the village. A few days later Champlain himself appeared
on the scene; and it was on the 12th of August that he
and his followers attended in Le Caron's cabin the first
Mass celebrated in what is now the province of Ontario.
Then, while Le Caron began his efforts for the conversion
of the benighted Hurons, Champlain went off with the
warriors on a very different mission--an invasion of the
Iroquois country. The commencement of religious endeavour
in Huronia is thus marked by an event that was to intensify
the hatred of the ferocious Iroquois against both the
Hurons and the French.

Le Caron spent the remainder of the year 1615 among the
Hurons, studying the people, learning the language, and
compiling a dictionary. Champlain, his expedition ended,
returned to Huronia and remained there until the middle
of January, when he and Le Caron set out on a visit to
the Petun or Tobacco Nation, then dwelling on the southern
shore of Nottawasaga Bay, a two-days' journey south-west
of Carhagouha. There had been as yet no direct communication
between the French and the Petuns, and the visitors were
not kindly received. The Petun sorcerers or medicine-men
dreaded the influence of the grey-robed friar, regarded
him as a rival, and caused his teachings to be derided.
After an uncomfortable month Champlain and Le Caron
returned to Carhagouha, where they remained until the
20th of May, and then set out for Quebec.

When Le Caron reached Quebec on the 11th of July (1616)
he found that his comrades had not been idle. A chapel