iscoveries were the foundation of her claims in North
America, and who first described the natives of that vast territory
which she called New France.

Another intending settler of those days was the Sieur de Roberval.
Undismayed by Cartier's ill-success, he sailed up the St. Lawrence and
cast anchor before Cap Rouge, the place which Cartier had fortified and
abandoned. Soon the party were housed in a great structure which
contained accommodations for all under one roof, so that it was planned
on the lines of a true colony, for it included women and children. But
few have ever had a more miserable experience. By some strange lack of
foresight, there was a very scant supply of food, and with the winter
came famine. Disease inevitably followed, so that before spring {64}
one-third of the colony had died. We may think that Nature was hard,
but she was mild and gentle, in comparison with Roberval. He kept one
man in irons for a trifling offence. Another he shot for a petty
theft. To quarreling men and women he gave a taste of the
whipping-post. It has even been said that he hanged six soldiers in
one day.

Just what was the fate of this wretched little band has not been
recorded. We only know that it did not survive long. With its failure
closes the first chapter of the story of French activity on American
soil. Fifty years had passed since Columbus had made his great
discovery, and as yet no foothold had been gained by France anywhere,
nor indeed by any European power on the Atlantic seaboard of the
continent.

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Chapter VI

JEAN RIBAUT

THE FRENCH AT PORT ROYAL, IN SOUTH CAROLINA

The Expedition of Captain Jean Ribaut.--Landing on the St. John's
River.--Friendly Natives.--The "Seven Cities of Cibola" again!--The
Coast of Georgia.--Port Royal reached and named.--A Fort built and a
Garrison left.--Discontent and Return to France.

No doubt the severe winters of Canada determined Admiral Coligny, the
leader of the Huguenots, or French Protestants, to plant the settlement
which he designed as a haven of refuge from persecution, in the
southern part of the New World.

Accordingly, on the first day of May, 1562, two little vessels under
the command of Captain Jean Ribaut found themselves off the mouth of a
great river which, because of the date, they called the River of May,
now known as the St. John's.

{68}

When they landed, it seemed to the sea-worn Frenchmen as if they had
set foot