96 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Only twelve of them were found alive, and when they returned, His 
Majesty had the curiosity to see them in their seal skin dresses and 
long beards. Their appearance was so squalid and distressing, that he 
ordered them a general pardon for their offences, and gave to each of 
the survivors a gratuity of fifty crowns.” 22 
“The early attempts to establish Colonies upon these shores 
were unsuccessful and even calamitous, yet the value of the fur trade, 
the nature of the soil and the hope that always prevails of finding 
riches in unexplored regions, excited the Huguenots and other Eu- 
ropean merchants with the same spirit of foreign enterprise.” 1° 
In 1603, Pontgravé, a French merchant in whose company was 
the famous Samuel Champlain, sailed up the River St. Lawrence as far 
as the Island of Montreal. 
The same year King Henry the Fourth granted to Pierre de Gua, 
Seigneur de Monts, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber, a patent of the 
whole territory from 40° north latitude to 46° north latitude, with 
power to colonize and rule it, and to subdue its native inhabitants and 
convert them to Christianity. The expedition sailed from Havre 
de Grace in 1604, accompanied by Champlain and Jean de Bien- 
court, Baron de Poutrincourt, and having safely arrived “Pierre de Gua, 
Seigneur de Monts, prit possession de la prouince de Cadie ou Acadie 
pour le Roy de France l’an 1604.” 1 
During the ensuing exploration of the coast, the adventurers dis- 
covered and named La Baye Francoise, now called the Bay of Fundy, 
“They also discovered the narrow channel called Digby Gut. After 
passing through this channel, they were delighted with the beautiful 
basin into which it opened, it being surrounded with fine scenery, and 
hills that poured down streams of fresh water into the level lands of 
the shore. Poutrincourt was so much pleased with the extremity of 
the basin and the river flowing into it, that he chose the land at their 
junction for his residence and having obtained a grant of it from 
De Monts, called it Port Royal.” This lovely spot with “its grassy 
meadows, its numerous streams, its cascades tumbling from the hills, 
its forest-clad mountains,’ 1% was not destined, however, to become 
the domain of French Seigneurs, but of Scottish Baronets; for here, 
ere many years were passed, arose the fortress of the Baronets of Nova 
Scotia, around which grew their old town, the name of which, long 
after their enterprise in the Royal Province had ceased, was changed 
from Port Royal to Annapolis Royal, in honour of Queen Anne. 
In 1607, Sir John Gilbert, the brother of Sir Humphrey, following 
in the footsteps of his gallant brother, fitted out a fleet, and having 
arrived at the mouth of the River Kenebec, wintered on a small island, 
