itions necessary to retain possession of his seignioral
manor, for to his mind the charms of hunting and trading surpassed
those of farming. His visits to Medoctec to purchase furs and skins
when the Indians had returned from their winter hunts were of doubtful
advantage to the poor savages, for Gyles tells us that "when they came
in from hunting they would be drunk and fight for several days and
nights together, till they had spent most of their skins in wine and
brandy, which was brought to the village by a Frenchman called
Monsieur Sigenioncor" (Clignancourt).

The latter portion of the narrative of John Gyles throws light on the
course of events on the St. John during Villebon's regime, and
supplies us with a particularly interesting glimpse of domestic life
in the home of Louis d'Amours on the banks of the Jemseg, where Gyles
spent the happiest years of his captivity. The wife of the Sieur de
Chauffours, Marguerite Guyon[12], appears in an especially amiable
light. Her lonely situation and rude surroundings, the perils of the
wilderness and of savage war, amidst which her little children were
born, evoke our sympathy. Her goodness of heart is seen in her
motherly kindness to Gyles, the young stranger of an alien race--the
"little English," as she calls him. But with all her amiability and
gentleness she possessed other and stronger qualities, and it was her
woman's wit and readiness of resource that saved her husband's
fortunes in a grave emergency. The story shall be told in Gyles' own
words.

[12] Louis d'Amours married Marguerite Guyon in 1686, about the time
he settled on the St. John river. They had three children.

"When about six years of my doleful captivity had passed, my second
Indian master died, whose squaw and my first Indian disputed whose
slave I should be. Some malicious persons advised them to end the
quarrel by putting a period to my life; but honest father Simon, the
priest of the river, told them that it would be a heinous crime and
advised them to sell me to the French."

The suggestion of father Simon was adopted and Gyles, now in his
sixteenth year, went with the missionary and the Indians to the mouth
of the river, the occasion of their journey being the arrival of a
French man-of-war at Menagoueche with supplies for the garrison and
presents for the Indians.

"My master asked me," continues Gyles, "whether I chose to be sold
aboard the man-of-war or to the inhabitants? I re