Towards the end of the year 1635 Champlain died, after an illness of two months and a half, exhibiting during his malady the same firmness, piety, and solicitude for the colony, for which he had always been remarkable; "giving," says De Creux, "in the hour of death, such illustrious evidence of virtue and courage that everyone was astonished. His remains were followed to the grave by the whole population with unfeigned grief." From this notice of his career, it will be seen that Champlain was no ordinary man. Unintimidated by the repeated failures of preceding attempts, he followed up his plans with as much resolution as sagacity. But for him Quebec would probably have never existed. Undeterred by the cabals and intrigues, lay and clerical, constantly going on in France; unmoved by the continual discords and quarrels of rival companies, he steered a straightforward course, avoiding giving umbrage to any, if not satisfying all. Trusting nothing to others that he could do himself, he penetrated, almost alone, to the unexplored countries of distant Indian tribes; exhibiting rare perseverance, energy, and courage, rebuking cruelty, encouraging the good, and omitting no opportunity of promulgating the truths of Christianity. Notwithstanding a considerable dose of credulity,[29] he was endowed with rare penetration. His views were just, and no one knew better how to decide in difficulties, or to support them with more patience and constancy; no dangers daunted him, and he never lost sight of his object. His zeal for the interests of his country was ardent and disinterested. With a feeling heart he was always ready to succour the unfortunate, more careful of the welfare of others than of his own. A faithful narrator, an enterprising and active traveller; nothing escaped his attention and observation. He was a good geometrician and able navigator. The war to which he seems to have incited, or in which at least he joined, the Algonquins, Hurons, and other tribes against the Iroquois, can hardly be justified; but the result of his policy, if policy it was, proved favourable, in bringing to and confirming in his alliance the tribes more immediately surrounding the infant colony. [29] In 1604 Champlain published a relation of his first voyage to Canada; in it he mentions a strange and frightful monster called "gougou," giving at the same time the names of his authorities. This story, which, in a great measure, gave rise to the accusation of credulity, was suppressed in the general relation of his voyages in 1632. The "dragon," the two legs of the camelion, and the no-legs of the bird of Paradise, the mode of hatching the same, etc., described in the present manuscript, show that, however he may have got over extreme credulity in later years, in his first voyages he had a strong belief in the marvellous--but that quality belonged in a degree to the age in which he lived.