=Source.=--Lescarbot's _History of New France_, edited for the
Champlain Society, by W. L. Grant and H. P. Biggar. Toronto, 1911.
Early next morning the captain donned his armour and ordered his
men to be marshalled in order to visit the town and habitation of
this tribe, and a mountain which lies close to the town, whither
the captain went with the noblemen and twenty mariners, leaving
the rest to guard the boats, and taking three men from the town
of Hochelaga to be his guides and escort to the spot. And when on
the road we found it as well beaten as could be, in a fair country
like a park; with as fine oaks as in any forest in France, and the
whole ground beneath them thick with acorns. When we had gone about
a league and a half, we came upon one of the chiefest lords of the
town of Hochelaga, with a large company, who made sign to us to
rest there beside a fire which they had lighted in the roadway. And
then this chief began to make a sermon and discourse, which, as we
have already said, is their mode of showing joy and friendship,
welcoming the captain and his company; and our captain gave him
two hatchets and two knives, with a cross and a crucifix which he
made him kiss, and then hung it around his neck, whereof the chief
thanked our captain. This done, we went along, and about half a
league further on began to come upon ploughed fields, and fair
large meadows full of their manner of corn, which resembles the
millet of Brazil, as large as a pea or larger, whereon they live
as we do on wheat. And amid these fields is situated and placed
the said town of Hochelaga, stretching up to a mountain which
lies beside it, which is well cultivated and most fertile, and
from whose top one can see to a great distance. This mountain we
called Mount Royal. The town is built in a circle, and surrounded
with a wooden palisade in three tiers, like a pyramid; the top
row is crosswise, the centre row upright, and the bottom row is
laid lengthwise; the whole compactly joined and lashed together
after their manner, rising to about twice the height of a lance.
The town has but one gate or entry, closed with bars; on it and at
several points along the wall are galleries of a kind, with ladders
ascending to them, provided with rocks and stones for its guard
and defence. In the town are about fifty houses, each about fifty
paces long or more, and twelve to fifteen broad, built all of wood,
with roofs and sides made of strips of bark or of wood as broad as
a table, well and cunningly knotted together after their fashion;
within these are several rooms, large and small; in the midst of
each house, on the ground, is a large hall where they light their
fire and live in common, afterwards retiring, the men with their
women and children, to their said chambers. They also have garners
at the top of their houses, where they store their corn, which
they call caraconi, whereof they make their bread in the following
manner. They have wooden mortars, like those for beating hemp, and
in these with wooden beetles they beat the corn to powder, then
make paste of it and cakes of the paste, which they put on a hot
stone and cover with hot pebbles, and thus they bake their bread,
for want of an oven. They also make many stews of this corn, and
also of beans and peas, of which they have good store; also of
large cucumbers and other fruits. They have also in their houses
large vats like tuns, wherein they store their eels and other fish,
which they smoke during the summer and live upon in winter; of
these they gather great plenty, as we by experience have seen. None
of their viands have any touch of salt; and they sleep on strips of
bark laid on the ground, covered with wretched skins, whereof they
also make their garments, such as otters, beavers, martens, foxes,
wild cats, roes, stags and other wild beasts, though indeed the
greater part of them go practically stark naked.