Talon showed his high appreciation of Saint-Lusson's services by immediately giving him another mission--this time to Acadia, for the purpose of finding and reporting as to the best road to that colony. In 1670 Grandfontaine had taken possession of Acadia, which had been restored to France by the treaty of Breda. He had received from Sir Richard Walker the keys of Fort Pentagouet, at the mouth of the Penobscot river, and had sent Joybert de Soulanges to hoist the French flag over Jemsek and Port Royal. It was therefore incumbent on the intendant to see to the opening of a road between Quebec and Pentagouet. His letters and those of Colbert written in 1671 are full of this project. A fund of thirty thousand livres was appropriated for the purpose. The intendant's plan was to erect about twenty houses well provided with stores along the proposed route at intervals of sixty leagues. He also had in mind the establishment of settlements along the rivers Penobscot and Kennebec, to form a barrier between New France and New England. With the object of establishing trade relations between Canada and Acadia, he sent to the French Bay (Bay of Fundy) a barge loaded with clothes and supplies, and was extremely pleased to receive in return a cargo of six thousand pounds of salt meat. In 1671, for Colbert's information, he drew up a census of Acadia. [Footnote: The figures were--Port Royal, 359; Poboncoup, 11; Cap Negre, 3; Pentagouet, 6 and 25 soldiers; Mouskadabouet, 13; Saint-Pierre, 7. Total 399, or, including the soldiers, 424. There were 429 cultivated acres, 866 head of cattle, 407 sheep and 36 goats.] But, as we shall see, the great intendant was not to remain in Canada long enough to bring his Acadian undertaking to full fruition. Let us follow him in another direction. He had tried to extend the sphere of French influence towards the west and south, and was doing his best to strengthen Canada on the New England border by promoting the development of Acadia. His next attempt was to bring the northern tribes into the French alliance and to open to the colony the trade of the wide area extending from Lake St John to Lake Mistassini and thence to Hudson Bay. For an expedition to Hudson Bay he chose Father Albanel, a Jesuit, and M. de Saint-Simon. They left Quebec for Tadoussac in August 1671, and ascended the Saguenay to Lake St John where they wintered. In June 1672 they continued their journey, reaching Lake Mistassini on the 18th of the same month and James Bay on the 28th. After formally taking possession of the country in the name of France, they returned by the same route to Quebec, where on July 23 they laid their report before the intendant.