Let
others consume their souls in heaping up riches, in chaffering with the
Indians for the skins of wild beasts, and in selling the same to the
affluent traders of France. It is his ambition to rear the _fleur-de-lis_
in the remote wildernesses of the New World, and to evangelize the savage
hordes by whom that world is peopled. The latter object is the most dear to
his heart of all, and he has already recorded his belief that the salvation
of one soul is of more importance than the founding of an empire. After
such an exordium it is scarcely necessary to inform the student of history
that the name of Pontgrave's ally is Samuel De Champlain. He has already
figured somewhat conspicuously in his country's annals, but his future
achievements are destined to outshine the events of his previous career,
and to gain for him the merited title of "Father of New France."
He was born some time in the year 1567, at Brouage, a small seaport town in
the Province of Saintonge, on the west coast of France. Part of his youth
was spent in the naval service, and during the wars of the League he fought
on the side of the King, who awarded him a small pension and attached him
to his own person.
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