Champlain was again appointed lieutenant, charged with the government and management of the colony, with the expectation of passing the next winter at Quebec, while Pont Gravé, as he had been before, was specially entrusted with the commercial department of the expedition. They embarked at Honfleur, but were detained in the English Channel by bad weather for some days. In the mean time Champlain was taken seriously ill, the vessel needed additional ballast, and returned to port, and they did not finally put to sea till the 8th of April. They arrived at Tadoussac on the 26th of the same month, in the year 1610, and, two days later, sailed for Quebec, where they found the commander, Captain Chavin, and the little colony all in excellent health. The establishment at Quebec, it is to be remembered, was now a private enterprise. It existed by no chartered rights, it was protected by no exclusive authority. There was consequently little encouragement for its enlargement beyond what was necessary as a base of commercial operations. The limited cares of the colony left, therefore, to Champlain, a larger scope for the exercise of his indomitable desire for exploration and adventure. Explorations could not, however, be carried forward without the concurrence and guidance of the savages by whom he was immediately surrounded. Friendly relations existed between the French and the united tribes of Montagnais, Hurons, and Algonquins, who occupied the northern shores of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. A burning hatred existed between these tribes and the Iroquois, occupying the southern shores of the same river. A deadly warfare was their chief employment, and every summer each party was engaged either in repelling an invasion or in making one in the territory of the other. Those friendly to Champlain were quite ready to act as pioneers in his explorations and discoveries, but they expected and demanded in return that he should give them active personal assistance in their wars. Influenced, doubtless, by policy, the spirit of the age, and his early education in the civil conflicts of France, Champlain did not hesitate to enter into an alliance and an exchange of services on these terms. In the preceding year, two journeys into distant regions had been planned for exploration and discovery. One beginning at Three Rivers, was to survey, under the guidance of the Montagnais, the river St. Maurice to its source, and thence, by different channels and portages, reach Lake St. John, returning by the Saguenay, making in the circuit a distance of not less than eight hundred miles. The other plan was to explore, under the direction of the Hurons and Algonquins, the vast country over which they were accustomed to roam, passing up the Ottawa, and reaching in the end the region of the copper mines on Lake Superior, a journey not less than twice the extent of the former.