ENDNOTES:
310. The river St. Charles flows from a lake in the interior of the same name. It was called by the Montagnais, according to Sagard as cited by Laverdière, in loco, "Cabirecoubat, because it turns and forms several points." Cartier named it the Holy Cross, or St. Croix, because he says he arrived there "that day;" that is, the day on which the exaltation of the Cross is celebrated, the 14th of September, 1535.—Vide Cartier, Hakluyt, Vol. III. p. 266. The Récollects gave it the name of St. Charles, after the grand vicar of Pontoise, Charles des Boues.—Laverdière, in loco. Jacques Cartier wintered on the north shore of the St. Charles, which he called the St. Croix, or the Holy Cross, about a league from Quebec. "Hard by, there is, in that river, one place very narrow, deep, and swift running, but it is not passing the third part of a league, over against the which there is a goodly high piece of land, with a towne therein: and the country about it is very well tilled and wrought, and as good as possibly can be seene. This is the place and abode of Donnacona, and of our two men we took in our first voyage, it is called Stadacona … under which towne toward the North the river and port of the holy crosse is, where we staied from the 15 of September until the 16 of May, 1536, and there our ships remained dry as we said before."—Vide Jacques Cartier, Second Voyage, Hakluyt, Vol. III. p. 277.
311. The spot where Jacques Cartier wintered was at the junction of the river Lairet and the St. Charles.
312. Cartier discovered the Isle of Coudres, that is, the isle of filberts or hazel-nuts, on the 6th of September, 1535.—Vide Cartier, 1545, D'Avezac ed., Paris, 1863, p. 12. This island is five nautical miles long, which agrees with the statement of Champlain, and its greatest width, is two miles and a quarter.
313. Notre Dame Day, iour de nostre dame, should read "Notre Dame Eve."
Cartier says, "Le septiesme iour dudict moys iour nostre-dame,"
etc.—Idem, p. 12. Hakluyt renders it, "The seventh of the moneth
being our Ladees even."—Vol. III. p. 265.
314. As Champlain suggests, these islands are only three leagues higher up
the river; but, as they are on the opposite side, they could not be
compassed in much less than seven or eight leagues, as Cartier
estimates.
315. This was an error in transcribing. Cartier has Stadacone.—Vide Brief
Récit, 1545, D'Avezac ed., p. 14.
316. The distance, according to Laurie's Chart, is at least twenty-six
nautical miles.
317. Canada at this time was regarded by the Indians as a limited territory, situated at or about Quebec. This statement is confirmed by the testimony of Cartier: "Ledict Donnacona pria nostre cappitaine de aller le lendemain veoir Canada, Ce que luy promist le dist cappitaine. Et le lendemam, 13. iour du diet moys, ledict cappitaine auecques ses gentilz homines accompaigne de cinquante compaignons bien en ordre, allerèt veoir ledict Donnacona & son peuple, qui est distàt dou estoient lesdictes nauires d'une lieue."—Vide Brief Récit, 1545, D'Avezac ed., p. 29. Of the above the following is Hakluyt's translation: "Donnacona their Lord desired our Captaine the next day to come and see Canada, which he promised to doe: for the next day being the 13 of the moneth, he with all his Gentlemen and fiftie Mariners very well appointed, went to visite Donnacona and his people, about a league from our ships."
Their ships were at this time at St. Croix, a short distance up the St. Charles, which flows into the St. Lawrence at Quebec; and the little Indian village, or camp, which Donnacona called Canada, was at Quebec. Other passages from Cartier, as well as from Jean Alfonse, harmonize with this which we have cited. Canada was therefore in Cartier's time only the name of a very small territory covered by an Indian village. When it became the centre of French interests, it assumed a wider meaning. The St. Lawrence was often called the River of Canada, then the territory on its shores, and finally Canada has come to comprehend the vast British possessions in America known as the "Dominion of Canada."
318. The locality of Cartier's winter-quarters is established by Champlain with the certainty of an historical demonstration, and yet there are to be found those whose judgment is so warped by preconceived opinion that they resist the overwhelming testimony which he brings to bear upon the subject. Charlevoix makes the St. Croix of Cartier the Rivière de Jacques Cartier.—Vide Shea's Charlevoix, Vol. I. p. 116.
319. Unless they had more than one locksmith, this must have been Antoine Natel.—Vide antea, p. 178.
320. Martres. The common weasel, Mustela vulgaris.
321. Ochastaiguins. This, says Laverdière, is what Champlain first called the Hurons, from the name of Ochateguin, one of their chiefs. Huron was a nickname: the proper name of this tribe was Wendot or Wyandot. They occupied the eastern bank of Lake Huron and the southern shores of the Georgian Bay. The knowledge of the several tribes here referred to had been obtained by Champlain, partly from his own observation and partly from the Indians. The Algommequins or Algonquins, known at this time to Champlain, were from the region of the Ottawa. The Yroquois or Iroquois dwelt south of the St. Lawrence in the State of New York, and comprised what are generally known as the Five Nations. The Montagnais or Montaignets had their great trading-post at Tadoussac, and roamed over a vast territory north and east of that point, and west of it as far as the mountains that separate the waters of the Saguenay and those of the Ottawa. The name was given to them by the French from this mountain range. The Canadians were those about the neighborhood of Quebec. The Souriquois were of Nova Scotia, and subsequently known as Micmacs. Of most of these different tribes, Champlain could speak from personal knowledge.
322. Laverdière gives the exact latitude of Quebec at the Observatory, on the authority of Captain Bayfield, as 46° 49' 8".