The results of Carrier’s visits disappointed France. A country which lies buried under deep snow for half the year had no attractions for men accustomed to the short and ordinarily mild winters of France. The King expected gold and silver mines and precious stones; but Cartier brought home only a few savages and his own diminished and diseased band of followers. There were some, however, to whom the lucrative trade in furs was an object of desire; there were others, in that season of high-wrought religious zeal, who were powerfully moved to bear the Cross among the heathens of the West. Under the influence of these motives, feeble efforts at colonization were from time to time made. The fishermen of Normandy and Brittany resorted to the shores of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and plied their calling there with success such as had not rewarded their efforts in European waters. The persecuted Calvinists sought to give effect to a proposal made by Admiral Coligny, and find rest from the malignity of their enemies among the forests of Canada. But the French have little aptitude for colonizing. Down far beyond the close of the century France had failed to establish any permanent footing on the American continent. A few mean huts at Quebec, at Montreal, and at two or three other points, were all that remained to represent the efforts and the sufferings of nearly a hundred years. There is evidence that in the year 1629 “a single vessel” was expected to take on board “all the French” in Canada; and the vessels of those days were not large. CHAPTER II. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN. The fierce strifes which raged between Catholic and Protestant during the latter half of the sixteenth century engrossed the mind of France to the exclusion of all that concerned her remote and discouraging possession. But while the strong hand of Henry IV. held the reins of government, these strifes were calmed. The hatred remained, ready to break forth when circumstances allowed; but meantime the authority of the King imposed salutary restraint upon the combatants, and the country had rest. During this exceptional quiet the project of founding a New France on the gulf and river of St. Lawrence again received attention.