It  is  interesting  to  bear  in  mind  that,  even  gt  the  present
day,  the  French,  who  have  lost  all  their  possessions  on  the
mainland  of  Canada,  still  retain  some  share  in  the  fisheries
which  first  attracted  their  merchant  seamen  to  the  North
American  coasts.
7.  In  order  to  produce  system  and  permanence  there  must  2.  Tofor-
be  co-operation.  A  house  can  only  be  built  with  the  help  of
mortar  to  hold  the  bricks  and  stones  together ;  and  commerce
has  acted  as  the  mortar,  which  has  made  it  possible  to  utilise
the  disjointed  stones  of  exploration  in  building  up  strong  and
lasting  colonies.
The  part  played  by  companies  in  colonising  will  be
alluded  to  in  a  later  chapter :  here  it  is  enough  to  take  one
illustration,  and  to  point  to  the  fact  that  English  colonisation
did  not  begin  in  earnest,  until  chivalry  and  knight-errantry  had
given  way  to  the  commercial  spirit,1  and  until  the  daring
1  See  Doyle's  '  History  of  the  English  in  America,'  vol.  i.  chap.  vi.
8  GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  COLONIES.
CHAPTER  explorers  of  the  age  of  Elizabeth  had  been  succeeded  by
M'        prosaic  business  associations  such  as  the  Virginia  and  the

East  India  companies.
l.togovern-      8.  And  if  this  desire  of  wealth  has  led  to  the  formation  of
™aking  part  c°lorn'sing   companies,  it   has  also  been   the  motive  which

in  coloni-    beyond  others  has  induced  states  and  governments  to  take  a
sation  j  •

direct  part  in  conquest  or  settlement.
In  taking  and  holding  dependencies,  a  government  looks  to
the  material  advantages  to  be  derived  from  them  either  directly
or  indirectly  :  even  if  it  plants  a  purely  military  post,  its  object
in  so  doing  is  to  protect  and  consolidate  its  resources.
