ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II
| I. | Photographic facsimile of General Map, from Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, (Paris, 1613) | Facing [56] |
| II. | Photographic facsimile of Map of Port Royal, from Ibid | Facing [118] |
| III. | Photographic facsimile of title-page, Lescarbot's Relation Dernière | [122] |
| IV. | Photographic facsimile of plan of Fort at Port Royal, from Ibid | Facing [192] |
PREFACE TO VOL. II
Following is a synopsis of the documents contained in the present volume:
IX. The indefatigable Biard presents, herein, a graphic recital of his work among the Acadian savages, and particularly his journeys into the wilderness. His report of a trip with a party of Port Royalists to French trading posts on the St. Croix and St. John rivers, to an Etchemin town probably on the site of the present Castine, Me., and to an English fishing station on the Kennebec, is full of interest.
X. Herein, Biard sends to the general of his order a full report concerning: (1) New France, its physical characteristics, and its aborigines; (2) the circumstances attending the opening of the Jesuit mission in Acadia; (3) Fléché's work previous to the coming of the Jesuits; (4) visits to savage tribes by Massé and himself, with descriptions of conversions and baptisms, and a statement of the conditions and prospects of spiritual work among the aborigines.
XI. Lescarbot's Relation Dernière gives an account of Poutrincourt's voyage to New France, in 1610; of the conversion and baptism of the savage chief, Membertou, and others, by the priest, Fléché; of Biencourt's return to France; and of the experiences of Poutrincourt at Port Royal. The writer praises Poutrincourt for his exertions in Canada in behalf of both religion and civilization; and urges that he should be aided in his colonial enterprise, as a necessary basis for religious work in this portion of the New World. He gives a list of the sponsors of the baptized Indians, who included many of the French nobility and clergy. The life at Port Royal is pictured in some detail; its labors and privations are dwelt upon; and the customs of the natives described. Lescarbot does not fail, although cautiously, to exhibit his dislike of the Jesuits, and endeavors to show that their coming to Port Royal involved delay and expense to the colonial enterprise, thereby injuring Poutrincourt. Our author's closing chapter devoutly catalogues the "Effects of God's Grace in New France;" he describes how Providence cared for the colonists in their distress, saved them from shipwreck, kindly disposed the savages toward them and the Christian religion, and returned to the Frenchmen their ship, in time to prevent starvation. The rescue of Aubry is also mentioned.
XII. The Relatio Rerum Gestarum (1613 & 1614) opens with a description of New France, its geography, its climate, its peoples and their customs. The experience of the Jesuit fathers at Port Royal is related at length, from their own point of view. A description is given of the settlement of St. Sauveur, on Mount Desert Island, and its destruction by the Virginian, Argall. Then follows an account of the life of the Jesuit prisoners, in Virginia and England. The conclusion is reached that, despite these drawbacks, the Jesuit mission in Canada has made a hopeful beginning.
R. G. T.
Madison, Wis., September, 1896.
Lettre Du P. Biard
au R. P. Provincial à Paris
Port Royal, Janvier 31, 1612
Source: Reprinted from Carayon's Première Mission des Jésuites au Canada, pp. 44-76.