Having given some idea of the thirteen States and their condition in and about the year 1756, let us turn to France and her possessions in North America. And perhaps it will be of interest to go as fully into this part as into that concerning our own colony. Let the reader run his finger from the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland along the northern shore of the St. Lawrence, and he will pass over the route which the gallant Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo, followed in the years 1535-36, when on a voyage commissioned by Francis I. This bold sailor was the first known European to ascend the mighty St. Lawrence river, a river which is of huge proportions, and which is fed by the most gigantic reservoirs. Look at the five huge lakes, Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, which cover a space larger than that covered by the whole of Great Britain, and consider that these five drain steadily into this St. Lawrence river, and you will perhaps have some idea of the vastness of this gigantic waterway. This Jacques Cartier cast anchor off the Isle of Orleans, which he named the Isle of Bacchus, for it was well covered with vines, and lay near the river St. Croix, within sight of the position where the city of Quebec now stands. He met with a friendly reception from the natives, and afterwards sailed up the river to Montreal, where an Indian town was then situated. Having done more than any other white man was known to have done, he erected a cross at St. Croix, claimed the land for his master and for France, and duly returned home, having completed his second voyage to these parts, a voyage commissioned, as has been said, by Francis I., with the object of discovering a short route to the Indies and new countries not yet discovered and appropriated by the Spanish or the Portuguese. Monsieur Roberval was the first lieutenant to take up his residence in the newly-found country. It is quite unnecessary to follow his unimportant doings there, or the fate of the immigrants who went to join him. But it may be stated that progress was exceptionally slow, that colonists were few and far between, and that for many years the French population of New France was extremely small. Sometimes the new possessions met with favour from the French court, and for a while a new impetus was given to colonising. And gradually the interior of the country was opened up, or rather, some superficial knowledge of it was gained from the reports of discoverers and hunters. For here, as in the Ohio valley, the chief inducement to the hardy pioneers to push on was the desire to obtain furs, for which there was always a ready sale.