Moreover, in this great extent of territory, by means of numerous expeditions and in more than a century, the French have established only five settlements;[65] the first of these was founded by Jacques Quartier during his last voyage, not at the inaccessible narrows and rocks of the place now called _Saincte Croix_,[66] but in almost the very spot where now stands Quebec, fifteen leagues on this side of Ste. Croix. Another was built by Pierre du Gas, sieur de Monts, in the year 1604, upon a small island, among the Eteminquis, close to their Southern shore, to which settlement and island he gave the name of _Saincte Croix_. He also in the same year, upon a sort of peninsula on the Acadian coast, near Port Royal, erected a small fort of the same name, defended by a ditch and a rampart. Port Royal, and the fort of the same name as the harbor, are on what is called French _Bay_, one hundred and fifty leagues from Cape Campseau, eight leagues from the sea. A _bay_ among the French, as among the Spanish, is a large indentation in the land at the shore of the sea or of a great river, angular or round in shape, giving the waters entrance to the interior regions. At the head of French Bay is a harbor, reached by a channel three-quarters of a mile long; it is two leagues long and one wide, capable of receiving 2,000 large ships, and because of its majestic appearance was named _Port Royal_ by the Frenchman Champlain. A third settlement was founded by sieur de [569] Monts, four years later, at the point of Quebec, on the Southern bank of the Sacqué river, near the isle of Orleans,[67] in the territory of the Montagnais; Champlain, who was in charge of the work, called this fort Quebec, from the name of the district,[41] and observed that in almost the same place Jacques Quartier's post of Ste. Croix had in former days been built. Our Fathers were laying the foundations of the fifth and last French settlement at the mouth of the Pentegoët river, when they were prevented from prosecuting the work by a descent of the English, and carried off into captivity, contrary to justice and the law of nations. These details, which otherwise would have delayed the orderly narrative of events, having been thus first explained, let us devote our pen to the Canadian expedition undertaken by our Fathers.