Page:Tourist's Maritime Provinces.djvu/303

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ST. JOHN AND THE SOUTH COAST
251

enough now, have a legend that white men planted a cross on the edge of the bay and called the spot St. André. In this way they account for the name of the town and for that of the river, St. Croix. Beneath the shadow of Chamcook Mountain, which is no mountain, but an abrupt hill 400 feet high standing back of St. Andrews, a French ship dropped anchor on a June day in 1604. From it were unloaded cannon, implements, brick and provisions upon an island which was baptised St. Croix. On the way up river by steamer from St. Andrews to St. Stephen one gets an excellent impression of this island, now called Doucet's or Dochet's. This was the location chosen by de Monts for his first colony. He, Champlain and eighty companions lived within and about the fort which was placed at the upper end of the island. Grain was planted, and other preparations were made looking toward the establishment of a fixed settlement. Then winter came down upon them with a fury undreamed-of in their native France. Hostile Indians, the ravages of an incurable scurvy, a meagre supply of fuel and water combined with the cold to make hideous this first season in the New World. With the arrival of spring all that was portable was removed to Port Royal, and St. Croix was definitely abandoned. The island is now included within the limits of the town of Calais, Maine. A boulder north of the lighthouse carries on its face a bronze tablet to keep in