De Pensens and Duchambon 103 
     
    
   
   
    
     autumn a fire swept over the most thickly settled 
     
     districts and destroyed the crops. Those affected 
     
     were reduced to complete dependence upon the King 
     
     for sustenance and for seed. Du Haget helped them 
     
     out of the King’s stores and Le Normant, Commis- 
     
     saire in Ile Royale, sent twenty hogsheads of seed 
     
     wheat from Acadia. Du Haget supplemented this as 
     
     well as he could out of his small income and was re- 
     
     warded a year later by a gratuity of 600 livres.** In 
     
     the meantime Duchambon had been chosen to suc- 
     
     ceed de Pensens. 
     
    

    
     Duchambon had been recommended by St. Ovide 
     
     on account of his popularity with the Acadians. He 
     
     was married to a native of the country who knew the 
     
     Micmac language, and would, therefore, be useful 
     
     in conciliating the affection of the Indians. Accord- 
     
     ingly he was appointed Lieutenant de Roi on May 
     
     17, 1737, his command being definitely separated 
     
     from that of the garrison and his salary increased 
     
     to 1800 livres so that he might be able to serve the 
     
     colony to greater advantage. The garrison at Port 
     
     La Joye was increased to a full company of sixty 
     
     men.*” Duchambon entered upon his new labors with 
     
     zeal, promising devotion to his duties, assistance to 
     
     Roma, and consideration for the Acadians. He shows 
     
     all the enthusiasm of a novice and is not slow to criti- 
     
     cize the work of his predecessors before he has had 
     
     time to appreciate the difficulties under which they 
     
     had labored. He asserts that the habitans had been 
     
    
   
   
    
     14 F, Vol. 151, p. 12. 
     
     15 B, Vol. 68, p. 875; B, Vol. 653, p. 896.