llar of the Order, with a cup of wine,
and they drank to each other. I have already said that
we had abundance of game, such as ducks, bustards,
grey and white geese, partridges, larks, and other
birds; moreover moose, caribou, beaver, otter, bear,
rabbits, wild-cats, racoons, and other animals such
as the savages caught, whereof we made dishes well
worth those of the cook-shop in the Rue aux Ours, and
far more; for of all our meats none is so tender as
moose-meat (whereof we also made excellent pasties)
and nothing so delicate as beaver's tail. Yea, sometimes
we had half a dozen sturgeon at once, which the savages
brought us, part of which we bought, and allowed them
to sell the remainder publicly and to barter it for
bread, of which our men had abundance. As for the
ordinary rations brought from France, they were
distributed equally to great and small alike; and, as
we have said, the wine was served in like manner.

The results of this regime were most gratifying. The deaths from scurvy
dropped to seven, which represented a great proportionate decrease.
At the same time, intercourse with the Indians was put on a good basis
thereby. 'At these proceedings,' says Lescarbot, 'we always had twenty
or thirty savages--men, women, girls, and children--who looked on at our
manner of service. Bread was given them gratis, as one would do to the
poor. But as for the Sagamos Membertou, and other chiefs who came from
time to time, they sat at table eating and drinking like ourselves. And
we were glad to see them, while, on the contrary, their absence saddened
us.'

These citations bring into view the writer who has most copiously
recorded the early annals of Acadia--Marc Lescarbot. He was a lawyer,
and at this date about forty years old. Having come to Port Royal less
as a colonist than as a guest of Poutrincourt, he had no investment at
stake. But contact with America kindled the enthusiasm of which he had
a large supply, and converted him into the historian of New France.
His story of the winter he passed at Port Royal is quite unlike other
narratives of colonial experience at this period. Champlain was
a geographer and preoccupied with exploration. The Jesuits were
missionaries and preoccupied with the conversion of the savages.
Lescarbot had a literary education, which Champlain lacked, and, unlike
the Jesuits, he approached life in America from the standpoint of
a layman.