History of Brulé's discoveries and explorations, 1610-1626 : being a narrative of the discovery, by Stephen Brulé , of Lakes Huron, Ontario and Superior; and of his explorations (the first made by civilized man) of Pennsylvania and Western New York, also of the Province of Ontario, Canada; with a biographical notice of the discoverer and explorer, who was killed and eaten by savages

Front matter

i

BRULE'S

DISCOVIRIES AND EXPLORATIONS i

Preface

Few, if any, of the early events properly belonging to the pages of American history are of more interest and importance after the discovery of the New World than are those relating to the journeyings, the explorations, and the discoveries of Stephen Brul6. What this daring Frenchman accomplished in the (then) inhospitable wilds of what is now the northern portion of our country, and in the southern and western parts of the present Dominion of Canada, has not hitherto been given in detail by any historian.

Brule was essentially a woodsman : his fondness for savage life was remarkable. But he wrote nothing; and his verbal recitals, as they were taken down from his own lips, and recorded by Champlain, Sagard and Le Caron, are not calculated to awaken at once the thought that they border on the marvelous. However, as we contemplate more and more his courage and perseverance among the Indian nations which he visited and with some of which he lived several years, our curiosity gives way to admiration and astonishment.

The date when Brule flourished is, in our annals, an early one. He left France, his native country, and arrived in the valley of the St. Lawrence the next year after the English first gained a foot-hold in North America; and he started upon his journey with the savages, which vi

PREFACE.

resulted in the first exploration ever made westward of the great river of Canada and in the discovery of Lake Huron, ten years before the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth rock. And it was only six years after Henry Hudson first saw the river which bears his name that the subject of our narrative stood upon the shores of Lake Ontario — the first of civilized men to gaze out upon that broad expanse of water. It was but three years subsequent to the time when Manhattan island, now New York City, was first settled that he was, before any other white man, threading his way through the dark woods of what is now Western New York and soon after floating down the Susquehanna river in the present State of Pennsylvania, — reaching, finally, along the Chesapeake bay, the shore of the Atlantic ocean.

During the next decade, Brule, having first visited a copper mine on the north coast of Lake Huron, advanced to his greatest triumph — the discovery, as it is believed, of Lake Superior. Still he was not content, but explored a large extent of territory, north of Lake Erie, never before visited by a European, in what is now the Province of Ontario (Canada), beyond the point reached by him, when, for the first time, he saw the Georgian bay.

When we add to Brule's wanderings the startling account of his barbarous murder by the Huron Indians — being not only killed but eaten by them — the story of his life forms, if not one of the strangest, at least one of the most romantic chapters of adventures wherein is related the captivity and suffering of an explorer at the hands of savages.

PREFACE.

vii

At almost every step in our investigations we have been surprised at tlie sudden appearance of events before wholly unknown to general history. This has caused as thorough an examination of incidents of apparently little interest as of those which at once impressed us with their importance. The result has been, in several instances, the establishing of facts of great consequence where, in the beginning, the clue was exceedingly dim and shadowy.

That originality is claimed for our narrative will not, it is believed, appear out of place, when it is considered that Brule has not heretofore, except in one instance, been credited with being the first to reach any of the countries, lakes, or rivers, of which (as it is hereafter stated) he was the real discoverer or explorer.

One principal reason why the visits of Brule to various unexplored regions have hitherto found so few historians even to refer to any of them in the most casual way is because of the exceedingly brief mention, usually, of his wanderings by early writers who have given any place in their works concerning him ; and for the further reason that, when spoken of at all by the latter, it is only incidentally, and usually with such vagueness as is well calculated to repel rather than attract attention. It is not a matter of wonder, therefore, that the three or four authors of our own times who have recorded anything of his doings have expressed themselves not only with much brevity, but with unusual caution.

I desire to express my acknowledgments for favors extended while this work has been in progviii

PREFACE.

ress to Mr. Benjamin Suite, of Ottawa, and Very Rev. W. R. Harris, Dean of St. Catharines, Canada; Dr. Wm. H. Egle, Librarian of the Pennsylvania State Library ; and Lucy M. Gay, of the University of Wisconsin.

C. W. BUTTERFIELD.

South Omaha, Neb., 1897.

Contents

PAGE.

CHAPTER I: Early Voyages and Discoveries in New

CHAPTER H:

Stephen Brule Arrives in New France

with. Champlain

The Latter Goes Against the Iroquois . . Brule Sent to the Country of the Hurons His Return to the St. Lawrence ....

His Discoveries While Absent

Acts as Interpreter, on His Return, for

Champlain and the Hurons ....

Was the First White Man to Descend the

Lachine Rapids

Champlain 's Policy of Training Young

Men as Interpreters

Journey of Champlain up the Ottawa, in

His Failure to Discover the North Sea. . Brule Probably Spends the Winter of

1613 14 Among Algonquins ...

CHAPTER III: Brule, Accompanying Champlain, Again

Starts for the Huron Country ... 3 1 v He Goes as Interpreter for Champlain . 3 1

12 14

24 24

27 27

X

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

His Arrival Among the Hurons .... 34 Champlain Starts with Several Hundred

of these Indians Against the Iroquois 35 Some Accounts of the Mohawks, Oneidas,

Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas . 36

^ CHAPTER IV:

Aid Offered to the Hurons by the Carant-

ouannais from the Upper Susquehann a 40

Champlain, with Hurons and Algonquins, Reaches an Onondaga Stronghold and Invests it 46

Chapter V

y Brul6, with Twelve Hurons, Goes to

the Carantouannais 47

Champlain 's Attack on the Onondaga

Village and its Failure 56

Return of the Assailants 58

March of the Carantouannais, with Brule,

to Assist the Hurons 63

Their Return to Carantouan 63

CHAPTER VI: Brul6 Explores the Susquehanna and

Chesapeake Country to the Ocean . 65

Chapter VII

Return of Brule to the St. Lawrence . . 87 His Remarkable Escape from Torture . 91

CHAPTER VIII: Brule Discovers Lake Superior 107

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE.

He Visits the Neutral Nation 1 1 1

Returns to Quebec 112

The Hundred Associates . 114

Capture of Quebec by the English . . 118 Last Journey of Brule to the Hurons . . 119

CHAPTER IX: Brule Killed and Eaten by Hurons ... 120

His Death Soon Known Abroad .... 121 The Fear of the Savages Because of Their

Deed 123

APPENDIX :

Note I. — Champlain's Works 125

Note II. — Of the Hurons, Algonquins,

Montagnais and Iroquois ..... 126

Note III. — Exchange of Hostages —

Brul6 and Savignon 128

Note IV. — As to Brul6 Being the First White Person to ''Shoot" Lachine Rapids 131

Note V. — Signification of the Word ''Ca-

rantouannais " 132

Note VI. — The Chouontouaroiion Identical with the Senecas 132

Note VII. — March of Champlain and His Hurons to the Onondaga Village.

— Conflicting Views as to the Site of the Enemy's Stronghold 133

Note VIII.— Early Mention of the Falls

of Niagara 137

Note IX. — Brule's Discovery of Lakes

Huron and Ontario 138 xii

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

Note X. — Early Reports of Lake Erie. 141 Note XI. — The Home of the Eries . . 141 Note XII. — Grand Detour from the

Huron Country to the Susquehanna . 142 Note XIII.— Capt. John Smith's Discovery of the Susquehanna. — Did He

Reach Pennsylvania? 144

Note XIV. — Concerning Brule's Exploration of the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay 147

Note XV. — Southern and Western Iroquois 147

Note XVI. — As to Brule's Arrival at Three Rivers in 161 8 and His Interview There with Champlain .... 150

Note XVII.— As to the Reliability of

Brule's Narrative 151

Note XVIII. — Concerning Brule's Discovery of Lake Superior 154

Note XIX.— The Neutral Nation ... 163

Note XX. — As to Brule Going Over to

the English 165

Note XXI. — Cannibalism Among the

Hurons 166

Note XXIL — Extracts from Sagard's " Histoire du Canada" (Paris Edition, 1866) Relating to Brul6 167

INDEX 175

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

Iroquois Fort captured June 19, 1610 . Frontispiece.

Quebec in 1608 Opposite 12

Route of Brule to and from the Huron Country,

Capture of Quebec by the English, 1629 118 Portrait and Signature of Cham plain . . 121 Section of Champlain's Large Map of 16 12 140 Section of Champlain's Map of 1632 . . " 159

HISTORY

OF

Brule's Discoveries and Explorations

1 6 10-1626

Chapter I. Early Voyages And Discoveries In New France. — 1524-161o

The voyage of Columbus in the year 1492 led to that on the north by John Cabot, five years later, who probably reached the coast of Labrador and that of the island of Newfoundland. A year after, his son Sebastian explored the continent from Labrador to Virginia, and possibly as far south as Florida. The visit of the elder Cabot was supplemented by one of Gaspar Cortereal in 1500, followed by that of John Verrazzano, who, in 1 524, passed up the coast from about the latitude of the present Wilmington, North Carolina, to Newfoundland. To this country he gave the name of New France, which, although subsequently restricted on the sea coast, was extended to a vast region inland.

The credit of having been the first to spread a sail upon the St. Lawrence, and of obtaining such information as afterward led to a knowledge of the whole of its valley and of a great extent of territory beyond, belongs to James Cartier, a native of St. Malo — a port in the north of France. Cartier was a skillful mariner. On April 20th, in 1534, he sailed from his native place, tinder orders of the French admiral, for the coast of Newfoundland, intent on exploring unknown seas and countries washed by them. He took with him sixty-one persons, in two ships of sixty tons each, and in twenty days saw the large island lying between the ocean and the river he was afterward to discover. High winds had wafted him and his men to inhospitable shores, and repairs to his ships were necessary. But this was an auspicious season of the year (May) ; and, upon getting again ready for sea, he boldly turned north and entered the opening of the straits of Belle Isle, already a familiar region to the hardy fishermen of civilized countries.

Having sailed nearly around Newfoundland, Cartier, after making the shore of Prince Edward island, finally entered the Chaleurs bay. In the smaller Gaspe bay, he landed and took possession of the country for the King of France. He was now at the very portal of the river of Canada, but wholly ignorant of the great waterway leading to the interior of the continent. He then sailed to the north of the island of Anticosti ; thence to its western end; and, in August, started for home, reaching St. Malo early in September, having made the return voyage in less than thirty days.

Within two months after Cartier 's return, a new expedition was planned. Three well-furnished ships were provided by the king. In them went.

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.

besides Cartier, one hundred and ten persons, — even some of the nobility volunteered for the voyage. All were eager to cross the Atlantic. On May 19th, 1535, the squadron sailed. But Cartier had not a pleasant summer cruise. Storms raged and the ships separated. For seven weeks they buffeted the troubled ocean. Their rendezvous was the harbor of Blanc Sablon, within the straits of Belle Isle, which they finally reached; but the omens were bad. The adventurers had confidently looked for pleasant gales and a quick voyage, and these expectations had all been blasted. Now, however, after three days, the ships moved westward along the coast of Labrador, when a harbor was entered on the northern shore. The bay was called St. Lawrence, — the name being afterward extended to the gulf and the great Canadian river. Sailing on in a southwesterly course, sighting frequently what are now known as the southern shores of the Province of Quebec, they finally discovered and ascended the St. Lawrence, reaching in September a fine harbor in an island since called Orleans.

Where the River St. Lawrence ends and the gulf begins is a matter that cannot be determined with any degree of accuracy ; however, it is generally said that ' ' the sea ' ' is entered about four hundred and forty miles below the island just mentioned. As far up as the mouth of the Saguenay, a large northern tributary, the river is twenty miles wide ; then it gradually contracts, until at a short distance above the spot where the discoverer rested its shores are less than a mile apart — the contraction being spoken of, in after years, by the IndianvS inhabiting the region as "quebec," or *'kebec," equivalent to a restricted channel," or a narrowing of water."

Leaving his two largest ships in the waters of the river now known as the St. Charles, Cartier, with the smallest and two open boats, having fifty men as an escort, ascended the St. Lawrence until a considerable Indian village was reached, situated on an island called Hochelaga. Standing upon the summit of a hill, on this island, and looking away up the river, the commander had fond imaginings of future glories awaiting his countrymen in colonizing this region. He called the hill

Mont Royale;" and time, that has transferred the name to the island, is realizing his visions; " for, on that island,^ now stands the City of Montreal.^

While at Hochelaga, Cartier gathered some indistinct accounts of the surrounding country, and of the Ottawa river coming down from the hills situated to the northwest.^ He also obtained,

^ Now called Montreal Island.

2 Montreal is a city of the Province of Quebec, Canada, and the commercial metropolis of the Dominion. It is situated on the south side of the island of Montreal, in the St. Lawrence river (which is here about two miles wide). It is one hundred and eighty miles from Quebec ; six hundred and twenty from the gulf; and four hundred and twenty from New York. The island of Montreal is thirty-two miles long and about ten miles broad at its widest part. The city occupies a low tract about two miles wide between " Mount Royal " and the river.

2 The Ottawa river rises near latitude 48° 36' north, and longitude 80° west. It has a southeastward course until the city of Ottawa is reached, whence it flows eastward, entering the St. Lawrence about twenty -five miles above Montreal. Its length is estimated at seven hundred miles.

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.

while on his visit up the St. Lawrence, some crude reports concerning the upper portions of that river, and of Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Huron. He was likewise informed of the existence of copper to be found in mines, in its native or metallic state, in the (then) undefined region inland, to be reached by the Saguenay, as he was told, although the country was that bordering on the north of Lake Huron and on the south of Lake Superior.

Rejoining his ships, Cartier spent the winter in a palisaded fort on the bank of the St. Charles, with his vessels moored before it. The cold was intense. Many of his men died of scurvy. Early in the spring (May 3rd) possession was taken of the country in the name of the French king, with more ceremonies and greater jubilation than at Gaspe bay; and on July i6th, 1536, the Breton mariner dropped anchor in St. Malo, — he having returned with two ships. The other had been abandoned at his winter quarters. France was disappointed. Hopes had been raised too high. Expectations had not been realized. Further explorations, therefore, were, for the time, abandoned.

Notwithstanding the failure of Cartier 's second voyage, the great valley of the St. Lawrence in all its parts was not to remain very long unknown to the world. It was thought unworthy a gallant nation to abandon such an enterprise ; and one more trial at exploration and colonization was determined upon. Again the bold mariner of St. Malo started for the St. Lawrence. This was on May 23rd, 1 541. He took with him five ships, — he having been commissioned captain-general and pilot of the fleet ; but he went, unfortunately, as subordinate, in some respects, to John Francis de la Roche, Lord of Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, to whom the king of France had given vice-regal powers over the country now again to be visited. The object of the enterprise was declared to be discovery, settlement, and the conversion of the Indians. Cartier was the first to sail. Again he entered the St. Lawrence, but Roberval did not make his appearance.

After erecting a fortification farther up the St. Lawrence than the old one, Cartier once more ascended the river, this time with two boats, to explore the Lachine rapids (as now called). He then returned and passed the winter at his fort; and, in the spring, not having heard from Roberval, he set sail for France.^

De la Roche reached the St. Lawrence during the year, but after wintering there, he, too, abandoned the country, giving back his immense viceroyalty to the rightful owners.

In 1578, there were three hundred and fifty fishing vessels at Newfoundland belonging to the French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English; besides these were a number — twenty or more — of Biscayan whalers. Subsequently, the colonization of New France was again undertaken, resulting only in forty unfortunate white men being left on Sable

^ See further, as to Cartier, Rame's Docu7nents Inidits sur Jacques Cartier (Paris, 1865), pp. 10-12; Harrisse's iVb/<?j', pp. 1-5, II, 12; Dionne's Nouv. France, y^. 9-54; Faillon's Colonic Frangaise en Canada, vol. 1, pp. 38-55, 496-523; Winsor's Narrative and Critical History of America, vol. IV, pp. 56-59, — also his Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 23-47, authorities there cited; Suite's Canadians -Frangais, vol. II; Thwaites' Jesuit Relations and Allied Docu?nents (Cleveland, 1897), vol. Ill, pp. 292, 293.

island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, all of whom, except twelve, died miserably in that inhospitable region.

In 1599, another expedition was resolved upon. This was undertaken by Francis Grave, called Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, and Chauvin, a captain of the marine. In consideration of a monopoly of the fur trade, granted them by the king of France, these men undertook to establish a colony of five hundred persons in New France ; but these five hundred dwindled to one hundred persons. At Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, they built a cluster of wooden huts and store houses, where sixteen men were left to gather furs, who either died or were scattered among the Indians before the return of the spring of 1601. Meanwhile, Pontgrave and Chauvin returned to France. The latter made a second voyage to Tadoussac, but failed to establish a permanent settlement. During a third voyage he died, and his enterprise perished with him.

In 1603, a company of merchants of France was formed, with Amyr de Chastes at its head, for prosecuting Canadian enterprise. Both the cross and the fleur-de-lis were to be planted in New France. Pontgrav6, in command of two vessels, sailed for the St. Lawrence. Samuel Champlain, a Frenchman by birth, went along, commissioned to make the most exact researches and explorations in his power. ^

^Champlain was born at Brouage, France, in 1567. He became a captain in the royal navy. Subsequently in command of a ship he sailed to the West Indies. Before his return, he visited Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico. "Returning, he made his

Pontgrave and Champlain, after Tadoussac (that was) had been reached, ascended the river in a small bark, sailed past the lofty promontory on which Quebec now stands, and proceeded onward to the island of Hochelaga ; but the Indian village visited by Cartier had disappeared. In a skiff, with a few Indians, they vainly endeavored to pass the Lachine rapids, whereupon the baffled explorers returned to their ships.

From the savages, Champlain had gleaned some knowledge of ulterior regions. The natives had drawn for him rude representations of the stream above the rapids, and of its lakes, ^ at the same time giving him some information of what must have been the great cataract of Niagara. His curiosity was inflamed, and he resolved to visit at some future day the country so full of natural wonders.

During the absence of Pontgrav6 and Champlain, their ships had been loaded with furs ; and soon the adventurers were on their way back to

way to Panama. Here, . . . his bold and active mind conceived the plan of a ship-canal across the isthmus. ' ' His arrival in the St. Lawrence in 1603 was the next event of importance in the annals of New France following the discovery of that river by Cartier nearly seventy years before.

^ From the gulf to the foot of Lake Ontario the river is called the St. Lawrence ; from this lake to the outlet of Lake Erie it is known as Niagara; from the lake last mentioned to Lake St. Clair it is distinguished as the Detroit; from this lake to Lake Huron it is named St. Clair ; from Lake Huron to the foot of Lake Superior it is called St. Mary ; and from the head of this last lake to its source it is known as the St. Louis. For the purposes of historical illustration, the lakes mentioned may be considered as enlargements of a single water-course, — Lake Michigan beiDg looked upon as the widening of a tributary. The vast region drained by this great waterway forms the " valley of the St. Lawrence; " although (in a restricted sense) the term

France.^ Champlain had accomplished the object of his mission — the making of a brief exploration of the valley of the chief river of Canada.

It was the opinion of Champlain that on the banks of the St. Lawrence was the true site of a settlement; that here a fortified post should be erected; that thence, by following up the waters of the interior region to their sources, a western course might be traced to China, the distance being estimated by him as not more than two or three hundred leagues f and that the fur trade of the whole country might be secured to France by the erection of a fort at some point commanding the route. ^ These views, five years subsequent to his visit to the St. Lawrence, induced the fitting out by Sieur de Monts, successor of De Chastes, of a

is applicable usually to the immediate country lying between the outlet of Lake Ontario and the head of the gulf, through which region flows the St. Lawrence.

1 Champlain made, in all, ten voyages from France to the St. Lawrence and return ; the eleventh having been terminated in Canada by his death. The times of his arrival out and of his departure were, —

Arrived 1603, May 24, departed 1603, July 11.

2 A league of Champlain was two and -^-^^ English miles.

^Champlain's opinions may be found fully set forth in the first of his publications relating to New France. Concerning his printed works, see Appendix to our Narrative, Note I.

1617, .

lO second expedition, for trade, exploration, and colonization. On April istli, 1608, Champlain, who had been made lieutenant-governor, and who was to hold the country and develop its geography, again sailed — this time with men, arms, and stores for a colony. The fur trade was entrusted to Pontgrave.

The mouth of the Saguenay was reached in June ; and soon after a settlement was commenced on the brink of the St. Lawrence — the site of the present market-place of the lower town of Quebec. A rigorous winter and great suffering followed. Supplies arrived in the spring, and Champlain determined to enter upon his long-meditated explorations ; — the only obstacles in the way being savage nations he would everywhere meet. He would be compelled to resort to diplomacy, — to unite a friendly tribe to his interests, and, thus strengthened, to conquer, by force of arms, the hostile one.

The Hurons, who lived near the lake which now bears their name, and their allies, the Algonquins, from the Ottawa country, also the Montagnais, dwelling upon the St. Lawrence, and to the northward, were at war, as Champlain learned, with the Iroquois — as named by the French, or (as afterward called by the English) the Five Nations — whose homes were within the present State of New York.^ In June, 1609, he advanced, with sixty Indians of the three allied nations first mentioned and two white men, up what is now known as the Richelieu, or Sorel river, ^ to the discovery

^ See, further, as to the Hurons, Algonquins, Montagnais, and Iroquois, Appendix, Note II. 2 This river is also known by several other names.

DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS. II of the first of the great lakes — the one which now bears his name. Upon its placid waters this courageous band was stopped by a war-party of Iroquois. On shore, the contending forces met, when a few discharges of an arquebnse sent the advancing enemy in wild dismay back into the forest. The victory was complete. Promptly Champlain returned to the St. Lawrence, and his Huron, Algonquin and Montagnais allies to their homes ; not, however, until these Indians had invited him to visit their towns and aid them again in their wars. Champlain then revisited France, but the year 1610 found him once more on the St. Lawrence, determined he would never cease his explorations until he had penetrated to the western sea, or to that of the north, so as to open the way to China. But in these undertakings, to make them effective, he must have, as he had already conjectured, the help of friendly Indians. Could he command this aid? We shall now see ; and we shall also discover that a white person — French like himself — was to prove an important support in his work, although a mere boy when first called to his assistance.

Chapter II

STEPHEN BRULE ARRIVES IN NEW FRANCE WITH CHAMPLAIN. — THE LATTER GOES AGAINST THE IROQUOIS. — BRULE SENT TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HURONS. — HIS RETURN TO THE ST. LAW- RENCE.— HIS DISCOVERIES WHILE ABSENT. — ACTS j AS INTERPRETER, ON HIS RETURN, FOR CHAM- PLAIN AND THE HURONS. — WAS THE FIRST WHITE MAN TO DESCEND THE LACHINE RAPIDS. — CHAM- PLAIN'S POLICY OF TRAINING YOUNG MEN AS IN- TERPRETERS.— JOURNEY OF CHAMPLAIN UP THE OTTAWA, IN 1613. — HIS FAILURE TO DISCOVER THE NORTH SEA. — BRULE PROBABLY SPENDS THE WINTER OF 1613-I4 AMONG ALGONQUINS.

Stephen Brule ^ was born in Champigny, France, about the year 1592. Of his parents and his childhood, nothing is known. He came to New France in the ship commanded by Champlain, which left Honfleur on April 13th, 1608, with men, arms and stores for the settlement to be founded upon the River St. Lawrence. Above the Island of Orleans, where the stream narrows to less than a mile, a point was selected; and here, during the summer, Quebec sprang into existence, with Brule, the subject of our narrative, as one

^ Francis Parkman / Pioneers of France in the New World, p. 379;^) suggests that Brule's name "may possibly allude to the fiery ordeal through which he had passed; " that is to say, he was called " Brule" only at a later date, after he had suffered severely at the hands of savages. While this is barely possible, it is not at all probable. The name is pronounced bru-lay.

* of its original inhabitants. He was one of eight persons who escaped the attacks of a scorbutic disease, which proved fatal to the other twenty who wintered at Quebec during that year.

We left Champlain, the lieutenant-governor of New France, on the St. Lawrence, he having returned, in the year last mentioned, from his native country — France. He had ample power given him by his superiors either to go to war against savages or to explore unknown regions. He would do both. The Montagnais — Indians of Algonquin lineage, who occupied the surrounding wilds — had agreed to guide him toward the north, to the waters of Hudson bay, while the Hurons were to show him their great lakes and other natural wonders. As a reward for all this, he would join them aganist their common enemy — the Iroquois. But the exploration to Hudson bay was postponed for a year; nevertheless, there would be a meeting of Montagnais, Algonquins and Hurons with Champlain, as had been agreed upon, to be held at the mouth of the River Richelieu, when matters of grave import could be talked over and more definite arrangements made.

To an island ^ off the mouth of the Richelieu, Champlain repaired, taking with him his servant, the young lad " Brule. There, also, congregated Montagnais, but as yet no Algonquins or Hurons appeared. Suddenly, however, a canoe arrived with the startling information that the Algonquins were engaged with a hundred Iroquois who had barricaded a small spot of ground and were making a desperate defense. The Montagnais