1534.

Facques Cartier and Canada.

59

ence which gradually changed the aspect of society. The narrative portions of Scripture were especially acceptable to the untutored intellect of that time; and thus the Old Testament was preferred to the New. This preference led to some mistakes. Rules which had been given to an ancient Asiatic people were applied in circumstances for which they were never intended or fitted. It is easy to smile at these mistakes. But it is impossible to overestimate the social and political good which we now enjoy as a result of this incessant reading of the Bible by the people of the sixteenth century.

In nearly all European countries the king claimed to regulate the religious belief of his subjects. Even in England that power was still claimed. The people were beginning to suspect that they were entitled to think for themselves, suspicion which grew into an indignant certainty, and widened and deepened till it swept from the throne the unhappy House of Stuart.

a

JACQUES CARTIER AND CANADA.

Jacques Cartier, who may be called the founder of Canada, was born at Saint Malo, France, in 1494. He had a resolute spirit, and the news of the wonderful lands that were being discovered and explored beyond the sea filled him with a desire for maritime adventure. He was intrusted by Francis I. with the command of an expedition to explore the Western Hemisphere. He sailed from the beautiful port of Saint Malo in April, 1534, with two ships and one hundred and twenty men, and in twenty days reached the coast of Newfoundland. He next sailed north, entered the Strait of Belle Isle, and planting the cross on Labrador took possession of the land in the name of his king. He deceived the natives by telling them with signs that the cross was only set up as a beacon. He explored the Bay of Chaleur, which he thus describes :

"The country is hotter than the country of Spain, and the fairest that can possibly be found, altogether smooth and level. There is no place, be it never so little, but it hath some trees, yea, albeit it be sandy; or else is full of wild corn, that hath an ear like unto rye. The corn is like oats, and small peas, as thick as if they had been sown and ploughed, white and red gooseberries, strawberries, black

FRANCIS I.

berries, white and red roses, with many other flowers of very sweet and pleasant smell. There be also many goodly meadows full of grass, and lakes where plenty of salmons be. We named it the bay of heat (Chaleur)." On the shores of the Bay of Gaspé he again planted the cross. He approached the Indians whom he met on these

explorations in a most friendly manner. He

so won their confidence that one of the chiefs allowed him to take his two sons back to Saint Malo on condition that he would return with them in the following year. He doubled the east point of Anticosti, and entered the St. Lawrence as far as Mount Joly. In September he returned to France in triumph, and his name and fame filled the nation and inspired the young and chivalrous to seek like romantic exploits.

The French king fitted out a new expedition for this bold and able commander, and the young nobility of France