The Makers of Canada: Champlain

by N.-E. Dionne

After having examined the map of the country, and studied the details of the scheme, Soissons promised, under the sanction of the king, to assume the protectorate of the undertaking. Louis XIII listened favourably to the petition of his loyal subject, and granted the direction and control of the settlement to the count, who in due course honoured Champlain with the lieutenancy. Soon after this event, however, the count died, and His Majesty committed the direction of affairs to Monseigneur Le Prince de Condé, who retained Champlain as his lieutenant.

After having caused his commission to be posted in all the ports of Normandy, Champlain sailed from France on March 6th, in the vessel of Pont-Gravé, and arrived at Pointe aux Vaches, near Tadousac, on April 24th, 1613.

The savages came on board the vessel and inquired for Champlain. Some one replied that he had remained in France. On hearing this, an old man approached Champlain, who was walking in a corner of the vessel, and examined the scar on his ear, which was caused by an arrow wound while fighting for the Indians. On seeing this, the old man recognized Champlain, and expressed his feelings by shouts of delight, in which he was joined by his companions, who said, "Your people are awaiting you in the harbour of Tadousac."

On arriving at Tadousac, Champlain found that these Indians were almost dying of hunger, and after having affixed the arms and commission of His Majesty to a post in the port, he proceeded to Quebec, which he reached on May 7th. The people of the settlement were all in good health, and the winter having been less severe than usual, the river had not frozen once. The leaves were beginning to appear on the trees, and the fields were already decked with flowers.

On the 13th of the month Champlain left for the Falls of St. Louis, which he reached eight days afterwards. Here he met a number of the Algonquins, who informed him that the bad treatment which they had experienced during the previous year had discouraged them from coming to trade, and that his long absence from the country had left the whole tribe under the impression that he did not intend to return. On hearing this, Champlain recognized that it would be advisable to visit the Algonquins at once, in order to continue his discoveries, and to preserve friendly relations with them.

During his residence in France, Champlain had met a young Frenchman named Nicholas du Vignau, who claimed to have seen the Northern Sea, and said that the Algonquin River flowed from a lake which emptied into it. He also stated that the journey from Sault St. Louis to this sea and return could be accomplished in seventeen days, and that he had seen there the wreck and débris of an English ship, on board of which were eighty men. This intelligence seemed the more probable as the English were supposed to have visited the Labrador coast in 1612, where they had discovered a strait.

Champlain requested a merchant of La Rochelle, named Georges, to give du Vignau a passage on his ship, which he did willingly, and he also made an affidavit before a notary concerning du Vignau's Relation. Du Vignau came to Canada, and accompanied Champlain on his visit to the Algonquins. The party, consisting of four Frenchmen and one savage, set out from Ste. Helen's Island on May 27th, 1613.

After having passed the falls they entered Lake St. Louis. On the last day of May they passed Lake des Deux Montagnes, which Champlain called Lake de Soissons. Some days after they came in sight of the river Gatineau, the river Rideau and its fall, and the Chaudière Falls, where they were forced to land. They also passed the rapid des Chats, Lake des Chats, Madawaska River, Muskrat Lake, and Allumette Island, where an Algonquin chief named Tessoüat resided. On the following day the Indians gave a tabagie in honour of Champlain, who after smoking the pipe of peace with the party, explained to them that the object of his visit was to assure them of his friendship, and to assist them in their wars, as he had done before.[15]

He told them also that he was making an excursion into their country to observe the fertility of the soil, and study their lakes and rivers, and to discover the sea which he was told was in their vicinity. Champlain therefore requested them to furnish four canoes, and eight Indians as guides, to conduct the party to the Nipissirini, in order to induce their enemies to fight.

The chief Tessoüat, speaking in behalf of the whole tribe, said that he regarded Champlain as the most friendly of all the French, for the others were unwilling to help them in their wars, but that they had resolved not to go to the falls again, and that, owing to the long absence of Champlain from the country, they had been compelled to go to the wars alone. They therefore begged him to postpone his expedition until the following year.