e settlers of Maine and New Hampshire.
Modern civilization may have degraded him in some respects but it has
at least rescued him from the danger of starvation and also from the
cruel necessity of abandoning his kindred to perish when unable longer
to supply their own wants or endure the constant journeys necessitated
by the nature of their nomad life."

Early in 1690 Count Frontenac dispatched an expedition from Quebec
to ravage the New England settlements; their leader was Portneuf,
brother of Menneval and Villebon. There were fifty French and
seventy Indians in the original party, which was afterwards joined by
thirty-six French and a large band of Maliseets from the St. John,
also by the Indians of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, making a war
party of five hundred men. On the 26th of May they attacked the town
of Falmouth--now Portland. The inhabitants fled for protection
within the ramparts of Fort Loyal. At the expiration of four or five
days the garrison was obliged to surrender and Portneuf promised the
vanquished quarter and a guard to the nearest English town. The
terms of surrender were shamefully violated, Fort Loyal and Falmouth
were reduced to ashes and over one hundred men, women and children
murdered by the savages. From May to October their bodes lay
exposed to the elements and wild beasts but were finally buried by
Major Benjamin Church as he passed on an expedition to the eastward.

To revenge themselves on the French, whom they regarded as the
instigators of this savage warfare, the New Englanders fitted out an
expedition under Sir William Phips which captured Port Royal and
carried Menneval, the governor, away a prisoner. His brother Villebon,
who suceeded to the command, concluded to abandon Port Royal and to
re-establish the post at the mouth of the Jemseg on the River St.
John.

Villebon, with all his faults, is one of the most picturesque
characters in the history of Acadia. He was greatly admired by the
savages who deemed him to be every inch a chief. Diereville, the poet
historian, saw him at St. John in 1700 and describes him as "a great
man of fine appearance and full of energy." Having served for several
years in a subordinate capacity at Port Royal he was now called upon
to fill a difficult position and it must be confessed he acted with
zeal and ability. Adverse fortune embittered him at the outset. Two
pirate vessels came to Port Royal while he was absent preparing for
his removal to th