In the month of June the savages came hither in canoes from places even at 500 miles' distance, to exchange their peltries for guns, ammunition, clothes, weapons, and utensils of iron and brass. The meeting or fair lasted for nearly three months, and during that time the town presented a strange and sometimes fearful spectacle; motley groups of fierce and hostile Indians occupied the streets, now engaged in bloody strife, again sunk in brutal intoxication. The French used every effort to prevent the sale of ardent spirits, but in vain, although sentinels were posted night and day to forbid the supply of the maddening liquor, and to preserve something of order in the wild gathering: all precautions proved ineffectual, and the drunkard frequently became also a murderer. At one time the little town of Chambly rivaled Montreal in the gainful but dangerous traffic; however, in 1759, there only remained a fort to prevent the English from enjoying the doubtful advantage of this trade. At Sorel, the entrance of the Richelieu River, an agricultural village had also arisen, rather beyond the neighboring settlements in extent and population. Southwest of Montreal there was no town of any consideration. Near where the modern Kingston stands, a few poor hamlets were indeed grouped round Fort Frontenac, but on the shores of the sheltered Bay of Toronto, where 20,000 British subjects now ply their prosperous industry, myriads of wild fowl then found undisturbed refuge from the stormy waters of the lake. At Niagara there was a small village round the fort; there were trading posts at Detroit, Michillimackinac, and elsewhere; but the splendid tract of country lying between the northern shores of Erie and Ontario was almost unknown, save to the wandering Indian. At this period, the first in importance, as well as population, among the settlements of New France, unquestionably was Quebec, the seat of government and of the supreme tribunals of justice. From its lofty headland the successors of the wise Champlain looked down upon the subject stream of the St. Lawrence, and held the great highway of Canada as if by a gate. No doubtful or hostile vessel could elude their vigilance; more than one powerful fleet had already recoiled shamed and crippled from before their embattled city. Here were deposited the public records, with most of the arms, ammunition, and resources of the colony; here, too, the principal establishments of religion, law, and learning were first founded and best sustained. The citizens and neighboring peasantry were less lowered by Indian intercourse than their other countrymen, and among them the refreshing immigration from the fatherland produced its most invigorating effect.