body, speedily restored him to activity. His self-possession was never
lost for a moment. Discovering that Opecancanough was the chief, he
presented to him a small magnetic dial, and made the simple savages
wonder at the play of the needle beneath the glass surface.

On this excursion he was made prisoner, and he himself assures us was
saved by the Indian maiden Pocahontas. After a captivity of seven weeks
he returned to Jamestown, with increased knowledge of savage life and
manners. He treated his Indian guides with great kindness and gave them
two heavy guns and a millstone for the monarch. But the present was too
heavy for his strength, and when one of the cannons was discharged among
the boughs of a tree, and crashing of wood and ice was heard, the timid
natives declined any further interference with agents so formidable.

The absence of Smith had caused disorder and insubordination in the
colony. The pinnace had again been seized, and again he was obliged to
level the guns of the fort against her and compel submission. He was now
personally assailed by a charge replete with stupid malignity. Some, who
believed themselves skilled in the Levitical law, accused him of being
the cause of the death of Emry and Robinson, the two unfortunate men whom
the Indians had slain, and, with this pretext, they clamored for capital
punishment. To their insane charge Smith replied by taking the accusers
into custody, and by the first vessel he sent them for trial to England.
By his courage, his address, and his firmness he now wielded great
influence with the Indians, and proved the salvation of the settlement.

FOUNDING OF QUEBEC

CHAMPLAIN ESTABLISHES FRENCH POWER IN CANADA

A.D. 1608

H. H. MILES

From the period of Cartier's and Roberval's expeditions nearly fifty
years elapsed before France renewed her efforts to colonize the New
World. About the year 1598 the lucrative fur trade began to be
encouraged by Henry IV, of France, who in the brief respite from
religious wars was turning his attention to colonization and
commerce. In 1603 Samuel de Champlain, a French naval officer of high
character and chivalrous instincts, made his first voyage to Canada
in company with M. Pontegrave, a merchant of St. Malo, and together
they pushed their way up the St. Lawrence as far as the rapids abo