sider the history of the period, extending from 1534 to 1861, and mark the result; it is wonderful, it is magical! Although in one sense it may appear a long time; yet for an infant colony how short does the space seem for the achievement of such miracles? The country was not colonized for fifty years after Cartier first discovered it and then very sparsely; and so it continued for many successive years. When the conquest took place, there were very few settlers or settlements in Upper Canada; yet, in the present day, we have cities and towns and villages and hamlets, and cleared lands and farms, from one end of the country to the other; commerce and trade allied together, and active business carried on everywhere; railroads cross our country at every point; rivers are connected by magnificent bridges; steamers, propellers and river craft traverse our lakes and rivers from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake Superior; valuable public works are constructed so as to make the most distant points available to trade; and nearly every nook and corner of the province has been explored and found or made useful for settlement; hidden treasures have been brought to light that would gladden the heart of an Eastern Nabob. The country is peopled by a population of nearly three millions, which will soon be doubled. The population is becoming an enlightened and intelligent people, active and energetic, anxious and willing to advance the country; in fact, there is no country which, for its size (and we might nearly put England in one of our counties), is possessed of such superior privileges and such valuable sources of wealth. Who could have foreseen all this as Cartier sailed tranquilly up the St. Lawrence? Did he, in his "mind's eye," think of it, and raise up before him the happy settlements, cleared lands, and large, thriving and gay cities and towns, and crowded and teeming, industrious populations? We fear not; notwithstanding his prediction, he could never have dreamed that the country just discovered by him could be brought to such a state of perfection and magnificence, and become such a source of wealth and prosperity to the nation that held it; yet, such is the case, and the name of Cartier will undoubtedly be ever allied with the discovery of this country, and be entwined in unison with that of Champlain, as our national benefactors, and as the establishers of a young and vigorous nation.

Unfortunately, in this present sketch, we are unable to give any more information concerning the interesting and erratic history of the adventurous navigator than has already been given in several biographical works.

He was celebrated in France as an enterprising mariner and pilot, and was a native of St. Malo. After the voyage of the Cabots, who discovered Newfoundland and the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the French perceived the value of the recent discoveries; and in a few years began the cod fishery upon the banks of Newfoundland.

On

The Baron de Levis is said to have discovered a part of Canada about 1518. In 1524 John Veranzza, a Florentine in the service of France, ranged the coast of the new continent from Florida to Newfoundland. From a subsequent voyage, in 1525, he never returned, and it is supposed that he was cut to pieces, and devoured by the savages. His fate discouraged other attempts to discover the new world, till the importance of having a colony in the neighborhood of the fishing banks induced Francis I. to send out Cartier in 1534. That monarch, tradition has it, said: "The Kings of Spain and Portugal are taking possession of the new world, without giving me a part; I should be glad to see the article in Adam's last will which gives them the whole of the fine continent of America." Cartier sailed from St. Malo on the 20th April, with two ships of sixty tons, and one hundred and twenty-two men. the 10th of May he came in sight of Bonavista, on the Island of Newfoundland; but the ice obliged him to go to the south, and he entered a harbour at a distance of five leagues, to which he gave the name of St. Catherine. As soon as the season would permit, he sailed northward and entered the Straits of Belleisle. In this voyage he visited the greater part of the coast which surrounds the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and took possession of the country in the name of the king; he discovered a bay, which he called Baie des Chaleurs, on account of the sultry weather which he there experienced. He sailed so far into the great river, afterwards called the St. Lawrence, as to discover land on the opposite side. 15th August, he set sail on his return to France, and arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of September.

When his discoveries were known in France, it was determined to make a settlement in that part of America which he had visited. Accordingly, in the following year, he received a more ample commission, and was equipped with three vessels. When he was ready to depart, he went to the Cathedral Church with his whole company, and the bishop gave them his benediction. He sailed 19th May, 1535. He encountered a severe storm on his passage; but in July he reached the destined port. He entered the Gulf, as in the preceding year, being accompanied by a number of young men of distinction. He sailed up the St. Lawrence, and discovered an island, which he named L'Isle de Bacchus, but which is now called Orleans, in the neighborhood of Quebec. This island was full of inhabitants, who subsisted by fishing, &c. He went on shore, and the native Indians brought him Indian corn for his refreshment. With his pinnace and two boats he proceeded up the river as far as Hochelaga, a settlement upon an island, which he called Mont Royal, but which is now called Montreal. In this Indian town were about fifty long huts, built with stakes, and covered with bark. The people lived mostly by fishing and tillage. They had corn, beans, squashes and pumpkins. In

two or three days he set out on his return, and arrived 4th October at St. Croix, not far from Quebec, now called Jacques Cartier's river. Here he passed the winter. In December the scurvy began to make its appearance among the natives; and, in a short time, Cartier's company were seized by the disorder. By the middle of February, of one hundred and ten persons, fifty were sick at once, and eight or ten had died. In this extremity he appointed a day of humiliation. A crucifix was placed on a tree; a procession of those who were able to walk was formed, and at the close of the devotional exercises, Cartier made a vow, that "if it should please God to permit him to return to France, he would go in pilgrimage to our lady of Roquemado." The sick were all healed by using a medicine, which was employed with success by the natives. This was a decoction of the leaves and bark of a tree. The liquor was drank every other day, and an external application was made to the legs. Charlevoix says the tree was that which yielded turpentine, and Dr. Belknap thinks it was the spruce pine. In May, Cartier set sail on his return to France, carrying off with him Donnacona, the Indian king of the country, and nine other natives, all of whom, except a little girl, died in France. He arrived at St. Malo, July 6, 1536.

At the end of four years, a third expedition was projected. François de la Roque, Lord of Roberval, was commissioned by the king as his Lieutenant-Governor in Canada; and Cartier was appointed his pilot, with the command of five ships. His commission, which may be seen in Hazard's collection, was dated Oct. 17, 1540. He sailed, however, May 23, 1540, to Newfoundland and Canada. August 23, he arrived at the haven of St. Croix, in the river St. Lawrence; about four leagues above that place, on a cliff, at the east side of the mouth of a small river, he built a fort, which he called Charlesbourg; this was near Quebec. In the spring of 1542, he determined to return to France, and accordingly in June he arrived at St. John's, in Newfoundland, on his way home. Here he met Roberval, who did not accompanying him in his voyage, and had been detained till this time. He was ordered to return to Canada, but he chose to pursue his voyage to France, and sailed out of the harbour privately in the night. Roberval attempted to establish a colony, but it was soon broken up, and the French did not establish themselves permanently in Canada till after the expiration of half a century.*

Cartier published memoirs of Canada after his second voyage. The names which he gave to islands, rivers, &c., are now entirely changed. In this work he shews that he possessed a large share

"In acknowledgment of his rare merits, it is said that he and his race were ennobled by his royal master. Few of the mariners, upon whom that distinction was conferred in France, merited it so much as Jacques Cartier, master mariner of St. Malo."-Garneau.

of the credulity and exaggeration of travellers. Being one day in the chase, he says, he pursued a beast which had but two legs, and which ran with astonishing rapidity. This strange animal was probably an Indian, clothed with the skin of some wild beast. He speaks also of human monsters of different kinds, of which accounts had been given him; some of them lived without eating.

SIR JOHN CABOT.

SIR JOHN CABOT, the discoverer of the continent of America, was a Venetian, who embarked from Bristol in 1497 with a commission from Henry VII. to conquer and settle unknown lands, and to find out a north-west passage to the East Indies. In latitude 58°, floating ice compelled him to pursue a more southerly direction; and, on the 24th June, he came in sight of some part of the coast of Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. He followed the line of coast to the north-east till he reached the latitude of 671°, when he changed his course to the south, and never saw land till off Florida. mutiny, owing to the scarcity of provisions, now compelled him to go back, without turning his discovery to any practical account. Columbus did not see the coast of America till the following year; but as his previous discoveries had prompted the voyage of Cabot, to him after all belongs the honor of having unveiled the New World to the gaze of mankind.

A

SEBASTIAN CABOT.

THE celebrated Sebastian Cabot was a navigator of great eminence and ability. He was born at Bristol, about the year 1477; and was the son of the John Cabot, mentioned above. Sebastian was early instructed in the mathematical knowledge required by a seaman; and, at the age of seventeen, had made several voyages. In 1495, John Cabot obtained from Henry VII. Letters Patent, empowering him and his three sons

Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctias-to discover unknown lands, and conquer and settle them. In consequence of this permission, the king supplied one ship, and the merchants of London and Bristol furnished a few smaller ones. In 1496, John and Sebastian sailed to the north-west, and in July of the same year, discovered Newfoundland, and explored up to 67° lat. The accounts of his voyage are attended with much obscurity; but it seems that, in a subsequent voyage, the father and son sailed as far as Cape Florida, and were actually the first who saw the main land of America. Little is, however, known of the proceedings of Sebastian Cabot for the ensuing twenty years; but it seems that, in the reign of Henry VIII., by the patronage of Sir Thomas Peart, Vice-Admiral of England, he procured another ship to make discoveries, and endeavored to make a voyage to the East Indies by the south, in which attempt he failed. This disappointment is supposed to have induced him to quit England and visit Spain, where he was treated with great respect, and appointed Pilot-major. An opulent company of Spanish merchants soon after gave him the command of a projected expedition to the Spice Islands, through the newly discovered Straits of Magellan. Accordingly, in 1525, he sailed from Cadiz to the Canaries and Cape de Verd Islands, and failing from the opposition of his crew in his view of reaching the Spice Islands, he proceeded to the river La Plata, where he discovered St. Salvador, and constructed a fort there. He subsequently reached the great river Paraguay, and remained on the American coast a considerable time, with a view to forming an establishment. Being disappointed in expected aid from Spain, he ultimately returned home with all his crew, but was not very favorably received, owing to his failure in respect to the Spice Islands, and his severe treatment of the mutineers of his crew. He, notwithstanding, continued in the service of Spain for some years longer, but at length returned to England towards the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. At the beginning of the reign of Edward VI. he was introduced by the protector, Somerset, to the young king, who took much pleasure in his conversation, and settled a pension on him as Grand Pilot of England. From that hour he was consulted on all questions relating to trade and navigation; and in 1552, being governor of a company of merchant adventurers, he drew up instructions, and procured a license for an expedition to discover a passage to the East Indies by the north. These instructions, which are preserved in Hackluyt's collection of voyages, form a very honorable proof of his sagacity and penetration. He was also governor of the Russian company, and was very active in their affairs. He is supposed to have died in the year 1557, at a very advanced age, leaving behind him a high character, both as a skilful seaman, and as a man of great general abilities. He was the first who noticed the variations of the compass; and besides the ordi