Page 11 - Fur Trade program Curriculum

point and signaled the end of the first generation of coureurs des bois. Trading leaves
were abolished and it was henceforth forbidden

"to every person, regardless of rank or condition, to leave on a trading trip or to go inland for
any reason, under pain of the galleys; and requires all Frenchmen settled with or visiting the
Natives to take their leave and return, or they will be liable of the same punishment."

The Voyageur

It is unlikely that more than about one hundred ordinary settlers and sons of settlers
became voyageurs. The voyageurs were generally single and relatively young, most of
them in their twenties. Some were born in France, others in the colony. Some of them
resided on the Island of Montréal and the surrounding region, but it appears that most of
them lived in Trois-Rivières and the neighboring villages: Batiscan, Champlain and Cap-
de-la-Madeleine. The latter two villages in particular were the homes of many voyageur
families: Aubuchon, Chorel, Crevier, Foisy, Gatineau, Lafond, Pépin, Provencher and
Trottier.

Finally, the coureurs des bois were mostly recruited among trade less young men,
called "volontaires"; these were generally soldiers or hired men whose contract had
expired. Having little or no money, no family and no relations, they traded on a small
scale for a short time before returning to France or attempting to settle in the colony.

The great majority of the coureur des bois belonged to one of two categories of
individuals: those who made a career of it and those who wanted to accumulate a
certain sum of money to help them settle.

Michel Accault

Michel Accault was a colorful individual, the archetypal career coureur des bois whose
behavior was so often chastised by the authorities of New France.

He arrived in the colony in 1665 or 1666, and he settled as a colonist in Beauport, near
Québec. In 1673, he borrowed 568 livres from some individuals and left for the Pays
d'en Haut. He never returned to Québec. A good canoe man, he accompanied Robert
Cavelier de La Salle. He was captured by the Sioux and freed by Daniel Greysolon
Dulhut, whom he accompanied for some time thereafter in the capacity of guide and
right-hand man.

A price was later put on his head, and he managed to escape from the authorities.
Unscrupulous and disorderly, he had natural-born children in several tribes. In 1693, he
married the daughter of the chieftain of the Kaskaskias tribe. He settled in the village
bearing the same name, became a chieftain himself and became an exemplary head of
family. He supported the missionaries and he was often named godfather to the