On the 26th of the month, we arrived at Tadoussac, where there were vessels
which had arrived on the 18th, a thing which had not been seen for more
than sixty years, as the old mariners said who sail regularly to this
country. [362] This was owing to the mild winter and the small amount of
ice, which did not prevent the entrance of these vessels. We learned from a
young nobleman, named Sieur du Parc, who had spent the winter at our
settlement, that all his companions were in good health, only a few having
been ill, and they but slightly. He also informed us that there had been
scarcely any winter, and that they had usually had fresh meat the entire
season, and that their hardest task had been to keep up good cheer.

This winter shows how those undertaking in future such enterprises ought to
proceed, it being very difficult to make a new settlement without labor;
and without encountering adverse fortune the first year, as has been the
case in all our first settlements. But, in fact, by avoiding salt food and
using fresh meat, the health is as good here as in France.

The savages had been waiting from day to day for us to go to the war with
them. When they learned that Pont Grave and I had arrived together, they
rejoiced greatly, and came to speak with us.

I went on shore to assure them that we would go with them, in conformity
with the promises they had made me, namely, that upon our return from the
war they would show me the Trois Rivieres, and take me to a sea so large
that the end of it cannot be seen, whence we should return by way of the
Saguenay to Tadoussac. I asked them if they still had this intention, to
which they replied that they had, but that it could not be carried out
before the next year, which pleased me. But I had promised the Algonquins
and Ochateguins that I would assist them also in their wars, they having