242 September 1749* 



is very doubtful whether it will ever have 

 his equal here. As foon as he got the place 

 of governor-general, he began to take thofe 

 rneafures for getting information in natural 

 hiftory, which I have mentioned before. 

 When he faw people, who had for fome 

 time been in a fettled place of the country, 

 efpecially in the more remote parts, or had 

 travelled in thofe parts, he always quef- 

 tioned them about the trees, plants, earths, 

 ftones, ores, animals, &c. of the place. He 

 likewife enquired what ufe the inhabitants 

 made of thefe things ; in what ft ate their 

 hufbandry was ; what lakes, rivers, and 

 paffages there are ; and a number of other 

 particulars. Thofe who feemed to have 

 clearer notions than the reft, were obliged 

 to give him circumftantial defcriptions of 

 what they had feen. He himfelf wrote 

 down all the accounts he received ; and by 

 this great application, fo uncommon among 

 perfons of his rank, he foon acquired a 

 knowledge of the moft diftant parts of 

 America. The priefts, commandants of 

 forts, and of feveral diftant places, are of- 

 ten furprized by his queftions, and wonder 

 at his knowledge, when they come to Que- 

 bec to pay -their vifits to him ; for he often 

 tells them that near fuch a mountain, or on 

 fuch a ihore, &c. where they often went a 



hunting, 

 6 



