and gave the command of it to Gaspar Cortereal. He sailed from Lisbon in the year 1500, and steering northwest from the Azores, reached and explored the coast of Labrador, which is said to have received its name from the circumstance of his kidnapping fifty of the natives. He went

on a second voyage in May, 1501, but never returned. The attention of Portugal was afterwards wholly occupied with her acquisitions in Brazil and India.

The French appreciated the advantages of an early settlement in America, and the fishermen were soon familiar with the banks of Newfoundland. In 1508, a mariner of Dieppe, named Aubert, or Hubert, sailed to Newfoundland and brought home with him a native of that

country. In 1524, John Verrazani, in the service of Francis I., sailed on a voyage of discovery in a single ship, and reaching the shores of North Carolina, he coasted north to the latitude of fifty degrees, exploring on his way the harbors of Newport and New York, and trading with the natives.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed from St. Malo, to examine the coast of Newfoundland. He returned in safety, and in the following year, set out on another voyage, with three large ships and a number of colonists. As he reached the Gulf northward of Anticoste on the day of St. Lawrence, he gave the name of that saint to the great body of water of the gulf and the river flowing into it. Cartier ascended the river until he reached a fertile island full of vines, which he called the Isle of Bacchus,

now Orleans. He was hospitably entertained by the Indians, and by the invitation of a chief, ascended the river to an island called Hochelaga. This island is now named Montreal. He returned to his ships and spent the winter at the Isle of Bacchus, where his people suffered much from the scurvy. The Indians assisted them with their rude remedies; but the climate seems to have discouraged the colonists, and they returned in the spring.

N 1540, another expedition was sent out by the French. Francis de la Roque, lord of Roberval, in Picardy, was appointed by Francis I., viceroy and lieutenant-general for Canada, and the other countries and islands discovered by the French, with authority to plant a colony. Cartier accompanied the expedition as chief pilot and captain-general. The two

commanders did not agree, and would not act in concert. Cartier with five ships, sailed first, ascended the St. Lawrence, and built a fort on the island of Orleans, where he passed the winter. But the

idea of planting a colony appeared hopeless. The natives were hostile, and provisions failed. When spring came, Cartier set sail for France. Off Newfoundland, he met Roberval, with three ships and two hundred men. The viceroy would have compelled him to return; but he escaped, in the night. Roberval spent the winter in the St. Lawrence, and then returned to France. He perished, with a numerous train of adventurers, in a subsequent voyage.

During the next fifty years, the fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland were the only connecting link between Old and New France. In 1598, the Marquis de la Roche, being appointed lieutenant general of Canada, made an attempt to colonize his province by settling on the Isle of Sable. But the attempt failed, and he returned home and died of chagrin.

At length, Samuel Champlain, an experienced mariner of Bronage, obtained an outfit from some of the merchants of St. Malo and Dieppe, and founded Quebec, on the St. Lawrence, in 1608. In the spring, he joined the Algonquins and Hurons in a war against the Five Nations.

The consequences of this imprudent measure were felt by the French settlers for a century afterwards. The hatred of the Indians composing the Five Nations could not be eradicated.

Nova Scotia was brought completely into the French possession in 1605, by a settlement called Port Royal, being established by De Monts. The French colonies increased very slowly in comparison with those of the English. The climate and the general inferiority of the soil of Canada and Nova Scotia, or Acadié, were partly the causes.