heir departure for Canada occurred on April 24th, 1626, and there were
five vessels in the squadron: the _Catherine_, two hundred and fifty
tons, commanded by de la Ralde;[24] _La Fleque_, two hundred and sixty
tons, with Emery de Caen as vice-admiral; _L'Alouette_, eighty tons, and
two other vessels, one of two hundred tons, and the other of one hundred
and twenty tons.

Champlain was on board the _Catherine_, and he arrived at Perce on June
20th. Before anchoring at Tadousac, Emery de Caen caused his crew to
assemble on deck, and he there informed them that the Duc de Ventadour
desired that psalms should not be sung, as they had been accustomed to
sing them on the Atlantic. Two-thirds of the crew grumbled at this
order, and Champlain advised de Caen to allow meetings for prayer only.
This ruling was judicious, although it was not accepted with pleasure.

At Moulin Baude, near Tadousac Bay, Champlain received intelligence that
Pont-Grave, who had wintered at Quebec, had been very ill, and that the
inhabitants had resolved to leave the country at the earliest
opportunity owing to the sufferings which they had endured from famine.

When Champlain arrived at Quebec on July 5th, 1626, he found all the
settlers in good health, but little had been done towards the building
of the fort, or towards repairing the habitation. He, therefore, set
twenty men to work at once. Emery de Caen left Quebec in order to carry
on trade with the Indians. There were at Quebec at this time fifty-five
persons, of whom eighteen were labourers. Champlain wished to have ten
men constantly employed at the fort, but Guillaume de Caen had promised
them elsewhere, and the merchants obliged them to work at the
habitation, which they considered more useful than the fort. Champlain,
however, did not agree with them on this point.

The oldest fortification of Quebec was commenced in the year 1620, on
the summit of Cape Diamond, and the work was continued in 1621, when
Champlain was able to establish a small garrison within the walls.
Communication was opened between the habitation and the fort during the
winter of 1623-4, by means of a small road, less abrupt than the former
one. The fort was named Fort St. Louis.

In April 1624, a strong wind carried away the roof of the fort, and
transported it a distance of thirty feet, over the rampart. During this
storm the gable of Louis Hebert's residence was also destroyed. This
accident caused some delay to t