In the spring Champlain set out to find some place for the settlement which might have a more congenial climate. Although he went south and passed the islands at the mouth of what is now the harbour of Portland, Maine, and even entered the harbour of Boston, he returned to Port Royal in Nova Scotia, the situation of which had appealed to him, and there the colony moved. It was a prosperous settlement, and it is of interest in these days of grain growing, hydro-power development and ship building in Canada to know that these settlers raised the first wheat grown in America; here was used the first wheel to turn a millstone upon this continent; and in this harbour in 1606 the first Canadian vessel was built. The position on the sea, with fertile soil and great forests near by, was very attractive, and perhaps is best described by Longfellow centuries afterwards: “This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep voiced neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.” To-day in its loneliness it reminds one of Brouage and it is difficult to think that it has been the most besieged city in America. But it was when Champlain came back from France in 1608, after a year’s absence from the colony, that our great interest begins, for then he determined to press inland and re-assert the sovereignty claimed for France by Cartier. The bold headland where Cartier had spent the winter had attracted his attention upon his previous voyage, and so he founded there in 1608 a town, really the capital of New France, and to it he gave the native Algonquin name, “Quebec,” which means “the narrowing of the stream.” In the following year he went up the St. Lawrence, and finding a party of Huron and Algonquin Indians about to set out on an expedition against their great enemy, the Iroquois, who were encroaching upon Algonquin territory near what is now Lake Champlain, he joined with them, thinking thereby to establish friendly and profitable relations with such powerful tribes. The result was that he made the fighting Iroquois the everlasting and unrelenting enemies, not only of himself but of France. This was one of the great fights of history, full of meaning in the after years of Canadian life. When the Algonquins came within fighting distance of their adversaries they opened ranks, and Champlain, steel armour on breast and thighs, a plumed helmet on his head, a sword at his side, and a musket in his hands, stepped out to the front, and for the first time the Indians saw the death-dealing firearms of the white man.[6] In his own words: