were a good school for one who afterwards was to look
death in the face a thousand times amidst the icebergs
of the North Atlantic, and off the rocky coast of Acadia,
and in the forests of the Iroquois.

With such parentage and early experiences as have been
indicated Champlain entered upon his career in the New
World. It is characteristic that he did not leave the
army until his services were no longer needed. At the
age of thirty-one he was fortunate enough to be freed
from fighting against his own countrymen. In 1598 was
signed the Peace of Vervins by which the enemies of Henry
IV, both Leaguers and Spaniards, acknowledged their
defeat. To France the close of fratricidal strife came
as a happy release. To Champlain it meant also the dawn
of a career. Hastening to the coast, he began the long
series of voyages which was to occupy the remainder of
his life. Indeed, the sea and what lay beyond it were
henceforth to be his life.

The sea, however, did not at once lead Champlain to New
France. Provencal, his uncle, held high employment in
the Spanish fleet, and through his assistance Champlain
embarked at Blavet in Brittany for Cadiz, convoying
Spanish soldiers who had served with the League in France.
After three months at Seville he secured a Spanish
commission as captain of a ship sailing for the West
Indies. Under this appointment it was his duty to attend
Don Francisco Colombo, who with an armada of twenty
galleons sailed in January 1599 to protect Porto Rico