of the first levees on the Mississippi River, clearing forests and brush from the land between the city and Lake Pontchartrain, and digging a canal from the Mississippi to connect the river to a rice mill on the king's plantation and Bayou St. John. Perier also sought to strengthen the colony's moral character with support for stronger civil punishment of vices, such as gambling, and support for the construction of more churches and rectories. He also welcomed the Ursuline nuns to the city; his wife, Catherine, laid the cornerstone for the nuns' first convent in the city. Slavery policies Achieving these public works required the labor of enslaved Africans. The Company of the Indies had a monopoly on the slave trade. During the time it controlled the colony, more captured Africans were imported to Louisiana than at any other point in the 18th century. With this steady supply of new captives, Perier tended to put enslaved people to work on public projects until they were auctioned off to local slaveholders. To increase the workforce, he began conscripting enslaved people for 30 days at a time. In most cases, they were conscripted when the Company first brought them to Louisiana before delivering them to their purchasers, raising the ire of Louisiana slaveholders. Perier instituted an apprenticeship program where enslaved people were loaned to craftsmen for three years to train them as brickmakers, joiners, masons, carpenters, and other skilled trades necessary to the growth and development of the colony. He also put enslaved Africans to work on Company ships, navigating the coast and rivers. French settlers enslaved both Africans and Native Americans. Perier had growing concerns over alliances among enslaved people, and he encouraged slaveholders to keep enslaved Africans apart from enslaved Native Americans for fear of the two groups forming alliances. He was concerned in particular that Native Americans who escaped from slavery would induce enslaved Africans to escape and seek the protection of Native tribes. To foster mistrust between the two groups, Perier used armed enslaved African troops to attack neighboring Native Americans (although he was hesitant to rely on such troops for fear of inclining them to revolt), and he continued the policy of rewarding Native Americans for capturing escapees and disrupting maroon communities. Native American relations Perier's taking office marked the end of the indigenous policy established by former governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. Despite having been