The Founder of New France : A Chronicle of Champlain

By Charles W. Colby

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Founder of New France: A Chronicle of
Champlain, by Charles W. Colby

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org


Title: The Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain
       Chronicles Of Canada, Volume 3 (Of 32)

Author: Charles W. Colby

Editor: George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton

Release Date: July, 2003  [Etext #4213]
Posting Date: December 13, 2009

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW FRANCE ***




Produced by Gardner Buchanan





THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE

A Chronicle of Champlain

By Charles W. Colby


CHRONICLES OF CANADA, Volume 3 (of 32)

Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton


TORONTO, 1915




CHAPTER I. CHAMPLAIN'S EARLY YEARS

Were there a 'Who's Who in History' its chronicle of Champlain's life
and deeds would run as follows:

Champlain, Samuel de. Explorer, geographer, and colonizer. Born in 1567
at Brouage, a village on the Bay of Biscay. Belonged by parentage to the
lesser gentry of Saintonge. In boyhood became imbued with a love of the
sea, but also served as a soldier in the Wars of the League. Though an
enthusiastic Catholic, was loyal to Henry of Navarre. On the Peace of
Vervins (1598) returned to the sea, visiting the Spanish West Indies and
Mexico. Between 1601 and 1603 wrote his first book--the Bref Discours.
In 1603 made his first voyage to the St Lawrence, which he ascended as
far as the Lachine Rapids. From 1604 to 1607 was actively engaged in the
attempt of De Monts to establish a French colony in Acadia, at the
same time exploring the seaboard from Cape Breton to Martha's Vineyard.
Returned to the St Lawrence in 1608 and founded Quebec. In 1609
discovered Lake Champlain, and fought his first battle with the
Iroquois. In 1613 ascended the Ottawa to a point above Lac Coulange. In
1615 reached Georgian Bay and was induced to accompany the Hurons, with
their allies, on an unsuccessful expedition into the country of the
Iroquois. From 1617 to 1629 occupied chiefly in efforts to strengthen
the colony at Quebec and promote trade on the lower St Lawrence. Taken
a captive to London by Kirke in 1629 upon the surrender of Quebec, but
after its recession to France returned (1633) and remained in Canada
until his death, on Christmas Day 1635. Published several important
narratives describing his explorations and adventures. An intrepid
pioneer and the revered founder of New France.

Into some such terms as these would the writer of a biographical
dictionary crowd his notice of Champlain's career, so replete with
danger and daring, with the excitement of sailing among the uncharted
islands of Penobscot Bay, of watching the sun descend below the waves of
Lake Huron, of attacking the Iroquois in their palisaded stronghold, of
seeing English cannon levelled upon the houses of Quebec. It is not from
a biographical dictionary that one can gain true knowledge of Champlain,
into whose experience were crowded so many novel sights and whose
soul was tested, year after year, by the ever-varying perils of
the wilderness. No life, it is true, can be fitly sketched in a
chronological abridgment, but history abounds with lives which, while
important, do not exact from a biographer the kind of detail that for
the actions of Champlain becomes priceless. Kant and Hegel were both
great forces in human thought, yet throughout eighty years Kant was
tethered to the little town of Konigsberg, and Hegel did not know what
the French were doing in Jena the day after there had been fought just
outside a battle which smote Prussia to her knees. The deeds of such men
are their thoughts, their books, and these do not make a story. The life
of Champlain is all story. The part of it which belongs to the Wars
of the League is lost to us from want of records. But fortunately we
possess in his Voyages the plain, direct narrative of his exploits in
America--a source from which all must draw who would know him well.

The method to be pursued in this book is not that of the critical essay.
Nor will these pages give an account of Champlain's times with reference
to ordinances regulating the fur trade, or to the policy of French kings
and their ministers towards emigration. Such subjects must be touched
on, but here it will be only incidentally. What may be taken to concern
us is the spirited action of Champlain's middle life--the period which
lies between his first voyage to the St Lawrence and his return from
the land of the Onondagas. Not that he had ended his work in 1616. The
unflagging efforts which he continued to put forth on behalf of the
starving colony at Quebec demand all praise. But the years during which
he was incessantly engaged in exploration show him at the height of his
powers, with health still unimpaired by exposure and with a soul that
courted the unknown. Moreover, this is the period for which we have his
own narrative in fullest detail.

Even were we seeking to set down every known fact regarding Champlain's
early life the task would not be long. Parkman, in referring to his
origin, styles him 'a Catholic gentleman,' with not even a footnote
regarding his parentage. [Footnote: It is hard to define Champlain's
social status in a single word. Parkman, besides styling him 'a Catholic
gentleman,' speaks of him elsewhere as being 'within the pale of the
noblesse.' On the other hand, the Biographie Saintongeoise says that he
came from a family of fishermen. The most important facts would seem
to be these. In Champlain's own marriage contract his father is styled
'Antoine de Champlain, Capitaine de la Marine.' The same document styles
Champlain himself 'Samuel de Champlain.' A petition in which he asks
for a continuation of his pension (circ. 1630) styles him in its opening
words 'Le Sieur de Champlain' and afterwards 'le dit sieur Champlain'
in two places, while in six places it styles him 'le dit sieur de
Champlain.' Le Jeune calls him 'Monsieur de Champlain.' It is clear that
he was not a noble. It is also clear that he possessed sufficient social
standing to warrant the use of de. On the title-page of all his
books after 1604 he is styled the 'Sieur de Champlain.'] Dionne, in a
biography of nearly three hundred pages, does indeed mention the names
of his father and mother, but dismisses his first twenty years in twenty
lines, which say little more than that he learned letters and religion
from the parish priest and a love of the sea from his father. Nor is it
easy to enlarge these statements unless one chooses to make guesses
as to whether or not Champlain's parents were Huguenots because he
was called Samuel, a favourite name with French Protestants. And this
question is not worth discussion, since no one has, or can, cast a doubt
upon the sincerity of his own devotion to the Catholic faith.

In short, Champlain by birth was neither a peasant nor a noble, but
issued from a middle-class family; and his eyes turned towards the
sea because his father was a mariner dwelling in the small seaport of
Brouage.

Thus when a boy Champlain doubtless had lessons in navigation, but he
did not become a sailor in the larger sense until he had first been a
soldier. His youth fell in the midst of the Catholic Revival, when the
Church of Rome, having for fifty years been sore beset by Lutherans and
Calvinists, began to display a reserve strength which enabled her to
reclaim from them a large part of the ground she had lost. But this
result was not gained without the bitterest and most envenomed struggle.
If doctrinal divergence had quickened human hatreds before the Council
of Trent, it drove them to fury during the thirty years that followed.
At the time of the Massacre of St Bartholomew Champlain was five years
old. He was seventeen when William the Silent was assassinated; twenty
when Mary Stuart was executed at Fotheringay; twenty-one when the
Spanish Armada sailed against England and when the Guises were murdered
at Blois by order of Henry III; twenty-two when Henry III himself fell
under the dagger of Jacques Clement. The bare enumeration of these
events shows that Champlain was nurtured in an age of blood and iron
rather than amid those humanitarian sentiments which prevail in an age
of religious toleration.

Finding his country a camp, or rather two camps, he became a soldier,
and fought for ten years in the wretched strife to which both Leaguers
and Huguenots so often sacrificed their love of country. With Henry
of Valois, Henry of Navarre, and Henry of Guise as personal foes and
political rivals, it was hard to know where the right line of faith and
loyalty lay; but Champlain was both a Catholic and a king's man,
for whom all things issued well when Henry of Navarre ceased to be a
heretic, giving France peace and a throne. It is unfortunate that the
details of these adventurous years in Champlain's early manhood should
be lost. Unassisted by wealth or rank, he served so well as to
win recognition from the king himself, but beyond the names of his
commanders (D'Aumont, St Luc, and Brissac) there is little to show the
nature of his exploits. [Footnote: He served chiefly in Brittany
against the Spanish allies of the League, and reached the rank of
quartermaster.] In any case, these ten years of campaigning were a good
school for one who afterwards was to look death in the face a thousand
times amidst the icebergs of the North Atlantic, and off the rocky coast
of Acadia, and in the forests of the Iroquois.

With such parentage and early experiences as have been indicated
Champlain entered upon his career in the New World. It is characteristic
that he did not leave the army until his services were no longer needed.
At the age of thirty-one he was fortunate enough to be freed from
fighting against his own countrymen. In 1598 was signed the Peace of
Vervins by which the enemies of Henry IV, both Leaguers and Spaniards,
acknowledged their defeat. To France the close of fratricidal strife
came as a happy release. To Champlain it meant also the dawn of a
career. Hastening to the coast, he began the long series of voyages
which was to occupy the remainder of his life. Indeed, the sea and what
lay beyond it were henceforth to be his life.

The sea, however, did not at once lead Champlain to New France.
Provencal, his uncle, held high employment in the Spanish fleet, and
through his assistance Champlain embarked at Blavet in Brittany for
Cadiz, convoying Spanish soldiers who had served with the League in
France. After three months at Seville he secured a Spanish commission as
captain of a ship sailing for the West Indies. Under this appointment
it was his duty to attend Don Francisco Colombo, who with an armada of
twenty galleons sailed in January 1599 to protect Porto Rico from the
English. In the maritime strife of Spain and England this expedition has
no part that remains memorable. For Champlain it meant a first command
at sea and a first glimpse of America.

The record of this voyage was an incident of no less importance in
Champlain's fortunes than the voyage itself. His cruisings in the
Spanish Main gave him material for a little book, the Bref Discours;
and the Bref Discours in turn advanced his career. Apart from any effect
which it may have had in securing for him the title of Geographer to the
King, it shows his own aspiration to be a geographer. Navigation can be
regarded either as a science or a trade. For Champlain it was plainly
a science, demanding care in observation and faithfulness of narrative.
The Bref Discours was written immediately upon his return from the
West Indies, while the events it describes were still fresh in mind.
Appearing at a time when colonial secrets were carefully guarded, it
gave France a glimpse of Spanish America from French eyes. For us it
preserves Champlain's impressions of Mexico, Panama, and the Antilles.
For Champlain himself it was a profession of faith, a statement that he
had entered upon the honourable occupation of navigator; in other words,
that he was to be classed neither with ship-captains nor with traders,
but with explorers and authors.

It was in March 1601 that Champlain reached France on his return from
the West Indies. The next two years he spent at home, occupied partly
with the composition of his Bref Discours and partly with the quest
of suitable employment. His avowed preference for the sea and the
reputation which he had already gained as a navigator left no doubt as
to the sphere of his future activities, but though eager to explore some
portion of America on behalf of the French crown, the question of
ways and means presented many difficulties. Chief among these was the
fickleness of the king. Henry IV had great political intelligence, and
moreover desired, in general, to befriend those who had proved loyal
during his doubtful days. His political sagacity should have led him
to see the value of colonial expansion, and his willingness to advance
faithful followers should have brought Champlain something better than
his pension and the title of Geographer. But the problems of France were
intricate, and what most appealed to the judgment of Henry was the need
of domestic reorganization after a generation of slaughter which had
left the land desolate. Hence, despite momentary impulses to vie with
Spain and England in oversea expansion, he kept to the path of caution,
avoiding any expenditure for colonies which could be made a drain
upon the treasury, and leaving individual pioneers to bear the cost of
planting his flag in new lands. In friendship likewise his good impulses
were subject to the vagaries of a mercurial temperament and a marked
willingness to follow the line of least resistance. In the circumstances
it is not strange that Champlain remained two years ashore.

The man to whom he owed most at this juncture was Aymar de Chastes.
Though Champlain had served the king faithfully, his youth and birth
prevented him from doing more than belongs to the duty of a subaltern.
But De Chastes, as governor of Dieppe, at a time when the League seemed
everywhere triumphant, gave Henry aid which proved to be the means of
raising him from the dust. It was a critical event for Champlain that
early in 1603 De Chastes had determined to fit out an expedition to
Canada. Piety and patriotism seem to have been his dominant motives, but
an opening for profit was also offered by a monopoly of the Laurentian
fur trade. During the civil wars Champlain's strength of character had
become known at first hand to De Chastes, who both liked and admired
him. Then, just at the right moment, he reached Fontainebleau, with his
good record as a soldier and the added prestige which had come to
him from his successful voyage to the West Indies. He and De Chastes
concluded an agreement, the king's assent was specially given, and
in the early spring of 1603 the founder of New France began his first
voyage to the St Lawrence.

Champlain was now definitely committed to the task of gaining for France
a foothold in North America. This was to be his steady purpose, whether
fortune frowned or smiled. At times circumstances seemed favourable; at
other times they were most disheartening. Hence, if we are to understand
his life and character, we must consider, however briefly, the
conditions under which he worked.

It cannot be said that Champlain was born out of his right time. His
active years coincide with the most important, most exciting period in
the colonial movement. At the outset Spain had gone beyond all rivals
in the race for the spoils of America. The first stage was marked by
unexampled and spectacular profits. The bullion which flowed from Mexico
and Peru was won by brutal cruelty to native races, but Europe accepted
it as wealth poured forth in profusion from the mines. Thus the first
conception of a colony was that of a marvellous treasure-house where
gold and silver lay piled up awaiting the arrival of a Cortez or a
Pizarro.

Unhappily disillusion followed. Within two generations from the time
of Columbus it became clear that America did not yield bonanza to every
adventurer. Yet throughout the sixteenth century there survived the
dream of riches to be quickly gained. Wherever the European landed
in America he looked first of all for mines, as Frobisher did on the
unpromising shores of Labrador. The precious metals proving illusive,
his next recourse was to trade. Hawkins sought his profit from slaves.
The French bought furs from the Indians at Tadoussac. Gosnold brought
back from Cape Cod a mixed cargo of sassafras and cedar.

But wealth from the mines and profits from a coasting trade were only a
lure to the cupidity of Europe. Real colonies, containing the germ of
a nation, could not be based on such foundations. Coligny saw this, and
conceived of America as a new home for the French race. Raleigh, the
most versatile of the Elizabethans, lavished his wealth on the patriotic
endeavour to make Virginia a strong and self-supporting community.
'I shall yet live to see it an English nation,' he wrote--at the very
moment when Champlain was first dreaming of the St Lawrence. Coligny and
Raleigh were both constructive statesmen. The one was murdered before he
could found such a colony as his thought presaged: the other perished
on the scaffold, though not before he had sowed the seed of an American
empire. For Raleigh was the first to teach that agriculture, not mines,
is the true basis of a colony. In itself his colony on Roanoke Island
was a failure, but the idea of Roanoke was Raleigh's greatest legacy to
the English race.

With the dawn of the seventeenth century events came thick and fast. It
was a time when the maritime states of Western Europe were all keenly
interested in America, without having any clear idea of the problem.
Raleigh, the one man who had a grasp of the situation, entered upon
his tragic imprisonment in the same year that Champlain made his first
voyage to the St Lawrence. But while thought was confused and policy
unsettled, action could no longer be postponed. The one fact which
England, France, and Holland could not neglect was that to the north of
Florida no European colony existed on the American coast. Urging each of
these states to establish settlements in a tract so vast and untenanted
was the double desire to possess and to prevent one's neighbour from
possessing. On the other hand, caution raised doubts as to the balance
of cost and gain. The governments were ready to accept the glory and
advantage, if private persons were prepared to take the risk. Individual
speculators, very conscious of the risk, demanded a monopoly of trade
before agreeing to plant a colony. But this caused new difficulty. The
moment a monopoly was granted, unlicensed traders raised an outcry and
upbraided the government for injustice.

Such were the problems upon the successful or unsuccessful solution of
which depended enormous national interests, and each country faced them
according to its institutions, rulers, and racial genius. It only needs
a table of events to show how fully the English, the French, and the
Dutch realized that something must be done. In 1600 Pierre Chauvin
landed sixteen French colonists at Tadoussac. On his return in 1601
he found that they had taken refuge with the Indians. In 1602 Gosnold,
sailing from Falmouth, skirted the coast of Norumbega from Casco Bay to
Cuttyhunk. In 1603 the ships of De Chastes, with Champlain aboard, spent
the summer in the St Lawrence; while during the same season Martin Pring
took a cargo of sassafras in Massachusetts Bay. From 1604. to 1607 the
French under De Monts, Poutrincourt, and Champlain were actively engaged
in the attempt to colonize Acadia. But they were not alone in setting
up claims to this region. In 1605 Waymouth, sailing from Dartmouth,
explored the mouth of the Kennebec and carried away five natives. In
1606 James I granted patents to the London Company and the Plymouth
Company which, by their terms, ran athwart the grant of Henry IV to De
Monts. In the same year Sir Ferdinando Gorges sent Pring once more to
Norumbega. In 1607 Raleigh, Gilbert, and George Popham made a small
settlement at the mouth of the Sagadhoc, where Popham died during the
winter. As a result of his death this colony on the coast of Maine was
abandoned, but 1607 also saw the memorable founding of Jamestown in
Virginia. Equally celebrated is Champlain's founding of Quebec in 1608.
In 1609 the Dutch under an English captain, Henry Hudson, had their
first glimpse of Manhattan.

This catalogue of voyages shows that an impulse existed which
governments could not ignore. The colonial movement was far from being a
dominant interest with Henry IV or James I, but when their subjects
saw fit to embark upon it privately, the crown was compelled to take
cognizance of their acts and frame regulations. 'Go, and let whatever
good may, come of it!' exclaimed Robert de Baudricourt as Joan of Arc
rode forth from Vaucouleurs to liberate France. In much the same spirit
Henry IV saw De Monts set sail for Acadia. The king would contribute
nothing from the public purse or from his own. Sully, his prime
minister, vigorously opposed colonizing because he wished to concentrate
effort upon domestic improvements. He believed, in the second place,
that there was no hope of creating a successful colony north of the
fortieth parallel. Thirdly, he was in the pay of the Dutch.

The most that Henry IV would do for French pioneers in America was to
give them a monopoly of trade in return for an undertaking to transport
and establish colonists. In each case where a monopoly was granted the
number of colonists was specified. As for their quality, convicts could
be taken if more eligible candidates were not forthcoming. The sixty
unfortunates landed by La Roche on Sable Island in 1598 were all
convicts or sturdy vagrants. Five years later only eleven were left
alive.

For the story of Champlain it is not necessary to touch upon the
relations of the French government with traders at a date earlier than
1599. Immediately following the failure of La Roche's second expedition,
Pierre Chauvin of Honfleur secured a monopoly which covered the
Laurentian fur trade for ten years. The condition was that he should
convey to Canada fifty colonists a year throughout the full period of
his grant. So far from carrying out this agreement either in spirit
or letter, he shirked it without compunction. After three years the
monopoly was withdrawn, less on the ground that he had failed to fulfil
his contract than from an outcry on the part of merchants who desired
their share of the trade. To adjudicate between Chauvin and his rivals
in St Malo and Rouen a commission was appointed at the close of 1602.
Its members were De Chastes, governor of Dieppe, and the Sieur de
la Cour, first president of the Parlement of Normandy. On their
recommendation the terms of the monopoly were so modified as to admit to
a share in the privilege certain leading merchants of Rouen and St Malo,
who, however, must pay their due share in the expenses of colonizing.
Before the ships sailed in 1603 Chauvin had died, and De Chastes at once
took his place as the central figure in the group of those to whom a new
monopoly had just been conceded.

[Footnote: The history of all the companies formed during these years
for trade in New France is the same. First a monopoly is granted under
circumstances ostensibly most favourable to the Government and to the
privileged merchants; then follow the howls of the excluded traders, the
lack of good voluntary colonists, the transportation to the colony of
a few beggars, criminals, or unpromising labourers; a drain on the
company's funds in maintaining these during the long winter; a steady
decrease in the number taken out; at length no attempt to fulfil this
condition of the monopoly; the anger of the Government when made aware
of the facts; and finally the sudden repeal of the monopoly several
years before its legal termination.--H. P. Biggar, 'Early Trading
Companies of New France,' p. 49.]

We are now on the threshold of Champlain's career, but only on the
threshold. The voyage of 1603, while full of prophecy and presenting
features of much interest, lacks the arduous and constructive quality
which was to mark his greater explorations. In 1603 the two boats
equipped by De Chastes were under the command of Pontgrave [Footnote:
Francois Grave, Sieur du Pont, whose name, strictly speaking,
is Dupont-Grave, one of the most active French navigators of the
seventeenth century. From 1600 to 1629 his voyages to the St Lawrence
and Acadia were incessant.] and Prevert, both mariners from St Malo.
Champlain sailed in Pontgrave's ship and was, in fact, a superior
type of supercargo. De Chastes desired that his expedition should be
self-supporting, and the purchase of furs was never left out of sight.
At the same time, his purpose was undoubtedly wider than profit, and
Champlain represented the extra-commercial motive. While Pontgrave was
trading with the Indians, Champlain, as the geographer, was collecting
information about their character, their customs, and their country.
Their religious ideas interested him much, and also their statements
regarding the interior of the continent. Such data as he could collect
between the end of May and the middle of August he embodied in a book
called Des Sauvages, which, true to its title, deals chiefly with Indian
life and is a valuable record, although in many regards superseded by
the more detailed writings of the Jesuits.

The voyage of 1603 added nothing material to what had been made known by
Jacques Cartier and the fur traders about Canada. Champlain ascended
the St Lawrence to the Sault St Louis [Footnote: Now called the Lachine
Rapids. An extremely important point in the history of New France, since
it marked the head of ship navigation on the St Lawrence. Constantly
mentioned in the writings of Champlain's period.] and made two side
excursions--one taking him rather less than forty miles up the Saguenay
and the other up the Richelieu to the rapid at St Ours. He also visited
Gaspe, passed the Isle Percee, had his first glimpse of the Baie des
Chaleurs, and returned to Havre with a good cargo of furs. On the whole,
it was a profitable and satisfactory voyage. Though it added little to
geographical knowledge, it confirmed the belief that money could be made
in the fur trade, and the word brought back concerning the Great Lakes
of the interior was more distinct than had before been reported. The one
misfortune of the expedition was that its author, De Chastes, did not
live to see its success. He had died less than a month before his ships
reached Havre.



CHAPTER II. CHAMPLAIN IN ACADIA

[Footnote: This word (Acadia) has sometimes been traced to the Micmac
akade, which, appended to place-names, signifies an abundance of
something. More probably, however, it is a corruption of Arcadia. The
Acadia of De Monts' grant in 1604 extended from the parallel of 40
degrees to that of 46 degrees north latitude, but in the light of actual
occupation the term can hardly be made to embrace more than the coast
from Cape Breton to Penobscot Bay.]

The early settlements of the French in America were divided into two
zones by the Gulf of St Lawrence. Considered from the standpoint of
colonization, this great body of water has a double aspect. In the main
it was a vestibule to the vast region which extended westward from Gaspe
to Lake Michigan and thence to the Mississippi. But while a highway it
was also a barrier, cutting off Acadia from the main route that led
to the heart of the interior. Port Royal, on the Bay of Fundy, was one
centre and Quebec another. Between them stretched either an impenetrable
wilderness or an inland sea. Hence Acadia remained separate from the
Laurentian valley, which was the heart of Canada--although Acadia and
Canada combined to form New France. Of these two sister districts Canada
was the more secure. The fate of Acadia shows how much less vulnerable
to English attack were Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal than the
seaboard settlements of Port Royal, Grand Pre, and Louisbourg.

It is a striking fact that Champlain had helped to found Port
Royal before he founded Quebec. He was not the pioneer of Acadian
colonization: De Monts deserves the praise of turning the first sod. But
Champlain was a leading figure in the hard fight at St Croix and Port
Royal; he it was who first charted in any detail the Atlantic seaboard
from Cape Breton to Cape Cod; and his narrative joins with that of
Lescarbot to preserve the story of the episode.

Although unprosperous, the first attempt of the French to colonize
Acadia is among the bright deeds of their colonial history. While the
death of De Chastes was most inopportune, the future of the French race
in America did not hinge upon any one man. In 1603 fishing on the Grand
Bank off Newfoundland was a well-established occupation of Normans and
Bretons, the fur trade held out hope of great profit, and the spirit of
national emulation supplied a motive which was stronger still. Hence it
is not surprising that to De Chastes there at once succeeds De Monts.

As regards position they belonged to much the same class. Both were
men of standing, with enough capital and influence to organize an
expedition. In respect, however, of personality and circumstance there
were differences. By reason of advanced age De Chastes had been unable
to accompany his ships, whereas De Monts was in his prime and had
already made a voyage to the St Lawrence. Moreover, De Monts was a
Huguenot. A generation later no Huguenot could have expected to receive
a monopoly of the fur trade and a royal commission authorizing him to
establish settlements, but Henry IV, who had once been a Protestant,
could hardly treat his old co-religionists as Richelieu afterwards
treated them. The heresy of its founder was a source of weakness to
the first French colony in Acadia, yet through a Calvinist it came into
being.

Like De Chastes, De Monts had associates who joined with him to supply
the necessary funds, though in 1604. the investment was greater than on
any previous occasion, and a larger number were admitted to the benefits
of the monopoly. Not only did St Malo and Rouen secure recognition, but
La Rochelle and St Jean de Luz were given a chance to participate. De
Monts' company had a capital of 90,000 livres, divided in shares--of
which two-fifths were allotted to St Malo, two-fifths to La Rochelle
and St Jean de Luz conjointly, and the remainder to Rouen. The personal
investment of De Monts was somewhat more than a tenth of the total, as
he took a majority of the stock which fell to Rouen. Apart from Sully's
unfriendliness, the chief initial difficulty arose over religion. The
Parlement of Normandy refused to register De Monts' commission on the
ground that the conversion of the heathen could not fitly be left to
a heretic. This remonstrance was only withdrawn after the king had
undertaken to place the religious instruction of the Indians in the
charge of priests--a promise which did not prevent the Protestant
colonists from having their own pastor. The monopoly contained wider
privileges than before, including both Acadia and the St Lawrence. At
the same time, the obligation to colonize became more exacting, since
the minimum number of new settlers per annum was raised from fifty to a
hundred.

Champlain's own statement regarding the motive of De Monts' expedition
is that it lay in the desire 'to find a northerly route to China, in
order to facilitate commerce with the Orientals.' After reciting a
list of explorations which began with John Cabot and had continued at
intervals during the next century, he continues: 'So many voyages and
discoveries without results, and attended with so much hardship and
expense, have caused us French in late years to attempt a permanent
settlement in those lands which we call New France, in the hope of thus
realizing more easily this object; since the voyage in search of the
desired passage commences on the other side of the ocean and is made
along the coast of this region.'

A comparison of the words just quoted with the text of De Monts'
commission will serve to illustrate the strength of Champlain's
geographical instinct. The commission begins with a somewhat stereotyped
reference to the conversion of the heathen, after which it descants upon
commerce, colonies, and mines. The supplementary commission to De Monts
from Montmorency as Lord High Admiral adds a further consideration,
namely, that if Acadia is not occupied by the French it will be seized
upon by some other nation. Not a word of the route to the East occurs
in either commission, and De Monts is limited in the powers granted to a
region extending along the American seaboard from the fortieth parallel
to the forty-sixth, with as much of the interior 'as he is able to
explore and colonize.'

This shows that, while the objects of the expedition were commercial
and political, Champlain's imagination was kindled by the prospect of
finding the long-sought passage to China. To his mind a French colony in
America is a stepping-stone, a base of operations for the great quest.
De Monts himself doubtless sought honour, adventure, and profit--the
profit which might arise from possessing Acadia and controlling the fur
trade in 'the river of Canada.' Champlain remains the geographer, and
his chief contribution to the Acadian enterprise will be found in
that part of his Voyages which describes his study of the coast-line
southward from Cape Breton to Malabar.

But whether considered from the standpoint of exploration or settlement,
the first chapter of French annals in Acadia is a fine incident.
Champlain has left the greatest fame, but he was not alone during
these years of peril and hardship. With him are grouped De Monts,
Poutrincourt, Lescarbot, Pontgrave, and Louis Hebert, all men of
capacity and enterprise, whose part in this valiant enterprise lent it a
dignity which it has never since lost. As yet no English colony had
been established in America. Under his commission De Monts could have
selected for the site of his settlement either New York or Providence or
Boston or Portland. The efforts of the French in America from 1604. to
1607 are signalized by the character of their leaders, the nature of
their opportunity, and the special causes which prevented them from
taking possession of Norumbega.

[Footnote: There appears in Verrazano's map of 1529 the word Aranbega,
as attached to a small district on the Atlantic seaboard. Ten years
later Norumbega has become a region which takes in the whole coast from
Cape Breton to Florida. At intervals throughout the sixteenth century
fables were told in Europe of its extraordinary wealth, and it was not
till the time of Champlain that this myth was exposed. Champlain himself
identifies 'the great river of Norumbega' with the Penobscot.]

De Monts lacked neither courage nor persistence. His battle against
heartbreaking disappointments shows him to have been a pioneer of
high order. And with him sailed in 1604 Jean de Biencourt, Seigneur de
Poutrincourt, whose ancestors had been illustrious in Picardy for
five hundred years. Champlain made a third, joining the expedition as
geographer rather than shipmaster. Lescarbot and Hebert came two years
later.

The company left Havre in two ships--on March 7, 1604, according to
Champlain, or just a month later, according to Lescarbot. Although De
Monts' commission gave him the usual privilege of impressing convicts,
the personnel of his band was far above the average. Champlain's
statement is that it comprised about one hundred and twenty artisans,
and there were also 'a large number of gentlemen, of whom not a few
were of noble birth.' Besides the excitement provided by icebergs, the
arguments of priest and pastor diversified the voyage, even to the point
of scandal. After crossing the Grand Bank in safety they were nearly
wrecked off Sable Island, but succeeded in reaching the Acadian coast on
May 8. From their landfall at Cap de la Heve they skirted the coast-line
to Port Mouton, confiscating en route a ship which was buying furs in
defiance of De Monts' monopoly.

Rabbits and other game were found in abundance at Port Mouton, but the
spot proved quite unfit for settlement, and on May 19 De Monts charged
Champlain with the task of exploring the coast in search of harbours.
Taking a barque of eight tons and a crew of ten men (together with
Ralleau, De Monts' secretary), Champlain set out upon this important
reconnaissance. Fish, game, good soil, good timber, minerals, and safe
anchorage were all objects of search. Skirting the south-western corner
of Nova Scotia, the little ship passed Cape Sable and the Tusquet
Islands, turned into the Bay of Fundy, and advanced to a point somewhat
beyond the north end of Long Island. Champlain gives at considerable
length the details of his first excursion along the Acadian seaboard.
In his zeal for discovery he caused those left at Port Mouton both
inconvenience and anxiety. Lescarbot says, with a touch of sharpness:
'Champlain was such a time away on this expedition that when
deliberating about their return [to France] they thought of leaving
him behind.' Champlain's own statement is that at Port Mouton 'Sieur de
Monts was awaiting us from day to day, thinking only of our long stay
and whether some accident had not befallen us.'

De Monts' position at Port Mouton was indeed difficult. By changing his
course in mid-ocean he had missed rendezvous with the larger of his two
ships, which under the command of Pontgrave looked for him in vain from
Canseau to the Bay of Islands. Meanwhile, at Port Mouton provisions were
running low, save for rabbits, which could not be expected to last for
ever. The more timid raised doubts and spoke of France, but De Monts and
Poutrincourt both said they would rather die than go back. In this mood
the party continued to hunt rabbits, to search the coast north-easterly
for Pontgrave, and to await Champlain's return. Their courage had its
reward. Pontgrave's ship was found, De Monts revictualled, Champlain
reappeared, and by the middle of June the little band of Colonists was
ready to proceed.

As De Monts heads south-west from Port Mouton it is difficult to avoid
thoughts regarding the ultimate destiny of France in the New World.
This was the predestined moment. The Wars of Religion had ended in the
reunion of the realm under a strong and popular king. The French nation
was conscious of its greatness, and seemed ready for any undertaking
that promised honour or advantage. The Huguenots were a sect whose
members possessed Calvinistic firmness of will, together with a special
motive for emigrating. And, besides, the whole eastern coast of America,
within the temperate zone, was still to be had for the taking. With such
a magnificent opportunity, why was the result so meagre?

A complete answer to this query would lead us far afield, but the
whole history of New France bears witness to the fact that the cause of
failure is not to be found in the individual French emigrant. There
have never been more valiant or tenacious colonists than the peasants
of Normandy who cleared away the Laurentian wilderness and explored the
recesses of North America. France in the age of De Monts and Champlain
possessed adequate resources, if only her effort had been concentrated
on America, or if the Huguenots had not been prevented from founding
colonies, or if the crown had been less meddlesome, or if the quest of
beaver skins farther north had not diverted attention from Chesapeake
Bay and Manhattan Island. The best chance the French ever had to effect
a foothold in the middle portion of the Atlantic coast came to them in
1604, when, before any rivals had established themselves, De Monts
was at hand for the express purpose of founding a colony. It is quite
probable that even if he had landed on Manhattan Island, the European
preoccupations of France would have prevented Henry IV from supporting
a colony at that point with sufficient vigour to protect it from the
English. Yet the most striking aspect of De Monts' attempt in Acadia is
the failure to seize a chance which never came again to the French race.
In 1607 Champlain sailed away from Port Royal and the English founded
Jamestown. In 1608 Champlain founded Quebec, and thenceforth for over a
century the efforts of France were concentrated on the St Lawrence.
When at length she founded Louisbourg it was too late; by that time the
English grasp upon the coast could not be loosened.

Meanwhile De Monts, to whom the future was veiled, left Port Mouton and,
creeping from point to point, entered the Bay of Fundy--or, as Champlain
calls it, 'the great Baye Francoise, so named by Sieur de Monts.' The
month was June, but no time could be lost, for at this juncture the aim
of exploration was the discovery of a suitable site, and after the site
had been fixed the colonists needed what time remained before winter
to build their houses. Hence De Monts' first exploration of the Baye
Francoise was not exhaustive. He entered Annapolis Basin and glanced at
the spot which afterwards was to be Port Royal. He tried in vain to find
a copper-mine of which he had heard from Prevert of St Malo. He coasted
the Bay of St John, and on June 25 reached St Croix Island. 'Not finding
any more suitable place than this island,' says Champlain, the leaders
of the colony decided that it should be fortified: and thus was the
French flag unfurled in Acadia.

The arrangement of the settlement at St Croix was left to Champlain,
who gives us a drawing in explanation of his plan. The selection of an
island was mainly due to distrust of the Indians, with whom, however,
intercourse was necessary. The island lay close to the mouth of a river,
now also called the St Croix. As the choice of this spot proved most
unfortunate, it is well to remember the motives which prevailed at the
time. 'Vessels could pass up the river,' says Champlain, 'only at the
mercy of the cannon on this island, and we deemed the location most
advantageous, not only on account of its situation and good soil, but
also on account of the intercourse which we proposed with the savages of
these coasts and of the interior, as we should be in the midst of them.
We hoped to pacify them in course of time and put an end to the wars
which they carry on with one another, so as to derive service from them
in future and convert them to the Christian faith.'

De Monts' band was made up largely of artisans, who at once began with
vigour to erect dwellings. A mill and an oven were built; gardens
were laid out and many seeds planted therein. The mosquitoes proved
troublesome, but in other respects the colonists had good cause to be
pleased with their first Acadian summer. So far had construction work
advanced by the beginning of autumn that De Monts decided to send an
exploration party farther along the coast to the south-west. 'And,'
says Champlain, 'he entrusted me with this work, which I found very
agreeable.'

The date of departure from St Croix was September 2, so that no very
ambitious programme of discovery could be undertaken before bad weather
began. In a boat of eighteen tons, with twelve sailors and two Indian
guides, Champlain threaded the maze of islands which lies between
Passamaquoddy Bay and the mouth of the Penobscot. The most striking part
of the coast was Mount Desert, 'very high and notched in places, so that
there is the appearance to one at sea as of seven or eight mountains
extending along near each other.' To this island and the Isle au Haut
Champlain gave the names they have since borne. Thence advancing,
with his hand ever on the lead, he reached the mouth of the Penobscot,
despite those 'islands, rocks, shoals, banks, and breakers which are so
numerous on all sides that it is marvellous to behold.' Having
satisfied himself that the Penobscot was none other than the great river
Norumbega, referred to largely on hearsay by earlier geographers, he
followed it up almost to Bangor. On regaining the sea he endeavoured to
reach the mouth of the Kennebec, but when within a few miles of it was
driven back to St Croix by want of food. In closing the story of this
voyage, which had occupied a month, Champlain says with his usual
directness: 'The above is an exact statement of all I have observed
respecting not only the coasts and people, but also the river of
Norumbega; and there are none of the marvels there which some persons
have described. I am of opinion that this region is as disagreeable in
winter as that of our settlement, in which we were greatly deceived.'

Champlain was now to undergo his first winter in Acadia, and no part of
his life could have been more wretched than the ensuing eight months.
On October 6 the snow came. On December 3 cakes of ice began to appear
along the shore. The storehouse had no cellar, and all liquids froze
except sherry. 'Cider was served by the pound. We were obliged to
use very bad water and drink melted snow, as there were no springs or
brooks.' It was impossible to keep warm or to sleep soundly. The food
was salt meat and vegetables, which impaired the strength of every
one and brought on scurvy. It is unnecessary to cite here Champlain's
detailed and graphic description of this dreadful disease. The results
are enough. Before the spring came two-fifths of the colonists had
died, and of those who remained half were on the point of death. Not
unnaturally, 'all this produced discontent in Sieur de Monts and others
of the settlement.'

The survivors of the horrible winter at St Croix were not freed from
anxiety until June 15, 1605, when Pontgrave, six weeks late, arrived
with fresh stores. Had De Monts been faint-hearted, he doubtless would
have seized this opportunity to return to France. As it was, he set out
in search of a place more suitable than St Croix for the establishment
of his colony, On June 18, with a party which included twenty sailors
and several gentlemen, he and Champlain began a fresh voyage to the
south-west. Their destination was the country of the Armouchiquois, an
Algonquin tribe who then inhabited Massachusetts.

Champlain's story of his first voyage from Acadia to Cape Cod is given
with considerable fulness. The topography of the seaboard and its
natural history, the habits of the Indians and his adventures with them,
were all new subjects at the time, and he treats them so that they keep
their freshness. He is at no pains to conceal his low opinion of the
coast savages. Concerning the Acadian Micmacs he says little, but what
he does say is chiefly a comment upon the wretchedness of their life
during the winter. As he went farther south he found an improvement in
the food supply. At the mouth of the Saco he and De Monts saw well-kept
patches of Indian corn three feet high, although it was not yet
midsummer. Growing with the corn were beans, pumpkins, and squashes,
all in flower; and the cultivation of tobacco is also noted. Here the
savages formed a permanent settlement and lived within a palisade. Still
farther south, in the neighbourhood of Cape Cod, Champlain found maize
five and a half feet high, a considerable variety of squashes, tobacco,
and edible roots which tasted like artichokes.

But whether the coast Indians were Micmacs or Armouchiquois, whether
they were starving or well fed, Champlain tells us little in their
praise. Of the Armouchiquois he says:

   I cannot tell what government they have, but I think
   that in this respect they resemble their neighbours,
   who have none at all. They know not how to worship or
   pray; yet, like the other savages, they have some
   superstitions, which I shall describe in their place.
   As for weapons, they have only pikes, clubs, bows and
   arrows. It would seem from their appearance that they
   have a good disposition, better than those of the
   north, but they are all in fact of no great worth.
   Even a slight intercourse with them gives you at once
   a knowledge of them. They are great thieves, and if
   they cannot lay hold of any thing with their hands,
   they try to do so with their feet, as we have oftentimes
   learned by experience. I am of opinion that if they
   had any thing to exchange with us they would not give
   themselves to thieving. They bartered away to us their
   bows, arrows, and quivers for pins and buttons; and
   if they had had any thing else better they would have
   done the same with it. It is necessary to be on one's
   guard against this people and live in a state of
   distrust of them, yet without letting them perceive it.

This passage at least shows that Champlain sought to be just to the
savages of the Atlantic. Though he found them thieves, he is willing to
conjecture that they would not steal if they had anything to trade.

The thieving habits of the Cape Cod Indians led to a fight between them
and the French in which one Frenchman was killed, and Champlain narrowly
escaped death through the explosion of his own musket. At Cape Cod De
Monts turned back. Five of the six weeks allotted to the voyage were
over, and lack of food made it impossible to enter Long Island Sound.
Hence 'Sieur de Monts determined to return to the Island of St Croix in
order to find a place more favourable for our settlement, as we had not
been able to do on any of the coasts which he had explored during this
voyage.'

We now approach the picturesque episode of Port Royal. De Monts,
having regained St Croix at the beginning of August, lost no time in
transporting his people to the other side of the Bay of Fundy.
The consideration which weighed most with him in establishing his
headquarters was that of trade. Whatever his own preferences, he could
not forget that his partners in France expected a return on their
investment. Had he been in a position to found an agricultural colony,
the maize fields he had seen to the south-west might have proved
attractive. But he depended largely upon trade, and, as Champlain points
out, the savages of Massachusetts had nothing to sell. Hence it was
unwise to go too far from the peltries of the St Lawrence. To find a
climate less severe than that of Canada, without losing touch with the
fur trade, was De Monts' problem. No one could dream of wintering again
at St Croix, and in the absence of trade possibilities to the south
there seemed but one alternative--Port Royal.

In his notice of De Monts' cruise along the Bay of Fundy in June
1604, Champlain says: 'Continuing two leagues farther on in the same
direction, we entered one of the finest harbours I had seen all along
these coasts, in which two thousand vessels might lie in security. The
entrance is 800 paces broad; then you enter a harbour two leagues
long and one broad, which I have named Port Royal.' Here Champlain is
describing Annapolis Basin, which clearly made a deep impression upon
the minds of the first Europeans who saw it. Most of all did it appeal
to the imagination of Poutrincourt, who had come to Acadia for the
purpose of discovering a spot where he could found his own colony. At
sight of Port Royal he had at once asked De Monts for the grant, and
on receiving it had returned to France, at the end of August 1604, to
recruit colonists. Thus he had escaped the horrible winter at St Croix,
but on account of lawsuits it had proved impossible for him to return
to Acadia in the following year. Hence the noble roadstead of Port Royal
was still unoccupied when De Monts, Champlain, and Pontgrave took the
people of St Croix thither in August 1605. Not only did the people go.
Even the framework of the houses was shipped across the bay and set up
in this haven of better hope.

The spot chosen for the settlement lay on the north side of the bay. It
had a good supply of water, and there was protection from the north-west
wind which had tortured the settlers at St Croix. 'After everything
had been arranged,' says Champlain, 'and the majority of the dwellings
built, Sieur de Monts determined to return to France, in order to
petition His Majesty to grant him all that might be necessary for his
undertaking.' Quite apart from securing fresh advantages, De Monts at
this time was sore pressed to defend his title against the traders who
were clamouring for a repeal of the monopoly. With him returned some of
the colonists whose ambition had been satisfied at St Croix. Champlain
remained, in the hope of making further explorations 'towards Florida.'
Pontgrave was left in command. The others numbered forty-three.

During the autumn they began to make gardens. 'I also,' says Champlain,
'for the sake of occupying my time made one, which was surrounded with
ditches full of water, in which I placed some fine trout, and into which
flowed three brooks of very fine running water, from which the greater
part of our settlement was supplied. I made also a little sluice-way
towards the shore, in order to draw off the water when I wished.
This spot was entirely surrounded by meadows, where I constructed a
summer-house, with some fine trees, as a resort for enjoying the fresh
air. I made there, also, a little reservoir for holding salt-water fish,
which we took out as we wanted them. I took especial pleasure in it and
planted there some seeds which turned out well. But much work had to be
laid out in preparation. We resorted often to this place as a pastime;
and it seemed as if the little birds round took pleasure in it, for they
gathered there in large numbers, warbling and chirping so pleasantly
that I think I have never heard the like.'

After a busy and cheerful autumn came a mild winter. The snow did not
fall till December 20, and there was much rain. Scurvy still caused
trouble; but though twelve died, the mortality was not so high as at St
Croix. Everything considered, Port Royal enjoyed good fortune--according
to the colonial standards of the period, when a winter death-rate of
twenty-six per cent was below the average.

At the beginning of March 1606 Pontgrave fitted out a barque of eighteen
tons in order to undertake 'a voyage of discovery along the coast of
Florida'; and on the 16th of the month a start was made. Favoured by
good weather, he and Champlain would have reached the Hudson three
years before the Dutch. But, short of drowning, every possible mischance
happened. They had hardly set out when a storm cast them ashore near
Grand Manan. Having repaired the damage they made for St Croix, where
fog and contrary winds held them back eight days. Then Pontgrave decided
to return to Port Royal 'to see in what condition our companions were
whom we had left there sick.' On their arrival Pontgrave himself was
taken ill, but soon re-embarked, though still unwell. Their second start
was followed by immediate disaster. Leaving the mouth of the harbour,
two leagues distant from Port Royal, they were carried out of the
channel by the tide and went aground. 'At the first blow of our boat
upon the rocks the rudder broke, a part of the keel and three or four
planks were smashed and some ribs stove in, which frightened us, for our
barque filled immediately; and all that we could do was to wait until
the sea fell, so that we might get ashore... Our barque, all shattered
as she was, went to pieces at the return of the tide. But we, most happy
at having saved our lives, returned to our settlement with our poor
savages; and we praised God for having rescued us from this shipwreck,
from which we had not expected to escape so easily.'

This accident destroyed all hope of exploration to the southward until
word came from France. At the time of De Monts' departure the outlook
had been so doubtful that a provisional arrangement was made for the
return of the colonists to France should no ship arrive at Port Royal
by the middle of July. In this event Pontgrave was to take his people
to Cape Breton or Gaspe, where they would find trading ships homeward
bound. As neither De Monts nor Poutrincourt had arrived by the middle of
June, a new barque was built to replace the one which had been lost on
April 10. A month later Pontgrave carried out his part of the programme
by putting aboard all the inhabitants of Port Royal save two, who were
induced by promise of extra pay to remain in charge of the stores.

Thus sorrowfully the remnant of the colonists bade farewell to the
beautiful harbour and their new home. Four days later they were nearly
lost through the breaking of their rudder in the midst of a tempest.
Having been saved from wreck by the skill of their shipmaster,
Champdore, they reached Cape Sable on July 24. Here grief became
rejoicing, for to their complete surprise they encountered Ralleau, De
Monts' secretary, coasting along in a shallop. The glad tidings he gave
them was that Poutrincourt with a ship of one hundred and twenty tons
had arrived. From Canseau the Jonas had taken an outer course to Port
Royal, while Ralleau was keeping close to the shore in the hope of
intercepting Pontgrave. 'All this intelligence,' says Champlain, 'caused
us to turn back; and we arrived at Port Royal on the 25th of the month,
where we found the above-mentioned vessel and Sieur de Poutrincourt, and
were greatly delighted to see realized what we had given up in despair.'
Lescarbot, who arrived on board the Jonas, adds the following detail:
'M. de Poutrincourt ordered a tun of wine to be set upon end, one of
those which had been given him for his proper use, and gave leave to all
comers to drink freely as long as it lasted, so that there were some who
made gay dogs of themselves.'

Wine-bibbing, however, was not the chief activity of Port Royal.
Poutrincourt at once set men to work on the land, and while they were
sowing wheat, rye, and hemp he hastened preparations for an autumn
cruise 'along the coast of Florida.' On September 5 all was ready for
this voyage, which was to be Champlain's last opportunity of reaching
the lands beyond Cape Cod. Once more disappointment awaited him. 'It was
decided,' he says, 'to continue the voyage along the coast, which
was not a very well considered conclusion, since we lost much time in
passing over again the discoveries made by Sieur de Monts as far as the
harbour of Mallebarre. It would have been much better, in my opinion, to
cross from where we were directly to Mallebarre, the route being already
known, and then use our time in exploring as far as the fortieth degree,
or still farther south, revisiting upon our homeward voyage the entire
coast at pleasure.'

In the interest of geographical research and French colonization
Champlain was doubtless right. Unfortunately, Poutrincourt wished to
see for himself what De Monts and Champlain had already seen. It was the
more unfortunate that he held this view, as the boats were victualled
for over two months, and much could have been done by taking a direct
course to Cape Cod. Little time, however, was spent at the Penobscot
and Kennebec. Leaving St Croix on September 12, Poutrincourt reached the
Saco on the 21st. Here and at points farther south he found ripe grapes,
together with maize, pumpkins, squashes, and artichokes. Gloucester
Harbour pleased Champlain greatly. 'In this very pleasant place we saw
two hundred savages, and there are here a large number of very fine
walnut trees, cypresses, sassafras, oaks, ashes and beeches....There are
likewise fine meadows capable of supporting a large number of cattle.'
So much was he charmed with this harbour and its surroundings that he
called it Le Beauport. After tarrying at Gloucester two or three days
Poutrincourt reached Cape Cod on October 2, and on the 20th he stood off
Martha's Vineyard, his farthest point.

Champlain's chronicle of this voyage contains more detail regarding the
Indians than will be found in any other part of his Acadian narratives.
Chief among Poutrincourt's adventures was an encounter with the natives
of Cape Cod. Unlike the Micmacs, the Armouchiquois were 'not so much
hunters as good fishermen and tillers of the land.' Their numbers also
were greater; in fact, Champlain speaks of seeing five or six hundred
together. At first they did not interfere with Poutrincourt's movements,
even permitting him to roam their land with a body of arquebusiers.
After a fortnight, however, their suspicions began to become manifest,
and on October 15 four hundred savages set upon five Frenchmen who,
contrary to orders, had remained ashore. Four were killed, and although
a rescue party set out at once from the barque, the natives made their
escape.

   To pursue them was fruitless, for they are marvellously
   swift. All that we could do was to carry away the dead
   bodies and bury them near a cross which had been set
   up the day before, and then to go here and there to
   see if we could get sight of any of them. But it was
   time wasted, therefore we came back. Three hours
   afterwards they returned to us on the sea-shore. We
   discharged at them several shots from our little brass
   cannon, and when they heard the noise they crouched
   down on the ground to escape the fire. In mockery of
   us they pulled down the cross and disinterred the
   dead, which displeased us greatly and caused us to go
   for them a second time; but they fled, as they had
   done before. We set up again the cross and reinterred
   the dead, whom they had thrown here and there amid
   the heath, where they kindled a fire to burn them. We
   returned without any result, as we had done before,
   well aware that there was scarcely hope of avenging
   ourselves this time, and that we should have to renew
   the undertaking when it should please God.

With a desire for revenge was linked the practical consideration
that slaves would prove useful at Port Royal. A week later the French
returned to the same place, 'resolved to get possession of some savages
and, taking them to our settlement, put them to grinding corn at the
hand-mill, as punishment for the deadly assault which they had committed
on five or six of our company.' As relations were strained, it became
necessary to offer beads and gewgaws, with every show of good faith.
Champlain describes the plan in full. The shallop was to leave the
barque for shore, taking

   the most robust and strong men we had, each one having
   a chain of beads and a fathom of match on his arm;
   and there, while pretending to smoke with them (each
   one having an end of his match lighted so as not to
   excite suspicion, it being customary to have fire at
   the end of a cord in order to light the tobacco), coax
   them with pleasing words so as to draw them into the
   shallop; and if they should be unwilling to enter,
   each one approaching should choose his man and, putting
   the beads round his neck, should at the same time put
   the rope on him to draw him by force. But if they
   should be too boisterous and it should not be possible
   to succeed, they should be stabbed, the rope being
   firmly held; and if by chance any of them should get
   away, there should be men on land to charge upon them
   with swords. Meanwhile, the little cannon on our barque
   was to be kept ready to fire upon their companions in
   case they should come to assist them, under cover of
   which firearms the shallop could withdraw in security.

This plot, though carefully planned, fell far short of the success which
was anticipated. To catch a redskin with a noose required more skill
than was available. Accordingly, none were taken alive. Champlain says:
'We retired to our barque after having done all we could.' Lescarbot
adds: 'Six or seven of the savages were hacked and hewed in pieces, who
could not run so lightly in the water as on shore, and were caught as
they came out by those of our men who had landed.'

Having thus taken an eye for an eye, Poutrincourt began his homeward
voyage, and, after three or four escapes from shipwreck, reached Port
Royal on November 14.

Champlain was now about to spend his last winter in Acadia. Mindful
of former experiences, he determined to fight scurvy by encouraging
exercise among the colonists and procuring for them an improved diet. A
third desideratum was cheerfulness. All these purposes he served through
founding the Ordre de Bon Temps, which proved to be in every sense
the life of the settlement. Champlain himself briefly describes
the procedure followed, but a far more graphic account is given by
Lescarbot, whose diffuse and lively style is illustrated to perfection
in the following passage:

   To keep our table joyous and well provided, an order
   was established at the board of the said M. de
   Poutrincourt, which was called the Order of Good Cheer,
   originally proposed by Champlain. To this Order each
   man of the said table was appointed Chief Steward in
   his turn, which came round once a fortnight. Now, this
   person had the duty of taking care that we were all
   well and honourably provided for. This was so well
   carried out that though the epicures of Paris often
   tell us that we had no Rue aux Ours over there, as a
   rule we made as good cheer as we could have in this
   same Rue aux Ours, and at less cost. For there was no
   one who, two days before his turn came, failed to go
   hunting or fishing, and to bring back some delicacy
   in addition to our ordinary fare. So well was this
   carried out that never at breakfast did we lack some
   savoury meat of flesh or fish, and still less at our
   midday or evening meals; for that was our chief banquet,
   at which the ruler of the feast or chief butler, whom
   the savages called Atoctegic, having had everything
   prepared by the cook, marched in, napkin on shoulder,
   wand of office in hand, and around his neck the collar
   of the Order, which was worth more than four crowns;
   after him all the members of the Order carrying each
   a dish. The same was repeated at dessert, though not
   always with so much pomp. And at night, before giving
   thanks to God, he handed over to his successor in the
   charge the collar of the Order, with a cup of wine,
   and they drank to each other. I have already said that
   we had abundance of game, such as ducks, bustards,
   grey and white geese, partridges, larks, and other
   birds; moreover moose, caribou, beaver, otter, bear,
   rabbits, wild-cats, racoons, and other animals such
   as the savages caught, whereof we made dishes well
   worth those of the cook-shop in the Rue aux Ours, and
   far more; for of all our meats none is so tender as
   moose-meat (whereof we also made excellent pasties)
   and nothing so delicate as beaver's tail. Yea, sometimes
   we had half a dozen sturgeon at once, which the savages
   brought us, part of which we bought, and allowed them
   to sell the remainder publicly and to barter it for
   bread, of which our men had abundance. As for the
   ordinary rations brought from France, they were
   distributed equally to great and small alike; and, as
   we have said, the wine was served in like manner.

The results of this regime were most gratifying. The deaths from scurvy
dropped to seven, which represented a great proportionate decrease.
At the same time, intercourse with the Indians was put on a good basis
thereby. 'At these proceedings,' says Lescarbot, 'we always had twenty
or thirty savages--men, women, girls, and children--who looked on at our
manner of service. Bread was given them gratis, as one would do to the
poor. But as for the Sagamos Membertou, and other chiefs who came from
time to time, they sat at table eating and drinking like ourselves. And
we were glad to see them, while, on the contrary, their absence saddened
us.'

These citations bring into view the writer who has most copiously
recorded the early annals of Acadia--Marc Lescarbot. He was a lawyer,
and at this date about forty years old. Having come to Port Royal less
as a colonist than as a guest of Poutrincourt, he had no investment at
stake. But contact with America kindled the enthusiasm of which he had
a large supply, and converted him into the historian of New France.
His story of the winter he passed at Port Royal is quite unlike other
narratives of colonial experience at this period. Champlain was
a geographer and preoccupied with exploration. The Jesuits were
missionaries and preoccupied with the conversion of the savages.
Lescarbot had a literary education, which Champlain lacked, and, unlike
the Jesuits, he approached life in America from the standpoint of
a layman. His prolixity often serves as a foil to the terseness of
Champlain, and suggests that he must have been a merciless talker. Yet,
though inclined to be garrulous, he was a good observer and had many
correct ideas--notably the belief that corn, wine, and cattle are a
better foundation for a colony than gold or silver mines. In temperament
he and Champlain were very dissimilar, and evidence of mutual coolness
may be found in their writings. These we shall consider at a later
stage. For the present it is enough to note that both men sat at
Poutrincourt's table and adorned the Order of Good Cheer.

Meanwhile De Monts was in France, striving with all the foes of the
monopoly. Thanks to the fur trade, his company had paid its way during
the first two years, despite the losses at St Croix. The third season
had been much less prosperous, and at the same moment when the Dutch and
the Basques [Footnote: Traders from the extreme south of France, whose
chief port was St Jean de Luz. Though living on the confines of France
and Spain, the Basques were of different racial origin from both
Spaniards and French. While subject politically to France, their
remoteness from the main ports of Normandy and Brittany kept them out
of touch with the mariners of St Malo and Havre, save as collision arose
between them in the St Lawrence. Among the Basques there were always
interlopers, even when St Jean de Luz had been given a share in
the monopoly. They are sometimes called Spaniards, from their close
neighbourhood to the Pyrenees.] were breaking the monopoly by defiance,
the hatters of Paris were demanding that it should be withdrawn
altogether. To this alliance of a powerful guild with a majority of
the traders, the company of De Monts succumbed, and the news which
Poutrincourt received when the first ship came in 1607 was that
the colony must be abandoned. As the company itself was about to
be dissolved, this consequence was inevitable. Champlain in his
matter-of-fact way states that De Monts sent letters to Poutrincourt,
'by which he directed him to bring back his company to France.'
Lescarbot is much more outspoken. Referring to the merits and struggles
of De Monts, he exclaims:

   Yet I fear that in the end he may be forced to give
   it all up, to the great scandal and reproach of the
   French name, which by such conduct is made a
   laughing-stock and a byword among the nations. For as
   though their wish was to oppose the conversion of
   these poor Western peoples, and the glory of God and
   of the King, we find a set of men full of avarice and
   envy, who would not draw a sword in the service of
   the King, nor suffer the slightest ill in the world
   for the honour of God, but who yet put obstacles in
   the way of our drawing any profit from the province,
   even in order to furnish what is indispensable to the
   foundation of such an enterprise; men who prefer to
   see the English and Dutch win possession of it rather
   than the French, and would fain have the name of God
   remain unknown in those quarters. And it is such
   godless people who are listened to, who are believed,
   and who win their suits. O tempora, O mores!

On August 11, 1607, Port Royal was abandoned for the second time, and
its people, sailing by Cape Breton, reached Roscou in Brittany at the
end of September. The subsequent attempt of Poutrincourt and his family
to re-establish the colony at Port Royal belongs to the history of
Acadia rather than to the story of Champlain. But remembering the spirit
in which he and De Monts strove, one feels glad that Lescarbot spoke his
mind regarding the opponents who baffled their sincere and persistent
efforts.



CHAPTER III. CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC

   From the Island of Orleans to Quebec the distance is
   a league. I arrived there on the third of July, when
   I searched for a place suitable for our settlement,
   but I could find none more convenient or better than
   the point of Quebec, so called by the savages, which
   was covered with nut-trees. I at once employed a
   portion of our workmen in cutting them down, that we
   might construct our habitation there: one I set to
   sawing boards, another to making a cellar and digging
   ditches, another I sent to Tadoussac with the barque
   to get supplies. The first thing we made was the
   storehouse for keeping under cover our supplies, which
   was promptly accomplished through the zeal of all,
   and my attention to the work.

Thus opens Champlain's account of the place with which his name is
linked imperishably. He was the founder of Quebec and its preserver.
During his lifetime the results seemed pitifully small, but the task
once undertaken was never abandoned. By steadfastness he prevailed, and
at his death had created a colony which became the New France of Talon
and Frontenac, of La Salle and D'Iberville, of Brebeuf and Laval. If
Venice from amid her lagoons could exclaim, Esto perpetua, Quebec, firm
based upon her cliff, can say to the rest of Canada, Attendite ad petram
unde excisi estis--'Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn.'

Champlain's Quebec was very poor in everything but courage. The fact
that it was founded by the men who had just failed in Acadia gives proof
of this virtue. Immediately upon his return from Port Royal to France,
Champlain showed De Monts a map and plan which embodied the result of
his explorations during the last three years. They then took counsel
regarding the future, and with Champlain's encouragement De Monts
'resolved to continue his noble and meritorious undertaking,
notwithstanding the hardships and labours of the past.' It is
significant that once more Champlain names exploration as the
distinctive purpose of De Monts.

To expect a subsidy from the crown was futile, but Henry felt
compunction for his abrupt recall of the monopoly. The result was
that De Monts, in recognition of his losses, was given a further
monopoly--for the season of 1608 only. At the same time, he was
expressly relieved from the obligation to take out colonists. On this
basis De Monts found partners among the merchants of Rouen, and three
ships were fitted out--one for Acadia, the others for the St Lawrence.
Champlain, as lieutenant, was placed in charge of the Laurentian
expedition. With him went the experienced and invaluable Pontgrave.

Nearly seventy-five years had now passed since Jacques Cartier first
came to anchor at the foot of Cape Diamond. During this period no one
had challenged the title of France to the shores of the St Lawrence;
in fact, a country so desolate made no appeal to the French themselves.
Roberval's tragic experience at Cap Rouge had proved a warning. To
the average Frenchman of the sixteenth century Canada meant what it
afterwards meant to Sully and Voltaire. It was a tract of snow; a land
of barbarians, bears, and beavers.

The development of the fur trade into a staple industry changed this
point of view to a limited extent. The government, as we have seen,
considered it desirable that colonists should be established in New
France at the expense of traders. For the St Lawrence, however, the
first and only fruits of this enlightened policy had been Chauvin's
sixteen derelicts at Tadoussac.

The founding of Quebec represents private enterprise, and not an
expenditure of money by Henry IV for the sake of promoting colonization.
De Monts and Champlain were determined to give France a foothold in
America. The rights upon which the venture of 1608 was financed did not
run beyond the year. Thenceforth trade was to be free. It follows that
De Monts and his partners, in building a station at Quebec, did not rely
for their expenses upon any special favours from the crown. They placed
their reliance upon themselves, feeling confident of their power to hold
a fair share of the trade against all comers. For Champlain Quebec was
a fixed point on the way to the Orient. For De Monts it was a key to the
commerce of the great river. None of his rivals would begin the season
of 1609 with a permanent post in Canada. Thus part of the anticipated
profits for 1608 was invested to secure an advantage in the approaching
competition. The whole success of the plan depended upon the mutual
confidence of De Monts and Champlain, both of whom unselfishly sought
the advancement of French interests in America--De Monts, the courageous
capitalist and promoter; Champlain, the explorer whose discoveries were
sure to enlarge the area of trading operations.

Pontgrave sailed from Honfleur on April 5, 1608. Champlain followed
eight days later, reaching Tadoussac at the beginning of June. Here
trouble awaited him. The Basque traders, who always defied the monopoly,
had set upon Pontgrave with cannon and muskets, killing one man and
severely wounding two others, besides himself. Going ashore, Champlain
found Pontgrave very ill and the Basques in full possession. To fight
was to run the risk of ruining De Monts' whole enterprise, and as the
Basques were alarmed at what they had done, Darache, their captain,
signed an agreement that he would not molest Pontgrave or do anything
prejudicial to the rights of De Monts. This basis of compromise makes
it clear that Pontgrave was in charge of the season's trade, while
Champlain's personal concern was to found the settlement.

An unpleasant dispute was thus adjusted, but the incident had a still
more unpleasant sequel. Leaving Tadoussac on June 30, Champlain reached
Quebec in four days, and at once began to erect his storehouse. A few
days later he stood in grave peril of his life through conspiracy among
his own men.

The ringleader was a locksmith named Jean Duval, who had been at
Port Royal and narrowly escaped death from the arrows of the Cape Cod
Indians. Whether he framed his plot in collusion with the Basques is not
quite clear, but it seems unlikely that he should have gone so far as
he did without some encouragement. His plan was simply to kill Champlain
and deliver Quebec to the Basques in return for a rich reward, either
promised or expected. Some of the men he had no chance to corrupt, for
they were aboard the barques, guarding stores till a shelter could
be built. Working among the rest, Duval 'suborned four of the worst
characters, as he supposed, telling them a thousand falsehoods and
presenting to them prospects of acquiring riches.' The evidence
subsequently showed that Champlain was either to be strangled when
unarmed, or shot at night as he answered to a false alarm. The
conspirators made a mutual promise not to betray each other, on penalty
that the first who opened his mouth should be poniarded.

Out of this deadly danger Champlain escaped through the confession of
a vacillating spirit named Natel, who regretted his share in the plot,
but, once involved, had fears of the poniard. Finally he confessed to
Testu, the pilot, who immediately informed Champlain. Questioned as to
the motive, Natel replied that 'nothing had impelled them, except that
they had imagined that by giving up the place into the hands of the
Basques or Spaniards they might all become rich, and that they did not
want to go back to France.' Duval, with five others, was then seized and
taken to Tadoussac. Later in the summer Pontgrave brought the prisoners
back to Quebec, where evidence was taken before a court-martial
consisting of Champlain, Pontgrave, a captain, a surgeon, a first mate,
a second mate, and some sailors. The sentence condemned four to death,
of whom three were afterwards sent to France and put at the discretion
of De Monts. Duval was 'strangled and hung at Quebec, and his head was
put on the end of a pike, to be set in the most conspicuous place on our
fort, that he might serve as an example to those who remained, leading
them to deport themselves correctly in future, in the discharge of
their duty; and that the Spaniards and Basques, of whom there were large
numbers in the country, might not glory in the event.'

It will be seen from the recital of Duval's conspiracy that Champlain
was fortunate to escape the fate of Hudson and La Salle. While this
cause celebre was running its course to a tragic end, the still more
famous habitation grew day by day under the hands of busy workmen. As
fruits of a crowded and exciting summer Champlain could point to a group
of three two-storeyed buildings. 'Each one,' he says, 'was three fathoms
long and two and a half wide. The storehouse was six fathoms long and
three wide, with a fine cellar six feet deep. I had a gallery made all
round our buildings, on the outside, at the second storey, which proved
very convenient. There were also ditches, fifteen feet wide and six
deep. On the outer side of the ditches I constructed several spurs,
which enclosed a part of the dwelling, at the points where we placed our
cannon. Before the habitation there is a place four fathoms wide and
six or seven long, looking out upon the river-bank. Surrounding the
habitation are very good gardens.'

Three dwellings of eighteen by fifteen feet each were a sufficiently
modest starting-point for continental ambitions, even when supplemented
by a storehouse of thirty-six feet by eighteen. In calling the gardens
very good Champlain must have been speaking with relation to the
circumstances, or else they were very small, for there is abundant
witness to the sufferings which Quebec in its first twenty years might
have escaped with the help of really abundant gardens. At St Croix
and Port Royal an attempt had been made to plant seeds, and at Quebec
Champlain doubtless renewed the effort, though with small practical
result. The point is important in its bearing on the nature of the
settlement. Quebec, despite such gardens as surrounded the habitation,
was by origin an outpost of the fur trade, with a small, floating, and
precarious population. Louis Hebert, the first real colonist, did not
come till 1617.

Lacking vegetables, Quebec fed itself in part from the river and the
forest. But almost all the food was brought from France. At times there
was game, though less than at Port Royal. The river supplied eels in
abundance, but when badly cooked they caused a fatal dysentery. The
first winter was a repetition of the horrors experienced at St Croix,
with even a higher death-rate. Scurvy began in February and lasted till
the end of April. Of the eighteen whom it attacked, ten died. Dysentery
claimed others. On June 5, 1609, word came that Pontgrave had arrived
at Tadoussac. Champlain's comment is eloquent in its brevity. 'This
intelligence gave me much satisfaction, as we entertained hopes of
assistance from him. Out of the twenty-eight at first forming our
company only eight remained, and half of these were ailing.'

The monopoly granted to De Monts had now reached its close, and
trade was open to all comers. From 1609 until 1613 this unrestricted
competition ran its course, with the result that a larger market was
created for beaver skins, while nothing was done to build up New France
as a colony. On the whole, the most notable feature of the period is
the establishment of close personal relations between Champlain and the
Indians. It was then that he became the champion of the Algonquins
and Hurons against the Iroquois League or Five Nations, inaugurating a
policy which was destined to have profound consequences.

The considerations which governed Champlain in his dealings with the
Indians lay quite outside the rights and wrongs of their tribal wars.
His business was to explore the continent on behalf of France, and
accordingly he took conditions as he found them. The Indians had souls
to be saved, but that was the business of the missionaries. In the state
of nature all savages were much like wild animals, and alliance with one
nation or another was a question which naturally settled itself upon
the basis of drainage basins. Lands within the Laurentian watershed were
inhabited mainly by Algonquins and Hurons, whose chief desire in life
was to protect themselves from the Iroquois and avenge past injuries.
The Five Nations dwelt far south from the Sault St Louis and did not
send their furs there for the annual barter. Champlain, ever in quest
of a route to the East, needed friends along the great rivers of the
wilderness. The way to secure them, and at the same time to widen the
trading area, was to fight for the savages of the St Lawrence and the
Ottawa against those of the Mohawk.

And Champlain was a good ally, as he proved in the forest wars of 1609
and 1615. With all their shortcomings, the Indians knew how to take
the measure of a man. The difference between a warrior and a trader was
especially clear to their untutored minds, they themselves being much
better fighters than men of commerce. Champlain, like others, suffered
from their caprice, but they respected his bravery and trusted his word.

In the next chapter we shall attempt to follow Champlain through the
wilderness, accompanied by its inhabitants, who were his guides and
friends. For the present we must pursue the fortunes of Quebec, whose
existence year by year hung upon the risk that court intrigue would
prevail against the determination of two brave men.

From 1608 till 1611 De Monts had two partners, named Collier and
Legendre, both citizens of Rouen. It was with the money of these three
that the post at Quebec had been built and equipped. Champlain was their
lieutenant and Pontgrave the commander of their trading ships. After
four years of experience Collier and Legendre found the results
unsatisfactory. 'They were unwilling,' says Champlain, 'to continue in
the association, as there was no commission forbidding others from going
to the new discoveries and trading with the inhabitants of the country.
Sieur de Monts, seeing this, bargained with them for what remained at
the settlement at Quebec, in consideration of a sum of money which he
gave them for their share.'

Thus the intrepid De Monts became sole proprietor of the habitation,
and whatever clustered round it, at the foot of Cape Diamond. But the
property was worthless if the fur trade could not be put on a stable
basis. Quebec during its first three years had been a disappointment
because, contrary to expectation, it gave its founders no advantage over
their competitors which equalled the cost of maintenance. De Monts was
still ready to assist Champlain in his explorations, but his resources,
never great, were steadily diminishing, and while trade continued
unprofitable there were no funds for exploration. Moreover, the
assassination of Henry IV in 1610 weakened De Monts at court. Whatever
Henry's shortcomings as a friend of Huguenots and colonial pioneers,
their chances had been better with him than they now were with Marie de
Medicis [Footnote: The second and surviving wife of Henry IV--an Italian
by birth and in close sympathy with Spain. As regent for her son, Louis
XIII, she did much to reverse the policy of Henry IV, both foreign and
domestic.] Champlain states that De Monts' engagements did not permit
him to prosecute his interests at court. Probably his engagements would
have been less pressing had he felt more sure of favour. In any event,
he made over to Champlain the whole conduct of such negotiations as were
called for by the unsatisfactory state of affairs on the St Lawrence.

Champlain went to France. What follows is an illuminating comment upon
the conditions that prevailed under the Bourbon monarchy. As Champlain
saw things, the merchants who clamoured for freedom of trade were
greedy pot-hunters. 'All they want,' he says, 'is that men should expose
themselves to a thousand dangers to discover peoples and territories,
that they themselves may have the profit and others the hardship. It is
not reasonable that one should capture the lamb and another go off with
the fleece. If they had been willing to participate in our discoveries,
use their means and risk their persons, they would have given evidence
of their honour and nobleness, but, on the contrary, they show clearly
that they are impelled by pure malice that they may enjoy the fruit of
our labours equally with ourselves.' Against folk of this sort Champlain
felt he had to protect the national interests which were so dear to
him and De Monts. As things then went, there was only one way to secure
protection. At Fontainebleau a great noble was not habituated to render
help without receiving a consideration. But protection could be bought
by those who were able to pay for it.

The patron selected by Champlain was the Comte de Soissons, a Bourbon by
lineage and first cousin of Henry IV. His kinship to the boy-king gave
him, among other privileges, the power to exact from the regent gifts
and offices as the price of his support. Possessing this leverage,
Soissons caused himself to be appointed viceroy of Canada, with a
twelve-year monopoly of the fur trade above Quebec. The monopoly thus
re-established, its privileges could be sublet, Soissons receiving
cash for the rights he conceded to the merchants, and they taking their
chance to turn a profit out of the transaction.

Such at least was the theory; but before Soissons could turn his
post into a source of revenue he died. Casting about for a suitable
successor, Champlain selected another prince of the blood--Henri de
Bourbon, Prince de Conde, who duly became viceroy of Canada and holder
of the monopoly in succession to his uncle, the Comte de Soissons.

The part of Champlain in these transactions is very conspicuous, and
justly so. There was no advantage in being viceroy of Canada unless the
post produced a revenue, and before the viceroy could receive a revenue
some one was needed to organize the chief Laurentian traders into
a company strong enough to pay Soissons or Conde a substantial sum.
Champlain was convinced that the stability of trade (upon which, in
turn, exploration depended) could be secured only in this way. It was he
who memorialized President Jeannin; [Footnote: One of the chief advisers
of Marie de Medicis. In the early part of his career he was President of
the Parlement of Dijon and an important member of the extreme Catholic
party. After the retirement of the Duc de Sully (1611) he was placed in
charge of the finances of France.] enlisted the sympathy of the king's
almoner, Beaulieu; appealed to the royal council; proposed the office of
viceroy to Soissons; and began the endeavour to organize a new trading
company. Considering that early in 1612 he suffered a serious fall from
his horse, this record of activity is sufficiently creditable for one
twelve-month. Meanwhile the Indians at Sault St Louis grieved at his
absence, and his enemies told them he was dead.

It was not until 1614 that the new programme in its entirety could be
carried out. This time the delay came, not from the court, but from the
merchants. Negotiations were in progress when the ships sailed for the
voyage of 1613, but Champlain could not remain to conclude them, as he
felt that he must keep faith with the Indians. However, on his return
to France that autumn, he resumed the effort, and by the spring of 1614.
the merchants of Rouen, St Malo, and La Rochelle had been brought to
terms among themselves as participants in a monopoly which was leased
from the viceroy. Conde received a thousand crowns a year, and the new
company also agreed to take out six families of colonists each season.
In return it was granted the monopoly for eleven years. De Monts was a
member of the company and Quebec became its headquarters in Canada. But
the moving spirit was Champlain, who was appointed lieutenant to the
viceroy with a salary and the right to levy for his own purposes four
men from each ship trading in the river.

Once more disappointment followed. Save for De Monts, Champlain's
company was not inspired by Champlain's patriotism. During the first
three years of its existence the obligation to colonize was wilfully
disregarded, while in the fourth year the treatment accorded Louis
Hebert shows that good faith counted for as little with the fur traders
when they acted in association as when they were engaged in cut-throat
competition.

Champlain excepted, Hebert was the most admirable of those who risked
death in the attempt to found a settlement at Quebec. He was not a
Norman peasant, but a Parisian apothecary. We have already seen that he
took part in the Acadian venture of De Monts and Poutrincourt. After the
capture of Port Royal by the English he returned to France (1613) and
reopened his shop. Three years later Champlain was authorized by the
company to offer him and his family favourable terms if they would
emigrate to Quebec, the consideration being two hundred crowns a year
for three years, besides maintenance. On this understanding Hebert sold
his house and shop, bought an equipment for the new home, and set off
with his family to embark at Honfleur. Here he found that Champlain's
shareholders were not prepared to stand by their agreement. The company
first beat him down from two hundred to one hundred crowns a year, and
then stipulated that he, his wife, his children, and his domestic should
serve it for the three years during which the grant was payable. Even
at the end of three years, when he found himself at liberty to till
the soil, he was bound to sell produce to the company at the prices
prevalent in France. The company was to have his perpetual service as a
chemist for nothing, and he must promise in writing to take no part in
the fur trade. Hebert had cut off his retreat and was forced to accept
these hard terms, but it is not strange that under such conditions
colonists should have been few. Sagard, the Recollet missionary, says
the company treated Hebert so badly because it wished to discourage
colonization. What it wanted was the benefit of the monopoly, without
the obligation of finding settlers who had to be brought over for
nothing.

A man of honour like Champlain could not have tricked Hebert into the
bad bargain he made, and their friendship survived the incident. But a
company which transacted its business in this fashion was not likely
to enjoy long life. Its chief asset was Champlain's friendship with the
Indians, especially after his long sojourn with them in 1615 and 1616.
Some years, particularly 1617, showed a large profit, but as time went
on friction arose between the Huguenots of La Rochelle and the Catholics
of Rouen. Then there were interlopers to be prosecuted, and the quarrels
of Conde with the government brought with them trouble to the merchants
whose monopoly depended on his grant. For three years (1616-19) the
viceroy of Canada languished in the Bastille. Shortly after his release
he sold his viceregal rights to the Duke of Montmorency, Admiral of
France. The price was 11,000 crowns.

In 1619 Champlain's company ventured to disagree with its founder, and,
as a consequence, another crisis arose in the affairs of New France. The
cause of dispute was the company's unwillingness to keep its promises
regarding colonization. Champlain protested. The company replied that
Pontgrave should be put in charge at Quebec. Champlain then said that
Pontgrave was his old friend, and he hoped they would always be friends,
but that he was at Quebec as the viceroy's representative, charged with
the duty of defending his interests. The leader of Champlain's opponents
among the shareholders was Boyer, a trader who had formerly given much
trouble to De Monts, but was now one of the associates. When in the
spring of 1619 Champlain attempted to sail for Quebec as usual, Boyer
prevented him from going aboard. There followed an appeal to the
crown, in which Champlain was fully sustained, and Boyer did penance by
offering a public apology before the Exchange at Rouen.

It was shortly after this incident that Conde abdicated in favour of
Montmorency. The admiral, like his predecessor, accepted a thousand
crowns a year and named Champlain as his lieutenant. He also instituted
an inquiry regarding the alleged neglect of the company to maintain the
post at Quebec. The investigation showed that abundant cause existed for
depriving the company of its monopoly, and in consequence the grant
was transferred, on similar terms, to William and Emery de Caen. Here
complications at once ensued. The De Caens, who were natives of Rouen,
were also Huguenots, a fact that intensified the ill-feeling which had
already arisen on the St Lawrence between Catholic and heretic. The
dispute between the new beneficiaries and the company founded by
Champlain involved no change in the policy of the crown towards trade
and colonization. It was a quarrel of persons, which eventually reached
a settlement in 1622. The De Caens then compromised by reorganizing the
company and giving their predecessors five-twelfths of the shares.

The recital of these intricate events will at least illustrate the
difficulties which beset Champlain in his endeavour to build up New
France. There were problems enough even had he received loyal support
from the crown and the company. With the English and Dutch in full
rivalry, he saw that an aggressive policy of expansion and settlement
became each year more imperative. Instead, he was called on to withstand
the cabals of self-seeking traders who shirked their obligations, and
to endure the apathy of a government which was preoccupied with palace
intrigues.

At Quebec itself the two bright spots were the convent of the Recollets
[Footnote: The Recollets were a branch of the Franciscan order, noted
for the austerity of their rule.] and the little farm of Louis Hebert.
The Recollets first came to New France in 1615, and began at once
by language study to prepare for their work among the Montagnais and
Hurons. It was a stipulation of the viceroy that six of them should
be supported by the company, and in the absence of parish priests they
ministered to the ungodly hangers-on of the fur trade as well as to the
Indians. Louis Hebert and his admirable family were very dear to the
Fathers. In 1617 all the buildings which had been erected at Quebec
lay by the water's edge. Hebert was the first to make a clearing on the
heights. His first domain covered less than ten acres, but it was well
tilled. He built a stone house, which was thirty-eight feet by nineteen.
Besides making a garden, he planted apple-trees and vines. He also
managed to support some cattle. When one considers what all this means
in terms of food and comfort, it may be guessed that the fur traders,
wintering down below on salt pork and smoked eels, must have felt much
respect for the farmer in his stone mansion on the cliff.

We have from Champlain's own lips a valuable statement as to the
condition of things at Quebec in 1627, the year when Louis Hebert died.
'We were in all,' he says, 'sixty-five souls, including men, women, and
children.' Of the sixty-five only eighteen were adult males fit for
hard work, and this small number must be reduced to two or three if we
include only the tillers of the soil. Besides these, a few adventurous
spirits were away in the woods with the Indians, learning their language
and endeavouring to exploit the beaver trade; but twenty years after the
founding of Quebec the French in Canada, all told, numbered less than
one hundred.

Contrast with this the state of Virginia fifteen years after the
settlement of Jamestown. 'By 1622,' says John Fiske, 'the population
of Virginia was at least 4000, the tobacco fields were flourishing
and lucrative, durable houses had been built and made comfortable with
furniture brought from England, and the old squalor was everywhere
giving way to thrift. The area of colonization was pushed up the James
River as far as Richmond.'

This contrast is not to be interpreted to the personal disadvantage of
Champlain. The slow growth and poverty of Quebec were due to no fault of
his. It is rather the measure of his greatness that he was undaunted by
disappointment and unembittered by the pettiness of spirit which met him
at every turn. A memorial which he presented in 1618 to the Chamber of
Commerce at Paris discloses his dream of what might be: a city at Quebec
named Ludovica, a city equal in size to St Denis and filled with noble
buildings grouped round the Church of the Redeemer. Tributary to this
capital was a vast region watered by the St Lawrence and abounding
'in rolling plains, beautiful forests, and rivers full of fish.' From
Ludovica the heathen were to be converted and a passage discovered to
the East. So important a trade route would be developed, that from the
tolls alone there would be revenue to construct great public works. Rich
mines and fat cornfields fill the background.

Such was the Quebec of Champlain's vision--if only France would see
it so! But in the Quebec of reality a few survivors saw the hunger of
winter yield to the starvation of spring. They lived on eels and roots
till June should bring the ships and food from home.



CHAPTER IV. CHAMPLAIN IN THE WILDERNESS

Champlain's journeyings with the Indians were the holiday of his life,
for at no other time was he so free to follow the bent of his genius.
First among the incentives which drew him to the wilderness was his
ambition to discover the pathway to China. In 1608 the St Lawrence had
not been explored beyond the Lachine Rapids, nor the Richelieu beyond
Chambly--while the Ottawa was known only by report. Beyond Lake St Louis
stretched a mysterious world, through the midst of which flowed
the Great River. For an explorer and a patriot the opportunity was
priceless. The acquisition of vast territory for the French crown, the
enlargement of the trade zone, the discovery of a route to Cathay,
the prospect of Arcadian joys and exciting adventures--beside such
promptings hardship and danger became negligible. And when exploring the
wilderness Champlain was in full command. Off the coast of Norumbega his
wishes, as geographer, had been subject to the special projects of De
Monts and Poutrincourt. At Fontainebleau he waited for weeks and months
in the antechambers of prelates or nobles. But when conducting an
expedition through the forest he was lord and master, a chieftain from
whose arquebus flew winged death.

The story of Champlain's expeditions along these great secluded
waterways, and across the portages of the forest, makes the most
agreeable page of his life both for writer and reader, since it is here
that he himself is most clearly in the foreground. At no point can his
narrative be thought dull, compact as it is and always in touch with
energetic action. But the details of fur trading at Tadoussac and the
Sault St Louis, or even of voyaging along the Acadian seaboard, are far
less absorbing than the tale of the canoe and the war party. Amid the
depths of the interior Champlain reaped his richest experiences as an
explorer. With the Indians for his allies and enemies he reached his
fullest stature as a leader.

It is not important to dwell upon the minor excursions which Champlain
made from his headquarters at Quebec into the country of the Montagnais.
[Footnote: An Algonquin tribe dwelling to the north of the St Lawrence,
for the most part between the Saguenay and the St Maurice.] He saw
little of the rocky northland which, with its myriad lakes and splendid
streams, sweeps from the St Lawrence to Hudson Bay. Southward and
westward lay his course to the cantons of the Iroquois south of Lake
Ontario and the villages of the Hurons north of Lake Simcoe. Above all,
the expeditions of 1609, 1613, and 1615 are the central episodes of his
work as an explorer, each marked by a distinct motive and abounding with
adventures. In 1609 he discovered Lake Champlain and fought his first
battle with the Iroquois. In 1613 he was decoyed by a lying guide into a
fruitless search for the North-West Passage by the route of the Ottawa.
In 1615 he discovered Lake Huron, traversed what is now Central Ontario,
and attacked the Iroquois in the heart of their own country. These three
journeys make the sum of Champlain's achievements as a pioneer of the
interior. For all three, likewise, we have his own story, upon which all
other versions are based and from which they draw their most striking
details.

The discovery of Lake Champlain had its root in Champlain's promise to
the Algonquins that he would aid them in their strife with the Iroquois.
In turn this promise was based upon the policy of conciliating those
savage tribes from whom the French derived their supply of furs, and
with whom throughout the St Lawrence basin they most constantly came in
contact.

It was the year which followed the founding of Quebec. Of the
twenty-eight who entered upon the first winter eight only had survived,
and half of these were ailing. On June 5 relief came in the person of
Des Marais, who announced that his father-in-law, Pontgrave, was already
at Tadoussac. Champlain at once set out to meet him, and it was arranged
that Pontgrave should take charge of the settlement for the coming year,
while Champlain fulfilled his promise to aid the Algonquins in their war
with the Iroquois. The full plan required that Pontgrave should spend
the winter in Canada, while Champlain, after his summer campaign, was to
return to France with a report of his explorations.

The Indians had stated that the route to the land of the Iroquois
was easy, and Champlain's original design was to proceed in a shallop
capable of carrying twenty Frenchmen. Early in July he reached the
mouth of the Richelieu, but on arriving at Chambly he found it quite
impossible to pass the falls with his shallop. Either the expedition
must be abandoned or the plan be radically changed, with the consequence
of incurring much greater risks. To advance meant sending back the
shallop with its crew and stores, embarking in a canoe, and trusting
wholly to the good faith of the savages. The decision was not easy.
'I was much troubled,' says Champlain. 'And it gave me especial
dissatisfaction to go back without seeing a very large lake, filled with
handsome islands and with large tracts of fine land bordering on the
lake, where their enemies lived, according to their representations.
After duly thinking over the matter I determined to go and fulfil my
promise and carry out my desire. Accordingly I embarked with the savages
in their canoes, taking with me two men, who went cheerfully. After
making known my plan to Des Marais and others in the shallop, I
requested the former to return to our settlement with the rest of our
company, giving them the assurance that in a short time, by God's grace,
I would return to them.'

Having convinced himself, Champlain was next forced to convince the
Indians, whose first impulse was to abandon the campaign when they
found that they would be accompanied by only three of the Frenchmen.
Champlain's firmness, however, communicated itself to them, and on July
12 they set out from Chambly Basin to commence the portage. At the top
of the rapid a review of forces was held, and it proved that the Indians
numbered sixty men, equipped with twenty-four canoes. Advancing through
a beautifully wooded country, the little war-party encamped at a point
not far below the outlet of Lake Champlain, taking the precaution to
protect themselves by a rough fortification of tree trunks.

At this point Champlain introduces a graphic statement regarding the
methods which the Indians employ to guard against surprise. On three
sides they protect the camp by fallen trees, leaving the river-bank
without a barricade in order that they may take quickly to their canoes.
Then, as soon as the camp has been fortified, they send out nine picked
men in three canoes to reconnoitre for a distance of two or three
leagues. But before nightfall these scouts return, and then all lie
down to sleep, without leaving any pickets or sentries on duty. When
Champlain remonstrated with them for such gross carelessness, they
replied that they worked hard enough during the daytime. The normal
formation of an Indian war-party embraced three divisions--the scouts,
the main body, and the hunters, the last always remaining in the rear
and chasing their game in a direction from which they did not anticipate
the appearance of the enemy. Having arrived at a distance of two or
three days' march from their enemies, they united in a single party
(save for the scouts) and advanced stealthily by night. At this juncture
their food became baked Indian meal soaked in water. They hid by day and
made no fire, save that required to smoke their tobacco.

Thus does Champlain describe the savage as he is about to fall upon his
foe. He gives special prominence to the soothsayer, who on the eve of
battle enters into elaborate intercourse with the devil. Inside a wooden
hut the necromancer lies prostrate on the ground, motionless. Then
he springs to his feet and begins to torment himself, counterfeiting
strange tones to represent the speech of the devil, and carrying on
violent antics which leave him in a stream of perspiration. Outside the
hut the Indians sit round on their haunches like apes and fancy that
they can see fire proceeding from the roof, although the devil appears
to the soothsayer in the form of a stone. Finally, the chiefs, when they
have by these means learned that they will meet their enemy and kill a
sufficient number, arrange the order of battle. Sticks a foot long are
taken, one for each warrior, and these are laid out on a level place
five or six feet square. The leader then explains the order of battle,
after which the warriors substitute themselves for the sticks and go
through the manoeuvres till they can do them without confusion.

From this description of tactics we pass speedily to a story of real
war. Reaching Lake Champlain, the party skirted the western shore, with
fine views of the Green Mountains, on the summit of which Champlain
mistook white limestone for snow. On July 29, at Crown Point, the
Iroquois were encountered at about ten o'clock in the evening. Thus the
first real battle of French and Indians took place near that remarkable
spot where Lake Champlain and Lake George draw close together--the
Ticonderoga of Howe, the Carillon of Montcalm.

The Algonquins were in good courage, for, besides the muskets of the
three Frenchmen, they were inspired by a dream of Champlain that he had
seen the Iroquois drowning in a lake. As soon as the enemies saw each
other, both began to utter loud cries and make ready their weapons. The
Algonquins kept out on the water; the Iroquois went ashore and built a
barricade. When the Algonquins had made ready for battle

   they dispatched two canoes to the enemy to inquire if
   they wished to fight, to which the latter replied that
   they wished nothing else; but they said that at present
   there was not much light, and that it would be necessary
   to wait for day so as to be able to recognize each
   other; and that as soon as the sun rose they would
   offer us battle. This was agreed to by our side.
   Meanwhile the entire night was spent in dancing and
   singing, on both sides, with endless insults and other
   talk; as how little courage we had, how feeble a
   resistance we should make against their arms, and that
   when day came we should realize it to our ruin. Ours
   also were not slow in retorting, telling them that
   they would see such execution of arms as never before,
   together with an abundance of such talk as is not
   unusual in the siege of a town.

Care had been taken by the Algonquins that the presence of Champlain and
his two companions should come to the Iroquois as a complete surprise.
Each of the Frenchmen was in a separate canoe, convoyed by the
Montagnais. At daylight each put on light armour and, armed with an
arquebus, went ashore. Champlain was near enough the barricade to see
nearly two hundred Iroquois, 'stout and rugged in appearance. They came
at a slow pace towards us, with a dignity and assurance which greatly
impressed me, having three chiefs at their head.' Champlain, when urged
by his allies to make sure of killing the three chiefs, replied that he
would do his best, and that in any case he would show them his courage
and goodwill.

Then began the fight, which must be described in Champlain's own words,
for in all his writings there is no more famous passage.

   As soon as we had landed, they began to run for some
   two hundred paces towards their enemies, who stood
   firmly, not having as yet noticed my companions, who
   went into the woods with some savages. Our men began
   to call me with loud cries; and in order to give me
   a passage way they opened in two parts and put me at
   their head, where I marched some twenty paces in
   advance of the rest, until I was within about twenty
   paces of the enemy, who at once noticed me and, halting,
   gazed at me, as I did also at them. When I saw them
   make a move to fire at us, I rested my musket against
   my cheek and aimed directly at one of the three chiefs.
   With the same shot two fell to the ground; and one of
   their men was so wounded that he died some time after.
   I had loaded my musket with four balls. When our side
   saw this shot so favourable for them, they began to
   raise such loud cries that one could not have heard
   it thunder. Meanwhile the arrows flew on both sides.
   The Iroquois were greatly astonished that two men had
   been so quickly killed, although they were equipped
   with armour woven from cotton thread and with wood
   which was proof against their arrows. This caused
   great alarm among them. As I was loading again, one
   of my companions fired a shot from the woods, which
   astonished them anew to such a degree that, seeing
   their chiefs dead, they lost courage and took to
   flight, abandoning their camp and fort and fleeing
   into the woods, whither I pursued them, killing still
   more of them. Our savages also killed several of them
   and took ten or twelve prisoners. The remainder escaped
   with the wounded. Fifteen or sixteen were wounded on
   our side with arrow shots, but they were soon healed.

The spoils of victory included a large quantity of Indian corn, together
with a certain amount of meal, and also some of the native armour which
the Iroquois had thrown away in order to effect their escape. Then
followed a feast and the torture of one of the prisoners, whose
sufferings were mercifully concluded by a ball from Champlain's musket,
delivered in such wise that the unfortunate did not see the shot. Like
Montcalm and other French commanders of a later date, Champlain found
it impossible to curb wholly the passions of his savage allies. In this
case his remonstrances had the effect of gaining for the victim a coup
de grace--which may be taken as a measure of Champlain's prestige. The
atrocious savagery practised before and after death is described in full
detail. Champlain concludes the lurid picture as follows: 'This is the
manner in which these people behave towards those whom they capture in
war, for whom it would be better to die fighting or to kill themselves
on the spur of the moment, as many do rather than fall into the hands of
their enemies.'

Beyond the point at which this battle was fought Champlain did not go.
At Ticonderoga he was within eighty miles of the site of Albany. Had he
continued, he would have reached the Hudson from the north in the same
summer the Half Moon [Footnote: Henry Hudson, an English mariner with
a Dutch crew, entered the mouth of the Hudson in a boat called the Half
Moon on September 4, 1609. As named by him, the river was called the
'Great North River of New Netherland.'] entered it from the mouth. But
the Algonquins were content with their victory, though they candidly
stated that there was an easy route from the south end of Lake George
to 'a river flowing into the sea on the Norumbega coast near that of
Florida.' The return to Quebec and Tadoussac was attended by no incident
of moment. The Montagnais, on parting with Champlain at Tadoussac,
generously gave him the head of an Iroquois and a pair of arms, with the
request that they be carried to the king of France. The Algonquins had
already taken their departure at Chambly, where, says Champlain, 'we
separated with loud protestations of mutual friendship. They asked me
whether I would not like to go into their country to assist them with
continued fraternal relations; and I promised that I would do so.'

As a contribution to geographical knowledge the expedition of 1609
disclosed the existence of a noble lake, to which Champlain fitly gave
his own name. Its dimensions he considerably over-estimated, but in
all essential respects its situation was correctly described, while his
comments on the flora and fauna are very interesting. The garpike as he
saw it, with amplifications from the Indians as they had seen it, gave
him the subject for a good fish story. He was deeply impressed, too, by
the richness of the vegetation. His attack on the Iroquois was not soon
forgotten by that relentless foe, and prepared a store of trouble for
the colony he founded. But the future was closed to his view, and for
the moment his was the glorious experience of being the first to gaze
with European eyes upon a lake fairer and grander than his own France
could show.

Four years elapsed before Champlain was enabled to plunge once more
into the depths of the forest--this time only to meet with the severest
disappointment of his life. Much has been said already regarding his
ambition to discover a short route to Cathay. This was the great prize
for which he would have sacrificed everything save loyalty to the king
and duty to the church. For a moment he seemed on the point of gaining
it. Then the truth was brutally disclosed, and he found that he had been
wilfully deceived by an impostor.

It was a feature of Champlain's policy that from time to time French
youths should spend the winter with the Indians--hunting with them,
living in their settlements, exploring their country, and learning their
language. Of Frenchmen thus trained to woodcraft during Champlain's
lifetime the most notable were Etienne Brule, Nicolas Vignau, Nicolas
Marsolet, and Jean Nicolet. Unfortunately the three first did not leave
an unclouded record. Brule, after becoming a most accomplished guide,
turned traitor and aided the English in 1629. Champlain accuses Marsolet
of a like disloyalty. [Footnote: Marsolet's defence was that he acted
under constraint.] Vignau, with more imagination, stands on the roll of
fame as a frank impostor.

Champlain, as we have seen, spent the whole of 1612 in France, and it
was at this time that Vignau appeared in Paris with a tale which could
not but kindle excitement in the heart of an explorer. The basis of fact
was that Vignau had undoubtedly passed the preceding winter with the
Algonquins on the Ottawa. The fable which was built upon this fact can
best be told in Champlain's own words.

   He reported to me, on his return to Paris in 1612,
   that he had seen the North Sea; that the river of the
   Algonquins [the Ottawa] came from a lake which emptied
   into it; and that in seventeen days one could go from
   the Falls of St Louis to this sea and back again; that
   he had seen the wreck and debris of an English ship
   that had been wrecked, on board of which were eighty
   men who had escaped to the shore, and whom the savages
   killed because the English endeavoured to take from
   them by force their Indian corn and other necessaries
   of life; and that he had seen the scalps which these
   savages had flayed off, according to their custom,
   which they would show me, and that they would likewise
   give me an English boy whom they had kept for me. This
   intelligence greatly pleased me, for I thought that
   I had almost found that for which I had for a long
   time been searching.

Champlain makes it clear that he did not credit Vignau's tale with the
simple credulity of a man who has never been to sea. He caused Vignau
to swear to its truth at La Rochelle before two notaries. He stipulated
that Vignau should go with him over the whole route. Finally, as they
were on the point of sailing together for Canada in the spring of 1613,
he once more adjured Vignau in the presence of distinguished witnesses,
saying 'that if what he had previously said was not true, he must
not give me the trouble to undertake the journey, which involved many
dangers. Again he affirmed all that he had said, on peril of his life.'

After taking these multiplied precautions against deceit, Champlain left
the Sault St Louis on May 29, 1613, attended by four Frenchmen and one
Indian, with Vignau for guide. Ascending the Ottawa, they encountered
their first difficulties at the Long Sault, where Dollard forty-seven
years later was to lose his life so gloriously. Here the passage of the
rapids was both fatiguing and dangerous. Prevented by the density of
the wood from making a portage, they were forced to drag their canoes
through the water. In one of the eddies Champlain nearly lost his life,
and his hand was severely hurt by a sudden jerk of the rope. Having
mounted the rapids, he met with no very trying obstacle until he had
gone some distance past the Chaudiere Falls. His reference to the course
of the Gatineau makes no sense, and Laverdiere has had recourse to the
not improbable conjecture that the printer dropped out a whole line at
this point. Champlain also over-estimates considerably the height of the
Rideau Falls and is not very exact in his calculation of latitude.

The hardships of this journey were greatly and unnecessarily increased
by Vignau, whose only hope was to discourage his leader. In. the end it
proved that 'our liar' (as Champlain repeatedly calls him) had hoped to
secure a reward for his alleged discovery, believing that no one would
follow him long, even if an attempt were made to confirm the accuracy of
his report. But Champlain, undeterred by portages and mosquitoes, kept
on. Some savages who joined him said that Vignau was a liar, and on
their advice Champlain left the Ottawa a short distance above the mouth
of the Madawaska. Holding westward at some distance from the south
shore, he advanced past Muskrat Lake, and after a hard march came out
again on the Ottawa at Lake Allumette.

This was the end of Champlain's route in 1613. From the Algonquins on
Allumette Island he learned that Vignau had wintered with them at
the time he swore he was discovering salt seas. Finally, the impostor
confessed his fraud and, falling on his knees, asked for mercy. The
Indians would gladly have killed him outright, but Champlain spared
his life, though how deeply he was moved can be seen from these words:
'Overcome with wrath I had him removed, being unable to endure him any
longer in my presence.' After his confession there was nothing for it
but to return by the same route. An astrolabe found some years ago
near Muskrat Lake may have been dropped from Champlain's luggage on the
journey westward, though he does not mention the loss.

Apart from disclosing the course of the Ottawa, the Voyage of 1613 is
chiefly notable for its account of Indian customs--for example, the mode
of sepulture, the tabagie or feast, and the superstition which leads the
Algonquins to throw pieces of tobacco into the cauldron of the Chaudiere
Falls as a means of ensuring protection against their enemies. Of the
feast given him by Tessouat, an Algonquin chief, Champlain says:

   The next day all the guests came, each with his
   porringer and wooden spoon. They seated themselves
   without order or ceremony on the ground in the cabin
   of Tessouat, who distributed to them a kind of broth
   made of maize crushed between two stones, together
   with meat and fish which was cut into little pieces,
   the whole being boiled together without salt. They
   also had meat roasted on the coals and fish boiled
   apart, which he also distributed. In respect to myself,
   as I did not wish any of their chowder, which they
   prepare in a very dirty manner, I asked them for some
   fish and meat, that I might prepare it my own way,
   which they gave me. For drink we had fine, clear water.
   Tessouat, who gave the tabagie, entertained us without
   eating himself, according to their custom.

   The tabagie being over, the young men, who are not
   present at the harangues and councils, and who during
   the tabagie remain at the door of the cabins, withdrew,
   when all who remained began to fill their pipes, one
   and another offering me one. We then spent a full
   half-hour in this occupation, not a word being spoken,
   as is their custom.

But for the dexterous arrangement by which Champlain managed to cook his
own food, the tabagie would have been more dangerous to health than the
portage. In any case, it was an ordeal that could not be avoided,
for feasting meant friendly intercourse, and only through friendly
intercourse could Champlain gain knowledge of that vast wilderness which
he must pierce before reaching his long-sought goal, the sea beyond
which lay China.

As for Vignau, his punishment was to make full confession before all
the French who had assembled at the Sault St Louis to traffic with the
Indians. When Champlain reached this rendezvous on June 17, he informed
the traders of all that had happened, including

   the malice of my liar, at which they were greatly
   amazed. I then begged them to assemble in order that
   in their presence, and that of the savages and his
   companions, he might make declaration of his
   maliciousness; which they gladly did. Being thus
   assembled, they summoned him and asked him why he had
   not shown me the sea of the north, as he had promised
   me at his departure. He replied that he had promised
   something impossible for him, since he had never seen
   the sea, and that the desire of making the journey
   had led him to say what he did, also that he did not
   suppose that I would undertake it; and he begged them
   to be pleased to pardon him, as he also begged me
   again, confessing that he had greatly offended, and
   if I would leave him in the country he would by his
   efforts repair the offence and see this sea, and bring
   back trustworthy intelligence concerning it the
   following year; and in view of certain considerations
   I pardoned him on this condition.

Vignau's public confession was followed by the annual barter with the
Indians, after which Champlain returned to France.

We come now to the Voyage of 1615, which describes Champlain's longest
and most daring journey through the forest--an expedition that occupied
the whole period from July 9, 1615, to the last days of June 1616.
Thus for the first time he passed a winter with the Indians, enlarging
greatly thereby his knowledge of their customs and character. The
central incident of the expedition was an attack made by the Hurons and
their allies upon the stronghold of the Onondagas in the heart of
the Iroquois country. But while this war-party furnishes the chief
adventure, there is no page of Champlain's narrative which lacks its
tale of the marvellous. As a story of life in the woods, the Voyage of
1615 stands first among all Champlain's writings.

As in 1609, there was a mutuality of interest between Champlain and the
Indians who traded at the Sault. His desire was to explore and theirs
was to fight. By compromise they disclosed to him the recesses of their
country and he aided them against the Iroquois. In 1615 the Hurons
not only reminded him of his repeated promises to aid them, but stated
flatly that without such aid they could no longer attend the annual
market, as their enemies were making the route too unsafe. On their side
they promised a war-party of more than two thousand men. A further proof
of friendship was afforded by their willingness to receive a missionary
in their midst--the Recollet, Father Joseph Le Caron.

Champlain's line of exploration in 1615-16 took the following course. He
first ascended the Ottawa to the mouth of the Mattawa. Thence journeying
overland by ponds and portages he entered Lake Nipissing, which he
skirted to the outlet. French River next took him to Georgian Bay, or,
as he calls it for geographical definition, the Lake of the Attigouautan
[Hurons]. His own name for this vast inland sea is the Mer Douce. That
he did not explore it with any degree of thoroughness is evident from
the terms of his narrative as well as from his statement that its
length, east and west, is four hundred leagues. What he saw of Lake
Huron was really the east shore of Georgian Bay, from the mouth of
French River to the bottom of Matchedash Bay. Here he entered the
country of the Hurons, which pleased him greatly in comparison with
the tract before traversed. 'It was very fine, the largest part
being cleared, and many hills and several rivers rendering the region
agreeable. I went to see their Indian corn, which was at that time
[early in August] far advanced for the season.'

Champlain's route through the district between Carmaron and Cahaigue can
best be followed in Father Jones's map of Huronia. [Footnote: This map
will be found in 'The Jesuit Missions 'in this Series, and also in
vol. xxxiv of 'The Jesuit Relations,' ed. Thwaites.] The points which
Champlain names are there indicated, in each case with as careful
identification of the locality as we are ever likely to get. For those
who are not specialists in the topography of Huronia it may suffice that
Champlain left Matchedash Bay not far from Penetanguishene, and thence
went to Carmaron at the very north of the peninsula. Returning, he
passed through some of the largest of the Huron villages, and after
sixteen days came out at Cahaigue, which was situated close to Lake
Simcoe and almost on the site of the modern Hawkestone. It was here that
most of the Huron warriors assembled for the great expedition against
the Onondagas. Setting out on their march, they first went a little to
the northward, where they were joined on the shores of Lake Couchiching
by another contingent. The party thus finally made up, Champlain's line
of advance first took him to Sturgeon Lake. Afterwards it pursued that
important waterway which is represented by the Otonabee river, Rice
Lake, and the river Trent. Hence the warriors entered Lake Ontario by
the Bay of Quinte.

This country between Lake Simcoe and the Bay of Quinte seems to have
pleased Champlain greatly. He saw it in September, when the temperature
was agreeable and when the vegetation of the forest could be enjoyed
without the torment inflicted by mosquitoes. 'It is certain,' he says,
'that all this region is very fine and pleasant. Along the banks it
seems as if the trees had been set out for ornament in most places, and
that all these tracts were in former times inhabited by savages who were
subsequently compelled to abandon them from fear of their enemies. Vines
and nut trees are here very numerous. Grapes mature, yet there is always
a very pungent tartness, which is felt remaining in the throat when one
eats them in large quantities, arising from defect of cultivation. These
localities are very pleasant when cleared up.'

From the Bay of Quinte the war-party skirted the east shore of Lake
Ontario, crossing the head of the St Lawrence, and thence following
the southern shore about fourteen leagues. At this point the Indians
concealed all their canoes and struck into the woods towards Lake
Oneida. Though made up chiefly of Hurons, the little army embraced
various allies, including a band of Algonquins. Whether from
over-confidence at having Champlain among them or from their natural
lack of discipline, the allies managed their attack very badly. On a
pond a few miles south of Oneida Lake lay the objective point of the
expedition--a palisaded stronghold of the Onondagas. At a short distance
from this fort eleven of the enemy were surprised and taken prisoners.
What followed was much less fortunate. Champlain does not state the
number of Frenchmen present, but as his drawing shows eleven musketeers,
we may infer that his own followers were distinctly more numerous than
at the battle on Lake Champlain.

The height of the palisade was thirty feet, and a system of gutters
supplied abundant water for use in extinguishing fire. Champlain's plan
of attack was to employ a cavalier, or protected scaffolding, which
should overtop the palisade and could be brought close against it. From
the top of this framework four or five musketeers were to deliver a
fusillade against the Iroquois within the fort, while the Hurons kindled
a fire at the foot of the palisade. Champlain's drawing shows the rest
of the musketeers engaged in creating a diversion at other points.

But everything miscarried. Though the cavalier was constructed, the
allies threw aside the wooden shields which Champlain had caused to be
made as a defence against the arrows of the Iroquois while the fire was
being kindled. Only a small supply of wood had been collected, and even
this was so placed that the flames blew away from the palisade instead
of towards it. On the failure of this attempt to fire the fort all
semblance of discipline was thrown to the winds. 'There also rose such
disorder among them,' says Champlain, 'that one could not understand
another, which greatly troubled me. In vain did I shout in their ears
and remonstrate to my utmost with them as to the danger to which they
exposed themselves by their bad behaviour, but on account of the great
noise they made they heard nothing. Seeing that shouting would only
burst my head and that my remonstrances were useless for putting a stop
to the disorder, I did nothing more, but determined, together with my
men, to do what we could and fire upon such as we could see.'

The fight itself lasted only three hours, and the casualties of the
attacking party were inconsiderable, since but two of their chiefs and
fifteen warriors were wounded. In addition to their repulse, the Hurons
suffered a severe disappointment through the failure to join them
of five hundred allies who had given their solemn promise. Although
Champlain had received two severe wounds, one in the leg and another in
the knee, he urged a second and more concerted attack. But in vain.
The most the Hurons would promise was to wait four or five days for the
expected reinforcements. At the end of this time there was no sign of
the five hundred, and the return began. 'The only good point,' says
Champlain, 'that I have seen in their mode of warfare is that they make
their retreat very securely, placing all the wounded and aged in their
centre, being well armed on the wings and in the rear, and continuing
this order without interruption until they reach a place of security.'

Champlain himself suffered tortures during the retreat, partly from his
wounds, but even more from the mode of transportation. The Indian method
of removing the wounded was first to bind and pinion them 'in such a
manner that it is as impossible for them to move as for an infant in its
swaddling-clothes.' They were then carried in a kind of basket, 'crowded
up in a heap.' Doubtless as a mark of distinction, Champlain was carried
separately on the back of a savage. His wound was so severe that when
the retreat began he could not stand. But the transportation proved
worse than the wound. 'I never found myself in such a gehenna as during
this time, for the pain which I suffered in consequence of the wound in
my knee was nothing in comparison with that which I endured while I was
carried bound and pinioned on the back of one of our savages. So that I
lost my patience, and as soon as I could sustain myself got out of this
prison, or rather gehenna.'

The enemy made no pursuit, but forced marches were kept up for
twenty-five or thirty leagues. The weather now grew cold, as it was past
the middle of autumn. The fight at the fort of the Onondagas had taken
place on October 10, and eight days later there was a snowstorm, with
hail and a strong wind. But, apart from extreme discomfort, the retreat
was successfully accomplished, and on the shore of Lake Ontario they
found the canoes intact.

It had been Champlain's purpose to spend the winter at Quebec, and when
the Hurons were about to leave the east end of Lake Ontario for their
own country he asked them for a canoe and an escort. Four Indians
volunteered for this service, but no canoe could be had, and in
consequence Champlain was forced reluctantly to accompany the Hurons.
With his usual patience he accepted the inevitable, which in this case
was only unpleasant because he was ill prepared for spending a winter
among the Indians. After a few days he perceived that their plan was
to keep him and his companions, partly as security for themselves
and partly that he might assist at their councils in planning better
safeguards against their enemies.

This enforced residence of Champlain among the Hurons during the winter
of 1615-16 has given us an excellent description of Indian customs. It
was also the means of composing a dangerous quarrel between the Hurons
and the Algonquins. Once committed to spending the winter among the
Indians, Champlain planned to make Huronia a point of departure for
still further explorations to the westward. Early in 1616 there seemed
to be a favourable opportunity to push forward in the direction of Lake
Superior. Then came this wretched brawl of Hurons and Algonquins, which
threatened to beget bitter hatred and war among tribes which hitherto
had both been friendly to the French. Accepting his duty, Champlain
gave up his journey to the far west and threw himself into the task of
restoring peace. But the measure of his disappointment is found in these
words:

   If ever there was one greatly disheartened, it was
   myself, since I had been waiting to see this year what
   during many preceding ones I had been seeking for with
   great toil and effort, through so many fatigues and
   risks of my life. But realizing that I could not help
   the matter, and that everything depended on the will
   of God, I comforted myself, resolving to see it in a
   short time. I had such sure information that I could
   not doubt the report of these people, who go to traffic
   with others dwelling in those northern regions, a
   great part of whom live in a place very abundant in
   the chase and where there are great numbers of large
   animals, the skins of several of which I saw, and
   which I concluded were buffaloes from their
   representation of their form. Fishing is also very
   abundant there. This journey requires forty days as
   well in returning as in going.

Thus Champlain almost had a chance to see the bison and the great plains
of the West. As it was, he did his immediate duty and restored the peace
of Huron and Algonquin. In partial compensation for the alluring journey
he relinquished, he had a better opportunity to study the Hurons
in their settlements and to investigate their relations with their
neighbours--the Tobacco Nation, the Neutral Nation, les Cheveux Releves,
and the Race of Fire. Hence the Voyage of 1615 not only describes the
physical aspects of Huronia, but contains intimate details regarding the
life of its people--their wigwams, their food, their manner of
cooking, their dress, their decorations, their marriage customs, their
medicine-men, their burials, their assemblies, their agriculture, their
amusements, and their mode of fishing. It is Champlain's most ambitious
piece of description, far less detailed than the subsequent narratives
of the Jesuits, but in comparison with them gaining impact from being
less diffuse.

It was on May 20, 1616, that Champlain left the Huron country, never
again to journey thither or to explore the recesses of the forest. Forty
days later he reached the Sault St Louis, and saw once more his old
friend Pontgrave. Thenceforward his life belongs not to the wilderness,
but to Quebec.



CHAPTER V. CHAMPLAIN'S LAST YEARS

When Champlain reached the Sault St Louis on July 1, 1616, his career as
an explorer had ended. The nineteen years of life that still remained he
gave to Quebec and the duties of his lieutenancy.

By this time he had won the central position in his own domain. Question
might arise as to the terms upon which a monopoly of trade should be
granted, or as to the persons who should be its recipients. But whatever
company might control the trade, Champlain was the king's representative
in New France. When Boyer affronted him, the council had required that
a public apology should be offered. When Montmorency instituted the
investigation of 1620, it was Champlain's report which determined the
issue. Five years later, when the Duc de Ventadour became viceroy in
place of Montmorency, Champlain still remained lieutenant-general of New
France. Such were his character, services, and knowledge that his tenure
could not be questioned.

Notwithstanding this source of satisfaction, the post was difficult in
the extreme. The government continued to leave colonizing in the hands
of the traders, and the traders continued to shirk their obligations.
The Company of the De Caens did a large business, but suffered more
severely than any of its predecessors from the strife of Catholic and
Huguenot. Those of the reformed religion even held their services in
the presence of the Indians, thus anticipating the scandals of Kikuyu.
Though the Duc de Ventadour gave orders that there should be no
psalm-singing after the outbound ships passed Newfoundland, this
provision seems not to have been effective. It was a difficult problem
for one like Champlain, who, while a loyal Catholic, had been working
all his life with Huguenot associates.

The period of the De Caens was marked by the presence at Quebec of
Madame Champlain. The romance of Champlain's life does not, however,
revolve about his marriage. In 1610, at the age of forty-three, he
espoused Helene Boulle, whose father was secretary of the King's Chamber
to Henry IV. As the bride was only twelve years old, the marriage
contract provided that she should remain two years longer with her
parents. She brought a dowry of six thousand livres, and simultaneously
Champlain made his will in her favour. Probably De Monts had some part
in arranging the marriage, for Nicholas Boulle was a Huguenot and De
Monts appears as a witness to the notarial documents. Subsequently,
Madame Champlain became an enthusiastic Catholic and ended her days as
a nun. She had no children, and was only once in Canada, residing
continuously at Quebec from 1620 to 1624. No mention whatever is made of
her in Champlain's writings, but he named St Helen's Island after her,
and appears to have been unwilling that she should enter a convent
during his lifetime.

One need feel little surprise that Madame Champlain should not care to
visit Canada a second time, for the buildings at Quebec had fallen into
disrepair, and more than once the supply of food ran very low. During
1625 Champlain remained in France with his wife, and therefore did not
witness the coming o the Jesuits to the colony. This event, which is
a landmark in the history of Quebec and New France, followed upon the
inability of the Recollets to cover the mission field with any degree of
completeness. Conscious that their resources were unequal to the task,
they invoked the aid of the Jesuits, and in this appeal were strongly
supported by Champlain. Once more the horizon seemed to brighten, for
the Jesuits had greater resources and influence than any other order in
the Roman Catholic Church, and their establishment at Quebec meant much
besides a mere increase in the population. The year 1626 saw Champlain
again at his post, working hard to complete a new factory which he had
left unfinished, while the buildings of the Jesuit establishment made
good progress under the hand of workmen specially brought from France.
What still remained imperfect was the fortification. The English had
destroyed the French settlements at Mount Desert and Port Royal. What
was to hinder them from bombarding Quebec?

This danger soon clouded the mood of optimism that had been inspired
by the coming of the Jesuits. The De Caens objected to any outlay on a
fort, and would not give Champlain the men he needed. In reply Champlain
sent the viceroy a report which was unfavourable to the company and its
methods. But even without this representation, the monopoly of the De
Caens was doomed by reason of events which were taking place in France.

At the court of Louis XIII Richelieu had now gained an eminence and
power such as never before had been possessed by a minister of
the French crown. Gifted with imagination and covetous of national
greatness, he saw the most desirable portions of other continents in the
hands of the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the English, and the Dutch. The
prospect was not pleasing, and he cast about for a remedy.

For Hanotaux, [Footnote: Gabriel Hanotaux, member of the French Academy,
is the author of the most authoritative work on the life and times of
Richelieu.] Richelieu is 'the true founder of our colonial empire,' and
La Ronciere adds: 'Madagascar, Senegal, Guiana' the Antilles, Acadia,
and Canada--this, to be exact, was the colonial empire for which we were
indebted to Richelieu.' Regarding his breadth of outlook there can be no
doubt, and in his Memoirs he left the oft-quoted phrase: 'No realm is
so well situated as France to be mistress of the seas or so rich in all
things needful.' Desiring to strengthen maritime commerce and to hold
distant possessions, he became convinced that the English and the
Dutch had adopted the right policy. Strong trading companies--not weak
ones--were what France needed.

Henry IV could have given the French a fair start, or even a lead, in
the race for colonies. He missed this great opportunity; partly because
he was preoccupied with the reorganization of France, and partly because
Sully, his minister, had no enthusiasm for colonial ventures. Twenty
years later the situation had changed. Richelieu, who was a man of wide
outlook, was also compelled by the activity of England and Holland
to give attention to the problem of a New France. The spirit of
colonization was in the air, and Richelieu, with his genius for ideas,
could not fail to see its importance or what would befall the laggards.
His misfortune was that he lacked certain definite qualifications which
a greater founder of colonies needed to possess. Marvellous in his grasp
of diplomatic situations and in his handling of men, he had no talent
whatever for the details of commerce. His fiscal regime, particularly
after France engaged in her duel with the House of Hapsburg, was
disorganized and intolerable. Nor did he recognize that, for the French,
the desire to emigrate required even greater encouragement than the
commercial instinct. He compelled his company to transport settlers, but
the number was not large, and he kindled no popular enthusiasm for the
cause of colonization. France had once led the crusade eastward. Under
proper guidance she might easily have contributed more than she did to
the exodus westward.

At any rate Richelieu, 'a man in the grand style, if ever man was,' had
decided that New France should no longer languish, and the Company of
One Hundred Associates was the result. In 1627 he abolished the office
of viceroy, deprived the De Caens of their charter, and prepared to make
Canada a real colony. The basis of the plan was an association of one
hundred members, each subscribing three thousand livres. Richelieu's
own name heads the list of members, followed by those of the minister
of finance and the minister of marine. Most of the members resided
in Paris, though the seaboard and the eastern provinces were also
represented. Nobles, wealthy merchants, small traders, all figure in
the list, and twelve titles of nobility were distributed among the
shareholders to help in the enlistment of capital. The company received
a monopoly of trade for fifteen years, and promised to take out three
hundred colonists annually during the whole period covered by the grant.
It also received the St Lawrence valley in full ownership. One notable
provision of the charter was that only Roman Catholics should be sent
to New France, and the company was placed under special obligation to
maintain three priests in each settlement until the colony could support
its own clergy.

Champlain was now sixty years of age, and he had suffered much.
Suddenly there burst forth this spontaneous enthusiasm of Richelieu the
all-powerful. Was Champlain's dream of the great city of Ludovica to
come true after all?

Alas, like previous visions, it faded before the glare of harsh,
uncompromising facts. The year in which Richelieu founded his Company
of New France was also the year of a fierce Huguenot revolt. Calling on
England for aid, La Rochelle defied Paris, the king, and the cardinal.
Richelieu laid siege to the place. Guiton, the mayor, sat at his
council-board with a bare dagger before him to warn the faint-hearted.
The old Duchesse de Rohan starved with the populace. Salbert, the most
eloquent of Huguenot pastors, preached that martyrdom was better than
surrender. Meanwhile, Richelieu built his mole across the harbour, and
Buckingham wasted the English troops to which the citizens looked for
their salvation. Then the town yielded.

The fall of La Rochelle was a great personal triumph for Richelieu, but
the war with England brought disaster to the Company of New France. At
Dieppe there had lived for many years an Englishman named Jarvis, or
Gervase, Kirke, who with his five sons--David, Lewis, Thomas, John, and
Jamesknew much at first hand about the French merchant marine. Early
in the spring of 1628 Kirke (who had shortly before moved to London)
secured letters of marque and sent forth his sons to do what damage they
could to the French in the St Lawrence. Champlain had spent the winter
at Quebec and was, of course, expecting his usual supplies with the
opening of navigation. Instead came Lewis Kirke, sent from Tadoussac by
his brother David, to demand surrender.

Champlain made a reply which, though courteous, was sufficiently bold
to convince the Kirkes that Quebec could be best captured by starvation.
They therefore sailed down the St Lawrence to intercept the fleet from
France, confident that their better craft would overcome these 'sardines
of the sea.' The plan proved successful even beyond expectation, for
after a long cannonade they captured without material loss the whole
fleet which had been sent out by the Company of New France. Ships,
colonists, annual supplies, building materials--all fell into the hands
of the enterprising Kirkes, who then sailed for England with their
booty. Alike to Champlain and to the Hundred Associates it was a
crippling blow.

Thus, but for the war with England, Quebec would have seen its
population trebled in 1628. As it was, the situation became worse than
ever. Lewis Kirke had been careful to seize the cattle pastured at Cap
Tourmente and to destroy the crops. When winter came, there were eighty
mouths to feed on a scant diet of peas and maize, imperfectly ground,
with a reserve supply of twelve hundred eels. Towards spring anything
was welcome, and the roots of Solomon's seal were esteemed a feast.
Champlain even gave serious thought to a raid upon the Mohawks, three
hundred miles away, in the hope that food could be brought back from
their granaries. Finally, on the 19th of July 1629, Lewis Kirke returned
with a second summons to surrender. This time only one answer was
possible, for to the survivors at Quebec the English came less in the
guise of foes than as human beings who could save them from starvation.
Champlain and his people received honourable treatment, and were
promised a passage to France. The family Hebert, however, decided to
remain.

We need not dwell upon the emotions with which Champlain saw the French
flag pulled down at Quebec. Doubtless it seemed the disastrous end of
his life-work, but he was a good soldier and enjoyed also the comforts
of religion. A further consolation was soon found in the discovery that
Quebec might yet be reclaimed. Ten weeks before Champlain surrendered,
the two countries were again at peace, and the Treaty of Suza embodied
a provision that captures made after the treaty was signed should be
mutually restored. This intelligence reached Champlain when he landed
in England on the homeward voyage. It is characteristic of the man, that
before going on to France he posted from Dover to London, and urged the
French ambassador that he should insistently claim Quebec.

As a result of the war Canada and Acadia were both in the possession of
England. On the other hand, the dowry of Henrietta Maria was still, for
the most part, in the treasury of France. When one remembers that 1628
saw Charles I driven by his necessities to concede the Petition of
Right, it will be readily seen that he desired the payment of his wife's
dowry. Hence Richelieu, whose talents in diplomacy were above praise,
had substantial reason to expect that Canada and Acadia would be
restored. The negotiations dragged on for more than two years, and were
complicated by disputes growing out of the captures made under letter of
marque. When all was settled by the Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye (March
1632) Quebec and Port Royal became once more French--to the profound
discontent of the Kirkes and Sir William Alexander, [Footnote: Alexander
had received grants from the British crown in 1621 and 1625 which
covered the whole coast from St Croix Island to the St Lawrence.] but
with such joy on the part of Champlain as only patriots can know who
have given a lifelong service to their country.

Having regained Canada, Richelieu was forced to decide what he would do
with it. In certain important respects the situation had changed since
1627, when he founded the Company of New France. Then Gustavus Adolphus
and the Swedes were not a factor in the dire strife which was convulsing
Europe. [Footnote: At this period the largest interest in European
politics was the rivalry between France and the House of Hapsburg, which
held the thrones of Spain and Austria. This rivalry led France to take
an active part in the Thirty Years' War, even though her allies in that
struggle were Protestants. Between 1627, when the Company of New France
was founded, and 1632, when Canada was restored to France, the Swedes
under Gustavus Adolphus had won a series of brilliant victories over
the Catholic and Hapsburg forces in Germany, After the death of Gustavus
Adolphus in 1632, Richelieu attacked the Emperor Ferdinand II in great
force, thereby conquering Alsace.] In 1632 the political problems of
Western and Central Europe had assumed an aspect quite different from
that which they had worn five years earlier. More and more France was
drawn into the actual conflict of the Thirty Years' War, impelled by
a sense of new and unparalleled opportunity to weaken the House of
Hapsburg. This, in turn, meant the preoccupation of Richelieu with
European affairs, and a heavy drain upon the resources of France in
order to meet the cost of her more ambitious foreign policy. Thus
the duel with Austria, as it progressed during the last decade of the
cardinal's life, meant a fresh check to those colonial prospects which
seemed so bright in 1627.

Richelieu's first step in resuming possession of Canada was to compose
matters between the De Caens and the Company of New France. Emery de
Caen and his associates were given the trading rights for 1632 and
79,000 livres as compensation for their losses through the revocation of
the monopoly. Dating from the spring of 1633, the Company of New France
was to be placed in full possession of Canada, subject to specific
obligations regarding missions and colonists. Conformably with this
programme, Emery de Caen appeared at Quebec on July 5, 1632, with
credentials empowering him to receive possession from Lewis and Thomas
Kirke, the representatives of England. With De Caen came Paul Le Jeune
and two other Jesuits, a vanguard of the missionary band which was to
convert the savages. 'We cast anchor,' says Le Jeune, 'in front of the
fort which the English held; we saw at the foot of this fort the poor
settlement of Quebec all in ashes. The English, who came to this country
to plunder and not to build up, not only burned a greater part of the
detached buildings which Father Charles Lalemant had erected, but also
all of that poor settlement of which nothing is now to be seen but the
ruins of its stone walls.'

The season of 1632 thus belonged to De Caen, whose function was merely
to tie up loose ends and prepare for the establishment of the new
regime. The central incident of the recession was the return of
Champlain himself--an old man who had said a last farewell to France and
now came, as the king's lieutenant, to end his days in the land of his
labours and his hopes. If ever the oft-quoted last lines of Tennyson's
Ulysses could fitly be claimed by a writer on behalf of his hero, they
apply to Champlain as he sailed from the harbour of Dieppe on March 23,
1633.

   Come, my friends,

   'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
   Push off, and sitting well in order smite
   The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
   To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
   Of all the western stars until I die.

   Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
   We are not now that strength which in old days
   Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
   One equal temper of heroic hearts,
   Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
   To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

It was Champlain's reward that he saw Quebec once more under the
fleur-de-lis, and was welcomed by the Indians with genuine emotion. The
rhetorical gifts of the red man were among his chief endowments, and all
that eloquence could lavish was poured forth in honour of Champlain
at the council of the Hurons, who had come to Quebec for barter at the
moment of his return. The description of this council is one of the most
graphic passages in Le Jeune's Relations. A captain of the Hurons first
arose and explained the purpose of the gathering. 'When this speech was
finished all the Savages, as a sign of their approval, drew from the
depths of their stomachs this aspiration, HO, HO, HO, raising the last
syllable very high.' Thereupon the captain began another speech of
friendship, alliance, and welcome to Champlain, followed by gifts. Then
the same captain made a third speech, which was followed by Champlain's
reply--a harangue well adapted to the occasion. But the climax was
reached in the concluding orations of two more Huron chiefs. 'They vied
with each other in trying to honour Sieur de Champlain and the French,
and in testifying their affection for us. One of them said that when the
French were absent the earth was no longer the earth, the river was no
longer the river, the sky was no longer the sky; but upon the return
of Sieur de Champlain everything was as before: the earth was again the
earth, the river was again the river, and the sky was again the sky.'

Thus welcomed by the savages, Champlain resumed his arduous task. He was
establishing Quebec anew and under conditions quite unlike those which
had existed in 1608. The most notable difference was that the Jesuits
were now at hand to aid in the upbuilding of Canada. The Quebec of De
Monts and De Caen had been a trading-post, despite the efforts of
the Recollets and Jesuits to render it the headquarters of a mission.
Undoubtedly there existed from the outset a desire to convert the
Indians, but as a source of strength to the colony this disposition
effected little until the return of the Jesuits in 1632.

With the re-establishment of the Jesuit mission the last days of
Champlain are inseparably allied. A severe experience had proved that
the colonizing zeal of the crown was fitful and uncertain. Private
initiative was needed to supplement the official programme, and of such
initiative the supply seemed scanty. The fur traders notoriously shirked
their obligations to enlarge the colony, and after 1632 the Huguenots,
who had a distinct motive for emigrating, were forbidden by Richelieu to
settle in Canada. There remained the enthusiasm of the Jesuits and the
piety of those in France who supplied the funds for their work among the
Montagnais, the Hurons, and the Iroquois. As the strongest order in the
Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuits possessed resources which enabled
them to maintain an active establishment in Canada. Through them Quebec
became religious, and their influence permeated the whole colony as its
population increased and the zone of occupation grew wider. Le Jeune,
Lalemant, Brebeuf, and Jogues are among the outstanding names of the
restored New France.

During the last two years of his life Champlain lived patriarchally at
Quebec, administering the public affairs of the colony and lending its
religious impulses the strength of his support and example. Always a man
of serious mind, his piety was confirmed by the reflections of advancing
age and his daily contact with the missionaries. In his household there
was a service of prayer three times daily, together with reading at
supper from the lives of the saints. In pursuance of a vow, he built a
chapel named Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, which records the gratitude
he felt for the restoration of Quebec to France. He was, in short, the
ideal layman--serving his king loyally in all business of state, and
demeaning himself as a pilgrim who is about to set forth for the City of
God.

It is not to be inferred from the prominence of Champlain's religious
interests that he neglected his public duties, which continued to be
many and exacting. One of his problems was to prevent the English from
trading in the St Lawrence contrary to treaty; another was to discourage
the Hurons from selling their furs to the Dutch on the Hudson. The
success of the mission, which he had deeply at heart, implied the
maintenance of peace among the Indians who were friendly to the French.
He sought also to police the region of the Great Lakes by a band of
French soldiers, and his last letter to Richelieu (dated August 15,
1635) contains an earnest appeal for a hundred and twenty men, to whom
should be assigned the duty of marshalling the Indian allies against the
English and Dutch, as well as of preserving order throughout the forest.
The erection of a fort at Three Rivers in 1634 was due to his desire
that the annual barter should take place at a point above Quebec. A
commission which he issued in the same year to Jean Nicolet to explore
the country of the Wisconsins, shows that his consuming zeal for
exploration remained with him to the end.

It was permitted Champlain to die in harness. He remained to the last
lieutenant of the king in Canada. At the beginning of October 1635 he
was stricken with paralysis, and passed away on Christmas Day of the
same year. We do not possess the oration which Father Paul Le Jeune
delivered at his funeral, but there remains from Le Jeune's pen an
appreciation of his character in terms which to Champlain himself would
have seemed the highest praise.

   On the twenty-fifth of December, the day of the birth
   of our Saviour upon earth, Monsieur de Champlain, our
   Governor, was reborn in Heaven; at least we can say
   that his death was full of blessings. I am sure that
   God has shown him this favour in consideration of the
   benefits he has procured for New France, where we hope
   some day God will be loved and served by our French,
   and known and adored by our Savages. Truly he had led
   a life of great justice, equity, and perfect loyalty
   to his King and towards the Gentlemen of the Company.
   But at his death he crowned his virtues with sentiments
   of piety so lofty that he astonished us all. What
   tears he shed! how ardent became his zeal for the
   service of God! how great was his love for the families
   here!--saying that they must be vigorously assisted
   for the good of the Country, and made comfortable in
   every possible way in these early stages, and that he
   would do it if God gave him health. He was not taken
   unawares in the account which he had to render unto
   God, for he had long ago prepared a general Confession
   of his whole life, which he made with great contrition
   to Father Lalemant, whom he honoured with his friendship.
   The Father comforted him throughout his sickness,
   which lasted two months and a half, and did not leave
   him until his death. He had a very honourable burial,
   the funeral procession being farmed of the people,
   the soldiers, the captains, and the churchmen. Father
   Lalemant officiated at this burial, and I was charged
   with the funeral oration, for which I did not lack
   material. Those whom he left behind have reason to be
   well satisfied with him; for, though he died out of
   France, his name will not therefor be any less glorious
   to posterity.



CHAPTER VI. CHAMPLAIN'S WRITINGS AND CHARACTER

There are some things that speak for themselves. In attempting to
understand Champlain's character, we are first met by the fact that
he pursued unflinchingly his appointed task. For thirty-two years he
persevered, amid every kind of hardship, danger, and discouragement,
in the effort to build up New France. He had personal ambitions as an
explorer, which were kept in strict subordination to his duty to the
king. He possessed concentration of aim without fanaticism. His
signal unselfishness was adorned by a patience which equalled that of
Marlborough. Inspired by large ideals, he did not scorn imperfect means.

Thus there are certain large aspects of Champlain's character that stand
forth in the high light of deed, and do not depend for their effect
either upon his own words or those of others. But when once we have
paid tribute to the fine, positive qualities which are implied by his
accomplishment, we must hasten to recognize the extraordinary value of
his writings as an index to his mind and soul. His narrative is not
an epic of disaster. It is a plain and even statement of great dangers
calmly met and treated as a matter of course. Largely it is a record of
achievement. At points where it is a record of failure Champlain accepts
the inevitable gracefully and conforms his emotions to the will of
God. The Voyages reveal a strong man 'well four-squared to the blows of
fortune.' They also illustrate the virtue of muscular Christianity.

At a time which, like ours, is becoming sated with cleverness, it is a
delight to read the unvarnished story of Champlain. In saying that
the adjective is ever the enemy of the noun, Voltaire could not have
levelled the shaft at him, for few writers have been more sparing in
their use of adjectives or other glowing words. His love of the sea
and of the forest was profound, but he is never emotional in his
expressions. Yet with all his soberness and steadiness he possessed
imagination. In its strength and depth his enthusiasm for colonization
proves this, even if we omit his picture of the fancied Ludovica. But as
a man of action rather than of letters he instinctively omits verbiage.
In some respects we suffer from Champlain's directness of mind for on
much that he saw he could have lingered with profit. But very
special inducements are needed to draw him from his plain tale into a
digression. Such inducements occur at times when he is writing of the
Indians, for he recognized that Europe was eager to hear in full detail
of their traits and customs. Thus set passages of description, inserted
with a sparing hand, seemed to him a proper element of the text,
but anything like conscious embellishment of the narrative he
avoids--probably more through mere naturalness than conscious
self-repression.

From Marco Polo to Scott's Journal the literature of geographical
discovery abounds with classics, and standards of comparison suggest
themselves in abundance to the critic of Champlain's Voyages. Most
naturally, of course, one turns to the records of American exploration
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--to Ramusio, Oviedo, Peter
Martyr, Hakluyt, and Purchas. No age can show a more wonderful galaxy
of pioneers than that which extends from Columbus to La Salle, and among
the great explorers of this era Champlain takes his place by virtue
alike of his deeds and writings. In fact, he belongs to the small and
distinguished class of those who have recorded their own discoveries in
a suitable and authentic narrative, for in few cases have geographical
results of equal moment been described by the discoverer himself.

Among the many writings which are available for comparison and contrast
one turns, singularly yet inevitably, to Lescarbot. The singularity of
a comparison between Champlain and Lescarbot is that Lescarbot was not a
geographer. At the same time, he is the only writer of importance whose
trail crosses that of Champlain, and some light is thrown on Champlain's
personality by a juxtaposition of texts. That is to say, both were in
Acadia at the same time, sat together at Poutrincourt's table, gazed
on the same forests and clearings, met the same Indians, and had a like
opportunity of considering the colonial problems which were thrust upon
the French in the reign of Henry IV.

It would be hard to find narratives more dissimilar,--and the contrast
is not wholly to the advantage of Champlain. Or rather, there are times
when his Doric simplicity of style seems jejune beside the flowing
periods and picturesque details of Lescarbot. No better illustration
of this difference in style, arising from fundamental difference in
temperament, can be found than the description which each gives of the
Ordre de Bon Temps. To Champlain belongs the credit of inventing this
pleasant means of promoting health and banishing ennui, but all he tells
of it is this: 'By the rules of the Order a chain was put, with some
little ceremony, on the neck of one of our company, commissioning him
for the day to go a-hunting. The next day it was conferred upon another,
and thus in succession. All exerted themselves to the utmost to see who
would do the best and bring home the finest game. We found this a very
good arrangement, as did also the savages who were with us.'

Such is the limit of the information which we receive from Champlain
regarding the Ordre de Bon Temps, his own invention and the life of the
company. It is reserved for Lescarbot to give us the picture which
no one can forget--the Atoctegic, or ruler of the feast, leading the
procession to dinner 'napkin on shoulder, wand of office in hand, and
around his neck the collar of the Order, which was worth more than four
crowns; after him all the members of the Order, carrying each a dish.'
Around stand the savages, twenty or thirty of them, 'men, women, girls,
and children,' all waiting for scraps of food. At the table with the
French themselves sits the Sagamos Membertou and the other Indian
chiefs, gladdening the company by their presence. And the food!--'ducks,
bustards, grey and white geese, partridges, larks, and other birds;
moreover moose, caribou, beaver, otter, bear, rabbits, wild-cats,
racoons, and other animals,' the whole culminating in the tenderness of
moose meat and the delicacy of beaver's tail. Such are the items which
Champlain omits and Lescarbot includes. So it is throughout their
respective narratives--Champlain ever gaining force through compactness,
and Lescarbot constantly illuminating with his gaiety or shrewdness
matters which but for him would never have reached us.

This difference of temperament and outlook, which is so plainly
reflected on the printed page, also had its effect upon the personal
relations of the two men. It was not that Lescarbot scandalized
Champlain by his religious views, for though liberal-minded, Lescarbot
was not a heretic, and Champlain knew how to live harmoniously even with
Huguenots. The cause of the coolness which came to exist between
them must be sought rather in fundamental contrasts of character. To
Champlain, Lescarbot doubtless seemed a mere hanger-on or protege of
Poutrincourt, with undue levity of disposition and a needless flow of
conversation. To Lescarbot, Champlain may well have seemed deficient in
literary attainments, and so preoccupied with the concerns of geography
as to be an uncongenial companion. To whatever cause conjecture may
trace it, they did not become friends, although such lack of sympathy
as existed shows itself only in an occasional pin-prick, traceable
particularly in the later editions of their writings. For us it is the
more needful to lay stress upon the merits of Lescarbot, because he
tends to be eclipsed by the greater reputation of Champlain, and also
because his style is sometimes so diffuse as to create prejudice. But at
his best he is admirable, and without him we should know much less than
we do about that Acadian experience which holds such a striking place in
the career of Champlain.

The popular estimate of French character dwells overmuch upon the levity
or gaiety which undoubtedly marks the Gallic race. France could not have
accomplished her great work for the world without stability of purpose
and seriousness of mood. Nowhere in French biography are these qualities
more plainly illustrated than by the acts of Champlain. The doggedness
with which he clung to his patriotic and unselfish task is the most
conspicuous fact in his life. Coupled therewith is his fortitude, both
physical and moral. In times of crisis the conscript sets his teeth
and dies without a murmur. But Champlain enlisted as a volunteer for a
campaign which was to go on unceasingly till his last day. How incessant
were its dangers can be made out in full detail from the text of the
Voyages. We may omit the perils of the North Atlantic, though what they
were can be seen from Champlain's description of his outward voyage in
the spring of 1611. The remaining dangers will suffice. Scurvy, which
often claimed a death-roll of from forty to eighty per cent in a single
winter; famine such as that which followed the failure of ships from
home to arrive at the opening of navigation; the storms which drove the
frail shallop on the rocks and shoals of Norumbega; the risk of mutiny;
the chances of war, whether against the Indians or the English; the
rapids of the wilderness as they threatened the overloaded canoe on
its swift descent; the possible treachery of Indian guides--such is a
partial catalogue of the death-snares which surrounded the pathway of an
explorer like Champlain. Every one of these dangers is brought before
us by his own narrative in a manner which does credit to his modesty no
less than to his fortitude. Without embellishment or self-glorification,
he recites in a few lines hairbreadth escapes which a writer of less
steadfast soul would have amplified into a thrilling tale of heroism.
None the less, to the discriminating reader Champlain's Voyages are an
Odyssey.

Bound up with habitual fortitude is the motive from which it springs.
In Champlain's case patriotism and piety were the groundwork of a
conspicuous and long-tested courage. The patriotism which exacted such
sacrifices was not one which sought to define itself even in the form of
a justifiable digression from the recital of events. But we may be sure
that Champlain at the time he left Port Royal had made up his mind that
the Spaniards, the English, and the Dutch were not to parcel out the
seaboard of North America to the exclusion of the French. As for the
religious basis of his fortitude, we do not need Le Jeune's story of
his death-bed or the record of his friendship with men of religion.
His narrative abounds throughout with simple and natural expressions of
piety, not the less impressive because they are free from trace of the
theological intolerance which envenomed French life in his age. And not
only did Champlain's trust in the Lord fortify his soul against fear,
but religion imposed upon him a degree of self-restraint which was
not common among explorers of the seventeenth century. It is far from
fanciful to see in this one of the chief causes of his hold upon the
Indians. To them he was more than a useful ally in war time. They
respected his sense of honour, and long after his death remembered the
temperance which marked his conduct when he lived in their villages.

As a writer, Champlain enjoyed the advantage of possessing a fresh,
unhackneyed subject. The only exception to this statement is furnished
by his early book on the West Indies and Mexico, where he was going over
ground already trodden by the Spaniards. His other writings relate to a
sphere of exploration and settlement which he made his own, and of which
he well merited to be the chronicler.

Running through the Voyages is the double interest of discovery and
colonization, constantly blending and reacting upon each other, but
still remaining matters of separate concern. It is obvious that in
the mind of the narrator discovery is always the more engaging theme.
Champlain is indeed the historian of St Croix, Port Royal, and Quebec,
but only incidentally or from chance. By temper he was the explorer,
that is, the man of action, willing to record the broad results, but
without the instinct which led Lescarbot to set down the minutiae of
life in a small, rough settlement. There is one side of Champlain's
activity as a colonizer which we must lament that he has not
described--namely, his efforts to interest the nobles and prelates of
the French court in the upbuilding of Canada. A diary of his life at
Paris and Fontainebleau would be among the choicest documents of the
early colonial era. But Champlain was too blunt and loyal to set down
the story of his relations with the great, and for this portion of his
life we must rely upon letters, reports, and memoranda, which are so
formal as to lack the atmosphere of that painful but valiant experience.

Excluding the brief notices of life at St Croix, Port Royal, and Quebec,
Champlain's Voyages present a story of discovery by sea and discovery
by land. In other words, the four years of Acadian adventure relate to
discoveries made along the seaboard, while the remaining narratives,
including the Des Sauvages of 1604, relate to the basin of the St
Lawrence. Mariner though he was by early training, Champlain achieved
his chief success as an explorer by land, in the region of the Great
Lakes. Bad fortune prevented him from pursuing his course past Martha's
Vineyard to the mouth of the Hudson and Chesapeake Bay. It was no small
achievement to accomplish what he did on the coast of Norumbega, but his
most distinctive discoveries were those which he made in the wilderness,
leading up to his fine experience of 1615-16 among the Hurons.

To single out Champlain's chief literary triumph, it was he who
introduced the Algonquin, the Huron, and the Iroquois to the delighted
attention of France. Ever since the days of Cartier the French had known
that savages inhabited the banks of the St Lawrence, but Champlain
is the pioneer in that great body of literature on the North American
Indian, which thenceforth continued without interruption in France
to the Rene and Atala of Chateaubriand. Above all other subjects, the
Indians are Champlain's chief theme.

To some extent the account of Indian life which is given in the Voyages
suffers by comparison with the Relations of the Jesuits. The Fathers,
by reason of their long residence among the Indians, undoubtedly came to
possess a more intimate knowledge of their character and customs than
it was possible for Champlain to acquire during the time he spent
among them. On the other hand, the Jesuits were so preoccupied with the
progress of the mission that they tended to view the life of the
savages too exclusively from one angle. Furthermore, the volume of
their description is so great as to overwhelm all readers who are not
specially interested in the mission or the details of Indian custom.
Champlain wrote with sufficient knowledge to bring out salient traits
in high relief, while his descriptive passages are sufficiently terse to
come within the range of those who are not specialists. When we remember
the perpetual interest which, for more than three hundred years, Europe
has felt in the North American Indian, the Voyages of Champlain are seen
in their true perspective. For he, with fresh eyes, saw the red man
in his wigwam, at his council, and on the war-path; watched his stoic
courage under torture and his inhuman cruelty in the hour of vengeance.
Tales of the wilderness, the canoe, the portage, and the ambush have
never ceased to fascinate the imagination of Europe. Champlain's
narrative may be plain and unadorned, but, with such a groundwork, the
imagination of every reader could supply details at will.

In all essential respects Champlain seems to have been a good observer
and an accurate chronicler. It is true that his writings are not free
from error involving facts of distance, altitude, and chronology. But
such slips as have crept into his text do not constitute a serious
blemish or tend to impugn the good faith of his statements on matters
where there is no other source of information. Everything considered,
his substantial accuracy is much more striking than his partial
inaccuracy. In fact, no one of his high character and disinterested zeal
could write with any other purpose than to describe truly what he had
seen and done. The seal of probity is set upon Champlain's writings no
less than upon the record of his dealings with his employers and the
king. Unselfish as to money or fame, he sought to create New France.

In national progress much depends on the auspices under which the nation
was founded and the tradition which it represents. Thus England, and
all the English world, has an imperishable tradition in the deeds and
character of Alfred the Great; thus Canada has had from the outset of
the present stage in her development a great possession in the equal
self-sacrifice of Montcalm and Wolfe. On the other hand, the nation is
doomed to suffer which bases its traditions of greatness upon such acts
as the seizure of Silesia by Frederick or Bismarck's manipulation of the
Ems telegram.

For Canada Champlain is not alone a heroic explorer of the seventeenth
century, but the founder of Quebec; and it is a rich part of our
heritage that he founded New France in the spirit of unselfishness, of
loyalty, and of faith.




BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE



Original Text

The best edition of Champlain's own works, in the original text, is
that of Laverdiere--'OEuvres de Champlain, pabliees sous le Patronage de
l'Universite Laval. Par l'Abbe C.-H. Laverdiere, M.A. Seconde Edition. 6
tomes, 4to. Quebec: Imprime au Seminaire par Geo. E. Desbarats, 1870.'

The list of Champlain's writings includes:

1. The 'Bref Discours,' describing his trip to the West
   Indies.

2. The 'Des Sauvages,' describing his first voyage to
   the St Lawrence.

3. The 'Voyages' of 1613, covering the years 1604-13
   inclusive.

4. The 'Voyages' of 1619, covering the years 1615-18
   inclusive.

5. The 'Voyages' of 1632, which represent a re-editing
   of the early voyages from 1603 forward, and continue
   the narrative from 1618 to 1629.

6. A general treatise on the duties of the mariner.



English Translations

1. The 'Bref Discours,' in a translation by Alice Wilmere,
   was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1859.

2. The Des Sauvages (1604) was translated in 'Purchas
   His Pilgrimes' (1625).

3. The 'Voyages' of 1604-18 inclusive were translated by
   C. P. Otis for the Prince Society of Boston, in three
   volumes, 1878-82, with  the Rev. E. F. Slafter as
   editor. This is a fine work, but not easily accessible
   in  its original form.  Fortunately, Professor Otis's
   translation has been reprinted, with an introduction
   and notes by Professor W. L. Grant, in the 'Original
   Narratives of Early American History' (Scribners,
   1907). The passages quoted in the present volume are
   taken from Otis's translation, with occasional changes.

4. The 'Voyages' of 1604-16 inclusive have also been well
   translated by Annie Nettleton Bourne, with an
   introduction and notes by Professor E. G. Bourne
   (A. S. Barnes and Co., 1906). This translation follows
   the edition of 1632, and also gives the translation
   of 'Des Souvages' which appears in Purchas.



General Literature

The career of Champlain is treated in many historical works, of which
the following are a few: Parkman, 'Pioneers of France in the New World';
Dionne, 'Samuel de Champlain' (in the Makers of Canada' series); Biggar,
'Early Trading Companies of New France'; Slafter, 'Champlain' (in
Winsor's 'Narrative and Critical History of America,' vol. iv, part
i, chap. iii); Salone, 'La Colonisation de la Nouvelle France'; Sulte,
'Histoire des Canadiens-Francais'; Ferland, 'Cours d'Histoire du
Canada'; Garneau, 'Histoire du Canada,' fifth edition edited by the
author's grandson, Hector Garneau.



Portrait

Unfortunately, there is no authentic portrait of Champlain. That
ascribed to Moncornet is undoubtedly spurious, as has been proved by V.
H. Paltsits in 'Acadiensis,' vol. iv, pp. 306-11.






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Founder of New France: A Chronicle
of Champlain, by Charles W. Colby

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEW FRANCE ***

***** This file should be named 4213.txt or 4213.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/1/4213/

Produced by Gardner Buchanan

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected].  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     [email protected]


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     http://www.gutenberg.org

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.