most imposing ceremonies that
the French could arrange in that wild country.

Conscious of the influence of the Jesuits at Court, and desirous of
counteracting any prejudice that might have been created against him,
Poutrincourt decided to send his son, a fine youth of eighteen years,
in the ship returning to France, with a statement showing his zeal in
converting the natives of the new colony.

When this youthful ambassador reached France, Henry of Navarre had
perished by the knife of Ravaillac, and Marie de' Medici, that wily,
cruel, and false Italian, was regent during the minority of her son,
Louis XIII. The Jesuits were now {61} all-powerful at the Louvre, and
it was decided that Fathers Biard and Ennemond Masse should accompany
Biencourt to Acadia. The ladies of the Court, especially Madame de
Guercheville, wife of Duke de la Rochefoucauld de Liancourt, whose
reputation could not be assailed by the tongue of scandal, even in a
state of society when virtue was too often the exception, interested
themselves in the work of converting the savages of Acadia. The
business of the Protestant traders of Dieppe was purchased and made
over to the Jesuits. Thus did these indefatigable priests, for the
first time, engage in the work of converting the savage in the American
wilderness.

The vessel which took Biencourt and his friends back to Port Royal
arrived on the 22nd of July, 1611, off the fort, where Poutrincourt and
his colonists were exceedingly short of supplies. His very first act
was to appoint his son as vice-admiral, while he himself went on to
France with the hope of obtaining further aid about the middle of July.

The total number of persons in the colony was only twenty-two,
including the two Jesuits, who immediately commenced to learn Micmac,
as the first step necessary to the success of the work they had in
hand. The two priests suffered many hardships, but they bore their
troubles with a patience and resignation which gained them even the
admiration of those who were not prepossessed in their favour. Masse,
who had gone to live among the Indians, was nearly starved and smoked
to death in their rude camps; but still he appears to have persevered
in that course of life as long as he possibly {62} could. About this
time the priests had the consolation of performing the last offices for
the veteran Membertou, the staunch friend of the French colonists. On
his death-bed he expressed a strong desire t