In the center of the Algonquin country, in a narrow district extending eastward from Georgian Bay toward Lake Ontario, lived the Huron nation; a strong and prosperous tribe, a sedentary nation, which had made more progress in agriculture than all others. While they were kin, not far distant, to the Iroquois, they were most bitter enemies in a feud of long standing. In this warfare the Hurons had as their allies the far-flung nation of many dialects, the Algonquins.

The alleged ground of controversy with other tribes on the part of the Iroquois was, generally, the violation of boundary lines, the rights of embassy, and individual wrongs; but the love of dominion and glory stimulated their conquests. In short, like certain civilized (?) nations of modern times, they sought to spread their kultur over neighboring tribes, whether their superior article was desired by the recipients or not; and, in acts of atrocity, in their power to spread terror among their unlucky adversaries, they have been in all history only equalled or exceeded by the Ancient and Modern Hun.

In this warlike state dwelt the savage inhabitants of the lake region when, early in the Seventeenth Century, France and England carried the jealousies and bickerings of the Old World to increase the complications and bloodshed of the New.

Samuel de Champlain had already journeyed afar when, in 1603, he was sent to direct and stimulate the development of New France. Filled with religious zeal and enthusiasm, possessed of rare executive ability and a keen vision of the requirements of the gigantic task before him, he discharged his difficult duties so faithfully and well as to justly merit the honor of the name, "Founder of New France." Like Cartier, Champlain kept a journal in which his varied and interesting experiences were faith'Lanman's Michigan, p. 14.

fully recorded in manuscript form, translations of which have been published by the Hakluyt Society.'

Somewhere about the year 1600, Champlain, on a journey to Central America, in a spirit of prophecy foretold the Panama Canal. He wrote:

One may judge if the four leagues of land which there are from Panama to the little river which rises in the mountains and descends to Porto Bello, 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.2

Champlain ascended the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers in 1603, as far as the junction of the Mattawa with the latter. 3 This journey was well on the route to Lake Huron and was the farthest westward thus far penetrated by any European of which we have record. On June 18th of that year, "Champlain set out from Tadoussac for the Lachine rapids, up the river."4 On the 10th of the next month, on his return voyage, he questioned a young Algonquin about ulterior regions. The savage clearly pointed out the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and finally Lake Huron, "a very large lake some three hundred leagues in length." Of course this was an exaggeration. Proceeding northward some hundred leagues in this lake, the Indian said, a very large island (Great Manitoulin) would be reached. Another hundred leagues would bring them to the end of the lake (the distance being again overestimated) when rapids. 1 From Cartier to Frontenac, Winsor.

The same, p. 82, and Champlain, the Founder of New France, Dix, D. Appleton & Co., 1903, p. 29.

3 Early Western Trails, Note 226.

4 Notes from Brule's Discoveries and Explorations, 1610-1623, by C. W. Butterfield, The Halman-Taylor Co., Cleveland, 1898, p. 100.

about a league wide' could be seen, where a very large mass of water flows into Lake Huron. When these rapids are passed one sees no more land on either side, but only a sea so large that they have never seen the end of it, nor heard that any one had.

"Champlain inquired as to whether they had knowledge of any mines. They told him that the Hurons, who came to trade with the Algonquins for articles the latter had purchased from French vessels in the St. Lawrence, said that toward the north from their country was a mine of pure copper, some bracelets made from which they showed Champlain, they having obtained them from the Hurons." Thus Champlain had Cartier's information as to copper mines substantiated-but, seemingly more valuable still, had his hopes raised that this "Sea" of which no one knew the length-was the long-sought route to China.

I At the Sault.

CHAPTER IV

Champlain's Plan of Exploration and Settlement-Brule Sent to Live with the Indians-Champlain Takes Sides against the Iroquois— Brule First White Man to View Lake Huron-Traverses Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers-Recollet Priests Arrive from France-Champlain Visits Georgian Bay and the Hurons-Hurons Defeated by Iroquois― Brule's Adventures-Probable Visit to Sault Ste. Marie in 1618-19— His Tragic End.

IT is not easy to appreciate at this time the many problems and difficulties which attended the exploration and settlement of the New World. When Champlain came to New France but little was known of the St. Lawrence, so slight had been the progress since the days of Cartier. Only two or three precarious settlements had been intermittently maintained on the lower reaches of the river; beyond those insignificant clearings was the unbroken wilderness extending across the continent, pierced by unknown watercourses, and traversed by the wild beast, the moccasined feet of the stealthy savage, or by his equally noiseless canoe.

The denizens of the forest were suspicious and often hostile. They spoke a language based on no rules of grammar, and derived from no Greek, Latin, Hebrew or Sanscrit root that would tend to facilitate its acquirement by Europeans; furthermore, abounding in dialects so varied that it was often difficult for different tribes of the same nation to understand each other.

To the task of solving those problems Champlain assiduously addressed himself. He must have explorers

able to penetrate the unknown forests and to subsist mainly on the products of the chase. He must have interpreters able to understand and translate the language of the savages, and, perhaps more difficult still, to be able to live among them and gain their confidence and friendship. Such servitors could not be educated in the schools of the Old World; they could not be brought from France ready equipped for their duties. They must be created, educated, in the fields where they were to serve. Experience must teach them to be woodsmen, and to learn the language and customs of the Indians they must live among them.

Recognizing these facts, Champlain early adopted the policy of sending promising young men to live with the Indians. To two such men, at least, are we indebted for our first reliable information relating to our great waterway.

April 13th, 1608, Champlain sailed from Harfleur with men, arms and equipment for the settlement to be founded upon the River St. Lawrence. With him came Étienne (Stephen) Brule, then a young man of sixteen years, who was destined to play an important part during the next score of years in the explorations and discoveries of the lake country.

A point above the island of Orleans, where the river narrows to less than a mile, was selected; and here, during the summer of 1608, Quebec came into existence.

It was Champlain's custom to return to France practically every year before winter set in, returning in the spring with reinforcements and supplies for the new settlements. That year with twenty-eight men he decided to pass the winter at Quebec. Before spring, scrofula set in and carried away twenty of the unhappy colony. Champlain and Brule were among the survivors. In 1610, Champlain wrote: