[5] These Massachusetts Algonquins evidently were of a higher type than their kinsmen on the St. Lawrence. Far from depending wholly on hunting and fishing, they lived in permanent villages and were largely an agricultural people, growing considerable crops. At the time of the coming of the Pilgrims, whom they instructed in corn-planting, this thrifty native population had been sadly wasted by an epidemic of small-pox. {119} Chapter IX SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (_Continued_) THE FRENCH ON THE ST. LAWRENCE AND THE GREAT LAKES Champlain's Motives in returning to America.--How the Monopoly of the Fur-trade affected the Men engaged in it.--Fight with Free-traders at Tadoussac.--The Founding of Quebec.--The First Bitter Winter.--Champlain starts on an Exploration.--Discovery of Lake Champlain.--Fight with a Band of Iroquois.--Its Unfortunate Consequences.--Another Fight with Iroquois.--Montreal founded.--Champlain's most Important Exploration.--Lake Huron discovered.--A Deer Drive.--Defeated by Iroquois.--Champlain lost in the Woods.--His Closing Years and Death. Hitherto Champlain has appeared at a disadvantage, because he was in a subordinate capacity. Now we shall see his genius shine, because he is in command. In 1608 he returned to America, not, however, to Nova Scotia, but to the St. Lawrence. Three motives chiefly actuated him. The first was the unquenchable desire to find a water-way through our continent to China. When, in 1603, he {120} explored the St. Lawrence as far as the rapids beyond Montreal, what he heard from the Indians about the great inland seas created in his mind a strong conviction that through them was a passage to the Pacific, such as the early explorers, notably Henry Hudson (See "The World's Discoverers," p. 328), believed to exist. The next motive was exceedingly practical. Champlain was deeply impressed with the need of planting strongholds on the great streams draining the vast fur-yielding region, so as to shut out intruders and secure the precious traffic to his countrymen. Let France, he argued, plant herself boldly and strongly on the St. Lawrence, that great highway for the savage's canoe and the white man's ship, and she would control the fur-trade. The other idea active in his mind was an earnest desire for the conversion of the Indians. It is undeniable that France was genuinely interested in christianizing the natives of America. Some of the most heroic spirits who came to our country came with that object in view, and Champlain was too devoted a Catholic not to share the Church's concern on this point.