1535.

Facques Cartier and Canada.

63

favored it, and some of them joined it. This expedition sailed in May, 1535. The mariners assembled in the cathedral, on Whit-Sunday before the sailing, where solemn mass was celebrated, and the bishop imparted his blessing.

In July these ships entered the St. Lawrence, and sailed on its broad waters amid scenery which realized their glowing expectations and dreams. On September 1 they came to the mouth of the wonderful river Saguenay, and on the 14th arrived at the entrance of a river at Quebec, now known as the St. Charles.

Cartier was here visited by Donnacona, the so-called king of Canada. The two Indians whom he had taken the year before from Gaspé acted as interpreters on this occasion. Cartier continued to explore this wonderful and beautiful region. In a small boat he sailed from the Lake St. Peter to an Indian settlement called Hochelaga, where he arrived October 2. This place he named Mount Royal. It is now the magnificent city of Montreal.

The Canadian winter dampened the ardor of the adventurers and depleted their number. In the spring Cartier again sailed for France, taking with him the king of Canada and nine Indian chiefs.

Cartier was now appointed viceroy of the territories he had discovered, and made a new expedition to them in 1541. He made a fourth voyage in 1543. He died about the year 1555.

On his return in 1541 he was met by savages, who asked for their king. "Donnacona is dead," Cartier replied; and he told them that the other chiefs had married in France, a falsehood the Indians pretended to believe.

In the spring of 1542 Cartier broke up his colony and returned to France; but Robermal arrived about the same time, and established a settlement which had but a brief existence.

THE STORY OF VIRGINIA.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

Sir Walter Raleigh, who was one of the most learned Englishmen of his

age, and was at one time a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, spent a large fortune in attempting to colonize Virginia. He succeeded in directing the attention of his countrymen to the region which had kindled his own enthusiasm.

But his colonies never prospered. Sometimes the colonists returned home disgusted by the hardships of the wilderness. Once they were massacred by the Indians. When help came from England the infant settlement was in ruins. The bones of unburied men lay about the fields; wild deer strayed among the untenanted houses. One colony wholly disappeared. To this day its fate is unknown.

In 1606 a charter from the king established a company whose function was to colonize, whose privilege was to trade. The company sent out an expedition to Virginia, which sailed in three small vessels. It consisted of one