ds had
been granted by the Sieur de Freneuse to private individuals. The
lease was to be for a term of five years beginning with the first day
of May following, and the lessee was to pay the Sieur de Freneuse 600
livres annually, half in money and half in small furs, such as beaver,
otter and martins.

It is not likely that this transaction was ever consummated, for less
than three months after the lease was arranged and six months before
Chartier was to take possession, all the buildings of the Sieur de
Freneuse were burned, his cattle destroyed and his fields laid waste
by Hawthorne's expedition returning from their unsuccessful seige of
Fort Nachouac. The original lease, a very interesting document, is now
in possession of Dr. W. F. Ganong and a fac-simile of the signature of
the Sieur de Freneuse is here given.[11]

[11] A copy of the original lease of the Seigniory of Freneuse, with
translation, and remarks by Dr. Ganong, will be found in Vol.
I., p. 121, of Acadiensis, printed at St. John by D. R. Jack,
to whose kindness and that of Dr. Ganong I am indebted for the
signature given above.--W. O. R.

[Illustration: Signature of Sieur de Freneuse]

The seigniory included both sides of the St. John river in Sunbury
county, and the most fertile portions of the parishes of Maugerville,
Sheffield, Burton and Lincoln. The name Freneuse is found in most of
the maps of that region down to the time of the American Revolution.
The residence of the Sieur de Freneuse stood on the east bank of the
St. John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto river.

Mathieu d'Amours, as already stated, died in consequence of exposure
at the siege of Fort Nachouac. Sixty years later the lands he had
cleared and tilled and the site of his residence were transferred to
the hands of the first English settlers on the river, the Maugerville
colony of 1763. His widow, Madame Louise Guyon, went to Port Royal,
where her indiscretion created a sensation that resulted in voluminous
correspondence on the part of the authorities and finally led to her
removal to Quebec.

Rene d'Amours, during his sojourn on the River St. John, was much
engrossed in trade with the natives. He made periodical visits to
their villages and was well known at Medoctec, where Gyles lived as a
captive, and it is not unlikely the Frenchmen living at that village
were his retainers. He seems to have made little or no attempt to
fulfil the cond