ed a luckless
habitant who could not also get a caribou or two for his larder.
Following the Indian custom, the venison was smoked and hung on the
kitchen beams, where it kept for months until needed. Salted or smoked
fish had also to be provided for family use, since the usages of the
Church required that meat should not be used upon numerous fast-days.

Vegetables of many varieties were grown in New France, where the warm,
sandy, virgin soil of the St. Lawrence region was splendidly suited
for this branch of husbandry. Peas were the great stand-by, and in the
old days whole families were reared upon _soupe aux pois_, which was,
and may even still be said to be, the national dish of the French
Canadians. Beans, cucumbers, melons, and a dozen other products were
also grown in the family gardens. There were potatoes, which the
habitant called _palates_ and not _pommes de terre_, but they were
almost a rarity until the closing days of the Old Regime. Wild fruits,
chiefly raspberries, blueberries, and wild grapes, grew in abundance
among the foothills and were gathered in great quantities every
summer. There was not much orchard fruit, although some seedling trees
were brought from France and had managed to become acclimated.

On the whole, even in the humbler homes there was no need for any one
to go hungry. The daily fare of the people was not of great variety,
but it was nourishing, and there was plenty of it save in rare
instances. More than one visitor to the colony was impressed by the
rude comfort in which the people lived, even though they made no
pretense of being well-to-do. "In New France," wrote Charlevoix,
"poverty is hidden behind an air of comfort," while the gossipy La
Hontan was of the opinion that "the boors of these seigneuries live
with, greater comfort than an infinity of the gentlemen in France."
Occasionally, when the men were taken from the fields to serve in the
defense of the colony against the English attacks, the harvests were
small and the people had to spend the ensuing winter on short rations.
Yet, as the authorities assured the King, they were "robust, vigorous,
and able in time of need to live on little."

As for beverages, the habitant was inordinately fond of sour milk. Tea
was scarce and costly. Brandy was imported in huge quantities, and not
all this _eau-de-vie_, as some writers imagine, went into the Indian
trade. The people themselves consumed most of it. Every parish in the
colon