His Majesty will see by the extracts of the registers
of baptisms that the number of children this year is
six or seven hundred; and in the coming years we may
hope for a substantial increase. There is some reason
to believe that, without any further female immigration,
the country will see more than one hundred marriages
next year. I consider it unnecessary to send girls
next year; the better to give the habitants a chance
to marry their own girls to soldiers desirous of
settling. Neither will it be necessary to send young
ladies, as we received last year fifteen, instead of
the four who were needed for wives of officers and
notables.

In a former chapter the population of Canada in 1665 was
given as 3215 souls, and the number of families 533. In
1668 the number of families was 1139 and the population
6282. In three years the population had nearly doubled
and the number of families had more than doubled.

Other statistics may fittingly be given here. During the
period under consideration, the West India Company sent
to Canada for the king's account many horses and sheep.
These were badly needed in the colony. Since its first
settlement there had been seen in New France only a single
horse, one which had been presented by the Company of
One Hundred Associates to M. de Montmagny, the governor
who succeeded Champlain. But from 1665 to 1668 forty-one
mares and stallions and eighty sheep were brought from
France. Domestic animals continued to be introduced until