10. In May of 1541, five ships, under command of Cartier, left France, reached the St. Lawrence, and ascended the river to the site of Quebec, where a fort was erected and named Charlesbourg. Here the colonists passed the winter. Cartier soon sailed away with his part of the squadron, and returned to Europe. Roberval was left in New France with three shiploads of criminals who could be restrained only by whipping and hanging. The winter was long and severe, and spring was welcomed for the opportunity which it gave of returning to France. 11. About the middle of the sixteenth century Admiral Coligny, of France, formed the design of establishing in America a refuge for the Huguenots of his own country. In 1562 JOHN RIBAULT, of Dieppe, was selected to lead the Huguenots to the land of promise. In February the colony reached the coast of Florida near the site of St. Augustine. The River St. John's was entered and named the River of May. The vessel then sailed to the entrance of Port Royal; here it was determined to make the settlement. The colonists were landed on an island, and a stone was set up to mark the place. A fort was erected and named CAROLINA. In this fort Ribault left twenty-six men, and then sailed back to France. In the following spring the men in the fort mutinied and killed their leader. Then they built a rude brig and put to sea. They were at last picked up by an English ship and carried to France. [Sidenote: French in Florida.] 12. Two years later another colony was planned, and LAUDONNIERE chosen leader. The character, however, of this second Protestant company was very bad. A point on the River St. John's was selected for the settlement. A fort was built here, but a part of the colonists contrived to get away with two of the ships. The rest of the settlers were on the eve of departure when Ribault arrived with supplies and restored order. It was at this time that Menendez discovered the Huguenots and murdered them. 13. But DOMINIC DE GOURGUES, of Gascony, visited the Spaniards with signal vengeance. This man fitted out three ships, and with only fifty seamen arrived on the coast of Florida. He surprised three Spanish forts on the St. John's, and made prisoners of the inmates. Unable to hold his position, he hanged the leading captives to the trees, and put up this inscription to explain what he had done: "Not as Spaniards, but as murderers." 14. In the year 1598 the MARQUIS OF LA ROCHE was commissioned to found a colony in the New World. The prisons of France were again opened to furnish the emigrants. The vessels reached Sable Island, a dismal place off Nova Scotia, where forty men were left to form a settlement. La Roche returned to France and died, and for seven years the forty criminals languished on Sable Island. Then they were picked up and carried back to France, but were never remanded to prison. [Sidenote: Founding of Port Royal.]