THE MAKING OF NORTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY.*
THE story of the earliest geographical discoveries in the Northern Continent of America is more or less identical with the story of the first French settlements upon the St. Lawrence, and Mr. Winsor's book might have been named, quite as appropriately, the history of the French in Canada,- from the time of Cartier to that of Frontenac. It is not easy for the modern student of geography to realise the confused and contradictory conceptions that obtained during the sixteenth century as to the real nature of Columbus's discovery. When it became evident that the discoverer had not found any part of the world that belonged to the Orient of Marco Polo, the- one idea of the explorers was to find a passage through this new barrier to the West, and to butt their heads against the- long line of continent in an ineffectual endeavour to reach the- still distant Cathay. Twenty years after Columbus's discovery, Balboa made it patent that south of the Isthmus of Panama- lay a vast barrier, which, ten years later, Magellan succeeded in circumnavigating at its extreme south. But in the north there was yet hope that an open passage might be found ; and it was with the intention of finding it in the sea that lay at the back of the island of Newfoundland, as well as of raising the French arms in those parts in token of possession, that Cartier started from St. Malo in 1534 on the first of his series of voyages. His explorations were not rapidly effected. It took more than one voyage to discover even that there was a southern entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Though he- found no sea-passage beyond Newfoundland, he found the St. Lawrence itself; and with his gradual navigation of that mighty river, there must have dawned upon him some idea of the vast continent that surrounded him.
Looking at the map, one is struck by the obviousness of two roads towards exploration of the interior of North. America, the great water-ways of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, the one opening into the Gulf of St. Law- rence, the other into the Gulf of Mexico. Both these gulfs- were frequented by European ships ; but whereas the French in the Gulf of St. Lawrence found their only progress could be made by ascending that stream, the attention of the Spaniards was so occupied by what they had discovered south of the Gulf of Mexico that they could spare no time for ex- ploring its northern shores. Hence it came about that the first to enter the valley of the Mississippi were Frenchmen, who reached its waters by way of the chain of northern lakes.. The history of the slow development of their geographical know- ledge, as the continent was gradually opened up, is naturally a good deal confused by the conflicting accounts of individual explorers. Nevertheless, the author has succeeded in placing- it before his readers in a fashion which is quite sufficiently clear and intelligible, though it certainly makes a considerable demand upon their close attention. But the subject is a very difficult one to treat adequately, even within the limits that the author has set himself,—not only on account of the mass of material which has to be sifted in order to arrive at approximate truth, but also from the necessity of intro- ducing much historical digression in order to explain the varying course of French progress in Canada. In view of these considerations we should be disposed to say that the author had performed his task admirably, though it must be confessed that his work requires no little effort of memory and concentration of thought on the part of the reader. But the story is one of such interest that the labour re- • Geographical Discovery in the Intcrior of North America, 1534-1700. By Justin Winsor. London: Sampson Low and Co. Tared is one that will be gladly given. It is impossible within the limit of this review even to indicate the chief outlines of Mr. Winsor's history. It begins with the French fishing-station, frequented by the ships of St. Malo, upon the Newfoundland coast, and ends with Franquelin's famous map of the Nouvelle France in 1684. "By this the French claim was bounded by the Gulf of Mexico westward to the Rio Grande, thence north-westerly to the rather vague watershed of what we now know as the Rocky Mountains, with an indefinite line along the sources of the Upper Mississippi and its higher affluents, bounding on the leight of land which shuts off the valley of the Great Lakes, till the Appalachians were reached. Following these mountains south, the line skirted the northern limits of Spanish Florida and then turned to the Gulf." A marvellous domain this, as the author says, for it comprises very nearly all the then known part of the northern continent. New England is represented by but a narrow strip of land that lay between Albany and the coast. And yet at this very time the latter was a thriving colony, containing more than double the number of European inhabitants that were scattered through the French stations, and destined ultimately to possess all 'that their rivals claimed. What might have been the success of the French Canadians had not Cartier made enemies of -the Iroquois, it is impossible to say. Still, one cannot think that this failure to hold their own rested entirely upon that initial blunder. There was never any stability or cohesion among the French immigrants. In the same way as the Nor- man and Breton fishermen were content to sail year after year to Newfoundland, and return with nothing but fish, so their successors upon the St. Lawrence saw no profit to be gained, save in the desultory trade in peltries. Even when their settle- ments were built and fortified, and Quebec and Montreal grew at the command of a French King, the conflicting interests of the different elements that they sheltered caused such dissensions in their policy, that they were far more hampered by their own internal quarrels than by the external pressure of Indian -raids. In the history of French exploration there are two tales which seize more forcibly than others upon the imagina- tion. One is that of the discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet and Marquette in 1673, and the other of the ill-fated expedi- tion of La Salle to the mouth of the same river in 1684. The two Jesuits—though Joliet was not a priest he had been educated by that order—seem to have been guided by good luck rather than any knowledge they could obtain from their Indians Passing the Mackinan Straits at the top of Lake Huron, they attempted to find an egress from Lake Michigan, not at the point where that lake is connected with the river Illinois by the Chicago portage, but by way of Green Bay. Here they managed to get by the Fox River into the Wisconsin. For some days they floated down the Wisconsin till their canoe suddenly shot out upon the broad expanse of the Mississippi. They sounded, and finding nineteen fathoms of water, knew upon how huge a river they were embarked. Day after day they were swept downwards by the current. Neither of the explorers had the faintest conception whither they were going, or what scene might not be unfolded before their eyes as they passed the high bluffs upon the river banks. Past the mouth of the Illinois River, where they made friends with members of that tribe ; past the fantastic castles of stratified rock; past the muddy waves which the Missouri poured into the Mississippi, giving them an idea of an equally mighty river flowing from the west; past the mouth of the Ohio, they were carried on, while the days grew into weeks, until they reached the Arkansas, and believed that they were nearing the Gulf of Mexico. Surely no happier voyage ever fell by chance to an .explorer's lot!
Of all the pioneers upon the Mississippi, the most sym- pathetic figures are those of Marquette and Tonty, the devoted adherents of the luckless La Salle. Of La Salle him- self the author gives a very interesting account which helps one greatly to estimate at their true value the wayward genius and difficult character of the man. Very carious, too, is the story of the incessant intrigues that centred round the fur trade in Canada and the Royal favour in Paris. Nothing could be much more hopeless than the conditions under which the Canadian Governors had to work, and the material they had to work with. This was the state of Canada in 1680 after -nearly a century and a half of colonisation:—
"Affairs in Canada, with a population that had grown to nearly ten thousand, seemed to be going from bad to worse. Her trade with the West Indies had about come to a standstill, and home- farming was in no better plight. If the Government distributed seed, it was left to rot, and was not planted. If the church was paternal, it claimed for observance all but ninety days of the growing season, which was short enough at the best. The passion of the young men for the woods was uncontrollable, and it was estimated that at least eight hundred youngsters, fitted to till the soil, were scampering wildly in the forests, doing good to no one, and destroying the regular channels of trade with the Indians. They were carrying brandy to the braves and debauching them, and the law against it could not be enforced. The girls who were left unmarried in the settlements were hardly less idle, and no one taught them to weave or to spin."
The easy profits of the fur trade had demoralised the people.
In the meantime the English traders at Albany were sweeping in all the real gain that was to be derived from it, and their position in the country was protected by their Iroquois allies, who were such a constant thorn in the side of the French. The author, however, does not attempt a full relation of the affairs of the English colonists, though he just touches upon the early history of the Hudson Bay Company. He writes throughout in a very direct and pleasant style, which would go far to make even a less interesting book readable. And his work is fully illustrated with copies of old maps made by contemporary cartographers, some of which—notably one by Giacomi Gastaldi—are delightfully quaint.
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