The sovereign remedy which Cartier had found so
efficacious in a similar emergency was not to be found. That remedy was
a decoction prepared by the Indians from a tree which they called
_Auneda_--believed to have been a species of spruce--but the natives of
Champlain's day knew nothing of the remedy, from which he concluded that
the tribe which had employed it on behalf of Cartier and his men had been
exterminated by their enemies.
With spring, succours and fresh immigrants arrived from France, and new
vitality was imported into the little colony. Soon after this time,
Champlain committed the most impolitic act of his life. The Hurons,
Algonquins and other tribes of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, resolved
upon taking the war-path against their enemies, the Iroquois, or Five
Nations--the boldest, fiercest, and most powerful confederacy known to
Indian history. Champlain, ever since his arrival in the country, had done
his utmost to win the favour of the natives with whom he was brought more
immediately into contact, and he deemed that by joining them in opposing
the Iroquois, who were a standing menace to his colony, he would knit the
Hurons and Algonquins to the side of the King of France by permanent and
indissoluble ties.
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