eurs de Villebon and des Goutins. Some
who have come to Quebec say they are constantly so harrassed and
oppressed that if things are not put upon a better footing they will
be compelled to abandon the country."

That the inhabitants living on the river were turning their attention
to agriculture is shown by a communication to Frontenac or Champigny
in 1696, in which the writer, probably Villieu, says: "I informed you
last year, Monsieur, by the memo that I did myself the honor to send
you, that the inhabitants of this river begin to cultivate their
lands. I have since learned that they have raised some grain. M. de
Chouffours, who had sown so considerably last year, has not received
anything in return, the worms having eaten the seed in the ground; M.
de Freneuse, his brother, has harvested about 15 hogsheads of wheat
and M. de Clignancourt very little; M. Bellefontaine, about 5
hogsheads; the Sieur Martel very little, as he has only begun to
cultivate his land during the last two years; the other inhabitants
nothing at all, unless it is a little Indian corn. The Sieurs
d'Amours, except the Sieur Clignancourt, have sown this year pretty
considerably of wheat and the Sieur Bellefontaine also, the Sieur
Martel some rye and wheat and much peas. The other inhabitants have
sown some Indian corn, which would have turned out well only they have
sown too late on account of their land being inundated."

Baron la Hontan visited Fort Nashouac about 1694. He describes the St.
John as "a very pleasant river, adorned with fields that are very
fertile in grain." He says that two gentlemen of the name of d'Amours
have a settlement there for beaver hunting.

The census made in 1695 by Simon, the French missionary, shows that
there were then ten families, numbering forty-nine persons, on the St.
John river, besides the garrison at Fort Nachouac. Their live stock
included 38 cattle and 116 swine; there were 166 acres of land under
cultivation and 73 in pasture; the crop of that year included 130
bushels of wheat, 370 of corn, 30 of oats, 170 of peas.

The testimony of John Gyles, who spent three years in the family of
Louis d'Amours at the Jemseg, conclusively disproves Villebon's
assertion that the d'Amours tilled no land and kept no cattle. He
speaks of a fine wheat field owned by his master, in which the
blackbirds created great havoc and describes a curious attempt made by
a friar to exorcise the birds. A procession was formed, he