 On a visit by Domagaya to the French fort, Cartier inquired and learned from him that a concoction made from a tree known as annedda, probably Spruce beer, or "arbor vitae," would cure scurvy.This remedy likely saved the expedition from destruction, allowing 85 Frenchmen to survive the winter.In his journal, Cartier states that by mid-February, "out of 110 that we were, not ten were well enough to help the others, a pitiful thing to see".