remained in charge of the habitation of Quebec, and Father Le Caron
resolved to proceed at once to the country of the Hurons.

On July 9th, 1615, Champlain, Étienne Brûle, an interpreter, a servant,
and ten Indians, set out for the mouth of the Ottawa River. They rowed
up the river as far as the Mattawan, which they followed westwards, and
soon reached Lake Nipissing where they stopped for two days. This was on
July 26th. After having taken this short rest, they continued their
voyage, crossing Georgian Bay, and reached the land of the Hurons. Near
the shore they met the Attignaouantans, or people of the bear tribe, one
of the four chief branches of the great Huron family. Their village or
_bourgade_ was called Otouacha. On the second day of August, Champlain's
party visited the village of Carmeron, and on the following day, they
saw the encampments of Tonaguainchain, Tequenonquiayé and Carhagouha. In
the latter encampment Father Le Caron resided.

[Illustration: Champlain on the shores of Georgian Bay, 1615

From the painting by Hummé]

On July 12th Father Le Caron celebrated mass and sang the _Te Deum_,
after which the Indians planted a cross near the small chapel which had
been erected under Champlain's direction. The reverend father occupied a
hut within the palisade which formed the rampart of the village, and he
spent the fall and winter with the Hurons of Carhagouha.

The Huron country was situated between the peninsula watered by Lake
Simcoe on the eastern side, and by the Georgian Bay on the western side.
It extended from north to south between the rivers Severn and
Nottawasaga. This land is twenty-five leagues in length and seven or