occupied the house at the time when Champlain died, and they point out to you now in the upper town the spot where this one early householder of Quebec made his little struggle to instil a proper spirit of colonization into a crowd of barterers and adventurers. From this upper level the visitor at this time might have glanced across the valley of the St. Charles to but a single other sign of permanency in the stone manor house of Robert Gifart, which had, the previous year, been built at Beauport. The French pushed their explorations toward the west and missionary stations were established in the country of the Hurons. Two French fur-traders reached in 1658 the western extremity of Lake Superior, and heard from the Indians there of the great river--the Mississippi--running toward the south. Upon the return of the traders to Canada an expedition was organized to proceed to the distant region to which the traders had penetrated, exchange trinkets for furs, and convert the natives to the Christian faith. It was now that the French began to reap the fatal fruits of their causeless war on the Iroquois. The latter attacked and dispersed the expedition, killing several Frenchmen. In 1665, western exploration was resumed, Father Allouez reaching the Falls of St. Mary in September of that year, and coasting along the southern shore of Lake Superior to the great village of the Chippewas. Delegations from a number of Indian nations, including the Illinois tribe, met Father Allouez in council at St. Mary's, and complained of the hostile visitations of the Iroquois from the east and the Sioux from the west. Father Allouez promised them protection against the Iroquois. Soon after this the French summoned a great convention of the tribes to St. Mary's, and in presence of the chieftains formally took possession of the country in behalf of the king of France. A large wooden cross was elevated with religious ceremonies. The priests chanted and prayed and the French king was proclaimed sovereign of the country along the upper lakes and southward to the sea. Thus was founded the short-lived empire of France in America.