stories of the people who survived such barbarity is pitiful. Some of the methods used fill me with disgust,” Samuel de Champlain declared angrily while discussing the subject with one of the high-ranking officers of the Spanish squadron. “I have seen them of late, harshly forced to adopt a religion not their own.”
“They will grow accustomed to it, Master Champlain,” the other replied haughtily. “Spain is at home in this country.”
“They are converting, you're right. And it saddens them. I see it in their eyes. Is that the will of the Church?”
Native people reduced to this condition had told him that they never missed mass. Not even once. For if they did, they would be beaten or killed. Fervent Catholic that he was, Champlain was convinced, like all the missionaries working in this country, that only one faith existed. But the French visitor could not help but think that there existed more humane methods of illuminating the way for ignorant souls.
The stay in Mexico drew to a close. Champlain remained there a month. On one of the last nights, when he couldn't sleep, he strolled through a forest. From time to time, the moon emerged from a cover of cloud and he discerned what he thought were palms, cedars, laurels, and wild guava trees. Suddenly, in total darkness, he stared in fascination at a mysterious phenomenon.
Was the sailor hallucinating or was he truly seeing hundreds of tiny, flickering lights? Surprised, he watched. The sight continued, silently.
Thoroughly intrigued, the nocturnal stroller was treated, for the first time, to a dance of fireflies.
There is a kind of little animal, as large as a beetle; they fly at night, and light up the air so brightly that they resemble small candles. If a man had three or four of these little creatures, no bigger than hazelnuts, he could read at night just as well as with a candle.
3 Ethnographer and Cartographer in the Land of the Great Sagamo
They have a form of marriage: when a girl reaches the age of fourteen or fifteen, she has several suitors and friends, and keeps company with whom she pleases. After about five or six years, she takes the one she fancies for her husband, and they will live together until the end of their lives, unless, after having been together for a time, they still have no children. Then the man can be released from the marriage and take another wife, saying that his was worthless.
After Mexico, Champlain lingered for four months in Cuba, before returning to France. His trip had lasted two years in all. Meanwhile, the proud Captain Provençal, to whom Samuel was so attached, had suddenly become a sick, old man, now bedridden, with only a few days left to live. Saddened, Champlain, more of a son than a nephew, kept vigil at his bedside.
Pierre de Chauvin de Thonnetuit, to whom Henri IV granted the fur trade monopoly, settled in Tadoussac in 1604. Illustration by Samuel de Champlain published in The Voyages of the Sieur de Champlain of Saintonge, Captain in Ordinary for the King in the Navy.
“I scarcely have any time left to hear of your latest exploits,” the uncle murmured.
“I'm sure you'd not be astounded. You who have seen so much…”
All of a sudden, the thirty-year-old sailor saw himself again, a small, unhappy boy in the port of Brouage. Holding back his tears, he watched as a huge ship departed for a season or several years, carrying away the man who was like a father to him. The ship moved slowly, then seemed engulfed in a blustery wind. Would his uncle come back as promised? When?
Today another form of separation awaited.
“You will see marvellous countries, Samuel…”
The captain coughed, visibly weakened, but tried to go on:
“… and I will be at your side, even if no one can detect my presence.”
“You will be in my thoughts, Uncle, at the helm of every ship I ever sail.”
“You speak the truth, and, now that my time has come, it consoles me a little.”
Guillaume Hallène was in fact an important landowner: he left everything he had to Champlain, notably an enormous farm operation near La Rochelle. The domain included vineyards, orchards, fields, and a few houses with their outbuildings. Along with the income from the property came other sums bequeathed to him in the will.
As the uncle had foreseen, the money would give Champlain independence, allowing him to carry out his voyages. And true enough, in Samuel Captain Provençal could thus live on, continuing to roam the planet.
“Others come before you have mistaken pebbles from America for rough diamonds, Monsieur de Champlain.”
The man was alluding ironically to French navigator Jacques Cartier, who, seventy years earlier, had brought back samples of iron and quartz crystal from Canada thinking they were precious stones. His find turned out to be nothing at all, and still was the butt of derision. Today Maximilien de Béthune, the Duke of Sully, was recalling the mishap. He held the strategic position of Superintendent of Finance for King Henri IV. For this rigid minister, colonial development was merely a harebrained craze. He felt such excesses were much more liable to ruin France than to replenish the royal treasury.
The Duke considered nothing to be more profitable than cultivating the land of France. French wheat may not have dazzled as much as diamonds or silver from the colonies, but it had the advantage of making better bread! Champlain, who had requested an audience with the King to tell him that the new lands offered unprecedented potential, wondered how to win over such a closed mind.
Luckily for him, Henri IV did not share the Duke's apprehensions. Besides, he could clearly see that the Spaniards were winning across the board, extending their powers overseas. France was not doing enough on that score.
“Monsieur de Sully, put aside for a moment your overcautious ploughman's instincts,” he said, gently mocking his counsellor. “Instead let us listen to this man back from countries we've seen only in our dreams.”
“Time will tell, if we recover the expenses incurred by these ambitions, Your Majesty” his representative responded stiffly.
“Your wisdom, Monsieur le Duc, must not interfere with the glory of France and its King.”
Turning toward the navigator, Henri indicated his keen interest in his impressions of his recent trip to the West Indies and Mexico.
“I won't rest until I convince you that their storehouses are the most fully stocked in the world,” the traveller declared. “But we must remember that they are in the hands of another country. France has to play a role in this great quest.”
“Where are you contemplating going?”
“To the North Atlantic,” replied Champlain, unhesitating. “Cartier may not have brought
