d reached Cap Rouge, the place
where Jacques Cartier had wintered, before the end of June, 1542. He
immediately fortified himself there, as the situation best adapted for
defense against hostility, and for commanding the navigation of the
Great River. Very little is known of Roberval's proceedings during the
remainder of that year and the following winter. The natives do not
appear to have molested the new settlers; but no progress whatever was
made toward a permanent establishment. During the intense cold, the
scurvy caused fearful mischief among the French; no fewer than fifty
perished from that dreadful malady during the winter. Demoralized by
misery and idleness, the little colony became turbulent and lawless, and
Roberval was obliged to resort to extreme severity of punishment before
quiet and discipline were re-established.

Toward the close of April the ice broke up, and released the French from
their weary and painful captivity. On the 5th of June, 1543, Roberval
set forth from Cap Rouge to explore the province of Saguenay, leaving
thirty men and an officer to protect their winter-quarters: this
expedition produced no results, and was attended with the loss of one of
the boats and eight men. In the mean time the pilot, Jean Alphonse, was
dispatched to examine the coasts north of Newfoundland, in hopes of
discovering a passage to the East Indies; he reached the fifty-second
degree of latitude, and then abandoned the enterprise; on returning to
Europe, he published a narrative of Roberval's expedition and his own
voyage, with a tolerably accurate description of the River St. Lawrence,
and its navigation upward from the Gulf. Roberval reached France in
1543; the war between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. for some
years occupied his ardent spirit, and supplied him with new occasions
for distinction, till the death of the king, his patron and friend, in
1547. In the year 1549 he collected some adventurous men, and,
accompanied by his brave brother, Achille, sailed once again for Canada;
but none of this gallant band were ever heard of more. Thus, for many a
year, were swallowed up in the stormy Atlantic all the bright hopes of
founding a new nation in America:[93] since these daring men had failed,
none others might expect to be successful.

In the reign of Henry II., attention was directed toward Brazil;
splendid accounts of its wealth and fertility were brought home by some
French navigators who had visited