hemselves with
gathering raspberries on the islands; then they spread their sails for
France, and early in October, 1607, anchored in the harbor of St. Malo.

First of Europeans, they had essayed to found an agricultural colony in
the New World. The leaders of the enterprise had acted less as merchants
than as citizens; and the fur-trading monopoly, odious in itself, had
been used as the instrument of a large and generous design. There was a
radical defect, however, in their scheme of settlement. Excepting a
few of the leaders, those engaged in it had not chosen a home in the
wilderness of New France, but were mere hirelings, without wives or
families, and careless of the welfare of the colony. The life which
should have pervaded all the members was confined to the heads alone. In
one respect, however, the enterprise of De Monts was truer in principle
than the Roman Catholic colonization of Canada, on the one hand, or
the Puritan colonization of Massachusetts, on the other, for it did not
attempt to enforce religions exclusion.

Towards the fickle and bloodthirsty race who claimed the lordship of the
forests, these colonists, excepting only in the treacherous slaughter
at Port Fortune, bore themselves in a spirit of kindness contrasting
brightly with the rapacious cruelty of the Spaniards and the harshness
of the English settlers. When the last boat-load left Port Royal,
the shore resounded with lamentation; and nothing could console the
afflicted savages but reiterated promises of a speedy return.

CHAPTER V.

1610, 1611.

THE JESUITS AND THEIR PATRONESS.

Poutrincourt, we have seen, owned Port Royal in virtue of a grant from
De Monts. The ardent and adventurous baron was in evil case, involved
in litigation and low in purse; but nothing could damp his zeal. Acadia
must become a new France, and he, Poutrincourt, must be its father. He
gained from the King a confirmation of his grant, and, to supply the
lack of his own weakened resources, associated with himself one Robin,
a man of family and wealth. This did not save him from a host of delays
and vexations; and it was not until the spring of 1610 that he found
himself in a condition to embark on his new and doubtful venture.

Meanwhile an influence, of sinister omen as he thought, had begun to act
upon his schemes. The Jesuits were strong at court. One of their number,
the famous Father Coton, was confessor to Henry the Fourth, and, on
matters of this w