he possible
profits were great and the element of danger appeared in the eyes of
many an additional fascination. The rulers of New France from time to
time enacted stringent laws against these "outlaws of the bush" but
they were of little avail. The governor of Quebec felt compelled to
represent the conduct of the Canadian noblesse in unfavorable terms to
his royal master. "They do not," he writes, "devote themselves to
improving their land, they mix up in trade and send their children to
trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest
in spite of the prohibition of his majesty."

The rapid progress of New England caused Louis XIV to express
dissatisfaction at the slow development of Acadia, and he desired a
report of the condition of the colony to be transmitted to Versailles.
Monsieur de Meulles, the intendant, accordingly visited Acadia in 1686
where he found the French settlements "in a neglected and desolate
state." He caused a census to be taken which showed the total
population to be 915 souls, including the garrison at Port Royal.
There were at that time only five or six families on the St. John
river. Bishop St. Vallier made a tour of Acadia the same year,
visiting all the Indians and French inhabitants he could find. The
Marquis de Denonville in a letter to the French minister of November
10, 1686, announced the safe return of the bishop to Quebec after a
most fatiguing journey and adds: "He will give you an account of the
numerous disorders committed in the woods by the miserable outlaws who
for a long while have lived like the savages without doing anything at
all towards the tilling of the soil."

[Illustration: ESTAT PRESENT DE L'EGLISE ET DE LA COLONIE FRANCOISE DANS
LA NOUVELLE FRANCE

_Par M. L'Eveque de Quebec_

A PARIS, Chez ROBERT PEPIE, rue S. Jacques, a l'image S. Basile, au
dessus de la Fontaine S. Severin.

M. DC. LXXXVIII.]

Many interesting incidents of the tour of Mgr. St. Vallier are related
in a work entitled "The Present State of the Church and of the French
Colony in New France," printed in Paris in 1688. A fac-simile of the
title page of the original edition appears opposite. As this rare
little volume contains the first published references to the upper St.
John region some extracts from its pages will be of interest. The
bishop was accompanied by two priests and five canoe men. They left
the St. Lawrence on the 7th of May and proceeded by way of the Rivers