them a sort of first step and preparation to coming into Christianity; and to secure this I decided to go thither and explore their country and aid them in their wars, in order to oblige them to show me what they had so many times promised to. "I had them all gather to tell them my intention, upon hearing which they promised to furnish us 2,500 men of war, who would do wonders, while I on my part, was to bring, for the same purpose as many men as I could; which I promised them, being very glad to see them come to so wise a decision. Then I began to explain to them the methods to follow in fighting in which they took a singular pleasure. When all the matters were decided upon, we separated with the intention of returning to carry out our undertaking." This alliance which Champlain then made against the Iroquois will help to explain the prolonged animosity of these against the Hurons, and later their allies, the settlers of Ville Marie, under Maisonneuve. But, as yet Champlain's fort was only a summer trading post, and such it remained till 1642. He had it in his mind to make it a regular settlement, and it would seem likely to become so. On the occasion of the above gathering mass was said by the Recollects for the first time in Canada, at least since the time of Cartier. We may briefly narrate the events leading up to this. Owing to the trading monopolies being granted on condition that the conversion of the savages to the Catholic faith should be attempted and owing to the discontentment existing at the continued unfulfillment of this condition, de Monts and other merchants found that they would have to take means to comply with it or lose their monopoly. The merchants were keener on the peltry trade than on the civilization of the country. They did not welcome colonists from France nor did they desire the Indians to settle down in their neighbourhood. They wanted them to get busy to bring in their furs. They were there for business solely, although their charter said otherwise. So it was, with bad grace, they had to yield. Champlain must, however, be disassociated from this opposition. For he had willingly undertaken the negotiations to obtain the Recollect Fathers through the intermediary of the pious Sieur de Hoüel, the controller general of the salt mines of Brouage, one of the few members of the de Monts company that was not a Huguenot; accordingly after some negotiations during the winter of 1614 and 1615, the four Franciscan Recollects mentioned, three priests, Denis Jamay, superior, Jean d'Olbeau, Joseph le Caron, and Brother Pacifique du Plessis embarked with Champlain at Honfleur on April 24, 1615, on the St. Etienne, one of the company's ships commanded by Dupont Gravé. They arrived at Tadoussac in a month.