This is the authentic story of sailors who thought that Newfoundland was haunted by fire-spitting monsters; of a courageous French sea-captain who sailed beyond Newfoundland to seek the Northwest Passage to China and found the Saint Lawrence River; of the Indians who lived in Canada, and Chief Donnacona who was seized and carried off to the Court of Francis the First.
—from the dust jacket
The first printing of this book, published originally by the Domino Press, was titled The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, had 95 pages, and was limited to 3,000 copies. Subsequent printings, slightly revised, offered additional pictures and the title change above. Original contents are adapted from Cartier's own logbooks and other historical documents of the time, as well as materials by Dr. H. P. Bigggar, a Canadian historian, who had written two books which the author used as source material through the courtesy of his publishers, the Public Archives of Canada.
The first of these books is The Voyages of Jacques Cartier (a link to Internet Archive), published with translations and notes; the second, A Collection of Documents Relating to Jacques Cartier and the Sieur de Roberval, offered the author many facts in her chapter on the Portuguese spy, the King of France, and the Emperor of Spain.
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