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Show Til£ LILY AND THE TOT£:'11. "Howe much then ought so manv worthy examples move you to plant here ? ' Considering, also, tha~ hereby you sh:1ll be registered forever as the first that inhabited t!Ji::~ strange eoun1 ry. I pray you, therefore, all to advise yourselves thereof, and to declare your mindes freely unto me, protesting that I will so well imprint your names in the King's enres, and the other princes, that your renowne shall hereafter shine unquenchable through our realm of France." Ribault was evidently not insensible to fame. IIad his thoughts been those of his sovereign, also, how different would have been the history! l1i8 soldiers responded in the proper spirit, and declared their readiness to establish a colony in the wild empire, tho grandeur and beauty of which hud already commended it to their affections. Delighted with the rcadinCJ>S and enthusiasm of l1is men, he weighed anchor the very next day, in order to seck out the place most fit and convenient for hi,s settlement. "Ila1:irtg tayled 1tp the great river 0'1£ the north side, i1~ coasting an isit wl1ich wdtd with a sh.arpe point toward the 1/toutlt of the ri1:er ;having sa·iltd awhile he discoveretl a small river which entend into the islande, tc!tich !tee wottfd 1JOt faile to St!arcA out, whidl dmte, he jot1111d tlte same deep enough to lwrbour llurein gallies and galliots in good mwtber. Proceedi11g farther, he found an open pJace joy11i1tg upon the brinke thereQj, where he wtttl on la11d, a11d seeing the place fU to build a fortreue in, a11d commodious for them that uere willing to plant l!tere, he resolved inc011li- 1ltntly to cause the bi;pusse of the fortification to be measurtd out." The colony was to be a small one. Twenty-six persons had volunteered to est.'lblish it i as many, perhaps, as bad been called for. The dimensions of the fort were small accordingly. They were taken by Laudonuicre, and oue Cat>taiu Sallct~, under THE FIRST VOYAGE OF RlnAUI,T. 25 Ribault's directions. 'fhc fore was at once begun. Its length was sixteen fathoms, il~ breadth thirteen, "with ftanks according to the proportion thereof." 'fhcn, for tlic first time, the European axe was laid to the great shafts of the forest trees of America, waking sounds, at every stroke, lvhosc echoes have been beard for three hundred years, sounding, and destined to resound, from tho Atlantic to the Pacific seas i leaving no lvaste of wood nud \orild, unawakened by this first music of civilization. The site thus chosen by Ribault for his colony, though no traces lmve been ]eft of the labor of his l1ands, is scarcely doubtful to the present possessors of the country. All the proofs concur in placing Fort Charles somewhere between North Bdisto nnJ. Uroad Ith·er, und circumstances detem1inc this situation to be that of the beautiful little town of Beaufort, in South Carolina. The Gra1ule Riciere of the French is our Broad Itil·er.• It was at the mouth of this river, in an island with a. safe and commodious port, that the fort was established i and of the numerous islands which rise everywhere along the coast in this region, as a. fortress to defend the verdant shores from the nssnult.s of ocean, there is none which ~nswcrs so well as this all the requisitions of this description. Besides, it is actually in the very latitude of tho site, :18 given by r~audonnierc; and the tradition of the Indians, as preserved by our own people, seems to confirm and to conclude tho conjectures on this subject. They state that the first place in which tl1ey saw tho pal') faces of the Europeans • Charlevoix, in his "Fastcs Chronolggiques," preparatory to his work on New Franctl, locates Charles Fort, untler Ribault, " near to the aite of tht1 prtl,enl city of Charleston. In hi, "Histoiro Generate," and in tho map whieh illustrate~ this narrative, however, he concurs in tl1e statement of the text. Ho abo namt'!l the North Edi!lto the St. Croix. 2 |
