— 237 — 



popular expression, was progressing with the thrashing of 

 the grain. I urged him on and then made sure that another 

 farm hand was caulking properly the stable, a safeguard for 

 the cattle, against the cold weather, closing in. 



" In Canada, says Frs. Parkman, these payments, 

 known as cens et rente were strangely diverse in 

 amount and kind * * * A common charge at Montreal 

 was half a sou and half a pint of wheat for each arpent. 

 The rate usually fluctuated in the early times, between 

 half a sou and two sous, so that a farm of one hundred 

 and sixty arpents would pay from four to sixteen francs, 

 of which a part would be in money and the rest in live- 

 capons, wheat, eggs, or all three together, in pursuance 

 of contracts as amusing in their precision as they were 

 bewildering in their variety. Live capons estimated at 

 twenty sous each, though sometimes not worth ten, 

 form a conspicious feature in these agreements, so that 

 on pay day, the seignior's barn-yard presented an ani- 

 mated scene. 



Later, in the history of the colony, grants were at a 

 somewhat higher rate. Payment was commonly made 

 on St. Martin's day, when there was a general muster 

 of tenants at the seignorial mansion, with a prodigious 

 consumption of tobacco and a corresponding retail of 

 neighborhood gossip, joined to the outcry of the captive 

 fowls bundled together for delivery, " with legs tied, 

 but throats at full liberty." 



A more considerable, but a very uncertain source of 

 income to the seignior were the lods et ventes, or muta- 

 tion fines. The land of the censitaire passed freely to 

 his heirs ; but if he sold it, a twelfth of the purchase 

 money must be paid to the seignor." (The Old Regime, 

 Parkman, pp. 249-50.) 



On returning from my ramble, there came two sugar 

 makers " sucriers ; " such is the name given to the woods- 

 men who boil the maple sap into sugar. They wanted to lease 

 some sugar bushes. These had been previously occupied by 

 other parties. It was uncertain whether the late occupants 

 wished to return the same to the seignior. In all fairness this 



