personal disadvantage of
Champlain. The slow growth and poverty of Quebec were due to no fault
of his. It is rather the measure of his greatness that he was
undaunted by disappointment and unembittered by the pettiness of spirit
which met him at every turn. A memorial which he presented in 1618 to
the Chamber of Commerce at Paris discloses his dream of what might be:
a city at Quebec named Ludovica, a city equal in size to St Denis and
filled with noble buildings grouped round the Church of the Redeemer.
Tributary to this capital was a vast region watered by the St Lawrence
and abounding 'in rolling plains, {83} beautiful forests, and rivers
full of fish.' From Ludovica the heathen were to be converted and a
passage discovered to the East. So important a trade route would be
developed, that from the tolls alone there would be revenue to
construct great public works. Rich mines and fat cornfields fill the
background.

Such was the Quebec of Champlain's vision--if only France would see it
so! But in the Quebec of reality a few survivors saw the hunger of
winter yield to the starvation of spring. They lived on eels and roots
till June should bring the ships and food from home.

[1] The second and surviving wife of Henry IV--an Italian by birth and
in close sympathy with Spain. As regent for her son, Louis XIII, she
did much to reverse the policy of Henry IV, both foreign and domestic.

[2] One of the chief advisers of Marie de Medicis. In the early part
of his career he was President of the Parlement of Dijon and an
important member of the extreme Catholic party. After the retirement
of the Duc de Sully (1611) he was placed in charge of the finances of
France.

[3] The Recollets were a branch of the Franciscan order, noted for the
austerity of their rule.

{84}

CHAPTER IV

CHAMPLAIN IN THE WILDERNESS

Champlain's journeyings with the Indians were the holiday of his life,
for at no other time was he so free to follow the bent of his genius.
First among the incentives which drew him to the wilderness was his
ambition to discover the pathway to China. In 1608 the St Lawrence had
not been explored beyond the Lachine Rapids, nor the Richelieu beyond
Chambly--while the Ottawa was known only by report. Beyond Lake St
Louis stretched a mysterious world, through the midst of which flowed
the Great River. For an explorer and a patriot the opportunity was
priceless. The acquisition of vast territo