426 



of that capital may be appropriately intro- 

 duced. Some notice has been taken already of 

 its situation and convenience as a sea-port, in 

 the observations that have been made upon 

 the River St. Lawrence ; but it will perhaps be 

 excused, should the same points be again ad- 

 verted to in giving a detailed description of the 

 city, &c. From the time that Cartier visited 

 Canada, up to the period that the concerns of 

 the colony came under the superintendance of 

 Champlain, (about seventy years), the French 

 settlers and adventurers were dispersed over 

 various parts of the sea-coast, or islands in the 

 Gulf of St. LaAvrence, as each, or a few toge- 

 ther, discovered convenient places to fix their 

 habitations in ; during that time none of them 

 had attempted to settle on or near the Great 

 River. The selection of a situation and build- 

 ing a town, wherein the benefits and habits of 

 social life might be enjoyed, and from whence 

 the management of the trading intercourse 

 with the natives, and the government of the 

 colony, could be more advantageously carried 

 on than what they hitherto had been, was 

 reserved for Samuel de Champlain, Geogra- 

 pher to the King : acting under a commission 

 from the Sieur de Monts, (who a little while 

 before had obtained from the court of France 

 the exclusive privilege of trading between Cape 



