ltural colony,
the maize fields he had seen to the south-west might have proved
attractive. But he depended largely upon trade, and, as Champlain
points out, the savages of Massachusetts had nothing to sell. Hence it
was unwise to go too far from the peltries of the St Lawrence. To find
a climate less severe than that of Canada, without losing touch with
the fur trade, was De Monts' problem. No one could dream of wintering
again at St Croix, and in the absence of trade possibilities to the
south there seemed but one alternative--Port Royal.

In his notice of De Monts' cruise along the Bay of Fundy in June 1604,
Champlain says: 'Continuing two leagues farther on in the same
direction, we entered one of the finest harbours I had seen all along
these coasts, in which two thousand vessels might lie in security. The
entrance is 800 paces broad; then you enter a harbour two leagues long
and one broad, which I have named Port Royal.' Here Champlain is
describing Annapolis Basin, which clearly made a deep impression upon
the minds of the first Europeans who saw it. Most of all did it appeal
to the imagination of Poutrincourt, who had come to Acadia for the {42}
purpose of discovering a spot where he could found his own colony. At
sight of Port Royal he had at once asked De Monts for the grant, and on
receiving it had returned to France, at the end of August 1604, to
recruit colonists. Thus he had escaped the horrible winter at St
Croix, but on account of lawsuits it had proved impossible for him to
return to Acadia in the following year. Hence the noble roadstead of
Port Royal was still unoccupied when De Monts, Champlain, and Pontgrave
took the people of St Croix thither in August 1605. Not only did the
people go. Even the framework of the houses was shipped across the bay
and set up in this haven of better hope.

The spot chosen for the settlement lay on the north side of the bay.
It had a good supply of water, and there was protection from the
north-west wind which had tortured the settlers at St Croix. 'After
everything had been arranged,' says Champlain, 'and the majority of the
dwellings built, Sieur de Monts determined to return to France, in
order to petition His Majesty to grant him all that might be necessary
for his undertaking.' Quite apart from securing fresh advantages, De
Monts at this time was sore pressed to defend his title against the
traders who were {43} clamouring for a repeal of the monopol