Samuel de Champlainfirst demonstrated his talents as an observer of unfamiliar regions during a two years’ trip through the West Indies and to the City of Mexico. His report on these travels doubtless commended him to the French king, who appointed him in 1603 to accompany an expedition which visited the St. Lawrence in search of a suitable location for a settlement. The following year Champlain made another voyage to America with Sieur de Monts, who attempted to plant a colony in Nova Scotia. The location proving unsatisfactory, Champlain made three voyages toward the west, hoping to find a place more to his liking. In September, 1604, he visited Mount Desert, and sailed up the Penobscot as far as Bangor. In the summer of 1605 he sailed along the Maine and Massachusetts coasts as far as Nauset harbour on the outer shores of Cape Cod. In 1606 he continued his explorations, visiting Gloucester harbour, then crossing to Cape Cod, and following the coast around to Vineyard Sound.Champlain made careful notes of all his observations, drawing maps and sketches of all important points. His reports were afterwards written out and sent home to France, where they were printed, the volumes going through several editions. An English translation of Champlain’s writings, by Dr. Charles P. Otis, with editorial notes by the Rev. E. F. Slafter, was issued in 1878 by the Prince Society of Boston, by whose courtesy that translation of chapters vii, viii, and ix of Champlain’s “Voyages,” printed at Paris in 1613, is now reprinted with some verbal changes.
Samuel de Champlainfirst demonstrated his talents as an observer of unfamiliar regions during a two years’ trip through the West Indies and to the City of Mexico. His report on these travels doubtless commended him to the French king, who appointed him in 1603 to accompany an expedition which visited the St. Lawrence in search of a suitable location for a settlement. The following year Champlain made another voyage to America with Sieur de Monts, who attempted to plant a colony in Nova Scotia. The location proving unsatisfactory, Champlain made three voyages toward the west, hoping to find a place more to his liking. In September, 1604, he visited Mount Desert, and sailed up the Penobscot as far as Bangor. In the summer of 1605 he sailed along the Maine and Massachusetts coasts as far as Nauset harbour on the outer shores of Cape Cod. In 1606 he continued his explorations, visiting Gloucester harbour, then crossing to Cape Cod, and following the coast around to Vineyard Sound.
Champlain made careful notes of all his observations, drawing maps and sketches of all important points. His reports were afterwards written out and sent home to France, where they were printed, the volumes going through several editions. An English translation of Champlain’s writings, by Dr. Charles P. Otis, with editorial notes by the Rev. E. F. Slafter, was issued in 1878 by the Prince Society of Boston, by whose courtesy that translation of chapters vii, viii, and ix of Champlain’s “Voyages,” printed at Paris in 1613, is now reprinted with some verbal changes.