about the
shores of Nova Scotia, were invited by the rocky gateway of the Port
Royal Basin. They entered the small inlet, says Mr. Parkman, when
suddenly the narrow strait dilated into a broad and tranquil basin,
compassed with sunny hills, wrapped with woodland verdure and alive with
waterfalls. Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene, and would fain
remove thither from France with his family. Since Poutrincourt's day,
the hills have been somewhat denuded of trees, and the waterfalls are
not now in sight; at least, not under such a gray sky as we saw.

The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of Acadia
is in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment is the
one thing to be shunned in these days. Yet I cannot but stay, though the
train should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one of the most
heroic of women, whose name recalls the most romantic incident in
the history of this region. Out of this past there rises no figure so
captivating to the imagination as that of Madame de la Tour. And it
is noticeable that woman has a curious habit of coming to the front in
critical moments of history, and performing some exploit that eclipses
in brilliancy all the deeds of contemporary men; and the exploit usually
ends in a pathetic tragedy, that fixes it forever in the sympathy of the
world. I need not copy out of the pages of De Charlevoix the well-known
story of Madame de la Tour; I only wish he had told us more about her.
It is here at Port Royal that we first see her with her husband. Charles
de St. Etienne, the Chevalier de la Tour,--there is a world of romance
in these mere names,--was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port
Royal and of La Hive, from Louis XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli,
the governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for
a residence. He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the
Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at La
Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal. De Charnise was
a Catholic; the difference in religion might not have produced any
unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in dividing the
profits of the peltry trade,--each being covetous, if we may so express
it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to take it off
for himself. At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la Tour moved over
to the St. John, of which region his father had enjoyed a grant from
C