Читать книгу Samuel de Champlain - Francine Legaré - Страница 15

4 Pioneer in Acadia

The snows began on the 6th of October. On the 3rd of December we saw sheets of ice floating by that had come from some frozen river. The bitter cold was more extreme than in France and lasted much longer. I think that comes from the north and northwest winds blowing over high mountains still covered in snow, which we had from three to four feet high, until the end of April.

“Whom does it concern this time?” Champlain asked, overcome.

“Marcel… It's big Marcel who'll remain here… like all the others!”

“Is it really blackleg? Is that definite?”

“What else can it be?… None of us will escape…”

The first attempt at settlement, on Île Ste. Croix, was a disaster. Champlain drew the buildings of this site, where “all being sand, everything burned there almost as soon as the sun shone on it.” From The Voyages of the Sieur de Champlain of Saintonge, Captain in Ordinary for the King in the Navy.