On the arrival of the Don de Dieu at Tadousac, Champlain found that Pont-Grave had been attacked by Captain Darache, a Basque, who continued to trade furs with the Indians in spite of the king’s commands.  Darache had brought all his guns to bear upon the Levrier, and Pont-Grave being unable to defend himself, had offered no resistance, whereupon Darache’s crew had boarded the vessel and carried off the cannon and arms, at the same time intimating that they would continue to trade as they pleased.  The arrival of Champlain, however, altered the situation, and Darache was compelled to sign an agreement by which he pledged himself not to molest Pont-Grave, or to do anything prejudicial to the interest of the king or of de Monts.  It was also agreed that all differences should be settled by the authorities in France.  After this agreement was effected through Champlain’s intervention, the carpenters of the expedition fitted out a small barque to convey to Quebec all the articles necessary for the use of the future settlement.

[Illustration:  Building the Habitation, Quebec, 1608

From the painting by C.W.  Jefferys]

In the meantime Champlain visited the river Saguenay, where he met some Indians from whom he gathered information concerning Lake St. John and its tributaries.  The information did not differ greatly from that which he had obtained in the year 1603.  Champlain set out from Tadousac on the last day of June and arrived at Quebec on July 3rd, “Where I searched,” he says, “for a place suitable for our settlement, but I could find none more convenient or better situated than the point of Quebec, so called by the savages, which was covered with nut trees.”

Champlain was accompanied by thirty men, amongst whom may be named Nicholas Marsolet, Etienne Brule, Bonnerme, a doctor, Jean Duval, Antoine Natel and La Taille.  These names are specially recorded.  Champlain immediately employed some workmen to fell trees in order to commence the construction of an Habitation.  One party was engaged in sawing timber, another in digging a cellar and some ditches, while another party was sent to Tadousac with a barque to obtain supplies which had been retained in the ships.  Such was the beginning of Champlain’s city.  Nothing great, it will be admitted, for a settlement which its founder hoped before long would become the great warehouse of New France.

Until this date the merchants had traded with the Indians only in those places where they could easily be met, and even Chauvin, who was mentioned in a previous chapter, had not gone further than Tadousac.  Neither Three Rivers, nor the islands of Sorel at the entrance of the Iroquois River, now called the Richelieu River, were known to French navigators at this period, and although these places were easily accessible to the aborigines, they were not so available as Quebec.