No doubt he was very tired by that time, and for a change climbed to the top of the mountain, where he had a grand view of the country. He was greatly delighted with what he saw, for it was October, and the trees were glorious in all the gay colors of autumn. But though he was having a very pleasant time, it was too late in the season to stay long.

After he had given the Indians presents, and thanked them for the corn and fish they gave him, he went back to Hochelaga for the winter.

Cartier and his men made ready for the cold as best they could. But they did not know what Canadian winters are like, and were not prepared for so much frost and snow. The great river was soon frozen over, and the snow lay so deep that it seemed to the French that the earth could never throw off her thick white covering.

As the weeks went slowly by, and it grew no warmer, a terrible disease called scurvy broke out among them. Before they could find anything that would check it, twenty-six of their number died.