But with the other Indian tribes the French worked hand in hand, with the Cross and the priest ever in advance of the trader's pack.
French missionaries were the first white men to settle in the populous Huron country near Lake Simcoe.

A missionary was the first European to catch a glimpse of Georgian Bay, and a missionary was probably the first of the French race to launch his canoe on the lordly Mississippi.

As a father the priest watched over his wilderness flock; while the French traders fraternized with the red men, and often mated with dusky beauties.

Many French traders, according to Sir William Johnson--a good authority, of whom we shall learn more later-were 'gentlemen in manners, character, and dress,' and they treated the natives kindly.

At the great centres of trade--Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec--the chiefs were royally received with roll of drum and salute of guns.