34 Cartier, a noted voyager of St. Malo, coasted along the north of
Newfoundland, passed through the Straits of Belle Isle into the water
now known as St. Lawrence Gulf, and into the mouth of the St. Lawrence
River. Erecting a cross, he took possession of the shores in the name of
the king of France.

In the following year he made a second voyage, going up as far as the
mouth of a small river which the year before he had named St. John's. He
called the waters the Bay of St. Lawrence. Ascending this, he came to a
settlement of the natives near a certain hill, which he called Mont
Royal, now modified into "Montreal." Cartier returned to France in 1536,
only a few of his men having survived the winter.

In 1540 Lord Roberval fitted out a fleet, with Cartier as subordinate.
Cartier sailed at once--his third voyage--Roberval following the next
year. A fort was built near the present site of Quebec. Roberval and
Cartier disagreed and returned to France, leaving the real foundation of
Quebec to be laid by Champlain, much later.

In 1604 De Monts arrived on the coast of Nova Scotia and erected a fort
at the mouth of the St. Croix, New Brunswick. He also made a settlement
on the shore of the present harbor of Annapolis, naming it Port Royal,
and the country around it Acadia. De Monts is famous largely because
under him the Sieur de Champlain, the real father of French colonization
in America, began his illustrious career. He had entered the St.
Lawrence in 1603. In 1608 he founded Quebec, the first permanent colony
of New France. The next year he explored the lake which perpetuates his
name. In 1615 he saw Lake Huron, Le Caron, the Franciscan, preceding him
in this only by a few days. Fired with ardor for discovery, Champlain
joined the Hurons in an attack upon the Iroquois. This led him into what
is now New York State, but whether the Indian camp first attacked by him
was on Onondaga or on Canandaigua Lake is still in debate. These were
but the beginning of Champlain's travels, by which many other Frenchmen,
some as missionaries, some as traders, were inspired to press far out
into the then unknown West. We shall resume the narrative in Chapter VII
of the next period. Champlain died at Quebec in 1635.

Turn back now to Columbus's time. England, destined to dominate the
continent of North America, was also practically the discoverer of the
same. On St. John's day, June 24, 1497, thirteen months and a week
before Columbus saw