After taking these multiplied precautions against deceit, Champlain left the Sault St Louis on May 29, 1613, attended by four Frenchmen and one Indian, with Vignau for guide.  Ascending the Ottawa, they encountered their first difficulties at the Long Sault, where Dollard forty-seven years later was to lose his life so gloriously.  Here the passage of the rapids was both fatiguing and dangerous.  Prevented by the density of the wood from making a portage, they were forced to drag their canoes through the water.  In one of the eddies Champlain nearly lost his life, and his hand was severely hurt by a sudden jerk of the rope.  Having mounted the rapids, he met with no very trying obstacle until he had gone some distance past the Chaudiere Falls.  His reference to the course of the Gatineau makes no sense, and Laverdiere has had recourse to the not improbable conjecture that the printer dropped out a whole line at this point.  Champlain also over-estimates considerably the height of the Rideau Falls and is not very exact in his calculation of latitude.

The hardships of this journey were greatly and unnecessarily increased by Vignau, whose only hope was to discourage his leader.  In. the end it proved that ‘our liar’ (as Champlain repeatedly calls him) had hoped to secure a reward for his alleged discovery, believing that no one would follow him long, even if an attempt were made to confirm the accuracy of his report.  But Champlain, undeterred by portages and mosquitoes, kept on.  Some savages who joined him said that Vignau was a liar, and on their advice Champlain left the Ottawa a short distance above the mouth of the Madawaska.  Holding westward at some distance from the south shore, he advanced past Muskrat Lake, and after a hard march came out again on the Ottawa at Lake Allumette.

This was the end of Champlain’s route in 1613.  From the Algonquins on Allumette Island he learned that Vignau had wintered with them at the time he swore he was discovering salt seas.  Finally, the impostor confessed his fraud and, falling on his knees, asked for mercy.  The Indians would gladly have killed him outright, but Champlain spared his life, though how deeply he was moved can be seen from these words:  ’Overcome with wrath I had him removed, being unable to endure him any longer in my presence.’  After his confession there was nothing for it but to return by the same route.  An astrolabe found some years ago near Muskrat Lake may have been dropped from Champlain’s luggage on the journey westward, though he does not mention the loss.

Apart from disclosing the course of the Ottawa, the Voyage of 1613 is chiefly notable for its account of Indian customs—­for example, the mode of sepulture, the tabagie or feast, and the superstition which leads the Algonquins to throw pieces of tobacco into the cauldron of the Chaudiere Falls as a means of ensuring protection against their enemies.  Of the feast given him by Tessouat, an Algonquin chief, Champlain says: