THE FRENCH HAKLUYT; MARC LESCARBOT OF VERVINS The role played by France in American discovery and coloni- zation during the course of the sixteenth century was by no means such a minor and unimportant one as is generally supposed. Apart from the fact that her privateers long preceded the English of Elizabeth's day in their attacks on Spanish commerce — even Columbus dreaded a brush with these French rovers — vessels under the command of such men as de Gonneville, Verrazano, the Par- mentiers, Jacques Cartier, Jean Alfonse, Villegagnon, Ribaut, Lau- donniere and the Marquis de la Roche made ihejlcitr-de-lis known and respected along the whole Atlantic coast from Labrador as far south as Brazil. True it is, that Frenchmen did not go much further afield in these parts. No French vessel entered the Pacific through the straits of Magellan nor is there any record of an at- tempt on the part of a Frenchman to solve the mystery of a North- west Passage. The colonies sent out at this time to America by France also proved unsuccessful ; but so did those which came from England. Indeed at the close of the century, France was the only power outside Spain and Portugal which had a foothold in America.' Comparing the whole careers of France and England in America in the sixteenth century that of France was indeed the more brilliant during the first half of that century. Then took place the voyages of de Gonneville and Denis to Brazil, those of the Parmentiers to the same region as well as to Cape Breton and Newfoundland, that of Verrazano along the whole coast from South Carolina northward as far as Cape Breton ; while the exploration of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the discovery of the river of that name by Jacques Cartier during the years 1534 to 1536 added fresh and ever-green laurels to the French name. Unfortunately the attempts made by Cartier and Roberval in 1 541 and i 542 to find the mysterious king- dom of Saguenay, said to be rich in gold and precious stones, met with no success — for the simple reason that no such country existed. 1 This was represented by the poor wretches left by de la Roche on Sable Island and who were not taken off till 1603. Cf. Gosselin, Nouvelles Gldnes Historiques Norman- des, Rouen, 1873, pp. 10 et seq.
