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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15567-8.txt b/15567-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4225b93 --- /dev/null +++ b/15567-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2720 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of +The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton, by Antoine Simon Maillard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton + +Author: Antoine Simon Maillard + +Release Date: April 6, 2005 [EBook #15567] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +AN + +ACCOUNT + +OF THE + +CUSTOMS and MANNERS + +OF THE + +MICMAKIS and MARICHEETS + +SAVAGE NATIONS, + +Now Dependent on the + +Government of CAPE-BRETON. + + +FROM + +An Original French Manuscript-Letter, + +Never Published, + +Written by a French Abbot, + +Who resided many Years, in quality of Missionary, amongst them. + + +To which are annexed, + +Several Pieces, relative to the Savages, to Nova + +Scotia, and to North-America in general. + + * * * * * + +LONDON: + +Printed for S. Hooper and A. Morley at Gay's-Head, +near Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand. MDCCLVIII. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +For the better understanding of the letter immediately following, it may +not be unnecessary to give the reader some previous idea of the people +who are the subject of it, as well of the letter-writer. + +The best account of the _Mickmakis_ I could find, and certainly the most +authentic, is in a memorial furnished by the French ministry in April, +1751, from which the following paragraph is a translated extract: + +"The government of the savages dependent on Cape-Breton exacts a +particular attention. All these savages go under the name of +_Mickmakis_. Before the last war they could raise about six hundred +fighting-men, according to an account given in to his most Christian +majesty, and were distributed in several villages established on +Cape-Breton island, island of St. John, on both the coasts of Acadia +(Nova-Scotia) and on that of Canada. All, or most of the inhabitants of +these villages have been instructed in the Christian religion, by +missionaries which the king of France constantly maintains amongst them. +It is customary to distribute every year to them presents, in the name +of his majesty, which consist in arms, ammunition of war, victuals, +cloathing, and utensils of various sorts. And these presents are +regulated according to the circumstances of the time, and to the +satisfaction that shall have been given to the government by the conduct +of these savages. In the last war they behaved so as to deserve our +approbation, and indeed have, on all occasions, given marks of their +attachment and fidelity. Since the peace too, they have equally +distinguished themselves in the disturbances that are on foot on the +side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia)." + +The last part of this foregoing paragraph needs no comment. Every one +knows by what sort of service these savages merit the encouragement of +the French government, and by what acts of perfidy and cruelty exercised +on the English, they are to earn their reward. + +The _Maricheets_, mentioned in the said letter form a distinct nation, +chiefly settled at St. John's, and are often confounded with the +_Abenaquis_, so as to pass for one nation with them, though there is +certainly some distinction. They used, till lately, to be in a constant +state of hostility with the Mickmakis. But, however, these nations may +be at peace or variance with one another, in one point they agree, which +is a thorough enmity to the English, cultivated, with great application +by the missionaries, who add to the scandal of a conduct so contrary to +their profession, the baseness of denying or evading the charge by the +most pitiful equivocations. It is with the words peace, charity, and +universal benevolence, for ever in their mouths, that these +incendiaries, by instigations direct and indirect, inflame and excite +the savages to commit the cruellest outrages of war, and the blackest +acts of treachery. Poor Captain How! is well known to have paid with his +life, infamously taken away by them, at a parley, the influence one of +these missionaries (now a prisoner in the island of Jersey,) had over +these misguided wretches, whose native innocence and simplicity are not +proof against the corruption, and artful suggestions of those holy +seducers. + +It would not, perhaps, be impossible for the English, if they were to +apply proper means, and especially lenient ones, to recover the +affections of these people, which, for many reasons, cannot be entirely +rooted in the French interest. That great state-engine of theirs, +religion, by which they have so strong a hold on the weak and credulous +savages, might not, however, be an invincible bar to our success, if it +was duly counter-worked by the offer of a much more pure and rational +one of our own, joined to such temporal advantages as would shew them +their situation capable of being much meliorated, in every respect; and +especially that of freedom, which they cannot but be sensible, is daily +decreasing under the insidious encroachments and blandishments of the +French, who never cares but to enslave, nor hug but to stifle, whose +pretences, in short, to superior humanity and politeness, are not +amongst their least arts of conquest. + +As to the letter-writer, he is an abbot much respected in those parts, +who has resided the greatest part of his life amongst the Mickmakis, and +is perfectly acquainted with their language, in the composing of a +Dictionary of which he has labored eighteen or twenty years; but I +cannot learn that it is yet published, and probably for reasons of +state, it never may. The letter, of which the translation is now given, +exists only in a manuscript, having never been printed, being entirely +written for the satisfaction of a friend's curiosity, in relation to the +original manners and customs of the people of which it treats, and +which, being those of savages in the primitive state of unpolished +nature, may perhaps, to a philosophical enquirer, afford more amusement +and instruction than those of the most refined societies. What man +really is, appears at least plainer in the uncultivated savage, than in +the civilized European. + +The account of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) will, it is to be hoped, appear not +uncurious; allowance being made for its being only in form of a letter. + + + + +A + +LETTER, &c. + + +_Micmaki-Country_, March 27, 1755. + + +SIR, + +I should long before now have satisfied you in those points of curiosity +you expressed, concerning the savages amongst whom I have so long +resided, if I could have found leisure for it. Literally true it is, +that I have no spare time here, unless just in the evening, and that not +always. This was my case too in Louisbourg; and I do not doubt but you +will be surprised at learning, that I enjoy as little rest here as +there. + +Had you done me, Sir, the honor of passing with me but three days only, +you would soon have seen what sort of a nation it is that I have to deal +with. I am obliged to hold frequent and long parleys with them, and, at +every occasion, to heap upon them the most fair and flattering promises. +I must incessantly excite them to the practice of acts of religion, and +labor to render them tractable, sociable, and loyal to the king (of +France). But especially, I apply myself to make them live in good +understanding with the French. + +With all this, I affect a grave and serious air, that awes and imposes +upon them. I even take care of observing measure and cadence in the +delivery of my words, and to make choice of those expressions the +properest to strike their attention, and to hinder what I say from +falling to the ground. If I cannot boast that my harangues have all the +fruit and success that I could wish, they are not however wholly without +effect. As nothing inchants those people more than a style of metaphors +and allegories, in which even their common conversation abounds, I adapt +myself to their taste, and never please them better than when I give +what I say this turn, speaking to them in their own language. I borrow +the most lively images from those objects of nature, with which they are +so well acquainted; and am rather more regular than even themselves, in +the arrangement of my phrases. I affect, above all, to rhime as they do, +especially at each member of a period. This contributes to give them so +great an idea of me, that they imagine this gift of speaking is rather +an inspiration, than an acquisition by study and meditation. In truth, I +may venture to say, without presumption, that I talk the _Micmaki_ +language as fluently, and as elegantly, as the best of their women, who +most excel in this point. + +Another of my occupations is to engage and spur them on to the making a +copious chace, when the hunting-season comes in, that their debts to the +dealers with them may be paid, their wives and children cloathed, and +their credit supported. + +It is neither gaming nor debauchery that disable them from the payment +of their debts, but their vanity, which is excessive, in the presents of +peltry they make to other savages, who come either in quality of envoys +from one country to another, or as friends or relations upon a visit to +one another. Then it is, that a village is sure to exhaust itself in +presents; it being a standing rule with them, on the arrival of such +persons, to bring out every thing that they have acquired, during the +winter and spring season, in order to give the best and most +advantageous idea of themselves. Then it is chiefly they make feasts, +which sometimes last several days; of the manner of which I should +perhaps spare you the description, if the ceremony that attends them did +not include the strongest attestation of the great stress they lay on +hunting; the excelling wherein they commonly take for their text in +their panegyrics on these occasions, and consequently enters, for a +great deal, into the idea you are to conceive of the life and manners of +the savages in these parts. + +The first thing I am to observe to you is, that one of the greatest +dainties, and with which they crown their entertainments, is the flesh +of dogs. For it is not till the envoys, friends, or relations, are on +the point of departure, that, on the eve of that day, they make a +considerable slaughter of dogs, which they slea, draw, and, with no +other dressing, put whole into the kettle; from whence they take them +half boiled, and carve out into as many pieces as there are guests to +eat of them, in the cabbin of him who gives the treat. But every one, +before entering the cabbin, takes care to bring with him his _Oorakin_, +or bowl, made of bark of birch-tree, either polygone shaped, or quite +round; and this is practised at all their entertainments. These pieces +of dogs flesh are accompanied with a small _Oorakin_ full of the oil or +fat of seal, or of elk's grease, if this feast is given at the +melting-time of the snow. Every one has his own dish before him, in +which he sops his flesh before he eats it. If the fat be hard, he cuts a +small piece of it to every bit of flesh he puts into his mouth, which +serves as bread with us. At the end of this fine regale, they drink as +much of the oil as they can, and wipe their hands on their hair. Then +come in the wives of the master and persons invited, who carry off their +husbands plates, and retire together to a separate place, where they +dispatch the remains. + +After grace being said by the oldest of the company, who also never +fails of pronouncing it before the meal, the master of the treat appears +as if buried in a profound contemplation, without speaking a word, for a +full quarter of an hour; after which, waking as it were out of a deep +sleep, he orders in the _Calumets_, or _Indian_ pipes, with tobacco. +First he fills his own, lights it, and, after sucking in two or three +whiffs, he presents it to the most considerable man in the company: +after which, every one fills his pipe and smoaks. + +The calumets lighted, and the tobacco burning with a clear fire, are +scarce half smoked out, before the man of note before mentioned (for the +greatest honors being paid him) gets up, places himself in the midst of +the cabbin, and pronounces a speech of thanksgiving. He praises the +master of the feast, who has so well regaled him and all the company. He +compares him to a tree, whose large and strong roots afford nourishment +to a number of small shrubs; or to a salutary medicinal herb, found +accidentally by such as frequent the lakes in their canoes. Some I have +heard, who, in their winter-feasts, compared him to the turpentine-tree, +that never fails of yielding its sap and gummy distillation in all +seasons: others to those temperate and mild days, which are sometimes +seen in the midst of the severest winter. They employ a thousand +similies of this sort, which I omit. After this introduction, they +proceed to make honorable mention of the lineage from which the matter +of the feast is descended. + +"How great (will the oldest of them say) art thou, through thy great, +great, great grand-father, whose memory is still recent, by tradition, +amongst us, for the plentiful huntings he used to make! There was +something of miraculous about him, when he assisted at the beating of +the woods for elks, or other beasts of the fur. His dexterity at +catching this game was not superior to our's; but there was some +unaccountable secret he particularly possessed in his manner of seizing +those creatures, by springing upon them, laying hold of their heads, and +transfixing them at the same time with his hunting-spear, though thrice +as strong and as nimble again as he was, and much more capable with +their legs only, than we with our rackets [a sort of buskined shoes made +purposely for the Indian travels over the snow], to make their way over +mountains of snow: he would nevertheless follow them, dart them, without +ever missing his aim, tire them out with his chace, bring them down, and +mortally wound them. Then he would regale us with their blood, skin +them, and deliver up the carcass to us to cut to pieces. But if thy +great, great, great grand-father made such a figure in the chace, what +has not thy great, great grand-father done with respect to the beavers, +those animals almost men? whose industry he surpassed by his frequent +watchings round their cabbins, by the repeated alarms he would give them +several times in one evening, and oblige them thereby to return home, so +that he might be sure of the number of those animals he had seen +dispersed during the day, having a particular foresight of the spot to +which they would come to load their tails with earth, cut down with +their teeth such and such trees for the construction of their huts. He +had a particular gift of knowing the favorite places of those animals +for building them. But now let us rather speak of your great +grand-father, who was so expert at making of snares for moose-deer, +martins, and elks. He had particular secrets, absolutely unknown to any +but himself, to compel these sort of creatures to run sooner into his +snares than those of others; and he was accordingly always so well +provided with furs, that he was never at a loss to oblige his friends. +Now let us come to your grand-father, who has a thousand and a thousand +times regaled the youth of his time with seals. How often in our young +days have we greased our hair in his cabbin? How often have we been +invited, and even compelled by his friendly violence, to go home with +him, whenever we returned with our canoes empty, to be treated with +seal, to drink the oil, and anoint ourselves with it? He even pushed his +generosity so far, as to give us of the oil to take home with us. But +now we are come to your father: there was a man for you! He used to +signalize himself in every branch of chace; but especially in the art of +shooting the game whether flying or sitting. He never missed his aim. He +was particularly admirable for decoying of bustards by his artificial +imitations. We are all of us tolerably expert at counterfeiting the cry +of those birds; but as to him, he surpassed us in certain inflexions, of +his voice, that made it impossible to distinguish his cry from that of +the birds themselves. He had, besides, a particular way of motion with +his body, that at a distance might be taken for the clapping of their +wings, insomuch that he has often deceived ourselves, and put us to +confusion, as he started out of his hiding-place. + +"As for thyself, I say nothing, I am too full of the good things thou +hast feasted me with, to treat on that subject; but I thank thee, and +take thee by the hand, leaving to my fellow-guests the care of +acquitting themselves of that duty." + +After this, he sits down, and some other younger, and in course of less +note, for they pay great respect to age, gets up, and makes a summary +recapitulation of what the first speaker has said; commending his manner +of singing the praises of the master of the feast's ancestors: to which +he observes, there is nothing to be added; but that he has, however, +left him one part of the task to be accomplished, which is, not to pass +over in silence the feast to which he and the rest of his brethren are +invited; neither to omit the merit and praises of him who has given the +entertainment. Then quitting his place, and advancing in cadence, he +takes the master of the treat by the hand, saying, "All the praises my +tongue is about to utter, have thee for their object. All the steps I am +going to take, as I dance lengthwise and breadthwise in thy cabbin, are +to prove to thee the gaiety of my heart, and my gratitude. Courage! my +friends, keep time with your motions and voice, to my song and dance." + +With this he begins, and proceeds in his _Netchkawet_, that is, +advancing with his body strait erect, in measured steps, with his arms +a-kimbo. Then he delivers his words, singing and trembling with his +whole body, looking before and on each side of him with a steady +countenance, sometimes moving with a slow grave pace, then again with a +quick and brisk one. + +The syllables he articulates the most distinctly are, _Ywhannah, Owanna, +Haywanna, yo! ha! yo! ha!_ and when he makes a pause he looks full at +the company, as much as to demand their chorus to the word _Heh!_ which +he pronounces with great emphasis. As he is singing and dancing they +often repeat the word _Heh!_ fetched up from the depth of their throat; +and when he makes his pause, they cry aloud in chorus, _Hah!_ + +After this prelude, the person who had sung and danced recovers his +breath and spirits a little, and begins his harangue in praise of the +maker of the feast. He flatters him greatly, in attributing to him a +thousand good qualities he never had, and appeals to all the company for +the truth of what he says, who are sure not to contradict him, being in +the same circumstance as himself of being treated, and answer him by the +word _Heh_, which is as much as to say, _Yes_, or _Surely_. Then he +takes them all by the hand, and begins his dance again: and sometimes +this first dance is carried to a pitch of madness. At the end of it he +kisses his hand, by way of salute to all the company; after which he +goes quietly to his place again. Then another gets up to acquit himself +of the same duty, and so do successively all the others in the cabbin, +to the very last man inclusively. + +This ceremony of thanksgiving being over by the men, the girls and women +come in, with the oldest at the head of them, who carries in her left +hand a great piece of birch-bark of the hardest, upon which she strikes +as it were a drum; and to that dull sound which the bark returns, they +all dance, spinning round on their heels, quivering, with one hand +lifted, the other down: other notes they have none, but a guttural loud +aspiration of the word Heh! Heh! Heh! as often as the old female savage +strikes her bark-drum. As soon as she ceases striking, they set up a +general cry, expressed by Yah! Then, if their dance is approved, they +begin it again; and when weariness obliges the old woman to withdraw, +she first pronounces her thanksgiving in the name of all the girls and +women there. The introduction of which is too curious to omit, as it so +strongly characterises the sentiments of the savages of that sex, and +confirms the general observation, that where their bosom once harbours +cruelty, they carry it greater lengths than even the men, whom +frequently they instigate to it. + +"You men! who look on me as of an infirm and weak sex, and consequently +of all necessity subordinate to you, know that in what I am, the Creator +has given to my share, talents and properties at least of as much worth +as your's, I have had the faculty of bringing into the world warriors, +great hunters, and admirable managers of canoes. This hand, withered as +you see it now, whose veins represent the root of a tree, has more than +once struck a knife into the hearts of the prisoners, who were given up +to me for my sport. Let the river-sides, I say, for I call them to +witness for me, as well as the woods of such a country, attest their +having seen me more than once tear out the heart, entrails, and tongue, +of those delivered up to me, without changing color, roast pieces of +their flesh, yet palpitating and warm with life, and cram them down the +throats of others, whom the like fate awaited. With how many scalps have +not I seen my head adorned, as well as those of my daughters! With what +pathetic exhortations have not I, upon occasion, rouzed up the spirit of +our young men, to go in quest of the like trophies, that they might +atchieve the reward, honor, and renown annexed to the acquisition of +them: but it is not in these points alone that I have signalized myself. +I have often brought about alliances, which there was no room to think +could ever be made; and I have been so fortunate, that all the couples +whose marriages I have procured, have been prolific, and furnished our +nation with supports, defenders, and subjects, to eternize our race, and +to protect us from the insults of our enemies. These old firs, these +antient spruce-trees, full of knots from the top to the root, whose bark +is falling off with age, and who yet preserve their gum and powers of +life, do not amiss resemble me. I am no longer what I was; all my skin +is wrinkled and furrowed, my bones are almost every where starting +through it. As to my outward form, I may well be reckoned amongst the +things, fit for nothing but to be totally neglected and thrown aside; +but I have still within me wherewithal to attract the attention of those +who know me." + +After this introduction follow the thanksgiving and encomiums, much in +the same taste as the first haranguer's amongst the guests. This is what +is practised in all the more solemn entertainments, both on the men and +women's side. Nor can you imagine, how great an influence such praises +have over them, derived as they are from the merit of hunting, and how +greatly they contribute to inflame their passion for it. Nor is it +surprising, considering how much almost the whole of their livelihood +depends upon the game of all sorts that is the object of their chace. + +They have also a kind of feasts, which may be termed war-feasts, since +they are never held but in time of war, declared, commenced, or +resolved. The forms of these are far different from those of pacific and +friendly entertainments. There is a mixture of devotion and ferocity in +them, which at the same time that it surprises, proves that they +consider war in a very solemn light, and as not to be begun without the +greatest reason and justice; which motives, once established, or, which +is the same thing, appearing to them established, there is nothing they +do not think themselves permitted against their enemy, from whom they, +on the other hand, expect no better quarter than they themselves give. + +To give you an idea of their preparatory ceremony for a declaration of +war, I shall here select for you a recent example, in the one that broke +out not long ago between the Micmaquis, and Maricheets. These last had +put a cruel affront on the former, the nature of which you will see in +the course of the following description: but I shall call the Micmaquis +the aggressors, because the first acts of hostility in the field began +from them. Those who mean to begin the war, detach a certain number of +men to make incursions on the territories of their enemies, to ravage +the country, to destroy the game on it, and ruin all the beaver-huts +they can find on their rivers and lakes, whether entirely, or only +half-built. From this expedition they return laden with game and peltry; +upon which the whole nation assembles to feast on the meat, in a manner +that has more of the carnivorous brute in it than of the human creature. +Whilst they are eating, or rather devouring, all of them, young and old, +great and little, engage themselves by the sun, the moon, and the name +of their ancestors, to do as much by the enemy-nation. + +When they have taken care to bring off with them a live beast, from the +quarter in which they have committed their ravage, they cut its throat, +drink its blood, and even the boys with their teeth tear the heart and +entrails to pieces, which they ravenously devour, giving thereby to +understand, that those of the enemies who shall fall into their hands, +have no better treatment to expect at them. + +After this they bring out _Oorakins_, (bowls of bark) full of that +coarse vermillion which is found along the coast of Chibucto, and on the +west-side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which they moisten with the blood of +the animal if any remains, and add water to compleat the dilution. Then +the old, as well as the young, smear their faces, belly and back with +this curious paint; after which they trim their hair shorter, some of +one side of the head, some of the other; some leave only a small tuft on +the crown of their head; others cut their hair entirely off on the left +or right side of it; some again leave nothing on it but a lock, just on +the top of their forehead, and of the breadth of it, that falls back on +the nape of the neck. Some of them bore their ears, and pass through the +holes thus made in them, the finest fibril-roots of the fir, which they +call _Toobee_, and commonly use for thread; but on this occasion serve +to string certain small shells. This military masquerade, which they use +at once for terror and disguise, being compleated, all the peltry of the +beasts killed in the enemy's country, is piled in a heap; the oldest +_Sagamo_, or chieftain of the assembly gets up, and asks, "What weather +it is? Is the sky clear? Does the sun shine?" On being answered in the +affirmative, he orders the young men to carry the pile of peltry to a +rising-ground, or eminence, at some little distance from the cabbin, or +place of assembly. As this is instantly done, he follows them, and as he +walks along begins, and continues his address to the sun in the +following terms: + +"Be witness, thou great and beautiful luminary, of what we are this day +going to do in the face of thy orb! If thou didst disapprove us, thou +wouldst, this moment, hide thyself, to avoid affording the light of thy +rays to all the actions of this assembly. Thou didst exist of old, and +still existeth. Thou remainest for ever as beautiful, as radiant, and as +beneficent, as when our first fore fathers beheld thee. Thou wilt always +be the same. The father of the day can never fail us, he who makes every +thing vegetate, and without whom cold, darkness, and horror, would every +where prevail. Thou knowest all the iniquitous procedure of our enemies +towards us. What perfidy have they not used, what deceit have they not +employed, whilst we had no room to distrust them? There are now more +than five, six, seven, eight moons revolved since we left the principal +amongst our daughters with them, in order thereby to form the most +durable alliance with them, (for, in short, we and they are the same +thing as to our being, constitution, and blood); and yet we have seen +them look on these girls of the most distinguished rank, +_Kayheepidetchque_, as mere playthings for them, an amusement, a pastime +put by us into their hands, to afford them a quick and easy consolation, +for the fatal blows we had given them in the preceding war. Yet, we had +made them sensible, that this supply of our principal maidens was, in +order that they should re-people their country more honorably, and to +put them under a necessity of conviction, that we were now become +sincerely their friends, by delivering to them so sacred a pledge of +amity, as our principal blood. Can we then, unmoved, behold them so +basely abusing that thorough confidence of ours? Beautiful, all-seeing, +all-penetrating luminary! without whose influence the mind of man has +neither efficacy nor vigor, thou hast seen to what a pitch that nation +(who are however our brothers) has carried its insolence towards our +principal maidens. Our resentment would not have been so extreme with +respect to girls of more common birth, and the rank of whose fathers had +not a right to make such an impression on us. But here we are wounded in +a point there is no passing over in silence or unrevenged. Beautiful +luminary! who art thyself so regular in thy course, and in the wise +distribution thou makest of thy light from morning to evening, wouldst +thou have us not imitate thee? And whom can we better imitate? The earth +stands in need of thy governing thyself as thou dost towards it. There +are certain places, where thy influence does not suffer itself to be +felt, because thou dost not judge them worthy of it. But, as for us, it +is plain that we are thy children; for we can know no origin but that +which thy rays have given us, when first marrying efficaciously, with +the earth we inhabit, they impregnated its womb, and caused us to grow +out of it like the herbs of the field, and the trees of the forest, of +which thou art equally the common father. To imitate thee then, we +cannot do better than no longer to countenance or cherish those, who +have proved themselves so unworthy thereof. They are no longer, as to +us, under a favorable aspect. They shall dearly pay for the wrong they +have done us. They have not, it is true, deprived us of the means of +hunting for our maintenance and cloathing; they have not cut off the +free passage of our canoes, on the lakes and rivers of this country; but +they have done worse; they have supposed in us a tameness of sentiments, +which does not, nor cannot, exist in us. They have defloured our +principal maidens in wantonness, and lightly sent them back to us. This +is the just motive which cries out for our vengeance. Sun! be thou +favorable to us in this point, as thou art in that of our hunting, when +we beseech thee to guide us in quest of our daily support. Be propitious +to us, that we may not fail of discovering the ambushes that may be laid +for us; that we may not be surprized unawares in our cabbins, or +elsewhere; and, finally, that we may not fall into the hands of our +enemies. Grant them no chance with us, for they deserve none. Behold the +skins of their beasts now a burnt-offering to thee! Accept it, as if the +fire-brand I hold in my hands, and now set to the pile, was lighted +immediately by thy rays, instead of our domestic fire." + +Every one of the assistants, as well men as women, listen attentively to +this invocation, with a kind of religious terror, and in a profound +silence. But scarce is the pile on a blaze, but the shouts and war-cries +begin from all parts. Curses and imprecations are poured forth without +mercy or reserve, on the enemy-nation. Every one, that he may succeed in +destroying any particular enemy he may have in the nation against which +war is declared, vows so many skins or furs to be burnt in the same +place in honor of the sun. Then they bring and throw into the fire, the +hardest stones they can find of all sizes, which are calcined in it. +They take out the properest pieces for their purpose, to be fastened to +the end of a stick, made much in the form of a hatchet-handle. They slit +it at one end, and fix in the cleft any fragment of those burnt stones, +that will best fit it, which they further secure, by binding it tightly +round with the strongest _Toobee_, or fibrils of fir-root +above-mentioned; and then make use of it, as of a hatchet, not so much +for cutting of wood, as for splitting the skull of the enemy, when they +can surprize him. They form also other instruments of war; such as long +poles, one of which is armed with bone of elk, made pointed like a +small-sword, and edge of both sides, in order to reach the enemy at a +distance, when he is obliged to take to the woods. The arrows are made +at the same time, pointed at the end with a sharp bone. The wood of +which these arrows are made, as well as the bows, must have been dried +at the mysterious fire, and even the guts of which the strings are made. +But you are here to observe, I am speaking of an incident that happened +some years ago; for, generally speaking, they are now better provided +with arms, and iron, by the Europeans supplying them, for their chace, +in favor of their dealings with them for their peltry. But to return to +my narration. + +Whilst the fire is still burning, the women come like so many furies, +with more than bacchanalian madness, making the most hideous howlings, +and dancing without any order, round the fire. Then all their apparent +rage turns of a sudden against the men. They threaten them, that if they +do not supply them with scalps, they will hold them very cheap, and look +on them as greatly inferior to themselves; that they will deny +themselves to their most lawful pleasures; that their daughters shall be +given to none but such as have signalized themselves by some military +feat; that, in short, they will themselves find means to be revenged of +them, which cannot but be easy to do on cowards. + +The men, at this, begin to parley with one another, and order the women +to withdraw, telling them, that they shall be satisfied; and that, in a +little time, they may expect to have prisoners brought to them, to do +what they will with them. + +The next thing they agree on is to send a couple of messengers, in the +nature of heralds at arms, with their hatchets, quivers, bows, and +arrows, to declare war against the nation by whom they conceive +themselves aggrieved. These go directly to the village where the bulk of +the nation resides, observing a sullen silence by the way, without +speaking to any that may meet them. When they draw near the village, +they give the earth several strokes with their hatchets, as a signal of +commencing hostilities in form; and to confirm it the more, they shoot +two of their best arrows at the village, and retire with the utmost +expedition. The war is now kindled in good earnest, and it behoves each +party to stand well on its guard. The heralds, after this, return to +make a report of what they have done; and to prove their having been at +the place appointed, they do not fail of bringing away with them some +particular marks of that spot of the country. Then it is, that the +inhabitants of each nation begin to think seriously, whether they shall +maintain their ground by staying in their village, and fortifying it in +their manner, or look out for a place of greater safety, or go directly +in quest of the enemy. Upon these questions they assemble, deliberate, +and hold endless consultations, though withal not uncurious ones: for it +is on these occasions, that those of the greatest sagacity and eloquence +display all their talents, and make themselves distinguished. One of +their most common stratagems, when there were reasons for not attacking +one another, or coming to a battle directly, was for one side to make as +if they had renounced all thoughts of acting offensively. A party of +those who made this feint of renunciation, would disperse itself in a +wood, observing to keep near the borders of it; when, if any stragglers +of the enemy's appeared, some one would counterfeit to the life the +particular cry of that animal, in the imitation of which he most +excelled; and this childish decoy would, however, often succeed, in +drawing in the young men of the opposite party into their ambushes. + +Sometimes the scheme was to examine what particular spot lay so, that +the enemies must, in all necessity, pass through it, to hunt, or provide +bark for making their canoes. It was commonly in these passes, or +defiles, that the bloodiest encounters or engagements happened, when +whole nations have been known to destroy one another, with such an +exterminating rage on both sides, that few have been left alive on +either; and to say the truth, they were, generally speaking, mere +cannibals. It was rarely the case that they did not devour some limbs, +at least, of the prisoners they made upon one another, after torturing +them to death in the most cruel and shocking manner: but they never +failed of drinking their blood like water; it is now, some time, that +our Micmakis especially are no longer in the taste of exercising such +acts of barbarity. I have, yet, lately myself seen amongst them some +remains of that spirit of ferocity; some tendencies and approaches to +those inhumanities; but they are nothing in comparison to what they used +to be, and seem every day wearing out. The religion to which we have +brought them over, and our remonstrances have greatly contributed to +soften that savage temper, and atrocious vindictiveness that heretofore +reigned amongst them. But remember, Sir, that as to this point I am now +only speaking, upon my own knowlege, of the Micmakis and Mariquects, +who, though different in language, have the same customs and manners, +and are of the same way of thinking and acting. + +But to arrive at any tolerable degree of conjecture, whence these people +derive their origin own myself at a loss: possibly some light might be +got into it, by discovering whether there was any affinity or not +between their language, and that of the Orientalists, as the Chinese or +Tartars. In the mean time, the abundance of words in this language +surprized, and continues to surprize me every day the deeper I get into +it. Every thing is proper in it; nothing borrowed, as amongst us. Here +are no auxiliary verbs. The prepositions are in great number. This it is +that gives great ease, fluency, and richness to the expression of +whatever you require, when you are once master enough to join them to +the verbs. In all their absolute verbs they have a dual number. What we +call the imperfect, perfect, and preter-perfect tenses of the indicative +mood, admits, as with us, of varied inflexions of the terminations to +distinguish the person; but the difference of the three tenses is +express, for the preter-perfect by the preposition _Keetch_; for the +preter-pluperfect by _Keetch Keeweeh_: the imperfect is again +distinguished from them by having no preposition at all. + +They have no feminine termination, either for the verbs or nouns. This +greatly facilitates to me my composition of songs and hymns for them, +especially as their prose itself naturally runs into poetry, from the +frequency of their tropes and metaphors; and into rhime, from their +nouns being susceptible of the same termination, as that of the words in +the verbs which express the different persons. In speaking of persons +absent, the words change their termination, as well in the nouns as in +the verbs. + +They have two distinctions of style; the one noble, or elevated, for +grave and important subjects, the other ignoble, or trivial, for +familiar or vulgar ones. But this distinction is not so much with them, +as with us, marked by a difference of words, but of terminations. Thus, +when they are treating of solemn, or weighty matters, they terminate the +verb and the noun by another inflexion, than what is used for trivial or +common conversation. + +I do not know, whether I explain clearly enough to you this so material +a point of their elocution; but it makes itself clearly distinguished, +when once one comes to understand the language, in which it supplies the +place of the most pathetic emphasis, though even that they do not want, +nor great expression in their gestures and looks. All their conjugations +are regular and distinct. + +Yet, with all these advantages of language, the nation itself is +extreamly ignorant as to what concerns itself, or its origin, and their +traditions are very confused and defective. They know nothing of the +first peopling of their country, of which they imagine themselves the +Aborigines. They often talk of their ancestors, but have nothing to say +of them that is not vague or general. According to them, they were all +great hunters, great wood-rangers, expert managers of canoes, intrepid +warriors, that took to wives as many as they could maintain by hunting. +They had too a custom amongst them, that if a woman grew pregnant whilst +she was sucking a child, they obliged her to use means for procuring an +abortion, in favor of the first-come, who they supposed would otherwise +be defrauded of his due nourishment. Most of them also value themselves +on being descended from their Jugglers, who are a sort of men that +pretend to foretel futurity by a thousand ridiculous contorsions and +grimaces, and by frightful and long-winded howlings. + +The great secret of these Jugglers consists in having a great _Oorakin_ +full of water, from any river in which it was known there were +beaver-huts. Then he takes a certain number of circular turns round this +Oorakin, as it stands on the ground, pronouncing all the time with a low +voice, a kind of gibberish of broken words, unintelligible to the +assistants, and most probably so to himself, but which those, on whom he +means to impose, believe very efficacious. After this he draws near to +the bowl, and bending very low, or rather lying over it, looks at +himself in it as in a glass. If he sees the water in the least muddy, or +unsettled, he recovers his erect posture, and begins his rounds again, +till he finds the water as clear as he could wish it for his purpose, +and then he pronounces over it his magic words. If after having repeated +them twice or thrice, he does not find the question proposed to him +resolved by this inspection of the water, nor the wonders he wants +operated by it, he says with a loud voice and a grave tone, that the +_Manitoo_, or _Miewndoo_, (the great spirit) or genius, which, according +to them, has all knowledge of future events, would not declare himself +till every one of the assistants should have told him (the Juggler) in +the ear what were his actual thoughts, or greatest secret. [A Romish +missionary must, with a very bad grace, blame the Jugglers, for what +himself makes such a point of religion in his _auricular confession_. +Even the appellation of _Juggler_ is not amiss applicable to those of +their craft, considering all their tricks and mummery not a whit +superior to those of these poor savages, in the eyes of common-sense. +Who does not know, that the low-burlesque word of _Hocus-pocus_, is an +humorous corruption of their _Hoc est corpus meum_, by virtue of which, +they make a _God_ out of a vile wafer, and think it finely solved, by +calling it a _mystery_, which, by the way is but another name for +_nonsense_. Is there any thing amongst the savages half so absurd or so +impious?] To this purpose he gets up, laments, and bitterly inveighs +against the bad dispositions of those of the assistants, whose fault it +was, that the effects of his art were obstructed. Then going round the +company, he obliges them to whisper him in the ear, whatever held the +first place in their minds; and the simplicity of the greater number is +such, as to make them reveal to him what it would be more prudent to +conceal. By these means it is, that these artful Jugglers renders +themselves formidable to the common people, and by getting into the +secrets of most of the families of the nation, acquire a hank over them. +Some, indeed, of the most sensible see through this pitiful artifice, +and look on the Jugglers in their proper light of cheats, quacks, and +tyrants; but out of fear of their established influence over the bulk of +the nation, they dare not oppose its swallowing their impostures, or its +regarding all their miserable answers as so many oracles. When the +Juggler in exercise, has collected all that he can draw from the inmost +recesses of the minds of the assistants, he replaces himself, as before, +over the mysterious bowl of water, and now knows what he has to say. +Then, after twice or thrice laying his face close to the surface of the +water, and having as often made his evocations in uncouth, +unintelligible words, he turns his face to his audience, sometimes he +will say, "I can only give a half-answer upon such an article; there is +an obstacle yet unremoved in the way, before I can obtain an entire +solution, and that is, there are some present here who are in such and +such a case. That I may succeed in what is asked of me, and that +interests the whole nation, I appoint that person, without my knowing, +as yet, who it is, to meet me at such an hour of the night. I name no +place of assignation but will let him know by a signal of lighted fire, +where he may come to me, and suffer himself to be conducted wherever I +shall carry him. The _Manitoo_ orders me to spare his reputation, and +not expose him; for if there is any harm in it to him, there is also +harm to me." + +Thus it is the Juggler has the art of imposing on these simple credulous +creatures, and even often succeeds by it in his divinations. Sometimes +he does not need all this ceremonial. He pretends to foretell off-hand, +and actually does so, when he is already prepared by his knowledge, +cunning, or natural penetration. His divinations chiefly turn on the +expedience of peace with one nation, or of war with another; upon +matches between families, upon the long life of some, or the short life +of others; how such and such persons came by their deaths, violently or +naturally; whether the wife of some great _Sagamo_ has been true to his +bed or not; who it could be that killed any particular persons found +dead of their wounds in the woods, or on the coast. Sometimes they +pretend it's the deed of the _Manitoo_, for reasons to them unknown: +this last incident strikes the people with a religious awe. But what the +Jugglers are chiefly consulted upon, and what gives them the greatest +credit, is to know whether the chace of such a particular species of +beasts should be undertaken; at what season, or on which side of the +country; how best may be discovered the designs of any nation with which +they are at war; or at what time such or such persons shall return from +their journey. The Juggler pretends to see all this, and more, in his +bowl of water: divination by coffee-grounds is a trifle to it. He is +also applied to, to know whether a sick person shall recover or die of +his illness. But what I have here told you of the procedure of these +Jugglers, you are to understand only of the times that preceded the +introduction of Christianity amongst these people, or of those parts +where it is not yet received: for these practices are no longer suffered +where we have any influence. + +Amongst the old savages lately baptized, I could never, from the +accounts they gave me of the belief of their ancestors, find any true +_knowledge_ of the supreme Being; no idea, I mean, approaching to that +we have, or rather nothing but a vague imagination. They have, it is +true, a confused notion of a Being, acting they know not how [Who +does?], in the universe, but they do not make of him a great soul +diffused through all its parts. They have no conception or knowledge of +all the attributes we bestow on the Deity. Whenever they happen to +philosophize upon this _Manitoo_, or great spirit, they utter nothing +but _rêveries_ and absurdities. [Are not there innumerable volumes on +this subject, to which the same objection might as justly be made? +Possibly the savages, and the deepest divines, with respect to the +manner of the Deity's existence, may have, in point of ignorance, +nothing to reproach one another. It matters very little, whether one +sees the sun from the lowest valley, or the highest mountain, when the +immensity of its distance contracts the highest advantage of the +eminence to little less than nothing. Surely the infinite superiority of +the Deity, must still more effectually mock the distinction of the +mental eye, at the same time that his existence itself is as plain as +that of the sun, and like that too, dazzling those most, who contemplate +it most fixedly; reduces them to close the eye, not to exclude the +light, but as overpowered by it.] + +Amongst other superstitious notions, not the least prevalent is that of +the _Manitoo_'s exercise of his power over the dead, whom he orders to +appear to them, and acquaint them with what passes at a distance, in +respect to their most important concerns; to advise them what they had +best do, or not do; to forewarn them of dangers, or to inspire them with +revenge against any nation that may have insulted them, and so forth. + +They have no idea of his spirituality, or even of the spirituality of +that principle, which constitutes their own vital principle. They have +even no word in their language that answers to that of soul in ours. The +term approaching nearest thereto that we can find, is _M'cheejacmih_, +which signifies _Shade_, and may be construed something in the nature of +the _Manes_ of the Romans. + +The general belief amongst them is, that, after death, they go to a +place of joy and plenty, in which sensuality is no more omitted than in +Mahomet's paradise. There they are to find women in abundance, a country +thick of all manner of game to humor their passion for hunting, and bows +and arrows of the best sort, ready made. But these regions are supposed +at a great distance from their's, to which they will have to travel; and +therefore it's requisite to be well-provided, before they quit their own +country, with arrows, long poles fit for hunting, or for covering +cabbins, with bear-skins, or elk-hides, with women, and with some of +their children, to make their journey to that place more commodious, +more pleasant, and appear more expeditious. It was especially in +character for a warrior, not to leave this world without taking with him +some marks of his bravery, as particularly scalps. Therefore it was, +that when any of them died, he was always followed by, at least, one of +his children, some women, and above all, by her whom in his life he had +most loved, who threw themselves into the grave, and were interred with +him. They also put into it great strips, or rolls of the bark of birch, +arrows, and scalps. Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, light upon +some of these old burying-places in the woods, with all these funeral +accompanyments; but of late, the interment of live persons has been +almost entirely disused. + +I never could learn whether they had any set formulary of prayer, or +invocation to the _great Manitoo_; or whether they made any sacrifices +of beasts or peltry, to any other _Manitoo_, in contradiction to him, or +to any being whom they dreaded as an evil genius. I could discover no +more than what I have above related of the ceremonies in honor of the +sun. I know, indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, which +they invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake any +journeys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set for +their game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to it: + +"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our benefit, +supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to him, thou hast +concurred to make us spring out of that earth we have inhabited from the +first ages of the world, and takest particular care of us, that the +malignant air of the night, should not kill the principle and bud of +life within us. Thou regardest us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hast +not, from the first time, discontinued to treat us like a true mother. +Thou guidest us in our nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light it +is, that we have often struck great strokes in war; and more than once +have our enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thy +clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted us, +for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have enabled +us not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but often to surprize +him asleep. However we might be wanting to ourselves, thy regular course +was never wanting to us. Beautiful spouse of the sun! give us to +discover the tracks of elks, moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears, +when urged by our wants, we pursue by night the hunt after these beasts. +Give to our women the strength to support the pains of child-birth +[_Lucina fer opem_, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens], +render their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible fountains." + +I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition or +knowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with such +unsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on that +head. + +This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man how old +he is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy head?" + +Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. When we +would say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they express it by, "I +shall be a moon and a half on it." + +Before _we_ knew them, it was common to see amongst them, persons of +both sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty years of age. +But these examples of longevity are grown much more rare. + +By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly decreased. Some +imagine this is owing to that inveterate animosity, with which these so +many petty nations were continually laboring one another's destruction +and extirpation. Others impute it to the introduction by the Europeans, +of the vice of drunkenness, and to the known effect of spirituous +liquors in the excesses of their use, to which they are but too prone, +in striking at the powers of generation, as well as at the principles of +health and life. Not improbably too, numbers impatient of the +encroachments of the Europeans on their country, and dreading the +consequences of them to their liberty, for which they have a passionate +attachment, and incapable of reconciling or assimilating their customs +and manners to ours, have chosen to withdraw further into the western +recesses of the continent, at a distance impenetrable to our approach. + +But which ever of these conjectures is the truest, or whether or not all +of these causes have respectively concurred, in a lesser or greater +degree, the fact is certain, that all these northern countries are +considerably thinned of their natives, since the first discovery of them +by the Europeans. Nor have I reason to think, but that this is true of +America in general, wherever they have carried their power, or extended +their influence. + +It is also true, that the women of this country are naturally not so +prolific as those of some other parts of the world in the same latitude. +One reason for this may be, their not having their menstrual flux so +copiously, or for so long a time as those of Europe. Yet one would +think, the plurality of wives permitted amongst them, might in some +measure compensate for this defect, which, however, it evidently does +not. + +Their women have always observed, not to present themselves at any +public ceremony, or solemnity, whilst under their monthly terms, nor to +admit the embraces of their husbands. + +At stated times they repair to particular places in the woods, where +they recite certain formularies of invocation to the _Manitoo_ dictated +to them by some of their oldest _Sagamees_, or principal women, and more +frequently by some celebrated Juggler of the village, that they may +obtain the blessing of fruitfulness. For it is with them, as amongst the +Jews, that barrenness is accounted opprobrious. A woman is not looked +upon as a woman, till she has proved it, by her fulfilling what they +consider as one of the great ends of her creation. Failing in that, she +is divorced from her husband, and may then prostitute herself without +any scandal. If she has no inclination or relish for this way of life, +they compel her to it, in regard to their young men, who do not care to +marry, till they are arrived at full-ripe years, and for whom, on their +return from their warlike or hunting expeditions, they think it +necessary to provide such objects of amusement. They pretend withal, +that they are subject to insupportable pains in their loins, if such a +remedy is not at hand to relieve them. But once more you are to +remember, that I am only speaking of those people not yet converted to +Christianity, by which this licentiousness is not allowed. And yet, +notwithstanding the maxims we inculcate to them, the natives continue no +other than what they were before, that is to say, as much addicted to +venery as ever, and rarely miss an occasion of gratifying their appetite +to it. The only way we can think of to prevent their offending religion, +is to have them married as soon as they begin to feel themselves men. +The restraint however in this point is, what they can least endure. + +In their unconverted state, their manner of courtship and marriage is as +follows: When a youth has an inclination to enter into the connubial +state, his father, or next relation, looks out for a girl, to whose +father the proposal is made: this being always transacted between the +parents of the parties to be married. The young man, who is commonly +about thirty years of age, or twenty at the least, rarely consults his +own fancy in this point. The girl, who is always extreamly young, is +never supposed to trouble her head about the measures that are taking to +marry her. When the parents on each side have settled the matter, the +youth is applied to, that he may prepare his calumet as soon as he +pleases. + +The calumet used on these occasions, is a sort of spungeous reed, which +may furnish, according to its length, a number of calumets, each of +which is about a foot long, to be lighted at one end, the other serving +to suck in the smoak at the mouth, and is suffered to burn within an +inch of the lips. + +The speech made to the youth on this occasion is as follows: "Thou +may'st go when thou wilt, by day or by night, to light thy calumet in +such a cabbin. Thou must observe to direct the smoak of it towards the +person who is designed for thee, and carry it so, that she may take such +a taste to this vapor, as to desire of thee that she may smoak of thy +calumet. Show thyself worthy of thy nation, and do honor to thy sex and +youth. Suffer none in the cabbin to which thou art admitted, to want any +thing thy industry, thy art, or thy arrows can procure them, as well for +food, as for peltry, or oil, for the good of their bodies, inside and +outside. Thou hast four winters given thee, for a trial of thy patience +and constancy." + +At this the youth never fails of going to the place appointed. If the +girl, (who knows the meaning of this) has no particular aversion to him, +she is soon disposed to ask his calumet of him. In some parts, but not +in this where I am, she signifies her acceptance by blowing it out. Here +she takes it from him, and sucking it, blows the smoak towards his +nostrils, even sometimes so violently, as to make him qualm-sick, at +which she is highly delighted. Nothing, however, passes farther against +the laws of modesty, though she will tress his hair, paint his face, and +imprint on various parts of his body curious devices and flourishes, all +relative to their love; which she pricks in, and rubs over with a +composition that renders the impression uncancellable. + +If the parents of the girl are pleased with the procedure of the suitor, +they commonly, at the end of the second year, dispense, in his favor, +with the rest of the probation-time; and, indeed, they could not well +before, the girl almost always wanting, from the time she is first +courted, at least two years to bring on the age of consummation. They +tell him, "Thou may'st now take a small part of the covering of thy +beloved whilst she sleeps." No sooner is this compliment made him, than, +without saying any thing, he goes out of the cabbin, armed with his bow +and arrows, and hurrying home acquaints his friends, that he is going to +the woods, whence he shall not return till it pleases his beloved to +recall him. + +Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the woods, and stays there for two +or three days, diverting himself with hunting; at the end of which it +has been agreed on, to send all the youths of the village to fetch him: +and they come back loaded with game of all sorts, though the bridegroom +is not suffered to carry any thing. There is also great provision made +of seal and sea-cows for the wedding-feast. + +The head Juggler of the village, meets the bridegroom who is at the head +of the procession, takes him by the hand, and conducts him to the cabbin +of the bride, where he is to take part of her bed; upon which he lies +down by her side, and both continue unmoveable and silent like two +statues, whilst they are obliged to hear the long tedious harangues of +the Juggler, of the parents of both, and of their oldest relations. +After that, they both get up, and are led, the one by the young men, the +other by the girls, to the place of entertainment, all singing, +shooting, and dancing. + +The bridegroom is seated amongst the young men on one side, and the +bride amongst the girls on another. One of his friends takes an +_Oorakin_, loads it with roast-meat, and sets it down by him, whilst one +of her's does the same thing, with an _Oorakin_ of the same size, and +nearly alike, which is placed by the bride's side. After this ceremony +of placing the _Oorakin_, the Juggler pronounces certain magical words +over the meat: he foretels, especially to the bride, the dreadful +consequences she must expect from the victuals she is about to eat, if +she has in her heart any perfidiousness towards her husband: that she +may be assured of finding in the _Oorakin_ that contains them, a certain +prognostic of her future happiness, or unhappiness: of happiness, if she +is disposed never in her life to betray her nation, nor especially her +husband, upon any occasion, or whatever may befal her: of unhappiness, +if through the caresses of strangers, or by any means whatever she +should be induced to break her faith to him, or to reveal to the enemy +the secrets of the country. + +At the end of every period, all the assistants signify their assent to +the Juggler's words, by a loud exclamation of _Hah!_ Whilst he is +talking, the particular friend of the bridegroom, and that of the bride, +keep their eyes fixed on the two _Oorakins_; and as soon as he has done, +the bride's friend making as if she did not think of what she was about, +takes the _Oorakin_ allotted for the bridegroom, and carries it to the +bride, whilst the bridegroom's friend, (the thing being pre-concerted) +acts the like mummery of inadvertence, and sets before the bridegroom +the _Oorakin_ belonging to the bride; after which the dishes are served +in to the rest of the company. When they are all served, the two friends +of the parties musing a little, pretend to have just then discovered +their exchange of the bride and bridegroom's _Oorakins_. They declare it +openly to each other, at which the Juggler takes up his cue, and with a +solemn face says, "The _Manitoo_ has had his designs in this mistake: he +has vouchsafed to give an indubitable sign of his approbation of the +strait alliance this day contracted. What is the one's, is the same as +the other's. They are henceforward united, and are as one and the same +person. It is done. May they multiply without end!" At this the +assistants all start up, and with cries of joy, and congratulation, rush +to embrace the bride and bridegroom, and overwhelm them with caresses. +After which they sit very gravely down again to the entertainment before +them, and dispatch it in great silence. This is followed by dances of +all kinds, with which the feast for the day concludes, as must this +letter, in which I have certainly had less attention to the observing +the limits of one, than to the gratifying your curiosity, with respect +to these people, amongst whom my lot has so long been cast. + +I am, Sir, +Your most obedient +Humble servant, + + + + +_To understand the following piece, it is necessary to know, that after +the insidious peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the savage nations, especially +the Mickmakis and Maricheets continued hostilities against the English, +at the underhand instigation of the French, who meant thereby to +prevent, or at least distress, as much as obstruct, our new settlements +in Nova-Scotia. For this purpose, the French missionaries had their cue +from their government to act the incendiaries, and, to inflame matters +to the highest pitch. These being, however, sensible, that the part +assigned them was a very odious one, and inconsistent with the spirit of +that religion for which they profess such zeal, one of them, by way of +palliation, and in order to throw the blame on the English themselves, +drew up the following state of the case, between our nation and the +savages, viz._ + + + + +MEMORIAL + +OF THE + +Motives of the Savages, called _Mickmakis_ +and _Maricheets_, for continuing +the War with _England_ since the last +Peace. + +Dated _Isle-Royal_, 175-. + +These nations have never been able to forget all that the English +settled in North-America have done since the very first of their +establishment, towards destroying them root and branch. They have +especially, at every moment, before their eyes the following +transactions: + +In 1744, towards the end of October, Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps Goreham) +deceased, commanding a detachment of the English troops, sent to observe +the retreat the French and savages were making from before Port-Royal +(Annapolis) in Acadia, (Nova-Scotia): this detachment having found two +huts of the Mickmaki-savages, in a remote corner, in which there were +five women and three children, (two of the women were big with child) +ransacked, pillaged, and burnt the two huts, and massacred the five +women and three children. It is to be observed, that the two pregnant +women were found with their bellies ripped open. An action which these +savages cannot forget, especially as at that time they made fair war +with the English. They have always looked on this deed as a singular +mark of the most unheard-of cruelty. [Who would not look on it in the +same light? But as no nation on earth is known to have more than ours +constitutionally, a horror for such barbarities, especially in cold +blood; it may be very easily presumed, that this fact was, if true, +committed by some of the savages themselves, without the knowledge of +the commander, or of any of the English troops.] + +Five months before this action, one named _Danas_, or _David_, an +English privateer, having treacherously hoisted French colors in the +Streights of Fronsac, by means of a French deserter he had with him, +decoyed on board his vessel the chief of the savages of Cape-Breton, +called James Padanuque, with his whole family, whom he carried to +Boston, where he was clapped into a dungeon the instant he was landed; +from which he was only taken out to stifle him on board of a vessel, in +which they pretended to return him safe to Cape-Breton. His son, at that +time a boy of eight years of age, they will absolutely not release; +though, since their detention of that young savage, they have frequently +had prisoners sent back to them, without ransom, on condition of +restoring the young man to his country: but though they accepted the +condition, they never complied with it. + +In the month of July, 1745, the same Danas, with the same success, +employed the same decoy on a savage-family, which could not get out of +their hands, but by escaping one night from their prisons. + +About the same time one named Bartholomew Petitpas, an appointed +savage-linguist, was carried away prisoner to Boston. The savages have +several times demanded him in exchange for English prisoners they then +had in their hands, of whom two were officers, to whom they gave their +liberty, on condition of the Bostoners returning of Petitpas; whom, +however, they not only kept prisoner, but afterwards put to death. + +In the same year, 1745, a missionary of the savages of Cape Breton, +Natkikouesch, Picktook, and of the island of St. John, having been +invited by several letters, on the part of the commodore of the +_English_ squadron, and of the general of the land-forces, to a parley, +those gentlemen desired with him, concerning the savages, repaired to +Louisbourg, at that time in possession of the English, on the assurances +they had given him in writing, and on the formal promises they had bound +with an oath, of full liberty to return from whence he came, after +having satisfied them in all they wanted of him. They detained him at +Louisbourg, where they gave him a great deal of ill usage, and obliged +him to embark, all sick as he was, and destitute of necessaries, on +board of one of the ships of the squadron, in which he was conveyed to +England, from whence he at length got to France. [Most probably he had +not given the satisfaction required by those gentlemen, which had been +confessedly by himself made the condition of his return.] + +The same year, 1745, several bodies of the savages, deceased, and buried +at _Port Tholouze_, were dug up again by the Bostoners, and thrown into +the fire. The burying-place of the savages was demolished, and all the +crosses, planted on the graves, broke into a thousand pieces. + +In 1746, some stuffs that the savages had bought of the English, who +then traded in the bay of Megagouetch at _Beau-bassin_, there being at +that time a great scarcity of goods over all the country, were found to +be _poisoned_, [Is it possible a missionary of the truths of the Gospel +could gravely commit to paper such an infernal lie? If even the savages +had been stupid enough of themselves to imbibe such a notion, was it not +the duty of a Christian to have shewn them the folly of it, or even but +in justice to the Europeans? But what must be their guilt, if they +suggested it? Surely, scarce less than that of the action itself.] so +that more than two hundred savages of both sexes perished thereby. + +In 1749, towards the end of the month of May, at a time that the +suspension of arms between the two crowns was not yet known in New +France, the savages, having made prisoners two Englishmen of +Newfoundland, had from these same prisoners the first news of the +cessation of hostilities. They believed them on their bare words, +expressed their satisfaction to them, treated them like brothers, +unbound them, and carried them to their huts. The said prisoners rose in +the night, and massacred twenty-five of these savages, men, women, and +children. There were but two of the savages escaped this carnage, by +being accidentally not present. [_How improbable is the whole of this +story?_] + +Towards the end of the same year, the English being come to Chibuckto, +made the report be every where spread [The missionaries in those parts +might indeed raise such reports; the which giving the savages an +aversion to the English, forced them to take hostile measures against +them in their own defence: but who would suspect the English themselves +of raising them, in direct opposition to their own interest?], that they +were going to destroy all the savages. They seemed to act in consequence +thereto, since they sent detachments of their troops, on all sides, in +pursuit of the savages. + +These people were so alarmed with this procedure of the English, that +from that time they determined, as weak as they were, to declare open +war against them. Knowing that France had concluded a peace with +England, they nevertheless resolved not to cease from falling on the +English, wherever they could find them; saying, they were indispensably +obliged to it, since, against all justice, they wanted to expel them out +of their country. They then sent a declaration of war in form to the +English, in the name of their nation, and of the savages in alliance +with it. + +As to what concerns the missionaries to the savages, they cannot be +suspected of using any connivence in all this, if justice is done to the +conduct they have always observed amongst them, and especially in the +time of the last war. How many acts of inhumanity would have been +committed by this nation, naturally vindictive, if the missionaries had +not taken pains, in good earnest, to put such ideas out of their heads? +It is notorious, that the savages believe that there are no extremities +of barbarity, but what are within the rules of war against those whom +they consider as their enemies. Inexpressible are the efforts which +these same missionaries have employed to restrain, on such occasions, +this criminal ferocity, especially as the savages deemed themselves +authorized by right of reprisals. How many unfortunate persons of the +English nation would have been detained for ever captives, or undergone +the most cruel deaths, if, by the intervention of the missionaries, the +savages had not been prevailed on to release them? + +They are even ready to prove, by their written instructions, the lessons +they inculcate to the savages, of the humanity and gentleness they ought +to practise, even in time of war. It is especially ever since about +seventeen years ago, that they do not cease declaiming against those +barbarous and sanguinary methods of proceeding that seem innate to them. +On this principle it is, that in the written maxims of conduct for them, +care has been taken to insert a chapter, which, from the beginning to +the end, places before their eyes the extreme horror they ought to have +of such enormities. Their children particularly are sedulously taught +this whole chapter, whence it comes, that one may daily perceive them +growing more humane, and more disposed to listen, on this head, to the +remonstrances of the missionaries. + +[_To this plea of innocence in the French missionaries, as to any +instigation of the savages to hostilities against the English, we shall +oppose the testimony of their own court, in the following words of the +French ministry, in the very same year_, 1751. + +"His Majesty (the French king) has already observed, that the savages +have hitherto been in the most _favorable dispositions_; and it even +appears, that the conduct of the general C--n--ll--s, with respect to +them, has only served to exasperate them more and more. It is of the +_greatest importance_, both for the present and future, to keep them up +to that spirit. The _missionaries_ amongst them, are more than any one +at hand to _contribute thereto_, and his majesty has _reason_ to be +_satisfied_ with the _pains_ they take in it. Our governor must excite +these _missionaries_ not to _slacken their endeavours_ on this head. But +he should advise them to _contain_ their _zeal_ within due bounds, so as +not to render themselves _obnoxious_ to the English, unless for very +good purpose, and so as to avoid giving handle for just complaints." + +_In this his most Christian Majesty has been faithfully served by these +missionaries, in all points, except that political injunction of not +giving a handle for just complaints, which they overshot in the ardor of +their zeal; since it is undoubted matter of fact, that the missionaries +openly employed all their arts, and all the influence of religion, to +invenom the savages against us. Thence, besides a number of horrid +cruelties, the most treacherous and base murder of captain How, at a +conference, by some savages they set on, who perpetrated it within sight +of the French forces. The publishing, however, of the foregoing memorial +may have this good effect, that it will apprise the English of the +matter of accusation against them, and enable them to counter-work those +holy engines of state, and emissaries of ambition. It is also certain, +that this very memorial was drawn up by a French priest, purely to +furnish the French ministry a specious document to oppose to the most +just representations of the British government. Besides the fictions +with which it abounds, he has taken care to suppress the acts of cruelty +committed, and the atrocious provocations given by the savages, at the +instigation of his fellow-laborers sedition and calumny._] + + + + +LETTER + +FROM + +Mons. DE LA VARENNE, + +TO HIS + +FRIEND at ROCHELLE. + + +_Louisbourg_, the 8th of _May_, 1756. + +Though I had, in my last, exhausted all that was needful to say on our +private business, I could not see this ship preparing for France, +especially with our friend _Moreau_ on board, without giving you this +further mark of how ardently I wish the continuance of our +correspondence. It will also serve to supplement any former deficiencies +of satisfaction to certain points of curiosity you have stated to me; +this will give to my letter a length beyond the ordinary limits of one: +and I have before-hand to excuse to you, the loose desultory way in +which you will find I write, as things present themselves to my mind, +without such method or arrangement, as a formal design of treating the +subject would exact. But who looks for that in a letter? + +I need not tell you how severely our government has felt the +dismemberment of that important tract of country already in the +possession of the English, under the name of Acadia; to say nothing of +their further pretentions, which would form such terrible encroachments +on Canada. And no wonder it should feel it, considering the extent of so +fruitful, and valuable a country as constitutes that peninsula. It might +of itself form a very considerable and compact body of dominion, being, +as you know, almost everywhere surrounded by the sea, and abounding with +admirable and well-situated ports. It is near one hundred leagues in +length, and about sixty in breadth. Judge what advantages such an area +of country, well-peopled, and well-cultivated, and abounding in mines, +might produce. It is full of hills, though I could not observe any of an +extraordinary heighth, except that of Cape Doree, at the mouth of the +river _des Mines_, the most fertile part of it in corn and grain, and +once the best peopled. There are a number of rivers very rapid, but not +large, except that of St. John's, which is the finest river of all +Acadia, where good water is rather scarce. + +The soil in the vallies is rich, and even in the uplands, commonly +speaking, good. The grains it yields are wheat, pease, barley, oats, +rye, and Indian corn, and especially that of the vallies, for the higher +ground is not yet cultivated. The pastures are excellent and very +common, and more than sufficient to supply Cape-Breton, with the cattle +that may be raised. There is fine hunting, and a plentiful fishing for +cod, salmon, and other fish, particularly on the east-side, which is +full of fine harbours at the distance of one, two, three, four, or of +six or seven leagues at farthest from one another, within the extent of +ninety leagues of coast. It is thought, in short, this fishery is better +than any on the coasts belonging to France. + +The air is extreamly wholesome, which is proved by the longevity of its +inhabitants. I myself know some of above an hundred years of age, +descendants from the French established in Acadia. Distempers are very +rare. I fancy the climate is pretty near the same as in the north of +China, or Chinese-Tartary. This country too, being rather to the +southward of Canada, is not so cold as that; the snow not falling till +towards St. Andrew's day: nor does it lie on the ground above two or +three days at most, after which it begins to soften; and though the thaw +does not take place, the weather turns mild enough to allow of working, +and undertaking journeys. In short, what may be absolutely called cold +weather, may be reduced to about twenty-five or thirty days in a winter, +and ceases entirely towards the end of March, or at latest, the middle +of April. Then comes the seed-time. Then are made the sugar and syrups +of maple, procured from the juice or sap of that tree, by means of +incisions in the bark; which sap is carefully received in proper +vessels. + +I could never find any ginseng-root; yet I have reason to believe there +may be some in or near the hills, as the climate and situation have so +much affinity to the northern provinces of China, or Northwest Tartary, +as described to us by our missionaries. + +We have very little knowledge of the medicinal herbs in this country, +though some of them have certainly great virtue. There are the +maiden-hair, the saxi-frage, and the sarsaparilla. There is also a +particular root in this country of an herb called _Jean Hebert_, about +the ordinary size of the _Salsifix_, or _Goatsbread_, with knots at +about an inch, or an inch and an half distance from one another, of a +yellowish colour, white in the inside, with a sugarish juice, which is +excellent for the stomach. + +There has been lately discovered in these parts a poisonous root, much +resembling, in color and substance, a common carrot. When broke it has a +pleasing smell; but between the flakes may be observed a yellowish +juice, which is supposed to be the poison. Of four soldiers that had +eaten of it in their soup lately, two were difficultly preserved by dint +of antidotes; the other two died in the utmost agonies of pain, and +convulsions of frenzy. One of them was found in the woods sticking by +the head in a softish ground, into which he had driven it, probably in +the excess of his torture. Such a vegetable must afford matter of +curious examination to a naturalist; for as it does so much harm, it may +also be capable of great good, if sought into by proper experiments. + +The spirit of turpentine is much used by the inhabitants. The gum itself +is esteemed a great vulnerary; and purges moderately those who are full +of bilious, or gross humors. + +For the rest there is, I believe, hardly any sort of grain, tree, or +vegetable, especially in the north of France that might not be +successfully raised in Acadia. The rains are frequent in every season of +the year. There are indeed often violent squalls of wind, especially +from the South, and seem the West, but nothing like the hurricanes in +the West-Indies. It is a great rarity if thunder does any mischief. Some +years ago there was a man killed in his hut by it; but the oldest men of +the country never remembered to have known or heard of any thing like it +before. There have been earthquakes felt but rarely, and not very +violent. This country produces no venomous beasts, at least, that I +could hear of. In the warmer season there are sometimes found snakes, +not, however, thicker than one's finger, but their bite is not known to +be attended with any fatal consequences, There are no tygers, nor lions, +nor other beasts of prey to be afraid of unless bears, and that only in +their rutting-time, and even then it is very rare that they attack. As +there are then no carnivorous animals except the lynxes, who have a +beautiful skin, and these rarely fall upon any living creatures; the +sheep, oxen, and cows, are turned out into the woods or commons, without +any fear for them. Partridges are very common, and are large-sized, with +flesh very white. The hares are scarce, and have a white fur. There are +a great many beavers, elks, cariboux, (moose-deer) and other beasts of +the cold northern countries. + +The original inhabitants of this country are the savages, who may be +divided into three nations, the _Mickmakis_, the _Maricheets_, or +_Abenaquis_, (being scarcely different nations) and the _Canibats_. + +The _Mickmakis_ are the most numerous, but not accounted so good +warriors as the others: but they are all much addicted to hunting, and +to venery; in which last, however, they observe great privacy. They are +fond of strong liquors, and especially of brandy: that is their greatest +vice. They are also very uncurious of paying the debts they contract, +not from natural dishonesty, but from their having no notion of +property, or of meum or tuum. They will sooner part with all they have, +in the shape of a gift, than with any thing in that of payment. Honors +and goods being all in common amongst them, all the numerous vices, +which are founded upon those two motives, are not to be found in them. +Yet it is true, that they have chiefs to whom they give the title of +_Sagamo_; but all of them almost, at some time or other, assume to +themselves this quality, which is never granted by universal consent, +but to the personal consideration of distinguished merit in councils, or +in arms. Their troops have this particularity, that they are, for the +most part, composed of nothing but officers; insomuch that it is rare to +find a savage in the service that will own himself a private man. This +want of subordination does not, however, hinder them from concurring +together in action, when their native ferocity and emulation stand them, +in some sort, instead of discipline. + +They are extreamly vindictive, of which I shall give you one example. +Mons. _Daunay_, a French captain, with a servant, being overset in a +canoe, within sight of some savages, they threw themselves into the +water to save them, and the servant was actually saved. But the savage, +who had pitched upon Mons. _Daunay_, seeing who it was, and remembering +some blows with a cane he had a few days before received from him, took +care to souse him so often in the water, that he drowned him before he +got ashore. + +It is remarked, that in proportion as the Europeans have settled in this +country, the number of the savages considerably diminishes. As they live +chiefly upon their hunting, the woods that are destroyed to cultivate +the country, must in course contract the district of their chace, and +cause a famine amongst them, that must be fatal to them, or compel them +to retire to other countries. The English, sensible of this effect, and +who seemed to place their policy in exterminating these savage nations, +have set fire to the woods, and burnt a considerable extent of them. I +have myself crossed above thirty leagues together, in which space the +forests were so totally consumed by fire, that one could hardly at night +find a spot wooded enough to afford wherewithal to make an extempore +cabbin, which, in this country, is commonly made in the following +manner: Towards night the travellers commonly pitch upon a spot as near +a rivulet or river as they can; and as no one forgets to carry his +hatchet with him, any more than a Spanish don his toledo, some cut down +wood for firing for the night; others branches of trees, which are stuck +in the ground with the crotch uppermost, over which a thatching is laid +of fir-boughs, with a fence of the same on the weather-side only. The +rest is all open, and serves for door and window. A great fire is then +lighted, and then every body's lodged. They sup on the ground, or upon +some leaved branches, when the season admits of it; and afterwards the +table serves for a bed. The savages themselves rarely have any fixed +hut, or village, that maybe called a permanent residence. If there are +any parts they most frequently inhabit, it is only those which abound +most in game, or near some fishing-place. Such were formerly for them, +before the English had driven them away, _Artigoneesch_, _Beaubassin_, +_Chipoody_, _Chipnakady_, _Yoodayck_, _Mirtigueesh_, _La Héve Cape +Sable_, _Mirameeky_, _Fistigoisch_, _La Baye des Chaleurs Pentagony_, +_Medochtek_, _Hokepack_, and _Kihibeki_. + +At present these savage nations bear an inveterate antipathy to the +English, who might have easily prevented or cured it, if instead of +rigorous measures, they had at first used conciliative ones: but this it +seems they thought beneath them. This it is, that has given our +missionaries such a fair field for keeping them fixed to the French +party, by the assistance of the difference of religion, of which they do +not fail to make the most. But lest you may imagine I am giving you only +my own conjectures, take the following extract from, a letter of father +Noel de Joinville, of a pretty antient date. + +"I have remarked in this country so great an aversion in the +convert-savages to the English, caused by difference of religion, that +these scarce dare inhabit any part of Acadia but what is under their own +guns. These savages are so zealous for the Roman Catholick church, that +they always look with horror upon, and consider as enemies those who are +not within the pale of it. This may serve to prove, that if there had +been _priests_ provided in time, to work at the conversion of the +savages of New-England, before the English had penetrated into the +interior of the county as far as they have done, it would not have been +possible for them to appropriate to themselves such an extent of country +as, at this day, makes of New-England alone the most magnificent colony +on the face of the earth." [This pompous epithet might have yet been +more just, if the improvement of that colony had been enough the care of +the state, to have been pushed all the lengths of which it was so +susceptible. Few Englishmen will, probably, on reflexion deny, that if +but a third of those sums ingulphed by the ungrateful or slippery powers +on the continent, upon interests certainly more foreign to England than +those of her own colonies, or lavished in a yet more destructive way, +that of corrupting its subjects in elections: if the third, I say, of +those immense sums, had been applied to the benefit of the plantations, +to the fortifying, encouraging, and extending them, there would, by this +time, have hardly been a Frenchman's name to be heard of in +North-America especially.] + +But with this good father's leave, he attributes more influence to +religion, though as the priests manage it, it certainly has a very +considerable one, than in fact belongs to it. Were it not for other +concurring circumstances that indispose the savages against the English, +religion alone would not operate, at least so violently, that effect. +Every one knows, that the savages are at best but slightly tinctured +with it, and have little or no attachment to it, but as they find their +advantage in the benefits of presents and protection, it procures to +them from the French government. In short, it is chiefly to the conduct +of this English themselves, we are beholden for this favorable aid of +the savages. If the English at first, instead of seeking to exterminate +or oppress them by dint of power, the sense of which drove them for +refuge into our party, had behaved with more tenderness to them, and +conciliated their affection by humoring them properly, and distributing +a few presents, they might easily have made useful and valuable subjects +of them. Whereas, disgusted with their haughtiness, and scared at the +menaces and arbitrary encroachments of the English, they are now their +most virulent and scarce reconcileable enemies. This is even true of +more parts in America, where, though the English have liberally given +presents to ten times the value of what our government does, they have +not however had the same effect. The reason of which is clear: they make +them with so ill a grace, and generally time their presents so +unjudiciously, as scarce ever to distribute them, but just when they +want to carry some temporary point with the savages, such, especially, +as the taking up the hatchet against the French. This does not escape +the natural sagacity of the savages, who are sensible of the design +lurking at bottom of this liberality, and give them the less thanks for +it. They do not easily forget the length of time they had been +neglected, slighted, or unapplied to, unless by their itinerant traders, +who cheat them in their dealings, or poison them with execrable spirits, +under the names of brandy and rum. Whereas, on the contrary, the French +are assiduously caressing and courting them. Their missionaries are +dispersed up and down their several cantonments, where they exercise +every talent of insinuation, study their manners, nature, and +weaknesses, to which they flexibly accommodate themselves, and carry +their points by these arts. But what has, at least, an equal share in +attaching the savages to our party, is the connivence, or rather +encouragement the French government has given to the natives of France, +to fall into the savage-way of life, to spread themselves through the +savage nations, where they adopt their manners, range the woods with +them, and become as keen hunters as themselves. This conformity endears +our nation to them, being much better pleased with seeing us imitate +them, than ready to imitate us, though some of them begin to fall into +our notions, as to trafficking and bartering, and knowing the use of +money, of which they were before totally ignorant. We employ besides a +much more effectual method of uniting them to us, and that is, by the +intermarriages of our people with the savage-women, which is a +circumstance that draws the ties of alliance closer. The children +produced by these are generally hardy, inured to the fatigues of the +chace and war, and turn out very serviceable subjects in their way. + +But what is most amazing is, that though the savage-life has all the +appearance of being far from eligible, considering the fatigues, the +exposure to all weathers, the dearth of those articles which custom has +made a kind of necessaries of life to Europeans, and many other +inconveniencies to be met with in their vagabond course; yet it has such +charms for some of our native French, and even for some of them who have +been delicately bred, that, when once they have betaken themselves to it +young, there is hardly any reclaiming them from it, or inducing them to +return to a more civilized life. They prefer roving in the woods, +trusting to the chapter of accidents for their game which is their chief +support, and lying all night in a little temporary hut, patched up of a +few branches; to all the commodiousness they might find in towns, or +habitations, amongst their own countrymen. By degrees they lose all +relish for the European luxuries of life, and would not exchange for +them the enjoyments of that liberty, and faculty of wandering about, for +which, in the forests, they contract an invincible taste. A gun with +powder and ball, of which they purchase a continuation of supplies with +the skins of the beasts they kill, set them up. With these they mix +amongst the savages, where they get as many women as they please: some +of them are far from unhandsome, and fall into their way of life, with +as much passion and attachment, as if they had never known any other. + +Mons. _Delorme_, whom you possibly may have seen in Rochelle, where he +had a small employ in the marine-department, brought over his son here, +a very hopeful youth, who had even some tincture of polite education, +and was not above thirteen years old, and partly from indulgence, partly +from a view of making him useful to the government, by his learning, at +that age, perfectly the savage language, he suffered him to go amongst +the savages. The young _Delorme_ would, indeed, sometimes return home +just on a visit to his family; but always expressed such an impatience, +or rather pining to get back again to them, that, though reluctantly, +the father was obliged to yield to it. No representations in short, +after some years, could ever prevail on him to renounce his connexions, +and residence amongst the _Abenaquis_, where he is almost adored. He has +learned to excel them all, even in their own points of competition. He +out-does them all in their feats of activity, in running, leaping, +climbing mountains, swimming, shooting with the bow and arrow, managing +of canoes, snaring and killing birds and beasts, in patience of fatigue, +and even of hunger; in short, in all they most value themselves upon, or +to which they affix the idea of personal merit, the only merit that +commands consideration amongst them. They are not yet polished enough to +admire any other. By this means, however, he perfectly reigns amongst +them, with a power the greater, for the submission to it not only being +voluntary, but the effect of his acknowledged superiority, in those +points that with them alone constitute it. His personal advantages +likewise may not a little contribute thereto, being perfectly well-made, +finely featured, with a great deal of natural wit, as well as courage. +He dresses, whilst with the savages, exactly in their manner, ties his +hair up like them, wears a tomby-awk, or hatchet, travels with +_rackets_, (or Indian shoes) and, in short, represents to the life the +character of a compleat savage-warrior. When he comes to _Quebec_, or +_Louisbourg_, he resumes his European dress, without the least mark +appearing in his behaviour, of that wildness or rudeness one would +naturally suppose him to have contracted by so long a habit of them with +the savages. Nobody speaks purer French, or acquits himself better in +conversation. He takes up or lays down the savage character with equal +grace and ease. His friends have, at length, given over teazing him to +come and reside for good amongst them; they find it is to so little +purpose. The priests indeed complain bitterly, that he is not overloaded +with religion, from his entering so thoroughly into the spirit of the +savage-life; and his setting an example, by no means edifying, of a +licentious commerce with their women; besides, his giving no signs of +his over-respecting either their doctrine or spiritual authority. This +they pretend hurts them with their actual converts, as well as with +those they labor to make; though, in this conduct, he is not singular, +for the French wood-rangers, in general, follow the like course in a +greater or lesser degree. These representations of the priests would, +however, have greater influence with our government, if the temporal +advantage they derive from these rovers, undisciplined as they are, did +not oblige them to wink at their relaxation in spirituals. + +But it is not only men that have taken this passion for a savage life; +there have been, though much rarer, examples of our women going into it. +It is not many years since a very pretty French girl ran away into the +woods with a handsome young savage, who married her after his country +fashion. Her friends found out the village, or rather ambulatory tribe +into which she had got; but no persuasions, or instances, could prevail +on her to return and leave her savage, nor on him to content to it; so +that the government not caring to employ force, for fear of disobliging +the nation of them, even acquiesced in her continuance amongst them, +where she remains to this day, but worshipped like a little divinity, +or, at least, as a being superior to the rest of their women. Possibly +too she is not, in fact, so unhappy, as her choice would make one think +she must be; and if opinion constitutes happiness, she certainly is not +so. + +There are not wanting here, who defend this strange attachment of some +of their countrymen to this savage life, on principles independent of +the reason of state, for encouraging its subjects to spread and gain +footing amongst the savage nations, by resorting to their country, of +which they, at the same time, gain a knowledge useful to future +enterprizes, by a winning conformity to their actions, and by +intermarriages with them. They pretend, that even this savage life +itself is not without its peculiar sweets and pleasures; that it is the +most adapted, and the most natural to man. Liberty, they say, is no +where more perfectly enjoyed, than where no subordination is known, but +what is recommended by natural reason, the veneration of old age, or the +respect of personal merit. + +The chace is at once their chief employment and diversion; it furnishes +them with means to procure those articles, which enter into the small +number of natural wants. The demands of luxury, they think too dearly +bought with the loss of that liberty and independence they find in the +woods. They despise the magnificence of courts and palaces, in +comparison with the free range and scope of the hills and vales, with +the starry sky for their canopy: they say, we enjoy the Universe only in +miniature, whilst the savage-rovers enjoy it in the great. Thus reason +some of our admirers here of the savage-system of life, and yet I do not +find that these refining advocates for it, are themselves tempted to +embrace it. They are content to commend what themselves do not care to +practise. Those who actually do embrace it, reason very little about it, +though no doubt, the motives above assigned for their preference, are +generally, one may say instinctively, at the bottom of it. Their +greatest want is of wine, especially at first to those who are used to +it; but they are soon weaned from it by the example of others, and +content themselves with the substitution of rum, or brandy, of which +they obtain supplies by their barter of skins and furs. In short, their +hunting procures them all that they want or desire, and their liberty or +independence supplies to them the place of those luxuries of life, that +are not well to be had without the sacrifice in some sort of it. + +It is more difficult to find an excuse for the shocking cruelties and +barbarities, exercised by the savages on their unhappy captives in war. +The instances, however, of their inhumanity, are certainly not +exagerated, nor possible to be exagerated, but they are multiplied +beyond the limits of truth. That they put then their prisoners to death +by exquisite tortures, is strictly true; but it is as true too, that +they do not serve so many in that manner as has been said. Numbers they +save, and even incorporate with their own nation, who become as free as, +and on a footing with, the conquerors themselves. And even in that +cruelty of theirs, there is at the bottom a mixture of piety with their +vindictiveness. They imagine themselves bound to revenge the deaths of +their ancestors, their parents, or relations, fallen in war, upon their +enemies, especially of that nation by whom they have fallen. It is in +that apprehension too, they extend their barbarity to young children, +and to women: to the first, because they fear they may grow up to an +age, when they will be sure to pursue that revenge of which the spirit +is early instilled into them; to the second, lest they should produce +children, to whom they would, from the same spirit, be sure to inculcate +it. Thus, in a round natural enough, their fear begets their cruelty, +and their cruelty their fear, and so on, _ad infinitum_. They consider +too these tortures as matter of glory to them in the constancy with +which they are taught to suffer them; they familiarize to themselves the +idea of them, in a manner that redoubles their natural courage and +ferocity, and especially inspires them to fight desperately in battle, +so as to prefer death to a captivity, of which the consequences are, and +may be, so much more cruel to them. Another reason is also assignable +for their carrying things to these extremities: War is considered by +these people as something very sacred, and not lightly to be undertaken; +but when once so, to be pushed with the utmost rigor by way of terror, +joining its aid towards the putting the speediest end to it. The savage +nations imagine such examples necessary for deterring one another from +coming to ruptures, or invading one another upon slight motives, +especially as their habitations or villages used to be so slightly +fortified, that they might easily be surprised. They have lately indeed +learned to make stronger inclosures, or pallisadoes, but still not +sufficient entirely to invalidate this argument for their guarding +against sudden hostilities, by the idea of the most cruel revenge they +annex to the commission of them. It is not then, till after the maturest +deliberation, and the deepest debates, that they commonly come to a +resolution of _taking up the hatchet_, as they call declaring of war; +after which, there are no excesses to which their rage and ferocity do +not incite them. Even their feasting upon the dead bodies of their +enemies, after putting them to death with the most excruciating tortures +they can devise, is rather a point of revenge, than of relish for such a +banquet. + +That midst all their savageness they have, however, some glimmering +perception of the _laws of nations_, is evident from the use to which +they put the _calumet_, the rights of which are kept inviolate, thro' +especially the whole northern continent of America. It answers nearest +the idea of the olive-branch amongst the ancients. + +As to your question, Sir, about the English being in the right or wrong, +in their treatment of the _Acadians_, or descendants of the Europeans +first settled in Acadia, and in their scheme of dispersing them, the +point is so nice, that I own I dare not pronounce either way: but I will +candidly state to you certain facts and circumstances, which may enable +yourself to form a tolerably clear idea thereon. + +But previously I shall give you a succinct description of these people: +They were a mixed breed, that is to say, most of them proceeded from +marriages, or concubinage of the savage women with the first settlers, +who were of various nations, but chiefly French, the others were +English, Scotch, Swiss, Dutch, &c. the Protestants amongst whom, and +especially their children were, in process of time, brought over to a +conformity of faith with ours. They found they could not easily keep +their footing in the country, or live sociably with the great majority +of the French, but by this means of coming over to our religion. + +Certain Normans, of which number was Champlein, were the _first_ French +that discovered Port-Royal, now Annapolis, where they found some Scotch +settled, who had built a fort of turf, and planted in the area before it +some plumb-trees, and walnut-trees, which was all the works of +agriculture, and fortification the British nation had made in this +country before the year 1710. This is the chief reason [And a very good +one surely.] too, why they so much insist on calling Acadia, +Nova-Scotia, and pretend to be the first inhabitants and true +proprietors. These Scotch were driven from Port-Royal by the Normans. It +is true, they had discovered the river of Port-Royal _before_ the +Normans, and had built a turf-fort; but it is by no means true, that +they were therefore the true settlers on this river, and less yet in the +whole of Acadia. [Nothing can be more false and pitiful, than what +follows of this Frenchman's reasoning. If a fort is not a settlement, +what can be called one? Is it not one of the most valid, and generally +received marks of taking possession? It supposes always a design to +cultivate and improve; and no doubt but these first settlers would have +done both, if they had not been untimely driven away.] The true +inhabitants are those who cultivate a country, and thereby acquire a +real permanent situation. The property of ground is to them who clear, +plant, and improve it. The English had done nothing in this way to it +till the year 1710. They never came there, but on schemes of incursion +or trade; and in all the wars they had with the French, on being +superior to them, they contented themselves with putting them to ransom; +and though they sometimes took their fortified places, they did not +settle in them. As all their pretension in Acadia was trade, they +sometimes indeed detained such French as they could take prisoners; but +that was only for the greater security of their traffic in the mean +while with the savages. Traders, continually obliged to follow the +savages in their vagabond journeys, could not be supposed to have time +or inclination for agriculture. This title then the French settlers had; +and in short, the whole body of the inhabitants of Acadia, from time +immemorial, may be averred to have been French, since a few families of +English, and other Europeans, cannot be said to form an exception, and +those, as I have before observed, soon became frenchified. Except a few +families from Boston or New-England I could never learn there were above +three of purely British subjects, who also, ultimately conforming both +in the religious and civil institutions to the French, became +incorporated with them. These families were the _Peterses_, the +_Grangers_, the _Cartys_. These last indeed descended from one Roger +John-Baptist Carty, an Irish Roman-Catholic. He had been an indented +servant in New-England, and had obtained at length his discharge from +his master, with permission to remain with the French Acadians for the +freer exercise of his religion. Peters was an iron-smith in England, and +together with Granger, married in Acadia, and was there naturalized a +Frenchman. Granger made his abjuration before M. Petit, secular-priest +of the seminary of Paris, then missionary at Port-Royal (Annapolis). +These and other European families then soon became united with the +French Acadians, and were no longer distinguished from them. Most of +these last were originally from _Rochelle_, _Xaintonge_, and _Poitou_; +but all went under the common name of Acadians; and were once very +numerous. The Parish of _Annapolis-Royal_ alone in 1754, according to +the account of father _Daudin_, contained three hundred habitations, or +about two thousand communicants. The _Mines_, which are about +five-and-thirty leagues from Port-Royal, and the best corn country in +Acadia, were also very populous; nor were there wanting inhabitants in +many commodious parts of this peninsula. + +The character of the French Acadians was good at the bottom: their +morals far from vitious; their constitution hardy, and yet strongly +turned to indolence and inaction, not caring for work, unless a point of +present necessity pressed them; much attached to the customs of the +country, which have not a little of the savage in them, and to the +opinions of their fore-fathers, which they cherished as a kind of +patrimony; it was hard to inculcate any novelty to them. They had many +parts of character in common with the Canada French. A little matter +surprises, and sets them a staring, without stirring their curiosity to +examine, or exciting their inclination to adopt or embrace it. They are +remarkably fond of rosaries, crucifixes, agnus deis, and all the little +trinkets consecrated by religion, with which they love to adorn their +persons, and of which the priests make no little advantage in disposing +of amongst them: and in truth, it is almost incredible what a power and +influence these have over them, and with which they despotically govern +them. One instance I am sure cannot but make you laugh. In September, +1754, the priest at _Pigigeesh_, had appointed his parishioners to +perform the religious ceremony of a _Recess_, and to make them expiate +some disgust they had given him, obliged them, men, women, and children, +to attend the adoration of the holy-sacrament with a rope about their +necks; and what is more, he not only made them all buy the rope of him, +in which you may be sure he took care to find his account, but exacted +their coming to fetch it bare-footed, from his parsonage house; and this +they quietly submitted to. In short, considering the sweets of power on +whomsoever exercised, our good fathers the missionaries are not so much +to be pitied, as they would have us believe, for their great apostolical +labors, and exposure to fatigue; since it is certain, they live like +little kings in their respective parishes, and enjoy in all senses the +best the land affords; and even our government itself, for its own ends, +is obliged to pay a sort of court to them, and to keep them in good +humour. + +The Acadian men were commonly drest in a sort of coarse black stuff made +in the country; and many of the poorer sort go bare-footed in all +weathers. The women are covered with a cloak, and all their head-dress +is generally a handkerchief, which would serve for a veil too, in the +manner they tied it, if it descended low enough. + +Their dwellings were almost all built in an uniform manner; the +inhabitants themselves it was who built them, each for himself, there +being but few or no mechanics in the country. The hatchet was their +capital and universal instrument. They had saw-mills for their timber, +and with a plane and a knife, an Acadian would build his house and his +barn, and even make all his wooden domestic furniture. Happy nation! +that could thus be sufficient to itself, which would always be the case, +were the luxury and the vanity of other nations to remain unenvied. + +Such in short were the French Acadians, who fell under the dominion of +the king of Great Britain, when the English experienced, from both the +Acadians and savages, a most thorough reluctance to the recognition of +their new sovereign, which has continued to this day. + +As to the savages it is certain, that the governors for the English +acted entirely against the interest of their nation, in their procedure +with them. They had been long under the French government, so far as +their nature allows them to be under any government at all; and besides +almost all the Micmakis, and great numbers of the Maricheets, or +Abenaquis, were converted to our faith, and were consequently under the +influence of the priests. It could not then be expected, naturally +speaking, that these people could all of a sudden shake off their +attachment to, and connexions with our nation; so that, even after the +cession of Acadia, they continued, with a savage sulleness, to give +marks of their preference of our government. This could not fail of +giving the English umbrage; and their impatience not brooking either +delays, or soothing them into a temper and opinion more favorable to +them: they let it very early be seen, and penetrated by the savages, +that they intended to clear the country of them. Nor would this +exterminating plan, however not over-humane, have been perhaps wholly an +impolitical one, if they had not had the French for neighbors, who, ever +watchful and alert in concerning themselves with what past in those +parts, took care underhand, by their priests and emissaries, to inflame +them, and to offer them not only the kindest refuge, but to provide them +with all necessaries of life, sure of being doubly repaid by the service +they would do them, if but in the mischief they would do the English, to +whom it was a great point with our government to make Acadia as +uncomfortable, and as untenable as possible. It was no wonder then, that +the savages, ill-used by the English, and still dreading worse from +them, being constantly plied by our caresses, presents, and promises, +should prefer our nation to that. I have before said, that religion has +no great hold of these savages, but it could not be but of some weight +in the scale, where their minds were already so exulcerated against +those of a different one, whom they now considered as their capital +enemies. You may be sure like-wise, our priests did not neglect making +the most of this advantage, which the English themselves furnished them +by their indiscreet management: for certain it is, that a few presents +well placed, proper methods of conciliation, and a very little time, +would have entirely detached the savages from our interest, and have +turned the system of annoyance of the English against the French +themselves. Some English governors indeed grew sensible of this, and +applied themselves to retrieve matters by a gentler treatment, but the +mischief was already done and irretrieveable; and our missionaries took +care to widen the breach, and to keep up their spirit of hatred and +revenge, by instilling into them the notions of jealousy, that such +overtures of friendship, on the part of the English, were no better than +so many snares laid to make them perish, by a false security, since they +could not hope to do it by open violence. One instance may serve to show +you the temper of these people: Some years ago the English officers +being assembled at the _Mines_, in order to take a solemn recognition +from them of the king of Great Britain, when a savage, a new convert, +called _Simon_, in spite of all dissuasion, went himself alone to the +English commander, and told him, that all his endeavours to get the king +of England acknowledged, would be to no purpose; that, for his part, he +should never pay any allegiance but to the king of France, and drawing a +knife, said, "This indeed is all the arms I have, and with this weapon +alone, I will stand by the king of France till death." + +Yet, with all this obstinacy of sentiments, once more I dare aver, the +savages would have been easily won over and attached to the English +party, had these gone the right way about it: and I well know that the +French, who knew best the nature of the savages, much dreaded it; and +were not a little pleased to see the English take measures so contrary +to their own interest, and play the game so effectually into our hands. +In short, we took, as was natural, all the advantage of their +indiscretion and over-sight. + +I come now to the Acadians, or what may more properly be called the +French Acadians. These would undoubtedly have proved very valuable +subjects to the English, and extreamly useful to them in improving a +dominion so susceptible of all manner of improvement as _Acadia_, +(Nova-Scotia) if they could have been, prevailed on to break their +former ties of allegiance to the king of France, and to have remained +quietly under the new government to which they were now transferred. But +from this they were constantly dissuaded, and withheld by the influence +of our French priests, cantoned, amongst them [The letter-writer might +have here added the infamous arts and falsities by which these +emissaries of the French imposed on those bigotted deluded people, and +to that end made religion a vile tool of state. They represented to +these Acadians, that it was an inexpiable crime against their faith, to +hold any commerce with heretics, and much more so to enter into their +interests;--that there would be no pardon for them, either in the other +world, or even in this, when the French should regain, as they certainly +would, possession of a country ceded so much against the grain. In +short, they succeeded but too well in keeping up the spirit of rebellion +amongst those infatuated devotees of theirs, who remained sullen and +refractory to all the advances the English made to gain them.], who kept +them steady to our party. You may be sure our government did not fail of +constantly inculcating the expediency of this conduct to our priests; +who not only very punctually and successfully conformed to their +instructions on this head, but very often in the heat of their zeal so +much exceeded them, as to draw on themselves the animadversion of the +English government. This answered a double end, of hindering that nation +from finding those advantages in this country, by the prospect of which +it had been tempted to settle in it, and of engaging it to consider +Acadia itself, as something not material enough to think worth its +keeping, at the expence which it must occasion, and consequently induce +the English to be the readier to part with it again, on any future +treaty of peace. This too is certain, that the French themselves knew +neither the extent, nor the value of this country, till they were +sensible of the improvements the English were projecting; and the use +now so easy to discover might be made of so fine an establishment. But +to return to the Acadians: It must be confest the English had, with +respect to them, a difficult game to play. To force such a number of +families, of which too such great use might have been made, to evacuate +the country, seems at first both impolitic and inhuman. But then it must +be considered, that these people were absolutely untractable as to the +English, and thoroughly under the direction of priests in an interest +quite opposite to theirs. To have taken those priests entirely from +them, would have exasperated them yet more, and was, in fact, a measure +repugnant to that spirit of toleration in religious matters, of which +they boast, and to which it must be owned they constantly adhered, as to +these people, both in speculation and practice. + +[Might not this dilemma have been removed, by procuring for them +priests, since priests they must have, from neutral nations, such as the +Flemings, the Roman Swiss Cantons, &c. whom a very small matter of +reward and encouragement would, it is probable, have fixed in the +English interest? At least, they could not have the same motives for +fomenting rebellious principles, as the French priests, who were set on +by that government.] + +None of the Acadians were ever molested purely for their religion; and +even the priests of our nation were always civilly treated by them, +whenever they had not reason to think they meddled in temporal matters, +or stirred up their parishioners to rebellion. I have seen many of their +own letters that acknowledge as much; so that upon the whole, I do not +see that the English could do otherwise than they did, in expelling +their bounds a people, who were constitutionally, and invincibly, a +perpetual thorn in their side, whom they could at best look on as secret +domestic enemies, who wanted nothing but an occasion to do them all the +mischief in their power, and of whom, consequently, there could not, for +their interest and safety, remain too few in the land. + +In the mean time the French took special care to appear at least to +receive with open arms those _refugees_, whom their fear or hatred of +the English drove out of that country; they gave them temporary places +of habitation, both for them and their cattle, besides provisions, arms, +tools, &c. till they should fix a settlement in some part of the French +dominions here, which they recommended especially in the island of, or +on the banks of the river of St. John; but they were at first very loth +to come to a determination. And surely, these unfortunate victims of +their attachment to the French government deserved all the reparation in +its power to give them, for what they had quitted for the sake of +preserving allegiance to it, even after their country had been +transferred to another sovereign. I cannot, however, consistently with +truth say, they were received as kindly as they deserved, which probably +bred that undetermination of their's to fix a new settlement, as they +were pressed to do by the French government. They retained still a +hankering after their old habitations: the temporary new ones were far +from being equally agreeable or convenient; and even the ancient +settlers in those places where these refugees were provisionally +cantoned, began to make complaints of their encroaching upon them, and +to represent their apprehensions of their becoming burthensome to them. +Some of our people in power, more sollicitous for their own private +interest, than for the public good, were but too remiss in relieving and +comforting these poor people. This, at length, indisposed them so, that +after very pathetic remonstrances on the hardship of their case, and the +motives upon which they thus suffered, great numbers of them began to +listen seriously to the proposals made them by the English, to return +upon very inviting terms to the settlements they had quitted. In short, +it required the utmost art of the missionaries, and even a kind of +coercion from the military power, to keep them from accepting the +English offers. For when they presented a petition to Mons. _de Vergor_, +for leave to return to the English district, this commander, after +having remonstrated to them that he could not grant their request, nor +decide any thing of himself in a matter of that importance, was forced, +at length, to declare to them, that he would _shoot_ any man who should +attempt to go over to the English. [It should here be remarked, that +these very people had taken the oath of allegiance to the crown of +England, agreeable to the tenor of the treaty of Utrecht. But the +French, not content with harbouring these causeless malecontents, that +were actually deserters over to them, kept continually, by means of the +priests, plying such as staid behind with exhortations, promises, +menaces, in short, with every art of seduction, to engage them to +withdraw their sworn allegiance to their now lawful sovereign. In short, +if all the transactions of the French in those parts were thrown into a +history, it would lay open to the world such a scene of complicated +villainy, rebellion, perjury, subornation of perjury, perfidiousness, +and cruelty, as would for ever take from that nation the power of +pluming itself, as it now so impudently does, on its sincerity, +fairness, and moderation. The English, on the other hand, too conscious +of the justice of their cause at bottom, have been too remiss in their +confutation of the French falsities: content with being in the right, +they cared too little for having the appearance of being so, as if the +world was not governed by appearances.] Thus these poor people remained +under this deplorable dilemma. Some of them too, had not even +habitations to go back if they would: they had been forced into the +measure of deserting their country, and passing over to the French side, +by the violence of the Abbot de Loutre, who had not only preached them +into this spirit, but ordered the savages, whom he had at his disposal, +to set fire to their habitations, barns, &c. particularly at +_Mirtigueesh_. [The reader is desired to observe, that in the memorials +delivered into the English court by the French ministers, this burning +of villages was specifically made an article of complaint, at the same +time that it was their own incendiary agent, at their own instigation, +who had actually caused fire to be set to them by his savages. Could +then impudence be pushed farther than it was on this occasion?] + +In the mean time the French did not spare, at least, the consolation of +words and promises to these distrest Refugee-acadians. They were +assured, that they would infallibly be relieved on the regulation of the +limits taking place, which was then on the point of being settled, by +commissaries, between the two crowns. [The truth is, that in these +assurances the French government, which never intended a conclusion, but +only an amusement, did not scruple equally deceiving the English, and +these infatuated Acadian subjects of ours, who, to the French interest +had sacrificed their own, their possessions in their country, their +sworn faith, in short, their ALL. Whoever has the patience to go through +the French memorials, in their procedure with our commissaries, may see +such instances of their pitiful prevarications, petty-fogging chicanery, +quirks, and evasions, as would nauseate one. The whole stress of their +argument, in short, turns merely upon names, where the things themselves +were absolutely out of the question, from the manifest notoriety of +them.] This hope, in some sort, pacified them; and they lived as well as +they could in the expectation of a final decision, which was not so soon +to come. + +Yet even this example of the sufferings of these people, purely on +account of their attachment to the French government, could not out +balance with the French Acadians, who remained in the English district, +the assiduous applications of our priests to keep them firm in the +French interest. They never ceased giving every mark in their power of +their preference of our government to that, under which the treaty of +Utrecht had put them. The English, however, at length finding that, +neither by fair nor foul means, could they reclaim or win them over to +their purpose, so as that they might in future depend upon them, came at +once to a violent resolution. They surprized and seized every French +Acadian-man they could lay their hands on, (the women they knew would +follow of course) and, to clear the country effectually of them, +dispersed them into the remotest parts of their other settlements in +North-America, where they thought they could do the least mischief to +them. Some were shipped off for England: the priests shared the same +fate, and were conveyed to Europe. With this evacuation, the very +existence of the French Acadians may be said to have ended; for in +Acadia there are scarce any traces of them left, few or none having +escaped this general seizure and transportation, for the necessity of +which, the English were perhaps more to be pitied than blamed. + +In the mean time our government had so far succeeded, as to force the +English, thus to deprive themselves of such a number of subjects, who, +but for the reasons above deduced, might have been very valuable ones, +and a great strengthening of their new colony. Hitherto then our +neighborhood has made it almost as irksome, and uncomfortable to them, +as we could wish; and this fine spot of dominion does not nigh produce +to them the advantages that might otherwise naturally be expected from +it. Numbers of themselves begin to exclaim against it, as if its value +and importance had been overrated; not considering, that it is on the +circumstances of their possession, and not on the nature of the +possession itself, that their complaints and murmurings should fall. It +is very likely, that whenever we get it back again, we shall know very +well what to do with it. They have begun to teach us the value of what +we thus inadvertently parted with to them; and it will be hard, indeed, +on recovering it, if we do not improve upon their lessons. + +In the mean time you in Europe are cruelly mistaken, if you do not annex +an idea of the highest consequence and value, to the matters of dominion +now in dispute, between the crowns of France and Great Britain, between +whom the war is in a manner begun, by the capture of the Alcides and +Lys, and which, even without that circumstance, was inevitable. I know +that our (French) government, is indeed fully sensible of the capital +importance to it of its interest in these parts, and has proceeded in +consequence. But it is not so, I find by your letters, and the reports +of others, with numbers in Europe, who do not conceive, that the present +object of the war is so considerable as it really is. + +To say nothing of the vast extent of country that falls under the claim +of the English to Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which alone would form an immence +mass of dominion, greatly improveable in a number of points, its +situation is yet of greater weight. By the English possessing it, Canada +itself would be so streightened, so liable to harrassment, and +especially to the comptrol of its navigation, that it would scarce be +tenable, and surely not worth the expence of keeping. The country +pretended to have been ceded is far preferable to it; and the masters of +it would be equally masters of the sea all over North-America. Hallifax, +for example, according to which of the nation's hand it should be in, +may be equally an effectual check on Quebec, or Boston. + +You will then allow, that was there even nothing more in dispute than +the limits of the cession of Acadia, or Nova-Scotia, together with its +necessary dependence, that alone would form such a considerable object, +as not easily to be given up on either side. The commissaries appointed +by both crowns, then failing of coming to any agreement or regulation, +it is no wonder to see the appeal lodged with the sword; especially when +there is another point yet remains, of perhaps equal, if not superior, +importance, depending on the issue of the war: and that is, the western +inland frontiers of the English colonies. Should we ever command the +navigation of the lakes and rivers, behind their settlements, you can +easily figure to yourself, not only the vast advantages of preserving +that communication of Canada, with New Orleans and the Mississippi, so +absolutely essential to both these our colonies, but the facility it +will give us on all occasions of distressing the English, where neither +their marine-force can succor them, nor can they be able to resist the +attack, since we may make it wherever ever we please, and effectually +dodge any land-force they might assemble in any one or two parts to +oppose us. We may then carry the war into the quarter most convenient; +and most safe for us, if we should ever have the whole navigation of the +lakes so far at our disposal, as to prevent their constructing any +material number vessels to dispute it with us. Thus we can penetrate +into the heart of any of their colonies, that may best suit us, +especially with the concurrent aid of the savages, whom we have found +means to attach so strongly to us, and on whom we can greatly depend for +the effectual harrassment of, especially, the back-plantations of the +English. + +You see then, Sir, by this summary sketch of the points in contest, that +the war being once engaged, it will not be so easy a matter as many in +Europe imagine, to adjust the pretensions, so various and so important, +of the respective nations, so as to be able to procure a peace. Some, of +the points appear to me absolutely _untreatable_. You may observe too, +that I do not so much as touch upon the dispute about Tabago, +Santa-Lucia, or any of the Leeward islands, which are not, however, of +small consequence. In short, the war must, in all human probability, be +a much longer one, than is commonly believed. Neither nation can +materially relax of its claims, without such a thorough sacrifice of its +interest in America, as nothing but the last extremities of weakness can +compel. + +Long as this letter is, I cannot yet close it without mentioning to you +a singular phenomenon of nature, in the island of St. John. You know it +is a flat, level island, chiefly formed out of the congestion of sand +and soil from the sea. Tradition, experience, and authentic public acts +(_Procés verbaux_) concur to attest that every seven years, it is +visited by swarms either of locusts, or of field-mice, alternately, +never together; without its being possible to discover hitherto either +the reason, or the origin of these two species, which thus in their +turns, at the end of every seventh year, pour out all of a sudden in +amazing numbers, and having committed their ravages on all the fruits of +the earth, precipitate themselves into the sea. Neither has any +preventive remedy for this evil been yet discovered. It is well known +how they perish, but, once more, how they are produced no one, that I +could learn, has as yet been able to trace. The field-mice are +undoubtedly something in the nature of those swarms of the sable-mice, +that sometimes over-run Lapland and Norway, though I do not know that +these return so regularly, and at such stated periods, as those of this +island. + +I am, Sir, + +Your most obedient, + +Humble servant. + + + + +CHARACTER + +OF THE + +SAVAGES of NORTH-AMERICA, + +EXTRACTED FROM + +A LETTER of the Father CHARLEVOIX, + +TO + +A LADY of Distinction, + + +To give you, Madam, a summary sketch of the character of the savages in +this country, I am to observe to you, that under a savage appearance, +with manners and customs, that favor entirely of barbarism, may be found +a society exempt from almost all the faults that so often vitiate the +happiness of ours. + +They appear to be without passion, but they are in cold blood, and +sometimes even from principle, all that the most violent and most +unbridled passion can inspire into those, who no longer listen to +reason. + +They seem to lead the most miserable of lives, and they are, perhaps, +the only happy of the earth. At least those of them are still so, +amongst whom the knowledge of those objects that disturb and seduce us, +has not yet penetrated, or awakened in them, those pernicious desires +which their ignorance kept happily dormant: it has not, however, +hitherto made great ravages amongst them. + +There may be perceived a mixture in them of the most ferocious and the +most gentle manners; of the faults reproachable to the carnivorous +beasts, with those virtues and qualities of the head and heart, that do +the most honor to human-kind. + +One would, at first, imagine, that they had no sort of form of +government, that they knew no laws nor subordination, and that living in +an entire independence, they suffered themselves to be entirely guided +by chance, or by the most wild, untamed caprice: yet they enjoy almost +all the advantages, which a well-regulated authority can procure to the +most civilized nations. Born free and independent, they hold in horror +the very shadow of despotic power; but they rarely swerve from certain +principles and customs, founded upon good-sense, which stand them in the +stead of laws, and supplement in some sort to their want of legal +authority. All constraint mocks them; but reason alone hold them in a +kind of subordination, which, for its being voluntary, does not the less +answer the proposed end. + +A man, whom they should greatly esteem, would find them tractable and +ductile enough, and might very nearly make them do any thing he had a +mind they should; but it is not easy to gain their esteem to such a +point. They grant it only to merit, and that merit a very superior one, +of which they are as good judges as those, who, amongst us, value +themselves the most upon being so. They are, especially, apt to be taken +with physiognomy; and there are not in the world, perhaps, men who are +greater _connoisseurs_ in it: and that is, because they have for no man +whatever, any of those respects that prejudice or impose on us, and that +studying only nature, they understand it well. As they are not slaves to +ambition or interest, those two passions that have chiefly cancelled in +us that sentiment of humanity, which the author of nature had engraved +in our hearts; the inequality of conditions is not necessary to them, +for the support of society. + +There are not therefore, Madam, to be seen amongst them, or at least, +are rarely to be met with, those arrogant haughty characters, who, full +of themselves of their greatness, or their merit, look on themselves +almost as a species a-part, and disdain the rest of mankind, of whom +consequently they can never have the confidence or love. Their equals +these rarely know any thing of, because the jealousy that reigns amongst +the great, hinders them from being intimate enough with one another. +Neither do they know themselves, from their never studying themselves, +and from their constant self-flattery. They never reflect, that to gain +admission into the hearts of men, they must make themselves their +equals; so that with this pretended superiority of enlightened +understanding, which they look on as an essential property of the rank +they hold, the most part of them live groveling in a proud and incurable +ignorance of all that it would be the most important for them to know, +and never enjoy the true sweets of life. + +In all this how wretchedly different from the savages! In this country, +all the men esteem themselves equally men; and in man, what they most +esteem is, the man. No distinction of birth; no prerogative attributed +to rank, to the prejudice of the other free members of society; no +pre-eminence annexed to merit that can inspire pride, or make others +feel too much their inferiority. There is, perhaps, less delicacy in +their sentiments than amongst us, but surely more uprightness; less +ceremony; less of all that can form a dubious character; less of the +temptations or illusions or self-love. + +Religion only can perfect these people in what is good in them, and +correct what bad. This indeed is not peculiar to them, but what is so, +is, that they bring with them fewer obstacles to religious devotion when +once they have begun to believe, which can only be the effect of a +special grace. It is also true, that to establish firmly the empire of +religion over them, it would be necessary that they should see it +practised in all its purity by those who profess it. They are extremely +susceptible of the scandal given by bad Christians, as are all those who +are, for the first time, instructed in the principles of the +Gospel-morality. + +You will perhaps ask me, Madam, if they have a religion? To this I +answer, that it cannot be said they have not one, though it is difficult +to give a definition of what it is. I shall sometime or other, take +occasion to enter into more particulars on this head. This letter, like +most of the others that have preceded it, prove sufficiently that I do +not pretend to write to you methodically. + +I shall then now only content myself with adding, by way of finishing, +to this picture of the savages, that even in their most indifferent +actions, may be perceived the traces of the primitive natural religion, +but which escape those who do not study them enough, because they are +yet more defaced by the want of instruction, [This want of instruction +is wretchedly supplemented amongst the savage-converts to the Popish +religion, by that superstitious worship, and those fabulous traditions, +its missionaries have introduced amongst them, and which must be only +the more execrable, for their being a superstructure on so fair a +foundation as that of the truths of the Gospel. At least, the savages, +in their genuine unsophisticated state, have no such base, absurd, +derogatory ideas of the Deity, as are implied by the doctrines of +transubstantiation, purgatory, absolution, and the like fictions in the +Romish church, which have been the more than mines of Mexico and Peru, +of its clergy.] than adulterated by the mixture of a superstitious +worship, and by fabulous traditions. + +_FINIS._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Account Of The Customs And Manners +Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton, by Antoine Simon Maillard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + +***** This file should be named 15567-8.txt or 15567-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/6/15567/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton + +Author: Antoine Simon Maillard + +Release Date: April 6, 2005 [EBook #15567] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>AN ACCOUNT OF THE CUSTOMS and MANNERS OF THE MICMAKIS and +MARICHEETS SAVAGE NATIONS</h1> +<h2>Now Dependent on the Government of CAPE-BRETON.</h2> +<h2>FROM An Original French Manuscript-Letter, Never Published, +Written by a French Abbot, Who resided many Years, in quality of +Missionary, amongst them.</h2> +<h3>To which are annexed, Several Pieces, relative to the Savages, +to Nova Scotia, and to North-America in general.</h3> +<hr /> +<center>LONDON:</center> +<center>Printed for S. Hooper and A. Morley at Gay's-Head, near +Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand. MDCCLVIII.</center> +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> +<p>For the better understanding of the letter immediately +following, it may not be unnecessary to give the reader some +previous idea of the people who are the subject of it, as well of +the letter-writer.</p> +<p>The best account of the <i>Mickmakis</i> I could find, and +certainly the most authentic, is in a memorial furnished by the +French ministry in April, 1751, from which the following paragraph +is a translated extract:</p> +<p>"The government of the savages dependent on Cape-Breton exacts a +particular attention. All these savages go under the name of +<i>Mickmakis</i>. Before the last war they could raise about six +hundred fighting-men, according to an account given in to his most +Christian majesty, and were distributed in several villages +established on Cape-Breton island, island of St. John, on both the +coasts of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) and on that of Canada. All, or most +of the inhabitants of these villages have been instructed in the +Christian religion, by missionaries which the king of France +constantly maintains amongst them. It is customary to distribute +every year to them presents, in the name of his majesty, which +consist in arms, ammunition of war, victuals, cloathing, and +utensils of various sorts. And these presents are regulated +according to the circumstances of the time, and to the satisfaction +that shall have been given to the government by the conduct of +these savages. In the last war they behaved so as to deserve our +approbation, and indeed have, on all occasions, given marks of +their attachment and fidelity. Since the peace too, they have +equally distinguished themselves in the disturbances that are on +foot on the side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia)."</p> +<p>The last part of this foregoing paragraph needs no comment. +Every one knows by what sort of service these savages merit the +encouragement of the French government, and by what acts of perfidy +and cruelty exercised on the English, they are to earn their +reward.</p> +<p>The <i>Maricheets</i>, mentioned in the said letter form a +distinct nation, chiefly settled at St. John's, and are often +confounded with the <i>Abenaquis</i>, so as to pass for one nation +with them, though there is certainly some distinction. They used, +till lately, to be in a constant state of hostility with the +Mickmakis. But, however, these nations may be at peace or variance +with one another, in one point they agree, which is a thorough +enmity to the English, cultivated, with great application by the +missionaries, who add to the scandal of a conduct so contrary to +their profession, the baseness of denying or evading the charge by +the most pitiful equivocations. It is with the words peace, +charity, and universal benevolence, for ever in their mouths, that +these incendiaries, by instigations direct and indirect, inflame +and excite the savages to commit the cruellest outrages of war, and +the blackest acts of treachery. Poor Captain How! is well known to +have paid with his life, infamously taken away by them, at a +parley, the influence one of these missionaries (now a prisoner in +the island of Jersey,) had over these misguided wretches, whose +native innocence and simplicity are not proof against the +corruption, and artful suggestions of those holy seducers.</p> +<p>It would not, perhaps, be impossible for the English, if they +were to apply proper means, and especially lenient ones, to recover +the affections of these people, which, for many reasons, cannot be +entirely rooted in the French interest. That great state-engine of +theirs, religion, by which they have so strong a hold on the weak +and credulous savages, might not, however, be an invincible bar to +our success, if it was duly counter-worked by the offer of a much +more pure and rational one of our own, joined to such temporal +advantages as would shew them their situation capable of being much +meliorated, in every respect; and especially that of freedom, which +they cannot but be sensible, is daily decreasing under the +insidious encroachments and blandishments of the French, who never +cares but to enslave, nor hug but to stifle, whose pretences, in +short, to superior humanity and politeness, are not amongst their +least arts of conquest.</p> +<p>As to the letter-writer, he is an abbot much respected in those +parts, who has resided the greatest part of his life amongst the +Mickmakis, and is perfectly acquainted with their language, in the +composing of a Dictionary of which he has labored eighteen or +twenty years; but I cannot learn that it is yet published, and +probably for reasons of state, it never may. The letter, of which +the translation is now given, exists only in a manuscript, having +never been printed, being entirely written for the satisfaction of +a friend's curiosity, in relation to the original manners and +customs of the people of which it treats, and which, being those of +savages in the primitive state of unpolished nature, may perhaps, +to a philosophical enquirer, afford more amusement and instruction +than those of the most refined societies. What man really is, +appears at least plainer in the uncultivated savage, than in the +civilized European.</p> +<p>The account of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) will, it is to be hoped, +appear not uncurious; allowance being made for its being only in +form of a letter.</p> +<h2>A LETTER, &c.</h2> +<h3><i>Micmaki-Country</i>, March 27, 1755.</h3> +<p>SIR,</p> +<p>I should long before now have satisfied you in those points of +curiosity you expressed, concerning the savages amongst whom I have +so long resided, if I could have found leisure for it. Literally +true it is, that I have no spare time here, unless just in the +evening, and that not always. This was my case too in Louisbourg; +and I do not doubt but you will be surprised at learning, that I +enjoy as little rest here as there.</p> +<p>Had you done me, Sir, the honor of passing with me but three +days only, you would soon have seen what sort of a nation it is +that I have to deal with. I am obliged to hold frequent and long +parleys with them, and, at every occasion, to heap upon them the +most fair and flattering promises. I must incessantly excite them +to the practice of acts of religion, and labor to render them +tractable, sociable, and loyal to the king (of France). But +especially, I apply myself to make them live in good understanding +with the French.</p> +<p>With all this, I affect a grave and serious air, that awes and +imposes upon them. I even take care of observing measure and +cadence in the delivery of my words, and to make choice of those +expressions the properest to strike their attention, and to hinder +what I say from falling to the ground. If I cannot boast that my +harangues have all the fruit and success that I could wish, they +are not however wholly without effect. As nothing inchants those +people more than a style of metaphors and allegories, in which even +their common conversation abounds, I adapt myself to their taste, +and never please them better than when I give what I say this turn, +speaking to them in their own language. I borrow the most lively +images from those objects of nature, with which they are so well +acquainted; and am rather more regular than even themselves, in the +arrangement of my phrases. I affect, above all, to rhime as they +do, especially at each member of a period. This contributes to give +them so great an idea of me, that they imagine this gift of +speaking is rather an inspiration, than an acquisition by study and +meditation. In truth, I may venture to say, without presumption, +that I talk the <i>Micmaki</i> language as fluently, and as +elegantly, as the best of their women, who most excel in this +point.</p> +<p>Another of my occupations is to engage and spur them on to the +making a copious chace, when the hunting-season comes in, that +their debts to the dealers with them may be paid, their wives and +children cloathed, and their credit supported.</p> +<p>It is neither gaming nor debauchery that disable them from the +payment of their debts, but their vanity, which is excessive, in +the presents of peltry they make to other savages, who come either +in quality of envoys from one country to another, or as friends or +relations upon a visit to one another. Then it is, that a village +is sure to exhaust itself in presents; it being a standing rule +with them, on the arrival of such persons, to bring out every thing +that they have acquired, during the winter and spring season, in +order to give the best and most advantageous idea of themselves. +Then it is chiefly they make feasts, which sometimes last several +days; of the manner of which I should perhaps spare you the +description, if the ceremony that attends them did not include the +strongest attestation of the great stress they lay on hunting; the +excelling wherein they commonly take for their text in their +panegyrics on these occasions, and consequently enters, for a great +deal, into the idea you are to conceive of the life and manners of +the savages in these parts.</p> +<p>The first thing I am to observe to you is, that one of the +greatest dainties, and with which they crown their entertainments, +is the flesh of dogs. For it is not till the envoys, friends, or +relations, are on the point of departure, that, on the eve of that +day, they make a considerable slaughter of dogs, which they slea, +draw, and, with no other dressing, put whole into the kettle; from +whence they take them half boiled, and carve out into as many +pieces as there are guests to eat of them, in the cabbin of him who +gives the treat. But every one, before entering the cabbin, takes +care to bring with him his <i>Oorakin</i>, or bowl, made of bark of +birch-tree, either polygone shaped, or quite round; and this is +practised at all their entertainments. These pieces of dogs flesh +are accompanied with a small <i>Oorakin</i> full of the oil or fat +of seal, or of elk's grease, if this feast is given at the +melting-time of the snow. Every one has his own dish before him, in +which he sops his flesh before he eats it. If the fat be hard, he +cuts a small piece of it to every bit of flesh he puts into his +mouth, which serves as bread with us. At the end of this fine +regale, they drink as much of the oil as they can, and wipe their +hands on their hair. Then come in the wives of the master and +persons invited, who carry off their husbands plates, and retire +together to a separate place, where they dispatch the remains.</p> +<p>After grace being said by the oldest of the company, who also +never fails of pronouncing it before the meal, the master of the +treat appears as if buried in a profound contemplation, without +speaking a word, for a full quarter of an hour; after which, waking +as it were out of a deep sleep, he orders in the <i>Calumets</i>, +or <i>Indian</i> pipes, with tobacco. First he fills his own, +lights it, and, after sucking in two or three whiffs, he presents +it to the most considerable man in the company: after which, every +one fills his pipe and smoaks.</p> +<p>The calumets lighted, and the tobacco burning with a clear fire, +are scarce half smoked out, before the man of note before mentioned +(for the greatest honors being paid him) gets up, places himself in +the midst of the cabbin, and pronounces a speech of thanksgiving. +He praises the master of the feast, who has so well regaled him and +all the company. He compares him to a tree, whose large and strong +roots afford nourishment to a number of small shrubs; or to a +salutary medicinal herb, found accidentally by such as frequent the +lakes in their canoes. Some I have heard, who, in their +winter-feasts, compared him to the turpentine-tree, that never +fails of yielding its sap and gummy distillation in all seasons: +others to those temperate and mild days, which are sometimes seen +in the midst of the severest winter. They employ a thousand +similies of this sort, which I omit. After this introduction, they +proceed to make honorable mention of the lineage from which the +matter of the feast is descended.</p> +<p>"How great (will the oldest of them say) art thou, through thy +great, great, great grand-father, whose memory is still recent, by +tradition, amongst us, for the plentiful huntings he used to make! +There was something of miraculous about him, when he assisted at +the beating of the woods for elks, or other beasts of the fur. His +dexterity at catching this game was not superior to our's; but +there was some unaccountable secret he particularly possessed in +his manner of seizing those creatures, by springing upon them, +laying hold of their heads, and transfixing them at the same time +with his hunting-spear, though thrice as strong and as nimble again +as he was, and much more capable with their legs only, than we with +our rackets [a sort of buskined shoes made purposely for the Indian +travels over the snow], to make their way over mountains of snow: +he would nevertheless follow them, dart them, without ever missing +his aim, tire them out with his chace, bring them down, and +mortally wound them. Then he would regale us with their blood, skin +them, and deliver up the carcass to us to cut to pieces. But if thy +great, great, great grand-father made such a figure in the chace, +what has not thy great, great grand-father done with respect to the +beavers, those animals almost men? whose industry he surpassed by +his frequent watchings round their cabbins, by the repeated alarms +he would give them several times in one evening, and oblige them +thereby to return home, so that he might be sure of the number of +those animals he had seen dispersed during the day, having a +particular foresight of the spot to which they would come to load +their tails with earth, cut down with their teeth such and such +trees for the construction of their huts. He had a particular gift +of knowing the favorite places of those animals for building them. +But now let us rather speak of your great grand-father, who was so +expert at making of snares for moose-deer, martins, and elks. He +had particular secrets, absolutely unknown to any but himself, to +compel these sort of creatures to run sooner into his snares than +those of others; and he was accordingly always so well provided +with furs, that he was never at a loss to oblige his friends. Now +let us come to your grand-father, who has a thousand and a thousand +times regaled the youth of his time with seals. How often in our +young days have we greased our hair in his cabbin? How often have +we been invited, and even compelled by his friendly violence, to go +home with him, whenever we returned with our canoes empty, to be +treated with seal, to drink the oil, and anoint ourselves with it? +He even pushed his generosity so far, as to give us of the oil to +take home with us. But now we are come to your father: there was a +man for you! He used to signalize himself in every branch of chace; +but especially in the art of shooting the game whether flying or +sitting. He never missed his aim. He was particularly admirable for +decoying of bustards by his artificial imitations. We are all of us +tolerably expert at counterfeiting the cry of those birds; but as +to him, he surpassed us in certain inflexions, of his voice, that +made it impossible to distinguish his cry from that of the birds +themselves. He had, besides, a particular way of motion with his +body, that at a distance might be taken for the clapping of their +wings, insomuch that he has often deceived ourselves, and put us to +confusion, as he started out of his hiding-place.</p> +<p>"As for thyself, I say nothing, I am too full of the good things +thou hast feasted me with, to treat on that subject; but I thank +thee, and take thee by the hand, leaving to my fellow-guests the +care of acquitting themselves of that duty."</p> +<p>After this, he sits down, and some other younger, and in course +of less note, for they pay great respect to age, gets up, and makes +a summary recapitulation of what the first speaker has said; +commending his manner of singing the praises of the master of the +feast's ancestors: to which he observes, there is nothing to be +added; but that he has, however, left him one part of the task to +be accomplished, which is, not to pass over in silence the feast to +which he and the rest of his brethren are invited; neither to omit +the merit and praises of him who has given the entertainment. Then +quitting his place, and advancing in cadence, he takes the master +of the treat by the hand, saying, "All the praises my tongue is +about to utter, have thee for their object. All the steps I am +going to take, as I dance lengthwise and breadthwise in thy cabbin, +are to prove to thee the gaiety of my heart, and my gratitude. +Courage! my friends, keep time with your motions and voice, to my +song and dance."</p> +<p>With this he begins, and proceeds in his <i>Netchkawet</i>, that +is, advancing with his body strait erect, in measured steps, with +his arms a-kimbo. Then he delivers his words, singing and trembling +with his whole body, looking before and on each side of him with a +steady countenance, sometimes moving with a slow grave pace, then +again with a quick and brisk one.</p> +<p>The syllables he articulates the most distinctly are, +<i>Ywhannah, Owanna, Haywanna, yo! ha! yo! ha!</i> and when he +makes a pause he looks full at the company, as much as to demand +their chorus to the word <i>Heh!</i> which he pronounces with great +emphasis. As he is singing and dancing they often repeat the word +<i>Heh!</i> fetched up from the depth of their throat; and when he +makes his pause, they cry aloud in chorus, <i>Hah!</i></p> +<p>After this prelude, the person who had sung and danced recovers +his breath and spirits a little, and begins his harangue in praise +of the maker of the feast. He flatters him greatly, in attributing +to him a thousand good qualities he never had, and appeals to all +the company for the truth of what he says, who are sure not to +contradict him, being in the same circumstance as himself of being +treated, and answer him by the word <i>Heh</i>, which is as much as +to say, <i>Yes</i>, or <i>Surely</i>. Then he takes them all by the +hand, and begins his dance again: and sometimes this first dance is +carried to a pitch of madness. At the end of it he kisses his hand, +by way of salute to all the company; after which he goes quietly to +his place again. Then another gets up to acquit himself of the same +duty, and so do successively all the others in the cabbin, to the +very last man inclusively.</p> +<p>This ceremony of thanksgiving being over by the men, the girls +and women come in, with the oldest at the head of them, who carries +in her left hand a great piece of birch-bark of the hardest, upon +which she strikes as it were a drum; and to that dull sound which +the bark returns, they all dance, spinning round on their heels, +quivering, with one hand lifted, the other down: other notes they +have none, but a guttural loud aspiration of the word Heh! Heh! +Heh! as often as the old female savage strikes her bark-drum. As +soon as she ceases striking, they set up a general cry, expressed +by Yah! Then, if their dance is approved, they begin it again; and +when weariness obliges the old woman to withdraw, she first +pronounces her thanksgiving in the name of all the girls and women +there. The introduction of which is too curious to omit, as it so +strongly characterises the sentiments of the savages of that sex, +and confirms the general observation, that where their bosom once +harbours cruelty, they carry it greater lengths than even the men, +whom frequently they instigate to it.</p> +<p>"You men! who look on me as of an infirm and weak sex, and +consequently of all necessity subordinate to you, know that in what +I am, the Creator has given to my share, talents and properties at +least of as much worth as your's, I have had the faculty of +bringing into the world warriors, great hunters, and admirable +managers of canoes. This hand, withered as you see it now, whose +veins represent the root of a tree, has more than once struck a +knife into the hearts of the prisoners, who were given up to me for +my sport. Let the river-sides, I say, for I call them to witness +for me, as well as the woods of such a country, attest their having +seen me more than once tear out the heart, entrails, and tongue, of +those delivered up to me, without changing color, roast pieces of +their flesh, yet palpitating and warm with life, and cram them down +the throats of others, whom the like fate awaited. With how many +scalps have not I seen my head adorned, as well as those of my +daughters! With what pathetic exhortations have not I, upon +occasion, rouzed up the spirit of our young men, to go in quest of +the like trophies, that they might atchieve the reward, honor, and +renown annexed to the acquisition of them: but it is not in these +points alone that I have signalized myself. I have often brought +about alliances, which there was no room to think could ever be +made; and I have been so fortunate, that all the couples whose +marriages I have procured, have been prolific, and furnished our +nation with supports, defenders, and subjects, to eternize our +race, and to protect us from the insults of our enemies. These old +firs, these antient spruce-trees, full of knots from the top to the +root, whose bark is falling off with age, and who yet preserve +their gum and powers of life, do not amiss resemble me. I am no +longer what I was; all my skin is wrinkled and furrowed, my bones +are almost every where starting through it. As to my outward form, +I may well be reckoned amongst the things, fit for nothing but to +be totally neglected and thrown aside; but I have still within me +wherewithal to attract the attention of those who know me."</p> +<p>After this introduction follow the thanksgiving and encomiums, +much in the same taste as the first haranguer's amongst the guests. +This is what is practised in all the more solemn entertainments, +both on the men and women's side. Nor can you imagine, how great an +influence such praises have over them, derived as they are from the +merit of hunting, and how greatly they contribute to inflame their +passion for it. Nor is it surprising, considering how much almost +the whole of their livelihood depends upon the game of all sorts +that is the object of their chace.</p> +<p>They have also a kind of feasts, which may be termed war-feasts, +since they are never held but in time of war, declared, commenced, +or resolved. The forms of these are far different from those of +pacific and friendly entertainments. There is a mixture of devotion +and ferocity in them, which at the same time that it surprises, +proves that they consider war in a very solemn light, and as not to +be begun without the greatest reason and justice; which motives, +once established, or, which is the same thing, appearing to them +established, there is nothing they do not think themselves +permitted against their enemy, from whom they, on the other hand, +expect no better quarter than they themselves give.</p> +<p>To give you an idea of their preparatory ceremony for a +declaration of war, I shall here select for you a recent example, +in the one that broke out not long ago between the Micmaquis, and +Maricheets. These last had put a cruel affront on the former, the +nature of which you will see in the course of the following +description: but I shall call the Micmaquis the aggressors, because +the first acts of hostility in the field began from them. Those who +mean to begin the war, detach a certain number of men to make +incursions on the territories of their enemies, to ravage the +country, to destroy the game on it, and ruin all the beaver-huts +they can find on their rivers and lakes, whether entirely, or only +half-built. From this expedition they return laden with game and +peltry; upon which the whole nation assembles to feast on the meat, +in a manner that has more of the carnivorous brute in it than of +the human creature. Whilst they are eating, or rather devouring, +all of them, young and old, great and little, engage themselves by +the sun, the moon, and the name of their ancestors, to do as much +by the enemy-nation.</p> +<p>When they have taken care to bring off with them a live beast, +from the quarter in which they have committed their ravage, they +cut its throat, drink its blood, and even the boys with their teeth +tear the heart and entrails to pieces, which they ravenously +devour, giving thereby to understand, that those of the enemies who +shall fall into their hands, have no better treatment to expect at +them.</p> +<p>After this they bring out <i>Oorakins</i>, (bowls of bark) full +of that coarse vermillion which is found along the coast of +Chibucto, and on the west-side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which they +moisten with the blood of the animal if any remains, and add water +to compleat the dilution. Then the old, as well as the young, smear +their faces, belly and back with this curious paint; after which +they trim their hair shorter, some of one side of the head, some of +the other; some leave only a small tuft on the crown of their head; +others cut their hair entirely off on the left or right side of it; +some again leave nothing on it but a lock, just on the top of their +forehead, and of the breadth of it, that falls back on the nape of +the neck. Some of them bore their ears, and pass through the holes +thus made in them, the finest fibril-roots of the fir, which they +call <i>Toobee</i>, and commonly use for thread; but on this +occasion serve to string certain small shells. This military +masquerade, which they use at once for terror and disguise, being +compleated, all the peltry of the beasts killed in the enemy's +country, is piled in a heap; the oldest <i>Sagamo</i>, or chieftain +of the assembly gets up, and asks, "What weather it is? Is the sky +clear? Does the sun shine?" On being answered in the affirmative, +he orders the young men to carry the pile of peltry to a +rising-ground, or eminence, at some little distance from the +cabbin, or place of assembly. As this is instantly done, he follows +them, and as he walks along begins, and continues his address to +the sun in the following terms:</p> +<p>"Be witness, thou great and beautiful luminary, of what we are +this day going to do in the face of thy orb! If thou didst +disapprove us, thou wouldst, this moment, hide thyself, to avoid +affording the light of thy rays to all the actions of this +assembly. Thou didst exist of old, and still existeth. Thou +remainest for ever as beautiful, as radiant, and as beneficent, as +when our first fore fathers beheld thee. Thou wilt always be the +same. The father of the day can never fail us, he who makes every +thing vegetate, and without whom cold, darkness, and horror, would +every where prevail. Thou knowest all the iniquitous procedure of +our enemies towards us. What perfidy have they not used, what +deceit have they not employed, whilst we had no room to distrust +them? There are now more than five, six, seven, eight moons +revolved since we left the principal amongst our daughters with +them, in order thereby to form the most durable alliance with them, +(for, in short, we and they are the same thing as to our being, +constitution, and blood); and yet we have seen them look on these +girls of the most distinguished rank, <i>Kayheepidetchque</i>, as +mere playthings for them, an amusement, a pastime put by us into +their hands, to afford them a quick and easy consolation, for the +fatal blows we had given them in the preceding war. Yet, we had +made them sensible, that this supply of our principal maidens was, +in order that they should re-people their country more honorably, +and to put them under a necessity of conviction, that we were now +become sincerely their friends, by delivering to them so sacred a +pledge of amity, as our principal blood. Can we then, unmoved, +behold them so basely abusing that thorough confidence of ours? +Beautiful, all-seeing, all-penetrating luminary! without whose +influence the mind of man has neither efficacy nor vigor, thou hast +seen to what a pitch that nation (who are however our brothers) has +carried its insolence towards our principal maidens. Our resentment +would not have been so extreme with respect to girls of more common +birth, and the rank of whose fathers had not a right to make such +an impression on us. But here we are wounded in a point there is no +passing over in silence or unrevenged. Beautiful luminary! who art +thyself so regular in thy course, and in the wise distribution thou +makest of thy light from morning to evening, wouldst thou have us +not imitate thee? And whom can we better imitate? The earth stands +in need of thy governing thyself as thou dost towards it. There are +certain places, where thy influence does not suffer itself to be +felt, because thou dost not judge them worthy of it. But, as for +us, it is plain that we are thy children; for we can know no origin +but that which thy rays have given us, when first marrying +efficaciously, with the earth we inhabit, they impregnated its +womb, and caused us to grow out of it like the herbs of the field, +and the trees of the forest, of which thou art equally the common +father. To imitate thee then, we cannot do better than no longer to +countenance or cherish those, who have proved themselves so +unworthy thereof. They are no longer, as to us, under a favorable +aspect. They shall dearly pay for the wrong they have done us. They +have not, it is true, deprived us of the means of hunting for our +maintenance and cloathing; they have not cut off the free passage +of our canoes, on the lakes and rivers of this country; but they +have done worse; they have supposed in us a tameness of sentiments, +which does not, nor cannot, exist in us. They have defloured our +principal maidens in wantonness, and lightly sent them back to us. +This is the just motive which cries out for our vengeance. Sun! be +thou favorable to us in this point, as thou art in that of our +hunting, when we beseech thee to guide us in quest of our daily +support. Be propitious to us, that we may not fail of discovering +the ambushes that may be laid for us; that we may not be surprized +unawares in our cabbins, or elsewhere; and, finally, that we may +not fall into the hands of our enemies. Grant them no chance with +us, for they deserve none. Behold the skins of their beasts now a +burnt-offering to thee! Accept it, as if the fire-brand I hold in +my hands, and now set to the pile, was lighted immediately by thy +rays, instead of our domestic fire."</p> +<p>Every one of the assistants, as well men as women, listen +attentively to this invocation, with a kind of religious terror, +and in a profound silence. But scarce is the pile on a blaze, but +the shouts and war-cries begin from all parts. Curses and +imprecations are poured forth without mercy or reserve, on the +enemy-nation. Every one, that he may succeed in destroying any +particular enemy he may have in the nation against which war is +declared, vows so many skins or furs to be burnt in the same place +in honor of the sun. Then they bring and throw into the fire, the +hardest stones they can find of all sizes, which are calcined in +it. They take out the properest pieces for their purpose, to be +fastened to the end of a stick, made much in the form of a +hatchet-handle. They slit it at one end, and fix in the cleft any +fragment of those burnt stones, that will best fit it, which they +further secure, by binding it tightly round with the strongest +<i>Toobee</i>, or fibrils of fir-root above-mentioned; and then +make use of it, as of a hatchet, not so much for cutting of wood, +as for splitting the skull of the enemy, when they can surprize +him. They form also other instruments of war; such as long poles, +one of which is armed with bone of elk, made pointed like a +small-sword, and edge of both sides, in order to reach the enemy at +a distance, when he is obliged to take to the woods. The arrows are +made at the same time, pointed at the end with a sharp bone. The +wood of which these arrows are made, as well as the bows, must have +been dried at the mysterious fire, and even the guts of which the +strings are made. But you are here to observe, I am speaking of an +incident that happened some years ago; for, generally speaking, +they are now better provided with arms, and iron, by the Europeans +supplying them, for their chace, in favor of their dealings with +them for their peltry. But to return to my narration.</p> +<p>Whilst the fire is still burning, the women come like so many +furies, with more than bacchanalian madness, making the most +hideous howlings, and dancing without any order, round the fire. +Then all their apparent rage turns of a sudden against the men. +They threaten them, that if they do not supply them with scalps, +they will hold them very cheap, and look on them as greatly +inferior to themselves; that they will deny themselves to their +most lawful pleasures; that their daughters shall be given to none +but such as have signalized themselves by some military feat; that, +in short, they will themselves find means to be revenged of them, +which cannot but be easy to do on cowards.</p> +<p>The men, at this, begin to parley with one another, and order +the women to withdraw, telling them, that they shall be satisfied; +and that, in a little time, they may expect to have prisoners +brought to them, to do what they will with them.</p> +<p>The next thing they agree on is to send a couple of messengers, +in the nature of heralds at arms, with their hatchets, quivers, +bows, and arrows, to declare war against the nation by whom they +conceive themselves aggrieved. These go directly to the village +where the bulk of the nation resides, observing a sullen silence by +the way, without speaking to any that may meet them. When they draw +near the village, they give the earth several strokes with their +hatchets, as a signal of commencing hostilities in form; and to +confirm it the more, they shoot two of their best arrows at the +village, and retire with the utmost expedition. The war is now +kindled in good earnest, and it behoves each party to stand well on +its guard. The heralds, after this, return to make a report of what +they have done; and to prove their having been at the place +appointed, they do not fail of bringing away with them some +particular marks of that spot of the country. Then it is, that the +inhabitants of each nation begin to think seriously, whether they +shall maintain their ground by staying in their village, and +fortifying it in their manner, or look out for a place of greater +safety, or go directly in quest of the enemy. Upon these questions +they assemble, deliberate, and hold endless consultations, though +withal not uncurious ones: for it is on these occasions, that those +of the greatest sagacity and eloquence display all their talents, +and make themselves distinguished. One of their most common +stratagems, when there were reasons for not attacking one another, +or coming to a battle directly, was for one side to make as if they +had renounced all thoughts of acting offensively. A party of those +who made this feint of renunciation, would disperse itself in a +wood, observing to keep near the borders of it; when, if any +stragglers of the enemy's appeared, some one would counterfeit to +the life the particular cry of that animal, in the imitation of +which he most excelled; and this childish decoy would, however, +often succeed, in drawing in the young men of the opposite party +into their ambushes.</p> +<p>Sometimes the scheme was to examine what particular spot lay so, +that the enemies must, in all necessity, pass through it, to hunt, +or provide bark for making their canoes. It was commonly in these +passes, or defiles, that the bloodiest encounters or engagements +happened, when whole nations have been known to destroy one +another, with such an exterminating rage on both sides, that few +have been left alive on either; and to say the truth, they were, +generally speaking, mere cannibals. It was rarely the case that +they did not devour some limbs, at least, of the prisoners they +made upon one another, after torturing them to death in the most +cruel and shocking manner: but they never failed of drinking their +blood like water; it is now, some time, that our Micmakis +especially are no longer in the taste of exercising such acts of +barbarity. I have, yet, lately myself seen amongst them some +remains of that spirit of ferocity; some tendencies and approaches +to those inhumanities; but they are nothing in comparison to what +they used to be, and seem every day wearing out. The religion to +which we have brought them over, and our remonstrances have greatly +contributed to soften that savage temper, and atrocious +vindictiveness that heretofore reigned amongst them. But remember, +Sir, that as to this point I am now only speaking, upon my own +knowlege, of the Micmakis and Mariquects, who, though different in +language, have the same customs and manners, and are of the same +way of thinking and acting.</p> +<p>But to arrive at any tolerable degree of conjecture, whence +these people derive their origin own myself at a loss: possibly +some light might be got into it, by discovering whether there was +any affinity or not between their language, and that of the +Orientalists, as the Chinese or Tartars. In the mean time, the +abundance of words in this language surprized, and continues to +surprize me every day the deeper I get into it. Every thing is +proper in it; nothing borrowed, as amongst us. Here are no +auxiliary verbs. The prepositions are in great number. This it is +that gives great ease, fluency, and richness to the expression of +whatever you require, when you are once master enough to join them +to the verbs. In all their absolute verbs they have a dual number. +What we call the imperfect, perfect, and preter-perfect tenses of +the indicative mood, admits, as with us, of varied inflexions of +the terminations to distinguish the person; but the difference of +the three tenses is express, for the preter-perfect by the +preposition <i>Keetch</i>; for the preter-pluperfect by <i>Keetch +Keeweeh</i>: the imperfect is again distinguished from them by +having no preposition at all.</p> +<p>They have no feminine termination, either for the verbs or +nouns. This greatly facilitates to me my composition of songs and +hymns for them, especially as their prose itself naturally runs +into poetry, from the frequency of their tropes and metaphors; and +into rhime, from their nouns being susceptible of the same +termination, as that of the words in the verbs which express the +different persons. In speaking of persons absent, the words change +their termination, as well in the nouns as in the verbs.</p> +<p>They have two distinctions of style; the one noble, or elevated, +for grave and important subjects, the other ignoble, or trivial, +for familiar or vulgar ones. But this distinction is not so much +with them, as with us, marked by a difference of words, but of +terminations. Thus, when they are treating of solemn, or weighty +matters, they terminate the verb and the noun by another inflexion, +than what is used for trivial or common conversation.</p> +<p>I do not know, whether I explain clearly enough to you this so +material a point of their elocution; but it makes itself clearly +distinguished, when once one comes to understand the language, in +which it supplies the place of the most pathetic emphasis, though +even that they do not want, nor great expression in their gestures +and looks. All their conjugations are regular and distinct.</p> +<p>Yet, with all these advantages of language, the nation itself is +extreamly ignorant as to what concerns itself, or its origin, and +their traditions are very confused and defective. They know nothing +of the first peopling of their country, of which they imagine +themselves the Aborigines. They often talk of their ancestors, but +have nothing to say of them that is not vague or general. According +to them, they were all great hunters, great wood-rangers, expert +managers of canoes, intrepid warriors, that took to wives as many +as they could maintain by hunting. They had too a custom amongst +them, that if a woman grew pregnant whilst she was sucking a child, +they obliged her to use means for procuring an abortion, in favor +of the first-come, who they supposed would otherwise be defrauded +of his due nourishment. Most of them also value themselves on being +descended from their Jugglers, who are a sort of men that pretend +to foretel futurity by a thousand ridiculous contorsions and +grimaces, and by frightful and long-winded howlings.</p> +<p>The great secret of these Jugglers consists in having a great +<i>Oorakin</i> full of water, from any river in which it was known +there were beaver-huts. Then he takes a certain number of circular +turns round this Oorakin, as it stands on the ground, pronouncing +all the time with a low voice, a kind of gibberish of broken words, +unintelligible to the assistants, and most probably so to himself, +but which those, on whom he means to impose, believe very +efficacious. After this he draws near to the bowl, and bending very +low, or rather lying over it, looks at himself in it as in a glass. +If he sees the water in the least muddy, or unsettled, he recovers +his erect posture, and begins his rounds again, till he finds the +water as clear as he could wish it for his purpose, and then he +pronounces over it his magic words. If after having repeated them +twice or thrice, he does not find the question proposed to him +resolved by this inspection of the water, nor the wonders he wants +operated by it, he says with a loud voice and a grave tone, that +the <i>Manitoo</i>, or <i>Miewndoo</i>, (the great spirit) or +genius, which, according to them, has all knowledge of future +events, would not declare himself till every one of the assistants +should have told him (the Juggler) in the ear what were his actual +thoughts, or greatest secret. [A Romish missionary must, with a +very bad grace, blame the Jugglers, for what himself makes such a +point of religion in his <i>auricular confession</i>. Even the +appellation of <i>Juggler</i> is not amiss applicable to those of +their craft, considering all their tricks and mummery not a whit +superior to those of these poor savages, in the eyes of +common-sense. Who does not know, that the low-burlesque word of +<i>Hocus-pocus</i>, is an humorous corruption of their <i>Hoc est +corpus meum</i>, by virtue of which, they make a <i>God</i> out of +a vile wafer, and think it finely solved, by calling it a +<i>mystery</i>, which, by the way is but another name for +<i>nonsense</i>. Is there any thing amongst the savages half so +absurd or so impious?] To this purpose he gets up, laments, and +bitterly inveighs against the bad dispositions of those of the +assistants, whose fault it was, that the effects of his art were +obstructed. Then going round the company, he obliges them to +whisper him in the ear, whatever held the first place in their +minds; and the simplicity of the greater number is such, as to make +them reveal to him what it would be more prudent to conceal. By +these means it is, that these artful Jugglers renders themselves +formidable to the common people, and by getting into the secrets of +most of the families of the nation, acquire a hank over them. Some, +indeed, of the most sensible see through this pitiful artifice, and +look on the Jugglers in their proper light of cheats, quacks, and +tyrants; but out of fear of their established influence over the +bulk of the nation, they dare not oppose its swallowing their +impostures, or its regarding all their miserable answers as so many +oracles. When the Juggler in exercise, has collected all that he +can draw from the inmost recesses of the minds of the assistants, +he replaces himself, as before, over the mysterious bowl of water, +and now knows what he has to say. Then, after twice or thrice +laying his face close to the surface of the water, and having as +often made his evocations in uncouth, unintelligible words, he +turns his face to his audience, sometimes he will say, "I can only +give a half-answer upon such an article; there is an obstacle yet +unremoved in the way, before I can obtain an entire solution, and +that is, there are some present here who are in such and such a +case. That I may succeed in what is asked of me, and that interests +the whole nation, I appoint that person, without my knowing, as +yet, who it is, to meet me at such an hour of the night. I name no +place of assignation but will let him know by a signal of lighted +fire, where he may come to me, and suffer himself to be conducted +wherever I shall carry him. The <i>Manitoo</i> orders me to spare +his reputation, and not expose him; for if there is any harm in it +to him, there is also harm to me."</p> +<p>Thus it is the Juggler has the art of imposing on these simple +credulous creatures, and even often succeeds by it in his +divinations. Sometimes he does not need all this ceremonial. He +pretends to foretell off-hand, and actually does so, when he is +already prepared by his knowledge, cunning, or natural penetration. +His divinations chiefly turn on the expedience of peace with one +nation, or of war with another; upon matches between families, upon +the long life of some, or the short life of others; how such and +such persons came by their deaths, violently or naturally; whether +the wife of some great <i>Sagamo</i> has been true to his bed or +not; who it could be that killed any particular persons found dead +of their wounds in the woods, or on the coast. Sometimes they +pretend it's the deed of the <i>Manitoo</i>, for reasons to them +unknown: this last incident strikes the people with a religious +awe. But what the Jugglers are chiefly consulted upon, and what +gives them the greatest credit, is to know whether the chace of +such a particular species of beasts should be undertaken; at what +season, or on which side of the country; how best may be discovered +the designs of any nation with which they are at war; or at what +time such or such persons shall return from their journey. The +Juggler pretends to see all this, and more, in his bowl of water: +divination by coffee-grounds is a trifle to it. He is also applied +to, to know whether a sick person shall recover or die of his +illness. But what I have here told you of the procedure of these +Jugglers, you are to understand only of the times that preceded the +introduction of Christianity amongst these people, or of those +parts where it is not yet received: for these practices are no +longer suffered where we have any influence.</p> +<p>Amongst the old savages lately baptized, I could never, from the +accounts they gave me of the belief of their ancestors, find any +true <i>knowledge</i> of the supreme Being; no idea, I mean, +approaching to that we have, or rather nothing but a vague +imagination. They have, it is true, a confused notion of a Being, +acting they know not how [Who does?], in the universe, but they do +not make of him a great soul diffused through all its parts. They +have no conception or knowledge of all the attributes we bestow on +the Deity. Whenever they happen to philosophize upon this +<i>Manitoo</i>, or great spirit, they utter nothing but +<i>rêveries</i> and absurdities. [Are not there innumerable +volumes on this subject, to which the same objection might as +justly be made? Possibly the savages, and the deepest divines, with +respect to the manner of the Deity's existence, may have, in point +of ignorance, nothing to reproach one another. It matters very +little, whether one sees the sun from the lowest valley, or the +highest mountain, when the immensity of its distance contracts the +highest advantage of the eminence to little less than nothing. +Surely the infinite superiority of the Deity, must still more +effectually mock the distinction of the mental eye, at the same +time that his existence itself is as plain as that of the sun, and +like that too, dazzling those most, who contemplate it most +fixedly; reduces them to close the eye, not to exclude the light, +but as overpowered by it.]</p> +<p>Amongst other superstitious notions, not the least prevalent is +that of the <i>Manitoo</i>'s exercise of his power over the dead, +whom he orders to appear to them, and acquaint them with what +passes at a distance, in respect to their most important concerns; +to advise them what they had best do, or not do; to forewarn them +of dangers, or to inspire them with revenge against any nation that +may have insulted them, and so forth.</p> +<p>They have no idea of his spirituality, or even of the +spirituality of that principle, which constitutes their own vital +principle. They have even no word in their language that answers to +that of soul in ours. The term approaching nearest thereto that we +can find, is <i>M'cheejacmih</i>, which signifies <i>Shade</i>, and +may be construed something in the nature of the <i>Manes</i> of the +Romans.</p> +<p>The general belief amongst them is, that, after death, they go +to a place of joy and plenty, in which sensuality is no more +omitted than in Mahomet's paradise. There they are to find women in +abundance, a country thick of all manner of game to humor their +passion for hunting, and bows and arrows of the best sort, ready +made. But these regions are supposed at a great distance from +their's, to which they will have to travel; and therefore it's +requisite to be well-provided, before they quit their own country, +with arrows, long poles fit for hunting, or for covering cabbins, +with bear-skins, or elk-hides, with women, and with some of their +children, to make their journey to that place more commodious, more +pleasant, and appear more expeditious. It was especially in +character for a warrior, not to leave this world without taking +with him some marks of his bravery, as particularly scalps. +Therefore it was, that when any of them died, he was always +followed by, at least, one of his children, some women, and above +all, by her whom in his life he had most loved, who threw +themselves into the grave, and were interred with him. They also +put into it great strips, or rolls of the bark of birch, arrows, +and scalps. Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, light upon some +of these old burying-places in the woods, with all these funeral +accompanyments; but of late, the interment of live persons has been +almost entirely disused.</p> +<p>I never could learn whether they had any set formulary of +prayer, or invocation to the <i>great Manitoo</i>; or whether they +made any sacrifices of beasts or peltry, to any other +<i>Manitoo</i>, in contradiction to him, or to any being whom they +dreaded as an evil genius. I could discover no more than what I +have above related of the ceremonies in honor of the sun. I know, +indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, which they +invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake any +journeys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set +for their game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to +it:</p> +<p>"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our +benefit, supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to +him, thou hast concurred to make us spring out of that earth we +have inhabited from the first ages of the world, and takest +particular care of us, that the malignant air of the night, should +not kill the principle and bud of life within us. Thou regardest +us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hast not, from the first time, +discontinued to treat us like a true mother. Thou guidest us in our +nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light it is, that we have +often struck great strokes in war; and more than once have our +enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thy +clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted +us, for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have +enabled us not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but +often to surprize him asleep. However we might be wanting to +ourselves, thy regular course was never wanting to us. Beautiful +spouse of the sun! give us to discover the tracks of elks, +moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears, when urged by our wants, we +pursue by night the hunt after these beasts. Give to our women the +strength to support the pains of child-birth [<i>Lucina fer +opem</i>, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens], render +their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible +fountains."</p> +<p>I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition +or knowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with such +unsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on +that head.</p> +<p>This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man +how old he is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy +head?"</p> +<p>Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. +When we would say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they +express it by, "I shall be a moon and a half on it."</p> +<p>Before <i>we</i> knew them, it was common to see amongst them, +persons of both sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and +fifty years of age. But these examples of longevity are grown much +more rare.</p> +<p>By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly decreased. +Some imagine this is owing to that inveterate animosity, with which +these so many petty nations were continually laboring one another's +destruction and extirpation. Others impute it to the introduction +by the Europeans, of the vice of drunkenness, and to the known +effect of spirituous liquors in the excesses of their use, to which +they are but too prone, in striking at the powers of generation, as +well as at the principles of health and life. Not improbably too, +numbers impatient of the encroachments of the Europeans on their +country, and dreading the consequences of them to their liberty, +for which they have a passionate attachment, and incapable of +reconciling or assimilating their customs and manners to ours, have +chosen to withdraw further into the western recesses of the +continent, at a distance impenetrable to our approach.</p> +<p>But which ever of these conjectures is the truest, or whether or +not all of these causes have respectively concurred, in a lesser or +greater degree, the fact is certain, that all these northern +countries are considerably thinned of their natives, since the +first discovery of them by the Europeans. Nor have I reason to +think, but that this is true of America in general, wherever they +have carried their power, or extended their influence.</p> +<p>It is also true, that the women of this country are naturally +not so prolific as those of some other parts of the world in the +same latitude. One reason for this may be, their not having their +menstrual flux so copiously, or for so long a time as those of +Europe. Yet one would think, the plurality of wives permitted +amongst them, might in some measure compensate for this defect, +which, however, it evidently does not.</p> +<p>Their women have always observed, not to present themselves at +any public ceremony, or solemnity, whilst under their monthly +terms, nor to admit the embraces of their husbands.</p> +<p>At stated times they repair to particular places in the woods, +where they recite certain formularies of invocation to the +<i>Manitoo</i> dictated to them by some of their oldest +<i>Sagamees</i>, or principal women, and more frequently by some +celebrated Juggler of the village, that they may obtain the +blessing of fruitfulness. For it is with them, as amongst the Jews, +that barrenness is accounted opprobrious. A woman is not looked +upon as a woman, till she has proved it, by her fulfilling what +they consider as one of the great ends of her creation. Failing in +that, she is divorced from her husband, and may then prostitute +herself without any scandal. If she has no inclination or relish +for this way of life, they compel her to it, in regard to their +young men, who do not care to marry, till they are arrived at +full-ripe years, and for whom, on their return from their warlike +or hunting expeditions, they think it necessary to provide such +objects of amusement. They pretend withal, that they are subject to +insupportable pains in their loins, if such a remedy is not at hand +to relieve them. But once more you are to remember, that I am only +speaking of those people not yet converted to Christianity, by +which this licentiousness is not allowed. And yet, notwithstanding +the maxims we inculcate to them, the natives continue no other than +what they were before, that is to say, as much addicted to venery +as ever, and rarely miss an occasion of gratifying their appetite +to it. The only way we can think of to prevent their offending +religion, is to have them married as soon as they begin to feel +themselves men. The restraint however in this point is, what they +can least endure.</p> +<p>In their unconverted state, their manner of courtship and +marriage is as follows: When a youth has an inclination to enter +into the connubial state, his father, or next relation, looks out +for a girl, to whose father the proposal is made: this being always +transacted between the parents of the parties to be married. The +young man, who is commonly about thirty years of age, or twenty at +the least, rarely consults his own fancy in this point. The girl, +who is always extreamly young, is never supposed to trouble her +head about the measures that are taking to marry her. When the +parents on each side have settled the matter, the youth is applied +to, that he may prepare his calumet as soon as he pleases.</p> +<p>The calumet used on these occasions, is a sort of spungeous +reed, which may furnish, according to its length, a number of +calumets, each of which is about a foot long, to be lighted at one +end, the other serving to suck in the smoak at the mouth, and is +suffered to burn within an inch of the lips.</p> +<p>The speech made to the youth on this occasion is as follows: +"Thou may'st go when thou wilt, by day or by night, to light thy +calumet in such a cabbin. Thou must observe to direct the smoak of +it towards the person who is designed for thee, and carry it so, +that she may take such a taste to this vapor, as to desire of thee +that she may smoak of thy calumet. Show thyself worthy of thy +nation, and do honor to thy sex and youth. Suffer none in the +cabbin to which thou art admitted, to want any thing thy industry, +thy art, or thy arrows can procure them, as well for food, as for +peltry, or oil, for the good of their bodies, inside and outside. +Thou hast four winters given thee, for a trial of thy patience and +constancy."</p> +<p>At this the youth never fails of going to the place appointed. +If the girl, (who knows the meaning of this) has no particular +aversion to him, she is soon disposed to ask his calumet of him. In +some parts, but not in this where I am, she signifies her +acceptance by blowing it out. Here she takes it from him, and +sucking it, blows the smoak towards his nostrils, even sometimes so +violently, as to make him qualm-sick, at which she is highly +delighted. Nothing, however, passes farther against the laws of +modesty, though she will tress his hair, paint his face, and +imprint on various parts of his body curious devices and +flourishes, all relative to their love; which she pricks in, and +rubs over with a composition that renders the impression +uncancellable.</p> +<p>If the parents of the girl are pleased with the procedure of the +suitor, they commonly, at the end of the second year, dispense, in +his favor, with the rest of the probation-time; and, indeed, they +could not well before, the girl almost always wanting, from the +time she is first courted, at least two years to bring on the age +of consummation. They tell him, "Thou may'st now take a small part +of the covering of thy beloved whilst she sleeps." No sooner is +this compliment made him, than, without saying any thing, he goes +out of the cabbin, armed with his bow and arrows, and hurrying home +acquaints his friends, that he is going to the woods, whence he +shall not return till it pleases his beloved to recall him.</p> +<p>Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the woods, and stays there +for two or three days, diverting himself with hunting; at the end +of which it has been agreed on, to send all the youths of the +village to fetch him: and they come back loaded with game of all +sorts, though the bridegroom is not suffered to carry any thing. +There is also great provision made of seal and sea-cows for the +wedding-feast.</p> +<p>The head Juggler of the village, meets the bridegroom who is at +the head of the procession, takes him by the hand, and conducts him +to the cabbin of the bride, where he is to take part of her bed; +upon which he lies down by her side, and both continue unmoveable +and silent like two statues, whilst they are obliged to hear the +long tedious harangues of the Juggler, of the parents of both, and +of their oldest relations. After that, they both get up, and are +led, the one by the young men, the other by the girls, to the place +of entertainment, all singing, shooting, and dancing.</p> +<p>The bridegroom is seated amongst the young men on one side, and +the bride amongst the girls on another. One of his friends takes an +<i>Oorakin</i>, loads it with roast-meat, and sets it down by him, +whilst one of her's does the same thing, with an <i>Oorakin</i> of +the same size, and nearly alike, which is placed by the bride's +side. After this ceremony of placing the <i>Oorakin</i>, the +Juggler pronounces certain magical words over the meat: he +foretels, especially to the bride, the dreadful consequences she +must expect from the victuals she is about to eat, if she has in +her heart any perfidiousness towards her husband: that she may be +assured of finding in the <i>Oorakin</i> that contains them, a +certain prognostic of her future happiness, or unhappiness: of +happiness, if she is disposed never in her life to betray her +nation, nor especially her husband, upon any occasion, or whatever +may befal her: of unhappiness, if through the caresses of +strangers, or by any means whatever she should be induced to break +her faith to him, or to reveal to the enemy the secrets of the +country.</p> +<p>At the end of every period, all the assistants signify their +assent to the Juggler's words, by a loud exclamation of <i>Hah!</i> +Whilst he is talking, the particular friend of the bridegroom, and +that of the bride, keep their eyes fixed on the two +<i>Oorakins</i>; and as soon as he has done, the bride's friend +making as if she did not think of what she was about, takes the +<i>Oorakin</i> allotted for the bridegroom, and carries it to the +bride, whilst the bridegroom's friend, (the thing being +pre-concerted) acts the like mummery of inadvertence, and sets +before the bridegroom the <i>Oorakin</i> belonging to the bride; +after which the dishes are served in to the rest of the company. +When they are all served, the two friends of the parties musing a +little, pretend to have just then discovered their exchange of the +bride and bridegroom's <i>Oorakins</i>. They declare it openly to +each other, at which the Juggler takes up his cue, and with a +solemn face says, "The <i>Manitoo</i> has had his designs in this +mistake: he has vouchsafed to give an indubitable sign of his +approbation of the strait alliance this day contracted. What is the +one's, is the same as the other's. They are henceforward united, +and are as one and the same person. It is done. May they multiply +without end!" At this the assistants all start up, and with cries +of joy, and congratulation, rush to embrace the bride and +bridegroom, and overwhelm them with caresses. After which they sit +very gravely down again to the entertainment before them, and +dispatch it in great silence. This is followed by dances of all +kinds, with which the feast for the day concludes, as must this +letter, in which I have certainly had less attention to the +observing the limits of one, than to the gratifying your curiosity, +with respect to these people, amongst whom my lot has so long been +cast.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>I am, Sir,</p> +<p>Your most obedient</p> +<p>Humble servant,</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><i>To understand the following piece, it is necessary to know, +that after the insidious peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the savage +nations, especially the Mickmakis and Maricheets continued +hostilities against the English, at the underhand instigation of +the French, who meant thereby to prevent, or at least distress, as +much as obstruct, our new settlements in Nova-Scotia. For this +purpose, the French missionaries had their cue from their +government to act the incendiaries, and, to inflame matters to the +highest pitch. These being, however, sensible, that the part +assigned them was a very odious one, and inconsistent with the +spirit of that religion for which they profess such zeal, one of +them, by way of palliation, and in order to throw the blame on the +English themselves, drew up the following state of the case, +between our nation and the savages, viz.</i></p> +<h2>MEMORIAL OF THE Motives of the Savages, called <i>Mickmakis</i> +and <i>Maricheets</i>, for continuing the War with <i>England</i> +since the last Peace.</h2> +<h3>Dated <i>Isle-Royal</i>, 175-.</h3> +<p>These nations have never been able to forget all that the +English settled in North-America have done since the very first of +their establishment, towards destroying them root and branch. They +have especially, at every moment, before their eyes the following +transactions:</p> +<p>In 1744, towards the end of October, Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps +Goreham) deceased, commanding a detachment of the English troops, +sent to observe the retreat the French and savages were making from +before Port-Royal (Annapolis) in Acadia, (Nova-Scotia): this +detachment having found two huts of the Mickmaki-savages, in a +remote corner, in which there were five women and three children, +(two of the women were big with child) ransacked, pillaged, and +burnt the two huts, and massacred the five women and three +children. It is to be observed, that the two pregnant women were +found with their bellies ripped open. An action which these savages +cannot forget, especially as at that time they made fair war with +the English. They have always looked on this deed as a singular +mark of the most unheard-of cruelty. [Who would not look on it in +the same light? But as no nation on earth is known to have more +than ours constitutionally, a horror for such barbarities, +especially in cold blood; it may be very easily presumed, that this +fact was, if true, committed by some of the savages themselves, +without the knowledge of the commander, or of any of the English +troops.]</p> +<p>Five months before this action, one named <i>Danas</i>, or +<i>David</i>, an English privateer, having treacherously hoisted +French colors in the Streights of Fronsac, by means of a French +deserter he had with him, decoyed on board his vessel the chief of +the savages of Cape-Breton, called James Padanuque, with his whole +family, whom he carried to Boston, where he was clapped into a +dungeon the instant he was landed; from which he was only taken out +to stifle him on board of a vessel, in which they pretended to +return him safe to Cape-Breton. His son, at that time a boy of +eight years of age, they will absolutely not release; though, since +their detention of that young savage, they have frequently had +prisoners sent back to them, without ransom, on condition of +restoring the young man to his country: but though they accepted +the condition, they never complied with it.</p> +<p>In the month of July, 1745, the same Danas, with the same +success, employed the same decoy on a savage-family, which could +not get out of their hands, but by escaping one night from their +prisons.</p> +<p>About the same time one named Bartholomew Petitpas, an appointed +savage-linguist, was carried away prisoner to Boston. The savages +have several times demanded him in exchange for English prisoners +they then had in their hands, of whom two were officers, to whom +they gave their liberty, on condition of the Bostoners returning of +Petitpas; whom, however, they not only kept prisoner, but +afterwards put to death.</p> +<p>In the same year, 1745, a missionary of the savages of Cape +Breton, Natkikouesch, Picktook, and of the island of St. John, +having been invited by several letters, on the part of the +commodore of the <i>English</i> squadron, and of the general of the +land-forces, to a parley, those gentlemen desired with him, +concerning the savages, repaired to Louisbourg, at that time in +possession of the English, on the assurances they had given him in +writing, and on the formal promises they had bound with an oath, of +full liberty to return from whence he came, after having satisfied +them in all they wanted of him. They detained him at Louisbourg, +where they gave him a great deal of ill usage, and obliged him to +embark, all sick as he was, and destitute of necessaries, on board +of one of the ships of the squadron, in which he was conveyed to +England, from whence he at length got to France. [Most probably he +had not given the satisfaction required by those gentlemen, which +had been confessedly by himself made the condition of his +return.]</p> +<p>The same year, 1745, several bodies of the savages, deceased, +and buried at <i>Port Tholouze</i>, were dug up again by the +Bostoners, and thrown into the fire. The burying-place of the +savages was demolished, and all the crosses, planted on the graves, +broke into a thousand pieces.</p> +<p>In 1746, some stuffs that the savages had bought of the English, +who then traded in the bay of Megagouetch at <i>Beau-bassin</i>, +there being at that time a great scarcity of goods over all the +country, were found to be <i>poisoned</i>, [Is it possible a +missionary of the truths of the Gospel could gravely commit to +paper such an infernal lie? If even the savages had been stupid +enough of themselves to imbibe such a notion, was it not the duty +of a Christian to have shewn them the folly of it, or even but in +justice to the Europeans? But what must be their guilt, if they +suggested it? Surely, scarce less than that of the action itself.] +so that more than two hundred savages of both sexes perished +thereby.</p> +<p>In 1749, towards the end of the month of May, at a time that the +suspension of arms between the two crowns was not yet known in New +France, the savages, having made prisoners two Englishmen of +Newfoundland, had from these same prisoners the first news of the +cessation of hostilities. They believed them on their bare words, +expressed their satisfaction to them, treated them like brothers, +unbound them, and carried them to their huts. The said prisoners +rose in the night, and massacred twenty-five of these savages, men, +women, and children. There were but two of the savages escaped this +carnage, by being accidentally not present. [<i>How improbable is +the whole of this story?</i>]</p> +<p>Towards the end of the same year, the English being come to +Chibuckto, made the report be every where spread [The missionaries +in those parts might indeed raise such reports; the which giving +the savages an aversion to the English, forced them to take hostile +measures against them in their own defence: but who would suspect +the English themselves of raising them, in direct opposition to +their own interest?], that they were going to destroy all the +savages. They seemed to act in consequence thereto, since they sent +detachments of their troops, on all sides, in pursuit of the +savages.</p> +<p>These people were so alarmed with this procedure of the English, +that from that time they determined, as weak as they were, to +declare open war against them. Knowing that France had concluded a +peace with England, they nevertheless resolved not to cease from +falling on the English, wherever they could find them; saying, they +were indispensably obliged to it, since, against all justice, they +wanted to expel them out of their country. They then sent a +declaration of war in form to the English, in the name of their +nation, and of the savages in alliance with it.</p> +<p>As to what concerns the missionaries to the savages, they cannot +be suspected of using any connivence in all this, if justice is +done to the conduct they have always observed amongst them, and +especially in the time of the last war. How many acts of inhumanity +would have been committed by this nation, naturally vindictive, if +the missionaries had not taken pains, in good earnest, to put such +ideas out of their heads? It is notorious, that the savages believe +that there are no extremities of barbarity, but what are within the +rules of war against those whom they consider as their enemies. +Inexpressible are the efforts which these same missionaries have +employed to restrain, on such occasions, this criminal ferocity, +especially as the savages deemed themselves authorized by right of +reprisals. How many unfortunate persons of the English nation would +have been detained for ever captives, or undergone the most cruel +deaths, if, by the intervention of the missionaries, the savages +had not been prevailed on to release them?</p> +<p>They are even ready to prove, by their written instructions, the +lessons they inculcate to the savages, of the humanity and +gentleness they ought to practise, even in time of war. It is +especially ever since about seventeen years ago, that they do not +cease declaiming against those barbarous and sanguinary methods of +proceeding that seem innate to them. On this principle it is, that +in the written maxims of conduct for them, care has been taken to +insert a chapter, which, from the beginning to the end, places +before their eyes the extreme horror they ought to have of such +enormities. Their children particularly are sedulously taught this +whole chapter, whence it comes, that one may daily perceive them +growing more humane, and more disposed to listen, on this head, to +the remonstrances of the missionaries.</p> +<p>[<i>To this plea of innocence in the French missionaries, as to +any instigation of the savages to hostilities against the English, +we shall oppose the testimony of their own court, in the following +words of the French ministry, in the very same year</i>, 1751.</p> +<p>"His Majesty (the French king) has already observed, that the +savages have hitherto been in the most <i>favorable +dispositions</i>; and it even appears, that the conduct of the +general C—n—ll—s, with respect to them, has only +served to exasperate them more and more. It is of the <i>greatest +importance</i>, both for the present and future, to keep them up to +that spirit. The <i>missionaries</i> amongst them, are more than +any one at hand to <i>contribute thereto</i>, and his majesty has +<i>reason</i> to be <i>satisfied</i> with the <i>pains</i> they +take in it. Our governor must excite these <i>missionaries</i> not +to <i>slacken their endeavours</i> on this head. But he should +advise them to <i>contain</i> their <i>zeal</i> within due bounds, +so as not to render themselves <i>obnoxious</i> to the English, +unless for very good purpose, and so as to avoid giving handle for +just complaints."</p> +<p><i>In this his most Christian Majesty has been faithfully served +by these missionaries, in all points, except that political +injunction of not giving a handle for just complaints, which they +overshot in the ardor of their zeal; since it is undoubted matter +of fact, that the missionaries openly employed all their arts, and +all the influence of religion, to invenom the savages against us. +Thence, besides a number of horrid cruelties, the most treacherous +and base murder of captain How, at a conference, by some savages +they set on, who perpetrated it within sight of the French forces. +The publishing, however, of the foregoing memorial may have this +good effect, that it will apprise the English of the matter of +accusation against them, and enable them to counter-work those holy +engines of state, and emissaries of ambition. It is also certain, +that this very memorial was drawn up by a French priest, purely to +furnish the French ministry a specious document to oppose to the +most just representations of the British government. Besides the +fictions with which it abounds, he has taken care to suppress the +acts of cruelty committed, and the atrocious provocations given by +the savages, at the instigation of his fellow-laborers sedition and +calumny.</i>]</p> +<h2>LETTER FROM Mons. DE LA VARENNE, TO HIS FRIEND at +ROCHELLE.</h2> +<h3><i>Louisbourg</i>, the 8th of <i>May</i>, 1756.</h3> +<p>Though I had, in my last, exhausted all that was needful to say +on our private business, I could not see this ship preparing for +France, especially with our friend <i>Moreau</i> on board, without +giving you this further mark of how ardently I wish the continuance +of our correspondence. It will also serve to supplement any former +deficiencies of satisfaction to certain points of curiosity you +have stated to me; this will give to my letter a length beyond the +ordinary limits of one: and I have before-hand to excuse to you, +the loose desultory way in which you will find I write, as things +present themselves to my mind, without such method or arrangement, +as a formal design of treating the subject would exact. But who +looks for that in a letter?</p> +<p>I need not tell you how severely our government has felt the +dismemberment of that important tract of country already in the +possession of the English, under the name of Acadia; to say nothing +of their further pretentions, which would form such terrible +encroachments on Canada. And no wonder it should feel it, +considering the extent of so fruitful, and valuable a country as +constitutes that peninsula. It might of itself form a very +considerable and compact body of dominion, being, as you know, +almost everywhere surrounded by the sea, and abounding with +admirable and well-situated ports. It is near one hundred leagues +in length, and about sixty in breadth. Judge what advantages such +an area of country, well-peopled, and well-cultivated, and +abounding in mines, might produce. It is full of hills, though I +could not observe any of an extraordinary heighth, except that of +Cape Doree, at the mouth of the river <i>des Mines</i>, the most +fertile part of it in corn and grain, and once the best peopled. +There are a number of rivers very rapid, but not large, except that +of St. John's, which is the finest river of all Acadia, where good +water is rather scarce.</p> +<p>The soil in the vallies is rich, and even in the uplands, +commonly speaking, good. The grains it yields are wheat, pease, +barley, oats, rye, and Indian corn, and especially that of the +vallies, for the higher ground is not yet cultivated. The pastures +are excellent and very common, and more than sufficient to supply +Cape-Breton, with the cattle that may be raised. There is fine +hunting, and a plentiful fishing for cod, salmon, and other fish, +particularly on the east-side, which is full of fine harbours at +the distance of one, two, three, four, or of six or seven leagues +at farthest from one another, within the extent of ninety leagues +of coast. It is thought, in short, this fishery is better than any +on the coasts belonging to France.</p> +<p>The air is extreamly wholesome, which is proved by the longevity +of its inhabitants. I myself know some of above an hundred years of +age, descendants from the French established in Acadia. Distempers +are very rare. I fancy the climate is pretty near the same as in +the north of China, or Chinese-Tartary. This country too, being +rather to the southward of Canada, is not so cold as that; the snow +not falling till towards St. Andrew's day: nor does it lie on the +ground above two or three days at most, after which it begins to +soften; and though the thaw does not take place, the weather turns +mild enough to allow of working, and undertaking journeys. In +short, what may be absolutely called cold weather, may be reduced +to about twenty-five or thirty days in a winter, and ceases +entirely towards the end of March, or at latest, the middle of +April. Then comes the seed-time. Then are made the sugar and syrups +of maple, procured from the juice or sap of that tree, by means of +incisions in the bark; which sap is carefully received in proper +vessels.</p> +<p>I could never find any ginseng-root; yet I have reason to +believe there may be some in or near the hills, as the climate and +situation have so much affinity to the northern provinces of China, +or Northwest Tartary, as described to us by our missionaries.</p> +<p>We have very little knowledge of the medicinal herbs in this +country, though some of them have certainly great virtue. There are +the maiden-hair, the saxi-frage, and the sarsaparilla. There is +also a particular root in this country of an herb called <i>Jean +Hebert</i>, about the ordinary size of the <i>Salsifix</i>, or +<i>Goatsbread</i>, with knots at about an inch, or an inch and an +half distance from one another, of a yellowish colour, white in the +inside, with a sugarish juice, which is excellent for the +stomach.</p> +<p>There has been lately discovered in these parts a poisonous +root, much resembling, in color and substance, a common carrot. +When broke it has a pleasing smell; but between the flakes may be +observed a yellowish juice, which is supposed to be the poison. Of +four soldiers that had eaten of it in their soup lately, two were +difficultly preserved by dint of antidotes; the other two died in +the utmost agonies of pain, and convulsions of frenzy. One of them +was found in the woods sticking by the head in a softish ground, +into which he had driven it, probably in the excess of his torture. +Such a vegetable must afford matter of curious examination to a +naturalist; for as it does so much harm, it may also be capable of +great good, if sought into by proper experiments.</p> +<p>The spirit of turpentine is much used by the inhabitants. The +gum itself is esteemed a great vulnerary; and purges moderately +those who are full of bilious, or gross humors.</p> +<p>For the rest there is, I believe, hardly any sort of grain, +tree, or vegetable, especially in the north of France that might +not be successfully raised in Acadia. The rains are frequent in +every season of the year. There are indeed often violent squalls of +wind, especially from the South, and seem the West, but nothing +like the hurricanes in the West-Indies. It is a great rarity if +thunder does any mischief. Some years ago there was a man killed in +his hut by it; but the oldest men of the country never remembered +to have known or heard of any thing like it before. There have been +earthquakes felt but rarely, and not very violent. This country +produces no venomous beasts, at least, that I could hear of. In the +warmer season there are sometimes found snakes, not, however, +thicker than one's finger, but their bite is not known to be +attended with any fatal consequences, There are no tygers, nor +lions, nor other beasts of prey to be afraid of unless bears, and +that only in their rutting-time, and even then it is very rare that +they attack. As there are then no carnivorous animals except the +lynxes, who have a beautiful skin, and these rarely fall upon any +living creatures; the sheep, oxen, and cows, are turned out into +the woods or commons, without any fear for them. Partridges are +very common, and are large-sized, with flesh very white. The hares +are scarce, and have a white fur. There are a great many beavers, +elks, cariboux, (moose-deer) and other beasts of the cold northern +countries.</p> +<p>The original inhabitants of this country are the savages, who +may be divided into three nations, the <i>Mickmakis</i>, the +<i>Maricheets</i>, or <i>Abenaquis</i>, (being scarcely different +nations) and the <i>Canibats</i>.</p> +<p>The <i>Mickmakis</i> are the most numerous, but not accounted so +good warriors as the others: but they are all much addicted to +hunting, and to venery; in which last, however, they observe great +privacy. They are fond of strong liquors, and especially of brandy: +that is their greatest vice. They are also very uncurious of paying +the debts they contract, not from natural dishonesty, but from +their having no notion of property, or of meum or tuum. They will +sooner part with all they have, in the shape of a gift, than with +any thing in that of payment. Honors and goods being all in common +amongst them, all the numerous vices, which are founded upon those +two motives, are not to be found in them. Yet it is true, that they +have chiefs to whom they give the title of <i>Sagamo</i>; but all +of them almost, at some time or other, assume to themselves this +quality, which is never granted by universal consent, but to the +personal consideration of distinguished merit in councils, or in +arms. Their troops have this particularity, that they are, for the +most part, composed of nothing but officers; insomuch that it is +rare to find a savage in the service that will own himself a +private man. This want of subordination does not, however, hinder +them from concurring together in action, when their native ferocity +and emulation stand them, in some sort, instead of discipline.</p> +<p>They are extreamly vindictive, of which I shall give you one +example. Mons. <i>Daunay</i>, a French captain, with a servant, +being overset in a canoe, within sight of some savages, they threw +themselves into the water to save them, and the servant was +actually saved. But the savage, who had pitched upon Mons. +<i>Daunay</i>, seeing who it was, and remembering some blows with a +cane he had a few days before received from him, took care to souse +him so often in the water, that he drowned him before he got +ashore.</p> +<p>It is remarked, that in proportion as the Europeans have settled +in this country, the number of the savages considerably diminishes. +As they live chiefly upon their hunting, the woods that are +destroyed to cultivate the country, must in course contract the +district of their chace, and cause a famine amongst them, that must +be fatal to them, or compel them to retire to other countries. The +English, sensible of this effect, and who seemed to place their +policy in exterminating these savage nations, have set fire to the +woods, and burnt a considerable extent of them. I have myself +crossed above thirty leagues together, in which space the forests +were so totally consumed by fire, that one could hardly at night +find a spot wooded enough to afford wherewithal to make an +extempore cabbin, which, in this country, is commonly made in the +following manner: Towards night the travellers commonly pitch upon +a spot as near a rivulet or river as they can; and as no one +forgets to carry his hatchet with him, any more than a Spanish don +his toledo, some cut down wood for firing for the night; others +branches of trees, which are stuck in the ground with the crotch +uppermost, over which a thatching is laid of fir-boughs, with a +fence of the same on the weather-side only. The rest is all open, +and serves for door and window. A great fire is then lighted, and +then every body's lodged. They sup on the ground, or upon some +leaved branches, when the season admits of it; and afterwards the +table serves for a bed. The savages themselves rarely have any +fixed hut, or village, that maybe called a permanent residence. If +there are any parts they most frequently inhabit, it is only those +which abound most in game, or near some fishing-place. Such were +formerly for them, before the English had driven them away, +<i>Artigoneesch</i>, <i>Beaubassin</i>, <i>Chipoody</i>, +<i>Chipnakady</i>, <i>Yoodayck</i>, <i>Mirtigueesh</i>, <i>La +Héve Cape Sable</i>, <i>Mirameeky</i>, <i>Fistigoisch</i>, +<i>La Baye des Chaleurs Pentagony</i>, <i>Medochtek</i>, +<i>Hokepack</i>, and <i>Kihibeki</i>.</p> +<p>At present these savage nations bear an inveterate antipathy to +the English, who might have easily prevented or cured it, if +instead of rigorous measures, they had at first used conciliative +ones: but this it seems they thought beneath them. This it is, that +has given our missionaries such a fair field for keeping them fixed +to the French party, by the assistance of the difference of +religion, of which they do not fail to make the most. But lest you +may imagine I am giving you only my own conjectures, take the +following extract from, a letter of father Noel de Joinville, of a +pretty antient date.</p> +<p>"I have remarked in this country so great an aversion in the +convert-savages to the English, caused by difference of religion, +that these scarce dare inhabit any part of Acadia but what is under +their own guns. These savages are so zealous for the Roman +Catholick church, that they always look with horror upon, and +consider as enemies those who are not within the pale of it. This +may serve to prove, that if there had been <i>priests</i> provided +in time, to work at the conversion of the savages of New-England, +before the English had penetrated into the interior of the county +as far as they have done, it would not have been possible for them +to appropriate to themselves such an extent of country as, at this +day, makes of New-England alone the most magnificent colony on the +face of the earth." [This pompous epithet might have yet been more +just, if the improvement of that colony had been enough the care of +the state, to have been pushed all the lengths of which it was so +susceptible. Few Englishmen will, probably, on reflexion deny, that +if but a third of those sums ingulphed by the ungrateful or +slippery powers on the continent, upon interests certainly more +foreign to England than those of her own colonies, or lavished in a +yet more destructive way, that of corrupting its subjects in +elections: if the third, I say, of those immense sums, had been +applied to the benefit of the plantations, to the fortifying, +encouraging, and extending them, there would, by this time, have +hardly been a Frenchman's name to be heard of in North-America +especially.]</p> +<p>But with this good father's leave, he attributes more influence +to religion, though as the priests manage it, it certainly has a +very considerable one, than in fact belongs to it. Were it not for +other concurring circumstances that indispose the savages against +the English, religion alone would not operate, at least so +violently, that effect. Every one knows, that the savages are at +best but slightly tinctured with it, and have little or no +attachment to it, but as they find their advantage in the benefits +of presents and protection, it procures to them from the French +government. In short, it is chiefly to the conduct of this English +themselves, we are beholden for this favorable aid of the savages. +If the English at first, instead of seeking to exterminate or +oppress them by dint of power, the sense of which drove them for +refuge into our party, had behaved with more tenderness to them, +and conciliated their affection by humoring them properly, and +distributing a few presents, they might easily have made useful and +valuable subjects of them. Whereas, disgusted with their +haughtiness, and scared at the menaces and arbitrary encroachments +of the English, they are now their most virulent and scarce +reconcileable enemies. This is even true of more parts in America, +where, though the English have liberally given presents to ten +times the value of what our government does, they have not however +had the same effect. The reason of which is clear: they make them +with so ill a grace, and generally time their presents so +unjudiciously, as scarce ever to distribute them, but just when +they want to carry some temporary point with the savages, such, +especially, as the taking up the hatchet against the French. This +does not escape the natural sagacity of the savages, who are +sensible of the design lurking at bottom of this liberality, and +give them the less thanks for it. They do not easily forget the +length of time they had been neglected, slighted, or unapplied to, +unless by their itinerant traders, who cheat them in their +dealings, or poison them with execrable spirits, under the names of +brandy and rum. Whereas, on the contrary, the French are +assiduously caressing and courting them. Their missionaries are +dispersed up and down their several cantonments, where they +exercise every talent of insinuation, study their manners, nature, +and weaknesses, to which they flexibly accommodate themselves, and +carry their points by these arts. But what has, at least, an equal +share in attaching the savages to our party, is the connivence, or +rather encouragement the French government has given to the natives +of France, to fall into the savage-way of life, to spread +themselves through the savage nations, where they adopt their +manners, range the woods with them, and become as keen hunters as +themselves. This conformity endears our nation to them, being much +better pleased with seeing us imitate them, than ready to imitate +us, though some of them begin to fall into our notions, as to +trafficking and bartering, and knowing the use of money, of which +they were before totally ignorant. We employ besides a much more +effectual method of uniting them to us, and that is, by the +intermarriages of our people with the savage-women, which is a +circumstance that draws the ties of alliance closer. The children +produced by these are generally hardy, inured to the fatigues of +the chace and war, and turn out very serviceable subjects in their +way.</p> +<p>But what is most amazing is, that though the savage-life has all +the appearance of being far from eligible, considering the +fatigues, the exposure to all weathers, the dearth of those +articles which custom has made a kind of necessaries of life to +Europeans, and many other inconveniencies to be met with in their +vagabond course; yet it has such charms for some of our native +French, and even for some of them who have been delicately bred, +that, when once they have betaken themselves to it young, there is +hardly any reclaiming them from it, or inducing them to return to a +more civilized life. They prefer roving in the woods, trusting to +the chapter of accidents for their game which is their chief +support, and lying all night in a little temporary hut, patched up +of a few branches; to all the commodiousness they might find in +towns, or habitations, amongst their own countrymen. By degrees +they lose all relish for the European luxuries of life, and would +not exchange for them the enjoyments of that liberty, and faculty +of wandering about, for which, in the forests, they contract an +invincible taste. A gun with powder and ball, of which they +purchase a continuation of supplies with the skins of the beasts +they kill, set them up. With these they mix amongst the savages, +where they get as many women as they please: some of them are far +from unhandsome, and fall into their way of life, with as much +passion and attachment, as if they had never known any other.</p> +<p>Mons. <i>Delorme</i>, whom you possibly may have seen in +Rochelle, where he had a small employ in the marine-department, +brought over his son here, a very hopeful youth, who had even some +tincture of polite education, and was not above thirteen years old, +and partly from indulgence, partly from a view of making him useful +to the government, by his learning, at that age, perfectly the +savage language, he suffered him to go amongst the savages. The +young <i>Delorme</i> would, indeed, sometimes return home just on a +visit to his family; but always expressed such an impatience, or +rather pining to get back again to them, that, though reluctantly, +the father was obliged to yield to it. No representations in short, +after some years, could ever prevail on him to renounce his +connexions, and residence amongst the <i>Abenaquis</i>, where he is +almost adored. He has learned to excel them all, even in their own +points of competition. He out-does them all in their feats of +activity, in running, leaping, climbing mountains, swimming, +shooting with the bow and arrow, managing of canoes, snaring and +killing birds and beasts, in patience of fatigue, and even of +hunger; in short, in all they most value themselves upon, or to +which they affix the idea of personal merit, the only merit that +commands consideration amongst them. They are not yet polished +enough to admire any other. By this means, however, he perfectly +reigns amongst them, with a power the greater, for the submission +to it not only being voluntary, but the effect of his acknowledged +superiority, in those points that with them alone constitute it. +His personal advantages likewise may not a little contribute +thereto, being perfectly well-made, finely featured, with a great +deal of natural wit, as well as courage. He dresses, whilst with +the savages, exactly in their manner, ties his hair up like them, +wears a tomby-awk, or hatchet, travels with <i>rackets</i>, (or +Indian shoes) and, in short, represents to the life the character +of a compleat savage-warrior. When he comes to <i>Quebec</i>, or +<i>Louisbourg</i>, he resumes his European dress, without the least +mark appearing in his behaviour, of that wildness or rudeness one +would naturally suppose him to have contracted by so long a habit +of them with the savages. Nobody speaks purer French, or acquits +himself better in conversation. He takes up or lays down the savage +character with equal grace and ease. His friends have, at length, +given over teazing him to come and reside for good amongst them; +they find it is to so little purpose. The priests indeed complain +bitterly, that he is not overloaded with religion, from his +entering so thoroughly into the spirit of the savage-life; and his +setting an example, by no means edifying, of a licentious commerce +with their women; besides, his giving no signs of his +over-respecting either their doctrine or spiritual authority. This +they pretend hurts them with their actual converts, as well as with +those they labor to make; though, in this conduct, he is not +singular, for the French wood-rangers, in general, follow the like +course in a greater or lesser degree. These representations of the +priests would, however, have greater influence with our government, +if the temporal advantage they derive from these rovers, +undisciplined as they are, did not oblige them to wink at their +relaxation in spirituals.</p> +<p>But it is not only men that have taken this passion for a savage +life; there have been, though much rarer, examples of our women +going into it. It is not many years since a very pretty French girl +ran away into the woods with a handsome young savage, who married +her after his country fashion. Her friends found out the village, +or rather ambulatory tribe into which she had got; but no +persuasions, or instances, could prevail on her to return and leave +her savage, nor on him to content to it; so that the government not +caring to employ force, for fear of disobliging the nation of them, +even acquiesced in her continuance amongst them, where she remains +to this day, but worshipped like a little divinity, or, at least, +as a being superior to the rest of their women. Possibly too she is +not, in fact, so unhappy, as her choice would make one think she +must be; and if opinion constitutes happiness, she certainly is not +so.</p> +<p>There are not wanting here, who defend this strange attachment +of some of their countrymen to this savage life, on principles +independent of the reason of state, for encouraging its subjects to +spread and gain footing amongst the savage nations, by resorting to +their country, of which they, at the same time, gain a knowledge +useful to future enterprizes, by a winning conformity to their +actions, and by intermarriages with them. They pretend, that even +this savage life itself is not without its peculiar sweets and +pleasures; that it is the most adapted, and the most natural to +man. Liberty, they say, is no where more perfectly enjoyed, than +where no subordination is known, but what is recommended by natural +reason, the veneration of old age, or the respect of personal +merit.</p> +<p>The chace is at once their chief employment and diversion; it +furnishes them with means to procure those articles, which enter +into the small number of natural wants. The demands of luxury, they +think too dearly bought with the loss of that liberty and +independence they find in the woods. They despise the magnificence +of courts and palaces, in comparison with the free range and scope +of the hills and vales, with the starry sky for their canopy: they +say, we enjoy the Universe only in miniature, whilst the +savage-rovers enjoy it in the great. Thus reason some of our +admirers here of the savage-system of life, and yet I do not find +that these refining advocates for it, are themselves tempted to +embrace it. They are content to commend what themselves do not care +to practise. Those who actually do embrace it, reason very little +about it, though no doubt, the motives above assigned for their +preference, are generally, one may say instinctively, at the bottom +of it. Their greatest want is of wine, especially at first to those +who are used to it; but they are soon weaned from it by the example +of others, and content themselves with the substitution of rum, or +brandy, of which they obtain supplies by their barter of skins and +furs. In short, their hunting procures them all that they want or +desire, and their liberty or independence supplies to them the +place of those luxuries of life, that are not well to be had +without the sacrifice in some sort of it.</p> +<p>It is more difficult to find an excuse for the shocking +cruelties and barbarities, exercised by the savages on their +unhappy captives in war. The instances, however, of their +inhumanity, are certainly not exagerated, nor possible to be +exagerated, but they are multiplied beyond the limits of truth. +That they put then their prisoners to death by exquisite tortures, +is strictly true; but it is as true too, that they do not serve so +many in that manner as has been said. Numbers they save, and even +incorporate with their own nation, who become as free as, and on a +footing with, the conquerors themselves. And even in that cruelty +of theirs, there is at the bottom a mixture of piety with their +vindictiveness. They imagine themselves bound to revenge the deaths +of their ancestors, their parents, or relations, fallen in war, +upon their enemies, especially of that nation by whom they have +fallen. It is in that apprehension too, they extend their barbarity +to young children, and to women: to the first, because they fear +they may grow up to an age, when they will be sure to pursue that +revenge of which the spirit is early instilled into them; to the +second, lest they should produce children, to whom they would, from +the same spirit, be sure to inculcate it. Thus, in a round natural +enough, their fear begets their cruelty, and their cruelty their +fear, and so on, <i>ad infinitum</i>. They consider too these +tortures as matter of glory to them in the constancy with which +they are taught to suffer them; they familiarize to themselves the +idea of them, in a manner that redoubles their natural courage and +ferocity, and especially inspires them to fight desperately in +battle, so as to prefer death to a captivity, of which the +consequences are, and may be, so much more cruel to them. Another +reason is also assignable for their carrying things to these +extremities: War is considered by these people as something very +sacred, and not lightly to be undertaken; but when once so, to be +pushed with the utmost rigor by way of terror, joining its aid +towards the putting the speediest end to it. The savage nations +imagine such examples necessary for deterring one another from +coming to ruptures, or invading one another upon slight motives, +especially as their habitations or villages used to be so slightly +fortified, that they might easily be surprised. They have lately +indeed learned to make stronger inclosures, or pallisadoes, but +still not sufficient entirely to invalidate this argument for their +guarding against sudden hostilities, by the idea of the most cruel +revenge they annex to the commission of them. It is not then, till +after the maturest deliberation, and the deepest debates, that they +commonly come to a resolution of <i>taking up the hatchet</i>, as +they call declaring of war; after which, there are no excesses to +which their rage and ferocity do not incite them. Even their +feasting upon the dead bodies of their enemies, after putting them +to death with the most excruciating tortures they can devise, is +rather a point of revenge, than of relish for such a banquet.</p> +<p>That midst all their savageness they have, however, some +glimmering perception of the <i>laws of nations</i>, is evident +from the use to which they put the <i>calumet</i>, the rights of +which are kept inviolate, thro' especially the whole northern +continent of America. It answers nearest the idea of the +olive-branch amongst the ancients.</p> +<p>As to your question, Sir, about the English being in the right +or wrong, in their treatment of the <i>Acadians</i>, or descendants +of the Europeans first settled in Acadia, and in their scheme of +dispersing them, the point is so nice, that I own I dare not +pronounce either way: but I will candidly state to you certain +facts and circumstances, which may enable yourself to form a +tolerably clear idea thereon.</p> +<p>But previously I shall give you a succinct description of these +people: They were a mixed breed, that is to say, most of them +proceeded from marriages, or concubinage of the savage women with +the first settlers, who were of various nations, but chiefly +French, the others were English, Scotch, Swiss, Dutch, &c. the +Protestants amongst whom, and especially their children were, in +process of time, brought over to a conformity of faith with ours. +They found they could not easily keep their footing in the country, +or live sociably with the great majority of the French, but by this +means of coming over to our religion.</p> +<p>Certain Normans, of which number was Champlein, were the +<i>first</i> French that discovered Port-Royal, now Annapolis, +where they found some Scotch settled, who had built a fort of turf, +and planted in the area before it some plumb-trees, and +walnut-trees, which was all the works of agriculture, and +fortification the British nation had made in this country before +the year 1710. This is the chief reason [And a very good one +surely.] too, why they so much insist on calling Acadia, +Nova-Scotia, and pretend to be the first inhabitants and true +proprietors. These Scotch were driven from Port-Royal by the +Normans. It is true, they had discovered the river of Port-Royal +<i>before</i> the Normans, and had built a turf-fort; but it is by +no means true, that they were therefore the true settlers on this +river, and less yet in the whole of Acadia. [Nothing can be more +false and pitiful, than what follows of this Frenchman's reasoning. +If a fort is not a settlement, what can be called one? Is it not +one of the most valid, and generally received marks of taking +possession? It supposes always a design to cultivate and improve; +and no doubt but these first settlers would have done both, if they +had not been untimely driven away.] The true inhabitants are those +who cultivate a country, and thereby acquire a real permanent +situation. The property of ground is to them who clear, plant, and +improve it. The English had done nothing in this way to it till the +year 1710. They never came there, but on schemes of incursion or +trade; and in all the wars they had with the French, on being +superior to them, they contented themselves with putting them to +ransom; and though they sometimes took their fortified places, they +did not settle in them. As all their pretension in Acadia was +trade, they sometimes indeed detained such French as they could +take prisoners; but that was only for the greater security of their +traffic in the mean while with the savages. Traders, continually +obliged to follow the savages in their vagabond journeys, could not +be supposed to have time or inclination for agriculture. This title +then the French settlers had; and in short, the whole body of the +inhabitants of Acadia, from time immemorial, may be averred to have +been French, since a few families of English, and other Europeans, +cannot be said to form an exception, and those, as I have before +observed, soon became frenchified. Except a few families from +Boston or New-England I could never learn there were above three of +purely British subjects, who also, ultimately conforming both in +the religious and civil institutions to the French, became +incorporated with them. These families were the <i>Peterses</i>, +the <i>Grangers</i>, the <i>Cartys</i>. These last indeed descended +from one Roger John-Baptist Carty, an Irish Roman-Catholic. He had +been an indented servant in New-England, and had obtained at length +his discharge from his master, with permission to remain with the +French Acadians for the freer exercise of his religion. Peters was +an iron-smith in England, and together with Granger, married in +Acadia, and was there naturalized a Frenchman. Granger made his +abjuration before M. Petit, secular-priest of the seminary of +Paris, then missionary at Port-Royal (Annapolis). These and other +European families then soon became united with the French Acadians, +and were no longer distinguished from them. Most of these last were +originally from <i>Rochelle</i>, <i>Xaintonge</i>, and +<i>Poitou</i>; but all went under the common name of Acadians; and +were once very numerous. The Parish of <i>Annapolis-Royal</i> alone +in 1754, according to the account of father <i>Daudin</i>, +contained three hundred habitations, or about two thousand +communicants. The <i>Mines</i>, which are about five-and-thirty +leagues from Port-Royal, and the best corn country in Acadia, were +also very populous; nor were there wanting inhabitants in many +commodious parts of this peninsula.</p> +<p>The character of the French Acadians was good at the bottom: +their morals far from vitious; their constitution hardy, and yet +strongly turned to indolence and inaction, not caring for work, +unless a point of present necessity pressed them; much attached to +the customs of the country, which have not a little of the savage +in them, and to the opinions of their fore-fathers, which they +cherished as a kind of patrimony; it was hard to inculcate any +novelty to them. They had many parts of character in common with +the Canada French. A little matter surprises, and sets them a +staring, without stirring their curiosity to examine, or exciting +their inclination to adopt or embrace it. They are remarkably fond +of rosaries, crucifixes, agnus deis, and all the little trinkets +consecrated by religion, with which they love to adorn their +persons, and of which the priests make no little advantage in +disposing of amongst them: and in truth, it is almost incredible +what a power and influence these have over them, and with which +they despotically govern them. One instance I am sure cannot but +make you laugh. In September, 1754, the priest at <i>Pigigeesh</i>, +had appointed his parishioners to perform the religious ceremony of +a <i>Recess</i>, and to make them expiate some disgust they had +given him, obliged them, men, women, and children, to attend the +adoration of the holy-sacrament with a rope about their necks; and +what is more, he not only made them all buy the rope of him, in +which you may be sure he took care to find his account, but exacted +their coming to fetch it bare-footed, from his parsonage house; and +this they quietly submitted to. In short, considering the sweets of +power on whomsoever exercised, our good fathers the missionaries +are not so much to be pitied, as they would have us believe, for +their great apostolical labors, and exposure to fatigue; since it +is certain, they live like little kings in their respective +parishes, and enjoy in all senses the best the land affords; and +even our government itself, for its own ends, is obliged to pay a +sort of court to them, and to keep them in good humour.</p> +<p>The Acadian men were commonly drest in a sort of coarse black +stuff made in the country; and many of the poorer sort go +bare-footed in all weathers. The women are covered with a cloak, +and all their head-dress is generally a handkerchief, which would +serve for a veil too, in the manner they tied it, if it descended +low enough.</p> +<p>Their dwellings were almost all built in an uniform manner; the +inhabitants themselves it was who built them, each for himself, +there being but few or no mechanics in the country. The hatchet was +their capital and universal instrument. They had saw-mills for +their timber, and with a plane and a knife, an Acadian would build +his house and his barn, and even make all his wooden domestic +furniture. Happy nation! that could thus be sufficient to itself, +which would always be the case, were the luxury and the vanity of +other nations to remain unenvied.</p> +<p>Such in short were the French Acadians, who fell under the +dominion of the king of Great Britain, when the English +experienced, from both the Acadians and savages, a most thorough +reluctance to the recognition of their new sovereign, which has +continued to this day.</p> +<p>As to the savages it is certain, that the governors for the +English acted entirely against the interest of their nation, in +their procedure with them. They had been long under the French +government, so far as their nature allows them to be under any +government at all; and besides almost all the Micmakis, and great +numbers of the Maricheets, or Abenaquis, were converted to our +faith, and were consequently under the influence of the priests. It +could not then be expected, naturally speaking, that these people +could all of a sudden shake off their attachment to, and connexions +with our nation; so that, even after the cession of Acadia, they +continued, with a savage sulleness, to give marks of their +preference of our government. This could not fail of giving the +English umbrage; and their impatience not brooking either delays, +or soothing them into a temper and opinion more favorable to them: +they let it very early be seen, and penetrated by the savages, that +they intended to clear the country of them. Nor would this +exterminating plan, however not over-humane, have been perhaps +wholly an impolitical one, if they had not had the French for +neighbors, who, ever watchful and alert in concerning themselves +with what past in those parts, took care underhand, by their +priests and emissaries, to inflame them, and to offer them not only +the kindest refuge, but to provide them with all necessaries of +life, sure of being doubly repaid by the service they would do +them, if but in the mischief they would do the English, to whom it +was a great point with our government to make Acadia as +uncomfortable, and as untenable as possible. It was no wonder then, +that the savages, ill-used by the English, and still dreading worse +from them, being constantly plied by our caresses, presents, and +promises, should prefer our nation to that. I have before said, +that religion has no great hold of these savages, but it could not +be but of some weight in the scale, where their minds were already +so exulcerated against those of a different one, whom they now +considered as their capital enemies. You may be sure like-wise, our +priests did not neglect making the most of this advantage, which +the English themselves furnished them by their indiscreet +management: for certain it is, that a few presents well placed, +proper methods of conciliation, and a very little time, would have +entirely detached the savages from our interest, and have turned +the system of annoyance of the English against the French +themselves. Some English governors indeed grew sensible of this, +and applied themselves to retrieve matters by a gentler treatment, +but the mischief was already done and irretrieveable; and our +missionaries took care to widen the breach, and to keep up their +spirit of hatred and revenge, by instilling into them the notions +of jealousy, that such overtures of friendship, on the part of the +English, were no better than so many snares laid to make them +perish, by a false security, since they could not hope to do it by +open violence. One instance may serve to show you the temper of +these people: Some years ago the English officers being assembled +at the <i>Mines</i>, in order to take a solemn recognition from +them of the king of Great Britain, when a savage, a new convert, +called <i>Simon</i>, in spite of all dissuasion, went himself alone +to the English commander, and told him, that all his endeavours to +get the king of England acknowledged, would be to no purpose; that, +for his part, he should never pay any allegiance but to the king of +France, and drawing a knife, said, "This indeed is all the arms I +have, and with this weapon alone, I will stand by the king of +France till death."</p> +<p>Yet, with all this obstinacy of sentiments, once more I dare +aver, the savages would have been easily won over and attached to +the English party, had these gone the right way about it: and I +well know that the French, who knew best the nature of the savages, +much dreaded it; and were not a little pleased to see the English +take measures so contrary to their own interest, and play the game +so effectually into our hands. In short, we took, as was natural, +all the advantage of their indiscretion and over-sight.</p> +<p>I come now to the Acadians, or what may more properly be called +the French Acadians. These would undoubtedly have proved very +valuable subjects to the English, and extreamly useful to them in +improving a dominion so susceptible of all manner of improvement as +<i>Acadia</i>, (Nova-Scotia) if they could have been, prevailed on +to break their former ties of allegiance to the king of France, and +to have remained quietly under the new government to which they +were now transferred. But from this they were constantly dissuaded, +and withheld by the influence of our French priests, cantoned, +amongst them [The letter-writer might have here added the infamous +arts and falsities by which these emissaries of the French imposed +on those bigotted deluded people, and to that end made religion a +vile tool of state. They represented to these Acadians, that it was +an inexpiable crime against their faith, to hold any commerce with +heretics, and much more so to enter into their +interests;—that there would be no pardon for them, either in +the other world, or even in this, when the French should regain, as +they certainly would, possession of a country ceded so much against +the grain. In short, they succeeded but too well in keeping up the +spirit of rebellion amongst those infatuated devotees of theirs, +who remained sullen and refractory to all the advances the English +made to gain them.], who kept them steady to our party. You may be +sure our government did not fail of constantly inculcating the +expediency of this conduct to our priests; who not only very +punctually and successfully conformed to their instructions on this +head, but very often in the heat of their zeal so much exceeded +them, as to draw on themselves the animadversion of the English +government. This answered a double end, of hindering that nation +from finding those advantages in this country, by the prospect of +which it had been tempted to settle in it, and of engaging it to +consider Acadia itself, as something not material enough to think +worth its keeping, at the expence which it must occasion, and +consequently induce the English to be the readier to part with it +again, on any future treaty of peace. This too is certain, that the +French themselves knew neither the extent, nor the value of this +country, till they were sensible of the improvements the English +were projecting; and the use now so easy to discover might be made +of so fine an establishment. But to return to the Acadians: It must +be confest the English had, with respect to them, a difficult game +to play. To force such a number of families, of which too such +great use might have been made, to evacuate the country, seems at +first both impolitic and inhuman. But then it must be considered, +that these people were absolutely untractable as to the English, +and thoroughly under the direction of priests in an interest quite +opposite to theirs. To have taken those priests entirely from them, +would have exasperated them yet more, and was, in fact, a measure +repugnant to that spirit of toleration in religious matters, of +which they boast, and to which it must be owned they constantly +adhered, as to these people, both in speculation and practice.</p> +<p>[Might not this dilemma have been removed, by procuring for them +priests, since priests they must have, from neutral nations, such +as the Flemings, the Roman Swiss Cantons, &c. whom a very small +matter of reward and encouragement would, it is probable, have +fixed in the English interest? At least, they could not have the +same motives for fomenting rebellious principles, as the French +priests, who were set on by that government.]</p> +<p>None of the Acadians were ever molested purely for their +religion; and even the priests of our nation were always civilly +treated by them, whenever they had not reason to think they meddled +in temporal matters, or stirred up their parishioners to rebellion. +I have seen many of their own letters that acknowledge as much; so +that upon the whole, I do not see that the English could do +otherwise than they did, in expelling their bounds a people, who +were constitutionally, and invincibly, a perpetual thorn in their +side, whom they could at best look on as secret domestic enemies, +who wanted nothing but an occasion to do them all the mischief in +their power, and of whom, consequently, there could not, for their +interest and safety, remain too few in the land.</p> +<p>In the mean time the French took special care to appear at least +to receive with open arms those <i>refugees</i>, whom their fear or +hatred of the English drove out of that country; they gave them +temporary places of habitation, both for them and their cattle, +besides provisions, arms, tools, &c. till they should fix a +settlement in some part of the French dominions here, which they +recommended especially in the island of, or on the banks of the +river of St. John; but they were at first very loth to come to a +determination. And surely, these unfortunate victims of their +attachment to the French government deserved all the reparation in +its power to give them, for what they had quitted for the sake of +preserving allegiance to it, even after their country had been +transferred to another sovereign. I cannot, however, consistently +with truth say, they were received as kindly as they deserved, +which probably bred that undetermination of their's to fix a new +settlement, as they were pressed to do by the French government. +They retained still a hankering after their old habitations: the +temporary new ones were far from being equally agreeable or +convenient; and even the ancient settlers in those places where +these refugees were provisionally cantoned, began to make +complaints of their encroaching upon them, and to represent their +apprehensions of their becoming burthensome to them. Some of our +people in power, more sollicitous for their own private interest, +than for the public good, were but too remiss in relieving and +comforting these poor people. This, at length, indisposed them so, +that after very pathetic remonstrances on the hardship of their +case, and the motives upon which they thus suffered, great numbers +of them began to listen seriously to the proposals made them by the +English, to return upon very inviting terms to the settlements they +had quitted. In short, it required the utmost art of the +missionaries, and even a kind of coercion from the military power, +to keep them from accepting the English offers. For when they +presented a petition to Mons. <i>de Vergor</i>, for leave to return +to the English district, this commander, after having remonstrated +to them that he could not grant their request, nor decide any thing +of himself in a matter of that importance, was forced, at length, +to declare to them, that he would <i>shoot</i> any man who should +attempt to go over to the English. [It should here be remarked, +that these very people had taken the oath of allegiance to the +crown of England, agreeable to the tenor of the treaty of Utrecht. +But the French, not content with harbouring these causeless +malecontents, that were actually deserters over to them, kept +continually, by means of the priests, plying such as staid behind +with exhortations, promises, menaces, in short, with every art of +seduction, to engage them to withdraw their sworn allegiance to +their now lawful sovereign. In short, if all the transactions of +the French in those parts were thrown into a history, it would lay +open to the world such a scene of complicated villainy, rebellion, +perjury, subornation of perjury, perfidiousness, and cruelty, as +would for ever take from that nation the power of pluming itself, +as it now so impudently does, on its sincerity, fairness, and +moderation. The English, on the other hand, too conscious of the +justice of their cause at bottom, have been too remiss in their +confutation of the French falsities: content with being in the +right, they cared too little for having the appearance of being so, +as if the world was not governed by appearances.] Thus these poor +people remained under this deplorable dilemma. Some of them too, +had not even habitations to go back if they would: they had been +forced into the measure of deserting their country, and passing +over to the French side, by the violence of the Abbot de Loutre, +who had not only preached them into this spirit, but ordered the +savages, whom he had at his disposal, to set fire to their +habitations, barns, &c. particularly at <i>Mirtigueesh</i>. +[The reader is desired to observe, that in the memorials delivered +into the English court by the French ministers, this burning of +villages was specifically made an article of complaint, at the same +time that it was their own incendiary agent, at their own +instigation, who had actually caused fire to be set to them by his +savages. Could then impudence be pushed farther than it was on this +occasion?]</p> +<p>In the mean time the French did not spare, at least, the +consolation of words and promises to these distrest +Refugee-acadians. They were assured, that they would infallibly be +relieved on the regulation of the limits taking place, which was +then on the point of being settled, by commissaries, between the +two crowns. [The truth is, that in these assurances the French +government, which never intended a conclusion, but only an +amusement, did not scruple equally deceiving the English, and these +infatuated Acadian subjects of ours, who, to the French interest +had sacrificed their own, their possessions in their country, their +sworn faith, in short, their ALL. Whoever has the patience to go +through the French memorials, in their procedure with our +commissaries, may see such instances of their pitiful +prevarications, petty-fogging chicanery, quirks, and evasions, as +would nauseate one. The whole stress of their argument, in short, +turns merely upon names, where the things themselves were +absolutely out of the question, from the manifest notoriety of +them.] This hope, in some sort, pacified them; and they lived as +well as they could in the expectation of a final decision, which +was not so soon to come.</p> +<p>Yet even this example of the sufferings of these people, purely +on account of their attachment to the French government, could not +out balance with the French Acadians, who remained in the English +district, the assiduous applications of our priests to keep them +firm in the French interest. They never ceased giving every mark in +their power of their preference of our government to that, under +which the treaty of Utrecht had put them. The English, however, at +length finding that, neither by fair nor foul means, could they +reclaim or win them over to their purpose, so as that they might in +future depend upon them, came at once to a violent resolution. They +surprized and seized every French Acadian-man they could lay their +hands on, (the women they knew would follow of course) and, to +clear the country effectually of them, dispersed them into the +remotest parts of their other settlements in North-America, where +they thought they could do the least mischief to them. Some were +shipped off for England: the priests shared the same fate, and were +conveyed to Europe. With this evacuation, the very existence of the +French Acadians may be said to have ended; for in Acadia there are +scarce any traces of them left, few or none having escaped this +general seizure and transportation, for the necessity of which, the +English were perhaps more to be pitied than blamed.</p> +<p>In the mean time our government had so far succeeded, as to +force the English, thus to deprive themselves of such a number of +subjects, who, but for the reasons above deduced, might have been +very valuable ones, and a great strengthening of their new colony. +Hitherto then our neighborhood has made it almost as irksome, and +uncomfortable to them, as we could wish; and this fine spot of +dominion does not nigh produce to them the advantages that might +otherwise naturally be expected from it. Numbers of themselves +begin to exclaim against it, as if its value and importance had +been overrated; not considering, that it is on the circumstances of +their possession, and not on the nature of the possession itself, +that their complaints and murmurings should fall. It is very +likely, that whenever we get it back again, we shall know very well +what to do with it. They have begun to teach us the value of what +we thus inadvertently parted with to them; and it will be hard, +indeed, on recovering it, if we do not improve upon their +lessons.</p> +<p>In the mean time you in Europe are cruelly mistaken, if you do +not annex an idea of the highest consequence and value, to the +matters of dominion now in dispute, between the crowns of France +and Great Britain, between whom the war is in a manner begun, by +the capture of the Alcides and Lys, and which, even without that +circumstance, was inevitable. I know that our (French) government, +is indeed fully sensible of the capital importance to it of its +interest in these parts, and has proceeded in consequence. But it +is not so, I find by your letters, and the reports of others, with +numbers in Europe, who do not conceive, that the present object of +the war is so considerable as it really is.</p> +<p>To say nothing of the vast extent of country that falls under +the claim of the English to Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which alone would +form an immence mass of dominion, greatly improveable in a number +of points, its situation is yet of greater weight. By the English +possessing it, Canada itself would be so streightened, so liable to +harrassment, and especially to the comptrol of its navigation, that +it would scarce be tenable, and surely not worth the expence of +keeping. The country pretended to have been ceded is far preferable +to it; and the masters of it would be equally masters of the sea +all over North-America. Hallifax, for example, according to which +of the nation's hand it should be in, may be equally an effectual +check on Quebec, or Boston.</p> +<p>You will then allow, that was there even nothing more in dispute +than the limits of the cession of Acadia, or Nova-Scotia, together +with its necessary dependence, that alone would form such a +considerable object, as not easily to be given up on either side. +The commissaries appointed by both crowns, then failing of coming +to any agreement or regulation, it is no wonder to see the appeal +lodged with the sword; especially when there is another point yet +remains, of perhaps equal, if not superior, importance, depending +on the issue of the war: and that is, the western inland frontiers +of the English colonies. Should we ever command the navigation of +the lakes and rivers, behind their settlements, you can easily +figure to yourself, not only the vast advantages of preserving that +communication of Canada, with New Orleans and the Mississippi, so +absolutely essential to both these our colonies, but the facility +it will give us on all occasions of distressing the English, where +neither their marine-force can succor them, nor can they be able to +resist the attack, since we may make it wherever ever we please, +and effectually dodge any land-force they might assemble in any one +or two parts to oppose us. We may then carry the war into the +quarter most convenient; and most safe for us, if we should ever +have the whole navigation of the lakes so far at our disposal, as +to prevent their constructing any material number vessels to +dispute it with us. Thus we can penetrate into the heart of any of +their colonies, that may best suit us, especially with the +concurrent aid of the savages, whom we have found means to attach +so strongly to us, and on whom we can greatly depend for the +effectual harrassment of, especially, the back-plantations of the +English.</p> +<p>You see then, Sir, by this summary sketch of the points in +contest, that the war being once engaged, it will not be so easy a +matter as many in Europe imagine, to adjust the pretensions, so +various and so important, of the respective nations, so as to be +able to procure a peace. Some, of the points appear to me +absolutely <i>untreatable</i>. You may observe too, that I do not +so much as touch upon the dispute about Tabago, Santa-Lucia, or any +of the Leeward islands, which are not, however, of small +consequence. In short, the war must, in all human probability, be a +much longer one, than is commonly believed. Neither nation can +materially relax of its claims, without such a thorough sacrifice +of its interest in America, as nothing but the last extremities of +weakness can compel.</p> +<p>Long as this letter is, I cannot yet close it without mentioning +to you a singular phenomenon of nature, in the island of St. John. +You know it is a flat, level island, chiefly formed out of the +congestion of sand and soil from the sea. Tradition, experience, +and authentic public acts (<i>Procés verbaux</i>) concur to +attest that every seven years, it is visited by swarms either of +locusts, or of field-mice, alternately, never together; without its +being possible to discover hitherto either the reason, or the +origin of these two species, which thus in their turns, at the end +of every seventh year, pour out all of a sudden in amazing numbers, +and having committed their ravages on all the fruits of the earth, +precipitate themselves into the sea. Neither has any preventive +remedy for this evil been yet discovered. It is well known how they +perish, but, once more, how they are produced no one, that I could +learn, has as yet been able to trace. The field-mice are +undoubtedly something in the nature of those swarms of the +sable-mice, that sometimes over-run Lapland and Norway, though I do +not know that these return so regularly, and at such stated +periods, as those of this island.</p> +<p>I am, Sir,</p> +<p>Your most obedient,</p> +<p>Humble servant.</p> +<h2>CHARACTER OF THE SAVAGES of NORTH-AMERICA, EXTRACTED FROM A +LETTER of the Father CHARLEVOIX, TO A LADY of Distinction.</h2> +<p>To give you, Madam, a summary sketch of the character of the +savages in this country, I am to observe to you, that under a +savage appearance, with manners and customs, that favor entirely of +barbarism, may be found a society exempt from almost all the faults +that so often vitiate the happiness of ours.</p> +<p>They appear to be without passion, but they are in cold blood, +and sometimes even from principle, all that the most violent and +most unbridled passion can inspire into those, who no longer listen +to reason.</p> +<p>They seem to lead the most miserable of lives, and they are, +perhaps, the only happy of the earth. At least those of them are +still so, amongst whom the knowledge of those objects that disturb +and seduce us, has not yet penetrated, or awakened in them, those +pernicious desires which their ignorance kept happily dormant: it +has not, however, hitherto made great ravages amongst them.</p> +<p>There may be perceived a mixture in them of the most ferocious +and the most gentle manners; of the faults reproachable to the +carnivorous beasts, with those virtues and qualities of the head +and heart, that do the most honor to human-kind.</p> +<p>One would, at first, imagine, that they had no sort of form of +government, that they knew no laws nor subordination, and that +living in an entire independence, they suffered themselves to be +entirely guided by chance, or by the most wild, untamed caprice: +yet they enjoy almost all the advantages, which a well-regulated +authority can procure to the most civilized nations. Born free and +independent, they hold in horror the very shadow of despotic power; +but they rarely swerve from certain principles and customs, founded +upon good-sense, which stand them in the stead of laws, and +supplement in some sort to their want of legal authority. All +constraint mocks them; but reason alone hold them in a kind of +subordination, which, for its being voluntary, does not the less +answer the proposed end.</p> +<p>A man, whom they should greatly esteem, would find them +tractable and ductile enough, and might very nearly make them do +any thing he had a mind they should; but it is not easy to gain +their esteem to such a point. They grant it only to merit, and that +merit a very superior one, of which they are as good judges as +those, who, amongst us, value themselves the most upon being so. +They are, especially, apt to be taken with physiognomy; and there +are not in the world, perhaps, men who are greater +<i>connoisseurs</i> in it: and that is, because they have for no +man whatever, any of those respects that prejudice or impose on us, +and that studying only nature, they understand it well. As they are +not slaves to ambition or interest, those two passions that have +chiefly cancelled in us that sentiment of humanity, which the +author of nature had engraved in our hearts; the inequality of +conditions is not necessary to them, for the support of +society.</p> +<p>There are not therefore, Madam, to be seen amongst them, or at +least, are rarely to be met with, those arrogant haughty +characters, who, full of themselves of their greatness, or their +merit, look on themselves almost as a species a-part, and disdain +the rest of mankind, of whom consequently they can never have the +confidence or love. Their equals these rarely know any thing of, +because the jealousy that reigns amongst the great, hinders them +from being intimate enough with one another. Neither do they know +themselves, from their never studying themselves, and from their +constant self-flattery. They never reflect, that to gain admission +into the hearts of men, they must make themselves their equals; so +that with this pretended superiority of enlightened understanding, +which they look on as an essential property of the rank they hold, +the most part of them live groveling in a proud and incurable +ignorance of all that it would be the most important for them to +know, and never enjoy the true sweets of life.</p> +<p>In all this how wretchedly different from the savages! In this +country, all the men esteem themselves equally men; and in man, +what they most esteem is, the man. No distinction of birth; no +prerogative attributed to rank, to the prejudice of the other free +members of society; no pre-eminence annexed to merit that can +inspire pride, or make others feel too much their inferiority. +There is, perhaps, less delicacy in their sentiments than amongst +us, but surely more uprightness; less ceremony; less of all that +can form a dubious character; less of the temptations or illusions +or self-love.</p> +<p>Religion only can perfect these people in what is good in them, +and correct what bad. This indeed is not peculiar to them, but what +is so, is, that they bring with them fewer obstacles to religious +devotion when once they have begun to believe, which can only be +the effect of a special grace. It is also true, that to establish +firmly the empire of religion over them, it would be necessary that +they should see it practised in all its purity by those who profess +it. They are extremely susceptible of the scandal given by bad +Christians, as are all those who are, for the first time, +instructed in the principles of the Gospel-morality.</p> +<p>You will perhaps ask me, Madam, if they have a religion? To this +I answer, that it cannot be said they have not one, though it is +difficult to give a definition of what it is. I shall sometime or +other, take occasion to enter into more particulars on this head. +This letter, like most of the others that have preceded it, prove +sufficiently that I do not pretend to write to you +methodically.</p> +<p>I shall then now only content myself with adding, by way of +finishing, to this picture of the savages, that even in their most +indifferent actions, may be perceived the traces of the primitive +natural religion, but which escape those who do not study them +enough, because they are yet more defaced by the want of +instruction, [This want of instruction is wretchedly supplemented +amongst the savage-converts to the Popish religion, by that +superstitious worship, and those fabulous traditions, its +missionaries have introduced amongst them, and which must be only +the more execrable, for their being a superstructure on so fair a +foundation as that of the truths of the Gospel. At least, the +savages, in their genuine unsophisticated state, have no such base, +absurd, derogatory ideas of the Deity, as are implied by the +doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, absolution, and the +like fictions in the Romish church, which have been the more than +mines of Mexico and Peru, of its clergy.] than adulterated by the +mixture of a superstitious worship, and by fabulous traditions.</p> +<p><i>FINIS.</i></p> +<hr class="full" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Account Of The Customs And Manners +Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton, by Antoine Simon Maillard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + +***** This file should be named 15567-h.htm or 15567-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/6/15567/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Account Of The Customs And Manners Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton + +Author: Antoine Simon Maillard + +Release Date: April 6, 2005 [EBook #15567] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + + + + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +AN + +ACCOUNT + +OF THE + +CUSTOMS and MANNERS + +OF THE + +MICMAKIS and MARICHEETS + +SAVAGE NATIONS, + +Now Dependent on the + +Government of CAPE-BRETON. + + +FROM + +An Original French Manuscript-Letter, + +Never Published, + +Written by a French Abbot, + +Who resided many Years, in quality of Missionary, amongst them. + + +To which are annexed, + +Several Pieces, relative to the Savages, to Nova + +Scotia, and to North-America in general. + + * * * * * + +LONDON: + +Printed for S. Hooper and A. Morley at Gay's-Head, +near Beaufort-Buildings in the Strand. MDCCLVIII. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +For the better understanding of the letter immediately following, it may +not be unnecessary to give the reader some previous idea of the people +who are the subject of it, as well of the letter-writer. + +The best account of the _Mickmakis_ I could find, and certainly the most +authentic, is in a memorial furnished by the French ministry in April, +1751, from which the following paragraph is a translated extract: + +"The government of the savages dependent on Cape-Breton exacts a +particular attention. All these savages go under the name of +_Mickmakis_. Before the last war they could raise about six hundred +fighting-men, according to an account given in to his most Christian +majesty, and were distributed in several villages established on +Cape-Breton island, island of St. John, on both the coasts of Acadia +(Nova-Scotia) and on that of Canada. All, or most of the inhabitants of +these villages have been instructed in the Christian religion, by +missionaries which the king of France constantly maintains amongst them. +It is customary to distribute every year to them presents, in the name +of his majesty, which consist in arms, ammunition of war, victuals, +cloathing, and utensils of various sorts. And these presents are +regulated according to the circumstances of the time, and to the +satisfaction that shall have been given to the government by the conduct +of these savages. In the last war they behaved so as to deserve our +approbation, and indeed have, on all occasions, given marks of their +attachment and fidelity. Since the peace too, they have equally +distinguished themselves in the disturbances that are on foot on the +side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia)." + +The last part of this foregoing paragraph needs no comment. Every one +knows by what sort of service these savages merit the encouragement of +the French government, and by what acts of perfidy and cruelty exercised +on the English, they are to earn their reward. + +The _Maricheets_, mentioned in the said letter form a distinct nation, +chiefly settled at St. John's, and are often confounded with the +_Abenaquis_, so as to pass for one nation with them, though there is +certainly some distinction. They used, till lately, to be in a constant +state of hostility with the Mickmakis. But, however, these nations may +be at peace or variance with one another, in one point they agree, which +is a thorough enmity to the English, cultivated, with great application +by the missionaries, who add to the scandal of a conduct so contrary to +their profession, the baseness of denying or evading the charge by the +most pitiful equivocations. It is with the words peace, charity, and +universal benevolence, for ever in their mouths, that these +incendiaries, by instigations direct and indirect, inflame and excite +the savages to commit the cruellest outrages of war, and the blackest +acts of treachery. Poor Captain How! is well known to have paid with his +life, infamously taken away by them, at a parley, the influence one of +these missionaries (now a prisoner in the island of Jersey,) had over +these misguided wretches, whose native innocence and simplicity are not +proof against the corruption, and artful suggestions of those holy +seducers. + +It would not, perhaps, be impossible for the English, if they were to +apply proper means, and especially lenient ones, to recover the +affections of these people, which, for many reasons, cannot be entirely +rooted in the French interest. That great state-engine of theirs, +religion, by which they have so strong a hold on the weak and credulous +savages, might not, however, be an invincible bar to our success, if it +was duly counter-worked by the offer of a much more pure and rational +one of our own, joined to such temporal advantages as would shew them +their situation capable of being much meliorated, in every respect; and +especially that of freedom, which they cannot but be sensible, is daily +decreasing under the insidious encroachments and blandishments of the +French, who never cares but to enslave, nor hug but to stifle, whose +pretences, in short, to superior humanity and politeness, are not +amongst their least arts of conquest. + +As to the letter-writer, he is an abbot much respected in those parts, +who has resided the greatest part of his life amongst the Mickmakis, and +is perfectly acquainted with their language, in the composing of a +Dictionary of which he has labored eighteen or twenty years; but I +cannot learn that it is yet published, and probably for reasons of +state, it never may. The letter, of which the translation is now given, +exists only in a manuscript, having never been printed, being entirely +written for the satisfaction of a friend's curiosity, in relation to the +original manners and customs of the people of which it treats, and +which, being those of savages in the primitive state of unpolished +nature, may perhaps, to a philosophical enquirer, afford more amusement +and instruction than those of the most refined societies. What man +really is, appears at least plainer in the uncultivated savage, than in +the civilized European. + +The account of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) will, it is to be hoped, appear not +uncurious; allowance being made for its being only in form of a letter. + + + + +A + +LETTER, &c. + + +_Micmaki-Country_, March 27, 1755. + + +SIR, + +I should long before now have satisfied you in those points of curiosity +you expressed, concerning the savages amongst whom I have so long +resided, if I could have found leisure for it. Literally true it is, +that I have no spare time here, unless just in the evening, and that not +always. This was my case too in Louisbourg; and I do not doubt but you +will be surprised at learning, that I enjoy as little rest here as +there. + +Had you done me, Sir, the honor of passing with me but three days only, +you would soon have seen what sort of a nation it is that I have to deal +with. I am obliged to hold frequent and long parleys with them, and, at +every occasion, to heap upon them the most fair and flattering promises. +I must incessantly excite them to the practice of acts of religion, and +labor to render them tractable, sociable, and loyal to the king (of +France). But especially, I apply myself to make them live in good +understanding with the French. + +With all this, I affect a grave and serious air, that awes and imposes +upon them. I even take care of observing measure and cadence in the +delivery of my words, and to make choice of those expressions the +properest to strike their attention, and to hinder what I say from +falling to the ground. If I cannot boast that my harangues have all the +fruit and success that I could wish, they are not however wholly without +effect. As nothing inchants those people more than a style of metaphors +and allegories, in which even their common conversation abounds, I adapt +myself to their taste, and never please them better than when I give +what I say this turn, speaking to them in their own language. I borrow +the most lively images from those objects of nature, with which they are +so well acquainted; and am rather more regular than even themselves, in +the arrangement of my phrases. I affect, above all, to rhime as they do, +especially at each member of a period. This contributes to give them so +great an idea of me, that they imagine this gift of speaking is rather +an inspiration, than an acquisition by study and meditation. In truth, I +may venture to say, without presumption, that I talk the _Micmaki_ +language as fluently, and as elegantly, as the best of their women, who +most excel in this point. + +Another of my occupations is to engage and spur them on to the making a +copious chace, when the hunting-season comes in, that their debts to the +dealers with them may be paid, their wives and children cloathed, and +their credit supported. + +It is neither gaming nor debauchery that disable them from the payment +of their debts, but their vanity, which is excessive, in the presents of +peltry they make to other savages, who come either in quality of envoys +from one country to another, or as friends or relations upon a visit to +one another. Then it is, that a village is sure to exhaust itself in +presents; it being a standing rule with them, on the arrival of such +persons, to bring out every thing that they have acquired, during the +winter and spring season, in order to give the best and most +advantageous idea of themselves. Then it is chiefly they make feasts, +which sometimes last several days; of the manner of which I should +perhaps spare you the description, if the ceremony that attends them did +not include the strongest attestation of the great stress they lay on +hunting; the excelling wherein they commonly take for their text in +their panegyrics on these occasions, and consequently enters, for a +great deal, into the idea you are to conceive of the life and manners of +the savages in these parts. + +The first thing I am to observe to you is, that one of the greatest +dainties, and with which they crown their entertainments, is the flesh +of dogs. For it is not till the envoys, friends, or relations, are on +the point of departure, that, on the eve of that day, they make a +considerable slaughter of dogs, which they slea, draw, and, with no +other dressing, put whole into the kettle; from whence they take them +half boiled, and carve out into as many pieces as there are guests to +eat of them, in the cabbin of him who gives the treat. But every one, +before entering the cabbin, takes care to bring with him his _Oorakin_, +or bowl, made of bark of birch-tree, either polygone shaped, or quite +round; and this is practised at all their entertainments. These pieces +of dogs flesh are accompanied with a small _Oorakin_ full of the oil or +fat of seal, or of elk's grease, if this feast is given at the +melting-time of the snow. Every one has his own dish before him, in +which he sops his flesh before he eats it. If the fat be hard, he cuts a +small piece of it to every bit of flesh he puts into his mouth, which +serves as bread with us. At the end of this fine regale, they drink as +much of the oil as they can, and wipe their hands on their hair. Then +come in the wives of the master and persons invited, who carry off their +husbands plates, and retire together to a separate place, where they +dispatch the remains. + +After grace being said by the oldest of the company, who also never +fails of pronouncing it before the meal, the master of the treat appears +as if buried in a profound contemplation, without speaking a word, for a +full quarter of an hour; after which, waking as it were out of a deep +sleep, he orders in the _Calumets_, or _Indian_ pipes, with tobacco. +First he fills his own, lights it, and, after sucking in two or three +whiffs, he presents it to the most considerable man in the company: +after which, every one fills his pipe and smoaks. + +The calumets lighted, and the tobacco burning with a clear fire, are +scarce half smoked out, before the man of note before mentioned (for the +greatest honors being paid him) gets up, places himself in the midst of +the cabbin, and pronounces a speech of thanksgiving. He praises the +master of the feast, who has so well regaled him and all the company. He +compares him to a tree, whose large and strong roots afford nourishment +to a number of small shrubs; or to a salutary medicinal herb, found +accidentally by such as frequent the lakes in their canoes. Some I have +heard, who, in their winter-feasts, compared him to the turpentine-tree, +that never fails of yielding its sap and gummy distillation in all +seasons: others to those temperate and mild days, which are sometimes +seen in the midst of the severest winter. They employ a thousand +similies of this sort, which I omit. After this introduction, they +proceed to make honorable mention of the lineage from which the matter +of the feast is descended. + +"How great (will the oldest of them say) art thou, through thy great, +great, great grand-father, whose memory is still recent, by tradition, +amongst us, for the plentiful huntings he used to make! There was +something of miraculous about him, when he assisted at the beating of +the woods for elks, or other beasts of the fur. His dexterity at +catching this game was not superior to our's; but there was some +unaccountable secret he particularly possessed in his manner of seizing +those creatures, by springing upon them, laying hold of their heads, and +transfixing them at the same time with his hunting-spear, though thrice +as strong and as nimble again as he was, and much more capable with +their legs only, than we with our rackets [a sort of buskined shoes made +purposely for the Indian travels over the snow], to make their way over +mountains of snow: he would nevertheless follow them, dart them, without +ever missing his aim, tire them out with his chace, bring them down, and +mortally wound them. Then he would regale us with their blood, skin +them, and deliver up the carcass to us to cut to pieces. But if thy +great, great, great grand-father made such a figure in the chace, what +has not thy great, great grand-father done with respect to the beavers, +those animals almost men? whose industry he surpassed by his frequent +watchings round their cabbins, by the repeated alarms he would give them +several times in one evening, and oblige them thereby to return home, so +that he might be sure of the number of those animals he had seen +dispersed during the day, having a particular foresight of the spot to +which they would come to load their tails with earth, cut down with +their teeth such and such trees for the construction of their huts. He +had a particular gift of knowing the favorite places of those animals +for building them. But now let us rather speak of your great +grand-father, who was so expert at making of snares for moose-deer, +martins, and elks. He had particular secrets, absolutely unknown to any +but himself, to compel these sort of creatures to run sooner into his +snares than those of others; and he was accordingly always so well +provided with furs, that he was never at a loss to oblige his friends. +Now let us come to your grand-father, who has a thousand and a thousand +times regaled the youth of his time with seals. How often in our young +days have we greased our hair in his cabbin? How often have we been +invited, and even compelled by his friendly violence, to go home with +him, whenever we returned with our canoes empty, to be treated with +seal, to drink the oil, and anoint ourselves with it? He even pushed his +generosity so far, as to give us of the oil to take home with us. But +now we are come to your father: there was a man for you! He used to +signalize himself in every branch of chace; but especially in the art of +shooting the game whether flying or sitting. He never missed his aim. He +was particularly admirable for decoying of bustards by his artificial +imitations. We are all of us tolerably expert at counterfeiting the cry +of those birds; but as to him, he surpassed us in certain inflexions, of +his voice, that made it impossible to distinguish his cry from that of +the birds themselves. He had, besides, a particular way of motion with +his body, that at a distance might be taken for the clapping of their +wings, insomuch that he has often deceived ourselves, and put us to +confusion, as he started out of his hiding-place. + +"As for thyself, I say nothing, I am too full of the good things thou +hast feasted me with, to treat on that subject; but I thank thee, and +take thee by the hand, leaving to my fellow-guests the care of +acquitting themselves of that duty." + +After this, he sits down, and some other younger, and in course of less +note, for they pay great respect to age, gets up, and makes a summary +recapitulation of what the first speaker has said; commending his manner +of singing the praises of the master of the feast's ancestors: to which +he observes, there is nothing to be added; but that he has, however, +left him one part of the task to be accomplished, which is, not to pass +over in silence the feast to which he and the rest of his brethren are +invited; neither to omit the merit and praises of him who has given the +entertainment. Then quitting his place, and advancing in cadence, he +takes the master of the treat by the hand, saying, "All the praises my +tongue is about to utter, have thee for their object. All the steps I am +going to take, as I dance lengthwise and breadthwise in thy cabbin, are +to prove to thee the gaiety of my heart, and my gratitude. Courage! my +friends, keep time with your motions and voice, to my song and dance." + +With this he begins, and proceeds in his _Netchkawet_, that is, +advancing with his body strait erect, in measured steps, with his arms +a-kimbo. Then he delivers his words, singing and trembling with his +whole body, looking before and on each side of him with a steady +countenance, sometimes moving with a slow grave pace, then again with a +quick and brisk one. + +The syllables he articulates the most distinctly are, _Ywhannah, Owanna, +Haywanna, yo! ha! yo! ha!_ and when he makes a pause he looks full at +the company, as much as to demand their chorus to the word _Heh!_ which +he pronounces with great emphasis. As he is singing and dancing they +often repeat the word _Heh!_ fetched up from the depth of their throat; +and when he makes his pause, they cry aloud in chorus, _Hah!_ + +After this prelude, the person who had sung and danced recovers his +breath and spirits a little, and begins his harangue in praise of the +maker of the feast. He flatters him greatly, in attributing to him a +thousand good qualities he never had, and appeals to all the company for +the truth of what he says, who are sure not to contradict him, being in +the same circumstance as himself of being treated, and answer him by the +word _Heh_, which is as much as to say, _Yes_, or _Surely_. Then he +takes them all by the hand, and begins his dance again: and sometimes +this first dance is carried to a pitch of madness. At the end of it he +kisses his hand, by way of salute to all the company; after which he +goes quietly to his place again. Then another gets up to acquit himself +of the same duty, and so do successively all the others in the cabbin, +to the very last man inclusively. + +This ceremony of thanksgiving being over by the men, the girls and women +come in, with the oldest at the head of them, who carries in her left +hand a great piece of birch-bark of the hardest, upon which she strikes +as it were a drum; and to that dull sound which the bark returns, they +all dance, spinning round on their heels, quivering, with one hand +lifted, the other down: other notes they have none, but a guttural loud +aspiration of the word Heh! Heh! Heh! as often as the old female savage +strikes her bark-drum. As soon as she ceases striking, they set up a +general cry, expressed by Yah! Then, if their dance is approved, they +begin it again; and when weariness obliges the old woman to withdraw, +she first pronounces her thanksgiving in the name of all the girls and +women there. The introduction of which is too curious to omit, as it so +strongly characterises the sentiments of the savages of that sex, and +confirms the general observation, that where their bosom once harbours +cruelty, they carry it greater lengths than even the men, whom +frequently they instigate to it. + +"You men! who look on me as of an infirm and weak sex, and consequently +of all necessity subordinate to you, know that in what I am, the Creator +has given to my share, talents and properties at least of as much worth +as your's, I have had the faculty of bringing into the world warriors, +great hunters, and admirable managers of canoes. This hand, withered as +you see it now, whose veins represent the root of a tree, has more than +once struck a knife into the hearts of the prisoners, who were given up +to me for my sport. Let the river-sides, I say, for I call them to +witness for me, as well as the woods of such a country, attest their +having seen me more than once tear out the heart, entrails, and tongue, +of those delivered up to me, without changing color, roast pieces of +their flesh, yet palpitating and warm with life, and cram them down the +throats of others, whom the like fate awaited. With how many scalps have +not I seen my head adorned, as well as those of my daughters! With what +pathetic exhortations have not I, upon occasion, rouzed up the spirit of +our young men, to go in quest of the like trophies, that they might +atchieve the reward, honor, and renown annexed to the acquisition of +them: but it is not in these points alone that I have signalized myself. +I have often brought about alliances, which there was no room to think +could ever be made; and I have been so fortunate, that all the couples +whose marriages I have procured, have been prolific, and furnished our +nation with supports, defenders, and subjects, to eternize our race, and +to protect us from the insults of our enemies. These old firs, these +antient spruce-trees, full of knots from the top to the root, whose bark +is falling off with age, and who yet preserve their gum and powers of +life, do not amiss resemble me. I am no longer what I was; all my skin +is wrinkled and furrowed, my bones are almost every where starting +through it. As to my outward form, I may well be reckoned amongst the +things, fit for nothing but to be totally neglected and thrown aside; +but I have still within me wherewithal to attract the attention of those +who know me." + +After this introduction follow the thanksgiving and encomiums, much in +the same taste as the first haranguer's amongst the guests. This is what +is practised in all the more solemn entertainments, both on the men and +women's side. Nor can you imagine, how great an influence such praises +have over them, derived as they are from the merit of hunting, and how +greatly they contribute to inflame their passion for it. Nor is it +surprising, considering how much almost the whole of their livelihood +depends upon the game of all sorts that is the object of their chace. + +They have also a kind of feasts, which may be termed war-feasts, since +they are never held but in time of war, declared, commenced, or +resolved. The forms of these are far different from those of pacific and +friendly entertainments. There is a mixture of devotion and ferocity in +them, which at the same time that it surprises, proves that they +consider war in a very solemn light, and as not to be begun without the +greatest reason and justice; which motives, once established, or, which +is the same thing, appearing to them established, there is nothing they +do not think themselves permitted against their enemy, from whom they, +on the other hand, expect no better quarter than they themselves give. + +To give you an idea of their preparatory ceremony for a declaration of +war, I shall here select for you a recent example, in the one that broke +out not long ago between the Micmaquis, and Maricheets. These last had +put a cruel affront on the former, the nature of which you will see in +the course of the following description: but I shall call the Micmaquis +the aggressors, because the first acts of hostility in the field began +from them. Those who mean to begin the war, detach a certain number of +men to make incursions on the territories of their enemies, to ravage +the country, to destroy the game on it, and ruin all the beaver-huts +they can find on their rivers and lakes, whether entirely, or only +half-built. From this expedition they return laden with game and peltry; +upon which the whole nation assembles to feast on the meat, in a manner +that has more of the carnivorous brute in it than of the human creature. +Whilst they are eating, or rather devouring, all of them, young and old, +great and little, engage themselves by the sun, the moon, and the name +of their ancestors, to do as much by the enemy-nation. + +When they have taken care to bring off with them a live beast, from the +quarter in which they have committed their ravage, they cut its throat, +drink its blood, and even the boys with their teeth tear the heart and +entrails to pieces, which they ravenously devour, giving thereby to +understand, that those of the enemies who shall fall into their hands, +have no better treatment to expect at them. + +After this they bring out _Oorakins_, (bowls of bark) full of that +coarse vermillion which is found along the coast of Chibucto, and on the +west-side of Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which they moisten with the blood of +the animal if any remains, and add water to compleat the dilution. Then +the old, as well as the young, smear their faces, belly and back with +this curious paint; after which they trim their hair shorter, some of +one side of the head, some of the other; some leave only a small tuft on +the crown of their head; others cut their hair entirely off on the left +or right side of it; some again leave nothing on it but a lock, just on +the top of their forehead, and of the breadth of it, that falls back on +the nape of the neck. Some of them bore their ears, and pass through the +holes thus made in them, the finest fibril-roots of the fir, which they +call _Toobee_, and commonly use for thread; but on this occasion serve +to string certain small shells. This military masquerade, which they use +at once for terror and disguise, being compleated, all the peltry of the +beasts killed in the enemy's country, is piled in a heap; the oldest +_Sagamo_, or chieftain of the assembly gets up, and asks, "What weather +it is? Is the sky clear? Does the sun shine?" On being answered in the +affirmative, he orders the young men to carry the pile of peltry to a +rising-ground, or eminence, at some little distance from the cabbin, or +place of assembly. As this is instantly done, he follows them, and as he +walks along begins, and continues his address to the sun in the +following terms: + +"Be witness, thou great and beautiful luminary, of what we are this day +going to do in the face of thy orb! If thou didst disapprove us, thou +wouldst, this moment, hide thyself, to avoid affording the light of thy +rays to all the actions of this assembly. Thou didst exist of old, and +still existeth. Thou remainest for ever as beautiful, as radiant, and as +beneficent, as when our first fore fathers beheld thee. Thou wilt always +be the same. The father of the day can never fail us, he who makes every +thing vegetate, and without whom cold, darkness, and horror, would every +where prevail. Thou knowest all the iniquitous procedure of our enemies +towards us. What perfidy have they not used, what deceit have they not +employed, whilst we had no room to distrust them? There are now more +than five, six, seven, eight moons revolved since we left the principal +amongst our daughters with them, in order thereby to form the most +durable alliance with them, (for, in short, we and they are the same +thing as to our being, constitution, and blood); and yet we have seen +them look on these girls of the most distinguished rank, +_Kayheepidetchque_, as mere playthings for them, an amusement, a pastime +put by us into their hands, to afford them a quick and easy consolation, +for the fatal blows we had given them in the preceding war. Yet, we had +made them sensible, that this supply of our principal maidens was, in +order that they should re-people their country more honorably, and to +put them under a necessity of conviction, that we were now become +sincerely their friends, by delivering to them so sacred a pledge of +amity, as our principal blood. Can we then, unmoved, behold them so +basely abusing that thorough confidence of ours? Beautiful, all-seeing, +all-penetrating luminary! without whose influence the mind of man has +neither efficacy nor vigor, thou hast seen to what a pitch that nation +(who are however our brothers) has carried its insolence towards our +principal maidens. Our resentment would not have been so extreme with +respect to girls of more common birth, and the rank of whose fathers had +not a right to make such an impression on us. But here we are wounded in +a point there is no passing over in silence or unrevenged. Beautiful +luminary! who art thyself so regular in thy course, and in the wise +distribution thou makest of thy light from morning to evening, wouldst +thou have us not imitate thee? And whom can we better imitate? The earth +stands in need of thy governing thyself as thou dost towards it. There +are certain places, where thy influence does not suffer itself to be +felt, because thou dost not judge them worthy of it. But, as for us, it +is plain that we are thy children; for we can know no origin but that +which thy rays have given us, when first marrying efficaciously, with +the earth we inhabit, they impregnated its womb, and caused us to grow +out of it like the herbs of the field, and the trees of the forest, of +which thou art equally the common father. To imitate thee then, we +cannot do better than no longer to countenance or cherish those, who +have proved themselves so unworthy thereof. They are no longer, as to +us, under a favorable aspect. They shall dearly pay for the wrong they +have done us. They have not, it is true, deprived us of the means of +hunting for our maintenance and cloathing; they have not cut off the +free passage of our canoes, on the lakes and rivers of this country; but +they have done worse; they have supposed in us a tameness of sentiments, +which does not, nor cannot, exist in us. They have defloured our +principal maidens in wantonness, and lightly sent them back to us. This +is the just motive which cries out for our vengeance. Sun! be thou +favorable to us in this point, as thou art in that of our hunting, when +we beseech thee to guide us in quest of our daily support. Be propitious +to us, that we may not fail of discovering the ambushes that may be laid +for us; that we may not be surprized unawares in our cabbins, or +elsewhere; and, finally, that we may not fall into the hands of our +enemies. Grant them no chance with us, for they deserve none. Behold the +skins of their beasts now a burnt-offering to thee! Accept it, as if the +fire-brand I hold in my hands, and now set to the pile, was lighted +immediately by thy rays, instead of our domestic fire." + +Every one of the assistants, as well men as women, listen attentively to +this invocation, with a kind of religious terror, and in a profound +silence. But scarce is the pile on a blaze, but the shouts and war-cries +begin from all parts. Curses and imprecations are poured forth without +mercy or reserve, on the enemy-nation. Every one, that he may succeed in +destroying any particular enemy he may have in the nation against which +war is declared, vows so many skins or furs to be burnt in the same +place in honor of the sun. Then they bring and throw into the fire, the +hardest stones they can find of all sizes, which are calcined in it. +They take out the properest pieces for their purpose, to be fastened to +the end of a stick, made much in the form of a hatchet-handle. They slit +it at one end, and fix in the cleft any fragment of those burnt stones, +that will best fit it, which they further secure, by binding it tightly +round with the strongest _Toobee_, or fibrils of fir-root +above-mentioned; and then make use of it, as of a hatchet, not so much +for cutting of wood, as for splitting the skull of the enemy, when they +can surprize him. They form also other instruments of war; such as long +poles, one of which is armed with bone of elk, made pointed like a +small-sword, and edge of both sides, in order to reach the enemy at a +distance, when he is obliged to take to the woods. The arrows are made +at the same time, pointed at the end with a sharp bone. The wood of +which these arrows are made, as well as the bows, must have been dried +at the mysterious fire, and even the guts of which the strings are made. +But you are here to observe, I am speaking of an incident that happened +some years ago; for, generally speaking, they are now better provided +with arms, and iron, by the Europeans supplying them, for their chace, +in favor of their dealings with them for their peltry. But to return to +my narration. + +Whilst the fire is still burning, the women come like so many furies, +with more than bacchanalian madness, making the most hideous howlings, +and dancing without any order, round the fire. Then all their apparent +rage turns of a sudden against the men. They threaten them, that if they +do not supply them with scalps, they will hold them very cheap, and look +on them as greatly inferior to themselves; that they will deny +themselves to their most lawful pleasures; that their daughters shall be +given to none but such as have signalized themselves by some military +feat; that, in short, they will themselves find means to be revenged of +them, which cannot but be easy to do on cowards. + +The men, at this, begin to parley with one another, and order the women +to withdraw, telling them, that they shall be satisfied; and that, in a +little time, they may expect to have prisoners brought to them, to do +what they will with them. + +The next thing they agree on is to send a couple of messengers, in the +nature of heralds at arms, with their hatchets, quivers, bows, and +arrows, to declare war against the nation by whom they conceive +themselves aggrieved. These go directly to the village where the bulk of +the nation resides, observing a sullen silence by the way, without +speaking to any that may meet them. When they draw near the village, +they give the earth several strokes with their hatchets, as a signal of +commencing hostilities in form; and to confirm it the more, they shoot +two of their best arrows at the village, and retire with the utmost +expedition. The war is now kindled in good earnest, and it behoves each +party to stand well on its guard. The heralds, after this, return to +make a report of what they have done; and to prove their having been at +the place appointed, they do not fail of bringing away with them some +particular marks of that spot of the country. Then it is, that the +inhabitants of each nation begin to think seriously, whether they shall +maintain their ground by staying in their village, and fortifying it in +their manner, or look out for a place of greater safety, or go directly +in quest of the enemy. Upon these questions they assemble, deliberate, +and hold endless consultations, though withal not uncurious ones: for it +is on these occasions, that those of the greatest sagacity and eloquence +display all their talents, and make themselves distinguished. One of +their most common stratagems, when there were reasons for not attacking +one another, or coming to a battle directly, was for one side to make as +if they had renounced all thoughts of acting offensively. A party of +those who made this feint of renunciation, would disperse itself in a +wood, observing to keep near the borders of it; when, if any stragglers +of the enemy's appeared, some one would counterfeit to the life the +particular cry of that animal, in the imitation of which he most +excelled; and this childish decoy would, however, often succeed, in +drawing in the young men of the opposite party into their ambushes. + +Sometimes the scheme was to examine what particular spot lay so, that +the enemies must, in all necessity, pass through it, to hunt, or provide +bark for making their canoes. It was commonly in these passes, or +defiles, that the bloodiest encounters or engagements happened, when +whole nations have been known to destroy one another, with such an +exterminating rage on both sides, that few have been left alive on +either; and to say the truth, they were, generally speaking, mere +cannibals. It was rarely the case that they did not devour some limbs, +at least, of the prisoners they made upon one another, after torturing +them to death in the most cruel and shocking manner: but they never +failed of drinking their blood like water; it is now, some time, that +our Micmakis especially are no longer in the taste of exercising such +acts of barbarity. I have, yet, lately myself seen amongst them some +remains of that spirit of ferocity; some tendencies and approaches to +those inhumanities; but they are nothing in comparison to what they used +to be, and seem every day wearing out. The religion to which we have +brought them over, and our remonstrances have greatly contributed to +soften that savage temper, and atrocious vindictiveness that heretofore +reigned amongst them. But remember, Sir, that as to this point I am now +only speaking, upon my own knowlege, of the Micmakis and Mariquects, +who, though different in language, have the same customs and manners, +and are of the same way of thinking and acting. + +But to arrive at any tolerable degree of conjecture, whence these people +derive their origin own myself at a loss: possibly some light might be +got into it, by discovering whether there was any affinity or not +between their language, and that of the Orientalists, as the Chinese or +Tartars. In the mean time, the abundance of words in this language +surprized, and continues to surprize me every day the deeper I get into +it. Every thing is proper in it; nothing borrowed, as amongst us. Here +are no auxiliary verbs. The prepositions are in great number. This it is +that gives great ease, fluency, and richness to the expression of +whatever you require, when you are once master enough to join them to +the verbs. In all their absolute verbs they have a dual number. What we +call the imperfect, perfect, and preter-perfect tenses of the indicative +mood, admits, as with us, of varied inflexions of the terminations to +distinguish the person; but the difference of the three tenses is +express, for the preter-perfect by the preposition _Keetch_; for the +preter-pluperfect by _Keetch Keeweeh_: the imperfect is again +distinguished from them by having no preposition at all. + +They have no feminine termination, either for the verbs or nouns. This +greatly facilitates to me my composition of songs and hymns for them, +especially as their prose itself naturally runs into poetry, from the +frequency of their tropes and metaphors; and into rhime, from their +nouns being susceptible of the same termination, as that of the words in +the verbs which express the different persons. In speaking of persons +absent, the words change their termination, as well in the nouns as in +the verbs. + +They have two distinctions of style; the one noble, or elevated, for +grave and important subjects, the other ignoble, or trivial, for +familiar or vulgar ones. But this distinction is not so much with them, +as with us, marked by a difference of words, but of terminations. Thus, +when they are treating of solemn, or weighty matters, they terminate the +verb and the noun by another inflexion, than what is used for trivial or +common conversation. + +I do not know, whether I explain clearly enough to you this so material +a point of their elocution; but it makes itself clearly distinguished, +when once one comes to understand the language, in which it supplies the +place of the most pathetic emphasis, though even that they do not want, +nor great expression in their gestures and looks. All their conjugations +are regular and distinct. + +Yet, with all these advantages of language, the nation itself is +extreamly ignorant as to what concerns itself, or its origin, and their +traditions are very confused and defective. They know nothing of the +first peopling of their country, of which they imagine themselves the +Aborigines. They often talk of their ancestors, but have nothing to say +of them that is not vague or general. According to them, they were all +great hunters, great wood-rangers, expert managers of canoes, intrepid +warriors, that took to wives as many as they could maintain by hunting. +They had too a custom amongst them, that if a woman grew pregnant whilst +she was sucking a child, they obliged her to use means for procuring an +abortion, in favor of the first-come, who they supposed would otherwise +be defrauded of his due nourishment. Most of them also value themselves +on being descended from their Jugglers, who are a sort of men that +pretend to foretel futurity by a thousand ridiculous contorsions and +grimaces, and by frightful and long-winded howlings. + +The great secret of these Jugglers consists in having a great _Oorakin_ +full of water, from any river in which it was known there were +beaver-huts. Then he takes a certain number of circular turns round this +Oorakin, as it stands on the ground, pronouncing all the time with a low +voice, a kind of gibberish of broken words, unintelligible to the +assistants, and most probably so to himself, but which those, on whom he +means to impose, believe very efficacious. After this he draws near to +the bowl, and bending very low, or rather lying over it, looks at +himself in it as in a glass. If he sees the water in the least muddy, or +unsettled, he recovers his erect posture, and begins his rounds again, +till he finds the water as clear as he could wish it for his purpose, +and then he pronounces over it his magic words. If after having repeated +them twice or thrice, he does not find the question proposed to him +resolved by this inspection of the water, nor the wonders he wants +operated by it, he says with a loud voice and a grave tone, that the +_Manitoo_, or _Miewndoo_, (the great spirit) or genius, which, according +to them, has all knowledge of future events, would not declare himself +till every one of the assistants should have told him (the Juggler) in +the ear what were his actual thoughts, or greatest secret. [A Romish +missionary must, with a very bad grace, blame the Jugglers, for what +himself makes such a point of religion in his _auricular confession_. +Even the appellation of _Juggler_ is not amiss applicable to those of +their craft, considering all their tricks and mummery not a whit +superior to those of these poor savages, in the eyes of common-sense. +Who does not know, that the low-burlesque word of _Hocus-pocus_, is an +humorous corruption of their _Hoc est corpus meum_, by virtue of which, +they make a _God_ out of a vile wafer, and think it finely solved, by +calling it a _mystery_, which, by the way is but another name for +_nonsense_. Is there any thing amongst the savages half so absurd or so +impious?] To this purpose he gets up, laments, and bitterly inveighs +against the bad dispositions of those of the assistants, whose fault it +was, that the effects of his art were obstructed. Then going round the +company, he obliges them to whisper him in the ear, whatever held the +first place in their minds; and the simplicity of the greater number is +such, as to make them reveal to him what it would be more prudent to +conceal. By these means it is, that these artful Jugglers renders +themselves formidable to the common people, and by getting into the +secrets of most of the families of the nation, acquire a hank over them. +Some, indeed, of the most sensible see through this pitiful artifice, +and look on the Jugglers in their proper light of cheats, quacks, and +tyrants; but out of fear of their established influence over the bulk of +the nation, they dare not oppose its swallowing their impostures, or its +regarding all their miserable answers as so many oracles. When the +Juggler in exercise, has collected all that he can draw from the inmost +recesses of the minds of the assistants, he replaces himself, as before, +over the mysterious bowl of water, and now knows what he has to say. +Then, after twice or thrice laying his face close to the surface of the +water, and having as often made his evocations in uncouth, +unintelligible words, he turns his face to his audience, sometimes he +will say, "I can only give a half-answer upon such an article; there is +an obstacle yet unremoved in the way, before I can obtain an entire +solution, and that is, there are some present here who are in such and +such a case. That I may succeed in what is asked of me, and that +interests the whole nation, I appoint that person, without my knowing, +as yet, who it is, to meet me at such an hour of the night. I name no +place of assignation but will let him know by a signal of lighted fire, +where he may come to me, and suffer himself to be conducted wherever I +shall carry him. The _Manitoo_ orders me to spare his reputation, and +not expose him; for if there is any harm in it to him, there is also +harm to me." + +Thus it is the Juggler has the art of imposing on these simple credulous +creatures, and even often succeeds by it in his divinations. Sometimes +he does not need all this ceremonial. He pretends to foretell off-hand, +and actually does so, when he is already prepared by his knowledge, +cunning, or natural penetration. His divinations chiefly turn on the +expedience of peace with one nation, or of war with another; upon +matches between families, upon the long life of some, or the short life +of others; how such and such persons came by their deaths, violently or +naturally; whether the wife of some great _Sagamo_ has been true to his +bed or not; who it could be that killed any particular persons found +dead of their wounds in the woods, or on the coast. Sometimes they +pretend it's the deed of the _Manitoo_, for reasons to them unknown: +this last incident strikes the people with a religious awe. But what the +Jugglers are chiefly consulted upon, and what gives them the greatest +credit, is to know whether the chace of such a particular species of +beasts should be undertaken; at what season, or on which side of the +country; how best may be discovered the designs of any nation with which +they are at war; or at what time such or such persons shall return from +their journey. The Juggler pretends to see all this, and more, in his +bowl of water: divination by coffee-grounds is a trifle to it. He is +also applied to, to know whether a sick person shall recover or die of +his illness. But what I have here told you of the procedure of these +Jugglers, you are to understand only of the times that preceded the +introduction of Christianity amongst these people, or of those parts +where it is not yet received: for these practices are no longer suffered +where we have any influence. + +Amongst the old savages lately baptized, I could never, from the +accounts they gave me of the belief of their ancestors, find any true +_knowledge_ of the supreme Being; no idea, I mean, approaching to that +we have, or rather nothing but a vague imagination. They have, it is +true, a confused notion of a Being, acting they know not how [Who +does?], in the universe, but they do not make of him a great soul +diffused through all its parts. They have no conception or knowledge of +all the attributes we bestow on the Deity. Whenever they happen to +philosophize upon this _Manitoo_, or great spirit, they utter nothing +but _reveries_ and absurdities. [Are not there innumerable volumes on +this subject, to which the same objection might as justly be made? +Possibly the savages, and the deepest divines, with respect to the +manner of the Deity's existence, may have, in point of ignorance, +nothing to reproach one another. It matters very little, whether one +sees the sun from the lowest valley, or the highest mountain, when the +immensity of its distance contracts the highest advantage of the +eminence to little less than nothing. Surely the infinite superiority of +the Deity, must still more effectually mock the distinction of the +mental eye, at the same time that his existence itself is as plain as +that of the sun, and like that too, dazzling those most, who contemplate +it most fixedly; reduces them to close the eye, not to exclude the +light, but as overpowered by it.] + +Amongst other superstitious notions, not the least prevalent is that of +the _Manitoo_'s exercise of his power over the dead, whom he orders to +appear to them, and acquaint them with what passes at a distance, in +respect to their most important concerns; to advise them what they had +best do, or not do; to forewarn them of dangers, or to inspire them with +revenge against any nation that may have insulted them, and so forth. + +They have no idea of his spirituality, or even of the spirituality of +that principle, which constitutes their own vital principle. They have +even no word in their language that answers to that of soul in ours. The +term approaching nearest thereto that we can find, is _M'cheejacmih_, +which signifies _Shade_, and may be construed something in the nature of +the _Manes_ of the Romans. + +The general belief amongst them is, that, after death, they go to a +place of joy and plenty, in which sensuality is no more omitted than in +Mahomet's paradise. There they are to find women in abundance, a country +thick of all manner of game to humor their passion for hunting, and bows +and arrows of the best sort, ready made. But these regions are supposed +at a great distance from their's, to which they will have to travel; and +therefore it's requisite to be well-provided, before they quit their own +country, with arrows, long poles fit for hunting, or for covering +cabbins, with bear-skins, or elk-hides, with women, and with some of +their children, to make their journey to that place more commodious, +more pleasant, and appear more expeditious. It was especially in +character for a warrior, not to leave this world without taking with him +some marks of his bravery, as particularly scalps. Therefore it was, +that when any of them died, he was always followed by, at least, one of +his children, some women, and above all, by her whom in his life he had +most loved, who threw themselves into the grave, and were interred with +him. They also put into it great strips, or rolls of the bark of birch, +arrows, and scalps. Nor do they unfrequently, at this day, light upon +some of these old burying-places in the woods, with all these funeral +accompanyments; but of late, the interment of live persons has been +almost entirely disused. + +I never could learn whether they had any set formulary of prayer, or +invocation to the _great Manitoo_; or whether they made any sacrifices +of beasts or peltry, to any other _Manitoo_, in contradiction to him, or +to any being whom they dreaded as an evil genius. I could discover no +more than what I have above related of the ceremonies in honor of the +sun. I know, indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, which +they invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake any +journeys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set for +their game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to it: + +"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our benefit, +supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to him, thou hast +concurred to make us spring out of that earth we have inhabited from the +first ages of the world, and takest particular care of us, that the +malignant air of the night, should not kill the principle and bud of +life within us. Thou regardest us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hast +not, from the first time, discontinued to treat us like a true mother. +Thou guidest us in our nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light it +is, that we have often struck great strokes in war; and more than once +have our enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thy +clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted us, +for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have enabled +us not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but often to surprize +him asleep. However we might be wanting to ourselves, thy regular course +was never wanting to us. Beautiful spouse of the sun! give us to +discover the tracks of elks, moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears, +when urged by our wants, we pursue by night the hunt after these beasts. +Give to our women the strength to support the pains of child-birth +[_Lucina fer opem_, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens], +render their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible fountains." + +I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition or +knowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with such +unsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on that +head. + +This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man how old +he is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy head?" + +Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. When we +would say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they express it by, "I +shall be a moon and a half on it." + +Before _we_ knew them, it was common to see amongst them, persons of +both sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty years of age. +But these examples of longevity are grown much more rare. + +By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly decreased. Some +imagine this is owing to that inveterate animosity, with which these so +many petty nations were continually laboring one another's destruction +and extirpation. Others impute it to the introduction by the Europeans, +of the vice of drunkenness, and to the known effect of spirituous +liquors in the excesses of their use, to which they are but too prone, +in striking at the powers of generation, as well as at the principles of +health and life. Not improbably too, numbers impatient of the +encroachments of the Europeans on their country, and dreading the +consequences of them to their liberty, for which they have a passionate +attachment, and incapable of reconciling or assimilating their customs +and manners to ours, have chosen to withdraw further into the western +recesses of the continent, at a distance impenetrable to our approach. + +But which ever of these conjectures is the truest, or whether or not all +of these causes have respectively concurred, in a lesser or greater +degree, the fact is certain, that all these northern countries are +considerably thinned of their natives, since the first discovery of them +by the Europeans. Nor have I reason to think, but that this is true of +America in general, wherever they have carried their power, or extended +their influence. + +It is also true, that the women of this country are naturally not so +prolific as those of some other parts of the world in the same latitude. +One reason for this may be, their not having their menstrual flux so +copiously, or for so long a time as those of Europe. Yet one would +think, the plurality of wives permitted amongst them, might in some +measure compensate for this defect, which, however, it evidently does +not. + +Their women have always observed, not to present themselves at any +public ceremony, or solemnity, whilst under their monthly terms, nor to +admit the embraces of their husbands. + +At stated times they repair to particular places in the woods, where +they recite certain formularies of invocation to the _Manitoo_ dictated +to them by some of their oldest _Sagamees_, or principal women, and more +frequently by some celebrated Juggler of the village, that they may +obtain the blessing of fruitfulness. For it is with them, as amongst the +Jews, that barrenness is accounted opprobrious. A woman is not looked +upon as a woman, till she has proved it, by her fulfilling what they +consider as one of the great ends of her creation. Failing in that, she +is divorced from her husband, and may then prostitute herself without +any scandal. If she has no inclination or relish for this way of life, +they compel her to it, in regard to their young men, who do not care to +marry, till they are arrived at full-ripe years, and for whom, on their +return from their warlike or hunting expeditions, they think it +necessary to provide such objects of amusement. They pretend withal, +that they are subject to insupportable pains in their loins, if such a +remedy is not at hand to relieve them. But once more you are to +remember, that I am only speaking of those people not yet converted to +Christianity, by which this licentiousness is not allowed. And yet, +notwithstanding the maxims we inculcate to them, the natives continue no +other than what they were before, that is to say, as much addicted to +venery as ever, and rarely miss an occasion of gratifying their appetite +to it. The only way we can think of to prevent their offending religion, +is to have them married as soon as they begin to feel themselves men. +The restraint however in this point is, what they can least endure. + +In their unconverted state, their manner of courtship and marriage is as +follows: When a youth has an inclination to enter into the connubial +state, his father, or next relation, looks out for a girl, to whose +father the proposal is made: this being always transacted between the +parents of the parties to be married. The young man, who is commonly +about thirty years of age, or twenty at the least, rarely consults his +own fancy in this point. The girl, who is always extreamly young, is +never supposed to trouble her head about the measures that are taking to +marry her. When the parents on each side have settled the matter, the +youth is applied to, that he may prepare his calumet as soon as he +pleases. + +The calumet used on these occasions, is a sort of spungeous reed, which +may furnish, according to its length, a number of calumets, each of +which is about a foot long, to be lighted at one end, the other serving +to suck in the smoak at the mouth, and is suffered to burn within an +inch of the lips. + +The speech made to the youth on this occasion is as follows: "Thou +may'st go when thou wilt, by day or by night, to light thy calumet in +such a cabbin. Thou must observe to direct the smoak of it towards the +person who is designed for thee, and carry it so, that she may take such +a taste to this vapor, as to desire of thee that she may smoak of thy +calumet. Show thyself worthy of thy nation, and do honor to thy sex and +youth. Suffer none in the cabbin to which thou art admitted, to want any +thing thy industry, thy art, or thy arrows can procure them, as well for +food, as for peltry, or oil, for the good of their bodies, inside and +outside. Thou hast four winters given thee, for a trial of thy patience +and constancy." + +At this the youth never fails of going to the place appointed. If the +girl, (who knows the meaning of this) has no particular aversion to him, +she is soon disposed to ask his calumet of him. In some parts, but not +in this where I am, she signifies her acceptance by blowing it out. Here +she takes it from him, and sucking it, blows the smoak towards his +nostrils, even sometimes so violently, as to make him qualm-sick, at +which she is highly delighted. Nothing, however, passes farther against +the laws of modesty, though she will tress his hair, paint his face, and +imprint on various parts of his body curious devices and flourishes, all +relative to their love; which she pricks in, and rubs over with a +composition that renders the impression uncancellable. + +If the parents of the girl are pleased with the procedure of the suitor, +they commonly, at the end of the second year, dispense, in his favor, +with the rest of the probation-time; and, indeed, they could not well +before, the girl almost always wanting, from the time she is first +courted, at least two years to bring on the age of consummation. They +tell him, "Thou may'st now take a small part of the covering of thy +beloved whilst she sleeps." No sooner is this compliment made him, than, +without saying any thing, he goes out of the cabbin, armed with his bow +and arrows, and hurrying home acquaints his friends, that he is going to +the woods, whence he shall not return till it pleases his beloved to +recall him. + +Accordingly he repairs forthwith to the woods, and stays there for two +or three days, diverting himself with hunting; at the end of which it +has been agreed on, to send all the youths of the village to fetch him: +and they come back loaded with game of all sorts, though the bridegroom +is not suffered to carry any thing. There is also great provision made +of seal and sea-cows for the wedding-feast. + +The head Juggler of the village, meets the bridegroom who is at the head +of the procession, takes him by the hand, and conducts him to the cabbin +of the bride, where he is to take part of her bed; upon which he lies +down by her side, and both continue unmoveable and silent like two +statues, whilst they are obliged to hear the long tedious harangues of +the Juggler, of the parents of both, and of their oldest relations. +After that, they both get up, and are led, the one by the young men, the +other by the girls, to the place of entertainment, all singing, +shooting, and dancing. + +The bridegroom is seated amongst the young men on one side, and the +bride amongst the girls on another. One of his friends takes an +_Oorakin_, loads it with roast-meat, and sets it down by him, whilst one +of her's does the same thing, with an _Oorakin_ of the same size, and +nearly alike, which is placed by the bride's side. After this ceremony +of placing the _Oorakin_, the Juggler pronounces certain magical words +over the meat: he foretels, especially to the bride, the dreadful +consequences she must expect from the victuals she is about to eat, if +she has in her heart any perfidiousness towards her husband: that she +may be assured of finding in the _Oorakin_ that contains them, a certain +prognostic of her future happiness, or unhappiness: of happiness, if she +is disposed never in her life to betray her nation, nor especially her +husband, upon any occasion, or whatever may befal her: of unhappiness, +if through the caresses of strangers, or by any means whatever she +should be induced to break her faith to him, or to reveal to the enemy +the secrets of the country. + +At the end of every period, all the assistants signify their assent to +the Juggler's words, by a loud exclamation of _Hah!_ Whilst he is +talking, the particular friend of the bridegroom, and that of the bride, +keep their eyes fixed on the two _Oorakins_; and as soon as he has done, +the bride's friend making as if she did not think of what she was about, +takes the _Oorakin_ allotted for the bridegroom, and carries it to the +bride, whilst the bridegroom's friend, (the thing being pre-concerted) +acts the like mummery of inadvertence, and sets before the bridegroom +the _Oorakin_ belonging to the bride; after which the dishes are served +in to the rest of the company. When they are all served, the two friends +of the parties musing a little, pretend to have just then discovered +their exchange of the bride and bridegroom's _Oorakins_. They declare it +openly to each other, at which the Juggler takes up his cue, and with a +solemn face says, "The _Manitoo_ has had his designs in this mistake: he +has vouchsafed to give an indubitable sign of his approbation of the +strait alliance this day contracted. What is the one's, is the same as +the other's. They are henceforward united, and are as one and the same +person. It is done. May they multiply without end!" At this the +assistants all start up, and with cries of joy, and congratulation, rush +to embrace the bride and bridegroom, and overwhelm them with caresses. +After which they sit very gravely down again to the entertainment before +them, and dispatch it in great silence. This is followed by dances of +all kinds, with which the feast for the day concludes, as must this +letter, in which I have certainly had less attention to the observing +the limits of one, than to the gratifying your curiosity, with respect +to these people, amongst whom my lot has so long been cast. + +I am, Sir, +Your most obedient +Humble servant, + + + + +_To understand the following piece, it is necessary to know, that after +the insidious peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, the savage nations, especially +the Mickmakis and Maricheets continued hostilities against the English, +at the underhand instigation of the French, who meant thereby to +prevent, or at least distress, as much as obstruct, our new settlements +in Nova-Scotia. For this purpose, the French missionaries had their cue +from their government to act the incendiaries, and, to inflame matters +to the highest pitch. These being, however, sensible, that the part +assigned them was a very odious one, and inconsistent with the spirit of +that religion for which they profess such zeal, one of them, by way of +palliation, and in order to throw the blame on the English themselves, +drew up the following state of the case, between our nation and the +savages, viz._ + + + + +MEMORIAL + +OF THE + +Motives of the Savages, called _Mickmakis_ +and _Maricheets_, for continuing +the War with _England_ since the last +Peace. + +Dated _Isle-Royal_, 175-. + +These nations have never been able to forget all that the English +settled in North-America have done since the very first of their +establishment, towards destroying them root and branch. They have +especially, at every moment, before their eyes the following +transactions: + +In 1744, towards the end of October, Mr. Gorrhon, (perhaps Goreham) +deceased, commanding a detachment of the English troops, sent to observe +the retreat the French and savages were making from before Port-Royal +(Annapolis) in Acadia, (Nova-Scotia): this detachment having found two +huts of the Mickmaki-savages, in a remote corner, in which there were +five women and three children, (two of the women were big with child) +ransacked, pillaged, and burnt the two huts, and massacred the five +women and three children. It is to be observed, that the two pregnant +women were found with their bellies ripped open. An action which these +savages cannot forget, especially as at that time they made fair war +with the English. They have always looked on this deed as a singular +mark of the most unheard-of cruelty. [Who would not look on it in the +same light? But as no nation on earth is known to have more than ours +constitutionally, a horror for such barbarities, especially in cold +blood; it may be very easily presumed, that this fact was, if true, +committed by some of the savages themselves, without the knowledge of +the commander, or of any of the English troops.] + +Five months before this action, one named _Danas_, or _David_, an +English privateer, having treacherously hoisted French colors in the +Streights of Fronsac, by means of a French deserter he had with him, +decoyed on board his vessel the chief of the savages of Cape-Breton, +called James Padanuque, with his whole family, whom he carried to +Boston, where he was clapped into a dungeon the instant he was landed; +from which he was only taken out to stifle him on board of a vessel, in +which they pretended to return him safe to Cape-Breton. His son, at that +time a boy of eight years of age, they will absolutely not release; +though, since their detention of that young savage, they have frequently +had prisoners sent back to them, without ransom, on condition of +restoring the young man to his country: but though they accepted the +condition, they never complied with it. + +In the month of July, 1745, the same Danas, with the same success, +employed the same decoy on a savage-family, which could not get out of +their hands, but by escaping one night from their prisons. + +About the same time one named Bartholomew Petitpas, an appointed +savage-linguist, was carried away prisoner to Boston. The savages have +several times demanded him in exchange for English prisoners they then +had in their hands, of whom two were officers, to whom they gave their +liberty, on condition of the Bostoners returning of Petitpas; whom, +however, they not only kept prisoner, but afterwards put to death. + +In the same year, 1745, a missionary of the savages of Cape Breton, +Natkikouesch, Picktook, and of the island of St. John, having been +invited by several letters, on the part of the commodore of the +_English_ squadron, and of the general of the land-forces, to a parley, +those gentlemen desired with him, concerning the savages, repaired to +Louisbourg, at that time in possession of the English, on the assurances +they had given him in writing, and on the formal promises they had bound +with an oath, of full liberty to return from whence he came, after +having satisfied them in all they wanted of him. They detained him at +Louisbourg, where they gave him a great deal of ill usage, and obliged +him to embark, all sick as he was, and destitute of necessaries, on +board of one of the ships of the squadron, in which he was conveyed to +England, from whence he at length got to France. [Most probably he had +not given the satisfaction required by those gentlemen, which had been +confessedly by himself made the condition of his return.] + +The same year, 1745, several bodies of the savages, deceased, and buried +at _Port Tholouze_, were dug up again by the Bostoners, and thrown into +the fire. The burying-place of the savages was demolished, and all the +crosses, planted on the graves, broke into a thousand pieces. + +In 1746, some stuffs that the savages had bought of the English, who +then traded in the bay of Megagouetch at _Beau-bassin_, there being at +that time a great scarcity of goods over all the country, were found to +be _poisoned_, [Is it possible a missionary of the truths of the Gospel +could gravely commit to paper such an infernal lie? If even the savages +had been stupid enough of themselves to imbibe such a notion, was it not +the duty of a Christian to have shewn them the folly of it, or even but +in justice to the Europeans? But what must be their guilt, if they +suggested it? Surely, scarce less than that of the action itself.] so +that more than two hundred savages of both sexes perished thereby. + +In 1749, towards the end of the month of May, at a time that the +suspension of arms between the two crowns was not yet known in New +France, the savages, having made prisoners two Englishmen of +Newfoundland, had from these same prisoners the first news of the +cessation of hostilities. They believed them on their bare words, +expressed their satisfaction to them, treated them like brothers, +unbound them, and carried them to their huts. The said prisoners rose in +the night, and massacred twenty-five of these savages, men, women, and +children. There were but two of the savages escaped this carnage, by +being accidentally not present. [_How improbable is the whole of this +story?_] + +Towards the end of the same year, the English being come to Chibuckto, +made the report be every where spread [The missionaries in those parts +might indeed raise such reports; the which giving the savages an +aversion to the English, forced them to take hostile measures against +them in their own defence: but who would suspect the English themselves +of raising them, in direct opposition to their own interest?], that they +were going to destroy all the savages. They seemed to act in consequence +thereto, since they sent detachments of their troops, on all sides, in +pursuit of the savages. + +These people were so alarmed with this procedure of the English, that +from that time they determined, as weak as they were, to declare open +war against them. Knowing that France had concluded a peace with +England, they nevertheless resolved not to cease from falling on the +English, wherever they could find them; saying, they were indispensably +obliged to it, since, against all justice, they wanted to expel them out +of their country. They then sent a declaration of war in form to the +English, in the name of their nation, and of the savages in alliance +with it. + +As to what concerns the missionaries to the savages, they cannot be +suspected of using any connivence in all this, if justice is done to the +conduct they have always observed amongst them, and especially in the +time of the last war. How many acts of inhumanity would have been +committed by this nation, naturally vindictive, if the missionaries had +not taken pains, in good earnest, to put such ideas out of their heads? +It is notorious, that the savages believe that there are no extremities +of barbarity, but what are within the rules of war against those whom +they consider as their enemies. Inexpressible are the efforts which +these same missionaries have employed to restrain, on such occasions, +this criminal ferocity, especially as the savages deemed themselves +authorized by right of reprisals. How many unfortunate persons of the +English nation would have been detained for ever captives, or undergone +the most cruel deaths, if, by the intervention of the missionaries, the +savages had not been prevailed on to release them? + +They are even ready to prove, by their written instructions, the lessons +they inculcate to the savages, of the humanity and gentleness they ought +to practise, even in time of war. It is especially ever since about +seventeen years ago, that they do not cease declaiming against those +barbarous and sanguinary methods of proceeding that seem innate to them. +On this principle it is, that in the written maxims of conduct for them, +care has been taken to insert a chapter, which, from the beginning to +the end, places before their eyes the extreme horror they ought to have +of such enormities. Their children particularly are sedulously taught +this whole chapter, whence it comes, that one may daily perceive them +growing more humane, and more disposed to listen, on this head, to the +remonstrances of the missionaries. + +[_To this plea of innocence in the French missionaries, as to any +instigation of the savages to hostilities against the English, we shall +oppose the testimony of their own court, in the following words of the +French ministry, in the very same year_, 1751. + +"His Majesty (the French king) has already observed, that the savages +have hitherto been in the most _favorable dispositions_; and it even +appears, that the conduct of the general C--n--ll--s, with respect to +them, has only served to exasperate them more and more. It is of the +_greatest importance_, both for the present and future, to keep them up +to that spirit. The _missionaries_ amongst them, are more than any one +at hand to _contribute thereto_, and his majesty has _reason_ to be +_satisfied_ with the _pains_ they take in it. Our governor must excite +these _missionaries_ not to _slacken their endeavours_ on this head. But +he should advise them to _contain_ their _zeal_ within due bounds, so as +not to render themselves _obnoxious_ to the English, unless for very +good purpose, and so as to avoid giving handle for just complaints." + +_In this his most Christian Majesty has been faithfully served by these +missionaries, in all points, except that political injunction of not +giving a handle for just complaints, which they overshot in the ardor of +their zeal; since it is undoubted matter of fact, that the missionaries +openly employed all their arts, and all the influence of religion, to +invenom the savages against us. Thence, besides a number of horrid +cruelties, the most treacherous and base murder of captain How, at a +conference, by some savages they set on, who perpetrated it within sight +of the French forces. The publishing, however, of the foregoing memorial +may have this good effect, that it will apprise the English of the +matter of accusation against them, and enable them to counter-work those +holy engines of state, and emissaries of ambition. It is also certain, +that this very memorial was drawn up by a French priest, purely to +furnish the French ministry a specious document to oppose to the most +just representations of the British government. Besides the fictions +with which it abounds, he has taken care to suppress the acts of cruelty +committed, and the atrocious provocations given by the savages, at the +instigation of his fellow-laborers sedition and calumny._] + + + + +LETTER + +FROM + +Mons. DE LA VARENNE, + +TO HIS + +FRIEND at ROCHELLE. + + +_Louisbourg_, the 8th of _May_, 1756. + +Though I had, in my last, exhausted all that was needful to say on our +private business, I could not see this ship preparing for France, +especially with our friend _Moreau_ on board, without giving you this +further mark of how ardently I wish the continuance of our +correspondence. It will also serve to supplement any former deficiencies +of satisfaction to certain points of curiosity you have stated to me; +this will give to my letter a length beyond the ordinary limits of one: +and I have before-hand to excuse to you, the loose desultory way in +which you will find I write, as things present themselves to my mind, +without such method or arrangement, as a formal design of treating the +subject would exact. But who looks for that in a letter? + +I need not tell you how severely our government has felt the +dismemberment of that important tract of country already in the +possession of the English, under the name of Acadia; to say nothing of +their further pretentions, which would form such terrible encroachments +on Canada. And no wonder it should feel it, considering the extent of so +fruitful, and valuable a country as constitutes that peninsula. It might +of itself form a very considerable and compact body of dominion, being, +as you know, almost everywhere surrounded by the sea, and abounding with +admirable and well-situated ports. It is near one hundred leagues in +length, and about sixty in breadth. Judge what advantages such an area +of country, well-peopled, and well-cultivated, and abounding in mines, +might produce. It is full of hills, though I could not observe any of an +extraordinary heighth, except that of Cape Doree, at the mouth of the +river _des Mines_, the most fertile part of it in corn and grain, and +once the best peopled. There are a number of rivers very rapid, but not +large, except that of St. John's, which is the finest river of all +Acadia, where good water is rather scarce. + +The soil in the vallies is rich, and even in the uplands, commonly +speaking, good. The grains it yields are wheat, pease, barley, oats, +rye, and Indian corn, and especially that of the vallies, for the higher +ground is not yet cultivated. The pastures are excellent and very +common, and more than sufficient to supply Cape-Breton, with the cattle +that may be raised. There is fine hunting, and a plentiful fishing for +cod, salmon, and other fish, particularly on the east-side, which is +full of fine harbours at the distance of one, two, three, four, or of +six or seven leagues at farthest from one another, within the extent of +ninety leagues of coast. It is thought, in short, this fishery is better +than any on the coasts belonging to France. + +The air is extreamly wholesome, which is proved by the longevity of its +inhabitants. I myself know some of above an hundred years of age, +descendants from the French established in Acadia. Distempers are very +rare. I fancy the climate is pretty near the same as in the north of +China, or Chinese-Tartary. This country too, being rather to the +southward of Canada, is not so cold as that; the snow not falling till +towards St. Andrew's day: nor does it lie on the ground above two or +three days at most, after which it begins to soften; and though the thaw +does not take place, the weather turns mild enough to allow of working, +and undertaking journeys. In short, what may be absolutely called cold +weather, may be reduced to about twenty-five or thirty days in a winter, +and ceases entirely towards the end of March, or at latest, the middle +of April. Then comes the seed-time. Then are made the sugar and syrups +of maple, procured from the juice or sap of that tree, by means of +incisions in the bark; which sap is carefully received in proper +vessels. + +I could never find any ginseng-root; yet I have reason to believe there +may be some in or near the hills, as the climate and situation have so +much affinity to the northern provinces of China, or Northwest Tartary, +as described to us by our missionaries. + +We have very little knowledge of the medicinal herbs in this country, +though some of them have certainly great virtue. There are the +maiden-hair, the saxi-frage, and the sarsaparilla. There is also a +particular root in this country of an herb called _Jean Hebert_, about +the ordinary size of the _Salsifix_, or _Goatsbread_, with knots at +about an inch, or an inch and an half distance from one another, of a +yellowish colour, white in the inside, with a sugarish juice, which is +excellent for the stomach. + +There has been lately discovered in these parts a poisonous root, much +resembling, in color and substance, a common carrot. When broke it has a +pleasing smell; but between the flakes may be observed a yellowish +juice, which is supposed to be the poison. Of four soldiers that had +eaten of it in their soup lately, two were difficultly preserved by dint +of antidotes; the other two died in the utmost agonies of pain, and +convulsions of frenzy. One of them was found in the woods sticking by +the head in a softish ground, into which he had driven it, probably in +the excess of his torture. Such a vegetable must afford matter of +curious examination to a naturalist; for as it does so much harm, it may +also be capable of great good, if sought into by proper experiments. + +The spirit of turpentine is much used by the inhabitants. The gum itself +is esteemed a great vulnerary; and purges moderately those who are full +of bilious, or gross humors. + +For the rest there is, I believe, hardly any sort of grain, tree, or +vegetable, especially in the north of France that might not be +successfully raised in Acadia. The rains are frequent in every season of +the year. There are indeed often violent squalls of wind, especially +from the South, and seem the West, but nothing like the hurricanes in +the West-Indies. It is a great rarity if thunder does any mischief. Some +years ago there was a man killed in his hut by it; but the oldest men of +the country never remembered to have known or heard of any thing like it +before. There have been earthquakes felt but rarely, and not very +violent. This country produces no venomous beasts, at least, that I +could hear of. In the warmer season there are sometimes found snakes, +not, however, thicker than one's finger, but their bite is not known to +be attended with any fatal consequences, There are no tygers, nor lions, +nor other beasts of prey to be afraid of unless bears, and that only in +their rutting-time, and even then it is very rare that they attack. As +there are then no carnivorous animals except the lynxes, who have a +beautiful skin, and these rarely fall upon any living creatures; the +sheep, oxen, and cows, are turned out into the woods or commons, without +any fear for them. Partridges are very common, and are large-sized, with +flesh very white. The hares are scarce, and have a white fur. There are +a great many beavers, elks, cariboux, (moose-deer) and other beasts of +the cold northern countries. + +The original inhabitants of this country are the savages, who may be +divided into three nations, the _Mickmakis_, the _Maricheets_, or +_Abenaquis_, (being scarcely different nations) and the _Canibats_. + +The _Mickmakis_ are the most numerous, but not accounted so good +warriors as the others: but they are all much addicted to hunting, and +to venery; in which last, however, they observe great privacy. They are +fond of strong liquors, and especially of brandy: that is their greatest +vice. They are also very uncurious of paying the debts they contract, +not from natural dishonesty, but from their having no notion of +property, or of meum or tuum. They will sooner part with all they have, +in the shape of a gift, than with any thing in that of payment. Honors +and goods being all in common amongst them, all the numerous vices, +which are founded upon those two motives, are not to be found in them. +Yet it is true, that they have chiefs to whom they give the title of +_Sagamo_; but all of them almost, at some time or other, assume to +themselves this quality, which is never granted by universal consent, +but to the personal consideration of distinguished merit in councils, or +in arms. Their troops have this particularity, that they are, for the +most part, composed of nothing but officers; insomuch that it is rare to +find a savage in the service that will own himself a private man. This +want of subordination does not, however, hinder them from concurring +together in action, when their native ferocity and emulation stand them, +in some sort, instead of discipline. + +They are extreamly vindictive, of which I shall give you one example. +Mons. _Daunay_, a French captain, with a servant, being overset in a +canoe, within sight of some savages, they threw themselves into the +water to save them, and the servant was actually saved. But the savage, +who had pitched upon Mons. _Daunay_, seeing who it was, and remembering +some blows with a cane he had a few days before received from him, took +care to souse him so often in the water, that he drowned him before he +got ashore. + +It is remarked, that in proportion as the Europeans have settled in this +country, the number of the savages considerably diminishes. As they live +chiefly upon their hunting, the woods that are destroyed to cultivate +the country, must in course contract the district of their chace, and +cause a famine amongst them, that must be fatal to them, or compel them +to retire to other countries. The English, sensible of this effect, and +who seemed to place their policy in exterminating these savage nations, +have set fire to the woods, and burnt a considerable extent of them. I +have myself crossed above thirty leagues together, in which space the +forests were so totally consumed by fire, that one could hardly at night +find a spot wooded enough to afford wherewithal to make an extempore +cabbin, which, in this country, is commonly made in the following +manner: Towards night the travellers commonly pitch upon a spot as near +a rivulet or river as they can; and as no one forgets to carry his +hatchet with him, any more than a Spanish don his toledo, some cut down +wood for firing for the night; others branches of trees, which are stuck +in the ground with the crotch uppermost, over which a thatching is laid +of fir-boughs, with a fence of the same on the weather-side only. The +rest is all open, and serves for door and window. A great fire is then +lighted, and then every body's lodged. They sup on the ground, or upon +some leaved branches, when the season admits of it; and afterwards the +table serves for a bed. The savages themselves rarely have any fixed +hut, or village, that maybe called a permanent residence. If there are +any parts they most frequently inhabit, it is only those which abound +most in game, or near some fishing-place. Such were formerly for them, +before the English had driven them away, _Artigoneesch_, _Beaubassin_, +_Chipoody_, _Chipnakady_, _Yoodayck_, _Mirtigueesh_, _La Heve Cape +Sable_, _Mirameeky_, _Fistigoisch_, _La Baye des Chaleurs Pentagony_, +_Medochtek_, _Hokepack_, and _Kihibeki_. + +At present these savage nations bear an inveterate antipathy to the +English, who might have easily prevented or cured it, if instead of +rigorous measures, they had at first used conciliative ones: but this it +seems they thought beneath them. This it is, that has given our +missionaries such a fair field for keeping them fixed to the French +party, by the assistance of the difference of religion, of which they do +not fail to make the most. But lest you may imagine I am giving you only +my own conjectures, take the following extract from, a letter of father +Noel de Joinville, of a pretty antient date. + +"I have remarked in this country so great an aversion in the +convert-savages to the English, caused by difference of religion, that +these scarce dare inhabit any part of Acadia but what is under their own +guns. These savages are so zealous for the Roman Catholick church, that +they always look with horror upon, and consider as enemies those who are +not within the pale of it. This may serve to prove, that if there had +been _priests_ provided in time, to work at the conversion of the +savages of New-England, before the English had penetrated into the +interior of the county as far as they have done, it would not have been +possible for them to appropriate to themselves such an extent of country +as, at this day, makes of New-England alone the most magnificent colony +on the face of the earth." [This pompous epithet might have yet been +more just, if the improvement of that colony had been enough the care of +the state, to have been pushed all the lengths of which it was so +susceptible. Few Englishmen will, probably, on reflexion deny, that if +but a third of those sums ingulphed by the ungrateful or slippery powers +on the continent, upon interests certainly more foreign to England than +those of her own colonies, or lavished in a yet more destructive way, +that of corrupting its subjects in elections: if the third, I say, of +those immense sums, had been applied to the benefit of the plantations, +to the fortifying, encouraging, and extending them, there would, by this +time, have hardly been a Frenchman's name to be heard of in +North-America especially.] + +But with this good father's leave, he attributes more influence to +religion, though as the priests manage it, it certainly has a very +considerable one, than in fact belongs to it. Were it not for other +concurring circumstances that indispose the savages against the English, +religion alone would not operate, at least so violently, that effect. +Every one knows, that the savages are at best but slightly tinctured +with it, and have little or no attachment to it, but as they find their +advantage in the benefits of presents and protection, it procures to +them from the French government. In short, it is chiefly to the conduct +of this English themselves, we are beholden for this favorable aid of +the savages. If the English at first, instead of seeking to exterminate +or oppress them by dint of power, the sense of which drove them for +refuge into our party, had behaved with more tenderness to them, and +conciliated their affection by humoring them properly, and distributing +a few presents, they might easily have made useful and valuable subjects +of them. Whereas, disgusted with their haughtiness, and scared at the +menaces and arbitrary encroachments of the English, they are now their +most virulent and scarce reconcileable enemies. This is even true of +more parts in America, where, though the English have liberally given +presents to ten times the value of what our government does, they have +not however had the same effect. The reason of which is clear: they make +them with so ill a grace, and generally time their presents so +unjudiciously, as scarce ever to distribute them, but just when they +want to carry some temporary point with the savages, such, especially, +as the taking up the hatchet against the French. This does not escape +the natural sagacity of the savages, who are sensible of the design +lurking at bottom of this liberality, and give them the less thanks for +it. They do not easily forget the length of time they had been +neglected, slighted, or unapplied to, unless by their itinerant traders, +who cheat them in their dealings, or poison them with execrable spirits, +under the names of brandy and rum. Whereas, on the contrary, the French +are assiduously caressing and courting them. Their missionaries are +dispersed up and down their several cantonments, where they exercise +every talent of insinuation, study their manners, nature, and +weaknesses, to which they flexibly accommodate themselves, and carry +their points by these arts. But what has, at least, an equal share in +attaching the savages to our party, is the connivence, or rather +encouragement the French government has given to the natives of France, +to fall into the savage-way of life, to spread themselves through the +savage nations, where they adopt their manners, range the woods with +them, and become as keen hunters as themselves. This conformity endears +our nation to them, being much better pleased with seeing us imitate +them, than ready to imitate us, though some of them begin to fall into +our notions, as to trafficking and bartering, and knowing the use of +money, of which they were before totally ignorant. We employ besides a +much more effectual method of uniting them to us, and that is, by the +intermarriages of our people with the savage-women, which is a +circumstance that draws the ties of alliance closer. The children +produced by these are generally hardy, inured to the fatigues of the +chace and war, and turn out very serviceable subjects in their way. + +But what is most amazing is, that though the savage-life has all the +appearance of being far from eligible, considering the fatigues, the +exposure to all weathers, the dearth of those articles which custom has +made a kind of necessaries of life to Europeans, and many other +inconveniencies to be met with in their vagabond course; yet it has such +charms for some of our native French, and even for some of them who have +been delicately bred, that, when once they have betaken themselves to it +young, there is hardly any reclaiming them from it, or inducing them to +return to a more civilized life. They prefer roving in the woods, +trusting to the chapter of accidents for their game which is their chief +support, and lying all night in a little temporary hut, patched up of a +few branches; to all the commodiousness they might find in towns, or +habitations, amongst their own countrymen. By degrees they lose all +relish for the European luxuries of life, and would not exchange for +them the enjoyments of that liberty, and faculty of wandering about, for +which, in the forests, they contract an invincible taste. A gun with +powder and ball, of which they purchase a continuation of supplies with +the skins of the beasts they kill, set them up. With these they mix +amongst the savages, where they get as many women as they please: some +of them are far from unhandsome, and fall into their way of life, with +as much passion and attachment, as if they had never known any other. + +Mons. _Delorme_, whom you possibly may have seen in Rochelle, where he +had a small employ in the marine-department, brought over his son here, +a very hopeful youth, who had even some tincture of polite education, +and was not above thirteen years old, and partly from indulgence, partly +from a view of making him useful to the government, by his learning, at +that age, perfectly the savage language, he suffered him to go amongst +the savages. The young _Delorme_ would, indeed, sometimes return home +just on a visit to his family; but always expressed such an impatience, +or rather pining to get back again to them, that, though reluctantly, +the father was obliged to yield to it. No representations in short, +after some years, could ever prevail on him to renounce his connexions, +and residence amongst the _Abenaquis_, where he is almost adored. He has +learned to excel them all, even in their own points of competition. He +out-does them all in their feats of activity, in running, leaping, +climbing mountains, swimming, shooting with the bow and arrow, managing +of canoes, snaring and killing birds and beasts, in patience of fatigue, +and even of hunger; in short, in all they most value themselves upon, or +to which they affix the idea of personal merit, the only merit that +commands consideration amongst them. They are not yet polished enough to +admire any other. By this means, however, he perfectly reigns amongst +them, with a power the greater, for the submission to it not only being +voluntary, but the effect of his acknowledged superiority, in those +points that with them alone constitute it. His personal advantages +likewise may not a little contribute thereto, being perfectly well-made, +finely featured, with a great deal of natural wit, as well as courage. +He dresses, whilst with the savages, exactly in their manner, ties his +hair up like them, wears a tomby-awk, or hatchet, travels with +_rackets_, (or Indian shoes) and, in short, represents to the life the +character of a compleat savage-warrior. When he comes to _Quebec_, or +_Louisbourg_, he resumes his European dress, without the least mark +appearing in his behaviour, of that wildness or rudeness one would +naturally suppose him to have contracted by so long a habit of them with +the savages. Nobody speaks purer French, or acquits himself better in +conversation. He takes up or lays down the savage character with equal +grace and ease. His friends have, at length, given over teazing him to +come and reside for good amongst them; they find it is to so little +purpose. The priests indeed complain bitterly, that he is not overloaded +with religion, from his entering so thoroughly into the spirit of the +savage-life; and his setting an example, by no means edifying, of a +licentious commerce with their women; besides, his giving no signs of +his over-respecting either their doctrine or spiritual authority. This +they pretend hurts them with their actual converts, as well as with +those they labor to make; though, in this conduct, he is not singular, +for the French wood-rangers, in general, follow the like course in a +greater or lesser degree. These representations of the priests would, +however, have greater influence with our government, if the temporal +advantage they derive from these rovers, undisciplined as they are, did +not oblige them to wink at their relaxation in spirituals. + +But it is not only men that have taken this passion for a savage life; +there have been, though much rarer, examples of our women going into it. +It is not many years since a very pretty French girl ran away into the +woods with a handsome young savage, who married her after his country +fashion. Her friends found out the village, or rather ambulatory tribe +into which she had got; but no persuasions, or instances, could prevail +on her to return and leave her savage, nor on him to content to it; so +that the government not caring to employ force, for fear of disobliging +the nation of them, even acquiesced in her continuance amongst them, +where she remains to this day, but worshipped like a little divinity, +or, at least, as a being superior to the rest of their women. Possibly +too she is not, in fact, so unhappy, as her choice would make one think +she must be; and if opinion constitutes happiness, she certainly is not +so. + +There are not wanting here, who defend this strange attachment of some +of their countrymen to this savage life, on principles independent of +the reason of state, for encouraging its subjects to spread and gain +footing amongst the savage nations, by resorting to their country, of +which they, at the same time, gain a knowledge useful to future +enterprizes, by a winning conformity to their actions, and by +intermarriages with them. They pretend, that even this savage life +itself is not without its peculiar sweets and pleasures; that it is the +most adapted, and the most natural to man. Liberty, they say, is no +where more perfectly enjoyed, than where no subordination is known, but +what is recommended by natural reason, the veneration of old age, or the +respect of personal merit. + +The chace is at once their chief employment and diversion; it furnishes +them with means to procure those articles, which enter into the small +number of natural wants. The demands of luxury, they think too dearly +bought with the loss of that liberty and independence they find in the +woods. They despise the magnificence of courts and palaces, in +comparison with the free range and scope of the hills and vales, with +the starry sky for their canopy: they say, we enjoy the Universe only in +miniature, whilst the savage-rovers enjoy it in the great. Thus reason +some of our admirers here of the savage-system of life, and yet I do not +find that these refining advocates for it, are themselves tempted to +embrace it. They are content to commend what themselves do not care to +practise. Those who actually do embrace it, reason very little about it, +though no doubt, the motives above assigned for their preference, are +generally, one may say instinctively, at the bottom of it. Their +greatest want is of wine, especially at first to those who are used to +it; but they are soon weaned from it by the example of others, and +content themselves with the substitution of rum, or brandy, of which +they obtain supplies by their barter of skins and furs. In short, their +hunting procures them all that they want or desire, and their liberty or +independence supplies to them the place of those luxuries of life, that +are not well to be had without the sacrifice in some sort of it. + +It is more difficult to find an excuse for the shocking cruelties and +barbarities, exercised by the savages on their unhappy captives in war. +The instances, however, of their inhumanity, are certainly not +exagerated, nor possible to be exagerated, but they are multiplied +beyond the limits of truth. That they put then their prisoners to death +by exquisite tortures, is strictly true; but it is as true too, that +they do not serve so many in that manner as has been said. Numbers they +save, and even incorporate with their own nation, who become as free as, +and on a footing with, the conquerors themselves. And even in that +cruelty of theirs, there is at the bottom a mixture of piety with their +vindictiveness. They imagine themselves bound to revenge the deaths of +their ancestors, their parents, or relations, fallen in war, upon their +enemies, especially of that nation by whom they have fallen. It is in +that apprehension too, they extend their barbarity to young children, +and to women: to the first, because they fear they may grow up to an +age, when they will be sure to pursue that revenge of which the spirit +is early instilled into them; to the second, lest they should produce +children, to whom they would, from the same spirit, be sure to inculcate +it. Thus, in a round natural enough, their fear begets their cruelty, +and their cruelty their fear, and so on, _ad infinitum_. They consider +too these tortures as matter of glory to them in the constancy with +which they are taught to suffer them; they familiarize to themselves the +idea of them, in a manner that redoubles their natural courage and +ferocity, and especially inspires them to fight desperately in battle, +so as to prefer death to a captivity, of which the consequences are, and +may be, so much more cruel to them. Another reason is also assignable +for their carrying things to these extremities: War is considered by +these people as something very sacred, and not lightly to be undertaken; +but when once so, to be pushed with the utmost rigor by way of terror, +joining its aid towards the putting the speediest end to it. The savage +nations imagine such examples necessary for deterring one another from +coming to ruptures, or invading one another upon slight motives, +especially as their habitations or villages used to be so slightly +fortified, that they might easily be surprised. They have lately indeed +learned to make stronger inclosures, or pallisadoes, but still not +sufficient entirely to invalidate this argument for their guarding +against sudden hostilities, by the idea of the most cruel revenge they +annex to the commission of them. It is not then, till after the maturest +deliberation, and the deepest debates, that they commonly come to a +resolution of _taking up the hatchet_, as they call declaring of war; +after which, there are no excesses to which their rage and ferocity do +not incite them. Even their feasting upon the dead bodies of their +enemies, after putting them to death with the most excruciating tortures +they can devise, is rather a point of revenge, than of relish for such a +banquet. + +That midst all their savageness they have, however, some glimmering +perception of the _laws of nations_, is evident from the use to which +they put the _calumet_, the rights of which are kept inviolate, thro' +especially the whole northern continent of America. It answers nearest +the idea of the olive-branch amongst the ancients. + +As to your question, Sir, about the English being in the right or wrong, +in their treatment of the _Acadians_, or descendants of the Europeans +first settled in Acadia, and in their scheme of dispersing them, the +point is so nice, that I own I dare not pronounce either way: but I will +candidly state to you certain facts and circumstances, which may enable +yourself to form a tolerably clear idea thereon. + +But previously I shall give you a succinct description of these people: +They were a mixed breed, that is to say, most of them proceeded from +marriages, or concubinage of the savage women with the first settlers, +who were of various nations, but chiefly French, the others were +English, Scotch, Swiss, Dutch, &c. the Protestants amongst whom, and +especially their children were, in process of time, brought over to a +conformity of faith with ours. They found they could not easily keep +their footing in the country, or live sociably with the great majority +of the French, but by this means of coming over to our religion. + +Certain Normans, of which number was Champlein, were the _first_ French +that discovered Port-Royal, now Annapolis, where they found some Scotch +settled, who had built a fort of turf, and planted in the area before it +some plumb-trees, and walnut-trees, which was all the works of +agriculture, and fortification the British nation had made in this +country before the year 1710. This is the chief reason [And a very good +one surely.] too, why they so much insist on calling Acadia, +Nova-Scotia, and pretend to be the first inhabitants and true +proprietors. These Scotch were driven from Port-Royal by the Normans. It +is true, they had discovered the river of Port-Royal _before_ the +Normans, and had built a turf-fort; but it is by no means true, that +they were therefore the true settlers on this river, and less yet in the +whole of Acadia. [Nothing can be more false and pitiful, than what +follows of this Frenchman's reasoning. If a fort is not a settlement, +what can be called one? Is it not one of the most valid, and generally +received marks of taking possession? It supposes always a design to +cultivate and improve; and no doubt but these first settlers would have +done both, if they had not been untimely driven away.] The true +inhabitants are those who cultivate a country, and thereby acquire a +real permanent situation. The property of ground is to them who clear, +plant, and improve it. The English had done nothing in this way to it +till the year 1710. They never came there, but on schemes of incursion +or trade; and in all the wars they had with the French, on being +superior to them, they contented themselves with putting them to ransom; +and though they sometimes took their fortified places, they did not +settle in them. As all their pretension in Acadia was trade, they +sometimes indeed detained such French as they could take prisoners; but +that was only for the greater security of their traffic in the mean +while with the savages. Traders, continually obliged to follow the +savages in their vagabond journeys, could not be supposed to have time +or inclination for agriculture. This title then the French settlers had; +and in short, the whole body of the inhabitants of Acadia, from time +immemorial, may be averred to have been French, since a few families of +English, and other Europeans, cannot be said to form an exception, and +those, as I have before observed, soon became frenchified. Except a few +families from Boston or New-England I could never learn there were above +three of purely British subjects, who also, ultimately conforming both +in the religious and civil institutions to the French, became +incorporated with them. These families were the _Peterses_, the +_Grangers_, the _Cartys_. These last indeed descended from one Roger +John-Baptist Carty, an Irish Roman-Catholic. He had been an indented +servant in New-England, and had obtained at length his discharge from +his master, with permission to remain with the French Acadians for the +freer exercise of his religion. Peters was an iron-smith in England, and +together with Granger, married in Acadia, and was there naturalized a +Frenchman. Granger made his abjuration before M. Petit, secular-priest +of the seminary of Paris, then missionary at Port-Royal (Annapolis). +These and other European families then soon became united with the +French Acadians, and were no longer distinguished from them. Most of +these last were originally from _Rochelle_, _Xaintonge_, and _Poitou_; +but all went under the common name of Acadians; and were once very +numerous. The Parish of _Annapolis-Royal_ alone in 1754, according to +the account of father _Daudin_, contained three hundred habitations, or +about two thousand communicants. The _Mines_, which are about +five-and-thirty leagues from Port-Royal, and the best corn country in +Acadia, were also very populous; nor were there wanting inhabitants in +many commodious parts of this peninsula. + +The character of the French Acadians was good at the bottom: their +morals far from vitious; their constitution hardy, and yet strongly +turned to indolence and inaction, not caring for work, unless a point of +present necessity pressed them; much attached to the customs of the +country, which have not a little of the savage in them, and to the +opinions of their fore-fathers, which they cherished as a kind of +patrimony; it was hard to inculcate any novelty to them. They had many +parts of character in common with the Canada French. A little matter +surprises, and sets them a staring, without stirring their curiosity to +examine, or exciting their inclination to adopt or embrace it. They are +remarkably fond of rosaries, crucifixes, agnus deis, and all the little +trinkets consecrated by religion, with which they love to adorn their +persons, and of which the priests make no little advantage in disposing +of amongst them: and in truth, it is almost incredible what a power and +influence these have over them, and with which they despotically govern +them. One instance I am sure cannot but make you laugh. In September, +1754, the priest at _Pigigeesh_, had appointed his parishioners to +perform the religious ceremony of a _Recess_, and to make them expiate +some disgust they had given him, obliged them, men, women, and children, +to attend the adoration of the holy-sacrament with a rope about their +necks; and what is more, he not only made them all buy the rope of him, +in which you may be sure he took care to find his account, but exacted +their coming to fetch it bare-footed, from his parsonage house; and this +they quietly submitted to. In short, considering the sweets of power on +whomsoever exercised, our good fathers the missionaries are not so much +to be pitied, as they would have us believe, for their great apostolical +labors, and exposure to fatigue; since it is certain, they live like +little kings in their respective parishes, and enjoy in all senses the +best the land affords; and even our government itself, for its own ends, +is obliged to pay a sort of court to them, and to keep them in good +humour. + +The Acadian men were commonly drest in a sort of coarse black stuff made +in the country; and many of the poorer sort go bare-footed in all +weathers. The women are covered with a cloak, and all their head-dress +is generally a handkerchief, which would serve for a veil too, in the +manner they tied it, if it descended low enough. + +Their dwellings were almost all built in an uniform manner; the +inhabitants themselves it was who built them, each for himself, there +being but few or no mechanics in the country. The hatchet was their +capital and universal instrument. They had saw-mills for their timber, +and with a plane and a knife, an Acadian would build his house and his +barn, and even make all his wooden domestic furniture. Happy nation! +that could thus be sufficient to itself, which would always be the case, +were the luxury and the vanity of other nations to remain unenvied. + +Such in short were the French Acadians, who fell under the dominion of +the king of Great Britain, when the English experienced, from both the +Acadians and savages, a most thorough reluctance to the recognition of +their new sovereign, which has continued to this day. + +As to the savages it is certain, that the governors for the English +acted entirely against the interest of their nation, in their procedure +with them. They had been long under the French government, so far as +their nature allows them to be under any government at all; and besides +almost all the Micmakis, and great numbers of the Maricheets, or +Abenaquis, were converted to our faith, and were consequently under the +influence of the priests. It could not then be expected, naturally +speaking, that these people could all of a sudden shake off their +attachment to, and connexions with our nation; so that, even after the +cession of Acadia, they continued, with a savage sulleness, to give +marks of their preference of our government. This could not fail of +giving the English umbrage; and their impatience not brooking either +delays, or soothing them into a temper and opinion more favorable to +them: they let it very early be seen, and penetrated by the savages, +that they intended to clear the country of them. Nor would this +exterminating plan, however not over-humane, have been perhaps wholly an +impolitical one, if they had not had the French for neighbors, who, ever +watchful and alert in concerning themselves with what past in those +parts, took care underhand, by their priests and emissaries, to inflame +them, and to offer them not only the kindest refuge, but to provide them +with all necessaries of life, sure of being doubly repaid by the service +they would do them, if but in the mischief they would do the English, to +whom it was a great point with our government to make Acadia as +uncomfortable, and as untenable as possible. It was no wonder then, that +the savages, ill-used by the English, and still dreading worse from +them, being constantly plied by our caresses, presents, and promises, +should prefer our nation to that. I have before said, that religion has +no great hold of these savages, but it could not be but of some weight +in the scale, where their minds were already so exulcerated against +those of a different one, whom they now considered as their capital +enemies. You may be sure like-wise, our priests did not neglect making +the most of this advantage, which the English themselves furnished them +by their indiscreet management: for certain it is, that a few presents +well placed, proper methods of conciliation, and a very little time, +would have entirely detached the savages from our interest, and have +turned the system of annoyance of the English against the French +themselves. Some English governors indeed grew sensible of this, and +applied themselves to retrieve matters by a gentler treatment, but the +mischief was already done and irretrieveable; and our missionaries took +care to widen the breach, and to keep up their spirit of hatred and +revenge, by instilling into them the notions of jealousy, that such +overtures of friendship, on the part of the English, were no better than +so many snares laid to make them perish, by a false security, since they +could not hope to do it by open violence. One instance may serve to show +you the temper of these people: Some years ago the English officers +being assembled at the _Mines_, in order to take a solemn recognition +from them of the king of Great Britain, when a savage, a new convert, +called _Simon_, in spite of all dissuasion, went himself alone to the +English commander, and told him, that all his endeavours to get the king +of England acknowledged, would be to no purpose; that, for his part, he +should never pay any allegiance but to the king of France, and drawing a +knife, said, "This indeed is all the arms I have, and with this weapon +alone, I will stand by the king of France till death." + +Yet, with all this obstinacy of sentiments, once more I dare aver, the +savages would have been easily won over and attached to the English +party, had these gone the right way about it: and I well know that the +French, who knew best the nature of the savages, much dreaded it; and +were not a little pleased to see the English take measures so contrary +to their own interest, and play the game so effectually into our hands. +In short, we took, as was natural, all the advantage of their +indiscretion and over-sight. + +I come now to the Acadians, or what may more properly be called the +French Acadians. These would undoubtedly have proved very valuable +subjects to the English, and extreamly useful to them in improving a +dominion so susceptible of all manner of improvement as _Acadia_, +(Nova-Scotia) if they could have been, prevailed on to break their +former ties of allegiance to the king of France, and to have remained +quietly under the new government to which they were now transferred. But +from this they were constantly dissuaded, and withheld by the influence +of our French priests, cantoned, amongst them [The letter-writer might +have here added the infamous arts and falsities by which these +emissaries of the French imposed on those bigotted deluded people, and +to that end made religion a vile tool of state. They represented to +these Acadians, that it was an inexpiable crime against their faith, to +hold any commerce with heretics, and much more so to enter into their +interests;--that there would be no pardon for them, either in the other +world, or even in this, when the French should regain, as they certainly +would, possession of a country ceded so much against the grain. In +short, they succeeded but too well in keeping up the spirit of rebellion +amongst those infatuated devotees of theirs, who remained sullen and +refractory to all the advances the English made to gain them.], who kept +them steady to our party. You may be sure our government did not fail of +constantly inculcating the expediency of this conduct to our priests; +who not only very punctually and successfully conformed to their +instructions on this head, but very often in the heat of their zeal so +much exceeded them, as to draw on themselves the animadversion of the +English government. This answered a double end, of hindering that nation +from finding those advantages in this country, by the prospect of which +it had been tempted to settle in it, and of engaging it to consider +Acadia itself, as something not material enough to think worth its +keeping, at the expence which it must occasion, and consequently induce +the English to be the readier to part with it again, on any future +treaty of peace. This too is certain, that the French themselves knew +neither the extent, nor the value of this country, till they were +sensible of the improvements the English were projecting; and the use +now so easy to discover might be made of so fine an establishment. But +to return to the Acadians: It must be confest the English had, with +respect to them, a difficult game to play. To force such a number of +families, of which too such great use might have been made, to evacuate +the country, seems at first both impolitic and inhuman. But then it must +be considered, that these people were absolutely untractable as to the +English, and thoroughly under the direction of priests in an interest +quite opposite to theirs. To have taken those priests entirely from +them, would have exasperated them yet more, and was, in fact, a measure +repugnant to that spirit of toleration in religious matters, of which +they boast, and to which it must be owned they constantly adhered, as to +these people, both in speculation and practice. + +[Might not this dilemma have been removed, by procuring for them +priests, since priests they must have, from neutral nations, such as the +Flemings, the Roman Swiss Cantons, &c. whom a very small matter of +reward and encouragement would, it is probable, have fixed in the +English interest? At least, they could not have the same motives for +fomenting rebellious principles, as the French priests, who were set on +by that government.] + +None of the Acadians were ever molested purely for their religion; and +even the priests of our nation were always civilly treated by them, +whenever they had not reason to think they meddled in temporal matters, +or stirred up their parishioners to rebellion. I have seen many of their +own letters that acknowledge as much; so that upon the whole, I do not +see that the English could do otherwise than they did, in expelling +their bounds a people, who were constitutionally, and invincibly, a +perpetual thorn in their side, whom they could at best look on as secret +domestic enemies, who wanted nothing but an occasion to do them all the +mischief in their power, and of whom, consequently, there could not, for +their interest and safety, remain too few in the land. + +In the mean time the French took special care to appear at least to +receive with open arms those _refugees_, whom their fear or hatred of +the English drove out of that country; they gave them temporary places +of habitation, both for them and their cattle, besides provisions, arms, +tools, &c. till they should fix a settlement in some part of the French +dominions here, which they recommended especially in the island of, or +on the banks of the river of St. John; but they were at first very loth +to come to a determination. And surely, these unfortunate victims of +their attachment to the French government deserved all the reparation in +its power to give them, for what they had quitted for the sake of +preserving allegiance to it, even after their country had been +transferred to another sovereign. I cannot, however, consistently with +truth say, they were received as kindly as they deserved, which probably +bred that undetermination of their's to fix a new settlement, as they +were pressed to do by the French government. They retained still a +hankering after their old habitations: the temporary new ones were far +from being equally agreeable or convenient; and even the ancient +settlers in those places where these refugees were provisionally +cantoned, began to make complaints of their encroaching upon them, and +to represent their apprehensions of their becoming burthensome to them. +Some of our people in power, more sollicitous for their own private +interest, than for the public good, were but too remiss in relieving and +comforting these poor people. This, at length, indisposed them so, that +after very pathetic remonstrances on the hardship of their case, and the +motives upon which they thus suffered, great numbers of them began to +listen seriously to the proposals made them by the English, to return +upon very inviting terms to the settlements they had quitted. In short, +it required the utmost art of the missionaries, and even a kind of +coercion from the military power, to keep them from accepting the +English offers. For when they presented a petition to Mons. _de Vergor_, +for leave to return to the English district, this commander, after +having remonstrated to them that he could not grant their request, nor +decide any thing of himself in a matter of that importance, was forced, +at length, to declare to them, that he would _shoot_ any man who should +attempt to go over to the English. [It should here be remarked, that +these very people had taken the oath of allegiance to the crown of +England, agreeable to the tenor of the treaty of Utrecht. But the +French, not content with harbouring these causeless malecontents, that +were actually deserters over to them, kept continually, by means of the +priests, plying such as staid behind with exhortations, promises, +menaces, in short, with every art of seduction, to engage them to +withdraw their sworn allegiance to their now lawful sovereign. In short, +if all the transactions of the French in those parts were thrown into a +history, it would lay open to the world such a scene of complicated +villainy, rebellion, perjury, subornation of perjury, perfidiousness, +and cruelty, as would for ever take from that nation the power of +pluming itself, as it now so impudently does, on its sincerity, +fairness, and moderation. The English, on the other hand, too conscious +of the justice of their cause at bottom, have been too remiss in their +confutation of the French falsities: content with being in the right, +they cared too little for having the appearance of being so, as if the +world was not governed by appearances.] Thus these poor people remained +under this deplorable dilemma. Some of them too, had not even +habitations to go back if they would: they had been forced into the +measure of deserting their country, and passing over to the French side, +by the violence of the Abbot de Loutre, who had not only preached them +into this spirit, but ordered the savages, whom he had at his disposal, +to set fire to their habitations, barns, &c. particularly at +_Mirtigueesh_. [The reader is desired to observe, that in the memorials +delivered into the English court by the French ministers, this burning +of villages was specifically made an article of complaint, at the same +time that it was their own incendiary agent, at their own instigation, +who had actually caused fire to be set to them by his savages. Could +then impudence be pushed farther than it was on this occasion?] + +In the mean time the French did not spare, at least, the consolation of +words and promises to these distrest Refugee-acadians. They were +assured, that they would infallibly be relieved on the regulation of the +limits taking place, which was then on the point of being settled, by +commissaries, between the two crowns. [The truth is, that in these +assurances the French government, which never intended a conclusion, but +only an amusement, did not scruple equally deceiving the English, and +these infatuated Acadian subjects of ours, who, to the French interest +had sacrificed their own, their possessions in their country, their +sworn faith, in short, their ALL. Whoever has the patience to go through +the French memorials, in their procedure with our commissaries, may see +such instances of their pitiful prevarications, petty-fogging chicanery, +quirks, and evasions, as would nauseate one. The whole stress of their +argument, in short, turns merely upon names, where the things themselves +were absolutely out of the question, from the manifest notoriety of +them.] This hope, in some sort, pacified them; and they lived as well as +they could in the expectation of a final decision, which was not so soon +to come. + +Yet even this example of the sufferings of these people, purely on +account of their attachment to the French government, could not out +balance with the French Acadians, who remained in the English district, +the assiduous applications of our priests to keep them firm in the +French interest. They never ceased giving every mark in their power of +their preference of our government to that, under which the treaty of +Utrecht had put them. The English, however, at length finding that, +neither by fair nor foul means, could they reclaim or win them over to +their purpose, so as that they might in future depend upon them, came at +once to a violent resolution. They surprized and seized every French +Acadian-man they could lay their hands on, (the women they knew would +follow of course) and, to clear the country effectually of them, +dispersed them into the remotest parts of their other settlements in +North-America, where they thought they could do the least mischief to +them. Some were shipped off for England: the priests shared the same +fate, and were conveyed to Europe. With this evacuation, the very +existence of the French Acadians may be said to have ended; for in +Acadia there are scarce any traces of them left, few or none having +escaped this general seizure and transportation, for the necessity of +which, the English were perhaps more to be pitied than blamed. + +In the mean time our government had so far succeeded, as to force the +English, thus to deprive themselves of such a number of subjects, who, +but for the reasons above deduced, might have been very valuable ones, +and a great strengthening of their new colony. Hitherto then our +neighborhood has made it almost as irksome, and uncomfortable to them, +as we could wish; and this fine spot of dominion does not nigh produce +to them the advantages that might otherwise naturally be expected from +it. Numbers of themselves begin to exclaim against it, as if its value +and importance had been overrated; not considering, that it is on the +circumstances of their possession, and not on the nature of the +possession itself, that their complaints and murmurings should fall. It +is very likely, that whenever we get it back again, we shall know very +well what to do with it. They have begun to teach us the value of what +we thus inadvertently parted with to them; and it will be hard, indeed, +on recovering it, if we do not improve upon their lessons. + +In the mean time you in Europe are cruelly mistaken, if you do not annex +an idea of the highest consequence and value, to the matters of dominion +now in dispute, between the crowns of France and Great Britain, between +whom the war is in a manner begun, by the capture of the Alcides and +Lys, and which, even without that circumstance, was inevitable. I know +that our (French) government, is indeed fully sensible of the capital +importance to it of its interest in these parts, and has proceeded in +consequence. But it is not so, I find by your letters, and the reports +of others, with numbers in Europe, who do not conceive, that the present +object of the war is so considerable as it really is. + +To say nothing of the vast extent of country that falls under the claim +of the English to Acadia (Nova-Scotia) which alone would form an immence +mass of dominion, greatly improveable in a number of points, its +situation is yet of greater weight. By the English possessing it, Canada +itself would be so streightened, so liable to harrassment, and +especially to the comptrol of its navigation, that it would scarce be +tenable, and surely not worth the expence of keeping. The country +pretended to have been ceded is far preferable to it; and the masters of +it would be equally masters of the sea all over North-America. Hallifax, +for example, according to which of the nation's hand it should be in, +may be equally an effectual check on Quebec, or Boston. + +You will then allow, that was there even nothing more in dispute than +the limits of the cession of Acadia, or Nova-Scotia, together with its +necessary dependence, that alone would form such a considerable object, +as not easily to be given up on either side. The commissaries appointed +by both crowns, then failing of coming to any agreement or regulation, +it is no wonder to see the appeal lodged with the sword; especially when +there is another point yet remains, of perhaps equal, if not superior, +importance, depending on the issue of the war: and that is, the western +inland frontiers of the English colonies. Should we ever command the +navigation of the lakes and rivers, behind their settlements, you can +easily figure to yourself, not only the vast advantages of preserving +that communication of Canada, with New Orleans and the Mississippi, so +absolutely essential to both these our colonies, but the facility it +will give us on all occasions of distressing the English, where neither +their marine-force can succor them, nor can they be able to resist the +attack, since we may make it wherever ever we please, and effectually +dodge any land-force they might assemble in any one or two parts to +oppose us. We may then carry the war into the quarter most convenient; +and most safe for us, if we should ever have the whole navigation of the +lakes so far at our disposal, as to prevent their constructing any +material number vessels to dispute it with us. Thus we can penetrate +into the heart of any of their colonies, that may best suit us, +especially with the concurrent aid of the savages, whom we have found +means to attach so strongly to us, and on whom we can greatly depend for +the effectual harrassment of, especially, the back-plantations of the +English. + +You see then, Sir, by this summary sketch of the points in contest, that +the war being once engaged, it will not be so easy a matter as many in +Europe imagine, to adjust the pretensions, so various and so important, +of the respective nations, so as to be able to procure a peace. Some, of +the points appear to me absolutely _untreatable_. You may observe too, +that I do not so much as touch upon the dispute about Tabago, +Santa-Lucia, or any of the Leeward islands, which are not, however, of +small consequence. In short, the war must, in all human probability, be +a much longer one, than is commonly believed. Neither nation can +materially relax of its claims, without such a thorough sacrifice of its +interest in America, as nothing but the last extremities of weakness can +compel. + +Long as this letter is, I cannot yet close it without mentioning to you +a singular phenomenon of nature, in the island of St. John. You know it +is a flat, level island, chiefly formed out of the congestion of sand +and soil from the sea. Tradition, experience, and authentic public acts +(_Proces verbaux_) concur to attest that every seven years, it is +visited by swarms either of locusts, or of field-mice, alternately, +never together; without its being possible to discover hitherto either +the reason, or the origin of these two species, which thus in their +turns, at the end of every seventh year, pour out all of a sudden in +amazing numbers, and having committed their ravages on all the fruits of +the earth, precipitate themselves into the sea. Neither has any +preventive remedy for this evil been yet discovered. It is well known +how they perish, but, once more, how they are produced no one, that I +could learn, has as yet been able to trace. The field-mice are +undoubtedly something in the nature of those swarms of the sable-mice, +that sometimes over-run Lapland and Norway, though I do not know that +these return so regularly, and at such stated periods, as those of this +island. + +I am, Sir, + +Your most obedient, + +Humble servant. + + + + +CHARACTER + +OF THE + +SAVAGES of NORTH-AMERICA, + +EXTRACTED FROM + +A LETTER of the Father CHARLEVOIX, + +TO + +A LADY of Distinction, + + +To give you, Madam, a summary sketch of the character of the savages in +this country, I am to observe to you, that under a savage appearance, +with manners and customs, that favor entirely of barbarism, may be found +a society exempt from almost all the faults that so often vitiate the +happiness of ours. + +They appear to be without passion, but they are in cold blood, and +sometimes even from principle, all that the most violent and most +unbridled passion can inspire into those, who no longer listen to +reason. + +They seem to lead the most miserable of lives, and they are, perhaps, +the only happy of the earth. At least those of them are still so, +amongst whom the knowledge of those objects that disturb and seduce us, +has not yet penetrated, or awakened in them, those pernicious desires +which their ignorance kept happily dormant: it has not, however, +hitherto made great ravages amongst them. + +There may be perceived a mixture in them of the most ferocious and the +most gentle manners; of the faults reproachable to the carnivorous +beasts, with those virtues and qualities of the head and heart, that do +the most honor to human-kind. + +One would, at first, imagine, that they had no sort of form of +government, that they knew no laws nor subordination, and that living in +an entire independence, they suffered themselves to be entirely guided +by chance, or by the most wild, untamed caprice: yet they enjoy almost +all the advantages, which a well-regulated authority can procure to the +most civilized nations. Born free and independent, they hold in horror +the very shadow of despotic power; but they rarely swerve from certain +principles and customs, founded upon good-sense, which stand them in the +stead of laws, and supplement in some sort to their want of legal +authority. All constraint mocks them; but reason alone hold them in a +kind of subordination, which, for its being voluntary, does not the less +answer the proposed end. + +A man, whom they should greatly esteem, would find them tractable and +ductile enough, and might very nearly make them do any thing he had a +mind they should; but it is not easy to gain their esteem to such a +point. They grant it only to merit, and that merit a very superior one, +of which they are as good judges as those, who, amongst us, value +themselves the most upon being so. They are, especially, apt to be taken +with physiognomy; and there are not in the world, perhaps, men who are +greater _connoisseurs_ in it: and that is, because they have for no man +whatever, any of those respects that prejudice or impose on us, and that +studying only nature, they understand it well. As they are not slaves to +ambition or interest, those two passions that have chiefly cancelled in +us that sentiment of humanity, which the author of nature had engraved +in our hearts; the inequality of conditions is not necessary to them, +for the support of society. + +There are not therefore, Madam, to be seen amongst them, or at least, +are rarely to be met with, those arrogant haughty characters, who, full +of themselves of their greatness, or their merit, look on themselves +almost as a species a-part, and disdain the rest of mankind, of whom +consequently they can never have the confidence or love. Their equals +these rarely know any thing of, because the jealousy that reigns amongst +the great, hinders them from being intimate enough with one another. +Neither do they know themselves, from their never studying themselves, +and from their constant self-flattery. They never reflect, that to gain +admission into the hearts of men, they must make themselves their +equals; so that with this pretended superiority of enlightened +understanding, which they look on as an essential property of the rank +they hold, the most part of them live groveling in a proud and incurable +ignorance of all that it would be the most important for them to know, +and never enjoy the true sweets of life. + +In all this how wretchedly different from the savages! In this country, +all the men esteem themselves equally men; and in man, what they most +esteem is, the man. No distinction of birth; no prerogative attributed +to rank, to the prejudice of the other free members of society; no +pre-eminence annexed to merit that can inspire pride, or make others +feel too much their inferiority. There is, perhaps, less delicacy in +their sentiments than amongst us, but surely more uprightness; less +ceremony; less of all that can form a dubious character; less of the +temptations or illusions or self-love. + +Religion only can perfect these people in what is good in them, and +correct what bad. This indeed is not peculiar to them, but what is so, +is, that they bring with them fewer obstacles to religious devotion when +once they have begun to believe, which can only be the effect of a +special grace. It is also true, that to establish firmly the empire of +religion over them, it would be necessary that they should see it +practised in all its purity by those who profess it. They are extremely +susceptible of the scandal given by bad Christians, as are all those who +are, for the first time, instructed in the principles of the +Gospel-morality. + +You will perhaps ask me, Madam, if they have a religion? To this I +answer, that it cannot be said they have not one, though it is difficult +to give a definition of what it is. I shall sometime or other, take +occasion to enter into more particulars on this head. This letter, like +most of the others that have preceded it, prove sufficiently that I do +not pretend to write to you methodically. + +I shall then now only content myself with adding, by way of finishing, +to this picture of the savages, that even in their most indifferent +actions, may be perceived the traces of the primitive natural religion, +but which escape those who do not study them enough, because they are +yet more defaced by the want of instruction, [This want of instruction +is wretchedly supplemented amongst the savage-converts to the Popish +religion, by that superstitious worship, and those fabulous traditions, +its missionaries have introduced amongst them, and which must be only +the more execrable, for their being a superstructure on so fair a +foundation as that of the truths of the Gospel. At least, the savages, +in their genuine unsophisticated state, have no such base, absurd, +derogatory ideas of the Deity, as are implied by the doctrines of +transubstantiation, purgatory, absolution, and the like fictions in the +Romish church, which have been the more than mines of Mexico and Peru, +of its clergy.] than adulterated by the mixture of a superstitious +worship, and by fabulous traditions. + +_FINIS._ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Account Of The Customs And Manners +Of The Micmakis And Maricheets Savage Nations, Now Dependent On The Government Of Cape-Breton, by Antoine Simon Maillard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICMAKIS AND MARICHEETS *** + +***** This file should be named 15567.txt or 15567.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/5/6/15567/ + +Produced by Wallace McLean, David King, and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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