450 REPORT — 1897. 



groups of three or four families related to each other, as many immigrants 

 from various countries do at the present day. 



From an examination of family and other archives, extending now 

 over thirty years of labour, we make the following deductions : — 



Perche, Normandy, Beauce, Picardy, and Anjou (they are here in 

 their order of merit) contributed about two hundred families from 1633 to 

 1663, the period of the Hundred Partners' regime. By natural growth 

 these reached the figure of 2,200 souls in 1663. 



In 1662-63 there came about one hundred men from Perche and 150 

 from Poitou, Rochelle, and Gascony, with a small number of women. 

 This opens a new phase in the history of our immigration by introducing 

 Poitou and Rochelle amongst the people of the northern and western 

 Province of France, already counting two generations in the three dis- 

 tricts of Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal. 



(4) After 1665 the city of Paris, or rather the small territory en- 

 circling it, contributed a good share. The whole of the south and east of 

 France had no connection with Canada at any time. Normandy, Perche, 

 Maine, AnjoUj Touraine, Poitou, Saintonge, Angoumois, Guienne, and 

 Gascony — on a straight line from north to south — furnished the whole of 

 the families now composing the French Canadian people. 



(5) From 1667 till 1672 a committee was active in Paris, Rouen, 

 Rochelle, and Quebec to recruit men, women, and young girls for Canada. 

 This committee succeeded in effecting the immigration into Canada of 

 about four thousand souls. Half of the girls were from country places in 

 Normandy, and the other half were well-educated persons, who did not 

 go into the rural districts, but married in Quebec, Three Rivers, and 

 Montreal. 



Since these people were brought to Canada by the organised efforts of 

 a committee, we might expect to find some detailed record of their arrival 

 and origin, but as yet no such information is known to exist. We are 

 merely told by contemporary writers of that period how many arrived at 

 such and such a date, and the port of embarkation — that is all. Happily, 

 the church registers, notarial deeds, papers of the courts of justice, and 

 several classes of public documents show abundantly the places of origin 

 of those who actually established their families here. 



(6) In 1673 the King stopped all immigration, and this was the end 

 of French attempts to colonise Canada. The settlers, of course, remained 

 as they were, and in 1680 the whole population amounted only to 9,700 

 souls. Double this figure every thirty years, and we have the present 

 French population of the Province of Quebec, Ontario, and that of the 

 groups established now in the United States. 



(7) The bulk of the men who came during 1633-1673 were from rural 

 districts, and took land immediately on their arrival here. It is notice- 

 able that a large number of them had besides a trade of their own, such 

 as that of carpenter, cooper, blacksmith, so that a small community of 

 twenty families possessed among themselves all the requirements of that 

 kind that could be useful. 



No land was given to those who did not show qualification for agri- 

 cultural pursuits, and they were placed for three years in the hands of an 

 old farmer before the title of any property was signed in their favour. 



(8) In regard to troops disbanded in Canada at various dates much 

 misunderstanding exists. The real facts are as follows : — Before 1665 no 

 soldiers, therefore no disbandment ; from 1665 to 1673 a few isolated 



