This extreme cold lasted only ten days or thereabout, not continuously, but at different times. The rest of the time, although the cold greatly exceeds that of France, it is not at all intolerable; and I can say that it is easier to work here in the woods than it is in France, where the winter rains are so penetrating. But one must be provided with good mittens, [47] unless he wants to have his hands frozen; and yet our Savages visited us sometimes half-naked, without complaining of the cold. This teaches me that, if nature can accustom itself to this cold, nature and grace can very well give us the heart and strength to support it cheerfully. If there is cold, there is wood. I'ay dit que l'hyuer a esté long; depuis le 27. de Nouembre iusques à la fin d'Auril la terre a tousiours esté blanche de neige: & depuis le 29. du mesme mois de Nouemb. iusques au 23. d'Auril, nostre petite riuiere a tousiours esté glacée; mais en telle sorte, que cent carosses auroient passé dessus sans l'ébranler: les glaces sont de telle espaisseur, que quand on vint à les rompre, proche de Kebec, pour mettre vne barque à l'eau, le sieur du Plessis me dit qu'estant à terre, c'estoit [48] tout ce qu'il pouuoit faire d'atteindre au haut d'vne glace auec la fourchette d'vn mousquet qu'il tenoit en sa main. Tout cela ne doit espouuanter personne. Chacun dit icy, qu'il a plus enduré de froid en France, qu'en Canada: le Scorpion porte son contrepoison: dans les païs plus subiects aux maladies, il se trouue plus de remedes: si le mal est present, la medecine n'est pas loing. I have said that the winter has been long; from the 27th of November up to the end of April, the ground was all the time white with snow; and from the 29th of the same month of November up to the 23rd of April, our little river was frozen, but in such a way that a hundred wagons could have passed over it without shaking it. The ice is of such thickness that, when they were breaking it near Kebec, to launch a bark, sieur du Plessis told me that, being on land, it was [48] all he could do to reach the top of a piece of ice with the rest of a musket that he held in his hand. All this should not astonish any one. All who are here say that they have suffered more from cold in France than in Canada. The Scorpion carries its own antidote: in the countries most subject to sickness, more remedies are found: if disease is there, medicine is not far away.