1634.] QUEBEC IN 1634. 3 



surrounding country was cleared and partially cul- 

 tivated; yet only one dwelling-house worthy the 

 name appeared. It was a substantial cottage, where 

 lived Madame Hebert, widow of the first settler 

 of Canada, with her daughter, her son-in-law Cou- 

 illard, and theu' children, good Catholics all, who, 

 two years before, when Quebec was evacuated by 

 the English,^ wept for joy at beholding Le Jeune, 

 and his brother Jesuit, De ^oue, crossing their 

 threshold to offer beneath their roof the long-for- 

 bidden sacrifice of the Mass. There were.inclos- 

 ures with cattle near at hand ; and the house, with 

 its surroundings, betokened industry and thrift. 



Thence Le Jeune walked on, across the site of 

 the modern market-place, and still onward, near 

 the line of the cliffs which sank abruptly on his 

 right. Beneath lay the mouth of the St. Charles ; 

 and, beyond, the wilderness shore of Beauport 

 swept in a wide curve eastward, to where, far in 

 the distance, the Gulf of Montmorenci yawned on 

 the great river.^ The priest soon passed the clear- 

 ings, and entered the woods which covered the 

 site of the present suburb of St. John. Thence he 

 descended to a lower plateau, where now lies the 

 suburb of St. Roch, and, still advancing, reached a 

 pleasant spot at the extremity of the Pointe-aux- 

 Lievres, a tract of meadow land nearly inclosed 



1 See "Pioneers of France in the New World." Herbert's cottage 

 seems to have stood between Ste.-Eamille and Couillard Streets, as ap- 

 pears by a contract of 1634, cited hy M. Ferland. 



2 The settlement of Beauport was begun this year, or the year follow- 

 ing, by the Sieur Giffard, to whom a large tract had been granted here. 

 — Langevin, Notes sm- les Archives de N. D. de Beauport, 5. 



