wigwams, their food, their manner of
cooking, their dress, their decorations, their marriage customs, their
medicine-men, their burials, their assemblies, their agriculture, their
amusements, and their mode of fishing. It is Champlain's most ambitious
piece of description, far less detailed than the subsequent narratives
of the Jesuits, but in comparison with them gaining impact from being
less diffuse.

It was on May 20, 1616, that Champlain left the Huron country, never
again to journey thither or to explore the recesses of the forest. Forty
days later he reached the Sault St Louis, and saw once more his old
friend Pontgrave. Thenceforward his life belongs not to the wilderness,
but to Quebec.

CHAPTER V. CHAMPLAIN'S LAST YEARS

When Champlain reached the Sault St Louis on July 1, 1616, his career as
an explorer had ended. The nineteen years of life that still remained he
gave to Quebec and the duties of his lieutenancy.

By this time he had won the central position in his own domain. Question
might arise as to the terms upon which a monopoly of trade should be
granted, or as to the persons who should be its recipients. But whatever
company might control the trade, Champlain was the king's representative
in New France. When Boyer affronted him, the council had required that
a public apology should be offered. When Montmorency instituted the
investigation of 1620, it was Champlain's report which determined the
issue. Five years later, when the Duc de Ventadour became viceroy in
place of Montmorency, Champlain still remained lieutenant-general of New
France. Such were his character, services, and knowledge that his tenure
could not be questioned.

Notwithstanding this source of satisfaction, the post was difficult in
the extreme. The government continued to leave colonizing in the hands
of the traders, and the traders continued to shirk their obligations.
The Company of the De Caens did a large business, but suffered more
severely than any of its predecessors from the strife of Catholic and
Huguenot. Those of the reformed religion even held their services in
the presence of the Indians, thus anticipating the scandals of Kikuyu.
Though the Duc de Ventadour gave orders that there should be no
psalm-singing after the outbound ships passed Newfoundland, this
provision seems not to have been effective. It was a difficult problem
for one like Champlain, who, while a loyal Catholic, had been working
all his life with