QUARTER-MASTER.--VISIT TO WEST INDIES, SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO.--HIS REPORT.--SUGGESTS A SHIP CANAL.--VOYAGE OF 1603.--EARLIER VOYAGES.-- CARTIER, DE LA ROQUE, MARQUIS DE LA ROCHE, SIEUR DE CHAUVIN, DE CHASTES. --PRELIMINARY VOYAGE.--RETURN TO FRANCE.--DEATH OF DE CHASTES.--SIEUR DE MONTS OBTAINS A CHARTER, AND PREPARES FOR AN EXPEDITION TO CANADA. The service of Champlain as quarter-master in the war in Brittany commenced probably with the appointment of Marshal d'Aumont to the command of the army in 1592, and, if we are right in this conjecture, it covered a period of not far from six years. The activity of the army, and the difficulty of obtaining supplies in the general destitution of the province, imposed upon him constant and perplexing duty. But in the midst of his embarrassments he was gathering up valuable experience, not only relating to the conduct of war, but to the transactions of business under a great variety of forms. He was brought into close and intimate relations with men of character, standing, and influence. The knowledge, discipline, and self-control of which he was daily becoming master were unconsciously fitting him for a career, humble though it might seem in its several stages, but nevertheless noble and potent in its relations to other generations. At the close of the war, the army which it had called into existence was disbanded, the soldiers departed to their homes, the office of quarter-master was of necessity vacated, and Champlain was left without employment. Casting about for some new occupation, following his instinctive love of travel and adventure, he conceived the idea of attempting an exploration of the Spanish West Indies, with the purpose of bringing back a report that should be useful to France. But this was an enterprise not easy either to inaugurate or carry out. The colonial establishments of Spain were at that time hermetically sealed against all intercourse with foreign nations. Armed ships, like watch-dogs, were ever on the alert, and foreign merchantmen entered their ports only at the peril of confiscation. It was necessary for Spain to send out annually a fleet, under a convoy of ships of war, for the transportation of merchandise and supplies for the colonies, returning laden with cargoes of almost priceless value. Champlain, fertile in expedient, proposed to himself to visit Spain, and there form such acquaintances and obtain such influence as would secure to him in some way a passage to the Indies in this annual expedition.