he said M. de Poutrincourt, {53} which was called the
Order of Good Cheer, originally proposed by Champlain. To this Order
each man of the said table was appointed Chief Steward in his turn,
which came round once a fortnight. Now, this person had the duty of
taking care that we were all well and honourably provided for. This
was so well carried out that though the epicures of Paris often tell us
that we had no _Rue aux Ours_ over there, as a rule we made as good
cheer as we could have in this same _Rue aux Ours_, and at less cost.
For there was no one who, two days before his turn came, failed to go
hunting or fishing, and to bring back some delicacy in addition to our
ordinary fare. So well was this carried out that never at breakfast
did we lack some savoury meat of flesh or fish, and still less at our
midday or evening meals; for that was our chief banquet, at which the
ruler of the feast or chief butler, whom the savages called Atoctegic,
having had everything prepared by the cook, marched in, napkin on
shoulder, wand of office in hand, and around his neck the collar of the
Order, which was worth more than four crowns; after him all the members
of the Order carrying each a dish. The same was repeated at dessert,
though not always with so much pomp. And at night, before giving
thanks to God, he handed over to his successor in the charge the collar
of the Order, with a cup of wine, and they drank to each other. I have
already said that we had abundance of game, such as ducks, bustards,
grey and white geese, partridges, larks, and other birds; moreover
moose, caribou, beaver, otter, bear, rabbits, wild-cats, racoons, and
other animals such as the savages caught, whereof {54} we made dishes
well worth those of the cook-shop in the _Rue aux Ours_, and far more;
for of all our meats none is so tender as moose-meat (whereof we also
made excellent pasties) and nothing so delicate as beaver's tail. Yea,
sometimes we had half a dozen sturgeon at once, which the savages
brought us, part of which we bought, and allowed them to sell the
remainder publicly and to barter it for bread, of which our men had
abundance. As for the ordinary rations brought from France, they were
distributed equally to great and small alike; and, as we have said, the
wine was served in like manner.

The results of this regime were most gratifying. The deaths from
scurvy dropped to seven, which represented a great proportionate
decrease. At