48. They had been occupied in this exploration about three weeks, Lescarbot says a month, but this is an overstatement. By a careful examination of the text, it will appear that they departed from Port Mouton on the 19th of May, and that several days after their return, not less than nine, they were again in St. Mary's Bay, on the 16th of June. They had been absent, therefore, about twenty-one days. The latitude of Port Mouton, stated a little below to be 44°, is in fact 43° 57'.
49. This bay, still retaining its ancient appellation, was so named by Champlain on his first visit. "Ceste baye fut nommée la baye Saincte Marie."—Champlain's Voyages, 1632, Quebec ed., Vol. V. p. 716.
50. Nicholas Aubry, a young Parisian of good family, "vn certain homme d'Église," as Lescarbot says, probably not long in holy orders, had undertaken this voyage with De Monts to gratify his desire to see the New World, though quite against the wishes of his friends, who had sent in vain to Honfleur to prevent his embarkation. After the search made by De Monts, with the sounding of trumpets and the discharge of cannon, they left St. Mary's Bay, having given up all expectation of his recovery. Some two weeks afterward, an expedition was Sent out to St. Mary's Bay, conducted by De Champdoré, an experienced pilot, with a mineralogist, to search for silver and iron ore. While Some of the party were on a fishing excursion, they rescued him, as stated in the text. The safe return of the young and too venturesome ecclesiastic gave great relief to De Monts, as Lescarbot says a Protestant was charged to have killed him, because they quarrelled sometimes about their religion.—Vide Histoire de Nouvelle-France, par Mare Lescarbot, Paris, 1612, Qvat. Liv. p. 453.
51. The partridge-berry, Mitchella, a trailing evergreen, bearing scarlet berries, edible but nearly tasteless, which remain through the winter. It is peculiar to America, and this is probably the first time it was noticed by any historical writer.
52. He was on the western side of Digby Neck, at its southern extremity, near the Petit Passage on the shore of the Bay of Fundy.
CHAPTER III.
DESCRIPTION OF PORT ROYAL AND THE PECULIARITIES OF THE SAME.—ISLE HAUTE.— PORT OF MINES.—BAYE FRANÇOISE.-THE RIVER ST. JOHN, AND WHAT WE OBSERVED BETWEEN THE PORT OF MINES AND THE SAME.—THE ISLAND CALLED BY THE SAVAGES MANTHANE.—THE RIVER OF THE ETECHEMINS, AND SEVERAL FINE ISLANDS THERE.— ST. CROIX ISLAND, AND OTHER NOTEWORTHY OBJECTS ON THIS COAST.
Some days after, Sieur de Monts decided to go and examine the coasts of Baye Françoise. For this purpose, he set out from the vessel on the 16th of May,[53] and we went through the strait of Long Island.[54] Not having found in St. Mary's Bay any place in which to fortify ourselves except at the cost of much time, we accordingly resolved to see whether there might not be a more favorable one in the other bay. Heading north-east six leagues, there is a cove where vessels can anchor in four, five, six, and seven fathoms of water. The bottom is sandy. This place is only a kind of roadstead.[55] Continuing two leagues farther on in the same direction, we entered one of the finest harbors I had seen along all these coasts, in which two thousand vessels might lie in security. The entrance is eight hundred paces broad; then you enter a harbor two leagues long and one broad, which I have named Port Royal.[56] Three rivers empty into it, one of which is very large, extending eastward, and called Rivière de l'Équille,[57] from a little fish of the size of an esplan?, which is caught there in large numbers, as is also the herring, and several other kinds of fish found in abundance in their season. This river is nearly a quarter of a league broad at its entrance, where there is an island [58] perhaps half a league in circuit, and covered with wood like all the rest of the country, as pines, firs, spruces, birches, aspens, and some oaks, although the latter are found in small numbers in comparison with the other kinds. There are two entrances to the above river, one on the north, the other on the south side of the island. That on the north is the better, and vessels can there anchor under shelter of the island in five, six, seven, eight, and nine fathoms. But it is necessary to be on one's guard against some shallows near the island on the one side, and the main land on the other, very dangerous, if one does not know the channel.
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