222 
CAPE COD. 
Ortelius (“Theatrum Orbis Terrarum” Antwerp, 1570), 
and the “ R. Grande ” is drawn where the Penobscot or 
St. John might be. 
In 1604, Champlain being sent by the Sieur de 
Monts to explore the coast of Norumbegue, sailed up 
the Penobscot twenty-two or twenty-three leagues from 
“Isle Haute/’ or till he was stopped by the falls. He 
says : “ I think that this river is that which many pilots 
and historians call Norembegue, and which the greater 
part have described as great and spacious, with numer¬ 
ous islands ; and its entrance in the forty-third or forty- 
third and one half, or, according to others, the forty-fourth 
degree of latitude, more or less.” He is convinced that 
“ the greater part ” of those who speak of a great city 
there have never seen it, but repeat a mere rumor, but he 
thinks that some have seen the mouth of the river since 
it answers to their description. 
Under date of 1607 Champlain writes : Three or 
four leagues north of the Cap de Poitrincourt [near the 
head of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia] we found a 
cross, which was very old, covered 'vith moss and almost 
all decayed, which was an evident sign that there had 
formerly been Christians there.” 
Also the following p^<$sage from Lescarbot will show 
how much the neighboring coasts were frequented by 
Europeans in the sixteenth century. Speaking of his re¬ 
turn from Port Royal to France in 1607, he says : “At 
last, within four leagues of Campseau [the Gut of Canso], 
we arrived at a harbor [in Nova Scotia], where a worthy 
old gentleman from St. John de Lus, named Captain 
Savale, was fishing, who received us with the utmost 
courtesy. And as this harbor, which is small, but very 
good, has no name, I have given it on my geographical 
