Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume I Part 2

Pa.s.sing the Canaries, in two months and six days they sighted the little island of Deseada, [19] the _vestibule_ of the great Caribbean archipelago, touched at Guadaloupe, wound their way among the group called the Virgins, turning to the south made for Margarita, [20] then famous for its pearl fisheries, and from thence sailed to St. Juan de Porto-rico. Here the fleet was divided into three squadrons. One was to go to Porto-bello, on the Isthmus of Panama, another to the coast of South America, then called Terra Firma, and the third to Mexico, then known as New Spain. This latter squadron, to which Champlain was attached, coasted along the northern sh.o.r.e of the island of Saint Domingo, otherwise Hispaniola, touching at Porto Platte, Mancenilla, Mosquitoes, Monte Christo, and Saint Nicholas. Skirting the southern coast of Cuba, reconnoitring the Caymans, [21] they at length cast anchor in the harbor of San Juan d'Ulloa, the island fortress near Vera Cruz. While here, Champlain made an inland journey to the City of Mexico, where he remained a month. He also sailed in a _patache_, or advice-boat, to Porto-bello, when, after a month, he returned again to San Juan d'Ulloa. The squadron then sailed for Havana, from which place Champlain was commissioned to visit, on public business, Cartagena, within the present limits of New Grenada, on the coast of South America. The whole _armada_ was finally collected together at Havana, and from thence took its departure for Spain, pa.s.sing through the channel of Bahama, or Gulf of Florida, sighting Bermuda and the Azores, reaching Saint Lucar early in March, 1601, after an absence from that port of two years and two months. [22]

On Champlain's return to France, he prepared an elaborate report of his observations and discoveries, luminous with sixty-two ill.u.s.trations sketched by his own hand. As it was his avowed purpose in making the voyage to procure information that should be valuable to his government, he undoubtedly communicated it in some form to Henry IV. The doc.u.ment remained in ma.n.u.script two hundred and fifty-seven years, when it was first printed at London in an English translation by the Hakluyt Society, in 1859. It is an exceedingly interesting and valuable tract, containing a lucid description of the peculiarities, manners, and customs of the people, the soil, mountains, and rivers, the trees, fruits, and plants, the animals, birds, and fishes, the rich mines found at different points, with frequent allusions to the system of colonial management, together with the character and sources of the vast wealth which these settlements were annually yielding to the Spanish crown.

The reader of this little treatise will not fail to see the drift and tendency of Champlain's mind and character unfolded on nearly every page.

His indomitable perseverance, his careful observation, his honest purpose and amiable spirit are at all times apparent. Although a Frenchman, a foreigner, and an entire stranger in the Spanish fleet, he had won the confidence of the commander so completely, that he was allowed by special permission to visit the City of Mexico, the Isthmus of Panama, and the coast of South America, all of which were prominent and important centres of interest, but nevertheless lying beyond the circuit made by the squadron to which he was attached.

For the most part, Champlain's narrative of what he saw and of what he learned from others is given in simple terms, without inference or comment.

His views are, however, clearly apparent in his description of the Spanish method of converting the Indians by the Inquisition, reducing them to slavery or the horrors of a cruel death, together with the retaliation practised by their surviving comrades, resulting in a milder method. This treatment of the poor savages by their more savage masters Champlain ill.u.s.trates by a graphic drawing, in which two stolid Spaniards are guarding half a dozen poor wretches who are burning for their faith. In another drawing he represents a miserable victim receiving, under the eye and direction of the priest, the blows of an uplifted baton, as a penalty for not attending church.

Champlain's forecast and fertility of mind may be clearly seen in his suggestion that a ship-ca.n.a.l across the Isthmus of Panama would be a work of great practical utility, saving, in the voyage to the Pacific side of the Isthmus, a distance of more than fifteen hundred leagues. [23]

As it was the policy of Spain to withhold as much as possible all knowledge of her colonial system and wealth in the West Indies, we may add, that there is probably no work extant, on this subject, written at that period, so full, impartial, and truthful as this tract by Champlain. It was undoubtedly written out from notes and sketches made on the spot, and probably occupied the early part of the two years that followed his return from this expedition, during which period we are not aware that he entered upon any other important enterprise. [24]

This tour among the Spanish colonies, and the description which Champlain gave of them, information so much desired and yet so difficult to obtain, appear to have made a strong and favorable impression upon the mind of Henry IV., whose quick comprehension of the character of men was one of the great qualities of this distinguished sovereign. He clearly saw that Champlain's character was made up of those elements which are indispensable in the servants of the executive will. He accordingly a.s.signed him a pension to enable him to reside near his person, and probably at the same time honored him with a place within the charmed circle of the n.o.bility.

[25]

While Champlain was residing at court, rejoicing doubtless in his new honors and full of the marvels of his recent travels, he formed the acquaintance, or perhaps renewed an old one, with Commander de Chastes, [26] for many years governor of Dieppe, who had given a long life to the service of his country, both by sea [27] and by land, and was a warm and attached friend of Henry IV. The enthusiasm of the young voyager and the long experience of the old commander made their interviews mutually instructive and entertaining. De Chastes had observed and studied with great interest the recent efforts at colonization on the coast of North America. His zeal had been kindled and his ardor deepened doubtless by the glowing recitals of his young friend. It was easy for him to believe that France, as well as Spain, might gather in the golden fruits of colonization. The territory claimed by France was farther to the north, in climate and in sources of wealth widely different, and would require a different management. He had determined, therefore, to send out an expedition for the purpose of obtaining more definite information than he already possessed, with the view to surrender subsequently his government of Dieppe, take up his abode in the new world, and there dedicate his remaining years to the service of G.o.d and his king. He accordingly obtained a commission from the king, a.s.sociating with himself some of the princ.i.p.al merchants of Rouen and other cities, and made preparations for despatching a pioneer fleet to reconnoitre and fix upon a proper place for settlement, and to determine what equipment would be necessary for the convenience and comfort of the colony. He secured the services of Pont Grave, [28] a distinguished merchant and Canadian fur-trader, to conduct the expedition.

Having laid his views open fully to Champlain, he invited him also to join the exploring party, as he desired the opinion and advice of so careful an observer as to a proper plan of future operations.

No proposition could have been more agreeable to Champlain than this, and he expressed himself quite ready for the enterprise, provided De Chastes would secure the consent of the king, to whom he was under very great obligations. De Chastes readily obtained the desired permission, coupled, however, with an order from the king to Champlain to bring back to him a faithful report of the voyage. Leaving Paris, Champlain hastened to Honfleur, armed with a letter of instructions from M. de Gesures, the secretary of the king, to Pont Grave, directing him to receive Champlain and afford him every facility for seeing and exploring the country which they were about to visit. They sailed for the sh.o.r.es of the New World on the 15th of March, 1603.

The reader should here observe that anterior to this date no colonial settlement had been made on the northern coasts of America. These regions had, however, been frequented by European fishermen at a very early period, certainly within the decade after its discovery by John Cabot in 1497. But the Basques, Bretons, and Normans, [29] who visited these coasts, were intent upon their employment, and consequently brought home only meagre information of the country from whose sh.o.r.es they yearly bore away rich cargoes of fish.

The first voyage made by the French for the purpose of discovery in our northern waters of which we have any authentic record was by Jacques Cartier in 1534, and another was made for the same purpose by this distinguished navigator in 1535. In the former, he coasted along the sh.o.r.es of Newfoundland, entered and gave its present name to the Bay of Chaleur, and at Gaspe took formal possession of the country in the name of the king.

In the second, he ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, then an Indian village known by the aborigines as Hochelaga, situated on an island at the base of an eminence which they named _Mont-Royal_, from which the present commercial metropolis of the Dominion derives its name. After a winter of great suffering, which they pa.s.sed on the St. Charles, near Quebec, and the death of many of his company, Cartier returned to France early in the summer of 1536. In 1541, he made a third voyage, under the patronage of Francois de la Roque, Lord de Roberval, a n.o.bleman of Picardy.

He sailed up the St. Lawrence, anchoring probably at the mouth of the river Cap Rouge, about four leagues above Quebec, where he built a fort which he named _Charlesbourg-Royal_. Here he pa.s.sed another dreary and disheartening winter, and returned to France in the spring of 1542. His patron, De Roberval, who had failed to fulfil his intention to accompany him the preceding year, met him at St. John, Newfoundland. In vain Roberval urged and commanded him to retrace his course; but the resolute old navigator had too recent an experience and saw too clearly the inevitable obstacles to success in their undertaking to be diverted from his purpose. Roberval proceeded up the Saint Lawrence, apparently to the fort just abandoned by Cartier, which he repaired and occupied the next winter, naming it _Roy-Francois_; [30] but the disasters which followed, the sickness and death of many of his company, soon forced him, likewise, to abandon the enterprise and return to France.

Of these voyages, Cartier, or rather his pilot-general, has left full and elaborate reports, giving interesting and detailed accounts of the mode of life among the aborigines, and of the character and products of the country.

The entire want of success in all these attempts, and the absorbing and wasting civil wars in France, paralyzed the zeal and put to rest all aspirations for colonial adventure for more than half a century.

But in 1598, when peace again began to dawn upon the nation, the spirit of colonization revived, and the Marquis de la Roche, a n.o.bleman of Brittany, obtained a royal commission with extraordinary and exclusive powers of government and trade, identical with those granted to Roberval nearly sixty years before. Having fitted out a vessel and placed on board forty convicts gathered out of the prisons of France, he embarked for the northern coasts of America. The first land he made was Sable Island, a most forlorn sand-heap rising out of the Atlantic Ocean, some thirty leagues southeast of Cape Breton. Here he left these wretched criminals to be the strength and hope, the bone and sinew of the little kingdom which, in his fancy, he pictured to himself rising under his fostering care in the New World. While reconnoitring the mainland, probably some part of Nova Scotia, for the purpose of selecting a suitable location for his intended settlement, a furious gale swept him from the coast, and, either from necessity or inclination, he returned to France, leaving his hopeful colonists to a fate hardly surpa.s.sed by that of Selkirk himself, and at the same time dismissing the bright visions that had so long haunted his mind, of personal aggrandizement at the head of a colonial establishment.

The next year, 1599, Sieur de Saint Chauvin, of Normandy, a captain in the royal marine, at the suggestion of Pont Grave, of Saint Malo, an experienced fur-trader, to whom we have already referred, and who had made several voyages to the northwest anterior to this, obtained a commission sufficiently comprehensive, amply providing for a colonial settlement and the propagation of the Christian faith, with, indeed, all the privileges accorded by that of the Marquis de la Roche. But the chief and present object which Chauvin and Pont Grave hoped to attain was the monopoly of the fur trade, which they had good reason to believe they could at that time conduct with success. Under this commission, an expedition was accordingly fitted out and sailed for Tadoussac. Successful in its main object, with a full cargo of valuable furs, they returned to France in the autumn, leaving, however, sixteen men, some of whom perished during the winter, while the rest were rescued from the same fate by the charity of the Indians. In the year 1600, Chauvin made another voyage, which was equally remunerative, and a third had been projected on a much broader scale, when his death intervened and prevented its execution.

The death of Sieur de Chauvin appears to have vacated his commission, at least practically, opening the way for another, which was obtained by the Commander de Chastes, whose expedition, accompanied by Champlain, as we have already seen, left Honfleur on the 15th of March, 1603. It consisted of two barques of twelve or fifteen tons, one commanded by Pont Grave, and the other by Sieur Prevert, of Saint Malo, and was probably accompanied by one or more advice-boats. They took with them two Indians who had been in France some time, doubtless brought over by De Chauvin on his last voyage.

With favoring winds, they soon reached the banks of Newfoundland, sighted Cape Ray, the northern point of the Island of Cape Breton, Anticosti and Gaspe, coasting along the southern side of the river Saint Lawrence as far as the Bic, where, crossing over to the northern sh.o.r.e, they anch.o.r.ed in the harbor of Tadoussac. After reconnoitring the Saguenay twelve or fifteen leagues, leaving their vessels at Tadoussac, where an active fur trade was in progress with the Indians, they proceeded up the St. Lawrence in a light boat, pa.s.sed Quebec, the Three Rivers, Lake St. Peter, the Richelieu, which they called the river of the Iroquois, making an excursion up this stream five or six leagues, and then, continuing their course, pa.s.sing Montreal, they finally cast anchor on the northern side, at the foot of the Falls of St. Louis, not being able to proceed further in their boat.

Having previously constructed a skiff for the purpose, Pont Grave and Champlain, with five sailors and two Indians with a canoe, attempted to pa.s.s the falls. But after a long and persevering trial, exploring the sh.o.r.es on foot for some miles, they found any further progress quite impossible with their present equipment. They accordingly abandoned the undertaking and set out on their return to Tadoussac. They made short stops at various points, enabling Champlain to pursue his investigations with thoroughness and deliberation. He interrogated the Indians as to the course and extent of the St. Lawrence, as well as that of the other large rivers, the location of the lakes and falls, and the outlines and general features of the country, making rude drawings or maps to ill.u.s.trate what the Indians found difficult otherwise to explain. [31]

The savages also exhibited to them specimens of native copper, which they represented as having been obtained from the distant north, doubtless from the neighborhood of Lake Superior. On reaching Tadoussac, they made another excursion in one of the barques as far as Gaspe, observing the rivers, bays, and coves along the route. When they had completed their trade with the Indians and had secured from them a valuable collection of furs, they commenced their return voyage to France, touching at several important points, and obtaining from the natives some general hints in regard to the existence of certain mines about the head waters of the Bay of Fundy.

Before leaving, one of the Sagamores placed his son in charge of Pont Grave, that he might see the wonders of France, thus exhibiting a commendable appreciation of the advantages of foreign travel. They also obtained the gift of an Iroquois woman, who had been taken in war, and was soon to be immolated as one of the victims at a cannibal feast. Besides these, they took with them also four other natives, a man from the coast of La Cadie, and a woman and two boys from Canada.

The two little barques left Gaspe on the 24th of August; on the 5th of September they were at the fishing stations on the Grand Banks, and on the 20th of the same month arrived at Havre de Grace, having been absent six months and six days.

Champlain received on his arrival the painful intelligence that the Commander de Chastes, his friend and patron, under whose auspices the late expedition had been conducted, had died on the 13th of May preceding. This event was a personal grief as well as a serious calamity to him, as it deprived him of an intimate and valued friend, and cast a cloud over the bright visions that floated before him of discoveries and colonies in the New World. He lost no time in repairing to the court, where he laid before his sovereign, Henry IV., a map constructed by his own hand of the regions which he had just visited, together with a very particular narrative of the voyage.

This "pet.i.t discours," as Champlain calls it, is a clear, compact, well-drawn paper, containing an account of the character and products of the country, its trees, plants, fruits, and vines, with a description of the native inhabitants, their mode of living, their clothing, food and its preparation, their banquets, religion, and method of burying their dead, with many other interesting particulars relating to their habits and customs.

Henry IV. manifested a deep interest in Champlain's narrative. He listened to its recital with great apparent satisfaction, and by way of encouragement promised not to abandon the undertaking, but to continue to bestow upon it his royal favor and patronage.

There chanced at this time to be residing at court, a Huguenot gentleman who had been a faithful adherent of Henry IV. in the late war, Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, gentleman ordinary to the king's chamber, and governor of Pons in Saintonge. This n.o.bleman had made a trip for pleasure or recreation to Canada with De Chauvin, several years before, and had learned something of the country, and especially of the advantages of the fur trade with the Indians. He was quite ready, on the death of De Chastes, to take up the enterprise which, by this event, had been brought to a sudden and disastrous termination. He immediately devised a scheme for the establishment of a colony under the patronage of a company to be composed of merchants of Rouen, Roch.e.l.le, and of other places, their contributions for covering the expense of the enterprise to be supplemented, if not rendered entirely unnecessary, by a trade in furs and peltry to be conducted by the company.

In less than two months after the return of the last expedition, De Monts had obtained from Henry IV., though contrary to the advice of his most influential minister, [32] a charter const.i.tuting him the king's lieutenant in La Cadie, with all necessary and desirable powers for a colonial settlement. The grant included the whole territory lying between the 4Oth and 46th degrees of north lat.i.tude. Its southern boundary was on a parallel of Philadelphia, while its northern was on a line extended due west from the most easterly point of the Island of Cape Breton, cutting New Brunswick on a parallel near Fredericton, and Canada near the junction of the river Richelieu and the St. Lawrence. It will be observed that the parts of New France at that time best known were not included in this grant, viz., Lake St. Peter, Three Rivers, Quebec, Tadoussac, Gaspe, and the Bay Chaleur.

These were points of great importance, and had doubtless been left out of the charter by an oversight arising from an almost total want of a definite geographical knowledge of our northern coast. Justly apprehending that the places above mentioned might not be included within the limits of his grant, De Monts obtained, the next month, an extension of the bounds of his exclusive right of trade, so that it should comprehend the whole region of the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. [33]

The following winter, 1603-4, was devoted by De Monts to organizing his company, the collection of a suitable band of colonists, and the necessary preparations for the voyage. His commission authorized him to seize any idlers in the city or country, or even convicts condemned to transportation, to make up the bone and sinew of the colony. To what extent he resorted to this method of filling his ranks, we know not. Early in April he had gathered together about a hundred and twenty artisans of all trades, laborers, and soldiers, who were embarked upon two ships, one of 120 tons, under the direction of Sieur de Pont Grave, commanded, however, by Captain Morel, of Honfleur; another of 150 tons, on which De Monts himself embarked with several n.o.blemen and gentlemen, having Captain Timothee, of Havre de Grace, as commander.

De Monts extended to Champlain an invitation to join the expedition, which he readily accepted, but, nevertheless, on the condition, as in the previous voyage, of the king's a.s.sent, which was freely granted, nevertheless with the command that he should prepare a faithful report of his observations and discoveries.

ENDNOTES:

18. Blavet was situated at the mouth of the River Blavet, on the southern coast of Brittany. Its occupation had been granted to the Spanish by the Duke de Mercoeur during the civil war, and, with other places held by the Spanish, was surrendered by the treaty of Vervins, in June, 1598. It was rebuilt and fortified by Louis XIII, and is now known as Port Louis.

19. _Deseada_, signifying in Spanish the desired land.

20. _Margarita_, a Spanish word from the Greek [Greek: margaritaes], signifying a pearl. The following account by an eye-witness will not be uninteresting: "Especially it yieldeth store of pearls, those gems which the Latin writers call _Uniones_, because _nulli duo reperiuntur discreti_, they always are found to grow in couples. In this Island there are many rich Merchants who have thirty, forty, fifty _Blackmore_ slaves only to fish out of the sea about the rocks these pearls....

They are let down in baskets into the Sea, and so long continue under the water, until by pulling the rope by which they are let down, they make their sign to be taken up.... From _Margarita_ are all the Pearls sent to be refined and bored to _Carthagena_, where is a fair and goodly street of no other shops then of these Pearl dressers. Commonly in the month of _July_ there is a ship or two at most ready in the Island to carry the King's revenue, and the Merchant's pearls to _Carthagena_. One of these ships is valued commonly at three score thousand or four score thousand ducats and sometimes more, and therefore are reasonable well manned; for that the _Spaniards_ much fear our _English_ and the _Holland_ ships."--_Vide New Survey of the West Indies_, by Thomas Gage, London, 1677, p. 174.

21. _Caymans_, Crocodiles.

22. For an interesting Account of the best route to and from the West Indies in order to avoid the vigilant French and English corsairs, see _Notes on Giovanni da Verrazano_, by J. C. Brevoort, New York, 1874, p.

101.

23. At the time that Champlain was at the isthmus, in 1599-1601, the gold and silver of Peru were brought to Panama, then transported on mules a distance of about four leagues to a river, known as the Rio Chagres, whence they were conveyed by water first to Chagres. and thence along the coast to Porto-bello, and there shipped to Spain.

Champlain refers to a ship-ca.n.a.l in the following words: "One might judge, if the territory four leagues in extent lying between Panama and this river were cut through, he could pa.s.s from the south sea to that on the other side, and thus shorten the route by more than fifteen hundred leagues. From Panama to the Straits of Magellan would const.i.tute an island, and from Panama to New Foundland another, so that the whole of America would be in two islands."--_Vide Brief Discours des Choses Plus Remarquables_, par Sammuel Champlain de Brovage, 1599, Quebec ed., Vol. I. p 141. This project of a ship ca.n.a.l across the isthmus thus suggested by Champlain two hundred and eighty years ago is now attracting the public attention both in this country and in Europe.

Several schemes are on foot for bringing it to pa.s.s, and it will undoubtedly be accomplished, if it shall be found after the most careful and thorough investigation to be within the scope of human power, and to offer adequate commercial advantages.

Some of the difficulties to be overcome are suggested by Mr. Marsh in the following excerpt--

"The most colossal project of ca.n.a.lization ever suggested, whether we consider the physical difficulties of its execution, the magnitude and importance of the waters proposed to be united, or the distance which would be saved in navigation, is that of a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, across the Isthmus of Darien. I do not now speak of a lock-ca.n.a.l, by way of the Lake of Nicaragua, or any other route,--for such a work would not differ essentially from other ca.n.a.ls and would scarcely possess a geographical character,--but of an open cut between the two seas. The late survey by Captain Selfridge, showing that the lowest point on the dividing ridge is 763 feet above the sea-level, must be considered as determining in the negative the question of the possibility of such a cut, by any means now at the control of man; and both the sanguine expectations of benefits, and the dreary suggestions of danger from the realization of this great dream, may now be dismissed as equally chimerical."--_Vide The Earth as Modified by Human Action_, by George P. Marsh, New York, 1874, p. 612.

24. A translation of Champlain's Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico was made by Alice Wilmere, edited by Norton Shaw, and published by the Hakluyt Society, London, 1859.

25. No positive evidence is known to exist as to the time when Champlain was enn.o.bled. It seems most likely to have been in acknowledgment of his valuable report made to Henry IV. after his visit to the West Indies.

26. Amyar de Chastes died on the 13th of May, 1603, greatly respected and beloved by his fellow-citizens. He was charged by his government with many important and responsible duties. In 1583, he was sent by Henry III., or rather by Catherine de Medicis, to the Azores with a military force to sustain the claims of Antonio, the Prior of Crato, to the throne of Portugal. He was a warm friend and supporter of Henry IV., and took an active part in the battles of Ivry and Arques. He commanded the French fleet on the coasts of Brittany; and, during the long struggle of this monarch with internal enemies and external foes, he was in frequent communication with the English to secure their co-operation, particularly against the Spanish. He accompanied the Duke de Boullon, the distinguished Huguenot n.o.bleman, to England, to be present and witness the oath of Queen Elizabeth to the treaty made with France.

On this occasion he received a valuable jewel as a present from the English queen. He afterwards directed the ceremonies and entertainment of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was deputed to receive the ratification of the before-mentioned treaty by Henry IV. _Vide Busk's His. Spain and Portugal_, London, 1833, p. 129 _et pa.s.sim_; _Denis' His. Portugal_, Paris, 1846, p. 296; _Freer's Life of Henry IV._, Vol. I. p. 121, _et pa.s.sim_; _Memoirs of Sully_, Philadelphia, 1817, Vol. I. p. 204; _Birch's Memoirs Queen Elizabeth_, London, 1754, Vol. II. pp. 121, 145, 151, 154, 155; _a.s.selini MSS. Chron._, cited by Shaw in _Nar Voyage to West Ind. and Mexico_, Hakluyt Soc., 1859, p. xv.

27. "Au meme tems les nouvelles vinrent.... que le Commandeur de Chastes dressoit une grande Armee de Mer en Bretagne."--_Journal de Henri III._ (1586), Paris, 1744, Tom. III. p. 279.

28. Du Pont Grave was a merchant of St Malo. He had been a.s.sociated with Chauvin in the Canada trade, and continued to visit the St Lawrence for this purpose almost yearly for thirty years.

He was greatly respected by Champlain, and was closely a.s.sociated with him till 1629. After the English captured Quebec, he appears to have retired, forced to do so by the infirmities of age.