rt and De Monts went energetically to work, and
succeeded in obtaining the services of all the mechanics and labourers
they required. The new expedition was necessarily composed of very
unruly characters, who sadly offended the staid folk of that orderly
bulwark of Calvinism, the town of La Rochelle. At last on the 13th of
May, 1606, the _Jonas_, with its unruly crew all on board, left for the
new world under the command of Poutrincourt. Among the passengers was
L'Escarbot, a Paris advocate, a poet, and an historian, to whom we are
indebted for a very sprightly account of early French settlement in
America. De Monts, however, was unable to leave with his friends.

On the 27th July, the _Jonas_ entered the basin of Port Royal with the
flood-tide. A peal from the rude bastion of the little fort bore
testimony to the {56} joy of the two solitary Frenchmen, who, with a
faithful old Indian chief, were the only inmates of the post at that
time. These men, La Taille and Miquellet, explained that Pontgrave and
Champlain, with the rest of the colony, had set sail for France a few
days previously, in two small vessels which they had built themselves.
But there was no time to spend in vain regrets. Poutrincourt opened a
hogshead of wine, and the fort was soon the scene of mirth and
festivity. Poutrincourt set energetically to improve the condition of
things, by making additions to the buildings, and clearing the
surrounding land, which is exceedingly rich. The fort stood on the
north bank of the river--on what is now the Granville side--opposite
Goat Island, or about six miles from the present town of Annapolis.

L'Escarbot appears to have been the very life of the little colony. If
anything occurred to dampen their courage, his fertile mind soon
devised some plan of chasing away forebodings of ill. When
Poutrincourt and his party returned during the summer of 1606 in ill
spirits from Malebarre, now Cape Cod, where several men had been
surprised and killed by the savages, they were met on their landing by
a procession of Tritons, with Neptune at their head, who saluted the
adventurers with merry songs. As they entered the arched gateway, they
saw above their heads another happy device of L'Escarbot, the arms of
France and the King's motto, "_Duo protegit unus_," encircled with
laurels. Under this were the arms of De Monts and Poutrincourt, with
their respective mottoes--"_Dabit deus {57} his quoque finem_," and
"_In