The Acadian Exiles

The Acadian Exiles

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Acadian Exiles, by Arthur G.
Doughty #9 in our series Chronicles of Canada
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: The Acadian Exiles A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline
Author: Arthur G. Doughty
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6502] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 23,
2002]

Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
ACADIAN EXILES ***

This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan.

CHRONICLES OF CANADA Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H.
Langton In thirty-two volumes
Volume 9
THE ACADIAN EXILES A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline
By ARTHUR G. DOUGHTY TORONTO, 1916


CHAPTER I
THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA
The name Acadia, [Footnote: The origin of the name is uncertain. By
some authorities it is supposed to be derived from the Micmac algaty,
signifying a camp or settlement. Others have traced it to the Micmac
akade, meaning a place where something abounds. Thus, Sunakade
(Shunacadie, C. B.), the cranberry place; Seguboon-akade
(Shubenacadie), the place of the potato, etc. The earliest map marking
the country, that of Ruscelli (1561), gives the name Lacardie. Andre
Thivet, a French writer, mentions the country in 1575 as Arcadia; and
many modern writers believe Acadia to be merely a corruption of that
classic name.] which we now associate with a great tragedy of history
and song, was first used by the French to distinguish the eastern or
maritime part of New France from the western part, which began with
the St Lawrence valley and was called Canada. Just where Acadia

ended and Canada began the French never clearly defined--in course of
time, as will be seen, this question became a cause of war with the
English--but we shall not be much at fault if we take a line from the
mouth of the river Penobscot, due north to the St Lawrence, to mark the
western frontier of the Acadia of the French. Thus, as the map shows,
Acadia lay in that great peninsula which is flanked by two large islands,
and is washed on the north and east by the river and gulf of St
Lawrence, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean; and it comprised
what are to-day parts of Quebec and Maine, as well as the provinces of
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. When the
French came, and for long after, this country was the hunting ground of
tribes of the Algonquin race--Micmacs, Malecites, and Abnakis or
Abenakis.
By right of the discoveries of Jean Verrazano (1524) and Jacques
Cartier (1534-42) the French crown laid claim to all America north of
the sphere of Spanish influence. Colonial enterprise, however, did not
thrive during the religious wars which rent Europe in the sixteenth
century; and it was not until after the Edict of Nantes in 1598 that
France could follow up the discoveries of her seamen by an effort to
colonize either Acadia or Canada. Abortive attempts had indeed been
made by the Marquis de la Roche, but these had resulted only in the
marooning of fifty unfortunate convicts on Sable Island. The first real
colonizing venture of the French in the New World was that of the
Sieur de Monts, the patron and associate of Champlain. [Footnote: See
The founder of New France in this Series, chap. ii.] The site of this first
colony was in Acadia. Armed with viceregal powers and a trading
monopoly for ten years, De Monts gathered his colonists, equipped two
ships, and set out from Havre de Grace in April 1604. The company
numbered about a hundred and fifty Frenchmen of various ranks and
conditions, from the lowest to the highest--convicts taken from the
prisons, labourers and artisans, Huguenot ministers and Catholic priests,
some gentlemen of noble birth, among them Jean de Biencourt, Baron
de Poutrincourt, and the already famous