Lawrence, the greatest river of Canada, this same Champlain writes, in his commentaries upon his voyages, that its surface is frozen to the depth of three entire yards, during January and the two following months, to the distance of a hundred leagues upward from its mouth; and that the freezing of the water does not extend farther, although no part of the river, since it flows directly from west to east, is more Northerly than another, or more protected by mountains, so as to be warmer. He adds also that in the beginning of April, by the melting of so great a mass of ice, the broad mouth of the St. Lawrence is almost blocked with frozen masses, which, he says, are carried forth a long distance into the sea, and usually melt within twelve days, each year. APPVLSVS nostrorum ad Francicum Sinum, [573] Portumque Regium, in ante diem septimum calendas Quintiles, eumdemque Pentecostes sacrum felicissimo planè omine incidit. Nihil Potrincourtio accidere poterat allato commeatu opportunius, si tamen is amplus esset, vt quem rei angustiæ coegerant, Barbaris partem familiæ alendam diuidere. Vt ne autem instructiores à commeatu veniremus, fecerat tum nauigij, sexaginta dumtaxat doliorum, breuitas; tum plus instrumenti piscatorij, quàm cibariorum in nauem immissum; tum deniq; ab tricenis senis capitibus, quot vehebamur, grauior in nauticam penum illata solido quadrimestri labes. Quamobrem Potrincourtio sexaginta hominum contubernio, tenuissima re domestica, iam eum pæne ipsis initiis opprimente, maturè prouidendum fuit, ne Portus Regij penuaria cella in sequentem hiemem exhausta relinqueretur. Cuius procurationis, vt familiæ patrem decuit, sumto sibi onere, ipse in Galliam traiecturus, de Porturegiensi multitudine pæne quadragesimus medio Iulio soluit, exeuntéque Augusto Galliæ littori appulsus est, relicto Biencourtio filio, cum reliqua cohorte, qui Porturegiensi arci præsideret.