8 RKV. GKORGE PATTKIJSON 



AVlu'tluT the Fi\'iu-h liail [)laced cattle upDii it so early as alleyvd, it is i-ertaiu, however, 

 that this was done a little later by the Portuguese. Not only does Champlain mention the 

 fact, hut we find the same asserted by the historian of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's expedition. 

 That intrepid mariner sailed from Newfoundland in 1583 for the American coast, intending, 

 after making Cape Breton, to go to Sable island, as the writer says, " upon intelligence we 

 had of a Portugal who was himself present when the Portugais, above thirty years past," 

 consequently before 1553, "did put into the same island neat and swine to breed, which 

 were since exceedingly multiplied." Charlevoix, indeed, says that the cattle and sheep had 

 escaped from some Spanish vessels wliich had sailed to settle Cape Breton, l)ut which had 

 l)een wrecked on the island. It seems evident that the good father was mistaken as to the 

 nationality of these vessels. History gives us no record of the Spaniards attempting settle- 

 ment so for north, but it is known that the Portuguese did attempt a settlement in Cape 

 Breton as described. As the latter had for some time Ijeen subject to the former, he might 

 easily have confounded the two. 



The island and the cattle upon it next come into notice by the expedition of Troihas du 

 Mesgouez, Marquis de la Roche. He was a Catholic noljleman of Brittany, who had from 

 his youth been connected with the French court. He agreed with the king to found a 

 colony in America, and for that purpose received from him a commission in which he was 

 named lieutenant-general of Canada, Hochelaga, Newfoundland, Labrador, and the countries 

 adjacent, with sovereign power over this vast domain. This commission was first issued in 

 1578, but not having been acted on, it was renewed in 1598. 



In that year' he set out with one small vessel, under Chefd'hôtel, a distinguished 

 Norman j)ilot, and having on board fifty or sixty convicts. He reached Sable island and 

 landed them there. Leaving a small supply of provisions and goods, he sailed away to 

 explore the neighbouring coast of Acadia, and to select a site for settlement to which he 

 proposed afterward to remove them. On his return he was caught by a tempest, which 

 drove him eastward. His frail bark was obliged to run l)efore the storm, and at last he 

 reached France, intending soon to return. But misfortune attended him. The Due de 

 Moncœur is said to have cast him into prison. At all events five years elapsed before any- 

 thina: could be done for the relief of the unfortunate creatures he had left behind. 



In the meantime they had formed a shelter for themselves from the timber of wrecks, 

 had killed seals and the cattle which they found upon the island, using their skins for 

 clothing and their flesh for food, modifying their animal diet with berries, which were 

 abundant. Their miseries did not subdue their passions. Quarrels broke out among them, 

 which led to fatal aftrays. 



At length, in 1603, Chefd'hôtel was despatched to bring them home. He arrived at 

 the island on the 20th September, but found only eleven survivors. They were brought 

 back to France, and were presented to the king, clothed from head to foot in shaggy skins, 

 and their hair of prodigious length. They had accumulated a ipnintity of valuable furs, 

 which, with a bounty from the king, enabled them to engage on their own account in 

 Canadian trade.' 



' Paul de Cazes (' Transactions of Royal Society of Canada,' vol. ii., and again vol. x., sec. i., p. 7) has endea- 

 voured to place this expedition in 1588. His main reason for this is that Moncdur, having made peace with the 

 king in 1598, could not after that date have imprisoned La Roche. But the documents quoted by Parkman 

 (" Pioneers," page 234) seem to leave no doubt that it took place in that year. 



- There were till recently, and probably are yet, grounds inclosed by an embankment of sods, lino\\n as the 



