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Description of Canadians according to intendant Hocquart, 1737.

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[...]
Canadians are tall by nature, well built, with a strong Temperament, and as Art has not been restricted by those who master it and since at the Beginning of the Settlement of the Colony workers were few in number, they have become Industrious out of necessity from one generation to the next; the peasants in the Countryside are quite skilled with an axe; they make most of their ploughing tools and implements Themselves; they construct their houses, their barns; many of them are weavers; they weave large cloths, and Material that they call drugget, which they use to clothe themselves and their families.

They enjoy recognition and Kindness;

95v

they pride themselves on being Brave; they are Extremely sensitive to reprisals and the least punishment; they are Self-seeking, vindictive, subject to drunkenness, make regular use of Eau de vie, and are known to not Be truthful. This Portrait applies to a great number of people in the Countryside while city people are more refined; all of them adhere to Religion, few of them are villainous types; they are fickle; they have a too-high opinion of Themselves which Prevents them from achieving the success they are capable of in the arts, Agriculture and Commerce. We can add to this the Idleness brought on by the Length and Severity of the winter: they enjoy Hunting, navigation, Travel and have little of the crude and countrified air of our peasants in france. They are Generally compliant When given recognition and governed Fairly, but they are defiant by nature. [...]

Source: France. Archives nationales, Fonds des Colonies. Série C11A. Correspondance générale, Canada, vol. 67, fol. 95-95v, Hocquart, Gilles, Description of Canadians, 1737.

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