A worse peril was soon added.

The scourge of scurvy was laid upon them--an awful disease, hideous in its form and deadly in its effect.

Originating in the Indian camp, it spread to the ships.

In December fifty of the Stadacona Indians died, and by the middle of February, of the hundred and ten men that made up Cartier's expedition, only three or four remained in health.

Eight were already dead, and their bodies, for want of burial, lay frozen stark beneath the snowdrifts of the river, hidden from the prying eyes of the savages.