Now for eight months the French colony on this rock in the North would be entirely cut off from Europe, from the world.
-- Narration (chapter 1.1)

Importance: This line highlights an important aspect of the colony's separation and distinction from its motherland. Quebec can only engage in trade and communication with France during four months out of the year. Thus, while Quebec is technically part of France, it is isolated by geography, and it therefore has the potential to form a society and culture distinct from that of France.

They were made by people from the north of France who knew no other way of building.
-- Narration (chapter 1.1)

Importance: This line of narration appears while Euclide is observing the architecture of the colony. The architecture is identical to that of northern France, as the colony was founded by people from that region. However, these buildings stand in a distant land that is different in many ways from...