several voyages to the northwest anterior to this, obtained a commission
sufficiently comprehensive, amply providing for a colonial settlement and
the propagation of the Christian faith, with, indeed, all the privileges
accorded by that of the Marquis de la Roche. But the chief and present
object which Chauvin and Pont Grave hoped to attain was the monopoly of the
fur trade, which they had good reason to believe they could at that time
conduct with success. Under this commission, an expedition was accordingly
fitted out and sailed for Tadoussac. Successful in its main object, with a
full cargo of valuable furs, they returned to France in the autumn,
leaving, however, sixteen men, some of whom perished during the winter,
while the rest were rescued from the same fate by the charity of the
Indians. In the year 1600, Chauvin made another voyage, which was equally
remunerative, and a third had been projected on a much broader scale, when
his death intervened and prevented its execution.

The death of Sieur de Chauvin appears to have vacated his commission, at
least practically, opening the way for another, which was obtained by the
Commander de Chastes, whose expedition, accompanied by Champlain, as we
have already seen, left Honfleur on the 15th of March, 1603. It consisted
of two barques of twelve or fifteen tons, one commanded by Pont Grave, and
the other by Sieur Prevert, of Saint Malo, and was probably accompanied by
one or more advice-boats. They took with them two Indians who had been in
France some time, doubtless brought over by De Chauvin on his last voyage.
With favoring winds, they soon reached the banks of Newfoundland, sighted
Cape Ray, the northern point of the Island of Cape Breton, Anticosti and
Gaspe, coasting along the southern side of the river Saint Lawrence as far
as the Bic, where, crossing over to the northern shore, they anchored in
the harbor of Tadoussac. After reconnoitring the Saguenay twelve or fifteen
leagues, leaving their vessels at Tadoussac, where an active fur trade was
in progress with the Indians, they proceeded up the St. Lawrence in a light