172 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxxi. 



the period when New France was first handed over to 

 tlie control of a company of merchants from Eouen, 

 St. Malo, and Eochelle. Tlie Prince de Conde in the 

 year 1620 disposed of his viceroyship to his brother-in- 

 law, the Marechal de Montmorency, for 11,000 crowns ; 

 and the Marechal, in his turn, sold it in 1622 to his own 

 nephew, the Due de Ventadour. While the uncle seems 

 thus to have had his own temporal interest in view, the 

 chief concern of the nephew was the spiritual welfare of 

 those heathen nations who resided within his newly 

 purchased viceroyalty. ' The Duke,' says Charlevoix, 

 'has retired from the court, and has even entered into 

 holy orders. It was not for tlie purpose of returning to 

 the bustle and business of the world, but to procure the 

 conversion of the savages, that he took upon himself the 

 charge of the affairs of New France ; and as the Jesuits had 

 the direction of his conscience, he cast his eyes upon them 

 for the execution of his project. He submitted the pro- 

 posal to the council of the King, and His Majesty the more 

 wilhngly assented to it, because the Eecollet Fathers, so 

 far from objecting to the measm^e, had themselves first 

 recommended it to the Duke.' 



' Thus commenced those celebrated missions into the 

 wilds of Canada, which were principally directed by the 

 society of Jesuits. They continued, year after year, to 

 send their missionaries into the savage regions of JSTorth 

 America, in order to promote the great work in which 

 they were engaged. The labour and constancy with 

 which tliese men pursued their projects have never been 

 surpassed. In Canada, the French missionary entered 

 upon his task with the fervour of a zealot, and often closed 



