The Indians that dwelt along the banks of the river often came out in boats to visit the strangers and to traffic with them. The chiefs brought presents, and among other things they offered Cartier several children. Some of these children he accepted and others he declined.

In fact, the most friendly relations existed between the exploring party and the natives throughout the whole voyage. Whenever the strangers landed the Indians came down to meet them without manifesting the least fear, and Cartier seems to have trusted in an equally implicit manner to them. At one time, when he wished to go on shore at a place where the water shoaled so gradually that his boat could not approach very near, an Indian came out wading to the boat, and Cartier, without any hesitation, mounted upon his back, and was thus carried to the land.

LAKE ST. PETER.

After going on in this manner for many days the expedition arrived at a place where the river expands into a lake fifteen or twenty miles wide. They gave to this sheet of water the name of Lake St. Peter. They explored the shores of this lake in every part, and found some difficulty in ascertaining where the main stream entered it at the

upper end, inasmuch as they found the mouths of several considerable rivers along the borders of it. And when at length they discovered the true place of egress they found the stream so much smaller than it was below, and the navigation, moreover, so much obstructed by rapids, that they concluded not to take the pinnace any further, but to leave her in the lake, and go on up the river with the boats alone.

So the commander caused the boats to be made ready, and loaded them to the water's edge with provisions and other things necessary for the voyage. Of course, a considerable portion of the party were to be left in the pinnace, as only a limited number could be taken in the boats. Several gentlemen, who were attached to the expedition, wished to go on, among whom are mentioned "Claudius of Ponte Briand, cup-bearer of the Lorde Dolphin of France, Charles of Pometaye," and others. With these there were twenty-eight seamen, fourteen for each boat. This number implies that the boats must have been of very considerable size.

The result of the inquiries made by Cartier of the Indians, in respect to the distance from the lake to Hochelaga, led him to judge that it was about one hundred and fifty miles.

· APPROACH TO HOCHELAGA.

The boats advanced so slowly in ascending the river that the news of their coming, and of the harmless character of the party, and also of the many curious and wonderful things which they were in the habit of giving and selling to the Indians, preceded them, so that at last, when they began to draw near to the town, being, however, yet at a distance of four or five miles from it, they saw an immense concourse of Indians coming down along the bank of the river to meet and receive them. There were about a thousand persons in this throng-men, women and children. They all came together to the bank of the river, as near as they could get to the boats, and began to toss over presents of bread made of maize, and fishes, and other such things, as tokens of welcome.

Cartier ordered the boats to be turned toward the shore, and he himself and a large portion of his company landed among the natives. They seemed greatly overjoyed at this, and surrounded the strangers with exclamations and gestures indicating the greatest delight. Then they formed lines, the women on one side and the men on the other, and danced and sang for some time. Cartier, in return for this cordial reception, made

presents to some of the principal personages among them, and he made the children. both boys and girls, stand in a row, and then passing along the line he distributed a quantity of tin beads and other such trifles among them, which seemed to gratify them exceedingly.

When at length Cartier and his company thought it was time for him to return to the boats the

women came and stood in the way and took hold of them playfully, and for a time would not let them go. And when, at last, they obtained their release and returned on board the Indians did not go away, but remained opposite the boats on the land; and when the darkness came on they built great bonfires along the shore and continued their rejoicings around them late into the night.

town.

VISIT TO THE TOWN.

Very early the next morning Cartier and a select portion of his party, leaving the rest to guard the boats, landed and set off to view the After going on for three or four miles they met a deputation of the principal inhabitants, that had been sent to receive them. They found the country in the environs of the town occupied with fields of maize which, with the groves of trees around them, presented a charming picture to the eye. On entering the village they were much struck with the size of the houses and the artificial and skillful manner in which they were constructed. They were built of poles and covered with bark, probably birch bark, but they were very large, each one being intended to accommodate many families. They were generally more than a hundred feet long, and thirty or forty wide.