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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/4388.txt b/4388.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8c5125 --- /dev/null +++ b/4388.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3634 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Jesuit Missions, by Thomas Guthrie Marquis +#4 in our series Chronicles of Canada + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan + + + + +CHRONICLES OF CANADA +Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton +In thirty-two volumes + +Volume 4 + + +THE JESUIT MISSIONS +A Chronicle of the Cross in the Wilderness + +By THOMAS GUTHRIE MARQUIS +TORONTO, 1916 + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE RECOLLET FRIARS + +For seven years the colony which Champlain founded at +the rock of Quebec lived without priests. [Footnote: +For the general history of the period covered by the +first four chapters of the present narrative, see 'The +Founder of New France' in this Series.] Perhaps the lack +was not seriously felt, for most of the twoscore inmates +of the settlement were Huguenot traders. But out in the +great land, in every direction from the rude dwellings +that housed the pioneers of Canada, roamed savage tribes, +living, said Champlain, 'like brute beasts.' It was +Champlain's ardent desire to reclaim these beings of the +wilderness. The salvation of one soul was to him 'of more +value than the conquest of an empire.' Not far from his +native town of Brouage there was a community of the +Recollets, and, during one of his periodical sojourns in +France, he invited them to send missionaries to Canada. +The Recollets responded to his appeal, and it was arranged +that several of their number should sail with him to the +St Lawrence in the following spring. So, in May 1615, +three Recollet friars--Denis Jamay, Jean d'Olbeau, Joseph +Le Caron--and a lay brother named Pacificus du Plessis, +landed at Tadoussac. To these four men is due the honour +of founding the first permanent mission among the Indians +of New France. An earlier undertaking of the Jesuits in +Acadia (1611-13) had been broken up. The Canadian mission +is usually associated with the Jesuits, and rightly so, +for to them, as we shall see, belongs its most glorious +history; but it was the Recollets who pioneered the way. + +When the friars reached Quebec they arranged a division +of labour in this manner: Jamay and Du Plessis were to +remain at Quebec; D'Olbeau was to return to Tadoussac +and essay the thorny task of converting the tribes round +that fishing and trading station; while to Le Caron was +assigned a more distant field, but one that promised a +rich harvest. Six or seven hundred miles from Quebec, in +the region of Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay, dwelt +the Hurons, a sedentary people living in villages and +practising a rude agriculture. In these respects they +differed from the Algonquin tribes of the St Lawrence, +who had no fixed abodes and depended on forest and stream +for a living. The Hurons, too, were bound to the French +by both war and trade. Champlain had assisted them and +the Algonquins in battle against the common foe, the +Iroquois or Five Nations, and a flotilla of canoes from +the Huron country, bringing furs to one of the trading- +posts on the St Lawrence, was an annual event. The +Recollets, therefore, felt confident of a friendly +reception among the Hurons; and it was with buoyant hopes +that Le Caron girded himself for the journey to his +distant mission-field. + +On the 6th or 7th of July, in company with a party of +Hurons, Le Caron set out from the island of Montreal. +The Hurons had come down to trade, and to arrange with +Champlain for another punitive expedition against the +Iroquois, and were now returning to their own villages. +It was a laborious and painful journey--up the Ottawa, +across Lake Nipissing, and down the French River--but at +length the friar stood on the shores of Lake Huron, the +first of white men to see its waters. From the mouth of +the French River the course lay southward for mere than +a hundred miles along the east shore of Georgian Bay, +until the party arrived at the peninsula which lies +between Nottawasaga and Matchedash Bays. Three or four +miles inland from the west shore of this peninsula stood +the town of Carhagouha, a triple-palisaded stronghold of +the Hurons. Here the Indians gave the priest an enthusiastic +welcome and invited him to share their common lodges; +but as he desired a retreat 'in which he could meditate +in silence,' they built him a commodious cabin apart from +the village. A few days later Champlain himself appeared +on the scene; and it was on the 12th of August that he +and his followers attended in Le Caron's cabin the first +Mass celebrated in what is now the province of Ontario. +Then, while Le Caron began his efforts for the conversion +of the benighted Hurons, Champlain went off with the +warriors on a very different mission--an invasion of the +Iroquois country. The commencement of religious endeavour +in Huronia is thus marked by an event that was to intensify +the hatred of the ferocious Iroquois against both the +Hurons and the French. + +Le Caron spent the remainder of the year 1615 among the +Hurons, studying the people, learning the language, and +compiling a dictionary. Champlain, his expedition ended, +returned to Huronia and remained there until the middle +of January, when he and Le Caron set out on a visit to +the Petun or Tobacco Nation, then dwelling on the southern +shore of Nottawasaga Bay, a two-days' journey south-west +of Carhagouha. There had been as yet no direct communication +between the French and the Petuns, and the visitors were +not kindly received. The Petun sorcerers or medicine-men +dreaded the influence of the grey-robed friar, regarded +him as a rival, and caused his teachings to be derided. +After an uncomfortable month Champlain and Le Caron +returned to Carhagouha, where they remained until the +20th of May, and then set out for Quebec. + +When Le Caron reached Quebec on the 11th of July (1616) +he found that his comrades had not been idle. A chapel +had been built, in what is now the Lower Town, close to +the habitation, and here Father Jamay ministered to the +spiritual needs of the colonists and laboured among the +Indians camped in the vicinity of the trading-post. Father +d'Olbeau had been busy among the Montagnais, a wandering +Algonquin tribe between Tadoussac and Seven Islands, his +reward being chiefly suffering. The filth and smoke of +the Indian wigwams tortured him, the disgusting food of +the natives filled him with loathing, and their vice and +indifference to his teaching weighed on his spirit. + +The greatest trial the Recollets had to bear was the +opposition of the Company of St Malo and Rouen, which +was composed largely of Huguenots, and had a monopoly of +the trade of New France. Many of the traders were actively +antagonistic to the spread of the Catholic religion and +they all viewed the work of the Recollets with hostility. +It was the aim of the missionaries to induce the Indians +to settle near the trading-posts in order that they might +the more easily be reached with the Gospel message. The +traders had but one thought--the profits of the fur trade; +and, desiring to keep the Indians nomadic hunters of +furs, they opposed bringing them into fixed abodes and +put every possible obstacle in the way of the friars. +Trained interpreters in the employ of the company for +both the Hurons and the various Algonquin tribes were +ordered not to assist the missionaries in acquiring a +knowledge of the native languages. The company was pledged +to support six missionaries, but the support was given +with an unwilling, niggardly hand. + +At length, in 1621, as a result of the complaints of +Champlain and the Recollets, before the authorities in +France, the Company of St Malo and Rouen lost its charter, +and the trading privileges were given to William and +Emery de Caen, uncle and nephew. But these men also were +Huguenots, and the unhappy condition of affairs continued +in an intensified form. Champlain, though the nominal +head of the colony, was unable to provide a remedy, for +the real power was in the hands of the Caens, who had in +their employment practically the entire population. + +Yet, in spite of all the obstacles put in their way, the +Recollets continued their self-sacrificing labours. By +the beginning of 1621 they had a comfortable residence +on the bank of the St Charles, on the spot where now +stands the General Hospital. Here they had been granted +two hundred acres of land, and they cultivated the soil, +raising meagre crops of rye, barley, maize, and wheat, +and tending a few pigs, cows, asses, and fowls. There +were from time to time accessions to their ranks. Between +the years 1616 and 1623 the fathers Guillaume Poullain, +Georges le Baillif, Paul Huet, Jacques de la Foyer, +Nicolas Viel, and several lay brothers, the most noted +among whom was Gabriel Sagard-Theodat, laboured in New +France. They made attempts to christianize the Micmacs +of Acadia, the Abnaki of the upper St John, the Algonquin +tribes of the lower St Lawrence, and the Nipissings of +the upper Ottawa. But the work among these roving bands +proved most disheartening, and once more the grey-robed +friars turned to the Hurons. + +The end of August 1623 saw Le Caron, Viel, and Sagard in +Huronia. Until October they seem to have laboured in +different settlements, Viel at Toanche, a short distance +from Penetanguishene Bay, Sagard at Ossossane, near +Dault's Bay, an indentation of Nottawasaga Bay, and Le +Caron at Carhagouha. It does not appear that they were +able to make much of an impression on the savages, though +they had the satisfaction of some baptisms. During the +winter Sagard studied Indian habits and ideas, and with +Le Caron's assistance compiled a dictionary of the Huron +language. [Footnote: Sagard's observations were afterwards +given to the world in his 'Histoire du Canada et Voyages +des Peres Recollects en la Nouvelle-France.'] Then, an +June 1624, Le Caron and Sagard accompanied the annual +canoe-fleet to Quebec, and Viel was left alone in Huronia. + +The Recollets were discouraged. They saw that the field +was too large and that the difficulties were too great +for them. And, after invoking 'the light of the Holy +Spirit,' they decided, according to Sagard, 'to send one +of their members to France to lay the proposition before +the Jesuit fathers, whom they deemed the most suitable +for the work of establishing and extending the Faith in +Canada.' So Father Irenaeus Piat and Brother Gabriel +Sagard were sent to entreat to the rescue of the Canadian +mission the greatest of all the missionary orders--an +order which 'had filled the whole world with memorials +of great things done and suffered for the Faith'--the +militant and powerful Society of Jesus. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE JESUITS AT QUEBEC + +The 15th of June 1625 was a significant day for the colony +of New France. On that morning a blunt-prowed, high-pooped +vessel cast anchor before the little trading village that +clustered about the base of the great cliff at Quebec. +It was a ship belonging to the Caens, and it came laden +to the hatches with supplies for the colonists and goods +for trade with the Indians. But, what was more important, +it had as passengers the Jesuits who had been sent to +the aid of the Recollets, the first of the followers of +Loyola to enter the St Lawrence--Fathers Charles Lalemant, +Ennemond Masse, Jean de Brebeuf, and two lay brothers of +the Society. These black-robed priests were the forerunners +of an army of men who, bearing the Cross instead of the +sword and labouring at their arduous tasks in humility +and obedience but with dauntless courage and unflagging +zeal, were to make their influence felt from Hudson Bay +to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the sea-girt shores of +Cape Breton to the wind-swept plains of the Great West. +They were the vanguard of an army of true soldiers, of +whom the words + + Theirs not to reason why, + Theirs but to do and die, + +might fittingly have been written. The Jesuit missionary +in North America had no thought of worldly profit or +renown, but, with his mind fixed on eternity, he performed +his task ad majorem Dei gloriam, for the greater glory +of God. + +The Jesuits had sailed from Dieppe on the 26th of April +in company with a Recollet friar, La Roche de Daillon, +of whom we shall presently hear more. The voyage across +the stormy Atlantic had been long and tedious. On a vessel +belonging to Huguenots, the priests had been exposed to +the sneers and gibes of crew and traders. It was the +viceroy of New France, the Duc de Ventadour, a devout +Catholic, who had compelled the Huguenot traders to give +passage to these priests, or they would not have been +permitted on board the ship. Much better could the +Huguenots tolerate the humble, mendicant Recollets than +the Jesuits, aggressive and powerful, uncompromising +opponents of Calvinism. + +As the anchor dropped, the Jesuits made preparations to +land; but they were to meet with a temporary disappointment. +Champlain was absent in France, and Emery de Caen said +that he had received no instructions from the viceroy to +admit them to the colony. Moreover, they were told that +there was no room for them in the habitation or the fort. +To make matters worse, a bitter, slanderous diatribe +against their order had been distributed among the +inhabitants, and the doors of Catholics and Huguenots +alike were closed against them. Prisoners on the ship, +at the very gate of the promised land, no course seemed +open to them but to return on the same vessel to France. +But they were suddenly lifted by kindly hands from the +depths of despair. A boat rowed by men attached to the +Recollets approached their vessel. Soon several friars +dressed in coarse grey robes, with the knotted cord of +the Recollet order about their waists, peaked hood hanging +from their shoulders, and coarse wooden sandals on their +feet, stood before them on the deck, giving them a +wholehearted welcome and offering them a home, with the +use of half the buildings and land on the St Charles. +Right gladly the Jesuits accepted the offer and were +rowed ashore in the boat of the generous friars. On +touching the soil of New France they fell on their knees +and kissed the ground, in spite of the scowling traders +about them. + +The disappointment of these aggressive pioneers of the +Church must have been great as they viewed Quebec. It +was now seventeen years since the colony had been founded; +yet it had fewer than one hundred inhabitants. In the +whole of Canada there were but seven French families and +only six white children. Save by Louis Hebert, the first +to cultivate the soil at Quebec, and the Recollets, no +attempt had been made at agriculture, and the colony was +almost wholly dependent on France for its subsistence. +When not engaged in gathering furs or loading and unloading +vessels, the men lounged in indolence about the +trading-posts or wandered to the hunting grounds of the +Indians, where they lived in squalor and vice. The avarice +of the traders was bearing its natural fruit, and the +untiring efforts of Champlain, a devoted, zealous patriot, +had been unavailing to counteract it. The colony sorely +needed the self-sacrificing Jesuits, but for whom it +would soon undoubtedly have been cast off by the mother +country as a worthless burden. To them Canada, indeed, +owed its life; for when the king grew weary of spending +treasure on this unprofitable colony, the stirring appeals +of the Relations [Footnote: It was a rule of the Society +of Jesus that each of its missionaries should write a +report of his work. These reports, known as Relations, +were generally printed and sold by the booksellers of +Paris. About forty volumes of the Relations from the +missions of Canada were published between 1632 and 1672 +and widely read in France.] moved both king and people +to sustain it until the time arrived when New France was +valued as a barrier against New England. + +Scarcely had the Jesuits made themselves at home in the +convent of the Recollets when they began planning for +the mission. It was decided that Lalemant and Masse should +remain at Quebec; but Brebeuf, believing, like the +Recollets, that little of permanent value could be done +among the ever-shifting Algonquins, desired to start at +once for the populous towns of Huronia. In July, in +company with the Recollet La Roche de Daillon, Brebeuf +set out for Three Rivers. The Indians--Hurons, Algonquins, +and Ottawas--had gathered at Cape Victory, a promontory +in Lake St Peter near the point where the lake narrows +again into the St Lawrence. There, too, stood French +vessels laden with goods for barter; and thither went +the two missionaries to make friends with the Indians +and to lay in a store of goods for the voyage to Huronia +and for use at the mission. The captains of the vessels +appeared friendly and supplied the priests with coloured +beads, knives, kettles, and other articles. All was going +well for the journey, when, on the eve of departure, a +runner arrived from Montreal bringing evil news. + +For a year the Recollet Nicolas Viel had remained in +Huronia. Early in 1624 he had written to Father Piat +hoping that he might live and die in his Huron mission +at Carhagouha. There is no record of his sojourn in +Huronia during the winter 1624-25. Alone among the savages, +with a scant knowledge of their language, his spirit must +have been oppressed with a burden almost too great to be +borne; he must have longed for the companionship of men +of his own language and faith. At any rate, in the early +summer of 1625 he had set out for Quebec with a party of +trading Hurons for the purpose of spending some time in +retreat at the residence on the banks of the St Charles. +He was never to reach his destination. On arriving at +the Riviere des Prairies, his Indian conductors, instead +of portaging their canoes past the treacherous rapids in +this river, had attempted to run them, and a disaster +had followed. The canoe bearing Father Viel and a young +Huron convert named Ahaustic (the Little Fish) had been +overturned and both had been drowned. + +[Footnote: This rapid has since been known as Sault au +Recollet and a village near by bears the name of Ahuntsic, +a corruption of the young convert's name. Father A. E. +Jones, S. J., in his 'Old Huronia' (Ontario Archives), +points out that no such word as Ahuntsic could find a +place in a Huron vocabulary.] + +The story brought to Cape Victory was that the tragedy +had been due to the treacherous conduct of three +evil-hearted Hurons who coveted the goods the priest had +with him. On the advice of the traders, who feared that +the Hurons were in no spirit to receive the missionaries, +Brebeuf and Daillon concluded not to attempt the ascent +of the Ottawa for the present, and returned to Quebec. +Ten years later, such a report would not have moved +Brebeuf to turn back, but would have been an added +incentive to press forward. + + + +CHAPTER III + +IN HURONIA + +The Jesuits, with the exception of Brebeuf, spent the +winter of 1625-26 at the convent of the Recollets, no +doubt enduring privation, as at that time there was a +scarcity of food in the colony. Brebeuf, eager to study +the Indians in their homes, joined a party of Montagnais +hunters and journeyed with them to their wintering grounds. +He suffered much from hunger and cold, and from the +insanitary conditions under which he was compelled to +live in the filthy, smoky, vermin-infested abodes of the +savages. But an iron constitution stood him in good stead, +and he rejoined his fellow-missionaries none the worse +for his experience. He had acquired, too, a fair knowledge +of the Montagnais dialect, and had learned that boldness, +courage, and fortitude in suffering went far towards +winning the respect of the savages of North America. + +On the 5th of July the eyes of the colonists at Quebec +were gladdened by the sight of a fleet of vessels coming +up the river. These were the supply-ships of the company, +and on the Catherine, a vessel of two hundred and fifty +tons, was Champlain, on whom the Jesuits could depend as +a friend and protector. In the previous autumn Lalemant +had selected a fertile tract of land on the left side of +the St Charles, between the river Beauport and the stream +St Michel, as a suitable spot for a permanent home, and +had sent a request to Champlain to secure this land for +the Jesuits. Champlain had laid the request before the +viceroy and he now brought with him the official documents +granting the land. Nine days later a vessel of eighty +tons arrived with supplies and reinforcements for the +mission. On this vessel came Fathers Philibert Noyrot +and Anne de Noue, with a lay brother and twenty labourers +and carpenters. + +The Jesuits chose a site for the buildings at a bend in +the St Charles river a mile or so from the fort. Here, +opposite Pointe-aux-Lievres (Hare Point), on a sloping +meadow two hundred feet from the river, they cleared the +ground and erected two buildings--one to serve as a +storehouse, stable, workshop, and bakery; the other as +the residence. The residence had four rooms--a chapel, +a refectory with cells for the fathers, a kitchen, and +a lodging-room for the workmen. It had, too, a commodious +cellar, and a garret which served as a dormitory for the +lay brothers. The buildings were of roughly hewn planks, +the seams plastered with mud and the roofs thatched with +grass from the meadow. Such was Notre-Dame-des-Anges. In +this humble abode men were to be trained to carry the +Cross in the Canadian wilderness, and from it they were +to go forth for many years in an unbroken line, blazing +the way for explorers and traders and settlers. + +Almost simultaneously with the arrival of Noyrot and Noue +a flotilla of canoes laden deep with furs came down from +the Huron country. Brebeuf had made up his mind to go to +far Huronia; Noue and the Recollet Daillon had the same +ambition; and all three besought the Hurons to carry them +on the return journey. The Indians expressed a readiness +to give the Recollet Daillon a passage; they knew the +'grey-robes'; but they did not know the Jesuits, the +'black-robes,' and they hesitated to take Brebeuf and +Noue, urging as an excuse that so portly a man as Brebeuf +would be in danger of upsetting their frail canoes. By +a liberal distribution of presents, however, the Hurons +were persuaded to accept Brebeuf and Noue as passengers. + +Towards the end of July, just when preparations were +being made to break ground for the residence of +Notre-Dame-des-Anges, the three fathers and some French +assistants set out with the Hurons on the long journey +to the shores of Georgian Bay. Brebeuf was in a state of +ecstasy. He longed for the populous towns of the Hurons. +He had confidence in himself and believed that he would +be able to make the dwellers in these towns followers of +Christ and bulwarks of France in the New World. For +twenty-three years he was to devote his life to this +task; for twenty-three years, save for the brief interval +when the English flag waved over Quebec, he was to dominate +the Huron mission. He was a striking figure. Of noble +ancestry, almost a giant in stature, and with a soldierly +bearing that attracted all observers, he would have shone +at the court of the king or at the head of the army. But +he had sacrificed a worldly career for the Church. And +no man of his ancestors, one of whom had battled under +William the Conqueror at Hastings and others in the +Crusades, ever bore himself more nobly than did Brebeuf +in the forests of Canada, or covered himself with a +greater glory. + +The journey was beset with danger, for the Iroquois were +on the war-path against the Hurons and the French, and +had attacked settlers even in the vicinity of Quebec. +The lot of the voyagers was incessant toil. They had to +paddle against the current, to haul the canoes over +stretches where the water was too swift for paddling, +and to portage past turbulent rapids and falls. The +missionaries were forced to bear their share of the work. +Noue, no longer young, was frequently faint from toil. +Brebeuf not only sustained him, but at many of the +portages, of which there were thirty-five in all, carried +a double load of baggage. The packs contained not only +clothing and food, but priestly vestments, requisites +for the altar, pictures, wine for the Mass, candles, +books, and writing material. The course lay over the +route which Le Caron had followed eleven years before, +up the Ottawa, up the Mattawa, across the portage to Lake +Nipissing, and then down the French River. Arrived in +Penetanguishene Bay, they landed at a village called +Otouacha. They then journeyed a mile and a half inland, +through gloomy forests, past cultivated patches of maize, +beans, pumpkins, squashes, and sunflowers, to Toanche, +where they found Viel's cabin still standing. For three +years this was to be Brebeuf's headquarters. + +Huronia lay in what is now the county of Simcoe, Ontario, +comprising the present townships of Tiny, Tay, Flos, +Medonte, and Oro. On the east and north lay Lakes Simcoe +and Couchiching, the Severn river, and Matchedash Bay; +on the west, Nottawasaga Bay. Across the bay, or by land +a journey of about two days, where now are Bruce and Grey +counties, lived the Petuns, and about five days to the +south-west, the Neutrals. The latter tribe occupied both +the Niagara and Detroit peninsulas, overflowed into the +states of Michigan and New York, and spread north as far +as Goderich and Oakville in Ontario. All these nations, +and the Andastes of the lower Susquehanna, were of the +same linguistic stock as the Iroquois who dwelt south of +Lake Ontario. Peoples speaking the Huron-Iroquois tongue +thus occupied the central part of the eastern half of +North America, while all around them, north, south, east, +and west, roamed the tribes speaking dialects of the +Algonquin. + +Most of the Huron [Footnote: The name Huron is of uncertain +origin. The word HURON was used in France as early as +1358 to describe the uncouth peasants who revolted against +the nobility. But according to Father Charles Lalemant, +a French sailor, on first beholding some Hurons at +Tadoussac in 1600, was astonished at their fantastic way +of dressing their hair--in stiff ridges with shaved +furrows between--and exclaimed 'Quelles hures!'--what +boar-heads! In their own language they were known as +Ouendats (dwellers on a peninsula), a name still extant +in the corrupted form Wyandots.] towns were encircled by +log palisades. The houses were of various sizes and some +of them were more than two hundred feet long. They were +built in the crudest fashion. Two rows of sturdy saplings +were stuck in the ground about twenty-five feet apart, +then bent to meet so as to form an arch, and covered with +bark. An open strip was left in the roof for the escape +of smoke and for light. Each house sheltered from six to +a dozen families, according to the number of fires. Two +families shared each fire, and around the fire in winter +clustered children, dogs, youths, gaily decorated maidens, +jabbering squaws, and toothless, smoke-blinded old men. +Privacy there was none. Along the sides of the cabin, +about four feet from the ground, extended raised platforms, +on or under which, according to the season or the +inclination of the individual, the inmates slept. + +The Huron nation was divided into four clans--the Bear, +the Rock, the Cord, the Deer--with several small dependent +groups. There was government of a sort, republican in +form. They had their deliberative assemblies, both village +and tribal. The village councils met almost daily, but +the tribal assembly--a sort of states-general--was summoned +only when some weighty measure demanded consideration. +Decisions arrived at in the assemblies were proclaimed +by the chiefs. + +Of religion as it is understood by Christians the Hurons +had none, nothing but superstitions, very like those of +other barbarous peoples. To everything in nature they +gave a god; trees, lakes, streams, the celestial bodies, +the blue expanse, they deified with okies or spirits. +Among the chief objects of Huron worship were the moon +and the sun. The oki of the moon had the care of souls +and the power to cut off life; the oki of the sun presided +over the living and sustained all created things. The +great vault of heaven with its myriad stars inspired them +with awe; it was the abode of the spirit of spirits, the +Master of Life. Aronhia was the name they gave this +supreme oki. This would show that they had a vague +conception of God. To Aronhia they offered sacrifices, +to Aronhia they appealed in time of danger, and when +misfortune befell them it was due to the anger of Aronhia. +But all this had no influence on their conduct; even in +their worship they were often astoundingly vicious. + +To such dens of barbarism had come men fresh from the +civilization of the Old World--men of learning, culture, +and gentle birth, in whose veins flowed the proudest +blood of France. To these savages, indolent, superstitious, +and vicious, had come Brebeuf, Noue, and Daillon, with +a message of peace, goodwill, and virtue. + +Until the middle of October the three fathers lived +together at Toanche, save that Daillon went on a brief +visit to Ossossane, on the shore of Nottawasaga Bay. The +Recollet, however, had instructions from his superior Le +Caron to go to the country of the Neutrals, of which +Champlain's interpreter, Etienne Brule, had reported +glowingly, but which was as yet untrodden by the feet of +missionaries. And so on the 18th of October 1626 Daillon +set out on the trail southward, with two French traders +as interpreters, and an Indian guide. Arriving among the +Neutrals, after a journey of five or six days, he was at +first kindly received in each of the six towns which he +visited. But this happy situation was not to last. The +Neutral country, now the richest and most populous part +of Ontario, boasting such cities as Hamilton and Brantford +and London, was rich in fur-bearing animals and tobacco; +and the Hurons were the middlemen in trade between the +Neutrals and the French. The Hurons, fearing now that +they were about to lose their business--for it was rumoured +that Daillon was seeking to have the Neutrals trade +directly with the French--sent messengers to the Neutrals +denouncing the grey-robe as a sorcerer who had come to +destroy them with disease and death. In this the Neutral +medicine-men agreed, for they were jealous of the priest. +The plot succeeded. The Indians turned from Daillon, +closed their doors against him, stole his writing-desk, +blanket, breviary, and trinkets, and even threatened him +with death. But Brebeuf learned of his plight, probably +from one of the Hurons who had raised the Neutrals against +him, and sent a Frenchman and an Indian runner to escort +him back to Toanche. + +There was a break in the mission in 1627. Noue lacked +the physical strength and the mental alertness essential +to a missionary in these wilds. Finding himself totally +unable to learn even the rudiments of the Huron language, +he returned to Quebec, since he did not wish to be a +burden to Brebeuf. For a year longer Brebeuf and the +Recollet Daillon remained together at Toanche. But in +the autumn of 1628 Daillon left Huronia. He was the last +of the Recollets to minister to the Hurons. + +Save for his French hired men, or engages, Brebeuf was +now alone among the savage people. In this awful solitude +he laboured with indomitable will, ministering to his +flock, studying the Huron language, compiling a Huron +dictionary and grammar, and translating the Catechism. +The Indians soon saw in him a friend; and, when he passed +through the village ringing his bell, old and young +followed him to his cabin to hear him tell of God, of +heaven the reward of the good, and of hell the eternal +abode of the unrighteous. But he made few converts. The +Indian idea of the future had nothing in common with the +Christian idea. The Hurons, it is true, believed in a +future state, but it was to be only a reflex of the +present life, with the difference that it would give them +complete freedom from work and suffering, abundant game, +and an unfailing supply of tobacco. + +Brebeuf's one desire now was to live and die among this +people. But the colony at Quebec was in a deplorable +condition, as he knew, and he was not surprised when, +early in the summer of 1629, he received a message +requesting his presence there. Gathering his flock about +him he told them that he must leave them. They had as a +sign of affection given him the Huron name Echon. Now +Christian and pagan alike cried out: 'You must not leave +us, Echon!' He told them that he had to obey the order +of his superior, but that 'he would, with God's grace, +return and bring with him whatever was necessary to lead +them to know God and serve Him.' Then he bade them +farewell; and, joining a flotilla of twelve canoes about +to depart for Quebec, he and his engages set out. They +arrived at Notre-Dame-des-Anges on the 17th of July, to +find the Jesuits there in consternation at the rumoured +report of the approach of a strong English fleet. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE ADVENTURERS OF CANADA + +Charles Lalemant, superior of the Jesuit mission, had no +sooner landed on the shores of New France than he became +convinced that the mission and the colony itself were +doomed unless there should be a radical change in the +government. The Caens were thoroughly selfish. While +discouraging settlement and agriculture, they so +inadequately provided for the support of the colony that +the inhabitants often lacked food. But the gravest evil, +in Lalemant's mind, was the presence of so many Huguenots. +The differences in belief were puzzling to the Indians, +who naturally supposed that different sets of white men +had different gods. True, the Calvinist traders troubled +little with religion. To them the red man was a mere +trapper, a gatherer of furs; and whether he shaped his +course for the happy hunting ground of his fathers or to +the paradise of the Christian mattered nothing. But they +were wont to plague the Jesuits and Recollets at every +opportunity; as when the crews of the ships at Quebec +would lift up their voices in psalms purposely to annoy +the priests at their devotions. Lalemant, an alert-minded +ecclesiastic, came to a swift decision. The trading +monopoly of the Huguenots must be ended and a new company +must be created, with power to exclude Calvinists from +New France. To this end Lalemant sent Father Noyrot to +France in 1626, to lay the whole matter before the viceroy +of New France. But from the Duc de Ventadour Noyrot got +no satisfaction; the viceroy could not interfere. And +Louis XIII was too busy with other matters to listen to +the Jesuit's prayer. The king's chief adviser, however, +Cardinal Richelieu, then at the height of his power, lent +a sympathetic ear. The Huguenots were then in open +rebellion in France; Richelieu was having trouble enough +with them at home; and it was not hard to convince him +that they should be suppressed in New France. He decided +to annul the charter of the Caens and to establish instead +a strong company composed entirely of Catholics. To this +task he promptly set himself, and soon had enlisted in +the enterprise over a hundred influential and wealthy +men of the realm. The Company of New France, or, as it +is better known, the Company of One Hundred Associates, +thus came into being on April 29, 1627, with the great +Richelieu at its head. + +The One Hundred Associates were granted in feudal tenure +a wide domain--stretching, in intention at least, from +Florida to the Arctic Circle and from Newfoundland to +the sources of the St Lawrence, with a monopoly of the +fur trade and other powers practically unlimited. For +these vast privileges they covenanted to send to Canada +from two to three hundred colonists in 1628 and four +thousand within the next fifteen years; to lodge, feed, +and support the colonists for three years; and then to +give them cleared land and seed-grain. Most interesting, +however, to the Jesuits and Recollets were the provisions +in the charter of the new company to the effect that none +but Catholics should be allowed to come to the colony, +and that during fifteen years the company should defray +the expenses of public worship and support three +missionaries at each trading-post. + +Now began the preparations on a great scale for the +colonization of New France. By the spring of 1628 a fleet +of eighteen or twenty ships belonging to the company +assembled in the harbour of Dieppe, laden deep with food, +building materials, implements, guns, and ammunition, +including about one hundred and fifty pieces of ordnance +for the forts at the trading-posts. Out into the English +Channel one bright April day this fleet swept, under the +command of Claude de Roquemont, one of the Associates. +On the decks of the ships were men and women looking +hopefully to the New World for fortune and happiness, +and Recollets and Jesuits going to a field at this time +deemed broad enough for the energies of both. Lalemant, +who early in 1627 had followed Noyrot to France, was now +returning to his mission with his hopes realized. A +Catholic empire could be built up in the New World, the +savages could be christianized, and the Iroquois, the +greatest menace of the colony, if they would not listen +to reason, could be subdued. The Dutch and the English +on the Atlantic seaboard could be kept within bounds; +possibly driven from the continent; then the whole of +North America would be French and Catholic. Thus, perhaps, +dreamed Lalemant and his companions, the Jesuit Paul +Ragueneau and the Recollets Daniel Boursier and Francois +Girard, as they paced the deck of the vessel that bore +them westward. + +But there was a lion in the path. The revolt of the +Huguenots of La Rochelle had led to war between France +and England, and this gave Sir William Alexander (Earl +of Stirling) the chance he desired. In 1621 Alexander +had received from James I a grant of Nova Scotia or +Acadia, and this grant had been renewed later by Charles +I. And it was Alexander's ambition to drive the French +not only from their posts in Acadia but from the whole +of North America. To this end he formed a company under +the name of the Adventurers of Canada. One of its leading +members was Gervase Kirke, a wealthy London merchant, +who had married a Huguenot maiden, Elizabeth Goudon or +Gowding of Dieppe. Now when war broke out the Adventurers +equipped three staunch privateers. Captain David Kirke, +the eldest son of Gervase, commanded the flagship Abigail, +and his brothers, Lewis and Thomas, the other two ships. +The fleet, though small, was well suited for the work in +hand. While making ready for sea the Adventurers learned +of the much larger fleet of the One Hundred Associates; +but they learned, too, that the vessels were chiefly +transports, of little use in a sea-fight. David Kirke +was, on the other hand, equipped to fight, and he bore +letters of marque from the king of England authorizing +him to capture and destroy any French vessels and 'utterly +to drive away and root out the French settlements in Nova +Scotia and Canada.' The omens were evil for New France +when, early in the spring of 1628, the Kirkes weighed +anchor and shaped their course for her shores. + +The English privateersmen arrived in the St Lawrence in +July and took up their headquarters at Tadoussac. Already +they had captured several Basque fishing or trading +vessels. At Tadoussac they learned that at Cap Tourmente, +thirty miles below Quebec, there was a small farm from +which the garrison of Quebec drew supplies; and, as a +first effort to 'root out' the French, David Kirke decided +to loot and destroy this supply-post. A number of his +crew went in a fishing-boat, took the place by surprise, +captured its guard, plundered it, and killed the cattle. +When his men returned from the raid, Kirke dispatched +six of his Basque prisoners, with a woman and a little +girl, to Quebec. By one of them he sent a letter to +Champlain, demanding the surrender of the place in most +polite terms. 'By surrendering courteously,' he wrote, +'you may be assured of all kind of contentment, both for +your persons and your property, which, on the faith I +have in Paradise, I will preserve as I would mine own, +without the least portion in the world being diminished.' + +Champlain replied to Kirke's demand with equal courtesy, +but bluntly refused to surrender. In his letter to the +English captain he said that the fort was still provided +with grain, maize, beans, and pease, which his soldiers +loved as well as the finest corn in the world, and that +by surrendering the fort in so good a condition, he should +be unworthy to appear before his sovereign, and should +deserve chastisement before God and men. As a matter of +fact this was untrue, for the French at Quebec were +starving and incapable of resistance. A single well-directed +broadside would have brought Champlain's ramshackle fort +tumbling about his ears. His bold front, however, served +its purpose for the time being; Kirke decided to postpone +the attack on Quebec and to turn his attention to +Roquemont's fleet. He burned the captured vessels and +plundered and destroyed the trading-post at Tadoussac, +and then sailed seaward in search of the rich prize. + +Kirke had three ships; the French had eighteen. Numerically +Kirke was outclassed, but he knew that the enemy's fleet +was composed chiefly of small, weakly armed vessels. +Learning that Roquemont was in the vicinity of Gaspe Bay, +he steered thither under a favouring west wind. And as +the Abigail rounded Gaspe Point the English captain saw +the waters in the distance thickly dotted with sail. Dare +he attack? Three to eighteen! It was hazarding much; and +yet victory would bring its reward. Kirke was a cautious +commander; and, desiring if possible to gain his end +without loss, he summoned the French captain to surrender. +In answer Roquemont boldly hoisted sail and beat out into +the open. But despite this defiant attitude Roquemont +must have feared the result of a battle. Many of his +ships could give no assistance; even his largest were in +no condition to fight. Most of the cannon were in the +holds of the transports, and only a few of small calibre +were mounted. His vessels, too, overloaded with supplies, +would be difficult to manoeuvre in the light summer wind +of which his foe now had the advantage. The three English +privateers bore on towards the French merchantmen, and +when within range opened fire. Far several hours this +long-range firing continued. When it proved ineffective, +David Kirke decided to close in on the enemy. The Abigail +crept up to within pistol-shot of Roquemont's ship, swept +round her stern, and poured in a raking broadside. While +the French sailors were still in a state of confusion +from the iron storm that had beaten on their deck, the +English vessel rounded to and threw out grappling-irons. +Over the side of the French ship leaped Kirke's pikemen +and musketeers. There was a short fight on the crowded +deck; but after Roquemont had been struck down with a +wound in his foot and some of his sailors had been killed, +he surrendered to avert further bloodshed. Meanwhile, +Lewis and Thomas Kirke had been equally successful in +capturing the only two other vessels capable of offering +any serious resistance. The clumsy French merchantmen, +though armed, were no match for the staunchly built, +well-manned English privateers, and after a few sweeping +broadsides they, too, struck their flags. The remaining +craft, incapable of fight or flight, surrendered. In +this, the first naval engagement in the waters of North +America, eighteen sail fell into the hands of the Kirkes, +with a goodly store of supplies, ammunition, and guns, +Alas for the high hopes of Father Lalemant and his +fellow-missionaries!--all were now prisoners and at the +mercy of the English and the Huguenots. Having more +vessels than he could man, Kirke unloaded ten of the +smallest and burned them. He then sailed homeward with +his prizes, calling on his way at St Pierre Island, where +he left a number of his prisoners, among them the +Recollet fathers, and at Newfoundland, where he watered +and refitted. When the convoy reached England about the +end of September, great was the rejoicing among the +Adventurers of Canada. For had they not crippled the +Romish Company of the One Hundred Associates? And had +they not gained, at the same time, a tenfold return of +their money? + +Meanwhile Quebec was in grave peril. The colony faced +starvation. There were no vessels on which Champlain with +his garrison and the missionaries could leave New France +even had he so desired, and there were slight means of +resisting the savage Iroquois. Yet with dogged courage +Champlain accepted the situation, hoping that relief +would come before the ice formed in the St Lawrence. + +But no relief was there to be this year for the anxious +watchers at Quebec. On reaching England Lalemant had +regained his liberty, and had hastened to France. He +found that Father Noyrot had a vessel fitted out with +supplies for the Canadian mission, and decided to return +to Canada with Noyrot on this vessel. But nature as well +as man seemed to be battling against the Jesuits. As they +neared the Gulf of St Lawrence a fierce gale arose, and +the ship was driven out of its course and dashed to pieces +on the rocky shores of Acadia near the island of Canseau. +Fourteen of the passengers, including Noyrot and a lay +brother, Louis Malot, were drowned. Lalemant escaped with +his life, and took passage on a trading vessel for France. +This ship, too, was wrecked, near San Sebastian in the +Bay of Biscay, and again Lalemant narrowly escaped death. + +Meanwhile the English Adventurers were full of enthusiasm +over the achievement of the Kirkes. The work, however, +was not yet finished. The French trading-posts in Acadia +and on the St Lawrence must be utterly destroyed. By +March 1629 a fleet much more powerful than the one of +the previous year was ready for sea. It consisted of the +Abigail, Admiral David Kirke, the William, Captain Lewis +Kirke, the George, Captain Thomas Kirke, the Gervase, +Captain Brewerton, two other ships, and three pinnaces. +On the 25th of March it sailed from Gravesend, and on +the 15th of June reached Gaspe Bay without mishap. All +save two of the vessels were now sent to destroy the +trading-posts on the shores of Acadia, while David Kirke, +with the Abigail and a sister ship, sailed for Tadoussac, +which was to be his headquarters during the summer. The +raiders did their work and arrived at Tadoussac early in +July. Kirke then detached the William and the George and +sent them to Quebec under the pilotage of French traitors. + +At Quebec during the winter the inhabitants had lived on +pease, Indian corn, and eels which they obtained from +the natives; and when spring came all who had sufficient +strength had gone to the forest to gather acorns and +nourishing roots. The gunpowder was almost exhausted, +and the dilapidated fort could not be held by its sixteen +half-starved defenders. Accordingly Champlain sent the +Recollet Daillon, who had a knowledge of the English +language, to negotiate with the Kirkes the terms of +capitulation; and Quebec surrendered without a shot being +fired. For the time being perished the hopes of the +indomitable Champlain, who for twenty-one years had +wrought and fought and prayed that Quebec might become +the bulwark of French power in America. On the 22nd of +July the fleur-de-lis was hauled down from Fort St Louis +to give place to the cross of St George. The officers of +the garrison were treated with consideration and allowed +to keep their arms, clothing, and any peltry which they +possessed. To the missionaries, however, the Calvinistic +victors were not so generous. The priests were permitted +to keep only their robes and books. + +The terms of surrender were ratified by David Kirke at +Tadoussac on the 19th of August, and on the following +day a hundred and fifty English soldiers took possession +of the town and fort. Such of the inhabitants as did not +elect to remain in the colony and all the missionaries +were marched on board the waiting vessels [Footnote: +There were in all eighty-five persons in the colony, +thirty of whom remained. The rest were taken prisoners +to England; these included the Jesuit fathers Ennemond +Masse, Anne de Noue, and Jean de Brebeuf; the Recollet +fathers Joseph Le Caron and Joseph de la Roche de Daillon; +and several lay brothers of both orders.] and taken to +Tadoussac, where they remained for some weeks while the +English were making ready for the home voyage. + +There were many Huguenots serving under the Kirkes, and +the Huguenots, as we have seen, were bitterly hostile to +the Jesuits. On the voyage to England Brebeuf, Noue, and +Masse had to bear insult and harsh treatment from men of +their own race, but of another faith. And they bore it +bravely, confident that God in His good time would restore +them to their chosen field of labour. + +The vessels reached Plymouth on the 20th of November, to +learn that the capture of Quebec had taken place in time +of peace. The Convention of Susa had ended the war between +France and England on April 24, 1629; thus the achievement +of the Adventurers was wasted. Three years later, by the +Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, the Adventurers were forced +not only to restore the posts captured in North America, +but to pay a sum to the French for the property seized +at Quebec. + +Towards the end of November the missionaries, both +Recollets and Jesuits, left the English fleet at Dover +roads, and proceeded to their various colleges in France, +patiently to await the time when they should be permitted +to return to Canada. + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE RETURN TO HURONIA + +After the Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, which restored +to France all the posts in America won by the Adventurers +of Canada, the French king took steps to repossess Quebec. +But, by way of compensation to the Caens for their losses +in the war, Emery de Caen was commissioned to take over +the post from the Kirkes and hold it for one year, with +trading rights. Accordingly, in April 1632, Caen sailed +from Honfleur; and he carried a dispatch under the seal +of Charles I, king of England, addressed to Lewis Kirke +at Quebec, commanding him to surrender the captured fort. + +On the 5th of July the few French inhabitants at Quebec +broke out into wild cries of joy as they saw Caen's ship +approaching under full sail, at its peak the white flag +sprinkled with golden lilies; and when they learned that +the vessel brought two Jesuit fathers, their hearts +swelled with inexpressible rapture. During the three +years of English possession the Catholics had been without +priests, and they hungered for their accustomed forms of +worship. The priests now arriving were Paul Le Jeune, +the new superior-general, and Anne de Noue, with a lay +brother, Gilbert Burel. They hastened ashore; and were +followed by the inhabitants to the home of the widow +Hebert, the only substantial residence in the colony, +where, in the ceremony of the Mass, they celebrated the +renewal of the Canadian mission. + +Quebec was in a sad condition. The English, knowing of +the negotiations for its return to the French, had left +the ground uncultivated and the buildings in ruins. The +missionaries found the residence of Notre-Dame-des-Anges +plundered and partly destroyed; but they went to work +cheerfully to restore it, and before autumn it was quite +habitable. Meanwhile Le Jeune had begun his labours +tentatively as a teacher. His pupils were an Indian lad +and a little negro, the latter a present from the English +to Madame Hebert. The class grew larger; during the winter +a score of children answered the call of Le Jeune's bell, +and sat at his feet learning the Credo, the Ave, and the +Paternoster, which he had translated into Algonquin +rhymes. In order to learn the Indian language Le Jeune +was himself a pupil, his teacher a Montagnais named +Pierre, a worthless wretch who had been in France and +had learned some French. Le Jeune passed the winter of +1632-33 in teaching, studying, and ministering to the +inhabitants at the trading-post. Save for a short period, +he had the companionship of Noue, a devoted missionary, +eager to play his part in the field, but, as we have +seen, without the necessary vigour of mind or body. Though +Noue had failed in Huronia, he thought he might succeed +on the St Lawrence. And in the autumn, just as the first +snows were beginning to whiten the ground, when a band +of friendly Montagnais, encamped near the residence, +invited him to their wintering grounds, he bade farewell +to Le Jeune and vanished with the Indians into the northern +forest. But the rigours of the wigwams were too much for +him, and after three weeks he returned to Notre-Dame- +des-Anges in an exhausted condition. + +In the meantime the Hundred Associates were getting ready +to enter into the enjoyment of their Canadian domain, +but now without the hopeful ardour and exalted purpose +which had characterized their first ill-fated expedition. +The guiding hand in the revival of the colony, under the +feudal suzerainty of Richelieu's company, was Champlain. +He was appointed on March 1, 1633, lieutenant-general in +New France, 'with jurisdiction throughout all the extent +of the St Lawrence and other rivers.' Twenty-three days +later he sailed from Dieppe with three armed ships, the +St Pierre, the St Jean, and the Don de Dieu. These ships +carried two hundred persons, among them the Jesuit fathers +Jean de Brebeuf and Ennemond Masse. At Cape Breton they +were joined by two more Jesuits, Antoine Daniel and +Ambroise Davost, who had gone there the year before. + +There were no Recollets in the company, for, greatly to +their disappointment, the Recollets were now barred from +the colony. For this the Jesuits have been unjustly +blamed. It was, however, wholly due to the policy of the +Hundred Associates. At one of their meetings Jean de +Lauzon, the president, afterwards a governor of New +France, formally protested against the return of the +Recollets. The Associates desired to economize, and did +not wish to support two religious orders in the colony; +and so the mendicant Recollets were excluded. + +The vessels appeared at Quebec on the 23rd of May, and +landed their passengers amid shouts of welcome from the +settlers, soldiers, and Indians. Presently Champlain's +lieutenant, Duplessis-Bochart, on behalf of the Hundred +Associates, received the keys of the fort and habitation +from Emery de Caen; and at that moment ended the regime +of the Huguenot traders in Canada. Thenceforth, whether +for good or for evil, New France was to be Catholic. + +During the English occupation the Indians had almost +ceased to visit Quebec. At first the fickle savages had +welcomed the invaders, for they ever favoured a winner, +and had thronged about the fort, expecting presents galore +from the strong people who had ousted the French. But +instead of presents the English gave them only kicks and +curses; and so they held aloof. Now, however, on hearing +that Champlain had returned, the Indian dwellers along +the Ottawa river and in Huronia flocked to the post. +Hardly more than two months after his arrival, a fleet +of a hundred and forty canoes, with about seven hundred +Indians, swept with the ebb tide to the base of the rock +that frowned above the habitation and the dilapidated +warehouses. Drawing their heavily laden craft ashore, +the chiefs greeted Champlain and proceeded to set up +their camp-huts on the strand. Among them were many +warriors, now grown old, who had been with him in the +attack on the Iroquois in 1615. There were some, too, +who had listened to the teaching of Brebeuf. For the +eager missionaries this was an opportunity not to be +lost; and, resolved to go up with the Hurons, who willingly +assented, Brebeuf, Daniel, and Davost got ready for the +journey to Huronia. On the eve of departure the three +missionaries brought their packs to the strand, and lodged +for the night in the traders' storehouse, hard by the +Indian encampment. But they had an enemy abroad. All in +this party were not Hurons; some were Ottawas from +Allumette Island, under a one-eyed chief, Le Borgne. This +wily redskin wished for trouble between the Hurons and +the French, in order that his tribe might get a monopoly +of the Ottawa route, and carry all the goods from the +nations above down to the St Lawrence. At this time an +Algonquin of La Petite Nation, a tribe living south of +Allumette Island, was held at Quebec for murdering a +Frenchman. His friends were seeking his release; but +Champlain deemed his execution necessary as a lesson to +the Indians. Le Borgne rose to the occasion. He went +among the Hurons, urging them to refuse passage to the +Jesuits, warning them that, since Champlain would not +pardon the Algonquin, it would be dangerous to take the +black-robes with them. The angry tribesmen of the murderer +would surely lay in wait for the canoes, the black-robes +would be slain or made prisoners, and there would be war +on the Hurons too. The argument was effective; Champlain +would not release the prisoner; and the Jesuits were +forced to return to their abode, while the Indians embarked +and disappeared. + +There were now six fathers at Notre-Dame-des-Anges. They +kept incessantly active, improving their residence, +cultivating the soil, studying the Indian languages, and +ministering to the settlers and to the red men who had +pitched their wigwams along the St Charles and the St +Lawrence in the vicinity of Quebec. In spite of Noue's +failure among the Montagnais, the courageous Le Jeune +resolved personally to study the Indian problem at first +hand; and in the autumn of 1633 he joined a company of +redskins going to their hunting ground on the upper St +John. During five months among these savages he suffered +from 'cold, heat, smoke, and dogs,' and bore in silence +the foul language of a medicine-man who made the +missionary's person and teachings subjects of mirth. At +times, too, he was on the verge of death from hunger. +Early in the spring he returned to Quebec, after having +narrowly escaped drowning as he Crossed the ice-laden St +Lawrence in a frail canoe. He had made no converts; but +he had gained valuable experience. It was now more evident +than ever that among the roving Algonquins the mission +could make little progress. + +In 1634 the Hurons visited the colony in small numbers, +for Iroquois scalping parties haunted the trails, and a +pestilence had played havoc in the Huron villages. Those +who came to trade this year gathered at Three Rivers; +and thither went Brebeuf, Daniel, and Davost to seek once +more a passage to Huronia. The Indians at first stolidly +refused to take them; but at length, after a liberal +distribution of presents, the three priests and four +engages were permitted to embark, each priest in a separate +canoe. They had the usual rough experiences. Davost and +Daniel, who had no acquaintance with the Huron language, +fared worse than Brebeuf. Davost was abandoned among the +Ottawas of Allumette Island, his baggage plundered and +his books and papers thrown into the river. Daniel, too, +was deserted by his savage conductors. Both, however, +found means to continue the journey. When Brebeuf reached +Otouacha, on the 5th of August, his Indian guides, in +haste to get to their villages, suddenly vanished into +the forest. But he knew the spot well; Toanche, his old +mission, was but a short distance away. Thither he hurried, +only to find the village in ruins. Nothing remained of +the cabin in which he had spent three years but the +charred poles of the framework. A well-worn path leading +through the forest told him that a village could not be +far distant, and he followed this trail till he came to +a cluster of cabins. This was a new village, Teandeouiata, +to which the inhabitants of his old Toanche had moved. +It was twilight as the Indians caught sight of the +stalwart, black-robed figure emerging from the forest, +and the shout went up, 'Echon has come again!' Presently +all the inhabitants were about him shouting and +gesticulating for joy. + +Daniel and Davost arrived during the month, emaciated +and exhausted, but rejoicing. The missionaries found +shelter in the spacious cabin of a hospitable Huron, +Awandoay, where they remained until the 19th of September. +Meanwhile they had selected the village of Ihonatiria, +a short distance away near the northern extremity of the +peninsula, as a centre for the mission. There a cabin +was quickly erected, the men of the town of Oenrio vying +with the men of Teandeouiata in the task. This residence, +called by Brebeuf St Joseph, was thirty-five feet long +and twenty wide and contained a storehouse, a living-room +and school, and a chapel. + +For three years this humble abode was to be the headquarters +of the missionaries in Huronia. During the first year of +the mission all went smoothly. To the Indians the fathers +were medicine-men of extraordinary powers; moreover, the +hired men who came with them had arquebuses that would +be valuable in case of attack in force by the Iroquois. +Objects which the missionaries possessed inspired awe in +the savages; a handmill for grinding corn, a clock, a +magnifying lens, and a picture of the Last Judgment were +supposed to be okies of the white man. For a time eager +audiences crowded the little cabin. Few converts were +made, however; for the present the savages were too firmly +wedded to their customs and superstitions to accept the +new okies. Unfortunately, in 1635, a drought smote the +land, and the medicine-men used this calamity to discredit +their rivals the black-robes. According to these fakirs, +it was the red cross on the Jesuit chapel which frightened +away the bird of thunder and caused the drought. Brebeuf, +to disarm suspicion, had the cross painted white; yet +the thunder-bird still held aloof, and the incantations +and drummings of the sorcerers availed not to bring rain. +Brebeuf then advised the Indians to try the effect of an +appeal to his God. In despair they consented. A procession +was formed and the priests said Masses and prayers. The +result was dramatic. Almost immediately a sudden refreshing +rain deluged the ground; the crops were saved and the +medicine-men humiliated. Still, no perceptible religious +progress was made. Though children came to the residence +to be instructed by the black-robes, they were attracted +more by the 'beads, raisins, and prunes' which they +received as inducements to come back than by the lessons +in Christian truth. For the most part the elders listened +attentively to the missionaries, but to the question of +laying aside their superstitions and accepting Christianity +they replied: 'It is good for the French; but we are +another people, with different customs.' + +Winter was the season of greatest trial. The cabins, +crowded to suffocation, were made the scenes of savage +mirth and feasting. The Hurons were inveterate gamblers; +sometimes village would challenge village; and, as the +game progressed, night would be made hideous with the +beating of drums and the hilarious shouts of the spectators. +Feasts were frequent, since any occasion afforded an +excuse for one, and all feasts were accompanied by gluttony +and uproar. The Dream Feast was a maniacal performance. +It was agreed upon in a solemn council of the chiefs and +was made the occasion of great licence. The guests would +rush about the village feigning madness, scattering +fire-brands, shouting, leaping, smiting with impunity +any they encountered. Each one would seek some object +which he pretended to have learned about in a dream. Only +when this object was found would calmness follow; if it +was not found, there would be deepest despair. Feasts, +too, were prescribed by the medicine-men as cures for +sickness; the healthy, not the sick, would take the +medicine, and would take it till they were gorged. To +leave a scrap of food on their platters might mean the +death of the patient. + +Only one of the social customs of the Hurons had any real +religious significance. Every ten or twelve years the +great Feast of the Dead took place. It was the custom of +the Hurons either to place the dead in the earth, covering +them with rude huts, or, more commonly, on elevated +platforms. The bodies rested till the allotted time for +final interment came round. Then at some central point +an immense pit would be dug as a common grave. In 1636 +a Feast of the Dead was held at Ossossane. To this place, +from the various villages of the Bear clan, Indians came +trooping, wailing mournful funeral songs as they bore +the recently dead on litters, or the carefully prepared +bones of their departed relatives in parcels slung over +their shoulders. All converged on the village of Ossossane, +where a pit ten feet deep by thirty feet wide had been +dug. There on scaffolds about the pit they placed the +bodies and bones, carefully wrapped in furs and covered +with bark. The assembled mourners then gave themselves +up to feasting and games, as a prelude to the final act +of this drama of death. They lined the pit with costly +furs and in the centre placed kettles, household goods, +and weapons for the chase, all these, like the bodies +and bones, supposed to be indwelt by spirits. They laid +the dead bodies in rows on the floor of the pit, and +threw the bundles of bones to Indians stationed within, +who arranged the remains in their proper places. + +The Jesuits were witnesses of this weird ceremony. They +saw the naked Indians going about their task in the pit +in the glare of torches, like veritable imps of hell. It +was a discouraging scene. But a greater trial than the +Feast of the Dead was in store for them. By a pestilence, +a severe form of dysentery, Ihonatiria was almost denuded +of its population. In consequence the priests, who had +now been reinforced by the arrival of Fathers Francois +Le Mercier, Pierre Pijart, Pierre Chastelain, Isaac +Jogues, and Charles Garnier, had to seek a more populous +centre as headquarters for their mission in Huronia. The +chiefs of Oenrio invited the Jesuits to their village. +But Brebeuf's demands were heavy. They should believe in +God; keep His commandments; abjure their faith in dreams; +take one wife and be true to her; renounce their assemblies +of debauchery; eat no human flesh; never give feasts to +demons; and make a vow that if God would deliver them +from the pest they would build a chapel to offer Him +thanksgiving and praise. They were ready to make the vow +regarding the chapel, but the other conditions were too +severe--the pest was preferable. And so the Jesuits turned +to Ossossane, where the people agreed to accept these +conditions. + +Formerly Ossossane had been situated on an elevated piece +of ground on the shore of Nottawasaga Bay; but the village +had been moved inland and, under the direction of the +French, a rectangular wall of posts ten or twelve feet +high had been built around it. At opposite angles of the +wall two towers guarded the sides. A platform extended +round the entire wall, from which the defenders could +hurl stones on the heads of an attacking party, or could +pour water to extinguish the blaze if an enemy succeeded +in setting fire to the palisades. + +Here the Jesuits were to live for two years. Outside +the walls of the town a commodious cabin seventy feet +long was built for them; and on June 5, 1637, in the part +of the cabin consecrated as a chapel, Father Pijart +celebrated Mass. The residence was named La Conception +de Notre Dame. For a wilderness church it was a marvel. +At the entrance were green boughs adorned with tinsel; +pictures hung on the walls; crucifixes, vessels, and +ornaments of shining metal ornamented the chapel. From +far and near Indians flocked to see this wondrous edifice. +Best of all, a leading chief offered himself for baptism. +The future looked promising; the Indians showed the +fathers 'much affection' and a rich harvest of souls +seemed about to be garnered. + +But all this was to be changed. A hunch-backed, ogre-like +medicine-man who claimed to be of miraculous birth came +to Ossossane. The pest was still raging, and he laid the +blame for it at the door of the missionaries. According +to him their prayers and litanies were charms and +incantations; their pictures were evil okies. It was, he +declared, by the influence of these and other agencies +that they had spread the pestilence among the Hurons. +Some of the older and most influential Hurons joined with +the sorcerer in his denunciation of the priests, and soon +the inhabitants of the whole village turned against them. +Squaws shut the doors of the cabins at their approach, +young braves threatened them with death, children followed +them about hooting and pelting them with sticks and +stones. At last the priests were summoned to a public +council and openly accused of being the cause of the +misfortunes that had recently visited the Huron people. +Brebeuf replied to the accusations with unflinching +courage, denying the charges, and showing their absurdity. +He then boldly addressed his audience on the truths of +Christianity, held before them the awful future that +awaited those who refused to obey the words of Christ, +and declared that the pest was a punishment for their +evil lives. The council was deeply impressed by his +courage and evident sincerity, and for the time being +the lives of the missionaries were in no danger. But they +knew that at any moment the blow might fall, and none +ever went abroad without the feeling that a tomahawk +might descend on his unguarded head. + +On October 28, 1637, Brebeuf prepared, as he thought, a +farewell letter to his friends at Quebec. He and the four +other missionaries at Ossossane signed it and sent it to +the superior-general Le Jeune. It opens with the words: +'We are perhaps on the point of shedding our blood and +sacrificing our lives in the service of our Lord and +Saviour, Jesus Christ.' There is no note of fear in this +letter. 'If,' it runs, 'you should hear that God has +crowned our labours, or rather our desires, with martyrdom, +return thanks to Him, for it is for Him we wish to live +and die.' Such was the spirit of these bearers of the +Cross. Their humility, courage, and disinterestedness +kept them for the present from 'the crown of martyrdom.' +But the hunch-backed sorcerer continued his agitation +and the storm once more broke over their heads. To show +the Indians that he knew their hearts, and that he could +meet death with the stoical courage of one of their own +chiefs, Brebeuf summoned them to a festin d'adieua farewell +feast--and while his guests, in ominous silence, ate the +portions set before them he addressed them in burning +words. He was about to die, but before he departed this +life he would warn them of the life to come. Their +resistance to Christ's message, their abuse and persecution +of Christ's messengers, would have to be atoned for in +eternity. His actions and words took effect. + +Though the sorcerer still schemed, the Jesuits went about +their labours unscathed, preaching to the unregenerate, +visiting and caring for the sick, and baptizing the dying. + +For a year after the establishing of the mission of La +Conception at Ossossane three fathers--Pierre Chastelain, +Pierre Pijart, and Isaac Jogues--ministered to the remnant +of the Hurons at Ihonatiria. But the pest was still +raging, and by the spring of 1638 Ihonatiria was little +more than a village of empty wigwams. It was useless to +remain longer at this spot, and the missionaries looked +about for another field for their energies. The town of +Teanaostaiae, the largest town of the clan of the Cord, +about fifteen miles north of the present town of Barrie, +seemed suitable for a central mission. Brebeuf visited +the place, talked with the inhabitants, met the council +of the nation, and won its consent to establish a residence. +In June the mission of St Joseph was moved to Teanaostaiae. +Before the end of the summer Jerome Lalemant, who for +the next eight years was to be the superior of the Huron +mission, Simon Le Moyne, and Francois du Peron arrived +in Huronia. There was now a new distribution of the +mission forces, five priests under Lalemant's immediate +leadership taking up their abode at Ossossane, while +three in charge of Brebeuf settled at Teanaostaiae. + +So far Brebeuf had been the recognized leader in Huronia. +He had been nobly supported by his brother priests and +his hired men. The residences at both Ihonatiria and +Ossossane had been kept well supplied with food, even +better than many of the Indian households. Game was scarce +in Huronia, but the fathers had among their engages an +expert hunter, Francois Petit-Pre, ever roaming the forest +and the shores in search of game to give variety to their +table. Robert Le Coq, a devoted engage, later a donne, +[Footnote: An unpaid, voluntary assistant whose only +remuneration was food and clothing, care during illness, +and support in old age.] was their 'negotiator' or business +man. It was Le Coq who made the yearly trips to Quebec +for supplies, and who with infinite labour brought many +heavy burdens over the difficult trails. Brebeuf had +proved himself essentially an enthusiast for souls, a +mystic, a spirit craving the crown of martyrdom, yet +withal a man of great tact, and a powerful exemplar to +his fellow-priests. Lalemant, while lacking Brebeuf's +dominating enthusiasm, was a more practical man, with +great organizing ability. After viewing the wide and +dangerous field to be administered, the new superior +decided to concentrate the separate missions into one +stronghold of the faith. The site he chose was remote +from any of the centres of Indian population. It was on +the eastern bank of the river Wye between Mud Lake and +Matchedash Bay. Here the missionaries built a strong +rectangular fort with walls of stone surmounted by +palisades and with bastions at each corner. The interior +buildings--a chapel, a hospital, and dwellings for the +missionaries and the engages--although of wood, were +supported on foundations of stone and cement. + +The new mission-house they named Ste Marie; and from this +central station the missionaries went forth in pairs to +the farthest parts of Huronia and beyond. The missions +to the Petuns and the Neutrals, however, ended in failure. +The Petuns hailed Garnier and Jogues as the Famine and +the Pest and the priests barely escaped with their lives. +In the following year (1640), when Brebeuf and Chaumonot +went among the Neutrals, they found Huron emissaries +there inciting the Neutrals to kill the priests. These +Hurons, while themselves fearing to murder the powerful +okies of the French, as they regarded the black-robes, +desired that the Neutrals should put them to death. But +no such tragedy found place as yet. After visiting nineteen +towns, meeting everywhere maledictions and threats, +Brebeuf and Chaumonot returned to Ste Marie. + +The good work went on, notwithstanding trials and reverses. +The story of the Cross was being carried even to the +Algonquins and Nipissings of the upper Ottawa and Georgian +Bay. At Ste Marie neophytes gathered in numbers, and here +there were no medicine-men, 'satellites of Satan,' to +seduce them from their vows. But, just at the time when +the harvest seemed richest in promise, a cloud appeared +on the horizon--a forerunner of darker clouds, heavy with +calamity, and of the storm which was to bring destruction +to the Huron people. + +Meanwhile, how fared the mission at Quebec? Champlain +had died on Christmas Day 1635, and the Jesuits had lost +a staunch friend and never-failing protector. His successor, +however, was Charles Huault de Montmagny, a knight of +Malta, a man of devout character, thoroughly in sympathy +with the missions. Under Montmagny's rule New France +became as austere as Puritan New England. + +The Relations of the Jesuits, sent yearly to France and +published and widely read, had roused intense enthusiasm +among wealthy and pious men and women. Thus Noel Brulart, +Chevalier de Sillery, was moved to take an interest in +the Canadian mission and to endow a home for Christian +Indians. Le Jeune chose a site on the bank of the St +Lawrence, four miles above Quebec; and in 1637 the Sillery +establishment was erected there, consisting of a chapel, +a mission-house, and an infirmary, all within strong +palisades. + +About the same time two wealthy enthusiasts, the Duchesse +d'Aiguillon, a niece of Cardinal Richelieu, and Madame +de la Peltrie, were likewise inspired by the Relations +to undertake charitable work in New France. These ladies +founded, respectively, the Hotel-Dieu of Quebec and the +Ursuline Convent. In 1639 Madame de la Peltrie, who had +given herself as well as her purse to the work, arrived +in Quebec, accompanied by Mother Marie de I'Incarnation +and two other Ursulines and three Augustinian nuns. The +Ursulines at once began their labours as teachers with +six Indian pupils. But a plague of small-pox was raging +in the colony, and for the first year or two after their +arrival these heroic women had to aid the sisters of the +Hotel-Dieu in fighting the pest. + +The Jesuits themselves were busy with the education of +the Indians and had already established a college and +seminary for the instruction of young converts. The +colony, however, was not growing. The Hundred Associates +had not carried out the terms of their charter. There +were less than four hundred settlers in the whole of New +France, and only some three hundred soldiers to guard +the settlements from attack. Canada as yet was little +more than a mission; and such it was to remain for another +twenty and more years. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MARTYRS + +We have observed that the Hurons were at war with the +Five Nations and that Iroquois scalping parties haunted +the river routes and the trails to waylay Huron canoemen +and cut off hunters and stragglers from their villages. +When or how the feud began, between the Iroquois on the +one side and the Hurons and Algonquins on the other, no +man can tell. It antedated Champlain; and, as we have +seen, he had involved the French in it. There were, no +doubt, many bloody encounters of which history furnishes +no record. At first the warriors had fought on equal +terms, the weapons of all being the bow and arrow, the +tomahawk, the knife, and the war-club. But now the Iroquois +had firearms, procured from the Dutch of the Hudson, and +were skilled in the use of the musket, which gave them +a great advantage over their Huron and Algonquin foes. + +On the south-east frontier of Huronia, about four miles +from Orillia, stood a town of the clan of the Rock, +Contarea, a 'main bulwark of the country.' The inhabitants +were pagans who had resisted the missionaries, and refused +them permission to build a chapel, not even deigning to +listen to their appeals. In the early summer of 1642 the +people of Contarea were living in fancied security; and +when runners brought word that in the forests to the east +a large force of Iroquois were encamped, the Contarean +warriors felt confident that, from behind their strong +palisades, they could resist any attack. No Iroquois +appeared; and, believing the rumour false, many of the +warriors left the town for the accustomed hunting and +fishing grounds. Suddenly, early on a June morning, the +sleepy guards were roused by savage yells. The Iroquois +were upon them. The alarm rang out; the towers were +manned, and the palisades lined with defenders. But in +vain. Arrows and bullets swept towers and palisades, and +through breaches made in the walls in rushed a horde of +bloodthirsty demons. In a few minutes all was over; the +town became a shambles; young and old fell beneath the +tomahawks of the infuriated invaders. Then the torch! +And the Iroquois hied them back in triumph to their homes +by the Mohawk, exulting in this first effective blow at +the enemy in his own country. + +When news arrived of the destruction of Contarea, there +was wild alarm in the mission towns. But it was no part +of the Iroquois plan to attack at once the other Huron +strongholds. Huronia could wait until the tribes of the +St Lawrence and the Ottawa, allies of the Hurons, should +be destroyed. Then the Five Nations could concentrate +their forces on the Hurons. + +And so six years passed over the Jesuits in the +mission-fields. Scalping parties occasionally haunted +the outskirts of the villages where they were stationed. +The Iroquois frequently attacked the annual fleet of +canoes on its journey to Quebec, and on several occasions +captured and carried off priests and their assistants. +But during these years no large body of Iroquois invaded +Huronia. The insatiable warriors of the Five Nations were +busy devastating the St Lawrence and the Ottawa, pressing +the tribes back and ever back, until scarcely a wigwam +could be seen between Ville Marie and Lake Nipissing. +The Algonquins who had not fallen had left their villages +and had sought safety on the bleak shores and islands of +Georgian Bay, or among the Hurons. + +The mission was prospering under the guidance of Paul +Ragueneau, who in 1645 succeeded Lalemant as superior, +when the latter journeyed to Quebec to take over the +office of superior-general of the Canada mission. Ste +Marie, a wilderness Mecca of the faith, entertained yearly +thousands of Indians, many of whom professed Christianity. +On one occasion seven hundred Indians sought this sanctuary +within a fortnight, and to each of these the fathers from +their abundant stores gave two meals. About the walls +fields of corn, beans, pumpkins, and wheat spread fair +to the eye. Within the enclosure all was activity. Ambroise +Brouet was busy in his kitchen; Louis Gauber was at his +forge; Pierre Masson, when not occupied at his tailor's +bench, was hard at work in the garden, the pride of the +mission; Christophe Regnaut and Jacques Levrier were +mending or fashioning shoes and moccasins; Joseph Molere +prepared potions for the sick and had charge of the +laundry; and Charles Boivin, the master-builder, +superintended the erection of new buildings or the +strengthening and improving of those already built. The +appearance of permanency about the place was enhanced by +the fowls, pigs, and cattle. There were two cows and two +bulls, which had been brought with incredible toil from +Quebec. + +The teaching and example of the fathers were winning a +way to the hearts of the Indians. In 1648 eleven or twelve +mission stations stood throughout Huronia, among the +Algonquins, and among the Petuns, now settled in the Blue +Hills south of Nottawasaga Bay. Seven of these stations +had chapels and in six it had been found necessary to +establish residences. In some of the villages, such as +Ossossane, the Christians outnumbered the pagans. The +Christian Hurons gave active help to the fathers in the +work of the mission, some among their own people, and +others among the Petuns and the Neutrals. The chapels +had bells--on some discarded kettles served this purpose--to +call the flocks to worship; and crosses studded the land. +Huronia was in a fair way of being completely won; and +the missionaries were already looking to the unexplored +regions round and beyond Lake Superior, and even to the +land of the Iroquois. Then, with the suddenness of a +volcanic eruption, their flocks were scattered and their +dearest hopes crushed. + +In 1647 there was no communication between Ste Marie and +Quebec. Owing to the danger from Iroquois along the route, +the annual canoe-fleet did not go down, although a small +party of Hurons, it seems, went as far as Ville Marie. +The necessities of the mission were, however, urgent, +and in the spring of the following year Father Bressani +set out with a strong contingent of two hundred and fifty +Huron warriors, fully half of whom were Christians. No +sooner had this expedition begun its descent of the Ottawa +than an Iroquois war-party, which had wintered near Lake +Nipissing, stole southward through the forests towards +Huronia. + +Contarea had been destroyed. The dangerous position of +St Jean-Baptiste, situated near the site of Cahiague on +Lake Simcoe, whence Champlain had set out against the +Iroquois in 1615, had led the Jesuits to abandon it. St +Joseph or Teanaostaiae, with about two thousand inhabitants, +was therefore the frontier town on the south-east of +Huronia. Father Daniel, in charge of this station, had +just returned from his annual eight-day retreat at Ste +Marie. For four years he had laboured in this mission; +and, though his flock had been a stiff-necked one, his +work had brought its reward. On the 4th of July his little +chapel was crowded for the celebration of early Mass, +and as he gazed at the congregation of his converts his +spirit rejoiced within him. He had just finished the +service, when shrill through the morning air rang the +cry: 'The Iroquois! The Iroquois!' Rushing out he saw +the foe already hacking at the palisades and many of the +defenders falling beneath a storm of arrows and bullets. +His first thought for his flock, he hurried back into +the chapel, beseeching them to save themselves. They +pressed about him, praying for baptism and for absolution; +and, as they held to him appealing hands, he dipped his +handkerchief in the font and baptized the crowd by +aspersion. Then he boldly strode to the door of his chapel +and faced the enemy. For a moment the savage fiends +hesitated before the stern-eyed priest standing in his +vestments, protecting, as it seemed, the flock that +cowered behind him; but only for a moment. Yelling defiance +at the white medicine-man, they directed their weapons +against him; and this dauntless soldier of the Cross +received the crown of martyrdom which he had prayed might +be his. His slayers fell upon his body, stripped it of +clothing, mutilated it, and cast it into the now flaming +chapel, a fitting funeral pyre for the first martyr of +the Huron mission. The entire village was given to the +flames, and the smoke of the burning cabins and palisades +rolled over the forest. A small village not far away, on +the trail to Ossossane, shared the same fate. The slaughter +glutted the ferocity of the Iroquois for the time being; +and, with some seven hundred prisoners, they stole back +to their villages south of Lake Ontario. + +After this calamity the pall of a great fear hung over +the Hurons. Paralysed and inert, the warriors took no +steps to defend the country against the Iroquois peril. +In spite of the exhortations of the Jesuits, they lay +idle in their wigwams or hunted in the forest, dejectedly +awaiting their doom. + +An Iroquois war-party twelve hundred strong spent the +winter of 1648-49 on the upper Ottawa; and as the snows +began to melt under the thaws of spring these insatiable +slayers of men directed their steps towards Huronia. The +frontier village on the east was now St Ignace, on the +west of the Sturgeon river, about seven miles from Ste +Marie. It was strongly fortified and formed a part of a +mission of the same name, under the care of Brebeuf and +Father Gabriel Lalemant, a nephew of Jerome Lalemant. +About a league distant, midway to Ste Marie, stood St +Louis, another town of the mission, where the two fathers +lived. On the 16th of March the inhabitants of St Ignace +had no thought of impending disaster. The Iroquois might +be on the war-path, but they would not come while yet +ice held the rivers and snow lay in the forests. But that +morning, just as the horizon began to glow with the first +colours of the dawn, the sleeping Hurons woke to the +sound of the dreaded war-whoop. The Iroquois devils had +breached the walls. Three Hurons escaped, dashed along +the forest trail to St Louis, roused the village, and +then fled for Ste Marie, followed by the women and children +and those too feeble to fight. There were in St Louis +only about eighty warriors, but, not knowing the strength +of the invaders, they determined to fight. The Hurons +begged Brebeuf and Lalemant to fly to Ste Marie; but they +refused to stir. In the hour of danger and death they +must remain with their flock, to sustain the warriors in +the battle and to give the last rites of the Church to +the wounded and dying. + +Having made short work of St Ignace, the Iroquois came +battering at the walls of St Louis before sunrise. The +Hurons resisted stubbornly; but the assailants outnumbered +them ten to one, and soon hacked a way through the +palisades and captured all the defenders remaining alive, +among them Brebeuf and Lalemant. + +The Iroquois bound Brebeuf and Lalemant and led them back +to St Ignace, beating them as they went. There they +stripped the two priests and tied them to stakes. Brebeuf +knew that his hour had come. Him the savages made the +special object of their diabolical cruelty. And, standing +at the stake amid his yelling tormentors, he bequeathed +to the world an example of fortitude sublime, unsurpassed, +and unsurpassable. Neither by look nor cry nor movement +did he give sign of the agony he was suffering. To the +reviling and abuse of the fiends he replied with words +warning them of the judgment to come. They poured boiling +water on his head in derision of baptism; they hung +red-hot axes about his naked shoulders; they made a belt +of pitch and resin and placed it about his body and set +it on fire. By every conceivable means the red devils +strove to force him to cry for mercy. But not a sound of +pain could they wring from him. At last, after four hours +of this torture, a chief cut out his heart, and the noble +servant of God quitted the scene of his earthly labours. + +Lalemant, a man of gentle, refined character, as delicate +as Brebeuf was robust, also endured the torture. But the +savages administered it to him with a refinement of +cruelty, and kept him alive for fourteen hours. Then at +last he, too, entered into his rest. + +Ten years before Brebeuf had made a vow to Christ: 'Never +to shrink from martyrdom if, in Your mercy, You deem me +worthy of so great a privilege. Henceforth, I will never +avoid any opportunity that presents itself of dying for +You, but will accept martyrdom with delight, provided +that, by so doing, I can add to Your glory. From this +day, my Lord Jesus Christ, I cheerfully yield unto You +my life, with the hope that You will grant me the grace +to die for You, since You have deigned to die for me. +Grant me, O Lord, so to live, that You may deem me worthy +to die a martyr's death Thus my Lord, I take Your chalice, +and call upon Your name. Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!' How nobly +this vow was kept. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE DISPERSION OF THE HURONS + +Meanwhile at Ste Marie Ragueneau and his companions +learned from Huron fugitives of the fate of their comrades; +and waited, hourly expecting to be attacked. The priests +were attended by about twoscore armed Frenchmen. All day +and all night the anxious fathers prayed and stood on +guard. In the morning three hundred Huron warriors came +to their relief, bringing the welcome news that the Hurons +were assembling in force to give battle to the invaders. +These Hurons were just in time to fall in with a party +of Iroquois, already on the way to Ste Marie. An encounter +in the woods followed. At first some of the Hurons were +driven back; but straight-away others of their band rushed +to the rescue; and the Iroquois in turn ran for shelter +behind the shattered palisades of St Louis. The Hurons +followed, and finally put the enemy to rout and remained +in possession of the place. + +Now followed an Indian battle of almost unparalleled +ferocity. Never did Huron warriors fight better than in +this conflict at the death-hour of their nation. Against +the Hurons within the palisades came the Iroquois in +force from St Ignace. All day long, in and about the +walls of St Louis, the battle raged; and when night fell +only twenty wounded and helpless Hurons remained to +continue the resistance. In the gathering darkness the +Iroquois rushed in and with tomahawk and knife dispatched +the remnant of the band. + +But the Iroquois had no mind for further fighting, and +did not attack Ste Marie. They mustered their Huron +captives--old men, women, and children--tied them to +stakes in the cabins of St Ignace, and set fire to the +village. And, after being entertained to their satisfaction +by the cries of agony which arose from their victims in +the blazing cabins, they made their way southward through +the forests of Huronia and disappeared. + +Panic reigned throughout Huronia. After burning fifteen +villages, lest they should serve as a shelter for the +Iroquois, the Hurons scattered far and wide. Some fled +to Ste Marie, some toiled through the snows of spring to +the villages of the Petuns, some fled to the Neutrals +and Eries, some to the Algonquin tribes of the north and +west, and some even sought adoption among the Iroquois. +Ste Marie stood alone, like a shepherd without sheep: +mission villages, chapels, residences, flocks--all were +gone. The work of over twenty years was destroyed. Sick +at heart, Ragueneau looked about him for a new situation, +a spot that might serve as a centre for his band of +devoted missionaries as they toiled among the wanderers +by lake and river and in the depths of the northern +forest. + +He first thought of Isle Ste Marie (Manitoulin Island) +as the safest place for the headquarters of a new mission, +but finally decided to go to Isle St Joseph (Christian +Island), just off Huronia to the north. There, on the +bay that indents the south-east corner of the island, he +directed that land should be cleared for the building. +The work of evacuating Ste Marie began early in May, and +on the 15th of the month the buildings were set on fire. +The valuables of the mission were placed in a large boat +and on rafts; and, with heavy hearts, the fathers and +their helpers went aboard for the journey to their new +home twenty miles away. + +The new Ste Marie which the Jesuits built on Isle St +Joseph was in the nature of a strong fort. Its walls were +of stone and cement, fourteen feet high and loopholed. +At each corner there was a protecting bastion, and the +entire structure was surrounded by a deep moat. It was +practically impregnable against Indian attack, for it +could not be undermined, set on fire, or taken by assault. +A handful of men could hold it against a host of Iroquois. + +About the sheltering walls of Ste Marie the Indians +gathered, to the number of seven or eight thousand by +the autumn of 1649. Here the missionaries continued the +good work. The only outposts now were among the Algonquins +along the shore of Georgian Bay, and the Petun missions +of St Mathias, St Matthieu, and St Jean. But the Petuns +were presently to share the fate of the Hurons; and +Garnier and Chabanel, who were stationed at St Jean, were +to perish as had Daniel, Brebeuf, and Lalemant. + +During the autumn Ragueneau learned that a large body of +Iroquois were working their way westward towards St Jean. +He sent runners to the threatened town, and ordered +Chabanel to return to Ste Marie and warned Garnier to be +on his guard. On the 5th of December Chabanel set out +for Ste Marie with some Petun Hurons, and Garnier was +left alone at St Jean. Two days later, while the warriors +were out searching for their elusive foes, a band of +Senecas and Mohawks swept upon the town, broke through +the defences, and proceeded to butcher the inhabitants. +Garnier fell with his flock. In the thick of the slaughter, +while baptizing and absolving the dying, he was smitten +down with three bullet wounds and his cassock torn from +his body. As he lay in agony the moans of a wounded Petun +near by drew his attention. Though spent with loss of +blood, though his brain reeled with the weakness of +approaching death, he dragged himself to his wounded red +brother, gave him absolution, and then fell to the ground +in a faint. On recovering from his swoon he saw another +dying convert near by and strove to reach his side, but +an Iroquois rushed upon him and ended his life with a +tomahawk. + +In a sense Chabanel was less fortunate than Garnier. On +the day following the massacre of St Jean he was hastening +along the well-beaten trail towards Ste Marie, when the +sound of Iroquois war-cries in the distance alarmed his +guides, and all deserted him save one. This one did worse, +for he slew the priest and cast his body into the +Nottawasaga river. This murderer, an apostate Huron, +afterwards confessed the crime, declaring that he had +committed it because nothing but misfortune had befallen +him ever since he and his family had embraced Christianity. + +For some months after the death of Garnier and Chabanel +the Jesuits maintained the mission of St Mathias among +the Petuns in the Blue Hills. Here Father Adrien Greslon +laboured until January 1650, and Father Leonard Garreau +until the following spring. Garreau was then recalled, +leaving not a missionary on the mainland in the Huron or +the Petun country. + +The French and Indians on Isle St Joseph, though safe +from attack, were really prisoners on the island. Mohawks +and Senecas remained in the forests near by, ready to +pounce on any who ventured to the mainland. When winter +bridged with ice the channel between the island and the +main shore, it was necessary for the soldiers of the +mission to stand incessantly on guard. And now another +enemy than the Iroquois stalked among the fugitives. The +fathers had abundant food for themselves and their +assistants; but the Hurons, in their hurried flight, had +made no provision for the winter. The famishing hordes +subsisted on acorns and roots, and even greedily devoured +the dead bodies of dogs and foxes. Disease joined forces +with famine, and by spring fully half the Hurons at Ste +Marie had perished. Some fishing and hunting parties left +the island in search of food, but few returned. + +It soon appeared that for the Hurons to remain on the +island meant extinction. Two of the leading chiefs waited +on Father Ragueneau and begged him to move the remnant +of their people to Quebec, where under the sheltering +walls of the fortress they might keep together as a +people. It was a bitter draught for the Jesuits; but +there was no other course. They made ready for the +migration; and on the 10th of June (1650) the thirteen +priests and four lay brothers of the mission, with their +donnes, hired men, and soldiers, in all sixty French, +and about three hundred Hurons, entered canoes and headed +for the French River. On their way down the Ottawa they +met Father Bressani, who had gone to Quebec in the previous +autumn for supplies, and who now joined the retreating +party. And on the 28th of July, after a journey of fifty +days, all arrived safely at the capital of New France. + +[Footnote: For a time the Hurons encamped in the vicinity +of the Hotel-Dieu. In the spring of 1651 they moved to +the island of Orleans. Five years later their settlement +was raided by Mohawks and seventy-one were killed or +taken prisoner. The island was abandoned and shelter +sought in Quebec under the guns of Fort St Louis, and +here they remained until 1668, when they removed to +Beauport. In the following year they were placed at +Notre-Dame-de-Foy, about four miles from Quebec. In 1673 +a site affording more land was given them on the St +Charles river about nine miles from the fortress. Here +at Old Lorette a chapel was built for them and here they +remained for twenty-four years. In 1697 they moved to +New Lorette--Jeune Lorette--in the seigneury of St Michel, +and at this place, by the rapids of the St Charles, four +or five hundred of this once numerous tribe may still be +found.] + +The war-lust of the Five Nations remained still unsatiated. +They continued to harass the Petuns, who finally fled in +terror, most of them to Mackinaw Island. Still in dread +of the Iroquois, they moved thence to the western end of +Lake Superior; but here they came into conflict with the +Sioux, and had to migrate once more. A band of them +finally moved to Detroit and Sandusky, where, under the +name of Wyandots, we find them figuring in history at a +later period. The Iroquois then found occasion for quarrels +with the Neutrals, the Eries, and the Andastes; and soon +practically all the Indian tribes from the shores of +Maine to the Mississippi and as far south as the Carolinas +were under tribute to the Five Nations. Only the Algonquin +tribes of Michigan and Wisconsin and the tribes of the +far north had not suffered from these bloodthirsty +conquerors. + +The Huron mission was ended. For a quarter of a century +the Jesuits had struggled to build up a spiritual empire +among the heathen of North America, but, to all appearances, +they had struggled in vain. In all twenty-five fathers +had toiled in Huronia. Of these, as we have seen, four +had been murdered by the Iroquois and one by an apostate +Huron. Nor was this the whole story of martyrdom. Six +years after the dispersion Leonard Garreau was to die by +an Iroquois bullet while journeying up the Lake of Two +Mountains on his way to the Algonquin missions of the +west. Another of the fathers, Rene Menard, while following +a party of Algonquins to the wilds of Wisconsin, lost +his way in the forest and perished from exposure or +starvation; and Anne de Noue, Brebeuf's earliest comrade +in Huronia, in an effort to bring assistance to a party +of French soldiers storm-bound on Lake St Peter, was +frozen to death. But misfortune did not cool the zeal of +the Jesuits. Into the depths of the forest they went +with their wandering flocks, and raised the Cross by lake +and stream as far west as the Mississippi and as far +north as Hudson Bay. Already they had found their way +into the Long Houses of the Iroquois. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE IROQUOIS MISSION + +While labouring among the Hurons the Jesuits had their +minds on the Iroquois. It was, they thought, within their +sphere of duty even to tame these human tigers. They well +knew that such an attempt would involve dangers vastly +greater than those encountered in Huronia; but the greater +the danger and suffering the greater the glory. And yet +for a time it seemed impossible to make a beginning of +missionary work among the Iroquois. As we have seen, +Champlain had made them the uncompromising enemies of +the French, and since then all Frenchmen stood in constant +peril of their lives from marauding bands in ambush near +every settlement and along the highways of travel. Thus +nearly twenty years passed after the arrival of the +Jesuits in Canada before an opening came for winning a +way to the hearts of these ruthless destroyers. + +It came at last, fraught with tragedy. From 1636 to 1642 +Father Isaac Jogues had been engaged in missionary work +in Huronia. He was a man of saintly character, delicate, +refined, scholarly; yet he had borne hardships among the +Petuns enough to break the spirit of any man. He had +toiled, too, among the Algonquin tribes, and at one time +had preached to a gathering of two thousand at Sault Ste +Marie. In 1642 he was chosen to bring much-needed supplies +to Huronia--a dangerous task, as in that year large bodies +of Iroquois were on the war-path. And in August he was +ascending Lake St Peter with thirty-six Hurons and three +Frenchmen in twelve canoes. His French companions were +a labourer and two donnes--Rene Goupil, who, having had +some hospital experience, was going to Ste Marie as a +surgeon, and Guillaume Couture, a man of devotion, energy, +and courage. The canoes bearing the party were threading +the clustered islands at the western end of Lake St Peter, +and had reached a spot where the thickly wooded shores +were almost hidden from view by tall reeds that swayed +in the summer wind, when suddenly out of the reeds darted +a number of Iroquois warriors in canoes. The surprise +was complete; three of the Hurons were killed on the +spot, and Jogues, Goupil, and Couture, and twenty-two +Hurons were taken prisoner. The raiders then plundered +the canoes and set out southward, up the Richelieu, with +their prisoners. At every stopping-place on the way Jogues +and the donnes were brutally tortured; finally, in the +Mohawk country they were dragged through the three chief +towns of the nation, held up to ridicule, beaten with +clubs, their fingers broken or lopped off, and their +bodies burned with red-hot coals. Couture had slain a +Mohawk warrior during the attack on Lake St Peter; but +his courageous bearing so impressed the savages that one +of them adopted him in place of a dead relative, and he +thus escaped death. Goupil, after several months among +the Mohawks, was brutally murdered. But Jogues's life +was providentially preserved, and during nearly a year, +a year of intense suffering, he went among his persecutors +glorying in the opportunity of preaching the Gospel under +these hard conditions. + +At length a fishing and trading party of Mohawks took +him to the Dutch settlement at Fort Orange (Albany). +Already the Dutch authorities had tried in vain to gain +his release. They now took advantage of his presence +among them, generously braving the wrath of his tyrant +masters, and aided him to escape. He found shelter on a +Dutch vessel and finally succeeded in reaching France. +The story of his capture had arrived before him, and his +brothers in France welcomed him as a saint and martyr, +as one miraculously snatched from the jaws of death. But +he had no thought of remaining to enjoy the cloistered +quiet and peace of a college in France; back to the +hardships and dangers of North America his unconquerable +spirit demanded that he should go. According to the rules +of the Church he could not administer the sacraments with +his mutilated hands; but, having obtained a special +dispensation from the Pope, he once more fearlessly +crossed the ocean, in search of the crown of martyrdom. + +The next missionary to reach the Iroquois country was +Father Joseph Bressani, an Italian priest who had been +attracted to the Canadian mission-field through reading +the Relations of the missionaries to Huronia. On April +27, 1644, with six Hurons and a French boy twelve years +old, he set out from Three Rivers. It was thought that +the Iroquois would not yet have reached the St Lawrence +at this early time of the year; but this was an error, +as the sequel proved. A party of twenty-seven warriors +in ambush surprised Bressani and his fellow-travellers, +slew several of the Hurons, and carried the rest with +Bressani and the French boy to the Mohawk towns. Bressani +they put to torture even more severe than that which +Jogues had endured; not sparing the young lad, who manfully +faced his tormentors till death freed him. Bressani +escaped death only because an old squaw adopted him; but +so mangled were his hands, so burned and broken was his +body, that she deemed her slave of little value and sent +him with her son to Fort Orange to be sold. The Dutch +acted generously; paid a liberal ransom; and gave Bressani +passage on a Dutch vessel, which landed him at La Rochelle +on November 15, 1644. But, like Jogues, his one thought +was to return to New France; and in the following year +we find him in Huronia, his mutilated hands, torn and +broken by the enemies of the Hurons, mute but efficacious +witnesses of his courage. + +For a time the hopes of the Jesuits for a mission among +the Iroquois were damped by the experiences of Jogues +and Bressani. But in 1645 an incident took place that +opened the way for an attempt to carry the Gospel to this +savage people. A band of Algonquins captured several +Mohawks and brought them to Sillery. The captives fully +expected to be tortured and burned; but the Jesuits at +Quebec and the governor, Montmagny, were desirous of +winning the goodwill of the Iroquois. They persuaded the +Algonquins to free the prisoners, then treated them +kindly, and sent one of them home on the understanding +that he would try to make peace between his people and +the French and their allies. On the advice of Guillaume +Couture, who was still among the Mohawks and was much +esteemed and trusted by them, the Mohawks sent ambassadors +to Three Rivers to consult with the governor. The result +was a temporary peace; the Mohawks agreed to bury the +hatchet; and early in the following spring (1646) Montmagny +decided to send to them a special messenger who might +make the peace permanent and set up among them a mission. + +Isaac Jogues, having returned to Canada after his brief +rest in France, was now stationed at Ville Marie. His +knowledge of the Mohawk language and character made him +the most fitting person to send as envoy to the Mohawks, +in the twofold capacity of diplomat and missionary. At +first, as his sufferings rose before his mind, he shrank +from the task, but only for a moment. He would go fearlessly +to these people, though they lived in his memory only by +the tortures they had inflicted on him. He set out; and +on arriving at the Mohawk towns he found the savages +friendly. Everywhere the Mohawks bade him welcome. They +listened attentively to the message from the governor, +and accepted the wampum belts and gifts which he bore. +Apparently the Mohawks were eager for the amity of the +French. To both Jogues and Couture it seemed that at last +the time was ripe for an Iroquois mission--the Mission +of the Martyrs. Before saying farewell to the Mohawks +Jogues left with his hosts, as a pledge that he would +return, a locked box; and by the end of June he was back +in Quebec to report the success of his journey. He then +prepared to redeem his pledge to the Mohawks. He left +Quebec towards the end of August, with a lay brother +named Lalande and some Hurons. He had forebodings of +death, for on the eve of the journey he wrote to a friend +in France: Ibo et non redibo, I shall go and shall not +return. Arrived at the Richelieu, he was told by some +friendly Indians that the attitude of the Mohawks had +changed. They were in arms, and were once more breathing +vengeance against the French and their allies. At this +Jogues's Huron companions deserted him, but he and Lalande +pressed on to their destination. The alarm was only too +well founded. The Mohawks at once crowded round them, +scowling and threatening. They stripped Jogues and his +comrade of their clothing, beat them, and repeated the +tortures which Jogues had suffered four years before. + +The innocent cause of this outbreak of Mohawk fury was +the box which Jogues had left behind him. From this box, +as the ignorant savages thought, had come the drought +and a plague of grasshoppers, which had destroyed the +crops, and also the pest which was now raging in the +Mohawk towns. Some Huron captives among the Mohawks, no +doubt to win favour with their masters, had maligned +Jogues, proclaiming him a sorcerer who had previously +brought disaster to the Hurons, and had now come to +destroy the Mohawks. Undoubtedly, they declared, it was +from the box that had come all the ills which had befallen +them. Jogues protested his innocence; but as well might +he have tried to reason with a pack of wolves. They +demanded his death, and the inevitable blow soon fell. +On the 18th of October, as he sat wounded and bruised +and starving in a wigwam, a chief approached and bade +him come to a feast. He knew what the invitation meant; +it was a feast of death; but he calmly rose, his spirit +steeled for the worst. His guide entered a wigwam and +ordered him to follow; and, as he bent his head to enter, +a savage concealed by the door cleft his skull with a +tomahawk. On the following day Lalande shared a similar +fate. Their heads were chopped off and placed on the +palisades of the town, and their bodies thrown into the +Mohawk river. The Mission of the Martyrs was at an end +for the time being. + +Ten years were to pass before missionary work was renewed +among the Iroquois--ten years of disaster to the Jesuits +and to the colony. In these years, as we have already +seen, the Hurons, Petuns, and Neutrals were destroyed or +scattered, and the French and Indian settlements along +the St Lawrence were continually in danger. There was no +safety outside the fortified posts, and agriculture and +trade were at a standstill. The year 1653 was particularly +disastrous; a horde of Mohawks were abroad, hammering at +the palisades of every settlement and spreading terror +even in the strongly guarded towns of Ville Marie, Three +Rivers, and Quebec. But light broke when all seemed +darkest. The western Iroquois--the Oneidas, Onondagas, +and Senecas--were at war with the Eries. While thus +engaged it seemed to them good policy to make peace with +the French, and they dispatched an embassy to Ville Marie +to open negotiations. The Mohawks, too, fearing that +their western kinsmen might gain some advantage over +them, sent messengers to New France. A grand council was +held at Quebec. But even while making peace the Iroquois +were intent on war. They desired nothing short of the +utter extermination of the Huron nation, and viewed with +jealousy the Huron settlement under the wing of the French +on the island of Orleans. Both Onondagas and Mohawks +plotted to destroy this community. The proposed peace +was merely a ruse to open a way to attack the Hurons in +order to kill them or to adopt them into the Five Nations, +which, on account of losses in war, needed recruits. The +Mohawks requested that the Hurons be removed to the Mohawk +villages; the Onondagas stipulated for a French colony +in their country, in the hope that the Hurons would be +attracted to such a settlement, and that then both French +and Hurons would be in their power. The governor of New +France, now Jean de Lauzon, a weak old man who thought +more of the profits of the fur trade and of land-grants +for himself and his family than of the welfare of the +colony, knew not how to act. A negative answer he dared +not give; and he equally feared the effect of a definite +promise. On the one hand was the certainty that war would +break out again in all its fury; on the other the equal +certainty that the fate which had befallen the Hurons in +Huronia would almost inevitably overtake the poor remnant +of Christian Hurons whom it was his duty to protect. + +The Jesuits, however, were anxious to labour among the +Iroquois, and at their request the governor adopted a +temporizing policy. Before giving a final reply it was +deemed wise to send an ambassador to the Five Nations to +spy out the land and confirm the peace. This dangerous +task was assigned to the veteran missionary Father Simon +Le Moyne. In the spring of 1654 Le Moyne visited the +Onondagas. His diplomacy and eloquence succeeded with +them, but the Mohawks still continued their raids on the +settlements. Nevertheless in 1655 the Mohawks again sent +messengers to Quebec professing friendship. Le Moyne once +more took up the task of diplomat and journeyed to the +Mohawk country in the hope of making a binding treaty +with the fiercest and most inveterate foes of New France. +In this same year a large deputation of Onondagas arrived +at Quebec. They wished the French to take immediate action +and establish a mission and colony in their midst. Once +more their sincerity seemed doubtful; and Fathers Chaumonot +and Dablon were dispatched to Onondaga to ascertain the +temper and disposition of the Indians there. After spending +the winter of 1655-56 in the country, where they had +conferences in the great council-house of the Five Nations +with representatives of all the tribes, the two fathers +believed that the time was ripe for a mission. A colony, +too, in their judgment, would be advisable; it would +serve at once as a centre of civilization for the Iroquois +and a barrier against the Dutch and English of New York, +who hitherto had monopolized the trade of the Iroquois. +In the spring of 1656 Dablon returned to Quebec to advise +the governor to accept the terms of the Onondagas, while +Chaumonot remained at Onondaga to watch over his new +flock both as missionary and as political agent. + +An expedition, the entire expense of which fell on the +Jesuits, was at once fitted out. The town major of Quebec, +Zachary du Puys, took military command of the party, +which consisted of ten soldiers, thirty or forty white +labourers, four Jesuit fathers--Menard, Le Mercier, +Dablon, and Fremin--two lay brothers, and a number of +Hurons, Senecas, and Onondagas. On the 17th of May the +colonists left Quebec in two large boats and twelve +canoes. They began their journey with forebodings as to +their fate, for the Mohawks were once more haunting the +St Lawrence. Scarcely had Du Puys and his men passed out +of sight of Quebec when they were attacked. The Mohawks, +however, pretended that they had supposed the party to +be Hurons, expressed regret for the attack, and allowed +the expedition to proceed. At Montreal the boats were +discarded in favour of canoes for the difficult navigation +of the upper St Lawrence. Save for Le Moyne, Chaumonot, +and Dablon, these colonists were the first whites to +ascend the St Lawrence between Montreal and Lake Ontario; +the first to toil up against the current of those swift +waters and to portage past the turbulent rapids; the +first to view the varied beauty of the lordly river, its +broad stretches of sparkling blue waters, its fairyland +mazes of islands, and its great forests rising everywhere +from the shore to the horizon. At length they reached +Lake Ontario and skirted its southern shore until they +entered the Oswego river. Ascending this river they were +met by Chaumonot and an Onondaga delegation. On Lake +Onondaga the canoes formed four abreast behind the canoe +of the leader, from which streamed a white silk flag with +the name Jesus woven on it in letters of gold. Then, with +measured stroke of paddle and song of praise, the flotilla +swept ashore to the site which Chaumonot had chosen for +the headquarters of the colony. Here, from the crest of +a low hill, commanding a beautiful view of one of the +most picturesque of inland lakes, they cleared the trees +and erected a commodious and substantial house, with +smaller buildings about it, all enclosed in the usual +palisade. + +The Jesuits announced that they had come not as traders +but as 'messengers of God,' seeking no profit; and they +began work under most favourable conditions. Owing to +Chaumonot's exertions the Onondagas seemed genuinely +friendly. The fathers, too, found in every village many +adopted Hurons, from their old missions in Huronia, who +still professed Christianity. Indeed, one whole village +was composed largely of Hurons and Petuns. The mission +was not confined to the Onondagas; the Cayugas, Senecas, +and Oneidas were included; and the new field seemed rich +in promise. + +But it soon became evident that the fickle Iroquois were +not to be trusted. The Mohawks continued their raids on +the Hurons at Quebec and carried off captives from under +the very walls of Fort St Louis. Learning of this, the +Onondagas sent an expedition to Quebec to demand that +some Hurons should be given to them also, and the weak +administrator of the colony, Charles de Lauzon-Charny, +being too cowardly to resist, complied with this demand. +On the way back to Onondaga the Indians slew some of the +captives. On arriving at home they tortured and burned +others, among them women and helpless children. The +colonists at Onondaga frequently witnessed such scenes, +but they were powerless to interfere. Presently they +learned that it was with evil intentions that they had +been invited to Onondaga. A statement made to one of the +missionaries by a dying convert served only to confirm +the rumour already current, namely, that the death of +the colonists had been decreed from the first, and that +the Jesuits were to meet the fate which had befallen +Jogues and their brothers in Huronia. + +Prompt action was necessary. Orders were sent to the +missionaries in the outlying points to return to +headquarters, and towards the end of March the colonists, +fifty-three in all, were behind the palisades of their +houses on Lake Onondaga. But they had slight chance of +escape, for they had not canoes enough to carry more than +half the party. Moreover, they were closely watched: +Onondaga warriors had pitched their wigwams about the +palisades and several had stationed themselves immediately +in front of the gate. The greatest need of the French, +however, being adequate means of transportation, they +addressed themselves to this problem. In the principal +dwelling was a large garret, and here they built two +strong boats, each capable of bearing fifteen men. But +the difficulty still remained of getting these boats to +the lake without the knowledge of the savages. + +Among the colonists was a young man, Pierre Esprit +Radisson, who three years before had been a prisoner +among the Iroquois and who was afterwards to figure +prominently in the history of the Canadian wilderness. +He was unscrupulous but resourceful; and on this occasion +his talents came into good use. He knew the Indians well +and he knew that they could not resist a feast, especially +a feast of a semi-religious character. He persuaded a +young man of the mission to feign illness and to invite +the Onondagas to aid in his cure by attending a festin +a manger tout--a feast where everything must be eaten. +To sanction this no doubt went much against the grain of +the Jesuits, who had been upbraiding the Indians for +their superstition and gluttony; but in this case the +end seemed assuredly to justify the means. The Onondagas +attended the banquet. In huge iron pots slung over fires +outside the gate of the palisades the French boiled an +immense quantity of venison, game, fish, and corn. They +had brought with them to the colony a number of hogs, +and these they slew to add to the feast. The Indians +squatted about the kettles, from which the soldiers, +employees, and fathers ladled the food; as fast as a +warrior's dish was emptied it was refilled; and when a +reveller signified that he had eaten enough, the pretended +invalid cried out: 'Would you have me die?' and once more +the gorged Onondaga fell to. To add to the entertainment, +some of the Frenchmen, who had brought violins to the +wilderness, fiddled with might and main. At length the +gluttony began to take the desired effect: one after +another the Onondagas dropped to sleep to the soothing +music of the violins. Then, when brute slumber had sealed +the eyes of all, the colonists roused themselves for +flight. Some one, probably Radisson, suggested that they +were fifty-three wide-awake Frenchmen to one hundred +sleeping savages, and that it would be easy to brain +their enemies as they slept; but the Jesuits would not +sanction such a course. The Frenchmen threw open the +gate, and carried the boats from the garret to the +lakeside. They put up effigies of soldiers at conspicuous +points within the enclosure, barred and locked the gate, +and launched the vessels. They had swept across the lake +and were well down the Oswego before day had dawned and +the Indians had awakened from their heavy slumber. + +When the Onondagas recovered consciousness they were +surprised at the deathlike stillness. They peered through +the palisades; and, seeing the effigies of the soldiers, +believed that their intended victims were within. But no +sounds except the clucking and crowing of some fowls fell +on their ears. They became suspicious and hammered at +the gate; and, when there was no answer, broke it down +in fury, only to find the place deserted. An examination +of the shore showed that heavy boats had been launched +a few hours before. Believing that the powerful God of +the white man was in league with the colonists, and had +supplied them with these boats, the savages made no +attempt to follow the fugitives, who, after sustaining +the loss of three men in the rapids of the St Lawrence, +reached Quebec on the 23rd of April. + +For another decade no further effort was to be made to +civilize and christianize the Iroquois. During this +period, however, a radical and much-needed change took +place in the government of New France. Hitherto chartered +companies had been in control, and their aim had been +trade, not colonization. Until 1663 Canada remained a +trading station and a mission rather than a true colony. +But in this year the king, Louis XIV, cancelled the +charter of the Hundred Associates, proclaimed the colony +under royal government, and sent out strong men from the +motherland to govern the country. + +It was not long before the Iroquois began to feel the +resistance of new forces in the settlements along the St +Lawrence; and in 1665, when a strong regiment of veterans, +the Carignan-Salieres, under the Marquis de Tracy, landed +in New France, the Iroquois who had been smiting the +settlements slunk away to their fortified towns. In +January 1666 Courcelle, the governor, invaded the Mohawk +country; and though his expedition was a failure, it +served as a warning to the Five Nations. In May Senecas +and Mohawks came to Quebec to treat for peace. They +assumed their ancient haughty air; but Tracy was in no +mood for this. He sentenced to death a Mohawk who had +the boldness to boast of having tomahawked a Frenchman, +and dismissed the ambassadors with angry words. The +Indians, discomfited, returned to their strongholds. At +their heels followed Tracy and Courcelle with thirteen +hundred men. At the approach of this army the Mohawks +deserted their villages and escaped death. But the French +set fire to the villages and desolated the Mohawk country. + +In the spring of 1667 the Mohawks came to Quebec humbly +begging that missionaries, blacksmiths, and surgeons +should be sent to live among them. The other tribes of +the Five Nations followed their example. Once more the +Jesuits went to the Iroquois and established missions +among the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, and Senecas. +For twenty years the devoted fathers laboured in this +hard field. During the administrations of the governors +Courcelle and Frontenac the Iroquois remained peaceable, +but they became restless after the removal of Frontenac +in 1682. The succeeding governors, La Barre and Denonville, +proved weak rulers, and the Mohawks began once more to +send war-parties against the settlements. At length, in +1687, open war broke out. The missionaries, however, had +been withdrawn from the Iroquois country, just in time +to escape the fury of the savages. + +Not in vain did the Jesuits labour among the Five Nations. +They made numerous converts, and persuaded many of them +to move to Canada. Communities of Christian Iroquois and +Hurons who had been adopted by the Five Nations settled +near the Bay of Quinte, at La Montagne on the island of +Montreal, and at Caughnawaga by the rapids of Lachine. +The large settlements of 'praying Indians' still living +at Caughnawaga and at St Regis, near Cornwall, are +descendants of these Indians. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MISSION OF VILLE MARIE + +While the Jesuits carried the Cross to the Hurons, the +Algonquins, and the Iroquois, other crusaders, equally +noble and courageous, planted it on the spot where now +stands the foremost city of the Dominion. The settlement +of the large and fertile island at the confluence of the +Ottawa and the St Lawrence had a motive all its own. +Quebec was founded primarily for trade; and so with +practically all other settlements which have grown into +great centres of population. But Montreal was originally +intended solely for a mission station. Its founders had +no thought of trade; indeed, they were prohibited from +dealing in furs, then the chief marketable product of +the colony. + +We have seen that the men and women who founded the +Sillery mission, and the Hotel-Dieu and the Ursuline +convent at Quebec, received their inspiration from the +Relations of the Jesuits. So likewise did the founders +of the settlement on the island of Montreal. Jerome le +Royer de la Dauversiere of La Fleche in Anjou, a receiver +of taxes, and Abbe Jean Jacques Olier of Paris, were the +prime movers in the undertaking. Each independently of +the other had conceived the idea of establishing on the +island of Hochelaga a mission for the conversion of the +heathen in Canada. Meeting by accident at the Chateau of +Meudon near Paris, they planned their enterprise, and +decided to found a colony of devotees, composed of an +order of priests, an order of sisters to care for the +sick and infirm, and an order of nuns for the teaching +of young Indians and the children of settlers at the +mission. These two enthusiasts went to work in a quite +practical way to realize their ambition. They succeeded +in interesting the Baron de Fancamp and three other +wealthy gentlemen, and soon had a sum--about $75,000-- +ample for the establishment of the colony. While they +were busy at this work, Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance, a +courageous and devout woman, was moved by one of Father +Le Jeune's Relations to devote her life to the care of +the wounded and suffering in the wilds of New France; +and the projected colony on the island of Montreal offered +an opportunity for the fulfilment of her desire. Madame +de Bullion, a rich and very charitable woman, had agreed +to aid Olier and Dauversiere by endowing a hospital in +the colony, and Jeanne Mance offered her services as +nurse and housekeeper. A leader was needed, a man of +soldierly training and pious life; and in Paul de Chomedy, +Sieur de Maisonneuve, a veteran of the wars in Holland, +the ideal man was found. No attempt was made at this time +to secure teachers; there would be at first neither white +nor red children to teach, for there were no Indians +living on the island of Montreal, and the colonists would +not at first bring their families to this wilderness +post. The funds collected and the leader found, the next +step was to get permission from the Hundred Associates +to settle on the island; and here was a difficulty. The +Associates had been liberal in land-grants to their own +members; and Jean de Lauzon, the president, had received +for himself large concessions, among them the entire +island of Montreal. However, he was persuaded, probably +for a consideration, to part with a grant that brought +him no return, and which he could visit only at the risk +of his scalp. Olier and Dauversiere and their associates +secured the land, and Maisonneuve was appointed governor +of the new colony. + +The Jesuits had played an important part in this +undertaking. It was their Relations that had given the +impulse, and the promoters of the colony had the able +assistance of Father Charles Lalemant, whom we have +already met as the first superior of the Jesuit order in +New France. It was he who persuaded Jean de Lauzon to +consent to surrender his grant, and it was to him that +Maisonneuve first came to seek advice as to how he could +best consecrate his sword to the Church in Canada. And +it was largely on Lalemant's recommendation that +Maisonneuve received his appointment as leader of the +colonists and governor of the colony. To Lalemant, too, +came Jeanne Mance when she first heard the clear call to +the new mission. + +The promoters of the 'Society of Our Lady of Montreal' +now set to work to collect recruits for the mission, +provide supplies, and prepare vessels to transport the +colonists to New France. All was ready about the middle +of June 1641, and, while Dauversiere, Olier, and Fancamp +remained in France to look after the interests of the +colony there, Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance, with three +other women and about fifty men, set sail and arrived in +Quebec before the end of August. Here they did not find +the enthusiastic welcome which they expected. Maisonneuve +had come with a special commission as governor of Montreal, +and was coldly received by Montmagny, who was jealous of +him, and who moreover believed, no doubt rightly, that +a divided authority would not be in the best interests +of struggling New France. The Jesuits at Quebec tried to +persuade Maisonneuve to abandon his enterprise. There +were, they said, no inhabitants on the island of Montreal, +it was in the direct route of the Mohawks, who annually +haunted the Ottawa and St Lawrence, and swift destruction +would surely be the fate of the colony. But Maisonneuve +could not be moved from his fixed purpose; he would go +to Montreal even 'if every tree on that island were to +be changed to an Iroquois.' + +Accompanied by Father Vimont, the superior of the Jesuits, +and Governor Montmagny, Maisonneuve went up the river, +and took formal possession of the island on the 15th of +October in the name of the 'Society of Our Lady of +Montreal.' The colonists spent the winter at St Michel, +near Sillery, for there was no room for the Montrealers +in the buildings at Quebec. On May 8, 1642, Maisonneuve +led his company--in a pinnace, a barge, and two row-boats +--to the site of the new colony. Here, too, were Father +Vimont and Madame de la Peltrie, who for the nonce had +deserted her Ursulines to accompany Jeanne Mance to a +field that offered greater excitement and danger. On the +18th of May, at a spot where tall warehouses now abound +and where the varied roar of the traffic of a great city +never ceases, they set up an altar, and Father Vimont +consecrated the island mission. In the course of his +sermon he uttered the prophetic words: 'You are a grain +of mustard seed that shall rise and grow till its branches +overshadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the +work of God. His smile is upon you and your children +shall fill the land.' The city of Montreal, the throbbing +heart of the business life of Canada, with its half-million +and more inhabitants and its magnificent charitable, +religious, and educational institutions, is the fulfilment +of his words. + +But the beginnings were feeble and disheartening. A few +houses, flanked by a windmill and fort, and connected by +a footpath where now runs St Paul Street, represented +the beginnings of Montreal--or Ville Marie, as the +settlement had been christened by the Society in Paris. + +The Iroquois soon learned of Ville Marie. Within a few +months a scalping party of Mohawks paid it a visit, and +killed several workmen and wounded others. The wounded +became the care of Jeanne Mance, who never henceforth +lacked patients. Between the labourers injured by accident +in the forest and the wounded from Iroquois fights, the +gentle-handed nurse and her assistants were kept always +busy. Many of her patients were friendly Indians who had +suffered in the raids; sometimes even a sorely smitten +Iroquois would be borne to the rude hospital. + +But the mission did not grow. The Algonquins and Hurons +viewed the island of Montreal as too exposed for a +permanent encampment, for the Iroquois ever hovered about +it. At no season of the year was Ville Marie immune from +attack; night and day the inhabitants had to be on the +alert; and often the cry 'The Iroquois!' sent the entire +population to the shelter of the fort. For fifteen years +there was little change in the population, and year after +year the same dangers and hardships faced the people. +But Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance hoped on, confident that +Ville Marie was destined to have a glorious future. In +1653 Marguerite Bourgeoys, a woman of great force of +character, arrived in the colony to open a school. Finding +no white pupils, she gathered about her a few red children, +and made her school-room in a stable assigned to her by +Maisonneuve. Presently more pupils came, and among them +some white children. In 1658 she returned to France to +secure assistants, and when, in the following year, she +resumed her labours at Ville Marie, it was as the head +of the 'Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame,' an +organization that has so greatly developed as to make +its influence felt, not only in Canada, but in the United +States as well. + +Meanwhile, in 1642, Abbe Olier had founded the Seminary +of St Sulpice in Paris; and during the intervening years +had been assiduously training missionaries to take over +the spiritual control of Ville Marie. Since its founding +the Jesuits Poncet, Du Peron, Le Moyne, and Pijart, who +had been trained in the difficult school of the Huron +mission, and Le Jeune and Druillettes, had ministered to +the inhabitants. But in August 1657 the Sulpician priests +Gabriel de Queylus, Gabriel Souart, and Dominic Galinier +arrived at Ville Marie, and the Jesuits immediately +surrendered the parish to them. Henceforth Ville Marie +was to be the peculiar care of the Sulpicians, giving +them for many years enough of both difficulty and danger. +The Iroquois peril did not abate. Never a month passed +but the alarm-bell rang out to warn the settlers that +the savages were at hand. Even the priests went about +their duties with sword at side; and two of them, Vignal +and Le Maitre, fell beneath the tomahawk. Only the courage, +watchfulness, and foresight of Maisonneuve and of such +men as Sergeant-Major Lambert Closse, who gave his life +for the colony, saved Ville Marie from utter destruction. +And as years went on the Iroquois grew bolder. Having +scattered the Hurons and the Algonquins, they now threatened +every trading-post and mission station in Canada. + +In 1660 the climax came. Early in the spring of that year +the harassed mission at Ville Marie learned that several +hundred Iroquois, who had wintered on the upper Ottawa, +were coming down, and that another horde, approaching by +way of the Richelieu, would join forces with them. It +was the purpose of the savages to destroy Ville Marie +and Three Rivers and Quebec, and to wipe out the French +on the St Lawrence for good and all. + +There was at this time in Ville Marie a young soldier +named Adam Daulac, or Dollard, Sieur des Ormeaux, +twenty-five years old. He believed that the best defence +was attack, and boldly proposed to ascend the Ottawa, +with a band of sixteen volunteers, and waylay the Iroquois +coming from the north-west. And so the gallant young men +bade farewell to their friends and set out. In two large +canoes they paddled up the Ottawa, past the swift waters +at Ste Anne, through the smooth stretch of the Lake of +the Two Mountains, up the fierce current at Carillon, +and then on to the rapids of the Long Sault. Here they +paused; this was a fitting place for battle. The Iroquois +would never expect to find a handful of Frenchmen here, +and they could be surprised as they raced down the rapids. +On a level stretch near the foot of the Sault there was +a rude fort ready at hand, a palisaded structure which +had served during the previous autumn as a shelter for +an Algonquin war-party. The French drew the canoes up on +the shore, and stored the provisions and ammunition in +the fort. Then all save the watchful sentinels lay down +for a much-needed rest. On the following day Daulac's +band was reinforced by four Algonquins and forty Hurons, +the Hurons led by the chief Annahotaha, an inveterate +foe of the Iroquois, who had on more than one occasion +taken terrible revenge on the enemies of his people. +Daulac, now in command of sixty men, confidently awaited +the Iroquois. In the meantime axe and saw and shovel were +plied to erect a second row of palisades and to fill the +space between with earth to the height of a man's breast. +Scouts went out and discovered the encampment of the +Iroquois, and at last brought the news that two canoes +were running the rapids. Daulac hurriedly placed several +of his best marksmen in ambush at a spot where the Iroquois +were likely to land. The musketeers, however, in their +excitement, did not kill all the canoemen. Two of the +Iroquois escaped and sped back through the forest to warn +their countrymen, and soon a hundred canoes came leaping +down the turbulent waters. For a moment Daulac and his +men watched the advancing savages. Then they dashed into +the fort to prepare for the fight. Against their defences +rushed the Iroquois. Again and again the defenders drove +them back with great loss. And for a week the heroic +band, living on short rations of crushed corn and water +from a well they had dug within the fort, kept the +assailants at bay. During this time the Iroquois received +large reinforcements, but to no avail. At length they +made shields of split logs heavy enough to resist bullets; +and presently the bewildered defenders of the fort saw +a wooden wall advancing against them. They fired rapid, +despairing volleys; a few of the shield-bearers fell, +but their places were quickly filled from those in the +rear. At the foot of the palisades the Iroquois cast +aside the shields, and, hatchet in hand, hacked an opening. +The end had come. The Iroquois breached the wall. But +Daulac and his men stood to the last, brandishing knife +and axe, while with fierce war-cries the Iroquois bounded +into the fort; and when the sounds of battle ceased there +remained only three Frenchmen, living but mortally wounded, +on whom the savages could glut their vengeance. + +[Footnote: The story of the fight was brought to Montreal +by some Hurons who deserted Daulac's party and escaped.] + +The Iroquois had won, but they had no stomach for raiding +the settlements. If seventeen Frenchmen, assisted by a +few Indians, could keep their hosts at bay for a week, +it would be useless to attack strongly fortified posts. +And so Daulac and his men at this 'Canadian Thermopylae' +had really turned aside the tide of war from New France. +The settlements were saved, and for a time traders and +missionaries journeyed along the St Lawrence and the +Ottawa unmolested. + +In 1663, when Louis XIV took New France under his wing, +the surviving members of the original Society of Our Lady +of Montreal made over the island to the Sulpicians, who +assumed the liabilities of the Society, and took up the +task of looking after the education of the inhabitants +and the care of the sick. Four years later the Seminary +of St Sulpice was given judicial rights in the mission +of Ville Marie. In 1668 five more Sulpicians came to the +colony, among them Rene de Galinee and Dollier de Casson, +who were to win distinction as missionaries and explorers. +Many Sulpician missions pushed out from Ville Marie, +along the upper St Lawrence and the north shore of Lake +Ontario. + +At the beginning of the eighteenth century the complexion +of Ville Marie, then generally called Montreal, had +somewhat changed. The Jesuits, the Recollets, who had +returned to New France in 1670, and the Sulpicians all +laboured there. Moreover, from a mere mission station it +had become an important trading centre; and as such it +was to continue. In position it was well adapted for the +fur trade, and after the British took possession in 1760 +it became the emporium of a great traffic in the fur-fields +of the north and west. But its glorious days are those +of its infancy, the days of Maisonneuve and Daulac, of +Jeanne Mance and Marguerite Bourgeoys, of Rene de Galinee +and Dollier de Casson. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE MISSIONARY EXPLORERS + +The establishment of royal government in 1663 gave new +life to the missions of Canada, and the missionaries +pressed forward with unflagging zeal. They penetrated to +the remotest known tribes and blazed fresh trails for +traders and settlers in the western and northern +wildernesses. We have not space here to tell the story +of these pathfinders, but a few examples may be given. +In 1665 Father Claude Allouez went to Lake Superior to +begin a sojourn of twenty-five years among the Indians +in the region which now forms part of the states of +Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In 1666 Father Gabriel +Druillettes, 'the patriarch' of the Abnaki mission, who +had already borne the Cross to the Crees of the north, +began his labours among the Algonquins of Georgian Bay +and Lake Superior. In 1669 and 1670 the Sulpicians Dollier +de Casson and Rene de Galinee explored and charted Lake +Erie and the waters between it and Lake Huron. In 1670 +Father Claude Dablon, superior of the western missions, +joined Father Allouez at the mission of St Francois-Xavier +on Green Bay; and, among the Winnebagoes of this region +and the Mascoutens and Miamis between the rivers Fox and +Wisconsin, he learned of 'the famous river called the +Mississippi.' In 1672 Father Charles Albanel toiled from +the Saguenay to Hudson Bay, partly as missionary, but +chiefly to lay claim to the country for New France, and +to watch the operations of the newly founded Hudson's +Bay Company. + +It was the 25th of May 1670 when Galinee and Casson +arrived at Sault Ste Marie, after an arduous canoe journey +from their wintering camp on Lake Erie, near the site of +the present town of Port Dover. At the Sault they found +a thriving mission. It had a capacious chapel and a +comfortable dwelling-house; it was surrounded by a palisade +of cedars, and about it were cultivated bits of ground +planted with wheat, Indian corn, peas, and pumpkins. Near +by were clusters of bark wigwams, the homes of Ojibwas +and other Indians, who came here each year to catch the +whitefish that teemed in the waters of the rapids fronting +the settlement. + +One of the priests in charge of this mission, when the +Sulpicians halted at it on their circuitous journey back +to Montreal, was the young Jesuit Jacques Marquette, a +man of delicate mould, indomitable will, keen intellect, +and ardent faith. He was not to remain long at Sault Ste +Marie; for he had heard 'the call of the west'; and in +the summer of this year he set out for the mission of St +Esprit, at La Pointe, on the south-west shore of Lake +Superior. Here there was a motley collection of Indians, +among them many Hurons and Petuns, who had fled to this +remote post to be out of reach of the Iroquois. These +exiles from Huronia still remembered the Jesuits and +retained 'a little Christianity.' St Esprit was not only +a mission; it was a centre of the fur trade, and to it +came Illinois Indians from the Mississippi and Sioux from +the western prairies. From these Marquette learned of +the great river, and from their description of it he was +convinced that it flowed into the Gulf of California. He +had a burning desire to visit the savage hordes that +dwelt along this river, and a longing to explore it to +its mouth. But while he meditated the journey war broke +out between the Sioux--the Iroquois of the west--and the +Hurons and Ottawas of St Esprit. The Sioux won, and the +vanquished Hurons and Ottawas took to flight, the Hurons +going to Michilimackinac and the Ottawas to Great Manitoulin +Island. Marquette followed the Hurons, and set up a +mission at Point St Ignace, on the north shore of the +strait of Michilimackinac. + +Meanwhile 'the great intendant,' Talon, was pushing out +in all directions for new territory to add to the French +dominions in America. And just before the end of his +brilliant administration he commissioned the explorer +Louis Jolliet to find and explore the Mississippi, of +which so much had been heard from missionaries, traders, +and Indians. Like Marquette, Talon believed that this +river flowed into the Western Sea--the Pacific ocean--and +that it would open a route to China and the Indies; and +it was directed that Marquette should accompany Jolliet +on the journey. + +Jolliet left Montreal in the autumn of 1672 and reached +Michilimackinac, where he was to spend the winter with +Marquette, just as the ice was forming on lake and river. +When he drew up his canoe in front of the palisaded +mission at Point St Ignace, Marquette felt that his +ambitions were about to be realized. He was disappointed +in his flock of Algonquins and the feeble remnant of +Hurons, and he hoped to gather about him on the Great +Plains--of whose vegetation and game he had heard +marvellous accounts--a multitude of Indians who would +welcome his Gospel message. Dablon and Allouez had already +touched the outskirts of this country, and their success +was an earnest of great things in store. + +The winter passed slowly for Marquette; but at length, +on May 17, 1673, the explorer and the missionary with +five assistants--a feeble band to risk a plunge into the +unknown--launched their canoes and headed westward. + +The explorers first shaped their course along the northern +shore of Lake Michigan, then steered south-west until +they reached the mouth of the Menominee river, flowing +into Green Bay. Here they rested for a brief period among +friendly Menominees, who tried to persuade them to give +up their venture. According to the Menominees, the banks +of the Mississippi were infested by savage tribes who +tortured and slew all intruders into their domains. As +this did not seem sufficient to discourage Jolliet and +Marquette, they added that demons haunted the land +bordering the river and monsters the river itself, and +that, even if they escaped savages, demons, and monsters, +they would perish from the excessive heat of the country +Both Jolliet and Marquette had heard such stories from +Indians before. Pressing on to the south end of Green +Bay, they entered the Fox river and ascended it until +they reached Lake Winnebago. After crossing this lake +they continued westward up the extension of the Fox. They +were now in the land of the Mascoutens and Miamis. The +country teemed with life; birds filled the air with whirr +of wing and with song; as the voyagers paddled ever +westward deer and elk came from their forest lairs to +gaze with wondering eyes at these unfamiliar intruders +on their haunts. The Mascoutens were friendly, and supplied +the travellers with bison flesh and venison, and with +guides to direct them over the watershed to the Wisconsin. +They carried the canoes over a forest trail, and launched +them on this river; and then with exulting hearts swept +forward on the last stage of their journey to the +Mississippi. At length, on the 17th of June, they reached +the great river and landed at the place where now stands +Prairie du Chien. They had the feeling of conquerors, +but of conquerors whose greatest battle has yet to be +fought. Out of the far north came this mysterious river; +but whither did it go? Did these waters sweep onward till +they lost themselves in the Pacific, or did they pour +into some southern bay of the Atlantic? Such were the +questions that agitated the minds of these first of +Frenchmen to gaze on the 'Father of Waters,' [Footnote: +It is thought possible that in 1658-59 Pierre Esprit +Radisson and Medard Chouart des Groseilliers crossed the +Mississippi while hunting furs in the country west of +Lake Superior; but there is an element of doubt as to +this. Save for the Spaniards, Jolliet and Marquette were +the first white men on the Mississippi, so far as known.] +questions that were not to be laid at rest until La Salle, +nine years later, toiled down the river and from its +mouth viewed the wide expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. + +After a brief rest the party launched their canoes and +for over a week drifted downward with the current, +anchoring their canoes in mid-stream at night for fear +of an attack by hostile Indians. But during this time +they saw no human beings; the only living things that +caught their eyes as they sped past forest and plain were +the deer browsing along the banks, the birds circling +overhead, and immense herds of buffalo moving like huge +armies over the grassy slopes. At length they reached a +village of friendly Illinois, and here they were feasted +on fish, dog, and buffalo meat, and spent the balmy +midsummer night in the open, sleeping on buffalo robes. +While at this village, Marquette, who had a rare gift of +tongues, addressed the Illinois in Algonquin, and thus +preached the Gospel for the first time to the Indians of +the Mississippi. Here their hosts warned them of the +dangers they were going to--death from savages or demons +awaited them in the south--and presented them with a +calumet as a passport to protect them against the tribes +below. + +After leaving this village the explorers came upon a +'hideous monster,' a huge fish, the appearance of which +almost made them credit the stories of the Indians. +According to Marquette: 'His head was like that of a +tiger, his nose was sharp, and somewhat resembled a +wildcat; his beard was long, his ears stood upright, the +colour of his head was grey, and his neck black.' Onward +swept the explorers past the mouth of the Illinois. A +few miles above the present city of Alton they paused to +gaze on some high rocks on which fabulous creatures were +pictured. 'They are,' wrote Marquette in his narrative, +'as large as a calf, with head and horns like a goat; +their eyes red; beard like a tiger's, and a face like a +man's. Their tails are so long that they pass over their +heads and between their forelegs, under the belly, and +ending like a fish's tail. They are painted red, green, +and black.' The Indians of the Mississippi were certainly +not without imagination and possessed some artistic skill. +No doubt it was these pictured rocks that had originated +among the Menominees and Illinois the stories of the +demons with which they had regaled Marquette and Jolliet. + +While the voyagers were still discussing the pictured +rocks, their canoes began to toss and heave on rushing +waters, and they found themselves in the midst of plunging +logs and tumbling trees. They were at the mouth of the +Missouri. As they threaded their way past this dangerous +point, Marquette resolved that he would one day ascend +this river that he might 'preach the Gospel to all the +peoples of this New World who have so long grovelled in +the darkness of infidelity.' + +Onward still into the unknown! At the mouth of the +Ohio--then called by the Indians the Ouabouskigon [Footnote: +This word, as well as the word Ohio, or O-he-ho, means +'The Beautiful.']--they drew up their canoes to rest +and then advanced a little farther south to an Illinois +village. The inhabitants of this village wore European +clothing and had beads, knives, and hatchets, obtained +no doubt from the Spaniards. The Indians told the explorers +that the mouth of the river was distant only a ten-days' +journey, whereas it was in reality a thousand miles away. +But with increased hope the Frenchmen once more launched +their canoes and went on until they came to the mouth of +the Arkansas. Here they met with the first hostile +demonstration. Indians, with bows bent and war-clubs +raised, threatened destruction to these unknown whites; +but Marquette, calm, courageous, and confident, stood up +in the bow of his canoe and held aloft the calumet the +Illinois had given him. The passport was respected and +the elders of the village, which was close at hand, +invited the voyagers ashore and feasted them with sagamite +and fish. Leaving this village, they pressed southward +twenty odd miles to another Arkansas village. The attitude +of the Indians here alarmed them, and this, with the +apprehension that the mouth of the Mississippi was much +farther away than they had been led to believe, decided +them to return. + +Jolliet and Marquette were now satisfied with what they +had achieved. The southward trend of the river proved +conclusively that it could not fall into the Gulf of +California, and, as they were in latitude 33 degrees 41 +minutes, the river could not empty into the Atlantic in +Virginia. It must therefore join the sea either on the +coast of Florida or in the Gulf of Mexico. Moreover, to +proceed farther would but add weary miles to the difficult +return journey. But the chief reason for turning back is +best given in Marquette's own words: + + We considered that the advantage of our travels would + be altogether lost to our nation if we fell into the + hands of the Spaniards, from whom we could expect no + other treatment but death or slavery; besides, we saw + that we were not prepared to resist the Indians, the + allies of the Europeans, who continually infested the + lower part of the river. + +On the 17th of July, just one month after they first +sighted the waters of the Mississippi, the explorers +turned their canoes northward. A little south of the +Illinois river some friendly Indians told them of a +shorter way to Lake Michigan than by the Wisconsin and +Fox river route. These Indians were anxious to have +Marquette remain with them and establish a mission. He +was unable to comply with their request, for in the +miasmal region of the lower Mississippi he had contracted +a severe malarial fever; but he promised to return to +them as soon as his health permitted. The explorers were +now joined by a chief and a band of Indians as guides to +Lake Michigan, and with these they ascended the Illinois +and then the river Des Plaines. From the river Des Plaines +they portaged their canoes to the Chicago river and +descended it to Lake Michigan. They arrived at Green Bay +at the end of September, having travelled in all, since +leaving this spot, over twenty-five hundred miles. +Marquette was too ill to go farther; and he remained at +Green Bay to recruit his strength, while Jolliet hastened +to Quebec to report to Frontenac the results of his +expedition. Unfortunately, the canoe in which Jolliet +travelled was upset in the Lachine rapids and the papers +containing his charts and the account of his journey were +lost; however, he was able to piece out from memory the +story of his Ulysses-like wanderings. + +By the autumn of 1674 Marquette thought that he had +completely recovered his health, and, having received +permission from his superior, he set out for the Illinois +country on the 25th of October to establish the mission +of the Immaculate Conception. He was accompanied on this +journey by two assistants--two true heroes--known to +history only as Pierre and Jacques, and a band of +Potawatomis and Illinois. In ten canoes the party paddled +southward from Green Bay, for nearly a month buffeting +the tempestuous autumn seas of Lake Michigan. They ascended +the Chicago river for six miles and encamped. Marquette +could go no farther; he was once more prostrated with +illness, and a severe hemorrhage threatened to carry him +off. But his valiant spirit conquered, and during the +winter he was able to minister to some Illinois, who were +encamped a short distance away and who paid him occasional +visits. By the spring he had so far recovered that he +decided to undertake the journey to the Mississippi, his +heart set on founding a mission among the tribes there. +On the 13th of March he and his two helpers broke camp +and portaged their canoe to the Des Plaines. Near the +junction of this river with the Illinois was the Indian +town of Old Kaskaskia. The Indians of this town gave him +a welcome worthy of a conqueror, such as indeed he really +was. He went among them teaching and preaching; but brain +and body were burning with fever; he felt that he had +not long to live, and if he would die among his own people +he must hasten home. He summoned the Indians to a grand +council. And, in one of God's first temples--a meadow +decked with spring flowers and roofed by the blue vault +of heaven--he preached to a congregation of over three +thousand--chiefs, warriors, women, and children. His +sermon finished, he blessed his hearers, and, leaving +his words to sink into their hearts, bade them farewell. + +Pierre and Jacques now made ready the canoe, and the +journey to Michilimackinac began. When they reached Lake +Michigan Marquette was only half conscious. While he lay +on the robes piled in the bottom of the canoe, his faithful +henchmen paddled furiously to reach their destination. +But their efforts were in vain; Marquette saw that his +end was approaching and bade them turn the canoe to land. +And on May 19, 1675, on the bleak shore of Lake Michigan, +this hero of the Cross, the greatest of the missionary +explorers, entered into his rest. He was only thirty-eight; +he had not finished his work; he had not realized his +ambitions; but his memory lives, a force for good, as +that of one who dared and endured and passionately followed +the path of the setting sun. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE LAST PHASE + +The priests laboured on in their mission-fields from Cape +Breton to the Mississippi and north towards Hudson Bay, +wherever there were Indians. In the Iroquois country +alone did they fail to establish themselves securely. +The nearest neighbours of the Iroquois, the English of +New York and New England, stirred by French and Indian +raids on their borders and regarding all Frenchmen as +enemies, did what they could to destroy the influence of +the French priests and keep them out of the country. Lord +Bellomont, governor of New York, even threatened to hang +any priest found in his colony. Yet the Jesuits made +another attempt in 1702; but it did not succeed, and a +few years later the Iroquois mission was abandoned. + +Among the Algonquin tribes the old dread of the priests +had vanished and they were everywhere hailed as friends. +They were no longer in danger of assassination, and, +apart from the hardships inevitable to wilderness life, +their lot was not an unpleasant one. Perhaps their worst +enemy was the brandy traffic carried on by the coureurs +de bois, which brought in its wake drunkenness, disease, +licentiousness, and crime. The missionaries fought this +evil, with the wholehearted support of Laval, the great +bishop of Quebec, and of his successors. But for their +opposition it is probable that the Indians in contact +with the French would have been utterly swept away; as +it was, brandy thinned their numbers quite as much as +war. Some of the coureurs de bois, who displayed their +wares and traded for furs at the mission stations, were +almost as obnoxious to the priests as the brandy which +they offered. Among them were many worthy men, like the +great Du Lhut; but the majority were 'white savages,' +whose conduct went far to nullify the teaching and example +of the missionaries. + +Thus the missions went on until the British came. For +more than fifty years the conflict between the two nations +for mastery continued intermittently; and finally in 1760 +the French struck their flag and departed. The victors +viewed the religious orders with distrust; they regarded +the priests as political agents; and they passed an edict +that such Jesuits and Recollets as were in Canada might +remain and 'die where they are, but they must not add to +their number.' Of the Jesuits only twelve remained, and +the last of these, Father Casot, died in 1800. + +In looking back over the work of the missionaries in New +France, it would seem that their visible harvest was a +scant one, since the Indian races for whom they toiled +have disappeared from history and are apparently doomed +to extinction. This, of course, is due to natural causes +over which the priests had no control and which they +would thankfully have had otherwise. It cannot be questioned +that their work operated for the benefit of the natives. +But the priceless contribution of the missionaries lies +in the example which they gave to the world. During the +greater part of two centuries in the wilds they bore +themselves manfully and fought a good fight. In all that +time not one of all the men in that long procession of +missionaries is known to have disgraced himself or to +have played the coward in the face of danger or disaster. + +The influence of the priests, however, was not confined +to the Indians. It permeated the whole colony and lives +to the present day. In no country in the world is there +a more peaceable and kindly or moral and devout people +than in the province of Quebec, largely because they have +kept in their primitive simplicity the lessons taught by +the clergy of New France. When the Revolution swept away +religion and morals in Old France, it left untouched the +French of Canada; and the descendants of the peasants of +Anjou, Picardy, and Poitou kept alive in the New World +the beliefs and customs, the simple faith and reverence +for authority, of their ancestors in the Old World. +Throughout the length and breadth of New France the +priests and nuns were the teachers of the people. And +the seminaries, schools, and colleges which they founded +continue to shape the morals and character of the French +Canadians of to-day. + +It may be doubted whether the British government acted +wisely after winning Canada in suppressing the religious +orders. At any rate, after the unhappy rebellions of 1837 +the government adopted a more generous policy; and the +Jesuits and the Oblates came to Canada in ever-increasing +numbers to take up missionary work anew. Like the priests +of old they went into the wilderness, no difficulty too +great to be overcome, no peril too hazardous to be risked. +In the Mackenzie valley, in the far Yukon, and among the +tumbled hills of British Columbia they planted the Cross, +establishing missions and schools. + +But the great age of the Church in Canada was the heroic +age of Lalemant and Brebeuf, of Jogues and Bressani, of +Allouez and Marquette. Their memories are living lights +illuminating the paths of all workers among those who +sit in spiritual darkness. The resolution of these first +missionaries, not to be overcome by hardship, torture, +or threat of death itself, has served in time of trial +and danger to brace missionaries of all churches. Brebeuf +still lives and labours in the wilderness regions of +Canada; Marquette still toils on into the unknown. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +'The Relations' of the Jesuits are, of course, the prime +sources of information. Consult the edition edited by R. +G. Thwaites, 'The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents', +seventy-three volumes (1896-1901). This gives the original +French text with an English translation. See also +Rochemonteix, 'Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle France'; +Parkman, 'Pioneers of France', 'The Old Regime in Canada', +'The Jesuits in North America', 'La Salle and the Discovery +of the Great West', 'Frontenac and New France'; Harris, +'Pioneers of the Cross in Canada'; Jones, 'Old Huronia', +the fifth report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province +of Ontario; Marshall, 'Christian Missions'; Campbell, +'Pioneer Priests of North America'. + +The following general histories contain many illuminating +pages on the missions: Faillon, 'Histoire de la Colonie +Francaise'; Charlevoix, 'Histoire de la Nouvelle-France'; +Boucher, 'Canada in the Seventeenth Century'; Sagard, +'Histoire du Canada'; Kingsford, 'History of Canada'; +Shortt and Doughty, 'Canada and its Provinces' (especially +the chapter in the second volume by the distinguished +priest, Rev. Lewis Drummond, S.J.); Winsor, 'Narrative +and Critical History of America. + +Reference works with valuable articles on the missions +and the Indians are: 'The Catholic Encyclopaedia'; Hodge, +'Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'; White, +'Handbook of Indians of Canada', adapted from Hodge. + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Jesuit Missions, by Thomas Guthrie Marquis + diff --git a/4388.zip b/4388.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..93c6f83 --- /dev/null +++ b/4388.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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