Introduction

Summary

The manuscript, of which the following is a translation, as literal as the idioms of the two languages admit, is in the possession of Monsieur Féret, the learned and extremely obliging librarian of the Public Library at Dieppe. Of its originality and authenticity there can be no doubt; the internal evidence of similarity in style, diction, and orthography even, with the published account of Champlain's Voyages in New France, would alone suffice to establish those points.

M. Féret obtained this valuable document from a resident in Dieppe, where it has been for an unknown time; and it is more than probable that it had been in the possession of M. de Chastes, governor of the town and castle of Dieppe, who was Champlain's chief friend and protector, under whose auspices he had been employed in the war in Brittany against the League, and by whom, after his return from the West Indies, he was sent to Canada. To him, it is most likely that Champlain would present a narrative of his voyage. On M. de Chastes' death, the manuscript probably passed into the possession of the Convent of the Minimes at Dieppe, to which he was a great benefactor during his life, and by testament after his death. He was also, by his desire, buried in the church of the convent.