Champlain, Samuel de (1632) (Explorer and commandant at Québec). Seconde Part/e des Voyages du Sieur 
     
     de Champlain. [Republished 1933 with an English translation by H. P. Biggar in: The Works of Samuel de 
     
     Champlain. Vol. V. The Champlain Society, Toronto, (reprinted 1971 as a facsimile edition by the University 
     
     of Toronto Press).] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Samuel de Champlain lb. c. 1570, d. 7635) is not known to have ever visited Prince Edward Island. However, in 
     
     7632, near the end of his life, when back in France during a three year period when Quebec and New France were 
     
     in the hands of the English, he had time to turn to publication. He wrote at that time the Seconde Partie des 
     
     Voyages, and in a chapter containing a descriptive survey of the islands and coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he 
     
     included a brief reference to lie Saint-Jean. As regards its forests, all he can say is that the island is “covered with 
     
     woods commes les autres isles" [like the other islands] — the sort of safe generalized statement you might expect 
     
     from someone lacking any personal acquaintance with the place. ”Les autres isles” comprise Newfoundland, Brion 
     
     Island and the Magda/enes, and Anticosti — and for all of these, brief lists of some of their tree species are given: 
     
     collective/y these lists comprise only ’pin' [pine], ’sapin’ [fir] (though Biggar translates as spruce), ’cedre’ [cedar] 
     
     and ’bouleau’ [birch]. Only for the mainland around the Bay of Cha/eur does he give additional species: ’orme’ [elm], 
     
     'fresne’ [ash], ’erable’ [maple] and 'chesne’ [oak]. However it would be stretching his statement to attempt to apply 
     
     the lists from the other islands to ile Saint-Jean, and would be pointless anyway — since he clearly did not have — 
     
     and was not claiming — any first hand kno wledge of the island. 
     
    
   
   
    
     REFERENCES: 
     
    

    
     Biggar, H. P. (1933) Seconde Part/e des Voyages du Sieur de Champlain. pp. 157-69 (footnotes). 
     
     Clark, A. H. (1959) Three Centuries and the Island. University of Toronto Press. p. 15. 
     
    

    
     Harvey, D. C. (1926) The French Regime in Prince Edward Island. Yale University Press. p. 7. 
     
     Trudel, M. (1966) Champlain, Samuel de. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, I: 186-99. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     de ceste Isle [I’lsle sainct lean] a la terre du Sud [y a] une ou deux Iieués; en 
     
     Covered with laquelle sont des bons ports, & bonne pescherie de molué, les Basques y vont assez 
     
     WOOdSv souvent, elle est couverte de bois comme les autres Isles. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [Biggar (1933) p.165 (from Ch. ll, Bk. ll of the Seconde Part/e des Voyages)] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The distance from that island [lle Saint-Jean] to the land lying to the south is about 
     
     Covered With one or two leagues. In it there are good harbours and good fishing grounds for cod; 
     
     WOOdS- the Basques go there quite frequently; it is covered with wood like the other islands. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [adapted from Biggar (1933) p.165 (from Ch. ll, Bk. II of the Second Part of the Voyages)] 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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