In the closing years of French dominion the total population of Quebec, Montreal and Three Rivers, the only towns in the province, did not exceed 13,000 souls—­about the population of Boston.  Quebec alone had 8000 inhabitants, Montreal 4000, and Three Rivers 1000.  The architecture of these places was more remarkable for solidity than elegance or symmetry of proportions.  The churches, religious and educational establishments, official buildings and residences—­notably the intendant’s palace at Quebec—­were built of stone.  The most pretentious edifice was the chateau of St. Louis—­the residence of the governor-general—­which was rebuilt by Count de Frontenac within the limits of the fort of St. Louis, first erected by Champlain on the historic height always associated with his name.  The best buildings in the towns were generally of one story and constructed of stone.  In the rural parishes, the villages, properly speaking, consisted of a church, presbytery, school, and tradesmen’s houses, while the farms of the habitants stretched on either side.  The size and shape of the farms were governed by the form of the seigniories throughout the province.  M. Bourdon, the first Canadian surveyor-general, originally mapped out the seigniories in oblong shapes with very narrow frontage along the river—­a frontage of two or three arpents against a depth of from forty to eighty arpents—­and the same inconvenient oblong plan was followed in making sub-grants to the censitaire or habitant.  The result was a disfigurement of a large portion of the country, as the civil law governing the succession of estates gradually cut up all the seigniories into a number of small farms, each in the form of the parallelogram originally given to the seigniorial grants.  The houses of the habitants, then as now, were generally built of logs or sawn lumber, all whitewashed, with thatched or wooden roofs projecting over the front so as to form a sort of porch or verandah.  The farm-houses were generally close together, especially in the best cultivated and most thickly settled districts between Quebec and Montreal.  Travellers, just before the Seven Years’ War, tell us that the farms in that district appeared to be well cultivated on the whole, and the homes of the habitants gave evidences of thrift and comfort.  Some farmers had orchards from which cider was made, and patches of the coarse strong tobacco which they continue to use to this day, and which is now an important product of their province.  Until the war the condition of the French Canadian habitant was one of rude comfort.  He could never become rich, in a country where there was no enterprise or trade which encouraged him to strenuous efforts to make and save money.  Gold and silver were to him curiosities, and paper promises to pay, paper or card money, were widely circulated from early times, and were never for the most part redeemed, though the British authorities