Note 47 — Chapter I

Lescarbot, Charlevoix, and others speak of it. The earliest French mention in print is said to be that of Belleforest, in his Histoire universelle du monde, 1570. It was repeated in his 1575 edition; and more at length in his Cosmographie universelle de tout le monde. Ribault, whose expedition took place in 1562, and Laudonnière (1564-1565) both speak of it. But the work of the latter was not printed until 1586, and it has been supposed that the editio princeps of Ribault is the English translation published in 1563. Hakluyt’s statement, in his Discourse concerning Westerne Planting (Maine Historical Society, 2d ser., ii. 20), that Ribault’s narrative was “extant in printe bothe in Frenche and Englishe,” makes it quite possible, however, that the mention in Belleforest is not the earliest printed one. Cf. Shea’s Charlevoix, i. 107.