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NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES
AND MEXICO IN THE YEARS 1599-1602,
* * * * *
WORKS ISSUED BY
The Hakluyt Society.
NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES AND MEXICO.
FIRST SERIES. NO. XXIII-MDCCCLIX
* * * * *
[Illustration: Facsimile of MS.]
NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO THE WEST INDIES
AND MEXICO IN THE YEARS 1599-1602,
With Maps and illustrations.
by
SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN.
Translated from the Original and Unpublished Manuscript,
with a Biographical Notice and Notes by Alice Wilmere.
Edited by Norton Shaw.
Burt Franklin, Publisher
New York, New York
Published by
Burt Franklin
514 West 113th Street
New York 25, N.Y.
Originally Published by The Hakluyt Society
Reprinted by Permission
Printed in the U.S.A.
* * * * *
THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, G.C.St.S., F.R.S., D.C.L., Corr. Mem.
Inst. Fr., Hon. Mem. Imp. Acad. So. St. Petersburg, &c., &c.,
PRESIDENT.
THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. }
}VICE-PRESIDENTS.
REAR-ADMIRAL C. R. DRINKWATER BETHUNE, C.B. }
RT. HON. LORD BROUGHTON.
BERIAH BOTFIELD, ESQ.
THE LORD ALFRED SPENCER CHURCHILL.
CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE, ESQ., F.S.A.
RT. HON. SIR DAVID DUNDAS.
SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S.
JOHN FORSTER, ESQ.
LIEUT.-GEN. CHARLES RICHARD FOX.
R. W. GREY, ESQ., M.P.
EGERTON HARCOURT, ESQ.
JOHN WINTER JONES, ESQ., F.S.A.
HIS EXCELLENCY THE COUNT DE LAVRADIO.
RT. HON. ROBERT LOWE, M.P.
R. H. MAJOR, ESQ., F.S.A.
SIR HENRY RAWLINSON, K.C.B.
THE EARL OF SHEFFIELD.
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, ESQ., HONORARY SECRETARY.
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
The manuscript, of which the following is a translation, as literal as
the idioms of the two languages admit, is in the possession of Monsieur
Feret, the learned and extremely obliging librarian of the Public
Library at Dieppe. Of its originality and authenticity there can be no
doubt; the internal evidence of similarity in style, diction, and
orthography even, with the published account of Champlain's _Voyages
in New France_, would alone suffice to establish those points.[1]
[1] Extract from "Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle
France, avec le Journal Historique d'un Voyage fait par ordre du
Roi dans l'Amerique Septentrionnale. Par le P. De Charlevoix, de
la Compagnie de Jesus." Tome Premier, 12o., Paris, 1744, p. 172.
"Le Commandeur de CHATTE, governeur de Dieppe, lui succeda, forma
une Compagnie de Marchands de Rouen, avec lesquels plusieurs
Personnes de condition entrerent en societe, et fit un Armement,
dont il confia la conduite a Pontgrave, a qui le Roy avoit donne
des Lettres Patentes, pour continuer les decouvertes dans le
Fleuve du Canada, et pour y faire des Etablissemens. Dans le meme
tems Samuel de CHAMPLAIN, Gentilhomme Saintongeois, Capitaine de
Vaisseau, et en reputation d'Officier brave, habile et experimente,
_arriva des Indes Occidentales, ou il avoit passe deux ans et
demi._ Le Commandeur de Chatte lui proposa de faire le voyage de
Canada, et il y consentit avec l'agrement du Roy, etc."--ED.
M. Feret obtained this valuable document from a resident in Dieppe,
where it has been for an unknown time; and it is more than probable
that it had been in the possession of M. de Chastes, governor of the
town and castle of Dieppe, who was Champlain's chief friend and
protector, under whose auspices he had been employed in the war in
Brittany against the League, and by whom, after his return from the
West Indies, he was sent to Canada. To him, it is most likely that
Champlain would present a narrative of his voyage. On M. de Chastes'
death, the manuscript probably passed into the possession of the
Convent of the Minimes at Dieppe, to which he was a great benefactor
during his life, and by testament after his death. He was also, by his
desire, buried in the church of the convent. The library of the Minime
fathers was, with the rest of their property, and that of the other
convents of the town, dispersed at the great Revolution; but most of
the books remained at Dieppe, as may be seen by a reference to the
numerous works which have gradually found their way, by gift or
purchase, to the "Public Library" of that town, bearing inscriptions as
having belonged to the convent.
The readers of Champlain's _Voyages in New France,_ will remember the
allusion to the expedition which is the subject of the following
narrative: "Sur ces entrefaites," he says, speaking of the projects of
Monsieur de Chastes for the Canadian voyage, "je me trouvais en cour,
venu fraischement des Indes Occidentales, ou j'avois ete pres de deux
ans et demy apres que les Espagnols furent partis de Blavet, et la paix
foict en France, ou pendant les guerres j'avais servi sa dicte majeste
(Henry IV) souz Messeigneurs le Mareschal d'Aumont de St. Luc, et le
Mareschal de Brissac."
The relation of this voyage was never published, and this should rather
confirm the supposition that the manuscript had been presented to M.
Chastes. It was evidently finished in haste; as the omission of several
drawings, which are mentioned but not inserted, and the character of
the writing, shews. Champlain returned from this voyage early in 1602,
and before the autumn of the year was occupied in making preparations
for his first voyage to Canada, before his return from which in the
next year, 1603, M. de Chastes had died. Had Champlain kept the
manuscript of his West India voyage, he would surely have published it
in 1604, at the same time that the account of his first expedition to
Canada was printed, and to none is it so likely that he would have
given his "Brief Discourse" as to his best friend and patron, at whose
death (he died at Dieppe) it would pass into private hands, or the
Minime Convent, and be lost sight of.
The narrative is highly interesting as exhibiting the state of some of
the West India Islands two hundred and fifty years ago, many of them
being then uninhabited by Europeans; and of the condition of Mexico,
and of the Spanish policy there, where no foreigner was then permitted
to set his foot. Gage, who travelled some five and twenty years after
Champlain, bears witness to the difficulty of proceeding thither, being
obliged to hide himself in an empty biscuit-cask to avoid the search of
the Spanish officials, till the vessel in which he had embarked should
sail.
The account of the capture of Porto-rico, by the Earl of Cumberland,
and the state in which it appeared, after the English had abandoned the
island, is curious; and the combat with the Anglo-Franco-Flemish fleet,
amusing. The idea of the junction of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans is
also remarkable.
The accuracy of Champlain's observations of all that he saw, is
evident; as to the hearsay descriptions, we may entertain doubts of the
fidelity of his informant, but not of the good faith of the narrator.
He had a certain amount of credulity in his character, the more
remarkable in a man of such natural penetration and sagacity; but the
belief in strange monsters was prevalent before, during, and for a long
time after, his epoch; and it was the more to be excused from the
hermetically closed state of the Spanish colonies, and the strange
stories to which the consequent mystery gave rise. The curious details
of the "Brief Discourse" seemed worthy of the attention of the
geographer, the naturalist, and of the inquiring general reader. As the
founder of the capital of our principal North American colony,
Champlain's name is, in some sort, associated with English adventure.
With that idea, permission was requested of M. Feret, to translate this
narrative into English, which was most kindly and unhesitatingly
granted by him. In the translation, endeavour has been made to preserve
Champlain's style, as much as possible. The drawings are fac-similes of
those in the manuscript. Discoverers are general benefactors: after a
time, all nations profit by their labours. In Champlain's case, we are
the principal gainers; but for his indomitable courage, enterprise, and
determination, Quebec might never have existed, the colonization of
Canada have been indefinitely retarded, and instead of a valuable
country, advanced in civilization, and sufficing to itself, England
might have conquered only a small colony struggling for existence, or
scattered and insignificant settlements, feebly subsisting on a
precarious and badly organized trade with native tribes. For nearly a
century Champlain's predecessors had endeavoured, with all means and
appliances, to found colonies in various parts of North America; all
failed, and, for long after his time, Canada remained in a semi-torpid
state. It required the solid foundations laid down by Champlain, to
enable the young settlement to pass through the struggles of its
infancy and arrive at maturity. None were found capable of carrying out
his views for years after his death. Had he died earlier, no one could
have replaced him; had he not lived, in all probability expedition
after expedition would, as before, have been sent out with the same
success which had attended all previous attempts, from Cartier to De la
Roche.
Notes have been made on the various subjects which appear to require
some explanation.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF CHAMPLAIN.
It will be well, perhaps, to preface the notice of Champlain's career
with a rapid sketch of the various expeditions, discoveries, and
attempts at colonisation, of the French in North America, from the
discoveries of Sebastian Cabot, in 1497, to the beginning of the
seventeenth century.
The errors, disasters, and failures of his predecessors will throw out
in stronger relief the sound common sense and sagacity, the determined
courage and unfaltering resolution, and the prudent wariness, which
enabled Champlain to note and avoid their errors, to meet and to
overcome difficulties, to foresee and to prepare for possible evil
contingencies.
It is certain that the French were among the first, if not the very
first, who followed in the track, and profited by the discovery,
of Cabot. The Basques, Bretons, and Normans, as early as 1504,
practised the cod fishery along the coast and on the Great Bank of
Newfoundland[2]--the ancestors, probably, of the Basques and Bretons
who, a century later, so stoutly resisted the pretensions of the
companies which were then forming, to the exclusive privilege of the
fishery and trade in those parts.
[2] The Pere Fournier, in his _Hydrographie_, says that the
Basques and Bretons had been there before 1504: "L'an 1504, ainsi
qu'il est porte dans l'histoire de Niflet, et dans Magin, les
Basques, Normands, et Bretons allerent en la coste des Moreies,
dit le Grand banc, vers le Cap Breton; voire, il semble qu'ils y
ayent este bien auparavant, car dans une lettre ecrite par
Sebastian Cavot a Henry VII, Roy d'Angleterre, l'an 1497, ces
terres sont appelees du nom d'Isles de Bacaleos, comme d'un nom
assez connu. On ne peut douter que ce nom ne leur ait este donne
par les Basques, qui seuls en Europe appellent ce poisson
Bacaleos, ou Bacallos: et les originaires l'appellent
Apage."--Lib. vi, c. 12, Paris, 1643. Others say that Juan Vaz de
Cortereal explored the northern seas and discovered the land of
_Baccalhos_, or Codfishland, in 1463, either of which, if true,
accounts for Cabot's mentioning the name as familiar, but
overthrows his claim to its discovery.... Champlain also writes:
"Ce furent les Bretons et les Normands qui en l'an 1504
descouvrirent, _les premiers des Chrestiens_, le Grand Banc des
Moluques (Molues or Morues) et les Isles de Terre Neufve, ainsi
qu'il se remarque es histoires de Niflet et d'Antoine
Maginus."--_Voyages de la Nouvelle France_, Paris, 1632.
In 1506, Jean Denys, of Harfleur, published a map of the newly known
country, and, two years after, a pilot of Dieppe, named Thomas Aubert,
commanding a vessel named the "Pensee," belonging to Jean Ange, father
of the celebrated Vicomte de Dieppe, brought a North American Indian
with him to France.[3]
[3] Navarrete and Ramusio.
In the year 1518, the Baron de Lery undertook a voyage to North America
with the intention of forming a settlement; but, being detained at sea
for a long time, was obliged to return to France without accomplishing
his object, leaving on the Isle des Sables (Sable Island) and at
Campseau (Canso) his cattle and pigs, which multiplied considerably,
and were subsequently of the greatest service to certain of the Marquis
de la Roche's people, who, about eighty years later, were left on Sable
Island, without any other resource but fish and the flesh of the cattle
they found there.[4]
[4] Fournier.
In 1524, Francis I sent Giovanni Ferazzano, a Florentine, on an
expedition of discovery to the coast of North America. The only
document extant of this (first) voyage is a letter from Ferazzano to
the king, dated the 8th July, 1524,[5] wherein he supposes that His
Majesty is acquainted with his progress, the events of the voyage, and
the success of this first attempt. In the following year he again
sailed, and in March arrived at the coast of Florida. He ranged the
coast from about the 30th to the 50th degree north latitude, as far as
an island which the Bretons had before discovered.[6] Ferazzano took
possession, in the name of the most Christian king, of all the country
which he visited. The next year he undertook a third voyage, of which
nothing authentic was ever known, save that he perished in it.[7]
[5] Ramusio. Mark Lescarbot, who wrote a history of New France
(Paris, 1612), also gives a detailed account of the voyages of
Ferazzano.
[6] Bruzen de la Martoniere, _Dictionnaire Geographique_, Paris,
1768.
[7] Fournier quaintly says: "Il avait l'intention d'aller jusques
au Pole, mais il fust pris et mange par des sauvages."
In 1534, Jacques Cartier, of St. Malo,[8] sailed thence on the 20th
April, with two vessels of the burthen of sixty tons each, furnished by
Philippe Chabot, admiral of France, and the Comte de Brion, for the
purpose of continuing the discoveries of Ferazzano, and on the 10th May
arrived at Cape Bonavista, in Newfoundland. After some discoveries in
that island he proceeded to the southward, and entering the great gulf,
explored a bay, which he named La Baye des Chaleurs. The rigour of the
season prevented his pursuing his discoveries that year, and he
returned to France.
[8] Champlain says that he was "fort etendu et experimente au
faict de la marine, autant qu'autre de son temps."
At the instance of Charles de Moiry, sieur de la Mailleres, then
vice-admiral of France, Cartier returned in the following year to the
gulf, to which he gave the name of Saint Lawrence, subsequently
extended to the great river which flows into it, and which the natives
called the river of Canada. On the 15th August, he discovered the
island of Naliscolet, calling it Isle de l'Assomption, now Anticosti.
On the 1st September he arrived at the Saguenay river, flowing into the
St. Lawrence. He ascended the latter stream to an island about a
hundred and twenty leagues from the sea, which he named Isle d'Orleans,
and wintered at a little river which he called Ste. Croix, afterwards
riviere St. Charles. He then continued his voyage up the St. Lawrence
to a place called Hochelaga, a large Indian village on an island at the
foot of a mountain which he called Mont Royal, and which, altered to
Montreal, is now the name of the whole island. Finding it impossible
(according to his report) to surmount the rapids (Sault St. Louis), he
returned to his vessels, but was obliged again to winter on the banks
of a small river falling into the Ste. Croix, and which he named "the
river Jacques Cartier." The greater part of his people died of scurvy,
and Cartier, discontented and disappointed at the little progress he
had made, and grieved for the loss of his people, returned to France.
"And thinking the air was so contrary to our nature that we could
hardly live there, having so suffered during the winter from the
disease of the scurvy, which he called 'mal de terre,' he so made his
relation to the king and the vice-admiral de Mailleres, who not looking
deeply into the matter, the enterprise was fruitless. And, to say
truth, those who have the conduct of discoveries are often the cause of
the failure of the best plans, if their reports are too implicitly
trusted; for in thus entirely confiding in them, enterprises are judged
to be impossible, or so traversed by difficulties, that they cannot be
carried out, save with almost insupportable expenses and pains."[9]
[9] Champlain, _Voyages en Nouvelle France_, etc.
In 1541, Jean Francois de la Roque, sieur de Roberval, a gentleman of
Picardy, was named viceroy of Nouvelle France, and renewed the attempt
to form a colony in Canada. He first sent out Cartier as his deputy, to
commence a settlement in the island of Mont Royal, and despatched one
of his pilots, Jean Alphonse, of Saintonge, one of the best French
navigators of his time, to reconnoitre the coast beyond Labrador, and
to endeavour to find a shorter passage for Eastern commerce than round
Cape Horn or the Straits of Magellan; but, meeting with great obstacles
and risk from the ice, Alphonse was obliged to return. The proposed
settlement had no better success. Cartier remained nearly eighteen
months abandoned to his own resources, as De Roberval, who was to have
shortly followed him, delayed his departure, and when at last he set
out on his voyage, he met Cartier on his way back to France, having
lost many of his people, and suffered extreme distress from famine. De
Roberval wished to force him to return to Canada, but Cartier refused.
The next expedition was that of Jean Ribaut, of Dieppe, a Protestant,
and one of the best sea captains in France. He was despatched under the
auspices of the Admiral de Coligny to establish a colony in that part
of Florida visited by Ferazzano in his second voyage. Ribaut set sail
on the 18th February, 1562, and landed at a cape which he named Cape
Francois. Pursuing his course towards the north, he disembarked at the
"Riviere de Mai," setting up a stone pillar with the arms of France
affixed, in token of taking possession of the country. Continuing about
sixty leagues more to the northward, he built a fort, which he styled
Charles fort, on about the spot where Charleston was subsequently
founded by the English. The fort finished, Ribaut found that his
provisions were running short, and that he could not that year make the
purposed settlement. He therefore left eighteen men in the fort, under
the command of a Captain Albert, with all the supplies that he could
spare, and set sail for France in July, promising to return to
revictual his people and establish the colony. Unfortunately, on his
arrival in France he was employed in the war which had just broken out
with Spain, and could not accomplish his promise.
Captain Albert and his men, trusting to Ribaut's coming back with ample
stores, did not trouble themselves to clear and cultivate land, so as
to be prepared in case of delay or accident, but consumed their
provisions without order or care, so that in a short time they were
reduced to great scarcity. The men mutinied, hung one of their comrades
for some trifling cause, and becoming more violent from want and
impunity, killed their commander Albert, electing in his place one
Nicolas Barre, "a good sort of a man!" No succour arriving, they built
a small vessel to endeavour to return to France, and put to sea with
the scanty remains of their stock of provisions. In a very few days
that was exhausted, and the famine became so terrible and reduced them
to such extremity that they were obliged to cast lots which of them
should be killed to support the others. "And," says Fournier, "what is
greatly to be admired, the lot fell on the man who had been the cause
of the mutiny against Captain Albert." Fortunately, the survivors were
picked up by an English ship and carried to England.
In 1564 Rene de Laudonniere was sent to Florida by Admiral de Coligny.
He sailed on the 22nd of April, and duly arrived at the Riviere de Mai,
where he built a fort, which he named La Caroline, rechristened by the
Spaniards "San Matteo." As in the case of Captain Albert, a conspiracy
was formed against Laudonniere, his men mutinied, and threatened to
kill him if he would not allow them to go to sea and pillage the Virgin
Islands and the coast of St. Domingo: Laudonniere was forced to
consent. The mutineers fitted out a small vessel, captured and
plundered some Spanish ships, but after cruising for some time were
obliged to return to La Caroline, where Laudonniere, resuming his
authority, had four of them hanged. In addition to these troubles,
before the winter was past, their provisions began to fail, and after
subsisting for more than six weeks on roots, and no supplies arriving
from France, they determined to build a vessel, so as to be able to
return there in August; but the famine becoming more and more severe,
the men were too weak to finish their barque. Many went among the
Indians, who mocked and ill treated them, upon which they attacked the
savages and obtained some maize, which strengthened and gave them
courage to work at their vessel. They then prepared to demolish the
fort before setting sail for Europe; but while thus occupied, four
ships were seen off the coast, which proved to be English, who, on
seeing the extremity to which the French were reduced, assisted them
with provisions, and helped them to complete their vessel. When ready
to embark, Laudonniere again descried some ships approaching the coast;
this time they were French, commanded by Ribaut, who was bringing
succour and the means of increasing the settlement.
Ribaut had been again despatched by the Admiral de Coligny with six
ships and about six hundred men, chiefly Protestants, to complete the
establishment of the long-desired colony. He set sail from Dieppe in
June, 1565, and arrived at his destination on the 25th August. The
Spaniards had doubtless been informed of this expedition, as before
Ribaut could disembark his men and stores, a squadron of large ships
was seen in the offing. He sent his son to reconnoitre, following
shortly with his other vessels. A violent tempest arose, his ships were
driven on shore, and many of his men drowned. With the remainder he
retired to his little fort, almost without arms or ammunition. The
Spaniards (although then at peace with France) stormed it, and
massacred all in it, men, women, and children. Ribaut, although
promised his life, was at last stabbed in cold blood by a Spanish
captain, named Vallemande, and his body treated with atrocious
barbarity,--his head and face were flayed; the skin, with the hair and
beard attached, dried, and sent to the nearest Spanish colony. The
Spaniards then hung the bodies of the slain, and all the French whom
they could catch, on the nearest trees, with an inscription to the
effect that "these men are not hung as Frenchmen, but as heretics."
Laudonniere with a few men escaped into the woods, and returned after
some time to France. The son of Ribaut also, escaping both the storm
and the Spanish squadron, arrived there in safety. The king of France
made some remonstrances about this horrible affair to his brother
sovereign, the king of Spain, who disavowed the deed, but gave no
redress.
Ribaut was, however, well avenged by one of his own creed. In 1567,
Dominique de Gourgues, a Calvinist gentleman of Gascony, fitted out two
(some say three) ships, at his own cost, and proceeded to Florida.
Assisted by the natives, with whom he formed an alliance, he attacked
and took by assault the Spanish forts, treating the Spaniards as they
had treated the French, by hanging them all on the same trees, altering
the inscription to the purport that "these men are not hung as
Spaniards, but as traitors, robbers, and murderers." He then demolished
the forts, and returned to France in 1568, performing the voyage, it is
said, in seventeen days.
The king of Spain in his turn complained, and De Gourgues, disavowed
and threatened with condign punishment by his sovereign, was obliged to
absent himself. He seems, however, to have kept his ire warm against
the Spaniards, as in 1582 we find him in the service of Don Antonio, of
Portugal, who named him admiral of the fleet which he was equipping
against Spain; but, on the point of sailing, De Gourgues was seized
with a mortal malady, and died,--thus disappointing the hopes of his
old enemy the king of Spain, who had offered a large sum for his head.
In the year 1591, a voyage to Canada was undertaken by the sieur du
Court Pre Ravillon, in a vessel called the Bonaventure, to endeavour to
establish a trade in moose-skins and teeth. Whether he succeeded in his
adventure or not, history is silent.
The Marquis de la Roche fitted out some vessels in 1591, embarking a
number of men and a large quantity of stores of all kinds requisite for
forming a colony in Canada. Not having, it appears, any personal
knowledge of the country or of navigation, he engaged a Norman pilot,
of the name of Chedotel, for the voyage. The details of this enterprise
are not very clear, but it is certain that the expedition reached the
Isle des Sables, and, for some reason or other, seventeen of the people
were sent on shore and abandoned. The poor fellows remained there for
seven years, living in holes in the ground, and subsisting on fish and
the cattle which they found wild in considerable numbers--the
descendants of those left there in 1518 by the Baron de Lery.[10]
[10] Champlain says, that the cattle had been saved from the
wreck of a Spanish ship.
At the expiration of seven years, the pilot Chedotel was _condemned_ by
the Parliament of Rouen to go and fetch away the unfortunate men,--with
the condition, however, that he was to have half of all the property,
hides, oil, seal and black fox skins, etc., which the wretched
creatures might have collected during their banishment.
On their arrival in France, the poor men were presented to the king,
Henry IV, who ordered the Duke de Sully to give them some
relief,--which the worthy Duke did, to the amount of fifty crowns each,
"to encourage them to return there!"
The poor Marquis de la Roche, unfortunate in his expedition, was
equally so at court in his endeavours to obtain the aid which the king
had promised him. "It being denied him," says Champlain, "at the
instigation of certain persons who had no wish that the true worship of
God should increase, or to see the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman
religion flourish in those parts."
The Marquis took all this so much to heart that he fell sick and died,
having consumed all his property, and wasted his time and labour, in
vain.
In the year following (1599), the sieur Chauvin, de Ponthuiet, captain
in the Royal Marine, at the persuasion of Captain du Pont Grave of St.
Malo, (both Protestants), obtained a privilege for ten years, at the
charge of forming a company for the colonization of Canada. Having
equipped his vessels, he gave the command of one of them to Du Pont
Grave, and proceeding to the river St. Lawrence, arrived in safety at
Tadoussac, at the junction of the Saguenay with that river. One of the
objects which they were bound mainly to follow was the propagation of
the Roman Catholic religion among the savages. Chauvin's people were
for the most part Catholics, but the chiefs were Calvinists, which was
not precisely adapted for the fulfilment of the projected purpose, "but
that," again says Champlain, "was what they thought of the least."
Chauvin resolved to remain at Tadoussac, in spite of the remonstrances
of Du Pont Grave, who wished him to proceed higher up the river, having
already been to "Three Rivers" in a previous voyage, trading with the
Indians. M. de Monts (of whom we shall hear more hereafter), who had
made the voyage with them for his pleasure, agreed with Du Pont Grave,
but Chauvin was obstinate, and set about erecting a habitation in the
most disagreeable and unproductive spot in the country,--full of rocks,
fir and birch trees, the land unfit for cultivation, and the cold so
excessive, that "if there be an ounce of cold forty leagues up the
river, there is a pound at Tadoussac."[11]
[11] Champlain.
Chauvin posted sixteen men at a little stream near the house, to which
they might retire upon occasion. The stores (little enough) were at the
mercy of all, and soon began to run short, whereupon Chauvin returned
to France, taking Du Pont Grave and De Monts with him.
The men remaining at the intended settlement, quickly consumed the
little provision left, and "the winter coming on soon taught them the
difference between France and Tadoussac,--it was the court of king
Petault, where every man commanded."[12] Indolence and carelessness,
with sickness, soon did their work, and they were reduced to the
necessity of giving themselves up to the Indian tribes around, who
received them kindly. Many died, and all suffered extremely.
[12] _Ibid._, _Voyages en Nouvelle France_, etc.
Chauvin, in 1600, prepared another expedition, which from the same
causes was as fruitless as the first. He fitted out a third on a larger
scale, but was not able to carry out his new plans, being attacked by a
malady "which sent him to the other world."[13]
[13] Desmarquets, in his _Memoires Chronologiques pour servir a
l'Histoire de la Ville de Dieppe_, says that Chauvin, on arriving at
Tadoussac the second time, found only the corpses of the sixteen men
whom he had left there. When he again returned to France he left twenty
more men, but death preventing his intended third voyage, those twenty
died of hunger, like the sixteen first.
We have now arrived at the period of Champlain's first connection with
Canadian discovery and colonization. The difficulties, dangers--not to
say horrors--of the previous expeditions were enough to deter any but
the most confident and resolute from attempting such an apparently
hopeless task; but the hour and the man were come, and from the date of
Chauvin's death a new era was to arise for Canada, and French
colonization in North America was at last--to be.
Samuel Champlain, descended from a noble family of Saintonge, was born
at Brouage,[14] a place formerly of some importance in that province,
now an obscure town of the department of the Charente Inferieure. Of
the date of his birth and of his earlier career there is no account
extant; from the events of the last thirty-five or thirty-six years of
his life we may, however, form a correct judgment of his attainments,
which, in navigation, in military matters, and in general knowledge,
were evidently of no common order. That he had early distinguished
himself is also clear, and that his services were appreciated we may
gather from the high favour with which he was regarded by the king, and
from the friendship and constant protection with which he was honoured
by one of the best and bravest, as well as most intelligent and devoted
followers of Henry IV,--the Sieur Aymar de Chastes, governor of the
town and chateau of Dieppe, who commanded the fleet appointed to cruize
on the coast of Brittany during the latter years of the war with the
League and the Spaniards,[15] and under whose orders Champlain had
served. On Champlain's return from the voyage to the West Indies, of
which the narrative is now for the first time published, he learned
that Chauvin was dead, and that his friend, Mons. de Chastes,
undeterred by the previous failures and disasters, had resolved to
undertake the establishment of a colony in Canada, and even to proceed
thither and devote the remainder of his well-spent life to the
prosecution of the enterprise. The cause and manner of Champlain's
embarking in the undertaking cannot be better narrated than in his own
words.
[14] The salt works at Brouage were considered the finest in the
kingdom. Cardinal Richelieu also established a large cannon
foundry there in 1627.
[15] The Commander Aymar de Chastes, also styled Frere Aymar de
Clermont, was knight and mareschal of the order of St. John of
Jerusalem, of the language of Auvergne, commander of the Armeteau
and of St. Paul, lieutenant-general for the king in the Pays de
Coer, and governor of the town and castle of Dieppe. He was
employed by Henry III to reinstate Don Antonio of Portugal in his
kingdom, and by Henry IV to command the fleet on the coast of
Brittany; it was almost entirely owing to Mons. de Chastes that
Dieppe declared for the king against the League, which enabled
him to fight and win the battle of Arques. He died at Dieppe, on
the 13th of May, 1603, and was buried in the church of the
Minimes there, followed to the grave by all the inhabitants, "who
looked on him as their father and protector," says Asselini, MS.
Chron.
"The fourth enterprise was that of the Sieur Commander de Chastes, a
very honourable man, a good catholic, and worthy servant of the king,
whom he had faithfully served on many signal occasions, and although
his head was charged with grey hairs as with years, he resolved to
proceed thither in person, and dedicate the remainder of his life to
the service of his God and of his king, by fixing his residence and
living and dying there gloriously: so he hoped, if God had not
withdrawn him from this world sooner than he thought. He had very
Christian designs, to which I can bear good witness, he having done me
the honour of communicating somewhat of them. Soon after the death of
Chauvin he obtained a new commission from the king, and as the expenses
were very great, he formed a company with several gentlemen and with
the principal merchants of Rouen and other places, on certain
conditions: this being done, vessels were prepared, as well for the
execution of the main design, as for discovery and peopling the
country. Du Pont Grave, as one who had already made the voyage and
noticed the faults of the past, was (with commission from his majesty)
chosen to proceed to Tadaussac, thence to go and examine the Sault St.
Louis and the country beyond, in order to make a report on his return
for the better preparation of a second voyage, when the said commander,
De Chastes, would quit his government (of Dieppe), and, with the
permission of his majesty, who truly loved him, proceed to the country
of New France.
"While this was going on, I found myself at court, being freshly
returned from the West Indies, where I had been nearly two years and a
half, after the Spaniards had quitted Blavet, where, during the wars, I
had served His Majesty under Messeigneurs the Marechal d'Aumont de St.
Luc and the Marechal de Brissac."
"Going from time to time to see the said sieur de Chastes, judging that
I might serve him in his design, he did me the honour, as I have said,
to communicate something of it to me, and asked me if it would be
agreeable to me to make the voyage to examine the country, and see what
those engaged in the undertaking should do. I told him that I was very
much his servant, but that I could not give myself license to undertake
the voyage without the commands of the king, to whom I was bound, as
well by birth as by the pension with which His Majesty honoured me to
enable me to maintain myself near his person,[16] but that, if it should
please him to speak to the king about it, and give me his commands,
that it would be very agreeable to me, which he promised and did, and
received the king's orders for me to make the voyage and make a
faithful report thereof; and for that purpose M. de Gesvres, secretary
of his Commandments, sent me with a letter to the said Du Pont Grave,
desiring him to take me in his ship, and enable me to see and examine
what could be done in the country, giving me every possible
assistance."
[16] This fact at once shews that Champlain's fortune was but
small and his merits great. Henry IV at that time had no funds to
throw away, and a pension then given must have been well
deserved. The attachment to his person also proves the feeling of
the king.
"Me voila expedie," continues Champlain, who immediately left Paris,
and embarking with Du Pont Grave, had a favourable voyage to Tadoussac,
from whence they proceeded up the St. Lawrence in small vessels of
twelve to fifteen tons burthen. At Sault St. Louis, Du Pont Grave and
Champlain, with five men, continued with great difficulty about a
league further, to the foot of the rapids; where, finding it impossible
to proceed with their skiff, on account of the rocks and rushing
waters, all they could do was to land and examine the course and
difficulties of the rapids, explore the surrounding country, and obtain
accounts from the Indians as to the inhabitants, the productions, and
the sources of the principal rivers, particularly of the St. Lawrence.
Champlain prepared a _petit discours_, or report, with an exact chart
of all that had been seen and explored, and they then returned to
Tadoussac, having made but little progress; rejoining their people, who
had been employed in the interim in trading with the natives, they set
sail for France.
When Champlain arrived at Honfleur, he learned the death of his friend
and patron, the commander De Chastes, "which greatly afflicted me, well
knowing that it would be difficult for another to undertake the
enterprise without being opposed, unless it should be some nobleman,
whose authority was capable of overcoming envy."
From Honfleur he proceeded directly to Paris, to present his "_discours
fort particulier_," and the Map which he had made, to the king, who was
much gratified, and promised not to abandon the design, but rather to
pursue and favour it.
After the death of Monsieur de Chastes, the Sieur de Monts,[17] who had
already been to Canada with Chauvin, desirous of following the example
of Monsieur de Chastes, completed the arrangements with the merchants
of Rouen, Dieppe, La Rochelle, etc., which had been prepared by his
predecessor, for the formation of a company for colonization in New
France; but not on the St. Lawrence, the specimen he had seen of the
country when with Chauvin having taken away all desire to return there,
particularly as he wished to settle more to the southward, in a milder
and more agreeable climate.
[17] Pierre du Gast, sieur de Monts, gentleman of the chamber to
the king, was named in 1603 vice-admiral of the coasts of Acadia,
from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude,
and in the following year his majesty gave him the lieutenancy of
the same country. By letters patent of 21st January, 1605, all
subjects, save De Monts and his associates, were forbidden to
trade in those parts. De Monts first named the sieur Du Pont
Grave his lieutenant in September 1605, and in February 1606
replaced him by the sieur de Paitrincourt. The cession to De
Monts was again ratified in 1608, but to little purpose.
De Monts, who was of the "pretended-reformed religion," undertook to
establish the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion in his colony, but
every one was to be free to live according to his creed.
All preliminaries being settled, De Monts fitted out three ships, with
all things necessary, not only for trading in peltries at Tadoussac,
but for establishing a settlement elsewhere; taking out a number of
gentlemen, and all kinds of artisans, with soldiers and others of both
religions, not forgetting priests and ministers.
Being ready to depart, De Monts proposed to Champlain to accompany him,
and the desire to revisit and see more of the country having grown
stronger within him, he readily promised to go, always with the king's
permission, which was willingly granted; being ordered, moreover, by
his Majesty to make to him a faithful report of all that he should see
and discover.
They all embarked at Dieppe in 1603: one vessel proceeded to Tadoussac;
another, commanded by Du Pont Grave, went to Campseau (Canso) and along
the coast towards the island of Cape Breton, to look after certain
adventurers trading there in contravention of the king's prohibition.
De Monts, with Champlain, took his course to the coast of Acadia, and
the weather being very favourable, in a month arrived off Cape la Heve.
De Monts continued along the coast, seeking some convenient spot for
his settlement, sending Champlain also with a pilot to examine the
coast for the same purpose. They discovered a number of ports and
rivers, and De Monts at last fixed on an island which he thought well
adapted to his purpose; the situation strong, the land good, and the
temperature mild. He therefore set about discharging his vessels and
building shelter for his people, and when all that was done he sent
back the ships with Mons. de Paitrincourt, who had replaced Du Pont
Grave as his lieutenant, and who had gone out to see the country with
the intention of settling there.
During this time (fully three years) Champlain occupied himself in
exploring the whole coast of Acadia (Nova Scotia), from Cape la Heve,
in latitude 45 deg. 5'; examining all the bays, creeks, mouths of rivers,
and islands of the great Baye Francoise (so named by him), now the Bay
of Fundy, coasting on to "Cape Fortune," in latitude 41 deg. 20' (now
Cape Cod), and a few leagues farther, to a headland, which, with a great
shoal near it, he called "Mallebarre", from the dangers he had there
experienced. To the northward he examined the land from Cape la Heve to
Cape Canso and Cape Breton, and, his arduous labours terminated, he
returned with De Monts to France in 1607.
On their arrival, they found that great complaints had been made by
certain Bretons, Basques, and others, of the excesses committed by the
captains of De Monts' vessels while on their cruise, and of the
ill-treatment they had sustained from them and their crews, who had
seized their property, detained their persons, and deprived them of all
traffic that had hitherto been free to them; so that, if the king did
not interfere and take some order about it, all that navigation would
be lost, the customs diminished, themselves ruined, and their wives and
children, poor and miserable, obliged to beg their bread. It seems,
though, that the poor Bretons and their companions were able to bribe
pretty highly; as, in consequence of this outcry, and the intrigues of
some influential persons at court, who promised to equip and keep three
hundred men in the country, the commission or privilege of De Monts was
revoked, "as the price of a certain sum, which a certain person
received, without the king's knowing anything about it," says
Champlain.
Thus was De Monts rewarded for having expended upwards of one hundred
thousand livres, and passed more than three years of great suffering,
from long duration of the snows and extreme cold, and having lost more
than half his people by the dreaded "maladie de terre", or earth
sickness.
As compensation, however, for his losses, the Royal Council generously
granted him six thousand livres; not in ready money, but to be paid by
such vessels as should traffic in peltry, etc., in the new country; but
De Monts was obliged to abandon even this mockery of a grant, finding
the expense of collecting greater than the receipts. Champlain at this
exclaims indignantly: "Thus were affairs managed in the Council of his
majesty; may God pardon those whom He has called to Himself, and amend
the living! He! bon Dieu! who would ever undertake anything, if all can
be revoked in such a fashion, without carefully examining affairs
before deciding. Those also who know least cry out the loudest, and
pretend to know more than men of tried experience." He adds that there
was one great defect in De Monts' expedition--the mixture of creeds,
"as two contrary religions never produce much fruit for the glory of
God among the heathen they wish to convert." "I have seen," says he,
"the minister and our cure fight with their fists about differences of
religion, and," he continues slyly, "I do not know which was the
bravest or hit the hardest blows, but I do very well know that the
minister complained sometimes to Mons. de Monts of having been soundly
beaten; and in this way they cleared up the points of controversy. I
leave you to think if it was very pleasant to behold. The savages were
sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other; and the French, divided
according to their different belief, said everything that was bad, both
of one and the other religion. These quarrels were really the means of
rendering the infidel more hardened in his infidelity."
In the following year (1608) De Monts, desirous of making another
attempt, consulted with Champlain, who advised him to proceed direct to
the river St. Laurence, with which he was well acquainted from the
experience of his previous voyage. De Monts, adopting his advice,
applied again to the king, who granted him another commission
authorising him to make the desired settlement; and to enable him the
better to bear the expenses, interdicted the trade in peltry to all
others for one year.
Upon this De Monts fitted out two vessels at Honfleur, and named
Champlain his deputy or lieutenant in New France. One of the ships was
commanded by Du Pont Grave, who sailed first for Tadoussac, and
Champlain followed with all things necessary for the intended
settlement, arriving happily at Tadoussac. He then landed his people
and stores, and proceeded up the river to seek for a convenient spot
for his purpose, and finding at the narrowest part of the stream a
place called by the natives Quebec, which seemed suitable, he there
resolved to establish his colony, and accordingly transported thither
all his men and goods with as little delay as possible. He then
immediately caused dwellings to be erected, gardens prepared and
planted, and land cleared and sown.
It was on the 3rd of July, 1608, that Champlain first arrived at
Quebec; the remainder of the season and the winter were fully occupied
with the necessary works of lodging the people, apportioning and
clearing land, getting supplies of firing, etc., and exploring the
country in the more immediate neighbourhood. On the 18th of May in the
next year, Champlain proceeded to examine the river above the new
settlement. At the little island of St. Eloy, near the river St. Marie,
he fell in with a body of two or three hundred Indians, "Algenquins and
Ochotiquens," who were on their way to Quebec to beg his assistance
(which they reminded him he had promised ten moons before to the son of
their chief) against the Iroquois, with whom they were at deadly feud.
Champlain promised his aid, and returned with them to the settlement,
where they remained for five or six days feasting and rejoicing. From
thence he wrote to Du Pont Grave, who was at Tadoussac, begging him to
join him as soon as possible; and so soon as he arrived Champlain again
left Quebec with the Indians, and on the 1st of June arrived at Saint
Croix with a boat furnished with all things necessary for the
expedition. From thence he continued to the Iroquois river, but finding
that he could not pass the first rapid with his boat, as the natives
had assured him, he resolved to pursue the journey in the canoes of the
Indians. The greater part of his men refused to follow him, but,
resolved to fulfil his promise, and desirous of visiting a great lake
and beautiful country in the enemy's territory, which had been
described to him by his allies, he determined on proceeding, with only
two of his men, who volunteered to accompany him.
On the 2nd of July, the expedition left the rapids and ascended the
Iroquois river to the lake above mentioned, where they were met by some
two hundred of the enemy; a battle ensued, in which Champlain, at one
shot of his arquebuss loaded with four balls, killed two of their
chiefs and wounded another, which equally astonished both his friends
and the enemies, who seeing their chiefs fall, fled, abandoning the
field of battle and their village to the victors, who, after making
good cheer, singing, and dancing, set out on their return with some ten
or twelve prisoners.