nes with him, purposing to cast their future lot in the New
World. A third vessel was dispatched under Pontgrave to the Strait of
Canso, to protect the exclusive trading privileges of the company. The
fourth steered for Tadoussac, to barter for the rich furs brought by the
Indian hunters from the dreary wilds of the Saguenay.

On the 6th of May De Monts reached a harbor on the coast of Acadia,
where he seized and confiscated an English vessel, in vindication of his
exclusive privileges. Thence he sailed to the Island of St. Croix, where
he landed his people, and established himself for the winter. In the
spring of 1605 he hastened to leave this settlement, where the want of
wood and fresh water, and the terrible ravages of the scurvy, had
disheartened and diminished the number of his followers. In the mean
time Champlain had discovered and named Port Royal, now Annapolis, a
situation which presented many natural advantages. De Monts removed the
establishment thither, and erected a fort, appointing Pontgrave to its
command. Soon afterward he bestowed Port Royal and a large extent of the
neighboring country upon De Poutrincourt, and the grant was ultimately
confirmed by letters patent from the king. This was the first concession
of land made in North America since its discovery.

When De Monts returned to France in 1605, he found that enemies had been
busily and successfully at work in destroying his influence at court.
Complaints of the injustice of his exclusive privileges poured in from
all the ports in the kingdom. It was urged that he had interfered with
and thwarted the fisheries, under the pretense of securing the sole
right of trading with the Indian hunters. These statements were
hearkened to by the king, and all the Sieur's privileges were revoked.
De Monts bore up bravely against this disaster. He entered into a new
engagement with De Poutrincourt, who had followed him to France, and
dispatched a vessel from Rochelle on the 13th of May to succor the
colony in Acadia. The voyage was unusually protracted, and the settlers
at Port Royal, at length reduced to great extremities, feared that they
had been abandoned to their fate. The wise and energetic Pontgrave did
all that man could do to reassure them; but, finally, their supplies
being completely exhausted, he was constrained to yield to the general
wish, and embark his people for France. He had scarcely sailed, however,
when he heard of the arrival of Poutrincou