CHAPTER V.
RECEPTION OF THE EXPLORERS AT ANNAPOLIS BASIN.—A DREARY WINTER RELIEVED BY THE ORDER OF BON TEMPS.—NEWS FROM FRANCE.—BIRTH OF A PRINCE.—RUIN OF DE MONTS'S COMPANY—TWO EXCURSIONS AND DEPARTURE FOR FRANCE.—CHAMPLAIN'S EXPLORATIONS COMPARED.—DE MONTS'S NEW CHARTER FOR ONE YEAR AND CHAMPLAIN'S RETURN IN 1608 TO NEW FRANCE AND THE FOUNDING OF QUEBEC.—CONSPIRACY OF DU VAL AND HIS EXECUTION.
With the voyage which we have described in the last chapter, Champlain terminated his explorations on the coast of New England. He never afterward stepped upon her soil. But he has left us, nevertheless, an invaluable record of the character, manners, and customs of the aborigines as he saw them all along from the eastern borders of Maine to the Vineyard Sound, and carefully studied them during the period of three consecutive years. Of the value of these explorations we need not here speak at length. We shall refer to them again in the sequel.
The return of the explorers was hailed with joy by the colonists at Annapolis Basin. To give éclat to the occasion, Lescarbot composed a poem in French, which he recited at the head of a procession which marched with gay representations to the water's edge, to receive their returning friends. Over the gateway of the quadrangle formed by their dwellings, dignified by them as their fort, were the arms of France, wreathed in laurel, together with the motto of the king.—
DVO PROTEGIT VNVS.
Under this, the arms of De Monts were displayed, overlaid with evergreen, and bearing the following inscription:—
DABIT DEVS HIS QVOQVE FINEM.
Then came the arms of Poutrincourt, crowned also with garlands, and inscribed:—
IN VIA VIRTVTI NVLLA EST VIA.
When the excitement of the return had passed, the little settlement subsided into its usual routine. The leisure of the winter was devoted to various objects bearing upon the future prosperity of the colony. Among others, a corn mill was erected at a fall on Allen River, four or five miles from the settlement, a little east of the present site of Annapolis. A road was commenced through the forest leading from Lower Granville towards the mouth of the bay. Two small barques were built, to be in readiness in anticipation of a failure to receive succors the next summer, and new buildings were erected for the accommodation of a larger number of colonists. Still, there was much unoccupied time, and, shut out as they were from the usual associations of civilized life, it was hardly possible that the winter should not seem long and dreary, especially to the gentlemen.