The Indians gathered up their warriors and started southward. When the expedition reached Lake Simcoe, Brulé left Champlain that he might go directly south and persuade an Indian tribe who lived in that part of the country west and south of where Buffalo now stands, to join them against the Iroquois. Brulé paddled up the Holland river, crossed over the height of land and thence down the Humber river until he came to its mouth where the city of Toronto now stands. He was the first white man who saw Lake Ontario; and this was some five years before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. Champlain in the meantime crossed Lake Simcoe, portaged to Balsam Lake, thence through the Otonabee River, Rice Lake, and the Trent River, into Lake Ontario, which he too saw for the first time, and with his Huron companions crossed over to the country of the Iroquois. The raid was a failure, and Champlain, himself wounded, returned with the retreating Hurons and spent the winter with them in Huronia on the Georgian Bay. The remaining years of Champlain’s life were spent in trying to build up this little colony[8] in a vast country and reconciling the conflicting elements in it. The most important event was the capture of Quebec in 1629 by an English fleet under Sir David Kirke, a descendant of French Huguenots who had taken refuge in England. Those were times when news travelled slowly, and much to their mutual surprise it was found that a peace had already been signed between England and France, and so Quebec was restored to France in 1632 and Champlain, who had been taken to England as a prisoner, was released and restored to his governorship. But his spirit was failing, and on Christmas Day, 1635, one hundred years after Cartier had first sailed up to the great rock at the narrowing of the stream, this brave soldier, resourceful general, and true gentleman, passed away in the country which he loved and in the city he had founded. CHAPTER III. JOLIET, MARQUETTE AND THE RIVER OF A HUNDRED THOUSAND STREAMS. “The first French followers of the river courses were devotees of a religion for the salvation of others, bearers of advancing banners for the glory of France, and lovers of nature and adventure.” —PRESIDENT J. H. FINLEY. JOLIET AND MARQUETTE.