It did not receive its present title until the late seventeenth century.] At this period, some three hundred and seventy-five years ago, the northern coasts of the Gulf of St.Lawrence and of Anticosti Island swarmed with huge walruses, which were described by Cartier as sea horses that spent the night on land and the day in the water.

They have long since been exterminated by the English and French seamen and settlers.
At last Cartier set sail for the south-west, intending to explore this wonderful river and to reach the kingdom of Canada.

According to his understanding of the Amerindian interpreters, the waters of the St.
Lawrence flowed through three great states: _Saguenay_, which was the mountainous Gaspe Peninsula and the opposite coast; _Canada_, Quebec and its neighbourhood; and _Hochelaga_, the region between Montreal and Lake Ontario.

At the mouth of the Saguenay River, where Tadoussac is now situated, he encountered large numbers of white whales--the Beluga.

These are really huge porpoises, allied to the narwhals, but without the narwhal's exaggerated tusk.