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 {55} 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. His prolixity often serves as a foil to the
terseness of Champlain, and suggests that he must have been a merciless
talker. Yet, though inclined to be garrulous, he was a good observer
and had many correct ideas--notably the belief that corn, wine, and
cattle are a better foundation for a colony than gold or silver mines.
In temperament he and Champlain were very dissimilar, and evidence of
mutual coolness may be found in their writings. These we shall
consider at a {56} later stage. For the present it is enough to note
that both men sat at Poutrincourt's table and adorned the Order of Good
Cheer.

Meanwhile De Monts was in France, striving with all the foes of the
monopoly. Thanks to the fur trade, his company had paid its way during
the first two years, despite the losses at St Croix. The third season
had been much less prosperous, and at the same moment when the Dutch
and the Basques[3] were breaking the monopoly by defiance, the hatters
of Paris were demanding that it should be withdrawn altogether. To
this alliance of a powerful guild with a majority of the traders, the
company of De