CHAPTER Y. 



1682-1684. 



LE FEBVRE DE LA BARRE. 



His Arrival at Quebec. — The Great Fire. — A Coming Storm. — 

 Iroquois Policy. — The Danger imminent. — Indian Allies of 

 France. — Frontenac and the Iroquois. — Boasts op La Barre. 

 His Past Life. — His Speculations. — He takes Alarm. — His 

 Dealings with the Iroquois. — His Illegal Trade. — His Col- 

 • league denounces him. — Fruits of his Schemes. — His Anger 

 and his Fears. 



^YHEN the new governor, La Barre, and the new 

 intendant, Meules, arrived at Quebec, a dismal 

 greeting waited them. All the Lower Town was 

 in ashes, except the house of the merchant Aubert 

 de la Chesnaye, standing alone amid the wreck. 

 On a Tuesday, the fourth of August, at ten o'clock 

 in the evening, the nuns of the Hotel-Dieu were 

 roused from their early slumbers by shouts, out- 

 cries, and the ringing of bells ; " and," writes one 

 of them, " what was our terror to find it as light 

 as noonday, the flames burned so fiercely and rose 

 so high." Half an hour before, Chartier de Lot- 

 biniere, judge of the king's court, heard the first 

 alarm, ran clown the descent now called Mountain 

 Street, and found every thing in confusion in the 

 town below. The house of Etienne Planchon was 

 in a blaze ; the fire was spreading to those of his 



