nsisting this year of seventy men, and
replaced in 1757 by two companies of fifty men each.

[Footnote 374: On the _troupes de la marine,--Memoire pour servir
d'Instruction a MM. Jonquiere et Bigot, 30 Avril, 1749. Ordres du Roy et
Depeches des Ministres, 1750. Ibid., 1755. Ibid., 1757. Instruction
pour Vaudreuil, 22 Mars, 1755. Ordonnance pour l'Augmentation de
Soldats dans les Compagnies de Canada, 14 Mars, 1755. Duquesne au
Ministre, 26 Oct. 1753. Ibid., 30 Oct. 1753. Ibid., 29 Fev. 1754.
Duquesne a Marin, 27 Aout, 1753. Atlas de Susane._]

All the effective male population of Canada, from fifteen years to
sixty, was enrolled in the militia, and called into service at the will
of the Governor. They received arms, clothing, equipment, and rations
from the King, but no pay; and instead of tents they made themselves
huts of bark or branches. The best of them were drawn from the upper
parts of the colony, where habits of bushranging were still in full
activity. Their fighting qualities were much like those of the Indians,
whom they rivalled in endurance and in the arts of forest war. As
bush-fighters they had few equals; they fought well behind earthworks,
and were good at a surprise or sudden dash; but for regular battle on
the open field they were of small account, being disorderly, and apt to
break and take to cover at the moment of crisis. They had no idea of the
great operations of war. At first they despised the regulars for their
ignorance of woodcraft, and thought themselves able to defend the colony
alone; while the regulars regarded them in turn with a contempt no less
unjust. They were excessively given to gasconade, and every true
Canadian boasted himself a match for three Englishmen at least. In 1750
the militia of all ranks counted about thirteen thousand; and eight
years later the number had increased to about fifteen thousand.[375]
Until the last two years of the war, those employed in actual warfare
were but few. Even in the critical year 1758 only about eleven hundred
were called to arms, except for two or three weeks in summer;[376]
though about four thousand were employed in transporting troops and
supplies, for which service they received pay.

[Footnote 375: _Recapitulation des Milices du Gouvernement de Canada_,
1750. _Denombrement des Milices_, 1758, 1759. On the militia, see also
Bougainville in Margry, _Relations et Memoires inedits_, 60, and _N.Y.
Col. Docs._, X. 680.]

[Footnote 376: _Mont