[218] Hakluyt speaks of “the Frenche originall which I sawe in the King’s Library at Paris, in the Abbay of St. Martine,” and says that Donnaconna had been in “his barke” to that “contrie where cynamon and cloves are had.” See Hakluyt’s Westerne Planting, p. 112.
[219] Vol. iii. p. 232.
[220] Vol. iii. p. 240.
[221] Page 412.
[222] Edition of 1883, vol. i. p. 17.
[223] “The division of authority between Cartier and Roberval defeated the undertaking. Roberval was ambitious of power, and Cartier desired the exclusive honor of discovery. They neither embarked in company nor acted in concert. In May, 1541, Cartier sailed from St. Malo. Arrived at the scene of his former adventures, near the site of Quebec, he built a fort; but no considerable advances in geographical knowledge appear to have been made. The winter passed in sullenness and gloom. In June, 1542, he and his ships returned to France, just before Roberval arrived with a considerable reinforcement. Unsustained by Cartier, Roberval accomplished no more than a verification of previous discoveries. Remaining about a year in America, he abandoned his immense vice-royalty.”
There is, however, no good proof of these charges. At the time when Roberval is represented as contending with Cartier, the former must have been in Canada. We have no proof of any conflict of authority. Facts recited in the present chapter do not appear to have been known to Mr. Bancroft. Kohl (Discovery of Maine, p. 343) appears to have known nothing beyond what is found in Hakluyt with reference to the meeting at St. John’s. Parkman (Pioneers of France, p. 202, edition of 1882) says that Roberval sailed for Canada in April, 1542, and that, soon after reaching St. John’s, “he descried three other sail rounding the entrance to the haven, and with wrath and amazement recognized the ships of Cartier.... The Viceroy ordered him to return; but Cartier escaped with his vessels under cover of night, and made sail for France.” See also Gay’s Popular History of the United States, i. 188; and, on these voyages, Biographie des Malouins célèbres, Paris, 1824; St. Malo illustré par ses marines, by Cunat, Paris, 1857; Biographie Bretonne, by Livot, Vannes, 1858. Also, D’Avezac’s edition of the voyage of 1545, Paris, 1863, f. xiii. This author does not appear to have known that Roberval sailed in 1541, instead of 1542. Hatton, in his Newfoundland, London, 1883, p. 14, also goes very wide of the mark.
[224] Harrisse, Notes, pp. 243-253.
[225] Ibid.
[226] Ibid., pp. 259-264.