e
rapids were three other great falls of water, and that when these were
passed a man might travel for three months up the waters of the great
river. Such at least Cartier understood to be the meaning of the
Indians. They showed him a second stream, the Ottawa, as great, they
said, as the St Lawrence, whose north-westward course Cartier supposed
must run through the kingdom of Saguenay. As the savages pointed to the
Ottawa, they took hold of a silver chain on which hung the whistle that
Cartier carried, and then touched the dagger of one of the sailors,
which had a handle of copper, yellow as gold, as if to show that these
metals, or rather silver and gold, came from the country beyond that
river. This, at least, was the way that Cartier interpreted the simple
and evident signs that the Indians made. The commentators on Cartier's
voyages have ever since sought some other explanation, supposing that
no such metals existed in the country. The discovery of the gold and
silver deposits of the basin of the Ottawa in the district of New
Ontario shows that Cartier had truly understood the signs of the
Indians. If they had ever seen silver before, it is precisely from this
country that it would have come. Cartier was given to understand, also,
that in this same region there dwelt another race of savages, very
fierce, and continually at war.

The party descended from the mountain and pursued their way towards the
boats. Their Indian friends hung upon their footsteps, showing
evidences of admiration and affection, and even carried in their arms
any of the French who showed indications of weariness. They stood about
with every sign of grief and regret as the sails were hoisted and the
boats bearing the wonderful beings dropped swiftly down the river. On
October 4, the boats safely rejoined the Emerillon that lay anchored
near the mouth of the Richelieu. On the 11th of the same month, the
pinnace was back at her anchorage beside Stadacona, and the whole
company was safely reunited. The expedition to Hochelaga had been
accomplished in twenty-two days.

CHAPTER VII

THE SECOND VOYAGE--WINTER AT STADACONA

On returning to his anchorage before Quebec, Cartier found that his
companions whom he had left there had not been idle. The ships, it will
be remembered, lay moored close to the shore at the mouth of the little
river Lairet, a branch of the St Charles. On the bank of the river,
during their leader's absence, the men had er