nd cape to cape. Prince Edward Island appealed to him
strongly. "It is very pleasant to behold," he tells us. "We found
sweet-smelling trees as cedars, yews, pines, ash, willow. Where the
ground was bare of trees it seemed very fertile and was full of wild
corn, red and white gooseberries, strawberries, and blackberries, as
if it had been cultivated on purpose." It now grew hotter, and Cartier
must have been glad of a little heat. He sighted Nova Scotia and sailed
by the coast of New Brunswick, without naming or surveying them. He
describes accurately the bay still called Chaleur Bay: "We named this
the Warm Bay, for the country is warmer even than Spain and exceedingly
pleasant." They sailed up as far as they could, filled with hope that
this might be the long-sought passage to the Pacific Ocean. Hope Cape
they named the southern point, but they were disappointed by finding
only a deep bay, and to-day, by a strange coincidence, the point
opposite the northern shore is known as Cape Despair--the Cap d'Espoir
of the early French mariners. Sailing on to the north amid strong
currents and a heavy sea, Cartier at last put into a shelter (Gaspe
Bay). Here, "on the 24th of July, we made a great cross thirty feet
high, on which we hung up a shield with three fleurs-de-lis, and
inscribed the cross with this motto: 'Vive le roi de France.' When
this was finished, in presence of all the natives, we all knelt down
before the cross, holding up our hands to heaven and praising God."

[Illustration: JACQUES CARTIER. From an old pen drawing at the
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.]

Storms and strong tides now decided Cartier to return to France. He
knew nothing of the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland and the land
afterwards called Nova Scotia, so he guided his little ships right
through the Straits of Belle Isle, and after being "much tossed by
a heavy tempest from the east, which we weathered by the blessing of
God," he arrived safely home on 5th September, after his six months'
adventure. He was soon commissioned to continue the navigation of
these new lands, and in May 1535 he safely led three ships slightly
larger than the last across the stormy Atlantic. Contrary winds, heavy
gales, and thick fogs turned the voyage of three weeks into five--the
ships losing one another not to meet again till the coast of Labrador
was reached. Coasting along the southern coast, Cartier now entered
a "very fine and large bay, full of islands, and w