1682.] THE GREAT EIRE. 73 



neighbors, and had just leaped the narrow street 

 to the storehouse of the Jesuits. The season was 

 excessively dry ; there were no means of throwing 

 water except kettles and buckets, and the crowd 

 was bewildered with excitement and fright. Men 

 were ordered to tear off roofs and pull clown 

 houses ; but the flames drove them from their 

 work, and at four o'clock in the morning fifty-five 

 buildings were burnt to the ground. They were 

 all of wood, but many of them were storehouses 

 filled with goods ; and the property consumed was 

 more in value than all that remained in Canada. 1 



Under these gloomy auspices, Le Febvre de la 

 Barre began his reign. He was an old officer who 

 had achieved notable exploits against the English 

 in the West Indies, but who was now to be put to 

 a test far more severe. He made his lodging in 

 the chateau; while his colleague, Meules, could 

 hardly find a shelter. The buildings of the Upper 

 Town were filled with those whom the fire had 

 made roofless, and the intendant was obliged to 

 content himself with a house in the neighboring 

 woods. Here he was ill at ease, for he dreaded an 

 Indian war and the scalping-knives of the Iroquois. 2 



So far as his own safety was concerned, his 

 alarm was needless ; but not so as regarded the 

 colony with whose affairs he was charged. For 

 those who had eyes to see it, a terror and a 

 woe lowered in the future of Canada. In an evil 



1 Chartier de Lotbiniere, Proces-verbal sur Vlncendie de la Basse Ville ; 

 Meides au Ministre, 6 Oct., 1682 ; Juchereau, Histoire de VHotel-Dieu de 

 Quebec, 256. 



2 Meides au Ministre, 6 Oct., 1682. 



