I have been sent to the missionary in Huronia, a place called Ste. Marie. I can already see the devastation that our European alcohol and diseases have done. One of the native men I converted told me of how they were a prosperous people, but now they almost a whole third of them have been killed and many of the others have become useless and lazy due to their addiction to alcohol. The other priests and I have converted many of these people so they may see the truth of God and enter heaven when they die. The Iroquois came and attacked us today, they took advantage of the weakened state of the Hurons and the guns the Dutch had given them. There were but few survivors. Many of the other priests were flayed and boiled alive, I am told. I am deeply saddened by the loss of our great allies the Huron.

 

 

Quebec 1608

We finally arrived at the spot Monsieur Samuel de Champlain has chosen for our settlement, a lovely area on cliffs overlooking the St Lawrence River. Champlain has named this area “Quebec”. Upon our arrival we immediately started to make our fort. Workers houses were built. Soon we will start sending the beaver furs back to France where they will be made into hats. Champlain has formed an alliance with the Montagnais, Algonkians and Hurons, we will give them iron goods and help them in their wars and they will give us furs. They bid us to help them with their wars against the Iroquois. In the spring of 1609 we made war against the Iroquois, they Iroquois were astonished by our arquebuses. We killed their chiefs and suffered no injury but for Champlain’s ear. A young coureurs de bois, named Ettiene Brûlée, Champlain and I made way for Huronia, the home of the Hurons. We had to make sure that the Hurons would continue bringing their furs to Quebec and not the English settlements. Sadly Champlain lost his monopoly on the fur trade and a new company backed by Cardinal Richelieu called the Company of a Hundred Associates has taken over. After the English Kirke Brother took over our colony of Quebec, I along with Champlain and many others were forced to return to France. I returned to Quebec and helped rebuild the colony with Champlain before he died on December 25th 1653.