BACKGROUND OF EARLY COLONIZATION 29 



land at this time. One old French fisherman, Scavelet, 

 is credited with forty voyages to these grounds previous 

 to 1609. 1 



De Monts, in 1604, came to take possession of Acadia 

 which had been granted to him by the king, Henry IV, 

 of France, together with a monopoly of that region. The 

 first attempt at settlement was made at the mouth of the 

 Saint Croix River. A more attractive place across the bay 

 led them to settle Port Royal, afterwards called Annapolis. 

 While the colonists were building a storehouse and forts, 

 one of their number, Champlain, was engaged in exploring 

 and delineating the New England coast. Two summers 

 were spent in this manner, the explorers getting a good 

 knowledge of the harbors and shore-line as far as Hyannis 

 on the southern coast of Cape Cod. No harbor was found 

 with advantages that were preferable to those of Port 

 Royal, and the colony, after undergoing great trials and 

 hardships, became a permanent station on the American 

 coast. 



In a few years the French pushed still farther west. 

 Under the Jesuits a station was founded by Fathers Biard 

 and Masse at a place called Saint Saviour on Mount Desert 

 Island, where they were soon joined by Father Du Thet. 

 The settlement was short-lived. With a commission from 

 the governor of Virginia, Sir Samuel Argall, who was fish- 

 ing in the vicinity, unexpectedly fell upon the French, 

 scattered the people and destroyed the settlement. A little 

 later another Jesuit settlement made by La Saussaye on 

 the western shore of Somes Sound, in the same locality, 

 met with a similar fate. This was the beginning of the 

 active hostility between the English and French in America. 

 Numerous quarrels between the fishermen of these two 

 nations had already taken place on these shores. After the 

 French had pillaged one of the English ships, the crews 



i Sabine, p. 8. 



