The river was now open and all was ready for departure.

Rather than allow himself and his men to be overwhelmed by an attack of the great concourse of warriors who surrounded the settlement of Stadacona, he determined to take his leave in his own way and at his own time, and to carry off with him the leaders of the savages themselves.

Following the custom of his age, he did not wish to return without the visible signs of his achievements.

Donnacona had freely boasted to him of the wonders of the great country far up beyond Hochelaga, of lands where gold and silver existed in abundance, where the people dressed like the French in woollen clothes, and of even greater wonders still,--of men with no stomachs, and of a race of beings with only one leg.

These things were of such import, Cartier thought, that they merited narration to the king of France himself.