The exploration in the distant Indian territories which we have just described in the preceding pages was the last made by Champlain. He had plans for the survey of other regions yet unexplored, but the favorable opportunity did not occur. Henceforth he directed his attention more exclusively than he had hitherto done to the enlargement and strengthening of his colonial plantation, without such success, we regret to say, as his zeal, devotion, and labors fitly deserved. The obstacles that lay in his way were insurmountable. The establishment or factory, we can hardly call it a plantation, at Quebec, was the creature of a company of merchants. They had invested considerable sums in shipping, buildings, and in the employment of men, in order to carry on a trade in furs and peltry with the Indians, and they naturally desired remunerative returns. This was the limit of their purpose in making the investment. The corporators saw nothing in their organization but a commercial enterprise yielding immediate results. They were inspired by no generosity, no loyalty, or patriotism that could draw from them a farthing to increase the wealth, power, or aggrandizement of France. Under these circumstances, Champlain struggled on for years against a current which he could barely direct, but by no means control. Champlain made voyages to New France both in 1617 and in 1618. In the latter year, among the Indians who came to Quebec for the purpose of trade, appeared Étienne Brulé, the interpreter, who it will be remembered had been despatched in 1615, when Champlain was among the Hurons, to the Entouhonorons at Carantouan, to induce them to join in the attack of the Iroquois in central New York. During the three years that had intervened, nothing had been heard from him. Brulé related the story of his extraordinary adventures, which Champlain has preserved, and which may be found in the report of the voyage of 1618, in Volume III. of this work. [84] At Quebec, he met numerous bands of Indians from remote regions, whom he had visited in former years, and who, in fulfilment of their promises, had come to barter their peltry for such commodities as suited their need or fancy, and to renew and strengthen their friendship with the French. By these repeated interviews, and the cordial reception and generous entertainment which he always gave them, the Indians dwelling on the upper waters of the Ottawa, along the borders of Lake Huron, or on the Georgian Bay, formed a strong personal attachment to Champlain, and yearly brought down their fleets of canoes heavily freighted with the valuable furs which they had diligently secured during the preceding winter. His personal influence with them, a power which he exercised with great delicacy, wisdom, and fidelity, contributed largely to the revenues annually obtained by the associated merchants.