Champlain himself was present on this solemn occasion, and it is a cause of regret to know that he was at the moment under a promise to join the Huron Indians in another attack on the Iroquois. It was in connection with this expedition that some of his most interesting geographical discoveries were made. The point of rendezvous for the warriors was a Huron village to the west of Lake Simcoe called Cahiague. To reach it Champlain's Indian guides took the route by the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, thence by the French River into the Georgian Bay, and down through the clustering islands on its eastern coast to some point not far from Penetanguishene. Beyond Allumette Island on the Ottawa all was new to Champlain. He now saw for the first time Lake Simcoe, Sturgeon Lake, Rice Lake, and finally Lake Ontario. He describes the country he passed through as most beautiful. The expedition, however, was fated to be unsuccessful, and came very near to proving most disastrous. The attack made on a fortified position of the enemy was repelled; Champlain himself received two painful arrow wounds; and if the Iroquois had only sent a party to capture and destroy the canoes of the Hurons, the whole invading force might easily have been annihilated. It was about the middle of October that the fight took place. Champlain, as soon as his wounds were healed, was anxious to be conducted back to the Grand Saut, whence he might make his way to Quebec; but his allies pleaded the impossibility of sparing men and canoes for the purpose, and he was consequently obliged to spend the winter with them. Not unnaturally the French at Quebec had almost given him up for lost, when he made his appearance among them some time in the month of June 1616.