SAILING CRAFT 51 



Roberval's pilot, Saint -Onge, whose log of 

 the voyage up the St Lawrence in 1542 is full 

 of information. He more than half believes 

 in what the Indians tell him about unicorns 

 and other strange beasts in the far interior. 

 And he thinks it likely that there is unbroken 

 land as far as Tartary. But, making due 

 allowance for his means of observation, the 

 claim with which he ends his log holds good 

 regarding pilotage : * All things said above 

 are true.' 



The English then, as afterwards, were always 

 encroaching on the French wherever a seaway 

 gave them an opening. In 1578 they were 

 reported to be lording it off Newfoundland, 

 though they had only fifty vessels there, as 

 against thirty Basque, fifty Portuguese, a 

 hundred Spanish, and a hundred and fifty 

 French. Their numbers and influence in- 

 creased year by year, till, in 1600, they had two 

 hundred sail manned by eight thousand men. 

 They were still more preponderant farther north 

 and farther south. Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, 

 and other Englishmen left their mark on what 

 are now Arctic and sub- Arctic Canada. Hudson 

 also sailed up the river that bears his name, 

 and thus did his share towards founding the 

 English colonies that soon began their ceaseless 



