of its members were artisans and sturdy yeomen.  Rounding the tip of the Nova Scotian peninsula, these vessels came to anchor in the haven of Port Royal, now Annapolis.  Not satisfied with the prospects there, however, they coasted around the Bay of Fundy, and finally reached the island in Passamaquoddy Bay which they named St. Croix.  Here on June 25, 1604, the party decided to found their settlement.  Work on the buildings was at once commenced, and soon the little colony was safely housed.  In the autumn Poutrincourt was dispatched with one vessel and a crew back to France, while Champlain and the rest prepared to spend the winter in their new island home.

The choice of St. Croix as a location proved singularly unfortunate; the winter was long and severe, and the preparations that had been made were soon found to be inadequate.  Once more there were sufferings such as Cartier and his men had undergone during the terrible winter of 1534-1535 at Quebec.  There were no brooks or springs close at hand, and no fresh water except such as could be had by melting snow.  The storehouse had no cellar, and in consequence the vegetables froze, so that the company was reduced to salted meat as the chief staple of diet.  Scurvy ravaged the camp, and before the snows melted nearly two-fifths of the party had died.  Not until June, moreover, did a vessel arrive from France with, fresh stores and more colonists.

The experience of this first winter must have indeed “produced discontent,” as Champlain rather mildly expressed it, but it did not impel De Monts to abandon his plans.  St. Croix, however, was given up and, after a futile search for a better location on the New England coast, the colony moved across the bay to Port Royal, where the buildings were reconstructed.  In the autumn De Monts went back to France, leaving Champlain, Pontgrave, and forty-three others to spend the winter of 1605-1606 in Acadia.  During this hibernation the fates were far more kind.  The season proved milder, the bitter lessons of the previous season had not gone unlearned, and scurvy did not make serious headway.  But when June came and De Monts had not returned from France with fresh supplies, there was general discouragement; so much so that plans for the entire abandonment of the place were on the eve of being carried out when a large vessel rounded the point on its way into the Basin.  Aboard were Poutrincourt and Marc Lescarbot, together with more settlers and supplies.  Lescarbot was a Parisian lawyer in search of adventure, a man who combined wit with wisdom, one of the pleasantest figures in the annals of American colonization.  He was destined to gain a place in literary history as the interesting chronicler of this little colony’s all-too-brief existence.  These arrivals put new heart into the men, and they set to work sowing grain and vegetables, which grew in such abundance that the storehouses were filled to their capacity.  The ensuing winter found the company with an ample store