The next year, 1599, Sieur de Saint Chauvin, of Normandy, a captain in the royal marine, at the suggestion of Pont Gravé, of Saint Malo, an experienced fur-trader, to whom we have already referred, and who had made several voyages to the northwest anterior to this, obtained a commission sufficiently comprehensive, amply providing for a colonial settlement and the propagation of the Christian faith, with, indeed, all the privileges accorded by that of the Marquis de la Roche. But the chief and present object which Chauvin and Pont Gravé hoped to attain was the monopoly of the fur trade, which they had good reason to believe they could at that time conduct with success. Under this commission, an expedition was accordingly fitted out and sailed for Tadoussac. Successful in its main object, with a full cargo of valuable furs, they returned to France in the autumn, leaving, however, sixteen men, some of whom perished during the winter, while the rest were rescued from the same fate by the charity of the Indians. In the year 1600, Chauvin made another voyage, which was equally remunerative, and a third had been projected on a much broader scale, when his death intervened and prevented its execution. The death of Sieur de Chauvin appears to have vacated his commission, at least practically, opening the way for another, which was obtained by the Commander de Chastes, whose expedition, accompanied by Champlain, as we have already seen, left Honfleur on the 15th of March, 1603. It consisted of two barques of twelve or fifteen tons, one commanded by Pont Gravé, and the other by Sieur Prevert, of Saint Malo, and was probably accompanied by one or more advice-boats. They took with them two Indians who had been in France some time, doubtless brought over by De Chauvin on his last voyage. With favoring winds, they soon reached the banks of Newfoundland, sighted Cape Ray, the northern point of the Island of Cape Breton, Anticosti and Gaspé, coasting along the southern side of the river Saint Lawrence as far as the Bic, where, crossing over to the northern shore, they anchored in the harbor of Tadoussac. After reconnoitring the Saguenay twelve or fifteen leagues, leaving their vessels at Tadoussac, where an active fur trade was in progress with the Indians, they proceeded up the St. Lawrence in a light boat, passed Quebec, the Three Rivers, Lake St. Peter, the Richelieu, which they called the river of the Iroquois, making an excursion up this stream five or six leagues, and then, continuing their course, passing Montreal, they finally cast anchor on the northern side, at the foot of the Falls of St. Louis, not being able to proceed further in their boat.