CHAPTER VI

SETTLEMENT OF THE COLONY


To the great joy of Mgr. de Laval the colony was about to develop
suddenly, thanks to the establishment in the fertile plains of New
France of the time-expired soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. The
importance of the peopling of his diocese had always been capital in the
eyes of the bishop, and we have seen him at work obtaining from the
court new consignments of colonists. Accordingly, in the year 1663,
three hundred persons had embarked at La Rochelle for Canada.
Unfortunately, the majority of these passengers were quite young people,
clerks or students, in quest of adventure, who had never worked with
their hands. The consequences of this deplorable emigration were
disastrous; more than sixty of these poor children died during the
voyage. The king was startled at such negligence, and the three hundred
colonists who embarked the following year, in small detachments, arrived
in excellent condition. Moreover, they had made the voyage without
expense, but had in return hired to work for three years with the
farmers, for an annual wage which was to be fixed by the authorities.
"It will seem to you perhaps strange," wrote M. de Villeray, to the
minister Colbert, "to see that we make workmen coming to us from France
undergo a sort of apprenticeship, by distribution among the inhabitants;
yet there is nothing more necessary, first, because the men brought to
us are not accustomed to the tilling of the soil; secondly, a man who is
not accustomed to work, unless he is urged, has difficulty in adapting
himself to it; thirdly, the tasks of this country are very different
from those of France, and experience shows us that a man who has
wintered three years in the country, and who then hires out at service,