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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +Title: The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century +Volume 2 of the France and England in North America series +Author: Francis Parkman +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6933] +Updated: September 7, 2016. +Character set encoding: Windows Code Page 1252 + +This etext was produced by Ken Reeder. +Thanks to Cyrille Héloir for French proofreading. +Transcription notes are included as an appendix. +Text corrections, formatting modifications, and index by Robert Homa. + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA +*** + +The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century +by Francis Parkman + + +France and England +in North America + +A Series +of Historical Narratives + +Part Second + +BOSTON: +LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. +1867. + +Entered According to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by +Francis Parkman, +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Massachusetts. + +CAMBRIDGE: +STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. + + + + +PREFACE. + +Few passages of history are more striking than those which record the +efforts of the earlier French Jesuits to convert the Indians. Full as +they are of dramatic and philosophic interest, bearing strongly on the +political destinies of America, and closely involved with the history of +its native population, it is wonderful that they have been left so long +in obscurity. While the infant colonies of England still clung feebly to +the shores of the Atlantic, events deeply ominous to their future were +in progress, unknown to them, in the very heart of the continent. It +will be seen, in the sequel of this volume, that civil and religious +liberty found strange allies in this Western World. + +The sources of information concerning the early Jesuits of New France +are very copious. During a period of forty years, the Superior of the +Mission sent, every summer, long and detailed reports, embodying or +accompanied by the reports of his subordinates, to the Provincial of the +Order at Paris, where they were annually published, in duodecimo +volumes, forming the remarkable series known as the Jesuit Relations. +Though the productions of men of scholastic training, they are simple +and often crude in style, as might be expected of narratives hastily +written in Indian lodges or rude mission-houses in the forest, amid +annoyances and interruptions of all kinds. In respect to the value of +their contents, they are exceedingly unequal. Modest records of +marvellous adventures and sacrifices, and vivid pictures of forest-life, +alternate with prolix and monotonous details of the conversion of +individual savages, and the praiseworthy deportment of some exemplary +neophyte. With regard to the condition and character of the primitive +inhabitants of North America, it is impossible to exaggerate their value +as an authority. I should add, that the closest examination has left me +no doubt that these missionaries wrote in perfect good faith, and that +the Relations hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy historical +documents. They are very scarce, and no complete collection of them +exists in America. The entire series was, however, republished, in 1858, +by the Canadian government, in three large octavo volumes. [1] + +[1] Both editions--the old and the new--are cited in the following +pages. Where the reference is to the old edition, it is indicated by the +name of the publisher (Cramoisy), appended to the citation, in brackets. + +In extracts given in the notes, the antiquated orthography and +accentuation are preserved. + +These form but a part of the surviving writings of the French-American +Jesuits. Many additional reports, memoirs, journals, and letters, +official and private, have come down to us; some of which have recently +been printed, while others remain in manuscript. Nearly every prominent +actor in the scenes to be described has left his own record of events in +which he bore part, in the shape of reports to his Superiors or letters +to his friends. I have studied and compared these authorities, as well +as a great mass of collateral evidence, with more than usual care, +striving to secure the greatest possible accuracy of statement, and to +reproduce an image of the past with photographic clearness and truth. + +The introductory chapter of the volume is independent of the rest; but a +knowledge of the facts set forth in it is essential to the full +understanding of the narrative which follows. + +In the collection of material, I have received valuable aid from Mr. J. +G. Shea, Rev. Felix Martin, S.J., the Abbés Laverdière and H. R. +Casgrain, Dr. J. C. Taché, and the late Jacques Viger, Esq. + +I propose to devote the next volume of this series to the discovery and +occupation by the French of the Valley of the Mississippi. + +Boston, 1st May, 1867 +Contents + +The Jesuits in North America + +PREFACE. + +INTRODUCTION. + +NATIVE TRIBES. + +Divisions • The Algonquins • The Hurons • Their Houses • Fortifications +• Habits • Arts • Women • Trade • Festivities • Medicine • The Tobacco +Nation • The Neutrals • The Eries • The Andastes • The Iroquois • Indian +Social and Political Organization • Iroquois Institutions, Customs, and +Character • Indian Religion and Superstitions • The Indian Mind + +CHAPTER I. 1634. + +NOTRE-DAME DES ANGES. + +Quebec in 1634 • Father Le Jeune • The Mission-House • Its Domestic +Economy • The Jesuits and their Designs + +CHAPTER II. + +LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. + +Conversion of Loyola • Foundation of the Society of Jesus • Preparation +of the Novice • Characteristics of the Order • The Canadian Jesuits + +CHAPTER III. 1632, 1633. + +PAUL LE JEUNE. + +Le Jeune's Voyage • His First Pupils • His Studies • His Indian Teacher +• Winter at the Mission-House • Le Jeune's School • Reinforcements + +CHAPTER IV. 1633, 1634. + +LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. + +Le Jeune joins the Indians • The First Encampment • The Apostate • +Forest Life in Winter • The Indian Hut • The Sorcerer • His Persecution +of the Priest • Evil Company • Magic • Incantations • Christmas • +Starvation • Hopes of Conversion • Backsliding • Peril and Escape of Le +Jeune • His Return + +CHAPTER V. 1633, 1634. + +THE HURON MISSION. + +Plans of Conversion • Aims and Motives • Indian Diplomacy • Hurons at +Quebec • Councils • The Jesuit Chapel • Le Borgne • The Jesuits Thwarted +• Their Perseverance • The Journey to the Hurons • Jean de Brébeuf • The +Mission Begun + +CHAPTER VI. 1634, 1635. + +BRÉBEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. + +The Huron Mission-House • Its Inmates • Its Furniture • Its Guests • The +Jesuit as a Teacher • As an Engineer • Baptisms • Huron Village Life • +Festivities and Sorceries • The Dream Feast • The Priests accused of +Magic • The Drought and the Red Cross + +CHAPTER VII. 1636, 1637. + +THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. + +Huron Graves • Preparation for the Ceremony • Disinterment • The +Mourning • The Funeral March • The Great Sepulchre • Funeral Games • +Encampment of the Mourners • Gifts • Harangues • Frenzy of the Crowd • +The Closing Scene • Another Rite • The Captive Iroquois • The Sacrifice. + +CHAPTER VIII. 1636, 1637. + +THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. + +Enthusiasm for the Mission • Sickness of the Priests • The Pest among +the Hurons • The Jesuit on his Rounds • Efforts at Conversion • Priests +and Sorcerers • The Man-Devil • The Magician's Prescription • Indian +Doctors and Patients • Covert Baptisms • Self-Devotion of the Jesuits + +CHAPTER IX. 1637. + +CHARACTER OF THE CANADIAN JESUITS. + +Jean de Brébeuf • Charles Garnier • Joseph Marie Chaumonot • Noël +Chabanel • Isaac Jogues • Other Jesuits • Nature of their Faith • +Supernaturalism • Visions • Miracles + +CHAPTER X. 1637-1640. + +PERSECUTION. + +Ossossané • The New Chapel • A Triumph of the Faith • The Nether Powers +• Signs of a Tempest • Slanders • Rage against the Jesuits • Their +Boldness and Persistency • Nocturnal Council • Danger of the Priests • +Brébeuf's Letter • Narrow Escapes • Woes and Consolations + +CHAPTER XI. 1638-1640. + +PRIEST AND PAGAN. + +Du Peron's Journey • Daily Life of the Jesuits • Their Missionary +Excursions • Converts at Ossossané • Machinery of Conversion • +Conditions of Baptism • Backsliders • The Converts and their Countrymen +• The Cannibals at St. Joseph + +CHAPTER XII. 1639, 1640. + +THE TOBACCO NATION--THE NEUTRALS. + +A Change of Plan • Sainte Marie • Mission of the Tobacco Nation • Winter +Journeying • Reception of the Missionaries • Superstitious Terrors • +Peril of Garnier and Jogues • Mission of the Neutrals • Huron Intrigues +• Miracles • Fury of the Indians • Intervention of Saint Michael • +Return to Sainte Marie • Intrepidity of the Priests • Their Mental +Exaltation + +CHAPTER XIII. 1636-1646. + +QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. + +The New Governor • Edifying Examples • Le Jeune's Correspondents • Rank +and Devotion • Nuns • Priestly Authority • Condition of Quebec • The +Hundred Associates • Church Discipline • Plays • Fireworks • Processions +• Catechizing • Terrorism • Pictures • The Converts • The Society of +Jesus • The Foresters + +CHAPTER XIV. 1636-1652. + +DEVOTEES AND NUNS. + +The Huron Seminary • Madame de la Peltrie • Her Pious Schemes • Her Sham +Marriage • She visits the Ursulines of Tours • Marie de Saint Bernard • +Marie de l'Incarnation • Her Enthusiasm • Her Mystical Marriage • Her +Dejection • Her Mental Conflicts • Her Vision • Made Superior of the +Ursulines • The Hôtel-Dieu • The Voyage to Canada • Sillery • Labors and +Sufferings of the Nuns • Character of Marie de l'Incarnation • Of Madame +de la Peltrie + +CHAPTER XV. 1636-1642. + +VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. + +Dauversiére and the Voice from Heaven • Abbé Olier • Their Schemes • The +Society of Notre-Dame de Montreal • Maisonneuve • Devout Ladies • +Mademoiselle Mance • Marguerite Bourgeoys • The Montrealists at Quebec • +Jealousy • Quarrels • Romance and Devotion • Embarkation • Foundation of +Montreal + +CHAPTER XVI. 1641-1644. + +ISAAC JOGUES. + +The Iroquois War • Jogues • His Capture • His Journey to the Mohawks • +Lake George • The Mohawk Towns • The Missionary Tortured • Death of +Goupil • Misery of Jogues • The Mohawk "Babylon" • Fort Orange • Escape +of Jogues • Manhattan • The Voyage to France • Jogues among his Brethren +• He returns to Canada + +CHAPTER XVII. 1641-1646. + +THE IROQUOIS--BRESSANI--DE NOUË. + +War • Distress and Terror • Richelieu • Battle • Ruin of Indian Tribes • +Mutual Destruction • Iroquois and Algonquin • Atrocities • Frightful +Position of the French • Joseph Bressani • His Capture • His Treatment • +His Escape • Anne de Nouë • His Nocturnal Journey • His Death + +CHAPTER XVIII. 1642-1644. + +VILLEMARIE. + +Infancy of Montreal • The Flood • Vow of Maisonneuve • Pilgrimage • +D'Ailleboust • The Hôtel-Dieu • Piety • Propagandism • War • Hurons and +Iroquois • Dogs • Sally of the French • Battle • Exploit of Maisonneuve + +CHAPTER XIX. 1644, 1645. + +PEACE. + +Iroquois Prisoners • Piskaret • His Exploits • More Prisoners • Iroquois +Embassy • The Orator • The Great Council • Speeches of Kiotsaton • +Muster of Savages • Peace Confirmed + +CHAPTER XX. 1645, 1646. + +THE PEACE BROKEN. + +Uncertainties • The Mission of Jogues • He reaches the Mohawks • His +Reception • His Return • His Second Mission • Warnings of Danger • Rage +of the Mohawks • Murder of Jogues + +CHAPTER XXI. 1646, 1647. + +ANOTHER WAR. + +Mohawk Inroads • The Hunters of Men • The Captive Converts • The Escape +of Marie • Her Story • The Algonquin Prisoner's Revenge • Her Flight • +Terror of the Colonists • Jesuit Intrepidity + +CHAPTER XXII. 1645-1651. + +PRIEST AND PURITAN. + +Miscou • Tadoussac • Journeys of De Quen • Druilletes • His Winter with +the Montagnais • Influence of the Missions • The Abenaquis • Druilletes +on the Kennebec • His Embassy to Boston • Gibbons • Dudley • Bradford • +Eliot • Endicott • French and Puritan Colonization • Failure of +Druilletes's Embassy • New Regulations • New-Year's Day at Quebec. + +CHAPTER XXIII. 1645-1648. + +A DOOMED NATION. + +Indian Infatuation • Iroquois and Huron • Huron Triumphs • The Captive +Iroquois • His Ferocity and Fortitude • Partisan Exploits • Diplomacy • +The Andastes • The Huron Embassy • New Negotiations • The Iroquois +Ambassador • His Suicide • Iroquois Honor + +CHAPTER XXIV. 1645-1648. + +THE HURON CHURCH. + +Hopes of the Mission • Christian and Heathen • Body and Soul • Position +of Proselytes • The Huron Girl's Visit to Heaven • A Crisis • Huron +Justice • Murder and Atonement • Hopes and Fears + +CHAPTER XXV. 1648, 1649. + +SAINTE MARIE. + +The Centre of the Missions • Fort • Convent • Hospital • Caravansary • +Church • The Inmates of Sainte Marie • Domestic Economy • Missions • A +Meeting of Jesuits • The Dead Missionary + +CHAPTER XXVI. 1648. + +ANTOINE DANIEL. + +Huron Traders • Battle at Three Rivers • St. Joseph • Onset of the +Iroquois • Death of Daniel • The Town Destroyed + +CHAPTER XXVII. 1649. + +RUIN OF THE HURONS. + +St. Louis on Fire • Invasion • St. Ignace captured • Brébeuf and +Lalemant • Battle at St. Louis • Sainte Marie threatened • Renewed +Fighting • Desperate Conflict • A Night of Suspense • Panic among the +Victors • Burning of St. Ignace • Retreat of the Iroquois + +CHAPTER XXVIII. 1649. + +THE MARTYRS. + +The Ruins of St. Ignace • The Relics found • Brébeuf at the Stake • His +Unconquerable Fortitude • Lalemant • Renegade Hurons • Iroquois +Atrocities • Death of Brébeuf • His Character • Death of Lalemant + +CHAPTER XXIX. 1649, 1650. + +THE SANCTUARY. + +Dispersion of the Hurons • Sainte Marie abandoned • Isle St. Joseph • +Removal of the Mission • The New Fort • Misery of the Hurons • Famine • +Epidemic • Employments of the Jesuits + +CHAPTER XXX. 1649. + +GARNIER--CHABANEL. + +The Tobacco Missions • St. Jean attacked • Death of Garnier • The +Journey of Chabanel • His Death • Garreau and Grelon. + +CHAPTER XXXI. 1650-1652. + +THE HURON MISSION ABANDONED. + +Famine and the Tomahawk • A New Asylum • Voyage of the Refugees to +Quebec • Meeting with Bressani • Desperate Courage of the Iroquois • +Inroads and Battles • Death of Buteux + +CHAPTER XXXII. 1650-1866. + +THE LAST OF THE HURONS. + +Fate of the Vanquished • The Refugees of St. Jean Baptiste and St. +Michel • The Tobacco Nation and its Wanderings • The Modern Wyandots • +The Biter Bit • The Hurons at Quebec • Notre-Dame de Lorette. + +CHAPTER XXXIII. 1650-1670. + +THE DESTROYERS. + +Iroquois Ambition • Its Victims • The Fate of the Neutrals • The Fate of +the Eries • The War with the Andastes • Supremacy of the Iroquois + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE END. + +Failure of the Jesuits • What their Success would have involved • Future +of the Mission + +INDEX. +APPENDIX. + + + + + +The Jesuits in North America +in the Seventeenth Century + +by Francis Parkman + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +NATIVE TRIBES. + +Divisions • The Algonquins • The Hurons • Their Houses • Fortifications +• Habits • Arts • Women • Trade • Festivities • Medicine • The Tobacco +Nation • The Neutrals • The Eries • The Andastes • The Iroquois • Indian +Social and Political Organization • Iroquois Institutions, Customs, and +Character • Indian Religion and Superstitions • The Indian Mind + +America, when it became known to Europeans, was, as it had long been, a +scene of wide-spread revolution. North and South, tribe was giving place +to tribe, language to language; for the Indian, hopelessly unchanging in +respect to individual and social development, was, as regarded tribal +relations and local haunts, mutable as the wind. In Canada and the +northern section of the United States, the elements of change were +especially active. The Indian population which, in 1535, Cartier found +at Montreal and Quebec, had disappeared at the opening of the next +century, and another race had succeeded, in language and customs widely +different; while, in the region now forming the State of New York, a +power was rising to a ferocious vitality, which, but for the presence of +Europeans, would probably have subjected, absorbed, or exterminated +every other Indian community east of the Mississippi and north of the +Ohio. + +The vast tract of wilderness from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, and +from the Carolinas to Hudson's Bay, was divided between two great +families of tribes, distinguished by a radical difference of language. A +part of Virginia and of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Southeastern New York, +New England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Lower Canada were occupied, +so far as occupied at all, by tribes speaking various Algonquin +languages and dialects. They extended, moreover, along the shores of the +Upper Lakes, and into the dreary Northern wastes beyond. They held +Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, and detached bands ranged +the lonely hunting-ground of Kentucky. [1] + +[1] The word Algonquin is here used in its broadest signification. It +was originally applied to a group of tribes north of the River St. +Lawrence. The difference of language between the original Algonquins and +the Abenaquis of New England, the Ojibwas of the Great Lakes, or the +Illinois of the West, corresponded to the difference between French and +Italian, or Italian and Spanish. Each of these languages, again, had its +dialects, like those of different provinces of France. + +Like a great island in the midst of the Algonquins lay the country of +tribes speaking the generic tongue of the Iroquois. The true Iroquois, +or Five Nations, extended through Central New York, from the Hudson to +the Genesee. Southward lay the Andastes, on and near the Susquehanna; +westward, the Eries, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, and the +Neutral Nation, along its northern shore from Niagara towards the +Detroit; while the towns of the Hurons lay near the lake to which they +have left their name. [2] + +[2] To the above general statements there was, in the first half of the +seventeenth century, but one exception worth notice. A detached branch +of the Dahcotah stock, the Winnebago, was established south of Green +Bay, on Lake Michigan, in the midst of Algonquins; and small Dahcotah +bands had also planted themselves on the eastern side of the +Mississippi, nearly in the same latitude. + +There was another branch of the Iroquois in the Carolinas, consisting of +the Tuscaroras and kindred bands. In 1715 they were joined to the Five +Nations. + +Of the Algonquin populations, the densest, despite a recent epidemic +which had swept them off by thousands, was in New England. Here were +Mohicans, Pequots, Narragansetts, Wampanoags, Massachusetts, Penacooks, +thorns in the side of the Puritan. On the whole, these savages were +favorable specimens of the Algonquin stock, belonging to that section of +it which tilled the soil, and was thus in some measure spared the +extremes of misery and degradation to which the wandering hunter tribes +were often reduced. They owed much, also, to the bounty of the sea, and +hence they tended towards the coast; which, before the epidemic, +Champlain and Smith had seen at many points studded with wigwams and +waving with harvests of maize. Fear, too, drove them eastward; for the +Iroquois pursued them with an inveterate enmity. Some paid yearly +tribute to their tyrants, while others were still subject to their +inroads, flying in terror at the sound of the Mohawk war-cry. Westward, +the population thinned rapidly; northward, it soon disappeared. Northern +New Hampshire, the whole of Vermont, and Western Massachusetts had no +human tenants but the roving hunter or prowling warrior. + +We have said that this group of tribes was relatively very populous; yet +it is more than doubtful whether all of them united, had union been +possible, could have mustered eight thousand fighting men. To speak +further of them is needless, for they were not within the scope of the +Jesuit labors. The heresy of heresies had planted itself among them; and +it was for the apostle Eliot, not the Jesuit, to essay their conversion. +[3] + +[3] These Indians, the Armouchiquois of the old French writers, were in +a state of chronic war with the tribes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. +Champlain, on his voyage of 1603, heard strange accounts of them. The +following is literally rendered from the first narrative of that heroic, +but credulous explorer. + +"They are savages of shape altogether monstrous: for their heads are +small, their bodies short, and their arms thin as a skeleton, as are +also their thighs; but their legs are stout and long, and all of one +size, and, when they are seated on their heels, their knees rise more +than half a foot above their heads, which seems a thing strange and +against Nature. Nevertheless, they are active and bold, and they have +the best country on all the coast towards Acadia."--Des Sauvages, f. 34. + +This story may match that of the great city of Norembega, on the +Penobscot, with its population of dwarfs, as related by Jean Alphonse. + +Landing at Boston, three years before a solitude, let the traveller push +northward, pass the River Piscataqua and the Penacooks, and cross the +River Saco. Here, a change of dialect would indicate a different tribe, +or group of tribes. These were the Abenaquis, found chiefly along the +course of the Kennebec and other rivers, on whose banks they raised +their rude harvests, and whose streams they ascended to hunt the moose +and bear in the forest desert of Northern Maine, or descended to fish in +the neighboring sea. [4] + +[4] The Tarratines of New-England writers were the Abenaquis, or a +portion of them. + +Crossing the Penobscot, one found a visible descent in the scale of +humanity. Eastern Maine and the whole of New Brunswick were occupied by +a race called Etchemins, to whom agriculture was unknown, though the +sea, prolific of fish, lobsters, and seals, greatly lightened their +miseries. The Souriquois, or Micmacs, of Nova Scotia, closely resembled +them in habits and condition. From Nova Scotia to the St. Lawrence, +there was no population worthy of the name. From the Gulf of St. +Lawrence to Lake Ontario, the southern border of the great river had no +tenants but hunters. Northward, between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's +Bay, roamed the scattered hordes of the Papinachois, Bersiamites, and +others, included by the French under the general name of Montagnais. +When, in spring, the French trading-ships arrived and anchored in the +port of Tadoussac, they gathered from far and near, toiling painfully +through the desolation of forests, mustering by hundreds at the point of +traffic, and setting up their bark wigwams along the strand of that wild +harbor. They were of the lowest Algonquin type. Their ordinary +sustenance was derived from the chase; though often, goaded by deadly +famine, they would subsist on roots, the bark and buds of trees, or the +foulest offal; and in extremity, even cannibalism was not rare among +them. + +Ascending the St. Lawrence, it was seldom that the sight of a human form +gave relief to the loneliness, until, at Quebec, the roar of Champlain's +cannon from the verge of the cliff announced that the savage prologue of +the American drama was drawing to a close, and that the civilization of +Europe was advancing on the scene. Ascending farther, all was solitude, +except at Three Rivers, a noted place of trade, where a few Algonquins +of the tribe called Atticamegues might possibly be seen. The fear of the +Iroquois was everywhere; and as the voyager passed some wooded point, or +thicket-covered island, the whistling of a stone-headed arrow +proclaimed, perhaps, the presence of these fierce marauders. At Montreal +there was no human life, save during a brief space in early summer, when +the shore swarmed with savages, who had come to the yearly trade from +the great communities of the interior. To-day there were dances, songs, +and feastings; to-morrow all again was solitude, and the Ottawa was +covered with the canoes of the returning warriors. + +Along this stream, a main route of traffic, the silence of the +wilderness was broken only by the splash of the passing paddle. To the +north of the river there was indeed a small Algonquin band, called La +Petite Nation, together with one or two other feeble communities; but +they dwelt far from the banks, through fear of the ubiquitous Iroquois. +It was nearly three hundred miles, by the windings of the stream, before +one reached that Algonquin tribe, La Nation de l'Isle, who occupied the +great island of the Allumettes. Then, after many a day of lonely travel, +the voyager found a savage welcome among the Nipissings, on the lake +which bears their name; and then circling west and south for a hundred +and fifty miles of solitude, he reached for the first time a people +speaking a dialect of the Iroquois tongue. Here all was changed. +Populous towns, rude fortifications, and an extensive, though barbarous +tillage, indicated a people far in advance of the famished wanderers of +the Saguenay, or their less abject kindred of New England. These were +the Hurons, of whom the modern Wyandots are a remnant. Both in +themselves and as a type of their generic stock they demand more than a +passing notice. [5] + +[5] The usual confusion of Indian tribal names prevails in the case of +the Hurons. The following are their synonymes:-- + +Hurons (of French origin); Ochateguins (Champlain); Attigouantans (the +name of one of their tribes, used by Champlain for the whole nation); +Ouendat (their true name, according to Lalemant); Yendat, Wyandot, +Guyandot (corruptions of the preceding); Ouaouakecinatouek (Potier), +Quatogies (Colden). + + +THE HURONS. + +More than two centuries have elapsed since the Hurons vanished from +their ancient seats, and the settlers of this rude solitude stand +perplexed and wondering over the relics of a lost people. In the damp +shadow of what seems a virgin forest, the axe and plough bring strange +secrets to light: huge pits, close packed with skeletons and disjointed +bones, mixed with weapons, copper kettles, beads, and trinkets. Not even +the straggling Algonquins, who linger about the scene of Huron +prosperity, can tell their origin. Yet, on ancient worm-eaten pages, +between covers of begrimed parchment, the daily life of this ruined +community, its firesides, its festivals, its funeral rites, are painted +with a minute and vivid fidelity. + +The ancient country of the Hurons is now the northern and eastern +portion of Simcoe County, Canada West, and is embraced within the +peninsula formed by the Nottawassaga and Matchedash Bays of Lake Huron, +the River Severn, and Lake Simcoe. Its area was small,--its population +comparatively large. In the year 1639 the Jesuits made an enumeration of +all its villages, dwellings, and families. The result showed thirty-two +villages and hamlets, with seven hundred dwellings, about four thousand +families, and twelve thousand adult persons, or a total population of at +least twenty thousand. [6] + +[6] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1640, 38 (Cramoisy). His words are, +"de feux enuiron deux mille, et enuiron douze mille personnes." There +were two families to every fire. That by "personnes" adults only are +meant cannot be doubted, as the Relations abound in incidental evidence +of a total population far exceeding twelve thousand. A Huron family +usually numbered from five to eight persons. The number of the Huron +towns changed from year to year. Champlain and Le Caron, in 1615, +reckoned them at seventeen or eighteen, with a population of about ten +thousand, meaning, no doubt, adults. Brébeuf, in 1635, found twenty +villages, and, as he thinks, thirty thousand souls. Both Le Mercier and +De Quen, as well as Dollier de Casson and the anonymous author of the +Relation of 1660, state the population at from thirty to thirty-five +thousand. Since the time of Champlain's visit, various kindred tribes or +fragments of tribes had been incorporated with the Hurons, thus more +than balancing the ravages of a pestilence which had decimated them. + +The region whose boundaries we have given was an alternation of meadows +and deep forests, interlaced with footpaths leading from town to town. +Of these towns, some were fortified, but the greater number were open +and defenceless. They were of a construction common to all tribes of +Iroquois lineage, and peculiar to them. Nothing similar exists at the +present day. [7] They covered a space of from one to ten acres, the +dwellings clustering together with little or no pretension to order. In +general, these singular structures were about thirty or thirty-five feet +in length, breadth, and height; but many were much larger, and a few +were of prodigious length. In some of the villages there were dwellings +two hundred and forty feet long, though in breadth and height they did +not much exceed the others. [8] In shape they were much like an arbor +overarching a garden-walk. Their frame was of tall and strong saplings, +planted in a double row to form the two sides of the house, bent till +they met, and lashed together at the top. To these other poles were +bound transversely, and the whole was covered with large sheets of the +bark of the oak, elm, spruce, or white cedar, overlapping like the +shingles of a roof, upon which, for their better security, split poles +were made fast with cords of linden bark. At the crown of the arch, +along the entire length of the house, an opening a foot wide was left +for the admission of light and the escape of smoke. At each end was a +close porch of similar construction; and here were stowed casks of bark, +filled with smoked fish, Indian corn, and other stores not liable to +injury from frost. Within, on both sides, were wide scaffolds, four feet +from the floor, and extending the entire length of the house, like the +seats of a colossal omnibus. [9] These were formed of thick sheets of +bark, supported by posts and transverse poles, and covered with mats and +skins. Here, in summer, was the sleeping-place of the inmates, and the +space beneath served for storage of their firewood. The fires were on +the ground, in a line down the middle of the house. Each sufficed for +two families, who, in winter, slept closely packed around them. Above, +just under the vaulted roof, were a great number of poles, like the +perches of a hen-roost, and here were suspended weapons, clothing, +skins, and ornaments. Here, too, in harvest time, the squaws hung the +ears of unshelled corn, till the rude abode, through all its length, +seemed decked with a golden tapestry. In general, however, its only +lining was a thick coating of soot from the smoke of fires with neither +draught, chimney, nor window. So pungent was the smoke, that it produced +inflammation of the eyes, attended in old age with frequent blindness. +Another annoyance was the fleas; and a third, the unbridled and unruly +children. Privacy there was none. The house was one chamber, sometimes +lodging more than twenty families. [10] + +[7] The permanent bark villages of the Dahcotah of the St. Peter's are +the nearest modern approach to the Huron towns. The whole Huron country +abounds with evidences of having been occupied by a numerous population. +"On a close inspection of the forest," Dr. Taché writes to me, "the +greatest part of it seems to have been cleared at former periods, and +almost the only places bearing the character of the primitive forest are +the low grounds." + +[8] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 31. Champlain says that he saw +them, in 1615, more than thirty fathoms long; while Vanderdonck reports +the length, from actual measurement, of an Iroquois house, at a hundred +and eighty yards, or five hundred and forty feet! + +[9] Often, especially among the Iroquois, the internal arrangement was +different. The scaffolds or platforms were raised only a foot from the +earthen floor, and were only twelve or thirteen feet long, with +intervening spaces, where the occupants stored their family provisions +and other articles. Five or six feet above was another platform, often +occupied by children. One pair of platforms sufficed for a family, and +here during summer they slept pellmell, in the clothes they wore by day, +and without pillows. + +[10] One of the best descriptions of the Huron and Iroquois houses is +that of Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 118. See also Champlain (1627), 78; +Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 31; Vanderdonck, New Netherlands, in +N. Y. Hist. Coll., Second Ser., I. 196; Lafitau, Mœurs des Sauvages, II. +10. The account given by Cartier of the houses he saw at Montreal +corresponds with the above. He describes them as about fifty yards long. +In this case, there were partial partitions for the several families, +and a sort of loft above. Many of the Iroquois and Huron houses were of +similar construction, the partitions being at the sides only, leaving a +wide passage down the middle of the house. Bartram, Observations on a +Journey from Pennsylvania to Canada, gives a description and plan of the +Iroquois Council-House in 1751, which was of this construction. Indeed, +the Iroquois preserved this mode of building, in all essential points, +down to a recent period. They usually framed the sides of their houses +on rows of upright posts, arched with separate poles for the roof. The +Hurons, no doubt, did the same in their larger structures. For a door, +there was a sheet of bark hung on wooden hinges, or suspended by cords +from above. + +On the site of Huron towns which were destroyed by fire, the size, +shape, and arrangement of the houses can still, in some instances, be +traced by remains in the form of charcoal, as well as by the charred +bones and fragments of pottery found among the ashes. + +Dr. Taché, after a zealous and minute examination of the Huron country, +extended through five years, writes to me as follows. "From the remains +I have found, I can vouch for the scrupulous correctness of our ancient +writers. With the aid of their indications and descriptions, I have been +able to detect the sites of villages in the midst of the forest, and by +time study, in situ, of archæological monuments, small as they are, to +understand and confirm their many interesting details of the habits, and +especially the funeral rites, of these extraordinary tribes." + +He who entered on a winter night beheld a strange spectacle: the vista +of fires lighting the smoky concave; the bronzed groups encircling +each,--cooking, eating, gambling, or amusing themselves with idle +badinage; shrivelled squaws, hideous with threescore years of hardship; +grisly old warriors, scarred with Iroquois war-clubs; young aspirants, +whose honors were yet to be won; damsels gay with ochre and wampum; +restless children pellmell with restless dogs. Now a tongue of resinous +flame painted each wild feature in vivid light; now the fitful gleam +expired, and the group vanished from sight, as their nation has vanished +from history. + +The fortified towns of the Hurons were all on the side exposed to +Iroquois incursions. The fortifications of all this family of tribes +were, like their dwellings, in essential points alike. A situation was +chosen favorable to defence,--the bank of a lake, the crown of a +difficult hill, or a high point of land in the fork of confluent rivers. +A ditch, several feet deep, was dug around the village, and the earth +thrown up on the inside. Trees were then felled by an alternate process +of burning and hacking the burnt part with stone hatchets, and by +similar means were cut into lengths to form palisades. These were +planted on the embankment, in one, two, three, or four concentric +rows,--those of each row inclining towards those of the other rows until +they intersected. The whole was lined within, to the height of a man, +with heavy sheets of bark; and at the top, where the palisades crossed, +was a gallery of timber for the defenders, together with wooden gutters, +by which streams of water could be poured down on fires kindled by the +enemy. Magazines of stones, and rude ladders for mounting the rampart, +completed the provision for defence. The forts of the Iroquois were +stronger and more elaborate than those of the Hurons; and to this day +large districts in New York are marked with frequent remains of their +ditches and embankments. [11] + +[11] There is no mathematical regularity in these works. In their form, +the builders were guided merely by the nature of the ground. Frequently +a precipice or river sufficed for partial defence, and the line of +embankment occurs only on one or two sides. In one instance, distinct +traces of a double line of palisades are visible along the embankment. +(See Squier, Aboriginal Monuments of New York, 38.) It is probable that +the palisade was planted first, and the earth heaped around it. Indeed, +this is stated by the Tuscarora Indian, Cusick, in his curious History +of the Six Nations (Iroquois). Brébeuf says, that as early as 1636 the +Jesuits taught the Hurons to build rectangular palisaded works, with +bastions. The Iroquois adopted the same practice at an early period, +omitting the ditch and embankment; and it is probable, that, even in +their primitive defences, the palisades, where the ground was of a +nature to yield easily to their rude implements, were planted simply in +holes dug for the purpose. Such seems to have been the Iroquois fortress +attacked by Champlain in 1615. + +The Muscogees, with other Southern tribes, and occasionally the +Algonquins, had palisaded towns; but the palisades were usually but a +single row, planted upright. The tribes of Virginia occasionally +surrounded their dwellings with a triple palisade.--Beverly, History of +Virginia, 149. + +Among these tribes there was no individual ownership of land, but each +family had for the time exclusive right to as much as it saw fit to +cultivate. The clearing process--a most toilsome one--consisted in +hacking off branches, piling them together with brushwood around the +foot of the standing trunks, and setting fire to the whole. The squaws, +working with their hoes of wood and bone among the charred stumps, sowed +their corn, beans, pumpkins, tobacco, sunflowers, and Huron hemp. No +manure was used; but, at intervals of from ten to thirty years, when the +soil was exhausted, and firewood distant, the village was abandoned and +a new one built. + +There was little game in the Huron country; and here, as among the +Iroquois, the staple of food was Indian corn, cooked without salt in a +variety of forms, each more odious than the last. Venison was a luxury +found only at feasts; dog-flesh was in high esteem; and, in some of the +towns captive bears were fattened for festive occasions. These tribes +were far less improvident than the roving Algonquins, and stores of +provision were laid up against a season of want. Their main stock of +corn was buried in caches, or deep holes in the earth, either within or +without the houses. + +In respect to the arts of life, all these stationary tribes were in +advance of the wandering hunters of the North. The women made a species +of earthen pot for cooking, but these were supplanted by the copper +kettles of the French traders. They wove rush mats with no little skill. +They spun twine from hemp, by the primitive process of rolling it on +their thighs; and of this twine they made nets. They extracted oil from +fish and from the seeds of the sunflower,--the latter, apparently, only +for the purposes of the toilet. They pounded their maize in huge mortars +of wood, hollowed by alternate burnings and scrapings. Their stone axes, +spear and arrow heads, and bone fish-hooks, were fast giving place to +the iron of the French; but they had not laid aside their shields of raw +bison-hide, or of wood overlaid with plaited and twisted thongs of skin. +They still used, too, their primitive breastplates and greaves of twigs +interwoven with cordage. [12] The masterpiece of Huron handiwork, +however, was the birch canoe, in the construction of which the +Algonquins were no less skilful. The Iroquois, in the absence of the +birch, were forced to use the bark of the elm, which was greatly +inferior both in lightness and strength. Of pipes, than which nothing +was more important in their eyes, the Hurons made a great variety, some +of baked clay, others of various kinds of stone, carved by the men, +during their long periods of monotonous leisure, often with great skill +and ingenuity. But their most mysterious fabric was wampum. This was at +once their currency, their ornament, their pen, ink, and parchment; and +its use was by no means confined to tribes of the Iroquois stock. It +consisted of elongated beads, white and purple, made from the inner part +of certain shells. It is not easy to conceive how, with their rude +implements, the Indians contrived to shape and perforate this +intractable material. The art soon fell into disuse, however; for wampum +better than their own was brought them by the traders, besides abundant +imitations in glass and porcelain. Strung into necklaces, or wrought +into collars, belts, and bracelets, it was the favorite decoration of +the Indian girls at festivals and dances. It served also a graver +purpose. No compact, no speech, or clause of a speech, to the +representative of another nation, had any force, unless confirmed by the +delivery of a string or belt of wampum. [13] The belts, on occasions of +importance, were wrought into significant devices, suggestive of the +substance of the compact or speech, and designed as aids to memory. To +one or more old men of the nation was assigned the honorable, but very +onerous, charge of keepers of the wampum,--in other words, of the +national records; and it was for them to remember and interpret the +meaning of the belts. The figures on wampum-belts were, for the most +part, simply mnemonic. So also were those carved on wooden tablets, or +painted on bark and skin, to preserve in memory the songs of war, +hunting, or magic. [14] The Hurons had, however, in common with other +tribes, a system of rude pictures and arbitrary signs, by which they +could convey to each other, with tolerable precision, information +touching the ordinary subjects of Indian interest. + +[12] Some of the northern tribes of California, at the present day, wear +a sort of breastplate "composed of thin parallel battens of very tough +wood, woven together with a small cord." +[13] Beaver-skins and other valuable furs were sometimes, on such +occasions, used as a substitute. +[14] Engravings of many specimens of these figured songs are given in +the voluminous reports on the condition of the Indians, published by +Government, under the editorship of Mr. Schoolcraft. The specimens are +chiefly Algonquin. + +Their dress was chiefly of skins, cured with smoke after the well-known +Indian mode. That of the women, according to the Jesuits, was more +modest than that "of our most pious ladies of France." The young girls +on festal occasions must be excepted from this commendation, as they +wore merely a kilt from the waist to the knee, besides the wampum +decorations of the breast and arms. Their long black hair, gathered +behind the neck, was decorated with disks of native copper, or gay +pendants made in France, and now occasionally unearthed in numbers from +their graves. The men, in summer, were nearly naked,--those of a kindred +tribe wholly so, with the sole exception of their moccasins. In winter +they were clad in tunics and leggins of skin, and at all seasons, on +occasions of ceremony, were wrapped from head to foot in robes of beaver +or otter furs, sometimes of the greatest value. On the inner side, these +robes were decorated with painted figures and devices, or embroidered +with the dyed quills of the Canada hedgehog. In this art of embroidery, +however, the Hurons were equalled or surpassed by some of the Algonquin +tribes. They wore their hair after a variety of grotesque and startling +fashions. With some, it was loose on one side, and tight braided on the +other; with others, close shaved, leaving one or more long and cherished +locks; while, with others again, it bristled in a ridge across the +crown, like the back of a hyena. [15] When in full dress, they were +painted with ochre, white clay, soot, and the red juice of certain +berries. They practised tattooing, sometimes covering the whole body +with indelible devices. [16] When of such extent, the process was very +severe; and though no murmur escaped the sufferer, he sometimes died +from its effects. + +[15] See Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 35.--"Quelles hures!" exclaimed some +astonished Frenchman. Hence the name, Hurons. +[16] Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 72.--Champlain has a picture of a +warrior thus tattooed. + +Female life among the Hurons had no bright side. It was a youth of +license, an age of drudgery. Despite an organization which, while it +perhaps made them less sensible of pain, certainly made them less +susceptible of passion, than the higher races of men, the Hurons were +notoriously dissolute, far exceeding in this respect the wandering and +starving Algonquins. [17] Marriage existed among them, and polygamy was +exceptional; but divorce took place at the will or caprice of either +party. A practice also prevailed of temporary or experimental marriage, +lasting a day, a week, or more. The seal of the compact was merely the +acceptance of a gift of wampum made by the suitor to the object of his +desire or his whim. These gifts were never returned on the dissolution +of the connection; and as an attractive and enterprising damsel might, +and often did, make twenty such marriages before her final +establishment, she thus collected a wealth of wampum with which to adorn +herself for the village dances. [18] This provisional matrimony was no +bar to a license boundless and apparently universal, unattended with +loss of reputation on either side. Every instinct of native delicacy +quickly vanished under the influence of Huron domestic life; eight or +ten families, and often more, crowded into one undivided house, where +privacy was impossible, and where strangers were free to enter at all +hours of the day or night. + +[17] Among the Iroquois there were more favorable features in the +condition of women. The matrons had often a considerable influence on +the decisions of the councils. Lafitau, whose book appeared in 1724, +says that the nation was corrupt in his time, but that this was a +degeneracy from their ancient manners. La Potherie and Charlevoix make a +similar statement. Megapolensis, however, in 1644, says that they were +then exceedingly debauched; and Greenhalgh, in 1677, gives ample +evidence of a shameless license. One of their most earnest advocates of +the present day admits that the passion of love among them had no other +than an animal existence. (Morgan, League of the Iroquois, 322.) There +is clear proof that the tribes of the South were equally corrupt. (See +Lawson, Carolina, 34, and other early writers.) On the other hand, +chastity in women was recognized as a virtue by many tribes. This was +peculiarly the case among the Algonquins of Gaspé, where a lapse in this +regard was counted a disgrace. (See Le Clerc, Nouvelle Relation de la +Gaspésie, 417, where a contrast is drawn between the modesty of the +girls of this region and the open prostitution practised among those of +other tribes.) Among the Sioux, adultery on the part of a woman is +punished by mutilation. + +The remarkable forbearance observed by Eastern and Northern tribes +towards female captives was probably the result of a superstition. +Notwithstanding the prevailing license, the Iroquois and other tribes +had among themselves certain conventional rules which excited the +admiration of the Jesuit celibates. Some of these had a superstitious +origin; others were in accordance with the iron requirements of their +savage etiquette. To make the Indian a hero of romance is mere nonsense. +[18] "Il s'en trouue telle qui passe ainsi sa ieunesse, qui aura en plus +de vingt maris, lesquels vingt maris ne sont pas seuls en la jouyssance +de la beste, quelques mariez qu'ils soient: car la nuict venuë, les +ieunes femmes courent d'une cabane en une autre, come font les ieunes +hommes de leur costé, qui en prennent par ou bon leur semble, toutesfois +sans violence aucune, et n'en reçoiuent aucune infamie, ny injure, la +coustume du pays estant telle."--Champlain (1627), 90. Compare Sagard, +Voyage des Hurons, 176. Both were personal observers. + +The ceremony, even of the most serious marriage, consisted merely in the +bride's bringing a dish of boiled maize to the bridegroom, together with +an armful of fuel. There was often a feast of the relatives, or of the +whole village. + +Once a mother, and married with a reasonable permanency, the Huron woman +from a wanton became a drudge. In March and April she gathered the +year's supply of firewood. Then came sowing, tilling, and harvesting, +smoking fish, dressing skins, making cordage and clothing, preparing +food. On the march it was she who bore the burden; for, in the words of +Champlain, "their women were their mules." The natural effect followed. +In every Huron town were shrivelled hags, hideous and despised, who, in +vindictiveness, ferocity, and cruelty, far exceeded the men. + +To the men fell the task of building the houses, and making weapons, +pipes, and canoes. For the rest, their home-life was a life of leisure +and amusement. The summer and autumn were their seasons of serious +employment,--of war, hunting, fishing, and trade. There was an +established system of traffic between the Hurons and the Algonquins of +the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing: the Hurons exchanging wampum, +fishing-nets, and corn for fish and furs. [19] From various relics found +in their graves, it may be inferred that they also traded with tribes of +the Upper Lakes, as well as with tribes far southward, towards the Gulf +of Mexico. Each branch of traffic was the monopoly of the family or clan +by whom it was opened. They might, if they could, punish interlopers, by +stripping them of all they possessed, unless the latter had succeeded in +reaching home with the fruits of their trade,--in which case the +outraged monopolists had no further right of redress, and could not +attempt it without a breaking of the public peace, and exposure to the +authorized vengeance of the other party. [20] Their fisheries, too, were +regulated by customs having the force of laws. These pursuits, with +their hunting,--in which they were aided by a wolfish breed of dogs +unable to bark,--consumed the autumn and early winter; but before the +new year the greater part of the men were gathered in their villages. + +[19] Champlain (1627), 84. +[20] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 156 (Cramoisy). + +Now followed their festal season; for it was the season of idleness for +the men, and of leisure for the women. Feasts, gambling, smoking, and +dancing filled the vacant hours. Like other Indians, the Hurons were +desperate gamblers, staking their all,--ornaments, clothing, canoes, +pipes, weapons, and wives. One of their principal games was played with +plum-stones, or wooden lozenges, black on one side and white on the +other. These were tossed up in a wooden bowl, by striking it sharply +upon the ground, and the players betted on the black or white. Sometimes +a village challenged a neighboring village. The game was played in one +of the houses. Strong poles were extended from side to side, and on +these sat or perched the company, party facing party, while two players +struck the bowl on the ground between. Bets ran high; and Brébeuf +relates, that once, in midwinter, with the snow nearly three feet deep, +the men of his village returned from a gambling visit, bereft of their +leggins, and barefoot, yet in excellent humor. [21] Ludicrous as it may +appear, these games were often medical prescriptions, and designed as a +cure of the sick. + +[21] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 113.--This game is still a +favorite among the Iroquois, some of whom hold to the belief that they +will play it after death in the realms of bliss. In all their important +games of chance, they employed charms, incantations, and all the +resources of their magical art, to gain good luck. + +Their feasts and dances were of various character, social, medical, and +mystical or religious. Some of their feasts were on a scale of +extravagant profusion. A vain or ambitious host threw all his substance +into one entertainment, inviting the whole village, and perhaps several +neighboring villages also. In the winter of 1635 there was a feast at +the village of Contarrea, where thirty kettles were on the fires, and +twenty deer and four bears were served up. [22] The invitation was +simple. The messenger addressed the desired guest with the concise +summons, "Come and eat"; and to refuse was a grave offence. He took his +dish and spoon, and repaired to the scene of festivity. Each, as he +entered, greeted his host with the guttural ejaculation, Ho! and ranged +himself with the rest, squatted on the earthen floor or on the platform +along the sides of the house. The kettles were slung over the fires in +the midst. First, there was a long prelude of lugubrious singing. Then +the host, who took no share in the feast, proclaimed in a loud voice the +contents of each kettle in turn, and at each announcement the company +responded in unison, Ho! The attendant squaws filled with their ladles +the bowls of all the guests. There was talking, laughing, jesting, +singing, and smoking; and at times the entertainment was protracted +through the day. + +[22] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 111. + +When the feast had a medical or mystic character, it was indispensable +that each guest should devour the whole of the portion given him, +however enormous. Should he fail, the host would be outraged, the +community shocked, and the spirits roused to vengeance. Disaster would +befall the nation,--death, perhaps, the individual. In some cases, the +imagined efficacy of the feast was proportioned to the rapidity with +which the viands were despatched. Prizes of tobacco were offered to the +most rapid feeder; and the spectacle then became truly porcine. [23] +These festins à manger tout were much dreaded by many of the Hurons, +who, however, were never known to decline them. + +[23] This superstition was not confined to the Hurons, but extended to +many other tribes, including, probably, all the Algonquins, with some of +which it holds in full force to this day. A feaster, unable to do his +full part, might, if he could, hire another to aid him; otherwise, he +must remain in his place till the work was done. + +Invitation to a dance was no less concise than to a feast. Sometimes a +crier proclaimed the approaching festivity through the village. The +house was crowded. Old men, old women, and children thronged the +platforms, or clung to the poles which supported the sides and roof. +Fires were raked out, and the earthen floor cleared. Two chiefs sang at +the top of their voices, keeping time to their song with tortoise-shell +rattles. [24] The men danced with great violence and gesticulation; the +women, with a much more measured action. The former were nearly divested +of clothing,--in mystical dances, sometimes wholly so; and, from a +superstitious motive, this was now and then the case with the women. +Both, however, were abundantly decorated with paint, oil, beads, wampum, +trinkets, and feathers. + +[24] Sagard gives specimens of their songs. In both dances and feasts +there was no little variety. These were sometimes combined. It is +impossible, in brief space, to indicate more than their general +features. In the famous "war-dance,"--which was frequently danced, as it +still is, for amusement,--speeches, exhortations, jests, personal +satire, and repartee were commonly introduced as a part of the +performance, sometimes by way of patriotic stimulus, sometimes for +amusement. The music in this case was the drum and the war-song. Some of +the other dances were also interspersed with speeches and sharp +witticisms, always taken in good part, though Lafitau says that he has +seen the victim so pitilessly bantered that he was forced to hide his +head in his blanket. + +Religious festivals, councils, the entertainment of an envoy, the +inauguration of a chief, were all occasions of festivity, in which +social pleasure was joined with matter of grave import, and which at +times gathered nearly all the nation into one great and harmonious +concourse. Warlike expeditions, too, were always preceded by feasting, +at which the warriors vaunted the fame of their ancestors, and their own +past and prospective exploits. A hideous scene of feasting followed the +torture of a prisoner. Like the torture itself, it was, among the +Hurons, partly an act of vengeance, and partly a religious rite. If the +victim had shown courage, the heart was first roasted, cut into small +pieces, and given to the young men and boys, who devoured it to increase +their own courage. The body was then divided, thrown into the kettles, +and eaten by the assembly, the head being the portion of the chief. Many +of the Hurons joined in the feast with reluctance and horror, while +others took pleasure in it. [25] This was the only form of cannibalism +among them, since, unlike the wandering Algonquins, they were rarely +under the desperation of extreme famine. + +[25] "Il y en a qui en mangent auec plaisir."--Brébeuf, Relation des +Hurons, 1636, 121.--Le Mercier gives a description of one of these +scenes, at which he was present. (Ibid., 1637, 118.) The same horrible +practice prevailed to a greater extent among the Iroquois. One of the +most remarkable instances of Indian cannibalism is that furnished by a +Western tribe, the Miamis, among whom there was a clan, or family, whose +hereditary duty and privilege it was to devour the bodies of prisoners +burned to death. The act had somewhat of a religious character, was +attended with ceremonial observances, and was restricted to the family +in question.--See Hon. Lewis Cass, in the appendix to Colonel Whiting's +poem, "Ontwa." + +A great knowledge of simples for the cure of disease is popularly +ascribed to the Indian. Here, however, as elsewhere, his knowledge is in +fact scanty. He rarely reasons from cause to effect, or from effect to +cause. Disease, in his belief, is the result of sorcery, the agency of +spirits or supernatural influences, undefined and indefinable. The +Indian doctor was a conjurer, and his remedies were to the last degree +preposterous, ridiculous, or revolting. The well-known Indian +sweating-bath is the most prominent of the few means of cure based on +agencies simply physical; and this, with all the other natural remedies, +was applied, not by the professed doctor, but by the sufferer himself, +or his friends. [26] + +[26] The Indians had many simple applications for wounds, said to have +been very efficacious; but the purity of their blood, owing to the +absence from their diet of condiments and stimulants, as well as to +their active habits, aided the remedy. In general, they were remarkably +exempt from disease or deformity, though often seriously injured by +alternations of hunger and excess. The Hurons sometimes died from the +effects of their festins à manger tout. + +The Indian doctor beat, shook, and pinched his patient, howled, whooped, +rattled a tortoise-shell at his ear to expel the evil spirit, bit him +till blood flowed, and then displayed in triumph a small piece of wood, +bone, or iron, which he had hidden in his mouth, and which he affirmed +was the source of the disease, now happily removed. [27] Sometimes he +prescribed a dance, feast, or game; and the whole village bestirred +themselves to fulfil the injunction to the letter. They gambled away +their all; they gorged themselves like vultures; they danced or played +ball naked among the snow-drifts from morning till night. At a medical +feast, some strange or unusual act was commonly enjoined as vital to the +patient's cure: as, for example, the departing guest, in place of the +customary monosyllable of thanks, was required to greet his host with an +ugly grimace. Sometimes, by prescription, half the village would throng +into the house where the patient lay, led by old women disguised with +the heads and skins of bears, and beating with sticks on sheets of dry +bark. Here the assembly danced and whooped for hours together, with a +din to which a civilized patient would promptly have succumbed. +Sometimes the doctor wrought himself into a prophetic fury, raving +through the length and breadth of the dwelling, snatching firebrands and +flinging them about him, to the terror of the squaws, with whom, in +their combustible tenements, fire was a constant bugbear. + +[27] The Hurons believed that the chief cause of disease and death was a +monstrous serpent, that lived under the earth. By touching a tuft of +hair, a feather, or a fragment of bone, with a portion of his flesh or +fat, the sorcerer imparted power to it of entering the body of his +victim, and gradually killing him. It was an important part of the +doctor's function to extract these charms from the vitals of his +patient.--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 75. + +Among the Hurons and kindred tribes, disease was frequently ascribed to +some hidden wish ungratified. Hence the patient was overwhelmed with +gifts, in the hope, that, in their multiplicity, the desideratum might +be supplied. Kettles, skins, awls, pipes, wampum, fish-hooks, weapons, +objects of every conceivable variety, were piled before him by a host of +charitable contributors; and if, as often happened, a dream, the Indian +oracle, had revealed to the sick man the secret of his cure, his demands +were never refused, however extravagant, idle, nauseous, or abominable. +[28] Hence it is no matter of wonder that sudden illness and sudden +cures were frequent among the Hurons. The patient reaped profit, and the +doctor both profit and honor. + +[28] "Dans le pays de nos Hurons, il se faict aussi des assemblées de +toutes les filles d'vn bourg auprés d'vne malade, tant à sa priere, +suyuant la resuerie ou le songe qu'elle en aura euë, que par +l'ordonnance de Loki (the doctor), pour sa santé et guerison. Les filles +ainsi assemblées, on leur demande à toutes, les vnes apres les autres, +celuy qu'elles veulent des ieunes hommes du bourg pour dormir auec elles +la nuict prochaine: elles en nomment chacune vn, qui sont aussi-tost +aduertis par les Maistres de la ceremonie, lesquels viennent tous au +soir en la presence de la malade dormir chacun auec celle qui l'a +choysi, d'vn bout à l'autre de la Cabane, et passent ainsi toute la +nuict, pendant que deux Capitaines aux deux bouts du logis chantent et +sonnent de leur Tortuë du soir au lendemain matin, que la ceremonie +cesse. Dieu vueille abolir vne si damnable et malheureuse +ceremonie."--Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 158.--This unique mode of cure, +which was called Andacwandet, is also described by Lalemant, who saw it. +(Relation des Hurons, 1639, 84.) It was one of the recognized remedies. + +For the medical practices of the Hurons, see also Champlain, Brébeuf, +Lafitau, Charlevoix, and other early writers. Those of the Algonquins +were in some points different. The doctor often consulted the spirits, +to learn the cause and cure of the disease, by a method peculiar to that +family of tribes. He shut himself in a small conical lodge, and the +spirits here visited him, manifesting their presence by a violent +shaking of the whole structure. This superstition will be described in +another connection. + + +THE HURON-IROQUOIS FAMILY. + +And now, before entering upon the very curious subject of Indian social +and tribal organization, it may be well briefly to observe the position +and prominent distinctive features of the various communities speaking +dialects of the generic tongue of the Iroquois. In this remarkable +family of tribes occur the fullest developments of Indian character, and +the most conspicuous examples of Indian intelligence. If the higher +traits popularly ascribed to the race are not to be found here, they are +to be found nowhere. A palpable proof of the superiority of this stock +is afforded in the size of the Iroquois and Huron brains. In average +internal capacity of the cranium, they surpass, with few and doubtful +exceptions, all other aborigines of North and South America, not +excepting the civilized races of Mexico and Peru. [29] + +[29] "On comparing five Iroquois heads, I find that they give an average +internal capacity of eighty-eight cubic inches, which is within two +inches of the Caucasian mean."--Morton, Crania Americana, 195.--It is +remarkable that the internal capacity of the skulls of the barbarous +American tribes is greater than that of either the Mexicans or the +Peruvians. "The difference in volume is chiefly confined to the +occipital and basal portions,"--in other words, to the region of the +animal propensities; and hence, it is argued, the ferocious, brutal, and +uncivilizable character of the wild tribes.--See J. S. Phillips, +Admeasurements of Crania of the Principal Groups of Indians in the +United States. + +In the woody valleys of the Blue Mountains, south of the Nottawassaga +Bay of Lake Huron, and two days' journey west of the frontier Huron +towns, lay the nine villages of the Tobacco Nation, or Tionnontates. +[30] In manners, as in language, they closely resembled the Hurons. Of +old they were their enemies, but were now at peace with them, and about +the year 1640 became their close confederates. Indeed, in the ruin which +befell that hapless people, the Tionnontates alone retained a tribal +organization; and their descendants, with a trifling exception, are to +this day the sole inheritors of the Huron or Wyandot name. Expatriated +and wandering, they held for generations a paramount influence among the +Western tribes. [31] In their original seats among the Blue Mountains, +they offered an example extremely rare among Indians, of a tribe raising +a crop for the market; for they traded in tobacco largely with other +tribes. Their Huron confederates, keen traders, would not suffer them to +pass through their country to traffic with the French, preferring to +secure for themselves the advantage of bartering with them in French +goods at an enormous profit. [32] + +[30] Synonymes: Tionnontates, Etionontates, Tuinontatek, Dionondadies, +Khionontaterrhonons, Petuneux or Nation du Petun (Tobacco). +[31] "L'ame de tous les Conseils."--Charlevoix, Voyage, 199.--In 1763 +they were Pontiac's best warriors. +[32] On the Tionnontates, see Le Mercier, Relation, 1637, 163; Lalemant, +Relation, 1641, 69; Ragueneau, Relation, 1648, 61. An excellent summary +of their character and history, by Mr. Shea, will be found in Hist. +Mag., V. 262. + +Journeying southward five days from the Tionnontate towns, the forest +traveller reached the border villages of the Attiwandarons, or Neutral +Nation. [33] As early as 1626, they were visited by the Franciscan +friar, La Roche Dallion, who reports a numerous population in +twenty-eight towns, besides many small hamlets. Their country, about +forty leagues in extent, embraced wide and fertile districts on the +north shore of Lake Erie, and their frontier extended eastward across +the Niagara, where they had three or four outlying towns. [34] Their +name of Neutrals was due to their neutrality in the war between the +Hurons and the Iroquois proper. The hostile warriors, meeting in a +Neutral cabin, were forced to keep the peace, though, once in the open +air, the truce was at an end. Yet this people were abundantly ferocious, +and, while holding a pacific attitude betwixt their warring kindred, +waged deadly strife with the Mascoutins, an Algonquin horde beyond Lake +Michigan. Indeed, it was but recently that they had been at blows with +seventeen Algonquin tribes. [35] They burned female prisoners, a +practice unknown to the Hurons. [36] Their country was full of game, and +they were bold and active hunters. In form and stature they surpassed +even the Hurons, whom they resembled in their mode of life, and from +whose language their own, though radically similar, was dialectically +distinct. Their licentiousness was even more open and shameless; and +they stood alone in the extravagance of some of their usages. They kept +their dead in their houses till they became insupportable; then scraped +the flesh from the bones, and displayed them in rows along the walls, +there to remain till the periodical Feast of the Dead, or general +burial. In summer, the men wore no clothing whatever, but were usually +tattooed from head to foot with powdered charcoal. + +[33] Attiwandarons, Attiwendaronk, Atirhagenrenrets, Rhagenratka (Jesuit +Relations), Attionidarons (Sagard). They, and not the Eries, were the +Kahkwas of Seneca tradition. +[34] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1641, 71.--The Niagara was then +called the River of the Neutrals, or the Onguiaahra. Lalemant estimates +the Neutral population, in 1640, at twelve thousand, in forty villages. +[35] Lettre du Père La Roche Dallion, 8 Juillet, 1627, in Le Clerc, +Établissement de la Foy, I. 346. +[36] Women were often burned by the Iroquois: witness the case of +Catherine Mercier in 1651, and many cases of Indian women mentioned by +the early writers. + +The sagacious Hurons refused them a passage through their country to the +French; and the Neutrals apparently had not sense or reflection enough +to take the easy and direct route of Lake Ontario, which was probably +open to them, though closed against the Hurons by Iroquois enmity. Thus +the former made excellent profit by exchanging French goods at high +rates for the valuable furs of the Neutrals. [37] + +[37] The Hurons became very jealous, when La Roche Dallion visited the +Neutrals, lest a direct trade should be opened between the latter and +the French, against whom they at once put in circulation a variety of +slanders: that they were a people who lived on snakes and venom; that +they were furnished with tails; and that French women, though having but +one breast, bore six children at a birth. The missionary nearly lost his +life in consequence, the Neutrals conceiving the idea that he would +infect their country with a pestilence.--La Roche Dallion, in Le Clerc, +I. 346. + +Southward and eastward of Lake Erie dwelt a kindred people, the Eries, +or Nation of the Cat. Little besides their existence is known of them. +They seem to have occupied Southwestern New York, as far east as the +Genesee, the frontier of the Senecas, and in habits and language to have +resembled the Hurons. [38] They were noted warriors, fought with +poisoned arrows, and were long a terror to the neighboring Iroquois. +[39] + +[38] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 46. +[39] Le Mercier, Relation, 1654, 10.--"Nous les appellons la Nation +Chat, à cause qu'il y a dans leur pais vne quantité prodigieuse de Chats +sauuages."--Ibid.--The Iroquois are said to have given the same name, +Jegosasa, Cat Nation, to the Neutrals.--Morgan, League of the Iroquois, +41. + +Synonymes: Eriés, Erigas, Eriehronon, Riguehronon. The Jesuits never had +a mission among them, though they seem to have been visited by +Champlain's adventurous interpreter, Étienne Brulé, in the summer of +1615.--They are probably the Carantoüans of Champlain. + +On the Lower Susquehanna dwelt the formidable tribe called by the French +Andastes. Little is known of them, beyond their general resemblance to +their kindred, in language, habits, and character. Fierce and resolute +warriors, they long made head against the Iroquois of New York, and were +vanquished at last more by disease than by the tomahawk. [40] + +[40] Gallatin erroneously places the Andastes on the Alleghany, Bancroft +and others adopting the error. The research of Mr. Shea has shown their +identity with the Susquehannocks of the English, and the Minquas of the +Dutch.--See Hist. Mag., II. 294. + +Synonymes: Andastes, Andastracronnons, Andastaeronnons, Andastaguez, +Antastoui (French), Susquehannocks (English), Mengwe, Minquas (Dutch), +Conestogas, Conessetagoes (English). + +In Central New York, stretching east and west from the Hudson to the +Genesee, lay that redoubted people who have lent their name to the +tribal family of the Iroquois, and stamped it indelibly on the early +pages of American history. Among all the barbarous nations of the +continent, the Iroquois of New York stand paramount. Elements which +among other tribes were crude, confused, and embryotic, were among them +systematized and concreted into an established polity. The Iroquois was +the Indian of Indians. A thorough savage, yet a finished and developed +savage, he is perhaps an example of the highest elevation which man can +reach without emerging from his primitive condition of the hunter. A +geographical position, commanding on one hand the portal of the Great +Lakes, and on the other the sources of the streams flowing both to the +Atlantic and the Mississippi, gave the ambitious and aggressive +confederates advantages which they perfectly understood, and by which +they profited to the utmost. Patient and politic as they were ferocious, +they were not only conquerors of their own race, but the powerful allies +and the dreaded foes of the French and English colonies, flattered and +caressed by both, yet too sagacious to give themselves without reserve +to either. Their organization and their history evince their intrinsic +superiority. Even their traditionary lore, amid its wild puerilities, +shows at times the stamp of an energy and force in striking contrast +with the flimsy creations of Algonquin fancy. That the Iroquois, left +under their institutions to work out their destiny undisturbed, would +ever have developed a civilization of their own, I do not believe. These +institutions, however, are sufficiently characteristic and curious, and +we shall soon have occasion to observe them. [41] + +[41] The name Iroquois is French. Charlevoix says: "Il a été formé du +terme Hiro, ou Hero, qui signifie J'ai dit, et par lequel ces sauvages +finissent tous leur discours, comme les Latins faisoient autrefois par +leur Dixi; et de Koué, qui est un cri tantôt de tristesse, lorsqu'on le +prononce en traînant, et tantôt de joye, quand on le prononce plus +court."--Hist. de la N. F., I. 271.--Their true name is Hodenosaunee, or +People of the Long House, because their confederacy of five distinct +nations, ranged in a line along Central New York, was likened to one of +the long bark houses already described, with five fires and five +families. The name Agonnonsionni, or Aquanuscioni, ascribed to them by +Lafitau and Charlevoix, who translated it "House-Makers," Faiseurs de +Cabannes, may be a conversion of the true name with an erroneous +rendering. The following are the true names of the five nations +severally, with their French and English synonymes. For other synonymes, +see "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," 8, note. + + English French +Ganeagaono, Mohawk, Agnier. +Onayotekaono, Oneida, Onneyut. +Onundagaono, Onondaga, Onnontagué. +Gweugwehono, Cayuga, Goyogouin. +Nundawaono, Seneca, Tsonnontouans. + +The Iroquois termination in ono--or onon, as the French write it--simply +means people. + + +SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION. + +In Indian social organization, a problem at once suggests itself. In +these communities, comparatively populous, how could spirits so fierce, +and in many respects so ungoverned, live together in peace, without law +and without enforced authority? Yet there were towns where savages lived +together in thousands with a harmony which civilization might envy. This +was in good measure due to peculiarities of Indian character and habits. +This intractable race were, in certain external respects, the most +pliant and complaisant of mankind. The early missionaries were charmed +by the docile acquiescence with which their dogmas were received; but +they soon discovered that their facile auditors neither believed nor +understood that to which they had so promptly assented. They assented +from a kind of courtesy, which, while it vexed the priests, tended +greatly to keep the Indians in mutual accord. That well-known +self-control, which, originating in a form of pride, covered the savage +nature of the man with a veil, opaque, though thin, contributed not a +little to the same end. Though vain, arrogant, boastful, and vindictive, +the Indian bore abuse and sarcasm with an astonishing patience. Though +greedy and grasping, he was lavish without stint, and would give away +his all to soothe the manes of a departed relative, gain influence and +applause, or ingratiate himself with his neighbors. In his dread of +public opinion, he rivalled some of his civilized successors. + +All Indians, and especially these populous and stationary tribes, had +their code of courtesy, whose requirements were rigid and exact; nor +might any infringe it without the ban of public censure. Indian nature, +inflexible and unmalleable, was peculiarly under the control of custom. +Established usage took the place of law,--was, in fact, a sort of common +law, with no tribunal to expound or enforce it. In these wild +democracies,--democracies in spirit, though not in form,--a respect for +native superiority, and a willingness to yield to it, were always +conspicuous. All were prompt to aid each other in distress, and a +neighborly spirit was often exhibited among them. When a young woman was +permanently married, the other women of the village supplied her with +firewood for the year, each contributing an armful. When one or more +families were without shelter, the men of the village joined in building +them a house. In return, the recipients of the favor gave a feast, if +they could; if not, their thanks were sufficient. [42] Among the +Iroquois and Hurons--and doubtless among the kindred tribes--there were +marked distinctions of noble and base, prosperous and poor; yet, while +there was food in the village, the meanest and the poorest need not +suffer want. He had but to enter the nearest house, and seat himself by +the fire, when, without a word on either side, food was placed before +him by the women. [43] + +[42] The following testimony concerning Indian charity and hospitality +is from Ragueneau: "As often as we have seen tribes broken up, towns +destroyed, and their people driven to flight, we have seen them, to the +number of seven or eight hundred persons, received with open arms by +charitable hosts, who gladly gave them aid, and even distributed among +them a part of the lands already planted, that they might have the means +of living."--Relation, 1650, 28. +[43] The Jesuit Brébeuf, than whom no one knew the Hurons better, is +very emphatic in praise of their harmony and social spirit. Speaking of +one of the four nations of which the Hurons were composed, he says: "Ils +ont vne douceur et vne affabilité quasi incroyable pour des Sauuages; +ils ne se picquent pas aisément.... Ils se maintiennent dans cette si +parfaite intelligence par les frequentes visites, les secours qu'ils se +donnent mutuellement dans leurs maladies, par les festins et les +alliances.... Ils sont moins en leurs Cabanes que chez leurs amis.... +S'ils ont vn bon morceau, ils en font festin à leurs amis, et ne le +mangent quasi iamais en leur particulier," etc.--Relation des Hurons, +1636, 118. + +Contrary to the received opinion, these Indians, like others of their +race, when living in communities, were of a very social disposition. +Besides their incessant dances and feasts, great and small, they were +continually visiting, spending most of their time in their neighbors' +houses, chatting, joking, bantering one another with witticisms, sharp, +broad, and in no sense delicate, yet always taken in good part. Every +village had its adepts in these wordy tournaments, while the shrill +laugh of young squaws, untaught to blush, echoed each hardy jest or +rough sarcasm. + +In the organization of the savage communities of the continent, one +feature, more or less conspicuous, continually appears. Each nation or +tribe--to adopt the names by which these communities are usually +known--is subdivided into several clans. These clans are not locally +separate, but are mingled throughout the nation. All the members of each +clan are, or are assumed to be, intimately joined in consanguinity. +Hence it is held an abomination for two persons of the same clan to +intermarry; and hence, again, it follows that every family must contain +members of at least two clans. Each clan has its name, as the clan of +the Hawk, of the Wolf, or of the Tortoise; and each has for its emblem +the figure of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from +which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem by the Algonquins, +is often tattooed on the clansman's body, or rudely painted over the +entrance of his lodge. The child belongs to the clan, not of the father, +but of the mother. In other words, descent, not of the totem alone, but +of all rank, titles, and possessions, is through the female. The son of +a chief can never be a chief by hereditary title, though he may become +so by force of personal influence or achievement. Neither can he inherit +from his father so much as a tobacco-pipe. All possessions alike pass of +right to the brothers of the chief, or to the sons of his sisters, since +these are all sprung from a common mother. This rule of descent was +noticed by Champlain among the Hurons in 1615. That excellent observer +refers it to an origin which is doubtless its true one. The child may +not be the son of his reputed father, but must be the son of his +mother,--a consideration of more than ordinary force in an Indian +community. [44] + +[44] "Les enfans ne succedent iamais aux biens et dignitez de leurs +peres, doubtant comme i'ay dit de leur geniteur, mais bien font-ils +leurs successeurs et heritiers, les enfans de leurs sœurs, et desquels +ils sont asseurez d'estre yssus et sortis."--Champlain (1627), 91. + +Captain John Smith had observed the same, several years before, among +the tribes of Virginia: "For the Crowne, their heyres inherite not, but +the first heyres of the Sisters."--True Relation, 43 (ed. Deane). + +This system of clanship, with the rule of descent inseparable from it, +was of very wide prevalence. Indeed, it is more than probable that close +observation would have detected it in every tribe east of the +Mississippi; while there is positive evidence of its existence in by far +the greater number. It is found also among the Dahcotah and other tribes +west of the Mississippi; and there is reason to believe it universally +prevalent as far as the Rocky Mountains, and even beyond them. The fact +that with most of these hordes there is little property worth +transmission, and that the most influential becomes chief, with little +regard to inheritance, has blinded casual observers to the existence of +this curious system. + +It was found in full development among the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, +and other Southern tribes, including that remarkable people, the +Natchez, who, judged by their religious and political institutions, seem +a detached offshoot of the Toltec family. It is no less conspicuous +among the roving Algonquins of the extreme North, where the number of +totems is almost countless. Everywhere it formed the foundation of the +polity of all the tribes, where a polity could be said to exist. + +The Franciscans and Jesuits, close students of the languages and +superstitions of the Indians, were by no means so zealous to analyze +their organization and government. In the middle of the seventeenth +century the Hurons as a nation had ceased to exist, and their political +portraiture, as handed down to us, is careless and unfinished. Yet some +decisive features are plainly shown. The Huron nation was a confederacy +of four distinct contiguous nations, afterwards increased to five by the +addition of the Tionnontates;--it was divided into clans;--it was +governed by chiefs, whose office was hereditary through the female;--the +power of these chiefs, though great, was wholly of a persuasive or +advisory character;--there were two principal chiefs, one for peace, the +other for war;--there were chiefs assigned to special national +functions, as the charge of the great Feast of the Dead, the direction +of trading voyages to other nations, etc.;--there were numerous other +chiefs, equal in rank, but very unequal in influence, since the measure +of their influence depended on the measure of their personal +ability;--each nation of the confederacy had a separate organization, +but at certain periods grand councils of the united nations were held, +at which were present, not chiefs only, but also a great concourse of +the people; and at these and other councils the chiefs and principal men +voted on proposed measures by means of small sticks or reeds, the +opinion of the plurality ruling. [45] + +[45] These facts are gathered here and there from Champlain, Sagard, +Bressani, and the Jesuit Relations prior to 1650. Of the Jesuits, +Brébeuf is the most full and satisfactory. Lafitau and Charlevoix knew +the Huron institutions only through others. + +The names of the four confederate Huron nations were the Ataronchronons, +Attignenonghac, Attignaouentans, and Ahrendarrhonons. There was also a +subordinate "nation" called Tohotaenrat, which had but one town. (See +the map of the Huron Country.) They all bore the name of some animal or +other object: thus the Attignaouentans were the Nation of the Bear. As +the clans are usually named after animals, this makes confusion, and may +easily lead to error. The Bear Nation was the principal member of the +league. + + +THE IROQUOIS. + +The Iroquois were a people far more conspicuous in history, and their +institutions are not yet extinct. In early and recent times, they have +been closely studied, and no little light has been cast upon a subject +as difficult and obscure as it is curious. By comparing the statements +of observers, old and new, the character of their singular organization +becomes sufficiently clear. [46] + +[46] Among modern students of Iroquois institutions, a place far in +advance of all others is due to Lewis H. Morgan, himself an Iroquois by +adoption, and intimate with the race from boyhood. His work, The League +of the Iroquois, is a production of most thorough and able research, +conducted under peculiar advantages, and with the aid of an efficient +co-laborer, Hasanoanda (Ely S. Parker), an educated and highly +intelligent Iroquois of the Seneca nation. Though often differing widely +from Mr. Morgan's conclusions, I cannot bear a too emphatic testimony to +the value of his researches. The Notes on the Iroquois of Mr. H. R. +Schoolcraft also contain some interesting facts; but here, as in all Mr. +Schoolcraft's productions, the reader must scrupulously reserve his +right of private judgment. None of the old writers are so satisfactory +as Lafitau. His work, Mœurs des Sauvages Ameriquains comparées aux Mœurs +des Premiers Temps, relates chiefly to the Iroquois and Hurons: the +basis for his account of the former being his own observations and those +of Father Julien Garnier, who was a missionary among them more than +sixty years, from his novitiate to his death. + +Both reason and tradition point to the conclusion, that the Iroquois +formed originally one undivided people. Sundered, like countless other +tribes, by dissension, caprice, or the necessities of the hunter life, +they separated into five distinct nations, cantoned from east to west +along the centre of New York, in the following order: Mohawks, Oneidas, +Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas. There was discord among them; wars +followed, and they lived in mutual fear, each ensconced in its palisaded +villages. At length, says tradition, a celestial being, incarnate on +earth, counselled them to compose their strife and unite in a league of +defence and aggression. Another personage, wholly mortal, yet +wonderfully endowed, a renowned warrior and a mighty magician, stands, +with his hair of writhing snakes, grotesquely conspicuous through the +dim light of tradition at this birth of Iroquois nationality. This was +Atotarho, a chief of the Onondagas; and from this honored source has +sprung a long line of chieftains, heirs not to the blood alone, but to +the name of their great predecessor. A few years since, there lived in +Onondaga Hollow a handsome Indian boy on whom the dwindled remnant of +the nation looked with pride as their destined Atotarho. With earthly +and celestial aid the league was consummated, and through all the land +the forests trembled at the name of the Iroquois. + +The Iroquois people was divided into eight clans. When the original +stock was sundered into five parts, each of these clans was also +sundered into five parts; and as, by the principle already indicated, +the clans were intimately mingled in every village, hamlet, and cabin, +each one of the five nations had its portion of each of the eight clans. +[47] When the league was formed, these separate portions readily resumed +their ancient tie of fraternity. Thus, of the Turtle clan, all the +members became brothers again, nominal members of one family, whether +Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, or Senecas; and so, too, of the +remaining clans. All the Iroquois, irrespective of nationality, were +therefore divided into eight families, each tracing its descent to a +common mother, and each designated by its distinctive emblem or totem. +This connection of clan or family was exceedingly strong, and by it the +five nations of the league were linked together as by an eightfold +chain. + +[47] With a view to clearness, the above statement is made categorical. +It requires, however, to be qualified. It is not quite certain, that, at +the formation of the confederacy, there were eight clans, though there +is positive proof of the existence of seven. Neither is it certain, +that, at the separation, every clan was represented in every nation. +Among the Mohawks and Oneidas there is no positive proof of the +existence of more than three clans,--the Wolf, Bear, and Tortoise; +though there is presumptive evidence of the existence of several +others.--See Morgan, 81, note. + +The eight clans of the Iroquois were as follows: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, +Tortoise, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. (Morgan, 79.) The clans of the Snipe +and the Heron are the same designated in an early French document as La +famille du Petit Pluvier and La famille du Grand Pluvier. (New York +Colonial Documents, IX. 47.) The anonymous author of this document adds +a ninth clan, that of the Potato, meaning the wild Indian potato, +Glycine apios. This clan, if it existed, was very inconspicuous, and of +little importance. + +Remarkable analogies exist between Iroquois clanship and that of other +tribes. The eight clans of the Iroquois were separated into two +divisions, four in each. Originally, marriage was interdicted between +all the members of the same division, but in time the interdict was +limited to the members of the individual clans. Another tribe, the +Choctaws, remote from the Iroquois, and radically different in language, +had also eight clans, similarly divided, with a similar interdict of +marriage.--Gallatin, Synopsis, 109. + +The Creeks, according to the account given by their old chief, +Sekopechi, to Mr. D. W. Eakins, were divided into nine clans, named in +most cases from animals: clanship being transmitted, as usual, through +the female. + +The clans were by no means equal in numbers, influence, or honor. So +marked were the distinctions among them, that some of the early writers +recognize only the three most conspicuous,--those of the Tortoise, the +Bear, and the Wolf. To some of the clans, in each nation, belonged the +right of giving a chief to the nation and to the league. Others had the +right of giving three, or, in one case, four chiefs; while others could +give none. As Indian clanship was but an extension of the family +relation, these chiefs were, in a certain sense, hereditary; but the law +of inheritance, though binding, was extremely elastic, and capable of +stretching to the farthest limits of the clan. The chief was almost +invariably succeeded by a near relative, always through the female, as a +brother by the same mother, or a nephew by the sister's side. But if +these were manifestly unfit, they were passed over, and a chief was +chosen at a council of the clan from among remoter kindred. In these +cases, the successor is said to have been nominated by the matron of the +late chief's household. [48] Be this as it may, the choice was never +adverse to the popular inclination. The new chief was "raised up," or +installed, by a formal council of the sachems of the league; and on +entering upon his office, he dropped his own name, and assumed that +which, since the formation of the league, had belonged to this especial +chieftainship. + +[48] Lafitau, I. 471. + +The number of these principal chiefs, or, as they have been called by +way of distinction, sachems, varied in the several nations from eight to +fourteen. The sachems of the five nations, fifty in all, assembled in +council, formed the government of the confederacy. All met as equals, +but a peculiar dignity was ever attached to the Atotarho of the +Onondagas. + +There was a class of subordinate chiefs, in no sense hereditary, but +rising to office by address, ability, or valor. Yet the rank was clearly +defined, and the new chief installed at a formal council. This class +embodied, as might be supposed, the best talent of the nation, and the +most prominent warriors and orators of the Iroquois have belonged to it. +In its character and functions, however, it was purely civil. Like the +sachems, these chiefs held their councils, and exercised an influence +proportionate to their number and abilities. + +There was another council, between which and that of the subordinate +chiefs the line of demarcation seems not to have been very definite. The +Jesuit Lafitau calls it "the senate." Familiar with the Iroquois at the +height of their prosperity, he describes it as the central and +controlling power, so far, at least, as the separate nations were +concerned. In its character it was essentially popular, but popular in +the best sense, and one which can find its application only in a small +community. Any man took part in it whose age and experience qualified +him to do so. It was merely the gathered wisdom of the nation. Lafitau +compares it to the Roman Senate, in the early and rude age of the +Republic, and affirms that it loses nothing by the comparison. He thus +describes it: "It is a greasy assemblage, sitting sur leur derrière, +crouched like apes, their knees as high as their ears, or lying, some on +their bellies, some on their backs, each with a pipe in his mouth, +discussing affairs of state with as much coolness and gravity as the +Spanish Junta or the Grand Council of Venice." [49] + +[49] Lafitau, I. 478. + +The young warriors had also their councils; so, too, had the women; and +the opinions and wishes of each were represented by means of deputies +before the "senate," or council of the old men, as well as before the +grand confederate council of the sachems. + +The government of this unique republic resided wholly in councils. By +councils all questions were settled, all regulations +established,--social, political, military, and religious. The war-path, +the chase, the council-fire,--in these was the life of the Iroquois; and +it is hard to say to which of the three he was most devoted. + +The great council of the fifty sachems formed, as we have seen, the +government of the league. Whenever a subject arose before any of the +nations, of importance enough to demand its assembling, the sachems of +that nation might summon their colleagues by means of runners, bearing +messages and belts of wampum. The usual place of meeting was the valley +of Onondaga, the political as well as geographical centre of the +confederacy. Thither, if the matter were one of deep and general +interest, not the sachems alone, but the greater part of the population, +gathered from east and west, swarming in the hospitable lodges of the +town, or bivouacked by thousands in the surrounding fields and forests. +While the sachems deliberated in the council-house, the chiefs and old +men, the warriors, and often the women, were holding their respective +councils apart; and their opinions, laid by their deputies before the +council of sachems, were never without influence on its decisions. + +The utmost order and deliberation reigned in the council, with rigorous +adherence to the Indian notions of parliamentary propriety. The +conference opened with an address to the spirits, or the chief of all +the spirits. There was no heat in debate. No speaker interrupted +another. Each gave his opinion in turn, supporting it with what reason +or rhetoric he could command,--but not until he had stated the subject +of discussion in full, to prove that he understood it, repeating also +the arguments, pro and con, of previous speakers. Thus their debates +were excessively prolix; and the consumption of tobacco was immoderate. +The result, however, was a thorough sifting of the matter in hand; while +the practised astuteness of these savage politicians was a marvel to +their civilized contemporaries. "It is by a most subtle policy," says +Lafitau, "that they have taken the ascendant over the other nations, +divided and overcome the most warlike, made themselves a terror to the +most remote, and now hold a peaceful neutrality between the French and +English, courted and feared by both." [50] + +[50] Lafitau, I. 480.--Many other French writers speak to the same +effect. The following are the words of the soldier historian, La +Potherie, after describing the organization of the league: "C'est donc +là cette politique qui les unit si bien, à peu près comme tous les +ressorts d'une horloge, qui par une liaison admirable de toutes les +parties qui les composent, contribuent toutes unanimement au merveilleux +effet qui en resulte."--Hist. de l'Amérique Septentrionale, III. 32.--He +adds: "Les François ont avoüé eux-mêmes qu'ils étoient nez pour la +guerre, & quelques maux qu'ils nous ayent faits nous les avons toujours +estimez."--Ibid., 2.--La Potherie's book was published in 1722. + +Unlike the Hurons, they required an entire unanimity in their decisions. +The ease and frequency with which a requisition seemingly so difficult +was fulfilled afford a striking illustration of Indian nature,--on one +side, so stubborn, tenacious, and impracticable; on the other, so pliant +and acquiescent. An explanation of this harmony is to be found also in +an intense spirit of nationality: for never since the days of Sparta +were individual life and national life more completely fused into one. + +The sachems of the league were likewise, as we have seen, sachems of +their respective nations; yet they rarely spoke in the councils of the +subordinate chiefs and old men, except to present subjects of +discussion. [51] Their influence in these councils was, however, great, +and even paramount; for they commonly succeeded in securing to their +interest some of the most dexterous and influential of the conclave, +through whom, while they themselves remained in the background, they +managed the debates. [52] + +[51] Lafitau, I. 479. +[52] The following from Lafitau is very characteristic: "Ce que je dis +de leur zèle pour le bien public n'est cependant pas si universel, que +plusieurs ne pensent à leur interêts particuliers, & que les Chefs +(sachems) principalement ne fassent joüer plusieurs ressorts secrets +pour venir à bout de leurs intrigues. Il y en a tel, dont l'adresse jouë +si bien à coup sûr, qu'il fait déliberer le Conseil plusieurs jours de +suite, sur une matière dont la détermination est arrêtée entre lui & les +principales têtes avant d'avoir été mise sur le tapis. Cependant comme +les Chefs s'entre-regardent, & qu'aucun ne veut paroître se donner une +superiorité qui puisse piquer la jalousie, ils se ménagent dans les +Conseils plus que les autres; & quoiqu'ils en soient l'ame, leur +politique les oblige à y parler peu, & à écouter plûtôt le sentiment +d'autrui, qu'à y dire le leur; mais chacun a un homme à sa main, qui est +comme une espèce de Brûlot, & qui étant sans consequence pour sa +personne hazarde en pleine liberté tout ce qu'il juge à propos, selon +qu'il l'a concerté avec le Chef même pour qui il agit."--Mœurs des +Sauvages, I. 481. + +There was a class of men among the Iroquois always put forward on public +occasions to speak the mind of the nation or defend its interests. +Nearly all of them were of the number of the subordinate chiefs. Nature +and training had fitted them for public speaking, and they were deeply +versed in the history and traditions of the league. They were in fact +professed orators, high in honor and influence among the people. To a +huge stock of conventional metaphors, the use of which required nothing +but practice, they often added an astute intellect, an astonishing +memory, and an eloquence which deserved the name. + +In one particular, the training of these savage politicians was never +surpassed. They had no art of writing to record events, or preserve the +stipulations of treaties. Memory, therefore, was tasked to the utmost, +and developed to an extraordinary degree. They had various devices for +aiding it, such as bundles of sticks, and that system of signs, emblems, +and rude pictures, which they shared with other tribes. Their famous +wampum-belts were so many mnemonic signs, each standing for some act, +speech, treaty, or clause of a treaty. These represented the public +archives, and were divided among various custodians, each charged with +the memory and interpretation of those assigned to him. The meaning of +the belts was from time to time expounded in their councils. In +conferences with them, nothing more astonished the French, Dutch, and +English officials than the precision with which, before replying to +their addresses, the Indian orators repeated them point by point. + +It was only in rare cases that crime among the Iroquois or Hurons was +punished by public authority. Murder, the most heinous offence, except +witchcraft, recognized among them, was rare. If the slayer and the slain +were of the same household or clan, the affair was regarded as a family +quarrel, to be settled by the immediate kin on both sides. This, under +the pressure of public opinion, was commonly effected without bloodshed, +by presents given in atonement. But if the murderer and his victim were +of different clans or different nations, still more, if the slain was a +foreigner, the whole community became interested to prevent the discord +or the war which might arise. All directed their efforts, not to bring +the murderer to punishment, but to satisfy the injured parties by a +vicarious atonement. [53] To this end, contributions were made and +presents collected. Their number and value were determined by +established usage. Among the Hurons, thirty presents of very +considerable value were the price of a man's life. That of a woman's was +fixed at forty, by reason of her weakness, and because on her depended +the continuance and increase of the population. This was when the slain +belonged to the nation. If of a foreign tribe, his death demanded a +higher compensation, since it involved the danger of war. [54] These +presents were offered in solemn council, with prescribed formalities. +The relatives of the slain might refuse them, if they chose, and in this +case the murderer was given them as a slave; but they might by no means +kill him, since, in so doing, they would incur public censure, and be +compelled in their turn to make atonement. Besides the principal gifts, +there was a great number of less value, all symbolical, and each +delivered with a set form of words: as, "By this we wash out the blood +of the slain: By this we cleanse his wound: By this we clothe his corpse +with a new shirt: By this we place food on his grave": and so, in +endless prolixity, through particulars without number. [55] + +[53] Lalemant, while inveighing against a practice which made the +public, and not the criminal, answerable for an offence, admits that +heinous crimes were more rare than in France, where the guilty party +himself was punished.--Lettre au P. Provincial, 15 May, 1645. +[54] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 80. +[55] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, gives a description of one of +these ceremonies at length. Those of the Iroquois on such occasions were +similar. Many other tribes had the same custom, but attended with much +less form and ceremony. Compare Perrot, 73-76. + +The Hurons were notorious thieves; and perhaps the Iroquois were not +much better, though the contrary has been asserted. Among both, the +robbed was permitted not only to retake his property by force, if he +could, but to strip the robber of all he had. This apparently acted as a +restraint in favor only of the strong, leaving the weak a prey to the +plunderer; but here the tie of family and clan intervened to aid him. +Relatives and clansmen espoused the quarrel of him who could not right +himself. [56] + +[56] The proceedings for detecting thieves were regular and methodical, +after established customs. According to Bressani, no thief ever +inculpated the innocent. + +Witches, with whom the Hurons and Iroquois were grievously infested, +were objects of utter abomination to both, and any one might kill them +at any time. If any person was guilty of treason, or by his character +and conduct made himself dangerous or obnoxious to the public, the +council of chiefs and old men held a secret session on his case, +condemned him to death, and appointed some young man to kill him. The +executioner, watching his opportunity, brained or stabbed him unawares, +usually in the dark porch of one of the houses. Acting by authority, he +could not be held answerable; and the relatives of the slain had no +redress, even if they desired it. The council, however, commonly +obviated all difficulty in advance, by charging the culprit with +witchcraft, thus alienating his best friends. + +The military organization of the Iroquois was exceedingly imperfect and +derived all its efficiency from their civil union and their personal +prowess. There were two hereditary war-chiefs, both belonging to the +Senecas; but, except on occasions of unusual importance, it does not +appear that they took a very active part in the conduct of wars. The +Iroquois lived in a state of chronic warfare with nearly all the +surrounding tribes, except a few from whom they exacted tribute. Any man +of sufficient personal credit might raise a war-party when he chose. He +proclaimed his purpose through the village, sang his war-songs, struck +his hatchet into the war-post, and danced the war-dance. Any who chose +joined him; and the party usually took up their march at once, with a +little parched-corn-meal and maple-sugar as their sole provision. On +great occasions, there was concert of action,--the various parties +meeting at a rendezvous, and pursuing the march together. The leaders of +war-parties, like the orators, belonged, in nearly all cases, to the +class of subordinate chiefs. The Iroquois had a discipline suited to the +dark and tangled forests where they fought. Here they were a terrible +foe: in an open country, against a trained European force, they were, +despite their ferocious valor, far less formidable. + +In observing this singular organization, one is struck by the +incongruity of its spirit and its form. A body of hereditary oligarchs +was the head of the nation, yet the nation was essentially democratic. +Not that the Iroquois were levellers. None were more prompt to +acknowledge superiority and defer to it, whether established by usage +and prescription, or the result of personal endowment. Yet each man, +whether of high or low degree, had a voice in the conduct of affairs, +and was never for a moment divorced from his wild spirit of +independence. Where there was no property worthy the name, authority had +no fulcrum and no hold. The constant aim of sachems and chiefs was to +exercise it without seeming to do so. They had no insignia of office. +They were no richer than others; indeed, they were often poorer, +spending their substance in largesses and bribes to strengthen their +influence. They hunted and fished for subsistence; they were as foul, +greasy, and unsavory as the rest; yet in them, withal, was often seen a +native dignity of bearing, which ochre and bear's grease could not hide, +and which comported well with their strong, symmetrical, and sometimes +majestic proportions. + +To the institutions, traditions, rites, usages, and festivals of the +league the Iroquois was inseparably wedded. He clung to them with Indian +tenacity; and he clings to them still. His political fabric was one of +ancient ideas and practices, crystallized into regular and enduring +forms. In its component parts it has nothing peculiar to itself. All its +elements are found in other tribes: most of them belong to the whole +Indian race. Undoubtedly there was a distinct and definite effort of +legislation; but Iroquois legislation invented nothing. Like all sound +legislation, it built of materials already prepared. It organized the +chaotic past, and gave concrete forms to Indian nature itself. The +people have dwindled and decayed; but, banded by its ties of clan and +kin, the league, in feeble miniature, still subsists, and the degenerate +Iroquois looks back with a mournful pride to the glory of the past. + +Would the Iroquois, left undisturbed to work out their own destiny, ever +have emerged from the savage state? Advanced as they were beyond most +other American tribes, there is no indication whatever of a tendency to +overpass the confines of a wild hunter and warrior life. They were +inveterately attached to it, impracticable conservatists of barbarism, +and in ferocity and cruelty they matched the worst of their race. Nor +did the power of expansion apparently belonging to their system ever +produce much result. Between the years 1712 and 1715, the Tuscaroras, a +kindred people, were admitted into the league as a sixth nation; but +they were never admitted on equal terms. Long after, in the period of +their decline, several other tribes were announced as new members of the +league; but these admissions never took effect. The Iroquois were always +reluctant to receive other tribes, or parts of tribes, collectively, +into the precincts of the "Long House." Yet they constantly practised a +system of adoptions, from which, though cruel and savage, they drew +great advantages. Their prisoners of war, when they had burned and +butchered as many of them as would serve to sate their own ire and that +of their women, were divided, man by man, woman by woman, and child by +child, adopted into different families and clans, and thus incorporated +into the nation. It was by this means, and this alone, that they could +offset the losses of their incessant wars. Early in the eighteenth +century, and even long before, a vast proportion of their population +consisted of adopted prisoners. [57] + +[57] Relation, 1660, 7 (anonymous). The Iroquois were at the height of +their prosperity about the year 1650. Morgan reckons their number at +this time at 25,000 souls; but this is far too high an estimate. The +author of the Relation of 1660 makes their whole number of warriors +2,200. Le Mercier, in the Relation of 1665, says 2,350. In the Journal +of Greenhalgh, an Englishman who visited them in 1677, their warriors +are set down at 2,150. Du Chesneau, in 1681, estimates them at 2,000; De +la Barre, in 1684, at 2,600, they having been strengthened by adoptions. +A memoir addressed to the Marquis de Seignelay, in 1687, again makes +them 2,000. (See N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 162, 196, 321.) These estimates +imply a total population of ten or twelve thousand. + +The anonymous writer of the Relation of 1660 may well remark: "It is +marvellous that so few should make so great a havoc, and strike such +terror into so many tribes." + +It remains to speak of the religious and superstitious ideas which so +deeply influenced Indian life. + + +RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. + +The religious belief of the North-American Indians seems, on a first +view, anomalous and contradictory. It certainly is so, if we adopt the +popular impression. Romance, Poetry, and Rhetoric point, on the one +hand, to the august conception of a one all-ruling Deity, a Great +Spirit, omniscient and omnipresent; and we are called to admire the +untutored intellect which could conceive a thought too vast for Socrates +and Plato. On the other hand, we find a chaos of degrading, ridiculous, +and incoherent superstitions. A closer examination will show that the +contradiction is more apparent than real. We will begin with the lowest +forms of Indian belief, and thence trace it upward to the highest +conceptions to which the unassisted mind of the savage attained. + +To the Indian, the material world is sentient and intelligent. Birds, +beasts, and reptiles have ears for human prayers, and are endowed with +an influence on human destiny. A mysterious and inexplicable power +resides in inanimate things. They, too, can listen to the voice of man, +and influence his life for evil or for good. Lakes, rivers, and +waterfalls are sometimes the dwelling-place of spirits; but more +frequently they are themselves living beings, to be propitiated by +prayers and offerings. The lake has a soul; and so has the river, and +the cataract. Each can hear the words of men, and each can be pleased or +offended. In the silence of a forest, the gloom of a deep ravine, +resides a living mystery, indefinite, but redoubtable. Through all the +works of Nature or of man, nothing exists, however seemingly trivial, +that may not be endowed with a secret power for blessing or for bane. + +Men and animals are closely akin. Each species of animal has its great +archetype, its progenitor or king, who is supposed to exist somewhere, +prodigious in size, though in shape and nature like his subjects. A +belief prevails, vague, but perfectly apparent, that men themselves owe +their first parentage to beasts, birds, or reptiles, as bears, wolves, +tortoises, or cranes; and the names of the totemic clans, borrowed in +nearly every case from animals, are the reflection of this idea. [58] + +[58] This belief occasionally takes a perfectly definite shape. There +was a tradition among Northern and Western tribes, that men were created +from the carcasses of beasts, birds, and fishes, by Manabozho, a +mythical personage, to be described hereafter. The Amikouas, or People +of the Beaver, an Algonquin tribe of Lake Huron, claimed descent from +the carcass of the great original beaver, or father of the beavers. They +believed that the rapids and cataracts on the French River and the Upper +Ottawa were caused by dams made by their amphibious ancestor. (See the +tradition in Perrot, Mémoire sur les Mœurs, Coustumes et Relligion des +Sauvages de l'Amérique Septentrionale, p. 20.) Charlevoix tells the same +story. Each Indian was supposed to inherit something of the nature of +the animal whence he sprung. + +An Indian hunter was always anxious to propitiate the animals he sought +to kill. He has often been known to address a wounded bear in a long +harangue of apology. [59] The bones of the beaver were treated with +especial tenderness, and carefully kept from the dogs, lest the spirit +of the dead beaver, or his surviving brethren, should take offence. [60] +This solicitude was not confined to animals, but extended to inanimate +things. A remarkable example occurred among the Hurons, a people +comparatively advanced, who, to propitiate their fishing-nets, and +persuade them to do their office with effect, married them every year to +two young girls of the tribe, with a ceremony more formal than that +observed in the case of mere human wedlock. [61] The fish, too, no less +than the nets, must be propitiated; and to this end they were addressed +every evening from the fishing-camp by one of the party chosen for that +function, who exhorted them to take courage and be caught, assuring them +that the utmost respect should be shown to their bones. The harangue, +which took place after the evening meal, was made in solemn form; and +while it lasted, the whole party, except the speaker, were required to +lie on their backs, silent and motionless, around the fire. [62] + +[59] McKinney, Tour to the Lakes, 284, mentions the discomposure of a +party of Indians when shown a stuffed moose. Thinking that its spirit +would be offended at the indignity shown to its remains, they surrounded +it, making apologetic speeches, and blowing tobacco-smoke at it as a +propitiatory offering. +[60] This superstition was very prevalent, and numerous examples of it +occur in old and recent writers, from Father Le Jeune to Captain Carver. +[61] There are frequent allusions to this ceremony in the early writers. +The Algonquins of the Ottawa practised it, as well as the Hurons. +Lalemant, in his chapter "Du Regne de Satan en ces Contrées" (Relation +des Hurons, 1639), says that it took place yearly, in the middle of +March. As it was indispensable that the brides should be virgins, mere +children were chosen. The net was held between them; and its spirit, or +oki, was harangued by one of the chiefs, who exhorted him to do his part +in furnishing the tribe with food. Lalemant was told that the spirit of +the net had once appeared in human form to the Algonquins, complaining +that he had lost his wife, and warning them, that, unless they could +find him another equally immaculate, they would catch no more fish. +[62] Sagard, Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons, 257. Other old writers +make a similar statement. + +Besides ascribing life and intelligence to the material world, animate +and inanimate, the Indian believes in supernatural existences, known +among the Algonquins as Manitous, and among the Iroquois and Hurons as +Okies or Otkons. These words comprehend all forms of supernatural being, +from the highest to the lowest, with the exception, possibly, of certain +diminutive fairies or hobgoblins, and certain giants and anomalous +monsters, which appear under various forms, grotesque and horrible, in +the Indian fireside legends. [63] There are local manitous of streams, +rocks, mountains, cataracts, and forests. The conception of these beings +betrays, for the most part, a striking poverty of imagination. In nearly +every case, when they reveal themselves to mortal sight, they bear the +semblance of beasts, reptiles, or birds, in shapes unusual or distorted. +[64] There are other manitous without local habitation, some good, some +evil, countless in number and indefinite in attributes. They fill the +world, and control the destinies of men,--that is to say, of Indians: +for the primitive Indian holds that the white man lives under a +spiritual rule distinct from that which governs his own fate. These +beings, also, appear for the most part in the shape of animals. +Sometimes, however, they assume human proportions; but more frequently +they take the form of stones, which, being broken, are found full of +living blood and flesh. + +[63] Many tribes have tales of diminutive beings, which, in the absence +of a better word, may be called fairies. In the Travels of Lewis and +Clarke, there is mention of a hill on the Missouri, supposed to be +haunted by them. These Western fairies correspond to the Puck Wudj +Ininee of Ojibwa tradition. As an example of the monsters alluded to, +see the Saginaw story of the Weendigoes, in Schoolcraft, Algic +Researches, II. 105. +[64] The figure of a large bird is perhaps the most common,--as, for +example, the good spirit of Rock Island: "He was white, with wings like +a swan, but ten times larger."--Autobiography of Blackhawk, 70. + +Each primitive Indian has his guardian manitou, to whom he looks for +counsel, guidance, and protection. These spiritual allies are gained by +the following process. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, the Indian boy +blackens his face, retires to some solitary place, and remains for days +without food. Superstitious expectancy and the exhaustion of abstinence +rarely fail of their results. His sleep is haunted by visions, and the +form which first or most often appears is that of his guardian +manitou,--a beast, a bird, a fish, a serpent, or some other object, +animate or inanimate. An eagle or a bear is the vision of a destined +warrior; a wolf, of a successful hunter; while a serpent foreshadows the +future medicine-man, or, according to others, portends disaster. [65] +The young Indian thenceforth wears about his person the object revealed +in his dream, or some portion of it,--as a bone, a feather, a +snake-skin, or a tuft of hair. This, in the modern language of the +forest and prairie, is known as his "medicine." The Indian yields to it +a sort of worship, propitiates it with offerings of tobacco, thanks it +in prosperity, and upbraids it in disaster. [66] If his medicine fails +to bring the desired success, he will sometimes discard it and adopt +another. The superstition now becomes mere fetich-worship, since the +Indian regards the mysterious object which he carries about him rather +as an embodiment than as a representative of a supernatural power. + +[65] Compare Cass, in North-American Review, Second Series, XIII. 100. A +turkey-buzzard, according to him, is the vision of a medicine-man. I +once knew an old Dahcotah chief, who was greatly respected, but had +never been to war, though belonging to a family of peculiarly warlike +propensities. The reason was, that, in his initiatory fast, he had +dreamed of an antelope,--the peace-spirit of his people. + +Women fast, as well as men,--always at the time of transition from +childhood to maturity. In the Narrative of John Tanner, there is an +account of an old woman who had fasted, in her youth, for ten days, and +throughout her life placed the firmest faith in the visions which had +appeared to her at that time. Among the Northern Algonquins, the +practice, down to a recent day, was almost universal. +[66] The author has seen a Dahcotah warrior open his medicine-bag, talk +with an air of affectionate respect to the bone, feather, or horn +within, and blow tobacco-smoke upon it as an offering. "Medicines" are +acquired not only by fasting, but by casual dreams, and otherwise. They +are sometimes even bought and sold. For a curious account of +medicine-bags and fetich-worship among the Algonquins of Gaspé, see Le +Clerc, Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspésie, Chap. XIII. + +Indian belief recognizes also another and very different class of +beings. Besides the giants and monsters of legendary lore, other +conceptions may be discerned, more or less distinct, and of a character +partly mythical. Of these the most conspicuous is that remarkable +personage of Algonquin tradition, called Manabozho, Messou, Michabou, +Nanabush, or the Great Hare. As each species of animal has its archetype +or king, so, among the Algonquins, Manabozho is king of all these animal +kings. Tradition is diverse as to his origin. According to the most +current belief, his father was the West-Wind, and his mother a +great-granddaughter of the Moon. His character is worthy of such a +parentage. Sometimes he is a wolf, a bird, or a gigantic hare, +surrounded by a court of quadrupeds; sometimes he appears in human +shape, majestic in stature and wondrous in endowment, a mighty magician, +a destroyer of serpents and evil manitous; sometimes he is a vain and +treacherous imp, full of childish whims and petty trickery, the butt and +victim of men, beasts, and spirits. His powers of transformation are +without limit; his curiosity and malice are insatiable; and of the +numberless legends of which he is the hero, the greater part are as +trivial as they are incoherent. [67] It does not appear that Manabozho +was ever an object of worship; yet, despite his absurdity, tradition +declares him to be chief among the manitous, in short, the "Great +Spirit." [68] It was he who restored the world, submerged by a deluge. +He was hunting in company with a certain wolf, who was his brother, or, +by other accounts, his grandson, when his quadruped relative fell +through the ice of a frozen lake, and was at once devoured by certain +serpents lurking in the depths of the waters. Manabozho, intent on +revenge, transformed himself into the stump of a tree, and by this +artifice surprised and slew the king of the serpents, as he basked with +his followers in the noontide sun. The serpents, who were all manitous, +caused, in their rage, the waters of the lake to deluge the earth. +Manabozho climbed a tree, which, in answer to his entreaties, grew as +the flood rose around it, and thus saved him from the vengeance of the +evil spirits. Submerged to the neck, he looked abroad on the waste of +waters, and at length descried the bird known as the loon, to whom he +appealed for aid in the task of restoring the world. The loon dived in +search of a little mud, as material for reconstruction, but could not +reach the bottom. A musk-rat made the same attempt, but soon reappeared +floating on his back, and apparently dead. Manabozho, however, on +searching his paws, discovered in one of them a particle of the desired +mud, and of this, together with the body of the loon, created the world +anew. [69] + +[67] Mr. Schoolcraft has collected many of these tales. See his Algic +Researches, Vol. I. Compare the stories of Messou, given by Le Jeune +(Relations, 1633, 1634), and the account of Nanabush, by Edwin James, in +his notes to Tanner's Narrative of Captivity and Adventures during a +Thirty-Years' Residence among the Indians; also the account of the Great +Hare, in the Mémoire of Nicolas Perrot, Chaps. I., II. +[68] "Presque toutes les Nations Algonquines ont donné le nom de Grand +Lièvre au Premier Esprit, quelques-uns l'appellent Michabou +(Manabozho)."--Charlevoix, Journal Historique, 344. +[69] This is a form of the story still current among the remoter +Algonquins. Compare the story of Messou, in Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, +16. It is substantially the same. + +There are various forms of this tradition, in some of which Manabozho +appears, not as the restorer, but as the creator of the world, forming +mankind from the carcasses of beasts, birds, and fishes. [70] Other +stories represent him as marrying a female musk-rat, by whom he became +the progenitor of the human race. [71] + +[70] In the beginning of all things, Manabozho, in the form of the Great +Hare, was on a raft, surrounded by animals who acknowledged him as their +chief. No land could be seen. Anxious to create the world, the Great +Hare persuaded the beaver to dive for mud; but the adventurous diver +floated to the surface senseless. The otter next tried, and failed like +his predecessor. The musk-rat now offered himself for the desperate +task. He plunged, and, after remaining a day and night beneath the +surface, reappeared, floating on his back beside the raft, apparently +dead, and with all his paws fast closed. On opening them, the other +animals found in one of them a grain of sand, and of this the Great Hare +created the world.--Perrot, Mémoire, Chap. I. +[71] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16.--The musk-rat is always a conspicuous +figure in Algonquin cosmogony. + +It is said that Messou, or Manabozho, once gave to an Indian the gift of +immortality, tied in a bundle, enjoining him never to open it. The +Indian's wife, however, impelled by curiosity, one day cut the string, +the precious gift flew out, and Indians have ever since been subject to +death. Le Jeune, Relation, 1634, 13. + +Searching for some higher conception of supernatural existence, we find, +among a portion of the primitive Algonquins, traces of a vague belief in +a spirit dimly shadowed forth under the name of Atahocan, to whom it +does not appear that any attributes were ascribed or any worship +offered, and of whom the Indians professed to know nothing whatever; +[72] but there is no evidence that this belief extended beyond certain +tribes of the Lower St. Lawrence. Others saw a supreme manitou in the +Sun. [73] The Algonquins believed also in a malignant manitou, in whom +the early missionaries failed not to recognize the Devil, but who was +far less dreaded than his wife. She wore a robe made of the hair of her +victims, for she was the cause of death; and she it was whom, by +yelling, drumming, and stamping, they sought to drive away from the +sick. Sometimes, at night, she was seen by some terrified squaw in the +forest, in shape like a flame of fire; and when the vision was announced +to the circle crouched around the lodge-fire, they burned a fragment of +meat to appease the female fiend. + +[72] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16; Relation, 1634, 13. +[73] Biard, Relation, 1611, Chap. VIII.--This belief was very prevalent. +The Ottawas, according to Ragueneau (Relation des Hurons, 1648, 77), +were accustomed to invoke the "Maker of Heaven" at their feasts; but +they recognized as distinct persons the Maker of the Earth, the Maker of +Winter, the God of the Waters, and the Seven Spirits of the Wind. He +says, at the same time, "The people of these countries have received +from their ancestors no knowledge of a God"; and he adds, that there is +no sentiment of religion in this invocation. + +The East, the West, the North, and the South were vaguely personified as +spirits or manitous. Some of the winds, too, were personal existences. +The West-Wind, as we have seen, was father of Manabozho. There was a +Summer-Maker and a Winter-Maker; and the Indians tried to keep the +latter at bay by throwing firebrands into the air. + +When we turn from the Algonquin family of tribes to that of the +Iroquois, we find another cosmogony, and other conceptions of spiritual +existence. While the earth was as yet a waste of waters, there was, +according to Iroquois and Huron traditions, a heaven with lakes, +streams, plains, and forests, inhabited by animals, by spirits, and, as +some affirm, by human beings. Here a certain female spirit, named +Ataentsic, was once chasing a bear, which, slipping through a hole, fell +down to the earth. Ataentsic's dog followed, when she herself, struck +with despair, jumped after them. Others declare that she was kicked out +of heaven by the spirit, her husband, for an amour with a man; while +others, again, hold the belief that she fell in the attempt to gather +for her husband the medicinal leaves of a certain tree. Be this as it +may, the animals swimming in the watery waste below saw her falling, and +hastily met in council to determine what should be done. The case was +referred to the beaver. The beaver commended it to the judgment of the +tortoise, who thereupon called on the other animals to dive, bring up +mud, and place it on his back. Thus was formed a floating island, on +which Ataentsic fell; and here, being pregnant, she was soon delivered +of a daughter, who in turn bore two boys, whose paternity is +unexplained. They were called Taouscaron and Jouskeha, and presently +fell to blows, Jouskeha killing his brother with the horn of a stag. The +back of the tortoise grew into a world full of verdure and life; and +Jouskeha, with his grandmother, Ataentsic, ruled over its destinies. +[74] + +[74] The above is the version of the story given by Brébeuf, Relation +des Hurons, 1636, 86 (Cramoisy). No two Indians told it precisely alike, +though nearly all the Hurons and Iroquois agreed as to its essential +points. Compare Vanderdonck, Cusick, Sagard, and other writers. +According to Vanderdonck, Ataentsic became mother of a deer, a bear, and +a wolf, by whom she afterwards bore all the other animals, mankind +included. Brébeuf found also among the Hurons a tradition inconsistent +with that of Ataentsic, and bearing a trace of Algonquin origin. It +declares, that, in the beginning, a man, a fox, and a skunk found +themselves together on an island, and that the man made the world out of +mud brought him by the skunk. + +The Delawares, an Algonquin tribe, seem to have borrowed somewhat of the +Iroquois cosmogony, since they believed that the earth was formed on the +back of a tortoise. + +According to some, Jouskeha became the father of the human race; but, in +the third generation, a deluge destroyed his posterity, so that it was +necessary to transform animals into men.--Charlevoix, III. 345. + +He is the Sun; she is the Moon. He is beneficent; but she is malignant, +like the female demon of the Algonquins. They have a bark house, made +like those of the Iroquois, at the end of the earth, and they often come +to feasts and dances in the Indian villages. Jouskeha raises corn for +himself, and makes plentiful harvests for mankind. Sometimes he is seen, +thin as a skeleton, with a spike of shrivelled corn in his hand, or +greedily gnawing a human limb; and then the Indians know that a grievous +famine awaits them. He constantly interposes between mankind and the +malice of his wicked grandmother, whom, at times, he soundly cudgels. It +was he who made lakes and streams: for once the earth was parched and +barren, all the water being gathered under the armpit of a colossal +frog; but Jouskeha pierced the armpit, and let out the water. No prayers +were offered to him, his benevolent nature rendering them superfluous. +[75] + +[75] Compare Brébeuf, as before cited, and Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, p. +228. + +The early writers call Jouskeha the creator of the world, and speak of +him as corresponding to the vague Algonquin deity, Atahocan. Another +deity appears in Iroquois mythology, with equal claims to be regarded as +supreme. He is called Areskoui, or Agreskoui, and his most prominent +attributes are those of a god of war. He was often invoked, and the +flesh of animals and of captive enemies was burned in his honor. [76] +Like Jouskeha, he was identified with the sun; and he is perhaps to be +regarded as the same being, under different attributes. Among the +Iroquois proper, or Five Nations, there was also a divinity called +Tarenyowagon, or Teharonhiawagon, [77] whose place and character it is +very difficult to determine. In some traditions he appears as the son of +Jouskeha. He had a prodigious influence; for it was he who spoke to men +in dreams. The Five Nations recognized still another superhuman +personage,--plainly a deified chief or hero. This was Taounyawatha, or +Hiawatha, said to be a divinely appointed messenger, who made his abode +on earth for the political and social instruction of the chosen race, +and whose counterpart is to be found in the traditions of the Peruvians, +Mexicans, and other primitive nations. [78] + +[76] Father Jogues saw a female prisoner burned to Areskoui, and two +bears offered to him to atone for the sin of not burning more +captives.--Lettre de Jogues, 5 Aug., 1643. +[77] Le Mercier, Relation, 1670, 66; Dablon, Relation, 1671, 17. Compare +Cusick, Megapolensis, and Vanderdonck. Some writers identify +Tarenyowagon and Hiawatha. Vanderdonck assumes that Areskoui is the +Devil, and Tarenyowagon is God. Thus Indian notions are often +interpreted by the light of preconceived ideas. +[78] For the tradition of Hiawatha, see Clark, History of Onondaga, I. +21. It will also be found in Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois, and in +his History, Condition, and Prospects of Indian Tribes. + +The Iroquois name for God is Hawenniio, sometimes written Owayneo; but +this use of the word is wholly due to the missionaries. Hawenniio is an +Iroquois verb, and means, he rules, he is master. There is no Iroquois +word which, in its primitive meaning, can be interpreted, the Great +Spirit, or God. On this subject, see Études Philologiques sur quelques +Langues Sauvages (Montreal, 1866), where will also be found a curious +exposure of a few of Schoolcraft's ridiculous blunders in this +connection. + +Close examination makes it evident that the primitive Indian's idea of a +Supreme Being was a conception no higher than might have been expected. +The moment he began to contemplate this object of his faith, and sought +to clothe it with attributes, it became finite, and commonly ridiculous. +The Creator of the World stood on the level of a barbarous and degraded +humanity, while a natural tendency became apparent to look beyond him to +other powers sharing his dominion. The Indian belief, if developed, +would have developed into a system of polytheism. [79] + +[79] Some of the early writers could discover no trace of belief in a +supreme spirit of any kind. Perrot, after a life spent among the +Indians, ignores such an idea. Allouez emphatically denies that it +existed among the tribes of Lake Superior. (Relation, 1667, 11.) He +adds, however, that the Sacs and Foxes believed in a great génie, who +lived not far from the French settlements.--Ibid., 21. + +In the primitive Indian's conception of a God the idea of moral good has +no part. His deity does not dispense justice for this world or the next, +but leaves mankind under the power of subordinate spirits, who fill and +control the universe. Nor is the good and evil of these inferior beings +a moral good and evil. The good spirit is the spirit that gives good +luck, and ministers to the necessities and desires of mankind: the evil +spirit is simply a malicious agent of disease, death, and mischance. + +In no Indian language could the early missionaries find a word to +express the idea of God. Manitou and Oki meant anything endowed with +supernatural powers, from a snake-skin, or a greasy Indian conjurer, up +to Manabozho and Jouskeha. The priests were forced to use a +circumlocution,--"The Great Chief of Men," or "He who lives in the Sky." +[80] Yet it should seem that the idea of a supreme controlling spirit +might naturally arise from the peculiar character of Indian belief. The +idea that each race of animals has its archetype or chief would easily +suggest the existence of a supreme chief of the spirits or of the human +race,--a conception imperfectly shadowed forth in Manabozho. The Jesuit +missionaries seized this advantage. "If each sort of animal has its +king," they urged, "so, too, have men; and as man is above all the +animals, so is the spirit that rules over men the master of all the +other spirits." The Indian mind readily accepted the idea, and tribes in +no sense Christian quickly rose to the belief in one controlling spirit. +The Great Spirit became a distinct existence, a pervading power in the +universe, and a dispenser of justice. Many tribes now pray to him, +though still clinging obstinately to their ancient superstitions; and +with some, as the heathen portion of the modern Iroquois, he is clothed +with attributes of moral good. [81] + +[80] See "Divers Sentimens," appended to the Relation of 1635, § 27; and +also many other passages of early missionaries. +[81] In studying the writers of the last and of the present century, it +is to be remembered that their observations were made upon savages who +had been for generations in contact, immediate or otherwise, with the +doctrines of Christianity. Many observers have interpreted the religious +ideas of the Indians after preconceived ideas of their own; and it may +safely be affirmed that an Indian will respond with a grunt of +acquiescence to any question whatever touching his spiritual state. +Loskiel and the simple-minded Heckewelder write from a missionary point +of view; Adair, to support a theory of descent from the Jews; the worthy +theologian, Jarvis, to maintain his dogma, that all religious ideas of +the heathen world are perversions of revelation; and so, in a greater or +less degree, of many others. By far the most close and accurate +observers of Indian superstition were the French and Italian Jesuits of +the first half of the seventeenth century. Their opportunities were +unrivalled; and they used them in a spirit of faithful inquiry, +accumulating facts, and leaving theory to their successors. Of recent +American writers, no one has given so much attention to the subject as +Mr. Schoolcraft; but, in view of his opportunities and his zeal, his +results are most unsatisfactory. The work in six large quarto volumes, +History, Condition, and Prospects of Indian Tribes, published by +Government under his editorship, includes the substance of most of his +previous writings. It is a singularly crude and illiterate production, +stuffed with blunders and contradictions, giving evidence on every page +of a striking unfitness either for historical or philosophical inquiry, +and taxing to the utmost the patience of those who would extract what is +valuable in it from its oceans of pedantic verbiage. + +The primitive Indian believed in the immortality of the soul, [82] but +he did not always believe in a state of future reward and punishment. +Nor, when such a belief existed, was the good to be rewarded a moral +good, or the evil to be punished a moral evil. Skilful hunters, brave +warriors, men of influence and consideration, went, after death, to the +happy hunting-ground; while the slothful, the cowardly, and the weak +were doomed to eat serpents and ashes in dreary regions of mist and +darkness. In the general belief, however, there was but one land of +shades for all alike. The spirits, in form and feature as they had been +in life, wended their way through dark forests to the villages of the +dead, subsisting on bark and rotten wood. On arriving, they sat all day +in the crouching posture of the sick, and, when night came, hunted the +shades of animals, with the shades of bows and arrows, among the shades +of trees and rocks: for all things, animate and inanimate, were alike +immortal, and all passed together to the gloomy country of the dead. + +[82] The exceptions are exceedingly rare. Father Gravier says that a +Peoria Indian once told him that there was no future life. It would be +difficult to find another instance of the kind. + +The belief respecting the land of souls varied greatly in different +tribes and different individuals. Among the Hurons there were those who +held that departed spirits pursued their journey through the sky, along +the Milky Way, while the souls of dogs took another route, by certain +constellations, known as the "Way of the Dogs." [83] + +[83] Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 233. + +At intervals of ten or twelve years, the Hurons, the Neutrals, and other +kindred tribes, were accustomed to collect the bones of their dead, and +deposit them, with great ceremony, in a common place of burial. The +whole nation was sometimes assembled at this solemnity; and hundreds of +corpses, brought from their temporary resting-places, were inhumed in +one capacious pit. From this hour the immortality of their souls began. +They took wing, as some affirmed, in the shape of pigeons; while the +greater number declared that they journeyed on foot, and in their own +likeness, to the land of shades, bearing with them the ghosts of the +wampum-belts, beaver-skins, bows, arrows, pipes, kettles, beads, and +rings buried with them in the common grave. [84] But as the spirits of +the old and of children are too feeble for the march, they are forced to +stay behind, lingering near their earthly villages, where the living +often hear the shutting of their invisible cabin-doors, and the weak +voices of the disembodied children driving birds from their corn-fields. +[85] An endless variety of incoherent fancies is connected with the +Indian idea of a future life. They commonly owe their origin to dreams, +often to the dreams of those in extreme sickness, who, on awaking, +supposed that they had visited the other world, and related to the +wondering bystanders what they had seen. + +[84] The practice of burying treasures with the dead is not peculiar to +the North American aborigines. Thus, the London Times of Oct. 28, 1865, +describing the funeral rites of Lord Palmerston, says: "And as the +words, 'Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,' were pronounced, the chief +mourner, as a last precious offering to the dead, threw into the grave +several diamond and gold rings." +[85] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 99 (Cramoisy). + +The Indian land of souls is not always a region of shadows and gloom. +The Hurons sometimes represented the souls of their dead--those of their +dogs included--as dancing joyously in the presence of Ataentsic and +Jouskeha. According to some Algonquin traditions, heaven was a scene of +endless festivity, the ghosts dancing to the sound of the rattle and the +drum, and greeting with hospitable welcome the occasional visitor from +the living world: for the spirit-land was not far off, and roving +hunters sometimes passed its confines unawares. + +Most of the traditions agree, however, that the spirits, on their +journey heavenward, were beset with difficulties and perils. There was a +swift river which must be crossed on a log that shook beneath their +feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their passage, and drove many into +the abyss. This river was full of sturgeon and other fish, which the +ghosts speared for their subsistence. Beyond was a narrow path between +moving rocks, which each instant crashed together, grinding to atoms the +less nimble of the pilgrims who essayed to pass. The Hurons believed +that a personage named Oscotarach, or the Head-Piercer, dwelt in a bark +house beside the path, and that it was his office to remove the brains +from the heads of all who went by, as a necessary preparation for +immortality. This singular idea is found also in some Algonquin +traditions, according to which, however, the brain is afterwards +restored to its owner. [86] + +[86] On Indian ideas of another life, compare Sagard, the Jesuit +Relations, Perrot, Charlevoix, and Lafitau, with Tanner, James, +Schoolcraft, and the Appendix to Morse's Indian Report. + +Le Clerc recounts a singular story, current in his time among the +Algonquins of Gaspé and Northern New Brunswick. The favorite son of an +old Indian died; whereupon the father, with a party of friends, set out +for the land of souls to recover him. It was only necessary to wade +through a shallow lake, several days' journey in extent. This they did, +sleeping at night on platforms of poles which supported them above the +water. At length they arrived, and were met by Papkootparout, the Indian +Pluto, who rushed on them in a rage, with his war-club upraised; but, +presently relenting, changed his mind, and challenged them to a game of +ball. They proved the victors, and won the stakes, consisting of corn, +tobacco, and certain fruits, which thus became known to mankind. The +bereaved father now begged hard for his son's soul, and Papkootparout at +last gave it to him, in the form and size of a nut, which, by pressing +it hard between his hands, he forced into a small leather bag. The +delighted parent carried it back to earth, with instructions to insert +it in the body of his son, who would thereupon return to life. When the +adventurers reached home, and reported the happy issue of their journey, +there was a dance of rejoicing; and the father, wishing to take part in +it, gave his son's soul to the keeping of a squaw who stood by. Being +curious to see it, she opened the bag; on which it escaped at once, and +took flight for the realms of Papkootparout, preferring them to the +abodes of the living.--Le Clerc, Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspésie, +310-328. + +Dreams were to the Indian a universal oracle. They revealed to him his +guardian spirit, taught him the cure of his diseases, warned him of the +devices of sorcerers, guided him to the lurking-places of his enemy or +the haunts of game, and unfolded the secrets of good and evil destiny. +The dream was a mysterious and inexorable power, whose least behests +must be obeyed to the letter,--a source, in every Indian town, of +endless mischief and abomination. There were professed dreamers, and +professed interpreters of dreams. One of the most noted festivals among +the Hurons and Iroquois was the Dream Feast, a scene of frenzy, where +the actors counterfeited madness, and the town was like a bedlam turned +loose. Each pretended to have dreamed of something necessary to his +welfare, and rushed from house to house, demanding of all he met to +guess his secret requirement and satisfy it. + +Believing that the whole material world was instinct with powers to +influence and control his fate, that good and evil spirits, and +existences nameless and indefinable, filled all Nature, that a pervading +sorcery was above, below, and around him, and that issues of life and +death might be controlled by instruments the most unnoticeable and +seemingly the most feeble, the Indian lived in perpetual fear. The +turning of a leaf, the crawling of an insect, the cry of a bird, the +creaking of a bough, might be to him the mystic signal of weal or woe. + +An Indian community swarmed with sorcerers, medicine-men, and diviners, +whose functions were often united in the same person. The sorcerer, by +charms, magic songs, magic feasts, and the beating of his drum, had +power over the spirits and those occult influences inherent in animals +and inanimate things. He could call to him the souls of his enemies. +They appeared before him in the form of stones. He chopped and bruised +them with his hatchet; blood and flesh issued forth; and the intended +victim, however distant, languished and died. Like the sorcerer of the +Middle Ages, he made images of those he wished to destroy, and, +muttering incantations, punctured them with an awl, whereupon the +persons represented sickened and pined away. + +The Indian doctor relied far more on magic than on natural remedies. +Dreams, beating of the drum, songs, magic feasts and dances, and howling +to frighten the female demon from his patient, were his ordinary methods +of cure. + +The prophet, or diviner, had various means of reading the secrets of +futurity, such as the flight of birds, and the movements of water and +fire. There was a peculiar practice of divination very general in the +Algonquin family of tribes, among some of whom it still subsists. A +small, conical lodge was made by planting poles in a circle, lashing the +tops together at the height of about seven feet from the ground, and +closely covering them with hides. The prophet crawled in, and closed the +aperture after him. He then beat his drum and sang his magic songs to +summon the spirits, whose weak, shrill voices were soon heard, mingled +with his lugubrious chanting, while at intervals the juggler paused to +interpret their communications to the attentive crowd seated on the +ground without. During the whole scene, the lodge swayed to and fro with +a violence which has astonished many a civilized beholder, and which +some of the Jesuits explain by the ready solution of a genuine diabolic +intervention. [87] + +[87] This practice was first observed by Champlain. (See "Pioneers of +France in the New World." ) From his time to the present, numerous +writers have remarked upon it. Le Jeune, in the Relation of 1637, treats +it at some length. The lodge was sometimes of a cylindrical, instead of +a conical form. + +The sorcerers, medicine-men, and diviners did not usually exercise the +function of priests. Each man sacrificed for himself to the powers he +wished to propitiate, whether his guardian spirit, the spirits of +animals, or the other beings of his belief. The most common offering was +tobacco, thrown into the fire or water; scraps of meat were sometimes +burned to the manitous; and, on a few rare occasions of public +solemnity, a white dog, the mystic animal of many tribes, was tied to +the end of an upright pole, as a sacrifice to some superior spirit, or +to the sun, with which the superior spirits were constantly confounded +by the primitive Indian. In recent times, when Judaism and Christianity +have modified his religious ideas, it has been, and still is, the +practice to sacrifice dogs to the Great Spirit. On these public +occasions, the sacrificial function is discharged by chiefs, or by +warriors appointed for the purpose. [88] + +[88] Many of the Indian feasts were feasts of sacrifice,--sometimes to +the guardian spirit of the host, sometimes to an animal of which he has +dreamed, sometimes to a local or other spirit. The food was first +offered in a loud voice to the being to be propitiated, after which the +guests proceeded to devour it for him. This unique method of sacrifice +was practised at war-feasts and similar solemnities. For an excellent +account of Indian religious feasts, see Perrot, Chap. V. + +One of the most remarkable of Indian sacrifices was that practised by +the Hurons in the case of a person drowned or frozen to death. The flesh +of the deceased was cut off, and thrown into a fire made for the +purpose, as an offering of propitiation to the spirits of the air or +water. What remained of the body was then buried near the +fire.--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 108. + +The tribes of Virginia, as described by Beverly and others, not only had +priests who offered sacrifice, but idols and houses of worship. + +Among the Hurons and Iroquois, and indeed all the stationary tribes, +there was an incredible number of mystic ceremonies, extravagant, +puerile, and often disgusting, designed for the cure of the sick or for +the general weal of the community. Most of their observances seem +originally to have been dictated by dreams, and transmitted as a sacred +heritage from generation to generation. They consisted in an endless +variety of dances, masqueradings, and nondescript orgies; and a +scrupulous adherence to all the traditional forms was held to be of the +last moment, as the slightest failure in this respect might entail +serious calamities. If children were seen in their play imitating any of +these mysteries, they were grimly rebuked and punished. In many tribes +secret magical societies existed, and still exist, into which members +are initiated with peculiar ceremonies. These associations are greatly +respected and feared. They have charms for love, war, and private +revenge, and exert a great, and often a very mischievous influence. The +societies of the Metai and the Wabeno, among the Northern Algonquins, +are conspicuous examples; while other societies of similar character +have, for a century, been known to exist among the Dahcotah. [89] + +[89] The Friendly Society of the Spirit, of which the initiatory +ceremonies were seen and described by Carver (Travels, 271), preserves +to this day its existence and its rites. + +A notice of the superstitious ideas of the Indians would be imperfect +without a reference to the traditionary tales through which these ideas +are handed down from father to son. Some of these tales can be traced +back to the period of the earliest intercourse with Europeans. One at +least of those recorded by the first missionaries, on the Lower St. +Lawrence, is still current among the tribes of the Upper Lakes. Many of +them are curious combinations of beliefs seriously entertained with +strokes intended for humor and drollery, which never fail to awaken +peals of laughter in the lodge-circle. Giants, dwarfs, cannibals, +spirits, beasts, birds, and anomalous monsters, transformations, tricks, +and sorcery, form the staple of the story. Some of the Iroquois tales +embody conceptions which, however preposterous, are of a bold and +striking character; but those of the Algonquins are, to an incredible +degree, flimsy, silly, and meaningless; nor are those of the Dahcotah +tribes much better. In respect to this wigwam lore, there is a curious +superstition of very wide prevalence. The tales must not be told in +summer; since at that season, when all Nature is full of life, the +spirits are awake, and, hearing what is said of them, may take offence; +whereas in winter they are fast sealed up in snow and ice, and no longer +capable of listening. [90] + +[90] The prevalence of this fancy among the Algonquins in the remote +parts of Canada is well established. The writer found it also among the +extreme western bands of the Dahcotah. He tried, in the month of July, +to persuade an old chief, a noted story-teller, to tell him some of the +tales; but, though abundantly loquacious in respect to his own +adventures, and even his dreams, the Indian obstinately refused, saying +that winter was the time for the tales, and that it was bad to tell them +in summer. + +Mr. Schoolcraft has published a collection of Algonquin tales, under the +title of Algic Researches. Most of them were translated by his wife, an +educated Ojibwa half-breed. This book is perhaps the best of Mr. +Schoolcraft's works, though its value is much impaired by the want of a +literal rendering, and the introduction of decorations which savor more +of a popular monthly magazine than of an Indian wigwam. Mrs. Eastman's +interesting Legends of the Sioux (Dahcotah) is not free from the same +defect. Other tales are scattered throughout the works of Mr. +Schoolcraft and various modern writers. Some are to be found in the +works of Lafitau and the other Jesuits. But few of the Iroquois legends +have been printed, though a considerable number have been written down. +The singular History of the Five Nations, by the old Tuscarora Indian, +Cusick, gives the substance of some of them. Others will be found in +Clark's History of Onondaga. + +It is obvious that the Indian mind has never seriously occupied itself +with any of the higher themes of thought. The beings of its belief are +not impersonations of the forces of Nature, the courses of human +destiny, or the movements of human intellect, will, and passion. In the +midst of Nature, the Indian knew nothing of her laws. His perpetual +reference of her phenomena to occult agencies forestalled inquiry and +precluded inductive reasoning. If the wind blew with violence, it was +because the water-lizard, which makes the wind, had crawled out of his +pool; if the lightning was sharp and frequent, it was because the young +of the thunder-bird were restless in their nest; if a blight fell upon +the corn, it was because the Corn Spirit was angry; and if the beavers +were shy and difficult to catch, it was because they had taken offence +at seeing the bones of one of their race thrown to a dog. Well, and even +highly developed, in a few instances,--I allude especially to the +Iroquois,--with respect to certain points of material concernment, the +mind of the Indian in other respects was and is almost hopelessly +stagnant. The very traits that raise him above the servile races are +hostile to the kind and degree of civilization which those races so +easily attain. His intractable spirit of independence, and the pride +which forbids him to be an imitator, reinforce but too strongly that +savage lethargy of mind from which it is so hard to rouse him. No race, +perhaps, ever offered greater difficulties to those laboring for its +improvement. + +To sum up the results of this examination, the primitive Indian was as +savage in his religion as in his life. He was divided between +fetich-worship and that next degree of religious development which +consists in the worship of deities embodied in the human form. His +conception of their attributes was such as might have been expected. His +gods were no whit better than himself. Even when he borrows from +Christianity the idea of a Supreme and Universal Spirit, his tendency is +to reduce Him to a local habitation and a bodily shape; and this +tendency disappears only in tribes that have been long in contact with +civilized white men. The primitive Indian, yielding his untutored homage +to One All-pervading and Omnipotent Spirit, is a dream of poets, +rhetoricians, and sentimentalists. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +1634. + +NOTRE-DAME DES ANGES. + +Quebec in 1634 • Father Le Jeune • The Mission-House • Its Domestic +Economy • The Jesuits and their Designs + +Opposite Quebec lies the tongue of land called Point Levi. One who, in +the summer of the year 1634, stood on its margin and looked northward, +across the St. Lawrence, would have seen, at the distance of a mile or +more, a range of lofty cliffs, rising on the left into the bold heights +of Cape Diamond, and on the right sinking abruptly to the bed of the +tributary river St. Charles. Beneath these cliffs, at the brink of the +St. Lawrence, he would have descried a cluster of warehouses, sheds, and +wooden tenements. Immediately above, along the verge of the precipice, +he could have traced the outlines of a fortified work, with a flagstaff, +and a few small cannon to command the river; while, at the only point +where Nature had made the heights accessible, a zigzag path connected +the warehouses and the fort. + +Now, embarked in the canoe of some Montagnais Indian, let him cross the +St. Lawrence, land at the pier, and, passing the cluster of buildings, +climb the pathway up the cliff. Pausing for rest and breath, he might +see, ascending and descending, the tenants of this outpost of the +wilderness: a soldier of the fort, or an officer in slouched hat and +plume; a factor of the fur company, owner and sovereign lord of all +Canada; a party of Indians; a trader from the upper country, one of the +precursors of that hardy race of coureurs de bois, destined to form a +conspicuous and striking feature of the Canadian population: next, +perhaps, would appear a figure widely different. The close, black +cassock, the rosary hanging from the waist, and the wide, black hat, +looped up at the sides, proclaimed the Jesuit,--Father Le Jeune, +Superior of the Residence of Quebec. + +And now, that we may better know the aspect and condition of the infant +colony and incipient mission, we will follow the priest on his way. +Mounting the steep path, he reached the top of the cliff, some two +hundred feet above the river and the warehouses. On the left lay the +fort built by Champlain, covering a part of the ground now forming +Durham Terrace and the Place d'Armes. Its ramparts were of logs and +earth, and within was a turreted building of stone, used as a barrack, +as officers' quarters, and for other purposes. [1] Near the fort stood a +small chapel, newly built. The surrounding country was cleared and +partially cultivated; yet only one dwelling-house worthy the name +appeared. It was a substantial cottage, where lived Madame Hébert, widow +of the first settler of Canada, with her daughter, her son-in-law +Couillard, and their children, good Catholics all, who, two years +before, when Quebec was evacuated by the English, [2] wept for joy at +beholding Le Jeune, and his brother Jesuit, De Nouë, crossing their +threshold to offer beneath their roof the long-forbidden sacrifice of +the Mass. There were inclosures with cattle near at hand; and the house, +with its surroundings, betokened industry and thrift. + +[1] Compare the various notices in Champlain (1632) with that of Du +Creux, Historia Canadensis, 204. +[2] See "Pioneers of France in the New World." Hébert's cottage seems to +have stood between Ste.-Famille and Couillard Streets, as appears by a +contract of 1634, cited by M. Ferland. + +Thence Le Jeune walked on, across the site of the modern market-place, +and still onward, near the line of the cliffs which sank abruptly on his +right. Beneath lay the mouth of the St. Charles; and, beyond, the +wilderness shore of Beauport swept in a wide curve eastward, to where, +far in the distance, the Gulf of Montmorenci yawned on the great river. +[3] The priest soon passed the clearings, and entered the woods which +covered the site of the present suburb of St. John. Thence he descended +to a lower plateau, where now lies the suburb of St. Roch, and, still +advancing, reached a pleasant spot at the extremity of the +Pointe-aux-Lièvres, a tract of meadow land nearly inclosed by a sudden +bend of the St. Charles. Here lay a canoe or skiff; and, paddling across +the narrow stream, Le Jeune saw on the meadow, two hundred yards from +the bank, a square inclosure formed of palisades, like a modern picket +fort of the Indian frontier. [4] Within this inclosure were two +buildings, one of which had been half burned by the English, and was not +yet repaired. It served as storehouse, stable, workshop, and bakery. +Opposite stood the principal building, a structure of planks, plastered +with mud, and thatched with long grass from the meadows. It consisted of +one story, a garret, and a cellar, and contained four principal rooms, +of which one served as chapel, another as refectory, another as kitchen, +and the fourth as a lodging for workmen. The furniture of all was plain +in the extreme. Until the preceding year, the chapel had had no other +ornament than a sheet on which were glued two coarse engravings; but the +priests had now decorated their altar with an image of a dove +representing the Holy Ghost, an image of Loyola, another of Xavier, and +three images of the Virgin. Four cells opened from the refectory, the +largest of which was eight feet square. In these lodged six priests, +while two lay brothers found shelter in the garret. The house had been +hastily built, eight years before, and now leaked in all parts. Such was +the Residence of Notre-Dame des Anges. Here was nourished the germ of a +vast enterprise, and this was the cradle of the great mission of New +France. [5] + +[3] The settlement of Beauport was begun this year, or the year +following, by the Sieur Giffard, to whom a large tract had been granted +here--Langevin, Notes sur les Archives de N. D. de Beauport, 5. +[4] This must have been very near the point where the streamlet called +the River Lairet enters the St. Charles. The place has a triple historic +interest. The wintering-place of Cartier in 1535-6 (see "Pioneers of +France") seems to have been here. Here, too, in 1759, Montcalm's bridge +of boats crossed the St. Charles; and in a large intrenchment, which +probably included the site of the Jesuit mission-house, the remnants of +his shattered army rallied, after their defeat on the Plains of +Abraham.--See the very curious Narrative of the Chevalier Johnstone, +published by the Historical Society of Quebec. +[5] The above particulars are gathered from the Relations of 1626 +(Lalemant), and 1632, 1633, 1634, 1635 (Le Jeune), but chiefly from a +long letter of the Father Superior to the Provincial of the Jesuits at +Paris, containing a curiously minute report of the state of the mission. +It was sent from Quebec by the returning ships in the summer of 1634, +and will be found in Carayon, Première Mission des Jésuites au Canada, +122. The original is in the archives of the Order at Rome. + +Of the six Jesuits gathered in the refectory for the evening meal, one +was conspicuous among the rest,--a tall, strong man, with features that +seemed carved by Nature for a soldier, but which the mental habits of +years had stamped with the visible impress of the priesthood. This was +Jean de Brébeuf, descendant of a noble family of Normandy, and one of +the ablest and most devoted zealots whose names stand on the missionary +rolls of his Order. His companions were Masse, Daniel, Davost, De Nouë, +and the Father Superior, Le Jeune. Masse was the same priest who had +been the companion of Father Biard in the abortive mission of Acadia. +[6] By reason of his useful qualities, Le Jeune nicknamed him "le Père +Utile." At present, his special function was the care of the pigs and +cows, which he kept in the inclosure around the buildings, lest they +should ravage the neighboring fields of rye, barley, wheat, and maize. +[7] De Nouë had charge of the eight or ten workmen employed by the +mission, who gave him at times no little trouble by their repinings and +complaints. [8] They were forced to hear mass every morning and prayers +every evening, besides an exhortation on Sunday. Some of them were for +returning home, while two or three, of a different complexion, wished to +be Jesuits themselves. The Fathers, in their intervals of leisure, +worked with their men, spade in hand. For the rest, they were busied in +preaching, singing vespers, saying mass and hearing confessions at the +fort of Quebec, catechizing a few Indians, and striving to master the +enormous difficulties of the Huron and Algonquin languages. + +[6] See "Pioneers of France in the New World." +[7] "Le P. Masse, que je nomme quelquefois en riant le Père Utile, est +bien cognu de V. R. Il a soin des choses domestiques et du bestail que +nous avons, en quoy il a très-bien reussy."--Lettre du P. Paul le Jeune +au R. P. Provincial, in Carayon, 122.--Le Jeune does not fail to send an +inventory of the "bestail" to his Superior, namely: "Deux grosses truies +qui nourissent chacune quatre petits cochons, deux vaches, deux petites +genisses, et un petit taureau." +[8] The methodical Le Jeune sets down the causes of their discontent +under six different heads, each duly numbered. Thus:-- +"1º. C'est le naturel des artisans de se plaindre et de gronder." +"2º. La diversité des gages les fait murmurer," etc. + +Well might Father Le Jeune write to his Superior, "The harvest is +plentiful, and the laborers few." These men aimed at the conversion of a +continent. From their hovel on the St. Charles, they surveyed a field of +labor whose vastness might tire the wings of thought itself; a scene +repellent and appalling, darkened with omens of peril and woe. They were +an advance-guard of the great army of Loyola, strong in a discipline +that controlled not alone the body and the will, but the intellect, the +heart, the soul, and the inmost consciousness. The lives of these early +Canadian Jesuits attest the earnestness of their faith and the intensity +of their zeal; but it was a zeal bridled, curbed, and ruled by a guiding +hand. Their marvellous training in equal measure kindled enthusiasm and +controlled it, roused into action a mighty power, and made it as +subservient as those great material forces which modern science has +learned to awaken and to govern. They were drilled to a factitious +humility, prone to find utterance in expressions of self-depreciation +and self-scorn, which one may often judge unwisely, when he condemns +them as insincere. They were devoted believers, not only in the +fundamental dogmas of Rome, but in those lesser matters of faith which +heresy despises as idle and puerile superstitions. One great aim +engrossed their lives. "For the greater glory of God"--ad majorem Dei +gloriam--they would act or wait, dare, suffer, or die, yet all in +unquestioning subjection to the authority of the Superiors, in whom they +recognized the agents of Divine authority itself. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. + +Conversion of Loyola • Foundation of the Society of Jesus • Preparation +of the Novice • Characteristics of the Order • The Canadian Jesuits + +It was an evil day for new-born Protestantism, when a French +artilleryman fired the shot that struck down Ignatius Loyola in the +breach of Pampeluna. A proud noble, an aspiring soldier, a graceful +courtier, an ardent and daring gallant was metamorphosed by that stroke +into the zealot whose brain engendered and brought forth the mighty +Society of Jesus. His story is a familiar one: how, in the solitude of +his sick-room, a change came over him, upheaving, like an earthquake, +all the forces of his nature; how, in the cave of Manresa, the mysteries +of Heaven were revealed to him; how he passed from agonies to +transports, from transports to the calm of a determined purpose. The +soldier gave himself to a new warfare. In the forge of his great +intellect, heated, but not disturbed by the intense fires of his zeal, +was wrought the prodigious enginery whose power has been felt to the +uttermost confines of the world. + +Loyola's training had been in courts and camps: of books he knew little +or nothing. He had lived in the unquestioning faith of one born and bred +in the very focus of Romanism; and thus, at the age of about thirty, his +conversion found him. It was a change of life and purpose, not of +belief. He presumed not to inquire into the doctrines of the Church. It +was for him to enforce those doctrines; and to this end he turned all +the faculties of his potent intellect, and all his deep knowledge of +mankind. He did not aim to build up barren communities of secluded +monks, aspiring to heaven through prayer, penance, and meditation, but +to subdue the world to the dominion of the dogmas which had subdued him; +to organize and discipline a mighty host, controlled by one purpose and +one mind, fired by a quenchless zeal or nerved by a fixed resolve, yet +impelled, restrained, and directed by a single master hand. The Jesuit +is no dreamer: he is emphatically a man of action; action is the end of +his existence. + +It was an arduous problem which Loyola undertook to solve,--to rob a man +of volition, yet to preserve in him, nay, to stimulate, those energies +which would make him the most efficient instrument of a great design. To +this end the Jesuit novitiate and the constitutions of the Order are +directed. The enthusiasm of the novice is urged to its intensest pitch; +then, in the name of religion, he is summoned to the utter abnegation of +intellect and will in favor of the Superior, in whom he is commanded to +recognize the representative of God on earth. Thus the young zealot +makes no slavish sacrifice of intellect and will; at least, so he is +taught: for he sacrifices them, not to man, but to his Maker. No limit +is set to his submission: if the Superior pronounces black to be white, +he is bound in conscience to acquiesce. [1] + +[1] Those who wish to know the nature of the Jesuit virtue of obedience +will find it set forth in the famous Letter on Obedience of Loyola. + +Loyola's book of Spiritual Exercises is well known. In these exercises +lies the hard and narrow path which is the only entrance to the Society +of Jesus. The book is, to all appearance, a dry and superstitious +formulary; but, in the hands of a skilful director of consciences, it +has proved of terrible efficacy. The novice, in solitude and darkness, +day after day and night after night, ponders its images of perdition and +despair. He is taught to hear, in imagination, the howlings of the +damned, to see their convulsive agonies, to feel the flames that burn +without consuming, to smell the corruption of the tomb and the fumes of +the infernal pit. He must picture to himself an array of adverse armies, +one commanded by Satan on the plains of Babylon, one encamped under +Christ about the walls of Jerusalem; and the perturbed mind, humbled by +long contemplation of its own vileness, is ordered to enroll itself +under one or the other banner. Then, the choice made, it is led to a +region of serenity and celestial peace, and soothed with images of +divine benignity and grace. These meditations last, without +intermission, about a month, and, under an astute and experienced +directorship, they have been found of such power, that the Manual of +Spiritual Exercises boasts to have saved souls more in number than the +letters it contains. + +To this succeed two years of discipline and preparation, directed, above +all things else, to perfecting the virtues of humility and obedience. +The novice is obliged to perform the lowest menial offices, and the most +repulsive duties of the sick-room and the hospital; and he is sent +forth, for weeks together, to beg his bread like a common mendicant. He +is required to reveal to his confessor, not only his sins, but all those +hidden tendencies, instincts, and impulses which form the distinctive +traits of character. He is set to watch his comrades, and his comrades +are set to watch him. Each must report what he observes of the acts and +dispositions of the others; and this mutual espionage does not end with +the novitiate, but extends to the close of life. The characteristics of +every member of the Order are minutely analyzed, and methodically put on +record. + +This horrible violence to the noblest qualities of manhood, joined to +that equivocal system of morality which eminent casuists of the Order +have inculcated, must, it may be thought, produce deplorable effects +upon the characters of those under its influence. Whether this has been +actually the case, the reader of history may determine. It is certain, +however, that the Society of Jesus has numbered among its members men +whose fervent and exalted natures have been intensified, without being +abased, by the pressure to which they have been subjected. + +It is not for nothing that the Society studies the character of its +members so intently, and by methods so startling. It not only uses its +knowledge to thrust into obscurity or cast out altogether those whom it +discovers to be dull, feeble, or unwilling instruments of its purposes, +but it assigns to every one the task to which his talents or his +disposition may best adapt him: to one, the care of a royal conscience, +whereby, unseen, his whispered word may guide the destiny of nations; to +another, the instruction of children; to another, a career of letters or +science; and to the fervent and the self-sacrificing, sometimes also to +the restless and uncompliant, the distant missions to the heathen. + +The Jesuit was, and is, everywhere,--in the school-room, in the library, +in the cabinets of princes and ministers, in the huts of savages, in the +tropics, in the frozen North, in India, in China, in Japan, in Africa, +in America; now as a Christian priest, now as a soldier, a +mathematician, an astrologer, a Brahmin, a mandarin, under countless +disguises, by a thousand arts, luring, persuading, or compelling souls +into the fold of Rome. + +Of this vast mechanism for guiding and governing the minds of men, this +mighty enginery for subduing the earth to the dominion of an idea, this +harmony of contradictions, this moral Proteus, the faintest sketch must +now suffice. A disquisition on the Society of Jesus would be without +end. No religious order has ever united in itself so much to be admired +and so much to be detested. Unmixed praise has been poured on its +Canadian members. It is not for me to eulogize them, but to portray them +as they were. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +1632, 1633. + +PAUL LE JEUNE. + +Le Jeune's Voyage • His First Pupils • His Studies • His Indian Teacher +• Winter at the Mission-House • Le Jeune's School • Reinforcements + +In another narrative, we have seen how the Jesuits, supplanting the +Récollet friars, their predecessors, had adopted as their own the rugged +task of Christianizing New France. We have seen, too, how a descent of +the English, or rather of Huguenots fighting under English colors, had +overthrown for a time the miserable little colony, with the mission to +which it was wedded; and how Quebec was at length restored to France, +and the broken thread of the Jesuit enterprise resumed. [1] + +[1] "Pioneers of France." + +It was then that Le Jeune had embarked for the New World. He was in his +convent at Dieppe when he received the order to depart; and he set forth +in haste for Havre, filled, he assures us, with inexpressible joy at the +prospect of a living or a dying martyrdom. At Rouen he was joined by De +Nouë, with a lay brother named Gilbert; and the three sailed together on +the eighteenth of April, 1632. The sea treated them roughly; Le Jeune +was wretchedly sea-sick; and the ship nearly foundered in a gale. At +length they came in sight of "that miserable country," as the missionary +calls the scene of his future labors. It was in the harbor of Tadoussac +that he first encountered the objects of his apostolic cares; for, as he +sat in the ship's cabin with the master, it was suddenly invaded by ten +or twelve Indians, whom he compares to a party of maskers at the +Carnival. Some had their cheeks painted black, their noses blue, and the +rest of their faces red. Others were decorated with a broad band of +black across the eyes; and others, again, with diverging rays of black, +red, and blue on both cheeks. Their attire was no less uncouth. Some of +them wore shaggy bear-skins, reminding the priest of the pictures of St. +John the Baptist. + +After a vain attempt to save a number of Iroquois prisoners whom they +were preparing to burn alive on shore, Le Jeune and his companions again +set sail, and reached Quebec on the fifth of July. Having said mass, as +already mentioned, under the roof of Madame Hébert and her delighted +family, the Jesuits made their way to the two hovels built by their +predecessors on the St. Charles, which had suffered woful dilapidation +at the hands of the English. Here they made their abode, and applied +themselves, with such skill as they could command, to repair the +shattered tenements and cultivate the waste meadows around. + +The beginning of Le Jeune's missionary labors was neither imposing nor +promising. He describes himself seated with a small Indian boy on one +side and a small negro on the other, the latter of whom had been left by +the English as a gift to Madame Hébert. As neither of the three +understood the language of the others, the pupils made little progress +in spiritual knowledge. The missionaries, it was clear, must learn +Algonquin at any cost; and, to this end, Le Jeune resolved to visit the +Indian encampments. Hearing that a band of Montagnais were fishing for +eels on the St. Lawrence, between Cape Diamond and the cove which now +bears the name of Wolfe, he set forth for the spot on a morning in +October. As, with toil and trepidation, he scrambled around the foot of +the cape,--whose precipices, with a chaos of loose rocks, thrust +themselves at that day into the deep tidewater,--he dragged down upon +himself the trunk of a fallen tree, which, in its descent, well nigh +swept him into the river. The peril past, he presently reached his +destination. Here, among the lodges of bark, were stretched innumerable +strings of hide, from which hung to dry an incredible multitude of eels. +A boy invited him into the lodge of a withered squaw, his grandmother, +who hastened to offer him four smoked eels on a piece of birch bark, +while other squaws of the household instructed him how to roast them on +a forked stick over the embers. All shared the feast together, his +entertainers using as napkins their own hair or that of their dogs; +while Le Jeune, intent on increasing his knowledge of Algonquin, +maintained an active discourse of broken words and pantomime. [2] + +[2] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 2. + +The lesson, however, was too laborious, and of too little profit, to be +often repeated, and the missionary sought anxiously for more stable +instruction. To find such was not easy. The interpreters--Frenchmen, +who, in the interest of the fur company, had spent years among the +Indians--were averse to Jesuits, and refused their aid. There was one +resource, however, of which Le Jeune would fain avail himself. An +Indian, called Pierre by the French, had been carried to France by the +Récollet friars, instructed, converted, and baptized. He had lately +returned to Canada, where, to the scandal of the Jesuits, he had +relapsed into his old ways, retaining of his French education little +besides a few new vices. He still haunted the fort at Quebec, lured by +the hope of an occasional gift of wine or tobacco, but shunned the +Jesuits, of whose rigid way of life he stood in horror. As he spoke good +French and good Indian, he would have been invaluable to the embarrassed +priests at the mission. Le Jeune invoked the aid of the Saints. The +effect of his prayers soon appeared, he tells us, in a direct +interposition of Providence, which so disposed the heart of Pierre that +he quarrelled with the French commandant, who thereupon closed the fort +against him. He then repaired to his friends and relatives in the woods, +but only to encounter a rebuff from a young squaw to whom he made his +addresses. On this, he turned his steps towards the mission-house, and, +being unfitted by his French education for supporting himself by +hunting, begged food and shelter from the priests. Le Jeune gratefully +accepted him as a gift vouchsafed by Heaven to his prayers, persuaded a +lackey at the fort to give him a cast-off suit of clothes, promised him +maintenance, and installed him as his teacher. + +Seated on wooden stools by the rough table in the refectory, the priest +and the Indian pursued their studies. "How thankful I am," writes Le +Jeune, "to those who gave me tobacco last year! At every difficulty I +give my master a piece of it, to make him more attentive." [3] + +[3] Relation, 1633, 7. He continues: "Ie ne sçaurois assez rendre graces +à Nostre Seigneur de cet heureux rencontre.... Que Dieu soit beny pour +vn iamais, sa prouidence est adorable, et sa bonté n'a point de limites" + +Meanwhile, winter closed in with a severity rare even in Canada. The St. +Lawrence and the St. Charles were hard frozen; rivers, forests, and +rocks were mantled alike in dazzling sheets of snow. The humble +mission-house of Notre-Dame des Anges was half buried in the drifts, +which, heaped up in front where a path had been dug through them, rose +two feet above the low eaves. The priests, sitting at night before the +blazing logs of their wide-throated chimney, heard the trees in the +neighboring forest cracking with frost, with a sound like the report of +a pistol. Le Jeune's ink froze, and his fingers were benumbed, as he +toiled at his declensions and conjugations, or translated the Pater +Noster into blundering Algonquin. The water in the cask beside the fire +froze nightly, and the ice was broken every morning with hatchets. The +blankets of the two priests were fringed with the icicles of their +congealed breath, and the frost lay in a thick coating on the +lozenge-shaped glass of their cells. [4] + +[4] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 14, 15. + +By day, Le Jeune and his companion practised with snow-shoes, with all +the mishaps which attend beginners,--the trippings, the falls, and +headlong dives into the soft drifts, amid the laughter of the Indians. +Their seclusion was by no means a solitude. Bands of Montagnais, with +their sledges and dogs, often passed the mission-house on their way to +hunt the moose. They once invited De Nouë to go with them; and he, +scarcely less eager than Le Jeune to learn their language, readily +consented. In two or three weeks he appeared, sick, famished, and half +dead with exhaustion. "Not ten priests in a hundred," writes Le Jeune to +his Superior, "could bear this winter life with the savages." But what +of that? It was not for them to falter. They were but instruments in the +hands of God, to be used, broken, and thrown aside, if such should be +His will. [5] + +[5] "Voila, mon Reuerend Pere, vn eschantillon de ce qu'il faut souffrir +courant apres les Sauuages.... Il faut prendre sa vie, et tout ce qu'on +a, et le ietter à l'abandon, pour ainsi dire, se contentant d'vne croix +bien grosse et bien pesante pour toute richesse. Il est bien vray que +Dieu ne se laisse point vaincre, et que plus on quitte, plus on trouue: +plus on perd, plus on gaigne: mais Dieu se cache par fois, et alors le +Calice est bien amer."--Le Jeune, Relation 1633, 19. + +An Indian made Le Jeune a present of two small children, greatly to the +delight of the missionary, who at once set himself to teaching them to +pray in Latin. As the season grew milder, the number of his scholars +increased; for, when parties of Indians encamped in the neighborhood, he +would take his stand at the door, and, like Xavier at Goa, ring a bell. +At this, a score of children would gather around him; and he, leading +them into the refectory, which served as his school-room, taught them to +repeat after him the Pater, Ave, and Credo, expounded the mystery of the +Trinity, showed them the sign of the cross, and made them repeat an +Indian prayer, the joint composition of Pierre and himself; then +followed the catechism, the lesson closing with singing the Pater +Noster, translated by the missionary into Algonquin rhymes; and when all +was over, he rewarded each of his pupils with a porringer of peas, to +insure their attendance at his next bell-ringing. [6] + +[6] "I'ay commencé à appeller quelques enfans auec vne petite clochette. +La premiere fois i'en auois six, puis douze, puis quinze, puis vingt et +davantage; ie leur fais dire le Pater, Aue, et Credo, etc. ... Nous +finissons par le Pater Noster, que i'ay composé quasi en rimes en leur +langue, que ie leur fais chanter: et pour derniere conclusion, ie leur +fais donner chacun vne escuellée de pois, qu'ils mangent de bon +appetit," etc.--Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 23. + +It was the end of May, when the priests one morning heard the sound of +cannon from the fort, and were gladdened by the tidings that Samuel de +Champlain had arrived to resume command at Quebec, bringing with him +four more Jesuits,--Brébeuf, Masse, Daniel, and Davost. [7] Brébeuf, +from the first, turned his eyes towards the distant land of the +Hurons,--a field of labor full of peril, but rich in hope and promise. +Le Jeune's duties as Superior restrained him from wanderings so remote. +His apostleship must be limited, for a time, to the vagabond hordes of +Algonquins, who roamed the forests of the lower St. Lawrence, and of +whose language he had been so sedulous a student. His difficulties had +of late been increased by the absence of Pierre, who had run off as Lent +drew near, standing in dread of that season of fasting. Masse brought +tidings of him from Tadoussac, whither he had gone, and where a party of +English had given him liquor, destroying the last trace of Le Jeune's +late exhortations. "God forgive those," writes the Father, "who +introduced heresy into this country! If this savage, corrupted as he is +by these miserable heretics, had any wit, he would be a great hindrance +to the spread of the Faith. It is plain that he was given us, not for +the good of his soul, but only that we might extract from him the +principles of his language." [8] + +[7] See "Pioneers of France." +[8] Relation, 1633, 29. + +Pierre had two brothers. One, well known as a hunter, was named +Mestigoit; the other was the most noted "medicine-man," or, as the +Jesuits called him, sorcerer, in the tribe of the Montagnais. Like the +rest of their people, they were accustomed to set out for their winter +hunt in the autumn, after the close of their eel-fishery. Le Jeune, +despite the experience of De Nouë, had long had a mind to accompany one +of these roving bands, partly in the hope, that, in some hour of +distress, he might touch their hearts, or, by a timely drop of baptismal +water, dismiss some dying child to paradise, but chiefly with the object +of mastering their language. Pierre had rejoined his brothers; and, as +the hunting season drew near, they all begged the missionary to make one +of their party,--not, as he thought, out of any love for him, but solely +with a view to the provisions with which they doubted not he would be +well supplied. Le Jeune, distrustful of the sorcerer, demurred, but at +length resolved to go. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +1633, 1634. + +LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. + +Le Jeune joins the Indians • The First Encampment • The Apostate • +Forest Life in Winter • The Indian Hut • The Sorcerer • His Persecution +of the Priest • Evil Company • Magic • Incantations • Christmas • +Starvation • Hopes of Conversion • Backsliding • Peril and Escape of Le +Jeune • His Return + +On a morning in the latter part of October, Le Jeune embarked with the +Indians, twenty in all, men, women, and children. No other Frenchman was +of the party. Champlain bade him an anxious farewell, and commended him +to the care of his red associates, who had taken charge of his store of +biscuit, flour, corn, prunes, and turnips, to which, in an evil hour, +his friends had persuaded him to add a small keg of wine. The canoes +glided along the wooded shore of the Island of Orleans, and the party +landed, towards evening, on the small island immediately below. Le Jeune +was delighted with the spot, and the wild beauties of the autumnal +sunset. + +His reflections, however, were soon interrupted. While the squaws were +setting up their bark lodges, and Mestigoit was shooting wild-fowl for +supper, Pierre returned to the canoes, tapped the keg of wine, and soon +fell into the mud, helplessly drunk. Revived by the immersion, he next +appeared at the camp, foaming at the mouth, threw down the lodges, +overset the kettle, and chased the shrieking squaws into the woods. His +brother Mestigoit rekindled the fire, and slung the kettle anew; when +Pierre, who meanwhile had been raving like a madman along the shore, +reeled in a fury to the spot to repeat his former exploit. Mestigoit +anticipated him, snatched the kettle from the fire, and threw the +scalding contents in his face. "He was never so well washed before in +his life," says Le Jeune; "he lost all the skin of his face and breast. +Would to God his heart had changed also!" [1] He roared in his frenzy +for a hatchet to kill the missionary, who therefore thought it prudent +to spend the night in the neighboring woods. Here he stretched himself +on the earth, while a charitable squaw covered him with a sheet of +birch-bark. "Though my bed," he writes, "had not been made up since the +creation of the world, it was not hard enough to prevent me from +sleeping." + +[1] "Iamais il ne fut si bien laué, il changea de peau en la face et en +tout l'estomach: pleust à Dieu que son ame eust changé aussi bien que +son corps!"--Relation, 1634, 59. + +Such was his initiation into Indian winter life. Passing over numerous +adventures by water and land, we find the party, on the twelfth of +November, leaving their canoes on an island, and wading ashore at low +tide over the flats to the southern bank of the St. Lawrence. As two +other bands had joined them, their number was increased to forty-five +persons. Now, leaving the river behind, they entered those savage +highlands whence issue the springs of the St. John,--a wilderness of +rugged mountain-ranges, clad in dense, continuous forests, with no human +tenant but this troop of miserable rovers, and here and there some +kindred band, as miserable as they. Winter had set in, and already dead +Nature was sheeted in funereal white. Lakes and ponds were frozen, +rivulets sealed up, torrents encased with stalactites of ice; the black +rocks and the black trunks of the pine-trees were beplastered with snow, +and its heavy masses crushed the dull green boughs into the drifts +beneath. The forest was silent as the grave. + +Through this desolation the long file of Indians made its way, all on +snow-shoes, each man, woman, and child bending under a heavy load, or +dragging a sledge, narrow, but of prodigious length. They carried their +whole wealth with them, on their backs or on their sledges,--kettles, +axes, bales of meat, if such they had, and huge rolls of birch-bark for +covering their wigwams. The Jesuit was loaded like the rest. The dogs +alone floundered through the drifts unburdened. There was neither path +nor level ground. Descending, climbing, stooping beneath half-fallen +trees, clambering over piles of prostrate trunks, struggling through +matted cedar-swamps, threading chill ravines, and crossing streams no +longer visible, they toiled on till the day began to decline, then +stopped to encamp. [2] Burdens were thrown down, and sledges unladen. +The squaws, with knives and hatchets, cut long poles of birch and spruce +saplings; while the men, with snow-shoes for shovels, cleared a round or +square space in the snow, which formed an upright wall three or four +feet high, inclosing the area of the wigwam. On one side, a passage was +cut for an entrance, and the poles were planted around the top of the +wall of snow, sloping and converging. On these poles were spread the +sheets of birch-bark; a bear-skin was hung in the passage-way for a +door; the bare ground within and the surrounding snow were covered with +spruce boughs; and the work was done. + +[2] "S'il arriuoit quelque dégel, ô Dieu quelle peine! Il me sembloit +que ie marchois sur vn chemin de verre qui se cassoit à tous coups soubs +mes pieds: la neige congelée venant à s'amollir, tomboit et s'enfonçoit +par esquarres ou grandes pieces, et nous en auions bien souuent iusques +aux genoux, quelquefois iusqu'à la ceinture Que s'il y auoit de la +peine à tomber, il y en auoit encor plus à se retirer: car nos raquettes +se chargeoient de neiges et se rendoient si pesantes, que quand vous +veniez à les retirer il vous sembloit qu'on vous tiroit les iambes pour +vous démembrer. I'en ay veu qui glissoient tellement soubs des souches +enseuelies soubs la neige, qu'ils ne pouuoient tirer ny iambes ny +raquettes sans secours: or figurez vous maintenant vne personne chargée +comme vn mulet, et iugez si la vie des Sauuages est douce."--Relation, +1634, 67. + +This usually occupied about three hours, during which Le Jeune, spent +with travel, and weakened by precarious and unaccustomed fare, had the +choice of shivering in idleness, or taking part in a labor which +fatigued, without warming, his exhausted frame. The sorcerer's wife was +in far worse case. Though in the extremity of a mortal sickness, they +left her lying in the snow till the wigwam was made,--without a word, on +her part, of remonstrance or complaint. Le Jeune, to the great ire of +her husband, sometimes spent the interval in trying to convert her; but +she proved intractable, and soon died unbaptized. + +Thus lodged, they remained so long as game could be found within a +circuit of ten or twelve miles, and then, subsistence failing, removed +to another spot. Early in the winter, they hunted the beaver and the +Canada porcupine; and, later, in the season of deep snows, chased the +moose and the caribou. + +Put aside the bear-skin, and enter the hut. Here, in a space some +thirteen feet square, were packed nineteen savages, men, women, and +children, with their dogs, crouched, squatted, coiled like hedgehogs, or +lying on their backs, with knees drawn up perpendicularly to keep their +feet out of the fire. Le Jeune, always methodical, arranges the +grievances inseparable from these rough quarters under four chief +heads,--Cold, Heat, Smoke, and Dogs. The bark covering was full of +crevices, through which the icy blasts streamed in upon him from all +sides; and the hole above, at once window and chimney, was so large, +that, as he lay, he could watch the stars as well as in the open air. +While the fire in the midst, fed with fat pine-knots, scorched him on +one side, on the other he had much ado to keep himself from freezing. At +times, however, the crowded hut seemed heated to the temperature of an +oven. But these evils were light, when compared to the intolerable +plague of smoke. During a snow-storm, and often at other times, the +wigwam was filled with fumes so dense, stifling, and acrid, that all its +inmates were forced to lie flat on their faces, breathing through mouths +in contact with the cold earth. Their throats and nostrils felt as if on +fire; their scorched eyes streamed with tears; and when Le Jeune tried +to read, the letters of his breviary seemed printed in blood. The dogs +were not an unmixed evil, for, by sleeping on and around him, they kept +him warm at night; but, as an offset to this good service, they walked, +ran, and jumped over him as he lay, snatched the food from his birchen +dish, or, in a mad rush at some bone or discarded morsel, now and then +overset both dish and missionary. + +Sometimes of an evening he would leave the filthy den, to read his +breviary in peace by the light of the moon. In the forest around sounded +the sharp crack of frost-riven trees; and from the horizon to the zenith +shot up the silent meteors of the northern lights, in whose fitful +flashings the awe-struck Indians beheld the dancing of the spirits of +the dead. The cold gnawed him to the bone; and, his devotions over, he +turned back shivering. The illumined hut, from many a chink and crevice, +shot forth into the gloom long streams of light athwart the twisted +boughs. He stooped and entered. All within glowed red and fiery around +the blazing pine-knots, where, like brutes in their kennel, were +gathered the savage crew. He stepped to his place, over recumbent bodies +and leggined and moccasined limbs, and seated himself on the carpet of +spruce boughs. Here a tribulation awaited him, the crowning misery of +his winter-quarters,--worse, as he declares, than cold, heat, and dogs. + +Of the three brothers who had invited him to join the party, one, we +have seen, was the hunter, Mestigoit; another, the sorcerer; and the +third, Pierre, whom, by reason of his falling away from the Faith, Le +Jeune always mentions as the Apostate. He was a weak-minded young +Indian, wholly under the influence of his brother, the sorcerer, who, if +not more vicious, was far more resolute and wily. From the antagonism of +their respective professions, the sorcerer hated the priest, who lost no +opportunity of denouncing his incantations, and who ridiculed his +perpetual singing and drumming as puerility and folly. The former, being +an indifferent hunter, and disabled by a disease which he had +contracted, depended for subsistence on his credit as a magician; and, +in undermining it, Le Jeune not only outraged his pride, but threatened +his daily bread. [3] He used every device to retort ridicule on his +rival. At the outset, he had proffered his aid to Le Jeune in his study +of the Algonquin; and, like the Indian practical jokers of Acadia in the +case of Father Biard, [4] palmed off upon him the foulest words in the +language as the equivalent of things spiritual. Thus it happened, that, +while the missionary sought to explain to the assembled wigwam some +point of Christian doctrine, he was interrupted by peals of laughter +from men, children, and squaws. And now, as Le Jeune took his place in +the circle, the sorcerer bent upon him his malignant eyes, and began +that course of rude bantering which filled to overflowing the cup of the +Jesuit's woes. All took their cue from him, and made their afflicted +guest the butt of their inane witticisms. "Look at him! His face is like +a dog's!"--"His head is like a pumpkin!"--"He has a beard like a +rabbit's!" The missionary bore in silence these and countless similar +attacks; indeed, so sorely was he harassed, that, lest he should +exasperate his tormentor, he sometimes passed whole days without +uttering a word. [5] + +[3] "Ie ne laissois perdre aucune occasion de le conuaincre de niaiserie +et de puerilité, mettant au iour l'impertinence de ses superstitions: or +c'estoit luy arracher l'ame du corps par violence: car comme il ne +sçauroit plus chasser, il fait plus que iamais du Prophete et du +Magicien pour conseruer son credit, et pour auoir les bons morceaux; si +bien qu'esbranlant son authorité qui se va perdant tous les iours, ie le +touchois à la prunelle de l'œil."--Relation, 1634, 56. +[4] See "Pioneers of France," 268. +[5] Relation, 1634, 207 (Cramoisy). "Ils me chargeoient incessament de +mille brocards & de mille injures; je me suis veu en tel estat, que pour +ne les aigrir, je passois les jours entiers sans ouvrir la bouche." Here +follows the abuse, in the original Indian, with French translations. Le +Jeune's account of his experiences is singularly graphic. The following +is his summary of his annoyances:-- + +"Or ce miserable homme" (the sorcerer), "& la fumée m'ont esté les deux +plus grands tourmens que i'aye enduré parmy ces Barbares: ny le froid, +ny le chaud, ny l'incommodité des chiens, ny coucher à l'air, ny dormir +sur un lict de terre, ny la posture qu'il faut tousiours tenir dans +leurs cabanes, se ramassans en peloton, ou se couchans, ou s'asseans +sans siege & sans mattelas, ny la faim, ny la soif, ny la pauureté & +saleté de leur boucan, ny la maladie, tout cela ne m'a semblé que ieu à +comparaison de la fumeé & de la malice du Sorcier."--Relation, 1634, 201 +(Cramoisy). + +Le Jeune, a man of excellent observation, already knew his red +associates well enough to understand that their rudeness did not of +necessity imply ill-will. The rest of the party, in their turn, fared no +better. They rallied and bantered each other incessantly, with as little +forbearance, and as little malice, as a troop of unbridled schoolboys. +[6] No one took offence. To have done so would have been to bring upon +one's self genuine contumely. This motley household was a model of +harmony. True, they showed no tenderness or consideration towards the +sick and disabled; but for the rest, each shared with all in weal or +woe: the famine of one was the famine of the whole, and the smallest +portion of food was distributed in fair and equal partition. Upbraidings +and complaints were unheard; they bore each other's foibles with +wondrous equanimity; and while persecuting Le Jeune with constant +importunity for tobacco, and for everything else he had, they never +begged among themselves. + +[6] "Leur vie se passe à manger, à rire, et à railler les vns des +autres, et de tous les peuples qu'ils cognoissent; ils n'ont rien de +serieux, sinon par fois l'exterieur, faisans parmy nous les graues et +les retenus, mais entr'eux sont de vrais badins, de vrais enfans, qui ne +demandent qu'à rire."--Relation, 1634, 30. + +When the fire burned well and food was abundant, their conversation, +such as it was, was incessant. They used no oaths, for their language +supplied none,--doubtless because their mythology had no beings +sufficiently distinct to swear by. Their expletives were foul words, of +which they had a superabundance, and which men, women, and children +alike used with a frequency and hardihood that amazed and scandalized +the priest. [7] Nor was he better pleased with their postures, in which +they consulted nothing but their ease. Thus, of an evening when the +wigwam was heated to suffocation, the sorcerer, in the closest possible +approach to nudity, lay on his back, with his right knee planted upright +and his left leg crossed on it, discoursing volubly to the company, who, +on their part, listened in postures scarcely less remote from decency. + +[7] "Aussi leur disois-je par fois, que si les pourceaux et les chiens +sçauoient parler, ils tiendroient leur langage.... Les filles et les +ieunes femmes sont à l'exterieur tres honnestement couuertes, mais entre +elles leurs discours sont puants, comme des cloaques."--Relation, 1634, +32.--The social manners of remote tribes of the present time correspond +perfectly with Le Jeune's account of those of the Montagnais. + +There was one point touching which Le Jeune and his Jesuit brethren had +as yet been unable to solve their doubts. Were the Indian sorcerers mere +impostors, or were they in actual league with the Devil? That the fiends +who possess this land of darkness make their power felt by action direct +and potential upon the persons of its wretched inhabitants there is, +argues Le Jeune, good reason to conclude; since it is a matter of grave +notoriety, that the fiends who infest Brazil are accustomed cruelly to +beat and otherwise torment the natives of that country, as many +travellers attest. "A Frenchman worthy of credit," pursues the Father, +"has told me that he has heard with his own ears the voice of the Demon +and the sound of the blows which he discharges upon these his miserable +slaves; and in reference to this a very remarkable fact has been +reported to me, namely, that, when a Catholic approaches, the Devil +takes flight and beats these wretches no longer, but that in presence of +a Huguenot he does not stop beating them." [8] + +[8] "Surquoy on me rapporte vne chose tres remarquable, c'est que le +Diable s'enfuit, et ne frappe point ou cesse de frapper ces miserables, +quand vn Catholique entre en leur compagnie, et qu'il ne laiss point de +les battre en la presence d'vn Huguenot: d'où vient qu'vn iour se voyans +battus en la compagnie d'vn certain François, ils luy dirent: Nous nous +estonnons que le diable nous batte, toy estant auec nous, veu qu'il +n'oseroit le faire quand tes compagnons sont presents. Luy se douta +incontinent que cela pouuoit prouenir de sa religion (car il estoit +Caluiniste); s'addressant donc à Dieu, il luy promit de se faire +Catholique si le diable cessoit de battre ces pauures peuples en sa +presence. Le vœu fait, iamais plus aucun Demon ne molesta Ameriquain en +sa compagnie, d'où vient qu'il se fit Catholique, selon la promesse +qu'il en auoit faicte. Mais retournons à nostre discours."--Relation, +1634, 22. + +Thus prone to believe in the immediate presence of the nether powers, Le +Jeune watched the sorcerer with an eye prepared to discover in his +conjurations the signs of a genuine diabolic agency. His observations, +however, led him to a different result; and he could detect in his rival +nothing but a vile compound of impostor and dupe. The sorcerer believed +in the efficacy of his own magic, and was continually singing and +beating his drum to cure the disease from which he was suffering. +Towards the close of the winter, Le Jeune fell sick, and, in his pain +and weakness, nearly succumbed under the nocturnal uproar of the +sorcerer, who, hour after hour, sang and drummed without +mercy,--sometimes yelling at the top of his throat, then hissing like a +serpent, then striking his drum on the ground as if in a frenzy, then +leaping up, raving about the wigwam, and calling on the women and +children to join him in singing. Now ensued a hideous din; for every +throat was strained to the utmost, and all were beating with sticks or +fists on the bark of the hut to increase the noise, with the charitable +object of aiding the sorcerer to conjure down his malady, or drive away +the evil spirit that caused it. + +He had an enemy, a rival sorcerer, whom he charged with having caused by +charms the disease that afflicted him. He therefore announced that he +should kill him. As the rival dwelt at Gaspé, a hundred leagues off, the +present execution of the threat might appear difficult; but distance was +no bar to the vengeance of the sorcerer. Ordering all the children and +all but one of the women to leave the wigwam, he seated himself, with +the woman who remained, on the ground in the centre, while the men of +the party, together with those from other wigwams in the neighborhood, +sat in a ring around. Mestigoit, the sorcerer's brother, then brought in +the charm, consisting of a few small pieces of wood, some arrow-heads, a +broken knife, and an iron hook, which he wrapped in a piece of hide. The +woman next rose, and walked around the hut, behind the company. +Mestigoit and the sorcerer now dug a large hole with two pointed stakes, +the whole assembly singing, drumming, and howling meanwhile with a +deafening uproar. The hole made, the charm, wrapped in the hide, was +thrown into it. Pierre, the Apostate, then brought a sword and a knife +to the sorcerer, who, seizing them, leaped into the hole, and, with +furious gesticulation, hacked and stabbed at the charm, yelling with the +whole force of his lungs. At length he ceased, displayed the knife and +sword stained with blood, proclaimed that he had mortally wounded his +enemy, and demanded if none present had heard his death-cry. The +assembly, more occupied in making noises than in listening for them, +gave no reply, till at length two young men declared that they had heard +a faint scream, as if from a great distance; whereat a shout of +gratulation and triumph rose from all the company. [9] + +[9] "Le magicien tout glorieux dit que son homme est frappé, qu'il +mourra bien tost, demande si on n'a point entendu ses cris: tout le +monde dit que non, horsmis deux ieunes hommes ses parens, qui disent +auoir ouy des plaintes fort sourdes, et comme de loing. O qu'ils le +firent aise! Se tournant vers moy, il se mit à rire, disant: Voyez cette +robe noire, qui nous vient dire qu'il ne faut tuer personne. Comme ie +regardois attentiuement l'espée et le poignard, il me les fit presenter: +Regarde, dit-il, qu'est cela? C'est du sang, repartis-ie. De qui? De +quelque Orignac ou d'autre animal. Ils se mocquerent de moy, disants que +c'estoit du sang de ce Sorcier de Gaspé. Comment, dis-je, il est à plus +de cent lieuës d'icy? Il est vray, font-ils, mais c'est le Manitou, +c'est à dire le Diable, qui apporte son sang pardessous la +terre."--Relation, 1634, 21. + +There was a young prophet, or diviner, in one of the neighboring huts, +of whom the sorcerer took counsel as to the prospect of his restoration +to health. The divining-lodge was formed, in this instance, of five or +six upright posts planted in a circle and covered with a blanket. The +prophet ensconced himself within; and after a long interval of singing, +the spirits declared their presence by their usual squeaking utterances +from the recesses of the mystic tabernacle. Their responses were not +unfavorable; and the sorcerer drew much consolation from the invocations +of his brother impostor. [10] + +[10] See Introduction. Also, "Pioneers of France," 315. + +Besides his incessant endeavors to annoy Le Jeune, the sorcerer now and +then tried to frighten him. On one occasion, when a period of starvation +had been followed by a successful hunt, the whole party assembled for +one of the gluttonous feasts usual with them at such times. While the +guests sat expectant, and the squaws were about to ladle out the +banquet, the sorcerer suddenly leaped up, exclaiming, that he had lost +his senses, and that knives and hatchets must be kept out of his way, as +he had a mind to kill somebody. Then, rolling his eyes towards Le Jeune, +he began a series of frantic gestures and outcries,--then stopped +abruptly and stared into vacancy, silent and motionless,--then resumed +his former clamor, raged in and out of the hut, and, seizing some of its +supporting poles, broke them, as if in an uncontrollable frenzy. The +missionary, though alarmed, sat reading his breviary as before. When, +however, on the next morning, the sorcerer began again to play the +maniac, the thought occurred to him, that some stroke of fever might in +truth have touched his brain. Accordingly, he approached him and felt +his pulse, which he found, in his own words, "as cool as a fish." The +pretended madman looked at him with astonishment, and, giving over the +attempt to frighten him, presently returned to his senses. [11] + +[11] The Indians, it is well known, ascribe mysterious and supernatural +powers to the insane, and respect them accordingly. The Neutral Nation +(see Introduction, (p. xliv)) was full of pretended madmen, who raved +about the villages, throwing firebrands, and making other displays of +frenzy. + +Le Jeune, robbed of his sleep by the ceaseless thumping of the +sorcerer's drum and the monotonous cadence of his medicine-songs, +improved the time in attempts to convert him. "I began," he says, "by +evincing a great love for him, and by praises, which I threw to him as a +bait whereby I might catch him in the net of truth." [12] But the +Indian, though pleased with the Father's flatteries, was neither caught +nor conciliated. + +[12] "Ie commençay par vn témoignage de grand amour en son endroit, et +par des loüanges que ie luy iettay comme vne amorce pour le prendre dans +les filets de la verité. Ie luy fis entendre que si vn esprit, capable +des choses grandes comme le sien, cognoissoit Dieu, que tous les +Sauuages induis par son exemple le voudroient aussi +cognoistre."--Relation, 1634, 71. + +Nowhere was his magic in more requisition than in procuring a successful +chase to the hunters,--a point of vital interest, since on it hung the +lives of the whole party. They often, however, returned empty-handed; +and, for one, two, or three successive days, no other food could be had +than the bark of trees or scraps of leather. So long as tobacco lasted, +they found solace in their pipes, which seldom left their lips. "Unhappy +infidels," writes Le Jeune, "who spend their lives in smoke, and their +eternity in flames!" + +As Christmas approached, their condition grew desperate. Beavers and +porcupines were scarce, and the snow was not deep enough for hunting the +moose. Night and day the medicine-drums and medicine-songs resounded +from the wigwams, mingled with the wail of starving children. The +hunters grew weak and emaciated; and, as after a forlorn march the +wanderers encamped once more in the lifeless forest, the priest +remembered that it was the eve of Christmas. "The Lord gave us for our +supper a porcupine, large as a sucking pig, and also a rabbit. It was +not much, it is true, for eighteen or nineteen persons; but the Holy +Virgin and St. Joseph, her glorious spouse, were not so well treated, on +this very day, in the stable of Bethlehem." [13] + +[13] "Pour nostre souper, N. S. nous donna vn Porc-espic gros comme vn +cochon de lait, et vn liéure; c'estoit peu pour dix-huit ou vingt +personnes que nous estions, il est vray, mais la saincte Vierge et son +glorieux Espoux sainct Ioseph ne furent pas si bien traictez à mesme +iour dans l'estable de Bethleem."--Relation, 1634, 74. + +On Christmas Day, the despairing hunters, again unsuccessful, came to +pray succor from Le Jeune. Even the Apostate had become tractable, and +the famished sorcerer was ready to try the efficacy of an appeal to the +deity of his rival. A bright hope possessed the missionary. He composed +two prayers, which, with the aid of the repentant Pierre, he translated +into Algonquin. Then he hung against the side of the hut a napkin which +he had brought with him, and against the napkin a crucifix and a +reliquary, and, this done, caused all the Indians to kneel before them, +with hands raised and clasped. He now read one of the prayers, and +required the Indians to repeat the other after him, promising to +renounce their superstitions, and obey Christ, whose image they saw +before them, if he would give them food and save them from perishing. +The pledge given, he dismissed the hunters with a benediction. At night +they returned with game enough to relieve the immediate necessity. All +was hilarity. The kettles were slung, and the feasters assembled. Le +Jeune rose to speak, when Pierre, who, having killed nothing, was in ill +humor, said, with a laugh, that the crucifix and the prayer had nothing +to do with their good luck; while the sorcerer, his jealousy reviving as +he saw his hunger about to be appeased, called out to the missionary, +"Hold your tongue! You have no sense!" As usual, all took their cue from +him. They fell to their repast with ravenous jubilation, and the +disappointed priest sat dejected and silent. + +Repeatedly, before the spring, they were thus threatened with +starvation. Nor was their case exceptional. It was the ordinary winter +life of all those Northern tribes who did not till the soil, but lived +by hunting and fishing alone. The desertion or the killing of the aged, +sick, and disabled, occasional cannibalism, and frequent death from +famine, were natural incidents of an existence which, during half the +year, was but a desperate pursuit of the mere necessaries of life under +the worst conditions of hardship, suffering, and debasement. + +At the beginning of April, after roaming for five months among forests +and mountains, the party made their last march, regained the bank of the +St. Lawrence, and waded to the island where they had hidden their +canoes. Le Jeune was exhausted and sick, and Mestigoit offered to carry +him in his canoe to Quebec. This Indian was by far the best of the three +brothers, and both Pierre and the sorcerer looked to him for support. He +was strong, active, and daring, a skilful hunter, and a dexterous +canoeman. Le Jeune gladly accepted his offer; embarked with him and +Pierre on the dreary and tempestuous river; and, after a voyage full of +hardship, during which the canoe narrowly escaped being ground to atoms +among the floating ice, landed on the Island of Orleans, six miles from +Quebec. The afternoon was stormy and dark, and the river was covered +with ice, sweeping by with the tide. They were forced to encamp. At +midnight, the moon had risen, the river was comparatively unencumbered, +and they embarked once more. The wind increased, and the waves tossed +furiously. Nothing saved them but the skill and courage of Mestigoit. At +length they could see the rock of Quebec towering through the gloom, but +piles of ice lined the shore, while floating masses were drifting down +on the angry current. The Indian watched his moment, shot his canoe +through them, gained the fixed ice, leaped out, and shouted to his +companions to follow. Pierre scrambled up, but the ice was six feet out +of the water, and Le Jeune's agility failed him. He saved himself by +clutching the ankle of Mestigoit, by whose aid he gained a firm foothold +at the top, and, for a moment, the three voyagers, aghast at the +narrowness of their escape, stood gazing at each other in silence. + +It was three o'clock in the morning when Le Jeune knocked at the door of +his rude little convent on the St. Charles; and the Fathers, springing +in joyful haste from their slumbers, embraced their long absent Superior +with ejaculations of praise and benediction. + +CHAPTER V. +1633, 1634. + +THE HURON MISSION. + +Plans of Conversion • Aims and Motives • Indian Diplomacy • Hurons at +Quebec • Councils • The Jesuit Chapel • Le Borgne • The Jesuits Thwarted +• Their Perseverance • The Journey to the Hurons • Jean de Brébeuf • The +Mission Begun + +Le Jeune had learned the difficulties of the Algonquin mission. To +imagine that he recoiled or faltered would be an injustice to his Order; +but on two points he had gained convictions: first, that little progress +could be made in converting these wandering hordes till they could be +settled in fixed abodes; and, secondly, that their scanty numbers, their +geographical position, and their slight influence in the politics of the +wilderness offered no flattering promise that their conversion would be +fruitful in further triumphs of the Faith. It was to another quarter +that the Jesuits looked most earnestly. By the vast lakes of the West +dwelt numerous stationary populations, and particularly the Hurons, on +the lake which bears their name. Here was a hopeful basis of indefinite +conquests; for, the Hurons won over, the Faith would spread in wider and +wider circles, embracing, one by one, the kindred tribes,--the Tobacco +Nation, the Neutrals, the Eries, and the Andastes. Nay, in His own time, +God might lead into His fold even the potent and ferocious Iroquois. + +The way was pathless and long, by rock and torrent and the gloom of +savage forests. The goal was more dreary yet. Toil, hardship, famine, +filth, sickness, solitude, insult,--all that is most revolting to men +nurtured among arts and letters, all that is most terrific to monastic +credulity: such were the promise and the reality of the Huron mission. +In the eyes of the Jesuits, the Huron country was the innermost +stronghold of Satan, his castle and his donjon-keep. [1] All the weapons +of his malice were prepared against the bold invader who should assail +him in this, the heart of his ancient domain. Far from shrinking, the +priest's zeal rose to tenfold ardor. He signed the cross, invoked St. +Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, or St. Francis Borgia, kissed his +reliquary, said nine masses to the Virgin, and stood prompt to battle +with all the hosts of Hell. + +[1] "Une des principales forteresses & comme un donjon des +Demons."--Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 100 (Cramoisy). + +A life sequestered from social intercourse, and remote from every prize +which ambition holds worth the pursuit, or a lonely death, under forms, +perhaps, the most appalling,--these were the missionaries' alternatives. +Their maligners may taunt them, if they will, with credulity, +superstition, or a blind enthusiasm; but slander itself cannot accuse +them of hypocrisy or ambition. Doubtless, in their propagandism, they +were acting in concurrence with a mundane policy; but, for the present +at least, this policy was rational and humane. They were promoting the +ends of commerce and national expansion. The foundations of French +dominion were to be laid deep in the heart and conscience of the savage. +His stubborn neck was to be subdued to the "yoke of the Faith." The +power of the priest established, that of the temporal ruler was secure. +These sanguinary hordes, weaned from intestine strife, were to unite in +a common allegiance to God and the King. Mingled with French traders and +French settlers, softened by French manners, guided by French priests, +ruled by French officers, their now divided bands would become the +constituents of a vast wilderness empire, which in time might span the +continent. Spanish civilization crushed the Indian; English civilization +scorned and neglected him; French civilization embraced and cherished +him. + +Policy and commerce, then, built their hopes on the priests. These +commissioned interpreters of the Divine Will, accredited with letters +patent from Heaven, and affiliated to God's anointed on earth, would +have pushed to its most unqualified application the Scripture metaphor +of the shepherd and the sheep. They would have tamed the wild man of the +woods to a condition of obedience, unquestioning, passive, and +absolute,--repugnant to manhood, and adverse to the invigorating and +expansive spirit of modern civilization. Yet, full of error and full of +danger as was their system, they embraced its serene and smiling +falsehoods with the sincerity of martyrs and the self-devotion of +saints. + +We have spoken already of the Hurons, of their populous villages on the +borders of the great "Fresh Sea," their trade, their rude agriculture, +their social life, their wild and incongruous superstitions, and the +sorcerers, diviners, and medicine-men who lived on their credulity. [2] +Iroquois hostility left open but one avenue to their country, the long +and circuitous route which, eighteen years before, had been explored by +Champlain, [3]--up the river Ottawa, across Lake Nipissing, down French +River, and along the shores of the great Georgian Bay of Lake Huron,--a +route as difficult as it was tedious. Midway, on Allumette Island, in +the Ottawa, dwelt the Algonquin tribe visited by Champlain in 1613, and +who, amazed at the apparition of the white stranger, thought that he had +fallen from the clouds. [4] Like other tribes of this region, they were +keen traders, and would gladly have secured for themselves the benefits +of an intermediate traffic between the Hurons and the French, receiving +the furs of the former in barter at a low rate, and exchanging them with +the latter at their full value. From their position, they could at any +time close the passage of the Ottawa; but, as this would have been a +perilous exercise of their rights, [5] they were forced to act with +discretion. An opportunity for the practice of their diplomacy had +lately occurred. On or near the Ottawa, at some distance below them, +dwelt a small Algonquin tribe, called La Petite Nation. One of this +people had lately killed a Frenchman, and the murderer was now in the +hands of Champlain, a prisoner at the fort of Quebec. The savage +politicians of Allumette Island contrived, as will soon be seen, to turn +this incident to profit. + +[2] See Introduction. +[3] "Pioneers of France," 364. +[4] Ibid., 348. +[5] Nevertheless, the Hurons always passed this way as a matter of +favor, and gave yearly presents to the Algonquins of the island, in +acknowledgment of the privilege--Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 70.--By the +unwritten laws of the Hurons and Algonquins, every tribe had the right, +even in full peace, of prohibiting the passage of every other tribe +across its territory. In ordinary cases, such prohibitions were quietly +submitted to. + +"Ces Insulaires voudraient bien que les Hurons ne vinssent point aux +François & que les François n'allassent point aux Hurons, afin +d'emporter eux seuls tout le trafic," etc.--Relation, 1633, 205 +(Cramoisy),--"desirans eux-mesmes aller recueiller les marchandises des +peuples circonvoisins pour les apporter aux François." This "Nation de +l'Isle" has been erroneously located at Montreal. Its true position is +indicated on the map of Du Creux, and on an ancient MS. map in the Dépôt +des Cartes, of which a fac-simile is before me. See also "Pioneers of +France," 347. + +In the July that preceded Le Jeune's wintering with the Montagnais, a +Huron Indian, well known to the French, came to Quebec with the tidings, +that the annual canoe-fleet of his countrymen was descending the St. +Lawrence. On the twenty-eighth, the river was alive with them. A hundred +and forty canoes, with six or seven hundred savages, landed at the +warehouses beneath the fortified rock of Quebec, and set up their huts +and camp-sheds on the strand now covered by the lower town. The greater +number brought furs and tobacco for the trade; others came as +sight-seers; others to gamble, and others to steal, [6]--accomplishments +in which the Hurons were proficient: their gambling skill being +exercised chiefly against each other, and their thieving talents against +those of other nations. + +[6] "Quelques vns d'entre eux ne viennent à la traite auec les François +que pour iouër, d'autres pour voir, quelques vns pour dérober, et les +plus sages et les plus riches pour trafiquer."--Le Jeune, Relation, +1633, 34. + +The routine of these annual visits was nearly uniform. On the first day, +the Indians built their huts; on the second, they held their council +with the French officers at the fort; on the third and fourth, they +bartered their furs and tobacco for kettles, hatchets, knives, cloth, +beads, iron arrow-heads, coats, shirts, and other commodities; on the +fifth, they were feasted by the French; and at daybreak of the next +morning, they embarked and vanished like a flight of birds. [7] + +[7] "Comme une volée d'oiseaux."--Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 190 +(Cramoisy).--The tobacco brought to the French by the Hurons may have +been raised by the adjacent tribe of the Tionnontates, who cultivated it +largely for sale. See Introduction. + +On the second day, then, the long file of chiefs and warriors mounted +the pathway to the fort,--tall, well-moulded figures, robed in the skins +of the beaver and the bear, each wild visage glowing with paint and +glistening with the oil which the Hurons extracted from the seeds of the +sunflower. The lank black hair of one streamed loose upon his shoulders; +that of another was close shaven, except an upright ridge, which, +bristling like the crest of a dragoon's helmet, crossed the crown from +the forehead to the neck; while that of a third hung, long and flowing +from one side, but on the other was cut short. Sixty chiefs and +principal men, with a crowd of younger warriors, formed their +council-circle in the fort, those of each village grouped together, and +all seated on the ground with a gravity of bearing sufficiently curious +to those who had seen the same men in the domestic circle of their +lodge-fires. Here, too, were the Jesuits, robed in black, anxious and +intent; and here was Champlain, who, as he surveyed the throng, +recognized among the elder warriors not a few of those who, eighteen +years before, had been his companions in arms on his hapless foray +against the Iroquois. [8] + +[8] See "Pioneers of France," 370. + +Their harangues of compliment being made and answered, and the +inevitable presents given and received, Champlain introduced to the +silent conclave the three missionaries, Brébeuf, Daniel, and Davost. To +their lot had fallen the honors, dangers, and woes of the Huron mission. +"These are our fathers," he said. "We love them more than we love +ourselves. The whole French nation honors them. They do not go among you +for your furs. They have left their friends and their country to show +you the way to heaven. If you love the French, as you say you love them, +then love and honor these our fathers." [9] + +[9] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 274 (Cramoisy); Mercure Français, 1634, +845. + +Two chiefs rose to reply, and each lavished all his rhetoric in praises +of Champlain and of the French. Brébeuf rose next, and spoke in broken +Huron,--the assembly jerking in unison, from the bottom of their +throats, repeated ejaculations of applause. Then they surrounded him, +and vied with each other for the honor of carrying him in their canoes. +In short, the mission was accepted; and the chiefs of the different +villages disputed among themselves the privilege of receiving and +entertaining the three priests. + +On the last of July, the day of the feast of St. Ignatius, Champlain and +several masters of trading vessels went to the house of the Jesuits in +quest of indulgences; and here they were soon beset by a crowd of +curious Indians, who had finished their traffic, and were making a tour +of observation. Being excluded from the house, they looked in at the +windows of the room which served as a chapel; and Champlain, amused at +their exclamations of wonder, gave one of them a piece of citron. The +Huron tasted it, and, enraptured, demanded what it was. Champlain +replied, laughing, that it was the rind of a French pumpkin. The fame of +this delectable production was instantly spread abroad; and, at every +window, eager voices and outstretched hands petitioned for a share of +the marvellous vegetable. They were at length allowed to enter the +chapel, which had lately been decorated with a few hangings, images, and +pieces of plate. These unwonted splendors filled them with admiration. +They asked if the dove over the altar was the bird that makes the +thunder; and, pointing to the images of Loyola and Xavier, inquired if +they were okies, or spirits: nor was their perplexity much diminished by +Brébeuf's explanation of their true character. Three images of the +Virgin next engaged their attention; and, in answer to their questions, +they were told that they were the mother of Him who made the world. This +greatly amused them, and they demanded if he had three mothers. "Oh!" +exclaims the Father Superior, "had we but images of all the holy +mysteries of our faith! They are a great assistance, for they speak +their own lesson." [10] The mission was not doomed long to suffer from a +dearth of these inestimable auxiliaries. + +[10] Relation, 1633, 38. + +The eve of departure came. The three priests packed their baggage, and +Champlain paid their passage, or, in other words, made presents to the +Indians who were to carry them in their canoes. They lodged that night +in the storehouse of the fur company, around which the Hurons were +encamped; and Le Jeune and De Nouë stayed with them to bid them farewell +in the morning. At eleven at night, they were roused by a loud voice in +the Indian camp, and saw Le Borgne, the one-eyed chief of Allumette +Island, walking round among the huts, haranguing as he went. Brébeuf, +listening, caught the import of his words. "We have begged the French +captain to spare the life of the Algonquin of the Petite Nation whom he +keeps in prison; but he will not listen to us. The prisoner will die. +Then his people will revenge him. They will try to kill the three +black-robes whom you are about to carry to your country. If you do not +defend them, the French will be angry, and charge you with their death. +But if you do, then the Algonquins will make war on you, and the river +will be closed. If the French captain will not let the prisoner go, then +leave the three black-robes where they are; for, if you take them with +you, they will bring you to trouble." + +Such was the substance of Le Borgne's harangue. The anxious priests +hastened up to the fort, gained admittance, and roused Champlain from +his slumbers. He sent his interpreter with a message to the Hurons, that +he wished to speak to them before their departure; and, accordingly, in +the morning an Indian crier proclaimed through their camp that none +should embark till the next day. Champlain convoked the chiefs, and +tried persuasion, promises, and threats; but Le Borgne had been busy +among them with his intrigues, and now he declared in the council, that, +unless the prisoner were released, the missionaries would be murdered on +their way, and war would ensue. The politic savage had two objects in +view. On the one hand, he wished to interrupt the direct intercourse +between the French and the Hurons; and, on the other, he thought to gain +credit and influence with the nation of the prisoner by effecting his +release. His first point was won. Champlain would not give up the +murderer, knowing those with whom he was dealing too well to take a +course which would have proclaimed the killing of a Frenchman a venial +offence. The Hurons thereupon refused to carry the missionaries to their +country; coupling the refusal with many regrets and many protestations +of love, partly, no doubt, sincere,--for the Jesuits had contrived to +gain no little favor in their eyes. The council broke up, the Hurons +embarked, and the priests returned to their convent. + +Here, under the guidance of Brébeuf, they employed themselves, amid +their other avocations, in studying the Huron tongue. A year passed, and +again the Indian traders descended from their villages. In the +meanwhile, grievous calamities had befallen the nation. They had +suffered deplorable reverses at the hands of the Iroquois; while a +pestilence, similar to that which a few years before had swept off the +native populations of New England, had begun its ravages among them. +They appeared at Three Rivers--this year the place of trade--in small +numbers, and in a miserable state of dejection and alarm. Du Plessis +Bochart, commander of the French fleet, called them to a council, +harangued them, feasted them, and made them presents; but they refused +to take the Jesuits. In private, however, some of them were gained over; +then again refused; then, at the eleventh hour, a second time consented. +On the eve of embarkation, they once more wavered. All was confusion, +doubt, and uncertainty, when Brébeuf bethought him of a vow to St. +Joseph. The vow was made. At once, he says, the Indians became +tractable; the Fathers embarked, and, amid salvos of cannon from the +ships, set forth for the wild scene of their apostleship. + +They reckoned the distance at nine hundred miles; but distance was the +least repellent feature of this most arduous journey. Barefoot, lest +their shoes should injure the frail vessel, each crouched in his canoe, +toiling with unpractised hands to propel it. Before him, week after +week, he saw the same lank, unkempt hair, the same tawny shoulders, and +long, naked arms ceaselessly plying the paddle. The canoes were soon +separated; and, for more than a month, the Frenchmen rarely or never +met. Brébeuf spoke a little Huron, and could converse with his escort; +but Daniel and Davost were doomed to a silence unbroken save by the +occasional unintelligible complaints and menaces of the Indians, of whom +many were sick with the epidemic, and all were terrified, desponding, +and sullen. Their only food was a pittance of Indian corn, crushed +between two stones and mixed with water. The toil was extreme. Brébeuf +counted thirty-five portages, where the canoes were lifted from the +water, and carried on the shoulders of the voyagers around rapids or +cataracts. More than fifty times, besides, they were forced to wade in +the raging current, pushing up their empty barks, or dragging them with +ropes. Brébeuf tried to do his part; but the boulders and sharp rocks +wounded his naked feet, and compelled him to desist. He and his +companions bore their share of the baggage across the portages, +sometimes a distance of several miles. Four trips, at the least, were +required to convey the whole. The way was through the dense forest, +incumbered with rocks and logs, tangled with roots and underbrush, damp +with perpetual shade, and redolent of decayed leaves and mouldering +wood. [11] The Indians themselves were often spent with fatigue. +Brébeuf, a man of iron frame and a nature unconquerably resolute, +doubted if his strength would sustain him to the journey's end. He +complains that he had no moment to read his breviary, except by the +moonlight or the fire, when stretched out to sleep on a bare rock by +some savage cataract of the Ottawa, or in a damp nook of the adjacent +forest. + +[11] "Adioustez à ces difficultez, qu'il faut coucher sur la terre nuë, +ou sur quelque dure roche, faute de trouuer dix ou douze pieds de terre +en quarré pour placer vne chetiue cabane; qu'il faut sentir incessamment +la puanteur des Sauuages recreus, marcher dans les eaux, dans les +fanges, dans l'obscurité et l'embarras des forest, où les piqueures +d'vne multitude infinie de mousquilles et cousins vous importunent +fort."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 25, 26. + +All the Jesuits, as well as several of their countrymen who accompanied +them, suffered more or less at the hands of their ill-humored +conductors. [12] Davost's Indian robbed him of a part of his baggage, +threw a part into the river, including most of the books and +writing-materials of the three priests, and then left him behind, among +the Algonquins of Allumette Island. He found means to continue the +journey, and at length reached the Huron towns in a lamentable state of +bodily prostration. Daniel, too, was deserted, but fortunately found +another party who received him into their canoe. A young Frenchman, +named Martin, was abandoned among the Nipissings; another, named Baron, +on reaching the Huron country, was robbed by his conductors of all he +had, except the weapons in his hands. Of these he made good use, +compelling the robbers to restore a part of their plunder. + +[12] "En ce voyage, il nous a fallu tous commencer par ces experiences à +porter la Croix que Nostre Seigneur nous presente pour son honneur, et +pour le salut de ces pauures Barbares. Certes ie me suis trouué +quelquesfois si las, que le corps n'en pouuoit plus. Mais d'ailleurs mon +âme ressentoit de tres-grands contentemens, considerant que ie souffrois +pour Dieu: nul ne le sçait, s'il ne l'experimente. Tous n'en ont pas +esté quittes à si bon marché."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 26. + +Three years afterwards, a paper was printed by the Jesuits of Paris, +called Instruction pour les Pères de nostre Compagnie qui seront enuoiez +aux Hurons, and containing directions for their conduct on this route by +the Ottawa. It is highly characteristic, both of the missionaries and of +the Indians. Some of the points are, in substance, as follows.--You +should love the Indians like brothers, with whom you are to spend the +rest of your life.--Never make them wait for you in embarking.--Take a +flint and steel to light their pipes and kindle their fire at night; for +these little services win their hearts.--Try to eat their sagamite as +they cook it, bad and dirty as it is.--Fasten up the skirts of your +cassock, that you may not carry water or sand into the canoe.--Wear no +shoes or stockings in the canoe; but you may put them on in crossing the +portages.--Do not make yourself troublesome, even to a single +Indian.--Do not ask them too many questions.--Bear their faults in +silence, and appear always cheerful.--Buy fish for them from the tribes +you will pass; and for this purpose take with you some awls, beads, +knives, and fish-hooks.--Be not ceremonious with the Indians; take at +once what they offer you: ceremony offends them.--Be very careful, when +in the canoe, that the brim of your hat does not annoy them. Perhaps it +would be better to wear your night-cap. There is no such thing as +impropriety among Indians.--Remember that it is Christ and his cross +that you are seeking; and if you aim at anything else, you will get +nothing but affliction for body and mind. + +Descending French River, and following the lonely shores of the great +Georgian Bay, the canoe which carried Brébeuf at length neared its +destination, thirty days after leaving Three Rivers. Before him, +stretched in savage slumber, lay the forest shore of the Hurons. Did his +spirit sink as he approached his dreary home, oppressed with a dark +foreboding of what the future should bring forth? There is some reason +to think so. Yet it was but the shadow of a moment; for his masculine +heart had lost the sense of fear, and his intrepid nature was fired with +a zeal before which doubts and uncertainties fled like the mists of the +morning. Not the grim enthusiasm of negation, tearing up the weeds of +rooted falsehood, or with bold hand felling to the earth the baneful +growth of overshadowing abuses: his was the ancient faith uncurtailed, +redeemed from the decay of centuries, kindled with a new life, and +stimulated to a preternatural growth and fruitfulness. + +Brébeuf and his Huron companions having landed, the Indians, throwing +the missionary's baggage on the ground, left him to his own resources; +and, without heeding his remonstrances, set forth for their respective +villages, some twenty miles distant. Thus abandoned, the priest kneeled, +not to implore succor in his perplexity, but to offer thanks to the +Providence which had shielded him thus far. Then, rising, he pondered as +to what course he should take. He knew the spot well. It was on the +borders of the small inlet called Thunder Bay. In the neighboring Huron +town of Toanché he had lived three years, preaching and baptizing; [13] +but Toanché had now ceased to exist. Here, Étienne Brulé, Champlain's +adventurous interpreter, had recently been murdered by the inhabitants, +who, in excitement and alarm, dreading the consequences of their deed, +had deserted the spot, and built, at the distance of a few miles, a new +town, called Ihonatiria. [14] Brébeuf hid his baggage in the woods, +including the vessels for the Mass, more precious than all the rest, and +began his search for this new abode. He passed the burnt remains of +Toanché, saw the charred poles that had formed the frame of his little +chapel of bark, and found, as he thought, the spot where Brulé had +fallen. [15] Evening was near, when, after following, bewildered and +anxious, a gloomy forest path, he issued upon a wild clearing, and saw +before him the bark roofs of Ihonatiria. + +[13] From 1626 to 1629. There is no record of the events of this first +mission, which was ended with the English occupation of Quebec. Brébeuf +had previously spent the winter of 1625-26 among the Algonquins, like Le +Jeune in 1633-34.--Lettre du P. Charles Lalemant au T. R. P. Mutio +Vitelleschi, 1 Aug., 1626, in Carayon. +[14] Concerning Brulé, see "Pioneers of France," 377-380. +[15] "Ie vis pareillement l'endroit où le pauure Estienne Brulé auoit +esté barbarement et traîtreusement assommé; ce qui me fit penser que +quelque iour on nous pourroit bien traitter de la sorte, et desirer au +moins que ce fust en pourchassant la gloire de N. Seigneur."--Brébeuf, +Relation des Hurons, 1635, 28, 29.--The missionary's prognostics were +but too well founded. + +A crowd ran out to meet him. "Echom has come again! Echom has come +again!" they cried, recognizing in the distance the stately figure, +robed in black, that advanced from the border of the forest. They led +him to the town, and the whole population swarmed about him. After a +short rest, he set out with a number of young Indians in quest of his +baggage, returning with it at one o'clock in the morning. There was a +certain Awandoay in the village, noted as one of the richest and most +hospitable of the Hurons,--a distinction not easily won where +hospitality was universal. His house was large, and amply stored with +beans and corn; and though his prosperity had excited the jealousy of +the villagers, he had recovered their good-will by his generosity. With +him Brébeuf made his abode, anxiously waiting, week after week, the +arrival of his companions. One by one, they appeared: Daniel, weary and +worn; Davost, half dead with famine and fatigue; and their French +attendants, each with his tale of hardship and indignity. At length, all +were assembled under the roof of the hospitable Indian, and once more +the Huron mission was begun. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +1634, 1635. + +BRÉBEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. + +The Huron Mission-House • Its Inmates • Its Furniture • Its Guests • The +Jesuit as a Teacher • As an Engineer • Baptisms • Huron Village Life • +Festivities and Sorceries • The Dream Feast • The Priests accused of +Magic • The Drought and the Red Cross + +Where should the Fathers make their abode? Their first thought had been +to establish themselves at a place called by the French Rochelle, the +largest and most important town of the Huron confederacy; but Brébeuf +now resolved to remain at Ihonatiria. Here he was well known; and here, +too, he flattered himself, seeds of the Faith had been planted, which, +with good nurture, would in time yield fruit. + +By the ancient Huron custom, when a man or a family wanted a house, the +whole village joined in building one. In the present case, not +Ihonatiria only, but the neighboring town of Wenrio also, took part in +the work,--though not without the expectation of such gifts as the +priests had to bestow. Before October, the task was finished. The house +was constructed after the Huron model. [1] It was thirty-six feet long +and about twenty feet wide, framed with strong sapling poles planted in +the earth to form the sides, with the ends bent into an arch for the +roof,--the whole lashed firmly together, braced with cross-poles, and +closely covered with overlapping sheets of bark. Without, the structure +was strictly Indian; but within, the priests, with the aid of their +tools, made innovations which were the astonishment of all the country. +They divided their dwelling by transverse partitions into three +apartments, each with its wooden door,--a wondrous novelty in the eyes +of their visitors. The first served as a hall, an anteroom, and a place +of storage for corn, beans, and dried fish. The second--the largest of +the three--was at once kitchen, workshop, dining-room, drawing-room, +school-room, and bed-chamber. The third was the chapel. Here they made +their altar, and here were their images, pictures, and sacred vessels. +Their fire was on the ground, in the middle of the second apartment, the +smoke escaping by a hole in the roof. At the sides were placed two wide +platforms, after the Huron fashion, four feet from the earthen floor. On +these were chests in which they kept their clothing and vestments, and +beneath them they slept, reclining on sheets of bark, and covered with +skins and the garments they wore by day. Rude stools, a hand-mill, a +large Indian mortar of wood for crushing corn, and a clock, completed +the furniture of the room. + +[1] See Introduction. + +There was no lack of visitors, for the house of the black-robes +contained marvels [2] the fame of which was noised abroad to the +uttermost confines of the Huron nation. Chief among them was the clock. +The guests would sit in expectant silence by the hour, squatted on the +ground, waiting to hear it strike. They thought it was alive, and asked +what it ate. As the last stroke sounded, one of the Frenchmen would cry +"Stop!"--and, to the admiration of the company, the obedient clock was +silent. The mill was another wonder, and they were never tired of +turning it. Besides these, there was a prism and a magnet; also a +magnifying-glass, wherein a flea was transformed to a frightful monster, +and a multiplying lens, which showed them the same object eleven times +repeated. "All this," says Brébeuf, "serves to gain their affection, and +make them more docile in respect to the admirable and incomprehensible +mysteries of our Faith; for the opinion they have of our genius and +capacity makes them believe whatever we tell them." [3] + +[2] "Ils ont pensé qu'elle entendoit, principalement quand, pour rire, +quelqu'vn de nos François s'escrioit au dernier coup de marteau, c'est +assez sonné, et que tout aussi tost elle se taisoit. Ils l'appellent le +Capitaine du iour. Quand elle sonne, ils disent qu'elle parle, et +demandent, quand ils nous viennent veoir, combien de fois le Capitaine a +desia parlé. Ils nous interrogent de son manger. Ils demeurent les +heures entieres, et quelquesfois plusieurs, afin de la pouuoir ouyr +parler."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 33. +[3] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 33. + +"What does the Captain say?" was the frequent question; for by this +title of honor they designated the clock. + +"When he strikes twelve times, he says, 'Hang on the kettle'; and when +he strikes four times, he says, 'Get up, and go home.'" + +Both interpretations were well remembered. At noon, visitors were never +wanting, to share the Fathers' sagamite; but at the stroke of four, all +rose and departed, leaving the missionaries for a time in peace. Now the +door was barred, and, gathering around the fire, they discussed the +prospects of the mission, compared their several experiences, and took +counsel for the future. But the standing topic of their evening talk was +the Huron language. Concerning this each had some new discovery to +relate, some new suggestion to offer; and in the task of analyzing its +construction and deducing its hidden laws, these intelligent and highly +cultivated minds found a congenial employment. [4] + +[4] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 17 (Cramoisy). + +But while zealously laboring to perfect their knowledge of the language, +they spared no pains to turn their present acquirements to account. Was +man, woman, or child sick or suffering, they were always at hand with +assistance and relief,--adding, as they saw opportunity, explanations of +Christian doctrine, pictures of Heaven and Hell, and exhortations to +embrace the Faith. Their friendly offices did not cease here, but +included matters widely different. The Hurons lived in constant fear of +the Iroquois. At times the whole village population would fly to the +woods for concealment, or take refuge in one of the neighboring +fortified towns, on the rumor of an approaching war-party. The Jesuits +promised them the aid of the four Frenchmen armed with arquebuses, who +had come with them from Three Rivers. They advised the Hurons to make +their palisade forts, not, as hitherto, in a circular form, but +rectangular, with small flanking towers at the corners for the +arquebuse-men. The Indians at once saw the value of the advice, and soon +after began to act on it in the case of their great town of Ossossané, +or Rochelle. [5] + +[5] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 86. + +At every opportunity, the missionaries gathered together the children of +the village at their house. On these occasions, Brébeuf, for greater +solemnity, put on a surplice, and the close, angular cap worn by Jesuits +in their convents. First he chanted the Pater Noster, translated by +Father Daniel into Huron rhymes,--the children chanting in their turn. +Next he taught them the sign of the cross; made them repeat the Ave, the +Credo, and the Commandments; questioned them as to past instructions; +gave them briefly a few new ones; and dismissed them with a present of +two or three beads, raisins, or prunes. A great emulation was kindled +among this small fry of heathendom. The priests, with amusement and +delight, saw them gathered in groups about the village, vying with each +other in making the sign of the cross, or in repeating the rhymes they +had learned. + +At times, the elders of the people, the repositories of its ancient +traditions, were induced to assemble at the house of the Jesuits, who +explained to them the principal points of their doctrine, and invited +them to a discussion. The auditors proved pliant to a fault, responding, +"Good," or "That is true," to every proposition; but, when urged to +adopt the faith which so readily met their approval, they had always the +same reply: "It is good for the French; but we are another people, with +different customs." On one occasion, Brébeuf appeared before the chiefs +and elders at a solemn national council, described Heaven and Hell with +images suited to their comprehension, asked to which they preferred to +go after death, and then, in accordance with the invariable Huron custom +in affairs of importance, presented a large and valuable belt of wampum, +as an invitation to take the path to Paradise. [6] + +[6] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 81. For the use of wampum belts, +see Introduction. + +Notwithstanding all their exhortations, the Jesuits, for the present, +baptized but few. Indeed, during the first year or more, they baptized +no adults except those apparently at the point of death; for, with +excellent reason, they feared backsliding and recantation. They found +especial pleasure in the baptism of dying infants, rescuing them from +the flames of perdition, and changing them, to borrow Le Jeune's phrase, +"from little Indians into little angels." [7] + +[7] "Le seiziesme du mesme mois, deux petits Sauvages furent changez en +deux petits Anges."--Relation, 1636, 89 (Cramoisy). + +"O mon cher frère, vous pourrois-je expliquer quelle consolation ce +m'etoit quand je voyois un pauure baptisé mourir deux heures, une demi +journée, une ou deux journées, après son baptesme, particulièrement +quand c'etoit un petit enfant!"--Lettre du Père Garnier à son Frère, +MS.--This form of benevolence is beyond heretic appreciation. + +"La joye qu'on a quand on a baptisé un Sauvage qui se meurt peu apres, & +qui s'envole droit au Ciel, pour devenir un Ange, certainement c'est un +joye qui surpasse tout ce qu'on se peut imaginer."--Le Jeune, Relation, +1635, 221 (Cramoisy). + +The Fathers' slumbers were brief and broken. Winter was the season of +Huron festivity; and, as they lay stretched on their hard couch, +suffocating with smoke and tormented by an inevitable multitude of +fleas, the thumping of the drum resounded all night long from a +neighboring house, mingled with the sound of the tortoise-shell rattle, +the stamping of moccasined feet, and the cadence of voices keeping time +with the dancers. Again, some ambitious villager would give a feast, and +invite all the warriors of the neighboring towns; or some grand wager of +gambling, with its attendant drumming, singing, and outcries, filled the +night with discord. + +But these were light annoyances, compared with the insane rites to cure +the sick, prescribed by the "medicine-men," or ordained by the eccentric +inspiration of dreams. In one case, a young sorcerer, by alternate +gorging and fasting,--both in the interest of his profession,--joined +with excessive exertion in singing to the spirits, contracted a disorder +of the brain, which caused him, in mid-winter, to run naked about the +village, howling like a wolf. The whole population bestirred itself to +effect a cure. The patient had, or pretended to have, a dream, in which +the conditions of his recovery were revealed to him. These were equally +ridiculous and difficult; but the elders met in council, and all the +villagers lent their aid, till every requisition was fulfilled, and the +incongruous mass of gifts which the madman's dream had demanded were all +bestowed upon him. This cure failing, a "medicine-feast" was tried; then +several dances in succession. As the patient remained as crazy as +before, preparations were begun for a grand dance, more potent than all +the rest. Brébeuf says, that, except the masquerades of the Carnival +among Christians, he never saw a folly equal to it. "Some," he adds, +"had sacks over their heads, with two holes for the eyes. Some were as +naked as your hand, with horns or feathers on their heads, their bodies +painted white, and their faces black as devils. Others were daubed with +red, black, and white. In short, every one decked himself as +extravagantly as he could, to dance in this ballet, and contribute +something towards the health of the sick man." [8] This remedy also +failing, a crowning effort of the medical art was essayed. Brébeuf does +not describe it, for fear, as he says, of being tedious; but, for the +time, the village was a pandemonium. [9] This, with other ceremonies, +was supposed to be ordered by a certain image like a doll, which a +sorcerer placed in his tobacco-pouch, whence it uttered its oracles, at +the same time moving as if alive. "Truly," writes Brébeuf, "here is +nonsense enough: but I greatly fear there is something more dark and +mysterious in it." + +[8] Relation des Hurons, 1636, 116. +[9] "Suffit pour le present de dire en general, que iamais les +Bacchantes forcenées du temps passé ne firent rien de plus furieux en +leurs orgyes. C'est icy à s'entretuer, disent-ils, par des sorts qu'ils +s'entreiettent, dont la composition est d'ongles d'Ours, de dents de +Loup, d'ergots d'Aigles, de certaines pierres et de nerfs de Chien; +c'est à rendre du sang par la bouche et par les narines, ou plustost +d'vne poudre rouge qu'ils prennent subtilement, estans tombez sous le +sort, et blessez; et dix mille autres sottises que ie laisse +volontiers."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 117. + +But all these ceremonies were outdone by the grand festival of the +Ononhara, or Dream Feast,--esteemed the most powerful remedy in cases of +sickness, or when a village was infested with evil spirits. The time and +manner of holding it were determined at a solemn council. This scene of +madness began at night. Men, women, and children, all pretending to have +lost their senses, rushed shrieking and howling from house to house, +upsetting everything in their way, throwing firebrands, beating those +they met or drenching them with water, and availing themselves of this +time of license to take a safe revenge on any who had ever offended +them. This scene of frenzy continued till daybreak. No corner of the +village was secure from the maniac crew. In the morning there was a +change. They ran from house to house, accosting the inmates by name, and +demanding of each the satisfaction of some secret want, revealed to the +pretended madman in a dream, but of the nature of which he gave no hint +whatever. The person addressed thereupon threw to him at random any +article at hand, as a hatchet, a kettle, or a pipe; and the applicant +continued his rounds till the desired gift was hit upon, when he gave an +outcry of delight, echoed by gratulatory cries from all present. If, +after all his efforts, he failed in obtaining the object of his dream, +he fell into a deep dejection, convinced that some disaster was in store +for him. [10] + +[10] Brébeuf's account of the Dream Feast is brief. The above +particulars are drawn chiefly from Charlevoix, Journal Historique, 356, +and Sagard, Voyage du Pays des Hurons, 280. See also Lafitau, and other +early writers. This ceremony was not confined to the Hurons, but +prevailed also among the Iroquois, and doubtless other kindred tribes. +The Jesuit Dablon saw it in perfection at Onondaga. It usually took +place in February, occupying about three days, and was often attended +with great indecencies. The word ononhara means turning of the brain. + +The approach of summer brought with it a comparative peace. Many of the +villagers dispersed,--some to their fishing, some to expeditions of +trade, and some to distant lodges by their detached corn-fields. The +priests availed themselves of the respite to engage in those exercises +of private devotion which the rule of St. Ignatius enjoins. About +midsummer, however, their quiet was suddenly broken. The crops were +withering under a severe drought, a calamity which the sandy nature of +the soil made doubly serious. The sorcerers put forth their utmost +power, and, from the tops of the houses, yelled incessant invocations to +the spirits. All was in vain; the pitiless sky was cloudless. There was +thunder in the east and thunder in the west; but over Ihonatiria all was +serene. A renowned "rain-maker," seeing his reputation tottering under +his repeated failures, bethought him of accusing the Jesuits, and gave +out that the red color of the cross which stood before their house +scared the bird of thunder, and caused him to fly another way. [11] On +this a clamor arose. The popular ire turned against the priests, and the +obnoxious cross was condemned to be hewn down. Aghast at the threatened +sacrilege, they attempted to reason away the storm, assuring the crowd +that the lightning was not a bird, but certain hot and fiery +exhalations, which, being imprisoned, darted this way and that, trying +to escape. As this philosophy failed to convince the hearers, the +missionaries changed their line of defence. + +[11] The following is the account of the nature of thunder, given to +Brébeuf on a former occasion by another sorcerer. + +"It is a man in the form of a turkey-cock. The sky is his palace, and he +remains in it when the air is clear. When the clouds begin to grumble, +he descends to the earth to gather up snakes, and other objects which +the Indians call okies. The lightning flashes whenever he opens or +closes his wings. If the storm is more violent than usual, it is because +is young are with him, and aiding in the noise as well as they +can."--Relation des Hurons, 1636, 114. + +The word oki is here used to denote any object endued with supernatural +power. A belief similar to the above exists to this day among the +Dacotahs. Some of the Hurons and Iroquois, however, held that the +thunder was a giant in human form. According to one story, he vomited +from time to time a number of snakes, which, falling to the earth, +caused the appearance of lightning. + +"You say that the red color of the cross frightens the bird of +thunder. Then paint the cross white, and see if the thunder will come." + +This was accordingly done; but the clouds still kept aloof. The Jesuits +followed up their advantage. + +"Your spirits cannot help you, and your sorcerers have deceived you with +lies. Now ask the aid of Him who made the world, and perhaps He will +listen to your prayers." And they added, that, if the Indians would +renounce their sins and obey the true God, they would make a procession +daily to implore his favor towards them. + +There was no want of promises. The processions were begun, as were also +nine masses to St. Joseph; and, as heavy rains occurred soon after, the +Indians conceived a high idea of the efficacy of the French "medicine." +[12] + +[12] "Nous deuons aussi beaucoup au glorieux sainct Ioseph, espoux de +Nostre Dame, et protecteur des Hurons, dont nous auons touché au doigt +l'assistance plusieurs fois. Ce fut vne chose remarquable, que le iour +de sa feste et durant l'Octaue, les commoditez nous venoient de toutes +parts."--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1635, 41. + +The above extract is given as one out of many illustrations of the +confidence with which the priests rested on the actual and direct aid of +their celestial guardians. To St. Joseph, in particular, they find no +words for their gratitude. + +In spite of the hostility of the sorcerers, and the transient commotion +raised by the red cross, the Jesuits had gained the confidence and +good-will of the Huron population. Their patience, their kindness, their +intrepidity, their manifest disinterestedness, the blamelessness of +their lives, and the tact which, in the utmost fervors of their zeal, +never failed them, had won the hearts of these wayward savages; and +chiefs of distant villages came to urge that they would make their abode +with them. [13] As yet, the results of the mission had been faint and +few; but the priests toiled on courageously, high in hope that an +abundant harvest of souls would one day reward their labors. + +[13] Brébeuf preserves a speech made to him by one of these chiefs, as a +specimen of Huron eloquence.--Relation des Hurons, 1636, 123. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +1636, 1637. + +THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. + +Huron Graves • Preparation for the Ceremony • Disinterment • The +Mourning • The Funeral March • The Great Sepulchre • Funeral Games • +Encampment of the Mourners • Gifts • Harangues • Frenzy of the Crowd • +The Closing Scene • Another Rite • The Captive Iroquois • The Sacrifice. + +Mention has been made of those great depositories of human bones found +at the present day in the ancient country of the Hurons. [1] They have +been a theme of abundant speculation; [2] yet their origin is a subject, +not of conjecture, but of historic certainty. The peculiar rites to +which they owe their existence were first described at length by +Brébeuf, who, in the summer of the year 1636, saw them at the town of +Ossossané. + +[1] See Introduction. +[2] Among those who have wondered and speculated over these remains is +Mr. Schoolcraft. A slight acquaintance with the early writers would have +solved his doubts. + +The Jesuits had long been familiar with the ordinary rites of sepulture +among the Hurons: the corpse placed in a crouching posture in the midst +of the circle of friends and relatives; the long, measured wail of the +mourners; the speeches in praise of the dead, and consolation to the +living; the funeral feast; the gifts at the place of burial; the funeral +games, where the young men of the village contended for prizes; and the +long period of mourning to those next of kin. The body was usually laid +on a scaffold, or, more rarely, in the earth. This, however, was not its +final resting-place. At intervals of ten or twelve years, each of the +four nations which composed the Huron Confederacy gathered together its +dead, and conveyed them all to a common place of sepulture. Here was +celebrated the great "Feast of the Dead,"--in the eyes of the Hurons, +their most solemn and important ceremonial. + +In the spring of 1636, the chiefs and elders of the Nation of the +Bear--the principal nation of the Confederacy, and that to which +Ihonatiria belonged--assembled in a general council, to prepare for the +great solemnity. There was an unwonted spirit of dissension. Some causes +of jealousy had arisen, and three or four of the Bear villages announced +their intention of holding their Feast of the Dead apart from the rest. +As such a procedure was thought abhorrent to every sense of propriety +and duty, the announcement excited an intense feeling; yet Brébeuf, who +was present, describes the debate which ensued as perfectly calm, and +wholly free from personal abuse or recrimination. The secession, +however, took place, and each party withdrew to its villages to gather +and prepare its dead. + +The corpses were lowered from their scaffolds, and lifted from their +graves. Their coverings were removed by certain functionaries appointed +for the office, and the hideous relics arranged in a row, surrounded by +the weeping, shrieking, howling concourse. The spectacle was frightful. +Here were all the village dead of the last twelve years. The priests, +connoisseurs in such matters, regarded it as a display of mortality so +edifying, that they hastened to summon their French attendants to +contemplate and profit by it. Each family reclaimed its own, and +immediately addressed itself to removing what remained of flesh from the +bones. These, after being tenderly caressed, with tears and +lamentations, were wrapped in skins and adorned with pendent robes of +fur. In the belief of the mourners, they were sentient and conscious. A +soul was thought still to reside in them; [3] and to this notion, very +general among Indians, is in no small degree due that extravagant +attachment to the remains of their dead, which may be said to mark the +race. + +[3] In the general belief, the soul took flight after the great ceremony +was ended. Many thought that there were two souls, one remaining with +the bones, while the other went to the land of spirits. + +These relics of mortality, together with the recent corpses,--which were +allowed to remain entire, but which were also wrapped carefully in +furs,--were now carried to one of the largest houses, and hung to the +numerous cross-poles, which, like rafters, supported the roof. Here the +concourse of mourners seated themselves at a funeral feast; and, as the +squaws of the household distributed the food, a chief harangued the +assembly, lamenting the loss of the deceased, and extolling their +virtues. This solemnity over, the mourners began their march for +Ossossané, the scene of the final rite. The bodies remaining entire were +borne on a kind of litter, while the bundles of bones were slung at the +shoulders of the relatives, like fagots. Thus the procession slowly +defiled along the forest pathways, with which the country of the Hurons +was everywhere intersected; and as they passed beneath the dull shadow +of the pines, they uttered at intervals, in unison, a dreary, wailing +cry, designed to imitate the voices of disembodied souls winging their +way to the land of spirits, and believed to have an effect peculiarly +soothing to the conscious relics which each man bore. When, at night, +they stopped to rest at some village on the way, the inhabitants came +forth to welcome them with a grave and mournful hospitality. + +From every town of the Nation of the Bear,--except the rebellious few +that had seceded,--processions like this were converging towards +Ossossané. This chief town of the Hurons stood on the eastern margin of +Nottawassaga Bay, encompassed with a gloomy wilderness of fir and pine. +Thither, on the urgent invitation of the chiefs, the Jesuits repaired. +The capacious bark houses were filled to overflowing, and the +surrounding woods gleamed with camp-fires: for the processions of +mourners were fast arriving, and the throng was swelled by invited +guests of other tribes. Funeral games were in progress, the young men +and women practising archery and other exercises, for prizes offered by +the mourners in the name of their dead relatives. [4] Some of the chiefs +conducted Brébeuf and his companions to the place prepared for the +ceremony. It was a cleared area in the forest, many acres in extent. In +the midst was a pit, about ten feet deep and thirty feet wide. Around it +was reared a high and strong scaffolding; and on this were planted +numerous upright poles, with cross-poles extended between, for hanging +the funeral gifts and the remains of the dead. + +[4] Funeral games were not confined to the Hurons and Iroquois: Perrot +mentions having seen them among the Ottawas. An illustrated description +of them will be found in Lafitau. + +Meanwhile there was a long delay. The Jesuits were lodged in a house +where more than a hundred of these bundles of mortality were hanging +from the rafters. Some were mere shapeless rolls; others were made up +into clumsy effigies, adorned with feathers, beads, and belts of dyed +porcupine-quills. Amidst this throng of the living and the dead, the +priests spent a night which the imagination and the senses conspired to +render almost insupportable. + +At length the officiating chiefs gave the word to prepare for the +ceremony. The relics were taken down, opened for the last time, and the +bones caressed and fondled by the women amid paroxysms of lamentation. +[5] Then all the processions were formed anew, and, each bearing its +dead, moved towards the area prepared for the last solemn rites. As they +reached the ground, they defiled in order, each to a spot assigned to +it, on the outer limits of the clearing. Here the bearers of the dead +laid their bundles on the ground, while those who carried the funeral +gifts outspread and displayed them for the admiration of the beholders. +Their number was immense, and their value relatively very great. Among +them were many robes of beaver and other rich furs, collected and +preserved for years, with a view to this festival. Fires were now +lighted, kettles slung, and, around the entire circle of the clearing, +the scene was like a fair or caravansary. This continued till three +o'clock in the afternoon, when the gifts were repacked, and the bones +shouldered afresh. Suddenly, at a signal from the chiefs, the crowd ran +forward from every side towards the scaffold, like soldiers to the +assault of a town, scaled it by rude ladders with which it was +furnished, and hung their relics and their gifts to the forest of poles +which surmounted it. Then the ladders were removed; and a number of +chiefs, standing on the scaffold, harangued the crowd below, praising +the dead, and extolling the gifts, which the relatives of the departed +now bestowed, in their names, upon their surviving friends. + +[5] "I'admiray la tendresse d'vne femme enuers son pere et ses enfans; +elle est fille d'vn Capitaine, qui est mort fort âgé, et a esté +autrefois fort considerable dans le Païs: elle luy peignoit sa +cheuelure, elle manioit ses os les vns apres les autres, auec la mesme +affection que si elle luy eust voulu rendre la vie; elle luy mit aupres +de luy son Atsatone8ai, c'est à dire son pacquet de buchettes de +Conseil, qui sont tous les liures et papiers du Païs. Pour ses petits +enfans, elle leur mit des brasselets de Pourcelaine et de rassade aux +bras, et baigna leurs os de ses larmes; on ne l'en pouuoit quasi +separer, mais on pressoit, et il fallut incontinent partir."--Brébeuf, +Relation des Hurons, 1636, 134. + +During these harangues, other functionaries were lining the grave +throughout with rich robes of beaver-skin. Three large copper kettles +were next placed in the middle, [6] and then ensued a scene of hideous +confusion. The bodies which had been left entire were brought to the +edge of the grave, flung in, and arranged in order at the bottom by ten +or twelve Indians stationed there for the purpose, amid the wildest +excitement and the uproar of many hundred mingled voices. [7] When this +part of the work was done, night was fast closing in. The concourse +bivouacked around the clearing, and lighted their camp-fires under the +brows of the forest which hedged in the scene of the dismal solemnity. +Brébeuf and his companions withdrew to the village, where, an hour +before dawn, they were roused by a clamor which might have wakened the +dead. One of the bundles of bones, tied to a pole on the scaffold, had +chanced to fall into the grave. This accident had precipitated the +closing act, and perhaps increased its frenzy. Guided by the unearthly +din, and the broad glare of flames fed with heaps of fat pine logs, the +priests soon reached the spot, and saw what seemed, in their eyes, an +image of Hell. All around blazed countless fires, and the air resounded +with discordant outcries. [8] The naked multitude, on, under, and around +the scaffold, were flinging the remains of their dead, discharged from +their envelopments of skins, pell-mell into the pit, where Brébeuf +discerned men who, as the ghastly shower fell around them, arranged the +bones in their places with long poles. All was soon over; earth, logs, +and stones were cast upon the grave, and the clamor subsided into a +funereal chant,--so dreary and lugubrious, that it seemed to the Jesuits +the wail of despairing souls from the abyss of perdition. [9] + +[6] In some of these graves, recently discovered, five or six large +copper kettles have been found, in a position corresponding with the +account of Brébeuf. In one, there were no less than twenty-six kettles. +[7] "Iamais rien ne m'a mieux figuré la confusion qui est parmy les +damnez. Vous eussiez veu décharger de tous costez des corps à demy +pourris, et de tous costez on entendoit vn horrible tintamarre de voix +confuses de personnes qui parloient et ne s'entendoient pas."--Brébeuf, +Relation des Hurons, 1636, 135. +[8] "Approchans, nous vismes tout à fait une image de l'Enfer: cette +grande place estoit toute remplie de feux & de flammes, & l'air +retentissoit de toutes parts des voix confuses de ces Barbares," +etc.--Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 209 (Cramoisy). +[9] "Se mirent à chanter, mais d'un ton si lamentable & si lugubre, +qu'il nous representoit l'horrible tristesse & l'abysme du desespoir +dans lequel sont plongées pour iamais ces âmes malheureuses."--Ibid., +210. + +For other descriptions of these rites, see Charlevoix, Bressani, Du +Creux, and especially Lafitau, in whose work they are illustrated with +engravings. In one form or another, they were widely prevalent. Bartram +found them among the Floridian tribes. Traces of a similar practice have +been observed in recent times among the Dacotahs. Remains of places of +sepulture, evidently of kindred origin, have been found in Tennessee, +Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio. Many have been discovered in several parts +of New York, especially near the River Niagara. (See Squier, Aboriginal +Monuments of New York.) This was the eastern extremity of the ancient +territory of the Neuters. One of these deposits is said to have +contained the bones of several thousand individuals. There is a large +mound on Tonawanda Island, said by the modern Senecas to be a Neuter +burial-place. (See Marshall, Historical Sketches of the Niagara +Frontier, 8.) In Canada West, they are found throughout the region once +occupied by the Neuters, and are frequent in the Huron district. + +Dr. Taché writes to me,--"I have inspected sixteen bone-pits," (in the +Huron country,) "the situation of which is indicated on the little +pencil map I send you. They contain from six hundred to twelve hundred +skeletons each, of both sexes and all ages, all mixed together +purposely. With one exception, these pits also contain pipes of stone or +clay, small earthen pots, shells, and wampum wrought of these shells, +copper ornaments, beads of glass, and other trinkets. Some pits +contained articles of copper of aboriginal Mexican fabric." + +This remarkable fact, together with the frequent occurrence in these +graves of large conch-shells, of which wampum was made, and which could +have been procured only from the Gulf of Mexico, or some part of the +southern coast of the United States, proves the extent of the relations +of traffic by which certain articles were passed from tribe to tribe +over a vast region. The transmission of pipes from the famous Red +Pipe-Stone Quarry of the St. Peter's to tribes more than a thousand +miles distant is an analogous modern instance, though much less +remarkable. + +The Taché Museum, at the Laval University of Quebec, contains a large +collection of remains from these graves. In one instance, the human +bones are of a size that may be called gigantic. + +In nearly every case, the Huron graves contain articles of use or +ornament of European workmanship. From this it may be inferred, that the +nation itself, or its practice of inhumation, does not date back to a +period long before the arrival of the French. + +The Northern Algonquins had also a solemn Feast of the Dead; but it was +widely different from that of the Hurons.--See the very curious account +of it by Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1642, 94, 95. + +Such was the origin of one of those strange sepulchres which are the +wonder and perplexity of the modern settler in the abandoned forests of +the Hurons. + +The priests were soon to witness another and a more terrible rite, yet +one in which they found a consolation, since it signalized the saving of +a soul,--the snatching from perdition of one of that dreaded race, into +whose very midst they hoped, with devoted daring, to bear hereafter the +cross of salvation. A band of Huron warriors had surprised a small party +of Iroquois, killed several, and captured the rest. One of the prisoners +was led in triumph to a village where the priests then were. He had +suffered greatly; his hands, especially, were frightfully lacerated. +Now, however, he was received with every mark of kindness. "Take +courage," said a chief, addressing him; "you are among friends." The +best food was prepared for him, and his captors vied with each other in +offices of good-will. [10] He had been given, according to Indian +custom, to a warrior who had lost a near relative in battle, and the +captive was supposed to be adopted in place of the slain. His actual +doom was, however, not for a moment in doubt. The Huron received him +affectionately, and, having seated him in his lodge, addressed him in a +tone of extreme kindness. "My nephew, when I heard that you were coming, +I was very glad, thinking that you would remain with me to take the +place of him I have lost. But now that I see your condition, and your +hands crushed and torn so that you will never use them, I change my +mind. Therefore take courage, and prepare to die tonight like a brave +man." + +[10] This pretended kindness in the treatment of a prisoner destined to +the torture was not exceptional. The Hurons sometimes even supplied +their intended victim with a temporary wife. + +The prisoner coolly asked what should be the manner of his death. + +"By fire," was the reply. + +"It is well," returned the Iroquois. + +Meanwhile, the sister of the slain Huron, in whose place the prisoner +was to have been adopted, brought him a dish of food, and, her eyes +flowing with tears, placed it before him with an air of the utmost +tenderness; while, at the same time, the warrior brought him a pipe, +wiped the sweat from his brow, and fanned him with a fan of feathers. + +About noon he gave his farewell feast, after the custom of those who +knew themselves to be at the point of death. All were welcome to this +strange banquet; and when the company were gathered, the host addressed +them in a loud, firm voice: "My brothers, I am about to die. Do your +worst to me. I do not fear torture or death." Some of those present +seemed to have visitings of real compassion; and a woman asked the +priests if it would be wrong to kill him, and thus save him from the +fire. + +The Jesuits had from the first lost no opportunity of accosting him; +while he, grateful for a genuine kindness amid the cruel hypocrisy that +surrounded him, gave them an attentive ear, till at length, satisfied +with his answers, they baptized him. His eternal bliss secure, all else +was as nothing; and they awaited the issue with some degree of +composure. + +A crowd had gathered from all the surrounding towns, and after nightfall +the presiding chief harangued them, exhorting them to act their parts +well in the approaching sacrifice, since they would be looked upon by +the Sun and the God of War. [11] It is needless to dwell on the scene +that ensued. It took place in the lodge of the great war-chief, Atsan. +Eleven fires blazed on the ground, along the middle of this capacious +dwelling. The platforms on each side were closely packed with +spectators; and, betwixt these and the fires, the younger warriors stood +in lines, each bearing lighted pine-knots or rolls of birch-bark. The +heat, the smoke, the glare of flames, the wild yells, contorted visages, +and furious gestures of these human devils, as their victim, goaded by +their torches, bounded through the fires again and again, from end to +end of the house, transfixed the priests with horror. But when, as day +dawned, the last spark of life had fled, they consoled themselves with +the faith that the tortured wretch had found his rest at last in +Paradise. [12] + +[11] Areskoui (see Introduction). He was often regarded as identical +with the Sun. The semi-sacrificial character of the torture in this case +is also shown by the injunction, "que pour ceste nuict on n'allast point +folastrer dans les bois."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 114. +[12] Le Mercier's long and minute account of the torture of this +prisoner is too revolting to be dwelt upon. One of the most atrocious +features of the scene was the alternation of raillery and ironical +compliment which attended it throughout, as well as the pains taken to +preserve life and consciousness in the victim as long as possible. +Portions of his flesh were afterwards devoured. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1636, 1637. + +THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. + +Enthusiasm for the Mission • Sickness of the Priests • The Pest among +the Hurons • The Jesuit on his Rounds • Efforts at Conversion • Priests +and Sorcerers • The Man-Devil • The Magician's Prescription • Indian +Doctors and Patients • Covert Baptisms • Self-Devotion of the Jesuits + +Meanwhile from Old France to New came succors and reinforcements to the +missions of the forest. More Jesuits crossed the sea to urge on the work +of conversion. These were no stern exiles, seeking on barbarous shores +an asylum for a persecuted faith. Rank, wealth, power, and royalty +itself, smiled on their enterprise, and bade them God-speed. Yet, +withal, a fervor more intense, a self-abnegation more complete, a +self-devotion more constant and enduring, will scarcely find its record +on the page of human history. + +Holy Mother Church, linked in sordid wedlock to governments and thrones, +numbered among her servants a host of the worldly and the proud, whose +service of God was but the service of themselves,--and many, too, who, +in the sophistry of the human heart, thought themselves true soldiers of +Heaven, while earthly pride, interest, and passion were the life-springs +of their zeal. This mighty Church of Rome, in her imposing march along +the high road of history, heralded as infallible and divine, astounds +the gazing world with prodigies of contradiction: now the protector of +the oppressed, now the right arm of tyrants; now breathing charity and +love, now dark with the passions of Hell; now beaming with celestial +truth, now masked in hypocrisy and lies; now a virgin, now a harlot; an +imperial queen, and a tinselled actress. Clearly, she is of earth, not +of heaven; and her transcendently dramatic life is a type of the good +and ill, the baseness and nobleness, the foulness and purity, the love +and hate, the pride, passion, truth, falsehood, fierceness, and +tenderness, that battle in the restless heart of man. + +It was her nobler and purer part that gave life to the early missions of +New France. That gloomy wilderness, those hordes of savages, had nothing +to tempt the ambitious, the proud, the grasping, or the indolent. +Obscure toil, solitude, privation, hardship, and death were to be the +missionary's portion. He who set sail for the country of the Hurons left +behind him the world and all its prizes. True, he acted under +orders,--obedient, like a soldier, to the word of command: but the +astute Society of Jesus knew its members, weighed each in the balance, +gave each his fitting task; and when the word was passed to embark for +New France, it was but the response to a secret longing of the fervent +heart. The letters of these priests, departing for the scene of their +labors, breathe a spirit of enthusiastic exaltation, which, to a colder +nature and a colder faith, may sometimes seem overstrained, but which is +in no way disproportionate to the vastness of the effort and the +sacrifice demanded of them. [1] + +[1] The following are passages from letters of missionaries at this +time. See "Divers Sentimens," appended to the Relation of 1635. + +"On dit que les premiers qui fondent les Eglises d'ordinaire sont +saincts: cette pensée m'attendrit si fort le cœur, que quoy que ie me +voye icy fort inutile dans ceste fortunée Nouuelle France, si faut-il +que i'auoüe que ie ne me sçaurois defendre d'vne pensée qui me presse le +cœur: Cupio impendi, et superimpendi pro vobis, Pauure Nouuelle France, +ie desire me sacrifier pour ton bien, et quand il me deuroit couster +mille vies, moyennant que ie puisse aider à sauuer vne seule âme, ie +seray trop heureux, et ma vie tres bien employée." + +"Ma consolation parmy les Hurons, c'est que tous les iours ie me +confesse, et puis ie dis la Messe, comme si ie deuois prendre le +Viatique et mourir ce iour là, et ie ne crois pas qu'on puisse mieux +viure, ny auec plus de satisfaction et de courage, et mesme de merites, +que viure en un lieu, où on pense pouuoir mourir tous les iours, et +auoir la deuise de S. Paul, Quotidie morior, fratres, etc. mes freres, +je fais estat de mourir tous les iours." + +"Qui ne void la Nouuelle France que par les yeux de chair et de nature, +il n'y void que des bois et des croix; mais qui les considere auec les +yeux de la grace et d'vne bonne vocation, il n'y void que Dieu, les +vertus et les graces, et on y trouue tant et de si solides consolations, +que si ie pouuois acheter la Nouuelle France, en donnant tout le Paradis +Terrestre, certainement ie l'acheterois. Mon Dieu, qu'il fait bon estre +au lieu où Dieu nous a mis de sa grace! veritablement i'ay trouué icy ce +que i'auois esperé, vn cœur selon le cœur de Dieu, qui ne cherche que +Dieu." + +All turned with longing eyes towards the mission of the Hurons; for here +the largest harvest promised to repay their labor, and here hardships +and dangers most abounded. Two Jesuits, Pijart and Le Mercier, had been +sent thither in 1635; and in midsummer of the next year three more +arrived,--Jogues, Chatelain, and Garnier. When, after their long and +lonely journey, they reached Ihonatiria one by one, they were received +by their brethren with scanty fare indeed, but with a fervor of +affectionate welcome which more than made amends; for among these +priests, united in a community of faith and enthusiasm, there was far +more than the genial comradeship of men joined in a common enterprise of +self-devotion and peril. [2] On their way, they had met Daniel and +Davost descending to Quebec, to establish there a seminary of Huron +children,--a project long cherished by Brébeuf and his companions. + +[2] "Ie luy preparay de ce que nous auions, pour le receuoir, mais quel +festin! vne poignée de petit poisson sec auec vn peu de farine; +i'enuoyay chercher quelques nouueaux espics, que nous luy fismes rostir +à la façon du pays; mais il est vray que dans son cœur et à l'entendre, +il ne fit iamais meilleure chere. La ioye qui se ressent à ces +entreueuës semble estre quelque image du contentement des bien-heureux à +leur arriuée dans le Ciel, tant elle est pleine de suauité."--Le +Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 106. + +Scarcely had the new-comers arrived, when they were attacked by a +contagious fever, which turned their mission-house into a hospital. +Jogues, Garnier, and Chatelain fell ill in turn; and two of their +domestics also were soon prostrated, though the only one of the number +who could hunt fortunately escaped. Those who remained in health +attended the sick, and the sufferers vied with each other in efforts +often beyond their strength to relieve their companions in misfortune. +[3] The disease in no case proved fatal; but scarcely had health begun +to return to their household, when an unforeseen calamity demanded the +exertion of all their energies. + +[3] Lettre de Brébeuf au T. R. P. Mutio Vitelleschi, 20 Mai, 1637, in +Carayon, 157. Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 120, 123. + +The pestilence, which for two years past had from time to time visited +the Huron towns, now returned with tenfold violence, and with it soon +appeared a new and fearful scourge,--the small-pox. Terror was +universal. The contagion increased as autumn advanced; and when winter +came, far from ceasing, as the priests had hoped, its ravages were +appalling. The season of Huron festivity was turned to a season of +mourning; and such was the despondency and dismay, that suicide became +frequent. The Jesuits, singly or in pairs, journeyed in the depth of +winter from village to village, ministering to the sick, and seeking to +commend their religious teachings by their efforts to relieve bodily +distress. Happily, perhaps, for their patients, they had no medicine but +a little senna. A few raisins were left, however; and one or two of +these, with a spoonful of sweetened water, were always eagerly accepted +by the sufferers, who thought them endowed with some mysterious and +sovereign efficacy. No house was left unvisited. As the missionary, +physician at once to body and soul, entered one of these smoky dens, he +saw the inmates, their heads muffled in their robes of skins, seated +around the fires in silent dejection. Everywhere was heard the wail of +sick and dying children; and on or under the platforms at the sides of +the house crouched squalid men and women, in all the stages of the +distemper. The Father approached, made inquiries, spoke words of +kindness, administered his harmless remedies, or offered a bowl of broth +made from game brought in by the Frenchman who hunted for the mission. +[4] The body cared for, he next addressed himself to the soul. "This +life is short, and very miserable. It matters little whether we live or +die." The patient remained silent, or grumbled his dissent. The Jesuit, +after enlarging for a time, in broken Huron, on the brevity and +nothingness of mortal weal or woe, passed next to the joys of Heaven and +the pains of Hell, which he set forth with his best rhetoric. His +pictures of infernal fires and torturing devils were readily +comprehended, if the listener had consciousness enough to comprehend +anything; but with respect to the advantages of the French Paradise, he +was slow of conviction. "I wish to go where my relations and ancestors +have gone," was a common reply. "Heaven is a good place for Frenchmen," +said another; "but I wish to be among Indians, for the French will give +me nothing to eat when I get there." [5] Often the patient was stolidly +silent; sometimes he was hopelessly perverse and contradictory. Again, +Nature triumphed over Grace. "Which will you choose," demanded the +priest of a dying woman, "Heaven or Hell?" "Hell, if my children are +there, as you say," returned the mother. "Do they hunt in Heaven, or +make war, or go to feasts?" asked an anxious inquirer. "Oh, no!" replied +the Father. "Then," returned the querist, "I will not go. It is not good +to be lazy." But above all other obstacles was the dread of starvation +in the regions of the blest. Nor, when the dying Indian had been induced +at last to express a desire for Paradise, was it an easy matter to bring +him to a due contrition for his sins; for he would deny with indignation +that he had ever committed any. When at length, as sometimes happened, +all these difficulties gave way, and the patient had been brought to +what seemed to his instructor a fitting frame for baptism, the priest, +with contentment at his heart, brought water in a cup or in the hollow +of his hand, touched his forehead with the mystic drop, and snatched him +from an eternity of woe. But the convert, even after his baptism, did +not always manifest a satisfactory spiritual condition. "Why did you +baptize that Iroquois?" asked one of the dying neophytes, speaking of +the prisoner recently tortured; "he will get to Heaven before us, and, +when he sees us coming, he will drive us out." [6] + +[4] Game was so scarce in the Huron country, that it was greatly prized +as a luxury. Le Mercier speaks of an Indian, sixty years of age, who +walked twelve miles to taste the wild-fowl killed by the French hunter. +The ordinary food was corn, beans, pumpkins, and fish. +[5] It was scarcely possible to convince the Indians, that there was but +one God for themselves and the whites. The proposition was met by such +arguments as this: "If we had been of one father, we should know how to +make knives and coats as well as you."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, +1637, 147. +[6] Most of the above traits are drawn from Le Mercier's report of 1637. +The rest are from Brébeuf. + +Thus did these worthy priests, too conscientious to let these +unfortunates die in peace, follow them with benevolent persecutions to +the hour of their death. + +It was clear to the Fathers, that their ministrations were valued solely +because their religion was supposed by many to be a "medicine," or +charm, efficacious against famine, disease, and death. They themselves, +indeed, firmly believed that saints and angels were always at hand with +temporal succors for the faithful. At their intercession, St. Joseph had +interposed to procure a happy delivery to a squaw in protracted pains of +childbirth; [7] and they never doubted, that, in the hour of need, the +celestial powers would confound the unbeliever with intervention direct +and manifest. At the town of Wenrio, the people, after trying in vain +all the feasts, dances, and preposterous ceremonies by which their +medicine-men sought to stop the pest, resolved to essay the "medicine" +of the French, and, to that end, called the priests to a council. "What +must we do, that your God may take pity on us?" Brébeuf's answer was +uncompromising:-- + +[7] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 89. Another woman was delivered +on touching a relic of St. Ignatius. Ibid., 90. + +"Believe in Him; keep His commandments; abjure your faith in dreams; +take but one wife, and be true to her; give up your superstitious +feasts; renounce your assemblies of debauchery; eat no human flesh; +never give feasts to demons; and make a vow, that, if God will deliver +you from this pest, you will build a chapel to offer Him thanksgiving +and praise." [8] + +[8] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 114, 116 (Cramoisy). + +The terms were too hard. They would fain bargain to be let off with +building the chapel alone; but Brébeuf would bate them nothing, and the +council broke up in despair. + +At Ossossané, a few miles distant, the people, in a frenzy of terror, +accepted the conditions, and promised to renounce their superstitions +and reform their manners. It was a labor of Hercules, a cleansing of +Augean stables; but the scared savages were ready to make any promise +that might stay the pestilence. One of their principal sorcerers +proclaimed in a loud voice through the streets of the town, that the God +of the French was their master, and that thenceforth all must live +according to His will. "What consolation," exclaims Le Mercier, "to see +God glorified by the lips of an imp of Satan!" [9] + +[9] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 127, 128 (Cramoisy). + +Their joy was short. The proclamation was on the twelfth of December. On +the twenty-first, a noted sorcerer came to Ossossané. He was of a +dwarfish, hump-backed figure,--most rare among this symmetrical +people,--with a vicious face, and a dress consisting of a torn and +shabby robe of beaver-skin. Scarcely had he arrived, when, with ten or +twelve other savages, he ensconced himself in a kennel of bark made for +the occasion. In the midst were placed several stones, heated red-hot. +On these the sorcerer threw tobacco, producing a stifling fumigation; in +the midst of which, for a full half-hour, he sang, at the top of his +throat, those boastful, yet meaningless, rhapsodies of which Indian +magical songs are composed. Then came a grand "medicine-feast"; and the +disappointed Jesuits saw plainly that the objects of their spiritual +care, unwilling to throw away any chance of cure, were bent on invoking +aid from God and the Devil at once. + +The hump-backed sorcerer became a thorn in the side of the Fathers, who +more than half believed his own account of his origin. He was, he said, +not a man, but an oki,--a spirit, or, as the priests rendered it, a +demon,--and had dwelt with other okies under the earth, when the whim +seized him to become a man. Therefore he ascended to the upper world, in +company with a female spirit. They hid beside a path, and, when they saw +a woman passing, they entered her womb. After a time they were born, but +not until the male oki had quarrelled with and strangled his female +companion, who came dead into the world. [10] The character of the +sorcerer seems to have comported reasonably well with this story of his +origin. He pretended to have an absolute control over the pestilence, +and his prescriptions were scrupulously followed. + +[10] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 72 (Cramoisy). This "petit +sorcier" is often mentioned elsewhere. + +He had several conspicuous rivals, besides a host of humbler +competitors. One of these magician-doctors, who was nearly blind, made +for himself a kennel at the end of his house, where he fasted for seven +days. [11] On the sixth day the spirits appeared, and, among other +revelations, told him that the disease could be frightened away by means +of images of straw, like scarecrows, placed on the tops of the houses. +Within forty-eight hours after this announcement, the roofs of +Onnentisati and the neighboring villages were covered with an army of +these effigies. The Indians tried to persuade the Jesuits to put them on +the mission-house; but the priests replied, that the cross before their +door was a better protector; and, for further security, they set another +on their roof, declaring that they would rely on it to save them from +infection. [12] The Indians, on their part, anxious that their +scarecrows should do their office well, addressed them in loud harangues +and burned offerings of tobacco to them. [13] + +[11] See Introduction. +[12] "Qu'en vertu de ce signe nous ne redoutions point les demons, et +esperions que Dieu preserueroit nostre petite maison de cette maladie +contagieuse."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 150. +[13] Ibid., 157. + +There was another sorcerer, whose medical practice was so extensive, +that, unable to attend to all his patients, he sent substitutes to the +surrounding towns, first imparting to them his own mysterious power. One +of these deputies came to Ossossané while the priests were there. The +principal house was thronged with expectant savages, anxiously waiting +his arrival. A chief carried before him a kettle of mystic water, with +which the envoy sprinkled the company, [14] at the same time fanning +them with the wing of a wild turkey. Then came a grand medicine-feast, +followed by a medicine-dance of women. + +[14] The idea seems to have been taken from the holy water of the +French. Le Mercier says that a Huron who had been to Quebec once asked +him the use of the vase of water at the door of the chapel. The priest +told him that it was "to frighten away the devils". On this, he begged +earnestly to have some of it. + +Opinion was divided as to the nature of the pest; but the greater number +were agreed that it was a malignant oki, who came from Lake Huron. [15] +As it was of the last moment to conciliate or frighten him, no means to +these ends were neglected. Feasts were held for him, at which, to do him +honor, each guest gorged himself like a vulture. A mystic fraternity +danced with firebrands in their mouths; while other dancers wore masks, +and pretended to be hump-backed. Tobacco was burned to the Demon of the +Pest, no less than to the scarecrows which were to frighten him. A chief +climbed to the roof of a house, and shouted to the invisible monster, +"If you want flesh, go to our enemies, go to the Iroquois!"--while, to +add terror to persuasion, the crowd in the dwelling below yelled with +all the force of their lungs, and beat furiously with sticks on the +walls of bark. + +[15] Many believed that the country was bewitched by wicked sorcerers, +one of whom, it was said, had been seen at night roaming around the +villages, vomiting fire. (Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 134.) +This superstition of sorcerers vomiting fire was common among the +Iroquois of New York.--Others held that a sister of Étienne Brulé caused +the evil, in revenge for the death of her brother, murdered some years +before. She was said to have been seen flying over the country, +breathing forth pestilence. + +Besides these public efforts to stay the pestilence, the sufferers, each +for himself, had their own methods of cure, dictated by dreams or +prescribed by established usage. Thus two of the priests, entering a +house, saw a sick man crouched in a corner, while near him sat three +friends. Before each of these was placed a huge portion of +food,--enough, the witness declares, for four,--and though all were +gorged to suffocation, with starting eyeballs and distended veins, they +still held staunchly to their task, resolved at all costs to devour the +whole, in order to cure the patient, who meanwhile ceased not, in feeble +tones, to praise their exertions, and implore them to persevere. [16] + +[16] "En fin il leur fallut rendre gorge, ce qu'ils firent à diuerses +reprises, ne laissants pas pour cela de continuer à vuider leur +plat."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 142.--This beastly +superstition exists in some tribes at the present day. A kindred +superstition once fell under the writer's notice, in the case of a +wounded Indian, who begged of every one he met to drink a large bowl of +water, in order that he, the Indian, might be cured. + +Turning from these eccentricities of the "noble savage" [17] to the +zealots who were toiling, according to their light, to snatch him from +the clutch of Satan, we see the irrepressible Jesuits roaming from town +to town in restless quest of subjects for baptism. In the case of +adults, they thought some little preparation essential; but their +efforts to this end, even with the aid of St. Joseph, whom they +constantly invoked, [18] were not always successful; and, cheaply as +they offered salvation, they sometimes railed to find a purchaser. With +infants, however, a simple drop of water sufficed for the transfer from +a prospective Hell to an assured Paradise. The Indians, who at first had +sought baptism as a cure, now began to regard it as a cause of death; +and when the priest entered a lodge where a sick child lay in extremity, +the scowling parents watched him with jealous distrust, lest unawares +the deadly drop should be applied. The Jesuits were equal to the +emergency. Father Le Mercier will best tell his own story. + +[17] In the midst of these absurdities we find recorded one of the best +traits of the Indian character. At Ihonatiria, a house occupied by a +family of orphan children was burned to the ground, leaving the inmates +destitute. The villagers united to aid them. Each contributed something, +and they were soon better provided for than before. +[18] "C'est nostre refuge ordinaire en semblables necessitez, et +d'ordinaire auec tels succez, que nous auons sujet d'en benir Dieu à +iamais, qui nous fait cognoistre en cette barbarie le credit de ce S. +Patriarche aupres de son infinie misericorde."--Le Mercier, Relation des +Hurons, 1637, 153.--In the case of a woman at Onnentisati, "Dieu nous +inspira de luy vouër quelques Messes en l'honneur de S. Joseph." The +effect was prompt. In half an hour the woman was ready for baptism. On +the same page we have another subject secured to Heaven, "sans doute par +les merites du glorieux Patriarche S. Joseph." + +"On the third of May, Father Pierre Pijart baptized at Anonatea a little +child two months old, in manifest danger of death, without being seen by +the parents, who would not give their consent. This is the device which +he used. Our sugar does wonders for us. He pretended to make the child +drink a little sugared water, and at the same time dipped a finger in +it. As the father of the infant began to suspect something, and called +out to him not to baptize it, he gave the spoon to a woman who was near, +and said to her, 'Give it to him yourself.' She approached and found the +child asleep; and at the same time Father Pijart, under pretence of +seeing if he was really asleep, touched his face with his wet finger, +and baptized him. At the end of forty-eight hours he went to Heaven. + +"Some days before, the missionary had used the same device (industrie) +for baptizing a little boy six or seven years old. His father, who was +very sick, had several times refused to receive baptism; and when asked +if he would not be glad to have his son baptized, he had answered, No. +'At least,' said Father Pijart, 'you will not object to my giving him a +little sugar.' 'No; but you must not baptize him.' The missionary gave +it to him once; then again; and at the third spoonful, before he had put +the sugar into the water, he let a drop of it fall on the child, at the +same time pronouncing the sacramental words. A little girl, who was +looking at him, cried out, 'Father, he is baptizing him!' The child's +father was much disturbed; but the missionary said to him, 'Did you not +see that I was giving him sugar?' The child died soon after; but God +showed His grace to the father, who is now in perfect health." [19] + +[19] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 165. Various other cases of +the kind are mentioned in the Relations. + +That equivocal morality, lashed by the withering satire of Pascal,--a +morality built on the doctrine that all means are permissible for saving +souls from perdition, and that sin itself is no sin when its object is +the "greater glory of God,"--found far less scope in the rude wilderness +of the Hurons than among the interests, ambitions, and passions of +civilized life. Nor were these men, chosen from the purest of their +Order, personally well fitted to illustrate the capabilities of this +elastic system. Yet now and then, by the light of their own writings, we +may observe that the teachings of the school of Loyola had not been +wholly without effect in the formation of their ethics. + +But when we see them, in the gloomy February of 1637, and the gloomier +months that followed, toiling on foot from one infected town to another, +wading through the sodden snow, under the bare and dripping forests, +drenched with incessant rains, till they descried at length through the +storm the clustered dwellings of some barbarous hamlet,--when we see +them entering, one after another, these wretched abodes of misery and +darkness, and all for one sole end, the baptism of the sick and dying, +we may smile at the futility of the object, but we must needs admire the +self-sacrificing zeal with which it was pursued. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +1637. + +CHARACTER OF THE CANADIAN JESUITS. + +Jean de Brébeuf • Charles Garnier • Joseph Marie Chaumonot • Noël +Chabanel • Isaac Jogues • Other Jesuits • Nature of their Faith • +Supernaturalism • Visions • Miracles + +Before pursuing farther these obscure, but noteworthy, scenes in the +drama of human history, it will be well to indicate, so far as there are +means of doing so, the distinctive traits of some of the chief actors. +Mention has often been made of Brébeuf,--that masculine apostle of the +Faith,--the Ajax of the mission. Nature had given him all the passions +of a vigorous manhood, and religion had crushed them, curbed them, or +tamed them to do her work,--like a dammed-up torrent, sluiced and guided +to grind and saw and weave for the good of man. Beside him, in strange +contrast, stands his co-laborer, Charles Garnier. Both were of noble +birth and gentle nurture; but here the parallel ends. Garnier's face was +beardless, though he was above thirty years old. For this he was laughed +at by his friends in Paris, but admired by the Indians, who thought him +handsome. [1] His constitution, bodily or mental, was by no means +robust. From boyhood, he had shown a delicate and sensitive nature, a +tender conscience, and a proneness to religious emotion. He had never +gone with his schoolmates to inns and other places of amusement, but +kept his pocket-money to give to beggars. One of his brothers relates of +him, that, seeing an obscene book, he bought and destroyed it, lest +other boys should be injured by it. He had always wished to be a Jesuit, +and, after a novitiate which is described as most edifying, he became a +professed member of the Order. The Church, indeed, absorbed the greater +part, if not the whole, of this pious family,--one brother being a +Carmelite, another a Capuchin, and a third a Jesuit, while there seems +also to have been a fourth under vows. Of Charles Garnier there remain +twenty-four letters, written at various times to his father and two of +his brothers, chiefly during his missionary life among the Hurons. They +breathe the deepest and most intense Roman Catholic piety, and a spirit +enthusiastic, yet sad, as of one renouncing all the hopes and prizes of +the world, and living for Heaven alone. The affections of his sensitive +nature, severed from earthly objects, found relief in an ardent +adoration of the Virgin Mary. With none of the bone and sinew of rugged +manhood, he entered, not only without hesitation, but with eagerness, on +a life which would have tried the boldest; and, sustained by the spirit +within him, he was more than equal to it. His fellow-missionaries +thought him a saint; and had he lived a century or two earlier, he would +perhaps have been canonized: yet, while all his life was a willing +martyrdom, one can discern, amid his admirable virtues, some slight +lingerings of mortal vanity. Thus, in three several letters, he speaks +of his great success in baptizing, and plainly intimates that he had +sent more souls to Heaven than the other Jesuits. [2] + +[1] "C'est pourquoi j'ai bien gagne à quitter la France, où vous me +fesiez la guerre de n'avoir point de barbe; car c'est ce qui me fait +estimer beau des Sauvages."--Lettres de Garnier, MSS. +[2] The above sketch of Garnier is drawn from various sources. +Observations du P. Henri de St. Joseph, Carme, sur son Frère le P. +Charles Garnier, MS.--Abrégé de la Vie du R. Père Charles Garnier, MS. +This unpublished sketch bears the signature of the Jesuit Ragueneau, +with the date 1652. For the opportunity of consulting it I am indebted +to Rev. Felix Martin, S. J.--Lettres du P. Charles Garnier, MSS. These +embrace his correspondence from the Huron country, and are exceedingly +characteristic and striking. There is another letter in Carayon, +Première Mission.--Garnier's family was wealthy, as well as noble. Its +members seem to have been strongly attached to each other, and the young +priest's father was greatly distressed at his departure for Canada. + +Next appears a young man of about twenty-seven years, Joseph Marie +Chaumonot. Unlike Brébeuf and Garnier, he was of humble origin,--his +father being a vine-dresser, and his mother the daughter of a poor +village schoolmaster. At an early age they sent him to Châtillon on the +Seine, where he lived with his uncle, a priest, who taught him to speak +Latin, and awakened his religious susceptibilities, which were naturally +strong. This did not prevent him from yielding to the persuasions of one +of his companions to run off to Beaune, a town of Burgundy, where the +fugitives proposed to study music under the Fathers of the Oratory. To +provide funds for the journey, he stole a sum of about the value of a +dollar from his uncle, the priest. This act, which seems to have been a +mere peccadillo of boyish levity, determined his future career. Finding +himself in total destitution at Beaune, he wrote to his mother for +money, and received in reply an order from his father to come home. +Stung with the thought of being posted as a thief in his native village, +he resolved not to do so, but to set out forthwith on a pilgrimage to +Rome; and accordingly, tattered and penniless, he took the road for the +sacred city. Soon a conflict began within him between his misery and the +pride which forbade him to beg. The pride was forced to succumb. He +begged from door to door; slept under sheds by the wayside, or in +haystacks; and now and then found lodging and a meal at a convent. Thus, +sometimes alone, sometimes with vagabonds whom he met on the road, he +made his way through Savoy and Lombardy in a pitiable condition of +destitution, filth, and disease. At length he reached Ancona, when the +thought occured to him of visiting the Holy House of Loretto, and +imploring the succor of the Virgin Mary. Nor were his hopes +disappointed. He had reached that renowned shrine, knelt, paid his +devotions, and offered his prayer, when, as he issued from the door of +the chapel, he was accosted by a young man, whom he conjectures to have +been an angel descended to his relief, and who was probably some +penitent or devotee bent on works of charity or self-mortification. With +a voice of the greatest kindness, he proffered his aid to the wretched +boy, whose appearance was alike fitted to awaken pity and disgust. The +conquering of a natural repugnance to filth, in the interest of charity +and humility, is a conspicuous virtue in most of the Roman Catholic +saints; and whatever merit may attach to it was acquired in an +extraordinary degree by the young man in question. Apparently, he was a +physician; for he not only restored the miserable wanderer to a +condition of comparative decency, but cured him of a grievous malady, +the result of neglect. Chaumonot went on his way, thankful to his +benefactor, and overflowing with an enthusiasm of gratitude to Our Lady +of Loretto. [3] + +[3] "Si la moindre dame m'avoit fait rendre ce service par le dernier de +ses valets, n'aurois-je pas dus lui en rendre toutes les reconnoissances +possibles? Et si après une telle charité elle s'étoit offerte à me +servir toujours de mesme, comment aurois-je dû l'honorer, lui obéir, +l'aimer toute ma vie! Pardon, Reine des Anges et des hommes! pardon de +ce qu'après avoir reçu de vous tant de marques, par lesquelles vous +m'avez convaincu que vous m'avez adopté pour votre fils, j'ai eu +l'ingratitude pendant des années entières de me comporter encore plutôt +en esclave de Satan qu'en enfant d'une Mère Vierge. O que vous êtes +bonne et charitable! puisque quelques obstacles que mes péchés ayent pu +mettre à vos graces, vous n'avez jamais cessé de m'attirer au bien; +jusque là que vous m'avez fait admettre dans la Sainte Compagnie de +Jésus, votre fils."--Chaumonot, Vie, 20. The above is from the very +curious autobiography written by Chaumonot, at the command of his +Superior, in 1688. The original manuscript is at the Hôtel Dieu of +Quebec. Mr. Shea has printed it. + +As he journeyed towards Rome, an old burgher, at whose door he had +begged, employed him as a servant. He soon became known to a Jesuit, to +whom he had confessed himself in Latin; and as his acquirements were +considerable for his years, he was eventually employed as teacher of a +low class in one of the Jesuit schools. Nature had inclined him to a +life of devotion. He would fain be a hermit, and, to that end, practised +eating green ears of wheat; but, finding he could not swallow them, +conceived that he had mistaken his vocation. Then a strong desire grew +up within him to become a Récollet, a Capuchin, or, above all, a Jesuit; +and at length the wish of his heart was answered. At the age of +twenty-one, he was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate. [4] Soon after its +close, a small duodecimo volume was placed in his hands. It was a +Relation of the Canadian mission, and contained one of those narratives +of Brébeuf which have been often cited in the preceding pages. Its +effect was immediate. Burning to share those glorious toils, the young +priest asked to be sent to Canada; and his request was granted. + +[4] His age, when he left his uncle, the priest, is not mentioned. But +he must have been a mere child; for, at the end of his novitiate, he had +forgotten his native language, and was forced to learn it a second time. + +"Jamais y eut-il homme sur terre plus obligé que moi à la Sainte Famille +de Jésus, de Marie et de Joseph! Marie en me guérissant de ma vilaine +galle ou teigne, me délivra d'une infinité de peines et d'incommodités +corporelles, que cette hideuse maladie qui me rongeoit m'avoit causé. +Joseph m'ayant obtenu la grace d'être incorporé à un corps aussi saint +qu'est celui des Jésuites, m'a preservé d'une infinité de misères +spirituelles, de tentations très dangereuses et de péchés très énormes. +Jésus n'ayant pas permis que j'entrasse dans aucun autre ordre qu'en +celui qu'il honore tout à la fois de son beau nom, de sa douce présence +et de sa protection spéciale. O Jésus! O Marie! O Joseph! qui méritoit +moins que moi vos divines faveurs, et envers qui avez vous été plus +prodigue?"--Chaumonot, Vie, 37. + +Before embarking, he set out with the Jesuit Poncet, who was also +destined for Canada, on a pilgrimage from Rome to the shrine of Our Lady +of Loretto. They journeyed on foot, begging alms by the way. Chaumonot +was soon seized with a pain in the knee, so violent that it seemed +impossible to proceed. At San Severino, where they lodged with the +Barnabites, he bethought him of asking the intercession of a certain +poor woman of that place, who had died some time before with the +reputation of sanctity. Accordingly he addressed to her his prayer, +promising to publish her fame on every possible occasion, if she would +obtain his cure from God. [5] The intercession was accepted; the +offending limb became sound again, and the two pilgrims pursued their +journey. They reached Loretto, and, kneeling before the Queen of Heaven, +implored her favor and aid; while Chaumonot, overflowing with devotion +to this celestial mistress of his heart, conceived the purpose of +building in Canada a chapel to her honor, after the exact model of the +Holy House of Loretto. They soon afterwards embarked together, and +arrived among the Hurons early in the autumn of 1639. + +[5] "Je me recommandai à elle en lui promettant de la faire connoître +dans toutes les occasions que j'en aurois jamais, si elle m'obtenoit de +Dieu ma guérison."--Chaumonot, Vie, 46. + +Noël Chabanel came later to the mission; for he did not reach the Huron +country until 1643. He detested the Indian life,--the smoke, the vermin, +the filthy food, the impossibility of privacy. He could not study by the +smoky lodge-fire, among the noisy crowd of men and squaws, with their +dogs, and their restless, screeching children. He had a natural +inaptitude to learning the language, and labored at it for five years +with scarcely a sign of progress. The Devil whispered a suggestion into +his ear: Let him procure his release from these barren and revolting +toils, and return to France, where congenial and useful employments +awaited him. Chabanel refused to listen; and when the temptation still +beset him, he bound himself by a solemn vow to remain in Canada to the +day of his death. [6] + +[6] Abrégé de la Vie du Père Noël Chabanel, MS. This anonymous paper +bears the signature of Ragueneau, in attestation of its truth. See also +Ragueneau, Relation, 1650, 17, 18. Chabanel's vow is here given +verbatim. + +Isaac Jogues was of a character not unlike Garnier. Nature had given him +no especial force of intellect or constitutional energy, yet the man was +indomitable and irrepressible, as his history will show. We have but few +means of characterizing the remaining priests of the mission otherwise +than as their traits appear on the field of their labors. Theirs was no +faith of abstractions and generalities. For them, heaven was very near +to earth, touching and mingling with it at many points. On high, God the +Father sat enthroned; and, nearer to human sympathies, Divinity +incarnate in the Son, with the benign form of his immaculate mother, and +her spouse, St. Joseph, the chosen patron of New France. Interceding +saints and departed friends bore to the throne of grace the petitions of +those yet lingering in mortal bondage, and formed an ascending chain +from earth to heaven. + +These priests lived in an atmosphere of supernaturalism. Every day had +its miracle. Divine power declared itself in action immediate and +direct, controlling, guiding, or reversing the laws of Nature. The +missionaries did not reject the ordinary cures for disease or wounds; +but they relied far more on a prayer to the Virgin, a vow to St. Joseph, +or the promise of a neuvaine, or nine days' devotion, to some other +celestial personage; while the touch of a fragment of a tooth or bone of +some departed saint was of sovereign efficacy to cure sickness, solace +pain, or relieve a suffering squaw in the throes of childbirth. Once, +Chaumonot, having a headache, remembered to have heard of a sick man who +regained his health by commending his case to St. Ignatius, and at the +same time putting a medal stamped with his image into his mouth. +Accordingly he tried a similar experiment, putting into his mouth a +medal bearing a representation of the Holy Family, which was the object +of his especial devotion. The next morning found him cured. [7] + +[7] Chaumonot, Vie, 73. + +The relation between this world and the next was sometimes of a nature +curiously intimate. Thus, when Chaumonot heard of Garnier's death, he +immediately addressed his departed colleague, and promised him the +benefit of all the good works which he, Chaumonot, might perform during +the next week, provided the defunct missionary would make him heir to +his knowledge of the Huron tongue. [8] And he ascribed to the deceased +Garnier's influence the mastery of that language which he afterwards +acquired. + +[8] "Je n'eus pas plutôt appris sa glorieuse mort, que je lui promis +tout ce que je ferois de bien pendant huit jours, à condition qu'il me +feroit son héritier dans la connoissance parfaite qu'il avoit du +Huron."--Chaumonot, Vie, 61. + +The efforts of the missionaries for the conversion of the savages were +powerfully seconded from the other world, and the refractory subject who +was deaf to human persuasions softened before the superhuman agencies +which the priest invoked to his aid. [9] + +[9] As these may be supposed to be exploded ideas of the past, the +writer may recall an incident of his youth, while spending a few days in +the convent of the Passionists, near the Coliseum at Rome. These worthy +monks, after using a variety of arguments for his conversion, expressed +the hope that a miraculous interposition would be vouchsafed to that +end, and that the Virgin would manifest herself to him in a nocturnal +vision. To this end they gave him a small brass medal, stamped with her +image, to be worn at his neck, while they were to repeat a certain +number of Aves and Paters, in which he was urgently invited to join; as +the result of which, it was hoped the Virgin would appear on the same +night. No vision, however, occurred. + +It is scarcely necessary to add, that signs and voices from another +world, visitations from Hell and visions from Heaven, were incidents of +no rare occurrence in the lives of these ardent apostles. To Brébeuf, +whose deep nature, like a furnace white hot, glowed with the still +intensity of his enthusiasm, they were especially frequent. Demons in +troops appeared before him, sometimes in the guise of men, sometimes as +bears, wolves, or wild-cats. He called on God, and the apparitions +vanished. Death, like a skeleton, sometimes menaced him, and once, as he +faced it with an unquailing eye, it fell powerless at his feet. A demon, +in the form of a woman, assailed him with the temptation which beset St. +Benedict among the rocks of Subiaco; but Brébeuf signed the cross, and +the infernal siren melted into air. He saw the vision of a vast and +gorgeous palace; and a miraculous voice assured him that such was to be +the reward of those who dwelt in savage hovels for the cause of God. +Angels appeared to him; and, more than once, St. Joseph and the Virgin +were visibly present before his sight. Once, when he was among the +Neutral Nation, in the winter of 1640, he beheld the ominous apparition +of a great cross slowly approaching from the quarter where lay the +country of the Iroquois. He told the vision to his comrades. "What was +it like? How large was it?" they eagerly demanded. "Large enough," +replied the priest, "to crucify us all." [10] To explain such phenomena +is the province of psychology, and not of history. Their occurrence is +no matter of surprise, and it would be superfluous to doubt that they +were recounted in good faith, and with a full belief in their reality. + +[10] Quelques Remarques sur la Vie du Père Jean de Brébeuf, MS. On the +margin of this paper, opposite several of the statements repeated above, +are the words, signed by Ragueneau, "Ex ipsius autographo," indicating +that the statements were made in writing by Brébeuf himself. + +Still other visions are recorded by Chaumonot as occurring to Brébeuf, +when they were together in the Neutral country. See also the long notice +of Brébeuf, written by his colleague, Ragueneau, in the Relation of +1649; and Tanner, Societas Jesu Militans, 533. + +In these enthusiasts we shall find striking examples of one of the +morbid forces of human nature; yet in candor let us do honor to what was +genuine in them,--that principle of self-abnegation which is the life of +true religion, and which is vital no less to the highest forms of +heroism. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +1637-1640. + +PERSECUTION. + +Ossossané • The New Chapel • A Triumph of the Faith • The Nether Powers +• Signs of a Tempest • Slanders • Rage against the Jesuits • Their +Boldness and Persistency • Nocturnal Council • Danger of the Priests • +Brébeuf's Letter • Narrow Escapes • Woes and Consolations + +The town of Ossossané, or Rochelle, stood, as we have seen, on the +borders of Lake Huron, at the skirts of a gloomy wilderness of pine. +Thither, in May, 1637, repaired Father Pijart, to found, in this, one of +the largest of the Huron towns, the new mission of the Immaculate +Conception. [1] The Indians had promised Brébeuf to build a house for +the black-robes, and Pijart found the work in progress. There were at +this time about fifty dwellings in the town, each containing eight or +ten families. The quadrangular fort already alluded to had now been +completed by the Indians, under the instruction of the priests. [2] + +[1] The doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, recently +sanctioned by the Pope, has long been a favorite tenet of the Jesuits. +[2] Lettres de Garnier, MSS. It was of upright pickets, ten feet high, +with flanking towers at two angles. + +The new mission-house was about seventy feet in length. No sooner had +the savage workmen secured the bark covering on its top and sides than +the priests took possession, and began their preparations for a notable +ceremony. At the farther end they made an altar, and hung such +decorations as they had on the rough walls of bark throughout half the +length of the structure. This formed their chapel. On the altar was a +crucifix, with vessels and ornaments of shining metal; while above hung +several pictures,--among them a painting of Christ, and another of the +Virgin, both of life-size. There was also a representation of the Last +Judgment, wherein dragons and serpents might be seen feasting on the +entrails of the wicked, while demons scourged them into the flames of +Hell. The entrance was adorned with a quantity of tinsel, together with +green boughs skilfully disposed. [3] + +[3] "Nostre Chapelle estoit extraordinairement bien ornée, ... nous +auions dressé vn portique entortillé de feüillage, meslé d'oripeau, en +vn mot nous auions estallé tout ce que vostre R. nous a enuoié de beau," +etc., etc.--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 175, 176.--In his +Relation of the next year he recurs to the subject, and describes the +pictures displayed on this memorable occasion.--Relation des Hurons, +1638, 33. + +Never before were such splendors seen in the land of the Hurons. Crowds +gathered from afar, and gazed in awe and admiration at the marvels of +the sanctuary. A woman came from a distant town to behold it, and, +tremulous between curiosity and fear, thrust her head into the +mysterious recess, declaring that she would see it, though the look +should cost her life. [4] + +[4] Ibid., 1637, 176. + +One is forced to wonder at, if not to admire, the energy with which +these priests and their scarcely less zealous attendants [5] toiled to +carry their pictures and ornaments through the most arduous of journeys, +where the traveller was often famished from the sheer difficulty of +transporting provisions. + +[5] The Jesuits on these distant missions were usually attended by +followers who had taken no vows, and could leave their service at will, +but whose motives were religious, and not mercenary. Probably this was +the character of their attendants in the present case. They were known +as donnés, or "given men." It appears from a letter of the Jesuit Du +Peron, that twelve hired laborers were soon after sent up to the +mission. + +A great event had called forth all this preparation. Of the many +baptisms achieved by the Fathers in the course of their indefatigable +ministry, the subjects had all been infants, or adults at the point of +death; but at length a Huron, in full health and manhood, respected and +influential in his tribe, had been won over to the Faith, and was now to +be baptized with solemn ceremonial, in the chapel thus gorgeously +adorned. It was a strange scene. Indians were there in throngs, and the +house was closely packed: warriors, old and young, glistening in grease +and sunflower-oil, with uncouth locks, a trifle less coarse than a +horse's mane, and faces perhaps smeared with paint in honor of the +occasion; wenches in gay attire; hags muffled in a filthy discarded +deer-skin, their leathery visages corrugated with age and malice, and +their hard, glittering eyes riveted on the spectacle before them. The +priests, no longer in their daily garb of black, but radiant in their +surplices, the genuflections, the tinkling of the bell, the swinging of +the censer, the sweet odors so unlike the fumes of the smoky +lodge-fires, the mysterious elevation of the Host, (for a mass followed +the baptism,) and the agitation of the neophyte, whose Indian +imperturbability fairly deserted him,--all these combined to produce on +the minds of the savage beholders an impression that seemed to promise a +rich harvest for the Faith. To the Jesuits it was a day of triumph and +of hope. The ice had been broken; the wedge had entered; light had +dawned at last on the long night of heathendom. But there was one +feature of the situation which in their rejoicing they overlooked. + +The Devil had taken alarm. He had borne with reasonable composure the +loss of individual souls snatched from him by former baptisms; but here +was a convert whose example and influence threatened to shake his Huron +empire to its very foundation. In fury and fear, he rose to the +conflict, and put forth all his malice and all his hellish ingenuity. +Such, at least, is the explanation given by the Jesuits of the scenes +that followed. [6] Whether accepting it or not, let us examine the +circumstances which gave rise to it. + +[6] Several of the Jesuits allude to this supposed excitement among the +tenants of the nether world. Thus, Le Mercier says, "Le Diable se +sentoit pressé de prés, il ne pouuoit supporter le Baptesme solennel de +quelques Sauuages des plus signalez."--Relation des Hurons, 1638, +33.--Several other baptisms of less note followed that above described. +Garnier, writing to his brother, repeatedly alludes to the alarm excited +in Hell by the recent successes of the mission, and adds,--"Vous pouvez +juger quelle consolation nous étoit-ce de voir le diable s'armer contre +nous et se servir de ses esclaves pour nous attaquer et tâcher de nous +perdre en haine de J. C." + +The mysterious strangers, garbed in black, who of late years had made +their abode among them, from motives past finding out, marvellous in +knowledge, careless of life, had awakened in the breasts of the Hurons +mingled emotions of wonder, perplexity, fear, respect, and awe. From the +first, they had held them answerable for the changes of the weather, +commending them when the crops were abundant, and upbraiding them in +times of scarcity. They thought them mighty magicians, masters of life +and death; and they came to them for spells, sometimes to destroy their +enemies, and sometimes to kill grasshoppers. And now it was whispered +abroad that it was they who had bewitched the nation, and caused the +pest which threatened to exterminate it. + +It was Isaac Jogues who first heard this ominous rumor, at the town of +Onnentisati, and it proceeded from the dwarfish sorcerer already +mentioned, who boasted himself a devil incarnate. The slander spread +fast and far. Their friends looked at them askance; their enemies +clamored for their lives. Some said that they concealed in their houses +a corpse, which infected the country,--a perverted notion, derived from +some half-instructed neophyte, concerning the body of Christ in the +Eucharist. Others ascribed the evil to a serpent, others to a spotted +frog, others to a demon which the priests were supposed to carry in the +barrel of a gun. Others again gave out that they had pricked an infant +to death with awls in the forest, in order to kill the Huron children by +magic. "Perhaps," observes Father Le Mercier, "the Devil was enraged +because we had placed a great many of these little innocents in Heaven." +[7] + +[7] "Le diable enrageoit peutestre de ce que nous avions placé dans le +ciel quantité de ces petits innocens."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, +1638, 12 (Cramoisy). + +The picture of the Last Judgment became an object of the utmost terror. +It was regarded as a charm. The dragons and serpents were supposed to be +the demons of the pest, and the sinners whom they were so busily +devouring to represent its victims. On the top of a spruce-tree, near +their house at Ihonatiria, the priests had fastened a small streamer, to +show the direction of the wind. This, too, was taken for a charm, +throwing off disease and death to all quarters. The clock, once an +object of harmless wonder, now excited the wildest alarm; and the +Jesuits were forced to stop it, since, when it struck, it was supposed +to sound the signal of death. At sunset, one would have seen knots of +Indians, their faces dark with dejection and terror, listening to the +measured sounds which issued from within the neighboring house of the +mission, where, with bolted doors, the priests were singing litanies, +mistaken for incantations by the awe-struck savages. + +Had the objects of these charges been Indians, their term of life would +have been very short. The blow of a hatchet, stealthily struck in the +dusky entrance of a lodge, would have promptly avenged the victims of +their sorcery, and delivered the country from peril. But the priests +inspired a strange awe. Nocturnal councils were held; their death was +decreed; and, as they walked their rounds, whispering groups of children +gazed after them as men doomed to die. But who should be the +executioner? They were reviled and upbraided. The Indian boys threw +sticks at them as they passed, and then ran behind the houses. When they +entered one of these pestiferous dens, this impish crew clambered on the +roof, to pelt them with snowballs through the smoke-holes. The old squaw +who crouched by the fire scowled on them with mingled anger and fear, +and cried out, "Begone! there are no sick ones here." The invalids +wrapped their heads in their blankets; and when the priest accosted some +dejected warrior, the savage looked gloomily on the ground, and answered +not a word. + +Yet nothing could divert the Jesuits from their ceaseless quest of dying +subjects for baptism, and above all of dying children. They penetrated +every house in turn. When, through the thin walls of bark, they heard +the wail of a sick infant, no menace and no insult could repel them from +the threshold. They pushed boldly in, asked to buy some trifle, spoke of +late news of Iroquois forays,--of anything, in short, except the +pestilence and the sick child; conversed for a while till suspicion was +partially lulled to sleep, and then, pretending to observe the sufferer +for the first time, approached it, felt its pulse, and asked of its +health. Now, while apparently fanning the heated brow, the dexterous +visitor touched it with a corner of his handkerchief, which he had +previously dipped in water, murmured the baptismal words with motionless +lips, and snatched another soul from the fangs of the "Infernal Wolf." +[8] Thus, with the patience of saints, the courage of heroes, and an +intent truly charitable, did the Fathers put forth a nimble-fingered +adroitness that would have done credit to the profession of which the +function is less to dispense the treasures of another world than to +grasp those which pertain to this. + +[8] Ce loup infernal is a title often bestowed in the Relations on the +Devil. The above details are gathered from the narratives of Brébeuf, Le +Mercier, and Lalemant, and letters, published and unpublished, of +several other Jesuits. + +In another case, an Indian girl was carrying on her back a sick child, +two months old. Two Jesuits approached, and while one of them amused the +girl with his rosary, "l'autre le baptise lestement; le pauure petit +n'attendoit que ceste faueur du Ciel pour s'y enuoler." + +The Huron chiefs were summoned to a great council, to discuss the state +of the nation. The crisis demanded all their wisdom; for, while the +continued ravages of disease threatened them with annihilation, the +Iroquois scalping-parties infested the outskirts of their towns, and +murdered them in their fields and forests. The assembly met in August, +1637; and the Jesuits, knowing their deep stake in its deliberations, +failed not to be present, with a liberal gift of wampum, to show their +sympathy in the public calamities. In private, they sought to gain the +good-will of the deputies, one by one; but though they were successful +in some cases, the result on the whole was far from hopeful. + +In the intervals of the council, Brébeuf discoursed to the crowd of +chiefs on the wonders of the visible heavens,--the sun, the moon, the +stars, and the planets. They were inclined to believe what he told them; +for he had lately, to their great amazement, accurately predicted an +eclipse. From the fires above he passed to the fires beneath, till the +listeners stood aghast at his hideous pictures of the flames of +perdition,--the only species of Christian instruction which produced any +perceptible effect on this unpromising auditory. + +The council opened on the evening of the fourth of August, with all the +usual ceremonies; and the night was spent in discussing questions of +treaties and alliances, with a deliberation and good sense which the +Jesuits could not help admiring. [9] A few days after, the assembly took +up the more exciting question of the epidemic and its causes. Deputies +from three of the four Huron nations were present, each deputation +sitting apart. The Jesuits were seated with the Nation of the Bear, in +whose towns their missions were established. Like all important +councils, the session was held at night. It was a strange scene. The +light of the fires flickered aloft into the smoky vault and among the +soot-begrimed rafters of the great council-house, [10] and cast an +uncertain gleam on the wild and dejected throng that filled the +platforms and the floor. "I think I never saw anything more lugubrious," +writes Le Mercier: "they looked at each other like so many corpses, or +like men who already feel the terror of death. When they spoke, it was +only with sighs, each reckoning up the sick and dead of his own family. +All this was to excite each other to vomit poison against us." + +[9] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1638, 38. +[10] It must have been the house of a chief. The Hurons, unlike some +other tribes, had no houses set apart for public occasions. + +A grisly old chief, named Ontitarac, withered with age and stone-blind, +but renowned in past years for eloquence and counsel, opened the debate +in a loud, though tremulous voice. First he saluted each of the three +nations present, then each of the chiefs in turn,--congratulated them +that all were there assembled to deliberate on a subject of the last +importance to the public welfare, and exhorted them to give it a mature +and calm consideration. Next rose the chief whose office it was to +preside over the Feast of the Dead. He painted in dismal colors the +woful condition of the country, and ended with charging it all upon the +sorceries of the Jesuits. Another old chief followed him. "My brothers," +he said, "you know well that I am a war-chief, and very rarely speak +except in councils of war; but I am compelled to speak now, since nearly +all the other chiefs are dead, and I must utter what is in my heart +before I follow them to the grave. Only two of my family are left alive, +and perhaps even these will not long escape the fury of the pest. I have +seen other diseases ravaging the country, but nothing that could compare +with this. In two or three moons we saw their end: but now we have +suffered for a year and more, and yet the evil does not abate. And what +is worst of all, we have not yet discovered its source." Then, with +words of studied moderation, alternating with bursts of angry invective, +he proceeded to accuse the Jesuits of causing, by their sorceries, the +unparalleled calamities that afflicted them; and in support of his +charge he adduced a prodigious mass of evidence. When he had spent his +eloquence, Brébeuf rose to reply, and in a few words exposed the +absurdities of his statements; whereupon another accuser brought a new +array of charges. A clamor soon arose from the whole assembly, and they +called upon Brébeuf with one voice to give up a certain charmed cloth +which was the cause of their miseries. In vain the missionary protested +that he had no such cloth. The clamor increased. + +"If you will not believe me," said Brébeuf, "go to our house; search +everywhere; and if you are not sure which is the charm, take all our +clothing and all our cloth, and throw them into the lake." + +"Sorcerers always talk in that way," was the reply. + +"Then what will you have me say?" demanded Brébeuf. + +"Tell us the cause of the pest." + +Brébeuf replied to the best of his power, mingling his explanations with +instructions in Christian doctrine and exhortations to embrace the +Faith. He was continually interrupted; and the old chief, Ontitarac, +still called upon him to produce the charmed cloth. Thus the debate +continued till after midnight, when several of the assembly, seeing no +prospect of a termination, fell asleep, and others went away. One old +chief, as he passed out, said to Brébeuf, "If some young man should +split your head, we should have nothing to say." The priest still +continued to harangue the diminished conclave on the necessity of +obeying God and the danger of offending Him, when the chief of Ossossané +called out impatiently, "What sort of men are these? They are always +saying the same thing, and repeating the same words a hundred times. +They are never done with telling us about their Oki, and what he demands +and what he forbids, and Paradise and Hell." [11] + +[11] The above account of the council is drawn from Le Mercier, Relation +des Hurons, 1638, Chap. II. See also Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 163. + +"Here was the end of this miserable council," writes Le Mercier; ... +"and if less evil came of it than was designed, we owe it, after God, to +the Most Holy Virgin, to whom we had made a vow of nine masses in honor +of her immaculate conception." + +The Fathers had escaped for the time; but they were still in deadly +peril. They had taken pains to secure friends in private, and there were +those who were attached to their interests; yet none dared openly take +their part. The few converts they had lately made came to them in +secret, and warned them that their death was determined upon. Their +house was set on fire; in public, every face was averted from them; and +a new council was called to pronounce the decree of death. They appeared +before it with a front of such unflinching assurance, that their judges, +Indian-like, postponed the sentence. Yet it seemed impossible that they +should much longer escape. Brébeuf, therefore, wrote a letter of +farewell to his Superior, Le Jeune, at Quebec, and confided it to some +converts whom he could trust, to be carried by them to its destination. + +"We are perhaps," he says, "about to give our blood and our lives in the +cause of our Master, Jesus Christ. It seems that His goodness will +accept this sacrifice, as regards me, in expiation of my great and +numberless sins, and that He will thus crown the past services and +ardent desires of all our Fathers here.... Blessed be His name forever, +that He has chosen us, among so many better than we, to aid him to bear +His cross in this land! In all things, His holy will be done!" He then +acquaints Le Jeune that he has directed the sacred vessels, and all else +belonging to the service of the altar, to be placed, in case of his +death, in the hands of Pierre, the convert whose baptism has been +described, and that especial care will be taken to preserve the +dictionary and other writings on the Huron language. The letter closes +with a request for masses and prayers. [12] + +[12] The following is the conclusion of the letter (Le Mercier, Relation +des Hurons, 1638, 43.) + +"En tout, sa sainte volonté soit faite; s'il veut que dés ceste heure +nous mourions, ô la bonne heure pour nous! s'il veut nous reseruer à +d'autres trauaux, qu'il soit beny; si vous entendez que Dieu ait +couronné nos petits trauaux, ou plustost nos desirs, benissez-le: car +c'est pour luy que nous desirons viure et mourir, et c'est luy qui nous +en donne la grace. Au reste si quelques-vns suruiuent, i'ay donné ordre +de tout ce qu'ils doiuent faire. I'ay esté d'aduis que nos Peres et nos +domestiques se retirent chez ceux qu'ils croyront estre leurs meilleurs +amis; i'ay donné charge qu'on porte chez Pierre nostre premier Chrestien +tout ce qui est de la Sacristie, sur tout qu'on ait vn soin particulier +de mettre en lieu d'asseurance le Dictionnaire et tout ce que nous auons +de la langue. Pour moy, si Dieu me fait la grace d'aller au Ciel, ie +prieray Dieu pour eux, pour les pauures Hurons, et n'oublieray pas +Vostre Reuerence. + +"Apres tout, nous supplions V. R. et tous nos Peres de ne nous oublier +en leurs saincts Sacrifices et prieres, afin qu'en la vie et apres la +mort, il nous fasse misericorde; nous sommes tous en la vie et à +l'Eternité, + +"De vostre Reuerence tres-humbles et tres-affectionnez seruiteurs en +Nostre Seigneur, + +"Iean de Brebevf. +François Ioseph Le Mercier. +Pierre Chastellain. +Charles Garnier. +Pavl Ragveneav. + +"En la Residence de la Conception, à Ossossané, +ce 28 Octobre. + +"I'ay laissé en la Residence de sainct Ioseph les Peres Pierre Piiart, +et Isaac Iogves, dans les mesmes sentimens." + +The imperilled Jesuits now took a singular, but certainly a very wise +step. They gave one of those farewell feasts--festins d'adieu--which +Huron custom enjoined on those about to die, whether in the course of +Nature or by public execution. Being interpreted, it was a declaration +that the priests knew their danger, and did not shrink from it. It might +have the effect of changing overawed friends into open advocates, and +even of awakening a certain sympathy in the breasts of an assembly on +whom a bold bearing could rarely fail of influence. The house was packed +with feasters, and Brébeuf addressed them as usual on his unfailing +themes of God, Paradise, and Hell. The throng listened in gloomy +silence; and each, when he had emptied his bowl, rose and departed, +leaving his entertainers in utter doubt as to his feelings and +intentions. From this time forth, however, the clouds that overhung the +Fathers became less dark and threatening. Voices were heard in their +defence, and looks were less constantly averted. They ascribed the +change to the intercession of St. Joseph, to whom they had vowed a nine +days' devotion. By whatever cause produced, the lapse of a week wrought +a hopeful improvement in their prospects; and when they went out of +doors in the morning, it was no longer with the expectation of having a +hatchet struck into their brains as they crossed the threshold. [13] + +[13] "Tant y a que depuis le 6. de Nouembre que nous acheuasmes nos +Messes votiues à son honneur, nous auons iouy d'vn repos incroyable, +nons nous en emerueillons nous-mesmes de iour en iour, quand nous +considerons en quel estat estoient nos affaires il n'y a que huict +iours."--Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1638, 44. + +The persecution of the Jesuits as sorcerers continued, in an +intermittent form, for years; and several of them escaped very narrowly. +In a house at Ossossané, a young Indian rushed suddenly upon François Du +Peron, and lifted his tomahawk to brain him, when a squaw caught his +hand. Paul Ragueneau wore a crucifix, from which hung the image of a +skull. An Indian, thinking it a charm, snatched it from him. The priest +tried to recover it, when the savage, his eyes glittering with murder, +brandished his hatchet to strike. Ragueneau stood motionless, waiting +the blow. His assailant forbore, and withdrew, muttering. Pierre +Chaumonot was emerging from a house at the Huron town called by the +Jesuits St. Michel, where he had just baptized a dying girl, when her +brother, standing hidden in the doorway, struck him on the head with a +stone. Chaumonot, severely wounded, staggered without falling, when the +Indian sprang upon him with his tomahawk. The bystanders arrested the +blow. François Le Mercier, in the midst of a crowd of Indians in a house +at the town called St. Louis, was assailed by a noted chief, who rushed +in, raving like a madman, and, in a torrent of words, charged upon him +all the miseries of the nation. Then, snatching a brand from the fire, +he shook it in the Jesuit's face, and told him that he should be burned +alive. Le Mercier met him with looks as determined as his own, till, +abashed at his undaunted front and bold denunciations, the Indian stood +confounded. [14] + +[14] The above incidents are from Le Mercier, Lalemant, Bressani, the +autobiography of Chaumonot, the unpublished writings of Garnier, and the +ancient manuscript volume of memoirs of the early Canadian missionaries, +at St. Mary's College, Montreal. + +The belief that their persecutions were owing to the fury of the Devil, +driven to desperation by the home-thrusts he had received at their +hands, was an unfailing consolation to the priests. "Truly," writes Le +Mercier, "it is an unspeakable happiness for us, in the midst of this +barbarism, to hear the roaring of the demons, and to see Earth and Hell +raging against a handful of men who will not even defend themselves." +[15] In all the copious records of this dark period, not a line gives +occasion to suspect that one of this loyal band flinched or hesitated. +The iron Brébeuf, the gentle Garnier, the all-enduring Jogues, the +enthusiastic Chaumonot, Lalemant, Le Mercier, Chatelain, Daniel, Pijart, +Ragueneau, Du Peron, Poncet, Le Moyne,--one and all bore themselves with +a tranquil boldness, which amazed the Indians and enforced their +respect. + +[15] "C'est veritablement un bonheur indicible pour nous, au milieu de +cette barbarie, d'entendre les rugissemens des demons, & de voir tout +l'Enfer & quasi tous les hommes animez & remplis de fureur contre une +petite poignée de gens qui ne voudroient pas se defendre."--Relation des +Hurons, 1640, 31 (Cramoisy). + +Father Jerome Lalemant, in his journal of 1639, is disposed to draw an +evil augury for the mission from the fact that as yet no priest had been +put to death, inasmuch as it is a received maxim that the blood of the +martyrs is the seed of the Church. [16] He consoles himself with the +hope that the daily life of the missionaries may be accepted as a living +martyrdom; since abuse and threats without end, the smoke, fleas, filth, +and dogs of the Indian lodges,--which are, he says, little images of +Hell,--cold, hunger, and ceaseless anxiety, and all these continued for +years, are a portion to which many might prefer the stroke of a +tomahawk. Reasonable as the Father's hope may be, its expression proved +needless in the sequel; for the Huron church was not destined to suffer +from a lack of martyrdom in any form. + +[16] "Nous auons quelque fois douté, sçauoir si on pouuoit esperer la +conuersion de ce païs sans qu'il y eust effusion de sang: le principe +reçeu ce semble dans l'Eglise de Dieu, que le sang des Martyrs est la +semence des Chrestiens, me faisoit conclure pour lors, que cela n'estoit +pas à esperer, voire mesme qu'il n'étoit pas à souhaiter, consideré la +gloire qui reuient à Dieu de la constance des Martyrs, du sang desquels +tout le reste de la terre ayant tantost esté abreuué, ce seroit vne +espece de malediction, que ce quartier du monde ne participast point au +bonheur d'auoir contribué à l'esclat de ceste gloire."--Lalemant, +Relation des Hurons, 1639, 56, 57. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +1638-1640. + +PRIEST AND PAGAN. + +Du Peron's Journey • Daily Life of the Jesuits • Their Missionary +Excursions • Converts at Ossossané • Machinery of Conversion • +Conditions of Baptism • Backsliders • The Converts and their Countrymen +• The Cannibals at St. Joseph + +We have already touched on the domestic life of the Jesuits. That we may +the better know them, we will follow one of their number on his journey +towards the scene of his labors, and observe what awaited him on his +arrival. + +Father François Du Peron came up the Ottawa in a Huron canoe in +September, 1638, and was well treated by the Indian owner of the vessel. +Lalemant and Le Moyne, who had set out from Three Rivers before him, did +not fare so well. The former was assailed by an Algonquin of Allumette +Island, who tried to strangle him in revenge for the death of a child, +which a Frenchman in the employ of the Jesuits had lately bled, but had +failed to restore to health by the operation. Le Moyne was abandoned by +his Huron conductors, and remained for a fortnight by the bank of the +river, with a French attendant who supported him by hunting. Another +Huron, belonging to the flotilla that carried Du Peron, then took him +into his canoe; but, becoming tired of him, was about to leave him on a +rock in the river, when his brother priest bribed the savage with a +blanket to carry him to his journey's end. + +It was midnight, on the twenty-ninth of September, when Du Peron landed +on the shore of Thunder Bay, after paddling without rest since one +o'clock of the preceding morning. The night was rainy, and Ossossané was +about fifteen miles distant. His Indian companions were impatient to +reach their towns; the rain prevented the kindling of a fire; while the +priest, who for a long time had not heard mass, was eager to renew his +communion as soon as possible. Hence, tired and hungry as he was, he +shouldered his sack, and took the path for Ossossané without breaking +his fast. He toiled on, half-spent, amid the ceaseless pattering, +trickling, and whispering of innumerable drops among innumerable leaves, +till, as day dawned, he reached a clearing, and descried through the +mists a cluster of Huron houses. Faint and bedrenched, he entered the +principal one, and was greeted with the monosyllable "Shay!"--"Welcome!" +A squaw spread a mat for him by the fire, roasted four ears of Indian +corn before the coals, baked two squashes in the embers, ladled from her +kettle a dish of sagamite, and offered them to her famished guest. +Missionaries seem to have been a novelty at this place; for, while the +Father breakfasted, a crowd, chiefly of children, gathered about him, +and stared at him in silence. One examined the texture of his cassock; +another put on his hat; a third took the shoes from his feet, and tried +them on her own. Du Peron requited his entertainers with a few trinkets, +and begged, by signs, a guide to Ossossané. An Indian accordingly set +out with him, and conducted him to the mission-house, which he reached +at six o'clock in the evening. + +Here he found a warm welcome, and little other refreshment. In respect +to the commodities of life, the Jesuits were but a step in advance of +the Indians. Their house, though well ventilated by numberless crevices +in its bark walls, always smelt of smoke, and, when the wind was in +certain quarters, was filled with it to suffocation. At their meals, the +Fathers sat on logs around the fire, over which their kettle was slung +in the Indian fashion. Each had his wooden platter, which, from the +difficulty of transportation, was valued, in the Huron country, at the +price of a robe of beaver-skin, or a hundred francs. [1] Their food +consisted of sagamite, or "mush," made of pounded Indian-corn, boiled +with scraps of smoked fish. Chaumonot compares it to the paste used for +papering the walls of houses. The repast was occasionally varied by a +pumpkin or squash baked in the ashes, or, in the season, by Indian corn +roasted in the ear. They used no salt whatever. They could bring their +cumbrous pictures, ornaments, and vestments through the savage journey +of the Ottawa; but they could not bring the common necessaries of life. +By day, they read and studied by the light that streamed in through the +large smoke-holes in the roof,--at night, by the blaze of the fire. +Their only candles were a few of wax, for the altar. They cultivated a +patch of ground, but raised nothing on it except wheat for making the +sacramental bread. Their food was supplied by the Indians, to whom they +gave, in return, cloth, knives, awls, needles, and various trinkets. +Their supply of wine for the Eucharist was so scanty, that they limited +themselves to four or five drops for each mass. [2] + +[1] "Nos plats, quoyque de bois, nous coûtent plus cher que les vôtres; +ils sont de la valeur d'une robe de castor, c'est à dire cent +francs."--Lettre du P. Du Peron à son Frère, 27 Avril, 1639.--The +Father's appraisement seems a little questionable. +[2] The above particulars are drawn from a long letter of François Du +Peron to his brother, Joseph-Imbert Du Peron, dated at La Conception +(Ossossané), April 27, 1639, and from a letter, equally long, of +Chaumonot to Father Philippe Nappi, dated Du Pays des Hurons, May 26, +1640. Both are in Carayon. These private letters of the Jesuits, of +which many are extant, in some cases written on birch-bark, are +invaluable as illustrations of the subject. + +The Jesuits soon learned to make wine from wild grapes. Those in Maine +and Acadia, at a later period, made good candles from the waxy fruit of +the shrub known locally as the "bayberry." + +Their life was regulated with a conventual strictness. At four in the +morning, a bell roused them from the sheets of bark on which they slept. +Masses, private devotions, reading religious books, and breakfasting, +filled the time until eight, when they opened their door and admitted +the Indians. As many of these proved intolerable nuisances, they took +what Lalemant calls the honnête liberty of turning out the most +intrusive and impracticable,--an act performed with all tact and +courtesy, and rarely taken in dudgeon. Having thus winnowed their +company, they catechized those that remained, as opportunity offered. In +the intervals, the guests squatted by the fire and smoked their pipes. + +As among the Spartan virtues of the Hurons that of thieving was +especially conspicuous, it was necessary that one or more of the Fathers +should remain on guard at the house all day. The rest went forth on +their missionary labors, baptizing and instructing, as we have seen. To +each priest who could speak Huron [3] was assigned a certain number of +houses,--in some instances, as many as forty; and as these often had +five or six fires, with two families to each, his spiritual flock was as +numerous as it was intractable. It was his care to see that none of the +number died without baptism, and by every means in his power to commend +the doctrines of his faith to the acceptance of those in health. + +[3] At the end of the year 1638, there were seven priests who spoke +Huron, and three who had begun to learn it. + +At dinner, which was at two o'clock, grace was said in Huron,--for the +benefit of the Indians present,--and a chapter of the Bible was read +aloud during the meal. At four or five, according to the season, the +Indians were dismissed, the door closed, and the evening spent in +writing, reading, studying the language, devotion, and conversation on +the affairs of the mission. + +The local missions here referred to embraced Ossossané and the villages +of the neighborhood; but the priests by no means confined themselves +within these limits. They made distant excursions, two in company, until +every house in every Huron town had heard the annunciation of the new +doctrine. On these journeys, they carried blankets or large mantles at +their backs, for sleeping in at night, besides a supply of needles, +awls, beads, and other small articles, to pay for their lodging and +entertainment: for the Hurons, hospitable without stint to each other, +expected full compensation from the Jesuits. + +At Ossossané, the house of the Jesuits no longer served the double +purpose of dwelling and chapel. In 1638, they had in their pay twelve +artisans and laborers, sent up from Quebec, [4] who had built, before +the close of the year, a chapel of wood. [5] Hither they removed their +pictures and ornaments; and here, in winter, several fires were kept +burning, for the comfort of the half-naked converts. [6] Of these they +now had at Ossossané about sixty,--a large, though evidently not a very +solid nucleus for the Huron church,--and they labored hard and anxiously +to confirm and multiply them. Of a Sunday morning in winter, one could +have seen them coming to mass, often from a considerable distance, "as +naked," says Lalemant, "as your hand, except a skin over their backs +like a mantle, and, in the coldest weather, a few skins around their +feet and legs." They knelt, mingled with the French mechanics, before +the altar,--very awkwardly at first, for the posture was new to +them,--and all received the sacrament together: a spectacle which, as +the missionary chronicler declares, repaid a hundred times all the labor +of their conversion. [7] + +[4] Du Peron in Carayon, 173. +[5] "La chapelle est faite d'une charpente bien jolie, semblable +presque, en façon et grandeur, à notre chapelle de St. Julien."--Ibid., +183. +[6] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 62. +[7] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 62. + +Some of the principal methods of conversion are curiously illustrated in +a letter written by Garnier to a friend in France. "Send me," he says, +"a picture of Christ without a beard." Several Virgins are also +requested, together with a variety of souls in perdition--âmes +damnées--most of them to be mounted in a portable form. Particular +directions are given with respect to the demons, dragons, flames, and +other essentials of these works of art. Of souls in bliss--âmes +bienheureuses--he thinks that one will be enough. All the pictures must +be in full face, not in profile; and they must look directly at the +beholder, with open eyes. The colors should be bright; and there must be +no flowers or animals, as these distract the attention of the Indians. +[8] + +[8] Garnier, Lettre 17me, MS. These directions show an excellent +knowledge of Indian peculiarities. The Indian dislike of a beard is well +known. Catlin, the painter, once caused a fatal quarrel among a party of +Sioux, by representing one of them in profile, whereupon he was jibed by +a rival as being but half a man. + +The first point with the priests was of course to bring the objects of +their zeal to an acceptance of the fundamental doctrines of the Roman +Church; but, as the mind of the savage was by no means that beautiful +blank which some have represented it, there was much to be erased as +well as to be written. They must renounce a host of superstitions, to +which they were attached with a strange tenacity, or which may rather be +said to have been ingrained in their very natures. Certain points of +Christian morality were also strongly urged by the missionaries, who +insisted that the convert should take but one wife, and not cast her off +without grave cause, and that he should renounce the gross license +almost universal among the Hurons. Murder, cannibalism, and several +other offences, were also forbidden. Yet, while laboring at the work of +conversion with an energy never surpassed, and battling against the +powers of darkness with the mettle of paladins, the Jesuits never had +the folly to assume towards the Indians a dictatorial or overbearing +tone. Gentleness, kindness, and patience were the rule of their +intercourse. [9] They studied the nature of the savage, and conformed +themselves to it with an admirable tact. Far from treating the Indian as +an alien and barbarian, they would fain have adopted him as a +countryman; and they proposed to the Hurons that a number of young +Frenchmen should settle among them, and marry their daughters in solemn +form. The listeners were gratified at an overture so flattering. "But +what is the use," they demanded, "of so much ceremony? If the Frenchmen +want our women, they are welcome to come and take them whenever they +please, as they always used to do." [10] + +[9] The following passage from the "Divers Sentimens," before cited, +will illustrate this point. "Pour conuertir les Sauuages, il n'y faut +pas tant de science que de bonté et vertu bien solide. Les quatre +Elemens d'vn homme Apostolique en la Nouuelle France sont l'Affabilité, +l'Humilité, la Patience et vne Charité genereuse. Le zele trop ardent +brusle plus qu'il n'eschauffe, et gaste tout; il faut vne grande +magnanimité et condescendance, pour attirer peu à peu ces Sauuages. Ils +n'entendent pas bien nostre Theologie, mais ils entendent parfaictement +bien nostre humilité et nostre affabilité, et se laissent gaigner." + +So too Brébeuf, in a letter to Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits (see +Carayon, 163): "Ce qu'il faut demander, avant tout, des ouvriers +destinés à cette mission, c'est une douceur inaltérable et une patience +à toute épreuve." +[10] Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 160. + +The Fathers are well agreed that their difficulties did not arise from +any natural defect of understanding on the part of the Indians, who, +according to Chaumonot, were more intelligent than the French peasantry, +and who, in some instances, showed in their way a marked capacity. It +was the inert mass of pride, sensuality, indolence, and superstition +that opposed the march of the Faith, and in which the Devil lay +intrenched as behind impregnable breastworks. [11] + +[11] In this connection, the following specimen of Indian reasoning is +worth noting. At the height of the pestilence, a Huron said to one of +the priests, "I see plainly that your God is angry with us because we +will not believe and obey him. Ihonatiria, where you first taught his +word, is entirely ruined. Then you came here to Ossossané, and we would +not listen; so Ossossané is ruined too. This year you have been all +through our country, and found scarcely any who would do what God +commands; therefore the pestilence is everywhere." After premises so +hopeful, the Fathers looked for a satisfactory conclusion; but the +Indian proceeded--"My opinion is, that we ought to shut you out from all +the houses, and stop our ears when you speak of God, so that we cannot +hear. Then we shall not be so guilty of rejecting the truth, and he will +not punish us so cruelly."--Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1640, 80. + +It soon became evident that it was easier to make a convert than to keep +him. Many of the Indians clung to the idea that baptism was a safeguard +against pestilence and misfortune; and when the fallacy of this notion +was made apparent, their zeal cooled. Their only amusements consisted of +feasts, dances, and games, many of which were, to a greater or less +degree, of a superstitious character; and as the Fathers could rarely +prove to their own satisfaction the absence of the diabolic element in +any one of them, they proscribed the whole indiscriminately, to the +extreme disgust of the neophyte. His countrymen, too, beset him with +dismal prognostics: as, "You will kill no more game,"--"All your hair +will come out before spring," and so forth. Various doubts also assailed +him with regard to the substantial advantages of his new profession; and +several converts were filled with anxiety in view of the probable want +of tobacco in Heaven, saying that they could not do without it. [12] Nor +was it pleasant to these incipient Christians, as they sat in class +listening to the instructions of their teacher, to find themselves and +him suddenly made the targets of a shower of sticks, snowballs, +corn-cobs, and other rubbish, flung at them by a screeching rabble of +vagabond boys. [13] + +[12] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 80. +[13] Ibid., 78. + +Yet, while most of the neophytes demanded an anxious and diligent +cultivation, there were a few of excellent promise; and of one or two +especially, the Fathers, in the fulness of their satisfaction, assure us +again and again "that they were savage only in name." [14] + +[14] From June, 1639, to June, 1640, about a thousand persons were +baptized. Of these, two hundred and sixty were infants, and many more +were children. Very many died soon after baptism. Of the whole number, +less than twenty were baptized in health,--a number much below that of +the preceding year. + +The following is a curious case of precocious piety. It is that of a +child at St. Joseph. "Elle n'a que deux ans, et fait joliment le signe +de la croix, et prend elle-même de l'eau bénite; et une fois se mit à +crier, sortant de la Chapelle, à cause que sa mère qui la portoit ne lui +avoit donné le loisir d'en prendre. Il l'a fallu reporter en +prendre."--Lettres de Garnier, MSS. + +As the town of Ihonatiria, where the Jesuits had made their first abode, +was ruined by the pestilence, the mission established there, and known +by the name of St. Joseph, was removed, in the summer of 1638, to +Teanaustayé, a large town at the foot of a range of hills near the +southern borders of the Huron territory. The Hurons, this year, had had +unwonted successes in their war with the Iroquois, and had taken, at +various times, nearly a hundred prisoners. Many of these were brought to +the seat of the new mission of St. Joseph, and put to death with +frightful tortures, though not before several had been converted and +baptized. The torture was followed, in spite of the remonstrances of the +priests, by those cannibal feasts customary with the Hurons on such +occasions. Once, when the Fathers had been strenuous in their +denunciations, a hand of the victim, duly prepared, was flung in at +their door, as an invitation to join in the festivity. As the owner of +the severed member had been baptized, they dug a hole in their chapel, +and buried it with solemn rites of sepulture. [15] + +[15] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 70. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +1639, 1640. + +THE TOBACCO NATION--THE NEUTRALS. + +A Change of Plan • Sainte Marie • Mission of the Tobacco Nation • Winter +Journeying • Reception of the Missionaries • Superstitious Terrors • +Peril of Garnier and Jogues • Mission of the Neutrals • Huron Intrigues +• Miracles • Fury of the Indians • Intervention of Saint Michael • +Return to Sainte Marie • Intrepidity of the Priests • Their Mental +Exaltation + +It had been the first purpose of the Jesuits to form permanent missions +in each of the principal Huron towns; but, before the close of the year +1639, the difficulties and risks of this scheme had become fully +apparent. They resolved, therefore, to establish one central station, to +be a base of operations, and, as it were, a focus, whence the light of +the Faith should radiate through all the wilderness around. It was to +serve at once as residence, fort, magazine, hospital, and convent. Hence +the priests would set forth on missionary expeditions far and near; and +hither they might retire, as to an asylum, in times of sickness or +extreme peril. Here the neophytes could be gathered together, safe from +perverting influences; and here in time a Christian settlement, Hurons +mingled with Frenchmen, might spring up and thrive under the shadow of +the cross. + +The site of the new station was admirably chosen. The little river Wye +flows from the southward into the Matchedash Bay of Lake Huron, and, at +about a mile from its mouth, passes through a small lake. The Jesuits +made choice of the right bank of the Wye, where it issues from this +lake,--gained permission to build from the Indians, though not without +difficulty,--and began their labors with an abundant energy, and a very +deficient supply of workmen and tools. The new establishment was called +Sainte Marie. The house at Teanaustayé, and the house and chapel at +Ossossané, were abandoned, and all was concentrated at this spot. On one +hand, it had a short water communication with Lake Huron; and on the +other, its central position gave the readiest access to every part of +the Huron territory. + +During the summer before, the priests had made a survey of their field +of action, visited all the Huron towns, and christened each of them with +the name of a saint. This heavy draft on the calendar was followed by +another, for the designation of the nine towns of the neighboring and +kindred people of the Tobacco Nation. [1] The Huron towns were portioned +into four districts, while those of the Tobacco Nation formed a fifth, +and each district was assigned to the charge of two or more priests. In +November and December, they began their missionary excursions,--for the +Indians were now gathered in their settlements,--and journeyed on foot +through the denuded forests, in mud and snow, bearing on their backs the +vessels and utensils necessary for the service of the altar. + +[1] See Introduction. + +The new and perilous mission of the Tobacco Nation fell to Garnier and +Jogues. They were well chosen; and yet neither of them was robust by +nature, in body or mind, though Jogues was noted for personal activity. +The Tobacco Nation lay at the distance of a two days' journey from the +Huron towns, among the mountains at the head of Nottawassaga Bay. The +two missionaries tried to find a guide at Ossossané; but none would go +with them, and they set forth on their wild and unknown pilgrimage +alone. + +The forests were full of snow; and the soft, moist flakes were still +falling thickly, obscuring the air, beplastering the gray trunks, +weighing to the earth the boughs of spruce and pine, and hiding every +footprint of the narrow path. The Fathers missed their way, and toiled +on till night, shaking down at every step from the burdened branches a +shower of fleecy white on their black cassocks. Night overtook them in a +spruce swamp. Here they made a fire with great difficulty, cut the +evergreen boughs, piled them for a bed, and lay down. The storm +presently ceased; and, "praised be God," writes one of the travellers, +"we passed a very good night." [2] + +[2] Jogues and Garnier in Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1640, 95. + +In the morning they breakfasted on a morsel of corn bread, and, resuming +their journey, fell in with a small party of Indians, whom they followed +all day without food. At eight in the evening they reached the first +Tobacco town, a miserable cluster of bark cabins, hidden among forests +and half buried in snow-drifts, where the savage children, seeing the +two black apparitions, screamed that Famine and the Pest were coming. +Their evil fame had gone before them. They were unwelcome guests; +nevertheless, shivering and famished as they were, in the cold and +darkness, they boldly pushed their way into one of these dens of +barbarism. It was precisely like a Huron house. Five or six fires blazed +on the earthen floor, and around them were huddled twice that number of +families, sitting, crouching, standing, or flat on the ground; old and +young, women and men, children and dogs, mingled pell-mell. The scene +would have been a strange one by daylight: it was doubly strange by the +flicker and glare of the lodge-fires. Scowling brows, sidelong looks of +distrust and fear, the screams of scared children, the scolding of +squaws, the growling of wolfish dogs,--this was the greeting of the +strangers. The chief man of the household treated them at first with the +decencies of Indian hospitality; but when he saw them kneeling in the +litter and ashes at their devotions, his suppressed fears found vent, +and he began a loud harangue, addressed half to them and half to the +Indians. "Now, what are these okies doing? They are making charms to +kill us, and destroy all that the pest has spared in this house. I heard +that they were sorcerers; and now, when it is too late, I believe it." +[3] It is wonderful that the priests escaped the tomahawk. Nowhere is +the power of courage, faith, and an unflinching purpose more strikingly +displayed than in the record of these missions. + +[3] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1640, 96. + +In other Tobacco towns their reception was much the same; but at the +largest, called by them St. Peter and St. Paul, they fared worse. They +reached it on a winter afternoon. Every door of its capacious bark +houses was closed against them; and they heard the squaws within calling +on the young men to go out and split their heads, while children +screamed abuse at the black-robed sorcerers. As night approached, they +left the town, when a band of young men followed them, hatchet in hand, +to put them to death. Darkness, the forest, and the mountain favored +them; and, eluding their pursuers, they escaped. Thus began the mission +of the Tobacco Nation. + +In the following November, a yet more distant and perilous mission was +begun. Brébeuf and Chaumonot set out for the Neutral Nation. This fierce +people, as we have already seen, occupied that part of Canada which lies +immediately north of Lake Erie, while a wing of their territory extended +across the Niagara into Western New York. [4] In their athletic +proportions, the ferocity of their manners, and the extravagance of +their superstitions, no American tribe has ever exceeded them. They +carried to a preposterous excess the Indian notion, that insanity is +endowed with a mysterious and superhuman power. Their country was full +of pretended maniacs, who, to propitiate their guardian spirits, or +okies, and acquire the mystic virtue which pertained to madness, raved +stark naked through the villages, scattering the brands of the +lodge-fires, and upsetting everything in their way. + +[4] Introduction.--The river Niagara was at this time, 1640, well known +to the Jesuits, though none of them had visited it. Lalemant speaks of +it as the "famous river of this nation" (the Neutrals). The following +translation, from his Relation of 1641, shows that both Lake Ontario and +Lake Erie had already taken their present names. + +"This river" (the Niagara) "is the same by which our great lake of the +Hurons, or Fresh Sea, discharges itself, in the first place, into Lake +Erie (le lac d'Erié), or the Lake of the Cat Nation. Then it enters the +territories of the Neutral Nation, and takes the name of Onguiaahra +(Niagara), until it discharges itself into Ontario, or the Lake of St. +Louis; whence at last issues the river which passes before Quebec, and +is called the St. Lawrence." He makes no allusion to the cataract, which +is first mentioned as follows by Ragueneau, in the Relation of 1648. + +"Nearly south of this same Neutral Nation there is a great lake, about +two hundred leagues in circuit, named Erie (Erié), which is formed by +the discharge of the Fresh Sea, and which precipitates itself by a +cataract of frightful height into a third lake, named Ontario, which we +call Lake St. Louis."--Relation des Hurons, 1648, 46. + +The two priests left Sainte Marie on the second of November, found a +Huron guide at St. Joseph, and, after a dreary march of five days +through the forest, reached the first Neutral town. Advancing thence, +they visited in turn eighteen others; and their progress was a storm of +maledictions. Brébeuf especially was accounted the most pestilent of +sorcerers. The Hurons, restrained by a superstitious awe, and unwilling +to kill the priests, lest they should embroil themselves with the French +at Quebec, conceived that their object might be safely gained by +stirring up the Neutrals to become their executioners. To that end, they +sent two emissaries to the Neutral towns, who, calling the chiefs and +young warriors to a council, denounced the Jesuits as destroyers of the +human race, and made their auditors a gift of nine French hatchets on +condition that they would put them to death. It was now that Brébeuf, +fully conscious of the danger, half starved and half frozen, driven with +revilings from every door, struck and spit upon by pretended maniacs, +beheld in a vision that great cross, which, as we have seen, moved +onward through the air, above the wintry forests that stretched towards +the land of the Iroquois. [5] + +[5] See ante, (page 109). + +Chaumonot records yet another miracle. "One evening, when all the chief +men of the town were deliberating in council whether to put us to death, +Father Brébeuf, while making his examination of conscience, as we were +together at prayers, saw the vision of a spectre, full of fury, menacing +us both with three javelins which he held in his hands. Then he hurled +one of them at us; but a more powerful hand caught it as it flew: and +this took place a second and a third time, as he hurled his two +remaining javelins.... Late at night our host came back from the +council, where the two Huron emissaries had made their gift of hatchets +to have us killed. He wakened us to say that three times we had been at +the point of death; for the young men had offered three times to strike +the blow, and three times the old men had dissuaded them. This explained +the meaning of Father Brébeuf's vision." [6] + +[6] Chaumonot, Vie, 55. + +They had escaped for the time; but the Indians agreed among themselves, +that thenceforth no one should give them shelter. At night, pierced with +cold and faint with hunger, they found every door closed against them. +They stood and watched, saw an Indian issue from a house, and, by a +quick movement, pushed through the half-open door into this abode of +smoke and filth. The inmates, aghast at their boldness, stared in +silence. Then a messenger ran out to carry the tidings, and an angry +crowd collected. + +"Go out, and leave our country," said an old chief, "or we will put you +into the kettle, and make a feast of you." + +"I have had enough of the dark-colored flesh of our enemies," said a +young brave; "I wish to know the taste of white meat, and I will eat +yours." + +A warrior rushed in like a madman, drew his bow, and aimed the arrow at +Chaumonot. "I looked at him fixedly," writes the Jesuit, "and commended +myself in full confidence to St. Michael. Without doubt, this great +archangel saved us; for almost immediately the fury of the warrior was +appeased, and the rest of our enemies soon began to listen to the +explanation we gave them of our visit to their country." [7] + +[7] Ibid., 57. + +The mission was barren of any other fruit than hardship and danger, and +after a stay of four months the two priests resolved to return. On the +way, they met a genuine act of kindness. A heavy snow-storm arresting +their progress, a Neutral woman took them into her lodge, entertained +them for two weeks with her best fare, persuaded her father and +relatives to befriend them, and aided them to make a vocabulary of the +dialect. Bidding their generous hostess farewell, they journeyed +northward, through the melting snows of spring, and reached Sainte Marie +in safety. [8] + +[8] Lalemant, in his Relation of 1641, gives the narrative of this +mission at length. His account coincides perfectly with the briefer +notice of Chaumonot in his Autobiography. Chaumonot describes the +difficulties of the journey very graphically in a letter to his friend, +Father Nappi, dated Aug. 3, 1640, preserved in Carayon. See also the +next letter, Brébeuf au T. R. P. Mutio Vitelleschi, 20 Août, 1641. + +The Récollet La Roche Dallion had visited the Neutrals fourteen years +before, (see Introduction, note,) and, like his two successors, had been +seriously endangered by Huron intrigues. + +The Jesuits had borne all that the human frame seems capable of bearing. +They had escaped as by miracle from torture and death. Did their zeal +flag or their courage fail? A fervor intense and unquenchable urged them +on to more distant and more deadly ventures. The beings, so near to +mortal sympathies, so human, yet so divine, in whom their faith +impersonated and dramatized the great principles of Christian +truth,--virgins, saints, and angels,--hovered over them, and held before +their raptured sight crowns of glory and garlands of immortal bliss. +They burned to do, to suffer, and to die; and now, from out a living +martyrdom, they turned their heroic gaze towards an horizon dark with +perils yet more appalling, and saw in hope the day when they should bear +the cross into the blood-stained dens of the Iroquois. [9] + +[9] This zeal was in no degree due to success; for in 1641, after seven +years of toil, the mission counted only about fifty living +converts,--a falling off from former years. + +But, in this exaltation and tension of the powers, was there no moment +when the recoil of Nature claimed a temporary sway? When, an exile from +his kind, alone, beneath the desolate rock and the gloomy pine-trees, +the priest gazed forth on the pitiless wilderness and the hovels of its +dark and ruthless tenants, his thoughts, it may be, flew longingly +beyond those wastes of forest and sea that lay between him and the home +of his boyhood: or rather, led by a deeper attraction, they revisited +the ancient centre of his faith, and he seemed to stand once more in +that gorgeous temple, where, shrined in lazuli and gold, rest the +hallowed bones of Loyola. Column and arch and dome rise upon his vision, +radiant in painted light, and trembling with celestial music. Again he +kneels before the altar, from whose tablature beams upon him that +loveliest of shapes in which the imagination of man has embodied the +spirit of Christianity. The illusion overpowers him. A thrill shakes his +frame, and he bows in reverential rapture. No longer a memory, no longer +a dream, but a visioned presence, distinct and luminous in the forest +shades, the Virgin stands before him. Prostrate on the rocky earth, he +adores the benign angel of his ecstatic faith, then turns with rekindled +fervors to his stern apostleship. + +Now, by the shores of Thunder Bay, the Huron traders freight their birch +vessels for their yearly voyage; and, embarked with them, let us, too, +revisit the rock of Quebec. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1636-1646. + +QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. + +The New Governor • Edifying Examples • Le Jeune's Correspondents • Rank +and Devotion • Nuns • Priestly Authority • Condition of Quebec • The +Hundred Associates • Church Discipline • Plays • Fireworks • Processions +• Catechizing • Terrorism • Pictures • The Converts • The Society of +Jesus • The Foresters + +I have traced, in another volume, the life and death of the noble +founder of New France, Samuel de Champlain. It was on Christmas Day, +1635, that his heroic spirit bade farewell to the frame it had animated, +and to the rugged cliff where he had toiled so long to lay the +corner-stone of a Christian empire. + +Quebec was without a governor. Who should succeed Champlain? and would +his successor be found equally zealous for the Faith, and friendly to +the mission? These doubts, as he himself tells us, agitated the mind of +the Father Superior, Le Jeune; but they were happily set at rest, when, +on a morning in June, he saw a ship anchoring in the basin below, and, +hastening with his brethren to the landing-place, was there met by +Charles Huault de Montmagny, a Knight of Malta, followed by a train of +officers and gentlemen. As they all climbed the rock together, Montmagny +saw a crucifix planted by the path. He instantly fell on his knees +before it; and nobles, soldiers, sailors, and priests imitated his +example. The Jesuits sang Te Deum at the church, and the cannon roared +from the adjacent fort. Here the new governor was scarcely installed, +when a Jesuit came in to ask if he would be godfather to an Indian about +to be baptized. "Most gladly," replied the pious Montmagny. He repaired +on the instant to the convert's hut, with a company of gayly apparelled +gentlemen; and while the inmates stared in amazement at the scarlet and +embroidery, he bestowed on the dying savage the name of Joseph, in honor +of the spouse of the Virgin and the patron of New France. [1] Three days +after, he was told that a dead proselyte was to be buried; on which, +leaving the lines of the new fortification he was tracing, he took in +hand a torch, De Lisle, his lieutenant, took another, Repentigny and St. +Jean, gentlemen of his suite, with a band of soldiers followed, two +priests bore the corpse, and thus all moved together in procession to +the place of burial. The Jesuits were comforted. Champlain himself had +not displayed a zeal so edifying. [2] + +[1] Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 5 (Cramoisy). "Monsieur le Gouverneur se +transporte aux Cabanes de ces pauures barbares, suivy d'une leste +Noblesse. Je vous laisse à penser quel estonnement à ces Peuples de voir +tant d'écarlate, tant de personnes bien faites sous leurs toits +d'écorce!" +[2] Ibid., 83 (Cramoisy). + +A considerable reinforcement came out with Montmagny, and among the rest +several men of birth and substance, with their families and dependants. +"It was a sight to thank God for," exclaims Father Le Jeune, "to behold +these delicate young ladies and these tender infants issuing from their +wooden prison, like day from the shades of night." The Father, it will +be remembered, had for some years past seen nothing but squaws, with +papooses swathed like mummies and strapped to a board. + +He was even more pleased with the contents of a huge packet of letters +that was placed in his hands, bearing the signatures of nuns, priests, +soldiers, courtiers, and princesses. A great interest in the mission had +been kindled in France. Le Jeune's printed Relations had been read with +avidity; and his Jesuit brethren, who, as teachers, preachers, and +confessors, had spread themselves through the nation, had successfully +fanned the rising flame. The Father Superior finds no words for his joy. +"Heaven," he exclaims, "is the conductor of this enterprise. Nature's +arms are not long enough to touch so many hearts." [3] He reads how in a +single convent, thirteen nuns have devoted themselves by a vow to the +work of converting the Indian women and children; how, in the church of +Montmartre, a nun lies prostrate day and night before the altar, praying +for the mission; [4] how "the Carmelites are all on fire, the Ursulines +full of zeal, the sisters of the Visitation have no words to speak their +ardor"; [5] how some person unknown, but blessed of Heaven, means to +found a school for Huron children; how the Duchesse d'Aiguillon has sent +out six workmen to build a hospital for the Indians; how, in every house +of the Jesuits, young priests turn eager eyes towards Canada; and how, +on the voyage thither, the devils raised a tempest, endeavoring, in vain +fury, to drown the invaders of their American domain. [6] + +[3] "C'est Dieu qui conduit cette entreprise. La Nature n'a pas les bras +assez longs," etc.--Relation, 1636, 3. +[4] Brébeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 76. +[5] Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 6. Compare "Divers Sentimens," appended to +the Relation of 1635. +[6] "L'Enfer enrageant de nous veoir aller en la Nouuelle France pour +conuertir les infidelles et diminuer sa puissance, par dépit il +sousleuoit tous les Elemens contre nous, et vouloit abysmer la +flotte."--Divers Sentimens. + +Great was Le Jeune's delight at the exalted rank of some of those who +gave their patronage to the mission; and again and again his +satisfaction flows from his pen in mysterious allusions to these eminent +persons. [7] In his eyes, the vicious imbecile who sat on the throne of +France was the anointed champion of the Faith, and the cruel and +ambitious priest who ruled king and nation alike was the chosen +instrument of Heaven. Church and State, linked in alliance close and +potential, played faithfully into each other's hands; and that +enthusiasm, in which the Jesuit saw the direct inspiration of God, was +fostered by all the prestige of royalty and all the patronage of power. +And, as often happens where the interests of a hierarchy are identified +with the interests of a ruling class, religion was become a fashion, as +graceful and as comforting as the courtier's embroidered mantle or the +court lady's robe of fur. + +[7] Among his correspondents was the young Duc d'Enghien, afterwards the +Great Condé, at this time fifteen years old. "Dieu soit loüé! tout le +ciel de nostre chere Patrie nous promet de fauorables influences, +iusques à ce nouuel astre, qui commence à paroistre parmy ceux de la +premiere grandeur."--Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 3, 4. + +Such, we may well believe, was the complexion of the enthusiasm which +animated some of Le Jeune's noble and princely correspondents. But there +were deeper fervors, glowing in the still depths of convent cells, and +kindling the breasts of their inmates with quenchless longings. Yet we +hear of no zeal for the mission among religious communities of men. The +Jesuits regarded the field as their own, and desired no rivals. They +looked forward to the day when Canada should be another Paraguay. [8] It +was to the combustible hearts of female recluses that the torch was most +busily applied; and here, accordingly, blazed forth a prodigious and +amazing flame. "If all had their pious will," writes Le Jeune, "Quebec +would soon be flooded with nuns." [9] + +[8] "Que si celuy qui a escrit cette lettre a leu la Relation de ce qui +se passe au Paraguais, qu'il a veu ce qui se fera un jour en la Nouuelle +France."--Le Jeune, Relation, 1637, 304 (Cramoisy). +[9] Chaulmer, Le Nouveau Monde Chrestien, 41, is eloquent on this theme. + +Both Montmagny and De Lisle were half churchmen, for both were Knights +of Malta. More and more the powers spiritual engrossed the colony. As +nearly as might be, the sword itself was in priestly hands. The Jesuits +were all in all. Authority, absolute and without appeal, was vested in a +council composed of the governor, Le Jeune, and the syndic, an official +supposed to represent the interests of the inhabitants. [10] There was +no tribunal of justice, and the governor pronounced summarily on all +complaints. The church adjoined the fort; and before it was planted a +stake bearing a placard with a prohibition against blasphemy, +drunkenness, or neglect of mass and other religious rites. To the stake +was also attached a chain and iron collar; and hard by was a wooden +horse, whereon a culprit was now and then mounted by way of example and +warning. [11] In a community so absolutely priest-governed, overt +offences were, however, rare; and, except on the annual arrival of the +ships from France, when the rock swarmed with godless sailors, Quebec +was a model of decorum, and wore, as its chroniclers tell us, an aspect +unspeakably edifying. + +[10] Le Clerc, Établissement de la Foy, Chap. XV. +[11] Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 153, 154 (Cramoisy). + +In the year 1640, various new establishments of religion and charity +might have been seen at Quebec. There was the beginning of a college and +a seminary for Huron children, an embryo Ursuline convent, an incipient +hospital, and a new Algonquin mission at a place called Sillery, four +miles distant. Champlain's fort had been enlarged and partly rebuilt in +stone by Montmagny, who had also laid out streets on the site of the +future city, though as yet the streets had no houses. Behind the fort, +and very near it, stood the church and a house for the Jesuits. Both +were of pine wood; and this year, 1640, both were burned to the ground, +to be afterwards rebuilt in stone. The Jesuits, however, continued to +occupy their rude mission-house of Notre-Dame des Anges, on the St. +Charles, where we first found them. + +The country around Quebec was still an unbroken wilderness, with the +exception of a small clearing made by the Sieur Giffard on his seigniory +of Beauport, another made by M. de Puiseaux between Quebec and Sillery, +and possibly one or two feeble attempts in other quarters. [12] The +total population did not much exceed two hundred, including women and +children. Of this number, by far the greater part were agents of the fur +company known as the Hundred Associates, and men in their employ. Some +of these had brought over their families. The remaining inhabitants were +priests, nuns, and a very few colonists. + +[12] For Giffard, Puiseaux, and other colonists, compare Langevin, Notes +sur les Archives de Notre-Dame de Beauport, 5, 6, 7; Ferland, Notes sur +les Archives de N. D. de Québec, 22, 24 (1863); Ibid., Cours d'Histoire +du Canada, I. 266; Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 45; Faillon, Histoire de la +Colonie Française, I. c. iv., v. + +The Company of the Hundred Associates was bound by its charter to send +to Canada four thousand colonists before the year 1643. [13] It had +neither the means nor the will to fulfil this engagement. Some of its +members were willing to make personal sacrifices for promoting the +missions, and building up a colony purely Catholic. Others thought only +of the profits of trade; and the practical affairs of the company had +passed entirely into the hands of this portion of its members. They +sought to evade obligations the fulfilment of which would have ruined +them. Instead of sending out colonists, they granted lands with the +condition that the grantees should furnish a certain number of settlers +to clear and till them, and these were to be credited to the Company. +[14] The grantees took the land, but rarely fulfilled the condition. +Some of these grants were corrupt and iniquitous. Thus, a son of Lauson, +president of the Company, received, in the name of a third person, a +tract of land on the south side of the St. Lawrence of sixty leagues +front. To this were added all the islands in that river, excepting those +of Montreal and Orleans, together with the exclusive right of fishing in +it through its whole extent. [15] Lauson sent out not a single colonist +to these vast concessions. + +[13] See "Pioneers of France," 399. +[14] This appears in many early grants of the Company. Thus, in a grant +to Simon Le Maître, Jan. 15, 1636, "que les hommes que le dit ... fera +passer en la N. F. tourneront à la décharge de la dite Compagnie," etc., +etc.--See Pièces sur la Tenure Seigneuriale, published by the Canadian +government, passim. +[15] Archives du Séminaire de Villemarie, cited by Faillon, I. 350. +Lauson's father owned Montreal. The son's grant extended from the River +St. Francis to a point far above Montreal.--La Fontaine, Mémoire sur la +Famille de Lauson. + +There was no real motive for emigration. No persecution expelled the +colonist from his home; for none but good Catholics were tolerated in +New France. The settler could not trade with the Indians, except on +condition of selling again to the Company at a fixed price. He might +hunt, but he could not fish; and he was forced to beg or buy food for +years before he could obtain it from that rude soil in sufficient +quantity for the wants of his family. The Company imported provisions +every year for those in its employ; and of these supplies a portion was +needed for the relief of starving settlers. Giffard and his seven men on +his seigniory of Beauport were for some time the only +settlers--excepting, perhaps, the Hébert family--who could support +themselves throughout the year. The rigor of the climate repelled the +emigrant; nor were the attractions which Father Le Jeune held +forth--"piety, freedom, and independence"--of a nature to entice him +across the sea, when it is remembered that this freedom consisted in +subjection to the arbitrary will of a priest and a soldier, and in the +liability, should he forget to go to mass, of being made fast to a post +with a collar and chain, like a dog. + +Aside from the fur trade of the Company, the whole life of the colony +was in missions, convents, religious schools, and hospitals. Here on the +rock of Quebec were the appendages, useful and otherwise, of an +old-established civilization. While as yet there were no inhabitants, +and no immediate hope of any, there were institutions for the care of +children, the sick, and the decrepit. All these were supported by a +charity in most cases precarious. The Jesuits relied chiefly on the +Company, who, by the terms of their patent, were obliged to maintain +religious worship. [16] Of the origin of the convent, hospital, and +seminary I shall soon have occasion to speak. + +[16] It is a principle of the Jesuits, that each of its establishments +shall find a support of its own, and not be a burden on the general +funds of the Society. The Relations are full of appeals to the charity +of devout persons in behalf of the missions. + +"Of what use to the country at this period could have been two +communities of cloistered nuns?" asks the modern historian of the +Ursulines of Quebec. And he answers by citing the words of Pope Gregory +the Great, who, when Rome was ravaged by famine, pestilence, and the +barbarians, declared that his only hope was in the prayers of the three +thousand nuns then assembled in the holy city.--Les Ursulines de Québec. +Introd., XI. + +Quebec wore an aspect half military, half monastic. At sunrise and +sunset, a squad of soldiers in the pay of the Company paraded in the +fort; and, as in Champlain's time, the bells of the church rang morning, +noon, and night. Confessions, masses, and penances were punctiliously +observed; and, from the governor to the meanest laborer, the Jesuit +watched and guided all. The social atmosphere of New England itself was +not more suffocating. By day and by night, at home, at church, or at his +daily work, the colonist lived under the eyes of busy and over-zealous +priests. At times, the denizens of Quebec grew restless. In 1639, +deputies were covertly sent to beg relief in France, and "to represent +the hell in which the consciences of the colony were kept by the union +of the temporal and spiritual authority in the same hands." [17] In +1642, partial and ineffective measures were taken, with the countenance +of Richelieu, for introducing into New France an Order less greedy of +seigniories and endowments than the Jesuits, and less prone to political +encroachment. [18] No favorable result followed; and the colony remained +as before, in a pitiful state of cramping and dwarfing vassalage. + +[17] "Pour leur representer la gehenne où estoient les consciences de la +Colonie, de se voir gouverné par les mesmes personnes pour le spirituel +et pour le temporel."--Le Clerc, I. 478. +[18] Declaration de Pierre Breant, par devant les Notaires du Roy, MS. +The Order was that of the Capuchins, who, like the Récollets, are a +branch of the Franciscans. Their introduction into Canada was prevented; +but they established themselves in Maine. + +This is the view of a heretic. It was the aim of the founders of New +France to build on a foundation purely and supremely Catholic. What this +involved is plain; for no degree of personal virtue is a guaranty +against the evils which attach to the temporal rule of ecclesiastics. +Burning with love and devotion to Christ and his immaculate Mother, the +fervent and conscientious priest regards with mixed pity and indignation +those who fail in this supreme allegiance. Piety and charity alike +demand that he should bring back the rash wanderer to the fold of his +divine Master, and snatch him from the perdition into which his guilt +must otherwise plunge him. And while he, the priest, himself yields +reverence and obedience to the Superior, in whom he sees the +representative of Deity, it behooves him, in his degree, to require +obedience from those whom he imagines that God has confided to his +guidance. His conscience, then, acts in perfect accord with the love of +power innate in the human heart. These allied forces mingle with a +perplexing subtlety; pride, disguised even from itself, walks in the +likeness of love and duty; and a thousand times on the pages of history +we find Hell beguiling the virtues of Heaven to do its work. The +instinct of domination is a weed that grows rank in the shadow of the +temple, climbs over it, possesses it, covers its ruin, and feeds on its +decay. The unchecked sway of priests has always been the most +mischievous of tyrannies; and even were they all well-meaning and +sincere, it would be so still. + +To the Jesuits, the atmosphere of Quebec was well-nigh celestial. "In +the climate of New France," they write, "one learns perfectly to seek +only God, to have no desire but God, no purpose but for God." And again: +"To live in New France is in truth to live in the bosom of God." "If," +adds Le Jeune, "any one of those who die in this country goes to +perdition, I think he will be doubly guilty." [19] + +[19] "La Nouuelle France est vn vray climat où on apprend parfaictement +bien à ne chercher que Dieu, ne desirer que Dieu seul, auoir l'intention +purement à Dieu, etc.... Viure en la Nouuelle France, c'est à vray dire +viure dans le sein de Dieu, et ne respirer que l'air de sa Diuine +conduite."--Divers Sentimens. "Si quelqu'un de ceux qui meurent en ces +contrées se damne, je croy qu'il sera doublement coupable."--Relation, +1640, 5 (Cramoisy). + +The very amusements of this pious community were acts of religion. Thus, +on the fête-day of St. Joseph, the patron of New France, there was a +show of fireworks to do him honor. In the forty volumes of the Jesuit +Relations there is but one pictorial illustration; and this represents +the pyrotechnic contrivance in question, together with a figure of the +Governor in the act of touching it off. [20] But, what is more curious, +a Catholic writer of the present day, the Abbé Faillon, in an elaborate +and learned work, dilates at length on the details of the display; and +this, too, with a gravity which evinces his conviction that squibs, +rockets, blue-lights, and serpents are important instruments for the +saving of souls. [21] On May-Day of the same year, 1637, Montmagny +planted before the church a May-pole surmounted by a triple crown, +beneath which were three symbolical circles decorated with wreaths, and +bearing severally the names, Iesus, Maria, Ioseph; the soldiers drew up +before it, and saluted it with a volley of musketry. [22] + +[20] Relation, 1637, 8. The Relations, as originally published, +comprised about forty volumes. +[21] Histoire de la Colonie Française, I. 291, 292. +[22] Relation, 1637, 82. + +On the anniversary of the Dauphin's birth there was a dramatic +performance, in which an unbeliever, speaking Algonquin for the profit +of the Indians present, was hunted into Hell by fiends. [23] Religious +processions were frequent. In one of them, the Governor in a court dress +and a baptized Indian in beaver-skins were joint supporters of the +canopy which covered the Host. [24] In another, six Indians led the van, +arrayed each in a velvet coat of scarlet and gold sent them by the King. +Then came other Indian converts, two and two; then the foundress of the +Ursuline convent, with Indian children in French gowns; then all the +Indian girls and women, dressed after their own way; then the priests; +then the Governor; and finally the whole French population, male and +female, except the artillery-men at the fort, who saluted with their +cannon the cross and banner borne at the head of the procession. When +all was over, the Governor and the Jesuits rewarded the Indians with a +feast. [25] + +[23] Vimont, Relation, 1640, 6. +[24] Le Jeune, Relation, 1638, 6. +[25] Le Jeune, Relation, 1639, 3. + +Now let the stranger enter the church of Notre-Dame de la Recouvrance, +after vespers. It is full, to the very porch: officers in slouched hats +and plumes, musketeers, pikemen, mechanics, and laborers. Here is +Montmagny himself; Repentigny and Poterie, gentlemen of good birth; +damsels of nurture ill fitted to the Canadian woods; and, mingled with +these, the motionless Indians, wrapped to the throat in embroidered +moose-hides. Le Jeune, not in priestly vestments, but in the common +black dress of his Order, is before the altar; and on either side is a +row of small red-skinned children listening with exemplary decorum, +while, with a cheerful, smiling face, he teaches them to kneel, clasp +their hands, and sign the cross. All the principal members of this +zealous community are present, at once amused and edified at the grave +deportment, and the prompt, shrill replies of the infant catechumens; +while their parents in the crowd grin delight at the gifts of beads and +trinkets with which Le Jeune rewards his most proficient pupils. [26] + +[26] Le Jeune, Relation, 1637, 122 (Cramoisy). + +We have seen the methods of conversion practised among the Hurons. They +were much the same at Quebec. The principal appeal was to fear. [27] +"You do good to your friends," said Le Jeune to an Algonquin chief, "and +you burn your enemies. God does the same." And he painted Hell to the +startled neophyte as a place where, when he was hungry, he would get +nothing to eat but frogs and snakes, and, when thirsty, nothing to drink +but flames. [28] Pictures were found invaluable. "These holy +representations," pursues the Father Superior, "are half the instruction +that can be given to the Indians. I wanted some pictures of Hell and +souls in perdition, and a few were sent us on paper; but they are too +confused. The devils and the men are so mixed up, that one can make out +nothing without particular attention. If three, four, or five devils +were painted tormenting a soul with different punishments,--one applying +fire, another serpents, another tearing him with pincers, and another +holding him fast with a chain,--this would have a good effect, +especially if everything were made distinct, and misery, rage, and +desperation appeared plainly in his face." [29] + +[27] Ibid., 1636, 119, and 1637, 32 (Cramoisy). "La crainte est l'auan +couriere de la foy dans ces esprits barbares." +[28] Le Jeune, Relation, 1637, 80-82 (Cramoisy). "Avoir faim et ne +manger que des serpens et des crapaux, avoir soif et ne boire que des +flammes." +[29] "Les heretiques sont grandement blasmables, de condamner et de +briser les images qui ont de si bons effets. Ces sainctes figures sont +la moitié de l'instruction qu'on peut donner aux Sauuages. I'auois +desiré quelques portraits de l'enfer et de l'âme damnée; on nous en a +enuoyé quelques vns en papier, mais cela est trop confus. Les diables +sont tellement meslez auec les hommes, qu'on n'y peut rien recognoistre, +qu'auec vne particuliere attention. Qui depeindroit trois ou quatre ou +cinq demons, tourmentans vne âme de diuers supplices, l'vn luy +appliquant des feux, l'autre des serpens, l'autre la tenaillant, l'autre +la tenant liée auec des chaisnes, cela auroit vn bon effet, notamment si +tout estoit bien distingué, et que la rage et la tristesse parussent +bien en la face de cette âme desesperée"--Relation, 1637, 32 (Cramoisy). + +The preparation of the convert for baptism was often very slight. A +dying Algonquin, who, though meagre as a skeleton, had thrown himself, +with a last effort of expiring ferocity, on an Iroquois prisoner, and +torn off his ear with his teeth, was baptized almost immediately. [30] +In the case of converts in health there was far more preparation; yet +these often apostatized. The various objects of instruction may all be +included in one comprehensive word, submission,--an abdication of will +and judgment in favor of the spiritual director, who was the interpreter +and vicegerent of God. The director's function consisted in the +enforcement of dogmas by which he had himself been subdued, in which he +believed profoundly, and to which he often clung with an absorbing +enthusiasm. The Jesuits, an Order thoroughly and vehemently reactive, +had revived in Europe the mediæval type of Christianity, with all its +attendant superstitions. Of these the Canadian missions bear abundant +marks. Yet, on the whole, the labors of the missionaries tended greatly +to the benefit of the Indians. Reclaimed, as the Jesuits tried to +reclaim them, from their wandering life, settled in habits of peaceful +industry, and reduced to a passive and childlike obedience, they would +have gained more than enough to compensate them for the loss of their +ferocious and miserable independence. At least, they would have escaped +annihilation. The Society of Jesus aspired to the mastery of all New +France; but the methods of its ambition were consistent with a Christian +benevolence. Had this been otherwise, it would have employed other +instruments. It would not have chosen a Jogues or a Garnier. The Society +had men for every work, and it used them wisely. It utilized the +apostolic virtues of its Canadian missionaries, fanned their enthusiasm, +and decorated itself with their martyr crowns. With joy and gratulation, +it saw them rival in another hemisphere the noble memory of its saint +and hero, Francis Xavier. [31] + +[30] "Ce seroit vne estrange cruauté de voir descendre vne âme toute +viuante dans les enfers, par le refus d'vn bien que Iesus Christ luy a +acquis au prix de son sang."--Relation, 1637, 66 + +"Considerez d'autre coté la grande appréhension que nous avions sujet de +redouter la guérison; pour autant que bien souvent étant guéris il ne +leur reste du St. Baptême que le caractère."--Lettres de Garnier, MSS. + +It was not very easy to make an Indian comprehend the nature of baptism. +An Iroquois at Montreal, hearing a missionary speaking of the water +which cleansed the soul from sin, said that he was well acquainted with +it, as the Dutch had once given him so much that they were forced to tie +him, hand and foot, to prevent him from doing mischief.--Faillon, II. +43. + +[31] Enemies of the Jesuits, while denouncing them in unmeasured terms, +speak in strong eulogy of many of the Canadian missionaries. See, for +example, Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, II. 415. + +I have spoken of the colonists as living in a state of temporal and +spiritual vassalage. To this there was one exception,--a small class of +men whose home was the forest, and their companions savages. They +followed the Indians in their roamings, lived with them, grew familiar +with their language, allied themselves with their women, and often +became oracles in the camp and leaders on the war-path. Champlain's bold +interpreter, Étienne Brulé, whose adventures I have recounted elsewhere, +[32] may be taken as a type of this class. Of the rest, the most +conspicuous were Jean Nicollet, Jacques Hertel, François Marguerie, and +Nicolas Marsolet. [33] Doubtless, when they returned from their rovings, +they often had pressing need of penance and absolution; yet, for the +most part, they were good Catholics, and some of them were zealous for +the missions. Nicollet and others were at times settled as interpreters +at Three Rivers and Quebec. Several of them were men of great +intelligence and an invincible courage. From hatred of restraint, and +love of a wild and adventurous independence, they encountered privations +and dangers scarcely less than those to which the Jesuit exposed himself +from motives widely different,--he from religious zeal, charity, and the +hope of Paradise; they simply because they liked it. Some of the best +families of Canada claim descent from this vigorous and hardy stock. + +[32] "Pioneers of France," 377. +[33] See Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de N. D. de Québec, 30. + +Nicollet, especially, was a remarkable man. As early as 1639, he +ascended the Green Bay of Lake Michigan, and crossed to the waters of +the Mississippi. This was first shown by the researches of Mr. Shea. See +his Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, XX. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1636-1652. + +DEVOTEES AND NUNS. + +The Huron Seminary • Madame de la Peltrie • Her Pious Schemes • Her Sham +Marriage • She visits the Ursulines of Tours • Marie de Saint Bernard • +Marie de l'Incarnation • Her Enthusiasm • Her Mystical Marriage • Her +Dejection • Her Mental Conflicts • Her Vision • Made Superior of the +Ursulines • The Hôtel-Dieu • The Voyage to Canada • Sillery • Labors and +Sufferings of the Nuns • Character of Marie de l'Incarnation • Of Madame +de la Peltrie + +Quebec, as we have seen, had a seminary, a hospital, and a convent, +before it had a population. It will be well to observe the origin of +these institutions. + +The Jesuits from the first had cherished the plan of a seminary for +Huron boys at Quebec. The Governor and the Company favored the design; +since not only would it be an efficient means of spreading the Faith and +attaching the tribe to the French interest, but the children would be +pledges for the good behavior of the parents, and hostages for the +safety of missionaries and traders in the Indian towns. [1] In the +summer of 1636, Father Daniel, descending from the Huron country, worn, +emaciated, his cassock patched and tattered, and his shirt in rags, +brought with him a boy, to whom two others were soon added; and through +the influence of the interpreter, Nicollet, the number was afterwards +increased by several more. One of them ran away, two ate themselves to +death, a fourth was carried home by his father, while three of those +remaining stole a canoe, loaded it with all they could lay their hands +upon, and escaped in triumph with their plunder. [2] + +[1] "M. de Montmagny cognoit bien l'importance de ce Seminaire pour la +gloire de Nostre Seigneur, et pour le commerce de ces +Messieurs"--Relation, 1637, 209 (Cramoisy). +[2] Le Jeune, Relation, 1637, 55-59. Ibid., Relation, 1638, 23. + +The beginning was not hopeful; but the Jesuits persevered, and at length +established their seminary on a firm basis. The Marquis de Gamache had +given the Society six thousand crowns for founding a college at Quebec. +In 1637, a year before the building of Harvard College, the Jesuits +began a wooden structure in the rear of the fort; and here, within one +inclosure, was the Huron seminary and the college for French boys. + +Meanwhile the female children of both races were without instructors; +but a remedy was at hand. At Alençon, in 1603, was born Marie Madeleine +de Chauvigny, a scion of the haute noblesse of Normandy. Seventeen years +later she was a young lady, abundantly wilful and superabundantly +enthusiastic,--one who, in other circumstances, might perhaps have made +a romantic elopement and a mésalliance. [3] But her impressible and +ardent nature was absorbed in other objects. Religion and its ministers +possessed her wholly, and all her enthusiasm was spent on works of +charity and devotion. Her father, passionately fond of her, resisted her +inclination for the cloister, and sought to wean her back to the world; +but she escaped from the chateau to a neighboring convent, where she +resolved to remain. Her father followed, carried her home, and engaged +her in a round of fêtes and hunting parties, in the midst of which she +found herself surprised into a betrothal to M. de la Peltrie, a young +gentleman of rank and character. The marriage proved a happy one, and +Madame de la Peltrie, with an excellent grace, bore her part in the +world she had wished to renounce. After a union of five years, her +husband died, and she was left a widow and childless at the age of +twenty-two. She returned to the religious ardors of her girlhood, again +gave all her thoughts to devotion and charity, and again resolved to be +a nun. She had heard of Canada; and when Le Jeune's first Relations +appeared, she read them with avidity. "Alas!" wrote the Father, "is +there no charitable and virtuous lady who will come to this country to +gather up the blood of Christ, by teaching His word to the little Indian +girls?" His appeal found a prompt and vehement response from the breast +of Madame de la Peltrie. Thenceforth she thought of nothing but Canada. +In the midst of her zeal, a fever seized her. The physicians despaired; +but, at the height of the disease, the patient made a vow to St. Joseph, +that, should God restore her to health, she would build a house in honor +of Him in Canada, and give her life and her wealth to the instruction of +Indian girls. On the following morning, say her biographers, the fever +had left her. + +[3] There is a portrait of her, taken at a later period, of which a +photograph is before me. She has a semi-religious dress, hands clasped +in prayer, large dark eyes, a smiling and mischievous mouth, and a face +somewhat pretty and very coquettish. An engraving from the portrait is +prefixed to the "Notice Biographique de Madame de la Peltrie" in Les +Ursulines de Québec, I. 348. + +Meanwhile her relatives, or those of her husband, had confirmed her +pious purposes by attempting to thwart them. They pronounced her a +romantic visionary, incompetent to the charge of her property. Her +father, too, whose fondness for her increased with his advancing age, +entreated her to remain with him while he lived, and to defer the +execution of her plans till he should be laid in his grave. From +entreaties he passed to commands, and at length threatened to disinherit +her, if she persisted. The virtue of obedience, for which she is +extolled by her clerical biographers, however abundantly exhibited in +respect to those who held charge of her conscience, was singularly +wanting towards the parent who, in the way of Nature, had the best claim +to its exercise; and Madame de la Peltrie was more than ever resolved to +go to Canada. Her father, on his part, was urgent that she should marry +again. On this she took counsel of a Jesuit, [4] who, "having seriously +reflected before God," suggested a device, which to the heretical mind +is a little startling, but which commended itself to Madame de la +Peltrie as fitted at once to soothe the troubled spirit of her father, +and to save her from the sin involved in the abandonment of her pious +designs. + +[4] "Partagée ainsi entre l'amour filial et la religion, en proie aux +plus poignantes angoisses, elle s'adressa à un religieux de la Compagnie +de Jésus, dont elle connaissait la prudence consommée, et le supplia de +l'éclairer de ses lumières. Ce religieux, après y avoir sérieusement +réfléchi devant Dieu, lui répondit qu'il croyait avoir trouvé un moyen +de tout concilier."--Casgrain, Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, 243. + +Among her acquaintance was M. de Bernières, a gentleman of high rank, +great wealth, and zealous devotion. She wrote to him, explained the +situation, and requested him to feign a marriage with her. His sense of +honor recoiled: moreover, in the fulness of his zeal, he had made a vow +of chastity, and an apparent breach of it would cause scandal. He +consulted his spiritual director and a few intimate friends. All agreed +that the glory of God was concerned, and that it behooved him to accept +the somewhat singular overtures of the young widow, [5] and request her +hand from her father. M. de Chauvigny, who greatly esteemed Bernières, +was delighted; and his delight was raised to transport at the dutiful +and modest acquiescence of his daughter. [6] A betrothal took place; all +was harmony, and for a time no more was said of disinheriting Madame de +la Peltrie, or putting her in wardship. + +[5] "Enfin après avoir longtemps imploré les lumières du ciel, il remit +toute l'affaire entre les mains de son directeur et de quelques amis +intimes. Tous, d'un commun accord, lui déclarèrent que la gloire de Dieu +y était interessée, et qu'il devait accepter."--Ibid., 244. +[6] "The prudent young widow answered him with much respect and modesty, +that, as she knew M. de Bernières to be a favorite with him, she also +preferred him to all others." + +The above is from a letter of Marie de l'Incarnation, translated by +Mother St. Thomas, of the Ursuline convent of Quebec, in her Life of +Madame de la Peltrie, 41. Compare Les Ursulines de Québec, 10, and the +"Notice Biographique" in the same volume. + +Bernières's scruples returned. Divided between honor and conscience, he +postponed the marriage, until at length M. de Chauvigny conceived +misgivings, and again began to speak of disinheriting his daughter, +unless the engagement was fulfilled. [7] Bernières yielded, and went +with Madame de la Peltrie to consult "the most eminent divines." [8] A +sham marriage took place, and she and her accomplice appeared in public +as man and wife. Her relatives, however, had already renewed their +attempts to deprive her of the control of her property. A suit, of what +nature does not appear, had been decided against her at Caen, and she +had appealed to the Parliament of Normandy. Her lawyers were in despair; +but, as her biographer justly observes, "the saints have resources which +others have not." A vow to St. Joseph secured his intercession and +gained her case. Another thought now filled her with agitation. Her +plans were laid, and the time of action drew near. How could she endure +the distress of her father, when he learned that she had deluded him +with a false marriage, and that she and all that was hers were bound for +the wilderness of Canada? Happily for him, he fell ill, and died in +ignorance of the deceit that had been practised upon him. [9] + +[7] "Our virtuous widow did not lose courage. As she had given her +confidence to M. de Bernières, she informed him of all that passed, +while she flattered her father each day, telling him that this nobleman +was too honorable to fail in keeping his word."--St. Thomas, Life of +Madame de la Peltrie, 42. +[8] "He" (Bernières) "went to stay at the house of a mutual friend, +where they had frequent opportunities of seeing each other, and +consulting the most eminent divines on the means of effecting this +pretended marriage."--Ibid., 43. +[9] It will be of interest to observe the view taken of this pretended +marriage by Madame de la Peltrie's Catholic biographers. Charlevoix +tells the story without comment, but with apparent approval. Sainte-Foi, +in his Premières Ursulines de France, says, that, as God had taken her +under His guidance, we should not venture to criticize her. Casgrain, in +his Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, remarks:-- + +"Une telle conduite peut encore aujourd'hui paraître étrange à bien des +personnes; mais outre que l'avenir fit bien voir que c'était une +inspiration du ciel, nous pouvons répondre, avec un savant et pieux +auteur, que nous ne devons point juger ceux que Dieu se charge lui-même +de conduire."--p. 247. + +Mother St. Thomas highly approves the proceeding, and says:-- + +"Thus ended the pretended engagement of this virtuous lady and +gentleman, which caused, at the time, so much inquiry and excitement +among the nobility in France, and which, after a lapse of two hundred +years, cannot fail exciting feelings of admiration in the heart of every +virtuous woman!" + +Surprising as it may appear, the book from which the above is taken was +written a few years since, in so-called English, for the instruction of +the pupils in the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. + +Whatever may be thought of the quality of Madame de la Peltrie's +devotion, there can be no reasonable doubt of its sincerity or its +ardor; and yet one can hardly fail to see in her the signs of that +restless longing for éclat, which, with some women, is a ruling passion. +When, in company with Bernières, she passed from Alençon to Tours, and +from Tours to Paris, an object of attention to nuns, priests, and +prelates,--when the Queen herself summoned her to an interview,--it may +be that the profound contentment of soul ascribed to her had its origin +in sources not exclusively of the spirit. At Tours, she repaired to the +Ursuline convent. The Superior and all the nuns met her at the entrance +of the cloister, and, separating into two rows as she appeared, sang the +Veni Creator, while the bell of the monastery sounded its loudest peal. +Then they led her in triumph to their church, sang Te Deum, and, while +the honored guest knelt before the altar, all the sisterhood knelt +around her in a semicircle. Their hearts beat high within them. That day +they were to know who of their number were chosen for the new convent of +Quebec, of which Madame de la Peltrie was to be the foundress; and when +their devotions were over, they flung themselves at her feet, each +begging with tears that the lot might fall on her. Aloof from this +throng of enthusiastic suppliants stood a young nun, Marie de St. +Bernard, too timid and too modest to ask the boon for which her fervent +heart was longing. It was granted without asking. This delicate girl was +chosen, and chosen wisely. [10] + +[10] Casgrain, Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, 271-273. There is a long +account of Marie de St. Bernard, by Ragueneau, in the Relation of 1652. +Here it is said that she showed an unaccountable indifference as to +whether she went to Canada or not, which, however, was followed by an +ardent desire to go. + +There was another nun who stood apart, silent and motionless,--a stately +figure, with features strongly marked and perhaps somewhat masculine; +[11] but, if so, they belied her, for Marie de l'Incarnation was a woman +to the core. For her there was no need of entreaties; for she knew that +the Jesuits had made her their choice, as Superior of the new convent. +She was born, forty years before, at Tours, of a good bourgeois family. +As she grew up towards maturity, her qualities soon declared themselves. +She had uncommon talents and strong religious susceptibilities, joined +to a vivid imagination,--an alliance not always desirable under a form +of faith where both are excited by stimulants so many and so powerful. +Like Madame de la Peltrie, she married, at the desire of her parents, in +her eighteenth year. The marriage was not happy. Her biographers say +that there was no fault on either side. Apparently, it was a severe case +of "incompatibility." She sought her consolation in the churches; and, +kneeling in dim chapels, held communings with Christ and the angels. At +the end of two years her husband died, leaving her with an infant son. +She gave him to the charge of her sister, abandoned herself to solitude +and meditation, and became a mystic of the intense and passional school. +Yet a strong maternal instinct battled painfully in her breast with a +sense of religious vocation. Dreams, visions, interior voices, +ecstasies, revulsions, periods of rapture and periods of deep dejection, +made up the agitated tissue of her life. She fasted, wore hair-cloth, +scourged herself, washed dishes among the servants, and did their most +menial work. She heard, in a trance, a miraculous voice. It was that of +Christ, promising to become her spouse. Months and years passed, full of +troubled hopes and fears, when again the voice sounded in her ear, with +assurance that the promise was fulfilled, and that she was indeed his +bride. Now ensued phenomena which are not infrequent among Roman +Catholic female devotees, when unmarried, or married unhappily, and +which have their source in the necessities of a woman's nature. To her +excited thought, her divine spouse became a living presence; and her +language to him, as recorded by herself, is that of the most intense +passion. She went to prayer, agitated and tremulous, as if to a meeting +with an earthly lover. "O my Love!" she exclaimed, "when shall I embrace +you? Have you no pity on me in the torments that I suffer? Alas! alas! +my Love, my Beauty, my Life! instead of healing my pain, you take +pleasure in it. Come, let me embrace you, and die in your sacred arms!" +And again she writes: "Then, as I was spent with fatigue, I was forced +to say, 'My divine Love, since you wish me to live, I pray you let me +rest a little, that I may the better serve you'; and I promised him that +afterward I would suffer myself to consume in his chaste and divine +embraces." [12] + +[11] There is an engraved portrait of her, taken some years later, of +which a photograph is before me. When she was "in the world," her +stately proportions are said to have attracted general attention. Her +family name was Marie Guyard. She was born on the eighteenth of October, +1599. +[12] "Allant à l'oraison, je tressaillois en moi-même, et disois: Allons +dans la solitude, mon cher amour, afin que je vous embrasse à mon aise, +et que, respirant mon âme en vous, elle ne soit plus que vous-même par +union d'amour.... Puis, mon corps étant brisé de fatigues, j'étois +contrainte de dire: Mon divin amour, je vous prie de me laisser prendre +un peu de repos, afin que je puisse mieux vous servir, puisque vous +voulez que je vive.... Je le priois de me laisser agir; lui promettant +de me laisser après cela consumer dans ses chastes et divins +embrassemens.... O amour! quand vous embrasserai-je? N'avez-vous point +pitié de moi dans le tourment que je souffre? helas! helas! mon amour, +ma beauté, ma vie! au lieu de me guérir, vous vous plaisez à mes maux. +Venez donc que je vous embrasse, et que je meure entre vos bras sacréz!" + +The above passages, from various pages of her journal, will suffice, +though they give but an inadequate idea of these strange extravagances. +What is most astonishing is, that a man of sense like Charlevoix, in his +Life of Marie de l'Incarnation, should extract them in full, as matter +of edification and evidence of saintship. Her recent biographer, the +Abbé Casgrain, refrains from quoting them, though he mentions them +approvingly as evincing fervor. The Abbé Racine, in his Discours à +l'Occasion du 192ème Anniversaire de l'heureuse Mort de la Vén. Mère de +l'Incarnation, delivered at Quebec in 1864, speaks of them as +transcendent proofs of the supreme favor of Heaven.--Some of the pupils +of Marie de l'Incarnation also had mystical marriages with Christ; and +the impassioned rhapsodies of one of them being overheard, she nearly +lost her character, as it was thought that she was apostrophsizing an +earthly lover. + +Clearly, here is a case for the physiologist as well as the theologian; +and the "holy widow," as her biographers call her, becomes an example, +and a lamentable one, of the tendency of the erotic principle to ally +itself with high religious excitement. + +But the wings of imagination will tire and droop, the brightest +dream-land of contemplative fancy grow dim, and an abnormal tension of +the faculties find its inevitable reaction at last. From a condition of +highest exaltation, a mystical heaven of light and glory, the unhappy +dreamer fell back to a dreary earth, or rather to an abyss of darkness +and misery. Her biographers tell us that she became a prey to dejection, +and thoughts of infidelity, despair, estrangement from God, aversion to +mankind, pride, vanity, impurity, and a supreme disgust at the rites of +religion. Exhaustion produced common-sense, and the dreams which had +been her life now seemed a tissue of illusions. Her confessor became a +weariness to her, and his words fell dead on her ear. Indeed, she +conceived a repugnance to the holy man. Her old and favorite confessor, +her oracle, guide, and comforter, had lately been taken from her by +promotion in the Church,--which may serve to explain her dejection; and +the new one, jealous of his predecessor, told her that all his counsels +had been visionary and dangerous to her soul. Having overwhelmed her +with this announcement, he left her, apparently out of patience with her +refractory and gloomy mood; and she remained for several months deprived +of spiritual guidance. [13] Two years elapsed before her mind recovered +its tone, when she soared once more in the seventh heaven of imaginative +devotion. + +[13] Casgrain, 195-197. + +Marie de l'Incarnation, we have seen, was unrelenting in every practice +of humiliation; dressed in mean attire, did the servants' work, nursed +sick beggars, and, in her meditations, taxed her brain with metaphysical +processes of self-annihilation. And yet, when one reads her "Spiritual +Letters," the conviction of an enormous spiritual pride in the writer +can hardly be repressed. She aspired to that inner circle of the +faithful, that aristocracy of devotion, which, while the common herd of +Christians are busied with the duties of life, eschews the visible and +the present, and claims to live only for God. In her strong maternal +affection she saw a lure to divert her from the path of perfect +saintship. Love for her child long withheld her from becoming a nun; but +at last, fortified by her confessor, she left him to his fate, took the +vows, and immured herself with the Ursulines of Tours. The boy, frenzied +by his desertion, and urged on by indignant relatives, watched his +opportunity, and made his way into the refectory of the convent, +screaming to the horrified nuns to give him back his mother. As he grew +older, her anxiety increased; and at length she heard in her seclusion +that he had fallen into bad company, had left the relative who had +sheltered him, and run off, no one knew whither. The wretched mother, +torn with anguish, hastened for consolation to her confessor, who met +her with stern upbraidings. Yet, even in this her intensest ordeal, her +enthusiasm and her native fortitude enabled her to maintain a semblance +of calmness, till she learned that the boy had been found and brought +back. + +Strange as it may seem, this woman, whose habitual state was one of +mystical abstraction, was gifted to a rare degree with the faculties +most useful in the practical affairs of life. She had spent several +years in the house of her brother-in-law. Here, on the one hand, her +vigils, visions, and penances set utterly at nought the order of a +well-governed family; while, on the other, she made amends to her +impatient relative by able and efficient aid in the conduct of his +public and private affairs. Her biographers say, and doubtless with +truth, that her heart was far away from these mundane interests; yet her +talent for business was not the less displayed. Her spiritual guides +were aware of it, and saw clearly that gifts so useful to the world +might be made equally useful to the Church. Hence it was that she was +chosen Superior of the convent which Madame de la Peltrie was about to +endow at Quebec. [14] + +[14] The combination of religious enthusiasm, however extravagant and +visionary, with a talent for business, is not very rare. Nearly all the +founders of monastic Orders are examples of it. + +Yet it was from heaven itself that Marie de l'Incarnation received her +first "vocation" to Canada. The miracle was in this wise. + +In a dream she beheld a lady unknown to her. She took her hand; and the +two journeyed together westward, towards the sea. They soon met one of +the Apostles, clothed all in white, who, with a wave of his hand, +directed them on their way. They now entered on a scene of surpassing +magnificence. Beneath their feet was a pavement of squares of white +marble, spotted with vermilion, and intersected with lines of vivid +scarlet; and all around stood monasteries of matchless architecture. But +the two travellers, without stopping to admire, moved swiftly on till +they beheld the Virgin seated with her Infant Son on a small temple of +white marble, which served her as a throne. She seemed about fifteen +years of age, and was of a "ravishing beauty." Her head was turned +aside; she was gazing fixedly on a wild waste of mountains and valleys, +half concealed in mist. Marie de l'Incarnation approached with +outstretched arms, adoring. The vision bent towards her, and, smiling, +kissed her three times; whereupon, in a rapture, the dreamer awoke. [15] + +[15] Marie de l'Incarnation recounts this dream at great length in her +letters; and Casgrain copies the whole, verbatim, as a revelation from +God. + +She told the vision to Father Dinet, a Jesuit of Tours. He was at no +loss for an interpretation. The land of mists and mountains was Canada, +and thither the Virgin called her. Yet one mystery remained unsolved. +Who was the unknown companion of her dream? Several years had passed, +and signs from heaven and inward voices had raised to an intense fervor +her zeal for her new vocation, when, for the first time, she saw Madame +de la Peltrie on her visit to the convent at Tours, and recognized, on +the instant, the lady of her nocturnal vision. No one can be surprised +at this who has considered with the slightest attention the phenomena of +religious enthusiasm. + +On the fourth of May, 1639, Madame de la Peltrie, Marie de +l'Incarnation, Marie de St. Bernard, and another Ursuline, embarked at +Dieppe for Canada. In the ship were also three young hospital nuns, sent +out to found at Quebec a Hôtel-Dieu, endowed by the famous niece of +Richelieu, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon. [16] Here, too, were the Jesuits +Chaumonot and Poncet, on the way to their mission, together with Father +Vimont, who was to succeed Le Jeune in his post of Superior. To the +nuns, pale from their cloistered seclusion, there was a strange and +startling novelty in this new world of life and action,--the ship, the +sailors, the shouts of command, the flapping of sails, the salt wind, +and the boisterous sea. The voyage was long and tedious. Sometimes they +lay in their berths, sea-sick and woe-begone; sometimes they sang in +choir on deck, or heard mass in the cabin. Once, on a misty morning, a +wild cry of alarm startled crew and passengers alike. A huge iceberg was +drifting close upon them. The peril was extreme. Madame de la Peltrie +clung to Marie de l'Incarnation, who stood perfectly calm, and gathered +her gown about her feet that she might drown with decency. It is +scarcely necessary to say that they were saved by a vow to the Virgin +and St. Joseph. Vimont offered it in behalf of all the company, and the +ship glided into the open sea unharmed. + +[16] Juchereau, Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, 4. + +They arrived at Tadoussac on the fifteenth of July; and the nuns +ascended to Quebec in a small craft deeply laden with salted codfish, on +which, uncooked, they subsisted until the first of August, when they +reached their destination. Cannon roared welcome from the fort and +batteries; all labor ceased; the storehouses were closed; and the +zealous Montmagny, with a train of priests and soldiers, met the +new-comers at the landing. All the nuns fell prostrate, and kissed the +sacred soil of Canada. [17] They heard mass at the church, dined at the +fort, and presently set forth to visit the new settlement of Sillery, +four miles above Quebec. + +[17] Juchereau, 14; Le Clerc, II. 33; Ragueneau, Vie de Catherine de St. +Augustin, "Epistre dédicatoire;" Le Jeune, Relation, 1639, Chap. II.; +Charlevoix, Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, 264; "Acte de Reception," in +Les Ursulines de Québec, I. 21. + +Noel Brulart de Sillery, a Knight of Malta, who had once filled the +highest offices under the Queen Marie de Médicis, had now severed his +connection with his Order, renounced the world, and become a priest. He +devoted his vast revenues--for a dispensation of the Pope had freed him +from his vow of poverty--to the founding of religious establishments. +[18] Among other endowments, he had placed an ample fund in the hands of +the Jesuits for the formation of a settlement of Christian Indians at +the spot which still bears his name. On the strand of Sillery, between +the river and the woody heights behind, were clustered the small +log-cabins of a number of Algonquin converts, together with a church, a +mission-house, and an infirmary,--the whole surrounded by a palisade. It +was to this place that the six nuns were now conducted by the Jesuits. +The scene delighted and edified them; and, in the transports of their +zeal, they seized and kissed every female Indian child on whom they +could lay hands, "without minding," says Father Le Jeune, "whether they +were dirty or not." "Love and charity," he adds, "triumphed over every +human consideration." [19] + +[18] See Vie de l'Illustre Serviteur de Dieu Noel Brulart de Sillery; +also Études et Recherches Bioqraphiques sur le Chevalier Noel Brulart de +Sillery; and several documents in Martin's translation of Bressani, +Appendix IV. +[19] "... sans prendre garde si ces petits enfans sauvages estoient +sales ou non; ... la loy d'amour et de charité l'emportoit par dessus +toutes les considerations humaines."--Relation, 1639, 26 (Cramoisy). + +The nuns of the Hôtel-Dieu soon after took up their abode at Sillery, +whence they removed to a house built for them at Quebec by their +foundress, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon. The Ursulines, in the absence of +better quarters, were lodged at first in a small wooden tenement under +the rock of Quebec, at the brink of the river. Here they were soon beset +with such a host of children, that the floor of their wretched tenement +was covered with beds, and their toil had no respite. Then came the +small-pox, carrying death and terror among the neighboring Indians. +These thronged to Quebec in misery and desperation, begging succor from +the French. The labors both of the Ursulines and of the hospital nuns +were prodigious. In the infected air of their miserable hovels, where +sick and dying savages covered the floor, and were packed one above +another in berths,--amid all that is most distressing and most +revolting, with little food and less sleep, these women passed the rough +beginning of their new life. Several of them fell ill. But the excess of +the evil at length brought relief; for so many of the Indians died in +these pest-houses that the survivors shunned them in horror. + +But how did these women bear themselves amid toils so arduous? A +pleasant record has come down to us of one of them,--that fair and +delicate girl, Marie de St. Bernard, called, in the convent, Sister St. +Joseph, who had been chosen at Tours as the companion of Marie de +l'Incarnation. Another Ursuline, writing at a period when the severity +of their labors was somewhat relaxed, says, "Her disposition is +charming. In our times of recreation, she often makes us cry with +laughing: it would be hard to be melancholy when she is near." [20] + +[20] Lettre de la Mère Ste Claire à une de ses Sœurs Ursulines de Paris. +Québec, 2 Sept., 1640.--See Les Ursulines de Québec, I. 38. + +It was three years later before the Ursulines and their pupils took +possession of a massive convent of stone, built for them on the site +which they still occupy. Money had failed before the work was done, and +the interior was as unfinished as a barn. [21] Beside the cloister stood +a large ash-tree; and it stands there still. Beneath its shade, says the +convent tradition, Marie de l'Incarnation and her nuns instructed the +Indian children in the truths of salvation; but it might seem rash to +affirm that their teachings were always either wise or useful, since +Father Vimont tells us approvingly, that they reared their pupils in so +chaste a horror of the other sex, that a little girl, whom a man had +playfully taken by the hand, ran crying to a bowl of water to wash off +the unhallowed influence. [22] + +[21] The interior was finished after a year or two, with cells as usual. +There were four chimneys, with fireplaces burning a hundred and +seventy-five cords of wood in a winter; and though the nuns were boxed +up in beds which closed like chests, Marie de l'Incarnation complains +bitterly of the cold. See her letter of Aug. 26, 1644. +[22] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 112 (Cramoisy). + +Now and henceforward one figure stands nobly conspicuous in this devoted +sisterhood. Marie de l'Incarnation, no longer lost in the vagaries of an +insane mysticism, but engaged in the duties of Christian charity and the +responsibilities of an arduous post, displays an ability, a fortitude, +and an earnestness which command respect and admiration. Her mental +intoxication had ceased, or recurred only at intervals; and false +excitements no longer sustained her. She was racked with constant +anxieties about her son, and was often in a condition described by her +biographers as a "deprivation of all spiritual consolations." Her +position was a very difficult one. She herself speaks of her life as a +succession of crosses and humiliations. Some of these were due to Madame +de la Peltrie, who, in a freak of enthusiasm, abandoned her Ursulines +for a time, as we shall presently see, leaving them in the utmost +destitution. There were dissensions to be healed among them; and money, +everything, in short, to be provided. Marie de l'Incarnation, in her +saddest moments, neither failed in judgment nor slackened in effort. She +carried on a vast correspondence, embracing every one in France who +could aid her infant community with money or influence; she harmonized +and regulated it with excellent skill; and, in the midst of relentless +austerities, she was loved as a mother by her pupils and dependants. +Catholic writers extol her as a saint. [23] Protestants may see in her a +Christian heroine, admirable, with all her follies and her faults. + +[23] There is a letter extant from Sister Anne de Ste Claire, an +Ursuline who came to Quebec in 1640, written soon after her arrival, and +containing curious evidence that a reputation of saintship already +attached to Marie de l'Incarnation. "When I spoke to her," writes Sister +Anne, speaking of her first interview, "I perceived in the air a certain +odor of sanctity, which gave me the sensation of an agreeable perfume." +See the letter in a recent Catholic work, Les Ursulines de Québec, I. +38, where the passage is printed in Italics, as worthy the especial +attention of the pious reader. + +The traditions of the Ursulines are full of the virtues of Madame de la +Peltrie,--her humility, her charity, her penances, and her acts of +mortification. No doubt, with some little allowance, these traditions +are true; but there is more of reason than of uncharitableness in the +belief, that her zeal would have been less ardent and sustained, if it +had had fewer spectators. She was now fairly committed to the conventual +life, her enthusiasm was kept within prescribed bounds, and she was no +longer mistress of her own movements. On the one hand, she was anxious +to accumulate merits against the Day of Judgment; and, on the other, she +had a keen appreciation of the applause which the sacrifice of her +fortune and her acts of piety had gained for her. Mortal vanity takes +many shapes. Sometimes it arrays itself in silk and jewels; sometimes it +walks in sackcloth, and speaks the language of self-abasement. In the +convent, as in the world, the fair devotee thirsted for admiration. The +halo of saintship glittered in her eyes like a diamond crown, and she +aspired to outshine her sisters in humility. She was as sincere as +Simeon Stylites on his column; and, like him, found encouragement and +comfort in the gazing and wondering eyes below. [24] + +[24] Madame de la Peltrie died in her convent in 1671. Marie de +l'Incarnation died the following year. She had the consolation of +knowing that her son had fulfilled her ardent wishes, and become a +priest. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +1636-1642. + +VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. + +Dauversiére and the Voice from Heaven • Abbé Olier • Their Schemes • The +Society of Notre-Dame de Montreal • Maisonneuve • Devout Ladies • +Mademoiselle Mance • Marguerite Bourgeoys • The Montrealists at Quebec • +Jealousy • Quarrels • Romance and Devotion • Embarkation • Foundation of +Montreal + +We come now to an enterprise as singular in its character as it proved +important in its results. + +At La Flèche, in Anjou, dwelt one Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, +receiver of taxes. His portrait shows us a round, bourgeois face, +somewhat heavy perhaps, decorated with a slight moustache, and redeemed +by bright and earnest eyes. On his head he wears a black skull-cap; and +over his ample shoulders spreads a stiff white collar, of wide expanse +and studious plainness. Though he belonged to the noblesse, his look is +that of a grave burgher, of good renown and sage deportment. Dauversière +was, however, an enthusiastic devotee, of mystical tendencies, who +whipped himself with a scourge of small chains till his shoulders were +one wound, wore a belt with more than twelve hundred sharp points, and +invented for himself other torments, which filled his confessor with +admiration. [1] One day, while at his devotions, he heard an inward +voice commanding him to become the founder of a new Order of hospital +nuns; and he was further ordered to establish, on the island called +Montreal, in Canada, a hospital, or Hôtel-Dieu, to be conducted by these +nuns. But Montreal was a wilderness, and the hospital would have no +patients. Therefore, in order to supply them, the island must first be +colonized. Dauversière was greatly perplexed. On the one hand, the voice +of Heaven must be obeyed; on the other, he had a wife, six children, and +a very moderate fortune. [2] + +[1] Fancamp in Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance. Introduction. +[2] Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance, Introduction; Dollier de Casson, Hist. +de Montreal, MS.; Les Véritables Motifs des Messieurs et Dames de +Montreal, 25; Juchereau, 33. + +Again: there was at Paris a young priest, about twenty-eight years of +age,--Jean Jacques Olier, afterwards widely known as founder of the +Seminary of St. Sulpice. Judged by his engraved portrait, his +countenance, though marked both with energy and intellect, was anything +but prepossessing. Every lineament proclaims the priest. Yet the Abbé +Olier has high titles to esteem. He signalized his piety, it is true, by +the most disgusting exploits of self-mortification; but, at the same +time, he was strenuous in his efforts to reform the people and the +clergy. So zealous was he for good morals, that he drew upon himself the +imputation of a leaning to the heresy of the Jansenists,--a suspicion +strengthened by his opposition to certain priests, who, to secure the +faithful in their allegiance, justified them in lives of licentiousness. +[3] Yet Olier's catholicity was past attaintment, and in his horror of +Jansenists he yielded to the Jesuits alone. + +[3] Faillon, Vie de M. Olier, II. 188. + +He was praying in the ancient church of St. Germain des Prés, when, like +Dauversière, he thought he heard a voice from Heaven, saying that he was +destined to be a light to the Gentiles. It is recorded as a mystic +coincidence attending this miracle, that the choir was at that very time +chanting the words, Lumen ad revelationem Gentium; [4] and it seems to +have occurred neither to Olier nor to his biographer, that, falling on +the ear of the rapt worshipper, they might have unconsciously suggested +the supposed revelation. But there was a further miracle. An inward +voice told Olier that he was to form a society of priests, and establish +them on the island called Montreal, in Canada, for the propagation of +the True Faith; and writers old and recent assert, that, while both he +and Dauversière were totally ignorant of Canadian geography, they +suddenly found themselves in possession, they knew not how, of the most +exact details concerning Montreal, its size, shape, situation, soil, +climate, and productions. + +[4] Mémoires Autographes de M. Olier, cited by Faillon, in Histoire de +la Colonie Française, I. 384. + +The annual volumes of the Jesuit Relations, issuing from the renowned +press of Cramoisy, were at this time spread broadcast throughout France; +and, in the circles of haute devotion, Canada and its missions were +everywhere the themes of enthusiastic discussion; while Champlain, in +his published works, had long before pointed out Montreal as the proper +site for a settlement. But we are entering a region of miracle, and it +is superfluous to look far for explanations. The illusion, in these +cases, is a part of the history. + +Dauversière pondered the revelation he had received; and the more he +pondered, the more was he convinced that it came from God. He therefore +set out for Paris, to find some means of accomplishing the task assigned +him. Here, as he prayed before an image of the Virgin in the church of +Notre-Dame, he fell into an ecstasy, and beheld a vision. "I should be +false to the integrity of history," writes his biographer, "if I did not +relate it here." And he adds, that the reality of this celestial favor +is past doubting, inasmuch as Dauversière himself told it to his +daughters. Christ, the Virgin, and St. Joseph appeared before him. He +saw them distinctly. Then he heard Christ ask three times of his Virgin +Mother, Where can I find a faithful servant? On which, the Virgin, +taking him (Dauversière) by the hand, replied, See, Lord, here is that +faithful servant!--and Christ, with a benignant smile, received him into +his service, promising to bestow on him wisdom and strength to do his +work. [5] From Paris he went to the neighboring chateau of Meudon, which +overlooks the valley of the Seine, not far from St. Cloud. Entering the +gallery of the old castle, he saw a priest approaching him. It was +Olier. Now we are told that neither of these men had ever seen or heard +of the other; and yet, says the pious historian, "impelled by a kind of +inspiration, they knew each other at once, even to the depths of their +hearts; saluted each other by name, as we read of St. Paul, the Hermit, +and St. Anthony, and of St. Dominic and St. Francis; and ran to embrace +each other, like two friends who had met after a long separation." [6] + +[5] Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance, Introduction, xxviii. The Abbé Ferland, +in his Histoire du Canada, passes over the miracles in silence. +[6] Ibid., La Colonie Française, I. 390. + +"Monsieur," exclaimed Olier, "I know your design, and I go to commend it +to God at the holy altar." + +And he went at once to say mass in the chapel. Dauversière received the +communion at his hands; and then they walked for three hours in the +park, discussing their plans. They were of one mind, in respect both to +objects and means; and when they parted, Olier gave Dauversière a +hundred louis, saying, "This is to begin the work of God." + +They proposed to found at Montreal three religious communities,--three +being the mystic number,--one of secular priests to direct the colonists +and convert the Indians, one of nuns to nurse the sick, and one of nuns +to teach the Faith to the children, white and red. To borrow their own +phrases, they would plant the banner of Christ in an abode of desolation +and a haunt of demons; and to this end a band of priests and women were +to invade the wilderness, and take post between the fangs of the +Iroquois. But first they must make a colony, and to do so must raise +money. Olier had pious and wealthy penitents; Dauversière had a friend, +the Baron de Fancamp, devout as himself and far richer. Anxious for his +soul, and satisfied that the enterprise was an inspiration of God, he +was eager to bear part in it. Olier soon found three others; and the six +together formed the germ of the Society of Notre-Dame de Montreal. Among +them they raised the sum of seventy-five thousand livres, equivalent to +about as many dollars at the present day. [7] + +[7] Dollier de Casson, Histoire de Montreal, MS.; also Belmont, Histoire +du Canada, 2. Juchereau doubles the sum. Faillon agrees with Dollier. + +On all that relates to the early annals of Montreal a flood of new light +has been thrown by the Abbé Faillon. As a priest of St. Sulpice, he had +ready access to the archives of the Seminaries of Montreal and Paris, +and to numerous other ecclesiastical depositories, which would have been +closed hopelessly against a layman and a heretic. It is impossible to +commend too highly the zeal, diligence, exactness, and extent of his +conscientious researches. His credulity is enormous, and he is +completely in sympathy with the supernaturalists of whom he writes: in +other words, he identifies himself with his theme, and is indeed a +fragment of the seventeenth century, still extant in the nineteenth. He +is minute to prolixity, and abounds in extracts and citations from the +ancient manuscripts which his labors have unearthed. In short, the Abbé +is a prodigy of patience and industry; and if he taxes the patience of +his readers, he also rewards it abundantly. Such of his original +authorities as have proved accessible are before me, including a +considerable number of manuscripts. Among these, that of Dollier de +Casson, Histoire de Montreal, as cited above, is the most important. The +copy in my possession was made from the original in the Mazarin Library. + +Now to look for a moment at their plan. Their eulogists say, and with +perfect truth, that, from a worldly point of view, it was mere folly. +The partners mutually bound themselves to seek no return for the money +expended. Their profit was to be reaped in the skies: and, indeed, there +was none to be reaped on earth. The feeble settlement at Quebec was at +this time in danger of utter ruin; for the Iroquois, enraged at the +attacks made on them by Champlain, had begun a fearful course of +retaliation, and the very existence of the colony trembled in the +balance. But if Quebec was exposed to their ferocious inroads, Montreal +was incomparably more so. A settlement here would be a perilous +outpost,--a hand thrust into the jaws of the tiger. It would provoke +attack, and lie almost in the path of the war-parties. The associates +could gain nothing by the fur-trade; for they would not be allowed to +share in it. On the other hand, danger apart, the place was an excellent +one for a mission; for here met two great rivers: the St. Lawrence, with +its countless tributaries, flowed in from the west, while the Ottawa +descended from the north; and Montreal, embraced by their uniting +waters, was the key to a vast inland navigation. Thither the Indians +would naturally resort; and thence the missionaries could make their way +into the heart of a boundless heathendom. None of the ordinary motives +of colonization had part in this design. It owed its conception and its +birth to religious zeal alone. + +The island of Montreal belonged to Lauson, former president of the great +company of the Hundred Associates; and, as we have seen, his son had a +monopoly of fishing in the St. Lawrence. Dauversière and Fancamp, after +much diplomacy, succeeded in persuading the elder Lauson to transfer his +title to them; and, as there was a defect in it, they also obtained a +grant of the island from the Hundred Associates, its original owners, +who, however, reserved to themselves its western extremity as a site for +a fort and storehouses. [8] At the same time, the younger Lauson granted +them a right of fishery within two leagues of the shores of the island, +for which they were to make a yearly acknowledgment of ten pounds of +fish. A confirmation of these grants was obtained from the King. +Dauversière and his companions were now seigneurs of Montreal. They were +empowered to appoint a governor, and to establish courts, from which +there was to be an appeal to the Supreme Court of Quebec, supposing such +to exist. They were excluded from the fur-trade, and forbidden to build +castles or forts other than such as were necessary for defence against +the Indians. + +[8] Donation et Transport de la Concession de l'Isle de Montreal par M. +Jean de Lauzon aux Sieurs Chevrier de Fouancant (Fancamp) et le Royer de +la Doversière, MS. + +Concession d'une Partie de l'Isle de Montreal accordée par la Compagnie +de la Nouvelle France aux Sieurs Chevrier et le Royer, MS. + +Lettres de Ratification, MS. + +Acte qui prouve que les Sieurs Chevrier de Fancamps et Royer de la +Dauversière n'ont stipulé qu'au nom de la Compagnie de Montreal, MS. + +From copies of other documents before me, it appears that in 1659 the +reserved portion of the island was also ceded to the Company of +Montreal. + +See also Edits, Ordonnances Royaux, etc., I. 20-26 (Quebec, 1854). + +Their title assured, they matured their plan. First they would send out +forty men to take possession of Montreal, intrench themselves, and raise +crops. Then they would build a house for the priests, and two convents +for the nuns. Meanwhile, Olier was toiling at Vaugirard, on the +outskirts of Paris, to inaugurate the seminary of priests, and +Dauversière at La Flèche, to form the community of hospital nuns. How +the school nuns were provided for we shall see hereafter. The colony, it +will be observed, was for the convents, not the convents for the colony. + +The Associates needed a soldier-governor to take charge of their forty +men; and, directed as they supposed by Providence, they found one wholly +to their mind. This was Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, a devout +and valiant gentleman, who in long service among the heretics of Holland +had kept his faith intact, and had held himself resolutely aloof from +the license that surrounded him. He loved his profession of arms, and +wished to consecrate his sword to the Church. Past all comparison, he is +the manliest figure that appears in this group of zealots. The piety of +the design, the miracles that inspired it, the adventure and the peril, +all combined to charm him; and he eagerly embraced the enterprise. His +father opposed his purpose; but he met him with a text of St. Mark, +"There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father +for my sake, but he shall receive an hundred-fold." On this the elder +Maisonneuve, deceived by his own worldliness, imagined that the plan +covered some hidden speculation, from which enormous profits were +expected, and therefore withdrew his opposition. [9] + +[9] Faillon, La Colonie Française, I. 409. + +Their scheme was ripening fast, when both Olier and Dauversière were +assailed by one of those revulsions of spirit, to which saints of the +ecstatic school are naturally liable. Dauversière, in particular, was a +prey to the extremity of dejection, uncertainty, and misgiving. What had +he, a family man, to do with ventures beyond sea? Was it not his first +duty to support his wife and children? Could he not fulfil all his +obligations as a Christian by reclaiming the wicked and relieving the +poor at La Flèche? Plainly, he had doubts that his vocation was genuine. +If we could raise the curtain of his domestic life, perhaps we should +find him beset by wife and daughters, tearful and wrathful, inveighing +against his folly, and imploring him to provide a support for them +before squandering his money to plant a convent of nuns in a wilderness. +How long his fit of dejection lasted does not appear; but at length [10] +he set himself again to his appointed work. Olier, too, emerging from +the clouds and darkness, found faith once more, and again placed himself +at the head of the great enterprise. [11] + +[10] Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance, Introduction, xxxv. +[11] Faillon (Vie de M. Olier) devotes twenty-one pages to the history +of his fit of nervous depression. + +There was imperative need of more money; and Dauversière, under +judicious guidance, was active in obtaining it. This miserable victim of +illusions had a squat, uncourtly figure, and was no proficient in the +graces either of manners or of speech: hence his success in commending +his objects to persons of rank and wealth is set down as one of the many +miracles which attended the birth of Montreal. But zeal and earnestness +are in themselves a power; and the ground had been well marked out and +ploughed for him in advance. That attractive, though intricate, subject +of study, the female mind, has always engaged the attention of priests, +more especially in countries where, as in France, women exert a strong +social and political influence. The art of kindling the flames of zeal, +and the more difficult art of directing and controlling them, have been +themes of reflection the most diligent and profound. Accordingly we find +that a large proportion of the money raised for this enterprise was +contributed by devout ladies. Many of them became members of the +Association of Montreal, which was eventually increased to about +forty-five persons, chosen for their devotion and their wealth. + +Olier and his associates had resolved, though not from any collapse of +zeal, to postpone the establishment of the seminary and the college +until after a settlement should be formed. The hospital, however, might, +they thought, be begun at once; for blood and blows would be the assured +portion of the first settlers. At least, a discreet woman ought to +embark with the first colonists as their nurse and housekeeper. Scarcely +was the need recognized when it was supplied. + +Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance was born of an honorable family of +Nogent-le-Roi, and in 1640 was thirty-four years of age. These Canadian +heroines began their religious experiences early. Of Marie de +l'Incarnation we read, that at the age of seven Christ appeared to her +in a vision; [12] and the biographer of Mademoiselle Mance assures us, +with admiring gravity, that, at the same tender age, she bound herself +to God by a vow of perpetual chastity. [13] This singular infant in due +time became a woman, of a delicate constitution, and manners graceful, +yet dignified. Though an earnest devotee, she felt no vocation for the +cloister; yet, while still "in the world," she led the life of a nun. +The Jesuit Relations, and the example of Madame de la Peltrie, of whom +she had heard, inoculated her with the Canadian enthusiasm, then so +prevalent; and, under the pretence of visiting relatives, she made a +journey to Paris, to take counsel of certain priests. Of one thing she +was assured: the Divine will called her to Canada, but to what end she +neither knew nor asked to know; for she abandoned herself as an atom to +be borne to unknown destinies on the breath of God. At Paris, Father St. +Jure, a Jesuit, assured her that her vocation to Canada was, past doubt, +a call from Heaven; while Father Rapin, a Récollet, spread abroad the +fame of her virtues, and introduced her to many ladies of rank, wealth, +and zeal. Then, well supplied with money for any pious work to which she +might be summoned, she journeyed to Rochelle, whence ships were to sail +for New France. Thus far she had been kept in ignorance of the plan with +regard to Montreal; but now Father La Place, a Jesuit, revealed it to +her. On the day after her arrival at Rochelle, as she entered the Church +of the Jesuits, she met Dauversière coming out. "Then," says her +biographer, "these two persons, who had never seen nor heard of each +other, were enlightened supernaturally, whereby their most hidden +thoughts were mutually made known, as had happened already with M. Olier +and this same M. de la Dauversière." [14] A long conversation ensued +between them; and the delights of this interview were never effaced from +the mind of Mademoiselle Mance. "She used to speak of it like a seraph," +writes one of her nuns, "and far better than many a learned doctor could +have done." [15] + +[12] Casgrain, Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, 78. +[13] Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance, I. 3. +[14] Faillon, Vie de Mlle Mance, I. 18. Here again the Abbé Ferland, +with his usual good sense, tacitly rejects the supernaturalism. +[15] La Sœur Morin, Annales des Hospitalières de Villemarie, MS., cited +by Faillon. + +She had found her destiny. The ocean, the wilderness, the solitude, the +Iroquois,--nothing daunted her. She would go to Montreal with +Maisonneuve and his forty men. Yet, when the vessel was about to sail, a +new and sharp misgiving seized her. How could she, a woman, not yet +bereft of youth or charms, live alone in the forest, among a troop of +soldiers? Her scruples were relieved by two of the men, who, at the last +moment, refused to embark without their wives,--and by a young woman, +who, impelled by enthusiasm, escaped from her friends, and took passage, +in spite of them, in one of the vessels. + +All was ready; the ships set sail; but Olier, Dauversière, and Fancamp +remained at home, as did also the other Associates, with the exception +of Maisonneuve and Mademoiselle Mance. In the following February, an +impressive scene took place in the Church of Notre Dame, at Paris. The +Associates, at this time numbering about forty-five, [16] with Olier at +their head, assembled before the altar of the Virgin, and, by a solemn +ceremonial, consecrated Montreal to the Holy Family. Henceforth it was +to be called Villemarie de Montreal, [17]--a sacred town, reared to the +honor and under the patronage of Christ, St. Joseph, and the Virgin, to +be typified by three persons on earth, founders respectively of the +three destined communities,--Olier, Dauversière, and a maiden of Troyes, +Marguerite Bourgeoys: the seminary to be consecrated to Christ, the +Hôtel-Dieu to St. Joseph, and the college to the Virgin. + +[16] Dollier de Casson, A.D. 1641-42, MS. Vimont says thirty five. +[17] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 37. Compare Le Clerc, Établissement de la +Foy, II. 49. + +But we are anticipating a little; for it was several years as yet before +Marguerite Bourgeoys took an active part in the work of Montreal. She +was the daughter of a respectable tradesman, and was now twenty-two +years of age. Her portrait has come down to us; and her face is a mirror +of frankness, loyalty, and womanly tenderness. Her qualities were those +of good sense, conscientiousness, and a warm heart. She had known no +miracles, ecstasies, or trances; and though afterwards, when her +religious susceptibilities had reached a fuller development, a few such +are recorded of her, yet even the Abbé Faillon, with the best +intentions, can credit her with but a meagre allowance of these +celestial favors. Though in the midst of visionaries, she distrusted the +supernatural, and avowed her belief, that, in His government of the +world, God does not often set aside its ordinary laws. Her religion was +of the affections, and was manifested in an absorbing devotion to duty. +She had felt no vocation to the cloister, but had taken the vow of +chastity, and was attached, as an externe, to the Sisters of the +Congregation of Troyes, who were fevered with eagerness to go to Canada. +Marguerite, however, was content to wait until there was a prospect that +she could do good by going; and it was not till the year 1653, that, +renouncing an inheritance, and giving all she had to the poor, she +embarked for the savage scene of her labors. To this day, in crowded +school-rooms of Montreal and Quebec, fit monuments of her unobtrusive +virtue, her successors instruct the children of the poor, and embalm the +pleasant memory of Marguerite Bourgeoys. In the martial figure of +Maisonneuve, and the fair form of this gentle nun, we find the true +heroes of Montreal. [18] + +[18] For Marguerite Bourgeoys, see her life by Faillon. + +Maisonneuve, with his forty men and four women, reached Quebec too late +to ascend to Montreal that season. They encountered distrust, jealousy, +and opposition. The agents of the Company of the Hundred Associates +looked on them askance; and the Governor of Quebec, Montmagny, saw a +rival governor in Maisonneuve. Every means was used to persuade the +adventurers to abandon their project, and settle at Quebec. Montmagny +called a council of the principal persons of his colony, who gave it as +their opinion that the new-comers had better exchange Montreal for the +Island of Orleans, where they would be in a position to give and receive +succor; while, by persisting in their first design, they would expose +themselves to destruction, and be of use to nobody. [19] Maisonneuve, +who was present, expressed his surprise that they should assume to +direct his affairs. "I have not come here," he said, "to deliberate, but +to act. It is my duty and my honor to found a colony at Montreal; and I +would go, if every tree were an Iroquois!" [20] + +[19] Juchereau, 32; Faillon, Colonie Française, I. 423. +[20] La Tour, Mémoire de Laval, Liv. VIII; Belmont, Histoire du Canada, +3. + +At Quebec there was little ability and no inclination to shelter the new +colonists for the winter; and they would have fared ill, but for the +generosity of M. Puiseaux, who lived not far distant, at a place called +St. Michel. This devout and most hospitable person made room for them +all in his rough, but capacious dwelling. Their neighbors were the +hospital nuns, then living at the mission of Sillery, in a substantial, +but comfortless house of stone; where, amidst destitution, sickness, and +irrepressible disgust at the filth of the savages whom they had in +charge, they were laboring day and night with devoted assiduity. Among +the minor ills which beset them were the eccentricities of one of their +lay sisters, crazed with religious enthusiasm, who had the care of their +poultry and domestic animals, of which she was accustomed to inquire, +one by one, if they loved God; when, not receiving an immediate answer +in the affirmative, she would instantly put them to death, telling them +that their impiety deserved no better fate. [21] + +[21] Juchereau, 45. A great mortification to these excellent nuns was +the impossibility of keeping their white dresses clean among their +Indian patients, so that they were forced to dye them with butternut +juice. They were the Hospitalières who had come over in 1639. + +At St. Michel, Maisonneuve employed his men in building boats to ascend +to Montreal, and in various other labors for the behoof of the future +colony. Thus the winter wore away; but, as celestial minds are not +exempt from ire, Montmagny and Maisonneuve fell into a quarrel. The +twenty-fifth of January was Maisonneuve's fête day; and, as he was +greatly beloved by his followers, they resolved to celebrate the +occasion. Accordingly, an hour and a half before daylight, they made a +general discharge of their muskets and cannon. The sound reached Quebec, +two or three miles distant, startling the Governor from his morning +slumbers; and his indignation was redoubled when he heard it again at +night: for Maisonneuve, pleased at the attachment of his men, had +feasted them and warmed their hearts with a distribution of wine. +Montmagny, jealous of his authority, resented these demonstrations as an +infraction of it, affirming that they had no right to fire their pieces +without his consent; and, arresting the principal offender, one Jean +Gory, he put him in irons. On being released, a few days after, his +companions welcomed him with great rejoicing, and Maisonneuve gave them +all a feast. He himself came in during the festivity, drank the health +of the company, shook hands with the late prisoner, placed him at the +head of the table, and addressed him as follows:-- + +"Jean Gory, you have been put in irons for me: you had the pain, and I +the affront. For that, I add ten crowns to your wages." Then, turning to +the others: "My boys," he said, "though Jean Gory has been misused, you +must not lose heart for that, but drink, all of you, to the health of +the man in irons. When we are once at Montreal, we shall be our own +masters, and can fire our cannon when we please." [22] + +[22] Documents Divers, MSS., now or lately in possession of G. B. +Faribault, Esq.; Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de N. D. de Québec, +25; Faillon, La Colonie Française, I. 433. + +Montmagny was wroth when this was reported to him; and, on the ground +that what had passed was "contrary to the service of the King and the +authority of the Governor," he summoned Gory and six others before him, +and put them separately under oath. Their evidence failed to establish a +case against their commander; but thenceforth there was great coldness +between the powers of Quebec and Montreal. + +Early in May, Maisonneuve and his followers embarked. They had gained an +unexpected recruit during the winter, in the person of Madame de la +Peltrie. The piety, the novelty, and the romance of their enterprise, +all had their charms for the fair enthusiast; and an irresistible +impulse--imputed by a slandering historian to the levity of her sex +[23]--urged her to share their fortunes. Her zeal was more admired by +the Montrealists whom she joined than by the Ursulines whom she +abandoned. She carried off all the furniture she had lent them, and left +them in the utmost destitution. [24] Nor did she remain quiet after +reaching Montreal, but was presently seized with a longing to visit the +Hurons, and preach the Faith in person to those benighted heathen. It +needed all the eloquence of a Jesuit, lately returned from that most +arduous mission, to convince her that the attempt would be as useless as +rash. [25] + +[23] La Tour, Mémoire de Laval, Liv. VIII. +[24] Charlevoix, Vie de Marie de l'Incarnation, 279; Casgrain, Vie de +Marie de l'Incarnation, 333. +[25] St. Thomas, Life of Madame de la Peltrie, 98. + +It was the eighth of May when Maisonneuve and his followers embarked at +St. Michel; and as the boats, deep-laden with men, arms, and stores, +moved slowly on their way, the forest, with leaves just opening in the +warmth of spring, lay on their right hand and on their left, in a +flattering semblance of tranquillity and peace. But behind woody islets, +in tangled thickets and damp ravines, and in the shade and stillness of +the columned woods, lurked everywhere a danger and a terror. + +What shall we say of these adventurers of Montreal,--of these who +bestowed their wealth, and, far more, of these who sacrificed their +peace and risked their lives, on an enterprise at once so romantic and +so devout? Surrounded as they were with illusions, false lights, and +false shadows,--breathing an atmosphere of miracle,--compassed about +with angels and devils,--urged with stimulants most powerful, though +unreal,--their minds drugged, as it were, to preternatural +excitement,--it is very difficult to judge of them. High merit, without +doubt, there was in some of their number; but one may beg to be spared +the attempt to measure or define it. To estimate a virtue involved in +conditions so anomalous demands, perhaps, a judgment more than human. + +The Roman Church, sunk in disease and corruption when the Reformation +began, was roused by that fierce trumpet-blast to purge and brace +herself anew. Unable to advance, she drew back to the fresher and +comparatively purer life of the past; and the fervors of mediæval +Christianity were renewed in the sixteenth century. In many of its +aspects, this enterprise of Montreal belonged to the time of the first +Crusades. The spirit of Godfrey de Bouillon lived again in Chomedey de +Maisonneuve; and in Marguerite Bourgeoys was realized that fair ideal of +Christian womanhood, a flower of Earth expanding in the rays of Heaven, +which soothed with gentle influence the wildness of a barbarous age. + +On the seventeenth of May, 1642, Maisonneuve's little flotilla--a +pinnace, a flat-bottomed craft moved by sails, and two row-boats +[26]--approached Montreal; and all on board raised in unison a hymn of +praise. Montmagny was with them, to deliver the island, in behalf of the +Company of the Hundred Associates, to Maisonneuve, representative of the +Associates of Montreal. [27] And here, too, was Father Vimont, Superior +of the missions; for the Jesuits had been prudently invited to accept +the spiritual charge of the young colony. On the following day, they +glided along the green and solitary shores now thronged with the life of +a busy city, and landed on the spot which Champlain, thirty-one years +before, had chosen as the fit site of a settlement. [28] It was a tongue +or triangle of land, formed by the junction of a rivulet with the St. +Lawrence, and known afterwards as Point Callière. The rivulet was +bordered by a meadow, and beyond rose the forest with its vanguard of +scattered trees. Early spring flowers were blooming in the young grass, +and birds of varied plumage flitted among the boughs. [29] + +[26] Dollier de Casson, A.D. 1641-42, MS. +[27] Le Clerc, II. 50, 51. +[28] "Pioneers of France," 333. It was the Place Royale of Champlain. +[29] Dollier de Casson, A.D. 1641-42, MS. + +Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers imitated +his example; and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of +thanksgiving. Tents, baggage, arms, and stores were landed. An altar was +raised on a pleasant spot near at hand; and Mademoiselle Mance, with +Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte Barré, decorated +it with a taste which was the admiration of the beholders. [30] Now all +the company gathered before the shrine. Here stood Vimont, in the rich +vestments of his office. Here were the two ladies, with their servant; +Montmagny, no very willing spectator; and Maisonneuve, a warlike figure, +erect and tall, his men clustering around him,--soldiers, sailors, +artisans, and laborers,--all alike soldiers at need. They kneeled in +reverent silence as the Host was raised aloft; and when the rite was +over, the priest turned and addressed them:-- + +[30] Morin, Annales, MS., cited by Faillon, La Colonie Française, I. +440; also Dollier de Casson, A.D. 1641-42, MS. + +"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 on you, and your children shall fill the Land." [31] + +[31] Dollier de Casson, MS., as above. Vimont, in the Relation of 1642, +p. 37, briefly mentions the ceremony. + +The afternoon waned; the sun sank behind the western forest, and +twilight came on. Fireflies were twinkling over the darkened meadow. +They caught them, tied them with threads into shining festoons, and hung +them before the altar, where the Host remained exposed. Then they +pitched their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, stationed their +guards, and lay down to rest. Such was the birth-night of Montreal. [32] + +[32] The Associates of Montreal published, in 1643, a thick pamphlet in +quarto, entitled Les Véritables Motifs de Messieurs et Dames de la +Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal, pour la Conversion des Sauvages de la +Nouvelle France. It was written as an answer to aspersions cast upon +them, apparently by persons attached to the great Company of New France +known as the "Hundred Associates," and affords a curious exposition of +the spirit of their enterprise. It is excessively rare; but copies of +the essential portions are before me. The following is a characteristic +extract:-- + +"Vous dites que l'entreprise de Montréal est d'une dépense infinie, plus +convenable à un roi qu'à quelques particuliers, trop faibles pour la +soutenir; & vous alléguez encore les périls de la navigation & les +naufrages qui peuvent la ruiner. Vous avez mieux rencontré que vous ne +pensiez, en disant que c'est une œuvre de roi, puisque le Roi des rois +s'en mêle, lui à qui obéissent la mer & les vents. Nous ne craignons +donc pas les naufrages; il n'en suscitera que lorsque nous en aurons +besoin, & qu'il sera plus expédient pour sa gloire, que nous cherchons +uniquement. Comment avez-vous pu mettre dans votre esprit qu'appuyés de +nos propres forces, nous eussions présumé de penser à un si glorieux +dessein? Si Dieu n'est point dans l'affaire de Montréal, si c'est une +invention humaine, ne vous en mettez point en peine, elle ne durera +guère. Ce que vous prédisez arrivera, & quelque chose de pire encore; +mais si Dieu l'a ainsi voulu, qui êtes-vous pour lui contredire? C'était +la reflexion que le docteur Gamaliel faisait aux Juifs, en faveur des +Apôtres; pour vous, qui ne pouvez ni croire, ni faire, laissez les +autres en liberté de faire ce qu'ils croient que Dieu demande d'eux. +Vous assurez qu'il ne se fait plus de miracles; mais qui vous l'a dit? +où cela est-il écrit? Jésus-Christ assure, au contraire, que ceux qui +auront autant de Foi qu'un grain de senevé, feront, en son nom, des +miracles plus grands que ceux qu'il a faits lui-même. Depuis quand +êtes-vous les directeurs des operations divines, pour les réduire à +certains temps & dans la conduite ordinaire? Tant de saints mouvements, +d'inspirations & de vues intérieures, qu'il lui plaît de donner à +quelques âmes dont il se sert pour l'avancement de cette œuvre, sont des +marques de son bon plaisir. Jusqu'-ici, il a pourvu au nécessaire; nous +ne voulons point d'abondance, & nous espérons que sa Providence +continuera." + +Is this true history, or a romance of Christian chivalry? It is both. + +CHAPTER XVI. +1641-1644. + +ISAAC JOGUES. + +The Iroquois War • Jogues • His Capture • His Journey to the Mohawks • +Lake George • The Mohawk Towns • The Missionary Tortured • Death of +Goupil • Misery of Jogues • The Mohawk "Babylon" • Fort Orange • Escape +of Jogues • Manhattan • The Voyage to France • Jogues among his Brethren +• He returns to Canada + +The waters of the St. Lawrence rolled through a virgin wilderness, +where, in the vastness of the lonely woodlands, civilized man found a +precarious harborage at three points only,--at Quebec, at Montreal, and +at Three Rivers. Here and in the scattered missions was the whole of New +France,--a population of some three hundred souls in all. And now, over +these miserable settlements, rose a war-cloud of frightful portent. + +It was thirty-two years since Champlain had first attacked the Iroquois. +[1] They had nursed their wrath for more than a generation, and at +length their hour was come. The Dutch traders at Fort Orange, now +Albany, had supplied them with fire-arms. The Mohawks, the most easterly +of the Iroquois nations, had, among their seven or eight hundred +warriors, no less than three hundred armed with the arquebuse, a weapon +somewhat like the modern carbine. [2] They were masters of the +thunderbolts which, in the hands of Champlain, had struck terror into +their hearts. + +[1] See "Pioneers of France," 318. +[2] Vimont, Relation, 1643, 62. The Mohawks were the Agniés, or +Agneronons, of the old French writers. + +According to the Journal of New Netherland, a contemporary Dutch +document, (see Colonial Documents of New York, I. 179,) the Dutch at +Fort Orange had supplied the Mohawks with four hundred guns; the profits +of the trade, which was free to the settlers, blinding them to the +danger. + +We have surveyed in the introductory chapter the character and +organization of this ferocious people; their confederacy of five +nations, bound together by a peculiar tie of clanship; their chiefs, +half hereditary, half elective; their government, an oligarchy in form +and a democracy in spirit; their minds, thoroughly savage, yet marked +here and there with traits of a vigorous development. The war which they +had long waged with the Hurons was carried on by the Senecas and the +other Western nations of their league; while the conduct of hostilities +against the French and their Indian allies in Lower Canada was left to +the Mohawks. In parties of from ten to a hundred or more, they would +leave their towns on the River Mohawk, descend Lake Champlain and the +River Richelieu, lie in ambush on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and +attack the passing boats or canoes. Sometimes they hovered about the +fortifications of Quebec and Three Rivers, killing stragglers, or luring +armed parties into ambuscades. They followed like hounds on the trail of +travellers and hunters; broke in upon unguarded camps at midnight; and +lay in wait, for days and weeks, to intercept the Huron traders on their +yearly descent to Quebec. Had they joined to their ferocious courage the +discipline and the military knowledge that belong to civilization, they +could easily have blotted out New France from the map, and made the +banks of the St. Lawrence once more a solitude; but, though the most +formidable of savages, they were savages only. + +In the early morning of the second of August, 1642, [3] twelve Huron +canoes were moving slowly along the northern shore of the expansion of +the St. Lawrence known as the Lake of St. Peter. There were on board +about forty persons, including four Frenchmen, one of them being the +Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, whom we have already followed on his missionary +journey to the towns of the Tobacco Nation. In the interval he had not +been idle. During the last autumn, (1641,) he, with Father Charles +Raymbault, had passed along the shore of Lake Huron northward, entered +the strait through which Lake Superior discharges itself, pushed on as +far as the Sault Sainte Marie, and preached the Faith to two thousand +Ojibwas, and other Algonquins there assembled. [4] He was now on his +return from a far more perilous errand. The Huron mission was in a state +of destitution. There was need of clothing for the priests, of vessels +for the altars, of bread and wine for the eucharist, of writing +materials,--in short, of everything; and, early in the summer of the +present year, Jogues had descended to Three Rivers and Quebec with the +Huron traders, to procure the necessary supplies. He had accomplished +his task, and was on his way back to the mission. With him were a few +Huron converts, and among them a noted Christian chief, Eustache +Ahatsistari. Others of the party were in course of instruction for +baptism; but the greater part were heathen, whose canoes were deeply +laden with the proceeds of their bargains with the French fur-traders. + +[3] For the date, see Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1647, 18. +[4] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1642, 97. + +Jogues sat in one of the leading canoes. He was born at Orleans in 1607, +and was thirty-five years of age. His oval face and the delicate mould +of his features indicated a modest, thoughtful, and refined nature. He +was constitutionally timid, with a sensitive conscience and great +religious susceptibilities. He was a finished scholar, and might have +gained a literary reputation; but he had chosen another career, and one +for which he seemed but ill fitted. Physically, however, he was well +matched with his work; for, though his frame was slight, he was so +active, that none of the Indians could surpass him in running. [5] + +[5] Buteux, Narré de la Prise du Père Jogues, MS.; Mémoire touchant le +Père Jogues, MS. + +There is a portrait of him prefixed to Mr. Shea's admirable edition in +quarto of Jogues's Novum Belgium. + +With him were two young men, René Goupil and Guillaume Couture, donnés +of the mission,--that is to say, laymen who, from a religious motive and +without pay, had attached themselves to the service of the Jesuits. +Goupil had formerly entered upon the Jesuit novitiate at Paris, but +failing health had obliged him to leave it. As soon as he was able, he +came to Canada, offered his services to the Superior of the mission, was +employed for a time in the humblest offices, and afterwards became an +attendant at the hospital. At length, to his delight, he received +permission to go up to the Hurons, where the surgical skill which he had +acquired was greatly needed; and he was now on his way thither. [6] His +companion, Couture, was a man of intelligence and vigor, and of a +character equally disinterested. [7] Both were, like Jogues, in the +foremost canoes; while the fourth Frenchman was with the unconverted +Hurons, in the rear. + +[6] Jogues, Notice sur René Goupil. +[7] For an account of him, see Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de N. D. +de Québec, 83 (1863). + +The twelve canoes had reached the western end of the Lake of St. Peter, +where it is filled with innumerable islands. [8] The forest was close on +their right, they kept near the shore to avoid the current, and the +shallow water before them was covered with a dense growth of tall +bulrushes. Suddenly the silence was frightfully broken. The war-whoop +rose from among the rushes, mingled with the reports of guns and the +whistling of bullets; and several Iroquois canoes, filled with warriors, +pushed out from their concealment, and bore down upon Jogues and his +companions. The Hurons in the rear were seized with a shameful panic. +They leaped ashore; left canoes, baggage, and weapons; and fled into the +woods. The French and the Christian Hurons made fight for a time; but +when they saw another fleet of canoes approaching from the opposite +shores or islands, they lost heart, and those escaped who could. Goupil +was seized amid triumphant yells, as were also several of the Huron +converts. Jogues sprang into the bulrushes, and might have escaped; but +when he saw Goupil and the neophytes in the clutches of the Iroquois, he +had no heart to abandon them, but came out from his hiding-place, and +gave himself up to the astonished victors. A few of them had remained to +guard the prisoners; the rest were chasing the fugitives. Jogues +mastered his agony, and began to baptize those of the captive converts +who needed baptism. + +[8] Buteux, Narré de le Prise du Père Jogues, MS. This document leaves +no doubt as to the locality. + +Couture had eluded pursuit; but when he thought of Jogues and of what +perhaps awaited him, he resolved to share his fate, and, turning, +retraced his steps. As he approached, five Iroquois ran forward to meet +him; and one of them snapped his gun at his breast, but it missed fire. +In his confusion and excitement, Couture fired his own piece, and laid +the savage dead. The remaining four sprang upon him, stripped off all +his clothing, tore away his finger-nails with their teeth, gnawed his +fingers with the fury of famished dogs, and thrust a sword through one +of his hands. Jogues broke from his guards, and, rushing to his friend, +threw his arms about his neck. The Iroquois dragged him away, beat him +with their fists and war-clubs till he was senseless, and, when he +revived, lacerated his fingers with their teeth, as they had done those +of Couture. Then they turned upon Goupil, and treated him with the same +ferocity. The Huron prisoners were left for the present unharmed. More +of them were brought in every moment, till at length the number of +captives amounted in all to twenty-two, while three Hurons had been +killed in the fight and pursuit. The Iroquois, about seventy in number, +now embarked with their prey; but not until they had knocked on the head +an old Huron, whom Jogues, with his mangled hands, had just baptized, +and who refused to leave the place. Then, under a burning sun, they +crossed to the spot on which the town of Sorel now stands, at the mouth +of the river Richelieu, where they encamped. [9] + +[9] The above, with much of what follows, rests on three documents. The +first is a long letter, written in Latin, by Jogues, to the Father +Provincial at Paris. It is dated at Rensselaerswyck (Albany), Aug. 5, +1643, and is preserved in the Societas Jesu Militans of Tanner, and in +the Mortes Illustres et Gesta eorum de Societate Jesu, etc., of +Alegambe. There is a French translation in Martin's Bressani, and an +English translation, by Mr. Shea, in the New York Hist. Coll. of 1857. +The second document is an old manuscript, entitled Narré de la Prise du +Père Jogues. It was written by the Jesuit Buteux, from the lips of +Jogues. Father Martin, S.J., in whose custody it was, kindly permitted +me to have a copy made from it. Besides these, there is a long account +in the Relation des Hurons of 1647, and a briefer one in that of 1644. +All these narratives show the strongest internal evidence of truth, and +are perfectly concurrent. They are also supported by statements of +escaped Huron prisoners, and by several letters and memoirs of the Dutch +at Rensselaerswyck. + +Their course was southward, up the River Richelieu and Lake Champlain; +thence, by way of Lake George, to the Mohawk towns. The pain and fever +of their wounds, and the clouds of mosquitoes, which they could not +drive off, left the prisoners no peace by day nor sleep by night. On the +eighth day, they learned that a large Iroquois war-party, on their way +to Canada, were near at hand; and they soon approached their camp, on a +small island near the southern end of Lake Champlain. The warriors, two +hundred in number, saluted their victorious countrymen with volleys from +their guns; then, armed with clubs and thorny sticks, ranged themselves +in two lines, between which the captives were compelled to pass up the +side of a rocky hill. On the way, they were beaten with such fury, that +Jogues, who was last in the line, fell powerless, drenched in blood and +half dead. As the chief man among the French captives, he fared the +worst. His hands were again mangled, and fire applied to his body; while +the Huron chief, Eustache, was subjected to tortures even more +atrocious. When, at night, the exhausted sufferers tried to rest, the +young warriors came to lacerate their wounds and pull out their hair and +beards. + +In the morning they resumed their journey. And now the lake narrowed to +the semblance of a tranquil river. Before them was a woody mountain, +close on their right a rocky promontory, and between these flowed a +stream, the outlet of Lake George. On those rocks, more than a hundred +years after, rose the ramparts of Ticonderoga. They landed, shouldered +their canoes and baggage, took their way through the woods, passed the +spot where the fierce Highlanders and the dauntless regiments of England +breasted in vain the storm of lead and fire, and soon reached the shore +where Abercrombie landed and Lord Howe fell. First of white men, Jogues +and his companions gazed on the romantic lake that bears the name, not +of its gentle discoverer, but of the dull Hanoverian king. Like a fair +Naiad of the wilderness, it slumbered between the guardian mountains +that breathe from crag and forest the stern poetry of war. But all then +was solitude; and the clang of trumpets, the roar of cannon, and the +deadly crack of the rifle had never as yet awakened their angry echoes. +[10] + +[10] Lake George, according to Jogues, was called by the Mohawks +"Andiatarocte," or Place where the Lake closes. "Andiataraque" is found +on a map of Sanson. Spofford, Gazetteer of New York, article "Lake +George," says that it was called "Canideri-oit," or Tail of the Lake. +Father Martin, in his notes on Bressani, prefixes to this name that of +"Horicon," but gives no original authority. + +I have seen an old Latin map on which the name "Horiconi" is set down as +belonging to a neighboring tribe. This seems to be only a misprint for +"Horicoui," that is, "Irocoui," or "Iroquois." In an old English map, +prefixed to the rare tract, A Treatise of New England, the "Lake of +Hierocoyes" is laid down. The name "Horicon," as used by Cooper in his +Last of the Mohicans, seems to have no sufficient historical foundation. +In 1646, the lake, as we shall see, was named "Lac St. Sacrement." + +Again the canoes were launched, and the wild flotilla glided on its +way,--now in the shadow of the heights, now on the broad expanse, now +among the devious channels of the narrows, beset with woody islets, +where the hot air was redolent of the pine, the spruce, and the +cedar,--till they neared that tragic shore, where, in the following +century, New-England rustics baffled the soldiers of Dieskau, where +Montcalm planted his batteries, where the red cross waved so long amid +the smoke, and where at length the summer night was hideous with +carnage, and an honored name was stained with a memory of blood. [11] + +[11] The allusion is, of course, to the siege of Fort William Henry in +1757, and the ensuing massacre by Montcalm's Indians. Charlevoix, with +his usual carelessness, says that Jogues's captors took a circuitous +route to avoid enemies. In truth, however, they were not in the +slightest danger of meeting any; and they followed the route which, +before the present century, was the great highway between Canada and New +Holland, or New York. + +The Iroquois landed at or near the future site of Fort William Henry, +left their canoes, and, with their prisoners, began their march for the +nearest Mohawk town. Each bore his share of the plunder. Even Jogues, +though his lacerated hands were in a frightful condition and his body +covered with bruises, was forced to stagger on with the rest under a +heavy load. He with his fellow-prisoners, and indeed the whole party, +were half starved, subsisting chiefly on wild berries. They crossed the +upper Hudson, and, in thirteen days after leaving the St. Lawrence, +neared the wretched goal of their pilgrimage, a palisaded town, standing +on a hill by the banks of the River Mohawk. + +The whoops of the victors announced their approach, and the savage hive +sent forth its swarms. They thronged the side of the hill, the old and +the young, each with a stick, or a slender iron rod, bought from the +Dutchmen on the Hudson. They ranged themselves in a double line, +reaching upward to the entrance of the town; and through this "narrow +road of Paradise," as Jogues calls it, the captives were led in single +file, Couture in front, after him a half-score of Hurons, then Goupil, +then the remaining Hurons, and at last Jogues. As they passed, they were +saluted with yells, screeches, and a tempest of blows. One, heavier than +the others, knocked Jogues's breath from his body, and stretched him on +the ground; but it was death to lie there, and, regaining his feet, he +staggered on with the rest. [12] When they reached the town, the blows +ceased, and they were all placed on a scaffold, or high platform, in the +middle of the place. The three Frenchmen had fared the worst, and were +frightfully disfigured. Goupil, especially, was streaming with blood, +and livid with bruises from head to foot. + +[12] This practice of forcing prisoners to "run the gauntlet" was by no +means peculiar to the Iroquois, but was common to many tribes. + +They were allowed a few minutes to recover their breath, undisturbed, +except by the hootings and gibes of the mob below. Then a chief called +out, "Come, let us caress these Frenchmen!"--and the crowd, knife in +hand, began to mount the scaffold. They ordered a Christian Algonquin +woman, a prisoner among them, to cut off Jogues's left thumb, which she +did; and a thumb of Goupil was also severed, a clam-shell being used as +the instrument, in order to increase the pain. It is needless to specify +further the tortures to which they were subjected, all designed to cause +the greatest possible suffering without endangering life. At night, they +were removed from the scaffold, and placed in one of the houses, each +stretched on his back, with his limbs extended, and his ankles and +wrists bound fast to stakes driven into the earthen floor. The children +now profited by the examples of their parents, and amused themselves by +placing live coals and red-hot ashes on the naked bodies of the +prisoners, who, bound fast, and covered with wounds and bruises which +made every movement a torture, were sometimes unable to shake them off. + +In the morning, they were again placed on the scaffold, where, during +this and the two following days, they remained exposed to the taunts of +the crowd. Then they were led in triumph to the second Mohawk town, and +afterwards to the third, [13] suffering at each a repetition of +cruelties, the detail of which would be as monotonous as revolting. + +[13] The Mohawks had but three towns. The first, and the lowest on the +river, was Osseruenon; the second, two miles above, was Andagaron; and +the third, Teonontogen: or, as Megapolensis, in his Sketch of the +Mohawks, writes the names, Asserué, Banagiro, and Thenondiogo. They all +seem to have been fortified in the Iroquois manner, and their united +population was thirty-five hundred, or somewhat more. At a later period, +1720, there were still three towns, named respectively Teahtontaioga, +Ganowauga, and Ganeganaga. See the map in Morgan, League of the +Iroquois. + +In a house in the town of Teonontogen, Jogues was hung by the wrists +between two of the upright poles which supported the structure, in such +a manner that his feet could not touch the ground; and thus he remained +for some fifteen minutes, in extreme torture, until, as he was on the +point of swooning, an Indian, with an impulse of pity, cut the cords and +released him. While they were in this town, four fresh Huron prisoners, +just taken, were brought in, and placed on the scaffold with the rest. +Jogues, in the midst of his pain and exhaustion, took the opportunity to +convert them. An ear of green corn was thrown to him for food, and he +discovered a few rain-drops clinging to the husks. With these he +baptized two of the Hurons. The remaining two received baptism soon +after from a brook which the prisoners crossed on the way to another +town. + +Couture, though he had incensed the Indians by killing one of their +warriors, had gained their admiration by his bravery; and, after +torturing him most savagely, they adopted him into one of their +families, in place of a dead relative. Thenceforth he was comparatively +safe. Jogues and Goupil were less fortunate. Three of the Hurons had +been burned to death, and they expected to share their fate. A council +was held to pronounce their doom; but dissensions arose, and no result +was reached. They were led back to the first village, where they +remained, racked with suspense and half dead with exhaustion. Jogues, +however, lost no opportunity to baptize dying infants, while Goupil +taught children to make the sign of the cross. On one occasion, he made +the sign on the forehead of a child, grandson of an Indian in whose +lodge they lived. The superstition of the old savage was aroused. Some +Dutchmen had told him that the sign of the cross came from the Devil, +and would cause mischief. He thought that Goupil was bewitching the +child; and, resolving to rid himself of so dangerous a guest, applied +for aid to two young braves. Jogues and Goupil, clad in their squalid +garb of tattered skins, were soon after walking together in the forest +that adjoined the town, consoling themselves with prayer, and mutually +exhorting each other to suffer patiently for the sake of Christ and the +Virgin, when, as they were returning, reciting their rosaries, they met +the two young Indians, and read in their sullen visages an augury of +ill. The Indians joined them, and accompanied them to the entrance of +the town, where one of the two, suddenly drawing a hatchet from beneath +his blanket, struck it into the head of Goupil, who fell, murmuring the +name of Christ. Jogues dropped on his knees, and, bowing his head in +prayer, awaited the blow, when the murderer ordered him to get up and go +home. He obeyed but not until he had given absolution to his still +breathing friend, and presently saw the lifeless body dragged through +the town amid hootings and rejoicings. + +Jogues passed a night of anguish and desolation, and in the morning, +reckless of life, set forth in search of Goupil's remains. "Where are +you going so fast?" demanded the old Indian, his master. "Do you not see +those fierce young braves, who are watching to kill you?" Jogues +persisted, and the old man asked another Indian to go with him as a +protector. The corpse had been flung into a neighboring ravine, at the +bottom of which ran a torrent; and here, with the Indian's help, Jogues +found it, stripped naked, and gnawed by dogs. He dragged it into the +water, and covered it with stones to save it from further mutilation, +resolving to return alone on the following day and secretly bury it. But +with the night there came a storm; and when, in the gray of the morning, +Jogues descended to the brink of the stream, he found it a rolling, +turbid flood, and the body was nowhere to be seen. Had the Indians or +the torrent borne it away? Jogues waded into the cold current; it was +the first of October; he sounded it with his feet and with his stick; he +searched the rocks, the thicket, the forest; but all in vain. Then, +crouched by the pitiless stream, he mingled his tears with its waters, +and, in a voice broken with groans, chanted the service of the dead. +[14] + +[14] Jogues in Tanner, Societas Militans, 519; Bressani, 216; Lalemant, +Relation, 1647, 25, 26; Buteux, Narré, MS.; Jogues, Notice sur René +Goupil. + +The Indians, it proved, and not the flood, had robbed him of the remains +of his friend. Early in the spring, when the snows were melting in the +woods, he was told by Mohawk children that the body was lying, where it +had been flung, in a lonely spot lower down the stream. He went to seek +it; found the scattered bones, stripped by the foxes and the birds; and, +tenderly gathering them up, hid them in a hollow tree, hoping that a day +might come when he could give them a Christian burial in consecrated +ground. + +After the murder of Goupil, Jogues's life hung by a hair. He lived in +hourly expectation of the tomahawk, and would have welcomed it as a +boon. By signs and words, he was warned that his hour was near; but, as +he never shunned his fate, it fled from him, and each day, with renewed +astonishment, he found himself still among the living. + +Late in the autumn, a party of the Indians set forth on their yearly +deer-hunt, and Jogues was ordered to go with them. Shivering and half +famished, he followed them through the chill November forest, and shared +their wild bivouac in the depths of the wintry desolation. The game they +took was devoted to Areskoui, their god, and eaten in his honor. Jogues +would not taste the meat offered to a demon; and thus he starved in the +midst of plenty. At night, when the kettle was slung, and the savage +crew made merry around their fire, he crouched in a corner of the hut, +gnawed by hunger, and pierced to the bone with cold. They thought his +presence unpropitious to their hunting, and the women especially hated +him. His demeanor at once astonished and incensed his masters. He +brought them fire-wood, like a squaw; he did their bidding without a +murmur, and patiently bore their abuse; but when they mocked at his God, +and laughed at his devotions, their slave assumed an air and tone of +authority, and sternly rebuked them. [15] + +[15] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 41. + +He would sometimes escape from "this Babylon," as he calls the hut, and +wander in the forest, telling his beads and repeating passages of +Scripture. In a remote and lonely spot, he cut the bark in the form of a +cross from the trunk of a great tree; and here he made his prayers. This +living martyr, half clad in shaggy furs, kneeling on the snow among the +icicled rocks and beneath the gloomy pines, bowing in adoration before +the emblem of the faith in which was his only consolation and his only +hope, is alike a theme for the pen and a subject for the pencil. + +The Indians at last grew tired of him, and sent him back to the village. +Here he remained till the middle of March, baptizing infants and trying +to convert adults. He told them of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. +They listened with interest; but when from astronomy he passed to +theology, he spent his breath in vain. In March, the old man with whom +he lived set forth for his spring fishing, taking with him his squaw, +and several children. Jogues also was of the party. They repaired to a +lake, perhaps Lake Saratoga, four days distant. Here they subsisted for +some time on frogs, the entrails of fish, and other garbage. Jogues +passed his days in the forest, repeating his prayers, and carving the +name of Jesus on trees, as a terror to the demons of the wilderness. A +messenger at length arrived from the town; and on the following day, +under the pretence that signs of an enemy had been seen, the party broke +up their camp, and returned home in hot haste. The messenger had brought +tidings that a war-party, which had gone out against the French, had +been defeated and destroyed, and that the whole population were +clamoring to appease their grief by torturing Jogues to death. This was +the true cause of the sudden and mysterious return; but when they +reached the town, other tidings had arrived. The missing warriors were +safe, and on their way home in triumph with a large number of prisoners. +Again Jogues's life was spared; but he was forced to witness the torture +and butchery of the converts and allies of the French. Existence became +unendurable to him, and he longed to die. War-parties were continually +going out. Should they be defeated and cut off, he would pay the forfeit +at the stake; and if they came back, as they usually did, with booty and +prisoners, he was doomed to see his countrymen and their Indian friends +mangled, burned, and devoured. + +Jogues had shown no disposition to escape, and great liberty was +therefore allowed him. He went from town to town, giving absolution to +the Christian captives, and converting and baptizing the heathen. On one +occasion, he baptized a woman in the midst of the fire, under pretence +of lifting a cup of water to her parched lips. There was no lack of +objects for his zeal. A single war-party returned from the Huron country +with nearly a hundred prisoners, who were distributed among the Iroquois +towns, and the greater part burned. [16] Of the children of the Mohawks +and their neighbors, he had baptized, before August, about seventy; +insomuch that he began to regard his captivity as a Providential +interposition for the saving of souls. + +[16] The Dutch clergyman, Megapolensis, at this time living at Fort +Orange, bears the strongest testimony to the ferocity with which his +friends, the Mohawks, treated their prisoners. He mentions the same +modes of torture which Jogues describes, and is very explicit as to +cannibalism. "The common people," he says, "eat the arms, buttocks, and +trunk; but the chiefs eat the head and the heart." (Short Sketch of the +Mohawk Indians.) This feast was of a religious character. + +At the end of July, he went with a party of Indians to a fishing-place +on the Hudson, about twenty miles below Fort Orange. While here, he +learned that another war-party had lately returned with prisoners, two +of whom had been burned to death at Osseruenon. On this, his conscience +smote him that he had not remained in the town to give the sufferers +absolution or baptism; and he begged leave of the old woman who had him +in charge to return at the first opportunity. A canoe soon after went up +the river with some of the Iroquois, and he was allowed to go in it. +When they reached Rensselaerswyck, the Indians landed to trade with the +Dutch, and took Jogues with them. + +The centre of this rude little settlement was Fort Orange, a miserable +structure of logs, standing on a spot now within the limits of the city +of Albany. [17] It contained several houses and other buildings; and +behind it was a small church, recently erected, and serving as the abode +of the pastor, Dominie Megapolensis, known in our day as the writer of +an interesting, though short, account of the Mohawks. Some twenty-five +or thirty houses, roughly built of boards and roofed with thatch, were +scattered at intervals on or near the borders of the Hudson, above and +below the fort. Their inhabitants, about a hundred in number, were for +the most part rude Dutch farmers, tenants of Van Rensselaer, the +patroon, or lord of the manor. They raised wheat, of which they made +beer, and oats, with which they fed their numerous horses. They traded, +too, with the Indians, who profited greatly by the competition among +them, receiving guns, knives, axes, kettles, cloth, and beads, at +moderate rates, in exchange for their furs. [18] The Dutch were on +excellent terms with their red neighbors, met them in the forest without +the least fear, and sometimes intermarried with them. They had known of +Jogues's captivity, and, to their great honor, had made efforts for his +release, offering for that purpose goods to a considerable value, but +without effect. [19] + +[17] The site of the Phœnix Hotel.--Note by Mr. Shea to Jogues's Novum +Belgium. +[18] Jogues, Novum Belgium; Barnes, Settlement of Albany, 50-55; +O'Callaghan, New Netherland, Chap. VI. + +On the relations of the Mohawks and Dutch, see Megapolensis, Short +Sketch of the Mohawk Indians, and portions of the letter of Jogues to +his Superior, dated Rensselaerswyck, Aug. 30, 1643. + +[19] See a long letter of Arendt Van Curler (Corlaer) to Van Rensselaer, +June 16, 1643, in O'Callaghan's New Netherland, Appendix L. "We +persuaded them so far," writes Van Curler, "that they promised not to +kill them.... The French captives ran screaming after us, and besought +us to do all in our power to release them out of the hands of the +barbarians." + +At Fort Orange Jogues heard startling news. The Indians of the village +where he lived were, he was told, enraged against him, and determined to +burn him. About the first of July, a war-party had set out for Canada, +and one of the warriors had offered to Jogues to be the bearer of a +letter from him to the French commander at Three Rivers, thinking +probably to gain some advantage under cover of a parley. Jogues knew +that the French would be on their guard; and he felt it his duty to lose +no opportunity of informing them as to the state of affairs among the +Iroquois. A Dutchman gave him a piece of paper; and he wrote a letter, +in a jargon of Latin, French, and Huron, warning his countrymen to be on +their guard, as war-parties were constantly going out, and they could +hope for no respite from attack until late in the autumn. [20] When the +Iroquois reached the mouth of the River Richelieu, where a small fort +had been built by the French the preceding summer, the messenger asked +for a parley, and gave Jogues's letter to the commander of the post, +who, after reading it, turned his cannon on the savages. They fled in +dismay, leaving behind them their baggage and some of their guns; and, +returning home in a fury, charged Jogues with having caused their +discomfiture. Jogues had expected this result, and was prepared to meet +it; but several of the principal Dutch settlers, and among them Van +Curler, who had made the previous attempt to rescue him, urged that his +death was certain, if he returned to the Indian town, and advised him to +make his escape. In the Hudson, opposite the settlement, lay a small +Dutch vessel nearly ready to sail. Van Curler offered him a passage in +her to Bordeaux or Rochelle,--representing that the opportunity was too +good to be lost, and making light of the prisoner's objection, that a +connivance in his escape on the part of the Dutch would excite the +resentment of the Indians against them. Jogues thanked him warmly; but, +to his amazement, asked for a night to consider the matter, and take +counsel of God in prayer. + +[20] See a French rendering of the letter in Vimont, Relation, 1643, p. +75. + +He spent the night in great agitation, tossed by doubt, and full of +anxiety lest his self-love should beguile him from his duty. [21] Was it +not possible that the Indians might spare his life, and that, by a +timely drop of water, he might still rescue souls from torturing devils, +and eternal fires of perdition? On the other hand, would he not, by +remaining to meet a fate almost inevitable, incur the guilt of suicide? +And even should he escape torture and death, could he hope that the +Indians would again permit him to instruct and baptize their prisoners? +Of his French companions, one, Goupil, was dead; while Couture had urged +Jogues to flight, saying that he would then follow his example, but +that, so long as the Father remained a prisoner, he, Couture, would +share his fate. Before morning, Jogues had made his decision. God, he +thought, would be better pleased should he embrace the opportunity given +him. He went to find his Dutch friends, and, with a profusion of thanks, +accepted their offer. They told him that a boat should be left for him +on the shore, and that he must watch his time, and escape in it to the +vessel, where he would be safe. + +[21] Buteux, Narré, MS. + +He and his Indian masters were lodged together in a large building, like +a barn, belonging to a Dutch farmer. It was a hundred feet long, and had +no partition of any kind. At one end the farmer kept his cattle; at the +other he slept with his wife, a Mohawk squaw, and his children, while +his Indian guests lay on the floor in the middle. [22] As he is +described as one of the principal persons of the colony, it is clear +that the civilization of Rensselaerswyck was not high. + +[22] Buteux, Narré, MS. + +In the evening, Jogues, in such a manner as not to excite the suspicion +of the Indians, went out to reconnoitre. There was a fence around the +house, and, as he was passing it, a large dog belonging to the farmer +flew at him, and bit him very severely in the leg. The Dutchman, hearing +the noise, came out with a light, led Jogues back into the building, and +bandaged his wound. He seemed to have some suspicion of the prisoner's +design; for, fearful perhaps that his escape might exasperate the +Indians, he made fast the door in such a manner that it could not +readily be opened. Jogues now lay down among the Indians, who, rolled in +their blankets, were stretched around him. He was fevered with +excitement; and the agitation of his mind, joined to the pain of his +wound, kept him awake all night. About dawn, while the Indians were +still asleep, a laborer in the employ of the farmer came in with a +lantern, and Jogues, who spoke no Dutch, gave him to understand by signs +that he needed his help and guidance. The man was disposed to aid him, +silently led the way out, quieted the dogs, and showed him the path to +the river. It was more than half a mile distant, and the way was rough +and broken. Jogues was greatly exhausted, and his wounded limb gave him +such pain that he walked with the utmost difficulty. When he reached the +shore, the day was breaking, and he found, to his dismay, that the ebb +of the tide had left the boat high and dry. He shouted to the vessel, +but no one heard him. His desperation gave him strength; and, by working +the boat to and fro, he pushed it at length, little by little, into the +water, entered it, and rowed to the vessel. The Dutch sailors received +him kindly, and hid him in the bottom of the hold, placing a large box +over the hatchway. + +He remained two days, half stifled, in this foul lurking-place, while +the Indians, furious at his escape, ransacked the settlement in vain to +find him. They came off to the vessel, and so terrified the officers, +that Jogues was sent on shore at night, and led to the fort. Here he was +hidden in the garret of a house occupied by a miserly old man, to whose +charge he was consigned. Food was sent to him; but, as his host +appropriated the larger part to himself, Jogues was nearly starved. +There was a compartment of his garret, separated from the rest by a +partition of boards. Here the old Dutchman, who, like many others of the +settlers, carried on a trade with the Mohawks, kept a quantity of goods +for that purpose; and hither he often brought his customers. The boards +of the partition had shrunk, leaving wide crevices; and Jogues could +plainly see the Indians, as they passed between him and the light. They, +on their part, might as easily have seen him, if he had not, when he +heard them entering the house, hidden himself behind some barrels in the +corner, where he would sometimes remain crouched for hours, in a +constrained and painful posture, half suffocated with heat, and afraid +to move a limb. His wounded leg began to show dangerous symptoms; but he +was relieved by the care of a Dutch surgeon of the fort. The minister, +Megapolensis, also visited him, and did all in his power for the comfort +of his Catholic brother, with whom he seems to have been well pleased, +and whom he calls "a very learned scholar." [23] + +[23] Megapolensis, A Short Sketch of the Mohawk Indians. + +When Jogues had remained for six weeks in this hiding-place, his Dutch +friends succeeded in satisfying his Indian masters by the payment of a +large ransom. [24] A vessel from Manhattan, now New York, soon after +brought up an order from the Director-General, Kieft, that he should be +sent to him. Accordingly he was placed in a small vessel, which carried +him down the Hudson. The Dutch on board treated him with great kindness; +and, to do him honor, named after him one of the islands in the river. +At Manhattan he found a dilapidated fort, garrisoned by sixty soldiers, +and containing a stone church and the Director-General's house, together +with storehouses and barracks. Near it were ranges of small houses, +occupied chiefly by mechanics and laborers; while the dwellings of the +remaining colonists, numbering in all four or five hundred, were +scattered here and there on the island and the neighboring shores. The +settlers were of different sects and nations, but chiefly Dutch +Calvinists. Kieft told his guest that eighteen different languages were +spoken at Manhattan. [25] The colonists were in the midst of a bloody +Indian war, brought on by their own besotted cruelty; and while Jogues +was at the fort, some forty of the Dutchmen were killed on the +neighboring farms, and many barns and houses burned. [26] + +[24] Lettre de Jogues à Lalemant, Rennes, Jan. 6, 1644.--See Relation, +1643, p. 79.--Goods were given the Indians to the value of three hundred +livres. +[25] Jogues, Novum Belgium. +[26] This war was with Algonquin tribes of the neighborhood.--See +O'Callaghan, New Netherland, I., Chap. III. + +The Director-General, with a humanity that was far from usual with him, +exchanged Jogues's squalid and savage dress for a suit of Dutch cloth, +and gave him passage in a small vessel which was then about to sail. The +voyage was rough and tedious; and the passenger slept on deck or on a +coil of ropes, suffering greatly from cold, and often drenched by the +waves that broke over the vessel's side. At length she reached Falmouth, +on the southern coast of England, when all the crew went ashore for a +carouse, leaving Jogues alone on board. A boat presently came alongside +with a gang of desperadoes, who boarded her, and rifled her of +everything valuable, threatened Jogues with a pistol, and robbed him of +his hat and coat. He obtained some assistance from the crew of a French +ship in the harbor, and, on the day before Christmas, took passage in a +small coal vessel for the neighboring coast of Brittany. In the +following afternoon he was set on shore a little to the north of Brest, +and, seeing a peasant's cottage not far off, he approached it, and asked +the way to the nearest church. The peasant and his wife, as the +narrative gravely tells us, mistook him, by reason of his modest +deportment, for some poor, but pious Irishman, and asked him to share +their supper, after finishing his devotions, an invitation which Jogues, +half famished as he was, gladly accepted. He reached the church in time +for the evening mass, and with an unutterable joy knelt before the +altar, and renewed the communion of which he had been deprived so long. +When he returned to the cottage, the attention of his hosts was at once +attracted to his mutilated and distorted hands. They asked with +amazement how he could have received such injuries; and when they heard +the story of his tortures, their surprise and veneration knew no bounds. +Two young girls, their daughters, begged him to accept all they had to +give,--a handful of sous; while the peasant made known the character of +his new guest to his neighbors. A trader from Rennes brought a horse to +the door, and offered the use of it to Jogues, to carry him to the +Jesuit college in that town. He gratefully accepted it; and, on the +morning of the fifth of January, 1644, reached his destination. + +He dismounted, and knocked at the door of the college. The porter opened +it, and saw a man wearing on his head an old woollen nightcap, and in an +attire little better than that of a beggar. Jogues asked to see the +Rector; but the porter answered, coldly, that the Rector was busied in +the Sacristy. Jogues begged him to say that a man was at the door with +news from Canada. The missions of Canada were at this time an object of +primal interest to the Jesuits, and above all to the Jesuits of France. +A letter from Jogues, written during his captivity, had already reached +France, as had also the Jesuit Relation of 1643, which contained a long +account of his capture; and he had no doubt been an engrossing theme of +conversation in every house of the French Jesuits. The Father Rector was +putting on his vestments to say mass; but when he heard that a poor man +from Canada had asked for him at the door, he postponed the service, and +went to meet him. Jogues, without discovering himself, gave him a letter +from the Dutch Director-General attesting his character. The Rector, +without reading it, began to question him as to the affairs of Canada, +and at length asked him if he knew Father Jogues. + +"I knew him very well," was the reply. + +"The Iroquois have taken him," pursued the Rector. "Is he dead? Have +they murdered him?" + +"No," answered Jogues; "he is alive and at liberty, and I am he." And he +fell on his knees to ask his Superior's blessing. + +That night was a night of jubilation and thanksgiving in the college of +Rennes. [27] + +[27] For Jogues's arrival in Brittany, see Lettre de Jogues à Lalemant, +Rennes, Jan. 6, 1644; Lettre de Jogues à------, Rennes, Jan. 5, 1644, +(in Relation, 1643,) and the long account in the Relation of 1647. + +Jogues became a centre of curiosity and reverence. He was summoned to +Paris. The Queen, Anne of Austria, wished to see him; and when the +persecuted slave of the Mohawks was conducted into her presence, she +kissed his mutilated hands, while the ladies of the Court thronged +around to do him homage. We are told, and no doubt with truth, that +these honors were unwelcome to the modest and single-hearted missionary, +who thought only of returning to his work of converting the Indians. A +priest with any deformity of body is debarred from saying mass. The +teeth and knives of the Iroquois had inflicted an injury worse than the +torturers imagined, for they had robbed Jogues of the privilege which +was the chief consolation of his life; but the Pope, by a special +dispensation, restored it to him, and with the opening spring he sailed +again for Canada. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1641-1646. + +THE IROQUOIS--BRESSANI--DE NOUË. + +War • Distress and Terror • Richelieu • Battle • Ruin of Indian Tribes • +Mutual Destruction • Iroquois and Algonquin • Atrocities • Frightful +Position of the French • Joseph Bressani • His Capture • His Treatment • +His Escape • Anne de Nouë • His Nocturnal Journey • His Death + +Two forces were battling for the mastery of Canada: on the one side, +Christ, the Virgin, and the Angels, with their agents, the priests; on +the other, the Devil, and his tools, the Iroquois. Such at least was the +view of the case held in full faith, not by the Jesuit Fathers alone, +but by most of the colonists. Never before had the fiend put forth such +rage, and in the Iroquois he found instruments of a nature not +uncongenial with his own. + +At Quebec, Three Rivers, Montreal, and the little fort of Richelieu, +that is to say, in all Canada, no man could hunt, fish, till the fields, +or cut a tree in the forest, without peril to his scalp. The Iroquois +were everywhere, and nowhere. A yell, a volley of bullets, a rush of +screeching savages, and all was over. The soldiers hastened to the spot +to find silence, solitude, and a mangled corpse. + +"I had as lief," writes Father Vimont, "be beset by goblins as by the +Iroquois. The one are about as invisible as the other. Our people on the +Richelieu and at Montreal are kept in a closer confinement than ever +were monks or nuns in our smallest convents in France." + +The Confederates at this time were in a flush of unparalleled audacity. +They despised white men as base poltroons, and esteemed themselves +warriors and heroes, destined to conquer all mankind. [1] The fire-arms +with which the Dutch had rashly supplied them, joined to their united +councils, their courage, and ferocity, gave them an advantage over the +surrounding tribes which they fully understood. Their passions rose with +their sense of power. They boasted that they would wipe the Hurons, the +Algonquins, and the French from the face of the earth, and carry the +"white girls," meaning the nuns, to their villages. This last event, +indeed, seemed more than probable; and the Hospital nuns left their +exposed station at Sillery, and withdrew to the ramparts and palisades +of Quebec. The St. Lawrence and the Ottawa were so infested, that +communication with the Huron country was cut off; and three times the +annual packet of letters sent thither to the missionaries fell into the +hands of the Iroquois. + +[1] Bressani, when a prisoner among them, writes to this effect in a +letter to his Superior.--See Relation Abrégée, 131. + +The anonymous author of the Relation of 1660 says, that, in their +belief, if their nation were destroyed, a general confusion and +overthrow of mankind must needs be the consequence.--Relation, 1660, 6. + +It was towards the close of the year 1640 that the scourge of Iroquois +war had begun to fall heavily on the French. At that time, a party of +their warriors waylaid and captured Thomas Godefroy and François +Marguerie, the latter a young man of great energy and daring, familiar +with the woods, a master of the Algonquin language, and a scholar of no +mean acquirements. [2] To the great joy of the colonists, he and his +companion were brought back to Three Rivers by their captors, and given +up, in the vain hope that the French would respond with a gift of +fire-arms. Their demand for them being declined, they broke off the +parley in a rage, fortified themselves, fired on the French, and +withdrew under cover of night. + +[2] During his captivity, he wrote, on a beaver-skin, a letter to the +Dutch in French, Latin, and English. + +Open war now ensued, and for a time all was bewilderment and terror. How +to check the inroads of an enemy so stealthy and so keen for blood was +the problem that taxed the brain of Montmagny, the Governor. He thought +he had found a solution, when he conceived the plan of building a fort +at the mouth of the River Richelieu, by which the Iroquois always made +their descents to the St. Lawrence. Happily for the perishing colony, +the Cardinal de Richelieu, in 1642, sent out thirty or forty soldiers +for its defence. [3] Ten times the number would have been scarcely +sufficient; but even this slight succor was hailed with delight, and +Montmagny was enabled to carry into effect his plan of the fort, for +which hitherto he had had neither builders nor garrison. He took with +him, besides the new-comers, a body of soldiers and armed laborers from +Quebec, and, with a force of about a hundred men in all, [4] sailed for +the Richelieu, in a brigantine and two or three open boats. + +[3] Faillon, Colonie Française, II. 2; Vimont, Relation, 1642, 2, 44. +[4] Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre, Sept. 29, 1642. + +On the thirteenth of August he reached his destination, and landed where +the town of Sorel now stands. It was but eleven days before that Jogues +and his companions had been captured, and Montmagny's followers found +ghastly tokens of the disaster. The heads of the slain were stuck on +poles by the side of the river; and several trees, from which portions +of the bark had been peeled, were daubed with the rude picture-writing +in which the victors recorded their exploit. [5] Among the rest, a +representation of Jogues himself was clearly distinguishable. The heads +were removed, the trees cut down, and a large cross planted on the spot. +An altar was raised, and all heard mass; then a volley of musketry was +fired; and then they fell to their work. They hewed an opening into the +forest, dug up the roots, cleared the ground, and cut, shaped, and +planted palisades. Thus a week passed, and their defences were nearly +completed, when suddenly the war-whoop rang in their ears, and two +hundred Iroquois rushed upon them from the borders of the clearing. [6] + +[5] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 52. + +This practice was common to many tribes, and is not yet extinct. The +writer has seen similar records, made by recent war-parties of Crows or +Blackfeet, in the remote West. In this case, the bark was removed from +the trunks of large cotton-wood trees, and the pictures traced with +charcoal and vermilion. There were marks for scalps, for prisoners, and +for the conquerors themselves. +[6] The Relation of 1642 says three hundred. Jogues, who had been among +them to his cost, is the better authority. + +It was the party of warriors that Jogues had met on an island in Lake +Champlain. But for the courage of Du Rocher, a corporal, who was on +guard, they would have carried all before them. They were rushing +through an opening in the palisade, when he, with a few soldiers, met +them with such vigor and resolution, that they were held in check long +enough for the rest to snatch their arms. Montmagny, who was on the +river in his brigantine, hastened on shore, and the soldiers, encouraged +by his arrival, fought with great determination. + +The Iroquois, on their part, swarmed up to the palisade, thrust their +guns through the loop-holes, and fired on those within; nor was it till +several of them had been killed and others wounded that they learned to +keep a more prudent distance. A tall savage, wearing a crest of the hair +of some animal, dyed scarlet and bound with a fillet of wampum, leaped +forward to the attack, and was shot dead. Another shared his fate, with +seven buck-shot in his shield, and as many in his body. The French, with +shouts, redoubled their fire, and the Indians at length lost heart and +fell back. The wounded dropped guns, shields, and war-clubs, and the +whole band withdrew to the shelter of a fort which they had built in the +forest, three miles above. On the part of the French, one man was killed +and four wounded. They had narrowly escaped a disaster which might have +proved the ruin of the colony; and they now gained time so far to +strengthen their defences as to make them reasonably secure against any +attack of savages. [7] The new fort, however, did not effectually answer +its purpose of stopping the inroads of the Iroquois. They would land a +mile or more above it, carry their canoes through the forest across an +intervening tongue of land, and then launch them in the St. Lawrence, +while the garrison remained in total ignorance of their movements. + +[7] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 50, 51. + +Assaults by Indians on fortified places are rare. The Iroquois are +known, however, to have made them with success in several cases, some of +the most remarkable of which will appear hereafter. The courage of +Indians is uncertain and spasmodic. They are capable, at times, of a +furious temerity, approaching desperation; but this is liable to sudden +and extreme reaction. Their courage, too, is much oftener displayed in +covert than in open attacks. + +While the French were thus beset, their Indian allies fared still worse. +The effect of Iroquois hostilities on all the Algonquin tribes of +Canada, from the Saguenay to the Lake of the Nipissings, had become +frightfully apparent. Famine and pestilence had aided the ravages of +war, till these wretched bands seemed in the course of rapid +extermination. Their spirit was broken. They became humble and docile in +the hands of the missionaries, ceased their railings against the new +doctrine, and leaned on the French as their only hope in this extremity +of woe. Sometimes they would appear in troops at Sillery or Three +Rivers, scared out of their forests by the sight of an Iroquois +footprint; then some new terror would seize them, and drive them back to +seek a hiding-place in the deepest thickets of the wilderness. Their +best hunting-grounds were beset by the enemy. They starved for weeks +together, subsisting on the bark of trees or the thongs of raw hide +which formed the net-work of their snow-shoes. The mortality among them +was prodigious. "Where, eight years ago," writes Father Vimont, "one +would see a hundred wigwams, one now sees scarcely five or six. A chief +who once had eight hundred warriors has now but thirty or forty; and in +place of fleets of three or four hundred canoes, we see less than a +tenth of that number." [8] + +[8] Relation, 1644, 3. + +These Canadian tribes were undergoing that process of extermination, +absorption, or expatriation, which, as there is reason to believe, had +for many generations formed the gloomy and meaningless history of the +greater part of this continent. Three or four hundred Dutch guns, in the +hands of the conquerors, gave an unwonted quickness and decision to the +work, but in no way changed its essential character. The horrible nature +of this warfare can be known only through examples; and of these one or +two will suffice. + +A band of Algonquins, late in the autumn of 1641, set forth from Three +Rivers on their winter hunt, and, fearful of the Iroquois, made their +way far northward, into the depths of the forests that border the +Ottawa. Here they thought themselves safe, built their lodges, and began +to hunt the moose and beaver. But a large party of their enemies, with a +persistent ferocity that is truly astonishing, had penetrated even here, +found the traces of the snow-shoes, followed up their human prey, and +hid at nightfall among the rocks and thickets around the encampment. At +midnight, their yells and the blows of their war-clubs awakened their +sleeping victims. In a few minutes all were in their power. They bound +the prisoners hand and foot, rekindled the fire, slung the kettles, cut +the bodies of the slain to pieces, and boiled and devoured them before +the eyes of the wretched survivors. "In a word," says the narrator, +"they ate men with as much appetite and more pleasure than hunters eat a +boar or a stag." [9] + +[9] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 46. + +Meanwhile they amused themselves with bantering their prisoners. +"Uncle," said one of them to an old Algonquin, "you are a dead man. You +are going to the land of souls. Tell them to take heart: they will have +good company soon, for we are going to send all the rest of your nation +to join them. This will be good news for them." [10] + +[10] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 45. + +This old man, who is described as no less malicious than his captors, +and even more crafty, soon after escaped, and brought tidings of the +disaster to the French. In the following spring, two women of the party +also escaped; and, after suffering almost incredible hardships, reached +Three Rivers, torn with briers, nearly naked, and in a deplorable state +of bodily and mental exhaustion. One of them told her story to Father +Buteux, who translated it into French, and gave it to Vimont to be +printed in the Relation of 1642. Revolting as it is, it is necessary to +recount it. Suffice it to say, that it is sustained by the whole body of +contemporary evidence in regard to the practices of the Iroquois and +some of the neighboring tribes. + +The conquerors feasted in the lodge till nearly daybreak, and then, +after a short rest, began their march homeward with their prisoners. +Among these were three women, of whom the narrator was one, who had each +a child of a few weeks or months old. At the first halt, their captors +took the infants from them, tied them to wooden spits, placed them to +die slowly before a fire, and feasted on them before the eyes of the +agonized mothers, whose shrieks, supplications, and frantic efforts to +break the cords that bound them were met with mockery and laughter. +"They are not men, they are wolves!" sobbed the wretched woman, as she +told what had befallen her to the pitying Jesuit. [11] At the Fall of +the Chaudière, another of the women ended her woes by leaping into the +cataract. When they approached the first Iroquois town, they were met, +at the distance of several leagues, by a crowd of the inhabitants, and +among them a troop of women, bringing food to regale the triumphant +warriors. Here they halted, and passed the night in songs of victory, +mingled with the dismal chant of the prisoners, who were forced to dance +for their entertainment. + +[11] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 46. + +On the morrow, they entered the town, leading the captive Algonquins, +fast bound, and surrounded by a crowd of men, women, and children, all +singing at the top of their throats. The largest lodge was ready to +receive them; and as they entered, the victims read their doom in the +fires that blazed on the earthen floor, and in the aspect of the +attendant savages, whom the Jesuit Father calls attendant demons, that +waited their coming. The torture which ensued was but preliminary, +designed to cause all possible suffering without touching life. It +consisted in blows with sticks and cudgels, gashing their limbs with +knives, cutting off their fingers with clam-shells, scorching them with +firebrands, and other indescribable torments. [12] The women were +stripped naked, and forced to dance to the singing of the male +prisoners, amid the applause and laughter of the crowd. They then gave +them food, to strengthen them for further suffering. + +[12] "Cette pauure creature qui s'est sauuée, a les deux pouces couppez, +ou plus tost hachez. Quand ils me les eurent couppez, disoit-elle, ils +me les voulurent faire manger; mais ie les mis sur mon giron, et leur +dis qu'ils me tuassent s'ils vouloient, que ie ne leur pouuois +obeir."--Buteux in Relation, 1642, 47. + +On the following morning, they were placed on a large scaffold, in sight +of the whole population. It was a gala-day. Young and old were gathered +from far and near. Some mounted the scaffold, and scorched them with +torches and firebrands; while the children, standing beneath the bark +platform, applied fire to the feet of the prisoners between the +crevices. The Algonquin women were told to burn their husbands and +companions; and one of them obeyed, vainly thinking to appease her +tormentors. The stoicism of one of the warriors enraged his captors +beyond measure. "Scream! why don't you scream?" they cried, thrusting +their burning brands at his naked body. "Look at me," he answered; "you +cannot make me wince. If you were in my place, you would screech like +babies." At this they fell upon him with redoubled fury, till their +knives and firebrands left in him no semblance of humanity. He was +defiant to the last, and when death came to his relief, they tore out +his heart and devoured it; then hacked him in pieces, and made their +feast of triumph on his mangled limbs. [13] + +[13] The diabolical practices described above were not peculiar to the +Iroquois. The Neutrals and other kindred tribes were no whit less cruel. +It is a remark of Mr. Gallatin, and I think a just one, that the Indians +west of the Mississippi are less ferocious than those east of it. The +burning of prisoners is rare among the prairie tribes, but is not +unknown. An Ogillallah chief, in whose lodge I lived for several weeks +in 1846, described to me, with most expressive pantomime, how he had +captured and burned a warrior of the Snake Tribe, in a valley of the +Medicine Bow Mountains, near which we were then encamped. + +All the men and all the old women of the party were put to death in a +similar manner, though but few displayed the same amazing fortitude. The +younger women, of whom there were about thirty, after passing their +ordeal of torture, were permitted to live; and, disfigured as they were, +were distributed among the several villages, as concubines or slaves to +the Iroquois warriors. Of this number were the narrator and her +companion, who, being ordered to accompany a war-party and carry their +provisions, escaped at night into the forest, and reached Three Rivers, +as we have seen. + +While the Indian allies of the French were wasting away beneath this +atrocious warfare, the French themselves, and especially the travelling +Jesuits, had their full share of the infliction. In truth, the puny and +sickly colony seemed in the gasps of dissolution. The beginning of +spring, particularly, was a season of terror and suspense; for with the +breaking up of the ice, sure as a destiny, came the Iroquois. As soon as +a canoe could float, they were on the war-path; and with the cry of the +returning wild-fowl mingled the yell of these human tigers. They did not +always wait for the breaking ice, but set forth on foot, and, when they +came to open water, made canoes and embarked. + +Well might Father Vimont call the Iroquois "the scourge of this infant +church." They burned, hacked, and devoured the neophytes; exterminated +whole villages at once; destroyed the nations whom the Fathers hoped to +convert; and ruined that sure ally of the missions, the fur-trade. Not +the most hideous nightmare of a fevered brain could transcend in horror +the real and waking perils with which they beset the path of these +intrepid priests. + +In the spring of 1644, Joseph Bressani, an Italian Jesuit, born in Rome, +and now for two years past a missionary in Canada, was ordered by his +Superior to go up to the Hurons. It was so early in the season that +there seemed hope that he might pass in safety; and as the Fathers in +that wild mission had received no succor for three years, Bressani was +charged with letters to them, and such necessaries for their use as he +was able to carry. With him were six young Hurons, lately converted, and +a French boy in his service. The party were in three small canoes. +Before setting out, they all confessed and prepared for death. + +They left Three Rivers on the twenty-seventh of April, and found ice +still floating in the river, and patches of snow lying in the naked +forests. On the first day, one of the canoes overset, nearly drowning +Bressani, who could not swim. On the third day, a snow-storm began, and +greatly retarded their progress. The young Indians foolishly fired their +guns at the wild-fowl on the river, and the sound reached the ears of a +war-party of Iroquois, one of ten that had already set forth for the St. +Lawrence, the Ottawa, and the Huron towns. [14] Hence it befell, that, +as they crossed the mouth of a small stream entering the St. Lawrence, +twenty-seven Iroquois suddenly issued from behind a point, and attacked +them in canoes. One of the Hurons was killed, and all the rest of the +party captured without resistance. + +[14] Vimont, Relation, 1644, 41. + +On the fifteenth of July following, Bressani wrote from the Iroquois +country to the General of the Jesuits at Rome:--"I do not know if your +Paternity will recognize the handwriting of one whom you once knew very +well. The letter is soiled and ill-written; because the writer has only +one finger of his right hand left entire, and cannot prevent the blood +from his wounds, which are still open, from staining the paper. His ink +is gunpowder mixed with water, and his table is the earth." [15] + +[15] This letter is printed anonymously in the Second Part, Chap. II, of +Bressani's Relation Abrégée. A comparison with Vimont's account, in the +Relation of 1644, makes its authorship apparent. Vimont's narrative +agrees in all essential points. His informant was "vne personne digne de +foy, qui a esté tesmoin oculaire de tout ce qu'il a souffert pendant sa +captiuité."--Vimont, Relation, 1644, 43. + +Then follows a modest narrative of what he endured at the hands of his +captors. First they thanked the Sun for their victory; then plundered +the canoes; then cut up, roasted, and devoured the slain Huron before +the eyes of the prisoners. On the next day they crossed to the southern +shore, and ascended the River Richelieu as far as the rapids of Chambly, +whence they pursued their march on foot among the brambles, rocks, and +swamps of the trackless forest. When they reached Lake Champlain, they +made new canoes and re-embarked, landed at its southern extremity six +days afterwards, and thence made for the Upper Hudson. Here they found a +fishing camp of four hundred Iroquois, and now Bressani's torments began +in earnest. They split his hand with a knife, between the little finger +and the ring finger; then beat him with sticks, till he was covered with +blood; and afterwards placed him on one of their torture-scaffolds of +bark, as a spectacle to the crowd. Here they stripped him, and while he +shivered with cold from head to foot they forced him to sing. After +about two hours they gave him up to the children, who ordered him to +dance, at the same time thrusting sharpened sticks into his flesh, and +pulling out his hair and beard. "Sing!" cried one; "Hold your tongue!" +screamed another; and if he obeyed the first, the second burned him. "We +will burn you to death; we will eat you." "I will eat one of your +hands." "And I will eat one of your feet." [16] These scenes were +renewed every night for a week. Every evening a chief cried aloud +through the camp, "Come, my children, come and caress our +prisoners!"--and the savage crew thronged jubilant to a large hut, where +the captives lay. They stripped off the torn fragment of a cassock, +which was the priest's only garment; burned him with live coals and +red-hot stones; forced him to walk on hot cinders; burned off now a +finger-nail and now the joint of a finger,--rarely more than one at a +time, however, for they economized their pleasures, and reserved the +rest for another day. This torture was protracted till one or two +o'clock, after which they left him on the ground, fast bound to four +stakes, and covered only with a scanty fragment of deer-skin. [17] The +other prisoners had their share of torture; but the worst fell upon the +Jesuit, as the chief man of the party. The unhappy boy who attended him, +though only twelve or thirteen years old, was tormented before his eyes +with a pitiless ferocity. + +[16] "Ils me répétaient sans cesse: Nous te brûlerons; nous te +mangerons;--je te mangerai un pied;--et moi, une main," etc.--Bressani, +in Relation Abrégée, 137. +[17] "Chaque nuit après m'avoir fait chanter, et m'avoir tourmenté comme +ie l'ai dit, ils passaient environ un quart d'heure à me brûler un ongle +ou un doigt. Il ne m'en reste maintenant qu'un seul entier, et encore +ils en ont arraché l'ongle avec les dents. Un soir ils m'enlevaient un +ongle, le lendemain la première phalange, le jour suivant la seconde. En +six fois, ils en brûlèrent presque six. Aux mains seules, ils m'ont +appliqué le feu et le fer plus de 18 fois, et i'étais obligé de chanter +pendant ce supplice. Ils ne cessaient de me tourmenter qu'à une ou deux +heures de la nuit."--Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 122. + +Bressani speaks in another passage of tortures of a nature yet more +excruciating. They were similar to those alluded to by the anonymous +author of the Relation of 1660: "Ie ferois rougir ce papier, et les +oreilles frémiroient, si ie rapportois les horribles traitemens que les +Agnieronnons" (the Mohawk nation of the Iroquois) "ont faits sur +quelques captifs." He adds, that past ages have never heard of +such.--Relation, 1660, 7, 8. + +At length they left this encampment, and, after a march of several +days,--during which Bressani, in wading a rocky stream, fell from +exhaustion and was nearly drowned,--they reached an Iroquois town. It is +needless to follow the revolting details of the new torments that +succeeded. They hung him by the feet with chains; placed food for their +dogs on his naked body, that they might lacerate him as they ate; and at +last had reduced his emaciated frame to such a condition, that even they +themselves stood in horror of him. "I could not have believed," he +writes to his Superior, "that a man was so hard to kill." He found among +them those who, from compassion, or from a refinement of cruelty, fed +him, for he could not feed himself. They told him jestingly that they +wished to fatten him before putting him to death. + +The council that was to decide his fate met on the nineteenth of June, +when, to the prisoner's amazement, and, as it seemed, to their own +surprise, they resolved to spare his life. He was given, with due +ceremony, to an old woman, to take the place of a deceased relative; +but, since he was as repulsive, in his mangled condition, as, by the +Indian standard, he was useless, she sent her son with him to Fort +Orange, to sell him to the Dutch. With the same humanity which they had +shown in the case of Jogues, they gave a generous ransom for him, +supplied him with clothing, kept him till his strength was in some +degree recruited, and then placed him on board a vessel bound for +Rochelle. Here he arrived on the fifteenth of November; and in the +following spring, maimed and disfigured, but with health restored, +embarked to dare again the knives and firebrands of the Iroquois. [18] + +[18] Immediately on his return to Canada he was ordered to set out again +for the Hurons. More fortunate than on his first attempt, he arrived +safely, early in the autumn of 1645.--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, +1646, 73. + +On Bressani, besides the authorities cited, see Du Creux, Historia +Canadensis, 399-403; Juchereau, Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu, 53; and +Martin, Biographie du P. François-Joseph Bressani, prefixed to the +Relation Abrégée. + +He made no converts while a prisoner, but he baptized a Huron catechumen +at the stake, to the great fury of the surrounding Iroquois. He has +left, besides his letters, some interesting notes on his captivity, +preserved in the Relation Abrégée. + +It should be noticed, in justice to the Iroquois, that, ferocious and +cruel as past all denial they were, they were not so bereft of the +instincts of humanity as at first sight might appear. An inexorable +severity towards enemies was a very essential element, in their savage +conception, of the character of the warrior. Pity was a cowardly +weakness, at which their pride revolted. This, joined to their thirst +for applause and their dread of ridicule, made them smother every +movement of compassion, [19] and conspired with their native fierceness +to form a character of unrelenting cruelty rarely equalled. + +[19] Thus, when Bressani, tortured by the tightness of the cords that +bound him, asked an Indian to loosen them, he would reply by mockery, if +others were present; but if no one saw him, he usually complied. + +The perils which beset the missionaries did not spring from the fury of +the Iroquois alone, for Nature herself was armed with terror in this +stern wilderness of New France. On the thirtieth of January, 1646, +Father Anne de Nouë set out from Three Rivers to go to the fort built by +the French at the mouth of the River Richelieu, where he was to say mass +and hear confessions. De Nouë was sixty-three years old, and had come to +Canada in 1625. [20] As an indifferent memory disabled him from +mastering the Indian languages, he devoted himself to the spiritual +charge of the French, and of the Indians about the forts, within reach +of an interpreter. For the rest, he attended the sick, and, in times of +scarcity, fished in the river or dug roots in the woods for the +subsistence of his flock. In short, though sprung from a noble family of +Champagne, he shrank from no toil, however humble, to which his idea of +duty or his vow of obedience called him. [21] + +[20] See "Pioneers of France," 393. +[21] He was peculiarly sensitive as regarded the cardinal Jesuit virtue +of obedience; and both Lalemant and Bressani say, that, at the age of +sixty and upwards, he was sometimes seen in tears, when he imagined that +he had not fulfilled to the utmost the commands of his Superior. + +The old missionary had for companions two soldiers and a Huron Indian. +They were all on snow-shoes, and the soldiers dragged their baggage on +small sledges. Their highway was the St. Lawrence, transformed to solid +ice, and buried, like all the country, beneath two or three feet of +snow, which, far and near, glared dazzling white under the clear winter +sun. Before night they had walked eighteen miles, and the soldiers, +unused to snow-shoes, were greatly fatigued. They made their camp in the +forest, on the shore of the great expansion of the St. Lawrence called +the Lake of St. Peter,--dug away the snow, heaped it around the spot as +a barrier against the wind, made their fire on the frozen earth in the +midst, and lay down to sleep. At two o'clock in the morning De Nouë +awoke. The moon shone like daylight over the vast white desert of the +frozen lake, with its bordering fir-trees bowed to the ground with snow; +and the kindly thought struck the Father, that he might ease his +companions by going in advance to Fort Richelieu, and sending back men +to aid them in dragging their sledges. He knew the way well. He directed +them to follow the tracks of his snow-shoes in the morning; and, not +doubting to reach the fort before night, left behind his blanket and his +flint and steel. For provisions, he put a morsel of bread and five or +six prunes in his pocket, told his rosary, and set forth. + +Before dawn the weather changed. The air thickened, clouds hid the moon, +and a snow-storm set in. The traveller was in utter darkness. He lost +the points of the compass, wandered far out on the lake, and when day +appeared could see nothing but the snow beneath his feet, and the +myriads of falling flakes that encompassed him like a curtain, +impervious to the sight. Still he toiled on, winding hither and thither, +and at times unwittingly circling back on his own footsteps. At night he +dug a hole in the snow under the shore of an island, and lay down, +without fire, food, or blanket. + +Meanwhile the two soldiers and the Indian, unable to trace his +footprints, which the snow had hidden, pursued their way for the fort; +but the Indian was ignorant of the country, and the Frenchmen were +unskilled. They wandered from their course, and at evening encamped on +the shore of the island of St. Ignace, at no great distance from De +Nouë. Here the Indian, trusting to his instinct, left them and set forth +alone in search of their destination, which he soon succeeded in +finding. The palisades of the feeble little fort, and the rude buildings +within, were whitened with snow, and half buried in it. Here, amid the +desolation, a handful of men kept watch and ward against the Iroquois. +Seated by the blazing logs, the Indian asked for De Nouë, and, to his +astonishment, the soldiers of the garrison told him that he had not been +seen. The captain of the post was called; all was anxiety; but nothing +could be done that night. + +At daybreak parties went out to search. The two soldiers were readily +found; but they looked in vain for the missionary. All day they were +ranging the ice, firing their guns and shouting; but to no avail, and +they returned disconsolate. There was a converted Indian, whom the +French called Charles, at the fort, one of four who were spending the +winter there. On the next morning, the second of February, he and one of +his companions, together with Baron, a French soldier, resumed the +search; and, guided by the slight depressions in the snow which had +fallen on the wanderer's footprints, the quick-eyed savages traced him +through all his windings, found his camp by the shore of the island, and +thence followed him beyond the fort. He had passed near without +discovering it,--perhaps weakness had dimmed his sight,--stopped to rest +at a point a league above, and thence made his way about three leagues +farther. Here they found him. He had dug a circular excavation in the +snow, and was kneeling in it on the earth. His head was bare, his eyes +open and turned upwards, and his hands clasped on his breast. His hat +and his snow-shoes lay at his side. The body was leaning slightly +forward, resting against the bank of snow before it, and frozen to the +hardness of marble. + +Thus, in an act of kindness and charity, died the first martyr of the +Canadian mission. [22] + +[22] Lalemant, Relation, 1646, 9; Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre, 10 +Sept., 1646; Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 175. + +One of the Indians who found the body of De Nouë was killed by the +Iroquois at Ossossané, in the Huron country, three years after. He +received the death-blow in a posture like that in which he had seen the +dead missionary. His body was found with the hands still clasped on the +breast.--Lettre de Chaumonot à Lalemant, 1 Juin, 1649. + +The next death among the Jesuits was that of Masse, who died at Sillery, +on the twelfth of May of this year, 1646, at the age of seventy-two. He +had come with Biard to Acadia as early as 1611. (See "Pioneers of +France," 262.) Lalemant, in the Relation of 1646, gives an account of +him, and speaks of penances which he imposed on himself, some of which +are to the last degree disgusting. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1642-1644. + +VILLEMARIE. + +Infancy of Montreal • The Flood • Vow of Maisonneuve • Pilgrimage • +D'Ailleboust • The Hôtel-Dieu • Piety • Propagandism • War • Hurons and +Iroquois • Dogs • Sally of the French • Battle • Exploit of Maisonneuve + +Let us now ascend to the island of Montreal. Here, as we have seen, an +association of devout and zealous persons had essayed to found a +mission-colony under the protection of the Holy Virgin; and we left the +adventurers, after their landing, bivouacked on the shore, on an evening +in May. There was an altar in the open air, decorated with a taste that +betokened no less of good nurture than of piety; and around it clustered +the tents that sheltered the commandant, Maisonneuve, the two ladies, +Madame de la Peltrie and Mademoiselle Mance, and the soldiers and +laborers of the expedition. + +In the morning they all fell to their work, Maisonneuve hewing down the +first tree,--and labored with such good-will, that their tents were soon +inclosed with a strong palisade, and their altar covered by a +provisional chapel, built, in the Huron mode, of bark. Soon afterward, +their canvas habitations were supplanted by solid structures of wood, +and the feeble germ of a future city began to take root. + +The Iroquois had not yet found them out; nor did they discover them till +they had had ample time to fortify themselves. Meanwhile, on a Sunday, +they would stroll at their leisure over the adjacent meadow and in the +shade of the bordering forest, where, as the old chronicler tells us, +the grass was gay with wild-flowers, and the branches with the flutter +and song of many strange birds. [1] + +[1] Dollier de Casson, MS. + +The day of the Assumption of the Virgin was celebrated with befitting +solemnity. There was mass in their bark chapel; then a Te Deum; then +public instruction of certain Indians who chanced to be at Montreal; +then a procession of all the colonists after vespers, to the admiration +of the redskinned beholders. Cannon, too, were fired, in honor of their +celestial patroness. "Their thunder made all the island echo," writes +Father Vimont; "and the demons, though used to thunderbolts, were scared +at a noise which told them of the love we bear our great Mistress; and I +have scarcely any doubt that the tutelary angels of the savages of New +France have marked this day in the calendar of Paradise." [2] + +[2] Vimont, Relation, 1642, 38. Compare Le Clerc, Premier Etablissement +de la Foy, II. 51. + +The summer passed prosperously, but with the winter their faith was put +to a rude test. In December, there was a rise of the St. Lawrence, +threatening to sweep away in a night the results of all their labor. +They fell to their prayers; and Maisonneuve planted a wooden cross in +face of the advancing deluge, first making a vow, that, should the peril +be averted, he, Maisonneuve, would bear another cross on his shoulders +up the neighboring mountain, and place it on the summit. The vow seemed +in vain. The flood still rose, filled the fort ditch, swept the foot of +the palisade, and threatened to sap the magazine; but here it stopped, +and presently began to recede, till at length it had withdrawn within +its lawful channel, and Villemarie was safe. [3] + +[3] A little MS. map in M. Jacques Viger's copy of Le Petit Registre de +la Cure de Montreal, lays down the position and shape of the fort at +this time, and shows the spot where Maisonneuve planted the cross. + +Now it remained to fulfil the promise from which such happy results had +proceeded. Maisonneuve set his men at work to clear a path through the +forest to the top of the mountain. A large cross was made, and solemnly +blessed by the priest; then, on the sixth of January, the Jesuit Du +Peron led the way, followed in procession by Madame de la Peltrie, the +artisans, and soldiers, to the destined spot. The commandant, who with +all the ceremonies of the Church had been declared First Soldier of the +Cross, walked behind the rest, bearing on his shoulder a cross so heavy +that it needed his utmost strength to climb the steep and rugged path. +They planted it on the highest crest, and all knelt in adoration before +it. Du Peron said mass; and Madame de la Peltrie, always romantic and +always devout, received the sacrament on the mountain-top, a spectacle +to the virgin world outstretched below. Sundry relics of saints had been +set in the wood of the cross, which remained an object of pilgrimage to +the pious colonists of Villemarie. [4] + +[4] Vimont, Relation, 1643, 52, 53. + +Peace and harmony reigned within the little fort; and so edifying was +the demeanor of the colonists, so faithful were they to the +confessional, and so constant at mass, that a chronicler of the day +exclaims, in a burst of enthusiasm, that the deserts lately a resort of +demons were now the abode of angels. [5] The two Jesuits who for the +time were their pastors had them well in hand. They dwelt under the same +roof with most of their flock, who lived in community, in one large +house, and vied with each other in zeal for the honor of the Virgin and +the conversion of the Indians. + +[5] Véritables Motifs, cited by Faillon, I. 453, 454. + +At the end of August, 1643, a vessel arrived at Villemarie with a +reinforcement commanded by Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonges, a pious +gentleman of Champagne, and one of the Associates of Montreal. [6] Some +years before, he had asked in wedlock the hand of Barbe de Boulogne; but +the young lady had, when a child, in the ardor of her piety, taken a vow +of perpetual chastity. By the advice of her Jesuit confessor, she +accepted his suit, on condition that she should preserve, to the hour of +her death, the state to which Holy Church has always ascribed a peculiar +merit. [7] D'Ailleboust married her; and when, soon after, he conceived +the purpose of devoting his life to the work of the Faith in Canada, he +invited his maiden spouse to go with him. She refused, and forbade him +to mention the subject again. Her health was indifferent, and about this +time she fell ill. As a last resort, she made a promise to God, that, if +He would restore her, she would go to Canada with her husband; and +forthwith her maladies ceased. Still her reluctance continued; she +hesitated, and then refused again, when an inward light revealed to her +that it was her duty to cast her lot in the wilderness. She accordingly +embarked with d'Ailleboust, accompanied by her sister, Mademoiselle +Philippine de Boulogne, who had caught the contagion of her zeal. The +presence of these damsels would, to all appearance, be rather a burden +than a profit to the colonists, beset as they then were by Indians, and +often in peril of starvation; but the spectacle of their ardor, as +disinterested as it was extravagant, would serve to exalt the religious +enthusiasm in which alone was the life of Villemarie. + +[6] Chaulmer, 101; Juchereau, 91. +[7] Juchereau, Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, 276. The confessor +told D'Ailleboust, that, if he persuaded his wife to break her vow of +continence, "God would chastise him terribly." The nun historian adds, +that, undeterred by the menace, he tried and failed. + +Their vessel passed in safety the Iroquois who watched the St. Lawrence, +and its arrival filled the colonists with joy. D'Ailleboust was a +skilful soldier, specially versed in the arts of fortification; and, +under his direction, the frail palisades which formed their sole defence +were replaced by solid ramparts and bastions of earth. He brought news +that the "unknown benefactress," as a certain generous member of the +Association of Montreal was called, in ignorance of her name, had given +funds, to the amount, as afterwards appeared, of forty-two thousand +livres, for the building of a hospital at Villemarie. [8] The source of +the gift was kept secret, from a religious motive; but it soon became +known that it proceeded from Madame de Bullion, a lady whose rank and +wealth were exceeded only by her devotion. It is true that the hospital +was not wanted, as no one was sick at Villemarie, and one or two +chambers would have sufficed for every prospective necessity; but it +will be remembered that the colony had been established in order that a +hospital might be built, and Madame de Bullion would not hear to any +other application of her money. [9] Instead, therefore, of tilling the +land to supply their own pressing needs, all the laborers of the +settlement were set at this pious, though superfluous, task. [10] There +was no room in the fort, which, moreover, was in danger of inundation; +and the hospital was accordingly built on higher ground adjacent. To +leave it unprotected would be to abandon its inmates to the Iroquois; it +was therefore surrounded by a strong palisade, and, in time of danger, a +part of the garrison was detailed to defend it. Here Mademoiselle Mance +took up her abode, and waited the day when wounds or disease should +bring patients to her empty wards. + +[8] Archives du Séminaire de Villemarie, cited by Faillon, I. 466. The +amount of the gift was not declared until the next year. +[9] Mademoiselle Mance wrote to her, to urge that the money should be +devoted to the Huron mission; but she absolutely refused.--Dollier de +Casson, MS. +[10] Journal des Supérieurs des Jésuites, MS. + +The hospital was sixty feet long and twenty-four feet wide, with a +kitchen, a chamber for Mademoiselle Mance, others for servants, and two +large apartments for the patients. It was amply provided with furniture, +linen, medicines, and all necessaries; and had also two oxen, three +cows, and twenty sheep. A small oratory of stone was built adjoining it. +The inclosure was four arpents in extent.--Archives du Séminaire de +Villemarie, cited by Faillon. + +Dauversière, who had first conceived this plan of a hospital in the +wilderness, was a senseless enthusiast, who rejected as a sin every +protest of reason against the dreams which governed him; yet one +rational and practical element entered into the motives of those who +carried the plan into execution. The hospital was intended not only to +nurse sick Frenchmen, but to nurse and convert sick Indians; in other +words, it was an engine of the mission. + +From Maisonneuve to the humblest laborer, these zealous colonists were +bent on the work of conversion. To that end, the ladies made pilgrimages +to the cross on the mountain, sometimes for nine days in succession, to +pray God to gather the heathen into His fold. The fatigue was great; nor +was the danger less; and armed men always escorted them, as a precaution +against the Iroquois. [11] The male colonists were equally fervent; and +sometimes as many as fifteen or sixteen persons would kneel at once +before the cross, with the same charitable petition. [12] The ardor of +their zeal may be inferred from the fact, that these pious expeditions +consumed the greater part of the day, when time and labor were of a +value past reckoning to the little colony. Besides their pilgrimages, +they used other means, and very efficient ones, to attract and gain over +the Indians. They housed, fed, and clothed them at every opportunity; +and though they were subsisting chiefly on provisions brought at great +cost from France, there was always a portion for the hungry savages who +from time to time encamped near their fort. If they could persuade any +of them to be nursed, they were consigned to the tender care of +Mademoiselle Mance; and if a party went to war, their women and children +were taken in charge till their return. As this attention to their +bodies had for its object the profit of their souls, it was accompanied +with incessant catechizing. This, with the other influences of the +place, had its effect; and some notable conversions were made. Among +them was that of the renowned chief, Tessouat, or Le Borgne, as the +French called him,--a crafty and intractable savage, whom, to their own +surprise, they succeeded in taming and winning to the Faith. [13] He was +christened with the name of Paul, and his squaw with that of Madeleine. +Maisonneuve rewarded him with a gun, and celebrated the day by a feast +to all the Indians present. [14] + +[11] Morin, Annales de l'Hôtel-Dieu de St. Joseph, MS., cited by +Faillon, I. 457. +[12] Marguerite Bourgeoys, Écrits Autographes, MS., extracts in Faillon, +I. 458. +[13] Vimont, Relation, 1643, 54, 55. Tessouat was chief of Allumette +Island, in the Ottawa. His predecessor, of the same name, was +Champlain's host in 1613.--See "Pioneers of France," Chap. XII. +[14] It was the usual practice to give guns to converts, "pour attirer +leur compatriotes à la Foy." They were never given to heathen Indians. +"It seems," observes Vimont, "that our Lord wishes to make use of this +method in order that Christianity may become acceptable in this +country."--Relation, 1643, 71. + +The French hoped to form an agricultural settlement of Indians in the +neighborhood of Villemarie; and they spared no exertion to this end, +giving them tools, and aiding them to till the fields. They might have +succeeded, but for that pest of the wilderness, the Iroquois, who +hovered about them, harassed them with petty attacks, and again and +again drove the Algonquins in terror from their camps. Some time had +elapsed, as we have seen, before the Iroquois discovered Villemarie; but +at length ten fugitive Algonquins, chased by a party of them, made for +the friendly settlement as a safe asylum; and thus their astonished +pursuers became aware of its existence. They reconnoitred the place, and +went back to their towns with the news. [15] From that time forth the +colonists had no peace; no more excursions for fishing and hunting; no +more Sunday strolls in woods and meadows. The men went armed to their +work, and returned at the sound of a bell, marching in a compact body, +prepared for an attack. + +[15] Dollier de Casson, MS. + +Early in June, 1643, sixty Hurons came down in canoes for traffic, and, +on reaching the place now called Lachine, at the head of the rapids of +St. Louis, and a few miles above Villemarie, they were amazed at finding +a large Iroquois war-party in a fort hastily built of the trunks and +boughs of trees. Surprise and fright seem to have infatuated them. They +neither fought nor fled, but greeted their inveterate foes as if they +were friends and allies, and, to gain their good graces, told them all +they knew of the French settlement, urging them to attack it, and +promising an easy victory. Accordingly, the Iroquois detached forty of +their warriors, who surprised six Frenchmen at work hewing timber within +a gunshot of the fort, killed three of them, took the remaining three +prisoners, and returned in triumph. The captives were bound with the +usual rigor; and the Hurons taunted and insulted them, to please their +dangerous companions. Their baseness availed them little; for at night, +after a feast of victory, when the Hurons were asleep or off their +guard, their entertainers fell upon them, and killed or captured the +greater part. The rest ran for Villemarie, where, as their treachery was +as yet unknown, they were received with great kindness. [16] + +[16] I have followed Dollier de Casson. Vimont's account is different. +He says that the Iroquois fell upon the Hurons at the outset, and took +twenty-three prisoners, killing many others; after which they made the +attack at Villemarie.--Relation, 1643, 62. + +Faillon thinks that Vimont was unwilling to publish the treachery of the +Hurons, lest the interests of the Huron mission should suffer in +consequence. + +Belmont, Histoire du Canada, 1643, confirms the account of the Huron +treachery. + +The next morning the Iroquois decamped, carrying with them their +prisoners, and the furs plundered from the Huron canoes. They had taken +also, and probably destroyed, all the letters from the missionaries in +the Huron country, as well as a copy of their Relation of the preceding +year. Of the three French prisoners, one escaped and reached Montreal; +the remaining two were burned alive. + +At Villemarie it was usually dangerous to pass beyond the ditch of the +fort or the palisades of the hospital. Sometimes a solitary warrior +would lie hidden for days, without sleep and almost without food, behind +a log in the forest, or in a dense thicket, watching like a lynx for +some rash straggler. Sometimes parties of a hundred or more made +ambuscades near by, and sent a few of their number to lure out the +soldiers by a petty attack and a flight. The danger was much diminished, +however, when the colonists received from France a number of dogs, which +proved most efficient sentinels and scouts. Of the instinct of these +animals the writers of the time speak with astonishment. Chief among +them was a bitch named Pilot, who every morning made the rounds of the +forests and fields about the fort, followed by a troop of her offspring. +If one of them lagged behind, she hit him to remind him of his duty; and +if any skulked and ran home, she punished them severely in the same +manner on her return. When she discovered the Iroquois, which she was +sure to do by the scent, if any were near, she barked furiously, and ran +at once straight to the fort, followed by the rest. The Jesuit +chronicler adds, with an amusing naïveté, that, while this was her duty, +"her natural inclination was for hunting squirrels." [17] + +[17] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 74, 75. "Son attrait naturel estoit la +chasse aux écurieux." Dollier de Casson also speaks admiringly of her +and her instinct. Faillon sees in it a manifest proof of the protecting +care of God over Villemarie. + +Maisonneuve was as brave a knight of the cross as ever fought in +Palestine for the sepulchre of Christ; but he could temper his valor +with discretion. He knew that he and his soldiers were but indifferent +woodsmen; that their crafty foe had no equal in ambuscades and +surprises; and that, while a defeat might ruin the French, it would only +exasperate an enemy whose resources in men were incomparably greater. +Therefore, when the dogs sounded the alarm, he kept his followers close, +and stood patiently on the defensive. They chafed under this Fabian +policy, and at length imputed it to cowardice. Their murmurings grew +louder, till they reached the ear of Maisonneuve. The religion which +animated him had not destroyed the soldierly pride which takes root so +readily and so strongly in a manly nature; and an imputation of +cowardice from his own soldiers stung him to the quick. He saw, too, +that such an opinion of him must needs weaken his authority, and impair +the discipline essential to the safety of the colony. + +On the morning of the thirtieth of March, Pilot was heard barking with +unusual fury in the forest eastward from the fort; and in a few moments +they saw her running over the clearing, where the snow was still deep, +followed by her brood, all giving tongue together. The excited Frenchmen +flocked about their commander. + +"Monsieur, les ennemis sont dans le bois; ne les irons-nous jamais +voir?" [18] + +[18] Dollier de Casson, MS. + +Maisonneuve, habitually composed and calm, answered sharply,-- + +"Yes, you shall see the enemy. Get yourselves ready at once, and take +care that you are as brave as you profess to be. I shall lead you +myself." + +All was bustle in the fort. Guns were loaded, pouches filled, and +snow-shoes tied on by those who had them and knew how to use them. There +were not enough, however, and many were forced to go without them. When +all was ready, Maisonneuve sallied forth at the head of thirty men, +leaving d'Ailleboust, with the remainder, to hold the fort. They crossed +the snowy clearing and entered the forest, where all was silent as the +grave. They pushed on, wading through the deep snow, with the countless +pitfalls hidden beneath it, when suddenly they were greeted with the +screeches of eighty Iroquois, [19] who sprang up from their +lurking-places, and showered bullets and arrows upon the advancing +French. The emergency called, not for chivalry, but for woodcraft; and +Maisonneuve ordered his men to take shelter, like their assailants, +behind trees. They stood their ground resolutely for a long time; but +the Iroquois pressed them close, three of their number were killed, +others were wounded, and their ammunition began to fail. Their only +alternatives were destruction or retreat; and to retreat was not easy. +The order was given. Though steady at first, the men soon became +confused, and over-eager to escape the galling fire which the Iroquois +sent after them. Maisonneuve directed them towards a sledge-track which +had been used in dragging timber for building the hospital, and where +the snow was firm beneath the foot. He himself remained to the last, +encouraging his followers and aiding the wounded to escape. The French, +as they struggled through the snow, faced about from time to time, and +fired back to check the pursuit; but no sooner had they reached the +sledge-track than they gave way to their terror, and ran in a body for +the fort. Those within, seeing this confused rush of men from the +distance, mistook them for the enemy; and an over-zealous soldier +touched the match to a cannon which had been pointed to rake the +sledge-track. Had not the piece missed fire, from dampness of the +priming, he would have done more execution at one shot than the Iroquois +in all the fight of that morning. + +[19] Vimont, Relation, 1644, 42. Dollier de Casson says two hundred, but +it is usually safe in these cases to accept the smaller number, and +Vimont founds his statement on the information of an escaped prisoner. + +Maisonneuve was left alone, retreating backwards down the track, and +holding his pursuers in check, with a pistol in each hand. They might +easily have shot him; but, recognizing him as the commander of the +French, they were bent on taking him alive. Their chief coveted this +honor for himself, and his followers held aloof to give him the +opportunity. He pressed close upon Maisonneuve, who snapped a pistol at +him, which missed fire. The Iroquois, who had ducked to avoid the shot, +rose erect, and sprang forward to seize him, when Maisonneuve, with his +remaining pistol, shot him dead. Then ensued a curious spectacle, not +infrequent in Indian battles. The Iroquois seemed to forget their enemy, +in their anxiety to secure and carry off the body of their chief; and +the French commander continued his retreat unmolested, till he was safe +under the cannon of the fort. From that day, he was a hero in the eyes +of his men. [20] + +[20] Dollier de Casson, MS. Vimont's mention of the affair is brief. He +says that two Frenchmen were made prisoners, and burned. Belmont, +Histoire du Canada, 1645, gives a succinct account of the fight, and +indicates the scene of it. It seems to have been a little below the site +of the Place d'Armes, on which stands the great Parish Church of +Villemarie, commonly known to tourists as the "Cathedral." Faillon +thinks that Maisonneuve's exploit was achieved on this very spot. + +Marguerite Bourgeoys also describes the affair in her unpublished +writings. + +Quebec and Montreal are happy in their founders. Samuel de Champlain and +Chomedey de Maisonneuve are among the names that shine with a fair and +honest lustre on the infancy of nations. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1644, 1645. + +PEACE. + +Iroquois Prisoners • Piskaret • His Exploits • More Prisoners • Iroquois +Embassy • The Orator • The Great Council • Speeches of Kiotsaton • +Muster of Savages • Peace Confirmed + +In the damp and freshness of a midsummer morning, when the sun had not +yet risen, but when the river and the sky were red with the glory of +approaching day, the inmates of the fort at Three Rivers were roused by +a tumult of joyous and exultant voices. They thronged to the +shore,--priests, soldiers, traders, and officers, mingled with warriors +and shrill-voiced squaws from Huron and Algonquin camps in the +neighboring forest. Close at hand they saw twelve or fifteen canoes +slowly drifting down the current of the St. Lawrence, manned by eighty +young Indians, all singing their songs of victory, and striking their +paddles against the edges of their bark vessels in cadence with their +voices. Among them three Iroquois prisoners stood upright, singing loud +and defiantly, as men not fearing torture or death. + +A few days before, these young warriors, in part Huron and in part +Algonquin, had gone out on the war-path to the River Richelieu, where +they had presently found themselves entangled among several bands of +Iroquois. They withdrew in the night, after a battle in the dark with an +Iroquois canoe, and, as they approached Fort Richelieu, had the good +fortune to discover ten of their enemy ambuscaded in a clump of bushes +and fallen trees, watching to waylay some of the soldiers on their +morning visit to the fishing-nets in the river hard by. They captured +three of them, and carried them back in triumph. + +The victors landed amid screams of exultation. Two of the prisoners were +assigned to the Hurons, and the third to the Algonquins, who immediately +took him to their lodges near the fort at Three Rivers, and began the +usual "caress," by burning his feet with red-hot stones, and cutting off +his fingers. Champfleur, the commandant, went out to them with urgent +remonstrances, and at length prevailed on them to leave their victim +without further injury, until Montmagny, the Governor, should arrive. He +came with all dispatch,--not wholly from a motive of humanity, but +partly in the hope that the three captives might be made instrumental in +concluding a peace with their countrymen. + +A council was held in the fort at Three Rivers. Montmagny made valuable +presents to the Algonquins and the Hurons, to induce them to place the +prisoners in his hands. The Algonquins complied; and the unfortunate +Iroquois, gashed, maimed, and scorched, was given up to the French, who +treated him with the greatest kindness. But neither the Governor's gifts +nor his eloquence could persuade the Hurons to follow the example of +their allies; and they departed for their own country with their two +captives,--promising, however, not to burn them, but to use them for +negotiations of peace. With this pledge, scarcely worth the breath that +uttered it, Montmagny was forced to content himself. [1] + +[1] Vimont, Relation, 1644, 45-49. + +Thus it appeared that the fortune of war did not always smile even on +the Iroquois. Indeed, if there is faith in Indian tradition, there had +been a time, scarcely half a century past, when the Mohawks, perhaps the +fiercest and haughtiest of the confederate nations, had been nearly +destroyed by the Algonquins, whom they now held in contempt. [2] This +people, whose inferiority arose chiefly from the want of that compact +organization in which lay the strength of the Iroquois, had not lost +their ancient warlike spirit; and they had one champion of whom even the +audacious confederates stood in awe. His name was Piskaret; and he dwelt +on that great island in the Ottawa of which Le Borgne was chief. He had +lately turned Christian, in the hope of French favor and +countenance,--always useful to an ambitious Indian,--and perhaps, too, +with an eye to the gun and powder-horn which formed the earthly reward +of the convert. [3] Tradition tells marvellous stories of his exploits. +Once, it is said, he entered an Iroquois town on a dark night. His first +care was to seek out a hiding-place, and he soon found one in the midst +of a large wood-pile. [4] Next he crept into a lodge, and, finding the +inmates asleep, killed them with his war-club, took their scalps, and +quietly withdrew to the retreat he had prepared. In the morning a howl +of lamentation and fury rose from the astonished villagers. They ranged +the fields and forests in vain pursuit of the mysterious enemy, who +remained all day in the wood-pile, whence, at midnight, he came forth +and repeated his former exploit. On the third night, every family placed +its sentinels; and Piskaret, stealthily creeping from lodge to lodge, +and reconnoitring each through crevices in the bark, saw watchers +everywhere. At length he descried a sentinel who had fallen asleep near +the entrance of a lodge, though his companion at the other end was still +awake and vigilant. He pushed aside the sheet of bark that served as a +door, struck the sleeper a deadly blow, yelled his war-cry, and fled +like the wind. All the village swarmed out in furious chase; but +Piskaret was the swiftest runner of his time, and easily kept in advance +of his pursuers. When daylight came, he showed himself from time to time +to lure them on, then yelled defiance, and distanced them again. At +night, all but six had given over the chase; and even these, exhausted +as they were, had begun to despair. Piskaret, seeing a hollow tree, +crept into it like a bear, and hid himself; while the Iroquois, losing +his traces in the dark, lay down to sleep near by. At midnight he +emerged from his retreat, stealthily approached his slumbering enemies, +nimbly brained them all with his war-club, and then, burdened with a +goodly bundle of scalps, journeyed homeward in triumph. [5] + +[2] Relation, 1660, 6 (anonymous). + +Both Perrot and La Potherie recount traditions of the ancient +superiority of the Algonquins over the Iroquois, who formerly, it is +said, dwelt near Montreal and Three Rivers, whence the Algonquins +expelled them. They withdrew, first to the neighborhood of Lake Erie, +then to that of Lake Ontario, their historic seat. There is much to +support the conjecture that the Indians found by Cartier at Montreal in +1535 were Iroquois (See "Pioneers of France," 189.) That they belonged +to the same family of tribes is certain. For the traditions alluded to, +see Perrot, 9, 12, 79, and La Potherie, I. 288-295. + +[3] "Simon Pieskaret ... n'estoit Chrestien qu'en apparence et par +police."--Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 68.--He afterwards became a convert +in earnest. +[4] Both the Iroquois and the Hurons collected great quantities of wood +in their villages in the autumn. +[5] This story is told by La Potherie, I. 299, and, more briefly, by +Perrot, 107. La Potherie, writing more than half a century after the +time in question, represents the Iroquois as habitually in awe of the +Algonquins. In this all the contemporary writers contradict him. + +This is but one of several stories that tradition has preserved of his +exploits; and, with all reasonable allowances, it is certain that the +crafty and valiant Algonquin was the model of an Indian warrior. That +which follows rests on a far safer basis. + +Early in the spring of 1645, Piskaret, with six other converted Indians, +some of them better Christians than he, set out on a war-party, and, +after dragging their canoes over the frozen St. Lawrence, launched them +on the open stream of the Richelieu. They ascended to Lake Champlain, +and hid themselves in the leafless forests of a large island, watching +patiently for their human prey. One day they heard a distant shot. +"Come, friends," said Piskaret, "let us get our dinner: perhaps it will +be the last, for we must dine before we run." Having dined to their +contentment, the philosophic warriors prepared for action. One of them +went to reconnoitre, and soon reported that two canoes full of Iroquois +were approaching the island. Piskaret and his followers crouched in the +bushes at the point for which the canoes were making, and, as the +foremost drew near, each chose his mark, and fired with such good +effect, that, of seven warriors, all but one were killed. The survivor +jumped overboard, and swam for the other canoe, where he was taken in. +It now contained eight Iroquois, who, far from attempting to escape, +paddled in haste for a distant part of the shore, in order to land, give +battle, and avenge their slain comrades. But the Algonquins, running +through the woods, reached the landing before them, and, as one of them +rose to fire, they shot him. In his fall he overset the canoe. The water +was shallow, and the submerged warriors, presently finding foothold, +waded towards the shore, and made desperate fight. The Algonquins had +the advantage of position, and used it so well, that they killed all but +three of their enemies, and captured two of the survivors. Next they +sought out the bodies, carefully scalped them, and set out in triumph on +their return. To the credit of their Jesuit teachers, they treated their +prisoners with a forbearance hitherto without example. One of them, who +was defiant and abusive, received a blow to silence him; but no further +indignity was offered to either. [6] + +[6] According to Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre, 14 Sept., 1645, +Piskaret was for torturing the captives; but a convert, named Bernard by +the French, protested against it. + +As the successful warriors approached the little mission settlement of +Sillery, immediately above Quebec, they raised their song of triumph, +and beat time with their paddles on the edges of their canoes; while, +from eleven poles raised aloft, eleven fresh scalps fluttered in the +wind. The Father Jesuit and all his flock were gathered on the strand to +welcome them. The Indians fired their guns, and screeched in jubilation; +one Jean Baptiste, a Christian chief of Sillery, made a speech from the +shore; Piskaret replied, standing upright in his canoe; and, to crown +the occasion, a squad of soldiers, marching in haste from Quebec, fired +a salute of musketry, to the boundless delight of the Indians. Much to +the surprise of the two captives, there was no running of the gantlet, +no gnawing off of finger-nails or cutting off of fingers; but the scalps +were hung, like little flags, over the entrances of the lodges, and all +Sillery betook itself to feasting and rejoicing. [7] One old woman, +indeed, came to the Jesuit with a pathetic appeal: "Oh, my Father! let +me caress these prisoners a little: they have killed, burned, and eaten +my father, my husband, and my children." But the missionary answered +with a lecture on the duty of forgiveness. [8] + +[7] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 19-21. +[8] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 21, 22. + +On the next day, Montmagny came to Sillery, and there was a grand +council in the house of the Jesuits. Piskaret, in a solemn harangue, +delivered his captives to the Governor, who replied with a speech of +compliment and an ample gift. The two Iroquois were present, seated with +a seeming imperturbability, but great anxiety of heart; and when at +length they comprehended that their lives were safe, one of them, a man +of great size and symmetry, rose and addressed Montmagny:-- + +"Onontio, [9] I am saved from the fire; my body is delivered from death. +Onontio, you have given me my life. I thank you for it. I will never +forget it. All my country will be grateful to you. The earth will be +bright; the river calm and smooth; there will be peace and friendship +between us. The shadow is before my eyes no longer. The spirits of my +ancestors slain by the Algonquins have disappeared. Onontio, you are +good: we are bad. But our anger is gone; I have no heart but for peace +and rejoicing." As he said this, he began to dance, holding his hands +upraised, as if apostrophizing the sky. Suddenly he snatched a hatchet, +brandished it for a moment like a madman, and then flung it into the +fire, saying, as he did so, "Thus I throw down my anger! thus I cast +away the weapons of blood! Farewell, war! Now I am your friend forever!" +[10] + +[9] Onontio, Great Mountain, a translation of Montmagny's name. It was +the Iroquois name ever after for the Governor of Canada. In the same +manner, Onas, Feather or Quill, became the official name of William +Penn, and all succeeding Governors of Pennsylvania. We have seen that +the Iroquois hereditary chiefs had official names, which are the same +to-day that they were at the period of this narrative. +[10] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 22, 23. He adds, that, "if these people are +barbarous in deed, they have thoughts worthy of Greeks and Romans." + +The two prisoners were allowed to roam at will about the settlement, +withheld from escaping by an Indian point of honor. Montmagny soon after +sent them to Three Rivers, where the Iroquois taken during the last +summer had remained all winter. Champfleur, the commandant, now received +orders to clothe, equip, and send him home, with a message to his nation +that Onontio made them a present of his life, and that he had still two +prisoners in his hands, whom he would also give them, if they saw fit to +embrace this opportunity of making peace with the French and their +Indian allies. + +This was at the end of May. On the fifth of July following, the +liberated Iroquois reappeared at Three Rivers, bringing with him two men +of renown, ambassadors of the Mohawk nation. There was a fourth man of +the party, and, as they approached, the Frenchmen on the shore +recognized, to their great delight, Guillaume Couture, the young man +captured three years before with Father Jogues, and long since given up +as dead. In dress and appearance he was an Iroquois. He had gained a +great influence over his captors, and this embassy of peace was due in +good measure to his persuasions. [11] + +[11] Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre, 14 Sept., 1645. + +The chief of the Iroquois, Kiotsaton, a tall savage, covered from head +to foot with belts of wampum, stood erect in the prow of the sail-boat +which had brought him and his companions from Richelieu, and in a loud +voice announced himself as the accredited envoy of his nation. The boat +fired a swivel, the fort replied with a cannon-shot, and the envoys +landed in state. Kiotsaton and his colleague were conducted to the room +of the commandant, where, seated on the floor, they were regaled +sumptuously, and presented in due course with pipes of tobacco. They had +never before seen anything so civilized, and were delighted with their +entertainment. "We are glad to see you," said Champfleur to Kiotsaton; +"you may be sure that you are safe here. It is as if you were among your +own people, and in your own house." + +"Tell your chief that he lies," replied the honored guest, addressing +the interpreter. + +Champfleur, though he probably knew that this was but an Indian mode of +expressing dissent, showed some little surprise; when Kiotsaton, after +tranquilly smoking for a moment, proceeded:-- + +"Your chief says it is as if I were in my own country. This is not true; +for there I am not so honored and caressed. He says it is as if I were +in my own house; but in my own house I am some times very ill served, +and here you feast me with all manner of good cheer." From this and many +other replies, the French conceived that they had to do with a man of +esprit. [12] + +[12] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 24. + +He undoubtedly belonged to that class of professed orators who, though +rarely or never claiming the honors of hereditary chieftainship, had +great influence among the Iroquois, and were employed in all affairs of +embassy and negotiation. They had memories trained to an astonishing +tenacity, were perfect in all the conventional metaphors in which the +language of Indian diplomacy and rhetoric mainly consisted, knew by +heart the traditions of the nation, and were adepts in the parliamentary +usages, which, among the Iroquois, were held little less than sacred. + +The ambassadors were feasted for a week, not only by the French, but +also by the Hurons and Algonquins; and then the grand peace council took +place. Montmagny had come up from Quebec, and with him the chief men of +the colony. It was a bright midsummer day; and the sun beat hot upon the +parched area of the fort, where awnings were spread to shelter the +assembly. On one side sat Montmagny, with officers and others who +attended him. Near him was Vimont, Superior of the Mission, and other +Jesuits,--Jogues among the rest. Immediately before them sat the +Iroquois, on sheets of spruce-bark spread on the ground like mats: for +they had insisted on being near the French, as a sign of the extreme +love they had of late conceived towards them. On the opposite side of +the area were the Algonquins, in their several divisions of the +Algonquins proper, the Montagnais, and the Atticamegues, [13] sitting, +lying, or squatting on the ground. On the right hand and on the left +were Hurons mingled with Frenchmen. In the midst was a large open space +like the arena of a prize-ring; and here were planted two poles with a +line stretched from one to the other, on which, in due time, were to be +hung the wampum belts that represented the words of the orator. For the +present, these belts were in part hung about the persons of the two +ambassadors, and in part stored in a bag carried by one of them. + +[13] The Atticamegues, or tribe of the White Fish, dwelt in the forests +north of Three Rivers. They much resembled their Montagnais kindred. + +When all was ready, Kiotsaton arose, strode into the open space, and, +raising his tall figure erect, stood looking for a moment at the sun. +Then he gazed around on the assembly, took a wampum belt in his hand, +and began:-- + +"Onontio, give ear. I am the mouth of all my nation. When you listen to +me, you listen to all the Iroquois. There is no evil in my heart. My +song is a song of peace. We have many war-songs in our country; but we +have thrown them all away, and now we sing of nothing but gladness and +rejoicing." + +Hereupon he began to sing, his countrymen joining with him. He walked to +and fro, gesticulated towards the sky, and seemed to apostrophize the +sun; then, turning towards the Governor, resumed his harangue. First he +thanked him for the life of the Iroquois prisoner released in the +spring, but blamed him for sending him home without company or escort. +Then he led forth the young Frenchman, Guillaume Couture, and tied a +wampum belt to his arm. + +"With this," he said, "I give you back this prisoner. I did not say to +him, 'Nephew, take a canoe and go home to Quebec.' I should have been +without sense, had I done so. I should have been troubled in my heart, +lest some evil might befall him. The prisoner whom you sent back to us +suffered every kind of danger and hardship on the way." Here he +proceeded to represent the difficulties of the journey in pantomime, "so +natural," says Father Vimont, "that no actor in France could equal it." +He counterfeited the lonely traveller toiling up some rocky portage +track, with a load of baggage on his head, now stopping as if half +spent, and now tripping against a stone. Next he was in his canoe, +vainly trying to urge it against the swift current, looking around in +despair on the foaming rapids, then recovering courage, and paddling +desperately for his life. "What did you mean," demanded the orator, +resuming his harangue, "by sending a man alone among these dangers? I +have not done so. 'Come, nephew,' I said to the prisoner there before +you,"--pointing to Couture,--"'follow me: I will see you home at the +risk of my life.'" And to confirm his words, he hung another belt on the +line. + +The third belt was to declare that the nation of the speaker had sent +presents to the other nations to recall their war-parties, in view of +the approaching peace. The fourth was an assurance that the memory of +the slain Iroquois no longer stirred the living to vengeance. "I passed +near the place where Piskaret and the Algonquins slew our warriors in +the spring. I saw the scene of the fight where the two prisoners here +were taken. I passed quickly; I would not look on the blood of my +people. Their bodies lie there still; I turned away my eyes, that I +might not be angry." Then, stooping, he struck the ground and seemed to +listen. "I heard the voice of my ancestors, slain by the Algonquins, +crying to me in a tone of affection, 'My grandson, my grandson, restrain +your anger: think no more of us, for you cannot deliver us from death; +think of the living; rescue them from the knife and the fire.' When I +heard these voices, I went on my way, and journeyed hither to deliver +those whom you still hold in captivity." + +The fifth, sixth, and seventh belts were to open the passage by water +from the French to the Iroquois, to chase hostile canoes from the river, +smooth away the rapids and cataracts, and calm the waves of the lake. +The eighth cleared the path by land. "You would have said," writes +Vimont, "that he was cutting down trees, hacking off branches, dragging +away bushes, and filling up holes."--"Look!" exclaimed the orator, when +he had ended this pantomime, "the road is open, smooth, and straight"; +and he bent towards the earth, as if to see that no impediment remained. +"There is no thorn, or stone, or log in the way. Now you may see the +smoke of our villages from Quebec to the heart of our country." + +Another belt, of unusual size and beauty, was to bind the Iroquois, the +French, and their Indian allies together as one man. As he presented it, +the orator led forth a Frenchman and an Algonquin from among his +auditors, and, linking his arms with theirs, pressed them closely to his +sides, in token of indissoluble union. + +The next belt invited the French to feast with the Iroquois. "Our +country is full of fish, venison, moose, beaver, and game of every kind. +Leave these filthy swine that run about among your houses, feeding on +garbage, and come and eat good food with us. The road is open; there is +no danger." + +There was another belt to scatter the clouds, that the sun might shine +on the hearts of the Indians and the French, and reveal their sincerity +and truth to all; then others still, to confirm the Hurons in thoughts +of peace. By the fifteenth belt, Kiotsaton declared that the Iroquois +had always wished to send home Jogues and Bressani to their friends, and +had meant to do so; but that Jogues was stolen from them by the Dutch, +and they had given Bressani to them because he desired it. "If he had +but been patient," added the ambassador, "I would have brought him back +myself. Now I know not what has befallen him. Perhaps he is drowned. +Perhaps he is dead." Here Jogues said, with a smile, to the Jesuits near +him, "They had the pile laid to burn me. They would have killed me a +hundred times, if God had not saved my life." + +Two or three more belts were hung on the line, each with its appropriate +speech; and then the speaker closed his harangue: "I go to spend what +remains of the summer in my own country, in games and dances and +rejoicing for the blessing of peace." He had interspersed his discourse +throughout with now a song and now a dance; and the council ended in a +general dancing, in which Iroquois, Hurons, Algonquins, Montagnais, +Atticamegues, and French, all took part, after their respective +fashions. + +In spite of one or two palpable falsehoods that embellished his oratory, +the Jesuits were delighted with him. "Every one admitted," says Vimont, +"that he was eloquent and pathetic. In short, he showed himself an +excellent actor, for one who has had no instructor but Nature. I +gathered only a few fragments of his speech from the mouth of the +interpreter, who gave us but broken portions of it, and did not +translate consecutively." [14] + +[14] Vimont describes the council at length in the Relation of 1645. +Marie de l'Incarnation also describes it in a letter to her son, of +Sept. 14, 1645. She evidently gained her information from Vimont and the +other Jesuits present. + +Two days after, another council was called, when the Governor gave his +answer, accepting the proffered peace, and confirming his acceptance by +gifts of considerable value. He demanded as a condition, that the Indian +allies of the French should be left unmolested, until their principal +chiefs, who were not then present, should make a formal treaty with the +Iroquois in behalf of their several nations. Piskaret then made a +present to wipe away the remembrance of the Iroquois he had slaughtered, +and the assembly was dissolved. + +In the evening, Vimont invited the ambassadors to the mission-house, and +gave each of them a sack of tobacco and a pipe. In return, Kiotsaton +made him a speech: "When I left my country, I gave up my life; I went to +meet death, and I owe it to you that I am yet alive. I thank you that I +still see the sun; I thank you for all your words and acts of kindness; +I thank you for your gifts. You have covered me with them from head to +foot. You left nothing free but my mouth; and now you have stopped that +with a handsome pipe, and regaled it with the taste of the herb we love. +I bid you farewell,--not for a long time, for you will hear from us +soon. Even if we should be drowned on our way home, the winds and the +waves will bear witness to our countrymen of your favors; and I am sure +that some good spirit has gone before us to tell them of the good news +that we are about to bring." [15] + +[15] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 28. + +On the next day, he and his companion set forth on their return. +Kiotsaton, when he saw his party embarked, turned to the French and +Indians who lined the shore, and said with a loud voice, "Farewell, +brothers! I am one of your relations now." Then turning to the +Governor,--"Onontio, your name will be great over all the earth. When I +came hither, I never thought to carry back my head, I never thought to +come out of your doors alive; and now I return loaded with honors, +gifts, and kindness." "Brothers,"--to the Indians,--"obey Onontio and +the French. Their hearts and their thoughts are good. Be friends with +them, and do as they do. You shall hear from us soon." + +The Indians whooped and fired their guns; there was a cannon-shot from +the fort; and the sail-boat that bore the distinguished visitors moved +on its way towards the Richelieu. + +But the work was not done. There must be more councils, speeches, +wampum-belts, and gifts of all kinds,--more feasts, dances, songs, and +uproar. The Indians gathered at Three Rivers were not sufficient in +numbers or in influence to represent their several tribes; and more were +on their way. The principal men of the Hurons were to come down this +year, with Algonquins of many tribes, from the North and the Northwest; +and Kiotsaton had promised that Iroquois ambassadors, duly empowered, +should meet them at Three Rivers, and make a solemn peace with them all, +under the eye of Onontio. But what hope was there that this swarm of +fickle and wayward savages could be gathered together at one time and at +one place,--or that, being there, they could be restrained from cutting +each other's throats? Yet so it was; and in this happy event the Jesuits +saw the interposition of God, wrought upon by the prayers of those pious +souls in France who daily and nightly besieged Heaven with supplications +for the welfare of the Canadian missions. [16] + +[16] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 29. + +First came a band of Montagnais; next followed Nipissings, Atticamegues, +and Algonquins of the Ottawa, their canoes deep-laden with furs. Then, +on the tenth of September, appeared the great fleet of the Hurons, sixty +canoes, bearing a host of warriors, among whom the French recognized the +tattered black cassock of Father Jerome Lalemant. There were twenty +French soldiers, too, returning from the Huron country, whither they had +been sent the year before, to guard the Fathers and their flock. + +Three Rivers swarmed like an ant-hill with savages. The shore was lined +with canoes; the forests and the fields were alive with busy camps. The +trade was brisk; and in its attendant speeches, feasts, and dances, +there was no respite. + +But where were the Iroquois? Montmagny and the Jesuits grew very +anxious. In a few days more the concourse would begin to disperse, and +the golden moment be lost. It was a great relief when a canoe appeared +with tidings that the promised embassy was on its way; and yet more, +when, on the seventeenth, four Iroquois approached the shore, and, in a +loud voice, announced themselves as envoys of their nation. The tumult +was prodigious. Montmagny's soldiers formed a double rank, and the +savage rabble, with wild eyes and faces smeared with grease and paint, +stared over the shoulders and between the gun-barrels of the musketeers, +as the ambassadors of their deadliest foe stalked, with unmoved visages, +towards the fort. + +Now council followed council, with an insufferable prolixity of +speech-making. There were belts to wipe out the memory of the slain; +belts to clear the sky, smooth the rivers, and calm the lakes; a belt to +take the hatchet from the hands of the Iroquois; another to take away +their guns; another to take away their shields; another to wash the +war-paint from their faces; and another to break the kettle in which +they boiled their prisoners. [17] In short, there were belts past +numbering, each with its meaning, sometimes literal, sometimes +figurative, but all bearing upon the great work of peace. At length all +was ended. The dances ceased, the songs and the whoops died away, and +the great muster dispersed,--some to their smoky lodges on the distant +shores of Lake Huron, and some to frozen hunting-grounds in northern +forests. + +[17] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 34. + +There was peace in this dark and blood-stained wilderness. The lynx, the +panther, and the wolf had made a covenant of love; but who should be +their surety? A doubt and a fear mingled with the joy of the Jesuit +Fathers; and to their thanksgivings to God they joined a prayer, that +the hand which had given might still be stretched forth to preserve. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +1645, 1646. + +THE PEACE BROKEN. + +Uncertainties • The Mission of Jogues • He reaches the Mohawks • His +Reception • His Return • His Second Mission • Warnings of Danger • Rage +of the Mohawks • Murder of Jogues + +There is little doubt that the Iroquois negotiators acted, for the +moment, in sincerity. Guillaume Couture, who returned with them and +spent the winter in their towns, saw sufficient proof that they +sincerely desired peace. And yet the treaty had a double defect. First, +the wayward, capricious, and ungoverned nature of the Indian parties to +it, on both sides, made a speedy rupture more than likely. Secondly, in +spite of their own assertion to the contrary, the Iroquois envoys +represented, not the confederacy of the five nations, but only one of +these nations, the Mohawks: for each of the members of this singular +league could, and often did, make peace and war independently of the +rest. + +It was the Mohawks who had made war on the French and their Indian +allies on the lower St. Lawrence. They claimed, as against the other +Iroquois, a certain right of domain to all this region; and though the +warriors of the four upper nations had sometimes poached on the Mohawk +preserve, by murdering both French and Indians at Montreal, they +employed their energies for the most part in attacks on the Hurons, the +Upper Algonquins, and other tribes of the interior. These attacks still +continued, unaffected by the peace with the Mohawks. Imperfect, however, +as the treaty was, it was invaluable, could it but be kept inviolate; +and to this end Montmagny, the Jesuits, and all the colony, anxiously +turned their thoughts. [1] + +[1] The Mohawks were at this time more numerous, as compared with the +other four nations of the Iroquois, than they were a few years later. +They seem to have suffered more reverses in war than any of the others. +At this time they may be reckoned at six or seven hundred warriors. A +war with the Mohegans, and another with the Andastes, besides their war +with the Algonquins and the French of Canada soon after, told severely +on their strength. The following are estimates of the numbers of the +Iroquois warriors made in 1660 by the author of the Relation of that +year, and by Wentworth Greenhalgh in 1677, from personal +inspection:-- + + 1660 1677 +Mohawks 500 300 +Oneidas 100 200 +Onondagas 300 350 +Cayugas 300 300 +Senecas 1,000 1,000 + 2,200 2,150 + +It was to hold the Mohawks to their faith that Couture had bravely gone +back to winter among them; but an agent of more acknowledged weight was +needed, and Father Isaac Jogues was chosen. No white man, Couture +excepted, knew their language and their character so well. His errand +was half political, half religious; for not only was he to be the bearer +of gifts, wampum-belts, and messages from the Governor, but he was also +to found a new mission, christened in advance with a prophetic +name,--the Mission of the Martyrs. + +For two years past, Jogues had been at Montreal; and it was here that he +received the order of his Superior to proceed to the Mohawk towns. At +first, nature asserted itself, and he recoiled involuntarily at the +thought of the horrors of which his scarred body and his mutilated hands +were a living memento. [2] It was a transient weakness; and he prepared +to depart with more than willingness, giving thanks to Heaven that he +had been found worthy to suffer and to die for the saving of souls and +the greater glory of God. + +[2] Lettre du P. Isaac Jogues au R. P. Jérosme L'Allemant. Montreal, 2 +Mai, 1646. MS. + +He felt a presentiment that his death was near, and wrote to a friend, +"I shall go, and shall not return." [3] An Algonquin convert gave him +sage advice. "Say nothing about the Faith at first, for there is nothing +so repulsive, in the beginning, as our doctrine, which seems to destroy +everything that men hold dear; and as your long cassock preaches, as +well as your lips, you had better put on a short coat." Jogues, +therefore, exchanged the uniform of Loyola for a civilian's doublet and +hose; "for," observes his Superior, "one should be all things to all +men, that he may gain them all to Jesus Christ." [4] It would be well, +if the application of the maxim had always been as harmless. + +[3] "Ibo et non redibo." Lettre du P. Jogues au R. P. No date. +[4] Lalemant, Relation, 1646, 15. + +Jogues left Three Rivers about the middle of May, with the Sieur +Bourdon, engineer to the Governor, two Algonquins with gifts to confirm +the peace, and four Mohawks as guides and escort. He passed the +Richelieu and Lake Champlain, well-remembered scenes of former miseries, +and reached the foot of Lake George on the eve of Corpus Christi. Hence +he called the lake Lac St. Sacrement; and this name it preserved, until, +a century after, an ambitious Irishman, in compliment to the sovereign +from whom he sought advancement, gave it the name it bears. [5] + +[5] Mr. Shea very reasonably suggests, that a change from Lake George to +Lake Jogues would be equally easy and appropriate. + +From Lake George they crossed on foot to the Hudson, where, being +greatly fatigued by their heavy loads of gifts, they borrowed canoes at +an Iroquois fishing station, and descended to Fort Orange. Here Jogues +met the Dutch friends to whom he owed his life, and who now kindly +welcomed and entertained him. After a few days he left them, and +ascended the River Mohawk to the first Mohawk town. Crowds gathered from +the neighboring towns to gaze on the man whom they had known as a +scorned and abused slave, and who now appeared among them as the +ambassador of a power which hitherto, indeed, they had despised, but +which in their present mood they were willing to propitiate. + +There was a council in one of the lodges; and while his crowded auditory +smoked their pipes, Jogues stood in the midst, and harangued them. He +offered in due form the gifts of the Governor, with the wampum belts and +their messages of peace, while at every pause his words were echoed by a +unanimous grunt of applause from the attentive concourse. Peace speeches +were made in return; and all was harmony. When, however, the Algonquin +deputies stood before the council, they and their gifts were coldly +received. The old hate, maintained by traditions of mutual atrocity, +burned fiercely under a thin semblance of peace; and though no outbreak +took place, the prospect of the future was very ominous. + +The business of the embassy was scarcely finished, when the Mohawks +counselled Jogues and his companions to go home with all despatch, +saying, that, if they waited longer, they might meet on the way warriors +of the four upper nations, who would inevitably kill the two Algonquin +deputies, if not the French also. Jogues, therefore, set out on his +return; but not until, despite the advice of the Indian convert, he had +made the round of the houses, confessed and instructed a few Christian +prisoners still remaining here, and baptized several dying Mohawks. Then +he and his party crossed through the forest to the southern extremity of +Lake George, made bark canoes, and descended to Fort Richelieu, where +they arrived on the twenty seventh of June. [6] + +[6] Lalemant, Relation, 1646, 17. + +His political errand was accomplished. Now, should he return to the +Mohawks, or should the Mission of the Martyrs be for a time abandoned? +Lalemant, who had succeeded Vimont as Superior of the missions, held a +council at Quebec with three other Jesuits, of whom Jogues was one, and +it was determined, that, unless some new contingency should arise, he +should remain for the winter at Montreal. [7] This was in July. Soon +after, the plan was changed, for reasons which do not appear, and Jogues +received orders to repair to his dangerous post. He set out on the +twenty-fourth of August, accompanied by a young Frenchman named Lalande, +and three or four Hurons. [8] On the way they met Indians who warned +them of a change of feeling in the Mohawk towns, and the Hurons, +alarmed, refused to go farther. Jogues, naturally perhaps the most timid +man of the party, had no thought of drawing back, and pursued his +journey with his young companion, who, like other donnés of the +missions; was scarcely behind the Jesuits themselves in devoted +enthusiasm. + +[7] Journal des Supérieurs des Jésuites. MS. +[8] Ibid. + +The reported change of feeling had indeed taken place; and the occasion +of it was characteristic. On his previous visit to the Mohawks, Jogues, +meaning to return, had left in their charge a small chest or box. From +the first they were distrustful, suspecting that it contained some +secret mischief. He therefore opened it, and showed them the contents, +which were a few personal necessaries; and having thus, as he thought, +reassured them, locked the box, and left it in their keeping. The Huron +prisoners in the town attempted to make favor with their Iroquois +enemies by abusing their French friends,--declaring them to be +sorcerers, who had bewitched, by their charms and mummeries, the whole +Huron nation, and caused drought, famine, pestilence, and a host of +insupportable miseries. Thereupon, the suspicions of the Mohawks against +the box revived with double force, and they were convinced that famine, +the pest, or some malignant spirit was shut up in it, waiting the moment +to issue forth and destroy them. There was sickness in the town, and +caterpillars were eating their corn: this was ascribed to the sorceries +of the Jesuit. [9] Still they were divided in opinion. Some stood firm +for the French; others were furious against them. Among the Mohawks, +three clans or families were predominant, if indeed they did not compose +the entire nation,--the clans of the Bear, the Tortoise, and the Wolf. +[10] Though, by the nature of their constitution, it was scarcely +possible that these clans should come to blows, so intimately were they +bound together by ties of blood, yet they were often divided on points +of interest or policy; and on this occasion the Bear raged against the +French, and howled for war, while the Tortoise and the Wolf still clung +to the treaty. Among savages, with no government except the intermittent +one of councils, the party of action and violence must always prevail. +The Bear chiefs sang their war-songs, and, followed by the young men of +their own clan, and by such others as they had infected with their +frenzy, set forth, in two bands, on the war-path. + +[9] Lettre de Marie de l'Incarnation à son Fils. Québec, ... 1647. +[10] See Introduction. + +The warriors of one of these bands were making their way through the +forests between the Mohawk and Lake George, when they met Jogues and +Lalande. They seized them, stripped them, and led them in triumph to +their town. Here a savage crowd surrounded them, beating them with +sticks and with their fists. One of them cut thin strips of flesh from +the back and arms of Jogues, saying, as he did so, "Let us see if this +white flesh is the flesh of an oki."--"I am a man like yourselves," +replied Jogues; "but I do not fear death or torture. I do not know why +you would kill me. I come here to confirm the peace and show you the way +to heaven, and you treat me like a dog." [11]--"You shall die +to-morrow," cried the rabble. "Take courage, we shall not burn you. We +shall strike you both with a hatchet, and place your heads on the +palisade, that your brothers may see you when we take them prisoners." +[12] The clans of the Wolf and the Tortoise still raised their voices in +behalf of the captive Frenchmen; but the fury of the minority swept all +before it. + +[11] Lettre du P. De Quen au R. P. Lallemant; no date. MS. +[12] Lettre de J. Labatie à M. La Montagne, Fort d'Orange, 30 Oct., +1646. MS. + +In the evening,--it was the eighteenth of October,--Jogues, smarting +with his wounds and bruises, was sitting in one of the lodges, when an +Indian entered, and asked him to a feast. To refuse would have been an +offence. He arose and followed the savage, who led him to the lodge of +the Bear chief. Jogues bent his head to enter, when another Indian, +standing concealed within, at the side of the doorway, struck at him +with a hatchet. An Iroquois, called by the French Le Berger, [13] who +seems to have followed in order to defend him, bravely held out his arm +to ward off the blow; but the hatchet cut through it, and sank into the +missionary's brain. He fell at the feet of his murderer, who at once +finished the work by hacking off his head. Lalande was left in suspense +all night, and in the morning was killed in a similar manner. The bodies +of the two Frenchmen were then thrown into the Mohawk, and their heads +displayed on the points of the palisade which inclosed the town. [14] + +[13] It has been erroneously stated that this brave attempt to save +Jogues was made by the orator Kiotsaton. Le Berger was one of those who +had been made prisoners by Piskaret, and treated kindly by the French. +In 1648, he voluntarily came to Three Rivers, and gave himself up to a +party of Frenchmen. He was converted, baptized, and carried to France, +where his behavior is reported to have been very edifying, but where he +soon died. "Perhaps he had eaten his share of more than fifty men," is +the reflection of Father Ragueneau, after recounting his exemplary +conduct.--Relation, 1650, 43-48. +[14] In respect to the death of Jogues, the best authority is the letter +of Labatie, before cited. He was the French interpreter at Fort Orange, +and, being near the scene of the murder, took pains to learn the facts. +The letter was inclosed in another written to Montmagny by the Dutch +Governor, Kieft, which is also before me, together with a MS. account, +written from hearsay, by Father Buteux, and a letter of De Quen, cited +above. Compare the Relations of 1647 and 1650. + +Thus died Isaac Jogues, one of the purest examples of Roman Catholic +virtue which this Western continent has seen. The priests, his +associates, praise his humility, and tell us that it reached the point +of self-contempt,--a crowning virtue in their eyes; that he regarded +himself as nothing, and lived solely to do the will of God as uttered by +the lips of his Superiors. They add, that, when left to the guidance of +his own judgment, his self-distrust made him very slow of decision, but +that, when acting under orders, he knew neither hesitation nor fear. +With all his gentleness, he had a certain warmth or vivacity of +temperament; and we have seen how, during his first captivity, while +humbly submitting to every caprice of his tyrants and appearing to +rejoice in abasement, a derisive word against his faith would change the +lamb into the lion, and the lips that seemed so tame would speak in +sharp, bold tones of menace and reproof. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1646, 1647. + +ANOTHER WAR. + +Mohawk Inroads • The Hunters of Men • The Captive Converts • The Escape +of Marie • Her Story • The Algonquin Prisoner's Revenge • Her Flight • +Terror of the Colonists • Jesuit Intrepidity + +The peace was broken, and the hounds of war turned loose. The contagion +spread through all the Mohawk nation, the war-songs were sung, and the +warriors took the path for Canada. The miserable colonists and their +more miserable allies woke from their dream of peace to a reality of +fear and horror. Again Montreal and Three Rivers were beset with +murdering savages, skulking in thickets and prowling under cover of +night, yet, when it came to blows, displaying a courage almost equal to +the ferocity that inspired it. They plundered and burned Fort Richelieu, +which its small garrison had abandoned, thus leaving the colony without +even the semblance of protection. Before the spring opened, all the +fighting men of the Mohawks took the war-path; but it is clear that many +of them still had little heart for their bloody and perfidious work; +for, of these hardy and all-enduring warriors, two-thirds gave out on +the way, and returned, complaining that the season was too severe. [1] +Two hundred or more kept on, divided into several bands. + +[1] Lettre du P. Buteux au R. P. Lalemant. MS. + +On Ash-Wednesday, the French at Three Rivers were at mass in the chapel, +when the Iroquois, quietly approaching, plundered two houses close to +the fort, containing all the property of the neighboring inhabitants, +which had been brought hither as to a place of security. They hid their +booty, and then went in quest of two large parties of Christian +Algonquins engaged in their winter hunt. Two Indians of the same nation, +whom they captured, basely set them on the trail; and they took up the +chase like hounds on the scent of game. Wrapped in furs or +blanket-coats, some with gun in hand, some with bows and quivers, and +all with hatchets, war-clubs, knives, or swords,--striding on +snow-shoes, with bodies half bent, through the gray forests and the +frozen pine-swamps, among wet, black trunks, along dark ravines and +under savage hill-sides, their small, fierce eyes darting quick glances +that pierced the farthest recesses of the naked woods,--the hunters of +men followed the track of their human prey. At length they descried the +bark wigwams of the Algonquin camp. The warriors were absent; none were +here but women and children. The Iroquois surrounded the huts, and +captured all the shrieking inmates. Then ten of them set out to find the +traces of the absent hunters. They soon met the renowned Piskaret +returning alone. As they recognized him and knew his mettle, they +thought treachery better than an open attack. They therefore approached +him in the attitude of friends; while he, ignorant of the rupture of the +treaty, began to sing his peace-song. Scarcely had they joined him, when +one of them ran a sword through his body; and, having scalped him, they +returned in triumph to their companions. [2] All the hunters were soon +after waylaid, overpowered by numbers, and killed or taken prisoners. + +[2] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 4. Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre à son +Fils. Québec, ... 1647. Perrot's account, drawn from tradition, is +different, though not essentially so. + +Another band of the Mohawks had meanwhile pursued the other party of +Algonquins, and overtaken them on the march, as, incumbered with their +sledges and baggage, they were moving from one hunting-camp to another. +Though taken by surprise, they made fight, and killed several of their +assailants; but in a few moments their resistance was overcome, and +those who survived the fray were helpless in the clutches of the enraged +victors. Then began a massacre of the old, the disabled, and the +infants, with the usual beating, gashing, and severing of fingers to the +rest. The next day, the two bands of Mohawks, each with its troop of +captives fast bound, met at an appointed spot on the Lake of St. Peter, +and greeted each other with yells of exultation, with which mingled a +wail of anguish, as the prisoners of either party recognized their +companions in misery. They all kneeled in the midst of their savage +conquerors, and one of the men, a noted convert, after a few words of +exhortation, repeated in a loud voice a prayer, to which the rest +responded. Then they sang an Algonquin hymn, while the Iroquois, who at +first had stared in wonder, broke into laughter and derision, and at +length fell upon them with renewed fury. One was burned alive on the +spot. Another tried to escape, and they burned the soles of his feet +that he might not repeat the attempt. Many others were maimed and +mangled; and some of the women who afterwards escaped affirmed, that, in +ridicule of the converts, they crucified a small child by nailing it +with wooden spikes against a thick sheet of bark. + +The prisoners were led to the Mohawk towns; and it is needless to repeat +the monotonous and revolting tale of torture and death. The men, as +usual, were burned; but the lives of the women and children were spared, +in order to strengthen the conquerors by their adoption,--not, however, +until both, but especially the women, had been made to endure the +extremes of suffering and indignity. Several of them from time to time +escaped, and reached Canada with the story of their woes. Among these +was Marie, the wife of Jean Baptiste, one of the principal Algonquin +converts, captured and burned with the rest. Early in June, she appeared +in a canoe at Montreal, where Madame d'Ailleboust, to whom she was well +known, received her with great kindness, and led her to her room in the +fort. Here Marie was overcome with emotion. Madame d'Ailleboust spoke +Algonquin with ease; and her words of sympathy, joined to the +associations of a place where the unhappy fugitive, with her murdered +husband and child, had often found a friendly welcome, so wrought upon +her, that her voice was smothered with sobs. + +She had once before been a prisoner of the Iroquois, at the town of +Onondaga. When she and her companions in misfortune had reached the +Mohawk towns, she was recognized by several Onondagas who chanced to be +there, and who, partly by threats and partly by promises, induced her to +return with them to the scene of her former captivity, where they +assured her of good treatment. With their aid, she escaped from the +Mohawks, and set out with them for Onondaga. On their way, they passed +the great town of the Oneidas; and her conductors, fearing that certain +Mohawks who were there would lay claim to her, found a hiding-place for +her in the forest, where they gave her food, and told her to wait their +return. She lay concealed all day, and at night approached the town, +under cover of darkness. A dull red glare of flames rose above the +jagged tops of the palisade that encompassed it; and, from the +pandemonium within, an uproar of screams, yells, and bursts of laughter +told her that they were burning one of her captive countrymen. She gazed +and listened, shivering with cold and aghast with horror. The thought +possessed her that she would soon share his fate, and she resolved to +fly. The ground was still covered with snow, and her footprints would +infallibly have betrayed her, if she had not, instead of turning towards +home, followed the beaten Indian path westward. She journeyed on, +confused and irresolute, and tortured between terror and hunger. At +length she approached Onondaga, a few miles from the present city of +Syracuse, and hid herself in a dense thicket of spruce or cedar, whence +she crept forth at night, to grope in the half-melted snow for a few +ears of corn, left from the last year's harvest. She saw many Indians +from her lurking-place, and once a tall savage, with an axe on his +shoulder, advanced directly towards the spot where she lay: but, in the +extremity of her fright, she murmured a prayer, on which he turned and +changed his course. The fate that awaited her, if she remained,--for a +fugitive could not hope for mercy,--and the scarcely less terrible +dangers of the pitiless wilderness between her and Canada, filled her +with despair, for she was half dead already with hunger and cold. She +tied her girdle to the bough of a tree, and hung herself from it by the +neck. The cord broke. She repeated the attempt with the same result, and +then the thought came to her that God meant to save her life. The snow +by this time had melted in the forests, and she began her journey for +home, with a few handfuls of corn as her only provision. She directed +her course by the sun, and for food dug roots, peeled the soft inner +bark of trees, and sometimes caught tortoises in the muddy brooks. She +had the good fortune to find a hatchet in a deserted camp, and with it +made one of those wooden implements which the Indians used for kindling +fire by friction. This saved her from her worst suffering; for she had +no covering but a thin tunic, which left her legs and arms bare, and +exposed her at night to tortures of cold. She built her fire in some +deep nook of the forest, warmed herself, cooked what food she had found, +told her rosary on her fingers, and slept till daylight, when she always +threw water on the embers, lest the rising smoke should attract +attention. Once she discovered a party of Iroquois hunters; but she lay +concealed, and they passed without seeing her. She followed their trail +back, and found their bark canoe, which they had hidden near the bank of +a river. It was too large for her use; but, as she was a practised +canoe-maker, she reduced it to a convenient size, embarked in it, and +descended the stream. At length she reached the St. Lawrence, and +paddled with the current towards Montreal. On islands and rocky shores +she found eggs of water-fowl in abundance; and she speared fish with a +sharpened pole, hardened at the point with fire. She even killed deer, +by driving them into the water, chasing them in her canoe, and striking +them on the head with her hatchet. When she landed at Montreal, her +canoe had still a good store of eggs and dried venison. [3] + +[3] This story is taken from the Relation of 1647, and the letter of +Marie de l'Incarnation to her son, before cited. The woman must have +descended the great rapids of Lachine in her canoe: a feat demanding no +ordinary nerve and skill. + +Her journey from Onondaga had occupied about two months, under hardships +which no woman but a squaw could have survived. Escapes not less +remarkable of several other women are chronicled in the records of this +year; and one of them, with a notable feat of arms which attended it, +calls for a brief notice. + +Eight Algonquins, in one of those fits of desperate valor which +sometimes occur in Indians, entered at midnight a camp where thirty or +forty Iroquois warriors were buried in sleep, and with quick, sharp +blows of their tomahawks began to brain them as they lay. They killed +ten of them on the spot, and wounded many more. The rest, panic-stricken +and bewildered by the surprise and the thick darkness, fled into the +forest, leaving all they had in the hands of the victors, including a +number of Algonquin captives, of whom one had been unwittingly killed by +his countrymen in the confusion. Another captive, a woman, had escaped +on a previous night. They had stretched her on her back, with limbs +extended, and bound her wrists and ankles to four stakes firmly driven +into the earth,--their ordinary mode of securing prisoners. Then, as +usual, they all fell asleep. She presently became aware that the cord +that bound one of her wrists was somewhat loose, and, by long and +painful efforts, she freed her hand. To release the other hand and her +feet was then comparatively easy. She cautiously rose. Around her, +breathing in deep sleep, lay stretched the dark forms of the unconscious +warriors, scarcely visible in the gloom. She stepped over them to the +entrance of the hut; and here, as she was passing out, she descried a +hatchet on the ground. The temptation was too strong for her Indian +nature. She seized it, and struck again and again, with all her force, +on the skull of the Iroquois who lay at the entrance. The sound of the +blows, and the convulsive struggles of the victim, roused the sleepers. +They sprang up, groping in the dark, and demanding of each other what +was the matter. At length they lighted a roll of birch-bark, found their +prisoner gone and their comrade dead, and rushed out in a rage in search +of the fugitive. She, meanwhile, instead of running away, had hid +herself in the hollow of a tree, which she had observed the evening +before. Her pursuers ran through the dark woods, shouting and whooping +to each other; and when all had passed, she crept from her hiding-place, +and fled in an opposite direction. In the morning they found her tracks +and followed them. On the second day they had overtaken and surrounded +her, when, hearing their cries on all sides, she gave up all hope. But +near at hand, in the thickest depths of the forest, the beavers had +dammed a brook and formed a pond, full of gnawed stumps, dead fallen +trees, rank weeds, and tangled bushes. She plunged in, and, swimming and +wading, found a hiding-place, where her body was concealed by the water, +and her head by the masses of dead and living vegetation. Her pursuers +were at fault, and, after a long search, gave up the chase in despair. +Shivering, naked, and half-starved, she crawled out from her wild +asylum, and resumed her flight. By day, the briers and bushes tore her +unprotected limbs; by night, she shivered with cold, and the mosquitoes +and small black gnats of the forest persecuted her with torments which +the modern sportsman will appreciate. She subsisted on such roots, bark, +reptiles, or other small animals, as her Indian habits enabled her to +gather on her way. She crossed streams by swimming, or on rafts of +driftwood, lashed together with strips of linden-bark; and at length +reached the St. Lawrence, where, with the aid of her hatchet, she made a +canoe. Her home was on the Ottawa, and she was ignorant of the great +river, or, at least, of this part of it. She had scarcely even seen a +Frenchman, but had heard of the French as friends, and knew that their +dwellings were on the banks of the St. Lawrence. This was her only +guide; and she drifted on her way, doubtful whether the vast current +would bear her to the abodes of the living or to the land of souls. She +passed the watery wilderness of the Lake of St. Peter, and presently +descried a Huron canoe. Fearing that it was an enemy, she hid herself, +and resumed her voyage in the evening, when she soon came in sight of +the wooden buildings and palisades of Three Rivers. Several Hurons saw +her at the same moment, and made towards her; on which she leaped ashore +and hid in the bushes, whence, being entirely without clothing, she +would not come out till one of them threw her his coat. Having wrapped +herself in it, she went with them to the fort and the house of the +Jesuits, in a wretched state of emaciation, but in high spirits at the +happy issue of her voyage. [4] + +[4] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 15, 16. + +Such stories might be multiplied; but these will suffice. Nor is it +necessary to dwell further on the bloody record of inroads, butcheries, +and tortures. We have seen enough to show the nature of the scourge that +now fell without mercy on the Indians and the French of Canada. There +was no safety but in the imprisonment of palisades and ramparts. A deep +dejection sank on the white and red men alike; but the Jesuits would not +despair. + +"Do not imagine," writes the Father Superior, "that the rage of the +Iroquois, and the loss of many Christians and many catechumens, can +bring to nought the mystery of the cross of Jesus Christ, and the +efficacy of his blood. We shall die; we shall be captured, burned, +butchered: be it so. Those who die in their beds do not always die the +best death. I see none of our company cast down. On the contrary, they +ask leave to go up to the Hurons, and some of them protest that the +fires of the Iroquois are one of their motives for the journey." [5] + +[5] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1645-1651. + +PRIEST AND PURITAN. + +Miscou • Tadoussac • Journeys of De Quen • Druilletes • His Winter with +the Montagnais • Influence of the Missions • The Abenaquis • Druilletes +on the Kennebec • His Embassy to Boston • Gibbons • Dudley • Bradford • +Eliot • Endicott • French and Puritan Colonization • Failure of +Druilletes's Embassy • New Regulations • New-Year's Day at Quebec. + +Before passing to the closing scenes of this wilderness drama, we will +touch briefly on a few points aside from its main action, yet essential +to an understanding of the scope of the mission. Besides their +establishments at Quebec, Sillery, Three Rivers, and the neighborhood of +Lake Huron, the Jesuits had an outlying post at the island of Miscou, on +the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the entrance of the Bay of Chaleurs, +where they instructed the wandering savages of those shores, and +confessed the French fishermen. The island was unhealthy in the extreme. +Several of the priests sickened and died; and scarcely one convert +repaid their toils. There was a more successful mission at Tadoussac, or +Sadilege, as the neighboring Indians called it. In winter, this place +was a solitude; but in summer, when the Montagnais gathered from their +hunting-grounds to meet the French traders, Jesuits came yearly from +Quebec to instruct them in the Faith. Some times they followed them +northward, into wilds where, at this day, a white man rarely penetrates. +Thus, in 1646, De Quen ascended the Saguenay, and, by a series of +rivers, torrents, lakes, and rapids, reached a Montagnais horde called +the Nation of the Porcupine, where he found that the teachings at +Tadoussac had borne fruit, and that the converts had planted a cross on +the borders of the savage lake where they dwelt. There was a kindred +band, the Nation of the White Fish, among the rocks and forests north of +Three Rivers. They proved tractable beyond all others, threw away their +"medicines" or fetiches, burned their magic drums, renounced their +medicine-songs, and accepted instead rosaries, crucifixes, and versions +of Catholic hymns. + +In a former chapter, we followed Father Paul Le Jeune on his winter +roamings, with a band of Montagnais, among the forests on the northern +boundary of Maine. Now Father Gabriel Druilletes sets forth on a similar +excursion, but with one essential difference. Le Jeune's companions were +heathen, who persecuted him day and night with their gibes and sarcasms. +Those of Druilletes were all converts, who looked on him as a friend and +a father. There were prayers, confessions, masses, and invocations of +St. Joseph. They built their bark chapel at every camp, and no festival +of the Church passed unobserved. On Good Friday they laid their best +robe of beaver-skin on the snow, placed on it a crucifix, and knelt +around it in prayer. What was their prayer? It was a petition for the +forgiveness and the conversion of their enemies, the Iroquois. [1] Those +who know the intensity and tenacity of an Indian's hatred will see in +this something more than a change from one superstition to another. An +idea had been presented to the mind of the savage, to which he had +previously been an utter stranger. This is the most remarkable record of +success in the whole body of the Jesuit Relations; but it is very far +from being the only evidence, that, in teaching the dogmas and +observances of the Roman Church, the missionaries taught also the morals +of Christianity. When we look for the results of these missions, we soon +become aware that the influence of the French and the Jesuits extended +far beyond the circle of converts. It eventually modified and softened +the manners of many unconverted tribes. In the wars of the next century +we do not often find those examples of diabolic atrocity with which the +earlier annals are crowded. The savage burned his enemies alive, it is +true, but he rarely ate them; neither did he torment them with the same +deliberation and persistency. He was a savage still, but not so often a +devil. The improvement was not great, but it was distinct; and it seems +to have taken place wherever Indian tribes were in close relations with +any respectable community of white men. Thus Philip's war in New +England, cruel as it was, was less ferocious, judging from Canadian +experience, than it would have been, if a generation of civilized +intercourse had not worn down the sharpest asperities of barbarism. Yet +it was to French priests and colonists, mingled as they were soon to be +among the tribes of the vast interior, that the change is chiefly to be +ascribed. In this softening of manners, such as it was, and in the +obedient Catholicity of a few hundred tamed savages gathered at +stationary missions in various parts of Canada, we find, after a century +had elapsed, all the results of the heroic toil of the Jesuits. The +missions had failed, because the Indians had ceased to exist. Of the +great tribes on whom rested the hopes of the early Canadian Fathers, +nearly all were virtually extinct. The missionaries built laboriously +and well, but they were doomed to build on a failing foundation. The +Indians melted away, not because civilization destroyed them, but +because their own ferocity and intractable indolence made it impossible +that they should exist in its presence. Either the plastic energies of a +higher race or the servile pliancy of a lower one would, each in its +way, have preserved them: as it was, their extinction was a foregone +conclusion. As for the religion which the Jesuits taught them, however +Protestants may carp at it, it was the only form of Christianity likely +to take root in their crude and barbarous nature. + +[1] Vimont, Relation, 1645, 16. + +To return to Druilletes. The smoke of the wigwam blinded him; and it is +no matter of surprise to hear that he was cured by a miracle. He +returned from his winter roving to Quebec in high health, and soon set +forth on a new mission. On the River Kennebec, in the present State of +Maine, dwelt the Abenaquis, an Algonquin people, destined hereafter to +become a thorn in the sides of the New-England colonists. Some of them +had visited their friends, the Christian Indians of Sillery. Here they +became converted, went home, and preached the Faith to their countrymen, +and this to such purpose that the Abenaquis sent to Quebec to ask for a +missionary. Apart from the saving of souls, there were solid reasons for +acceding to their request. The Abenaquis were near the colonies of New +England,--indeed, the Plymouth colony, under its charter, claimed +jurisdiction over them; and in case of rupture, they would prove +serviceable friends or dangerous enemies to New France. [2] Their +messengers were favorably received; and Druilletes was ordered to +proceed upon the new mission. + +[2] Charlevoix, I. 280, gives this as a motive of the mission. + +He left Sillery, with a party of Indians, on the twenty-ninth of August, +1646, [3] and following, as it seems, the route by which, a hundred and +twenty-nine years later, the soldiers of Arnold made their way to +Quebec, he reached the waters of the Kennebec and descended to the +Abenaqui villages. Here he nursed the sick, baptized the dying, and gave +such instruction as, in his ignorance of the language, he was able. +Apparently he had been ordered to reconnoitre; for he presently +descended the river from Norridgewock to the first English trading-post, +where Augusta now stands. Thence he continued his journey to the sea, +and followed the coast in a canoe to the Penobscot, visiting seven or +eight English posts on the way, where, to his surprise, he was very well +received. At the Penobscot he found several Capuchin friars, under their +Superior, Father Ignace, who welcomed him with the utmost cordiality. +Returning, he again ascended the Kennebec to the English post at +Augusta. At a spot three miles above the Indians had gathered in +considerable numbers, and here they built him a chapel after their +fashion. He remained till midwinter, catechizing and baptizing, and +waging war so successfully against the Indian sorcerers, that +medicine-bags were thrown away, and charms and incantations were +supplanted by prayers. In January the whole troop set off on their grand +hunt, Druilletes following them,--"with toil," says the chronicler, "too +great to buy the kingdoms of this world, but very small as a price for +the Kingdom of Heaven." [4] They encamped on Moosehead Lake, where new +disputes with the "medicine-men" ensued, and the Father again remained +master of the field. When, after a prosperous hunt, the party returned +to the English trading-house, John Winslow, the agent in charge, again +received the missionary with a kindness which showed no trace of +jealousy or religious prejudice. [5] + +[3] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 51. +[4] Lalemant, Relation, 1647, 54. For an account of this mission, see +also Maurault, Histoire des Abenakis, 116-156. +[5] Winslow would scarcely have recognized his own name in the Jesuit +spelling,--"Le Sieur de Houinslaud." In his journal of 1650 Druilletes +is more successful in his orthography, and spells it Winslau. + +Early in the summer Druilletes went to Quebec; and during the two +following years, the Abenaquis, for reasons which are not clear, were +left without a missionary. He spent another winter of extreme hardship +with the Algonquins on their winter rovings, and during summer +instructed the wandering savages of Tadoussac. It was not until the +autumn of 1650 that he again descended the Kennebec. This time he went +as an envoy charged with the negotiation of a treaty. His journey is +worthy of notice, since, with the unimportant exception of Jogues's +embassy to the Mohawks, it is the first occasion on which the Canadian +Jesuits appear in a character distinctly political. Afterwards, when the +fervor and freshness of the missions had passed away, they frequently +did the work of political agents among the Indians: but the Jesuit of +the earlier period was, with rare exceptions, a missionary only; and +though he was expected to exert a powerful influence in gaining subjects +and allies for France, he was to do so by gathering them under the wings +of the Church. + +The Colony of Massachusetts had applied to the French officials at +Quebec, with a view to a reciprocity of trade. The Iroquois had brought +Canada to extremity, and the French Governor conceived the hope of +gaining the powerful support of New England by granting the desired +privileges on condition of military aid. But, as the Puritans would +scarcely see it for their interest to provoke a dangerous enemy, who had +thus far never molested them, it was resolved to urge the proposed +alliance as a point of duty. The Abenaquis had suffered from Mohawk +inroads; and the French, assuming for the occasion that they were under +the jurisdiction of the English colonies, argued that they were bound to +protect them. Druilletes went in a double character,--as an envoy of the +government at Quebec, and as an agent of his Abenaqui flock, who had +been advised to petition for English assistance. The time seemed +inauspicious for a Jesuit visit to Boston; for not only had it been +announced as foremost among the objects in colonizing New England, "to +raise a bulwark against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits +labor to rear up in all places of the world," [6] but, three years +before, the Legislature of Massachusetts had enacted, that Jesuits +entering the colony should be expelled, and, if they returned, hanged. +[7] + +[6] Considerations for the Plantation in New England.--See Hutchinson, +Collection, 27. Mr. Savage thinks that this paper was by Winthrop. See +Savage's Winthrop. I. 360, note. +[7] See the Act, in Hazard, 550. + +Nevertheless, on the first of September, Druilletes set forth from +Quebec with a Christian chief of Sillery, crossed forests, mountains, +and torrents, and reached Norridgewock, the highest Abenaqui settlement +on the Kennebec. Thence he descended to the English trading-house at +Augusta, where his fast friend, the Puritan Winslow, gave him a warm +welcome, entertained him hospitably, and promised to forward the object +of his mission. He went with him, at great personal inconvenience, to +Merrymeeting Bay, where Druilletes embarked in an English vessel for +Boston. The passage was stormy, and the wind ahead. He was forced to +land at Cape Ann, or, as he calls it, Kepane, whence, partly on foot, +partly in boats along the shore, he made his way to Boston. The +three-hilled city of the Puritans lay chill and dreary under a December +sky, as the priest crossed in a boat from the neighboring peninsula of +Charlestown. + +Winslow was agent for the merchant, Edward Gibbons, a personage of note, +whose life presents curious phases,--a reveller of Merry Mount, a bold +sailor, a member of the church, an adventurous trader, an associate of +buccaneers, a magistrate of the commonwealth, and a major-general. [8] +The Jesuit, with credentials from the Governor of Canada and letters +from Winslow, met a reception widely different from that which the law +enjoined against persons of his profession. [9] Gibbons welcomed him +heartily, prayed him to accept no other lodging than his house while he +remained in Boston, and gave him the key of a chamber, in order that he +might pray after his own fashion, without fear of disturbance. An +accurate Catholic writer thinks it likely that he brought with him the +means of celebrating the Mass. [10] If so, the house of the Puritan was, +no doubt, desecrated by that Popish abomination; but be this as it may, +Massachusetts, in the person of her magistrate, became the gracious host +of one of those whom, next to the Devil and an Anglican bishop, she most +abhorred. + +[8] An account of him will be found in Palfrey, Hist. of New England, +II. 225, note. +[9] In the Act, an exception, however, was made in favor of Jesuits +coming as ambassadors or envoys from their government, who were declared +not liable to the penalty of hanging. +[10] J. G. Shea, in Boston Pilot. + +On the next day, Gibbons took his guest to Roxbury,--called Rogsbray by +Druilletes,--to see the Governor, the harsh and narrow Dudley, grown +gray in repellent virtue and grim honesty. Some half a century before, +he had served in France, under Henry the Fourth; but he had forgotten +his French, and called for an interpreter to explain the visitor's +credentials. He received Druilletes with courtesy, and promised to call +the magistrates together on the following Tuesday to hear his proposals. +They met accordingly, and Druilletes was asked to dine with them. The +old Governor sat at the head of the table, and after dinner invited the +guest to open the business of his embassy. They listened to him, desired +him to withdraw, and, after consulting among themselves, sent for him to +join them again at supper, when they made him an answer, of which the +record is lost, but which evidently was not definitive. + +As the Abenaqui Indians were within the jurisdiction of Plymouth, [11] +Druilletes proceeded thither in his character of their agent. Here, +again, he was received with courtesy and kindness. Governor Bradford +invited him to dine, and, as it was Friday, considerately gave him a +dinner of fish. Druilletes conceived great hope that the colony could be +wrought upon to give the desired assistance; for some of the chief +inhabitants had an interest in the trade with the Abenaquis. [12] He +came back by land to Boston, stopping again at Roxbury on the way. It +was night when he arrived; and, after the usual custom, he took lodging +with the minister. Here were several young Indians, pupils of his host: +for he was no other than the celebrated Eliot, who, during the past +summer, had established his mission at Natick, [13] and was now +laboring, in the fulness of his zeal, in the work of civilization and +conversion. There was great sympathy between the two missionaries; and +Eliot prayed his guest to spend the winter with him. + +[11] For the documents on the title of Plymouth to lands on the +Kennebec, see Drake's additions to Baylies's History of New Plymouth, +36, where they are illustrated by an ancient map. The patent was +obtained as early as 1628, and a trading-house soon after established. +[12] The Record of the Colony of Plymouth, June 5, 1651, contains, +however, the entry, "The Court declare themselves not to be willing to +aid them (the French) in their design, or to grant them liberty to go +through their jurisdiction for the aforesaid purpose" (to attack the +Mohawks). +[13] See Palfrey, New England, II. 336. + +At Salem, which Druilletes also visited, in company with the minister of +Marblehead, he had an interview with the stern, but manly, Endicott, +who, he says, spoke French, and expressed both interest and good-will +towards the objects of the expedition. As the envoy had no money left, +Endicott paid his charges, and asked him to dine with the magistrates. +[14] + +[14] On Druilletes's visit to New England, see his journal, entitled +Narré du Voyage faict pour la Mission des Abenaquois, et des +Connoissances tiréz de la Nouvelle Angleterre et des Dispositions des +Magistrats de cette Republique pour le Secours contre les Iroquois. See +also Druilletes, Rapport sur le Résultat de ses Négotiations, in +Ferland, Notes sur les Registres, 95. + +Druilletes was evidently struck with the thrift and vigor of these +sturdy young colonies, and the strength of their population. He says +that Boston, meaning Massachusetts, could alone furnish four thousand +fighting men, and that the four united colonies could count forty +thousand souls. [15] These numbers may be challenged; but, at all +events, the contrast was striking with the attenuated and suffering +bands of priests, nuns, and fur-traders on the St. Lawrence. About +twenty-one thousand persons had come from Old to New England, with the +resolve of making it their home; and though this immigration had +virtually ceased, the natural increase had been great. The necessity, or +the strong desire, of escaping from persecution had given the impulse to +Puritan colonization; while, on the other hand, none but good Catholics, +the favored class of France, were tolerated in Canada. These had no +motive for exchanging the comforts of home and the smiles of Fortune for +a starving wilderness and the scalping-knives of the Iroquois. The +Huguenots would have emigrated in swarms; but they were rigidly +forbidden. The zeal of propagandism and the fur-trade were, as we have +seen, the vital forces of New France. Of her feeble population, the best +part was bound to perpetual chastity; while the fur-traders and those in +their service rarely brought their wives to the wilderness. The +fur-trader, moreover, is always the worst of colonists; since the +increase of population, by diminishing the numbers of the fur-bearing +animals, is adverse to his interest. But behind all this there was in +the religious ideal of the rival colonies an influence which alone would +have gone far to produce the contrast in material growth. + +[15] Druilletes, Reflexions touchant ce qu'on peut esperer de la +Nouvelle Angleterre contre l'Irocquois (sic), appended to his journal. + +To the mind of the Puritan, heaven was God's throne; but no less was the +earth His footstool: and each in its degree and its kind had its demands +on man. He held it a duty to labor and to multiply; and, building on the +Old Testament quite as much as on the New, thought that a reward on +earth as well as in heaven awaited those who were faithful to the law. +Doubtless, such a belief is widely open to abuse, and it would be folly +to pretend that it escaped abuse in New England; but there was in it an +element manly, healthful, and invigorating. On the other hand, those who +shaped the character, and in great measure the destiny, of New France +had always on their lips the nothingness and the vanity of life. For +them, time was nothing but a preparation for eternity, and the highest +virtue consisted in a renunciation of all the cares, toils, and +interests of earth. That such a doctrine has often been joined to an +intense worldliness, all history proclaims; but with this we have at +present nothing to do. If all mankind acted on it in good faith, the +world would sink into decrepitude. It is the monastic idea carried into +the wide field of active life, and is like the error of those who, in +their zeal to cultivate their higher nature, suffer the neglected body +to dwindle and pine, till body and mind alike lapse into feebleness and +disease. + +Druilletes returned to the Abenaquis, and thence to Quebec, full of hope +that the object of his mission was in a fair way of accomplishment. The +Governor, d'Ailleboust, [16] who had succeeded Montmagny, called his +council, and Druilletes was again dispatched to New England, together +with one of the principal inhabitants of Quebec, Jean Paul Godefroy. +[17] They repaired to New Haven, and appeared before the Commissioners +of the Four Colonies, then in session there; but their errand proved +bootless. The Commissioners refused either to declare war or to permit +volunteers to be raised in New England against the Iroquois. The +Puritan, like his descendant, would not fight without a reason. The bait +of free-trade with Canada failed to tempt him; and the envoys retraced +their steps, with a flat, though courteous refusal. [18] + +[16] The same who, with his wife, had joined the colonists of Montreal. +See ante, (page 264). +[17] He was one of the Governor's council.--Ferland, Notes sur les +Registres, 67. +[18] On Druilletes's second embassy, see Lettre écrite par le Conseil de +Quebec aux Commissionaires de la Nouvelle Angleterre, in Charlevoix, I. +287; Extrait des Registres de l'Ancien Conseil de Quebec, Ibid., I. 288; +Copy of a Letter from the Commissioners of the United Colonies to the +Governor of Canada, in Hazard, II. 183; Answare to the Propositions +presented by the honered French Agents, Ibid., II. 184; and Hutchinson, +Collection of Papers, 166. Also, Records of the Commissioners of the +United Colonies, Sept. 5, 1651; and Commission of Druilletes and +Godefroy, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 6. + +Now let us stop for a moment at Quebec, and observe some notable changes +that had taken place in the affairs of the colony. The Company of the +Hundred Associates, whose outlay had been great and their profit small, +transferred to the inhabitants of the colony their monopoly of the +fur-trade, and with it their debts. The inhabitants also assumed their +obligations to furnish arms, munitions, soldiers, and works of defence, +to pay the Governor and other officials, introduce emigrants, and +contribute to support the missions. The Company was to receive, besides, +an annual acknowledgement of a thousand pounds of beaver, and was to +retain all seigniorial rights. The inhabitants were to form a +corporation, of which any one of them might be a member; and no +individual could trade on his own account, except on condition of +selling at a fixed price to the magazine of this new company. [19] + +[19] Articles accordés entre les Directeurs et Associés de la Compagnie +de la Nelle France et les Députés des Habitans du dit Pays, 6 Mars, +1645. MS. + +This change took place in 1645. It was followed, in 1647, by the +establishment of a Council, composed of the Governor-General, the +Superior of the Jesuits, and the Governor of Montreal, who were invested +with absolute powers, legislative, judicial, and executive. The +Governor-General had an appointment of twenty-five thousand livres, +besides the privilege of bringing over seventy tons of freight, yearly, +in the Company's ships. Out of this he was required to pay the soldiers, +repair the forts, and supply arms and munitions. Ten thousand livres and +thirty tons of freight, with similar conditions, were assigned to the +Governor of Montreal. Under these circumstances, one cannot wonder that +the colony was but indifferently defended against the Iroquois, and that +the King had to send soldiers to save it from destruction. In the next +year, at the instance of Maisonneuve, another change was made. A +specified sum was set apart for purposes of defence, and the salaries of +the Governors were proportionably reduced. The Governor-General, +Montmagny, though he seems to have done better than could reasonably +have been expected, was removed; and, as Maisonneuve declined the +office, d'Ailleboust, another Montrealist, was appointed to it. This +movement, indeed, had been accomplished by the interest of the Montreal +party; for already there was no slight jealousy between Quebec and her +rival. + +The Council was reorganized, and now consisted of the Governor, the +Superior of the Jesuits, and three of the principal inhabitants. [20] +These last were to be chosen every three years by the Council itself, in +conjunction with the Syndics of Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers. The +Syndic was an officer elected by the inhabitants of the community to +which he belonged, to manage its affairs. Hence a slight ingredient of +liberty was introduced into the new organization. + +[20] The Governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, when present, had also +seats in the Council. + +The colony, since the transfer of the fur-trade, had become a resident +corporation of merchants, with the Governor and Council at its head. +They were at once the directors of a trading company, a legislative +assembly, a court of justice, and an executive body: more even than +this, for they regulated the private affairs of families and +individuals. The appointment and payment of clerks and the examining of +accounts mingled with high functions of government; and the new +corporation of the inhabitants seems to have been managed with very +little consultation of its members. How the Father Superior acquitted +himself in his capacity of director of a fur-company is nowhere +recorded. [21] + +[21] Those curious in regard to these new regulations will find an +account of them, at greater length, in Ferland and Faillon. + +As for Montreal, though it had given a Governor to the colony, its +prospects were far from hopeful. The ridiculous Dauversière, its chief +founder, was sick and bankrupt; and the Associates of Montreal, once so +full of zeal and so abounding in wealth, were reduced to nine persons. +What it had left of vitality was in the enthusiastic Mademoiselle Mance, +the earnest and disinterested soldier, Maisonneuve, and the priest, +Olier, with his new Seminary of St. Sulpice. + +Let us visit Quebec in midwinter. We pass the warehouses and dwellings +of the lower town, and as we climb the zigzag way now called Mountain +Street, the frozen river, the roofs, the summits of the cliff, and all +the broad landscape below and around us glare in the sharp sunlight with +a dazzling whiteness. At the top, scarcely a private house is to be +seen; but, instead, a fort, a church, a hospital, a cemetery, a house of +the Jesuits, and an Ursuline convent. Yet, regardless of the keen air, +soldiers, Jesuits, servants, officials, women, all of the little +community who are not cloistered, are abroad and astir. Despite the +gloom of the times, an unwonted cheer enlivens this rocky perch of +France and the Faith; for it is New-Year's Day, and there is an active +interchange of greetings and presents. Thanks to the nimble pen of the +Father Superior, we know what each gave and what each received. He thus +writes in his private journal:-- + +"The soldiers went with their guns to salute Monsieur the Governor; and +so did also the inhabitants in a body. He was beforehand with us, and +came here at seven o'clock to wish us a happy New-Year, each in turn, +one after another. I went to see him after mass. Another time we must be +beforehand with him. M. Giffard also came to see us. The Hospital nuns +sent us letters of compliment very early in the morning; and the +Ursulines sent us some beautiful presents, with candles, rosaries, a +crucifix, etc., and, at dinner-time, two excellent pies. I sent them two +images, in enamel, of St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. We gave to M. +Giffard Father Bonnet's book on the life of Our Lord; to M. des +Châtelets, a little volume on Eternity; to M. Bourdon, a telescope and +compass; and to others, reliquaries, rosaries, medals, images, etc. I +went to see M. Giffard, M. Couillard, and Mademoiselle de Repentigny. +The Ursulines sent to beg that I would come and see them before the end +of the day. I went, and paid my compliments also to Madame de la +Peltrie, who sent us some presents. I was near leaving this out, which +would have been a sad oversight. We gave a crucifix to the woman who +washes the church-linen, a bottle of eau-de-vie to Abraham, four +handkerchiefs to his wife, some books of devotion to others, and two +handkerchiefs to Robert Hache. He asked for two more, and we gave them +to him." [22] + +[22] Journal des Supérieurs des Jésuites, MS. Only fragments of this +curious record are extant. It was begun by Lalemant in 1645. For the +privilege of having what remains of it copied I am indebted to M. +Jacques Viger. The entry translated above is of Jan. 1, 1646. Of the +persons named in it, Giffard was seigneur of Beauport, and a member of +the Council; Des Châtelets was one of the earliest settlers, and +connected by marriage with Giffard; Couillard was son-in-law of the +first settler, Hébert; Mademoiselle de Repentigny was daughter of Le +Gardeur de Repentigny, commander of the fleet; Madame de la Peltrie has +been described already; Bourdon was chief engineer of the colony; +Abraham was Abraham Martin, pilot for the King on the St. Lawrence, from +whom the historic Plains of Abraham received their name. (See Ferland, +Notes sur Registres, 16.) The rest were servants, or persons of humble +station. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1645-1648. + +A DOOMED NATION. + +Indian Infatuation • Iroquois and Huron • Huron Triumphs • The Captive +Iroquois • His Ferocity and Fortitude • Partisan Exploits • Diplomacy • +The Andastes • The Huron Embassy • New Negotiations • The Iroquois +Ambassador • His Suicide • Iroquois Honor + +It was a strange and miserable spectacle to behold the savages of this +continent at the time when the knell of their common ruin had already +sounded. Civilization had gained a foothold on their borders. The long +and gloomy reign of barbarism was drawing near its close, and their +united efforts could scarcely have availed to sustain it. Yet, in this +crisis of their destiny, these doomed tribes were tearing each other's +throats in a wolfish fury, joined to an intelligence that served little +purpose but mutual destruction. + +How the quarrel began between the Iroquois and their Huron kindred no +man can tell, and it is not worth while to conjecture. At this time, the +ruling passion of the savage Confederates was the annihilation of this +rival people and of their Algonquin allies,--if the understanding +between the Hurons and these incoherent hordes can be called an +alliance. United, they far outnumbered the Iroquois. Indeed, the Hurons +alone were not much inferior in force; for, by the largest estimates, +the strength of the five Iroquois nations must now have been +considerably less than three thousand warriors. Their true superiority +was a moral one. They were in one of those transports of pride, +self-confidence, and rage for ascendency, which, in a savage people, +marks an era of conquest. With all the defects of their organization, it +was far better than that of their neighbors. There were bickerings, +jealousies, plottings and counter-plottings, separate wars and separate +treaties, among the five members of the league; yet nothing could sunder +them. The bonds that united them were like cords of India-rubber: they +would stretch, and the parts would be seemingly disjoined, only to +return to their old union with the recoil. Such was the elastic strength +of those relations of clanship which were the life of the league. [1] + +[1] See ante, Introduction. + +The first meeting of white men with the Hurons found them at blows with +the Iroquois; and from that time forward, the war raged with increasing +fury. Small scalping-parties infested the Huron forests, killing squaws +in the cornfields, or entering villages at midnight to tomahawk their +sleeping inhabitants. Often, too, invasions were made in force. +Sometimes towns were set upon and burned, and sometimes there were +deadly conflicts in the depths of the forests and the passes of the +hills. The invaders were not always successful. A bloody rebuff and a +sharp retaliation now and then requited them. Thus, in 1638, a war-party +of a hundred Iroquois met in the forest a band of three hundred Huron +and Algonquin warriors. They might have retreated, and the greater +number were for doing so; but Ononkwaya, an Oneida chief, refused. +"Look!" he said, "the sky is clear; the Sun beholds us. If there were +clouds to hide our shame from his sight, we might fly; but, as it is, we +must fight while we can." They stood their ground for a time, but were +soon overborne. Four or five escaped; but the rest were surrounded, and +killed or taken. This year, Fortune smiled on the Hurons; and they took, +in all, more than a hundred prisoners, who were distributed among their +various towns, to be burned. These scenes, with them, occurred always in +the night; and it was held to be of the last importance that the torture +should be protracted from sunset till dawn. The too valiant Ononkwaya +was among the victims. Even in death he took his revenge; for it was +thought an augury of disaster to the victors, if no cry of pain could be +extorted from the sufferer, and, on the present occasion, he displayed +an unflinching courage, rare even among Indian warriors. His execution +took place at the town of Teanaustayé, called St. Joseph by the Jesuits. +The Fathers could not save his life, but, what was more to the purpose, +they baptized him. On the scaffold where he was burned, he wrought +himself into a fury which seemed to render him insensible to pain. +Thinking him nearly spent, his tormentors scalped him, when, to their +amazement, he leaped up, snatched the brands that had been the +instruments of his torture, drove the screeching crowd from the +scaffold, and held them all at bay, while they pelted him from below +with sticks, stones, and showers of live coals. At length he made a +false step and fell to the ground, when they seized him and threw him +into the fire. He instantly leaped out, covered with blood, cinders, and +ashes, and rushed upon them, with a blazing brand in each hand. The +crowd gave way before him, and he ran towards the town, as if to set it +on fire. They threw a pole across his way, which tripped him and flung +him headlong to the earth, on which they all fell upon him, cut off his +hands and feet, and again threw him into the fire. He rolled himself +out, and crawled forward on his elbows and knees, glaring upon them with +such unutterable ferocity that they recoiled once more, till, seeing +that he was helpless, they threw themselves upon him, and cut off his +head. [2] + +[2] Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 68. It was this chief whose +severed hand was thrown to the Jesuits. See ante, (page 137). + +When the Iroquois could not win by force, they were sometimes more +successful with treachery. In the summer of 1645, two war-parties of the +hostile nations met in the forest. The Hurons bore themselves so well +that they had nearly gained the day, when the Iroquois called for a +parley, displayed a great number of wampum-belts, and said that they +wished to treat for peace. The Hurons had the folly to consent. The +chiefs on both sides sat down to a council, during which the Iroquois, +seizing a favorable moment, fell upon their dupes and routed them +completely, killing and capturing a considerable number. [3] + +[3] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 55. + +The large frontier town of St. Joseph was well fortified with palisades, +on which, at intervals, were wooden watch-towers. On an evening of this +same summer of 1645, the Iroquois approached the place in force; and the +young Huron warriors, mounting their palisades, sang their war-songs all +night, with the utmost power of their lungs, in order that the enemy, +knowing them to be on their guard, might be deterred from an attack. The +night was dark, and the hideous dissonance resounded far and wide; yet, +regardless of the din, two Iroquois crept close to the palisade, where +they lay motionless till near dawn. By this time the last song had died +away, and the tired singers had left their posts or fallen asleep. One +of the Iroquois, with the silence and agility of a wild-cat, climbed to +the top of a watch-tower, where he found two slumbering Hurons, brained +one of them with his hatchet, and threw the other down to his comrade, +who quickly despoiled him of his life and his scalp. Then, with the +reeking trophies of their exploit, the adventurers rejoined their +countrymen in the forest. + +The Hurons planned a counter-stroke; and three of them, after a journey +of twenty days, reached the great town of the Senecas. They entered it +at midnight, and found, as usual, no guard; but the doors of the houses +were made fast. They cut a hole in the bark side of one of them, crept +in, stirred the fading embers to give them light, chose each his man, +tomahawked him, scalped him, and escaped in the confusion. [4] + +[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 55, 56. + +Despite such petty triumphs, the Hurons felt themselves on the verge of +ruin. Pestilence and war had wasted them away, and left but a skeleton +of their former strength. In their distress, they cast about them for +succor, and, remembering an ancient friendship with a kindred nation, +the Andastes, they sent an embassy to ask of them aid in war or +intervention to obtain peace. This powerful people dwelt, as has been +shown, on the River Susquehanna. [5] The way was long, even in a direct +line; but the Iroquois lay between, and a wide circuit was necessary to +avoid them. A Christian chief, whom the Jesuits had named Charles, +together with four Christian and four heathen Hurons, bearing +wampum-belts and gifts from the council, departed on this embassy on the +thirteenth of April, 1647, and reached the great town of the Andastes +early in June. It contained, as the Jesuits were told, no less than +thirteen hundred warriors. The council assembled, and the chief +ambassador addressed them:-- + +"We come from the Land of Souls, where all is gloom, dismay, and +desolation. Our fields are covered with blood; our houses are filled +only with the dead; and we ourselves have but life enough to beg our +friends to take pity on a people who are drawing near their end." [6] +Then he presented the wampum-belts and other gifts, saying that they +were the voice of a dying country. + +[5] See Introduction. The Susquehannocks of Smith, clearly the same +people, are placed, in his map, on the east side of the Susquehanna, +some twenty miles from its mouth. He speaks of them as great enemies of +the Massawomekes (Mohawks). No other savage people so boldly resisted +the Iroquois; but the story in Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania, that a +hundred of them beat off sixteen hundred Senecas, is disproved by the +fact, that the Senecas, in their best estate, never had so many +warriors. The miserable remnant of the Andastes, called Conestogas, were +massacred by the Paxton Boys, in 1763. See "Conspiracy of Pontiac," 414. +Compare Historical Magazine, II. 294. +[6] "Il leur dit qu'il venoit du pays des Ames, où la guerre et la +terreur des ennemis auoit tout desolé, où les campagnes n'estoient +couuertes que de sang, où les cabanes n'estoient remplies que de +cadaures, et qu'il ne leur restoit à eux-mesmes de vie, sinon autant +qu'ils en auoient eu besoin pour venir dire à leurs amis, qu'ils eussent +pitié d'vn pays qui tiroit à sa fin."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, +1648, 58. + +The Andastes, who had a mortal quarrel with the Mohawks, and who had +before promised to aid the Hurons in case of need, returned a favorable +answer, but were disposed to try the virtue of diplomacy rather than the +tomahawk. After a series of councils, they determined to send +ambassadors, not to their old enemies, the Mohawks, but to the +Onondagas, Oneidas, and Cayugas, [7] who were geographically the central +nations of the Iroquois league, while the Mohawks and the Senecas were +respectively at its eastern and western extremities. By inducing the +three central nations, and, if possible, the Senecas also, to conclude a +treaty with the Hurons, these last would be enabled to concentrate their +force against the Mohawks, whom the Andastes would attack at the same +time, unless they humbled themselves and made peace. This scheme, it +will be seen, was based on the assumption, that the dreaded league of +the Iroquois was far from being a unit in action or counsel. + +[7] Examination leaves no doubt that the Ouiouenronnons of Ragueneau +(Relation des Hurons, 1648, 46, 59) were the Oiogouins or Goyogouins, +that is to say, the Cayugas. They must not be confounded with the +Ouenrohronnons, a small tribe hostile to the Iroquois, who took refuge +among the Hurons in 1638. + +Charles, with some of his colleagues, now set out for home, to report +the result of their mission; but the Senecas were lying in wait for +them, and they were forced to make a wide sweep through the Alleghanies, +Western Pennsylvania, and apparently Ohio, to avoid these vigilant foes. +It was October before they reached the Huron towns, and meanwhile hopes +of peace had arisen from another quarter. [8] + +[8] On this mission of the Hurons to the Andastes, see Ragueneau, +Relation des Hurons, 1648, 58-60. + +Early in the spring, a band of Onondagas had made an inroad, but were +roughly handled by the Hurons, who killed several of them, captured +others, and put the rest to flight. The prisoners were burned, with the +exception of one who committed suicide to escape the torture, and one +other, the chief man of the party, whose name was Annenrais. Some of the +Hurons were dissatisfied at the mercy shown him, and gave out that they +would kill him; on which the chiefs, who never placed themselves in open +opposition to the popular will, secretly fitted him out, made him +presents, and aided him to escape at night, with an understanding that +he should use his influence at Onondaga in favor of peace. After +crossing Lake Ontario, he met nearly all the Onondaga warriors on the +march to avenge his supposed death; for he was a man of high account. +They greeted him as one risen from the grave; and, on his part, he +persuaded them to renounce their warlike purpose and return home. On +their arrival, the chiefs and old men were called to council, and the +matter was debated with the usual deliberation. + +About this time the ambassador of the Andastes appeared with his +wampum-belts. Both this nation and the Onondagas had secret motives +which were perfectly in accordance. The Andastes hated the Mohawks as +enemies, and the Onondagas were jealous of them as confederates; for, +since they had armed themselves with Dutch guns, their arrogance and +boastings had given umbrage to their brethren of the league; and a peace +with the Hurons would leave the latter free to turn their undivided +strength against the Mohawks, and curb their insolence. The Oneidas and +the Cayugas were of one mind with the Onondagas. Three nations of the +league, to satisfy their spite against a fourth, would strike hands with +the common enemy of all. It was resolved to send an embassy to the +Hurons. Yet it may be, that, after all, the Onondagas had but half a +mind for peace. At least, they were unfortunate in their choice of an +ambassador. He was by birth a Huron, who, having been captured when a +boy, adopted and naturalized, had become more an Iroquois than the +Iroquois themselves; and scarcely one of the fierce confederates had +shed so much Huron blood. When he reached the town of St. Ignace, which +he did about mid-summer, and delivered his messages and wampum-belts, +there was a great division of opinion among the Hurons. The Bear +Nation--the member of their confederacy which was farthest from the +Iroquois, and least exposed to danger--was for rejecting overtures made +by so offensive an agency; but those of the Hurons who had suffered most +were eager for peace at any price, and, after solemn deliberation, it +was resolved to send an embassy in return. At its head was placed a +Christian chief named Jean Baptiste Atironta; and on the first of August +he and four others departed for Onondaga, carrying a profusion of +presents, and accompanied by the apostate envoy of the Iroquois. As the +ambassadors had to hunt on the way for subsistence, besides making +canoes to cross Lake Ontario, it was twenty days before they reached +their destination. When they arrived, there was great jubilation, and, +for a full month, nothing but councils. Having thus sifted the matter to +the bottom, the Onondagas determined at last to send another embassy +with Jean Baptiste on his return, and with them fifteen Huron prisoners, +as an earnest of their good intentions, retaining, on their part, one of +Baptiste's colleagues as a hostage. This time they chose for their envoy +a chief of their own nation, named Scandawati, a man of renown, sixty +years of age, joining with him two colleagues. The old Onondaga entered +on his mission with a troubled mind. His anxiety was not so much for his +life as for his honor and dignity; for, while the Oneidas and the +Cayugas were acting in concurrence with the Onondagas, the Senecas had +refused any part in the embassy, and still breathed nothing but war. +Would they, or still more the Mohawks, so far forget the consideration +due to one whose name had been great in the councils of the League as to +assault the Hurons while he was among them in the character of an +ambassador of his nation, whereby his honor would be compromised and his +life endangered? His mind brooded on this idea, and he told one of his +colleagues, that, if such a slight were put upon him, he should die of +mortification. "I am not a dead dog," he said, "to be despised and +forgotten. I am worthy that all men should turn their eyes on me while I +am among enemies, and do nothing that may involve me in danger." + +What with hunting, fishing, canoe-making, and bad weather, the progress +of the august travellers was so slow, that they did not reach the Huron +towns till the twenty-third of October. Scandawati presented seven large +belts of wampum, each composed of three or four thousand beads, which +the Jesuits call the pearls and diamonds of the country. He delivered, +too, the fifteen captives, and promised a hundred more on the final +conclusion of peace. The three Onondagas remained, as surety for the +good faith of those who sent them, until the beginning of January, when +the Hurons on their part sent six ambassadors to conclude the treaty, +one of the Onondagas accompanying them. Soon there came dire tidings. +The prophetic heart of the old chief had not deceived him. The Senecas +and Mohawks, disregarding negotiations in which they had no part, and +resolved to bring them to an end, were invading the country in force. It +might be thought that the Hurons would take their revenge on the +Onondaga envoys, now hostages among them; but they did not do so, for +the character of an ambassador was, for the most part, held in respect. +One morning, however, Scandawati had disappeared. They were full of +excitement; for they thought that he had escaped to the enemy. They +ranged the woods in search of him, and at length found him in a thicket +near the town. He lay dead, on a bed of spruce-boughs which he had made, +his throat deeply gashed with a knife. He had died by his own hand, a +victim of mortified pride. "See," writes Father Ragueneau, "how much our +Indians stand on the point of honor!" [9] + +[9] This remarkable story is told by Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, +1648, 56-58. He was present at the time, and knew all the circumstances. + +We have seen that one of his two colleagues had set out for Onondaga +with a deputation of six Hurons. This party was met by a hundred +Mohawks, who captured them all and killed the six Hurons, but spared the +Onondaga, and compelled him to join them. Soon after, they made a sudden +onset on about three hundred Hurons journeying through the forest from +the town of St. Ignace; and, as many of them were women, they routed the +whole, and took forty prisoners. The Onondaga bore part in the fray, and +captured a Christian Huron girl; but the next day he insisted on +returning to the Huron town. "Kill me, if you will," he said to the +Mohawks, "but I cannot follow you; for then I should be ashamed to +appear among my countrymen, who sent me on a message of peace to the +Hurons; and I must die with them, sooner than seem to act as their +enemy." On this, the Mohawks not only permitted him to go, but gave him +the Huron girl whom he had taken; and the Onondaga led her back in +safety to her countrymen. [10] Here, then, is a ray of light out of +Egyptian darkness. The principle of honor was not extinct in these wild +hearts. + +[10] "Celuy qui l'auoit prise estoit Onnontaeronnon, qui estant icy en +os tage à cause de la paix qui se traite auec les Onnontaeronnons, et +s'estant trouué auec nos Hurons à cette chasse, y fut pris tout des +premiers par les Sonnontoueronnons (Annieronnons?), qui l'ayans reconnu +ne luy firent aucun mal, et mesme l'obligerent de les suiure et prendre +part à leur victoire; et ainsi en ce rencontre cét Onnontaeronnon auoit +fait sa prise, tellement neantmoins qu'il desira s'en retourner le +lendemain, disant aux Sonnontoueronnons qu'ils le tuassent s'ils +vouloient, mais qu'il ne pouuoit se resoudre à les suiure, et qu'il +auroit honte de reparoistre en son pays, les affaires qui l'auoient +amené aux Hurons pour la paix ne permettant pas qu'il fist autre chose +que de mourir avec eux plus tost que de paroistre s'estre comporté en +ennemy. Ainsi les Sonnontoueronnons luy permirent de s'en retourner et +de ramener cette bonne Chrestienne, qui estoit sa captiue, laquelle nous +a consolé par le recit des entretiens de ces pauures gens dans leur +affliction."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 65. + +Apparently the word Sonnontoueronnons (Senecas), in the above, should +read Annieronnons (Mohawks); for, on pp. 50, 57, the writer twice speaks +of the party as Mohawks. + +We hear no more of the negotiations between the Onondagas and the +Hurons. They and their results were swept away in the storm of events +soon to be related. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1645-1648. + +THE HURON CHURCH. + +Hopes of the Mission • Christian and Heathen • Body and Soul • Position +of Proselytes • The Huron Girl's Visit to Heaven • A Crisis • Huron +Justice • Murder and Atonement • Hopes and Fears + +How did it fare with the missions in these days of woe and terror? They +had thriven beyond hope. The Hurons, in their time of trouble, had +become tractable. They humbled themselves, and, in their desolation and +despair, came for succor to the priests. There was a harvest of +converts, not only exceeding in numbers that of all former years, but +giving in many cases undeniable proofs of sincerity and fervor. In some +towns the Christians outnumbered the heathen, and in nearly all they +formed a strong party. The mission of La Conception, or Ossossané, was +the most successful. Here there were now a church and one or more +resident Jesuits,--as also at St. Joseph, St. Ignace, St. Michel, and +St. Jean Baptiste: [1] for we have seen that the Huron towns were +christened with names of saints. Each church had its bell, which was +sometimes hung in a neighboring tree. [2] Every morning it rang its +summons to mass; and, issuing from their dwellings of bark, the converts +gathered within the sacred precinct, where the bare, rude walls, fresh +from the axe and saw, contrasted with the sheen of tinsel and gilding, +and the hues of gay draperies and gaudy pictures. At evening they met +again at prayers; and on Sunday, masses, confession, catechism, sermons, +and repeating the rosary consumed the whole day. [3] + +[1] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 56. +[2] A fragment of one of these bells, found on the site of a Huron town, +is preserved in the museum of Huron relics at the Laval University, +Quebec. The bell was not large, but was of very elaborate workmanship. +Before 1644 the Jesuits had used old copper kettles as a +substitute.--Lettre de Lalemant, 31 March, 1644. +[3] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 56. + +These converts rarely took part in the burning of prisoners. On the +contrary, they sometimes set their faces against the practice; and on +one occasion, a certain Étienne Totiri, while his heathen countrymen +were tormenting a captive Iroquois at St. Ignace, boldly denounced them, +and promised them an eternity of flames and demons, unless they +desisted. Not content with this, he addressed an exhortation to the +sufferer in one of the intervals of his torture. The dying wretch +demanded baptism, which Étienne took it upon himself to administer, amid +the hootings of the crowd, who, as he ran with a cup of water from a +neighboring house, pushed him to and fro to make him spill it, crying +out, "Let him alone! Let the devils burn him after we have done!" [4] + +[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 58. The Hurons often resisted +the baptism of their prisoners, on the ground that Hell, and not Heaven, +was the place to which they would have them go.--See Lalemant, Relation +des Hurons, 1642, 60, Ragueneau, Ibid., 1648, 53, and several other +passages. + +In regard to these atrocious scenes, which formed the favorite Huron +recreation of a summer night, the Jesuits, it must be confessed, did not +quite come up to the requirements of modern sensibility. They were +offended at them, it is true, and prevented them when they could; but +they were wholly given to the saving of souls, and held the body in +scorn, as the vile source of incalculable mischief, worthy the worst +inflictions that could be put upon it. What were a few hours of +suffering to an eternity of bliss or woe? If the victim were heathen, +these brief pangs were but the faint prelude of an undying flame; and if +a Christian, they were the fiery portal of Heaven. They might, indeed, +be a blessing; since, accepted in atonement for sin, they would shorten +the torments of Purgatory. Yet, while schooling themselves to despise +the body, and all the pain or pleasure that pertained to it, the Fathers +were emphatic on one point. It must not be eaten. In the matter of +cannibalism, they were loud and vehement in invective. [5] + +[5] The following curious case of conversion at the stake, gravely +related by Lalemant, is worth preserving. + +"An Iroquois was to be burned at a town some way off. What consolation +to set forth, in the hottest summer weather, to deliver this poor victim +from the hell prepared for him! The Father approaches him, and instructs +him even in the midst of his torments. Forthwith the Faith finds a place +in his heart. He recognizes and adores, as the author of his life, Him +whose name he had never heard till the hour of his death. He receives +the grace of baptism, and breathes nothing but heaven.... This newly +made, but generous Christian, mounted on the scaffold which is the place +of his torture, in the sight of a thousand spectators, who are at once +his enemies, his judges, and his executioners, raises his eyes and his +voice heavenward, and cries aloud, 'Sun, who art witness of my torments, +hear my words! I am about to die; but, after my death, I shall go to +dwell in heaven.'"--Relation des Hurons, 1641, 67. + +The Sun, it will be remembered, was the god of the heathen Iroquois. The +convert appealed to his old deity to rejoice with him in his happy +future. + +Undeniably, the Faith was making progress; yet it is not to be supposed +that its path was a smooth one. The old opposition and the old calumnies +were still alive and active. "It is la prière that kills us. Your books +and your strings of beads have bewitched the country. Before you came, +we were happy and prosperous. You are magicians. Your charms kill our +corn, and bring sickness and the Iroquois. Echon (Brébeuf) is a traitor +among us, in league with our enemies." Such discourse was still rife, +openly and secretly. + +The Huron who embraced the Faith renounced thenceforth, as we have seen, +the feasts, dances, and games in which was his delight, since all these +savored of diabolism. And if, being in health, he could not enjoy +himself, so also, being sick, he could not be cured; for his physician +was a sorcerer, whose medicines were charms and incantations. If the +convert was a chief, his case was far worse; since, writes Father +Lalemant, "to be a chief and a Christian is to combine water and fire; +for the business of the chiefs is mainly to do the Devil's bidding, +preside over ceremonies of hell, and excite the young Indians to dances, +feasts, and shameless indecencies." [6] + +[6] Relation des Hurons, 1642, 89. The indecencies alluded to were +chiefly naked dances, of a superstitious character, and the mystical +cure called Andacwandet, before mentioned. + +It is not surprising, then, that proselytes were difficult to make, or +that, being made, they often relapsed. The Jesuits complain that they +had no means of controlling their converts, and coercing backsliders to +stand fast; and they add, that the Iroquois, by destroying the +fur-trade, had broken the principal bond between the Hurons and the +French, and greatly weakened the influence of the mission. [7] + +[7] Lettre du P. Hierosme Lalemant, appended to the Relation of 1645. + +Among the slanders devised by the heathen party against the teachers of +the obnoxious doctrine was one which found wide credence, even among the +converts, and produced a great effect. They gave out that a baptized +Huron girl, who had lately died, and was buried in the cemetery at +Sainte Marie, had returned to life, and given a deplorable account of +the heaven of the French. No sooner had she entered,--such was the +story,--than they seized her, chained her to a stake, and tormented her +all day with inconceivable cruelty. They did the same to all the other +converted Hurons; for this was the recreation of the French, and +especially of the Jesuits, in their celestial abode. They baptized +Indians with no other object than that they might have them to torment +in heaven; to which end they were willing to meet hardships and dangers +in this life, just as a war-party invades the enemy's country at great +risk that it may bring home prisoners to burn. After her painful +experience, an unknown friend secretly showed the girl a path down to +the earth; and she hastened thither to warn her countrymen against the +wiles of the missionaries. [8] + +[8] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1646, 65. + +In the spring of 1648 the excitement of the heathen party reached a +crisis. A young Frenchman, named Jacques Douart, in the service of the +mission, going out at evening a short distance from the Jesuit house of +Sainte Marie, was tomahawked by unknown Indians, [9] who proved to be +two brothers, instigated by the heathen chiefs. A great commotion +followed, and for a few days it seemed that the adverse parties would +fall to blows, at a time when the common enemy threatened to destroy +them both. But sager counsels prevailed. In view of the manifest +strength of the Christians, the pagans lowered their tone; and it soon +became apparent that it was the part of the Jesuits to insist boldly on +satisfaction for the outrage. They made no demand that the murderers +should be punished or surrendered, but, with their usual good sense in +such matters, conformed to Indian usage, and required that the nation at +large should make atonement for the crime by presents. [10] The number +of these, their value, and the mode of delivering them were all fixed by +ancient custom; and some of the converts, acting as counsel, advised the +Fathers of every step it behooved them to take in a case of such +importance. As this is the best illustration of Huron justice on record, +it may be well to observe the method of procedure,--recollecting that +the public, and not the criminal, was to pay the forfeit of the crime. + +[9] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 77. Compare Lettre du P. Jean +de Brébeuf au T. R. P. Vincent Carafa, Général de la Compagnie de Jésus, +Sainte Marie, 2 Juin, 1648, in Carayon. +[10] See Introduction. + +First of all, the Huron chiefs summoned the Jesuits to meet them at a +grand council of the nation, when an old orator, chosen by the rest, +rose and addressed Ragueneau, as chief of the French, in the following +harangue. Ragueneau, who reports it, declares that he has added nothing +to it, and the translation is as literal as possible. + +"My Brother," began the speaker, "behold all the tribes of our league +assembled!"--and he named them one by one. "We are but a handful; you +are the prop and stay of this nation. A thunderbolt has fallen from the +sky, and rent a chasm in the earth. We shall fall into it, if you do not +support us. Take pity on us. We are here, not so much to speak as to +weep over our loss and yours. Our country is but a skeleton, without +flesh, veins, sinews, or arteries; and its bones hang together by a +thread. This thread is broken by the blow that has fallen on the head of +your nephew, [11] for whom we weep. It was a demon of Hell who placed +the hatchet in the murderer's hand. Was it you, Sun, whose beams shine +on us, who led him to do this deed? Why did you not darken your light, +that he might be stricken with horror at his crime? Were you his +accomplice? No; for he walked in darkness, and did not see where he +struck. He thought, this wretched murderer, that he aimed at the head of +a young Frenchman; but the blow fell upon his country, and gave it a +death-wound. The earth opens to receive the blood of the innocent +victim, and we shall be swallowed up in the chasm; for we are all +guilty. The Iroquois rejoice at his death, and celebrate it as a +triumph; for they see that our weapons are turned against each other, +and know well that our nation is near its end. + +"Brother, take pity on this nation. You alone can restore it to life. It +is for you to gather up all these scattered bones, and close this chasm +that opens to ingulf us. Take pity on your country. I call it yours, for +you are the master of it; and we came here like criminals to receive +your sentence, if you will not show us mercy. Pity those who condemn +themselves and come to ask forgiveness. It is you who have given +strength to the nation by dwelling with it; and if you leave us, we +shall be like a wisp of straw torn from the ground to be the sport of +the wind. This country is an island drifting on the waves, for the first +storm to overwhelm and sink. Make it fast again to its foundation, and +posterity will never forget to praise you. When we first heard of this +murder, we could do nothing but weep; and we are ready to receive your +orders and comply with your demands. Speak, then, and ask what +satisfaction you will, for our lives and our possessions are yours; and +even if we rob our children to satisfy you, we will tell them that it is +not of you that they have to complain, but of him whose crime has made +us all guilty. Our anger is against him; but for you we feel nothing but +love. He destroyed our lives; and you will restore them, if you will but +speak and tell us what you will have us do." + +[11] The usual Indian figure in such cases, and not meant to express an +actual relationship;--"Uncle" for a superior, "Brother" for an equal, +"Nephew" for an inferior. + +Ragueneau, who remarks that this harangue is a proof that eloquence is +the gift of Nature rather than of Art, made a reply, which he has not +recorded, and then gave the speaker a bundle of small sticks, indicating +the number of presents which he required in satisfaction for the murder. +These sticks were distributed among the various tribes in the council, +in order that each might contribute its share towards the indemnity. The +council dissolved, and the chiefs went home, each with his allotment of +sticks, to collect in his village a corresponding number of presents. +There was no constraint; those gave who chose to do so; but, as all were +ambitious to show their public spirit, the contributions were ample. No +one thought of molesting the murderers. Their punishment was their shame +at the sacrifices which the public were making in their behalf. + +The presents being ready, a day was set for the ceremony of their +delivery; and crowds gathered from all parts to witness it. The assembly +was convened in the open air, in a field beside the mission-house of +Sainte Marie; and, in the midst, the chiefs held solemn council. Towards +evening, they deputed four of their number, two Christians and two +heathen, to carry their address to the Father Superior. They came, +loaded with presents; but these were merely preliminary. One was to open +the door, another for leave to enter; and as Sainte Marie was a large +house, with several interior doors, at each one of which it behooved +them to repeat this formality, their stock of gifts became seriously +reduced before they reached the room where Father Ragueneau awaited +them. On arriving, they made him a speech, every clause of which was +confirmed by a present. The first was to wipe away his tears; the +second, to restore his voice, which his grief was supposed to have +impaired; the third, to calm the agitation of his mind; and the fourth, +to allay the just anger of his heart. [12] These gifts consisted of +wampum and the large shells of which it was made, together with other +articles, worthless in any eyes but those of an Indian. Nine additional +presents followed: four for the four posts of the sepulchre or scaffold +of the murdered man; four for the cross-pieces which connected the +posts; and one for a pillow to support his head. Then came eight more, +corresponding to the eight largest bones of the victim's body, and also +to the eight clans of the Hurons. [13] Ragueneau, as required by +established custom, now made them a present in his turn. It consisted of +three thousand beads of wampum, and was designed to soften the earth, in +order that they might not be hurt, when falling upon it, overpowered by +his reproaches for the enormity of their crime. This closed the +interview, and the deputation withdrew. + +[12] Ragueneau himself describes the scene. Relation des Hurons, 1648, +80. +[13] Ragueneau says, "les huit nations"; but, as the Hurons consisted of +only four, or at most five, nations, he probably means the clans. For +the nature of these divisions, see Introduction. + +The grand ceremony took place on the next day. A kind of arena had been +prepared, and here were hung the fifty presents in which the atonement +essentially consisted,--the rest, amounting to as many more, being only +accessory. [14] The Jesuits had the right of examining them all, +rejecting any that did not satisfy them, and demanding others in place +of them. The naked crowd sat silent and attentive, while the orator in +the midst delivered the fifty presents in a series of harangues, which +the tired listener has not thought it necessary to preserve. Then came +the minor gifts, each with its signification explained in turn by the +speaker. First, as a sepulchre had been provided the day before for the +dead man, it was now necessary to clothe and equip him for his journey +to the next world; and to this end three presents were made. They +represented a hat, a coat, a shirt, breeches, stockings, shoes, a gun, +powder, and bullets; but they were in fact something quite different, as +wampum, beaver-skins, and the like. Next came several gifts to close up +the wounds of the slain. Then followed three more. The first closed the +chasm in the earth, which had burst through horror of the crime. The +next trod the ground firm, that it might not open again; and here the +whole assembly rose and danced, as custom required. The last placed a +large stone over the closed gulf, to make it doubly secure. + +[14] The number was unusually large,--partly because the affair was +thought very important, and partly because the murdered man belonged to +another nation. See Introduction. + +Now came another series of presents, seven in number,--to restore the +voices of all the missionaries,--to invite the men in their service to +forget the murder,--to appease the Governor when he should hear of +it,--to light the fire at Sainte Marie,--to open the gate,--to launch +the ferry-boat in which the Huron visitors crossed the river,--and to +give back the paddle to the boy who had charge of the boat. The Fathers, +it seems, had the right of exacting two more presents, to rebuild their +house and church,--supposed to have been shaken to the earth by the late +calamity; but they forbore to urge the claim. Last of all were three +gifts to confirm all the rest, and to entreat the Jesuits to cherish an +undying love for the Hurons. + +The priests on their part gave presents, as tokens of good-will; and +with that the assembly dispersed. The mission had gained a triumph, and +its influence was greatly strengthened. The future would have been full +of hope, but for the portentous cloud of war that rose, black and +wrathful, from where lay the dens of the Iroquois. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1648, 1649. + +SAINTE MARIE. + +The Centre of the Missions • Fort • Convent • Hospital • Caravansary • +Church • The Inmates of Sainte Marie • Domestic Economy • Missions • A +Meeting of Jesuits • The Dead Missionary + +The River Wye enters the Bay of Glocester, an inlet of the Bay of +Matchedash, itself an inlet of the vast Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. +Retrace the track of two centuries and more, and ascend this little +stream in the summer of the year 1648. Your vessel is a birch canoe, and +your conductor a Huron Indian. On the right hand and on the left, gloomy +and silent, rise the primeval woods; but you have advanced scarcely half +a league when the scene is changed, and cultivated fields, planted +chiefly with maize, extend far along the bank, and back to the distant +verge of the forest. Before you opens the small lake from which the +stream issues; and on your left, a stone's throw from the shore, rises a +range of palisades and bastioned walls, inclosing a number of buildings. +Your canoe enters a canal or ditch immediately above them, and you land +at the Mission, or Residence, or Fort of Sainte Marie. + +Here was the centre and base of the Huron missions; and now, for once, +one must wish that Jesuit pens had been more fluent. They have told us +but little of Sainte Marie, and even this is to be gathered chiefly from +incidental allusions. In the forest, which long since has resumed its +reign over this memorable spot, the walls and ditches of the +fortifications may still be plainly traced; and the deductions from +these remains are in perfect accord with what we can gather from the +Relations and letters of the priests. [1] The fortified work which +inclosed the buildings was in the form of a parallelogram, about a +hundred and seventy-five feet long, and from eighty to ninety wide. It +lay parallel with the river, and somewhat more than a hundred feet +distant from it. On two sides it was a continuous wall of masonry, [2] +flanked with square bastions, adapted to musketry, and probably used as +magazines, storehouses, or lodgings. The sides towards the river and the +lake had no other defences than a ditch and palisade, flanked, like the +others, by bastions, over each of which was displayed a large cross. [3] +The buildings within were, no doubt, of wood; and they included a +church, a kitchen, a refectory, places of retreat for religious +instruction and meditation, [4] and lodgings for at least sixty persons. +Near the church, but outside the fortification, was a cemetery. Beyond +the ditch or canal which opened on the river was a large area, still +traceable, in the form of an irregular triangle, surrounded by a ditch, +and apparently by palisades. It seems to have been meant for the +protection of the Indian visitors who came in throngs to Sainte Marie, +and who were lodged in a large house of bark, after the Huron manner. +[5] Here, perhaps, was also the hospital, which was placed without the +walls, in order that Indian women, as well as men, might be admitted +into it. [6] + +[1] Before me is an elaborate plan of the remains, taken on the spot. +[2] It seems probable that the walls, of which the remains may still be +traced, were foundations supporting a wooden superstructure. Ragueneau, +in a letter to the General of the Jesuits, dated March 13, 1650, alludes +to the defences of Saint Marie as "une simple palissade." +[3] "Quatre grandes Croix qui sont aux quatre coins de nostre +enclos."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 81. +[4] It seems that these places, besides those for the priests, were of +two kinds,--"vne retraite pour les pelerins (Indians), enfin vn lieu +plus separé, où les infideles, qui n'y sont admis que de iour au +passage, y puissent tousiours receuoir quelque bon mot pour leur +salut."--Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1644, 74. +[5] At least it was so in 1642. "Nous leur auons dressé vn Hospice ou +Cabane d'écorce."--Ibid., 1642, 57. +[6] "Cet hospital est tellement separé de nostre demeure, que non +seulement les hommes et enfans, mais les femmes y peuuent estre +admises."--Ibid., 1644, 74. + +No doubt the buildings of Sainte Marie were of the roughest,--rude walls +of boards, windows without glass, vast chimneys of unhewn stone. All its +riches were centred in the church, which, as Lalemant tells us, was +regarded by the Indians as one of the wonders of the world, but which, +he adds, would have made but a beggarly show in France. Yet one wonders, +at first thought, how so much labor could have been accomplished here. +Of late years, however, the number of men at the command of the mission +had been considerable. Soldiers had been sent up from time to time, to +escort the Fathers on their way, and defend them on their arrival. Thus, +in 1644, Montmagny ordered twenty men of a reinforcement just arrived +from France to escort Brébeuf, Garreau, and Chabanel to the Hurons, and +remain there during the winter. [7] These soldiers lodged with the +Jesuits, and lived at their table. [8] It was not, however, on +detachments of troops that they mainly relied for labor or defence. Any +inhabitant of Canada who chose to undertake so hard and dangerous a +service was allowed to do so, receiving only his maintenance from the +mission, without pay. In return, he was allowed to trade with the +Indians, and sell the furs thus obtained at the magazine of the Company, +at a fixed price. [9] Many availed themselves of this permission; and +all whose services were accepted by the Jesuits seem to have been men to +whom they had communicated no small portion of their own zeal, and who +were enthusiastically attached to their Order and their cause. There is +abundant evidence that a large proportion of them acted from motives +wholly disinterested. They were, in fact, donnés of the mission, +[10]--given, heart and hand, to its service. There is probability in the +conjecture, that the profits of their trade with the Indians were +reaped, not for their own behoof, but for that of the mission. [11] It +is difficult otherwise to explain the confidence with which the Father +Superior, in a letter to the General of the Jesuits at Rome, speaks of +its resources. He says, "Though our number is greatly increased, and +though we still hope for more men, and especially for more priests of +our Society, it is not necessary to increase the pecuniary aid given +us." [12] + +[7] Vimont, Relation, 1644, 49. He adds, that some of these soldiers, +though they had once been "assez mauvais garçons," had shown great zeal +and devotion in behalf of the mission. +[8] Journal des Supérieurs des Jésuites, MS. In 1648, a small cannon was +sent to Sainte Marie in the Huron canoes.--Ibid. +[9] Registres des Arrêts du Conseil, extract in Faillon, II. 94. +[10] See ante, (page 214). Garnier calls them "séculiers d'habit, mais +religieux de cœur."--Lettres, MSS. +[11] The Jesuits, even at this early period, were often and loudly +charged with sharing in the fur-trade. It is certain that this charge +was not wholly without foundation. Le Jeune, in the Relation of 1657, +speaking of the wampum, guns, powder, lead, hatchets, kettles, and other +articles which the missionaries were obliged to give to the Indians, at +councils and elsewhere, says that these must be bought from the traders +with beaver-skins, which are the money of the country; and he adds, "Que +si vn Iesuite en reçoit ou en recueille quelques-vns pour ayder aux +frais immenses qu'il faut faire dans ces Missions si éloignées, et pour +gagner ces peuples à Iesus-Christ et les porter à la paix, il seroit à +souhaiter que ceux-là mesme qui deuroient faire ces despenses pour la +conseruation du pays, ne fussent pas du moins les premiers à condamner +le zele de ces Peres, et à les rendre par leurs discours plus noirs que +leurs robes."--Relation, 1657, 16. + +In the same year, Chaumonot, addressing a council of the Iroquois during +a period of truce, said, "Keep your beaver-skins, if you choose, for the +Dutch. Even such of them as may fall into our possession will be +employed for your service."--Ibid., 17. + +In 1636, La Jeune thought it necessary to write a long letter of defence +against the charge; and in 1643, a declaration, appended to the Relation +of that year, and certifying that the Jesuits took no part in the +fur-trade, was drawn up and signed by twelve members of the company of +New France. Its only meaning is, that the Jesuits were neither partners +nor rivals of the Company's monopoly. They certainly bought supplies +from its magazines with furs which they obtained from the Indians. + +Their object evidently was to make the mission partially +self-supporting. To impute mercenary motives to Garnier, Jogues, and +their co-laborers, is manifestly idle; but, even in the highest flights +of his enthusiasm, the Jesuit never forgot his worldly wisdom. + +[12] Lettre du P. Paul Ragueneau au T. R. P. Vincent Carafa, Général de +la Compagnie de Jésus à Rome, Sainte Marie aux Hurons, 1 Mars, 1649 +(Carayon). + +Much of this prosperity was no doubt due to the excellent management of +their resources, and a very successful agriculture. While the Indians +around them were starving, they raised maize in such quantities, that, +in the spring of 1649, the Father Superior thought that their stock of +provisions might suffice for three years. "Hunting and fishing," he +says, "are better than heretofore"; and he adds, that they had fowls, +swine, and even cattle. [13] How they could have brought these last to +Sainte Marie it is difficult to conceive. The feat, under the +circumstances, is truly astonishing. Everything indicates a fixed +resolve on the part of the Fathers to build up a solid and permanent +establishment. + +[13] Lettre du P. Paul Ragueneau au T. R. P. Vincent Carafa, Général de +la Compagnie de Jésus à Rome, Sainte Marie aux Hurons, 1 Mars, 1649 +(Carayon). + +It is by no means to be inferred that the household fared sumptuously. +Their ordinary food was maize, pounded and boiled, and seasoned, in the +absence of salt, which was regarded as a luxury, with morsels of smoked +fish. [14] + +[14] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1648, 48. + +In March, 1649, there were in the Huron country and its neighborhood +eighteen Jesuit priests, four lay brothers, twenty-three men serving +without pay, seven hired men, four boys, and eight soldiers. [15] Of +this number, fifteen priests were engaged in the various missions, while +all the rest were retained permanently at Sainte Marie. All was method, +discipline, and subordination. Some of the men were assigned to +household work, and some to the hospital; while the rest labored at the +fortifications, tilled the fields, and stood ready, in case of need, to +fight the Iroquois. The Father Superior, with two other priests as +assistants, controlled and guided all. The remaining Jesuits, +undisturbed by temporal cares, were devoted exclusively to the charge of +their respective missions. Two or three times in the year, they all, or +nearly all, assembled at Sainte Marie, to take counsel together and +determine their future action. Hither, also, they came at intervals for +a period of meditation and prayer, to nerve themselves and gain new +inspiration for their stern task. + +[15] See the report of the Father Superior to the General, above cited. +The number was greatly increased within the year. In April, 1648, +Ragueneau reports but forty-two French in all, including priests. Before +the end of the summer a large reinforcement came up in the Huron canoes. + +Besides being the citadel and the magazine of the mission, Sainte Marie +was the scene of a bountiful hospitality. On every alternate Saturday, +as well as on feast-days, the converts came in crowds from the farthest +villages. They were entertained during Saturday, Sunday, and a part of +Monday; and the rites of the Church were celebrated before them with all +possible solemnity and pomp. They were welcomed also at other times, and +entertained, usually with three meals to each. In these latter years the +prevailing famine drove them to Sainte Marie in swarms. In the course of +1647 three thousand were lodged and fed here; and in the following year +the number was doubled. [16] Heathen Indians were also received and +supplied with food, but were not permitted to remain at night. There was +provision for the soul as well as the body; and, Christian or heathen, +few left Sainte Marie without a word of instruction or exhortation. +Charity was an instrument of conversion. + +[16] Compare Ragueneau in Relation des Hurons, 1648, 48, and in his +report to the General in 1649. + +Such, so far as we can reconstruct it from the scattered hints +remaining, was this singular establishment, at once military, monastic, +and patriarchal. The missions of which it was the basis were now eleven +in number. To those among the Hurons already mentioned another had +lately been added,--that of Sainte Madeleine; and two others, called St. +Jean and St. Matthias, had been established in the neighboring Tobacco +Nation. [17] The three remaining missions were all among tribes speaking +the Algonquin languages. Every winter, bands of these savages, driven by +famine and fear of the Iroquois, sought harborage in the Huron country, +and the mission of Sainte Elisabeth was established for their benefit. +The next Algonquin mission was that of Saint Esprit, embracing the +Nipissings and other tribes east and north-east of Lake Huron; and, +lastly, the mission of St. Pierre included the tribes at the outlet of +Lake Superior, and throughout a vast extent of surrounding wilderness. +[18] + +[17] The mission of the Neutral Nation had been abandoned for the time, +from the want of missionaries. The Jesuits had resolved on +concentration, and on the thorough conversion of the Hurons, as a +preliminary to more extended efforts. +[18] Besides these tribes, the Jesuits had become more or less +acquainted with many others, also Algonquin, on the west and south of +Lake Huron; as well as with the Puans, or Winnebagoes, a Dacotah tribe +between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. + +The Mission of Sault Sainte Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior, was +established at a later period. Modern writers have confounded it with +Sainte Marie of the Hurons. + +By the Relation of 1649 it appears that another mission had lately been +begun at the Grand Manitoulin Island, which the Jesuits also christened +Isle Sainte Marie. + +These missions were more laborious, though not more perilous, than those +among the Hurons. The Algonquin hordes were never long at rest; and, +summer and winter, the priest must follow them by lake, forest, and +stream: in summer plying the paddle all day, or toiling through pathless +thickets, bending under the weight of a birch canoe or a load of +baggage,--at night, his bed the rugged earth, or some bare rock, lashed +by the restless waves of Lake Huron; while famine, the snow-storms, the +cold, the treacherous ice of the Great Lakes, smoke, filth, and, not +rarely, threats and persecution, were the lot of his winter wanderings. +It seemed an earthly paradise, when, at long intervals, he found a +respite from his toils among his brother Jesuits under the roof of +Sainte Marie. + +Hither, while the Fathers are gathered from their scattered stations at +one of their periodical meetings,--a little before the season of Lent, +1649, [19]--let us, too, repair, and join them. We enter at the eastern +gate of the fortification, midway in the wall between its northern and +southern bastions, and pass to the hall, where, at a rude table, spread +with ruder fare, all the household are assembled,--laborers, domestics, +soldiers, and priests. + +[19] The date of this meeting is a supposition merely. It is adopted +with reference to events which preceded and followed. + +It was a scene that might recall a remote half feudal, half patriarchal +age, when, under the smoky rafters of his antique hall, some warlike +thane sat, with kinsmen and dependants ranged down the long board, each +in his degree. Here, doubtless, Ragueneau, the Father Superior, held the +place of honor; and, for chieftains scarred with Danish battle-axes, was +seen a band of thoughtful men, clad in a threadbare garb of black, their +brows swarthy from exposure, yet marked with the lines of intellect and +a fixed enthusiasm of purpose. Here was Bressani, scarred with firebrand +and knife; Chabanel, once a professor of rhetoric in France, now a +missionary, bound by a self-imposed vow to a life from which his nature +recoiled; the fanatical Chaumonot, whose character savored of his +peasant birth,--for the grossest fungus of superstition that ever grew +under the shadow of Rome was not too much for his omnivorous credulity, +and miracles and mysteries were his daily food; yet, such as his faith +was, he was ready to die for it. Garnier, beardless like a woman, was of +a far finer nature. His religion was of the affections and the +sentiments; and his imagination, warmed with the ardor of his faith, +shaped the ideal forms of his worship into visible realities. Brébeuf +sat conspicuous among his brethren, portly and tall, his short moustache +and beard grizzled with time,--for he was fifty-six years old. If he +seemed impassive, it was because one overmastering principle had merged +and absorbed all the impulses of his nature and all the faculties of his +mind. The enthusiasm which with many is fitful and spasmodic was with +him the current of his life,--solemn and deep as the tide of destiny. +The Divine Trinity, the Virgin, the Saints, Heaven and Hell, Angels and +Fiends,--to him, these alone were real, and all things else were nought. +Gabriel Lalemant, nephew of Jerome Lalemant, Superior at Quebec, was +Brébeuf's colleague at the mission of St. Ignace. His slender frame and +delicate features gave him an appearance of youth, though he had reached +middle life; and, as in the case of Garnier, the fervor of his mind +sustained him through exertions of which he seemed physically incapable. +Of the rest of that company little has come down to us but the bare +record of their missionary toils; and we may ask in vain what youthful +enthusiasm, what broken hope or faded dream, turned the current of their +lives, and sent them from the heart of civilization to this savage +outpost of the world. + +No element was wanting in them for the achievement of such a success as +that to which they aspired,--neither a transcendent zeal, nor a +matchless discipline, nor a practical sagacity very seldom surpassed in +the pursuits where men strive for wealth and place; and if they were +destined to disappointment, it was the result of external causes, +against which no power of theirs could have insured them. + +There was a gap in their number. The place of Antoine Daniel was empty, +and never more to be filled by him,--never at least in the flesh: for +Chaumonot averred, that not long since, when the Fathers were met in +council, he had seen their dead companion seated in their midst, as of +old, with a countenance radiant and majestic. [20] They believed his +story,--no doubt he believed it himself; and they consoled one another +with the thought, that, in losing their colleague on earth, they had +gained him as a powerful intercessor in heaven. Daniel's station had +been at St. Joseph; but the mission and the missionary had alike ceased +to exist. + +[20] "Ce bon Pere s'apparut aprés sa mort à vn des nostres par deux +diuerses fois. En l'vne il se fit voir en estat de gloire, portant le +visage d'vn homme d'enuiron trente ans, quoy qu'il soit mort en l'âge de +quarante-huict.... Vne autre fois il fut veu assister à vne assemblée +que nous tenions," etc.--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1649, 5. + +"Le P. Chaumonot vit au milieu de l'assemblée le P. Daniel qui aidait +les Pères de ses conseils, et les remplissait d'une force surnaturelle; +son visage était plein de majesté et d'éclat."--Ibid., Lettre au Général +de la Compagnie de Jésus (Carayon, 243). + +"Le P. Chaumonot nous a quelque fois raconté, à la gloire de cet +illustre confesseur de J. C. (Daniel) qu'il s'étoit fait voir à lui dans +la gloire, à l'âge d'environ 30 ans, quoiqu'il en eut près de 50, et +avec les autres circonstances qui se trouuent là (in the Historia +Canadensis of Du Creux). Il ajoutait seulement qu'à la vue de ce +bien-heureux tant de choses lui vinrent à l'esprit pour les lui +demander, qu'il ne savoit pas où commencer son entretien avec ce cher +défunt. Enfin, lui dit-il: 'Apprenez moi, mon Père, ce que ie dois faire +pour être bien agréable à Dieu.'--'Jamais,' répondit le martyr, 'ne +perdez le souvenir de vos péchés.'"--Suite de la Vie de Chaumonot, 11. + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1648. + +ANTOINE DANIEL. + +Huron Traders • Battle at Three Rivers • St. Joseph • Onset of the +Iroquois • Death of Daniel • The Town Destroyed + +In the summer of 1647 the Hurons dared not go down to the French +settlements, but in the following year they took heart, and resolved at +all risks to make the attempt; for the kettles, hatchets, and knives of +the traders had become necessaries of life. Two hundred and fifty of +their best warriors therefore embarked, under five valiant chiefs. They +made the voyage in safety, approached Three Rivers on the seventeenth of +July, and, running their canoes ashore among the bulrushes, began to +grease their hair, paint their faces, and otherwise adorn themselves, +that they might appear after a befitting fashion at the fort. While they +were thus engaged, the alarm was sounded. Some of their warriors had +discovered a large body of Iroquois, who for several days had been +lurking in the forest, unknown to the French garrison, watching their +opportunity to strike a blow. The Hurons snatched their arms, and, +half-greased and painted, ran to meet them. The Iroquois received them +with a volley. They fell flat to avoid the shot, then leaped up with a +furious yell, and sent back a shower of arrows and bullets. The +Iroquois, who were outnumbered, gave way and fled, excepting a few who +for a time made fight with their knives. The Hurons pursued. Many +prisoners were taken, and many dead left on the field. [1] The rout of +the enemy was complete; and when their trade was ended, the Hurons +returned home in triumph, decorated with the laurels and the scalps of +victory. As it proved, it would have been well, had they remained there +to defend their families and firesides. + +[1] Lalemant, Relation, 1648, 11. The Jesuit Bressani had come down with +the Hurons, and was with them in the fight. + +The oft-mentioned town of Teanaustayé, or St. Joseph, lay on the +south-eastern frontier of the Huron country, near the foot of a range of +forest-covered hills, and about fifteen miles from Sainte Marie. It had +been the chief town of the nation, and its population, by the Indian +standard, was still large; for it had four hundred families, and at +least two thousand inhabitants. It was well fortified with palisades, +after the Huron manner, and was esteemed the chief bulwark of the +country. Here countless Iroquois had been burned and devoured. Its +people had been truculent and intractable heathen, but many of them had +surrendered to the Faith, and for four years past Father Daniel had +preached among them with excellent results. + +On the morning of the fourth of July, when the forest around basked +lazily in the early sun, you might have mounted the rising ground on +which the town stood, and passed unchallenged through the opening in the +palisade. Within, you would have seen the crowded dwellings of bark, +shaped like the arched coverings of huge baggage-wagons, and decorated +with the totems or armorial devices of their owners daubed on the +outside with paint. Here some squalid wolfish dog lay sleeping in the +sun, a group of Huron girls chatted together in the shade, old squaws +pounded corn in large wooden mortars, idle youths gambled with +cherry-stones on a wooden platter, and naked infants crawled in the +dust. Scarcely a warrior was to be seen. Some were absent in quest of +game or of Iroquois scalps, and some had gone with the trading-party to +the French settlements. You followed the foul passage-ways among the +houses, and at length came to the church. It was full to the door. +Daniel had just finished the mass, and his flock still knelt at their +devotions. It was but the day before that he had returned to them, +warmed with new fervor, from his meditations in retreat at Sainte Marie. +Suddenly an uproar of voices, shrill with terror, burst upon the languid +silence of the town. "The Iroquois! the Iroquois!" A crowd of hostile +warriors had issued from the forest, and were rushing across the +clearing, towards the opening in the palisade. Daniel ran out of the +church, and hurried to the point of danger. Some snatched weapons; some +rushed to and fro in the madness of a blind panic. The priest rallied +the defenders; promised Heaven to those who died for their homes and +their faith; then hastened from house to house, calling on unbelievers +to repent and receive baptism, to snatch them from the Hell that yawned +to ingulf them. They crowded around him, imploring to be saved; and, +immersing his handkerchief in a bowl of water, he shook it over them, +and baptized them by aspersion. They pursued him, as he ran again to the +church, where he found a throng of women, children, and old men, +gathered as in a sanctuary. Some cried for baptism, some held out their +children to receive it, some begged for absolution, and some wailed in +terror and despair. "Brothers," he exclaimed again and again, as he +shook the baptismal drops from his handkerchief,--"brothers, to-day we +shall be in Heaven." + +The fierce yell of the war-whoop now rose close at hand. The palisade +was forced, and the enemy was in the town. The air quivered with the +infernal din. "Fly!" screamed the priest, driving his flock before him. +"I will stay here. We shall meet again in Heaven." Many of them escaped +through an opening in the palisade opposite to that by which the +Iroquois had entered; but Daniel would not follow, for there still might +be souls to rescue from perdition. The hour had come for which he had +long prepared himself. In a moment he saw the Iroquois, and came forth +from the church to meet them. When they saw him in turn, radiant in the +vestments of his office, confronting them with a look kindled with the +inspiration of martyrdom, they stopped and stared in amazement; then +recovering themselves, bent their bows, and showered him with a volley +of arrows, that tore through his robes and his flesh. A gunshot +followed; the ball pierced his heart, and he fell dead, gasping the name +of Jesus. They rushed upon him with yells of triumph, stripped him +naked, gashed and hacked his lifeless body, and, scooping his blood in +their hands, bathed their faces in it to make them brave. The town was +in a blaze; when the flames reached the church, they flung the priest +into it, and both were consumed together. [2] + +[2] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1649, 3-5; Bressani, Relation +Abrégée, 247; Du Creux, Historia Canadensis, 524; Tanner, Societas Jesu +Militans, 531; Marie de l'Incarnation, Lettre aux Ursulines de Tours, +Quebec, 1649. + +Daniel was born at Dieppe, and was forty-eight years old at the time of +his death. He had been a Jesuit from the age of twenty. + +Teanaustayé was a heap of ashes, and the victors took up their march +with a train of nearly seven hundred prisoners, many of whom they killed +on the way. Many more had been slain in the town and the neighboring +forest, where the pursuers hunted them down, and where women, crouching +for refuge among thickets, were betrayed by the cries and wailing of +their infants. + +The triumph of the Iroquois did not end here; for a neighboring +fortified town, included within the circle of Daniel's mission, shared +the fate of Teanaustayé. Never had the Huron nation received such a +blow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1649. + +RUIN OF THE HURONS. + +St. Louis on Fire • Invasion • St. Ignace captured • Brébeuf and +Lalemant • Battle at St. Louis • Sainte Marie threatened • Renewed +Fighting • Desperate Conflict • A Night of Suspense • Panic among the +Victors • Burning of St. Ignace • Retreat of the Iroquois + +More than eight months had passed since the catastrophe of St. Joseph. +The winter was over, and that dreariest of seasons had come, the +churlish forerunner of spring. Around Sainte Marie the forests were gray +and bare, and, in the cornfields, the oozy, half-thawed soil, studded +with the sodden stalks of the last autumn's harvest, showed itself in +patches through the melting snow. + +At nine o'clock on the morning of the sixteenth of March, the priests +saw a heavy smoke rising over the naked forest towards the south-east, +about three miles distant. They looked at each other in dismay. "The +Iroquois! They are burning St. Louis!" Flames mingled with the smoke; +and, as they stood gazing, two Christian Hurons came, breathless and +aghast, from the burning town. Their worst fear was realized. The +Iroquois were there; but where were the priests of the mission, Brébeuf +and Lalemant? + +Late in the autumn, a thousand Iroquois, chiefly Senecas and Mohawks, +had taken the war-path for the Hurons. They had been all winter in the +forests, hunting for subsistence, and moving at their leisure towards +their prey. The destruction of the two towns of the mission of St. +Joseph had left a wide gap, and in the middle of March they entered the +heart of the Huron country, undiscovered. Common vigilance and common +sense would have averted the calamities that followed; but the Hurons +were like a doomed people, stupefied, sunk in dejection, fearing +everything, yet taking no measures for defence. They could easily have +met the invaders with double their force, but the besotted warriors lay +idle in their towns, or hunted at leisure in distant forests; nor could +the Jesuits, by counsel or exhortation, rouse them to face the danger. + +Before daylight of the sixteenth, the invaders approached St. Ignace, +which, with St. Louis and three other towns, formed the mission of the +same name. They reconnoitred the place in the darkness. It was defended +on three sides by a deep ravine, and further strengthened by palisades +fifteen or sixteen feet high, planted under the direction of the +Jesuits. On the fourth side it was protected by palisades alone; and +these were left, as usual, unguarded. This was not from a sense of +security; for the greater part of the population had abandoned the town, +thinking it too much exposed to the enemy, and there remained only about +four hundred, chiefly women, children, and old men, whose infatuated +defenders were absent hunting, or on futile scalping-parties against the +Iroquois. It was just before dawn, when a yell, as of a legion of +devils, startled the wretched inhabitants from their sleep; and the +Iroquois, bursting in upon them, cut them down with knives and hatchets, +killing many, and reserving the rest for a worse fate. They had entered +by the weakest side; on the other sides there was no exit, and only +three Hurons escaped. The whole was the work of a few minutes. The +Iroquois left a guard to hold the town, and secure the retreat of the +main body in case of a reverse; then, smearing their faces with blood, +after their ghastly custom, they rushed, in the dim light of the early +dawn, towards St. Louis, about a league distant. + +The three fugitives had fled, half naked, through the forest, for the +same point, which they reached about sunrise, yelling the alarm. The +number of inhabitants here was less, at this time, than seven hundred; +and, of these, all who had strength to escape, excepting about eighty +warriors, made in wild terror for a place of safety. Many of the old, +sick, and decrepit were left perforce in the lodges. The warriors, +ignorant of the strength of the assailants, sang their war-songs, and +resolved to hold the place to the last. It had not the natural strength +of St. Ignace; but, like it, was surrounded by palisades. + +Here were the two Jesuits, Brébeuf and Lalemant. Brébeuf's converts +entreated him to escape with them; but the Norman zealot, bold scion of +a warlike stock, had no thought of flight. His post was in the teeth of +danger, to cheer on those who fought, and open Heaven to those who fell. +His colleague, slight of frame and frail of constitution, trembled +despite himself; but deep enthusiasm mastered the weakness of Nature, +and he, too, refused to fly. + +Scarcely had the sun risen, and scarcely were the fugitives gone, when, +like a troop of tigers, the Iroquois rushed to the assault. Yell echoed +yell, and shot answered shot. The Hurons, brought to bay, fought with +the utmost desperation, and with arrows, stones, and the few guns they +had, killed thirty of their assailants, and wounded many more. Twice the +Iroquois recoiled, and twice renewed the attack with unabated ferocity. +They swarmed at the foot of the palisades, and hacked at them with their +hatchets, till they had cut them through at several different points. +For a time there was a deadly fight at these breaches. Here were the two +priests, promising Heaven to those who died for their faith,--one giving +baptism, and the other absolution. At length the Iroquois broke in, and +captured all the surviving defenders, the Jesuits among the rest. They +set the town on fire; and the helpless wretches who had remained, unable +to fly, were consumed in their burning dwellings. Next they fell upon +Brébeuf and Lalemant, stripped them, bound them fast, and led them with +the other prisoners back to St. Ignace, where all turned out to wreak +their fury on the two priests, beating them savagely with sticks and +clubs as they drove them into the town. At present, there was no time +for further torture, for there was work in hand. + +The victors divided themselves into several bands, to burn the +neighboring villages and hunt their flying inhabitants. In the flush of +their triumph, they meditated a bolder enterprise; and, in the +afternoon, their chiefs sent small parties to reconnoitre Sainte Marie, +with a view to attacking it on the next day. + +Meanwhile the fugitives of St. Louis, joined by other bands as terrified +and as helpless as they, were struggling through the soft snow which +clogged the forests towards Lake Huron, where the treacherous ice of +spring was still unmelted. One fear expelled another. They ventured upon +it, and pushed forward all that day and all the following night, +shivering and famished, to find refuge in the towns of the Tobacco +Nation. Here, when they arrived, they spread a universal panic. + +Ragueneau, Bressani, and their companions waited in suspense at Sainte +Marie. On the one hand, they trembled for Brébeuf and Lalemant; on the +other, they looked hourly for an attack: and when at evening they saw +the Iroquois scouts prowling along the edge of the bordering forest, +their fears were confirmed. They had with them about forty Frenchmen, +well armed; but their palisades and wooden buildings were not +fire-proof, and they had learned from fugitives the number and ferocity +of the invaders. They stood guard all night, praying to the Saints, and +above all to their great patron, Saint Joseph, whose festival was close +at hand. + +In the morning they were somewhat relieved by the arrival of about three +hundred Huron warriors, chiefly converts from La Conception and Sainte +Madeleine, tolerably well armed, and full of fight. They were expecting +others to join them; and meanwhile, dividing into several bands, they +took post by the passes of the neighboring forest, hoping to waylay +parties of the enemy. Their expectation was fulfilled; for, at this +time, two hundred of the Iroquois were making their way from St. Ignace, +in advance of the main body, to begin the attack on Sainte Marie. They +fell in with a band of the Hurons, set upon them, killed many, drove the +rest to headlong flight, and, as they plunged in terror through the +snow, chased them within sight of Sainte Marie. The other Hurons, +hearing the yells and firing, ran to the rescue, and attacked so +fiercely, that the Iroquois in turn were routed, and ran for shelter to +St. Louis, followed closely by the victors. The houses of the town had +been burned, but the palisade around them was still standing, though +breached and broken. The Iroquois rushed in; but the Hurons were at +their heels. Many of the fugitives were captured, the rest killed or put +to utter rout, and the triumphant Hurons remained masters of the place. + +The Iroquois who escaped fled to St. Ignace. Here, or on the way +thither, they found the main body of the invaders; and when they heard +of the disaster, the whole swarm, beside themselves with rage, turned +towards St. Louis to take their revenge. Now ensued one of the most +furious Indian battles on record. The Hurons within the palisade did not +much exceed a hundred and fifty; for many had been killed or disabled, +and many, perhaps, had straggled away. Most of their enemies had guns, +while they had but few. Their weapons were bows and arrows, war-clubs, +hatchets, and knives; and of these they made good use, sallying +repeatedly, fighting like devils, and driving back their assailants +again and again. There are times when the Indian warrior forgets his +cautious maxims, and throws himself into battle with a mad and reckless +ferocity. The desperation of one party, and the fierce courage of both, +kept up the fight after the day had closed; and the scout from Sainte +Marie, as he bent listening under the gloom of the pines, heard, far +into the night, the howl of battle rising from the darkened forest. The +principal chief of the Iroquois was severely wounded, and nearly a +hundred of their warriors were killed on the spot. When, at length, +their numbers and persistent fury prevailed, their only prize was some +twenty Huron warriors, spent with fatigue and faint with loss of blood. +The rest lay dead around the shattered palisades which they had so +valiantly defended. Fatuity, not cowardice, was the ruin of the Huron +nation. + +The lamps burned all night at Sainte Marie, and its defenders stood +watching till daylight, musket in hand. The Jesuits prayed without +ceasing, and Saint Joseph was besieged with invocations. "Those of us +who were priests," writes Ragueneau, "each made a vow to say a mass in +his honor every month, for the space of a year; and all the rest bound +themselves by vows to divers penances." The expected onslaught did not +take place. Not an Iroquois appeared. Their victory had been bought too +dear, and they had no stomach for more fighting. All the next day, the +eighteenth, a stillness, like the dead lull of a tempest, followed the +turmoil of yesterday,--as if, says the Father Superior, "the country +were waiting, palsied with fright, for some new disaster." + +On the following day,--the journalist fails not to mention that it was +the festival of Saint Joseph,--Indians came in with tidings that a panic +had seized the Iroquois camp, that the chiefs could not control it, and +that the whole body of invaders was retreating in disorder, possessed +with a vague terror that the Hurons were upon them in force. They had +found time, however, for an act of atrocious cruelty. They planted +stakes in the bark houses of St. Ignace, and bound to them those of +their prisoners whom they meant to sacrifice, male and female, from old +age to infancy, husbands, mothers, and children, side by side. Then, as +they retreated, they set the town on fire, and laughed with savage glee +at the shrieks of anguish that rose from the blazing dwellings. [1] + +[1] The site of St. Ignace still bears evidence of the catastrophe, in +the ashes and charcoal that indicate the position of the houses, and the +fragments of broken pottery and half-consumed bone, together with +trinkets of stone, metal, or glass, which have survived the lapse of two +centuries and more. The place has been minutely examined by Dr. Taché. + +They loaded the rest of their prisoners with their baggage and plunder, +and drove them through the forest southward, braining with their +hatchets any who gave out on the march. An old woman, who had escaped +out of the midst of the flames of St. Ignace, made her way to St. +Michel, a large town not far from the desolate site of St. Joseph. Here +she found about seven hundred Huron warriors, hastily mustered. She set +them on the track of the retreating Iroquois, and they took up the +chase,--but evidently with no great eagerness to overtake their +dangerous enemy, well armed as he was with Dutch guns, while they had +little beside their bows and arrows. They found, as they advanced, the +dead bodies of prisoners tomahawked on the march, and others bound fast +to trees and half burned by the fagots piled hastily around them. The +Iroquois pushed forward with such headlong speed, that the pursuers +could not, or would not, overtake them; and, after two days, they gave +over the attempt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1649. + +THE MARTYRS. + +The Ruins of St. Ignace • The Relics found • Brébeuf at the Stake • His +Unconquerable Fortitude • Lalemant • Renegade Hurons • Iroquois +Atrocities • Death of Brébeuf • His Character • Death of Lalemant + +On the morning of the twentieth, the Jesuits at Sainte Marie received +full confirmation of the reported retreat of the invaders; and one of +them, with seven armed Frenchmen, set out for the scene of havoc. They +passed St. Louis, where the bloody ground was strown thick with corpses, +and, two or three miles farther on, reached St. Ignace. Here they saw a +spectacle of horror; for among the ashes of the burnt town were +scattered in profusion the half-consumed bodies of those who had +perished in the flames. Apart from the rest, they saw a sight that +banished all else from their thoughts; for they found what they had come +to seek,--the scorched and mangled relics of Brébeuf and Lalemant. [1] + +[1] "Ils y trouuerent vn spectacle d'horreur, les restes de la cruauté +mesme, ou plus tost les restes de l'amour de Dieu, qui seul triomphe +dans la mort des Martyrs."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1649, 13. + +They had learned their fate already from Huron prisoners, many of whom +had made their escape in the panic and confusion of the Iroquois +retreat. They described what they had seen, and the condition in which +the bodies were found confirmed their story. + +On the afternoon of the sixteenth,--the day when the two priests were +captured,--Brébeuf was led apart, and bound to a stake. He seemed more +concerned for his captive converts than for himself, and addressed them +in a loud voice, exhorting them to suffer patiently, and promising +Heaven as their reward. The Iroquois, incensed, scorched him from head +to foot, to silence him; whereupon, in the tone of a master, he +threatened them with everlasting flames, for persecuting the worshippers +of God. As he continued to speak, with voice and countenance unchanged, +they cut away his lower lip and thrust a red-hot iron down his throat. +He still held his tall form erect and defiant, with no sign or sound of +pain; and they tried another means to overcome him. They led out +Lalemant, that Brébeuf might see him tortured. They had tied strips of +bark, smeared with pitch, about his naked body. When he saw the +condition of his Superior, he could not hide his agitation, and called +out to him, with a broken voice, in the words of Saint Paul, "We are +made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men." Then he threw +himself at Brébeuf's feet; upon which the Iroquois seized him, made him +fast to a stake, and set fire to the bark that enveloped him. As the +flame rose, he threw his arms upward, with a shriek of supplication to +Heaven. Next they hung around Brébeuf's neck a collar made of hatchets +heated red-hot; but the indomitable priest stood like a rock. A Huron in +the crowd, who had been a convert of the mission, but was now an +Iroquois by adoption, called out, with the malice of a renegade, to pour +hot water on their heads, since they had poured so much cold water on +those of others. The kettle was accordingly slung, and the water boiled +and poured slowly on the heads of the two missionaries. "We baptize +you," they cried, "that you may be happy in Heaven; for nobody can be +saved without a good baptism." Brébeuf would not flinch; and, in a rage, +they cut strips of flesh from his limbs, and devoured them before his +eyes. Other renegade Hurons called out to him, "You told us, that, the +more one suffers on earth, the happier he is in Heaven. We wish to make +you happy; we torment you because we love you; and you ought to thank us +for it." After a succession of other revolting tortures, they scalped +him; when, seeing him nearly dead, they laid open his breast, and came +in a crowd to drink the blood of so valiant an enemy, thinking to imbibe +with it some portion of his courage. A chief then tore out his heart, +and devoured it. + +Thus died Jean de Brébeuf, the founder of the Huron mission, its truest +hero, and its greatest martyr. He came of a noble race,--the same, it is +said, from which sprang the English Earls of Arundel; but never had the +mailed barons of his line confronted a fate so appalling, with so +prodigious a constancy. To the last he refused to flinch, and "his death +was the astonishment of his murderers." [2] In him an enthusiastic +devotion was grafted on an heroic nature. His bodily endowments were as +remarkable as the temper of his mind. His manly proportions, his +strength, and his endurance, which incessant fasts and penances could +not undermine, had always won for him the respect of the Indians, no +less than a courage unconscious of fear, and yet redeemed from rashness +by a cool and vigorous judgment; for, extravagant as were the chimeras +which fed the fires of his zeal, they were consistent with the soberest +good sense on matters of practical bearing. + +[2] Charlevoix, I. 294. Alegambe uses a similar expression. + +Lalemant, physically weak from childhood, and slender almost to +emaciation, was constitutionally unequal to a display of fortitude like +that of his colleague. When Brébeuf died, he was led back to the house +whence he had been taken, and tortured there all night, until, in the +morning, one of the Iroquois, growing tired of the protracted +entertainment, killed him with a hatchet. [3] It was said, that, at +times, he seemed beside himself; then, rallying, with hands uplifted, he +offered his sufferings to Heaven as a sacrifice. His robust companion +had lived less than four hours under the torture, while he survived it +for nearly seventeen. Perhaps the Titanic effort of will with which +Brébeuf repressed all show of suffering conspired with the Iroquois +knives and firebrands to exhaust his vitality; perhaps his tormentors, +enraged at his fortitude, forgot their subtlety, and struck too near the +life. + +[3] "We saw no part of his body," says Ragueneau, "from head to foot, +which was not burned, even to his eyes, in the sockets of which these +wretches had placed live coals."--Relation des Hurons, 1649, 15. + +Lalemant was a Parisian, and his family belonged to the class of gens de +robe, or hereditary practitioners of the law. He was thirty-nine years +of age. His physical weakness is spoken of by several of those who knew +him. Marie de l'Incarnation says, "C'était l'homme le plus faible et le +plus délicat qu'on eût pu voir." Both Bressani and Ragueneau are equally +emphatic on this point. + +The bodies of the two missionaries were carried to Sainte Marie, and +buried in the cemetery there; but the skull of Brébeuf was preserved as +a relic. His family sent from France a silver bust of their martyred +kinsman, in the base of which was a recess to contain the skull; and, to +this day, the bust and the relic within are preserved with pious care by +the nuns of the Hôtel-Dieu at Quebec. [4] + +[4] Photographs of the bust are before me. Various relics of the two +missionaries were preserved; and some of them may still be seen in +Canadian monastic establishments. The following extract from a letter of +Marie de l'Incarnation to her son, written from Quebec in October of +this year, 1649, is curious. + +"Madame our foundress (Madame de la Peltrie) sends you relics of our +holy martyrs; but she does it secretly, since the reverend Fathers would +not give us any, for fear that we should send them to France: but, as +she is not bound by vows, and as the very persons who went for the +bodies have given relics of them to her in secret, I begged her to send +you some of them, which she has done very gladly, from the respect she +has for you." She adds, in the same letter, "Our Lord having revealed to +him (Brébeuf) the time of his martyrdom three days before it happened, +he went, full of joy, to find the other Fathers; who, seeing him in +extraordinary spirits, caused him, by an inspiration of God, to be bled; +after which time surgeon dried his blood, through a presentiment of what +was to take place, lest he should be treated like Father Daniel, who, +eight months before, had been so reduced to ashes that no remains of his +body could be found." + +Brébeuf had once been ordered by the Father Superior to write down the +visions, revelations, and inward experiences with which he was +favored,--"at least," says Ragueneau, "those which he could easily +remember, for their multitude was too great for the whole to be +recalled."--"I find nothing," he adds, "more frequent in this memoir +than the expression of his desire to die for Jesus Christ: 'Sentio me +vehementer impelli ad moriendum pro Christo.'... In fine, wishing to +make himself a holocaust and a victim consecrated to death, and holily +to anticipate the happiness of martyrdom which awaited him, he bound +himself by a vow to Christ, which he conceived in these terms"; and +Ragueneau gives the vow in the original Latin. It binds him never to +refuse "the grace of martyrdom, if, at any day, Thou shouldst, in Thy +infinite pity, offer it to me, Thy unworthy servant;" ... "and when I +shall have received the stroke of death, I bind myself to accept it at +Thy hand, with all the contentment and joy of my heart." + +Some of his innumerable visions have been already mentioned. (See ante, +(page 108).) Tanner, Societas Militans, gives various others,--as, for +example, that he once beheld a mountain covered thick with saints, but +above all with virgins, while the Queen of Virgins sat at the top in a +blaze of glory. In 1637, when the whole country was enraged against the +Jesuits, and above all against Brébeuf, as sorcerers who had caused the +pest, Ragueneau tells us that "a troop of demons appeared before him +divers times,--sometimes like men in a fury, sometimes like frightful +monsters, bears, lions, or wild horses, trying to rush upon him. These +spectres excited in him neither horror nor fear. He said to them, 'Do to +me whatever God permits you; for without His will not one hair will fall +from my head.' And at these words all the demons vanished in a +moment."--Relation des Hurons, 1649, 20. Compare the long notice in +Alegambe, Mortes Illustres, 644. + +In Ragueneau's notice of Brébeuf, as in all other notices of deceased +missionaries in the Relations, the saintly qualities alone are brought +forward, as obedience, humility, etc.; but wherever Brébeuf himself +appears in the course of those voluminous records, he always brings with +him an impression of power. + +We are told that, punning on his own name, he used to say that he was an +ox, fit only to bear burdens. This sort of humility may pass for what it +is worth; but it must be remembered, that there is a kind of acting in +which the actor firmly believes in the part he is playing. As for the +obedience, it was as genuine as that of a well-disciplined soldier, and +incomparably more profound. In the case of the Canadian Jesuits, +posterity owes to this, their favorite virtue, the record of numerous +visions, inward voices, and the like miracles, which the object of these +favors set down on paper, at the command of his Superior; while, +otherwise, humility would have concealed them forever. The truth is, +that, with some of these missionaries, one may throw off trash and +nonsense by the cart-load, and find under it all a solid nucleus of +saint and hero. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +1649, 1650. + +THE SANCTUARY. + +Dispersion of the Hurons • Sainte Marie abandoned • Isle St. Joseph • +Removal of the Mission • The New Fort • Misery of the Hurons • Famine • +Epidemic • Employments of the Jesuits + +All was over with the Hurons. The death-knell of their nation had +struck. Without a leader, without organization, without union, crazed +with fright and paralyzed with misery, they yielded to their doom +without a blow. Their only thought was flight. Within two weeks after +the disasters of St. Ignace and St. Louis, fifteen Huron towns were +abandoned, and the greater number burned, lest they should give shelter +to the Iroquois. The last year's harvest had been scanty; the fugitives +had no food, and they left behind them the fields in which was their +only hope of obtaining it. In bands, large or small, some roamed +northward and eastward, through the half-thawed wilderness; some hid +themselves on the rocks or islands of Lake Huron; some sought an asylum +among the Tobacco Nation; a few joined the Neutrals on the north of Lake +Erie. The Hurons, as a nation, ceased to exist. [1] + +[1] Chaumonot, who was at Ossossané at the time of the Iroquois +invasion, gives a vivid picture of the panic and lamentation which +followed the news of the destruction of the Huron warriors at St. Louis, +and of the flight of the inhabitants to the country of the Tobacco +Nation.--Vie, 62. + +Hitherto Sainte Marie had been covered by large fortified towns which +lay between it and the Iroquois; but these were all destroyed, some by +the enemy and some by their own people, and the Jesuits were left alone +to bear the brunt of the next attack. There was, moreover, no reason for +their remaining. Sainte Marie had been built as a basis for the +missions; but its occupation was gone: the flock had fled from the +shepherds, and its existence had no longer an object. If the priests +stayed to be butchered, they would perish, not as martyrs, but as fools. +The necessity was as clear as it was bitter. All their toil must come to +nought. Sainte Marie must be abandoned. They confess the pang which the +resolution cost them; but, pursues the Father Superior, "since the birth +of Christianity, the Faith has nowhere been planted except in the midst +of sufferings and crosses. Thus this desolation consoles us; and in the +midst of persecution, in the extremity of the evils which assail us and +the greater evils which threaten us, we are all filled with joy: for our +hearts tell us that God has never had a more tender love for us than +now." [2] + +[2] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1649, 26. + +Several of the priests set out to follow and console the scattered bands +of fugitive Hurons. One embarked in a canoe, and coasted the dreary +shores of Lake Huron northward, among the wild labyrinth of rocks and +islets, whither his scared flock had fled for refuge; another betook +himself to the forest with a band of half-famished proselytes, and +shared their miserable rovings through the thickets and among the +mountains. Those who remained took counsel together at Sainte Marie. +Whither should they go, and where should be the new seat of the mission? +They made choice of the Grand Manitoulin Island, called by them Isle +Sainte Marie, and by the Hurons Ekaentoton. It lay near the northern +shores of Lake Huron, and by its position would give a ready access to +numberless Algonquin tribes along the borders of all these inland seas. +Moreover, it would bring the priests and their flock nearer to the +French settlements, by the route of the Ottawa, whenever the Iroquois +should cease to infest that river. The fishing, too, was good; and some +of the priests, who knew the island well, made a favorable report of the +soil. Thither, therefore, they had resolved to transplant the mission, +when twelve Huron chiefs arrived, and asked for an interview with the +Father Superior and his fellow Jesuits. The conference lasted three +hours. The deputies declared that many of the scattered Hurons had +determined to reunite, and form a settlement on a neighboring island of +the lake, called by the Jesuits Isle St. Joseph; that they needed the +aid of the Fathers; that without them they were helpless, but with them +they could hold their ground and repel the attacks of the Iroquois. They +urged their plea in language which Ragueneau describes as pathetic and +eloquent; and, to confirm their words, they gave him ten large collars +of wampum, saying that these were the voices of their wives and +children. They gained their point. The Jesuits abandoned their former +plan, and promised to join the Hurons on Isle St. Joseph. + +They had built a boat, or small vessel, and in this they embarked such +of their stores as it would hold. The greater part were placed on a +large raft made for the purpose, like one of the rafts of timber which +every summer float down the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa. Here was their +stock of corn,--in part the produce of their own fields, and in part +bought from the Hurons in former years of plenty,--pictures, vestments, +sacred vessels and images, weapons, ammunition, tools, goods for barter +with the Indians, cattle, swine, and poultry. [3] Sainte Marie was +stripped of everything that could be moved. Then, lest it should harbor +the Iroquois, they set it on fire, and saw consumed in an hour the +results of nine or ten years of toil. It was near sunset, on the +fourteenth of June. [4] The houseless band descended to the mouth of the +Wye, went on board their raft, pushed it from the shore, and, with +sweeps and oars, urged it on its way all night. The lake was calm and +the weather fair; but it crept so slowly over the water that several +days elapsed before they reached their destination, about twenty miles +distant. + +[3] Some of these were killed for food after reaching the island. In +March following, they had ten fowls, a pair of swine, two bulls and two +cows, kept for breeding.--Lettre de Ragueneau au Général de la Compagnie +de Jésus, St. Joseph, 13 Mars, 1650. +[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 3. In the Relation of the +preceding year he gives the fifteenth of May as the date,--evidently an +error. + +"Nous sortismes de ces terres de Promission qui estoient nostre Paradis, +et où la mort nous eust esté mille fois plus douce que ne sera la vie en +quelque lieu que nous puissions estre. Mais il faut suiure Dieu, et il +faut aimer ses conduites, quelque opposées qu'elles paroissent à nos +desirs, à nos plus saintes esperances et aux plus tendres amours de +nostre cœur."--Lettre de Ragueneau au P. Provincial à Paris, in Relation +des Hurons, 1650, 1. + +"Mais il fallut, à tous tant que nous estions, quitter cette ancienne +demeure de saincte Marie; ces edifices, qui quoy que pauures, +paroissoient des chefs-d'œuure de l'art aux yeux de nos pauures +Sauuages; ces terres cultiuées, qui nous promettoient vne riche moisson. +Il nous fallut abandonner ce lieu, que ie puis appeller nostre seconde +Patrie et nos delices innocentes, puis qu'il auoit esté le berceau de ce +Christianisme, qu'il estoit le temple de Dieu et la maison des +seruiteurs de Iesus-Christ; et crainte que nos ennemis trop impies, ne +profanassent ce lieu de saincteté et n'en prissent leur auantage, nous y +mismes le feu nous mesmes, et nous vismes brusler à nos yeux, en moins +d'vne heure, nos trauaux de neuf et de dix ans."--Ragueneau, Relation +des Hurons, 1650, 2, 3. + +Near the entrance of Matchedash Bay lie the three islands now known as +Faith, Hope, and Charity. Of these, Charity or Christian Island, called +Ahoendoé by the Hurons and St. Joseph by the Jesuits, is by far the +largest. It is six or eight miles wide; and when the Hurons sought +refuge here, it was densely covered with the primeval forest. The +priests landed with their men, some forty soldiers, laborers, and +others, and found about three hundred Huron families bivouacked in the +woods. Here were wigwams and sheds of bark, and smoky kettles slung over +fires, each on its tripod of poles, while around lay groups of famished +wretches, with dark, haggard visages and uncombed hair, in every posture +of despondency and woe. They had not been wholly idle; for they had made +some rough clearings, and planted a little corn. The arrival of the +Jesuits gave them new hope; and, weakened as they were with famine, they +set themselves to the task of hewing and burning down the forest, making +bark houses, and planting palisades. The priests, on their part, chose a +favorable spot, and began to clear the ground and mark out the lines of +a fort. Their men--the greater part serving without pay--labored with +admirable spirit, and before winter had built a square, bastioned fort +of solid masonry, with a deep ditch, and walls about twelve feet high. +Within were a small chapel, houses for lodging, and a well, which, with +the ruins of the walls, may still be seen on the south-eastern shore of +the island, a hundred feet from the water. [5] Detached redoubts were +also built near at hand, where French musketeers could aid in defending +the adjacent Huron village. [6] Though the island was called St. Joseph, +the fort, like that on the Wye, received the name of Sainte Marie. +Jesuit devotion scattered these names broadcast over all the field of +their labors. + +[5] The measurement between the angles of the two southern bastions is +123 feet, and that of the curtain wall connecting these bastions is 78 +feet. Some curious relics have been found in the fort,--among others, a +steel mill for making wafers for the Host. It was found in 1848, in a +remarkable state of preservation, and is now in an English museum, +having been bought on the spot by an amateur. As at Sainte Marie on the +Wye, the remains are in perfect conformity with the narratives and +letters of the priests. +[6] Compare Martin, Introduction to Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 38. + +The island, thanks to the vigilance of the French, escaped attack +throughout the summer; but Iroquois scalping-parties ranged the +neighboring shores, killing stragglers and keeping the Hurons in +perpetual alarm. As winter drew near, great numbers, who, trembling and +by stealth, had gathered a miserable subsistence among the northern +forests and islands, rejoined their countrymen at St. Joseph, until six +or eight thousand expatriated wretches were gathered here under the +protection of the French fort. They were housed in a hundred or more +bark dwellings, each containing eight or ten families. [7] Here were +widows without children, and children without parents; for famine and +the Iroquois had proved more deadly enemies than the pestilence which a +few years before had wasted their towns. [8] Of this multitude but few +had strength enough to labor, scarcely any had made provision for the +winter, and numbers were already perishing from want, dragging +themselves from house to house, like living skeletons. The priests had +spared no effort to meet the demands upon their charity. They sent men +during the autumn to buy smoked fish from the Northern Algonquins, and +employed Indians to gather acorns in the woods. Of this miserable food +they succeeded in collecting five or six hundred bushels. To diminish +its bitterness, the Indians boiled it with ashes, or the priests served +it out to them pounded, and mixed with corn. [9] + +[7] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 3, 4. He reckons eight persons +to a family. +[8] "Ie voudrois pouuoir representer à toutes les personnes +affectionnées à nos Hurons, l'état pitoyable auquel ils sont reduits; +... comment seroit-il possible que ces imitateurs de Iésus Christ ne +fussent émeus à pitié à la veuë des centaines et centaines de veuues +dont non seulement les enfans, mais quasi les parens ont esté +outrageusement ou tuez, ou emmenez captifs, et puis inhumainement +bruslez, cuits, déchirez et deuorez des ennemis."--Lettre de Chaumonot à +Lalemant, Supérieur à Quebec, Isle de St. Joseph, 1 Juin, 1649. + +"Vne mère s'est veuë, n'ayant que ses deux mamelles, mais sans suc et +sans laict, qui toutefois estoit l'vnique chose qu'elle eust peu +presenter à trois ou quatre enfans qui pleuroient y estans attachez. +Elle les voyoit mourir entre ses bras, les vns apres les autres, et +n'auoit pas mesme les forces de les pousser dans le tombeau. Elle +mouroit sous cette charge, et en mourant elle disoit: Ouy, Mon Dieu, +vous estes le maistre de nos vies; nous mourrons puisque vous le voulez; +voila qui est bien que nous mourrions Chrestiens. I'estois damnée, et +mes enfans auec moy, si nous ne fussions morts miserables; ils ont receu +le sainct Baptesme, et ie croy fermement que mourans tous de compagnie, +nous ressusciterons tous ensemble."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, +1650, 5. +[9] Eight hundred sacks of this mixture were given to the Hurons during +the winter.--Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 283. + +As winter advanced, the Huron houses became a frightful spectacle. Their +inmates were dying by scores daily. The priests and their men buried the +bodies, and the Indians dug them from the earth or the snow and fed on +them, sometimes in secret and sometimes openly; although, +notwithstanding their superstitious feasts on the bodies of their +enemies, their repugnance and horror were extreme at the thought of +devouring those of relatives and friends. [10] An epidemic presently +appeared, to aid the work of famine. Before spring, about half of their +number were dead. + +[10] "Ce fut alors que nous fusmes contraints de voir des squeletes +mourantes, qui soustenoient vne vie miserable, mangeant iusqu'aux +ordures et les rebuts de la nature. Le gland estoit à la pluspart, ce +que seroient en France les mets les plus exquis. Les charognes mesme +deterrées, les restes des Renards et des Chiens ne faisoient point +horreur, et se mangeoient, quoy qu'en cachete: car quoy que les Hurons, +auant que la foy leur eust donné plus de lumiere qu'ils n'en auoient +dans l'infidelité, ne creussent pas commettre aucun peché de manger +leurs ennemis, aussi peu qu'il y en a de les tuer, toutefois ie puis +dire auec verité, qu'ils n'ont pas moins d'horreur de manger de leurs +compatriotes, qu'on peut auoir en France de manger de la chair humaine. +Mais la necessité n'a plus de loy, et des dents fameliques ne discernent +plus ce qu'elles mangent. Les mères se sont repeuës de leurs enfans, des +freres de leurs freres, et des enfans ne reconnoissoient plus en vn +cadaure mort, celuy lequel lors qu'il viuoit, ils appelloient leur +Pere."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 4. Compare Bressani, +Relation Abrégée, 283. + +Meanwhile, though the cold was intense and the snow several feet deep, +yet not an hour was free from the danger of the Iroquois; and, from +sunset to daybreak, under the cold moon or in the driving snow-storm, +the French sentries walked their rounds along the ramparts. + +The priests rose before dawn, and spent the time till sunrise in their +private devotions. Then the bell of their chapel rang, and the Indians +came in crowds at the call; for misery had softened their hearts, and +nearly all on the island were now Christian. There was a mass, followed +by a prayer and a few words of exhortation; then the hearers dispersed +to make room for others. Thus the little chapel was filled ten or twelve +times, until all had had their turn. Meanwhile other priests were +hearing confessions and giving advice and encouragement in private, +according to the needs of each applicant. This lasted till nine o'clock, +when all the Indians returned to their village, and the priests +presently followed, to give what assistance they could. Their cassocks +were worn out, and they were dressed chiefly in skins. [11] They visited +the Indian houses, and gave to those whose necessities were most urgent +small scraps of hide, severally stamped with a particular mark, and +entitling the recipients, on presenting them at the fort, to a few +acorns, a small quantity of boiled maize, or a fragment of smoked fish, +according to the stamp on the leather ticket of each. Two hours before +sunset the bell of the chapel again rang, and the religious exercises of +the morning were repeated. [12] + +[11] Lettre de Ragueneau au Général de la Compagnie de Jésus, Isle St. +Joseph, 13 Mars, 1650. +[12] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 6, 7. + +Thus this miserable winter wore away, till the opening spring brought +new fears and new necessities. [13] + +[13] Concerning the retreat of the Hurons to Isle St. Joseph, the +principal authorities are the Relations of 1649 and 1650, which are +ample in detail, and written with an excellent simplicity and modesty; +the Relation Abrégée of Bressani; the reports of the Father Superior to +the General of the Jesuits at Rome; the manuscript of 1652, entitled +Mémoires touchant la Mort et les Vertus des Pères, etc.; the unpublished +letters of Garnier; and a letter of Chaumonot, written on the spot, and +preserved in the Relations. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +1649. + +GARNIER--CHABANEL. + +The Tobacco Missions • St. Jean attacked • Death of Garnier • The +Journey of Chabanel • His Death • Garreau and Grelon. + +Late in the preceding autumn the Iroquois had taken the war-path in +force. At the end of November, two escaped prisoners came to Isle St. +Joseph with the news that a band of three hundred warriors was hovering +in the Huron forests, doubtful whether to invade the island or to attack +the towns of the Tobacco Nation in the valleys of the Blue Mountains. +The Father Superior, Ragueneau, sent a runner thither in all haste, to +warn the inhabitants of their danger. + +There were at this time two missions in the Tobacco Nation, St. Jean and +St. Matthias, [1]--the latter under the charge of the Jesuits Garreau +and Grelon, and the former under that of Garnier and Chabanel. St. Jean, +the principal seat of the mission of the same name, was a town of five +or six hundred families. Its population was, moreover, greatly augmented +by the bands of fugitive Hurons who had taken refuge there. When the +warriors were warned by Ragueneau's messenger of a probable attack from +the Iroquois, they were far from being daunted, but, confiding in their +numbers, awaited the enemy in one of those fits of valor which +characterize the unstable courage of the savage. At St. Jean all was +paint, feathers, and uproar,--singing, dancing, howling, and stamping. +Quivers were filled, knives whetted, and tomahawks sharpened; but when, +after two days of eager expectancy, the enemy did not appear, the +warriors lost patience. Thinking, and probably with reason, that the +Iroquois were afraid of them, they resolved to sally forth, and take the +offensive. With yelps and whoops they defiled into the forest, where the +branches were gray and bare, and the ground thickly covered with snow. +They pushed on rapidly till the following day, but could not discover +their wary enemy, who had made a wide circuit, and was approaching the +town from another quarter. By ill luck, the Iroquois captured a Tobacco +Indian and his squaw, straggling in the forest not far from St. Jean; +and the two prisoners, to propitiate them, told them the defenceless +condition of the place, where none remained but women, children, and old +men. The delighted Iroquois no longer hesitated, but silently and +swiftly pushed on towards the town. + +[1] The Indian name of St. Jean was Etarita; and that of St. Matthias, +Ekarenniondi. + +It was two o'clock in the afternoon of the seventh of December. [2] +Chabanel had left the place a day or two before, in obedience to a +message from Ragueneau, and Garnier was here alone. He was making his +rounds among the houses, visiting the sick and instructing his converts, +when the horrible din of the war-whoop rose from the borders of the +clearing, and, on the instant, the town was mad with terror. Children +and girls rushed to and fro, blind with fright; women snatched their +infants, and fled they knew not whither. Garnier ran to his chapel, +where a few of his converts had sought asylum. He gave them his +benediction, exhorted them to hold fast to the Faith, and bade them fly +while there was yet time. For himself, he hastened back to the houses, +running from one to another, and giving absolution or baptism to all +whom he found. An Iroquois met him, shot him with three balls through +the body and thigh, tore off his cassock, and rushed on in pursuit of +the fugitives. Garnier lay for a moment on the ground, as if stunned; +then, recovering his senses, he was seen to rise into a kneeling +posture. At a little distance from him lay a Huron, mortally wounded, +but still showing signs of life. With the Heaven that awaited him +glowing before his fading vision, the priest dragged himself towards the +dying Indian, to give him absolution; but his strength failed, and he +fell again to the earth. He rose once more, and again crept forward, +when a party of Iroquois rushed upon him, split his head with two blows +of a hatchet, stripped him, and left his body on the ground. [3] At this +time the whole town was on fire. The invaders, fearing that the absent +warriors might return and take their revenge, hastened to finish their +work, scattered firebrands everywhere, and threw children alive into the +burning houses. They killed many of the fugitives, captured many more, +and then made a hasty retreat through the forest with their prisoners, +butchering such of them as lagged on the way. St. Jean lay a waste of +smoking ruins thickly strewn with blackened corpses of the slain. + +[2] Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 264. +[3] The above particulars of Garnier's death rest on the evidence of a +Christian Huron woman, named Marthe, who saw him shot down, and also saw +his attempt to reach the dying Indian. She was herself struck down +immediately after with a war-club, but remained alive, and escaped in +the confusion. She died three months later, at Isle St. Joseph, from the +effects of the injuries she had received, after reaffirming the truth of +her story to Ragueneau, who was with her, and who questioned her on the +subject. (Mémoires touchant la Mort et les Vertus des Pères Garnier, +etc., MS.). Ragueneau also speaks of her in Relation des Hurons, 1650, +9.--The priests Grelon and Garreau found the body stripped naked, with +three gunshot wounds in the abdomen and thigh, and two deep hatchet +wounds in the head. + +Towards evening, parties of fugitives reached St. Matthias, with tidings +of the catastrophe. The town was wild with alarm, and all stood on the +watch, in expectation of an attack; but when, in the morning, scouts +came in and reported the retreat of the Iroquois, Garreau and Grelon set +out with a party of converts to visit the scene of havoc. For a long +time they looked in vain for the body of Garnier; but at length they +found him lying where he had fallen,--so scorched and disfigured, that +he was recognized with difficulty. The two priests wrapped his body in a +part of their own clothing; the Indian converts dug a grave on the spot +where his church had stood; and here they buried him. Thus, at the age +of forty-four, died Charles Garnier, the favorite child of wealthy and +noble parents, nursed in Parisian luxury and ease, then living and +dying, a more than willing exile, amid the hardships and horrors of the +Huron wilderness. His life and his death are his best eulogy. Brébeuf +was the lion of the Huron mission, and Garnier was the lamb; but the +lamb was as fearless as the lion. [4] + +[4] Garnier's devotion to the mission was absolute. He took little or no +interest in the news from France, which, at intervals of from one to +three years, found its way to the Huron towns. His companion Bressani +says, that he would walk thirty or forty miles in the hottest summer +day, to baptize some dying Indian, when the country was infested by the +enemy. On similar errands, he would sometimes pass the night alone in +the forest in the depth of winter. He was anxious to fall into the hands +of the Iroquois, that he might preach the Faith to them even out of the +midst of the fire. In one of his unpublished letters he writes, "Praised +be our Lord, who punishes me for my sins by depriving me of this crown" +(the crown of martyrdom). After the death of Brébeuf and Lalemant, he +writes to his brother:-- + +"Hélas! Mon cher frère, si ma conscience ne me convainquait et ne me +confondait de mon infidélité au service de notre bon mâitre, je pourrais +espérer quelque faveur approchante de celles qu'il a faites aux +bienheureux martyrs avec qui j'avais le bien de converser souvent, étant +dans les mêmes occasions et dangers qu'ils étaient, mais sa justice me +fait craindre que je ne demeure toujours indigne d'une telle couronne." + +He contented himself with the most wretched fare during the last years +of famine, living in good measure on roots and acorns; "although," says +Ragueneau, "he had been the cherished son of a rich and noble house, on +whom all the affection of his father had centred, and who had been +nourished on food very different from that of swine."--Relation des +Hurons, 1650, 12. + +For his character, see Ragueneau, Bressani, Tanner, and Alegambe, who +devotes many pages to the description of his religious traits; but the +complexion of his mind is best reflected in his private letters. + +When, on the following morning, the warriors of St. Jean returned from +their rash and bootless sally, and saw the ashes of their desolated +homes and the ghastly relics of their murdered families, they seated +themselves amid the ruin, silent and motionless as statues of bronze, +with heads bowed down and eyes fixed on the ground. Thus they remained +through half the day. Tears and wailing were for women; this was the +mourning of warriors. + +Garnier's colleague, Chabanel, had been recalled from St. Jean by an +order from the Father Superior, who thought it needless to expose the +life of more than one priest in a position of so much danger. He stopped +on his way at St. Matthias, and on the morning of the seventh of +December, the day of the attack, left that town with seven or eight +Christian Hurons. The journey was rough and difficult. They proceeded +through the forest about eighteen miles, and then encamped in the snow. +The Indians fell asleep; but Chabanel, from an apprehension of danger, +or some other cause, remained awake. About midnight he heard a strange +sound in the distance,--a confusion of fierce voices, mingled with songs +and outcries. It was the Iroquois on their retreat with their prisoners, +some of whom were defiantly singing their war-songs, after the Indian +custom. Chabanel waked his companions, who instantly took flight. He +tried to follow, but could not keep pace with the light-footed savages, +who returned to St. Matthias, and told what had occurred. They said, +however, that Chabanel had left them and taken an opposite direction, in +order to reach Isle St. Joseph. His brother priests were for some time +ignorant of what had befallen him. At length a Huron Indian, who had +been converted, but afterward apostatized, gave out that he had met him +in the forest, and aided him with his canoe to cross a river which lay +in his path. Some supposed that he had lost his way, and died of cold +and hunger; but others were of a different opinion. Their suspicion was +confirmed some time afterwards by the renegade Huron, who confessed that +he had killed Chabanel and thrown his body into the river, after robbing +him of his clothes, his hat, the blanket or mantle which was strapped to +his shoulders, and the bag in which he carried his books and papers. He +declared that his motive was hatred of the Faith, which had caused the +ruin of the Hurons. [5] The priest had prepared himself for a worse +fate. Before leaving Sainte Marie on the Wye, to go to his post in the +Tobacco Nation, he had written to his brother to regard him as a victim +destined to the fires of the Iroquois. [6] He added, that, though he was +naturally timid, he was now wholly indifferent to danger; and he +expressed the belief that only a superhuman power could have wrought +such a change in him. [7] + +[5] Mémoires touchant la Mort et les Vertus des Pères, etc., MS. +[6] Abrégé de la Vie du P. Noël Chabanel. MS. +[7] "Ie suis fort apprehensif de mon naturel; toutefois, maintenant que +ie vay au plus grand danger et qu'il me semble que la mort n'est pas +esloignée, ie ne sens plus de crainte. Cette disposition ne vient pas de +moy."--Relation des Hurons, 1650, 18. + +The following is the vow made by Chabanel, at a time when his disgust at +the Indian mode of life beset him with temptations to ask to be recalled +from the mission. It is translated from the Latin original:-- + +"My Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the admirable disposition of thy paternal +providence, hast willed that I, although most unworthy, should be a +co-laborer with the holy Apostles in this vineyard of the Hurons,--I, +Noël Chabanel, impelled by the desire of fulfilling thy holy will in +advancing the conversion of the savages of this land to thy faith, do +vow, in the presence of the most holy sacrament of thy precious body and +blood, which is God's tabernacle among men, to remain perpetually +attached to this mission of the Hurons, understanding all things +according to the interpretation and disposal of the Superiors of the +Society of Jesus. Therefore I entreat thee to receive me as the +perpetual servant of this mission, and to render me worthy of so sublime +a ministry. Amen. This twentieth day of June, 1647." + +Garreau and Grelon, in their mission of St. Matthias, were exposed to +other dangers than those of the Iroquois. A report was spread, not only +that they were magicians, but that they had a secret understanding with +the enemy. A nocturnal council was called, and their death was decreed. +In the morning, a furious crowd gathered before a lodge which they were +about to enter, screeching and yelling after the manner of Indians when +they compel a prisoner to run the gantlet. The two priests, giving no +sign of fear, passed through the crowd and entered the lodge unharmed. +Hatchets were brandished over them, but no one would be the first to +strike. Their converts were amazed at their escape, and they themselves +ascribed it to the interposition of a protecting Providence. The Huron +missionaries were doubly in danger,--not more from the Iroquois than +from the blind rage of those who should have been their friends. [8] + +[8] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 20. + +One of these two missionaries, Garreau, was afterwards killed by the +Iroquois, who shot him through the spine, in 1656, near Montreal.--De +Quen, Relation, 1656, 41. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +1650-1652. + +THE HURON MISSION ABANDONED. + +Famine and the Tomahawk • A New Asylum • Voyage of the Refugees to +Quebec • Meeting with Bressani • Desperate Courage of the Iroquois • +Inroads and Battles • Death of Buteux + +As spring approached, the starving multitude on Isle St. Joseph grew +reckless with hunger. Along the main shore, in spots where the sun lay +warm, the spring fisheries had already begun, and the melting snow was +uncovering the acorns in the woods. There was danger everywhere, for +bands of Iroquois were again on the track of their prey. [1] The +miserable Hurons, gnawed with inexorable famine, stood in the dilemma of +a deadly peril and an assured death. They chose the former; and, early +in March, began to leave their island and cross to the main-land, to +gather what sustenance they could. The ice was still thick, but the +advancing season had softened it; and, as a body of them were crossing, +it broke under their feet. Some were drowned; while others dragged +themselves out, drenched and pierced with cold, to die miserably on the +frozen lake, before they could reach a shelter. Other parties, more +fortunate, gained the shore safely, and began their fishing, divided +into companies of from eight or ten to a hundred persons. But the +Iroquois were in wait for them. A large band of warriors had already +made their way, through ice and snow, from their towns in Central New +York. They surprised the Huron fishermen, surrounded them, and cut them +in pieces without resistance,--tracking out the various parties of their +victims, and hunting down fugitives with such persistency and skill, +that, of all who had gone over to the main, the Jesuits knew of but one +who escaped. [2] + +[1] "Mais le Printemps estant venu, les Iroquois nous furent encore plus +cruels; et ce sont eux qui vrayement ont ruiné toutes nos esperances, et +qui ont fait vn lieu d'horreur, vne terre de sang et de carnage, vn +theatre de cruauté et vn sepulchre de carcasses décharnées par les +langueurs d'vne longue famine, d'vn païs de benediction, d'vne terre de +Sainteté et d'vn lieu qui n'auoit plus rien de barbare, depuis que le +sang respandu pour son amour auoit rendu tout son peuple +Chrestien."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 23. +[2] "Le iour de l'Annonciation, vingt-cinquiesme de Mars, vne armée +d'Iroquois ayans marché prez de deux cents lieuës de païs, à trauers les +glaces et les neges, trauersans les montagnes et les forests pleines +d'horreur, surprirent au commencement de la nuit le camp de nos +Chrestiens, et en firent vne cruelle boucherie. Il sembloit que le Ciel +conduisit toutes leurs demarches et qu'ils eurent vn Ange pour guide: +car ils diuiserent leurs troupes auec tant de bon-heur, qu'ils +trouuerent en moins de deux iours, toutes les bandes de nos Chrestiens +qui estoient dispersées ça et là, esloignées les vnes des autres de six, +sept et huit lieuës, cent personnes en vn lieu, en vn autre cinquante; +et mesme il y auoit quelques familles solitaires, qui s'estoient +escartées en des lieux moins connus et hors de tout chemin. Chose +estrange! de tout ce monde dissipé, vn seul homme s'eschappa, qui vint +nous en apporter les nouuelles."--Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, +23, 24. + +"My pen," writes Ragueneau, "has no ink black enough to describe the +fury of the Iroquois." Still the goadings of famine were relentless and +irresistible. "It is said," adds the Father Superior, "that hunger will +drive wolves from the forest. So, too, our starving Hurons were driven +out of a town which had become an abode of horror. It was the end of +Lent. Alas, if these poor Christians could have had but acorns and water +to keep their fast upon! On Easter Day we caused them to make a general +confession. On the following morning they went away, leaving us all +their little possessions; and most of them declared publicly that they +made us their heirs, knowing well that they were near their end. And, in +fact, only a few days passed before we heard of the disaster which we +had foreseen. These poor people fell into ambuscades of our Iroquois +enemies. Some were killed on the spot; some were dragged into captivity; +women and children were burned. A few made their escape, and spread +dismay and panic everywhere. A week after, another band was overtaken by +the same fate. Go where they would, they met with slaughter on all +sides. Famine pursued them, or they encountered an enemy more cruel than +cruelty itself; and, to crown their misery, they heard that two great +armies of Iroquois were on the way to exterminate them.... Despair was +universal." [3] + +[3] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 24. + +The Jesuits at St. Joseph knew not what course to take. The doom of +their flock seemed inevitable. When dismay and despondency were at their +height, two of the principal Huron chiefs came to the fort, and asked an +interview with Ragueneau and his companions. They told them that the +Indians had held a council the night before, and resolved to abandon the +island. Some would disperse in the most remote and inaccessible forests; +others would take refuge in a distant spot, apparently the Grand +Manitoulin Island; others would try to reach the Andastes; and others +would seek safety in adoption and incorporation with the Iroquois +themselves. + +"Take courage, brother," continued one of the chiefs, addressing +Ragueneau. "You can save us, if you will but resolve on a bold step. +Choose a place where you can gather us together, and prevent this +dispersion of our people. Turn your eyes towards Quebec, and transport +thither what is left of this ruined country. Do not wait till war and +famine have destroyed us to the last man. We are in your hands. Death +has taken from you more than ten thousand of us. If you wait longer, not +one will remain alive; and then you will be sorry that you did not save +those whom you might have snatched from danger, and who showed you the +means of doing so. If you do as we wish, we will form a church under the +protection of the fort at Quebec. Our faith will not be extinguished. +The examples of the French and the Algonquins will encourage us in our +duty, and their charity will relieve some of our misery. At least, we +shall sometimes find a morsel of bread for our children, who so long +have had nothing but bitter roots and acorns to keep them alive." [4] + +[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 25. It appears from the MS. +Journal des Supérieurs des Jésuites, that a plan of bringing the remnant +of the Hurons to Quebec was discussed and approved by Lalemant and his +associates, in a council held by them at that place in April. + +The Jesuits were deeply moved. They consulted together again and again, +and prayed in turn during forty hours without ceasing, that their minds +might be enlightened. At length they resolved to grant the petition of +the two chiefs, and save the poor remnant of the Hurons, by leading them +to an asylum where there was at least a hope of safety. Their resolution +once taken, they pushed their preparations with all speed, lest the +Iroquois might learn their purpose, and lie in wait to cut them off. +Canoes were made ready, and on the tenth of June they began the voyage, +with all their French followers and about three hundred Hurons. The +Huron mission was abandoned. + +"It was not without tears," writes the Father Superior, "that we left +the country of our hopes and our hearts, where our brethren had +gloriously shed their blood." [5] The fleet of canoes held its +melancholy way along the shores where two years before had been the seat +of one of the chief savage communities of the continent, and where now +all was a waste of death and desolation. Then they steered northward, +along the eastern coast of the Georgian Bay, with its countless rocky +islets; and everywhere they saw the traces of the Iroquois. When they +reached Lake Nipissing, they found it deserted,--nothing remaining of +the Algonquins who dwelt on its shore, except the ashes of their burnt +wigwams. A little farther on, there was a fort built of trees, where the +Iroquois who made this desolation had spent the winter; and a league or +two below, there was another similar fort. The River Ottawa was a +solitude. The Algonquins of Allumette Island and the shores adjacent had +all been killed or driven away, never again to return. "When I came up +this great river, only thirteen years ago," writes Ragueneau, "I found +it bordered with Algonquin tribes, who knew no God, and, in their +infidelity, thought themselves gods on earth; for they had all that they +desired, abundance of fish and game, and a prosperous trade with allied +nations: besides, they were the terror of their enemies. But since they +have embraced the Faith and adored the cross of Christ, He has given +them a heavy share in this cross, and made them a prey to misery, +torture, and a cruel death. In a word, they are a people swept from the +face of the earth. Our only consolation is, that, as they died +Christians, they have a part in the inheritance of the true children of +God, who scourgeth every one whom He receiveth." [6] + +[5] Compare Bressani, Relation Abrégée, 288. +[6] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1650, 27. These Algonquins of the +Ottawa, though broken and dispersed, were not destroyed, as Ragueneau +supposes. + +As the voyagers descended the river, they had a serious alarm. Their +scouts came in, and reported that they had found fresh footprints of men +in the forest. These proved, however, to be the tracks, not of enemies, +but of friends. In the preceding autumn Bressani had gone down to the +French settlements with about twenty Hurons, and was now returning with +them, and twice their number of armed Frenchmen, for the defence of the +mission. His scouts had also been alarmed by discovering the footprints +of Ragueneau's Indians; and for some time the two parties stood on their +guard, each taking the other for an enemy. When at length they +discovered their mistake, they met with embraces and rejoicing. Bressani +and his Frenchmen had come too late. All was over with the Hurons and +the Huron mission; and, as it was useless to go farther, they joined +Ragueneau's party, and retraced their course for the settlements. + +A day or two before, they had had a sharp taste of the mettle of the +enemy. Ten Iroquois warriors had spent the winter in a little fort of +felled trees on the borders of the Ottawa, hunting for subsistence, and +waiting to waylay some passing canoe of Hurons, Algonquins, or +Frenchmen. Bressani's party outnumbered them six to one; but they +resolved that it should not pass without a token of their presence. Late +on a dark night, the French and Hurons lay encamped in the forest, +sleeping about their fires. They had set guards: but these, it seems, +were drowsy or negligent; for the ten Iroquois, watching their time, +approached with the stealth of lynxes, and glided like shadows into the +midst of the camp, where, by the dull glow of the smouldering fires, +they could distinguish the recumbent figures of their victims. Suddenly +they screeched the war-whoop, and struck like lightning with their +hatchets among the sleepers. Seven were killed before the rest could +spring to their weapons. Bressani leaped up, and received on the instant +three arrow-wounds in the head. The Iroquois were surrounded, and a +desperate fight ensued in the dark. Six of them were killed on the spot, +and two made prisoners; while the remaining two, breaking through the +crowd, bounded out of the camp and escaped in the forest. + +The united parties soon after reached Montreal; but the Hurons refused +to remain in a spot so exposed to the Iroquois. Accordingly, they all +descended the St. Lawrence, and at length, on the twenty-eighth of July, +reached Quebec. Here the Ursulines, the hospital nuns, and the +inhabitants taxed their resources to the utmost to provide food and +shelter for the exiled Hurons. Their good will exceeded their power; for +food was scarce at Quebec, and the Jesuits themselves had to bear the +chief burden of keeping the sufferers alive. [7] + +[7] Compare Juchereau, Histoire de l'Hôtel-Dieu, 79, 80. + +But, if famine was an evil, the Iroquois were a far greater one; for, +while the western nations of their confederacy were engrossed with the +destruction of the Hurons, the Mohawks kept up incessant attacks on the +Algonquins and the French. A party of Christian Indians, chiefly from +Sillery, planned a stroke of retaliation, and set out for the Mohawk +country, marching cautiously and sending forward scouts to scour the +forest. One of these, a Huron, suddenly fell in with a large Iroquois +war-party, and, seeing that he could not escape, formed on the instant a +villanous plan to save himself. He ran towards the enemy, crying out, +that he had long been looking for them and was delighted to see them; +that his nation, the Hurons, had come to an end; and that henceforth his +country was the country of the Iroquois, where so many of his kinsmen +and friends had been adopted. He had come, he declared, with no other +thought than that of joining them, and turning Iroquois, as they had +done. The Iroquois demanded if he had come alone. He answered, "No," and +said, that, in order to accomplish his purpose, he had joined an +Algonquin war-party who were in the woods not far off. The Iroquois, in +great delight, demanded to be shown where they were. This Judas, as the +Jesuits call him, at once complied; and the Algonquins were surprised by +a sudden onset, and routed with severe loss. The treacherous Huron was +well treated by the Iroquois, who adopted him into their nation. Not +long after, he came to Canada, and, with a view, as it was thought, to +some further treachery, rejoined the French. A sharp cross-questioning +put him to confusion, and he presently confessed his guilt. He was +sentenced to death; and the sentence was executed by one of his own +countrymen, who split his head with a hatchet. [8] + +[8] Ragueneau, Relation, 1650, 30. + +In the course of the summer, the French at Three Rivers became aware +that a band of Iroquois was prowling in the neighborhood, and sixty men +went out to meet them. Far from retreating, the Iroquois, who were about +twenty-five in number, got out of their canoes, and took post, +waist-deep in mud and water, among the tall rushes at the margin of the +river. Here they fought stubbornly, and kept all the Frenchmen at bay. +At length, finding themselves hard pressed, they entered their canoes +again, and paddled off. The French rowed after them, and soon became +separated in the chase; whereupon the Iroquois turned, and made +desperate fight with the foremost, retreating again as soon as the +others came up. This they repeated several times, and then made their +escape, after killing a number of the best French soldiers. Their leader +in this affair was a famous half-breed, known as the Flemish Bastard, +who is styled by Ragueneau "an abomination of sin, and a monster +produced between a heretic Dutch father and a pagan mother." + +In the forests far north of Three Rivers dwelt the tribe called the +Atticamegues, or Nation of the White Fish. From their remote position, +and the difficult nature of the intervening country, they thought +themselves safe; but a band of Iroquois, marching on snow-shoes a +distance of twenty days' journey northward from the St. Lawrence, fell +upon one of their camps in the winter, and made a general butchery of +the inmates. The tribe, however, still held its ground for a time, and, +being all good Catholics, gave their missionary, Father Buteux, an +urgent invitation to visit them in their own country. Buteux, who had +long been stationed at Three Rivers, was in ill health, and for years +had rarely been free from some form of bodily suffering. Nevertheless, +he acceded to their request, and, before the opening of spring, made a +remarkable journey on snow-shoes into the depths of this frozen +wilderness. [9] In the year following, he repeated the undertaking. With +him were a large party of Atticamegues, and several Frenchmen. Game was +exceedingly scarce, and they were forced by hunger to separate, a Huron +convert and a Frenchman named Fontarabie remaining with the missionary. +The snows had melted, and all the streams were swollen. The three +travellers, in a small birch canoe, pushed their way up a turbulent +river, where falls and rapids were so numerous, that many times daily +they were forced to carry their bark vessel and their baggage through +forests and thickets and over rocks and precipices. On the tenth of May, +they made two such portages, and, soon after, reaching a third fall, +again lifted their canoe from the water. They toiled through the naked +forest, among the wet, black trees, over tangled roots, green, spongy +mosses, mouldering leaves, and rotten, prostrate trunks, while the +cataract foamed amidst the rocks hard by. The Indian led the way with +the canoe on his head, while Buteux and the other Frenchman followed +with the baggage. Suddenly they were set upon by a troop of Iroquois, +who had crouched behind thickets, rocks, and fallen trees, to waylay +them. The Huron was captured before he had time to fly. Buteux and the +Frenchman tried to escape, but were instantly shot down, the Jesuit +receiving two balls in the breast. The Iroquois rushed upon them, +mangled their bodies with tomahawks and swords, stripped them, and then +flung them into the torrent. [10] + +[9] Iournal du Pere Iacques Buteux du Voyage qu'il a fait pour la +Mission des Attikamegues. See Relation, 1651, 15. +[10] Ragueneau, Relation, 1652, 2, 3. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +1650-1866. + +THE LAST OF THE HURONS. + +Fate of the Vanquished • The Refugees of St. Jean Baptiste and St. +Michel • The Tobacco Nation and its Wanderings • The Modern Wyandots • +The Biter Bit • The Hurons at Quebec • Notre-Dame de Lorette. + +Iroquois bullets and tomahawks had killed the Hurons by hundreds, but +famine and disease had killed incomparably more. The miseries of the +starving crowd on Isle St. Joseph had been shared in an equal degree by +smaller bands, who had wintered in remote and secret retreats of the +wilderness. Of those who survived that season of death, many were so +weakened that they could not endure the hardships of a wandering life, +which was new to them. The Hurons lived by agriculture: their fields and +crops were destroyed, and they were so hunted from place to place that +they could rarely till the soil. Game was very scarce; and, without +agriculture, the country could support only a scanty and scattered +population like that which maintained a struggling existence in the +wilderness of the lower St. Lawrence. The mortality among the exiles was +prodigious. + +It is a matter of some interest to trace the fortunes of the shattered +fragments of a nation once prosperous, and, in its own eyes and those of +its neighbors, powerful and great. None were left alive within their +ancient domain. Some had sought refuge among the Neutrals and the Eries, +and shared the disasters which soon overwhelmed those tribes; others +succeeded in reaching the Andastes; while the inhabitants of two towns, +St. Michel and St. Jean Baptiste, had recourse to an expedient which +seems equally strange and desperate, but which was in accordance with +Indian practices. They contrived to open a communication with the Seneca +Nation of the Iroquois, and promised to change their nationality and +turn Senecas as the price of their lives. The victors accepted the +proposal; and the inhabitants of these two towns, joined by a few other +Hurons, migrated in a body to the Seneca country. They were not +distributed among different villages, but were allowed to form a town by +themselves, where they were afterwards joined by some prisoners of the +Neutral Nation. They identified themselves with the Iroquois in all but +religion,--holding so fast to their faith, that, eighteen years after, a +Jesuit missionary found that many of them were still good Catholics. [1] + +[1] Compare Relation, 1651, 4; 1660, 14, 28; and 1670, 69. The Huron +town among the Senecas was called Gandougaraé. Father Fremin was here in +1668, and gives an account of his visit in the Relation of 1670. + +The division of the Hurons called the Tobacco Nation, favored by their +isolated position among mountains, had held their ground longer than the +rest; but at length they, too, were compelled to fly, together with such +other Hurons as had taken refuge with them. They made their way +northward, and settled on the Island of Michilimackinac, where they were +joined by the Ottawas, who, with other Algonquins, had been driven by +fear of the Iroquois from the western shores of Lake Huron and the banks +of the River Ottawa. At Michilimackinac the Hurons and their allies were +again attacked by the Iroquois, and, after remaining several years, they +made another remove, and took possession of the islands at the mouth of +the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. Even here their old enemy did not leave +them in peace; whereupon they fortified themselves on the main-land, and +afterwards migrated southward and westward. This brought them in contact +with the Illinois, an Algonquin people, at that time very numerous, but +who, like many other tribes at this epoch, were doomed to a rapid +diminution from wars with other savage nations. Continuing their +migration westward, the Hurons and Ottawas reached the Mississippi, +where they fell in with the Sioux. They soon quarrelled with those +fierce children of the prairie, who drove them from their country. They +retreated to the south-western extremity of Lake Superior, and settled +on Point Saint Esprit, or Shagwamigon Point, near the Islands of the +Twelve Apostles. As the Sioux continued to harass them, they left this +place about the year 1671, and returned to Michilimackinac, where they +settled, not on the island, but on the neighboring Point St. Ignace, at +the northern extremity of the great peninsula of Michigan. The greater +part of them afterwards removed thence to Detroit and Sandusky, where +they lived under the name of Wyandots until within the present century, +maintaining a marked influence over the surrounding Algonquins. They +bore an active part, on the side of the French, in the war which ended +in the reduction of Canada; and they were the most formidable enemies of +the English in the Indian war under Pontiac. [2] The government of the +United States at length removed them to reserves on the western +frontier, where a remnant of them may still be found. Thus it appears +that the Wyandots, whose name is so conspicuous in the history of our +border wars, are descendants of the ancient Hurons, and chiefly of that +portion of them called the Tobacco Nation. [3] + +[2] See "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac." +[3] The migrations of this band of the Hurons may be traced by detached +passages and incidental remarks in the Relations of 1654, 1660, 1667, +1670, 1671, and 1672. Nicolas Perrot, in his chapter, Deffaitte et +Füitte des Hurons chassés de leur Pays, and in the chapter following, +gives a long and rather confused account of their movements and +adventures. See also La Poterie, Histoire de l'Amérique Septentrionale, +II. 51-56. According to the Relation of 1670, the Hurons, when living at +Shagwamigon Point, numbered about fifteen hundred souls. + +When Ragueneau and his party left Isle St. Joseph for Quebec, the +greater number of the Hurons chose to remain. They took possession of +the stone fort which the French had abandoned, and where, with +reasonable vigilance, they could maintain themselves against attack. In +the succeeding autumn a small Iroquois war-party had the audacity to +cross over to the island, and build a fort of felled trees in the woods. +The Hurons attacked them; but the invaders made so fierce a defence, +that they kept their assailants at bay, and at length retreated with +little or no loss. Soon after, a much larger band of Onondaga Iroquois, +approaching undiscovered, built a fort on the main-land, opposite the +island, but concealed from sight in the forest. Here they waited to +waylay any party of Hurons who might venture ashore. A Huron war chief, +named Étienne Annaotaha, whose life is described as a succession of +conflicts and adventures, and who is said to have been always in luck, +landed with a few companions, and fell into an ambuscade of the +Iroquois. He prepared to defend himself, when they called out to him, +that they came not as enemies, but as friends, and that they brought +wampum-belts and presents to persuade the Hurons to forget the past, go +back with them to their country, become their adopted countrymen, and +live with them as one nation. Étienne suspected treachery, but concealed +his distrust, and advanced towards the Iroquois with an air of the +utmost confidence. They received him with open arms, and pressed him to +accept their invitation; but he replied, that there were older and wiser +men among the Hurons, whose counsels all the people followed, and that +they ought to lay the proposal before them. He proceeded to advise them +to keep him as a hostage, and send over his companions, with some of +their chiefs, to open the negotiation. His apparent frankness completely +deceived them; and they insisted that he himself should go to the Huron +village, while his companions remained as hostages. He set out +accordingly with three of the principal Iroquois. + +When he reached the village, he gave the whoop of one who brings good +tidings, and proclaimed with a loud voice that the hearts of their +enemies had changed, that the Iroquois would become their countrymen and +brothers, and that they should exchange their miseries for a life of +peace and plenty in a fertile and prosperous land. The whole Huron +population, full of joyful excitement, crowded about him and the three +envoys, who were conducted to the principal lodge, and feasted on the +best that the village could supply. Étienne seized the opportunity to +take aside four or five of the principal chiefs, and secretly tell them +his suspicions that the Iroquois were plotting to compass their +destruction under cover of overtures of peace; and he proposed that they +should meet treachery with treachery. He then explained his plan, which +was highly approved by his auditors, who begged him to charge himself +with the execution of it. Étienne now caused criers to proclaim through +the village that every one should get ready to emigrate in a few days to +the country of their new friends. The squaws began their preparations at +once, and all was bustle and alacrity; for the Hurons themselves were no +less deceived than were the Iroquois envoys. + +During one or two succeeding days, many messages and visits passed +between the Hurons and the Iroquois, whose confidence was such, that +thirty-seven of their best warriors at length came over in a body to the +Huron village. Étienne's time had come. He and the chiefs who were in +the secret gave the word to the Huron warriors, who, at a signal, raised +the war-whoop, rushed upon their visitors, and cut them to pieces. One +of them, who lingered for a time, owned before he died that Étienne's +suspicions were just, and that they had designed nothing less than the +massacre or capture of all the Hurons. Three of the Iroquois, +immediately before the slaughter began, had received from Étienne a +warning of their danger in time to make their escape. The year before, +he had been captured, with Brébeuf and Lalemant, at the town of St. +Louis, and had owed his life to these three warriors, to whom he now +paid back the debt of gratitude. They carried tidings of what had +befallen to their countrymen on the main-land, who, aghast at the +catastrophe, fled homeward in a panic. [4] + +[4] Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1651, 5, 6. Le Mercier, in the +Relation of 1654, preserves the speech of a Huron chief, in which he +speaks of this affair, and adds some particulars not mentioned by +Ragueneau. He gives thirty-four as the number killed. + +Here was a sweet morsel of vengeance. The miseries of the Hurons were +lighted up with a brief gleam of joy; but it behooved them to make a +timely retreat from their island before the Iroquois came to exact a +bloody retribution. Towards spring, while the lake was still frozen, +many of them escaped on the ice, while another party afterwards followed +in canoes. A few, who had neither strength to walk nor canoes to +transport them, perforce remained behind, and were soon massacred by the +Iroquois. The fugitives directed their course to the Grand Manitoulin +Island, where they remained for a short time, and then, to the number of +about four hundred, descended the Ottawa, and rejoined their countrymen +who had gone to Quebec the year before. + +These united parties, joined from time to time by a few other fugitives, +formed a settlement on land belonging to the Jesuits, near the +south-western extremity of the Isle of Orleans, immediately below +Quebec. Here the Jesuits built a fort, like that on Isle St. Joseph, +with a chapel, and a small house for the missionaries, while the bark +dwellings of the Hurons were clustered around the protecting ramparts. +[5] Tools and seeds were given them, and they were encouraged to +cultivate the soil. Gradually they rallied from their dejection, and the +mission settlement was beginning to wear an appearance of thrift, when, +in 1656, the Iroquois made a descent upon them, and carried off a large +number of captives, under the very cannon of Quebec; the French not +daring to fire upon the invaders, lest they should take revenge upon the +Jesuits who were at that time in their country. This calamity was, four +years after, followed by another, when the best of the Huron warriors, +including their leader, the crafty and valiant Étienne Annaotaha, were +slain, fighting side by side with the French, in the desperate conflict +of the Long Sault. [6] + +[5] The site of the fort was the estate now known as "La Terre du Fort," +near the landing of the steam ferry. In 1856, Mr. N. H. Bowen, a +resident near the spot, in making some excavations, found a solid stone +wall five feet thick, which, there can be little doubt, was that of the +work in question. This wall was originally crowned with palisades. See +Bowen, Historical Sketch of the Isle of Orleans, 25. +[6] Relation, 1660 (anonymous), 14. + +The attenuated colony, replenished by some straggling bands of the same +nation, and still numbering several hundred persons, was removed to +Quebec after the inroad in 1656, and lodged in a square inclosure of +palisades close to the fort. [7] Here they remained about ten years, +when, the danger of the times having diminished, they were again removed +to a place called Notre-Dame de Foy, now St. Foi, three or four miles +west of Quebec. Six years after, when the soil was impoverished and the +wood in the neighborhood exhausted, they again changed their abode, and, +under the auspices of the Jesuits, who owned the land, settled at Old +Lorette, nine miles from Quebec. + +[7] In a plan of Quebec of 1660, the "Fort des Hurons" is laid down on a +spot adjoining the north side of the present Place d'Armes. + +Chaumonot was at this time their missionary. It may be remembered that +he had professed special devotion to Our Lady of Loretto, who, in his +boyhood, had cured him, as he believed, of a distressing malady. [8] He +had always cherished the idea of building a chapel in honor of her in +Canada, after the model of the Holy House of Loretto,--which, as all the +world knows, is the house wherein Saint Joseph dwelt with his virgin +spouse, and which angels bore through the air from the Holy Land to +Italy, where it remains an object of pilgrimage to this day. Chaumonot +opened his plan to his brother Jesuits, who were delighted with it, and +the chapel was begun at once, not without the intervention of miracle to +aid in raising the necessary funds. It was built of brick, like its +original, of which it was an exact facsimile; and it stood in the centre +of a quadrangle, the four sides of which were formed by the bark +dwellings of the Hurons, ranged with perfect order in straight lines. +Hither came many pilgrims from Quebec and more distant settlements, and +here Our Lady granted to her suppliants, says Chaumonot, many miraculous +favors, insomuch that "it would require an entire book to describe them +all." [9] + +[8] See ante, (p. 102). +[9] "Les grâces qu'on y obtient par l'entremise de la Mère de Dieu vont +jusqu'au miracle. Comme il faudroit composer un livre entier pour +décrire toutes ces faveurs extraordinaires, je n'en rapporterai que +deux, ayant été témoin oculaire de l'une et propre sujet de +l'autre."--Vie, 95. + +The removal from Notre-Dame de Foy took place at the end of 1673, and +the chapel was finished in the following year. Compare Vie de Chaumonot +with Dablon, Relation, 1672-73, p. 21; and Ibid., Relation 1673-79, p. +259. + +But the Hurons were not destined to remain permanently even here; for, +before the end of the century, they removed to a place four miles +distant, now called New Lorette, or Indian Lorette. It was a wild spot, +covered with the primitive forest, and seamed by a deep and tortuous +ravine, where the St. Charles foams, white as a snow-drift, over the +black ledges, and where the sunlight struggles through matted boughs of +the pine and fir, to bask for brief moments on the mossy rocks or flash +on the hurrying waters. On a plateau beside the torrent, another chapel +was built to Our Lady, and another Huron town sprang up; and here, to +this day, the tourist finds the remnant of a lost people, harmless +weavers of baskets and sewers of moccasins, the Huron blood fast +bleaching out of them, as, with every generation, they mingle and fade +away in the French population around. [10] + +[10] An interesting account of a visit to Indian Lorette in 1721 will be +found in the Journal Historique of Charlevoix. Kalm, in his Travels in +North America, describes its condition in 1749. See also Le Beau, +Aventures, I. 103; who, however, can hardly be regarded as an authority. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +1650-1670. + +THE DESTROYERS. + +Iroquois Ambition • Its Victims • The Fate of the Neutrals • The Fate of +the Eries • The War with the Andastes • Supremacy of the Iroquois + +It was well for the European colonies, above all for those of England, +that the wisdom of the Iroquois was but the wisdom of savages. Their +sagacity is past denying; it showed itself in many ways; but it was not +equal to a comprehension of their own situation and that of their race. +Could they have read their destiny, and curbed their mad ambition, they +might have leagued with themselves four great communities of kindred +lineage, to resist the encroachments of civilization, and oppose a +barrier of fire to the spread of the young colonies of the East. But +their organization and their intelligence were merely the instruments of +a blind frenzy, which impelled them to destroy those whom they might +have made their allies in a common cause. + +Of the four kindred communities, two at least, the Hurons and the +Neutrals, were probably superior in numbers to the Iroquois. Either one +of these, with union and leadership, could have held its ground against +them, and the two united could easily have crippled them beyond the +power of doing mischief. But these so-called nations were mere +aggregations of villages and families, with nothing that deserved to be +called a government. They were very liable to panics, because the part +attacked by an enemy could never rely with confidence on prompt succor +from the rest; and when once broken, they could not be rallied, because +they had no centre around which to gather. The Iroquois, on the other +hand, had an organization with which the ideas and habits of several +generations were interwoven, and they had also sagacious leaders for +peace and war. They discussed all questions of policy with the coolest +deliberation, and knew how to turn to profit even imperfections in their +plan of government which seemed to promise only weakness and discord. +Thus, any nation, or any large town, of their confederacy, could make a +separate war or a separate peace with a foreign nation, or any part of +it. Some member of the league, as, for example, the Cayugas, would make +a covenant of friendship with the enemy, and, while the infatuated +victims were thus lulled into a delusive security, the war-parties of +the other nations, often joined by the Cayuga warriors, would overwhelm +them by a sudden onset. But it was not by their craft, nor by their +organization,--which for military purposes was wretchedly feeble,--that +this handful of savages gained a bloody supremacy. They carried all +before them, because they were animated throughout, as one man, by the +same audacious pride and insatiable rage for conquest. Like other +Indians, they waged war on a plan altogether democratic,--that is, each +man fought or not, as he saw fit; and they owed their unity and vigor of +action to the homicidal frenzy that urged them all alike. + +The Neutral Nation had taken no part, on either side, in the war of +extermination against the Hurons; and their towns were sanctuaries where +either of the contending parties might take asylum. On the other hand, +they made fierce war on their western neighbors, and, a few years +before, destroyed, with atrocious cruelties, a large fortified town of +the Nation of Fire. [1] Their turn was now come, and their victims found +fit avengers; for no sooner were the Hurons broken up and dispersed, +than the Iroquois, without waiting to take breath, turned their fury on +the Neutrals. At the end of the autumn of 1650, they assaulted and took +one of their chief towns, said to have contained at the time more than +sixteen hundred men, besides women and children; and early in the +following spring, they took another town. The slaughter was prodigious, +and the victors drove back troops of captives for butchery or adoption. +It was the death-blow of the Neutrals. They abandoned their corn-fields +and villages in the wildest terror, and dispersed themselves abroad in +forests, which could not yield sustenance to such a multitude. They +perished by thousands, and from that time forth the nation ceased to +exist. [2] + +[1] "Last summer," writes Lalemant in 1643, "two thousand warriors of +the Neutral Nation attacked a town of the Nation of Fire, well fortified +with a palisade, and defended by nine hundred warriors. They took it +after a siege of ten days; killed many on the spot; and made eight +hundred prisoners, men, women, and children. After burning seventy of +the best warriors, they put out the eyes of the old men, and cut away +their lips, and then left them to drag out a miserable existence. Behold +the scourge that is depopulating all this country!"--Relation des +Hurons, 1644, 98. + +The Assistaeronnons, Atsistaehonnons, Mascoutins, or Nation of Fire +(more correctly, perhaps, Nation of the Prairie), were a very numerous +Algonquin people of the West, speaking the same language as the Sacs and +Foxes. In the map of Sanson, they are placed in the southern part of +Michigan; and according to the Relation of 1658, they had thirty towns. +They were a stationary, and in some measure an agricultural people. They +fled before their enemies to the neighborhood of Fox River in Wisconsin, +where they long remained. Frequent mention of them will be found in the +later Relations, and in contemporary documents. They are now extinct as +a tribe. + +[2] Ragueneau, Relation, 1651, 4. In the unpublished journal kept by the +Superior of the Jesuits at Quebec, it is said, under date of April, +1651, that news had just come from Montreal, that, in the preceding +autumn, fifteen hundred Iroquois had taken a Neutral town; that the +Neutrals had afterwards attacked them, and killed two hundred of their +warriors; and that twelve hundred Iroquois had again invaded the Neutral +country to take their revenge. Lafitau, Mœurs des Sauvages, II. 176, +gives, on the authority of Father Julien Garnier, a singular and +improbable account of the origin of the war. + +An old chief, named Kenjockety, who claimed descent from an adopted +prisoner of the Neutral Nation, was recently living among the Senecas of +Western New York. + +During two or three succeeding years, the Iroquois contented themselves +with harassing the French and Algonquins; but in 1653 they made treaties +of peace, each of the five nations for itself, and the colonists and +their red allies had an interval of rest. In the following May, an +Onondaga orator, on a peace visit to Montreal, said, in a speech to the +Governor, "Our young men will no more fight the French; but they are too +warlike to stay at home, and this summer we shall invade the country of +the Eries. The earth trembles and quakes in that quarter; but here all +remains calm." [3] Early in the autumn, Father Le Moyne, who had taken +advantage of the peace to go on a mission to the Onondagas, returned +with the tidings that the Iroquois were all on fire with this new +enterprise, and were about to march against the Eries with eighteen +hundred warriors. [4] + +[3] Le Mercier, Relation, 1654, 9. +[4] Ibid., 10. Le Moyne, in his interesting journal of his mission, +repeatedly alludes to their preparations. + +The occasion of this new war is said to have been as follows. The Eries, +who it will be remembered dwelt on the south of the lake named after +them, had made a treaty of peace with the Senecas, and in the preceding +year had sent a deputation of thirty of their principal men to confirm +it. While they were in the great Seneca town, it happened that one of +that nation was killed in a casual quarrel with an Erie; whereupon his +countrymen rose in a fury, and murdered the thirty deputies. Then ensued +a brisk war of reprisals, in which not only the Senecas, but the other +Iroquois nations, took part. The Eries captured a famous Onondaga chief, +and were about to burn him, when he succeeded in convincing them of the +wisdom of a course of conciliation; and they resolved to give him to the +sister of one of the murdered deputies, to take the place of her lost +brother. The sister, by Indian law, had it in her choice to receive him +with a fraternal embrace or to burn him; but, though she was absent at +the time, no one doubted that she would choose the gentler alternative. +Accordingly, he was clothed in gay attire, and all the town fell to +feasting in honor of his adoption. In the midst of the festivity, the +sister returned. To the amazement of the Erie chiefs, she rejected with +indignation their proffer of a new brother, declared that she would be +revenged for her loss, and insisted that the prisoner should forthwith +be burned. The chiefs remonstrated in vain, representing the danger in +which such a procedure would involve the nation: the female fury was +inexorable; and the unfortunate prisoner, stripped of his festal robes, +was bound to the stake, and put to death. [5] He warned his tormentors +with his last breath, that they were burning not only him, but the whole +Erie nation; since his countrymen would take a fiery vengeance for his +fate. His words proved true; for no sooner was his story spread abroad +among the Iroquois, than the confederacy resounded with war-songs from +end to end, and the warriors took the field under their two great +war-chiefs. Notwithstanding Le Moyne's report, their number, according +to the Iroquois account, did not exceed twelve hundred. [6] + +[5] De Quen, Relation, 1656, 30. +[6] This was their statement to Chaumonot and Dablon, at Onondaga, in +November of this year. They added, that the number of the Eries was +between three and four thousand, (Journal des PP. Chaumonot et Dablon, +in Relation, 1656, 18.) In the narrative of De Quen (Ibid., 30, 31), +based, of course, on Iroquois reports, the Iroquois force is also set +down at twelve hundred, but that of the Eries is reduced to between two +and three thousand warriors. Even this may safely be taken as an +exaggeration. + +Though the Eries had no fire-arms, they used poisoned arrows with great +effect, discharging them, it is said, with surprising rapidity. + +They embarked in canoes on the lake. At their approach the Eries fell +back, withdrawing into the forests towards the west, till they were +gathered into one body, when, fortifying themselves with palisades and +felled trees, they awaited the approach of the invaders. By the lowest +estimate, the Eries numbered two thousand warriors, besides women and +children. But this is the report of the Iroquois, who were naturally +disposed to exaggerate the force of their enemies. + +They approached the Erie fort, and two of their chiefs, dressed like +Frenchmen, advanced and called on those within to surrender. One of them +had lately been baptized by Le Moyne; and he shouted to the Eries, that, +if they did not yield in time, they were all dead men, for the Master of +Life was on the side of the Iroquois. The Eries answered with yells of +derision. "Who is this master of your lives?" they cried; "our hatchets +and our right arms are the masters of ours." The Iroquois rushed to the +assault, but were met with a shower of poisoned arrows, which killed and +wounded many of them, and drove the rest back. They waited awhile, and +then attacked again with unabated mettle. This time, they carried their +bark canoes over their heads like huge shields, to protect them from the +storm of arrows; then planting them upright, and mounting them by the +cross-bars like ladders, scaled the barricade with such impetuous fury +that the Eries were thrown into a panic. Those escaped who could; but +the butchery was frightful, and from that day the Eries as a nation were +no more. The victors paid dear for their conquest. Their losses were so +heavy that they were forced to remain for two months in the Erie +country, to bury their dead and nurse their wounded. [7] + +[7] De Quen, Relation, 1656, 31. The Iroquois, it seems, afterwards made +other expeditions, to finish their work. At least, they told Chaumonot +and Dablon, in the autumn of this year, that they meant to do so in the +following spring. + +It seems, that, before attacking the great fort of the Eries, the +Iroquois had made a promise to worship the new God of the French, if He +would give them the victory. This promise, and the success which +followed, proved of great advantage to the mission. + +Various traditions are extant among the modern remnant of the Iroquois +concerning the war with the Eries. They agree in little beyond the fact +of the existence and destruction of that people. Indeed, Indian +traditions are very rarely of any value as historical evidence. One of +these stories, told me some years ago by a very intelligent Iroquois of +the Cayuga Nation, is a striking illustration of Iroquois ferocity. It +represents, that, the night after the great battle, the forest was +lighted up with more than a thousand fires, at each of which an Erie was +burning alive. It differs from the historical accounts in making the +Eries the aggressors. + +One enemy of their own race remained,--the Andastes. This nation appears +to have been inferior in numbers to either the Hurons, the Neutrals, or +the Eries; but they cost their assailants more trouble than all these +united. The Mohawks seem at first to have borne the brunt of the Andaste +war; and, between the years 1650 and 1660, they were so roughly handled +by these stubborn adversaries, that they were reduced from the height of +audacious insolence to the depths of dejection. [8] The remaining four +nations of the Iroquois league now took up the quarrel, and fared +scarcely better than the Mohawks. In the spring of 1662, eight hundred +of their warriors set out for the Andaste country, to strike a decisive +blow; but when they reached the great town of their enemies, they saw +that they had received both aid and counsel from the neighboring Swedish +colonists. The town was fortified by a double palisade, flanked by two +bastions, on which, it is said, several small pieces of cannon were +mounted. Clearly, it was not to be carried by assault, as the invaders +had promised themselves. Their only hope was in treachery; and, +accordingly, twenty-five of their warriors gained entrance, on pretence +of settling the terms of a peace. Here, again, ensued a grievous +disappointment; for the Andastes seized them all, built high scaffolds +visible from without, and tortured them to death in sight of their +countrymen, who thereupon decamped in miserable discomfiture. [9] + +[8] Relation, 1660, 6 (anonymous). + +The Mohawks also suffered great reverses about this time at the hands of +their Algonquin neighbors, the Mohicans. + +[9] Lalemant, Relation, 1663, 10. + +The Senecas, by far the most numerous of the five Iroquois nations, now +found themselves attacked in turn,--and this, too, at a time when they +were full of despondency at the ravages of the small-pox. The French +reaped a profit from their misfortunes; for the disheartened savages +made them overtures of peace, and begged that they would settle in their +country, teach them to fortify their towns, supply them with arms and +ammunition, and bring "black-robes" to show them the road to Heaven. +[10] + +[10] Lalemant, Relation, 1664, 33. + +The Andaste war became a war of inroads and skirmishes, under which the +weaker party gradually wasted away, though it sometimes won laurels at +the expense of its adversary. Thus, in 1672, a party of twenty Senecas +and forty Cayugas went against the Andastes. They were at a considerable +distance the one from the other, the Cayugas being in advance, when the +Senecas were set upon by about sixty young Andastes, of the class known +as "Burnt-Knives," or "Soft-Metals," because as yet they had taken no +scalps. Indeed, they are described as mere boys, fifteen or sixteen +years old. They killed one of the Senecas, captured another, and put the +rest to flight; after which, flushed with their victory, they attacked +the Cayugas with the utmost fury, and routed them completely, killing +eight of them, and wounding twice that number, who, as is reported by +the Jesuit then in the Cayuga towns, came home half dead with gashes of +knives and hatchets. [11] "May God preserve the Andastes," exclaims the +Father, "and prosper their arms, that the Iroquois may be humbled, and +we and our missions left in peace!" "None but they," he elsewhere adds, +"can curb the pride of the Iroquois." The only strength of the Andastes, +however, was in their courage: for at this time they were reduced to +three hundred fighting men; and about the year 1675 they were finally +overborne by the Senecas. [12] Yet they were not wholly destroyed; for a +remnant of this valiant people continued to subsist, under the name of +Conestogas, for nearly a century, until, in 1763, they were butchered, +as already mentioned, by the white ruffians known as the "Paxton Boys." +[13] + +[11] Dablon, Relation, 1672, 24. +[12] État Présent des Missions, in Relations Inédites, II. 44. Relation, +1676, 2. This is one of the Relations printed by Mr. Lenox. +[13] "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac," Chap. XXIV. Compare Shea, +in Historical Magazine, II. 297. + +The bloody triumphs of the Iroquois were complete. They had "made a +solitude, and called it peace." All the surrounding nations of their own +lineage were conquered and broken up, while neighboring Algonquin tribes +were suffered to exist only on condition of paying a yearly tribute of +wampum. The confederacy remained a wedge thrust between the growing +colonies of France and England. + +But what was the state of the conquerors? Their triumphs had cost them +dear. As early as the year 1660, a writer, evidently well-informed, +reports that their entire force had been reduced to twenty-two hundred +warriors, while of these not more than twelve hundred were of the true +Iroquois stock. The rest was a medley of adopted prisoners,--Hurons, +Neutrals, Eries, and Indians of various Algonquin tribes. [14] Still +their aggressive spirit was unsubdued. These incorrigible warriors +pushed their murderous raids to Hudson's Bay, Lake Superior, the +Mississippi, and the Tennessee; they were the tyrants of all the +intervening wilderness; and they remained, for more than half a century, +a terror and a scourge to the afflicted colonists of New France. + +[14] Relation, 1660, 6, 7 (anonymous). Le Jeune says, "Their victories +have so depopulated their towns, that there are more foreigners in them +than natives. At Onondaga there are Indians of seven different nations +permanently established; and, among the Senecas, of no less than +eleven." (Relation, 1657, 34.) These were either adopted prisoners, or +Indians who had voluntarily joined the Iroquois to save themselves from +their hostility. They took no part in councils, but were expected to +join war-parties, though they were usually excused from fighting against +their former countrymen. The condition of female prisoners was little +better than that of slaves, and those to whom they were assigned often +killed them on the slightest pique. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE END. + +Failure of the Jesuits • What their Success would have involved • Future +of the Mission + +With the fall of the Hurons, fell the best hope of the Canadian mission. +They, and the stable and populous communities around them, had been the +rude material from which the Jesuit would have formed his Christian +empire in the wilderness; but, one by one, these kindred peoples were +uprooted and swept away, while the neighboring Algonquins, to whom they +had been a bulwark, were involved with them in a common ruin. The land +of promise was turned to a solitude and a desolation. There was still +work in hand, it is true,--vast regions to explore, and countless +heathens to snatch from perdition; but these, for the most part, were +remote and scattered hordes, from whose conversion it was vain to look +for the same solid and decisive results. + +In a measure, the occupation of the Jesuits was gone. Some of them went +home, "well resolved," writes the Father Superior, "to return to the +combat at the first sound of the trumpet;" [1] while of those who +remained, about twenty in number, several soon fell victims to famine, +hardship, and the Iroquois. A few years more, and Canada ceased to be a +mission; political and commercial interests gradually became ascendant, +and the story of Jesuit propagandism was interwoven with her civil and +military annals. + +[1] Lettre de Lalemant au R. P. Provincial (Relation, 1650, 48). + +Here, then, closes this wild and bloody act of the great drama of New +France; and now let the curtain fall, while we ponder its meaning. + +The cause of the failure of the Jesuits is obvious. The guns and +tomahawks of the Iroquois were the ruin of their hopes. Could they have +curbed or converted those ferocious bands, it is little less than +certain that their dream would have become a reality. Savages tamed--not +civilized, for that was scarcely possible--would have been distributed +in communities through the valleys of the Great Lakes and the +Mississippi, ruled by priests in the interest of Catholicity and of +France. Their habits of agriculture would have been developed, and their +instincts of mutual slaughter repressed. The swift decline of the Indian +population would have been arrested; and it would have been made, +through the fur-trade, a source of prosperity to New France. Unmolested +by Indian enemies, and fed by a rich commerce, she would have put forth +a vigorous growth. True to her far-reaching and adventurous genius, she +would have occupied the West with traders, settlers, and garrisons, and +cut up the virgin wilderness into fiefs, while as yet the colonies of +England were but a weak and broken line along the shore of the Atlantic; +and when at last the great conflict came, England and Liberty would have +been confronted, not by a depleted antagonist, still feeble from the +exhaustion of a starved and persecuted infancy, but by an athletic +champion of the principles of Richelieu and of Loyola. + +Liberty may thank the Iroquois, that, by their insensate fury, the plans +of her adversary were brought to nought, and a peril and a woe averted +from her future. They ruined the trade which was the life-blood of New +France; they stopped the current of her arteries, and made all her early +years a misery and a terror. Not that they changed her destinies. The +contest on this continent between Liberty and Absolutism was never +doubtful; but the triumph of the one would have been dearly bought, and +the downfall of the other incomplete. Populations formed in the ideas +and habits of a feudal monarchy, and controlled by a hierarchy +profoundly hostile to freedom of thought, would have remained a +hindrance and a stumbling-block in the way of that majestic experiment +of which America is the field. + +The Jesuits saw their hopes struck down; and their faith, though not +shaken, was sorely tried. The Providence of God seemed in their eyes +dark and inexplicable; but, from the stand-point of Liberty, that +Providence is clear as the sun at noon. Meanwhile let those who have +prevailed yield due honor to the defeated. Their virtues shine amidst +the rubbish of error, like diamonds and gold in the gravel of the +torrent. + +But now new scenes succeed, and other actors enter on the stage, a hardy +and valiant band, moulded to endure and dare,--the Discoverers of the +Great West. + +INDEX + +The Roman Numerals refer to the introduction. + +A. + +Abenaquis, where found, xxii; ask for a missionary, 321. +Abraham, Plains of, whence the name, 335 note. +Adoption of prisoners as members of the tribe, lxvi, 223, 309, 424, 444. +Adventures and sufferings of an Algonquin woman, 309-313; of another, +313-316. +Agnier, a name for the Mohawks, xlviii note. +Aiguillon, Duchess d', founds a Hôtel-Dieu at Quebec, 181. +Albany, formerly Rensselaerswyck, its condition in 1643, 229. +Algonquins, a comprehensive term, xx; regions occupied by them in 1535, +xx; the designation, how applied, ib. note; found in New England, xxi; +their relation to the Iroquois, xxi; numbers, ib.; Algonquin missions, +368. +Allumette Island, xxiv, 45; its true position, 46. +Amikouas, or People of the Beaver, lxviii note; supposed descent from +that animal, ib. +Amusements of the Indians, xxxvi; the Jesuits require them to be +abandoned, 136. +Andacwandet, a strange method of cure, xlii. +Andastes, where found in the early times, xx, xlvi; fierce warriors, +xlvi; identical with the Susquehannocks, ib. note; their aid sought by +the Hurons, 341; the result unsatisfactory, 344 seq.; war with the +Mohawks, 441; assisted by the Swedes from Delaware River, 442; repulse +an attack of the Iroquois, ib.; a party of Andaste boys defeat the +Senecas and Cayugas, 443; finally subdued by the Senecas, ib. +Aquanuscioni, or Iroquois, xlviii note. +Areskoui, the god of war, lxxvii; human sacrifices offered to him, ib.; +a captive Iroquois sacrificed to him, 81. +Armouchiquois, a name applied to the Algonquins of New England, xxi; a +strange account of them given by Champlain, xxii note. +Arts of life, as practised by the Hurons, xxxi. +Assistaeronnons, or Nation of Fire. See Nation of Fire. +Ataentsic, a malignant deity; the moon, lxxvi. +Atahocan, a dim conception of the Supreme Being, lxxiv. +Atotarho of the Onondagas, liv, lvii. +Attendants of the Jesuits, 112 note, 132. See Donnés. +Atticamegues, xxiii, 286, 293; attacked by the Iroquois, 420. +Attigouantans. See Hurons. +Attiwandarons, or Neutral Nation, why so called, xliv; their country, +ib.; ferocious and cruel, xlv; licentious, ib.; their treatment of the +dead, ib. See Neutral Nation. + + +B. + +Baptism of dying men, 89, 124; clandestine, of infants, 96, 97, 116, +117; of an influential Huron, 112; conditions of baptism, 134; baptisms, +number in a year, 136 note. +Birch-bark used instead of writing-paper, 130. +Bourgeoys, Marguerite, her character, 201; foundress of the school at +Montreal, 202. +Bradford, William, governor of Plymouth, kindly entertains the Jesuit +Druilletes, 327. +Brébeuf, Jean de, arrives at Quebec, 5, 20, 48; commences his journey to +the Huron country, 53; suffers great fatigue by the way, 54; his +intrepidity, 54 note, 56; arrives in the Huron country, 56; his previous +residence there, ib.; his misgivings as to his future treatment by the +Indians, 57 note; the Indians build a house for him, 59; the house +described, 60; its furniture, ib.; Brébeuf witnesses the " Feast of the +Dead," 75; witnesses a human sacrifice, 80 seq.; his uncompromising +manner, 90; "the Ajax of the mission," 99; his dealings with beings from +the invisible world, 108; sees a great cross in the air, 109, 144; his +courage, 120; his letter in prospect of martyrdom, 122; harangues the +Hurons at a festin d'adieu, 123; commences a mission in the Neutral +Nation, 143; sees miraculous sights, 144; at the Huron mission, 370; +taken by the Iroquois, 381; his appalling fate, 388; his intrepid +character, 390; his skull preserved to this day at Quebec, 391; his +visions and revelations, 392 note; a saint and a hero, ib. +Bressani, Joseph, attempts to go to the Hurons, 251; taken by the +Iroquois, 252; terrible sufferings from his captors, 253-255; his +escape, 256; at the Huron Mission, 370. +Brulé, Étienne, murdered by the Hurons, 56; the murder supposed to be +avenged by a raging pestilence, 94. +Bullion, Madame de, founds a hospital at Montreal, 266. +Burning of captives alive, instances of, xlv note, 80-82; 249, 250; 309, +339, 385; 436 note, 439, 441 note. +Buteux, Jacques, his toilsome journey, 421; waylaid by the Iroquois and +slain, 422. + + +C. + +Cannibalism of the Hurons, xxxix, 137, of the Miamis, xl; other +instances, 247. +Canoes, Indian, xxxi. +Capuchins, unsuccessful attempt to introduce them into Canada, 159 note; +a station of them on the Penobscot, 322. +Cayugas, one of the Five Nations, xlviii note, liv. See Iroquois. +Cemeteries of Indians lately opened, 79; description of them, ib. +Chabanel, Noël, joins the mission, 105; among the Hurons, 370; recalled +from St. Jean, 408; his journey, ib.; murdered by a renegade Huron, 409; +his vow, 410 note. +Champfleur, commandant at Three Rivers, 277, 285. +Champlain, Samuel de, resumes command at Quebec, 20; his explorations, +45; introduces the missionaries to the Hurons, 48; assists the +missionaries at their departure, 50; his death, 149. +Chatelain, Pierre, joins the mission, 86; his illness, ib.; his peril, +126. +Chaumonot, Joseph Marie, his early life, 101-104; his gratitude to the +Virgin, 103, 105; becomes a Jesuit, and embarks for Canada, 105, 181; +narrowly escapes death, 124; goes with Brébeuf to convert the Neutrals, +142; his extreme peril, 145; saved by the interference of Saint Michael, +ib.; among the Hurons, 370; with a colony of Hurons, near Quebec, 431; +builds Lorette, 432. +Choctaws, like the Iroquois, have eight clans, lvi note. +Clanship, system of, l-lii. +Clock of the Jesuits an object of wonder to the Hurons, 61; an object of +alarm, 115. +Colonization, French and English, compared, 328, 329. +Condé, in his youth writes to Paul Le Jeune, 152. +Conestogas. See Andastes. +Converts, how made, 133, 162 seq. +Couillard, a resident in Quebec, 3, 334, 335. +Councils of the Iroquois, their power, lvii-lx. +Council, nocturnal, of the Hurons, relative to the epidemic in 1637, +118. +Couture, Guillaume, a donné of the mission, 214; a prisoner to the +Iroquois, 216; tortured by them, 216, 223; adopted by them, 223; assists +in negotiations for peace, 284, 287; returns with the Iroquois, 296. +Crania of Indians compared with those of Caucasian races, lxiii. +Credulity and superstition of the Indians, 301. +Crime, how punished, lxi. +Cruelties, Indian, xlv note, 80, 216 seq., 248, 253, 254, 277, 303 seq., +308 seq., 313, 339, 350, 377, 381, 385, 388 seq., 436 note, 439, 441 +note. +Custom, with the Indians, had the force of law, xlix. + + +D. + +Dahcotahs, found east of the Mississippi, xx note; their villages, xxvi. +D'Ailleboust de Coulonges, Louis, lands at Montreal, 264; history, 265; +fortifies Montreal, 266; becomes governor of Canada, 330, 332. +Daily life of the Jesuits, 129; their food, ib.; how obtained, 130. +Dallion, La Roche, visits the Neutral Nation in 1626, xliv; exposed to +great danger among them, xlvi note, 146. +Daniel, Antoine, 5, 20, 48; commences his journey to the Huron country, +53; disasters by the way, 55; his arrival in the Huron country, 58; his +peril, 126; returns to Quebec to commence a seminary, 168; labors with +success among the Hurons, 374; slain by the Iroquois, 377. +Dauversière, Jérôme le Royer de la, described, 188; hears a voice from +heaven, 189; has a vision, 191; meets Olier, 192; plans a religious +community at Montreal, ib.; one of the purchasers of the island, 195; +his misgivings, 197. +Davost at Quebec, 5, 20, 48; sets out on his journey to the Huron +country, 53; robbed and left behind by his conductors, 54; his arrival +among the Hurons, 58. +De Nouë, Anne, a missionary, 5, 14; perishes in the snow, 257-260. +Des Châtelets, an inhabitant of Quebec, 334, 335. +Devil, worshipped, lxxiv, lxxvi, lxxvii; his supposed alarm at the +success of the mission, 113; consequences, 114 seq. +Dionondadies. See Tobacco Nation. +Disease, how accounted for, xl, xli; how treated, ib. +Divination and sorcery, lxxxiv, lxxxv. +Dogs sacrificed to the Great Spirit, lxxxvi; used at Montreal for +sentinels, 271; very useful, 272. +"Donnés" of the mission, 112 note, 214, 364. +Dreams, confidence of the Indian in, lxxxiii, lxxxiv, lxxxvi; +"Dream-Feast," a scene of frenzy, 67. +Dress of the Indians, xxxii; scarcely worn in summer, xxxiii. +Druilletes, Gabriel, his labors among the Montagnais, 318; among the +Abenaquis on the Kennebec, 321, 323; visits English settlements in +Maine, 322; again descends the Kennebec, and visits Boston, 324, 325; +object of the visit, 324; visits Governor Dudley at Roxbury, 326; and +Governor Bradford at Plymouth, 327; spends a night with Eliot at +Roxbury, ib.; visits Endicott at Salem, ib.; his impressions of New +England, 328; failure of his embassy, 330. +Dudley, Thomas, governor of Massachusetts, kindly receives the Jesuit +Druilletes, 326. +Du Peron, François, his narrow escape, 124; his journey, 127; his +arrival, 128; his letter, 130; at Montreal, 263. +Du Quen, journeys of, xxv note, 318. +Dutch at Albany supply the Iroquois with fire-arms, 211, 212; endeavor +to procure the release of prisoners among the Mohawks, 230. + + +E. +Eliot, John, the "apostle," has a visit from the Jesuit Druilletes, 327. +Endicott, John, visited by the Jesuit Druilletes, 327. +Enthusiasm for the mission, 85 note. +Erie, Lake, how early known as such, 143. +Eries, or Nation of the Cat, xlvi; where found in the early periods, xx, +xlvi; why so called, xlvi note; war with the Iroquois, 438; its cause, +439; a sister's revenge, ib.; utter destruction of the Eries, 440. +Etchemins, where found, xxii. +Etienne Annaotaha, a Huron brave, destroys an Iroquois war-party, +427-429; slain, 431. +Exaltation, mental, of the priests, 146. +Excursions, missionary, 132. + + +F. +Faillon, Abbé, his researches in the early history of Montreal, 193 +note; their value, ib. +Fancamp, Baron de, furnishes money for the undertaking at Montreal, 193; +one of the purchasers of the island, 195. +Fasts among the Indians, lxxi. +"Feast of the Dead," 72. +Feasts of the Indians, xxxvii. +Female life among the Hurons, xxxiii. +"Festins d'adieu," 123. +Festivities of the Hurons, xxxvii. +Fire, Nation of, attacked by the Neutral Nation, 436. +Fire-arms sold to the Iroquois by the Dutch, 211, 212; given to converts +by the French, 269. +Fish, and fishing-nets, prayers to them, lxix. +Fortifications of the Hurons, xxix; of the Iroquois, ib. note; of other +Indian tribes, xxx note. +Fortitude, striking instances of, 81, 250, 339, 389. +French and English colonization compared, 328, 329. +Funeral among the Hurons, 75; funeral gifts, 76. +Fur trade, xlv, 47, 155, 331. + + +G. + +Gambling, Indian, xxxvii. +Garnier, Charles, joins the Huron mission, 86; his sickness, ib.; his +character, 99; his letters, 101, 133; his journey to the Tobacco Nation, +140; at the Huron mission, 370; slain by the Iroquois, 405; his body +found, 406 note; his gentle spirit, 370, 407; his absolute devotion to +the mission, 407 note. +Garnier, Julien, liv note. +Garreau, missionary among the Hurons, his danger, 410. +Gaspé, Algonquins of, their women chaste, xxxiv. +George, Lake, its first discoverer, 219; its Indian name, ib. note; +called St. Sacrament, 299; a better name proposed, ib. note. +Gibbons, Edward, welcomes the Jesuit Druilletes to Boston, 325. +Giffard, his seigniory of Beauport, 155, 157; at Quebec, 334. +Gluttony at feasts, xxxviii; practised as a cure for pestilence, 95. +Godefroy, Jean Paul, visits New Haven on an embassy from the governor of +Canada, 330. +Goupil, René, a donné of the mission, 214; made prisoner by the +Iroquois, 216; tortured, 217, 221; murdered in cold blood, 224. +Goyogouin, a name for the Cayugas, xlviii note. +Great Hare, The. See Manabozho. +Green Bay, visited by the French in 1639, 166. + + +H. +Habitations, Indian, xxvi; internal aspect in summer, xxvii; in winter, +xxviii. +Hawenniio, the modern Iroquois name for God, lxxviii. +Hébert, Madame, an early resident of Quebec, 2, 15. +Hell, how represented to the Indians, 88, 163; pictures of, 163. +Hiawatha, a deified hero, lxxvii, lxxviii. +Hodenosaunee, the true name of the Iroquois, xlviii note. +Hôtel-Dieu at Quebec founded, 181; one at Montreal, 266. +Hundred Associates, the, a fur company, its grants of land, 156; their +quit-claim of the island of Montreal, 195; transfer their monopoly to +the colonists, 331. +Hunters of men, 307. +Huron mission proposed, 42; the difficulties, 43; motives for the +undertaking, 44; route to the Huron country, 45; the missionaries +baffled by a stroke of Indian diplomacy, 51; they commence their +journey, 53; fatigues of the way, ib.; reception of the missionaries by +the Hurons, 57; mission house, 60; methods taken to awaken interest, 61; +instructions given, 62; the results not satisfactory, 64; the Jesuits +made responsible for the failure of rain, 68; they gain the confidence +of the Huron people, 70; the mission strengthened by new arrivals, 85; +kindness of the Jesuits to the sick, 87; their efforts at conversion, +88; the Hurons slow to apprehend the subject of a future life, 89; terms +of salvation too hard, 90; an elastic morality practised by the Jesuits, +97; conversions promoted by supernatural aid, 108; the new chapel at +Ossossané described, 111; first important success, 112; persecuting +spirit aroused, 115; the Jesuits in danger, 116; their daily life, 129; +number of converts in 1638, 132; backsliding frequent, 135; partial +success, 147; great subsequent success of the mission, 349; the mission +encounters slander and misrepresentation, 352, 353; prosperity, 366; +successful agriculture, ib.; number of ecclesiastics and others in the +Huron mission, 1649, ib.; the mission removed to an island in Lake +Huron, 397; a multitude of refugees, 399; their extreme misery, 400; the +priests fully occupied, 401; the mission abandoned, 415; failure of the +Jesuit plans in Canada, 446; the cause, 447; the consequences, 448. See +Jesuits. +Hurons, origin of the name, xxxiii note; their country, xx, xxiv, xxv; +had a language akin to the Iroquois, xxiv; their disappearance, ib.; +vestiges of them still found, xxv; supposed population, xxv, xxvi; their +habitations, xxvi, xxviii note; extravagant accounts, xxvi note; +internal aspect of their huts in summer, xxvii; in winter, xxviii; their +fortifications, xxix; their agriculture, xxx; food, ib.; arts of life, +ib.; dress, xxxii; dress scarcely worn in summer, xxxiii; female life, +ib., xxxv; an unchaste people, xxxiv; marriages, temporary, ib.; +shameless conduct of young people, xxxv note; employments of the men, +xxxvi; amusements, ib.; feasts and dances, xxxvii; voracity, xxxviii; +cannibalism, xxxix; practice of medicine, xl; Huron brains, xliii; the +Huron Confederacy, lii; their political organization, ib.; propensity of +the Hurons to theft, lxiii, 131; murder atoned for by presents, lxi; +proceedings in case of witchcraft, lxiii; their objects of worship, lxix +seq.; their conceptions of a future state, lxxxi; their burial of the +dead, ib.; hostility of the Iroquois, 45, 52, 62; visit Quebec, 46; the +scene after their arrival described, 47; their idea of thunder, 69; +Huron graves, 71; their origin, ib.; disposal of the dead, 73; "Feast of +the Dead," 75 seq.; disinterment, 73; mourning, 74, 78; funeral gifts, +76; frightful scene, 77; a pestilence, 87; cannibals, 137; attacked by +the Iroquois, 212, 337; defeat them, 338; torture and burn an Iroquois +chief, 339; on the verge of ruin, 341; apply for help to the Andastes, +342; specimen of Huron eloquence, 355; Hurons defeat the Iroquois at +Three Rivers, 374; fatuity of the Hurons, 379; their towns destroyed, +379 seq.; ruin of the Hurons, 393; the survivors take refuge on Isle St. +Joseph, 399; their extreme misery, 411 seq.; they abandon the island, +415; endeavor to reach Quebec, 416; the Iroquois waylay them, 417; a +fight on the Ottawa, ib.; they reach Montreal, 418; and Quebec, ib.; a +Huron traitor, 419; a portion of the Hurons retreat to Lake Michigan and +the Mississippi, 425; others become incorporated with the Senecas, 424; +their country desolate, ib.; afterwards known as the Wyandots, 426; a +body of the Hurons left at St. Joseph destroy a party of Iroquois, +427-429; a colony of Hurons near Quebec, 430. + + +I. +Ihonatiria, a Huron village, 57; Brébeuf takes up his abode there, 59; +ruined by the pestilence, 137. +Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, 110. +Incarnation, Marie de l', at Tours, 174; her unhappy marriage, 175; a +widow, ib; self-inflicted austerities, ib.; mystical espousal to Christ, +176; rhapsodies, ib.; dejection, 177; abandons her child and becomes a +nun, 178; her talents for business, 179; her vision, 180; the vision +explained as a call to Canada, 181; embarks for that country, ib.; +perilous voyage, 182; her arduous labors at Quebec, 185; her +difficulties, 186; extolled as a saint, 177, 186. +Indian population mutable, xix; its distribution, xx; two great +families, ib.; superstitions and traditions, lxvii-lxxxvii; dreamers, +lxxxiii; sorcerers and diviners, lxxxiv, 93; their religion fearful yet +puerile, lxxxviii, 94; an Indian lodge, 141; Indian manners softened by +the influence of the missions, 319; Indian infatuation, 336. +Indians, their arts of life, xxx; amusements, xxxvi; festivals, xxxvii; +social character, xlviii; self-control, xlix; influenced by custom, ib.; +hospitality and generosity, ib. note; fond of society, 1; their division +into clans, li; the totem, or symbol of the clan, 39 ib.; Indian rule of +descent and inheritance, ib.; vast extent of this rule, lii; their +superstitions, lxvii et seq.; their cosmogonies, lxxiii, lxxv; degrading +conceptions of the Supreme Being, lxxviii; no word for God, lxxix; +obliged to use a circumlocution, ib.; their belief in a future state, +lxxx; their conceptions of it dim, ib.; their belief in dreams, lxxxiii; +the Indian Pluto, ib. note; the Indian mind stagnant, lxxxix; savage in +religion as in life, ib.; no knowledge of the true God, ib.; scenes in a +wigwam, 30; their foul language, 31; not profane, ib.; hardships and +sufferings, 39; a specimen of their diplomacy, 51; an Indian masquerade, +66; Indian bacchanals, 67; their idea of thunder, 69; Indian mind not a +blank, 134; specimen of Indian reasoning, 135; Indians received benefit +from the Jesuit missions, 164. +Initiatory fast for obtaining a guardian manitou, lxxi. +"Infernal Wolf," the, 117; a name for the Devil, ib. note. +Influence of the missions salutary, 319. +Instructions for the missionaries to the Hurons, 54. +Intrepid conduct of the Jesuits, 125. +Iroquois, or Five Nations, origin of the name, xlvii; where found in +early times, xx, xlvi, 278 note; their dwellings, xxvii note., xxviii +note; a licentious people, xxxiv note; have capacious skulls, xliii +note; burn female captives, xlv; their character, xlvii; their eminent +position and influence, ib.; their true name, xlviii note; divided into +eight clans or families, lv; symbols of these clans, ib. note; the +chiefs, how selected, lvi; the councils, lvii; how and when assembled, +lviii; how conducted, lix; their debates, ib.; strict unanimity +required, ib.; artful management of the chiefs, lx note; the professed +orators, lxi; military organization, lxiv; and discipline, ib.; spirit +of the confederacy, lxv; attachment to ancient forms, ib.; their +increase by adoption, lxvi; population at different times, ib. note; +have no name for God, lxxviii; a captive Iroquois sacrificed by the +Hurons to the god of war, 80; supplied by the Dutch with fire-arms, 211; +make war on the French in Canada, 212, 269 seq.; extreme cruelty to +Jogues and other prisoners, 217-222, 228; cannibalism, 228, 250; +audacity, 241; attack Fort Richelieu, 244; spread devastation and terror +through Canada, 245, 251; horrible nature of their warfare, 246-250; +torments inflicted on prisoners, 248 seq., 271; an Iroquois prisoner +tortured by Algonquins, 277; treaty of peace with the French and +Algonquins, 284 seq.; numbers of the Iroquois, 297 note; the Iroquois +determination to destroy the Hurons, 336; their moral superiority, 337; +a defeat sustained by them, 338; their shameless treachery, 339; invade +the Huron country and destroy the towns, 379; their atrocious cruelty, +385; their retreat, 386; they pursue the remnants of the Huron nation, +412, 425; attack the Atticamegues, 420; attack the Hurons at +Michilimackinac, 425; exterminate the Neutral Nation, 437; exterminate +the Eries, 438-440; terrible cruelty, 441 note; their bloody supremacy, +444; it cost them dear, ib.; tyrants of a wide wilderness, 445; their +short-sighted policy, 434. + + +J. + +Jesuits, their founder, 8; their discipline, 11; their influence, 12; +salutary, 319; the early Canadian Jesuits did not meddle with political +affairs, 323; denounced cannibalism, but faint in opposing the burning +of prisoners, 351; were engaged in the fur-trade, 365 note; purity of +their motives, 83, 85; benevolent care of the sick, 87, 98, 267; accused +of sorcery, 120; in great peril, 121; their intrepidity, 125; their +prudence, 134; their intense zeal, 146. See Huron Mission. +Jogues, Isaac, his birth and character, 214; joins the mission, 86; his +illness, ib.; his character, 106, 304; his journey to the Tobacco +Nation, 140; visits Lake Superior and preaches to the Ojibwas, 213; +visits Quebec, 214; taken prisoner by the Iroquois, 216; tortured by +them, 217, 218, 221, 222; in daily expectation of death, 224, 225; his +conscientiousness, 226, 229, 232; his patience, 226; his spirit of +devotion, 227; longs for death, 228; his pious labors while a captive, +ib.; visits Albany, 229; writes to the commandant at Three Rivers, 230; +escapes, 234; voyage across the Atlantic, 236; reception in France, 237; +the queen honors him, 238; returns to Canada, 239, 286; his mission to +the Mohawks, 297; misgivings, 298; has a presentiment of death, ib.; +goes as a civilian, ib; visits Fort Orange, 299; reaches the Mohawk +country, ib.; his reception, ib.; returns to Canada, 300; his second +mission to the Mohawks, 301; warned of danger, ib.; his cruel murder, +304. +Joseph, Saint, his interposition in a case of childbirth, 90; his help +much relied on by the Jesuits, 70, 95, 96; fireworks let off in his +honor, 160. See Saint Joseph. +Jouskeha, a beneficent deity, the sun, the creator, lxxvi, lxxix. + + +K. + +Kennebec, visited by a Jesuit, 322. +Kieft, William, governor of New Netherland, his kindness to Jogues, 235; +his letter to the governor of Canada, 304 note. +Kiotsaton, envoy of the Iroquois, 284 seq.; his speech, 287 seq.; the +French delighted with him, 291; another speech, 292. + + +L. +Lafitau, his book on the Iroquois, liv note; describes the council of +the Iroquois, lvii, lviii. +Lalande, an assistant in the mission, 301; tortured by the Mohawks, 303; +killed by them, 304. +Lalemant, Gabriel, at the Huron mission, 126, 371; taken by the +Iroquois, 381; tortured with fire, 388; his death, 390. +Lalemant, Jerome, brother of Gabriel, assailed by an Algonquin, 127; +visits Three Rivers, 294; becomes Superior of the missions, 301. +Lauson, president of the Canada Fur Company, 156; sells the island of +Montreal to the Jesuits, 194. +Le Berger, a Christian Iroquois, 304; endeavors to save Jogues, ib. +Le Borgne, chief of Allumette Island, hinders the departure of the +missionaries, 50; his motives, 51; converted, 268. +Le Jeune, Paul, Father Superior, his voyage, 15; his arrival in Quebec, +2, 15; begins his labors there, 16; joins an Indian hunting-party, 23; +adventures in this connection, 25-39; his description of a winter scene, +26 note; grievances in an Indian lodge in winter, 27; experience with a +sorcerer, 30; suffers the rude banter of the Indians, ib.; doubts +whether the Indian sorcerers are impostors or in league with the devil, +32; relates what he had been informed of the devil's proceedings in +Brazil, 33 note; attempts to convert a sorcerer, 37; disappointment, 39; +returns to Quebec, 40; rejoices at the advent of the new governor, 150 +note; rejoices at the interest in the mission awakened in France, 151; +has for a correspondent the future Condé, 152; is invested with civil +authority, 154; sends for pictures of the torments of hell, 163. +Le Mercier, Francis Joseph, joins the mission, 85; his peril, 125. +Le Moyne, among the Hurons, 126; among the Onondagas, 438, 440. +Licentiousness of the Indians, xxxiv note; xxxv note, xlv. +Life in a wigwam, 27-31. +Loretto, in Italy, 102, 105, 432; Old Lorette, in Canada, 431; New +Lorette, in Canada, 432; settlement of Hurons there, ib. +Loyola, Ignatius, his story, 8; founds the order of Jesuits, 9; his book +of Spiritual Exercises, 10. + + +M. + +Maisonneuve, Chomedey, Sieur de, military leader of the settlement at +Montreal, 196; spends the first winter at Quebec, 202; poorly +accommodated there, 203; has a quarrel with the governor, 204; beloved +by his followers, 205; compared to Godfrey, the leader of the first +crusade, 207; lands at Montreal, 208, 261; plants a cross on the top of +the mountain, 263; his great bravery, 275. +Manabozho, a mythical personage, lxviii; the chief deity of the +Algonquins, yet not worshipped, lxxii, lxxix; his achievements, lxxiii. +Mance, Jeanne, devotes herself to the mission in Canada, 198; embarks, +201; impressive scene before embarking, ib.; lands at Montreal, 208, +261. +Manitous, a generic term for super-natural beings, lxix; extensive in +its meaning, lxx; process for obtaining a guardian manitou, ib. +Marie, a Christian Algonquin, her adventures and sufferings, 309-313. +Marriage among the Hurons often temporary and experimental, xxxiv. +Mass, neglect of the, a punishable offence, 154, 157. +Masse, 5, 20; "le Père Utile," ib.; his death, 260. +Medical practice among the Indians, xli, xlii note; lxxxiv, 66. +"Medicine," or Indian charms, lxxi. +"Medicine-bags," lxxi; "medicine-men," or sorcerers, lxxxiv, lxxxv, +32-38; a "medicine-feast," 66; the religion taught by the Jesuits +supposed to be a "medicine," 90. +Megapolensis, Dutch pastor at Albany, 229; his account of the Mohawks, +ib.; befriends Jogues, 235. +Memory, devices for aiding the, lxi. +Messou. See Manabozho. +Mestigoit, an Indian hunter, 21, 24, 29, 34; his skill and courage, 40; +helps Le Jeune to reach Quebec, ib. +Mexican fabrics found in Indian cemeteries, 79 note. +Miamis, cannibalism among them, xl. +Michabou. See Manabozho. +Micmacs in Nova Scotia, xxii. +Minquas. See Andastes. +Miracles in the Huron mission, 108; how to be accounted for, 109; why +miracles were expected, 210 note. +Miscou, mission at, 317. +Mission to Hurons. See Huron Mission. +Mission-house near Quebec described, 4. +Mohawks, xlviii note, liv; number of warriors, 212, 297; their towns, +222; make peace with the French, 296; credulity and superstition, 301; +their causeless rage, 303; renew the war with the French, 306; their +perfidy, 308; cruelty, ib.; torture of prisoners, 309; invade the Huron +country, 379; furious battle near St. Marie, 384; war with the Andastes, +441; and Mohicans, ib. note. See Iroquois. +Montmagny, Charles Huault de, succeeds Champlain as governor of New +France, 149; his zeal for the mission, 150, 161; meets the Ursulines at +their landing, 182; quarrels with the leader of the Montreal settlement, +204; delivers Montreal to Maisonneuve, 208; builds a fort at Sorel, 242; +called Onontio by the Iroquois, 283; negotiates a peace with the +Iroquois, 284 seq. +Montagnais, an Algonquin tribe, where found, xxiii; their degradation, +ib.; Le Jeune essays their conversion, 19; concerned in a treaty of +peace, 286, 293; salutary changes from the influence of the mission, +319. +Montreal, island of, purchased for the site of a religious community, +195; part of the money given by ladies, 198; consecrated to the Holy +Family, 201; the enterprise compared with the crusades, 207; first day +of the settlement, 209; motives of the enterprise, as stated by the +leaders themselves, 210 note; infancy of the settlement, 261; rise of +the St. Lawrence checked by a wooden cross, 263; arrival of D'Ailleboust +and others, 264; pilgrimages, 267; hospital built, 266; Indians fed, +268; attacks by the Iroquois, 269 seq.; sally of the French, 273; +condition of Montreal in 1651, 333. +Moon, the, worshipped, lxxvi. +Morgan, Lewis H., his account of the Iroquois, liv note. +Murder atoned for by presents, lxi, lxii, 354; a grand ceremony of this +sort, 355 seq. + + +N. + +Nanabush. See Manabozho. +Nation of the Bear, liii. +Nation of Fire, an Algonquin people, attacked by the Neutral Nation, +436. +Neutral Nation, their country, xx, xliv, 142; their cruelty and +licentiousness, xlv; representations made to them respecting the French, +xlvi note; a ferocious people, 143; their excessive superstition, ib.; a +mission among them attempted, 142; but in vain, 146; kindness of a +Neutral woman, ib.; destroy a large town of the Nation of Fire, 436; +their ferocious cruelty, ib. note; themselves exterminated by the +Iroquois, 437. +New England, Indians in, xxi; a Jesuit's impressions of, 328. +Niagara, called the River of the Neutrals, xliv; described by the +Jesuits, 143 note. +Nicollet, Jean, visits Green Bay in 1639, 166. +Nipissings, xxiv. +Notre-Dame des Anges, at Quebec, 5, 155; Notre-Dame de Montreal, 193. + + +O. + +Ochateguins. See Hurons. +Ojibwas, how differing in language from Algonquins, xx; visited by +Jogues, 213. +Okies, or Otkons, objects of worship among the Iroquois, lxix. +Olier, Jean Jacques, Abbé, suspected of Jansenism, 189; has a +revelation, 190; meets Dauversière, 192; their schemes, ib. +Oneidas, or Onneyut, one of the Five Nations, xlviii note, liv. See +Iroquois. +Onondagas, or Onnontagué, one of the Five Nations, xlviii note, liv (see +Iroquois); their inroad on the Hurons, 343; their jealousy of the +Mohawks, 344; their embassy to the Hurons, 345; suicide of the +ambassador, 347. +Ononkwaya, an Oneida chief, a prisoner to the Hurons, 338; his +marvellous fortitude under torture, 339. +Onontio, Great Mountain, name given to the Governor of Canada among the +Iroquois, and why, 283. +Ontitarac, a Huron chief, his speech, 119. +Orators of the Iroquois, lx. +Ossossané, chief town of the Hurons, 74; great Huron cemetery there, 75; +mission established there, 110, 129; abandoned, 139. +Ouendats, or Wyandots. See Hurons. + + +P. + +Parker, Ely S., an educated Iroquois, liv note. +Passionists, convent of, a singular incident there, 108 note. +Peace concluded between the French and Iroquois, 284-295; defects of the +treaty, 296; the peace broken and why, 302. +Peltrie, de la, Madame, her birth, 168; her girlhood, 169; a widow, ib.; +religious schemes, 170; resolves to go to Canada, ib.; her sham +marriage, 172; visits the Ursuline Convent at Tours, 173; results of +that visit, 174; embarks for Canada, 181; perilous voyage, 182; her +character, 186; thirst for admiration, 187; leaves the Ursulines and +joins the Colony of Montreal, 206, 261; receives the sacrament on the +top of the mountain, 264; at Quebec, 334. +Penobscot, a station on it of Capuchin friars, 322. +Pestilence among the Hurons, 87; its supposed origin, 94. +Persecution of the Jesuits, 116 seq. +Pictures requested for the mission, 133; of souls in perdition, many, +ib.; of souls in bliss, one, ib.; how to be colored, ib.; Le Jeune +describes the pictures of Hell which he wants, 163. +Picture-writing by the Indians, 243. +Pierre, an Algonquin, 17; teacher of Le Jeune, 18; runs away, 21; +returns, 22; frantic from strong drink, 24; repents and assists Le +Jeune, 38; another of this name, a converted Huron, 122. +Pijart, Pierre, joins the mission, 85; his clandestine baptisms, 96, 97; +establishes a mission at Ossossané, 110. +Piskaret, an Algonquin brave, 278; his exploits, 279; his successes +against the Iroquois, 281; assists in a treaty of peace, 291; murdered +by Mohawks, 308. +Poncet, father, his pilgrimage to Loretto, 104; embarks for Canada, 181; +his peril, 126. +Price of a man's life, lxii; of a woman's, ib. +Prisoners, cruel treatment of, xxxix, xlv, 80, 216 seq., 248 seq., 253, +277, 339, 388 seq., 436 note, 439, 441 note. +Processions, religious, at Quebec, 161. + + +Q. + +Quatogies. See Hurons. +Qualifications for success in an Indian mission, 134 note. +Quebec in 1634, 1; its first settler, 3; condition in 1640, 154; its +aspect half military, half monastic, 158; its very amusements acts of +religion, 160; state of things in 1651, 331; New-Year's Day, 1646, 334. + + +R. +Ragueneau, Paul, missionary among the Hurons, 123, 124, 126; relates +proceedings of a council held respecting a murder, 355; Father Superior, +370. +Raymbault, Charles, enters Lake Superior with Jogues, 213. +Religion and superstitions of the Indians, lxvii et seq.; worship of +material objects, inanimate no less than animate, ib.; the Indians +attribute their origin to beasts, birds, and reptiles, lxviii; all +nature full of objects of religious fear and dread, lxxxiv; sacrifices, +lxxxvi. +Remarkable instance of Indian forgiveness, 319. +Rome, Church of, her strange contradictions, 84; self-denial of her +missionaries, ib. + + +S. + +Sacrifice, a human, by fire, witnessed by a missionary, 80 seq. +Sacrifices of the Indians, lxxxv, lxxxvi note. +St. Bernard, Marie de, a nun at Tours, 174; embarks for Canada, 181. +St. Ignace, town, taken by the Iroquois, 380; furious battle with the +Hurons, 384; the town and its inhabitants destroyed by fire, 385; +vestiges still remaining, ib. note. +St. Jean, town in the Tobacco Nation, attacked by the Iroquois, 405; +destroyed by fire, 406. +St. Joseph, a town in the Huron country, 137, 374; surprised by the +Iroquois, 375; and destroyed, 377; another station of this name on an +island, 395; the Huron refugees repair thither, 399; their extreme +misery, ib.; famine, 400. +St. Louis, town in the Huron country, attacked, 380; severe struggle, +381; destroyed by the Iroquois, ib. +Ste. Marie, in the Huron country, a mission established there, 139; the +place described, 362 seq.; a bountiful hospitality exercised towards the +converts and others, 367; alarm and anxiety at the Iroquois invasion, +382; the station abandoned, 394; stripped of all valuables, and set on +fire, 396. +Schoolcraft, Henry R., his Notes on the Iroquois, liv note; his +mistakes, lxxviii, lxxx; his collection of Algonquin tales, lxxxviii; +his unsatisfactory speculations about Huron graves, 71. +Seminary, Huron, at Quebec, 167. +Senecas, one of the Five Nations, xlviii note, liv. See Iroquois. +Sepulture among the Hurons, lxxxi, 71 seq. +Sillery, Noël Brulart de, becomes a priest, 182; founds the settlement +which bears his name, 183. +Sioux punish adultery, xxxiv; harass the Hurons, 425. +Sorcerer, a dwarfish, deformed one, troubles the Jesuits, 91; his +account of his origin, 92; sorcerers, several, in time of mortal +sickness, 93. +Sorcery, as practised among the Indians, lxxxiv, 32-38. +Speech-making, Indian, 287, 292-294. +Sun worshipped, lxxvi. +Supernaturalism of the Jesuits, 106; supposed efficacy of relics and +prayers to relieve pain and cure disease, 107; conversions effected in +this manner, 108; such views still entertained, as illustrated in a +curious incident, ib. +Superstitions of the Indians, lxvii seq., 68. +Superstitious terrors, lxxxiv, 115, 141. +Susquehannocks. See Andastes. +Swedish colonists on the Delaware assist the Andastes, 442. + + +T. + +Tarenyowagon, a powerful deity, lxxvii. +Tarratines, the Abenaquis so called, xxii note. +Tattooing practised, xxxiii; a severe process, ib. +Teanaustayé, 137. See St. Joseph. +Tessouat, or Le Borgne, converted, 268. +Tionnontates. See Tobacco Nation. +Tobacco Nation, or Tionnontates, in league with the Hurons, xliii; +raised tobacco, 47; mission among them, 140; reception of the +missionaries, 141; perils of the missionaries, 142; some of the Hurons +seek an asylum there, 393, 404. +Tobacco, none in Heaven, a sad thought to the Indian, 136. +Totems, emblems of clans, li, lxviii, 375. +Trade in furs, xlv, 47, 155. +Traffic of the Indians, how conducted, xxxvi. +Treatment of women, xxxiv, xxxv; of prisoners, xxxix, xlv, 80, 216 seq., +248 seq., 253, 254, 277, 339, 388, 439, 441 note. +Tuscaroras, in Carolina, xxi; unite with the Five Nations, xxi, lxvi. + + +U. + +Unchastity of the Indians, xxxiv note, xlv. +Ursulines at Tours, 173; at Quebec, their labors, 184; their +instructions, 185. + + +V. + +Villemarie de Montreal, a three-fold religious establishment, 201, 261. +Vimont, father, embarks for Canada, 181; makes a vow to Saint Joseph, +182; visits Montreal, 208; Superior of the Canadian Mission, 286; +assists in a treaty of peace, 292. +Visions and visitations from Heaven and from Hell frequent occurrences +in the lives of the missionaries, 108; the subject illustrated by a +curious incident, ib. note. + + +W. + +Wampum, its material and uses, xxxi; served the purpose of records, +xxxii, lxi. +War-dance, often practised for amusement, xxxix. +Wigwam, how built, xxvii; inconveniences in one, 27, 28. +Winnebagoes, their residence when first known to Europeans, xx; known to +the Jesuits in 1648, 368. +Winslow, John, kindly receives the Jesuit Druilletes at Augusta, 322, +325; his name in the Relations, how spelled, 323 note. +Winter in Canada, 18, 26, 28. +Witchcraft, proceedings in case of, lxiii. +Women, their condition, xxxiii, xxxiv, xxxv, xiv. +Wyandots, a remnant of the Hurons, xxiv, 426. See Hurons. + + +The End. + + + + + + +Francis Parkman + + +France and England in North America + +1. Pioneers of France in the New World (1865, 1885) +2. The Jesuits in North America in the seventeenth century (1867) +3. The Discovery of the West (1869) + La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (1879) +4. The Old Régime in Canada (1874, 1894) +5. Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. (1877) +6. A Half Century of Conflict (1892) + Volume 1 + Volume 2 +7. Montcalm and Wolfe (1884) + +The year that each book was published is printed and enclosed by +parenthesis after the title of each volume. In some cases, there are two +years in parenthesis. These indicate that a volume with major revisions +was published. + +The revised version of Pioneers of France contains new descriptions of +Florida and some changes to the section on Samuel Champlain. Parkman +revised Discovery of the West after obtaining access to Margry's +collection. The revised version of The Old Régime includes three new +chapters regarding La Tour and D'Aunay. + +Volume 3 was not only revised, but the title was altered. Parkman first +released Volume 3 as The Discovery of the West. His updated version of +Volume 3 was entitled La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West. + +Other Principal Works + +• The Oregon Trail (1849) +• The Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851) + + +Appendix + + +Transcription notes: + +This book was originally transcribed from Volume 20. While making a +batch of corrections, a decision was made to base this etext on Volume 1 +for three reasons: 1) Parkman's subsequent revisions were virtually +insignificant; 2) Volume 1, released in 1867, is available at the New +York Public Library through Hathitrust, and thus, can readily be +consulted for future claims of errata, and 3) In the Notes on the Texts +prepared for the The Library of America reprint (1983), David Levin +opined that using Volume 1 for this title was the best choice to +approximate Parkman's own conception of France and England in North +America. + +In resolving errors and questions that came up during transcription, +Parkman's Seventh volume of The Jesuits in North America from 1872 was +consulted (from the Library of Congress, available through Hathitrust), +as well as the aforementioned The Library of America edition of this +work. When these notes refer to a mistake in all the volumes, they refer +to Volumes 1, 7, and 20. These volumes were produced during Parkman's +lifetime, and assume that changes met with Parkman's approval. + +The 8-bit version of this etext, with accented French characters, is +produced using Windows Code Page 1252. Most of the accented characters +will also display correctly if you view the text using any of the ISO +8859 character sets. However, the "oe" ligature--œ--will only display +correctly if using Windows 1252. + +The footnotes have been produced using the Project Gutenberg™ standard. +Footnotes follow the paragraph in which they were mentioned. Footnotes +have been set in smaller print and have larger margins than regular +text. Footnotes are numbered sequentially and the numbers are reset +after each change in chapter. There are a total of 548 footnotes in this +book. Please note that we have made no emendations to the content of +footnotes to preserve the antiquated orthography and accentuation of the +contents. + +This text generally preserved the italicization of words, phrases, and +the titles of references which are presented in italics in the printed +book. The standard of the book is to use italics when citing Relations, +1650; and not to use them when writing Relations of 1650. There were +some cases that did not observe the standard: they were treated as +errata, and changed. Small capitalization has also been retained--used +primarily for the first word of each chapter. + +Detailed notes describe problems or issues in transcribing a specific +portion of the text: the reconciliation of variances between the topics +list in the contents and the topics list preceeding each chapter; other +modifications applied while transcribing the printed book to an e-text; +emendations; and other issues in transcribing the text. + +You will see changed text underlined by dotted silver lines. In some +versions (like the HTML version) of this document, you can hover your +cursor over the changed text and see details in a small box. Those +details are repeated, and sometimes elaborated upon, in the Detailed +Notes Section of this Appendix. + + +Detailed Notes Section: + + +Contents + +• Chapter 5: Capitalize Thwarted and Begun in the topics list. +• Chapter 16: Capitalize Tortured in the topics list. +• Chapter 19: Capitalize Confirmed in the topics list. +• Chapter 26: Capitalize Destroyed in the topics list. + + +Introduction: + +• Page xix, add Indian before "Social and Political Organization" to +match topics list in Table of Contents. +• Page xxxv, in footnote 0-18, the word "come" is printed with a +straight line over the "o," not only in Volume 1, but also in Volume 7. +The Library of America version of the book assumes that the line +resulted from an imperfection in the plates. The assumption is not only +reasonable but practical, and it is adopted here, too. +• Page xlviii, place period after the clause "which they had so promptly +assented" This period was also missing in Volume 7. +• On Page li, Parkman added the qualifier "in most cases" to the clause +"The child belongs to the clan," in the eighth volume of this title. The +new clause is, "The child belongs, in most cases, to the clan," +• On Page lii, Parkman used the less precise "usually belonging to it" +instead of "inseparable from it" in the eighth volume of this title. The +new sentence reads, "This system of clanship, with the rule of descent +usually belonging to it, was of very wide prevalence." +• On Page lxv, Un doubtedly is not hyphenated and split between two +lines as if two words, not just in Volume 1, but in Volume 7. There +should have been a hyphen after Un-. The clause was transcribed: +"Undoubtedly there was a distinct and definite effort of legislation;" + + +Chapter 3: + +• Changed "Mission-house" to "Mission-House" in topics list beginning +Chapter 3 to match topics list for Chapter 3 in the Contents. +• Page 18: footnote 3-3 does not end the last sentence with a period: +"et sa bonté n'a point de limites" The period was also missing in Volume +7. We did not make an emendation because of Parkman's statement in the +Preface. +• Page 21: add period to end the sentence with the clause "sorcerer, in +the tribe of the Montagnais" The period was added in Volume 7. + + +Chapter 4: + +• Page 24: In footnote 4-1, add beginning quote before Iamais: "Iamais +il ne fut ..." +• Page 26: In footnote 4-2, text is missing a period after ceinture, in +all volumes. This was not changed, as it was in the footnote. +• Page 30-Page 31: Confirmed the spelling of "fumeé" and "fumée;" in +footnote 4-5. +• Page 31: Confirmed the spelling of "mais" in footnote 4-6. +• Page 31: Confirmed the apostrophe in "qu'à" in footnote 4-6. +• Page 33: In footnote 4-8: the correct word is "laisse," but "laiss" +remains unchanged in accordance with Parkman's statement in the preface. +• Page 37: footnote 4-11 in Volume 1 refers back to no page number in +the introduction. Volume 7 & Volume 20 have the page number xliv. We +replaced the blank space for the page number left in volume 1 with the +page number specified in later volumes. + + +Chapter 6: + +• On Page 62, Footnote 6-4 was not marked clearly in the original book +used for transcription. The footnote appeared fine in Volume 1, and is +rendered appropriately. + + +Chapter 7: + +• Page 76, Footnote 7-5 contains the word "Atsatone8ai". The "spelling +is correct." See The Old Regime in Canada for similar usage, such as +"8ta8aks." + + +Chapter 8: + +• Page 85, confirmed the spelling of "i'auoüe" and the phrase "qui ne +cherche que Dieu," which were unclear in footnote 8-1 from the book +originally used for transcription. +• Page 87: small-pox is hyphenated and split between two lines for +spacing. There are two other occurrences of the word, and the hyphen was +used, so the hyphen was retained here, too. + + +Chapter 9: + +• Page 105, Change gain to again in the clause "the offending limb +became sound again." The text was incorrect in Volume 1, and corrected +in Volume 7. + + +Chapter 12: + +• Page 147: By volume 7, Parkman broke this long, compound sentence into +two not-quite-as-long sentences. The colon before "or" was changed to a +period, and Or began the next sentence: "... between him and the home of +his boyhood. Or rather ..." + + +Chapter 13: + +• Page 157: Near the end of the page, precarious is split between two +lines without a hyphen. "All these were supported by a charity in most +cases precari ous." The hyphen was missing, and the word was split for +spacing. We transcribed the word without the hyphen, but omitted the +space. This error was found in all volumes. + + +Chapter 14: + +• Page 171-Page 172: In footnote 14-5, add quotation mark before Enfin. +The leading quotation mark was missing in all volumes. +• Page 175: See the sentence "Like Madame de la Peltrie, she married, at +the desire of her parents. in her eighteenth year." The comma after +parents was either malformed because of the quality of the plates, or +mistyped as a period. We used a comma after parents. In volume 7, the +punctuation mark after parents was visibly a comma. + + +Chapter 15: + +• Changed Bourgeois in topics list of Chapter 15 to Bourgeoys. Not only +does the correction match the spelling in the topics list for Chapter 15 +in the contents, but it matches the spelling of Marguerite Bourgeoys in +seven other instances of Chapter XV. In no other instance in this book +was her name spelled differently. +• Page 195--Confirmed that year in footnote 15-8 is 1659. + + +Chapter 16: + +• Page 237: By volume 7, the narrative describing the return of Jogues +says "He reached the church in time for the early mass..." instead of +the evening mass. + + +Chapter 18: + +• Page 263: poorly printed word in footnote, appears to be "de." +Footnote 18-3 has two uses of de in italics, and both appear clearly in +Volume 1. We believe this issue is resolved. + + +Chapter 19: + +• Page 281: fixed typo ("die", should be "dine"). Volume 7 also has the +phrase "We must die before we run." This typo does not fall under +Parkman's caveat in the Preface, and could confuse if preserved. +Therefore, the spelling was corrected. +• Page 281: Add missing comma after effect in the clause "and fired with +such good effect, that, of seven warriors, all but one were killed." +This comma was added by Volume 7. + + +Chapter 22: + +• In Volume 1, Parkman cited page 166 in Hutchinson, Collection of +Papers in Footnote 22-18, but changed the page number to 240 in later +volumes. +• Page 333: fixed typo ("Govornor"), spelled incorrectly in all volumes. + + +Chapter 25: + +• Page 364: footnote 25-10, add missing close-quotes after cœur. +• Page 368: In footnote 25-18, add comma after Algonquin. There is a +space reserved for the comma but it didn't appear in the text: "Besides +these tribes, the Jesuits had become more or less acquainted with many +others, also Algonquin on the west and south of Lake Huron;" The comma +was missing in all volumes. +• Page 371: A colon appears at the end of the page, after "at least in +the flesh:" +• Page 372: In footnote 25-20, après is correctly spelled with a grave +accent, but the text had an acute accent, and this was preserved in +accordance with Parkman's statement in the preface. +• In footnote 25-20, verified the colon (":") after "dit-il" in the +final paragraph. In three quotations that follow, we changed the double +quotes to single quotes, because they were quotations embedded within a +quotation. + + +Chapter 28: + +• Changed "unconquerable" to "Unconquerable" in topics list beginning +Chapter XXVIII to match topics list for Chapter 28 in the Contents. + + +Chapter 29: + +• Page 397, footnote 29-4, add missing close-quotes after cœur. Parkman +put the quotes around the extract from the letter, but just omitted the +closing quote after cœur. This mistake does not come under the caveat of +Parkman stated in the Preface, so we made the change. This error can be +found in all volumes. +• Page 401, footnote 29-10, add comma after Ragueneau in reference +"Ragueneau Relation des Hurons, 1650." This comma is missing in all +volumes. + + +Chapter 30: + +• Page 407: "mâitre" (which should be maître) is preserved with the +wrong character circumflexed in the second paragraph of footnote 30-4, +for reasons described in Parkman's Preface. + + +Chapter 31: + +• Page 412: "neges" in footnote 31-2 should be "neiges," but it is part +of quoted text from the Relations, so the spelling has been preserved. +• Page 418-Page 419: war-party is split between the pages, and +hyphenated, so the transcription can only be war-party or warparty. We +chose the former. + + +Chapter 32: + +• Page 426: By volume 7, Parkman described neighboring Point St. Ignace, +"now Graham's Point, on the north side of the strait." + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA *** + + + + +This file should be named 6933-8.txt or 6933-8.zip + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/x/x/x/xxxx + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the +General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and +distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT +GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. 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