He was accompanied by a large party of his men, and in his journey met, as agreed upon, the Indians of Canada in an expedition against the Iroquois, the tribes of what is now known as New York State. He met his Indian friends at the mouth of the Iroquois River, now called the Richelieu; they were very glad to see him and his men, for they knew that they would be of great help in the coming battle, and probably be the means of their defeating the Iroquois. Champlain noticed the beauty of this river, which he had never sailed on before, and asked his guides where it came from. They told him it came from a beautiful lake not very far away, and which he could easily reach with his vessel. But he soon found that this was not true: the river grew narrower and narrower, and the bed became so rocky and steep that the Indians at last confessed that they had deceived him in the hope that he would join in the coming battle. But as soon as Champlain saw that he could not reach the lake in his own vessel, he sent it back to Quebec, only being able to persuade two of his men to go on with him. The rest of the journey was made in the canoes, and although there were many dangerous places in the river--falls and rapids and immense boulders that almost blocked the way--still, by landing and carrying the canoes around the worst places, they at last came to smooth water without having lost a single boat. And then Champlain saw, as they floated into this shining stretch of water, that of all the lakes he had seen in Maine or Canada none was so beautiful as this. For miles and miles ahead its waves glistened in the July sunlight, and everywhere lovely islands appeared; the shores were bordered with magnificent trees and covered with luxuriant vines; on one side rose the wooded heights of Vermont, and on the other the white peaks of the Adirondacks, and as the admiring party slowly coasted along, visiting the little bays and islands, and gathering the wild flowers and strawberries that grew in abundance, they felt well rewarded for their difficult journey. Champlain gave the lake his own name, which it bears to this day in honor of its great discoverer.