ople were neither serfs nor peons. The
habitant, as Charlevoix puts it, "breathed from his birth the air of
liberty"; he had his rights and he maintained them. Shut off from the
rest of the world, knowing only what the Church and civil government
allowed him to know, he became provincial in his horizon and
conservative in his habits of mind. The paternal policy of the
authorities sapped his initiative and left him little scope for
personal enterprise, so that he passed for being a dull fellow. Yet
the annals of forest trade and Indian diplomacy prove that the New
World possessed no sharper wits than his. Beneath a somewhat ungainly
exterior the yeoman and the trader of New France concealed qualities
of cunning, tact, and quick judgment to a surprising degree.

These various types in the population of New France, officials,
missionaries, seigneurs, voyageurs, habitants, were all the scions of
a proud race, admirably fitted to form the rank and file in a great
crusade. It was not their fault that France failed to dominate the
Western Hemisphere.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

On the earlier voyages of discovery to the northern coasts of the New
World the most informing book is H.P. Biggar's _Precursors of Jacques
Cartier_ (Ottawa, 1911). Hakluyt's _Voyages_ contain an English
translation of Cartier's own writings which cover the whole of
the first two expeditions and a portion of the third. Champlain's
journals, which describe in detail his sea voyages and inland trips of
exploration during the years 1604-1618 inclusive, were translated into
English and published by the Prince Society of Boston during the years
1878-1882.

For further discussions of these explorations and of the various other
topics dealt with in this book the reader may be referred to several
works in the _Chronicles of Canada_ (32 vols. Toronto, 1914-1916),
namely, to Stephen Leacock's _Dawn of Canadian History_ and _Mariner
of St. Malo_; Charles W. Colby's _Founder of New France_ and _The
Fighting Governor_; Thomas Chapais's _Great Intendant_; Thomas G.
Marquis's _Jesuit Missions_, also to _Seigneurs of Old Canada_ and
_Coureurs-de-Bois_ by the author of the present volume. In each of
these books, moreover, further bibliographical references covering the
several topics are provided.

The series known as _Canada and Its Provinces_ (22 vols. and index,
Toronto, 1914) contains accurate and readable chapters upon every
phase of Canadian history, pol