348 7 ^^ Discoveries Settlements Book I. 
SECTION XXII. 
A fuccinB Hijlory of the D i s covERiES, Settlements, Conquests, made hy 
the F R E N c H tn America \ a View of their Policy^ Numbers^ Commerce^ and 
Strength^ in that Part of the W orld ; and fome ConjeBures as to the Event of their 
Pefigns ; extraSied chiefly from their own Authors, 
T. An mtroduSiory Account of the Jirfi Voyages made^ or [aid to be made, by the French to America, with 
a more particular Detail of that of ]ohnYQV2iZZ2ino, or Verazani, under the Reign of 2. 
fhe V oyage of James Cartier of St. Malo’s, who difcovered Canada ; and a curious Account of the Etymo- 
logy oj that Word. 3. ^he firfi Efabli foment of the French on the Banks of the River of St. Laurence; 
the building bj the Down of C^bec, and the Difficulties found in fixing a Colony in thofe Parts. A 
Defcription of the Savages, Natives of Canada, their Cufioms, Manners, Superfitions, and enthufajiic 
Fondnefs for their own Way of Life. 5. A concife Account of the Illinois, by Mr. Joutel ; and a larger Re- 
lation off the Cufioms and Manners of the fame Nation, by Father Marquette. 6. A more particular De- 
fcription off the Colony of Canada, or New France, the City ^Quebec, and other Places therein, with an 
Account of the French Commerce with the Indians, and their Force in thofe Paints, j. Fbe prefent State 
off that Colony, its Strength, Produce, Shipping, and Importance to France ff'airly reprefented. 8. Fhe 
Confequence off Acadia, Placentia, and Me Royal to France, in refpeSl to their Fifioery, &c. fet in its 
true Light. 9. Fhe ffirffl Expeditions of the French to the Weft Indies, their Views, and the Confequences of 
thofe Expeditions in relation to Commerce. 10. Fhe Settlements made by that Nation in the Leeward Mands; 
the Situation, Extent, Produce, Strength and Importance of thofe Ifflands. 1 1 . Fheir Trade with our 
Northern Colonies, their own. direSlly to France, and the Value off' the Sugars they export, with other 
Particulars. 12. A brief Relation off' the firfi fettling of the SubjeSis of France on the Iffland i^Hifpa- 
niola, or St. Domingo ; the amazing Progrefs of their Colony there ; a true Reprefentation off its prefent 
Condition and vaji Importance. 13. A fieort Account off' the various Attempts of the French, tofeize 
Part of the Southern Coaffls of Florida ; their repeated Difappointments ; and new Projelf of finding the 
Courfe and Mouth ofi the great River ^Mifliftippi. 14. The Confequences of thefe Inquiries ; the making 
this Afi'a'ir a Bubble ; the Refolution of fettling Louvifiana owing to that Bubble ; the Nature off that Set- 
tlement, and what may be probably expelled from it in Time, both as to the Benefit and Difadvantage of the 
French Trade. 15. A ff'air ProfpeB of the prefent Situation of //60 French Colonies, Affairs and Com- 
merce throughout all America, with fome Jhort Obfervations and Remarks, in order to fet the SubjeSi of ' 
this Sedhon in the clear efi andjufiefi Light poffjible, 
I. H E national Vanity of the French is in nothing 
more vifible, than in the Accounts that fome of 
their Authors have given us of their Settlements in Ame- 
rica. William P ofi el has had the Affurance to aflert, 
that the French were not only the firft Difcoverers of Ame- 
rica, but that the ancient Gauls carried on the Fifhery on 
the Banks of Newfoundland, before the coming of Jefus 
Chrifi ; but, that finding thofe Countries without Corn, 
without Cities, and but very thinly inhabited, they def- 
pifed and neglefted thefe Difcoveries ; which Dream of 
his is as ridiculous and abfurd, as it is groundlefs and 
without Foundation. We have fome Accounts of French- 
men who vifited North America at the Clofe of the fif- 
teenth, and the Beginning of the fixteenth, Century ; but 
the Relations we have are very uncertain, and at moft 
prove no more than this, that fome French Seamen and 
Pilots that had been employed in the Newfoundland Fifhe- 
ry, had fome Knowledge of the adjacent Continent, 
which is not a thing of very great Confequence. 
At length, in 1523, Francis the Iff, one of the wifeft 
and greateft Monarchs the French ever had, began to 
think of making Eftablifliments on the Coaft of Ameri- 
ca and with this View he fitted out John Verazzano, a 
Florentine, who had, under his Command, only one 
Ship, with fifty Men on board, and Provifions for eight 
Months ; he returned to Dieppe in July 1524 ; but we 
know nothing of his Difcoveries at that Time. He fail- 
ed, towards the latter end of the fucceeding Year, on the 
fame Defign, and arrived on the Coaft of North Ame- 
rica, and it is not very clear upon what Part of that Coaft 
he arrived. He feems to have been a timorous Navi- 
gator ; for he did not care to venture himfelf within any 
of the Bays or Ports that he faw before him ; but want- 
ing Water, and lying in a Road very near the Shore, he 
perfuaded one of his Seamen to fwim thither ; and by the 
Help of Prefents, with which he furnifhed him, procure 
what they flood in need of from the Natives, who came 
down in Crouds upon the Strand, to gaze upon the 
Ship. The poor Fellow, when he got on Shore, and 
came to have a nearer View of the Savages, was fo > 
excelTively amazed at their uncouth Appearance, that ; 
throwing his Prefents down upon the Ground, he ran as ; 
fall as he could to throw himfelf again into the Sea, that ; 
without lofs of Time he might recover his Ship. But 
the Waves difappointing his Defign, threw him back 
upon the Shore, with fuch Force, that he lay breathlefs ; 
upon the Sands, and had, in all probability, been r 
drowned, if the Savages had not haftened to his Relief; r 
they took him up, carried him in their Arms to a Place : 
at fome Diftance, and took ail the Pains they could to ) 
bring him to himfelf. 
But when he recovered his Senfes a little, and faw there ^ 
were none but Savages about him, he fet up fuch a Cry, , 
as made the Woods ring ; and the poor Indians, hoping 
to quiet him, cried as loud or louder than he, which ter- 
rifled hipi ftill more. At laft they began to make a great c 
Fire, before which they undreffed him, admiring greatly /l 
the Whitenefs of his Skin, and the Hair on feveral Parts s 
of his Body ; the Seaman taking it for granted, that t 
they were going to eat him, or burn him, trembled ex- - 
ceffively, and thofe on board the Ship were alfo very f 
much frightened, for they faw every thing that was done, , 
and expedled every Moment when he fhould have been 1 
facririced ; by degrees, however, they were all fatisfied I 
that the Savages meant him no manner of Harm ; for i 
after drying his Cloaths, they fuffered him to put them n 
on again, and having given him fomething to eat, con- 
dufted him, at his Requeft, to the Sea-fide, and, retiring 3 
to fome Diftance, looked on till he fwam fafely aboard c 
the Ship, and then quietly departed ; as for Verazzano, r. 
he returned home to France, reported nothing but this i; 
Story, and that it happened in the Latitude of fifty De- ’1 
grees. This very plainly fhews, that neither he nor his i: 
People were of a Difpofition fit for the Talk they had c 
undertaken . 
However, they engaged the next Year in a third Voyage, t 
, - 2 biitii 
