THE DIS(*OVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR A STUDY FROM THE JESUITS' JOURNALS Two hundred and fifty years ago, when British and Dutch settlements existed as a mere fringe along the Atlantic coast of America, the French were establishing a realm, which, from its capital at Quebec, was designed to reach along the St. Lawrence, the Ohio and the Mississippi river val- leys, to the Mexican Gulf, and out to the Pacific Ocean. It had been early recognized that the Protestant British possessed and could not be ex- pelled from the regions east of the Alleghany Mountains, but, for all that was west and north of them, the French kings and the French priests were prepared to fight to the very last with weapons carnal and arguments spiritual. Among the many grand ideas which have attached themselves to this our continent, few have more interest to the politician, theologian, historian, poet or romancist than this, of buildmg up a New France in its interior — its motto that of the French Canadians of to-day, " Notre languc, noire religion, et nos lois."" Times were those indeed of strong convictions, when heroic efforts and great sacrifices of personal means and comfort were gladly made to carry out such convictions. The European Reformation had stirred up national antipathies, and the wars consequent upon it had scarcely terminated. The era of Oceanic discovery had been followed by a struggle among all the maritime nations for the possession of the new worlds, which had not yet ended. And one cannot quite dissociate the energy of the Jesuits in carrying the Cross from Canada into the hamlets of the most distant in- terior Indian tribes from a desire to appropriate for France all their terri- torial discoveries. The ecclesiastical side was, however, officered at least as brilliantly and served with even greater devotion than the political. Obe- dience to their Superiors' commands was the cardinal virtue of the mem- bers of the Society of Jesus ; " ad majorem Dei gloriam " their motto, ab- negation of self their constant endeavor; faith in dogma their settled purpose ; and we find their energies, pent up in many ways, bursting forth in travels for discovery, in endeavors to Christianize the most unpromising fields, in unremitting labor and voluntary exile from civilization, in which, the more intense the suffering, the more it was welcome ; whilst martyr- dom and death were hoped for as supreme gain and the highest reward. Their journals — published in France, *■' avec privilege du Rot" — partake 574 THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR somewhat of the nature of Emigration literature, and thus have a secular side ; they detail the extent of their travels, the riches of the countries in furs and forests ; but the main object of their annual printing was to pro- claim the fact that the harvest of souls was plentiful and the laborers few, that the field of spiritual work was well-nigh fallow, that the Devil had possession, and worse devils in the shape of heretics and aliens would per- petuate his rule, unless true believers entered forthwith into the war. Be- yond these political and social objects we can also discern without a doubt the writers' earnest wish themselves to do nobly if they lived hum- bly, and to attain eternal happiness if they suffered terrestrial misery. The water-ways were then the sole means of inter-communication, the avenues for all trade, the strategical lines for all campaigns. " Rivers," says Father Albanel in 1672, " are to the savages what their farms are to the French, the source from which they derive their whole subsistence, whether by hunting, fishing or trading." At the mouths of the rivers, therefore, the soldiers both of Church and State after many struggles fixed their quarters ; at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, Quebec ; at that of the Saguenay, Tadousac ; to control the St. Maurice there was Three Rivers, and to dominate the Ottawa, Montreal. To Quebec, as the chief trading post, came annually fleets of hundreds of canoes laden principally with furs, to see the pale faces, to wonder at European civilization, and to ob- tain such articles as would advantageously replace their primitive utensils or enable them successfully to war against their enemies. For, while hunting was the Indian's daily labor, excellence in which was honorable, war was ever his master passion. Some tribes were comparatively peace- ful, but the noblest savages were as ready as the noblest Europeans to cry "Havoc" and fly at each others' throats. The lordly Iroquois were the Normans of America, the Vikings among the red men. Their chief village was on the head-waters of the Hudson ; others were on Oneida, Seneca and Cayuga lakes ; another behind Roch- ester, on the Genesee. Then, as ever since. New York was the Empire State. What a vantage ground the position gave ! They had the trough of Lakes George and Champlain and of the River Richelieu for a route to Three Rivers or Montreal, and by the Black River they had easy access to Lake Ontario. They thought they had by virtue of this position the right to control the trade of all the Western Indians with Quebec, and saw with envy and anger the Hurons trading with the French by the Ottawa route and the Jesuits establishing a mission in the Huron country. Never very numerous, their energy was marvelous. They burned the French mission houses and extirpated the Hurons on the Georgian Bay, driving poor THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR 575 relics of them to the end of Lake Superior on the one hand and to the shelter of the walls of Quebec on the other. Some of the Nipissing tribes, allies of the Hurons, had to flee to Lake Nipigon. Father Lemoyne writes in 1658 that while one Iroquois expedition had left in mid-winter for River du Loup, on the St. Lawrence, to surprise the Montagnais and some Algonquins, another had gone to chastise the Ottawas, on the other side of the Sault Ste Marie. The Isle au Massacre on Bic Harbor, almost op- posite the Saguenay, and another island in Rice Lake, north of Lake On- tario, each saw the expiring gasp of many cowering victims of their rage ; fire in the former and starvation in the latter case being the dread means of their vengeance. Father Aibanel, on his way to Hudson's Bay, via the Saguenay, in 1672, found the ruins of trading depots which were forsaken through fear of their terrible raids, and, on the shores of that bay itself, addressed the local chiefs and claimed for the French the credit of having procured, by subjugating the Iroquois, peace even for them I Before that, however, this "cursed nation," as the Jesuits called them, resolutely for- bade the " black robes " to attempt the conversion of the Abenakis and Naraghanses of New England, the Nadouechiouec and Tobacco Indians of Ohio and Indiana, the Poualacs and Kilistinons around the Hudson's Bay, even the peoples of Lake St. John and the north shore of the St. Lawrence gulf. They enforced, too, neglect of the remnants of the Huron church, dispersed among the Sonnontoueronnons (south-west of Lake Superior) not to speak of the Upper Iroquois, " who would task the labors of several priests, if the home Iroquois were reduced to their duty." The first attempt to reach these western tribes was made in 1656. A fleet of three hundred Algonquin canoes came down to trade, and two Jesuit Fathers set out with them on their return. One was forced to give up the attempt ; the other, Father Garreau, v/as killed by the Iroquois who lurked on the line of travel. Four years later, sixty canoes came down, and two other Fathers renewed the effort. One was left at Montreal, owing to the caprice of an Indian who would not let him stay in his canoe. The other. Father Ren6 Menard, was more fortunate, in that he was allowed to proceed. " But," writes the journalist, " we do not know but an accident like that of Father Garreau's will happen him, for we hear that a hundred Iroquois are lying in wait for the expedition just beyond Montreal, who may fall upon it in some narrow pass, or perhaps in some rapid, where it is enough to have to struggle against rocks and currents, without having to encounter enemies." "The rich harvest," exclaims the same writer, "must, however, be pur- chased at the cost of labor, of tears, nay, of blood. One destined to the 576 THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR glorious work must resolve to live in utter want, suffer all the hardships of climate without shelter, endure a thousand scoffs and many blows from the heathen savages whom demons sometimes incite. He must spend days in the water, or upon the snow, destitute of fire. For months he must subsist upon boiled raw-hide, or the lichens which grow on the rocks. He must work without ceasing, and, as if he had a body of iron, he must live without nourishment, rest without a couch, sleep little, walk far, and all the while be prepared to receive a blow from the fatal tomahawk at the whim of some medicine man or discontented brave. With barbarians one must be a barbarian — say with the Apostle, Greeds ac barbaris debitor sum, and cease to live as a man that they may learn to live as Christians." Father Menard was himself aware of the danger ; this is how he writes to a favorite associate, a letter which explains the man and his task better than pages from a later pen. "Three Rivers, Aug. 27th, 1660 ; 2 a. m. Reverend Father, Pax Christi : , . , I am probably writing to you my last word — which I hope may be the everlasting seal of our friendship. May your affections, good Father, be of service to me, through the blessed results of your holy intercession. In three or four months, you must surely place me on the list of the dead you remember and pray for — in view of the manner in which these people live, of my age, and of my weak constitution. Notwithstanding this, I have felt such a strong call, such a supernatural bidding, that, without doubt, failure to seize this opportunity would cause eternal remorse. We were taken somewhat unawares, and could not provide clothing or other supplies, but He who feeds the fowls of the air and clothes the lilies of the field will care for His servants — and death from our sufferings would be hailed as joy. I am overwhelmed with business and can only commend our journey to you for prayer, and embrace you as heartily as I hope to do in eternity." Let us, on the other hand, try to enter into the feelings of the Red men. The whites appeared to them " strangely ugly, with hair about the mouth as well as on the head — which the Indians have not." All the tribes complained that from the time the French came to trade with them they began to die off. They would sometimes fumigate their heads to avoid infection ; at others they would accuse the whites of poisoning them and selling them unwholesome provisions (1611). The orphans were sadly numerous, for after the Indians began to use wine and spirits they died in great numbers (1634). "Not so," said a chief in 1636; "it is not your THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR 577 drink which kills us, but your writings ; for since you have described our country, our rivers, land, and forests, we are all dying. This was not so before you came." A Huron convert told the Jesuits in 1639, as the general opinion of his nation, that all they were doing was a blind to cover their malevolence, that they were really aiming at the ruin of the country and the death of its people. " You will see," was the remark of one of this convert's relatives, to whom he spoke of the good works of the mis- sionaries— " You will see your children die before your very eyes; you yourself will speedily follow ; and if we listen to them, we shall go through the same gate." " Whether it is the work of the devil or the Providence of God," adds the annalist, " we dare not say, but of five children there were in family, but one remains. Soon after that speech, one was carried off by fever ; another has been ill for months and cannot live ; the eldest, who was one of our pupils, a lad of fourteen, died very suddenly : an adopted daughter has a dangerous cough ; the youngest boy is dying too, while the Lord has seen fit to afflict the wife also, who after losing her four children, herself died of small-pox in our hospital. Truly the poor man may say Prodastt me ct cognovisti me!"' Father Paul le Jeune writes of one outbreak of disease : " Trangois Xavier, formerly Nenash Koumat, was first attacked and taken to the hospital. Next Noel Negabamat, and as I was sending him to Quebec in a canoe, to be placed with other sick people, I was told that Fr. Xavier wished to see me, and I must be quick if I wanted to find him alive. The same day four Indian families arrived at Sillery, intending to settle and join our flock. The ways of the Lord are strange: He giveth and He taketh away; He buildeth up and He de- stroyeth. He is master, and what he willeth he doeth, blessed be his name forever. But what a strange part I had to play— for while I had been striving to make of the savages a sedentary people, I now had to drive them away ! * Go, my dear friends,' I cried, ' but no further than you can let us hear from you.' I cannot describe the en.otions of my soul, but I know it is not the Lord's will that the heart of man should be fixed on anything here. Thus having banished these poor afflicted sheep. Father Vincent, a young Indian and I placed the sick man in a canoe and carried him to the Home of Charity and Pity. Then I went to the bed-side of Fr. Xavier, and seeing him in a pitiable condition, I covered my face with my handkerchief and bent my head on his pillow unable to speak a word." Father Menard himself wrote in 1657, when he was laboring among the Iroquois, ''The hostility to our Faith and to our persons which the Hurons had transmitted to these aborigines— persuading them that we carried with us disease and misfortune to every country we approached— caused our Vol. XIII.-No. 6.-38 578 THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR reception to be cool and the presents to be spurned which we offered as a help to the introducing of our religion." Nothing was heard of Menard for a year after his leaving for Lake Superior, but late in 1661 a canoe reached Quebec, captained by the son of an Indian with whom he had been living, who reported him in good health, while the letters he brought announced the discovery of a number of populous tribes. " Send help," was the urgent cry, *' to save both bodies and souls." Destroy the Iroquois, and you will firmly plant the Faith along two thousand miles of country! But, alas, for disappointed hope and for trust misplaced ! Death was following the Father with that swift foot which not only steals into palace and hovel alike, but leaves its imprints by the wigwam and the portage also. "We shall see," writes the annalist of 1663, '* a poor missionary, worn out with the apostolic work in which he had grown gray, laden with years and infirmities, expiring in the wild woods alone, a prey to wild beasts, hunger, and every wretchedness. The Lord brought us yesterday thirty-four canoes of Ottawas, with whom were seven Frenchmen, out of nine who left with them ; the other two being Father Rene Menard and his faithful companion, John Gu^rin, who have trodden that other path which leads more quickly to the safe haven of our common country." The poor Father and his eight French comrades, leaving on the 28th of August, 1660, with the Ottawas, reached their country on the 15th Octo- ber,* after untold hardships ; ill-treatment from their fellow travelers, and such extreme want of food that the Father could scarcely walk ; but, " as one can go a long way even when very tired," he was enabled to reach the wigwams of the tribe. The head of the family where he was quartered, an overbearing and vicious man who had four or five wives, treated him badly and forced him to live in a separate hut of pine boughs. Heavens! what a dwelling during the almost insupportable winter of that region. Nor was he better off for food than shelter ; there was often nothing else among four or five than a single little boiled fish. Often they had to be content with a kind of moss which grows on the rocks ; they put a handful in their kettle, which thickens the water somewhat, forming a scum, like snail broth, which nourishes the imagination more than the body. They resorted sometimes to the bark of the oak, the elm, or the white wood, boiled with a little fish ; wnile acorns were eaten with more pleasure than chestnuts are in Europe. So the first winter passed. The second winter they did bet- ter, having stored up some fish, Indian fashion ; also some grain (wild rice) which grows in marshes and is shaken into the canoes as they are * It now takes less than two days ! This paragraph is a free translation. THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR 5-9 paddled among the stalks. The church founded by the Father there was indeed but small, consisting chiefly of the elect, of whom the most numer- ous were little dying children, whom he had to christen secretly, because the parents hid them when he appeared, believing, as the Hurons used to do, that baptism was the cause of death. Having but slender hopes of con- verting many of the older savages, sunk as they were in brutality, polyg- amy and all sorts of vices, he resolved upon undertaking a fresh journey of three hundred miles, to visit a tribe of poor Hurons who had fled from the Iroquois to the westerly end of Lake Superior. He sent three French- men to reconnoitre, who found the tribe so weak and poorly off that they advised him not to go, as he would be in danger of starving too. But when they counseled him thus, and asked what prospect of success he could have, how he could surmount the precipices, the long portages, the numer- ous rapids, the arid and sterile country, bare of subsistence — he had but one answer, "The Lord calls me; I must go, though I do forfeit my life." " St. Francis Xavier," he said, " whose existence seemed so necessary for the conversion of the heathen, died in the endeavor to enter China. Shall I, then, who am of so little worth, refuse to obey the voice of Heaven, which calls me to succor the poor Christians who have had no ministrations for so many years ? No, souls must not perish under the pretense of sav ing the life of this weak mortal. Should we have been redeemed if our dear Master had preferred His life to that obedience to His Father which brought about our salvation ? " So he went, he and some Hurons who had come to trade with the Ottawas, taking one Frenchman, and, for his whole provender, a bag of dried sturgeon and a little smoked meat, which he had been saving up for a long time against this journey. " Adieu," he said to the other Frenchmen, tenderly embracing them. " I am saying to you the long farewell. In this world you will see me no more ; I pray to the Divine goodness we may meet again in Heaven." The poor Hurons, indeed, though lightly laden, some for want of food lost strength and courage, and left the Father, saying they would hurry to their village ''' and send some strong young men to fetch him. He stayed a fortnight, near a little lake, but as his provisions became exhausted, he resolved to start, in a small canoe he had found among the underbrush. But on the lOth of August, while following his companions, he mistook some rock or tree and lost his way, for at the foot of the next portage Gu^'rin looked behind him, shouted, fired five gun shots, but to no purpose. He determined then to push on to the Huron village, to hire people at any cost to search for the lost man, but he lost the way himself and was two days in reaching it. What could he then * Near Point St. Esprit 58o THE EISCOVERY OF LAKE SUPERIOR do, knowing nothing of the Huron tongue ? Nevertheless, " as charity and necessity are eloquent," he made them understand that the Father was lost ; he promised a money reward to one young warrior, who feigned to seek for him, but in two hours returned and reported he had met the enemy. " To arms," cried the braves ; pity and desire to find the priest both vanished. Thus deserted— left to the hands of Divine Providence alone— stretched on some rock or on the ground, in a country where mos- quitoes and other stinging insects are particularly worrying— hunger and other torments seizing him-he died, and, may we not surely add, he hallowed in that death those beautiful far-western shores. Toronto, April 30th, 1SS5.