CHAMPLAIN (sham-plane), at the beginning of the seventeenth century, crossed the Atlantic in two pigmy barks—one of twelve, the other of fifteen tons—and ascended the St. Lawrence on an exploring tour. At Hochelaga all was changed. The Indian town had vanished, and not a trace remained of the savage population which Cartier saw there seventy years before.
[Footnote: This fact illustrates the frequent and rapid changes which took place among the aboriginal tribes.]
Champlain was captivated by the charms of the new world, and longed to plant a French empire and the Catholic faith amid its savage wilds.
DE MONTS (mong) received a grant of all the territory between the fortieth and forty-sixth parallels of latitude.
[Footnote: Between the sites of Philadelphia and Montreal.]
This tract was termed Acadia, a name afterward confined to New Brunswick and the adjacent islands, and now to Nova Scotia. With Champlain, he founded Port Royal, N. S., in 1605. This was the first permanent French settlement in America. It was three years before a cabin was built in Canada, and two before the James River was discovered.
CHAMPLAIN RETURNED in 1608, and established a trading post at Quebec. This was the first permanent French settlement in Canada. The next summer, in his eager desire to explore the country, he joined a war party of the Hurons against the Iroquois, or Five Nations of Central New York.
[Footnote: The interference of Champlain with the Indians secured the inveterate hostility of the Iroquois tribes. Not long after, they seized the missionaries who came among them, tortured and put them to death. This cut off any farther explorations toward the south. The French, therefore, turned their attention toward the west.]
On this journey he discovered that beautiful lake which bears his name. Amid discouragements which would have overwhelmed a less determined spirit, Champlain firmly established the authority of France on the banks of the St. Lawrence. "The Father of New France," as he has been termed, reposes in the soil he won to civilization.
THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES.—The explorers of the Mississippi valley were mostly Jesuit priests. The French names which they gave still linger throughout that region. Their hope was to convert the Indians to the Christian faith. They pushed their way through the forest with unflagging energy. They crept along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. They traversed the Great Lakes. In 1668 they founded the mission of St. Mary, the oldest European settlement in Michigan. Many of them were murdered by the savages; some were scalped; some were burned in rosin-fire; some scalded with boiling water. Yet, as soon as one fell out of the ranks, another sprang forward to fill the post. We shall name but two of these patient, indefatigable pioneers of New France.