INTRODUCTION

I

JEAN DE BRÉBEUF was born on the twenty-fifth of March,
1593; his birthplace was Condé-sur-Vire, in the present-day
Calvados, then forming part of the Diocese of Bayeux, in Nor-
mandy; and his ancestry was noble, counting the English Earls
of Arundel among its descendants. Nothing is known of Bré-
beuf before the day in November, 1617, on which he entered
the Society of Jesus at Rouen; but on that very day he gave an
indication of his quality: he wished his status to be that of a lay-
brother, feeling himself unworthy to be a priest. Priest he was
nevertheless ordained five years later. In the meanwhile he had
been appointed a teacher of grammar at the College of Rouen,
a post which he was obliged to give up, one learns with aston-
ishment, because of bad health, so that there was placed against
his name at this time the note, 'ob infirmitatem valetudinis non
occupatus'! Yet he had so much impressed his superiors that
less than three years passed between his ordination and his ap-
pointment to be one of the pioneers of what was to become the
most strenuous missionary field of the Jesuits, that of New
France, where he arrived in the middle of June, 1625.

II

Canada was probably discovered by Leif Ericsson in or about
the year 1000 of our era; John Cabot reached its shores just on
five centuries later; in 1534 Jacques Cartier first sailed up the
Gulf and river of St Lawrence; and in the first years of the
seventeenth century Samuel de Champlain established Port
Royal, now Annapolis, Nova Scotia, the first permanent settle-
ment of the white man in Canada. Cabot was followed by
fishermen, Cartier by fur-traders, Champlain by all the usual
camp-followers of the empire-builder. The observations of
these people, fragmentary and erratic though most of them
were, enable us to obtain a tolerably clear idea of the condition
of the country and of its inhabitants.

In the days of Champlain the voyager entering the St Law-
rence River found himself in a densely wooded solitude. The

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bloody annals of the Indian give the impression, it is true, of countless hordes of contending savages; but in sober fact the population of this part of the country was to be reckoned only in thousands, while that of the entire continent of North America scarcely exceeded a single million. The southern bank of the St Lawrence, from mouth to source, and, beyond it, of Lake Ontario, was occupied by the Iroquois confederation of the Five Nations of the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondaga, Oneidas and Mohawks; while an enormous expanse of country north and east of the river was in the hands of the Algonquian family of tribes. Smaller areas here and there were the possessions of individual tribes.

One such territory of about five hundred square miles formed the home of the Hurons. Towards the north-east Lake Huron narrows into a kind of bottle-neck, which then expands into the considerable sheet of water named Georgian Bay. This bay is connected with Lake Simcoe by the river Severn, which runs east and south. It thus forms a natural province, bounded on the west and north-west by Georgian Bay, on the north-east and east by the river Severn, and on the south-east by Lake Simcoe. Here lived the Hurons, in cultivated clearings painfully won from the virgin forest, on the banks of the river and streams, and by the shore of the great sweet-water sea.

### III

During the sixty years that followed the arrival of Cartier at the St Lawrence, the fisheries and the fur-trade developed to appreciable proportions. By 1578 we may read in Hakluyt and Pinkerton of the presence at Newfoundland of 150 French ships, together with an even larger number of Spanish, Portuguese and English vessels, to say nothing of some twenty or thirty Basque whalers. Yet the fratricidal religious wars made a closer and more permanent contact impossible between the old France and the new. And when the Peace of Vervins in 1598 somewhat eased the tension, it was now the men who were lacking, at least in ability if not in greed. Abortive expeditions succeeded each other until 1603, when Samuel de Champlain first appeared on the Canadian scene at the head of a company of adventurers.

During successive journeys into the interior Champlain explored a large part of New France, until finally, in 1615, he reached the Huron country. Thenceforth he devoted himself to the strengthening and development of the new colony.

When Champlain reached Huronia he found a missionary already at work, for a little earlier he had taken the Indians into his care spiritually as well as materially. He had not always been so solicitous for the religious welfare even of his own followers. For seven years the colony at Quebec, founded in 1606, Huguenots and Roman Catholic alike, had lived without priests. It was only in 1615 that Champlain, bethinking himself of the Recollet community near his birthplace, invited it to send missionaries to New France. Three members of this strict order of Franciscans accordingly arrived at Quebec, and lost no time in turning their attention to the Indians.

The Huron mission fell to Joseph Le Caron, and it was with high hopes that he set out early in July, 1615, for the field of his labours. He painfully ascended the Ottawa, crossed Lake Nippissing, descended the French River, and at last saw spread out before him a seemingly endless sea, Lake Huron. He was the first white man to behold it, a privilege he had earned with the sweat of his brow. 'It would be hard to tell you', he wrote, in words we shall find closely echoed by Brébeuf, 'how tired I was with paddling all day, with all my strength . . . wading the rivers . . . carrying the canoe . . . half starved.'

But his journey was not yet over: he had still to skirt Georgian Bay for some hundred miles to the south and to make his way to the home of the Huron party with which he was travelling. This was in the peninsula formed by Matchedash and Nottawasaga Bays, and here, outside the township of Carhagouha, a mile or two inland from the present Point Cockburn, he finally settled. Champlain, as we have seen, followed in Le Caron's footsteps, and on the twelfth of August the priest celebrated Mass for the first time in the Huron country, in the presence of the Father of Canada, of Étienne Brulé, his interpreter, who was afterwards to be killed by the Hurons, of a dozen other Frenchmen, and of the redskin tribes to whose mercies he was now abandoned.

IV

By 1623 there were three Recollet priests, in their cowls, girdled grey gowns and wooden sandals, at work in Huronia: Le Caron at Carhagouha, Viel at Toanche, and Sagard, later the first historian of Canada, at Ossossane. These gentle friars seemed incapable, however, of making much impression on the Indians; nor did they feel strong enough to fight the opposition of the Huguenot brothers de Caën, who were in effective power at Quebec; and so, with characteristic humility, they took the fateful step of inviting the help of a body more aggressive, more experienced, more influential than themselves, the militant Society of Jesus. That body had never yet said no to a difficult missionary task, and so, on the twenty-fifth of April, 1625, innumerable difficulties having been overcome, a Huguenot trading ship sailed from Dieppe with three Jesuit priests on board, Ennemond Massé, Charles Lalemant and Brébeuf.

Massé, then past his fiftieth year, had been a Jesuit for much more than half his life, and had already taken part in the abortive mission to Acadia (Nova Scotia); a man most notable for his practical skill, he was aptly nicknamed ‘le Père Utile’; he died at Avignon in 1622. Of Lalemant less is known: when he reached Canada he had been a member of the Society for eighteen years, and was thirty-eight years of age. More fortunate than his nephew Gabriel, who shared the fate of Brébeuf, Lalemant died in Paris at the age of eighty-seven. Brébeuf it was, younger and much less experienced than his colleagues, who at once took the most difficult task upon himself, the Huron mission, and who became outstandingly the apostle and the martyr of the Society of Jesus in Canada.

But first considerable difficulties had to be overcome. The ship bearing the three 'black-robes' had arrived within the shadow of the Rock of Quebec, and the missionaries had already assembled what they are never tired of calling their 'small baggage', in readiness to land, when they found Quebec closed to them. Champlain was in France, and in his absence the traders had supreme authority. They had tolerated the harmless Franciscans only with the worst of grace; but Jesuits, those

bitter, uncompromising enemies of all the Huguenots stood for—that was more than they could stomach. And so the Caëns refused to give the three priests facilities of any kind. The Jesuits had almost given up hope, when a small boat was seen approaching from the shore, and soon the modest friars stood on board with outstretched hands, offering the Jesuits their home and half of what they possessed.

No time was wasted. Within a few days of his arrival in New France Brébeuf set out for Huronia; but he was not to get very far. Arrived at Three Rivers he was met with the news that the Hurons had murdered his Recollet predecessor in the Huron mission, Viel, at a spot known to this day as the Sault du Récollet. Brébeuf was later to learn that this news, in part at least, was false, and that the friar had been drowned in a rapid by the foolhardiness of the Hurons rather than by their treachery. At the time, however, he felt that it would be absurd to go on: unknown, both in himself and in his capacity as a black-robe, knowing not a word of the language, wholly ignorant of the country, it would have been inviting death unwarrantably to penetrate into the country of those whose hands had so recently been stained, as he supposed, with missionary blood. For the first and last time in his life the indomitable Brébeuf turned back.

Brébeuf turned back, it is true, but not to share with his colleagues the relative comforts of the hamlet of Quebec. He was determined to familiarize himself with Indian life, and so he attached himself to a party of Montagnais hunters on their way to their winter quarters. A more strenuous initiation to the wild life of Canada could scarcely have been chosen: it was well for Brébeuf, as he once said, punning on his name, that he now had the frame of an ox and was capable of its labours. He survived the ardours of the winter, and returned to Quebec in the spring with invaluable experience of the Indians, their ways, their habits of thought, the nature of their languages. Above all he had made himself liked by the severely critical redskins; this was not easy, for the white man often found it difficult to live up to Indian standards of hospitality, loyalty, good-fellowship, and mutual kindliness in general: but Brébeuf succeeded. 'He

adapted', says Raguenau, 'his own nature and temperament to
the customs of these peoples with so much ability, making him-
self all things to all men in order to win them to Jesus Christ,
that he ravished their hearts.'

Immediately on his return to Quebec in the spring of 1626
Brébeuf began to make plans for renewing his attempt to reach
the Huron country. At first he was not successful, but in the
middle of July there simultaneously arrived at Quebec Jesuit
reinforcements from France and a fleet of fur-trading canoes
from Huronia. One of the newly arrived Jesuits was Anne de
Nouë (who was later to be frozen to death on the St Lawrence),
whose ambitions also pointed to Huronia. He and Brébeuf ac-
cordingly sought to persuade the returning Hurons to embark
them in their canoes.

This was no easy task. The Indians were willing to take a
grey-robe; but who were these new black-robes? Besides, it
would be dangerous to take into their canoes so big and heavy
a man as Brébeuf. Finally Champlain intervened. He called
the Indians together and said to them, 'These are our fathers.
We love them more than we love ourselves. The whole
French nation honours 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 honour these our fathers.'

This appeal, together with the inevitable largesse, prevailed at
last, and at the end of July Brébeuf and his companions were
on their way to the Huron country. What were Brébeuf’s
thoughts as he faced eagerly towards the West? It is not easy for
us to recapture them, but to some extent it is possible to enter
into the ecstacy with which his simple, visionary mind looked
forward to the labours and sufferings that awaited him. There
was in him not the remotest shadow of doubt but that he had it
in his power to bring salvation to the Indians; his unswerving
certitude on this point was matched only by a profound humil-
ity, which was the more remarkable because it was accom-
panied by a deep confidence in his own capacity to do and to
suffer. His obedience was so complete that it astonished even
his fellow Jesuits, trained as they were to the recognition of

10

obedience as their first duty. And if Brébeuf could have foreseen every difficulty, every danger, every humiliation of the next twenty-three years, every moment of the anguish that crowned them, we may be certain that he would not have wished to abate them by a single jot or tittle. Had he not within himself the certitude of an eternal reward commensurate with his sufferings?

We left the little flotilla urged forward on its voyage of a thousand miles by the strenuous paddle of redskin and paleface alike. It took the same route that Le Caron and his companions had followed eleven years earlier; but this time the great Lake was coasted as far as Penetanguishene Bay. Here, at the village of Otouacha, the party landed, and from here they struck inland to Toanche. Viel's hut still stood there, and Brébeuf gladly took possession of it. It was to be his home for the next three years.

I need say but little concerning his life during these long months, for it was in no essential different, except that he was alone for the larger part of the time, from that so vividly described by him in his relations and letters. He studied the language, making a good beginning with a Huron dictionary and grammar and with a translation of the Catechism. He travelled the Huron country, ringing a bell as he went, preaching God, heaven and hell, the Virgin and her Son. On their side the Hurons listened, and smiled politely. They could not be persuaded that these doctrines were superior to their own, and Brébeuf often heard the classic answer, 'I would sooner burn with my ancestors than be happy alone in a strange heaven'. No, there was no converting these savages when they were in good health and when the weather was prosperous; but they liked this powerful and passionate, yet strangely mild blackrobe, whom they affectionately named Echon or Echom, and they were genuinely sorry when he was recalled to Quebec in the summer of 1629. 'You must not leave us, Echon', they cried; Brébeuf explained that he had to obey, but that, with God's grace, he would soon come back to them.

V

When Brébeuf again found himself in Quebec in July, 1629, he had no difficulty in appreciating the reason for his recall.

II

Lalemant, who was now in charge of the mission, had lost no
time in setting the wheels of Jesuit policy in motion. The
Huguenot traders, as we have seen, were in power in New
France, and Lalemant addressed himself to the breaking of this
power, feeling that in no other way could the Society of Jesus
obtain an adequate foothold in the country. He accordingly
sent messages to France, where the Huguenots were again in
revolt. The wily Richelieu grasped at this opportunity to out-
flank them: he cancelled the charters of the Huguenot traders
and formed the exclusively Roman Catholic (nay, Jesuit, for
the Recollets were now excluded) Company of New France,
better known as the Company of One Hundred, with himself
at its head.

The conspirators over-reached themselves, however, for they
gave the new Company sovereign rights over the whole area
extending from Florida to the Arctic Circle and from New-
foundland to the sources of the St Lawrence and its tributaries.
Now several years earlier Sir William Alexander had received
from James I a grant of Nova Scotia, a grant which was clearly
infringed by that given to the Company of New France. Con-
sequently, when England found herself at war with France as a
result of the Huguenot revolt at La Rochelle, Alexander lost no
time in organizing a descent on the North American coast. A
Company of the Adventurers of Canada was formed, and
three ships, under Gervase Kirk and his three sons, set off to
take possession. These ships reached Quebec before the fleet of
the One Hundred, indulged in a little friendly burning and
looting, and lay in wait for the French ships. When these final-
ly appeared they were found to be eighteen in number, but
smaller and weaker than the English privateers, which were
able to overcome the entire French fleet. The Kirks then cap-
tured Quebec; took many prisoners, including Brébeuf and
the other Jesuits, on board; and sailed for home, leaving the
diminished colony to starve.

The passage was a disagreeable one for the French, who spent
most of their time quarrelling with each other. The Huguenots
bitterly accused the Jesuits of being the source of all their
troubles, and sometimes their anger became uncontrollable.

One day Kirk was conversing with the Fathers, and not too amiably.

'Gentlemen,' he said to them, 'your business in Canada was to enjoy what belonged to M. de Caën, whom you dispossessed.'

'Pardon me, sir,' answered Brébeuf, 'we came solely for the glory of God and exposed ourselves to every kind of danger to convert the Indians.'

Here one of the most irascible Huguenots, one Michel, broke in, 'Ay, ay, convert the Indians! You mean, convert the beaver!'

'That is false!' retorted Brébeuf.

On this Michel raised his hand, exclaiming, 'But for the respect I owe my General, I would strike you for giving me the lie.'

Brébeuf, whose humility was always profound enough to overcome his natural passion, answered, 'You must excuse me. I did not mean to give you the lie. I should be very sorry to do so. The words I used are those we employ in the schools when a doubtful proposition is advanced, and they mean no offence. Therefore I ask you to pardon me.'

In the meanwhile the fleet sailed on, and no amount of humility could alter the fact that French ambitions in New France, and with them those of the Jesuits, seemed doomed; they were, indeed, but fate still had a merry jest or two in store. When Kirk reached England in November, 1629, all aglow with his exploits, it was only to learn that a stroke of the pen had reduced these exploits to the merest piracy. The Convention of Susa, ending the war between England and France, had been signed a few months before; and three years later, by the Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye, French sovereignty over New France was recognized. The French at once returned to Quebec, two Jesuits arriving on the first boat, followed by Brébeuf (who had made his way home long before) and others some months later, in May, 1633; and it was at this time that Brébeuf began to send home his remarkable narratives. The later history of Canada does not directly concern us. It is enough to say that the One Hundred ruled New France until 1663; that French power diminished from that date; and that exactly one hundred years later Canada was finally ceded to England.

13

VI

On his return to his Huron flock Brébeuf received a warm welcome, but he met with little more missionary success than before. He baptized a few redskins, it is true, but most of these were people whose lives had been given up and who took baptism as a kind of last hope. So distrustful, indeed, did Brébeuf become of these conversions that he finally consented to baptize only children in such circumstances. This failure, moreover, led to great difficulties. Whenever the weather was bad and the crops failed, whenever the epidemics that were the curse of the country broke out once more, the medicine-men salvaged their own reputations by blaming it on the black-robes. Brébeuf, fortunately, was more than a match for them in political skill, and he always succeeded in convincing the Indians that these accusations were false. Yet more than once he and his colleagues were in danger of death: so much so, indeed, that on one occasion, feeling the position to be hopeless, he composed a moving farewell letter (p. 176). Once again he was able to ward off the danger: this time by the bold expedient of giving a farewell-feast. This feast, to which the Hurons invited their friends when they were in momentary expectation of death, showed the Indians how little Brébeuf feared them, and his courage over-awed them.

Was it perhaps at this time that Brébeuf finally realized what his end was to be? We may suppose so, and may we not also suppose that it was at this time that he took his final vow of self-sacrifice?* This vow, *'Quid retribuam tibi'*, which includes a quotation from the liturgy of the Mass, was conceived in these terms: 'My God and my Saviour Jesus, what return can I make to thee for all thou hast vouchsafed unto me? I will take the cup [of thy sufferings] from thee and I will invoke thy name. I therefore make a vow in the presence of thy eternal Father and of the holy Spirit, in the presence of thy most sacred Mother and of her most chaste spouse Joseph, before the Angels, the Apostles and the Martyrs, and my blessed fathers Ignatius and Francis Xavier—I solemnly vow to thee, my Lord Jesus,

*The date of this vow is disputed.

never, on my side, to refuse the grace of Martyrdom if by thy
infinite mercy thou shouldst at any day offer it to me, thy un-
worthy servant. I so bind myself to this that I declare it to be
no longer lawful or open to me for the rest of my life to flee
from the opportunity of dying and shedding my blood for thee
(unless it would promote thy greater glory for me to act other-
wise). And when I shall have received the stroke of death I bind
myself to accept it at thy hand with all the contentment and the
joy of my heart. And consequently, my Lord Jesus, I joyfully
offer thee from to-day my blood and my body and my soul, so
that I may die only for thee, if thou doest me the grace, who
condescended to die for me. Enable me so to live that thou
mayest finally allow me so to die. Thus, o Lord, I will take
the cup from thee and I will invoke thy name, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus.'

In the meanwhile the epidemics of scurvy and smallpox raged
on, until before long whole villages became so many sepul-
chres. Among these was Ihonatiria, at this time the home of
the Huron mission. This finally put an end to Brébeuf's hesita-
tions and he moved to Teanaostaiae (St Joseph II), halfway
between Nottawasaga Bay and Lake Simcoe.

The Jesuits had always given of their best to the Hurons, in
this following the example of Champlain. They felt that the
Hurons, whose agriculture compelled them to have more or
less settled homes, offered a more favourable field for conver-
sion and for trade than the hunting, wandering, savage Iro-
quois. It was for this reason that the real centre of the mission
was now shifted to Huronia. Lalemant himself left Quebec,
became the principal of the Huron mission, and built a strong-
hold north of the present Mud Lake. Ste Marie, as it was
named, thus became the headquarters of the mission, and it was
from here that Brébeuf left in 1640 on his visit to the Neutral
Nation.

This people, who lived in the territory between Lakes Ontario
and Erie, were supposed to hold the balance between those age-
long and implacable enemies, the Algonquins and Hurons on
the one hand and the Iroquois on the other. Outstandingly
ferocious and vicious, the Neutrals gave Brébeuf no welcome;

and matters were made even worse by the presence of Huron emissaries, who, afraid themselves to kill the black-robes, tried to urge this task on the all too complaisant Neutrals. Yet once more Brébeuf's passionate boldness and courage, the only virtues understood by these savages, daunted them and saved his life. Sustained by more than one miraculous vision, he continued his journey and visited no less than nineteen Neutral villages: but on his return to Ste Marie he had to report utter failure.

Ste Marie itself, however, flourished. The persistence of the Jesuits and their prompt help in time of need, physical help, armed help, began to make an impression on the good-natured Hurons. More and more of them underwent what seemed to be genuine conversions, and more and more sent their children to the Jesuit schools and seminaries. At Quebec, although the colony remained very backward materially, there was a great influx of religious, both men and women, whose enthusiasm had been aroused by the Jesuit relations. All seemed ready, indeed, for a great step forward, but behind these prosperous appearances a much grimmer reality lay hidden.

When Champlain arrived in New France the feud between the Iroquois and the Hurons was already a living thing, and, rightly or wrongly, Champlain took the part of the Hurons and Algonquins, went on the war-path with them, and defeated the Iroquois with powder and shot. This action, the result of the highest motives on the part of a man of real goodness, led to disaster. For the Iroquois now associated the French with the Hurons, so that, when the constant warfare between the rival nations finally came to a head, the Jesuits were inevitably, completely and fatally involved. What was more, the Iroquois had thus learned the value of firearms, and were not slow in inducing the Dutch settlers on the Hudson to sell these weapons to them. Behold, therefore, the Hurons, armed by the French, confronted by the Iroquois, armed by the Dutch: a civilizing spectacle almost worthy of the twentieth century!

The final campaign of the Iroquois against the Hurons and Algonquins began in 1642, when the Mohawks destroyed a mission station on Lake Simcoe. Each year thereafter Iroquois

war-parties penetrated further into the enemy territory. With-
in five or six years the Algonquins were almost exterminated
and the Hurons were completely surrounded. By 1648 the
Huron frontier on the east lay on the Sturgeon river. Here
laboured Brébeuf, the mission station being at St Ignace and
his home a mile or two away at St Louis, both places lying
some four or five miles south of Matchedash Bay and about
the same distance from Ste Marie, which was now completely
cut off from Quebec. Death lay all around, yet the careless
Hurons, as the winter of 1648 drew to its close, did not even
keep watch. After all, it was not the custom to attack before
the spring; but the Iroquois cared little for custom, and sudden-
ly, while the ice and snow still lay on the ground, the dreaded
war-whoop was heard. Unprepared, St Ignace fell at once; the
Hurons streamed back to St Louis and on to Ste Marie, implor-
ing Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant to come with them. But
Brébeuf had no thought of leaving his chapel and its sacred con-
tents; gathering a handful of warriors he fought until over-
powered by the overwhelming hordes of Iroquois. The few
survivors were taken captive, among them Brébeuf and Lale-
mant. Not often did such magnificent pledges of good fortune
fall into the hands of the Iroquois: nor did they delay to enjoy
them to the full.

In the meanwhile the Hurons re-assembled and, feeling the
death of their nation coming on them, decided to die fighting.
Never had they fought better than at this moment—when it
was too late. In the end they were not so much defeated as
annihilated. The few remnants of the once great Nation of the
Hurons scattered in every direction before the invaders, Ste
Marie fell in its turn, and the Jesuits fled with their flocks to St
Joseph (now Christian) Island. Here they struggled on, still
cut off from Quebec and from supplies of food; but finally the
Mohawks and the Senecas beleaguered the island, and in June,
1650, it too was abandoned, the survivors fighting their way
back to Quebec. The Huron mission had come to an end.

The Jesuits did not yet give up hope; on the contrary, they
now put out a last and characteristic effort: they turned their
attention to the very quarter from which all their sufferings

B

17

had come, the Iroquois. More tragic episodes followed, more
martyrdoms, but all to no purpose: the effective force of the
Jesuits in Canada was spent. Here and there, at Ville Marie,
among the remnants of the Algonquins, in remote fields, the
struggle went on, not for long. The mission had failed—but it
was a failure of individual heroism and sacrifice before im-
possible odds. Even those who most dislike missions in general
and Jesuit missions in particular, must here waive criticism and
acknowledge a display of human devotion, human endurance,
without parallel.

VII

But what of Brébeuf? At last his oft-expressed wish to die for Christ ('*Sentio me vehementer impelli ad moriendum pro Christo*') was to be accomplished. Did he now remember that eager cry of his: 'O my God, why are you not known? Why is this barbarous country not all converted to you? Why is not sin abolished from it? Why are you not loved? Yes, my Lord, if all the torments that the captives can here endure in the cruelty of torture could fall on me, I would offer myself for them with all my heart to endure them alone.' When he was stripped naked and dragged back to St Ignace under a hailstorm of cudgel-blops on his shoulders, his loins, his legs, his belly, his face, did he hear once more that supernal voice which had so often in the past beckoned him to his martyrdom? When the savages tore out his finger-nails did the glorious visions he had so often seen pass once more before his mind's eye—those visions of the cross, those apparitions of the Virgin, of St Joseph, of the Angels, of the Saints, that anointing hand, and all those other mystic experiences which had been his deepest happiness? It may have been so; certainly, Brébeuf displayed nothing but the profoundest joy in his agony.

Seeing himself surrounded by the Christian Hurons whom he
had taught and who had been captured with him, Brébeuf said
to them, 'My children, let us lift up our eyes to Heaven in our
deepest anguish; let us remember that God is the witness of our
sufferings and will soon be our exceeding great reward for
them; let us die in this faith; and let us hope, in his goodness,

18

for the fulfilment of his promises. I have more pity for you than for myself; but sustain with courage the few remaining torments; they will end with our lives; the glory that follows them will never have an end.' To which the Huron faithful answered, 'Echom, our souls will be in Heaven when our bodies are suffering on earth. Pray to God that he show us mercy; we will invoke him even unto death.'

The Iroquois, enraged by these words, wasted no more time in the preliminary courtesies of redskin torture. Brébeuf's hands were cut off and he was pierced with sharp awls and iron points. Red-hot hatchets were applied under his armpits and a necklace of them was put about his neck, in such a way that every movement increased his agony. If he leaned forward the fiery metal burned his shoulders; if he leaned back his chest and belly were burned; if he stood upright he was burned in every part. About his middle the savages put a belt of bark, filled with pitch and resin, and to this they then set fire—for long enough to scorch without killing.

All this was done also to Lalemant, who, more sensitive or, perhaps, cast in a less heroic mould, cried out from time to time. Not so Brébeuf, who suffered like a rock, without a cry, without a word, so that his profound silence astonished even the Iroquois, trained as they were in the highest school of courage and endurance. 'No doubt,' says Raguenau, 'his heart was then reposing in his God.' But soon, returning to himself, Brébeuf raised up his voice and preached to the captives and to the victors alike. On this the Iroquois, who had little expected such behaviour in a paleface and a black-robe, lost all control over themselves. To teach him not to speak, they burned his tongue by thrusting flaming brands into his mouth, tore off his lips and mutilated his face. Brébeuf, still able to speak, thanked God for his torments.

The savages now turned to subtler forms of torture. In derision of baptism, they bathed the Fathers, again and again, in boiling water. 'We baptize thee', they cried, 'so that thou mayest be blessed in Heaven, for without a good Baptism one cannot be saved.' And some renegade Christian Hurons added, 'We treat thee as a friend, since we shall be the cause of thy

greatest happiness up there in Heaven; thank us for so many
good offices, for the more thou sufferest, the more thy God will
reward thee'.

They could not anger Brébeuf; the more they tortured and
mocked him, the more he entreated God not to punish these
poor blind people, whom he pardoned with all his heart. With
joy he kissed the post to which he was fastened, as the object of
his desire and final pledge of his salvation. Unmoved, the Iro-
quois tore pieces from his thighs, from the calves of his legs,
from his arms, which they roasted and ate before his eyes. Bré-
beuf still survived, so they slashed his body in the parts that
were still whole and pressed red-hot hatchets into the wounds.
The body still lived, so they scalped him, cut off his feet, and
split his jaw. This thing that had been Brébeuf was still alive,
and so, at last, as though wearied by their own labours, the
Iroquois opened his body, tore out his heart, and threw it to the
spectators, who feasted on it and drank his blood, hoping thus
to become as brave as he had been.

So, at four o'clock in the afternoon on the sixteenth day of
March, 1649, died Jean de Brébeuf.

Th. B.

THE TRAVELS AND SUFFERINGS

I

RELATION OF WHAT OCCURRED AMONG THE
HURONS IN THE YEAR 1635

*Sent to Quebec to Father Paul le Jeune*

My Reverend Father,

I write in order to render you an account of our journey into
this Huron Country, a journey which has been filled with more
fatigue, losses and expense than the former one, but which has
been, and, with God's help, will be followed by more of
Heaven's blessings.

Last year, one thousand six hundred and thirty-four, as soon
as we arrived at the three Rivers, where the trading-post had
been established, we found ourselves in several difficulties and
perplexities. For, on the one hand, the Hurons had only eleven
canoes in which to embark, in addition to themselves, the ten
of us who intended to go into their Country. On the other
hand, we were extremely doubtful whether any others would
go down that year in view of the great losses they had suffered
in the previous Spring in their war with the Hiroquois named
Sonontrerrhonons, and the fear they were in of a new invasion.
This put us much in doubt whether we should take advantage
of the opportunity that presented itself or wait for a better one.

Finally, after full consideration, we decided to tempt fortune,
judging that it was important before all to have a footing in the
Country, in order to open the door which seemed to be firmly
closed against the Faith. However, the forming of this resolu-
tion was easier than its execution, which perchance would have
been impossible but for the care, the favour and the liberality of
Monsieur du Plessis Bochard, General of the fleet; for immedi-
ately after his arrival on the fifth of July, 1634, he caused a
Council to be held with the Bissirinians, to whom he proposed
his plan of sending some men with them and of attaching us to
the Hurons. They made several objections to it, one of the
Chiefs of the Island, named 'the Partridge', above all; never-
theless reasoning and gifts won them over.

21

On the morning of the next day the Assembly was again con-
stituted by the order of Monsieur du Plessis Bochard, with the
Bissirinians and the Hurons present. The same plan was put
before them; but out of mutual regard they all agreed not to
embark any Frenchmen, and for the moment no argument
could weaken them. Thereupon our enterprise seemed again
to be defeated for the time being; but on the breaking up of the
Assembly one of the Attiguenongha, drawing me aside, told
me to go and see him in his hut. There he gave me to under-
stand that he and his comrade would embark three of us. I
answered that we could not go with less than five, that is, we
three and two of our men.

Thereupon the Arendarhonons, having become eager to em-
bark us, found room for six. On this we resolved to go, leaving
until another opportunity the two little boys we were to take.
We at once disposed our baggage and made presents to each
several one in order to encourage them.

The following day, the seventh of the month, Monsieur du Plessis Bochard gave them still more, on the sole condition that they should embark us, and entertained them all together with a feast of three big cauldrons. However, the contagion which last year ran through all these Tribes, causing great ravages, having all at once seized several of our Savages and filled the rest with fear, again threw us into great confusion and put us to great trouble, since we had to set off instantly.

Our six canoes being reduced to three and our two Fathers
and myself finding ourselves disembarked, I had to find new
men, unload our slender equipment, consider who should em-
bark and who remain, choose among our packages those we
should take with us and make arrangements for the rest; and all
this in less than half an hour, where we should have needed
whole days. Nevertheless, realizing that our embarkment was
a stroke struck for Heaven, we thought it necessary to make
our every effort to resist the endeavours of the common enemy
of man's salvation, who, we doubted not at all, had concerned
himself in this matter.

I did all I could, we redoubled our gifts, we reduced our small
baggage and took only what was necessary for the holy Sacrifice

of the Mass and what was absolutely needed for life. Monsieur du Plessis interposed his authority, Monsieur Oliver and Monsieur Coullart their labours, and all the Frenchmen their affection. Yet several times I felt that everything was ruined and desperate—until I had special recourse to our Lord JESUS, for whose sole glory we were undertaking this painful journey, and until I had made a vow to the glorious saint Joseph, the new Patriarch of the Hurons. Then at once I saw everything become quiet and our Savages so contented that those who embarked Father Daniel had already placed him in their canoe and appeared to be about to take him without having received even their ordinary pay. But that Father, seeing that they had not cloaks like the others, left the canoe and told me of it, on which I had some given to them.

At last, then, having briefly thanked Monsieur du Plessis, having entrusted to him the embarkation of the rest of our people if the opportunity presented itself, and having bid goodbye to him and to all our Frenchmen, I embarked with Father Antoine Daniel and one of our men; the other two were coming with the Algonquins.

It was the seventh of July. Father Ambroise Davost embarked a week later, with two more of our people. The rest followed after a further week to take their share in the fatigues of a very tiresome journey, not only because of its length and of the poor fare to be had, but also because of the détours that have to be made in coming here from Kebec by way of the Bissirinians and the Little Nation; I believe that these amount to more than three hundred leagues. It is true that the journey is shorter by way of the Saut de St Louys and the Lake of the Hiroquois, but the fear of enemies and the few advantages to be met with there cause it to be disused.

Of two ordinary difficulties the first is that of the rapids and portages. Your Reverence has already seen enough rapids near Kebec to know what they are like. All the rivers of this Country are full of them, and particularly the river of St Lawrence after that of the Prairies has been passed. For from that point onward it no longer has a smooth bed, but is broken up in several places, rolling and leaping fearfully in the form of an

impetuous torrent. In some places it even drops down suddenly from a height of several brasses [brasse = 5.3 ft.]. As we passed I remembered the Cataracts of the Nile, as they are described by our Historians.

Now when these falls or torrents are approached it is necessary to land and to carry all the baggage, and even the canoes, on one's shoulders through woods or over high and difficult rocks. This is not done without much work, for there are portages of one, two and three leagues, to which must be added the necessity for making each journey several times no matter how few packages one has.

In some places, which, although no less rapid, are nevertheless easier to approach, the Savages get into the water, hauling their canoes and guiding them by hand with extreme difficulty and danger; for sometimes they are in up to their necks, so that they are obliged to let go their hold and to save themselves as best they can from the rush of the water, which seizes and carries off the canoe. This happened to one of our Frenchmen, who remained alone in the canoe, all the Savages having abandoned it to the whims of the torrent; but his skill and strength saved his life and also the canoe, with all that was in it. I have counted the number of the portages and I find that we carried our things thirty-five times and dragged them at least fifty. I sometimes occupied myself in helping my Savages, but the bed of the river is made up of stones so sharp that, being barefooted, I could not walk long.

The second ordinary difficulty is in regard to provisions. Frequently one has to fast, if one misses the caches that were made when coming down; and when they are found one does not cease to have a good appetite after having partaken of them. The ordinary food is only a little Indian corn, coarsely broken between two stones and sometimes taken whole in pure water. It is no great delicacy. Occasionally one has fish, but it is only by chance, except when passing some Tribe where some can be bought.

Add to these difficulties that one has to sleep on the bare earth or on some hard rock, for lack of ten or twelve square feet of earth on which to put up a wretched hut; that one has to smell

continually the stench of exhausted Savages; and has to walk
in water, in mud, and in the darkness and tangles of the forest,
where the stings of an infinite multitude of mosquitoes and
gnats constantly pester one. I say nothing of the long and
wearisome silence to which one is reduced; I am thinking of
the newcomers, who sometimes have with them nobody of
their own tongue and who do not know that of the Savages.

We encountered these difficulties, since they are the custom-
ary ones, in common with all those who come into this Coun-
try. But in our journey we met with difficulties which were far
from ordinary. The first was that we had to paddle continu-
ally, neither more nor less than the Savages; so that I had not
the leisure to recite my Breviary except when I lay down at
night, at a time when I had more need of rest than of work. The
other was that we had to carry our equipment at the portages,
which was as hard for us as it was new, and even more so for
the others than for me, who already knew something of what
weariness means. At each portage I had to make at least four
trips; the others made scarcely fewer. I had already come to
the Hurons once before, but I had not then plied the paddle and
carried burdens; nor had the other Religious who made the
same journey. This time, however, we all had to begin with
these experiences to bear the Cross that Our Lord offers to us
for his honour and for the salvation of these poor Barbarians.
In truth, I was sometimes so weary that the body could do no
more; but at the same time my soul felt very deep satisfaction,
since I was suffering for God: none knows it who has not experi-
enced it.

All did not get off so cheaply. Father Davost, among others,
was very badly treated. Much of his little equipment was
stolen, and he was compelled to throw away a small steel mill,
practically all our books, some linen, and a good part of the
paper we were taking and of which we are in great need. He
was abandoned at the Island, among the Algonquins, where he
suffered in good earnest. When he reached the Hurons he was
so worn-out and dejected that for a long time he could not get
over it.

Father Daniel was deserted and forced to change canoes, as

was also Pierre, one of our men. Little Martin was most rough-
ly treated and was finally abandoned to the Bissirinians, among
whom he remained so long that he was some two months on
the way and did not arrive in the country of the Hurons until
the nineteenth of September. Baron was robbed by his com-
panions on the very day he arrived in these parts, and would
have lost much more if he had not compelled them, through
fear of his weapons, to return some part. In short, all the
Frenchmen here have suffered great hardships, incurred great
expense considering their small possessions, and encountered
great dangers. And whosoever wants to come up here must
make up his mind to all this—and to something more, even to
death, whose Image one sees every moment before one's eyes.
For myself, who cannot swim, I once saw it very close: for on
leaving the Bissirinians, while descending a rapid, we should
have gone over a precipice if my Savages had not promptly and
skilfully jumped into the water in order to turn aside the canoe,
which the current was carrying away. It will be readily be-
lieved that the others could say as much, and more, considering
how often such incidents occur.

Three other difficulties gave some trouble to me in particular.
The first was that my men importuned me, from the beginning,
to hide somewhere a box that one of our Frenchmen had put
into our canoe. The second was concern for the care of those
of our people whom we had left behind. The third was that
the Algonquins whom we passed tried to frighten us, saying
that the Hurons would kill us as they had killed Brulé; they did
this, with much show of good will, because they wanted to
keep us among them. Since our arrival I have learned that the
Master of my canoe had put forward the suggestion to desert
me somewhere with my small effects, but that his proposal had
been at once rejected and that they had therefore given no sign
of anything of the sort. All this, thank God, did not much
trouble me; for, having told them that I would myself carry
the box in dispute, although they had been paid to do it, I re-
signed myself for the rest to the will of God, ready to die for
the honour of his Son and for the salvation of these poor
Peoples.

I do not know when they talked of leaving me; but my Savages showed me so much affection and said so many good things about us to the others that they made all the Hurons we met anxious to embark one of our people. This makes me doubt the truth of what they told me about the Master of my canoe. For those who had embarked Father Daniel and Baron wanted to leave them at the Island; but the Master of the canoe in which Father Daniel was travelling, seeing that he was displeased with this suggestion, at once made him embark and conveyed him until they had met the Chief of La Rochelle, who, knowing the Father from having wanted to take him last year, readily received him and his two packages into his canoe. This pleased the Father and the Savages also; for the Father would have had much trouble in a wretched canoe, manned only by three sickly men, whose home was twelve leagues distant from ours. The Chief who now took him lived in the village where we had some intention of settling, and fairly near the place where we now are. Moreover, his canoe was strong and bore six powerful Savages, all healthy and good-natured.

This happy exchange took place during the morning of the day before St Ignatius, Father Daniel having been twice shipwrecked the day before. As for Baron, had it not been for the Chief of the Island, who caused his packages to be replaced in the canoe, he would have remained there. Still, these people were not so barbarous to him as were to their passenger those Savages who, on a previous occasion, were bringing back one of our Frenchmen from the Hurons to Kebec. This young man, named La Marche, would have died in the woods had we not taken the care and trouble to send back in search of him more than a league from the place where we missed him.

Sometimes no more than a word or a dream, some fancy or the slightest sense of inconvenience, is needed to cause them to ill-treat or disembark or even, I dare say, to murder a man. This happened last year to a poor Algonquin, who was abandoned in a rapid by his own nephew; and not a month ago a poor young man, also an Algonquin, having fallen into the fire, was killed near our village by his Tribe because they were afraid that they might be inconvenienced by him in the canoe. What

convinces me that they murdered him is that it is their custom
to do so, that the Hurons said so, and that the previous evening
the man had eaten well and plentifully of what we had given
him; all this in addition to the fact that two Algonquins assured
us they were thinking of braining the man with a hatchet blow
or two. Your Reverence saw or heard of similar cases during
your winter among the Savages.

In a word, he who wants to come here must prepare himself
for many obvious dangers and for much weariness. Neverthe-
less, I attribute all these extraordinary difficulties to the ill-
health of our Savages. For we know quite well how much ill-
ness affects even the best natures and dispositions. I know not
at what cost our Frenchmen and Montagnais will be rid of this
illness. I know only too well that the larger part of the Montag-
nais who were at the Three Rivers when we embarked were ill
and that several died, and also that scarcely anyone returned by
canoe from trading without being afflicted with this contagion.
It has been so universal among the Savages known to us that I
doubt whether a single one has escaped its attacks. All these
poor people have been much put out by it, particularly in the
Autumn, both in their fishing and their harvesting. Several
crops have remained beneath the snow, many people are dead,
and at present there are still some who have not recovered. This
illness began with a violent fever; it was followed by a kind of
measles or smallpox, different, however, from that known in
France, accompanied in several cases by some days of blindness
or dimness of sight; and was finally terminated by a diarrhoea
which carried off several and is still taking a few to the grave.

Among these sufferings and dangers we owe much to the pro-
vidence and fatherly goodness of our Lord, for neither on the
journey nor in this Country has any one of us been taken with
this sickness or yielded to hunger or lost appetite. Since then
some have had slight attacks of illness, but these passed off in a
few days. Our Lord be forever praised, and the most immacu-
late Virgin, with her most chaste Spouse, for this singular
favour, which has helped us much in giving our Faith author-
ity among these Peoples.

I arrived among the Hurons on the fifth of August, the day of

our Lady of the Snows, having been thirty days on the way,
labouring continually except for one day of rest which we took
in the country of the Bissirinians. All the others, except Robert
le Coq and Dominique, journeyed much longer, although nor-
mally the voyage takes no more than twenty days or there-
abouts. I landed at the port of the village of Toanche or Tean-
deouïata, where we had lived formerly; but it was with a little
mishap, our Lord wishing us to realize from the beginning that
he calls us here to endure. My Savages forgot the kindnesses I
had done them and the help I had given them during their ill-
ness, and, moreover, the fair words and the promises they had
made me. After having disembarked me, with a few Church
ornaments and some other small part of our equipment, they
left me there quite alone, without food and without shelter,
and resumed their journey towards their villages, some seven
leagues distant.

The trouble was that the village of Toanche had been moved
since my departure and I did not know exactly in what place it
was situated. The shore here being no longer frequented I
could not easily make sure of the road, and even if I had known
it, neither would my weakness have enabled me to carry all my
small baggage in one trip, nor would the uncertainty of the
way have justified my going twice. That is why I begged my
Savages to accompany me as far as the village, or at least to
sleep on the shore for a night and to watch my effects while I
went to make enquiries. But their ears were deaf to my prayers
and to my remonstrances. For sole consolation they told me
that somebody would come to seek me out there. I had to be
patient. They went away and at once I prostrated myself on
my knees to thank God, our Lady, and saint Joseph for the
favours and mercies I had received during the journey. I hailed
the tutelary Angel of the Country and offered myself to our
Lord, with all our little labours, for the salvation of these poor
Peoples, taking hope that God would not abandon me there,
since he had preserved and led me with so many favours.

Then, having considered that this shore was deserted and that
I might remain there for a long time before anybody from the
village came to look for me, I hid my packages in the wood

and, taking with me my chief valuables, I went off to search for the village. Happily I found it some three quarters of a league away, having on the way seen with sorrow and emotion the place where we had lived and celebrated the Holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout three years, and which was now turned into a fine field; and also the site of the old village, where only one hut remained among the ruins of the others. I saw likewise the spot where poor Etienne Brulé was barbarously and traitorously slain; this made me reflect that some day they might well treat us in the same manner, and wish that it might at least be while we were ardently seeking the glory of Our Lord.

As soon as I was seen in the village and someone had cried, 'Here is Echom come back' (this is what they call me), they all came out to greet and welcome me, each one addressing me by name and saying, 'What, Echom my nephew, my brother, my cousin, hast thou then come back?' But without stopping, for night was approaching, I found shelter; and, having rested but for a short time, I went off at once with a band of young volunteers to fetch my small baggage. We did not get back to the village until an hour after nightfall.

I lodged myself with a man named Aouandoïe, who is, or at least was, one of the richest of the Hurons. I did this on purpose, for another less prosperous might have been inconvenienced by the large number of Frenchmen I was expecting and who had to be fed until we were all gathered together and our hut was ready. You can lodge where you please, for this Nation above all the others is very hospitable to all manner of folk, even to strangers; you can stay with them as long as you like, always well treated according to the standards of the country, and on leaving you get off with no more than a 'Ho, ho, ho, outoecti' or 'Many thanks'. At least, it is so among themselves, for from Frenchmen they expect some reward at one's discretion.

It is true that all are not equally hospitable; some are more so and others less. My host is one of the first in this virtue, and perhaps it is for this reason that God has until now loaded him with temporal blessings and has preserved him above all his fellow Countrymen; for their village, named Teandeouihata

[Toanche], having twice been burned, on both occasions his house alone escaped the conflagration. Some attribute this to chance; for myself, I ascribe it to a nobler cause. I recall a fine deed, whether of prudence or of humanity, which he performed at the time of the first fire; for, envy having been aroused against him and some wanting to destroy his hut, which the fire had spared, he at once had a cauldron hung up, prepared a good feast, invited the whole village, and, having assembled them, delivered this harangue:

'My brethren, I am deeply grieved at the misfortune that has taken place; but what can we do about it? The thing is done. For myself, I do not know what I have done for Heaven to have been spared before all others. Now, to show you my sorrow and my wish to share the common lot, here are two bins of corn' (they held at least a hundred or six score bushels); 'I freely give one of them to the whole village.'

This action calmed their envy and put an end to the wicked plots which they were hatching against him. It is acting wisely to lose a part in order to save the rest.

I therefore lodged with this man, and remained there, with our two Fathers and one of our men, for the space of more than a month and a half, until we moved into our new hut. Nevertheless these poor Savages showed us all possible kindness, some as a result of their good nature, others in return for the few small gifts I made them and in the hope of more.

I placed the rest of our people in another hut, to avoid the annoyance and inconvenience that would have resulted had we all been in a single lodging.

The evening and the next day passed in kindnesses, visits, greetings and applause from all the people of the village. During the following days several men from other villages, who were known to me, came to see me, and all carried away some little gift in exchange for their visit; this is a trifling detail, but all such things mount up and make a good impression in this place. Some said to me, 'What, Echom, hast thou then come back? Good, we were wishing and constantly asking for you' (adding their reasons as they understood them), 'and we were very happy when they told us that thou wert at Kebec for the

purpose of coming up here.' Others said, 'Now we will not
worry any more. The crops will no longer fail. During thy
absence we had nothing but famine.' And, in fact, I believe
that on our arrival there were no more than two families in the
whole village who had a store of corn. All the rest went else-
where to buy some, as was the case in several other villages.
Since our arrival there has been very great abundance through-
out the Country, although it had been necessary to sow three
times in the Spring on account of the white frosts and worms.

In short, those of our village told me, 'If thou hadst not re-
turned we should have lost our trade with the French, for the
Algonquins, and even the Hurons of the other villages, threat-
ened us with death if we went there, because of the murder of
Brulé; but now we shall go and trade without fear.'

I spent about a fortnight in visiting the villages and in gather-
ing together, with much expense and trouble, all our party,
who, landed here and there and not knowing the language,
could not have come to find us without much difficulty. It is
true that one of our men managed to come without any other
address than the two words Echom and Ihonatiria, which are
my name and that of my village. Among all the Frenchmen I
do not find any who have had more trouble than Father Davost
and Baron, the Father from the ill-treatment of his Savages,
Baron from the length of the voyage. He remained forty days
on the way, often alone with a Savage, paddling a very large
and heavily laden canoe. He had himself to carry all his pack-
ages; he had three or four escapes in the torrents; and to crown
his difficulties, they stole much of his property. Truly, much
strength and patience are needed here, and anyone who thinks
of coming here to seek for aught but God, will be sadly dis-
appointed.

Jean Nicolet was also obliged, during his voyage with us as
far as the Island, to do as much work as one of the most robust
Savages. Being at last all gathered together, we resolved to
settle here at Ihonatiria and to build our house here, for the
following reasons. The first is that we judged, after having
earnestly submitted the matter to God, that such was his will,
because the harvest of souls is riper here than in any other place,

as much because of the acquaintance I have with the inhabitants of the place and of the affection they showed me formerly, as because they are already half instructed in the Faith. Indeed we have baptized eight of them, of whom seven have gone to Heaven with the grace of Baptism; and the whole village is so disposed that their baptism depends only on us. But we are waiting until they are better instructed and until they have given up the practice of their chief superstitions.

The second reason is that, apart from this village, there is only La Rochelle where we might have been inclined to stop; and this had been our project since last year. All the inhabitants, who greatly desired it, invited us there, saying that we would be practically in the centre of the Nation, and adding other motives and reasons which pleased us well enough. Even on the road I entertained this idea, which I did not give up until long after my arrival here—so long that we left the baggage of Father Daniel for a considerable time at this village of La Rochelle, with the Chief who had welcomed him in his canoe, intending to have the rest of the baggage taken there and for us to stay there. But having reflected that they intended this Spring to move the village, as they have already done, we did not want to build a hut for one winter. Moreover, although we were very anxious to have many listeners in our meetings, in order to gather more fruit, which may make us choose large villages in preference to small; yet we have thought it more suitable to keep ourselves at first in the shade, as it were, near a little township whose inhabitants are already inclined to associate with the French, rather than to settle ourselves in a big one, where the people are not at all accustomed to our ways. Otherwise we should have been exposing new men, ignorant of the language, to a crowd of young people, whose teasings and mockeries would have brought about some disturbance.

Further, if we had gone elsewhere the people of this village would have thought themselves still in disgrace with the French and would perhaps have given up their trade with them. This was the more probable since Le Borgne, of the Island, last winter spread the rumour that Monsieur de Champlain did not wish us to remain there on account of the death of Brulé, and

c

was demanding four heads; and it is possible that, had we not
been here and had we not remained as pledges of good will,
several of them, fearing to be arrested, whether for their own
acts or those of others, would never have returned to the trad-
ing. Besides, these good people have claimed that we ought to
remain with them if it were true that we loved them. 'For,
said they, 'if you go elsewhere we should have reason to be
afraid not only on our own account, but also for the whole
Country, our interests being bound up together. Now, how-
ever, that you take us for your hosts, we no longer have to fear
as we should otherwise have done; for if you had chosen an-
other place and some wicked person had done you harm, not
only the French but also the Hurons would have come down
on us for it.'

I could here bring forward still further considerations which
are not to be despised, as, for example, that this is a more con-
venient place as much for fish and game as for embarcation.
But the chief reason is the first I mentioned. Among the vil-
lagers that wanted to have us, the people of Oenrio were most
insistent. This little village, which is fairly near ours, used to
form part of the one in which we lived formerly; but we have
not thought it well to stay there this time, simply because we
have judged it expedient that a single village should be formed
elsewhere out of this village and our own, as much for their
common interests as for our own special functions and minis-
trations. For this purpose we recently made some gifts to both
of them at the same time. Our gifts have great influence among
them; nevertheless they have not yet made up their minds.

Having therefore decided to stay where we are, the question
arose of building a house. The habitations of this country are
neither Louvres nor Palaces, nor anything like the splendid
buildings of our France, nor even like the smallest cottages.
They are nevertheless somewhat better and more convenient
than the hovels of the Montagnais. I cannot better explain to
you the nature of the Huron dwellings than by comparing them
to bowers or garden arbours, some of which, instead of branches
and greenstuff, are covered with cedar bark, and others with
large pieces of ash, elm, fir, and spruce bark. And although that

of the cedar is the best according to the general opinion and usage, it nevertheless has the inconvenience of being almost as susceptible to fire as matches, whence arise many conflagrations of entire townships. Without going any further than this year, we have had two entirely destroyed in less than ten days, and another, that of Louys, partly burned. We have also once seen our own cabin on fire; but, thank God, we extinguished it at once.

These huts or bowers are to be found in various sizes, some two brasses in length, others ten, and others twenty, thirty, and forty; the ordinary width is about four brasses, and their height is about the same. There are no different stories; no cellar, nor room, nor garret is to be seen here. There is no other window or chimney than a wretched hole at the top of the hut, which is left in order to clear away the smoke. This is the way they built ours for us.

The people of Oenrio and of our village worked at it, in return for some gifts we made them. We did not get it finished without considerable exertion, as much because of the universal illness of practically all the Savages, as because of the co-operation of these two villages. For although the work was not heavy, yet those of our village imitated those of Oenrio, who, in the hope of finally attracting us to them, did nothing but amuse themselves without advancing the work. We were almost in the month of October before we were under cover. As for the interior, we have arranged it ourselves, so that, although it is no great matter, the Savages never weary of coming to see it, and, seeing it, of admiring.

We have divided it in three parts. The first part, on the same side as the door, serves as ante-room, as protection against the wind, and as a store-room for our provision of corn, in the manner of the Savages. The second is that in which we live and in which is our kitchen, our carpentry shop, our mill or place for beating the corn, our Refectory, our sitting-room and our bedroom. Along both sides, in the fashion of the Hurons, are two benches, which they name Endicha, on which are boxes to hold our clothes and other small objects; but below, in the place where the Hurons keep their wood, we have arranged small bunks in which to sleep and in which to hide some of our

possessions from the thievish hands of the Hurons. They sleep
near the fire, but nevertheless they and we have nothing but
the earth for bedsteads, some bark or boughs covered with a
rush mat for mattress and blankets; our clothes and a few skins
do duty for sheets and coverings. The third part of our hut is
again divided in two, by means of a piece of carpentry which
gives it a good enough appearance and which is admired here
for its novelty. In one is our little Chapel, in which we cele-
brate holy Mass every day and where we retire daily to pray to
God. It is true that the noise they make almost continuously
usually prevents us from doing so, except in the morning and
evening, when everybody has gone away, and compels us to go
outside to say our prayers. In the other part we put our uten-
sils. The whole house is only six brasses long and about three
and a half wide.

That is how we are lodged, not, to be sure, so well that we do
not get in this abode a good share of rain, snow and cold.
Nevertheless, as I have said, they never tire of coming to see us
with admiration, chiefly since we have had two wooden doors
and since our mill and our clock have been working. It would
be impossible to describe the astonishment of these good people
and how much they admire the genius of the French. But they
have said all when they described us as Ondaki, that is, Demons;
and we make good use of this word for their benefit, when we
say to them:

'Now then, my brothers, you have seen that and have admired
it, and you think you are right, when you see anything extra-
ordinary, to say Ondaki, and that those who make so many
marvels must be Demons. And what is there so wonderful as
the beauty of the Sky and of the Sun? What is there so wonder-
ful as to see each year the trees, which seem to be dead during
the winter, all bare and disfigured, take on again, each Spring
without fail, a new life and a new dress? The corn that you
plant rots and from its decay there spring up such fine stalks and
better ears. And yet you do not say, "He who has made so
many beauties and who displays every year before our eyes so
many marvels, must be some good oki and some surpassing
intelligence, etc.".'

Nobody has come who has not wished to turn the mill; nevertheless we do not use it at all, since we have found by experience that our Sagamites are better pounded in wooden mortars in the manner of the Savages, than ground in the mill. I believe it is because the mill makes too fine a flour. As for the clock, a thousand things could be said about it. They all believe that it is some living thing; for they cannot imagine how it sounds by itself, and when it is about to strike, they look to see whether we are all there and whether there is not someone hidden to give it a shake. They think the clock can hear, especially when one of our Frenchmen, for a joke, called out on the last stroke of the hammer, 'Stop striking', and it immediately became silent. They call it the Chief of the day. When it sounds they say that it speaks, and when they come to see us they ask how many times the Chief has already spoken. They ask us what it eats, and remain a whole hour, and sometimes hours, in order to hear it speak. At first they asked what it said, and we told them two things which they have very well remembered. One was that when it struck at four o'clock in the evening, during the winter, it said, 'Leave, go away, so that we may close the door'; and immediately it does so they rise and go. The other was that at mid-day the clock said, 'Yo eiouahaoua', that is 'Let us put up the cauldron', and this speech they remembered even better. For among them there are spongers who never fail to come at that hour in order to share in our Sagamite. They eat at all hours when they have anything, but usually they partake of only two cauldrons a day, in the morning and in the evening, so that they are quite happy to share in ours during the day.

In regard to their amazement, I could set down here several examples connected with the lodestone, which they inspected to see whether it had gum on it; with a glass having eleven facets, which represent a single object as many times; with a little phial in which a flea appears as large as a beetle; with the prism; with the carpentry tools; but above all with writing. For they cannot understand how one of us in the village, having told them something and set it down at the same time in writing, another far away from the house could at once say

what it was on seeing the writing. I believe they have tried this
a hundred times. All this serves to gain their affection and to
make them more docile when it is a question of the admirable
and incomprehensible mysteries of our Faith. For their belief
in our intelligence and our ability leads them to believe with-
out question what they are told.

It now remains to say something about the country, the man-
ners and customs of the Hurons, their attitude to the Faith, and
our trifling labours.

As to the first, the little paper and leisure we have compel me
to describe to you in a few words what might make a goodly
volume. The country of the Hurons is not big, for its greatest
extent can be traversed in three or four days. Its situation is
fine, the greater part consisting of plains. It is surrounded and
intersected by a number of very beautiful lakes, or rather seas,
whence it comes that the one which lies to the North and the
North-north-west is called Mer Douce, Fresh-water Sea. We
come by it on the way from the Bissirinians. The soil of this
country is all sandy, though not equally so. Nevertheless it pro-
duces a quantity of very good Indian corn, and one may say
that it is the granary of most of the Algonquins. There are
twenty Townships, which means about thirty thousand souls,
speaking the same language, which, moreover, is fairly easy to
anyone who has a teacher. It has distinctions of genders, num-
ber, persons and moods, and is, in a word, very complete and
very regular, contrary to the belief of many.

I am rejoiced to learn that this language is common to some
dozen other Nations, all sedentary and numerous. These are
the Conkhandeenrhonons, Khionontaterrhonons, Atiouandar-
onks, Sonontoerrhonons, Onontaerrhonons, Ouioenrhonons,
Onoiochrhonons, Agnierrhonons, Andastoerrhonons, Scahen-
toarrhonons, Rhierrhonons, and Ahouenrochrhonons. The
Hurons are friendly with all these peoples except the Sonon-
toerrhonons, Onontaerrhonons, Ouioenrhonons, Onoioch-
rhonons and Agnierrhonons, all of whom we include under the
name of Hiroquois. They are even at peace now with the
Sonontoerrhonons, since these defeated them in the Spring of
last year. The envoys of the whole Country have gone to

Sonontoen to confirm this peace, and it is said that the Onontae-
rhonons, Ouioenrhonons, Ouiochrhonons, and Agnierrhonons
wish to join in it. But this is not yet settled; if it were, we
should have a splendid door open to the Gospel. They wanted
to take me to the above-mentioned Sonontoen, but I did not
think it wise to go into any other part until we have better
established here the foundations of the Gospel Law, and until
we have laid down a code by which the other Nations who
shall be converted may regulate themselves. Indeed, I would
prefer not to go to any place where we would not be at once
recognized as Preachers of Jesus Christ.

It is so plain and so obvious that there is a Divinity who has
made Heaven and earth that our Hurons cannot be entirely
ignorant of it. And although they have the minds of their eyes
much clouded by the darkness of a long ignorance, by their
vices and sins, yet they see something with them. But they
gravely deceive themselves, and, having knowledge of God,
they do not render him either the honour, the love or the ser-
vice that is proper: for they have neither Temples, nor Priests,
nor Festivals, nor any ceremonies.

They say that a certain woman named Eataentsic is she who
made earth and men. They provide her with an assistant, one
called Jouskeha, whom they declare to be her grandson, and
with whom she governs the world. This Jouskeha has the care
of the living and of all things concerned with life, and conse-
quently they say that he is good. Eataentsic has the care of
souls, and because they believe that she makes men die they call
her evil. And there are among them mysteries so hidden that
only the old men can speak of them credibly and with author-
ity and are believed. That is why a certain young man, having
talked to me about these matters, said boastfully, 'Am I not
very learned?' Some tell me that the house of these two Divin-
ities is at the end of the world towards the East. Now with
them the world does not extend beyond their Country, that is,
America. Others locate them in the centre.

This God and this Goddess live like themselves, but without
famine; make feasts like them; are as much lascivious as they
are; in short, they conceive them to be exactly like themselves.

And yet, although they make them human and corporeal, they nevertheless seem to attribute to them a certain immensity in all respects. They say that this Eataentsic fell from the Sky, where there are inhabitants as on earth, and that she was pregnant when she fell. Should you ask them who made the Sky and its inhabitants they have no answer, unless it is that they do not know. And when we preach to them of one God, Creator of Heaven and earth and of all things, and also when we speak to them of a Hell and a Heaven, and of the rest of our mysteries, the obstinate ones answer that those things are good for our Country, not for theirs, and that each Country has its own ways. Having shown them by means of a little globe we had brought with us, that there is only one world, they remained without reply.

In their marriage customs I find two things that please me very much. One is that they have only one wife, the other that they do not marry their relatives in a direct or collateral line, however far removed. For the rest, however, there is enough to censure, were it only the frequency with which the men change their wives and the women their husbands. They believe in the immortality of the soul, which they regard as corporeal. This point forms the greater part of their Religion. Beyond this there are nothing but superstitions, which we hope with the grace of God to change into true Religion, and, like spoils taken from the enemy, to consecrate them to the honour of our Lord and to profit by them for their own succour. Certainly, if they should one day be Christians and if they should then pay as much attention to their beliefs as they now do to their superstitions, we could not do better than to imitate them, for these people, even the most avaricious among them, begrudge nothing to their ideas. We have seen some of them stripped, or very nearly, of all their possessions, because several of their friends had died and they had presented gifts to their souls. Moreover, dogs, deer, fish, and other animals in their opinion have immortal and rational souls; in proof of which the old men relate certain fables which they pass off as the truth.

There is no mention of any punishment or reward in the place to which souls go after death; neither do they make any

distinction between the good and the evil, the virtuous and the
vicious, and they honour equally the burial of both—as we
have seen in the case of a young man who had poisoned him-
self owing to his anger because his wife had been taken from
him. They have an infinity of superstitions. Their feasts, their
medicines, their fishing, their hunting, their wars, in brief,
practically the whole of their lives turn on this pivot. Dreams
above all are greatly respected here.

The whole country, and I believe it is the same elsewhere, has
no lack of wicked men, who, from envy or for vengeance or
for some other motive, poison, bewitch and finally, sooner or
later, kill their victims. When such people are caught in the
act, they are executed on the spot, without any further form of
trial and there is no further trouble about it. Other murders are
avenged on the whole Nation of the murderer; nor do I know
of any other people who can be put to death with impunity. I
did indeed know a girl who was a thief, who was at once killed
without any inquiry, but it was by her own brother. If there
appears some traitor who is planning the ruin of the Country,
they try in common to get rid of him as quickly as possible;
but such occurences are very rare.

They say that the Sorcerers ruin them; for if anyone has suc-
ceeded in some enterprise, if he has done well in his trading or
hunting, these wicked men immediately bewitch him or some
other member of his household in order that he should spend it
all on Medicine-men and Medicines. Hence there is an infinity
of doctors, called Arendiouane, to cure these illnesses and
others. In my opinion these people are true Sorcerers, who have
access to the Devil. Some only interpret the illness, doing so in
various ways, such as Pyromancy, Hydromancy, Necromancy,
by feasts, by dances and by songs. Others seek to cure the ill-
ness by blowing, potions and other ridiculous monkeyings,
which have not the least natural virtue or efficacy. But neither
the one kind nor the other do anything without large gifts and
good payment.

There are to be found in this Country certain Diviners, also
called Arendiouane, whose business it is to cause the rain to fall
or to cease, and to predict future events. The Devil reveals a

few secrets to them, but with so many obscurities that it is not
easy to accuse them of lying. Witness one from the village of
Scanonaenrat, who, a little before the burning of the villages
mentioned above, had seen in a dream three flames falling from
the Sky on those villages. But the Devil had not explained to
them the meaning of this enigma; for, having obtained from
the village a white dog with which to make a feast and from
which to obtain information [by divination], he remained as
ignorant afterwards as he had been before.

Recently, while I was with Louis de Sainte-Foy, an old witch
or diviner of the village said that she had seen those who had
gone to the war, that they were coming back and were bring-
ing a prisoner. We shall see whether she is right. Her method
is by pyromancy; she draws for you in her hut the lake of the
Hiroquois, then on one side she makes as many fires as there are
men who have gone on the expedition and on the other side as
many fires as they have enemies to fight. Then, if her spell suc-
ceeds, she gives you to understand that the fires on this side have
crossed over, which means that the warriors have already cross-
ed the lake. A fire which puts out one of those on the other side
indicates a defeated enemy, and if one fire attracts another to
itself without putting it out it means a man who has been spar-
ed and taken prisoner. It is thus, to finish this discourse, which
would be too long if I tried to say everything, that the Devil
amuses this poor people, substituting his impieties and super-
stitions in place of the conformity they should have to the pro-
vidence of God and the worship they ought to render him.

So far as morals are concerned, the Hurons are lascivious, al-
though in two leading matters less so than many Christians,
who will one day be put to the blush by them. You will see no
kissing here, nor improper caresses; and in marriage a man will
here remain two or three whole years without knowing his
wife, while she is giving suck. They are gluttons even to the
point of vomiting, though it is true that this is not often but
only in some superstitious feasts, which, moreover, they do not
take part in willingly. And for the rest they endure hunger
much better than we do, so much so that after fasting two or
three whole days you will see them still paddling, carrying,

singing, laughing, teasing, as though they had dined well. They
are very lazy, liars, pilferers, importunate spongers; some con-
sider them vindictive, but, for my part, I believe that this vice
is more common elsewhere than here. Some fine enough mor-
al virtues shine out among them. One observes, in the first
place, a great love and companionship, which they are careful
to develop by means of their marriages, their gifts, their feasts,
and their frequent visits. On returning from fishing, hunting,
and trading, they give much to each other. If they have pro-
cured some fine thing, or even if they have bought it or if it has
been given to them, they feast the whole village.

Hospitality towards every kind of stranger is remarkable here.
They give to them in their feasts the best of what they have pre-
pared, and, as I have already said, I do not know whether any-
thing to equal this can be met elsewhere. I fancy I have read in
the lives of the Fathers that a Pagan army was converted be-
cause of the charity and hospitality of a Christian town, the in-
habitants of which vied with each other in being kind to the
Strangers and in feasting them; on which the Pagans rightly
supposed that those who had such benign hearts and who did
so much good to all sorts of persons, without distinction, must
profess the true Religion and adore the true God, common
Father of all. We therefore hope that our Lord will in the end
give the light of his knowledge and will communicate the ar-
dour of his graces to this Nation, which he seems to have pre-
pared by the practice of this noble virtue. They never close the
door to a Stranger, and having once received him into their
houses, they share with him the best of what they have, they
never send him away, and, when he leaves of his own accord,
he acquits his debt with a simple 'thank you'. This makes me
hope that if it once pleases God to enlighten them, they will
respond perfectly to the graces and the inspiration of his Son.
And, since he came as a Stranger into his own house, I tell my-
self that these good people will receive him at every hour into
their hearts, without making him wait at the door by too much
obstinacy, without withholding from him anything in the whole
range of their affections, without betraying him or driving him
away by any serious fault, and without asking for anything in

his service other than his honour and his glory—which is all the
faithfulness one can wish for in a soul, for the good and holy
employment of the favours of Heaven.

What shall I say of their strange patience in poverty, famine
and sickness? We have this year seen entire villages laid low,
their food a little insipid sagamite; and yet not a word of com-
plaint, not a gesture of impatience. They certainly hear of
death with much more self-command than those Christian
Gentlemen and Ladies to whom one might dare to mention the
word. Our Savages hear it not only without despair, but with-
out concern, without the slightest pallor or flinching. We have
above all admired the self-command of our new Christians.
The last but one who died, named Joseph Oatii, lay on the hard
ground for four or five months, both before and after his Bap-
tism, so emaciated that he was nothing but bones, in so wretch-
ed a hut that the winds whistled through it on all sides, covered
during the colds of winter with a very light skin of some black
animal or squirrel, and very poorly nourished. Yet he was
never heard to make the least complaint. Our Lord Jesus Christ
be forever praised.

It is on these dispositions and foundations that we hope, with
the grace of God, to build the edifice of the Christian Religion
among this people, which, for the rest, is already very affection-
ate towards us and has a high opinion of us. It is now for us to
live up to our vocation and to the voice of Our Lord, who
says to us, 'Videte regiones, quoniam albae sunt iam ad mes-
sem'. It is true, my Reverend Father, that messis multa, oper-
arii pauci, and, besides, we think ourselves very weak for so
great an enterprise—at least I am—and therefore I beseech our
Reverend Father Provincial and Your Reverence to send us
help. For this I would willingly cry to the good God, mitte
quem missurus es; for we are only children who do naught but
stammer.

Yet, trusting in the goodness of Our Lord and not in our own
strength and labours, here is what we have done for the con-
version of this People since our arrival. First of all we occupied
ourselves with the study of the language, which, because of the
diversity of its compound words, is almost infinite. Nevertheless

one can do nothing without such study. All the Frenchmen who are here have ardently applied themselves to it, reviving the ancient practice of writing on birchbark, for lack of paper. Fathers Davost and Daniel have worked on it more than any. They know as many words as I, and perhaps more. But they are not yet ready in forming and assembling them quickly, although Father Daniel already expresses himself quite well. As for me, who give lessons in it to our Frenchmen, unless God helps me extraordinarily I shall still have to go to school with the Savages for a long time to come, such is the fecundity of their language. That does not prevent me from understanding practically all that they say and from making them understand sufficiently my meaning, even in the explanation of our most ineffable mysteries.

After that we occupied ourselves in visiting, entreating, and instructing the sick, who, as I have said, were very numerous. It has been in this pious exercise that we have won souls for Our Lord, to the number of thirteen. The first was a little girl of this village, only four or five months old. She died a quarter of an hour after her baptism, in which she was named Josephe, to fulfil a vow I had made to give this name to the first whom we should regenerate with the holy waters, in gratitude for so many favours that we have received and are receiving by the interposition of this great Saint. It was the sixth of September, 1634. The second was another little girl, about two years old, whom we baptized the following day; she died on the eleventh of the same month and year, having been named Marie.

On the twenty-sixth of the same month I baptized Marie Oquiaendis, mother of the Chief of this village and grandmother of the other Marie. This one still lives, and attributes her recovery to the virtue of the Holy Baptism, announcing this everywhere. In fact, she was almost in the last extremity, and as soon as she was washed in the sacred waters she began to feel better.

On the twentieth of October I left to go to the Petun Nation. During this journey God granted me the favour of baptizing and sending into Heaven three little children, one of whom, among others, was about to give forth his last breath when I arrived at its hut, where I scarcely had the time to sprinkle it.

On my return from the voyage I found that Father Daniel had
baptized Joseph Joutaya, who was thought to be on the point of
death. I had instructed him previously. He survived a long
time, in a languishing condition, performing many acts of vir-
tue. We helped him physically and spiritually, so much that he
and all his family attributed the prolongation of his life to
nothing else than the double help he had received from us. At
last, having died happily, confessing and invoking the true God
and repenting his sins, we solemnly buried him as he had de-
sired. We admired the care, the charity and the perseverance
of his wife in the duties and services she rendered him during
a very long, very dirty and most stinking illness. She and all
those of her house (in which we have already baptized three)
have remained most affectionately disposed towards us, and they
have several times declared to me that they would all be at our
service in life, in death, and beyond. But we do not yet con-
sider them sufficiently instructed. It is in this house that lives
the first Huron I ever baptized, which was in the year one thou-
sand six hundred and twenty-nine, before our departure from
this Country. It was a little child, given up for dead, who seem-
ed to be doubly reborn and revived in the life-giving waters of
the Holy Baptism. He still lives, aged about five, and is a most
pleasing boy.

On the twenty-first of October was baptized Joseph Sondaar-
ouhane, about forty or fifty years of age. He had great good-
ness and natural sweetness, and had been attached to me for a
long time. He gave up his blessed spirit to God on the twenti-
eth of November. On the same day was baptized Joachim
Tsindacaiendoua, an old man of eighty. He was one of the best
disposed Hurons I have known. The following day he left this
life to begin a better one, as we believe. We solemnly buried
him in a separate place. This ceremony drew upon us the eyes
of the whole village and caused several to wish that we should
honour their sepulture in the same way. Notable among these
was the Joseph Joutaia mentioned above, who told me after
the obsequies were over that he would have been very glad if
we had passed through his hut dressed as we then were, so that
he could have seen us from the place to which his illness tied

him. They had made so much of it that he declared of his own
will his wish to be interred by our hands, which was done.

Since I have returned to the case of this man, I will tell a mem-
orable thing that happened to him after his Baptism. The Devil
appeared to him one day in the form of a dead brother of his.
Coming into his hut, he did not greet him and, seating himself
on the other side of the fire, opposite our new Christian, he re-
mained for a long time without speaking. At last opening his lips,
he said, 'Hownow, my brother, you wish to leave us?' Our Joseph,
who was not yet sufficiently hardened in this warfare, answered
'No, my brother, I do not want to leave you, I will not leave
you', and it is said that this false brother then began to caress
him. Nevertheless Joseph has since declared several times that
he desired to go to Heaven.

On the seventeenth of November Martin Tsicok, already a
very aged old man and of a very gentle disposition, was bap-
tized. This good man ceased not to invoke Jesus and Mary from
his baptism until the fifteenth of December, when he died. I
began to instruct him with this truth, that after death our souls
all go to Hell or to Paradise, that Paradise is a place full of de-
lights and happiness, and that Hell, on the contrary, is a place of
fires, of punishments and of eternal torments. And I added
that, for the rest, he should reflect, while he was still in this life,
to which of these two places he wished to go and to remain for-
ever. Then this good old man, turning to his wife, said, 'My
wife, would it not be much better to go to Heaven? I am afraid
of those fearful fires of hell.' His wife was of the same opinion,
and thus he willingly gave ear to our teachings.

On the nineteenth of January I set out for the house of Louis
de Sainte-Foy, seven or eight leagues distant from our village.
I had not been able or willing to go sooner, as he had gone to
the neutral Nation to seek out his father, who had remained
there crippled.

During this journey, passing by Onnentissati, I went to see a
man named Oukhahitoua, who had embarked one of our men
the previous year. Finding him dying I instructed him, he be-
lieved, hated his past life, was baptized under the name of Fran-
çois, and two days later left this world to fly to Heaven.

On the twenty-ninth of March we solemnly baptized Joseph Oatii in our little Chapel; François Petit-Pré acted as his god-father and many were present. We had been instructing him for a long time; this is why he answered personally the questions I put to him in the Huron language. This good young man was of a very weak constitution; we had won him by constant help, which had twice enabled him to recover; so that he very willingly placed in our hands the care of his soul, which went happily to God on the fourteenth of April, after having been fortified by the Sacrament of extreme Unction. We ad-mired above all his patience and his tranquillity of mind, espe-cially after his baptism. We had scarcely begun to instruct him when he started to say very often both by day and by night, 'Jesus have pity on me: Mary and Joseph help me!'

Lastly, on the twentieth of April, I baptized at Oenrio a very old woman. She died on the twenty-fourth. When I first introduced the subject to her and asked her whether she wanted to go to Heaven or Hell, she only answered that she would go where her son wished. But having told her that her father, the late Joachim Tsindacaiendoua, had gone to Heaven, she said, 'Then I want to go there too'.

These are the fruits that we have gathered during our visits and private instructions. I believe that the harvest would have been greater if I had been able to leave our village and to go round the others. May it please our Lord to accept these small first fruits and to give us the strength and the means to do better. We have instructed many others, who asked very pressingly for Baptism. But not seeing them in any danger of death we have held them back for more extended teaching.

About the month of December the snow began to lie on the ground and the Savages took up their sedentary life in the village. For during the whole Summer and Autumn they are for the most part either in field huts, taking care of their crops, or on the lake fishing, or trading; which is no slight inconvenience in instructing them. So, seeing them reunited in this way at the beginning of this year, we resolved to preach publicly to all and to make known to them the reason for our coming into their Country, which is not for their furs, but to proclaim to

them the true God and his son Jesus Christ, the universal Sav-
iour of our souls.

We give this Instruction or Catechism in our house, for we
have not as yet any other adequate Church. We do it as often
as we can, for their feasts, their dances and their games so much
occupy them that we cannot gather them together as we would
like.

The method that we usually follow is this. We call together
the people by the intermediary of the Chief of the village, who
assembles them all in our house as in council, or perhaps by
sounding a bell. I use the surplice and the square cap to make
a more majestic impression. At the beginning we sing on our
knees the Pater noster, translated into Huron verse. First
Father Daniel, as its author, sings a couplet alone, and then all
of us together sing it again; and those among the Hurons,
chiefly little children, who already know it, take pleasure in
singing with us, and the others in listening. This done, when
each one is seated, I rise and cause them all to make the sign of
the Cross; then, having recapitulated what I told them last
time, I explain something new. After that we question the
young children and the girls, giving a little glass or porcelain
bead to those who have deserved it. The parents are very glad
to see their children answer well and carry off some small prize,
of which they make themselves worthy by the care they take
to come for private instruction. On our part, to rouse their
emulation, we have each lesson repeated by our two little
French boys, who question each other, a thing which transports
the Savages with admiration. The whole is finally concluded
with speeches by the Old Men, who propound their difficulties
and sometimes make me listen in my turn to an exposition of
their belief.

We began our Catechisms with this memorable truth, that
souls, which are immortal, all go after death to Paradise or to
Hell. And it is thus that we approach them, whether in public
or in private. I added that they had the choice during life to
participate after death in one or the other, and that they ought
now to consider which it was to be. Whereupon, one good old
man having said, 'Let him who will go to the fires of hell, for

D

my part I want to go to Heaven', all the others followed him,
and, making the same reply, begged us to show them the way
to it and to take away the stones, the trees and the thickets there-
in which might stop them.

As you see, our Hurons are not so dense as one might think;
they seem to me to have fairly sound common-sense and I ad-
mit that I invariably find them very docile. Nevertheless there
are obstinate ones, attached to their superstitions and evil cus-
toms. These are principally the old men, for apart from these,
who are not very numerous, all the rest know nothing of their
own belief. We have two or three of this number in our village.
I am often in conflict with them, when I overcome them and
make them contradict themselves, so that they ingenuously ad-
mit their ignorance and the others mock them. Nevertheless
they will not yield, always falling back on the argument that
their Country is not like ours, that they have another god, an-
other Paradise, in a word, other customs.

They tell us how that woman named Eataentsic fell from
Heaven into the waters which covered the earth, and that little
by little the earth became uncovered. I asked them who creat-
ed the Heaven where this woman was unable to remain, and
they are dumb; as also when I press them to tell me who made
the earth, seeing that it was beneath the waters before the fall of
this woman. A certain man asked me, in this connection, cun-
ningly enough, where God was before the creation of the world.
The answer was more easy for me, following St Augustine,
than it was for them to grasp the question they were putting to
me. Another good old man, having fallen ill, did not want to
hear of going to Heaven, saying that he wanted to go where
his ancestors were. Some days later he gave in and told me an
amusing story. 'Rejoice,' said he, 'for I have come back from
the land of souls and found none there; they have all gone to
Heaven.' There is nothing which does not serve for salvation,
even to dreams, when it pleases God.

Two things among others have greatly helped us in the little
good we have already been able to do here by the grace of Our
Lord. The first, as I have already said, is the health which God
has preserved for us in the midst of so great and so universal a

contagion; for our Hurons have thought that if they believed
in God and served him as we do, they would not die in such
large numbers.

The second is the temporal help that has been given to the sick. Having brought some small delicacies for ourselves, we gave some to them, to one a few prunes, to another a few raisins, to others something else. The poor people came from far to have their share of these things.

Our Frenchmen having fairly well succeeded in their hunting
during the autumn, we took portions of the game to all the
sick. That won their hearts, chiefly as the dying people had
neither flesh nor fish to season their sagamite. Add that all our
Frenchmen have borne themselves, thank God, so virtuously and
so peacefully, both indoors and out of doors, during this whole
year, that they have drawn down the blessing of Heaven. We
also owe much to our glorious saint Joseph, spouse of our Lady
and protector of the Hurons, whose help we have several times
clearly perceived. It was a remarkable thing that during his feast,
and during the Octave, good things came to us from all sides.

Before coming to an end, I shall say only this one word about
Louis de Sainte-Foy, which I should prefer to pass over in sil-
ence were it not that it may serve to make this Nation better
understood. It is that he is not what he should be and what we
would have wished; nevertheless we still have good hopes for
him. He was captured last year by the Hiroquois in the general
defeat, and was carried away a prisoner. This cost him a finger:
a lash of the whip which should be a powerful inducement to
bring him back to his duty. His Father was not taken; he es-
caped by flight, but in fleeing he suffered in good earnest in the
woods, where he remained, or so he says, for a month, attacked
by three powerful enemies, that is, cold, for it was Spring and
he was naked and fireless; illness, for he was practically crippled
in both legs, from which he has not yet recovered; and finally
hunger. In reference to this last he tells a remarkable story, if it
is true. He says that, having gone for ten or twelve days with-
out eating, he prayed to God, of whom he had heard his son
speak, and saw what appeared to be a pot of fat such as he had
seen at Kebec, filled with a very savoury liquid, and heard a

voice that said to him, 'Saranhes, be of good cheer, thou wilt not die; take, drink what is in this pot to fortify thyself', which he did and was marvellously solaced by it. A little later he found in a bush a small packet of corn with which he was just able to sustain his life until some Savages of the neutral Nation, who accidentally found him, carried him off to their village.

This man has testified to me that he and his whole family wish to be converted and to co-operate in causing the entire village to serve God as we do. But he, like his son, has a crafty spirit, and I do not yet trust him. Our hope is in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for the salvation of the Hurons as much as for the rest of the world.

It is with this support, and not by means of our labours, that we hope to see here one day a flourishing Christianity. The minds of those here are certainly docile and adaptable. The only things I can see that would be difficult to abolish are the freedom of the women, whom they change at will, and some superstitions. For the rest they have no aversion to the Faith nor to the Christian Law; they turn willingly to God when in need; come to have their crops blessed before sowing them; and ask what it is that we desire of them. We have nothing to fear but our sins and imperfections, and I above all. In truth I feel myself extremely unworthy of this work; but send us saintly men or intercede with God our Lord that we may be such as he desires. A thousand entreaties for the holy sacrifices of your Reverence and of all our Fathers and Brothers.

Your Reverence's

From our little House of St Joseph, in the village of Ihonatiria of the Hurons, this twenty-seventh of May, 1635, the day on which the Holy Spirit descended visibly upon the Apostles,

Very humble and very obedient servant in our Lord,

Jean de Brébeuf.

My Reverend Father,

Since the above was written we have baptized a sick child, great-grand nephew of the late Joachim Tsindacaiendoua, and this the more boldly as this family seems to be very well disposed to the Faith. Our Lord has restored his health, to the

astonishment of his parents, who remarked that immediately
after the baptism he rested very peacefully. This will serve to
overthrow an evil opinion which the devil goes about sowing
in some minds, whom he persuades that nobody recovers after
baptism. This is one of the ruses of the devil against us; he has
many others that he has already attempted in part; but Our
Lord will confound him; it is in him that we put our trust.

Your Reverence will perhaps be glad to hear that the Winter
here has been very short and very moderate. The Country is
such that it bears enough for the food of the inhabitants. All
this Spring has been extremely fine and dry; the crops have
begun to suffer for lack of rain. I pray our Lord that it may
please him to remedy this and to give us what will be necessary
for his glory, for the happy beginnings of this Christianity, and
for the blessing of the trifling labours that our Society is under-
taking in these distant lands, under the protection of the Fleurs
de Lys and of our Great King, who is causing them to bloom so
gloriously to-day.

53

II

RELATION OF WHAT OCCURRED IN THE COUNTRY OF THE HURONS IN THE YEAR 1636

Sent to Kebec to the Reverend Father Paul le Jeune, Superior of the Mission in New France of the Society of JESUS

My Reverend Father,

Having learned, as much from your letters as from the remarks of the Fathers who happily arrived here last year, how much old France is burning with the most ardent wishes for the New; that our Reverend Father General cherishes this Mission as the apple of his eye; that the Father Provincial is inclined to it with his whole heart; that the ardour in our Colleges is so great that it is more difficult to check the tears of those who are turned away and who are refused permission to come to our help, than to find workers; that an infinity of Religious and secular persons is continually offering its prayers and its vows to God for the conversion of the poor Barbarians of this whole country; and that in the House of Montmartre, to speak of no others, a Nun is continuously prostrated both day and night before the Blessed Sacrament, praying for this result—all this makes us believe and hope that God now wishes to open the treasures of his graces and favours to these poor Peoples and to unseal the eyes of their souls that they may know the truth. For he would not incite so many devout persons to ask if he had not the desire to hearken unto them. Added to which we know that the settlement of Kebec is rapidly multiplying by the care of Messieurs the Associates of the Company of New France, who spare no pains; and we hope that the good example of our Frenchmen will greatly help, as much in gathering together the wandering and lazy Savages and in encouraging them to work, as in causing them to wish to do for God what they find themselves capable of doing.

Moreover, I can say with truth that if the divine Goodness continues to scatter its favours and blessings on our Hurons and on us who labour among them as freely as it has done since our arrival, we ought undoubtedly to expect here one day an

abundant harvest of souls. It is not that these Peoples are lacking
in many errors, superstitions, vices, and very evil customs that
have to be uprooted, more than we had supposed at first, as
will be seen during the course of this Relation. But with God
nothing is impossible; it is with his help that we have already
planted the Cross in the midst of this Barbarism, and that we
are beginning and will continue, if it please him, to utter forth
the name and the marvellous work of him who by the Cross
has redeemed the world.

But enough of generalities; it is time to go into details, which
I will do willingly and fully, assuring you that I will record
nothing that I have not seen myself or have learned from pre-
sons worthy of belief.

55

FIRST PART

CHAPTER I

OF THE CONVERSION, BAPTISM AND HAPPY
DEATH OF SOME HURONS, AND OF THE STATE
OF CHRISTIANITY IN THIS BARBARISM

DURING this year eighty-six have been baptized, making, added to the fourteen of last year, a total of a hundred who have, we believe, left the service of the devil in this country since our return. Of this number God has called ten to Heaven, six at an early age and four older ones. One of these, named François Sangwati, was Chief of our village. He was by nature good and consented very willingly to be instructed and to receive Holy Baptism, a course which he had previously praised and approved in others.

I admired the tender Providence of God in the conversion of a woman, who is one of the four who died. I baptized her this Autumn in the village of Scanonaenrat, on my way back from the house of Louis de Sainte-Foi, where we had gone to instruct his parents. The deafness of this sick woman and the profundities of the mysteries which I expounded to her, prevented her from understanding me sufficiently; besides which the accent of this Nation, which is a little different from that of the Bears among whom we live, and also my inadequate knowledge of the language, increased the difficulty and made me less intelligible. But Our Lord, who wanted to save this soul, immediately provided us with a young man who served us as interpreter. He had been with us in the Hut of Louis and had heard us talking about our mysteries, so that he already knew a good part of them and understood very well what I said to him. It is said that this woman, who was named Marie, in the midst of her greatest weakness foretold that she would not die for a week; and so it happened.

They seek Baptism for scarcely any other reason than health. We try to purify this intention and to dispose them to receive from the hand of God illness and health, death and life alike; and we teach them that the life-giving waters of Holy Baptism

chiefly impart the life of the soul and not that of the body. Nevertheless they hold this opinion so strongly, I mean that the baptized, and particularly children, are no longer sickly, that they will soon have spread and announced it everywhere. As a result they bring us many children to baptize from a distance of two, three, and even seven leagues.

Moreover the divine Goodness, which acts in us according to the measure of our Faith, has so far preserved these little children in good health; so that the death of those who died has been attributed to incurable and hopeless illnesses from which they were suffering beforehand; and if another has occasionally been attacked by some small sickness, the parents, though themselves still infidels, have attributed it to the negligence and indifference they have shown in the service of God.

In our village there is a little Christian girl named Louise, who began to walk alone at six months; her parents assert that they have never seen anything like it and attribute it to the efficacy of Holy Baptism. Another told us one day, with much joy, that his little boy, who was nearly always ill and much emaciated before Baptism, had ever since felt perfectly well. This will suffice to show how Our Lord goes about impressing on them a high opinion of this divine Sacrament, which is strengthened by the perfect health God gives us and which he has always given to all the Frenchmen who have been in this country; 'for', say they, 'it is marvellous that, apart from a single man who died a natural death here, all the others, during the twenty-five years or thereabouts they have been here, have scarcely ever been ill'.

From all this can easily be gathered the present state of budding Christianity in this country, and the hope for the future. Two or three more things will help this forward. The first is the method we follow in the instruction of the Savages. We assemble the men as often as we can, for their councils, their feasts, their games, and their dances do not make it possible for us to have them here at any hour, nor every day. We pay special attention to the Old Men, the more so as it is they who determine and decide their affairs, and everything is done in accordance with their advice. All come willingly to listen to us; all, without exception, say that they wish to go to Heaven

and that they fear the burning fires of hell. They have scarcely
anything with which to answer us; we could sometimes wish
that they would bring forward more doubts, which would al-
ways give us more opportunities for expounding to them in de-
tail our holy Mysteries. In truth, the Commandments of God
are very just and very reasonable, and they must be less than men
who find anything to censure in them. For our Hurons, who
as yet have nothing but the light of nature, have found them so
beautiful and so agreeable to reason, that after having heard
them explained they say admiringly, ‘*Ca chia attwain aa arrih-
waa*’, ‘These are certainly important matters and worthy of be-
ing brought forward in our councils; they speak the truth; they
say nothing but what is to the purpose; we have never heard
such discourses’.

Among other things which have made them confess the truth
of one God, Creator, Ruler and Preserver of all things, was the
example I gave them of the child conceived in its mother's
womb.

‘For who is it’, said I, ‘but God who organizes the body of this
child, who forms out of the same matter the heart, the liver,
the lungs, in short an infinite variety of parts, all so necessary
and all so well proportioned and joined one to another? It is
not the father, for these wonders are performed in his absence
and sometimes after his death. Neither is it the mother, for she
does not know what is taking place in her womb. If it is the
father or the mother who forms this body at will, why do they
not beget a son or a daughter as they wish? Why do they not
produce beautiful, tall, strong and clever children? And if par-
ents give souls to their children why do they not give to them
all great minds, a good memory, and all sorts of fine and praise-
worthy qualities, seeing that there is nobody who would not
wish to have such children if it were in his power?’

To all this the bewildered Hurons, not knowing what to re-
ply, confess that we speak the truth and that there is indeed a
God; that in future they wish to recognize, serve and honour
him, and wish to be promptly instructed, so much so that they
ask to be Catechized every day; but, as I have already said, their
occupations and amusements do not allow of that.

Moreover, the harmony of all the parts of the Christian Doc-
trine pleases them wonderfully; 'for', say they, 'you do not
contradict yourselves and you always speak consistently with
what you have said before; you do not wander from the point;
you never say anything beside the point; while we speak heed-
lessly, without knowing what we say'. It is in the nature of
falsehood to entangle itself in endless contradictions.

The bad thing is that they are so attached to their old customs
that, knowing the beauty of truth, they content themselves
with approving it, without embracing it. Their usual reply is,
'Oniondechwten', 'Such is the custom of our country'. We
have struggled against this excuse and have removed it from
their mouths, but not yet from their hearts; our Lord will do
that when it pleases him.

It is thus that we deal with the Old Men. So far as the women
and children are concerned, as these troubled us much, we hit
upon this plan which succeeds fairly well. Father Antoine
Daniel and the other Father go every day through the Houses,
teaching the children, whether baptized or not, Christian doc-
trine, that is, the sign of the Cross, the Pater, the Ave, the Credo,
the Commandments of God, the Prayer to the Guardian Angel,
and other short prayers, the whole in their language, as these
people have a natural inaptitude for learning another.

On Sundays we twice assemble all these young people in our
House, which serves as our Chapel. In the morning we make
them attend Mass up to the offertory, before which we solemn-
ly bless them with Holy Water; then I make them say all to-
gether, after me, the Pater, the Ave, and other prayers which
they know. In the afternoon I put to them some little questions
from the Catechism, and make them render an account of what
they have learned during the week, giving to each some little
prize according to his merit.

This method, along with the little rewards, has incredible re-
sults; for, in the first place, it has kindled among all the children
so great a wish to learn that there is not a single one who, if he
can so much as stammer a few words, does not want to be in-
structed; and as they are nearly all fairly intelligent they make
considerable progress, for they even teach one another.

I could not express the happiness and consolation these little
children give us, when we see their Fathers still plunged in their
superstitions although they sufficiently recognize the truth. We
sometimes fear that God, annoyed by their sins, has rejected
them for some time yet. As for the children, without doubt he
holds out his arms to them and draws them to him. The eager-
ness they show to learn what belongs to the duty of a Christian
keeps us from doubting it. The smallest ones come to throw
themselves in our arms when we pass by the Houses, and re-
quire no beseeching to talk and to learn. Father Daniel dis-
covered an expedient for quieting a little child when he finds it
crying in its mother's arms; it is to cause it to make the sign of
the Cross. And, in fact, one day when I had just been teaching
them the Catechism in our House, this child made us laugh. Its
mother was carrying it in her arms and was about to leave, but
as soon as she was on the threshold the child started to weep, so
that she was compelled to come in again. She asked it what was
the matter. 'Let me begin again,' said the child, 'let me begin
again, I want to say it again.' I therefore once more caused it to
make the sign of the Cross and it immediately began to laugh
and to jump for joy. Another time I saw the same child weep-
ing bitterly because it had bruised its finger; but it quieted down
and laughed as soon as it was told to make the sign of the Cross.

I dwell willingly on this subject, never doubting that all good
souls take pleasure in hearing such details. In the beginnings of
this infant Church, what can we relate if not the stammerings
of our spiritual children? We have one little girl, among others,
named Marie Aoesiwa, who has not her like. You would think
that her whole happiness lay in making the sign of the Cross
and in saying her Pater and Ave. Scarcely have we set foot in
her Hut, than she leaves everything to pray to God. When we
assemble the children for prayers or for the Catechism, she is
always among the first and hastens to it more cheerfully than
many would to play. She does not budge from our sides, and
never tires of making the sign of the Cross and of repeating the
Pater and Ave fifty times a day. She makes the others do it;
and, one of our Frenchmen having newly arrived, her only
greeting was to take his hand and have him make the sign of

the Cross. She is often in the fields when our Fathers recite their Office there; she stands in the road, and almost every time they look round she begins to make the sign of the Cross and to pray to God in a loud voice.

Another little girl, named Catherine, had often made difficulties about being instructed and so had not been rewarded like the others. A few days later one of her companions brought her to one of us, giving him to understand that she was quite disposed to say her lessons; but when it came to the point she acted as usual. Then the little girl who had brought her became angry and used all her little natural rhetoric to open her lips and to make her speak, now using threats, now holding out the hope of some reward from me if she spoke well; she did so well that she finally succeeded, to the great satisfaction of those of us who were listening to her.

Another benefit that results from this practice, which is in conformity with our Institutions, is that even the grown-up people become instructed in this way. For the desire of the fathers and mothers that their children should be praised and rewarded with some prize leads them to teach themselves so that they may instruct their children. Many older girls, particularly, take pleasure in imitating the little ones. When they are returning from the woods, they often stop the first of our Fathers whom they meet, and say to him, 'Ta arrihwaienstan sen', 'Teach me, I pray thee'; and although they are well laden they are not satisfied unless he makes them say the Pater and the Ave. Sometimes they even anticipate us and, from as far as they can perceive any one of us, they begin to recite what they know. What a consolation to hear this countryside resound to the name of JESUS, where the devil has been, as it were, adored and taken for God for so many centuries.

This same practice enables us to benefit a great deal in the use and knowledge of the language, no small fruit. Generally speaking they praise and approve the Christian Religion and abuse their evil customs; and when will they give them up all together? Some say to us, 'Do you think you are going to succeed in overturning the Country?', as they term the change from their Pagan and Barbarous life to one that is civilized and

Christian. We reply that we are not so presumptuous, but that what is impossible to man is not only possible but easy to God.

Here is another sign of their good-will towards the Faith. Monsieur de Champlain and Monsieur the General du Plessis Bochart put us very much in their debt last year by exhorting the Hurons in full council to embrace the Christian Religion, and by telling them that this was the only way not only of being some day truly happy in Heaven, but also of cementing in the future a very close friendship with the French, who, if this were done, would willingly come into their Country, marry their daughters, teach them various arts and crafts, and help them against their enemies; and that if they would like to bring some of their children the following year to be instructed at Kebec, our Fathers would take good care of them. And since the Chiefs were not there, they told them to hold a general council when they came back, concerning the above points. They also told them to deliver to me the letters with which they were pleased to honour me and in which these Gentlemen informed us of what had been said, in order that we should take part in the Huron Council and should be able to make use of what they had done.

In accordance with this, having been invited during the month of April last to an Assembly or Council, at which attended all the Old Men and Chiefs of the Bear Nation in order to deliberate on their great feast of the dead, I took advantage of the opportunity to tell them of the letter from these Gentlemen and to ask that they should carefully consider what reply they wished to make. I told them that every man, since he has an immortal soul, finally goes after this life to one or other of two places, that is, to Paradise or to Hell, and that forever; but that these places were vastly different, since Paradise was a place abounding in every kind of blessing and free from every sort of evil, while Hell was a place devoid of all good and filled with every kind of evil; that Hell was a fiery furnace in the midst of which the damned would be forever tormented and burned without being consumed; that it was now for them to consider to which of these two places they desired one day to go forever, and that they must decide this while they were still in life;

that the matter was already settled for all the dead for whom
they had made or were going to make feasts; that all who had
slighted God and broken his Commandments had followed the
path to Hell, where they were now tormented with sufferings
that could not be imagined; and that there was no remedy for
this; that we would teach the way to those who wanted to go
to Heaven; and inasmuch as all important matters are settled
here by means of gifts, and as the Porcelain which takes the
place of gold and silver in this Country is all-powerful, I pre-
sented in this Assembly a necklace of twelve hundred beads of
Porcelain, telling them that it was in order to smooth the diffi-
culties of the road to Paradise. These are the terms it is the cus-
tom for them to use when they make a gift in order to bring
some difficult undertaking to a successful conclusion.

Then, each expressing his opinion in turn, they said that they
dreaded these ardent fires of Hell and that they would prefer to
take the path to Heaven. There was one, nevertheless, who
said, whether seriously or, more probably, in jest, that it was
very fine and all should wish to go to Heaven and be blessed—
but so far as he was concerned he did not care if he should be
burned in Hell. I replied that God gave us all the choice of one
or the other, but that he did not know what Hell fire was, and
that I hoped he would change his mind when he understood it
better.

Such is the disposition of the Hurons, and particularly of the
Bear Nation, to receive Christianity; and the fact that we have
already baptized many children will greatly help this. 'For', say
they, 'we do not want to abandon our children; we want to go
to Heaven with them. Thou canst judge', say they, 'how much
we like thy discourses, since we listen to them willingly and
without contradiction, and that we allow our children to be
baptized.'

I must not forget to express in this connection the satisfaction
which Louis de Sainte-Foi gives us; he has certainly as much
edified and pleased us in his duties as a Christian, as he formerly
failed in them. In this month of September he had a wish to
return to our house at Kebec for the winter, in order to take up
again in peace the good teachings he had formerly received

from our Fathers in France and in order to resume perfectly the
practice of Christian virtue and piety. We strongly approved
this plan, especially as he could have taken with him some
young relative, who could have been instructed and baptized
there; but some difficulty having risen in the way of his resolu-
tion, he decided to pass a good part of the Winter with us,
which he did with much satisfaction and profit, as much to him-
self as to us, for he has resumed attendance upon the Sacraments
and the practice of prayer. At Christmas he made a very good
general Confession for the period since his Baptism. For the
rest, he acted as Interpreter in our Catechizing and instructing
of the Savages, and he translated several things for us into the
Huron language. We admired the facility with which he un-
derstood our language and grasped and explained the most
difficult mysteries. In short, he gives evidence that he is truly in
fear of God.

To conclude this chapter, we hope to send Fathers Antoine
Daniel and Ambroise Davot back to you with a band of good
little Hurons, in order to make a beginning with the Seminary,
from which we can justly expect great benefits for the conver-
sion of these Peoples. If there were any Nuns at Kebec, I be-
lieve that we could also send some little ones to them, for there
are many good little girls here who, if they were well brought
up, would not yield in any respect to our young girls in France.
It makes our hearts ache to see these little innocents so soon de-
file the purity of their bodies and the beauty of their souls for
lack of a good example and good instruction. I doubt not at
all that the divine Goodness will crown with great blessings
those in particular whom it inspires to contribute to the founda-
tion of these Seminaries and to the education of these young
shoots of our budding Church.

## CHAPTER II

### CONTAINING IN THE ORDER OF OCCURRENCE
THE OTHER REMARKABLE THINGS THAT
HAPPENED DURING THIS YEAR

THE FIRST thing to record is the drought of the past Summer,
which has been very general throughout this Country, so far as
I can learn, as much in letters from Kebec, as from various Sav-
ages returning from distant trading expeditions. Everything
was so dry and so arid that at the least spark of fire the forests
and the fields were at once in a blaze. Thus it happened that
several Savages, who were away and not on their guard, had
their Huts and stores burned, as did also two of our men. But
to speak only of the Huron Country, the drought here was very
great, for from Easter until the middle of June it did not rain at
all, or very little. Nothing grew and everything died, so that
we feared a serious famine, and with every reason. For the soil
of the Huron country and of the neighbouring places all around
being very sandy, if three days pass without it being watered
with rains from Heaven, everything begins to fade and to hang
its head. Filled with these apprehensions the whole Country
went in dread of famine, especially as three villages had been
burnt the previous Spring which, but for this accident, could
have served as granaries for the whole country in case of need.
All cried for help and, in their usual way, implored the aid of
the Sorcerers or Arendiowane, who have caused themselves to
be adored by promising that they will turn aside the misfor-
tunes with which Heaven threatens them. These deceivers
made play with all the expedients that dreams and their empty
pates could suggest to them to bring rain, but in vain, the
Heavens being as brass against their idiocies.

There was one of these Sorcerers, named Tehorenhaegnon,
more famous than the others, who promised marvels, provided
that the whole Country made him a present to the value of ten
hatchets, in addition to a multitude of feasts. But his efforts
were in vain: for all his dreaming, feasting and dancing, there
fell not a drop of water; so that he had to admit that he could
not succeed, and assured the people that the crops would not

E

65

ripen. Unfortunately for us, however, or rather fortunately, he
said that he was prevented from making rain by a Cross which
stands before our door, and that the house of the French was a
house of demons or of malefactors who had come into their
Country in order to make them die. On this some of them out-
did him by saying that perhaps we cherished resentment be-
cause of the death of Etienne Brulé and that we wanted to draw
down vengeance on the whole Country for the death of a single
person. Others added that the Algonquins had told them that
the French came here only to make them die, and that from
them had come the contagion of last year.

As a result of these statements we were told to take down the
Cross and that if the crops should not ripen they might do us to
death as they do the Sorcerers and other pernicious people here.
Some, to our great regret and sorrow, said that they would
throw down the Cross; and this even went so far that some
young people, having made another and having placed it on
the ridge of a house, began to use it as a target, shooting at it
with their bows and arrows—but our Lord did not permit them
to hit it even once. Others were the more wicked since they
were already better acquainted with the knowledge of one God,
Creator and Ruler of all things, in that they attacked his Good-
ness and Providence with horrible blasphemies.

We needed to have been of bronze not to be angered by this
insolence. What affected us most keenly was the wretchedness
of this poor People, their blindness, and above all by the offence
they were committing against God by forsaking him for sor-
cerers; for, as to death, I believe that all of us would have been
very glad to suffer it for the defence of the Cross. We therefore
gathered together in our House the men and women of our vil-
lage, in view, particularly of the fact that they alone had not re-
sorted to the sorcerers, but had continually asked us to make it
rain. They believe that nothing is impossible for us. I told them
that neither we nor any man could control the rain or the fine
weather; that he who made Heaven and earth was alone their
master and distributed them according to his inclination; that
it was to him that we should have recourse; that the Cross we
had planted did not at all hinder the rain, since it has several

times rained and thundered since we have put it up; but that
God was perhaps angry because they had spoken ill of him and
because they had resorted to evil Arendiowane, who either had
no power or indeed had possibly themselves caused the droughts
by the intercourse and pacts they had with the devil; that, for
the rest, all they did was only to get presents; and that if they
could do anything they should make rain. I told them that if
they wanted to obtain what they desired they should address
themselves to him who made everything and who alone is the
Author of all blessings, of whom we had so often spoken to
them, and that we would teach them how to pray to him.

This Nation is extremely docile and, when influenced by tem-
poral benefits, you can sway them as you please. They all re-
plied that they put no faith in their diviners and that these were
deceivers; that they wished for no other God than the one we
taught them; and that they would do what we told them. I
therefore told them that they should hate their sins and resolve
in earnest to serve the God whom we proclaimed to them; that
henceforth we would make a Procession every day to implore
his help; that all Christians acted thus; that they should be con-
stant and persevering, not losing courage if they were not im-
mediately heard. We added to this a vow of nine Masses in
honour of the glorious Spouse of our Lady, the Protector of the
Hurons. We also exposed the Holy Sacrament on the occasion
of his Feast, which took place at that time.

Now it happened, exactly as the novena was completed, which
was on the thirteenth of June, that we could not finish the Pro-
cession on account of the rain, which followed very abundantly
and lasted, at various intervals, the space of more than a month,
with great improvement and increase in the fruits of the earth.
And because, as I have said, this sandy soil requires rain almost
every other day, and another drought having occurred from
the middle to the end of July, we undertook another novena in
honour of our Blessed Father St Ignatius, through whose pray-
ers we had, from the day after this novena began and ever since,
such an abundance of rain that it caused the corn to form per-
fect ears and to reach maturity; so that there has been this year
as much corn as they have had for a long time.

67

Now these rains have produced two benefits: one, that they have increased the fruits of the earth, the other that they have stifled all evil opinions and desires conceived against God, against the Cross, and against us. For all the Savages of our acquaintance and especially of our village came expressly to see us in order to tell us that God was indeed good, that we also were good, and that in the future they wish to serve God, adding a thousand abuses of their Arendiowane or diviners. To God be forever the glory of all this; he permits the drought of the soil to bedew all hearts with his blessings.

In the year 1628, when the English defeated the fleet of the Company of New France, the loss of which was the damnation of many Canadians and the postponement of the conversion of some others, as will readily be believed, there happened to me in this country an incident almost the same as the preceding. Because of its similarity I think it well to relate it in this place. The drought was very great everywhere, but particularly in our village and its neighbourhood. I was truly astonished sometimes to see the air all laden with clouds elsewhere and to hear the thunders roar, while in our neighbourhood, on the contrary, the Sky was very clear, very serene and very hot. It even seemed that the clouds parted as they approached our country-side. That same tool of the devil whom I named before, Tehorenhaegnon, having been entreated to make rain, answered that he could not do it because the thunder, which they hold to be a bird, was afraid of the Cross that was in front of the Frenchmen's house, and that the red colour with which it was painted was like a burning and flaming fire, which divided the clouds in two when they were about to pass over us.

The Chiefs of the village, having heard these tales, sent for me, and said, 'My nephew, here is what so-and-so says; what is thy answer to that? We are lost, for the crops will not ripen. If at least we should die by the hands and the arms of our enemies, who are ready to fall on us, well and good; we would not at any rate be languishing; but if, having escaped from their fury, we are devastated by famine, it would be going from bad to worse. What dost thou think of it? Thou wouldst not wish to be the cause of our death? And then, this affects thee as much as

us. We are inclined to think that thou shouldst take down this Cross and hide it for a time, either in thy hut or in the lake, so that the thunder and the clouds no longer see it and are no longer afraid of it; and then after the harvest thou canst raise it again.'

To this I answered, 'As for me, I shall never take down or hide the Cross on which died He who is the cause of all our blessings. For yourselves, if you wish to take it down, consider well; I could not prevent you from doing it; but take care that in removing it you do not make God angry and increase your own wretchedness. Do you believe in this deceiver? He knows not what he says. It is more than a year since this Cross was planted, and you know how many times it has rained since then. It is ignorance to say that the thunder is afraid. It is not an animal, but a dry and burning exhalation, which, being shut in, runs hither and thither to get out. And then, what does the thunder fear? The red colour of this Cross? Then take away yourselves all these red figures and paintings that are on your houses.'

They did not know what answer to make to this. They looked at each other, and said, 'He speaks truth, we must beware of touching this Cross; and yet', added they, 'Tehorenhaegnon says so'. An idea came to me. 'Since', said I, 'Tehorenhaegnon says that the thunder fears this colour of the Cross, if you like we will paint it another colour, white or black or in some other way; and if it begins to rain immediately after you will know that Tehorenhaegnon has told the truth, and if not that he is an impostor.' 'This is excellent advice,' said they, 'thus shall it be done.'

The Cross was therefore painted white, but one, two, three and four days passed without any more rain than before; and meanwhile all those who saw the Cross became angry at the Sorcerer who had been the cause of its being thus disfigured.

On this I went to see the Old Men. 'Well, has it rained any more than before? Are you satisfied?' 'Yes,' said they, 'we see well that Tehorenhaegnon is nothing but a deceiver; but now do thou tell us what we should do and we will obey thee.'

Then our Lord inspired me to instruct them in the mystery of the Cross and to tell them of the honour that was everywhere rendered to it, and to say to them that it was my opinion that

they should all come in a body, men and women, to worship
the Cross in order to restore its honour; and, inasmuch as they
were concerned to make the crops grow, that they should each
bring a dish of corn to make an offering to our Lord; and that
what they gave should afterwards be distributed to the poor of
the village.

The hour was appointed for the following day; they did not
wait for it, but anticipated it. We surrounded the Cross, paint-
ed again in its original colour and on which I had placed a
Crucifix. We recited some prayers, and then I worshipped and
kissed the Cross to show them what they should do. They fol-
lowed me one after the other, apostrophizing our crucified
Lord in prayers suggested to them by natural Rhetoric and the
needs of the time. In truth, their fervent simplicity inspired me
with devotion. In short, they did so well that the same day God
gave them some rain and in the end a very successful harvest,
together with a very great admiration for the divine Power.

To conclude these two narratives, I want to record that these
peoples greatly admire and esteem those persons who have any
quality that raises them above the common level. Such people
they call oki, the same name as they give to demons. From this
it follows that if there were anyone here endowed with the gift
of miracles, as were those who first proclaimed the Gospel to
the world, he would, in my opinion, convert all these Barbar-
ians without difficulty. But God dispenses such favours when,
to whom, and how he pleases, and perhaps he wishes us to
await the harvest of souls with patience and perseverance. Be-
sides, it is certainly true that they are as yet inclined to do their
duty only by temporal considerations, in regard to which one
could well apply to them this reproach of the Gospel: *Amen,
amen, dico vobis, quaeritis me, non quia vidistis signa, sed quia man-
ducastis ex panibus, et saturati estis.*

We have had two alarms this year, which resulted, thank God,
in nothing worse than the original fear which had been aroused
by the apprehension of enemies. The first, for which there were
some grounds, occurred last summer and lasted the whole
month of June. It is one of the periods most apt for such
frights, since the Country is then denuded of the men, who are

away trading in one direction or another. The other was this
Winter and was found to be false. In both cases the alarm was
often enough given quite unexpectedly, as much by day as by
night. The women and children began to put together their be-
longings on the report of the criers; these are our spies here.
Flight is just tolerable in Summer, for one can escape to some
Island or hide in the darkness of some thick forest. But in Win-
ter, when the ice serves as a bridge to enable the Islands to be
searched, and when the fall of the leaves has brought light to
the forests, there is nowhere to hide. And in any case your
tracks are immediately found in the snow. Besides which it is
far too cold in Winter to sleep for long at the sign of the Moon.
There are some villages fairly well fortified, where one might
remain and await siege and assault. Those who can, withdraw
there. The others run away, which is the most usual thing; for
the small number of men, the lack of arms, the great number of
enemies, cause them to dread the weakness of their forts. Only
the old people who are not able to go away quietly await death
in their Huts.

It is so that matters usually stand. This Winter we were on
the point of fleeing; but where could we hide our few belong-
ings? For the Hurons are as fond of them as the Iroquois.
Nevertheless these frights have not been useless, for besides the
prayers and vows we made in order to turn aside the scourge,
the care each one took to prepare himself for death or slavery,
and the opportunity we took to instruct the Savages concern-
ing the help they should await from God, we were able to make
ourselves liked, approved and useful throughout the Country,
as well by giving them iron arrowheads as by offering to help
them in their forts as far as we could. In fact, we had four of
our Frenchmen, armed with good arquebuses, who were quite
ready to hasten to the first village which might be assaulted;
and I had resolved to accompany them to help them spiritually
and to seize any other opportunity that might present itself to
advance the glory of God. From this I leave you to imagine
whether we need help from on high; and may those who live
in quiet and safety obtain it for us by their prayers, for which
we humbly ask them.

71

The Hurons have remained very friendly to us on account of
the promptitude we showed in helping them. We have also
told them that henceforth they should make their forts square
and set down their stakes in straight lines, and that by means of
four little towers at the four corners, four Frenchmen could
easily with their Arquebuses or muskets defend and save a
whole village. They greatly appreciated this advice, and have
already started to apply it at La Rochelle, where they eagerly
wish to have some of our Fathers. God employs all means to
give entry to those who bear the Gospel.

The Summer is a very inconvenient season here for instructing
the Savages. Trading and the fields take all away, men, women
and children; scarcely anyone remains in the villages. This is
how we spent last Summer.

First we all went into retreat and made the spiritual exercises
in accordance with the custom of our Society. We have
the more need of them since our noble functions require a
closer union with God, and because we are obliged to live in a
continuous bustle. It is for this reason that we often acknow-
ledge the need for those who come here to bring with them a
good reserve of virtue, if they want to gather its fruits here.
After the retreat we made a rough memorandum of the words
we had learned since our arrival, and then we outlined a Dic-
tionary of the Huron language, which will be very useful. In
it will be seen the various meanings, and in it the grouping of
words will enable their differences to be easily recognized, for
these sometimes consist of only a single letter or even of an ac-
cent. Finally we occupied ourselves in revising, or rather in
arranging, a Grammar. I fear that we shall often have to make
similar revisions, for every day we discover new secrets in this
science, which for the present prevents us from sending any-
thing to be printed. We now know, thank God, enough to un-
derstand and to be understood, but not yet for publication. It
is indeed an exceedingly laborious task to try and understand
in all points a strange language, which is very copious and as
different from our European languages as Heaven is from the
earth, and that without teacher and without books. I say no
more about it as I shall devote a chapter to it further on. We all

work at it with fervour. It is one of our most common occupa-
tions, and there is not one of us who does not already talk a jar-
gon and make himself understood, the newly come Fathers as
well as the old. I hope that Father Mercier, in particular, will
soon be master of it.

On the ninth of August one of our men returned from Kebec,
two months and twelve days after he left here. God knows
with what satisfaction we listened to what he told us about the
state of all the French at Kebec and at the Three Rivers, whom
rumour had reported as being all dead of the contagion. We
were also very glad to hear of the happy arrival of five ships of
the Gentlemen of the Company, commanded by Monsieur the
General du Plessis Bochart, which we had been led to believe
had been lost in the ice. Our happiness was a little diminished
by the fear that some accident had befallen Captain Bontan;
but we have been relieved of this apprehension.

On the thirteenth of the month of August Father Mercier ar-
rived, and Father Pijart on the seventeenth. Father Mercier,
who had been in very good health since he left France, was
taken with a slight fever a day or two before his arrival among
the Hurons; but on the very day after his arrival he was free
from it except for a slight indisposition, which was followed by
perfect health. It is a blessing from Heaven, it seems, that it is
enough for us to be among the Hurons to be in good health.
For the rest, all the Fathers have been very well treated; they
have neither paddled nor carried anything but their small sup-
ply of clothing. On the contrary, they have been honoured and
were themselves carried over troublesome and difficult places.
Consequently let no one fear difficulties in coming up here from
having read our Relation of last year. Beginnings are always
difficult, and then the causes of our hardships were out of the
ordinary. And finally, I believe that my sins, which required
that I should suffer these things, fell also on the others. But may
it please God that we have drunk the cup of bitterness to the
dregs. Although no one should lose courage even if his labours
were always equally hard, for truly our Lord endured more for
the salvation of souls. Our small baggage was also very faith-
fully brought to us and in fairly good condition.

You would scarcely believe the good that was done to our Hurons by the peas, the bread and the sagamite you distributed last year, and by the good will you showed them. This good treatment has won their hearts for you and for us also. We do not go anywhere without being told that our Brothers at Kebec are very courteous and very generous. Everything is disposing these peoples to receive the seed of the Gospel, for the affection they have for us leads them to believe what we tell them.

On the Eclipse of the Moon of the twenty-seventh of August, our Barbarians expected a great defeat of their men, because it appeared over the enemy Country, which is on their south-east. For if it appears in the East it is on their account that the Moon is ill or has experienced some displeasure. They believe this to such an extent that they even asked us, I do not know whether it was in jest, to shoot at the Sky in order to deliver it from danger, assuring us that it was their custom to shoot off a few arrows at it for this purpose. It is true that they all cry out as much as they can on these occasions, and direct curses at their enemies, saying, 'May such-and-such a Nation perish'. I was at that time in another village, where lived the famous Sorcerer of whom I have already spoken, Tehorenhaegnon; he made a feast, they said, to turn aside the misfortunes of this eclipse.

On the twentieth of October an old man of our village died in his unbelief. His end frightened many and left them with an earnest desire to become converted. It seems that our Lord had for a year past communicated several good impulses to him. He willingly took part in all our Assemblies, listening to our instructions. He was the first to make the sign of the Cross; but afterwards he tried to harmonize our creed with their superstitions and imaginings, saying that he wanted to go with his Ancestors. Some dream seemed to have inclined him to good; but as he liked to live well and to have his say, God chastised him. Being ill for the last time, he made his Athataion, or farewell feast, in a great assembly, in which he partook of the best according to their ideas, renewing his indulgences after each syncope that came upon him. We went to see him, and he asked us to help him, threatening, if we did not satisfy him by singing in our way, that he would overturn everything in our House

after his death, and even carry it away. One day he asked us for Baptism, but, as he seemed to be recovering, we distrusted his whim. On returning in the evening we found him asleep. We were scarcely out of his Hut when he died, and God did not permit that what he had despised during life should be granted to him at death. *Judicia Dei abyssus multa.*

On the twentieth of September the father of Louis de Sainte-Foi visited us in our House to tell us of his desire that he and all his family should be baptized. Urged to this, said he, among other reasons by the fact that God had preserved his life in an extraordinary manner during their defeat by the Iroquois.

On the fourth of November we set out to instruct this household and to consider more exactly their disposition towards the Faith. On the way we baptized two who were ill and whom we believe to be now in Heaven. The journey took us seven days, during which we instructed the whole of this family in all the important points of the Christian Religion. Louis served us as interpreter in this, as he is well acquainted with our mysteries and explains them with affection. They all approved and greatly appreciated the Christian truth; and far from finding any of the commandments of God difficult, they even found them easy. Conjugal continence and the indissolubility of marriage seemed to them most likely to impede the progress of the Gospel; and this, among other things, will indeed be a stumbling block. However, they said that having regard to an eternally happy life or eternal misery, nothing ought to seem difficult.

‘And then’, said the father of Louis, ‘if you said that one had to pass two, three or several days without eating, that might be found a hardship; but in all the rest there is none.’

He said that the French who had been here had never spoken to them of God, and had been as much addicted as themselves to running after women and to dallying with them. For the rest, he urged Father Pijart, who was with me, to learn the language quickly, so that he might come to live in their village and be there the Superior of a House.

During this visit I noticed two or three things. The father of Louis, hearing that it was necessary to learn the sign of the Cross, the Pater, the Ave, and the Apostles' Creed, said that all

this was very little and that he would have no intelligence if he
could not learn it; that, having gone to various Nations, he had
sometimes been entrusted with more than twenty kinds of busi-
ness, and that on his return he had reported them all very accu-
ately; and consequently that he would soon have learned and
remembered the little we demanded of him. Nevertheless this
intelligent man had to work hard to learn the sign of the Cross.
It is remarkable how much men who are prompt and wide-
awake in worldly matters are dull in those of God.

I took pleasure in hearing Louis explaining our Mysteries to his parents; he did it with grace, and showed he had understood them and made them his own. Ah, how I wished I could speak Huron as well as he, for indeed in comparison with him I do no more than stammer, and yet the way of saying a thing gives it an entirely different meaning. When I put forward the burning of the five abominable cities and the preservation of Lot and his family, in order to show how severely God chastises even in this life the wicked and the villainous and how he saves the good, Louis drew from it the conclusion for his relatives that, if they served God faithfully, their Hut would not be burned even if the whole village were on fire.

It may peradventure be that some will find these things too
trivial to be written down; but what would you? Cum eram
parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, sapiebam ut parvulus; cum autem
factus ero vir, evacuabo quae erant parvuli. When this Church
is full grown it will produce other fruits. Some day, per-
haps, will be described the great alms, the fasts, the morti-
fications, the admirable patience, yes, the martyrdoms of the
Christian Hurons. Now that they are only in the cradle no
more than the stammerings of children should be expected; and
so I shall continue the recital of these little things which, God
aiding, will be the seed of greater.

After explaining to his relatives the commandment not to
steal and saying that in France thieves were put to death, he was
asked by his father whether he would put them also to death if
he became Chief. Louis answered that if he did the Country
would soon be depopulated, for it would be necessary to kill
everyone—a Huron and a thief being practically the same thing.

While we were here we made them observe the first Friday and first Saturday that have ever been kept by the Hurons. From Thursday they put aside the remainder of their sagamite and their meat, and on Friday and Saturday, having been invited to a feast, they said that if they were given meat they would keep it for Sunday; and in fact once in our village, at a feast given on a Friday, we saw the Father of Louis refuse a piece of meat that was offered to him, but not scrupling to eat some of the sagamite with which it had been cooked. This new proselyte knew no better. We left them well disposed and with good will, and that was all; the fruit is not yet ripe.

On the fifteenth of October we went to the village of Wenrio to visit some sick people; there our Lord helped us by means of a young girl of our village who was there, and who so tellingly disabused a poor sick woman of the fear she was in that Baptism would shorten her days, that she finally gave in and another with her.

On the first of November, seeing a pregnant woman at the point of death, we made a vow to St Joseph in the event of recovering and the child being baptized. She immediately began to feel better and some time afterwards gave birth to a daughter, who has been brought by Baptism within the ranks of the children of God.

On the eighth of December we celebrated with all possible solemnity the Festival of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, and we vowed that each one of us would say a Mass every month of the year in honour of this same holy Mystery, with the other details which your Reverence has prescribed for us. We believe that the Blessed Virgin found our modest devotions pleasing to her, for that same day we baptized three little girls. One of these, named Marie of the Conception, is that little girl so eager to learn, of whom we have spoken above. And before the end of the month we had baptized twenty-eight. Since then we observe a notable change, so much that each month we have won a goodly number in consequence of this offering.

On the day of the Purification, having assembled all the Christian children, adorned as best they could, with their parents,

we performed in their presence the blessing of the candles.
Then we explained to the adults how on such a day our Lady
had offered her Son in the Temple to the Eternal Father, and
how, in imitation of her, they should also present their children
to the service of God, and that God would take special care of
them if they did so. They were very well pleased, and there-
fore, taking a Crucifix in my hand, I pronounced this Prayer in
their language:

Come listen, you who have made the earth, and you who are
named Father, and you who are named his Son, and you who
are named the Holy Ghost; come listen, for it is no small
thing we do. Look upon these children here assembled. Al-
ready these are all thy creatures, for they have been baptized.
But lo! again we present them all to thee, we give them all
up to thee. This is what all these think, these assembled wo-
men, they think that he should be master of all the child-
ren. So come now, take courage, keep them, guard them, that
they may not sicken, that they may never sin. Turn aside all
that which is evil; and if the plague attack us again, turn that
aside also; and if famine attack us, turn that aside also; and if
war assail us, turn that aside also; and if the demon provoke us,
that is, the bad demon and the wicked ones who cause death by
poison, turn those aside also. Finally, turn aside all that which
is evil. Jesus, our Lord, Son of God, for this thou wilt exhort
thy Father, who never refuses thee. And you also Mary, the
Mother of Jesus, who art Virgin, ask it also. So be it.

This Orison, among others, pleased them, since we asked God
to preserve them from the contagion, from famine, and from
war. All they asked for in addition was for two prayers, that
they might not be shipwrecked and might not be burned:
enonche watiwareha, enonche watiatate; these being added,
they thought it complete. God and the Blessed Virgin be in-
finitely praised, for we can say that from this day we took
possession of these little ones, who have continued since then to
assemble in our House every Sunday to pray to God. It was
very fitting that, having been born as children of God on the
day of the Immaculate Conception of this holy Virgin, they
should also begin on the day of her Purification to practise

Christian duty, to continue it for the rest of their lives. This is
what we hope for through the intercession of this Mother of
Mercy, who has shown us plainly enough, without any doubt,
that she wishes to be the Mother of this new Church.

On the twenty-first of March a woman who had been about twenty-four hours in labour was happily delivered as soon as we had applied to her a Relic of Our Blessed Father St Ignatius. Her child only lived as long as was needed to be sent to Heaven by Baptism.

On the twenty-eighth of March François Marguerie, who had gone to spend the winter with the Savages of the Island, brought four of them to us. It was a great consolation to us to receive French visitors at such a time and to hear news from Kebec and from the Three Rivers. We were also taken aback with astonishment that a young man like he, twenty to twenty-two years old, had the courage to follow the Savages on the ice, over the snow, and through the forests, for forty successive days and for a distance of some three hundred leagues, carrying, dragging, and working as much as and more than any one of his band—for these Barbarians, having arrived at their resting-place, made him put up their cauldrons while they warmed themselves and rested. For the rest, he taught us a good lesson, for if he took so many pains and endured so many hardships in coming during so rude a season and over such unknown ways, simply to satisfy his curiosity, surely Religious persons, urged on by the holy wish to win souls for God, ought in no way to dread the roughness of the roads. These are, moreover, made much less difficult and even to some extent enjoyable by the convenience of Canoes, the pleasantness of the Summer season, and the company of fairly helpful Savages. Besides, God has admirable consolations for those who fear him, but much greater ones for those who love him.

The occasion for the coming of the Savages of the Island into this Huron country was the death of twenty-three persons whom the Iroquois had massacred, notwithstanding the peace. This perfidy had aroused in them a strong desire for vengeance. They had collected some twenty-three necklaces of Porcelain in order to rouse the Hurons and the Algonquins to take arms

and to give them effective aid, telling themselves that the French would take part in the expedition against a common enemy. But neither the Hurons nor the Algonquins would listen to them and refused their gifts. Neither would the Bissirinians listen to them, because of the extortions they suffer from these Savages of the Island when they go down for trade. As for the Hurons, they have softened their refusal by attributing it to their fear of an army with which they had recently been threatened. But it was really due to the fact that the Bear Nation, which constitutes half of the Hurons, was offended because the Savages of the Island did not invite them as well as the others and gave them no share in the gifts—forbidding, on the contrary, that they should be told of the proposal.

Yet, on the other hand, we fear lest these are not all stratagems of Satan to prevent the conversion of these Peoples, for the men of the Island, seeing themselves turned away, have returned much displeased, as much with the Hurons as with the Bissirinians, and have threatened that they would let neither of them pass to go to the French.

Le Borgne of the Island said to the Hurons, in our presence, in order to advance the object of his Embassy, that his body was hatchets; he meant by this that the preservation of his person and of his Nation was the preservation for the Hurons of the hatchets, the cauldrons, and all the French trade. They even say, whether truthfully or falsely, that he boasted of being the master of the French and that he would take us back to Kebec and make us all recross the sea. I am recording what is said and the rodomontades attributed to him, for we did not hear them; on the contrary, they left us all with every sign of satisfaction and happiness.

In fact, they addressed a fine and friendly discourse to us, the purport of which was that we should altogether leave the Country of the Hurons, or at least that of the Bear Nation, as the wickedest of all, who had massacred Etienne Brulé, and the good Father Nicolas, the Recolet, with his companion, and who had, for a blow, some time before, done to death eight of their men. To me in particular, with flattery and praise, they said that, sooner than risk my life among so perfidious a Nation,

they advised me to go down to Kebec, at least after having spent another year here to learn the language perfectly; and that I would be a great Chief and the only one to speak in their councils. It was thus that these good counsellors advised us, in many and long speeches, in order to show the friendship they had always had for the French above all Nations.

We replied that we had not come into this Country in order to act as interpreters, nor in the hope of enriching ourselves or of becoming great Chiefs one day; but that we had left our relatives, our property, and all our possessions, and had crossed the sea in order to come to teach them the path to salvation at the peril of our lives; that, for the rest, we tried and would try to behave ourselves so well that the other Nations would have more reason to love us than to do us harm. In short, we told them that one day some of us might live in their Country to instruct them, and that only their wandering life had prevented this so far. They declared themselves very pleased with this and acquiesced in our reasoning. To seal which we gave them a Canoe, with some other little gifts, with which they were very pleased, saying that they were already on their way back to their Country, and uttering a thousand thanks, with many promises to treat our Fathers well when they should pass through their territories. We try to obtain for ourselves the friendship of all these Peoples in order to conquer them for God.

During Holy Week Louis de Sainte-Foi came to visit us, and spent Easter with us in order to prepare himself to go to war with his uncle against the Iroquois. He has not yet returned; they try to make us believe that he has gone down to Kebec, but I trust him.

On the fourteenth of April the son of the Chief Wenons, having lost a Beaver robe and a necklace of four hundred beads of Porcelain at the game of straws, went in such fear of his parents that, not daring to enter his Hut, he gave way to despair and hanged himself from a tree. He had a very melancholy disposition, and that Winter had already been on the point of doing away with himself, when he was caught in the act by a little girl. Asked what had driven him to so wicked a resolve, he answered, 'I do not know, but it seems to me that I have someone

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81

within me who says to me continually, “Hang thyself, hang thyself”. Gambling never leads to anything good; in fact, the Savages themselves remark that it is almost the sole cause of assaults and murders.

On the eighth of May, having gone to La Rochelle, a woman who had just been delivered presented the little child to me for baptism. As the child was well and as it is our custom, except in case of necessity, not to baptize except in our House, with the ceremonies of the Church, in order to excite greater respect for this Sacrament, I was about to tell her that it would be time enough when she brought the child to us at the first opportunity, when I felt inspired to act otherwise; and this was no doubt a very special Providence, for a few days later the child's parents came to bring us the news of its death.

On the eighth of June the Chief of the Nez Percés or Beaver Nation, which is three days' journey from us, came to ask for one of our Frenchmen to go and spend the Summer with them in a fort they had made out of fear of the Aweatsiwaenrrhonon, that is, the stinking folk, who have broken the peace treaty and have killed two of their men, for which they made a feast.

On the ninth a Savage who lay dead under the ice was cast a-shore here. The whole village ran up and rendered the customary respects to his relatives with such good grace that, with mutual gifts, the management of the ceremonies was entrusted to the village, although the dead man did not belong to it.

On the thirteenth of the same month we had news of a troop of Hurons who were going to war and who had encamped at the distance of a musket shot from the last village, a day's journey from us. After having passed nearly two nights in singing and eating, they were overtaken with so profound a sleep that the enemy, coming upon them, cleft the head of a dozen without resistance, the rest escaping by flight.

I could have added here many things that have taken place this year and of which we have been eye-witnesses; but I have thought it best to reserve them for the second part of this Relation. I hope that in this way I shall more easily avoid confusion, and in my opinion it will be easier in this way to satisfy those who are curious to know the manners and customs of these Peoples.

### CHAPTER III

**IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR THOSE WHOM IT SHALL PLEASE GOD TO CALL TO NEW FRANCE AND ESPECIALLY TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HURONS**

WE HAVE learned that the salvation of so many innocent souls, washed and made white in the Blood of the Son of God, is strongly impressing the hearts of many and arousing in them renewed wishes to leave Old France for the New. God be blessed forever who thus shows us that he has at last opened to these Peoples the bowels of his infinite mercy. I do not wish to chill this generous resolution. Alas! It is these hearts after God's own heart that we are awaiting. I only wish to give them a word of advice.

It is true that *fortis ut mors dilectio*, the love of God has the power to do what death does, that is, to detach us entirely from our fellows and from ourselves. Nevertheless, these desires that we feel of helping in the salvation of the Infidels are not always sure signs of this purified love. There may sometimes be in it a little pride and self-seeking, if we consider only the blessing and the satisfaction it is to put souls in Heaven, without maturely reflecting on the pains, the labours and the difficulties which are inseparable from these Evangelical functions.

Therefore, in order that no-one may be deceived on this point, ostendam illi quanta hic oporteat pro nomine Jesu pati. It is true that the two last-comers, Fathers Mercier and Pijart, did not have so much trouble in their journey, but only in comparison with those of us who came up the previous year. They did not paddle, their men were not ill as ours were, they had not to bear heavy burdens. Yet, however easy a trip with the Savages may be, there is always enough greatly to cast down a heart that has not been well mortified. The willingness of the Savages does not shorten the way, smooth down the rocks, remove the dangers. Be with whom you will, you must expect to be three or four weeks at least on the way; to have as sole company persons you have never seen before; to be in a bark Canoe in a somewhat uncomfortable position, not being free to

turn yourself to one side or the other, and in danger fifty times
a day of being upset or smashed on the rocks. During the day
the Sun burns you, and during the night you run the risk of be-
ing a prey to Mosquitoes. You sometimes ascend five or six
rapids in one day, and in the evening have no greater refresh-
ment than a little corn crushed between two stones and cooked
in fine clear water; your bed is the earth, and often enough the
rough and uneven rocks; usually there is no other roof than the
stars; and all this in a perpetual silence. If you are accidentally
hurt, if you fall ill, expect no help from these Barbarians, for
whence could they obtain it? And if the illness is dangerous and
you are far from the villages, which are very rare here, I would
not care to assure you that you would not be abandoned if you
could not make shift to follow them.

When you reach the Hurons you will in truth find hearts full
of charity; we shall receive you with open arms as an Angel of
Paradise; we shall have all the inclination in the world to do
you good, but it is practically impossible for us to do anything.
We shall receive you in so wretched a Hut that I can scarcely
find one in France mean enough to give you an idea of it; that
is how you will be lodged. Harrassed and fatigued as you will
be, we shall not be able to give you anything but a poor mat, or
at most a skin, to serve you as bed; and besides you will arrive
at a season when miserable little insects, which we call here
Tawhac, and pulces [fleas] in good French, will prevent you al-
most for whole nights from closing your eyes. For in these
parts they are incomparably more importunate than in France;
the dust of the Hut nourishes them, the Savages carry them to
us, we get them in their midst, and this petty martyrdom, not
to speak of the Sandflies, Mosquitoes and similar pests, usually
lasts for the three or four months of Summer.

You must be prepared, instead of the great master and great
Theologian you have been in France, to be here a modest Schol-
ar, and then, good God! with what teachers!—women, little
children, and all the Savages; and you must be prepared to be
exposed to their laughter. The Huron language will be your
saint Thomas and your Aristotle; and able man that you are
and eloquent among learned and clever persons, you must make

up your mind to be dumb for a long time among Barbarians. It will be a great thing for you if you can begin to stammer at the end of a little time.

And then, how do you expect to pass through the Winter here? After having heard all that is endured in wintering among the Montagnet Savages, I can say that it is pretty well the life that we lead here among the Hurons. I say it without exaggeration, the five and six months of Winter are spent in almost continuous discomfort, excessive cold, smoke, and the annoyance of the Savages. We have a Hut built of simple bark, but so joined that we have no need to go outside to know what the weather is. The smoke is very often so thick, so acrid and so obstinate that for five or six days at a time, if you are not entirely proof against it, it is all you can do to make out a few lines in your Breviary. In addition to all this, from morning till night our fireplace is almost always surrounded by Savages; above all, they never fail at meal times. If it happens that you have something out of the ordinary, be it ever so little, you must reckon on having the larger part of these Gentlemen as your guests; if you do not share it with them you will be considered contemptible. As for the food, it is not too bad, although we usually put up with a little corn, with a piece of dry smoked fish, in addition to a little fruit, of which I shall speak further on.

For the rest, thus far we have had only roses, but henceforth, now that we have Christians in almost every village, we must count on making rounds at all seasons of the year and to remain there, according to the circumstances, for two or three whole weeks, in indescribable discomfort. Add to all this that our lives hang on scarcely more than a thread, and that it is in this country if anywhere in the world that we must expect death at every hour and must always hold our souls in our hands. For, apart from the fact that your hut is like unto straw and that fire can seize upon it at any moment, notwithstanding all the care you may take to prevent such accidents, the malice of the Savages gives you cause for almost perpetual fear in this respect: a malcontent may burn you down or split your head open in some lonely spot.

And then you are responsible for the sterility or fecundity of
the earth, on pain of death; you are the cause of the droughts;
and if you cannot make it rain they speak of nothing less than
of making away with you. I need only mention the danger
there is from the enemies; it is enough to say that on the thir-
teenth of this month of June they killed twelve of our Hurons
near the village of Contarrea, which is only a day's journey from
us; and that a little time before some Iroquois were discovered
in the fields, some four leagues away from our village, in am-
bush, waiting for an opportunity to strike a blow at the expense
of the life of some passer-by. This Nation is very timid; they
do not remain on guard; they scarcely take the pains to prepare
arms and to close their village with pallisades; their usual re-
course, especially when the enemy is powerful, is flight. Amid
these alarms throughout the whole Country, I leave you to
imagine whether we, for our part, have any reason to feel safe.

Now, after all, if we had here the external attractions of piety,
as in France, all this might be supportable. In France the great
number and the good example of the Christians, the solemnity
of the Festivals, the majesty of the magnificently adorned
Churches, preach piety to you. And in our Houses the fervour
of our brethren, their modesty, and the many virtues that shine
forth in all their actions, are so many powerful voices that cry
to you unceasingly, *respice, et fac similiter*. You have the con-
solation of celebrating holy Mass every day. In a word you are
almost out of any danger of falling; or at least the falls are very
light and you have help immediately at hand. Here it seems that
we have nothing that incites to good; we are among Peoples
who are astonished when you speak to them of God, and who
often have nothing but horrible blasphemies in their mouths.
You are often compelled to deprive yourself of the holy Sacri-
fice of the Mass; and when you have the necessities for saying
it, a little corner of your Hut will serve you as a Chapel, which
the smoke, the snow or the rain will prevent you from orna-
menting and embellishing, even if you had the wherewithal. I
pass over the small chance that you have of recollecting your-
self among Barbarians who hardly leave you and who do not
know what it is to speak quietly. Above all, I would not dare

to speak of the danger of destroying oneself among their im-
purities, for anyone whose heart is not full of God so that it may
powerfully reject this poison. But enough of this; the rest must
be experienced.

'What', someone will say, 'is that all? Do you think to throw
water with your arguments on the fire that consumes me and
to lessen ever so little the zeal I have for the conversion of these
Peoples? I assure you that these have only served to confirm
me in my vocation, that I feel myself more carried away than
ever with affection for New France, and that I cherish holy
envy for those who are already in the throes of all these suffer-
ings. All these labours seem nothing to me in comparison with
what I would wish to endure for God. If I knew of any place
under Heaven where one could suffer even more I would wish
to go there.'

Ah! Whoever you are to whom God gives these feelings and
this light, come, come, my dear Brother, it is labourers such as
you are that we need here; it is to souls like unto yours that God
has destined the salvation of so many others that the Devil still
holds in his power; fear no difficulties, for there will be none
for you since your whole consolation is to see yourself crucified
with the Son of God; the silence will be sweet to you since you
have learned to commune with God and to converse in the
Heavens with the Saints and the Angels; the food would be
very tasteless if the gall of our Lord did not render it more
sweet and more savoury to you than the most delicious viands in
the world. What a satisfaction to pass these rapids and to climb
the rocks to him who has before his eyes that loving Saviour
harassed with torments and ascending Calvary laden with his
Cross. The discomfort of the Canoe is very easy to bear for
him who considers the crucified one. What a consolation—
for I must use such terms, as otherwise I would not give you
pleasure—what a consolation, then, to see oneself on the way,
even abandoned by the Savages, languishing with illness, or dy-
ing of hunger in the woods, and to be able to say to God, 'My
God, it is to do your holy will that I am reduced to the state in
which you see me'. Above all when you consider that Divine
man who expired on the Cross and cried to his father, 'Deus

meus, Deus meus, ut quid dereliquisti me'. If God preserve you in health among all these discomforts, you will no doubt arrive happily in the Country of the Hurons with these holy thoughts.
*Suaviter navigat quem gratia Dei portat.*

And now, I must turn to the dwelling place, the food, and the beds. Dare I say to so generous a heart and to one who mocks at all of which I have already spoken, that although, to be sure, we have in these things scarcely any advantage over the Savages, nevertheless, I know not how, the divine Goodness makes more easy everything that might be difficult, and everyone of us finds all this little less strange than life in France. The sleep we get lying on our mats seems to us as sweet as if we were in a good bed; the food of the Country does not in the least disgust us, although there is scarcely any other seasoning in it than that God has put there; and notwithstanding the cold of a six months' winter passed in the shelter of a bark Hut open to the elements, we have still to feel its effects; no-one has complained of a pain in his head or stomach. We do not know what diarrhoea, colds, and catarrhs are. This leads me to say that delicate persons in France have no idea how to protect themselves against the cold; those rooms so well carpeted, those doors so well fitted, and those windows so carefully closed, serve only to make its effects more keenly felt; it is an enemy against whom one almost wins more by opening one's arms to him than by waging such ruthless war against him.

As for food, I will only add this, that God has made very evident to us his very special Providence. We have obtained in a week our provision of corn for the whole year, without taking a single step out of our House. They also bring us dried fish in such quantities that we are obliged to refuse and to say that we have enough of it. One would say that God, seeing that we are here only in his service and only with the object of working for him, wishes himself to act as our purveyor. This same Goodness never fails to give us from time to time a little change in the shape of fresh fish. We are on the shore of a great Lake, which contains as good fish as I have ever seen or eaten in France; it is true, as I have already said, that we do not usually procure them, and still less meat, which is rarely seen here. Even

fruit, according to the season, provided the year is a fairly
favourable one, is not lacking to us; strawberries, raspberries
and blackberries are found in incredible quantities. We gather
plenty of grapes, and fairly good ones; gourds sometimes last
us for four or five months, in such abundance that they are to
be had almost for nothing, and so good that, cooked in the
ashes, they are eaten as apples are in France. Hence, to tell the
truth, so far as foodstuff is concerned we can very easily dis-
pense with France; the corn alone of the Country is sufficient
nourishment as soon as one becomes a little accustomed to it.
The Savages prepare it in more than twenty ways, and yet
make use only of fire and water; it is true that hunger is the
best sauce.

As for the dangers of the soul, there is none, to speak frankly,
for him who brings the fear and love of God to the Country of
the Hurons; on the contrary, I find here unparalleled advan-
tages for acquiring perfection. Is it not already a great deal to
have no attraction other than simple necessity in one's food,
clothing and sleeping? Is it not a glorious opportunity to unite
oneself with God, when there is no creature whatever who
gives you any reason to attach yourself to it by affection, and
when the exercises you practice constrain you without force to
inward recollection? Apart from your spiritual exercises you
have no occupation other than the study of the language and
conversation with the Savages. Ah! What a pleasure it is for
a heart united with God to make itself the little Pupil of a Sav-
age and of a little child in order afterwards to win them for God
and to render them disciples of our Lord! How willingly and
freely God communicates himself to a soul that practises these
heroic acts of humility for love of him! The words that he
learns are so many treasures that he amasses, so many spoils that
he carries off from the common enemy of the human race; so
that he has cause to say a hundred times a day, 'Laetabor super
eloquia tua tanquam qui invenit spolia multa'.

From this point of view the visits of the Savages, although
frequent, cannot be annoying to him. God teaches him the
beautiful lesson which he taught formerly to Saint Catherine of
Sienna, to make of his heart a room or a temple for him, where

he never fails to find him whenever he withdraws into it; so
that if he meets with Savages while praying they do not trouble
him at all but only serve to make him more fervent; he takes
the opportunity to present these poor wretches to this sover-
eign Goodness and to intreat it warmly for their conversion.

Certainly we have here none of those external trappings that
awaken and sustain devotion. We see here nothing but what
may be called the essential of our Religion, the holy Sacrament
of the Altar, to the marvels of which our Faith must open our
eyes without being helped by any sensible mark of its grand-
eur, any more than were in olden times the Magi in the stable.

But it seems that God, supplying what we lack and, as it were,
in recompense of the favour he has done us in transporting it,
so to speak, beyond so many seas and in finding place for it in
these poor Huts, wishes to crown us with the same blessings
among these infidel Peoples with which he is accustomed to
favour persecuted Catholics in heretic Countries. These good
people scarcely see either Church or Altar; but the little they
see of them is worth double what they would be worth in full
liberty. What consolation, in your opinion, would there be in
sometimes prostrating oneself before a Cross in the midst of
this Barbarism, to turn our eyes in the midst of our petty domes-
tic functions and to perceive the actual space the Son of God
has deigned to take in our little dwelling? Is it not to be in Para-
dise day and night, to be separated from this Well-beloved of
the Nations only by some bark or the branch of a tree? *En ipse
stat post parietem nostrum. Sub umbra illius quem desideraveram, sedi.*

So much for the interior. If we leave our home, Heaven is
open to us, and those great buildings which lift their heads to
the clouds in the midst of great cities, do not conceal it from our
view; so that we can say our prayers in full liberty before this
noble Oratory, that saint Francis Xavier loved above all others.
If it is a question of the fundamental virtues, I would not glorify
myself on my own account, but because of the share which has
fallen to me, or, if I must, I will acknowledge it humbly beside
the Cross which our Lord in his grace gave us to bear after him.
It is certain that this Country, or the task we have in it, is much
more fitted to feed a soul with the fruits of Heaven than with

those of the earth. I do not know whether I deceive myself when I imagine that there is a glorious opportunity here for growing in Faith, Hope and Charity. Could we scatter here the seeds of our Faith without ourselves profiting by them? Is it possible that we should put our trust anywhere but in God in a Region where everything is lacking to us so far as man is concerned? Could we desire a finer opportunity to exercise Charity than amid the roughness and ill-ease of a new world, where not one human art or industry has yet provided a single comfort; and to live there in order to bring back to God men who are so little men that we must be ready every day to die at their hands should the fancy take them, should a dream suggest it to them; and if we fail to close and to open the Heavens to them at will, giving them rain and fine weather to order, do they not make us responsible for these aerial changes?

And if God does not inspire us or if we cannot work miracles by Faith, are we not continually in danger, as they have threatened us, of seeing them fall on those who would not in the least be responsible? In truth, if he who is Truth itself had not declared that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends, I should consider it a thing equally or more lofty, to do what the Apostles said to the Corinthians, *quotidie morior per vestram gloriam, fratres, quam habeo in Christo Jesu Domino nostro*, than to drag out a wretched enough life in constant and accustomed danger of an unexpected death at the hands of those you are hoping to save. I sometimes recall to mind what Saint Francis Xavier once wrote to Father Simon, and wish that it may please God so to do that at least the same thing may one day be said or written even of us, although we are not worthy of it. Here are his words: 'Optimi e Moluco perferuntur nuntii, quippe in maximis aerumnis perpetuisque vitae discriminibus, Joannes Beira ejusqne socii versantur, magno cum Christianae Religionis incremento.'

One thing here, it seems to me, might give some apprehension to a Child of the Society, to see himself in the midst of a brutal and sensual People, whose example might tarnish the lustre of the most and least delicate of all the virtues, for him who does not take special care of it—I mean Chastity.

Dare I say, to remove this difficulty, that if there is any place
in the world where this so precious virtue is safe, for any one of
us who is ready to be on his guard, it is here. Nisi Dominus
custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam. Scivi quo-
niam aliter non possem esse continens, nisi Deus det. Et hoc ipsum erat
sapientiae, scire cuius esset hoc donum.

It is said that the victories which this Daughter of Heaven
gains over her enemy are won by flight; but I believe that it is
God alone who puts this enemy to flight, at times of most ur-
gent need, from those who fear nothing so much as his ap-
proach, and who go, with head bowed and with a heart full of
confidence in his Goodness, wherever his glory calls them. And
where should we seek this glory, or rather I should say, where
find it more purified and freed from our own interests, than in
a place where there is nothing to hope for but the reward of
having left them all for the love of him of whom St Paul said,
'Scio cui credidi'. Do you remember that plant, named 'the
fear of God', with which it was said in the beginnings of our
Society that our Fathers charmed away the spirit of impurity:
It does not grow in the land of the Hurons, but it falls abund-
antly from Heaven, if one take the slightest trouble to cultivate
the chastity one has brought here. The barbarism, ignorance,
poverty and misery that make the life of these Savages more
wretched than death, are a continual reminder to us to regret
the fall of Adam and to submit ourselves entirely to him who
still, in so remarkable a way, after so many centuries, chastizes
his children for his disobedience.

Saint Theresa once said that she was never happier in her
meditations than in the mysteries in which she found our Lord
apart and alone, as if she had been in the garden of Olives. And
she called this a part of her simplicity. You may if you wish
reckon this among my follies; but it seems to me that we have
here as much more leisure to caress, as it were, and to cherish
our Lord with open heart in the midst of these uninhabited
lands, as there are fewer persons here who trouble themselves
about him. And because of this favour we can boldly say, Non
timebo mala, quoniam tu mecum es. In short, I tell myself that all
the Guardian Angels of these ignorant and neglected Nations

are continually taking pains and labouring to save us from these
dangers. They know well that if there were anything in the
world that ought to give us wings to return whence we came,
both from obedience and by our own inclinations, it would be
this misfortune, were we not shielded from it by the protection
of Heaven. It is this that incites them to procure for us the
means to guard against it, in order not to lose the fairest hope
they have ever had, by the grace of God, for the conversion of
these Peoples.

I conclude this discourse and this Chapter with the following
observation: if, confronted with the difficulties and the Crosses
that are prepared for us here, some one feels himself so strength-
ened from on high that he can say it is too little, or, like St
Francis Xavier, ‘*Amplius, amplius*’, I hope that our Lord will also
draw from his lips, in the midst of the consolations he will give
him, this other confession, that it will be too much for him,
that he could not endure more. *Satis est, Domine, satis est.*

CHAPTER IV

OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE HURONS

THIS IS only to give some little foretaste of it, and to record
some of its peculiarities, while awaiting a complete Grammar
and Dictionary.

They have one letter different from any of ours, which we ex-
press by Khi; its use is common to the Montagnais and the Al-
gonquins. They do not know any B, F, L, M, P, X, Z, and I,
E, U, are never consonants with them. The greater part of
their words are composed of vowels. They lack all the labial
letters. This is probably why they always have their mouths
open so ungracefully and why they can scarcely be heard when
they whistle and when they speak low. As they have practic-
ally no virtue, nor Religion, nor any science, nor policy, they
likewise have no simple words suitable for expressing all that
pertains to these things. Hence it is that we are at a loss to ex-
plain to them many fine things connected with these branches
of knowledge. Compound words are those most generally in
use and they have the same force as the adjective and substantive
joined together with us. Examples: *Andatarase*, fresh bread;
*Achitetsi*, a foot long. Like us they have a diversity of gen-
ders, and of numbers like the Greeks. They have besides a
certain relative declension which always includes in itself the
possessive pronoun *meus, tuus, suus*; for example, *Iatacan*, my
brother; *aiatacan*, my brothers; *satacan*, thy brother; *tsatacan*,
thy brothers; *otacan*, his brother; *atotacan*, his brothers.

As to cases, they have them all, or supply them by means of
very appropriate particles.

The remarkable thing is that all their words are universally
conjugated; for example, *asse*, it is cool; *asse chen*, it was fresh;
*gaon*, old; *agaon*, he is old; *agaonc*, he was old; *agaonha*, he
will be old; and so on with the rest. It is the same with that
word *iatacan* which means, my brother; *oniatacan*, we are
brothers; *oniatacan ehen*, we were brothers; this is copious.
Here is something which is not. A relative noun with them al-
ways includes the meaning of one of the three persons of the
possessive pronoun, so that they cannot say simply Father, Son,

Master, Servant, but are obliged to say one of the three forms,
my father, thy father, his father. This is so although in a Prayer
above I translated one of their nouns by the word Father, for
convenience. On this account we are prevented from getting
them to say properly in their Language, In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Would you con-
sider it fitting, while awaiting something better, to substitute
instead, In the name of our Father, and of his Son, and of their
holy Ghost? It certainly seems that the three Persons of the
most holy Trinity would be sufficiently expressed in this way,
the third really being the holy Spirit of the first and the second;
the second, Son of the first; and the first, our Father, in the
words of the Apostle, who applies to him these fitting words in
Ephesians 3. Consider also that our Lord has given an exam-
ple of the use of this expression, not only in the Lord's Prayer,
as we call it in his honour, but also in his commandment to the
Magdalen in saint John 20, to bear from him these noble words
to his Brethren or Disciples, 'I ascend to my Father and to
yours'. Dare we use them thus until the Huron language be en-
riched or the mind of the Hurons be opened to other lan-
guages? We will do nothing without advice.

Now in connection with this noun 'Father' I must not forget
the difficulty we have also encountered in causing them to say,
'Our Father who art in Heaven', that is, to those who have
none on earth; to speak to them of the dead whom they have
loved is to insult them. A woman whose mother had died a
short time before, all but lost her wish to be baptized because
we had inadvertently said to her, 'Thou shall honour thy Father
and thy Mother.'

As for the verbs, what is most remarkable in their language is:
1. That they have different ones to express animate things and
things without life.
2. That they vary their tenses in as many
ways as the Greeks; their numbers also, in addition to the fact
that the first person of both the dual number and the plural is
also double; thus, to say for example, 'Thou and I are leaving',
it is necessary to say, 'Kiarascwa', and to say, 'He and I are leaving',
'Aiaraswa'. Likewise, in the plural, 'We, several of us, are leav-
ing', 'Awarascwa'; 'We are leaving with you', 'cwarascwa'.

Besides all this, there must be noticed a double conjugation, and I believe that this is common to the American languages. The one is simple and absolute, like our Latin and French conjugations. For example, the verb *ahiaton*, meaning ‘to write’, is conjugated thus: *iehiaton*, I write; *chiehiatonc*, thou writest; *ihahiatonc* he writes; *awahiatonc*, we write; *scwahiatonc*, you write; *attihiatonc*, they write.

The other method of conjugation may be called reciprocal, since the action signified by the verb always terminates in some person or thing; so that, instead of saying in three words, as we do, ‘I love myself’, the Hurons say only, *Iatenonhwe*; I love thee, *onnonhwe*; I love you both, *inonhwe*; I love you, said to several, *wanonhwe*; and so on for the rest.

What I find most unusual is that there is a feminine conjugation, at least in the third person, both of the singular and of the plural; for we have not found out more about it, or very little. Here is an example: *ihaton*, he says; *iwaton*, she says; *ihonton*, they [masculine] say; *ionton*, they [feminine] say. The principal distinction between this feminine conjugation and the masculine is the absence of the letter H, with which the masculine abounds, perhaps to give the women to understand that there ought to be nothing rough or coarse in their words and in their manners, but that the grace and the law of gentleness ought to be set upon their tongues, following that saying of the Sage's, *lex clementiae in lingua ejus*.

But enough of this subject for now, unless some one would also like to learn something about their style. They quite often use comparisons, words expressing time, and proverbs. Here is one of the most remarkable. *'Tichiout etoatendi'*; 'Behold', say they, 'the fallen star', when they see some one who is fat and corpulent; for they believe that once upon a time a star fell from Heaven in the form of a fat Goose. *Amantes sibi somnia fingunt.*

SECOND PART

OF THE BELIEFS, THE MANNERS AND THE
CUSTOMS OF THE HURONS

CHAPTER I

WHAT THE HURONS THINK OF THEIR ORIGIN

ONE IS astonished to see so much blindness in regard to
Heavenly things in a People who do not lack judgement and
perception in those of the earth. This is what their vices and
their brutalities have deserved from God. There are some in-
dications that they formerly had some more than natural know-
ledge of the true God, as may be seen in some details of their
fables. And even if they had had no greater knowledge of it
than that which Nature could furnish to them they ought still
to have been more sensible in this respect, if it had not happen-
ed to them according to the word of the Apostle, *Cum cogno-
vissent Deum, non sicut Deum glorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt, sed
evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et obscuratum est insipiens cor
eorum.* For not having been willing to acknowledge God in
their manners and actions, they have lost the thought of him
and have become worse than beasts in his sight and in regard to
the respect they have for him.

Now, to begin with what is as the foundation of their belief,
the greater part boast of deriving their origin from Heaven,
which they base on the following fable, which passes among
them for truth.

They acknowledge as head of their Nation a certain woman
whom they call Aataentsic and who, they say, fell among them
from Heaven. For they think that the Heavens were there a
long time before this marvel occurred; they cannot tell you
when or how its great bodies were drawn from the abysses of
nothingness. They even think that above the vaults of the
Heavens there was and still is to-day an earth like ours, with
woods, lakes, rivers and fields, like those we have here below
and with Peoples who inhabit them. They do not agree as to
the manner in which this so fortunate descent took place. Some
say that one day, as she was working in her field, she perceived

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a Bear; her dog went off to pursue it and she herself went after them. The Bear, seeing himself closely pressed, and seeking only to evade the teeth of the dog, fell by accident into a hole. The dog followed him, and Aataentsic, having approached the precipice, and finding that neither the Bear nor the dog were any longer to be seen, moved by despair threw herself into it also. Nevertheless, her fall happened to be more favourable than she had supposed; for she fell into the waters of our world without hurting herself, although she was pregnant, after which, the waters having dried little by little, the earth appeared and became habitable.

Others attribute this fall to another cause, which appears to have some relation to the case of Adam, but falsehood prevails in it. They say that the husband of Aataentsic, being very ill, dreamed that it was necessary to cut down a certain tree from the fruit of which lived those who were in Heaven, and that, as soon as he had eaten of the fruit, he would be immediately cur-ed. Aataentsic, knowing the wish of her husband, took his hat-chet and went off with the resolution to do it without delay; but she had no sooner dealt the first blow than the tree at once split almost to her feet and fell here below; she was so aston-ished at this that, after having carried the news to her husband, she returned and threw herself after it. Now, as she fell, the Turtle, having by chance raised her head above the water, per-ceived her, and not knowing what to do, astonished as she was by this wonder, she called the other aquatic animals to get their advice. They immediately assembled, and she showed them what she had seen, asking them what they thought it right to do. The greater part referred the matter to the Beaver, who, out of courtesy, passed the whole matter to the judgement of the Turtle, who then finally made up her mind that they should all promptly set to work, dive to the bottom of the water, bring up soil, and put it on her back. No sooner said than done, and the woman fell very gently on this Island. Some time after, as she was pregnant when she fell, she delivered herself of a daughter, who almost at once became pregnant. If you ask them how, you trouble them very much. At all events, they tell you, she was pregnant. Some refer the cause of it to some

strangers who landed on this Island. I pray you make this agree
with what they say, that there were no men on earth before
Aataentsic fell from the sky.

However that may have been, she gave birth to two boys,
Tawiscaron and Iwskeha, who, having grown up, had some
quarrel with each other; judge whether this is not somewhat
reminiscent of the murder of Abel. They came to blows, but
with very different weapons; Iwskeha had the antlers of a Stag,
while Tawiscaron contented himself with some fruits of the
wild rose bush, convinced that his brother would fall dead at
his feet as soon as he struck him with them. But it happened
quite differently than he had imagined; and Iwskeha, on the
contrary, struck him so rude a blow on his side that the blood
came forth abundantly. The poor wretch immediately fled,
and from his blood, with which these lands were sprinkled,
there arose certain stones similar to those we use in France to
fire a gun, and which the Savages to-day still call *Tawiscara*,
from the name of this unfortunate. His brother pursued him
and finished him off. This is what most of them believe con-
cerning the origin of these Nations.

There are some who do not soar so high and are not ambitious
to the point of believing that they derive their origin from
Heaven. They say that in the beginning of the world the earth
was all covered with water, with the exception of a little Is-
land, which bore the sole hope of the human race, that is, a
single man, whose sole company consisted of a Fox and of a
little animal similar to a Marten, which they call *Tswhendaia*.
The man, seeing himself cut off in so small a slice of country,
and not knowing what to do, asked the Fox to plunge into the
water in order to see if there were any bottom to it; but he had
scarcely wet his paws than he drew back, fearing that this ex-
periment might cost him his life. Thereupon the man became
indignant. ‘Tessandion, thou hast no sense’, he said to him, and
flung him into the water with a kick, where he drank a little
more than his fill. Nevertheless, the man did not at all desist
from his plan, and so well encouraged the little animal that
remained in his company, that it finally resolved to plunge in;
and as it did not suppose that the water was so shallow, it did

this so violently as to dash itself with great force against the bot-
tom, coming back with its snout all covered with mud. The
man, delighted with his happy discovery, exhorted it to go on
and to bring up soil to enlarge the Islet; this it did with so much
assiduity as to cause it to lose its name and to change it into the
vast fields that we see.

If you still press them at this point, and ask them what they think of this man, who gave him life, who put him on this little Island, how could he have been the father of all these Nations, since he was alone and had no companion, you will gain nothing by asking all these questions, or at least, you will get only this solution, which would not be bad if their Religion were good: 'We do not know; so it is said; our Fathers did not teach us further.' What can one say to that? All that we do is to show them that we feel compassion in seeing them in such gross ignorance. From this we take the opportunity, when we judge them capable of understanding, to explain to them some of our Mysteries, and to show them how fully they conform to reason. They listen very willingly and are well satisfied with what we tell them.

But to return to Aataentsic and Iwskeha, they hold that Iws-
keha is the Sun and Aataentsic the Moon, and yet that their
House is situated at the end of the earth, that is, towards our
Oceanic sea. For beyond that it is a lost world to them, and
before they had any intercourse with our Frenchmen, they had
no conception that there was any land but theirs under Heaven;
and now that they are disabused on this point, they still believe,
or at least some of them, that their land and ours are two quite
separate pieces, issued from the hands of different workmen.
They say, then, that four young men once undertook a journey
to find out the truth of it, and that they found Iwskeha all alone
in his Hut, being received very kindly by him. After various
compliments on both sides, in the manner of the Country, he
advised them to hide themselves in some corner, as otherwise
he would not answer for their lives, for Aataentsic intended to
play them a bad trick if they did not keep on their guard. This
Megaera arrived towards evening, and as she can assume any
form she sees fit, perceiving that there were new guests in the

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house, she took the form of a beautiful young girl, handsomely
adorned, with a fine necklace and bracelets of porcelain, and
asked her son where his guests were. He replied that he did not
know what she meant. On that she left the House, and Iwskeha
took advantage of the opportunity to warn his guests, and saved
their lives. Now, although their House is so very far away,
they nevertheless are both present at the feasts and the dances
which take place in the villages. Aataentsic is often badly mal-
treated there, and Iwskeha throws the blame for this on a cer-
tain horned oki named Tehonrressandeen, but it finally turns
out that it is he who disguises himself and thus insults his
mother.

For the rest, they consider themselves greatly indebted to this
personage. For, in the first place, in the opinion of some who
hold a belief quite contrary to those of which we have so far
spoken, without him we would not have so many fine rivers
and so many beautiful lakes. In the beginning of the world, say
they, the earth was dry and arid, and all the waters were gather-
ed together under the armpit of a great frog, so that Iwskeha
could not have a drop without its permission. One day he re-
solved to deliver himself and all his Posterity from this servi-
tude; and, in order to attain this, he made an incision under the
armpit, from which the waters came forth in such abundance
that they spread throughout the whole earth, and thence the
rivers, the lakes and the seas took their birth. Is this not a subtle
solution of the question of our Schools on this point?

They also believe that without Iwskeha their cauldrons would
not boil and that he learned from the Turtle the art of making
fire. Without him they would not have such good hunting and
would not so easily be able to capture animals in the chase as
they now are. For they hold the belief that animals were not at
liberty from the beginning of the world, but that they were
shut up in a great cavern, where Iwskeha guarded them. Per-
haps there is some allusion in this to the fact that God brought
all the animals to Adam. They believe that one day, however,
he resolved to let them go in order that they might multiply
and fill the forests, in such a way, at least, that he might easily
dispose of them when it should seem good to him. This is what

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he did in order to accomplish his end. As they left the cave he wounded them all in the foot with an arrow-shot; however, the Wolf eluded the arrow, which is the reason, say they, that they have difficulty in catching him in the chase.

They go even further and regard him as profane Antiquity did Ceres. According to them it is Iwskeha who gives them the corn they eat; it is he who makes it grow and brings it to maturity; if they see their fields verdant in the Spring, if they gather good and abundant harvests, and if their Huts are gorged with ears of corn, they owe it only to Iwskeha. I do not know what God intends for us this year, but to judge from the rumours going round, we are threatened in real earnest with a great scarcity. Iwskeha, it is said, has been seen all dejected and as thin as a skeleton, with a very meagre ear of corn in his hand. Others add that he was carrying a human leg and was tearing it fiercely with his teeth. All that, say they, is an indubitable sign of a very bad year. But the amusing thing is that there is not one to be found in the Country who will say, 'I have seen him', or 'I have spoken to a man who has seen him', and yet they all believe this as an indubitable fact, and no one takes the trouble to make a more exact enquiry into the truth of it. If it should please the divine Goodness to give the lie to these false Prophets, it would be no small benefit to us in giving our belief authority in the Country, and to promote the spread of the holy Gospel. We have received and are every day receiving so many favours from Heaven, that we have reason to hope for this one as well, if so be that it is for the glory of God.

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CHAPTER II

THE IDEAS OF THE HURONS CONCERNING
THE NATURE AND CONDITION OF THE SOUL,
BOTH IN THIS LIFE AND AFTER DEATH

IT IS amusing to hear them speak of their souls, or rather, it is a thing altogether worthy of compassion to see rational men hold such low opinions concerning an essence so noble and bearing such distinct marks of Divinity. They give it various names according to its different conditions and different functions. In so far as it merely animates the body and gives it life, they call it khiondhecwi; in so far as it is rational, oki andaerandi, like a demon, counterfeiting a demon; in so far as it thinks and deliberates about anything, they call it endionrra; and gonennoncwal, in so far as it bears affection towards any object, whence it comes that they often say, 'Ondayee ihaton onennnocwal', 'This is what my heart tells me, this is what my appetite desires'. Then, if it is separated from the body they call it esken, and even the bones of the dead they call atisken. They do so, in my opinion, because of the false belief they have that the soul remains in some way attached to them for some time after death, at least if it is not too distant from them. They conceive the soul as being divisible, and you would have all the difficulty in the world in convincing them that our soul resides completely in all the parts of our body. They even give it a head, arms, legs, in a word, a body; and to put them in great perplexity it is only necessary to ask them how the soul leaves at death, if it be really corporeal and has a body as large as that which it animates; for to that they have no reply.

In regard to the state of the soul after death, they hold that it
separates from the body in such a way that it does not abandon
it immediately. When the body is carried to the grave, the soul
walks in front, and remains in the cemetery until the feast of
the Dead. By night it walks about the villages and enters the
Huts, where it takes part in the feast and eats from what is left
in the evening in the cauldron, whence it comes that many, on
this account, do not eat from it willingly the following day.
There are even some who are not to be found in the feasts given

103

for the souls, believing that they will undoubtedly die if they so
much as taste the food prepared for these; others, however,
are not so scrupulous and eat their fill.

At the feast of the Dead, which is held about every twelve
years, the souls leave the cemeteries and, in the opinion of some,
change into Turtledoves, which they afterwards pursue in the
woods with bow and arrow, in order to broil and eat them.
Nevertheless, the most common belief is that after this cere-
mony, of which I shall speak below, they go away together,
covered as they are with the robes and necklaces which have
been put into the grave for them, to a big Village, which lies to-
wards the setting Sun—except, however, the old people and the
little children, whose limbs are not as well able as the others to
make this journey; these remain in the country, where they
have their special Villages. One sometimes hears, they say, the
noise of the doors of their Huts, and the voices of the children
chasing the birds from their fields. They sow corn in its season
and use the fields which the living have abandoned. If any Vil-
lage is burned, which often happens in this country, they are
careful to gather the roasted corn from the midst of the blaze
and use it as a part of their provisions.

The stronger and more robust souls have their meeting-place,
as I have already said, towards the West, where each Nation has
its special Village; and if the soul of an Algonquin were so bold
as to present itself at the Village of the Bear Nation's souls, it
would not be welcomed.

The souls of those who died in war form a band apart; the
others fear them and do not allow them to come into their Vil-
lage, any more than the souls of those who kill themselves. As
for the souls of the thieves, they are quite welcome there, and if
they were banished there would not be a soul left there; for, as
I have said, Huron and thief are one, and the most prosperous
man in the Country will do all he can to put his hand on it if he
finds anything he likes lying on one side in your house.

I asked one of our Savages one day where they thought the
Village of souls to be. He answered that it was towards the Pe-
tun Nation, that is, towards the West, eight leagues from us,
and that some people had seen them as they were going there,

that the road they took was broad and fairly smooth, and that
they passed near a rock called Ecaregniondi, which is often
found to be marked with the paint they use to daub their faces.

Another told me that on the same road, before arriving at the
Village, one comes to a Hut where lives one named Oscotarach,
or Pierce-head, who draws the brains out of the heads of the
dead and keeps them. You have to pass a river and the only
bridge you have is the trunk of a tree laid across it and very
slightly supported. The crossing is guarded by a dog, who
jumps at many souls and makes them fall; as they do so they are
carried away by the violence of the torrent and are stifled in the
waters. ‘But’, said I to him, ‘whence have you learned all this
news concerning the other world?’ ‘It is’, he told me, ‘people
brought back to life who have reported this.’

It is thus that the devil deceives them in their dreams. It is
thus that he speaks to them by the mouths of some who recover
health after having been left for dead, and chatter at random
about the other life according to the ideas given to them by this
wicked master. According to them the Village of souls is in no
way unlike the Villages of the living. There they go hunting,
fishing and to the woods; and axes, robes and necklaces are as
much esteemed there as among the living. In a word, every-
thing there is the same; there is only this difference, that they do
nothing day and night but groan and complain. They have
Chiefs, who cry halt from time to time and try to bring some
moderation into their sighs and lamentations. Dear God, what
ignorance and stupidity! *Illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra
mortis sedent.*

Now this false belief they have about the souls is sustained a-
mong them by means of certain tales which the fathers tell to their
children; these are so badly put together that I cannot enough
express my astonishment to see that men believe them and take
them for true. Here are two of the silliest, which I have obtained
from persons of intelligence and judgement among them.

A Savage, having lost one of his sisters, whom he loved above
all the rest, and having wept her death for some time, resolved
to seek her in whatever part of the world she might be. He
travelled for twelve days, without eating or drinking, towards

the setting Sun, where was, he had been told, the Village of
souls. At the end of this time his sister appeared to him in the
evening, with a dish of meal cooked in water after the fashion
of the country, which she gave to him, and disappeared the mo-
ment he wanted to put his hand on her to stop her. He went
on and journeyed three whole months, hoping always to suc-
ceed in his aim. During all this time she never failed to show
herself every day and to render him the same service she had at
first, thus always increasing his desire without giving him any
other consolation than the little food which she brought him.
The three months ended, he came to a river, which at first
troubled him, for it was very rapid and apparently could not be
forded. There were indeed some fallen trees which lay across
it, but this bridge was so shaky that he had not the courage to
trust himself to it. What should he do? There was a piece of
cleared land on the other side, which made him think that he
would find some inhabitants there. In fact, after looking this
side and that he perceived a little Hut on the outskirts of the
wood. He cried out several times, and a man appeared, who
immediately shut himself up in his Hut. This rejoiced him and
made him resolve to attempt the crossing. Having successfully
accomplished it he went straightway to this Hut, but finding
the door shut, he knocked on it. The answer was that he should
wait, and that he should first pass his arm if he wanted to come
in; the other was astonished to see a living body, opened the
door to him, and asked him where he was going and what he
wanted, since this country was only for souls.

'I know it well,' said this Adventurer, 'that is why I have come
here to seek the soul of my sister.'

'Indeed,' answered the other. 'Excellent! Come, take courage,
you are practically at the Village of souls, and you will find
there what you desire. All the souls are now assembled in a
House, where they are dancing to heal Aataentsic, who is ill.
Fear not to enter. Stay, here is a gourd, you can put the soul of
your sister into it.'

He took it and at the same time bid farewell to his host, very
glad to have made so happy an encounter. On his departure he
asked the host for his name.

'Be satisfied', said the other, 'that I am he who keeps the brains of the dead. When thou hast recovered the soul of thy sister, pass this way again and I will give thee her brains.'

The brother therefore went away and, having arrived at the Village of souls, went into the House of Aataentsic, where in fact he found them dancing for her health; but as yet he could not see the soul of his sister, for the souls were so frightened at the sight of this man that they vanished in an instant, so that he remained all day alone in the House. In the evening, as he was seated by the fire, they returned, but at first they only showed themselves from far; little by little, having approached, they began again to dance. He recognized his sister amid the troop, and even tried to catch her; but she fled from him. He withdrew to one side and finally judged his time so well that she could not escape. Nevertheless, he was not too easily assured of his prey, for he had to struggle with her the whole night, and in the fight she shrank so much and became so little that he was able to put her into his gourd without difficulty. Having corked her in well, he at once returned by way of his host, who gave him his sister's brains in another gourd, and instructed him in all that he needed to do in order to resuscitate her.

'When thou reachest home', he told him, 'go thy ways to the cemetery, take the body of thy sister, bear it into thy Hut, and make a feast. When all the guests are assembled, take it on thy shoulders and bear it round the Hut, carrying the two gourds in thy hands; thou wilt no sooner have resumed thy place than thy sister will resuscitate, provided thou givest orders that all should keep their eyes lowered and that not one should look at what thou art doing, otherwise everything will go wrong.'

In a very short time the man returned to his Village, took the body of his sister, made a feast, and carried out in due order all the things laid down for him; and in fact he already felt some movement in this half-decayed corpse; but, as he was within two or three steps of his place, one curious man raised his eyes and at once the soul escaped and only the corpse remained in his arms, which he was constrained to bear back to the tomb whence he had taken it.

SI CREDERE FAS EST.

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Here is another of their fables of like tissue. A young man of the highest standing among them, being ill, after being long en-treated, at last answered that his dream showed a bow rolled in bark, and that if they would escort him, there was only one man on earth who had one of that sort. A troop of resolute men set off with him; but at the end of ten days only six com-panions remained to him, the rest having turned back on ac-count of the hunger which pressed them. The six went with him for many a day, and, in following the track of a little black animal, they came upon the Hut of their man, who warned them to eat nothing of what a woman who was about to return would prepare for them the first time. Having obeyed this and having upset the dishes on the ground, they perceived that it was only venomous beasts she had offered them. Having re-freshed themselves with the second course, they were asked to bend the rolled bow, which not one of them succeeded in do-ing except the young man for whom the journey had been un-dertaken. He received it as a gift from his host, who invited him to sweat with him and, on leaving the sweat-house, meta-morphosed one of his companions into a Pine-tree. From there they went on to the Village of souls, whence only three return-ed alive and all frightened to their host, who encouraged them to return home with the help of a little meal, such as the souls eat and which sustain the body marvellously. He told them that they would pass through woods in which Deer, Bears, and Moose were as common as the leaves on the trees; but that, be-ing provided with so marvellous a bow, they had nothing to fear and that they would perform marvels in their hunting. Be-hold them returned to their Village, with all the people around them, rejoicing and learning of their various adventures.

*Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit, when these poor people, enlightened by heaven, will laugh, as we hope, at their own follies.*

### CHAPTER III

#### THAT THE HURONS ACKNOWLEDGE SOME DIVINITY; OF THEIR SUPERSTITIONS; AND OF THE BELIEF THEY HAVE IN DREAMS

AS THESE poor Savages, being men, could not have been completely unaware of God, and, being wicked, could only have ideas of him unworthy of his greatness, they have neither sought him nor acknowledged him except in direct connection with those created things from which they have hoped for happiness or dreaded some misfortune. They turn to the Earth, to the Rivers, to the Lakes, to dangerous Rocks, but above all to the Sky, believing that all these things are animate and that some powerful Demon resides in them. They are not satisfied merely with making vows, but often accompany them with a sort of sacrifice. I have observed two kinds of these. The ones are to render them propitious and favourable to them, the others to appease them when they consider that they have received some punishment from them or imagine that they have incurred their anger and their indignation. Here are the ceremonies which they perform in these sacrifices. They throw some Tobacco into the fire and if it is, for example, to the Sky that they address themselves, they say, *'Aronhiate onne aon-staniwas taitenr'*; 'O Sky, here is what I offer thee in sacrifice, have pity on me, help me'. If it is done to implore for health, *'Taenguiaens'*; 'Heal me'.

They have recourse to the Sky in almost all their needs, and revere its great bodies above all created things, observing especially in it something divine. It is, in truth, after man, the most vivid image we have of Divinity; there is nothing that represents him to us so clearly; we observe his omnipotence in the prodigious effects they cause here below, his immensity in their vast size, his wisdom in their ordered movements, his goodness in the benign influences they shed continually over all creatures, and his beauty in the Sun and in the faces of the Stars. I say this to show how easy it will be in time and with divine assistance to lead these Peoples to the knowledge of their Creator, since they already honour so especially a created thing which is so

109

perfect an image of him. And I may say, further, that it is
really God whom they honour, even though blindly, for they
suppose that there is in the Heavens an Oki, that is, a Demon or
power who regulates the seasons of the year, who holds the
winds and the waves of the sea in check, who can render favour-
able the course of their voyages, and help them in their every
need. They even fear his anger, and invoke him in order to ren-
der their words inviolable when they make some promise of
importance or enter into some agreement or treaty of peace
with the enemy. Here are the terms they use, ‘*Hakhrihote
ekaronhiate twt Icwakhier ekentate*’, ‘The Sky hears what we
are doing to-day’; and they believe that if they violate their
word after this, or break this alliance, the Sky will infallibly
chastize them.

They consider even more strongly that it is not good to mock
the Sky. Here is a most remarkable proof of it. A very famous
Sorcerer in this Country threatens us this year with a great
famine. The corn will grow, says he, and will shoot into ears,
the children will even roast them when they are green, but a
white frost will supervene which will destroy the hopes of the
Country. He does not on this occasion base what he says on
those alleged apparitions of Iwskeha. This is what leads him to
speak in this way. ‘Every day’, says he, ‘they cry out to the Sky
“*aronhiate onne aonstaancwas*”, and nevertheless they give it
nothing. This annoys the Sky, it will not fail to revenge itself,
and, when the corn shall begin to mature, it will no doubt let
loose the effects of its wrath.’

They also believe that the Sky is angered when anyone is
drowned or dies of cold; a sacrifice is needed to appease it, but,
good God! what a sacrifice, or rather what butchery! The flesh
of the dead person is the victim which is to be immolated. A
gathering of the neighbouring villages takes place; many a feast
is held and gifts are not spared, as the matter is one in which the
whole Country is concerned. The body is carried into the
cemetery and is stretched out on a mat. On one side is a ditch
and on the other a fire for the sacrifice. At the same time some
young men chosen by the relatives come forward and station
themselves around the corpse, each with a knife in his hand;

110

and the protector of the dead person, having marked with a
coal the parts that are to be cut, they vie with each other in cut-
ting the corpse and in tearing off the fleshiest parts. Finally they
open the body and draw out the entrails, which they throw in-
to the fire with all the pieces of flesh they have cut off, flinging
the stripped carcass into the ditch. I have noticed that during
this butchery the women walk all round several times and en-
courage the young men who cut up the body to render this
good service to the whole Country, putting Porcelain beads in-
to their mouths. Sometimes even the mother of the dead per-
son, all bathed in tears, joins the party and sings in a pitiful tone,
lamenting the death of her son. That done, they firmly believe
that they have appeased the Sky. If they fail to carry out this
ceremony they look upon all the evil changes in the air and all
the untoward accidents which happen to them afterwards, as so
many effects of its anger.

Last year, at the beginning of November, a Savage was drown-
ed when returning from fishing. He was buried on the seven-
teenth without ceremony. On the same day snow fell in such
abundance that it hid the earth throughout the winter; and our
Savages failed not to cast the blame on their not having cut up
the body in the usual way. Such are the sacrifices they make to
render the Sky favourable.

On the road the Hurons take to Kebec there are some Rocks
that they particularly reverence and to which they never fail to
offer some tobacco when they go down to trade. They call one
of them Hihihwray, that is, a Rock where the Owl makes its
nest. But the most celebrated is the one they call Tsanhohi Ar-
asta, the dwelling of Tsanhohi, which is a species of bird of
prey. They relate wonders of this Rock. According to them it
was formerly a man, who was, I know not how, changed into
stone. Be that as it may, they still distinguish the head, the
arms, and the body; but he must have been amazingly power-
ful, for this mass is so vast and so high that their arrows cannot
reach it. For the rest, they hold that in the hollow of this Rock
there is a Demon who is able to make their voyage succeed;
this is why they stop when they get to it and offer it Tobacco,
which they simply put into one of the clefts, while addressing

III

this prayer to it: 'Oki ca ichikhon condayee aenwaen ondayee d'aonstaancwas, etc.', 'Demon who dwellest in this place, here is some Tobacco which I present to thee; help us, guard us from shipwreck, defend us against our enemies, and enable us to return safe and sound to our Village after having made good trades.' On this I would willingly say, *Voluntaria oris eorum beneplacita fac Domine*, My God, hear them and make yourself known to them, for they desire to address themselves to you.

They hold fish to be rational, as also the Deer and Moose; it is for this reason that they do not throw to the Dogs either the bones of the latter when they are hunting or the remains of the former when they are fishing. Otherwise, when the others got to hear of it they would hide themselves and would not let themselves be taken. Every year they marry their nets or Seines to two little girls, who must not be more than six or seven years of age, for fear lest they should already have lost their virginity, which is a very rare quality among them. The ceremony of these espousals takes place in a good feast, where the Seines are placed between these two virgins, in order to render them successful in catching fish. I am nevertheless very glad that virginity receives this kind of honour among them; this may help us one day in making them understand its value. Fish, say they, do not like the dead, and hence they abstain from going fishing when one of them has died. Lately, when they took up the bodies of their relatives from the cemetery and bore them into their Houses, on the occasion of the feast of the dead, some of them brought their nets to us, alleging as a pretext their fear of fire, for it is usually at this time that fire often ruins entire Villages; that we were nearly always on foot and slept very little; that we were removed from the Village, and consequently in less danger in that respect. But all this was nothing but talk; the true reason was, as we learned afterwards, that they feared lest their nets should be profaned by the proximity of the carcasses. Here is something, to be sure; but it is the foundation of the greater part of their superstition.

They have a faith in dreams that surpasses all belief; and if Christians put into effect all their divine inspirations with as

112

much care as our Savages put their dreams into execution, they
would undoubtedly very soon become great Saints. They take
their dreams for ordinances and irrevocable decrees, the execu-
tion of which cannot be deferred without crime. A Savage of
our Village dreamed this winter, in his first sleep, that he ought
straightway to make a feast, and at once, night as it was, he a-
rose and came to awaken us and to borrow one of our cauldrons.

The dream is the oracle that all these poor Peoples consult and
obey, the Prophet which predicts future events to them, the
Cassandra which warns them of misfortunes that threaten them,
the customary Doctor in their illnesses, the Aesculapius and
Galen of the whole Country; it is the most absolute master they
have. If a Chief speaks one way and a dream another, the Chief
can shout his head off in vain, for the dream will be obeyed the
sooner. It is the Mercury of their voyages, the Economy of
their families. The dream often presides in their councils; trad-
ing, fishing and hunting are usually undertaken by permission
of it, and almost as if only to satisfy it. There is nothing so pre-
cious in their trading that they would not willingly deprive
themselves of it for the sake of some dream. If they have hunt-
ed successfully, if they return from their fishing with their Can-
oes laden with fish, all this is dependent on their dreaming. A
dream will sometimes lose them their provision for a whole
year. It prescribes a feast, the dances, the songs, the games, in a
word, the dream does everything here and is in truth to be re-
garded as the chief God of the Hurons. Moreover, let no one
think that I am deliberately amplifying or exaggerating; the ex-
perience of the five years I have spent in studying the customs
and usages of our Savages compels me to speak in this way.

It is true that not all dreams are held in such esteem; the dream-
er is taken into consideration, and there are some who could
dream what they wished and no one would stir a step for them.
Similarly, if it is a poor person, his dreams get little considera-
tion. It must be a person who is fairly well off and whose
dreams have several times been found to be true. And even
those who have the gift of dreaming well do not pay heed to
all their dreams equally; they acknowledge some to be false and
some true, the latter, they say, being quite rare. Nevertheless,

H

113

in practice, they act differently, and act on dreams so badly put
together and made up of so many fragments so little related to
each other, that I should not find it possible to say what they
consider to be false dreams and what true; I think they would
themselves have difficulty in doing so. This is why many of
them, for fear of making a mistake, carry out most dreams. If
there is any obscurity in a dream, or if the things they have
dreamed are either impossible or difficult to accomplish, or are
out of season, Artemidoruses are to be found who interpret
them and who cut and chop them as they see fit.

When children are ill the fathers or the mothers dream for them. We saw an example of this in our Village this winter. One of our little Christians was very ill; his mother dreamed that to make him well he required a hundred cakes of Tobacco and four Beavers, with which she would make a feast; but because Tobacco was scarce the hundred cakes were reduced to ten, and the Beavers, being out of season, were changed into four large fish, which passed for Beavers in the feast, and their tails were given to the principals as Beaver tails. After that this little Angel did not delay in flying away to heaven, to the great regret of its parents, but with much consolation to us. These innocent souls no doubt have great power with God to bring about the conversion of their fathers, and even to pray for very special graces for those who occupy themselves in the salvation of these Peoples and who have procured for them the blessing of which they see themselves in possession forever.

But let us pass on; we have not yet exhausted their supersti-
tions.

## CHAPTER IV

OF THE FEASTS, AND GAMES OF DISH AND CROSSE, AND OF WHAT THEY CALL ONONHAROIA

I DO NOT undertake to mention in every detail what our Savages are accustomed to do by virtue of their dreams; I should be obliged to display too many chimeras. I will content myself with saying that their dreams usually relate either to a feast, or to singing, or to dancing, or to playing, or lastly to a certain kind of mania which they indeed call *Ononharoia*, that is, turning the brain upside down. If, then, it happens that some-one of some consideration falls ill, a Chief, on behalf of the Old Men, goes so often to ask him what he has dreamed that at last he finds out from him what he desires for his health, and then they all put themselves to trouble to find it for him; if it does not exist it must be got. From this mode of action, and from the fact that they freely exercise hospitality among themselves, taking nothing except from us, from whom they always expect something, I preserve the hope that they will one day become capable of Christian charity.

The *ononhara* is for the mad; on these occasions someone says that they must go through the Houses in order to tell what they have dreamed. Then, as soon as it is evening, a troop of maniacs goes about the Houses, upsetting everything. The following day they return, shouting as loudly as they can, 'We have dreamed', without saying what. Those in the Houses guess what it is and present it to the band, who refuse nothing until the right thing is guessed. You can see them coming out with Hatchets, Cauldrons, Porcelain and similar presents loaded on their backs. When they have found what they were looking for, they thank the one who gave it to them, and, after having received some additions to this mysterious gift, as of leather or an awl if it was a shoe, they go off in a body to the woods, there, say they, to cast the madness out of the Village; and the sick man begins to get better. Why not? He has what he wanted or what the Devil claimed.

As regards the feasts, they form an endless subject. The Devil

115

holds them so strongly attached to them that they could not
possibly be more so, knowing well that it is the way to render
them ever more brutal and less susceptible to supernatural
truths. They ascribe their origin to a certain meeting of the
Wolves and the Owl, in which this nocturnal animal predicted
for them the coming of Ontarraoura, which is an animal allied
to the Lion by its tail [¿qui retire au Lyon par la queüe]. This
Ontarraoura, they say, resuscitated I know not which good
Hunter, a great friend of the Wolves, in the midst of a fine
feast. Whence they conclude that feasts must be capable of
healing the sick, since they even restore life to the dead. Is this
not well reasoned for slaves of the belly and table?

All these feasts can be divided into four classes. *Athataion* is
the feast of farewells; *Enditeuhwa*, of thanksgiving and col-
lective enjoyment; *Atwront aochien* is a feast for singing as
much as for eating; *Awataerohi* is the fourth kind, and is held
for deliverance from an illness of that name.

The ceremonies here are almost the same as those of the Mon-
tagnais; this is why I mainly refer to the Relations of preced-
ing years for information about them.

I blush to say how often they spend entire days and nights in
them, for, after all, they must empty the cauldron; and if you
cannot swallow in a single day all that has been served to you,
and if you cannot find anyone who is willing to help you in
consideration of a gift, you will be left, when the others have
done their duty, in a little enclosure into which no one but you
may enter, for the entire twenty-four hours. A feast is an im-
portant thing, they cry, while driving away those who present
themselves when the gorging has begun and when the distri-
tributor has filled each one's bowl, in which there is usually
enough to keep one eating from morning to evening. And the
one who has finished first has to serve himself again and again
until the cauldron is emptied. Is it not true, on hearing all this and
several other examples of gluttony, which I forbear to describe,
to say that *si Regnum Dei non est esca et potus*, if the Kingdom of
God is not in drinking and eating, it certainly is the one that the
Devil has usurped over these poor blind people. May it please our
Lord to have pity on them and to deliver them from this tyranny.

116

But there is nothing so magnificent as the festivals which they
call *Atwronta ochien*, that is, Singing feast. These feasts will
often last for the entire twenty-four hours. Sometimes there
will be thirty or forty cauldrons, and as many as thirty Deer
will be eaten. This last winter one was held in the village of
Andiata, consisting of twenty-five cauldrons, in which there
were fifty great fish as large as our largest Pike in France, and six
score others of the size of our Salmon. At Contarrea another took
place of thirty cauldrons, in which there were twenty Deer and
four Bears. Also there is usually a large company, for eight or
nine villages, and even the whole Country, will often be in-
vited. In that case the master of the feast sends to each Chief as
many sticks as he invites persons from each Village.

Sometimes they give these Feasts out of pure vainglory and
to become renowned; at other times, when they take a new
name, principally when they resuscitate, as they say, the name
of some defunct Chief who had been held in esteem in the
Country for his valour and his skill in the management of
affairs; but above all when they prepare to take arms and go to
war. The largest House in the Village is set aside for the recep-
tion of the company. They make no difficulties about incon-
veniencing themselves for each other on these occasions. The
matter is considered to be of such importance that when they
build a Village they put up one House much bigger than the
others, expressly for this purpose; it is sometimes made up to
twenty-five and thirty brasses in length.

The company being assembled, the singing is sometimes be-
gun before eating; sometimes, to have more courage, they eat
first. If the feast is to last, as often happens, the whole day, one
lot of cauldrons is emptied in the morning and the other is re-
served for the evening.

In the midst of these songs and dances some take the opportu-
tunity to knock down their enemies, as if in play. Their most
usual cries are *hen*, *hen*, or *heeeee*, or else *wiiiiiii*. They ascribe
the origin of all these mysteries to a certain superhuman Giant,
whom one of them wounded in the forehead when they dwelt
on the shore of the sea, for not having answered with the com-
pliment *Kwai*, which is the usual response of those whom one

greets. This monster, in punishment for his wound, threw the
apple of discord among them, and after having commended to
them the war feasts, *Ononharoia*, and the refrain *wiiiiiii*, he
sank into the earth and disappeared. Could this possibly have
been some infernal spirit?

Since we are dealing with this subject, I may mention that they
acknowledge a kind of war God; they conceive him as a little
Dwarf. According to them he appears to many when they are
about to go to war. He caresses some, and this is a sign, they
say, that they will return victorious; the others he strikes on the
forehead, and these can well say that they will not go to the war
without losing their lives.

Let us return to the feasts. The *Awtaerohi* is a remedy used for
only one particular kind of illness, which they also call *Awtaer-
*ohi*, from the name of a little Demon as big as a fist, whom they
suppose to be in the body of the sick man, especially in the part
that hurts him. They find out that they are suffering from this
illness by means of a dream or by the intervention of some Sor-
cerer. I had one day gone to visit a woman who thought her-
self ill with the *Awtaerohi*, and, having given her another cause
for her illness and mocked her Awtaerohi, she began to apos-
trophize this Demon, saying, ‘Awtaerohi *hechrio Kihenkhon*’,
‘Awtaerohi, ah, I pray thee that this one may know who thou
art and that thou wilt make him feel the pains thou makest me
suffer’. Now, to drive away this Demon, they make feasts
which they accompany by certain songs, which very few of
them can sing well.

Here is enough cause for tears at the feet of the Altars; but
alas, this is not yet all. Apart from those I have just described, I
could still set out as many different kinds of feasts as there are
extravagances in their dreams; for, as I have said, it is usually
the dreams which order the feasts and even arrange down to
the smallest ceremonies to be observed in them. From them
come those vomiting feasts which horrify most of them, and
which whoever is invited must nevertheless resign himself to
attend and to make the best of, for the feast would otherwise be
spoiled. Sometimes a sick man will dream that it is necessary
for the guests to come in by a certain door of the House and

not by the other, or that they must pass only by a certain side of
the cauldron, and that otherwise he would not be cured. Is
there anything more ridiculous?

There are up to twelve kinds of dances, which are as many
sovereign remedies for illness; now to know whether this or
that is appropriate for such and such an illness, only a dream, or
else the Arendiowane, that is, the Sorcerer, can determine.

Of three kinds of games especially in use among these Peoples,
namely, those of crosse, dish, and straw, the first two, say they,
are absolutely sovereign for the health. Is this not worthy of
compassion? Here is a poor sick man, his body all afire and his
soul almost on the wing, and a wretched Sorcerer will order for
him, in order to cool him, a game of crosse. Or the sick man
himself will sometimes have dreamed that he must die unless
the whole country plays crosse for his health; and, however
low his standing, you will at once see Village contending a-
gainst Village in a fine field to see who can play crosse the
better, and betting Beaver robes and Porcelain necklaces against
one another in order to arouse themselves even more.

Sometimes, also, one of these Jugglers will say that the whole
Country is ill, and will ask for a game of crosse to heal it; no
more needs to be said; it is immediately announced every-
where; and all the Chiefs of each Village give orders for all the
young men to do their duty in this respect, as some great mis-
fortune would otherwise fall upon the Country.

The game of dish also has great standing in matters of medi-
cine, especially if the sick man has dreamed of it. This game
is one of pure chance. They play it with six plum stones, white
on one side and black on the other, in a dish which they strike
very roughly against the earth, so that the stones leap up, fall-
ing sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other. The
object is to throw all white or all black. They usually play Vil-
lage against Village. Everybody gathers in a House, and they
disperse themselves on poles fixed on all sides up to the roof.
The sick man is brought in a blanket, and the man of that Vil-
lage who is to shake the dish (for there is only one appointed by
each side for this purpose), that one, I say, walks behind, his
head and face wrapped in his robe. They bet widely and heavily

on this side and that. When the man of the opposed party
has the dish, they cry at the tops of their voices *achinc*, *achinc*,
*achinc*, three, three, three, or else *ioio*, *ioio*, *ioio*, wishing that
he should throw only three white or three black.

You could this winter have seen a large troop leaving here to
go back to their Villages, having lost their moccasins at a time
when there was nearly three feet of snow, nevertheless appear-
ing as cheerful as if they had won. What I find most remark-
able in this matter is the attitude they have towards it. There
are some who fast for several days before playing; on the eve of
the game they all assemble in a House and make a feast to find
out what will be the result of the game. The one who is chosen
to hold the dish takes the stones and puts them at random into a
dish, which he covers, so that no one can put his hand into it.
That done, they sing; the song over they uncover the dish and
the stones are found all white or all black. On this point I asked
a Savage whether those against whom they were to play did
not do the same on their side, and whether they might not find
the stones in the same state. He said yes. 'And yet', said I to
him, 'all cannot win'; to that he knew not what to answer. He
informed me further of two remarkable things: first, that they
chose, to handle the dish, someone who had dreamed that he
would win or who had a charm; for the rest, those who have
one, whatever it may be, do not conceal it, and carry it every-
where with them; they say that a man in our Village rubs the
stones with a certain ointment and scarcely ever fails to win.
Secondly, that in making the preliminary test, some of the
stones disappeared and some time later were found to have re-
appeared in the dish with the others.

Amid all these puerilities I dare not relate the infamies and
lubricities which the Devil insinuates into them, causing them
to see in their dreams that they can be cured only by wallowing
in all sorts of filth. May he who has saved us by the blood of
the immaculate Lamb consent to remedy this as soon as possi-
ble, accepting for this purpose, if need be, our souls and our
lives, which we most freely offer to him for the salvation of
these Peoples and the remission of our sins.

CHAPTER V

WHETHER THERE ARE SORCERERS AMONG
THE HURONS

HERE ARE some conjectures concerning this subject; the
wiser will judge of them. In the first place, this People is not so
stupified as not to seek and to acknowledge something more
lofty than the senses; and, since their licentious life and their
lewdness prevent them from finding God, it is very easy for the
Devil to insinuate himself and to offer them his services in the
urgent need in which he sees them. He makes them pay him
with a worship which is not his due, and makes himself the
familiar of certain of the more cunning, who give him standing
among these poor people.

2. Nothing is more commonly seen here than charms. Children inherit them from their fathers, if they have been found to be good, and they make no secret of them, as I have just said. We have a Savage in our Village, nicknamed the Fisherman on account of his luck in fishing. This man attributes all his good fortune to the ashes of a certain little bird that is called *Ohguione*, which, according to him, penetrates the trunks of trees without resistance. When he goes fishing he mixes the ashes of this bird with a little water and, having rubbed his nets with this paste, he feels confident that the fish will enter them in abundance; he has, in fact, acquired a reputation for this.

3. Among this People there are men who claim to command the rain and the winds; others to predict future events; others to find lost objects; others, lastly, to restore health to the sick, and this with remedies that have not the slightest relation to the illnesses.

Nobody, in my opinion, will dare to say that they have these
gifts from God. That all their doings are trickery or imagina-
tion scarcely accords with the reputation they have acquired
and the length of time they have made these claims. How is it
that their impostures have not been exposed during so many
years and that their craft has acquired so high a standing and has
always been so well rewarded, if they have never succeeded ex-
cept by pure imagination? No one dares to contradict them.

They are continually at feasts which take place at their command. There is therefore some evidence that the Devil sometimes guides their hands and reveals himself to them for some temporal benefit and for their eternal damnation.

Let us consider some examples of these things. Onditachiae is famous in the Petun Nation, like a Jupiter among the Pagans of olden times, for having the rains and the winds and the thunder in his power. This thunder, according to him, is a man like a Turkey-cock; the Sky is his Palace, and he retires there when the air is serene; the clouds rumble when he leaves it and comes down to earth to get his provision of adders and serpents and of all they call *Oki*; lightning occurs as and when he spreads or folds his wings. If the uproar is a little greater, it is because his little ones have accompanied him and help him to make a noise as best they can. Asking the man who told me this tale whence he thought the drought came, he replied that it came from the caterpillars, over which Onditachiae has no power. And, asking him why the lightning struck trees, 'It is there', said he, 'that it lays in its supplies'. 'Why does it burn Houses? Why does it kill men?' 'Chieske? How do I know?' This is their refrain when they are driven to the wall.

As for the prediction of the future which is neither very distant nor difficult to know from its causation, Louis de Sainte-Foi has assured me that when they were going to war one of these Jugglers, as he came out of the Sweat-house, predicted that they would meet the Iroquois at a specified spot. It is indeed probable that the Devil arranged this for him. I could mention many other cases which in the upshot were found to be false, and with which a good old man delighted me a little while since. 'Ah,' said he, 'there is a greater Master than he.' He spoke of a certain false Prophet who had been deceived in his calculations. Was it not well said for a Savage? And is there not truly something in this to inspire some hope for what we are seeking here?

The most famous among these Sorcerers or Tricksters are the *Arendiwane*, who undertake, after a feast or a Sweat, to tell a sick man the seat and the nature of his illness, and then abandon him. It is true that some order one to make a dog feast, another

to play crosse or dish, another to sleep on such and such a skin,
and other foolish and diabolical extravagances; another to take
an emetic, to make him vomit the charm, if there is one, as I
myself saw when I was at La Rochelle, where a poor woman,
after some doses of water, threw up a coal as big as one's thumb
—and a Savage assured me that he had seen sand issue from
every part of the body of another, who had a fever, after his
*Arendiwane* had shaken him as one would shake a sieve.

Formerly these offices of *Arendiwane* were more highly re-
garded than they now are; they now have them at many of the
feasts. There was a time when it was necessary to fast for thirty
whole days, in a Hut apart, without being approached by any-
one except a servant, who, in order to be worthy of carrying
wood to it, prepared himself by fasting. The honours and the
emoluments are always great. These poor people, having no-
thing dearer than this life, since they do not know of a better, give
everything for it, for the recovery of their health, and to any-
one who makes a show of helping them. They sometimes
silence us, when we are trying to disabuse them about this char-
latanry, by saying, 'Do you cure us then'. If some wise and vir-
tuous Doctor were willing to come here, he would perform
noble cures for their souls in relieving their bodies; and I am
sure that God would take pleasure one day in saying to him, as
to Abraham, *Ego ero merces tua magna nimis*. The miracles of
nature strongly predispose for those of grace, when it pleases
the Author of both to use them.

I pass by an infinity of other observations on this subject, to re-
late a part of what has held the whole country in suspense for
an entire month. A Savage named Ihongwaha dreamed one
night that he would become *Arendiwane*, that is, a master Sor-
cerer, provided that he could go thirty days without eating. On
the morrow, when he awoke, he found this status so honour-
able and so advantageous that he resolved to keep the fast very
strictly. During this period he was invited to an Awtaerohi
feast; there are few who can sing to the satisfaction of this De-
mon, and this man is one of the Masters. He finally allowed
himself to be persuaded, and ate so heartily and sung with so
much vehemence that he left the feast as mad as a March hare.

Behold him with the turtle, or rather the fool's cap, in his hand, in the most severe season of Winter, in the condition in which he left his mother's womb, running about in the snow and singing night and day. The following day, it was the twenty-eighth of January, he went to the village of Wenrio, where they gave three or four feasts for his health, and returned thence as mad as he was when he went there. Some Savages said that we were the cause of this, but the wiser ones remarked that he had mocked when I had condemned the Awtaerohi while explaining the Commandments of God, and attributed his madness to a divine punishment.

On the night of the thirty-first he dreamed that he must have a Canoe, eight Beavers, two Ray-fish, six score Gull's eggs, a Turtle, and a man who would adopt him as his son. Just think, what a chimera! And yet they must make him a cataplasm, as it were, of all this in order to heal his brain. Indeed, he had no sooner related his dream than the old people of the village assembled to discuss it. They went to trouble to find him what he asked for, with as much care and eagerness as if it had been a question of preserving the whole Country. The father of the Chief adopted him as his son, and everything that he had dreamed was given to him the same day; as for the Gull's eggs, they were changed into as many little loaves, which gave work to all the women of the village. The feast took place in the evening. And all this was without effect: the Devil had not yet taken all.

On the first of February there was more dancing. I could have wished many Christians to have witnessed this spectacle; I doubt not at all that they would have been ashamed of themselves, seeing how closely they resemble these Peoples in their carnival follies. They dress and disguise themselves, not in truth so richly, but pretty well as ridiculously as they do elsewhere. You would have seen some with a sack over their heads, pierced only for the eyes; others had bundles of straw before their stomachs, to imitate pregnant women; others were as naked as your hand, their whole bodies whitened, their faces as black as if they were Devils, with feathers or horns on their heads; others daubed with red, with black and with white; in short

each one adorned himself with all the extravagance he could in
order to dance this Ballet and to contribute something to the
health of the sick man.

But I was about to forget one remarkable circumstance. Rumours of war were frequent, they were in continual alarm, they expected the Enemy at every moment, and all the young people had been asked to go to the village of Angwiens to work at a pallisade of stakes which was only half finished. The Chief could shout to his heart's content, *'Enonw eienti ecwarhakhion'*; 'Young men, let us go'—nobody moved, preferring to listen to this madman and to perform all his wishes. This medicine had no more success than the previous one.

After having fasted for eighteen days, without eating anything, they said, but tobacco, he came to see me; I gave him seven or eight raisins, and he thanked me and told me that he would eat one each day, in order not to break his fast. On the fourteenth of February, making his usual round of the Huts, he found that they were preparing a feast, on which, 'It is I', said he, 'who will make this feast; I wish that this should be my feast'. And at once he took some snow-shoes and went off himself to invite those of the neighbouring Villages. But it really seems that he was no sooner in the country than he forgot his plan, for he did not return until after nearly twice twenty-four hours, and made, where he appeared, seven or eight feasts for one. It is said that three memorable things happened to him on this expedition. The first, was that he did not at all sink into the snow, although it was three feet deep. The second was that he threw himself from the top of a large rock without hurting himself. The third was that when he came back he did not appear at all wet and his moccasins were as dry as if he had not set foot out of his Hut. The man who told us this added that there was no need to be astonished, as a Devil had guided him.

Towards the end of his illness he sent to beg me to go and see him. I found him to all appearance practically in his right mind. He related the progress and the cause of his illness, which he attributed to the breaking of his fast, and told me that he was resolved to go on to the end, that is, to the end of the period

ordered by his dream. On another day he came to visit us
and told us that he had actually become *oki*, that is, a Demon.
This was well above the quality of Sorcerer, to which alone he
aspired, but he was not free from his madness. He needed to
dream again, once and for all, to free himself from it. He
dreamed therefore that there was only one certain kind of dance
which could completely restore his health. They call it *Akhren-
doiaen*, inasmuch as those who perform the dance give poison
to one another. It had never been practised among this Bear
Nation. The season was very disagreeable, the troop was very
large, and could only bring a great deal of disorder into a small
Village; but all these considerations did not stop them.

Behold messengers immediately on the way; a fortnight passes
in assembling the dancers, the band consisting of about eighty
people, including six women, and they immediately set off.
Here I must remark that they consider that fasting renders their
eyesight marvellously piercing and gives them eyes capable of
seeing absent and very distant things. Is this not to overthrow
all science, which holds, I believe, that nothing so much weak-
ens the sight as excessive fasting? However that may be, there
is considerable reason to believe that our madman has not yet
fasted enough, for his eyesight deceived him very badly and
made a very bad beginning with the foundation of his reputa-
tion as a Prophet. The troop had not yet left when he declared
it to be two leagues from the Village.

Now, having arrived to about a musket shot from the Village,
they stopped and began to sing; those of the Village answered
them. On the very evening of their arrival they danced, in or-
der to acquire an understanding of the illness. The sick man
was on a mat in the middle of the House. The dance having
finished because he had fallen over backwards and had vomit-
ed, they declared him to belong altogether to the Brotherhood
of madmen, and fell back on the remedy which is usual in such
cases, and which would be sufficient to make them pass for mad
if they were the wisest men in the world. This is the dance they
call *Otakrendoiae*; the Brethren they call *Atirenda*. I would de-
cribe the details of it if I were not afraid of making too long a
story of it. I will leave it for another time, if I learn that there is

a wish to know about it. Let it suffice for the present to say, in
general, that never did the frenzied Bacchantes of olden days
do anything wilder in their orgies. It is here a question, say
they, of killing each other by means of charms which they
throw at each other, and which are composed of Bears' claws,
Wolves' teeth, Eagles' talons, certain stones, and Dogs' sinews.
They do this so that, when they have fallen under the charm
and been wounded, blood should pour from the mouth and
the nostrils; or rather, this is simulated by a red powder which
they take by stealth. And there are ten thousand other absurd-
ities that I willingly pass over.

The greatest evil is that these unfortunates, under pretext of
charity, often avenge their injuries and purposely give their pa-
tients poison instead of medicine. What is most remarkable is
their experience in healing ruptures, in which several others in
these parts are also competent. The most extraordinary super-
stition is that their drugs and ointments take pleasure, in their
words, in silence and in darkness. If they are recognized or if
their secret is discovered they remain without success. The
origin of all this folly derives from a man named Oatarra, or
from a little idol in the form of a doll, which he sought, in or-
der to be cured, from a dozen Enchanters who had come to see
him. Having put it into his Tobacco bag, it began to stir in it,
ordered banquets, and other ceremonies of the dance, accord-
ing to their story. To be sure, here are many stupidities indeed,
and I am much afraid that there may be something blacker and
more occult in them.

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CHAPTER VI

OF THE POLITICS OF THE HURONS AND OF
THEIR GOVERNMENT

I DO NOT claim here to put our Savages on a level with the Chinese, Japanese, and other perfectly civilized Nations; but only to raise them from the condition of beasts, to which the opinion of some has reduced them, to give them rank among men, and to show that even among them there is some kind of Political and Civil life. It is already much, in my opinion, to say that they live assembled in Villages consisting of as many as fifty, sixty, and a hundred Houses, that is, three hundred and four hundred households; that they cultivate fields, from which they obtain enough for their nourishment throughout the year; and that they maintain themselves in peace and friendship with each other. I certainly believe that there is perhaps no Nation under Heaven more praiseworthy in this respect than the Nation of the Bear. Apart from some wicked persons, such as are met almost everywhere, they have a gentleness and an affability almost incredible in Savages. They are not easily annoyed, and, moreover, if they have received a wrong from someone they often dissimulate the resentment they feel; at least very few are found here who make a public display of anger and vengeance. They maintain themselves in such perfect harmony by frequent visits, by the help they give each other in their illnesses, by the feasts, and by alliances. If their fields, fishing, hunting, or trading does not occupy them, they are less in their own Houses than with their friends. If they fall ill and desire something for their health, there is a rivalry to show oneself the most obliging. If they have something good, as I have already said, they make a feast of it for their friends and scarcely ever eat it in private.

There is this remarkable point in their marriages, that they never marry any person related in whatever degree, either direct or collateral, but always make new alliances, which is no small help in maintaining friendship. Moreover, by means of this constant visiting, as they are for the most part quite intelligent, they arouse and influence one another wonderfully; so

that there is scarcely one who is not capable of conversing and of reasoning very well and in good terms on matters within their knowledge. What also helps to improve their eloquence is the almost daily holding of councils, on all matters, in the Villages; and although it is the old men who pull the strings and upon whose judgement depends the decisions, yet everyone can be present who wishes and has the right to express his opinion.

It must be added, also, that the frankness, the courtesy and the civility which are, as it were, the flower and the charm of ordinary human conversation are not altogether wanting among these Peoples. They call a polite man *Aiendawasti*. To be sure, you do not see among them all those hand-kissings, those compliments, and those insincere offers of service which do not pass beyond the lips; but nevertheless they perform certain duties to one another, and preserve, through a sense of decorum, certain customs in their visits, dances, and feasts. If anyone failed in these it would unfailingly be pointed out to him on the spot; and if he often tripped in similar ways he would soon become a by-word in the village and would completely lose his standing.

When they meet their only salutation is to address one another by name, or they say my friend, my comrade—my uncle, if it is an old man. If a Savage finds himself in your House when you are eating and you offer him your dish, having scarcely touched anything, he will content himself with tasting it and will give it back to you. And if you give him a dish for himself, he will not put his hand to it until he has shared it with his companions, and these will usually content themselves with taking a spoonful of it. These are little things, it is true, but they nevertheless show that these Peoples are not so wild and unpolished as one might imagine. Besides, if laws are like the master wheel which regulates Communities, or rather, the soul of Commonwealths, it seems to me that I have the right, in view of this perfect understanding that they have with each other, to maintain that they are not without laws.

They punish murderers, thieves, traitors, and Sorcerers. In regard to the murderers, although they do not maintain the

I

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severity formerly shown by their ancestors, nevertheless the little
disorder there is among them in this respect makes me conclude
that their procedure is no less efficacious than is the punishment
of death elsewhere; for the relatives of the dead person pursue
not only him who has committed the murder, but address
themselves to the whole Village, which must give satisfaction
for it and furnish for this purpose, at the earliest possible mo-
ment, up to sixty gifts, the least of which must be of the value
of a new Beaver robe. The Chief himself presents them in per-
son, and makes a long harangue as he offers each gift, so that
whole days sometimes pass in this ceremony.

There are two sorts of gifts. Some, as are the first nine, which
they call andaonhaan, are put into the hands of the relatives to
make peace and to take away from their hearts all bitterness and
all desire for vengeance that they might have against the person
of the murderer. The others are placed on a pole, which is ex-
tended above the head of the dead man, and are called Andaer-
raehaam, that is, 'which are put upon the pole'. Now each one
of these gifts has its special name. Here are those of the first
nine, which are the most substantial, sometimes consisting of a
thousand Porcelain beads each. The Chief, speaking, and rais-
ing his voice at the name of the guilty person, and holding in
his hand the first gift, condayee onsahachwtawas, as if the hat-
chet were still in the wound of the dead person, 'Here', says he,
'is something by which he withdraws the hatchet from the
wound and makes it fall from the hands of him who would
seek to avenge this injury'. At the second gift, condayee oscot-
aweanon, 'Here is something with which he wipes away the
blood from the wound in the head'. By these two gifts he testi-
fies to his regret for having killed the man and that he would be
quite ready to restore him to life if it were possible. Yet, as if
the blow had rebounded on their Nation and as if the Country
had received the greater wound, he adds a third gift, saying con-
dayee onsahondechari, 'This is to restore the Country'; condayee
onsahondwaronti, etotonhwentsiaix, 'This is to place a stone over
the opening in the division of the earth that was made by
this murder'.

Metaphors are much in use among these People; unless you

accustom yourself to them you understand nothing in their
councils, where they scarcely speak except in metaphors. They
claim with this gift to reunite the hearts and the wills and even
entire Villages which had been as if divided. It is not here as it
is in France and elsewhere, where the public and the whole town
do not usually espouse the quarrel of an individual. Here you
cannot offend anyone without causing the whole Country to
resound with it and to take action against you and even against
the whole Village. It is from this that the wars are born, and it
is a more than sufficient reason for taking arms against some
Village if it refuses to give satisfaction by means of the required
gifts for him who may have killed one of your friends.

The fifth gift is made to smooth the roads and to clear away
the undergrowth from them: condayee onsa hannokiai, that is, in
order that one may henceforth go in perfect security over the
roads and from Village to Village. The four remaining ones
are directly addressed to the relatives, to console them in their
affliction and to wipe away their tears: condayee onsa hoher-
onti, 'Here', says he, 'is something for him to smoke', speaking
of his father, of his mother, or of the one who would avenge
his death. They have the belief that nothing is so suitable as To-
bacco to calm the passions; this is why they are never to be
found in the councils without each one having a pipe or a calu-
met in his mouth. This smoke that they take, they say, gives
them intelligence and enables them to see clearly through the
most complicated affairs. Also, following this gift, they make
another to restore completely the mind of the offended person:
condayee onsa hondionroenkhra. The eighth is to give a drink
to the mother of the defunct person and to heal her, as being
grievously ill because of the death of her son: condayee onsa
aweannoncwa d'ocweton. Finally, the ninth is, as it were, in
order to place and stretch a mat on which she may rest herself
and sleep during the time of her mourning: condayee onsa hohien-
daen.

Such are the principal gifts; the others are, as it were, an in-
crease of consolation, and represent all the things used by the
dead man during his life. One will be called his robe, another
his necklace, another his Canoe, another his paddle, others his

131

net, his bow, his arrows, and so on with the rest. After that the relatives of the dead man consider themselves fully satisfied. Formerly the parties did not agree so easily and at such little expense; for, in addition to the fact that the public paid for all these gifts, the guilty person was obliged to endure a shame and a punishment that some would perhaps consider less supportable than death itself. The dead man was stretched on poles, and the murderer was obliged to remain under it and to receive on himself the excretions which dripped from the corpse. Next to him was placed a dish for his food, which was immediately filled with the ordure and the corrupt blood which little by little fell into it; and merely to get the dish pushed back ever so little would cost him a gift of seven hundred Porcelain beads, which they called *hassaendista*. He remained in this position as long as was pleasing to the relatives of the dead man; and even after that he had to make a rich gift, which they called *akhia-taendista*, in order to escape.

If the relatives of the dead man revenged the injury by procur-
ing the death of the person who had struck the blow, all the
punishment fell back on them. It was for them also to make
gifts even to those who had first killed, without the latter being
obliged to give any satisfaction—to show how much they con-
sider vengeance to be detestable, since the blackest crime, such
as murder, appears as practically nothing in comparison with
it, as it cancels them and attracts to itself all the punishment that
they deserve. So much for murder. Wounds that draw blood
are also healed only by means of gifts of necklaces or hatchets,
in proportion to the severity of the wound.

They also punish Sorcerers, that is, those who poison people
and cause death by charms; and this punishment is authorized
by the consent of the whole Country, so that any person what-
ever who finds them in the act has full right to cleave their
skulls and to rid the world of them, without fear of being pur-
sued for it or obliged to give any satisfaction.

As to thieves, although the Country is full of them, yet they
are not tolerated. If you find anyone possessed of anything that
belongs to you, you can in good conscience play the despoiled
King and take what is yours and, besides, leave him as naked as

your hand. If he is fishing, you can carry off his Canoe, his nets,
his fish, his robe, all that he has. It is true that on such an oc-
casion the stronger gains the day—still, however that may be,
such is the custom of the Country, which does not fail to hold
some to their duty.

Now, having some kind of Law which maintains order a-
mong themselves, there is also some sort of regulation of for-
eign Peoples. Let us first consider trade. Several families have
their own trades, and he is regarded as Master of a trade who
was the first to discover it. The children share the right of their
parents in this respect, as do also those who bear the same name;
no one takes part in it without leave, which is only given in ex-
change for gifts; he associates with him as many or as few as he
wishes. If he has much merchandise it is to his advantage to go
trading with very few companions, for thus he acquires all that
he wants in the Country; it is thus that the wealthiest have ac-
quired their possessions. But if anyone were bold enough to go
trading without the leave of the one who is its Master, he may
do well in secret and in concealment, for if he is discovered on
the way he will not be any better treated than a thief and will
bring nothing but himself home again—unless he is in a large
company. If he returns with his baggage safe, they content
themselves with complaining, without any further prosecution.

Even in wars, when confusion often reigns, they do not fail to
keep some order. They undertake none without reason, and
their most usual reason for taking arms is when a Nation refuses
to give satisfaction for some death and to furnish the gifts re-
quired by the agreement made between them. They take this
refusal as an act of hostility and even the whole country es-
pouses the quarrel. In particular, the relatives of the dead man
consider themselves obliged in honour to resent this, and raise a
levy to attack them. I do not speak of their behaviour in their
wars and of their military discipline; that comes better from
Monsieur de Champlain, who has been in their wars and com-
manded in them; moreover, he has spoken fully and very per-
tinently of this, as of everything that concerns the manners of
these barbarous Nations. I will only say that if God gave them
the grace to embrace the Faith, I would find it necessary to

reform some of their practices. For, in the first place, there are
some who will raise a troop of resolute young men more, it
seems, to avenge a private quarrel and the death of a friend than
for the honour and the preservation of the Motherland. And
then, when they capture some of their enemies they treat them
with all the cruelty that they can devise. Five and six days will
sometimes pass in assuaging their fury and in burning them at a
slow fire; and they are not satisfied with seeing their skins en-
tirely roasted: they open the legs, the thighs, the arms, and the
fleshiest parts, and thrust glowing brands or red-hot hatchets
into them. Sometimes they compel the captives to sing in the
midst of their torments; and those who have the courage do it,
and hurl forth a thousand curses against those who torture
them. On the day of their death they have to go even further,
if they have the strength, and sometimes the cauldron in which
they are to be boiled will be on the fire while these poor
wretches are still singing as loudly as they can.

This inhumanity is altogether intolerable, so that many do not
willingly go to these baleful banquets. After having finally
killed the victims, they tear out their hearts, if they were brave
men, roast them on the embers, and distribute pieces of them
to the young people. They consider that this will make them
brave. Others make an incision in the upper part of the throats
of the young men and cause some of the dead man's blood to
run into it; this has the property, say they, since the blood of
the enemy has been mingled with theirs, of preventing them
from ever being surprised by him and of enabling them always
to have knowledge of his approach, however secret it may be.

The victims are put into the cauldron piece by piece; and al-
though at other feasts the head, whether of a Bear, or a Dog, or
a Deer, or of a big fish, is the portion of the Chief, in this case
the head is given to the most ill-bred person in the company;
indeed, some taste this dish, or the rest of the body, only with
much horror. There are some who eat it with pleasure. I have
observed Savages in our House speak with gusto of the flesh of
an Iroquois and praise its goodness in the same terms as they
would do it of the flesh of a Deer or of a Moose. This is being
cruel; but we hope, with the help of Heaven, that the knowledge

of the true God will entirely banish such barbarity from this
Country.

For the rest, in order to guard the Country they surround the
principal Villages with a strong pallisade of stakes, so that they
may be able to sustain a siege. They maintain paid spies among
the neutral Nations, and even among their enemies, through
whom they are secretly notified of all their plots. They are, in-
deed, so cautious and circumspect in this matter that, if there is
any People with whom they have not entirely broken, they in
effect give them the freedom of coming and going in the Coun-
try; but nevertheless, for greater security, they assign special
cabins to them, to which they must withdraw; if they were
found elsewhere they would be ill-treated.

As regards the right to command, here is what I have observ-
ed. All the affairs of the Hurons fall under two heads. The ones
are, as it were, affairs of State, whether they concern citizens or
Foreigners, the generality or the individuals of the Village, and
everything concerning feasts, dances, games, contests of crosse,
and funeral ceremonies. The others are affairs of war.

Now there are as many kinds of Chiefs as there are affairs. In
the big Villages there will sometimes be several Chiefs, as much
of civil affairs as of war, who divide the families of the Village
among themselves into as many Chiefdoms. Sometimes there
are even found Chiefs to whom all these governments are re-
ferred because of their intelligence, popularity, wealth and
other qualities which make them influential in the Country.
There are none who are of higher rank than the others by vir-
tue of election. Those hold the first rank who have acquired it
by their intelligence, eloquence, magnificence, courage, and
wise conduct, so that the affairs of the Village fall into the hands
chiefly of the one among the Chiefs who possesses these qual-
ities. And the same applies to the affairs of the whole Country,
in which the ablest minds are the greatest Chiefs, and usually
there is only one who bears the burden of all. It is in his name
that Treaties of Peace are made with foreign Peoples; the
Country even bears his name, and now, for instance, when one
speaks of Anenkhiondic in the Council of Foreigners, the Bear
Nation is understood.

Formerly only good men were Chiefs, and so were called Enondecha, the same name by which they call the Country, Nation, and district, as if the good Chief and the Country were one and the same thing. But to-day they are not so conscientious in the election of their Chiefs, and also no longer give them that name, although they still call them *atiwarontas*, *atiwanens*, *ondakhiehai*, the big stones, the old men, those who stay at home. Nevertheless those still hold, as I have said, first rank, as much in the affairs of the individual Villages as in the whole Country, who are the highest in merit and in intelligence. Their relatives are like so many Lieutenants and Councilors.

They attain this degree of honour partly by succession, partly by election; their children do not usually succeed them, but rather their nephews and grandsons. And even these do not enter into the succession of these petty Royalties as do the Daukins in France or children to the heritage of their fathers, but only in so far as they have the proper qualities and accept the positions and are accepted by the whole Country.

Some are found who refuse these honours, as much because they have no aptitude for speaking or enough self-control or patience, as because they like quietness, for these posts are rather servitudes than anything else. A Chief must be ready to be almost always travelling. If a Council for the affairs of the whole Country is held five or six leagues away, he must go, Winter or Summer, whatever the weather may be. If an Assembly is held in the Village, it is in the House of the Chief. If there is anything to be made public it is for him to do it. And then the little authority he usually has over his subjects is not a powerful attraction to accept this task. The Chiefs here do not govern their subjects by imperial means and with absolute power; they have no force available to compel them to their duty. Their government is only civil; they represent only what is to be done for the good of the village or of the whole Country. That done, let him act who will. There are some, nevertheless, who well know how to make themselves obeyed, especially when they have the affection of their subjects. Some, too, are kept back from these positions by the memory of their ancestors who

served the Motherland badly. And if they are received it is by
means of gifts, which the old men accept in their Assemblies
and put into the Public coffers. Every year, about Spring, these
resurrections of Chiefs take place, unless special circumstances
delay or hasten the matter. I should very much like, at this
point, to ask those who have a low opinion of our Savages how
this procedure appears to them.

But, in proof of what I have just said concerning the intelli-
gence of our Chiefs, I must conclude this Chapter with a speech
made to me this Spring by a Chief named Aenons. He wished
to persuade us to move our House to his Village. For this we
have to praise God, in that he has given us the grace to be loved
and sought after in the Country. There is a rivalry as to who
should have us in his Village. The Arendoronnon have often
sent to ask for us, and the Attignenonghac and those of the Vil-
lage of Ossossane, which we call La Rochelle, have been still
more insistent; but if we were to bow to importunity, this
Chief would certainly have his way. It is now six months that
he has given us no rest; whatever national affair he is relating to
us, he never fails expressly or tacitly to draw this conclusion
from it. But above all this Spring he has employed all his rhe-
toric to persuade us to say the word and to obtain our consent.

Going, then, one day to Wenrio to help one of our Christians
who was sick unto death, I met on the way a Savage who was
seeking me on behalf of Aenons. I went to see him after having
attended to our sick man, and he led me to one side. He made
me this discourse, which I shall do him wrong to reproduce in
this place, for I shall not give it the grace it had in the mouth of
this Chief. No matter, the reader will at least be able to follow
his ideas, which I have set down, I think, almost in the right
order. This is how he began:

Echon, I have sent for you in order to learn what your final
decision really is. I would not have given you the trouble to
come so far had I not feared that it would not have been con-
venient to speak to you in your own house. Your House is al-
ways full of so many people visiting you that it is almost im-
possible to tell you anything in private; and then, now that we
are on the point of assembling to deliberate concerning the

establishment of a new Village, this interview might perhaps
have been suspect to those who wish to keep you.

‘The French have always been attached to me and have loved
me; and on my part, I have always helped them in every way I
could, and they have not found in all this land a better friend
than I. This has not been without incurring the envy of the
whole Country, many of whom have for a long time thought
ill of me and have done all they could to prejudice you against
me. They have even gone so far, as you know, as to impute to
me the death of Brulé; and immediately after he was killed,
when it was a question of going down to Kebec, it was loudly
and emphatically said that if I went I would undoubtedly leave
my head there. Notwithstanding all that, I did not hesitate the
following year (for that year I went elsewhere to trade) to em-
bark and to go down, sustained as I was by my innocence.

'For the rest, if that misfortune had come upon me and the
hatchet had been raised over my head, I should have asked for a
little time to speak, and I believe I should so well have justified
myself that I should have obliged the commander either to per-
form a manifest injustice or to leave me my life. But I was not
called upon to do it, and those who expected to see me struck
down were greatly astonished when they saw the honour that
was done me, so much so that some of them said that since a
murderer was so well treated, the true way to get oneself liked
by the French was to cleave open someone's head. All these re-
marks have not prevented my innocence from always being be-
yond the reach of envy; whatever may be said, I shall love and
serve the French all my life in every way I can.'

'Echon, we thought that your Village ought to follow ours
and join itself to ours, now that we are on the point of estab-
lishing another one elsewhere, and we do not blame you, since
the gifts you made last year on this account were only too cal-
culated to force them to this conclusion; but yet, so far as we
can see, we must not speak any more of it; it is a matter put to
one side; and lately, when I went to see you to learn your de-
cision, I lost courage—you answered me so coldly that I almost
resolved not to speak to you any more about it.'

'Yet the matter is of such importance, as much for your interests

as for ours, that I have thought it well to express my views to
you once more. If you do not answer me clearly to-day I
will never again open my lips to you about it. Five of our Vil-
lages are assembling to-morrow to complete our plans for unit-
ing ourselves and making ourselves one. We have reason to
take this resolution, since, though we are at peace this year, we
shall not fail to have the enemy on our hands next Spring. We
are only too well informed about this. In the condition in
which you now see us we should be in difficulties, at least for
our wives and our children, if necessity constrained us to take
arms. Whereas if we are in one good Village, well enclosed by
stakes, our young people will have occasion to show their cour-
age, and our wives and our children will be placed in safety. On
this account the whole Country turns its eyes to you; we shall
consider ourselves all together beyond fear if we have you with
us; you have firearms, the mere sound of which is capable of
inspiring dread in the enemy and of putting him to flight.

'Moreover, your own interests are also at stake; consider in
what trouble you are at the least rumour of war; and then, if
any harm is done to you to whom will you have recourse liv-
ing in that little Hamlet where you are? You have no Chief
there who will protect you and cause you to be properly treat-
ed; there is no one there to keep the young people within
bounds; if you lack corn, who will give orders to provide you
with it, for your Village is not capable of furnishing you with a
sufficiency of it, and what a trouble it would be for you to go
yourselves to seek it elsewhere? Whereas if you were with us
you could lack for nothing, for, since we have asked you to
come among us we would be obliged to feed you; and in case
they should be tardy in furnishing your provisions, I give you
my word that I will use all my influence in representing to our
people the obligation they will be under to you, and I know
well that there is not one who will not put himself immediately
to work to serve you. In the same way, I shall command all the
young men, when it comes to building your House, to put their
hands to the work, and you will immediately see yourself as
well lodged as you could wish in this Country.'

He stopped at this point, and said that he had still not finished,

but he desired, before going on, that I should communicate to one of our Fathers who was with me what he had just said. Then he continued in these terms:

'Echon, I see well that you are going to say that you fear to be further removed from the Lake than you are now; but I give you my assurance that you will not be so far from it as you might think; and then, even if it were so, why should that trouble you? You do not go fishing—the whole Village will go for you. You will have difficulty in embarking your parcels for Kebec? Quite the contrary—there will be nobody in the Village who will not consider himself happy to serve you in this matter. It is true that you will not be on the shore of the Lake to receive the parcels that will be sent to you; but what matter, since they will be brought to your very house? And in case you want to employ the people of La Rochelle, if they love you, you will not have the trouble of going to seek them in their Village, since they usually have to pass by the place where we intend to build our Village. Echon, this is what I had to say to you; I beg that I may now know your final decision, so that I may report it to-morrow to the Council.'

Such was the harangue of this Chief, which in my opinion and in the judgement of many, would pass for one of Livy's, had he dealt with the subject; it appeared to me very convincing. Indeed, I answered that he pleased us with the affection he showed for us and which he had made apparent on several occasions, but above all on this one; that we were very happy to transport our House to his Village; that this had been our intention for a long time; that we had stayed at Ihonatiria only as being a Village dependent on him and which had a separate existence only temporarily; but, nevertheless, that we could not yet resolve to pledge our words unless the Chiefs of the five Villages who were to assemble would first promise us, on behalf of all their subjects, that they would be willing to receive the Faith, to believe all that we believe, and to live as we do.

I then took the opportunity to recite to him some of the principal mysteries of our Faith and tried, above all, to show him how easy these should be for them, since God commanded us to do nothing that was not very reasonable and that they would

140

not themselves afterwards consider very beneficial for the
Country. He listened to me very attentively and promised to
make a faithful report of my reply to the Council, adding that
so far as he was concerned he was resolved to be baptized and
that all his House were of the same mind.

The Council took place some days after, this Chief being pre-
sent. They asked him what was the final opinion and resolve of
the French. He answered that we made some difficulty. They
asked him what difficulty we could make. 'They do not wish',
said he, 'to establish themselves in a Village where they will not
be certain of having to do with people who will listen to them
and do all they teach.' To that they replied, 'That is well, we
are glad of that, he will teach us, and then we will do all that he
desires.'

Indeed, they thought the matter so fully concluded that they
came to tell us afterwards that they had come to transport our
House. But that is not for this year; the feast of the Dead, it is
said, has interfered with the plan. Nevertheless, this Chief who
is so anxious to have us with him in the new Village, seeing that
our Hut was almost uninhabitable, that our Village seemed to
be on the point of being dispersed, and fearing lest we should
decide to go elsewhere, came to offer us his House, at the risk
of inconveniencing himself and his whole family.

We have judged it wiser, however, to pass one more Winter
where we are, as much to cultivate these new plants we have
acquired for our Lord by means of holy Baptism, as because we
hope that the Chiefs of those Villages who intend to unite, and
who are now at variance with the rest of the Country, will be
able between now and the Spring, to reunite, and thus we shall
be able more easily to move in the direction we shall judge
most proper for the glory of God, without fear of offending
anyone, which would be very difficult in the present state of
affairs.

The taking of this resolution made it necessary for us to think
of repairing and enlarging our Hut. I broached the matter to
the Chief of our Village, and he immediately assembled the Old
Men and communicated our project to them. They were so
pleased with it that they came to present their congratulations,

141

for they feared from day to day that we were going to leave
them.

To encourage them I presented them with a dozen cakes of
Tobacco and some skins. They gave me back the skins, saying
that it was for them to give some to us, and that, besides, they
were already under sufficient obligation to us, that we helped
them every day in an endless number of ways, and that if any of
them needed a knife or an awl they had only to come to us and
we gave it to them immediately. Moreover, these pledges of
good will were not merely words, they were followed by good
results. They set to work so diligently and worked with so
much assiduity that they built us a new House in little more
than three days. Indeed, no one spared himself, the old people
having been foremost. Some, forgetting their age, even climb-
ed to the top of the House, and others went to find and pre-
pared plenty of bark to bind it or worked at setting up the
foundation of the House.

The diligence of the Chief prevented four of us from saying
Mass on the last day; for immediately on the break of day he
set himself to work, and, from the top of the House where he
was, shouted as loudly as he could and told all the young people,
who were still half asleep, to come and work.

But let us say a word about their Councils.

CHAPTER VII

OF THE ORDER OBSERVED BY THE HURONS
IN THEIR COUNCILS

I SHALL speak here principally of the general Councils and Assemblies, the special ones being ordered in almost the same way, although with less ceremony.

These general Assemblies are, as it were, the States-General of
the whole Country, and consequently there are as many as
necessity requires and no more. They take place in the Village
of the principal Chief of the whole Country. The Council
Chamber is sometimes the House of the Chief, adorned with
mats or strewn with Fir branches, with as many fires as requir-
ed by the season of the year. Formerly each one brought his fag-
got to put on the fire; now this is no longer practised, the
women of the House bearing this expense; they make the fires
but do not warm themselves at them, going outside to give
place to the Gentlemen of the Council. Sometimes, if it is Sum-
mer, the assembly takes place in the middle of the Village, and
sometimes even apart, when secrecy is called for, in the obscur-
ity of the forests. The time is more often night than day, whole
nights being frequently passed in Council.

The Head of the Council is the Chief who calls it together.
Matters are decided in it by a plurality of votes, the authority of
the Chiefs drawing many to their opinions; in fact, the usual
way of expressing an opinion is to say to the Old Men, 'You
advise us, you are the Masters'.

The usual wages of these Gentlemen are assigned according to
the strength of their arms and according to their diligence and
good management. If they cultivate the ground better than the
others, hunt better, fish better, in short, if they are successful in
trading, they are also richer than the others; if not they are the
most necessitous, as experience has shown in the case of some.

The incidental advantages are, in the first place, the best
portions of the feasts, to which they do not fail to be invited.

2. When anyone makes a gift they get the best part of it.

3. When someone, whether a Citizen or a Foreigner, wants to obtain something from the Country, the custom is to grease the

palms of the principal Chiefs, all the rest moving at their beck
and call. I am very sure of what I have just said. The objection
that some private individuals have against such improprieties,
and even the enmity of the other Chiefs, who are not invited to
share the booty, expose more of these practices than they like.
They decry one another and the mere suspicion of these secret
gifts sometimes stirs up great debates and divisions, not so much
for the sake of the public good as from regret at not having a
share in them; and this jealousy sometimes hinders good mea-
sures. But let us come to the order they observe in their Coun-
cils.

In the first place, the Chief, having already consulted in private
with the lesser Chiefs and the Old Men of his Village, and hav-
ing judged that the matter warrants a public assembly, sends
invitations to the Council to as many persons of each Village as
he wishes. The Messengers are young men who volunteer, or
occasionally an Old Man, in order that the summons may be
more efficacious, especially as they do not always put faith in
young people. These Messengers present their commission to
the principal Chief of the Village, or, in his absence, to the one
who is nearest to him in authority, saying the day on which
they are to assemble. These summons are appeals, not com-
mands, and consequently some excuse themselves entirely and
others delay their departure; hence it happens that these assem-
blies are sometimes long, for they do not readily set out in bad
weather, and they certainly have difficulty enough in coming,
on foot, sometimes a distance of ten or twelve leagues, and this
in Winter and over the snow.

All having arrived, they seat themselves each one in his own
quarter of the House, those of the same Village or of the same
Nation near one another, in order to consult together. If by
chance someone is absent, the question is raised whether the
assembly would be legitimate notwithstanding this absence;
and sometimes the whole Assembly dissolves itself and ad-
journs to another time because of the absence of one or two
persons. If they are all assembled, or if they think it proper to
go on notwithstanding some absence, the Council is opened. It
is not always the Heads of the Council who do this: difficulty in

speaking, unwillingness, or even their dignity dispenses them
from it.

After the greetings, the thanks for the trouble they have taken
in coming, the thanksgivings rendered, I know not to whom,
that everybody has arrived safely, that no-one has been surpris-
ed by enemies, nor has fallen into any stream or River, nor has
been injured, in short, that all have happily arrived—all are ex-
horted to deliberate maturity. Then the matter in question is
brought forward and Messieurs the Councillors are asked what
they advise.

It is at this point that the Deputies of each Village, or those of
the same Nation, discuss in low tones what they should reply.
Then, when they have thoroughly consulted with each other,
they give their opinions in order and decide according to the
plurality of opinions. There are several things worthy of re-
mark in this procedure. The first is in the manner of speaking,
which, because of its unlikeness to ordinary speech, has a differ-
ent name and is called *acwentonch*. It is common to all the Sav-
ages. They raise and modulate the voice like the tones of an old-
fashioned Preacher, but slowly, sedately, distinctly, even repeat-
ing one and the same argument several times. The second re-
markable thing is that the speakers rehearse in a concise way
the proposition and all the arguments advanced before express-
ing their own opinion.

I once heard it said, during the course of a translation given by
an Interpreter, that these Nations here have a private language
in their Councils; but I have learnt from experience that this is
not so. I know well that they have some special terms, such as
there are in all kinds of arts and sciences, as in the Law Courts,
the schools, and elsewhere. It is true that their speeches are at
first difficult to understand, because of an infinity of Metaphors,
because of many circumlocutions and other figures of speech.
For instance, speaking of the Bear Nation, they will say that
'the Bear has said, has done so and so; the Bear is cunning, is
wicked; the hands of the Bear are dangerous'. When they
speak of him who makes the feast of the Dead, they say 'he who
eats the soul'. When they speak of a Nation they often name
only the principal Chief; thus, speaking of the Montagnets,

K

they will say, ‘Atsirond says’—this is the name of one of their
Chiefs. In short, it is in these places that they elevate their style
and try to speak well. Nearly all their minds are naturally of a
fairly good quality; they reason very well and do not stumble
in their speeches; moreover, they make a point of mocking
those who do stumble. Some of them seem to be born orators.

3. After someone has given an opinion the Head of the Council repeats or causes to be repeated what has been said, so that the subject matter cannot help but be understood, so often is it retraced. This was very fortunate for me at the Council of which I have told you, where I made them a gift to encourage them to take the road and the way to Heaven; for one of the Chiefs repeated most felicitously all that I had said, and dilated upon it and amplified it better than I had done and in better terms; for, in fact, owing to the little knowledge we have of the language, we do not say what we wish, but what we can.

4. Each one concludes his advice with these words, ‘Conday-
auendi Ierhayde cha nonhwicwahachen’, that is, ‘Such is my mind
concerning the subject of our Council’. Then the whole Ass-
embly answers with a strong respiration drawn from the pit
of the stomach, *Haau*. I have observed that when someone has
spoken to their liking, this *Haau* is drawn out with much more
effort.

The fifth remarkable thing is the great prudence and moderation of their words. I would not dare to say that they always use this self-restraint, for I know that they sometimes get angry; but nevertheless you always notice a singular gentleness and discretion. I have only seldom been present at their Councils, but whenever they have invited me I have come out from them astonished in this respect.

One day I saw a debate for precedence between two war
Chiefs. An Old Man who espoused the cause of one of these
said that he was on the edge of the grave and that perhaps on
the morrow his body would be placed in the Cemetery; but
nevertheless he would say frankly what he believed to be justice, not because of any interest he had in it, but for love of
truth: which he did with ardour, seasoned with discretion. And
then another Old Man, speaking in his turn, replied to him and

said, most appositely, 'Do not speak now of these things; this is
not the time for them; the enemy is there, about to besiege us;
it is a case of arming ourselves and of unanimously fortifying
our pallisade, and not of disputing about rank'.

I was most of all astonished at the wise conduct of another Council, at which I was present, which seemed to be steeped in urbane humour and fine words, notwithstanding the importance of the matters in question. This Council was one of the most important that the Hurons have, that is, concerning their feast of the Dead. They have nothing more sacred. The matter was very ticklish, for the question was whether the whole Country should place its dead in one and the same grave, according to their custom; and yet there were some mutinous Villages who wanted to remain apart, not without the regret of the whole Country. Nevertheless the thing passed over with all the gentleness and peace imaginable; at every turn the Masters of the Feast, who had assembled the Council, exhorted to gentleness, saying that it was a Council of peace.

They name these Councils *Endionraondaone*, as if one should say, 'An even and easy Council, like the smooth and level fields'. Whatever the speakers said, the Heads of the Council only commented, 'It is well'. The rebels excused their separation, saying that no evil could arise therefrom to the Country; that in the past there had been similar divisions, which had not destroyed it. The others softened matters, saying that if one of them strayed from the true road they must not immediately abandon him, that brothers sometimes fall out. In short, it was enough to astonish one to see such moderation of words in these bitter hearts. So much for their Councils.

CHAPTER VIII

OF THE CEREMONIES THEY OBSERVE IN
THEIR BURIALS, AND OF THEIR MOURNING

OUR SAVAGES are not at all Savages in regard to the duties
that Nature itself compels us to render to the dead; in this they
do not yield to many much more civilized Nations. You would
say that all their sweat, their labours, and their trading, are
done almost wholly in order to amass something with which
to honour the Dead. They have nothing precious enough for
this purpose. They lavish robes, hatchets, and Porcelain in such
quantities that, to see them on these occasions, you would sup-
pose them to place no value on them, and yet these form the
whole riches of the Country. You will often see them almost
entirely naked in the depth of winter, while they have fine and
handsome robes in their boxes, which they keep in reserve for
the Dead; for this is their point of honour. It is on these occa-
sions above all that they wish to appear magnificent. But I am
speaking here only of their private funerals.

These good people are not like so many Christians, who can-
not endure that anyone should speak to them of death, and who,
in a mortal illness, put a whole house to trouble to find a means
of breaking the news to the sick man without hastening his
death. Here, when anyone's health is despaired of, not only do
they make no difficulty in telling him that his life is at stake,
but they even prepare in his presence all that is needed for his
burial; they often show him the robe, the stockings, the mocas-
sins, and the belts he is to wear. Frequently they are prepared
after their fashion for burial before they have expired. They
make their farewell feasts for their friends, at which they some-
times sing without showing any apprehension of death, which
they regard with great indifference, conceiving it as the passage
to a life very little different from this.

As soon as the sick man has drawn his last breath they place
him in the attitude he is to have in the tomb; they do not
stretch him at length as we do, but put him into a crouching
posture, almost the same as that taken by a child in its mother's
womb. Thus far they restrain their tears. After having

148

performed these duties the whole House begins to resound with sighs, groans and wails; the children cry Aistan, if it is their father, and the mother, Aien, Aien, my son, my son. Anyone who did not see them all bathed in their tears would suppose, to hear them, that these are only ceremonial tears: they modulate their voices with one accord and in a lugubrious tone until some person in authority calls a halt. As soon as they cease, the Chief promptly goes round the houses announcing that such and such a one is dead. On the arrival of the friends they begin anew to weep and lament. Often one of the most important men will begin to speak and will console the mother and the children, now launching praises of the deceased, praising his patience, his gaiety, his liberality, his magnificence, and, if he was a warrior, the greatness of his courage; now saying, 'What would you? There is no longer any remedy, it was inevitable that he should die, we are all subject to death, and then he dragged on too long, etc.' It is true that they never lack words on such an occasion. I have sometimes been astonished to see them dwell a long time on this subject, and bring forward, with so much discretion, every consideration capable of providing some consolation to the relatives of the dead person.

They also send news of the death to the friends who live in other Villages; and as each family has another which takes care of its Dead, the latter come as soon as possible to put everything in order and to determine the day of the funeral. Usually they bury the Dead on the third day, on which, as soon as it is light, the Chief gives the order for the cauldron to be put up for the dead. No one spares of his best. They do this, in my opinion, for many reasons. In the first place, in order to console each other, for they send dishes to each other and scarcely anyone eats from the cauldron he has prepared. Secondly, for the sake of those of the other Villages, who sometimes come in considerable numbers. Thirdly and principally, to delight the soul of the dead person, which they believe takes pleasure in it and in eating its share.

All the cauldrons being emptied, or at least distributed, the Chief announces throughout the Village that the body is about to be carried to the Cemetery. The whole Village assembles in

the House, the weeping is renewed, and those who are in charge
of the funeral prepare a litter, on a mat on which the body is
placed, enveloped in a Beaver robe, and then four lift and carry
it away. The whole Village follows in silence to the Cemetery.
There is a Tomb there, made of bark and erected on four stakes
about eight to ten feet in height. However, before the body is
placed in it and the bark is arranged on it, the Chief announces
the gifts that have been made by the friends. In this Country,
as much as elsewhere, the most agreeable consolations for the
loss of relatives are always accompanied by gifts, which are
cauldrons, hatchets, Beaver robes, and Porcelain necklaces. If
the deceased was a person of some importance in the Country,
not only the friends and the neighbours, but even the Chiefs of
the other Villages will come in person to bring their gifts. Now
all these gifts do not follow the dead person into the tomb;
sometimes a Porcelain necklace is placed around his neck, and
next to him a comb, a gourd full of oil, and two or three small
loaves of bread, and that is all. A large part goes to the relatives
to dry their tears. The other part is given to those who have
directed the funeral, as a reward for their trouble. Some robes
or some hatchets are also sometimes put into reserve to provide
largess for the Young People. And the Chief gives one of them
a stick about a foot long, offering a prize to the one who can
take it from him. The whole troop throws itself on him with
might and main and sometimes remains struggling for a whole
hour. This done, each one returns quietly to his Hut. I had for-
gotten to say that during this whole ceremony the mother or
the wife will be at the foot of the tomb, calling to the dead man
with singing, or rather with laments in a lugubrious tone.

Now all these ceremonies are not always carried out. For so
far as those killed in war are concerned, they are placed in the
ground and the relatives make gifts to their patrons, if they have
any, as is rather common in this Country, in order to encourage
them to raise a levy of soldiers and avenge the death of the de-
ceased. As for the drowned, they are also buried, after the
fleshiest parts of the body have been removed piece by piece, as
I have explained in more detail when speaking of their super-
stitutions. The gifts are doubled on this occasion and the whole

Country is often there and contribute of their property; and all
this is done, they say, to appease the Sky or the Lake.

There are even special ceremonies for little children who have
died less than a month or two old. They also are not put into
bark sepulchres set up on posts, but are buried on the road, in
order, they say, that, should some woman pass that way, they
may secretly enter her womb and immediately be given life by
her and be born. I doubt not that the good Nicodemus would
have found much difficulty in this, although it was only in re-
gard to old people that he raised the objection, *Quomodo potest
homo nasci cum sit senex*. This fine ceremony took place this
Winter in the person of one of our little Christians, who had
been named Joseph at baptism. I learned of it on this occasion
from the lips of the child's father himself.

The funeral ceremonies over, the mourning does not cease.
The wife continues it the whole year for the husband, and the
husband for the wife; but the great mourning properly lasts on-
ly ten days. During this time they remain lying on their mats
and enveloped in their furs, their faces against the ground, with-
out saying or answering anything but *Cway* to those who come
to visit them; they do not warm themselves even in Winter,
they eat cold food, they do not go to the feasts, nor go out ex-
cept at night for their necessities; they have a handful of hair
cut from the back of the head, and say that this is not done un-
less there is great sorrow; it is chiefly the husband who carries
out this ceremony on the occasion of his wife's death, or the
wife on the occasion of her husband's death. So much for the
great mourning.

The lesser mourning lasts the whole year: when they go visit-
ing they make no salutation and do not say *Cway*; they do not
grease their hair, although the women do it when their mothers
order them, as the latter have authority over their hair and even
their persons—it is for them to send their daughters to the
feasts, for otherwise many would never go. What I find re-
markable is that during the whole year neither the wife nor the
husband remarries; otherwise they would be talked about
throughout the Country.

The graves are not permanent; as their Villages remain fixed

only for the few years that the facilities of the forests remain,
the bodies stay in the Cemeteries only until the feast of the
Dead, which usually takes place every twelve years. Now dur-
ing this time they do not fail frequently to honour the dead;
from time to time they make a feast for their souls throughout
the Village, as on the day of the funeral, and resuscitate their
names as often as they can. For this purpose they make gifts to
the Chiefs, to give to whoever is willing to take the name of the
dead man. And if the latter was held in consideration and es-
teem in the Country during his life-time, the one who resusci-
tates him, after giving a magnificent feast to the whole Coun-
try to make himself known under his new name, raises a levy of
resolute young men and goes away on a war expedition to per-
form some brave exploit which will show the whole Country
that he has inherited not only the name but also the virtues and
the courage of the dead man.

152

## CHAPTER IX
### OF THE SOLEMN FEAST OF THE DEAD

THE FEAST of the Dead is the most famous ceremony there is among the Hurons; they give it the name of feast because, as I shall now fully describe, when the bodies are taken from the Cemeteries, each Chief makes a feast for the souls in his Village. The biggest and the most magnificent is that of the Master of the Feast, who is for that reason called Master of the feast, par excellence.

This Feast is accompanied by many ceremonies, but you might say that the principal one is that of the cauldron; this one puts all the others into the shade, and the Feast of the Dead is scarcely spoken of, even in the most solemn Councils, otherwise than under the name of 'the cauldron'; and anyone who said, in this context, 'the cauldron is overturned', would mean that there was to be no feast of the Dead.

Now there is usually only one single feast in each Nation; all the bodies are put into a common pit. I say usually, for this year, in which the feast of the Dead was held, the cauldron has been divided, and five Villages of the district in which we are living have separated themselves off and have put their dead into a special pit. The one who was Chief of the preceding feast, and who is taken as the Chief of these parts, has given as his pre-text that his cauldron and his feast had been spoiled and that he was obliged to make another; but actually this was only a pre-text. The principal cause of this divorce is that the notables of this Village have been complaining for a long time that the others take everything on themselves, that they are not allowed to know as much as they would wish concerning the affairs of the Country, and that they are not called to the most secret and the most important Councils and to the sharing of the gifts. This division has been followed by distrust on both sides; God grant that it may not cause any hindrance to the proclamation of the holy Gospel. But I must touch briefly on the order and the circumstances of this feast, and then I must come to an end.

Twelve years or thereabouts having passed, the Old Men and Notables of the Country assemble to discuss the exact time at

which the feast is to be held to the satisfaction of the whole
Country and of the foreign Nations which are to be invited to
it. This having been decided, as all the bodies are to be trans-
ported to the Village in which is the common pit, each family
sees to its dead, but with a care and an affection beyond words.
If they have dead relatives in any part of the Country whatever,
they spare no trouble to go for them. They take them from
the Cemeteries, bear them on their own shoulders, and cover
them with the finest robes they have. In each Village they choose
a fine day and proceed to the Cemetery, where those called
Aiheonde, who have taken care of the grave, draw the bodies
from the tomb in the presence of the relatives, who renew their
tears and feel afresh the grief they had on the day of the funeral.

I was present at this spectacle and gladly invited all our ser-
ants to it; for I do not think that a more vivid picture and a
more perfect representation of what man is could be seen in the
whole world. It is true that in France our Cemeteries preach
powerfully, and that all those bones heaped one upon another
without distinction, those of the poor with those of the rich and
those of the humble with those of the great, are so many voices
that continually proclaim to us the thought of death, the vanity
of worldly things, and contempt for this life. But it seems to
me that what our Savages do on this occasion touches us more
closely, makes us see more nearly and feel more sensibly our
wretchedness. For, after having opened the tombs, they make a
display on the spot of all these carcasses and leave them thus un-
covered long enough to give the spectators time to learn once
and for all what they will be some day. Some are quite fleshless
and have only a parchment over their bones; others have a
dried and smoked appearance, showing scarcely any sign of
putrefaction; and yet others are still swarming all over with
worms. When the relatives have sufficiently satisfied them-
selves with this sight, they cover them with handsome and
quite new Beaver robes. Finally, after some time, they strip the
bones, and remove the skin and the flesh, which they throw in-
to the fire with the robes and mats in which they were wrapped.

As for the entire bodies of those recently dead, they leave them
in that state and content themselves with covering them with

new robes. They touched only one Old Man, of whom I have spoken before, who died this Autumn on returning from fishing. This swollen body had begun to decay only during the last month, at the time of the first warmth of Spring; the worms teemed in every part of it, and the corruption and ordure that came from it produced an almost intolerable stench; and yet they had the courage to take him out of the robe in which he was enveloped, cleaned him as best they could, took him in their bare hands, and placed him in a mat and in a new robe, and all this without showing any horror of this corruption. Is not that a noble example to inspire Christians, who ought to have thoughts much more elevated to acts of charity and works of mercy towards their neighbour? After that who will be horrified at the stench of a Hospital and who will not take a peculiar pleasure in seeing himself at the feet of a sick man all covered with sores, and in whose person he beholds the Son of God?

As they were removing the flesh from all these carcasses, they found a kind of charm in two of the bodies; one, which I saw myself, was a Turtle's egg with a leather strap; and the other, which was handled by our Fathers, was a little Turtle the size of a nut. This made them believe that the dead men had been bewitched and that there were Sorcerers in our Village, whence some of them determined to leave it as soon as possible. Indeed, two or three days later one of the richest of them, fearing that some harm would come to him, moved his House to the Village of Arontaen, two leagues distant.

Now, the bones being well cleaned, they put a part of them into bags and a part into robes, loaded them on their shoulders, and covered these packages with another fine hanging robe. As for the whole bodies, they put them into a kind of litter and carried them with all the others, each into his House, in which each family made a feast to its dead.

Returning from this feast with a very intelligent Chief, and who seems likely one day to play an important part in the affairs of the Country, I asked him why they call the bones of the dead *Atisken*. He answered me as best he could, and I gathered from what he said that many think we have two souls,

both of them divisible and material and yet both rational. The
one parts from the body at death, and yet remains in the Ceme-
tery until the feast of the Dead, after which it either changes in-
to a Turtledove or, according to the most general opinion, goes
away direct to the village of souls; the other is attached, as it
were, to the body and informs, so to speak, the corpse, remain-
ing in the pit of the dead after the feast and never leaving it a-
gain unless someone gives birth to it again. He adduced, as a
proof of this metempsychosis, the complete resemblance some
have to dead people. A fine Philosophy! Such as it is, it is the
reason why they call the bones of the dead *Atisken*, the soul.

A day or two before they left for the feast, they carried all
these souls into one of the largest Houses of the Village, where
they were in part hung on the poles of the House and in part
displayed in it. The Chief entertained them and made them a
magnificent feast in the name of the dead Chief whose name he
bears. I was present at this feast of souls and observed four spe-
cial things in it. In the first place, the gifts made by the relatives
for the feast, which consisted of robes, Porcelain necklaces, and
cauldrons, were hung on poles along the whole length of both
sides of the House. Secondly, the Chief sang the song of the
dead Chief, in accordance with the wish the latter had express-
ed before his death to have it sung on this occasion. Thirdly,
all the guests were free to share all their good things with each
other and even to take them home, contrary to the custom of
the ordinary feasts. Fourthly, at the end of the feast, as their
sole thanks to the one who had entertained them, they imitated,
as they say, the cry of the souls, and left the House crying *Haee,
hae*.

The master of the feast, and even Anenkhiondic, principal
Chief of the whole Country, several times invited us most
pressingly. You would have thought that the feast would not
have been successful without us. I sent two of our Fathers some
days beforehand to see the preparations and to learn definitely
the day of the feast. Anenkhiondic gave them a very hearty
welcome, and on their departure himself accompanied them for
a quarter of a league, as far as the pit, and showed them, with
great demonstrations of regard, all the apparatus of the feast.

The feast was to be held on a Saturday of Pentecost, but some affairs that intervened and the uncertainty of the weather caused it to be put off until the Monday. The seven or eight days before the feast were spent in assembling the souls and the Forneigners who had been invited to it. Meanwhile, from morning until evening, the people constantly distributed largess to the young folk out of regard for the dead. On one side the women were shooting with the bow in competition for a prize, which was a Porcupine girdle or a necklace or string of Porcelain; elsewhere, in various parts of the Village, the young men were struggling to see who should get the stick, the prize for this victory being a hatchet, some knives, or even a Beaver robe.

The souls arrived from day to day. It is interesting to see these convoys, which sometimes extend to two and three hundred persons. Each one carries his souls, that is his bones, packed on his back, in the way I have described, under a handsome robe. Some had arranged their parcels in the form of a man, adorned with Porcelain necklaces and with a fine garland of long red fur. On leaving their Village the whole troop cried *Haee, hae*, and repeated this cry of the souls on the way. This cry, say they, greatly relieves them; otherwise this burden, although of souls, would weigh very heavily on their backs and give them a pain in the side for the rest of their lives.

They make short stages; our Village took three days to cover the four leagues to Ossossane, which we call La Rochelle, where all the ceremonies were to take place. As soon as they arrive near some Village they again cry their *Haee, hae*. The whole Village comes to meet them, and much largess is again distributed on this occasion. Each has his resting place in one of the Huts, all knowing where they are to lodge their souls; this takes place without confusion. At the same time the Chiefs hold a Council to determine how long the troop should remain in the Village.

All the souls of eight or nine Villages had arrived at La Rochelle by the Saturday of Pentecost; but the fear of bad weather compelled them, as I have said, to postpone the ceremony until Monday. We were lodged a quarter of a league away, in the old Village, in a House in which at least a hundred souls were

hanging attached to poles, some of which smelled a little stronger than musk.

On Monday, about noon, they came to warn us to be in readiness, as they were about to begin the ceremony. At the same time they took down the packages of souls, and the relatives opened them once more to bid their last farewells. The tears once more began to flow. I admired the tenderness of one woman towards her father and her children. She was the daughter of a Chief who died at a great age and who was once very important in the Country; she combed his hair and handled his bones one after the other with as much affection as if she had wished to restore him to life; she put beside him his *Atsatonewai*, that is, his packet of Council sticks, which are all the books and papers of the Country. As for her little children, she put Porcelain and glass bracelets on their arms, and bathed their bones with her tears; she could scarcely be separated from them, but time pressed and it was necessary to leave immediately. The one who bore the body of this old Chief walked at the head, the men followed, and then the women; they walked in this order until they arrived at the pit.

Here is the arrangement of this place. It is about the size of the place Royale at Paris. In the middle there was a great pit about ten feet deep and five brasses in diameter. All around was a scaffolding and a kind of stage; it was quite well made, about nine to ten brasses in diameter and nine to ten feet high. Above the theatre a number of poles had been erected and well arranged, with cross-poles on which to attach and hang all these parcels of souls. The whole bodies, as they were to be put in the bottom of the pit, had been placed under the scaffolding on the previous day, stretched on bark or on mats fastened to stakes the height of a man, near the pit.

The whole Company arrived with their corpses about an hour after Noon, and divided themselves into different sections, according to their families and Villages, and unloaded on the ground their parcels of souls, pretty well as they do earthen pots at Village Fairs. They also unfolded their parcels of robes and all the gifts that they brought, and hung them on poles, which stretched for 3,000 to 3,500 feet. There were, indeed, about

twelve hundred gifts that remained thus exhibited for two full
hours, to give the Foreigners time to see the riches and the
magnificence of the Country. I did not find the Company as
large as I had expected; if there were two thousand persons,
that was about all. About three o'clock each one put up his
possessions and folded his robes.

Meanwhile, each Chief in turn gave the signal; and all to-
gether, loaded with their parcels of souls, running as if to the
assault of a town, ascended the Stage by means of the ladders
placed all round, and hung the parcels on the poles; each Vil-
lage had its own section. This done, all the ladders were taken
away, and a few Chiefs remained there and spent all the rest of
the afternoon until seven o'clock announcing the gifts they were
making to various individuals in the names of the dead people.
'Here', said they, 'is what such and such a dead person gives to
such and such a relative.'

About five or six o'clock they paved the bottom of the pit and lined it with fine large new robes, each of ten Beaver skins, in such a way that they extended more than a foot above it. As they were preparing the robes which were to be put to this use, some went down to the bottom and brought up handfuls of sand. I asked what this ceremony meant, and learned that they have the belief that this sand makes them successful at play. Of the twelve hundred gifts which had been displayed, forty-eight robes served to pave and line the pit, and each whole body, besides the robe in which it was wrapped, had another one and some even two to cover it. That was all, so that I do not think that each separate body had its own robe, which is surely the least that it could have for its burial; for what sheets and shrouds are in France, Beaver robes are here. But what becomes then of the remainder? I will now describe this.

At seven o'clock they lowered the whole bodies into the pit.
We had the greatest difficulty in the world in approaching.
Never have I been better able to imagine the confusion that
reigns among the damned. You would have seen them on all
sides discharging half rotted bodies, and from every side was to
be heard a horrible din of the confused voices of people who
spoke without being heard; ten or twelve were in the pit and

arranged the bodies all around it, next to each other. In the very
middle they put three large cauldrons that could be used only
for the souls: one was holed, another had no handle, and the
third was in scarcely better condition. I saw very few Porce-
lain necklaces; it is true that they put many with the bodies.
This is all that was done on this day.

Everybody spent the night on the spot; they lit many fires and put up their cauldrons. As for us, we retired to the old Village, with the intention of coming back the following morning at daybreak, when they were to throw the bones into the pit; but we could hardly arrive in time, notwithstanding all the haste we made, on account of an accident that happened. One of the souls, which was not securely fastened or was perhaps too heavy for the cord that held it, fell into the pit of its own accord.

The noise awakened the Company, who immediately ran up,
crowded upon the scaffolding, and indiscriminately emptied
each parcel into the pit, keeping back, however, the robes in
which they were wrapped. We had only just set out from the
Village, but the noise was so great that it seemed to us as if we
were almost there. Approaching, we saw a perfect representa-
tion of Hell. This large space was all filled with fires and flame,
and the air resounded in every direction with the mingled
voices of these Barbarians. Nevertheless, this noise stopped for
a short time, and they began to sing, but in so lamentable and
so lugubrious a tone that it represented to us the horrible sad-
ness and abyss of despair into which these unhappy souls are
forever plunged.

Nearly everything had been thrown in when we arrived, for
this was done almost in the turn of a hand; each had hurried,
believing that there would not be enough room for all these
souls; but we saw enough to judge of the rest. Five or six of
them were in the pit arranging the bones with poles. The pit
was full to within two feet; they turned back over the bones
the robes which projected all around the pit, and covered the
rest with mats and bark. Then they filled the ditch with sand,
poles, and wooden stakes, which they threw in indiscrimin-
ately. Some women brought a few dishes of corn to it, and

that day and the following days several Houses of the Village
provided quantities of it, which were thrown upon the pit.

We have fifteen or twenty Christians buried with these Infidels; we said a *De profundis* for their souls, with a strong hope that if the divine goodness does not stay the flow of its blessings upon these Peoples, this feast will not again be made or will be made only for Christians, with ceremonies as holy as these are foolish and useless. They are even beginning to be a burden to them, because of the excesses and superfluous expenses due to them.

The whole morning was passed in distributing largess; and the greater part of the robes in which the souls had been wrapped were cut into pieces and thrown from the top of the Stage into the midst of the assembly, for those who could get them. It was amusing when two or three flung themselves on one Beaver skin; for, to come to terms, they had to cut it into as many pieces; and so they found themselves practically emptyhanded, since this fragment was hardly worth picking up. In this connection I admired the ingenuity of one Savage; he did not put himself to trouble to run after these flying pieces; but, as there has been nothing so precious this year in the Country as Tobacco, he held a piece of it in his hand, which he immediately offered to those who were disputing about the skin and thus settled the matter to his own profit.

Before leaving the place we learned that on the night in which
gifts had been made to the foreign Nations on behalf of the
master of the feast, we also had been named. And in fact, as we
were going away, Anenkhiondic came to present us with a
robe of ten Beavers, in return for the necklace I had given them
in open Council to help them on the road to Heaven. They
were so grateful for this gift that they wanted to testify to their
obligation during the course of so great an assembly. Nevertheless, I did not accept it, telling him that, as we had made them our gift only to lead them to embrace our faith, they could not thank us better than by listening to us willingly and by believing in him who made all things. He asked me what I wished him to do with the robe; I replied that he should dispose of it as he saw fit, whereat he was perfectly satisfied.

L

161

As for the rest of the twelve hundred gifts, forty-eight robes were used in adorning the pit. Each whole body wore its robe, and some two or three. Twenty were given to the master of the feast, to thank the Nations who had taken part in the feast. The dead people distributed a large number of them, by the intermediary of the Chiefs, to their living friends. A part served only as show and were removed by those who had exhibited them. The Old Men and the notabilities of the Country, who were responsible for their administration and handling, surreptitiously withdrew a fair number of them. And the rest were cut into pieces, as I have said, and thrown, as a display of magnificence, into the midst of the assembly. Nevertheless, it is only the rich who lose nothing or very little in this feast. The middling people and the poor bring to them and leave their most precious possessions and suffer greatly in order not to appear inferior to others in this celebration. Everybody makes it a point of honour.

For the rest, we all but failed to be present at the feast at all. This Winter the Chief Aenons, of whom I have spoken before, came to us to make overtures on behalf of the Old Men of the whole Country. At that time the cauldron had not yet been divided. He inquired, therefore, whether we would like to raise the bodies of the two Frenchmen who died in this Country, that is, Guillaume Chaudron and Etienne Brulé, who was killed four years ago, and to have their bones put into the common pit of their dead. We replied that, first of all, this could not be since it was forbidden to us; for, as they had been baptized and were, as we hoped, in heaven, we respected their bones too much to allow them to be mingled with the bones of those who had not been baptized; and that, besides, it was not our custom to raise bodies. After all this we nevertheless added that as they were buried in the woods and as they desired it so much, we would be willing to raise their bones on condition that they would let us put them into a special pit with the bones of all those whom we had baptized in the Country.

Four principal reasons led us to make this reply. 1. As it is the greatest pledge of friendship and alliance that they have in the Country, we were according to them in this matter what they

wished, and were thus showing them that we wished to love
them like our brothers and to live and die with them. 2. We
hoped that God would be glorified thereby, chiefly, in that, by
separating the bodies of the Christians from the bodies of the
Infidels with the consent of the whole Country, it would not
have been difficult afterwards to obtain from individuals per-
mission to have their Christians buried in a separate Cemetery,
which we would bless for that purpose. 3. We were intending
to bury them with all the ceremonies of the Church. 4. The
Old Men, of their own accord, wished us to erect a beautiful
and magnificent Cross, as they afterwards told us more private-
ly. Thus the Cross would have been approved by the whole
Country and honoured in the midst of this Barbarism, and they
would have taken care in the future not to impute to it, as they
have done in the past, the misfortunes that might overtake them.

This Chief found our proposition very reasonable, and the
Old Men of the Country were very pleased with it. Some time
after, the cauldron was divided and, as I have said, five Villages
of the district in which we are resolved to hold their feast separ-
ately.

In the Spring a general Assembly was held of the Notables of
the whole Country, to discuss everything concerning this feast
and to try to heal this schism and to reunite the cauldron. These
discontented spirits were present; I also was invited; they made
me the same proposal, and I replied that we should be very
happy, provided that it would be done in the conditions we had
asked for. They mentioned the division of the cauldron and
asked me, since there were two cauldrons, that is, two pits, in
which direction I wished to have our special pit. In order not
to offend anybody I replied that I left the matter to their judge-
ment, that they were good and wise and should discuss the mat-
ter among themselves. The Master of the feast of La Rochelle
said amiably, on this, that so far as he was concerned he asked
for nothing, and that he was satisfied that the other, who is the
Chief of these parts, should have the bodies of our two French-
men in his district. The other replied that he laid no claim
to the one who had been buried at La Rochelle, but that the
body of Etienne Brulé belonged to him, as it was he who had

embarked him and brought him to this Country. And thus the
bodies were divided, one to one side and one to the other.

On this someone said under his breath that he had every right
to ask for the body of Etienne Brulé and that it was very reason-
able that they should render some honour to his bones, since
they had killed him. This could not be said so privately as to
make it impossible for this Chief to get wind of it. Neverthe-
less he dissimulated his feelings for the moment. After the
Council, when we had already left, he brought up the reproach
and had vigorous words with the Chief of La Rochelle, and
finally entirely gave up the body of Brulé, in order not to irri-
tate and not still further to fester the wound from which the
people of these parts have not yet purged themselves.

This led us to resolve to try and convince those of La Rochelle
to touch neither body. In truth there is reason here to admire
the secret judgements of God; for this infamous man [Chau-
dron] certainly did not deserve this honour; and, to tell the
truth, we would have had a great difficulty in deciding our-
selves to make a special Cemetery for his sake and to move to
consecrated Ground the body of a man who had led so scan-
dalous a life in this Country and who gave the Savages so bad an
impression of the morals of the French.

At first some felt angry that we had changed our minds, and
were offended, saying that now they could not boast to foreign
Peoples, as they had hoped to do, that they were related to the
French, for the others might say that there was no appearance
of this, since we had not wished to put the bones of our people
with theirs. Afterwards, however, having heard all our reasons,
they concluded that we had acted prudently and that it was the
right way to maintain ourselves in friendship with both parties.

Shall I finish the present letter with this funeral ceremony? Yes,
since it is a clear enough token of the hope of a future life that
nature seems to provide for us in the minds of these Peoples, as
a very fitting means to make them appreciate the promises of
Jesus Christ. Is there not reason to hope that they will do so,
and that very soon? Of a truth, having regard to appearances, I
dare indeed affirm that we have grounds for strengthening our
courage and for saying about our Hurons what saint Paul wrote

to the Philippians: *Confidens hoc ipsum, quia qui coepit in vobis opus bonum, perficiet usque in diem Christi Jesu.*

These poor people open their ears to what we tell them about the Kingdom of Heaven, they find it very reasonable, and dare not contradict it; they fear the judgements of God in the other life; they begin to have recourse with us to his goodness in their needs; and Our Lord appears sometimes to have favoured them with some special help. They procure Baptism for those they see in danger of death; they give us their children to be instructed, to the extent of allowing them to travel three hundred leagues for this purpose, notwithstanding the tender affection they have for them; they live in the hope of following them one day, and assure us that they would not give us such precious pledges if they did not intend to keep their word. You might say that they are only waiting to see one of them be the first to take this dreaded step and dare go against the custom of the Country.

For the rest, they are a People with a settled habitation, judicious, capable of reasoning, and fairly numerous. I mentioned last year twelve Nations, all sedentary and numerous, who understand the language of our Hurons. Now our Hurons number, in twenty Villages, about thirty thousand souls; if the rest are in proportion, here we have three hundred thousand of the Huron tongue alone. God gives us influence among them, makes us esteemed among them, and causes us to be loved to such a point that we do not know to whom to listen, so eager is each one to have us. We should in truth be very ungrateful to the grace of God if we lost courage amid all this and did not give him time to bring forth his fruit in due season.

It is true that I have some little apprehension against the time when it will be necessary to speak to them in a different tone in regard to their morals, to teach them to mortify their flesh, and to hold them within the proper bonds of Marriage, preventing divorces by fear of the judgements of God on the lascivious, when it will be a case of saying to them on every occasion, *Quoniam qui talia agunt regnum Dei non possidebunt.* I fear that they will become restive when we speak to them of being reclothed in Jesus Christ, of wearing his livery, and of differ-

entiating themselves in the capacity of Christians from what
they had formerly been, with the aid of a virtue of which they
scarcely know the name, when we shall say to them with the
Apostle, For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that
every one of you should know how to preserve his body as a
precious vessel in sanctification and in honour, and not give
way to the passion of his lusts, like the Gentiles that know not
God.

It is, I say, much to be feared that they will be alarmed when
instructed in purity and chastity, and that they may reject at
this time the doctrine of the Son of God, saying with those of
Capernaum, on another subject, *Durus est hic sermo, et quis pot-
est eum audire?* However, since with the grace of God we have
already, by the open profession we have made of this virtue,
obtained this much, that they dare not in our presence either
do or say anything contrary to it—to the point of threaten-
ing Strangers when they let anything slip before us, warning
them that the French, and above all the Black Robes, hate such
familiarities—is it not more likely that if the holy Spirit once
takes them in hand, he will so deeply impress on them, in every
place and at every time, the respect they owe to his divine
presence and immensity, that they will be very glad to be
chaste in order to be Christians, and will earnestly ask to be
Christians in order to be chaste?

I conceive that it is for this special purpose that Our Lord in-
spired us to put them under the protection of saint Joseph. This
great Saint, who was in former times given as her Spouse to the
glorious Virgin in order to conceal, both from the eyes of the
world and from the devil, a virginity which God honoured
with his Incarnation, has so much power with this Holy Lady,
in whose hands her Son has placed in trust all the graces that
assist this celestial virtue, that there is practically nothing to fear
in the contrary vice for those who are utterly devoted to her, as
we desire our Hurons and ourselves to be. It is for this end, and
for the complete conversion of all these Peoples, that we cor-
dially commend ourselves to the prayers of all those who love
or wish to love God, and in particular of all our Fathers and
Brothers.

166

III

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, [1636]

Very Reverend Father,
The Peace of Christ.

Relations of this and the preceding years should have been sent to you in order that Your Paternity might be acquainted with matters pertaining to this house which we have established among the Huron peoples of New France or Canada. I think that Our Reverend Father Provincial will see that these are sent, and so I will merely say that we have good hope of reaping a large harvest of souls at this mission some day. The Hurons live in towns, not wandering about in the manner of wild animals or even of many other barbarians. In all they have twenty towns, some of which are enclosed by very strong wooden walls. They sometimes change their abode, as soon as there is not enough wood for their fires or the over-cultivated land produces scanty crops. For they cultivate the fields, from which they obtain Indian corn (the grain which some call Turkish), an abundance of excellent gourds, and also tobacco. All this region abounds both in game and in fish, and so the Hurons have at hand the means for supplying an adequate and healthy living, if not an extravagant one.

They are not so barbarous as not to be possessed of excellent
sense and natural judgement, and this applies to nearly all of
them. As regards the mysteries of our faith, although these are
altogether new to them, yet they do not contradict them, nor
mock nor spurn them; they rather marvel, praise, and approve,
though without keeping them before them for long. They all
have only one answer, 'Such is not our custom, your world is
different from ours, the God who created yours', they say, 'did
not create ours'. In short, their evil customs still hold them
back, caught in the snares of Satan. Many, it is true, gladly
worship the God whom we preach; but it is true that when
the occasion for their old superstitions once more arises, they
scarcely abstain. Among other things that move them, they are

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IV

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, AT ROME, 1637

Very Reverend Father in Christ,
The Peace of Christ.

I wrote last year to your Paternity concerning the condition
of the Hurons among whom we are working, of their customs
and of the hope of reaping there in the future a harvest of souls.
I think there were sent to you in addition two relations of the
preceding years, from which, as from the one we now send,
you can obtain a clear understanding of all our affairs. I will
therefore inform Your Paternity that two things occurred this
year which checked a little the progress of the gospel.

The first was a pestilence and contagion, coming I know not
whence, which eight months ago spread through several vil-
lages and from which many died. The divine providence even
so dealt with us that we should not be immune from the calam-
ity. Indeed, it almost began with us, or, at all events, afflicted
us at the same time as the savages. Of six priests who labour
here and four servants who are with us, we saw, at one and the
same time, seven confined to their beds and near unto death.
The same divine goodness restored us all to our original health
and strength, in which we still continue. But our Hurons,
either still ignorant of eternal life or still infidels, sought reme-
dies for their diseases, meet for this present life, with such eager-
ness and such anxiety that they scarcely lent ear to us who ad-
monished them concerning eternal life. No one would have
repelled us if we had promised health. But very many, because
of their too great desire for this life, wretchedly lost both, to our
great sorrow.

The second obstacle consisted in the stories spread among the
people by followers of the devil, alleging that our Frenchmen,
and we in particular, were the cause of this contagion and that
our only object in coming to their country was to work their
destruction; and much more of the same kind and not less false
did they disseminate about us. All this, moreover, not only

170

alienated several villages from us at the time, but also aroused in
the minds of some a wish to expel us from their midst as danger-
ous to the common weal. But he who alone can destroy and
bring to life, cast us into hell and raise us from it, snatched us
from these dangers, and even made the savages humbly beg for
pardon.

Now these false rumours have all finally ceased. We are freely heard, we have purified more than two hundred this year by baptism, and there is scarcely a village that has not invited us to it. Moreover, the consequence of this pestilence and of the illness has been to make us better known to [this] nation, and it is at last known, from our actions and from our circumstances, that we have not come here to procure skins or to carry on any trade, but only in order to teach them and to win them to Christ, and to procure them the health of their souls and finally eternal and everlasting life.

Further, as some families put all their hope in the Lord, although they were not yet baptized, and therefore almost alone remain safe and sound, it has resulted that they believe in baptism and eagerly ask for it, and we hope that they will receive it when they have been sufficiently proved. We have also seen no uncertain signs of present grace in many whom we have purified through baptism, and already, as we believe, many both adults and children have flown to heaven, blessed intercessors before God for their countrymen.

Lastly, we have come to hope that very many will be convert-
ed when this pestilence, which still rages, has abated and feel-
ings have been [restored] to that tranquillity which is necessary
for the hearing and understanding of the truths of the faith.

We are now building a new house in this village, which is
called Rupella [La Rochelle] by us and Ossossane by the sav-
ages, where many live, where the pestilence raged with out-
standing virulence, and where we have always been eagerly
welcomed, heard and sought after. This house will be called
the Residence of the Immaculate Conception. We also purpose
to send two of our people this very year to that Huron nation
which is called Attignenonghac, to establish them there and
later a house, if the hope of some success shines forth.

I believe that those at Quebec report about the Huron seminary started there, in which five youths have spent the winter. We shall now send others to it and we hope for no little help from it in binding the Huron people closely to us and to Christ. Thus, in truth, the faith gathers its harvest, but in labour, in vigils, in sorrow, and in patience. Long is the clearing, long the sowing, and afterwards comes the reaping. Although now, in the beginning, we sow the seed with tears and sighs, yet some day will come, on which we shall see with joy the fruit of our labours.

The Fathers with whom I am associated are Father François Mercier, Father Pierre Pijart, Father Pierre Chastellain, Father Charles Garnier, and Father Isaac Jogues. These are in every way outstanding labourers who strikingly combine eloquence and union with God with a burning zeal for souls. One and all are so persistent in their studies that in only a year or two they have attained a really wonderful proficiency in a language which is still rude and not yet well reduced to rules; however, in this connection I think that Father Charles Garnier stands first. Since matters stand thus, why should we not, assured of the goodness of God, hope for and expect a plentiful harvest of souls?

Your Paternity's most humble servant and most obedient son
in Christ,
Jean de Brébeuf, J.

From the house of St Joseph, among the Hurons, in the village of Ihonatiria, twentieth May, 1637.

Since I wrote the above, the new residence of the Conception, which I mentioned, has been finished, and we began to live there on the day sacred to the holy martyrs Primus and Felicianus, that is ninth June. It is [remarkable] with what kindness and applause we were received by the whole village. Later, on the day sacred to the holy Trinity, we cleansed in holy baptism, and that with solemn ceremony, a man aged fifty years, of whom we are in hope of great results in the future, for he is in every way well instructed and has been long proved. [He has] great fame, authority and standing, and is the first adult who has been baptized in health; and some have indeed already come, because of his example, urgently entreating us to baptize them.

Also at the house of St Joseph, sixteenth June.

V

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FATHERS OF OUR
SOCIETY WHO SHALL BE SENT TO THE
HURONS, 1637

THE FATHERS and Brothers whom God shall call to the Holy Mission of the Hurons, should take care to foresee all the labours, hardships and perils that must be encountered in making this journey, in order to prepare themselves in good time for all the emergencies that may arise. You must sincerely love the Savages, considering them as ransomed by the blood of the son of God, and as our brothers, with whom we are to pass the rest of our lives.

To conciliate the Savages you must take care never to make them wait for you when embarking.

It is necessary to provide yourself with a tender box or a burning mirror or both, to make fire for them during the day for smoking, and in the evening when it is necessary to camp. These little services win their hearts.

You must try to eat their sagamite or salmagundi in the way they prepare it, although it may be dirty, half cooked, and very tasteless. As for the other things that may displease, which are very numerous, they must be endured for the love of God, without saying a word and without appearing to notice them.

It is well at first to take all they offer, although you may not be able to eat yours, for, when one has become a little accustomed to it, there is not too much.

You must try to eat as soon as day breaks unless you can embark with your dish, for the day is too long to spend it without eating. The Barbarians, when they are on the road, eat only at the rising and the setting of the Sun.

You must be prompt in embarking and disembarking, and tuck up your habits in such a way that they do not get wet and so that you will not bring either water or sand into the canoe. To be most conveniently dressed you should have your feet and legs bare; while passing parts of the rapids you can wear your shoes and in the long portages you can even put on your leggings.

173

You must so conduct yourselves as not to be in the least
troublesome to a single one of these Barbarians.

It is not wise to ask many questions; you must not yield to the
wish you will have to learn the language and to make a few ob-
servations on the way—you may go too far in this; you must
relieve those in your canoe from this annoyance, especially as
you will not be able to profit much by it during these labours.
Silence is golden at such a time.

You must put up with their imperfections without saying a
word, and even without seeming to notice them. If it is neces-
sary to criticize anything, you must do it modestly, and with
words and acts that show love and not aversion. In short, you
must try always to be and to appear cheerful.

Each one should be provided with half a gross of awls, two or
three dozen little knives called jambettes [folding knives], a hun-
dred or so fish-hooks, with some plain and fancy beads with
which to buy fish or other commodities when meeting other
nations, in order to feast your Savages; and it would be well to
say to them right away, 'Here is something with which to buy
fish'. Each one should try, according to his strength, to carry
some little thing at the portages; however little one carries, it
greatly pleases the Savages, be it only a cauldron.

You must not be ceremonious with the Savages, but accept
the comforts that they offer you, such as some good spot in the
hut. The greatest conveniences are full of big enough incon-
veniences, and these formalities offend them.

Take care not to annoy anyone in the canoe with your hat;
you should rather take your night-cap. There is no impro-
priety among the Savages.

Do not begin anything if you do not intend to go on; for in-
stance, do not begin to paddle unless you intend always to pad-
dle. Take from the beginning the place in the canoe that you
wish to keep. Do not lend them your clothes unless you are
willing to give them up for the whole voyage. It is easier to re-
fuse from the beginning than to ask back, change, or stop after-
wards.

Finally, realize that the Savages will keep the same opinion of
you at home that they will have formed on the way; and any-

one who has passed for an irritable and troublesome person will
afterwards have much difficulty in changing this opinion. You
are concerned not only with those of your own canoe, but also,
so to speak, with all those of the country; you meet some of
them to-day and to-morrow others, who will not fail to en-
quire from those who brought you what manner of man you
are. It is an almost incredible thing how they observe and re-
member down to the slightest fault.

When you meet Savages on the way, as you cannot yet greet
them with kind words, at least look on them kindly and show
them that you cheerfully endure the fatigues of the journey. It
is a good use of the labours of the way and a considerable pro-
gress to have gained the affection of the Savages.

Here is a lesson which is easy enough to learn but very difficult
to practise; for, coming from a highly civilized place, you fall
into the hands of barbarous people, who care nothing for your
Philosophy or your Theology. All the fine qualities that might
make you loved and respected in France are like pearls trampled
under foot by swine, or rather by mules who utterly despise
you when they see that you are not as good pack-animals as
they are. If you could go naked and carry the load of a horse on
your back, as they do, then you would be wise according to
their lights and acknowledged for a great man, otherwise not.
Jesus Christ is our true greatness; it is he alone and his cross you
should seek in running after these peoples, for if you strive for
anything else you will find nothing but bodily and spiritual
affliction. But having found Jesus Christ in his cross, you have
found the roses in the thorns, sweetness in bitterness, all in
nothing.

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VI

LETTER TO THE REVEREND FATHER PAUL LE
JEUNE, SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS OF THE
SOCIETY OF JESUS IN NEW FRANCE, [1637]

My Reverend Father,
The Peace of Christ.

We are perhaps on the point of shedding our blood and of
sacrificing our lives in the service of our good Master Jesus
Christ. It seems that his goodness deigns to accept this sacrifice
from me for the expiation of my great and innumerable sins,
and to crown, from this hour, the past services and the great
and burning desires of all our Fathers who are here.

What makes me think that this will not be is, on the one hand,
the excess of my past evils, which render me altogether un-
worthy of so signal a favour; and, on the other hand, that I do
not believe that his Goodness will permit his workmen to be
put to death, since by his grace there are already several good
souls who ardently receive the seed of the Gospel, notwithstanding the abuse and persecution of everybody against us.
But yet I fear lest divine Justice, seeing the obstinacy of the
greater part of these Barbarians in their follies, may not very
justly allow them to go so far as to take away the life of the
body from those who, with all their hearts, desire and procure
the life of their souls.

Be this as it may, I assure you that all our Fathers await the
outcome of this matter with great calmness and contentment
of mind. And for myself, I can say to Your Reverence with all
sincerity that I have not yet had the least fear of death from
such a cause. But we are all sorry that these poor Barbarians
are by their own wickedness closing the door to the Gospel and
to grace. Whatever resolution they take and whatever treat-
ment they give us, we will try, with the grace of Our Lord, to
endure it patiently for his service. It is a singular favour that
his Goodness gives us, to make us endure something for love of
him. It is now that we consider ourselves truly to be of his
Society. May he be forever blessed for having accepted us,
among many others destined for this country and better than

we, to help him in bearing his Cross. His holy will be done in all things. If he wishes that we should die at this moment, oh happy hour for us! If he wishes to reserve us for other labours, may he be blessed. If you hear that God has crowned our little labours, or rather our desires, bless him, for it is for him that we desire to live and to die and it is he who gives us grace to do so.

For the rest, if some survive, I have given orders for all they are to do. I have considered it wise that our Fathers and our servants should withdraw to the houses of those they consider to be their best friends. I have charged them to carry to the house of Pierre, our first Christian, all that relates to the Sacristy; and above all, to be particularly careful to put the Dictionary and all that we have of the language in a place of safety. As for myself, if God grant me the grace to go to Heaven, I will pray to God for them, for the poor Hurons, and I will not forget Your Reverence.

And finally, we implore Your Reverence and all our Fathers not to forget us in their holy Sacrifices and prayers, in order that [God] may grant us mercy in life and after death. We are all, in life and to all Eternity,

Your Reverence's

Very humble and very affectionate servants
in Our Lord,

In the Residence
of the Conception
at Ossossane, this
twenty-eighth Oct-
tober [1637].

Jean de Brébeuf
François Joseph le Mercier
Pierre Chastellain
Charles Garnier
Paul Ragueneau

I have left Fathers Pierre Pijart and Isaac Jogues in the Resid-
ence of St Joseph, with the same sentiments.

M

177

VII

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, 1639

I received last year, Your Paternity, letters dated at Rome, first January, 1638. As many of us as are here render infinite thanks for that special blessing which was bestowed on us at the beginning of that year; for we have proved it to be a holy year, fruitful and blessed, as the prayer was, and we still prove it daily. Then this new church began to establish itself, and the number of the faithful increases more and more. This is mostly due to the arrival of the Reverend Father Jerome Lalemant, who is now Superior of this Mission and, in truth, the future Apostle of the Hurons, as we hope, for he is endowed with so great a zeal that he omits nothing of what might further our perfection or the conversion of the heathen. So great is his love and so gentle that it conquers the hearts of us all, and his excellence is to us a great encouragement to perfection. He himself, doubtless, as you are indeed his father, writes diligently to Your Paternity in what state Christian affairs are in this country or directs you to the Report which he compiled this year, so that I will write no more than a word.

The baptized this year were about three hundred, out of the number of whom as many as a hundred profess the Faith openly and frequent the Sacraments. The others, since they were all baptized in sickness and danger of life, have either completed their lives and escaped to heaven or, health being restored, have made known to the world the benefit of faith and health which they received from God. Great indeed is the number of catechumens who will, we hope, go into Christ's sheepfold so lately collected, when we have duly tried their constancy. A great enough portion indeed we now enjoy, for, the plague being conquered, the rumours which were stirred up against us are stilled; whence come dangers thence comes prudence; nevertheless there is no lack of material for suffering. Because if

178

famine should happen this year, as is feared, all the attack of the
People will without doubt fall upon us, for we are said to be
the cause of all evils because we do not keep them off. Truly if
God be for us who shall be against us?

Your Paternity has written that you would gladly hear if we
think that anything could be contributed for our help, and it
would be much more freely given; we are deeply thankful, and
we ask that whatever Father Jerome Lalement, our Superior,
may be about to ask this year you may consider fit for us to ob-
tain, for there are some things among them which would be of
great advantage for Christian affairs in this land. We render
thanks also because His Holiness thinks fit to be mindful of us
[in his prayers], and we pray humbly that this may continue
and that His Holiness will commend that business which we do
as of greatest importance to the prayers of the whole Society,
and that he will give his blessing to us the least of his sons.

Your Paternity's most humble and most obedient servant in
Christ,

Jean de Brébeuf.

From the house of St Joseph, in the village of
Teanaostaiae, among the Hurons,
Thirteenth of May, 1639.

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VIII

EXTRACT FROM THE RELATION OF 1640

[THE SECOND part of the *Relation de ce qvi s'est passé en la novvelle France en l'année 1640* is by Father Jerome Lalemant. During the course of his report he writes: 'Is it not a joy to see a good woman, a septuagenarian, who hitherto had heard nothing but blasphemies against God, had been obliged every day to see devilries of every kind in her hut, had nothing before her eyes but dead people, people who are ill, sights of horror— and in the midst of all that has not failed in one point in the duties of a Christian, even to the extent of stealing away on Feasts and Sundays so that she might, unknown to her nearest, who persecuted her and wished to prevent her from professing the Faith, be present punctually at Mass and there make her devotions with as much peace as if she had been out of the storm and sheltered from these tempests. *Vere talium est regnum Dei.* She was named Ann at her baptism.' Lalemant then goes on to quote from a letter sent to him by Brébeuf:]

Hers is a simple spirit, naturally very gentle and kindly. It
seems that she has always lived in great innocence, apart from
the superstitions in the observance of which she was brought
up. Having heard us speak of God, she was at once transported
with his love and with the desire to believe in him and to serve
him. She never asks for anything, and when she has something
she shares it with us and will accept no reward from us (she is
perhaps unique in her kind). She greatly fears sin and comes to
seek advice when in doubt. She confesses the smallest things
and that immediately she has committed them, without delay-
ing. One day, having told her not to eat human flesh, 'How,
said she, 'should I eat any. During the whole of Lent I abstain-
ed from all meat and from feasts, although you had permitted
me to attend them and to eat at them.'

Before being baptized she had continual fainting fits, and each
year, about autumn, she had songs and dances performed for
her cure; but since her baptism she has no longer been troubled
with this evil, and she goes about relating this to everybody,

together with some other favours which it has pleased God to
show some little children whose baptism she had procured. She
has great concern for all our interests, and is angry at the evil
reports they circulate against us; and when she has learned any
bad news she comes to tell us of it. A little while ago, speaking
to a friend of hers about the efficacy of Baptism and of the
change it causes in ourselves, this good woman said, 'One is so
good after being baptized that the other day, seeing that a dish
was being stolen from me, I said not a word about it'. Is not
that an extraordinary simplicity and a very great readiness to
practise the advice of our Lord to give one's cloak to him who
wishes to rob us of our robe?

It is true that this new Church has not many such courageous
hearts, although some others too are found who give satisfaction enough; but it will be a great consolation if it please God to give his blessing to the constancy of our little labours, to remember these first beginnings and this mustard seed.

Before finishing I cannot pass over a wonderful thing that happened to a Savage who was baptized a little time ago. He was still a catechumen and was not giving the satisfaction we would have desired in order to confer baptism on him, which, for the rest, he was asking with fervour enough; above all we did not consider that he prayed to God with the reverence which is inseparable from a true faith. One day, as one of our Fathers was causing him to pray to God in their Chapel, this Savage was wholly surprised at a thing which almost took away his breath. He saw a picture of Our Lord move of itself, look at him with an eye of anger, and move its lips in a manner that horrified him. This barbarian stopped short and could not continue his prayer. After having somewhat come to himself, 'What do I see there,' said he, 'what prodigy? Does this picture threaten me with death? What does it mean by that?' The Father, who had seen nothing, was taken aback by this man's astonishment, and made him explain what gave him these fears and these thoughts. Having heard his reply, 'I do not know', the Father said to him, 'whether thou dost not mean to deceive me, but if the matter is as thou tellest me, it may be that Our Lord rebukes thee for the little respect that thou usest while praying

181

to him. Such things have sometimes happened in the Church.'

This barbarian again affirmed what he had seen, and the fear
that he was in led four of our Fathers, who afterwards inquired
into the affair, to believe that the thing was true. 'I want to be
a Christian,' continued this Catechumen, 'baptize me; why de-
fer so long? So long as I shall not be within the grace of God, I
am afraid lest he punish me.' We do not proceed so hotly and
put him off to try him further. He, for his part, continued to
come to pray to God and to press for his baptism; but since that
time his prayers were accompanied by respect, and the devotion
which appears outwardly and which continued for month after
month gave reason to believe that his heart was really touched
and that grace was in it or that God wished to put it there. His
behaviour was examined more closely and it was seen that he
had in fact given up all that is forbidden to him by the faith. At
last we could defer no longer, and he was solemnly baptized in
company with two others.

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IX

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, 1641

[THE ORIGINAL letter is written on very porous paper; it is much blotted and in parts almost illegible.]

Since I performed the office of Adviser this year in the Huron country and still perform the part of Procurator for this same Mission at Quebec, I think that it is my duty to put Your Paternity in mind of the condition of this Mission. And first, indeed, that great peace flourishes in general among our people who live among the Hurons. Religious discipline is not only perfectly kept as it is in great colleges, but the exact keeping of all rules is increased daily. All are zealous for virtue and self-denial according to their power, so that I doubt whether so much excellence was ever found anywhere among so few.

Our domestics also all strive eagerly for perfection, chiefly indeed those who are full members of the Holy Society. Moreover [whatever] concerns that class of men who yield entirely to the Holy Society in this country, there is now nothing, as I think, which would not be in accordance with the Society's rules and your Paternity's wishes, because if there is anything sinful in this affair it is altogether overcome. Certainly, indeed, we consider that class of men, in those particular districts, not only useful but necessary; we [remove] only those who are admitted into certain houses and colleges of the Society. But there will be sent to Your Paternity the form of civil contract whereby we are bound with them, so that it may be approved or another be sent to us to which we may adhere.

Father Jerome Lalemant, Superior of the Huron Mission, gives the greatest satisfaction. The good order of this Mission is due, under God, to his excellence and [wisdom]. Truly the zeal of the house of God devours him. What is more, he is anxious for the strengthening of religious teaching, and not less bent on the

salvation and conversion of the heathen. With equal applica-
tion all the Fathers give heed to his example and exhortation.

We have there a resolute church of about sixty people, from
whose excellence and enthusiasm we receive great solace; be-
sides the number has increased and will increase daily, we hope,
if we also are resolute. Moreover, every day a new field is open-
ed wherein the zeal of our people and their industry may show
themselves. This year we have founded anew two Missions,
one to those Algonquins whom we call Nipirini, in whose
spirit enough harshness may be seen, and also to that tribe
which we call Neuter, in which will be a great harvest, for
there are in it nearly forty villages filled with numerous inhabi-
tants.

This last mission has fallen to Father Calmonotus [Chaumonot]
and me; we were there five months and certainly suffered many
things, were heard gladly by few indeed, neglected by many,
and attacked with abuse and hostility. But nevertheless at our
departure we were invited by their great men to return. Father
Calmonotus will, I hope, be a great and notable help to the
work of Christ in this district, for he now makes progress in the
language of this tribe, although it is not a little different from
the Huron tongue. He is altogether a notable man.

Now that I turn to the Quebec Mission, certainly Christian
affairs are well founded there. For in the Residence of St
Joseph almost all the natives are Christians, and we think that
their faith, virtue and enthusiasm should have great force in the
conversion of other tribes. In the Residence of the Conception
also there are many Christians, and daily the number of savages
increases by those brought in and converted. In that, indeed, I
heard that most is due to the zeal, charity and industry of
Father Barthélémy Vimont, Superior of all the Canadian Mis-
sions. Nevertheless it is strange that we should have not a few
enemies from among our own people, who, because they are
less apt at learning languages for the instruction of the natives,
will not try. [Some words illegible.] Nevertheless from that fact
arise too many ensuing quarrels, and contentions [some words
illegible].

First there must be reduced the number of men who, because

184

they are not apt at languages, lack almost any occupation, and,
because they are not contented, become [?] in the cause. They
fill the places of many young men who could both quickly
learn the language and go off to work notably. There is a great
lack of workers here, at Quebec I mean, for among the Hurons
there is a great enough number of workers and they great ones,
from whose excellence and diligence it is permissible to hope
for great things to the glory of God.

Some means might be desirable to increase the power of the
Superior of these missions to send back to France those who are
useless or even dangerous. For since it is necessary to wait a
whole year or even two for the answer of the Provincial much
must happen in the meantime very contrary to peace, union
and concord within [?] before the next. But Your Paternity
will be able to prevent this evil either yourself or through the
Reverend Father Provincial. And indeed the Rev. Fr. Pro-
vincial is [? inclined] enough towards the entire Mission of New
France; nevertheless I will commend to Your Paternity that
you spur the willing horse.

Nothing remains for me to add here, for I have nothing that I could write about the Nuns of Quebec, since nothing is done for them that might be against the interest of our foundation, and no one can be offended [?], since whatever duty is given to them can be given by no one except us and those duties can provide us with many friends.

I have found the letter of Your Paternity which you wrote to
the whole Society last year on the occasion of the Society's cen-
tenary; I have sent it to our Fathers who are among the Hur-
ons, who doubtless will read it not without profit. I beg Your
Paternity that you will bestow your continuous blessing on us
your sons dwelling in the ends of the earth, and with prayer to
God, the best and greatest, that He will long preserve you in
safety for us,

Your Paternity's most humble
and most obedient son and servant in Christ,

Jean de Brébeuf.

Quebec in New France, twentieth of August, 1641.

X

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, 1642

I cannot but return to Your Paternity great thanks for the feeling which you bear towards this our Huron Mission. We will wait, therefore, until next year for whatever you decide that you will do in confirmation of the contract of those who bind themselves to the obedience of the Holy Society. Heaven had this year its first-fruits of men of this kind: for when Father Isaac Jogues, one of the Fathers of the Huron Mission, leaving here, went to the Hurons with three servants of that tribe, he was seized and carried off by our enemies the Iroquois, with two of those servants and twenty-three Hurons. The other, indeed, looked to his own safety in flight, nor did he hesitate afterwards once more to expose himself to danger in order to return to our people, to whose service he pledged his life for God. And this is one of the reasons why we prefer men of this kind in necessary things, because they gladly undergo all dangers with us, which are certainly frequent here, so that scarcely any now act as mercenaries.

Father Joseph Brissani, whom Your Paternity sent to us as a mark of special goodwill towards us and our Mission, has turned the Report of this year, certainly with great toil, into the Italian tongue. From this your Paternity will be able to see 1. How great is the peace and unity both of ourselves and of our servants. 2. What gentle and excellent sensations of piety our Neophytes feel, and how white the districts are to harvest. Here in Quebec, to be sure, where I am about to spend the winter, in eagerness on account of Huron affairs, all are Christians, even to the extent that yesterday and to-day Fr. Joseph Brissani regenerated fourteen, as well men as women, in the sacred font, whom afterwards he joined in the marriage ceremony. Among the Hurons too greater and greater hope shines out every day. 3. From the same Report you will be able to

186

understand with what and how many evils our Iroquois enemies
attack us and all the natives joined to us in friendship, so that it
is greatly to be feared that in a short time all our affairs and the
religion of Canada will perish completely unless a speedy re-
medy be applied. The heart of the most Christian King and the
Most Eminent Cardinal were indeed well enough disposed to
help us when Fr Paul Le Jeune left France, but now there is
hardly anyone who presses on matters as he does, nor do we
dare again to choose anyone for this business. Nevertheless [?]
into France together with our Governor, the wisest of men and
certainly of the greatest merit in New France, [to explain] in
how great danger affairs are put unless help be sent; but perhaps
the encouragement of Your Paternity may avail to arouse
those who are chosen to act in this business. The point of it is
that the Dutch, who supply arms to our enemies and greatly
hinder the conversion of the natives and will hinder it, being
heretics, should be altogether driven out of these parts, or con-
quered in war like the Iroquois. May God bring it to pass that
before Your Fathership leaves us for heaven this benefit may be
fulfilled [?].

I indeed further humbly ask, and falling on my knees sub-
missively most earnestly beg, that you will obtain once more a
blessing for me and that Mission, and that you may be while
you live and after death [?] of a most grateful sinner [?].

Jean de Brébeuf.

Quebec in New France, first of October, 1642.

187

XI

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER MUTIO VITELLESCHI, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, 1643

Very Reverend Father,

Your Paternity has been able to learn of the early state of these
Canadian missions both from our letters and, most of all, from
the relation written last year in Italian by Father Jos. Bressani,
who admirably discharged the office of parish priest at Quebec
the whole of this winter. The present state of our Huron mis-
sion, of which I here conduct the administration, Your Patern-
ity already knows sufficiently from the letters of Father Jer.
Lalemant, Superior of that mission. However, there are two or
three things which I consider it my duty to describe, both be-
cause Father Lalemant could not write about them, because he
was unaware of them, and also because it is right for Your
Reverence to know of them.

The first is that those Huron canoes which conveyed both the
relations for this year and almost all the letters of the Huron
Fathers, and certain other things with them, were captured and
plundered by the enemies at the end of this summer, with the
loss of nearly all the things and of most [of the Hurons]. . . .
There were eleven canoes, and twenty-three Hurons were in
part killed, in part carried off in captivity or to the flames. . . .
Moreover, all the merchandise and even our furniture was
taken and looted. Most of the letters were either carried away
with the relation or torn and thrown into the water. Your Pa-
ternity will not wonder, therefore, if he either receives no let-
ters from the Huron Fathers or, at best, only a few and those
torn and smudged.

Although I pass over the other incursions of the enemies,
which were uninterrupted all through this summer, and though
I also pass in silence the massacre of our Frenchmen who were
captured and killed in the new post of Montreal, Your Patern-
ity sufficiently understands even from what I have said the great
difficulties in which are the Canadian trade and the whole
Christian cause, and what great dangers those must undergo

188

who come down here from the Hurons or who leave here to go to them. And for this reason Father Jos. Bressani, Father Gab. Druillete and [I] will perhaps be again compelled to spend the winter at Quebec.

The other thing I desire Your Paternity to know relates to Father Isaac Jogues, of whose captivity we have recently been told and of whom the Fathers who are with the Hurons write as though he were dead. Nay, more, they even send his eulogy to Your Paternity, as of one dead. We have however learned with certainty, by definite messages through his fellow captives who have fled and come hither to us, even, indeed, from his own letters, that by the grace of God he is still alive and moves freely among the enemies, in the manner of the other prisoners. The Father, it is true, and those two captive servants of his, when they first arrived at the dwellings of the enemies, were all subjected to various and exquisite tortures. The Father's left-hand thumb was cut off and the forefinger of his right hand was crushed and mutilated. One of the servants also had a finger amputated, and all had their beards and nails torn out, and fire was also applied; in the end, however, all the French-men were given their lives.

They now had [hope] that they might be brought back to us, free, safe, and unharmed; but as the nature of the barbarians is inconstant and mutable, their hearts were changed after a few days. One of ours was unexpectedly killed, and their intention of leading the others home was renounced. And moreover they have not ceased from that time to the present day [to lay] snares for us . . . just as they do for the Hurons and the Algonquins. Indeed, even while I am writing these things, behold, a messenger reports that nine Hurons have been massacred and many wounded, and all our little baggage, which they were taking back, totally lost. These articles, moreover, were not few, and they were very necessary for the sustenance of ours who are there. May the name of the Lord be blessed; the Lord Gave, the Lord has taken away.

From these things it is evident in what very bad state Canadian affairs are placed; but on the other hand, the more wretched these unhappy afflictions are, by so much are they richer in

celestial gifts. Vice does not rule here, but virtue and piety, not
only among ours, who everywhere show themselves men and
true sons of the Society, but also among our Frenchmen and
among the barbarians, not only among those barbarians who
have already given their names to the faith, but also among the
rest who do not yet profess the faith. For they scarcely practise
their former superstitions, and we might hope, if we now [en-
joyed] peace, quickly to bring all to the faith. . . .

I earnestly commend myself to Your Paternity's very holy
sacrifices and prayers, and on my knees urgently beseech his
blessing, inasmuch as I am

Your Paternity's

Most humble and most obedient servant
in Christ,

Jean de Brébeuf.

From the house of the Conception, at the Three Rivers in
New France,

Twenty-third of September, 1643.

190

XII

LETTER TO THE VERY REVEREND FATHER VINCENT CARAFFA, GENERAL OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS AT ROME, 1648

Very Reverend Father in Christ,
The Peace of Christ unto you.

Since the Reverend Father Paul Ragueneau, our superior, has, as I suppose, officially and fully performed that duty, I think it altogether superfluous to write to Your Paternity about the condition of this our Huron mission. Now, from one point of view, the state of our affairs appears to be very good, because at home the height of peace, union, and tranquillity flourish among ours and among the attendants, and because all apply themselves above all to piety, virtue, and perfection, and because Christian matters make very satisfactory progress, the Christians increasing more and more, not only in number, but also in virtue. Moreover, so many opportunities for promoting the gospel have shown themselves far and wide, that the faith would make great progress in a short time if the extreme dearth of labourers did not hinder our desires, efforts, and opportunities. For this reason we urgently pray that the Reverend Father Provincial send many labourers to cultivate this vineyard, which, if ever before, seems even now to be growing white for harvest. I also note, as tending to the stronger condition of our spiritual affairs, prosperity in matters temporal; for although nothing whatever was brought to us from France during the past year, nevertheless up to the present time we have abundance and superabundance. It can therefore be inferred from all these things that our affairs proceed well enough, which is a very great favour from God.

On the other hand, however, there are many and important circumstances which together not only impede our work, but even appear to threaten the ruin of the whole mission. Some of these, it is true, are common to us and to all the Hurons, especially the enemies whom we call by the name of Iroquois. They both close the roads and obstruct trade, and devastate this region by frequent massacres. In short, they fill every place with

fear. Other obstacles, however, are altogether peculiar to us,
notably the hatred of certain infidel Hurons for us, which has
grown to such a point that a few days ago they killed one of our
servants. They were ready to give us the same treatment had
the opportunity occurred. However, God has already turned
these latter difficulties into good, and abundant satisfaction has
been made to us by all the Hurons for the homicide perpetrated;
and the faith, far from suffering any detriment from this,
has rather increased by it, so true is it that all things work to-
gether for the good of those who love God. We are confident
that it will be the same with all the remaining impediments;
for who is against us if God be for us?

There is certainly one thing above all which troubles me, and
about which alone, I think, the Reverend Father Ragueneau
has desired me to write; nor, in truth, could or should he write
it for reasons of modesty. I fear, I say, lest the Bull of the Su-
preme Pontiff, which was published when Your Paternity was
appointed General, concerning the triennial term of authority
of superiors, may compel us to change our superior, which can-
not be done in this state of affairs and in these times without not-
able harm to the mission. Surely he who now presides, the
Reverend Father Paul Ragueneau, is in truth most admirable,
and, to express it in a single word, is accomplished in every re-
spect and thorough in all his duties, so that he has not his like
here, and I know not when he will have in the future. The mis-
sion owes very much to him, for up to this time, he has govern-
ed it most prudently, most gently, and most vigorously. More-
over, the state of affairs and of these times is such that I consider
him to be the one and only man who can govern it now in ac-
cordance with its dignity. For there are many men here, and
certainly there are men among ours, who are most devout and
remarkable for many gifts of nature and grace; yet they are all,
in my judgment, far inferior to him in many ways, indeed, in
all other things, but above all in the matter of government; and,
in fact, there is no one who has governed before.

For the rest, if necessity should compel the choice of another
superior, it would seem that he ought to be taken from those
who are here, and not from others who have no experience

192

whatever in these regions. I therefore wrote to the Reverend
Father Provincial as early as last year that the Reverend Father
Ragueneau should be continued in office if it could in any way
be done, and that in him lay the power for good in this mission.
However, I presume that the die is now [cast], and we expect
letters this year regarding either his transfer or his retention.
But if the matter be still open, I ask and beg Your Paternity, as
much as I can, to prolong his term. The times will not always
be the same, the same necessities will not always be present.
After another three years someone else can succeed him, if not
with equal fruitfulness, yet certainly with less harm and danger.

This one thing is what I beseech of Your Paternity, being
ready, nevertheless, for all things, if it should happen otherwise
than as I desire, for what I wish, I wish but little, and I wish it
only in so far as it will conduce to the greater glory of God. It
is mine to propose, but for God to dispose. I further beg Your
Paternity to bestow your blessing on me.

Your very Reverend Paternity's

Most humble and most Obedient Servant in Christ,

Jean de Brébeuf.

From the House of Ste Marie
among the Hurons in New France,
Second of June, 1648.

N

193

NOTES

Brébeuf, in common with nearly all his contemporaries, was excessively erratic in his treatment and spelling of names. The original forms have been retained in the text, and a few notes are added here in alphabetical order. Place and tribal names shown on the maps, and those the meaning of which is obvious (as Kebec =Quebec, Hiroquois=Iroquois), are not entered in these notes.

AGNIERRHONON. The Mohawk nation of Iroquois.

AHOUENROCHRHONON. This should be Wenrohron-on, a tribe living between the Neutrals and the Iroquois.

ANDASTOERRHONON. One of the numerous names given to a tribe of Iroquois, the Conestoga, who lived on the Susquehanna river.

ARENDARHONON. The Arendahronon, or Rock, tribe of Hurons.

ATIOUANDARONK. The Neutral nation.

ATTIGNAOUANTAN. The Bear tribe of Hurons.

ATTIGUENONGHA. The Attigneenongnahac, or Cord, tribe of Hurons.

AWEATSIWAENRRHONON. The Winnebago tribe. Brébeuf's unflattering description of them was not due to their personal characteristics, but to the fact that their name is derived from 'winnipig', which means 'filthy water' in the Chippewa language.

BEAR NATION, BEARS. The Bear, or Attignaouantan, tribe of Hurons.

BEAVER NATION. Another name given by Brébeuf to the Nez Percés; see below.

BISSIRINIAN. A tribe of Algonquins who lived in the neighbourhood of Lake Nipissing.

CONKHANDEENRHONON. An unidentifiable tribe of Iroquois.

ISLAND, THE. Allumette Island, in the Ottawa river, then inhabited by the Kichesipirini tribe of Algonquins.

KHIONONTATERRHONON. The Tionontati, Petun or Tobacco nation of the Hurons, to give only a selection of their names, who lived in the southern part of Huronia.

LITTLE N.
Algonquins,
low Allumet
MER DOU
MONTAG
tribes.
NEZ PER
d in modern
who lived no
ONOIOCH
ONONTA
puis.
OUIOENK
tribe, but w
PETUN N.
tchonon na
PRAIRIES
RHIERK
SAUT DE
SCAHEHT
represented
of the village
SONONT
names given
TOBACCO
CONTERRHON
TOHONT

LITTLE NATION. A name given to the Weskarini tribe of Algonquins, whose home was north of the Ottawa river, below Allumette island.

MER DOUCE. Lake Huron.

MONTAGNAIS, MONTAGNETS. A group of Algonquin tribes.

NEZ PERCÉS. This name does not refer to the tribe so called in modern writings, but to the Amikwa tribe of Algonquins, who lived north of Lake Huron, near Manitoulin island.

ONOIOCHRHONON. The Oneida nation of Iroquois.

ONONTAERRHONON. The Onondaga nation of Iroquois.

OUIOENRHONON. The same as the Ahouenrochrhonon tribe, but wrongly supposed by Brébeuf to be a different tribe.

PETUN NATION. Another name given to the Khionontaterrhonon nation; see above.

PRAIRIES, RIVER OF THE. The Ottawa river.

RHIIERRHONON. The Erie tribe.

SAUT DE ST LOUYS. The present Caughnawaga.

SCAHENTOARRHONON. It is doubtful whom Brébeuf represented by this name, but possibly he intended the Hurons of the village of Scanonaenrat.

SONONTRERRHONON. One of the several hundred names given to the Seneca nation of Iroquois.

TOBACCO NATION. Another name given to the Khionontaterrhonon nation; see above.

TOHONTAENRAT. The Deer tribe of Hurons.

195

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

The literature of Canadian Jesuit history is extensive, but it
is nearly all second-hand. The original sources, though volum-
inous in themselves and requiring to be used with discretion,
are few. They are limited, indeed, to the works of Champlain
and Sagard and, above all, to the writings of the Jesuit mission-
aries themselves. These can be most conveniently consulted in
the admirable (though often defective) edition of Reuben Gold
Thwaites, *The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents* (Cleveland
1896-1901, 73 volumes), to which I am much indebted. Of the
secondary sources only the lucid and eloquent pages of Francis
Parkman need detain us. His *Pioneers of France in the New World*
and *The Jesuits in North America* are among the great classics of
historical writing.

The text has been translated from the following sources:

I. This is a section (pp. 113-206) contributed by Brébeuf to the *Relation de ce qvi s'est passé en la Novvelle France en l'année 1635* (Paris 1636).

II. This is Part II, by Brébeuf, of the *Relation* for 1636.

III, VII, IX, X, XI, XII. These have been translated from
photographs of the original letters, which are preserved in the
Archives of the Society of Jesus. Nos. III and X are published
here for the first time; only fragments of No. IX have been
published before.

IV. The text of this letter was printed by Thwaites, xi. 6-10.

V. This was printed (pp. 232-237) in the *Relation* for 1637.

VI. This was printed by François Le Mercier in Part II (pp. 28-
30) of the *Relation* for 1638.

VIII. This was printed by Jerome Lalemant in Part II (pp. 93-
98) of the *Relation* for 1640.

The originals of Nos. I, II, V, VI, VIII are in French, and those
of Nos. III, IV, VII, IX, X, XI, XII in Latin.

The present volume contains the whole of the surviving writ-
ings of Brébeuf, with two exceptions: a Montagnais translation
of Ledesma's *Christian Doctrine* and the fragments mentioned
below. The former may be found in the 1632 edition of
Champlain's *Voyages*.

The Latin text of the vow I have translated in the Introduction (pp. 14-15) was printed by Raguenau in the *Relation* for 1648-9 (pp. 64-68) and by Bressani in his *Breve relatione d'alcune missioni de' PP. della Compagnia di Giesù nella Nuoua Francia* (Macerata 1653), p. 112. The references to Brébeuf's visions and other mystical experiences are based mainly on fragments from his own diaries and the like compiled by Raguenau and recently printed in the *Rapport de l'Archiviste do la Province de Québec* for 1924-5, pp. 70-75. The MSS. themselves have not survived.

My account of the torture of Brébeuf will not, I hope, be regarded as in the least imaginative. It is a plain version of the contemporary accounts of Regnaut and Raguenau, which were based on the narratives of eye-witnesses and on personal inspection. Regnaut, who found the remains of the martyrs a few hours after their deaths, enumerates all Brébeuf's wounds, saying in each case, 'I saw and touched...' His narrative was published by Douglas Brymner, *Report on Canadian Archives* (1884), pp. xiv-xv, lxiii-lxvii; and that of Raguenau in the *Relation* for 1648-9, pp. 44-86.

The skull of Brébeuf was preserved and can be seen to this day at the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. He and seven of his fellow-martyrs were beatified in June, 1925; see *Quebecen. beatificationis seu declarationis martyrii servorum Dei Joannis de Brébeuf, Gabriel Lalemant...e Societate Jesu... Positio super non-cultu*, Sacra Rituum Congregatio, Romae 1917. Canonisation followed on 29 June 1930; the bull will be found printed in the *Acta Apostolicae Sedis* (1930), xxii. 497-500.

I am very much indebted to Father Herbert Thurston, S.J., for his kind and ready help. He procured for me the photographs mentioned above and he has read both the text and the introduction in proof.

frightened by the torment of hell, and, attracted by the delights of paradise, open their eyes to the light of truth.

Since we came here two years ago we have cleansed in baptism more than ninety. Among these there are some, both adults and children, who, as we believe or hope, have already gone to heaven. We believe that many others must be attracted by their prayers and examples. For parents who survive say that they do not wish to be separated from their children, and that where these have gone they also will go after death.

Last year only three fathers of our Society were here, but this year there are five. We have enjoyed great peace with all, and such complete health that it is almost a miracle to the barbarians, and it convinces them that the God whom we worship and who takes such great care of his own, is the best, especially as scarcely one of the savages last year escaped the infection of a certain contagion by which very many were destroyed. Two of the Fathers who are here, namely, Father Ant. Dœneil [Daniel] and Father Ambr. Davost, are I believe to go back to Quebec. They are to take with them a few selected young Hurons to make the beginning of a seminary. We are expecting two or three others in their place and pray for still more in the following year. For now there is need for not a few labourers, not indeed to reap, but to sow, or rather to learn the language so that they may be able [to sow] the word of God; for if they do not know the language they cannot sow, let alone reap. I am sufficiently conversant with that language, and the others who are here are very proficient in it.

Among the other qualities with which the labourer in this mission ought to shine, gentleness and patience hold the first places, and this field will never bear fruit except with amiability and patience. One should never, indeed, hope to compel it by violence or severity. Surely all who are here are zealously striving for perfection; I alone, it seems to me, am weak, to my own great disadvantage.

[From] the house of St Joseph, among the Huron Canadian peoples, at the village of Ihonatiria,

obedient son in Christ,

J. de Brébeuf.

169