It is, however, deeply to be deplored that, beyond the record of his voyages, we know so little of Jacques Cartier himself.

We may take it for granted that he early became a sailor.

Brought up at such a time and place, he could hardly have failed to do so.

Within a few years after the great discovery of Columbus, the Channel ports of St Malo and Dieppe were sending forth adventurous fishermen to ply their trade among the fogs of the Great Banks of the New Land.

The Breton boy, whom we may imagine wandering about the crowded wharves of the little harbour, must have heard strange tales from the sailors of the new discoveries.