CHRONICLES OF CANADA
Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton
In thirty-two volumes

Volume 3

THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE
A Chronicle of Champlain

By CHARLES W. COLBY
TORONTO, 1915



CHAPTER I

CHAMPLAIN'S EARLY YEARS

Were there a 'Who's Who in History' its chronicle of
Champlain's life and deeds would run as follows:

Champlain, Samuel de. Explorer, geographer, and colonizer.
Born in 1567 at Brouage, a village on the Bay of Biscay.
Belonged by parentage to the lesser gentry of Saintonge.
In boyhood became imbued with a love of the sea, but also
served as a soldier in the Wars of the League. Though an
enthusiastic Catholic, was loyal to Henry of Navarre. On
the Peace of Vervins (1598) returned to the sea, visiting
the Spanish West Indies and Mexico. Between 1601 and 1603
wrote his first book--the Bref Discours. In 1603 made