own now as Miramichi. The shallowness of
the water and the low sunken aspect of the shore led him to decide,
rightly, that there was to be found here no passage to the west. It was
his hope, of course, that at some point on his path the shore might
fold back and disclose to him the westward passage to the fabled
empires of the East. The deep opening of the Chaleur Bay, which
extended on the left hand as the ships proceeded north, looked like
such an opening. Hopes ran high, and Cartier named the projecting horn
which marks the southern side of the mouth of the bay the Cape of Good
Hope. Like Vasco da Gama, when he rounded South Africa, Cartier now
thought that he had found the gateway of a new world. The cheery name
has, however, vanished from the map in favour of the less striking one
of Point Miscou.

Cartier sailed across the broad mouth of the bay to a point on the
north shore, now known as Port Daniel. Here his ships lay at anchor
till July 12, in order that he might carry on, in boats, the
exploration of the shore.

On July 6, after hearing mass, the first boat with an exploring party
set forth and almost immediately fell in with a great number of savages
coming in canoes from the southern shore. In all there were some forty
or fifty canoes. The Indians, as they leaped ashore, shouted and made
signs to the French, and held up skins on sticks as if anxious to enter
into trade. But Cartier was in no mind to run the risk of closer
contact with so numerous a company of savages. The French would not
approach the fleet of canoes, and the savages, seeing this, began to
press in on the strangers. For a moment affairs looked threatening.
Cartier's boat was surrounded by seven canoes filled with painted,
gibbering savages. But the French had a formidable defence. A volley of
musket shots fired by the sailors over the heads of the Indians
dispersed the canoes in rapid flight. Finding, however, that no harm
was done by the strange thunder of the weapons, the canoes came
flocking back again, their occupants making a great noise and
gesticulating wildly. They were, however, nervous, and when, as they
came near, Cartier's men let off two muskets they were terrified; 'with
great haste they began to flee, and would no more follow us.' But the
next day after the boat had returned to the ships, the savages came
near to the anchorage, and some parties landed and traded together. The
Indians had with them furs which they offered gl