of
these poor Western peoples, and the glory of God and
of the King, we find a set of men full of avarice and
envy, who would not draw a sword in the service of
the King, nor suffer the slightest ill in the world
for the honour of God, but who yet put obstacles in
the way of our drawing any profit from the province,
even in order to furnish what is indispensable to the
foundation of such an enterprise; men who prefer to
see the English and Dutch win possession of it rather
than the French, and would fain have the name of God
remain unknown in those quarters. And it is such
godless people who are listened to, who are believed,
and who win their suits. O tempora, O mores!

On August 11, 1607, Port Royal was abandoned for the second time, and
its people, sailing by Cape Breton, reached Roscou in Brittany at the
end of September. The subsequent attempt of Poutrincourt and his family
to re-establish the colony at Port Royal belongs to the history of
Acadia rather than to the story of Champlain. But remembering the spirit
in which he and De Monts strove, one feels glad that Lescarbot spoke his
mind regarding the opponents who baffled their sincere and persistent
efforts.

CHAPTER III. CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC

From the Island of Orleans to Quebec the distance is
a league. I arrived there on the third of July, when
I searched for a place suitable for our settlement,
but I could find none more convenient or better than
the point of Quebec, so called by the savages, which
was covered with nut-trees. I at once employed a
portion of our workmen in cutting them down, that we
might construct our habitation there: one I set to
sawing boards, another to making a cellar and digging
ditches, another I sent to Tadoussac with the barque
to get supplies. The first thing we made was the
storehouse for keeping under cover our supplies, which
was promptly accomplished through the zeal of all,
and my attention to the work.

Thus opens Champlain's account of the place with which his name is
linked imperishably. He was the founder of Quebec and its preserver.
During his lifetime the results seemed pitifully small, but the task
once undertaken was never abandoned. By steadfastness he prevailed, and
at his death had created a colony which became the New France of Talon
and Frontenac, of La Salle and D'Iberville, of Brebeuf and Laval. If
Venice from amid her