Disheartened by the bitter experiences of the winter, the governor, having fully determined to abandon his present establishment, ordered two boats to be constructed, one of fifteen and the other of seven tons, in which to transport his colony to Gaspé, in case he received no supplies from France, with the hope of obtaining a passage home in some of the fishing vessels on that coast. But from this disagreeable alternative he was happily relieved. On the 15th of June, 1605, Pont Gravé arrived, to the great joy of the little colony, with all needed supplies. The purpose of returning to France was at once abandoned, and, as no time was to be lost, on the 18th of the same month, De Monts, Champlain, several gentlemen, twenty sailors, two Indians, Panounias and his wife, set sail for the purpose of discovering a more eligible site for his colony somewhere on the shores of the present New England. Passing slowly along the coast, with which Champlain was already familiar, and consequently without extensive explorations, they at length reached the waters of the Kennebec, [39] where the survey of the previous year had terminated and that of the present was about to begin. On the 5th of July, they entered the Kennebec, and, bearing to the right, passed through Back River, [40] grazing their barque on the rocks in the narrow channel, and then sweeping down round the southern point of Jerremisquam Island, or Westport, they ascended along its eastern shores till they came near the present site of Wiscasset, from whence they returned on the western side of the island, through Monseag Bay, and threading the narrow passage between Arrowsick and Woolwich, called the Upper Hell-gate, and again entering the Kennebec, they finally reached Merrymeeting Bay. Lingering here but a short time, they returned through the Sagadahock, or lower Kennebec, to the mouth of the river. This exploration did not yield to the voyagers any very interesting or important results. Several friendly interviews were held with the savages at different points along the route. Near the head waters of the Sheepscot, probably in Wiscasset Bay, they had an interview, an interesting and joyous meeting, with the chief Manthomerme and twenty-five or thirty followers, with whom they exchanged tokens of friendship. Along the shores of the Sheepscot their attention was attracted by several pleasant streams and fine expanses of meadow; but the soil observed on this expedition generally, and especially on the Sagadahock, [41] or lower Kennebec, was rough and barren, and offered, in the judgment of De Monts and Champlain, no eligible site for a new settlement. Proceeding, therefore, on their voyage, they struck directly across Casco Bay, not attempting, in their ignorance, to enter the fine harbor of Portland.