a higher death-rate. Scurvy began {68} in February
and lasted till the end of April. Of the eighteen whom it attacked,
ten died. Dysentery claimed others. On June 5, 1609, word came that
Pontgrave had arrived at Tadoussac. Champlain's comment is eloquent in
its brevity. 'This intelligence gave me much satisfaction, as we
entertained hopes of assistance from him. Out of the twenty-eight at
first forming our company only eight remained, and half of these were
ailing.'

The monopoly granted to De Monts had now reached its close, and trade
was open to all comers. From 1609 until 1613 this unrestricted
competition ran its course, with the result that a larger market was
created for beaver skins, while nothing was done to build up New France
as a colony. On the whole, the most notable feature of the period is
the establishment of close personal relations between Champlain and the
Indians. It was then that he became the champion of the Algonquins and
Hurons against the Iroquois League or Five Nations, inaugurating a
policy which was destined to have profound consequences.

The considerations which governed Champlain in his dealings with the
Indians lay quite outside the rights and wrongs of their tribal {69}
wars. His business was to explore the continent on behalf of France,
and accordingly he took conditions as he found them. The Indians had
souls to be saved, but that was the business of the missionaries. In
the state of nature all savages were much like wild animals, and
alliance with one nation or another was a question which naturally
settled itself upon the basis of drainage basins. Lands within the
Laurentian watershed were inhabited mainly by Algonquins and Hurons,
whose chief desire in life was to protect themselves from the Iroquois
and avenge past injuries. The Five Nations dwelt far south from the
Sault St Louis and did not send their furs there for the annual barter.
Champlain, ever in quest of a route to the East, needed friends along
the great rivers of the wilderness. The way to secure them, and at the
same time to widen the trading area, was to fight for the savages of
the St Lawrence and the Ottawa against those of the Mohawk.

And Champlain was a good ally, as he proved in the forest wars of 1609
and 1615. With all their shortcomings, the Indians knew how to take
the measure of a man. The difference between a warrior and a trader
was {70} especially clear to their untutored minds, they t