We looked for our vessels at the end of April; but, as this passed without their arriving, all began to have an ill-boding, fearing that some accident had befallen them. For this reason, on the 15th of May, Sieur de Monts decided to have a barque of fifteen tons and another of seven fitted up, so that we might go at the end of the month of June to Gaspé in quest of vessels in which to return to France, in case our own should not meanwhile arrive. But God helped us better than we hoped; for, on the 15th of June ensuing, while on guard about 11 o'clock at night, Pont Gravé, captain of one of the vessels of Sieur de Monts, arriving in a shallop, informed us that his ship was anchored six leagues from our settlement, and he was welcomed amid the great joy of all. The next day the vessel arrived, and anchored near our habitation. Pont Gravé informed us that a vessel from St. Malo, called the St. Estienne, was following him, bringing us provisions and supplies. On the 17th of the month, Sieur de Monts decided to go in quest of a place better adapted for an abode, and with a better temperature than our own. With this view, he had the barque made ready, in which he had purposed to go to Gaspé. ENDNOTES: 105. _Mal de la terre_. Champlain had bitter experiences of this disease in Quebec during the winter of 1608-9, when he was still ignorant of its character; and it was not till several years later that he learned that it was the old malady called _scurbut_, from the Sclavonic _scorb_. Latinized into _scorbuticus_. Lescarbot speaks of this disease as little understood in his time, but as known to Hippocrates. He quotes Olaus Magnus, who describes it as it appeared among the nations of the north, who called it _sorbet_, [Greek: kachexia], from [Greek: kakos], bad, and [Greek: exis], a habit. This undoubtedly expresses the true cause of this disease, now familiarly known as the scurvy. It follows exposure to damp, cold, and impure atmosphere, accompanied by the long-continued use of the same kind of food, particularly of salt meats, with bad water. All of these conditions existed at the Island of St. Croix. Champlain's description of the disease is remarkably accurate. 106. This passage might be read, "which is in this country in May:" _lequel commence en ces pays là est en May_. As Laverdière suggests, it looks as if Champlain wrote it first _commence_, and then, thinking that the winter he had experienced might have been exceptional, substituted _est_, omitting to erase _commence_, so that the sentence, as it stands, is faulty, containing two verbs instead of one, and being susceptible of a double sense. CHAPTER VII. DISCOVERY OF THE COAST OF THE ALMOUCHIQUOIS AS FAR AS THE FORTY-SECOND DEGREE OF LATITUDE, AND DETAILS OF THIS VOYAGE.