sending some of his party to Montreal to cut down trees during the
winter, that they might have a cleared section of land to work on in
spring. He and the rest of the colonists passed the season quietly in
their tents at Quebec, awaiting the arrival of fine weather, and the
breaking up of the ice.

In the month of May, as soon as the river was open to navigation, they
were again in readiness to move on, and Governor Montmagni expressed a
strong desire to accompany them. De Maisonneuve invited the Jesuit
missionaries, Simon and Poncet, to go with them and bless the site of
the new city, and take charge of the church they intended to erect when
circumstances permitted. As there was no road through the country, and
no settlements along the river between Montreal and Quebec, the journey
was long, and everywhere beset with difficulties, so that they did not
arrive at their destination until the 17th of May. Then they encamped,
and called the neck of land at the mouth of the little river "Pointe a
Calieres," in honor of the third Governor of Montreal, M. de Calieres,
who built a fort there, in which he resided during the term of his
administration.

The fervent colonists erected a tent immediately, in which the holy
sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated, and in which they afterwards kept
the Blessed Sacrament. M. de Maisonneuve's first care was to give every
family sufficient land on which to erect a house, and each one built to
suit his own convenience. He erected a house for himself also, which was
known long after as the "Old Seminary."

To Jean Mance he gave sufficient ground for a hospital, the expense of
building which was to be paid out of the fund bestowed by the Duchess de
Bullion. The hospital was as large and convenient as the young colony