Besides this numerous but somewhat uncertain militia force, there were in Canada ten veteran battalions of French infantry. These, however, were much reduced from their original strength by desertion, fatigue, and the casualties of war. The peculiar nature of the service, and the necessity of quartering the troops abroad in small detachments, had relaxed the rigor of European discipline, but the loss in this respect was more than counterbalanced by the knowledge of the country, and the habit of braving the severity of the climate. Their high military virtue was still well worthy of men who had fought under Marshal Saxe. The proud carriage and domineering conduct of these soldiers of Old France rendered them little loved by the Canadian people, and, as their pretensions were invariably supported by the government, it shared in the general unpopularity. The one hundred and fifty years that had elapsed since Champlain first planted the banner of France upon the headland of Quebec told with terrible effect upon the Red Men: already among the Canadian hamlets on the banks of the Great River they were well-nigh forgotten. Whole tribes had sunk into the earth, and left not a trace behind; others had wandered away, and were absorbed among those more fortunate races as yet undisturbed by the white man's neighborhood; while some, in attempting a feeble and fatal imitation of civilized life, had dwindled to a few wretched families, who had cast away the virtues of savage life, and adopted instead only the vices of Europe. The Hurons of Jeune Lorette, near Quebec, were, however, as yet, a happy exception to this general demoralization. Many years before, they had been driven from the fertile countries between Lakes Huron and Erie, and found refuge upon the Jesuit lands: they lived much in the same manner as the Canadian peasantry, tilled the soil with equal success, and dwelt in comfortable houses. But in one respect they had not escaped the mysterious curse which has ever hung upon the red race in their contact with their European brethren; from year to year their numbers diminished in an unchecked decay. [Footnote 150: See Appendix, No. LXVII.] [Footnote 151: "Cette cascade a été nommée le Sault de Montmorenci et le pointe porte le nom de Lévi. C'est que la Nouvelle France a en successivement pour Vice-Rois l'Amiral de Montmorenci et Henri de Lévi, le Duc de Ventadour, son neveu."--Charlevoix.] [Footnote 152: "Pour les natifs du pays, laissons les à leur vie errante et laborieuse dans le bois avec les sauvages, à leurs exercices militaires; ils en seront moins opulents, mais plus robustes, plus braves, plus vertueux, c'est à dire, plus propre à servir l'état, et plus fidèles à le vouloir."--_Lettre de M. le Marquis de Montcalm à M. de Berryer_, Montreal, April 4, 1757.]