From the trend of the land he supposed,
however, that, by sailing in an easterly direction, he
was again crossing one of the great bays of the coast.
This conjecture seemed to be correct, as the coastline
of the island of Anticosti presently appeared on the
horizon. From July 27 until August 5 the explorers made
their way along the shores of Anticosti, which they almost
circumnavigated. Sailing first to the east they passed
a low-lying country, almost bare of forests, but with
verdant and inviting meadows. The shore ended at East
Cape, named by Cartier Cape St Louis, and at this point
the ships turned and made their way north-westward, along
the upper shore of the island. On August 1, as they
advanced, they came in sight of the mainland of the
northern shore of the Gulf of St Lawrence, a low, flat
country, heavily wooded, with great mountains forming a
jagged sky-line. Cartier had now, evidently enough, come
back again to the side of the great Gulf from which he
had started, but, judging rightly that the way to the
west might lie beyond the Anticosti coast, he continued
on his voyage along that shore. Yet with every day progress
became more difficult. As the ships approached the narrower
waters between the west end of Anticosti and the mainland
they met powerful tides and baffling currents.
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