Kelvin

Hi this is my page.

Uh... yeah.

Journal of Pierre Diamant Year 2, Month 3, Day XX have lost track of how long I have been outside the settlements of New France, or how many leagues I have traveled, but judging by the weight of the furs in my canoe, it should be time to go back. I will have to find a good merchant to sell to, but since I'm not trading legally, I have to avoid the government officials. I am called a coureur de bois (runner of the woods) because I live in the woods for a long time to trade with the natives. My two friends and I live either with the natives, or camp out in the woods. The amount of potential wealth in this land is incredible, and trading in the woods is much more exciting than the boring farm work in New France. My friends are out hunting and fishing right now. We have no other source of food now, because we have already run out of dried vegetables and biscuits. We are also running low on gunpowder and shot, and our tent has holes in it. We wear clothing and shoes made from animal skins to keep warm and avoid being seen in the woods. (Unfortunately I ripped my moccasins yesterday) These past 2 years, we have made friends among the natives, and we can speak their language. They taught us how to make light and strong canoes from birch-bark and pine sap, which are perfect for use in the rapid-flowing rivers.

It is quite dangerous out in the wild, but in my opinion, it beats the boring life of a farmer by a long shot. Even though we have to struggle to survive, sometimes even when we go back to Quebec or Montreal, we'll be rolling in cash from all the furs we can sell. I plan on having a grand feast every day when I get home, and enjoying all the luxuries I can afford! In addition, I don't need to act according to the rigid rules of the church out here. I really don't understand why the priests and missionaries are trying so hard to make the natives here into Christians; the natives have their own way of life already. The government of New France does not like us breaking their monopoly on the fur trade, but the rewards are so good, how could anyone pass up the opportunity to go out and trade?

Year 3 Month 9 Day 16 Oh, darn, we’re running out of money again. Even though we successfully sold every last one of our furs for a great price, we’ve gone and spent it all. My friend Jose Chevalier warned me against spending too much. He was always the practical one; the first thing he did when we returned from fur trading was to fix or replace all our supplies. Then again, he’s more experienced than me, what with going out to trade 7 times now. My other friend is a gambler with terrible luck. He’s the one that keeps on losing our money the most.

Today, I went out to a Seigneur’s field, to see what life was like back on the farm. Come to think of it, it was a good thing the Seigneur didn’t recognize me, or I might have gotten myself arrested. Instead, a Habitant named Ambros Heidel welcomed me into his house and asked what my life was like. His wife had cooked some bread and fish for lunch, but I turned down the offer to take any, because I knew that Habitants don’t get that much money. Ambros told me that if he were ten years younger, he would probably want to become a Coureur de Bois as well, but he has a wife and 3 kids so he can’t anymore. His family enjoyed my tales of my travels, but frowned at how I shunned the church’s way of life (they were quite devout Christians). Anyway, when I got back, Jose got mad at me for going off without telling him where I was going. Judging by the amount of cash we have left, we’re probably going to have to go back to the woods in less than 4 weeks. Oh well, I guess life can’t be easy all the time.


 * Bibliography**
 * 1) Neering, Rosemary. "Coureurs du Bois." __Life in New France__. 
 * 2) Cruxton, Bradley. page 190-191, __Community Canada__. (c)1993 Oxford University Press.
 * 3) Dicks, Stewart K. page 24-25, __Les Canadiens: the French in Canada 1600-1867__. (c) 1980 Prentice-Hall of Canada, Ltd. Ontario.