Voyages of Samuel De Champlain Volume I Part 6

CHAPTER VI.

ERECTION OF BUILDINGS AT QUEBEC.--THE SCURVY AND THE STARVING SAVAGES.-- DISCOVERY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN, AND THE BATTLE AT TICONDEROGA.--CRUELTIES INFLICTED ON PRISONERS OF WAR, AND THE FESTIVAL AFTER VICTORY.-- CHAMPLAIN'S RETURN TO FRANCE AND HIS INTERVIEW WITH HENRY IV.--VOYAGE TO NEW FRANCE AND PLANS OF DISCOVERY.--BATTLE WITH THE IROQUOIS NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE RICHELIEU.--REPAIR OF BUILDINGS AT QUEBEC.--NEWS OF THE a.s.sa.s.sINATION OF HENRY IV.--CHAMPLAIN'S RETURN TO FRANCE AND HIS CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE.--VOYAGE TO QUEBEC IN 1611.

On the 18th of September, 1608, Pont Grave, having obtained his cargo of furs and peltry, sailed for France.

The autumn was fully occupied by Champlain and his little band of colonists in completing the buildings and in making such other provisions as were needed against the rigors of the approaching winter. From the forest trees beams were hewed into shape with the axe, boards and plank were cut from the green wood with the saw, walls were reared from the rough stones gathered at the base of the cliff, and plots of land were cleared near the settlement, where wheat and rye were sown and grapevines planted, which successfully tested the good qualities of the soil and climate.

Three lodging-houses were erected on the northwest angle formed by the junction of the present streets St. Peter and Sous le Fort, near or on the site of the Church of Notre Dame. Adjoining, was a store-house. The whole was, surrounded by a moat fifteen feet wide and six feet deep, thus giving the settlement the character of a fort; a wise precaution against a sudden attack of the treacherous savages. [58]

At length the sunny days of autumn were gone, and the winter, with its fierce winds and its penetrating frosts and deep banks of snow, was upon them. Little occupation could be furnished for the twenty-eight men that composed the colony. Their idleness soon brought a despondency that hung like a pall upon their spirits. In February, disease made its approach. It had not been expected. Every defence within their knowledge had been provided against it. Their houses were closely sealed and warm; their clothing was abundant; their food nutritious and plenty. But a diet too exclusively of salt meat had, notwithstanding, in the opinion of Champlain, and we may add the want, probably, of exercise and the presence of bad air, induced the _mal de la terre_ or scurvy, and it made fearful havoc with his men. Twenty, five out of each seven of their whole number, had been carried to their graves before the middle of April, and half of the remaining eight had been attacked by the loathsome scourge.

While the mind of Champlain was oppressed by the suffering and death that were at all times present in their abode, his sympathies were still further taxed by the condition of the savages, who gathered in great numbers about the settlement, in the most abject misery and in the last stages of starvation. As Champlain could only furnish them, from his limited stores, temporary and partial relief, it was the more painful to see them slowly dragging their feeble frames about in the snow, gathering up and devouring with avidity discarded meat in which the process of decomposition was far advanced, and which was already too potent with the stench of decay to be approached by his men.

Beyond the ravages of disease [59] and the starving Indians, Champlain adds nothing more to complete the gloomy picture of his first winter in Quebec.

The gales of wind that swept round the wall of precipice that protected them in the rear, the drifts of snow that were piled up in fresh instalments with every storm about their dwelling, the biting frost, more piercing and benumbing than they had ever experienced before, the unceasing groans of the sick within, the semi-weekly procession bearing one after another of their diminishing numbers to the grave, the mystery that hung over the disease, and the impotency of all remedies, we know were prominent features in the picture. But the imagination seeks in vain for more than a single circ.u.mstance that could throw upon it a beam of modifying and softening light, and that was the presence of the brave Champlain, who bore all without a murmur, and, we may be sure, without a throb of unmanly fear or a sensation of cowardly discontent.

But the winter, as all winters do, at length melted reluctantly away, and the spring came with its verdure, and its new life. The spirits of the little remnant of a colony began to revive. Eight of the twenty-eight with which the winter began were still surviving. Four had escaped attack, and four were rejoicing convalescents.

On the 5th of June, news came that Pont Grave had arrived from France, and was then at Tadoussac, whither Champlain immediately repaired to confer with him, and particularly to make arrangements at the earliest possible moment for an exploring expedition into the interior, an undertaking which De Monts had enjoined upon him, and which was not only agreeable to his own wishes, but was a kind of enterprise which had been a pa.s.sion with him from his youth.

In antic.i.p.ation of a tour of exploration during the approaching summer, Champlain had already ascertained from the Indians that, lying far to the southwest, was an extensive lake, famous among the savages, containing many fair islands, and surrounded by a beautiful and productive country. Having expressed a desire to visit this region, the Indians readily offered to act as guides, provided, nevertheless, that he would aid them in a warlike raid upon their enemies, the Iroquois, the tribe known to us as the Mohawks, whose, homes were beyond the lake in question. Champlain without hesitation acceded to the condition exacted, but with little appreciation, as we confidently believe, of the bitter consequences that were destined to follow the alliance thus inaugurated; from which, in after years, it was inexpedient, if not impossible, to recede.

Having fitted out a shallop, Champlain left Quebec on his tour of exploration on the 18th of June, 1609, with eleven men, together with a party of Montagnais, a tribe of Indians who, in their hunting and fishing excursions, roamed over an indefinite region on the north side of the St.

Lawrence, but whose headquarters were at Tadoussac. After ascending the St Lawrence about sixty miles, he came upon an encampment of two hundred or three hundred savages, Hurons [60] and Algonquins, the former dwelling on the borders of the lake of the same name, the latter on the upper waters of the Ottawa. They had learned something of the French from a son of one of their chiefs, who had been at Quebec the preceding autumn, and were now on their way to enter into an alliance with the French against the Iroquois.

After formal negotiations and a return to Quebec to visit the French settlement and witness the effect of their firearms, of which they had heard and which greatly excited their curiosity, and after the usual ceremonies of feasting and dancing, the whole party proceeded up the river until they reached the mouth of the Richelieu. Here they remained two days, as guests of the Indians, feasting upon fish, venison, and water-fowl.

While these festivities were in progress, a disagreement arose among the savages, and the bulk of them, including the women, returned to their homes. Sixty warriors, however, some from each of the three allied tribes, proceeded up the Richelieu with Champlain. At the Falls of Chambly, finding it impossible for the shallop to pa.s.s them, he directed the pilot to return with it to Quebec, leaving only two men from the crew to accompany him on the remainder of the expedition. From this point, Champlain and his two brave companions entrusted themselves to the birch canoe of the savages.

For a short distance, the canoes, twenty-four in all, were transported by land. The fall and rapids, extending as far as St. John, were at length pa.s.sed. They then proceeded up the river, and, entering the lake which now bears the name of Champlain, crept along the western bank, advancing after the first few days only in the night, hiding themselves during the day in the thickets on the sh.o.r.e to avoid the observation of their enemies, whom they were now liable at any moment to meet.

On the evening of the 29th of July, at about ten o'clock, when the allies were gliding noiselessly along in restrained silence, as they approached the little cape that juts out into the lake at Ticonderoga, near where Fort Carillon was afterwards erected by the French, and where its ruins are still to be seen, [61] they discovered a flotilla of heavy canoes, of oaken bark, containing not far from two hundred Iroquois warriors, armed and impatient for conflict. A furor and frenzy as of so many enraged tigers instantly seized both parties. Champlain and his allies withdrew a short distance, an arrow's range from the sh.o.r.e, fastening their canoes by poles to keep them together, while the Iroquois hastened to the water's edge, drew up their canoes side by side, and began to fell trees and construct a barricade, which they were well able to accomplish with marvellous facility and skill. Two boats were sent out to inquire if the Iroquois desired to fight, to which they replied that they wanted nothing so much, and, as it was now dark, at sunrise the next morning they would give them battle. The whole night was spent by both parties in loud and tumultuous boasting, berating each other in the roundest terms which their savage vocabulary could furnish, insultingly charging each other with cowardice and weakness, and declaring that they would prove the truth of their a.s.sertions to their utter ruin the next morning.

When the sun began to gild the distant mountain-tops, the combatants were ready for the fray. Champlain and his two companions, each lying low in separate canoes of the Montagnais, put on, as best they could, the light armor in use at that period, and, taking the short hand-gun, or arquebus, went on sh.o.r.e, concealing themselves as much as possible from the enemy. As soon as all had landed, the two parties hastily approached each other, moving with a firm and determined tread. The allies, who had become fully aware of the deadly character of the hand-gun and were anxious to see an exhibition of its mysterious power, promptly opened their ranks, and Champlain marched forward in front, until he was within thirty paces of the Iroquois. When they saw him, attracted by his pale face and strange armor, they halted and gazed at him in a calm bewilderment for some seconds. Three Iroquois chiefs, tall and athletic, stood in front, and could be easily distinguished by the lofty plumes that waved above their heads. They began at once to make ready for a discharge of arrows. At the same instant, Champlain, perceiving this movement, levelled his piece, which had been loaded with four b.a.l.l.s, and two chiefs fell dead, and another savage was mortally wounded by the same shot. At this, the allies raised a shout rivalling thunder in its stunning effect. From both sides the whizzing arrows filled the air. The two French arquebusiers, from their ambuscade in the thicket, immediately attacked in flank, pouring a deadly fire upon the enemy's right. The explosion of the firearms, altogether new to the Iroquois, the fatal effects that instantly followed, their chiefs lying dead at their feet and others fast falling, threw them into a tumultuous panic. They at once abandoned every thing, arms, provisions, boats, and camp, and without any impediment, the naked savages fled through the forest with the fleetness of the terrified deer. Champlain and his allies pursued them a mile and a half, or to the first fall in the little stream that connects Lake Champlain [62] and Lake George. [63] The victory was complete. The allies gathered at the scene of conflict, danced and sang in triumph, collected and appropriated the abandoned armor, feasted on the provisions left by the Iroquois, and, within three hours, with ten or twelve prisoners, were sailing down the lake on their homeward voyage.

After they had rowed about eight leagues, according to Champlain's estimate, they encamped for the night. A prevailing characteristic of the savages on the eastern coast, in the early history of America, was the barbarous cruelties which they inflicted upon their prisoners of war. [64]

They did not depart from their usual custom in the present instance. Having kindled a fire, they selected a victim, and proceeded to excoriate his back with red-hot burning brands, and to apply live coals to the ends of his fingers, where they would give the most exquisite pain. They tore out his finger-nails, and, with sharp slivers of wood, pierced his wrists and rudely forced out the quivering sinews. They flayed off the skin from the top of his head, [65] and poured upon the bleeding wound a stream of boiling melted gum. Champlain remonstrated in vain. The piteous cries of the poor, tormented victim excited his unavailing compa.s.sion, and he turned away in anger and disgust. At length, when these inhuman tortures had been carried as far as they desired, Champlain was permitted, at his earnest request, with a musket-shot to put an end to his sufferings. But this was not the termination of the horrid performance. The dead victim was hacked in pieces, his heart severed into parts, and the surviving prisoners were ordered to eat it. This was too revolting to their nature, degraded as it was; they were forced, however, to take it into their mouths, but they would do no more, and their guard of more compa.s.sionate Algonquins allowed them to cast it into the lake.

This exhibition of savage cruelty was not extraordinary, but according to their usual custom. It was equalled, and, if possible, even surpa.s.sed, in the treatment of captives generally, and especially of the Jesuit missionaries in after years. [66]

When the party arrived at the Falls of Chambly, the Hurons and Algonquins left the river, in order to reach their homes by a shorter way, transporting their canoes and effects over land to the St. Lawrence near Montreal, while the rest continued their journey down the Richelieu and the St. Lawrence to Tadoussac, where their families were encamped, waiting to join in the usual ceremonies and rejoicings after a great victory.

When the returning warriors approached Tadoussac, they hung aloft on the prow of their canoes the scalped heads of those whom they had slain, decorated with beads which they had begged from the French for this purpose, and with a savage grace presented these ghastly trophies to their wives and daughters, who, laying aside their garments, eagerly swam out to obtain the precious mementoes, which they hung about their necks and bore rejoicing to the sh.o.r.e, where they further testified their satisfaction by dancing and singing.

After a few days, Champlain repaired to Quebec, and early in September decided to return with Pont Grave to France. All arrangements were speedily made for that purpose. Fifteen men were left to pa.s.s the winter at Quebec, in charge of Captain Pierre Chavin of Dieppe. On the 5th of September they sailed from Tadoussac, and, lingering some days at Isle Perce, arrived at Honfleur on the 13th of October, 1609.

Champlain hastened immediately to Fontainebleau, to make a detailed report of his proceedings to Sieur de Monts, who was there in official attendance upon the king. [67] On this occasion he sought an audience also with Henry IV., who had been his friend and patron from the time of his first voyage to Canada in 1603. In addition to the new discoveries and observations which he detailed to him, he exhibited a belt curiously wrought and inlaid with porcupine-quills, the work of the savages, which especially drew forth the king's admiration. He also presented two specimens of the scarlet tanager, _Pyranga rubra_, a bird of great brilliancy of plumage and peculiar to this continent, and likewise the head of a gar-pike, a fish of singular characteristics, then known only in the waters of Lake Champlain.

[68]

At this time De Monts was urgently seeking a renewal of his commission for the monopoly of the fur-trade. In this Champlain was deeply interested. But to this monopoly a powerful opposition arose, and all efforts at renewal proved utterly fruitless. De Monts did not, however, abandon the enterprise on which he had entered. Renewing his engagements with the merchants of Rouen with whom he had already been a.s.sociated, he resolved to send out in the early spring, as a private enterprise and without any special privileges or monopoly, two vessels with the necessary equipments for strengthening his colony at Quebec and for carrying on trade as usual with the Indians.

Champlain was again appointed lieutenant, charged with the government and management of the colony, with the expectation of pa.s.sing the next winter at Quebec, while Pont Grave, as he had been before, was specially entrusted with the commercial department of the expedition.

They embarked at Honfleur, but were detained in the English Channel by bad weather for some days. In the mean time Champlain was taken seriously ill, the vessel needed additional ballast, and returned to port, and they did not finally put to sea till the 8th of April. They arrived at Tadoussac on the 26th of the same month, in the year 1610, and, two days later, sailed for Quebec, where they found the commander, Captain Chavin, and the little colony all in excellent health.

The establishment at Quebec, it is to be remembered, was now a private enterprise. It existed by no chartered rights, it was protected by no exclusive authority. There was consequently little encouragement for its enlargement beyond what was necessary as a base of commercial operations.

The limited cares of the colony left, therefore, to Champlain, a larger scope for the exercise of his indomitable desire for exploration and adventure. Explorations could not, however, be carried forward without the concurrence and guidance of the savages by whom he was immediately surrounded. Friendly relations existed between the French and the united tribes of Montagnais, Hurons, and Algonquins, who occupied the northern sh.o.r.es of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. A burning hatred existed between these tribes and the Iroquois, occupying the southern sh.o.r.es of the same river. A deadly warfare was their chief employment, and every summer each party was engaged either in repelling an invasion or in making one in the territory of the other. Those friendly to Champlain were quite ready to act as pioneers in his explorations and discoveries, but they expected and demanded in return that he should give them active personal a.s.sistance in their wars. Influenced, doubtless, by policy, the spirit of the age, and his early education in the civil conflicts of France, Champlain did not hesitate to enter into an alliance and an exchange of services on these terms.

In the preceding year, two journeys into distant regions had been planned for exploration and discovery. One beginning at Three Rivers, was to survey, under the guidance of the Montagnais, the river St. Maurice to its source, and thence, by different channels and portages, reach Lake St.

John, returning by the Saguenay, making in the circuit a distance of not less than eight hundred miles. The other plan was to explore, under the direction of the Hurons and Algonquins, the vast country over which they were accustomed to roam, pa.s.sing up the Ottawa, and reaching in the end the region of the copper mines on Lake Superior, a journey not less than twice the extent of the former.

Neither of these explorations could be undertaken the present year. Their importance, however, to the future progress of colonization in New France is sufficiently obvious. The purpose of making these surveys shows the breadth and wisdom of Champlain's views, and that hardships or dangers were not permitted to interfere with his patriotic sense of duty.

Soon after his arrival at Quebec, the savages began to a.s.semble to engage in their usual summer's entertainment of making war upon the Iroquois.

Sixty Montagnais, equipped in their rude armor, were hastening to the rendezvous which, by agreement made the year before, was to be at the mouth of the Richelieu. [69] Hither were to come the three allied tribes, and pa.s.s together up this river into Lake Champlain, the "gate" or war-path through which these hostile clans were accustomed to make their yearly pilgrimage to meet each other in deadly conflict. Sending forward four barques for trading purposes, Champlain repaired to the mouth of the Richelieu, and landed, in company with the Montagnais, on the Island St.

Ignace, on the 19th of June. While preparations were making to receive their Algonquin allies from the region of the Ottawa, news came that they had already arrived, and that they had discovered a hundred Iroquois strongly barricaded in a log fort, which they had hastily thrown together on the brink of the river not far distant, and to capture them the a.s.sistance of all parties was needed without delay. Champlain, with four Frenchmen and the sixty Montagnais, left the island in haste, pa.s.sed over to the mainland, where they left their canoes, and eagerly rushed through the marshy forest a distance of two miles. Burdened with their heavy armor, half consumed by mosquitoes which were so thick that they were scarcely able to breathe, covered with mud and water, they at length stood before the Iroquois fort. [70] It was a structure of logs laid one upon another, braced and held together by posts coupled by withes, and of the usual circular form. It offered a good protection in savage warfare. Even the French arquebus discharged through the crevices did slow execution.

It was obvious to Champlain that, to ensure victory, the fort must be demolished. Huge trees, severed at the base, falling upon it, did not break it down. At length, directed by Champlain, the savages approached under their shields, tore away the supporting posts, and thus made a breach, into which rushed the infuriated besiegers, and in hot haste finished their deadly work. Fifteen of the Iroquois were taken prisoners; a few plunged into the river and were drowned; the rest perished by musket-shots, arrow-wounds, the tomahawk, and the war-club. Of the allied savages three were killed and fifty wounded. Champlain himself did not escape altogether unharmed. An arrow, armed with a sharp point of stone, pierced his ear and neck, which he drew out with his own hand. One of his companions received a similar wound in the arm. The victors scalped the dead as usual, ornamenting the prows of their canoes with the bleeding heads of their enemies, while they severed one of the bodies into quarters, to eat, as they alleged, in revenge.

The canoes of the savages and a French shallop having come to the scene of this battle, all soon embarked and returned to the Island of St. Ignace.

Here the allies, joined by eighty Huron warriors who had arrived too late to partic.i.p.ate in the conflict, remained three days, celebrating their victory by dancing, singing, and the administration of the usual punishment upon their prisoners of war. This consisted in a variety of exquisite tortures, similar to those inflicted the year before, after the victory on Lake Champlain, horrible and sickening in all their features, and which need not be spread upon these pages. From these tortures Champlain would gladly have s.n.a.t.c.hed the poor wretches, had it been in his power, but in this matter the savages would brook no interference. There was a solitary exception, however, in a fortunate young Iroquois who fell to him in the division of prisoners. He was treated with great kindness, but it did not overcome his excessive fear and distrust, and he soon sought an opportunity and escaped to his home. [71]

When the celebration of the victory had been completed, the Indians departed to their distant abodes. Champlain, however, before their departure, very wisely entered into an agreement that they should receive for the winter a young Frenchman who was anxious to learn their language, and, in return, he was himself to take a young Huron, at their special request, to pa.s.s the winter in France. This judicious arrangement, in which Champlain was deeply interested and which he found some difficulty in accomplishing, promised an important future advantage in extending the knowledge of both parties, and in strengthening on the foundation of personal experience their mutual confidence and friendship.

After the departure of the Indians, Champlain returned to Quebec, and proceeded to put the buildings in repair and to see that all necessary arrangements were made for the safety and comfort of the colony during the next winter.

On the 4th of July, Des Marais, in charge of the vessel belonging to De Monts and his company, which had been left behind and had been expected soon to follow, arrived at Quebec, bringing the intelligence that a small revolution had taken place in Brouage, the home of Champlain, that the Protestants had been expelled, and an additional guard of soldiers had been placed in the garrison. Des Marais also brought the startling news that Henry IV. had been a.s.sa.s.sinated on the 14th of May. Champlain was penetrated by this announcement with the deepest sorrow. He fully saw how great a public calamity had fallen upon his country. France had lost, by an ignominious blow, one of her ablest and wisest sovereigns, who had, by his marvellous power, gradually united and compacted the great interests of the nation, which had been shattered and torn by half a century of civil conflicts and domestic feuds. It was also to him a personal loss. The king had taken a special interest in his undertakings, had been his patron from the time of his first voyage to New France in 1603, had sustained him by an annual pension, and on many occasions had shown by word and deed that he fully appreciated the great value of his explorations in his American domains. It was difficult to see how a loss so great both to his country and himself could be repaired. A cloud of doubt and uncertainty hung over the future. The condition of the company, likewise, under whose auspices he was acting, presented at this time no very encouraging features. The returns from the fur-trade had been small, owing to the loss of the monopoly which the company had formerly enjoyed, and the excessive compet.i.tion which free-trade had stimulated. Only a limited attention had as yet been given to the cultivation of the soil. Garden vegetables had been placed in cultivation, together with small fields of Indian corn, wheat, rye, and barley. These attempts at agriculture were doubtless experiments, while at the fame time they were useful in supplementing the stores needed for the colony's consumption.

Champlain's personal presence was not required at Quebec during the winter, as no active enterprise could be carried forward in that inclement season, and he decided, therefore, to return to France. The little colony now consisted of sixteen men, which he placed in charge, during his absence, of Sieur Du Parc. He accordingly left Tadoussac on the 13th of August, and arrived at Honfleur in France on the 27th of September, 1610.

During the autumn of this year, while residing in Paris, Champlain became attached to Helene Boulle, the daughter of Nicholas Boulle, secretary of the king's chamber. She was at that time a mere child, and of too tender years to act for herself, particularly in matters of so great importance as those which relate to marital relations. However, agreeably to a custom not infrequent at that period, a marriage contract [72] was entered into on the 27th of December with her parents, in which, nevertheless, it was stipulated that the nuptials should not take place within at least two years from that date. The dowry of the future bride was fixed at six thousand livres _tournois_, three fourths of which were paid and receipted for by Champlain two days after the signing of the contract. The marriage was afterward consummated, and Helen Boulle, as his wife, accompanied Champlain to Quebec, in 1620, as we shall see in the sequel.

Notwithstanding the discouragements of the preceding year and the small prospect of future success, De Monts and the merchants a.s.sociated with him still persevered in sending another expedition, and Champlain left Honfleur for New France on the first day of March, 1611. Unfortunately, the voyage had been undertaken too early in the season for these northern waters, and long before they reached the Grand Banks, they encountered ice-floes of the most dangerous character. Huge blocks of crystal, towering two hundred feet above the surface of the water, floated at times near them, and at others they were surrounded and hemmed in by vast fields of ice extending as far as the eye could reach. Amid these ceaseless perils, momentarily expecting to be crushed between the floating islands wheeling to and fro about them, they struggled with the elements for nearly two months, when finally they reached Tadoussac on the 13th of May.

ENDNOTES:

58. The situation of Quebec and an engraved representation of the buildings may be seen by reference to Vol. II. pp. 175, 183.

59. Scurvy, or _mal de la terre_.--_Vide_ Vol. II. note 105.

60. _Hurons_ "The word Huron comes from the French, who seeing these Indians with the hair cut very short, and standing up in a strange fashion, giving them a fearful air, cried out, the first time they saw them, _Quelle hures!_ what boars' heads! and so got to call them Hurons."--Charlevoix's _His. New France_, Shea's Trans Vol. II. p. 71.

_Vide Relations des Jesuites_, Quebec ed. Vol. I. 1639, P 51; also note 321, Vol. II. of this work, for brief notice of the Algonquins and other tribes.

61. For the identification of the site of this battle, see Vol. II p. 223, note 348. It is eminently historical ground. Near it Fort Carrillon was erected by the French in 1756. Here Abercrombie was defeated by Montcalm in 1758. Lord Amherst captured the fort in 1759 Again it was taken from the English by the patriot Ethan Alien in 1775. It was evacuated by St. Clair when environed by Burgoyne in 1777, and now for a complete century it has been visited by the tourist as a ruin memorable for its many historical a.s.sociations.

62. This lake, discovered and explored by Champlain, is ninety miles in length. Through its centre runs the boundary line between the State of New York and that of Vermont. From its discovery to the present time it has appropriately borne the honored name of Champlain. For its Indian name, _Caniaderiguarunte_, see Vol. II. note 349. According to Mr. Shea the Mohawk name of Lake Champlain is _Caniatagaronte_.--_Vide Shea's Charlevoix_. Vol. II. p. 18.

Lake Champlain and the Hudson River were both discovered the same year, and were severally named after the distinguished navigators by whom they were explored. Champlain completed his explorations at Ticonderoga, on the 30th of July, 1609, and Hudson reached the highest point made by him on the river, near Albany, on the 22d of September of the same year.--_Vide_ Vol. II. p. 219. Also _The Third Voyage of Master Henry Hudson_, written by Robert Ivet of Lime-house, _Collections of New York His. Society_, Vol. I. p. 140.