river of the Algonquins [the Ottawa] came from a
lake which emptied into it; and that in seventeen days one could go
from the Falls of St Louis to this sea and back again; that he had seen
the wreck and debris of an English ship that had been wrecked, on board
of which were eighty men who had escaped to the shore, and whom the
savages killed because the English endeavoured to take from them by
force their Indian corn and other necessaries of life; and that he had
seen {99} the scalps which these savages had flayed off, according to
their custom, which they would show me, and that they would likewise
give me an English boy whom they had kept for me. This intelligence
greatly pleased me, for I thought that I had almost found that for
which I had for a long time been searching.

Champlain makes it clear that he did not credit Vignau's tale with the
simple credulity of a man who has never been to sea. He caused Vignau
to swear to its truth at La Rochelle before two notaries. He
stipulated that Vignau should go with him over the whole route.
Finally, as they were on the point of sailing together for Canada in
the spring of 1613, he once more adjured Vignau in the presence of
distinguished witnesses, saying 'that if what he had previously said
was not true, he must not give me the trouble to undertake the journey,
which involved many dangers. Again he affirmed all that he had said,
on peril of his life.'

After taking these multiplied precautions against deceit, Champlain
left the Sault St Louis on May 29, 1613, attended by four Frenchmen and
one Indian, with Vignau for guide. Ascending the Ottawa, they
encountered their first difficulties at the Long Sault, {100} where
Dollard forty-seven years later was to lose his life so gloriously.
Here the passage of the rapids was both fatiguing and dangerous.
Prevented by the density of the wood from making a portage, they were
forced to drag their canoes through the water. In one of the eddies
Champlain nearly lost his life, and his hand was severely hurt by a
sudden jerk of the rope. Having mounted the rapids, he met with no
very trying obstacle until he had gone some distance past the Chaudiere
Falls. His reference to the course of the Gatineau makes no sense, and
Laverdiere has had recourse to the not improbable conjecture that the
printer dropped out a whole line at this point. Champlain also
over-estimates considerably the height of the Rideau Falls and is not
very