1694.] VILLIEU. 361 



spared no efforts to break off the peace. The two 

 missionaries, Bigot on the Kennebec and Thury on 

 the Penobscot, labored with unwearied energy to 

 urge the savages to war. The governor, Villebon, 

 flattered them, feasted them, adopted Taxous as 

 his brother, and, to honor the occasion, gave him 

 his own best coat. Twenty-five hundred pounds 

 of gunpowder, six thousand pounds of lead, and a 

 multitude of other presents, were given this year 

 to the Indians of Acadia. 1 Two of their chiefs had 

 been sent to Versailles. They now returned, in 

 gay attire, their necks hung with medals, and their 

 minds filled with admiration, wonder, and bewilder- 

 ment. 



The special duty of commanding Indians had 

 fallen to the lot of an officer named Villieu, who 

 had been ordered by the court to raise a war- 

 party and attack the English. He had lately been 

 sent to replace Portneuf, who had been charged 

 with debauchery and peculation. Villebon, angry at 

 his brother's removal, was on ill terms with his suc- 

 cessor ; and, though he declares that he did his best 

 to aid in raising the war-party, Villieu says, on the 

 contrary, that he was worse than indifferent. The 

 new lieutenant spent the winter at Naxouat, and 

 on the first of May went up in a canoe to the Mali- 

 cite village of Medoctec, assembled the chiefs, and 

 invited them to war. They accepted the invitation 

 with alacrity. Villieu next made his way through 

 the wilderness to the Indian towns of the Penobscot. 

 On the ninth, he reached the mouth of the Matta- 



1 Estat de Munitions, etc., pour les Sauvages de I' Accidie, 1693. 



