Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02 — John Shaqi
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02Champlain, Samuel de
History
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02
Champlain, Samuel de
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Indians of North America -- Canada; New France -- Discovery and exploration
"Et d'autant qu'à deux lieues au dessus il y a des ruisseaux qui
viennent comme en croix de décharger dans ce large bras de mer, cette
île de la retraite des François fut appelée SAINCTE CROIX."--_His.
Nouvelle France_ par Lescarbot, Paris. 1612, Qvat Liv. pp. 461, 462.
It is now called De Monts's Island. It has been called Dochet's Island
and Neutral Island, but there is great appropriateness in calling it
after its first occupant and proprietor, and in honor of him it has
been so named with suitable ceremonies.--_Vide Godfrey's Centennial
Discourse_, Bangor, 1870, p. 20. The United States maintain a light
upon the island, which is seventy-one feet above the level of the sea,
and is visible twelve nautical miles. The island itself is moderately
high, and in the widest part is one hundred and eighty paces or about
five hundred and forty feet. The area is probably not more than six or
seven acres, although it has been estimated at twice that. It may have
been diminished in some slight degree since the time of Champlain by
the action of the waves, but probably very little. On the southern
extremity of the island where De Monts placed his cannon, about
twenty-five years ago a workman in excavating threw out five small
cannon-balls, one of which was obtained by Peter E. Vose, Esq., of
Dennysville, Me., who then resided near the island, and was conversant
with all the circumstances of the discovery. They were about a foot and
a half below the surface, and the workman was excavating for another
purpose, and knew nothing of the history of the island. At our
solicitation, the ball belonging to Mr. Vose has recently been
presented to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, of which he
is a member. It is iron, perfectly round, two and a quarter inches in
diameter, and weighs 22 oz. avoirdupois. There can be no reasonable
doubt that these balls are relics of the little French colony of 1604,
and probably the only memorial of the kind now in existence.
87. The description in the text of the environs of the Island of St. Croix
is entirely accurate. Some distance above, and in view from the island,
is the fork, or Divide, as it is called. Here is a meeting of the
waters of Warwig Creek from the east, Oak Bay from the north, and the
river of the Etechemins, now called the St. Croix, from the west. These
are the three rivers mentioned by Champlain, Oak Bay being considered
as one of them, in which may be seen the two islands mentioned in the
text, one high and the other low. A little above Calais is the
waterfall, around which the Indians carried their bark canoes, when on
their journey up the river through the Scoudic lakes, from which by
land they reached the river St. John on the east, or, on the west,
passing through the Mettawamkeag, they reached the Norumbegue, or
Penobscot River.
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