It has been said that the dominating feature of French colonial life was trade. But religious and commercial advancement went hand in hand. From the earliest arrival of the French, the missionary labors of the Church extended not only to the Indian tribes, but also to the negro and Indian slaves held by the colonists. The conversion of the Indian was an asset for the growth of trade. French commissions, as well as Spanish, provided for the conversion of the Indians.[283] Priest and friar were everywhere present. Each Christianized Indian slave marked a gain in the advancement of the faith, and made possible a readier access to trade with the convert’s tribe and those of his friends.[284] But the religious training and teaching of slaves were not entirely a matter of policy. It was rather a part of the generally kind treatment of the master. The rites of the Church were commonly accorded them. The Louisiana church records certain accounts of the birth, baptism, marriage and burial of Indian slaves.[285] The Mobile and New Orleans registers are similar to the church registers to be found throughout Lower Canada wherever a church was established. The parish registers of Levis, Quebec and Long Point are cases in point. Throughout the first and part of the second half of the eighteenth century, these registers show that Indian slaves, many of whom, in Quebec for instance, were brought from Louisiana, were baptized, and then records kept of such baptisms as in the case of the whites.[286] The church records of Kaskaskia[287] and Vincennes[288] make frequent mention of the birth, baptism and death of Indian slaves (called Panis) down to the time of British occupation; but from that time they became more and more infrequent as Indian slavery gradually gave way to negro slavery. The baptismal register of Mobile, Alabama, dating from 1704 to 1740, contains baptismal records of whites, blacks and Indians. From the register it appears that witnesses to the baptism of a slave were not considered necessary, though sometimes used. In some instances the person baptized is recorded as the slave of a certain person. In other cases he is mentioned as a slave, and the owner’s name is not given. The earliest baptism of an Indian slave in this record is that of a fifteen-year-old slave of Iberville. Baptisms of Indian slaves are quite as frequent as those of negro slaves. February 8, 1734, is the latest date of Indian slave baptisms in the register. Some of these Indian slaves are recorded as legitimate children of slave parents.[289]