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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Class 


•  •     •    »,   •  •     • 
»      •       •    •     •     •  • 


>•  •   •        • 


Le  Jeune  baptising  Indian  Children. 


i^ii^"^^^^  ■iW^':*f?^"--<-- 


THE 


JESUITS  m  NOKTH  AMERICA 

IN   THE 

SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY. 

FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND  IN 
NORTH  AMERICA. 

Part  Second. 

BY 

FRANCIS  PARKMAN. 


»        ■»•»■»»,•,*•  J*, 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND   COMPANY. 
1910. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

Francis  Pakkman, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 

Copyright,  1895, 
Bj  Gbaob  p.  Coffin  and  Katherine  S.  Coolidgb. 

Copyright,  1897^ 
Bx  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 


F  10  6^. 


PBEFACE. 


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,  un- 
known to  them,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  con- 
tinent. 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  de- 


226291 


VI  PREFACE. 

tailed  reports,  embodying  or  accompanied  by  tbe 
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.  Mod- 
est records  of  marvellous  adventures  and  sacri- 
fices, and  vivid  pictures  of  forest  life,  alternate 
with  prolix  and  monotonous  details  of  the  con- 
version of  individual  savages,  and  the  praise- 
worthy 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  exami- 
nation has  left  me  no  doubt  that  these  mission- 
aries 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,  how- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

ever,  republished,  in  1858,  by  the  Canadian 
government,  in  three  large  octavo  volumes/ 

These  form  but  a  part  of  the  surviving  writ- 
ings of  the  French-American  Jesuits.  Many 
additional  reports,  memoirs,  journals,  and  let- 
ters, 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  Superi- 
ors 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  pos- 
sible 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 

1  Both  editions  —  the  old  and  the  new  —  are  cited  in  the  follow- 
ing 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. 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

valuable  aid  from  Mr.  J.  G.  Shea,  Rev.  Felix 
Martin,  S.J.,  the  Abb^s  Laverdiere  and  H.  R. 
Casgrain,  Dr.  J.  C.  Tach6,  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. 

BosTOK,  1st  May,  1867. 


CONTEIfTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

NATIVE   TKIBES. 

Paob 

Divisions.  —  The  Algonquins.  —  The  Hurons :  their  Houses ;  For- 
tifications ;  Habits ;  Arts ;  Women  ;  Trade ;  Festivities ;  Medi- 
cine. —  The  Tobacco  Nation.  —  The  Neutrals.  —  The  Fries. 
—  The  Andastes.  —  The  Iroquois  :  Social  and  Political  Organ- 
ization.—  Iroquois  Institutions,  Customs,  and  Character. — 
Indian  Religion  and  Superstitions.  —  The  Indian  Mind  ...        3 

/ 
CHAPTER  I. 

1634. 

NOTRE-DAMB   DBS  ANGBB. 

Quebec  in  1634. —Father  Le  Jeune.  —  The  Mission-house:  its 
Domestic  Economy.  —  The  Jesuits  and  their  Designs    ...      88 

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 95 

CHAPTER  IIL 
1632,  1633. 

PAUL   LB   JBUNB.  ^ 

L«  Jeune's  Voyage :  his  First  Pupils ;  his  Studies ;  his  Indian 
Teacher.  —  Winter  at  the  Mission-house.  —  Le  Jeune's 
3Qhool  — Reinforcements 101 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1633,  1634. 

lb  jeune  and  the  hunters. 

Paob 

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  Com- 
pany. —  Magic.  —  Incantations.  —  Christmas.  —  Starvation. 

—  Hopes  of  Conversion.  —  Backsliding. —  Peril  and  Escape 

of  Le  Jeune:  his  Return 110 

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  Brebeuf .  —  The  Mis- 
sion begun    .         .     129 

CHAPTER  VI. 

1634,  1635. 

BRtSEUP   AND   HIS   ASSOCIATES. 

The  Huron  Mission-house :  its  Inmates ;  its  Furniture ;  its 
Guests.  —  The  Jesuit  as  a  Teacher,  —  As  an  Engineer.  —  Bap- 
tisms. —  Huron  Village  Life.  —  Festivities  and  Sorceries.  — 
The  Dream  Feast. — The  Priests  accused  of  Magic. — The 
Drought  and  the  Red  Cross 146 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
1636,  1637. 

THE    FEAST   OF   THE   DEAD. 

Huron  Graves.  —  Preparation  for  the  Ceremony.  —  Disinterment. 

—  The  Mourning. — The  Funeral  March. —The  Great  Sep- 
ulchre —  Funeral  Games.  —  Encampment  of  the  Mourners, 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Paob 

—  Gifts.  —  Harangues.  —  Frenzy  of  the  Crowd.  —  The  Clos- 
ing Scene.  —  Another  Rite.  —  The  Captive  Iroquois.  —  The 
Sacrifice 159 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
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.  —  Ef- 
forts at  Conversion.  —  Priests  and  Sorcerers.  —  The  Man- 
Devil.  —  The  Magician's  Prescription.  —  Indian  Doctors 
and  Patients.  —  Covert  Baptisms.  —  Self-devotion  of  the 
Jesuits 172 

CHAPTER  IX. 
1637. 

CHARACTER   OF  THE   CANADIAN   JE8UIT8. 

Jean  de  Brebeuf .  —  Charles  Gamier.  —  Joseph  Marie  Chaumonot. 
— Noel  Chabanel.  —  Isaac  Jogues.  —  Other  Jesuits.  — Nature 
of  their  Faith.  —  Supernaturalism.  —  Visions.  —  Miracles      .     188 

CHAPTER  X. 
1637-1640. 

PERSECUTION. 

Ossossan^.  —  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.  —  Br^euf 's 
Letter.  —  Narrow  Escapes.  —  Woes  and  Consolations    .    .    .    200 

CHAPTER  XL 
1638-1640. 

PRIEST  AND   PAGAN. 

Du  Peron*s  Journey.  —  Daily  Life  of  the  Jesuits.  —  Their  Mis- 
sionary Excursions.  —  Converts  at  Ossossan^.  —  Machinery 


ill  CONTENTS. 

Paqb 

of  Conversion,  —  Conditions  of  Baptism.  —  Backsliders. — 
The  Converts  and  their  Countrymen.  —  The  Cannibals  at  St. 
Joseph 218 

CHAPTER  XIL 
1639,  1640. 

THE   TOBACCO  NATION.  —  THE   NEUTBALS. 

A  Change  of  Plan.  —  Sainte  Marie.  —  Mission  of  the  Tobacco  Na- 
tion. —  Winter  Journeying.  —  Reception  of  the  Missionaries. 

—  Superstitious  Terrors.  —  Peril  of  Gamier  and  Jogues.  — 
Mission  of  the  Neutrals.  —  Huron  Intrigues.  —  Miracles.  — 
Fury  of  the  Indians.  —  Intervention  of  Saint  Michael.  —  Re- 
turn to  Sainte  Marie.  —  Intrepidity  of  the  Priests.  —  Their 
Mental  Exaltation 230 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
1636-1646. 

QUEBEC   AND   ITS  TENANTS. 

The  New  Governor.  —  Edifying  Examples.  —  Le  Jeune's  Corre- 
spondents. —  Rank  and  Devotion.  —  Nuns.  —  Priestly  Author- 
ity. —  Condition  of  Quebec.  —  The  Hundred  Associates.  — 
Church  Discipline.  —  Plays.  —  Fireworks.  —  Processions.  — 
Catechising.  —  Terrorism.  —  Pictures. —  The  Converts.  —  The 
Society  of  Jesus.  —  The  Foresters 241 

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  I'lncarnation  : 
her  Enthusiasm ;  her  Mystical  Marriage ;  her  Dejection ;  her 
Mental  Conflicts ;  her  Vision  ;  made  Superior  of  the  Ursulines. 

—  The  Hotel-Dieu. — The  Voyage  to  Canada.  —  Sillery. — 
Labors  and  Sufferings  of  the  Nuns.  —  Character  of  Marie  de 
ITncarnation.  —  Of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie 259 


CONTENTS.  xm 

CHAPTER  XV. 
1636-1642. 

villemarie  db  montbbal. 

Paok 
Dauversifere  and  the  Voice  from  Heaven.  —  AbM  Olier. — 
Their  Schemes. — The  Society  of  Notre-Dame  de  Mont- 
real. —  Maisonneuve.  —  Devout  Ladies.  —  Mademoiselle 
Mance.  —  Marguerite  Bourgeoys.  —  The  Montrealists  at 
Quebec.  —  Jealousy.  —  Quarrels.  —  Romance  and  Devotion. 

—  Embarkation.  —  Foundation  of  Montreal 281 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
1641-1644. 

ISAAC   JOGUE8. 

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 305 

CHAPTER  XVn. 
1641-1646. 

THE    IROQUOIS.  —  BBE8SANI.  —  DB   NOUB. 

War.  —  Distress  and  Terror.  —  Richelieu.  —  Battle.  —  Ruin  of 
Indian  Tribes.  — Mutual  Destruction.  —  Iroquois  and  Algon- 
quin.—  Atrocities. — Frightful  Position  of  the  French. — 
Joseph  Bressani :  his  Capture ;  his  Treatment ;  his  Escape. 

—  Anne  de  Nou6 :  his  Nocturnal  Journey ;  his  Death    .    .    .    33S 

CHAPTER  XVm. 
1642-1644. 

YILLBMABIB. 

Infancy  of  Montreal.  —  The  Flood.  —  Vow  of  Maisonneuve. — 
Pilgrimage.  —  D'Ailleboust.  —  The  Hotel-Dieu.  —  Piety.  — 
Propagandism.  —  War.  —  Hurons  and  Iroquois.  —  Dogs.  — 
Sally  of  the  French.  —  Battle.  —  Exploit  of  Maisonneuve      .    357 


jm.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

1644,  1645. 

PBA.CE. 

Paoi 

Iroquois  Prisoners.  —  Piskaret :  his  Exploits.  —  More  Pris- 
oners. —  Iroquois  Embassy.  —  The  Orator.  —  The  Great 
Council.  —  Speeches  of  Kiotsaton.  —  Muster  of  Savages.  — 
Peace  confirmed 373 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1645,  1646. 

THE   PEACE   BROKEN. 

Uncertainties.  —  The  Mission  of  Jogues:  he  reaches  the  Mo- 
hawks; his  Reception;  his  Return;  his  Second  Mission. — 
Warnings  of  Danger.  —  Rage  of  the  Mohawks.  —  Murder 
of  Jogues 394 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1646,  1647. 

ANOTHER   WAR. 

Mohawk  Inroads.  —  The  Hunters  of  Men.  —  The  Captive  Con- 
verts. —  The  Escape  of  Marie :  her  Story.  —  The  Algon- 
quin Prisoner's  Revenge :  her  Flight.  —  Terror  of  the  Colo- 
nists.—  Jesuit  Intrepidity 404 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
1645-1651. 

PBIEST  AND  PURITAN. 

Miscou.  — Tadoussac.  —  Journeys  of  De  Quen.  —  Druilletes:  hii 
Winter  with  the  Montagnais.  —  Influence  of  the  Missioiui. 
—  The  Abenakis.  —  Druilletes  on  the  Kennebec:  his  Em- 
bassy to  Boston.  —  Gibbons.  —  Dudley.  —  Bradford.  —  Eliot. 
— Endicott.  —  French  and  Puritan  Colonization.  —  Failure  of 
Druilletes's  Embassy.  —  New  Regulations.  —  New- Year's  Day 
at  Quebec      .,,.,, *15 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTER  XXm. 

1645-1648. 

a  doomed  nation. 

Pao« 
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  Am- 
bassador :  his  Suicide.  —  Iroquois  Honor 435 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1645-1648.  / 

THE    HURON   CHUBGH. 

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  Atone- 
ment. —  Hopes  and  Fears 449 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
1648,  1649. 

SAINTB    MABIB. 

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 462 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
1648. 

ANTOINE   DANIEL. 

Huron  Traders. — Battle  at  Three  Rivers.  —  St.  Joseph. — On- 
set of  the  Iroquois.  —  Death  of  Daniel.  —  The  Town  destroyed    471 

CHAPTER  XXVH 

1649.  ^ 

RUIN   OF  THE   HURONS. 

St.  Louis  on  Fire.  —  Invasion.  —  St.  Ignace  captured.  —  Br^euf 
and  Lalemant.  —  Battle  at  St.  Louis.  —  Sainte  Marie  threat- 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

Paob 

ened.  —  Renewed  Fighting.  —  Desperate  Conflict.  —  A  Night 
of  Suspense.  —  Panic  among  the  Victors.  —  Burning  of  St. 
Ignace.  —  Retreat  of  the  Iroquois 480 

CHAPTER  XXVm. 
1649. 

THE    MARTTBS. 

The  Ruins  of  St.  Ignace.  —  The  Relics  found.  —  Br^beuf  at  the 
Stake  :  his  Unconquerable  Fortitude.  —  Lalemant.  —  Rene- 
gade Hurons.  —  Iroquois  Atrocities.  —  Death  of  Br^beuf : 
his  Character.  —  Death  of  Lalemant 489 

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.  —  Employ- 
ments of  the  Jesuits 496 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
1649. 

GARNIEK.  —  CHABANKL. 

The  Tobacco  Missions.  —  St.  Jean  attacked.  —  Death  of  Gamier. 
—  The  Journey  of  Chabanel :  his  Death.  —  Garreau  and 
Grelon 506 

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 515 


CONTENTS.  xvu 

CHAPTER  XXXn. 

1650-1866.  1^ 

the  last  of  the  hubons. 

Page 

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  ........    527 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1650-1670. 

TH£   DESTROYERS. 

Iroquois  Ambition.  —  Its  Victims.  —  The  Fate  of  the  Neutrals. 

—  The  Fate  of  the  Eries.  —  The  War  with  the  Andastes.  — 
Supremacy  of  the  Iroquois 538 


CHAPTER  XXXrV/ 

THE   END. 


xxrvy 


Failure  of  the  Jesuits.  —  What  their  Success  would  have  in- 

volved.  —  Future  of  the  Mission 550 


INDEX 5i5 


nnaMA  irrvi' 


»      1    »,    1    1    t       , 
•       t    »       >     t      , 


■Cjnntil     t   ^1  I      1     I    O     I.-      C       t 


JC^-C^-^^C 


OF  THE 


jjii  I  iL'iTQLiJMjMTri-nnn. 


i's:'s™.'^j::z:j-. 


THE 

JESUITS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA, 


INTRODUCTION. 

NATIVE  TRIBES. 

Divisions.  —  The  Algonquins.  —  The  Hdrons  :  their  Houses  ; 
FoKTiFiCATiONS ;  Habits J  Arts ;  Women;  Trade;  Festivi- 
ties; Medicine.  —  The  Tobacco  Nation.  —  The  Neutrals. — 
The  Eries.  —  The  Andastes.  —  The  Iroquois:  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,  hope- 
lessly 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  popu- 
lation 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 


'4  ''  •  INTRODUCTION. 

^' afid 'eusioms' widely  different;  while,  in  the  region 
now  forming  the  State  of  New  York,  a  powe-  was 
rising  to  a  ferocious  vitality,  which,  but  for  the 
presence  of  Europeans,  would  probably  have  sub- 
jected, 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  lan- 
guage. 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.^ 

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, 

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  Abenakis  of  New  England,  the  Ojibwas  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  or  the  Illinois  of  the  West  corresponded  to  the  differ- 
ence between  French  and  Italian,  or  Italian  and  Spanish.  Each  of 
these  languages,  again,  had  its  dialects,  like  those  of  different 
provinces  of  France. 


%, 


NEW-ENGLAND  TRIBES.  6 

extended  through  Central  New  York,  from  the 
Hudson  to  the  Genesee.  Southward  lay  the  Andastes, 
on  ^jid  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.^ 

Of  the  Algonquin  populations,  the  densest,  despite 
a  recent  epidemic  which  had  swept  them  off  by  thou- 
sands, 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 ; 

1  To  the  above  general  statements  there  was,  in  the  first  half  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  but  one  exception  worth  notice.  A  de- 
tached branch  of  the  Dahcotah  stock,  the  Winnebago,  was  estab- 
lished south  of  Green  Bay,  on  Lake  Michigan,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Algonquins;  and  small  Dahcotah  bands  had  also  planted  them- 
selves on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi,  nearly  in  the  same 
latitude. 

There  was  another  branch  of  the  Iroquois  in  the  Carolinas,  con* 
dsting  of  the  Tuscaroras  and  kindred  bands.  In  17X5  they  were 
joined  to  the  Five  Nations. 

m 

0 


# 


D  INTRODUCTION. 

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;  north- 
ward, 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  rela- 
tively 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.^ 

1  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  skele- 
ton, 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. 


.* 


NEW-ENGLAND  TRIBES.  7 

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 
Abenakis,  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.^ 

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, 

1  The  Tarratines  of  New-England  writers  were  the  Abenakis,  oi 
n  portion  of  them. 


«  INTRODUCTION. 

they  gathered  from  far  and  near,  toiling  painfully 
through  the  desolation  of  forests,  mustering  by  hun- 
dreds 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  lone- 
liness, 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  f eastings;  to-morrow  all 
again  was  solitude,  and  the  Ottawa  was  covered  with 
the  canoes  of  the  returning  warriors. 


ALGONQUINS.  9 

Along  this  stream,  a  main  route  of  traffic,  the 
silence  or  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  VlsUy  who  occupied  the  great 
island  of  the  AUumettes.  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  bar- 
barous 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  rem- 
nant. Both  in  themselves  and  as  a  type  of  their 
generic  stock  they  demand  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  1 

1  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) ;  Atti< 
gouantans  (the  name  of  one  of  their  tribes,  used  by  Champlain  for 
the  whole  nation) ;  Ouendat  (their  true  name,  according  to  Lale- 
mant) ;  Yendat,  Wyandot,  Guyandot  (corruptions  of  the  preceding) ; 
Ouaouakecinatouek  (Potier),  Quatogies  (Golden). 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

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  enu- 
meration 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.^ 

1  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1640, 38  (Cramoisy).  His  words 
are,  "  de  feuz  enulron  deux  mille,  et  enuirou  douze  mille  personnes." 


COUNTRY  OF  THE  HURONS.       11 

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.  ^ 
They  covered  a  space  of  from  one  to  ten  acres,  the 
dwellings  clustering  together  with  little  or  no  pre- 
tension to  order.  In  general,  these  singular  struc- 
tures 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 

There  were  two  families  to  every  fire.  That  by  "  personnes  '*  adults 
only  are  meant  cannot  be  doubted,  as  the  Relations  abound  in  inci- 
dental 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.  Cham- 
plain  and  Le  Caron,  in  1615,  reckoned  them  at  seventeen  or  eighteen, 
with  a  population  of  about  ten  thousand,  —  meaning,  no  doubt, 
adults.  Br^euf,  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  frag- 
Hjents  of  tribes  had  been  incorporated  with  the  Hurons,  thus  more 
than  balancing  the  ravages  of  a  pestilence  which  had  decimated 
them. 

1  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. 
Tach^  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." 


12  INTRODUCTIOIT. 

feet  long,  though  in  breadth  and  height  they  did  not 
much  exceed  the  others.^  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.^    These  were  formed 

1  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1635,  31.  Champlain  says  that 
he  saw  them,  in  1616,  more  than  thirty  fathoms  long ;  while  Van- 
derdonck  reports  the  length,  from  actual  measurement,  of  an  Ljp- 
quois  house,  at  a  hundred  and  eighty  yards,  or  five  hundred  and 
forty  feet  I 

2  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  suf- 
ficed for  a  family,  and  here  during  summer  they  slept  pellraell,  in 
(he  clothes  they  wore  by  day,  and  without  pillows. 


HURON  DWELLINGS.  18 

of  thick  sheets  of  bark,  supported  by  posts  and  trans- 
verse 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  fire- 
wood. 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  chil- 
dren. Privacy  there  was  none.  The  house  was  one 
chamber,  sometimes  lodging  more  than  twenty 
families.  1 

1  One  of  the  best  descriptions  of  the  Huron  and  Iroquois  houses 
is  that  of  Sagard,  Voyage  des  Hurons,  118.  See  also  Champlain 
(1627),  78;  Breaevd,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1635,  31;  Vanderdonck, 
New  Netherlands,  in  N.  Y.  Hist.  Coll.,  Second  Ser.,  i.  196;  Lafitau, 
Moeurs  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  bouses  were  of  similar  constructiona 


14  INTRODUCTION 

He  who  entered  on  a  winter  night  beheld  a  strange 
spectacle :  the  vista  of  fires  lighting  the  smoky  con- 
cave ;  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  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  theiF 
houses  on  rows  of  upright  posts,  arched  with  separate  poles  for  the 
roof.  The  Hurons,  no  doubt,  did  the  same  in  their  larger  struc- 
tures. 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.  Tache,  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  indica- 
tions and  descriptions,  I  have  been  able  to  detect  the  sites  of 
villages  in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  and  by  the  study,  in  situ,  of 
archaeological  monuments,  small  as  they  are,  to  understand  and 
confirm  their  many  interesting  details  of  the  habits,  and  espeojally 
the  funeral  rites,  of  these  extraordinary  tribes." 


HURON  FORTIFICATIONS.  15 

The  fortified  towns  of  the  Hurons  were  all  on  the 
side  exposed  to  Iroquois  incursions.  The  fortifica- 
tions 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.^ 

1  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 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

Among  these  tribes  there  was  no  individual  owner- 
ship of  land,  but  each  family  had  for  the  time  exclu- 
sive •  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 

instance,  distinct  traces  of  a  double  line  of  palisades  are  visible 
ftlong  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  Tusca- 
rora  Indian,  Cusick,  in  his  curious  History  of  the  Six  Nations  (Iro- 
quois). Br^euf  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  primi- 
tive 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  occasion- 
•^ly  surrounded  their  dwellings  with  a  triple  palisade. — Beverly, 
history  of  Virginia,  149. 


THE  ARTS.  IT 

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  com  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  pur- 
poses of  the  toilet.  They  pounded  their  maize  in 
huge  mortars  of  wood,  hollowed  by  alternate  burn- 
ings 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.*    The 

*  Some  of  the  northern  tribes  of  California,  at  the  present  day, 
wear  a  sort  of  breastplate  "  composed  of  thin  parallel  battens  of 
Tery  tough  wood,  woven  together  with  a  small  cord.*' 

2 


t8  INTRODUCTION. 

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  light- 
ness 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  cur- 
rency, 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.  ^    The  belts,  on  occasions 

1  Beayer-skins  and  other  valuable  furs  were  Bometimeo,  on  such 
occasionSj  used  as  a  substitute. 


DRESS.  19 

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,  hunt- 
ing, or  magic.  1  The  Hurons  had,  however,  in  com- 
mon 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. 

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  decora- 
tions 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 

^  Engravings  of  many  specimens  of  these  figured  songs  are  given 
in  the  voluminous  reports  on  the  condition  of  the  Indians,  pub- 
lished by  Government,  under  the  editorship  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
The  specimens  are  chiefly  Algonquin. 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

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,  how- 
ever, 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.  ^  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.^  When  of  such  extent,  the  process  was 
very  severe;  and  though  no  murmur  escaped  the 
sufferer,  he  sometimes  died  from  its  effects. 

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 

1  See  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  35.  "  Quelles  hures ! "  exclaimed 
some  astonished  Frenchman.    Hence  the  name,  Hurons. 

*  Bressani,  Relation  Ahreg€e,  72.  Champlain  has  a  picture  of 
&  warrior  thus  tattooed. 


MARRIAGE.  21 

them  less  sensible  of  pain,  certainly  made  them  less 
susceptible  of  passion,  than  the  higher  races  of  men, 
the  Hurons  were  notoriously  dissolute,  far  exceed- 
ing in  this  respect  the  wandering  and  starving 
Algonquins.^  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  mar- 
riage, lasting  a  day,  a  week,  or  more.     The  seal  of 

1  Among  the  Iroquois  there  were  more  favorable  features  in  the 
condition  of  women.  The  matrons  had  often  a  considerable  influ- 
ence on  the  decisions  of  the  councils.  Lafitau,  whose  book  appeared 
in  1724,  says  that  the  nation  was  corrupt  in  his  time,  but  that  thia 
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  Green- 
halgh,  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  Gasp^,  where  a  lapse  in  this 
regard  was  counted  a  disgrace.  (See  Le  Clerc,  Nouvelle  Relation  de 
la  Gaspesie,  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  super- 
stition. 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. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

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  attrac- 
tive and  enterprising  damsel  might,  and  often  did, 
make  twenty  such  marriages  before  her  final  estab- 
lishment, she  thus  collected  a  wealth  of  wampum 
with  which  to  adorn  herself  for  the  village  dances.^ 
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. 

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,  till- 

1  "  II  8*en  trouue  telle  qui  passe  ainsi  sa  ieunesse,  qui  aura  eu 
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 
venue,  les  ieunes  femmes  courent  d'une  cabane  en  une  autre,  c5me 
font  les  ieunes  hommes  de  leur  coste,  qui  en  prennent  par  ou  bon 
leur  semble,  toutesfois  sans  violence  aucune,  et  n'en  re9oiuent 
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  bride- 
groom, together  with  an  armful  of  fuel.  There  was  often  a  feast 
of  th^  relatives,  or  of  the  whole  village. 


HURON  TRAFFIC.  28 

Ing,  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  amuse- 
ment. 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  exchang- 
ing wampum,  fishing-nets,  and  corn  for  fish  and  furs.  ^ 
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  ven- 
1  Champlain  (1627),  84. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

geance  of  the  other  party.  ^  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. 

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  Br^beuf  relates  that  once  in  mid- 
winter, 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. 2    Ludicrous  as  it  may  appear,  these  games 

1  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  156  (Cramoisy). 

«  3r^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636, 113.    ThiB  game  ia  still  a 


HURON  FESTIVITIES.  ^ 

were  often  medical  prescriptions,  and  designed  as  a 
cure  of  the  sick. 

Their  feasts  and  dances  were  of  various  character, 
social,  medical,  and  mystical  or  religious.  Some  of 
their  feasts  were  on  a  scale  of  extravagant  profu- 
sion. A  vain  or  ambitious  host  threw  all  his  sub- 
stance 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.^  The  invitation  was  simple.  The  messenger 
addressed  the  desired  guest  with  the  concise  sum- 
mons, "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  lugu- 
brious 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 

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. 
1  Br^beuf.  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  111. 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

guests.  There  was  talking,  laughing,  jesting,  sing- 
ing, and  smoking;  and  at  times  the  entertainment 
was  protracted  through  the  day. 

When  the  feast  had  a  medical  or  mystic  charac- 
ter, it  was  indispensable  that  each  guest  should 
devour  the  whole  of  the  portion  given  him,  however 
enormous.  Should  he  fail,  the  host  would  be  out- 
raged, 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.^ 
These  festins  h  manger  tout  were  much  dreaded  by 
many  of  the  Hurons,  who,  however,  were  never 
known  to  decline  them. 

Invitation  to  a  dance  was  no  less  concise  than  to  a 
feast.  Sometimes  a  crier  proclaimed  the  approach- 
ing 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 

1  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. 


HURON  FESTIVITIES.  27 

with  tortoise-shell  rattles.^  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. 

Religious  festivals,  councils,  the  entertainment  of 
an  envoy,  the  inauguration  of  a  chief,  were  all  occa- 
sions 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  har- 
monious 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 

1  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,  some- 
times 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  ban- 
tered that  he  was  forced  to  hide  his  head  in  his  blanket- 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

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.^  This  was  the  only  form 
of  cannibalism  among  them,  since,  unlike  the  wan- 
dering .Algonquins,  they  were  rarely  under  the 
desperation  of  extreme  famine. 

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 

1  "  II  y  en  a  qui  en  mangent  auec  plaisir."  —  Bre^beuf ,  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  canni- 
balism is  that  furnished  by  a  Western  tribe,  the  Miamis,  among 
whom  there  was  a  clan,  or  family,  whose  hereditary  duty  and  privi- 
lege it  was  to  devour  the  bodies  of  prisoners  burned  to  death.  The 
act  had  somewhat  of  a  religious  character,  was  attended  with  cere- 
monial observances,  and  was  restricted  to  the  family  in  question. 
See  Hon.  Lewis  Cass,  in  the  appendix  to  Colonel  Whiting's  poem, 
«  Ontwa." 


HURON  MEDICINE.  2^ 

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.^ 

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.^  Sometimes  he  pre- 
scribed 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  snowdrifts  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  cus- 

1  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  seri- 
ously injured  by  alternations  of  hunger  and  excess.  The  Hurons 
sometimes  died  from  the  effects  of  their  festins  a  manger  tout. 

2  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 
foody  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. 


3a  INTRODUCTION. 

tomary  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  dis- 
guised 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. 

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  con- 
ceivable 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.^     Hence  it  is  no  matter  of  wonder  that 

1  "  Dans  le  pays  de  nos  Hurons,  il  se  faict  aussi  des  assemblies  de 
toutes  les  filles  dVn  bourg  aupres  d'vne  malade,  tant  a  sa  priere, 
suyuant  la  resuerie  ou  le  songe  qu'elle  en  aura  eue,  que  par  I'or- 
donnance  de  Loki  {the  doctor),  pour  sa  sante  et  guerison,  Les  filles 
ainsi  assemblees,  on  leur  demand  e  h,  toutes,  les  vnes  apres  les  autres. 


THE  HURON-IROQUOIS.  31 

sudden  illness  and  sudden  cures  were  frequent  among 
the  Hurons.  The  patient  reaped  profit,  and  the 
doctor  both  profit  and  honor. 

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  promi- 
nent 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  con- 
spicuous 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  pal- 

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  chaeun 
auec  celle  qui  I'a  choysi,  d'vn  bout  k  I'autre  de  la  Cabane  et 
passent  ainsi  toute  la  nuict,  pendant  que  deux  Capitaines  aux  deux 
bouts  du  logis  chantent  et  sonnent  de  leur  Tortufi  du  soir  au  lende- 
main  matin,  que  la  ceremonie  cesse.  Dieu  vueille  abolir  me  si 
damnable  et  malheureuse  ceremonie."  —  Sagard,  Voyage  des  Hurons, 
168.  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, 
Br^euf,  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.  Thii 
superstition  will  be  described  in  another  connection. 


82  INTRODUCTION. 

pable  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  sur- 
pass, with  few  and  doubtful  exceptions,  all  other 
aborigines  of  North  and  South  America,  not  except- 
ing the  civilized  races  of  Mexico  and  Peru.^ 

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.2  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 

1  "  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  Amer- 
icana, 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. 

2  Synonymes :  Tionnontates,  Etionontates,  Tuinontatek,  Dionon- 
dadies,  Khionontaterrhonons,  Petuneux  or  Nation  du  Petun  (To- 
bacco). 


THE  NEUTRAL  NATION.  33 

the  Western  tribes.^  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 
witih  them  in  French  goods  at  an  enormous  protit.^ 

Journejdng  southward  five  days  from  the  Tionnon- 
tate  towns,  the  forest  traveller  reached  the  border 
villages  of  the  Attiwandarons,  or  Neutral  Nation.^ 
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.*     Their  name   of   "Neutrals" 

1  "L'amede  tous  les  Conseils."  —  Charlevoix,  Voyage,  199.  In 
1763  they  were  Pontiac's  best  warriors. 

2  On  the  Tionnontates,  see  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1637,  163 ;  Lale- 
mant.  Relation,  1641,  69 ;  Eagueneau,  Relation,  1648,  61.  An  excel- 
lent summary  of  their  character  and  history,  by  Mr.  Shea,  will  be 
found  in  Hist.  Mag.,  v.  262. 

*  Attiwandarons,  Attiwendaronk,  Atirhagenrenrets,  Rhagenratka 
{Jesuit  Relations),  Attionidarons  {Sagard).  They,  and  not  the 
Eries,  were  the  Kahkwas  of  Seneca  tradition. 

<  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1641,  71.  The  Niagara  was 
then  called  the  "  River  of  the  Neutrals,"  or  the  Onguiaahra.  Lale- 
mant estimates  the  Neutral  population,  in  1640,  at  twelve  thousand, 
in  forty  villages. 


M  INTRODUCTION. 

was  due  to  their  neutrality  in  the  war  between  the 
Hurons  and  the  Iroquois  proper.  The  hostile  war- 
riors, 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 
^eir  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.^ 
They  burned  female  prisoners,  a  practice  unknown  to 
the  Hurons. 2  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  insupport- 
able; then  scraped  the  flesh  from  the  bones,  and  dis- 
played 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  what- 
ever, but  were  usually  tattooed  from  head  to  foot 
with  powdered  charcoal. 

1  Lettre  du  Pere  La  Roche  Dallion,  8  Juillet,  1627,  in  Le  Clerc, 
^tablissement  de  la  Foy,  i.  346. 

*  Women  were  often  burned  by  the  Iroquois :  witness  the  case 
of  Catherine  Mercier  in  1661,  and  many  cases  of  Indian  women 
mentioned  by  the  early  writers. 


THE  "NATION  OF  THE  CAT.»»  S6 

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.^ 

Southward  and  eastward  of  Lake  Erie  dwelt  a 
kindred  people,  the  Fries,  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. 2  They  were  noted  warriors,  fought  with 
poisoned  arrows,  and  were  long  a  terror  to  the  neigh- 
boring Iroquois.^ 

1  The  Hurons  became  very  jealous,  when  La  Boche  Dallion 
visited  the  Neutrals,  lest  a  direct  trade  should  be  opened  between 
the  latter  and  the  French,  against  whom  they  at  once  put  in  circu- 
lation 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. 

2  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  46. 

*  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1654,  10.  "  Nous  les  appellons  la  Nation 
Chat,  k  cause  qu'il  y  a  dans  leur  pais  vne  quantity  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. 

Synomjmes :  Eri^s,  Erigas,  Eriehronon,  Riguehronon.  The  Jesuits 
never  had  a  mission  among  them,  though  they  seem  to  have  been 


U  INTRODUCTION. 

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.^ 

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  emerg- 
ing from  his  primitive  condition  of  the  hunter.  A 
geographical  position,  commanding  on  one  hand  the 

yisited  by  Champlain's  adventurous  interpreter,  "fetienne  Brule,  in 
the  summer  of  1616.  They  are  probably  the  Carantoiians  of 
Champlain. 

1  Gallatin  erroneously  places  the  Andastes  on  the  Alleghany, 
Bancroft  and  others  adopting  the  error.  The  research  of  Mr.  Shea 
has  8ho\Tn  their  identity  with  the  Susqiiehannocks  of  the  English, 
and  the  Minquas  of  the  Dutch,  —  See  Hist.  Mag.,  ii.  294. 

Synonymes :  Andastes,  Andastracronnons,  Andastaeronnons,  An- 
dastaguez,  Antastoui  (French),  Susquehannooks  (English),  Mengwo, 
Minquas  (Dutch),  Conestogas,  Conessetagoes  (English). 


THE  IROQUOIS.  87 

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  aggres- 
sive 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  power- 
ful 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.^ 

1  The  name  Iroquois  is  French.  Charlevoix  says :  "  II  a  €t^  forme 
du  terme  Hiro,  ou  Hero,  qui  signifie  J'ai  dit,  et  par  lequel  ces  sauvages 
finissent  tons  leur  discours,  comme  les  Latins  faisoient  autrefois 
par  leur  Dixi ;  et  de  Koue,  qui  est  un  cri  tantot  de  tristesse,  lorsqu'on 
le  prononce  en  trainant,  et  tantot  de  joye,  quand  on  le  prononce 
plus  court."  —  Hist,  de  la  N.  F.,  i.  271.  Their  true  name  is  Hodeno- 
saunee,  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  Aquanuscionif 
ascribed  to  them  by  Lafitau  and  Charlevoix,  who  translated  it 
*  House-makers,"  Faiseurs  de  Cabannes,  may  be  a  conversion  of  the 


S8  INTRODUCTION". 

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,  with- 
out law  and  without  enforced  authority  ?  Yet  there 
were  towns  where  savages  lived  together  in  thou- 
isands,  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  faicile  auditors  neither  believed  nor  under- 
stood 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- 
true  name  with  an  erroneous  rendering.  The  following  are  the 
true  names  of  the  five  nations  severally,  with  their  French  and 
English  synonyraes.  For  other  synonymes,  see  "  History  of  the 
Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  chapter  i.,  note. 


English. 

French. 

Ganeagaono, 

Mohawk, 

Agnier. 

Onayotekaono, 

Oneida, 

Onneyut. 

Onundagaono, 

Onondaga, 

Onnontagu^. 

Gweugwehono, 

Cayuga, 

Goyogouin. 

Nundawaono, 

Seneca, 

Tsonnontouans. 

The  Iroquois  termination  in  ono  —  or  onon,  as  the  French  write  it 
—  fimply  means  people. 


INDIAN  GENEROSITY.  88 

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  neigh- 
bors. 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  superior- 
ity, and  a  willingness  to  yield  to  it,  were  always  con- 
spicuous? All  were  prompt  to  aid  each  other  in 
distress,  and  a  neighborly  spirit  was  often  exhibited 
among  them.  When  a  young  woman  was  perma- 
nently married,  the  other  women  of  the  village 
supplied  her  with  firewood  for  the  year,  each  contrib- 
uting 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 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

the  favor  gave  a  feast,  if  they  could;  if  not,  theii 
thanks  were  sufficient.  ^  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.  2 

Contrary  to  the  received  opinion,  these  Indians, 
like  others  of  their  race,  when  living  in  communities, 
were  of  a  very  social  disposition.  Besides  their  inces- 
sant dances  and  feasts,  great  and  small,  they  were 
continually  visiting,  spending  most  of  their  time  in 
their  neighbors'  houses,  chatting,  joking,  bantering 


1  The  following  testimony  concerning  Indian  charity  and  hospi- 
tality is  from  Eagueneau :  "  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. 

2  The  Jesuit  Brelaeuf,  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 :  "  lis  ont  vne  douceur  et  vne  affability  quasi 
incroyable  pour  des  Sauuages ;  ils  ne  se  picquent  pas  aisement.  .  .  . 
lis  se  maintiennent  dans  cette  si  parfaite  intelligence  par  les  fre- 
quentes  visites,  les  secours  qu'ils  se  donnent  mutuellement  dans 
leurs  maladies,  par  les  festins  et  les  alliances.  ...  lis  sont  moins 
en  leurs  Cabanes  que  chez  leurs  amis.  .  .  .  S'ils  ont  vn  bon  mor- 
ceau,  ils  en  font  festin  k  leurs  amis,  et  ne  le  mangent  quasi  iamais 
en  leur  particulier,"  etc.  —  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  118, 


INDIAN  RULE  OF  DESCENT.  41 

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  con- 
tain 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, 
in  most  cases,  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. 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

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.^ 

This  system  of  clanship,  with  the  rule  of  descent 
usually  belonging  to  it,  was  of  very  wide  prevalence. 
Indeed,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  close  observa- 
tion 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  uni- 
versally 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. 

1  "  Les  enf ans  ne  succedent  iamais  aux  biens  et  dignitez  de  leurs 
peres,  doubtant  comme  i'ay  dit  de  leur  geniteur,  maig  bien  font-ils 
leurs  successeurs  et  heritiers,  les  enfans  de  leurs  soeurs,  et  desquela 
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). 


INDIAN  RULE  OF  DESCENT.  4S 

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  founda- 
tion 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  confed- 1 
eracy  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  func- 
tions, 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 


^  INTRODUCTION. 

of  their  influence  depended  on  the  measure  of  their 
personal  ability  j^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  con- 
course 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.  ^ 

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  sub- 
ject 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.  ^ 

1  These  facts  are  gathered  here  and  there  from  Champlain, 
Sagard,  Bressani,  and  the  Jesuit  Relations  prior  to  1650.  Of  the 
Jesuits,  Brebeuf  is  the  most  full  and  satisfactory.  Lafitau  and 
Charlevoix  knew  the  Huron  institutions  only  through  others. 

The  names  of  tlie  four  confederate  Huron  nations  were  the 
Ataronchronons,  Attignenonghac,  Attignaouentans,  and  Ahrendar- 
rhonons.  There  was  also  a  subordinate  "  nation  "  called  Tohotaen- 
rat,  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. 

2  Among  modern  students  of  Iroquois  institutions,  a  place  far  in 
advance  of  all  others  is  due  to  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  himself  an  Iro 


THE  IROQUOIS.  —  THEIR  ORIGIN.  45 

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,  coun- 
selled them  to  compose  their  strife  and  unite  in  a 
league  of  defence  and  aggression.  Another  person- 
age, wholly  mortal,  yet  wonderfully  endowed,  a 
renowned  warrior  and  a  mighty  magician,  stands, 
with  his  hair  of  writhing  snakes,  grotesquely  con- 
spicuous through  the  dim  light  of  tradition  at  this 
birth  of  Iroquois  nationalityo     This  was  Atotarho,  a 

quois  by  adoption,  and  intimate  with  the  race  from  boyhood.  His 
work,  The  League  of  the  Iroquois,  is  a  production  of  most  thorough 
and  ablG  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  produc- 
tions, the  reader  must  scrupulously  reserve  his  right  of  private 
judgment.  None  of  the  old  writers  are  so  satisfactory  as  Lafitau. 
His  work,  Moeurs  des  Sauvages  Ameriquains  comparees  aux  Mceurs  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  Gamier,  who  was  a  missionary  among  thera 
more  than  sixty  years,  from  his  novitiate  to  his  death. 


46  INTRODUCTION. 

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  predeces- 
sor. 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. ^     When   the   league   was 

1  With  a  view  to  clearness,  the  above  statement  is  made  cate- 
gorical. It  requires,  however,  to  be  qualified.  It  is  not  quite 
certain,  that,  at  the  formation  of  the  confederacy,  there  were  eight 
clang,  though  there  is  positive  proof  of  the  existence  of  seven. 
Neither  is  it  certain,  that,  at  the  separation,  every  clan  was  repre- 
sented 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  Lafamille  du  Petit  Pluvier  andLafamille 
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, 
\£  it  existed,  was  very  inconspicuous,  and  of  little  importance. 

Remarkable  analogies  exist  between  Iroquois  clanship  and  that 


ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  IROQUOIS.  47 

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. 

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 

of  other  tribes.  The  eight  clans  of  the  Iroquois  were  separated 
into  two  divisions,  four  in  each.  Originally,  marriage  was  inter- 
dicted 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  radi- 
cally 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, 
«s  uiual,  through  the  female. 


48  INTRODUCTION. 

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  suc- 
ceeded 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  nomi- 
nated by  the  matron  of  the  late  chief's  household.^ 
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. 

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 

1  Lafitau.  i.  471. 


COUNCILS.  —SACHEMS.  49 

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  stcr  leur  derri^re, 
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."^ 

The  young  warriors  had  also  their  councils:  so, 
1  Lafitau,  i.  478. 


60  INTRODUCTIOIM. 

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 
Bachems. 

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.  When- 
ever a  subject  arose  before  any  of  the  nations,  of 
importance  enough  to  demand  its  assembling,  the 
sachems  of  that  nation  might  summon  their  col- 
leagues 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  popu- 
lation, 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 


THE  GREAT  COUNCIL.  51 

council  of  sachems,  were  never  without  influence  on 
its  decisions. 

The  utmost  oruer  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."^ 

1  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 
done  lik  cette  politique  qui  les  unit  si  bieu,  a  peu  pr^s  comme  tous 
les  ressorts  d'une  horloge,  qui  par  une  liaison  admirable  de  toutei 
les  parties  qui  les  coraposent,  contribuent  toutes  unaniraement  au 
merveilleux  effet  qui  en  resulte."  —  Hist,  de  I'Amerique  Septentrionale, 
Ui.  32.    He  adds  :  "  Les  Francois  ont  avoii^  eux-memes  qu'ils  ^toient 


52  INTRODUCTION. 

Unlike  the  Hurons,  they  required  an  entire  una- 
nimity 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  impracti- 
cable ;  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.  1  Their  influence  in  these  councils  was, 
however,  great,  and  even  paramount;  for  they  com- 
monly 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. ^ 

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. 

1  Lafitau,  i.  479. 

2  The  following  from  Lafitau  is  very  characteristic :  "  Ce  que  je 
dis  de  leur  zele  pour  le  bien  public  n'est  cependant  pas  si  universel, 
que  plusieurs  ne  pensent  k  leurs  interets  particuliers,  &  que  les 
Chefs  (sachems)  principalement  ne  fassent  joiier  plusieurs  ressorts 
secrets  pour  venir  k  bout  de  leurs  intrigues.  II  y  en  a  tel,  dont 
I'adresse  joue  si  bien  k  coup  sfir,  qu'il  fait  de'liberer  le  Conseil 
plusieurs  jours  de  suite,  sur  une  matiere  dont  la  determination  est 
arret^e  entre  lui  &  les  principales  tetes  avant  d'avoir  et4  mise  sur 
le  tapis.    Cependant  comme  les  Chefs  s'entre-regardent,  &  qu'aucun 


INDIAN  POLITICIANS.  51 

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  stipula- 
tions 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 

ne  veut  paroitre  se  donner  une  superiority  qui  puisse  piquer  la  ja- 
lousie, ils  se  menagent  dans  les  Conseils  plus  que  les  autres;  & 
quoiqu'ils  en  soient  Tame,  leur  politique  les  oblige  h,  y  parler  peu, 
&  k  ^couter  plfttot  le  sentiment  d'autrui,  qu'k  y  dire  le  leur ;  mais 
chacun  a  un  homme  k  sa  main,  qui  est  comme  une  esp^ce  de 
Brulot,  &  qui  ^tant  sans  consequence  pour  sa  personne  hazardo  en 
pleine  liberte  tout  ce  qu'il  juge  h  propos,  selon  qu'il  I'a  concert(< 
•Tec  le  Chef  mfime  pour  qui  il  agit."  —  Maurs  des  Sauvages,  i.  481. 


54  INTRODUCTION. 

public  archives,  and  were  divided  among  various 
custodians,  each  charged  with  the  memory  and  inter- 
pretation 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.^  To  this  end,  contributions 
were  made  and  presents  collected.     Their  number 

^  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  pimished.  —  Lettre  au  P.  Provincial,  16 
Hay,  1646. 


PUNISHMENT   OF   CRIME.  56 

and  value  were  determined  by  established  usage. 
Among  the  Hurons,  thirty  presents  of  very  consid- 
erable value  were  the  price  of  a  man's  life.  That  of 
a  woman's  was  fixed  at  forty,  by  reason  of  her  weak- 
ness, 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.^  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.  ^ 

The  Hurons  were  notorious  thieves;  and  perhaps 
the  Iroquois  were  not  much  better,  though  the  con- 
trary has  been  asserted.     Among  both,  the  robbed 

^  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  80. 

*  Ragueneau,  Relation  de$  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 
Ftprrot.  73-76. 


56  INTRODUCTION. 

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  inter- 
vened to  aid  him.  Relatives  and  clansmen  espoused 
the  quarrel  of  him  who  could  not  right  himself.  ^ 

Witches,  with  whom  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois 
were  grievously  infested,  were  objects  of  utter  abomi- 
nation 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  diffi- 
culty in  advance,  by  charging  the  culprit  with  witch- 
craft, 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 

1  The  proceedings  for  detecting  thieves  were  regular  and 
methodical,  after  established  customs.  According  to  Bressani,  no 
thief  ever  inculpated  the  innocent. 


MILITARY  ORGANIZATION.  57 

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. 


68  INTRODUCTION. 

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  legis- 
lation, it  built  of  materials  already  prepared.  It 
organized  the  chaotic  past,  and  gave  concrete  forms 
to  Indian  nature  itself.     The  people  have  dwindled 


SPIRIT  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY.  69 

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  pre- 
cincts 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  incorpo- 


60  INTRODUCTION. 

rated  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.^ 

It  remains  to  speak  of  the  religious  and  supersti- 
tious 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 

1  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  lew  should  make  so  great  a  havoc,  and 
strike  such  terror  into  so  many  tribes.*' 


INDIAN  PANTHEISM.  61 

degrading,  ridiculous,  and  incoherent  superstitions. 
A  closer  examination  will  show  that  the  contradic- 
tion 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 
,^nassisted  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  trivkl, 
that  may  not  be  endowed  with  a  secret  power  for 
blessing  or  for  bane.  vwTTTTunTirTi:^ 

Men  and  animals  are  ciosely  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, 


62  INTRODUCTION. 

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.^ 

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.  2  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.^  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 

1  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,  Memoire  sur  les  Moeurs,  Coustumes  et  Relligion  des 
Sauvages  de  I'Amerique  Septentrionale,  20.)  Charlevoix  tells  the 
game  story.  Each  Indian  was  supposed  to  inherit  something  of 
the  nature  of  the  animal  whence  he  sprung. 

2  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. 

■  This  superstition  was  very  prevalent,  and  numerous  exam- 
ples of  it  occur  in  old  and  recent  writers,  from  Father  Le  Jeune  to 
Captain  Carver. 


MANITOUS   AND   OKIES.  63 

their  office  with  effect,  married  them  every  year  to 
two  young  girls  of  the  tribe,  with  a  ceremony  far 
more  formal  than  that  observed  in  the  case  of  mere 
human  wedlock.  ^  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 
Qxh^ltgd^them  to  take  courage  and  be  caught,  assur- 
ing 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.^ 

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  com- 


1  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 
Contrees  "  (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. 

2  Sagard,  Le  Grand  Voyage  du  Pays  des  Hurons,  267.  Other 
old  writers  make  a  similar  statement. 


64  INTRODUCTION. 

prehend  all  forms  of  supernatural  being,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  with  the  exception,  possibly, 
of  certain  diminutive  fairies  or  hobgoblins,  and  cer- 
tain giants  and  anomalous  monsters,  which  appear 
under  various  forms,  grotesque  and  horrible,  in  the 
Indian  fireside  legends.^  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. ^  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.  Some- 
times, however,  they  assume  human  proportions ;  but 
more  frequently  they  take  the  form  of  stones,  which, 

1  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  corre- 
spond to  the  Puck  Wudj  Ininee  of  Ojibwa  tradition.  As  an  example 
of  the  monsters  alluded  to,  see  the  Saginaw  story  of  the  Weendi- 
goes,  in  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  ii.  105. 

2  The  figure  of  a  large  bird  is  perhaps  the  most  common,  —  as, 
for  example,  the  good  spirit  of  Rock  Island :  *'  He  wajs  white,  with 
wings  like  a  swan,  but  ten  times  IsLTger." —■  Autobiography  of 
Blackhawk,  70. 


THE  GUARDIAN  MANTTOU.  65 

being  broken,   are   found  full  of  living  blood  and 
flesh. 

Each  primitive  Indian  has  his  guardian  manitou, 
to  whom  he  looks  for  counsel,  guidance,  and  protec- 
tion. These  spiritual  allies  are  gained  by  the  follow- 
ing 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.  Supersti- 
tious 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.  ^ 
The  young  Indian  thenceforth  wears  about  his  person 
the  object  revealed  in  his  dream,  or  some  portion  of 

1  Compare  Cass,  in  North  American  Review,  Second  Series,  xiii. 
100.  A  turkey-buzzard,  according  to  him,  is  the  vision  of  a  medi- 
cine-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. 


^  INTRODUCTION. 

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.  ^  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. 

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  mjrthical.  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.  Tradi- 
tion is  diverse  as  to  his  origin.  According  to  the 
most  current  belief,  his  father  was  the  West- Wind, 

^  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  Gasp^,  see  Le  Clerc,  Nouvelle  Relation  de  la 
Gaspesie,  chap.  xiii. 


MANABOZHO.  «T 

and  his  mother  a  great-granddaughter  of  the  moon. 
His  character  is  worthy  of  such  a  parentage.  Some- 
times he  is  a  wolf,  a  bird,  or  a  gigantic  hare,  sur- 
rounded 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  transforma- 
tion 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.^  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. "^  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  thi'ough 
the  ice  of  a  frozen  lake,  and  was  at  once  devoured  by 

1  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,  1034),  and  the  account  of  Nanabusli,  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  Me/noire  of  Nicolas  Perrot, 
chaps,  i.,  ii. 

'^  "Presque  toutes  les  Nations  Algonquines  ont  donne'  le  nom 
de  Grand  Lievre  au  Premier  Esprit,  quelques-uns  I'appellent 
Michabou  (Manabozho)."  —  Charlevoix.  Journal  Historique^  344. 


68  INTRODUCTION. 

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.^ 

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.  ^     Other 

1  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. 

2  In  the  beginning  of  all  things,  Manabozho,  in  the  form  of  the 
Great  Hare,  was  on  a  raft,  surrounded  by  animals  who  acknowl- 
edged him  as  their  chief.    No  land  could  be  seen.     Anxious   to 


ATAHOCAN.  69 

stories  represent  him  as  marrying  a  female  musk-rat, 
by  whom  he  became  the  progenitor  of  the  human 
race.^ 

Searching  for  some  higher  conception  of  super- 
natural 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  attri- 
butes were  ascribed  or  any  worship  offered,  and  of 
whom  the  Indians  professed  to  know  nothing  what- 
ever; ^  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.  3    The  Algonquins  believed  also  in  a  malignant 

create  the  world,  the  Great  Hare  persuaded  the  bearer  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,  Memotre,  chap.  i. 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  16.  The  musk-rat  is  always  a  con- 
spicuous 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. 

2  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  16 ;  Relation,  1634,  13. 

*  Biard,  Relation,  1611,  chap.  viii.  —  This  belief  was  very  preva- 
lent. 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 


TO  INTRODUCTION. 

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.  Some- 
times, 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. 

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  afiirm,  by  human 
beings.    Here  a  certain  female  spirit,  named  Ataentsic, 

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  peo- 
ple 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. 


ATAENTSIC.  71 

vfas  once  chasing  a  bear,  which,  slipping  through  a 
hole,  fell  down  to  the  earth.  Ataentsic's  dog  fol- 
lowed, 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.^ 

1  The  above  is  the  version  of  the  story  given  by  Br^euf,  Rela- 
tion des  Hurons,  1636,  86  (Cramoisy).  No  two  Indians  told  it  pre- 
cisely alike,  though  nearly  all  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois  agreed  as 
to  its  essential  points.  Compare  Vanderdonck,  Cusick,  Sagard, 
iind  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.  Brebeuf  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  themselres  together  on 


72  INTRODUCTION. 

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  shriv- 
elled 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.^ 

The  early  writers  call  Jouskeha  the  creator  of  the 
world,  and  speak  of  him  as  corresponding  to  the 
vague  Algonquin  deity,    Atahocan.     Another   deity 

an  island,  and  that  the  man  made  the  world  out  of  mud  brought 
him  by  the  skunk. 

I  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, 
80  that  it  was  necessary  to  transform  animals  into  men.  Charle- 
voix, iii.  345. 

1  Compare  Brebeuf,  as  before  cited,  and  Sagard,  Voyage  des 
ffurons,  22a. 


HIAWATHA.  78 

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.  ^  Like  Jouskeha,  he  was  iden- 
tified 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  Tarenyo wagon,  or  Teharonhia wagon,'-* 
whose  place  and  character  it  is  very  difficult  to  de- 
termine. 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  Taounya^ 
watha,  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.^ 

1  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. 

2  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. 

'  For  the  tradition  of  Hiawatha,  see  Clark,  History  of  Onondaga, 
1.  21.  It  will  also  be  found  in  Schoolcraft's  Nni'i'  ^  ^A*  Iroguois. 
and  in  his  History,  Condition,  and  Prospects  of  Indian  Trtoey 

The  Iroquois  name  for  God  is  Hawenniio,  sometimes    written 


74  INTRODUCTION. 

Close  examination  makes  it  evident  that  the  primi- 
tive Indian's  idea  of  a  Supreme  Being  was  a  concep- 
tion 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.^ 

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  man- 
kind: the  evil  spirit  is  simply  a  malicious  agent  of 
disease,  death,  and  mischance. 

Owayneo ;  but  this  use  of  the  word  is  wholly  due  to  the  mission- 
aries. 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 
Etudes  Philologiques  sur  quelques  Langues  Sauvages  (Montreal,  1866), 
where  will  also  be  found  a  curious  exposure  of  a  few  of  School- 
craft's ridiculous  blunders  in  this  connection. 

1  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 
^inie,  who  lived  not  far  from  the  French  settlements.  — /itcf.,  21. 


THE  GREAT   SPIRIT.  75 

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  con- 
jurer, 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."  i  Yet 
it  should  seem  that  the  idea  of  a  supreme  controlling 
spirit  might  naturally  arise  from  the  peculiar  charac- 
ter of  Indian  belief.  The  idea  that  each  race  of 
animals  has  its  archetype  or  chief  would  easily  sug- 
gest the  existence  of  a  supreme  chief  of  the  spirits 
or  of  the  human  race,  —  a  conception  imperfectly 
shadowed  forth  in  Manabozho.  The  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries 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.^ 

^  See  "Divers  Sentimens,"  appended  to  the  Relation  of  1636, 
§  27 ;  and  also  many  other  passages  of  early  missionaries. 

2  In  studying  the  writers  of  the  last  and  of  the  present  cen- 
tury, it  is  to  be  remembered  that  their  obierrations  were  mad* 


7€f  INTRODUCTION. 

The  primitive  Indian  believed  in  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,^  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.  Skil- 
ful 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 

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  precon- 
ceived 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  theo- 
logian, 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,  Tlistory,  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  Avould  extract  what  is 
valuable  in  it  from  its  oceans  of  pedantic  verbiage. 

1  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  JOURNEY  OF  THE  DEAD.      77 

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. 

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."i 

At  intervals  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  the  Hurons, 
the  Neutrals,  and  other  kindred  tribes,  were  accus- 
tomed 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  immortal- 
ity of  their  souls  began.  They  took  wing,  as  some 
affirmed,  in  the  shape  of  pigeons;  while  the  greater 

1  Sagard,  Voyage  des  Hurons,  233. 


78  INTRODUCTION. 

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.  ^  But  as 
the  spirits  of  the  old  and  of  children  are  too  feeble 
for  the  march,  they  are  forced  to  stay  behind,  linger- 
ing 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. ^  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  sick- 
ness, who,  on  awakening,  supposed  that  they  had 
visited  the  other  world,  and  related  to  the  wondering 
bystanders  what  they  had  seen. 

The  Indian  land  of  souls  is  not  always  a  region  of 
shadows  and  gloom.  The  Hurons  sometimes  repre- 
sented the  souls  of  their  dead  —  those  of  their  dogs 
included  —  as  dancing  joyously  in  the  presence  of 
Ataentsic  and  Jouskeha.  According  to  some  Algon- 
quin traditions,  heaven  was  a  scene  of  endless  festiv- 
ity, the  ghosts  dancing  to  the  sound  of  the  rattle  and 


1  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,  threir 
\nto  the  grave  several  diamond  and  gold  rings." 

*  Brebeuf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  99  (Cramoisy). 


THE  JOURNEY  OF  THE  DEAD.      79 

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  some- 
times 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.  1 

^  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  Gasp^  and  northern  New  Brunswick.  The  fa- 
vorite 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  wai 
only  necessary  to  wade  through  a  shallow  lake,  several  days'  jour- 
ney in  extent.    Thig  they  did,  sleeping  at  night  on  platforms  of 


^  INTRODUCTION. 

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  abomina- 
tion. There  were  professed  dreamers,  and  professed 
interpreters  of  dreams.  One  of  the  most  noted  festi- 
vals among  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois  was  the  Dream 
Feast,  a  scene  of  frenzy,  where  the  actors  counter- 
feited madness,  and  the  town  was  like  a  bedlam 
turned  loose.  Each  pretended  to  have  dreamed  of 
something  necessary  to  his  welfare,  and  rushed  from 

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,  pres- 
ently 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 
xnankind.  The  bereaved  father  now  begged  hard  for  his  son's 
soul,  and  Papkootparout  at  last  gave  it  to  him,  in  the  form  and 
sice  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,  NouveUe 
Relation  de  la  Gaspesie,  310-328. 


INDIAN  SORCERERS.  81 

house  to  house,  demanding  of  all  he  met  to  guess  his 
secret  requirement  and  satisfy  it. 

Believing  that  the  whole  material  worid  was 
Instinct  with  powers  to  influence  and  control  his 
fate ;  that  good  and  evil  spirits,  and  existences  name- 
less and  indefinable,  filled  all  Nature ;  that  a  pervad- 
ing 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  ene- 
mies. 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 


S2  introductio:n'. 

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.^ 

The  sorcerers,  medicine-men,  and  diviners  did  not 
usually  exercise  the  function  of  priests.     Each  man 

1  This  practice  was  first  observed  by  Champlain.  (See  "  Pioneers 
of  France  in  the  New  World,"  351. )  From  his  time  to  the  pres- 
ent, numerous  writers  have  remarked  upon  it.  Le  Jeune,  in  tlio 
Relation  of  1637,  treats  it  at  some  length.  The  lodge  was  some- 
times of  a  cylindrical,  instead  of  a  conical  form. 


SACRIFICES.  88 

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.^ 

Among  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois,  and  indeed  all 
the  stationary  tribes,  there  was  an  incredible  number 

^  1  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  solemni- 
ties. For  an  excellent  account  of  Indian  religious  feasts,  see  Per- 
rot,  chap.  y. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  Indian  sacrifices  was  that  prac- 
tised by  the  Hurons  in  the  case  of  a  person  drowned  or  frozen  to 
death.  The  fiesh  of  the  deceased  was  cut  ofE,  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.    Br^euf,  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  ol 
worship. 


84  INTRODUCTION. 

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  end- 
less variety  of  dances,  masqueradings,  and  nonde- 
script 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  influ- 
ence. 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.^ 

A  notice  of  the  superstitious  ideas  of  the  Indians 
would  be  imperfect  without  a  reference  to  the  tradi- 
tionary tales  through  which  these  ideas  are  handed 
down  from  father  to  son.     Some  of  these  tales  can  be 

1  The  Friendly  Society  of  the  Spirit,  of  which  the  initiatory 
ceremonies  were  seen  and  described  by  Carver  {Travels,  271),  pre- 
serves to  this  day  its  existence  and  its  rites. 


TRADITIONARY  TALES.  86 

traced  back  to  the  period  of  the  eariiest  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,  can- 
nibals, 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  Algon- 
quins  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.^ 

1  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 


86  INTRODUCTION". 

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  devel- 
oped, in  a  few  instances,  —  I  allude  especially  to  the 
Iroquois,  —  with  respect  to  certain  points  of  material 

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. 


RESULTS.  87 

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  inde- 
pendence, 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  difficul- 
ties 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  habi- 
tation and  a  bodily  shape ;  and  this  tendency  disap- 
pears only  in  tribes  that  have  been  long  in  contact 
with  civilized  white  men.  The  primitive  Indian, 
yielding  his  untutored  homage  to  One  All-pervad- 
ing and  Omnipotent  Spirit,  is  a  dream  of  poets, 
rhetoricians,  and  sentimentalists. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1634. 

NOTRE-DAME  DES  ANGES. 

Quebec   m   1634     •  .^Vvther  Le  Jeune.  —  The   Mission-Hocsb  * 
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 


1634.]  QUEBEC  IN  1634.  89 

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  hois,  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  form- 
ing 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.^  Near  the 
fort  stood  a  small  chapel,  newly  built.  The  sur- 
rounding country  was   cleared   and   partially   culti- 

i  Compare  the  various  notices  in  Champlain  (1632)  with  that  of 
Du  Creux,  Historia  Canadensis^  204. 


90  NOTRE-DAME  DES   AJTGES.  [1634. 

vated;  yet  only  one  dwelling-house  worthy  the  name 
appeared.  It  was  a  substantial  cottage,  where  lived 
Madame  Hubert,  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,^ 
wept  for  joy  at  beholding  Le  Jeune,  and  his  brother 
Jesuit  De  NouS,  crossing  their  threshold  to  offer 
beneath  their  roof  the  long-forbidden  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass.  There  were  enclosures  with  cattle  near  at 
hand ;  and  the  house,  with  its  surroundings,  betokened 
industry  and  thrift. 

Thence  Le  Jeune  walked  on,  across  the  site  of  the 
modem  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. ^ 
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 


1  See  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World."  Hebert's  cottage 
■eems  to  have  stood  between  Ste.-Famille  and  Couillard  Streets,  as 
appears  by  a  contract  of  1634,  cited  by  M.  Ferland. 

^  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  Beaur 
port,  6. 


1634.]  THE  MISSION-HOUSE.  91 

extremity  of  the  Pointe-aux-Li^vres,  a  tract  of 
meadow  land  nearly  enclosed  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  enclosure  formed  of  palisades,  like  a  modern 
picket  fort  of  the  Indian  frontier.^  Within  this 
enclosure  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  storj'-, 
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 

1  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  1535-36 
(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  Nar- 
rative of  the  Chevalier  Johnstone,  pubhshed  by  the  Historical  Society 
of  Quebec. 


92  NOTRE-DAME   DES  ANGES.  [1634. 

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.^ 
^  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  Br^beuf, 
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  com- 
panions were  Masse,  Daniel,  Davost,  De  None, 
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.  ^     By  reason 

1  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,  Premiere  Mission  des 
Jesuites  au  Canada,  122.  The  original  is  in  the  archives  of  the 
Order  at  Eome. 

*  See  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World." 


1634.]  THE  JESUITS.  98 

of  his  useful  qualities,  Le  Jeune  nicknamed  him  "  le 
Pdre  Utile."  At  present,  his  special  function  was 
the  care  of  the  pigs  and  cows,  which  he  kept  in  the 
enclosure  around  the  buildings,  lest  they  should 
ravage  the  neighboring  fields  of  rye,  barley,  wheat, 
and  maize.  ^  De  Noue  had  charge  of  the  eight  or  ten 
workmen  employed  by  the  mission,  who  gave  him 
at  times  no  little  trouble  by  their  repinings  and  com- 
plaints. ^  They  were  forced  to  hear  mass  every  morn- 
ing 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,  catechising  a  few  Indians,  and 
striving  to  master  the  enormous  difficulties  of  the 
Huron  and  Algonquin  languages. 

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. 

1  "  Le  P.  Masse,  que  je  nomme  quelquefois  en  riant  le  P6re  Utile, 
est  bien  cognu  de  V.  R.  II  a  soin  des  choses  domestiques  et  du 
bestail  que  nous  avons,  en  quoy  il  a  tr^s-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/' 

*  The  methodical  Le  Jeune  sets  down  the  causes  of  their  discoiv 
%ent  under  six  different  heads,  each  duly  numbered.    Thus  :  — 

"  1°.  C'est  le  naturel  des  artisans  de  se  plaindre  et  de  gronder.* 

*'2*.  La  diversity  des  gages  les  fait  murmurer,"  etc. 


94  NOTRE-DAME  DES  ANGES.  [1634. 

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  enthu- 
siasm 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  fac- 
titious 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  major  em 
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  recognised 
the  agents  of  Divine  authority  itself. 


CHAPTER  n. 

LOYOLA  AND  THE  JESUITS. 

convehsion  of  loyola.  —  foundation  op  the  societt  of 
Jesus.  —  Preparation  of  the  Novice.  —  Characteristics  of 
THE  Order.  —  The  Canadian  Jesuits. 

It  was  an  evil  day  for  new-bom  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  meta- 
morphosed 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 
soKtude  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. 


06  LOYOLA  AND  THE  JESUITS. 

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  pre- 
sumed 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  under- 
took to  solve,  —  to  rob  a  man  of  volition,  yet  to  pre- 
serve 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  recog- 


LOYOLA'S  SPIRITUAL  EXERCISES.  97 

nize  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  sacri- 
fxces  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.^ 

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  supersti- 
tious 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 
bowlings  of  the  damned,  to  see  their  convulsive 
agonies,  to  feel  the  flames  that  bum  without  consum- 
ing, to  smell  the  corruption  of  the  tomb  and  the 
fumes  of  the  infernal  pit.  He  must  picture  to  him- 
self 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  per- 
turbed 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 

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. 


98  LOYOLA  AND   THE  JESUITS. 

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  prepa- 
ration, 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  charac- 
ter. He  is  set  to  watch  his  comrades,  and  his  com- 
rades 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  char- 
acteristics of  eveiy  member  of  the  Order  are  minutelj; 
analyzed,  and  methodically  put  on  record. 

This  horrible  violence  to  the  noblest^  qualities  of 
manhood,  joined  to  that  equivocal  system  ofjnorality 
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, 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  JEStS.  M 

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 


100  LOYOLA   AND  THE  JESUITS. 

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. 


liNfV    e{- 


CHAPTER  HI. 

1632,  1633. 

PAUL  LE  JEUNE. 

Le  Jeukb*8  Voyage  :  his  First  Pupils  ;  his  Studies  ;  his  Imdiam 
Teacher.  —  Winter  at  the  Mission-house.  —  Lb  Jsunb's 
School.  —  Reinforcements. 

In  another  narrative,  we  have  seen  how  the  Jesuits, 
supplanting  the  Rdcollet  friars,  their  predecessors, 
had  adopted  as  their  own  the  rugged  task  of  Chris- 
tianizing New  France.  We  have  seen,  too,  how  a 
descent  of  the  English,  or  rather  of  Huguenots  fight- 
ing 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.  ^ 

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  inexpres- 
sible joy  at  the  prospect  of  a  living  or  a  dying 
martyrdom.  At  Rouen  he  was  joined  by  De  NouM, 
with  a  lay  brother  named  Gilbert;    and  the   three 

i  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World. 


1^'2  -  PAUL  LE  JEUNE.  [1632. 

sailed  together  on  the  eighteenth  of  April,  1632. 
The  sea  treated  them  roughly ;  Le  Jeune  was  wretch- 
edly sea-sick;  and  the  ship  nearly  foundered  in  a 
gale.  At  length  they  came  in  sight  of  "that  miser- 
able 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  Hubert  and  her  delighted  family,  the  Jesuits 
made  their  way  to  the  two  hovels  built  by  their  pre- 
decessors 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. 


1632.J  MISSIONARY   LABORS.  103 

The  beginning  of  Le  Jeune's  missionary  labors  was 
neither  imposing  nor  promising.  He  describes  him- 
self 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  Hubert. 
As  neither  of  the  three  understood  the  language  of 
the  others,  the  pupils  made  iittle  progress  in  spiritual 
knowledge.  The  missionaries,  it  was  clear,  must 
leam  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,  tfetween  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  tide-water,  —  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 


104  PAUL  LE  JEUNE.  [1632. 

Le  Jeune,  intent  on  increasing  his  knowledge  of 
Algonquin,  maintained  an  active  discourse  of  broken 
words  and  pantomime.^ 

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  —  French- 
men, 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  RdcoUet 
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,  retain- 
ing 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  embar- 
rassed 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 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  2. 


1632-33.]     WINTER  AT  THE  MISSION-HOUSE.      105 

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  him- 
self 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."^ 

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 

1  Relation,  1633,  7.  He  continues :  "  le  ne  89auroi8  assez  rendre 
graces  k  Nostre  Seigneur  de  cet  heureux  rencontre.  .  .  .  Que  Dieu 
Boit  beny  pour  vn  iamais,  sa  prouidence  est  adorable,  et  sa  bont^ 
n'a  point  de  limites/' 


106  tAUL  LE  JEUNE.  [163a. 

pistol.  Le  Jeune's  ink  froze,  and  his  fingers  were 
benumbed,  as  he  toiled  at  his  declensions  and  conju- 
gations, or  translated  the  Pater  Foster  into  blunder- 
ing Algonquin.  The  water  in  the  cask  beside  the 
fire  froze  nightly,  and  the  ice  was  broken  every  morn- 
ing 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.  ^ 

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  soli- 
tude. Bands  of  Montagnais,  with  their  sledges  and 
dogs,  often  passed  the  mission-house  on  their  way  to 
hunt  the  moose.  They  once  invited  De  None  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  hun- 
dred," 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.^ 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  14, 15. 

2  "  Voila,  mon  Reuerend  Pere,  vn  eschantillon  de  ce  qu'il  f aut 
souffrir  courant  apres  les  Sauuages.  ...  II  faut  prendre  sa  vie,  et 
tout  ce  quon  a,  et  le  letter  k  I'abandon,  pour  alnsl  dire,  se  content- 
ant  d'vne  crolx  blen  grosse  et  blcn  pesante  pour  toute  rlchesse.    li 


1«33.]  LE  JEUNE'S  SCHOOL.  lOT 

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  sing- 
ing 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.  ^ 

It  was  the  end  of  May,  when  the  priests  one  morn- 
ing heard  the  sound  of  cannon  from  the  fort,  and 


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. 

1  "  Fay  commence  h  appeller  quelques  enf ans  auec  vne  petite 
clochette.  La  premiere  fois  i'en  auois  six,  puis  douze,  puis  quinze, 
puis  vingt  et  da  vantage;  ie  leur  fais  dire  le  Pater,  Aue,  et  Credo, 
etc.  .  .  .  Nous  finissons  par  le  Pater  Noster,  que  i'ay  compose'  quasi 
en  rimes  en  leur  langue,  que  ie  leur  fais  chanter :  et  pour  derniere 
conclusion,  ie  leur  fais  donner  chacun  vne  escuelMe  de  pois,  qu'ili 
mangent  de  bon  appetit/*  etc.  — Le  Jeune,  Relation^  1633,  23. 


108  PAUL  LE  JEUNE.  [1633. 

were  gladdened  by  the  tidings  that  Samuel  de 
Champlain  had  arrived  to  resume  command  at 
Quebec,  bringing  with  him  four  more  Jesuits,  — 
Br^beuf,  Masse,  Daniel,  and  Davost.^  Br^beuf, 
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  lan- 
guage he  had  been  so  sedulous  a  student.  His  diffi- 
culties 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  exhorta- 
tions. "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.  "2 

Pierre  had  two  brothers.     One,  well  known  as  a 
hunter,    was   named  Mestigoit;    the  other  was   the 

1  See  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World." 
8  Relation,  1633,  29. 


1633.]  THE  WINTER  HUNT.  109 

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  None',  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  provis- 
ions with  which  they  doubted  not  he  would  be  well 
supplied.  Le  Jeune,  distrustful  of  the  sorcerer, 
demurred,  but  at  length  resolved  to  go. 


ui' 


CHAPTER  IV. 

less*,  1634. 

LE  JEUNE  AND  THE   HUNTERS. 

Le  Jeune  joins  the  Indians.  —  The  First  Encampment.  —  Thk 
Apostate.  —  Forest  Life  in  Winter.  —  The  Indian  Hut.  — > 
The  Sorcerer:  his  Persecution  of  the  Priest.  —  Evil  Com* 
PANY. —  Magic.  —  Incantations.  —  Christmas.  —  Starvation. — 
Hopes  of  Conversion.  —  Backsliding.  —  Peril  and  Escape 
OP  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  bis- 
cuit, 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  imme- 
diately 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, 


1683.]  THE  APOSTATE.  Ill 

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  alsol"^  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." 

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 

1  "  lamais  il  ne  f ut  si  bien  lau^,  il  changea  de  peau  en  la  face  et 
en  tout  restomach :  pleust  k  Dieu  que  son  ame  eust  change  aussi 
bien  que  son  corps ! "  —  Relation,  1634,  69. 


112  LE  JEUNE  AND  THE  HUNTERS.        [1633. 

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  cover- 
ing 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 


1633.]  ALGONQUIN  WINTER   LIFR  118 

longer  visible,  they  toiled  on  till  the  day  began  to 
decline,  then  stopped  to  encamp.  ^  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, 
enclosing  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. 

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. 

1  "  S'il  arriuoit  quelque  d^gel,  6  Dieu  quelle  peine !  H  me  sem- 
bloit  que  ie  marchois  sur  vn  chemin  de  verre  qui  se  cassoit  it  tous 
coups  soubs  mes  pieds :  la  neige  congelee  venant  k  s'amollir,  tom- 
boit  et  s'enfon^oit  par  esquarres  ou  grandes  pieces,  et  nous  en 
anions  bien  souuent  iusques  aux  genoux,  quelquefois  iusqu'k  la 
ceinture.  Que  s'il  y  auoit  de  la  peine  k  tomber,  il  y  en  auoit  encor 
plus  k  se  retirer :  car  nos  raquettes  se  chargeoient  de  neiges  et  se 
rendoient  si  j)esantes,  que  quand  vous  veniez  k  les  retirer  il  vous 
sembloit  qu'on  vous  tiroit  les  iambes  pour  vous  demembrer.  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  charg^e  comme  vn  mulet, 
•t  iugez  si  la  vie  dea  Sauuages  est  ^omqq."^^  Relation,  1634,  67. 


114  LE  JEUNE   AND   THE   HUNTERS.         [1633. 

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,  —  with- 
out a  word,  on  her  part,  of  remonstrance  or  com- 
plaint. 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  hedge- 
hogs, 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 


1633-34.]  THE  INDIAN  HUT.  115 

freezing.  At  times,  however,  the  crowded  hut 
seemed  heated  to  the  temperature  of  an  oven.  But 
these  evils  were  light,  when  compared  to  the  intoler- 
able 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    ai?d    entered.      All    within 


116  LE  JEUNE  AND   THE   HUNTERS.  [1633-34 

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  recum- 
bent 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.  ^     He  used 

1  "le  ne  laissois  perdre  aucune  occasion  de  le  conuaincre  de 
niaiserie  et  de  puerility,  mettant  au  iour  Timpertinence  de  ses  super- 
stitions :  or  c'estoit  luy  arracher  Tame  du  corps  par  violence :  car 
comme  11  ne  89auroit  plus  chasser,  il  fait  plus  que  iamais  du 
Prophete  et  du  Magicien  pour  conseruer  son  credit,  et  pour  auoir 
les  bona  morceaux ;  si  bien  qu'esbranlant  son  authority  qui  se  va 


1633-34.]    LE  JEUNE  AND  THE  SORCERER.  117 

every  device  to  retort  ridicule  upon  hie  rival.  At  the 
outset,  he  had  proffered  his  aid  to  Le  Jeune  in  his 
study  of  the  Algonquin;  and,  like  the  Indian  prac- 
tical jokers  of  Acadia  in  the  case  of  Father  Biard,^ 
palmed  off  upon  him  the  foulest  words  in  the  lan- 
guage 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  over- 
flowing 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.^ 

perdant  tous  les  iours,  ie  le  touchois  k  la  prunelle  de  ToBil." — 
Relation,  1634,  56. 

1  See  "Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,"  301. 

2  Relation,  1634,207  (Cramoisy).  "lis  me  chargeoient  incessa- 
ment  de  mille  brocards  &  de  mille  injures ;  je  me  suis  veu  en  tel 
estat,  que  pour  ne  les  aigrir,  je  passois  les  jours  entiers  sans  ourrlr 
la  bouche ."  Here  follows  the  abuse,  in  the  original  Indian,  with 
French  translations.  Le  Jeune's  account  of  his  experience  is  singu- 
larly graphic.    The  following  is  his  summary  of  his  annoyances : 

"  Or  ce  miserable  homme  [the  sorcerer]  &  la  f  um€e  m'ont  est^  lea 


118  LE  JEUNE   AND   THE   HUNTERS.   [1633-34. 

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  school-boys.^  No  one  took  offence. 
To  have  done  so  would  have  been  to  bring  upon  one's 
self  genuine  contumely.  This  motley  household  was 
1  model  of  harmony.  True,  they  showed  no  tender- 
ness 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  won- 
drous equanimity;  and  while  persecuting  Le  Jeune 
with  constant  importunity  for  tobacco,  and  for 
everything  else  he  had,  they  never  begged  among 
themselves. 

deux  plus  grands  tourmens  que  i'aye  endur^  parmy  ces  Barbares : 
ny  le  froid,  ny  le  chaud,  ny  rincommodite  des  chiens,  ny  coucher  k 
Fair,  ny  dormir  sur  un  lict  de  terre,  ny  la  posture  qu'il  f  aut  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 
pauuret^  &  salete  de  leur  boucan,  ny  la  maladie,  tout  cela  ne  m'a 
semble  que  ieu  "k  comparaison  de  la  fume^  &  de  la  malice  du  Sor- 
cier." ^ Relation,  1634,  201  (Cramoisy). 

i**Leur  vie  se  passe  k  manger,  k  rire,  et  k  railler  les  yns  des 
autres,  et  de  tous  les  peuples  qu'ils  cognoissent ;  ils  n'ont  rien  de 
serieux,  sinon  par  fois  I'exterieur,  faisans  parmy  nous  les  graues  et 
les  retenus,  mais  entr'eux  sont  de  vrais  badins,  de  rrais  enfans,  qui 
ne  demandent  qu'k  rire."  —  Relation,  1634,  30. 


1633-34]  HIS  INDIAN   COMPANIONS.  119 

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  exple- 
tives were  foul  words,  of  which  they  had  a  supera- 
bundance, and  which  men,  women,  and  children  alike 
used  with  a  frequency  and  hardihood  that  amazed 
and  scandalized  the  priest.  ^  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  com- 
pany, who,  on  their  part,  listened  in  postures  scarcely 
less  remote  from  decency. 

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  inhabi- 

1  "  Aussi  leur  disois-je  par  fois,  que  si  les  pourceaux  et  lea  chiens 
B9auoient  parler,  ils  tiendroient  leur  langage.  .  .  .  Les  filles  et  lee 
ieunea  femmes  sont  k  Texterieur  tres  honnestement  couuertes,  mais 
entre  elles  leurs  discoure  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  tho8« 
of  the  Montagnais. 


tiO  LE  JEUNE  AND  THE   HUNTERS.    [1633-34. 

tants  there  is,  argues  Le  Jeune,  good  reason  to  con- 
clude ;  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  dis- 
charges 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  Hugue- 
not he  does  not  stop  beating  them."^ 

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  obser- 
vations, however,  led  him  to  a  different  result;  and 

1  "  Surquoy  on  me  rapporte  vne  chose  tres  remarquable,  c*est  que 
le  Diable  s'enfuit,  et  ne  frappe  point  ou  cesse  de  frapper  ces  miser- 
ables,  quand  vn  Catholique  entre  en  leur  compagnie,  et  qu'il  ne 
laiss  point  de  les  battre  en  la  presence  dVn  Huguenot :  d'ou  vient 
qu'vn  iour  se  voyans  battus  en  la  compagnie  d'vn  certain  Fran9ois, 
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 
Bont  presents.  Luy  se  douta  incontinent  que  cela  pouuoit  prouenir 
de  sa  religion  (car  il  estoit  Caluiniste)  ;  s'addressant  done  a  Dieu,  il 
luy  promit  de  se  faire  Catholique  si  le  diable  cessoit  de  battre  ces 
pauures  peuples  en  sa  presence.  Le  voeu  fait,  iamais  plus  aucun 
Demon  ne  molesta  Ameriquain  en  sa  compagnie,  d'oti  vient  qu'il  se 
fit  Catholique,  selon  la  promesse  qu*il  en  auoit  faicte.  Mais  retour 
lions  a  nostre  discours."  —  delation.  1634,  22. 


1633-84.]  MAGIC.  121 

he  could  detect  in  his  rival  nothing  but  a  vile  com- 
pound 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  Gasp^,  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  wig- 


122  LE  JEUNE  AND  THE  HUNTERS.    [1633-34. 

warns  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  com- 
pany. 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  occu- 
pied 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.  ^ 

1  "  Le  magicien  tout  glorieux  dit  que  son  homme  est  f rappe,  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  vera  moy,  il  se  mit  h.  rire,  disant : 
Voyez  cette  robe  noire,  qui  nous  vient  dire  qu'il  ne  faut  tuer  per- 
sonne.  Comme  ie  regardois  attentiuement  Tesp^e  et  le  poignard,  il 
me  lei  fit  presenter :  Regarde,  dit-il,  qu'est  cela  ?     C'est  du  sang, 


1633-34.]  INCANTATIONS.  123 

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; 
und  the  sorcerer  drew  much  consolation  from  the 
Invocations  of  his  brother  impostor.^ 

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  some- 
body. Then,  rolling  his  eyes  towards  Le  Jeune,  he 
began  a  series  of  frantic  gestures  and  outcries,  — 
then  stopped  abruptly  and  stared  into  vacancy,  silent 

repartis-ie.  De  qui  1  De  quelque  Orignac  ou  d'autre  animal.  lis 
86  mocquerent  de  moy,  disants  que  c'estoit  du  sang  de  ce  Sorcier  de 
Gasp^.  Comment,  dis-je,  11  est  a  plus  de  cent  lieues  d'icy  ?  II  est 
rray,  font-ils,  mais  c'est  le  Manitou,  c'est  k  dire  le  Diable,  qui 
apporte  son  sang  pardessous  la  terre."  —  Relation,  1634,  21. 

1  See  Introduction.    Also,  "  Pioneers  of  France,"  351.  n 


124  LE  JEUNE  AND  THE  HUNTERS.    [1633  34 

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  uncontrol- 
lable 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.^ 

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. "  ^  But  the  Indian,  though  pleased 
with  the  Father's  flatteries,  was  neither  caught  nor 
conciliated. 

1  The  Indians,  it  is  well  known,  ascribe  mysterious  and  super- 
natural powers  to  the  insane,  and  respect  them  accordingly.  The 
Neutral  Nation  (see  Introduction,  33)  was  full  of  pretended 
madmen,  who  raved  about  the  villages,  throwing  firebrands,  and 
making  other  displays  of  frenzy. 

*  "le  commen^ay  par  vn  t^moignage  de  grand  amour  en  son 
endroit,  et  par  des  loiiauges  que  ie  luy  iettay  comme  vne  amorce 
pour  le  prendre  dans  les  filets  de  la  verite.  Ie  luy  fis  entendre  que 
si  vn  esprit,  capable  des  choses  grandes  comme  le  sien,  cognoissoit 
Dieu,  que  tons  les  Sauuages  induis  par  son  exemple  le  voudroient 
auBgi  cognoistre."  —  Relation,  1634,  71. 


1633-34.]  CHKtSTMAS.  125 

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  I " 

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.  "^ 

1  "  Pour  nostre  souper,  N.  S.  nous  donna  yn  Porc-eipic  gros 
comme  vn  cochon  de  lait,  et  vn  lieure ;  c'estoit  peu  pour  dix-huit 
ou  vingt  personnes  que  nous  estions,  il  est  vray,  raais  la  saincte 
Vierge  et  son  glorieux  Espoux  sainct  Joseph  ne  furent  pas  si  bien 
traictez  k  mesme  iour  dans  I'eslable  de  Bethleem."  —  Relation, 
1634,74. 


126  LE  JEUNE  AND  THE   HUNTERS.     [1633-34. 

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  trans- 
lated 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  dis- 
missed the  hunters  with  a  benediction.  At  night 
they  returned  with  game  enough  to  relieve  the  imme- 
diate 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  I  You  have  no  sense !  " 
As  usual,  all  took  their  cue  from  him.  They  fell  to 
their  repast  with  ravenous  jubilation,  and  the  disap* 
pointed  priest  sat  dejected  and  silent. 


1634.]        LE  JEUNE  LEAVES  THE  INDIANS.         127 

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,  occa- 
sional 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  hard- 
ship, suffering,  and  debasement. 

At  the  beginning  of  April,  after  roaming  for  ^ve 
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  canoe- 
man.  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 


128  LE  JEUNE   AND   THE   HUNTERS.  [1634. 

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 
jo3rful  haste  from  their  slumbers,  embraced  their  long- 
absent  Superior  with  ejaculations  of  praise  and 
benediction. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1633,  1634. 

THE  HURON  MISSION. 

Plans  of  Conteksion.  —  Aims  and  Motives.  —  Indian  Diplo- 
macy. —  HuBONs  AT  Quebec.  —  Councils.  —  The  Jesuit 
Chapel.  —  Le  Borgne.  —  The  Jesuits  Thwarted.  —  Their 
Perseverance.  —  The  Journey  to  the  Hurons.  —  Jean  db 
Br^beuf.  —  The  Mission  Begun. 

Lb  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  geographi- 
cal 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 


130  THE   HURON  MISSION.  [1633. 

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  tor- 
rent and  the  gloom  of  savage  forests.  The  goal  was 
more  dreary  yet.  Toil,  hardship,  famine,  filth,  sick- 
ness, 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 

I  the  Jesuits,  the  Huron  country  was  the  innermost 
stronghold  of  Satan,  his  castle  and  his  donjon-keep.^ 
All  the  weapons  of  his  malice  were  prepared  against 
the  bold  invader  who  should  assail  him  in  this,  the 
heart  of  his  ancient  domain.  v>  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. 

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 

1  "Une  des  principales  forteresses  &  comme  un  donjon  des 
Demons/'  —  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639, 100  (Cramoisy). 


/ 


1633.]  JESUIT  SCHEMES.  131 

enthusiasm ;  but  slander  itself  cannot  accuse  them  of 
hypocrisy  or  ambition.  Doubtless,  in  their  propa- 
gandism  they  were  acting  in  concurrence  with  a 
mundane  policy;  but,  for  the  present  at  least,  this 
policy  was  rational  and  humane.  They  were  promote 
ing  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  (5 
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  civiliza- 
tion crushed  the  Indian ;  English  civilization  scorned 
and  neglected  him ;  French  civilization  embraced  and. 
cherished  him. 

Policy  and  commerce,  then,  built  their  hopes  oiy 
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  tlie 
woods  to  a  condition  of  obedience,  unquestioning, 
passive,  and  absolute,  —  repugnant  to  manhood,  and 


132  THE  HURON  MISSION.  [1633. 

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.^  |  Iroquois  hostility  left  open  but 
one  avenue  to  their  country,  the  long  and  circuitous 
route  which,  eighteen  years  before,  had  been  explored 
by  Champlain,2  —  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  AUumette 
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.^  Like  other  tribes  of  this 
region,  they  were  keen  traders,  and  would  gladly 
have  secured  for  themselves  the  benefits  of  an  inter- 
mediate 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 

1  See  Introduction. 

2  "  Pioneers  of  France,"  344.  »  Ibid.,  384. 


1633.]  HURONS   AT  QUEBEC.  18S 

have  been  a  perilous  exercise  of  their  rights,^  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. 

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  descend- 
ing 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, 

1  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  pro- 
hibitions were  quietly  submitted  to. 

"  Ces  Insulaires  voudraient  bien  que  les  Hurons  ne  vinssent  point 
aux  Fran9ois  &  que  les  Fran9oi8  n'allassent  point  aux  Hurons,  afin 
d'emporter  eux  seuls  tout  le  trafic,"  etc.  —  Relation,  1633,  205 
(Cramoisy),  —  "desirans  eux-mesmes  aller  recueiller  les  marchan- 
dises  des  peuples  circonvoisins  pour  les  apporter  aux  rran9oi8." 
This  "  Nation  de  Tlsle  "  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  Depdt  des  Cartes,  of  which  a  tac-simile  i| 
before  me.    See  aUo  "  Pioneers  of  France." 


134  THE   HURON  MISSION.  [1633. 

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,  ^ 
—  accomplishments  in  which  the  Hurons  were  profi- 
cient; their  gambling  skill  being  exercised  chiefly 
against  each  other,  and  their  thieving  talents  against 
those  of  other  nations. 

The  routine  of  these  annual  visits  was  nearly  uni- 
form. 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. ^ 

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 

1  "Quelques  vns  d'entre  eux  ne  viennent  k  la  traite  auec  les 
Fran9ois  que  pour  iouSr,  d'autres  pour  voir,  quelques  vns  pour 
d^rober,  et  les  plus  sages  et  les  plus  riches  pour  trafiquer."  —  Le 
Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  34. 

2  "Comme  une  volee  d'oiseaux."  —  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1633,  190 
iCramoisy).  The  tobacco  brought  to  the  French  by  the  Hurons 
may  have  been  raised  by  the  adjacent  tribe  of  the  Tionnontate9»' 
who  cultivated  it  largely  for  sale.    Se^  Intrpductioii. 


1833.]        HURONS  AT  THE  MISSION-HOUSE.         136 

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.  ^ 
Ji'  Their  harangues  of  compliment  being  made  and 
answered,  and  the  inevitable  presents  given  and 
received,  Champlain  introduced  to  the  silent  conclave 
the  three  missionaries,  Br^beuf,  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  fathei-s.''^ 

1  See  "  Pioneers  of  France,"  346. 

^  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  IQSS,  274  (Cramoisy) ;   Mercure  Franfai$, 
1634,  846. 


186  THE  HURON  MISSION.  [163a 

Two  chiefs  rose  to  reply,  and  each  lavished  all  his 
rhetoric  in  praises  of  Champlain  and  of  the  French. 
Br^beuf  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- 
A  jJhL,^^  ^.  vessels  went  to  the  house  of  the  Jesuits  in  quest  of 
ut4aix-u<o  indulgences;  and  here  they  were  soon  beset  by  a 
.cvJv^jjkiJt  -t^*-^  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  peti- 
tioned 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  splen- 


i633.]  THE  JESUITS  THWARTED.  137 

dors  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  ohies^  or  spirits;  nor 
was  their  perplexity  much  diminished  by  Brdbeuf'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  I  "  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."^  The  mission  was  not  doomed 
long  to  suffer  from  a  dearth  of  these  inestimable 
auxiliaries. 

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  None  stayed  with  them  to  bid 
them  farewell  in  the  morning.  At  eleven  at  night, 
they  were  aroused  by  a  loud  voice  in  the  Indian 
camp,  and  saw  Le  Borgne,  the  one-eyed  chief  of 
AUumette  Island,  walking  round  among  the  huts, 
haranguing  as  he  went.  Brdbeuf,  listening,  caught 
the  import  of  his   words.     "We  have   begged  the 

1  Relation,  1633,  38. 


IBS  THE  HURON  MISSION.  [1634. 

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  depar- 
ture; 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 


1634.]  THE  JESUITS  THWARTED.  189 

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  Br^beuf,  they  em- 
ployed themselves,  amid  their  other  avocations,  in 
studying  the  Huron  tongue.  A  year  passed,  and 
again  the  Indian  traders  descended  from  their  vil- 
lages. In  the  mean  while,  grievous  calamities  had 
befallen  the  nation.  They  had  suffered  deplorable 
reverses  at  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois ;  while  a  pesti- 
lence, 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 
email  numbers,  and  in  a  miserable  state  of  dejection 
^nd  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,  how- 
ever, 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 


/ 


140  THE   HURON  MISSION.  [1634. 

more  wavered.  All  was  confusion,  doubt,  and  un- 
certainty, when  Br^beuf  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.  Br^- 
beuf  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  terri- 
fied, desponding,  and  sullen.  Their  only  food  was  a 
pittance  of  Indian  corn,  crushed  between  two  stones 
and  mixed  with  water.  The  toil  was  extreme.  Br^- 
beuf  counted  thirty-five  portages,  where  the  canoes 
were  lifted  from  the  water,  and  carried  on  the  shoul- 
ders 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.  '  Br^beuf  tried  to  do  his 


1634.]  THE  JOURNEY   TO  THE   HURONS.  141 

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,  in- 
cumbered with  rocks  and  logs,  tangled  with  roots  and 
underbrush,  damp  with  perpetual  shade,  and  redolent 
of  decayed  leaves  and  mouldering  wood.^  The  In- 
dians themselves  were  often  spent  with  fatigue. 
Br^beuf,  a  man  of  iron  frame  and  a  nature  uncon- 
querably resolute,  doubted  if  his  strength  would  sus- 
tain 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. 

All  the  Jesuits,  as  well  as  several  of  their  country- 
men who  accompanied  them,  suffered  more  or  less  at 
the  hands  of  their  ill-humored  conductors.  ^    Davost's 

1  "  Adioustez  k  ces  difficultea,  qu'il  faut  coucher  sur  la  terre  nue, 
cu  sur  quelque  dure  roche,  faute  de  trouuer  dix  ou  douze  pieds  de 
terre  en  quarr^  poutr  placer  vne  chetiue  cabane ;  qu'il  faut  sentir 
incessamment  la  puanteur  des  Sauuages  recreus,  marcher  dans  les 
eaux,  dans  les  fanges,  dans  I'obscurite'  et  Tembarras  des  forest,  oU 
les  piqueures  d'vne  multitude  infinie  de  mousquilles  et  cousins  vous 
importunent  fort."  —  Br^euf ,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1635,  25,  26. 

2  "  En  ce  voyage,  il  nous  a  fallu  tons  commencer  par  ces  experi- 
ences a  porter  la  Croix  que  Nostre  Seigneur  nous  presente  pour  son 
honneur,  et  pour  le  salut  de  ces  pauures  Barbares.  Certes  ie  me 
guis  trouu^  quelquesfois  si  las,  que  le  corps  n'en  pouuoit  plus. 
Mais  d'ailleurs  mon  &me  ressentoit  de  tres-grands  contentemens, 
considerant  que  ie  souffrois  pour  Dieu:  nul  ne  le  89ait,  s'il  ne  I'ex- 


142  THE  HURON  MISSION.  [1634. 

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  AUumette 
Island.  He  found  means  to  continue  the  journey, 
and  at  length  reached  the  Huron  towns  in  a  lament- 
able 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 ; 

perimente.  Tous  n'en  ont  pas  este  quittes  k  si  bon  marche." —  Bre- 
beuf,  Relation  des  Hiirons,  1635,  26. 

Three  years  afterwards,  a  paper  was  printed  by  the  Jesuits  of 
Paris,  called  Instruction  pour  les  Feres  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  sub- 
stance, 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  vour  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  aflliction  for  body  and 
mind. 


1634.]  BRfiBEUF'S  ARRIVAL.  148 

another,  named  Baron,  on  reaching  the  Huron  coun- 
try, 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. 

Descending  French  River,  and  following  the  lonely 
shores  of  the  great  Georgian  Bay,  the  canoe  which 
carried  Br^beuf  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  preter- 
natural growth  and  fruitfulness. 

Br^beuf  and  his  Huron  companions  having  landed, 
the  Indians,  throwing  the  missionary's  baggage  on 
the  ground,  left  him  to  his  own  resources ;  and,  with- 
out heeding  his  remonstrances,  set  forth  for  their 
respective  villages  some  twenty  miles  distant.  Thus 
abandoned,  the  priest  kneeled,  not  to  implore  succor 


144  THE  HURON  MISSION.  [1634. 

in  his  perplexity,  but  to  offer  thanks  to  the  Provi- 
dence which  had  shielded  him  thus  far.  Then,  ris- 
ing, 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  Toanch^  he  had  lived  three  years, 
preaching  and  baptizing;^  but  Toanch^  had  now 
ceased  to  exist.  Here,  Etienne  Brul^,  Champlain's 
adventurous  interpreter,  had  recently  been  murdered 
by  the  inhabitants,  who,  in  excitement  and  alarm, 
dreading  the  consequences  of  their  deed,  had  de- 
serted the  spot,  and  built,  at  the  distance  of  a  few 
miles,  a  new  town,  called  Ihonatiria.^  Br^beuf  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  Toanch^,  saw  the  charred  poles  that  had 
formed  the  frame  of  his  little  chapel  of  bark,  and 
found,  as  he  thought,  the  spot  where  Brul^  had  fal- 
len. ^  Evening  was  near,  when,  after  following,  be- 
wildered and  anxious,  a  gloomy  forest  path,  he  issued 

1  From  1626  to  1629.  There  is  no  record  of  the  events  of  this 
first  mission,  which  was  ended  with  the  English  occupation  of 
Quebec.  Brebeuf  had  previously  spent  the  winter  of  1625-26  among 
the  Algonquins,  like  Le  Jeune  in  1633-34.  —  Lettre  du  P.  Charles 
Lalemant  au  2\  R.  P.  Mutio  Vitelleschi,  1  Aug.,  1626,  in  Carayon. 

2  Concerning  Brule,  see  "  Pioneers  of  France,"  408-420. 

*  "  le  vis  pareillement  I'endroit  oU  le  pauure  Estienne  Brule  auoit 
este  barbarement  et  traitreusement  assomme ;  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."  — 
Brebeuf,  Relation  des  Htirons,  1635,  28,  29,  The  missionary's  prog- 
nostics were  but  too  well  founded. 


1634.]  BRfiBEUF'S  RECEPTION.  145 

upon  a  wild  clearing,  and  saw  before  him  the  bark 
roofs  of  Ihonatiria. 

A  crowd  ran  out  to  meet  him.  "  Echom  has  come 
again !  Echom  has  come  again !  '*  they  cried,  recog- 
nizing 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  bag- 
gage, 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  hospi- 
tality 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  Brdbeuf  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. 


ifii 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1634,  1635. 

BR^BEUT  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  Sor- 
ceries. —  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  Br^beuf  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  expecta- 
tion of  such  gifts  as  the  priests  had  to  bestow.  Be- 
fore October,  the  task  was  finished.  The  house  was 
constructed  after  the  Huron  model.  ^  It  was  thirty- 
1  See  Introduction,  11-13. 


Another  view  of  the  ruins  of  Santa  Maria  Mission, 
near  St.  Marys,  Georgia. 


1634-35.]  THE  HURON  MISSION-HOUSE.  147 

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  ante- 
room, and  a  place  of  storage  for  com,  beans,  and 
dried  fish.  The  second  —  the  largest  of  the  three  — 
was  at  once  kitchen,  workshop,  dining-room,  draw- 
ing-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  plat- 
forms, 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  w^ood  for 
crushing  corn,  and  a  clock,  completed  the  furniture 
of  the  room. 

There  was  no  lack  of  visitors,  for  the  house  of  the 


248  BR^BEUF  AND  HI3  ASSOCIATES.    [1634-35. 

black-robes  contained  marvels  ^  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  Br^beuf,  "serves 
to  gain  their  affection,  and  make  them  more  docile  in 
respect  to  the  admirable  and  incomprehensible  mys- 
teries of  our  Faith ;  for  the  opinion  they  have  of  our 
genius  and  capacity  makes  them  believe  whatever  we 
tell  them."  2 

"What  does  the  Captain  say?"  was  the  frequent 
question;  for  by  this  title  of  honor  they  designated 
the  clock. 

1  "  Us  ont  pens^  qu*elle  entendoit,  principalement  quand,  pour 
rire,  quelqu'vn  de  nos  Fran9oi8  s'escrioit  au  dernier  coup  de  mar- 
teau,  c'est  assez  sonne,  et  que  tout  aussi  tost  elle  se  taisoit.  lis 
Tappellent  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  parl^.  lis  nous  interrogent  de  son  manger. 
Ils  demeurent  les  heures  entieres,  et  quelquefois  plusieurs,  afin  de 
la  pouuoir  ouyr  parler."  —  Brebeuf ,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1635,  33. 

2  BreTjeuf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1635,  33. 


1634-35.]    THE  JESUITS  AND  THEIR  GUESTS.      149 

"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.  Con- 
cerning this  each  had  some  new  discovery  to  relate, 
some  new  suggestion  to  offer;  and  in  the  task  of  ana- 
lyzing its  construction  and  deducing  its  hidden  laws, 
these  intelligent  and  highly  cultivated  minds  found  a 
congenial  employment. 

But  while  zealously  laboring  to  perfect  their  knowl- 
edge 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  ofi&ces  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 

I  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639, 17  (Cramoisy). 


160  BR^BEUF  AND  HIS   ASSOCIATES.     [1634-35. 

the  neighboring  fortified  towns,  on  the  rumor  of  an 
approaching  war-party.  The  Jesuits  promised  them 
the  aid  of  the  four  Frenchmen  armed  with  arque- 
buses, 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  Ossossand,  or  Rochelle.^ 

At  every  opportunity,  the  missionaries  gathered 
together  the  children  of  the  village  at  their  house. 
On  these  occasions,  Br^beuf,  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  de- 
light, 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 

1  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  86, 


1634-35.]  ATTEMPTS   AT  CONVERSION.  151 

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  pro- 
position ;  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, 
Br^beuf  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.^ 

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  ex- 
cellent reason,  they  feared  backsliding  and  recanta- 
tion. They  found  especial  pleasure  in  the  baptism  of 
dying  infants,  rescuing  them  from  the  flames  of  per- 
dition, and  changing  them,  to  borrow  Le  Jeune's 
phrase,  "  from  little  Indians  into  little  angels. "  ^ 

1  Br^beuf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  81.  For  the  use  of  wampum 
belts,  see  Introduction,  18-19. 

^  "Le  seiziesme  du  mesme  mois,  deux  petits  Sauvages  furent 
changez  en  deux  petits  Anges." — Relation,  1636,  89  (Cramoisy). 

"  0  mon  cher  frfere,  vous  pourrois-je  expliquer  quelle  consolation 
ce  m'etoit  quand  je  vojois  un  pauure  baptist  mourir  deux  heures, 


152  BRl^BEUF   AND  HIS  ASSOCIATES.    [1634-35. 

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  keep- 
ing time  with  the  dancers.  Again,  some  ambi- 
tious villager  would  give  a  feast,  and  invite  all 
the  warriors  of  the  neighboring  towns;  or  some 
grand  wager  of  gambling,  with  its  attendant  drum- 
ming, 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  inspira- 
tion 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  pa- 

une  demi  journee,  une  ou  deux  journ^es  apres  son  baptesme,  par- 
ticuli^rement  quand  c'etoit  un  petit  enfant ! "  —  Lettre  du  Pere  Gar- 
nier  a  son  Frere,  MS.  This  form  of  benevolence  is  beyond  heretic 
appreciation. 

"La  joye  qu'on  a  quand  on  a  baptist  un  Sauvage  qui  se  meurt 
peu  apres,  &  qui  s*envole  droit  au  Ciel,  pour  devenir  un  Ange,  cer- 
tainement  c'est  une  joye  qui  surpasse  tout  ce  qu'on  se  pent  imjigi- 
per."  —  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1635,  221  (Cramoisy). 


1634-35.]  CURE  OF  A  MADMAN.  16B 

tient  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  incon- 
gruous 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.  Br^beuf  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."^  This  remedy  also  fail- 
ing, a  crowning  effort  of  the  medical  art  was  essayed. 
Br^beuf  does  not  describe  it,  for  fear,  as  he  says,  of 
being  tedious;  but,  for  the  time,  the  village  was  a 
pandemonium. 2      This,   with  other  ceremonies,   was 


1  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  116. 

2  "  Suffit  pour  le  present  de  dire  en  general,  que  iamals  les  Bac- 
chantes forcen^es  du  temps  passe  ne  firent  rien  de  plus  furieux  en 
leurs  orgyes.  C'est  icy  k  s'entretuer,  disent-ils,  par  des  sorts  qu'ils 
•'entreiettent,  dont  la  composition  est  d'ongles  d'Ours,  de  dents  de 


154  BR^BEUF   AND   HIS   ASSOCIATES.  [1635. 

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  Br^beuf,  "here  is  nonsense 
enough;  but  I  greatly  fear  there  is  something  more 
dark  and  mysterious  in  it." 

But  all  these  ceremonies  were  outdone  by  the  grand 
festival  of  the  Ononhara,  or  Dream  Feast,  —  es- 
teemed the  most  powerful  remedy  in  cases  of  sick- 
ness, 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  fire-brands,  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,  ac- 
costing 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  ad- 

Loup,  d'ergots  d'Aigles,  de  certaines  pierres  et  de  nerfs  de  Chien ; 
c'est  k  rendre  du  sang  par  la  bouche  et  par  les  narines,  ou  plustost 
d'vne  poudre  rouge  qu'ils  prennent  subtilement,  estans  tombez  soug 
le  sort,  et  blessez ;  et  dix  raille  autres  sottises  que  ie  laisse  volon- 
tiers."  — Bra)euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  117. 

/ 


1635.]  THE  DREAM  FEAST.  166 

dressed  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.^ 

The  approach  of  summer  brought  with  it  a  compar- 
ative 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  en- 
gage 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  ca- 
lamity 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  inces- 
sant invocations  to  the  spirits.  AU  was  in  vain ;  the 
pitiless  sky  was  cloudless.  There  was  thunder  in  the 
east  and  thunder  in  the  west ;  but  over  Ihonatiria  all 

1  Br^eufs  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  Onon- 
daga. 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." 


166  BR^BEUF   AND   HIS   ASSOCIATES.  [1635 

was  serene.  A  renowned  "rain-maker,"  seeing  his 
reputation  tottering  under  his  repeated  failures,  be- 
thought 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.^  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. 

"  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." 

1  The  following  is  the  account  of  the  nature  of  thunder,  given 
to  Brebeuf  on  a  former  occasion  by  another  sorcerer :  — 

"  It  is  a  man  in  the  form  of  a  turkey-cock.  The  sky  is  his  pal- 
ace, 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  his  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,  how- 
ever, held  that  the  thunder  was  a  giant  in  human  form.  Accord- 
ing to  one  story,  he  vomited  from  time  to  time  a  number  of  snakes, 
which,  falling  to  the  earth,  caused  the  appearance  of  lightning. 


1635.]         THE  DROUGHT  AND  IHE  CROSS.  157 

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  In- 
dians 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  ef&cacy  of  the  French 
"medicine."^ 

In  spite  of  the  hostility  of  the  sorcerers,  and  the 
transient  commotion  raised  by  the  red  cross,  the  Jes- 
uits 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 

^  "  Nous  deuons  aussi  beaucoup  au  glorieux  sainct  loseph,  espoux 
de  Nostre  Dame,  et  protecteur  des  Hurons,  dont  nous  auons  touch^ 
au  doigt  Tassistance  plusieurs  fois.  Ce  fut  vne  chose  remarquable, 
que  la  iour  de  sa  feste  et  durant  I'Octaue,  les  eommoditez  nous 
venoient  de  toutes  parts."  —  Brebeuf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  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. 


158  BRJ^BEUF  AND  HIS  ASSOCIATES.         [1635. 

would  make  their  abode  with  them.^  As  yet,  the 
results  of  the  mission  had  been  faint  and  fewj  but 
the  priests  toiled  on  courageously,  high  in  hope  that 
an  abundant  harvest  of  souls  would  one  day  reward 
their  labors. 

1  Br^euf  preserves  a  speech  made  to  him  by  one  of  these  chiefs, 
as  a  specimen  of  Huron  eloquence. — Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  123. 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

1636,  1637. 

THE  FEAST  OF  THE  DEAD. 

Huron  Gbaves.  —  Preparation  for  the  Ceremony.  —  Disinter- 
ment.—The  Mourning.  —  The  Funeral  March.  —  The  Great 
Sepulchre. — Funeral  Games.  —  Encampment  op  the  Mourn- 
ers.—  Gifts.  —  Harangues.  —  Frenzy  of  the  Crowd.  —  The 
Closing  Scene.  —  Another  Bite.  —  The  Captive  Iroquois. — 
The  Sacrifice.  u? 

Mention  has  been  made  of  those  great  depositories 
of  human  bones  found  at  the  present  day  in  the 
ancient  country  of  the  Hurons.  ^  They  have  been  a 
theme  of  abundant  speculation ;  ^  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  Br^beuf,  who,  in 
the  summer  of  the  year  1636,  saw  them  at  the  town 
of  Ossossan^. 

The  Jesuits  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  ordi- 
nary 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 

*  See  Introduction,  76-77. 

*  Among  thosfe  who  have  wondered  and  speculated  over  these 
remains  is  Mr.  Schoolcraft.  A  slight  acquaintance  with  the  earl/ 
writers  would  have  solved  his  doubts. 


160  THE  FEAST  OF  THE  DEAD.  [1636. 

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  com- 
posed 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  Con- 
federacy, 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  Br^- 
beuf,  who  was  present,  describes  the  debate  which 
ensued  as  perfectly  calm,  and  wholly  free  from  per- 
sonal abuse  or  recrimination.  The  secession,  how- 
ever, took  place,  and  each  party  withdrew  to  its 
villages  to  gather  and  prepare  its  dead. 


1636.J  DISINTERMENT.  161 

The  corpses  were  lowered  from  their  scaffolds,  and 
lifted  from  their  graves.  Their  coverings  were  re- 
moved by  certain  functionaries  appointed  for  the 
office,  and  the  hideous  relics  arranged  in  a  row,  sur- 
rounded by  the  weeping,  shrieking,  howling  con- 
course. 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  re- 
mained 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  sen- 
tient and  conscious.  A  soul  was  thought  still  to 
reside  in  them;i  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. 

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,  sup- 


1  In  the  general  belief,  the  soul  took  flight  after  the  great  cere 
mony  was  ended.  Many  thought  that  there  were  two  souls,  one 
remaining  with  the  bones,  while  the  other  went  to  the  land  of 
•pirits. 

M 


162  THE  FEAST   OF   THE  DEAD.  [1636. 

ported  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  solem- 
nity over,  the  mourners  began  their  march  for  Os- 
sossand,  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  disem- 
bodied 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,  —  proces- 
sions like  this  were  converging  towards  Ossossan^. 
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: 


1636.]  fHE   GREAT  SEPULCHRE.  168 

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  exer- 
cises, for  prizes  offered  by  the  mourners  in  the  name 
of  their  dead  relatives.^  Some  of  the  chiefs  con- 
ducted Br^beuf  and  his  companions  to  the  place  pre- 
pared 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. 

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  ca- 
ressed and  fondled  by  the  women  amid  paroxysms  of 

1  Funeral  games  were  not  confined  to  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois  ; 
Perrot  mentions  having  seen  them  among  the  Ottawas.  An  illus- 
trated description  of  them  will  be  found  in  Lafitau. 


164  Tflfi  I^EAST  OF  THE  DEAD.  [1636. 

lamentation.'  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  out- 
spread 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  pre- 
served 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 

1  "  Fadmiray  la  tendresse  d'vne  f emme  enuers  son  pere  et  ses 
enfans ;  elle  est  fille  dVn  Capitaine,  qui  est  mort  fort  age,  et  a  este 
autrefois  fort  considerable  dans  le  Pais :  elle  luy  peignoit  sa  cheue- 
lure,  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  AtsatoneSai,  c'est  k  dire  son  pacquet  de  buchettes  de 
Conseil,  qui  sont  tous  les  liures  et  papiers  du  Pa'is.  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  Ten  pouuoit  quasi 
separer,  mais  on  pressoit,  et  il  fallut  incontinent  partir."  —  Brebeu^ 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  134. 


1636.]  FRENZY   OF   THE  MOURNERS.  16b 

ladders  were  removed ;  and  a  number  of  chiefs,  stand- 
ing 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. 

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,^  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  hun- 
dred mingled  voices.  ^  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.  Brdbeuf  and 
his  companions  withdrew  to  the  village,  where,  an 
hour  before  dawn,  they  were  roused  by  a  clamor 
which  might  have  awakened  the  dead.  One  of  the 
bundles  of  bones,  tied  to  a  pole  on  the  scaffold,  had 

1  In  some  of  these  graves,  recently  discovered,  five  or  six  large 
copper  kettles  have  been  found,  in  a  position  corresponding  with 
the  account  of  Br^euf .  In  one,  there  were  no  less  than  twenty-six 
kettles. 

*  "  lamais  rien  ne  m'a  mieux  figure  la  confusion  qui  est  parmy 
les  damnez.  Vous  eussiez  veu  decharger  de  tous  costez  des  corps  k 
demy  pourris,  et  de  tous  costez  on  entendoit  vn  horrible  tintamarre 
de  voix  confuses  de  personnes  qui  parloient  et  ne  s'eutendoient 
pas."  —  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Uurons,  1636,  135, 


166  THE  FEAST   OF   THE  DEAD.  [1636. 

chanced  to  fall  into  the  grave.  This  accident  had  pre- 
cipitated the  closing  act,  and  perhaps  increased  its 
frenzy.  Guided  hy  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.^  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  Br^beuf  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.  2 

^  "  Approchans,  nous  vismes  tout  k  fait  une  image  de  I'Enf er ; 
cette  grande  place  estoit  toute  remplie  de  feux  &  de  flammes,  &  i'air 
retentissoit  de  toutes  parts  des  voix  confuses  de  ces  Barbares,"  etc. 

—  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  209  (Cramoisy). 

*  "  Se  mirent  a  chanter,  mais  d'un  ton  si  lamentable  &  si  lugubre, 
qu'il  nous  representoit  I'horrible  tristesse  &  I'abysme  du  desespoir 
dans  lequel  sont  plongees  pour  iamais  ces  §,me8  malheureuses."  — 
Ibid.,  210. 

For  other  descriptions  of  these  rites,  see  Charlevoix,  Bressani, 
Du  Creux,  and  especially  Lafitau,  in  whose  works  they  are  illustra- 
ted 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.  Kemains  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 


1686.]  THE  IROQUOIS  PRISONER.  167 

Such  was  the  origin  of  one  of  those  strange  sepul- 
chres which  are  the  wonder  and  perplexity  of  the 

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  modem  Senecas 
to  be  a  Neuter  burial-place.  (See  Marshall,  Historical  Sketches  oj 
the  Niagara  Frontier,  8.)  In  Canada  West,  they  are  found  through- 
out the  region  once  occupied  by  the  Neuters,  and  are  frequent  in 
the  Huron  district. 

Dr.  Tach^  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  Mexi- 
can Jabric." 

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  Tache'  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  ornaments  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  ffuront,  1642,  94, 
96. 


Ms  THE  FEAST   OF  THE  DEAD.  [1637. 

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  con- 
solation, since  it  signalized  the  saving  of  a  sonl,  — 
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  lacer- 
ated. 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.  ^  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,  think- 
ing that  you  would  remain  with  me  to  take  the  place 

1  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  temporarj^  wif^. 


10^1.]  TttE  SACRIFICE.  16& 

of  him  I  have  lost.  But  now  that  I  see  your  condi- 
tion, and  your  hands  crushed  and  torn  so  that  you 
will  never  use  them,  I  change  my  mind.  Therefore 
take  courage,  and  prepare  to  die  to-night  like  a  brave 
man." 

The  prisoner  coolly  asked  what  should  be  the  man- 
ner 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  tender- 
ness; 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  pres- 
ent 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. 


IfO  f HE  FEAST  OF  tHE  MAD.  [16^1. 

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  har- 
angued 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.^  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,  be- 
twixt 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. ^ 

1  Areskoui  (see  Introduction).  He  was  often  regarded  as  iden- 
tical 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 
HuTons,  1637, 114. 

■  Le  Mercier's  long  and  minute  account  of  the  torture  of  this 


1837.]  THE   SACRIFICE.  171 

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  vic> 
tim  as  long  as  possible.  Portions  of  his  flesh  were  afterwards 
devoured. 


CHAPTER  Vm. 

1636,  1637. 

THE  HURON  AND  THE.  JESUIT. 

Enthusiasm  for  the  Mission.  —  Sickness  of  the  Priests.  —  Thb, 
Pest  among  the  Hurons.  —  The  Jesuit  on  his  Rounds. — 
Efforts  at  Conversion.  —  Priests  and  Sorcerers.  —  The 
Man-Devil.  —  The  Magician's  Prescription.  —  Indian  Doc- 
tors AND  Patients.  —  Covert  Baptisms.  —  Self-Dbvotion  of 
the  Jesuits. 

Meanwhile,  from  Old  France  to  New  came  suc- 
cors 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  ser- 
vants a  host  of  the  worldly  and  the  proud,  whose  ser- 
vice of  God  was  but  the  service  of  themselves,  —  and 
many,  too,  who,  in  the  sophistry  of  the  human  heart, 


1636.]         ENTHUSIASM  FOR   THE  MISSION.  173 

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  celes- 
tial truth,  now  masked  in  hypocrisy  and  lies ;  now  a 
virgin,  now  a  harlot;  an  imperial  queen,  and  a  tin- 
selled 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 


174  THE  HURON  AND  THE  JESUIT.  [1636. 

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  de- 
manded of  them.^ 

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  Mer- 

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  f ondent  les  Eglises  d'ordinaire  sont 
saincts :  eette  pensee  m'attendrit  si  fort  le  coeur,  que  quoy  que  ie 
me  voye  icy  fort  inutile  dans  ceste  fortune'e  Nouuelle  France,  si 
faut-il  que  i'auoiie  que  ie  ne  me  s^aurois  defendre  d'vne  pensee  qui 
me  presse  le  cceur :  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  k  sauuer 
vne  seule  ame,  ie  seray  trop  heureux,  et  ma  vie  tres  bien  employee.** 

"  Ma  consolation  parmy  les  Hurons,  c'est  que  tons  les  iours  ie  me 
confesse,  et  puis  ie  dis  la  Messe,  comme  si  ie  deuois  prendre  le 
Viatique  et  mourir  ce  iour  Ik,  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,  ou  on  pense  pouuoir  mourir  tons  les 
lours,  et  auoir  la  deuise  de  S.  Paul,  Quotidie  mor i or,  fr aires,  etc.  mes 
freres,  ie  fais  estat  de  mourir  tons  les  iours." 

"  Que  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  don- 
nant  tout  le  Paradis  Terrestre,  certainement  ie  I'acheterois.  Mon 
Dieu,  qu'il  fait  bon  estre  au  lieu  oil  Dieu  nous  a  mis  de  sa  grace ! 
veritablement  i'ay  trouu^  icy  ce  que  i'auois  espere,  vn  coeur  selon 
le  coeur  de  Dieu,  qui  ne  cherche  que  Dieu." 


1636-37.]     PESTILENCE   AMONG   THE  IIURONS.      175 

cier,  had  been  sent  thither  in  1635 ;  and  in  midsum- 
mer 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  enthusi- 
asm, there  was  far  more  than  the  genial  comradeship 
of  men  joined  in  a  common  enterprise  of  self-devotion 
and  peril.  1  On  their  way,  they  had  met  Daniel  and 
Davost  descending  to  Quebec,  to  establish  there  a 
seminary  of  Huron  children,  —  a  project  long  cher- 
ished by  Br^beuf  and  his  companions. 

Scarcely  had  the  new-comers  arrived,  when  they 
were  attacked  by  a  contagious  fever,  which  turned 
^eir  mission-house  into  a  hospital.  Jogues,  Garnier, 
and  Chatelain  fell  ill  in  turn ;  and  two  of  their  domes- 
tics 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 


^  "  le  luy  preparay  de  ce  que  nous  auions,  pour  le  receuoir,  mais 
quel  f  estin !  vne  poign^e  de  petit  poisson  sec  auec  vn  peu  de  f arine ; 
i'enuoyay  chercher  quelques  nouueaux  espies,  que  nous  luy  fismes 
rostir  2t  la  fa9on  du  pays  ;  mais  il  est  vray  que  dans  son  coeur  et  k 
I'entendre,  il  ne  fit  iamais  meilleure  chere.  La  ioye  qui  se  ressent 
i.  ces  entreueues  serable  estre  quelque  image  du  contentement  des 
bien-heureux  k  leur  arriu^e  dans  le  Ciel,  tant  elle  est  pleine  de 
Buauit^."  —  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  106. 


1/ 


176  THE  HURON  AND   THE  JESUIT.        [1636-37 

misfortune.  1  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. 

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  dis- 
may, 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 

1  Lettre  de  Brebeufau  T.  R.  P.  Mutio  Vitelleschi,  20  Mai,  1637,  in 
Carayon,  157.    Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  120,  123. 


i636-37.]  THE  JESUIT  ON  HIS  ROUNDS.  177 

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  dis- 
temper. 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.^  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  Para- 
dise, 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  French- 
men," said  another;  "but  I  wish  to  be  among  In- 
dians, for  the  French  will  give  me  nothing  to  eat 
when  I  get  there.  "2     Often  the  patient  was  stolidly 

1  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  com,  beans,  pumpkins,  and 
fish. 

*  It  was  scarcely  possible  to  convince  the  Indians  that  there  was 
12 


178         THE   HURON  AND  THE  JESUIT.         [1636-37. 

silent;  sometimes  he  was  hopelessly  perverse  and  con- 
tradictory. 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  difficul- 
ties gave  way,  and  the  patient  had  been  brought  to 
what  seemed  to  his  instructor  a  fitting  frame  for  bap-^ 
tism,  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  con- 
vert, even  after  his  baptism,  did  not  always  manifest 
a  satisfactory  spiritual  condition.  "Why  did  you 
baptize  that  Iroquois  ?  "  asked  one  of  the  dying  neo- 
phytes, speaking  of  the  prisoner  recently  tortured; 


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/*— L« 
M«rcier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  147. 


1636-37.]  PRIESTS  AND  SORCERERS.  179 

"  he  will  get  to  Heaven  before  us,  and,  when  he  sees 
us  coming,  he  will  drive  us  out."^ 

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  sup- 
posed by  many  to  be  a  "medicine,*'  or  charm,  effica- 
cious 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  ;2  and  they  never 
doubted  that,  in  the  hour  of  need,  the  celestial 
powers  would  confound  the  unbeliever  with  interven- 
tion 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  ?  "  Brdbeuf 's  answer 
was  uncompromising :  — 

"Believe  in  Him;  keep  His  commandments;  ab- 
jure your  faith  in  dreams ;  take  but  one  wife,  and  be 


1  Most  of  the  above  traits  are  drawn  from  Le  Mercier's  report 
of  1637.    The  rest  are  from  Br^euf. 

*  Br^euf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  89.  Another  woman  was 
delirered  on  touching  a  relic  of  St.  Ignatius.    Ibid.,  90. 


ISO  THE  HURON  AND  THE  JESUIT.     [1636-37. 

,  true  to  her;  give  up  your  superstitious  feasts;  re- 
jnounce  your  assemblies  of  debauchery;  eat  no  human 
mesh;  never  give  feasts  to  demons;  and  make  a  vow, 
jbhat,  if  God  will  deliver  you  from  this  pest,  you 
/will  build  a  chapel  to  offer  Him  thanksgiving  and 
/     praise."^ 

The  terms  were  too  hard.  They  would  fain  bar- 
gain to  be  let  off  with  building  the  chapel  alone ;  but 
Brdbeuf  would  bate  them  nothing,  and  the  council 
broke  up  in  despair. 

At  Ossossand,  a  few  miles  distant,  the  people,  in  a 
frenzy  of  terror,  accepted  the  conditions,  and  prom- 
ised 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  consola- 
tion," exclaims  Le  Mercier,  "to  see  God  glorified  by 
the  lips  of  an  imp  of  Satan !  "  ^ 

Their  joy  was  short.  The  proclamation  was  on  the 
twelfth  of  December.  On  the  twenty-first,  a  noted 
sorcerer  came  to  Ossossan^.  He  was  of  a  dwarfish, 
hump-backed  figure,  —  most  rare  among  this  sym- 
metrical people,  —  with  a  vicious  face,  and  a  dress 
consisting  of  a  torn  and  shabby  robe  of  beaver-skin. 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637, 114, 116  (Cramoiiy). 
«  Ibid.,  127, 128  (Cramoisy). 


1636-37.]       THE   MAGICIAN'S   PRESCRIPTION.        181 

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  fumiga- 
tion ;  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  oH,  —  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  bom, 
but  not  until  the  male  oki  had  quarrelled  with  and 
strangled  his  female  companion,  who  came  dead  into 
the  world.  ^  The  character  of  the  sorcerer  seems  to 
have  comported  reasonably  well  with  this  story  of  his 
origin.     He  pretended  to  have  an  absolute  control 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Htirons,  1637,  72  (Cramoisy).  This 
**  petit  Borcier  "  is  often  mentioned  elsewhere. 


182  THE   HURON  AND  THE  JESUIT.    [1636-37. 

over  the  pestilence,  and  his  prescriptions  were  scru- 
pulously followed. 

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.^  On  the  sixth  day  the  spirits  appeared, 
and,  among  other  revelations,  told  him  that  the  dis- 
ease 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  an- 
nouncement, the  roofs  of  Onnentisati  and  the  neigh- 
boring 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. ^  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.^ 

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 

1  See  Introduction,  29-31. 

'  "  Qu'en  vertu  de  ce  signe  nous  ne  redoutions  point  les  demons, 
et  esperions  que  Dieu  preserueroit  nostra  petite  maison  de  cette 
maladie  contagieuse."  —  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  IJurons,  1637, 150. 

»  Jbid.,  167. 


1636-37.]      INDIAN  DOCTORS   AND   PATIENTS.       183 

power.  One  of  these  deputies  came  to  Ossossan<^ 
while  the  priests  were  there.  The  principal  house 
was  thronged  with  expectant  savages,  anxiously  wait- 
ing his  arrival.  A  chief  carried  before  him  a  kettle 
of  mystic  water,  with  which  the  envoy  sprinkled  the 
company,  1  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. 

Opinion  was  divided  as  to  the  nature  of  the  pest; 
but  the  greater  number  were  agreed  that  it  was  a 
malignant  ohi^  who  came  from  Lake  Huron. ^  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, 

1  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. 

2  Many  believed  that  the  country  was  bewitched  by  wicked  sor- 
cerers, 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  com- 
mon among  the  Iroquois  of  New  York.  Others  held  that  a  sister  of 
l^tienne  Brule'  caused  the  evil,  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  her 
brother,  murdered  some  years  before.  She  was  said  to  hare  b«en 
9een  flying  over  the  country,  breathing  forth  pestilence. 


184  THE  HURON   AND   THE  JESUIT.     [1636-37. 

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. 

Besides  these  public  efforts  to  stay  the  pestilence, 
the  sufferers,  each  for  himself,  had  their  own  meth- 
ods of  cure,  dictated  by  dreams  or  prescribed  by  estab- 
lished 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  stanchly  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. ^ 

Turning  from  these  eccentricities  of  the  "noble 
savage  "  ^  to  the  zealots  who  were  toiling,  according 

1  "  En  fin  il  leur  fallut  rendre  gorge,  ce  qu'ils  firent  k  diuerses 
reprises,  ne  laissants  pas  pour  cela  de  continuer  a  vuider  leur  plat." 
—  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  142.  This  beastly  super- 
stition exists  in  some  tribes  at  the  present  day.  A  kindred  super- 
stition 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. 

2  In  the  midst  of  these  absurdities  we  find  recorded  one  of  the 
best  traits  of  the  Indian  character.  At  Ihonatiria,  a  house  occu- 
pied 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 
tor  than  before. 


163^-37.]  COVERT  BAPTISM.  185 

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  prepara- 
tion essential ;  but  their  efforts  to  this  end,  even  with 
the  aid  of  St.  Joseph,  whom  they  constantly  invoked,  ^ 
were  not  always  successful;  and,  cheaply  as  they 
offered  salvation,  they  sometimes  failed  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  scowl- 
ing 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:  — 

"On  the  third  of  May,  Father  Pierre  Pijart  bap- 
tized 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 

1  "C'est  nostre  refuge  ordinaire  en  semblables  necessitez,  et 
d'ordinaire  auec  tels  succez,  que  nous  auons  sujet  d'en  benir  Dieu  h 
iamais,  qui  nous  fait  cognoistre  en  cette  barbarie  le  credit  de  ee 
S.  Patriarche  aupres  de  son  infinie  raisericorde."  —  Ibid.,  153.  In 
the  case  of  a  woman  at  Onnentisati,  "Dieu  nous  inspira  de  luy 
vouer  quelques  Messes  en  I'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." 


186  THE  HURON  Ai^D  THE  JESUIT.    [1636-37. 

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."^ 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  165.  Various  other 
cases  of  the  kind  are  mentioned  in  the  Relation. 


1636-37.]     SELF-DEVOTION  OF  THE  JESUITS.      187 

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  capabili- 
ties 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  drip- 
ping 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  db  Br^beuf.  —  Charles  Garnier.  —  Joseph  Marie  Chau- 

MONOT.  —  NOBL   ChABANEL.  —  ISAAC    JOGUES.  — OtHER   JbSUITS. 

—  Nature  of  their  Faith.  —  Supernaturalism.  —  Visions. — 
Miracles. 

Before  pursuing  farther  these  obscure,  but  note- 
worthy, 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  Br^beuf ,  —  that  mas- 
culine apostle  of  the  Faith,  —  the  Ajax  of  the  mis- 
sion. 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  gen- 
tle 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 


1637.]  CHARLES  GARNIER.  189 

handsome.^  His  constitution,  bodily  or  mental,  was 
by  no  means  robust  !F^om  boyhood,  he  bad  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  pro- 
fessed member  of  the  Order.  The  Church,  indeed, 
absorbed  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  this 
pious  family,  —  one  brother  being  a  Carmelite,  an- 
other 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  affec- 

^tions  of_his  sensitive  nature,   severed  from  eart^ 
objects,  found  relief   in  an  ardent  ado]^tidiiot   the 

"^Tifguf  Mary.     With  none  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
fugged  manhood  he  entered,  not  only  without  hesita- 

1  "  C'est  pourquoi  j*ai  bien  gagne  k  quitter  la  France,  ou  vous 
me  fesiez  la  guerre  de  n'avoir  point  de  barbe ;  car  c'eat  ce  qui 
me  fait  estimer  beau  des  Sauvages."  —  Lettres  de  Gamier,  MSS. 


190        CHARACTER  OF  CANADIAN  JESUITS.     [1637. 

tion,  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  mar- 
tyrdom, 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.^ 

Next  appears  a  young  man  of  about  twenty-seven 
years,  Joseph  Marie  Chaumgnpt.  Unlike  Br^beuf 
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  Ch^tillon  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 

1  The  above  sketch  of  Garnier  is  drawn  from  various  sources. 
Observations  du  P.  Henri  de  St.  Joseph  Carme,  sur  son  Frere  le  P. 
^Charles  Garnier,  MS.  — Abreje  de  la  Vie  du  R.  Pere  Charles  Gar- 
>nier,  MS.r  This  unpublished  sketch  bears  the  signature  of  the 
Jesuit  Ragueneau,  with  the  date  1652.  For  the  opportunity  of  con- 
sulting it  I  am  indebted  to  Rev.  Felix  Martin,  S.  J.  —  Lettres  da  P. 
Charles  Garnier,  MSS.  These  embrace  his  correspondence  from  the 
Huron  country,  and  are  exceedingly  characteristic  and  striking. 
There  is  another  letter  in  Carayon,  Premiere  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. 


1637.]  JOSEPH  MARIE  CHAUMONOT.  191 

companions  to  run  off  to  Beaune,  a  town  of  BuT' 
gundy,  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  re- 
solved not  to  do  so,  but  to  set  out  forthwith  on  a  pil- 
grima^  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  con- 
dition of  destitution,  filth,  and  disease.  At  length 
he  reached  Ancona,  when  the  thought  occurred  to 
him  of  visiting  the  Holy  House  of  Loretto,  and  im- 
ploring the  succor  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Nor  were 
his  hopes  disappointed.  He  had  reached  that  re- 
nowned 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 


192      CHARACTER  OF  CANADIAN  JESUITS.     [1637. 

conjectures  to  have  been  an  angel  descended  to  his 
relief,  and  who  was  probably  some  penitent  or  de- 
votee 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  con- 
quering of  a  natural  repugnance  to  filth,  in  the  inter- 
est 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  extraordi- 
nary degree  by  the  young  man  in  question.  Appar- 
ently, 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.^ 

1  "  Si  la  moindre  dame  m'avoit  fait  rendre  ce  service  par  le  der- 
nier de  868  valets,  n'aurois-je  pas  dus  lui  en  rendre  toutes  lea  re- 
connoissances  possibles'?  Et  si  apr^s  une  telle  charite  elle  s'^toit 
offerte  it  me  servir  ton  jours  de  mesme,  comment  aurois-je  dft 
I'honorer,  lui  obeir,  I'aimer  toute  ma  vie !  Pardon,  Reine  des  Anges 
et  des  hommes !  pardon  de  ce  qu'apres  avoir  re^u  de  vous  tant  de 
marques,  par  lesquelles  vous  m'avez  convaincu  que  vous  m'avez 
adopte  pour  votre  fils,  j'ai  eu  Tingratitude  pendant  des  ann^es 
enti^res  de  me  comporter  encore  plutot  en  esclave  de  Satan  qu'en 
enfant  d'une  M^re  Vierge.  O  que  vous  6tes  bonne  et  charitable ! 
puisque  quelques  obstacles  que  mes  p^ch^s  ayent  pu  mettre  h,  vos 
graces,  vous  n'avez  jamais  cess^  de  m'attirer  au  bien;  j usque  Ik 
que  vous  m'avez  fait  admettre  dans  la  Sainte  Compagnie  de  J^sus, 
votre  fils."  —  Chaumonot,  Vie,  20.  The  above  is  from  the  very- 
curious  autobiography  written  by  Chaumonot,  at  the  command  of 
hia  superior,  in  1688.  The  original  manuscript  is  at  the  Hotel  Dieu 
of  Quebec.    Mr.  Shea  has  printed  it. 


i637.]  JOSEPH   MARIP:   CHAUMONOT.  193 

As  he  journeyed  towards  Rome,  an  old  burgher,  at 
whose  door  he  had  begged,  employed  him  as  a,  ser- 
vant. ,. He  soon  became  known  lo  ;i  Jesuit,  to  whom 
Tie  had  confessed  himself  in  Latin;  and  as  his  ac- 
quirements were  considerable  for  his  years,  he  was 
eventually  employed  as  teacher  of  a  low  class  in  one 
of  the  Jesuit  schools.     Nature, had  in^^  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  R^collet,  a  Capu; 
chin,  or,  above  all,  a  Jesuit;  and  at  length  the  wish 
of  his  heart  was  answered.  At  the  age  of  Iweiity- 
one,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Jesuit  novitiate.^  Soon 
after  its  close,  a  small  duodecimo  volume  was  placed 
in  his  hands.      It  was  a  Relation  of  the  Canadian 

1  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  novi- 
tiate he  had  forgotten  his  native  language,  and  was  forced  to  learn 
it  a  second  time. 

"Jamais  y  eut-il  homme  sur  terre  plus  oblig^que  moi  k  la  Sainte 
Famille  de  Jesus,  de  Marie  et  de  Joseph !  Marie  en  me  guerissant 
de  ma  vilaine  galle  ou  teigne,  me  delivra  d'une  infinite'  de  peines 
et  d'incommodites  corporelles,  que  cette  hideuse  maladie  qui  me 
rongeoit  m'avoit  cause.  Joseph  m'ayant  obtenu  la  grace  d'etre 
incorpore'  k  un  corps  aussi  saint  qu'est  celui  des  Jesuites,  m'a  pre- 
serve' d'une  infinite'  de  mis^res  spirituelles,  de  tentations  trfes  dan- 
gereuses  et  de  peches  tr^s  ^normes.  Je'sus  n'ayant  pas  permis  que 
j'entrasse  dans  aucun  autre  ordre  qu'en  celui  qu'il  honore  tout  k  la 
fois  de  son  beau  nom,  de  sa  douce  pre'sence  et  de  sa  protection 
spe'ciale.  O  Je'sus !  O  Marie  !  0  Joseph !  qui  m^ritoit  moins  que 
moi  vos  divines  faveurs,  et  envers  qui  avez  vous  e't^  plus  prodigue  ?  ** 
—  Chaumonot,  Vie,  37. 


194       CHARACTER  OF  CANADIAN  JESUITS.     [1637. 

mission,  and  contained  one  of  those  narratives  of 
Br^beuf  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. 

Before  embarking,  he  set  out  with  the  Jesuit  Pon- 
cet,  who  was  also  destined  for  Canada,  on  a  pilgrim- 
^ge  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  cer- 
tain poor  woman  of  that  place,  who  had  died  some 
time  before  with  the  reputation  of  sanctity.  Accord- 
ingly he  addressed  to  her  his  prayer,  promising  to 
publish  her  fame  on  every  possible  occasion,  if  she 
would  obtain  his  cure  from  God.^  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  Chau- 
monot, overflowing  with  devotion  to  this  celestial 
mistress  of  his  heart,  conceived  the  purpose  of  build- 
ing in  Canada  a  chapel  to  her  honor,  after  the  exact 
model  of  the  Holy  House  of  Loretto.  They  soon 
afterwards  embarked  together,  and  arrived  among3 
^^"•-^e  Hurons  eariy  in  the  alitumn  of  i6B9. 

1  "  Je  me  recommandai  k  elle  en  lui  promettant  de  la  f  aire  con- 
noitre  dans  toutes  les  occasions  que  j'en  aurois  jamais,  si  elle 
m'obtenoit  de  Dieu  ma  gu^rison."  —  Chaumonot,  Vie,  46. 


1637.]   NOEL  CHABANEL  AND  ISAAC  JOGUES.     195 

Noel  Chabanel  came  later  to  the  mission;  for  he 
did  not  reach  the  Huron  country  until  1643.  He 
"tletested  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  use- 
ful 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.  ^ 

Isaac  Jogues  was  of  a  character  not  unlike  Gamier. 
Nature  had  given  him  no  especial  force  of  intellect  or 
constitutional  energy,  yet  the  man  was  indomitable 
and  irrepressible,  as  his  K^tory  will  show. 

We  have  but  few  means  ot  characterizing  the  re- 
maining 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, 

1  Abrege  de  la  Vie  du  Pkre  Noel  Chabanel,  MS.  This  anonymous 
paper  bears  the  signature  of  Ragueneau,  in  attestation  of  its  truth. 
See  also  Ragueneau,  Relation,  1660,  17,  18.  Chabanel's  vow  is  here 
given  verbatim. 


196       CHARACTER  OF  CANADIAN  JESUITS.     [1637. 

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  supernat- 
uralism.  Every  day  had  its  miracle.  Divine  power 
declared  itself  in  action  immediate  and  direct,  con- 
trolling,  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  frag- 
ment 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. 
Qnce,  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  ex- 
periment, 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.  ^ 

The  relation  between  this  world  and  the  next  was 
sometimes  of  a  nature^ curiously  intimate.      Thus, 

*  Chaumonot,  Vie,  73. 


1637.J  '  MIRACLES.  197 

when  Chaumonot  heard  of  Gamier's  death,  he  imme- 
diately addressed  his  departed  colleague,  and  prom- 
ised 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.^  And 
he  ascribed  to  the  deceased  Garnier's  influence  the 
mastery  of  that  language  which  he  afterwards 
acquired. 

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  superhu- 
man agencies  which  the  priest  invoked  to  his  aid.^ 

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  occur- 
rence in  the  lives  of  these  ardent  apostles.     To  Brd4 

riiiKM ■  -|-,  ■— '"-■'■—- r^— "—  -r — irnii  ifiirj-Tir"'""""-""^''"'"'""  ■ 

*  "  Je  n*eu8  pas  plut5t  appris  sa  glorieuse  mort,  que  je  lui  proinls 
tout  ce  qui  je  ferois  de  bien  pendant  huit  jours,  ^  condition  qij'il 
me  feroit  son  heritier  dans  la  connoissance  parfaite  qu'il  avoit 
du  Huron."  —  Chaumonot,  Vie,  61. 

^  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  interpo- 
sition 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  yi^ioo,  however,  occurred. 


198       CHARACTER  OF   CANADIAN  JESUITS.    [1637. 

beuf,  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  Bri^beuf  signed  the 
\   cross,  and  the  infernal  siren  melted  into  air.      He 

1  saw  the  vision  of  a  vast  and  gorgeous  palace ;  and  a 
miraculous  voice  assured  him  that  such  was  to  be  the 

1  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 

^tlre  ominous  apparition  of  a  great  cross  slowly  aip-^" 
proaching  froin  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."^     To  explain  such  phe- 

1  Quelques  Remarques  sur  la  Vie  du  Pere  Jean  de  Breheuf,  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 
Brebeuf  himself.  , 

StUl  other  visions  are  recorded  fey  Chaiimoijot  as, occurring  to 


1637.]  SELF-DEVOTION.  199 

nomena  is  the  province  of  psychology,  and  not  of  his- 
tory. Their  occurrence  is  no  matter  of  surprise,  and 
it  would  be  superfluous  to  doubt  that  they  were  re- 
counted in  good  faith,  and  with  a  full  belief  in  their 
reality. 

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  l;rue  religion,  and  which  is  vital  no  less  to  the 
liigHest  forms  of  heroism. 

Br^euf ,  when  they  were  together  in  the  Neutral  country.  See  also 
the  long  notice  of  Br6beuf,  written  by  his  colleague,  Ragueneau, 
in  the  Relation  of  1049 ;  and  Tanner,  Societas  Jesu  MilitanSf  633. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1637-1640. 

PERSECUTION. 

0s8O88ANi!.  —  Thb  New  Chapbl.  —  A  Triumph  op  the  Faith. — 
The  Nethek  Powers.  —  Signs  of  a  Tempest.  —  Slanders. — 
Rage  against  the  Jesuits.  —  Their  Boldness  and  Persist- 
ency.—  Nocturnal  Council.  —  Danger  of  the  Priests. — 
Briibeuf's  Letter.  —  Narrow  Escapes.  —  Woes  and  Consola- 
tions. 

The  town  of  Ossossan^,  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,  thejiewjcois- 
sion  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.^  The  Indians 
had  promised  Br^beuf  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  quad- 
rangular fort  already  alluded  to  had  now  been  com- 
pleted 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  Gamier,  MSS.  It  was  of  upright  pickets,  ten  feet 
high,  with  flanking  towers  at  two  angles. 


1637.J  THE  NEW  CHAPEL.  201 

The  new  mission-liouse  was  about  seventy  feet  in 
leng^^„ZZNo  sooner  had  the  savage  workmen  secured 
""fEe  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.^ 

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.^ 

1  "Nostre  Chapelle  estoit  extraordinairement  bien  orn^e,  .  .  . 
nous  auions  dress^  vn  portique  entortille  de  feiiillage,  mesM  d'ori- 
peau,  en  rn  mot  nous  auions  estalM  tout  ce  que  vostre  R.  nous  a 
enuoi^  de  beau,"  etc.,  etc.  —  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637, 
176,  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. 

2  Ibid.,  1637, 176. 


202  PERSECUTION.  [im 

One  is  forced  to  wonder  at,  if  not  to  admire,  the 
energy  with  which  these  priests  and  their  scarcely 
less  zealous  attendants  ^  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. 

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, 
"IPespected  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 
tore  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  genu- 

1  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.  Proba- 
bly this  was  the  character  of  their  attendants  in  the  present  case. 
They  were  known  as  donnes,  or,  "  given  men."  It  appears  from  a 
letter  of  the  Jesuit  Du  Peron,  that  twelve  hired  laborers  were 
Boon  after  sent  up  to  the  mission. 


1637.]  THE  NETHER  POWERS.  20« 

flections,  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  agi- 
tation 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  heath- 
endom. 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^Iear^lie  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.  ^     Whether  accepting  it  or  not, 

1  Several  of  the  Jesuits  allude  to  this  supposed  excitement 
among  the  tenants  of  the  nether  world.  Thus,  Le  Mercier  says  : 
"  Le  Diable  se  sentoit  press^  de  pr^s,  il  ne  pouuoit  supporter  le 
Baptesme  solennel  de  quelques  Sauuages  des  plu«  signalez/'  — 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1638,  33.  Several  other  baptisms  of  less  note 
followed  that  above  described.  Gamier,  writing  to  his  brother, 
repeatedly  alludes  to  the  alarm  excited  in  Hell  by  the  recent  suc- 
cesses of  the  mission,  and  adds,  — "  Vous  pouvez  juger  quelle  con- 
solation nous  ^toit-ce  de  voir  le  diable  s'armer  contre  nous  et  se 
•ervir  de  ses  esclaves  pour  noui  attaquer  et  tAcher  de  nous  perdrt 
en  haine  de  J.  C." 


204  PERSECUTION.  [1637-40. 

let  us  examine  the  circumstances   which  gave  rise 
to  it. 

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  grass- 
hoppers. 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. 


i637-40.]    TERROR  OF  THE  HURONS.       205 

Others  again  gave  out  that  they  had  pricked  an  in- 
fant 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.  "1 

The  picture  of  the  Last  Judgment  became  an  ob- 
ject 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  vic- 
tims. 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 

1  "Le  diable  enrageoit  peutestre  de  ce  que  nous  avions  plac^ 
dans  le  ciel  quantity  de  ces  petits  innocens."  —  Le  Mercier,  Relation 
des  Hurons,  1638,  12  (Cramoisy). 


206  PERSECUTION.  [1637-40. 

blow  of  a  hatchet,  stealthily  struck  in  the  dusky  en- 
trance 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  de- 
iCreed;  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  pas^'d,  and  then  ran  behind 
the  houses.  When  they  entered  one  of  these  pestif- 
erous 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  inva- 
lids 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  Jesuite .  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 


1C37.]  THE  GREAT   COUNCIL.  207 

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  appar- 
ently 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." ^ 
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  func- 
tion is  less  to  dispense  the  treasures  of  another  world 
than  to  grasp  those  which  pertain  to  this. 

The  Huron  chiefs  were  summoned  to  a  great  coun- 
ciIp"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  delibera- 
tions, failed  not  to  be  present,  with  a  liberal  gift  of 

1  Ce  hup  infernal  is  a  title  often  bestowed  in  the  Relations  on 
the  Devil.  The  above  details  are  gathered  from  the  narratives  of 
Br^euf,  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,  "I'autre  le  baptise  leste- 
ment;  le  pauure  petit  n'attendoit  que  ceste  faueur  du  Ciel  pour 
•'y  enuoler." 


^08  PERSECUTION^.  [1637. 

wampum,  to  show  their  sympathy  in  the  public  calam- 
ities. 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,  Br^beuf  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  perdi- 
tion,—  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  alli- 
ances, with  a  deliberation  and  good  sense  which  the 
Jesuits  could  not  help  admiring.  ^  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  Na- 
tion 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 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1638,  38. 


1637.]  THE  JESUITS  IMPEACHED.  209 

fud  among  the  soot-begrimed  rafters  of  the  great 
council-house,^  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." 

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  as- 
sembled to  deliberate  on  a  subject  of  the  last  impor- 
tance 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  wpful 
condition  of  ~£fie"country,  anden^3'*'wTw]L  charging  it 
"""Iftkii^on  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 

^  It  must  have  been  the  house  of  a  chief.    The  Hurons,  unlike 
some  other  tribes,  had  no  houses  set  apart  for  public  occaaioBf, 

14 


210  PERSECUTION.  [1637. 

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  dis- 
eases 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  unpar- 
Itlleled  calamities  that  afflicted  them ;  and  in  support 
of  his  charge  he  adduced  a  prodigious  mass  of  evi- 
dence. When  he  had  spent  his  eloquence,  Br^beuf 
rose  to  reply,  and  in  a  few  words  exposed  the  absurd- 
ities of  his  statements;  whereupon  another  accuser 
brought  a  new  array  of  charges.  A  clamor  soon 
arose  from  the  whole  assembly,  and  they  called  upon 
Br^beuf  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  Br^beuf,  "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 
Brdbeuf. 


1637.]  DANGER  OF  THE  PRIESTS.  211 

"Tell  us  the  cause  of  the  pest." 

Br^beuf  replied  to  the  best  of  his  power,  mingling 
his  explanations  with  instructions  in  Christian  doc- 
trine 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  ter- 
mination, fell  asleep,  and  others  went  away.  One 
old  chief,  as  he  passed  out,  said  to  Br^beuf ,  "  If  some 
young  man  should  split  your  head,  we  should  have 
nothing  to  say."  The  priest  still  continued  to  har- 
angue the  diminished  conclave  on  the  necessity  of 
obeying  God,  and  the  danger  of  offending  Him,  when 
the  chief  of  Ossossan^  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  Oh%  and  what  he  demands  and  what  he  forbids, 
and  Paradise  and  Hell."^ 

"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 

*  The  above  account  of  the  council  is  drawn  from  Le  Mercier, 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1638,  chap.  ii.  See  also  Bressani,  Relation 
Abr4g6e,  163. 


£12  PERSECUTION.  [1637. 

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  avertedr;) 
v„from  them;  and  a  new  council  was  called  to  pro- 
nounce 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.  Brebeuf,  therefore,  wrote  a  letter  of  fare- 
well to  his  Superior,  Le  Jeune,  at  Quebec,  and  con- 
fided 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  I "  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  tliat  espocini 
care   will   be  taken  to  preserve  the  dictionary  and 


1637.]  THE  FAREWELL  FEAST.  213 

other  writings  on  the  Huron  language.     The  letter 
closes  with  a  request  for  masses  and  prayers.^ 

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  cus- 
tom enjoined  on  those  about  to  die,  whether  in  the 
course  of  Nature   or  by  public  execution.      Being 

1  The  following  is  the  conclugion  of  the  letter  (Le  Mercier, 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1638,  43)  :  — 

En  tout,  sa  sainte  volonte  soit  faite;  s'il  veut  que  d^s  ceste  heure 
nous  mourions,  6  la  bonne  heure  pour  nous  !  s'il  veut  nous  reseruer 
k  d'autres  trauaux,  qu'il  soit  beny ;  si  vous  entendez  que  Dieu  ait 
couronn^  nos  petits  trauaux,  ou  plustost  nos  desirs,  benissez-le: 
car  e'est  pour  luy  que  nous  desirous  viure  et  mourir,  et  c'est  luj 
qui  nous  en  donne  la  grace.  Au  reste  si  quelques-vns  suruiuent 
i'ay  donne  ordre  de  tout  ce  qu'ils  doiuent  faire.  Fay  este  d'aduis 
que  nos  Peres  et  nos  domestiques  se  retirent  chez  ceux  qu'ils  croy- 
ront  estre  leurs  meilleurs  amis ;  i'ay  donne  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  Diction- 
naire  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  tons  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  tons  en  la 
vie  et  k  I'Eternite', 

De  vostre  Reuerence  tres-humbles  et  tres-afEectionnez  seruiteurs 
en  Nostre  Seigneur, 

Iean  de  Brebevf. 

Francois   Ioseph  Le  Mercier. 

Pierre  Chastellain. 

Charles   Garnier. 

Pavl  Ragveneav. 

En  la  BeKidence  de  la  Conception,  k  Ossossantf, 
ce  28  Octobre. 

Pay  laiss^  en  la  Residence  de  sainct  Ioseph  les  Peres  Pierre 
Pijart  et  Isaac  logTes,  dans  les  raesmes  sentimens. 


214  PERSECUTION.  [1637. 

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  Br^beuf  ad- 
dressed 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  overhun^S 
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.^ 

The  persecution  of  the  Jesuits  as  sorcerers  contin- 
ued, in  an  intermittent  form,  for  years;  and  several 
of  them  escaped  very  narrowly.     In  a  house  at  Ossos- 

1  "  Tant  y  a  que  depuis  le  6.  de  Nouembre  que  nous  acheuasmes 
nos  Messes  votiues  a  son  honneur,  nous  auons  iouy  d'vn  repos 
incroyable,  nous  nous  en  emeruillons  nous-mesmes  de  iour  en  iour, 
quand  nous  considerons  en  quel  estat  estoient  nos  affaires  il  n'y  a 
fLue  huict  iours."  —  Le  Mercier,  Relation  de$  ffurons,  1638,  44. 


1637-40.]  NARROW  ESCAPES.  216 

san^,  a  young  Indian  rushed  suddenly  upon  Fran9ois 
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  with- 
drew, muttering.  Pierre  Chaumonot  was  emerging 
from  a  house  at  the  Huron  town  called  by  the  Jes- 
uits St.  Michel,  where  he  had  just  baptized  a  dying 
girl,  when  her  brother,  standing  hidden  in  the  door- 
way, struck  him  on  the  head  with  a  stone.  Chau- 
monot, severely  wounded,  staggered  without  falling, 
when  the  Indian  sprang  upon  him  with  his  toma- 
hawk. The  bystanders  arrested  the  blow.  Fran- 
cois 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  mad- 
man, 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  denuncia- 
tions, the  Indian  stood  confounded.^ 

1  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 


216  PERSECUTION.  [1637-40. 

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  them- 
selves."^ 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 
Brdbeuf,  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. 

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.  ^    He  consoles 

1  "C'est  veritablement  un  bonheur  indicible  pour  nous,  au 
milieu  de  cette  barbaric,  d'entendre  les  rugissemens  des  demons,  & 
de  voir  tout  I'Enf  er  &  quasi  tons  les  hommes  animez  &  remplis  de 
fureur  contre  une  petite  poignee  de  gens  qui  ne  voudroient  pas 
se  defendre."  —  Relation  des  Hurons,  1640,  31  (Cramoisy). 

2  "  Nous  auons  quelque  f ois  dout^,  s^auoir  si  on  pouuoit  esperer 
la  conuersion  de  ce  pais  sans  qu'il  y  eust  effusion  de  sang :  le  prin- 
eipe  receu  ce  semble  dans  TEglise  de  Dieu,  que  le  sang  des  Martyrs 
est  la  semence  des  Chrestiens,  me  faisoit  conclure  pour  lors,  que 
cela  n'estoit  pas  k  esperer,  voire  mesme  qu'il  n'e'toit  pas  ^  souhaiter. 


1637-40.]  CONSOLATIONS.  217 

himself  with  the  hope  that  the  daily  life  of  the  mis- 
sionaries 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. 

censider^  la  gloire  qui  reuient  h,  Dieu  de  la  Constance  des  Martyrs, 
du  sang  desquels  tout  le  reste  de  la  terre  ayant  tantost  est^  abreuue, 
ce  seroit  vne  espece  de  malediction,  que  ce  quartier  du  monde  ne 
participast  point  au  bonheur  d'auoir  contribue  k  I'esclat  de  ceste 
gloire."  —  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639,  56,  67. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1638-1640. 

PRIEST  AND  PAGAN. 

Du  Pbbon's  Joukney.  —  Daily  Life  of  the  Jesuits.  —  Theik 
Missionary  Excubsions.  —  Converts  at  OssossANt.  —  Ma- 
chinery OF  Conversion.  —  Conditions  of  Baptism.  —  Back- 
sliders.—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  Francois  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  Jes- 
uits 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  fort- 
night by  the  bank  of  the  river,  with  a  French  atten- 


1638.]  DU   PERON'S  JOURNEY.  219 

dant  who  supported  him  by  hunting.  Another 
Huron,  belonging  to  the  flotilla  that  carried  Du 
Peron,  then  took  him  into  his  canoe;  but,  becom- 
ing tired  of  him,  was  about  to  leave  him  on  a  rock 
in  the  river,  when  his  brother  priest  bribed  the  sav- 
age with  a  blanket  to  carry  him  to  his  journey's  end. 
It  was  midnight,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  Septem- 
ber, 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 
Ossossan^  was  about  fifteen  miles  distant.  His  In- 
dian 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  Ossossand  without  break- 
ing his  fast.  He  toiled  on,  half-spent,  amid  the 
ceaseless  pattering,  trickling,  and  whispering  of  in- 
numerable 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!  —  "  Wel- 
come! "  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  break- 


220  PRIEST  AND  PAGAN.  [1638. 

fasted,  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 
Ossossand.  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  trans- 
portation, was  valued  in  the  Huron  country  at  the 
price  of  a  robe  of  beaver-skin,  or  a  hundred  francs.^ 
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  occa- 
sionally varied  by  a  pumpkin  or  squash  bakeiJUkrfne 
ashes,  or,  in  the  season,  by  Indian  corn  roasted  in 

1  "  Nos  plats,  quojque  de  bois,  nous  cofitent  plus  cher  que  les 
Totres ;  ils  sont  de  la  valeur  d'une  robe  de  castor,  c'est  a  dire  cent 
francs."  —  Lettre  du  P.  Du  Peron  a  son  Frere,  27  Avril,  1639.  The 
Father's  appraisement  seems  a  little  questionable, 


1638-40.]  JESUIT  DAILY   LIFE.  221 

the  ear.  They  used  no  salt  whatever.  They  could 
bring  their  cumbrous  pictures,  ornaments,  and  vest- 
ments 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  cul- 
tivated 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  Eu- 
charist was  so  scanty,  that  they  limited  themselves 
to  four  or  five  drops  for  each  mass.^ 
'  Their  life  was  regulated  with  a  conventual  strict- 
'ness.  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  break- 
fasting filled  the  time  until  eight,  when  they  opened 
their  door  and  admitted  the  Indians.      As  many  of 

1  The  above  particulars  are  drawn  from  a  long  letter  of  Fran- 
9ois  Du  Peron  to  his  brother,  Joseph-Imbert  Du  Peron,  dated  at 
La  Conception  (Ossossane),  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." 


222  PRIEST  AND  PAGAN.  [1638-40. 

these  proved  intolerable  nuisances,  they  took  what 
Lalemant  calls  the  honnete  liberty  of  turning  out  the 
most  intrusive  and  impracticable,  —  an  act  performed 
with  all  tact  and  courtesy,  and  rarely  taken  in  dud- 
geon. Having  thus  winnowed  their  company,  they 
catechised  those  that  remained,  as  opportunity  of- 
fered. 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  neces- 
sary that  one  or  more  of  the  Fathers  should  remain 
%ji  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  ^  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  intract- 
able. 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. 

At  dinner,  which  was  at  two  o'clock,  grace  was 
said  in  Huron,  —  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians  pres- 
ent, —  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 

1  At  the  end  of  the  year  1638,  there  were  seven  priests  yrho 
(tpoke  Huron,  and  three  who  had  begun  to  learn  it. 


1638-40.]  MISSIONARY  EXCURSIONS.  223 

the  language,  devotion,  and  conversation  on  the  af- 
fairs of  the  mission* 

The  local  missions  here  referred  to  embraced  Os- 
sossand  and  the  villages  of  the  neighborhood;  but  the 
priests  by  no  means  confined  themselves  within  these 
limits.  They  made  distant  excursions,  two  in  com- 
pany, until  every  house  in  every  Huron  town  had 
heard  the  annunciation  of  the  new  doctrine.  On 
these  journeys,  they  carried  blankets  or  large  man- 
tles at  their  backs,  for  sleeping  in  at  night,  besides  a 
supply  of  needles,  awls,  beads,  and  other  small  arti- 
cles to  pay  for  their  lodging  and  entertainment;  for 
the  Hurons,  hospitable  without  stint  to  each  other, 
expected  full  compensation  from  the  Jesuits. 

At  Ossossan^,  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,^  who  had  built,  before 
the  close  of  the  year,  a  chapel  of  wood.^  Hither  they 
removed  their  pictures  and  ornaments;  and  here,  in 
winter,  several  fires  were  kept  burning,  for  the  com- 
fort of  the  half -naked  converts.  ^  Of  these  they  now 
had  at  Ossossan^  about  sixty,  —  a  large,  though  evi- 
dently 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  win- 

1  Du  Peron  in  Carayon,  173. 

2  "La  chapelle  est  faite  d'une  charpente  bien  jolie,  semblable 
presque  en  fa9on  et  grandeur,  k  notre  chapelle  de  St.  Julien."  — 
Ihid.,  183. 

^  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639,  62. 


i24  PRIEST   AND  PAGAN".  [1638-40. 

ter,  one  could  have  seen  them  coming  to  mass,  often 
from  a  considerable  distance,  "as  naked,"  says  Lale- 
mant,  "  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  specta- 
cle which,  as  the  missionary  chronicler  declares,  re- 
paid a  hundred  times  all  the  labor  of  their  conversion.^ 
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  perdi- 
tion, —  ^mes  damnees,  —  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,  -—dmes  hienheureuses^  — 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. ^ 

*  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639,  62. 

*  Gamier,  Lettre  l?"**,  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. 


163a-40.]  CONDITIONS  OF  BAPTISM.  225 

The  first  point  with  the  priests  was  of  course  to 
bting  the  objects  of -th^r  zeal  to  an  acceptance  of  the 
undamental  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church ;  but  as 
the  mind  of  the  savage  was  by  no  means  that  beauti- 
ful blank  which  some  have  represented  it,  there  was 
much  to  be  erased  as  well  as  to  be  written.  They 
must  renounc^3,.j3i3iatx)i  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^wort  of  conversion  with  an  energy  never  sur- 
passed, 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.^     They 

1  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  bont^  et  vertu  bien  solide.  Les 
quatre  Elemens  d'vn  homme  Apostolique  en  la  Nouuelle  France 
sont  I'Affabilit^,  THumilit^,  la  Patience  et  vne  Charity  genereuse. 
Le  zele  trop  ardent  brusle  plus  qu'il  n'eschauffe,  et  gaste  tout ;  il 
faut  vne  grande  magnanimity  et  condescendance,  pour  attirer  peu 
Il  peu  ces  Sauuages.  lis  n'entendent  pas  bien  nostra  Theologie, 
mais  ils  entendent  parfaictement  bien  nostre  humility  et  nostre 
affability,  et  se  laissent  gaigner." 

So  too  Br^euf,  in  a  letter  to  Vitelleschi,  General  of  the  Jesuit* 
16 


<226  PRIEST   AND  PAGAN.  [163S-40. 

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 'ffive" adopted  him  as  a  countryman;  and 
"^lihey  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."^ 

The  Fathers  are  well  agreed  that  their  difficulties 
did  not  arise  from  any  natural  defect  of  understand- 
ing 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  breast- 
works. ^ 


(see  Carayon,  163)  :  "  Ce  qu*il  faut  demander,  arant  tout,  des  ouv- 
riers  destines  k  cette  mission,  c'est  une  douceur  inalterable  et  une 
patience  a  toute  epreuve." 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1637,  160. 

^  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  ub 
because  we  will  not  believe  and  obey  him.  Ihonatiria,  where  you 
first  taught  his  word,  is  entirely  ruined.  Then  you  came  here  to 
Ossossane,  and  we  would  not  listen;  so  Ossossane  is  ruined  too. 


1638-40.]  BACKSLIDERS.  227 

It  soon  became  evident  that  it  was  easier  to  niake 
a'cC»?6M;"tKaji  tojfceep  him^  Many  of  the  Indians 
WBSg^^^G  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  satisfac- 
tion the  absence  of  the  diabolic  element  in  any  one 
of  them,  they  proscribed  the  whole  indiscriminately, 
to  the  extreme  disgust  of  the  neophyte.  His  coun- 
trymen, too,  beset  him  with  dismal  prognostics,  — 
as  "You  will  kill  no  more  game;"  "All  your  hair 
will  come  out  before  spring;'*  and  so  forth.  Vari- 
ous doubts  also  assailed  him  with  regard  to  the  sub- 
stantial advantages  of  his  new  profession ;  and  several 
converts  were  filled  with  anxiety  in  view  of  the  prob- 
able want  of  tobacco  in  Heaven,  saying  that  they 
could  not  do  without  it.^  Nor  was  it  pleasant  to 
these  incipient  Christians,  as  they  sat  in  class  listen- 
ing to  the  instructions  of  their  teacher,  to  find  them- 

This  year  you  have  been  all  through  our  country,  and  found 
scarcely  any  one  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  Hiwons, 
1640,80.  i 

1 /6ic/.,  1639,  80. 


228  PRIEST   AND   PAGAN,  [1638-40. 

selves  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.^ 

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.  "2 

As  the  town  of  Ihonatiria,  where  the  Jesuits  had 
made  their  first  abode,  was  ruined  by  the  pestilehceV^ 
the  mission  established  there,  and  known  by  the 
name  of  St.  Joseph,  was  removed,  in  tiie  summer  of 
1638,  to  Teanaustayd,  —  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  fright- 

1  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639,  78. 

2  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  num- 
ber 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:  "EUe  n'a  que  deux  ans,  et  fait  joliment 
le  signe  de  la  croix,  et  prend  elle-raeme  de  I'eau  b^nite ;  et  une  fois 
se  mit  ^  crier,  sortant  de  la  Chapelle,  k  cause  que  sa  mere  qui 
la  portoit  ne  lui  avoit  donn^  le  loisir  d'en  prendre.  II  I'a  fallu  re- 
porter en  prendre."  —  Lettres  de  Gamier,  MSS. 


1638-40.]      THE  CANNIBALS  AT  SI.   JOSEPH.       229 

ful  tortures,  though  not  before  several  had  been  con- 
verted 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  strenu- 
ous 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.^ 

1  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  Mission- 
aries. —  Superstitious  Terrors.  —  Peril  op  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. 

I         It  had  been  the  first  purpose  of  the  Jesuits  to  form 
I     permanent  missions  in  each  of  the  principal  Huron 
I     towns;    but  before  the  close  of  the  year  1639  the 
f     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,  hospi- 
tal, 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  sick- 
ness or  extreme  peril.     Here  the  neophytes  could  be 
gathered  together,  safe  from  perverting   influences; 
ftnd  here  in  time   a   Christian  settlement,   Hurons 


iC39.]  SAINTJMfifARIE.  281 

mingled    with    Frenchmen,    might   spring    up    and 
thrive  imder  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  fr'Sin'^is  lake;  gained  per-"^ 
nri^ioia  to  build  from  the  Indians,  though  not  with- 
out 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  Teanaustay^  and  the  house 
and  chapel  at  Ossossand  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  fol- 
lowed 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,  — 
^  S99  Introduction,  32. 


232  THE   TOBACCO  NATION.  [1639. 

for  the  Indians  were  now  gathered  in  their  settle- 
ments,  —  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. 

^  The  new  and  perilous  mission  of  the  Tobacco  Na- 
^pn  fell  to  Gamier  and  Jogues.  They  were  well 
chosen;  and  yet  neither  of  them  was  robust  by  na- 
ture, 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  Notta- 
wassaga  Bay.  The  two  missionaries  tried  to  find  a 
guide  at  Ossossan^ ;  but  none  would  go  with  them, 
and  they  set  forth  on  their  wild  and  unknown  pil- 
grimage 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  foot- 
print 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. "^ 

1  Jogues  and  Garnier  in  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1640,  9& 


1639.]  RECEPTION.  233 

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  earth- 
ern  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  sup- 
pressed fears  found  vent,  and  he  began  a  loud  har- 
angue addressed  half  to  them  and  half  to  the  Indians : 
"  Now,  what  are  these  ohies  doing  ?    They  are  making 


234  THE  NEUTRALS.  [1640. 

charms  to  kill  us,  and  destroy  all  that  the  pest  has 
spared  in  this  house.  I  heard  that  they  were  sorcer- 
ers; and  now,  when  it  is  too  late,  I  believe  it."^  It 
is  wonderful  that  the  priests  escaped  the  tomahawk. 
Nowhere  is  the  power  of  courage,  faith,  and  an  un- 
flinching purpose  more  strikingly  displayed  than  in 
the  record  of  these  missions. 

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  capa- 
cious 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  ap- 
proached, 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  fav- 
ored 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.  Brdbeuf  and  Chau- 
monot  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.^    In  their  ath- 

*  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1640,  96. 

2  Introduction.  The  river  Niagara  was  at  this  time,  1640,  well 
known  to  the  Jesuits,  though  none  of  them  had  visited  it.    Lale- 


1640.]  PERILS.  285 

letic  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  ohies^  and  acquire 
the  mystic  virtue  which  pertained  to  madness,  raved 
stark  naked  through  the  villages,  scattering  the 
brands  of  the  lodge-fires,  and  upsetting  everyiiiing 
in  their  way. 

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  pro- 

mant  speaks  of  it  as  the  "  famous  river  of  this  nation "  (the  Neu- 
trals). 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'Erie),  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  (Eri^),  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  Huron$ 
1648,46. 


236  THE  NEUTRALS.  [1640. 

gress  was  a  storm  of  maledictions.  Br^beuf  espe- 
cially 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  Br^beuf,  fully  con- 
scious 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  on- 
ward through  the  air,  above  the  wintry  forests  that 
stretched  towards  the  land  of  the  Iroquois.^ 

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  Brdbeuf,  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  pow- 
erful hand  caught  it  as  it  flew:  and  this  took  place  a 
second  and  a  third  time,  as  he  hurled  his  two  remain- 

1  See  ante,  198.  i  .',, ;/l 


1640.]  THE  ARCHANGEL  MICHAEL.  287 

mg  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  Brdbeuf's  vision."^ 

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  move- 
ment 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 

1  Chaumonot,  Vie,  66. 


238  THE  NEUTRALS.  [1640. 

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."^ 

The  mission  was  barren  of  any  other  fruit  than 
'iiardship  and  danger,  and  after  a  stay  of  four  montlis 
-^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.  ^ 

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  un- 
quenchable urged  them  on  to  more  distant  and  more 

1  Chaumonot,  Vie,  57. 

2  Lalemant,  in  hia  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  Cara- 
yon.  See  also  the  next  letter,  Brebeufau  T.  JR.  P.  Mutio  Vitelleschi, 
20  Aout,  1641. 

The  R^collet  La  Roche  Dallion  had  visited  the  Neutrals  four- 
teen years  before  (see  Introduction,  35,  note),  and,  like  his  two 
Buccessors,  had  been  seriously  endangered  by  Huron  intrigues. 


1640.]  MENTAL   EXALTATION.  289 

deadly  ventures.  The  beings,  so  near  to  mortal 
sympathies,  so  human,  yet  so  divine,  in  whom  their 
faith  impersonated  and  dramatized  the  great  princi- 
ples 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.^ 

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  piti- 
less wilderness  and  the  hovels  of  its  dark  and  ruth- 
less tenants,  his  thoughts,  it  may  be,  flew  longingly 
beyond  those  wastes  of  forest  and  sea  that  lay  be- 
tween 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. 

1  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. 


240  THE  NEUTRALS.  [1640. 

Again  he  kneels  before  the  altar,  from  whose  tabla- 
ture  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.  Pros- 
trate on  the  rocky  earth,  he  adores  the  benign  angel 
of  his  ecstatic  faith,  then  turns  with  rekindled  fer- 
vors 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,  re- 
visit the  rock  of  Quebec. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1636-1646. 

QUEBEC  AND  ITS  TENANTS. 

The  New  Gtovernor.  —  Edifying  Examples.  —  Le  Jbune's  Cokbb- 

SPONDENT8. —  RaNK    AND    DEVOTION.  — NuNS. —  PrIESTLY    Au 

THORiTY.  —  Condition  op  Quebec.  —  The  Hundred  Associates. 
—  Church  Discipline.  —  Plays.  —  Fireworks.  —  Proces- 
sions. —  Catechising.  —  Terrorism.  —  Pictures.  — The  Con- 
verts. • —  The  Society  or  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  suc- 
ceed Champlain;  and  would  his  successor  be  found 
equally  zealous  for  the  Faith,  and  friendly  to  the 
mission?  These  doubts,  as  he  himself  tells  us,  agi- 
tated the  mind  of  the  Father  Superior,  Le  Jeune; 
but  they  were  happily  set  at  rest,  when,  on  a  morn- 
ing in  June,  he  saw  a  ship  anchoring  in  the  basin 
below,  and  hastening  with  his  brethren  to  the  land- 
ing-place, was  there  met  by  Charles  Huault  de  Mont- 
magny,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  followed  by  a  train  of 
officers   and   gentlemen.     As   they   all   climbed   the 

16 


242  QUEBEC   AND  ITS  TENANTS.  [1636. 

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  Jes- 
uit 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  appar- 
elled 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.^  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.^ 

A  considerable  reinforcement  came  out  with  Mont- 


1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1636,  5  (Cramoisy).  "Monsieur  le  Gou- 
verneur  se  transporte  aux  Cabanes  de  ces  pauures  barbarea,  suivy 
d'une  leste  Noblesse.  Je  vous  laisse  a  peuser  quel  estonnement  ^ 
ces  Peuples  de  voir  tant  d'ecarlate,  tant  de  perBonnes  bien  faitei 
sous  leurs  toits  d'^corce ! " 

a  Ibid.,  83  (Cramoisy). 


1636.]  FERVORS  FOR  THE  MISSION.  243 

magny,  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,  cour- 
tiers, and  princesses.  A  great  interest  in  the  mis- 
sion 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.  Na- 
ture's arms  are  not  long  enough  to  touch  so  many 
hearts."^  He  reads  how,  in  a  single  convent,  thir^^  j 
teen  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  pros- 
trate day  and  night  before  the  altar,  praying  for  the 
mission; 2  how  "the  Carmelites  are  all  on  fire,  the 
Ursulines  full  of  zeal,  the  sisters  of  the  Visitation 

^  "  C'est  Dieu  qui  conduit  cette  entreprise.    La  Nature  n'a  pat 
les  bras  assez  longs,"  etc.  —  Relation,  1636,  3. 
2  Brebeuf,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1636,  76. 


244  QUEBEC   AND  ITS   TENANTS.  [1636. 

have  no  words  to  speak  their  ardor;  "  ^  how  some  per- 
son 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  hos- 
pital for  the  Indians ;  how,  in  every  house  of  the  Jes- 
uits, 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.  ^ 

Great  was  Le  Jeune's  delight  at  the  exalted  rank 
of  some  of  those  who  gave  their  patronage  to  the  mis- 
sion; and  again  and  again  his  satisfaction  flows  from 
his  pen  in  mysterious  allusions  to  these  eminent  per- 
sons.'^ 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  instru- 
ment of  Heaven.  Church  and  State,  linked  in  alli- 
ance close  and  potential,  played  faithfully  into  each 
other's  hands;  and  that  enthusiasm,  in  which  the 
Jesuit  saw  the  direct  inspiration  of  God,   was  fos- 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1636,  6.  Compare  "Divers  Sentimens/* 
appended  to  the  Relation  of  1635. 

'■*  "  L'Enf er  enrageant  de  nous  veoir  aller  en  la  Nouuelle  France 
pour  conuertir  les  infidelles  et  diminuer  sa  puissance,  par  depit 
il  sousleuoit  tous  les  Eleraens  centre  nous,  et  vouloit  abysmer  la 
flotte."  —  Divers  Sentimens. 

3  Among  his  correspondents  was  the  young  Due  d'Enghien, 
afterwards  the  Great  Conde,  at  this  time  fifteen  years  old.  "Dieu 
soit  loiie !  tout  le  ciel  de  nostre  chere  Patrie  nous  promet  de  fauor- 
ables  influences,  iusques  k  ce  nouuel  astre,  qui  commence  h.  pa- 
roistre  parmy  ceux  de  la  premiere  grandeur."  —  Le  Jeune,  Relation, 
1636,  3,  4. 


1636-46.]  PRIESTLY  AUTHORITY.  245 

tered  by  all  the  prestige  of  royalty  and  all  the  patron- 
age of  power.  And,  as  often  happens  where  the 
interests  of  a  hierarchy  are  identified  with  the  inter- 
ests of  a  ruling  class,  religion  was  become  a  fashion, 
as  graceful  and  as  comforting  as  the  courtier's  em- 
broidered mantle  or  the  court  lady's  robe  of  fur. 

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.  ^  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."^ 

Both  Montmagny  and  De  Lisle  were  half  church- 
men, 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,  al> 

1  "  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). 

2  Chaulmer,  Le  Nouveau  Monde  Chrestien,  41,  is  eloquent  on 
this  theme. 


246  QUEBEC   AND  ITS  TENANTS.  [1640. 

solute,  and  without  appeal,  was  vested  in  a^council 
oomposed  of  the  ^vernor,  Le  Jeune,  and  the  syndic, 
an  official  supposed  to  represent  the  interests  of  the 
inhabitants.^  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.  ^  In  a 
community  so  absolutely  priest-governed,  overt  of- 
fences 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. 
^"—-  j^  ^^^  y^^^  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 

*  Le  Clerc,  Utahlissement  de  la  Foy,  chap.  xv. 
»  Le  Jeune,  Relation^  1636, 163, 164  (Cramoisy). 


1640.]  THE  HUNDRED  ASSOCIATES.  247 

the  church  and  a  house  for  the  Jesuits.  Both  were 
of  pine  wood;  and  this  year,  1640,  both  were  bumed 
to  the  ground,  to  be  afterwards  rebuilt  in  stone.  The 
Jesuits,  however,  continued  to  occupy  their  rude 
^"loSEon-house  of  Notre-Dame  des  Anges,  on  the  St. 
Chg-rles,  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  Beau- 
port,  another  made  by  M.  de  Puiseaux  between  Que- 
bec and  Sillery,  and  possibly  one  or  two  feeble 
attempts  in  other  quarters.^  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. 

The  Company  of  the  Hundred  Associates  was 
bound  by  its  charter  to  send  to  Canada  four  thou- 
sand colonists  before  the  year  1643.*  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 

1  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  Quebec,  22,  24  (1863)  ;  Ibid.,  Cours 
d'Histoire  dti  Canada,  i.  266;  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1636,  46;  Faillon, 
Histoire  de  la  Colonic  Frangaise,  I.  c.  iv.,  v 

2  See  "  Pioneers  of  France/'  441, 


248  QUEBEC   AND  ITS  TENANTS.  [1640. 

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  obli- 
gations the  fulfilment  of  which  would  have  ruined 
them.  Instead  of  sending  out  colonists,  they  granted 
lands  with  the  condition  that  the  grantees  should  fur- 
nish a  certain  number  of  settlers  to  clear  and  till 
them,  and  these  were  to  be  credited  to  the  Company.^ 
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.  ^  Lauson  sent  out  not 
a  single  colonist  to  these  vast  concessions. 

There  was  no  real  motive  for  emigration.  No  per- 
secution expelled  the  colonist  from  his  home;  for 
none  but  good  Catholics  were  tolerated  in  New 
France.     The  settler  could  not  trade  with  the  In- 

1  This  appears  in  many  early  grants  of  the  Company.  Thus,  in 
a  grant  to  Simon  Le  Maitre,  Jan.  15,  1636,  "  que  les  hommes  que  le 
dit  .  .  .  fera  passer  en  la  N.  F.  tourneront  k  la  decliarge  de  la  dite 
Compagnie,"  etc.,  etc.  —  See  Pieces  sur  la  Tenure  Setgneuriale,  pub- 
lished by  the  Canadian  government,  passim. 

2  Archives  du  Seminaire  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, 
Memoire  sur  la  Famille  de  Lauson. 


1640.J  CONVENTS. -HOSPITALS.  249 

dians,  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  Hubert  family  —  who  could  support  themselves 
throughout  the  year.  The  rigor  of  the  climate  re- 
pelled 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  con- 
sisted 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  re- 
lied chiefly  on  the  Company,  who  }yy  the  terrns  of 


250  QUEBEC  AND  ITS  TENANTS.  [1640. 

their  patent  were  obliged  to  maintain  religious  wor- 
ship.^ Of  the  origin  of  the  convent,  hospital,  and 
seminary  I  shall  soon  have  occasion  to  speak. 

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  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night.  Confessions,  masses,  and  pen- 
ances were  punctiliously  observed;  ,.aild,--from-  the 
governor  to  the  meanest  laborer,  the  Jesuit  watched 
and  guided  all.     The  social  atmosphere  of  New  Eng- 

""*"land  itself  was  not  more  suffocating.     By  day  and  by 
night,  at  home,  at  church,  or  at  his  daily  work,  the 

vs^^colonist  lived  under  the  eyes  of  busy  and  over-zealous  ^^ 

priests.  At  times,  the  denizens  of  Quebec  grew  rest- 
'"less.  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."  2    In  1642,  partial  and  ineffective  measures 

1  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  Quebec.    Introd.,  xi. 

2  "  Pour  leur  representer  la  gehenne  06  estoient  les  consciences 
de  la  Colonic,  de  se  voir  gouvern^  pas  les  mesmes  personnes  pour 
le  spirituel  et  pour  le  temporel."  —  Le  Clerc,  i.  478. 


1636-46.]  THE  PRIEST  AS  A  RULER.  251 

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.^  No  favorable  result 
followed;  and  the  colony  remained  as  before,  in  a 
pitiful  state  of  cramping  and  dwarfing  vassalage. 

This  is  the  view  of  a  heretic.  It  was  the  ainiof 
the  founders  of  New  France  to  build  on  a  foundation 
pufe^an"d"supremely  Catholic.  What  this  involved 
is  plain ;  for  no  degree  of  personal  virtue  is  a  guar- 
anty 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  in- 
dignation 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  Mas- 
ter, 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  per- 
plexing subtlety;   pride,  disguised  even  from  itself, 

1  Declaration  de  Pierre  Breant,  par  devant  les  Notaires  du  Roy,  MS. 
The  Order  was  that  of  the  Capuchins,  who,  like  the  the  R^coUets, 
are  a  branch  of  the  Franciscans.  Their  introduction  into  Canada 
was  prevented ;  but  they  established  themselyes  in  Maine. 


1/ 


262  QUEBEC   A:XD   its   tenants.       [1636-46. 

walks  in  the  likeness  of  love  and  duty ;  and  a  thou- 
sand times  on  the  pages  of  history  we  find  Hell  beguil- 
ing 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  un- 
checked 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.  "^ 

The  very  amusements  of  this  pious  community 
jvere  acts  of  religion.  Thus,  on  the  f^te-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  con- 
trivance in  question,  together  with  a  figure  of  the 


1  "  La  Nouuelle  France  est  vn  vray  climat  oil  on  apprend  par- 
faictement  bien  k  ne  chercher  que  Dieu,  ne  desirer  que  Dieu  seul, 
auoir  I'intention  purement  a  Dieu,  etc.  .  .  .  Viure  en  la  Nouuelle 
France,  c'est  k  vray  dire  viure  dans  le  sein  de  Dieu,  et  ne  respirer 
que  I'air  de  sa  Diuine  conduite."  —  Divers  Sentimens.  "  Si  quelqu'un 
de  ceux  qui  meurent  en  ces  contrees  se  damne,  je  croy  qu'il  sera 
doublemeot  covL^&hle."  —  Relation,  1640,  5  (Cramoisy). 


J636-46.]  PLAYS.— PROCESSIONS.  268 

Governor  in  the  act  of  touching  it  off.^  But,  what 
is  more  curious,  a  Catholic  writer  of  the  present  day, 
the  Abb^  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  im- 
portant instruments  for  the  saving  of  souls. ^  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,  lesus,  Maria,  Joseph;  the  soldiers  drew  up 
before  it,  and  saluted  it  with  a  volley  of  musketry.  ^ 

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.^  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.^  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 

1  Relation,  1637,  8.  The  Relations,  as  originally  published,  com- 
prised about  forty  volumes. 

*  Histoire  de  la  Colonie  Frangaise,  i.  291,  292.    »  Relation,  1637,  82. 

*  Vimont,  Relation,  1640,  6.  *  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1638,  d 


254  QUEBEC   AND  ITS  TENANTS.       [1636-46. 

the  Governor;  and  finally  the  whole  French  popula- 
tion, 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.  ^ 

Now  let  the  stranger  enter  the  church  of  jN[otre- 
Dame  de  la  Recouvrance,  after  vespers.  It  is  full, 
to  the  very  porch,  —  officers  in  slouched  hats  and 
plumes,  musketeers,  pikemen,  mechanics,  and  labor- 
ers. Here  is  Montmagny  himself;  Repentigny  and 
Poterie,  gentlemen  of  good  birth;  damsels  of  nur- 
ture 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.  ^ 

We  have  seen  the  methods  of  conversion  practised 

»  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1639,  3. 
«  Ibid.,  1637, 122  (Cramoisy). 


1636-46.]  TERRORISM.  255 

among  the  Hurons.  -TJie^jyere  much  the  same  at 
Quebec.  The  principal  appeal  wasTo  fear. ^  "You 
do  good  to  your  Tnends^^iaicTLe  Jeune  to  an  Algon- 
quin chief,  "  and  you  bum  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.^  Pictures 
were  found  invaluable.  "These  holy  representa- 
tions," 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."^ 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1636,  119,  and  1637,32  (Cramoisy).  "La 
crainte  est  Tauan  couriere  de  la  foy  dans  ces  esprits  barbares." 

2  Ibid.,  1637,  80-82  (Cramoisy).  "Avoir  faim  et  ne  manger 
que  des  serpens  et  des  crapaux,  avoir  soif  et  ne  boire  que  des 
flammes." 

■  "  Les  heretiques  sont  grandement  blasmables,  de  condamner  et 
de  briser  les  images  qui  ont  de  si  bons  effets.  Ces  sainctes  figures 
sont  la  moitie  de  Tinstruction  qu'on  pent  donner  aux  Sauuages. 
Fauois  desire  qnelques  portraits  de  I'enfer  et  de  I'&me  damn^e ;  on 
nous  en  a  enuoy€  quel9ues  vns  et  en  papier,  mais  cela  est  trop 
confui.    Les  diables  sont  tellement  meslez  auec  les  hommes,  qu'on 


^66  QUEBEC   AND  ITS  TENANTS.      [1636-46. 

The  preparation  of  the  convert  for  baptism  was 
often  very  slight.  A  dying  Algonquin,  wKo,  tliough 
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  al- 
most immediately.  ^  In  the  case  of  converts  in  health 
there  was  far  more  preparation ;  yet  these  often  apos- 
tatized. 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  vice- 
gerent 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  enthusi- 

n'y  peut  rien  recognoistre,  qu'auec  vne  particuliere  attention.  Qui 
depeindroit  trois  ou  quatre  ou  cinq  demons,  tourmentans  vne  &me 
de  diners  supplices,  I'vn  luy  appliquant  des  f eux,  I'autre  des  serpens, 
I'autre  la  tenaillant,  Tautre  la  tenant  liee  auec  des  chaisnes,  cela 
auroit  vn  bon  effet,  notamment  si  tout  estoit  bien  distingue,  et  que 
la  rage  et  la  tristesse  parussent  bien  en  la  face  de  cette  ime  deses- 
j^er^e."  — Relation,  1637,  32  (Cramoisy). 

1  "Ce  seroit  vne  estrange  cruautfe  de  voir  descendre  vne  kme 
toute  viuante  dans  les  enfers,  par  le  refus  d'vn  bien  que  lesus 
Christ  luy  a  acquis  au  prix  de  son  sang.''  —  Relation,  1637,  66 
(Cramoisy). 

"Considerez  d'autre  cot6  la  grande  apprehension  que  nous 
avions  sujet  de  redouter  la  guferison;  pour  autant  que  bien  souvent 
6tant  gueris  il  ne  leur  reste  du  St.  Bapteme  que  le  caractere."  — 
Lettres  de  Gamier,  MSS. 

It  was  not  very  easy  to  make  an  Indian  comprehend  the  nature 
of  baptism.  An  Iroquois  at  Montreal,  hearing  a  missionary  speak- 
ing 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. 


1636-46.]  SOCIETY   OF  JESUS.  257 

asm.  The  Jesuits,  an  Order  thoroughly  and  vehe- 
mently reactive,  had  revived  in  Europe  the  mediaeval 
type  of  Christianity,  with  all  its  attendant  supersti- 
tions. Of  these  the  Canadian  missions  bear  abundant 
marks.  Yet,_xin.jthe  whole,  the  labors  of  the  mission- 
aries tended  greatlylO"  the- benefit  of  the  Indians. 
Reclaimed,  as  the  Jesuits  tried  to  reclaim  them,  from 
their  wandering  life,  settled  in  habits  of  peaceful  in- 
dustry, and  reduced  to  a  passive  and  childlike  obedi- 
ence, 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  mis- 
sionaries, fanned  their  enthusiasm,  and  decorated  it- 
self with  their  martyr  crowns.  With  joy  and  gratu- 
lation,  it  saw  them  rival  in  another  hemisphere  the 
noble  memory  of  its  saint  and  hero,  Francis  Xavier.^ 
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 

1  Enemies  of  the  Jesuits,  while  denouncing  them  in  unmeasured 
terms,  speak  in  strong  eulogy  of  many  of  the  Canadian  mission- 
aries.    See,  for  example,  Steinmetz,  History  of  the  Jesuits,  11.  415. 

17 


258  QUEBEC   AND  ITS   TENANTS.       [1636-46. 

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  ora- 
cles in  the  camp  and  leaders  on  the  war-path. 
Champlain's  bold  interpreter,  Etienne  Bruld,  whose 
adventures  I  have  recounted  elsewhere,  ^  may  be  taken 
as  a  type  of  this  class.  Of  the  rest,  the  most  con- 
spicuous were  Jean  Nicollet,  Jacques  Hertel,  Fran- 
cois Marguerie,  and  Nicolas  Marsolet.^  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  priva- 
tions and  dangers  scarcely  less  than  those  to  which 
\  the  Jesuit  exposed  himself  from  motives  widely  dif- 

i  ferent,  —  he   from   religious   zeal,    charity,    and   the 

I  hope  of  Paradise ;  they  simply  because  they  liked  it. 

;  Some  of  the  best  families  of  Canada  claim  descent 

from  this  vigorous  and  hardy  stock. 

1  "Pioneers  of  France,"  417. 

2  See  Ferland,  Notes  sur  les  Registres  de  N.  D.  de  QuSbec,  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  Mis$i»$ippi 
Valley,  xx. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1636-1652. 

DEVOTEES  AND  NUNS. 

The  Huron  Seminary.  —  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  :  hbr  Pious 
Schemes  :  her  Sham  Marriage  ;  she  visits  the  Ursulines 
OP  Tours.  —  Marie  de  Saint  Bernard.  —  Marie  de  l'Incar- 
NATiON  :  her  Enthusiasm  ;  her  Mystical  Marriage  ;  her 
Dejection;  her  Mental  Conflicts;  her  Vision;  made 
Superior  op  the  Ursulines.  —  The  HdTEL-DiEU.  —  The  Voy- 
age TO  Canada.  —  Sillery.  —  Labors  and  Sufferings  of  the 
Nuns.  —  Character  of  Marie  de  l'Incarnation.  —  Or  Ma- 
dame DE  LA  Peltrie. 

Quebec,  as  we  have  seen,  had  a  seminary,  a  hospi- 
tal, and  a  convent,  before  it  had  a  population.  It 
will  be  well  to  observe  the  origin  of  these  institutions. 
VThe  Jesuits  from  the  first  had  cherished  the  plan 
of  a  seminary  for  Huron  boys  at  Quebec.  The  Gov- 
ernor and  the  Company  favored  the  design ;  since  not 
only  would  it  be  an  efi&cient  means  of  spreading  the 
Faith  and  attaching  the  tribe  to  the  French  interest, 
but  the  children  would  be  pledges  for  the  good  be- 
havior of  the  parents,  and  hostages  for  the  safety  of 
missionaries  and  traders  in  the  Indian  towns.  ^     In 

1  "  M.  de  Montmagny  cognoit  bien  rimportance  de  ce  Seminaire 
pour  la  gloire  de  Nostre  Seigneur,  et  pour  le  Commerce  de  ces 
Messieurs."— -Relation,  1637,  209  (Cramoisy). 


^60  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1620-36. 

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  them- 
selves 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.^ 

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  col- 
lege 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  enclosure,  was  the  Huron  seminary  and  the  col- 
lege for  French  boys. 

Meanwhile  the  female  children  of  both  races  were 
without  instructors ;  but  a  remedy  was  at  hand.  At 
AleuQon,  in  1603,  was  born  Marie  Madeleine  de 
Chauvigny,  a  scion  of  the  haute  noblesse  of  Normandy. 
Seventeen  years  later  she  was  a  young  lady,  abun- 
dantly wilful  and  superabundantly  enthusiastic,  — 
one  who,  in  other  circumstances,  might  perhaps  have 
made  a  romantic  elopement  and  a  mesalliance.^    But 

1  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1637,  65-59.     Ibid.,  Relation,  1638,  23. 

>  There  is  a  portrait  of  her,  taken  at  a  later  period,  of  which  a 


1626-36.]  MADAME   DE  LA   PELTRIE.  261 

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,  passion- 
ately 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  fetes  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 

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  Biographiqu© 
de  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  "  in  Les  Ursulines  de  Quihec^  i.  348. 


262         '  DEVOTEES  AND  NUNS.  [1626-36. 

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. 

Meanwhile  her  relatives,  or  those  of  her  husband, 
had  confirmed  her  pious  purposes  by  attempting  to 
thwart  them.  They  pronounced  her  a  romantic  vis- 
ionary, 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  en- 
treaties he  passed  to  commands,  and  at  length  threat- 
ened 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  sing- 
ularly wanting  towards  the  parent  who  in  the  way  of 
Nature  had  the  best  claim  to  its  exercise;  and  Ma- 
dame 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  coun- 
sel  of  a   Jesuit,  1  who,    "having  seriously  reflected 

1  "  Partagee  ainsi  entre  Tamour  filial  et  la  religion,  en  proie  aux 
plus  poignantes  angoisses,  elle  s'adressa  h,  un  religieux  de  la  Com- 


1638.]  A  SHAM  MARRIAGE.  263 

before  God,"  suggested  a  device,  which  to  the  hereti- 
cal 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. 

Among  her  acquaintance  was  M.  de  Bemieres,  a 
gentleman  of  high  rank,  great  wealth,  and  zealous 
devotion.  She  wrote  to  him,  explained  the  situa- 
tion, 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  con- 
sulted his  spiritual  director  and  a  few  intimate 
friends.  All  agreed  that  the  glory  of  God  was  con- 
cerned, and  that  it  behooved  him  to  accept  the  some- 
what singular  overtures  of  the  young  widow,  ^  and 
request  her  hand  from  her  father.  M.  de  Chauvigny, 
who  greatly  esteemed  Bernidres,  was  delighted;  and 
his  delight  was  raised  to  transport  at  the  dutiful  and 
modest  acquiescence  of  his  daughter.  ^     A  betrothal 


pagnie  de  Jesus,  dont  elle  connaissait  la  prudence  consommfee,  et  le 
supplia  de  IMclairer  de  ses  lumieres.  Ce  religieux,  apr^s  y  avoir 
s^rieusement  r^fl^chi  devant  Dieu,  lui  r^pondit  qu'il  crojait  avoir 
trouv^  un  moyen  de  tout  concilier."  —  Casgrain,  Vie  de  Mari* 
de  V Incarnation,  243. 

1  Enfin  apr^s  avoir  longtemps  implor^  les  lumieres  du  ciel,  il 
remit  toute  I'affaire  entre  les  mains  de  son  directeur  et  de  quelques 
amis  intimes.  Tous,  d'un  commun  accord,  lui  de'clarerent  que  la 
gloire  de  Dieu  y  ^tait  int^ress^e,  et  qu'il  devait  accepter."  — 
Ibid.,  244. 

«  "  The  prudent  young  widow  answered  him  with  much  respect 


1264  DEVOTEES  AND  NUNS.  [1638. 

took  place ;  all  was  harmony,  and  for  a  time  no  more 
was  said  of  disinheriting  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  or 
putting  her  in  wardship. 

Berni^res's  scruples  returned.  Divided  between 
honor  and  conscience,  he  postponed  the  marriage, 
until  at  length  M.  de  Chauvigny  conceived  misgiv- 
ings, and  again  began  to  speak  of  disinheriting  his 
daughter  unless  the  engagement  was  fulfilled.^  Ber- 
ni^res  yielded,  and  went  with  Madame  de  la  Peltrie 
to  consult  "the  most  eminent  divines. "^  A  sham 
marriage  took  place,  and  she  and  her  accomplice  ap- 
peared in  public  as  man  and  wife.  Her  relatives, 
however,  had  already  renewed  their  attempts  to  de- 
prive 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  de- 
spair; but,  as  her  biographer  justly  observes,  "the 
saints  have  resources  which  others  have  not."      A 

and  modesty,  that,  as  she  knew  M.  de  Bernieres  to  be  a  favorite 
with  him,  she  also  preferred  him  to  all  others." 

The  above  is  from  a  letter  of  Marie  de  ITncarnation,  translated 
by  Mother  St.  Thomas,  of  the  Ursuline  convent  of  Quebec,  in  her 
Life  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  41.  Compare  Les  Ursulines  de  Quebec, 
10,  and  the  "  Notice  Biographique  "  in  the  same  volume. 

1  "  Our  virtuous  widow  did  not  lose  courage.  As  she  had  given 
her  confidence  to  M.  de  Bernieres,  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. 

2  "  He  [Bernieres]  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. 


1639.]  DEATH  OF  M.  DE  CHAUVIGNY.  266 

VOW  to  St.  Joseph  secured  his  intercession  and  gained 
her  case.  Another  thought  now  filled  her  with  agi- 
tation. 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.^ 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  quality  of  Ma- 
dame de  la  Peltrie's  devotion,  there  can  be  no  rea- 
sonable doubt  of  its  sincerity  or  its  ardor;  and  yet 
one  can  hardly  fail  to  see  in  her  the  signs  of  that 
restless  longing  for  klat^   which  with  some  women 

1  It  will  be  of  interest  to  observe  the  view  taken  of  this  pre- 
tended marriage  by  Madame  de  la  Peltrie's  Catholic  biographers. 
Charlevoix  tells  the  story  without  comment,  but  with  apparent 
approval.  Sainte-Foi,  in  his  Premieres  Ursulines  de  France,  says, 
that,  as  God  had  taken  her  under  His  guidance,  we  should  not  ven- 
ture to  criticise  her.  Casgrain,  in  his  Vie  de  Marie  de  I'Incamation, 
p.  247,  remarks :  — 

"Une  telle  conduite  pent  encore  aujourd'hui  paraitre  etrange  k 
bien  des  personnes ;  mais  outre  que  I'avenir  fit  bien  voir  que  c'etait 
une  inspiration  du  ciel,  nous  pouvons  repondre,  avec  un  savant  et 
pieux  auteur,  que  nous  ne  devons  point  juger  ceux  que  Dieu  se 
charge  lui-meme  de  conduire." 

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. 


266  DEVOTEES  AND  NUNS.  [163^. 

is  a  ruling  passion.  When,  in  company  with  Ber- 
nidres,  she  passed  from  Alen^on  to  Tours,  and  from 
Tours  to  Paris,  an  object  of  attention  to  nuns, 
priests,  and  prelates,  —  when  the  Queen  herself  sum- 
moned her  to  an  interview,  —  it  may  be  that  the  pro- 
found 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  de- 
votions 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.^ 

1  Casgrain,  Vie  de  Marie  de  l' Incarnation,  271-273.  There  is  a 
long  account  of  Marie  de  St.  Bernard,  by  Ragueneau,  in  the  Bela- 
tion  of  1652.  Here  it  is  said  that  she  showed  an  unaccountable 
indifference  as  to  whether  she  went  to  Canada  or  not,  which,  how- 
ever, was  followed  by  an  ardent  desire  to  go. 


1620-38.]         MARIE  DE   L'INCARNATION.  267 

There  was  another  nun  who  stood  apart,  silent  and 
motionless,  —  a  stately  figure,  with  features  strongly 
marked  and  perhaps  somewhat  masculine;^  but,  if 
so,  they  belied  her,  for  Marie  de  rincamation  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  bom,  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  susceptibili- 
ties, 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  de- 
sire of  her  parents,  in  her  eighteenth  year.  The  mar- 
riage 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  an- 
gels. 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 

1  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  bom  on  the  eighteenth 
of  October,  1699. 


268  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1820-38. 

battled  painfully  in  her  breast  with  a  sense  of  reli- 
gious 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  mirac- 
ulous 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  unmar- 
ried, 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  liv- 
ing 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  heal- 
ing 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  after- 


1620-38.]  DEJECTION.  269 

ward  I  would  suffer  myself  to  consume  in  his  chaste 
and  divine  embraces."^ 

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  princi- 
ple to  ally  itself  with  high  religious  excitement. 

But  the  wings  of  imagination  will  tire  and  droop, 
the  brightest  dream-land  of  contemplative  fancy  grow 

1  "Allant  k  Toraison,  je  tressaillois  en  moi-m§me,  et  disois: 
Allons  dans  la  solitude,  mon  cher  amour,  afin  que  je  vous  embrasse 
k  mon  aise,  et  que,  respirant  mon  ame  en  vous,  elle  ne  soit  plus  que 
vous-meme  par  union  d'amour.  .  .  .  Puis,  mon  corps  ^tant  bris^  de 
fatigues,  j'^tois  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  apr^s  cela  consumer  dana 
ses  chastes  et  divins  embrassemens.  .  .  .  O  amour!  quand  vous 
embrasserai-je  1  N*avez-vous  point  pi  tie  de  moi  dans  le  tourment 
que  je  souffre "?  helas !  helas !  mon  amour,  ma  beaute,  ma  vie !  au 
lieu  de  me  gu^rir,  vous  vous  plaisez  k  mes  maux.  Venez  done  que 
je  vous  embrasse,  et  que  je  meure  entre  vos  bras  sacrez ! " 

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  V Incarnation,  should 
extract  them  in  full,  as  matter  of  edification  and  evidence  of  saint- 
ship.  Her  recent  biographer,  the  Abb^  Casgrain,  refrains  from 
quoting  them,  though  he  mentions  them  approvingly  as  evincing 
fervor.  The  Abbe  Racine,  in  his  Discours  a  I' Occasion  du  192'«'«« 
Anniversaire  de  I'heureuse  Mart  de  la  Ven.  Mhre  de  V 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 
rincarnation  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  apostrophizing 
an  earthly  lover. 


270  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1620-38. 

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  to  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  weari- 
ness 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  promo- 
tion 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.^  Two  years  elapsed  before  her  mind  re- 
covered its  tone,  when  she  soared  once  more  in  the 
seventh  heaven  of  imaginative  devotion. 

Marie  de  T Incarnation,  we  have  seen,  was  unre- 
lenting in  every  practice  of  humiliation,  —  dressed 
in  mean  attire,  did  the  servants'  work,  nursed  sick 
1  Casgrain,  19^197. 


'1620-38.]     IMMURED  WITH  THE  URSULINES.       271 

beggars,  and,  in  her  meditations,  taxed  her  brain 
with  metaphysical  processes  of  self-annihilation.  And 
yet  when  one  reads  her  "Spiritual  Letters,"  the  con- 
viction 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  bus- 
ied 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  deser- 
tion, 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  con- 
fessor, who  met  her  with  stern  upbraidings.  Yet 
even  in  this  her  intensest  ordeal  her  enthusiasm  and 
her  native  fortitude  enabled  her  to  maintain  a  sem- 
blance of  calmness,  till  she  learned  that  the  boy  had 
been  found  and  brought  back. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  woman,  whose  habit- 


272  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1620-38. 

ual  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 
naught  the  order  of  a  well-governed  family;  while, 
on  the  other,  she  made  amends  to  her  impatient  rela- 
tive 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  busi- 
ness 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. ^ 

Yet  it  was  from  heaven  itself  that  Marie  de  P  In- 
carnation 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.  Be- 
neath their  feet  was  a  pavement  of  squares  of  white 

1  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. 


1620-38.]  A  VISION.  273 

marble,  spotted  with  vermilion,  and  intersected  with 
lines  of  vivid  scarlet;  and  all  around  stood  monas- 
teries of  matchless  architecture.  But  the  two  trav- 
ellers, 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  P Incarnation  approached  with  outstretched 
arms,  adoring.  The  vision  bent  towards  her,  and, 
smiling,  kissed  her  three  times ;  whereupon,  in  a  rap- 
ture, the  dreamer  awoke. ^ 

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  re- 
mained unsolved.  Who  was  the  unknown  companion 
of  her  dream?  Several  years  had  passed,  and  signs 
from  heaven  and  inward  voices  had  raised  to  an  in- 
tense 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  slight- 
est attention  the  phenomena  of  religious  enthusiasm. 

*  Marie  de  rincamation  recounts  this  dream  at  great  length  in 
her  letters,  and  Casgrain  copies  the  whole,  verbatim,  as  a  rerelation 
from  God. 


274  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1639. 

On  the  fourth  of  May,  1639,  Madame  de  la  Pel- 
trie,  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Marie  de  St.  Bernard, 
and  another  Ursuline  embarked  at  Dieppe  for  Can- 
ada. In  the  ship  were  also  three  young  hospital 
nuns,  sent  out  to  found  at  Quebec  a  Hotel-Dieu, 
endowed  by  the  famous  niece  of  Richelieu,  the  Du- 
chesse  d'Aiguillon.^  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  com- 
mand, 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  pas- 
sengers alike.  A  huge  iceberg  was  drifting  close 
upon  them.  The  peril  was  extreme.  Madame  de  la 
Peltrie  clung  to  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  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. 

They  arrived  at  Tadoussac  on  the  fifteenth  of  July ; 

1  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  V H6tel-Dieu  de  Quebec^  4. 


1639.]  BRULART  DE  SILLERY.  276 

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  Mont- 
magny,  with  a  train  of  priests  and  soldiers,  met  the 
new-comers  at  the  landing.  All  the  nuns  fell  pros- 
trate, and  kissed  the  sacred  soil  of  Canada.^  They 
heard  mass  at  the  church,  dined  at  the  fort,  and  pres- 
ently set  forth  to  visit  the  new  settlement  of  Sillery, 
four  miles  above  Quebec. 

Noel  Brulart  de  Sillery,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  who 
had  once  filled  the  highest  offices  under  the  Queen 
Marie  de  M^dicis,  had  now  severed  his  connection 
with  his  Order,  renounced  the  world,  and  become  a 
priest.  He  devoted  his  vast  revenues  —  for  a  dispen- 
sation of  the  Pope  had  freed  him  from  his  vow  of 
poverty  —  to  the  founding  of  religious  establish- 
ments. ^  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 

1  Juchereau,  14 ;  Le  Clerc,  ii.  33 ;  Ragueneau,  Vie  de  Catherine 
de  St.  Augustin,  "  Epistre  dedicatoire ; "  Le  Jeune,  Relation,  1639, 
chap.  ii. ;  Charlevoix,  Vie  de  Marie  de  V Incarnation,  264 ;  "  Aete  de 
Reception,"  in  Les  Ursulines  de  Quibec,  i.  21. 

2  See  Vie  de  Vlllustre  Serviteur  de  Dieu  Noel  Brulart  de  Sillery ; 
also  Etudes  et  Recherches  Biographiques  sur  le  Chevalier  Noel  Brulart 
de  Sillery,  and  several  documents  in  Martin's  translation  of  Bresiani, 
Appendix  IV. 


276  DEVOtI:ES   AND  ^UISTS.  [1639-42. 

behind,  were  clustered  the  small  log-cabins  of  a  num- 
ber of  Algonquin  converts,  together  with  a  church, 
a  mission-house,  and  an  infirmary,  —  the  whole  sur- 
rounded 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  trans- 
ports of  their  zeal,  they  seized  and  kissed  every  fe- 
male 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. " ^ 

The  nuns  of  the  Hotel-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,  carry- 
ing 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  prodi- 
gious. In  the  infected  air  of  their  miserable  hovels, 
where  sick  and  dying  savages  covered  the  floor,  and 

1  "  .  .  .  sans  prendre  garde  si  ces  petits  enfans  sauvages  estoient 
sales  ou  non;  ...  la  loy  d'amour  et  de  charite  I'emportoit  par 
dessus  toutes  les  considerations  huraaines."  —  Relation,  1639,  2^ 
(Cramoisy), 


1639-42.]  SISTER   ST.  JOSEPH.  277 

were  packed  one  above  another  in  berths,  —  amid  all 
that  is  most  distressing  and  most  revolting,  with  lit- 
tle 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  1' Incarnation.  Another  Ursu- 
line,  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."^ 

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  bam.^ 
Beside   the   cloister  stood  a  large   ash-tree;    and  it 

1  Lettre  de  la  Mere  S^  Claire  a  une  de  ses  Sceurs  Ursulines  de  Paris, 
QuSbec,  2  Sept.,  1640.     See  Les  Ursulines  de  Quebec,  i.  38. 

2  The  interior  was  finished  after  a  year  or  two,  with  cells  as 
usual.  There  were  four  chimneys,  with  fireplaces  burning  a  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  cords  of  wood  in  a  winter ;  and  though  the 
nuns  were  boxed  up  in  beds  which  closed  like  chests,  Marie  de 
rincarnation  complains  bitterly  of  the  cold.  See  her  letter  of  Aug. 
26, 1644. 


278  DEVOTEES  AND  NUNS.  [1639-42. 

stands  there  still.  Beneath  its  shade,  says  the  con- 
vent tradition,  Marie  de  1' Incarnation  and  her  nuns 
instructed  the  Indian  children  in  the  truths  of  salva- 
tion; 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  ofE 
the  unhallowed  influence.^ 

Now  and  henceforward  one  figure  stands  nobly 
conspicuous  in  this  devoted  sisterhood.  Marie  de 
r  Incarnation,  no  longer  lost  in  the  vagaries  of  an 
insane  mysticism,  but  engaged  in  the  duties  of  Chris- 
tian charity  and  the  responsibilities  of  an  arduous 
post,  displays  an  ability,  a  fortitude,  and  an  earnest- 
ness 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  con- 
solations." 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  enthusi- 
asm 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; 

>  YimoDt,  Relation,  1642, 112  (Cramois^). 


1639-42.]     FOUNDRESS   OF  THE   URSULINES.         279 

and  money,  everything,  in  short,  to  be  provided. 
Marie  de  1' 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  com- 
munity 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.  ^  Protestants  may  see 
in  her  a  Christian  heroine,  admirable,  with  all  her 
follies  and  her  faults. 

The  traditions  of  the  Ursulines  are  full  of  the  vir- 
tues 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  unchari- 
tableness  in  the  belief,  that  her  zeal  would  have  been 
less  ardent  and  sustained  if  it  had  had  fewer  specta- 
tors. She  was  now  fairly  committed  to  the  conven- 
tual 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 

1  There  is  a  letter  extant  from  Sister  Anne  de  S**  Claire,  an 
Ursuline  who  came  to  Quebec  in  1640,  written  soon  after  her  arrival, 
nnd  containing  curious  evidence  that  a  reputation  of  saintship 
already  attached  to  Marie  de  ITncamation.  "When  I  spoke  to 
her,*'  writes  Sister  Anne,  speaking  of  her  first  interview,  "I  per- 
ceived in  the  air  a  certain  odor  of  sanctity,  which  gave  me  the  sen- 
sation of  an  agreeable  perfume."  See  the  letter  in  a  recent  Catholic 
work,  Les  Ursulines  de  Quebec,  i.  38,  where  the  passage  is  printed  iu 
Italics,  as  worthy  th^  ^special  attention  of  the  pioua  reader, 


280  DEVOTEES   AND  NUNS.  [1639-42. 

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  dia- 
mond 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.  ^ 

1  Madame  de  la  Peltrie  died  in  her  convent  in  1671.  Marie  de 
rincarnation  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. 


DAUVEKSltRE     AND    THE   VOICB     FROM    HeAVEN.  —  AbbI:   OlIEB.— 

Their   Schemes.  — The   Society  of   Notre-Dame   de   Mont« 

REAL.  —  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  Fleche,  in  Anjou,  dwelt  one  Jerome  le 
Royer  de  la  Dauversiere,  receiver  of  taxes.  His  por- 
trait 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.  Dauversiere  was,  how- 
ever, an  enthusiastic  devotee,  of  mystical  tendencies, 
who  whipped  himself  with  a  scourge  of  small  chains 


282  VILLEMARIE  DE  MONTREAL.  [1636. 

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.^  One  day,  while  at  his  devotions, 
he  heard  an  inward  voice  commanding  him  to  be- 
come 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 
H6tel-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.  Dau- 
versi^re  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.^ 

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  Abb^  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  strenu- 

*  Fancamp  in  Faillon,  Vie  de  M^^  Mance,  Introduction. 

^  Faillon,  Vie  de  M^^  Mance,  Introduction ;  Dollier  de  Casson, 
Hist,  de  Montreal,  MS. ;  Le&  Veritables  Motifs  des  Messieurs  et  Damea 
de  Montreal,  25 ;  Juchereau,  33. 


1636.]  VISIONS.— PRODIGIES.  283 

ous  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  faith- 
ful in  their  allegiance,  justified  them  in  lives  of 
licentiousness.^  Yet  Olier's  catholicity  was  past 
attaintment,  and  in  his  horror  of  Jansenists  he 
jdelded  to  the  Jesuits  alone. 

He  was  praying  in  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Ger- 
main des  Pr^s,  when,  like  Dauversi^re,  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;^  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  Dauversiere  were  totally  ignorant  of 
Canadian  geography,  they  suddenly  found  themselves 
in  possession,  they  knew  not  how,  of  the  most  exact 

1  Faillon,  Vie  de  M.  Olier,  ii.  188. 

2  Memoir es  Autographes  de  M.  Olier,  cited  by  Faillon,  in  Histoire 
de  la  Colonie  Frangaise,  i.  384. 


284  VILLEMARIE   DE  MONTREAL.        [1636-40. 

details  concerning  Montreal,   its  size,   shape,  situa- 
ticoi,  soil,  climate,  and  productions. 

The  annual  volumes  of  the  Jesuit  Relations^  issu- 
from  the  renowned  press  of  Cramoisy,  were  at 
this  time  spread  broadcast  throughout  France;  and, 
in  the  circles  of  haute  devotion^  Canada  and  its  mis- 
sions were  everywhere  the  themes  of  enthusiastic  dis- 
cussion ;  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. 

Dauversi^re  pondered  the  revelation  he  had  re- 
ceived; 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  biog- 
rapher, "if  I  did  not  relate  it  here.'^  And  he  adds 
that  the  reality  of  this  celestial  favor  is  past  doubt- 
ing, inasmuch  as  Dauversidre  himself  told  it  to  his 
daughters.  Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  St.  Joseph  ap- 
peared 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  (Dauversi^re)  by  the  hand, 
replied,  "  See,  Lord,  here  is  that  faithful  servant !  " 
—  and  Christ,  with  a  benignant  smile,  received  him 


1640.]  THEIR  SCHEMES.  286 

into  his  service,  promising  to  bestow  on  him  wisdom 
and  strength  to  do  his  work.^  From  Paris  he  went 
to  the  neighboring  chateau  of  Meudon,  which  over- 
looks 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,  "im- 
pelled 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  Her- 
mit, 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."  ^ 

"  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. 
Dauversi^re  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  Dauversi^re  a  hundred  louis,  say- 
ing, "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 

1  Eaillon,  Vie  de  W^  Mance,  Introduction,  xxviii.  The  Abbe 
Ferland,  in  his  Histoire  du  Canada,  passes  over  the  miracles  in 
silence. 

*  Ibid.,  La  Colonie  Frangaise,  i.  390. 


286  VILLEMARIE  DE  MONTREAL.  [1640. 

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; 
Dauversiere  had  a  friend,  the  Baron  de  Fancamp, 
devout  as  himself  and  far  richer.  Anxious  for  his 
soul,  and  satisfied  that  the  enterprise  was  an  inspira- 
tion 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.^ 

1  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  Abb^  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  deposito- 
ries, 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  identi- 
fies himself  with  his  theme,  and  is  indeed  a  fragment  of  the  seven- 
teenth 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  Abbe 
it  a  prodigy  of  patience  and  industry ;  and  if  he  taxes  the  patience 


1640.]  A  PERILOUS  OUTPOST.  287 

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  part- 
ners 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  Iro- 
quois, 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  fero- 
cious 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  Ot- 
tawa descended  from  the  north;  and  Montreal,  em- 
braced by  their  uniting  waters,  was  the  key  to  a  vast 
inland  navigation.     Thither  the  Indians  would  nat- 

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  impor- 
tant. The  copy  in  my  possession  was  made  from  the  original  in 
the  Mazarin  Library. 


288  VILLEMARIE   DE  MONTREAL.  [1640. 

urally  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  Asso- 
ciates ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  his  son  had  a  monopoly 
of  fishing  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  Dauversi^re  and 
Fancamp,  after  much  diplomacy,  succeeded  in  per- 
suading the  elder  Lauson  to  transfer  his  title  to 
them;  and  as  there  was  a  defect  in  it,  they  also  ob- 
tained a  grant  of  the  island  from  the  Hundred  Asso- 
ciates, its  original  owners,  who,  however,  reserved  to 
themselves  its  western  extremity  as  a  site  for  a  fort 
and  storehouses.^  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.      Dauversi^re  and  his   companions 

1  Donation  et  Transport  de  la  Concession  de  I'Isle  de  Montreal  par 
M.  Jean  de  Lauzon  aux  Sieurs  Chevrier  de  Fouancant  (Fancamp)  et 
le  Royer  de  la  Doversiere,  MS. 

Concession  d'une  Partie  de  I'Isle  de  Montreal  accordee  par  la  Com' 
pagnie  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 
Dauversiere  n'ont  stipule  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  Com- 
panj  of  Montreal. 

S«e  also  ^dits,  Ordonnances  Roy  aux,  etc.,  i.  20-26  (Quebec,  1854). 


1640.]  MAISONNEUVE.  289 

were  now  seigneurs  of  Montreal.  They  were  empow- 
ered 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  neces- 
sary for  defence  against  the  Indians. 

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  con- 
vents for  the  nuns.  Meanwhile,  Olier  wa«  toiling  at 
Vaugirard,  on  the  outskirts  of  Paris,  to  inaugurate 
the  seminary  of  priests;  and  Dauversi^re  at  La 
Fleche,  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  sup- 
posed by  Providence,  they  found  one  wholly  to  their 
mind.  This  was  Paul  de  Chomedey,  Sieur  de  Mai- 
sonneuve,  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, 

19 


290  VILLEMARIE   DE   MONTREAL.  [164a 

the  adventure  and  the  peril,  all  combined  to  charm 
him  J  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,  ima- 
gined that  the  plan  covered  some  hidden  speculation, 
from  which  enormous  profits  were  expected,  and 
therefore  withdrew  his  opposition.  ^ 

Their  scheme  was  ripening  fast,  when  both  Olier 
and  Dauversi^re  were  assailed  by  one  of  those  revul- 
sions of  spirit  to  which  saints  of  the  ecstatic  school 
are  naturally  liable.  Dauversidre,  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  Fl^che  ?  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,  tear- 
ful 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 ^  he  set  himself  again 

1  Faillon,  La  Colonic  Frangaise,  i.  409. 

■  Ibid.,  Vi*  de  M^^  Mance^  Introduction,  xxxv. 


1640.]  DEVOUT  LADIES.  291 

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.^ 

There  was  imperative  need  of  more  money;  and 
Dauversi^re,  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  manner  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  en- 
gaged 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  direct- 
ing and  controlling  them,  have  been  themes  of  reflec- 
tion 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. 

1  Faillon  ( Vie  de  M.  Olier)  devotes  twenty-one  pages  to  the  hi» 
tory  of  his  fit  of  neryous  depression. 


292  VILLEMARIE  DE  MONTREAL.  [1640. 

Olier  and  his  associates  had  resolved,  though  not 
from  any  collapse  of  zeal,  to  postpone  the  establish- 
ment of  the  seminary  and  the  college  until  after  a 
settlement  should  be  formed.  The  hospital,  how- 
ever, 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  bom  of  an  honor- 
able 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  T  In- 
carnation we  read,  that  at  the  age  of  seven  Christ 
appeared  to  her  in  a  vision ;  ^  and  the  biographer  of 
Mademoiselle  Mance  assures  us,  with  admiring  grav- 
ity, that,  at  the  same  tender  age,  she  bound  herself 
to  God  by  a  vow  of  perpetual  chastity.  ^  This  singu- 
lar 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  Belations,  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  visit- 
ing relatives,  she  made  a  journey  to  Paris,  to  take 

*  Casgrain,  Vie  de  Marie  de  I' Incarnation,  78. 
"  Faillon,  Vie  de  M^^*  Mance,  i.  3. 


1640.]  MADEMOISELLE  MANCE.  298 

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  voca- 
tion to  Canada  was,  past  doubt,  a  call  from  Heaven ; 
while  Father  Rapin,  a  RdcoUet,  spread  abroad  the 
fame  of  her  virtues,  and  introduced  her  to  many 
ladies  of  rank,  wealth,  and  zeal.  Then,  well  sup- 
plied 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  Jes- 
uit, revealed  it  to  her.  On  the  day  after  her  arrival 
at  Rochelle,  as  she  entered  the  Church  of  the  Jesuits, 
she  met  Dauversiere  coming  out.  "  Then, "  says  her 
biographer,  "  these  two  persons,  who  had  never  seen 
nor  heard  of  each  other,  were  enlightened  supemat- 
urally,  whereby  their  most  hidden  thoughts  were 
mutually  made  known,  as  had  happened  already 
with  M.  Olier  and  this  same  M.  de  la  Dauversiere."^ 
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, 

1  Faillon,  Vie  de  M^  Mance,  i.  18.  Here  again  the  Abbtf  Fer- 
land,  with  his  usual  good  sense,  tacitly  rejects  the  supemat 
walism. 


294  VILLEMARIE  DE  MONTREAL.  [164a 

"and  far  better  than  many  a  learned  doctor  could 
have  done."^ 

She  had  found  her  destiny.  The  ocean,  the  wil- 
derness, 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,  Dau- 
versi^re,  and  Fancamp  remained  at  home,  as  did  also 
the  other  Associates,  with  the  exception  of  Maison- 
neuve 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,  ^  with  Olier 
at  their  head,  assembled  before  the  altar  of  the  Vir- 
gin, and,  by  a  solemn  ceremonial,  consecrated  Mont- 
real to  the  Holy  Family.  Henceforth  it  was  to  be 
called   Villemarie  -de    Montreal,  ^  —  a  sacred    town, 

^  La  Soeur  Morin,  Annales  des  Hospitalieres  de  Villemarie,  MS. 
cited  by  Faillon. 

a  DoUier  de  Casson,  a.d.  1641-42,  MS.    Vimont  says  thirty-five. 

»  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  37.  Compare  Le  Clerc,  £tablissement 
49  la  Foxj,  ii.  49. 


1642.]  MARGUERITE  BOURGEOYS.  296 

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,  Dauversi^re, 
and  a  maiden  of  Troyes,  Marguerite  Bourgeoys :  the 
seminary  to  be  consecrated  to  Christ,  the  H6tel-Dieu 
to  St.  Joseph,  and  the  college  to  the  Virgin. 

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  Abb^ 
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  affec- 
tions, 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 


.296  VILLEMARIE   DE  MONTREAL.  [1641. 

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,  re- 
nouncing 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  unobtru- 
sive 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.^ 

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  Hun- 
dred Associates  looked  on  them  askance;  and  the 
Governor  of  Quebec,  Montmagny,  saw  a  rival  gov- 
ernor 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.' 
Maisonneuve,  who  was  present,  expressed  his  surprise 

1  For  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  see  her  Life  by  Faillon. 
'  Juchereau,  32 ;  Faillon,  Colonic  Fran^aise,  i.  423. 


1642.]  M.   PUTSEAUX.  297 

that  they  should  assume  to  direct  his  affairs.  "1 
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  I "  ^ 

At  Quebec  there  was  little  ability  and  no  inclina- 
tion 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  capa- 
cious 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  dis- 
gust at  the  filth  of  the  savages  whom  they  had  in 
charge,  they  were  laboring  day  and  night  with  de- 
voted 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.^ 

1  La  Tour,  Memoire  de  Laval,  liv.  viii;  Belmont,  Histoire  du 
Canada,  3. 

2  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 


298  VILLEMARIE   DE  MONTREAL.  [1642. 

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  Maison- 
neuve fell  into  a  quarrel.  The  twenty-fifth  of  Janu- 
ary was  Maisonneuve 's  fete  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  indig- 
nation 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 
fbe  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  com- 
panions 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 :  — 

butternut  juice.    They  were  the  Hospitalieres  who  had  come  over 
in  1639. 


1642.]  MAISONNEUVE   AND  HIS  MEN.  299 

"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."^ 

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  author- 
ity 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  em- 
barked. 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^  — 
urged  her  to  share  their  fortunes.  Her  zeal  was 
more  admired  by  the  Montrealists  whom  she  joined 

1  Documents  Divers,  MSS.,  now  or  lately  in  possession  of  G.  B. 
Faribault,  Esq. ;  Ferland,  Notes  sur  les  Registres  de  N.  D.  de  Quibec, 
26 ;  Faillon,  La  Colonie  Frangaise,  i.  433. 

a  La  Tour,  Mimoire  de  Laval,  Ut.  viii. 


800  VILLEMARIE  DE  MONTREAL.  [1642* 

than  by  the  Ursulines  whom  she  abandoned.  She 
carried  off  all  the  furniture  she  had  lent  them,  and 
left  them  in  the  utmost  destitution.  ^  Nor  did  she 
remain  quiet  after  reaching  Montreal,  but  was  pres- 
ently 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.  2 

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  open- 
ing in  the  warmth  of  spring,  lay  on  their  right  hand 
and  on  their  left,  in  a  flattering  semblance  of  tran- 
quillity and  peace.  But  behind  woody  islets,  in 
tangled  thickets  and  damp  ravines,  and  in  the  shade 
and  stillness  of  the  columned  woods,  lurked  every- 
where a  danger  and  a  terror. 

What  shall  we  say  of  these  adventurers  of  Mont- 
real, —  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  atmos- 
phere of  miracle;  compassed  about  with  angels  and 

1  Charier oix,  Vie  de  Marie  de  Vlncarnation,  279 ;  Casgrain,  Vie  de 
Marie  de  I' Incarnation,  333. 

•  St.  Thomas,  Life  of  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  98. 


1642.J  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  COLONISTS.  801 

devils ;  urged  with  stimulants  most  powerful,  though 
unreal;  their  minds  drugged,  as  it  were,  to  pre- 
ternatural 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  corrup- 
tion 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  compai-atively  purer  life  of  the  past;  and 
the  fervors  of  mediaeval  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  Bouil- 
lon 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  ^  —  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 

1  DolUer  de  Casaon,  a.d.  1641-42,  MS. 


302  VILLEMARIE   DE   MONTREAL.  [1642. 

Montreal.^  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  be- 
fore, had  chosen  as  the  fit  site  of  a  settlement.  ^  It 
was  a  tongue  or  triangle  of  land,  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  a  rivulet  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  known 
afterwards  as  Point  Calli^re.  The  rivulet  was  bor- 
dered 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.^ 

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  Barr^,  decorated  it 
with  a  taste  which  was  the  admiration  of  the  be- 
holders.* Now  all  the  company  gathered  before  the 
shrine.     Here  stood  Vimont,  in  the  rich  vestments  of 

1  Le  Clerc,  ii.  60,  51. 

2  "Pioneers  of  France,"  370.  It  was  the  Place  Royale  of 
Champlain. 

«  Dollier  de  Casson,  a.d.  1641-42,  MS. 

*  Morin,  Annales,  MS.,  cited  by  Faillon,  La  Colonie  Frangaise, 
i.  440:  also  DolUer  de  Casson.  a.d.  1641-42.  MS. 


1642.]  THE  BIRTH  OF  MONTREAL.  303 

his  office.  Here  were  the  two  ladies,  with  their  ser- 
vant; Montmagny,  no  very  willing  spectator;  and 
Maisonneuve,  a  warlike  figure,  erect  and  tall,  his 
men  clustering  around  him,  —  soldiers,  sailors,  arti- 
sans, 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 :  — 

"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."i 

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  re- 
mained 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.^ 

Is  this  true  history,  or  a  romance  of  Christian  chiv- 
alry ?    It  is  both. 

1  Dollier  de  Casson,  MS.,  as  above.  Vimont,  in  the  Relation  of 
1642,  p.  37,  briefly  mentions  the  ceremony. 

^  The  Associates  of  Montreal  published,  in  1643,  a  thick  pam- 
phlet in  quarto,  entitled  Les  Veritahles  Motifs  de  Messieurs  et  Dames 
de  la  Societe  de  Notre-Dame  de  Montreal^  pour  la  Conversion  des 
Sauvages  de  la  Nouvelle  France.  It  was  written  as  an  answer  to  as- 
persions cast  upon  them,  apparently  by  persons  attached  to  the  great 


304  VILLEMARIE   DE   MONTREAL.  [1642. 

Company  of  New  France  known  as  the  "  Hundred  Associates,"  and 
affords  a  curious  exposition  of  the  spirit  of  their  enterprise.  It  Ib 
excessively  rare  ;  but  copies  of  the  essential  portions  are  before  me. 
The  following  is  a  characteristic  extract :  — 

"Vous  dites  que  I'entreprise  de  Montreal  est  d'une  depense 
infinie,  plus  convenable  a  un  roi  qu'a  quelques  particuliers,  trop 
faibles  pour  la  soutenir;  &  vous  alleguez  encore  les  perils  de  la 
navigation  &  les  naufrages  qui  peuvent  la  miner.  Vous  avez  mieux 
rencontre  que  vous  ne  pensiez,  en  disant  que  c'est  une  CEuvre  de  roi, 
puisque  le  Roi  des  rois  s'en  mele,  lui  k  qui  obeissent  la  mer  &  les 
vents.  Nous  ne  craignons  done  pas  les  naufrages ;  il  n'en  suscitera 
que  lorsque  nous  en  aurons  besoin,  &  qu'il  sera  plus  expedient  pour 
sa  gloire,  que  nous  cherchons  uniquement.  Comment  avez-vous  pu 
mettre  dans  votre  esprit  qu'appuyes  de  nos  propres  forces,  nous 
eussions  presume  de  penser  k  un  si  glorieux  dessein  ?  Si  Dieu  n'est 
point  dans  I'affaire  de  Montreal,  si  c'est  une  invention  humaine,  ne 
vous  en  mettez  point  en  peine,  elle  ne  durera  guere.  Ce  que  vous 
predisez  arrivera,  &  quelque  chose  de  pire  encore ;  mais  si  Dieu  Ta 
ainsi  voulu,  qui  gtes-vous  pour  lui  contredire  1  C'^tait  la  reflexion 
que  le  docteur  Gamaliel  faisait  aux  Juif s,  en  faveur  des  Apotres ; 
pour  vous,  qui  ne  pouvez  ni  croire,  ni  faire,  laissez  les  autres  en 
liberte  de  faire  ce  qu'ils  croient  que  Dieu  demande  d'eux.  Vous 
assurez  qu'il  ne  se  fait  plus  de  miracles ;  mais  qui  vous  I'a  dit  1  oil 
cela  est-il  ^crit?  Jesus-Christ  assure,  au  contraire,  que  ceux  qui 
auront  autant  de  Foi  qu'un  grain  de  seneve,feront,  en  son  nom,  des  mirw 
des  plus  grands  que  ceux  qu'il  a/aits  lui-meme.  Depuis  quand  Stes- 
vous  les  directeurs  des  operations  divines,  pour  les  reduire  k  cer- 
tains temps  &  dans  la  conduite  ordinaire  ?  Tant  de  saints  mouve- 
ments,  d'inspirations  &  de  vues  interieures,  qu'il  lui  plait  de  donner 
k  quelques  §,mes  dont  il  se  sert  pour  I'avancement  de  cette  oeuvre, 
sont  des  marques  de  son  bon  plaisir.  Jusqu'-ici,  il  a  pourvu  au 
n^cessaire;  nous  ne  voulons  point  d'abondance,  &  nous  esp^rona 
que  sa  Providence  continuera." 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

1641-1644. 

ISAAC  JOGUES. 

Thb  Iroquois  War.  —  Jogues:  his  Capture;  his  Joumhet  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  harbor- 
age at  three  points  only,  —  at  Quebec,  at  Montreal, 
and  at  Three  Rivers.  Here  and  in  the  scattered  mis- 
sions 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.^  They  had  nursed  their  wrath 
for  more  than  a  generation,  and  at  length  their  hour 
was  come.     The  Dutch  traders  at  Fort  Orange,  now 

1  See  "  Pioneers  of  France,"  366. 
20^ 


306  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1841-42. 

Albany,  had  supplied  them  with  firearms.  The  Mo- 
hawks, 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.^  They 
were  masters  of  the  thunderbolts  which,  in  the 
hands  of  Champlain,  had  struck  terror  into  their 
hearts. 

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  hered- 
itary, half  elective;  their  government,  an  oligarchy 
in  form  and  a  democracy  in  spirit;  their  minds,  thor- 
oughly 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 


1  Vimont,  Relation,  1643,  62.  The  Mohawks  were  the  Agnies,  or 
Agneronons,  of  the  old  French  writers. 

According  to  the  Journal  of  New  Netherlands  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. 


1642.]  HIS  ERRAND.  307 

St.  Lawrence,  and  attack  the  passing  boats  or  canoes. 
Sometimes  they  hovered  about  the  fortifications  of 
Quebec  and  Three  Rivers,  killing  stragglers,  or  lur- 
ing 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  disci- 
pline and  the  military  knowledge  that  belong  to  civ- 
ilization, 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,^  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  mis- 
sionary 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  north- 
ward, 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  Ojib- 

1  For  the  date,  see  Lalemant,  Relation  de»  Hurons,  1647,  18. 


308  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

was  and  other  Algonquins  there  assemhled.^  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  accom- 
plished 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. 

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  sensi- 
tive 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  whicK  he  seemed  but  ill  fitted.  Physi- 
cally, however,  he  was  well  matched  with  his  work ; 
for,  though  his  frame  was  slight,  he  was  so  active 

>  Lalemant,  Relations  des  Hurons,  1642,  97. 


1642.]  HIS  COMPANIONS.  309 

that  none  of  the  Indians  could  surpass  him  in  run' 
ning.^ 

With  him  were  two  young  men,  Ren^  Goupil  and 
Guillaume  Couture,  dowries  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  hum- 
blest  offices,  and  afterwards  became  an  attendant  at 
the  hospital.  At  length,  to  his  delight,  he  received  per- 
mission 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.*  His  companion.  Cou- 
ture, was  a  man  of  intelligence  and  vigor,  and  of  a  char- 
acter equally  disinterested.  ^  Both  were,  like  Jogues, 
in  the  foremost  canoes ;  while  the  fourth  Frenchman 
was  with  the  unconverted  Hurons,  in  the  rear. 

The  twelve  canoes  had  reached  the  western  end  of 
the  Lake  of  St.  Peter,  where  it  is  filled  with  innu- 
merable  islands.*      The    forest  was   close   on  their 

^  Buteux,  Narre  de  la  Prise  du  Phre  Jogties,  MS. ;  Memoire  touchani 
le  Phre  Jogues,  MS. 

There  is  a  portrait  of  him  prefixed  to  Mr.  Shea's  admirable  edi- 
tion in  quarto  of  Jogue's  Novum  Belgium. 

^  Jogues,  Notice  sur  Reni  Goupil. 

*  For  an  account  of  him,  see  Ferland,  Notes  sur  les  Registres  de 
N.  D.  de  Quebec,  83  (1863). 

*  Buteux,  Narre  de  la  Prise  du  Pkre  Jogues,  MS.  This  dom. 
m^nt  l^ar^s  Qo  doubt  at  to  the  locality. 


810  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

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  Iro- 
quois 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. 

Couture  had  eluded  pursuit;  but  when  he  thought 
of  Jogues  and  of  what  perhaps  awaited  him,  he  re- 
solved to  share  his  fate,  and,  turning,  retraced  his 
steps.     As  he  approached,  five  Irocjuois  ran  forward 


1642.]        THE  VICTORS   AND  THEIR  PREY.  311 

to  meet  him ;  and  one  of  them  snapped  his  gun  at  his 
breast,  but  it  missed  fire.  In  his  confusion  and  ex- 
citement, 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,  rush- 
ing 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  bap- 
tized, 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.^ 

1  The  above,  with  much  of  what  follows,  rests  on  three  docu- 
ments. The  first  is  a  long  letter,  written  in  Latin,  by  Jogues,  to 
the  Father  Provincial  at  Paris.  It  is  dated  at  Kensselaerswyck 
(Albany),  Aug.  6,  1643,  and  is  preserved  in  the  Societas  Je$u  Mili- 
t<nn$  of  Tanner,  and  in  the  Mortes  Jllustres  et  Gesta  eorum  d$  Socif 


312  ISAAC   JOGUES.  [1642. 

Their  course  was  southward,  up  the  river  Riche- 
lieu 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  ap- 
proached 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  them- 
selves 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  sub- 

tate  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  man- 
uscript, entitled  Narre  de  la  Prise  du  Pere  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  Rela- 
tion 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 
tin?  Putch  ftt  Rensselaerswyc^, 


1642.]  LAKE  GEORGE.  813 

jected  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  tlian  a  hundred  years  after,  rose 
the  ramparts  of  Ticonderoga.  They  landed,  shoul- 
dered their  canoes  and  baggage,  took  their  way  through 
the  woods,  passed  the  spot  where  the  fierce  High- 
landers 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  wilder- 
ness, 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  nfle  had  never  as  yet  awakened  their  angry 
echoes.^ 

1  Lake  George,  according  to  Jogues,  was  called  by  the  Mohawks 
Andlatarocte,  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, 


314  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

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  Mont- 
calm 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  hon- 
ored name  was  stained  with  a  memorj-  of  blood.  ^ 

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 

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." 

1  The  allusion  is,  of  course,  to  the  siege  of  Fort  William  Henry 
in  1757,  and  the  ensuing  massacre  by  Montcalm's  Indians.  Charle- 
voix, 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. 


1642.]  AMONG  THE   MOHAWKS.  816 

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  ap- 
proach, 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  "  nar- 
row road  of  Paradise,"  as  Jogues  calls  it,  the  cap- 
tives 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.^  When  they  reached  the  town,  the  blows 
ceased,  and  they  were  all  placed  on  a  scaffold,  or 

1  This  practice  of  forcing  prisoners  to  "  run  the  gantlet "  was 
by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  Iroquois,  but  was  common  to  manj 
tribea 


316  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

high  platform,  in  the  middle  of  the  place.  The 
three  Frenchmen  had  fared  the  worst,  and  were 
frightfully  disfigured.  Goupil,  especially,  was  stream- 
ing with  blood,  and  livid  with  bruises  from  head  to 
foot. 

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  de 
signed  to  cause  the  greatest  possible  suffering  with- 
out 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  move- 
ment 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 


1642.]  THE  MISSIONARY  TORTURED.  817 

iayB,  they  remained  exposed  to  the  taunts  of  the 
&rowd.  Then  they  were  led  in  triumph  to  the  sec- 
ond Mohawk  town,  and  afterwards  to  the  third,  ^  suf- 
fering at  each  a  repetition  of  cruelties,  the  detail  of 
which  would  be  as  monotonous  as  revolting. 

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  man- 
ner 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  oppor- 
tunity 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  J 
crossed  on  the  way  to  another  town. 

Couture,  though  he  had  incensed  the  Indians  by 

1  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,  Asserue,  Banagiro,  and 
Thenondiogo.  They  all  seem  to  have  been  fortified  in  the  Iroquois 
manner,  and  their  united  population  was  thirty-five  hundred,  or 
•omewhat  more.  At  a  later  period,  1720,  there  were  still  three 
towns,  named  respectively  Teahtontaioga,  Ganowauga,  and  Gane- 
ganaga.     See  the  map  in  Morgan,  League  of  the  Iroquois. 


318  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

killing  one  of  their  warriors,  had  gained  their  admi- 
ration 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  com- 
paratively safe.  Jogues  and  Goupil  were  less  for- 
tunate. 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  dis- 
sensions arose,  and  no  result  was  reached.  They 
were  led  back  to  the  first  village,  where  they  re- 
mained, racked  with  suspense  and  half  dead  with 
exhaustion.  Jogues,  however,  lost  no  opportunity 
to  baptize  dying  infants,  while  Goupil  taught  chil- 
dren to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross.  On  one  occa- 
sion, 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,  ap- 
plied for  aid  to  two  young  braves.  Jogues  and  Gou- 
pil, clad  in  their  squalid  garb  of  tattered  skins,  were 
soon  after  walking  together  in  the  forest  that  ad- 
joined 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 


1(J42.]  THE  CORPSE  OF  GOUPIL.  319 

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  Gou- 
pil,  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  watch- 
ing 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 


320  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1642. 

feet  and  with  Ms  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.^ 

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  toma- 
hawk, 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 -fam- 
ished, he  followed  them  through  the  chill  November 

1  Jogues  in  Tanner,  Societas  MiUtans,  519 ;  Bressani,  216 ;  Lale- 
mant,  Relation,  1647,  25,  26 ;  Buteux,  Narre,  MS. ;  Jogues,  Notice  sur 
Rene  Goupil. 


1642.]  HIS  MISERY.  821 

forest,  ana  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 
comer  of  the  hut,  gnawed  by  hunger,  and  pierced  to 
the  bone  with  cold.  They  thought  his  presence 
unpropitious  to  their  hunting,  and  the  women  espe- 
cially 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  devo- 
tions, their  slave  assumed  an  air  and  tone  of  author- 
ity, and  sternly  rebuked  them.^ 

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  adora- 
tion 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 

^  Lalemant,  Relation,  1C47,  41. 


322  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1643. 

him  back  to  the  village.  Here  he  remained  till  the 
middle  of  March,  baptizing  infants  and  trying  to  con- 
vert adults.  He  told  them  of  the  sun,  moon,  plan- 
ets, 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,  per- 
haps 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  popula- 
tion were  clamoring  to  appease  their  grief  by  tortur- 
ing 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 


1648.]  HIS  ZEAL.  323 

him,  and  he  longed  to  die.  War-part'es  were  con- 
tinually 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  country- 
men 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  Chris- 
tian 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  pris- 
oners, who  were  distributed  among  the  Iroquois 
towns,  and  the  greater  part  burned.^  Of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Mohawks  and  their  neighbors,  he  had 
baptized,  before  August,  about  seventy;  insomuch 
that  he  began  to  regard  his  captivity  as  a  Providen- 
tial interposition  for  the  saving  of  souls. 

At  the  end  of  July,  he  went  with  a  party  of  In- 
dians to  a  fishing-place  on  the  Hudson,  about  twenty 

1  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  men- 
tions 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. 


324  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1643. 

miles  below  Fort  Orange.  While  here,  he  learned 
that  another  war-party  had  lately  returned  with  pris- 
oners, 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  ab- 
solution 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.^  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  Megapo- 
lensis,  known  in  our  day  as  the  writer  of  an  interest- 
ing 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  be- 
low 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 

1  The  site  of  the  Phoenix  Hotel.  Note  hy  Mr.  Shea  to  Jogues\ 
Novum  Belgium. 


1643.]  AT  FORT  ORANGE.  325 

horses.  They  traded,  too,  with  the  Indians,  who 
profited  greatly  by  the  competition  among  them,  re- 
ceiving guns,  knives,  axes,  kettles,  cloth,  and  beads, 
at  moderate  rates,  in  exchange  for  their  furs.^  The 
Dutch  were  on  excellent  terms  with  their  red  neigh- 
bors, 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  with- 
out effect.^ 

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 
bum  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 


1  Jogues,  Novum  Belgium ;  Barnes,  Settlement  of  Albany,  50-65 ; 
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. 

2  See  along  letter  of  Arendt  Van  Curler  (Corlaer)  to  Van  Rens- 
selaer, June  16,  1643,  in  O'Callaghan's  New  Netherland,  Appendix  L. 
"  We  persuaded  them  so  far,"  writes  Van  Curler,  "  that  they  prom- 
ised 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." 


326  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1643. 

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  jar- 
gon of  Latin,  French,  and  Huron,  warning  his  coun- 
trymen 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.^  When 
the  Iroquois  reached  the  mouth  of  the  river  Riche- 
lieu, 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  Cur- 
ler 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  pris- 
oner's objection  that  a  connivance  in  his  escape  on 
the  part  of  the  Dutch  would  excite  the  resentment  of 

1  See  a  French  rendering  of  the  letter  in  Vimont,  Relation, 
J643,  75. 


1643.]  HE  DECIDES   TO  ESCAPE.  827 

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. 

He  spent  the  night  in  great  agitation,  tossed  by 
doubt,  and  full  of  anxiety  lest  his  self-love  should 
beguile  him  from  his  duty.^  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  sui- 
cide ?  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. 

He  and  his  Indian  masters  were  lodged  together  in 
A  large  building,  like  a  bam,  belonging  to  a  Dutch 

1  Buteux,  Narre,  M3. 


328  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1643. 

farmer.  It  was  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  had  no  par- 
tition 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.^  As  he  is  described  as 
one  of  the  principal  persons  of  the  colony,  it  is  clear 
that  the  civilization  of  Rensselaerswyck  was  not 
high. 

In  the  evening,  Jogues,  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to 
excite  the  suspicion  of  the  Indians,  went  out  to  re- 
connoitre. 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  per- 
haps 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  excite- 
ment; 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  under- 
stand by  signs  that  he  needed  his  help  and  guidance. 
The  man  was  disposed  to  aid  him,  silently  led  the 
1  Buteux,  Narr4,  MS. 


1843.]  HIS   HIDING-PLACE.  829 

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  sail- 
ors 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  offi- 
cers 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  him- 
self, Jogues  was  nearly  starved.  There  was  a  com- 
partment 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 


330  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1648. 

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."^ 

When  Jogues  had  remained  for  six  weeks  in  this 
hiding-place,  his  Dutch  friends  succeeded  in  satisfy- 
ing his  Indian  masters  by  the  payment  of  a  large  ran- 
som. ^  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.  Ac- 
cordingly 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,  they  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 

^  Megapolensis,  A  Short  Sketch  of  the  Mohawk  Indians. 

2  Lettre  de  Jogues  a  Lalemant,  Rennes,  Jan,  6,  1644.  (See  Relation, 
1643,  79.)  Goodg  were  given  the  Indians  to  the  value  of  three  hun- 
dred livres. 


1643.]  MANHATTAN.  881 

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  colo- 
nists, numbering  in  all  four  or  five  hundred,  were 
scattered  here  and  there  on  the  island  and  the  neigh- 
boring 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.  ^  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.  2 

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,  suffer- 
ing 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  Eng- 
land, 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 

1  Jogues,  Novum  Belgium. 

*  This  war  was  with  Algonquin  tribes  of  the  neighborhood.  See 
O'Callaghan,  New  Netherland,  i.,  chap.  iii. 


882  ISAAC   JOGUES.  [1643. 

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  early  mass,  and 
with  an  unutterable  joy  knelt  before  the  altar,  and 
renewed  the  communion  of  which  he  had  been  de- 
prived 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 


ie44.]  AMONG  HIS  BRETHREN.  SB8 

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  wear- 
ing 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  Rela- 
tion 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  vest- 
ments 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  let- 
ter 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  Rec- 
tor.    "  Is  he  dead  ?     Have  they  murdered  him  ?  " 

"No,"  answered  Jogues;  "he  is  alive  and  at  lib- 


834  ISAAC  JOGUES.  [1644. 

erty,  and  I  am  he."  And  he  fell  on  his  knees  to  ask 
his  Superior's  blessing. 

That  night  was  a  night  of  jubilation  and  thanks- 
giving in  the  college  of  Rennes.^ 

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  perse- 
cuted 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  hom- 
age. We  are  told,  and  no  doubt  with  truth,  that 
these  honors  were  unwelcome  to  the  modest  and 
single-hearted  missionary,  who  thought  only  of  re- 
turning 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  ima- 
gined, 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. 

1  For  Jogues's  arrival  in  Brittany,  see  Lettre  de  Jogues  H  Lale- 

mant,  Rennes,  Jan.   6,   1644;    Lettre   de  Jogues  d  ,   Rennes^ 

Jan.  5,  1644  (in  Relation,  1643),  and  the  long  account  in  the  Relation 
of  1647. 


CHAPTER  XVn. 
1641-1646. 

THE  IROQUOIS.  — BRESSANI.  —  DE  NOUE. 

Wak.  —  Distress  and  Terror.  —  Richelieu.  —  Battle.  —  Rum 
OP  Indian  Tribes.  —  Mutual  Destruction.  —  Iroquois  and 
Algonquin.  —  Atrocities.  —  Frightful  Position  of  the 
French.  —  Joseph  Bressani:  his  Capture;  his  Treatment; 
HIS  Escape.  —  Anne  de  Noue:  his  Nocturnal  Journey; 
his  Death. 

Two  forces  were  battling  for  the  mastery  of  Can-] 
ada:  on  the  one  side,   Christ,  the  Virgin,  and  the   / 
Angels,  with  their  agents  the  priests;  on  the  otheivj 
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  colo- 
nists.    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  Iro- 
quois were  everywhere,  and  nowhere.  A  yell,  a  vol- 
ley of  bullets,  a  rush  of  screeching  savages,  and  all 


336  THE   IROQUOIS.  [1641-45. 

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.^  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  surround- 
ing tribes  which  they  fully  understood.  Their  pas- 
sions 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  vil- 
lages. 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 

1  Bressani,  when  a  prisoner  among  them,  writes  to  this  effect  in 
a  letter  to  his  Superior.     See  Relation  AbrSgee,  131. 

The  anonymous  author  of  the  Relation  of  1660  says,  that  in  their 
belief,  if  their  nation  were  destroyed,  a  general  confusion  and  over- 
throw of  mankind  must  needs  be  the  consequence.  Relation, 
1660.  a 


i642.]  FORT  RICHELIEU.  887 

the  Huron  country  was  cut  off;  and  three  times  the 
annual  packet  of  letters  sent  thither  to  the  mission- 
aries fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois. 

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  Fran- 
cois 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.^  To  the  great  joy  of  the  colonists,  he 
and  his  companion  were  brought  back  to  Three  Riv- 
ers 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. 

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 

1  During  his  captivity,  he  wrote,  on  a  beaver-skin,  a  letter  to  the 
Dutch  in  French,  Latin,  and  English. 

22 


838  THE   IROQUOIS.  [1642. 

for  its  defence.^  Ten  times  the  number  would  have 
been  scarcely  sufficient;  but  even  this  slight  succor 
was  hailed  with  delight,  and  Montmagny  was  en^ 
abled  to  carry  into  effect  his  plan  of  the  fort,  for 
which  hitherto  he  had  had  neither  builders  nor  gar- 
rison. 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,^ 
sailed  for  the  Richelieu,  in  a  brigantine  and  two  or 
three  open  boats. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  August  he  reached  his  des- 
tination, and  landed  where  the  town  of  Sorel  now 
stands.  It  was  but  eleven  days  before  that  Jogues 
and  his  companions  had  been  captured,  and  Mont- 
magny's  followers  found  ghastly  tokens  of  the  disas- 
ter. 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. ^  Among  the  rest,  a  represen- 
tation 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, 

1  Faillon,  Colonie  Frangaise,  ii.  2 ;  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  2,  44. 

2  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre,  Sept.  29,  1642. 
8  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. 


1W2]       ATTACK  ON  THE  FORT.        339 

and  all  heard  mass;  then  a  volley  of  musketry  waa 
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.^ 

It  was  the  party  of  warriors  that  Jogues  had  met 
on  an  island  in  Lake  Champlain.  But  for  the  cour- 
age of  Du  Rocher,  a  corpoml,  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.  Mont- 
magny,  who  was  on  the  river  in  his  brigantine,  has- 
tened 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 

1  The  Relation  of  1642  says  three  hundred.  Jogues,  who  had 
been  among  them  to  his  cost,  is  the  better  authority. 


840  THE  IROQUOIS.'  [1641-45. 

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  rea- 
sonably secure  against  any  attack  of  savages.^  The 
new  fort,  however,  did  not  effectually  answer  its  pur- 
pose 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. 

While  the  French  were  thus  beset,  their  Indian 
allies  fared  still  worse.  The  effect  of  Iroquois  hos- 
tilities on  all  the  Algonquin  tribes  of  Canada,  from 
the  Saguenay  to  the  Lake  of  the  Nipissings,  had  be- 
come frightfully  apparent.  Famine  and  pestilence 
had  aided  the  ravages  of  war,   till  these  wretched 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  50,  51. 

Assaults  by  Indians  on  fortified  places  are  rare.  The  Iroquois 
are  known,  however,  to  have  made  thera  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. 


1641-45.]        IROQUOIS  AND   ALGONQUIN.  341 

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  Silleiy  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.  "^ 

These  Canadian  tribes  were  undergoing  that  pro^ 
cess  of  extermination,  absorption,  or  expatriation 
which,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  had  for  many 
generations  formed  the  gloomy  and  meaningless  his- 
tory of  the  greater  part  of  this  continent.  Three  or 
four  hundred  Dutch  guns,  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
querors, gave  an  unwonted  quickness  and  decision  to 
the  work,  but  in  no  way  changed  its  essential  char- 
acter.     The  horrible  nature  of   this  warfare  can  b^ 

I  Relation,  1644,  3, 


S42  THE  IROQUOIS.  [1641-42. 

known  only  through  examples;  and  of  these  one  oi 
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  pene- 
trated 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  encamp- 
ment. 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  pleas- 
ure than  hunters  eat  a  boar  or  a  stag."  ^ 

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."^ 

I  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  46.  «  Jbid.,  45. 


1642.]  ATROCITIES.  848 

This  old  man,  who  is  described  aa  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  incred- 
ible hardships,  reached  Three  Rivers,  torn  with  bri- 
ers, 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  prac- 
tices of  the  Iroquois  and  some  of  the  neighboring 
tribes. 

The  conquerors  feasted  in  the  lodge  till  nearly  day- 
break, 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  ej^es  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  pity- 
ing Jesuit.^     At  the  Fall  of  the  Chaudiere,  another 

I  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  46, 


844  THE  IROQUOIS.  [1642. 

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  dis- 
mal chant  of  the  prisoners,  who  were  forced  to  dance 
for  their  entertainment. 

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  sav- 
ages, 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  indescrib- 
able torments.^  The  women  were  stripped  naked, 
and  forced  to  dance  to  the  singing  of  the  male  pris- 
oners, amid  the  applause  and  laughter  of  the  crowd. 

1  "Cette  pauure  creature  qui  s'est  sauuee,  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  nf> 
Jeur  pouuoia  obeir."  —  Buteux  in  Relation,  1642j  47- 


1642.]  IROQUOIS  CRUELTY.  845 

They  then  gave  them  food,  to  strengthen  them  for 
further  suffering. 

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  bum 
their  husbands  and  companions;  and  one  of  them 
obeyed,  vainly  thinking  to  appease  her  tormentors. 
The  stoicism  of  one  of  the  warriors  enraged  his  cap- 
tors beyond  measure.  "Scream I  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.  ^ 


1  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  expre* 


346  THE  IROQUOIS.  [1642. 

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  distrib- 
uted 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  wast- 
ing 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  ca- 
noes and  embarked. 

Well  might  Father  Vimont  call  the  Iroquois  "  the 

sire  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. 


1644.]  BRESSANI'S  JOURNEY.  847 

scourge  of  this  infant  church."  They  bumed,  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  hor- 
ror 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,  bom  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  sea- 
son 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  prog- 
ress. 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 


348  BRESSANI.  [1644. 

had  already  set  forth  for  the  St.  Lawrence,  the 
Ottawa,  and  the  Huron  towns.  ^  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. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  July  following,  Bressani  wrote 
from  the  Iroquois  country  to  the  General  of  the  Jes- 
uits 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.  "^ 

Then  follows  a  modest  narrative  of  what  he  en- 
dured 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 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1644,  41. 

*  This  letter  is  printed  anonymously  in  the  Second  Part,  chap, 
ii.,  of  Bressani's  Relation  Ahregee,  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  este  tesmoin  oculaire  de  tout 
ce  qu'il  a  soufEert  pendant  sa  captiuite."  —  Vimont,  Relation^  1644, 43. 


1644.]        BRESSANI  AMONG  THE   IKOQUOIS.         849 

Chambly,  whence  they  pursued  their  march  on  foot 
among  the  brambles,  rocks^  and  swamps  of  the  track- 
less 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  I"  screamed 
another ;  and  if  he  obeyed  the  first,  the  second  burned 
him.  "We  will  bum  you  to  death;  we  will  eat 
you."  "I  will  eat  one  of  your  feet."  "And  I 
will  eat  one  of  your  hands."  ^  These  scenes  were  re- 
newed every  night  for  a  week.  Every  evening  a 
chief  cried  aloud  through  the  camp,  "  Come,  my  chil- 
dren, come  and  caress  our  prisoners  I "  and  the  sav- 
age crew  thronged  jubilant  to  a  large  hut,  where  the 

1  "Us  me  r^p^taient  sans  cesser  Nous  te  brftlerons;  nous  t« 
mangerons;  je  te  mangerai  un  pied;  et  moi,  une  main,"  et«.— 
Bressani,  in  Relation  Abregee,  137. 


860  BRESSANI.  [1«44. 

captives  lay.  They  stripped  off  the  torn  fragment  of 
a  cassock,  which  was  the  priest's  only  garment; 
burned  him  with  live^pe^  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  frag- 
ment of  deer-skin.^  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  piti- 
less ferocity. 

At  length  they  left  this  encampment,  and,  after  a 

1  "  Chaque  nuit  apr^s  m'avoir  fait  chanter,  et  m'avoir  tourment^ 
comme  ie  Tai  dit,  ils  passaient  environ  un  quart  d'heure  k  me  brtiler 
un  ongle  ou  un  doigt.  II  ne  m'en  reste  maintenant  qu'un  seul 
entier,  et  encore  ils  en  ont  arrach^  I'ongle  avec  les  dents.  Un  soir 
ils  m'enlevaient  un  ongle,  le  lendemain  la  premiere  phalange,  le 
jour  suivant  la  seconde.  En  six  f  ois,  ils  en  brlil^rent  presque  six. 
Aux  mains  seules,  ils  m'ont  appliqu^  le  feu  et  le  fer  plus  de  18  fois, 
et  i'^tais  oblig^  de  chanter  pendant  ce  supplice.  lis  ne  cessaient  de 
me  tourmenter  qu'k  une  ou  deux  heures  de  la  nuit."  —  Bressani, 
Relation  Abregee,  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:  "le  ferois  rougir  ce 
papier,  et  les  oreilles  fr^miroient,  si  ie  rapportois  les  horribles 
traitemens  que  les  Agmeronnous  [the  Mohawk  nation  of  the  Iro- 
quois] ont  faits  sur  quelques  captifs."  He  adds,  that  past  agei 
have  never  heard  of  such.  —  Relation,  1660,  7,  8. 


1644.]  ESCAPE  OF  BRESSANI.  351 

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  com- 
passion 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  amaze- 
ment, 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,  sup- 
plied 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  ar- 


^52  BRESSANI.  [1644. 

rived  on  the  fifteenth  of  November;  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  maimed  and  disfigured,  but  with 
health  restored,  embarked  to  dare  again  the  knives 
and  firebrands  of  the  Iroquois.^ 

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  sever- 
ity towards  enemies  was  a  very  essential  element,  in 
their  savage  conception,  of  the  character  of  the  war- 
rior. Pity  was  a  cowardly  weakness,  at  which  their 
pride  revolted.  This,  joined  to  their  thirst  for  ap- 
plause and  their  dread  of  ridicule,  made  them 
smother  every  movement  of  compassion,  ^  and  con- 
spired with  their  native  fierceness  to  form  a  charac- 
ter of  unrelenting  cruelty  rarely  equalled. 

The  perils  which  beset  the  missionaries  did  not 
spring  from  the  fury  of  the  Iroquois  alone,  for  Na- 

1  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,  ffistoria 
Canadensis,  399-403;  Juehereau,  Histoire  de  VHdtel-Dieu,  53;  and 
Martin,  Biograpkie  du  P.  Francois-Joseph  Bressani,  prefixed  to  the 
Relation  Abregee. 

He  made  no  converts  while  a  prisoner,  but  he  baptized  a  Huron 
catechumen  at  the  stake,  to  the  great  fury  of  the  surrounding  Iro- 
quois. He  has  left,  besides  his  letters,  some  interesting  notei  on 
his  captivity,  preserved  in  the  Relation  Abregee. 

2  Thus,  when  Bressani,  tortured  by  the  tightness  of  the  cordi 
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  usuallj 
complied. 


1646.]  DE  NOUE'S  JOURNEY.  868 

ture  herself  was  armed  with  terror  in  this  stem  wil- 
derness of  New  France.  On  the  thirtieth  of  January, 
1646,  Father  Anne  de  Noug  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  None  was  sixty- 
three  years  old,  and  had  come  to  Canada  in  1625.^ 
As  an  indifferent  memory  disabled  him  from  master- 
ing 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  scar- 
city 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.^ 

The  old  missionary  had  for  companions  two  sol- 
diers 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  coun- 
try, 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, 

1  See  "Pioneers  of  France,"  436. 

*  He  was  peculiarly  sensitive  as  regarded  the  cardinal  Jesuit 
rirtue  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  hii  Superior. 

28 


864  DE  NOUE.  [1646. 

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  None  awoke.  The  moon  shone  like  day- 
light 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  thick- 
ened, 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,  impervi- 
ous 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 


1646]  SEARCH  FOR  DE  NOUfi.  865 

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  None.  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  Noufe*,  and,  to  hi? 
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  con- 
verted 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  Febru- 
&Ty,   he  and  one  of  his  companions,   together  with 


356  DE  NOUE.  [1646. 

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,  rest- 
ing 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.^ 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1646,  9 ;  Marie  de  rincarnation,  Lettre,  10 
Sept.,  1646 ;  Bressani,  Relation  Abregee,  175. 

One  of  the  Indians  who  found  the  body  of  De  None  was  killed 
by  the  Iroquois  at  Ossossane,  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  d  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,"  292.)  Lalemant,  in  the /J^/afion  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  XVni. 

1642-1644. 

VILLEMARIE. 

Intanct  of  Montreal.  —  The  Flood.  —  Vow  of  Maisonkeutb.  — 
Pilgrimage.  —  D'Ailleboust.  —  The  H6tel-Dieu.  —  Piety.  — 
Propagandism.  —  War.  —  Hdrons  and  Iroquois.  —  Doos.  — 
Sally  of  the  French.  —  Battle.  —  Exploit  of  Maisonnedve. 

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  com- 
mandant, 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,  —  Mai- 
sonneuve hewing  down  the  first  tree,  —  and  labored 
with  such  good-will  that  their  tents  were  soon  en- 
closed with  a  strong  palisade,  and  their  altar  covered 
by  a  provisional  chapel,  built,  in  the  Huron  mode,  of 


358  VILLEMARIE.  [1642. 

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.  ^ 

The  day  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  was  cele- 
brated with  befitting  solemnity.  There  was  mass  in 
their  bark  chapel;  then  a  Te  Beum ;  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  red-skinned  behold- 
ers. Cannon,  too,  were  fired,  in  honor  of  their  celes- 
tial 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  Mis- 
tress; and  I  have  scarcely  any  doubt  that  the  tute- 
lary angels  of  the  savages  of  New  France  have 
marked  this  day  in  the  calendar  of  Paradise." ^ 

The  summer  passed  prosperously,  but  with  the 
winter  their  faith  was  put  to  a  rude  test.     In  Decem- 

1  Dollier  de  Casson,  MS. 

*  Vimont,  Relation,  1642,  38.  Compare  Le  Clerc,  Premier  ^t» 
hlissement  de  la  Foy,  ii.  51. 


1648.]  PILGRIMAGE.  859 

ber  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  shoul- 
ders 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  pali- 
sade, 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.^ 

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 


1  A  little  MS.  map  in  M.  Jacques  Viger's  copy  of  Lt  Petit 
Registre  de  la  Cure  de  Montreal  lays  down  the  position  and  shape 
9f  the  fort  at  this  time,  and  shows  the  spot  where  MaisonneuvQ 
planted  the  crpsB. 


360  VILLEMARIE.  [1643 

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  colo- 
nists of  Ville marie.  1 

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.''^  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. 

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.^ 
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  per- 
petual chastity.     By  the  advice  of  her  Jesuit  confes- 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1643,  52,  53. 

2  Veritahles  Motifs,  cited  by  Faillon,  i.  453, 464. 
*  Chaulmer,  101 ;  Juchereau,  91, 


1643.]  SUCCORS.  361 

Bor,  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. ^  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'Aille- 
boust, accompanied  by  her  sister.  Mademoiselle 
Philippine  de  Boulogne,  who  had  caught  the  conta- 
gion 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  enthu- 
siasm in  which  alone  was  the  life  of  Villemarie. 

Their  vessel  passed  in  safety  the  Iroquois  who 
watched  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  its  arrival  filled  the 

1  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  l'H6tel-Dieu  de  Quebec,  276.  The  con- 
fessor told  D'Ailleboust  that  if  he  persuaded  his  wife  to  break  her 
TOW  of  continence,  "  God  would  chastise  him  terribly."  The  nup 
historian  adds  that,  undeterred  by  the  menace,  he  tried  and  failed. 


862  VILLEMARIE.  [1643. 

colonists  with  joy.  D'Ailleboust  was  a  skilful  sol- 
dier, 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  mem- 
ber of  the  Association  of  Montreal  was  called  in 
ignorance  of  her  name,  had  given  funds,  to  the 
amount,  as  afterwards  appeared,  of  forty-two  thou- 
sand livres,  for  the  building  of  a  hospital  at  Ville- 
marie.^  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.  ^  Instead,  therefore,  of  till- 
ing the  land  to  supply  their  own  pressing  needs,  all 
the  laborers  of  the  settlement  were  set  at  this  pious 
though  superfluous  task.^     There  was  no  room  in  the 

^  Archives  du  Seminaire  de  Villemarie,  cited  by  Eaillon,  i.  466. 
The  amount  of  the  gift  was  not  declared  until  the  next  year. 

^  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. 

*  Journal  des  Superieurs  des  Jesuites,  MS. 

The  hospital  was  sixty  feet  long  and  twenty-four  feet  wide,  with 
a  kitchen,  a  chamber  for  Mademoiselle  Mance,  others  for  servants, 


I643.J  MORE  PILGRIMAGES.  863 

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  there- 
fore 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. 

Dauversi^re,  who  had  first  conceived  this  plan  of 
a  hospital  in  the  wilderness,  was  a  senseless  en- 
thusiast, 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  execu- 
tion. 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  conver- 
sion. 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  dan- 
ger less ;  and  armed  men  always  escorted  them,  as  a 

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  enclosure  was  four  arpents  in  extent 
Archives  du  SSminaire  de  Villemarie,  cited  by  Faillon. 


864  VILLEMARIE.  [1643-45. 

precaution  against  the  Iroquois.  ^  The  male  colonists 
were  equally  fervent;  and  sometimes  as  many  as  fif- 
teen or  sixteen  persons  would  kneel  at  once  before 
the  cross  with  the  same  charitable  petition.  ^  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  pilgrim- 
ages, 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  per- 
suade 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  catechising. 
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  Tes- 
souat,  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 

1  Morin,  Annales   de  l'H6tel-Diei,   de  St.  Joseph,  MS.,  cited  by 
Faillon,  i.  457. 

2  Marguerite  Bourgeoys,  Merits  Autog^apkeS:   MS.,  extracts   in 
Faillon,  i.  458. 


1643-45.]  HURONS  AND  IROQUOIS.  865 

the  Faith.  1  He  was  christened  with  the  name  of 
Paul,  and  his  squaw  with  that  of  Madeleine.  Mai- 
sonneuve  rewarded  him  with  a  gun,  and  celebrated 
the  day  by  a  feast  to  all  the  Indians  present.  ^ 

The  French  hoped  to  form  an  agricultural  settle- 
ment 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.^  From  that  time  forth  the  col- 
onists 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 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1643,  54,  55.  Tessouat  was  chief  of  AUu- 
mette  Island,  in  the  Ottawa.  His  predecessor,  of  the  same  name, 
was  Champlain's  host  in  1613.  See  "  Pioneers  of  France  "  ( Samuel 
de  Champlain  ),  chap.  xii. 

*  It  was  the  usual  practice  to  give  guns  to  converts,  "  pour  attirer 
leur  compatriotes  k  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. 

*  Dollier  de  Casion.  MS. 


866  VILLEMARIE.  [1644. 

returned  at  the  sound  of  a  bell,  marching  in  a  com- 
pact body,  prepared  for  an  attack. 

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  Iro- 
quois detached  forty  of  their  warriors,  who  sur- 
prised six  Frenchmen  at  work  hewing  timber  within 
a  gunshot  of  the  fort,  killed  three  of  them,  took 
the  remaining  three  prisoners,  and  returned  in  tri- 
umph. The  captives  were  bound  with  the  usual 
rigor;  and  the  Hurons  taunted  and  insulted  them, 
to  please  their  dangerous  companions.  Their  base- 
ness 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.^ 

1  I  have  followed  Dollier  de  Casson.    Vimont's  account  is  diffep 
ent.    He  saye  that  the  Iroquois  fell  upon  the  Hurons  at  the  outset, 


1644.]  PILOT   AND  HER  BROOD.  367 

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  mission- 
aries 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  hid- 
den 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.  Some- 
times 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  dan- 
ger was  much  diminished,  however,  when  the  colo- 
nists 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 

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  treach- 
ery 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. 


868  VILLEMARIE. 


[1644. 


troop  of  her  offspring.  If  one  of  them  lagged 
behind,  she  bit  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 
naivete^  that  while  this  was  her  duty,  "her  natural 
inclination  was  for  hunting  squirrels.  "^ 

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 

*  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647,  74,  75.  "  Son  attrait  naturel  eitoit  la 
chasse  aux  €curieux/'  DoUier  de  Casson  also  speaks  admiringly  of 
her  and  her  instinct.  Faillon  sees  in  it  a  manifest  proof  of  the  pro- 
tecting care  of  God  over  Villemarie. 


1644.]  BATTLE.  369 

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?"^ 

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 

1  Dollier  de  Caason,  MS. 
24 


370  VILLEMARIE.  [1644. 

countless  pitfalls  hidden  beneath  it,  when  suddenly 
they  were  greeted  with  the  screeches  of  eighty 
Iroquois,^  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  ammu- 
nition 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,  encour- 
aging 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,  mis- 


1  Vimont,  Relation,  1644,  42.  DoUier  de  Casson  says  two  hun 
dred ;  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. 


1644.]  EXPLOIT  OF  MAISONNEUVE.  371 

took  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  Iro- 
quois in  all  the  fight  of  that  morning. 

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  pis- 
tol 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  re- 
treat unmolested,  till  he  was  safe  under  the  cannon 
of  the  fort.  From  that  day,  he  was  a  hero  in  the 
eyes  of  his  men.^ 

1  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 


872  VILLEMARIE.  [1644. 

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. 

the  "Cathedral."    Faillon  thinks  that  Maisonneuve's  exploit  was 
achieved  on  this  very  spot. 

Marguerite  Bourgeoys  also  describes  the  affair  in  her  unpub- 
lished writings. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1644,  1645. 
PEACE. 

Ikoquois  Pkisonebs.  —  Piskaret:  his  Exploits.  —  More  Pris- 
OXERS.  —  Iroquois  Embassy.  —  The  Orator.  —  The  Great 
Council.  —  Speeches  op  Kiotsaton.  —  Muster  of  Savages.  — 
Peace  Confirmed. 

In  the  damp  and  freshness  of  a  midsummer  morn- 
ing, when  the  sun  had  not  yet  risen,  but  when  the 
river  and  the  sky  were  red  with  the  glory  of  approach- 
ing 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  strik- 
ing their  paddles  against  the  edges  of  their  bark  ves- 
sels in  cadence  with  their  voices.  Among  them  three 
Iroquois  prisoners  stood  upright,  singing  loud  and 
defiantly,  as  men  not  fearing  torture  or  death. 


874  PEACE.  [1644. 

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  way- 
lay 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  despatch,  —  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  Algon- 
quins and  the  Hurons,  to  induce  them  to  place  the 
prisoners  in  his  hands.     The  Algonquins  complied  j 


1644.]  THE   IROQUOIS   PRISONERS.  375 

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.^ 

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  Algon- 
quins,  whom  they  now  held  in  contempt.  ^  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 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1644,  45-49. 

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  Algon- 
quins 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," 
211.)  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 


876  PEACE.  [1644, 

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.^  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.^  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  mid- 
night, 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 

1  "Simon  Pieskaret  .  .  ,  n'estoit  Chrestien  qu'en  apparence  et 
par  police."  —  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647,  68.  He  afterwards  became 
a  convert  in  earnest. 

'  Both  the  Iroquois  and  the  Hurons  collected  great  quantities  of 
wood  in  their  villages  in  the  autumn, 


1645.]  EXPLOITS  OF  PISKARET.  377 

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  day- 
light 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.  ^ 

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  Chris- 
tians  than  he,   set  out  on  a  war-party,   and,   after 

1  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. 


878  PEACE.  [1G45. 

dragging  their  canoes  over  the  frozen  St.  Lawrence, 
launched  them  on  the  open  stream  of  the  Richelieu. 
They  ascended  to  Lake  Champlain,  and  hid  them- 
selves in  the  leafless  forests  of  a  large  island,  watch- 
ing 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  die  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  con- 
tained 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 


1645.]  RETURN  OF  PISKARET.  879 

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 
^Rffi^  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.  ^ 

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  bound- 
less delight  of  the  Indians.  Much  to  the  surprise  of 
the  two  captives,  there  was  no  running  of  the  gant- 
let, 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  Siller)^ 
betook  itself  to  feasting  and  rejoicing.  ^     One  old 

1  According  to  Marie  de  I'lncarnation,  Lettre,  14  Sept.,  1645. 
Piskaret  was  for  torturing  the  captives;  but  a  convert,  named 
Bernard  by  the  French,  protested  against  it. 

a  Vimont,  Relation,  1646,  19-21. 


880  PEACE.  [1645. 

woman,  indeed,  came  to  the  Jesuit  with  a  pathetic 
appeal:  "Oh,  my  Father!  let  me  caress  these  pris- 
oners 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.^ 

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  cap- 
tives 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,^!  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. 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1645,  21,  22. 

*  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  Pennsyl- 
vania. 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  narrativa 


1645.]       KIND  TREATMENT  OF   PRISONERS.         381 

Onontio,  you  are  good :  we  are  bad.  But  our  anger 
is  gone;  I  have  no  heart  but  for  peace  and  rejoic- 
ing." 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  I  thus  I  cast  away  the  weapons  of  blood  I  Fare- 
well, war!     Now  I  am  your  friend  forever!  "  ^ 

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,  ambas- 
sadors 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 

*  Vimont,  Relation,  1645,  22,  23.  He  adds,  that,  "  if  these  people 
are  barbarous  in  deed,  they  have  thoughts  worthy  of  Greeks  and 
Romans." 


382  PEACE.  [1645t 

delight,  Guillaume  Couture,  —  the  young  man  cap- 
tured three  years  before  with  Father  Jogues,  and 
long  since  given  up  as  dead.  In  dress  and  appear- 
ance 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.^ 

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 :  — 

1  Marie  de  rincarnation,  Lettre,  14  Sept.,  1645. 


1645.]  THE   AMBASSADOR.  883 

"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  sometimes 
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^ 

He  undoubtedly  belonged  to  that  class  of  professed 
orators  who,  though  rarely  or  never  claiming  the 
honors  of  hereditary  chieftainship,  had  great  influ- 
ence among  the  Iroquois,  and  were  employed  in  all 
affairs  of  embassy  and  negotiation.  They  had  mem- 
ories trained  to  an  astonishing  tenacity,  were  perfect 
in  all  the  conventional  metaphors  in  which  the  lan- 
guage of  Indian  diplomacy  and  rhetoric  mainly  con- 
sisted, 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  Algon- 
quins ;  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  mid- 
summer day;  and  the  sun  beat  hot  upon  the  parched 
area  of  the  fort,  where  awnings  were  spread  to  shel- 
ter 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, 

1  Vimont  Relation,  1645,  24. 


384  PEACE.  [1645i 

—  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  oppo- 
site side  of  the  area  were  the  Algonquins,  in  their 
several  divisions  of  the  Algonquins  proper,  the 
Montagnais,  and  the  Atticamegues,^  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. 

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 

*  The  Atticamegues,  or  tribe  of  the  White  Fish,  dwelt  in  the 
forests  north  of  Three  Rivers.  They  much  resembled  their  Men 
tagnais  kindred. 


1M5.]  SPEECH  OF   KIOTSATON  385 

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  join- 
ing 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  pris- 
oner. I  did  not  say  to  him,  '  Nephew,  take  a  canoe 
and  go  home  to  Quebec. '  I  should  have  been  with- 
out 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  difficul- 
ties 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  tr3dng  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 

26, 


386  PEACE.  [1645. 

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  jour- 
neyed 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 


1645.]  SPEECH   OF  KIOTSATON.  387 

lake.  The  eighth  cleared  the  path  by  land.  "  You 
would  have  said,"  writes  Vimont,  "that  he  was  cut- 
ting down  trees,  hacking  off  branches,  dragging  away 
bushes,  and  filling  up  holes."  —  "Look I  "  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,  feed- 
ing 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 


888  PEACE.  [1645. 

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,  Algon- 
quins,  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."  ^ 

1  Vimont  describes  the  council  at  length  in  the  Relation  of  1646. 
Marie  de  I'lncarnation  also  describes  it  in  a  letter  to  her  son,  of 


Wib.]       VIMONT   AND    THE   AMBASSADORS.         389 

Two  days  after,  another  council  was  called,  when 
the  Governor  gave  his  answer,  accepting  the  proffered 
peace,  and  confirming  his  acceptance  by  gifts  of  con- 
siderable value.  He  demanded  as  a  condition,  that 
the  Indian  allies  of  the  French  should  be  left  unmo- 
lested, 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 

Sept.  14, 1646.    She  evidently  gained  her  inf onnfttion  from  Vimoiift 
and  the  other  Jesuits  present. 


890  PEACE.  [1045. 

gone  before  us  to  tell  them  of  the  good  news  that  we 
are  about  to  bring."  ^ 

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,  "  Fare- 
well, 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 
»nd  the  Northwest;  and  Kiotsaton  had  promised 
i  Vimont,  Relation,  1646,  28. 


1645.]  MUSTER  OF   SAVAGES.  391 

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  way- 
ward 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.  ^ 

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  war- 
riors, 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 

I  Vimont,  Relation,  1646,  29 


392  PEACE.  [1645. 

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  na- 
tion. 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  th^  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.^  In  short,  there 
were  belts  past  numbering,  each  with  its  meaning, 
sometimes  literal,  sometimes  figurative,  but  all  bear- 
ing 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. 

I  Vimont,  Relation,  1646,  34. 


1646.]  PEACE  CONFIRMED.  393 

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. 

CJncbktainties.  —  The  Mission  of  Jogues  :  he  reaches  the 
Mohawks;  his  Reception;  his  Return;  his  Second  Mis- 
sion. —  Warnings  op  Danger.  —  Rage  op  the  Mohawks.  — 
Murder  op  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  con- 
trary, the  Iroquois  envoys  represented,  not  the  con- 
federacy 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  Iro- 


1646.]  THE  MISSION  OF  J0GUE8.  395 

quois,  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.  Imper- 
fect, 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.^ 

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. 

^  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 
Went  worth  Greenhalgh  in  1677,  from  personal  inspection : 

1660.  1677. 

Mohawks 500    ...    300 

Oneidas lOO"  ...    200 

Onondagas 300    ...    350 

Cayugas 300    ...    300 

Senecas 1,000    .    .    .  1,000 

2,200  2,160 


896  THE  PEACE  BROKEN.  [1646. 

No  white  man,  Couture  excepted,  knew  their  lan- 
guage 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.^ 
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. 

He  felt  a  presentiment  that  his  death  was  near, 
and  wrote  to  a  friend,  "I  shall  go,  and  shall  not 
return."  2  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 

*  Lettre  du  P.  Isaac  Jogues  au  R.  P.  Jerosme  L'Allemant.  Moth 
irial,2Mai,16^Q.    MS. 

•  "  Ibo  et  non  redibo."    Lettre  du  P.  Jogues  au  R.  P.    No  date. 


1646.]        JOGUES  REACHES  THE  MOHAWKS.        397 

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."  ^ 
It  would  be  well  if  the  application  of  the  maxim  had 
always  been  as  harmless. 

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  ambi- 
tious Irishman,  in  compliment  to  the  sovereign  from 
whom  he  sought  advancement,  gave  it  the  name  it 
bears.  2 

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 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1646, 16. 

•  Mr.  Shea  very  reasonably  suggests  that  a  change  from  "Lake 
George  "  to  "  Lake  Jogues  "  would  be  equally  easy  and  appropriate. 


398  THE   PEACE  BROKEN.  [1646. 

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  con- 
course. 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  com- 
panions to  go  home  with  all  despatch,  saying  that  if 
they  waited  longer,  they  might  meet  on  the  way  war- 
riors 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 
hot  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 


1646.]  JOGUES  RETURNS.  899 

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.^ 

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. ^ 
This  was  in  July.  Sx)on  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.^  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  donnes  of  the  missions,  was  scarcely  behind  the 
Jesuits  themselves  in  devoted  enthusiasm. 

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 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1646,  17. 

•  Journal  des  Superieurs  des  Jesuites.     MS.  •  Ibid. 


400  THE  PEACE   BROKEN.  [1646. 

to  return,  had  left  in  their  charge  a  small  chest  or 
box.  From  the  first  they  were  distrustful,  suspect- 
ing that  it  contained  some  secret  mischief.  He  there- 
fore 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  eat- 
ing their  corn:  this  was  ascribed  to  the  sorceries  of 
the  Jesuit.^  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.^  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 

^  Lettre  de  Marie  de  V Incarnation  h  son  Fits.     Quebec,  .  .  .  1647. 
*  See  Introduction,  41. 


1646.]  RAGE  OF  THE  MOHAWKS.  401 

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  gov- 
ernment 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. 

The  warrioi-s  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  sur- 
rounded 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."^  —  "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.  "^    The  clans 

*  Lettre  du  P.  De  Quen  au  R.  P.  Lalemant.    No  date.     MS. 
2  Lettre  de  J.  Labatie  d  M.  La  Montagne,  Fort  d' Orange,  30   Oa. 
1646.    MS.  26 


402  THE   PEACE  BROKEN.  [1646. 

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. 

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,^  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  sus- 
pense 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  enclosed 
the  town.  2 

1  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,  bap- 
tized, 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  Rague- 
neau,  after  recounting  his  exemplary  conduct.  —  Relation^  1660, 43-48. 

*  In  respect  to  the  death  of  Jogues,  the  best  authority  ii  thp 


1646.]  CHARACTER  OF  JOGUES.  403 

Thus  died  Isaac  Jogues,  one  of  the  purest  examples 
of  Roman  Catholic  virtue  which  this  Western  con- 
tinent 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  guid- 
ance of  his  own  judgment,  his  self-distrust  made  liim 
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  hisi 
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. 

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  enclosed  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  Relet* 
tions  of  1647  and  1650. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1646,  1647. 

ANOTHER  WAR. 

Mohawk  Inroads.  —  The  Hunters  of  Men.  —The  Captive  Con- 
verts.—  The  Escape  of  Marie:  her  Story. — The  Algon- 
QuiN  Prisoner's  Revenge  :  her  Flight.  —  Terror  op  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  prowl- 
ing 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 


1647.]  THE  HUNTERS  OF  MEN.  405 

and  all-enduring  warriors,  two-thirds  gave  out  on  the 
way,  and  returned,  complaining  that  the  season  was 
too  severe.^  Two  hundred  or  more  kept  on,  divided 
into  several  bands. 

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  inhab- 
itants, 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  hillsides,  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- 

1  Lettre  du  P.  Buteux  au  R.  P.  Lalemant.    MS. 


40^  ANOTHER  WAR.  [1647. 

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.^  All  the 
hunters  were  soon  after  waylaid,  overpowered  by 
numbers,  and  killed  or  taken  prisoners. 

Another  band  of  the  Mohawks  had  meanwhile  pur- 
sued the  other  party  of  Algonquins,  and  overtaken 
them  on  the  march,  as,  encumbered  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  mas- 
sacre 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 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647,  4.  Marie  de  rincarnation,  Lettre  d 
son  Fils.  Quebec,  .  .  .  1647.  Perrot's  account,  drawn  from  tradi' 
tion,  is  different,  though  not  essentially  so. 


1647.]  FEROCITY   OF  THE   IROQUOIS.  407 

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. 


408  ANOTHER  WAR  [lQ4t7 

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  sym- 
pathy, 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  com- 
panions 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 


i647.]  ADVENTURES  OF  MARIE.  409 

resolved  to  fly.  The  ground  was  still  covered  with 
snow,  and  her  footprints  would  infallibly  have  be- 
trayed her,  if  she  had  not,  instead  of  turning  towards 
home,  followed  the  beaten  Indian  path  westward. 
She  journeyed  on,  confused  and  irresolute,  and  tor- 
tured 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  hand- 
fuls  of  com  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  tor- 


410  ANOTHER  WAR.  [1647. 

toises  in  the  muddy  brooks.  She  had  the  good  for- 
tune 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  cover- 
ing 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  dis- 
covered a  party  of  Iroquois  hunters ;  but  she  lay  con- 
cealed, 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  driv- 
ing 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.^ 

1  This  story  is  taken  from  the  Relation  of  1647,  and  the  letter  of 
Marie  de  Tlncarnation  to  her  son,  before  cited.    The  woman  must 


1647.J  THE  CAPTIVE  ALGONQUIN.  411 

Her  journey  from  Onondaga  had  occupied  about 
two  months,  under  hardships  which  no  woman  but  a 
squaw  could  have  survived.  Escapes  not  less  re- 
markable 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  war- 
riors 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  cap- 
tives, 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  secur- 
ing 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 

have  descended  the  great  rapids  of  Lachine  in  her  canoe,  —  a  feat 
demanding  no  ordinary  nerve  and  skill. 


412  ANOTHER  WAR.  [1647. 

easy.  Slie  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  direc- 
tion. In  the  morning  they  found  her  tracks  and 
followed  them.  On  the  second  day  they  had  over- 
taken 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  bodj? 


1647.]  THE  FUGITIVE  SQUAW.  413 

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  modem 
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  drift- 
wood 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 


414  ANOTHER  WAR.  [1647. 

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.^ 
^  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  con- 
trary, 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.  "^ 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647, 15, 16.  «  Ibid.,  8. 


CHAPTER  XXn. 

1645-1651. 

PRIEST  AND  PURITAN. 

MiBCOU.  —  Tadoussac.  —  Journeys  of  Db  Quen.  —  Druilletes. 
HIS  Winter  with  the  Montagnais.  —  Influence  of  the  Mis« 
siONS.  —  The  Abenakis.  —  Druilletes  on  the  Kennebec:  his 
Embassy  to  Boston.  —  Gibbons.  —  Dudley. — Bradford. — 
Eliot.  —  Endicott.  —  French  and  Puritan  Colonization. -r- 
Failure  of  Druilletes's  Embassy.  —  New  Regulations.— 
New- Year's  Day  at  Quebec.  ' 

Before  passing  to  the  closing  scenes  of  this  wil-\ 
derness  drama,  we  will  touch  briefly  on  a  few  points   \ 
aside  from  its  main  action,  yet  essential  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  scope  of  the  mission.     Besides  theii^^^. 
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  sav- 
ages of  those  shores,  and  confessed  the  French  fisher- 
men."  Th€r~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 


416  PRIEST  AND  PURITAN.  [1640-47. 

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.  Sometimes  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  Mon- 
tagnais, among  the  forests  on  the  northern  boundary 
of  Maine.  Now  Father  Gabriel  Druilletes  sets  forth 
on  a  similar  excursion,  but  with  one  essential  differ- 
ence. 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 


1644-45.]     INFLUENCE  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  417 

camp,  and  no  festival  of  the  Church  passed  unob- 
served. 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.^  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  be- 
come 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  dia- 
bolic 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 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1646, 16. 
27 


418  PRIEST   AND  PURITAN.  [1644-45. 

were  in  close  relations  with  any  respectable  com- 
munity 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  obe- 
dient 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  mis- 
sions 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  vir- 
tually 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  con- 
clusion. 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. 


1646.]         DRUILLETES  ON   THE   KENNEBEC.         419 

To  return  to  Druilletes.  The  smoke  of  the  wig- 
wam 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 
Abenakis,  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 
Abenakis  sent  to  Quebec  to  ask  for  a  missionary. 
Apart  from  the  saving  of  souls,  there  were  solid 
reasons  for  acceding  to  their  request.  The  Abenakis 
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.^  Their  messengers  were  favorably 
received ;  and  Druilletes  was  ordered  to  proceed  upon 
the  new  mission. 

He  left  Sillery,  with  a  party  of  Indians,  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  August,  1646,2  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  Kenne- 
bec and  descended   to  the  Abenaki  villages.     Here 

1  Charlevoix,  i.  280,  gives  this  as  a  motive  of  the  mission. 

2  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647,  61. 


420  PRIEST  AND  PURITAK.  [1646-47. 

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  cor- 
diality. 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,  catechising 
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  king- 
doms of  this  world,  but  very  small  as  a  price  for  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven.  "^  They  encamped  on  Moose- 
head  Lake,  where  new  disputes  with  the  "  medicine- 
men" ensued,  and  the  Father  again  remained  master 
of  the  field.     When,  after  a  prosperous  hunt,  the 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1647,  64.    For  an  account  of  this  mission, 
see  also  Maurault,  Histoire  des  Abenakis,  116-166., 


1650.]  DRUILLETES   SENT   TO   BOSTON.  421 

paxty  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.  ^ 

Early  in  the  summer  Druilletes  went  to  Quebec ; 
and  during  the  two  following  years,  the  Abenakis, 
for  reasons  which  are  not  clear,  were  left  without  a 
missionary.  He  spent  another  winter  of  extreme 
hardship  with  the  Algonquins  on  their  winter  rov- 
ings,  and  during  the  summer  instructed  the  wander- 
ing savages  of  Tadoussac.  It  was  not  until  the 
autumn  of  1650  that  he  again  descended  the  Kenne- 
bec. 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. 


I  Winslow  would  scarcely  have  recognized  hit  own  name  in  the 
Jesuit  spelling,  —  "Le  Sieur  de  Houinslaud."  In  his  journal  of 
1660  Druilletes  is  more  successful  in  his  orthography,  and  spells  it 
Wintlau. 


\ 


422  PRIEST   AND  PURITAN.  [1650. 

The  Colony  of  Massachusetts  had  applied  to  the 
French  officials  at  Quebec,  with  a  view  to  a  reci- 
procity 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  con- 
dition of  military  aid.  But  as  the  Puritans  would 
scarcely  see  it  for  their  interest  to  provoke  a  danger- 
ous enemy,  who  had  thus  far  never  molested  them,  it 
was  resolved  to  urge  the  proposed  alliance  as  a  point 
of  duty.  The  Abenakis  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  Abenaki  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  bul- 
wark against  the  kingdom  of  Antichrist,  which  the 
Jesuits  labor  to  rear  up  in  all  places  of  the  world,"  ^ 
but,  three  years  before,  the  Legislature  of  Massachu- 
setts had  enacted  that  Jesuits  entering  the  colony 
should  be  expelled,  and  if  they  returned,  hanged.  ^ 


1  Considerations  for  the  Plantation  in  New  England.  (See  Hutch- 
inson, Collection,  27.)  Mr.  Savage  thinks  that  this  paper  was  b;y 
Winthrop.     See  Savage's  Winthrop,  i.  360,  note. 

2  See  the  Act,  in  Hazard,  660. 


1650.]  EDWARD  GIBBONS.  423 

Nevertheless,  on  the  first  of  September,  Dniilletes 
set  forth  from  Quebec  with  a  Christian  chief  of 
Sillery,  crossed  forests,  mountains,  and  torrents,  and 
reached  Norridgewock,  the  highest  Abenaki  settle- 
ment on  the  Kennebec.  Thence  he  descended  to  the 
English  trading-house  at  Augusta,  where  his  fast 
friend,  the  Puritan  Winslow,  gave  him  a  warm  wel- 
come, entertained  him  hospitably,  and  promised  to 
forward  the  object  of  his  mission.  He  went  with 
him,  at  great  personal  inconvenience,  to  Merrymeet- 
ing  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  Gib- 
bons, 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  common- 
wealth, and  a  major-general.^  The  Jesuit,  with  cre- 
dentials from  the  Governor  of  Canada  and  letters 
from  Winslow,  met  a  reception  widely  different  from 
that  which  the  law  enjoined  against  persons  of  his 

1  An  account  of  him  will  be  found  in  Palfrejr,  History  o/Nev 
England,  ii.  226,  note, 


424  PRIEST   AND  PURITAN.  [1650. 

profession.^  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.^  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,  be- 
came the  gracious  host  of  one  of  those  whom,  next  to 
the  Devil  and  an  Anglican  bishop,  she  most  abhorred. 
On  the  next  day.  Gibbons  took  his  guest  to  Rox- 
bury,  —  called  Bogsbray  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  cre- 
dentials. He  received  Druilletes  with  courtesy,  and 
promised  to  call  the  magistrates  together  on  the  fol- 
lowing 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,  de- 

1  In  the  Act,  an  exception,  however,  was  made  in  f aror  of  Jesuits 
coming  as  ambassadors  or  envoys  from  their  government,  who  were 
declared  not  liable  to  the  penalty  of  hanging. 

a  J.  G.  Shea,  in  Boston  Pilot, 


1660-61.]  ELIOT.  425 

sired  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  Abenaki  Indians  were  within  the  juris- 
diction of  Plymoutli,^  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  Abenakis.^  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  dur- 
ing the  past  summer  had  established  his  mission  at 
Natick,^  and  was  now  laboring,  in  the  fulness  of  his 
zeal,    in  the  work   of   civilization  and  conversion. 

1  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. 

^  The  Record  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth,  June  6,  1651,  contains, 
however,  the  entry,  "  The  Court  declare  themselves  not  to  be  will- 
ing 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). 

»  See  Palfrey,  New  England,  u.  336. 


426  PRIEST   AND   PURITAN.  [1650-51. 

There  was  great  sympathy  between  the  two  mission- 
aries ;  and  Eliot  prayed  his  guest  to  spend  the  winter 
with  him. 

At  Salem,  which  Druilletes  also  visited,  in  com- 
pany 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.^ 

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. ^  These  numbers  may  be 
challenged ;  but,  at  all  events,  the  contrast  was  strik- 
ing 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 

1  On  Druilletes's  visit  to  New  England,  see  his  journal,  entitled 
Narre  du  Voyage  faict  pour  la  Mission  des  Ahenaquois,  et  des  Connois- 
sances  tirez  de  la  Nouvelle  Angleterre  et  des  Dispositions  des  Magistrats 
de  cette  Republique  pour  le  Secours  contre  les  Iroquois.  See  also  Druil- 
letes, Rapport  sur  le  Resultat  de  ses  Negotiations,  in  Ferland,  Notes  sut 
Us  Registres,  95. 

^  Druilletes,  Reflexions  touchant  ce  qu'on  peut  esperer  de  la  NouvelU 
Angleterre  contre  Vlrocquois  (sic),  appended  to  his  journal. 


1650-51.]  THE  RIVAL  COLONIES.  427 

persecution  had  given  the  impulse  to  Puritan  colo- 
nization; 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  colo- 
nists ;  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. 

To  the  mind  of  the  Puritan,  heaven  was  God's 
tKrone7T>ut  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 


428  PRIEST  AND  PURITAN.  [1651. 

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  prepara- 
tion 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  car- 
ried 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  negl-ected  body  to  dwindle 
and  pine,  till  body  and  mind  alike  lapse  into  feeble- 
ness and  disease. 

Druilletes  returned  to  the  Abenakis,  and  thence 
to  Quebec,  full  of  hope  that  the  object  of  his  mis- 
sion was  in  a  fair  way  of  accomplishment.  The 
Governor,  D'Ailleboust,^  who  had  succeeded  Mont- 
magny,  called  his  council;  and  Druilletes  was  again 
despatched  to  New  England,  together  with  one  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  Quebec,  Jean  Paul  Godefroy.2 
They  repaired  to  New  Haven,  and  appeared  before 
the  Commissioners  of  the  Four  Colonies,  then  in  ses- 

1  The  same  who,  with  his  wife,  had  joined  the  colonists  of  Mont- 
real.   See  ante,  360. 

2  He  was  one  of  the  Governor's  council.  Ferland,  Notes  $ur  Us 
ftegistres,  67, 


1C51.1  CHANGES  AT  QUEBEC.  429 

Bion  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  descend- 
ant, 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.^ 

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  sup- 
port the  missions.  The  Company  was  to  receive, 
besides,  an  annual  acknowledgment  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 

1  On  Druilletes's  second  embassy,  see  Lettre  Scrite  par  le  Conseil 
de  Quebec  aux  Commissionaires  de  la  Nouvelle  Angleterre,  in  Charle- 
voix, i.  287 ;  Extrait  des  Registres  de  I'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  Propo- 
sitions presented  by  the  honered  French  Agents,  Ibid,,  ii.  184;  and 
Hutchinson,  Collection  of  Papers,  240.  Also,  Records  of  the  Commis' 
sioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  Sept.  6,  1661 ;  and  Commission  of  Druil 
Utes  and  Godefroy,  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.  ix.  6. 


480  PRIEST  AND  PURITAN.  [1645-51. 

no  individual  could  trade  on  his  own  account,  except 
on  condition  of  selling  at  a  fixed  price  to  the  magazine 
of  this  new  company.  ^ 

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  exec- 
utive. 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  circum- 
stances, 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  destruc- 
tion. In  the  next  year,  at  the  instance  of  Maison- 
neuve,  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  ex- 
pected, was  removed;  and,  as  Maisonneuve  declined 
the    office,    d'Ailleboust,    another   Montrealist,    was 

1  Articles  accordes  entre  les  Directeurs  et  Associes  de  la  Compagnie 
de  la  iV«"«  France  et  les  Deputes  des  Hahitans  du  dit  Pays^  6  Mars^ 
1645.     MS. 


1645-51.]  NEW  REGULATIONS.  431 

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. ^  These  last  were  to  be 
chosen  every  three  years  by  the  Council  itself,  in  con- 
junction 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. 

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  capa- 
city of  director  of  a  fur-company  is  nowhere  recorded.  ^ 

1  The  Govern  ore  of  Montreal  and  Three  Rivers,  when  present, 
had  also  seats  in  the  Council. 

*  Those  curious  in  regard  to  these  new  regulations  will  find  an 
account  of  them  at  greater  length,  in  Ferland  and  Faillon. 


432  PRIEST   AND  PURITAN.  [1645-51. 

As  for  Montreal,  though  it  had  given  a  Governor 
to  the  colony,  its  prospects  were  far  from  hopeful. 
The  ridiculous  Dauversiere,  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  Mon- 
sieur the  Governor;  and  so  did  also  the  inhabitants 


1645-51.]  NEW-YEAR'S   DAY.  433 

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 
Chatelets,  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  Repen- 
tigny.  The  Ursulines  sent  to  beg  that  1  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  hand- 
kerchiefs 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.'*  ^ 

^  Journal  des  Supirieurs  des  Jesuites,  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 

28 


434  PRIEST   AND  PURITAN.  [1645-51. 

Beauport,  and  a  member  of  the  Council ;  Des  Ch^telets  was  one  of 
the  earliest  settlers,  and  connected  by  marriage  with  Giffard ;  Cou- 
illard  was  son-in-law  of  the  first  settler,  Hebert ;  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  his- 
toric Plains  of  Abraham  received  their  name.  (See  Ferland,  Notes 
sur  Registres,  16.)  The  rest  were  servants,  or  persons  of  humble 
6t8^ion. 


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  Ambas- 
sador :  HIS  Suicide.  —  Iroquois  Honor. 

It  was  a  strange  and  miserablQ  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  annihila- 
tion of  this  rival  people  and  of  their  Algonquin  allies, 
—  if  the  understanding  between  the  Hurons  and  these 


436  A   DOOMED  NATION.  [1645-4a 

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  supe- 
riority 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  organiza- 
tion, it  was  far  better  than  that  of  their  neighbor. 
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. ^ 

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 

1  See  ante.  Introduction. 


1638.]  IROQUOIS  AND  HURON.  437 

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  tor- 
ture 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  Teanaustay^,  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 


438  A  DOOMED  NATION.  [1638-4a 

wrought  himself  into  a  fury  which  seemed  to  render 
him  insensible  to  pain.  Thinking  him  nearly  spent, 
his  tormentors  scalped  him,  when,  to  their  amaze- 
ment, he  leaped  up,  snatched  the  brands  that  had 
been  the  instruments  of  his  torture,  drove  the  screech- 
ing 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.^ 

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  them- 
selves so  well. that  they  had  nearly  gained  the  day, 

1  Lalemant,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1639,  68.  It  was  this  chief 
whose  eevered  hand  was  thrown  to  the  Jesuits.    See  ante,  229. 


1645.]  DIPLOMACY   AND   WAR.  439 

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  favor- 
able moment,  fell  upon  their  dupes  and  routed  them 
completely,  killing  and  capturing  a  considerable 
number.^ 

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 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  66. 


440  A  DOOMED  NATION.  [1645. 

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  mid- 
night, 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.  1 

Despite  such  petty  triumphs,  the  Hurons  felt  them- 
selves 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  friend- 
ship 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.  ^  The  way 
was  long,  even  in  a  direct  line ;  but  the  Iroquois  lay 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  55,  66. 

*  See  Introduction,  36.  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."  Compare 
Historical  Magazine,  ii.  294. 


1647.]  THE  HURON  EMBASSY.  441 

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  hun- 
dred 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."^ 

Then  he  presented  the  wampum-belts  and  other 
gifts,  saying  that  they  were  the  voice  of  a  djdng 
country. 

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  coun- 

1  "  II  leur  dit  qu'il  venoit  du  pays  des  Ames,  oh  la  guerre  et  la 
terreur  des  ennemis  auoit  tout  desoM,  oii  les  campagnes  n'estoient 
couuertes  que  de  sang,  ou  les  cabanes  n'estoient  remplies  que  de 
cadaures,  et  qu'il  ne  leur  restoit  k  eux-mesmes  de  vie,  sinon  autant 
qu'ils  en  auoient  eu  besoin  pour  venir  dire  k  leurs  amis,  qu'ils 
eussent  piti6  d'vn  pays  qui  tiroit  ii  sa  fin."  —  Ragueneau,  Relation 
del  Hurons,  1648,  68. 


442  A  DOOMED  NATtOir.  [1647. 

cils,  they  determined  to  send  ambassadors,  not  to 
their  old  enemies  the  Mohawks,  but  to  the  Onondagas. 
Oneidas,  and  Cayugas,^  who  were  geographically  the 
oentral  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  them- 
selves 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. 

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.  ^ 

Early  in   the   spring,   a  band  of   Onondagas  had 

1  Examination  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Ouiouenronnons  of  Rague- 
neau  (Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  46,  59)  were  the  Oiogouins  or  Goyo- 
gouins,  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  1688 

2  On  this  mission  of  the  Hurons  to  the  Andastes,  see  Ragueneau, 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1648.  58-60. 


1647.]  NEW  NEGOTIATIONS.  443 

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  Onon- 
daga 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  war- 
like 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  jeal- 
ous 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 


444  A   DOOMED   NATION.  [1647. 

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  midsummer,  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  re- 
jecting 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  delib- 
eration, 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,  carrjdng  a  pro- 
fusion of  presents,  and  accompanied  by  the  apostate 
envoy  of  the  Iroquois.  As  the  ambassadors  had  to 
hunt   on   the   way  for  subsistence,   besides   making 


1647.  J  THE  IROQUOIS  AMBASSADOR.  445 

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 


446  A  DOOMED  NATION.  [1648. 

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  pre- 
sented 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  Onon- 
dagas accompanying  them.  Soon  there  came  dire 
tidings.  The  prophetic  heart  of  the  old  chief  had 
not  deceived  him.  The  Senecas  and  Mohawks,  dis- 
regarding 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,  how- 
ever, 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 


1648]  IROQUOIS   HONOR.  447 

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!"! 

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  country- 
men. ^    Here,  then,  is  a  ray  of  light  out  of  Egyptian 

1  This  remarkable  story  is  told  by  Ragueneau,  Relation  des 
Hurons,  1648,  56-68.  He  was  present  at  the  time,  and  knew  all  the 
circumstances. 

*  "  Celuy  qui  l*auoit  prise  estoit  Onnontaeronnon,  qui  estant  icy 
eA  ostage  k  cause  de  la  paix  qui  se  traite  auec  Ics  Onnontaeronnont, 


448  A  DOOMED  NATION.  [1648, 

darkness.  The  principle  of  honor  was  not  extinct  in 
these  wild  hearts. 

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. 

et  s'estant  trouud  auec  nos  Hurons  k  cette  chasse,  y  fut  pris  tout 
des  premiers  par  les  Sonnontoueronnons  {Annieronnons  ?),  qui  I'ayans 
reconnu  ne  luy  firent  aucun  mal,  et  mesme  Tobligerent  de  les  suiure 
et'prendre  part  k  leur  victoire ;  et  ainsi  en  ce  rencontre  cet  Onnontae- 
ronnon  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  k  lea 
suiure,  et  qu'il  auroit  honte  de  reparoistre  en  son  pays,  les  affaires 
qui  I'auoient  amen&  aux  Hurons  pour  la  paix  ne  permettant  pas 
qu'il  fist  autre  chose  que  de  mourir  avec  eux  plus  tost  que  de  pa- 
roistre  s'estre  comport^  en  ennemy.  Ainsi  les  Sonnontoueronnons 
luy  permirent  de  s'en  retourner  et  de  ramener  cette  bonne  Chres- 
tienne,  qui  estoit  sa  captiue,  laquelle  nous  a  console  par  le  recit  des 
entretiens  de  ces  pauures  gens  dans  leur  afiliction."  —  Kagueneau, 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  66. 

Apparently  the  word  Sonnontoueronnons  (Senecas),  in  the  above, 
should  read  Annieronnons  (Mohawks) ;  for,  on  pages  50,  57,  the 
writer  twice  speaks  of  the  party  as  Mohawks. 


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  fer- 
vor. In  some  towns  the  Christians  outnumbered  the 
heathen,  and  in  nearly  all  they  formed  a  strong 
party.  The  mission  of  La  Conception,  or  Ossossan^, 
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 :  ^  for  we  have  seen  that  the  Huron  towns 
were  christened  with  names  of  saints.     Each  church 

^  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  66. 


450  THE  HURON   CHURCH.  [1645-4a 

had  its  bell,  which  was  sometimes  hung  in  a  neigh- 
boring tree.^  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,  con- 
trasted with  the  sheen  of  tinsel  and  gilding,  and  the 
hues  of  gay  draperies  and  gaudy  pictures.  At  even- 
ing they  met  again  at  prayers  j  and  on  Sunday, 
masses,  confession,  catechism,  sermons,  and  repeating 
the  rosary  consumed  the  whole  day.^ 

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  Etienne  Totiri,  while  his  heathen  countrymen 
were  tormenting  a  captive  Iroquois  at  St.  Ignace, 
boldly  denounced  them,  and  promised  them  an  eter- 
nity 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,  wliich  Etienne 
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  I  Let 
the  devils  burn  him  after  we  have  done  I  "  ^ 

1  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  elabo- 
rate workmanship.  Before  1644  the  Jesuits  had  used  old  copper 
kettles  as  a  substitute.    Lettre  de  Lalemant,  31  March,  1644. 

2  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  56. 

*  Ibid.,  68.    The  Hurons  often  resisted  the  baptism  of  their  pris- 


1645-48.]  THE  TORTURE.  451 

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  tor- 
ments of  Purgatory.  Yet,  while  schooling  them- 
selves to  despise  the  body,  and  all  the  pain  or 
pleasure  that  pertained  to  it,  the  Fathers  were  em- 
phatic on  one  point,  —  it  must  not  be  eaten.  In  the 
matter  of  cannibalism,  they  were  loud  and  vehement 
in  invective.  1 

oners,  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,  63,  and  several  other 
passages. 

1  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  tor- 
ments. Forthwith  the  Faith  finds  a  place  in  his  heart.  He  recog- 
nizes and  adores,  as  the  author  of  his  life,  Him  whoso  name  he  had 


462  tHfi  HURON  caURCH.  [1645-48. 

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  priere  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  [Br^beuf]  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  con- 
vert 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 


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  Ilurons,  1641, 67. 
The  Sun,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  god  of  the  heathen  Iro- 
quois. The  convert  appealed  to  his  old  deity  to  rejoice  with  him  in 
his  happy  future. 


1645-48.]  THE  FRENCH   HEAVEN.  453 

is  mainly  to  do  the  Devil's  bidding,  preside  over 
ceremonies  of  hell,  and  excite  the  young  Indians  to 
dances,  feasts,  and  shameless  indecencies."^ 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  proselytes  were 
difl&cult  to  make,  or  that,  being  made,  they  often 
relapsed.  The  Jesuits  complain  that  they  had  no  f 
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  missiogu? 

Among  the  slanders  devised  by  the  heathen  party 
against  the  teachers  of  the  obnoxious  doctrine  was 
one  which  found  wide  credence,  even  among  the  con- 
verts, 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  incon- 
ceivable 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  celes- 
tial abode.  They  baptized  Indians  with  no  other 
object  than  that  they  might  have  them  to  torment 

1  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. 

*  Lettre  du  P.  Hierosme  Lalemant,  appended  to  the  Relation  of 
1646. 


454  THE   HURON   CHURCH.  [1648. 

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  bum.  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.^ 

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,  go- 
ing out  at  evening  a  short  distance  from  the  Jesuit 
house  of  Sainte  Marie,  was  tomahawked  by  unknown 
Indians,  2  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 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1646,  65. 

2  Ihid.,  1648,  77.  Compare  Lettre  du  P.  Jean  de  Brebeufau  T.  R. 
P.  Vincent  Carafa,  General  de  ta  Compagnie  de  Jesus,  Sainte  Marie 
2  Juin,  1648,  in  Carayon. 


1648.]  MURDER  AND  ATONEMENT.  466 

atonement  for  the  crime  by  presents. ^  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. 

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 

^  See  Introduction,  64. 


456  THE   HURON   CHURCH.  [1648. 

your  nephew,^  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  mur- 
derer, that  he  aimed  at  the  head  of  a  young  French- 
man; 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  swal- 
lowed 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  engulf  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  them- 
selves 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 

1  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. 


1648.]  MURDER  AND  ATONEMENT.  457 

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  satisfac- 
tion 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." 

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,  indi- 
cating the  number  of  presents  which  he  required  in 
satisfaction  for  the  murder.  These  sticks  were  dis- 
tributed 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  col- 
lect 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  pub- 
lic spirit,   the  contributions   were  ample.     No   one 


458  THE  HURON  CHURCH.  [1648. 

thought  of  molesting  the  murderers.  Their  punish- 
ment 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  con- 
vened 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.  ^  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 

1  Ragueneau  himself  describes  the  scene.  Relation  des  Uurons 
1648,  80. 


1648.]  MURDER  AND  ATONEMENT.  469 

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.^  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. 

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  essen- 
tially consisted,  —  the  rest,  amounting  to  as  many 
more,  being  only  accessory.  ^  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  significa- 

1  Ragueneau  says,  "  les  huit  nations ; "  but,  as  the  Hurons  con- 
sisted of  only  four,  or  at  most  five,  nations,  he  probably  means  the 
clans.    For  the  nature  of  these  divisions,  see  Introduction,  41-44. 

*  The  number  was  unusually  large,  —  partly  because  the  afifair 
was  thought  very  important,  and  partly  because  the  murdered  man 
belonged  to  another  nation.    See  Introduction,  64, 


460  THE   HURON   CHURCH.  [1648. 

tion  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  re- 
quired. The  last  placed  a  large  stone  over  the  closed 
gulf,  to  make  it  doubly  secure. 

Now  came  another  series  of  presents,  seven  in  num- 
ber, —  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. 


1648.]  PORTENTS  OF  WAR.  461 

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,  enclosing  a  number  of 
buildings.     Your  canoe  enters  a  canal  or  ditch  imme- 


i6480  CENTRE  OF   THE  MISSIONS.  463 

diately  above  them,  and  you  land  at  the  Mission,  or 

Residence,  or  Fort  of  Sainte  Marie.  , . 

Here  was  the  centre  and  base  of  the  Huron  mis- 
sions ;  and  now,  for  once,  one  must  wish  that  Jesuit 
pens  had  been  more  fluent.  They  have  told  lis  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.^  The 
fortified  work  which  enclosed  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,  ^  flanked 
with  square  bastions,  adapted  to  musketry,  and  prob- 
ably 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. ^     The  buildings  within  were,  no  doubt, 

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  superstruc- 
ture. Ragueneau,  in  a  letter  to  the  General  of  the  Jesuits,  dated 
March  13, 1660,  alludes  to  the  defences  of  Sainte  Marie  as  "  une  sim- 
ple palissade." 

•  "  Quatre  grandes  Croix  qui  sont  aux  quatre  coins  de  nostre  en- 
cloa."  —  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  81. 


464  SAINTE   MARIE.  [1648. 

of  wood;  and  they  included  a  church,  a  kitchen,  a 
refectory,  places  of  retreat  for  religious  instruction 
and  meditation,^  and  lodgings  for  at  least  sixty  per- 
sons. 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  man- 
ner.*'^ 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.^ 

No  doubt  the  buildings  of  Sainte  Marie  were  of 
the  roughest,  —  rude  walls  of  boards,  windows  with- 
out 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  whic*h,  he  adds,  would 
have  made  but  a  beggarly  show  in  France.  Yet  one 
wonders,  at  first  thought,  how  so  much  labor  could 

1  It  seems  that  these  places,  besides  those  for  the  priests,  were 
of  two  kinds,  — "  vne  retraite  pour  les  pelerins  {Indians),  enfin  vn 
lieu  plus  separ^,  oil  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. 

2  At  least  it  was  so  in  1642.  "  Nous  leur  auons  dress^  vn  Hos- 
pice ou  Cabane  d'ecorce."  —  Ihid.,  1642,  57. 

*  "  Get  hospital  est  tellement  separ^  de  nostre  demeure,  que  non 
seulement  les  hommes  et  enfans,  mais  les  femmea  y  peuuent  estre 
admiBes." — Ibid.,  1644,  74. 


1648.]  ITS   INMATES.  465 

have  been  accomplished  here. ;  Of  late  years,  how- 
ever, the  number  of  men  at  the  command  of  the  mis- 
sion 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  reinforce- 
ment just  arrived  from  France  to  escort  Br^beuf, 
Garreau,  and  Chabanel  to  the  Hurons,  and  remain 
there  during  the  winter.  ^  These  soldiers  lodged  with 
the  Jesuits,  and  lived  at  their  table.  ^  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  danger- 
ous 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. ^  Many  availed  them- 
selves 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, 

1  Vimont,  Relation,  1644,  49.  He  adds,  that  some  of  these  sol- 
diers, though  they  had  once  been  "assez  mauvais  gar9on8,"  had 
shown  great  zeal  and  devotion  in  behalf  of  the  mission. 

2  Journal  des  Superieurs  des  Jesuites,  MS.  In  1648  a  small  cannon 
was  sent  to  Sainte  Marie  in  the  Huron  canoes.     Ibid. 

*  Registres  des  Arrets  du  Conseil,  extract  in  Faillon,  ii  94. 
SO 


466  SAINTE  MARIE.  [1648. 

donnes  of  the  mission,  ^  —  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.  2  It  is  difficult  otherwise  to  explain  the  con- 
fidence with  which  the  Father  Superior,  in  a  letter 

^  See  ayite,  202,  note,  and  309.  Gamier  calls  them  "  seculiers 

d'habit,  mais  religieux  de  coeur."  —  Lettres,  MSS. 

2  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  tlie  Relation  of 
1657,  speaking  of  the  wampum,  guns,  powder,  lead,  hatchets,  ket- 
tles, 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  lesuite  en  repoit  ou  en  recueille 
quelques-vns  pour  ayder  aux  frais  immenses  qu'il  faut  faire  dans 
ces  Missions  si  e'loignees,  et  pour  gagner  ces  peuples  k  lesus-Christ 
et  les  porter  k  la  paix,  il  seroit  a  souhaiter  que  ceux-lk  mesme  qui 
deuroient  faire  ces  despenses  pour  la  conseruation  du  pays,  ne 
f  ussent  pas  du  moins  les  premiers  a  condamner  le  zele  de  ces  Peres, 
et  k  les  rendre  par  leurs  discours  plus  noirs  que  leurs  robes."  — 
Relation,  1657,  16. 

In  the  same  year,  Chaumonot,  addressing  a  council  of  the  Iro- 
quois 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,  Le  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  Gamier,  Jogues,  and 
their  co-laborers  is  manifestly  idle ;  but,  even  in  the  highest  flights 
of  his  enthusiasm,  the  Jesuit  never  forgot  his  worldly  wisdom 


1648-49.]  DOMESTIC   ECONOMY.  467 

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."^ 

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  quan- 
tities, 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. ^  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  re- 
solve on  the  part  of  the  Fathers  to  build  up  a  solid 
and  permanent  establishment. 

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.^ 

In  March,  1649,  there  were  in  the  Huron  country 
and  its  neighborhood  eighteen  Jesuit  priests,  four  lay 

1  Lettre  du  P.  Paul  Ragueneau  au  T.  R.  P.  Vincent  Cara/a,Gene- 
ral  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus  a  Rome,  Sainte  Marie  aux  ffurons,  1 
Mars,  1649  (Carayon). 

2  Ibid. 

•  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  48. 


468  SAINTE  MARIE.  [1648-49. 

brothers,  twenty-three  men  serving  without  pay,  seven 
hired  men,  four  boys,  and  eight  soldiers.  ^  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  assist- 
ants, controlled  and  guided  all.  The  remaining 
Jesuits,  undisturbed  by  temporal  cares,  were  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  charge  of  their  respective  mis- 
sions. 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  medita- 
tion and  prayer,  to  nerve  themselves  and  gain  new 
inspiration  for  their  stern  task. 

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  Sat- 
urday, Sunday,  and  a  part  of  Monday;  and  the  rites 
of  the  Church  were  celebrated  before  them  with  all 

1  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,  includ- 
ing priests.  Before  the  end  of  the  summer  a  large  reinforcement 
came  up  in  the  Huron  canoes. 


1648.]  ITS  MISSIONS.  469 

possible  solemnity  and  pomp.  They  were  welcomed 
also  at  other  times,  and  entertained,  usually  with 
three  meals  to  each.  In  these  latter  years  the  pre- 
vailing 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.^  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  con- 
version. 

^  "Such,  so  far  as  we  can  reconstruct  it  from  the  scat- 
tered hints  remaining,  was  this  singular  establish- 
ment, 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.'*  The  three  remaining 
missions  were  all  among  tribes  speaking  the  Algon- 
quin languages.  Every  winter,  bands  of  these  sav- 
ages, driven  by  famine  and  fear  of  the  Iroquois,  sought 

1  Compare  Ragueneau  in  Relation  des  Hurons,  1648,  48,  and  in 
his  report  to  the  General  in  1649. 

2  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.  a«  « 
preliminary  to  more  extended  efforts. 


L 


470  SAINTE  MARIE.  [1648. 

harborage  in  the  Huron  country,  and  the  mission  of 
Sainte  Elisabeth  was  established  for  their  benefit. 
The  next  Algonquin  mission  was  that  of  St.  Esprit, 
embracing  the  Nipissings  and  other  tribes  east  and 
northeast  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  surround- 
ing wilderness.^ 

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 
Jake,  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  para- 
dise when,  at  long  intervals,  he  found  a  respite  from 

1  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. 


1649.]         A  GATHERING  OF  THE  PRIESTS.  471 

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,  ^  —  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,  domes- 
tics, soldiers,  and  priests. 

It  was  a  scene  that  might  recall  a  remote  half  feu- 
dal, 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,  Rague- 
neau,  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  thread- 
bare 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 

1  The  date  of  this  meeting  is  a  supposition  merely.  It  is  adopted 
with  reference  to  events  which  preceded  and  followed. 


472  SAINTE  MARIE.  [1648. 

f  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  wor- 
ship into  visible  realities.  Br^beuf  sat  conspicuous 
among  his  brethren,  portly  and  tall,  his  short  mous- 
tache 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  cur- 
rent of  his  life,  solemn  and  deep  as  the  tide  of  des- 
tiny. 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  Lale- 
mant,  Superior  at  Quebec,  was  Br^beuf'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  mis- 
sionary toils ;  and  we  may  ask  in  vain  what  youth- 
ful enthusiasm,  what  broken  hope  or  faded  dream, 


1649.]  DANIEL.  478 

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  achieve- 
ment of  such  a  success  as  that  to  which  they  aspired, 
—  neither  a  transcendent  zeal,  nor  a  matchless  disci- 
pline, 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.^     They  believed 


1  **  Ce  bon  Pere  s'apparut  apres  sa  mort  ^  vn  des  nostres  par 
deux  diuerses  fois.  En  I'vne  il  se  fit  voir  en  estat  de  gloire,  portant 
le  visage  dVn  homme  d'enuiron  trente  ans,  quoy  qu'il  soit  mort  en 
I'age  de  quarante-huict.  .  .  .  Vne  autre  fois  il  fut  veu  assister  &  vne 
assemblee  que  nous  tenions,"  etc.  —  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons, 
1649,  5. 

"  Le  P.  Chaumonot  vit  au  milieu  de  TassembMe  le  P.  Daniel  qui 
aidait  les  P^res  de  ses  conseils,  et  les  remplissait  d'une  force  sur- 
naturelle ;  son  visage  etait  plain  de  majesty  et  d'^clat."  —  Ibid., 
Lettre  au  General  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus  (Carayon,  243). 

"  Le  P.  Chaumonot  nous  a  quelque  fois  racont^,  k  la  gloire  de 
cet  illustre  confesseur  de  J.  C.  [Daniel]  qu'il  s'etoit  fait  voir  k  lui 
dans  la  gloire,  k  I'&ge  d'environ  30  ans,  quoiqu'il  en  eut  pr^s  de  60, 
et  avec  les  autres  oirconstances  qui  se  trouuent  Ik  [in  the  Historia 
Canadensis  of  Du  Creux\.    II  ajoutait  seulement  qu'k  la  vue  de  ce 


{ 


474  SAINTE   MARIE.  [1649. 

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  mis- 
sionary had  alike  ceased  to  exist. 

bien-heureux  tant  de  choses  lui  vinrent  ^  I'esprit  pour  le«  lui 
demander,  qu'il  ne  savoit  pas  ou  commencer  son  entretien  avec  ce 
cher  def  unt.  Enfin,  lui  dit-il :  *  Apprenez  moi,  mon  P^re,  ce  que  ie 
dois  f  aire  pour  etre  bien  agreable  k  Dieu.'  —  *  Jamais/  repondit  le 
martyr, '  ne  perdez  le  souvenir  de  vos  peches.' "  —  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  gar- 
rison, watching  their  opportunity  to  strike  a  blow. 
The  Hurons  snatched  their  arms,  and,  half-greased 
and  painted,   ran  to  meet  them.     The   Iroquois  re- 


476  ANTOINE   DANIEL.  [1648. 

ceived  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.  ^  The  rout  of  the 
enemy  was  complete;  and  when  their  trade  was 
ended,  the  Hurons  returned  home  in  triumph,  deco- 
rated 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. 

The  oft-mentioned  town  of  Teanaustay^,  or  St. 
Joseph,  lay  on  the  southeastern  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  popu- 
lation, 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  bul- 
wark of  the  country.  Here  countless  Iroquois  had  been 
burned  and  devoured.  Its  people  had  been  truculent 
^  —  and  intractable  heathen,  but  many  of  them  had  surren- 
^  dered  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 

1  Lalemant,  Relation,  1648,  11.    The  Jesuit  Bressani  had  come 
down  with  the  Hurons,  and  was  with  them  in  the  fight. 


T 


1648.]  ALARM.  4T7 

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  deco- 
rated 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  settle- 
ments. 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  tlie 


478  ANTOINE   DANIEL.  [1648. 

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  engulf  them.  They  crowded  around  him,  implor- 
ing 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  abso- 
lution, 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  open- 
ing 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 


1648.]  ST.  JOSEPH   DESTROYED.  479 

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  gun-shot 
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.  ^ 

Teanaustay^  was  a  heap  of  ashes,  and  the  victors 
took  up  their  march  with  a  train  of  nearly  seven  hun- 
dred 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 
Teanaustayd.  Never  had  the  Huron  nation  received 
such  a  blow. 

^  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1649,  3-6 ;  Bressani,  Relation 
Abregee,  247  ;  Du  Creux,  Historia  Canadensis,  524;  Tanner,  Societas 
Jesu  Militans,  531 ;  Marie  de  Tlncarnation,  Lettre  aux  Ursulines  de 
Tours,  Quebec,  1649. 

Daniel  was  bom  at  Dieppe,  and  was  forty-eight  years  old  at  the 
time  of  his  death.    He  had  been  a  Jesuit  from  the  age  of  twenty. 


CHAPTER  XXVn. 

1649. 

RUIN  OF  THE  HURONS. 

St.  Louis  on  Fire.  —  Invasion.  —  St.  Ignaob  captured.  —  Bb4- 

BBUF  AND  LaLEMANT.  —  BaTTLE  AT  St.  LoUIS.  —  SaINTB  MaBIB 
THREATENED.  —  RENEWED  FiGHTING.  —  DESPERATE  CONFLICT. — 

A  Night  of  Suspense.  —  Panic  among  the  Victors.  —  Burn- 
ing 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  southeast,  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 


1649.]  THE   INVADERS.  481 

was  realized.  The  Iroquois  were  there;  but  where 
i^ere  the  priests  of  the  mission,  Br^beuf  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,  fear- 
ing everything,  yet  taking  no  measures  for  defence. 
They  could  easily  have  met  the  invadei-s  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 

81  , 


482  RUIN   OF   THE  HURONS.  [1649, 


part  of  the  population  had  abandoned  the  town, 
thinking  it  too  miach  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,  burst- 
ing 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  assail- 
ants, sang  their  war-songs,  and  resolved  to  hold  the 
place  to  the  last.     It  had  not  the  natural  strength 


1649]  BATTLE   AT   ST.   LOUIS.  483 

of  St.  Ignace,  but,  like  it,  was  surrounded  by 
palisades. 

Here  were  the  two  Jesuits,  Br^beuf  and  Lalemant. 
Br^beuf's  converts  entreated  him  to  escape  with 
them;  but  the  Norman  zealot,  bold  scion  of  a  war- 
like 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 .  absolu- 
tion. 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  con- 


484  RUIK  OF  THE  HURONS.  [1649. 

sumed  in  their  burning  dwellings.  Next  they  fell 
upon  Br^beuf  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  fly- 
ing 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  for- 
ward all  that  day  and  all  the  following  night,  shiver- 
ing 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  Br^beuf  and  Lalemant;  on  the  other, 
they  looked  hourly  for  an  attack :  and  when  at  even- 
ing they  saw  the  Iroquois  scouts  prowling  along  the 
edge  of  the  bordering  forest,  their  fears  were  con- 


1649.]  RENEWED   FIGHTING.  485 

finned.  They  had  with  them  about  forty  French- 
men, 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  mean- 
while, dividing  into  several  bands,  they  took  post  by 
the  passes  of  the  neighboring  forest,  hoping  to  way- 
lay parties  of  the  enemy.  Their  expectation  was  ful- 
filled; 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  Iro- 
quois 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 


486  RUIN  OF   THE   HURONS.  [1649. 

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  des- 
peration 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  per- 
sistent 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 


1649.] 


IROQUOIS  FEROCITY. 


487 


shattered  palisades  which  they  had  so  valiantly- 
defended.  Fatuity,  not  cowardice,  was  the  ruin  of 
the  Huron  nation. 

The  lamps  bumed  all  night  at  Sainte  Marie,  and 
its  defenders  stood  watching  till  daylight,  musket  inj 
hand.  The  Jesuits  prayed  without  ceasing,  and  Sainlj 
Joseph  was  besieged  with  invocations.  "  Those  o^ 
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  them- 
selves 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  retreat- 
ing 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 


488  RUIN  OF   THE   HURONS.  [1649. 

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.^ 

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  besides  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. 

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.  Tach6. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

1649. 

THE  MARTYRS. 

The  Rdins  op  St.  Ionace.  —  The  Relics  found. — BRiBEUF  at 
THE  Stake:  his  unconquerable  Fortitude.  —  Lalemant. — 
Renegade  Hurons.  —  Iroquois  Atrocities.  —  Death  of  But- 
beuf:  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 
strewn  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 
Br^beuf  and  Lalemant.^ 

1  "  lis  y  trouuerent  vn  spectacle  d'horreur,  les  reatea  de  la  cruaut6 
mesme,  ou  plus  tost  les  restes  de  ramour  de  Dieu,  qui  seul  triomphe 
dans  la  mort  des  Martyrs."  —  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Huron*, 
1649, 13. 


490  THE  MARTYRS.  [1649. 

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  condi- 
tion in  which  the  bodies  were  found  confirmed  their 
story. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  sixteenth,  —  the  day  when 
the  two  priests  were  captured,  —  Br^beuf  was  led 
apart,  and  bound  to  a  stake.  He  seemed  more  con- 
cerned 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  con- 
tinued to  speak,  with  voice  and  countenance  un- 
changed, 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  Brdbeuf  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,  spec- 
tacle to  the  world,  to* angels,  and  to  men."  Then 
he  threw  himself  at  Br^beuf's  feet;  upon  which  the 
Iroquois  seized  him,  made  him  fast  to  a  stake,  and 


iWa)  CHARACTER  OF  BRfiBEUF.  491 

set  fim  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 
Br^beuf '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." 
Br^beuf  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  Br^beuf,  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 


492  THE  MARTYRS.  [1649. 

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."^  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. 

Lalemant,  physically  weak  from  childhood,  and 
slender  almost  to  emaciation,  was  constitutionally 
unequal  to  a  display  of  fortitude  like  that  of  his 
colleague.  When  Br^beuf  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  entertain- 
ment, killed  him  with  a  hatchet.  ^    It  was  said  that 

1  Charlevoix,  i.  294.    Alegambe  uses  a  similar  expression. 

2  "  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* 


1649.]  RELIC  OF  BRlfiBEUF.  493 

at  times  lie  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  Br^beuf  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. 

The  bodies  of  the  two  missionaries  were  carried  to 
Sainte  Marie,  and  buried  in  the  cemetery  there ;  but 
the  skull  of  Br^beuf  was  preserved  as  a  relic.  His 
family  sent  from  France  a  silver  bust  of  their  mar- 
tyred 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  Hotel-Dieu  at  Quebec.^ 

nine  years  of  age.  His  physical  weakness  is  spoken  of  by  several 
of  those  who  knew  him.  Marie  de  I'lncarnation  says,  "C'6tait 
Thomme  le  plus  faible  et  le  plus  dfelicat  qu'on  eftt  pu  voir."  Both 
Bressani  and  Ragueneau  are  equally  emphatic  on  this  point. 

1  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  I'lncarnation  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  per- 
sons 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  th« 


494  THE  MARTYRS.  [1040. 

same  letter,  "  Our  Lord  having  revealed  to  him  [Br^beuf]  "^he  ti  ue 
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  the  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." 

Brebeuf  had  once  been  ordered  by  the  Father  Superior  to  write 
down  the  visions,  revelations,  and  inward  experiences  with  whicii 
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  con- 
secrated to  death,  and  holily  to  anticipate  the  happiness  of  martyr- 
dom 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,  198.)  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  Brebeuf,  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  Brebeuf,  as  in  all  other  notices  ol 
deceased  missionaries  in  the  Relations,  the  saintly  qualities  alone 


1649.1  QUALITIES  OF  BRlfiBEUr.  495 

are  brought  forward,  —  as  obedience,  humility,  etc.;  but  wherever 
Br^beuf  himself  appears  in  the  course  of  those  voluminous  records, 
he  always  brings  with  hira  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.  j 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1649,  1650. 

THE  SANCTUARY. 

DiSPEBSION  OF  THE   HURONS.  —  SaINTE   MarIE  ABANDONED.  —  IbL* 

St.  Joseph.  —  Removal  of  the  Mission.  —  The  New  Fort.  — 
Misery  of  the  Hurons.  —  Famine.  —  Epidemic.  —  Employ* 

MENTS   OF   the   JeSUITS. 

All  was  over  with  the  Hurons.  The  death-knell 
of  their  nation  had  struck.  Without  a  leader,  with- 
out 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 


1649.]    SATNTE  MARIE  TO  BE  ABANDONED.        497 

on  the  north  of  Lake  Erie.     The  Hurons,  as  a  nation, 
ceased  to  exist.  ^ 

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 


1  Chaumonbt,  who  was  at  Ossossanfe  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. 

'  Bagueneau,  Relation  det  Hurons,  1649,  26. 

82 


498  THE   SANCTUARY.  [1649. 

Several  of  the  priests  set  out  to  follow  and  console 
the  scattered  bands  of  fugitive  Hurons.  One  em- 
barked 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,  Ehaentoton.  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  trans- 
plant 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 


1649.]  REMOVAL  OF  THE  MISSION.^  499 

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  wam- 
pum, 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 

tt5FHuf ons  on  Isle  SL.  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,  — pic- 
tures, vestments,  sacred  vessels  and  images,  weapons, 
ammunition,  tools,  goods  for  barter  with  the  Indians, 
cattle,  swine,  and  poultry.^  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  four- 
teenth of  June. 2     The  houseless  band  descended  to 

1  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  Geniral 
de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus,  St.  Joseph,  13  Mars,  1650. 

*  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  3.     In  the  Relation  of 


600  THE   SANCTUARY.  [1649. 

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. 

Near  the  entrance  of  Matchedash  Bay  lie  the  three 
islands  now  known  as  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity. 
Of  these.  Charity  or  Christian  Island,  called  Ahoendoe 
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 

the  preceding  year  he  gives  the  fifteenth  of  May  as  the  date,  —  evi- 
dently an  error. 

"  Nous  sortismes  de  ces  terres  de  Promission  qui  estoient  nostre 
Paradis,  et  ou  la  mort  nous  eust  este  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  oppos^es  qu'elles 
paroissent  a  nos  desirs,  a  nos  plus  saintes  esperances  et  aux  plus 
tendres  amours  de  nostre  coeur."  —  Lettre  de  Ragueneau  au  P.  Provin- 
cial a  Paris,  in  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  1. 

"  Mais  il  f  allut,  h,  tons  tant  que  nous  estions,  quitter  cette  ancienne 
demeure  de  saincte  Marie ;  ces  edifices,  qui  quoy  que  pauures,  parois- 
soient  des  chef  s-d'oeuure  de  Tart  aux  yeux  de  nos  pauures  Sauuages ; 
ces  terres  cultiuees,  qui  nous  promettoient  vne  riche  moisson.  II 
nous  fallut  abandonner  ce  lieu,  que  ie  puis  appeller  nostre  seconde 
Patrie  et  nos  delices  innocentes,  puis  qu'il  auoit  este  le  berceau  de 
ce  Christianisme,  qu'il  estoit  le  temple  de  Dieu  et  la  maison  des 
seruiteurs  de  lesus-Christ ;  et  crainte  que  nos  ennemis  trop  impies, 
ne  profanassent  ce  lieu  de  sainctet6  et  n'en  prissent  leur  auantago, 
nous  y  misraes  le  feu  nous  mesmes,  et  nous  vismes  brusler  k  nos 
yeux,  en  moins  d'vne  heure,  nos  trauaux  de  neuf  et  de  dix  ans."  — 
Ragueneau,  Relation  de*  Hurons,  1660,  2,  3, 


1649.]  ISLE  ST.  JOSEPH.  601 

others,  —  and  found  about  three  hundred  Huron 
families  bivouacked  in  the  woods.  Here  were  wig- 
wams 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 
southeastern  shore  of  the  island,  a  hundred  feet  from 
the  water.  1  Detached  redoubts  were  also  built  near 
at  hand,    where    French   musketeers   could    aid    in 

1  The  measurement  between  the  angles  of  the  two  southern  bas- 
tions 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  per 
feet  conformity  with  the  narratives  and  letters  of  the  priests. 


502  THE  SANCTUARY.  [1649. 

defending  the  adjacent  Huron  village. ^  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. 

The  island,  thanks  to  the  vigilance  of  the  French, 
escaped  attack  throughout  the  summer;  but  Iroquois 
scalping-parties  ranged  the  neighboring  shores,  kill- 
ing 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. ^  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. ^     Of  this  multi- 

1  Compare  Martin,  Introduction  to  Bressani,  Relation  Abregee,  38. 

2  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  3,  4.  He  reckons  eight 
persons  to  a  family. 

3  "  le  voudrois  pouuoir  representer  k  toutes  les  personnes  affec- 
tionnees  a  nos  Hurons,  I'etat  pitoyable  auquel  ils  sont  reduits ;  .  .  . 
comment  seroit-il  possible  que  ces  imitateurs  de  lesus  Christ  ne 
fussent  ^meus  k  pitie  a  la  veue  des  centaines  et  centaines  de  venues 
dont  non  seulement  les  enfans,  mais  quasi  les  parens  ont  este  outra- 
geusement  ou  tuez,  ou  emmenez  captifs,  et  puis  inhumainement 
bruslez,  cuits,  dechirez  et  deuorez  des  ennemis,"  —  Lettre  de  Chau- 
monot  d  Lalemant,  Sup€rieur  a  Quebec,  Isle  de  St.  Joseph,  1  Jiiin,  1649. 

"  Vne  mfere  s'est  veue,  n'ayant  que  ses  deux  mamelles,  mais  sans 


1649-50.]  THE  REFUGEES.  603 

tude  but  few  had  strength  enough  to  labor,  scarcely 
any  had  made  provision  for  the  winter,  and  numbers 
were  already  perishing  from  want,  dragging  them- 
selves 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  bitter- 
ness, the  Indians  boiled  it  with  ashes,  or  the  priests 
served  it  out  to  them  pounded,  and  mixed  with 
corn.^ 

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, 

sue  et  sans  laict,  qui  toutefois  estoit  IVnique  chose  qu'elle  eust  peu 
presenter  k  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,  T0U8  estes  le  maistre  de  nos  vies ;  nous  mourrons  puisque  vous 
le  voulez ;  voila  qui  est  bien  que  nous  mourrions  Chrestiens.  I'estois 
damn^e,  et  mes  enfans  auec  moy,  si  nous  ne  fussions  morts  misera- 
bles;  ils  ont  receu  le  sainct  Baptesme,  et  ie  croy  fermement  que 
mouran*  tous  de  compagnie,  nous  ressusciterons  tons  ensemble."  — 
Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  6. 

1  Eight  hundred  sacks  of  this  mixture  were  given  to  the  Huront 
during  the  winter.  —  Bressani,  Relation  Ahregee,  283. 


504  THE   SANCTUARY.  [1649-50. 

their  repugnance  and  horror  were  extreme  at  the 
thought  of  devouring  those  of  relatives  and  friends. ^ 
An  epidemic  presently  appeared,  to  aid  the  work  of 
famine.  Before  spring,  about  half  of  their  number 
were  dead. 

Meanwhile,  though  the  cold  was  intense  and  the 
snow  several  feet  deep,  not  an  hour  was  free  from 
the  danger  of  the  Iroquois ;  and,  from  sunset  to  day- 
break, 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 

1  "  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  a  la  pluspart,  ce 
que  seroient  en  France  les  mets  les  plus  exquis.  Les  charognes 
mesme  deterrees,  les  restes  des  Renards  et  des  Chiens  ne  faisoient 
point  horreur,  et  se  raangeoient,  quoy  qu'en  cachete :  car  quoy  que 
ies  Hurons,  auant  que  la  foy  leur  eust  donne  plus  de  lumiere  qu'ils 
n'en  auoient  dans  I'infidelite,  ne  creussent  pas  commettre  aucun 
peche  de  manger  leurs  ennemis,  aussi  peu  qu'il  y  en  a  de  les  tuer, 
toutefois  ie  puis  dire  auec  verite,  qu'ils  n'ont  pas  moins  d'horreur 
de  manger  de  leurs  compatriotes,  qu'on  pent  auoir  en  France  de 
manger  de  la  chair  humaine.  Mais  la  necessite  n'a  plus  de  loy,  et 
des  dents  fameliques  ne  discernent  plus  ce  qu'elles  mangent.  Les 
m^res  se  sont  repeues  de  leurs  enfans,  des  frferes  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  Ahregee,  283. 


1649-60.]    OCCUPATIONS  OF  THE  PRIESTS.  506 

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.  Mean- 
while, other  priests  were  hearing  confessions  and  giv- 
ing 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  vil- 
lage, and  the  priests  presently  followed,  to  give  what 
assistance  they  could.  Their  cassocks  were  worn 
out,  and  they  were  dressed  chiefly  in  skins.  ^  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  enti- 
tling 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. ^ 

Thus  this  miserable  winter  wore  away,  till  the  open- 
ing spring  brought  new  feai-s  and  new  necessities. ^ 

^  Lettre  de  Ragueneau  au  General  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus,  Isle 
St.  Joseph,  13  Mars,  1650. 

2  Kagueneau,  Relation  des  Huroris,  1660,  6,  7. 

»  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  mod- 
esty ;  the  Relation  Abregee  of  Bressani ;  the  reports  of  the  Father 
Superior  to  the  General  of  the  Jesuits  at  Rome ;  the  manuscript  of 
1662,  entitled  Memoires  touchant  la  Mort  et  les  Vertus  des  Pires,  etc. ; 
the  unpublished  letters  of  Gamier;  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  op  Ga» 
NiER.  —  The  Joubney  op  Chabanel  :  his  Death.  —  Gabread 
and  Grelon. 

Late  in  the  preceding  autumn  the  Iroquois  had 
taken  the  war-path  in  force.  At  the  end  of  Novem- 
ber, 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,^  —  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  mis- 

>  The  Indian  name  of  St.  Jean  was  Etarita;  and  that  of  St 
Matthias,  Ekarenniondi. 


1649.]  ST.  JEAN.  607 

sion  of  the  same  name,  was  a  town  of  five  or  six  hun- 
dred 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  defeaceless  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. 

It  was  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  seventh 


508  GARNIER.  [1649. 

of  December.^  Chabanel  had  left  the  place  a  day  oi 
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 

^  Bressani,  Relation  Abregee,  264. 


1649.]  ST.  JEAN   ATTACKED.  509 

blows  of  a  hatchet,  stripped  him,  and  left  his  body 
on  the  ground.^  At  this  time  the  whole  town  was 
on  fire.  The  invaders,  fearing  that  the  absent  war- 
riors 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  smok- 
ing ruins  thickly  strewn  with  blackened  corpses  of 
the  slain. 

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  Gamier;  but  at  length 

1  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  reaflftrming  the  truth  of  her  story  to  Ragueneau,  who  was  with 
her,  and  who  questioned  her  on  the  subject.  {Memoires  touchant  la 
Mart  et  les  Vertus  des  Peres  Gamier,  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. 


510  CHABANEL.  [1649. 

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 
-sgulogj^^  Br^beuf  was  the  lion  of  the  Huron  mis- 
sion, and  Garnier  was  the  lamb;  but  the  lamb  was  as 
fearless  as  the  lion.^ 


1  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  com- 
panion, 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  pun- 
ishes me  for  my  sins  by  depriving  me  of  this  crown  "  (the  crown  of 
martyrdom).  After  the  death  of  Br^euf  and  Lalemant,  he  writes 
to  his  brother :  — 

"  H^las !  Mon  cher  f rere,  si  ma  conscience  ne  me  convainquait 
et  ne  me  conf ondait  de  mon  infidelite  au  service  de  notre  bon  m&itre, 
je  pourrais  esp^rer  quelque  faveur  approchante  de  celles  qu'il  a 
faites  aux  bienheureux  martyrs  avec  qui  j 'avals  le  bien  de  converser 
souvent,  etant  dans  les  memes  occasions  et  dangers  qu'ils  etaient, 
mais  sa  justice  me  fait  craindre  que  je  ne  demeure  tou jours  indigne 
d'une  telle  couronne." 

He  contented  himself  with  the  most  wretched  fare  during  the 


1649.]  JOURNEY  OF  CHABANEL.  511 

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. 

Gamier'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  morn- 
ing 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 

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  Ale- 
gambe,  who  devotes  many  pages  to  the  description  of  his  religious 
traits;  but  the  complexion  of  his  mind  is  best  reflected  in  his 
private  letters. 


512  CHABANEL.  [1649. 

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  com- 
panions, who  instantly  took  flight.  He  tried  to  fol- 
low, 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  con- 
verted, 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.^  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 

1  Mimoires  touchant  la  Mort  et  les  Vertus  des  Peres,  etc.     MS. 


1649.]  GARREAU   AND   GRELON.  518 

Iroquois.^  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.^ 

Garreau  and  Grelon,  in  their  mission  of  St.  Mat- 
thias, 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  coun- 
cil 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  com- 
pel a  prisoner  to  run  the  gantlet.     The  two  priests, 

*  Ahrege  de  la  Vie  du  P.  Noel  ChabaneL     MS. 

2  "  le  suis  fort  apprehensif  de  mon  naturel ;  toutef ois,  maintenant 
que  ie  vay  au  plus  grand  danger  et  qu'il  me  semble  que  la  mort  n'est 
pas  esloignee,  ie  ne  sens  plus  de  crainte.  Cette  disposition  ne  vient 
pas  de  moy."  —  Relation  des  Ilurons,  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,  Noel  Chabanel,  impelled  by  the  desire  of  fulfilling 
thy  holy  will  in  advancing  the  conversion  of  the  savages  of  thia 
land  to  thy  faith,  do  vow,  in  the  presence  of  the  most  holy  sacra- 
ment 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.  Thif 
twentieth  day  of  June,  1647." 


514  CHABANEL.  [1649. 

giving  no  sign  of  fear,  passed  through  the  crowd  and 
entered  the  lodge  unharmed.  Hatchets  were  bran- 
dished 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.^ 


1  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.    Pe  Quen,  Relation,  1656,  41. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

1650-1662. 
THE  HURON  MISSION  ABANDONED. 

Famine  and  the  Tomahawk.  —  A  New  Asylum.  —  Voyage  op 
THE  Refugees  to  Quebec.  —  Meeting  with  Bkessani.  —  Des- 
perate Courage  op  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.^  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 

1  "  Mais  le  Printemps  estant  venu,  les  Iroquois  nous  f urent  encore 
plus  cruels ;  et  ce  sont  eux  qui  vrayement  ont  ruine  toutes  nos 
esperances,  et  qui  ont  fait  vn  lieu  d'horreur,  vne  terre  de  sang  et  de 
carnage,  vn  theatre  de  cruaute  et  vn  sepulchre  de  carcasses  dechar- 
nees  par  les  langueurs  d'vne  longue  famine,  d'vn  pais  de  benedic- 
tion, d'vne  terre  de  Saintete  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  de»  Hurons, 
1650.  23. 


516        THE  HURON  MISSION  ABANDONED.      [1650. 

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.^ 

1  "Le  iour  de  rAnnonciation,  vingt-cinquiesme  de  Mars,  vne 
arm§e  d'Iroquois  ayans  marche  prez  de  deux  cents  lieues  de  pais,  a 
trauers  les  glaces  et  les  neges,  trauersans  les  montagnes  et  les  for- 
ests pleines  d'horreur,  surprirent  au  commencement  de  la  nuit  le 
camp  de  nos  Chrestiens,  et  en  firent  vne  cruelle  boucherie.  II  sem- 
bloit  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  dispersees  9a  et  la,  esloignees  les  vnes 
des  autres  de  six,  sept  et  huit  lieues,  cent  personnes  en  vn  lieu,  en 
vn  autre  cinquante ;  et  mesme  il  y  auoit  quelques  families  solitaires, 
qui  s'estoient  escartees  en  des  lieux  moins  connus  et  hors  de  tout 
chemin.    Chose  estrange !  de  tout  ce  monde  dissipe,  vn  seul  homme 


1650.]  DESPAIR.  517 

"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  I  On 
Easter  Day  we  caused  them  to  make  a  general  con- 
fession. 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  over- 
taken 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 
exteraiinate  them.  .  .  .  Despair  was  universal."  ^ 

The  Jesuits  at  St.  Joseph  knew  not  what  course 

s'eschappa,  qui  vint  nous  en  apporter  les  nouuelles."  —  Ragueneau, 
Relation  des  Hurons,  1660,  23,  24. 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons^  1650, 24. 


518         THE   HURON  MISSION  ABANDONED.      [1650. 

to  take.  The  doom  of  their  flock  seemed  inevitahle. 
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  com- 
panions. 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  incorpora- 
tion 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. 


1650.1  DEPARTURE.  619 

At  least,  we  shall  sometimes  find  a  morsel  of  bread 
for  our  children,  who  so  long  have  had  nothing  but 
bitter  roots  and  acoms  to  keep  them  alive."  ^ 

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  leam  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."  2  The  fleet  of  canoes  held  its  melan- 
choly way  along  the  shores  where  two  years  before 
had  been  the  seat  of  one  of  the  chief  savage  com- 
munities 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 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  25.  It  appears  from  the 
MS.  Journal  des  Superieurs  des  Jesuites,  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. 

^  Compare  Bressani,  Relation  Abregee,  288. 


\ 


620        THE  HURON  MISSION  ABANDONED.      [1650. 

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."^ 

^  Ragueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1650,  27.  These  Algonquins 
of  the  Ottawa,  though  broken  and  dispersed,  were  not  destroyed,  as 
Ragueneau  supposes. 


1650.]  IROQUOIS  DARING.  521 

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  French- 
men, 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  out- 
numbered 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 


522        THE  HURON  MISSION   ABANDONED.      [1650. 

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  des- 
perate 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  re- 
sources 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. ^ 

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 

1  Compare  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  I'Hdtel-Dieu,  79,  80. 


1650.]  A  HURON  TRAITOR.  523 

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 


524        THE  HURON  MISSION   ABANDONED.      [1650. 

was  sentenced  to  death;  and  the  sentence  was  exe- 
cuted by  one  of  his  own  countrymen,  who  split  his 
head  with  a  hatchet.^ 

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, 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation,  1650,  30. 


1651-620  BUTEUX.  625 

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  Cath- 
olics, 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.  Never- 
theless, he  acceded  to  their  request,  and,  before  the 
opening  of  spring,  made  a  remarkable  journey  on 
^now-shoes  into  the  depths  of  this  frozen  wilderness.  ^ 
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 

*   lournal  du  Phre  lacques  Buteux  du    Voyage  qu'il  a  fait  pour  la 
Mission  des  Attikameyues.     See  Relation,  1661,  16. 


526         THE   HURON  MISSION   ABANDONED.      [1652. 

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.  Sud- 
denly 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  toma- 
hawks and  swords,  stripped  them,  and  then  flung 
them  into  the  torrent^ 

1  Ragueneau,  Relation,  1662,  2,  a 


CHAPTER  XXXn. 

1650-1866. 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  HURONS. 

Fate  of  the  Vanquished.  —  The  Refugees  of  St.  Jean  Baptisti 
AND  St.  Michel.  —  The  Tobacco  Nation  and  its  Wander- 
ings. —  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  win- 
tered 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. 


528  THE   LAST  OF  THE   HURONS.       [1650-60. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  interest  to  trace  the  fortunes 
of  the  shattered  fragments  of  a  nation  once  prosper- 
ous, 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  inhab- 
itants 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  Iro- 
quois, and  promised  to  change  their  nationality  and 
turn  Senecas  as  the  price  of  their  lives.  The  victors 
accepted  the  proposal  5  and  the  inhabitants  of  these 
two  towns,  joined  by  a  few  other  Hurons,  migrated 
in  a  body  to  the  Seneca  country.  They  were  not  dis- 
tributed among  different  villages,  but  were  allowed 
to  form  a  town  by  themselves,  where  they  were  after- 
wards 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.  ^ 

The  division  of  the  Hurons  called  the  "Tobacco 


1  Compare  Relation,  1651,  4;  1660,  14,  28;  and  1670,  69.  The 
Huron  town  among  the  Senecas  was  called  Gandougarae.  Father 
Fremin  was  here  in  1668,  and  gives  an  account  of  his  visit  in  the 
Relation  of  1670. 


1650-71.]       HURONS  AT  MICHILIMACKINAC.         529 

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  Algon- 
quins,  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  west- 
ward. 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  migra- 
tion 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  southwestern  extremity  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  settled  on  Point  Saint  Esprit,  or  Shag- 
wamigon  Point,  near  the  Islands  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles.     As  the  Sioux  continued  to  harass  them, 

3  4.' 


530  THE  LAST  OF   THE  HURONS.      [1650-1G64. 

they  left  tins  place  about  the  year  1671,  and  returned 
to  Michilimackinac,  where  they  settled,  not  on  the 
island,  but  on  the  neighboring  Point  St.  Ignace,  now 
Graham's  Point,  on  the  north  side  of  the  strait.  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  reduc- 
tion of  Canada ;  and  they  were  the  most  formidable 
enemies  of  the  English  in  the  Indian  war  under 
Pontiac.^  The  government  of  the  United  States  at 
length  removed  them  to  reserves  on  the  western  fron- 
tier, 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." ^ 

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 

1  See  "  History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac." 

2  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  Filitte  des  Hurons  chasses  de  leur  Pays,  and  in  the  chap- 
ter following,  gives  a  long  and  rather  confused  account  of  their 
movements  and  adventures.  See  also  La  Poterie,  Histoire  de  I'Ame- 
rique  Septentrionale,  ii.  61-56,  According  to  the  Relation  of  1670,  the 
Hurons,  when  living  at  Shagwamigon  Point,  numbered  about  fifteen 
hundred  souls. 


1660.]  £tIENNE  ANNAOTAItA.  5B1 

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  assail- 
ants 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  way- 
lay any  party  of  Hurons  who  might  venture  ashore. 
A  Huron  war-chief,  named  Etienne  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  coun- 
try, become  their  adopted  countrymen,  and  live  with 
them  as  one  nation.  Etienne  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 


532  THE  LAST   OF  THE  HURONS.  [1650. 

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  coun- 
trymen and  brothers ;  and  that  they  should  exchange 
their  miseries  for  a  life  of  peace  and  plenty  in  a  fer- 
tile and  prosperous  land.  The  whole  Huron  popu- 
lation, 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  vil- 
lage could  supply,  ifetienne  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.  Etienne  now  caused  criers  to  pro- 
claim 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  preparar 


1650.]  THE  BITER  BIT.  638 

tions  at  once,  and  all  was  bustle  and  alacrity;  for  the 
llurons  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.  Etienne'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  visi- 
tors and  cut  them  to  pieces.  One  of  them,  who 
lingered  for  a  time,  owned  before  he  died  that 
fitienne's  suspicions  were  just,  and  that  they  had 
designed  nothing  less  than  the  massacre  or  capture 
of  all  the  Hurons.  Three  of  the  Iroquois,  imme- 
diately before  the  slaughter  began,  had  received  from 
Etienne  a  warning  of  their  danger  in  time  to  make 
their  escape.  The  year  before,  he  had  been  captured, 
with  Br^beuf  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.  ^ 

Here  was  a  sweet    morsel    of    vengeance.     The 

1  Kagueneau,  Relation  des  Hurons,  1651,  5,  6.  Le  Mercier,  in  the 
Relation  of  1664,  preserves  the  speech  of  a  Huron  chief,  in  which  he 
speaks  of  this  affair,  and  adds  some  particulars  not  mentioned  b^ 
Ragueneau.    He  gives  thirty-four  as  the  number  killed. 


534  THE   LAST  OF   THE  HUKONS.       [1651-56. 

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  country- 
men 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  southwestern 
extremity  of  the  Isle  of  Orleans,  imiriediately  below 
Quebec.  Here  the  Jesuits  built  a  fort,  like  that  on 
Isle  St.  Joseph,  Avitli  a  chapel,  and  a  small  house  for 
the  missionaries,  while  the  bark  dwellings  of  the 
Hurons  were  clustered  around  the  protecting  ram- 
parts. ^  Tools  and  seeds  were  given  them,  and  they 
were  encouraged  to  cultivate  the  soil.  Gradually 
they  rallied   from   their  dejection,  and  the   mission 

1  The  site  of  the  fort  was  the  estate  now  known  as  "  La  Terrc  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, 


1673.]  OLD  LORETTE.  635 

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  fitienne  Annaotaha,  were  slain,  fighting 
side  by  side  with  the  French,  in  the  desperate  con- 
flict of  the  Long  Sault.^ 

The  attenuated  colony,  replenished  by  some  strag- 
gling 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 
enclosure  of  palisades  close  to  the  fort.^  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  Ste. 
Foi,  three  or  four  miles  west  of  Quebec.  Siy  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. 

1  Relation,  1660  (anonymous),  14. 

«  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. 


536  THE  LAST  OF  THE  HURONS.  [1674. 

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  boy- 
hood had  cured  him,  as  he  believed,  of  a  distressing 
malady.^  He  had  always  cherished  the  idea  of  build- 
ing 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. "  ^ 

1  See  ante,  191. 

2  "  Les  graces  qu'on  y  obtient  par  I'entremise  de  la  Mere  de  Dieu 
vont  jusqu'au  miracle.  Comme  il  faudroit  composer  un  livre  en  tier 
pour  decrire  toutes  ces  faveurs  extraordinaires,  je  n'en  rapporterai 
que  deux,  ay  ant  ete  temoin  oculaire  de  Tune  et  propre  Bujet  de 
rautre."— Fte,  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 


1697-1866.]  INDIAN  LORETTE.  637 

But  the  Hurons  were  not  destined  to  remain  per- 
manently 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.^ 

Vie  de  Chaumonot  with  Dablon,  Relation,  1672-73,  21;   and  Ibid., 
Relation,  1673-79,  259. 

1  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  authoritj. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1650-1670. 

THE  DESTROYERS. 

Iboquois  Ambition.  —  Its  Victims.  —  The  Fate  of  the  Neu- 
TRALS.  —  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  encroach- 
ments 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 


1650]  IROQUOIS  CRAFT.  639 

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  mis- 
chief. But  these  so-called  nations  were  mere  aggre- 
gations 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  con- 
federacy 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 


540  THE  DESTROYERS.  [1650-51. 

supremacy.  They  carried  all  before  them  because 
they  were  animated  throughout,  as  one  man,  by  the 
same  audacious  pride  and  insatiable  rage  for  con- 
quest. 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  neigh- 
bors, and  a  few  years  before  destroyed,  with  atrocious 
cruelties,  a  large  fortified  town  of  the  Nation  of  Fire.^ 

1  "  Last  summer,"  writes  Lalemant  in  1643,  "  two  thousand  war- 
riors of  the  Neutral  Nation  attacked  a  town  of  the  Nation  of  Fire, 
well  fortified  with  a  palisade,  and  defended  by  nine  hundred  war- 
riors. 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  lan- 
guage 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. 


1651-54.]  THE  ERIE  WAR.  541 

Their  turn  was  now  come,  and  their  victims  found 
lit  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  con- 
tained at  the  time  more  than  sixteen  hundred  men, 
besides  women  and  children ;  and  early  in  the  follow- 
ing 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.  ^ 

During  two  or  three  succeeding  years  the  Iroquois 
contented  themselves  with  harassing  the  French  and 
Algonquins ;  but  in  1653  they  made  treaties  of  peace, 

1  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.  Lafi- 
tau,  Moeurs  des  Sauvages,  ii.  176,  gives,  on  the  authority  of  Father 
Julien  Gamier,  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  Senec^g  of  western  New  York. 


642  THE   DESTROYERS.  [1654. 

each  of  tlie  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 
aire  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."^  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. ^ 

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 

1  Le  Mercier,  Relation,  1654,  9. 

2  Ihid.,  10.  Le  Moyne,  in  his  interesting  journal  of  his  mission^ 
repeatedly  alludes  to  their  preparations. 


1664.]  A  SISTER'S  REVENGE.  543 

to  bum  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,  repre- 
senting 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. ^ 
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.  Notwith- 
standing Le  Moyne's  report,  their  number,  according 

1  De  Quen,  Relation,  1056,  30. 


544  THE  DESTROYERS.  [1655. 

to  the  Iroquois  account,  did  not  exceed  twelve 
hundred.^  , 

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,  iortiijing  themselves  with  palisades 
and  felled  trees,  they  awaited  the  approach  of  the  in- 
vaders. By  the  lowest  estimate,  the  Eries  numbered 
two  thousand  warriors,  besides  women  and  children. 
But  this  is  the  report  of  the  Iroquois,  who  were  natu- 
rally 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, 

1  This  was  their  statement  to  Chaumonot  and  Dablon,  at  Onon- 
daga, 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  Iro- 
quois 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  firearms,  they  used  poisoned  arrows 
with  great  effect,  discharging  them,  it  is  said,  with  surprising 
rapidity. 


1655.]  FATE  OF  THE  ERIES.  646 

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  barri- 
cade 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.^ 

1  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  his- 
torical accounts  in  making  the  Eries  the  aggressors. 

35 


546  .     THE   DESTROYERS.  [1650-62. 

One  enemy  of  their  own  race  remained,  —  the 
Andastes.  This  nation  appears  to  have  been  inferior 
in  numbers  to  eithe;-  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  inso- 
lence to  the  depths  of  dejection.  ^  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  disappoint- 
ment; for  the  Andastes  seized  them  all,  built  high 
scaffolds  visible  from  without,  and  tortured  them  to 

^  Relation,  1660,  6  (anonymous). 

The  Mohawks  also  suffered  great  reverses  about  this  time  at  the 
hands  of  their  Algonquin  neighbors,  the  Mohicans. 


1672.]  THE  ANDASTES  SUBDUED.  547 

death  in  sight  of  their  countrymen,  who  thereupon 
decamped  in  miserable  discomfiture.^ 

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.^ 

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  "Burn- 
Knives,"  or  "  Soft-Metals, "  because  as  yet  they  had 
taken  no  scalps.  Indeed,  they  are  desoribed  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 

I  Lalemant,  Relation,  166;^,  10.  2  /ft/,/,^  1604^  33 


548  THE  DESTROYERS.  [1672-75. 

the  Jesuit  then  in  the  Cayuga  towns,  came  home 
half  dead  with  gashes  of  knives  and  hatchets. ^  "  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  over- 
borne by  the  Senecas.^  Yet  they  were  not  wholly 
destroyed;  for  a  remnant  of  this  valiant  people  con- 
tinued 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  "PaxtonBoys."3 

The  bloody  triumphs  of  the  Iroquois  were  com- 
plete. They  had  "made  a  solitude,  and  called  it 
peace."  All  the  surrounding  nations  of  their  own 
lineage  were  conquered  and  broken  up,  while  neigh- 
boring 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 


1  Dablon,  Relation,  1672,  24. 

2  JlStat  Prhent  des  Missions,  in  Relations  Inedites,  ii.  44.     Relation, 
1676,  2.    This  is  one  of  the  Relations  printed  by  Mr.  Lenox. 

8  "  History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  ii.  chap.  xxiv.    Com- 
pare Shea,  in  Historical  Magazine,  ii.  297. 


1660-75.J  IROQUOIS   UBIQUITY.  549 

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.^  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. 

1  Relation,  1660,  6,  7  (anonymous).  Le  Jeune  says,  "Their  victo- 
ries have  80  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,  1667,  34.)  These  were  either 
adopted  prisoners,  or  Indians  who  had  voluntarily  joined  the  Iro- 
quois 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. 

0  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 
^'"ffie  Canadian  mission.  They,  and  the  stable  aiicL 
^'"'pSpniDns  "CDimnnnities  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  per- 
dition ;  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 


/ 


THE   HOPES  OF  NEW   FRANCE.  551 

at  the  first  sound  of  the  trumpet;"^  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. 

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  j^he^failure  of  the  Jesuits  is  obvious. 
'TEe^uns  and  tomahawks  of  the  Iroquois  were  the 
ruin  of  their  hopes.  Could  they  have  curbed  or  con- 
verted 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  communi- 
ties through  the  valleys  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the 
Mississippi,  ruled  by  priests  in  the  interest  of 
Catholicity  and  of  France.  Their  habits  of  agricul- 
ture'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 

,  1  Lettre  de  Lalemant  qw^  ^.  Pi  Provincial  {Relation,  1660,  48). 


552  THE  END. 

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.  Popula- 
tions formed  in  the  ideas  and  habits  of  a  feudal 
monarchy,  and  controlled  by  a  hierarchy  profoundly 
hostile  to  freedom  t)f  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  J  but,  from  the  standpoint  of  Liberty, 


THE  GREAT  WEST.  663 

that  Providence  is  clear  as  the  sun  at  noon.  Mean- 
while 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. 


INDEX. 


Abbkaki  Indians,  the,  4,  7 ;  mis- 
sion of  Father  Druilletes  among, 
419 ;  suffer  from  Mohawk  in- 
roads, 422  ;  petition  for  English 
assistance,  422. 

Abenaki  Villages,  the,  419. 

Abercrombie,  313. 

Abraham,  Plains  of,  see  Plains  of 
Abraham. 

Absolutism,  contest  with  liberty, 
552. 

Acadia,  356. 

Adair,  76. 

Agonnonsionni,  the,  37. 

Agreskoui  (Areskoui),  the  Iro- 
quois deity,  73. 

Ahatsistari,  Eustache,  the  Huron 
chief,  308,  312. 

Ahoendo^  (Christian  Island),  500. 

Ahreudarrhonons,  the.  44. 

Aiguillon,  Duchesse  d',  interest  in 
the  Huron  Mission,  244 ;  founds 
a  Hotel-Dieu  at  Quebec,  274, 
276. 

Ailleboust,  D',  see  Coulonges,  Louis 
d'Ailleboust  de. 

Ailleboust,  Madame  d',  407  ;  kind- 
ness to  Marie,  wife  of  Jean  Bap- 
tiste,  408.  See  also  Boulogne, 
Barbe  de. 

Albany,  city  of,  306,  324. 

Alegambe,  312 ;  on  the  character  of 


Brebeuf ,  492,  494 ;  on  the  char, 
acter  of  Gamier,  511. 

Algonquin  Indians,  the,  vast  ex- 
tent of  territory  of,  4  ;  broad 
signification  of  the  name,  4  ; 
densest  population  in  New  Eng- 
land, 5 ;  enmity  towards  the 
Iroquois,  6  ;  medical  practices 
of,  31  ;  belief  in  manitous  and 
Okies,  63-70 ;  Manabozho  the 
king  of  all  animal  kings  among, 
66  ;  belief  in  Atahocan,  69  5 
winter  life,  111-113  ;  the  "feast 
of  the  dead,"  167  ;  war  with  the 
Dutch,  331  ;  effect  of  Iroquois 
hostilities  on,  340 ;  once  nearly 
destroy  the  Mohawks,  375  ;  an- 
cient superiority  over  the  Iro- 
quois, 375  ;  the  grand  peace 
council,  384-393  ;  war  with  the 
Mohawks,  395  ;  disappearance 
of,  520 ;  the  Mohawks  make 
incessant  attacks  on,   523  ;   in- 

.   volved  in  a  common  ruin,  550. 

Algonquin  Mission,  the,  Le  Jeune 
learus  the  difficulties  of,  129; 
470. 

Algonquins  of  Gasp^,  the,  21  ; 
fetich- worship  among,  66;  ideas 
of  another  life,  79. 

Alleghanies,  the,  442. 

Alleghany  River,  the,  36. 


658 


INDEX. 


AUouez,  denies  Indian  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Being,  74. 

Allumette  Island,  9,  132,  133,  137, 
219,  365,  376,  520. 

Alphonse,  Jean,  6. 

America,  a  scene  of  wide-spread 
revolution,  3. 

Amikouas  (People  of  the  Beaver), 
the,  62. 

Ancona,  191. 

Andacwandet,  the  mystical  cure, 
453. 

Andagaron,  Mohawk  town  of,  317. 

Andastaeronnons,  the,  36. 

Andastaguez,  the,  36. 

Andastes,  the,  5  ;  location  and 
characteristics  of,  36  ;  syno- 
nym es  of,  36 ;  plans  for  con- 
verting, 130  ;  war  with  the 
Mohawks,  395  ;  the  Hurons  ask 
aid  in  war  from,  440 ;  mortal 
quarrel  with  the  Mohawks,  441 ; 
promise  to  aid  the  Hurons,  441  ; 
Huron  fugitives  try  to  reach, 
518,  528  ;  the  Mohawks  first  to 
bear  the  brunt  of  war  with,  546 ; 
receive  aid  from  the  Swedish 
colonists,  546 ;  attack  the  Sene- 
cas,  547  ;  their  only  strength  in 
their  courage,  548 ;  finally  over- 
borne by  the  Senecas,  548. 

Andaste  War,  the  Mohawks  first 
to  bear  the  brunt  of,  546 ;  be- 
comes a  war  of  inroads  and 
skirmishes,  547. 

Andastracronnons,  the,  36. 

Andiatarocte,  318. 

Ann,  Cape,  423. 

Annaotaha,  ^Etienne,  the  Huron 
war-chief,  531  ;  strategy  of,  531- 
534 ;  death  of,  535. 

Anne  of  Austria,  Queen,  receives 
Father  Jogues,  334. 

Annenrais,  mercy  shown  by  the 
Hurons  to,  443. 


Annieronnons     (Mohawks),     the^ 

448. 
Anonatea,  185. 
Antastoui,  the,  36. 
Aquanuscioni  (Iroquois),  the,  37. 
Areskoui,  the  Iroquois  deity,  73, 

170,321. 
Armouchiquois  Indians,  the,  in  a 

state  of  chronic  war  with  tribes 

of  New  Brunswick   and    Nova 

Scotia,  6. 
Arundel,  Earls  of,  492. 
Asserue,  Mohawk  town  of,  317. 
Assistaeronnons  (Nation  of  Fire), 

the,  540. 
Ataentsic,  legend  of,  70-72. 
Atahocan,  belief  among  the  primi- 
tive Algonquins  in,  69. 
Ataronchronons,  the,  44. 
Atirhagenrenrets,  the,  33. 
Atironta,  Jean  Baptiste,  chief,  444, 

445. 
Atotarho,  chief  of  the  Onondagas, 

45,  46  ;  peculiar  dignity  always 

attached  to,  48. 
Atsistaehonnons,  the,  540. 
Atticamegues     (Nation     of     the 

White    Fish),    8;     the    grand 

peace    council,   384-390  ;     416, 

524,  525. 
Attignaouentans,  the,  44. 
Attignenonghac,  the,  44. 
Attigouantans  (Hurons),  the,  9. 
Attionidarons,  the,  33. 
Attiwandarons  (Neutral   Nation), 

the  villages  of,  33  ,•  population 

of,  33  ;  extent  of  their  territory, 

33  ;   origin  of  their  name,  33 ; 

synonymes  of,  33  ;   customs  of, 

34. 
Attiwendaronk,  the,  33. 
Augusta,  English  post  at,  420, 423. 
Awandoay,  hospitality  to  the  Je* 

uit  fathers,  145. 


INDEX. 


659 


Ba:7AGiro,  Mohawk  town  of,  317. 

Bancroft,  George,  36. 

Baptiste,  Jean,  Christian  chief  of 
Sillery,  379  ;  murder  of,  407. 

Barnahites,  the,  194. 

Barnes,  325. 

Baron,  M.,  robbed  by  the  Indians, 
143. 

Barre',  Charlotte,  302. 

Bartram,  description  of  Iroquois 
council-house,  14 ;  Indian  fun- 
eral rites,  166. 

Baylies,  425. 

Bear  Nation,  the,  444. 

Beaune,  town  of,  191. 

Beauport,  settlement  of,  90,  247. 

Belmont,  formation  of  the  Society 
of  Notre-Dame  de  Montreal, 
286 ;  Maisonneuve  refuses  to  re- 
main at  Quebec,  297  ;  367,  371. 

Bernard,  379. 

Bernieres,  M.  de,  sham  marriage 
of  Madame  de  la  Feltrie  to,  263, 
266. 

Bersiamite  Indians,  the,  7. 

Beverly,  16;  Indian  feasts,  83. 

Biard,  Father  Pierre,  on  sun- 
worship  among  the  Indians,  69 ; 
in  the  abortive  mission  of  Aca- 
dia, 92 ;  imposed  on  by  the  In- 
dians, 117;  356. 

Blackfoot  Indians,  the,  338. 

Blue  Mountains,  the,  32,  33,  506. 

Bochart,  Du  Plessis,  139. 

Bone-pits,  167. 

Bonnet,  Father,  433. 

Borgia,  St.  Francis,  130. 

Boston,  7  ;  Father  Druilletes  sent 
to,  422  ;  his  arrival  at,  423. 

Bouillon,  Godfrey  de,  his  spirit 
lived  again  in  Maisonneuve, 
301. 

Boulogne,  Barbe  de,  360;  mar- 
riage to  D'Ailleboust,  361  ;  her 
vow,  361  ;  embarks  for  Canada, 


361.  See  also,  Ailleboustf  Ma- 
dame d'. 

Boulogne,  Philippine  de,  embarks 
for  Canada,  361. 

Bourdon,  Sieur,  397,  433. 

Bourgeoys,  Marguerite,  295;  sketch 
of,  295  ;  realized  the  fair  ideal  of 
Christian  womanhood,  301  ;  on 
the  work  of  conversion  at  Ville- 
raarie,  364. 

Bowen,  N.  H.,  534. 

Bradford,  Governor  William,  re- 
ceives Father  Druilletes,  425. 

Brazil,  120. 

Breant,  Pierre,  251. 

Br^beuf,  Jean  de,  on  the  number 
of  Huron  towns,  11  ;  on  the 
Huron  dwellings,  12,  13;  on  the 
Huron  fortifications,  16 ;  on  gam- 
bling among  the  Hurons,  24 ; 
on  the  Huron  feasts,  25 ;  on 
cannibalism  among  the  Hurons, 
28  ;  on  medical  practices  of  the 
Hurons,  31 ;  on  Indian  harmony 
and  sociality,  40 ;  on  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Hurons,  44  ;  on  the 
Iroquois  tradition  of  the  crea- 
tion, 71,  72;  on  the  journey  of 
the  dead,  78 ;  Indian  feasts,  83  ; 
at  the  Residence  of  Notre-Dame 
des  Anges,  92  ;  arrival  at  Que- 
bec, 108 ;  his  labors  among  the 
Hurons,  108 ;  on  the  Hurons  at 
Quebec,  135 ;  Huron  mission  falls 
to  the  lot  of,  135 ;  studies  the 
Huron  tongue,  139  ;  journey  to 
the  Hurons,  140-142;  arrival 
among  the  Hurons,  143 ;  re- 
ception by  the  Hurons,  145 ; 
attempts  to  convert  the  Hurons, 
150,  151 ;  on  the  cure  of  a  mad- 
man, 1 53  ;  on  the  Dream  Feast, 
155  ;  on  the  Indian  idea  of  thun- 
der, 156 ;  on  the  drought  and  the 
cross,  157  ;  on  Huron  eloquence, 


^ 


560 


INDEX. 


158;  on  the  peculiar  Indian 
funeral  rites,  1 59  ;  on  the  "  feast 
of  the  dead,"  160-162;  on  the 
funeral  games  among  the  Hu- 
rons,  1 63-1 66 ;  on  the  sacrifice 
of  Huron  prisoners,  169;  on 
converting  the  Hurons,  177-180; 
distinctive  traits  of,  188;  mir- 
acles, 197,  198;  on  the  "infer- 
nal wolf,"  207 ;  the  Jesuits  im- 
peached by  the  Hurons,  210 ; 
writes  a  letter  of  farewell  to  Le 
Jeune,  212;  the  farewell  feast, 
213 ;  on  the  narrow  escapes  of 
the  Jesuits,  215,  216;  letters  to 
Vitelleschi,  225,  238;  sets  out 
for  the  Neutral  Nation,  234, 235 ; 
Indians  plot  to  kill,  236  ;  sees  a 
vision  of  the  great  cross,  236  ; 
returns  to  Sainte  Marie,  238 ; 
considered  a  traitor  by  the  In- 
dians, 452 ;  465  ;  at  Sainte  Marie, 
472  ;  St.  Louis  attacked  by  the 
Iroquois,  483  ;  refuses  to  escape, 
483  ;  relics  of,  found  at  St.  Ig- 
nace,  489;  at  the  stake,  490; 
tortured,  491 ;  death  of,  491 ; 
character  of,  491,  492 ;  burial 
of,  493 ;  his  skull  preserved  as 
a  relic,  493 ;  his  desire  to  die  for 
Christ,  494 ;  visions  of,  494. 
Bressani,  Joseph,  on  tattooing 
among  the  Hurons,  20 ;  on  the 
government  of  the  Hurons,  44  ; 
on  thieving  among  the  Indians, 
56;  on  Indian  funeral  rites, 
166;  on  the  Jesuits  impeached 
by  the  Hurons,  211  ;  on  the  nar- 
row escapes  of  the  Jesuits,  215, 
275 ;  on  Father  Jogues  attacked 
by  the  Iroquois,  312 ;  on  the 
name  of  Lake  George,  313; 
on  the  murder  of  Goupil  by  the 
Iroquois,  320;  on  the  confeder- 
ates in  a  flush  of  unparalleled 


audacity,  336  ;  ordered  to  go  up 
to  the  Hurons,  347 ;  captured 
by  the  Iroquois,  348 ;  tortures 
of,  349-351 ;  ransomed  by  the 
Dutch,  351 ;  arrives  at  Rochelle, 
352 ;  returns  to  Canada,  352  ; 
second  attempt  to  reach  the 
Hurons,  352 ;  on  De  Noue's  sen- 
sitiveness regarding  the  virtue 
of  obedience,  353 ;  on  the  death 
of  De  None,  356 ;  at  Sainte 
Marie,  471 ;  the  Hurons  defeat 
the  Iroquois,  476 ;  on  the  death 
of  Father  Daniel,  479 ;  St.  Louis 
burned  by  the  Iroquois,  484  ;  on 
the  physical  weakness  of  Lale- 
mant,  493  ;  on  the  misery  of 
the  Hurons  on  Isle  St.  Joseph, 
503 ;  the  refugees  on  Isle  St. 
Joseph,  505 ;  on  the  Iroquois 
attack  on  St.  Jean,  508 ;  on  the 
character  of  Garnier,  511  ;  on 
the  Huron  mission  abandoned, 
519;  meeting  with  Ragueneau 
and  his  fugitives,  521. 

Brest,  332. 

Brittany,  coast  of,  332. 

Brule,  ^fetienne,  visit  to  the  Eries, 
36 ;  murdered  by  the  Indians, 
144 ;  traditionary  revenge  of, 
183,  258. 

Bullion,  Madame  de,  gives  funds 
to  build  a  hospital  at  Villemarie, 
362;  letter  from  Mile.  Mance, 
362. 

"  Burn-Knives,"  the,  547. 

Buteux,  Father  Jacques,  309,  312  ; 
on  the  murder  of  Goupil  by  the 
Iroquois,  320 ;  on  the  escape  of 
Father  Jogues  from  the  Iro- 
quois, 327,  328  ;  on  the  Iroquois 
atrocities,  343,  344,  403,  405; 
visits  the  Nation  of  the  White 
Fish,  525  ;  death  of,  526. 


INDEX. 


661 


California,  State  of,  17 ;  north- 
ern tribes  of,  1 7. 

Calli^re,  Point,  302. 

Calvinists,  Dutch,  331. 

Canada,  3,4;  two  forces  battling 
for  the  mastery  of,  335  ;  ceases 
to  be  a  mission,  551. 

Canada  Missions,  the  theme  of 
enthusiastic  discussion,  284. 

Canideri-oit,  313. 

Capuchins,  the,  189,  251. 

Carafa,  Father  Vincent,  467. 

Carantoiians,  the,  36. 

Carayon,  92,  190,  221,  223,  226, 
238,  467,  473. 

Carme,  Henri  de  St.  Joseph,  190. 

Carmelites,  the,  189,  243. 

Carolinas,  the,  4. 

Cartier,  Jacques,  3 ;  description 
of  houses  at  Montreal,  13,  91. 

Carver,  Captain,  62. 

Carver,  the  Friendly  Society  of 
the  Spirit,  84. 

Casgrain,  the  Abb^,  263 ;  com- 
ment on  the  sham  marriage  of 
Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  265 ;  ac- 
count of  Marie  de  St.  Bernard, 
266 ;  biographer  of  Madame  de 
I'Incarnation,  269,  270;  the 
vision  of  Madame  de  I'Incarna- 
tion, 273  ;  292 ;  Madame  de  la 
Peltrie  deserts  her  Ursulines, 
300. 

Cass,  Hon.  Lewis,  28,  65. 

Casson,  DoUier  de,  on  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Hurons,  11 ;  282 ;  on 
the  formation  of  the  Society  of 
Notre-Dame  de  Montreal,  286 ; 
on  the  consecration  of  Montreal, 
294;  on  the  arrival  of  Maison- 
neuve  at  Montreal,  301,  302; 
on  the  birth  of  Montreal,  303  ; 
on  the  infancy  of  Montreal,  358 ; 
on  Montreal  discovered  by  the 
Iroquois,  365 ;  on  the  treachery 


of  the  Hurons,  366 ;  on  dogs  at 
Villemarie,  368;  on  the  battle 
with  the  Iroquois,  369,  370 ;  on 
the  exploit  of  Maisonneuve,  371. 

Catlin,  the  painter,  224. 

Cat,  Nation  of  the,  see  Nation  of 
the  Cat. 

Cat  Nation,  Lake  of  the,  235. 

Cayuga  Indians,  the,  38,  45 ;  num- 
ber of  warriors,  395  ;  442  ;  efforts 
for  peace,  444,  540 ;  attack  the 
Andastes,  547. 

Chabanel,  Noel,  distinctive  traits 
of,  195;  joins  the  Huron  mis- 
sion, 195;  465;  at  Sainte  Marie, 
471  ;  at  St.  Jean,  506 ;  at  St. 
Matthias,  511 ;  murder  of,  512; 
vow  of,  513. 

Chaleurs,  Bay  of,  415. 

Chambly,  Rapids  of,  349. 

Champfleur,  374,  381 ;  interview 
with  Kiotsaton,  382. 

Champlain,  Lake,  312,  339,  349, 
378,  397. 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  5 ;  de- 
scription of  the  Armouchiquois, 
6 ;  at  Quebec,  S ;  on  the  num- 
ber of  Huron  towns,  1 1 ;  on  the 
Huron  dwellings,  12,  13 ;  on 
tattooing  among  the  Hurons, 
20;  on  the  Huron  women,  22, 
23 ;  on  the  medical  practices  of 
the  Hurons,  31  ;  on  the  rule  of 
descent  among  the  Hurons,  42  ; 
on  the  government  of  the  Hu- 
rons, 44;  on  Indian  sorcerers, 
82 ;  fort  built  at  Quebec  by,  89  ; 
arrival  in  Quebec,  108 ;  on  the 
Huron  country,  132 ;  on  the 
Hurons  at  Quebec,  135  ;  on  the 
Huron  mission,  135;  death  of, 
241 ;  points  out  Montreal  sa 
proper  site  for  settlement,  284. 

Charity  Island,  500. 

Charles,  Chief,  441,  442. 


3K 


662 


INDEX. 


Charlestown,  peninsula  of,  423. 

Charlevoix,  on  the  corruption  of 
the  Hurons,  21  ;  medical  prac- 
tices of,  31 ;  on  the  Tionnontates, 
33  ;  ou  the  Iroquois  name,  37  ; 
on  the  government  of  the  Hu- 
rons, 44  ;  on  Indian  superstition 
concerning  animal  spirits,  62  ; 
on  the  "  Great  Spirit,"  67  ;  on 
the  legend  of  Jouskeha,  72  ;  on 
the  Indian  ideas  of  another  life, 
79  ;  on  Indian  funeral  rites,  166  ; 
comment  on  Madame  de  la  Pel- 
trie's  sham  marriage,  265 ;  ac- 
count of  Madame  de  I'lncarna- 
tion,  269  ;  on  the  arrival  of  the 
nuns  in  Quebec,  275 ;  on  Madame 
de  la  Peltrie  deserting  her  Ursu- 
lines,  300;  on  Father  Jogues 
captured  by  the  Iroquois,  314; 
on  the  motive  of  Father  Druil- 
letes's  mission  among  the  Abe- 
nakis,  419 ;  on  Druilletes's  sec- 
ond embassy  to  New  England, 
429  ;  on  the  character  of  Bre- 
beuf,  492;  visit  to  Indian  Lor- 
ette,  537. 

Chatelain  (Chasllain),  Pierre,  sent 
to  the  Huron  mission,  175;  213, 
216. 

ChatiUon,  190. 

Chaudiere,  Fall  of  the,  343. 

Chaulmer,  245,  360. 

Chaumonot,  Joseph  Marie,  early 
life  of,  190-193  ;  admitted  to  the 
Jesuit  novitiate,  193  ;  embarks 
for  Canada,  194  ;  miracles,  196  ; 
on  the  visions  occurring  to  Bre- 
beuf,  198;  narrow  escape  of, 
215,  216;  "sagamite,"  220; 
letters  to  Father  Philippe  Nappi, 
221,  238;  on  the  intelligence  of 
the  Indians,  226  ;  sets  out  for 
the  Neutral  Nation,  234,  235; 
the  Indians  plot    to  kill,  236; 


narrow  escape  of,  237  ;  returns 
to  Sainte  Marie,  238,  274 ;  46b ; 
at  Sainte  Marie,  471  ;  sees  a 
vision  of  Father  Daniel,  473, 
474;  on  the  destruction  of  the 
Hurons,  497  ;  on  the  refugees  on 
Isle  St.  Joseph,  505  ;  missionary 
at  Old  Lorette,  536  ;  plan  for 
chapel  to  Our  Lady  of  Loretto, 
536  ;  on  the  number  of  the  Iro- 
quois, 544 ;  545. 

Chauvigny,  M.  de,  263  ;  death  of, 
265. 

Chauvigny,  Marie  Madeleine  de, 
see  La  Peltrie,  Madame  de. 

Cherokee  Indians,  the,  system  of 
clanship  among,  43. 

Choctaw  Indians,  the,  system  of 
clanship  among,  43,  47. 

Chomedey,  Paul  de,  see  Maison- 
neuve,  Sieur  de. 

Christian  Island,  500. 

Clark,  tradition  of  Hiawatha,  73 ; 
Indian  tales,  86. 

Colden,  9. 

Coliseum,  the,  at  Rome,  197. 

Conde,  the  great,  244. 

Conessetagoes,  the,  36. 

Conestogas  (Andastes),  the,  36 ; 
massacred  by  the  "  Paxton 
Boys,"  440,  548. 

Confederates,  the,  see  Five  Con- 
federate Nations,  the. 

Contarrea,  village  of,  25. 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore,  314. 

Couillard,  M.,  90,  433,  434. 

Coulonges,  Louis  d'Ailleboust  de, 
arrives  at  Villemarie,  360 ;  his 
marriage,  360, 361 ;  embarks  for 
Canada,  361  ;  succeeds  Monfr. 
magny  as  governor  of  Quebec, 
428. 

Couture,  Guillaume,  309 ;  at- 
tacked and  captured  by  the 
Iroquois,  311-323,  325  ;  helps  to 


INDEX. 


563 


procure  peace  with  the  Iroquois, 
882 ;  returned  to  the  French, 
385;  returns  to  winter  among 
the  Iroquois,  395. 

Creek  Indians,  the,  system  of 
clanship  of,  43,  47. 

Crow  Indians,  the,  338. 

Cusick,  on  the  Huron  fortifications, 
16 ;  on  the  Iroquois  tradition 
concerning  the  creation,  71  ;  on 
the  Iroquois  deities,  73 ;  on  the 
Iroquois  legends,  86. 

Dablon,  the  Jesuit,  on  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Dream  Feast, 
155 ;  on  the  removal  of  the  Hu- 
rons  from  Notre-Dame  de  Foy, 
537 ;  on  the  number  of  the  Iro- 
quois, 544,  545;  hopes  for  the 
success  of  the  Andastes,  548. 

Dahcotah  Indians,  the,  5 ;  bark 
villages  of,  11  ;  system  of  clan- 
ship among,  42 ;  acquisition  of 
"  medicines,"  66  ;  magical  soci- 
eties among,  84 ;  traditionary 
tales,  85;  belief  in  the  oki,  156; 
funeral  rites  among,  166.  See 
also  Sioux  Indians,  the. 

Dallion,  La  Roche,  on  the  popula- 
tion of  the  Attiwaudarons,  33  ; 
on  the  jealousy  of  the  Hurons 
regarding  French  trade,  35; 
visit  to  the  Neutrals,  238. 

Daniel,  Father  Antoine,  at  the 
Residence  of  Notre-Dame  des 
Anges,  92;  arrival  at  Quebec, 
108  ;  on  the  Hurons  at  Quebec, 
135  ;  Huron  mission  falls  to  the 
lot  of,  135  ;  journey  to  the  Hu- 
rons, 140-142;  arrival  among 
the  Hurons,  145 ;  establishes 
seminary  for  Huron  children, 
175;  tranquil  boldness  of,  216; 
returns  to  Quebec,  260;  473; 
at  St.  Joseph,  476 ;   attack  on 


St.  Joseph  by  the  Iroquoig,  477  ; 
death  of,  479,  494. 

Dauversi^re,  Jerome  de  Royer  de 
la,  description  of,  281  ;  enthusi- 
astic devotee  of  mystical  ten- 
dencies, 281  ;  the  voice  from 
Heaven,  282 ;  commanded  to 
establish  a  Hotel-Dieu  at  Mont- 
real, 282  ;  perplexities,  282  ; 
beholds  vision  in  the  church  of 
Notre-Dame,  284  ;  meeting  with 
Olier,  285 ;  proposes  to  found 
three  religious  communities  at 
Montreal,  285 ;  title  to  the 
island  of  Montreal  transferred 
to,  288 ;  appointed  seigneur  of 
Montreal,  289 ;  powers  of,  289 ; 
plans  of,  289 ;  tries  to  form  the 
community  of  hospital  nuns, 
289;  revulsion  of  spirit,  290 
success  in  raising  money,  291 
meeting  with  Mile.  Mance,  293 
a  senseless  enthusiast,  363 ;  sick 
and  bankrupt,  432. 

Davost,  Father,  at  the  Residence 
of  Notre-Dame  des  Anges,  92 ; 
arrival  at  Quebec,  108 ;  on  the 
Hurons  at  Quebec,  135 ;  Huron 
mission  falls  to  the  lot  of,  135 
journey  to  the  Hurons,  140-142 
arrival  among  the  Hurons,  145 
establishes  seminary  for  Huron 
children,  175. 

Delaware   Indians,  the,  tradition 
concerning  the  creation,  72. 

De  Quen,  see  Qiien,  De. 

Des  Ch&telets,  M.,  433,  434. 

Detroit,  city  of,  530. 

Detroit  River,  the,  5. 

Diamond,  Cape,  88,  103. 

Dieskau,  314. 

Dinet,  Father,  273. 

Dionondadies    (Tobacco    Nation), 
the,  32. 

Doctor,  Indian,  29,  81. 


564 


INDEX. 


Douart,  Jacques,  killed  by  the 
Indians,  454. 

Drake,  425. 

Dream  Feast,  the,  80 ;  description 
of,  154,  155. 

Druilletes,  Father  Gabriel,  sets 
out  on  excursion  among  the 
Montagu  ais,  416  ;  on  the  Ken- 
nebec, 419;  his  mission  among 
the  Abenakis,  419;  goes  to 
Quebec,  421  ;  sent  to  Boston, 
421  ;  receives  a  warm  welcome 
from  John  Winslow,  423 ;  arrival 
at  Boston,  423  ;  receives  a  hearty 
welcome  from  Edward  Gibbons, 
424  ;  received  by  Governor  Dud- 
ley, 424  ;  proceeds  to  Plymouth, 
425;  received  by  Governor 
Bradford,  425;  entertained  by 
John  Eliot,  425  ;  exalted  impres- 
sion of  Massachusetts,  426  ;  re- 
turns to  Quebec,  428  ;  again  sent 
to  New  England,  428. 

Du  Chesueau,  the  Iroquois  popu- 
lation, 60. 

Du  Creux,  89,  133;  on  Indian 
funeral  rites,  166  ;  on  Bressani 
among  the  Iroquois,  352;  on 
the  death  of  Father  Daniel, 
479. 

Dudley,  Governor  Thomas,  re- 
ceives Father  Druilletes,  424. 

Du  Peron,  Father  Franyois,  202; 
narrow  escape  of,  215,  216  ;  jour- 
ney to  the  mission-house,  218- 
220 ;  letter  to  his  brother,  221  ; 
converts  at  Ossossane,  223 ;  ful- 
filment of  Maisonneuve's  vow, 
359. 

Du  Peron,  Joseph-Imbert,  letter 
from  his  brother,  221. 

Durham  Terrace,  89. 

Du  Rocher,  339. 

Dutch,  the,  305,  315 ;  at  Fort 
Orange,     324,     325;     relations 


with  the  Mohawks,  325 ;  at 
Manhattan,  331  ;  war  with  the 
Algonquius,  33 1 ;  ransom  Bres- 
sani from  the  Indians,  351. 

Eakins,  D.  a.,  clan  divisions  of 
the  Creeks,  47. 

Eastman,  Mrs.,  legends  of  the 
Sioux  (Dahcotah),  86. 

Ekaentoton  (Isle  Sainte  Marie), 
498. 

Ekarenniondi  (St.  Matthias),  506. 

Eliot,  John,  6 ;  entertains  Father 
Druilletes,  425 ;  his  mission  at 
Natick,  425. 

Endicott,  John,  426. 

Enghien,  Due  d'  (the  Great 
Conde),  244. 

England,  the  Iroquois  confederacy 
a  wedge  between  the  colonies 
of  France  and,  548. 

English  civilization,  effect  on  the 
Indians  of,  131. 

Erie,  Lake,  5,  33,  35,  234,  235, 
375,  497. 

Eriehronon,  the,  35. 

Erie  Indians,  the,  5  ;  location  and 
characteristics  of,  35  ;  long  a  ter- 
ror to  the  Iroquois,  35  ;  syno- 
nymes  of,  35  ;  the  Jesuits  never 
had  a  mission  among,  35  ;  visited 
by  Brule',  36  ;  plans  for  con- 
verting, 130;  Huron  fugitives 
among,  528 ;  the  Iroquois  make 
war  agaiust,  542 ;  make  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  the  Senecas,  542  ; 
cause  of  the  Iroquois  war,  543 ; 
traditions  of  the  war  with  the 
Iroquois,  545 ;  exist  no  more  aa 
a  nation,  545. 

Erigas,  the,  35. 

Etarita  (St.  Jean),  506. 

Etchemins,  the,  7. 

Etionontates,  the,  32. 


INDEX. 


565 


Faillon,  the  Abbfe,  247,  248,  253, 
256,  282,  283,  285 ;  immense  im- 
portance of  the  writings  of,  286, 
290,  291,  292,  293,  295,  296,  299, 
.302,  338,  360,  362,  363,  364,  368, 
372,  431,  465. 

Faith  Island,  500. 

Falmouth  (England),  331. 

Fancamp,  Baron  de,  282, 286  ;  title 
to  the  island  of  Montreal  trans- 
ferred to,  288. 

Faribault,  G.  B.,  299. 

Feast  of  the  Dead,  the,  34,  43; 
description  of,  160-162. 

Feasts,  Indian,  83. 

Ferland,  the  Abb^,  90,  247,  258, 
285,  293,  299,  309,  426,428,  431, 
434. 

Festins  a  manger  tout,  26,  29. 

Fetich-worship,  Indian,  66. 

Fire,  Nation  of,  see  Nation  of  Fire, 
540. 

Five  Confederate  Nations,  the,  4 ; 
the  Tuscaroras  join,  5 ;  true 
names  of,  38 ;  mythological 
deities  of,  72,  73 ;  in  a  flush  of 
unparalleled  audacity,  336;  not 
represented  at  the  great  peace 
council,  394  ;  ruling  passion  of, 
435. 

Flemish  Bastard,  the,  524. 

Floridian  tribes,  the,  funeral  rites 
among,  166. 

Fontarabie,  525;  death  of,  526; 
"  Fort  des  Hurons,"  the,  535. 

Four  Colonies,  the,  Commissioners 
of,  428. 

Fox  River,  540. 

France  sends  reinforcements  to  the 
missions  of  the  forests,  1 72  ;  the 
Iroquois  confederacy  a  wedge 
between  the  colonies  of  England 
and,  548. 

Franciscans,  the,  43,  251. 

Fremin,  Father,  528, 


French,  the,  trade  with  the 
Hurons,  35,  1-34 ;  the  Iroquoia 
War,  337  ;  war  with  the  Mo- 
hawks, 395,  523  ;  reap  a  profit 
from  the  misfortunes  of  the 
Senecas,  547. 

French  civilization,  effect  on  the 
Indians  of,  131. 

French  Kiver,  the,  62,  132,  143. 

"Fresh  Sea,"  the  great,  132,  235. 

Friendly  Society  of  the  Spirit,  the, 
84. 

Funeral  rites,  159. 

Fur-traders,  the  worst  of  colonists, 
427. 

Gallatin,  erroneous  location  of 
the  Andastes,  36  ;  cruelty  among 
the  Indians,  345. 

Gamache,  Marquis  de,  260. 

Gandougarae,  Seneca  town  of, 
528. 

Ganeganaga,  Mohawk  town  of, 
317. 

Ganowauga,  Mohawk  town  of,  31 7. 

Garnier,  Father  Charles,  152; 
sent  to  the  Huron  mission,  175; 
distinctive  traits  of,  188,  189; 
letters  of,  189;  family  of,  190; 
on  the  fort  at  Os8ossan<^,  200 ;  on 
the  nether  powers,  203  ;  on  Bre'- 
beuf's  farewell  letter  to  Le 
Jeune,  213 ;  on  the  narrow 
escapes  of  the  Jesuits,  215,  216  ; 
on  methods  of  conversion,  224 ; 
new  and  perilous  mission  of  the 
Tobacco  Nation  falls  to,  232 ; 
reception  by  the  Indians,  233 ; 
466;  at  Sainte  Marie,  472;  on 
the  refugees  on  Isle  St.  Joseph, 
505  ;  at  St.  Jean,  506  ;  murdered 
by  the  Iroquois,  197,  508  ;  his 
body  found  and  buried,  510; 
character  of,  510;  his  devotion 
to  the  mission,  510, 


666 


INDEX. 


Gamier,  Father  Julien,  45,  541. 

Garreau,  the  Jesuit,  at  St.  Mat- 
thias, 465,  506 ;  exposed  to 
dangers,  513  ;  death  of,  514. 

Gasp^,  121. 

Genesee  River,  the,  5,  35,  36. 

George,  Lake,  312,  313,  397,  401. 

Georgian  Bay,  of  Lake  Huron, 
132,  143,  462,  519. 

Gibbons,  Edward,  423;  hearty 
welcome  to  Father  Druilletes, 
424. 

Giffard,  M.,  seigneur  of  Beauport, 
90 ;  247,  433. 

Gilbert,  Father,  embarks  for  the 
New  World,  101. 

Glocester,  Bay  of,  462. 

Godefroy,  Jean  Paul,  sent  to  New 
England  from  Quebec,  428. 

Godefroy,  Thomas,  captured  by 
the  Iroquois,  337. 

Gory,  Jean,  298,  299. 

Goupil,  Rene,  309;  captured  by 
the  Iroquois,  310-318  ;  murdered 
by  the  Iroquois,  319. 

Goyogouins  (Cayugas),  the,  442. 

Graham's  Point,  530. 

Grand  Council  of  Venice,  the,  49. 

Grand  Manitoulin  Island,  470,  498, 
518,  534. 

Gravier,  Father,  76. 

Great  Hare,  the,  66 ;  account  of, 
67. 

Great  Lakes,  the,  37,  470,  551. 

"  Great  Spirit,"  the,  67  ;  difficulty 
of  early  missionaries  in  express- 
ing, 75. 

Green  Bay  of  Lake  Michigan,  5, 
258,  529. 

Greenhalgh,  Wentworth,  on  the 
corruption  of  the  Hurons,  21  ; 
on  the  Iroquois  population,  60 ; 
on  the  number  of  Iroquois  war- 
riors, 395. 

Gregory  the  Great,  Pope,  250. 


Grelon,  the  Jesuit,  at  St.  Matthia»i 
506  ;  exposed  to  dangers,  513. 

Guyandot,  the,  9. 

Guyard,  Marie,  see  Incarnation, 
Madame  de  I'. 

Hache,  Robert,  433. 

Harvard  College,  260. 

Hasanoanda,  45. 

Hawenniio,  Iroquois  name  for  God, 
73. 

Hazard,  422,  429,  440. 

Head-Piercer,  the,  79. 

He'bert,  M.,  249,  434. 

Hebert,  Madame,  90, 102,  103. 

Hecke welder,  76. 

Henry  IV.  of  France,  424. 

Hertel,  Jacques,  258. 

Hiawatha,  the  deity  of  the  Five 
Nations,  73  ;  tradition  of,  73. 

"  Hierocoyes,  Lake  of,"  314. 

Holland,  heretics  of,  289." 

Hope  Island,  500. 

"  Horicon,"  314. 

"  Horiconi,"  314. 

"Horicoui,"314. 

Hotel-Dieu  at  Quebec,  192,  276, 
493. 

Howe,  Lord,  313. 

Hudson's  Bay,  4,  7,  549. 

Hudson  River,  the,  5,  36,  349, 397. 

Huguenots,  the,  427. 

Hundred  Associates,  the,  require- 
ments of  the  charter  of,  247 ; 
unable  to  carry  out  the  condi- 
tions, 248;  fur-trade  of,  249; 
the  Jesuits  rely  chiefly  on,  249 ; 
transfer  title  to  the  island  of 
Montreal,  288 ;  Maisonneuve 
becomes  soldier-governor  of, 
289 ;  consecrate  Montreal  to 
the  Holy  Family,  294 ;  transfer 
their  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade 
to  the  inhabitants  of  QuebeCt 
429;  466. 


INDEX. 


667 


Huron  Church,  the,  449-461. 

Huron  Indians,  the,  towns  of,  5 ; 
synonymes  of,  9 ;  ancient  coun- 
try of,  10;  the  Jesuits  make  an 
enumeration  of  the  villages, 
dwellings,  and  families  of,  10; 
construction  of  the  towns  of, 
1 1  ;  estimated  population  of, 
11 ;  description  of  dwellings  of, 
11-13;  description  of  fortified 
towns  of,  15 ;  habits  of,  16 ;  food 
of,  16;  arts  of  life  among,  17; 
dress  of,  19;  female  life  among, 
20-23;  marriage  customs,  21; 
traffic  of,  23 ;  their  festal  sea- 
son, 24;  gambling  among,  24; 
their  feasts  and  dances,  25 ;  their 
religious  festivals,  27  ;  songs  of, 
27 ;  cannibalism  among,  28 ; 
cure  of  disease,  28 ;  supersti- 
tious belief  concerning  disease 
and  death,  29, 30 ;  medical  prac- 
tices of,  31  ;  war  with  the  Iro- 
quois, 34 ;  tradFwith  the  French, 
35^34 ;  class  distinctions  among, 
40  ;  rule  of  descent  among,  42  ; 
cease  to  exist  as  a  nation,  43 ;  a 

^confederacy  of  four  distinct  con- 
tiguous nations,  43 ;  government 
of,  43,  222;  death  penalties 
among,  55 ;  notorious  thieves, 
55 ;  primitive  belief  in  immor- 
tality, 77;  the  journey  of  the 
dead,  77 ;  ideas  of  another  life, 
78;  belief  in  dreams,  80;  sor- 
cerers. 81  ;  feasts,  83 ;  tradition- 
ary tales,  84,  85  ;  populous  vil- 
lages of,  132;  at  Quebec,  133; 
accept  the  mission,  136 ;  Bre- 
beuf's  arrival  among,  143 ;  live 
in  constant  fear  of  the  Iroquois, 
149  ;  Brebeuf's  attempts  to  con- 
vert, 150,  151 ;  winter  the  season 
of  festivity  among,  152 ;  rites 
of  sepulture  among,  1 59 ;    the 


"feast  of  the  dead,"  160-162; 
funeral  games  of,  163-166  ;  pre- 
tended kindness  to  prisoners, 
168;  small-pox  among,  176; 
scarcity  of  game  among,  177; 
religious  terror  of,  205 ;  perse- 
cution of  the  Jesuits,  205-217; 
victories  over  the  Iroquois,  228 ; 
methods  of  conversion  practised 
among,  254 ;  trading.  307  ;  Bres- 
sani  ordered  to  go  up  to,  347 ; 
treachery  of,  366 ;  the  grand 
peace  council,  384-393 ;  out- 
number the  Iroquois,  436 ;  first 
meeting  of  white  men  with, 
436 ;  Fortune  smiles  on,  437 ; 
defeated  by  treachery,  439 ;  re- 
taliation of,  440 ;  feel  themselves 
on  the  edge  of  ruin,  462;  ask 
aid  in  war  from  the  Andastes, 
440;  the  Andastes  promise  aid 
to,  441  ;  capture  of  attacking 
Onondagas,  443 ;  mercy  shown 
to,  443  ;  eager  for  peace,  444  ; 
end  of  negotiations  with  the 
Onondagas,  448 ;  become  tract- 
able, 449 ;  resistance  against 
baptism,  450,  451  ;  murder  and 
atonement,  454-461 ;  trading  at 
Three  Rivers,  475 ;  attack  and 
defeat  the  Iroquois,  476 ;  the 
Iroquois  on  the  war-path  for, 
481 ;  try  to  defend  St.  Louis 
against  the  Iroquois,  483  ;  re- 
pulse the  Iroquois  from  Sainte 
Marie,  484, 485  ;  valiant  defence 
of  St.  Louis,  486 ;  fatuity,  not  . 
cowardice,  the  ruin  of,  486;  \ 
death-knell  of,  496 ;  cease  to 
exist  as  a  nation,  497 ;  form  a 
settlement  on  Isle  St.  Joseph, 
499-502;  misery  of,  503;  the 
Jesuits  decide  to  bring  to  Que- 
bec the  remnant  of,  519;  de- 
stroyed by  famine  and  diseiuie, 


668 


INDEX. 


527;    settle    on    the   Island   of 
Michilimackinac,   529 ;    quarrel 
with  the  Sioux,  529 ;  migrations 
of,   530;    removal  from  Notre- 
Dame  de  Foy,  537  ;  Huron  blood 
fast  bleaching  out  from,  537; 
superior  to  the  Iroquois  in  num- 
bers, 538  ;  the  Neutrals  take  no 
part  against,  540;  best  hope  of 
the  Canadian  mission  fell  with, 
550. 
Huron- Iroquois  Family,  the,  full- 
est developments  of  Indian  char- 
acter to  be  found  in,  31 ;  size  of 
their  brains,  32. 
Huron   Lake,  5,   10,  32,  62,   183, 
200,  231,  392,  470,  484,  496,498, 
529. 
Huron    Mission,   the,    plans    for, 
129;  falls  to  the  lot  of  Brebeuf, 
Daniel,   and  Davost,    135 ;    ac- 
cepted   by    the     Indians,    136; 
house  built  for,  146  ;  description 
of  house,  147  ;  Indian  guests  at, 
147-149;    France    sends    rein- 
forcements to,  172;  enthusiasm 
for,  173;  sickness  at,    175;  the 
work   of    conversion,    177-180; 
the  humpbacked  sorcerer,  180- 
1 84  ;  renewed  efforts  of  the  Jes- 
uit Fathers,    184,    185;    covert 
baptisms,   185,  186  ;    daily  life 
at,  196;  miracles,  196, 197  ;  fer- 
vors for,  243 ;  in  a  state  of  des- 
titution, 308 ;    harvest  of  con- 
verts, 449;  abandoned,  519. 
Hutchinson,  422,  429. 

Ignace,  Father,  420. 

Ignatius,  St.,  130;  feast  of,  136; 

155,  179,  196,433. 
Ihonatiria,    Huron  town   of,    144, 

146,  15.5,  160,  175,  184,  205,226, 

228. 
Illinois  Indians,  the,  4,  529. 


Illinois,  State  of,  4. 
Immaculate  Conception,  the,  new 
mission  of,    200;    doctrine    of, 
200;    the    new    mission-house, 
201 ;  the  first  baptism,  202  ;  the 
nether  powers,  203 ;  persecution 
of  the  fathers  by  the  Hurons, 
204-217  ;  narrow  escapes,  215. 
Incarnation,  Marie  de  V,  263,  264 ; 
chosen  Superior  of  the  new  con- 
vent at  Quebec,  267  ;  sketch  of, 
267  ;  portrait  of,  267 ;  mystical 
marriage  with  Christ,  268 ;  pu- 
pils of,  269 ;  becomes  a  prey  to 
dejection,   270;    unrelenting  in 
every  practice  of    humiliation, 
270;    immured   with  the  Ursu- 
lines,    271 ;    receives    her    first 
"vocation"    to    Canada    from 
heaven,  272 ;  embarks  for  Can- 
ada,  274;     arrival    at   Quebec, 
275;   instructs  the  Indian  chil- 
dren,   278;    difiiculties    of    her 
position,     278 ;     reputation    of 
saintship  attached  to,  279  ;  death 
of,  280;  vision  of,  292;  on  the 
Iroquois  War,  338 ;  on  the  death 
of  De  Noue,  356;  379;  on  the 
influence  of   Couture  over  his 
captors,  382 ;  on  the  grand  peace 
council,  388 ;  on  the  suspicions 
of  the  Mohawks  toward  Father 
Jogues,  400 ;  on  the  murder  of 
Piskaret,  406  ;  on  the  adventures 
of  Marie,  wife  of  Jean  Baptiste, 
410;    on  the   death  of  Father 
Daniel,  479;    on    the  physical 
weakness  of  Lalemant,  493  ;  on 
the  relics  of  the  martyrs,  493. 
Indiana,  State  of,  4. 
Indian  Lorette,  537 ;  visit  to,  537 ; 

condition  of,  537. 
Indians,  the,  mutable  as  the  wind, 
3 ;    thorns  in  the  flesh   of  the 
Puritan,  5 ;  not  within  the  scope 


INDEX. 


669 


of  the  Jesuit  labor,  6 ;  the  heresy 
of  heresies  planted  among,  6 ; 
confusion  of  tribal  names  among, 
9  ;  social  organization,  .38 ;  doc- 
ile acquiescence  to  the  early 
missionaries,  38;  their  self-con- 
trol, 39  ;  their  code  of  courtesy, 
39 ;  charity  and  hospitality  of, 
39  ;  their  social  disposition,  40 ; 
subdivision  of  the  tribes,  41  ; 
clan  names  and  emblems,  41  ; 
their  laws  of  descent  and  inherit- 
ance, 41-43 ;  anomalous  and 
contradictory  religious  belief  of, 
60;  pantheism  of,  61  ;  supersti- 
tion concerning  animal  spirits, 
62  ;  manitous  and  okies,  63-65  ; 
the  guardian  manitou,  65 ;  their 
"  medicine,"  66 ;  Manabozho, 
66;  early  traditions  concerning 
the  creation,  69,  70-73  ;  the  loss 
of  immortality  among,  69  ;  wor- 
ship of  the  Sun,  69 ;  primitive 
idea  of  a  Supreme  Being,  74; 
primitive  belief  in  immortality, 
76  ;  the  journey  of  the  dead,  77 ; 
ideas  of  another  life,  78 ;  belief 
in  dreams,  80 ;  sorcerers,  81  ; 
traditionary  tales,  84,  85;  sum- 
mary of  the  religion  of,  87  ; 
ascribe  mysterious  and  super- 
natural powers  to  the  insane, 
124;  contrast  in  the  effect  of 
Spanish,  English,  and  French 
civilization  upon,  131 ;  idea  of 
the  nature  of  thunder,  1 56 ;  dis- 
like of  a  beard,  224 ;  the  Jesuits 
propose  intermarriage  with,  226  ; 
relations  with  the  Dutch,  325  ; 
spasmodic  courage  of,  340 ;  weak- 
ened by  internal  fighting,  435; 
honor  among,  447. 

Iroquois  Council-house,  descrip- 
tion and  plan  of,  14. 

Iroquois  Indians,  the,   extent  of 


territory  of,  4;  enmity  toward 
the  Algonquius,  6;  fear  of,  8; 
houses  of,  13;  forts  of,  15;  can- 
nibalism among,  28 ;  war  with 
the  Hurons,  34 ;  women  often 
burned  by,  34  ;  the  Eries  long  a 
terror  to,  35 ;  the  Indian  of 
Indians,  36  ;  advantageous  loca- 
tion of,  36 ;  characteristics  of, 
37  ;  their  traditions,  37 ;  their 
organization  and  history,  37; 
meaning  of  the  name,  37  ;  class 
distinctions  among,  40 ;  conspic- 
uous in  history,  44  ;  origin  of, 
45;  division  into  five  distinct 
nations,  45;  the  league  of,  45; 
division  into  eight  clans,  46; 
remarkable  analogies  between 
clanship  of  other  tribes  and,  46 ; 
clan  distinctions  among,  47; 
organization  of,  47,  48  ;  councils 
and  sachems,  49  ;  the  "  senate  " 
described,  49  ;  the  great  council, 
50,  51 ;  savage  politicians,  53  ; 
punishment  of  crime,  54-56 ; 
military  organization,  56  ;  lived 
in  state  of  chronic  warfare,  57  ; 
inseparably  wedded  to  institu- 
tions and  traditions,  58  ;  spirit 
of  the  confederacy,  59 ;  at  the 
height  of  their  prosperity,  60; 
their  numbers,  60;  tradition  con- 
cerning heaven  and  the  creation, 
70 ;  mythological  deities  of,  72- 
73  ;  primitive  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  74 ;  primitive  belief  in 
immortality,  76 ;  the  journey  of 
the  dead,  77 ;  ideas  of  another 
life,  78 ;  belief  in  dreams,  80 ; 
sorcerers,  81  ;  feasts,  83  ;  tradi- 
tionary tales,  84,  85  ;  the  Ilurons 
live  in  constant  fear  of,  149 ; 
funeral  games  among,  1 63 ; 
Huron  victories  over,  228 ;  re- 
taliation on  the  colonists,  287  i 


670 


INDEX. 


supplied  with  arms  by  Dutch 
traders,  305  ;  attack  and  capture 
Father  Jogues'  party,  310-323  ; 
running  the  gantlet,  315;  Father 
Jogues'  escape  from,  327-330; 
battling  for  the  mastery  of  Can- 
ada, 335  ;  attack  Fort  Richelieu, 
339  ;  effect  of  their  hostilities  on 
the  Algonquin  tribes,  340 ;  can- 
nibalism among,  342 ;  "  the 
scourge  of  this  infant  church," 
347  ;  capture  Bressani,  348 ;  j 
attacks  on  the  French  near  j 
Villemarie,  366 ;  battle  with 
Maisonneuve,  369  ;  not  always 
fortunate  in  war,  375 ;  ancient  | 
superiority  of  the  Algonquins 
over,  375 ;  the  grand  peace 
counoil,  384-393  ;  again  at  war 
with  the  French  and  the  Algon- 
quins, 405  ;  ferocity  of,  407  ;  re- 
venge of  prisoners  upon,  411- 
414  ;  bring  Canada  to  extremity, 
422  ;  outnumbered  by  the  Hu- 
rons,  436 ;  make  use  of  treachery, 
438 ;  defeated  by  the  Hurons, 
476;  attack  and  destroy  St. 
Joseph,  477-479  ;  burn  St. 
Louis,  480  ;  on  the  war-path  for 
the  Hurons,  481 ;  attack  St.  Ig- 
nace,  481 ;  repulsed  from  Sainte 
Marie  by  the  Hurons,  484-485  ; 
burn  St.  Ignace,  487 ;  attack 
the  Tobacco  missions,  506 ;  at- 
tack the  mission  of  St.  Jean, 
507,  508 ;  Isle  St.  Joseph  in- 
vested with,  515;  slaughter  the 
fugitives  from  Isle  St.  Joseph, 
516  ;  daring  of,  521  ;  revenge  of 
Etienne  Annaotaha  on,  531- 
534 ;  their  sagacity  past  denying, 
538;  two  communities  superior 
in  numbers  to,  538  ;  strong  or- 
ganization of,  539  ;  their  insati- 
able   rage    for    conquest,   540; 


turn  their  fury  on  the  Neutrals, 
541 ;  origin  of  the  war,  541 ; 
make  treaties  of  peace,  541  ; 
make  war  against  the  Eries, 
542  ;  cause  of  the  war,  543  ;  the 
force,  544 ;  traditions  of  the  war 
with  the  Eries,  545 ;  expensive 
victory  over  the  Eries,  545  ; 
bloody  triumphs  complete,  548  ; 
their  confederacy  a  wedge  be- 
tween the  colonies  of  France 
and  P^ngland,  548;  the  ruin  of 
the  Jesuits'  hopes,  551  ;  debt  of 
Liberty  to,  552. 
Iroquois  War,  the,  337. 

James,  Edwin,  account  of  Nana- 
bush,  67  ;  on  the  Indian  ideas 
of  another  life,  79. 

Jansenists,  the,  Olier's  horror  of, 
283. 

Jarvis,  76. 

Jean,  St.,  242. 

Jesuits,  the,  Indian  tribes  not 
within  the  scope  of  the  labors 
of,  6 ;  enumeration  of  the  Huron 
villages,  dwellings  and  families 
made  by,  10;  teach  the  Hurons 
to  build  palisaded  works,  1 6  ; 
never  had  a  mission  among  the 
Eries,  35  ;  close  students  of 
Indian  languages  and  supersti- 
tions, 43 ;  the  virtue  of  obedi- 
ence, 97  ;  99, 100  ;  "adopt  as  their 
own  the  task  of  Christianizing 
New  France,  101  ;  believe  the 
Huron  country  to  be  the  strong- 
hold of  Satan,  130  ;  schemes  for 
the  Huron  mission,  130,  131  ; 
thwarted  by  the  iMians,  137- 
139;  character  of,  188-199  ;  per- 
secntion  by  the  Hurons,  204- 
217  ;  impeached  by  the  Hurons, 
209;  daily  life  of,  220-222  ;  pri- 
vate letters  of,  221 ;    learn  to 


INDEX. 


571 


make  wine,  221  ;  missiouary  ex- 
cursions, 223;  new  chapel  built 
by,  223 ;  methods  of  conversion, 
224  ;  conditions  of  baptism,  225  ; 
propose  intermarriage  witli  the 
Indians,  226 ;  backsliders,  227  ; 
number  of  baptisms,  226  ;  aban- 
don original  plans  for  establish- 
ing missions,  230  ;  resolve  to 
establish  a  central  station,  230 ; 
establish  Sainte  Marie,  231  ; 
mission  of  the  Tobacco  Nation, 
232  ;  mission  of  the  Neutral  Na- 
tion, 234 ;  indefatigable  zeal  of, 
^^  238 ;  are  all  in  all  at  Quebec, 
245  ;  rely  chiefly  on  the  Hundred 
Associates,  249  ;  love  for  the 
climate  of  New  France,  252; 
revive  in  Europe  the  mediaeval 
type  of  Christianity,  257 ;  semi- 
nary for  Huron  boys  at  Quebec, 
259 ;  first  appearance  in  a  char- 
-^  acter  distinctly  political,  421  ; 
antagonism  of  the  Puritans 
against,  422,  427  ;  charged  with 
"^  sharing  in  the  fur-trade,  466  ; 
promise  to  join  the  Hurons  on 
Isle  St.  Joseph,  499;  decide  to 
bring  the  remnant  of  the  Hurons 
to  Quebec,  519 ;  occupation  gone, 
549  ;  cause  of  the  failure  of, 
551  ;  their  faith  not  shaken, 
552. 

Jesuits,  Church  of  the,  293. 

Jogues,  Father  Isaac,  73  ;  sent  to 
the  Huron  mission,  175  ;  dis- 
tinctive traits  of,  195;  on  the 
religious  terror  of  the  Hurons, 
204;  tranquil  boldness  of,  216; 
new  and  perilous  mission  of  the 
Tobacco  Nation  falls  to,  232; 
reception  by  the  Indians,  233 ; 
among  the  Algonquins,  307, 
308 ;  early  history  of,  308 ;  por- 
trait of,  309  ;  attacked  and  cap- 


tured by  the  Iroquois,  310-323  ; 
sends  warning  to  the  French, 
325 ;  decides  to  escape,  327-330 ; 
arrives  at  Manhattan,  331  ; 
reaches  France,  332  ;  among  his 
brethren,  333  ;  received  by 
Queen  Anne  of  Austria,  334 ; 
sails  again  for  Canada,  334  ; 
attends  the  grand  peace  council, 
384  ;  chosen  to  hold  the  Mo- 
hawks to  their  faith,  395  ; 
founds  the  Mission  of  the  Mar- 
tyrs, 396  ;  presentiment  that 
death  was  near,  396 ;  reaches 
the  Mohawks,  397 ;  returns  to 
Fort  Richelieu,  399 ;  returns  to 
the  Mohawks,  399 ;  taken  pris- 
oner, 401 ;  murdered,  402  ;  char- 
acter of,  403  ;  466. 

John,  St.,  90. 

Joseph,  St.,  157,  179,  185  ;  the 
chosen  patron  of  New  France, 
196,  214;  fete-day  of,  252,  262, 
265,  274. 

Jouskeha,  legend  of,  71,  72. 

Juchereau,  275 ;  282 ;  on  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Society  of  Notre-Dame 
de  Montreal,  286;  on  Mont- 
magny's  jealousy  towards  Mai- 
sonneuve,  296  ;  on  the  mortifica- 
tion of  the  nuns,  297  ;  on  Bres- 
sani  among  the  Iroquois,  352 ; 
on  the  harmony  at  Villemarie, 
360 ;  on  the  marriage  of  D'Aille- 
boust  to  Barbe  de  Boulogne, 
361  ;  on  the  Huron  fugitives  at 
Quebec,  522. 

Julien,  St.,  223. 

Kahkwas,  the,  33. 

Kalm,  on  the  condition  of  Indian 

Lorette,  537. 
Kenjockety,  Chief,  541. 
Kennebec  River,  the,  7 ;  Druilletefl 

on,  419. 


572 


INDEX. 


Kentucky,  State  of,  4 ;  Indian 
places  of  sepulture  in,  166. 

Khionontaterrhonous,  the,  32. 

Kieft,  Director-General,  330,  403. 

Kiotsaton,  chief  of  the  Iroquois, 
382 ;  interview  with  Champfieur, 
382,  383  ;  the  grand  peace  coun- 
cil, 384-390 ;  402. 

La  Barre,  De,  on  the  Iroquois 
population,  60. 

Labatie,  401  ;  death  of  Father 
Jogues,  403. 

Lachine,  366. 

Lachine  Rapids,  the,  411. 

La  Conception,  mission  of,  449, 
485. 

Lafitau,  on  the  Huron  dwellings, 
13  ;  on  the  corruption  of  the  Hu- 
rons,  21 ;  on  the  medical  practices 
of  the  Hurons,  31 ;  on  the  Iro- 
quois name,  37  ;  on  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Hurons,  44 ;  on  the 
Iroquois  and  the  Hurons,  45 ; 
on  the  organization  of  the  Iro- 
quois, 48 ;  on  the  Iroquois 
"  senate,"  49 ;  on  the  ascendancy 
of  the  Iroquois,  51,  52;  on  the 
Indian  ideas  of  another  life, 
79 ;  on  Indian  tales,  86  ;  on 
Indian  funeral  rites,  166 ;  on  the 
origin  of  the  Iroquois-Neutral 
war,  541. 

La  Fl^che,  281,  289. 

La  Fontaine,  248. 

Lairet  River,  the,  91. 

Lakes,  the  Upper,  23,  85. 

Lalande,  ordered  to  the  Mohawks, 
399  ;  captured  by  the  Mohawks, 
401 ;  murdered  by  the  Mohawks, 
402. 

Lalemant,  Gabriel,  at  St.  Ignace, 
472 ;  St.  Louis  attacked  by  the 
Iroquois,  483 ;  refuses  to  escape, 
483;    relics   of,    found    at    St. 


Ignace,  489 ;  a  witness  to  the 
torture  of  Bre'beuf,  490;  tor- 
tured, 492 ;  sketch  of,  492 ;  death 
of,  493 ;  burial  of,  493 ;  physi- 
cal weakness  of,  493. 
Lalemant,  Father  Jerome,  9,  10; 
on  Indian  cures  for  disease,  31 ; 
on  the  Tionnontates,  33 ;  on  the 
Neutral  population,  33;  on  the 
Iroquois  punishment  of  crime, 
54;  on  Indian  superstition,  63; 
the  Huron  country  the  strong- 
hold of  Satan,  130;  on  the 
Huron  mission-house,  149 ;  on 
Indian  burial-places,  1 67 ;  on  the 
"infernal  wolf,"  207;  on  the 
narrow  escapes  of  the  Jesuits, 
215,  216;  assailed  by  the  In- 
dians, 218;  converts  at  Ossos- 
sane,  223,  224  ;  backsliders,  227, 
228,  229  ;  on  the  new  and  peril- 
ous mission  of  the  Tobacco  Na- 
tion, 232,  234;  on  the  Niagara 
River,  235 ;  the  mission  to  the 
Neutrals,  238;  307;  on  murder 
of  Goupil  by  the  Iroquois,  320 ; 
on  Father  Jogues  among  the 
Iroquois,  321 ;  on  De  Noue's  sen- 
sitiveness regarding  the  virtue 
of  obedience,  353 :  on  the  death 
of  De  None,  356 ;  on  the  death 
of  Masse,  356;  on  the  dogs  at 
Villemarie,  368 ;  on  the  conver- 
sion of  Piskaret,  376;  attends 
the  grand  peace  council,  391 ; 
letter  from  Father  Jogues,  396  ; 
on  the  zeal  of  Father  Jogues, 
397 ;  Father  Jogues  returns  to 
Fort  Richelieu,  399;  on  the 
murder  of  Piskaret,  406 ;  the 
fugitive  squaw,  414 ;  on  the 
unabated  zeal  of  the  Jesuit 
fathers,  414 ;  on  the  mission  of 
Father  Druilletes  among  the 
Abenakis,  419,  420,  433 ;  on  th* 


INDEX. 


678 


execution  of  Chief  Ononkwaya, 
438;  on  the  Huron  bells,  450; 
on  the  reaistance  of  the  Hurons 
against  baptism,  451  ;  on  con- 
version at  the  stake,  451,  452; 
on  backsliders,  453;  on  the 
buildings  of  Sainte  Marie,  464 ; 
on  the  Hurons  defeat  the  Iro- 
quois, 476 ;  on  the  Nation  of 
Fire  destroyed  by  the  Neutrals, 
540 ;  on  the  success  of  the  An- 
dafltes,  547 ;  on  the  occupation 
of  the  Jesuits  gone,  551. 

Langevin,  90,  247. 

La  Peltrie,  Madame  de,  early  life 
of,  260;  description  of;  260; 
marriage  of,  261 ;  pious  pur- 
poses of,  262 ;  her  sham  mar- 
riage to  M.  de  Bernieres,  263 ; 
the  foundress  of  the  new  con- 
vent at  Quebec,  266;  embarks 
for  Canada,  274;  arrival  at 
Quebec,  275 ;  abandons  her 
Ursulines  for  a  time,  278 ;  vir- 
tues of,  279 ;  death  of,  280 ;  292 ; 
joins  Maisonneuve,  299 ;  arrival 
at  Montreal,  302;  the  infancy 
of  Montreal,  357 ;  fulfilment  of 
Maisonneuve's  vow,  359 ;  433 ; 
relics  of  the  martyrs,  493. 

La  Place,  Father,  293. 

La  Potherie,  on  the  corruption  of 
the  Hurons,  21  ;  on  the  great 
council  of  the  Iroquois,  51 ;  on 
the  ancient  superiority  of  the 
Algonquins  over  the  Iroquois, 
375  ;  on  the  exploits  of  Piskaret, 
376,  377 ;  on  the  migrations  of 
the  Hurons,  530. 

La  Tour,  297,  299. 

Lauson,  Jean  de,  288. 

Lauson  (the  younger),  grant  of 
land  to,  248 ;  288. 

Laval  University  of  Quebec,  167; 
Huron  bell  at.  450. 


Lawson,  21. 

Le  Beau,  537. 

Le  Berger,  efforts  to  save  Fathef 
Jogues,  402, 

Le  Borgne,  Chief,  thwarts  the 
Jesuits,  137-139  ;  364 ;  conver- 
sion of,  '365 ;  christening  of, 
365. 

Le  Caron,  on  the  number  of  Huron 
towns,  11. 

Le  Clerc,  21 ,  35,  66 ;  on  the  Indian 
ideas  of  another  life,  79 ;  the 
Jesuits  all  in  all  at  Quebec,  246 ; 
on  the  restlessness  at  Quebec, 
250 ;  on  the  arrival  of  the  nuns 
in  Quebec,  275 ;  on  Villemarie 
de  Montreal,  294  ;  on  Montreal 
turned  over  to  Maisonneuve, 
302 ;  on  the  infancy  of  Mont- 
real, 358 ;  on  ifetienne  Anna- 
otaha's  revenge  on  the  Iroquois, 
533. 

Le  Jeune,  Father  Paul,  on  the 
dress  of  the  Hurons,  20 ;  on  the 
Indian  superstition  concerning 
animal  spirits,  62  ;  on  the  stories 
of  Messou,  67,  68;  on  the  In- 
dian traditions  concerning  the 
creation,  69 ;  on  the  loss  of 
immortality  among  the  Indians, 
69 ;  on  the  Algonquin  belief  in 
Atahocan,  69;  on  the  Indian 
sorcerers,  82  ;  superior  of  the 
Residence  of  Quebec,  89 ;  at 
the  Residence  of  Notre-Dame 
des  Anges,  92 ;  embarks  for  the 
New  World,  101  ;  his  voyage, 
102 ;  arrives  at  Quebec,  102 ; 
beginning  of  his  missionary 
labors,  103  ;  determines  to  learn 
the  Algonquin  language,  103 ; 
his  Indian  teacher,  105 ;  his 
school,  107 ;  arrival  of  Cham- 
plain,  108;  juins  the  Indians  in 
the    winter    hunt.    109;    initi* 


574 


INDEX. 


tion  into  Indian  winter  life, 
111  ;  the  first  encampment,  113  ; 
the  Indian  hut,  115  ;  imposed  on 
by  the  Indians,  117  ;  insulted  by 
the  Montagnais  sorcerer,  117; 
his  Indian  companions,  119; 
observations  on  the  sorcerer, 
119,  120;  his  sickness  among 
the  Indians,  121 ;  efforts  to  con- 
vert the  sorcerer,  124;  threat- 
ened by  starvation,  1 25  ;  returns 
to  Quebec,  128;  miraculous  es- 
cape from  death,  128;  learns 
the  difficulties  of  the  Algon- 
quin mission,  129 ;  on  the  Hu- 
rons  at  Quebec,  134 ;  on  the 
Huron  mission,  135 ;  pleasure 
in  converting  the  Hurons,  152  ; 
Br^beuf  sends  letter  of  farewell 
to,  212  ;  on  Quebec  without  a 
governor,  241 ;  on  the  zeal  of 
Montmagny,  242  ;  delight  at  the 
interest  shown  in  the  Huron 
mission,  244 ;  the  Jesuits  all  in 
all  at  Quebec,  246  ;  on  the  plays 
at  Quebec,  253 ;  on  the  Indian 
pupils,  254 ;  methods  of  conver- 
sion, 255  ;  the  seminary  for  Hu- 
ron boys  at  Quebec,  260 ;  on  the 
arrival  of  the  nuns  in  Quebec, 
275  ;  on  the  Jesuits  and  the  fur- 
trade,  466 ;  on  the  cost  of  the 
Iroquois  victories,  549. 

Le  Maitre,  Simon,  248, 

Le  Mercier,  Francois  Joseph,  on 
the  population  of  the  Hurons, 
11  ;  on  cannibalism  among  the 
Hurons,  28 ;  on  the  Tionnon- 
tates,  33  ;  on  the  "  Nation  of  the 
Cat,"  35 ;  on  the  Iroquois  popu- 
lation, 60;  on  the  Iroquois  dei- 
ties, 73  ;  on  the  Huron  torture  of 
prisoners,  170,  171 ;  sent  to  the 
Huron  mission,  1 74  ;  sickness  at 
the    Huron   mission,   176;  scar- 


city of  game  in  the  Huron  coun- 
try, 177  ;  converting  the  Hurons, 
178-186;  new  chapel  of  the 
mission  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, 201  ;  on  the  nether 
powers,  203  ;  on  the  religious 
terror  of  the  Hurons,  205 ;  the 
"  infernal  wolf,"  207  ;  on  the  Jes- 
uits impeached  by  the  Hurons, 
209-211;  on  Brebeuf's  farewell 
letter  to  Le  Jeune,  213  ;  narrow 
escape  of,  215,  216;  the  Jesuits 
propose  intermarriage  with  the 
Indians,  226. 

Le  Moyne,  Father,  216,  218,  542, 
543,  544. 

Lenox,  Mr.,  548. 

Levi  Point,  88. 

Liberty,  debt  due  the  Iroquois, 
552 ;  contest  between  Absolu- 
tism and,  552. 

Lievres,  Pointe-aux-,  91. 

Lisle,  De,  242,  245. 

"  Long  House,"  the,  59. 

Long  Sault,  desperate  conflict  of 
the,  535. 

Loretto,  Holy  House  of,  191,  194, 
536. 

Loretto,  Our  Lady  of,  192,  194, 
536. 

Loskiel,  76. 

Loyola,  Ignatius  de,  92 ;  conver- 
version  of,  95 ;  unquestioning 
faith  of,  96 ;  foundation  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  96  ;  his  book 
of  "  Spiritual  Exercises,"  97 ; 
the  hallowed  bones  of,  239. 

Loyola,  school  of,  not  without 
effect,  187. 

Maine,  State  of,  7. 

Maisonneuve,  Sieur  de,  becomes 
soldier-governor  of  the  Hundred 
Associates,  289 ;  sketch  of,  289, 
290 ;  embarks  for  Montreal,  294; 


INDEX. 


675 


reception  at  Quebec,  296;  jeal- 
ooij  of  Monttnagny  towards, 
296 ;  refuses  to  remain  at  Quebec, 
297  ;  hospitality  of  M.  Puiseaux 
towards,  297 ;  builds  boats  to 
ascend  to  Montreal,  298 ;  quarrel 
with  Montmagny,  298  ;  joined 
by  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  299 ; 
the  spirit  of  Godfrey  de  Bouil- 
lon lived  again  in,  301  ;  arrival 
at  Montreal,  301  ;  the  infancy  of 
Montreal,  357  ;  his  vow,  359 ;  its 
fulfilment,  359 ;  declared  "  First 
Soldier  of  the  Cross,"  359  ;  dis- 
cretion shown  by,  368 ;  accused 
of  cowardice,  368 ;  battle  with 
the  Iroquois,  369 ;  exploit  of, 
371  ;  suggests  changes  at  Que- 
bec, 430,  432. 

Manabozho,  62, 66 ;  never  an  object 
of  worship,  67  ;  attributes  of,  67 ; 
legends  of,  67,  68 ;  bestows  gift 
of  immortality  on  the  Indians, 
69,  75. 

Mance,  Jeanne,  vow  to  God,  292 ; 
sketch  of,  292;  called  by  the 
Divine  will  to  Canada,  293; 
meeting  with  Dauversifere,  293 ; 
embarks  for  Montreal,  294 ;  ar- 
rives at  Montreal,  302  ;  infancy 
of  Montreal,  357  ;  letter  to  Mar 
dame  de  Bullion,  362;  at  the 
new  hospital  at  Montreal,  363, 
364;  432. 

Manhattan  (New  York),  330. 

Manitous,  Indian  belief  in,  63. 

Manresa,  Cave  of,  95. 

Marblehead,  426. 

Marguerie,  Francois,  258 ;  cap- 
tured by  the  Iroquois,  337. 

Marie,  wife  of  Jean  Baptiste,  story 
of  her  sufferings  among  the 
Iroquois,  407-414. 

Marshall,  Indian  burial-places, 
167. 


Marsolet,  Nicolas,  258. 

Marthe,  the  Huron  woman,  509. 

Martin,  Abraham,  433,  434. 

Martin,  Rev.  Felix,  190,  312,  313, 
352,  502. 

Martin,  M.,  abandoned  among  the 
Nipissings,  142. 

Mascoutins,  the,  deadly  strife  with 
the  Neutral  Nation,  34,  540. 

Massachusetts,  the  Colony  of,  422 ; 
strength  of,  426. 

Massachusetts  Indians,  the,  5. 

Massachusetts,  State  of,  6. 

Massawomekes  (Mohawks),  the, 
440. 

Masse,  Enemond,  at  the  Residence 
of  Notre-Dame  des  Anges,  92 ; 
in  the  abortive  mission  of  Aca- 
dia, 92 ;  nicknamed  "  le  P^re 
Utile,"  93;  arrival  in  Quebec, 
108  ;  death  of,  356. 

Matchedash  Bay,  10,  231,  462,  500. 

Maurault,  account  of  the  mission 
of  Father  Druilletes  among  the 
Abenakis,  420. 

Mazarin  Library,  the,  287. 

McKinney,  on  Indian  superstition 
concerning  animal  spirits,  62. 

Medicine  Bow  Mountains,  346. 

Medicine-man,  Indian,  65,  152. 

"  Medicines,"  Indian,  66. 

M^dicis,  Queen  Marie  de,  275. 

Megapolensis,  the  Dutch  clergy- 
man, on  the  corruption  of  the 
Hurons,  21  ;  on  the  Iroquois 
deities,  73,  317  ;  on  the  ferocity 
of  the  Mohawks  towards  prison- 
ers, 323  ;  on  the  relations  of  the 
Mohawks  and  Dutch,  325 ;  on 
the  escape  of  Father  Jogues 
from  the  Iroquois,  330. 

Mengwe,  the,  36. 

Mercier,  Catherine,  burned  by  th« 
Indians,  34. 

Merrymeeting  Bay,  423. 


676 


INDEX. 


Messou,  66  ;  stories  of  67,  68.  See 
also  Manabozho. 

Mestigoit,  108,  110,  111,  116,  122, 
127,  128. 

Metai,  the,  society  of,  84. 

Meudon,  chateau  of,  285. 

Mexicans,  the,  traditions  of,  73. 

Mexico,  civilized  races  of,  32. 

Mexico,  Gulf  of,  23,  167. 

Miamis  Indians,  the,  cannibalism 
among,  28. 

Michabou,  66.  See  also  Mana- 
bozho. 

Michigan,  Lake,  5,  34,  470. 

Michigan,  State  of,  4. 

Michilimackinac,  Island  of,  the 
Tobacco  Nation  settles  on,  529. 

Micmac  Indians,  the,  7. 

Minquas,  the,  36. 

Miscou,  Jesuit  mission  at,  415. 

Mission  of  the  Martyrs,  the, 
founded  by  Jogues,  396. 

Missions,  Jesuit,  the  influence  of, 
417. 

Mississippi  River,  the,  4,  5,  35,  42, 
258,470,  549,  551. 

Missouri,  State  of,  Indian  places 
of  sepulture  in,  166. 

Mohawk  Indians,  the,  6,  45,  306; 
towns  of,  317;  ferocity  towards 
prisoners,  323;  relations  with 
the  Dutch,  325  ;  once  nearly  de- 
stroyed by  the  Algonquins,  375 ; 
the  great  peace  council,  384- 
394 ;  number  of  warriors,  395 ; 
wars  with  the  Mohegans,  the 
Andastes,  the  Algonquins,  and 
the  French,  395  ;  Father  Jogues 
chosen  to  hold  them  to  their 
faith,  395 ;  Father  Jogues 
reaches,  397 ;  suspicious  of 
Father  Jogues,  400;  predomi- 
nant clans  of,  400;  murder  of 
Father  Jogues  and  Lalande, 
402 ;  again  make  war  upon  the 


French  and  the  Algonquins, 
404 ;  treacherously  murder  Pis- 
karet,  406 ;  mortal  quarrel  with 
the  Andastes,  441 ;  442  ;  capture 
the  Huron  embassy,  447  ;  on  the 
war-path  for  the  Hurons,  481 ; 
make  incessant  attacks  on  the 
Algonquins  and  the  French, 
523;  first  to  bear  the  brunt  of 
the  Andaste  war,  546 ;  suffer 
reverses  from  the  Mohicans, 
546. 

Mohawk  River,  the,  315,  401. 

Mohegans,  the,  war  with  the  Mo- 
hawks, 395. 

Mohicans,  the,  5 ;  Mohawks  suffer 
reverse  from,  546. 

Montagnais,  the,  7,  103;  Father 
Le  Jeune  among,  109-125;  the 
grand  peace  council,  384-393 ; 
Father  Druilletes  among,  416, 

Montcalm,  91,  314. 

Montmagny,  Charles  Huault  de, 
arrival  in  Quebec,  241  ;  edifying 
zeal  displayed  by,  242  ;  plants  a 
May-pole,  253;  254;  recognizes 
the  importance  of  the  seminary 
for  Huron  boys  at  Quebec,  259  ; 
jealousy  towards  Maisonneuve, 
296 ;  quarrel  with  Maisonneuve, 
298 ;  at  Montreal,  301  ;  war  with 
the  Iroquois,  337-340;  efforts 
to  save  Iroquois  prisoners,  374  ; 
holds  a  grand  council  at  Sillery, 
380 ;  grand  peace  council,  383 ; 
accepts  the  proffered  peace,  389 ; 
D'Ailleboust  succeeds  him  as 
governor  of  Quebec,  430 ;  465. 

Montmartre,  Church  of,  243. 

Montmorenci,  Gulf  of,  90. 

Montreal,  3 ;  no  human  life  at, 
8 ;  Cartier's  description  of  the 
houses  at,  13  ;  Dauversiere  com- 
manded to  establish  a  Hotel- 
Dieu  at,  282 ;  Olier  commanded 


INDEX. 


577 


to  form  a  society  of  priests  at, 

283  ;  pointed  out  by  Champlain 
as  proper  site  for    settlenieut, 

284  ;  proposition  to  found  tliree 
religious  communities  at,  285 ; 
exposed  to  the  ferocity  of  the 
Iroquois,  287  ;  excellent  location 
for  a  mission,  287  ;  the  key  to  a 
rast  inland  navigation,  287  ;  con- 
secrated to  the  Holy  Family, 
294 ;  arrival  of  Maisonneuve  at, 
301 ;  the  birth  of,  303 ;  in  dan- 
ger from  the  Iroquois,  335 ;  in- 
fancy of,  357 ;  threatened  by 
flood,  359;  harmony  at,  360; 
Madame  de  Bullion  gives  funds 
to  build  a  hospital  at,  362 ;  dis- 
covered by  the  Iroquois,  365; 
advantageous  use  of  dogs,  367  ; 
happy  in  its  founder,  372 ;  jeal- 
ousy between  Quebec  and,  436. 

Montreal,  Association  of,  291,  301, 
303,  362,  432. 

Montreal,  Company  of,  288. 

Montreal,  Island  of,  transferred 
by  Lauson  to  Dauversiere  and 
Fancamp,  288. 

Montreal,  Syndic  of,  431. 

Moosehead  Lake,  420. 

Morgan,  Lewis  H.,  on  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Hurons,  21  ;  on  the 
"  Nation  of  the  Cat,"  35 ;  on  the 
Iroquois  institutions,  44 ;  on  the 
League  of  the  Iroquois,  46 ;  on 
the  Iroquois  population,  60;  on 
the  Mohawk  towns,  317. 

Morin,  Sister,  294,  302,  364. 

Morse,  on  the  Indian  ideas  on  an- 
other life,  79. 

Morton,  on  the  brain  of  the  Iro- 
quois, 32. 

Muscogees,  the,  16. 

Musk-rat,  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
Algonquin  cosmogony,  69. 


NxNAnuRH,  66  ;  account  of,  67. 

Nappi,  Father  Philippe,  letters 
from  Chaumonot,  221,  238. 

Narragansett  Indians,  the,  5. 

Natchez,  the,  system  of  clanship 
among,  43. 

Natick,  John  Eliot's  mission  at, 
425. 

Nation  de  I'lsle,  La,  9. 

Nation  du  Petnn  (Tobacco),  32. 

"Nation  of  the  Bear,"  the,  44; 
principal  nation  of  the  Huron 
Confederacy,  160;  208. 

"  Nation  of  the  Cat,"  the,  see  Erie 
Indians,  the. 

Nation  of  Fire,  the,  destroyed  by 
the  Neutrals,  540. 

"Nation  of  the  Porcupine,"  the, 
416. 

Nation  of  the  Prairie,  540. 

Neutral  Nation,  the,  5 ;  deadly 
strife  with  the  Mascoutins,  34 ; 
habits  of,  34 ;  the  journey  of 
the  dead,  77 ;  full  of  pretended 
madmen,  124;  places  of  sepul- 
ture among,  167;  Brebeuf 
among,  198,  234;  mission  of, 
234;  location  of,  234;  plot 
against  Brdbeuf  and  Chau- 
monot, 236 ;  Dallion's  visit  to, 
238  ;  cruelty  to  prisoners,  342  ; 
mission  abandoned  for  the  time, 
469  ;  Huron  fugitives  join,  496, 
528 ;  superior  in  numbers  to  the 
Iroquois,  538;  took  no  part 
against  the  Hurons,  540  ;  destroy 
the  Nation  of  Fire,  540;  the 
Iroquois  turn  their  fury  on, 
541  ;  receive  their  death-blow, 
541.  See  also  Attiwandarons, 
the. 

New  Brunswick,  4 ;  the  Arraouchi- 
qnois  in  state  of  chronic  wai 
with  tribes  of,  6. 

New  England,  4. 


37 


578 


INDEX. 


New  France,  the  Jesuits  adopt  as 
their  own  the  task  of  Christian- 
izing, 101 ;  the  church  of  Rome 
gives  life  to  the  early  missions 
of,  173;  St.  Joseph  the  chosen 
patron  of,  196;  aim  of  the 
founders,  251  ;  celestial  climate 
of,  252;  the  Society  of  Jesus 
aspire  to  the  mastery  of  all, 
257 ;  population  of,  305  ;  hopes 
of,  551. 

New  France,  Company  of,  see 
Hundred  Associates,  the. 

New  Hampshire,  Northern,  6. 

New  Haven,  428. 

New  Holland,  314. 

New  Jersey,  State  of,  4. 

New  Lorette,  537. 

New  York,  State  of,  4,  5,  35,  36, 
45 ;  Indian  places  of  sepulture, 
in,  166  ;  234. 

Niagara,  5. 

Niagara  Falls,  first  mention  of, 
235. 

Niagara  River,  the,  33,  167,  234, 
235. 

Nicollet,  Jean,  258. 

Nipissing,  Lake,  23,  132,  340,  520. 

Nipissings,  the,  9,  142  ;  the  grand 
peace  council,  391 ;  Jesuit  mis- 
sion among,  470. 

Nogent-le-Roi,  292. 

Norembega,  city  of,  6. 

Norridgewock,  Abenaki  settlement 
of,  420,  423. 

North  America,  aborigines  of,  32. 

Notre-Dame,  Church  of  (at  Paris), 
284,  294. 

Notre-Dame  des  Anges,  Resi- 
dence of,  92  ;  description  of,  91, 
92  ;  the  cradle  of  the  great  mis- 
sion of  New  France,  92,  247. 

"  Notre-Dame  de   Foy,"  535. 

Notre-Dame  de  Montreal,  Society 
of,  formation  of,  286. 


Notre-Dame  de  la  Recouvrance, 
church  of,  described,  254. 

Nottawassaga  Bay,  10,  32,  162, 
232. 

Noue,  Father  Anne  de,  90 ;  at  the 
Residence  of  Notre-Dame  des 
Anges,  92 ;  embarks  for  the 
New  World,  101 ;  experience 
among  the  Indians,  106;  the 
Huron  mission,  137  ;  journey  to 
Fort  Richelieu,  353 ;  sensitive- 
ness regarding  the  virtue  of 
obedience,  353  ;  lost  in  the  snaw, 
354  ;  search  for,  355  ;  death  of, 
356 ;  the  first  martyr  of  the 
Canadian  mission,  356. 

Nova  Scotia,  4 ;  the  Armouchi- 
quois  in  state  of  chronic  war 
with  tribes  of,  6. 

Nuns,  the  Hospital,  275,  336,  433, 
493,  522. 

O'Callaghan,  325,  331. 

Ochateguins  (Hurons),  the,  9. 

Ohio  River,  the,  4, 

Ohio,  State  of,  Indian  places  of 
sepulture  in,  166,  442. 

Oiogouins  (Cayugas),  the,  442. 

Ojibwa  Indians,  the,  4,  64,  307. 

Okies,  Indian  belief  in,  63,  156. 

Old  Lorette,  535. 

Olier,  Jean  Jacques,  characteris- 
tics of,  282 ;  voice  from  heaven, 
283  ;  meeting  with  Dauversiere, 
285 ;  proposes  to  found  three 
religious  communities  at  Mont- 
real, 285 ;  tries  to  inaugurate 
the  seminary  of  priests,  289  ; 
depression  of,  291  ;  consecrates 
Montreal  to  the  Holy  Family, 
294;  432. 

Oneida  Indians,  the,  38,  45 ;  num- 
ber of  warriors,  395  ;  great  town 
of,  408 ;  442  ;  efforts  for  peac*, 


INDEX. 


679 


Onguiaahra  River  (Niagara),  the, 

33,  235. 
Oiiueutisati,  182,  185,  204. 
Onondaga   Indians,    the,   38,  45 ; 

number  of  warriors,  395  ;  442 ; 

inroads  on    the    Ilurous,    442 ; 

captured,  443  ;  mercy  shown  to, 

443 ;    efforts   for    peace,    444 ; 

end  of    negotiations   with    the 

Hurons,  448;  531. 
Onondaga,  town  of,  408. 
Ononhara,    the,    meaning  of  the 

word,    155.      See    also    Dream 

Feast,  the. 
Ononkwaya,    the    Oneida    chief, 

437 ;  captured  and  killed,  437. 
Onontio,   meaning    of    the   word, 

380. 
Ontario,   Lake,   7,   35,    235,    375, 

443,  445. 
Ontitarac,  Chief,  209,  211. 
Orange,  Fort,  Dutch  traders   at, 

305 ;  the  Iroquois  at,  324 ;   the 

settlement  at,  324;  Dutch  farm- 
ers at,  324;    Bressani   sent  to, 

351 ;     Father    Jogues    at,   397, 

403. 
Orleans,  Island  of,  110,  127,  296  ; 

Jesuit  mission  on,  534. 
Oscotarach,  79. 
Osseruenon,    Mohawk    town     of, 

317,  324. 
Ossossane',   Huron   town   of,    150, 

1.59,  162,  180,   183,  200,  214,  219, 

220,    223.    226,    231,    232,    449, 

497.     See  also  Rochelle. 
Ottawa  Indians,  the,  69  ;  funeral 

games  among,  1 63  ;  settle  on  the 

Island  of  Michilimackiuac,  529  ; 

quarrel  with  the  Sioux,  529. 
Ottawa  River,  the,  8,  23,  62,  132, 

133,     218,    287,    336,    342,    348, 

499,  520.  529.  534. 
Ouaouakecinatouek,  tfie,  9. 
Ouendats  (Hurons),  the,  9. 


Ouenrohronnon.s,  the,  442. 
Ouiouenronnons    (Cayugas),    the, 

442. 
Owayneo,  74. 

Palfrey,  John  G.,  account  of 
Edward  Gibbons,  423  ;  on  Eliot's 
mission  at  Natick,  425. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  78. 

Pampeluna,  95. 

Papinachois  Indians,  the,  7. 

Papkootparout,  the  Indian  Pluto, 
80. 

Paris,  284,  285. 

Parker,  Ely  S.,  45. 

Pascal,  187. 

Passionists,  the,  convent  of,  197. 

Paxton  Boys,  the,  massacre  of  the 
Conestogas,  440,  548. 

Penacook  Indians,  the,  5,  7. 

Pennsylvania,  State  of,  4,  442. 

Penobscot  River,  the,  6,  7,  420. 

People  of  the  Beaver,  the,  62. 

Peoria  Indians,  the,  76. 

Pequot  Indians,  the,  5. 

Perrot,  Nicolas,  55,  62 ;  account 
of  the  Great  Hare,  67-69;  on 
the  primitive  Indian  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Being,  74 ;  on  the  In- 
dian ideas  of  another  life,  79  ;  on 
the  funeral  games  among  the  Ot- 
tawas,  163  ;  on  the  ancient  supe- 
riority of  the  Algonquius  over 
the  Iroquois,  375;  on  the  ex- 
ploits of  Piskaret,  376,  377  ;  on 
the  murder  of  I'iskaret,  406  ;  on 
the  migrations  of  the  Hurons, 
536. 

Peru,  civilized  races  of,  32. 

Peruvians,  the,  traditions  of,  73. 

Petite  Nation,  La,  9,  133. 

Petun,  Nation  du,  see  Nation  da 
Pe.tun. 

Petuueux.  the.  32. 

Philip's  War,  418. 


580 


INDEX. 


Phillips,  J.  S.,  on  the  brain  of  the 
Iroquois,  32. 

Phoenix  Hotel,  the,  324. 

Pierre,  Le  Jeune's  Indian  teacher, 
104,  105,  108,  109,  111,  116, 
122,  126,  127,  212. 

Pijart,  Father  Pierre,  sent  to 
the  Huron  mission,  174;  work 
among  the  Hurous,  185;  covert 
baptisms,  186;  finds  the  new 
mission  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, 200 ;  tranquil  boldness 
of,  216. 

Pilot,  the  dog,  367,  369. 

Piscataqua  River,  the,  7. 

Piskaret,  Simon,  the  champion  of 
the  Algonquins,  376  ;  converted, 
376  ;  exploits  of,  376,  377,  378 ; 
delivers  his  captives  to  Mont- 
magny,  380 ;  murder  of,  406. 

Place  d'Armes,  89,  535. 

Plains  of  Abraham,  the,  91,  434. 

Plymouth,  425. 

Poncet,  the  Jesuit,  194,  216,  274. 

Pontiac,  33,  530. 

Porcupine,  Nation  of  the,  see  Na- 
tion of  the  Porcupine. 

Poterie,  254. 

Potior,  9. 

Prairie,  Nation  of  the,  see  Nation 
of  the  Prairie. 

Priest,  the,  as  a  ruler,  251. 

Provincial,  Padre,  54. 

Puants,  the,  470. 

Puck  Wudj  Ininee,  the,  64. 

Puiseaux,  M.  de,  247 ;  hospitality 
towards  Maisonneuve,  297. 

Puritans,  the,  Indians  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh  of,  5  ;  opposition  to  the 
Jesuits,  422,  427  ;  refuse  to  fight 
without  a  reason,  429. 

QuATOOiES  (Hurons),  the,  9. 
Quebec,  3,  8,  88  ;  evacuated  by  the 
English,  90 ;  restored  to  France, 


101 ;  Father  Le  Jeune  arrives 
at,  102  ;  Charaplain  arrives  at, 
108  ;  the  Hurons  at,  133  ;  with- 
out a  governor,  241  ;  arrival  of 
Montmagny,  241  ;  the  Jesuits 
all  in  all  at,  245  ;  a  model  of 
decorum,  246 ;  new  establish- 
ments of  religion  and  charity  at, 
246  ;  wears  an  aspect  half  mili- 
tary, half  monastic,  250 ;  celes- 
tial atmosphere  of,  252 ;  plays 
and  processions  at,  253 ;  meth- 
ods of  conversion  at,  255  ;  prep- 
aration for  baptism,  256  ;  origin 
of  its  institutions,  259  ;  seminary 
for  Huron  boys  at,  259  ;  Madame 
de  la  Peltrie  founds  a  new  con- 
vent at,  266 ;  the  Duchesse 
d'Aiguillon  founds  a  Hotel-Dieu 
at,  274  ;  arrival  of  the  nuns  at, 
275;  in  danger  of  utter  ruin, 
287  ;  in  danger  from  the  Iro- 
quois, 335  ;  happy  in  its  founder, 
372;  notable  changes  at,  429; 
the  Hundred  Associates  transfer 
their  monopoly  of  the  fur-trade 
to  the  inhabitants  of,  429  ;  jeal- 
ousy between  Montreal  and, 
431 ;  New  Year's  Day  at,  432 ; 
the  Jesuits  deoide  to  bring  the 
remnant  of  the  Hurons  to,  519  ; 
the  fugitives  arrive  at,  522; 
plan  of,  535. 

Quebec,  Supreme  Court  of,  289. 

Quebec,  Syndic  of,  431. 

Quen,  De,  on  the  population  of 
the  Hurons,  11  ;  401,  403;  as- 
cends the  Sagueuay,  416 ;  on  the 
death  of  Garreau,  514;  on  the 
cause  of  the  Iroquois-Erie  war, 
543 ;  on  the  Iroquois  force,  544, 
545. 

Racine,  the  Abb^,  account  of 
Madame  de  I'lncarnation,  269. 


INDEX. 


681 


Ragaeneau,  Paul,  the  Indian  doc- 
tor, 29;  on  the  Tionnontates, 
33 ;  on  the  characteristics  of  the 
Eries,  35 ;  on  Indian  charity 
and  hospitality,  40 ;  on  Indian 
punishment  for  murder,  55  ;  on 
worship  among  the  Ottawaa,  69 ; 
sketch  of  Gamier,  190,  195  ;  on 
the  miracles  of  Brebeuf,  198, 
199;  on  Brebeuf 's  farewell  let- 
ter to  Le  Jeune,  213 ;  narrow 
escape  of,  215,  216 ;  first  to 
mention  Niagara  Falls,  235 ;  ac- 
count of  Marie  de  St.  Bernard, 
266  ;  on  the  arrival  of  the  nuns 
in  Quebec,  275 ;  on  Bressani 
among  the  Hurons,  352 ;  on  the 
exemplary  conduct  of  Le  Ber- 
ger,  402 ;  on  the  treachery  of 
the  Iroquois,  439  ;  on  the  retalia- 
tion of  the  Hurons,  440 ;  on  the 
Huron  embassy  to  the  Andastes, 
441,  442;  on  honor  among  In- 
dians, 447,  448 ;  on  the  Huron 
missions,  449,  450 ;  on  the  resist- 
ance of  the  Hurons  against 
baptism,  450 ;  slanders,  454  ;  on 
murder  and  atonement  among 
the  Hurons,  455-461 ;  on  the  de- 
fences of  Sainte  Marie,  463  ;  on 
the  prosperity  of  the  mission  of 
Sainte  Marie,  467 ;  on  the  hos- 
pitality of  Sainte  Marie,  469 ; 
Father  Superior  at,  471  ;  on 
Father  Daniel,  473 ;  on  the  death 
of  Father  Daniel,  479  ;  St.  Louis 
burned  by  the  Iroquois,  484 ; 
fears  for  Sainte  Marie,  487 ; 
on  the  relics  of  Br^euf  and 
Lalemaut  found  at  St.  Ignace, 
489  ;  on  the  murder  of  Brebeuf, 
492  ;  on  the  physical  weakness  of 
Lalemant,  493  ;  on  Brebeuf 's  de- 
sire to  die  for  Christ,  494  ;  on  the 
risious  of  Brebeuf,  494 ;  Sainte 


Marie  must  be  abandoned,  497, 
499;  on  the  refugees  at  lale 
St.  Joseph,  502,  505 ;  on  the 
misery  of  the  Hurons,  504  •,  on 
the  devotion  of  Gamier  to  his 
mission,  511  ;  on  the  character 
of  Garnier,  511;  on  Isle  St. 
Joseph  invested  with  the  Iro- 
quois, 515  ;  on  the  fugitives  from 
Isle  St.  Joseph  slaughtered  by 
the  Iroquois,  516;  on  the  fury 
of  the  Iroquois,  517 ;  on  the 
Huron  mission  abandoned,  519  ; 
on  the  disappearance  of  the 
Algonquins,  520  ;  meeting  with 
Bressani,  521  ;  on  the  Flemish 
Bastard,  524 ;  on  the  death  of 
Father  Buteux,  526;  530;  on 
fetienne  Annaotaha's  revenge 
on  the  Iroquois,  533;  the  Iro- 
quois turn  their  fury  on  the 
Neutrals,  541. 

Rapin,  Father,  293. 

Rayrabault,  Father  Charles,  307. 

R^collet  Friars,  the,  101,  251. 

Red  Pipe-Stone  Quarry,  167. 

"Relations,"  the  Jesuit,  252; 
spread  broadcast  throughout 
France,  284. 

Reuues,  Jesuit  college  of,  332,  334. 

Rensselaerswyck  (Albany),  311, 
328. 

Repentigny,  Le  Gardeur  de,  242, 
254;  434. 

Repentigny,  Mademoiselle  de,  433, 
434. 

Rhagenratka,  the,  33. 

Richelieu,  Cardinal  de,  sends  re- 
lief to  Montmagny,  337. 

Richelieu,  Fort,  in  danger  from 
the  Iroquois,  335  ;  receives  rein- 
forcement from  the  Cardinal  de 
Richelieu,  337  ;  attacked  by  the 
Iroquois,  339 ;  journey  of  De 
None  to,  354;    Father    Joguea 


682 


INDEX. 


returns  to,  399 ;  plundered  and 
burned  by  the  Indians,  404. 

Richelieu  River,  the,  311,  322,  337, 
348,  374,  397. 

Riguehronon,  the,  35. 

"  River  of  the  Neutrals,"  the  33. 

Rochelle,  largest  town  of  the  Hu- 
ron confederacy,  146;  fortified 
by  the  Indians,  150,  293. 

Rock  Island,  the  good  spirit  of,  64. 

Rocky  Mountains,  the,  42. 

Rome,  191. 

Rome,  Church  of,  gives  life  to  the 
early  missions  of  New  France, 
1 73  ;  roused  to  purge  and  brace 
herself  anew,  301. 

Roxbury,  424,  425. 

Saco  Rivbr,  the,  7. 

Sacs  and  Foxes,  74,  540. 

Sadilege,  successful  Jesuit  mission 
at,  415. 

Sagard,  on  the  Huron  dwellings, 
13 ;  on  the  Huron  women,  22 ; 
on  the  Huron  songs,  27  ;  on  the 
Indian  doctor,  31 ;  on  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Hurons,  44 ;  on 
Indian  superstition,  63  ;  on  the 
Iroquois  tradition  concerning 
the  creation,  71,  72;  on  the 
primitive  Huron  belief  in  im- 
mortality, 77 ;  on  the  Indian 
ideas  of  another  life,  79. 

Saguenay  River,  the,  9,  340,  416. 

St.  Benedict,  198. 

St.  Bernard,  Marie  de,  266;  em- 
barks for  Canada,  274;  arrival 
at  Quebec,  275;  disposition  of, 
277. 

St.  Charles  River,  the,  88,  90,  91, 
102,  105,  128,  537. 

St.  Claire,  Sister  Anne  de,  277, 
279. 

St.  Esprit,  Mission  of,  470. 

Saint  Esprit,  Point,  529. 


St.  Germain  des  Pr^s,  ancient 
church  of,  283. 

St.  Ignace,  Island  of,  355. 

St.  Ignace,  Point,  530. 

St.  Ignace,  town  of,  444,  447 ; 
church  at,  449 ;  attacked  by  the 
Iroquois,  481  ;  burned  by  the 
Iroquois,  487 ;  site  still  bears 
evidence  of  the  catastrophe,  488 ; 
relics  of  Brebeuf  and  Lalemant 
found  at,  489. 

St.  Jean,  mission  of,  469,  506 ; 
Garnier  and  Chabanel  at,  506 ; 
attacked  by  the  Iroquois,  508 ; 
absolute  devotion  of  Garnier  to, 
510. 

St.  Jean  Baptiste,  church  at,  449. 

St.  Jean  Baptiste,  town  of,  inhab- 
itants join  the  Senecas,  528. 

St.  John  River,  the,  112. 

St.  Joseph,  Isle,  proposed  Huron 
settlement  of,  498;  the  Jesuits 
promise  to  join  the  Hurons  on, 
499  ;  the  sanctuary  on,  500-502; 
curious  relics  found  at,  501 ; 
misery  of  the  Hurons  on,  503 ; 
abandoned,  516-519;  530. 

St.  Joseph  mission,  the,  removed 
to  Teanaustaye',  228,  474;  Fa- 
ther Daniel  at,  476 ;  attacked 
and  destroyed  by  the  Iroquois, 
477-479. 

St.  Joseph,  Sister,  see  St.  Bernard, 
Marie  de. 

St.  Joseph,  town  of,  437 ;  fortifi- 
cations of,  439  ;  church  at,  449. 

St.  Jure,  Father,  293. 

St.  Lawrence,  Gulf  of,  7. 

St,  Lawrence  River,  the,  4,  7,  8, 
69,  85,  88,  103,  105,  127,  133, 
287,  302,  305,  336,  337,  340,  348, 
353,  359,  373,  378,  410,  413,  499, 
522. 

St.  Louis,  Lake  of,  235. 

St.  Louis,  Rapids  of,  366. 


INDEX. 


588 


St.  Lonis,  town  of,  215;  burned 
by  the  Iroquois,  480 ;  battle  at, 
483;  valiantly  defended  by  the 
Hurons,  486. 

St.  Mary's  College,  at  Montreal, 
215. 

St.  Matthias,  mission  of,  470; 
Garreau  and  Grelon  at,  506. 

St.  Michael,  237. 

St.  Michel,  town  of,  215,  297,  298, 
300;  church  at,  449;  488;  in- 
habitants join  the  Senecas,  528. 

St.  Paul,  town  of,  234. 

St.  Peter,  Lake  of,  307,  309,  354, 
406,  413. 

St.  Peter,  largest  Tobacco  town, 
234. 

St.  Peter's,  the,  11,  167. 

St.  Pierre,  mission  of,  470. 

St.  Roch,  90. 

"  St.  Sacrament,  Lac,"  314,  397. 

St.  Sulpice,  Seminary  of,  282,  432. 

St.  Thomas,  Mother,  264;  com- 
ment on  the  sham  marriage  of 
Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  265. 

Salute  Elizabeth,  mission  of,  470. 

Sainte-Foi,  comment  on  the  sham 
marriage  of  Madame  de  la  Pel- 
trie,  265 ;  535. 

Saiute  Madeleine,  mission  of,  469  ; 
485. 

Sainte  Marie,  231  ;  Brdbeuf  and 
Chaumonot  return  to,  238. 

Sainte  Marie,  Fort,  502. 

Sivinte  Marie,  Isle,  470 ;  chosen  as 
new  seat  of  the  Jesuit  mission, 
498. 

Saiute  Marie,  mission  of,  the  cem- 
etery at,  453  ;  the  centre  of  the 
Huron  missions,  463 ;  the  forti- 
fications of,  463  ;  Indian  visitors 
at,  464 ;  buildings  of,  464 ;  in- 
mates of,  465;  prosperity  of, 
467 ;  the  scene  of  a  bountiful 
hospitality,   468 ;  at  once  mili- 


tary, monastic,  and  patriarchal, 
469  ;  a  gathering  of  the  priests, 
171  ;  defended  by  the  Hurons 
against  the  Iroquois,  484,  485  ; 
fears  for,  487 ;  Br(5heuf  and 
Ijalemaut  buried  at,  493;  must 
be  abandoned,  497,  499. 

Salem,  426. 

Sandusky,  city  of,  530. 

San  Severino,  194. 

Sanson,  map  of,  313,  541. 

Saratoga,  Lake,  322. 

Sault  Sainte  Marie,  mission  of, 
307,  470. 

Savage,  Mr.,  422. 

Scandawati,  Chief,  sent  as  envoy 
to  the  Senecas,  445 ;  forebod- 
ings of  evil,  445;  suicide  of, 
446. 

Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  on  the  figured 
songs  of  the  Hurons,  1 9 ;  notes 
on  the  Iroquois,  45;  the  Sagi- 
naw story  of  the  Weendigoes, 
64 ;  stories  of  the  Manabozho, 
67 ;  tradition  of  Hiawatha,  73, 
76;  on  the  Indian  ideas  of 
another  life,  79 ;  Algonquin 
tales,  85  ;  speculation  on  Huron 
bones,  159. 

Seignelay,  Marquis  de,  60. 

Sekopechi,  chief  of  the  Creeks, 
47. 

Seneca  Indiana,  the,  35,  38,  57, 
167,  306;  number  of  warriors, 
395  ;  great  town  of,  440 ;  442  ; 
refuse  to  make  peace,  445;  on 
the  war-path  for  the  Hurons, 
481 ;  inhabitants  of  St.  Michel 
and  St.  Jean  Baptiste  join,  528  ; 
Eries  make  a  treaty  of  peace 
with,  542;  attacked  by  tho 
Andastes,  547 ;  finally  orerbeal 
the  Andastes,  548. 

Severn  River,  the,  10. 

Shagwamigon  Point,  529,  530. 


584 


INDEX. 


Shea,  J.  G.,  on  the  character  and 
history  of  the  Tionnontates,  33 ; 
on  the  location  of  the  Andastes, 
36;  on  the  early  life  of  Chau- 
mouot,  192;  258;  portrait  of 
Father  Jogues,  309 ;  on  Father 
Jogues  attacked  by  the  Iroquois, 
312 ;  the  settlement  at  Fort 
Orange,  324;  on  the  name  of 
Lake  George,  397 ;  on  Druil- 
letea'  visit  to  Boston,  424 ;  548. 

(Cillery,  settlement  of,  246,  275, 
297,  336,  341,  356,  379,  380,  419, 
523. 

Sillery,  Noel  Brnlart  de,  275. 

Simcoe  County,  10. 

Simcoe,  Lake,  10. 

Sioux  Indians,  the,  punishment  of 
adultery,  21,  502;  quarrel  with 
the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  529. 

Smith,  Capt.  John,  5 ;  on  the  laws 
of  inheritance  among  the  In- 
dians, 42. 

Snake  Indians,  the,  346. 

Society  of  Jesus,  the,  foundation  of, 
96;  preparation  of  the  novice 
for,  97 ;  characteristics  of,  99 ; 
its  mission  among  the  Indians, 
173 ;  aspires  to  the  mastery  of 
all  New  France,  257. 

"  Soft-Metals,"  the,  547. 

Sonnontoueronnons  (Seneca8),the, 
448. 

Sorcerers,  Indian,  81,  178-183. 

Sorel,  town  of,  311,  338. 

Souriquois,  Indians,  the,  7. 

South  America,  aborigines  of,  32. 

Spanish  civilization,  effect  on  the 
Indians  of,  131. 

Spanish  Junta,  the,  49. 

Spofford,  313. 

Squier,  on  the  Huron  fortifications, 
16;  on  the  places  of  Indian 
sepulture,  167. 

Steinmetz,  257. 


Subiaco,  rocks  of,  198. 

Sun,  the,  Indian  worship  of,  tt>, 

452. 
Superior,  Lake,  307,  470,  529,  549. 
Susquehanna  River,    the,  5,    36, 

440. 
Susquehannocks,  the,  36,  440. 
Sweating-bath,  Indian,  28. 
Swedish  colonists,  give  aid  to  the 

Andastes,  546. 
Syracuse,  city  of,  409. 

Taountawatha,  the  deity  of  the 
Five  Nations,  73. 

Tache',  Dr.,  11;  on  the  sites  of 
Huron  villages,  14;  on  Indian 
burial-places,  167;  St.  Ignace 
burned  by  the  Iroquois,  488. 

Tache  Museum,  the,  167. 

Tadoussac,  7,  102,  108,  274;  suc- 
cessful Jesuit  mission  at,  415. 

Tanner,  John,  65 ;  on  Indian  ideas 
of  another  life,  79 ;  notice  of 
Brebeuf,  199 ;  on  Father  Jogues 
attacked  by  the  Iroquois,  311; 
on  the  murder  of  Goupil  by  the 
Iroquois,  320 ;  on  the  death  of 
Father  Daniel,  479;  on  the 
visions  of  Brebeuf,  494 ;  on  the 
character  of  Garnier,  511. 

Taouscaron,  legend  of,  71. 

Tarenyowagon,  the  Iroquois  deity, 
73. 

Tarratines,  the,  7. 

Tattooing,  20. 

Teahtontaioga,  Mohawk  town  of, 
317. 

Teanaustaye,  town  of,  St.  Joseph 
mission  removed  to,  228 ;  aban- 
doned, 231  ;  437,  476  ;  attacked 
and  destroyed  by  the  Iroquois, 
477-479. 

Teharonhiawagon,  the  Iroquois 
deitv,  73. 


INDEX. 


585 


Tennessee,  State  of,  Indian  places 
of  sepolture  in,  166. 

Teonontogen,  town  of,  317. 

"  Terre  du  Fort,  La,"  534. 

Tessouat,  the  renowned  chief,  364. 
See  also  Le  Borgne,  Chief. 

Thenondiogo,  Mohawk  town  of, 
317. 

Three  Rivers,  8,  139,  143,  1.50, 
218,  258,  305,  307,  308,  325,  335, 
337,  341,  342,  343,  346,  347,  373, 
374,  375,  381,  390,  391,  397,  402, 
404,  413,  415,  416,  431,  475,  524, 
525. 

Three  Rivers,  Syndic  of,  431. 

Thunder  Bay,  144,  219,  240. 

Ticonderoga,  313. 

Tionnontates  (Tobacco  Nation), 
the,  32  ;  synonymes  of,  32  ;  traf- 
fic among,  33 ;  tobacco  raised 
by,  134. 

Toanch^,  Huron  town  of,  144. 

Tobacco  Nation,  the,  32,  130,  231  ; 
new  and  perilous  mission  of, 
232 ;  location  of,  232 ;  Jesuit 
missions  among,  469  ;  fugitives 
from  St.  Louis  in  the  towns  of, 
484 ;  Huron  fugitives  find  an 
asylum  among,  496 ;  forced  to 
fly,  529 ;  settle  on  the  Island  of 
Michilimackinac,  529. 

Tohotaenrat,  the,  44. 

Toltec  family,  the,  43. 

Tonawanda  Island,  167. 

Totem,  the,  41. 

Totiri,  ;fetienne,  450. 

Troyes,  Sisters  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of,  295. 

Tuinontatek,  the,  32. 

Tnscarora  Indians,  the,  join  the 
Five  Nations,  5 ;  admitted  to 
the  League  of  the  Iroquois,  58. 

Twelve  Apostles,  Island  of  the, 
629. 


Ubsuline  Convent  of  Quebec,  264, 

265,  276,  277,  300,  433,  522. 
Ursulines,  the,  243,  250. 
Ursulines  of  Tours,  the,  271. 

Vak  Cublsr  (Corlaer),  Arendt, 
325,  326. 

Vanderdonck,  on  the  Huron  dwell- 
ings, 12,  13 ;  on  the  Iroquois 
tradition  of  the  creation,  71 ;  on 
the  Iroquois  deities,  73. 

Van  Rensselaer,  324,  325. 

Vaugirard.  289. 

Vermont,  State  ot,  6. 

Viger,  Jacques,  map  of,  359,  433. 

Villemarie,  Parish  Church  of,  371. 

Villemarie  de  Montreal,  294,  357- 
372.     See  Montreal. 

Vimont,  Father,  253,  274,  278, 
294,  302,  303,  306,  326,  336,  338, 
340,  341,  342,  343,  346,  348,  358, 
360,  365,  366,  367,  370,  371,  379, 
380,  381,  383,  385,  387,  388,  389, 
390,  391,  392,  399,  417,  465. 

Virginia,  State  of,  4;  tribes  of, 
16. 

Visitation,  Sisters  of  the,  243. 

Vitelleschi,  Mutio,  letters  from 
Bre'beuf,  144,  176,  225,  238. 

Wabeno,  the,  society  of,  84. 
Wampanoag  Indians,  the,  5. 
Weendigoes,  the,   Saginaw  story 

of,  64. 
Wenrio,  Indian  town  of,  146,  179. 
West- Wind,  the,   Indian  legends 

concerning,  66,  70. 
White  Fish,  nation  of  the,  384, 

416,  524,  525 
Whiting,  Colonel,  28. 
William  Henry,  Fort,  314. 
Winnebago  Indians,  the..  5,  470. 
Winslow,  John,  421  ;  gives  a  warm 

welcome  to  Father  Druilletei^ 

423. 


586 


IISTDEX. 


Wisconsin,  State  of,  4. 

Wyandot  Indians   (Hurons),  the, 

9  ;  history  of,  530. 
Wye    River,  the,  231,   462,   500, 

512. 


Xavier,  St.  Francis,  92,  107,  13Q 
257,  433. 

Yendat,  the,  9. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subjea  to  immediate  recall. 


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