Three Rivers was a small port with a population of 455, including that of the adjoining settlements.  The governor in charge of the local administration was Pierre Boucher, already mentioned as a delegate to France in 1661.  The Jesuits had a residence there and a chapel which was the only place of public worship, for the colonists had not as yet the means to erect a parish church.  In the vicinity there were the beginnings of settlement at Cap-de-la-Magdeleine, Batiscan, and Champlain.  Among the important families of Three Rivers were those of Godefroy, Hertel, Le Neuf, Crevier, Boucher, Poulin, Volant, Lemaitre, Rivard, and Ameau.  Michel Le Neuf du Herisson was juge royal, and Severin Ameau was notary and registrar of the court.

Montreal or Ville-Marie was scarcely more important than Three Rivers.  The population of the whole district numbered only 625.  A fort built by Maisonneuve and Ailleboust at Pointe-a-Callieres; the house of the Sulpicians at the foot of the present Saint-Sulpice Street; the Hotel-Dieu on the other side of that street; the convent of the Congregation sisters facing the Hotel-Dieu; a few houses scattered along the road called ‘de la Commune,’ now Saint-Paul Street; and on the rising ground towards the Place d’Armes of later years a few more dwellings—­these constituted the Montreal of primitive days.  On the top of the hill called ‘Coteau Saint-Louis’ was erected an intrenched mill—­’Moulin du Coteau’—­which could be used as a redoubt to protect the inhabitants.  The Sulpicians’ house, the Hotel-Dieu, the convent of the Congregation, and the houses of the Place d’Armes and of ‘la Commune’ were connected with the fort by footpaths.  Before 1672 there were no streets laid out.  The only place of public worship was the Hotel-Dieu chapel, fifty feet in length by thirty in width.  The superior of the Sulpicians was Abbe Souart.  Mother Mace was superioress of the Hotel-Dieu, but the mainstay of the institution was the well-known Mademoiselle Mance, who, by the aid of Madame de Bullion’s benefactions, had founded it in 1643.  The illustrious Sister Marguerite Bourgeoys was at the head of the Congregation, which owed its existence to her pious zeal and devotion to the education of the young.  Among the ‘Montrealistes’ of note the following should be specially mentioned:  Zacharie Dupuy, major of the island; Charles d’Ailleboust, seigneurial judge; J. B. Migeon de Bransac, fiscal attorney; Louis Artus Sailly, who had been for some time juge royal; Benigne Basset, at once registrar of the seigneurial court, notary, and surveyor; Charles Le Moyne, king’s treasurer, interpreter, soldier, settler, who was later to be ennobled and receive the title of Baron de Longueuil; Etienne Bouchard, surgeon; Pierre Picote de Belestre, a valiant militia officer; Claude de Robutel, Sieur de Saint-Andre; Jacques Leber, a merchant who controlled almost the whole trade of Ville-Marie.

Altogether the white population of Canada, including the settlers and labourers arriving during the summer of 1665, numbered only 3215.  Yet the colony had been in existence for fifty-seven years!  It was certainly time for a new effort on the part of the mother country to infuse life into her feeble offspring.  This was a task calling for the earnest care and the most energetic activity of Tracy, Courcelle, and Talon.