The personal explorations of Champlain in the West Indies, on the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the State of New York and of Vermont, and among the lakes in Canada and those that divide the Dominion from the United States, including the full, explicit, and detailed journals which he wrote concerning them, place Champlain undeniably not merely in the front rank, but at the head of the long list of explorers and navigators, who early visited this part of the continent of North America. Champlain's literary labors are interesting and important. They were not professional, but incidental, and the natural outgrowth of the career to which he devoted his life. He had the sagacity to see that the fields which he entered as an explorer were new and important, that the aspect of every thing which he then saw would, under the influence and progress of civilization, soon be changed, and that it was historically important that a portrait Sketched by an eyewitness should be handed down to other generations. It was likewise necessary for the immediate and successful planting of colonies, that those who engaged in the undertaking should have before them full information of all the conditions on which they were to build their hopes of final success. Inspired by such motives as these, Champlain wrote out an accurate journal of the events that transpired about him, of what he personally saw, and of the observations of others, authenticated by the best tests which, under the circumstances, he was able to apply. His natural endowments for this work were of the highest order. As an observer he was sagacious, discriminating, and careful. His judgment was cool, comprehensive, and judicious. His style is in general clear, logical, and compact. His acquired ability was not, however, extraordinary. He was a scholar neither by education nor by profession. His life was too full of active duties, or too remote from the centres of knowledge for acquisitions in the departments of elegant and refined learning. The period in which he lived was little distinguished for literary culture. A more brilliant day was approaching, but it had not yet appeared. The French language was still crude and unpolished. It had not been disciplined and moulded into the excellence to which it soon after arose in the reign of Louis XIV. We cannot in reason look for a grace, refinement, and flexibility which the French language had not at that time generally attained. But it is easy to see under the rude, antique, and now obsolete forms which characterize Champlain's narratives, the elements of a style which, under, early discipline, nicer culture, and a richer vocabulary, might have made it a model for all times. There are, here and there, some involved, unfinished, and obscure passages, which seem, indeed, to be the offspring of haste, or perhaps of careless and inadequate proof-reading. But in general his style is without ornament, simple, dignified, concise, and clear.