year they carried back as many as 22,000. The usual number for one year is 15,000 or 12,000, at one pistole each, which is not doing badly.[19] It is true their expenses are very heavy, as they keep here forty persons and more, who are paid and maintained; this in addition to the expense of the crews of two ships, which consist of at least 150 men, who receive their wages and food. These wages are not all the same. They are generally 106 livres, but some receive a hundred écus. I know an Interpreter who receives one hundred pistoles, and a certain number of hides which he is permitted to carry away each year.[42] It is true that he trades them off as his own merchandise. Your Reverence will see him this year; he is one of those who have very effectively assisted us. Your Reverence will, if you please, give him a kind greeting; for he is going to return, and do great service here for Our Lord. It remains now [10] to tell your Reverence what we have done since our arrival in this country, which was the last of June. The months of July and August passed by, partly in writing letters, partly in getting a little acquainted with the country, and in seeking a proper place for our settlement, that we might show the Reverend Recolect Fathers that we desired to relieve them as soon as possible of the inconvenience which we caused them. After having carefully considered all the places, and after having consulted with the French people, and especially with the Reverend Recolect Fathers, we planted the holy Cross on the 1st day of September, with all possible solemnity, upon the place which we had chosen. The Reverend Recolect Fathers took part in the ceremony with the most prominent of the French, and after dinner all of them went to work. We have continued this work ever since, we five, uprooting trees and breaking the ground whenever we had time. The snow intervened, and we were compelled to give up our work until Spring. During the work, the thought of acquiring a knowledge of the language of this country was constantly in our minds; for it was said that we could expect nothing from the Interpreters. Nevertheless, after having commended the matter to God, I made up my mind to speak to the Interpreter of this Tribe, saying to myself that at the worst, I could only be refused as the others had been. So, after having striven by my exhortations and our conversation to correct the impressions concerning our Society that exist in this country, can Your Reverence believe that we have found here the "Anti-Coton,"[43] which was circulated from chamber to chamber, and which was finally burned, about four months after our arrival? Having, I say, tried to give other impressions, I applied then to the Interpreter of this Tribe and begged him to teach us the language. Strange to