Canada

The greatest and most enduring achievement of Frontenac's first term was the exploration of the territory southwestward of the Great Lakes and the planting of French influence there. This work was due, in large part, to the courage and energy of the intrepid La Salle. Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, like so many others who followed the fleur-de-lis into the recesses of the new continent, was of Norman birth and lineage. Rouen was the town of his nativity; the year 1643 probably the date of his birth.

Nearly all that was distinctive in the life of old Canada links itself in one way or another with the Catholic religion. From first to last in the history of New France the most pervading trait was the loyalty of its people to the church of their fathers. Intendants might come and go; governors abode their destined hour and went their way; but the apostles of the ancient faith never for one moment released their grip upon the hearts and minds of the Canadians.

From the beginning of the colony there ran in the minds of French officialdom the idea that the social order should rest upon a seigneurial basis. Historians have commonly attributed to Richelieu the genesis of New World feudalism, but without good reason, for its beginnings antedated the time of the great minister.

And now, before entering upon the very curious subject of Indian social and tribal organization, it may be well briefly to observe the position and prominent distinctive features of the various communities speaking dialects of the generic tongue of the Iroquois. In this remarkable family of tribes occur the fullest developments of Indian character, and the most conspicuous examples of Indian intelligence. If the higher traits popularly ascribed to the race are not to be found here, they are to be found nowhere.

 A CHANGE OF PLAN. - SAINTE MARIE. - MISSION OF THE TOBACCO NATION. - 
 WINTER JOURNEYING. - RECEPTION OF THE MISSIONARIES. - 
 SUPERSTITIOUS TERRORS. - PERIL OF GARNIER AND JOGUES. - 
 MISSION OF THE NEUTRALS. - HURON INTRIGUES. - MIRACLES. - 
 FURY OF THE INDIANS. - INTERVENTION OF SAINT MICHAEL. - 

 THE RUINS OF ST. IGNACE. - THE RELICS FOUND. - BREBEUF AT THE STAKE. - 
 HIS UNCONQUERABLE FORTITUDE. - LALEMANT. - RENEGADE HURONS. - 
 IROQUOIS ATROCITIES. - DEATH OF BREBEUF. - HIS CHARACTER. - 
 DEATH OF LALEMANT.

In Indian social organization, a problem at once suggests itself. In these communities, comparatively populous, how could spirits so fierce, and in many respects so ungoverned, live together in peace, without law and without enforced authority? Yet there were towns where savages lived together in thousands with a harmony which civilization might envy. This was in good measure due to peculiarities of Indian character and habits. This intractable race were, in certain external respects, the most pliant and complaisant of mankind.

 THE NEW GOVERNOR. - EDIFYING EXAMPLES. - LE JEUNE'S CORRESPONDENTS. - 
 RANK AND DEVOTION. - NUNS. - PRIESTLY AUTHORITY. - CONDITION OF QUEBEC. - 
 THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES. - CHURCH DISCIPLINE. - PLAYS. - FIREWORKS. - 
 PROCESSIONS. - CATECHIZING. - TERRORISM. - PICTURES. - THE CONVERTS. - 
 THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. - THE FORESTERS.

 DISPERSION OF THE HURONS. - SAINTE MARIE ABANDONED. - ISLE ST. JOSEPH. - 
 REMOVAL OF THE MISSION. - THE NEW FORT. - MISERY OF THE HURONS. - FAMINE. - 
 EPIDEMIC. - EMPLOYMENTS OF THE JESUITS.

The Iroquois were a people far more conspicuous in history, and their institutions are not yet extinct. In early and recent times, they have been closely studied, and no little light has been cast upon a subject as difficult and obscure as it is curious. By comparing the statements of observers, old and new, the character of their singular organization becomes sufficiently clear.