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most nations of Europe were once arrayed in deadly- 

 strife, to decide the fate of empire in the new world. 



As far back as 1535, its green banks offered a refuge 

 and winter-quarters to Europeans : the city must ever 

 awaken the deepest interest in the eyes of every student 

 of history. " Viewed from any one of its approaches, it 

 impresses the stranger with the conviction of strength 

 and permanency. The reader of American history, on 

 entering its gates or wandering over its squares, its 

 ramparts and battle-fields, puts himself at once in com- 

 munion with the illustrious dead. The achievements 

 of daring mariners, the labors of self-sacrificing mis- 

 sionaries of the Cross, and the conflict of military heroes 

 who bled and died in the assault and defence of its 

 walls, are here re-read with tenfold interest. There, 

 the lover of nature, in her grandest and most rugged 

 forms, as in her gentle and smiling moods, will find 

 around it an affluence of sublime and beautiful subjects." 



The wintering of the venturesome Jacques Cartier on 

 the shore of the St. Charles, in 1535-6, by its remote- 

 ness is an incident of interest, not only to Canadians, 

 but also to every denizen of America. It takes one back 

 to an era nearly coeval with the discovery of the conti- 

 nent by Columbus — much anterior to the foundation of 

 Jamestown, in 1607 — anterior to that of St. Augustine, 

 in Florida. 



Lengthy discussion has taken place as to the origin 

 of the names Canada and Quebec. Some assert that 

 Kannata, the Iroquois word, signifying " a village " or 

 " collection of huts ", was given indiscriminately to the 

 whole of this vast region, by the early navigators ; and 

 that Quebec owes its name to the exclamation of the 

 Norman sailors " Quel bee " ! " What a promontory " ! 

 whilst others with good reason think it was derived 

 from a word in the Algonquin language signifying " a 

 straight ". 



A faciful derivation is that attributed to the Spanish 

 word a-ca-nada. Nothing here, uttered by some 



