A mile to the north, in the deep recesses of Bourg-Royal, rest the fast
crumbling and now insignificant ruins of the only rural Chateau of
French origin round Quebec. Was it built by Talon, or by Bigot? an
unfathomable mystery. Silence and desertion reign supreme, where of yore
Bigot's heartless wassailers used to meet and gamble away King Louis's
card money and piastres.
"And sunk are the voices that sounded in mirth.
And empty the goblets and dreary the hearth!"
The tower or boudoir, where was immured the Algonquin maid Caroline, the
beautiful, that too has crumbled to dust.
We are now at Lorette.
TAHOURENCHE.
"I'm the chieftain of this mountain,
Times and seasons found me here,
My drink has been the crystal fountain,
My fare the wild moose or the deer."
(The HURON CHIEF, by Adam Kidd).
There exists a faithful portrait of this noble savage, such as drawn by
himself and presented, we believe, to the Laval University at Quebec; for
glimpses of his origin, home and surroundings, we are indebted to an
honorary chief of the tribe, Ahatsistari. [308]
Paul Tahourenche (Francois Xavier Picard), Great Chief of the Lorette
Hurons, was born at Indian Lorette in 1810; he is consequently at present
71 years of age.
