and in due course reached the shores of Nova Scotia, then called Acadie.
After an absence of three years, during which Champlain explored the coast
as far southward as Cape Cod, the expedition returned to France. A good
deal had been learned as to the topographical features of the country lying
near the coast, but little had been done in the way of actual colonization.
The next expedition was productive of greater results. De Monts, at
Champlain's instigation, resolved to found a settlement on the shores of
the St Lawrence. Two vessels were fitted up at his expense and placed under
Champlain's command, with Pontgrave as lieutenant of the expedition, which
put to sea in the month of April, 1608, and reached the mouth of the
Saguenay early in June. Pontgrave began a series of trading operations with
the Indians at Tadousac, while Champlain proceeded up the river to fix upon
an advantageous site for the projected settlement. This site he found at
the confluence of the St. Charles with the St. Lawrence, near the place
where Jacques Cartier had spent the winter of 1535-6. Tradition tells us
that when Cartier's sailors beheld the adjacent promontory of Cape Diamond
they exclaimed, "_Quel bec_"--("What a beak!")--which exclamation led to
the place being called _Quebec_. The most probable derivation of the name,
however, is the Indian word _kebec_, signifying a strait, which might well
have been applied by the natives to the narrowing of the river at this
place. Whatever may be the origin of the name, here it was that Champlain,
on the 3rd of July, 1608, founded his settlement, and Quebec was the name
which he bestowed upon it. This was the first permanent settlement of
Europeans on the American continent, with the exception of those at St.
Augustine, in Florida, and Jamestown, in Virginia.

Champlain's first attempts at settlement, as might be expected, were of a
very primitive character. He erected rude barracks, and cleared a few small
patches of ground adjacent thereto, which he sowed with wheat and rye.
Perceiving that the fur trade might be turned to good account in promoting