366 SAINTE MARIE. [1648-49 



Much of this prosperity was no doubt due to the 

 excellent management of their resources, and a 

 very successful agriculture. While the Indians 

 around them were starving, they raised maize in 

 such quantities, that, in the spring of 1649, the 

 Father Superior thought that their stock of provis- 

 ions might suffice for three years. " Hunting and 

 fishing," he says, "are better than heretofore"; and 

 he adds, that they had fowls, swine, and even cattle.^ 

 How they could have brought these last to Sainte 

 Marie it is difficult to conceive. The feat, under 

 the circumstances, is truly astonishing. Everything 

 indicates a fixed resolve on the part of the Fathers 

 to build up a solid and permanent establishment. 



It is by no means to be inferred that the house- 

 hold fared sumptuously. Their ordinary food was 

 maize, pounded and boiled, and seasoned, in the 

 absence of salt, which was regarded as a luxury, 

 with morsels of smoked fish.^ 



In March, 1649, there were in the Huron country 

 and its neighborhood eighteen Jesuit priests, four 

 lay brothers, twenty-three men serving without pay, 

 seven hhed men, four boys, and eight soldiers.^ 

 Of this number, fifteen priests were engaged in the 

 various missions, while all the rest were retained 

 permanently at Sainte Marie. All was method, 



de la Compagnie de Jesus a Rome, Sainte Marie aux Hurons, 1 Mars, 1649 

 (Carayon). 



1 Ibid. 2 Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 48. 



3 See the report of the Father Superior to the General, above cited.. 

 The number was greatly increased within the year. In April, 1648, 

 Ragueneau reports but forty-two French in all, including priests. Be- 

 fore the end of the summer a large reinforcement came up in the Huron 

 canoes. 



