364 SAINTE MARIE. [1648. 



Of late years, however, the number of men at the 

 command of the mission had been considerable. 

 Soldiers had been sent up from time to time, to 

 escort the Fathers on their way, and defend them 

 on their arrival. Thus, in 1644, Montmagny or- 

 dered twenty men of a reinforcement just arrived 

 from France to escort Brebeuf, Garreau, and Cha- 

 banel to the Hurons, and remain there during the 

 winter.^ These soldiers lodged with the Jesuits, 

 and lived at theu^ table. ^ It was not, however, on 

 detachments of troops that they mainly relied for 

 labor or defence. Any inhabitant of Canada who 

 chose to undertake so hard and dangerous a service 

 was allowed to do so, receiving only his mainten- 

 ance from the mission, without pay. In return, he 

 was allowed to trade with the Indians, and sell the 

 furs thus obtained at the magazine of the Company, 

 at a fixed price. ^ Many availed themselves of this 

 permission ; and all whose services were accepted 

 by the Jesuits seem to have been men to whom 

 they had communicated no small portion of their 

 o\^Ti zeal, and who were enthusiastically attached 

 to their Order and their cause. There is abundant 

 evidence that a large proportion of them acted from 

 motives wholly disinterested. They were, in fact, 

 donnes of the mission,^ — given, heart and hand, to 



1 Vimont, Relation, 1644, 49. He adds, that some of these soldiers, 

 though they had once been " assez mauvais gar9ons," had .shown great 

 zeal and devotion in behalf of the mission. 



2 Journal des Superieurs des Jesuites, MS. In 1648, a small cannon 

 was sent to Sainte Marie in the Huron canoes. — Ibid. 



3 Registres des Arrets du Conseil, extract in Faillon, II. 94. 



* See ante, p. 214. Garnier calls them " seculiers d'habit, raais relig- 

 ieux de cceur. — Lettres, MSS. 



