From its presence it is supposed that the savages were Indians of the Huron-Iroquois tribe.

Cartier thought, from their destitute state, that there could be no poorer people in the world.
Before leaving the Bay of Gaspe, Cartier planted a great wooden cross at the entrance of the harbour.

The cross stood thirty feet high, and at the centre of it he hung a shield with three fleurs-de-lis.

At the top was carved in ancient lettering the legend, 'VIVE LE ROY DE FRANCE.' A large concourse of savages stood about the French explorers as they raised the cross to its place.

'So soon as it was up,' writes Cartier, 'we altogether kneeled down before them, with our hands towards heaven yielding God thanks: and we made signs unto them, showing them the heavens, and that all our salvation depended only on Him which in them dwelleth; whereat they showed a great admiration, looking first at one another and then at the cross.' The little group of sailors kneeling about the cross newly reared upon the soil of Canada as a symbol of the Gospel of Christ and of the sovereignty of France, the wondering savages turning their faces in awe towards the summer sky, serene again after the passing storms,--all this formed an impressive picture, and one that appears and reappears in the literature of Canada.