VI.

Further Travels and Explorations

For most of the remainder of Champlain’s life, he would spend a few months of the year at Québec, then go to France to secure support. He spent far more time in France, and crossing the ocean, than he did in Québec. When he returned to Québec, he spent most of his time prodding lazy workers to do building and repairing they had neglected. He also renewed alliances with his indigenous allies, resolving their complaints.

In 1613 Champlain explored the Ottawa, the river that would become the main highway to the west, as far as Allumette Island. He then returned to France and persuaded the Récollet order of Roman Catholic priests to send four missionaries to Canada. Two years went by before he returned with the Récollets. He then set out on a major voyage of discovery to the country of the Huron, the territory between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario.

On this journey Champlain and his party explored Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. He spent the winter of 1615 in the Huron country, where he learned much about the land and its inhabitants. He was particularly interested in knowledge of the area farther west, beyond Lake Huron. He learned that this area contained other vast lakes, but the Huron would not allow him to go there. They were at war with the nations to the west and were afraid that the French might establish relations with their enemies. Thus Champlain had to rely on scanty information for the map that he eventually produced of the region. As a result, the map was flawed, but his account of his stay with the Huron is a mine of information about these people, their customs and religion, and the geography of the country.