Читать книгу A Canadian History for Boys and Girls - Emily Poynton Weaver - Страница 8
ОглавлениеQuebec Founded, 1608.
We must now go back to the year 1608, and see what Champlain was doing. De Monts had regained his monopoly for one year, and, in the hope of making larger profits than before, turned to the St. Lawrence. The task of exploring was again given to Champlain, while another man traded with the Indians.
Champlain sailed up the river till he came to rugged Cape Diamond—so called from the glistening bits of quartz found there. At this place he decided to settle, and during the hot July days his wooden houses and fortifications rose quickly on what is now the market-place of the lower town of Quebec. He was untiring in his labours, but some of his men wearied of their hard work and poor food, and planned to murder him. Fortunately for New France, one of them betrayed the plot, and the ring-leaders were punished.
The French managed to make their quarters warm and comfortable, but knew of no remedy for the dreadful scurvy, and before spring two-thirds of their number were dead. During the winter bands of Algonquin Indians camped beside the little fort, hoping perhaps for help against their terrible enemies, the Iroquois or Five Nation Indians. The Algonquins never sowed corn, so were generally short of food in the cold season.
Indian Wars.
When the snow melted, Champlain set out to explore the country to the west. He hoped to find an easy way to China, which he thought much nearer than it really is. But the war-parties of the Iroquois forced him to turn back, for, though their homes were in what is now New York State, they made cruel raids every spring on the weak Algonquins, and even on the Hurons, who were of the same race as themselves. To the great delight of the tribes near Quebec, Champlain offered to help to fight their dreaded foes; but the Iroquois never forgave him, and in after years the French colonists suffered terribly at their hands.
Champlain took with him eleven Frenchmen and a number of Indians. For many days they marched through the wilderness. At last they came upon a party of Iroquois who carried shields of skin and wore curious armour of twigs interwoven with cords. But it was of no use against the French bullets, and, terrified by the dreadful smoke and noise of the guns, they fled, leaving their dead and wounded behind them. Champlain tried to prevent any cruelty, but, as usual, the Indian victors scalped and tortured their helpless foes.
Champlain’s Difficulties.
In the midst of all his other business, Champlain was often obliged to go to France. He was beset with difficulties, arising chiefly from the state of the fur trade, which was sometimes free to everybody, and sometimes under the control of a single man or company. At this time the king generally put some great noble, who was called the viceroy, in charge of the colony. There were many different viceroys within a few years, and though Champlain acted as governor under them all, the frequent changes added to his troubles.
In the year 1613, Champlain made a journey up the Ottawa River, hoping to reach “the Northern Sea.” He took as guide a young Frenchman who professed to have found his way to this sea before, but it soon appeared that he had not told the truth, and Champlain turned back.
Henry Hudson.
Probably the man had heard from the Indians of Hudson Bay, as we call it. It had been discovered three years earlier by an English seaman, Henry Hudson, who lost his life there. After spending a winter in the bay, some of his men became so angry with him that they set him adrift in an open boat with his son and several sailors. They were never heard of afterwards, and their murderers had great difficulty in reaching England.
Récollet Father.
The First Missionaries, 1615.
All the men who had undertaken to colonize Canada professed to be anxious that the Indians should become Christians. Yet, of the two hundred Frenchmen at this time in the country, most cared only for making money, and not one was a missionary. At last a new trading company agreed to send out teachers for the savages, and in 1615 four Franciscan friars, or Récollets, came with Champlain to Canada. Some of them at once began to hold services at the trading posts, and one travelled so far north that he fell in with some wandering Eskimos, while another carried the Gospel into the country of the Hurons, near the Georgian Bay.
Champlain Tries to Form an Indian League.
This missionary, Le Caron, was the first white man to visit the Hurons; but the governor soon followed him, journeying as much as possible by lake and stream, to avoid the untracked woods. Champlain tried to persuade the Canadian Indians to give up fighting amongst themselves, and to help one another against the warriors of the Five Nations. But though the Hurons and Algonquins liked him, he could not induce them to follow his advice.
Eskimos.
After staying some time amongst them, Champlain led the Hurons into the Iroquois country. They were more than a month on the march, and when they attacked one of the palisaded towns of the Iroquois, they were beaten off. Champlain himself was hurt, and being unable to walk, was packed into a basket like the rest of the wounded, so that he could be carried on the back of one of his Indian friends. He was obliged to spend the winter with them. His people in Quebec gave him up as dead, so there was great rejoicing when he returned early in the following summer, alive and well.
Chief Events 1616-28.
The history of the next twelve years may be summed up very briefly. The growth of the colony was slow, owing to the greediness and the quarrels of the rival fur-traders. The chief events were the first attacks of the terrible Iroquois on the French themselves, and the coming of the Jesuits to help the Récollets to teach the savages.
A Time of Scarcity.
Champlain made several voyages to France during this period. But in spite of all he could do, Canada was neglected, and the colonists suffered greatly, as they depended almost entirely on supplies from home. There was indeed but one farmer amongst them—Louis Hébert. During the winter of 1627-8 they were allowed only a few ounces of food a day. When spring came they were forced, like the Indians, to live on what they could find in the woods, and we can fancy how anxiously they must have looked down the river for the yearly ships from France. But no ships came, and they seemed to be utterly forgotten in their lonely wilderness.
The Hundred Associates.
The king of France was engaged in a fierce conflict with his Huguenot or Protestant subjects, but his great minister, Cardinal Richelieu, was forming a new company at this very time to colonize and govern Canada in return for a monopoly of the fur trade. It was called the Company of New France, or the Company of the Hundred Associates. Under its rule none but Roman Catholics were to be allowed to come to Canada.
