main route
that led to the heart of the interior. Port Royal, on the Bay of
Fundy, was one centre and Quebec another. Between them stretched
either an impenetrable wilderness or an inland sea. Hence Acadia
remained separate from the Laurentian {23} valley, which was the heart
of Canada--although Acadia and Canada combined to form New France. Of
these two sister districts Canada was the more secure. The fate of
Acadia shows how much less vulnerable to English attack were Quebec,
Three Rivers, and Montreal than the seaboard settlements of Port Royal,
Grand Pre, and Louisbourg.

It is a striking fact that Champlain had helped to found Port Royal
before he founded Quebec. He was not the pioneer of Acadian
colonization: De Monts deserves the praise of turning the first sod.
But Champlain was a leading figure in the hard fight at St Croix and
Port Royal; he it was who first charted in any detail the Atlantic
seaboard from Cape Breton to Cape Cod; and his narrative joins with
that of Lescarbot to preserve the story of the episode.

Although unprosperous, the first attempt of the French to colonize
Acadia is among the bright deeds of their colonial history. While the
death of De Chastes was most inopportune, the future of the French race
in America did not hinge upon any one man. In 1603 fishing on the
Grand Bank off Newfoundland was a well-established occupation of
Normans and Bretons, the fur trade held out hope of great {24} profit,
and the spirit of national emulation supplied a motive which was
stronger still. Hence it is not surprising that to De Chastes there at
once succeeds De Monts.

As regards position they belonged to much the same class. Both were
men of standing, with enough capital and influence to organize an
expedition. In respect, however, of personality and circumstance there
were differences. By reason of advanced age De Chastes had been unable
to accompany his ships, whereas De Monts was in his prime and had
already made a voyage to the St Lawrence. Moreover, De Monts was a
Huguenot. A generation later no Huguenot could have expected to
receive a monopoly of the fur trade and a royal commission authorizing
him to establish settlements, but Henry IV, who had once been a
Protestant, could hardly treat his old co-religionists as Richelieu
afterwards treated them. The heresy of its founder was a source of
weakness to the first French colony in Acadia, yet through a Calvinist
it came into bein