CHAPTER XXV. 



1648, 1649. 

 SAINTE MARIE. 



The Centre of the Missions. — Fort. — Convent. — Hospital. — 

 Caravansary. — Church. — The Inmates of Sainte Marie. — 

 Domestic Economy. — Missions. — A Meeting of Jesuits. — 

 The Dead Missionary. 



The River Wye enters the Bay of Glocester, 

 an inlet of the Bay of Matchedash, itself an inlet 

 of the vast Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. Retrace 

 the track of two centuries and more, and ascend 

 this little stream in the summer of the year 1648. 

 Your vessel is a bkch canoe, and your conductor a 

 Huron Indian. On the right hand and on the left, 

 gloomy and silent, rise the primeval woods ; but 

 you have advanced scarcely half a league when the 

 scene is changed, and cultivated fields, planted 

 chiefly with maize, extend far along the bank, and 

 back to the distant verge of the forest. Before 

 you opens the small lake from which the stream 

 issues ; and on your left, a stone's throw from the 

 shore, rises a range of palisades and bastioned 

 walls, inclosing a number of buildings. Your 



31 [361] 



