1501.

new world. He dispatched Gaspar Cortereal' to North America in 1500; who described its shores and forests, its stately pines, suitable for masts, &c. But traffic in slaves, then an established business of the Portuguese, being esteemed the more profitable, he sailed northward, took in, by kidnapping, a cargo of over fifty natives, whom he carried to Europe and sold for slaves. But the Portuguese did not maintain their claim to the country.

1512.

2

Juan Ponce de Leon, in the service of Spain, took possession of Florida in the name of his Sovereign, in 1512; published a map of the country as far north as Newfoundland, and claiming it as a possession of the Spanish Crown. But the Spaniards chiefly sought, at that time, mines of gold and silver, and never extended their occupancy of the country north of Florida, at about 33° north latitude.

1504.

France, on the contrary, sent out fishing vessels manned by the Bretons and Normans, to Newfoundland, as early as 1504.3 Those who

1. The country of Labrador is laid down as Corterealis," on the Spanish Globe, spoken of in a previous note, and in cotemporary maps of North America.

2. Bancroft, Vol. i., p. 16.

3. RELATIONS DES JESUITES. Contenant ce qui s'est passé de plus remarquable dans Les Missions des pères de la compagnie de Jésus dans la nouvelle France. Ouvrage publié sous les auspices de Gouvernement Canadien, 3 vols., 8 vo., 1858. Quebec. Augustine Cotè, Editeur imprimeur. Vol. i. p. 1. Relation 1611.

Documentary History of New York. Vol. ix. pp. 1, 304, 378, 701, 781.

came earliest, named the country first visited, Cape Breton, from their own home. They discovered the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, visited all the creeks and harbors of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, gave names to the localities which they still retain, and published maps of the country.

Jean Denys of Honfleur, made a map on 1506. his return in 1506, and Thomas Aubert, of Dieppe, brought back natives and a plot of the country in 1508. The ocean they crossed was named the sea of the West, 800 leagues broad in its narrowest strait from France. The Western ocean they called the sea of China.

1524.

1

In 1524, Giovanni Verrazzani, a Florentine navigator in the service of Francis I., returned from his last voyage of discovery to America. According to Champlain, he made two voyages to the new world, but we have no narrative from his own pen of more than one. He sailed to the coast of Carolina, in a direct passage, where he found a native population more refined in its manners, than that of any other country of the new world. It had never before been visited by Europeans. Verrazzani, sailing northward, explored the coast, penetrated its various harbors, entered the bay of New York, and spent fourteen days in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island.

1. Relations Des Jesuites. Vol. i. p. 2. 1611. 2. N. Y. Doc. Hist. Vol. ix. p. 2.

At each place visited, he made acquaintance with the native population, which proved more and more warlike and unamiable as he advanced northward. Following the general line of the shore, he sailed 150 leagues along the coast of Maine, clearly defining that great Bay or Gulf extending from Cape Cod to Cape Sable, known afterward, as the Bay or Gulf of Maine. To the entire tract of country never before discovered or frequented by Europeans, he gave the name of New France. On reaching the 50th parallel of latitude, he sailed to France, and published a most interesting narrative of his voyage.2 France in this way established her claims to the country. It was not Cartier, as is commonly asserted, but Verrazzani, that gave the name of New France3 to the country he discovered, which extended from the 30th to the 50th degree of north latitude. This claim France maintained, and named Carolina for Charles IX. During his reign in 1562, Ribaut built a fort there, which was called Carlesfort in honor of the King.

4

1. Edingburgh Encyclopedia. Vol. xviii. p. 263.

2. New York Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 39, et seq., new series, contains the full narration of Verrazzani's voyage, addressed to the French Monarch, translated by J. G. Coggswell, Esq., of the Astor Library.

3. Relations Des Jesuites. Vol. i. p. 14. ments. Vol. ix. p. 1-4. Do. vol. ix. p. 266.

Champlain, N. York Docu-
Harris' Voyages, Vol. i.

4. Garneau's History of Canada. Vol. i. p. 118.

Curiosity has been awakened the past, year in regard to the location of Charles-fort from the naval and military expedition to the same

It is a singular fact that neither Spain, France or England had furnished up to this time, any great navigator in the discovery of America. They were all Italians; Columbus a Genoese, Cabot a Venetian,1 and Verrazzani a Florentine.

The French Monarch, following out his 1534. plans for the colonization of America, sent out Jacques Cartier in 1534, who, sailing from St. Malo on April 20, with two ships and 122 men, on May 10th, 1534, came in sight of Bonavista, Newfoundland, a spot discovered by Cabot in 1497.

In the "Relations of the Jesuits," recently published under the patronage of the Government of Canada, it is stated, that Cartier had been on this coast ten years before, and it is fair to conjecture that he was in the expedition of Verrazzani. But we find no other account of any such voyage. Cartier was most fortunate in his expedition.

He

region, under command of Commodore Dupont and Gen. Sherman. No traces of the old fort have yet been found, by those in the army of the Beaufort expedition. Gen. Peter Force of Washington, whose authority is most valuable, places the site of Charles-fort on the north side of St. Helen's Island.

1. John Cabot, the father of Sebastian, undoubtedly was a Venetian. There is much evidence lately brought to light, tending to prove that Sebastian Cabot was born in Bristol. In Grafton's Chronicles of England, page 1323, we find the following notice of Cabot of Bristol : A native of that city, but who with his father removed to Venice at the age of four years."

66

Sebastian Cabot, son of a merchant of Cathay, in London. Eden, 249. Eden says, "Sebastian Cabot told me he was born at Bristol, and at four years of age went to Venice." Page 255.

2. Vol. i. p. 2.

found the localities of the Gulf of St. Lawrence already known to the fishermen, having the names they now bear. He sailed around Newfoundland, took possession in various places, both on the main land and the island of Newfoundland. Taking with him two young natives of Gaspé, by their full consent, he sailed for France and reached St. Malo on the 5th day of September, 1534.1

1535.

The report of Cartier's voyage and discoveries, excited great curiosity and interest; and with a more ample equipment in three ships, provided at the Royal expense, he sailed on another expedition for the new world on the 19th of May, 1553, carrying back to America his two young savages, who became useful as interpreters to the natives.

Cartier on this voyage sailed up the Gulf and into the river St. Lawrence, where he spent the following winter at the fortified town of Hochelaga, to which he gave the name it still bears, Montreal.2 The next spring, erecting the cross in the name of his Sovereign at various points, and taking with him the Chief of the savages at Quebec, Donacana, and his two young interpreters, he returned to France on the 6th of July, 1536.

1536.

1. Cartier's Voyages.

Garneau's History of Canada.

2. Cartier's Voyages. Garneau's History. Vol. i. p. 21.