Note 80 — Chapter II
Reading edition
This is the first discovery of the River St. Lawrence, called by the natives the River Hochelaga, or the River of Canada. Jacques Cartier accurately determined the breadth of its mouth ninety miles across. Cape Rosier, a small distance to the north of the point of Gaspé, is properly the place which marks the opening of the gigantic river. "V'è tra le terre d'ostro e quelle di tramontana la distantia di trenta leghe in circa, e più di dugento braccia di fondo. Ci dissero anche i detti salvatichi e certificarono quivi essere il cammino e principio del gran fiume di Hochelaga e strada di Canada."—J. Cartier, in Ramusio, tom. iii., p. 442.
J. Cartier always afterward speaks of the St. Lawrence as the River of Hochelaga, or Canada. Charlevoix says, "Parceque le fleuve qu'on appelloit auparavant la Rivière de Canada se décharge dans le Golphe de St. Laurent, il a insensiblement pris le nom de Fleuve de St. Laurent, qu'il porte aujourd'hui (1720)."