[8.] (p. [61])—Probably André Thevet. A translation of his description of the Isles of Demons (now known as Belle Isle and Quirpon), is given in Parkman's Pioneers, p. 191. Thevet's Cosmographie Universelle (Paris, 1558), and Singularitez de la France antarctique (Paris, 1558), must have been familiar to Lescarbot. De Costa gives a translation of so much of the Cosmographie as relates to New England, in Magazine of American History, vol. viii., p. 130: "The production of the mendacious monk, André Thevet." It seems clear that Thevet never saw the American coast, that his imagination amplified the accounts of navigators who had visited the region, particularly those of Cartier. Priceless as are first editions of Thevet, he has a poor reputation for veracity.
[9.] (p. [61])—The Armouchiquois (or Almouchiquois of Champlain) were, according to Parkman (Jesuits of N. America, p. xxi.), the Algonkin tribes of New England,—Mohicans, Pequots, Massachusetts, Narragansetts, and others,—"in a chronic state of war with the tribes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia." Williamson, in History of the State of Maine (Hallowell, 1832, vol. i., p. 477), says they were an Etchemin tribe, the Marechites of the St. John River; but Champlain, who had, like Biard, visited the Armouchiquois country, says that it lies beyond Choüacoet (Saco), and that the language is different from those of the Souriquois and Etchemins. Laverdière affirms that "the French called Almouchiquois several peoples or tribes that the English included under the term Massachusetts;" and he conjectures that these two names are etymologically allied.—See his Champlain, pp. 200, 205, 206.
[10.] (p. [61])—Lescarbot here refers to his Histoire de la Nouvelle France. The first edition (Paris, 1609) is a rare prize to collectors,—a London catalogue of 1878 pricing it at £45. The edition of 1612 is followed in the Tross reprint (Paris, 1866); that of 1618 contains Lescarbot's assault upon the Jesuits. The fourth and sixth books, only, were "translated out of the French into English" by P. Erondelle, 1609. A German version of a brief summary of the work appeared in 1613.
[11.] (p. [67])—The term Norembega, variously spelled, was applied indifferently to the entire range of Acadian and New England coast; but apparently the Penobscot is here meant. See Winsor's N. and C. Hist., vol. iv., index; Documentary History of State of Maine, vol. ii., pp. lii., liii.; Prince Society's ed. of Champlain, memoir and index. The claim is made for Bangor, Me., that it is on the site of an ancient town called Norumbega. Much information on this point is given in Maine Hist. Soc. Colls., vols. ii., iv., v., vii., viii., and ix. Sewall claims that the true form of Norumbegua is Arâmbec, and that it was the name of a city of the savages, situated near the head-waters of the Damariscotta, above Pemaquid.—Ancient Dominions of Maine, pp. 30-46. Horsford, in Discovery of the Ancient City of Norembega and Defences of Norembega (Boston, 1890 and 1891), claims, on slender evidence, that Watertown, Mass., occupies the site of an old town of that name founded by Norse vikings in 1000 A. D.
[12.] (p. [67])—Bay of Fundy; first shown on map of Diego Homem (1558); named by De Monts Grande Baye Française (shown on Lescarbot's chart of Port Royal); appears as Argal's Bay, on Alexander's map (1624); Golfo di S. Luize, on Dudley's (1647); Fundi Bay, on Moll's (1712); and Bay of Fundy, or Argal, on that of the English and French Commissioners (1755). Bourinot (Canad. Mo., vol. vii., p. 292) says that Fundy is a corruption of Fond de la Baie, as the lower part of the bay was called; he follows here Ferland's suggestion, in Cours d'Histoire du Canada (Quebec, 1861), vol. i., p. 65.
[13.] (p. [67])—The son of Pontgravé, who, according to Parkman (Pioneers, p. 290) had exasperated the Indians by an outrage on one of their women, and had fled to the woods.
[14.] (p. [69])—Palourdes is Breton for a kind of shellfish.
[15.] (p. [73])—The Souriquois, or Micmacs, of Nova Scotia. Champlain's map of 1632 places them east of Port Royal.
[16.] (p. [73])—Raphael Maffei, Maffeus Volaterranus, or Raffaello Volterrano, savant and historian; born in Volterra 1451, died 1521 or 1522. Harrisse (Bib. Amer. Vet., p. 88) gives a catalogue of his works, and says, "The Commentary of Maffei has a peculiar interest from the fact that it preceded the publication of Peter Martyr's Decades" (1511-46).
Laverdière (Champlain, p. 70, note) says that sagamo is a Montagnais word; and he cites Laflèche as deriving it from tchi and okimau, meaning "great chief."