The Makers of Canada: Champlain | Page 4

however, was good, and well

fortified. From Porto Bello to Panama, which is on the sea, the distance
is only seventeen leagues, and it is interesting to read Champlain's
description:--
"One may judge that if the four leagues of land which there are from
Panama to this river were cut through, one might pass from the South
Sea to the ocean on 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