<P> Cartier returned to France in September 1534, sure that he had reached an Asian land . </P> <P> Jacques Cartier set sail for a second voyage on May 19 of the following year with three ships, 110 men, and his two Iroquoian captives . Reaching the St. Lawrence, he sailed up - river for the first time, and reached the Iroquoian capital of Stadacona, where Chief Donnacona ruled . </P> <P> Cartier left his main ships in a harbour close to Stadacona, and used his smallest ship to continue on to Hochelaga (now Montreal), arriving on October 2, 1535 . Hochelaga was far more impressive than the small and squalid village of Stadacona, and a crowd of over a thousand came to the river edge to greet the Frenchmen . The site of their arrival has been confidently identified as the beginning of the Sainte - Marie Sault--where the bridge named after him now stands . The expedition could proceed no further, as the river was blocked by rapids . So certain was Cartier that the river was the Northwest Passage and that the rapids were all that was preventing him from sailing to China, that the rapids and the town that eventually grew up near them came to be named after the French word for China, La Chine: the Lachine Rapids and the town of Lachine, Quebec . </P> <P> After spending two days among the people of Hochelaga, Cartier returned to Stadacona on October 11 . It is not known exactly when he decided to spend the winter of 1535--1536 in Stadacona, and it was by then too late to return to France . Cartier and his men prepared for the winter by strengthening their fort, stacking firewood, and salting down game and fish . </P>

Who found the mouth of the st. lawrence river while looking for the northwest passage to asia