Section II, 1887. [ 121 ] Trans. Eoy. Soc. Canada. 



VIII. — Jacques Cartier^s First Voyage. 

 By "W". F. aANONG, A. M. 



(Communicated by Mr. George Stewart, Jun., May 25, 1887.) 



The circumstances attending the first voyage of Jacques Cartier to Canada in 1534, in 

 so far as they relate to its causes, results, and the general course of his explorations, are 

 known to all students of our early history. The bold sailor of St. Malo, acting under the 

 authority and patronage of Francis I, though not the first navigator to enter the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, was the first who has left us any account of his explorations therein. His 

 observations upon the Indian tribes of this region, also, are the earliest that we have. His 

 voyage then, though unsuccessful in the object for which it was undertaken, was fruitful 

 in results for the future geographer and historian. 



In a very general way, Cartier's course can be readily traced from the account he has 

 left us of it, and by the few surviving place-names given by him. This has been 

 done more or less perfectly by every work treating of the history of Eastern Canada. All 

 agree that he entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence by way of the Strait of Belle Isle, coasted 

 to the south along Labrador for a time, crossed to Newfoundland and followed its 

 shore to its most westerly point, visited the Magdalen Islands, the coast of New Brunswick, 

 Bay Chaleurs, Gaspé and Anticosti, and returned to France as he had come, by way of the 

 Strait of Belle Isle. But in the more exact tracing of certain parts of his course, and in 

 regard to the identity of many of the numerous places visited, described, and named by 

 him, there is considerable difference of opinion. Indeed, that portion of his course from 

 the time of leaving Newfoundland until he reached Bay Chaleurs, is hardly interpreted in 

 the same way by any two commentators on the voyage, and no one of them has given any 

 consistent or satisfactory account of it. It becomes, then, a matter of extreme interest as 

 well as of considerable historical importance, to trace his course exactly throughout the 

 entire voyage, and to establish the identity of the places he visited and named. 



Of Cartier's narrative of the voyage we have at least four versions : — 



(1) The first is one in Italian, published by Ram^^sio in 1556. 



(2) This was translated into English by John Florio, and embodied in Hakluyt's 

 " Voyages and Navigations," published in 1600 and reprinted in 1810. 



(3) Another edition in French, almost beyond doubt a translation from Ramusio, 

 appeared in 1598, and was reprinted in 1843, and again in 1865. 



(4) Lastly, there was published at Paris in 186*7, under the title of " Relation originale 

 du voyage de Jacques Cartier au Canada en 1534," an old manuscript recently discovered, 

 which is supposed to be the original narrative written by Cartier's own hand. 



The English translation in Hakluyt, the edition of 1598 and the " Relation 

 originale," have been used in the studies of which the results are given in the following 



Sec. ii, 1887. 16. 



