The Makers of Canada: Champlain | Page 4

the other side, and thus shorten the route by more than fifteen hundred leagues; and from Panama to the Straits of Magellan would be an island, and from Panama to the New-found-lands would be another island, so that the whole of America would be in two islands."
It is thus seen that the idea of connecting the Atlantic ocean with the Pacific by cutting through the Isthmus of Panama is not a modern one, as it was promulgated by Champlain over three hundred years ago.
At this time Spain was in great need of a good transportation service at the isthmus. The treasures of Peru were sent to Europe by the Panama route to Porto Bello, from where the ships sailed to the old continent. The route between the Pacific coast and the Gulf of Mexico was exceedingly bad. Sometimes the merchants forwarded European goods to Panama, having them transported to Chagres. Here they were landed in boats and conveyed to Cruces. From Cruces to Panama mules were employed for the remainder of the journey. It was, however, the route taken by travellers visiting Peru, Chili, New Granada, Venezuela, and other Spanish possessions on the Pacific coast. The most regular connection between the two oceans was from Fort Acapulco to Vera Cruz, through Mexico. If Spain had adopted a better line of communication with her western territories in the New World she might have derived vast treasure from that source. In the year 1551 Lopez de Gomara, the author of a "History of Indies," a work written with care and displaying considerable erudition, proposed to unite the two oceans by means of canals at three different points, Chagres, Nicaragua and Tehuantepec. Gomara's proposals were not acted upon, and the honour of carrying out the project was reserved for France. Ferdinand de Lesseps, who succeeded in connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was the man who, after the lapse of centuries, seriously interested his fellow-countrymen in boring the Isthmus of Panama.
Champlain returned to San Juan de Luz, where he remained for fifteen days, and he then proceeded to Havana, the rendezvous of the army and of the fleet. Eighteen days later he embarked in a vessel bound for Cartagena, where there was a good port, sheltered from all winds. Upon his return to Havana Champlain met his general and spent four months in collecting valuable information relating to the interesting island of Cuba. From Havana he proceeded past the Bahama channel, approached Bermuda Island, Terceira, one of the Azores, and sighted Cape St. Vincent, where he captured two armed English vessels, which were taken to Seville.
Champlain returned to France in March, 1601, having been absent on his first voyage for a period of two years and two months, during which time he collected much valuable information. He also published a small volume containing plans, maps and engravings, fairly well executed for the time, and now exceedingly scarce. The manuscript of this volume is still preserved; it covers one hundred and fifteen pages with sixty-two drawings, coloured and surrounded with blue and yellow lines. It appears to have been written between the years 1601 and 1603.[2]
The first voyage of Champlain across the Atlantic, though important from a military standpoint, did not suffice to satisfy the ambition of a man whose thoughts were bent upon discovery and colonization. Champlain was a navigator by instinct, and in his writings he gave to nautical science the first place.
"Of all the most useful and excellent arts," he writes, "that of navigation has always seemed to me to occupy the first place. For the more hazardous it is, the greater the perils and losses by which it is attended, so much the more is it esteemed and exalted above all others, being wholly unsuited to the timid and irresolute. By this art we obtain a knowledge of different countries, regions and realms. By it we attract and bring to our own land all kinds of riches; by it the idolatry of Paganism is overthrown and Christianity proclaimed throughout all the regions of the earth. This is the art which won my love in my early years and induced me to expose myself almost all my life to the impetuous waves of the ocean, and led me to explore the coasts of a portion of America, especially those of New France, where I have always desired to see the lily flourish, together with the only religion, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman."
After his return to France in the year 1601, Champlain received a pension, together with the appointment of geographer to the king. Pierre de Chauvin, Sieur de Tontuit, who had unsuccessfully endeavoured to establish a settlement at Tadousac, died at this time, while Champlain was residing in Paris. Here he had the good fortune to meet Aymar de Chastes,