206 VILLEMAEIE DE MONTREAL. [1642. 



during the winter, in the person of Madame de la 

 Peltrie. The piety, the novelty, and the romance 

 of their enterprise, all had their charms for the fair 

 enthusiast; and an irresistible impulse — imputed 

 by a slandering historian to the levity of her sex^ 

 — urged her to share their fortunes. Her zeal 

 was more admired by the Montrealists whom she 

 joined than by the Ursulines whom she aban- 

 doned. She carried off all the furniture she had 

 lent them, and left them in the utmost destitution.^ 

 Nor did she remain quiet after reaching Mont- 

 real, but was presently seized with a longing to 

 visit the Hurons, and preach the Faith in person 

 to those benighted heathen. It needed all the elo- 

 quence of a Jesuit, lately returned from that most 

 arduous mission, to convince her that the attempt 

 would be as useless as rash.^ 



It was the eighth of May when Maisonneuve and 

 his followers embarked at St. Michel ; and as the 

 boats, deep-laden with men, arms, and stores, moved 

 slowly on their way, the forest, with leaves just 

 opening in the warmth of spring, lay on their right 

 hand and on their left, in a flattering semblance of 

 tranquillity and peace. But behind woody islets, 

 in tangled thickets and damp ravines, and in the 

 shade and stillness of the columned woods, lurked 

 everywhere a danger and a terror. 



What shall we say of these adventurers of Mont- 



1 La Tour, M^moire de Laval, Liv. VIII. 



2 Charlevoix, Vie de Marie de V Incarnation, 279 ; Casgrain, Vie de 

 Marie de V Incarnation, 333. 



3 St. Thomas, Life of Madame de la Peltrie, 98. 



