heirs to the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here, witii 

 their dauntless hardihood, put to shame the boldest sons 

 of toil. 



It is a memorable but half -forgotten chapter in the book 

 of human life that can be rightly read only by widely 

 scattered lights. 



W. F. Ganong 



Striking description of the landing of de Monts and 

 Champlain to lag the first foundations of Acadia^ taken 

 from address delivered at the Ter -Centennial Celebra- 

 tion held at St. Croix Island on June 25th, 1904, in 

 ivhich France, England and the United States ivere all 

 officiallg represented. 



Three centuries ago today all the northern part of 

 America was one vast wilderness and all its mighty 

 sweep of forest and plain a solitude, save only where the 

 little groups of Indian lodges clung to the shores of its 

 lonely rivers. 



In the year 1604 over a century had already elapsed 

 since Columbus had found the New World, and since 

 Cabot had explored its northeastern coast for England 

 and marked it for the empire of the Anglo-Saxon. Over 

 three-quarters of a century had passed since Verrazano 

 had explored the same coast for France; and nearly as 

 long since Cartier had carried the fleur-de-lys up the 

 St. Lawrence, laying the foundation for the French do- 

 minion in America. Both nations had thus acquired 

 claims to this continent, but neither had obtained any 

 foothold upon it. Both, indeed, had attempted settle- 

 ment, the English in Newfoundland and Virginia, and 

 the French at Quebec and Tadoussac; but both had 

 failed. Upon the whole continent only the Spaniard had 

 succeeded, for he had planted a small settlement in 

 Florida and others around the Gulf of Mexico; else- 



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