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I recently added this post, Tree of Life. Taken from The Story of Canada by Edith Louise Marsh, it is an account of French explorer Jacques Cartier’s second expedition to North America, when he sailed up the St Lawrence River as far as what is now Quebec and Montreal.
Drawing on Cartier’s own records, Marsh recalled how Cartier was warmly welcomed by the native Canadian chief Donnacona, and how the Frenchman went up the mountain he christened Mont Real, the Royal Mount, and gazed out over the colours of autumn below.
A Canadian winter, however, was a shock to him and his crew. The French were stranded in Hochelaga (modern-day Montreal) and struck down by scurvy. The native Canadians came to their rescue, but then the French repaid all their kindness with an act of betrayal.