Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03

by Samuel de Champlain

CHAPTER II.

DEPARTURE FROM FRANCE.—WHAT TOOK PLACE UP TO OUR ARRIVAL AT THE FALLS.

I set out from Rouen on the 5th of March for Honfleur, accompanied by Sieur L'Ange, to assist me in my explorations, and in war if occasion should require.

On the next day, the 6th of the month, we embarked in the vessel of Sieur de Pont Gravé, immediately setting sail, with a favorable wind.

On the 10th of April we sighted the Grand Bank, where we several times tried for fish, but without success.

On the 15th we had a violent gale, accompanied by rain and hail, which was followed by another, lasting forty-eight hours, and so violent as to cause the loss of several vessels on the island of Cape Breton.

On the 21st we sighted the island and Cap de Raye. [30] On the 29th the Montagnais savages, perceiving us from All Devils' Point, [31] threw themselves into their canoes and came to meet us, being so thin and hideous-looking that I did not recognize them. At once they began crying for bread, saying that they were dying of hunger. This led us to conclude that the winter had not been severe, and consequently the hunting poor, which matter we have alluded to in previous voyages.

Having arrived on board of our vessel they examined the faces of all, and as I was not to be seen anywhere they asked where Monsieur de Champlain was, and were answered that I had remained in France. But this they would not think of believing, and an old man among them came to me in a corner where I was walking, not desiring to be recognized as yet, and taking me by the ear, for he suspected who it was, saw the scar of the arrow wound, which I received at the defeat of the Iroquois. At this he cried out, and all the others after him, with great demonstrations of joy, saying, Your people are awaiting you at the harbor of Tadoussac.

The same day we arrived at Tadoussac, and although we had set out last, nevertheless arrived first, Sieur Boyer of Rouen arriving with the same tide. From this it is evident that to set out before the season is simply rushing into the ice. When we had anchored, our friends came out to us, and, after informing us how everything was at the habitation, began to dress three outardes [32] and two hares, which they had brought, throwing the entrails overboard, after which the poor savages rushed, and, like famished beasts, devoured them without drawing. They also scraped off with their nails the fat with which our vessel had been coated, eating it gluttonously as if they had found some great delicacy.

The next day two vessels arrived from St. Malo, which had set out before the oppositions had been settled and the commission been published in Normandy. I proceeded on board, accompanied by L'Ange. The Sieurs de la Moinerie and la Tremblaye were in command, to whom I read the commission of the King, and the prohibition against violating it on penalties attached to the same. They replied that they were subjects and faithful servants of His Majesty, and that they would obey his commands; and I then had attached to a post in the port the arms and commission of His Majesty, that no ground for ignorance might be claimed.

On the 2d of May, seeing two shallops equipped to go to the Falls, I embarked with the before-mentioned L'Ange in one of them. We had very bad weather, so that the masts of our shallop were broken, and had it not been for the preserving hand of God we should have been lost, as was before our eyes a shallop from St Malo, which was going to the Isle d'Orleans, those on board of which however being saved.

On the 7th we arrived at Quebec, where we found in good condition those who had wintered there, they not having been sick; they told us that the winter had not been severe, and that the river had not frozen. The trees also were beginning to put forth leaves and the fields to be decked with flowers.

On the 13th we set out from Quebec for the Falls of St. Louis, where we arrived on the 21st, finding there one of, our barques which had set out after us from Tadoussac, and which had traded some with a small troop of Algonquins, who came from the war with the Iroquois, and had with them two prisoners. Those in the barque gave them to understand that I had come with a number of men to assist them in their wars, according to the promise I had made them in previous years; also that I desired to go to their country and enter into an alliance with all their friends, at which they were greatly pleased. And, inasmuch as they were desirous of returning to their country to assure their friends of their victory, see their wives, and put to death their prisoners in a festive tabagie, they left us pledges of their return, which they promised should be before the middle of the first moon, according to their reckoning, their shields made of wood and elk leather, and a part of their bows and arrows. I regretted very much that I was not prepared to go with them to their country.

Three days after, three canoes arrived with Algonquins, who had come from the interior, with some articles of merchandise which they bartered. They told me that the bad treatment which the savages had received the year before had discouraged them from coming any more, and that they did not believe that I would ever return to their country on account of the wrong impressions which those jealous of me had given them respecting me; wherefore twelve hundred men had gone to the war, having no more hope from the French, who, they did not believe, would return again to their country.

This intelligence greatly disheartened the merchants, as they had made a great purchase of merchandise, with the expectation that the savages would come, as they had been accustomed to. This led me to resolve, as I engaged in my explorations, to pass through their country, in order to encourage those who had stayed back, with an assurance of the good treatment they would receive, and of the large amount of good merchandise at the Fall, and also of the desire I had to assist them in their war. For carrying out this purpose I requested three canoes and three savages to guide us, but after much difficulty obtained only two and one savage, and this by means of some presents made them.