"Stallions sent by Louis Le Grand with sixty fine mares to New France over thirty years ago, and from which many of the fine steeds of today are descended".
This drawing is the work of a young cleric who lived in Canada during the seventeenth century. His collection of drawings of animals and plants in the colony and of other subjects is now known as Les RaretÄs des Indes or Codex canadiensis. The artist's naive commentary reminds us that the early Canadians had to bring from France all domestic animals which could not be found in America. Horses or cows were initially a very expensive investment, but they multiplied rapidly. By the late seventeenth century, the average farmer had two oxen for working the land, two cows, four or five pigs, a dozen chickens and a rooster, and a horse or two for travel and cartage.
Courtesy: Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
