The Founder of New France : A chronicle of Champlain | Page 9

on the threshold of Champlain's career, but only on the
threshold. The voyage of 1603, while full of prophecy and presenting
features of much interest, lacks the arduous and constructive quality

which was to mark his greater explorations. In 1603 the two boats
equipped by De Chastes were under the command of Pontgrave
[Footnote: Francois Grave, Sieur du Pont, whose name, strictly
speaking, is Dupont-Grave, one of the most active French navigators of
the seventeenth century. From 1600 to 1629 his voyages to the St
Lawrence and Acadia were incessant.] and Prevert, both mariners from
St Malo. Champlain sailed in Pontgrave's ship and was, in fact, a
superior type of supercargo. De Chastes desired that his expedition
should be self-supporting, and the purchase of furs was never left out of
sight. At the same time, his purpose was undoubtedly wider than profit,
and Champlain represented the extra-commercial motive. While
Pontgrave was trading with the Indians, Champlain, as the geographer,
was collecting information about their character, their customs, and
their country. Their religious ideas interested him much, and also their
statements regarding the interior of the continent. Such data as he could
collect between the end of May and the middle of August he embodied
in a book called Des Sauvages, which, true to its title, deals chiefly
with Indian life and is a valuable record, although in many regards
superseded by the more detailed writings of the Jesuits.
The voyage of 1603 added nothing material to what had been made
known by Jacques Cartier and the fur traders about Canada. Champlain
ascended the St Lawrence to the Sault St Louis [Footnote: Now called
the Lachine Rapids. An extremely important point in the history of
New France, since it marked the head of ship navigation on the St
Lawrence. Constantly mentioned in the writings of Champlain's period.]
and made two side excursions--one taking him rather less than forty
miles up the Saguenay and the other up the Richelieu to the rapid at St
Ours. He also visited Gaspe, passed the Isle Percee, had his first
glimpse of the Baie des Chaleurs, and returned to Havre with a good
cargo of furs. On the whole, it was a profitable and satisfactory voyage.
Though it added little to geographical knowledge, it confirmed the
belief that money could be made in the fur trade, and the word brought
back concerning the Great Lakes of the interior was more distinct than
had before been reported. The one misfortune of the expedition was
that its author, De Chastes, did not live to see its success. He had died
less than a month before his ships reached Havre.

CHAPTER II
CHAMPLAIN IN ACADIA
[Footnote: This word (Acadia) has sometimes been traced to the
Micmac akade, which, appended to place-names, signifies an
abundance of something. More probably, however, it is a corruption of
Arcadia. The Acadia of De Monts' grant in 1604 extended from the
parallel of 40 degrees to that of 46 degrees north latitude, but in the
light of actual occupation the term can hardly be made to embrace more
than the coast from Cape Breton to Penobscot Bay.]
The early settlements of the French in America were divided into two
zones by the Gulf of St Lawrence. Considered from the standpoint of
colonization, this great body of water has a double aspect. In the main
it was a vestibule to the vast region which extended westward from
Gaspe to Lake Michigan and thence to the Mississippi. But while a
highway it was also a barrier, cutting off Acadia from the main route
that led to the heart of the interior. Port Royal, on the Bay of Fundy,
was one centre and Quebec another. Between them stretched either an
impenetrable wilderness or an inland sea. Hence Acadia remained
separate from the Laurentian valley, which was the heart of
Canada--although Acadia and Canada combined to form New France.
Of these two sister districts Canada was the more secure. The fate of
Acadia shows how much less vulnerable to English attack were Quebec,
Three Rivers, and Montreal than the seaboard settlements of Port Royal,
Grand Pre, and Louisbourg.
It is a striking fact that Champlain had helped to found Port Royal
before he founded Quebec. He was not the pioneer of Acadian
colonization: De Monts deserves the praise of turning the first sod. But
Champlain was a leading figure in the hard fight at St Croix and Port
Royal; he it was who first charted in any detail the Atlantic seaboard
from Cape Breton to Cape Cod; and his narrative joins with that of
Lescarbot to preserve the story of the episode.

Although unprosperous, the first attempt of the French to colonize
Acadia is among the bright deeds of their colonial history. While the
death of De Chastes was most inopportune,