Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03Champlain, Samuel de
History
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 03
Champlain, Samuel de
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Indians of North America -- Canada; New France -- Discovery and exploration
On the 6th we set out from this island of St. Croix, where the river is a
league and a half broad, and having made eight or ten leagues we passed a
small fall by oar, and a number of islands of various sizes. Here our
savages left the sacks containing their provisions and their less necessary
articles, in order to be lighter for going overland and avoiding several
falls which it was necessary to pass. There was a great dispute between our
savages and our impostor, who affirmed that there was no danger by way of
the falls, and that we ought to go that way. Our savages said to him, You
are tired of living, and to me, that I ought not to believe him, and that
he did not tell the truth. Accordingly, having several times observed that
he had no knowledge of the places, I followed the advice of the savages,
which was fortunate for me, for he fought for dangers in order to ruin me
or to disgust me with the undertaking, as he has since confessed, a
statement of which will be given hereafter. We crossed accordingly towards
the west the river, which extended northward. I took the altitude of this
place and found it in latitude 46 deg. 40'.[61] We had much difficulty in going
this distance overland. I, for my part, was loaded only with three
arquebuses, as many oars, my cloak, and some small articles. I cheered on
our men, who were somewhat more heavily loaded, but more troubled by the
mosquitoes than by their loads. Thus after passing four small ponds and
having gone a distance of two and a half leagues, we were so wearied that
it was impossible to go farther, not having eaten for twenty-four hours
anything but a little broiled fish without seasoning, for we had left our
provisions behind, as I mentioned before. Accordingly we rested on the
border of a pond, which was very pleasant, and made a fire to drive away
the mosquitoes, which annoyed us greatly, whose persistency is so
marvellous that one cannot describe it. Here we cast our lines to catch
some fish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account