and while sailing in a westerly direction, not dreaming that they should meet with any obstruction to their voyage, until they approached the coast of China, they were surprised on the morning of June 24, by the sight of land. The place was named Prima Vista, and it is generally supposed to be the part of the island of Newfoundland now called Bonavista. Others, however, suppose that the first discovery was made on some part of the peninsula of Nova Scotia. From the point first discovered, Cabot coasted along a great distance, both north and south, and being disappointed in the object of his voyage, returned to England. By virtue of this discovery, the whole country from Labrador to Florida was claimed as a possession of the crown of England, though the English for a long time neglected to avail themselves of the advantage of the discovery.

In the year 1524, John Verrazani, a Florentine in the service of France, discovered the continent in latitude thirty four degrees north, and sailed northwardly along the coast, as far as Newfoundland, and called the whole country New France. Ten years afterwards, James Cartier was commissioned by the king of France to explore the country, with a view to find a place for a colony. He arrived first at Bonavista, and after sailing northwardly along the coast of Newfoundland, entered the Gulf of St Lawrence by the strait of Bellisle. Having visited several harbors, which he found cold and inhospitable, he passed over to the southwesterly side of the gulf, and discovered a bay, which from its contrast with those he had previously visited, he named Baye de Chaleur. After taking possession of the country in the name of the king of France, he proceeded northwardly and discovered the mouth of the river St Lawrence. He made another voyage the next year, 1535, ascended the river as far as Montreal, and wintered at a place to which he gave the name of St Croix, near Quebec. In 1540 and 1541, the river was again visited by Cartier and Roberval, but no permanent colony was founded until many years after. In the mean time the fishery on the banks of Newfoundland was diligently prosecuted by the English, French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, and the coasts and islands of Nova Scotia and New England were occasionally visited by those fishing vessels. It is not generally known to what extent this fishery was carried on long be

fore the first settlements were made on the Atlantic coast. As early as 1578 the state of it is thus described.

There are about one hundred sail of Spaniards, who come to take cod; who make it all wet, and dry it when they come home; besides twenty or thirty more, who come from Biscay to kill whales for train. These are better appointed for shipping and furniture of munition than any other nation save the English, who commonly are lords of the harbors. As touching their tonnage, I think it may be near five or six thousand. Of Portugals there are not above 'fifty sail, whose tonnage may amount to five thousand, and they make all wet. Of the French nation are about one hundred and fifty sail; the most of their shipping is very small, not past forty tons; among which some are great, and reasonably well appointed; better than the Portugals, and not so well as the Spaniards; the burden of them may be about seven thousand. The English vessels have increased in four years from thirty to fifty sail. The trade which our nation hath to Iceland, maketh that the English are not there in such numbers as other nations.' Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 132.

It was not until the year 1604, that any permanent settlement was made on this part of the continent of America. In the year preceding, king Henry Third, of France, granted to the Sieur De Monts, a patent constituting him lieutenant general of the territory of Acadia, from the fortieth to the forty sixth degree of north latitude, with power to subdue the inhabitants, and convert them to the Christian faith. De Monts sailed in March with two vessels for his new government, taking with him as a pilot Samuel Champlain, who had the preceding year visited the St Lawrence, and who afterwards became the founder of the colony of Canada. He was also accompanied by Mr Poutrincourt, who had long been desirous of visiting America. They arrived on the 6th of May at a harbor on the southeastern side of the Peninsula of Acadia, now Liverpool, where they found one of their countrymen, named Rossignol, trading without a license with the Indians. They seized his ship and cargo, thus obtaining a seasonable supply of provisions, without which they must have abandoned the expedition, and left him only the poor consolation of giving his name to the harbor where he was taken. They coasted along the southern and western shore of the peninsula, entering the Bay of Fundy, until they came to the mouth of Annapolis river. Poutrincourt was so charmed with

the beauty of this place, that he resolved to establish his residence there, and having obtained a grant of it, he gave it the name of Port Royal. De Monts proceeded to make a farther examination of the bay. On coming to the river to which he gave the name of St John, he ascended it a distance of fifty miles. Cruising farther along the western shore, he came to an island in the middle of a river, where he resolved to pass the winter and build a fort, to which he gave the name of St Croix.

At a subsequent period it became a matter of great importance to identify this island, and although it is very particularly described both by Lescarbot and Champlain, in their histories of the voyages of De Monts, it was found very difficult to determine it with certainty. The descriptions, however, were sufficient to indicate Bone Island, in the Schoodick river, as the probable seat of this encampment, and the discovery of bricks, iron spikes, and other articles, buried beneath the soil, confirmed the supposition, and led to the establishment of the boundary line of the United States upon that river, as the true St Croix.

After passing an inclement winter at St Croix, De Monts, in the spring of 1605, removed the colony to Port Royal, where houses were erected, and measures were taken for cultivating the soil, and obtaining the means of subsistence. The following year vines, wheat, and garden vegetables were planted. This was the first permanent European settlement in America north of Florida. The first permanent settlement in Virginia was made two years after, and the first in Canada a year later. In the year 1613, at a time of peace between France and England, Captain Argall came with a hostile force, and pillaged and destroyed the place, and carried off to Virginia the greater part of the inhabitants. The rest dispersed themselves in the woods and took refuge among the savages, or escaped to the St Lawrence, and joined Champlain at Quebec. Argall also destroyed the buildings, which De Monts had left standing at St Croix. The date of this exploit is erroneously given in the work before us as in 1618. In 1614, Poutrincourt, who had been in France, returned to Port Royal, where he found a remnant of his colony still remaining. In 1621 king James the First of England, made a grant of this country, extending from the river

St Croix to the St Lawrence, under the name of Nova Scotia, to Sir William Alexander. No settlement was ever made under this grant, though an expedition was fitted out for the purpose, which only reached Newfoundland the first season, and after arriving on the coast of Nova Scotia the following spring, soon gave up the design, and returned to England.

We do not propose to go into a detailed history of this colony, but we will enumerate some of the vicissitudes of fortune to which it was subjected. Its weakness, and its vicinity to the more powerful English colonies, exposed it to a hostile visit at every successive war, in which the mother countries were engaged. In 1628 Port Royal was captured by an English squadron, as Quebec was in the year following, but by the treaty of St Germain, in 1632, both Canada and Acadia were restored to France. Before this date the French had made other settlements in Nova Scotia, and soon after they established themselves upon the St Croix and the Penobscot, then called Pentagoet. These last settlements were considered by the people of Massachusetts as an encroachment upon their territory. When, therefore, in 1654, a squadron was sent by Oliver Cromwell to Boston, for the purpose of aiding in an expedition against the Dutch at New York, but which, in consequence of a long passage, did not arrive until after the news of peace, it was concluded to direct the force, which had been destined for the Manhadoes, against these intruders, although the English and French governments were not at open war with each other. Their visit was probably unexpected, and they took possession, with little resistance, of Pentagoet, St John's, Port Royal, and three other posts in Nova Scotia. On the following year a treaty of commerce was entered into between the two countries, and the English government putting in a claim to Acadia, the question was referred to commissioners. It remained in the mean time in possession of the English. By the treaty of Breda, in 1667, Acadia was retroceded to France, but when orders were given to the English commander to evacuate the country, he declined at first executing the order, on the ground that only Port Sable and La Heve, were within the limits of Acadia, and that Pentagoet, St John, and Port Royal belonged to Massachusetts. These places were, however, given up to the French in 1670, but in 1674 and 1680, Pentagoet

and St John were captured by expeditions fitted out from Boston; but they were again, in pursuance of orders from England, given up to the French.

In 1689 war broke out again, and in the following spring an armament of eight vessels, with seven hundred men, under the command of Sir William Phipps, was fitted out from Boston, by order of the Massachusetts General Court, which took possession of Port Royal, and the other French posts in Acadia; but at the peace of Ryswick in 1697, they were again restored, to the great dissatisfaction of the people of New England. In 1702 hostilities were again declared against France. During the whole of the bloody war, which for the ten succeeding years agitated Europe, the colonies of New England were involved in a disastrous conflict with the French of Nova Scotia and Canada, and their allies the Indians. These colonies made great efforts to reduce both of the French settlements. An expedition fitted out from Boston in 1707 against Port Royal was unsuccessful, but a more formidable armament was raised three years afterwards for the same object, which was more fortunate. After a short siege the Governor of Port Royal surrendered by capitulation, and the place was from that time called Annapolis Royal. By the treaty of Utrecht, which terminated this war in 1713, Nova Scotia, otherwise called Acadia, according to its ancient limits, was ceded to England. The island of Cape Breton, and the other islands situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence were not ceded, but were expressly reserved to France. Louisburgh, the capital of Cape Breton, became an important military post for the security of the French American possessions, and it was consequently fortified with great expense, and protected by a considerable garrison. In the winter of 1745, France and England being then at war, the colony of Massachusetts, with some aid from the other New England colonies, fitted out an armament of four thousand men, for the reduction of this place, which, with the fortunate cooperation of several British ships of war, succeeded in compelling the surrender of the place, after a siege of forty nine days. The success of this bold enterprise exasperated the French, and they made the following year an effort to retake it, and to recover Nova Scotia, but failed of their object. By the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, however, the island of Cape