ted.'

CHAPTER IV

THE SECOND VOYAGE--THE ST LAWRENCE

The second voyage of Jacques Cartier, undertaken in the years 1535 and
1536, is the exploit on which his title to fame chiefly rests. In this
voyage he discovered the river St Lawrence, visited the site of the
present city of Quebec, and, ascending the river as far as Hochelaga,
was enabled to view from the summit of Mount Royal the imposing
panorama of plain and river and mountain which marks the junction of
the St Lawrence and the Ottawa. He brought back to the king of France
the rumour of great countries still to be discovered to the west, of
vast lakes and rivers reaching so far inland that no man could say from
what source they sprang, and the legend of a region rich with gold and
silver that should rival the territory laid at the feet of Spain by the
conquests of Cortez. If he did not find the long-sought passage to the
Western Sea, at least he added to the dominions of France a territory
the potential wealth of which, as we now see, was not surpassed even by
the riches of Cathay.

The report of Cartier's first voyage, written by himself, brought to
him the immediate favour of the king. A commission, issued under the
seal of Philippe Chabot, admiral of France, on October 30, 1534,
granted to him wide powers for employing ships and men, and for the
further prosecution of his discoveries. He was entitled to engage at
the king's charge three ships, equipped and provisioned for fifteen
months, so that he might be able to spend, at least, an entire year in
actual exploration. Cartier spent the winter in making his
preparations, and in the springtime of the next year (1535) all was
ready for the voyage.

By the middle of May the ships, duly manned and provisioned, lay at
anchor in the harbour of St Malo, waiting only a fair wind to sail.
They were three in number--the Grande Hermine of 120 tons burden; a
ship of 60 tons which was rechristened the Petite Hermine, and which
was destined to leave its timbers in the bed of a little rivulet beside
Quebec, and a small vessel of 40 tons known as the Emerillon or Sparrow
Hawk. On the largest of the ships Cartier himself sailed, with Claude
de Pont Briand, Charles de la Pommeraye, and other gentlemen of France,
lured now by a spirit of adventure to voyage to the New World. Mace
Jalobert, who had married the sister of Cartier's wife, commanded the
second ship. Of the sailors the greater part were trained seamen of S