outrincourt, with undue levity of disposition and a
needless flow of conversation. To Lescarbot, Champlain may well have
seemed deficient in literary attainments, and so preoccupied with the
concerns of geography as to be an uncongenial companion. To whatever
cause conjecture may trace it, they did not become friends, although
such lack of sympathy as existed shows itself only in an occasional
pin-prick, traceable particularly in the later editions of their
writings. For us it is the more needful to lay stress upon the merits
of Lescarbot, because he tends to be eclipsed by the greater reputation
of Champlain, and also because his style is sometimes so diffuse as to
create prejudice. But at his best he is admirable, and without him we
should know much less than we do about that Acadian experience which
holds such a striking place in the career of Champlain.

The popular estimate of French character dwells overmuch upon the
levity or gaiety which undoubtedly marks the Gallic race. {144} France
could not have accomplished her great work for the world without
stability of purpose and seriousness of mood. Nowhere in French
biography are these qualities more plainly illustrated than by the acts
of Champlain. The doggedness with which he clung to his patriotic and
unselfish task is the most conspicuous fact in his life. Coupled
therewith is his fortitude, both physical and moral. In times of
crisis the conscript sets his teeth and dies without a murmur. But
Champlain enlisted as a volunteer for a campaign which was to go on
unceasingly till his last day. How incessant were its dangers can be
made out in full detail from the text of the _Voyages_. We may omit
the perils of the North Atlantic, though what they were can be seen
from Champlain's description of his outward voyage in the spring of
1611. The remaining dangers will suffice. Scurvy, which often claimed
a death-roll of from forty to eighty per cent in a single winter;
famine such as that which followed the failure of ships from home to
arrive at the opening of navigation; the storms which drove the frail
shallop on the rocks and shoals of Norumbega; the risk of mutiny; the
chances of war, whether against the Indians or the English; the rapids
{145} of the wilderness as they threatened the overloaded canoe on its
swift descent; the possible treachery of Indian guides--such is a
partial catalogue of the death-snares which surrounded the pathway of
an explor