Canada

The center and soul of the economic system in New France was the traffic in furs. Even before the colony contained more than a handful of settlers, the profit-making possibilities of this trade were recognized. It grew rapidly even in the early days, and for more than a hundred and fifty years furnished New France with its sinews of war and peace. Beginning on the St. Lawrence, this trade moved westward along the Great Lakes, until toward the end of the seventeenth century it passed to the headwaters of the Mississippi.

It was the royal desire that New France should some day become a powerful and prosperous agricultural colony, providing the motherland with an acceptable addition to its food supply. To this end large tracts of land were granted upon most liberal terms to incoming settlers, and every effort was made to get these acres cultivated. Encouragement and coercion were alike given a trial. Settlers who did well were given official recognition, sometimes even to the extent of rank in the noblesse.

In New France there were no privileged orders. This, indeed, was the most marked difference between the social organization of the home land and that of the colony. There were social distinctions in Canada, to be sure, but the boundaries between different elements of the population were not rigid; there were no privileges based upon the laws of the land, and no impenetrable barrier separated one class from another.

 IROQUOIS PRISONERS. - PISKARET. - HIS EXPLOITS. - MORE PRISONERS. - 
 IROQUOIS EMBASSY. - THE ORATOR. - THE GREAT COUNCIL. - 
 SPEECHES OF KIOTSATON. - MUSTER OF SAVAGES. - PEACE CONFIRMED.

 LE JEUNE'S VOYAGE. - HIS FIRST PUPILS. - HIS STUDIES. - 
 HIS INDIAN TEACHER. - WINTER AT THE MISSION-HOUSE. - 
 LE JEUNE'S SCHOOL. - REINFORCEMENTS.

 LE JEUNE JOINS THE INDIANS. - THE FIRST ENCAMPMENT. - THE APOSTATE. - 
 FOREST LIFE IN WINTER. - THE INDIAN HUT. - THE SORCERER. - 
 HIS PERSECUTION OF THE PRIEST. - EVIL COMPANY. - MAGIC. - 
 INCANTATIONS. - CHRISTMAS. - STARVATION. - HOPES OF CONVERSION. - 
 BACKSLIDING. - PERIL AND ESCAPE OF LE JEUNE. - HIS RETURN.

 UNCERTAINTIES. - THE MISSION OF JOGUES. - HE REACHES THE MOHAWKS. - 
 HIS RECEPTION. - HIS RETURN. - HIS SECOND MISSION. - WARNINGS OF DANGER. - 
 RAGE OF THE MOHAWKS. - MURDER OF JOGUES.

 PLANS OF CONVERSION. - AIMS AND MOTIVES. - INDIAN DIPLOMACY. - 
 HURONS AT QUEBEC. - COUNCILS. - THE JESUIT CHAPEL. - LE BORGNE. - 
 THE JESUITS THWARTED. - THEIR PERSEVERANCE. - THE JOURNEY TO THE HURONS. - 
 JEAN DE BREBEUF. - THE MISSION BEGUN.

 MOHAWK INROADS. - THE HUNTERS OF MEN. - THE CAPTIVE CONVERTS. - 
 THE ESCAPE OF MARIE. - HER STORY. - THE ALGONQUIN PRISONER'S REVENGE. - 
 HER FLIGHT. - TERROR OF THE COLONISTS. - JESUIT INTREPIDITY.

 THE HURON MISSION-HOUSE. - ITS INMATES. - ITS FURNITURE. - ITS GUESTS. - 
 THE JESUIT AS A TEACHER. - AS AN ENGINEER. - BAPTISMS. - 
 HURON VILLAGE LIFE. - FESTIVITIES AND SORCERIES. - THE DREAM FEAST. - 
 THE PRIESTS ACCUSED OF MAGIC. - THE DROUGHT AND THE RED CROSS.