Travels in North /Imerica. g t 



The firil Source of the ill Fortune of this C( untry, which is 

 The falle No ' -^^^^^^^^^ with, the Name of Ne^-w France^ was 

 je jaje \0' the Report vvhich was at firil fpread throup-h 

 S^da Kingdom, that it had no Mines ; and 



they did not enough confider that the greateil 

 Advantage that can be drawti fronî* a Colony, is the Increafe of 

 Trade : And to accomplifh this, it requires People ; and thefe 

 Peoplings mud be made by Degrees, fo that it will not appear 

 in fuch a Kingdom as France : And that the two only Objeds 

 which prefcnted themfelves lirft in Canada and Acadia^ (I meai'i 

 the Furs and the Fifhery,) required that thefe Countries ihouid 

 be peopled: If they had been fo, they had perhaps givea 

 greater Returns to France^ than Spain has drawn from the richetl: 

 Provinces of the New W orld ; efpecially if they had added 

 Ship-building : But the Luftre of the Gold and Silver which 

 came from Mexico and Peru fo dazled the Eyes of all Europe^ that 

 a Country which did not produce thefe precious Metals, was 

 looked upon as a bad Country. Let us hear upon this Subjeda 

 lenfible Author, who had been in thefe Places. 



*' The common Queitions they make (fays Mark Lef car hot) 

 are thefe : Is there any Gold or Silver ? And no Body afks. 

 Are thefe People inclined to hear the Chrijlian Doârine I 

 And as to the Mines, there are fôme indeed, but they muft be 

 wrought with Indufcry, Labour, and Patience. The £neâ 

 Mine that I know of, is that of Corn and Wine, and the 

 breeding of Cattle. They who have this, have Money ; and 

 we do not live upon Mines. The Sailors who go from alî 

 Parts of Europe to get Fifii at Nenx)fotindland and beyond, eight 

 or nine hundred Leagues diilant from their Country, iind there 

 good Mines, without breaking the Rocks, digging into the 

 Bov/els of the Earth, and living in the Darknefs of Hell. 

 They find, I fay, good Mines at the Bottom of the Waters, 

 and in the Trade of Fur and Skins, of which they make good 

 Money." 



They not only gave Ne-uo France a very bad Nam_e without 

 Mifîakes that ^^^'^wiiig it ; but thofe who thought to get 

 J , fome Profit by it, took no Meafures for this 

 "v^^^ere made at the r» r r»- /x ' r i m- -l 



fir/i Settle?nent ^^^rpofe. firft, they were a long Time be- 

 * fore they fettled upon a Place : They cleared 

 the Land without having firil well examined it : They ibv/ed it, 

 and raifed Buildings upon it ; and then, without knov/ing why, 

 they often abandoned it, and went to fome other Place. Thi$ 

 Inconllancy v/as the great Caufe of our lofmg Acadia, and hin- 

 dering us from making any Thing of it, whilft we were in Pof- 

 feffion of that fine Country.— The Author I have already cited, 

 ^nd who \vas a Wi^nefs of our Want of Refolution, v/as not 



afraid 



