THE MAKING OF CANADA. 9 



scions of uoble families to enter the king's service that they are mostly poor and would 

 gladly increase their resources. As for the condition of trhe rest of the people in the latter 

 half of the sixteenth century, the former of the mémoires from which I have been quoting- 

 says that there were some well off, some indigent, and some between both extremes. 



Canada and the Canadians in 11S6. 



In l^M (according to Mr. Hocquart) the population of the colony was about 40,000, 

 of whom 10,000 are returned as fit to bear arms. The Canadians, he says, are tall, well 

 made, and of a vigorous constitution. The artisans are industrious and the habitants 

 skilful with the axe. They make the most of their own tools and implements of hus- 

 bandry ; build their own houses and barns, and several of them can weaA^e, making great 

 webs of stuff that they call drugget, which they use for clothing themselves and their 

 families. So much for their good equalities. But they are also, according to M. Hocquart, 

 vain, ' fond of being noticed and sensitive to rebuke. Strange to say, it is the country 

 people whom he thvis characterizes. The townspeople are less faulty. They are attached 

 to their religion and there are few incorrigibles ; but they think too much of them- 

 selves, and this failing prevents them from succeeding, as they might do, in the arts, 

 agriculture and commerce. The long winter, with little occupation, also tends to make 

 the men lazy. But they are addicted to the chase, to navigation, to voyages, and have not 

 the coarse and rustic air of the French peasant. Though naturally hard to manage, they 

 become more tractable when their honour is a^jpealed to, but the spirit of subordination 

 is sadly lacking, the fault, in part, of deficient firmness on the part of former governments. 

 This is said, it seems, with reference to the militia, whose moral and physical qualities 

 and training were to be severely tested sooner than M. Hocquart imagined. The intendant 

 then gives an account of the products, commerce and industries of the country. Wheat is 

 the chief crop. The country furnishes more than what meets the needs of the inhabitants, 

 and the surplus is exported. In good years, 80,000 bushels in flour and biscuits are sent 

 out of the country, but 1*737 was a bad year. The lauds of Quebec are not all equally 

 good, some of them being hilly, but those of Montreal are level. The experiment of fall 

 wheat had been made, but was considered risky on account of frosts. Oats, pease, barley 

 and rye, as well as flax, hemp and tobacco were all grown to some extent. There were 

 as yet few orchards. More attention to the culture of tobacco is recommended. The beaver 



^ It is singular that Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, on his visit to Quebec in 1749, made just the same reflec- 

 tion, not on the hahilanU, but on the ladies of Quebec. Tlie same distinguished tourist, who brought the observant 

 ej'e of science to bear upon more than lierbs and minerals, spealcing generally, says that the women of Canada 

 are handsome, virtuous and well-bred, with an abandon that is charming in its innocence. As housewives he 

 found them superior to those of the English colonies. More than once he contrasts the refinement of the Canadians 

 with the brusqueness of the Dutch and English. But he thinks the Canadian ladies give too much time to their 

 toilet. He makes a difference between the ladies of Quebec and tliose of Montreal. The former is a veritable 

 Frenchwoman by education and manners — the consequence of association with the noblesse that came every year 

 in the king's ships, while hosts so distinguished rarely got so far inland as Montreal. He says the French 

 attribute to the ladies of the latter city a large share of Indian pride with Indian lack of culture. But they as 

 well as the fair Quebecquoises err through fondness for dress. — {Voyage de Kalm en Amérique, analysé et traduit par 

 W. Marchand.) 



Sec. IL, 1884. 2. 



