it had been previous to the arrival of Champlain. The Indian might
wander at will among the ruins of forts and dwellings abandoned to his
care, or left to be converted into hiding places for the wild beasts
and wonder at the folly of the white man who had forsaken the finest
river in all Acadia with its wealth of forest and stream and its
fertile lands awaiting the hands of industry and thrift.

CHAPTER VII.

THE BROTHERS D'AMOURS.

Among the young adventurers who came to Acadia towards the close of
the seventeenth century were four brothers, sons of Mathieu
d'Amours[9] of Quebec. The father's political influence as a member of
the Supreme Council enabled him to obtain for each of his sons an
extensive seigniory. That of Louis d'Amours, the eldest, included a
tract of land of generous proportions at the Richibucto river; the
grant was issued September 20, 1684, but the seignior had already
built there a fort and two small houses, and for two years had been
cultivating a piece of land. His sojourn was brief, for in a year or
two we find him living on the River St. John, where his brothers
Mathieu and Rene were settled and where they were not long after
joined by their brother Bernard.

[9] This gentleman married in 1652 Marie, the eldest daughter of
Nicolas Marselot of Quebec; she was a very youthful bride,
being only 14 years old at the time of her marriage; she was
the mother of 15 children.

As mentioned in a previous chapter, it was customary among the French
noblesse for each son to take a surname derived from some portion of
the family estate; accordingly the sons of Councillor d'Amours figure
in history as Louis d'Amours, sieur de Chauffours; Mathieu d'Amours,
sieur de Freneuse; Rene d'Amours, sieur de Clignancourt and Bernard
d'Amours, sieur de Plenne.

After his arrival at the River St. John, Louis d'Amours fixed his
abode on the banks of the Jemseg and became the proprietor of the
seigniory formerly owned by the sieur de Soulanges. His brother, and
nearest neighbor, Mathieu's seigniory included all the land "between
Gemisik and Nachouac," two leagues in depth on each side of the river.
The wives of Louis and Mathieu d'Amours were sisters, Marguerite and
Louise Guyon of Quebec.

To Rene d'Amours, sieur de Clignancourt, was granted a seigniory
extending from the Indian village of Medoctec to the "longue sault."
The longue sault was probably the Meductic rapids twelve