he national costume. And not only did the colonists dress
without the slightest affectation, but they even made their clothes
themselves. "The growing of hemp," says the Abbe Ferland, "was
encouraged, and succeeded wonderfully. They used the nettle to make
strong cloths; looms set up in each house in the village furnished
drugget, bolting cloth, serge and ordinary cloth. The leathers of the
country sufficed for a great portion of the needs of the population.
Accordingly, after enumerating the advances in agriculture and industry,
Talon announced to Colbert with just satisfaction, that he could clothe
himself from head to foot in Canadian products, and that in a short time
the colony, if it were well administered, would draw from Old France
only a few objects of prime need."

The interior of the dwellings was not less simple, and we find still in
our country districts a goodly number of these old French houses; they
had only one single room, in which the whole family ate, lived and
slept, and received the light through three windows. At the back of the
room was the bed of the parents, supported by the wall, in another
corner a couch, used as a seat during the day and as a bed for the
children during the night, for the top was lifted off as one lifts the
cover of a box. Built into the wall, generally at the right of the
entrance, was the stone chimney, whose top projected a little above the
roof; the stewpan, in which the food was cooked, was hung in the
fireplace from a hook. Near the hearth a staircase, or rather a ladder,
led to the loft, which was lighted by two windows cut in the sides, and
which held the grain. Finally a table, a few chairs or benches completed
these primitive furnishings, though we must not forget to mention the
old gun hung above the bed to be within reach of the hand in case of a
night surprise from the dreaded Iroquois.

In peaceful times, too, the musket had its service, for at this period
every Canadian was born a disciple of St. Hubert. We must confess that
this great saint did not refuse his protection in this country, where,
with a single shot, a hunter killed, in 1663, a hundred and thirty wild
pigeons. These birds were so tame that one might kill them with an oar
on the bank of the river, and so numerous that the colonists, after
having gathered and salted enough for their winter's provision,
abandoned the rest to the dogs and pigs. How many hunters of our day
would have displayed their