VILLEGAGNON'S FAILUKE IN BRAZIL 95 



for tbe mauuers and morals of liis followers. Tlie whip 

 and the pillory requited the least offense. The wild 

 and discordant crew, starved and flogged for a season 

 into submission, conspired at length to rid themselves of 

 him ; but while they debated whether to poison him, 

 blow him up, or mui'der him and his officers in their 

 sleep, three Scotch soldiers, probably Calvinists, revealed 

 the plot, and the vigorous hand of the commandant 

 crushed it in the bud." 



In response to Villegagnon's letters of appeal, Coligny Missionary 

 sent out re-enforcements under Bois-Lecomte, a nephew of 

 Villegagnon. The better part of these fresh recruits 

 were Huguenots, and among them were several young 

 theological students from Geneva, who were full of zeal 

 at their opportunity to carry forward the growth of the 

 Eeformed religion. Equally zealous were the two 

 ministers, Pierre Richer and Gillaume Chartier, the first 

 Protestant clergymen to cross the Atlantic, and who were 

 anxious, as the old chronicler Lescarbot says, ' ' to cause 

 the light of the Gospel to shine forth among those barbar- 

 ous people, godless, lawless, and without religion." This 

 little band of Genevans was headed by the venerable Phil- 

 ippe de Corguilleray, Sieur de Pont, an old neighbour of 

 Coligny, who had left his estates in France to enjoy the 

 religious privileges of Geneva. Several other noblemen 

 joined the expedition, which was notable for its quality. 

 Sailing from France on November 20, 1556, after four 

 months on the "great and impetuous sea," the pilgrims * 

 landed at Fort Coligny. '' The first thing we did," says 

 Jean de Lery, one of the Genevan students, "was to 

 join in thanksgiving to God." 



Ill 

 From Parkman's graphic account we quote the follow- Theological 

 ing : "For a time all was ardour and hope. Men of '®p"^^^ 

 birth and station and the ministers themselves, laboured 

 with pick and shovel to finish the fort. Every day ex- 



