and from thence took its departure for Spain, passing through the channel
of Bahama, or Gulf of Florida, sighting Bermuda and the Azores, reaching
Saint Lucar early in March, 1601, after an absence from that port of two
years and two months. [22]

On Champlain's return to France, he prepared an elaborate report of his
observations and discoveries, luminous with sixty-two illustrations
sketched by his own hand. As it was his avowed purpose in making the voyage
to procure information that should be valuable to his government, he
undoubtedly communicated it in some form to Henry IV. The document remained
in manuscript two hundred and fifty-seven years, when it was first printed
at London in an English translation by the Hakluyt Society, in 1859. It is
an exceedingly interesting and valuable tract, containing a lucid
description of the peculiarities, manners, and customs of the people, the
soil, mountains, and rivers, the trees, fruits, and plants, the animals,
birds, and fishes, the rich mines found at different points, with frequent
allusions to the system of colonial management, together with the character
and sources of the vast wealth which these settlements were annually
yielding to the Spanish crown.

The reader of this little treatise will not fail to see the drift and
tendency of Champlain's mind and character unfolded on nearly every page.
His indomitable perseverance, his careful observation, his honest purpose
and amiable spirit are at all times apparent. Although a Frenchman, a
foreigner, and an entire stranger in the Spanish fleet, he had won the
confidence of the commander so completely, that he was allowed by special
permission to visit the City of Mexico, the Isthmus of Panama, and the
coast of South America, all of which were prominent and important centres
of interest, but nevertheless lying beyond the circuit made by the squadron
to which he was attached.