ere
a jolly company of hunters who preferred rabbit hunting to the air of
the fireside, skating on the ponds to turning over lazily in bed,
making snowballs to bring down the game to sitting around the fire
talking about Paris and its good cooks." In consequence of their
unfortunate experience during the first winter the little colony
removed to Port Royal.

The advent of European explorers and traders materially affected the
manner of life of the Indians. Hitherto they had hunted the wild
animals merely for subsistence, but now the demand of the traders for
furs and peltry stimulated enormously the pursuit of game. The
keen-eyed savages saw the advantages of the white man's implements and
utensils. Steel knives, axes, vessels of metal, guns, powder and shot,
blankets, ornaments and trinkets excited his cupidity. Alas, too, love
of the white man's "fire water" soon became a ruling passion and the
poor Indian too often received a very indifferent compensation for his
toil and exposure.

In the summer time, when the annual ships arrived from France, the
Indians gathered in large numbers at the various trading posts. They
came from far and near, and for several weeks indulged in feasting and
revelry. Pierre Biard comments severely on their folly. He says: "They
never stop gorging themselves excessively during several weeks. They
get drunk not only on wine, but on brandy, so that it is no wonder
they are obliged to endure some gripes of the stomach during the
following autumn."

The Maliseets frequently came to the mouth of the St. John to trade
with the French; sometimes they even resorted to Port Royal, for these
daring savages did not fear to cross the Bay of Fundy in their frail
barks.

The chief of the savages of the River St. John, Chkoudun, proved a
valuable ally of the French owing to his extensive knowledge of the
country and of the tribes that inhabited it. Champlain crossed over to
St. John from Port Royal in the autumn of 1605 to get him to point out
the location of a certain copper mine on the shores of the Bay of
Fundy, supposed to be of fabulous richness. Chkoudun readily agreed to
accompany his visitor and they proceeded to the mine, which was on the
shores of the Basin of Minas. The master miner, a native of Sclavonia,
whom de Monts had brought to Acadia to search for precious metals,
deemed the outlook not unpromising, but Champlain was disappointed,
and says: "The truth is that if the water did not