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64 the royal geographer, Lescarbot, who arrived in 1606, the chronicler of this enterprise, "the most courageous of all those undertaken by the French in the New Lands," whose aim was the colonisation of New France.

The Acadie first sighted land off Cape La Have on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, then entered the harbour of the town now called Liverpool, made a brief stop at Port Mouton and rounded Cape Sable on the way to St. Mary's Bay and the Bay of Fundy, which was named by the newcomers la Baie Françoise. Directing their vessel between the pillars of a narrow passage to the east of the Bay, de Monts and his followers found themselves within a spacious basin surrounded by a ridge of hills. They sailed the length of it and "after having searched from side to side" chose "an isolated spot around which were low meadows and good springs." On this site, near the present village of Granville, and six miles below Annapolis, was established in 1605 the first settlement of white men north of the Gulf of Mexico. For the beauty of its environment it was called le port royal.

Minas Basin was explored as far as Partridge Island. The St. John River was discovered and named, likewise L'isle Saincte Croix in