To him was entrusted by the governor the arrangement and management of the great gathering of the Indian tribes at Sault Ste. Marie where, on the fourteenth of June, 1671, the tribes for a hundred leagues were gathered in a great council that the Deputy Governor might formally take possession of that country in the name of the King of France. In a spectacular manner—that it might impress the Indians by its grandeur—a cross was erected and the arms of France were raised on a great pole and Perrot, doubtless in a loud voice, acting as herald and interpreting to the Indians, proclaimed three times over that “in the name of the Most High, Most Powerful, and Most Redoubtable Monarch, Louis XIV. of name, most Christian King of France and Navarre, we take possession of said place Ste. Marie du Sault, as also of Lake Huron and Superior, the island of Manitoulin, and of all the lands, rivers, lakes and streams contiguous to and adjacent here as well, discovered as to be discovered, which are bounded on the one side by the seas of the North and on the other side by the seas of the South in its whole length and breadth,”—and at the end of each time of reading the proclamation he took up a sod of earth calling out “Vive le Roi,” which was repeated in a great shout by all the people. The demonstration was intended to offset the influence of Radisson and Chouart, who, at Hudsons Bay in the service of the English, were drawing the trade of the Indians beyond Lake Superior. Perrot was especially useful to Frontenac, the next great governor after Champlain, in that he acted as ambassador to the ever-restless tribes and maintained harmony and peace. He seems to have been a welcome man in every Indian village, and was the best informed man of his time in regard to the affairs of New France. He was in command at Green Bay and over the Mississippi Valley country in the winter of 1685-6, when he discovered the lead mines. In 1699 the King of France closed many of the western posts and Perrot retired and wrote his memoirs, which have proved of such great value to us in giving us knowledge of our own country during the latter half of the seventeenth century. He was a brave, loyal, and devoted man who gave much of his life to the public service and who deserves to be remembered among the heroes of New France. CHAPTER XI. THE SEIGNIOR AND THE HABITANT. “The original tillers of the soil in Lower Canada, who first assumed the title of ‘Habitants’ while holding their land under feudal tenure, would not accept any designation such as ‘censitaire’ which carried with it some sense of the servile status of the feudal vassal in Old France, but preferred to be called a Habitant or inhabitant of the country—a free man and not a vassal.” —SIR LOMER GOUIN. THE SEIGNIOR AND THE HABITANT.