replied that his priests[6] had spoken to him and that he would make
fair weather; whereupon they thanked the said captain very much, and
returned into the woods to tell the news to the others, who came out
of the said woods immediately, feigning to be delighted with the said
words thus spoken by the said captain. And to show that they were
delighted with them, as soon as they were before the ships they began
with a common voice to utter three shrieks and howls, which is their
token of joy, and betook themselves to dancing and singing, as they
had done from custom. But for conclusion, the said Taignoagny and Dom
Agaya told our said captain that the said Donnacona would not that any
of them should go with him to Hochelaga if he did not leave a hostage,
who should abide ashore with the said Donnacona. To which he replied to
them that if they had not decided to go there with good courage they
might remain and that for him he would not leave off making efforts to
go there."
We have seen the manifest disinclination of Donnacona's party to
allow the discoverers to proceed to Hochelaga. Was it because the
Hochelagans were a hostile people or was it from selfish reasons to
keep the presents of the generous strangers for themselves? At any
rate, Cartier sets out for Hochelaga and on Tuesday, September 26th,
enters Lake St. Peter with a pinnace and two boats. This lake was not
named by Cartier, but subsequently it was named Lac d'Angoulesme,
either in honour of his birthplace or more probably that of Francis
I, who was Count of Angoulême. It was left for Champlain entering upon
the lake, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1603, to give
it its present name. Cartier's pinnace could not cross Lake St. Peter
owing to the shallowness of the water[7] which forced him to take the
boats to Hochelaga, starting about six miles below St. Mary's current.
The journey through Lake St. Peter and the arrival at Hochelaga must
now be followed in the words of Jacques Cartier, the first historian of
Montreal (Phinney Baxter, pp. 157-171).
[Illustration: THE RECEPTION OF JACQUES CARTIER AT HOCHELAGA
(A section of the palisaded town is shown. D in the center is King
Agohama's abode.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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