Champlain and his companions relied on provisions brought over from
France.
On the second of June a boat arrived in which was the pilot Gascoin with
five or six sailors. He told us that he had arrived at the port of Tadoussac
with a sixty-ton vessel, laden with about a hundred barrels of peas, seven
butts of cider, and twenty-four hogsheads of biscuits and hard-tack . . .
On the fourth of the said month I had two pinnaces set afloat, which then
left for Tadoussac to get the commodities which the said ship had brought
out . . . with part of the provisions, to trade at the said Tadoussac. We
were very glad of this [increase of our supplies], inasmuch as we had only
enough flour and cider to last until the tenth of June; and because without
this fresh supply, we should have had to fall back on migan, helped out with
four hogsheads of Indian corn . . .
On the twelfth a pinnace arrived bringing some puncheons of cider, biscuits,
peas and dried plums . . .
Champlain, The Voyages, 1632
Pitchers and curing
jars, 17th century
Normandy stoneware
Collection of the Centre de
recherches archéologiques médiévales
Université de Caen, France
Photo: Steven Darby, Canadian Museum of Civilization
Each year, when the company clerks came to collect the furs, they
brought provisions to Tadoussac and Quebec. They brought nearly everything
the residents needed to survive. Flour for bread was the most important,
followed by pulses (beans and peas). For the most part, "salures" or salted
foods - cod, cured bacon and beef, and butter - constituted the diet of
those staying through the winter. These foods were one of the causes of
scurvy.
