service under the French governor. In times of peace
these militia officers in the parishes executed the orders of the
governor and intendant in all matters affecting the King. In case it
was considered necessary to build a church or presbytery, the intendant
authorised the _habitants_ to assemble for the purpose of choosing from
among themselves four persons to make, with the cure, the seignior, and
the captain of the militia, an estimate of the expense of the
structure. It was the special care of the captain of the militia to
look after the work, and see that each parishioner did his full share.
It was only in church matters, in fact, that the people of a parish had
a voice, and even in these, as we see, they did not take the
initiative. The Quebec authorities must in all such cases first issue
an ordinance.

Under these circumstances it is quite intelligible that the people of
Canada were obliged to seek in the clearing of the forest, in the
cultivation of the field, in the chase, and in adventure, the means of
livelihood, and hardly ever busied themselves about public matters in
which they were not allowed to take even a humble part.

{168}

XII.

THE PERIOD OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY:
PRIESTS, FUR-TRADERS, AND COUREURS DE BOIS
IN THE WEST.

(1634-1687.)

We have now come to that interesting period in the history of Canada,
when the enterprise and courage of French adventurers gave France a
claim to an immense domain, stretching from the Gulf of St. Lawrence
indefinitely beyond the Great Lakes, and from the basin of those island
seas as far as the Gulf of Mexico. The eminent intendant, Talon,
appears to have immediately understood the importance of the discovery
which had been made by the interpreter and trader, Jean Nicolet, of
Three Rivers, who, before the death of Champlain, probably in 1634,
ventured into the region of the lakes, and heard of "a great water"--no
doubt the Mississippi--while among the Mascoutins, a branch of the
Algonquin stock, whose villages were generally found in the valley of
the Fox River. He is considered to have been the first European who
reached Sault Ste. Marie--the strait between Superior and {169}
Huron--though there is no evidence that he ventured beyond the rapids,
and saw the great expanse of lake which had been, in all probability,
visited some years before by Etienne Brule, after his escape from the
Iroquois. Nicolet also was the first Frenchman who p