eloved religious
communities, and he honours them all with his presence, the Seminary of
St. Sulpice as well as the Congregation of Notre-Dame and the hospital.
These labours are not sufficient for his apostolic zeal; he betakes
himself to the house of the Jesuit Fathers at Laprairie, then to their
Indian Mission at the Sault St. Louis, finally to the parish of St.
Francois de Sales, in the Ile Jesus. Descending the St. Lawrence River,
he sojourns successively at Longueuil, at Varennes, at Lavaltrie, at
Nicolet, at Becancourt, at Gentilly, at Ste. Anne de la Perade, at
Deschambault. He returns to Quebec; his devoted fellow-workers in the
seminary urge him to rest, but he will think of rest only when his
mission is fully ended. He sets out again, and Ile aux Oies,
Cap-Saint-Ignace, St. Thomas, St. Michel, Beaumont, St. Joseph de Levis
have in turn the happiness of receiving their pastor. The undertaking
was too great for the bishop's strength, and he suffered the results
which could not but follow upon such a strain. The registers of the
Sovereign Council prove to us that only a week after his return he had
to take to his bed, and for two months could not occupy his seat among
the other councillors. "His Lordship fell ill of a dangerous malady,"
says a memoir of that time. "For the space of a fortnight his death was
expected, but God granted us the favour of bringing him to
convalescence, and eventually to his former health."

M. de la Barre, on his arrival, desired to inform himself exactly of the
condition of the colony. In a great assembly held at Quebec, on October
10th, 1682, he gathered all the men who occupied positions of
consideration in the colony. Besides the governor, the bishop and the
commissioner, there were noticed among others M. Dollier de Casson, the
superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, several Jesuit
Fathers, MM. de Varennes, governor of Three Rivers, d'Ailleboust, de
Brussy and Le Moyne. The information which M. de la Barre obtained from
the assembly was far from reassuring; incessantly stirred up by Governor
Dongan's genius for intrigue, the Iroquois were preparing to descend
upon the little colony. If they had not already begun hostilities, it
was because they wished first to massacre the tribes allied with the
French; already the Hurons, the Algonquins, the Conestogas, the
Delawares and a portion of the Illinois had fallen under their blows. It
was necessary to save from exterminat