. Our savages also
killed several of them and took ten or twelve prisoners. The remainder
escaped with the wounded. Fifteen or sixteen were wounded on our side
with arrow shots, but they were soon healed.

The spoils of victory included a large quantity of Indian corn,
together with a certain amount of meal, and also some of the native
armour which the Iroquois had thrown away in order to effect their
escape. Then followed a feast and the torture of one of the prisoners,
whose sufferings were mercifully concluded by a ball from Champlain's
musket, delivered in such wise that the unfortunate did not see {95}
the shot. Like Montcalm and other French commanders of a later date,
Champlain found it impossible to curb wholly the passions of his savage
allies. In this case his remonstrances had the effect of gaining for
the victim a _coup de grace_--which may be taken as a measure of
Champlain's prestige. The atrocious savagery practised before and
after death is described in full detail. Champlain concludes the lurid
picture as follows: 'This is the manner in which these people behave
towards those whom they capture in war, for whom it would be better to
die fighting or to kill themselves on the spur of the moment, as many
do rather than fall into the hands of their enemies.'

Beyond the point at which this battle was fought Champlain did not go.
At Ticonderoga he was within eighty miles of the site of Albany. Had
he continued, he would have reached the Hudson from the north in the
same summer the _Half Moon_[2] entered it from the mouth. But the
Algonquins were content with their victory, though they candidly {96}
stated that there was an easy route from the south end of Lake George
to 'a river flowing into the sea on the Norumbega coast near that of
Florida.' The return to Quebec and Tadoussac was attended by no
incident of moment. The Montagnais, on parting with Champlain at
Tadoussac, generously gave him the head of an Iroquois and a pair of
arms, with the request that they be carried to the king of France. The
Algonquins had already taken their departure at Chambly, where, says
Champlain, 'we separated with loud protestations of mutual friendship.
They asked me whether I would not like to go into their country to
assist them with continued fraternal relations; and I promised that I
would do so.' As a contribution to geographical knowledge the
expedition of 1609 disclosed the existence of a noble lake, to