not easily see how greatly the work of the Mission of New France
has advanced the Christian religion among the Savages; he who
will fairly estimate an enterprise very difficult in its nature,
and greatly hindered also by the interruption of calamities from
without; must confess that the rugged soil has been prepared
for the seed of the Gospel with very advantageous and glorious
beginnings. For, in the first place, is it not a great thing, I
ask, that a race of utterly brutal disposition and manners, lately
keeping itself far aloof from all external intercourse, extremely
suspicious by reason of its impotence, should be now so conciliated
towards us, and entertain such sentiments for our brethren, that
Savages of every tribe seek them out with the greatest pains,
[602] desire them to have a residence in their territory, offer
them annual supplies from their scanty store, testify by grief
and weeping to their longing for them, and regard the English,
the enemies of our peace, with implacable hatred? It is indeed
something great, and of the utmost importance to the implanting
of the faith in those minds, that they meet its heralds with such
emphatic good-will, confidence, and veneration. Moreover there is
another influence far greater, and so much the more powerful in
effecting the salvation of the Savages as it is remote from the
sphere of human affections and more characteristic of heavenly
emotions. Already there has become deeply seated in the minds of
the Canadians the belief that those who die without Baptism are
consigned to eternal torments; consequently, as long as they are in
health, they do not readily submit to the rules of the Christian
faith, which to their ideas are a little too harsh; but when at
the point of death, they regard Baptism as certainly a great
blessing, and eagerly seek it. Since they have the Fathers of the
Society as authorities for this doctrine, and have absorbed it into
their inmost souls, of their own accord they warn and remind their
Teachers of it, whenever any one of their friends is prostrated
by some severe complaint, and urge them to anticipate the death
of the patient by sprinkling him with the saving waters, before
he shall perish. And, indeed, these emotions of the mind, in men
who are in other respects most savage, two Fathers have created
by a training of two years, and that indeed not continuous, but
interrupted by numerous difficulties, which is certainly no light
incentive toward propagating the seed of the Gospel among that race
with flourishing increase. To this propagation, the unaccustomed
power of holy prayers and of Baptism, [603] sometimes disclosed
among this people in several remarkable instances, seems likely to
be no small incentive in the future. When Father Biard was occupied
one day at the river of the Eplan fish, a message was brought to
him from a sick woman at the point of death, who was very anxious
to see and converse with him, at Bay Ste. Marie, two leagues from
that river. He had one of the colonists as a guide thither, and
found the woman lying, according to the manner of her race, near
the hearth, and now miserably languishing in the third week of
her illness. He instructed the invalid, as far as her disease
permitted, in the necessary parts of the Catechism; strengthened
her by prayers adapted to the circumstances, and a cross hung upon
her breast; and directed that he should be called, if she should
thereafter grow worse. The next day the woman arose from the hearth
entirely well, and, loaded with a heavy bag, started briskly for
her husband, who was at a distance of four leagues. A Calvinist
from Dieppe first of all observed this cure, and immediately ran
to Father Biard to announce the wonderful event. The same Father
was with Biencourt on the banks of the Pentegoët, where, according
to his custom, he was going about among the cabins of the Savages,
visiting and comforting the sick and aiding them with prayers and
Christian instruction. There a sick man was lying, who had already
been ill three months, whose recovery had been despaired of, and
whom the Savages brought to the Father's notice. He was completely
bathed in cold perspiration, an almost certain sign of death,
since a heavy fever had taken possession of him. After prayers had
been said and a short lesson in the faith given, when the Father
had held out a cross to him to be repeatedly kissed, and had left
it hanging about his neck, many Savages listening to him, and
heartily [604] approving what was done, he returned to the ship
and Biencourt. But the next day, when Biencourt was engaged upon
the ship in trading with the natives, that sick man, yesterday
at the point of death, came on board in a state of health, and,
joyfully and reverently displaying the cross, went to Father Biard,
and, testifying with great delight to his recovery, ascribed it
to the power of the Holy Cross. That which follows is much more
remarkable, and by the Savages was ascribed solely to the merit of
Baptism. Father Biard, La Motte, the Lieutenant of La Saussaye,
and Simon the Interpreter, had gone together to examine the site
selected for the settlement of St. Sauveur. While returning thence,
they heard at a distance a lamentable wail, and, when they asked
of their Savage companion the cause of this mournful outcry, the
answer was made that it was the customary token that some one had
already departed this life. But as they approached nearer to the
huts of the Savages, a boy, on being questioned, informed them that
the lamentation was not for a dead, but for a dying person; and,
turning to Father Biard, he said: "Why do you not hurry thither,
if perchance you may find him still living, and administer Baptism
before his death?" The voice of that boy, just as though sent from
heaven, caused the Father and his companions to run swiftly, and as
they reached the rude dwellings, there appeared a great crowd of
Savages, drawn up in regular order, standing in the open air; and
among this mournful-looking company a father walked about, in whose
arms a delicate boy was dying. As the child struggled for breath,
hastening towards death, and weakly gasping, it tortured the
unfortunate parent with grief and sorrow. Moreover, at each gasp of
the infant, the father wailed dreadfully, and his lamentation was
immediately answered by a howl from the gloomy throng of Savages
standing near. [605] Father Biard went to the afflicted parent of
the boy, and asked whether he might, with his consent, baptize
the dying child. The Savage, overcome by the depth of his grief,
could not utter a word; but his action showed, by placing the child
in the arms of the petitioner, what he desired. The Father asked
for water, and giving the child to La Motte to hold, who eagerly
received it, he sprinkled it with the saving waters, christened
it Nicholas de la Motte, and formulating a prayer, begged from
God light for the Savages, that they might recognize the immense
blessings of the faith. After this prayer he took the infant from
the hands of La Motte and gave it to its mother, who was present;
the mother immediately gave her breast to the child, who greedily
accepted it, partook of the milk to satiety, and finally lived,
healthy and vigorous. In the meantime, the whole circle of Savages
who had stood about, struck by the marvelousness of the unusual
occurrence, remained motionless as stones, and stood silently in
their tracks. Therefore, while they were thus prepared in mind,
our brother addressed to them such words as seemed appropriate to
the subject in hand; and when he had finished, bade them depart
to their own huts. As they, trembling and reverential, received
his discourse, with the greatest respect, so when, the object
of their gathering having been accomplished, he ordered them to
depart to their huts, they slipped away, silently exhibiting this
unusual obedience, quietly and quickly, each to his own dwelling.
Whoever shall carefully examine these and other like acts which
have been performed in the sight of the Savages, greatly to their
astonishment, and no less to their benefit, will justly conclude
that the Mission of New France has been commenced under very
advantageous beginnings.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA: VOL. II
IX
Our copy of Biard's letter (written in French) to his provincial, dated
January 31, 1612, is from Carayon's _Première Mission_, pp. 44-76,
noted under Bibliographical Data of Documents III.-VI., in our Volume I.
X
We follow the style and make-up of O'Callaghan's Reprint of Biard's
_Missio Canadensis_, designated as "No. 1" in the Lenox Catalogue.
According to Sommervogel's _Bibliothèque de la Campagnie de Jésus_
(Paris, 1890), vol. i., p. 1439, this document was originally published
in the _Annuæ Litteræ Societatis Jesu_, an. 1611 (Dillingen, n. d.),
pp. 121-143. The British Museum has a copy of this volume of _Annuæ
Litteræ_, described in its catalogue as published at "Dilingæ [1615?]."
Sommervogel adds, regarding _Missio Canadensis_: "Was it not published
separately? I find it thus indicated in the catalogue of Mr. Parison,
no. 1786." According to a letter written by Father Carrère (June 17,
1890) to Father Jones, of Montreal, the original MS. of this letter was
then in the archives of Roder, France.
In Carayon's _Première Mission_ (pp. 77-105) there is given a French
version of this letter.
It is internally evident that the letter was commenced January 22nd,
and finished "vltimo die Januarÿ." In Father Martin's MS. (translated)
copy, preserved in the Library of Parliament, at Ottawa, he wrote upon
it the former date, and it is so calendared in the catalogue of that
library. Carayon first applied to it the latter date. This of itself
has led to some bibliographical confusion.
In Carayon's _Bibliographie Historique de la Compagnie de Jésus_
(Paris, 1864), p. 178, a notice of the original publication is
thus given: "P. Biard.--Epistola ad R. P. Præpositum generalem, e
Portu Regali in Nova Francia, data ultimo die Januarii anni 1611,
qua regionem illam describit, et Patrum Societatis Jesu in eam
profectionem.--'Ea inserta est annuis litteris Soc. Jesus ejusdem anni
Provinc. Franc. ad finem.' (Sotwell.)."
O'Callaghan obtained the originals of some of his reprints from the
_Annuæ Litteræ Societatis Jesu_, of which there are incomplete files
in the libraries of John Carter Brown; Harvard College; St. John's,
College, Fordham, N. Y.; St. Francis Xavier, New York City; the Jesuit
colleges at Woodstock, Md., and Georgetown, D. C.; and St. Mary's
College, Montreal. The Brown Library has the richest collection.
See references to the O'Callaghan Reprint of _Missio Canadensis_, in
Harrisse's _Notes_, no. 405; Lenox Catalogue, p. 18; Sabin, vol. xvi.,
p. 542; Brown Catalogue, vol. ii., no. 119; Winsor, p. 300; Henry
C. Murphy Sale Catalogue (N. Y., 1884), no. 2960; O'Callaghan Sale
Catalogue (N. Y., 1882), nos. 178, 1205, 1250.
_Title-page._ O'Callaghan's Reprint is closely imitated.
_Collation of O'Callaghan Reprint._ Title, 1 p.; reverse of title,
with inscription: "Editio ad xxv exemplaria restricta. O'C.", 1 p.;
Lectori, pp. iii-iv.; text, pp. 5-37; blank, 1 p.; Index, pp. 39-45;
colophon (p. 46): "Albaniae Excvdebat Joel Munsellius | Mense Septembri
Anno | CIↃ.IↃCCC.LXX.," 1 p.
XI
The copy of Lescarbot's _Relation Dernière_ herein followed is in
Harvard College Library, where it is bound in with the same author's
_Les Muses de la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1612). The Harvard copy is
the only original of which the present editor has knowledge; it is not
listed in Gagnon's _Essai de Bibliographie Canadienne_ (Quebec, 1895),
but reference to it will be found in Harrisse, no. 26; Sabin, no.
40178; and Winsor, p. 300. There is a reprint of it in Cimber (Lafaist)
and Danjou's _Archives Curieuses de l'Histoire de France, depuis Louis
XI. jusqu'à Louis XVIII._, first series, tome xv. (Paris, 1837), pp.
377-406, which, however, omits the list of names on pp. 21-24 of the
original. The first series of this collection (15 vols.) was edited
by L. Lafaist ("L. Cimber," _pseud._) and F. Danjou, assistants in
the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the second series (12 vols.), by
Danjou alone, who, on the title of tome viii. of this series, is styled
"Bibliothécaire de l'Arsenal." The 27 volumes were published at Paris
between 1834 and 1840.
The orthography of the printed original of the _Relation Dernière_ is
an interesting mixture of old and new styles. It has many instances of
modern spellings not found even in the Cramoisy _Relation_ of 1632,
which was printed twenty years later.
It will be noticed that the "Privilege" is that granted for the
publication of Lescarbot's _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_ (1608).
_Title-page._ The one given in the present volume is a photographic
facsimile of the Harvard original.
_Collation._ Title, 1 p.; blank, reverse of title, 1 p.; text, pp.
3-39; privilege, reverse of p. 39, 1 p.--making a total of 40 pp.
XII
In our reissue of the _Relatio Rerum Gestarum_ (1613-14), we follow
the original text and its pagination, as given on pp. 562-605 of the
_Annuæ Litteræ Societatis Jesu_, for 1612, printed at Lyons in 1618,
which we found at the Riggs Memorial Library, Georgetown University,
Washington, D. C. This forms the text of O'Callaghan's Reprint, which
is arbitrarily designated in the Lenox Catalogue as "no. 6." See
references in Sabin, no. 69245; Winsor, p. 300; Lenox, p. 19; and Brown
Catalogue, no, 170, and p. 166. Sales are noted in Barlow (no. 1272),
Murphy (no. 2960), and O'Callaghan (no. 1250), sale catalogues.
_Title-page._ We closely imitate that of the O'Callaghan Reprint.
_Collation of Reprint._ Title, 1 p.; reverse of title, with
inscription: "Editio viginti quinque exemplaria. O'C," 1 p.; Tabula
Rerum, pp. iii., iv.; text, pp. 1-66; colophon (p. 67): "Albaniae
Excvdebat Joel Munsellius | Mense Martis Anno | CIↃ IↃCCC LXXI," 1 p.
NOTES TO VOL. II
(_Figures in parentheses, following number of note, refer to pages of
English text._)
1 (p. 7).--Carayon prints _neuf_, but this is either a slip of the
pen upon the part of Father Biard, or a misprint. The Fathers arrived
at Port Royal, May 22, 1611, so that this portion of the letter was
written just eight (_huit_) months after.
2 (p. 27).--Kennebec River. Sometimes written, also, Rimbegui,
Kinibequi, Kinibeki, and Quinebequy. Maurault says that the Abenakis
called this river Kanibesek, meaning "river that leads to the
lake."--_Histoire des Abenakis_ (Quebec, 1866), pp. iv., 5, and 89,
_note_ 2.
3 (p. 27).--Penobscot River. It was sometimes written, also, Pemptegoet
and Potugoët.
4 (p. 27).--In their first voyage (1604), De Monts and Poutrincourt
visited and named the river St. John; and at the mouth of the Rivière
des Etechemins (so named by Champlain; by the Indians called Scoodick
or Schoodic), they found an island which they called St. Croix, a name
in later days given to the river itself. It lies in the middle of the
river, opposite to the dividing line between Calais and Robbinston,
Me. Here De Monts, Champlain, and their 77 fellows spent a miserable
winter, while Poutrincourt returned to France for colonists and
supplies to plant his proposed settlement at Port Royal. Thirty-five of
the St. Croix party had died of scurvy before relieved in June, 1605,
by Pontgravé, De Monts' lieutenant. In August, after a fruitless voyage
along the New England coast, De Monts took his party to Port Royal, and
there began a settlement before Pontgravé's arrival. Biard's letter,
indicates that winter fur-trading posts were maintained both at St.
Croix and on the St. John, for several years thereafter.--See Parkman's
_Pioneers_, pp. 291-293.
Champlain's chart of the island may be found in his _Voyages_ (Prince
Soc.), vol. ii., p. 32. Lescarbot, in _Nouv. France_ (Paris, 1612), p.
469, says of the soil: "It is very good, and delightfully prolific."
The identity of St. Croix Island was determined in 1798, by the
commissioners appointed, under the treaty of 1783, to determine the
boundary-line between New Brunswick and the territory of the United
States. Holmes says, in _Annals of America_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1829),
vol. i., p. 122, _note_ 1: "Professor (afterwards President) Webber,
who accompanied the commissioners in 1798, informed me that they found
an island in this river, corresponding to the French descriptions
of the Island St. Croix, and, near the upper end of it, the remains
of a very ancient fortification, overgrown with large trees; that
the foundation stones were traced to a considerable extent; and that
bricks (a specimen of which he showed me) were found there. These
remains were, undoubtedly, the reliques of De Monts's fortification."
Several cannon balls were also discovered while making excavations
on this island, about 1853. The island has been known as Dochet's
Island and Neutral Island; but in recent years it has been formally
and appropriately named De Monts' Island. See Godfrey's _Centennial
Discourse_ (Bangor, 1870), cited in _Champlain's Voyages_ (Prince
Soc.), vol. ii., p. 33; also Williamson's _Maine_, vol. i., p. 88, and
vol. ii., p. 578.
5 (p. 47).--George Weymouth, a Bristol navigator, entered Kennebec
River in June, 1605. The stream was called by the natives Sagadahoc
(sometimes spelled Sagadahock). Weymouth's enthusiastic reports led
the Plymouth Company--of which Lord John Popham and Sir Ferdinando
Gorges were leading members--to plant a colony in August, 1607, at
first probably on Stage Island, but later on the shores of Atkins' Bay,
ten miles up the Kennebec. Owing to the death of Popham, their chief
patron, and other misfortunes, the colonists returned to England in
1608. For several years thereafter, Gorges and Sir Francis Popham--son
of Lord John--fitted out trading and fishing expeditions to the region,
but no permanent colony was again attempted on the Kennebec until
1630. Weymouth had serious difficulties with the natives (1605), and
kidnapped several of them; the colonists themselves were, towards the
close of their stay, cruel to their neighbors; the outrages in 1609
were doubtless the operations of visiting English traders. The boats
and other English property seen by the French in 1611, at the Penobscot
and Kennebec, of course belonged to traders, who were at this time
numerous along the main shore. Cf. Williamson's _Maine_, vol. i., pp.
53, 191-239; and _Memorial Volume of Popham Celebration_, Aug. 29,
1862. (Portland, 1863).
6 (p. 49).--These Indians were the Tarratines (called Penobscots by
the English), one of the three tribes of the Etchemins,--the other two
being the Openangos (the Quoddy Indians of English chronicles) of New
Brunswick, and the Marachites of Nova Scotia. For origin of their name,
see _Maine Hist. Colls._, vol. vii., p. 100. The principal Tarratine
village was, a half century later, near where Bangor now stands. The
town visited by Biard was apparently at or near the present Castine,
on Major-bigyduce Point (for derivation of this name see _Maine Hist.
Colls._, vol. vi., pp. 107-109). See topographical description in
Williamson's _Maine_, i., pp. 70, 71. The "Chiboctous" River, of Biard,
was, apparently, but the "wide-spread" of the Penobscot, stretching
eastward of Castine. French traders were at Castine at a very early
date. The English built a trading fort there in 1625-26, which fell
into the hands of the French in 1632. It was styled Pentagoët in
those days; but in 1667, was rechristened Castine, after Baron de St.
Castine, who for several years maintained a station there. The Dutch
were in possession for a time,--indeed, Castine was continuously
fortified by English, French, and Dutch, in turn, from about 1610 to
1783.
7 (p. 61).--This introductory note, "To the Reader," is furnished by
Dr. O'Callaghan, in his Albany reprint of 1870, which we are here
following.
The Jesuits had been banished from France by Henry IV., in 1595. He
recalled them in 1603, making Father Coton, of their number, his
confessor.
8 (p. 61).--It is internally evident that the document, like many
others of our series, was written at intervals; this one was
undoubtedly commenced in 1611 and closed in 1612. In a hurry to catch
the home-returning vessel, the writer appears to have forgotten the
change in the year.
9 (p. 67). It is possible that the Biscayans originally named what
is still known as Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, after the city of that
name in Spain. It was known to the English by that name in Biard's
time;--see John Guy's letter, May 16, 1611, in Prowse's _History of
Newfoundland_ (London, 1895), p. 127. Biard merely gallicizes the
word. Placentia is the chief seat of French settlement in Southern
Newfoundland.--See Howley's _Ecclesiastical History of Newfoundland_
(Boston, 1888), pp. 128, 129.
10 (p. 67).--Reference is here made to the Eskimos of Labrador. Says
Prowse, (_Hist. N. F._, pp. 590, 591); "The name Esquimaux is a French
corruption of the Abenaki word 'Eskimatsie,' an eater of raw flesh. The
native word is 'Innuit,' meaning 'the people.' Eskimo is the Danish
form of the name, and has now quite supplanted the old French name."
They were probably dubbed "Excommunicated" in Biard's time, because of
the marked hostility to them of all the other savage tribes in Canada;
and the French early joined the latter in opposing them.--See Prowse,
_ut supra_, p. 591. The missionaries found the Eskimos difficult
material on which to work; although an occasional captive slave,
brought to the St. Lawrence by the Indians, would yield to priestly
ministrations.--See Shea's _Charlevoix_, vol. iii., p. 30.
11 (p. 69).--Reference is here made to the mouth of what is now Saco
River. Choüacoët was the French rendering of a native word from which
the modern Saco is derived.--_Champlain's Voyages_ (Prince Soc.), vol.
ii., p. 64.
12 (p. 81).--No map could be found in the archives of the Society at
Rome, where the original of this letter is preserved.
13 (p. 127).--See vol. i., _note_ 2.
14 (p. 131).--Casquet ("les Casquetes," on maps of that period): a
dangerous group of rocks in the English Channel, seven miles west of
Alderney.
15 (p. 133).--See _notes_ 3, 6, _ante_; and vol. i., _note_ 11.
16 (p. 133).--See _note_ 4, _ante_.
17 (p. 135).--_Matachias_, or _matachiats_; described by Champlain,
in _Voyages_ (Prince Soc.), vol. i., p. 241, as "beads and braided
strings, made of porcupine quills, which they dye in various colors."
Lescarbot says that the Armouchiquois, like the Brazilians and
Floridians, make ornaments from bits of shell, polished and strung
together in bracelets, etc.; these are called _bou-re_ in Brazil, and
_matachiaz_ among the Northern tribes:--See his _Nouv. France_, p. 732.
18 (p. 137).--Nuncio of Pope Paul V. to Henry IV. of France; was
created a cardinal, December 2, 1615.--See Laverdière's _Champlain_, p.
492; also Faillon's _Col. Fr._, vol. i., p. 99. A fortification erected
by Poutrincourt, at the entrance of Port Royal harbor, was named by him
Fort d'Ubaldini.--See Lescarbot's chart of Port Royal, in vol. i. of
this series.
19 (p. 141).--Named by Champlain, from its forked shape, now known as
Cape Split; a promontory at entrance of Mines Bay, where it opens into
the Bay of Fundy. Jean Blaeu's map _Extrema Americæ_ (1620), shows it
as C. de Poitrincourt; for explanation of this name, see Laverdière's
_Champlain_, pp. 271, 272.
20 (p. 141).--Sable Island is thus described by Champlain, _Voyages_,
(Prince Soc.), ii., p. 8: "This island is thirty leagues distant north
and south from Cape Breton, and in length is about fifteen leagues. It
contains a small lake. The island is very sandy, and there are no trees
at all of considerable size, only copse and herbage, which serve as
pasturage for the bullocks and cows which the Portuguese carried there
more than sixty years ago."
The origin of the cattle here mentioned is thus explained by Edward
Haies, in his report on Sir Humphrey Gilbert's voyage of 1583, in
Goldsmid's _Hakluyt_, vol. xii., p. 345: "Sablon lieth to the seaward
of Cape Briton about 25 leagues, whither we were determined to goe
vpon intelligence we had of a Portugal--who was himselfe present
when the Portugals (abotte thirty yeeres past) did put in the same
Island both Neat and Swine to breede, which were since exceedingly
multiplied." Lescarbot, however, says the cattle were landed there
about 1528, by Baron de Léry; see his _Nouv. France_, p. 22. Sable
Island is noted as the scene of La Roche's unfortunate attempt at
colonization in 1598, for a graphic description of which see Parkman's
_Pioneers_, pp. 231-235. See Dionne's note on "Les Sablons," in his
_Nouvelle France_ (Quebec, 1891), pp. 311-316.
21 (p. 141).--The name Bacallaos (see vol. i., _note_ 7) was long
given to the region afterwards known as Canada. Peter Martyr says:
"Sebastian Cabot him selfe, named those lands _Baccallaos_ bycause
that in the seas thereabout he founde so great multitudes of certeyne
bigge fysshes much like vnto tunies (which th[e] inhabitantes caule
Baccallaos) that they sumtymes stayed his shippes."--See Eden's _Three
English Books on America_ (Arber ed., Birmingham, 1885), pp. 161, 345.
Fournier's _Hydrographie_ (Paris, 1667), cited in Browne's _History
of Cape Breton_ (London, 1869), p. 13, says: "It cannot be doubted
this name was given by the Basques, who alone in Europe call that
fish Bacalaos, or Bacaleos; the aborigines term them Apagé." See also
Lescarbot's _Nouv. France_, p. 237; and Dionne's _Nouv. France_, pp.
327-331. Cf. Prowse (_Hist. N. F._, p. 589); he says, in claiming the
discovery of Newfoundland for the English, that _Baccalao_ was but "an
ordinary trade word, in use at that period." For an interesting sketch
of the Basque fisheries in Newfoundland, up to the end of the 17th
century, see Prowse, _ut supra_, pp. 47-49.
That part of the mainland appears on Ribero's map (1529) as "Tiera de
los Bacallaos," shown also by Agnese (1554), Zaltieri (1566), Martines
(1578), and in map of "Nova Francia et Canada, 1597," in Wytfleit's
_Descriptionis Ptolemaicæ Augmentum_. The name was restricted to the
southern part of the island of Newfoundland, by Ramusio (1556); to
the island of Cape Breton, by Lescarbot (1612); to an island east of
Newfoundland by De Laet (1640). The name Baccalos "still clings to an
islet about forty miles north of the capital [St. John's], in which
multitudes of sea-birds now build their nests."--Bourinot, in _Canad.
Mo._, vol. vii., p. 290. See also, Anspach's _Hist. N. F._, pp. 296,
297.
22 (p. 147).--A long, narrow inlet, nearly parallel to the sea on
western coast of Digby County, N. S., and still known as St. Mary's Bay.
23 (p. 151).--A Basque word, meaning sorcerer, corresponding to the
native _aoutmoin_. See Biard's _Relation_ of 1616, _post_. Champlain
(Laverdière's ed., p. 82) calls them _Pilotoua_; and Sagard (_Canada_,
pp. 98, 656), _Pirotois_.
24 (p. 157).--Henry II. of Bourbon; prince of Condé, born in 1588;
nephew of and next in succession to Henry IV.; a leader in the Catholic
League, and father of the great Condé. He married, in 1609, Charlotte
de Montmorency, then fifteen years old, one of the most beautiful
women of her day. The king fell in love with her, and his attempted
intrigue led to complications that almost caused a war between France
and Spain. Condé rebelled against Louis XIII., and in September, 1616,
was captured and imprisoned; but he soon afterwards regained his power,
which he retained until the ascendancy of Richelieu displaced it, in
1623; he died in 1646.
The house of Conti was a younger branch of the house of Condé; that of
Soissons was also nearly related to the reigning family of Bourbon.
Charles de Bourbon, count of Soissons, was born in 1556. He acted for
a time with the League, but left it, in the hope of securing as his
wife Catherine of Navarre, and became a military officer under both
Henry III. and Henry IV.; Sully, however, compelled him to give up
his proposed marriage with Catherine. He was Grand Master of France,
under Henry IV.; later, was governor of Dauphiny, and, at his death,
of Normandy. At Champlain's solicitation, he consented to become the
head of De Monts's scheme for the colonization of Canada; and he was
appointed (October 8, 1612) by the king lieutenant general and governor
of New France, Champlain becoming commandant under him. But Soissons
died, on November 1 following; and he was succeeded by Henry, prince of
Condé, with the title of viceroy of New France. Mareschal de Thémins
was appointed by Marie de Médicis, acting viceroy during Condé's
imprisonment. Upon his liberation (1619), Condé sold his position as
viceroy of Canada to Henry, duke of Montmorency, who in turn sold it
(January, 1625) to his nephew, Henry de Lévis, duke of Ventadour.--See
Rochemonteix's _Jésuites_, vol. i., pp. 126, 127, 134, 144, 149.
Champlain (see his map of 1632) named the lake at the mouth of the
Ottawa River, Lac de Soissons, in honor of his viceroy; it is now
called Lake of Two Mountains.
25 (p. 157).--Charles de Gonzague, duke of Nevers, was born about
1566; his father was a prominent chief in the Catholic League, and,
in 1592, introduced the order of Récollets into France. His sister,
Catherine de Gonzague, married Henry I., duke of Longueville, in 1588.