W HEN Belain d'Esnambuc returned to St. Christopher
with his followers, after his ignominious expulsion
by the Spaniards, he found it necessary to start again
from the very beginning. His men, it is true, were eager and
energetic; but he himself had lost faith in the willingness of
the company to support him in his struggles against the raids
of Spanish squadrons and the attacks of his English neighbors,
who now far outnumbered the French. For once the brave
pioneer despaired. In his agony of doubt and uncertainty he
lost the confidence that had sustained him throughout all the
vicissitudes of the past four years and gave orders to return to
France. Acting on this decision the settlers stopped planting
vegetables for the coming season and concentrated on the
production of as large a crop of tobacco as possible, as it was
the one commodity that could be taken back to France and sold
at a profit.

Then came a change. The tobacco proved exceptionally abun-
dant, and the Dutch merchant, who had visited them so oppor-
tunely the year before, now arrived with an ample supply of
flour, wine, meat, and clothing material to be exchanged for
all the available tobacco as a down payment, with a six-month
credit for the balance. Perhaps, then, if the Dutch were eager
enough for tobacco to send ships across the Atlantic with goods
to be exchanged for it on such favorable terms, the colony

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