Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the Years 1599-1602

by Samuel de Champlain

Some days afterwards a young man, of the name of Desdames, came to Quebec with ten men, bringing news of the arrival at Gaspey of the Sieur de Roquement, commanding the new company's ships, which were bringing stores, provisions, and workmen and their families for the colony. Champlain, whom the late surprise had rendered doubly cautious, asked for letters from De Roquement, before giving credence to this intelligence; surprised, moreover, that in such suspicious times, he had not written by his messenger, to say how affairs were going on in France, and tell him about this new company that had ousted De Caen and his partners, and of which Champlain knew nothing. [ [26] ] Desdames told him that he had left in such haste that De Roquement had not time to write, but in proof of the truth of his intelligence, produced a few lines from Father Lallemand, a Jesuit, who was on board De Roquement's vessel, saying that, in a short time, Champlain would see them, if not prevented by the English, who were stronger than they were. Desdames also informed him that De Roquement intended to attack the English squadron at Tadoussac, and that on his route he had heard cannon, which made him think that the battle had commenced.

Champlain severely blamed the conduct of De Roquement in attacking the English, as, being sent for the sole purpose of succouring and revictualling the fort and settlement which were in want of almost every necessary, if he were beaten, he not only ruined himself but the country, leaving nearly a hundred men, women, and children to die of hunger, or abandon the fort and settlement to the first enemy that should present himself. On the contrary, the English being stronger in ships and men, he ought to have avoided them as much as possible. "The merit of a good captain," he exclaims, "is not in his courage alone; it ought to be accompanied by prudence, which causes him to be respected, being accompanied by many cunning stratagems and inventions; many have thus done much with little, and have rendered themselves glorious and redoubtable."

While waiting with impatience for news of the combat, "Nous mangions nos pois par compte," which short allowance greatly reduced the strength of the people, most of the men becoming feeble, and hardly able to work. "We were deprived of all," says Champlain; "even salt was wanting." His ingenuity, however, provided a partial remedy for the evil of eating the peas whole; he first had mortars made wherein the peas might be pounded to a coarse flour; but the labour required being considerable, he imagined that a hand-mill would be better, but there were no mill-stones; however, as by dint of seeking most things are to be found, his locksmith discovered stone fit for the purpose. "So that," Champlain writes, "this necessity made us find that which for twenty years had been deemed impossible." When the hand-mill was finished, every one brought his little supply of peas, which they received back in flour, and which, made into a kind of soup, "did us a great deal of good, and set us up better than we had been for some time." So with the addition of a small supply of eels, from time to time, from the Indians, who, by the bye, sold them very dear, he continued to rub on as best he might. The success of his hand-mill encouraged him to have water-mills erected during the winter, which would better relieve the people, and spare labour. He also sent out men to hunt in the winter, "as the savages did, but," he adds, indignantly, "they were not so honest as those people, as having taken a very large elk, they amused themselves with devouring it like ravenous wolves, without giving us any, save about twenty pounds; which made me reproach them for their gluttony, as I never had any provisions without sharing with them; but as they were men without honour or civility, so had they acted, and I sent them no more, occupying them with other things."

Champlain's difficulties and anxieties became daily greater, as, with the utmost possible economy, the few remaining provisions would hardly last longer than the end of May, and if the annual ships with supplies were lost or taken by the English, they must all perish with hunger; so he resolved that, if the vessels did not arrive by the end of June, and the English should return as they had promised, to make the best terms he could and give up the fort, as the people could not otherwise subsist; and if neither the English nor the ships should arrive, to patch up, as well as he could, a little vessel of seven or eight tons, which had been left at Quebec as being good for nothing, and go to Gaspey, Miscou, and other places to the north, to try and get a passage for the greater part of the settlers, in the vessels which went there for the fishery, retaining in the settlement only such a number as might subsist on the grain which would be gathered in the following August from the lands of "Hebert" before mentioned, and of the "Fathers," who seemed to have taken care of themselves in all this necessity. "To exist till August," says he, "our resource would be to seek for herbs and roots, and try and catch fish." If he found that the little vessel could not be repaired, he determined to take with him as many men as possible and make war on some of the savage tribes who had aided the Iroquois; to force one of their villages and fortify it, so as to pass the rest of the summer, the autumn, and winter, rather than all die of hunger at the settlement, "hoping for better things in the spring."

While in this extreme tribulation, an Indian chief, of a tribe some eight days journey from Quebec, paid Champlain a visit for the purpose of soliciting his aid against the old foe, the Iroquois. Considering it an excellent opportunity for relieving the settlement of many surplus mouths, he agreed to help them as well as he could in that year if the vessels should not arrive, and, at any rate, in the next year he would join them with as many men as possible; at least he and his people would be fed, and if the English took possession of the settlement, his alliance with the Indians would enable him in due time to drive them out. With this promise the Indian chief departed highly pleased, and Champlain sent a confidential man to reconnoitre the enemy's country, giving his Indian friends instructions how to attack the Iroquois villages or forts till he could join them. He then sent a small boat to Gaspey to try and get some grain, and applied to "Father Joseph De la Roche," (he does not say of which mission, Jesuit or Recollet,) to know if he might hope for some supplies from their stock if the ships should not arrive; the worthy Father Joseph replied that, if it depended upon him, he would gladly consent, but that "Father Joseph Caron, the guardian, must be first applied to." Whether the said supplies were forthcoming does not appear; from the continuance, and even increase of suffering, it should seem not.

On the 20th of May, twenty Indian warriors, coming from Tadoussac, on their way to make war on the Iroquois, brought some account of the battle which had been fought between the English and French ships. Some men had been killed; the Sieur De Roquement wounded in the foot, and the French vessels taken and carried into Gaspey; the crews had been all put on board one of the ships to be sent to France, the officers kept as prisoners of war, and the English, after burning a "cache" of corn belonging to the Jesuits at Gaspey, had set sail for England.

About this time Champlain formed an alliance with an Indian chief named "Chomina," who greatly relieved his anxieties about future subsistence by promising to assist him, as much as possible, with provisions, and in case of need, against the English. Desdames also arrived from Gaspey, confirming the intelligence brought by the Indians of the total defeat and capture of the French ships, and that eight English vessels were cruising on the coast of Acadia.

On the 26th of June Champlain dispatched his brother-in-law, Boullé, with all who wished to leave the settlement, to Gaspey, with orders to seek a passage to France, by every possible means, charging him with letters for the king, the cardinal, the council of state, and the company, giving details of all that had passed, and of the strait to which he was reduced. Du Pont Gravé, who had remained at Quebec, was also desirous of returning, but on Champlain's representations of the difficulties and danger of life he would incur from his infirm state, in so hazardous a journey, he remained at the settlement, so tormented with the gout that he was almost constantly laid up.

When Boullé and his people had departed, Champlain employed those who remained in preparing the ground and sowing turnips against the winter, and, while awaiting the harvest, parties were sent every day to seek for roots, which occasioned great fatigue, having to go seven or eight leagues to find any, and even then hardly getting enough for bare subsistence. Some tried fishing, but with little success, "nets, lines, and hooks being wanting," and gunpowder so scarce, that he preferred suffering rather than use for hunting the little he had left, which was not more than thirty or forty pounds, and that very bad.

Every day also he was in expectation of the arrival of some Hurons with twenty Frenchmen, who had gone with them some time before to relieve the settlement a little—"pour nous soulager de nos pois"—as Champlain expresses it; and these expected additions to the claims on the said "pois" gave him no small anxiety, "as we had nothing whatever to give them, unless they brought flour with them." He hoped that the Hurons would take them with them again, or that he could distribute them among other tribes near him; but that was very uncertain. His troubles were, however, considerably relieved by his friend "Chomina offering to go to the Huron country to seek for flour," and, still more, by the arrival of one of his men whom he had sent to examine the country of the "Abenaquoit"(?) Indians, who gave him a full report of the rapids and other difficulties of the route thither, and, what was then better and more to the purpose, that the said "Abenaquoits" were very friendly, and had offered to take some of his people and keep them during the winter, or till he should receive supplies by the arrival of the ships or otherwise.