CHAPTER VI.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT LAKES OF CANADA AND OF THE HEADWATERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
While the English were firmly establishing themselves in New England,
and the Dutch and Swedes were struggling for the mastery in the
present states of New York and Delaware, discoveries of vital importance
were being made by the French in Canada, or as it was then called, New
France. We have already mentioned Samuel Champlain, who accompanied
both Pontgravé and De Monts in their early expedition to Maine, and was
the author of the first scientific map of the St. Lawrence. It was this Champlain,
a true hero of geographical discovery, who paved the way for the
establishment of French power in Canada, and to whom we, as the successors
of the French, owe an undying debt of gratitude.
In the winter of 1604, when the little settlement at Port Royal was struggling in that feeble infancy destined to be its only existence, Champlain made it the starting point for many a trip to the South, visiting Cape Cod—which his men named Cape Blanc, from its far-stretching white sands—long before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. In 1608, when Pourtrincourt, the successor of De Monts, had returned to France in disgust, and Henry Hudson was preparing for the great voyage resulting in the discovery of the river named after him, Champlain was starting with a few faithful followers on an overland journey through perfectly untrodden districts watered by the St. Lawrence.
On the 3d July, after crossing the whole of Maine in a north-westerly direction, so far as we can make out from fragmentary records of his work, Champlain reached Stadacona, where, it will be remembered, Cartier spent his first winter on the St. Lawrence, and at once set to work to erect a fort, to which the name of Quebec was given, either then or very shortly afterward.
The winter was spent in winning the friendship of the Algonquin Indians,
