observer.

With the early morning light they again advanced, following
the ever-widening stream, in whose midst islands leagues in
extent now appeared. Beyond came broad channels and extended
reaches of widening waters, and soon the delighted explorer
found that the river had ended and that the canoes were
moving over the broad bosom of that great lake of which the
Indians had told him, and which has ever since borne his
name. It was a charming scene which thus first met the eyes
of civilized man. Far in front spread the inland sea. On
either side distant forests, clad in the fresh leafage of
June, marked the borders of the lake. Far away, over their
leafy tops, appeared lofty heights; on the left the Green
Mountains lifted their forest-clad ridges, with patches of
snow still whitening their tops; on the right rose the
clustering hills of the Adirondacks, then the
hunting-grounds of the Iroquois, and destined to remain the
game-preserves of the whites long after the axe and plough
had subdued all the remainder of that forest-clad domain.

[Illustration: LAKE CHAMPLAIN AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.]

They had reached a region destined to play a prominent part
in the coming history of America. The savages told their
interested auditors of another lake, thickly studded with
islands, beyond that on which they now were; and still
beyond a rocky portage over which they hoped to carry their
canoes, and a great river which flowed far down to the
mighty waters of the sea. If they met not the foe sooner