
a esté bien plus longue, allant auparavant jusques a4 |’Islc de Bonne-avanture, 
mais la mer !’a mangéé par le pied ce qui la fait tomber, & j’ay veu [227] quil 
n’y avoit qu’un trou en forme d’arcade par ot une chaloupe passoit 4 la voille, 
c’est ce qui luy avoit donné le nom de Visle Percée; il s’en est fait deux autres 
depuis qui ne sont pas si grands, mais qui a present croissent tous les jours; 
il y a apparence que ces trous affoiblissant son fondement, & seront cause 4 
la fin de sa cheute, apres quoy les navires n’y pourront plus demeurer: tous 


506 DESCRIPTION DE L7AMERIQUE 


ceux qui y viennent faire leur pesche mouillent !’ancre a lV’abry de cette Isle, 
4 une longueur ou deux de cable d’icelles, il y a trois ou quatre brasses d’eau, 
en séloignant on trouve totijours plus de profondeur: ils sont tous ancrez 
4 quatre cables, & mettent des flottes ou pieces de bois [228] de cedre a leurs 
cables pour les supporter crainte des roches qui sont au fonds, quand le mauvais 
temps vient de la mer, qui porte sur |’Isle la houlle qui donne contre & fait une 
ressaque qui retourne contre les navires, qui empesche que les cables ne travail- 
lent; a la longueur de quatre a cing cables de l’Isle, il y a trois roches gui 
couvrent de pleine mer, & la plus au large est 4 deux ou trois longueurs de cable 
de la terre: ces rochers la rompent encore la mer, qui fait qu'elle n’en est 
pas si rude. 

J’y ay veu jusques a unze navires pescheurs qui ont tous chargé de molué: 
la pesche y est tres-abondante, on y prend grand nombre de maquereaux [229] 
& harangs pour la boitte, l’éperlan, & le lanson donnent aussi a la coste ot 
ils s’échouent qui est encore tres-bon pour la boitte, la molue les suit, ce qui 


rend Ja pesche bonne, la terre ne lest pas moins: le long de la coste, qui est 


platte, les pescheurs y ont apporté de petits cailloux pour faire une grave, afin 
de faire secher la molue ; au de la de cette grave il y a des prairies ow ils font 
des vignaux ; ces prairies se sont faites par la grande quantité de sapins que les 
pescheurs y ont abbattus pour faire leur échaffaux, & qu’ils abattent tous les jours, 
toute cette coste la n’estant auparavant que sapins, 4 present il n’y en a plus que 
des petits qui y sont revenus, ils leurs en [230] faut aujourd’huy aller chercher 


4 la montagne qui est 4 deux portée de fuzil de la coste, & les apporter sur leurs _ 


épaules, ce qui est une grande fatigue, autrement ils les vont querir dans le fonds 
de la baye des molues avec des chalouppes; il leur en faut pour faire leurs 
échaffaux sans quoy ils ne pourroient habiller la molué; la montagne est fort 
haute & s’apelle la table 4 Rolant, elle se voit en mer de dix huit a vingt 
lieués; elle est platte & de forme carrée, ce qui luy a donné ce nom: ily a 
d’autres montagnes joignantes aussi hautes. Ces montagnes-]a vont toutes 
en descendant jusqu’au fonds de la baye des molués, qui est 4 trois bonnes lieués 
de Visle Percée, ot [231] la chasse y est bonne, a la saison des tourtres ou 
les pescheurs en font grand meurtre & grande chere: Ils font des jardins 
ot ils cultivent des choux, des pois des féves, & de la salade, ils envoyent aussi 
a la chasse en la baye des molués pour se bien traitter. Mais avant que 
d’y entrer, parlons de |’Isle de Bonne-avanture qui est 4 une lieué & demie 
de l’isle Percée & vis a vis, elle est aussi haute que isle Percée & de figure 
ovalle; elle a deux lieués de tour toute couverte de sapins, parmy lesquels 
il se trouve aussi d’autres arbres, la chasse des lapins y est bonne, de trente 
collets tendus le soir, l’on a du moins vingt lapins le lendemain matin: les 
tourtres y abondent par la [232] quantité des fraises & des framboises dont elles 
sont friandes, pour la pesche elle y est aussi bonne qu’a isle Percée, mais la 
commodité n’y est pas pareille, il n’y a de grave que pour un navire, jy ay 
veu trois navires mouiller devant une petite ance par ou |’on aborde en cette 
Isle, tous les autres vaisseaux en cet endroit seulement peuvent avoir des 
vignaux, mais il faut qu’ils fassent un chemin avec des sapins depuis le bord 
de l’eau avec des eschaffaux qui vont toiijours en montant jusques a douze 
ou quinze brasses de haut par ot il leur faut porter leur poisson pour le faire 
secher sur leurs vignaux. 

Sortant de Bonne-aventure & de l’isle Percée, l’on entre en [233] la baye 


SEPTENTRIONALE. CHAP. IX 507 


des molués qui a quatre lieués d’ouverture, & trois de profondeur, le costé qui 
joint Visle Percée sont ces montagnes qui vont en baissant jusques au fonds ; 
de cette baye ou est l’emboucheure d’une petite riviere de barre, les chalouppes 
n’y entrent que de beau temps, Ja mer asseche assez loin de l’entrée, il n’y a pas 
grande eau dedans de basse mer, sinon un petit canal pour des canots; c’est 
une grande étendué de platins & prairies qui rendent la chasse abondante & 
la pesche de toutes sortes de coquillages; le saumon y monte en quantité, ce 
lieu-l4 est assez agreable, la terre bonne & toutes sortes d’arbres & fort gros, 
il s’y trouve de beaux sapins, si les pescheurs [234] ont maque de mature ils 
la vont chercher en ce lieu; de 14 suivant la coste pour aller a l’autre bout 
de la baye, il faut faire quatre 4 cinq lieués de coste qui vont toute en remontant, 
mais non pas si haut que de l’autre costé ; ce sont des rochers couverts de sapins, 
& quelques autres petits arbres de bouleaux & fresnes, il s’y en trouve peu 
de gros, cette pointe se nomme le Forillon, il y a une petite Isle devant 00 les 
pescheurs de Gaspé viennent faire leur degrad pour trouver la molué; de cette 
isle en la riviere de Gaspé ou mouillent les vaisseaux pescheurs, l’on compte 
quatre bonnes lieués, scavoir deux lieués a l’entrée de la riviere & deux ou sont 
les vaisseaux ; les pescheurs ont 14 une [235] belle grave suffisamment pour deux 
grads vaisseaux, la terre des environs de cette grave, est bien haute, sur laquelle 
est une grande espace toute couverte d’herbe, & au dela des bois de toutes 
sortes qui ne sont pas bien gros & force sapins; une lieve plus avant dans 
la riviere, est une ance ot |’on peut mettre pied a4 terre; sur le haut est le lieu 
ot l’on a voulu faire trouver une mine de plomb, & Messieurs de la Compagnie 
y ont fait de la dépense, sur ce que des personnes leur en ont apporté quelques 
morceaux qui veritablement étoient bons, mais c’estoit seulement de quelques 
petites vaines qui couroient sur la roche, que la force du Soleil avoit purifiées, 
car toute la mine n’est au- [236] tre chose qu’antimoine & qui n’est pas abondante, 
je la connoissois il y a plus de vingt ans; si elle eust esté bonne je ne I’aurois 
pas laissée inutille, jay trouvé assez de personnes qui l’ont voulu entreprendre 
sur les eschantillons que j’ay fait voir, je n’ay jamais voulu, scachant bien 
que je les aurois trompez, c’est ce que je ne suis point capable de faire, 4 moins 
que je ne fusse moy-mesme trompé sans le connoistre, il ne paroist que de 
grandes montages au haut de cette riviere, elles sont separées les unes des autres 
toutes couvertes de bois, il se pesche du harang a l’entrée de cette riviere 
& force maquereau; au tour du mouillage des vaisseaux. La pesche de la 
molue y est bon- [237] ne, & la chasse de la tourtre aussi: Sortant de cette riviere 
Pon passe un grand cap, & 4 trois ou quatre lieués de 1a paroist le cap des 
Roziers qui est la borne de ma concession; je n’ay point esté de ce costé-la, 
je Vay veu seulement de loin passant pour aller 4 Kebec il fait l’entrée de la 
grande riviere de saint Laurent du costé du Sud, & borne ma concession du 
costé du Nord. Voila l’estendué des costes depuis la nouvelle Angleterre 
jusques a la grande riviere de saint Laurent & des Isles, du moins des 
principales. | 


508 DESCRIPTION DE L?AMERIQUE 


[238] Articles arrestex entre le steur Vvak Chevalier & Ambassadeur du Roy de 
la grande Bretagne deputé dud. Sr Roy €& les sieurs de Buillon Conseillers du 
Roy tres-Chrestien en ses Conseils d’ Etat & Privé, &§ Bouthilher Conseiller 
de sa Majesté ensesd. Conseils & Secretaire de ses commandemens, Com- 
missaires deputez par sadite Mayesté pour la restitution des choses qui ont esté 
prises depuis le Traité fait entre les deux Couronnes le 24. Avril 1629. 


E la part de sadite Majesté de la grande Bretagne, le [239] sieur 
Isaac Vvak Chevalier & son Ambassadeur prés du Roy tres-Chestien 
en vertu du pouvoir qu’il a, lequel sera inseré en fin des Presentes, 
a promis & promet pour & au nom de sadite Majesté de rendre & 
restituer a sadite Majesté tres-Chrétienne tous les lieux occupez en la nouvelle 
France, |?Accadie & Canadas par les Sujets de sadite Majesté de la grande 
Bretagne, iceux faire retirer desdits lieux, & pour cet effet ledit sieur Am- 
bassadeur délivrera lors de la passassion & signature des presentes aux Com- 
missaires du Roy tres-Chrestien en bonne forme le Pouvoir qu’il a de sadite 
Majesté de la grande Bretagne pour la restitution desdits lieux ; ensemble les 
commandements de [240] sadite Majesté 4 tous ceux qui commandent dans le 
Port royal, Fort de Kebec & Cap Breton, pour estre lesdites Places & Forts 
rendus & remis és mains de ceux qu’il plaira 4 sa Majesté tres-Chrestienne, 
ordonner huit jours aprés que lesdits commandements auront esté notifiés 4 ceux 
qui commandent ou commanderont lesdits lieux: Jedit temps de huit jours leur 
estant donnez pour retirer cependant hors desdits lieux Places & Forts, leurs 
armes, bagages, marchandises, or, argent, ustenciles & generalement tout ce qui 
leur appartient, ausquels & 4 tous ceux qui sont esdits lieux est donné le terme 
de trois semaine aprés lesdits huit jours expirez, pour durant icelles ou pli- [241] 
tost, sifaire se peut, rentrer en leurs navires avec leurs armes, munitions, bagages, 
or, argent, utanciles, marchandises, pelleteries & generalement tout ce qui leur 
appartient, pour de la se retirer en Angleterre sans séjourner davantage esdits 
pais. Et comme il est necessaire que les Anglois envoyent esdits lieux pour 
reprendre leurs gens & les ramener en Angleterre, il est accordé que le General de 
Caen payera les frais necessaires pour |’équipage d’un navire de deux cens ou deux 
cens cinquante tonneaux de port que les Anglois envoyeront esdits lieux, 4 scavoir 
le louage du navire d’aller & retourner, victuailles des gens, tant de marine pour la 
conduite du navire que [242] de ceux qui sont a terre, lesquels on doit ramener, 
salaire d’iceux, & generalement tout ce qui est necessaire pour |’équipage d’un 
navire dudit port pour un tel voyage, selon les usances & couttimes d’ Angleterre : 
Et de plus que pour les marchandises loyales & marchandes qui pourront rester 
es mains des Anglois non troquées, qu’il leur donnera satisfaction esdits lieux 
selon qu’elles auront coaité en Angleterre, avec trente pour cent de profit en 
consideration des risques de la mer & port d’icelles payé par eux. 

Procedant par les Sujets de sadite Majesté de la grande Bretagne 4 la restitu- 
tion desdites Places, elles seront restituées en mesme estat qu’elles estoient lors 
de la prise. 

[243] Que les armes & munitions contenues en la déposition du sieur de 
Champlain, ensemble les marchandises & utenciles qui furent trouvez 4 Kebec 
lors de la prise, seront rendués en espece ou en valeur, selon que le porte la 


SEPTENTRION ALE 509 


deposition dudit sieur de Champlain, & sera le contenu en icelle, ensemble tout 
ce qui est justifié par ladite deposition avoir esté trouvé audit lieu lors de la prise, 
rendu & delaissé audit Fort entre les mains des Francois: Et si quelque chose 
manque du nombre de chacune espece, sera satisfait & payé par le sieur Philippes 
Burlamachy, 4 qui par sa Majesté tres-Chrestienne sera ordonné hormis les 
cofiteaux, castors, & pourveu des debtes [244] enlevez par les Anglois, dequoy 
on a convenu cy-dessous, & satisfaction a esté donnée audit General de Caen, 
our & au nom de tous ceux qui y pourroient avoir interest. 

De plus le sieur Burlamachy de la part de sa Majesté de la grande Bretagne 
pour & au nom de sadite Maijesté, a la requeste & commandement dudit S* 
Ambassadeur selon |’ordre qu’il a receu d’ Elle, & encore en son propre & privé 
nom, a promis & promet de payer audit General de Caen dans deux mois, du 
jour de la signature & datte des Presentes, pour toutes & chacunes desdites 
pelleteries, coiiteaux, debtes deués par les Sauvages audit general de Caen, & 
autres marchandises a luy apar- [245] tenantes trouvées dans lesdits Forts de 
Kebec en |’an 1629. de la somme de 820700 livr. tournois. Plus luy faire 
rendre & restituer en Angleterre la barque nommée |’Helene, agrets, canons, 
munitions & appartenances selon le memoire qui en a esté justifié pardevant le 
Seigneur du Conseil d’ Angleterre. 

Seront de plus restituez audit general de Caen dans l’habitation de Kebec, 
toutes les bariques de galettes, barils de pois, prunes, raisins, farines, & autres 
marchandises & victuailles des traites qui estoient dans ladite barque lors de la 
prise d’icelle en l’an 1629. ensemble les marchandises a luy appartenantes, qui 
ont esté dechargées & laisées l’année der- [246] niere 4 Kebec en la riviere S. 
Laurent, pais de la nouvelle France. 

Et en outre promet ledit sieur Burlamachy audit nom que dessus, payer ou 
faire payer dans Paris, a qui par sa Majesté tres-Chrestienne sera ordonné, la 
somme de soixante mil six cens deux livres tournois dans ledit temps, pour les 
navires le Gabriel de saint Gilles, sainte Anne du Havre de Grace, la Trinité 
des sables d’Olone, le saint Laurent de saint Malo, & le Cap du ciel de Calais, 
canons, munitions, agrets, cordages, victuailles, marchandises, & generalement 
toutes choses comprises és inventaires & estimations desdits navires faits pat les 
Juges de |’ Admirauté en Angleterre. Pareillement pour la barque [247] d’avis 
envoyée par les associez du Capitaine Bontemps avec ses canons, munitions, 
agrets, apparaux, marchandises & victuailles, la somme que |’on trouvera que 
ladite barque & marchandises, agrets, canons & munitions auront esté vendus ou 
evaluez par ordre des Juges de |? Admirauté d’ Angleterre, & le mesme pour le 
vaisseau donné par ledit Bontemps aux Anglois repassez en Angleterre selon 
le-valuation qui en aura esté faite comme dessus. 

Comme aussi de la part de sa Majesté tres-Chrestienne suivant le Pouvoir 
qu’elle en a donné aux sieurs de Buillion Conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils 
d’Etat & Privé, & Bouthillier aussi Conseiller du Roy [248] esdits Conseils & 
Secretaire de ses Commandements dont copie sera inserée a la fin des Presentes : 
I] a promis & accordé que les sieurs Lumague ou Vzanelly donneront caution & 
asseurance au nom de sadite Majesté en leur propre & privé nom, dés ce jourd’huy 
datte desdites Presentes de payer dans |’espace de deux mois, 4 compter du jour 
de ladite datte audit Ambassadeur, ou a4 qui il ordonnera en la ville de Paris, la 
somme de soixante quatre mil deux cens quarante six livres quatre sols trois 
deniers tournois pour les marchandises du vaisseau le Jacques, & la somme de 


510 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


solxante neuf mil huit cens nonante six livres neuf sols deux deniers tournois 
pour les marchandises [249] du vaisseau la Benediction, le tout au taux du Roy ; 
& que dans quinze jours lesdits deux navires le Jacques & la Benediction estans 
maintenant au port du havre de Dieppe avec leurs cordages, canons, munitions, 
agrets, apparaux & victuailles qui furent trouvez a leur arrivée audit Dieppe, 
seront restituez audit sieur Ambassadeur d’ Angleterre ou 4 qui il ordonnera; & 
si quelque chose de cela vient 4 manquer luy en sera payé en argent comptant. 

Et pour le regard du navire le Bride ou Réponse, les sommes ausquelles se 
trouveront monter ce qui a esté vendu a Calais, tant des vivres & autres mar- 
chandises que du corps du navire, canons, munitions, a- [250] grets, apparaux & 
victuailles d’iceluy seront payez ; ensemble les sommes ausquelles se trouveront 
monter le reste de la charge dudit navire trouvé dans iceluy lors qu’il fut pris, 
lesquelles seront payez sur le pied de la derniere vente faite audit Calais, pour le 
payement dequoy lesdits sieurs Lumague & Vanelly passeront caution pour le 
payer a Paris ausdits sieurs Ambassadeurs ou a qui il ordonnera dans le terme 
susdit. 

A esté accordé que sur les sommes qui doivent estre restituées pour les 
Anglois & Francois, seront deduits les droits d’entrée, emsemble ce qui aura esté 
baillé pour la garde des marchandises & repara tions des- [251] dits navires, & 
particulierement douze cens livres pour ce qui touche les droits d’entrée des 
marchandises dudit General de Caen, & douze cens livres qu’il doit payer pour 
les vivres fournis aux Francois a leur retour en Angleterre & en France 1629. 

De plus a esté convenu de part & d’autre, que si lors de la prise desdits 
vaisseaux le Jacques, la Benediction, le Gabriel de saint Gilles, sainte Anne du 
Havre de grace, la Trinité des sables d’Olonne, le saint Laurent de saint Malo, 
le Cap du ciel de Calais a esté prisé aucune chose contenué és inventaires, & qui 
neantmoins n’aura esté comprise és procez verbaux des ventes & estimations. 
Comme aussi, [252] si lors de la prise desdits vaisseaux il a esté soustrait ou 
enlevé quelque chose nom comprise és inventaires, faits tant en Angleterre qu’en 
France par les Officiers de I) Admirauté, il sera loisible aux interressez desdits 
navires de se pourvoir par les voyes ordinaires de la Justice contre ceux qu’ils 
pourront prouver estre coupables de ce delit, pour iceux estre contraints par 
corps a la restitution de ce qui sera prouvé avoir esté enlevé par eux, & qu’a ce 
faire ils seront contraints solidairement le solvable pour |’insolvable, sans toutes- 
fois que lesdits Interessez pussent pour raison de ce pretendre aucune reparation 
de leur griefs par represailles ou [253] lettres de marques soit par mer ou par 
terre. 

Pour l’execution de ce que dessus, toutes Lettres & Arrests necessaires 
seront expediez de part & d’autre, & fournis dans quinze jours. 


i 


SEPTENTRIONALE 511 


[254]  Lnsuit la teneur du Pouvoir dudit sieur Isaac Wake, Chevalier, 
Ambassadeur du Roy de la Grande Bretagne. 


AROLVS Dei gratia magne Britannie, Francice & Hibernie Rex, 
Fidei defensor &c. Omnibus has Literas visuris, salutem. Cim 
controversia quedam, & difficultates huc usque obstiterint quominus 
conditiones & articuli nuper inter nos & Serenissimum Potentissi- 
mumque Regem Francorum Christianis- [255] simum Fratrem nostrum 
charissimum initi, redintegrari & restitui, ac reconciliationis quo illo & justo 
modo, atque exacta & debita ratione illa, quam arctissimus vtriusque nostriim 
consanguinitatis, affinitatis, & affectus nexus, atque mutua Regnorum subdi- 
torumque nostrorum consuetudo, vicinitas, & utilitas utrimque jubet, & requirit, 
observari & impleri potuerint; nobis vero ipsis nec quidquam antiquius sit, 
quam ut nostra parte verbo & promisso nostris regijs satisfaclamus; neque ex 
parte prefati Regis Christianissimi aliud quam idem [256] reciprocum in nos 
studium & animum nobis promittamus: Nos quidem intelligentes nil amplius ad 
tante rei perfectionem superesse nisi ut utrimque Commissarij & Procuratores 
sufficienti authoritate instructi conveniant, diutius differre nec debuimus, nec 
volumus, quin sanetum & necessarium zque ac desideratum illud perfecte 
reconciliationis opus tam feliciter inceptum ad exoptatum finem & effectum 
promovere, atque mutuam mercature exercende & restaurande libertatem, equé 
ac sinceré colendz amicitiz, & necessitudinis certitudinem [257] stabilire anni- 
teremur; igitur sciatis quod nos virum nobilem & nobis perquam fidelem & 
dilectum Isaacum Vvakum Equitem auratum & nostrum apud dictum Fratrem 
nostrum charissimum Regem Christianissimum morantem Oratorem & legatum ; 
de cujus quidem multa rerum experientia, prudentia, virtute, & fide plurimim 
confidimus, fecimus, constituimus & deputavimus & per presentes facimus, con- 
stituimus, & deputamus nostrum verum & indubitatum commissarium deputatum 
& Procuratorem, dantes eidem & com- [258] mittentes plenam & omnimodam 
auctoritatem, & potestatem pariter & mandatum generale & speciale nomine 
nostro cum prefato Rege Christianissimo Fratre nostro charissimo, ipsiusque 
Commissarijs deputatis & procuratoribus ad hoc sufficientem potestatem 
habentibus, super dicto controversiarum tollendarum & prefate reconciliationis, 
mercatureque stabiliende negotio communicandi, tractandi, conveniendi, & 
concludendi czteraque omnia & singula faciendi que ad dictam mutue recon- 
ciliationis & commercij restitutionis perfectionem [259] atque ad firmiorem 
pacem & amicitiam inter nos, nostras Coronas, & subditos firmandam conducunt, 
atque super iis articulis literas & instrumenta necessaria conficiendi & ab altera 
parte petendi & recipiendi, denique omnia ea que ad premissa vel circa eadem 
erunt necessaria & opportuna expediendi: promittentes bona fide & in verbo 
regio nos omnia & singula que inter dictum fratrem nostrum charissimum 
Regem Christianissimum ejusque Procuratores, Deputatos aut comissarios atque 
prenominatum Equitem Isaacum Vvakum [260] nostrum Procuratorem & 
Legatum in premissis seu premissorum aliquo erunt facta, pacta, & conclusa, 
rata, grata & firma habituros, specialius mandatum, si opus fuerit, daturos, & 
omnes defectus, si quippiam in hisce literis reperiantur, suppleturos atque 
nunquam contra ipsorum aliquid vel aliqua contraventuros, imo quid quid nomine 
nostro promissum fuerit, inviolabiliter observaturos & observari facturos. 


512 DESCRIPTION DE L’AMERIQUE 


In cujus testimonium has litteras fieri atque manu nostra signatas Regni 
nostri Anglie sigillo communiri fecimus; Datas [261] in regia nostra 
Grenovici 29. die Junij anno Christi 1631. regni verd nostri septimo. 


Ainsi signé, CAROLVS Rex. 


Et scellé sur double queué de cire jaune. 


[262] Ensuit la teneur du Pouvoir desdits sieurs de Bullion & Bouthillier 


Commissaires deputex par sa Mayesté tres-Chrestienne. 


OUIS par la grace de Dieu Roy de France & de Navarre: A tous ceux 
qui ces presentes Lettres verront, salut. S’estant rencontrez quelques 
difficultez qui ont empesché jusqu’a present l’effet & entiere execu- 
tion des derniers Articles arrestez entre Nous, & tres-haut, tres- 

puissant, & tres excellent Prince, nostre tres-cher & tres-amé Beau-F rere, 
Cousin & ancien allié le Roy de la [263] grande Bretagne, & que les Sujets des 
deux Couronnes n’en ayent retirez les fruits que nous en estions promis pour 
leur benefice commun, comme Nous n’avons jamais eu rien plus 4 coeur que 
faire garder & observer exactement les choses qui ont esté par Nous promises, 
& d’établir & étraindre entre nous & ledit Roy nostre tres-cher Frere, la bonne 
& sincere amitié & intelligence qui doit estre entre nous pour le bien commun de 
nos Couronnes & du Public, aussi ne desirons nous rien tant que de faire cesser 
& terminer au plitost les difficultez qui pourroient empescher un si bon ceuvre: 
& dautant que Nous sommes asseuré que ledit Roy de la grande [264] Bretagne 
a de son costé la mesme intention, & que mesme il a donné pouvoir par ses 
Lettres Patentes du 29. Juin dernier au sieur Isaac Wake son Ambassadeur 
ordinaire resident prés de Nous pour traiter de ses affaires, desirant y cor- 
respondre de nostre part. Nous avons fait choix pour cette negotiation, nos 
amés & feaux Conseillers, 4 nostre Conseil d’Etat, les sieurs de Buillion & 
Bouthillier Secretaire de nos Commandements, comme de personnages en 
V’aftection, fidelité experience desquelles Nous avons particuliere confiance. 
A ces causes & autres bonnes considerations 4 ce Nous mouvans, Nous avons 
lesdits sieurs de Buillion & Bouthillier com- [265] mis & deputez, commettons 
& deputtons par ces Presentes signées de nétre main, avec plein Pouvoir & 
mandement special, pour en nostre Nom conferer, negocier & traiter avec ledit 
Sieur Wak Ambassadeur, de l’accOmodement des difficultez susdites des restitu- 
tions a faire des choses prises de part & d’autre, de |’établissement d’un bon, 
libre, & seur commerce & trafic entre les Sujets des deux Couronnes, & 
generalement de toute autre choses qu’ils verront estre necessaires & convenables 
pour une parfaite reconciliation entre nous & nos Sujets, & l’affermissement 
d’une bonne & durable paix entre Nous & nos Couronnes, & de ce en passer, 
bailler & recevoir tous Articles, [266] Accords, & Traitez que besoin sera. 
Prommettons en Foy & parole de Roy avoir pour agreable, tenir ferme & 
stable tout ce qui sera par nosdits Deputez, fait, geré & negocié, conclud 
& arresté sur ce sujet avec ledit Sieur Ambassadeur, sans x contrevenir, ny 
souffrir que de Nostre part il y soit contrevenu en aucune maniere: Car tel est 


ee ee ee. ene 


a ee 


et eg a a ae 


SEPTENTRIONALE 513 


nostre plaisir. En témoin dequoy Nous avons fait mettre Nostre Scel 4 
cesdites Presentes. Donné 4 Mets le vingt-cinquiéme jour de Janvier, |’an de 
Grace 1632. & de nostre Regne le vingt-deuxiéme. Signé, LOUIS. Et 
sur le reply, Par le Roy De Lomenie. Et scellé sur double queué du grand 
Sceau de cire jaune. 

[267] En foy de quoy Nous Ambassadeurs & Commissaires susdits, en vertu 
de nos Pouvoirs avons signé les Presentes Articles 4 saint Germain, le vingt- 
neufviéme jour de Mars 1632. Signé, 


ISAACUS WAKUS, BUILLON, BOUTHILLER. 


[267 verso] Lixtrait du Privilege du Roy. 


AR Grace & Privilege du Roy, donné a saint Germain en Laye, le 

29. Septembre 1671. Signé Datence’. II est permis au sieur Denys 

de faire imprimer par tel Imprimeur qu’il voudra choisir pendant cing 

années, un Livre de sa composition. intitulé, Description Geographique 

des costes de 7 Amerique Septentrionales, depuis la nouvelle Angleterre jusques a la 

riviere saint Laurent, avec |’ Histoire naturelle des peuples (§ des animaux du 

pays, & deffences sont faites 4 toutes personnes de quelque qualité quelles soient 

de le faire imprimer sans |’exprés consentement dudit sieur Denis ou de ceux 
gui auront droit de luy, sur les peines portées par lesdites Lettres. 

Et ledit sieur Denis a cedé son droit de Privilege 4 Louis Billaine & 
Claude Barbin Marchands Libraires 4 Paris, pour en jouir suivant l’accord fait 
entr’eux. 

Registré sur le Livre de la Communauté, des Maistres Imprimeurs 
Marchands Libraires, le Mars 1672, 

Signé THIERRY Syndic. 


514 


oe) OIRE 
NATURELLE 


Des Peuples, des Animaux, des 
Arbres & Plantes de l’Amerique 
Septentrionale, & de ses 
divers Climats. 

Avec une Description exacte de la 
Pesche des Molués, tant sur Te 
Grand-Banc qua la Coste; & de 


tout ce qui sy pratique de plus 
particulier, ec. 


Par Monsieur DENYS, Gouverneur 
Lieutenant General pour le Roy, & 
Proprietaire de toutes les Terres & 
Isles qui sont depuis le Cap de Camp- 


seaux, jusques au Cap des Roziers. 


TOME SECOND. 


Pook AILS, 


Chey Craupe, BaARBIN, au Palais, 


sur le Perron de la sainte Chapelle. 


Me DC. LX XII. 
Avec Privilege du Roy. 


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Peto l OJRE NATURELLE 
DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 


CHAPITRE PREMIER 


Qui traitte de la difference &5 du rapport qu’il y a entre les climats de la nouvelle 
France &§° de [ ancienne, avec les raisons pourquoy ces pays la peuvent produire 
tout ce qui croit en France. 


PRES avoir fait voir |’étendue de la coste de la nouvelle France, depuis 
la nou- [4] velle Angleterre jusqu’a l’entrée de la grande riviere de 
saint Laurent, & marqué le tout de port en port, de havre en havre, 
& de riviere en riviere; ce qui est contenu en chaque endroit, des 

especes, des arbres, leurs grandeurs & grosseurs, la qualité & bonté de la terre. 
I] est maintenant 4 propos de montrer qu’elle est capable de porter tout ce que 
la France peut produire, puis qu’elle est située sous les mesmes climats. 

La riviere de Pantagouet est située par les quarante-trois degrez & demy de 
latitude, autre bout joignant la grande riviere de saint Laurent, & par les 
quarante-neuf degrez aussi de latitude. Toute cette éten- [5] due de la 
nouvelle France ne contient donc que cing degrez en toute sa longueur de coste, 
qui est environ de deux cens cinquante lieues. Et Bayonne qui est le bout des 
costes de France du costé du Midy est par les quarante-trois degrez quarante- 
cing minutes; & Calais qui est le costé du Nord est par les cinquante-un degrez ; 
partant les costes de France doivent estre bien plus froides que celles de la 
nouvelle France puis qu’elles sont deux degrez un quart plus Sud du costé du 
Midy, & le cap Breton est par les quarante-cing & deux tiers, qui fait la 
grande entrée de la grande baye de saint Laurent, entre luy and le cap de 
Rayes: Depuis ledit cap Breton jusques a l’en- [6] trée de la grande riviere, il 
me se trouve que deux degrez cinquante minutes de difference plus Sud que la 
France: Puis que la riviere de Nantes qui est par les quarante-sept degrez 
vingt-quatre minuttes, & Calais qui est |’autre bout du costé du Nord est par les 
cinquante-un degrez qui ont de differences trois degrez trente-six minuttes ; 
ainsi toutes l’estendue des terres qui sont depuis Nantes jusques a Calais, doivent 
donc estre aussi froides, & plus que celles qui sont depuis le cap Breton jusques 
a la grande riviere de saint Laurent, & mesme tout le reste du pais, puis que le 
Soleil qui est le maistre de tous les Astres, & de qui ils dépendent tous, doit 
faire le mes- [7| me effet en un lieu qu’il fait en |’autre pour la chaleur. Mais 
il y a des accidens qui détournent les effets de sa puissance, comme il se void 
que sous un mesme climat il se trouve des terres qui sont bien meilleures les 
unes que les autres; un endroit n’aura que des roches, un autre ne produira que 


517 2L 


518 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


des brandes, en un autre endroit il n’y aura que des montagnes, dans les vallons 
il n’y aura que des marescages & prairies, entre tout cela il se trouve de bonnes 
terres qui sont propres aux bleds, aux fruits & aA toutes autres bonnes plantes : 
ce n’est donc pas la faute du Soleil si toutes les terres qui se rencontrent sous un 
mesme degré de chaleur n’ont pas un mesme effet. La nouvelle Fran- [8] ce 
en est de mesme, il s’y trouve des montagnes, des rochers, des marescages, des 
prairies, des brandes, & de bonnes terres qui peuvent tout produire aussi bien 
qu’en France. II] s’y trouve encore un autre accident par le froid que |’on dit 
y estre plus grand qu’en France & plus de neges, il est vray, pourveu que ce soit 
sans changer de climat; car si je changeois d’un climat 4 autre tout mon 
raisonnement ne vaudroit rien, je demeure donc en la mesme étendué que j’ay 
fixée cy-dessus, 

Premierement je vais donner ma raison du froid & des neges de la nouvelle 
France, & je dis que la quantité des neges qui s’y trouve vient de ce que toute 
la terre est couverte de [9] bois, & que les neges qui tombent en ces quartiers- 
la, qui commencent comme en France, quelque fois a la fin de Septembre ou a 
la my-Octobre selon que les années se comportent, toutes ces neges-la ne 
demeurent point d’abord sur la terre, parce qu’elle a encore de la chaleur qui les 
fait fondre, d’autresfois il se trouve des années pluvieuses, ce qui provient de la 
temperature de l’air qui d’ordinaire est par dela comme en France, dont jay 
fait plusieurs fois des remarques par le rapport de ceux qui viennent de France, 
a qui je demandois |’état de ’hyver, tant en son commencement, son milieu qu’a 
sa fin, A quoy je trouvois le mesme rapport a peu prés. ‘Toutes les [10] neges 
qui tombent par dela vers la ‘Toussains ne fondent plus a cause des bois qui les 
conservent & que la terre a perdu sa chaleur, & le Soleil n’a plus assez de force 
pour les fondre a travers des bois, ainsi tout ce qui en tombe depuis ce temps-la 
s amassent |’une sur l’autre, ce qui fait qu’on dit qu’il y a six mois de neges: 
cette longueur de neges vient aussi, de ce qu’au Printemps la force du Soleil n’a 
pas assez de chaleur pour les faire fondre dans les bois qui ont repris leur 
verdure avant sa force, & |’empesche de les faire si-tost fondre. J’ ay remarqué 
que la nege dans les bois ne fond jamais par la force du Soleil, mais par la chaleur 
de la terre qui s’échauffe [11] si-tost que le Printemps arrive, & fait que les neges 
fondent plitost par le dessous que par le dessus. Ce n’est pas une mauvaise marque 
de Ja bonté de la terre; de plus je dis que dans les endroits deffrichez les neges 
sont fondues cing a six semaines plitost que dans les bois, quoy que les bois qui en 
sont proches leur communiquent encore beaucoup de leurs froidures, cela se void 
asseZ communément en France, ou toutes les terres qui sont proches des bois 
sont beaucoup plus sujettes aux gelées que celles qui sont éloignées, cela se peut 
encore mieux prouver par Kebec qui a deux mois d’ Hyver moins qu'il n’avoit 
avant que les terres y fussent défricheés, ce qui [12] m’a esté assuré par plusieurs 
anciens habitans de Kebec: si une fois les bois sont plus éloignez de leurs terres 
il n’auront pas plus d’ Hyver qu’a Paris, par consequent |’on n’a plus de raison 
de décrier ce pais-la, pour les grands froids & les grandes neges, par les raisons 
que j’en rapporte qui sont assez claires pour faire comprendre que la nouvelle 
France peut tout produire aussi bien que l’ancienne, mais il faudroit du monde 
pour travailler au défrichement, il y en a tant en France qui a peine trouve le 
moyen d’y subsister, & si ce n’estoit la Providence de Dieu qui donne 4 la 
France une si grande abondance de bleds, de vin, de fruits & de legumes il en 
mourroit de faim [13] un grand nombre, comme lon a veu en l’année 1661. 


DE LLAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 519 


en la plus grande partie des Provinces de France, & s’il arrivoit encore une 
pareille disette, tel qui a dequoy subsister se trouveroit pour lors bien heureux 
d’estre en la nouvelle France, ot avec un peu de travail on ne scauroit mourir 
de faim; vaudroit-il pas beaucoup mieux que tant de pauvres gens allassent en 
ces quartiers-la travailler & défricher des terres & s’y rendre heureux? II] ne 
leur faut que deux années de travail pour avoir du bled, des pois, des féves & 
toutes sortes de legumes pour y vivre, pliitost que languir icy; car outre qu’ils 
y souffrent ils font patir les autres, ils ne payent aucune taille au [14] Roy & 
empeschent ceux qui ont quelque peu de chose de se mettre 4 leur aise, lesquels 
payeroient leurs tailles plus aisément. 

Ceux qui aiment beaucoup mieux boire que manger, me diront que la l’on 
ne recueille point de vin; l’on n’y prend point les pigeons a la rape, & ne con- 
siderent pas, qu’aux lieux ou le vin ne croist point, c’est ot l’on boit le meilleur ; 
un autre qui aimera les fruits me dira qu’il n’y en a point; ainsi un chacun me 
demandera les choses suivant son inclination, 4 quoy je leur répond que tout ce 
que l’on peut receuillir en France, vient en ces pais-la: 4 mesme temps |’on me 
demande pourquoy n’en avez vous donc pas? & n’y en ayant pas [15] pre- 
sentement aussi-tost l’on condamne le pais. Il y en a de qui ces demandes ne 
me surprennent pas, mais aussi j’en void qui se picquent d’esprit & qui croyent 
scavoir tout ; mais ils ont peu de jugement, puis qu’ils voudroient que tout fust 
par dela comme 4a present en France, sans considerer que c’est un nouveau 
pais qui n’est point encore habité, que c’est le necessaire 4 quoy il faut travailler 
comme le bled duquel |’on ne se peut passer & des legumes, qui est le principal 
de la vie, & ayant cela on peut avoir de la biere, & tout cela se peut avoir dans 
deux années ou trois tout au plus, le reste se peut avoir avec le temps, ainsi que 
Pon a fait en France dans les commencemens [16] qu’elle s’est habitée; ce 

n’estoit que bois aussi bien qu’en ces pais-la. Nos ancestres n’ont pas com- 
mencé par la vigne, par les fruits, & par toutes autres choses qui flattent nos 
gousts, tout cela s’est fait petit 4 petit ; & si depuis que 1’on y travaille l’on n’a 
pas tout ce que l’on souhaite, tous les jours on cherche ce qu'il y a de friand 
dans les pais étrangers, pour en avoir l’on fait venir du plant de vigne de tous les 
cétez ot il se cueille de bon vin: pour les fruits & legumes de mesmes. Il y a 
trente a quarante ans qu’a Paris l’on ne faisoit quasi des Jardins que pour des 
choux, de la porée & quelques autres legumes, & a present il s’y trouve de tres- 
beaux fruits, [17] encore la pluspart ne vient que par artifice & 4 force d’argent, 
& si avec tout cela ils n’ont que |’éclat, le goust n’y est point comme a4 ceux qui 
croissent au pais d’ou on les tire: Pourquoy, c’est que l’on les change de 
climat, & n’ont pas la force du Soleil comme en leur pais natal. N’avons nous 
pas édifié en France les Cannes de succre a Hieres, aussi bien que les Oranges 
de Portugal, dont l’origine estoit venue de la Chine, & les fleurs de Cassie & de 
tubereuse n’y ont pas esté apportées d’Espagne & autres climats encore plus 
chaud, aussi bien que le jassemin & la tulipe qui se sont tellement naturalisez & 
par leur goust & par leur odeur, que ce qui nous estoit autrefois si rare [18] sur 
tout 4 Paris nous y est devenu tres-commun. Ne condamnez dont plus la 
nouvelle France d’ingratitude, & commencez par le bon sens, qu'il s’en peut 
faire un bon pais, & aussi fertile que la France en toutes choses. 

Encores que j’aye dit que le bon vin se boit aux lieux ou il ne croit point ; 
n’en tirez pas pour cela une consequence pour priver le pais de pouvoir produire 
cette douce liqueur, & d’aussi agreable que celle qui se boit en France; si l’on 


520 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


n’y a point encore planté de vignes, c’est parce que le necessaire va tofijours le 
premier, qui ne requiert point tant de temps pour en jouir que le vin, pour lequel 
il faut des six & sept années a- [1 g| vant qu’unevigne puisse estre en rapport, 
ce quelle porte auparavant cela étant peu de chose; car un, deux, trois, ou 
quatre muids que l’on en peut tirer pour l’arpent ne sont pas considerables ; cela 
fait bien voir, qu'il est bien plus necessaire de semer du bled que de planter la 
vigne ; outre que le vin n’est pas si mal-aisé a transporter que le bled, & qu’on 
se peut plus aisément passer de vin que de pain. 

Voyons 4 present si la vigne y peut venir en toute maturité. Premierement 
il est certain que le pais produit la vigne naturellement, qu’elle porte raisin qui 
meurit 4 sa perfection, le grain aussi gros que peut estre le muscat; pour son suc 
il n’est pas si [20] agreable estant sauvage, & la peau en est un peu plus dure ; 
mais si elle estoit transplantée & cultivée comme |’on fait en France, je ne doute 
point que le vin n’en fust aussi bon. Mais laissons cela, & voyons si le plan de 
France porté de par dela y porteroit d’aussi bon vin qu’il fait icy. II ne faut 
point parler du crei de Nantes ny du cidre de Normandie, |’on croira assez que 
cela y peut venir; mais parlons du creti d’autour de Paris, Bourgogne & 
Champagne, si l’on est une fois convaincu que cela se peut, l’on n’aura plus tant 
de peine a croire tout le reste. 

Je vous ay déja fait le rapport des climats de tous ces quartiers-la, de la 
cause du froid & [21] de la longueur des neges: il n’est pas besoin de le repeter 
pour vous faire croire que le pais étant découvert, tous ces accidens de froid & 
de neges ny seront plus; cela estant qui est-ce qui empeschera que la vigne que 
je nomme cy-dessus ne puisse aussi bien venir par dela quwicy: |’on y trouve de 
pareille terre, des montagnes exposées au midy & a l’abry du mauvais vent, les 
costeaux propres pour y planter de la vigne: pour les facons elles s’y peuvent 
observer comme en ces quartiers de la France, & qui s’y pratiquent autrement 
que non pas aux lieux chauds, ce qui est une des principalles raisons pour 
lesquelles les vins viennent aux pais froids meilleurs que dans les pais [22] 
chauds, du moins plus delicats & plus agreables a boire; tels sont les vins de 
Champagne beaucoup plus delicats que ceux de Provence, quoy qu ils croissent 
en un climat beaucoup plus froid. Quant a la culture l’on déchausse la vigne 
en Hyver dans les pays chauds pour la faire hyverner, & aux froids on la 
chausse, c’est 4 dire que l’on enterre les brins de sermens pour les conserver du 
froid; car estant enterrez & couverts le brin de serment ne gele point, & au 
commencement du Printemps on la déterre, & elle a encore assez de temps 
pour s’hyverner, aprés quoy on la taille, & on la met en paisseaux ou eschallas 
pour parvenir a sa production. Voila la methode dont on se sert en Champagne. 

[23] Pour la Bourgogne, je ne scay pas si on y pratique la mesme chose 
qu’en Champagne; peut-estre qu’il n’y a pas tant de neges & qu’ils ont plus de 
pluye; si cela est il faut quils ayent une autre maniere d’accommoder leurs 
vignes, ce qui sera bien aisé de scavoir, pour faire le mesme. A Paris l’on s’y 
gouverne comme au reste de la France, a la reserve de la taille, qui a quelque 
peu de difference. Pour conclusion, ce qui fait le bon vin c’est le bon climat, 
le Soleil, le terroir & le bon gouvernement dont il faut scavoir la pratique selon 
les lieux ot elle se plante; mais le terroir avec le Soleil y est le principal, car 
l’on voit des endroits ot le vin est bien meilleur qu’en un [24 ] autre, quoy que 
la distance d’un lieu a |’autre ne soit pas considerable. 

Pour le contenu des autres terres qui sont depuis le cap Breton qui est par 


a 


ee ee ee 


DE LVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 521 


les quarante cinq degrez deux tiers jusques a la riviere de Pantagotiet, qui est par 
quarante trois degrez & demy, ce qui fait environ cent cinquante lieués de costes, 
dont les climats sont bien plus chauds que ceux dont je viens de parler, qui sont 
4 peu prés comme ceux de Nantes 4 Bayonne. Nantes est par les quarante-sept 
degrez vingt-quatre minutes, & Bayonne par les quarante-trois degrez quarante- 
cing minuttes; c’est peu de difference. Je conclud donc que tout ce qui peut 
venir en France en cette étendué de [25] terre, peut venir en celle de la nouvelle 
France, par les raisons que jay alleguées cy-dessus, les accidens levez ainsi que 
jay dit; pour ce qui est du sel, il s’y peut faire aussi beau & aussi bon qu’en 
Brouage ; je le scay par experience, |’épreuve en a esté faite, jay veu du sel 
qui a esté fait en des marests faits exprés qui furent rompus si-tost aprés; Von 
s est contenté de scavoir qu’il s’y pouvoit faire: je connois un peu le bon sel & 
la qualité qu’il doit avoir pour estre bon, c’est encore une preuve de ce que je 
dis, que ce qui se produit et un pais se peut produire en l’autre estant tous deux 
sous un mesme climat, quelque distance qu’il y ait de l’un a l’autre. Il me 
semble que tout ce [26] que je viens de dire et plus que suffisant pour desabuser 
ceux qui ont conceu une si mauvaise opinion de la nouvelle France. Ce n’est 
pas pour obliger personne de ceux qui sont en un bon pais a le quitter, y ayant 
dequoy subsister, mais tant de pauvres malheureux qui ont la santé qui pourroient 
bien travailler, ne seroient-ils pas plus heureux en ces pais-la, qu’icy 4 demander 
leur vie. 


[27] CHAPITRE II 


Le recit des profits qu’on retire {F qu’on peut retirer du pays pour la pesche des 
Molués vertes ou blanches ainsi qu’elles se mangent a Paris; la maniere de 


la pescher, habiller {§ saller. 


PRES avoir fait voir que ce pais-la se peut habiter & produire comme 
celuy-cy pour sa subsistance; il vous faut faire connoistre ce qu’il a 
de plus que la France, les profits que l’on peut tirer, & que |’on tire 
de chaque chose !’une aprés I’autre. Commencons par la [28] molué 

si connué en France, & dont le debit se fait par toute |’ Europe, & principale- 
ment a Paris. Vous scaurez donc que la molué verte ou blanche, & la molué 
seche ou merluche n’est qu'une mesme espece de poisson, dont Ja dénomination 
n’est differente que par les diverses manieres dont elle est accommodée, les 
differends lieux ot la pesche s’en fait en ces pais-la, & leur diverses grandeurs : 
la plus grande se trouve ordinairement sur le grand Banc, & n’est pas propre 
a secher, comme la petite qui se pesche a la Coste, & se sale & se seche 4 terre 
comme je l’expliqueray cy-aprés. 

Toute cette pesche se fait aux costes de la nouvelle France, tout ce qui s’en 
pesche ailleurs [29] n’est pas considerable; bien que ce poisson soit une espece 
de manne intarissable, je ne puis m’empescher de m’estonner de ce qu'elle se 
vend si peu, eu égard 4 la peine que l’on y a, aux risques que I!’on y court, 
allant & retournant, qui sont si grands qu’a peine le pourra-on croire. Je 
tascheray de vous rapporter icy le plus exactement que je pourray, tout ce qui 
se pratique en la pesche des molués de l’une & de I’autre sorte. Ceux qui 


522 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


scavent ce que c’est s’en mocqueront, mais ceux qui n’en sont pas informés 
seront peut-estre bien-aises de l’apprendre, & le nombre en est assurément plus 
grand que des autres. 

Je commenceray par la molué verte qui est celle que l’on man- [30] ge 
4 Paris, & qui se pesche sur le grand Banc de Terre-neufve. Le Banc qui 
s appelle ainsi est une grande montagne qui est dans la mer & sous l’eau distante 
de vingt-cing lieués ou environ de l’Isle de Terre neufve, d’ot la molué verte 
prend son nom. Ce Banc a environ cent cinquante lieués d’un bout a l’autre, 
& quelques cinquante lieués en son plus large. Cette montagne qui est en la 
mer a au dessus d’elle en son plus haut vingt-cing brasses d’eau, & en d’autres 
endroits trente, trente cing, quarante, cinquante, & soixante brasses d’eau. 
Tout autour elle est coupée quasi tout droit, & en ce tour-la on ne trouve point 
de fonds 4 douze & quinze cens brasses de cordages; par [31] la vous pouvez 
juger de la hauteur de la montagne qui est de roche, tout le haut en est plat 
quoy quelle aille en baissant, c’est ou se pesche la molué qui y trouve pour 
sa noutriture force coquillages de plusieurs sortes & autres poissons. Celuy-cy 
est fort glouton, & sa gourmandise s’étend sur tout, mesme sur ceux de son 
espece, & souvent on en pesche qui ne laissent pas depuis qu’ils sont pris 4 
’hamecon, dans le temps que l’on les tire en haut d’avaler a demy un de leur 
semblable si il se rencontre 4 son chemin; il ne trouve rien de trop dur, 
quelques-fois les pescheurs, laissent tomber leurs cofiteaux; leurs mitaines, ou 
autres choses, si une molué le rencontre elle [32] l’avalle, & bien souvent ils 
peschent la molué qui aura avallé ce qui sera tombé & le retrouvent dans son 
estomac, que les matelots appellent gau. Ce poisson a encore une proprieté, 
qui est que ce qu’il avale qui ne se peut pas digerer, il le fait revenir de son gau 
qu'il retourne hors sa gueule, & en fait sortir tout ce qui luy nuit, aprés quoy 
il le retire en dedans, & ravalle cet estomac. Ceux qui vont ordinairement es 
faire cette pesche sont des Normands du havre de Honfleur, de Dieppe, & 
d’autres petits havres de Normandie, mesme de Boulogne & de Calais, de 
Bretagne, d’Olonne & de tout le pais d’Aulnis; tout cela fait bien le nombre 
de deux cens [33] a deux cens cinquante navires ‘pescheurs tous les ans, & toute 
leur pesche n’est quasi que pour Paris, du moins les trois quarts: il y a tel 
navire qui rapporte jusques a trente, quarante & cinquante milliers de molues, 
& un navire de cent tonneaux, par exemple, n’aura en comptant mesme le 
Capitaine, que quinze ou dix-huit hommes au plus d’équipage, & il raportera 
vingt & jusqu’a vingt-cing milliers de poisson. 

I] faut qu’un Capitaine qui part de France pour cette pesche fasse provision 
de victuailles pour six mois du moins pour tout son équipage qui est de plus ou 
moins d’hommes selon Ja grandeur de son vaisseau: aprés cela ils vont prendre 
leur [34] sel en Brotiage, Oleron, Ré, ou Bretagne, qui vaut dix, unze, 
& douze livres le muid, qui est de vingt-huit minots de sel comble & en penne, 
quasi tout le reste de ce que peut porter son navire. Cette pesche-la dépence 
beaucoup de sel; il faut de plus des lignes grosses comme des tuyaux de plumes 
de quatre vingts-brasses de long, il en faut huit 4 dix pour chaque homme, & 
quelquefois jusques 4 douze ; il leur faut beaucoup plus d’ains ou hamecons, car 
il s’en perd que la molué emporte, il luy faut encore pour chaque homme douze 
A quinze plombs de six livres pesant chacun, qui s’attachent au bout de la ligne 
pour la faire aller a fonds, des cotiteaux pour ouvrir la molué, [35] & d’autres 
pour l’habiller, qui est la fendre jusques 4 la queué, comme on la void a Paris, 


SS 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 528 


aprés qu’il est équipé de la sorte, il met a la voille & va a la grace de Dieu pour 
trouver le grand Banc, ov estant arrivé |’on ploye toutes les voilles & accommode 
son navire pour cette pesche, l’on attache la barre du gouvernail d’un costé, en 
sorte que le navire demeure quasi comme s’il estoit a l’ancre, bien qu’il ne laisse 
pas de deriver lors qu’il y a du vent. Aprés cela les uns jettent d’abord les 
lignes 4 la mer pour voir si le poisson mord, & les autres travaillent 4 faire un 
échaffaut le long d’un des costez du navire par le dehors, 4 moins que le beau- 
temps n’ait permis a |’équipage de le faire [36] pendant la route ou en approchant 
du Banc; sur cet échaftaut l’on met des barils qui sont demy muids qui viennent 
a hauteur de la ceinture, chaque pescheur se met dedans le sien, ils ont aussi un 
grand tablier de cuir qui leur va depuis la gorge jusques aux genoux, le bas du 
tablier se met par dessus le baril en dehors, pour faire que l’eau que la ligne 
apporte avec elle en tirant la molué du fonds de |’eau n’entre en son baril, & le 
pescheur ayant sondé le fonds attache sa ligne au baril dans lequel il est, en sorte 
qu'il s’en faut environ deux brasses que le plomb ne touche au fonds, & il s’en 
faut aussi une brasse que le bout de ligne ot est |’hamegon, & qui est attachée 
pro- [37] che du plomb n’y touche aussi; il ne se pesche qu’une molué 4 la fois, 
& pour scavoir le nombre qu’il s’en pesche, chaque pescheur a un petit fer pointu 
proche de luy, & au mesme temps qu’il deffait ’hamegon de la molué il en 
couppe la langue & la passe en ce fer; chaque pescheur a deux lignes, & pendant 
qu'il en tire une en haut il jette |’autre qui descend en bas quand il y a abondance 
de poisson au lieu ov est le navire. 

Un bon pescheur en peut prendre jusques a trois cens cinquante & quatre 
cens, mais cela lasse beaucoup les bras; la molué est pesante, outre ce qu’elle 
resiste, & puis trente, quarante & suivant la profondeur jusques 4 soixante 
brasses [38] de lignes ne sont pas si-tost tirées; s’ils faisoient tous les jours 
cela ils n’y pourroient pas durer ; il se trouve bien des jours qu’ils n’en trouvent 
point, d’autres-fois ils n’en pescheront que vingt-cing, trente, quarante, un cent, 
ou deux cens chacun par jour, tout cela est au hazard; pour la boite de la 
molué c’est l’apast que l’on met a |’hamecon, sur la pointe duquel il pique 
un morceau de harang, dont la peau a un certain éclat qui reluit en Ja mer, 
& lors que la molué l’appercoit elle y court: outre cela ils garnissent entierement 
’hamecon des tripailles de la molué gros comme les deux poings; mais quand 
ils trouvent dans le Gau ou estomac de la molué des coquillages ou autres [39 | 
pOlssons qui ne sont pas consommez ils s’en servent au lieu de harang. 

Il y a tel navire qui sera assez heureux pour faire sa pesche en un mois ou 
six semaines, pendant qu’un autre sera trois, quatre & cinq mois 4 |’achever: 
cela dépend du bon-heur. ‘Tous les navires pescheurs ne mouillent jamais !’ancre 
sur le banc; le jour ils ont une petite voille quarrée sur le cul de leurs vaisseaux 
qu’ils appellent tapecu!, pour les sofitenir au vent & empescher la derive ou que 
le navire n’aille de costé; s’il y alloit les lignes s’éloigneroient trop du navire, 
& ne pourroient pas prendre le fonds ov est la molué, 

Pour la nuit ils mettent leur [40] grande voile, & tous ceux qui sont sur le 
banc la mettent tofijours d’un mesme costé, afin que les vaisseaux fassent leur 
derive toute semblable, & par ce moyen éviter la rencontre les uns des autres, 
parce qu’autrement ils courroient risque de se perdre, en ce que les vaisseaux se 
pourroient aborder avec fracas. 

De plus il faut scavoir que le grand Banc est rarement sans une brune ou 
brouillard, & quelquefois si épaisse que l’on ne void pas d’un bout du navire 


524 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


4 Pautre, c’est ce qui les oblige 4 prendre cette precaution pour éviter le 
naufrage., 

Quand les pescheurs qui sont sur ce grand Banc voyent que le Caresme 
approche, ceux qui [41] ont la moitié ou les deux tiers de leurs pesche s’en 
vont pour tacher d’arriver des premiers pour la vente qui est meilleure qu’en un 
autre temps. : 

Le Printemps ils partent encore avec moins de charge, car ceux qui arrivent 
des premiers trouvent encore la vente meilleure, le debit en estant bien asseuré a 
Paris, c’est ce que l’on y appelle la molue nouvelle. 

Cette diligence leur procure encore un autre avantage, qui est d’entreprendre 
un second voyage en la mesme année dés qu’ils sont déchargez, & s’ils font bonne 
rencontre de pesche sur le Banc, ils peuvent estre encore arrivez assez-tost pour 
la vente du Caresme, mais tous ces avantages-la sont casuels, [42] heureux celuy 

ui les rencontre, encore y a-il bien de la peine & du mal 4 souffrir, en ce que 
sur le grand Banc il fait plus froid au mois de Juin, qu’il ne fait en France au 
mois de Septembre. 

C’est tout ce qu’il y peut avoir que trois mois d’Esté qui sont quasi tofjours 
pleins d’une grosse brune assez froide. Cette grande froidure du Printemps 
provient des glaces qui viennent du costé du Nord tirant vers la Suede & 
Dannemarc, ot la mer glace fort épaisse, & comme la tourmente la fait rompre 
par morceaux, que la marée emporte au large, & que le vent du Nord qui est 
commun en ce temps-la les amene vers le grand Banc. Pen- [43] dant leur 
voyage la mer qui bat contre & qui monte dessus se glace, ce qui la rend tofijours 
plus épaisse, & lors que le dessus est plus chargé que le dessous, elle tourne le 
haut en bas, ainsi elle va toiijours profitant, il s’en voit quelques-fois de plus 
hautes que les tours Nostre-Dame de Paris, quand le Soleil donne dessus on les 
void de dix-huit 4 vingt-lieués ; si un navire les rencontre & qu’il soit au dessous 
du vent il les sent bien d’aussi loin par le moyen du froid qu’elles rendent & du 
vent qu’il porte. 

Lors que l’on va sur le grand Banc ou en la nouvelle France au mois de 
May, Juin & Juillet, il faut faire bon quart toutes les nuits; un navire qui 
rencontre- [44] roit une glace se briseroit en pieces comme s’il donnoit contre 
une roche, & point de salvation en ces rencontres: 4 cinquante ou soixante 
lieués en mer au deca du Banc quelques fois plus proche du Banc, quelques-fois 
dessus, quelques-fois par dela, elles vont selon les vents qui regnent, il s’en trouve 
quelquefois un si grand nombre en suite les unes des autres estant conduites tout 
d’un mesme vent, qu’il s’est trouvé des navires allant a terre pour le poisson sec 
qui en ont rencontré de cent cinquante lieués de longueur encore plus, qui les ont 
cottoyées un jour ou deux avec la nuit, bon frais portant toutes voiles sans en 
trouver le bout, ils vont comme cela tout le long [45] pour trouver quelques 
ouvertures a passer leurs navires: s’ils en rencontrent ils y passent comme par un 
détroit, autrement il leur faut aller jusques au bout pour y passer, car les glaces 
barrent le chemin. 

Ces glaces-l4 ne fondent point que lors qu’elles attrappent les eaux chaudes 
vers le Midy, ou bien qu’elles soient poussées par le vent du costé de la terre, il 
en échoue jusques a vingt-cing & trente brasses d’eau, jugez de leur hauteur sans 
ce qui est sur l’eau: Des pescheurs m’ont asseuré en avoir veu une échoiiée sur 
le grand Banc a quarante-cing brasses d’eau qui avoit bien dix lieués de tour, il 
falloit qu’elle eust une grande hauteur: les [46] navires n’approchent point de 


DE LYAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 525 


ces glaces-]a ’on apprehende qu’elles ne tournent d’un costé sur l’autre, 4 mesure 
qu’elles se déchargent du costé ou elles ont plus de chaleur, ainsi le plus pesant 
Pemporte: ces glaces-la sont la cause en partie, de ce que |’on croit le Canadas 
si froid. 

Les pescheurs sur le Banc ont prés de six mois que l’eau gele sur leur ligne 
a mesure qu ils a retirent en haut, cela leur donne bien du mal & une grande 
fatigue: je ne scay comment il se trouve du monde pour cette pesche, & ou ils 
ont se peu de profit : ‘ quand un pescheur gagne pour son voyage trente a trente- 
cing ou quarante écus i] n’est pas mal, & ces voyages [47] sont de cinq, six & 
sept mois, compris le temps de la ehatee & de la décharge du navire, pendant 
quoy ils ne gagnent rien. 

Revenons 4 la facon de saller la molué. Ayant couppé la langue ils jettent 
Ja molué sur le pont du navire, ot des garcons Ja donnent 4 ceux qui l’habillent : 
ce qu ’estant fait ]’on la donne au saleur qui la range en fonds de cale teste contre 
queué, en ayant fait une couche longue d’une brasse ou deux selon qu'il void la 
pesche donner pour contenir le tout en une pille: le premier rang fait on la 
couvre toute de sel tant qu’elle en puisse prendre, comme on dit tout son saoul, 
puis on fait une autre couche dessus qu’on [48] sale de mesme, ainsi continuant 
toute la pesche d’un jour, car on met que tres-rarement celle d’un jour sur 
Pautre, ayant demeuré ainsi trois ou quatre jours tant que son eau soit égouttée 
& qu’elle ait pris son sel, puis on la releve & on luy oste tout ce qu'elle a de sel 
de reste, & puis on fait une autre couche en un autre endroit du fonds du navire, 
& on la recouvre encore de nouveau sel, lit pour lit, aprés quoy Yon n’y touche 
plus & l’on continué totijours de mesme jusques a ce que le navire ait sa charge, 
si on les changeoit encore une autrefois de place, il y faudroit encore remettre 
de nouveau sel. 

I] convient encore de scavoir que sur le Banc qui est 4 vingt- [49] cing 
lieués de Ja plus proche terre il s’y void une si grande quantité d’oiseaux que 
cela n’est pas croyable, comme happefoye, croiseurs, poules de mer, pennegoins 
& beaucoup d’autres sortes. 

Je parleray seulemét de ceux-cy. Les happefoye sont des oyseaux fort 
gourmands, ils 5 ’appellent ainsi, parce qu’ils vivent de foye de molué, & s’ils 
voyét un navire qui pesche, il s’y en assemble un si grand nombre autour de luy 
pour attraper les foyes qui tombent en la mer, qu’aussi-tost qu "il s’en jette un, 
plus d’une cinquantaine de ces oyseaux fondent dessus & s’entrebattent pour 
attraper ; ils viennent tout proche le bord du navire, & quelques-fois on les 
peut tuer [50] avec une perche, leur gourmandise fait que l’on les prend aisé- 
ment, avec des hamecons qu’ on attache au bout d’une petite ligne dont les 
pescheurs se fournissent exprés: cette ligne est supportée sur |’eau par un morceau 
de liege, & l’on meta l’hamecon un morceau de foye: |’on jette cela la plus au 
large que |’on peut, aussi-tost ces oyseaux se battent a qui l’attrapera; & aprés 
s’estre bien battus, a la fin un |’attrape qui se prend par le bec, on le tire a bord ; 
il faut bien prendre garde qu'il ne vous attrape la main, son bec de dessus est 
crochu qui passe beaucoup sur |’autre, s’il mordoit il perceroit le doigt ou la 
main; lors qu’on |’a depris de ’hamecgon & qu’on le laisse aller [51] sur le 
tillac il ne s’envole point, il ne scauroit s’élever 4 moins qu’il ne soit dans l’eau: 
cette pesche donne un grand divertissement. 

Les Croiseurs sont des oyseaux qui viennent aussi pour manger des foyes, 
mais ils ne s’approchent pas de si prés; ils s’appellent Croiseurs, parce qu’ils 


526 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


croisent tofijours en mer d’un costé & d’autre: leur vol est differend de ceux 
des autres oyseaux, en ce qu’ils volent pour ainsi dire de travers, ayant une aisle 
qui regarde vers le Ciel, & une autre vers la mer, en sorte que pour se tourner ils 
mettent l’aisle de dessus dessous: il s’en trouve tofijours depuis qu’on est en mer 
a cent lieués de terre jusques 4 la nouvelle Fran- [52] ce: il ne se passe journée 
que l’on n’en voye quelqu’un qui va croisant d’un bord a Vautre, c’est pour 
chercher quelques petits poissons 4 manger qui vont a fleur d’eau, comme le 
poisson volant, le harang, la sardine & autres dont il vit. 

La Poule de mer s’appelle ainsi par la ressemblance qu’elle a avec cet animal 
terrestre: elle vit aussi de petits poissons & de foyes; elle n’est pas gourmande, 
mais plus privée que les autres; elle est tofijours volante autour du navire, si 
elle apercoit quelques tripailles elle se jette dessus. 

Le Pennegoin est un autre oyseau martelé de blanc & de noir, il ne vole 
point, il n’a que deux moignons d’aisles dont [53] il bat sur l’eau pour fuir ou 
plonger: on tient qu’il plonge jusques au fonds pour trouver sa proye sur le 
banc; il s’en trouve 4 plus de cent lieués de la terre, ou il ne laisse pourtant pas 
d’y venir pondre comme les autres; lors qu ils ont fait leurs petits ils se mettent 
a eau & leurs petits se mettent sur leur dos, & les portent comme cela jusques 
sur le Banc, ot on en void qui ne sont pas plus gros que des poulets, quoy qu’ils 
viennent gros comme des oyes: tous ces oyseaux-la sont bons 4 manger par des 
pescheurs ; pour moy je n’y trouve point de goust, ils sentent l’huile a cause de 
la quantité du poisson & des foyes qu’ils mangent, & qui servent a faire ’huile de 
poisson, [54] les pescheurs les amassent pour cet effet; il y a telle navire qui en 
a fait jusqu’a dix & douze poincons: C’est a peu prés tout ce qui se pratique en 
la pesche de la molué verte sur le grand Banc. 


[55] CHAPITRE III 


La maniere de pescher la molué qu’on appelle merluche, de ’habiller, de la saler, 


es? de la faire secher, && de toutes les utencilles necessaires pour cela. 


ARLONS 4 present de la péche du poisson sec qui est tofijours comme 
nous avons dit au precedent Chapitre la mesme molué sous le nom de 
merluche, elle est plus petite que la verte, ce qui la rend plus aisée 
4 conserver, le sel la penetrant davantage que la molué verte qui [56] 

est plus grande & par consequent plus épaisse, & qui seroit mangée des vers 
avant qu'elle fit seche a cause de son épaisseur, ce qui n’arrive pas 4 la petite 
qui est de garde & sert aux victuailles des plus longs voyages & aux climats les 
plus chauds; ce n’est pas qu'il ne s’en peschent de grandes a la Terre & plus 
grandes qu’au Banc, mais l’on ne la fait point secher, on la met au verd, c’est a 
dire on la sale, comme on fait sur le Banc. 

Entre tous ceux qui d’ordinaire font cette sorte de pesche, les Basques sont 
les plus habilles, ceux de la Rochelle ont le premier rang aprés eux, & les 
Insulaires qui sont aux environs, ensuite les Bourdelois, & puis [57] les Bretons: 
De tous ces endroits-la il y peut aller, cent, six-vingt, & cent-cinquante vaisseaux 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 527 


tous les ans, sil n’y a point d’empeschement par la necessité des matelots qui 
sont retenus pour les vaisseaux du Roy. 

I] faut pour cette pesche beaucoup plus de dépense que pour celle du Banc, 
4 laquelle il ne faut que des plombs, des lignes des couteaux, du sel & d’autres 
utencilles dont nous avons parlé; un navire de deux cens tonneaux au Banc 
n aura que vingt-cing hommes, & pour la secherie il en faudra cinquante du 
moins avec des victuailles pour huit 4 neuf mois: Pour ce qui est du sel il luy 
en faut plus de la moitié moins, outre que si un [58] navire du Banc porte 
quarante-cing 4 cinquante milliers de poisson |’autre en portera deux cens 
milliers de sec. A |’égard de leur équipage de pesche & nourriture il est bien 
differend, leur principale victuaille est de quatre quintaux ou quatre cens pesant 
de biscuit pour hommes tant grands que petits; & une pipe de vin ou deux 
bariques, outre du lard, des pois, des féves, de la molué, du harang, du beure, 
de l’huile, du vinaigre & autres petites commoditez 4 chaque navire 4 proportion 
du nombre des pescheurs. 

Pour leurs conditions elles sont differentes; les Basques s’accommodent a 
la charge du navire, l’on estime le navire ce qu’il peut porter de quintaux de [59] 
poisson, les Bourgeois accordent avec |’équipage qui sont deux ou trois cens 
parts selon le nombre, & donnent au Capitaine un certain nombre de parts suivant 
la reputation qu’il a en cet exercice, au Maistre de grave tant, au Pilote tant, les 
Habilleurs tant, les Maistres des chalouppes tant, a leurs Arimiers & Bossoints 4 
chacun tant, & aux Garcons a chacun tant de parts; au retour du navire s’ils 
n’apportent le nombre des quintaux dont |’on est convenu, |’on rabat 4 un chacun 
de ce qui manque au prorata de ce qu’il devoit avoir, mais s’il apporte plus on 
leur augmente aussi tout de mesme. 

La pluspart des Bourdelois font au tiers de la charge, c’est [60] a dire que 
si le navire rapporte dix-huit milliers de poisson, il y ena six mil pour !’équipage 
qui s’accordent aussi a la part, mais c’est le Capitaine qui fait l’équipage, & 
promet 4 son Pilotte & Maistre de grave qui souvent n’est qu’un qui fait les deux 
charges a tant de parts, 4 un chacun ensuite selon sa charge; le Capitaine se taxe 
aussi; mais tous les garcons luy appartiennent, 4 qui il ne donne que des trois, 
quatre, cing & six écus pour tout leur voyage & prend leur part: il y a quel- 
quesfois des quatre, cinq, six & dix garcons selon Ja grandeur du navire, en sorte 
qu'il y a tofijours un garcon pour chalouppe. 

Ceux de la Rochelle & des [61] Isles font autrement, ils n’ont que le quart 
de la pesche, de vingt mil livres, cinq mil; c’est aussi le Capitaine qui fait son 
équipage, & sont tous a la part également, le Capitaine & les garcons, comme 
les autres, pour chaque chalouppe un garcon, les Bourgeois du navire qui sont 
les proprietaires font les victuailles comme je vous ay dit, & donnent au Capitaine 
cent écus pour chalouppes, 4 chacunes desquelles il y a tofijours cinq hommes y 
compris les garcons; A tous ces gens-la il leur faut un pot de vin a chacun selon 
sa charge; c’est 4 quoy sont employez les cent écus pour compenser la difference 
qu'il y a du quart de ceux qui sont au tiers; de ceux-cy le Pilotte aura [62] par 
exemple cent cinquante livres ou deux cens livres, le Maistre de grave a peu prés 
autant, si un seul fait les deux charges il aura trois cens livres, les Maistres de 
chalouppes cent vingt ou cent trente livres selon qu’ils vallent: il faut que ces 
Officiers-la scachent habiller le poisson: les Arimiers vingt-cing a trente écus, 
les Bossoints, vingt-cing, trente & quarante livres, tous selon leur capacité; le 
Capitaine gagne quelques-fois sur ces cent écus, quelques-fois aussi il y perd, en 


Raffalles 
sont des 
recharges 
subites de 
vent 


528 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


ce que les Capitaines se piquent d’avoir de bons hommes qu’ils connoissent tous, 
& cela ne s’emporte qu’a force de pot de vin & 4 les faire boire, & 4 boire mesme 
souvent avec eux pour [63] tacher de les avoir & Jeur donner le denier 4 Dieu, 
aprés cela c’est un homme asseuré, quelques-fois les Bossoints les recompensent, 
ce sera un bon garcon fort qui veut apprendre le métier de Matelot, car c’est-la 
leur apprentisage, auquel il ne donnera que la valeur de son pot de vin, pour son 
voyage, & retire sa part; le Canonier peut estre aussi un homme de chalouppe, en 
ce cas on luy augmente son pot de vin, pour les Charpentiers ils ont aussi un pot 
de vin de trente & quarante écus, le maistre valet de mesme, c’est celuy qui a 
le soin de victuailles: pour le Chirurgien il a son coffre pour pot de vin, pour 
lequel l’on luy donne des deux ou trois cens livres, sur [64] quoy il doit fournir 
des medicaments, instruments, & de tout ce qu’il luy faut pour penser & medica- 
menter tout l’equipage, & au retour son coffre luy demeure, il a aussi vingt sols 
de chaque homme pour leur faire le poil, & sa part 4 la pesche comme les autres, 
mais il doit aussi servir 4 la terre, c’est luy qui est un des décoleurs, & porte 
le boyart comme le moindre des Matelots, ce que j’expliqueray en son lieu. 

Le Capitaine ayant tout son equipage travaille 4 faire embarquer son sel, son 
vin, & tout ce qui luy est necessaire pour la pesche, & le vent luy estant propre 
il met 4 la voile; ayant fait environ cent ou cent cinquante lieués & qu'il est hors 
des ter- [65] res il songe a faire preparer une bonne partie de ce qui est necessaire 
pour la pesche, il donne a chaque Maistre de chalouppes de la toille pour faire 
sa voille & du fil tant qu’il Juy en faut, puis il donne a chacun son Arimier & 
Bossoin, car bien que tous soient assurez en partant de France de |’employ 
quils auront sur les lieux, neantmoins peu scavent certainement avec qui ils 
serviront, si ce n’est lors que le Capitaine leur declare, & quelques-fois il les fait 
tirer au sort: ces chalouppes-la sont appareillées comme celles de la Rochelle, 
elles n’ont qu’un mast, la drisse n’en partage pas la vergue également, elle est 
attachée en son tiers & n’a qu’un bras qui est un cordage attaché au plus [66] 
long bout de la vergue, & de |’autre costé, le bout de la vergue est une fois plus 
gros que du costé du bras, afin de faire le contre-poids, le bras sert pour haller la 
voile, lors que le vent vient de |’arriere & l’escoute qui est attachée au coin de la 
voile, de l’autre costé par embas sert a haller la voile, lors que le vent vient de 
l’avant pour que la voile recoive plus de vent, 4 quoy sert encore le secours d’une 
perche avec laquelle on pousse la ralingue, plus en avant pour que le vent donne 
encore mieux dans la voile; cette perche s’appelle un Valleston, & pour lors s’il 
y a du vent la chalouppe est tellement couchée sur le costé que |’eau entre dedans 
par dessus le bord ; c’est en ces occa- [67] sions ot le maistre de la chalouppe a 
besoin de toute son adresse a bien gouverner, & qu’il est necessaire qu'il aye 
Pecoiite 4 la main pour |’alonger ou la retirer, pour faire dresser la chalouppe 
quant elle se couche trop, ou qu’il vient des raffalles, ayant un bon Gouverneur 
il n’y a pas de risque, il y en a plus quant le vent vient justement par derriere; 
l’on souhaite plus celuy-la que |’autre, en ce que la chalouppe est toujours droite, 
neantmoins il en perit plus de vent arriere que de celuy de devant, en ce que la 
chalouppe est plus mal-aisée 4 gouverner, & plus sujette 4 virer. 

Continuons a dire ce qui est necessaire 4 l’apprest des chalouppes de pesche; 
le Capi- [68] taine donne encore a chaque Maistre de chalouppe un cableau, c’est 
un cordage un peu plus gros que les grosses cannes que |’on porte a la main, il a 
soixante a quatre-vingts brasses, il en faut garnir un bout de douze a quinze 
brasses de long, cette garniture se fait des filets d’un vieil cable, & cela s’appelle 


Ee 


————— eS eee = 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 529 


fil de carret, avec lequel |’on entoure le cableau le plus serré que l’on peut de la 
longueur que j’ay dite: on le godronne a mesure qu’on le garnit, on leur donne 
encore un grappin de fer qui est l’ancre de la chalouppe, il est fait comme un 
crochet 4 pendre de la viande, 4 Ja reserve qu’il est plus grand, & que la verge 
ou est la boucle a une bonne demie brasse de longueur & [69] au bout des pointes; 
on soude un morceau de fer plat large comme Ja main qui vient en pointe sur le 
bout du grappin qui pese cinquante a soixante livres: le cableau n’est pas attaché 
4 lanneau comme |’on fait aux ancres, mais aux pattes, tenant seulement a 
Panneau par un fil de carret, afin que si le grappin estoit engagé dans quelques 
roches, le fil de carret venant 4 rompre par I’effort que l’on fait a l’élever, le 
grappin puisse plus aisément se dégager, |’effort ne se faisant plus que sur les 
pattes ou le cableau est attaché. 

Le Capitaine donne encore pendant le voyage 4 chaque chalouppes six lignes, 
scavoir deux a chaque homme & une dou- [70] zaine d’ains ou hamecons, & deux 
barres de plomb qui fait 4 chacun trois calles de trois 4 quatre livres piece; cela 
fait, chacun travaille 4 preparer son affaire pour estre prest 4 s’en servir lors qu’il 
est question d’aller en pesche dés qu’ils sont arrivez a terre, ou ils n’auroient pas 
le loisir 4 cause de leurs échaffauts & logemens. 

Pour preparer leurs lignes qu’on leur donne en un paquet il les faut détordre 
& les étendre: pour ce faire ils attachent un morceau de bois 4 un bout de la 
ligne qu’on jette 4 la mer, 4 mesure que le navire vat ce bout demeure derriere 
jusques a ce qu’ils l’ayent toute démélée, & estant au bout ils y mettent un autre 
morceau de bois, que [71] !’on jette aussi 4 la mer de l’autre costé du navire, & 
tirent le premier bout pour le detordre, & le dernier bout va aussi de l’arriere du 
navire ; 4 mesure que l’on tire le premier ; ils la tire comme cela d’un bord a 
autre, des sept, huit & dix fois, tant qu’elle soit toute detorse, & puis la ployent 
sur un travouil qui sont quatre morceaux de bois, dont deux les plus longs 
d’environ un pied, sont plats par les bouts & percez, & dans les trous on met un 
baston rond a chaque bout, qui fait un quarré un peu plus long que large; la- 
dessus |’on tourne les lignes afin qu’elles sechent plus facilement qu’en un bouchon, 
& qu’elles ne se meslent point. 

Ensuite ils enchappellent les [72] ains ou hamecons, c’est 4 dire qu’ils 
mettent environ un pied de lignes en double sur le bout de l’ain d’enhaut qui est 
un peu aplaty & le lient en sorte qu’il ne se peut deffaire, car c’est dans la pointe 
de I’hamecon que se met la boitte ou l’appast, c’est 4 dire un morceau de harang 
ou de la tripaille de molués gros comme le poing que prend la molué, & en la 
tirant en haut elle emporteroit l’ain s’il n’estoit bien lié. De cét ain au plomb 
que !’on met 4 la ligne, il y a une bonne brasse de ligne d’intervalle. 

Pour ces plombs-]4 on couppe la barre de plomb en trois ou quatre morceaux 
selon ce quelle est, chaque morceau fait son plomb, les uns le font rond, les [73] 
autres le font en quarré, & bien plus gros d’un bout que de I’autre, le plus menu 
s’applatit un peu par un bout; on le perce, & en ce trou-la l’on met aussi de la 
ligne en double de la mesme longueur qu’a |’ain, on les lient avec du fil de voile, 
en sorte que cela n’échappe point, les uns y font plus d’enjolivements que les 
autres pour faire voir leurs addresses, cela s’appelle garnir le plomb. 

Quand ils travaillent il semble qu’il y a plus de cinquante Mareschaux a 
battre sur ?enclume au bruit qu’ils font, les uns battent sur les ancres, les autres 
sur les canons, cela dure trois ou quatre jours. 

[74] Parlons a present de |’équipage des Pescheurs qui sert 4 la pesche; 


530 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


pour cela les Maistres de chalouppes & tous leurs gens ont chacun une paire de 
bottes, fortes & larges, en sorte que l’on se débotte en secouant la jambe: elles 
n’ont que la tige sans genouilleres, il ne faut point qu’elles prennent l’eau; ils 
ont encore un grand garderobbe de peau de mouton passée avec la laine, le costé 
du cuir est bien huilé, en sorte que |’eau ne passe point au travers, ce garderobbe 
va plus bas que la botte, ils ont encore un juste-au-corps de la mesme étoffe 4 
l’épreuve de l’eau qui vient plus bas que la ceinture qui couvre ce garderobe, & 
ce [75] juste-au-corps a un capuchon qui se met sur la teste; outre cela il y a 
un grand tabelier de mesme étoffe, qui prend depuis le col jusques 4 my-jambe. 
Voila ’équipage a chacun des trois hommes de la chalouppe lors qu’ils vont en 
mer pour pescher la molué, du moins ceux qui se veulent conserver de la pluye 
& de l’eau en tirant leurs lignes. 

I] se trouve peu de Basques qui n’ayent tout cét équipage, & mesmes 
plusieurs l’ont double en cas qu’ils soient mouillez, ils en prennent un sec le 
lendemain pour retourner en pesche pendant que |’autre seche, quand ils quittent 
ces habits-la, ils ne sont non plus mouillez que [76] s’ils n’avoient bougé d’une 
chambre quelque pluye qu'il fasse. 

Les Rochelois, Bourdelois & Islois, ou Matelots des Isles Dieu, d’Olleron 
& autres ne sont pas si bien équipez, il s’en trouve quelques-uns qui en ont, mais 
rarement de rechange, pour |’ordinaire la pluspart se contente de leurs petits 
capots de drap qui leur vient un peu plus bas que la ceinture, avec le capuchon, 
le tabelier de peau de mouton comme les autres, des manches de cuir on de 
toille goudronnée, pour des bottes les Pescheurs en ont tous generallement. 
Voila leur équipage de pesche; ils acheptent tout cela a leurs depens. 


[77] CHAPITRE IV 


Contenant ce qut se pratique lors que les navires approchent du Feu ou la pesche 
se doit faire, la maniere davoir leur place, ce qui se fait a la descente, && 
comme I’ on met le monde en besongne. 


ENDANT gue tous ces preparatifs de pesche se font dans le navire il 
ne laisse pas d’avancer chemin, & estant proche de terre & du lieu on 
ils pretendent aller faire leur pesche il se rencontre quelquefois deux 
ou trois navires ensemble qui ont dessein d’aller tous en vn mesme [78] 

havre & chaque Capitaine d’y estre Admiral; pour avoir cette Admirauté lors 
qu’ils sont a huit, dix, ou douze lieués de terre ils mettent la nuit yne chalouppe 
4 l’eau avec leurs meilleurs hommes de rames équipée de bons avirons, s’ils ont 
bon vent qui les porte plus viste que l’aviron ils se servent de la voile, si au jour 
ils appercoivent que d’autres y envoyent aussi; ils n’ont point peur de tourner, 
ils portent de la voille a l’envie les vns des autres pour gagner le devant, quel- 
quefois |’eau passe par dessus le bord de la chalouppe, personne ne remué crainte 
d’en faire perdre l’aire excepté celuy qui jette |’eau; peu de monde voudroit 
estre de leur compagnie, s’il n’y a point de [79] vent il faut ramer, c’est la ou 
ils allongent bien les bras; 1] n’y a point de galeriens qui tirent si fort a la rame 
qu’eux; l’on ne parle point de boire ny de manger crainte de retarder; il y en 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 531 


a totjours quelqu’ vn qui arrive quelque moment pltitost que les autres 5 le 
premier qui saute 4 terre acquiert le droit d’ Admiral pour son Capitaine, c’est 4 
luy 4 prendre sa place ou bon luy semble, tant pour faire son échaffaut que pour 
placer son navire, s’il se trouve a la coste du bois des échaffaux qui auroient esté 
rompus l’hyver que la mer y aura jettez il le prend & tout ce qu’il y trouve a sa 
commodité par preferance. 

Le navire y estant arrivé ils changent tous d’employ hors le [80] Capitaine, 
& chacun d’eux prend celuy auquel il a esté destiné suivant son engagement, 
avant que de partir, en sorte que tel n’estoit que matelot pendant la route qui 
devient Maistre de chalouppe ; lors qu’il est arrivé au lieu de la pesche, 4 mesme 
temps le Capitaine envoye tous ces Charpentiers 4 terre pour vitement preparer 
ses chalouppes, 8 ‘il en a luy a terre; mais ils vont peu en vn lieu qu’ils n’en 
ayent ou quils n’y en portent, s’il y en manque quelqu’une & qu’il en trouve 4 
Ja coste 11 les prend par preference, moyennant toutefois que les chalouppes 
n’ayent point de Maistre & qu’il n’y ayent aucun pescheur qui les reclame, 
ou comme proprietaires, ou par [81] Procuration d’eux, ou la marque des 
chalouppes soit expr imée ; ce droit d’ Admirauté ne donne rien sur les chalouppes 
d’yn autre; mais seulement sur celles qui se trouvent comme épaves, dont il se 
peut preferablement servir, aprés quoy sil y en a suffisament, les navires qui 
sont arrivez dans le mesme havre ont aprés luy successivement le mesme droit 
suivant le rang de leur arrivée, 4 la reserve de Plaisance qui est vn havre en 
isle de ‘Terre-neufve o4 nombre de navires vont faire leur péche, dans lequel, 
quand |’ Amiral s’est pourveu suffisiment des chaloupes, il donne le surplus a qui 
bon luy semble de ceux qui en ont besoin, 4 la reserve toiijours des proprietaires 
ou porteurs de Procurations. 

[82] Les Charpentiers estant 4 terre, le Capitaine travaille a faire placer son 
navire le mieux qu'il peut & le bien faire amarer, puis laisse le Contre-maistre 
avec sept ou huit hommes pour le degarnir, tout de mesme que s’il estoit dans 
un havre en France pour y passer son hyver, il ne luy reste de cordage que les 
aubans qui servent a tenir les mats debout, ces ordres donnez tout le monde va 
a terre. 

Y estas les uns vont pour travailler a terre au logement des pescheurs qui est 
comme une halle couverte d’une voile du navire, les cétez du bas tout autour 
sont garnis de branches de sapin entrelacez das des piquets ou pieux fichez en 
terre de quatre a cing pieds de haut & ot finit la voi- [83] le des deux costez, 

a Pégard des deux bouts qui sont comme les deux pignons de cet édifice l’on y 
met des perches de sapin distantes d’vn pied |’vne de I’autre, on les entrelasse 
aussi de branches de sapin que I’on serre le plus prés les vnes des autres que l’on 
peut, en sorte qu’a peine le vent y passe; dans le millieu au dedans l’on met de 
grosses perches de bout, distantes l’vne de l’autre de la longueur d’vn homme 
qui supportent le faiste, l’on met d’autres perches par le travers que |’on cloué a 
chaque distance le tout en sorte que cela ne bransle point, & en font deux estages 
V’vn sur l’autre ot ils dressent leurs lits & couchent deux 4 deux; le fonds de 
leurs lits est [84] de cordages qu’ils maillent comme vne raquette, mais les 
ouvertures bien plus larges, & a chaque largeur de lit l’on met vne perche qui 
fait la separation des deux hommes & qui empeschent qu’ils ne s’incomodent 
Ja nuit par leurs poids, qui autrement les feroit tomber |’vn sur !’autre si les 
cordes qui en composent le fond n’estoient roidies par cette perche du milieu, 
leur lit est vne paillasse d’herbe seche, leur couverture est telle qui leur plaist 


582 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


d’apporter, car beaucoup n’ont pour cela que leurs cappots. Pour leurs coffres 
ils les mettent le long de la palissade & de leurs lits; voila le logement des 
pescheurs, a |’égard des dimentions de ce logement il dépend pour [85] l’ordinaire 
de la grande voile du navire qui le couvre. 

Pendaut que lon travaille 4 ce logement d’autres travaillent a celuy du 
Capitaine qui se fait de la mesme sorte; mais il y a au milieu une cloison de 
perches les vnes contre les autres, ot |’on fait une porte qui ferme 4 clef, un 
costé sert pour mettre les victuailles, & l’autre la ou est sa table & son lit, a 
costé ou au dessus fait de cordages comme les autres, quelquefois il le fonce de 
planches, il a paillasse & matelats. 

D’un autre costé le Maistre-valet avec une partie des garcons travaille 4 
faire la cuisine, qui est couverte de grands gazons de terre arrengés comme des 
tuilles les uns sur les autres, [86] en sorte qu’il n’y pleut point, & de la couverture 
en bas, il y a tout autour des branchages de sapins entrelacez comme les autres 
que les garcons apportent de de dans Jes bois aussi bien que pour tout le reste 
des logemens; c’est d’ordinaire le Chirurgien qui a l’ordre de les faire aller aux 
bois, tout cela ce fait 4 la fois & est achevé en deux ou trois jours bien qu’il 
faille aller chercher tous ces branchages & perches dans le bois, les apporter & 
les peler, de crainte qu’elles ne percent & gastent les voiles. 

Pendant que tout cela se fait le Maistre de grave & le Pilote, qui ont dix ou 
douze hommes avec eux, sont aux bois pour couper des sapins gros comme la 
cuisse, de douze, quinze, [87] seize 4 vingt pieds de longueur pour faire leurs 
échaffaux & les logemens, tous y trevaillent, il les faut apporter jusques sur le 
bord de l’eau de sept 4 huit cens pas, & quelquefois de mil ou douze cens; car 
tous les ans l’on en coupe, & les plus proches sont tofijours les premiers pris, il 

a des endroits ot il y en a esté tant couppé qu’il n’y en a plus, il faut qu’ils en 
aillent chercher 4 trois, quatre, cing & six lieués, & quelquefois plus loin, il n’y 
a plus gueres d’endroits ot il ne les faille aller chercher au loin, ils y vont avec 
des chaloupes de trois hommes chacune qui vont & viennent jour & nuit qui n’en 
scauroient porter plus de cinquante 4 soixante chacune, & de puis que |’on a[go| 
commencé le travail il ne faut quasi plus parler de dormir, boire & manger 
qu’a la derobée, sinon pour le souper, pendant que |’on charie tout le bois les 
autres travaillent a dresser |’ échaffaut. 


[9x] CHAPITRE V 
De la maniere de faire  échafaut pour Phabillage de la Molué, £5 du travail 


guwil y a a le construire. 


"ECHAFFAUT estant aussi necessaire qu'il est a cette pesche, il ne 
sera pas hors de propos, de le décrire icy, pour en faire mieux 
comprendre l’usage; Il faut scavoir d’abord que tout le bois dont 
il est composé, se prend dans le pais mesme ou il se fait; il peut 

avoir quarante, cinquante, & soixante pas de long, suivant la grandeur des 
navires, a laquelle nous suppo- [9°] sons totijours que le nombre des hommes 
est 4 proportion, sa largeur est 4 peu prés le tiers de sa longueur, & le bout 


' 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 533 


qui n’est point couvert est aussi environ le quart de sa longueur, & se termine 
quelquefois en pointe & quelquefois en quarré, & avance en la mer, en sorte que 
les chaloupes y puissent totijours aborder. 

Pour commencer la construction de |’échaffaut l’on plante a quinze, vingt, 
ou vingt-cing pieds en mer, vn gros pieu de dix-huit a vingt pieds de haut, pour 
cet effet trois ou quatre hommes se mettent a la mer estant basse le plus avant 
qu’ils peuvent, le pieu estant dressé l’on y met jusques a trois & quatre arboutans, 
dont les bouts sont au fonds de l’eau, & les [g1] autres bouts contre le pieu, 
aussi haut qu’un homme peut toucher pour les clouer d’un clou gros come le 
doigt: Ce pieu estant bien arresté debout, on en plante vn autre de mesme 4 
terre & tout vis 4 vis un second, en sorte que ces deux derniers font la largeur 
de l’échaffaut, ce qui fait vn triangle quand le bout de l’échaffaut ou avant bec 
se finit en pointe. 

Entre ces deux derniers pieux & celuy qui est 4 la mer, I’on plante encore 
des pieux de brasse en brasse des deux costez, en sorte que cela forme le 
triangle dont la pointe est a la mer, tous ces pieux-la estant dressez avec 
des arboutans bien clotiez a chacun desquels l’on clotie trois & quatre de ces 
grosses [92] perches de puis le bas jusques en haut, de distance en distance, en 
sorte que cela sert d’échellepour monter sur |’échaffaut ; pour fortifier cette pointe 
Yon met encore sous toute |’étendue de ce triangle nombre de pieux debout bien 
étayés, aprés quoy |’on met quantité de grosses perches qui traversent des uns aux 
autres, d’autres qui prennent du haut en bas en croisant, en sorte que cette pointe 
est tellement garnie de bois si solide & si bien clouée, qu’elle est capable de 
resister aux plus rudes vagues, & au choc des chalouppes qui y abordent toutes 
continuellement lors qu’elles reviennent de Ja pesche: le Pilotee de cette pointe 
estant ainsi planté, l’on pose des traverse de grosses pie- [93] ces de bois a la 
hauteur de dix-huit a vingt pieds du fonds, de ce premier pieu qui fait la pointe : 
& les traverses sont proprement les solives qui soutiennent le plancher, qui de 
haute mer est élevé de cing pieds ou environ de la superficie de |’eau 4a la pointe 
de l’échafaut. Cela fait l’on continue |’échafaut de la largeur de ces deux pieux 
qui sont en terre, qui sont aussi la largeur de cette pointe, laquelle largeur l’on 
continue trente-cinq ou quarante pas totjours de plain pied, en sorte que les 
pieux que l’on plante debout pour soutenir le planché de l’échafaut aillent 
toaijours en diminuant de longueur, 4 cause que la coste va s’élevant vers la 
terre comme un theatre de Comedie. Tous [94] ces pieux sont aussi bien 
étayez & fortifiez de perches en travers que l’avant bec de l’échafaut: on 
continué a mettre dessus des traverses de brasses en brasses pour parachever le 
planché de l’échaffaut: dans le milieu de ces traverses l’on met de grosses 
perches de bout de vingt-cinq ou trente pieds pour supporter le faiste de |’édifice, 
dont le plus gros bout porte sur terre & sont clouées a ces traverses de deux en 
deux, depuis la base du triangle allant vers la terre. ‘Tout cela estant achevé, 
on a de petites perches les plus longues que l’on peut trouver, que l’on couche 
de leurs longs sur ces traverses ot on les aranges le plus prés que l’on peut les 
unes contre les autres depuis [95] la pointe jusques au bout devers terre, ce qui 
fait proprement le planché de l’échafaut. 

Depuis ces deux pieux de la pointe qui font la largeur de |’échafaut en 
allant 4 terre, de ces deux costez |’on met de petites perches, qui vont depuis la 
terre toutes droites, & passent au dessus du plancher d’environ quatre pied, 
distantes d’environ deux pieds les unes des autres, au bout d’enhaut de ces 


2M 


534 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


petites perches qui sont des deux costez de |’échafaut, l’on clove une autre 
grosse perche au dessus qui les prend de travers d’un bout a l’autre. 

Dessus ces grosses perches de bout qui sont clouée au milieu des traverses, 
V’on met d’autres perches que l’on cloue sur les [96] bouts d’enhaut d’un bout a 
lautre, lesquelles perches font le faiste; ensuite on met d’autres perches, qui 
viennent aboutir ou tomber sur ces autres perches qui sont élevées de quatre 
pieds aux costez de l’échafaut, & servent de chevrons: cela fait on met une 
grande voile du navire dessus, dont les cotitures vont comme les chevrons, afin 
que l’eau coule plus facilement; pour cet effet l’on roidit la voile le plus que 
l’on peut avec des cordes que l’on passe a ces perches, sur quoy portent les 
chevrons: si la voile n’est assez grande pour couvrir tout |’échafaut, on laisse le 
bout de vers terre découvert; car le principal est le bout opposite, ou se fait 
le plus fort du travail. 

[97] Pour fermer les deux pignons & les deux costez de quatre pieds de 
haut, ’on commence au pignon de la pointe qui est 4 ces deux gros pieux qui 
font la largeur de |’échaffaut, l’on cloué pour cela une grosse perche d’un pieu a 
Pautre, 4 la reserve de Ja largeur d’une porte que |’on laisse d’un costé pour 
aller du dedans sur la pointe: cette perche que |’on cloue en bas est élevée au 
dessus du plancher de deux pieds, & de Ja en haut jusques au faiste l’on met 
d’autres perches 4 un pied l’une de l’autre clouée en haut & en bas qui diminuent 
comme la pente de la voile, !’on en fait autant au pi ignon opposé, ou neantmoins 
les perches vont depuis le bas jusques en haut, aprés quoy l’on [98] garnit les 
bouts & les costez de branchages entrelacez entre ces perches & les plus serrez 
que l’on peut. 

Pendant que tout ce travail se fait, le Capitaine ne laisse pas d’envoyer des 
chaloupes 4 la pesche si-tost que les Charpentiers les ont mises en estat d’y 
pouvoir aller, & le poisson qu'ils rapportent tous les soirs s’habille sur des 
planches, que l’on met sur des bariques, qui sont des especes d’établis volans 
dont ils se servent en attendant que |’échaffaut & ce qui en dépend soit en sa 
perfection : = ce poisson se sale & se met en pile, ainsi que si tout estoit en estat 
de la recevoir, comme je vous diray dans la suite. 

L’échaffaut n’est pas pliitost [gg] fait que l’on travaille 4 accommoder le 
ded ns, ot on fait une table de quatre pieds de large d’environ trois pieds de 
haut, éloignée de trois pieds de la cloison dont je viens de parler: cette table 
s’apelle l’étably ; dans l’espace qui est entre cet étably & la cloison se mettent les 
picqueurs & decoleurs; de l’autre costé sont les habilleurs, & ces habilleurs sont 
cinq, six ou sept selon la grandeur du navire; chaque habilleur a un picqueur & un 
decoleur; les habilleurs ont a leur costé droit une espece d’auget ou quaisse de bois 
Pattee un pied & demy de large & un peu plus de long dont le fonds est incline 
d’environ demy pied vers le plancher, tirant en de- [100] dans, & ce qui ferme 
le costé vers lequel le fonds s’incline est une coulisse qui se leve & se baisse 
entre deux tringles, afin que le poisson tombe de luy-mesme & tout d’un coup 
dans les brotiettes, comme je_ P expliqueray plus au long lors que je parleray de 
ae du poisson. A cing ou six pieds en arriere tirant vers la terre, dans 
le milieu de ledifice, l’on fait une espece d’enceinte pour mettre le sel qui sert 
A saller le poisson, cette enceinte s “appelle la saline & est située justement sous le 
faiste, en sorte que les pieux qui le sofitiennent passent tout au travers de cette 
saline, qui peut avoir vingt a vingt-cing pieds de longueur & plus, selon la 
grandeur du navire auquel [101] elle est proportionnée, & a environ quatre pieds 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 535 


de large; ce reduit est fait de longs pieux couchez les uns sur les autres jusques 
a la hauteur d’un pied & demy ou environ: des deux costez de cet edifice il y a 
deux portes, lesquelles servent 4 décharger |’échafaut du poisson lors qu’il le 
faut porter 4 la mer pour le laver. Voila a peu prés tout ce qui se peut dire, de 
Péchaffaut, pour en donner |’intelligence. 


[102] CHAPITRE VI 


Contenant la maniere de tirer P huile des foyes de molué, avec la description des in- 
strumens & utencilles qui servent a habiller, saller {5 laver le poisson ; ce 
que cest que vignaux &§ grave, leur construction && leur usage. 


ENDANT gue ce travail se fait, d’autres sont employez a preparer ce 

qui est necessaire pour faire l’huile, ce qui se pratique de trois facons: 

La premiere est une forme de met comme celle d’un pres- [103] soir 

ou l’on foule la vendange, dont les costez sont bien plus hauts tout 

autour; il y a trois planches & quatre si elles sont étroites, l’une sur |’autre, 
bien jointes, bien calfetées, & bien brayées, tant au fonds qu’aux costez, en sorte 
que I’huile ne coule point, cela peut avoir six a sept pieds en quarré: a l’un des 
costez l’on met une clisse ou claye de la hauteur & de la largeur de la met, avec 
des nattes de paille en dedans le long d’un costé du pressoir: entre cette clisse 
& natte, & le bord du pressoir il y a une petite espace de vuide, cela se fait pour 
empescher que tous les foyes de molué que |’on jette tous les jours dans cette 
grande espace qui reste de vuide ne passe, & [104] qu’il reste une espace pour 
Vhuile a mesure qu’elle se fait, ce qui n’arrive que par la force du Soleil qui 
fait fondre les foyes, car cette met ou espece de pressoir se place hors |’échafaut 
en un endroit le plus commode qu’il se peut; l’huile va totijours au dessus du 
sang que !es foyes rendent, & |’eau qui tombe quand il pleut décend plus bas que 
Phuile qui est au milieu de l’eau & des foyes que 1’on y met tous les jours qui 
flottent sur Vhuile; lors qu’on la veut tirer on fait un trou dans le bord du 
pressoir, 4 environ un pied du fonds du costé de la clisse, & |’on fait un autre 
trou plus bas pour vuider l’eau & le sang; a ces trous |’on met une bonne 
cheville ou une canelle, & Vhuile se tire 4 me- [105] sure qu’elle se fait & se 
met dans des bariques: tous les foyes ne fondent pas entierement, & il se fait sur 
Phuile beaucoup de villanies qu’il faut vuider & jetter de de temps en temps, 
autrement cela feroit une crouste a force de secher, qui empescheroit que le 
Soleil ne fist fondre les foyes qu’on y met tous les jours: il n’y a presque que 
les Basques qui fassent ces sortes de pressoirs, encore faut il que ce soit de 
grands navires, les autres se servent d’une chalouppe bien calfetée, dont l’on met 
un bout quelque peu plus haut que |’autre, & au bout d’en bas !’on met une clisse 
& des nattes comme 4 la met ou pressoir pour empescher les foyes de passer: 4 
ce bout on y fait deux trous, [106] l’un pour vuider l’eau, & l’autre pour tirer 
’huile qu’on vuide de temps en temps, le dessus & le dessous comme a la met ou 
pressoir, a faute de chalouppe ou de pressoir l’on se sert de bonnes barriques 
deffoncées d’un costé, qu’on met debout sur des chantiers assez élevez, l’on met 
une clisse dedans, du bas en haut, avec des nattes qui font une espace vuide 


536 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


d’environ demy pied de large du haut en bas de la barique; on fait aussi au bas 
deux trous pour vuider l’eau & ’huile, & I’on vuide aussi toute l’ordure ou le 
marc qui se fait dessus de temps en temps ; la barique de cette huile vaut jusques 
A vingt & vingt-cing écus: toutes ces trois sortes de vaisseaux dont l’on se sert 
[107] pour faire ’huile s’appelle un Charnier par tous les pescheurs, a la reserve 
des Bretons qui l’appellent un Treuil. 

Comme tout le monde ne travaille pas a la fois a une seul besogne, & que 
chacun a son travail. Voyons ceux qui sont employez aux utencilles qui servent 
a apprester la molue, comme la galaire qui est une espece de petit échaffaut que 
l’on fait a terre sur le bord de la grave, pour cela, on fait un fonds de pieux 
plantez tous droits comme ceux de dessous |’échaffaut, qui vont tofijours en 
haussant allant vers la mer, afin que le planché soit de niveau; il se fait de la 
mesme maniere que |’échaffaut, tant le fonds que le plancher de petites perches, 
a la [108] reserve qu’il n’a que douze ou quinze pieds tant de long que de large ; 
celuy-la est double, les simples ont la mesme longueur le long de la grave, & la 
moitié de la largeur allant vers la mer. II s’en fait de trois ou quatre comme 
cela, selon la grandeur du navire, & totijours plus que moins, crainte que le 
mauvais temps ne permette pas de mettre le poisson au sec: cette galaire est 
couverte par dessus de perches en forme d’une treille; sur lesquels l’on met 
force branchages pour empescher que le Soleil en donnant sur le poisson ne 
l’échauffe, ce qui le gateroit. 

Il faut aussi des boyars que nous appellons en France des sivieres a bras; 
tout le monde [109| scait ce que c’est; il y a aussi des clayes qui sont plattes, 
faites avec de longues baguettes grosses d’un pouce, entrelacées comme une claye 
4 nettoyer des habits, mais elles sont bien plus grandes & plus fortes, elles 
servent a jetter la molué dessus lors qu’elle est lavée, afin qu’elle ne prenne 
point de sable: l’on en fait une autre grande d’environ une brasse & demie en 
quarré ; elle est faite comme une cage hors qu'elle n’est point fermée dessus, 
les bastons en sont gros comme le pouce, elle est foncée de planches, cela 
se met dans I’eau, l’on jette le poisson dedans pour le laver, & s’appelle un 
Timbre. 

Les brouettes ne sont autre [110] chose que deux morceaux de bois écarris 
gros comme le bras ou environ, de quatre a cinq pieds de long, de figure de 
crosse par un bout, sur lesquels l’on cloue des douves d’un pied & demy de 
longueur, dont les bouts sont clouez sur la rondeur de ces bois pour faire un 
fonds, afin que cela soit creux l’on met encore des douves aux deux costez, 
dont un bout de la douve est clouée contre le bout de la crosse, & l’autre bout 
de la douve au milieu de ces batons, ot il commence a perdre sa rondeur, en 
sorte que la rondeur de ces bastons estant ainsi acommodez fait un grand creux 
comme 4 une civiere roulante, & au lieu d’une roué |’on met un gros rouleau de 
bois, poin- [rrz] tu des deux bouts que l’on passe en deux boulons de fer qui 
sont attachez au dessous de cette broiiette; en sorte que lors que !’on la traine 
ce roulleau sert de roué, ce qui la rend plus facile 4 mener; son usage est de 
transporter le poisson des augets dont j’ay parlé qui servent aux habilleurs. 
L’on met cette brotiette sous ces augets, & on n’a pas plustost levé la coulisse 
que le poisson tombe dedans sans y toucher, ce qui se fait pour épargner le 
temps & expedier besogne. 

Pendant que tous ces travaux se font le Chirurgien avec partie des garcons 
travaillent 4 faire des vignaux, pour cela on a quantité de petites perches que 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 537 


on coupe par morceaux d’en- [112] viron cinq a six pieds de long pointus d’un 
bout que |’on enfonce en terre, en sorte qu’il en reste environ de trois pieds & 
demy ou quatre pieds hors de terre; ces piquets-la sont distant les uns des 
autres d’environ une brasse tous arangez sur vne mesme ligne, & tous d’une 
mesme hauteur d’environ vingt-cinq, trente ou quarante pas de longueur selon 
Pestendué de la place, qui oblige quelquesfois de les faire plus long & plus 
courts; cette premiere ligne de piquets estant faite !’on en fait une autre du 
mesme sens, dont la distance d’entre les deux lignes a environ cinq pieds, peu 

lus ou moins; en suitte l’on met de longues perches que Ion lie au bout d’en 
haut de ces pi- [113] quets, d’vn bout a l’autre des deux costez, la ligature dont 
on sert ce sont des fils de carret, toutes ces perches estant posées on en met 
d’autres en travers dont les bouts portét sur ces perches des deux costez, & liée 
de chaque bout a ces perches de distances d’environ un pied les vnes des autres, 
cela fait on couvre toute cette longueur & largeur de branchages, ausquels !’on 
oste tout le feuillage afin que |’air donne aussi bien par dessous que par dessus, 
lors que la molué est sur ces vignaux pour secher. Il faut a vn navire environ 
de trente, quarante ou cinquante de ses vignaux selon la grandeur du vaisseau, & 
qui est aussi selon l’estendueé de la place qui est quelquefois des [114] trente, de 
cinquante, & jusques 4 cent pas de longueur. 

D’vn autre costé le maistre valet a vne partie des garcons qu'il fait travailler 
a la grave, s'il n’a pas d’autre besongne plus pressée; mais voyons le travail de 
la grave, & puis je diray ce qu’il fait en faisant faire cette grave. Ce qu’on 
appelle grave sont de petits caillous que la mer jette a la coste, lesquels on 
applanit le plus également que !’on peut s’il y en a trop en vn endroit on l’oste 
pour remplir les fonds en d’autres endroits, ou bien les garcons en vont querir 4 
la coste avec des mannes, (c’est vne espece de panier rond sans ance) & la 
portent ot il en faut, si la grave est vieille quelle n’aye point esté ga- [11 5] 
tée l’hyver par la mer, il si trouve de l’herbe qui vient parmy ces ,caillous, 
il faut que les garcons l’arachente tout brin a brin en sorte qu’il n’en reste 
point. 

Ce que le Maistre-valet 2 outre le travail de la grave, il a le soin de donner 
tout ce qu’il faut pour la cuisine, tous les jours pour tout l’équipage, d’aler avec 
ses garcons dans vne chalouppe qu’il a, de terre au navire, tantost querir du vin, 
du biscuit, du lard, du beure, de l’huile, & tout autre provisions; il va a la 
fontaine chercher de |’eau avec des bariques pour faire son brevage, & pour la 
chaudiere, il va encore au bord du navire avec sa chalouppe querir du sel, le fait 
apporter a terre ou il le fait mettre en [116] un petit monceau par ses garcds, 
jusques a ce que l’echaffaut soit fait & la saline preste 4 le recevoir: ce sel 
la que Pon apporte ainsi est pour saller la molué que |’on pesche pendant le 
travail par ces chalouppes qui vont en pesche comme jay dit a mesure que les 
Charpentiers les rendent preste, & c’est ce poison-la que j’ay dit cy-devant que 
Y’on habille sur ces planches que l’on met sur des bariques. 


538 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


[117] CHAPITRE VII 


Contenant la maniere dont on construit les Chalouppes quon doit embarquer par 
quartiers pour porter a la Pesche. 


E croy qu’il ne sera pas hors de propos de décrire aussi le travail des 
Charpentiers, quoy qu’ils ayent esté mis a terre les premiers pour 
commencer la besogne encore qu’ils achevent les derniers. Pour rendre 
les chalouppes prestes pour aller en pesche l’on commence par le char- 

pentage qu’il y a a faire aux chalouppes neufves qu’on porte de France, elles 
se mettent par [118] quar tiers dans le navire, |’vne a la quille entiere, a a d’autres 
on la coupe par la moitié selon la place qu'il y a dans le navire pour les y 
mettre ; cette quille est le fonds de la chalouppe, & le fondement de tout le 
bastiment ; sur cette quille on met les varangues qui sont de bois écarris d’ environ 
trois pouces, de trois pieds & demy ou environ de longueur, qui releve vn peu 
par les bouts, en allant du milieu de la chalouppe aux deux bouts, elles vont 
tofijours en diminuant, parce que la chalouppe n "est pas si large par les bouts que 
dans le milieu, principalement dans le fond, a cause des facgons qu’elle a afin que 
le devant couppe plus facilement l’eau lors que la chalouppe va a la voile ou 
4 la [119] rame; le derriere n’a pas la facon si haute que le devant ; ce que !’on 
appelle facon, c’est que le bordage ou planche qui fait l’enceinte de la chalouppe 
se joignent quasi toute par le devat depuis la quille jusques au haut de la 
chalouppe pour coupper |’eau, & derriere n’a cette pince que par le bas, afin que 
.’ eau lors que le bastiment va 4 la voille, ou a la rame rencontre le gouvernail, & 
qu’en donnant contre il la fasse venir d’vn coste ou de !’autre pour, aller droit 
ou l’on veut. 

Au dessous de ces varangues l’on clotie deux bordages ou deux planches 
d’vn bout de laquille a ’autre de chaque costé; voila le premier quartier; a ces 
varangues |’on clotie des mem- [120] bres a cloux perdus, ces membres sont de 
bois écarris de la grosseur des varangues, qui sont courbez en bas & en montant 
tout droit jusques 4 la hauteur que l’on veut donner a la chalouppe, chaque 
varangue a son membre a chaque bout qui va totijours en acoursissant vers les 
deux bouts, pour faire ces facons dites cy-dessus, tous ces membres estant posez 
des deux costez d’vn bout de la quille a l’autre, a cette quille l’on cloue vne 
estrave sur le devant, qui est vne piece de bois d’environ six pouces d’écarrissage, 
qui fait vn rond en montant du bout de la quille en haut de la hauteur de la 
chalouppe ; ; 4 autre bout de la quille au derriere, on met vne autre piece 
de bois écarrie de la [121] mesme grosseur de |’estrave laquelle est droite, mais 
elle va un peu en penchant en dehors, & qui va aussi haut que doit estre la 
chalouppe, & cette piece s’appelle P Etambot, a laquelle l’on a fait des feuilleures 
d’un pouce de profondeur des deux costez en dedans pour clouer le bordage que 
l’on met pour fermer le tour de la chalouppe, l’estrave a une feuilleure aussi de 
mesme pour clotier le bout des planches, l’estrave & |’étambot & tous les membres 
estant posez selon la facon ou la forme que doit avoir la chalouppe, il la faut 
border, border c’est mettre des planches tout autour, qui s’appellent bordage. 

En posant le bordage depuis le bas de la quille allant en haut [122] l’on 


— 


distinc 


— — J = = = —— s —" 
a a  —— —  ——— 


ill 


DE LVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 539 


prend garde que les bouts ne finissent dans le milieu |’un contre |’autre; il faut 
quwil passe d’un pied & demy ou deux les uns sur les autres pour rendre la 
liaison plus forte, tant a l’égard des pieces de bordage, qui vont de |’avant 
4 Varriere, qu’a l’égard de celles qui vont de l’arriere en avant, a la maniere 
des pierres que !’on laisse surpasser les autres en la construction d’une maison, & 
que les Macons appellent mordans; cela se pratique de puis le bas jusques au 
haut des deux costez de la chalouppe en mettant tofijours les bordages les uns 
sur les autres, ce qui ne se fait d’ordinaire que pour ces chalouppes-la que l’on 
est obligé de porter en quartiers, ne les pou- [123] vant mettre entieres dans le 
navire: ayant esté ainsi assemblées en France on les demonte pour les mettre en 
quartiers, tous les bordages que j’ay dit passer les uns sur les autres dans le 
milieu ne sont clouez en cet endroit qu’a cloux perdus, tout le reste est cloué 
4 demeure 4 la reserve d’un costé qui tient 4 l’estrave & |’autre costé a l’étambot, 
en sorte que |’étrave & |’étambot ne tiennent que d’un costé 4 l’un des quartiers ; 
pour faire ces quartiers l’on couppe la quille par la moitié, mais si le navire la 
peut porter entiere, l’on démanche les membres des varangues ol je vous ait dit 
quils estoient clouiez a cloux perdus; l’on démanche aussi tous ces bouts de 
bordages [124] du milieu qui vont les uns sur les autres, ainsi la chalouppe 
demeure partagée en quatre quartiers quand on la couppe, & en cing quand la 
quille demeure entiere. 

Aprés avoir parlé de la construction des chalouppes & de la maniere de les 
mettre en quartiers ; il faut maintenant dire comme I’on les remonte ou r’assemble 
dans le pais, le tout estant mis a terre les quartiers de chalouppes 4 part, car 
chaque chalouppe 4 ses quartiers marquez d’vne marque & du costé quils 
doivent estre, afin que les bouts du bordage qui se doivent rapporter au milieu se 
trouvent justes; tout le triage des chalouppes estant fait l’on posse sa quille 


-Wune [125] sur des tins, qui sont des especes de chantiers ou gros morceaux 


de bois pour |’élever de terre, puis on pose le quartier ot tient |’étambot a un 
bout & l’étrave qu’on cloué a l’autre bout de la quille, & ensuite les membres 
aux varangues, & puis l’on pose les deux autres quartiers, l’un d’un costé en 
avant, & l’autre de l’autre costé en arriere, en sorte que les bouts des bordages 
se retrouvent dans le milieu juste comme ils doivent estre ; estant ainsi posée 
Yon cloue les membres aux varangues 4 demeure, & les bouts des bordages 
sur les membres aussi 4 demeure, & pareillement a l’estrave & I’étambot ; voila 
la chalouppe remontée, il y manque une lisse qui est faite d’une [126] planche 
siée de sa longueur par morceaux, d’environ quatre & cing pouces de large, l’on 
en met une tout au tour de la chalouppe clouée en dedans 4 un demy pied ou 
environ du bord, cela sert a renforcer la chalouppe & a tenir les membres en 
estat, & 4 suporter les baux ou toutes qui ont demy pied de large & d’vn pouce 
d’épaisseur, les baux ou toutes sont proprement les bancs sur lesquels s’assient 
les rameurs, il y en a six comme cela d’un bout de la chalouppe 4 l’autre; ces 
toutes estant chacune en leurs places, scavoir trois en avant & trois en arriere 
a environ deux pieds les uns des autres, & entre deux on laisse une espace 
de cinq pieds ou environ qui est le milieu; [127] ces toutes-la sont posées sur 
cette lisse traversant la chalouppe d’un costé a l’autre, 4 chacun de ces bouts 
de toute l’on met un court baton qui est un morceau de bois fait en équerre tout 
d’une piece, dont un bout est cloué sur la toute, & |’autre cété surle bord de la 
chalouppe ; ce sot ces toutes-la qui tiénent la chalouppe en état & empéchent 
qu’elle ne se puisse élargir; maintenant il y faut mettre un carreau tout au tour 


540 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


de la chalouppe ; ce carreau est un morceau de bois de deux bons pouces, ou de 
deux & demy en quarré que l’on met tout autour de la chalouppe par dessus 
le dernier bordage d’enhaut, & que l’on clotié au bout des mébres qui passe un 
peu au dessus du bordage, aprés quoy [128] l’on rongne les membres au niveau 
du carreau. 

I] faut en suite galfeter cette chalouppe ; galferter c’est mettre de l’étoupe 
dans les joints qui est l’ouverture qui se fait entre deux bordages; cette étoupe 
est faite de vieux cables que l’on coupe par morceaux, puis l’on deffait les fils 
de carret que l’on fait boiillir dans l’eau, puis on les bat avec un maillet ou 
autre chose pour les rendre maniables & pour separer mieux le chanvre en brin, 
ce qui s’apelle décharpir ou mettre en filasse, estant separé l’on le file gros 
comme le pouce, dont l’on fait des quenoiiillées grosses comme le bras, de la 
lougueur de la moitié du bras, voila l’étoupe dont l’on se sert a galfeter les 
navires [129] & chalouppes, pour faire entrer cette étoupe dans les jointures du 
bordage, il faut avoir un fer qui est fait comme un cizeau large de deux doigts 
& long d’un bon demy pied, un bout est plat, & l’autre tout rond & plat dessus 
ot I’on cogne avec un maillet pour faire entrer |’étoupe a force, en sorte quelle 
devienne aussi dure que le bois, le fer s’apelle un galfet, & le travail galferter, & 
la besogne la couture. La chalouppe estant bien galfetée d’un costé !’on la 
tourne sur l’autre pour y en faire autant; le galfetage estant achevé l’on fait bien 
chaufer un costé avec de la brande ou branchage de sapin dont !’on fait de 
petits fagots que l’on emmanche au bout d’un baton, pour les allu- [130] mer & 
les porter tous flambans a la chalouppe pour faire bien chauffer le bordage, quand 
un fagot est bruslé on en allume un autre tant qu’elle soit bien chaufée, & pour 
lors on a du bray dans vn grand pot de fer que |’on fait bien chauffer; ce bray 
c’est ce que les jotieurs de violon appellent colofhanne dont ils frottent leur 
archet, lequel estant bien chaud |’on y met de I’huile de poisson pour le rendre 
plus gras & empescher qu’il ne s’écaille quand il est sec; le bordage estant bien 
chaud !’on a un bouchon de laine emmenché au bout d’un baton que |’on appelle 
un guipon, l’on le trempe dans cette chaudiere ot est le bray que |’on employe le 
plus chaudque I’on peut, [131] & l’on passe ce guipon par dessus les coutures & 
le bordage méme, afin que le tout soit bien brayé, ce costé-la estant fait l’on 
tourne la chalouppe pour en faire autant de l’autre costé, estant bien brayée !’on 
travaille au dedans de la chalouppe, les intervales qui sont entre les toutes sont 
separez les uns des autres par des plaches ou douves de bariques, que !’on 
cloue d’un bout aux toutes, & l’autre bout est cloiié au bas de la chalouppe 
a une barre de bois qui traverse le fond, & cette separation s’apellent rums, 
chaque pescheur en a deux, dont l’un sert 4 metre la molué 4 mesure qu’il la 
pesche, & l’autre luy sert de place 4 se mettre pour pescher, quand son rums est 
plain l’on le [132] vuide dans cette grande espace qui est au milieu de la 
chalouppe gui s’appelle le grand rums, les autres pescheurs vuident aussi leurs 
rums dans ce grand quand il est plain, & les petits c’est lors que ]’on dit la 
chalouppe est chargée, & pour lors elle a bien cing a six cens de molue. 

I] faut encore des fargues 4 la chalouppe pour estre toute preste 4 aller 
en pesche, ces fargues sont une bande de toile forte bien gaudronnée d’environ 
un pied de largeur, que l’on cloue sur le carreau que j’ay dit que l’on mettoit par 
dessus le haut du bordage; cette fargue se cloué par vn bord tout autour de la 
chalouppe, & le long de |’autre bord de la fargue il y a des ceuillets par le moyen 
des- [133] quels on y attache avec des fils de carrets une perche de chaque 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 541 


costé, qui va d’un bout a |’autre de la chalouppe, si une perche ne suffit on en 
met deux ou trois; il y faut encore des bois ronds ou carrez d’une demie brasse 
de long que !’on fourre en tre le bord de la chalouppe & cette lisse sur quoy 
portent les baux, ces batons passent au dessus du bord, de la chalouppe de la 
largueur de la fargue, & sont ademie brasse de distance les uns des autres, & 
percez par le haut pour passer une ficelle qui est atachée a cette petite perche 
de la fargue qu’on leve, & dont l’on ne se sert que quad les pescheurs trouvent 
mauvais temps en mer, ou bien quand la chalouppe est trop chargée, pour lors 
’on met ces [134] bois & l’on leve les fargues par le moyen de ces petites cordes 
qu’on lie & qu’on arreste en suite a ces bouts de bois appellez espontilles, par ce 
moyen la fargue sert d’un bordage qui empesche |’eau d’entrer dans la chalouppe, 
& aprés que la pesche est faite on oste les fargues des chalouppes qu’on laisse 
dans le pais, ceux qui s’en servent l’année d’aprés sont obligez d’y adjotiter ces 
fargues, pour les rendre d’usage a la pesche, outre le radoube qu’on est obligé 
d’y faire selon l’estat ot l’on les trouve. 


[135] CHAPITRE VIII 
De la distribution qui se fatt des chalouppes aux Maistres Pescheurs {5 du moyen 


dont on se seri pour les mettre en seurete pendant la nuit. 


OUR scavoir qui montera les chalouppes a mesure qu’il y en aura de 
prestes, tous les Maistres de chalouppes tirent au billet, dans lequel 
est écrit, premier, second, troisiéme, ainsi du reste: celuy a qui 
arrive la premiere, prend la premiere apprestée par les Charpentiers, 

ainsi des autres chacun en son rang: ce sont les [136] Maistres & leur equipage 
qui font les rums, les fargues, le mast, & la vergue, pour la voile, les ains, les 
plombs, les lignes, tout cela est appresté pendant le voyage ainsi que jay dit; ce 
choix par billet se fait pour éviter la dispute & querelle entr’eux afin qu’ils ne se 
puissent plaindre si l’un a une chalouppe meilleure que |’autre, parce que les 
Charpentiers accommodent d’ordinaire toutes les meilleures les premieres y ayant 
moins de travail a faire, & afin qu’elles puissent toijours aller en pesche pendant 
que les autres s’apprestent, & a mesure qu'il y en a une accommodée, celuy a 
qui elle appartient met tout son equipage de pesche & tous ses hommes de mesme, 
& puis s’en [137 | vont en pesche, leur poisson s’habille comme j’ay dit cy-devant ; 
jen feray le recit amplement lors que toutes les chalouppes seront en estat & que 
le travail sera achevé. 

Maintenant il faut travailler a mettre toutes les chalouppes en seureté lors 
qu’elles reviennent le soir de la pesche, crainte que le mauvais temps ne les 
surprenne la nuit, ce qui les pourroit faire perdre ; pour cela on a un cableau gros 
comme le bras ou plus selon la grandeur du navire, car il le faut plus fort ayant 
plus de chalouppes qu’a un qui en a moins: De ce cable on en porte un bout a 
la mer le plus au large que |’on peut qui est de toute sa longueur, il est amaré ou 
attaché a [138] une bonne & forte ancre que ]’on jette au fonds de la mer, puis 
Yon prend le bout qui est a terre que 1’on hasle ou tire a force d’hommes, & 
s ils sont plusieurs navires en un mesme havre ils s’entr’aident les uns les autres: 


542 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


ce cable estant bien roidy !’on le tourne autour d’un pieu fort gros qui est enfoncé 
bien avant en terre, ce bout la estant bien amaré l’on met encore un pieu au 
dessus de celuy-la a cinq ou six brasses qui est encore bien enfoncé en terre, & 
a ce pieu-la l’on amare un autre cordage qui tient a la teste du premier pieu 
pour le tenir ferme & empescher que les chalouppes qui sont amarées sur le 
cable ne |’ébranlent par la tourmente qui pourroit arriver: [139] Pour amarer 
ces chalouppes a ce cable il y a de bons bouts de cordes qui y sont amarés d’un 
bout, de distances en distances, & a l’autre est amaré un petit bois qui tient 
tofijours le bout sur l’eau, cela s’appelle un Boyon, l’on en met comme cela 
autant que de chalouppes, & distantes les unes des autres, en sorte que la tour- 
mente quand il en fait ne les fasse entre heurter ce qui les feroit rompre, il faut 
que ce cable-la porte toute la fatigue des chalouppes & du mauvais temps. 

A ce mesme cable, on attache 4 huit ou dix brasses de |’échaffaut une poulie 
ou l’on passe un cordage, dont un bout est fixé & attaché a la teste de ce gros 
pieu qui fait la pointe de [140] léchaffaut, l’autre bout qui est de cinquante a 
soixante brasses selon la grandeur du navire demeure sur |’échaffaut, afin d’y 
pouvoir attacher les chalouppes destinées seulement au service de terre, & non a 
la pesche, & lors qu’on les a attachées a ce cordage on tire le bout qui est fixe, & 
par ce moyen on fait aller la chalouppe a certaine distance de |’échaffaut, en 
sorte pourtant qu’on y en peut encore mettre une autre de la mesme maniere, en 
tirant davantage le bout de la corde qui est fixe & attachée au pieu de la pointe 
de l’échaffaut, & quand on a besoin de ces chalouppes ou de l’une d’icelles 
seulement, on n’a qu’a tirer le bout opposé de cette mes- [141] me corde pour 
les faire venir 4 léchaffaut; ce cordage s’appelle un Tourne-vire; d’autres 
Pappellent un Vas-tu, Viens-tu; son usage est de tenir toujours a flot les deux 
chalouppes du service, dont la plus grande s’appelle charroy, & de les avoir 
aisément sous la main dés qu’on en a besoin, sans qu'il soit necessaire d’avoir des 
batteaux pour les aller querir, servant a aller querir celles qui sont attachées au 
boyon & destinées 4 la pesche. 


[142] CHAPITRE IX 


Les preparatifs des chalouppes pour aller en pesche. Ce qui se pratique estant sur 
le fonds pour pescher. Ce qui se fait a terre. Du retour des Pescheurs, && 


leur maniere de décharger leurs chalouppes Es” de les mettre en seureté. 


AINTENANT que tous nos travaux sont prests & que toutes nos 
chalouppes sont en estat d’aller en pesche, il les faut faire partir 
pour cela; [143] la veille qu’ils doivent aller 4 la mer pour 
pescher, le Bossoin a le soin d’aller emplir son corbillon de biscuit 

qui ne leur est point épargné, ils en prennent a discretion ; ce corbillon est une 
grande boéste semblable a celle dans lesquelles on envoye des pruneaux de Tours, 
mais presque une fois plus grande, ensuite il va emplir son baril de bruvage qui ne 
les enyvre pas, car d’une barique de vin |’on en fait quatre & quelquesfois cinq, 
sans autre miracle que de |’eau, elles sont 4 l’abandon chacun en prend tant qu'il 
veut; le Maistre-valet a le soin de cette multiplication ceconomique, & les 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 548 


garcons vont querir |’eau en une chalouppe avec des bariques, quelquesfois loin, 
quel- [144] quefois prés, selon que la fontaine est située: c’est li toute la pro- 
vision que les pescheurs ont tous lors qu’il vont sur le fonds, qui est le terme 
dont ils se servent pour dire aller a la pesche. 

Le lendemain dés la pointe du jour on les fait lever, ils vont prendre les 
chalouppes du Vas-tu Viens-tu pour aller aux leurs qui sont amarez sur ces 
boyons; y estant embarquez ils mettent a la voile, s’il y a du vent, car ils vont 
ot le vent les porte, ou bien s’ils ont dessein d’aller en quelque endroit, ils 
rament au vent; d’autrefois qu'il n’y a point de vent ils vont tous 4 la rame, ils 
n’usent point de ce mot, c’est aller a la nage; ils disent qu’il n’y a que les 
galeriens, qui tirent 4 la rame, il n’y a guere de ha- [145] vres ot il n’y ait plus 
d’un navire, & tous les matins l’on void des trente, quarante & cinquante 
chalouppes 4 la voile ou a la nage dont les unes vont d’un costé & les autres d’un 
autre; chaque Maistre de chalouppe est libre d’aller o4 bon luy semble, & ot 
il croit trouver plus de molue ; lors qwils sont 4 une lieué ou une lieué & demie 
ils amenent leur voile bas ou cessent de nager s’ils vont 4 la nage: ils jettent la 
ligne hors toute aboittée, c’est 4 dire avec la molué ou apast qui est pareille a 
celuy du grand Banc, a l’exception que la ligne, ain & la boitte ne sont pas si 
gros icy. 

La ligne estant jettée s’ils trouvent de la molué qui morde a l’hamecon, qui 
est l’ain & la [146] boitte emsemble, pour lors tous ceux de la chalouppe jettent 
leurs lignes, & le Bossoin qui est celuy de devant jette le grapin a la mer, c’est 
sa charge; aprés cela ils travaillent a tirer la molué haut tant qu’ils peuvent, & 
ont chacun deux lignes, l’une d’un bord de la chalouppe & I’autre de !’autre, 
si-tost que la molué est halée haut on la décroque de l’ain & on la jette en son 
run comme j’ay dit cy-devant, & si la boitte estoit emportée, il y en met preste- 
ment d’autre, qu’il prend dans le gau de la molué, s’il y trouve quelque chose 
quwil ne soit consommé il le met a la pointe de son ain, puis rejette sa ligne en 
la mer, pendant qu’elle va au fonds il se tourne a l’autre bord [147] & hale 
Pautre ligne s’il y sent une molué prise, ce qui manque rarement: tant quils 
trouvent du poisson ils ne bougent pas de 1a, tous les autres font de mesme, 
quand le poisson leur manque ils levent le grappin & vont en un autre endroit, 
mais quand la molué donne, c’est un plaisir que de les voir agir des bras & du 
corps, comme ils se tournent d’un bord sur !’autre, ils ne font que tirer la ligne 
& au mesme temps la rejettent, car elle est bien-tost décroquée, & il est bon de 
scavoir que les lignes sont amarées sur le bord de la chalouppe, & ne peuvent 
aller jusques au fonds, il s’en faut tofijours une bonne brasse que |’ain ne touche a 
terre, & deux brasses pour le plomb, [148] ils travaillent a l’envie, c’est a qui en 
halera le plus, ils ne reviennent point que le soir. 

En attendant leur retour, voyons ce que font ceux qui sont 4 terre, le 
Capitaine va visiter ses vignaux, regarde s’ils sont bien faits, s'il y a assez de 
branchages dessus, s’il en aura sufisamment pour éparer tout son poisson (c’est a 
dire l’étendre dessus) s’il croit n’en pas avoir assez & qu'il ait encore de la 
place de reste, il donne ordre pour en faire encore ; il visite la grave, regarde si 
elle est bien accomodée, le Maistre de grave est avec luy, si luy mesme ne I’est, 
car beaucoup sont l’un & l’autre: ils visitent les boyars, les clayes, & tout ce 
que jay nommé pour le service de terre, [149] s’ils trouvent qu’il n’y ait sufh- 
samment de tout, il donne ordre d’en faire encore, car il s’en rompt, & quand le 
fort de la pesche vient l’on n’a pas le temps de s’amuser 4 cela, & dans le com- 


544 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


mencement de la pesche qu'il n’y a pas encore nombre de molué peschée, ils ont 
plus de temps a travailler a ces petites choses-la : pendant cette visite le Maistre- 
valet, quelques matelots & les garcds vont au bord du navire avec des chalouppes 
de terre, pour apporter les victuailles necessaires 4 l’equipage, & regarder que rien 
ne soit en desordre a bord, pendant ce temps-la, les matelots & les garcons 
portent du sel pour emplir a saline, & sitost qu’ une chalouppe est [150] chargée 
on la mene a terre pendant que |’on charge [’autre, il leur faut bien cing ou six 
voyages de chalouppes pour emplir la saline. Lors que le fonds ou I’ancrage 
permet que le navire soit proche de |’échaffaut, il n’y demeure personne, ny 
nuit ny jour l’on n’y va point que l’on n’y aye affaire, mais lors qu’il est ancré 
loin de l’échaffaut l’on y envoye coucher deux, trois, ou quatre matelots pour le 
garder. 

Pendant que le Capitaine & le Maistre de grave font leur visites & donnent 
leurs ordres pour tout ce qui reste a faire, & que la saline s’emplit de sel, les 
pescheurs qui ont fait leur devoir sur le fonds paroissent a la voile, qui est environ 
les quatre heures du soir qu’ils commen- [151] cent a lever le grappin & mettre 
a la voile, il leur faut du moins une heure & demie & deux heures, & quelques- 
fois trois 4 venir de dessus le fonds a |’échaffaut selon qu’ils en sont esloignez, 
il est totijours prest de six heures avant que la premiere chalouppe arrive a 
V’échaffaut, les autres suivent qui arrivent 4 prés de demie heure, de trois quarts 
ou une heute & quelquesfois plus, ils se suivent comme cela pour se donner le 
temps de decharger les uns les autres, neantmoins quelquefois il y en arrive 
deux ou trois a la fois: la premiere arrivée amare sa chalouppe a cette pointe 
de Véchaffaut qui est avancée 4 la mer, & les autres chalouppes tout autour 
de cette pointe, o1 [152] les pescheurs jettent leur poisson dessus 4 mesure 
qwilsarrivent pour décharger la chalouppe, & pour le jerter haut ils ont un tré 
ou daguet qui est une pointe de fer longue d’un demy pied ou environ qui va un 
peu en courbant vers la pointe, il est emmanché au bout d’un baston de quatre a 
cinq pieds de long, ils mettent ce fer en la teste de la molué & la jettent en haut ; 
si la molué est trop grande & qu’un homme ne la puisse mettre sur |’échaffaut, un 
garcon qui est dessus a une gaffe, c’est encore un fer qui est crochu, de la 
grosseur d’un doigt, pointu d’un bout, & l’autre qui est assez long pour amancher 
au gros bout d’une grande perche, que ce garcon qui est sur la pointe de [153] 
Péchaffaut donne a la chalouppe & tient tofijours le petit bout: ceux de la 
chalouppe passent la teste de cette grosse molué dans le croc de cette gaffe, & 
celuy d’en-haut la tire a luy; il ya quelques-fois des molués si grandes qu’a 
peine deux garcons les peuvent-ils mettrent haut. Quant les Maistres de 
chalouppes habillent, ils ne s’amusent point a décharger, ils vont vistement 
quitter leur equipage de pesche 4 la reserve des bottes, pendant que les arimiers 
& les bossoins déchargent leurs chalouppes, & si-tost qu’elle est déchargée 
Parimier monte sur |’échaffaut pour aller au travail, & le Bossoin oste sa 
chalouppe de la, pour faire place a une autre qui en fait autant, [154] & va 
aussi-tost |’amarer a ce cable au boyon, Ia il lave & nettoye sa yori le plus 
proprement qu’il peut, sur tout les baux que la molué engraisse, & qui deviennent 
si glissans qu’on pourroit tomber en marchant dessus s’ils ne les dégraissoient a 
force de les laver & nettoyer; cela fait ils se reposent en attendant que l’on les 
aille querir tous emsemble avec la chalouppe de service, 4 moins que quelqu’une 
de celles qui reviennent de la pesche ne Jes prennent en passant quand leur 
besogne est faite. 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 545 


[155] CHAPITRE X 


De la maniere @ habiller ‘S saler la molué, de faire P huile qui s’en tire, &5 comme 
on appreste les rabbes, ce que c'est && leur usage, &5'c, 


ES lors qwil y a deux ou trois chalouppes déchargées, qu’il y a du 

poisson sur cette pointe ou avant-bec, & des Maistres de chalouppes 

& des arimiers a l’échaffaut ; chacun selon sa charge commence a 

se preparer pour aller a l’étal; c’est prendre sa place autour de 

Pétably: pour cela les habilleurs commencent par leurs [156] cousteaux, qui 
leurs sont fournis par le Capitaine, ils les aiguisent, & leur éguisoire, c’est un 
morceau de bois plat de quatre doigts de large, de trois d’épesseur & long comme 
le bras, surquoy ils mettent le marc d’une meule a éguiser; ce marc ce fait par 
le moyen des Charpentiers, qui 4 force d’aiguiser leurs feremens sur une grande 
meule de pierre qui s’use a force de servir, & ce qui s’en mange tombe dans 
Pauget ou est l’eau; ils ont soin d’amasser cela, & mesme quelques-uns en 
portent de France avec quoy ils aftillent leurs couteaux qui couppent comme des 
rasoirs, ils en ont deux chacun; dés qu’ils sont éguisez ils mettent un grand 
tabelier de cuir qui leur prend au [157] dessous du menton, & va jusques au 
genoux, ils ont aussi des manches de cuir ou de toile godronnée; en cet estat 
ils se vont mettre en un baril qui leur vient jusques 4 my cuisse, ces barils-la 
sont entre ces petits coffrets qui tiennent a l’étably dont jay parlécy-devant, ils 
mettent leur tabelié en dehors ou par dessus ce baril pour empescher l’eau, le 
sang, & autres vilenies d’y entrer. Voila les habilleurs placés prest a bien faire, 
mais i] leur faut un picqueur & un décoleur a chacun, lesquels ont aussi un grand 
tabelier & des manches comme les autres, mais ils n’ont point de barils, outre cela 
ceux de mer ont leurs bottes qu’ils ne quittent que pour dormir; ceux de terre 
qui font [158] ce métier-la, n’en ont point, le décoleur n’a point de coiteau, 
mais le piqueur en a, differend de ceux de |’habilleur, celuy de Vhabilleur est 
quarré par le bout, & fort épais par le dos pour luy donner de la pesanteur, afin 
qu'il aye plus de coup a couper l’areste de la molue, celuy du piqueur est plus 
long & pointu, la pointe en arondissant du costé du tailland, les piqueurs & 
décoleurs sont de l’autre costé de |’étably proche la cloison qui est du costé de 
la mer, joignant cette pointe ot l’on décharge la molue, estans tous ainsi disposés, 
les garcons & d’autres encore, sont sur cette pointe de |’échaffaut avec leur tré ou 
daguets, avec lesquels ils picquent la molué dans [159] la teste, la poussent proche 
de l’étably par dessous cette cloison ou pignon que j’ay dit cy-devant, ou l’on 
avoit laissé une ouverture d’environ deux pieds de haut; 1’ayant poussée la, 
d’autres hommes qui sont entre les piqueurs & décoleurs prennent la molué, 
la mettent sur l’étably proche du picqueur, qui au mesme temps la prend luy 
coupe la gorge, puis luy fend le ventre jusques au nombril, qui est proprement 
par ou elle se vuide, puis passe son cousteau tout proche des oulyes pour separer 
un os qui est entre l’oreille & la teste, & tout d’un temps pousse la molué 4 son 
voisin le décoleur, qui luy arrache les tripailles du ventre, au mesme instant il 
met en deux mannes [160] qu’il a devant luy, dans |’une les foyes & dans I’autre 
les rabbes, qui sont les ceufs de la molué, & puis tout d’un temps il renverse la 


546 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


molué le ventre sur l’étably, & prend la teste 4 deux mains, la renverse sur le 
dos de la molué & luy romp le col, il prend la teste d’une main la jette dans un 
trou qui est 4 ses pieds par ot elle tombe dans la mer, & de |’autre main pousse 
la molué a P’habilleur, qui la prend par l’oreille avec une mitaine qu'il a a la main 
gauche, autrement il ne la pourroit pas tenir ferme, luy pose le dos contre une 
tringle de bois de la longueur de Ja molué, épaisse de deux doigts, & cloiiée vis 
A vis de luy sur |’étably, afin de tenir le poisson ferme & l’empescher de glisser 
pendant |’ope- [161] ration, a cause de la graisse, & puis avec son couteau décharne 
le gros de l’arreste du costé de l’oreille qu’il tient 4 la main, & commengant a 
Poreille & venant jusques a la queué, & au mesme temps donne un coup de 
cotiteau sur l’arreste & la coupe a |’endroit du nombril, & puis passe son couteau 
par dessous l’arreste allant vers les oreilles, coupe toute ces petites arrestes, qui 
servent de coste au poisson, jette cette arreste derriere luy, & du couteau jette la 
molué dans ce petit coffret ou auget qui est a sa droite, ce qu ils font avec une 
telle dexterité & vitesse, tant les piqueurs, décoleurs, qu’habilleurs, que ceux 
qui ne font autre chose que d’amasser les molués & les mettre sur |’é- [ 162 | tably 
ont peine a les fournir; A cette arreste qu’ils jette derriere eux se prend, ce 
qu’on appelle en France trippe de molué, que les pescheurs appellent des noues, 
qui n’est autre chose que la peau ou membrane qui enveloppe les intestins, tous 
les poissons en ont de mesme les uns plus grandes, les autres plus petites selon 
la grandeur du poisson, je diray cy-aprés comme ces noiies se font & 
s’accomodent. 

La molué estant habillée ainsi que je viens de dire, on Ia salle, ce qui se fait 
sur le mesme échaffaut 4 couvert de la voille, le long de ces palissades de branch- 
ages, qui sont aux deux cdtez de |’échaffaut, la saline estant au milieu afin que 
lon [163] puisse prendre Je sel plus facilement d’un costé & de l’autre, pour cela 
il y a des hommes qui ont chacun une de ces broiiettes, que j’ay d’écrittes qui vont 
mettre sous ces petits coffrets, puis ils levent la coulisse & toutes les molues 
tombent dedans d’elles-mémes a cause que le coffret est en pente, puis remettent 
Ja coulisse en sa place trainent la broiette au lieu ot |’on sale la molué, l’y 
renversent & retournent en querir d’autres, deux ou trois hommes prennent cette 
molue par les oreilles, l’arangét teste contre queué, en font une couche de la 
longueur qu’ils jugent 4 peu prés pour contenir toute la pesche de cette journée, 
car pour rendre la salaison égale on ne met ja- [164] mais l’un sur l’autre du 
poisson sallé en differends jours; car c’est une maxime inviolable que tout le 
poisson qui se pesche en un jour a ses autres facon de suitte; la longueur de 
deux molues mises bout 4 bout fait tofijours la largeur de la pille, & la hauteur 
dépend aussi bien que la longueur de la quantité du poisson qui aura esté pesché 
pendant la journée; l’on met tofiijours la peau de la molué en bas; de cette 
premiere couche estant ainsi faite de la longueur qu’ils l’ont jugé a propos, le 
salleur a une grande pelle toute plate avec laquelle il prend du sel en la saline 
qui est derriere luy & en salle la molué; le salleur y est si adroit qu’encor que 
sa pelle soit chargée de sel il le jette sur cet- [165] te molué 4 plus d’une grande 
brasse de luy, de la largeur de sa pelle sans en mettre quasi plus en un en droit 

u’a l’autre, sil y a quelque endroit of il n’y en ait pas assez il y en remet, & 
ae sort de dessus sa pelle que ce qu'il en veut mettre, cette molué se salle fort 
peu, quand il y a trop de sel il la brile, & n’est jamais si belle que l’autre, c’est 
pourquoy il faut que le salleur soit adroit 4 jetter son sel, quand cette premiere 
couche est faite l’on en fait vne autre dessus de la mesme facon, & puis l’on la 


| 
j 
\ 
| 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 547 


salle de mesme |’autre, ce qui se reitere jusques 4 ce que tout le poisson soit 
habillé. 

Pour cette grande moulue que j’ay dit avoir besoin d’un homme & quelques- 
fois de deux [166] pour la mettre haut avec une gaffe, elle s’appelle molué de 
gaffe, & s’abille & se sale comme celles du grand Banc; c’est pourquoy !’on ne 
la mesle pas avec |’autre, ’on en fait une pille 4 part au bout de la saline, ou a 
costé, & pour la saler on la couvre de sel & principalement au haut de la queué 
ot le gros os a esté couppé, car c’est 1a l’endroit ot elle se gaste le plitost quand 
il n’y a pas assez de sel, & tout le long de la quevé, s’il estoit fendu comme le 
corps il n’y faudroit pas tant de sel. 

Voyons a present ce que !’on fait de ces mannes ow le decoleur met les foyes 
& les rabbes, qui sont comme j’ay déja dit les ceufs de la molué; un garcon ou 
un homme les vont vuider 4 [167] mesure qu’elles s’emplissent, scavoir les 
rabbes se mettent au bout de la saline dans laquelle on fait une petite espace de 
vuide ot l’on les jette, & la on les salle 4 mesure que l|’on les arrange les 
unes sur les autres, il n’y faut pas beaucoup de sel, on porte les foyes au charnier 
qui est hors |’échaffaut, & on les y met tous les jours 4 mesure que la pesche en 
fournit; jay déja d’écrit ce charnier, mais il est bon de remarquer icy que tout 
ce qui sert 4 tirer l’huile, des foyes s’appelle charnier, soit pressoir, met, chalouppe, 
ou bariques. 

Je reviens 4 nos Bossoins que j’ay laissé aller amarer leurs chalouppes a leurs 
boyons qui tiennent 4 ce gros cable, aprés [168] les avoir bien nettoyez & lavez, 
ils ployent leur voille, la mettent tout le long d’un des cétez de la chalouppe y 
arrangent aussi tous leurs avirons, puis mettent leur masts bas, les cordages tournez 
tout autour, & puis passent le gros bout qui est celuy d’embas par dessus la 
premiere toute du grand rum, qui est en arriere, & le font passer par vn trou qui 
est fait dans la cloison ou separation du grand rum en avant, & afin que le petit 
bout du mats qui porte sur le derriere de la chalouppe, n’empesche point de nager 
lors qu’il n’y a point de vent, ny mesme a manier les lignes lors de la pesche ; 
’on a une grosse fourche dont le bout d’embas qui a trois pieds ou environ, est 
apla- [169] ty pour la faire entrer entre la lisse & le bord de la chalouppe ot !’on 
met ses pontilles ou batons qui tiennent les fargues, estant la posez a l’endroit du 
petit rum qui joint le grand en arriere, l’on met le mast sur cette fourche qui 
éleve le bout d’enhaut, en sorte qu’il ne peut incomoder, cette fourche s’oste& 
met quand on veut; ils demeurent la dans leur chalouppes jusques a ce que |’on 
les aille querir, qui est lors qui la fin du travail cesse a l’échaffaut, un des garcons 
avec une des chalouppes de terre les va prendre les uns aprés les autres, & 
viennent avec leur barils & corbillons qu’ils vont emplir dés qu’ils sont décendus 
4 terre, afin d’estre tout prest le lendemain a la pointe du jour [170] pour 
retourner sur le fonds. 

Lors que le travail de l’échaffaut est finy chacun va quitter son équipage 
d’échaffaut, d’habillage & de pesche, a la reserve des cotiteaux d’habillage & 
dont ils ne se dessaisissent point, de crainte qu’on n’en gaste le tranchant en 
coupant autre chose que du poisson ; les garcons ont le soin de laver les tabliers 
& les manches, & les faire secher pour estre prests pour s’en servir le lendemain 
au soir, autrement ils sont asseurez d’étre bien battus; car quand un garcon 
manque a ce qu’il doit faire il a le fotiet & tous les autres par compagnie; c’est 
pourquoy ils s’entre-avertissent de faire ce qui leur est donné en charge. Estant 
tous nettoyez & [171] lavez ils vont souper, ils se mettent sept 4 sept au plat, s’il 


548 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


se trouve un homme ou deux de plus, l’on fait deux plats de huit, & chacun se 
place ot il peut, hors le Capitaine qui mange en son logement, & avec luy le 
Maistre de grave, le Pilotte, & le Chirurgien qui est celuy qui a le soin de la 
cuisine; il a aussi vn garcon pour le servir, & un a chaque plat, lesquels ne 
mangent que les restes & en ont suffisamment. 


fa72i\ CHAPITRE XI 


Le gouvernement des Victuailles, comme on en use pendant la pesche. Comme la 


boitte ou appast se pesche, && de la proprieté de la molué {F du maquereau. 


L n’est pas hors de propos de dire icy que toutes les victuail les qui ont 
esté mises dans le navire appartiennent aussi bien a tout l’équipage qu’au 
Capitaine, qu’il n’en peut disposer en faveur de qui que ce soit, que du 
consentement de tout le monde, quoy quwil ait [173] le droit de faire 

boire le vin pur 4 sa table pendant le voyage & durant le sejour; l’équipage le 
boit pur a la mer trois fois la semaine, & les autres jours du breuvage qui n’est 
qu’a moitié eau: estant 4 terre pendant la pesche le breuvage est bien plus 
trempé, d’une barique de vin l’on en fait trois ou quatre, la raison est que pendant 
le temps de la pesche le travail est extrémement rude, l’on dort peu, & ils sont 
tout le jour au Soleil, a terre & a la pesche, pendant ce temps-la ils sont toGijours 
alterez; il est meilleur en toutes manieres qu’ils se passent de vin pur, ils se 
contentent d’en boire le Dimanche a disner & souper, parce que ce jour-la on ne 
va point sur le fonds, c’est celuy [174] qu’ils prennent pour blanchir leurs linges, 
accommoder leurs hardes & mesme leurs chalouppes s’il y a quelque chose a 
faire. Cette épargne de vin qui se fait est pour leur santé, & pour boire tout 
pur au retour de leur voyage s’il y en a sufhsamment, sinon ils font quelque peu 
de bruvage 4 demy vin: il y a quelques equipages qui ne veulent pas faire cette 
épargne pendant le travail, & qui ayment mieux boire de l’eau a leur retour, 
cela despend d’eux, ils sont maistres de leur victuailles, les garcons y ont autant 
que les compagnons. 

Pour le manger ceux qui vont sur le fords n’ont pour ordinaire que leur 
baril de bruvage, & leur corbillon de pain a trois [175] hommes depuis le matin 
jusques au soir a souper, il y en a quelqu’un qui porte quelque morceau de 
molué, de maquereau, ou de haran rosty du reste de leur soupé, ceux qui 
demeurent a terre disnent sur les neuf heures avec de la molué boiiillie & rostie, 
ou du maquereau, ou haran quand on en pesche; sur les deux heures ils 
collationnét avec du pain & du bruvage, ceux qui veulent manger autre chose 
V’aprestent eux mesmes, le Capitaine a quelque fromage, mais cette provision se 
fait 4 ses despens; il fait faire un jardin a terre qui luy donne des salades, des 
pois, des févres, outre le gibier qu'il peut tirer avec le Chirurgié quand ils en 
ont le loisir, comme tourtres, canards, outardes, sar- [176] celles, lapins, & autre 
gibier qui se trouve au bord de la mer ou dans les estangs: le Capitaine apporte 
encores des volailles de France, dont il a des ceufs & des poulets, il y en a de 
menagers qui n’ont rien de tout cela & vivent comme |’équipage, pour le souper 
il y a grande chaudiere de molué bouillie, & de petites molués qui sont grasses 


DE LVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 549 


que |’on coupe par trongons, que l’on fait rostir 4 la broche, & mesme le 
maquereau que l’on coupe aussi par darnes, outre cela on distribue de l’huile 
& du vinaigre pour chaque plat, joint qu’ils ont encores un plat de pois ou féves 
boiiillies, & l’on met de I’huile ou du beurre dans la chaudiere, mais personne ne 
souppe que tout le travail de l’é- [177] chaffaut ne soit fait, ny mesme le 
Capitaine: pour les Dimanches tout le monde disne, collationne & soupe de 
bonne heure, ce jour-la il ont du lard que l’on fait bouillir avec des pois ou des 
féves, sils ont de |’un a disner, ils ont de l’autre 4 souper, outre grands plats de 
poisson bouilly & rosty, pour Peau de vie ceux qui en veulent boire vont a 
leur coffre. 

Le Capitaine a le soin d’envoyer tous les soirs une chalouppe avec des 
hommes, & un filet que |’on va mouiller a la mer avec un grappin qui l’arreste 
en bas, & au dessus il y a un morceau de bois pour entretenir ce filet estendu 
perpendiculairement, & a l’autre bout du filet au coin d’enhaut l’on met un au- 
[178] tre morceau de bois, & celuy la va & vient comme la marée le porte, & 
pour empescher les chalouppes de passer sur ce filet, il y a pour signal sur l’un 
de ces deux morceaux de bois une branche de sapin pour les faire voir de loin 
& en éviter la rencontre; le lendemain matin il renvoye la chalouppe sur les 
neuf heures pour lever le filet; apres que toute lamolué est lavée, l’on va querir 
le filet qu’on rapporte 4 terre & le poisson qui y est pris, 4 scavoir du maquereau 
& du harang; dans les commencemens il s’en péche peu, & ce qu'il y ena le 
Capitaine les partage le soir aux chalouppes de pesche; apres que l’on a quité 
Pétal, c’est a dire que toute la molue est habillée, salée, les foyes & les rabes 
[179] serrez, & que tout le travail de la journée est fait, chaque chalouppe en a 
par fois, des quinze, vingt, trente, & quelques-fois plus ou moins de ce poisson 
selon qu’il donne, c’est pour faire la boitte de leur ain, qui est garny de tripaille 
de molué plus gros que le poing, & sur la pointe de l’ain l’on met un morceau 
de maquereau ou de harang, qui jette un certain éclat dans |’eau aprés lequel la 
molué court dés qu'elle le voit, car elle est friande, & par ce moyen les pescheurs 
font meilleure pesche outre que la molué est extremement gourmande & se mange 
Pune Vautre, & n’est jamais saoule, mais cet éclat fait qu’elle y court plitost 
qu’aux autres rencontres de poissons qui se presentent devant [180] elles, & si 
par hazard une petite molué court 4 l’ain & qu'elle le prenne, & qu’une grosse 
molué l’appergoive elle engoulera la petite molue avec |’ain, ce qui arrive assez 
souvent, & mesme une grande molue comme elle de gaffe, quoy qu'elle soit prise 
a Pain a la machoire d’en haut, & que le pescheur ne le hasle pas assez prompte- 
ment, si elle rencontre encore une petite molue elle l’engoule en chemin faisant, 
& souvent il se rencontre des molués estant haslées haut, de la gueule desquels 
sortiront encore les queués des molués qu’elles n’auront peu achever d’avaler. 
Comme la molué est gourmande, aussi a-elle la proprieté de revirer son estomac, 
que les pescheurs appel- [181] lent gau, & quand elle a quelque chose dedans 
qui l’incommode elle le fait revenir a la gueule, comme qui tourneroit sa pochette, 
& puis la remettre, & par ce moyen jette tout ce qu’elle ne peut digerer, ou qui 
V’incommode; pour preuve de cela, c’est qu'il y a des molués qui avalent 1’ain 
& |’apast si goulument que !’ain entre dans leur gau, les pescheurs appellent cela 
estre engotté, & de celle-l4 qui sont engottées, il s’en rencontre qui ont leur gau 
4 la gueule, tout deviré ou retourné lors qu’elles sont haut, & c’est qu’elles 
vouloient vomir l’ain qui les incommodoit, mais il n’en sort pas comme une autre 
chose qu’elles ont avalé. 


2N 


550 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


Revenons 4 nos maquereaux, [182] lors qu’ils viennét a la cote, ils ne voyent 
goute, ils ont une maille sur les yeux qui ne leur tombe que vers la fin de Juin, 
& pour lors ils voyent & se prennent a la ligne, en ce temps-la tout le monde en 
mange: car quoy qu’ils voyent ils ne laissent pas de se prendre la nuit aux filets, 
& alors |’on n’en donne plus aux pescheurs, ils en prennent tant qu’ils veulent, 
en allant sur le fonds le matin, & le soir en revenant, avec de petites lignes que 
on porte exprés pour cela, & le Capitaine en donne une a chaque pescheur, & 
des petits ains; pour la boitte on y met un petit morceau de la peau de molué de 
la largeur & longueur du petit doigt, ou un petit morceau d’étoffe rouge, tout 
cela [183] c’est manque de maquereau, dont l’on prend une boitte de la mesme 
longueur & largeur que l’on couppe du ventre, & qui est la meilleure. Pour bien 
pescher Je maquereau il faut que ja chalouppe aille a la voile ou a la nage, pour 
cela ils amarent la ligne sur le bord de la chalouppe, car ils ne la peuvent pas 
tenir 4 la main comme quand |’on va 4 la voile; lors que le maquereau mord a 
V’hamecon ils donnét une secousse a la ligne, il y a quelques matelots qui y 
mettent un grelot ou sonnette pour avertir, les autres se contentent de la secousse 
que le maquereau donne; si-tost qu’ils l’appergoivent ils mettent le bout de leur 
aviron sous une de leur jambe, & haslent la ligne & décroquent la maque- [184] 
reau & rejettent la ligne en mer, qui n’est pas long-temps sans en prendre un 
autre; ils vont toGjours prenant du maquereau, tant qu’ils soient sur le fonds, & 
pour lors ils ne manquent point de boitte ny de faire bonne pesche de molué. 


[185] CHAPITRE XII 
Le depart des Maistres des chalouppes pour aller sur le fonds {© ce qui s’y 


pratique. L’ explication du marigot, avantage des pescheurs. Ce que c’est 


gue degrat, comment il se fait, la cause pourquoy ; 5 autres raisons sur le 
mesme fait. 


E lendemain dés la petite pointe du jour, le Capitaine & le Maistre de grave 
reveillent tout le monde, chacun va a son travail, mais pour ceux de 

[186] terre, je remets 4 en parler aprés que j’auray dit tout ce que 

les pescheurs font a la mer; a peine sont-ils partis, qu’en allant sur 

le fonds, soit a la nage ou 4 la voile, ils peschent du maquereau 4a la ligne ; 
estant assez éloignez de terre ils s’arrestent & jettent la ligne pour scavoir s'il 
y a de la molué, s’en trouve-t-ils jettent le grappin, sinon ils vont en un autre 
endroit, ainsi que j’ay dit cy-devant, mais comme ils ne manquent pas de 
maquereau, aussi ne manquent-ils pas de molue, & la pluspart du temps ils re- 
tournent a l’échaffaut chargés aux deux tiers, du moins a my charge, ce qui ne 
donne pas peu de joye au Capitaine qui les flate, leur fait boire le petit coup 
d’eau de vie en [187] passant, c’est a dire 4 ceux qui chargent leur chalouppes 
seulement, ot les vieux Maistres de chalouppes ont bien de l’avantage, parce 
qu’ils scavent quasi tous les bons endroits de pesche & les meilleurs fonds. 
Ayant fait cette pesche en tous les havres de la coste, ils sont aussi bien plus 
recherchez des Capitaines lors qu’ils font leurs equipages & ont plus de pot de 
vin que les autres, & estans connus de tous les Capitaines c’est 4 qui les aura, ce 


DE LVVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 551 


qui ne se fait qu’a force d’argent, mais tous ces Maistres de chalouppes ne 
Jaissent pas de s’ennuyer de la fatigue d’une si longue pesche, & les laches 
dorment & ne font pas grande pesche, n’apportant le soir que cent cinquante, 
ou deux cens [188] molués, ce qui fait bien detester les Capitaines qui les 
grondent & leur chantent injures, les appellant coureurs de marigots; courir le 
marigot, c’est lors que les pescheurs vont se cacher en quelque petite ance de 
terre, ou a l’abry des rochers, au lieu d’aller sur le fonds, ce qui ne leur arrive 
que trop souvent, & la ils font du feu pour rostir du maquereau & faire bonne 
chere, & puis ils dorment jusques a une heure ou deux heures apres midy qu’ils 
se reveillent & s’en vont sur le fonds, prennent ce qu’ils peuvent attraper, cent ou 
cent cinquante molués, & s’en retournent a l’échaffaut comme les autres, crainte 
d’estre grondez: ils grondent les premiers, alleguent leurs malheur, qu’ils [189] 
ont couru toute la journée d’un bord sur l’autre, mouillé plus de vingt fois le 
grapin sans trouver de molué, qu’ils sont plus fatiguez que s’ils en avoient pesché 
cing cens, qu’ils ont esté malheureux dés le matin, qu’ils n’ont pesché que dix a 
douze maquereaux, que le lendemain ils iront d’un autre costé, qu’ils seront plus 
heureux, & en effet le lendemain ils apportent de la molué, car d’aller au marigot 
deux fois de suite c’est trop, quoy qu'il y ait des paresseux qui le fSt & de tout 
cela ils ne s’accusent jamais les uns les autres; il n’y a point de Maistre qui n’y 
aille quelquefois, mais les uns plus que les autres, au temps de pluye ils y sont 
bien sujets n’ayant pas de hardes pour changer. 

190] C’est en quoy les Basques ont bien de l’avantage, ayant de bons 
habits de peaux, ils vont rarement au marigot & sont peu paresseux, le soir ils 
viennent aux échaffaux, & ont leurs chalouppes chargées que les autres pescheurs 
ne les ont pas 4 demy, aussi les appellent-ils tous Sorciers, & disent qu’ils font 
jotier la Barrette qui est une toque qu’ils portent sur la teste qu’ils font tourner 
lors qwils sont en colere; tous ces reproches ne sont fondés que sur une haine 
que tous les pescheurs ont contre eux, parce qu’ils sont plus habilles a la pesche 
que toutes les autres Nations. 

I] n’y a gueres de havres ov il n’y ait plusieurs navires, 4 l’isle Percée jen 
ay veu jusques 4 un- [191] ze, aussi est ce le meilleur endroit de la pesche; ce 
nombre de navires qui se trouvent en chaque endroit ne laisse pas de bien enlever 
du poisson; il y a des endroits ow il s’enleve tous les jours des quinze, vingt, & 
trente milliers de poisson, sans ce qui se fait en tous les autres endroits, en sorte 
qu’une pesche de cette force continué six semaines ou denx mois; ce qui éclaircit 
furieusement la molué & la fait fuir, & Ja quantité de la molué fait aussi fuir le 
maquereau, & le harang que la molué suit, ce qui fait que les pescheurs ne 
trouvent plus de pesche sur les fonds ordinaires, cela oblige les Capitaines a faire 
des dégrats pour Ja suivre. Pour cet effet le Capitaine envoye des [192] 
chalouppes a la pesche d’un coté & d’autre a cinq, six, & sept lieués de |’échaf- 
faut, pour scavoir ou peut étre allé le poisson, elles ne reviennent que le lendemain 
au soir, & chacun fait son rapport de ce qu’il a trouvé; sur cela le Capitaine 
prend resolution, apres en avoir conferé avec son Maistre de grave & son Pilotte: 
Ja resolution du lieu étant prise, l’on donne ordre a toutes les chalouppes 
d’aller le lendemain du matin faire leurs pesches de ce costé-la, & de porter leur 
poisson au lieu dudégrat, & pour preparer ce qui est necessaire, il fait aussi partir 
les deux chalouppes de terre, dont |’une est un charroy qui est une double 
chalouppe dont le rum du milieu est une fois aussi grand [193] que les autres, 
fonce de planches pour porter le se] du navire a |’échaffaut, l’on le charge de 


552 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


sel & de planche pour faire un étably sur des bariques, que l’on porte aussi; la 
chalouppe porte du bruvage, du pain, & tout ce qui est necessaire pour |’ habillage 
du poisson ; il y va aussi une partie du monde de terre pour cela, avec le pilotte: 
estant arrivé au degrad |’on décharge tout a terre, & pour coucher le monde on 
fait une petite cabanne ala haste que !’on couvre d’une voile portée exprés; l’on 
accommode les planches dont !’on fait un étably sur lequel |’on habille le poisson 
comme a |’échaffaut, on le sale de mesme; chacun se met au travail aprés que 
les pescheurs sont venus, & [194] un garcon prepare le souper pendant que 1’on 
habille le poisson; ayant achevé ils vont soupé, & puis se coucher, les bossoins 
vont aussi remplir leurs barils & corbillons pour partir le lendemain du matin, 
pour retourner a la mer a l’ordinaire. 

Le degrad durera quelquefois huit, dix, ou quinze jours avant que le poisson 
aille en un autre endroit, tous les pescheurs sont sujets a ce degrad; s'il y a 
plusieurs navires en un havre, ils ne vont pas totijours faire ce degrad d’un mesme 
costé, cela dépend de la fantaisie du Capitaine s’il a de l|’experience, ou bien 
selon que les anciens Maistres de chalouppes luy conseillent, qui disent la bonne 
rencontre qui leur est arrivée en cette mé- [195] me heure, ayant esté obligez 
de faire degrat; il y a bien du hazard a cela, a moins que d’avoir une grande 
routine 4 la pesche, & avoir bien frequenté la coste, & tous les havres ot |’on se 
place pour faire sa pesche, car la molué ne va pas tous les ans d’un mesme costé; 
celle qui sera une année sur une batture, la depeuplera par le grand nombre qui 
y vont en bande, ainsi |’année suivante elle est obligée d’aller chercher une autre 
batture, of la molué n’aura pas donné l’année d’auparavant; il y a encore le 
maquereau & le harang, qui prendra une autre route que celle de l’année passée, 
cela vient quelquefois des vents qui ont regnez |’hyver, ou de la sardine, de 
l’éperlan, du langon & [196] autres petits poissons qui viennent au Printemps 
jetter leurs oeufs a la coste, qui avancent ou retardent selon |’ Hyver, ce qui est la 
nouriture du maquereau ou du harang, & le maquereau & le harang est celle de la 
molué ; jay remarqué plusieurs fois que ou donne ce petit poisson le Printemps, 
que la pesche y est toijours meilleure que aux autres endroit; j’ay fait encore 
sur cette pesche beaucoup d’autres remarques que je passeray icy sous silence 
pour n’estre propre qu’aux pescheurs en faveurs desquels je n’ay point entrepris 
décrire tout cecy, puis qu’ils en sont ou doivent estre suffisamment informez. 


[197] CHAPITRE XIII 


L’ apprest du poisson au degrat, ce que Pon en fait ; la maniere de laver la molue 
ts de la mettre en gallaire ; le grand travail a l’echajfaut quand la molue 
donne, 5° des lumieres dont on se sert. 


L’EGARD du travail de terre il est bon de scavoir que le nombre 

des hommes est totijours propoitionné 4 ceux qui sont occupez 4 

la pesche, laquelle se regle sur le nombre des chalouppes qu’a 

chaque navire, par exemple un navire de huit, neuf 4 dix chalouppes 

qui va [198] en pesche chacune aura trois hommes, & pour chaque chalouppe 

deux hommes 4 terre, qui sont le Capitaine, le Maistre de grave, le Pilotte, le 
Chirurgien, les Charpentiers, le reste sont matelots & garcons. 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 553 


Jay déja dit cy-devant le travail qu’il y avoit a Vhabillage du poisson 
dans la premiere sortie des chalouppes, & comme |’on fait 4 leur retour pour 
Yapprester & saler, mais il faut dire ce que devient tout ce poisson que l’on a 
pesché & porté a ce degrad, ot j’ay dit qu’il s’habille & sale pareillement a 
celuy de l’échaffaut, mais 1a !’on a le soin aprés qu’il est salé de couvrir la pille 
de branchage vert pour empescher que le Soleil ne |’échauffe, ce qui le gasteroit, 
[199] car il n’a point d’abry comme celuy de |’échaffaut, qui a la voile, & si 
on ne laisse pas quelquefois d’y mettre du feuillage dans la grande chaleur; la 
premiere journée le poisson que |’on porte au degrad demeure dans le sel, la 
nuit dont il est sallé le soir, le lendemain tout le jour & la nuit suivante; celuy 
gui se sale a Péchaffaut demeure autant dans le sel, si ce n’est que le mauvais 
temps ne permette pas de |’oster ; pour le degrad, beau temps ou non on I’enleve, 
son temps fait qu’il doit demeurer dans le sel, ce qui se fait tous les matins, car 
comme il s’en sale tous les jours, on |’enleve aussi tous les matins ; sitost que 
les pescheurs sont partis pour aller sur le fonds on le [200] charge dans le 
charroy, & s'il ne peut tout porter on en met dans Il’autre chalouppe, 4 scavoir, 
quatre hommes dans la grande, & trois dans la petite; s’il fait du vent qui leur 
puisse servir, ils mettent a la voile, sinon il faut qu’ils aillent 4 la nage des six 
sept & huit lieués, quelquefois sitost qu’ils sont arrivez ils les faut decharger de 
jour ou de nuit; l’on approche les chalouppes proche de terre que |’on amare 
pour les tenir en estat: on met tout proche dans |’eau, entre la chalouppe & la 
terre le grand timbre que j’ay dit estre fait comme une cage plancheée par le 
bas, dont le dessus n’est point couvert: du charroy & de la chalouppe on jette 
la molué dedans qui n’en peut sortir: [201] tous les costez estant eslevez, 
dans le timbre il y a deux ou trois garcons tout nuds en chemise qui lavent 
cette molué: pour la laver prennent une molué de chaque main par les oreilles, 
en battent l’eau en la secoiiant dans |’eau, la faisant aller d’un costé 4 l’autre 
sans la quitter de la main, estant ainsi bien lavée en sorte qu’il n’y puisse estre 
demeuré de sel, ils la jettent sur ces clayes que jay dit estre semblables 4 celles 
ou on nettoye des habits, qui sont proche du timbre 4 terre, élevées sur des 
bois, pour que la molué ne prenne point de sable; de la on la charge sur ces 
boyars que j’ay dit, & on la porte sur ces galaires dont j’ay parlé qui sont de 
petits échaf- [202] fauts sur quoy on la remet en pille, non si longue que celle 
que l’on fait en la salant, mais bien plus haute, on la laisse 14 pour egouter 
autant de temps qu’en la saline, celle que |’on sale en |’échaffaut se porte aussi 
sur des boyars tous les matins pour estre lavée; on la jette dans ce timbre, ou 
les garcons la lavent comme I’autre, & se porte de mesme sur la galaire. 

Le charoy & la chalouppe estant déchargé on les renvoye au degrad soit de 
jour ou nuit, ils n’ont point de relasche, mais avant que d’aller il faut qu’ils 
aillent charger du sel au bord du navire, & des victuailles, & de tout ce qui leur 
est necessaire, & remportent le vin pur; ils font leur breuvage au degrat comme 
1203] il leur plaist, c’est 4 faire a boire de |’eau au retour du voyage; le 

apitaine ne se met point en peine de cela, pourveu qu’il charge son navire de 
molué ; tous les jours on fait la mesme chose au degrat, tant qu'il dure: lors 
que la molué ne donne plus au degrat il en faut faire un autre & la suivre ou 
elle va, ou on fait toute la mesme chose; sur la fin de la pesche la molué 
revient sur ces premiers fonds proche de |’échaffaut of on acheve sa charge. 

Tout ce travail est d’une grande fatigue, & principalement quand le poisson 
donne, car ils sont a l’étably quelquesfois jusques a une heure ou deux apres 


554 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


minuit, avant que tout le poisson soit habillé, salé, & que tout [204] soit 
achevé: en ce temps-la les Bossoins n’ont pas le loisir de laver leur chalouppes 
ny les accommoder ; le Capitaine les fait venir 4 1’étal pour travailler la nuit, 
il leur faut de la lumiere: de cette lumiere ils en ont de deux facons; les 
uns ont des lampes qui ont quatre grosses méches en nombre suffisant pour 
éclairer par tout le dedans de |’échaffaut, mais a l’étably ils ont de gros 
tizons de bois bien sec, & au bout d’en bas du tizon on fait trois trous en 
triangle, ou on met trois chevilles qui font un pied pour le tenir de bout, le 
bout d’en haut s’alume, & tout au dessus on met un sabot plein d’huile, il y a 
un petit trou au bas par ou l’huile [205] tombe goute 4 goute sur le feu du 
tizon qui l’entretient tofijours flambant, qui rend plus de lumiere qu’un flambeau, 
il y en a deux ou trois de la sorte sur |’étably : Comme le travail est de longue 
durée, le Capitaine fait apporter du vin pur, leur en fait boire un ou deux coups 
au plus, autrement cela les gasteroit: quand ils sortent de la pour aller souper 
ils sont si fatiguez qu’ils s’endorment en mangeant, quoy qu’ils ayent bon 
appetit ; je croy que l’on ne doutera pas de cela, estant d’4ge pour bien manger, 
& mesme apres tout cela ils ne sont pas sitost couchez que I’on les fait lever 
pour aller sur le fonds: ceux de terre se levent aussi [206] matin, mais ils 
attrapent sur le jour quelque heure pour reposer. 


[207] CHAPITRE XIV 


Du travail de terre qui se fait a laver la molué, la porter a la galaire, aux 
vignaux, a la grave, la tourner F retourner, F la mettre en pile. 


L faut maintenant faire travailler ceux de terre; estant levés la premiere 
chose qu’ils font tous les jours est d’aller a l’échaffaut prendre la pille de 
molué qui est a laver, la porter a l’eau dans ce timbre, la laver & de la la 
porter 4 la galaire: il y en a aussi tous les jours a la ga- [208] laire 

qu'il faut porter sur les vignaux : celle-la se charge sur des boyarts, on la porte 
aux vignaux: ceux qui la portent l’arangent sur les vignaux queués contre teste, 
la peau en haut: quand un vignau en est tout couvert on commence a en mettre 
sur un autre: quand il est question de porter le boyart il n’y a personne d’exempt, 
ny mesme le Capitaine, si ce n’est quelque vieux Capitaine qui a eu cOmande- 
ment & qui a veu le loup: pendant ce temps-la ceux qui ont de |’eau de vie en 
boivent un petit coup a la dérobée sans perdre leur rang, ayant demeuré comme 
cela jusques sur les neuf heures que la peau a eu le temps de secher, on va la 
retourner la chair en haut, & y [209] demeure jusques sur les qurtre heures que 
l’on la va retourner la peau en haut pour passer ainsi la nuit: on ne laisse jamais 
la chair en haut pendant la nuit, a cause de l’humidité: cela se fait tous les 
matins, la laver, la porter sur la galaire, de la galaire sur les vignaux, & toute la 
molué qui est sur les vignaux, tant celle du jour que celle des precedents, on ia 
va retourner la chair en haut tous les matins, sur les neuf heures ou environ, que 
le Soleil a eu la force de secher la rosée & I’humidité de la nuit, & on la laisse 
ainsi environ jusques sur les quatre heures aprés midy, si ce n’est qu'il arrive de 
la pluye ou apparence de pluye: car de puis que la molué a esté une fois mise 


DE LYAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 555 


au sec il ne faut plus qu’el- [210] le moiiille, & mesme si la pluye continué on 
la laisse toiijours la peau en haut, & celle qui est sur la galaire y demeure aussi, 
& celle qui est au sel sans la laver, il arrive quelquefois des six, sept & huit 
jours sans que l’on puisse mettre sur des vignaux, laver, ny retourner; quand 
cela arrive, qui est rarement, la molué court grand risque de s’échauffer, & si 
cela arrivoit on seroit obligé de la jetter, & mesme quand cela arrive pour deux 
ou trois jours la molué n’en est jamais si belle & est quasi tofijours de rebut 4 la 
vente, dont il faut donner deux quintaux ou deux cens pesant pour un. 

Quand celle qui a esté la premiere mise sur les vignaux commence d’estre 
un peu seche, & [211] que le Maistre de grave juge qu’elle soit en estat d’estre 
mise en mouton, au lieu de Ja retourner le soir 4 l’ordinaire la peau en haut, il 
en fait mettre jusques 4 huit, & dix & douze queués contre teste, les unes sur les 
autres, la base de cette petite pille n’estant que de deux molués qui s’appellent 
Mouton; on les met ainsi afin qu’elles conservent leur chaleur, ce qu’elles ne 
pourroient pas faire n’estant que retournées seules, en ce que la nuit est totijours 
fraiche qui les humectroit trop avec le grand air, & le vent humide qui les 
prendroient par dessous sur ces vignaux ; on augmente tous les soirs ces moutons, 
jusques 4 quinze, vingt, & vingt-cing molués: quand elles ont esté [212] mises 
de la sorte en gros moutons, le soir au lieu de les remettre sur les vignaux on les 
porte sur la grave pour décharger les vignaux & faire place a d’autres, & de 
deux moutons on n’en fait qu’un sur la grave, & pour lors on n’en oste tous les 
soirs de dessus les vignaux que l’on met sur la grave, & tous les jours on en met 
sur les vignaux: on en oste & on en met sur la grave jusques a la fin de la 
pescherie. 

Ayant ainsi tous les vignaux & la grave garnie de molué, tous les matins 
aprés l’avoir lavée & porté celle de la galaire sur les vignaux, & retourné toute 
autre la chair en haut, on va retourner de mesme celle qui est sur la grave, & 
celle qui y est [213] en moutons on la pare une a une, la peau en haut, & puis 
on va retourner celle que l’on avoit apporté de la galerie le matin Ja chair en 
haut comme aux autres, en suite de quoy on revient faire la mesme chose qu’on 
a fait a celle de la grave, qui estoit en gros moutons, que l’on avoit choisie & 
mise la peau en haut; presentement toute la molué des vignaux & de la grave a 
toute la chair en haut. Voila le travail que |’on fait tous les jours le matin 
avant le diner, je ne doute pas qu’ils n’ayent bon appetit pour y bien faire leur 
devoir, & si pendant le temps du diné il arrivoit a paroitre quelque nuage ou il y 
eust apparence de pluye, il leur faudroit tout quiter & courir vite- [214] ment a 
Ja molué pour Ja tourner la peau en haut crainte que la chair ne moiiille, cela 
fait ils vont achever leur diner, & si ce nuage la ne donne point de pluye ou peu, 
que le Soleil vienne 4 reparoistre beau, il faut quiter son diner encore une fois & 
retourner mettre la molué comme elle estoit, ot elle demeure jusques a quatre 
heures du soir ou environ. 

Depuis le diné jusques 4 ce qu’il faille retourner la molué le Capitaine visite 
par tout, cherche s’il n’y a rien a faire, va faire changer sa molué de gaffe 
de place, fait resaller la plus vieille salée, la fait mettre en quelque endroit de 
échaffaut qu’elle n’incommode pas, & 14 en fait faire une pille, & y demeure 
jus- [215] ques 4 ce qu’il la faille embarquer ; une autrefois il fera racommoder 
ses rabbes ou ceufs de molués que !’on sale tous les jours 4 un des bouts de la 
saline, comme j’ay dit, il les fait lever, de 1a les fait porter 4 un coin de |’échaf- 
faut, au bout du costé de terre, & la les fait resaller, les arrange en pille les unes 


556 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


sur les autres, la pille estant grosse il les fait mettre en des bariques ot on les 
resalle encore, mais legerement estant bien pleines, on les enfonce & demeurent 
14 jusques a ce que l’on embarque tout: Une autre fois il visitera ses charniers 
ou se fait l’huile, s’ils sont plains il Ja fait tirer & mettre en bariques qui demeure 
aussi la jusques a l’embarquement; une autre fois il fera vui- [216] der ses 
charniers pour faire sortir l’eau & le sang, & oster toute la vilannies qui se fait 
au dessus des foyes qui ne fondent pas, il trouve tofijours de quoy s’occuper & a 
faire travailler les autres, de crainte que les havives ne les prennent ; le Maistre- 
valet est au bord du navire pour faire apporter des provisions a terre 4 mesure 
qu il en faut, ot il va chercher de |’eau pour faire son breuvage, 11 a soin que les 
garcons fassent ce qui est de leur charge qui est d’obeyr 4 tout le monde en 
toutes choses, & avoir soin que les tabliers des habilleurs & leurs manches soient 
bien lavées & sechées, que les cotiteaux des piqueurs soient nets & éguisez, que 
l’échaffaut soit lavé & net de tous ces os de [217] molué que les habilleurs 
jettent derriere eux, & des tripailles qui tombe d’un costé & d’autre, que le 
tablier soit net & bien lavé, la moindre chose de tout cela qui manque tous les 
garcons ont le foiiet, il n’y a point d’excuse a prendre les uns sur les autres, 
d’autres matelots avec le pilotte ont soin d’aller chercher du sel a bord pour 
entretenir la saline; le Chirurgien travaille 4 son jardin, ou va a la chasse pour 
la table du Capitaine, le Maistre de grave se promene autour de ses vignaux & 
de sa grave, visite sa molué d’un bord & d’autre, regarde celle qu’il faudra 
mettre en moutons grands & petits tant aux vignaux qu’a la grave, visite aussi 
celle des petites pilles, pour voir s’il est temps d’en faire de [218] plus grandes, 
il visite aussi les grandes pilles pour voir s'il y en a qui ayent besoin d’estre 
mises le lendemain au Soleil, personne ne manque d’occupation; sur les deux 
heures aprés midy ils ont une heure pour collationner, prendre du tabac ou 
dormir ; comme les quatre heures approchent le Maistre de grave le Capitaine 
& le Pilotte sont 4 regarder de temps en temps si les chalouppes de pesche ne 
reviennent point si-tost que l’on les appercoit le Maistre de grave commence a 
appeller le monde, qund il parle il faut quiter toute sorte de besogne & aller a 
luy, puis il envoye les uns tourner les vignaux, & leur dit vous mettrez cela en 
petits moutons, cela en grands, celle-l4 vous la [219] porterez sur la grave & 
envoye les autres 4 la grave faire la méme chose. 

La molué qui se doit mettre en pille le Maistre de grave & le Pilotte se la 
font apporter par brassée & en font des pilles, les unes grosses & les autres 
petites, selon qu’ils jugent a propos, pendant que cela se fait les pescheurs 
arrivent a l’échaffaut qui déchargent leurs molués, & chacun se va preparer pour 
Vhabiller comme a l’ordinaire. 

Quand Ja molué a esté mise plusieurs fois en gros moutons, l’on la met 
en pitites pilles, & une autre fois de ces petites pilles l’on en fait une plus 
grande, ainsi l’on va tous les jours en augmentant ces pilles, jusques 4 ce que la 
molué soit entiere- [220] ment seche, dont |’on fait une grosse pille ot l’on ne 
touche plus de douze ou quinze jours, puis l’on Ja remet encore en pille pour un 
mois sans y toucher. 

C’est tous les jours la mesme besogne d’habiller & saler, tous les matins 
aver & mettre en pille dans les galaires, des galaires les porter sur des vignaux, 
des vignaux sur la grave, de la grave les soirs en mettre en petites pilles, des 
petites pilles en faire de grandes; pour cela il y a tous les matins des pilles a 
mettre sur Ja grave jusques 4 ce que Ja molué soit bien seche, pour en faire une 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE = 557 


pille qui demeure un mois ou cinq semaines sans que l|’on y touche; au bout de 
ce temps-la on luy donne encore un Soleil, puis on la remet [221] en pille pour 
autant de temps, cela se fait de crainte que la pille n’aye pris quelque humidité, 
& pour tenir toijours le poisson sechement. 


[222] CHAPITRE XV 


La maniere de faire les pilles de molue: tout ce qui sy pratique a  embarquement, 
tant pour la molue que victuailles {5 autres choses. 


ES pilles de poisson se font toutes rondes, c’est le Maitre de grave & 
le Pilotte d’ordinaire qui les font; pour cela l’on fait un fondement 
de roches que !’on arrange les unes contre les les autres tout en rond, 
de six, huit, dix, & douze pieds de diamettre, selon le nombre an 

poisson que l’on y veut mettre, elles se font aux lieux les plus esle- [223] vez 
de la grave, & ces roches ne sont que pour eslever, afin que la pille ne mouille 
par le dessous, ensuite |’on apporte Ja molué par brasse a celuy qui fait la pille, 
il couvre toutes ces roches de molués tout en rond la peau en bas, puis il met 
toutes ces brasses de molués les unes contre les autres, Ja molué sur le costé tout 
en rond les queués en dedans, & les testes en dehors, tellement arrangée qu’une 
teste ne passe pas l’autre, & remplit le milieu de molué a mesure que le tour 
hausse qui est fait comme une tour de moulin 4 vent, non si eslévée, seulement 
pour ce qu'il y a de molué 4 mettre en la pille. 

L’on choisit la grande qui est pour la couvrir, & cette couver- [224 | ture va 
toute en pointe comme celle d’un moulin 4 vent ot la molué sert de tuille ou de 
barderau, arrangée de mesme les unes sur les autres, en sorte que le dedans de 
Ja pille ne peut mouiller ; il y a telle pille qu’il faut une échelle pour Ja couvrir, 
outre cette couverture on met encore des voiles dessus pour empescher que 
Vhumidité ne la penetre. 

Quand toute la pesche est faite, que les pescheurs ont quité les lignes, il 
faut encore du temps pour faire secher le dernier poisson, pendont quoy on va 
au bois chercher des branchages, qu’on porte au navire pour mettre par dessus le 
leste, qui sont des roches ou caillotage qu’on met au fonds du vais- [225] seau 
pour le tenir en assiete, & empescher que le vent ne le puisse coucher d’un bord 
ny d’autre, ce qui fait que le navire en porte mieux ses voiles, & ses branchages 
qu’on met dessus, c’est pour unir le fonds & pour le hausser, en sorte que |’eau 
ne puisse toucher a la molué; |’on garny aussi tous les costez du navire de 
mesmes branchages que le fonds, afin que la molué ne sente point |’humidité du 
bord ; tout cela estant preparé l’on charge le navire, pour cela l’on prend de ces 
grandes pilles de poisson le premier sec, 4 qui il faut encore donner un Soleil 
sur la grave de deux ou trois heures, & pour l’enlever on la met par quarterons 
de trente-trois molués, qui font [226] cent trente deux molués au cent, c’est le 
compte des pescheurs, a cause qu’a la vente il s’en trouve de gastée & de rompues, 
& dont on donne deux cens pour un, attendu que c’est du poisson de rebut & 
non marchant, si c’est au poids, deux quintaux pour un, & c’est pour cela que 


558 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


les pescheurs font leur cent de cent trente deux, afin de trouver leur compte a 
la vente, lors qu’il arrive du dechet qui est presque inevitable. 

Pour l’embarquer, chacun prend son quarteron qu’il porte dans le charoy; 4 
faute de charoy I’on se sert d’une chalouppe, & 4 mesure qu’ils passent le 
Capitaine ou le Maistre de grave est 14, qui met une petite pierre dans son 
chapeau pour scavoir [227] le nombre de la molué que |’on embarque tous les 
jours, pourveu que le temps soit beau & sec, car la molué se gasteroit si elle 
estoit mouillée, & mesme si elle estoit humide. 

Hstant portée au bord du navire, on la met entre les deux ponts pour la 
donner a ceux qui sont en bas, qui l’arrangent sur ces branches teste contre 
queué ; on commence 4 charger par le devant ou par le derriere, selon la com- 
modité du navire, les unes sur les autres, tant qu’elles viennent 4 toucher le pont, 
& 4 mesure qu'elle s’affaisse on remplit tofijours le vuide, tant que le navire soit 
plein de devant en arriere, a la reserve du milieu devant le grand mast, qui est 
pour mettre cette gran- [228] de molvé de gaffe que l’on a salée au vert. 

Et la plus belle & la plus grande du sec on la trye a part, a chaques fois que 
l’on met des pilles au Soleil, & cela ce met dans la soutte, c’est ou estoit le pain 
ou biscuit comme estant le lieu le plus sec, & ce qui reste de biscuit pour le 
retour, il se met entre deux ponts, aussi bien que tout le reste des boissons, 
vivres, & bagages des matelots. 

Pendant que |’on fait tout cela, le Contre maistre est 4 bord avec quatre ou 
cing hommes qui travaillent 4 remetre le navire en funins, qui est de remettre 
tous les maneuvres, & cordages en leurs places; maneuvres se sont tous les 
cordages, aprés cela il accommode ses voi- [229] les & les envergue, enverguer 
c’est attacher les voiles aux vergues. 

Le Maistre valet travaille avec les garcons a faire du breuvage pour la 
retour, & de l’eau pour la chaudiere, les Charpentiers sont 4 bord pour mettre 
des aitances ou estais, qui sont des bois de bout, qui prennent de dessus le premier 
pont 4 celuy d’en haut tout le long du navire des deux costez; c’est pour 
empescher que les barriques de vin, breuvage, & |’eau qui se mettent la n/aillent 
d’un bord sur |’autre, en cas de rencontre de mauvais temps, on laisse la place 
des canons libre pour s’en servir au besoin, & toutes choses se por- [230] tent a 
bord a mesure qu’elles s’apprestent, & s’arrangent 4 méme temps; il n’y a 
que la molué 4 qui il faut du beau temps pour l’embarquer; & sitost qu’elle est 
embarquée, tout le reste est bien-tost prest, il n’y a plus que le vent qui les puisse 
empescher de partir, leur estant contraire. 

Ils n’emportent d’ordinaire qu’une chalouppe, ils cachent les autres dans le 
bois, a trois ou quatre lieués, ou plus loin, 1a ot ils croyent que l’on va le moins ; 
s'il y a un étang quelque part, ils les mettent dedans, les font emplir d’eau 
& quelque roches qu’on met dedans, & les coulent bas, en sorte qu’elles ne 
paroissent ; on les cache le mieux qu’on peut pour n’estre prises [231] l’année 
suivante par d’autres pescheurs, qui les emmennent d’un costé & d’autre ou ils 
en ont besoin, ainsi leurs pesches étant faites ils les laissent la cachées, si a deux 
ou trois ans de 14 ils reviennent, ils les trouvent, sinon ils les vendent a un autre, 
qui viendra faire sa pesche en ce lieu-la. 

Voila la maniere & pratique de la pesche de la molué seche, la plus intelli- 
gible que je l’ay peu faire, vous excuserez un pescheur: si j’avois autant employé 
de temps a l’étude que j’ay fait 4 m’instruire & a rechercher les moyens de 
suivre la molué, & connoistre les endroits ot elle donne, tant au Printemps qu’en 


a a 


f 


DE LLAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 559 


? Autonne, & ot est l’endroit pour y char- [232] ger plus prestement qu’en un 
autre lieu, je vous aurois donné plus de satisfaction en tout ce recit que je 
n’ay fait. 


[233] CHAPITRE XVI 


Recit general de la pesche Sedentaire de la molue ; les profits qu’en ont retiré ceux 
qui l’ ont entreprise ; les avantages qu’on en peut faire ; P établissement, supposé 


que le pays se peuple en y envoyant des Colonnies. 


PRES avoir expliqué le détail de se qui se pratique a la pesche du poisson 
sec ou merluche, par les pescheurs qui partent tous les ans des costes 
de France pour cela. J’ay pensay qu’il ne seroit pas hors de pro- 
[234] pos de vous entretenir de la pesche Sedentaire du mesme 

poisson ; jay nommé ainsi celle qui se peu faire par les habitans ou colones qui 
y seront établis, & je commengay a la pratiquer dés le temps que j’entrepris de 
m’habituer en la nouvelle France avec le Commandeur de Razilly, dont j’ay parlé 
au commencement de mon Livre, & fait connoistre les raisons qui mont empesché 
d’en faire |’établissement, mais comme je |’ay totijours jugée avantageuse pour 
ceux qui seroient sedentaires dans le pays: cela m’a donné occasion d’en parler 
dans les entretiens que j’ay eu avec plusieurs personnes sur ce sujet qui en ont 
entretenu d’autres; ce qui a donné envie a plusieurs [255] de |’entreprendre, 
outre que l’on ma veu persister nonobstant toutes mes pertes, 4 métablir au pays 
& y faire des logemens, mais je n’ay jamais fait connoitre comme il se falloit 
prendre a |’établissement, ny par ow il falloit commencer: jay seulement fait 
voir des profils fondez sur la pesche ordinaire, assez avantageux pour donner 
envie d’entreprendre cette pesche Sedentaire. 

Le premier qui la commencée a esté un nommé Rivedou, au cap de sable, 
qui y vint s’établir avec sa femme, sous commission du Gouverneur de la nouvelle 
Angleterre: il fit son embarquement a la Rochelle, il amenna avec luy nombre 
de pescheurs, tant pour la molué que [236] pour les loups marins, dont la pesche 
se fait aux Isles de Tousquet; & au cap de sable ot il fit son logement; envoya 
ses pescheurs en pesche qui ne luy fust pas avantageuse, aussi y estoit-il arrivé 
un peu tard: il renvoya son navire en France porter ce qu'il avoit de poisson, 
pour revenir l’année suivante, esperant reiissir: |’ Hyver il envoya 4 la pesche des 
loups marins une partie des hommes qui luy étoient restez, dont il n’eust pas non 
plus grand profit, les Anglois ayant ruiné les Isles de Tousquet ot la pesche s’en 
fait: V’année d’apres son navire revins de bonne heure avec de bonnes victuailles 
& du monde de renfort ; il enuoya a la pesche, & fait si bien qu’il char- [237] 
gea son navire, & le renvoya en France, le poisson estant vendu il ne se trouva 
pas de profit; au contraire il n’y avoit pas pour rembourser la moitié de ses frais, 
ce que fut cause qu’il n’eust point de retour de France |’année suivante; outre 
que le feu prit 4 son habitation, ot il perdit si peu qu’il avoit de reste: il a tout 
abandonné sans envie d’y vouloir retourner. 

En suite le sieur de la Giraudiere |’a voulu entreprendre : il fit un embarque- 
ment 4 Nante; il se vint établir 4 sainte Marie, & fit faire sa pesche au havre de 


560 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


Campseaux, qui ne luy reiissit pas mieux qu’a ce Rivedou, car il perdit tout ce 
qu’il y avoit mis. 

Apres cela est venu un nommé [238] Doublet de Normandie, que croyoit 
estre plus habile que tous les autres: il est vray qu’a |’entendre parler, il est 
capable de beaucoup de choses; il avoit entendu parler de la pesche a des 
pescheurs du pais; comme I’on y travaille, & ce qui s’y pratique: Voila un 
homme scavant par ouy dire, il s’imagine estre capable d’entendre cette pesche 
Sedentaire, il va 4 Rouen, en parle a plusieurs, & fait tant par ses raisonnemens, 
qu’il forma une compagnie, pour se venir établir aux Isles de la Magdelaine; 
par le moyen de ses associez, il obtint de la Compagnie antienne de la nouvelle 
France, une concession des Isles de la Magdelaine, a condition de ne faire aucune 
traite, ou negoce [239] avec les Sauvages: en suite il fit un embarquement de deux 
vaisseaux avec tout ce qu'il crut estre necessaire pour leur établissement; il 
arrive a l’Isle percée, & apprend que ces Isles m’appartenoient, dont il ne fit 
pas grand estat: il fut 4 la Magdelaine ot il fit son établissement, met tous les 
pescheurs en besogne, Basques & Normands; tout cela estant en train d’aller, il 
me vint trouver 4 saint Pierre Isle du cap breton avec grand équipage, & me dit 
quw’il me venoit signifier sa concession de la Compagnie; il me fit le recit de son 
dessein, les moyens qu’il tiendroit pour faire valoir son affaire, & tous ces grands 
profits pretendus: en suite je luy demanday s’il n’avoit point d’au- [240] tres 
moyens que ceux-la, il me répondit que cela estoit infaillible, que lon n’y 
pouvoit pas parvenir autrement: Je suis bien aise, luy dis-je, de sgavoir vos 
intentions: je suis 4 present hors d’inquietude, je n’auray point la peine de vous 
aller chasser, d’une concession que la Compagnie n’a peu vous accorder, puis 
qu’elle m’en a mis en possession il y a plus de dix ans: dans trois ans vous en 
sortirez condamnez aux dépens, & vos associez y perderont tout ce quils y 
mettront: je pris conge de luy & le laissay faire: il en partit au bout de deux 
ans comme je luy avois predit, sa compagnie s’estant rebutée des pertes ou le 
galand homme I’avoit engagée. 

Tout ce discours n’est que pour [241] faire voire, que tous ceux qui ont 
entrepris cette pesche y ont perdu, & ces derniers icy n’en ont pas eu meilleur 
marché: tout ce qui m’en fache, est que tous ces ignorans-la avec leur babil 
font tort aux autres, & d’ordinaire on se fie plustost 4 ces grands diseurs de rien, 
qui promettent quatre fois plus quwils ne peuvent tenir, & l’emportent sur ceux 
qui ne voudroient pas tromper, & qui cependant ne sont pas creus, parce que leur 
experience n’est soutenué que par leur sincerité: il faut mentir pour faire quelque 
chose, & estre fourbe pour engager en de nouvelles entreprises, y faire bien valoir 
tous les profits & avantages, diminuer les dépenses en sorte qu’ils ne rebutent 
[242] point: & comme il auroit esté naturel de se defer pltitost de leur peu 
d’ experience, que d’ajotter foy 4 leur discours vains & vagues: il est aussi vray 
de dire, que sil y a du profit 4 faire en la pesche des molués, & des moyens 
pour multiplier ce profit-la; ces moyens-la seront plitost trouvez par une 
personne consommée par des experiences de trente & quarante années, que par 
ceuX qui s’avisent subitement de se mettre en teste des choses dont a peine 
avoient ils ouy parler, & qui cependant ne laissent pas d’embarquer les credules 
en des entreprises, dont le mauvais succez est capable de rebuter dans la suite 
les mieux intentionnez, & donner des deffiances de ceux qui n’ont [243] besoin 
que de secours pour reiissir. . 

Revenons a nostre pesche. II est constant qu’A moins que d’ayoir un 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 561 


moyen extraordinaire pour multiplier la force & V’industrie des hommes, ceux 
qui iront la faire tous les ans 4 l’ordinaire, y trouveront mieux leur compte, que 
ne feront pas ceux qui entreprendront la pesche sedentaire, comme I’ont entre- 
pris ceux dont nous avons parlé, attendu qu’ on trouvera peu de pescheurs qui 
veulent abandonner pour cela leur famille qu’ils ont en France, & quand mesme 
ils le youdroient bien faire, ce qui n’est pas impossible, en leur y faisant trouver 
leur compte, il faudra qu’ils soient 4 charge pendant quatre [244] ou cing mois 
de année a ceux qui les employeront, & qu’ils demeureront tout ce temps-la 4 
ne rien faire, au lieu qu’en la pesche ordinaire ils ne sont pas plifitost de retour 
en France qu’on en est quite, ce n’est pas qu’ils ne fussent bien aise d’estre 
employez, & de gagner toute l’année, mais cela ne se peut, ny par la pesche 
ordinaire, ny par la pesche Sedentaire, comme elle a esté entreprise jusques 4 
cette heure; il faut donc avoir un moyen par lequel on les puisses employer 
continuellement, & leur donner dequoy gagner toute l’année; & c’est 4 quoy 
personne n’a reiissi jusques a cette heure, parce que personne peut-estre n’y a 
fait reflexion, au moins n’en avons nous point [245] encore veu d’effets; quoy 
qu’on nous en propose depuis quelques années, mais ce ne sont que des projets 
qui n’ont encore abouty 4 rien; pour moy qui ay eu tout loisir de m’y appliquer, 
d’y faire reflexion, & d’ éprouver diverses fois un moyen par lequel dix hommes 
peuvent pescher plus de poisson en un jour, que cinquante ne sauroient faire par 
les voyes communes & ordinaires. 

En la mesme maniere que par les machines qu’on a introduites depuis peu, 
tant pour les bas de soye, les rubans, & les soyes, en quoy lon a multiplié 
Pindustrie des hommes sans en multiplier le nombre. Je croy n’avoir pas tout a 
fait perdu mon téps, bien qu’il ait esté traversé de mille [246] disgraces, puis 
que outre le moyen d’établir seurement la pesche sedentaire, qui est l’unique 
moyen 4 mon avis qui ja puisse faire reiissir avec utilité: j’ay encore trouvé en 
cela l’expedient de faire habiter le pais, suivant l’intention du Roy par les grands 
avantages que pourront retirer les habitans, que le gain rendra pescheurs, & les 
pescheurs que les grands profits rendront habitans, le profit estant le premier 
mobile de toutes les conditions des hommes: le Roy outre cela y trouvera 
encore un avantage tres-considerable, en ce que la pesche du poisson sec, se 
faisant 4 l’avenir avec le tiers moins de matelots qu'elle n’avoit accofitumé, le 
surplus ne pouvant [247] s’employer qu’ la mer, sera obligé de prendre party, 
ou dans ses armées navales, ou dans les voyages d’ Orient, ou d’Occident, ou sur 
les autres navires Marchands, ce qui facilitera le commerce maritime, rendra les 
matelots plus souples, & les reduira 4 la necessité de chercher de |’employ, au 
lieu qu’on les recherche. Le Roy tirera encore d’autres avantages plus consider- 
ables de cet établissement: mais n’estant pas ici le lieu de les dire, je couclus 
seulement en assurant qu’il est impossible que l’on trouve son compte a la pesche 
sedentaire, qu’on ne le fasse trouver en mesme temps a ceux qui y travailleront, 
depuis le premier jusques au dernier, & que ce compte ne s’y pourra [248] 
trouver, si !’on ne ménage & le temps, & le lieu, & si l’on n’a l’art de tourner a 
son profit tous les avantages qu’on peut tirer, & de la terre, & de l'industrie, 
& des experiences, reiterées par le choix des havres, des saisons, & des degrada- 
tions diverses du poisson. 

Avant que d’achever ce Chapitre, disons encore pour prouver ce que jay 
avancé de la pesche Sedentaire 4 la maniere ordinaire, & de tous ceux qui |’entre- 
prendront, que les navires qui partent tous les ans de France pour la pesche, ont 


562 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


plus d’avantage que ceux qui la feront sedentaire, 4 moins que d’estre habitans 
comme j’ay dit, d’autant que le poisson ne donne point en toutes les costes de la 
[249] nouvelle France, qu’au mois de May, & si peu en Avril qu il n’est pas 
considerable, & si les navires qui partent de France peuvent estre a la coste en 
Avril, ils y sont donc aussi-tost que les Sedentaires qui n’y auront aucun 
avantage. La bonne pesche n’a que May, Juin, Juillet, Aoust, Septembre : 
encore ce dernier mois n’est que pour les apprester 4 s’en retourner: & si leur 
charge n’est faite, ils ont de la peine a l’achever, en ce que les vents sont rudes, 
la saison facheuse pour envoyer des chalouppes sur le fonds, encore ne trouvent- 
ils pas trois jours en la semaine pour y aller, & s’ils y vont, ils n’ont pas plus 
d’une heure ou une & demie a demeurer sur le fonds, & pes- [250] cheront 
cinquante ou scixante molués 4 chaque voyage: ce n’est pas qu’il n’y ait de la 
molué a la coste, mais le temps ne permet pas aux pescheurs de demeurer sur le 
fonds avec le grappin, & principalement un si petit bastiment qu’une chalouppe: 
ainsi la charge ou non, le mois de Septembre passé il s’en faut retourner, outre 
que la dépence qu ils feroient, se monteroit 4 plus que la pesche ne pourroir 
valoir: de plus en ce temps-l4 les pescheurs ne veulent pas aller dehors, quoy 
que leur avantage soit de bien charger: mais l’excez de la peine, jointe au 
desir de revoir leurs femmes & leurs enfans, l’emporte alors sur l’espoir 
du gain. 

Dites moy donc quel avanta- [251] ge auront les sedentaires, de plus que 
ceux qui partent de France tous les ans, au contraire ils en auront moins: car 
les autres estant arrivez en France sont déchargez de leurs pescheurs, au lieu 
qu’il faudra nourrir & payer les sedentaires de leur gages tout |’Hyver. Je veux 
qu’on les fasse travailler, mais voyons si leur travail vaudra la dépence & les 
gages. Dans |’Hyver ils ne peuvent faire que de la planche, & abbattre du bois 
& le debiter pour brusler. Je scay par experience qu'il s’en faut beaucoup qu’ils 
ne puissent gagner leurs dépens, ce qui n’arive pas lors qu’ils travaillent pour 
eux & leur petite famille, car alors ils le font d’inclination, & le gain qu’ils trou- 
[252] vent en la pesche les rend industrieux pour s’établir commodement au 
lieu ou ils rencontrent tant d’avantages: ainsi pour entreprendre une pesche 
Sedentaire avec des profits considerables, il faut faire habiter le pais; mais 
aussi pour rendre le pais habité, il faut faire en sorte que la pesche produise 
un profit si extraordinaire, que le monde, comme j’ay déja dit, veule bien y 
venir avec leurs familles pour habitans, & que les habitans veulent bien s’y 
faire pescheurs, 


[253] CHAPITRE XVII 


Des autres Poissons de mer: de ceux qui approchent de terre ; leurs combats ; la 
maniere de les pescher && leurs qualttez. 


L reste maintenant a parler de la pesche des loups marins, il y en a deux 
especes ; j’ay parlé de la premiere aux Isles de Tousquet, la seconde 
sorte est bien plus petite qui font aussi leurs petits a terre dans ces 
Isles, sur le sable, & sur les roches, & par tout ow il se trouve des 

ances de sables c’est ot ils vont ; il se [254] trouve des endroits ou ils fre- 
quentent plus qu’en d’autres; il n’y a gueres que les Sauvages qui leur font la 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 5638 


guerre estans bons 4 manger, on en tire de I’huile, non comme les autres loups 
marins : cette huile leur est un ragoust a tous Jes festins qu’ils font entr’eux, ils s’en 
servent encore a gresser leurs cheveux: cette espece de loups marins s’échoiient 
a terre en toutes sortes de saisons, & ne s’écartent gueres de la terre; d’un beau 
temps on les trouvent échouez a une coste de sable, ou bien sur des roches ou 
ils dorment au Soleil; il y en a tofijours quelqu’un qui fait la sentinelle pour 
avertir s’il paroist quelque chose, soit canot ou quelqu’un le long de la coste; 
au mesme temps qu’il ap- [255] percoit quelque chose il se jette a l’eau & tous 
les autres ensuite, & puis reviennent a la nage proche la terre, ils se levent sur 
leurs pattes de devant, la teste hors de l’eau, regardant de tous les costez s’ils 
verront quelque chose, s’ils ne yoyent rien, quelques-uns retournent 4 terre, les 
autres vont en mer. 

Il y a des endroits ow il s’en échoue des deux 4 trois cens d’une bande, & 
s'il se trouve des roches le long des terres, ot en des culs de sacq ot ils hantent 
d’ordinaire, on les trouve dessus 4 dormir au Soleil, c’est ot ils sont faciles a 
tuer, n’y en ayant que deux ou trois sur une roche, sans sentinelle, on les 
approche facilement avec un canot, si on les blesse 4 mort [256] ils tombent a 
Peau & se debattent, ot on les prend, mais si on les tué tous roides, & qu’ils 
tombent a l’eau ils vont 4 fond comme une roche; on les perd souvent y ayant 
trop d’eau au pied de la roche. 

Tout ce quwils peuvent rendre d’huile, c’est environ plain leur vessie, dans 
laquelle les Sauvages la mettent, apres |’avoir fait fondre. Cette huile est bonne 
a manger fraiche & pour fricasser du poisson: elle est encore excelente 4 briler, 
elle n’a odeur ny fumée, non plus que celle d’olive, & en bariques elle ne laisse 
d’ordure ny lie au fonds; si on en apportoit a Paris elle s’y debiteroit fort bien. 

On void aussi des vaches marines, autrement appellées bé- [257] tes a la 
grande-dent, parce qu’elles ont deux grandes dents, grosses & longues céme la 
moitié du bras, & les autres dents longues de quatre doigts, il n’y a point 
d’yvoire plus beau: j’en ay parlé a l’Isle de sable, & comme les Anglois ont 
fait leur possible pour les prendre: ces petits loups marins échotient aussi en la 
méme Isle, si l’on avoit trouvé l’invention de les prendre, cela raporteroit un 
grand profit; je croy en avoir trouvé une infaillible, pour les vaches & loups 
marins; ne l’ayant point éprouvé, je n’en diray autre chose, pour n’assurer 
pas ce qui m’est encore incertain, si j/avois esté sur le lieu je l’aurois éprouvé, 
les frais n’en estant pas grands, ce sont 14 tous les poissons qui vont 4 terre. 

[258] Ceux qui approchent des terres sont les marsoiiins de deux especes, 
les plus grands sont tous blancs, de grosseur 4 peu prés d’une vache, qui vont 
sautant en mer de distance en distance environ de cent pas en cent pas, d’un 
saut a l’autre, quelquefois plus, quelquefois moins, selon Ja pature qu’ils trouvent, 
qui est le maquereau, le harang, ou sardine, surquoy ils se jettent plus qu’au 
reste. Ils rendent force huile, prés d’une barique chacun; & comme je n’en ay 
point mangé je ne diray rien de leur goust. 

L’autre marsoiiin est celuy que i’on nomme poursille, ceux 14 vont totijours 
en grande bande, & il s’en trouve par toute la mer, ils vont aussi proche de [259] 
terre suivant la boitte, ils sont bons a manger, l’on fait des boudins & andoiiilles 
de leurs tripes, la fressure est excellente fricassée, la teste en est meilleure que 
celle de mouton, mais non pas si bonne que celle de veau. 

I] y a encore dans ces mers, le saumon, |’aloze, la truite, la lemproye, 
’éperlan, l’anguille de mer, le maquereau, le harang, |’enchois, la sardine, & 


564. HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


beaucoup d’autres sortes de petits poissons, qui se prennent tous 4 la cenne ou 
filets proche de terre. 

Lors qu’on est a deux ou trois lieues en mer, l’on ne connoist encore que 
ceux qui se prennent 4 la ligne, n’y ayant encore de pescheurs comme en 
France ; [260] les Flaitans, c’est le nom des pescheurs qui les maudissent, 
parce qu’ils sot trop grands, s’ils se prennent 4 la ligne il faut qu’elle soit bonne 
si elle ne se rompt, ou qu’ils n’emportent |’ain, & si l’on l’amene haut il faut 
tout |’équipage de la chalouppe pour le mettre dedans, avec des gaffes, & luy 
coupper au pltitost l’arreste ou la queué avec une hache qu’ils ont expres en leurs 
chalouppes. Ce temps-la détourne leur pesche, & c’est ce qui fait que les 
pescheurs les detestent & jurent contre eux: ce Flaitan, c’est 4 mon jugement 
la sole, il a la mesme forme, noir dessus & blanc dessous, la gueule de méme; 
il n’a qu’une arreste dans le milieu & tout autour des na- [261] geoires avec des 
petites arrestes comme la sole: c’est ce que les pescheurs mangent estant le 
plus friand & le plus gras de la sole: |’on couppe ces nageoires tout autour de la 
largeur de quatre grands doigts, puis l’on les couppe par troncons qu’on met en 
broche, on les fait rotir & on les mange au vinalgre estant assez gras d’eux- 
mesmes, ce n’est pas que boiiillis & mis au beure & en toute autre sauce que !’on 
peut faire a la sole ils ne soient excellents, & mesme le corps au court boiiillon 
avec de bonnes herhes & de l’orange; j’en ay mangé quelquefois que jay 
trouvez bons, il s’en pesche si grand nombre que !’on s’en dégoute, & sont si 
prodigieux, qu’a peine pourra-on croire, [262] qu’un fletan ou solle soit capable 
de donner a diner 4 quarante ou cinquante personnes, c’est tout ce que deux 
hommes peuuent faire que d’en porter un dessus un boyart. 

I] s’y trouve trois sortes de rayes, la bouclée, celle qui ne l’est point, & le 
posteau: la premiere est la meilleure, la seconde apres, & la troisiéme n’est pas 
fort bonne, il s’en mange des trois especes en France, je trouve que celles-cy 
ont quelque chose de plus agreable au goust. 

L’Esturgeon, ce croy que c’est ce qu’on appelle Dauphin, il y en a de huit, 
dix, unze & douze pieds de long, gros par le corps comme un mozton, il a sur 
la teste une Couronne rele- [263] vée d’un pouce, le corps couvert d’écailles, 
de la grandeur du rond d’une assiette un peu en ovale, elles sont parsemées 
d’especes de Fleurs de lys, la chair en est bonne comme du beeuf, se leve de 
mesme par éguillettes, & la graisse en est jaune ; ; il faut que cela boiiille pendant 
quatre ou cinque heures pour estre cuit: ce poisson la vient jusques aux 
entrées des rivieres ; il s’éleve en sautant de sa hauteur sur |’eau: on le prend 
avec un harpon qui est fait comme une cramaillee de huit a dix pouces de long, 
pointu d’un bout, & un trou de l’autre ot |’on attache un ligne, puis on l’amanche 
au bout d’un baston, pour le pouvoir darder ; la pesche s’en fait la nuit. 

[264] Deux Sauvages se mettent dans un canot, celuy de devant est tout 
debout le harpon a la main, l’autre derriere pour gouverner, qui tient un flambeau 
d’écorce de bouleau, & laisse aller le canot au courant de la marée: lors que 
Y’éturgeon appergoit le feu, il vient faire des passades tout autour, se tournant 
d’un costé sur |’autre: si tost que le harponeur en appercoit le ventre, il le 
darde au deffaut des écailles, le poisson se sentant frappé il nage d’une grande 
furie : la ligne est attachée au canot sur le devant qu’il entraine de la vitesse 
d’une fleche; il faut que celuy qui est derriere gouverne droit selon que 
l’éturgeon va, autrement il renverseroit le canot, ce qui arrive quel- [265] 
quefois, ils scavent bien nager, & puis toute sa force ne va de furie que cent 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 565 


cinquante ou deux cens pas; cela fait on retire la ligne, on l’amene contre le 
canot mort ; pour lors on luy passe une corde avec un nceud coulant en la queué, 
& on le tire ainsi 4 terre, ne le pouvant mettre dans leur canot pour estre trop 
puissant. 

Il y en a de plus petits, qui est une autre espece, ayant pourtant la chair 
de mesme, mais de meilleur goust & plus tendre ; c’est de ce poisson-la dont on 
fait la plus grande partie de la colle de poisson, cela vaudroit quelque chose, 
& si le pays étoit habité, il s’en prendroit nombre. 

Lencornet est un autre pois- [266] son fait environ comme la seiche, il a 
les barbes autour de la teste, longue d’un demy pied ou environ, avec cela il 
prend le poisson pour le manger: pour le prendre on fait du feu 4 terre sur le 
bord de l’eau, la nuit la mer montant il vient a terre, la mer perdant il demeure 4 
sec sur la greve, qu’on en trouve quelquefois toute couverte; il a environ un 
pied de longueur, tout rond, plus gros du milieu qu’aux bouts, le bout de la 
queué est pointu, ou il ya un rebord de deux doigts de large tout en rond, 
comme une petite rondache, il est bon a manger, rosty, boiiilly, & fricassé, il 
fait la sausse noire ainsi que le casseron en France, qui sont de petites seiches, 
il se trouve de [267] ces poissons la 4 la mer gros comme des muids; ceux-la 
ne viennent pas a terre, ot l’on ne void que les petits au Printemps & 4 
? Automne. 

On a encore la Goberge que les pescheurs nomment poisson de saint Pierre, 
pour deux marques noires qu’il a au dessus des deux costez de la teste, que l’on 
dit estre l’endroit par ot nostre Seigneur le prit; il est fait comme une petite 
molue, excellent 4 manger, & mesme on le fait secher comme la molué. 

La Plaise ou Plie de mer se trouve proche de terre dans des fonds de sable 
lors que la mer est basse; pour la prendre on se sert d’un baton & un fer pointu 
au bout avec une petite dent qui l’empesche de sortir ; lors qu’el- [268] le est 
picquée, elle est bien meilleure 4 manger que celles des rivieres, estant plus 
ferme & de meilleur goust. 

I] se prend encore des Hommars, qui sont des Ecrevisses de mer; il s’en 
voit qui ont la patte ou mordant si gros qu’elle peut tenir une pinte de vin: on 
les prend a la coste autour des roches, ils viennent au Printemps, & durent 
jusques a |’Hlyver; ils se prennent du mesme fer que les plaises, c’est un fort 
bon manger 4 toutes sortes de sauces; nous les avons nommez perdrix de mer 
pour leur bonté. 

L’Espadon est un poisson gros comme une vache, de six a huit pieds de 
longueur qui va en diminuant vers la queué: il a sur le nez un espadon dont il 
prend [269] la nom, qui est long d’environ trois pieds, large d’environ quatre 
bons doigts: il y a des deux costez de cet espadon des pointes longues d’un 
pouce, de pareille distance les unes des autres, & va étraississant vers le bout, il 
ne plye point & est dur & fort roide: il s’en est échoiié une fois un proche du 
Fort, c’est un tres-excellent manger, & a toute sauce; la teste en est aussi bonne 
que celle d’un veau, quoy que plus grosse & plus carrée; les yeux en sont gros 
comme les poings; ce poisson 1a est l’ennemy de la Balene, s’ils se rencontrent 
il faut se battre: je m’y suis une fois rencontré; jen eust le divertissement prés 
d’une heure sans en approcher que de trois ou quatre cens pas, [270] n’ayant 
qu’une barque pour lors qui n’eust pas pi resister aux coups de queué de la 
balene; je les voyois assez, c’est |’espadon qui attaque estant plus agille que la 
balene: ils estoient deux espadons contre une balene, |’espadon s’élance sur l’eau 


20 


566 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


plus que de sa hauteur: étant en l’air il se tourne le nez en bas & tache de 
donner en tombant de son espadon dans le corps de la balene, qui se plonge en 
Peau quasi toute droite, & ayant la queué en l’air en frappe l’eau de toute sa 
force, taschant d’attraper son ennemy: si elle |’attrappoit elle l’incommoderoit, 
mais au mesme temps quil tombe sur elle, il va au fonds pour retrouver la balene 
qu ‘il oblige 4 revenir sur Peau: si-tost [271] qu’elle revient, l’autre espadon 
s’éleve qui tasche aussi a luy donner de son espadon sur le dos: quelquefois 
ils s’élevoient tous deux a la fois & tomboient dessus la baleine qui na que sa 
queue pour deffence, & n’estant si agille que l’autre n’atrappe rien, mais l’autre 
qui se remué bien autrement, estoit 4 sa teste au fonds de |’eau avant qu’elle 
donnast son coup de queue, & l’obligeoit 4 revenir sur l’eau, eux en mesme temps 
en l’air pour offencer Ja balene, ce qu’ils ne peuvent faire, ayant le lard plus 
épais que la longueur de l’espadon, qui ne peu toucher 4 la chair, & s’ils y 
touchoient ces pointes pourroient s’y accrocher, ce qui I’y feroit demeurer & 
causeroit sa perte: tout leur [272] combat ne provient que d’une haine, sans se 
pouvoir faire de mal; neantmoins ils obligerent la balene a s’enfuir qui s’en alla 
au fonds, & ne revint plus au combat, du moins je ne la vis plus paroistre sur 
l’eau, mais bien les espadons comme victorieux. 

I] s’y voit encore un poisson que les matelots Francois appellent Requiem, & 
les Espagnol Tiburon, il est long de cing 4 six pieds, plus menu que |’esturgeon, 
en diminuant vers la queue, la teste pointué, fort longue: il a la gueule par 
dessous, & faut qu’il se tourne sur le dos pour mordre, il a sept rangée de dents 
fort affillées; si un homme tomboit a |’eau ou qu’il se baignat, & qu’un de ces 
poissons !a s’y rencontrast il auroit [273] bien de la peine 4 s’en sauver, 4 moins 
que de bien nager pour gagner la terre, jusques a mettre le ventre sur le sable; 
car s'il luy donnoit le temps 4 se pouvoir tourner il le morderoit, & s’il prenoit 
un bras, une cuise, ou la teste il emporteroit la piece; nous n’avons point d’os 
qu’il ne tranchast net comme une rave; si l’on estoit tombé a l’eau en un lieu 
d’ou l’on ne peust gagner la terre, si on n’estoit promptement secouru on ne s’en 
poutroit sauver. i sen rencontre par toute la mer & aux costes : La peau en 
est fort rude, l’on s’en peut servir pour polir du bois; je n’en ay jamais mangé, 
ny veu personne qui en eust mangé, ny qui ait eu envie d’en manger, les matelots 
les ont en horreur. 

Il se trouve aussi des Chiens de mer, qui sont faits de mesme que le 
Requiem, mais ils ne sont pas plus gros ny plus longs que le bras, ils ne 
mordent point le monde, aussi n’ont-ils pas tant de dents, & ils sont bons 
a manger. 

Pour du poisson du riviere ou d’étang, j’en ay veu fort peu, nous avons tant 
de poisson de mer tout proche les Forts, que l’on ne prend pas la peine d’aller 
chercher les étangs, outre qu’il faudroit avoir des tramails pour cela; la cenne 
n’y peut servir, y ayant trop d’herbiers & des bois dedans, en quelques rivieres 
on peut faire cenner; j’y ay pris des barbeaux, des petits barbillons & du 
goujon. 

L’Hyver mes gens sont allez [275] en quelques étangs, on fait un trou dans 
la glace, & avec une petite ligne & un petit ain, ont pesché de petites truites 
saumonnées d’environ un pied de long, |’on en prend bien un cent en une 
apresdisnée, elles sont tres-bonnes, dans les mesmes étangs l’on prend de la 
tortué, il s’en trouve d’aussi grandes que le tour d’un chappeau; l’écaille de 
dessus est rayée de couleur rouge, blanches & bleues: c’est un tres-bon poisson, 


a 


DE L,AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 567 


étant boiiilly on oste |’écaille, puis on la pelle, on le couppe par morceaux, le 
met a |’étuvée ou fricassé avec une sauce blanche, il n’y a point de poulets qui 
vallent cela. 

J’ay parlé des huistres au premier Livre, mais je ne vous ay [276] pas 
dit que c’est une grande manne pour |’Hyver que le temps ne permet pas 
d’aller 4 la pesche: elles sont dans les ances ou a la coste proche de terre : 
pour les avoir on casse la glace, on fait une grande ouverture, puis on a de petites 
perches assez longues pour toucher au fonds de l’eau: on en lie deux ensemble 
par la moitié, puis on ouvre & ferme cela comme des tenailles, l’on les tire 
de l’eau & les jette sur la glace; on ne va point a cette pesche que l’on ne soit 
plusieurs, les uns peschent, un autre fait du feu, l’autre écalle pour en fricasser, 
d’autres les mettent sur les charbds deux ou trois en une grande coquille, avec 
leur eau, de la mie de pain, & un peu de poivre ou muscade, [277] on les fait 
cuire comme cela, & c’est un bon manger, & quand on est bien rassasié chacun 
emporte sa charge, & les chiens entrainent chacun une sachée avec un petit 
traineau que |’on leur fait fort legere, attelez comme un cheval, ils vont totijours 
courant sur la glace, ou la neige, ce sont eux qui portent tout l’équipage des 
chasseurs: quand on va |’Hyver coucher dehors, on en fait moins de difficulté 
queen France quoy que l’on die le pays si froid, jy ay moins souffert de froid 
qu’a Paris, sur tout lors qu’on est dans le bois a l’abry du vent. 


[278] CHAPITRE XVIII 


Description des poissons da’ eau douce a quatre pieds ; leurs formes && qualitez, leurs 
industries £5 maniere d’agir {> tenailler. 


L ya encore en ce pais-la, trois sortes de poissons d’eau douce qui ont 
quatre pieds, le Rat musqué, le Loutre, & le Castor, il est permis d’en 
manger pendant le Caresme, comme le Loutre en France: Le Rat 
musqué est un peu plus gros & plus long que le Rat d’eau de France, 

son élement est |’eau, mais il ne laisse pas d’aller quel- [279] quefois 4 terre ; il 
a la queué plate, longue de huit 4 dix pouces de la largeur d’un doigt, couverte 
de petites écailles noires, la peau rousse couleur de minime brun, le poil en est 
fort fin, assez long, & porte des rognons proche les testicules, qui ont |’odeur 
du musque tres-agreable, & n’est point incommode 4 tous ceux a qui le musque 
donne des incommoditez: si on les tué |’Hyver pendant que la peau est bonne 
pour fourrer, les rognons ne sentent rien: au Printemps ils commcncent 4 
prendre leur senteur qui dure jusques 4 |’Automne? estans tuez en la bonne 
saison, leurs rognons sentent totijours, & pour entretenir leur bonne odeur, il les 
faut humecter d’un peu d’huile, autrement [280] les portant sur soy ils sechent, 
& la mitte s’y met qui les gaste, la peau est bonne 4 faire fourure, sur la fin de 
YAutomne ot elle a peu de sentiment: pour la chair elle n’a point de goust 
de musque, elle est excellente 4 manger, rostie, ou fricassée avec une sauce 
blanche. 

Le Loutre est un poisson connu en France, beaucoup de personnes y en 

mangent; le goust est 4 peu pres de mesme, mais elles different de celles de 


568 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


France en ce qu’elles sont plus longues & plus noires, toutes communement; il 
s’en trouve qui le sont bien plus les unes que les autres, il y ena d’aussi noires que 
du jay; lors qu’elles ont valu de l’argent, estant tuées en bonne saison, il s’en 
est vendu [281] jusques a huit, dix & douze Louis d’or la piece; ces belles-la 
sont encore recherchées, mais ne sont plus si cheres. 

Le Castor est vn poisson comme le Loutre, il n’est pas si long, il est a peu 
prés de la longueur & grosseur d’un mouton, les pieds plus courts, ceux de 
derriere toillés ainsi qu’un oye, ceux de devant sont en forme de mains, la queué 
en est faite comme une solle couverte de petites écailles noires; le dedans est 
une graisse ferme, semblable 4 des tendrons de veau, qui est un tres-bon mangé 
bouilly & fricasse; la chair se mange aussi bouillie, mais les cuisses & les 
épaules sont beaucoup meilleures rosties & semblent 4 une épaule & 4 un membre 
de mouton rosty, les [282] arrestes sont de mesme, & la chair de semblable 
couleur; pour le goust a quelque difference, autrement il ne seroit pas poisson ; 
pour leur couleur ils sont d’ordinaire d’un minime brun, tirant sur le noir ou bien 
roux, il s’en trouve quelquefois de noirs, & mesme de blancs, ces peaux-la ont 
eu autrefois grand cours lors des chappeaux de castors, il ne l’ont pas tant a 
present, l’on s’en sert pourtant pour fourure en Alemagne, Pologne, Moscovie, 
ou autres lieux froids ot on les envoye, quoy qu’il y en ait en Moscovie, mais 
le poil n’en est pas si beau, ny si long; outre qu ils ont un secret en ce pays-la 
que nous n’avons point encore en France, de tirer de dessus une peau de [283] 
castor, tout le duvet sans offencer le grand poil, ainsi Ja peau leur sert pour 
fourure avec le grand poil, & ils envoyent le duvet en France, qui est ce qu’on 
appelle Laine de Moscovie. 

En France on coupe le poil sur la peau pour avoir le duvet, & le grand poil est 
perdu, mais la peau sert 4 faire des pantoufes ou mulles du Palais a Paris: c’est la 
tout ce que 1’on peut dire le la peau & de la chair, qui n’est pas ce qu’il y a de plus 
remarquable en cet animal, mais son naturel laborieux & disciplinable, son in- 
dustrie & son obeissance dans le travail, en sorte qu’on aura peine a croire ce 
que j’en vais dire, & que j’aurois peine a croire moy-mesme si je n’en avois esté 
souventes fois le témoin oculaire. 

[284] Tous les animaux dont on a le plus venté |’industrie sans en excepter 
mesme le singe, avec tout ce qu’on luy peut apprendre & tous les autres ne sont 
que ce qu’ils sont, c’est 4 dire des bestes en comparaison du Castor, qui ne passe 
que pour poisson: comme tel il luy faut de l’eau: pour cet effet il fait des lacs 
& de grands étangs; & la pluspart de tous ceux qui sont en ces quartiers de la 
nouvelle France ont esté faits par les Castors; pour cela ils cherchent un 
ruisseau qui passe par quelque endroit étroit, dont les cétes soient hautes, comme 
entre deux montagnes ou cotteaux, & ou les bois, la terre, & tous les matereaux 
propres a leur travail se trouvent en cet endroit-la; ils [285] font une digue ou 
chaussée, il s’en voit de cent cinquante & deux cens pas & plus de longueur, & de 
huit, dix, onze & douze pieds de hauteur, & sont aussi larges en leur base avec 
un talus proportionné a sa hauteur en sorte qu’elle soit assez forte pour sotitenir 
la pesanteur de l’eau, 

Pour ce travail, ils s’assemblent jusques 4 deux, trois & quatre cens castors 
& plus, tant grands que petits: il faut scavoir premierement que le castor n’a 
que quatre dents, deux en haut & deux en bas, les plus grandes sont de la 
longueur de deux travers de doigt, les autres les ont 4 proportion de leur 
grandeur, ils ont des pierres pour les aiguiser, en les frottant [286] dessus: avec 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 569 


leurs dents ils abattent des arbres gros comme des demie bariques; ils se mettent 
deux aprés, & un homme avec une coignée ne |’aura pas pliitost mis a bas 
queux, & le font toiijours tomber du costé qu’ils veulent le plus a leur 
commodité. 

Pour mettre tous ces ouvriers en besogne, & bien faire leur travail, il leur 
faut un architecte & des commandans: ceux-la sont les anciens qui y ont 
travaillé autrefois ; selon le nombre il y a huit ou dix commandans, qui neant- 
moins dépendent tous d’un seul, qui donne les ordres: c’est cet architecte qui 
va tantost 4 l’atellier de l’un, tantost 4 celuy de l’autre, & est toijours en action. 
Lors quwil a arresté le lieu ov il faut faire la [287] chaussée, il y employe un 
nobre de Castors 4 oster ce qui pourroit nuire, comme du bois abatu qui pourroit 
donner cours par le dessous de la chaussée, & faire perdre l’eau: ceux-la sont 
les massons: il en fait mettre d’autres a abattre des arbres, puis couper les 
branches de longueur d’environ deux pieds, ou plus selon la grosseur de la 
branche, ce sont les Charpentiers; d’autres sont pour porter le bois au lieu du 
travail o4 sont les massons comme les maneuvres, les autres sont destinez 4 la 
terre, se sont les vieux qui ont la queué la plus large qui servent de hotteurs: il 
y en a qui bechent la terre, & la grattant avec leurs mains, ce sont les bescheurs, 
d’autres sont pour la charger, [288] chacun fait son métier sans se méler d’autre 
chose: chaque travailleurs d’un métier a un commandant avec eux qui veille sur 
leur travail, leur montre comme il faut faire: celuy qui commande aux massons 
leur montre a arranger le bois & bien poser la terre, ainsi chacun montre a ceux 
qui sont en sa charge, s’ils manquent il les chastie, les bat, se jette dessus & les 
mord pour les mettre a leurs. devoir. 

Tout estant ainsi disposé, ce qui est bien-tost fait, tous les matins chacun va 
a sa besogne: sur les onze heures ils vont chercher 4 manger, & ne reviennent 
qu’environ les deux heures, je crois que c’est 4 cause de la grande chaleur qui 
leur est con- [289] traire, car s’il fait clair de Lune ils travaillent la nuit plus 
que le jour. 

Voyons-les donc tous agir pour faire leur chaussée, ot sont les massons, les 
maneuyres y apportent le bois couppé de longeur; chacun porte sa piece sejon 
sa force sur ses espaules; ils marchent tous droits sur les pieds de derierre, 
estant la ils posent la piece proche des massons, les hotteurs font de mesme, leur 
queue leur sert de hotte; pour les charger ils se tiennent tous droits, & leur 
queué porte a terre toute plate; les chargeurs mettent la terre dessus qu’ils 
foullent pour la faire tenir, & tout le plus haut qu’ils peuvent venant en dos 
d’asne par enhaut, puis ceux qui sont [290] chargez marchant tous droits 
tramant leur queué aprés eux, qu’ils déchargent proche les massons, lesquels 
ayans des matereaux commencent 4 arranger leurs bois les uns contre les autres, 
& en font une couche de la longueur & largeur quils veullent faire le fonds de 
la chaussée: 4 mesure que les uns posent du bois, d’autres prennent de la terre 
a belle mains qu’ils mettent dessus, la foulent pour remplir |’entre-deux des bois; 
quand elle est au dessus des bois ils la battent avec la queué dont ils frappent 
dessus pour la rendre ferme; cette couche estant faite de terre & de bois de la 
longueur de la chaussée, ils remettent des bois & puis de la terre dessus, comme 
[291] auparavant, & vont continuant to(jours en la haussant, & le costé de l’eau 
a mesure qu’elle hausse se garnit de terre, qu’ils y mettent pour remplir les trous 
que les bois auroient pi faire: 4 mesure qu’ils mettent cette terre ils posent le 
cul sur le bord de la chaussée en sorte que leur queué pend a bas, & puis en 


570 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


levant leur queué frapent dessus la terre pour I’ applanir, & la faire entrer dans 
les trous qu il y pourroit avoir au bout des bois du costé de l’eau & empescher 
qu’elle n’y puisse avoir d’entrée, & mesme y mettent jusques 4 deux ou trois 
fois de la terre l’une sur l’autre, la battant de temps en temps avec leur queué, 
en sorte que l’eau ne peut passer au travers de leur [292] digue; lors quils 
battent comme cela de la queue, on les entend d’une lieué dans les bois. 

Pour pouvoir monter sur leur digue & y porter leurs mattereaux a mesure 
qu’ils la haussent, ils font aux deux bouts une montée au dedans & au dehors, 
jointe a la digue qui va insensiblement en montant vers le milieu de la digue, ils 
en font des deux costez, d’autant que |’on apporte les matereaux de part & 
d’autre: on pourra dire que !’eau estant arrestée peut surmonter la digue & 
empescher leur travail, mais comme ce ne sont pas de gros ruisseaux cela 
n’arrive pas. 

Outre que c’est  Esté & |’ Automne qu ils font leur travail & pendant que 
les eaués sont bas- [293] ses, & avancent plus leur travail que l’eau ne peut 
monter, 4 cause de son étendué, mais 4 la fin il faut que l’eau monte plus haut 
que la digue, outre qu’elle grossit 1’ Hyver & au Printemps que les neges fondent 
qui romperoient la digue, si elle n’avoit passage, pour lors elle passe pardessus 
ow ils ont fait des conduits de distance en distance, comme des goutieres par ou 
eau sort, qui court par dessus la digue, qui est si bien accommodée que rare- 
ment |’eau y fait breche. 

Tout leur travail estant achevé, ils laissent emplir l’étang d’eau, jusques a ce 
qu’elle ait cours pardessus la digue pour voir jusques ou va le bord de l’eau a sa 
plus grande hauteur, afin de travailler 4 faire leurs lo- [294] gemens qu’ils font 
tout autour de |’étang, si ce n’est qu’il se trouve de la terre haute dedans l’eau, 
ou il se met quelques castors qui y feront leurs logements, lesquels sont faits 
ainsi que des fours par le dehors, ils les batissent de branches de bois, dont un 
bout est en terre, & les autres ployées les uns dans les autres, qui font la voute, 
laquelle estant faite, bien garnie de bois, ils font un étage haut par dedans, le 
dessous en est partagé en deux, par une cloison dont une partie du four ou loge- 
ment est dans l’eau, & l’autre a terre; tout le dessus & les costez sont massonnez 
de terre de mesme qu’un nid d’yrondelle. 

Le logement fait, ils font leur provision d’ Hyver, car le castor [295] ne 
mange point de poisson, il vit d’écorce de tremble qui est un bois fort leger; uf 
abat un arbre, le couppe par troncons de longueur pour ranger en son logis, puis 
chacun porte son morceau & entrent par l’ouverture de terre, emplissent tout ie 
haut de ce bois & aussi le bas qui n’est point 4 l’eau, l’arrange aussi proprement 
que sont les biiches de bois flotté dans un chantier, ayant tout remply a la reserve 
d’un trou qu’il laisse pour aller a terre; il abat de gros arbres qu’il fait tomber 
tout autour & dessus son logement tout en confusion, afin que sa maison ne paroisse 
pas, & ne puisse estre approchée sans faire de bruit. 

Chaque masle & femelle a sa maison avec leurs enfans, qu’ils [296] gardent 
d’une portée a l’autre, qui n’arrive qu’une fois i’année d’ ordinaire, & mettent 
bas au Printemps; ces petits tettent & ne mangent pas qu’ils n’ayent deux ou 
trois mois, quoy qu’ils mangent ils ne laissent pas de tetter jusques 4 ce qu’ils 
soient grands: lors que la mere a mis bas, tous les petits de |’année precedente 
sont chassez de la maison, & alors ils s’accouplent & vont chercher place pour 
batir un logement, s’ils n’en trouvent quelqu’un de tout fait. 

Quand ils sont dans leurs logemens qui est |’ Hyver, ils ont tous lederriere a 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 571 


Peau & la teste 4 lair, car ils ne peuvent pas demeurer long-temps sans respirer ; 
pour leur nourriture ils prennent une de ces branches ou morceau de [297] bois 
ou deux selon la grosseur dont ils sont, mangent la peau, mettent le bois tout net, 
8& ensuite poussent ce bois 4 l’eau par le trou ou est leur derriere pour ne point 
embarasser leur logis: leur bois qui est leur nourriture, est 4 couvert crainte 
quwil ne se motille; s’il se mouilloit la peau se gasteroit & ne vaudroit plus rien 
4 manger, c’est pourquoy ils massonnent leurs logis. 

Pour l’Esté ils ne font point de provisions, ils vont manger 4a terre, & se 
tiennent 4 |’eau la plus grande partie du temps, mais |’ Hyver lors que leur étang 
gelle ils sont contraints de demeurer 4 la maison; s’ils alloient 4 l'eau comme ils 
le peuvent faire, par dessous la glace ils n’y pourroient pas vivre, estant pri- 
[298] se par tout, & n’y ayant aucune ouverture pour respirer, apres tout cela je 
vous laisse 4 juger, si l’instinct qu’on attribué au reste des animaux est fort 
differend en ceux-cy de la raison & du bon sens. Pour moy je scay bien qu’il 
y a beaucoup d’hommes, mesmes habilles en beaucoup de choses, qui seroient 
fort embarassez s’il leur falloit faire eux-mesmes leurs logements, sur tout s’il y 
avoit autant de precautions 4 prendre, & aussi importantes 4 la conservation de 
leur vie, comme le sont aux Castors la respiration, les alimens, l’eau&le soin de 
se derober a la connoissance des chasseurs. 


[299] CHAPITRE XIX 


Des oyseaux de mer &5 de leurs proprietez. 


L, me reste a faire connoistre les oyseaux de mer, je veux dire les prin- 
cipaux, car le nombre est trop grand pour me souvenir de tous ; le premier 
est l’Outarde, elle est de la grosseur d’un cog d’Inde, le plumage en est 
gris brun de la maniere de celuy d’une oye, le dessous de la gorge blanc, 

les Sauvages en font des robes, elles ne pond point que de deux ans en deux 
ans, l’année qu’elle ne pond point elle se deplume. 

Les jeunes outardes ne pondent point qu’elles n’ayent qua- [300] tre ans, 
leur ponte est de quatorze, quinze & seize ceufs; elles font leurs nids dans des 
Isles, ou des marescages 4 plat de terre pour i’ordinaire; neantmoins il y en a 
qui les font dans des arbres, & lors que leurs petits sont éclos, ils se mettent sur 
le dos du pere ou de la mere, qui les portent a eau a une ou a deux fois; celles 
de terre les menent aussi 4 |’eau si-tost qu’ils sont éclos: la nuit la mere les 
remene a terre pour les mettre sous elle, & tofijours dans quelques Isles ou 
marécages, a cause des renards qui leur font la guerre. 

I] y en a une autre espece qui sont plus petites, pour ce qui est du reste c’est 
la mesme chose, la chair en est bonne, | 301] & tres-excellente 4 manger rotie & 
bouillie, font de tresbon potage, le bouillon en est blane, elle est encore bonne 
salée, le goust en est autrement bon que d’un oye, & n’est pas de si mauvaise 
digestion, celles qui n’ont point encore pond, ont bien meilleure goust que les 
autres, leur mangeaille n’est que de l’herbe ; elles vont paistre en des marécages 
ou des prairies qui sont sur le bord de Ja mer; si elles se rencontrent en des 
lieux de sable vazeux, ow il croit des herbes de la longuenr d’une brasse & plus, 


572 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


qui sont fort étroittes & montent jusques a fleur d’eau, c’est la pature qu’elles 
ayment le mieux: en ces endroits-la on ne manque jamais d’y en trouver, outre 
qu’elles [302] aiment mieux estre 4 l’eau qu’A terre crainte de la surprise. 

En quelque lieu qu’elles soient il y en a tofijours une ou deux, si elles sont 
grand nombre, qui font le guet & ne mangent point se promenant d’un costé & 
d’autre regardant par tout: si elles voient ou entendent quelque chose dans le 
bois, au mesme temps elles font un cry, tous les autres levent la teste, demeurent 
comme cela un temps, si la sentinelle ne dit mot elles se remettent 4 manger, 
mais si cette sentinelle entend ou appercoit quelque chose elle fait un autre cry, 
s’enleve, & au mesme temps toute la suite. 

Le Cravan n’est gueres moins gros que la petite outarde, le goust en est bien 
aussi friand, | 303] rosty & bouilly, non salé ; 5 il est plus brun de plumage, le col 
plus court, & point de blanc sous la gorge: c “est un oyseau passager, il ne vient 
dans le pais que PEsté, il sen va I’ Hyver, on n’a point de connoissance d’ou il 
vient, ny od il va: on n’a jamais veu qu'il aye fait des petits: si ce n’estoit le 
goust qui est autrement bon que la macreuse, je dirois que s’en sont, le plumage 
en approche beaucoup, mais d’en manger le Caresme il y auroit trop de delices ; 
ils vivent aussi d’herbes, de quelques petits coquillages, ou vers qui se trouvent 
dans le sable. 

Les Canars sont tous comme en France, pour le plumage & la bonté: ceux 
qui ont l’aisle bleué & le pied rouge sont les [304] meilleurs; les pieds gris qui 
ont aussi l’aisle bleué ne different guere en bonté: il y en a d’une autre sorte qui 
n’ont point d’aile bleué qui ne sont pas si bons: il s’en void aussi d’une autre 
espece, qui ont le plumage minime clair, de cette espece le masle est blanc, a le 
bout de aisle noir: le masle & la femelle ne sont jamais ensemble, & ne 
s’assemblent qu’au Printemps qu’ils entrent en amour; & quand les femelles 
commencent 4 faire leurs nids ils se separent; les masles vont en bandes 4 part, 
& les femelles de mesme; si on tire sur les femelles, 4 moins que de les tuer 
tout roide on les perd, si-tost qu’elles sont blessées elles plongent, & la moindre 
herbe qu’elles trouvent elles la pren- [305] nent avec le bec, meurent la & ne 
reviennent point sur l’eau, elles ne sont point autrement bonnes, elles sentent 
Phuile comme la macreuse. 

Pour la Sarcelle elle est commune en France, on en scait la valeur comme 
du Plongeon, & de la Poule d’eau, c’est pourquoy je n’en parleray pas davan- 
tage: il s’y void encore quantité d’autres sortes d’oyseaux de la grosseur des 
canards comme la palonne, qui a le bec long d’environ un pied, rond par le bout 
en pelle de four; laigraite qui porte trois petites plumes toutes droites sur Ja 
teste: le bec de scie, en ce qu'il a le bec fait en form de scie; le Cacaouy, 
parce qu "il prononce ce mot pour son ramage 5 Marionnet- [306] tes, parce 
qu’ils vont sautant sur l’eau: la Gode, c’est un oyseau qui vole aussi vite qu’une 
fleche, le blanc & noir est son plumage; le Cormorant qui se dresse a la pesche 
du poisson, on luy lie le col proche l’estomac qui |’épesche d’avaler, estant privé 
il apporte sa pesche 4 terre. 

I] y a des Allouettes de trois facons, les plus grosses, sont de la grosseur 
d’un gros merle grisette, elles ont les pieds longs: d’autres qui ne sont gueres 
moins grosses ont le bec plus long, d’autres comme des moineaux, & de petits 
pincons; tout ce gibier-la va en bande toajours sur le bord de !’eau, ou il y a de 
la greve? les Chevalliers, sont une espece de beccasses qui ont le bec fort long, 
ils vivent [307] de l’éches & autres choses qu’ils trouvent dans le sable, sur le 


DE LLAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 573 


bord de Ja mer, ils sont de la mesme grosseur, ont les jambes aussi longues, & le 
plumage plus roux que la beccassine. 

Les Hsterlais, sont d’autres oyseaux, gros cOme un pigeon, qui vivet de 
poisson, volent tofijours en l’air s’il appercoit sa proye il tombe dessus ainsi qu’une 
pierre, la prend avec la bec & Davaile. Le Goislan est beaucoup plus gros, vit 
de poisson & de foye, ou tripaille de molué, mais n’atrappe que ce qui flotte sur 
eau: il y en a encore nombre d’autres, dont je ne me souviens pas; toutes ces 
sortes d’oiseaux-la sont bons a manger, & mesme tous leurs ceufs, hormy celuy 
du Cormorant: en tout le pays, on [308] trouve nombre de Herons, qui sont 
totijours sur le bord de la mer ou des étangs, vivent de petits poissons qui se 
trouvent dans des trous, ou |’eau demeure lors que la mer se retire, ou au bord 
de l’eau dans les étangs, ils font leur nids dans de grands bois, qui se trouvent 
en des Isles: ils sont bons 4 manger, & ont sept fiels, & tofijours maigres, pour 
les petits ils sont meilleurs & totijours gras. 


[309] CHAPITRE XX 


La description de toutes tes especes de bois qui'sont avant dans les terres ; leurs 
: ques : 
proprictez, && les avantages qu on en peut tirer. 


PRES avoir décrit la plus grande partie des poissons, & des oyseaux de 
mer, il faut parler de la terre, de la plus grande partie des bois 
qu’elle porte, & les profits que |’on en peut tirer: ce que j’en ay 
deja dit ne concernant que les costes, ce qui n’est rien au prix de 

ceuX qui sont avant dans | es [310] terres & au haut des rivieres, selon le rapport 
des Sauvages dont j’ay connu la verité en un endroit ou j’ay traversé vingt-cing 
ou trente lieués de bois, ce qui me fait ajofiter foy aux recits qu’ils m’en ont 
fait: en tout le pais on trouve grand nombre de prairies & d’ étangs: les arbres 
bien plus beaux en hauteur & grosseur, & partant plus clairs & moins confus: on 
y pourroit courir un orignac a cheval: il n’y a que de vieux arbres qui sont 
tombez d’un cdté & d’autre qui puissent y apporter de l’empeschement, faute 
de monde pour les oster, comme font les pauvres gens dans les forests de 
France: les terres y sont aussi beaucoup meilleures, & plus facilles 4 defricher 
que [311] sur les bords de la mer: le pais y est plus beau, l’on y trouve des 
haistres considerables, tant pour leur hauteur que leur grosseur, dont on peut 
faire des avirons de galaires de quarante & cinquante pieds de long, & d’autres 
pour les pescheurs a qui il en faut nombre & qu’ils sont obligez d’apporter de 
France, !’on en peut faire de beaux & bons bordages pour ies fonds de navires 
qui vaudroient bien le chesne, car il ne pourit point dans l’eau, & n’est pas 
moins fort ny si sujet a fendre & aux jarces, ce qui arrive souvent aux chesnes 
& fait des voyes d’eau qui sont mal-aisée a bien étancher. 

Le Mignogon est une espece de bouleau, mais le bois en est plus rouge, 
Von en peut faire aussi de [312] bons bordages, & nest pas trop fendant: on 
s’en sert pour la monture des fuzils, il seroit bon a mettre a la fleur d’un navire, 
pour les presseintes & pour les hauts, le bouleau y seroit aussi fort bon, il est 
plus leger, il ne fend ny ne jarce au Soleil, ou bien peu: jen ay fait construire 


574 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


quelques bastiments qui se sont bien conservez quoy qu’on les échoué |’ Hyver: 
ils demeurent au froid & au chaud sans se gater: l’on n’y manquera point de 
bois, pour faire des membres, varangues, genoiieilles & allonges, quoy qu’il se 
trouve peu d’arbres tortus: les membres difficiles 4 trouver sont ceux de revers 
pour les facgons, & les étraves: pour les fourches !’on en trouvera, & les courbas- 
tons d’équaire [313] y sont rares, mais j’ay un moyen seur d’en avoir quantité, 
de tresbds & de toutes les autres sortes. 

Parlons du Chesne que |’on dit ne rien valoir pour les navires, ce qui n’est 
pas mon sentiment, quoy qu ‘il ne soit pas bon a faire des bariques pour contenir 
des choses liquides, mais seulement pour marchandises seches, parce qu’il est 
trop gras & que le grain par consequent un est trop gros, & si a une piece de 
chesne de vingt-cing 4 trente pieds, on crache 4 un bout, & que !’on soufle 4 
l’autre le crachat enflera, cela est pour le fil du bois, mais non pas par son 
travers: quand j’ay dit que des bariques de ce bois ne tiennent pas les liqueurs, 
c’est que pour faire une [314] barique, il y faut un jable pour l’enfoncer; ce 
jable est entaillé dans les douves, & couppe le fil du bois par le travers, si bien 
que la liqueur dont la barique est pleine entre dans ce jable, & trouvant le fil du 
bois couppé, passe tout le long des douves, ce qui fait que la barique degoutte 
par les bouts, bien qu’elle ne passe point au travers des douves ny des joints, & 
partant le chesne de la nouvelle France n’ayant que ce deffaut, il ne laisse pas 
pour cela d’estre bon a bastir des navires. 

De plus, si un navire ne se pouvoit faire que de chesne, comment font donc 
ceux qui en batissent de si beaux, & de si bons dans les Indes ou il n’y a point 
de chesne: si j’y suis une [315] fois bien étably je feray voir que l’on y peut 
faire de bons navires, & d’aussi bonne durée que ceux de France, en ayant déja 
fait l’épreuve diverses fois. 

I] y a aussi du pin pour faire des planches, bonnes 4 faire les tillacts, & le 
sapin pour les ornemens & ceuvres mortes, & doubler les chambres ; il se trouve 
encore dans le pays des forests de petits pins, prusses, & sapins qui me fourniront 
le bray & je gauldron, des qualitez duquel j’ay déja parlé: j’ay un moyen certain 
pour en rendre la mature encore meilleure qu’elle n’est. 

Pour la toille de voile & du cordage, le pays n’en fournira que trop quand 
on s’y voudra appliquer, il ne me reste que le fer & le cuivre pour avoir tout ce 
[316] qu’il faut pour rendre un vaisseau accomply, & je crois que si le pais 
estoit bien habité, je trouverois le fer & le cuivre aussi bien que la pierre 4 chaux, 
qui n’y estoit point connué que depuis quinze ans que je l’ay trouvée aussi bien 
que le plastre. 

Pour les affuts des canons, il y a de tres-beaux ormes, pour faire les essieux, 
les roués & tout le reste: |?Erabe est encore un bon bois qui y pourroit aussi 
servir: cet arbre-la a la séve differente de tous les autres, on en fait une boisson 
tres-agreable 4 boire, de la couleur de vin d’Espagne, mais non si bonne; elle 
a une douceur qui la rend d’un fort bon goust, elle n’incommode point l’estomac, 
elle passe aussi promptement que les eaux [317] de Pougue ; je croy qu'elle seroit 
bonne pour ceux qui ont la pierre: pour en avoir au Printemps & |’ Automne 
que l’arbre est en seve, l’on fait une entaille profonde d’environ un demy pied, 
un peu enfoncée au milieu pour recevoir l’eau, cette entaille a de hauteur environ 
un pied, & 4 peu prés la mesme largeur; au dessous de l’entaille 4 cing ou six 
doigts on fait un trou avec un ville-brequin ou foiret, qui va répondre au milieu 
de l’entaille o& tombe l’eau: on met un tuyau de plume ou deux bout a bout 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 575 


si un n’est assez long, dont le bout d’en bas répond en quelque.vaisseau pour 
recevoir |’eau, en deux ou trois heures il rendra trois 4 quatre pots de liqueurs ; 
c’est la boisson des Sau- [318] vages & mesme des Francois qui en sont 
friands. 

Pour le Fresne, il s’y en void de beaux & bien droits: on s’en sert pour 
faire les piques en bisquaye, on pourroit en faire pour fournir toutes les armées 
du Roy: si ceux qui commandent ov commanderont en ces pays-la ont du 
genie pour les mecaniques, & |’esprit inventif, trouveront encore bien des choses 
a faire valoir & de quoy employer leurs talents, outre le negoce & la pesche qui 
sont les meilleurs moyens de faire peupler le pays. 


[319] CHAPITRE XXI 


Qui traite des animaux, oyseaux {F reptiles, de leurs qualitez, ‘S de la maniere 


de les prendre. 


PRES avoir parlé des forests & des especes differentes des bois qui les 
composent, il ne sera pas hors de propos de dire deux mots de divers 
animaux qui les habitent, qui sont l’Orignac autrement Eslan, |’Ours 
noir, le Loup servier, le Porc espic, les Renards, la Marthe, le 

Quincajou, les Escureuils, !’Ermine, le Pitois, la Fouinne & les Serpens. 

[320] L’Orignac est aussi puissant qu’un mulet, la teste 4 peu prés de 
mesme, le col plus long, le tout plus déchargé, les jambes longues fort seches, 
le pied fourchu, un petit bout de queué, les uns ont le poil gris-blanc, les autres 
roux & noir, & quand ils vieillissent le poil est creux, long d’un doigt & bon 4 
faire des matelats, & garnir des scelles de cheval; il ne se foule pas & revient 
en le battant; il porte un grand bois sur sa teste plat & fourchu en forme de 
main: il s’en void qui ont environ une brasse par le haut de largeur, & qui 
pesent jusques a cent & cent 50. livres, il leur tombe comme au cerf, il est sujet 
a tomber du haut mal; les Sauvages disent que lors qu’il le sent venir [321] il 
s’arreste, & que du pied gauche de derriere il se gratte derriere Voreille tant 
qu’il en sorte du sang, ce qui le guarit: l’on en void de vieux qui ont la corne 
ou sabot d’un pied de long & plus, tout en est bon 4 manger; le masle est gras 
P Esté, & la femelle Hyver: lors qu’elle est pleine elle porte un & quelquefois 
deux petits, on en mange de rosty & bouilly, fait bon potage, on en salle pour 
la garder, elle n’est point incommode a |’estomac; on en peut manger tout son 
saoul, & puis une heure apres on en mangeroit encore autant, elle n’incommode 
jamais; pour le goust elle sent un peu la venaison, & est du moins aussi agreable 
a manger que le Cerf; dans le cceur il se trouve [322]| un petit os dont les 
femmes des Sauvages se servent pour aider 4 leur accouchement, le mettant en 
poudre & |’avallent dans de |’eau ou du bouillon de la beste. 

L’Ours est tout noir, est de la hauteur d’un grand porc, non si long mais 
plus gros de corps, le poil grand, il a une grosse teste platte, de petites oreilles, 
point de queué, ou si peu qu’elle ne paroist quasi point, il a les griffes grandes 
& monte dans les arbres, vit de gland, mange peu de charongne, va le long des 
bords de la mer, ou il mange des hommars, & autres poissons que la mer jette 


576 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


a la coste: il ne court point sur "homme 4 moins que d’estre blessé, la chair en 
est bonne a manger, blanche comme le [323] veau & d’aussi bon goust, mesme 
plus delicat; il est six mois de ’hyver caché dans un creux d’arbre, pendant 
tout ce temps-la il ne fait que lescher ses pattes pour tout vivre, & c’est le temps 
qu’il est le plus gras: les petits de cinq a six mois sont d’un tres-excellent 
goust & tres-tendres, 

Le Loup servier c’est une espece de Chat mais bien plus gros, il monte 
aussi dans les arbres, vit d’animaux qu'il attrape, le poil en est grand, d’un gris 
blanc, c’est une bonne fourrure, la chair blanche & tres-bonne 4 manger. 

Le Porc-épic est de la grosseur d’un moyen chien, mais plus court; son 
poil est long d’environ quatre pouces, blanc, [324] gros comme une paille, 11 est 
roide quoy que creux ; quand on I’attaque il darde son poil de dessus son dos, 
qui pique: s’il perce a peau si peu que ce soit, & qu’on ne l’arache pas prompte- 
ment, soit 4 la main, au corps ou en quelque autre lieu que ce soit, il entrera 
totijours, passera tout au travers du lieu ow il sera attaché: I’on fait tout ce que 
l’on peut pour empescher les chiens de se jetter dessus, car il les gastent s’ils ne 
sont promptement secourus: il est tres-bon 4 manger; on Je met au feu pour le 
faire griller comme un cochon, mais auparavant les Sauvagesses arrachent tout le 
poil de dessus le dos, qui est le plus grand, dont ils font de beaux ouvrages : 
estant bruslé, [325] bien rosty, lavé & mis a la broche il vaut un cochon de 
laict, il est tres-bon bouilly, mais moins bon que rosty. 

Des Renards, il y en a de plusieurs sortes pour la couleur; 1|’on en trouve 
de tous noirs; ceux la sont rares; il y en ade noirs meslez de blanc, il s’en 
trouve plus de gris meslez de blanc, & plus communement de tous gris & de tout 
rouge, tirant sur le roux. Ceux Ja n’y sont que trop communs; toutes ces 
sortes 14 ont |’inclination de Renards, fins & subtils pour attraper les Outardes 
& les Canars, s’ils en voyent quelques bandes a la mer au large, ils vont sur le 
bord de la gréve font des courses de trente a 40. pas, puis reviennent de temps 
en téps de mesme [326] faisant des sauts; le gibier qui les voit faire vient 4 
eux tout doucement, quand ils le voyent aprocher, ils courent & sautent, puis 
s’arrestent tout d’un coup, se couchent sur le dos, !’Outarde ou le Canard 
approche toiijours, estant prés ils ne remuent plus que la queué. Ces oyseaux 
la sont si sots qu’ils en viennent jusques 4 les vouloir becqueter, les drosles 
prennent leurs temps ne manquent pas d’en attraper une qui paye sa peine. 

Nous dressons nos chiens a faire de mesme qui font aussi venir le gibier, on 
se met en embuscade en quelque endroit ou ce gibier ne vous puisse voir, estant 
a bonne portée I’on tire dessus, i! en demeure des quatre cing & six, & quel- 
quesfois plus, [327] au mesme temps le chien saute 4 l’eau que l’on envoye 
totijours au plus loing, les apporte puis on le renvoye les querir toutes les unes 
aprés les autres. 

Le Quincajou est approchant d’un chat d’un poil roux brun, a la queué 
longue; la relevant, il en fait deux ou trois tours sur son dos, il a des griffes ; 
il monte dans les arbres, se couche tout de son long sur une branche & attend la 
quelque Orignac, s’il en passe, il se jette dessus son dos, il l’acolle de ses griffes, 
Pentourne de sa quevé puis luy ronge le col, un peu au dessous des oreilles, tant 
qu'il le fasse tomber bas, ils ont beau courir & se frotter contre des arbres, il ne 
quitte jamais sa prise, si la beste ne passe proche de luy il court [328] aprés, la 
suit & ne l’abandonne point, s’il la peut joindre une fois il saute sur sa croupe 
& se va attacher a son col & le ronge si bien qui le mer bas, pour s’en sauver. 


DE LVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 577 


L’Orignac court 4 l’eau tant qu’il peut, se jette de dans, mais avant que de s’y 
jetter le Quincajou quitte prise & saute a terre, car il ne se veut point mettre a 
Peau; il y a quatre ans qu’il m’atrapa une grande genisse de trois ans, & luy 
couppa le col, le lendemain matin nous mismes nos chiens sur sa piste, nous la 
trouvames, il n’avoit encores mangé que les yeux & la langue. 

Les Renards & le Quincajou font la chasse ensemble, le Quincajou n’a pas 
le sentiment bon comme les renards qui battent le bois pour trouver la piste de 
[329] l’Orignac & chassent sans faire de bruit, s’il la rencontre ils la suivent 
tant qu’ils ayent trouvé la beste, s’ils la trouvent paissant ou couchée ils ne luy 
font rien; mais ils vont au large & cherchent |’endroit le plus commode 4 faire 
passer leur proye, a lors le Quincajou qui les suit se met sur une branche d’arbre 
en embuscade, estant placé, les Renards retournent trouver la beste, se mettent 
dans le bois au large, 4 ces deux costez, un autre Renard va derriere pour la 
faire lever en jappant tout doucement, si la beste va droit ou est le Quincajou, 
ceux qui sont a ses cotez ne disent mot, si elle n’y va pas, ceux qui sont du costé 
ou elle va jappent pour la faire détourner, ils font si bien qu’ils la [330] font 
passer ou est le Quincajou, qui ne manque point son coup, & se jette 4 son col 
& luy ronge, estant tombée bas, ils se mettent aprés & en font bonne chere 
ensemble tant que la beste dure. 

Pour la Marthe elle est assez connué, il s’en voit en France, mais elles sont 
bien plus rouges que celles de ce pais-la & n’ont pas le poil si fin, elles se 
tiennent d’ordinaire bien avant dans les bois, l’on n’en voit sur la coste que de 
deux ans en deux ans, ou de trois en trois, quand ils y viennent c’est en grand 
nombre, & quand les Sauvages les voyent ils se rejotiissent, parce que c’est signe 
d’une bonne année, c’est 4 dire force nege, sans laquelle il ne font pas bonne 
chasse, elle [331] leur manque souvent: toute cette coste-la de la Nouvelle- 
France n’est pas abondante en nege, & l’année des nages nous trouvons que les 
bleds se portent mieux. 

Disons un mot des Ecureiiils, le plus grand est tout pareil 4 ceux de France 
& de mesme poil, il y en a une espece un peu plus petite qui se nomme Suisse, 
parce quils sont tous rayez de la teste 4 la queué par rayes blanche, rousse & 
noire toutes d’vne mesme largeur d’environ la moitié d’un travers de doigt: La 
troisiéme espece est de la grandeur de Ja seconde, & d’un poil approchant ceux 
de France un peu plus noir, ceux la volent, ils ont des aisles qui les prennent du 
train de derriere 4 celuy de [332] devant, qui souvrent de la largeur de deux 
bons doigts, c’est une petite toille fort mince, couverte dessus d’un petit poil 
folet, toute sa volée ne peut aller droit que trente 4 quarante pas, mais s’il vole 
d’un arbre a un autre en baissant il volera bien le double, tous ces animaux 1a 
sapprivoisent assez facilement, mais le volant est plus rare que les autres, ils 
vivent de graine de haistre qui se nomme foine, ils en font leurs provisions 
YAutomne pour l’Hyver dans quelque creux d’arbres ou Ja nege ne donne 
point, cet animal vollant est fort curieux, j’en ay veu un a Paris chez Monsieur 
Berruier cy-devant Directeur de la Compagnie de Canada. 

L’Ermine est de la grosseur de [333] /’Escureuil un peu plus longue d’un 
beau poil blanc, & la queué longue dont le petit bout est noir comme jay, elle 
mange les ceufs des oyseaux quant elle les peut attraper, & mesme les petits 
oyseaux. 

Le Pitois, & la Foine est quasi la mesme chose, sinon que le Pitois a le poil 
noir, non pas si épais, mais plus long que la Foine, tous les deux font la guerre 


578 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


aux oyseaux, gros & petits, aux poulles, aux pigeons, & 4 tout ce qu’ils peuvent 
attraper, entrent librement dans les logis. 

Lon trouve aussi en tout le pais force Serpens de toutes couleurs dans les 
bois, neantmoins |’on n’a eu encores connoissance qu’ils ayent jamais incommodé 
Sauvages ny Francois, quoy que [334] l’on ait marché dessus il ne font point de 
mal en ces pays-la. 

Il ne faut pas oublier le Lapin dont tout le pais est fourny de toutes parts, 
tant la grande terre que les Isles, pourveu qu’on aille en des endroits un peu 
éloignez des habitations, attendu que les chiens les chassent & mesme les mangent, 
cela les oblige 4 s’esloigner, on n’y fait la chasse que |’Hyver qu’ils ont des 
routes battués sur la nege, ou bien on fait une grande haye, fort longue, de 
branchage ou on laisse de petits passages, de distance en distance, en ces 
endroits-l4 on met de petites branches de bouleau qui est ce qu’ils mangent 
’Hyver, & la on tend des collets qui ne sont que de cordes fort deliées, & |’on 
atta- [335] che le collet au bout d’une branche d’arbre, que l’on plie comme une 
repusse, ou l’on prend une grande perche 4 faute de branche, que l’on met sur 
une fourche, en sorte que le grosbout esleve le petit assez haut, pour que le 
Lapin ne soit mangé du Renard, estant pris au colet qui est attaché au bout de 
la perche. De trente colets tendus, ]’on aura le lendemain matin du moins vingt 
lapins, si la nuit a esté belle, c’est 4 dire, qu’il ait fait froid, qu’il n’y ait point 
de pluye ny de nege, car en ces temps-la le Lapin ne court point; ils ne sont 
pas faits comme ceux de France; ils ont les jambes de derriere plus grandes, 
mais la chair semblable ; ils sont bons rostis & mesme boulis au pot, l’ Esté [336] 
ils sont roux, & l’Hyver ils sont tous blancs; ils muent quasi tofijours, ce qui 
fait que la fourure n’en est pas bonne, le poil en est fin, je croy qu'il ne laisseroit 
pas d’estre bon pour faire des chappeaux; on n’en a point encores apporté de 
ma connoissance en France pour en faire |’épreuve. 

A Végard des oiseaux de ce pais-la, le plus gros est |’ Aigle, il a une fraise 
blanche, il prend le Lapin a la main & J’emporte, la plus petite espece n’a point 
de fraise & vole l’oyseau non si gros que le Canard, leur plumage est grisastre, 
le bec gros & fort & la main grande. 

Le Faucon, |’ Autour & le Tiercelet sont du plumage de ceux que I’on voit 
en France, la main & le bec de mesme, ils vo- [337] lent la Perdrix, la Tourtre 
& les autres oyseaux de cette force. Le Tiercelet n’a pas la main bonne pour 
la Perdrix, mais bien pour la Tourtre & pour les autres petits oyseaux; il s’y 
trouve une autre espece de Faucon, celuy-la ne prend que du poisson, il est 
tofijours a voler sur |’eau, s’il appercoit quelque poisson il fond dessus plus viste 
qu’une pierre ne peut tomber ; 11 prend sa proye 4 la main & l’emporre sur un 
arbre pour la manger. 

Il y a de trois sortes de Perdrix, de rouges, de grises, & de noires, la rouge 
est la meilleure, égale a celle de France pour la chair & le goust ; la grise a un 
autre goust que celle de France, elle sent la venaison: qulequesuns trouvent le 
goust meilleur [338] que de la rouge ; pour la noire elle 4 la teste & les yeux 
d’un Faisant, la chair brune, le goust de venaison si fort, que je le trouve moins 
bon que les autres, elle sent le genievre avec un goust de sapin, elle mange de 
ces graines-la, ce que les autres ne font pas. Toutes ces sortes de perdrix ont 
la queué longue, elles ouvrét leurs queué comme une poulle d’Inde en évantail, 
elles sont fort belles, la rouge l’a meslée de rouge brun & gris, la grise de deux 
gris, un clair & |’autre brun, la noire de gris & noir, on en a apporté en France 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 579 


que l’on a donné a quelques personnes qui en ont fait faire des éventailles, que 
Yon a trouvé beaux; elles perchent toutes, & sont si sottes, que si vous en 
rencontrez [339] une bande sur un arbre vous les tirez toutes l’une aprés |’ autre 
sans qu’elles s’envolent, & mesme si elles sont assez basses & que vous y puissiez 
toucher d’une perche, il en faut couper une, & y attacher au bout une corde ou 
un petit ruban avec un noeud coulant, puis leur passer au col & les tirer a bas, 
vous les prenez toutes vives les unes aprés les autres, portez les au logis mettez 
les 4 terre dans une chambre, baillez leur du grain elles le mangent toute 4 
Vheure, mais il ne faut pas qu’elles puissent sortir autrement elles s’envoleroient, 
jay taché d’en apporter en France par deux fois, elles se portent bien tout le 
long du chemin, mais lors qu’on approche de la France [340] elles meurent, ce 
qui me fait croire qu'il faut que nostre air leur soit contraire. 

Il y a aussi des becasses de bois mais elles ne sont pas communes, on en 
trouve quelquesfois aux sources des fontaines. 

Tous les corbeaux de ces pais-la sont tous noirs, le chant n’est pas de 
mesme ; ils sont aussi bonsa manger qu’une poule. 

I] s’y rencontre aussi des Orfrayes, non si grosses comme celles de France ; 
’Esté on les entend crier le soir, leur cry n’est pas si desagreable qu’en France, 
& crient montant en l’air fort haut, puis se laissent tomber comme une pierre a 
une grande brasse prés de terre, puis elles remontent & c’est signe de beau 
temps. 

[341] Le Chat-huant est du plumage & grosseur de celuy de France, a une 
petite fraise blanche ; son cry n’est pas semblable, mais il y a peu de difference, 
tout les oyseaux luy font la guerre, il est meilleur & plus delicat 4 manger que la 
poule, il est totijours gras ; il se nourrit de petits mulots qui sont dans les bois, il 
en fait sa provision pour |’ Hyver, il en prend qu’il met dans des creux d’arbres, 
il leur coupe avec le bec les pattes de devant afin qu’ils n’en puissent sortir ny 
remonter, il amasse de la foinne en un autre arbre pour les nourrir, leur en porte 
tous les jours leur provision, pendant qu'il fait la stenne de ces petits animaux 4 
mesure qu’ils s’engraissent. 

[342] Il y a aussi un oyseau que l’on nomme Merle, il tient de |’ Etourneau 
estant moins noir que le Merle & moins grisatre, que |’ Etourneau, il n’est pas 
mauvais 4 manger. 

L’on y rencontre aussi des Piquebois, ils ont le plumage plus beau que ceux 
de France, & de la mesme grosseur, il y en a d’autres que l’on nomme des 
Gays, qui sont d’un beau plumage, la teste est toute rouge & le col d’une vraye 
couleur de feu. 

L’oiseau Mouche est un petit oyseau qui n’est pas plus gros qu’un hanneton, 
la femelle a le plumage d’un vert doré, le male de mesme excepté la gorge, qu’il 
a d’un rouge brun, quand on le void d’un certain jour, il jette [343] un feu plus 
vif que le ruby : ils ne vivent que de miel qu’ils amassent sur des fleurs, leur bec 
est long & gros comme une petite épingle, leur langue passe un peu le bec & est 
fort déliée, leur vol est preste & fait un grand bruit en volant; ils font leurs nids 
dans des arbres de la grandeur d’une piece de quinze sols, leurs ceufs sont gros 
comme des pois, ils en font trois, quatre, ou cing au plus, on a taché d’en 
nourrir, mais |’on n’a pas pti en venir a bout. 

Pour l’Hyrondelle c’est la mesme qu’en France, elle vient au Printemps, & 
s’en retourne 4 la fin de |’ Automne, elles font leurs nids aux maisons, ov contre 
quelques rochers ou ils ne moiiillent point. 


580 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


[344] La Chauve-souris est aussi de 1a mesme sorte que c’elle d’icy, mais 
elle est beaucoup plus grosse elle se retire |’ Hyver en des trous d’arbres, ou dans 
des rochers & ne paroist point que |’ Esté, 


[345] CHAPITRE XXII 


Qui traite de la diversité des saisons de l'année, (S des diferentes especes 


des fruits. 


PRES avoit fait la description du pais, des climats, des costes, des 
rivieres, des poissons & oyseaux de mer & de terre, je croy qu il 
ne sera pas mauvais de parler des saisons. 

Les quatre Saisons de l’année ne sont point égales en ces pais-la 
non plus qu’en France; le Printemps y est un peu plus tardif, & ne commence 
qu’au mois d’Auril du costé du Nord: le [346] costé plus Meridional de 
l’Acadie commence au vingt ou vingt cing de Mars; les commencemens du 
Printemps sont d’ordinaire pluvieux ; ce n’est pas qu’il n’y ait des intervalies de 
beautemps, le mois de May venu, les pluyes n’y sontpas si communes, mais il 
fait des bruines les matins jusques sur les neuf 4 dix heures que le Soleil les 
surmonte, & tout le reste du jour le temps est beau & serain. 

L’Esté d’ordinaire est tofijours beau & fort chaud, il fait quelque pluye de 
peu de durée & encores quelquefois le matin de la brune, elle ne passe point sept 
a huit heures, tout le reste de la journée il fait beau Soleil sans nuage, il y a des 
années que la brune dure jusques 4 dix heu- [347] res & quelquefois tout le 
jour; elles ne sont point mal-saines. 

Pour |’ Automne, il se trouve peu d’années qu’elle ne soit belle: jy ay veu 
baigner du monde a la Toussaint, le froid ne commence qu’a la my-Novembre, 
& par de petites nages fondués qui ne durent point sur la terre. 

L’ Hyver est agreable en ce qu'il n’est point pluvieux ny remply de broiil- 
lards ny frimats; c’est un froid totijours sec & beau Soleil, on ne void pas un 
petit nuage au Ciel, il y nege rarement plus de vingt-quatre heures de suite, & 
d’ordinaire il n’en tombe que durant un jour ou une nuit, on est des huit & 
quinze jours & mesme trois semaines sans voir neger, pendant quoy il fait 
toujours [348] beau-temps. Cela n’empesche pas qu’il n’y ait des coups de 
vent quelques-fois furieux qui arrachent des arbres, ils ne sont pas de durée; 
pour des tremblemens de terre, je n ay point ouy dire qu'il y en eust eu de 
connoissance d’homme, qu’ un que ii ay veu il y a environ neuf a dix ans, encore 
ce fut si peu de chose qu’a peine s’en apperceut-on. I] n’y eust que trois 
petites secousses, & sans quelques batteries de cuisine & vaisselle on ne s’en 
fit point apperceu; il y eust quelques Sauvages qui le sentirent, cela ne les 
étonna pas seulement; il fut terrible a Kebec, ou apparament il commenga, 
mais je ne parie pas ee pays-la, & j’en laisse le recit 4 ceux qui en ont 
ressenty les effets. 

[349] Depuis la fin du Printemps, & pendant l’Esté & I Automne, il s’y 
trouve souvent des orages, mais ils ne durent pas; neantmoins le tonnerre tombe 
quelques-fois en feu & se met dans le bois, ou tout est si sec qu’il y demeure des 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 581 


trois semaines & un mois, & 4 moins qu’il n’y vienne des pluyes suffisamment 
pour l’éteindre, il bralera par fois des dix, douze, & quinze lieués de pays; le 
soir & la nuit on en void Ja fumée de dix & douze lievés. Du costé que le 
vent la porte, elle se void bien d’aussi loin: aux cantons ov cela arrive toutes 
les bestes en fuyent quinze & vingt lieués, & si c’est sur le bord de la mer que 
Peau des pluyes y puissent couler, tout le poisson en fuit, [350] & n’y aura 
point de pesche l’année ensuivant, ny de gibier a la coste, en sorte que les 
navires pescheurs peuvent bien chercher d’autres endroits, autrement ils ne 
feroient rien, ce que j’ay veu arriver non par le feu du Ciel, mais par le hazard 
d’un canonnier, qui faisant secher ses poudres 4 Miscou y mit le feu en prenant 
du tabac, & le feu ayant mis en cendre une bonne partie du bois de I’ Isle, fit 
que l’année suivante il n’y avoit point de molué a la coste, en sorte que les 
pescheurs furent obligez d’aller chercher du poisson ailleurs. 

A Végard des fruits qui se trouvent dans le pais, il y a des seriziers sauvages, 
le fruit n’en est pas gros, pour le goust il [351] tient de la cerise: 1’on y void 
encore d’autre arbres, tout le fruit en est fort menu, il y a des framboises en 
tous les lieux découverts des bois, & mesme en nos défrichemens, si on est une 
année sans les labourer ils se remplissent tout de framboisiers, les framboises 
sont fort grosses d’un goust tres-bon & plus excellent que celles de France, on 
a peine a en degarnir la terre; si aprés les avoir bien arrachées on laisse encore 
la terre sans l’avoir labourée & la semer, elle produit des noizilliers dont les 
noisettes sont bonnes; arrachez les noisettes & ne labourez point encore la 
terre, elle produit des bois comme auparavant, la terre y est si bonne qu’elle ne 
peut dmeurer sans produire quelque [352] chose, joint qu’il s’y trouve rarement 
des épines, des ronces, & des chardons. 

L’on y void encore de plusieurs sortes de grozelliers: il y a de ces grosses 
groseilles vertes de France qui ne sont bonnes que lors qu’elles sont choppes, il 

en a qui ne sont bonnes que lors qu’elles sont violettes ; la grozeille rouge qui 
vient semblable a celle de France n’est pas commune ; il y en a d’autres pareilles 
qui sont velués: il s’en void encore de blanches & de bleués, cette espece ne 
se trouve pas communement, toutes ces sortes de groseilles-la sont bonnes a 
manger. 

Les Pommiers de ce pays-la rempent sur la terre, ils ne croissent que d’un 
demy pied, & [353] ont la feiiille semblable 4 du mirthe, le fruit en est gros 
comme des noisettes, il est d’un cété tout rouge, & de l’autre blanc: c’est le 
petit lapis, elles ne viennent qu’en l’Automne, & ne sont bien bonnes 4 manger 
qu’au Printemps & |’Esté, lors que la nege & I’ Hyver ont passé dessus. 

I] se trouve une racine qui jette un petit brain d’herbe, semblable a la 
veillée ou lisette, qui s’entortille 4 ce qu’elle rencontre & ne monte pas si haut, 
la rencontrant si vous fouillés au pied vous trouvés la racine, qui a des grains 
gros comme des chataignes enfilées, semblables 4 des chapelets, les grains distans 
les uns des autres d’environ un demy pied ; il y a de ces racines [354] la qu’on 
levera des dix a douze pas tofijours garnies, |’une manquant vous en trouvez une 
autre: les Sauvages en sont friands, elles ont le goust de chataigne lors qu’elles 
sont boiiillies, & s’appellent des Chicamins. 


582 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


[355] CHAPITRE XXIII 


Concernant les meurs des Sauvages, leur police, > coutumes, leur maniere de vivre, 
leur inclination, celle de leurs enfans, de leurs mariages, leur mantere de bdtir, 
se vestir, haranguer, &F autres particularitez. 


L me reste maintenant 4 faire voir les moeurs des Sauvages, leur compleétion, 
la maniere de vivre, les mariages, les enterrements, leur travail, les 
dances, leurs chasses, & comme ils se gouvernoient par le passé, [3 56] 
ainsi que je V'ay pa apprendre d’eux, & la maniere dont ils agissoient il y 

a trente sept a trente huit ans que je fus en ce pais-la, ils avoient encore peu 
changé leurs cofitumes, mais ils se servoient déja de chaudiere, de hache, de 
cousteaux, & de fer pour leurs fleches, il y en avoit encore peu qui eussent des 
armes a feu. 

Ils vivoient encore longtemps; j’ay veu des Sauvages de six a sept-vingts 
ans qui alloient encore a la chasse a |’ Orignac, les plus vieux qui approchoient de 
huit-vingt ans, selon leurs comptes n’y alloient plus, ils comptent par Lunes. 

Avant que de parler de leur maniere d’agir d’apresent, il faut examin er le 
passé: lear nourri- [357] ture estoit de poisson & de viande rostye & boiiillie : 
pour faire rostir la viande ils la coupoient par roiielles, fendoient un baton, la 
mettoient dedans, puis piquoient le baston devant le feu, chacun y avoit les 
siens, lors qu'elle estoit cuite d’un costé & 4 mesure quelle cuisoit, ils Ja man- 
geoient mordant 4 mesme, & coupoient le morceau avec un os qu’ils aiguisoient 
sur des roches pour les faire couper, ce qui leur tenoit lieu de cousteaux de fer, 
& d’acier dont nous leur avons introduit l’usage depuis. 

Ayant mangé tout ce qu’il y avoit de cuit ils remettoient la viande devant 
le feu, prenoient un autre baton & faisoient de mesme, avoient-ils mangé toute la 
viande d’un baston ils en [358] remettoient tofijours d’autres en continuant tout 
le jour. 

Ils avoient une autre maniere de faire rostir avec une corde d’écorse d’arbres, 
attachée a une perche, qui traversoit le haut de leur cabanne, ou d’un arbre a 
Pautre, ou sur deux fourches piquées en terre |’on attachoit la viande au bout 
d’en bas de la corde, au travers de laquelle on mettoit un baton, avec lequel on 
luy faisoit tourner plusieurs tours, apres on le laissoit aller, ainsi la viande tournoit 
long-temps d’un costé, puis de |’autre devant le feu: ne tournoit-elle plus, on 
tournoit encore la corde avec le baston du milieu, on le laissoit encore aller ; le 
dessus de la viande estant cuit, ils mordoient le dessus, & coupoient le [359] 
morceau tout ras de la bouche, continuant tant que le tout fut mangé: ils en 
faisoient aussi rétir sur les charbons. 

Pour le poisson, il le faisoient rostir avec des bastons fendus qui servoient 
de grille, ou bien sur les charbons, mais il falloit qu’il fut tout cuit avant que 
d’en manger ; tous les enfans faisoient leur rotisserie comme les autres, avec des 
bastons fendus & sur les charbons, 

Toutes ces sortes de rosty n’estoient que |’entrée pour reveiller l’appety, il 
y avoit la chaudiere d’un autre costé qui boiiilloit: cette chaudiere estoit de 
bois, faite comme une grande auge ou timbre de pierre: pour la faire ils prenoient 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 5838 


le pied d’un gros arbre qui étoit tombé, [360] ils ne le tranchoient point n’ayant 
pas d’outils propres pour cela; de les porter il n’y avoit pas de moyen; ils en 
avoient fait quasi en tous les endroits ow ils alloient. 

Pour les faire ils se servoient de haches de pierre bien éguisées, amanchées 
au bout d’un baston fendu, bien liées, & avec ces haches ils coupoient un peu le 
dessus du bois de la longueur qu’ils vouloient la chaudiere ; cela fait ils mettoient 
du feu dessus faisoient briiler l’arbre ; estant brilé d’environ quatre doigts de 
profondeur, ils ostoient le feu, puis avec des pierres & des gros os pointus larges 
d’un pouce, ils creusoient de leur mieux en ostant tout le charbon, puis y 
remettoient du [361] feu, & ayant encore brilé, ils ostoient tout de dedans, & 
recommencoient d’en separer le charbon, faisant tofijours de mesme jusques a ce 
que leur chaudiere fust assez grande a leur fantaisie, mais plitost trop grande 
que trop petite. 

La chaudiere estant faite, il s’en faut servir, 4 cet effet ils l’emplissoient 
d’eau, & mettoient dedans ce qu’ils vouloient faire cuire: pour la faire boiiillir, 
ils avoient de grosses roches qu’ils mettoient dedans le feu rougir, estans rouges 
ils les prenoient avec des morceaux de bois, les mettoient dans la chaudiere, 
elles faisoient boiiillir ?eau; & pendant que celles-la estoient dans la chau- 
diere, les autres rougissoient, puis ostoient celles [362] qui estoient dans la 
chaudiere, y en mettoient d’autres: continuant tofijours tant que la viande fut 
cuite. 

Il y avoit tofijours force boiiillon qui estoit leur plus grand breuvage, ils 
beuvoient peu d’eau crué pour lors aussi bien qu’a present: leur plus grand 
travail c’estoit de bien manger & d’aller 4 la chasse, ils ne manquoient pas de 
bestes n’en tuant qu’a mesure qu’il en avoient besoin, & mangeoient souvent du 
poisson, sur tout du Loup marin pour avoir Vhuile, tant pour se graisser que 
pour boire, & de la balene qui s’échoué souvent 4 la coste, du lard de laquelle 
ils faisoient grande chere; leur plus grand ragoust est de la graisse, ils la man- 
gent comme [363] on fait le pain & la boivent fondué. 

I y avoit pour lors bien plus grand nombre de Sauvages qu’a present: ils 
vivoient sans soucy, & ne mangeoient ny salé ny épissé, ils ne beuvoient que de 
bon boiiillon du plus gras; c’étoit ce qui les faisoit vivre longtemps & peuploient 
beaucoup: ils auroient bien plus peuplé, si ce n’estoit que les femmes si-tost 
qu’elles sont accouchées lavent leurs enfans quelque froid qu’il fasse, puis les 
emmaillotent dans des peaux de marte ou castors, sur une planche ou ils les 
lient, si c’est un garcon, ils luy passent la verge par un trou, par ou sort |’urine, 
& a une fille ils mettent une petite écorse en goutiere entre ses jambes qui porte 
Puri- [364] ne dehors; & sous leur derriere ils mettent du bois pourry sec, & 
reduit en poussiere pour recevoir les autres excrements, en sorte qu’ils ne les 
démaillottent que tous les vingt-quatre heures, mais comme ils leurs laissent 4 
lair pendant la gelée la partie de leur corps la plus sensible, cette partie leur 
gele, ce qui en fait mourir beaucoup, principalement des garcons qui sont plus 
exposez a l’air par cet endroit-la que les filles: 4 cette planche est attachée une 
couroye en haut par les deux bouts, en sorte qu’en la mettant sur leur front la 
planche leur prend derriere les épaules, & de cette maniere la mere n’en a point 
les bras embarassez, & ne les empesche ny de travailler n’y d’al- [365] ler dans 
Jes bois, sans que l’enfant puisse estre offencé des branches aux passages: ils ont 
trois ou quatre femmes & quelques-fois plus; s’il s’en trouvoit quelques-unes 
sterilles, ils la peuvent repudier si bon leur semble, & en prendre une autre, & 


584 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


ainsi ils peuvent avoir force enfans, mais si une femme demeuroit grosse, pendant 
qu’elle nourrit un enfant elle se fait avorter ; ce qui les ruinent encore, elles ont 
une certaine drogue dont elles se servent pour cela qu’elles tiennent secrettes 
entr’elles ; la raison pourquoy elles se font avorter, c’est disent-elles parce qu’elles 
ne peuvent pas nourrir deux enfans ensemble, d’autant qu’il faut que l’enfant 
quitte la mamelle de luy- [366] mesme, & tette des deux ou trois ans; ce n’est 
pas qu’elles ne leurs donnent 4 manger de ce qu’elles ont, & qu’en machant un 
morceau elles ne leurs mettent en la bouche, & l’enfant l’avale. 

Leurs enfans ne sont point opiniatres en ce qu’elles leurs donnent tout ce 
qu’ils demandent, sans les laisser jamais crier apres ce qu’ils souhaitent, les plus 
grands cedent aux petits, le pere & la mere s’ostent le morceau de la bouche si 
en enfant le demande; ils ayment beaucoup leurs enfans, ils n’apprehendent 
jamais d’en avoir trop, car ce sont leurs richesses ; les garcons soulagent le pere 
allant a la chasse & nourrissent la famille ; les filles travaillent, [367] soulagent 
la mere, vont au bois, a eau, & vont chercher la beste dans les bois; aprés 
qu'elle est tuée, ils la portent 4 la cabanne, il y a toGjours quelque vieille femme 
avec les filles pour les conduire & leur apprendre les chemins, car souuvent ces 
bestes qu’il faut aller chercher sont tuées a cing ou six lieués de la cabanne, & 
il n’y a point de chemins battus. 

L’ Homme dira seulement la distance du chemin, les bois qu’il faut passer ; 
les montagnes, rivieres, ruisseaux, & prairies, s'il y en a sur le chemin, & specifiera 
Pendroit ot sera la beste, & ou il aura rompu trois ou quatre branches d’arbres 
pour la remarquer, cela leur suffit pour la trouver, en sorte qu’elles ne la [368] 
Manquent jamais & |’apportent: quelques-fois elles couchent ot est la beste, 
elles font grillades reviennent le lendemain. 

Quand ils ont demeuré quelque temps en un endroit, qu’ils ont battu tout le 
tour de leur cabanne, ils vont cabanner 4 quinze ou vingt lieués de la; pour 
lors ils faut que les femmes & les filles emportent la cabanne, leurs plats & leurs 
sacs, les peaux, les robes, & tout ce qu’ils peuvent avoir, car les hommes & les 
garcons ne portent rien, ce qu ils pratiquent encore a present. 

Estant arrivez au lieu ow ils veulent demeurer, il faut qu’elles bastissent la 
cabanne, chacune fait ce qu’elle doit faire; ’une va chercher des perches [369] 
dans le bois, l’autre va rompre des branches de sapin, les petites filles les 
apportent, la maitresse femme, qui est celle qui a eu le premier garcon com- 
mande & ne va rien querir dans le bois, on luy apporte tout, elle accommode 
les perches pour faire la cabanne, arrange le sapin pour faire la place sur laquelle 
chacun se met, c’est leur tapis de pied, & la plume de leur lit; si la famille est 
grande elles la font longue pour faire deux feux, sinon elles la font ronde, toutes 
semblables aux tentes de guerre, si ce n’est qu’au lieu de toilles sont des écorses 
de bouleau, qui sont si bien accommodées qu’il ne pleut point dans leurs cabannes: 
la ronde tient dix 4 douze personnes, la lon- [370] gueur le double, les feux se 
font dans le milieu de la ronde, & aux deux bouts de la longue. 

Pour avoir de ces écorces, elles choisissent tous les plus gros bouleaux 
qu’elles peuvent trouver de la grosseur d’un muid, elles couppent |’écorce tout 
autour de I’arbre, le plus haut qu’elles peuvent avec leurs haches de pierre, puis 
la coupent en bas aussi tout autour: apres cela la fendent du haut en bas, & avec 
leurs cousteaux d’os la levent tout autour de I’arbre, qui doit estre en seve pour la 
bien lever: lors qu’elles en ont suffisamment elles les cousent bout a bout, quatre 
a quatre, ou cing 4 cinq: leur fil est fait de racine de sapin qu’elles fendent en 


DE LVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 585 


trois de mesme que |’o- [371] zier dont on lie les cerceaux des bariques, elles le 
font aussi fin qu’elles veulent. 

Leurs aiguilles sont des os qu’elles rendent aigus comme des alaines 4 force 
de les aiguiser, elles percent leurs écorces, y passent cette racine de trous en 
trous, de la largeur des écorces: cela étant fait elles les roulent le plus serré 
qu’elles peuvent, pour estre plus faciles 4 porter, quand elles les ostent de dessus 
leur cabanne pour les porter en un autre endroit, bien qu’elles soient sechées par 
le feu que l’on y a fait, elles les chauffent encore pour les rendrent plus souples ; 
4 mesure qu’elles chauffent on les roule autrement elles romperoient pour estre 
trop seches. 

[372] A present elles font encore de mesme, mais elles ont de bonnes haches, 
des cousteaux plus commodes 4 leur travail, des chaudieres faciles 4 porter, qui 
est une grande commodité pour elles n’estant plus sujettes d’aller aux lieux ot 
estoient les chaudieres de bois, dont on n’en void plus 4 present, en ayant 
entierement perdu l’usage. 

Pour leur mariage, anciennement un garcon qui vouloit avoir une fille, estoit 
obligé de servir le pere plusieurs années selon la convention: son service estoit 
d’aller 4 la chasse, faire voir qu’il estoit bon chasseur, capable de bien nourrir sa 
femme & sa famille; faisant des arcs, des fleches, le bois des raquestes, mesme 
un canot, cela est le tra- [373] vail des hommes: tout ce qu’il faisoit pendant 
son temps estoit pour le pere de la fille, mais il ne laissoit pas d’en avoir 
luy-mesme l’usage en cas de besoin. 

Sa Maistresse cordoit les raquestes, faisoit ses robbes, ses souliers & ses bas 
pour marque qu’elle estoit habille au travail; le pere, la mere, la fille, & le 
serviteur, tout couchoit en une mesme cabanne, la fille proche la mere, le 
serviteur de l’autre costé, & tofijours le feu entredeux, les autres femmes & 
enfans y couchoient aussi. I] n’y arrivoit jamais de desordre, les filles estoient 
fort sages pour lors, tofijours couvertes d’une peau d’orignac bien passée qui 
descendoit plus bas que les genoiiils ; elles faisoient des bas [374] & des souliers 
de mesme peau pour |’Esté: |’Hyver elles faisoient des robes de castor; & la 
pudeur des filles estoit telle en ce temps-la, qu’elles eussent plitost retenu leur 
eau vingt-quatre heures que de se laisser voir en cette action par un garcon. 

Le terme estant finy il faloit parler du mariage: les parens du garcon 
venoient trouver ceux de la fille, leur demandoient s’ils l’auroient agreable: si le 
pere de la fille en estoit d’accord, il falloit scavoir des deux parties s’ils en 
estoient contens, & si l’un des deux ne vouloient le mariage il n’y avoit rien de 
fait, on ne les contraignoit point, que si tout estoit d’accord on prenoit jour pour 
faire le festin, pendant [375] quoy le garcon alloit a la chasse, faisoit tout son 
possible pour traiter toute l’assemblée, tant de rosty que de boiiilly & d’avoir 
force boiiillon bien gras principale-ment. 

Le jour estant venu tous les parens & conviez assemblez, & tout estant prest, 
les hommes & grands garcons entroient tous dans la cabanne, les vieillards au 
haut bout proches des pere & mere; le haut bout c’est la gauche en entrant dans 
la cabane faisant le tour allant 4 Ja droite: il n’y entroit point d’autre femme 
que la mere du garcon; chacun ayant pris son rang, tous assis sur le cul comme 
des singes, car c’est leur posture, le marié apportoit la viande dans un grand plat 
d’écorce, la [376] partageoit & la mettoit en autant de plats qu’ils y avoit de 
personnes, tant qu’ils en peuvent tenir, il y avoit dans chaque plat de la viande 
pour douze personnes, il d6noit 4 chacun son plat, & on se mettoit 4 manger, le 


586 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


marié estoit 14 qui avoit un grand plat de boiiillon, dont il donnoit a boire tout 
son saoul au premier, lequel estant suffisamment desalteré bailloit le plat 4 son 
voisin qui faisoit de mesme, estant vuide on le remplissoit, puis ayant bien beu & 
mangé ils faisoient une pose, le plus ancien faisoit une harangue 4 la loiiange du 
marié, & faisoit le recit de sa genealogie ou il se trouvoit tofijours décendre de 
quelgue grand Capitaine de dix ou douze races, exageroit tout [37 7| ce quils 
avoient fait de beau, tant en guerre qu’a la chasse, l’esprit qu’ils avoient, les 
bons conseils qu’ils avoient donné, & tout ce qu’ils avoient fait en leur vie de 
considerable, il commencoit par le plus ancien en décendant de race en race & 
venoit finir au pere du marié, puis exhortoit le marié 4 ne point degenerer de la 
valeur de ses ancestres: ayant achevé sa harangue, toute la compagnie faisoit 
deux ou trois cris, disant haw, hau, hau ; apres quoy le marié les remercioit, 
pro mettant autant & plus que ses ancestres, & l’assemblée faisoit encore le mesme 
cry: ensuite la marié se metoit 4 dancer, chantoit des chansons de guerre qu il 
composoit sur le champ, qui exhal- [378] toit son courage & sa valeur, le 
nombre des bestes qu’il avoit tuées, & de tout ce qu'il pretendoit faire: en 
dansant il prenoit en ses mains un arc, des fleches, un grand baston ow est 
amanché un os d’un Orignac, bien pointu dequoy ils tuent les bétes ’ Hyver, lors 
qu’il y a beaucoup de neges: ces choses-la les unes apres les autres, chacun 
ayant sa chanson, pendant laquelle il se mettoit en furie, & sembloit qu’il vouloit 
tout tuer: ayant finy, toute l’assemblée recommengoit leur Aau, hau, hau, qui 
signifie joye & contentement. 

Apres cela ils recommencent a manger & boire tant qu ils soient saouls, puis 
ils appellent leurs femmes & enfans qui ne [379] sont pas loin, ils viennent & 
chacun leur donne son plat dont elles vont manger 4 leur tour. 

Que s’il y avoit quelques femmes ou filles qui eust ses mois, il faut qu’elle se 
retire 4 part, les autres leur donnent 4 chacune leur part, en ce temps-la ils ne 
mangent jamais que toutes seules, elles ne font rien, & n’osent toucher aucunes 
choses, principalement du manger, il faut qu’elles soient totijours a |’écart. 

Ils ont ainsi fait passer en cotitume le recit de leurs genealogies, tant dans les 
harangues qu’ils font aux mariages qu’aux funerailles, afin d’entretenir la 
memoire & conserver par tradition de pere en fils l’histoire de leurs encestres, 
& exemple de [380] leurs belles actions & de leurs plus considerable qualitez, 
ce qui autrement leur pourroit échaper, & leur osteroit la connoissance de leurs 
parentez qu’ils conservent par ce moyen-la & leur sert 4 transmettre leurs 
alliances 4 la posterité, de quoy ils sont tres curieux, principalement ceux qui 
vienént d’anciens Capitaines ce qu ils rapportent quelquefois de plus de vingt 
races, & ce qui les fait plus estimer de tous les autres. 

Ils observent certains degrez de parenté entre eux qui les empeschent de se 
marier ensemble; il ne se fait jamais de frere 4 sceur, de nepveu a niepce, de 
cousins 4 cousine, c’est 4 dire au second degré, car au dessous ils le peuvent, si 
une jeune mariée [381] n’a point d’enfans de son mary au bout de deux ou trois 
ans, il la peut repudier, & la chasser pour en prendre une autre: il n’est tenu au 
service comme 4 la premiere, il fait seulement des presens de robes, de peaux, 
ou de porcelenes, je diray en son lieu ce que c’est que porcelene, il est obligé de 
faire un festin au pere de la fille, mais non pas si solemnel que la premiere fois ; 
si elle devient grosse on fait grand festin a ses parens, sinon il la chasse comme 
la premiere, & se marie a un autre, & sa femme estant grosse il ne la voit plus, 
& pour cela ils prennent des femmes tant qu’ils veullent, moyennant qu’ils soient 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 587 


bon chasseurs, & point paresseux, autrement les filles ne le prendront pas, on 
[382] voit des Sauvages qui ont des deux ou trois femmes grosses tout 4 la fois, 
& c’est toute leur joye que d’avoir grand nombre d’enfans. 

En toutes ces réjouissances de nopces & de festins, ils se parent de leur plus 
beaux habits; l’Esté les hommes avoient des robes de peau d’Orignac bien 
passées, blanches, passementées de passement large de deux doigts du haut en 
bas, tant plein que vuide, d’autres ont trois rangs par le bas, les uns en long, 
& les autres en travers, d’autres en chevrons rompus, ou parsemées de figures 
d’animaux selon la fantaisie de |’ ouvriere. 

Elles faisoient toutes ces facons-la, de couleur rouge, violette & bleué, 
appliquées sur la [383] peau avec dela colle de poisson; ils avoient des os 
faconnez de plusieurs sortes qu’ils passoient tous chauds sur les couleurs de la 
maniere a peu prés dont on dore les couvertures des livres: quant ces couleurs 
sont une fois appliquées elles ne s’en vont point 4 l’eau. 

Pour passer leurs peaux on les moiiille & on les étend au Soleil les faisant 
bien chauffer du costé du cuir pour aracher le poil, puis les tendent & arachent 
le poil avec des os faits exprés, comme ceux qui preparent une peau a mettre en 
parchemin, & ensuite ils la frotent de foix d’oyseau, & de quelque peu d’huisle, 
puis l’ayant bien frotée entre leurs mains la passent sur un bois poly fait en dos 
[384] d’asne, ainsi que l’on fait pour passer les peaux a faire des gans sur un 
fer, la frotent tant qu’elle soit souple, & bien maniable ensuite la lavent & la 
tordent avec des bois plusieurs fois, tant qu’elles rendent l’eau blanche puis 
’estendent pour la faire secher. | 

Pour les peaux passées avec le poil, ils ne se servent que de foixdont ils les 
frotent bien avec la main, & les passent encores sur leurs bois pour les bien 
corroyer, s ils elles ne sont assez molettes ils y mettent encores du foix & 
recommencent a les froter tant qu’elles soient maniables puis les font secher, 
toutes ces robes-la sont faites comme une couverture soit pour hommes ou pour 
femmes. 

[385] Les hommes les mettent sur leurs épaulles lient les deux bouts avec 
des cordons de cuir dessous le menton, tout le reste n’est point fermé; ils 
montrent tout leur corps, 4 la reserve de leurs parties qui sont cachées par le 
moyen d’une peau bien souple & fort mince, laquelle passe entre leurs jambes & 
est attachée par les deux bouts, 4 une ceinture de cuir qu’ils ont autour deux, 
& s’appelle un brayer. 

Les femmes mettent cette robe en facon de Bohemiennes, |’ouverture est 
au costé, elles l’attachent avec des cordons en deux endroits, distans l’un de 
autre, en sorte que leur teste puisse passer dans le milieu & les bras aux deux 
costez, puis doublent les deux bouts l’un [328] sur l’autre, & par dessus elles 
mettent une ceinture qu’elles lient bien serrée, en sorte qu’elle ne puisse se 
deffaire par ce moyen elles sont toutes cachées, elles ont des manches de peaux 
qui sont attachées l’une a [autre par derriere, elles ont aussi des chausses de 
peau en étrier qui n’ont point de pied les hommes les portent de mesme. 

Elles font aussi des souliers de leurs vieilles robes d’Orignac, qui sont 
engraisées & meilleures que des neuves, leurs souliers sont arrondis pardevant, 
& la semelle redouble sur le bout du pied qui est froncée aussi menu qu’une 
chemise, cela est fait fort proprement, les filles en font pour elles enjolivez 
de couleurs & les coustures garnies de [387] poil de Porc-épy qu’elles teignent 
en rouge & violet. 


588 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


Elles ont de fort belles teintures, sur tout leur couleur de feu qui passe tout 
ce que nous voyons icy en ce genre-la, ce qui ce fait avec une petite racine 
grosse comme du fil; pour la feiiille elles ne la veulent point faire voir, cela est 
rare entre elles, c’estoit-la 4 peu prés leurs habits d’Esté; pendant |’Hyver 
leurs robes sont de Castor, de Loutre, de Marte, de Loups serviers, ou 
d’Ecureiiils, toijours martachées c’est a dire peintes. 

Mesmes leur visage lors qu’ils vont en ceremonie avec leurs beaux habits 
sont peint de rouge ou de violet, ou bien ils se [388] font des rayes longues & 
courtes & de couleur selon leur fantaisie, sur le nez, & sur les yeux, le long des 
joués, & se graissent les cheveux d’huiles pour les rendre luisans, qui sont les 
plus beaux entre eux, ils semblent 4 des mascarades, ce sont leurs parades aux 
jours de rejotiissances. 


[389] CHAPITRE XXVI 


De leur Coiffure, de leurs ornemens, & de leurs braveries. Du regime qu ils 
observent pendant leurs maladies, de leurs divertissemens 5 conversations. 
Du travail des hommes &§ des femmes, &5 de leurs plus ordinaires 


occupations. 


OUR distinguer les hommes & les femmes d’avec les garcons & les 
filles par les ornemens, les premiers ont les cheveux coupez au dessous 
des oreilles, les garcons les portent [390] tous longs, les lient en 
moustaches des deux costez avec des cordons de cuir; les curieux 

les ont garnis de poil de Porc-épic de couleurs, les filles les ont aussi tout longs, 
mais les lient par derriere de mesme cordons, mais les galantes qui veulent 
paroistre jolies & qui scavent bien travailler, se font des garnitures de la largeur 
d’un pied ou huit pouces en quarré toute brodée de poil de Porc-épic de toutes 
couleurs fait sur le mestier, dont la chaine est de filets de cuir d’Orignaux 
mornez qui est fort delicat, le poil de Porc-épic est la trame, qu’elles passent au 
travers de ces filets ainsi que |’on fait la tapisserie, ce qui est bien travaillé ; tout 
autour ils font une frange des mes- [391] mes fillets qui sont entourés aussi de 
ce poil de Porc-épic mélez de couleurs ; en cette frange elles mettent de la 
porcelene blanche & violette, elles s’en font aussi des pendans d’oreilles, qu’elles 
ont percez en deux ou trois endroits. 

Cette porcelene n’est autre chose que des dents d’un certain poisson qui se 
pesche par les Sauvages de la nouvelle Angleterre, qui leur estoit bien rare, & 
en ce temps-la valoit beaucoup entre eux, ce qui est commun 4a present, chaque 
grain est long de la moitié d’un travers de doigt, c’est tout leur enjolivement en 
toute sorte de travail ou il falloit coudre 4 l’éguille, qui estoit cette alaine dont 
jay déja parlé ou un poingon d’os [392] bien pointu pour faire un petit trou, & 
y passoient leur fil, qui est fait d’un nerf d’Orignac qui se trouve au long de 
l’épine du dos, quand il est bien battu il se leve par filets aussi fin que l’on veut, 
c’est avec cela qu’elles cousent toutes leurs robes, qui ne se decousent jamais: 
voila l’enjolivement des filles, si-tost qu’elles sont mariées, la mere les livrant a 
leur mary luy coupe les cheveux, qui est la marque du mariage, pareillement au 
marié. 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 589 


La Loy qu’ils observoient anciennement estoit celle de ne faire 4 autruy que 
ce quwils souhaitoient leur estre fait; ils n’avoient aucun culte: tous vivoient en 
bonne amitié & intelligence, : ils ne se refusoient rien les uns [393] aux autres, 
si une cabanne ou famille n’avoit pas de vivres sufisamment ses voisins luy en 
donnoient, quoy qu ils n’eussent que ce qui leur faloit, & de toutes autres choses 
de mesme, ils vivoient dans la pureté, les femmes estoient fidelles 4 leurs maris, 
& les filles fort chastes, point sujettes 4 maladies; ne connoissoient point de 
fiévre, s'il leur arrivoit quelque accident, par chitte, par brélures, ou en coupant 
du bois, manque de bonne haches, qui vacilloient faute de bien couper, il ne leur 
faloit point de Chirurgien, ils connoissoient des herbes, dont ils se servoient & se 
guerissoient fort bien, ils n’estoient point sujets 4 la goute, gravelle, fiévres ny 
rumatismes, leur reme- [394] de general estoit de se faire suer, ce qu’ils prati- 
quoient tous les mois & mesme plus souvent, je dis pour les hommes; car je 
n’ay point eu connoissance que les femmes se fissent suer, pour cet effet ils 
faisoient une petite cabanne en rond pour tenir au nombre de quatre, cinq, six, 
sept, ou huit au plus, elles estoient couvertes d’écorsse de haut en bas, bien 
bouchées a la reserve d’une petite ouverture pour entrer, le tout se recouvroit 
encore de leurs robes, & pédant que cela se faisoit l’on avoit de grosses roches 
que l’on metoit dans le feu, & que |’on faisoit bien rougir, aprés quoy ceux qui 
vouloient suer, se mettoient tous nuds dans la cabane assis sur le cul tous en 
rond, estant la [395] leur femme ou des garcons leur donnoient de ces roches 
toutes rouges, avec un grand plat tout plain d’eau, & un autre petit pour verser 
de l’eau sur les roches qui étoient au milieu d’eux; cette eau que |’on versoit 
sur ces roches fatsoit une fumée qui remplissoit la cabanne & |’échauffoit si bien 
que cela les faisoit suer; lors quils commencoient 4 suer ils ne jettoient plus 
d’eau que de temps en temps, les roches estant froides ils les mettoient dehors, 
on leur en donnoit d’ autres toutes rouges : ils ne se pressoient pas de suer, s’échauf- 
foient petit 4 petit, & si bien que |’eau leur couloit de toutes parts laquelle ils 
abatoient de temps en temps avec la main, ils y demeuroient | 396] tant qu’ils 
pouvoient, & s’y tenoient une heure & demie & deux heures. Pendant ce 
temps-la, ils chantoient des chansons, faisoient des contes pour se faire rire: 
vouloient-ils sortir, ils abatoient l’eau tant qu’ils pouvoient du haut en bas, & 
puis prenant leur course ils s’en alloient se jetter dans la mer ou riviere, estant 
rafraichis ils mettoient leurs robes sur eux, & puis s’en alloient en leur cabane 
aussi posez qu’auparavant. Nos Francois se font suer comme eux, & ils se 
jettent 4 eau de mesme & n’en sont point incommodez ; |’eau de ces pais-la 
n’incommode point la santé: l’Hyver que nos gens vont 4 la chasse, quelque- 
fois ils n "ont point de chiens & tuent du gi- [397] bier, ceux qui scavent nager 
se mettét 4 l’eau pour l’aller querir & s’en reviennent au logis pour changer 
d’habits & n’en recoivent aucune incommodité, & n’en sont jamais enrhumez. 

S’ils estoient malades a4 mourir de vieillesse, ou quelqu’autre accident 
d’ arbres, ou autre chose qui tomboit sur eux & ov il ne paroissoit rien, il y 
avoit des vieillards qui disoient parler au manitou, c’est a dire au diable, qui les 
venoient soufler, ces gens-la leur mettoient force scrupules en esprit, dont jay 
parlé de plusieurs cy-devant, c’étoient des gens qui auoient quelque subtilité plus 
que les autres, qui leur faisoient croire tout ce qu’ ils vouloient & passoient pour 
leurs Medecins. Ces gens- [398] 1a venoient voir le malade, luy demandoient 
ou estoit son mal, aprés s’estre bien enquis de tout il promettoient guerison en 
le souflant, & pour cela ils se mettoient 4 danser parlant 4 leur manitou, ils 


590 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


dansoient avec telle furie qu’ils écumoient gros comme les poings des deux 
costez de la bouche, pendant ce temps la ils alloient de fois 4 autres trouver le 
malade, & V’endroit ou il avoit témoigné sentir le plus de douleur ils posoient la 
bouche dessus & y soufiloient de toute leur force quelque temps, & puis com- 
mencoient a danser, en suite dequoy ils retournoiétau malade faire tout de mesme 
qu’auparavant, puis ils disoient que c’estoit le manitow qui le tenoit la qu'il avoit 
passé en quelques endrois [399] ou il n’avoit pas satisfait 4 ’hommage accous- 
tumé ou quelque autres folies semblables, & qu’avec le temps ilsesperoient le 
faire sortir, cela duroit quelquesfois des sept 4 huit jours, & a la fin ils faisoiét 
semblant de luy arracher quelque chosedu corps par subtilité qu’ils montroient, 
en disant le voila, le voila, il est sorty, maintenant il est guery, & en effet 
souvent il s’en guerissoit par imagination, & s’ils n’en guerisoient ails trouvoient 
quelque autre excuse, A scavoir qu'il y avoit plusieurs manitous qu’ils n’avoient 
pas voulu sortir, & qu’ils les avoient trop meprisez; ils faisoient toijours leur 
cause bonne, on ne laissoit pas de leur donner quelque chose; non pas tant que 
s'il eust esté entiere- [400] ment guery, ces Medecins-la estoient vieillards 
paresseux qui ne vouloient plus aller 4 la chasse, & qui avoient d’eux tout ce 
qui leur faloit, s'il y avoit quelques belles robes ou autre chose de rare en une 
cabane, c’étoit pour Monsieur le Medecin, quand on tuoit des bestes on luy 
envoyoit tous les meilleurs morceaux, quand ils avoient query trois ou quatre per- 
sonnes ils ne manquoient plus de rien ce qui ne leur estoit pas mal aisé de faire, 
en ce que la plus grande maladie des Sauvages, ne venoit que de fantaisie; leur 
ostant cela de l’esprit tout aussi-tost ils estoient gueris. 

Les Sauvages aimoient fort ces tours de souplesses & a entendre des contes, 
il y avoit de [401] ces vieillards qui en composoient comme on faisoit aux 
nee du téps des Fées, ou de peau d’asne, ou autres semblables, mais eux les 
composoient sur les Orignaux, sur les Renards & autres animaux, leurs disoient 
qwils en avoient veu d’assez puissants pour avoir apris a travailler aux autres, 
comme sont les Castors, & oiiy d’autres qui parloient: ils faisoient des contes 
qui étoient agreables & d’esprit, quand ils en disoient quelqu’un c’estoit toGijours 
par ouy dire de leur grand pere, ce qui faisoit paroistre qu’ils avoient eu con- 
noissance du Deluge, & des choses de l’ancienne Loy. Loors qu’ils faisoient des 
festins de réjotissance, apres estre bien repeus, il y en avoit toaijours quelqu’un 
[402] qui en faisoit un si long qu’il en avoit pour toute la journée & soirée avec 
les intervalles de rire, ils estoient grands rieurs, si un faisoit un conte, tous 
l’écofitoient avec un grand silence, s’ils se mettoient 4 rire s’estoit un ris general ; 
pendant ce temps-la ils ne laisoient pas de petuner, ils avoient un certain tabac 
verd, dont la feiille n’étoit pas plus longue que le doigt ny plus large, ils le 
faisoient secher & le mettoient en pain, fait en galette, épaisse de quatre doigts, 
la fumée n’estoit pas forte, le tabac bon & fort doux: ces faiseurs de contes qui 
paroissoient plus subtils que les autres, quoy que leur subtilitez ne fussent que 
des badineries, ne laissoient pas d’abuser ceux qui prenoient [403] plaisir a 
les écoiter. 

Pour le travail des hommes, il consistoit 4 faire leurs arcs qui estoient 
d’Erable tout de brin; pour le faconner ils se servoient de leurs haches & 
cousteaux ; pour le polir ils se servoient de coquilles d’huistres ou autres 
coquilles qu’ils polissoient comme peut faire le verre; leurs fleches sont de 
cedres, qui se fend droit, & qui avoiét pres de demie brasse de longueur: ils 
les emplumoient de queués d’ Aigles; au lieu de fer ils y mettoient des os: leur 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 591 


bois de raquette estoient de haistre de la grosseur de celles a joiier 4 la paulme, 
plus longues & plus larges, & de la méme forme sans manche, leur hauteur estoit 
d’ordinaire 4 un chacun de la ceinture en bas, ils y [404] mettoient deux bois 
qui traversoient, distant lun de l’autre de la longueur du pied, elles étoient 
cordées de peau d’Orignac, passée en parchemin, que l’on coupoit par éguil- 
lettes fort longues grosses & menués; la grosse se mettoit dans le milieu de la 
raquette ot l’ou met le pied entre ces deux bastons, & la plus menué aux deux 
bouts ; tout joignant le baston de devant, on laissoit une ouverture au milieu de 
cette raquette pour y passer le bout du pied en cheminant, afin que la raquette 
ne leve point du derriere, & qu’elle ne fasse que traisner, c’estoient d’ordinaire 
les femmes qui les cordoient. 

Leurs batons 4 darder, étoient aussi de hestre, au bout desquels [405] ils 
emmanchoient un grand os pointu, ils s’en servoient pour darder les bestes lors 
qu’il y avoit beaucoup de neges. 

Pour faire leurs canots ils cherchoient les plus gros bouleaux qu’ils pouvoient 
trouver, ils levoient l’écorce de la longueur du canot qui estoit de trois a quatre 
brasses & demie, la largeur d’environ deux pieds par le milieu, & tofijours en 
diminuant aux deux bouts venant 4 rien; la profondeur estoit d’un homme assis 
A venir jusques aux aisselles; la garniture du dedans pour le renforcer estoit des 
lattes de la longueur du canot, larges de quatre doigts en appetissant lar les 
bouts, afin qu’elles se puissent joindre; le dedans du canot en estoit garny [ 406| 
par tout, & tout autour d’un bout 4 l’autre; ces lattes estoient faites de cedre 
qui est leger, & qu’ils fendoient aussi long quwils vouloient & aussi mince qu’ils 
leurs plaisoit ; ils faisoient encore du mesme bois, des demy cercles pour servir 
de membres, & leurs donnoient la forme au feu. 

Pour coudre le canot ils prenoient des racines de sapin de la grosseur du 
petit doigt & plus petites encore, elles estoient fort longues, ils fendoient ces 
racines en trois ou quatre les plus grosses, ce qui se fend plus facilement que 
Pozier a faire des paniers; ils faisoient des paquets de cela que |’on mettoit 
dans |’eau de peur qu’ils ne se chassent, il falloit encore deux [407] bastons de 
la longueur du canot, tout rond, & de la grosseur d’une grosse canne, & quatre 
autres bastons de haistre plus courts: tout cela estant prés ils prenoient leurs 
écorces, la plioient & dressoient en la forme que doit estre le canot, puis met- 
toient ces deux grandes perches tout autour, cousués sur le bord en dedans avec 
ces racines. 

Pour coudre ils percoient |’écorce avec un poincon d’os pointu & passoient 
dans le trou un bout de l’ozier, le tiroient & serroient le baston contre |’écorce 
tant qu’ils pouvoient totijours en tournant le baston de l’ozier, en sorte qu’ils 
se touchoient |’un |’autre; les bastons estant bien cousus, tout autour, [480| 
ils en mettoient aussi de petits de haistre de travers, l'un dans le milieu 
qui entroit des deux bouts, en des trous qui étoient aux bastons dont le canot 
estoit bordé, & trois autres en avant, distantes de demie brasse les unes des 
autres, qui alloient en diminuant comme la forme du canot, & trois autres aussi 
qui se mettoient en arriere en mesme distance ; tous ces bastons entrent aussi par 
des bouts dans des trous qui estoient faits en ces bastons qui sont cousus tout 
autour du canot, auquel ils estoient si bien attachez des deux costez que le canot 
ne se pouvoit élargir ny étressir. 

En suite on mettoit ces grandes lattes, dont on garnissoit tout le dedans du 
haut en bas, [409] qui se touchoient toutes: pour les tenir ils mettotent par- 


592 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


dessus ces demy-cerceaux, dont les bouts venoient joindre d’un coté & de 
autre; au dessous de ces bastons qui estoient cousus tout autour par le haut, 
qu’ils y faisoient entrer de force & en garnissoient tout le canot d’un bout a 
autre, ce qui rendoit le canot ferme, en sorte qu’il ne plioit point par aucun 
endroit. 

Il y avoit des cofitures, car pour |’étressir des deux bouts ils fendoient 
Pécorce du haut en bas, ils doubloient les deux bouts l’un sur l’autre qu’ils 
cotisoient, mais pour empescher que les coiitures ne prissent |’eau, les femmes & 
les filles maschoient de la gomme de sapin tous les jours tant qu’elles devint en 
[410] onguent, qu’ils appliquoient avec du feu tout le long des cofaitures, ce qui 
estanchoit mieux que du bray; tout cela estant fait le canot estoit achevé, qui 
estoit si leger qu’un homme seul le pouvoit porter sur sa teste. 

Les avirons étoient de haistre, la palle de la logueur du bras, large d’un 
demy pied ou environ, & le manche un peu plus long que la palle le tout d’une 
piece, trois, quatre & cinq personnes, tant hommes que femmes ramoient 
emsemble, cela alloit extremement viste, ils alloient aussi 2 la voile, qui étoit 
autrefois d’écorce, mais le plus souvent d’une peau d’un jeune orignac bien 
passée; s’ils avoient le vent favorable, ils alloient aussi viste [411] que le jet 
d’une pierre, & un canot portoit jusques 4 huit ou dix personnes. 

Le travail des femmes estoit d’aller chercher la beste apres qu’elle estoit 
tuée, l’écorcher, la couper par morceaux pour la faire cuire: pour cet effet elles 
faisoient rougir les roches, les mettoient & ostoient de Ja chaudiere, amassoient 
tous les os des orignaux, les piloient avec des pierres sur une autre bien large, les 
reduisoient en poudre, puis les mettoient en leur chaudiere & les faisoient bien 
boiillir, ce qui rendoit une graisse qui venoit sur l’eau, qu’ils amassoient avec 
une cuillier de bois, & les faisoient tant boiillir qu’a la fin les os ne rendoient 
plus rien, en sorte que des os d’un orignac, [412]| sans compter la moiielle, ils en 
tiroient cing 4 six livres de graisse blanche comme nege, ferme comme de la 
cire; c’étoit dequoy ils faisoient toute leur provision pour vivre allant a la 
chasse ; nous |’appellons du beurre d’Orignac, & eux du Cacamo. 

Elles faisoient leurs plats d’écorces grands & petits, les cousoient avec ces 
racines de sapin, si bien qu’ils tenoient l’eau, elles en garnissoient quelqu’uns de 
poil de Porc-épic, faisoient des sacs de jonc¢ aplaty, qu’elles tressoient les uns 
dans les autres, alloiét aux bois chercher du bois sec, qui ne fume point pour se 
chauffer & briler a la cabane ; tout autre sorte de bois étoit b6 pour la chaudiere, 
attédu qu’elle étoit tofijours hors de la cabane, [413] elles alloient chercher de 
eau, passoient les peaux, faisoient les robes, les manches, les bas, & les souliers, 
cordoient les raquettes, faisoient & defaisoient les cabannes, alloient chercher le 
sapin dont elles garnissoient tout le dedans de la cabanne de |’épaisseur de quatre 
doigts, 4 la reserve du milieu ou se faisoit le feu, qui n’estoit point garny, elles 
l’arrangeoient si bien qu’on l’auroit levé tout d’une piece, ce qui leur servoit 
aussi de paillasse & de matelats a se coucher. 

La plume estoit une peau d’ours ou d’un jeune Orignac, dont le poil est fort 
long & épais: lors qu’ils se couchoient ils defaisoient leurs robbes qui leurs 
servoient de couvertures, ils avoient tous les pieds au feu, [414] qui ne mouroit 
point, l’entretenant tofijours & y mettant du bois dont la provision estoit a la 
porte. 

Si on changeoit de lieu pour aller cabanner en un autre endroit les femmes 
portoient tout: leurs filles grandes & petites portoient aussi selon leurs forces, on 


DE L7AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 593 


les accotitumoit pour cela de jeune age au travail, & 4 tout ce qu'il y avoit 4 
faire, mesme 4 macher de la gomme de sapin, aussi n’avoient-elles jamais mal 
aux dents, qu’elles avoient bien arrangées & blanches comme de la nage: si les 
Dames de France se servoient de cette gomme, je ne doute point qu’elles n’en 
tirassent les mesmes avantages : car il est bon de remarquer icy que les hom- [41 5 | 
mes qui vivoient d’un mesme regime n’avoient pas neantmoins les dents si belles 
que les femmes qui estoient obligées de macher la gomme de sapin pour calfetter 
leurs canots. 

Le travail des hommes estoit de faire leurs bois de raquettes, les plier, les 
polir, mettre les deux bois de travers, les rendre tout prest 4 estre cordées, ils 
faisoient leurs arcs, leurs fleches, les bois pour emmancher leurs grands os dont ils 
tuoient les orignaux, les castors, & tout ce qu’ils dardoient: ils faisoient encore 
les planches surquoy les femmes mettoient leurs enfans, & toutes autres sortes 
d’ouvrages de bois. 

Ils faisoient aussi leurs pipes 4 prendre du tabac, ils en faisoient [416] de 
bois, d’un pouce du hommart qui est proprement l’écrevisse de mer, ils en 
faisoient aussi d’une certaine pierre verte, & d’un autre qui est rouge, avec le 
tuyau, le tout d’une piece. 

Pour creuser & percer le tuyau ils se servoient de leurs os dont la pointe 
estoit un peu platte & tranchante, & a force de tourner & virer ils creusoient la 
pierre & percoient le tuyau, de mesme & a force de temps en venoient 4 bout, 
tout leur travail n’étoit jamais bien pressé, & ce qu’ils en faisoient estoit seulement 
pour leur divertissement. 

Pour leurs autres sortes de pipes elles étoient de deux pieces, les tuyaux 
estoient faits d’un certain bois que nos matelots [417] nomment du bois de 
Calumet, ils en faisoient des tuyaux d’un pied & d’un pied & demy de longueur ; 
pour les percer ils faisoient un cerne 4 un pouce prés du bout dont ils ostoient le 
bois tout autour jusques au milieu, qu’ils laissoient gros comme la mesche d’une 
chandelle qui semble de la moisle, quoy qu’il n’y en ait point ou si peu qu'elle 
ne paroist quasi pas; ils prenoient cette méche avec les dents qu’ils tenoient 
ferme, & tout le reste du baston avec les mains qu’ils tournoient petit a petit & 
fort doucement; & cette méche se tordoit si bien qu’elle se détachoit du dedans 
du baston, estant deprise d’un bout a l’autre de sa grosseur; on la tiroit tout 
doucement en tournant toiijours le [418] baston, qui de cette maniere se trouvoit 
percé; ensuite ils le polissoient & le rendoient de la grosseur qu’il le falloit pour 
entrer dans le trou de la pipe, qui estoit quelquefois de bois dur, quelquefois d’os 
d’orignac, du pouce de homart, ou d’écrevisse de mer, & de toutes autres choses 
selon la fantaisie qui leur prenoit d’en faire. 


594 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


[419] CHAPITRE XXV 


La chasse des Orignaux, des Ours, des Castors, des Loups serviers 
Es” autres animaux, selon leur saison. 


A chasse des Sauvages anciennement leur estoit facile, ils ne tuoient des 
bestes qu’a mesure qu’ils en avoient besoin; estans las d’en manger 
d’une sorte ils en tuoient d’une autre; ne vouloient ils plus manger 
de viande, ils prenoient du poisson, ils ne faisoient point d’amas de 

peaux d’orignac, castors, loutres ny autres qu’autant qu'il [420] leur en falloit 
pour leur service; laissoient le reste ou les bestes étoient tuée, & ne prenoient 
pas la peine de les apporter 4 la cabanne. 

La chasse d’orignac se faisoit |’Esté par surprises: les Sauvages scavoient 4 
peu prés les endroite ou on les pouvoit trouver; en ces quartiers-la ils battoient 
le bois allant d’un costé & d’autre pour en trouver la piste, l’ayant trouvée ils la 
suivoient & connoissoient par cette piste si c’estoit masle ou femelle, méme 4 la 
fumée, & s’il estoit vieil ou jeune, par la piste ils connoissoient aussi s’ils estoient 
proches de la beste, pour lors ils regardoient s’il y avoit quelque Fort ou prairie 
proche ou la béte pouvoit estre selon le train [421] qu'elle tenoit, ils s’y trom- 
poient peu, ils faisoient une enceinte autour du lieu ou elle estoit pour prendre 
le dessous du vent, afin de n’estre pas éventez de l’orignac, ils en approchoient 
tout doucement crainte de faire du bruit tant qu’ils la peussent découvrir; l’ayant 
découverte s’ils n’estoient pas assez prests approchoient encore tant qu’elle fut a 
portée de la fleche, qui est de quarante-cing a cinquante pas; alors ils laschoient 
leur coup dessus la beste qui demeuroit rarement pour une fleche, apres quoy il 
la falloit suivre 4 la piste, quelquesfois la beste s’arrestoit n’entendant plus de 
bruit; ils alloient au petit pas, & connoissant cela a son train, ils tachoient de 
P “approcher en- [422] core une fois, & luy donnoient encore un coup de fleche: 
si cela ne la faisoit demeurer il Ja falloit encore suivre jusques au soir & 
ccouchoient proche la béte, & le matin I’alloient retrouver au giste: estant 
paresseuse de se lever 4 cause du sang qu'elle avoit perdu, ils luy donnoient un 
troisiesme coup & la faisoient demeurer |’achevant de tuer ; alors ils rompoient 
des branches pour marquer !’endroit pour |’envoyer querir par leurs femmes. 

Mais apres avoir tiré les deux premiers coups, ils tachoient de gagner le 
devant pour la faire tourner devers la cabanne, la poursuivant & la faisant 
approcher tant qu’elle tombast morte manque de force; souvent ils [423] 
lamenoient tout proche de la cabane; ils en trouvoiét toajours plusieurs 
ensemble, mais |’ Esté ils n’en peuvent suivre qu’un. 

Le Printemps la chasse se faisoit encore de mesme, si ce n’est lors que les 
femelles entrent en amour; en ce temps-la la chasse se faisoit la nuit sur les 
Tivieres en canot, contrefaisant le cry de la femelle, & puis avec un plat d’écorce, 
les Sauvages prenoient de |’eau, Ja laissoient tomber dans l’eau de haut, & le 
bruit faisoit venir le masle qui croyoit que ce fust une femelle qui pissoit: pour 
cela ils se laissoient aller doucement au fil de |’eau, si c’estoit en montant ils 
ramoient tout doucement, & de temps en temps ils faisoient tomber de |’eau 
contrefaisant [424] tofijours la femelle, & alloient tous sur le bord de la riviere, 


DE L’AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 595 


s’il y avoit quelque masle dans le bois qui entendit le bruit de cette eau il y 
venoit; ceux qui étoient dans le canot l’entendoient venir, par le bruit que 
faisoit la beste dans le bois, & continuoient de contrefaire totijours le cry de la 
femelle, les faisoient venir tout proche d’eux; ils estoient tous prests a tirer 
dessus & ne le manquoient pas: la nuit la plus noire estoit la meilleure pour 
cette chasse, & le temps le plus calme; le vent empeschant d’entendre le bruit 
que faisoit la cheute de |’eau. 

Pour Hyver la chasse estoit differente 4 cause des neges, on se servoit de 
raquettes, par le [425] moyen desquelles on marche sur la nege sans enfoncer, 
principalement le matin a cause de la gelée de la nuit, & en ce temps-la elle 
porte les chiens, mais l’orignac ne fait pas grand chemin, parce qu’il enfonce 
dans la nege, ce qui le fatigue beaucoup a cheminer. 

Pour trouver les orignaux, les Sauvages couroient dans les bois d’un costé & 
d’autre pour trouver du bois mangé; car en ce temps-la ils ne mangent que le 
jet du bois de l’année, la ot ils trouvoient le bois mangé, ils rencontroient bien- 
tost les bétes qui n’en estoient pas loin, & les approchoient facilement ne pouvant 
pas aller viste, ils leurs lancoient un dard, qui est le grand baston dont j’ay 
parlé, [426] au bout duquel est emmanché ce grand os pointu qui perce comme 
une épée, mais s'il y avoit plusieurs orignaux 4 la bande ils les faisoient fuir, 
alors les orignaux se metoient tous queué 4 queué, faisoient en grand cerne d’une 
lieué & demie, ou deux lieués, & qulequesfois plus, & battoient si bien la nege a 
force de tourner qu’ils n’enfongoient plus: celuy de devant étant las se met 
derriere, mais les Sauvages qui estoient plus fins qu’eux se mettoient en embus- 
cade, & les attendoient a passer, & la ils les dardoient; il y en avoit un qui les 
poursuivoit totijours; 4 chaque tour il en demeuroit tofjours un, mais 4 la fin 
ils s’écartoient dans le bois, les uns d’un costé, les autres de ’autre; il en [427] 
demeuroit totijours 5. ou 6. & quand la nage portoit, les chiens les suivoiét 
quelque nobre qu’il y en eust, il ne s’en pouvoit sauver un seul, mais en ce 
temps-Ia ils n’en tuoient que leur provision, & n’alloient a la chasse qu’A mesure 
qu’ils avoient besoin de viande; toute leur chasse & péche ne se faisoient 
qu’autant qu’ils avoient necessité de manger. 

La chasse du castor se faisoit l’Esté a la fleche dans les bois ot on les 
prenoit, ou bien dans des lacs ou étangs, ot les Sauvages se mettoient en canots 
& a Paffust pour les gueter lors qu’ils venoient sur |’eau prendre lair, mais le 
plus commun & le plus assuré, c’estoit de rompre leur digue & en faire perdre 
eau, [428] alors les Castors se trouvoient sans eau, ne scachant plus ou aller, 
leur logement paroissoit par tout, les Sauvages les attrapoient 4 coups de fleches 
& de leurs dards, & en ayant leurs provisions ils laissoient 14 tout le reste. 

Les Castors n’entendant plus de bruit se rassembloient & se mettoient 4 
raccommoder leur digue; c’est 14 ot nous les avons veu travailler, ce qui fait 
bien croire que tout ce que j’ay dit de leur travail est veritable. Je ne tiens pas 
le travail de leurs digues a les faire entieres, si difficille que de les racommoder 
estans rompués dans le milieu. 

L’ Hyver la chasse s’en faisoit autrement, les digues & les lacs estant tous 
gelez: Pour lors les [429] Sauvages ont leurs chiens qui sont une espece de 
matins, mais plus déchargez, ils ont la teste de renard & ne jappent point, ayant 
seulement un hurlement qui n’est pas de grand bruit; pour les dents elles sont 
plus longues & plus afillées que celles des matins, ces chiens servent pour la 
chasse de !’Orignac comme jay dit, le Printemps, |’ Esté, 1’ Automne, & l Hyver 


596 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


lors que les neges les peuvent porter; il n’y a pas de Chasseurs qui n’en ayent 
des sept a huit: ils les cherissent beaucoup; s’ils ont des petits que la mere ne 
puisse nourrir, les femmes les font teter; sont ils grands ils leurs donnent du 
bouillon, estant en estat de servir on ne leur donne plus rien [430] que les 
tripailles des bestes que l’on tué; s’ils sont huit jours sans tuer des bestes, ils 
sont autant sans manger, pour des os on ne leur en baille point crainte de gaster 
leurs dents, ny mesme ceux de Castor, s’ils en mangeoient cela empescheroit les 
Sauvages d’en tuer, mesme si on les faisoit briiler, car il est bon de remarquer 
icy, que les Sauvages avoient la dessus des superstitions dont on a eu bien de la 
peine a les desabuser: s’ils avoient fait rostir une anguille ils croyoiét aussi que 
cela les empescheroit d’en prendre une autrefois: ils avoient anciennement 
plusieurs scrupulles de cette sorte qu’ils n’ont plus a present, & dont nous les 
avons desabusez. 

[431] C’estoit leur richesse que leurs chiens, & pour témoigner 4 un amy 
Vestime quils faisoient de luy, ils luy donnoient 4 manger le chien qu’ils esti- 
moient le plus en témoignage d’amitié: on dit que c’est un excellent manger: 
ils le font encore, & les Francois en mangent quand ils se trouvent aux festins, 
dont ils font grand recit, & l’ayment plus que le mouton ; cela ne m’a pourtant 
jamais donné envie d’en manger. 

Lors quils menoient leurs chiens 4 la chasse de l’Orignac, le Printemps, 
lEsté, & l Automne, les chiens alloient quelque temps les uns d’un costé, les 
autres de l’autre: celuy qui rencontroit quelque piste la suivoit sans faire bruit, 
s'il attra~ [432] poit la beste il gagnoit le devant luy sautant sur le nez: pour 
lors il hurloit, ’ Orignac s’y amusoit & luy vouloit donner du pied de devant ; 
tous les autres chiens qui |’entendoient y couroient & I’attaquoient de tous les 
costez; il se defend de ses pieds de devant, les chiens tachent de luy attraper le 
meufle ou les oreilles: pendant ce temps-la le Sauvage arrive qui tache sans se 
faire voir de l’aborder a portée & au dessous du vent, car si la beste |’appercoit 
ou l’éventent, ’?Orignac prend la fuite & se moque des chiens, sinon le Chasseur 
luy donne un coup de fleche, estant blessé il a peine de se sauver des chiens qui 
le suivent totijours, & le Sauvage aussi, qui le ratrappe [433] & le tire encore, 
mais quelques fois les chiens qui l’ont attrapé aux oreilles ou au mufle le 
couchent bas avant que le Sauvage l’eye ratrapé ; ils n’ont garde de l’abandonner, 
car bien souvent il y a sept 4 huit jours quils n’ont mangé, le Sauvage arrivé, 
l’acheve de tuer, luy fend le ventre, donne toutes les tripailles 4 ses chiens qui 
font grand curée, c’est ce qui rend leurs chiens aspres a la chasse: pour |’ Hyver 
lors qwil a pleu sur la nege & qu’elle peut porter les chiens, ils s’en servoient 
comme j’ay deja dit, parce qu’ils n’ont pas pour lors tant de peine a attraper les 
Orignaux, ne courant pas si viste, étant plus lourds que les chiens ils enfoncent 
dans la nege, & ne peuvent [434] plus aller que par sauts, 

Pour celle du Castors elle se faisoit aussi l’FLlyver avec les chiens, mais ils 
ne servoient qu’a trouver le logement ou ils sentoient les castors au travers de la 
glace, les ayant trouvés les Sauges couppoient la glace & faisoient un trou 
assez large pour pouvoir passer le Castor, ensuitte ils en faisoient un autre a 
vingt-cing ou trente pas de 1a, sur le lac au large; en ce lieu-la se mettoit un 
Sauvage ou deux avec l’arc & la fleche qui a un harpon d’os au bout fait en 
cramailliere, comme celuy dont on se servoit 4 la pesche de |’éturgeon, mais plus 
petit, qui a aussi une corde ou il est attaché d’un bout, & le Sauvage tenoit 
Pautre ; tout cela estant fait, un [435] autre Sauvage alloit 4 l’autre trou proche du 


DE LPAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 597 


logement des Castors, se couchoit le ventre sur la glace, mettoit son bras dedans 
le trou pour chercher |’ouverture des Castors, par ot ils mettent leur queué dans 
Veau; 1a ils sont arrangez tous les uns contre les autres, c’est 4 dire tous ceux 
d’une famille Castorienne; les ayant trouvez le Sauvage passoit la main tout 
doucement sur le dos d’un par plusieurs fois, & approchant petit 4 petit de la 
queué taschoit de la prendre. 

J’ay otiy dire 4 des Sauvages, qu’ils ont esté si long-temps le bras dans |’eau 
que la glace prenoit tout autour de leur bras, quand ils tenoient une fois la queué 
ils tiroient le Castor tout [436] d’un coup de l’eau sur la glace, & en mesme 
temps luy donnoient de Ja hache sur la teste, & |’assommoient de crainte que le 
castor ne les mordit, car ou ils mettent les dents ils emportent la piece ; en ayant 
tiré un ils tachoient d’en avoir un autre, auquel ils faisoient de mesme, les frottant 
doucement cela ne les fait pas fuir, s’imaginant se toucher les uns les autres, 
mais pourtant en ayant enlevé trois ou quatre le reste prend la fuite & se jette a 
l’eau, n’y pouvant demeurer longt-temps sans respirer ; le jour qui donne sur le 
trou qui est au large les y fait venir pour prendre l’air; les autres Sauvages qui 
sont la en embuscade, si-tost qu’ils paroissent leurs donnent un coup de fleche, 
[437] le harpon qui a des dents prend 4 quelque endroit du castor qui l’empesche 
de sortir ; on tire donc la corde, on ramene le castor au trou, puis l’enlevent sur 
la glace & Passomment, quelque temps apres il en vient au autre que l’on prend 
de méme, il s’en sauve peu d’une cabane, ils attrapoient tout. L’humeur des 
Sauvages est de ne pardonner non plus aux petits qu’aux grands ; ils tuoient tout 
de quelque sorte de beste que ce fust quand ils les pouvoient attraper: il est bon 
de remarquer icy qu’ils estoient plus friands des petits que des grands de quelques 
especes de bestes que ce fust, en sorte que souvent lors qu’ils couroient deux 
Eslans masles & femelles, ils [438] quittoient le masle s’ils appercevoient que la 
femelle fust pleine afin d’avoir ses petits, car d’ordinaire elles en portent d’eux, 
& c’est pour eux un grand regal. 

Pour les Ours, s’ils en tuoient |’ Hyver il falloit qu’ils les rencontrassent en 
allant a la chasse, rencontrant quelques gros arbres ils regardoient s’il sortoit de 
Vhaleine en forme de fumée de dedans, s’ils en appercevoient s’estoit un signe 
que l’Ours y estoit, ils montoient dessus |’arbre & tuoient |’ours avec leurs dards, 
puis ils le tiroient de dedans; |’Esté ils en rencontroient dans le bois qu’ils 
suivoient a la piste; ou le tuoient quelquesfois sur un chesne ou ils mangeoiét 
dugland, lors un coup [439] de fleche les faisoit bien-tost décédre, & si-tost qu’il 
estoit a bas, ils redoubloient d’une autre fleche, puis l’assommoient a coups de 
hoches; s’ils le rencontroient a terre & qu’ils tirent dessus, selon que l’ours est 
blessé i] fuit, ou vient 4 l’homme, qui a bien-tost une autre fleche parée; s’il ne 
le fait demeurer, l’ours l’embrasse, & l’auroit bien-tost mis en pieces avec ses 
grifs, mais le Sauvage pour |’éviter se jette la face contre terre, l’ours le sent, & 
si l’homme ne remué point, il le tourne & luy porte le nez sur la bouche pour 
connoistre s’il respire ; s'il ne sent point son halaine, il met le cul sur son ventre, 
le foule tant qu’il peut, & en mesme temps reporte son nez sur sa bouche, s’il 
[440] n’y sent point son halaine, & que homme ne remué point il le laisse la, 
& s’en va 4 quinze ou vingt pas, puis se met sur le cul & regarde si l’on ne remué 
point, que l’on demeure quelque temps immobile il s’en va, mais s’il void remuer, 
il revient 4 l’homme, luy foulera encore sur le ventre assez long-temps, puis il 
retourne le sentir 4 la bouche, s’il s’appercoit qu’il respire, il le foulera comme 
cela tant qu’il croye l’avoir étouffé, si pendant ce temps-la les blessures ne le 


2Q) 


598 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


font tomber bas; pour s’en garantir il faut bien prendre garde de respirer ny de 
remuer qu’il ne soit tres-éloigné, ils ne font point d’autre mal, & lors qu’on a 
des chiens on se garantist de tout cela. | 

[441] Pour les Loups serviers, si les Sauvages les rencontrent & qu’ils les 
poursuivent ou leurs chiens, cet animal monte dans un arbre ou il est facille a 
tuer, pendant que les chiens |’épouvantent de leurs cris ; tous les autres animaux 
ne sont pas bien mal aisés a tuer, & il n’y en a point qui soit capable d’attaquer 
homme a moins qu’il n’en soit attaqué le premier; ils ne tuoient qu’a la fleche 
toutes sortes de gibier d’eau & de terre, soit en volant ou a terre; pour |’écureuil, 
la perdrix & autres petit gibier, ce sont les enfans qui s’amusent a cela. 


[442 | CHAPITRE XXVI 


La chasse des Oyseaux, des Poissons, tant de jour que de nuit, &5 la ceremonie 
de leur Enterrement, ce qui s’y pratiquoit lors que Pon les mettoit en terre. 


LS avoient encores une autre chasse de nuit qui est assez plaisante en de 
certains cul de sacs qui sont a labry du vent, les Outardes, les Cravans & 
les Canards s’y retirent pour dormir fort au large, car a terre ils ne 
seroient pas en seureté 4 cause des Renards, en ces lieux [443] la les 

Sauvages alloient deux ou trois dans un canot avec des torches qu’ils faisoient 
d’écorse de bouleau qui flamboient plus clair que des flambeaux de cire estans au 
lieu of sont tous ces oyseaux ils se couchoient dans le canot qu’ils laissoient aller 
a la derive sans paroistre ; la marée les portoit droit au milieu de tous ces oyseaux 
qui n’en ont point de peur, s’imaginant estre quelque piece de bois que la mer 
transporte d’un costé & d’autre comme cela arrive souvent, ce qui fait quils y 
sont accotitumez, lors que les Sauvages estoient au milieu d’eux, ils allumoient 
leurs flambeaux tout d’un coup ce qui les surprenoit, les obligeoit tous au mesme 
temps de se lever en [444] lair, la nuit qui est brune fait beaucoup paroistre 
cette lumiere, soit qu’ils s’imaginent que ce soit le Soleil, ou autre chose, ils se 
mettoient tous 4 tourner en confusion tout au tour de ces flambeaux qu’un 
Sauvage tenoit en s’approchant tofijours du feu & si proche qu’avec un baston 
que les Sauvages tenoient ils les assommoient en passant, outre qu’a force de 
tourner ces oyseaux s’etourdissoient si bien qu’ils tomboient comme morts, & pour 
lors les Sauvages les prennoient & leur tordoient le col, en sorte qu’en une nuit 
ils emplissoient leur canot. 

Les Sauvages se servoient encores de ses flambeaux pour la pesche du 
Saumon & de la truite [445] saumonée qui est aussi puissante que le Saumon, il 
y a de deux especes de Saumon, les uns semblables 4 ceux de France, les autres 
ont la machoire de dessous plus pointué & un crochet au bout qui releve au haut, 
je crois pourtant que c’est ce que nous appellons en France Becars, ils ne sont 
pas moins bons que les autres, tout cela vient de la mer & montent dans les 
rivieres au printemps, il s’y rencontre force fosses dans ces rivieres ou le Saumon 
s’égaye aprés avoir monté, a quoy il a de la peine a cause des saults qui s’y 
trouvent, il y a des endroits ou l’eau tombe de huit, dix, douze & quinze pieds 
de haut ot le Saumon monte, il se darde dans la cheute de l’eau en cing ou 


————— oe 


DE L’,AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 599 


[446] six coups de queué il monte haut, ce n’est pas qu’il y aye des sauts en 
toutes ces rivieres, mais en certaines rivieres seulement, aprés avoir monté ils se 
divertissent en ces fosses, y ayant demeuré quelque temps ils montent encores 
plus haut, en ces lieux de repos les Sauvages alloient la nuit avec leurs canots & 
leurs flambeaux ; ot il y a des fosses ils y portoient leurs canots par dedans le 
bois, & les mettoient ot estoient les saumons ou les truites qui rarement se mettent 
en une mesme fosse, estant 1a, ils allumoient un flambeau: le saumon ou la truite 
voyant le feu qui fait lueur sur l’eau, viennent faire des caracolles tout le long du 
canot ; celuy qui est debout le harpon a la [447] main, qui est le mesme du 
castor aussi emmanché au bout d’un grand baston, si-tost qu’il voyoit passer un 
poisson il le dardoit & en manquoit fort peu, mais quelquesfois le harpon ne 
tenoit pas manque d’artraper quelque areste, ainsi ils perdoient leur poisson; cela 
n’empesche pas qu ils n’en prennent des cent cinquante & deux cens par nuit. 

I]s se servent encore d’une autre invention au plus étroit des rivieres ot il y 
a le moins d’eau, ils font une palissade de bois tout au travers de la riviere pour 
empescher le poisson de passer, & au milieu ils laissent une ouverture, en laquelle 
ils mettent des nasses faites comme celles de France, en sorte qu’il faut [448] de 
necessité que le poisson donne dedans: ces nasses qui sont plus grandes que les 
nostres, ils les levent deux ou trois fois le jour, il s’y trouve toijours du poisson, 
c’est au Printemps que le poisson monte, & |’ Automne il décend & retourne a la 
mer, pour lors ils mettoient l’embouchure de leurs nasses de l’autre costé. 

Tout ce que j’ay dit jusques 4 present des mceurs des Sauvages & de leurs 
diverses manieres d’agir, ne se doit entendre que de ce quwuils pratiquoient 
anciennement, 4 quoy j’ajotiteray leurs enterremens & ceremonies anciennes de 
leurs funerailles. Lors qu’il mouroit quelques hommes parmy eux c’estoit de 
grands pleurs en sa cabane, tous ses pa- [449| rents & amis le venoient pleurer, 
ce qui duroit des trois ou quatre jours sans manger ; pendant ce temps-la on 
faisoit son oraison funebre, chacun parloit les uns apres les autres, car jamais ils 
ne parlent deux a la fois ny hommes ny femmes, enquoy ces barbares donnent 
une belle lecon 4 bien des gens qui se croyent plus polis & plus sages qu’eux : il 
se faisoit un recit de toute la genealogie du deffunt, de ce qu'il avoit fait de beau 
& de bon, des contes qu’il luy avoient oiiy dire de ses ancestres, des grands 
festins & reconnoissances qu'il avoit fait en grand nombre, des bestes qu’il avoit 
tuces a la chasse, & toutes les autres choses qu’ils jugeoient 4 propos de dire a 
la lotiange de [450] ses predecesseurs : apres quoy ils venoient au deffunt, alors les 
grands cris & les pleurs redoubloient; ce qui faisoit faire une pose a |’Orateur 
auquel les hommes & femmes répondoient de temps en temps par un gemissement 
general, tout d’un temps & d’un mesme ton, & souvent celuy qui parloit faisoit 
des poses & se mettoit 4 crier & pleurer avec les autres ; ayant dit tout ce qu'il 
vouloit dire, un autre recommencoit qui disoit encore toute autre chose que le 
premier, ensuite les uns apres les autres faisoient chacun a sa maniere le pane- 
gyrique du mort, cela duroit trois ou quatre jours avant que l’oraison funebre 
fust finie. 

Apres quoy il falloit faire [451] grand tabagie, c’est a dire festin, & se 
réjouir de la grande satisfaction qu’aura le deffunt d’aller voir tous ses ayeuls, ses 
parens & bons amis, & de la’ joye que chacun auroit de le voir, & les grands 
festins qu’ils luy feront, ils croyoient qu’estans morts ils iroient en un autre pays 
ou tout abondoit 4 foison, & ov !’on ne travaille point, le festin de la joye estant 
finy il falloit travailler pour le mort. 


600 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


Les femmes alloient chercher de belles écorces dont ils faisoient une espece 
de bierre, dans laquelle elles le mettoient bien enveloppé, puis on le portoit en 
un lieu ot ils avoient un échaffaut basty exprés, élevé de huit 4 dix pieds sur 
lequel ils mettoient la bierre, & |’y lais- [452] soient environ un an, jusques 4 ce 
que le Soleil eust entierement deseché le cadavre ; pendant ce temps-la les femmes 
du mort le pleuroient autant de fois qu’elles se rencontroient en compagnie, mais 
non pas si long-temps que la premiere fois, rarement les femmes se remarioient, 
ou du moins si ce n’estoit apres le bout de l’an, & pour lordinaire ayant des 
enfans qui les pouvoient nourrir, elles ne se remarioient point, & demeuroient 
tofijours avec ces enfans dans la viduité. 

Le bout de l’an estant passé & le codavre sec on I’ostoit de la, & on le 
portoit en un autre endroit qui est leur cimetiere ou on le mettoit en un coffre 
ou biere neufve aussi d’écorce de bouleau, [453] & incontinent apres dans une 
grande fosse qu’ils avoient faite dans la terre, dans laquelle tous les parens & 
amis jettoient des arcs, des fleches, des raquettes, des darcs, des robbes d’orignac, 
de loutre, de castor, des chausses, des souliers & tout ce qu’il leur estoit necessaire 
pour la chasse & le vestement ; tous les amis du deffunt luy faisoient chacun son 
present du plus beau & du meilleur qu’ils avoient, ils se piquoient a qui feroit 
le plus beau don: du temps qu’ils n’étoient pas encore desabusez de leurs 
erreurs je leur ay veu donner au deffunt, des fusils, des haches, des fers de 
fleches, & des chaudieres, car ils trouvoient tout cela bien plus commode a leur 
usage que n’auroient esté [454] leurs chaudieres de bois, leurs haches de pierre, 
& des coiiteaux d’os, pour leur service en |’autre monde. 

Il y a eu des morts de mon temps qui ont emporté pour plus de deux mil 
livres de pelleteries, ce qui faisoit pitié aux Francois, & peut-estre envie tout 
ensemble, on n’osoit pourtant pas les aller prendre, car cela eust causé une haine 
& guerre immortelle, ce qui n’étoit pas prudent d’hazarder, puis que c’étoit 
ruiner entierement le commerce que nous avions avec eux ; tous les enterremens 
des femmes, garcons, filles & enfans se faisoient de mesme, mais les pleurs ne 
duroient pas si long-temps: on ne laissoit pas de mettre 4 un chacun ce qui é- 
[455] toit propre pour son usage, & l’enterrer avec luy. 

n a eu de la peine a les désabuser de cela, quoy qu’on leur ait dit que 
toutes ces choses pourrissoient dans la terre, & que si on y regardoit ils verroient 
bien que rien n/alloit avec le mort: on fit tant qu’a la fin ils consentirent 
d’ouvrir une fosse, ou on leur fit voir que tout estoit gasté; il y avoit entre 
autres une chaudiere toute percée de ver de gris, contre laquelle un Sauvage 
ayant frapé & trouvé qu’elle n’avoit plus de son, il se prist 4 faire un grand cry 
& dit qu’on les vouloit tromper : Nous voyons bien, dit-il, les robbes & tout le 
reste & si elles y sont encore, c’est une marque que le deffant n’en [456] a pas 
eu besoin en l’autre monde ot ils en ont assez depuis le temps qu’on leur en 
fournit. 

Mais a l’égard de la chaudiere dit-il dont ils ont besoin, qui est parmy nous 
un ustencile de nouvelle introduction, & dont l’autre monde ne peut estre fourny. 
Ne vois-tu pas bien dit-il, frappant encore sur la chaudiere, qu’elle n’a plus de 
son & qu’elle ne dit plus mot, parce que son ame l’a abandonnée pour aller 
servir en |’autre monde au deffunt 4 qui nous |’avons donnée. 

Il fut bien mal-aisé de s’empescher de rire, mais bien plus encore de le 
desabuser, car luy en ayant montré une autre qui s’estoit usée a force de servir, 
& luy ayant fait entendre qu’el- [457] le ne disoit mot non plus que l’autre: ha, 


DE LAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 601 


dit-il, c’est qu’elle est morte, & que son ame est allée au pais ot ont accotitumé 
d’aller les ames des chaudieres, |’on n’en piit jamais avoir d’autres raisons pour 
lors; on les a pourtant desabusez de cela 4 la fin avec bien de la peine, les uns 
pour la Religion, l’exemple de nos Coustumes, & presque tous par la necessité 
des choses qui viennent de nous, & dont l’usage leur est devenu d’une necessité 
indispensable, ayant renoncé 4 toutes leur ustenciles, soit par la peine qu’ils 
avoient, tant a les faire & a s’en servir, que par la facilité de tirer de nous pour 
des peaux qui ne leurs cotitoient presque rien, des choses qui leur sembloient 
inestima- [458] bles, non tant par leur nouveauté que par les commoditez qu’ils 
en recoivent: sur tout la chaudiere leur a toGjours paru & paroist encore la 
chose la plus precieuse qu’ils puissent tirer de Nous; ce que témoigna assez 
plaisamment un Sauvage que feu Monsieur de Razilly envoya de |’ Acadie 4 Paris, 
car passant par la rué Aubry-bouché, ot il y avoit pour lors beaucoup de 
Chaudronniers, il demanda a son Truchement s’ils n’étoient pas parents du Roy, 
& sice n’étoit pas le métier des plus grands Seigneurs du Royaume. I] ne faut pas 
que cette petite digression me fasse oublier de dire icy avant de finir ce Chapitre 
des funerailles, que pour exprimer une chose telle [459] qu’elle soit qui ne peut 
plus servir, ils disent qu’elle est morte, par exemple quand leur canot est rompu, 
ils disent qu’il est mort, & ainsi de toutes autres choses hors de service. 


[460] CHAPITRE XXVII 


La difference qwil y a entre les coustumes anciennes des Sauvages, && 
celles a’ apresent. 


ES Sauvages aujourd’huy pratiquent encore l’enterrement ancien en 
toutes choses, excepté que l’on ne met plus rien dans leurs fosses, 
dont ils sont entierement desabusez, ils se sont deffaits aussi de ces 
offrandes si frequentes & ordinaires qu’ils faisoient comme par hom- 

mage a leur manitou, en passant par des endroits ou il y avoit quelque hazard a 
essuyer, ou bien ou il estoit arrivé quel- [461] ques disgraces, ce qu’ils faisoient 
pour en détourner autant de dessus eux ou leur familles: ils se sont encore 
corrigez d’autres petites superstitions qu’ils avoient, comme de donner des os 
aux chiens, de faire rostir des anguilles, & plusieurs autres de cette maniere qui 
sont entierement abolies, autant par un esprit d’interest que par aucune autre 
raison, car ils y donnoient souvent ce qu’ils avoient de plus precieux & de plus 
rare, mais comme iis ne pourroient pas recouvrer maintenant les choses qui 
viennent de Nous avec tant de facilité qu’ils en avoient a trouver des robbes de 
marte, de loutre ou de castors, des arcs, des fleches, & qu’ils se sont apperceus, 
que les fuzils & [462] autres choses ne se trouvoient ny dans leurs bois, ny dans 
leurs rivieres, ils sont devenus moins devots, ou pour mieux dire, moins super- 
sticieux dés que leurs offrandes leurs ont trop cousté; mais ils pratiquent encore 
toutes les mesmes manieres de la chasse, avec cette difference neantmoins, qu’au 
lieu qu’ils armoient leurs fleches & leurs dards avec des os de bestes, pointus & 
aiguisez, ils les arment aujourd’huy avec des fers qu’on fait exprés pour leur 
vendre, & leurs dards sont faits maintenant d’une épée emmenchée au bout d’un 


602 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


baston de sept a huit pieds de long, dont ils se servent I’ Hyver quand il y ade la 
nege, pour darder |’ orignac, ou pour la pesche du saumon, de [ 463] la truite & du 
castor, on leur fournit aussi des harpons de fer, de l’usage desquels nous avons 
parlé cy-dessus. 

Le fuzil leur sert plus que tout cela 4 leurs chasses du Printemps, de I’ Esté 
& de |’Automne, tant aux bestes qu’aux oyseaux: d’une fleche ils ne tuent 
qu’une outarde, mais d’un coup de fuzil ils en tuent des cing ou six: pour la 
fleche il falloit approcher la beste de prés, avec le fuzil ils tirent la beste de loin 
avec une balle ou deux : les haches, les chaudieres, les cofiteaux & tout ce qu’on 
leur donne leur est bien plus commode & plus portatif que ce qu’ils avoient le 
temps passé lors qu’ils estoient obligez d’aller cabaner aupres de leurs monstrueuses 
[464] chaudieres au lieu qu ’aujourd’huy ils ont la liberté d’aller camper ou ils 
veulent, & on peut dire qu’en ce temps-la les chaudieres immobiles estoient la 
principale regle de leur vie, puis quils ne pouvoient vivre qu’aux lieux ou elles 
étoient. 

A Végard de la chasse du castor pendant I’ Hyver, ils la font de mesme qu’ils 
la faisoient autrefois, quoy quils ayent heantmoins aujourd’huy plus d’avantage 
avec les fleches & harpons, armez de fer, qu’avec les autres dont ils se servoient 
anciennement, & dont ils ont abandonné tout 4 fait l’usage. 

Pour leurs festins, ils les font comme ils faisoient anciennement, les femmes 
n’y entrent point ; ceux qui ont leurs mois [465] sont totijours a part; ils y 
font totijours des harangues, des dances, mais l’issue n’est pas semblable, depuis 
quils boivent du vin & de l’eau de vie, ils sont sujets a se battre; leur querelle 
vient d’ordinaire sur leur condition, car estant saouls, ils se disent tous grands 
Capitaines, ce qui engendre des querelles entre eux, dans les commencemens il 
leur falloit peu de vin ou eau de vie pour les saouler. 

Mais 4 present ils boivent bien d’une autre facon depuis qu’ils ont hanté les 
navires pescheurs, ils ne tiennent plus compte du vin & ne veullent plus que de 
eau de vie; ils n’appellent pas boire s’ils ne se saoulent, & ne croient pas avoir 
beu s’ils ne se battent & ne s’assomment ; [466] neantmoins lors qu’ils se mettent 
2 boire, leurs femmes ostent de leurs cabannes, les fuzils, les haches, les épées 
emmanchées, les arcs, les flechess & mesmes jusques a leurs cousteaux, que les 
Sauvages portent pendus au col, elles ne leurs laissent rien dont ils se puissent 
tuer, & eux souffrent cela sans dire mot si c’est avant que de boire, autrement les 
femmes n’oseroient entrer dans les cabanes, & tout aussi-tost qu’elle leurs ont osté 
tout ce dont ils se pourroient blesser, elles l’emportent dans le bois au loing ou 
elles se vont cacher avec tous leurs enfans: aprés cela ils ont beau se battre 
s’assomer & se tuer, les femmes n’y viennent point, jusques au lendemain qu’ils 
sont désaou- [467] lez, pour lors leur combat ne se fait que des perches de leurs 
cabannes qu’ils mettent en pieces pour les avoir, apres cela il faut que les pauvres 
femmes aillent chercher d’autres perches & d’autres écorces pour faire leur 
logement, & si il ne faut pas gronder, autrement elles seroient battués. 

9’il se trouve quelqu’un de blessé entr’eux, celuy qui l’aura fait luy demande 
pardon, en disant qu’il estoit yvre, il en est quitte pour cela, mais s’il y en a 
quelqu’un de tué, il faut que le meurtrier, outre |’aveu de son yvrognerie & le 
pardon qu’il demande, fasse quelque present a la vefve, 4 quoy tous les autres le 
condamnent ; ; & pour faire la paix entiere il faut qu’il paye [468] encore a boire, 
s'il n’a point de peaux, c "est comme qui diroit je n’ay point d’argent: pour 
acheter de l’eau de vie pour lors faut qu’il vende son fuzil, sa couverture ou 


ee 


DE LVVAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 603 


autre chose pour en avoir, ce qui leur cofitera des cing 4 six peaux ils le donneront 
aux pescheurs pour une bouteille ou deux d’eau de vie, ils recommencent a boire ; 
si l’eau de vie qu’ils ont eué n’est pas capable de les enyvrer ils donneront tout 
ce qu’ils auront pour en avoir encore, c’est 4 dire qu’ils ne cesseront de boire 
tant qu’ils auront quleque chose, ainsi les pécheurs les ruinent entierement. 

Car aux habitations l’on ne leur en veut pas tant donner qu’ils en puissent 
boire au point de se tuer, & on leur vend davan- [469] tage qu’aux navires, ce 
sont les Capitaines & les matelots qui leurs en donnent, ausquels il n’en couste 
que l’achapt, surquoy ils ne laissent pas de gagner beaucoup, car tous les dépens 
& frais du navire se font par les bourgeois, outre que |’équipage traite ou negocie 
avec les Sauvages, du biscuit, des plombs, des lignes toutes neufes, des voiles & 
de beaucoup d’autres choses aux dépens desdits bourgeois, cela fait qu’ils donnent 
aux Sauvages deux ou trois fois plus que l’on ne leur donne aux habitations, ot 
il n’y a rien dont le fret ou le portage seul ne cotite soixante livres pour tonneau 
sans l’achat & le coulage, outre qu’on donne aux Sauvages toutes les fois qu’ils 
vien- [470| nent aux habitations un coup d’eau de vie, un morceau de pain, & du 
tabac en entrant, quelques nombre qu’ils soient, hommes & femmes: pour les enfans 
on ne leur donne que du pain, on leur en donne encore autant quand ils s’en vont, 
joint qu’il faut entretenir bien du monde a gage outre la nourriture; toutes ces 
gratifications-la avoient esté introduites parle passé pour attirer les Sauvages aux 
habitations, afin de les pouvoir plus facilement instruire 4 la foy & Religion 
Chrestienne, ce que l’on avoit fait déja d’un grand nombre, par les soins des 
Reverends P. Jesuites qui s’en sont retirez voyant qu'il n’y avoit plus rien a 
faire avec des gens que la frequentation des navires entrete- [471] noit dans une 
perpetuelle yvrognerie. 

A present, si-tost que les Sauvages sortent du bois au Printemps, ils cachent 
toutes leurs meilleures peaux, en apportent quelqu’unes aux habitations pour avoir 
leur droit de boire, manger & fumer, ils payent une partie de ce qu’on leur a 
presté pendant |’ Automne pour subsister, autrement ils mourroient de faim: ils 
assurent que c’est tout ce que leur ont produit leur chasse pendant tout |’ Hyver, 
si-tost qu’ils sont partis ils vont reprendre les peaux qu’ils ont cachées dans les 
bois, & vont sur les passages des vaisseaux pescheurs faire sentinelle: s’il apper- 
goivent quelques navires ils font de grosses fumées pour a- [472] vertir qu’ils 
sont-la ; au mesme temps le navire approche la terre, & les Sauvages prennent 
quelques peaux & se mettent en canots pour aller au navire, ot ils sont bien 
receus, on leur baille 4 boire & 4 manger tant qu’ils veulent pour les mettre en 
train, & on s’enqueste d’eux s’ils ont beaucoup de peaux, s’il n’y a point d’autres 
Sauvages qu’eux dans le bois, s’ils disent qu'il y en a & quiils ont des peaux, 
tout 4 ’heure on fait tirer un coup de canon de la plus grosse piece pour les 
avertir qu’ils viennent, 4 quoy ils ne manquent pas aussi-tost qu’ils entendent le 
canon & apportent leurs peaux, pendant ce temps-la le navire amene ses voiles, 
passe un jour ou deux 4 courir [473] bord sur bord, en attendant les Sauvages 
qui leurs apportent une ou deux peaux, & sont receus avec la mesme chere que 
les premiers qui ont encore part 4 la bonne reception que |’on fait aux derniers 
venus, & reboivent tous ensemble sur nouveaux frais: il est bon d’observer que 
quand on dit peaux, simplement sans autre adition, c’est A dire peaux d’orignac 
dont se font les meilleurs buffles. 

Le soir estant venu ils se retirent 4 terre avec quelques barils d’eau de vie, 
& se mettent 4 boire, mais peu, crainte de se saouller, ils renvoient seulement des 


604 - HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


femmes au navire qui portent une peau & rapportent de |’eau de vie, & renvoient 
comme cela de temps en temps des [474] femmes afin d’avoir leur bouteille d’eau 
de vie: mais si vous desirez scavoir pourquoy ils ne prennent pas tout ce qu’ils 
veulent boire tout d’un coup, c’est que les femmes ne font point de voyages aux 
navires qu’elles ne rapportent vingt-cing ou trente galettes de biscuit de present 
que chacun leur fait, pour quelques plats d’écorce & des despeschipoty. Je croy 
avoir déja dit que ces peschipoty sont des bourses de cuir enjolivées pour mettre 
du tabac, qui est un travail des femmes assez proprement fait. 

Un peschipoty c’est tout ce qui se ferme par un lien ou serant comme une 
bourse, moyennant que tout cela ne passe point la grandeur d’un sac a [475 | 
' mettre des heures, on en fait de martes, d’écureuils, de rats musquez ou autres 
petits animaux, d’autres de peaux d’orignac, de peaux de loup marin, ceux-la 
sont de la largeur de la main & un peu plus longs; un costé tourne sur l’autre 
avec une petite couroye qui fait plusieurs tours pour la fermer, 4 la maniere de 
ces porte papieres de cuir: ceux de peaux ont des tirans comme les bourses, & 
tous ces peschipoty-la servent 4 mettre du tabac ou du plomb pour la chasse: les 
Sauvagesses les font valoir aux pescheurs selon la peau & lenjolivement bigarré, 
quwils appellent matachiez, ce qui se fait avec du poil de porc-épic blanc, 
rouge & violet, & quleques-fois a~ [476] vec de leurs pourcelenes, dont jay 
déja parle, avec cela elles tirent beaucoup de choses des matelots, il n’y a celuy 
qui n’en vueille avoir aux dépens du corbillon, c’est a dire du biscuit du navire 
& de Ja boisson; elles portent des martes, des escureuils, pour cravattes ou 
autres bagatelles que les femmes font; ce n’est pas qu’elles debitent 4 chaque 
voyage tout ce qu’elles portent, elles scavent bien ménager leur fait, mais seule- 
ment pour faire montre & donner de l’envie; elles promettent a l’un & a l’autre 
& ne donnent rien, pendant tout ce negoce-la, on leur promet beaucoup s’ils les 
veulent aller trouver au lieu of ils vont ancrer pour faire leur pesche, ce qu’el- 
[471] les font esperer ; apres quoy chaque matelot leur donne en cachette les 
uns des autres des eateries de biscuit, prennent totijours, en les assurant de les 
aller trouver, mais elles n’y vont pas si-tost, & demeurent encore a terre en 
attendant que d’autres navires viennent a passer, il n’en passe point dont elles 
n’ayent par la mesme methode deux ou trois quintaux de biscuit & de bons 
barils d’eau de vie, pour deux ou trois peaux qu’ils donnent, & ce qu'il y a de 
certain, c'est que tant qu’ils peuvent aller aux navires ils ne se saoullent jamais, 
car ils nc pourroient pas conserver le jugement qui leur est necessaire pour prendre 
les matelots & les Capitaines pour duppes & attra- [478] per leur pain, outre que 
tant quils peuvent aller de sang froid ils boivent sans qu’il leur en couste rien, 
tant hommes que femmes, & font pourtant si bien qu’a la fin ils se saoullent aux 
dépens d’autruy avant que d’avoir touché a l’eau de vie qu’ils ont traittée, tant 
ils sont adonnez 4 leur interest & a leur plaisir, & habiles 4 tromper ceux qui s’y 
fient, 

Les navires les ayant quitez, ils commencent a boire tout de bon a terre; 
s'il y demeure quelques femmes avec eux qui ayment 4 boire, quoy qu’elles 
soient assurez d’estre bien battués, elles ne se mettent point en peine pourveu 
qu’elles se saoullent; celles qui ne veulent pas boire si cherement se reti- [479] 
rent avec leurs enfans dans les bois & ne reviennent point que toute l’yvrognerie ne 
soit passée qui durera quelquesfois des deux ou trois jours sans désaouller, apres 
quoy il se trouve bien des testes, des bras, des jambes fort endommagées & force 
cheveux arrachez, ainsi il n’y a point de soumission 4 faire, chacun est marqué 


DE LYAMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE 605 


& ne songe qu’a se penser; leur plus grand remede c’est de la gomme de sapin 
qui est souveraine comme le baume pour les playes n’y ayant point d’os cassez, 
s'il y ena ils les scavent bien rabiller & les remettre en leur estat; tout cela 
fait, il faut retourner ot les pescheurs sont; 14 ils recommencent la mesme vie 
tant qu’ils ont dequoy boire, & se dépoiiillent tous nuds, c’est [480] a dire 
qu’ils vendent tout & boivent tout, conservant seulement du biscuit pour leur 
Hyver: ils passent ainsi tout l’Esté & partie de  Automne, tant qu’il y a des 
navires 4 la costé, & il ne se passe point d’année qu’il ne se tué des six, sept & 
huit Sauvages en toute la coste par |’yvrognerie. 

Les femmes & les grandes filles boivent bien aussi a la dérobée, & se vont 
cacher dans les bois pour cela; les matelots scavent bien les rendez-vous, ce 
sont eux qui fournissent |’eau de vie, & les mettent en si bon estat peuvent faire 
delles tout ce gu’ils veulent. Toutes ces frequentation des navires Jes ont 
entierement perdués, & ne se soucient plus de la Religion, [475] elles jurent 
le nom de Dieu, sont larronesses & fourbes, & n’ont plus la pureté du passé, 
ny femme ny filles, du moins celles qui boivent: ce n’est pas un crime 4 
une fille d’avoir des enfans, elle en est pliitost mariée, parce qu’on est assuré 
quelle n’est point sterile: celuy qui |’épouse prend les enfans; ils ne repudient 
pas a present cme ils ont fait par le passé, & n’ont plus tant de femmes, n’estans 
pas bons chasseurs a cause de leur yvrognerie, & que les bestes n’y sont plus si 
abondantes: outre toutes les méchancetez dont j’ay parlé, les pescheurs leurs 
ont apris 4 se vanger les uns des autres: celuy qui voudra mal a son com- 
pagnon le fera boire en compagnie tant qu’il l’aye fait [476] saouller pendant 
qu'il se reserve, il fait semblant d’estre saoul comme les autres & fait une 
querelle; la batterie estant commencée, 11 a une hache ou autre ferement qu’il 
a caché devant que de boire qu’il prend & dont il assomme son homme; il 
continué de faire |’yvrogne & c’est le dernier reveillé: le lendemain on luy dit 
que c’est luy qui a tué l’autre, dont il fait le fasché, & dit qu'il estoit yvre; si 
le mort estoit marié, ce faux yvrogne fait ou promet de faire present 4 la veufve, 
& si c’est un garcon il témoigne les mesmes regrets au pere & a la mere, avec 
promesse aussi de leur faire des presens: si le deffunt a des freres ou des parens 
qui l’aiment celuy qui a tué est assuré qu’on [477] luy en fera autant, & tost ou 
tard ils se vengeront. 

Voila une grande difference entre leurs mceurs presents 4 ceux du passé ; 
s’ils ont tofijours la liberté de frequenter les navires ce sera encore pis 4 |’avenir, 
car leurs peaux ne vallent pas tant qu’elles ont vallu ; pour avoir dequoy boire 
comme ils ont eu il leur en faudra donner de force, comme ils ont déja obligé 
les navires qu’ils ont trouvez seuls, ce qui arrive assez souvent; ils en ont déja 
menacé, & mesme 4 un petit navire qui estoit seul 4 un havre, ils l’ont forcé 
a leur en donner, & ont pillé des chalouppes qui étoient au degrat, c’est la 
recompense de tout ce qu’ils leurs ont appris, & les Sauvages que [478] les 
pescheurs ont amené en France y ont encore contribué par la frequentation des 
blaphemateurs, des cabarets & des lieux infames ot on les a menez; ensuite les 
guerres que les Francois ont eu les uns contre les autres pour se deposseder par 
leur ambition & l’envie d’avoir tout: ce que les Sauvages scavent bien dire, 
quand on leur represente qu’il ne faut pas dérober ny piller des navires, car ils 
répondent aussi-tost, que nous Je faisons bien entre nous: Ne vous prenez vous 
pas vos habitations les uns aux autres: nous disent-ils, & ne vous tuez vous pas 
pour cela, ne yous avons nous pas veus faire, & pourquoy ne voulez-vous pas 


606 HISTOIRE NATURELLE 


que nous le fassions, si on ne nous [479] en veut point donner nous en pren- 
drons, c’est ce quils disent a present, 4 quoy je ne vois point de remede 
qu’en peuplant le pais, & pour y parvenir que sa Majesté maintienne un chacun 
en ce qui luy appartient, sans le donner a un autre aprés qu’on |’aura mis en bon 
estat, comme l’on a presque tofijours fait jusques 4 present, & ruiné ceux qui 
avoient bonne volonté de peupler, pour y mettre ceux qui n’y cherchoient que 
de grands profits de traitte, ce que n’ayant pas trouvé aussi abondamment qu’ils 
se l’estoient imaginez, ont tout abandonné & perdu bien du temps avec toutes 
leurs avances, mesme ruiné la pais qui seroit 4 present en estat de se maintenir, 
& de con- [480] server au Roy les grands profits qu'il en a retiré, comme 
il feroit le pais estant aussi bon qu’ils est, s’il estoit habité comme il devroit 
estre; surquoy je souhaite que Dieu inspire ceux qui ont part au gouverne- 
ment de |’Estat, toutes les considerations qui les peuvent porter a l’execution 
d’une entreprise aussi glorieuse au Roy, comme elle peut-estre utile & avantageuse 
A ceux qui y prendront interest ; ce que je souhaite qu’ils fassent, principalement 
pour la gloire de Dieu 


FIN, 


if} TABLE DES CHAPITRES 


CONTENUS AU SECOND TOME 


CHAPITRE PREMIER 


Qvi traite de la difference & rapport qu’il y a entre les climats de la 


PAGE 
OF 
THIS 


nouvelle France & de |’ancienne, avec les raisons pourquoy ces pays-votume 


la peuuent produire tout ce qui croit en France . : a Pee 


CHAP. II 


Le recit des profits qu’on retire & qu’on peut retirer du pays pour la 
pesche des molués vertes ou blanches ainsi qu’elles se mangent 4 
Paris ; la maniere de la pescher, habiller & saler . ‘ a 294 


CHAP. [it 


La maniere de pescher la molué qu’on appelle merluche, de V’habiller de 
la saler, & de la faire secher, & de toutes les utencilles necessaires 


pour cela i ; s - is . [35] 


CHAP. IV, 


Contenant ce qui se pratique lors que les navires approchent du lieu ot la 
ee Hees ae: re ue ee he 

pesche se doit faire, la maniere d’avoir leur place, ce qui se [1i] fait a 

la décente, & comme |’on met le monde en besogne_.. ee baal 


CHAP. V 


De la maniere de faire l’échaffaut pour l’habillage de la molué, & du 


travail qu’il y a a le construire . : : ; : + LON 
607 


517 


521 


526 


530 


532 


608 TABLE 


CHAP. VI 


Contenant la maniere de tirer huile des foyes de molué, avec la descrip- 
tion des instrumens & utencilles qui servent a habiller, saler & laver le 
poisson, ce que c’est que vignaux & grave, leur construction & leur 


usage. : 4 : : . . : - regs 
CHAP. VII 

Contenant la maniere dont on construit les chalouppes qu’on doit em- 

barquer par quartiers pour porter ala pesche : . [117] 
CHAP. Vill 


De la distribution qui se fait des chalouppes aux Maistres pescheurs, 
& du moyen dont on se sert pour les mettre en seureté pendant la 


NUNN. . : : : - | oes | 


CHAP. 1X 


Les preparatifs des chalouppes pour aller en pesche, ce qui se pratique 
estant sur le fonds pour pescher ; ce qui se fait a terre; du [1] 
retour des pescheurs, & leur maniere de decharger leurs chalouppes 


& de les mettre en seureté ; ; : : - [142] 
CHAP Y xX 

De la maniere d’habiller & saler la molué, de faire l’huile qui s’en tire, & 

comme ou appreste les rabbes, ce que c’est & leur usage - [155] 
CRAP XI 


Le gouvernement des victuailles, comme on en use pendant Ja pesche; 
comme la boitte ou appast se pesche, & de la proprieté de la molué 
& du maquereau. : : : : - [ag24 


CHAP. XIT 


Le depart des Maistres de chalouppes pour aller sur le fonds, & ce qui 
s’y pratique; l|’explication du marigot, ce que c’est que degrat, 
comme il se fait, la cause aye & autres raisons sur le mesme 


sujet. ; . : . : . [185] 


PAGE 


535 


538 


541 


542 


545 


548 


55° 


TABLE 


CHAP. XIII 


L’apprest du poisson du degrat, ce que |’on en fait, la maniere de laver la 
molué, & de la mettre en galaire ; le grand travail a |’échaffaut quand 


la molué donne, & des lumieres dont I’on se sert . 1 (i97 | 
CHAP. XIV 

Du travail de terre qui se [iv| fait 4 laver la molué, la porter 4 la galaire, 

aux vignaux, a la grave, la tourner & la mettre en pile . . [207] 
CHAP. XV 


La maniere de faire les pilles de molués, tout ce qui s’y pratique a 
Pembarquement, tant pour la molué que victuailles & autres 
choses e ss s e . e e e e 2 [222] 


CHAP. XVI 
Recit general de la pesche sedentaire de la molué ; les profits qu’en ont 
tiré ceux qui l’ont entreprise ; les avantages qu’on en peut faire ; 
Pétablissement, supposé que le pays se peuple en y envoyant des 
Colonies : : . : ; ‘ : soizaie) 
CHAP, XVII 


Des autres poissons de mer, de ceux qui aprochent de terre, leurs com- 
bats, la maniere de les pescher & leurs qualitez_ . : - [255] 


CHAP. XVIII 


Discription des poissons d’eau douce a quatre pieds, leurs formes & 


qualitez, leurs industries & maniere d’agir & travailler . . [278] 
CHAP. XIX 

Des oyseaux de mer & de leurs proprietez : . - [299] 
CHAP. XX 


La description de toutes [v] les especes de bois qui sont avant dans les 
terres; leurs proprietez, & les avatages qu’on en peut tirer . [309] 


609 


PAGE 


a2 


554 


sai 


559 


562 


567 


571 


573 


610 TABLE 


CHAP. XXI 
Qui traite des animaux, oyseaux & reptiles, de leurs qualitez, & de la 
maniere de les prendre . ‘ : ¥ ‘ 3 . (319) 
CHAP. XXII 


Qui traite de la diversité des saisons de |’année, & des differentes especes 


de fruits : : : : : ; : : - [345] 


CHAP. XXIII 


Concernant les mceurs des Sauvages, leur police & cotitume, leur maniere 
de vivre, leur inclination, celle de leurs enfans, de leurs mariages, 
leur maniere de bastir, se vestir, haranguer, & autres particu- 


laritez . ' : c ; : : : ‘ - (3554 


CHAP. XXIV 


De leur coiffure, de leurs ornemens, de leurs braveries; du regime qu’ils 
observent pendant leurs maladies, de leurs divertissemens & conver- 
sations, du travail des hommes & des femmes, & de leurs plus 


ordinaires occupatids x. : : : ‘ - [389] 
CHAP. XXV 
La chasse de orignaux, des ours, des castors, des loups serviers & autres 
animaux selon leur saison ; : : : : - [419] 
[vi] CHAP. XXVI 


La chasse des oiseaux, des poissons, tant de jour que de nuit, & la cere- 
monie de leurs enterremens, qui s’y pratiquoit lors que 1’on les mettoit 
en terre ; : ‘ : . : - [442] 


CHAP, XxXVII 


La difference qu’il y a entre les costumes anciennes des Sauvages, & 
celles d’apresent . : ; 4 , : - [454] 


PAGE 


a5 


580 


582 


588 


594 


598 


601 


INDEX 


ACADIA, or Acadie, 125; description, 
26; early history, 1-9; limits, I, 7, 
28, 34, 126; origin of name, 126; 
seizure in 1654, 101; state in the 
seventeenth century, 18 

Acadian people, 5, 8, 32, 124, 146 

Acadian words, 32, 109, 112, 139, 142, 
165, 177, 287, 291, 293, 325, 332, 
351, 352, 357 379 371, 372, 373) 374; 
375, 388, 392 

Acadiensis, cited, 116, 123, 151, 219, 
203) 407 

Admiral, 164, 278 

Admiralty, right of, 278, 279 

Adney, T., 19, 422 

Aigle, 390 

Aldouane, 194 

Alexander, Sir W., 3, 4, 128, 137 

Allans Lake, 127 

Allans River, 123 

Allen, J., 119 

Allotiette, 374 

Aloze, 351 

Alphonse, J., 225, 226 

Amerique septentrionale, 1,° 28, 49, 
50 

Amet, 191 

Ance a Beaufils, 220 

Anchovy, 351, 352 

Anguille de mer, 351 

Annapolis, 123 

Antigonish, 171, 172 

Antilles, 110 

Antimony, 227 

Apple (trees), 214, 397 

Archie Pond, 171 

Archives des Colonies, 37, 38 

Archives de la Marine, 37, 38, 39, 42, 
43, 44 

Argal, 2 

Arimiers, meaning, 270 

Armet, 191 

Arms of Denys family, 44 

Articles (Treaty) of 1632, 229 

Articougnesche, 171 


me 107, 124, 182, 215, 218, 226; uses, 
381 

Ashes, 9o 

Aspen, 124, 367 

Aulds Cove, 171 

Aulnis, 259 

Auray, 142 

Autour, 390 

Autumn, description, 394 

Ayer, Boi, 53 


BACCARO POINT, 140 

Bacon, 221 

Bailloquet, Father, 227 

Bain, J., x. 

Baird Brewer and Ridgeway, 373, 374 

Baleine Cove, 3, 181 

Balene, 356 

Banksian pine, 379 

Barachois, 225 

Barbeau, 358 

Barbadoes, 110 

Barbillons, 358 

Barbin, C., 49, 240 

Barnaby River, 195 

Barndoor skate, 353 

Baronets of Nova Scotia, 133 

Barred owl, 392 

Barrington Bay, 131, 133; descrip- 
tion, 139-140 

Barrows, 291, 331! 

Basques, 208, 269, 276, 290, 382; 
nationality, 324; superior fishermen, 
323) 324 

Bass, 110, 114, 173 

Baston, 151, 102 

Bat, 393 

Haxter, Ps.) 355) 39.225.) 220 

Bay, Sieur de (or le), 104, 159 


| Bay des Molués, 220, 223, 224, 225 


Bay du Vin, 194 

Baye des Chaleurs, 200, 204; descrip- 
tion, 210 

Baye de Sable, 140 

Baye de Toutes Isles, 156 


612 


Baye Francoise, 120 

Bayonne, 247, 255 

Bazine ,@n 915,222 

Beach, 165, 197 

Beach-master, 271, 335 

Bear, 109, 127; description, 382, 383, 
423; hunting, 433 

Bear Head, 169 

Bear River, 127 

Beasts of the big tooth, 350 

Beaubears Island, 161, 198, 200 

Beaver, 31, 02; 1OQ, 121, a7 soso 1, 
403, 413, 418, 442; dams, 363; 
description, 362; folk-fiction, 364, 
367 ; houses, 367 ; hunting, 429, 443 ; 
works of, 363 

Becars, 436 

Beccasse, 375 

Becasses de bois, 391 

Beccassine, 375 

Bedeque Bay, 208 

Beech, 107, 119, 124, 180, 182, 186, 
190, 208; description, 377; uses, 
419-422 

Beech-nut, 388 

Bellamont, 41 

Belledune Point, 215 

Benjamin, S. G. W., 206, 216, 220, 221, 
224 

Bent, G., 116, 151 

Bergier, Sieur, 16, 40, 168 

Berraute, J. de, 270 

Berruier, Monsieur, 388 

Biard, Father, 250, 389, 399, 406, 410, 
A41l, 415, 417, 423, 439, 449 

Bibliography, 37 

Bibliographical description of Denys’ 
book, 49 

Bibliothéque Nationale, 40, 42, 52, 
222 

Biencourt, 2, 3 

Bigganvel. Pix, 247 

Billaine, L., 49, 240 

Bindweed, 397 

Birch, 107, I1I, 124, 130, 146, 180, 182, 
195, 186, 201, 208,>2%5,) 218, °226% 
bark, 405 ; description, 378 

Bird islands (or rocks), 205 

Bissett, Dr., 179 

Black birch, 124, 190, 215, 218; de- 
scription, 378 

Black guillemots, 112 

Blue Gull Island, 140 

Boarding, of boats, 296 

Boat Harbour, 189 

Boatswains, 30, 271; duty of, 300, 315 


INDEX 


Bogs, 201 

Boite, 165, 262,275.) 357, 

Bonaventure River (and Point), 215, 
223 

Bontemps, Captain, 232 

Bossé, Father, 218, 222 

Bouclée, 353 

Bouleau, 3738 

Boulogne, 259 

Boundaries of Denys’ government, 20 

Boundary disputes, 34, 126 

Bourgogne, 254, 255 

Bourgos, 139 

Bourinot, J. G., 23, 35,1460) F7guayo, 
179, 181, 400 

Bouthillier, 229, 233, 237, 238, 239 

Bordeaux, 269 

Boyon, 303, 305 

Boys, duty of, 314, 334 

Brambles, 397 

Brant, 127, 141, 154, 212, 435 ; descrip- 
tion, 372 

Bras d’Or, 99, 177 

Brayet, 412 

Bregaux, 139 

Brenaiche, 372 

Bressani, 164 

Bretons, 269, 291 

Bridgewater, 149 

Brion Island, 207 

British Museum, 52 

Brittany, 254, 259, 260 

Broad River, 141 

Brooklyn, 143 

Brouage, 256, 260 

Brouillon, 114 

Brown, R., 38, 45, 175, 178 

Brown, Yarmouth, 128 

Bruce; 'G. Si ez 

Bruce map, J13 

Bryon Island, 207 

Buffalo skins, 447 

Buffles, 447 

Buffle-head ducks, 374 

Bulletin des Recherches Historiques, 


47 
Bulletin of Natural History Society of 
New Brunswick, 139, 149, 173, 201 
Buillon or Bullion, Sieur de, 229-239 
Buoy, 303 
Burlamachy, Philippes, 231, 232 
Burrage, Rev. Dr., 107, 228 
Butternut, 120 


CABINET HISTORIQUE, 45 
Cabot, J., 1 


INDEX 


Cabot Strait, 169 

Cacamo, 33, 423 

Cacaoiiy, 33, 373 

Caen, General de, 230, 231, 232 

Cains River, 195. 

Calais, 247, 248, 249, 259 

Calnek, 122 

Calumet, 425 

Campseaux (see a/so Canso), 103, 121, 
160, 164, 165 

Canada-Frangais, Le, 46, 203 

Canadian Archives, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 
42, 43, 44, 98, IOI, 137, 178, 179, 219, 
22 


= 

Canadian Marsh, 199 

Cange (or Cangers), Sieur de, 160 

Canoes, description, 420; navigation, 
138 

Canonier, 272 

Canso (see also Campseaux), 6, 7, 8, 11, 
16, 20, 23, 29, 343; description, 164, 
169 

Cap Breton, 182, 249, 255; latitude, 248 

d’Espoir, 218, 220 

de Nort, 185, 205 

de Rest (or Rayes), 205, 248 

mee 2avic, 125, 120; 131, 139; 342 

des Deux Bayes, 121 

— des Roziers, 227 

Pent Doré, 147, 153 

—— Enragé, 220 

Cape Breton, island, 12, 13, 16, 22, 
24, 46; description, 175-187, 206 

— Despair, 220 

—— Negro, 132, 138, 140, 342 

Jack, 170, 171 

— North, 185 

of Campseaux, 156, 162, 166 

Ray, 205, 248 

Sable, 3, 4, 137 

—— Saint George, 103, 173, 188 

—— Saint Lois, 103, 121; descrip- 
tion, 173 

Saint Mary, 127 

Caplin, 223, 326 

Captain, duty of, 271, 307 

Capuchin, 153 

Caraquet, 129, 200, 219; description, 
211; origin of name, 210 

Carcajou, 385 

Caribou, description, 209 

Caribou Harbour, 191 

Carney Shoal, 171 

Carpenters, 272 

Cartier, I, 197, 205, 206, 207, 220, 225, 
374 


613 


Cascumpeque Bay, 208 
Casgrain, L’Abbé, 33 
Casseron, 355 

Cassia, 253 

Castine, 98 

Castor, 362 
Castorologia, 368 
Caulking, 299 


| Cedare 171, 1723 190; ‘200;9215, 258 ; 


uses, 419, 420 

Certain, André, 116 

Chamberlain, M., 400, 407, 429, 439 

Champagne, 254, 255 

Champigny, 42 

Champlain, 2,25, 29, 97; 110, 113, 117, 
HiOwI2O. 121,122, 12d, 125, 120, 127, 
130./ 132) 136, 141, 142, 146, 147, 155, 
156, 157, 164, 169, 175, 181, 183, 184, 
205, 200, 208; 215, 221, 224, 226, 281, 
264, 266, 399 

Chapleau, 193 

Chardons, 397 

Charlevoix, 23, 34, 44, 97, 148, 158, 169, 
175, 184 

Charnisay, see D’Aulnay, and 5 

Charnier, 290, 334 

Charroy, 304, 325 

Chat-huant, 392 

Chauffaud, 284 

Chauffours, Sieur de, 16 

Chauve-souris, 393 

Chebucto, 155, 159 

Chedabouctou, 104; description, 167 

Chedabucto, 13, 20, 103, 104, 166, 168 

Cheney, E: D:, 117 

Cherry trees, 396 

Chesneau, Du, 39, 40, 73, 222, 223 

Cheticamp, 185 

Chevalliers, 375 

Chevres, Isle aux, 123 

Chicamins, 33; identity, 398 

Chiens de mer, 358 

Chignecto, 15, 121 

Chipmunk, 387 

Chubs, 3538 

Church Ee) D.,,53 

Cibo or Ciboux, 182 

Cider, 254 

Clairambault Collection, 24, 40, 42, 
232. 92.3 

Clams, 139 

Clarke, J. M.,'x., 221, 222, 224, 325 

Clarks Creek, 195 

Clément’s Lettres, 39 

Climate of Acadia, 30, 90; of Old and 
New France, 247 


2 R 


614 


Clingstones, 203 

Clyde, 140 

Coal, 15, 74, 90, 182, 186 

Cocagne, 19; description, 192 

Cockawee, 374 

Cocques, 139 

Cod, 65, 110, III, 127, 139, 141, 143, 
149, 155, 165, 166, 185, 186, 218, 222, 
227; bank (or green) fishery, 257— 
268 ; dressing, 350-395..325) 827): 
drying, 331-336; fishery, 2, 25, 27, 
39, 55, 91, 92, 181, 206, 257-348 ; 
habits, 258, 319; on the grounds, 
306; piling, 337; salting, 265, 313 ; 
sedentary fishery, 341-348 

Cod liver oil, 289 

Cod tripe, 313 

Coddle Harbour, 162 

Coffins Island, 142, 143 

Cohn, A., 334 

Colbert, 15, 39 

Cold in Acadia, go, 248-250, 360 

Cole Point, 189 

Collar, 303 

Collateral documents, 57 

Collection de Manuscrits, 37, 38, 42, 
44, 114, 133,229 

Colours, used by Indians, 413 

Columbus, 88 

Commission of Denys as governor, 38 

Company of Miscou, 12, 57, 58, 203 

Company of New France, 4, 7, 10, 11, 
15, 21, 39, 57, 58, 775 159, 203, 343 

Company of the West Indies, 15, 39, 
71, 159 

Concession of 1653 (text), 57 

Conger eel, 352 

Conniffle, 149 

Conseil Souverain, 42 

Cooney, R., 385 

Coot, 373 

Copies of Denys’ book, 52 

Copper, 380 

Corbeaux, 391 

Corbegeos, 142 

Corbillon, 305, 448 

Cormorant, 109, 183, 374, 375 

Coronelli, 185 

Country Harbour, 162, 173 

Coureurs de marigots, 323 

Coutellieres, 139 

Cramaillee, 354 

Cranes, 129, 209, 375 

Cravan, identity, 372 

Cray-fishes, 356 

Creighton, J. G. H., 221 


INDEX 


Cret, 254 

Creuxius, 173, 175, 185, 217 
Croiseurs, 266, 267 
Cromwell, 100 

Crows, 129, 391 

Cruzat, J. W., 44 

Curlews, 142 

Currants, 397 

Cut-throat, 287 

Cuttle-fish, 355 


DANIEL, Captain, 3, 181, 184, 217 
Dassié, 34, 40 
Dauphin, 353 
Dawson, J. W., 172 
Dawson, S. E., 205 
D’Aulnay (Charnisay), Sieur, 5, 6, 10, 
II, 13,23, 24, 26, 35, 37, 45, 62, 67, 
97, 114, 116, 121, 123, 150, 2zoaneua- 
at Saint John, 114; character of, 
151-152 
Madame, 6, 184 
Decoleurs, 287 
Decree of 1655 (text), 67 
Dedication, 29 ; text, 87 
Dégrat, 216, 325, 327, 451; explana- 
tion, 324 
Denis, chief, 24, 195 
Denis, see Denys, and 20 
Denys, Anne, 23 
de Bonaventure, 38, 52, 143 
—— dela Ronde, 15, 16, 24, 44, 78, 
143, 194, 222 
——- de Saint Simon, 44 
family, 9 
——- Francoise, 24 
Joseph, 25 
—— Marie, 24 
—— Mount, 20, 47 
—. Nicolas, 25, 27; a fisherman, Io, 
13, 18; ancestry, 9; appears in 
Acadia, 4, 5; arms, 44; authority, 
27; autograph, 36; biography, 9; 
book, vil., 14, 18, 25, 49; bounds of 
government, 20; character, 18; 
Charlevoix’s estimate of, (34y 44; 
concessions, 57; death, 17; en- 
counter with Le Borgne, 99, with 
La Giraudiere, 102; errors about, 
22; family, 13, 21; Governor of 
the Gulf Coast, 7, 23, 36; lettes 
to King of France, 41, 42; literary 
style, vil., 25, 89; memorials, 20; 
other writings, 33 ; personal appear- 
ance, 17; posts, II; poverty, 17, 
41; rights i in Acadia, 10, 12; service 


INDEX 


in New France, 89; spelling of 
name, 20; youth, 9 

Denys, Pierre, 222 

—— Richard, 14, 15, 16, 17, 223; 
biography, 21; commission, 40; 
death, 22; memorial, 42; post at 
Miramichi, 199 ; seigniory, 43 

—— River, 20, 180, 182 

Simon, 9, II, 24, 143, 184 

Des Barres, 173 

Des Brisay, 148 

Description Geographique, described, 
49; text, 453; translation, 85 

Dieppe, 259 

Dieréville, 266, 400, 404, 407, 410, 417, 
429 

Dionne, C. E., 109, 112 

Dionne, N. E., x., 46, 203, 213 

Distances of Denys, 29 

Doane, A., 132, 138, 140 

Dochet Island, 111 

Doctor, duties, 272, 335 

Documentary History of New York, 
41, 43, 206 

Dodd, Mead & Co., 53 

Dog fish, description, 358 . 

Dogs, of Indians, 429; hunting, 430- 
434 | 

Dolphin, 353 

Double Head, 176 

Doublet, Sieur, 13, 15, 158, 168, 200, 
343 

Douglastown, 199 

Downs, A., 373 

Drag-nets, 358 

Dress of fishermen, 276 

Dressing of skins, 411 

Drudge-barrows, 292 

Dry-fishery, 270 

Duck-hawk, 390 

Duck Island, 153 

ues 169, i2,.127, 129, 14%, 172, 
174, 184, 193, 212, 318, 435; descrip- 
tion, 372 

Dufossé, E., 46, 52, 53 

Du Mont’s Corps Universel, 229 

Duro, 324 

Dutch translation of Denys, 18, 35, 
42, 53, 54, 80, 166, 202 

Du Val, 158 


EAGLE, identity, 390 
Earthquake, 13, 395 
Echaffaut, 283 
Ecureitils, 387 

cus, value, 265 


615 


Edits et Ordonnances, 38 

Eel, 430, 442 

Eel-grass, 371 

Egret, 373 

Eiders, 100,112, 174 

Elk, 109, 382 

Elm, 149, 380 

Enchois, 351 

English, in Acadia, 7, 8, 43, 152; at 
Penobscot, 107 ; at Port La Tour, 
135; .at.-Port Royal, 101 >. at St. 
John, 100, 121 

English port, 181 

Engotté, 320 

Eperlan, 351 

Epilepsy, of moose, 382 

Epines, 397 

Equille, 124 

Erabe, 380 

Ermine, 382, 388 

Errors about Denys, 22 

Eschaffaut, 51 

Esguilles, 124 } 

Espadon, 356 

Espontilles, 301 

Esterlais, 375 

Estrapade, 195 

Esturgeon, 353 
tal, 310 

Etechemins, 110 

Etourneau, 392 

Expulsion of Acadians, 8 


FACSIMILES of Denys’ maps, 46, 52 

Faggots, 332 

Faisant, 391 

Faucher de Saint Maurice, 221 

Faucon, 390 

Fauquets, 266 

Faye, Marguerite, de la, 21 

Fergusons Point, 213 

Fir,akimds) 107, 10S, ITI, (22; 127,130; 
139, 140, 146, 155,156, 157, 164, 169, 
172, 180, 182, 185, 186, 190, 192, 197, 
198, 201, 202, 208, 211, 215, 218, 224, 
225, 226; uses, 379, 380 

Fires and fishery, 396 

Fishery. See under Cod 

Fish-hawk, 390 

Fish hooks, preparation of, 275 

Fishing boats. construction, 295-301 ; 
description, 30, 273-274; hidden, 
340; kept at night, 302, 315; use, 
302-305 

Fishing lines, preparation of, 275 

Fish of Saint Peter, 355 


616 


Flaitans, 352 

Flakes, 141, 165, 201, 224, 331; de- 
scription, 283 

Flat Head, 169 

Flat Island, 226 

Fleming and Tibbins’, 35 

Floating ice, 117 

Flounders, 139, 212, 216, 355 

Flying fish, 267 

Flying squirrel, 387 

Fog, 262, 263 

Foiessiere, 291 

Foine, 388 

Folk-fiction, 31 

Fonds, 305 

Forillon, 226 

Forsyth de Fronsac, 9, 21, 44, 48, 170 

Fort Dauphin, 184 

Frederick, 115 

—— La Have, 148 

—— La Tour, 6,7, 115, 133; location, 
II4; siege, 116 

—— of La Giraudiere, 158, 161 

—— Pentagoiiet (or Penobscot), 97, 
98, 106 

—— Point, 147, 168 

—— Richibucto, 195 

——— Sainte Anne, 43, 69, 78 

Saint Charles, 158 

Saint Louis, 3, 4, 5, 169; attack, 

135 5 Site, 132 

Sainte Marie, 158 

—— Saint Pierre, 43, 69, 176, 213; 
description, 178 

Toulouse, 178 

Fortin, Pierre, 283 

Fourchu, Cape, 3, 126; description, 127 

Fourillon, 181, 185 

Foxes, 92, 382, 384, 386, 418, 435 

Foxes and quincajou hunting, 386 

Framboises, 147, 396 

Franquelin, 119 

Freire, 207 

French Meadows, 138 

Fresne, 381 

Fronsac) Sieur dej22, 22/43 47,40, 
170 

—— (the place), 169, 170 

Viscount de, 23 

Frontenac, 23, 194 

Fruits, 393 

Fulmars, 266 

Fundy Bay, 120 


GABARET, 131 
Gaff, 308 


INDEX 


| Gaff cod, 309, 314, 319, 333, 339 


Gagnon, P., ix, 44, 53 

Galaire, 291, 328, 331 

Gallium tinctorium, 413 

Gannets, I12 

Ganong, W. F., 47, 48 

Gardens, of a Recollet, 138 ; of Paris, 
252; of the captains, 318 

Garter, Knight of, 133, 134 

Gaspé, 7, 8, 11, 12, 20, 20,43 ysaein. 
227; Cape, 227; description, 226 ; 
peninsula, 222 

Gaspereau, I10, 112, 113, 124 

Gaspesie, 43 

Gau, 258, 320 

Gays, 393 

Geese, 127, 129, 142, 209 

Genest, 21, 45 

Geographical Description, begins, 85 

Geological maps, 183, 186 

George Island, 165 

Gerfalcon, 390 

Gilpin, B., 349 

Giraudiere, La, 13, 26, 102) te4,s9a. 
168, 342; at Sainte Marie, 157-161 ; 
fort taken, 161 

Goat Island, 123, 181 

Goberge, 355 

Gode, 374 

Goiland (or Goislan), 375 

Gooseberries, 397 

Goose Island, 162 

Goose Pond, 169, 171 

Goshawk, 390 

Goujon, 358 

Governor Denys, 7, 12, 23, 38, 61, 
63 

Grand Bank, description, 258 ; fishery, 
QI, 257-268 

—— Chady, 135 

—— Chibou, 183 

—— Grevé, 227 

—— Lake, 194 

——— Manan, III 

—— Paspecbiac, 216 

SS SEINE) 2 = 

River, 178, -218 
name, 178, 219 

Grande Riviere, 219, 220 

Grand Ruisseau, 202 

Grape-vine, 124 

Grapnels, 274 

Grassy Island, 165 

Grave, 21'1, 216, 204 

Gravel beaches, 164, 217, 294 

Great auk, 266, 268 


3; meaning of 


INDEX 


Great Bay of S. Laurent, description, 
188 

Greatbeard, 17, 78 

Great northern diver, 373 

Green Bay, 146 

fish, 256 

Island, 162, 176, 180, 181 

jvOh 201 

Groseilles, 397 

Grounds, 305 

Ground nut, 398 

Grouse, 390 

Grozellier, 397 

Grues, 129 

Gudgeon, 358 

Guilbault, 1o1, 148 

Guillemot, 266, 267, 374 

Gullivers Hole, 124 

Guysborough, 13, 20, 103, 167 

Gyles, J., 385, 400, 407 

Gypsum, 183 


HABILLEURS, 287 

Haddock, 355 

Hagdon, 266 

Hagnuet, 74 

Haistres, 378 

Hake, 354 

Hakluyt, 181, 182, 206 

Hahburton, T. C., 133, 
ey Geni 177, 

Halibut, 352 

Halifax Harbour, 155 

Hamecon, 306 

Hamilton, P. S., 46 

Hampers, 294 

Handbarrows, 291 

Hannay, James, 47, 98, 115, 118, 137, 
151, 207 

' Happefoye, 266 

Harang, 351 

Harbour Islands, 162 

Harbour seal, 349 

Hardy, C., 118 

Hames, 100,,124, 193, 202, 225, 318, 
389 

Harrisse, H., 52 

Harpers Point, 201 

Harp seal, 349 

Harvard College Library, ix., x., 52, 53 

Havives, 334 

Havre L’Anglois, 181 

Hawthorns, 397 

Hay’s History Readings, 47 

Hazelnut, 396 

Headers, 287, 311 


Te cole 


617 


Hearne, S., 368 

Hedgehog ray, 353 

Hemlock, 379 

Hennepin, 54 

Henry Island, 186 

Herons, 129, 375 

Herring, 65, 110, 112, 155, 165, 186, 
21, 223.1227, 262, 267, 318, 326, 351; 
as bait) 319 

a OVE) I4A2. 143 

arom ol: 112, 375 

hog, 351 

Hieres, 253 

Hillsborough Bay, 208 

Histoire Naturelle, described, 50; 
translation, 241; text, 515 

Homage to ee 117, 418 

Hommar, 140, 356 

Honfleur, 259 

Hooded seal, 349 

Horned pout, 3538 

Howley, Archbishop, 283, 325 

Huistres, 359 

Humming bird, description, 393 © 

Huret, 159, 160, 161, 162 

Hutchins’ goose, 371 

Hyrondelle, 393 


ICEBERGS, 264 

Icefields, 170 

Ignace, Father, 37 

Ingonish, 184 

Iron, 380 

Irwins Pond, 171 

Island River, 202 

Isle aux Moutons, 142 

Isle de Bonne-avanture, 224 

——- d’Oleron, 269 

de Ne, 266 

-—“ de Sable, 205, 207 

——— Holt, 122 

—— Longue, 124, 125, 126 

—— lOrmet, I91 

—— Madame, 175 

—— Percée, 204, 
description, 221 

Isles Ramées, 205, 206 

Esters: ae 192, 205; description, 
207, 343 

Saint John (S. Jean), 13, 15 

Isles aux Oiseaux, 205 

—— de la Magdelaine, 206, 34 2) 

—— of Miscou, 200 

Isle Verte, 157, 176, 180 

Indians, 399-452 ; ages, 399; burials, 
437-442; care of children, 403; 


207, 219, 324; 


618 


changes in customs, 442; cooking, 
401 ; customs, 32, 82, 92, 399, 442; 
diseases, 416; dress, 411 ; drunken- 
ness, 82, 196, 444, 449; feasts, 408 ; 
funeral orations, 438; genealogies, 
410, 437; head-dress, 414; kettles, 
401 ; manners, 399, 442 ; marriages, 
407, 410, 415; marriage feasts, 408 ; 
moose hunting, 426; murders, 445, 
450; orations, 409 ; ornament, 414; 
outwit Europeans, 448; quarrels, 
82, 444; remedies, 449; speeches, 
408 ; stories, 418 ; superstitions, 441 ; 
sweat-baths, 416; trade, 10, 172, 445, 
446 ; work of the men, 407, 419, 424 ; 
work of the women, 407, 422, 423; 
worship, 415 

Indian children, disposition, 404 

women, chastity, 415; drinking 

by, 449; modesty, 407 

routes of travel, 118, 194 

Indiantown, 198 


JACK, E., 46 

Jasmine, 253 

Jeddore, 156 

Jesuit missionaries, 32, 446 

Relations, 37, 39, 47, 147, 148, 155, 
167, 166, 182, 164, 212,21 35227, 367, 
399, 407, 415 ; sce also Biard, Father 

John Carter Brown Library, 53 

Jones Creek, 141 

Jordan River, 140 

Fost AL Co i67 

Judicial Archives of Quebec, ix., 38, 40 

Jumeau, 210 


KAIN, S. W., 395, 424 

Kavanagh Creek, 177 

Kebec, 108, 214, 232, 251 

Keith, 311 

Kettles, 401, 443 ; of wood, 406 ; valued 
by Indians, 441 

Kidder, 119 

Kiernan, T. J., x. 

Kirk, T., 3.98 

Knight, T. F., 283 

Kohl collection of maps, 39 

Kouchibouguac, 195, 197 

Kouchibouguacsis, 195 

Kumoo, 423 


LABRADOR, 176, 178, 182; meaning, 


179 
Labrador duck, 372 
Lafitau, 118 


ee eee 


INDEX 


La Haive, or La Have, 5, 10, 29, 98, 99, 
100, IOI, 142, 151; description, 147 

Lamec, 202 

Lamprey, 351 

Lamps, 329 

Lances of Indians, 420 

Landrys River, 202 

Lanigans Beach, 165 

Lanson, 223 

Lapin, 389 

Lapis Lazuli, 112 

Larcadia, 126 

Larks, 374 

La Rochelle, 3, 143, 181 

Larousse, 131, 373 

La Tour, Charles de; 2;)3,) a.5ee 
23, 34, 42, 100, 113, 116, tee, 
131, 203 

—— Claude de, 2, 3, 4, 98, 128, 132, 
133, 137 

—— Madame de, 6; defender of Fort 
La Tour, 123 

La Tours, struggle at Cape Sable, 134 

Laval University, 52 

Laverdiére, 97, 121, 136, 137, 164, 429 

La Vieille, 226 

Lavoie, Father, 222 

Leads for fishing, 275 

Lead mines, 227 

League, value, 106 

Leaping salmon, 436 

Le Beau, 367 

Le Borgne, E., 6, 7, 12, 26, 38, 67, 98, 
99, 100, 116, 148, 160 

(son), 101, 160-161 

Le Chadye, 185 

L’éches, 375 

Le: Clercq, C., 21, 25,32, 435 1775 eee 
222, 223, 381, 383, 395, 399, 400, 401, 
402, 403, 404, 405, 406, 407, 409, 410, 
411, 412, 415, 416, 417, 419, 423, 428, 
429, 438, 439, 444, 449 

Legislative Library of Quebec, 52 

Le Jeune, 407 

Leland, C. G., 419 

Lemproye, 351 

Lencornet, 355 

Lennox Passage, 176 

Lenox Library, x., 49, 51, 52 

Lent, 263 

Leonard’s Recueil, 229 

Lescarbot, M., 25, 142, 177, 203) 20a5 
283, 370, 382, 399, 400, 402, 404, 405, 
407, 410, 415, 417, 422, 423, 429, 438, 
439 

Le Tac, 222 


INDEX 


Letter of Denys, 41 ; text, 79 

Letters Patent of 1654, 12, 100; text, 61 

E’herbe, 371 

L’Hermitte, Sr., 179, 220, 225, 325 

Library of Congress, 39 

Library of Parliament, 52 

License, for printing this book, 240 

Lieutenant-General Denys, 7, 12, 23, 
38, 61, 63 

Lievre, 389 

Lights, description, 329 

Limestone, 380 

Ling, 354 

Liscomb Harbour, 156 

Little Harbour, 188 

Little Passage, 168, 169, 175, 186 

Little River, 212 

Little Skate, 353 

Littré, 323, 325 

Liver-butt, 291, 314, 334 

Liverpool, 5, 10, 142, 143 

Livers of cod, 314 

Livre, value, 99 

Lobsters, 140, 174, 212, 216, 217, 355 

Lodging of fishermen, 280 

Lomeron, De, 128 

Lomeron, Port, 3 

Londin Beach, 189 

Long-tailed duck, 373 

Loon, 373 

Louisbourg, 1381 

Louis d’or, value, 362 

Louis, King of France, 67, 79, 88, 239 

Louniguins, 119 

Loup-servier, 383 

Loups marins, 129, 349 

Loutre, 362 

Lucas, 268 

Lunenburg, 148, 149, 153 

Ey, 362, 342; description, 383; 
hunting, 434 


MABOU River, 186 

MacDonald, Mrs. A. D., 158 

Mackenzie Head, 189 

Mackerel, 65, 109, 112, 139, 155, 165, 
184, 186, 193, 197, 211, 213, 219, 223, 
227, 318, 326, 351; blindness, 320 ; 
fishery, 319, 321 

Mackerel gulls, 112, 375 

MacLeod, R. R., 20, 178 

Macreuse, 372 

Madam Island, 175 

Madrid, 145 

Magdalen Islands, 12, 13, 16, 343, 
350; description, 205 


619 


Magdeleine, 207 

Maggiolo, 182 

Mahy Islands, 218 

Maillard, Father, 400, 404, 407, 409, 
410, 417, 439 

Mainchi, 192 

Maine Historical Magazine, 47 

Maine Historical Society, 39, 98 

Mal Bay, 223 

Malignant Bay, 188 

Maliseet, 119 

Manitou, 117, 417 

Manna, OI 

Map of Acadia by Denys, 33, 51, 89 

Maple, 107, 124, 182, 186,. 190, 215, 
218, 380, 419 ; sap, 380; sugar, 381 

Maquereau, 351 

Maquereau, Pointe au, 218 

Marache, 357 

Marcelle Point, 211 

Margaree, 186 

Margots, 112 

Marigot, 323 

Marionettes, 374 

Marot, 137 

Marsh Point, 186 

Marsouins, 351 

Martachées, 413 

Marten, 382, 403, 413, 442, 447, 448 ; 
description, 387 

Marthe, 387 

Martin, H. T., 368 

Martre, 387 

Massachusetts Historical Society, 38 

Masting, 108, 380 

Matane, 215 

Mate, duty, 339 

MiGrath, P. 7T:,:260 

M‘Gregor, J., 283 

M‘Guire, J. D., 424 

McNairs Cove, 170 

Medicine men, 417 

Mémoires des Commissaires, 45, 229 

Memorial of 1689 (text), 76 

Memorials of Commissaries, 38, 128, 
169 

Menane, III, 112 

Mensel, E., 80 

Mercure Francois, 229 

Mercure, P., 398 

Merganser, 373 

Merigomish Harbour, 188 

Merle, 374, 392 

Merluche, 257, 269, 341 

Merman, 80, 81, 166 

Mescognus, 107 


620 


Messes of fishermen, 316 

Metapedia, 215 

Meulles, De, 17, 41, 119, 169 

Michaur (Michaux or Michou) islands, 
181 

Micmac language, 33, 109, 128, 133, 
153, 155, 164, 167, 171, 177, 179, 
182, 185, 190, 192, 194, 197, 200, 
210, 212, 215, 226, 374, 378, 398, 
413, 423, 447 

legends, 419 

tribe, 399, 400 

Middle River, 212 

Mignogon, 33 ; identity, 378 

Mijepode, 447 

Mill Cove, 171 

Creek, 183 

pond, 113 

Mines, 88, 121 

Mink, 382, 388 

Minnows, 358 

Minot, value, 260 

Miramichi, 11, 16, 21,\22, 23, 41, 42% 
43, 161, 195, 212; description, 197 ; 
origin of name, 1975. POSt- at, 1%; 
161, 200 

Mirligaiche, 149, 153 

Mirliguesche, 172 

Miscou, 2,).3,..4, ©, 10; 11, 12,737, 40, 
47, 48, 68, 201, 206, 210, 446; de- 
scription, 200; establishment, 203; 
fire on, 396; origin of name, 200 

Moccasins, 412 

Moll’s map, 33, 311 

Molue, 33 

Montagne, La, 159, 160, 161 

Monts, Sieur de, 2, 111, 120, 522, 141, 
142, 147 

Moodie Cove, 189, 190 

Moose, 109, 121, 157, 187, 198, 199, 
209, 418, 423, 447; calling, 427 ; 
description, 382; hunting, 426; 
rutting, 427 

Moose butter, 423 

Moore, C. L., 189 

Moore, Geo., 178 

Morasses, 201 

More, 142 

Moreau, 10, 34, 35, 45, 115, 128, 136, 
147,150 

Moreau de Saint Méry, 38 

Morriston Pond, 173 

Morue, 33 

Moshers Island, 147 

Moulles, 139 

Mount Granville, 177 


INDEX 


Mount Joly, 223 

Mount Sainte Anne, 224 

Moutons, 332, 335 

Mouton, Port, 141 

Mouton, Riviere du, 169 

Moyaque, 33, 109 

Mud-hen, 373 

Muids, capacity, 253 

Mules, 363 

Murdoch, B., 44, 45, 98, 128, 133, 148, 
151, 160, 162, 169, 184 

Murray, D., 170, 171 

Murres, 374 

Muskrat, 447 ; description, 361 

Mussels, 139, 171, 216, 218 


NAMES of animals and plants, 107 

Nantes, 248, 249, 254, 255 

Natural History, translation, 241; 

text, 515 

Navigation, 29, 90 

Nectarines, 203 

Nepisiguit, 2,.7, 12, 13, 14, tae 
46, 69, 77, 105, 118, LIQ) Eyenumeena 
162, 198, 216, 379, 395, 446; de- 
scription, 212; origin of name, 
202 

New Brunswick Historical Society, 40, 
42, 43, 48, 200 

New Brunswick Magazine, 115, 126 

New Carlisle, 215 

Newcastle, 199 

New Cod, 263 

Newfoundland, 205, 258, 279, 325 

New France, 28, 247, 249; see also 
Acadia 

New Glasgow, 190 

New York Public Library, 52, 53 

Nigadoo, 214 

Niganiche (or Niganis), 183, 184, 185 

Night-hawks, 392 

Night heron, 373 

Noddy, 266 

Noizilliers, 396 

Normandy, 254, 259 

Normans, 219, 259 

North American Review, 45 


| North Gut, 183 


North-west Miramichi, 198 

Notice to the Reader, text, 89 
Notes, 313 

Nouvelle River, 217 

Nova Scotia Historical Society, 53 


OAK, 107, 108, I1I, 119, 122, ;ame 
149, 150, 154, 173, 182, 189, 190, 


INDEX 


191, 218; description, 378; uses, 
379 

Oakum, 299 

Ochatis, 185 

Oil press, 289 

Oiseau mouche, 393 

Old Fort, 114, 115 

Oleron, 260 

Oliver Island, 165 

Olonne, 181, 259 

Oranges, 2 53 

Ordinance of 1677 (texe), a3 

Orfrayes, 392 

Orignac, identity, 382 

Ormes, 380 

Orphan Bank, 208 

Orphelins, Bank aux, 219 

Osprey, 392 

Otis, 207 

Otis-Slafter, 97 

@itier,, 100, 121, 
scription, 362 

Ours, 383 

Outarde, identity, 370 

Outfit of fishermen, 276 

Owls, habits, 92, 392 

Oyes, 127; blanches et grises, 142 

Oyster 171, 160, 100, 191, 193, 218, 

' 419; distribution in Acadia, 172; 
how taken, 359 

Oyster Pond, 171 


361, 413, 442; de- 


PABOS, 218 

Paddles, 422 

Pain de cacamos, 423 

Palonne, 373 

Paltsits, Victor H., x., 42, 49 

Pantagoiet, latitude, 255 

Papon, 69, 99 

Paris, 254, 255 

Parkman, F’., 38, 116, 151 

Parks Cove, 149 

Partridges, 109, 124, 193, 202, 434; 
capture, 391 ; description, 3090 

Partridge Island, 113 

Paspebiac, 215, 216 

Passage de Fronsac, 170 

Passamaquoddy, 24, 47, 110, 111 

Passepec, 155 

Patterson, G., 46, 177, 188, 189, 190, 
206, 207, 350, 424 

Peaches, 203 

Pears, 214 

Peas, 139, 214 

Pemetegoit, 97 

Pennegoins, 266, 268 


621 


Penobscot, 5, 7, 8, 29, 247; latitude, 
255; Origin of name, 97 

Pentagotet, 97, 109 

Percé, early settlement, 223 

Rock, 221 

Seigniory, 15, 16, 222 

Perdrix, 390 

Peregrine falcon, 390 

Perley, Mik. 283,) 350 

Perpisawick, 155 

Perroquets de mer, 112 

Pesche sedentaire, 341 

Peschipotys, 33, 447 

Petitcodiac, 121 

Petit Chibou, 182 

Petitdegrat Island, 176, 326 

Petite Riviere, 146, 223 

Petit lapis, 397 

Pas Island, 165 

—— Paspec-biac, 215 

Passage, 125 

Petits Pins, 379 

Petrels, 266, 267 

Pew, 308 

Pheasant, 391 

Philological problems, 32 

Picqueurs, 287 

Pictou, 46; description, 189; origin 
of name, 190 

Piers, H., 373, 424 

Pigeon-hawk, 390 

Pigeons, 109, 124, 193, 199, 216, 224, 
225227. Que 

Pigeons a la rape, 252 

Pigeons de mer, 112 

Pilot, 271 

Pin, 379 

Pine, 107, 122, 127, 173, 180, 182, 1386, 
190, 191, 192, 193, 197, 2183 uses, 
107, 379 

Pine marten, 387 

Pipegueniche, 133 

Pipes, 424 

Pipe-stem wood, 425 

Piquebois, 392 

Piscatiqui, 165 

Pisquit, 79 

Pitois, 388 

Plaisance, 279 

Plaise, 355 

Plaster, 15, 74 

Platins, 197 

Play the cap, 324 

Plessis, Bishop, 165, 283 

Plie de mer, 355 

Plongeon, 373 


622 


Plover 142,054. 193"- kinds, 374 

Pluviers, 193, 374 

Poil, 384 

Pointe au Pére, 213 

Pokemouche, 200 

Pokesuedie, 129, 211 

Pomquet, 172 

Pommiers, 397 

Pond fish, 358 

Ponnamon, 177 

Poor of France, 251 

Poplars, 171 

Porc-epic, 384 

Porcupine, 382 ; description, 384 

Porcupine quills, 384, 413, 414, 423, 
448 

Porcupine, Cape, 170 

Porpoises, 351 

Portages, 119, 194, 198, 215 

Portage Brook, 219 

Port aux Moutons, description, 141 

Porte, 143 

Port Daniel, description, 217 

Port de la Baleine, 181 

Portland, Point, 115 

Port La Tour, 128, 132, 133, 138 

Port Lomeron, 128, 133 

Portobello, 194 

Port of Cap Naigre, 140 

Bossisnel, 5, 10, 142 

i, ae es Royal, 2 2, 3) 45 5; 75 8, 13; 98, Too, 

151,,160; Capture im) 1654,0 ter ; 

description, 122 

Se. Marie, 175 

Portugal, 143, 144 

Posteau, 353 

Potash, go 

Pote, W., 400 

Pot, The, 117 

Pougues, 380 

Poule d’eau, 373 

Poules de mer, 266, 267 

Pounamon, 33, 177 

Poursille, 351 

Poutrincourt, De, 2 

Premiums to fishermen, 271 

Prime, 185 

Prince, |. are 

Prince Edward Island, 192, 205, 209; 
see also Isle Saint John (Jean) 

Princes pine, 379 

Privilege du Roy, 514 

Prospect, 155 

Provence, 255 

Provisions, how administered, 317 

Provisions of 1654, text, 61 


INDEX 


Prowse, Judge, 279, 311, 324 
Pruniers, 397 

Prusse, 107, 380 

Public Record Office, 41 
Pubnico, 129 

| Puffins, 112 

Pugwash, 192 

Pye, 221 


| QUACO, 121 

Quahog, 415 
Queensport, 166 
Quincajou, identity, 385 
Quintals, value, 338 


{ 


RABBES, 312, 334 

Rabbit, hunting of, 389 

Ragged Island, 169 

Rameau, 128, 133, 447 

Ram’s Horn, 292 

Rand, S. T., cited, 109, 128, 164, 167, 
171, 177, 190, 192, 374, 378, 400, 423, 
425, 447 

Raspberries, 154, 199, 214, 225, 396 

Raspberry Island, 147 

Rat Musqué, 361 

Raudot, 43, 78 

Raven, 391 

Rayes, 353 

Raymond, W. T., 235 

Razilly, Isaac de, 5, 9, 10, 11, 775 975 
98, 124, 142, 146, 149, 150, 153, 154, 
203, 218, 341, 441; biography, 147 

Razor-billed auk, 374 

Razor-clams, 139 

Ré, 260 

Rechibouctou, description, 194, 198 ; 
see also Richibucto 

Recollets, 16, 137 

Redbank, 198 

Red-headed woodpeckers, 393 

Red oak, 378 

Red squirrel, 387 

Relations of the Jesuits. 
Relations 

Renards, 384 

| Renewal of 1667, text, 71 

| Requiem, 357 

Restigouche, 16, 22, 33; description, 


See Jesuit 


215 
Rey-Gaillards, 25 
Richelet, Dictionnaire, 35, 44, 385 
Richelieu, Cardinal, 145, 170 
Richibucto, 16, 24, 194 
Richmond Bay, 208 
Rigging the lead, 276 


INDEX 


Risser, J. F.,.147; 153 
Ritceys Cove, 149 
Rivedou, 133, 342 
Riviere aux Ours, 127 
Riviere des Espagnols, 182 
River fish, 110, 358 
Riverport, 10, 147, 150 
Robin, 374, 392 

Rock Island, 166 

Roe, 312, 314 
Rolante, 224 

Ronces, 397 

Rooms, 300 

Rosier, Cape, 20, 228 
Ross, Hon. W., 183 
Rouillard, E., 215, 226 
Rouleau, P., 80, 81 
Roy, P. G., 215 

Rums, 300 

Russian wool, 363 
Rustico Beach, 189 


SABBIES Branch, 195 

Sable, 387 

Sable, origin of word, 131 

Sable Island, description, 207, 350 

Sainsbury, Calendar, 116 

Saint Annes, 4, II, 24, 43, 78, 993 
description, 183 

Cembro, 155 

Crowe 2, 11, 110; 111 

—— Georges Bay, 171 

—— Germain, Treaty of, 4, 229 

——— James, 149 

—— Jean (or Saint John) River, 2, 5, 
47, 194; description, 113 

—— Laurent, Baye, description, 188 

—— Laurent, River of, 247, 249 

—— Louis Village, 195 

Malo, 155 

Sainte Marie Island, 175 

Saint Marie River, 102, 157, 343 

Marys, 157, 173 

— Michel, 149 

Ovide, 143 

—— Paul, Island of, 205 

—— Peters (see also Saint Pierre), 7, 
10, II, 12, 13, 14, 24, 43, 99, 152, 161, 
176, 177, 208 

—— Peters River, 214 

—— Pierre (see also Saint Peters), 
99, 100, 159, 168, 343; description, 
176 ; destruction by fire, 105 

—— Valier, 42, 400, 407 

Saline, 288 

Salmon, 65, I10, I14, 124, 127, 129, 


623 


139, 149, 166, 178, 184, 186, 193, 

199, 212, 213, 214, 226, 351, 436; 

pecans, 437; Spearing, 436 ; species, 

43 

Salmon River, 121, 166, 173, 194 

Salmon trout, 166, 436 ; identity, 359 

Salt-bin, 288, 307, 311, 335 

Salter, 313 

Salt in New France, 256 

Sambro Island, 155 

Samuels, E. A., 359 

Sand-eel, 124 

Sand flats, 197 

Sandpipers, 129, 375 

Sandy beach, 227 

Sanson, 176, 216 

Sapin, 107, 379 

Sarcelle, 373 

Sardines, 65, 267, 352 

Saumon, 351 

Saumon R. 
351 

Savary, 122 

Sawhbills, 373 

Saw-fish, 356 

Scallops, 149 

Sciaena, 114 

Sea-birds, 370 

Sea-cow, 65, 350, 351 

Sea-crayfishes, 140 

Sea-eel, 351, 352 

Sea-fishes, 349 

Sea-horse, 350 

Sea-parrots, 112 

Sea-pigeons, 112 

Sea Wolf Island, 186 

Seasons described, 394 

Seals, 130, 206, 403; fishery, 130, 342, 
350; habits, 350; kinds, 349; oil, 
350; skins, 447 

Seal Islands, 130 

Secherie, 270 

Sedentary fishery, 10, 12, 16, 27, 31, 
87, 142, 150, 167; discussed, 341I- 
348 

Seiche, 355 

Seignelay, 42, 76 

Seigniory of Miramichi, 16, 22, 41, 42, 


du (or: au), 166, 214, 


Seigniory of Isle Percée, 222 
Seine, 358 

Seriziers, 396 

Serpens, 388 

Shad, 114, 149, 351 

Shark, 357 

Shea, J. G., 44, 97 


624 


Shediac, 193 
Sheldrake Island, 197 
Sherbrooke, 158 
Shiner, 358 
Shippegan, 200, 202, 203, 210 
Ship Harbour, 156 
Shou Bay Hill, 147 
Shubenacadie, 121 
Sideboards, 300 
Sirois, Father, 222 
Skins, 447 

Skates, 353 

Slafter, E. 5 128, 207 


Smelt, 127, 139, 193, 223, 326, 351; 
size, 129 

Smith, A. C., 109, 112, 142, 223, 370, 
374, 392 

TT DaG: 2) 436 

—— Island, 186 


Snakes, 382, 388 

Snipe, 129, 142, 154, 193, 375 

Snow geese, 142 

in Acadia, 250, 395 

shoes, description, 419 

Sole, 352 

Southack, 41 

South Gut, 183 

South River, 172, 173 

Spain, losses in, 143 

Spanish Bay, 182 

Spencer, Cape, 120 

Splitters, 287, 309, 310, 311, 312 

Splitting-table, 287 

Spoonbill, 373 

Springs at Miscou, 202 

Spring, description, 394 

Springhill, 119 

Spruce, 107, 122, 379 

partridge, 390 

roots, use, 406, 420 

Squalls, 273 

Squid, 355 

Squid Cove, 165 

Squirrels, 382, 413, 434, 447, 448; 
description, 387 

Stag, 383 

Staging, description, 283 

Starling, 392 

Starry ray, 353 

Steward, 272, 281 

Stewiacke, 158 

Stock-fish, 257, 269 

Stone axes, 402 

Stowers, 270, 271, 309 

Strawberries, 154, 199, 214, 225 

Stuart, Sir J., 3, 181 


INDEX 


Sturgeons, 213; capture, 354 ; descrip- 
tion, 353 

Sugar cane, 253 

Sulte, B., 38, 41, 46 

Summer, description, 394 

Superstitions of Indians, 430 

Susa, Convention of, 229 

Swallow, 393 

Sweat-houses of Indians, 416 

Swiss, 387 

Swordfish, 356 

Sydney, Cape Breton, 90, 182 


TABAGIE, 438 

Table a Rolant, 224 

Table of Chapters, Vol. I., 93; Vol. 
i243 

Tabusintac, 200 

Talon, 222 

Tanguay, 21, 23, 24, 45 

Tantet, M. Victor, 57 

Tatamagouche, 191 

Teagues Brook, 211 

Teal, 109, 127, 129, 141, 154, 172, 193, 
318, 373 

Temple, 116, 162 

Terns, 375 

Terre neufve, 205 

Tetagouche, 212 

Theodore River, 156 

Thevet, 126, 164 

Thistles, 397 

Thomaston, 107 

Thorn-bushes, 397 

Throaters, 287, 311, 312 

Thwaites, R. G., editor of the Jesuit 
Relations, which see 

Tiburon, 357 

Tides of Bras d’Or, 179 

Tiercelet, 390 

Timbre, 292, 328, 331 

Title of Denys’ book discussed, 28 

Tobacco, 419 

Tobique, 119 

Toling, 335 

Tomcod, 177 

Tor Bay, 162 

Toronto Public Library, 52 

Tortoise, description, 359 

Tortué, 359 

Tourmentin, Cape, 192 

Tournevires, 129 

Tournevire, 304 

Tousquet, Isles of, 128, 210, 211, 342, 


349 
Tracadie, 200 


INDEX 


Tracadie Harbour, 208 

Tracadigash Point, 215 

Trancheur, 287 

Transactions Nova Scotian Institute, 
206 

Royal Society of Canada, cited, 
46, 47, 48, III, 114, 115, 118, 119, 
126, 161, 173, 175, 177, 194, 195, 
197, 198, 203, 205, 207, 213, 215 

Translation, method explained, viii. 

Tretil, 291 

Trippe de molue, 313 

Trout, 110, 124, 129, 139, 193, 351 

Truite, 351 

Truites, saumonées, 359 

Tuberose, 253 

Tulip, 253 

Turnstones, 129 

Tusket, 128, 129, 130, 349 


UTRECHT, Treaty of, 279 


VACHES Marines, 350 

Valleston, 273 

Walhtene, Ia, 15, 21, 24, 44 

Vanelly, 233 

Vas-tu, Viens-tu, 304 

Veillée, 397 

Vendome, Duc de, 37 

Venning, W. H., 359 

Verrazano, I 

Vice-Admiral, 164 

Vignaux, or Vignots, 293 

Vieux Logis, 133 

Vincens, Mlle., x. 

Vine, 203 ; in New France, 254; treat- 
ment, 255 

Vitré, or Vitray, Sieur de, 9, 10, 143 

Voyal, 304 

Vvak, Isaac, same as Wake 


Wak lsaac,-220,.235, 236, 237, 238, 
239 

Walker, B. E., x. 

Wallace River, 192 

Walnuts, 120 

Walrus, 207, 350 

Wampum, 410 ; description, 414 


625 


Warburton, 350 

Washademoac, 121 

Washing-box, 292 

Water-horse, 291 

Watson, T. W., 140) 

Weasel, 382, 388 

Wedge Island, 157 

Wells, H. P., 363 

West Ironbound Island, 147 

West River, 190 

Whale, 356, 357, 403 

Wheat in Acadia, 139, 214 

Wheelbarrows, 292 

Wheeler, G. A., 98 

Whelks, 139 

Whitbourne, 80 

White pine, 379 

White whale, 351 

Whitman, C. H., 165, 283 

Widgeon, 372, 373 

Wigwams, construction, 405; 
423; place of honour, 408 

Wildiesecse, 625) Togs /Ti2, 127, 128. 
141, 154, 172, 184, 193, 212, 318, 384, 
443; description, 370; habits, 201; 
hunting, 435 

Wild grapes, 120 

Wild pigeon. See Pigeon 

Willis, 149 

Wilson’s thrush, 19 

Wine, in Acadia, 252 ; and water, 305, 
317 

Winsor, J-, 35, 39) 45, 46, 311, 324 

Winter, description, 395 

Winthrop, J., 116 

Wolfe, H. M., 147 

Wolverene, description, 382, 385 

Wolves Islands, 112 

Worship of Indians, 415 

Woodcock, 391 

Woods of Acadia, 377 

Woods fires, 395 

Woodpeckers, 392 

Wood’s Natural History, 114 

Wrong, G. M., x1. 


fires, 


YARDING of moose, 428 
Yarmouth, 128 


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