in connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, was the man who,
after the lapse of centuries, seriously interested his fellow-countrymen
in boring the Isthmus of Panama.

Champlain returned to San Juan de Luz, where he remained for fifteen
days, and he then proceeded to Havana, the rendezvous of the army and of
the fleet. Eighteen days later he embarked in a vessel bound for
Cartagena, where there was a good port, sheltered from all winds. Upon
his return to Havana Champlain met his general and spent four months in
collecting valuable information relating to the interesting island of
Cuba. From Havana he proceeded past the Bahama channel, approached
Bermuda Island, Terceira, one of the Azores, and sighted Cape St.
Vincent, where he captured two armed English vessels, which were taken
to Seville.

Champlain returned to France in March, 1601, having been absent on his
first voyage for a period of two years and two months, during which time
he collected much valuable information. He also published a small
volume containing plans, maps and engravings, fairly well executed for
the time, and now exceedingly scarce. The manuscript of this volume is
still preserved; it covers one hundred and fifteen pages with sixty-two
drawings, coloured and surrounded with blue and yellow lines. It appears
to have been written between the years 1601 and 1603.[2]

The first voyage of Champlain across the Atlantic, though important from
a military standpoint, did not suffice to satisfy the ambition of a man
whose thoughts were bent upon discovery and colonization. Champlain was
a navigator by instinct, and in his writings he gave to nautical science
the first place.