On his return he made a report to the King of France, concerning this Western land, in the hope that his own country might once more send expeditions of discovery. In this report he says: “One might judge if the territory four leagues in extent, lying between Panama and the river were cut through, he could pass from the South Sea to that on the other side, and thus shorten the route by more than fifteen hundred leagues. From Panama to Magellan would make an island and from Panama to the Newlands (Newfoundland) would make another, so that the whole of America would be in two islands.” Three hundred years afterwards this was done, and by the people of a country then undiscovered, and supplies from the Pacific Coast of that great nation passed through that canal to help the cause of the France which Champlain loved and served so well. During the years of civil strife in France, the exploration of the Western world was being pushed forward by the merchant adventurers of England, and especially of Spain. Spies from the court of Spain watched every port and sent home the news of prospective sailings so that these rivals might be intercepted and America be preserved for Spain. But now that peace was established enterprising mariners of the northern seaports of France remembered the expeditions of Cartier, and so the governor of Dieppe induced Champlain to undertake a voyage to New France. They left that port in March, 1603, and after coasting along the shores of Newfoundland, Anticosti and Cape Breton, sailed up the St. Lawrence and anchored at Tadoussac at the mouth of the Saguenay. Thence Champlain made a journey up the great river to Hochelaga, which in Cartier’s time was a flourishing town. Now all was deserted and nothing remained of what had been a great Indian community. Gathering up what furs they could, Champlain and his party sailed for home, which they reached in September. This was a journey of inspection, spying out the land, and the King was so impressed by Champlain’s account that he gave his patronage to a larger expedition. This was under the command of Sieur de Monts, a nobleman, with Champlain as the King’s geographer, and was sent out in the hope that a colony might be established, and so actual possession of New France might be maintained against European nations who were claiming parts of the New World. De Monts became the first Lieutenant-Governor of New France, and with nobles, soldiers, priests, and peasants, about 120 in all, his little fleet discovered and entered the harbour and river of St. John on the 24th of June, 1604, exactly to the day one hundred and seven years after the discovery of Newfoundland by Cabot; and there on the island of St. Croix (Holy Cross) established a colony, the only settlement of Europeans north of Florida. It was an exceptionally severe winter and the colonists suffered almost as much as Cartier’s men so many years before at Quebec.