[458] Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. pp. 239, 240.
[459] Nieuwe Wereldt. boek iii. cap. ix.
[460] In the dedication of Laudonnière’s notable history to Sir Walter Raleigh, dated March 1, 1586, the delayed publication of the work is thus adverted to: “It having been suppressed and forgotten for nearly twenty years, I have, with the diligence of Mr. Hakluyt, a gentleman well-versed in geographical history and in various languages and sciences, disinterred it, as it were, from the tomb, where it has lain so long in useless repose, and brought it before the world.” M. Basanier, the publisher, says he followed the text of the manuscript literatim, without any emendation or changes.
[461] “That which is toward the arctic or north pole is called New France insomuch as in the the year 1524, Jean Verrazano, a Florentine, was sent by King Francis I. and Madame, the regent, his mother, to the new countries, on which he landed and explored the whole coast extending from the tropic of Cancer, namely, from the twenty-eighth to the fiftieth degree, and still more toward the north.
“He planted at this place the ensigns and arms of the king of France, so that the Spaniards themselves, who were there afterward, have called this country French land. It extends in latitude from the twenty-fifth to the fifty-fourth degree toward the north; and in longitude, from the two hundred and tenth to the three hundred and thirtieth degree. The east part of it is called by the moderns the land of Norumberge, which ends at the Gulf of Gamas, which separates it from the island of Canada.”
“Celle qui est vers le pole Arctique ou Septentrion, est nommee la nouuelle France, pour autant que l’an mil cinq ces vingt quatre, Jean Verrazano Florentin fut enuoyé par le Roy François premier, & par Madame la Regente sa mere aux terres neuues, ausquelles il prit terre & descouurit toute la coste qui est depuis le Tropique de Cancer, à scauoir depuis le vingt-huictiesme degrè iusques au cinquantiesme: & encore plus deuers le North. Il planta en ce païs les enseignes, & armoiries du Roy de Frāce: de sorte que les Espagnols mesmes qui y furent depuis ont nomé ce païs terre Francesque.... La partie Orientale d’ icelle est nommee par les modernes terre de Norumberge, laquelle abortit au Golphe de Gamas, qui la separe d’auec l’Isle de Canada.”—L’historie notable de la Florida sitvee es Indes Occidentales. Par le Capitaine Laudonnière. Mise en lumiere par M. Basanier. Paris, 1586. pp. 1, 2.
[462] The Dutch, when they took possession of Manants Island, in the seventeenth century, called the lake het Versch water (the Fresh water). The island on which the French built the fort was, in 1728, selected as the site of a powder-house, which was erected there to isolate it from common intruders. John Fitch, in the summer of 1796, navigated his small steamboat on the Fresh water lake.—Vide History of the city of New York. By David T. Valentine. 1853. pp. 11, 282-284. History of the city of New York. By Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. New York and Chicago, 1877-1880. vol. ii. pp. 423, 424, 565, 736. Documentary history of New York. vol. ii. p. 603.
[463] André Thevet was born at Angoulême, France, about the second year of the sixteenth century. He visited Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Palestine, and on his return to France, in 1554, published an account of his travels. In July, 1555, he accompanied Chevalier Villegagnon to Brazil to plant a colony there of French Protestants. When Thevet arrived at Rio Janeiro in November, he was taken sick, and to hasten his recovery he embarked for France on the last day of January, 1556. The vessel sailed on the home voyage northward along the coast of North America as far as Newfoundland. Thevet died in Paris, November 23, 1590. He was the author of the following works: “Cosmographie du Levant,” Lyons, 1554; “Les singulairités de la France antarctique, autrement nommée Amérique, et de plusieurs autres terres et îles découvertes de notre temps,” Paris, 1556; “Discours de la bataille de Dreux,” Paris, 1563; “Cosmographie universelle, illustrée de diverses figures des choses les plus remarquables vues par l’auteur,” Paris, 1571; and “Les vrais portraits et vies des hommes illustres, grecs, latins, et païens, recueillés de leurs tableaux, livres, médailles, antiques et modernes,” Paris, 1584.
[464] Aggoncy or Aggonzi signified the head. Voyages. Hakluyt. vol. iii. p. 231.
[465] “Ayant laissé la Florida à main gaulche, auec grand nombre d’Isles, Islettes, Goulphes, & Promontoires, se presente l’vne des belles riuieres qui soit en toute la terre, nómee de nous Norombègue, & des Barbares Aggoncy, & marquee en quelques Cartes marines riuiere grande. Il entre plusieurs autres belles riuieres dans ceste cy, & sur laquelle iades les François feirent bastir vn petit fort, quelque dix ou douze lieuës en icelle, lequel estoit enuironé d’eau doulce, qui se va desgorger das icelle: & fut nommee ceste place le fort de Norombègue.”—La cosmographie vniverselle. D’André Thevet. A Paris, 1575. tom. ii. chap. iii. fol. 1008, b.