So Dupont Gravé and Champlain set out for Tadoussac and on the 18th of
June, reaching it, made for the Grand Sault. They passed by Quebec,
"which is a strait of the River of Canada, and anchored till Monday,
June 28th, and thence proceeding examined and named Three Rivers and
found it good for a future settlement." Finally on Wednesday, July 2,
the feast of the Visitation, they reached the entrance of the Sault. We
will reserve this visit to its proper chapter. After their exploration
on July 4th they turned back to Tadoussac and thence to France, where
they learned of the death of the worthy Commander de Chastes at Dieppe
on Tuesday, May 13, 1603. To replace de Chastes, that same Sieur de
Monts, who prospected Tadoussac with Chauvin, now took command of the
reins of government as lieutenant general, having applied for a similar
charter as the last. He was a Huguenot and was Governor of Paris for
the Protestant party. He continued the same association, employing
Dupont Gravé and Champlain. With them was the gentleman adventurer, the
Sieur de Poutrincourt. They set sail from Havre on the 7th of March,
1604, this time for Acadia. A site, since called "Port Royal," was
chosen by Poutrincourt and granted on condition he should return.
After having abandoned Acadia in 1607, de Monts now turned his
attention to Canada. He did this the more readily because the king
gave him for one year the exclusive right of the fur trade. Champlain,
hitherto a man subordinate, was charged by the lieutenant general as
his lieutenant. Champlain sailed from France on the 13th of April,
arrived at Tadoussac on the 3d of June and ascending the St. Lawrence,
named Cape Tourment and Montmorency Falls and, reaching Stadaconé,
he chose that place called Kébec by the natives and began to take
possession of it in the name of M. de Monts, and to construct a fort.
Champlain's instinct as a city planner was distinctly manifested
in the choice of the bold promontory whose bases are washed by the
Rivers St. Lawrence, Cap Rouge and St. Charles and whose outlook from
the promontory above is one of the grandest in the world. There were
twenty-eight men sent by de Monts for the expedition. A plot having
arisen among these to kill Champlain, one of the conspirators was
beheaded and three others were sent back to France. Soon, also, some
twenty died of scurvy or of dysentery caused by the eating of eels to
excess. The colony was now a cipher. Meanwhile, in France, de Monts'
one year's monopoly was revoked owing to the jealousy of the merchants
there. The question of the sale of the habitation of Quebec came up,
as the post appeared to be unnecessary if there was to be no monopoly.
Sieur de Monts remained governor general. Seeing the danger of de
Monts' enterprise breaking up, through the trading with the savages
being thrown open to other traders, Champlain began to look out for
himself and to cast his eyes on the Great Sault as a trading post for
himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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