Here they passed the winter, but suffered so badly from scurvy[11] that, when in the spring of 1605 Du Pont Grave arrived from Brittany with supplies, the remnant of the colony was removed to the opposite coast of Nova Scotia to Port Royal (afterwards named by the English Annapolis[12]).  The French seem to have fallen in love with this place from the very first.  Nevertheless here they suffered from scurvy during the winter as elsewhere.  Before moving over here, however, Champlain, together with De Monts, had explored the west of New England south of New Brunswick as far as Plymouth, just south of Boston.

[Footnote 11:  How awful was this “mal de terre” or scurvy amongst the French settlers may be seen from this description of Champlain:  “There were produced in the mouths of those who had it great pieces of superfluous and drivelling flesh, which got the upper hand to such an extent that scarcely anything but liquid could be taken.  Their teeth became very loose and could be pulled out with the fingers without its causing them pain....  Afterwards a violent pain seized their arms and legs, which remained swollen and very hard, all spotted as if with fleabites; and they could not walk on account of the contraction of the muscles....  They suffered intolerable pains in the loins, stomach, and bowels, and had a very bad cough and short breath....  Out of seventy-nine who composed our party, thirty-five died and twenty were on the point of death (when spring began in May).”

Scurvy is said to be a disease of the blood caused by a damp, cold, and impure atmosphere combined with absence of vegetable food and a diet of salted or semi-putrid meat or fish, such as was so often the winter food of Amerindians and of the early French pioneers in Canada.  We have already noted Cartier’s discovery of the balsam remedy.]

[Footnote 12:  From Queen Anne.]

Off the coast of Maine (Richmond’s Island) they encountered agricultural Amerindians of a new tribe, the Penobskot probably, who cultivated a form of rank narcotic tobacco (Nicotiana rustica), which they called Petun. (A variety of this has produced the handsome garden flower Petunia, whose Latin name is derived from this native word Petun.) They also grew maize or Indian corn, planting very carefully three or four seeds in little mounds three feet apart one from the other, the soil in between being kept clear of weeds.  The American farmers of to-day cannot adopt any better method.

The islands round about Portland (Maine) were matted all over with wild red currants, so that the eye could scarcely discern anything else.  Attracted by this fruit, clouds of wild pigeons had assembled[13].  They manifested hardly any fear of the French, who captured large numbers of them in snares, or killed them with guns.  The natives of southern Maine fled with dismay on sighting the French ships, for they had never before seen sailing vessels, but later