CHAMPLAIN RETURNED in 1608, and established a trading post at Quebec. _This was the first permanent French settlement in Canada._ The next summer, in his eager desire to explore the country, he joined a war party of the Hurons against the Iroquois, or Five Nations of Central New York. [Footnote: The interference of Champlain with the Indians secured the inveterate hostility of the Iroquois tribes. Not long after, they seized the missionaries who came among them, tortured and put them to death. This cut off any farther explorations toward the south. The French, therefore, turned their attention toward the west.] On this journey he discovered that beautiful lake which bears his name. Amid discouragements which would have overwhelmed a less determined spirit, Champlain firmly established the authority of France on the banks of the St. Lawrence. "The Father of New France," as he has been termed, reposes in the soil he won to civilization. THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES.--The explorers of the Mississippi valley were mostly Jesuit priests. The French names which they gave still linger throughout that region. Their hope was to convert the Indians to the Christian faith. They pushed their way through the forest with unflagging energy. They crept along the northern shore of Lake Ontario. They traversed the Great Lakes. In 1668 they founded the mission of St. Mary, the oldest European settlement in Michigan. Many of them were murdered by the savages; some were scalped; some were burned in rosin-fire; some scalded with boiling water. Yet, as soon as one fell out of the ranks, another sprang forward to fill the post. We shall name but two of these patient, indefatigable pioneers of New France. _FATHER MARQUETTE_ (mar-ket), hearing from some wandering Indians of a great river which they termed the "Father of Waters," determined to visit it. He floated in a birch-bark canoe down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi (1673), and thence to the mouth of the Arkansas. [Footnote: Soon after, while on another expedition, he went ashore for the purpose of quiet devotion. After waiting long for his return, his men, seeking him, found that he had died while at prayer. He was buried near the mouth of the Marquette. Years after, when the tempest raged, and the Indian was tossing on the angry waves, he would seek to still the storm by invoking the aid of the pious Marquette.] _LA SALLE_ was educated as a Jesuit, but had established a trading post at the outlet of Lake Ontario. He undertook various expeditions full of romantic adventure. Inflamed with a desire to find the mouth of the Mississippi, he made his way (1682) to the Gulf of Mexico. He named the country Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV., king of France.