After having passed the falls they entered Lake St. Louis. On the last
day of May they passed Lake des Deux Montagnes, which Champlain called
Lake de Soissons. Some days after they came in sight of the river
Gatineau, the river Rideau and its fall, and the Chaudière Falls, where
they were forced to land. They also passed the rapid des Chats, Lake des
Chats, Madawaska River, Muskrat Lake, and Allumette Island, where an
Algonquin chief named Tessoüat resided. On the following day the Indians
gave a _tabagie_ in honour of Champlain, who after smoking the pipe of
peace with the party, explained to them that the object of his visit was
to assure them of his friendship, and to assist them in their wars, as
he had done before.[15]

He told them also that he was making an excursion into their country to
observe the fertility of the soil, and study their lakes and rivers, and
to discover the sea which he was told was in their vicinity. Champlain
therefore requested them to furnish four canoes, and eight Indians as
guides, to conduct the party to the Nipissirini, in order to induce
their enemies to fight.

The chief Tessoüat, speaking in behalf of the whole tribe, said that he
regarded Champlain as the most friendly of all the French, for the
others were unwilling to help them in their wars, but that they had
resolved not to go to the falls again, and that, owing to the long
absence of Champlain from the country, they had been compelled to go to
the wars alone. They therefore begged him to postpone his expedition
until the following year.

They granted Champlain's request of four canoes with great reluctance,
and stated that the Nipissirini were sorcerers, and not their friends.