Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02

by Samuel de Champlain

ENDNOTES:

53. For May read June. It could not have been in May, since Champlain Set out from Port Mouton on his exploring expedition on the 19th of May, which must have been a month previous to this.

54. What is now called the Petit Passage, the narrow strait between Long Island and Digby Neck.

55. Gulliver's Hole, about two leagues south-west of Digby Strait.

56. Champlain here names the whole harbor or basin Port Royal, and not the
place of habitation afterward so called. The first settlement was on
the north side of the bay in the present hamlet of Lower Granville, not
as often alleged at Annapolis.—Vide Champlain's engraving or map of
Port Royal.

57. "Équille." A name, on the coasts between Caen and Havre, of the fish
called lançon at Granville and St. Malo, a kind of malacopterygious
fish living on sandy shores and hiding in the sand at low tide.—
Littré. A species of sand eel. This stream is now known as the
Annapolis River. Lescarbot calls it Rivière du Dauphin.

58. This island is situated at the point where the Annapolis River flows
into the bay, or about nine miles from Digby, straight. Champlain on
his map gives it no name, but Lescarbot calls it Biencourville. It is
now called Goat Island.

59. Lescarbot calls it Claudiane. It is now known as Bear Island. It was
Sometimes called Ile d'Hébert, and likewise Imbert Island. Laverdière
suggests that the present name is derived from the French pronunciation
of the last syllable of Imbert.

60. At present known as Bear River; Lescarbot has it Hebert, and
Charlevoix, Imbert.

61. On modern maps called Moose River, and sometimes Deep Brook. It is a
few miles east of Bear River.

62. The latitude is here overstated: it should be 44° 39' 30".

63. On the preceding year, M. Prevert of St. Malo had made a glowing report ostensively based on his own observations and information which he had obtained from the Indians, in regard to certain mines alleged to exist on the coast directly South of Northumberland Strait, and about the head of the Bay of Fundy. It was this report of Prevert that induced the present search.

64. Along the Bay of Fundy nearly parallel to the basin of Port Royal would better express the author's meaning.

65. Cape Chignecto, the point where the Bay of Fundy is bifurcated; the
northern arm forming Chignecto Bay, and the southern, the Bay of Mines
or Minas Basin.

66. Isle Haute, or high island.—Vide Charlevoix's Map. On Some maps this
name has been strangely perverted into Isle Holt, Isle Har, &c. Its
height is 320 feet.

67. This was Advocate's Harbor. Its distance from Cape Chignecto is greater than that stated in the text. Further on, Champlain calls it two leagues, which is nearly correct. Its latitude is about 45° 20'. By comparing the Admiralty charts and Champlain's map of this harbor, it will be seen that important changes have taken place since 1604. The tongue of land extending in a south-easterly direction, covered with trees and shrubbery, which Champlain calls a sand-bank, has entirely disappeared. The ordinary tides rise here from thirty-three to thirty-nine feet, and on a sandy shore could hardly fail to produce important changes.

68. According to the Abbé Laverdière, the lower part of the Gulf was sometimes called the Bay of St. Lawrence.

69. They had just crossed the Bay of Mines. From the place where they crossed it to its head it is not far from fifteen leagues, and it is about the same distance to Port Royal, from which he may here estimate the distance inland.

70. Read June.—Vide antea, note 53.

71. Chignecto Bay. Charlevoix has Chignitou ou Beau Bassin. On De Laet's Map of 1633, on Jacob von Meur's of 1673, and Homenn's of 1729, we have B. de Gennes. The Cape of Two Bays was Cape Chignecto.

72. The rivers are the Cumberland Basin with its tributaries coming from the east, and the Petitcoudiac (petit and coude, little elbow, from the angle formed by the river at Moncton, called the Bend), which flows into Shepody Bay coming from the north or the direction of Gaspé. Champlain mentions all these particulars, probably as answering to the description given to them by M. Prevert of the place where copper mines could be found.

73. Quaco River, at the mouth of which the water is shallow: the low cape extending out into the sea is that on which Quaco Light now stands, which reaches out quarter of a mile, and is comparatively low. The shore from Goose River, near where they made the coast, is very high, measuring at different points 783, 735, 650, 400, 300, 500, and 380 feet, while the "low cape" is only 250 feet, and near it on the west is an elevation of 400 feet. It would be properly represented as "rather a low cape" in contradistinction to the neighboring coast. Iron and manganese are found here, and the latter has been mined to some extent, but is now discontinued, as the expense is too great for the present times.

74. This mountain is an elevation, eight or ten miles inland from Quaco, which may be seen by vessels coasting along from St. Martin's Head to St. John: it is indicated on the charts as Mt. Theobald, and bears a striking resemblance, as Champlain suggests, to the chapeau de Cardinal.

75. McCoy's Head, four leagues west of Quaco: the "cove" may be that on the east into which Gardner's Creek flows, or that on the west at the mouth of Emmerson's Creek.

76. The Bay of St. John, which is four leagues south-west of McCoy's Head. The islands mentioned are Partridge Island at the mouth of the harbor, and two smaller ones farther west, one Meogenes, and the other Shag rock or some unimportant islet in its vicinity. The rock mentioned by Champlain is that on which Spit Beacon Light now stands.

77. The festival of St. John the Baptist occurs on the 24th of June; and, arriving on that day, they gave the name of St. John to the river, which has been appropriately given also to the city at its mouth, now the metropolis of the province of New Brunswick.

78. Champlain was under a missapprehension about passing the fall at the mouth of the St. John at high tide. It can in fact only be passed at about half tide. The waters of the river at low tide are about twelve feet higher than the waters of the sea. At high tide, the waters of the sea are about five feet higher than the waters of the river. Consequently, at low tide there is a fall outward, and at high tide there is a fall inward, at neither of which times can the fall be passed. The only time for passing the fall is when the waters of the sea are on a level with the waters of the river. This occurs twice every tide, at the level point at the flood and likewise at the ebb. The period for passing lasts about fifteen or twenty minutes, and of course occurs four times a day. Vessels assemble in considerable numbers above and below to embrace the opportunity of passing at the favoring moment. There are periods, however, when the river is swollen by rains and melting snow, at which the tides do not rise as high as the river, and consequently there is a constant fall outward, and vessels cannot pass until the high water subsides.

79. They ascended the river only a short distance into the large bay just
above the falls, near which are the three islands mentioned in the
text.

80. The distance from the mouth of the river St. John to Tadoussac in a
direct line is about sixty-five leagues. But by the winding course of
the St. John it would be very much greater.

81. Champlain's latitude is inexact. St. John's Harbor is 45° 16'.

82. Margos, magpies. The four islands which Champlain named the Magpies are now called the Wolves, and are near the mouth of Passamaquoddy Bay. Charlevoix has Oiseaux, the Birds.

83. Manan. Known as the Grand Manan in contradistinction to the Petit Manan, a small island still further west. It is about fourteen or fifteen miles long, and about six in its greatest width. On the south and eastern side are Long Island, Great Duck, Ross, Cheyne, and White Head Islands, among which good harborage may be found. The name, as appears in the text, is of Indian origin. It is Sometimes Spelled Menarse, but that in the text prevails.

84. The St. Croix River, sometimes called the Scoudic.

85. Passsmaquoddy Bay. On Gastaldo's map of 1550 called Angoulesme. On Rouge's "Atlas Ameriquain," 1778, it is written Passamacadie.

86. The Holy Cross, Saincte Croix, This name was suggested by the circumstance that, a few miles above the island, two streams flow into the main channel of the river at the same place, one from the east and the other from the west, while a bay makes up between them, presenting the appearance of a cross.

"Et d'autant qu'à deux lieues au dessus il y a des ruisseaux qui viennent comme en croix de décharger dans ce large bras de mer, cette île de la retraite des François fut appelée SAINCTE CROIX."—His. Nouvelle France par Lescarbot, Paris. 1612, Qvat Liv. pp. 461, 462.

It is now called De Monts's Island. It has been called Dochet's Island and Neutral Island, but there is great appropriateness in calling it after its first occupant and proprietor, and in honor of him it has been so named with suitable ceremonies.—Vide Godfrey's Centennial Discourse, Bangor, 1870, p. 20. The United States maintain a light upon the island, which is seventy-one feet above the level of the sea, and is visible twelve nautical miles. The island itself is moderately high, and in the widest part is one hundred and eighty paces or about five hundred and forty feet. The area is probably not more than six or seven acres, although it has been estimated at twice that. It may have been diminished in some slight degree since the time of Champlain by the action of the waves, but probably very little. On the southern extremity of the island where De Monts placed his cannon, about twenty-five years ago a workman in excavating threw out five small cannon-balls, one of which was obtained by Peter E. Vose, Esq., of Dennysville, Me., who then resided near the island, and was conversant with all the circumstances of the discovery. They were about a foot and a half below the surface, and the workman was excavating for another purpose, and knew nothing of the history of the island. At our solicitation, the ball belonging to Mr. Vose has recently been presented to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, of which he is a member. It is iron, perfectly round, two and a quarter inches in diameter, and weighs 22 oz. avoirdupois. There can be no reasonable doubt that these balls are relics of the little French colony of 1604, and probably the only memorial of the kind now in existence.

87. The description in the text of the environs of the Island of St. Croix is entirely accurate. Some distance above, and in view from the island, is the fork, or Divide, as it is called. Here is a meeting of the waters of Warwig Creek from the east, Oak Bay from the north, and the river of the Etechemins, now called the St. Croix, from the west. These are the three rivers mentioned by Champlain, Oak Bay being considered as one of them, in which may be seen the two islands mentioned in the text, one high and the other low. A little above Calais is the waterfall, around which the Indians carried their bark canoes, when on their journey up the river through the Scoudic lakes, from which by land they reached the river St. John on the east, or, on the west, passing through the Mettawamkeag, they reached the Norumbegue, or Penobscot River.

88. The latitude of the Island of St. Croix is 45° 7' 43".