HOW THE PEOPLE LIVED
In New France there were no privileged orders. This, indeed, was the
most marked difference between the social organization of the home
land and that of the colony. There were social distinctions in Canada,
to be sure, but the boundaries between different elements of the
population were not rigid; there were no privileges based upon the
laws of the land, and no impenetrable barrier separated one class from
another. Men could rise by their own efforts or come down through
their own defaults; their places in the community were not determined
for them by the accident of birth as was the case in the older land.
Some of the most successful figures in the public and business affairs
of New France, some of the social leaders, some of those who attained
the highest rank in the _noblesse_, came of relatively humble
parentage.
In France of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the chief
officials of state, the seigneurs, the higher ecclesiastics, even
the officers of the army and the marine, were always drawn from the
nobility. In the colony this was very far from being the case. Some
colonial officials and a few of the seigneurs were among the numerous
_noblesse_ of France before they came, and they of course retained
their social rank in the new environment. Others were raised to this
rank by the King, usually for distinguished services in the colony and
on the recommendation of the governor or the intendant. But, even if
taken all together, these men constituted a very small proportion of
the people in New France. Even among the seigneurs the great majority
of these landed gentlemen came from the ranks of the people, and not
one in ten was a member of the _noblesse_. There was, therefore, a
social solidarity, a spirit of fraternity, and a feeling of universal
comradeship among them which was altogether lacking at home.
The pivot of social life in New France was the settlement at Quebec.
This was the colonial capital, the seat of the governor and of the
council, the only town in the colony large enough to have all the
trappings and tinsel of a well-rounded social set. Here, too, came
some of the seigneurs to spend the winter months. The royal officials,
the officers of the garrison, the leading merchants, the judges, the
notaries and a few other professional men--these with their families
made up an élite which managed to echo, even if somewhat faintly, the
pomp and glamor of Versailles. Quebec, from all accounts, was
lively in the long winters. Its people, who were shut off from all
intercourse with Europe for many months at a time, soon learned
the art of providing for their own recreation and amusement. The
knight-errant La Hontan speaks enthusiastically of the events in the
life of this miniature society, of the dinners and dances, the salons
and receptions, the intrigues, rivalries, and flirtations, all of
which were well suited to his Bohemian tastes. But the clergy frowned
upon this levity, of which they believed there was far too much. On
one or two occasions they even laid a rigorous and restraining hand
upon activities of which they disapproved, notably when the young
officers of the Quebec garrison undertook an amateur performance of
Moliere's _Tartuffe_ in 1694. At Montreal and Three Rivers, the two
smaller towns of the colony, the social circle was more contracted and
correspondingly less brilliant. The capital, indeed, had no rival.
Only a small part of the population, however, lived in the towns. At
the beginning of the eighteenth century the census (1706) showed
a total of 16,417, of whom less than 3000 were in the three chief
settlements. The others were scattered along both banks of the St.
Lawrence, but chiefly on the northern shore, with the houses grouped
into _côtes_ or little villages which almost touched elbows along the
banks of the stream. In each of these hamlets the manor-house or home
of the seigneur, although not a mansion by any means, was the focus of
social life. Sometimes built of timber but more often of stone, with
dimensions rarely exceeding twenty feet by forty, it was not much more
pretentious than the homes of the more prosperous and thrifty among
the seigneur's dependents. Its three or four spacious rooms were,
however, more comfortably equipped with furniture which in many cases
had been brought from France. Socially, the seigneur and his family
did not stand apart from his neighbors. All went to the same church,
took part in the same amusements upon days of festival, and not
infrequently worked together at the common task of clearing the lands.
Sons and daughters of the seigneurs often intermarried with those of
habitants in the seigneury or of traders in the towns. There was no
social _impasse_ such as existed in France among the various elements
in a community.
As for the habitants, the people who cleared and cultivated the lands
of the seigneuries, they worked and lived and dressed as pioneers are
wont to do. Their homes were commonly built of felled timber or of
rough-hewn stone, solid, low, stocky buildings, usually about twenty
by forty feet or thereabouts in size, with a single doorway and very
few windows. The roofs were steep-pitched, with a dormer window or two
thrust out on either side, the eaves projecting well over the walls in
such manner as to give the structures a half-bungalow appearance. With
almost religious punctuality the habitants whitewashed the outside of
their walls every spring, so that from the river the country houses
looked trim and neat at all seasons. Between the river and the uplands
ran the roadway, close to which the habitants set their conspicuous
dwellings with only in rare cases a grass plot or shade tree at the
door. In winter they bore the full blast of the winds that drove
across the expanse of frozen stream in front of them; in summer the
hot sun blazed relentlessly upon the low roofs. As each house stood
but a few rods from its neighbor on either side, the colony thus
took on the appearance of one long, straggling, village street. The
habitant liked to be near his fellows, partly for his own safety
against marauding redskins, but chiefly because the colony was at best
a lonely place in the long cold season when there was little for any
one to do.
Behind each house was a small addition used as a storeroom. Not far
away were the barn and the stable, built always of untrimmed logs, the
intervening chinks securely filled with clay or mortar. There was also
a root-house, half-sunk in the ground or burrowed into the slope of a
hill, where the habitant kept his potatoes and vegetables secure from
the frost through the winter. Most of the habitants likewise had their
own bake-ovens, set a convenient distance behind the house and rising
four or five feet from the ground. These they built roughly of
boulders and plastered with clay. With an abundance of wood from the
virgin forests they would build a roaring fire in these ovens and
finish the whole week's baking at one time. The habitant would often
enclose a small plot of ground surrounding the house and outbuildings
with a fence of piled stones or split rails, and in one corner he
would plant his kitchen-garden.
Within the dwelling-house there were usually two, and never more than
three, rooms on the ground floor. The doorway opened into the great
room of the house, parlor, dining-room, and kitchen combined. A
"living" room it surely was! In the better houses, however, this room
was divided, with the kitchen partitioned off from the rest. Most of
the furnishings were the products of the colony and chiefly of the
family's own workmanship. The floor was of hewn timber, rubbed and
scrubbed to smoothness. A woolen rug or several of them, always of
vivid hues, covered the greater part of it. There were the family
dinner-table of hewn pine, chairs made of pine saplings with, seats of
rushes or woven underbark, and often in the corner a couch that would
serve as an extra bed at night. Pictures of saints hung on the walls,
sharing the space with a crucifix, but often having for ominous
company the habitant's flint-lock and his powder-horn hanging from the
beams. At one end of the room was the fireplace and hearth, the sole
means of heating the place, and usually the only means of cooking
as well. Around it hung the array of pots and pans, almost the only
things in the house which the habitant and his family were not able to
make for themselves. The lack of colonial industries had the advantage
of throwing each home upon its own resources, and the people developed
great versatility in the cruder arts of craftsmanship.
Upstairs, and reached by a ladder, was a loft or attic running the
full area of the house, but so low that one could touch, the rafters
everywhere. Here the children, often a dozen or more of them, were
stowed away at night on mattresses of straw or feathers laid along
the floor. As the windows were securely fastened, even in the coldest
weather this attic was warm, if not altogether hygienic. The love of
fresh air in his dwelling was not among the habitant's virtues. Every
one went to bed shortly after darkness fell upon the land, and all
rose with the sun. Even visits and festivities were not at that time
prolonged into the night as they are nowadays. Therein, however, New
France did not differ from other lands. In the seventeenth century
most of the world went to bed at nightfall because there was nothing
else to do, and no easy or inexpensive artificial light. Candles were
in use, to be sure, but a great many more of them were burned on
the altars of the churches than in the homes of the people. For his
reading, the habitant depended upon the priest, and for his writing,
upon the notary.
Clothing was almost wholly made at home. It was warm and durable,
as well as somewhat distinctive and picturesque. Every parish had
spinning wheels and handlooms in some of its homes on which the women
turned out the heavy druggets or _étoffes du pays_ from which most of
the men's clothing was made. A great fabric it was, this homespun,
with nothing but wool in it, not attractive in pattern but able to
stand no end of wear. It was fashioned for the habitant's use into
roomy trousers and a long frock coat reaching to the knees which he
tied around his waist with a belt of leather or of knitted yarn. The
women also used this _étoffe_ for skirts, but their waists and summer
dresses were of calico, homemade as well. As for the children, most of
them ran about in the summer months wearing next to nothing at all. A
single garment without sleeves and reaching to the knees was all that
covered their nakedness. For all ages and for both sexes there were
furs in plenty for winter use. Beaver skins were cheap, in some years
about as cheap as cloth. When properly treated they were soft and
pliable, and easily made into clothes, caps, and mittens.
Most of the footwear was made at home, usually from deerhides. In
winter every one wore the _bottes sauvages_, or oiled moccasins laced
up halfway or more to the knees. They were proof against cold and were
serviceable for use with snowshoes. Between them and his feet the
habitant wore two or more pairs of heavy woolen socks made from
coarse homespun yarn. In summer the women and children of the rural
communities usually went barefoot so that the soles of their feet
grew as tough as pigskin; the men sometimes did likewise, but more
frequently they wore, in the fields or in the forest, clogs made of
cowhide.
On the week-days of summer every one wore a straw hat which the women
of the household spent part of each winter in plaiting. In cold
weather the knitted _tuque_ made in vivid colors was the great
favorite. It was warm and picturesque. Each section of the colony
had its own color; the habitants in the vicinity of Quebec wore blue
_tuques_, while those around Montreal preferred red. The apparel of
the people was thus in general adapted to the country, and it had a
distinctiveness that has not yet altogether passed away.
On Sundays and on the numerous days of festival, however, the habitant
and his family brought out their best. To Mass the men wore clothes
of better texture and high, beaver hats, the women appeared in their
brighter plumage of dresses with ribbons and laces imported from
France. Such finery was brought over in so large a quantity that more
than one _mémoire_ to the home government censured the "spirit of
extravagance" of which this was one outward manifestation. In the
towns the officials and the well-to-do merchants dressed elaborately
on all occasions of ceremony, with scarlet cloaks and perukes, buckled
slippers and silk stockings. In early Canada there was no austerity of
garb such as we find in Puritan New England. New France on a _jour de
fête_ was a blaze of color.
As for his daily fare, the habitant was never badly off even in the
years when harvests were poor. He had food that was more nourishing
and more abundant than the French peasant had at home. Bread was made
from both wheat and rye flour, the product of the seigneurial mills.
Corn cakes were baked in Indian fashion from ground maize. Fat salted
pork was a staple during the winter, and nearly every habitant laid
away each autumn a smoked supply of eels from the river. Game of all
sorts he could get with little trouble at any time, wild ducks and
geese, partridges, for there were in those days no game laws to
protect them. In the early winter, likewise, it was indeed a luckless
habitant who could not also get a caribou or two for his larder.
Following the Indian custom, the venison was smoked and hung on the
kitchen beams, where it kept for months until needed. Salted or smoked
fish had also to be provided for family use, since the usages of the
Church required that meat should not be used upon numerous fast-days.
Vegetables of many varieties were grown in New France, where the warm,
sandy, virgin soil of the St. Lawrence region was splendidly suited
for this branch of husbandry. Peas were the great stand-by, and in the
old days whole families were reared upon _soupe aux pois_, which was,
and may even still be said to be, the national dish of the French
Canadians. Beans, cucumbers, melons, and a dozen other products were
also grown in the family gardens. There were potatoes, which the
habitant called _palates_ and not _pommes de terre_, but they were
almost a rarity until the closing days of the Old Régime. Wild fruits,
chiefly raspberries, blueberries, and wild grapes, grew in abundance
among the foothills and were gathered in great quantities every
summer. There was not much orchard fruit, although some seedling trees
were brought from France and had managed to become acclimated.
On the whole, even in the humbler homes there was no need for any one
to go hungry. The daily fare of the people was not of great variety,
but it was nourishing, and there was plenty of it save in rare
instances. More than one visitor to the colony was impressed by the
rude comfort in which the people lived, even though they made no
pretense of being well-to-do. "In New France," wrote Charlevoix,
"poverty is hidden behind an air of comfort," while the gossipy La
Hontan was of the opinion that "the boors of these seigneuries live
with, greater comfort than an infinity of the gentlemen in France."
Occasionally, when the men were taken from the fields to serve in the
defense of the colony against the English attacks, the harvests were
small and the people had to spend the ensuing winter on short rations.
Yet, as the authorities assured the King, they were "robust, vigorous,
and able in time of need to live on little."
As for beverages, the habitant was inordinately fond of sour milk. Tea
was scarce and costly. Brandy was imported in huge quantities, and not
all this _eau-de-vie_, as some writers imagine, went into the Indian
trade. The people themselves consumed most of it. Every parish in the
colony had its grog-shop; in 1725 the King ordered that no parish
should have more than two. Quebec had a dozen or more, and complaint
was made that the people flocked to these resorts early in the
morning, thus rendering themselves unfit for work during most of the
day, and soon ruining their health into the bargain. There is no doubt
that the people of New France were fond of the flagon, for not only
the priests but the civil authorities complained of this failing.
Idleness due to the numerous holidays and to the long winters combined
with the tradition of hospitality to encourage this taste. The
habitants were fond of visiting one another, and hospitality demanded
on every such occasion the proffer of something to drink. On the other
hand, the scenes of debauchery which a few chroniclers have described
were not typical of the colony the year round. When the ships came
in with their cargoes, there was a great indulgence in feasting and
drink, and the excesses at this time were sure to impress the casual
visitor. But when the fleet had weighed anchor and departed for
France, there was a quick return to the former quietness and to a
reasonable measure of sobriety.
Tobacco was used freely. "Every farmer," wrote Kalm, "plants a
quantity of tobacco near his house because it is universally smoked.
Boys of twelve years of age often run about with the pipe in their
mouths." The women were smokers, too, but more commonly they used
tobacco in the form of snuff. In those days, as in our own, this
French-Canadian tobacco was strong stuff, cured in the sun till the
leaves were black, and when smoked emitting an odor that scented the
whole parish. The art of smoking a pipe was one of several profitless
habits which, the Frenchman lost little time in acquiring from his
Indian friends.
This convivial temperament of the inhabitants of New France has been
noted by more than one contemporary. The people did not spend all
their energies and time at hard labor. From October, when the crops
were in, until May, when the season of seedtime came again, there was,
indeed, little hard work for them to do. Aside from the cutting of
firewood and the few household chores the day was free, and the
habitants therefore spent it in driving about and visiting neighbors,
drinking and smoking, dancing and playing cards. Winter, accordingly,
was the great social season in the country as well as in the town.
The chief festivities occurred at Michaelmas, Christmas, Easter, and
May Day. Of these, the first and the last were closely connected with
the seigneurial system. On Michaelmas the habitant came to pay the
annual rental for his lands; on May Day he rendered the Maypole homage
which, has been already described. Christmas and Easter were the great
festivals of the Church and as such were celebrated with religious
fervor and solemnity. In addition, minor festivals, chiefly religious
in character, were numerous, so much so that their frequency even in
the months of cultivation was the subject of complaint by the civil
authorities, who felt that these holidays took altogether too
much time from labor. Sunday was a day not only of worship but of
recreation. Clad in his best raiment, every one went to Mass, whatever
the distance or the weather. The parish church indeed was the emblem
of village solidarity, for it gathered within its walls each Sunday
morning all sexes and ages and ranks. The habitant did not
separate his religion from his work or his amusements; the outward
manifestations of his faith were not to his mind things of another
world; the church and its priests were the center and soul of his
little community. The whole countryside gathered about the church
doors after the service while the _capitaine de la côte_, the local
representative of the intendant, read the decrees that had been sent
to him from the seals of the mighty at the Château de St. Louis. That
duty over, there was a garrulous interchange of local gossip with a
retailing of such news as had dribbled through from France. The crowd
then melted away in groups to spend the rest of the day in games or
dancing or in friendly visits of one family with another.
Especially popular among the young people of each parish were the
_corvées récréatives_, or "bees" as we call them nowadays in our
rural communities. There were the _épuchlette_ or corn-husking,
the _brayage_ or flax-beating, and others of the same sort. The
harvest-home or _grosse-gerbe_, celebrated when the last load had been
brought in from the fields, and the _Ignolée_ or welcoming of the New
Year, were also occasions of goodwill, noise, and revelry. Dancing
was by all odds the most popular pastime, and every parish had its
fiddler, who was quite as indispensable a factor in the life of the
village as either the smith or the notary. Every wedding was the
occasion for terpsichorean festivities which lasted all day long.
The habitant liked to sing, especially when working with others in the
woods or when on the march. The voyageurs relieved the tedium of their
long journeys by breaking into song at intervals. But the popular
repertoire was limited to a few folksongs, most of them songs of Old
France. They were easy to learn, simple to sing, but sprightly and
melodious. Some of them have remained on the lips and in the hearts of
the French-Canadian race for over two hundred years. Those who do not
know the _Claire fontaine_ and _Ma boulë roulant_ have never known
French Canada. The _forêtier_ of today still goes to the woods
chanting the _Malbrouck s'en va-t-en guerre_ which his ancestors
caroled in the days of Blenheim and Malplaquet. When the habitant
sang, moreover, it was in no pianissimo tones; he was lusty and
cheerful about giving vent to his buoyant spirits. And his descendant
of today has not lost that propensity.
The folklore of the old dominion, unlike the folk music, was
extensive. Some of it came with the colonists from their Norman
firesides, but more, perhaps, was the outcome of a superstitious
popular imagination working in the new and strange environment of the
wilderness. The habitant had a profound belief in the supernatural,
and was prone to associate miraculous handiwork with every unusual
event. He peopled the earth and the air, the woods and the rivulets,
with spirits of diverse forms and varied motives. The red man's
abounding superstition, likewise, had some influence upon the
habitant's highstrung temperament. At any rate, New France was full of
legends and weird tales. Every island, every cove in the river, had
one or more associated with it. Most of these legends had some moral
lessons attached to them: they were tales of disaster which came from
disobeying the teachings of the Church or of miraculous escape from
death or perdition due to the supernatural rewarding of righteousness.
Taken together, they make up a wholesome and vigorous body of
folklore, reflecting both the mystic temper of the colony and the
religious fervor of its common life. A distinguished son of French
Canada has with great industry gathered these legends together, a
service for which posterity will be grateful.[1]
[Footnote 1: Sir J.M. Lemoine, _Legends of the St. Lawrence_ (Quebec,
1878).]
Various chroniclers have left us pen portraitures of the habitant as
they saw him in the olden days. Charlevoix, La Hontan, Hocquart, and
Peter Kalm, men of widely different tastes and aptitudes, all bear
testimony to his vigor, stamina, and native-born vivacity. He was
courteous and polite always, yet there was no flavor of servility in
this most benign trait of character. It was bred in his bone and
was fostered by the teachings of his church. Along with this went a
_bonhomie_ and a lightheartedness, a touch of personal vanity, with a
liking for display and ostentation, which unhappily did not make for
thrift. The habitant "enjoys what he has got," writes Charlevoix, "and
often makes a display of what he has not got." He was also fond
of honors, even minor ones, and plumed himself on the slightest
recognition from official circles. Habitants who by years of hard
labor had saved enough to buy some uncleared seigneury strutted about
with the airs of genuine aristocrats while their wives, in the words
of Governor Denonville, "essayed to play the fine lady." More than one
intendant was amused by this broad streak of vanity in the colonial
character. "Every one here," wrote Meulles, "begins by calling himself
an esquire and ends by thinking himself a nobleman."
Yet despite this attempt to keep up appearances, the people were
poor. Clearing the land was a slow process, and the cultivable area
available for the support of each household was small. Early marriages
were the rule, and families of a dozen or more children had to be
supported from the produce of a few _arpents_. To maintain such a
family as this every one had to work hard in the growing season, and
even the women went to the fields in the harvest-time. One serious
shortcoming of the habitant was his lack of steadfastness in labor.
There was a roving strain in his Norman blood. He could not stay long
at any one job; there was a restlessness in his temperament which
would not down. He would leave his fields unploughed in order to go
hunting or to turn a few _sous_ in some small trading adventure.
Unstable as water, he did not excel in tasks that required patience.
But he could do a great many things after a fashion, and some that
could be done quickly he did surprisingly well.
One racial characteristic which drew comment from observers of the day
was the litigious disposition of the people. The habitant would have
made lawsuits his chief diversion had he been permitted to do so. "If
this propensity be not curbed," wrote the intendant Raudot, "there
will soon be more lawsuits in this country than there are persons."
The people were not quarrelsome in the ordinary sense, but they were
very jealous each one of his private rights, and the opportunities for
litigation over such matters seemed to provide themselves without end.
Lands were given to settlers without accurate description of their
boundaries; farms were unfenced and cattle wandered into neighboring
fields; the notaries themselves were almost illiterate, and as a
result scarcely a legal document in the colony was properly drawn.
Nobody lacked pretexts for controversy. Idleness during the winter was
also a contributing factor. But the Church and the civil authorities
frowned upon this habit of rushing to court with every trivial
complaint. _Curés_ and seigneurs did what they could to have such
difficulties settled amicably at home, and in a considerable measure
they succeeded.
New France was born and nurtured in an atmosphere of religious
devotion. To the habitant the Church was everything--his school, his
counselor, his almsgiver, his newspaper, his philosopher of things
present and of things to come. To him it was the source of all
knowledge, experience, and inspiration, and to it he never faltered in
ungrudging loyalty. The Church made the colony a spiritual unit and
kept it so; undefiled by any taint of heresy. It furnished the one
strong, well-disciplined organization that New France possessed, and
its missionaries blazed the way for both yeoman and trader wherever
they went.
Many traits of the race have been carried on to the present day
without substantial change. The habitant of the old dominion was a
voluble talker, a teller of great stories about his own feats of skill
and endurance, his hair-raising escapes, or his astounding prowess
with musket and fishing-line. Stories grew in terms of prodigious
achievement as they passed from tongue to tongue, and the scant regard
for anything approaching the truth in these matters became a national
eccentricity. The habitant was boastful in all that concerned himself
or his race; never did a people feel more firmly assured that it was
the salt of the earth. He was proud of his ancestry, and proud of his
allegiance; and so are his descendants of today even though their
allegiance has changed.
To speak of the habitants of New France as downtrodden or oppressed,
dispirited or despairing, like the peasantry of the old land in the
days before the great Revolution, as some historians have done, is to
speak untruthfully. These people were neither serfs nor peons. The
habitant, as Charlevoix puts it, "breathed from his birth the air of
liberty"; he had his rights and he maintained them. Shut off from the
rest of the world, knowing only what the Church and civil government
allowed him to know, he became provincial in his horizon and
conservative in his habits of mind. The paternal policy of the
authorities sapped his initiative and left him little scope for
personal enterprise, so that he passed for being a dull fellow. Yet
the annals of forest trade and Indian diplomacy prove that the New
World possessed no sharper wits than his. Beneath a somewhat ungainly
exterior the yeoman and the trader of New France concealed qualities
of cunning, tact, and quick judgment to a surprising degree.
These various types in the population of New France, officials,
missionaries, seigneurs, voyageurs, habitants, were all the scions of
a proud race, admirably fitted to form the rank and file in a great
crusade. It was not their fault that France failed to dominate the
Western Hemisphere.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
On the earlier voyages of discovery to the northern coasts of the New
World the most informing book is H.P. Biggar's _Precursors of Jacques
Cartier_ (Ottawa, 1911). Hakluyt's _Voyages_ contain an English
translation of Cartier's own writings which cover the whole of
the first two expeditions and a portion of the third. Champlain's
journals, which describe in detail his sea voyages and inland trips of
exploration during the years 1604-1618 inclusive, were translated into
English and published by the Prince Society of Boston during the years
1878-1882.
For further discussions of these explorations and of the various other
topics dealt with in this book the reader may be referred to several
works in the _Chronicles of Canada_ (32 vols. Toronto, 1914-1916),
namely, to Stephen Leacock's _Dawn of Canadian History_ and _Mariner
of St. Malo_; Charles W. Colby's _Founder of New France_ and _The
Fighting Governor_; Thomas Chapais's _Great Intendant_; Thomas G.
Marquis's _Jesuit Missions_, also to _Seigneurs of Old Canada_ and
_Coureurs-de-Bois_ by the author of the present volume. In each of
these books, moreover, further bibliographical references covering the
several topics are provided.
The series known as _Canada and Its Provinces_ (22 vols. and index,
Toronto, 1914) contains accurate and readable chapters upon every
phase of Canadian history, political, military, social, economic, and
literary. The first two volumes of this series deal with the French
regime. Mention should also be made of the biographical series
dealing with _The Makers of Canada_ (22 vols. Toronto, 1905-1914) and
especially to the biographies of Champlain, Laval, and Frontenac which
this series includes among its earlier volumes.
The writings of Francis Parkman, notably his _Pioneers of New France,
Old Régime in Canada, Jesuits in North America, La Salle and the
Discovery of the Great West_, and _Count Frontenac_ are of the highest
interest and value. Although given to the world nearly two generations
ago, these volumes still hold an unchallenged supremacy over all other
books relating to this field of American history.
Other works which may be commended to readers who seek pleasure as
well as instruction from books of history are the following:
PÈRE F.-X. CHARLEVOIX, _Histoire et description générale de la
Nouvelle-France_, translated by John Gilmary Shea (6 vols. N.Y.,
1866-1872).
C.W. COLBY, _Canadian Types of the Old Régime_ (N.Y., 1908).
A.G. DOUGHTY, _A Daughter of New France_ (Edinburgh, 1916).
JAMES DOUGLAS, _Old France in the New World_ (Cleveland, 1906).
F.-X. GARNEAU, _Histoire du Canada_ (5th ed. by Hector Garneau, Paris,
1913. As yet only the first volume of this edition has appeared.)
P. KALM, _Travels into North America_ (2 vols. London, 1772).
LE BARON DE LA HONTAN, _New Voyages to North_ _America_ (ed. R.G.
Thwaites. 2 vols. Chicago, 1905).
MARC LESCARBOT, _Histoire de la Nouvelle-France_ (translated by W.L.
Grant. 3 vols. Toronto, 1907-1914. Publications of the Champlain
Society).
FREDERIC A. OGG, _The Opening of the Mississippi_ (N.Y., 1904).
A. SALONE, _La colonisation de la Nouvelle-France_ (Paris, 1905).
G.M. WRONG, _A Canadian Manor and its Seigneurs_ (Toronto, 1908).
For further references the reader should consult, in _The
Encyclopaedia Britannica_, the articles on _France, Canada, Louis XIV,
Richelieu, Colbert_, and _The Jesuits_.
Index
Algonquins, The, act as guides to Champlain, 41;
friendly to the French, 45
Anticosti, Island of, 19,20
_Arrêts of Marly_ (1711), 143
Belle Isle, 18, 19, 20
Bigot, François, 68
Brébeuf, Jean de, Jesuit missionary, 56
Brouage, birthplace of Champlain, 33
Cambrai, Peace of (1729), 15
Canada, _see_ New France
Cap Rouge, Cartier winters at, 26;
Roberval winters at, 28
Cartier, Jacques, sets out on first voyage of discovery, (1534), 16;
a corsair, 16;
former voyages, 17;
reaches New World, 18;
purpose of expedition, 19;
returns home, 19;
begins second voyage, 19-20;
his ships, 20;
winters at Stadacona, 21-23;
learns of Great Lakes, 22;
takes Indians to King, 23;
account of voyage, 24;
sails on third voyage from St. Malo (1541), 25;
winters at Cap Rouge, 26;
defies patron, Roberval, 27;
personal characteristics, 29;
later life, 29;
death (1557), 29;
bibliography, 29
Catalogne, Gedéon de, makes survey and maps of Quebec region (1712),
143-44;
makes agricultural census, 184
Cataraqui (Kingston), fort established at, 85-86;
La Salle receives grant of land at, 103
_Chaleurs, Baie des_, 18
Champlain, Samuel de, born at Brouage (1567), 33;
sails with expedition of De Chastes (1603), 33;
personal characteristics, 33-34;
embarks as chief geographer (1604), 35;
winters at St. Croix, 36-37;
_Order de Bon Temps_, 38;
returns to France, 39;
sails again for the St. Lawrence (1608), 39;
raid against the Iroquois, 41;
seeks western passage to Cathay, 44;
takes journeys into interior (1613 and 1616), 44-47;
journals, 47;
as viceroy's deputy, 48;
surrenders to English, 51-52;
returns to Quebec as representative of Company of One Hundred
Associates, 52;
death (1635), 53;
appreciation of, 53-54
Champlain, Lake, 41
Chastes, Amyar, Sieur de, 32, 33, 34.
Chauvin of Honfleur, 32
Church in New France, loyalty to, 113;
Récollets, 115;
Jesuits, 116 _et seq_.;
aid to civil power, 127-28;
revenues, 129-130;
_see also_ Jesuits
Colbert, Jean Baptiste, personal characteristics, 8;
interest in
colonial ventures, 8-9;
plans for French interest, 60-61;
plans fleet of merchant vessels, 197-98
Courcelle, Daniel de Rémry, Sieur de, Governor of New France, 75
Coureurs-de-bois,
attack Indians (1687), 95-96;
kind of men engaged as, 161-62;
number, 162-63;
leaders, 163-64;
methods of trading, 165 et seq.;
licenses granted to, 172
Crèvecoeur, Fort, 106, 107
D'Ailleboust, Governor of New France, 55
Denonville, Marquis de, Governor of New France, 94
Donnacona, head of Indian village, 23
Duchesneau, Jacques, Intendant of New France, 88;
quarrels with Frontenac, 89-91;
recalled, 91
Du Lhut, Daniel Greysolon, 87, 95, 131
Dumesnil, Péronne, 73
Education in New France, 130-132
England,
early explorations, 15, 16;
colonial ventures, 49
Five nations, appellation of the Iroquois Indians, 42
France in the seventeenth century,
population, 1, 3;
army, 1;
power and prestige, 2-4;
outstripped in commerce, 3;
racial qualities, 3-4;
government, 4-5;
church, 5;
tardiness in American colonization, 6-8;
weakness of colonial policy, 10-14
Frontenac, Louis de Buade, Count,
chosen to carry out colonial policy, 9;
sent as Governor to Quebec (1672), 80;
early life, 80;
personal characteristics, 81-82;
inauguration, 83;
plans checked by King, 83-84;
expansion policy, 84 et seq.;
builds fort at Cataraqui, 86;
opposed by Bishop and Intendant, 89-91;
recalled (1682), 91;
returns to Quebec as Governor (1689), 97-98:
death (1698), 98
Frontenac, Fort, 85-86, 103, 108
Fur trade with the Indians, 155 et seq.
Gallican branch of the Catholic Church, 5, 114
Gaspé Bay, 18
Georgian Bay, Champlain's journey to, 46-47
Giffard, Robert, 142
Green Bay, 163
_Griffin_, The, ship, 104-105, 106
Habitants, 147-51, 207-26
Hakluyt, account of meeting of Cartier and Roberval, 27
Hébert, Louis, 137
Hennepin, Louis, Récollet friar, 104
Hochelaga (Montreal), 21-22, 26, 34
Huguenots excluded from Canada, 195-96
Hurons, The,
act as guides to Champlain, 41;
friendly to the French, 45-46;
destroyed by the Iroquois, 55-56;
Jesuits among, 118-19
Hurons, Lake of the, _see_ Georgian Bay
Illinois River, La Salle reaches, 106, 109
Indians,
hostility toward Cartier, 26;
fur trade with, 156 et seq.;
effect of trade upon, 178;
_see also_ Algonquins, Hurons, Iroquois, Onondagas
Irondequoit Bay, 102
Iroquois, The, Champlain's encounter with, 41-43;
friends of English, enemies of French, 42-43;
troubles with, 56-58, 74-78, 93 _et seq_.
Jesuit _Relations_, 54, 119-20, 132
Jesuits, The, settle Montreal, 54-55;
oppose Frontenac, 88;
come to Canada (1625), 115-16;
characteristics, 110, 117-18;
missionaries to Indians, 118 _et seq_.;
progress among French settlers, 122 _et seq_.;
service to trade interests, 156-58
Joliet, Louis, 103, 164
Kalm, Peter, _Travels_, 185-86, 188
Kirke, Sir David, Commander of English privateers, 51
La Barre, Le Febvre de, Governor of New France, 92-94, 109
La Durantaye, Olivier Morel de, 95, 164
La Forêt, François Dauphine de, 87, 95, 163
Lalemant, Jesuit missionary, 56
La Mothe-Cadillac, Antoine de 87, 163
La Roche, Sieur de, 32
La Salle, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de,
foremost among French pathfinders, 87;
born (1643), 100;
comes to Montreal (1666), 100-01;
equips expedition (1669), 102;
receives trading rights and land at Fort Frontenac, 103;
goes to France for further aid, 103-04;
first journey down the Illinois, 105-107;
returns to Montreal, 107;
reaches the Mississippi, 107;
winters at Fort Miami, 108;
journeys down the Mississippi, 108-09;
plans for founding colony in lower Mississippi valley (1684), 109-10;
death (1687), 110;
later estimates of, 111-12
Lauzon, Jean de, Governor of New France, 57
Laval, François-Xavier de,
Abbé de Montigny, Bishop of Quebec, arrives in New France (1659), 58;
friction with civil authorities, 58-69;
relations with Mézy, 72-73;
returns to colony, 88;
opposed to Frontenac, 89 _et seq_.;
born (1622), 124;
personal characteristics, 125-26;
opposed to liquor traffic. 126-27
Law, John, 67
Le Caron, Joseph, Récollet, missionary, 46
Le Moyne, Jesuit missionary, 57
Lescarbot, Marc, 38
Liquor traffic with the Indians, 126-27, 173-78
Longueuil, Baron de, 142
Louis XIV,
centralization of power under, 4-5;
interest in colonial ventures, 9;
assumes power (1658), 60;
edict of 1663, 62-63;
personal interest in New France, 70-71
Maisonneuve, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de, 54-55
Mance, Jeanne, 55
Marquette, Jacques, Jesuit missionary, 103
Matagorda Bay, 110
Mazarin, Jules, not interested in colonial ventures, 8
Meules, Intendant of New France, 93
Mézy, de, Governor of New France, 72-74
Miami, Fort, 108
Michilimackinac, 105, 108
Mingan Islands, 20
Mississippi River, La Salle reaches, 108
Montmagny, Charles Jacques Huault. Sieur de, 54, 55
Montreal,
settled, 54-55;
annual fur fair at, 166-71;
_see also_ Hochelaga
Monts, Pierre du Guast, Sieur de,
granted trade monopoly, 35;
organizes company, 35-39;
loses influence at court, 48
New France,
reflects old France, 10, 14;
difficulty of communication with Europe, 12-13;
population (1663), 61-62;
colonial intendant, 67-69;
administration, 69-70;
requests for money, 71-72;
period of prosperity, 78, 79;
seigneurial system of land tenure, 133 et seq.;
military seigneuries, 145-46;
forced labor in, 150;
merrymaking in, 151;
courts, 151-53;
fur trade, 155 et seq.;
competition with English in trade, 159-61;
liquor traffic, 173-78;
effect of trade upon, 178-79;
agriculture, 180 et seq.;
industries, 188 et seq.;
minerals, 190-92;
exclusion of Huguenots from, 195-96;
trade conditions, 198-201;
social organization, 203 et seq.;
seigneurs, 206-07;
homes of habitants, 207-11;
clothing, 211-13;
food, 213-17;
use of tobacco, 217;
festivities, 217-21;
folklore, 221-22;
poverty of habitants, 223;
litigious disposition of people, 224-25;
religion, 225;
characteristics of people, 225-26;
types of population, 227;
bibliography, 229-31
New France, Company of, _see_ One Hundred Associates, Company of
Newfoundland, Cartier's expeditions rests at, 18
Niagara,
fort rebuilt by Denonville, 96;
La Salle builds post at, 104
Old Council, 55
One Hundred Associates, Company of,
organization, 50;
powers and duties, 50-51;
sends fleet to the St. Lawrence (1628), 51;
sends Champlain as representative, 52-53;
charter revoked, 61;
failure of, 62;
grants by, 137-38;
restricts industry, 196
Onondagas, The, Champlain's attack upon, 46
Ontario, Lake, 46
Ottawa River, 44
Perrot, Nicholas, 95, 163
Pontgravé of St. Malo, 32, 29
Port Royal (Annapolis), 36, 37
Portugal,
early explorations, 15, 16;
colonial ventures, 49
Poutrincourt, Biencourt de, 35, 36, 38
Quebec,
Champlain settles, 39-40;
population, 48;
surrenders to English, 51-52;
burns, 93;
pivot of social life, 204-05;
_see also_ Stadacona
Récollets, The, 115
Richelieu, Cardinal,
interest in colonial ventures under, 7-8;
becomes chief minister of Louis XIII, 49;
prevails upon King to organize colonizing company (1627), 50;
interest in New France not lasting, 60
Richelieu River, 41
Roberval, Jean François de la Roque, Sieur de,
enlists services of Cartier, 25-26,
meets Cartier returning to France, 27;
winters at Cap Rouge, 28
Rouen, birthplace of La Salle, 100
Sable Island, 32
Saguenay River, 34
St. Croix, 36-37
St. Germain-en-Laye, Treaty of (1632), 52
St. John's, Newfoundland, 27
§t. Lawrence, Gulf of, 18
St. Louis, Fort, 109
St. Malo, 16-17, 19, 25, 29
St. Maurice, 28
Seigneurs of New France, 133 et seq., 206-07
Sovereign Council, 63-66
Spain,
early explorations, 15, 16;
colonial ventures, 49
Stadacona (Lower Quebec), 21, 26, 39
Sully, Due de, opposed to colonial ventures, 7
Sulpicians, The, 102, 128
Superior Council, _see_ Sovereign Council
Talon, Jean, first Intendant of New France (1665), 63;
arrives in Quebec, 66-67, 68, 75;
report to the King, 80-81;
fosters industries, 188-89;
plans trade with West Indies and France, 197-98
Three Rivers, 28, 53
Ticonderoga, fight between French and Indians at, 41
Tocqueville, de, French historian, 10
Tonty, Henri de, 87, 95, 104, 163
Tracy, Prouville de, 74-78
Ursulines, The, 128
Vignau tells Champlain of English shipwreck, 44-45
West Indies, Company of the, 78, 196, 197
End of Project Gutenberg's Crusaders of New France, by William Bennett Munro