CHAPTER IV.
ARRIVAL OF SUPPLIES AND REMOVAL TO PORT ROYAL.—DE MONTS RETURNS TO FRANCE.—SEARCH FOR MINES.—WINTER.—SCURVY.—LATE ARRIVAL OF SUPPLIES AND EXPLORATIONS ON THE COAST OF MASSACHUSETTS.—GLOCESTER HARBOR, STAY AT CHATHAM AND ATTACK OF THE SAVAGES.—WOOD'S HOLL.—RETURN TO ANNAPOLIS BASIN.
On the 8th of August, the exploring party reached St. Croix. During their absence, Pont Gravé had arrived from France with additional men and provisions for the colony. As no satisfactory site had been found by De Monts in his recent tour along the coast, it was determined to remove the colony temporarily to Port Royal, situated within the bay now known as Annapolis Basin. The buildings at St. Croix, with the exception of the store-house, were taken down and transported to the bay. Champlain and Pont Gravé were sent forward to select a place for the settlement, which was fixed on the north side of the basin, directly opposite to Goat Island, near or upon the present site of Lower Granville. the situation was protected from the piercing and dreaded winds of the northwest by a lofty range of hills, [50] while it was elevated and commanded a charming view of the placid bay in front. The dwellings which they erected were arranged in the form of a quadrangle with an open court in the centre, as at St. Croix, while gardens and pleasure-grounds were laid out by Champlain in the immediate vicinity.
When the work of the new settlement was well advanced, De Monts, having appointed Pont Gravé as his lieutenant, departed for France, where he hoped to obtain additional privileges from the government in his enterprise of planting a colony in the New World. Champlain preferred to remain, with the purpose of executing more fully his office as geographer to the king, by making discoveries on the Atlantic coast still further to the south.
From the beginning, the patentee had cherished the desire of discovering valuable mines somewhere on his domains, whose wealth, as well as that of the fur-trade, might defray some part of the heavy expenses involved in his colonial enterprise. While several investigations for this purpose had proved abortive, it was hoped that greater success would be attained by searches along the upper part of the Bay of Fundy. Before the approach of winter, therefore, Champlain and the miner, Master Jaques, a Sclavonian, made a tour to St. John, where they obtained the services of the Indian chief, Secondon, to accompany them and point out the place where copper ore had been discovered at the Bay of Mines. The search, thorough as was practicable under the circumstances, was, in the main, unsuccessful; the few specimens which they found were meagre and insignificant.
The winter at Port Royal was by no means so severe as the preceding one at St. Croix. The Indians brought in wild game from the forests. The colony had no want of fuel and pure water. But experience, bitter as it had been, did not yield to them the fruit of practical wisdom. They referred their sufferings to the climate, but took too little pains to protect themselves against its rugged power. Their dwellings, hastily thrown together, were cold and damp, arising from the green, unseasoned wood of which they were doubtless in part constructed, and from the standing rainwater with which their foundations were at all times inundated, which was neither diverted by embankments nor drawn away by drainage. The dreaded mal de la terre, or scurvy, as might have been anticipated, made its appearance in the early part of the season, causing the death of twelve out of the forty-five comprising their whole number, while others were prostrated by this painful, repulsive, and depressing disease.
The purpose of making further discoveries on the southern coast, warmly cherished by Champlain, and entering fully into the plans of De Monts, had not been forgotten. Three times during the early part of the summer they had equipped their barque, made up their party, and left Port Royal for this undertaking, and as many times had been driven back by the violence of the winds and the waves.
In the mean time, the supplies which had been promised and expected from France had not arrived. This naturally gave to Pont Gravé, the lieutenant, great anxiety, as without them it was clearly inexpedient to venture upon another winter in the wilds of La Cadie. It had been stipulated by De Monts, the patentee, that if succors did not arrive before the middle of July, Pont Gravé should make arrangements for the return of the colony by the fishing vessels to be found at the Grand Banks. Accordingly, on the 17th of that month, Pont Gravé set sail with the little colony in two barques, and proceeded towards Cape Breton, to seek a passage home. But De Monts had not been remiss in his duty. He had, after many difficulties and delays, despatched a vessel of a hundred and fifty tons, called the "Jonas," with fifty men and ample provisions for the approaching winter. While Pont Gravé with his two barques and his retreating colony had run into Yarmouth Bay for repairs, the "Jonas" passed him unobserved, and anchored in the basin before the deserted settlement of Port Royal. An advice-boat had, however, been wisely despatched by the "Jonas" to reconnoitre the inlets along the shore, which fortunately intercepted the departing colony near Cape Sable, and, elated with fresh news from home, they joyfully returned to the quarters they had so recently abandoned.
In addition to a considerable number of artisans and laborers for the colony, the "Jonas" had brought out Sieur De Poutrincourt, to remain as lieutenant of La Cadie, and likewise Marc Lescarbot, a young attorney of Paris, who had already made some scholarly attainments, and who subsequently distinguished himself as an author, especially by the publication of a history of New France.
De Poutrincourt immediately addressed himself to putting all things in order at Port Royal, where it was obviously expedient for the colony to remain, at least for the winter. As soon as the "Jonas" had been unladen, Pont Gravé and most of those who had shared his recent hardships, departed in her for the shores of France. When the tenements had been cleansed, refitted, and refurnished, and their provisions had been safely stored, De Poutrincourt, by way of experiment, to test the character of the climate and the capability of the soil, despatched a squad of gardeners and farmers five miles up the river, to the grounds now occupied by the village of Annapolis, [51] where the soil was open, clear of forest trees, and easy of cultivation. They planted a great variety of seeds, wheat, rye, hemp, flax, and of garden esculents, which grew with extraordinary luxuriance, but, as the season was too late for any of them to ripen, the experiment failed either as a test of the soil or the climate.
On a former visit in 1604, De Poutrincourt had conceived a great admiration for Annapolis basin, its protected situation, its fine scenery, and its rich soil. He had a strong desire to bring his family there and make it his permanent abode. With this design, he had requested and received from De Monts a personal grant of this region, which had also been confirmed to him [52] by Henry IV. But De Monts wished to plant his La Cadian colony in a milder and more genial climate. He had therefore enjoined upon De Poutrincourt, as his lieutenant, on leaving France, to continue the explorations for the selection of a site still farther to the south. Accordingly, on the 5th of September, 1606, De Poutrincourt left Annapolis Basin, which the French called Port Royal, in a barque of eighteen tons, to fulfil this injunction.
It was Champlain's opinion that they ought to sail directly for Nauset harbor, on Cape Cod, and commence their explorations where their search had terminated the preceding year, and thus advance into a new region, which had not already been surveyed. But other counsels prevailed, and a large part of the time which could be spared for this investigation was exhausted before they reached the harbor of Nauset. They made a brief visit to the island of St. Croix, in which De Monts had wintered in 1604-5, touched also at Saco, where the Indians had already completed their harvest, and the grapes at Bacchus Island were ripe and luscious. Thence sailing directly to Cape Anne, where, finding no safe roadstead, they passed round to Gloucester harbor, which they found spacious, well protected, with good depth of water, and which, for its great excellence and attractive scenery, they named Beauport, or the beautiful harbor. Here they remained several days. It was a native settlement, comprising two hundred savages, who were cultivators of the soil, which was prolific in corn, beans, melons, pumpkins, tobacco, and grapes. The harbor was environed with fine forest trees, as hickory, oak, ash, cypress, and sassafras. Within the town there were several patches of cultivated land, which the Indians were gradually augmenting by felling the trees, burning the wood, and after a few years, aided by the natural process of decay, eradicating the stumps. The French were kindly received and entertained with generous hospitality. Grapes just gathered from the vines, and squashes of several varieties, the trailing bean still well known in New England, and the Jerusalem artichoke crisp from the unexhausted soil, were presented as offerings of welcome to their guests. While these gifts were doubtless tokens of a genuine friendliness so far as the savages were capable of that virtue, the lurking spirit of deceit and treachery which had been inherited and fostered by their habits and mode of life, could not be restrained.
The French barque was lying at anchor a short distance northeast of Ten Pound Island. Its boat was undergoing repairs on a peninsula near by, now known as Rocky Neck, and the sailors were washing their linen just at the point where the peninsula is united to the mainland. While Champlain was walking on this causeway, he observed about fifty savages, completely armed, cautiously screening themselves behind a clump of bushes on the edge of Smith's Cove. As soon as they were aware that they were seen, they came forth, concealing their weapons as much as possible, and began to dance in token of a friendly greeting. But when they discovered De Poutrincourt in the wood near by, who had approached unobserved, with eight armed musketeers to disperse them in case of an attack, they immediately took to flight, and, scattering in all directions, made no further hostile demonstrations. [53] This serio-comic incident did not interfere with the interchange of friendly offices between the two parties, and when the voyagers were about to leave, the savages urged them with great earnestness to remain longer, assuring them that two thousand of their friends would pay them a visit the very next day. This invitation was, however, not heeded. In Champlain's opinion it was a ruse contrived only to furnish a fresh opportunity to attack and overpower them.
On the 30th of September, they left the harbor of Gloucester, and, during the following night, sailing in a southerly direction, passing Brant Point, they found themselves in the lower part of Cape Cod Bay. When the sun rose, a low, sandy shore stretched before them. Sending their boat forward to a place where the shore seemed more elevated, they found deeper water and a harbor, into which they entered in five or six fathoms. They were welcomed by three Indian canoes. They found oysters in such quantities in this bay, and of such excellent quality, that they named it Le Port aux Huistres, [54] or Oyster Harbor. After a few hours, they weighed anchor, and directing their course north, a quarter northeast, with a favoring wind, soon doubled Cape Cod. The next day, the 2d of October, they arrived off Nauset. De Poutrincourt, Champlain, and others entered the harbor in a small boat, where they were greeted by a hundred and fifty savages with singing and dancing, according to their usual custom. After a brief visit, they returned to the barque and continued their course along the sandy shore. When near the heel of the cape, off Chatham, they found themselves imperilled among breakers and sand-banks, so dangerous as to render it inexpedient to attempt to land, even with a small boat. The savages were observing them from the shore, and soon manned a canoe, and came to them with singing and demonstrations of joy. From them, they learned that lower down a harbor would be found, where their barque might ride in safety. Proceeding, therefore, in the same direction, after many difficulties, they succeeded in rounding the peninsula of Monomoy, and finally, in the gray of the evening, cast anchor in the offing near Chatham, now known as Old Stage Harbor. The next day they entered, passing between Harding's Beach Point and Morris Island, in two fathoms of water, and anchored in Stage Harbor. This harbor is about a mile long and half a mile wide, and at its western extremity is connected by tide-water with Oyster Pond, and with Mill Cove on the east by Mitchell's River. Mooring their barque between these two arms of the harbor, towards the westerly end, the explorers remained there about three weeks. It was the centre of an Indian settlement, containing five or six hundred persons. Although it was now well into October, the natives of both sexes were entirely naked, with the exception of a slight band about the loins. They subsisted upon fish and the products of the soil. Indian corn was their staple. It was secured in the autumn in bags made of braided grass, and buried in the sand-banks, and withdrawn as it was needed during the winter. The savages were of fine figure and of olive complexion. They adorned themselves with an embroidery skilfully interwoven with feathers and beads, and dressed their hair in a variety of braids, like those at Saco. Their dwellings were conical in shape, covered with thatch of rushes and corn-husks, and surrounded by cultivated fields. Each cabin contained one or two beds, a kind of matting, two or three inches in thickness, spread upon a platform on which was a layer of elastic staves, and the whole raised a foot from the ground. On these they secured refreshing repose. Their chiefs neither exercised nor claimed any superior authority, except in time of war. At all other times and in all other matters complete equality reigned throughout the tribe.
The stay at Chatham was necessarily prolonged in baking bread to serve the remainder of the voyage, and in repairing their barque, whose rudder had been badly shattered in the rough passage round the cape. For these purposes, a bakery and a forge were set up on shore, and a tent pitched for the convenience and protection of the workmen. While these works were in progress, De Poutrincourt, Champlain, and others made frequent excursions into the interior, always with a guard of armed men, sometimes making a circuit of twelve or fifteen miles. The explorers were fascinated with all they saw. The aroma of the autumnal forest and the balmy air of October stimulated their senses. The nut-trees were loaded with ripe fruit, and the rich clusters of grapes were hanging temptingly upon the vines. Wild game was plentiful and delicious. The fish of the bay were sweet, delicate, and of many varieties. Nature, unaided by art, had thus supplied so many human wants that Champlain gravely put upon record his opinion that this would be a most excellent place in which to lay the foundations of a commonwealth, if the harbor were deeper and better protected at its mouth.
After the voyagers had been in Chatham eight or nine days, the Indians, tempted by the implements which they saw about the forge and bakery, conceived the idea of taking forcible possession of them, in order to appropriate them to their own use. As a preparation for this, and particularly to put themselves in a favorable condition in case of an attack or reprisal, they were seen removing their women, children, and effects into the forests, and even taking down their cabins. De Poutrincourt, observing this, gave orders to the workmen to pass their nights no longer on shore, but to go on board the barque to assure their personal safety. This command, however, was not obeyed. The next morning, at break of day, four hundred savages, creeping softly over a hill in the rear, surrounded the tent, and poured such a volley of arrows upon the defenceless workmen that escape was impossible. Three of them were killed upon the spot; a fourth was mortally and a fifth badly wounded. The alarm was given by the sentinel on the barque. De Poutrincourt, Champlain, and the rest, aroused from their slumbers, rushed half-clad into the ship's boat, and hastened to the rescue. As soon as they touched the shore, the savages, fleet as the greyhound, escaped to the wood. Pursuit, under the circumstances, was not to be made; and, if it had been, would have ended in their utter destruction. Freed from immediate danger, they collected the dead and gave them Christian burial near the foot of a cross, which had been erected the day before. While the service of prayer and song was offered, the savages in the distance mocked them with derisive attitudes and hideous howls. Three hours after the French had retired to their barque, the miscreants returned, tore down the cross, disinterred the dead, and carried off the garments in which they had been laid to rest. They were immediately driven off by the French, the cross was restored to its place, and the dead reinterred.
Before leaving Chatham, some anxiety was felt in regard to their safety in leaving the harbor, as the little barque had scarcely been able to weather the rough seas of Monomoy on their inward voyage. A boat had been sent out in search of a safer and a better roadway, which, creeping along by the shore sixteen or eighteen miles, returned, announcing three fathoms of water, and neither bars nor reefs. On the 16th of October they gave their canvas to the breeze, and sailed out of Stage Harbor, which they had named Port Fortuné, [55] an appellation probably suggested by their narrow escape in entering and by the bloody tragedy to which we have just referred. Having gone eighteen or twenty miles, they sighted the island of Martha's Vineyard lying low in the distance before them, which they called La Soupçonneuse, the suspicious one, as they had several times been in doubt whether it were not a part of the mainland. A contrary wind forced them to return to their anchorage in Stage Harbor. On the 20th they set out again, and continued their course in a southwesterly direction until they reached the entrance of Vineyard Sound. The rapid current of tide water flowing from Buzzard's Bay into the sound through the rocky channel between Nonamesset and Wood's Holl, they took to be a river coming from the mainland, and named it Rivière de Champlain.
This point, in front of Wood's Holl, is the southern limit of the French explorations on the coast of New England, reached by them on the 20th of October, 1606.
Encountering a strong wind, approaching a gale, they were again forced to return to Stage Harbor, where they lingered two or three days, awaiting favoring winds for their return to the colony at the bay of Annapolis.
We regret to add that, while they were thus detained, under the very shadow of the cross they had recently erected, the emblem of a faith that teaches love and forgiveness, they decoyed, under the guise of friendship, several of the poor savages into their power, and inhumanly butchered them in cold blood. This deed was perpetrated on the base principle of lex talionis, and yet they did not know, much less were they able to prove, that their victims were guilty or took any part in the late affray. No form of trial was observed, no witnesses testified, and no judge adjudicated. It was a simple murder, for which we are sure any Christian's cheek would mantle with shame who should offer for it any defence or apology.
When this piece of barbarity had been completed, the little French barque made its final exit from Stage Harbor, passed successfully round the shoals of Monomoy, and anchored near Nauset, where they remained a day or two, leaving on the 28th of October, and sailing directly to Isle Haute in Penobscot Bay. They made brief stops at some of the islands at the mouth of the St. Croix, and at the Grand Manan, and arrived at Annapolis Basin on the 14th of November, after an exceedingly rough passage and many hair-breadth escapes.
ENDNOTES:
50. On Lescarbot's map of 1609, this elevation is denominated Mont de la
Roque. Vide also Vol. II. note 180.
51. Lescarbot locates Poutrincourt's fort on the same spot which he called
Manefort, the site of the present village of Annapolis.
52. "Doncques l'an 1607, tous les François estans reuenus (ainsi qu'a esté dict) le Sieur de Potrincourt présenta à feu d'immortelle memorie Henry le Grand la donnation à luy faicte par le sieur de Monts, requérant humblement Sa Majesté de la ratifier. Le Roy eut pour agréable la dicte Requeste," &c. Relations des Jésuites, 1611, Quebec ed., Vol. I. p. 25. Vide Vol. II. of this work, p 37.
53. This scene is well represented on Champlain's map of Beauport or Gloucester Harbor. Vide Vol. II. p. 114.
54. Le Port aux Huistres, Barnstable Harbor. Vide Vol. II. Note 208.
55. Port Fortuné In giving this name there was doubtless an allusion to the goddess FORTUNA of the ancients, whose office it was to dispense riches and poverty, pleasures and pains, blessings and calamities. They had experienced good and evil at her fickle hand. They had entered the harbor in peril and fear, but nevertheless in safety. They had suffered by the attack of the savages, but fortunately had escaped utter annihilation, which they might well have feared. It had been to them eminently the port of hazard or chance. Vide Vol. II Note 231 La Soupçonneuse. Vide Vol. II, Note 227.