Lescarbot's history of de Monts' ventures in Acadia was original work. During his year at Port-Royal, he met the survivors of the short-lived settlement at Sainte-Croix; talked with François Gravé Du Pont, de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain, the promoters and members of the earlier expeditions; and visited old fishing captains, who knew Newfoundland and the Acadian coasts. His account was firsthand from what he had seen, or learned from those who had taken part in the events or witnessed them at first hand.