ndly canoes. Meanwhile, trade increased
with the Indians, and the settlement became a genuine commercial
colony. On one occasion as many as seven hundred Hurons flocked to
Quebec with their hunting trophies, and at length every midsummer came
to be marked by an Indian Fair. Pere le Jeune's _Relation_ gives a
quaint description of one of the annual visits of the tribes. On the
24th of July, 1633, the harbour was dotted with fur-laden canoes from
the Ottawa and from Lake Huron. Landing at the Cul-de-sac, the dusky
braves took possession of the strand below the rock, where they
hastily set up their portable huts of birch-bark. "Some," says the
Jesuit chronicler, "had come only to gamble or to steal; others out of
mere curiosity; while the wiser and more businesslike among them had
come to barter their furs and sacks of tobacco leaves." The second day
of the visitation was marked by a solemn conclave of the chiefs and
the officers of Fort St. Louis--a smoking pow-wow for the exchange of
compliments and wampum.

The courtyard of the fort witnessed this garish function. The chiefs
and principal men of each village grouped themselves together. Some
were garbed in beaver skins, others in the shaggy hide of the bear.
Still others were guiltless of apparel, and all bore themselves with
an excessive dignity bordering on burlesque. Brebeuf, Daniel, and
Davost stood by in their sable vestments; and in the midst of all was
Champlain surrounded by the soldiers of his garrison. The next two
days were given up to trade--a beaver-skin exchanging for a tin
kettle, a bright cloth, or a string of beads. On the fifth day a huge
feast was given, by means of which savage appetites forced the French
to disgorge a moiety of their profit. But before another dawn the
Indians had vanished, and Quebec smiled to see its storehouses full of
furs.

By this time the little settlement had more than ever taken on the
appearance of a mission. The Recollets had virtually been excluded
from New France, the influence of the Jesuits having permeated even
the official atmosphere of Fort St. Louis. It has been claimed that,
in his younger years, Champlain was a Huguenot. It is more likely he
was a Catholic of a liberal type; and certainly in his last years a
Jesuit became his spiritual adviser. Both the soldier and the merchant
gave way to the priestly influence in the purposes of Government. The
cross was to precede the sword of empire on the march into the