Social Life and Institutions 203

justice was constrained to wait upon a peace that never came.

One example of what we should call a coroner’s inquest has survived. From this it would appear that such an inquest was conducted by the officers of the garrison. The case was that of one Prest-a-Rire, | mason and soldier of the company of de La Valliére attached to that of Dufresne. He had been missing since January 10 and was discovered on the ice of Port La Joye in the second week of April. Gabriel Barbudeau, Surgeon Major of Port La Joye, on requisition of Sieur de Pommeroy, Ensign Major of the garrison, and on orders from Denis de Bonna- venture, Commandant, went out to view the corpse. They stripped it and, on discovering no marks of fire, iron, stick, or other violence, found that the man had died from exposure to cold and the abundance of snow which had fallen during the day on which he had been lost. The corpse was frozen in all its parts. The verdict was witnessed by the surgeon, two commissioned officers, two sergeants; after which the body was turned over to Rev. Patrice La Grée, chap- lain of the garrison, for burial.

This verdict is found among the records kept by the chaplain of Port La Joye, under date of April 12, 1752. These records, as far as they survive, are valuable for the light that they throw upon the inner life of the colony. Under date of J uly 3, 1721, Father Breslay certifies that Jean Roy, dit La Mon- tagne, aged twenty-one years, and Sieur de La Bois- siére were drowned on May 21. Under the same date