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A Half Century of ConfUct 2 vols. Montcalm and Wolfe 2 vOls. The Conspiracy of Fontlac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada 2 vols. The Oregon Trail I vol. . :-r, ■',„•-// iSa^ ii, ,'.,v., 3-..L-. i . /'■«'.. J ';/' / n .' , '.r.T.I :■'■ IH \. !.r-|;.f ji.,. *> f .>. ::V ^'Z--:-'^'^ '■m .,:■;.• ■. ^' ■.■■•<;. ■ '.A V •V.V b. ' ,•.>■'>••„•.■■* : ■ •■•'• ■.■> m-'r 'is'"-. /■ ■: '*'•'•.',? r I \ .: 1 1 MiidiWh' Je la Pel trie. From the paint,u« by C. lluut in ti... Convent des Ursulines, Quebec. Jesuits in North Amkrica, Fronds/, uce. y/f. JI THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA IN lUK SEVENTEENTH CENTUHY. FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA. Part Second. BY FRANCIS PARKMAN. U.' P . u TORONTO: GEORGE N. MORANG, 63 YoNGB Street. 1898. f L.«- 135147 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 1867, by Francis I'aukman, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. Copyrifjht, 1895, By Grace P. Coffin and Katiief.ine S. Coolidge. Copyright, 18S7, Bv Little, Brown, and Compant. John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. PREFACE. Few passages of 'listory are more striking than those which record the efforts of the earlier French Jesuits to convert the Indians. Full as they are of dramatic and philosophic interest, bearing strongly on the political destinies of America, and closely involved with the history of its native population, it is Wonderful that they have been left so long in obscurity. While the infant colonies of England still clung feebly to the shores of the Atlantic, events deeply ominous to their future were in progress, un- known to them, in the very heart of the con- tinent. It will be seen, in the sequel of this volume, that civil and religious liberty found strange allies in this Western World. The sources of information concerning the early Jesuits of New France are very copious. During a period of forty years, the Superior of the Mission sent, every summer, long and de- VI PREFACE. tailed reports, embodying or accompanied by the reports of his subordinates, to the Provincial of the Order at Paris, where they were anrually published, in duodecimo volumes, forming the remarkable series known as the Jesuit Relations. Though the productions of men of scholastic training, they are simple and often crude in style, as might be expected of narratives hastily written in Indian lodges or rude mission-houses in the forest, amid annoyances and interruptions of all kinds. In respect to the value of their contents, they are exceedingly unequal. Mod- est records of marvellous adventures and sacri- fices, and vivid pictures of forest life, alternate with prolix and monotonous details of the con- version of individual savages, and the praise- worthy deportment of some exemplary neophyte. With regard to the condition and character of the primitive inhabitants of North America, it is impossible to exaggerate their value as an authority. I should add, that the closest exami- nation has left me no doubt that these mission- aries wrote in perfect good faith, and that the Relations hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy historical documents. They are very scarce, and no complete collection of them exists in America. The entire series was, how- PREFACE. Vll le Id r 111 ever, republished, in 1858, by the Canadian government, in three large octavo volumes.* These form but a part of the surviving writ- ings of the French-American Jesuits. Many additional reports, memoirs, journals, and let- ters, official and private, have come down to us ; some of which have recently been printed, while others remain in manuscript. Nearly every prominent actor in the sceuas to be described has left his own record of events in which he bore part, in the shape of reports to his Superi- ors or letters to his friends. I have studied and compared these authorities, as well as a great mass of collateral evidence, with more than usual care, striving to secure the greatest pos- sible accuracy of statement, and to reproduce an image of the past with photographic clearness and truth. The introductory chapter of the volume is independent of the rest ; but a knowledge of the facts set forth in it is essential to the full understanding of the narrative which follows. In the collection of material, I have received 1 Both editions — the old and the new — are cited in the follow- ing pages. Where t'.ie reference is to the old edition, it is indicated by the name of the publisher (Crarooisy), appended to the citation, in brackets. In extracts given in the notes, the antiquated orthography and accentuation are preserved. n Vlll PREFACE. valuable aid from Mr. J. G. Shea, Rev. Felix Martin, S.J., the Abbes Laverdiere and H. R. Casgrain, Dr. J. C. Tache, and the late Jacques Viger, Esq. I propose to devote the next volume of this series to the discovery and occupation by the French of the Valley of the Mississippi. Boston, 1st May, 1867. coNTE]^^Ts. Page INTRODUCTION. NATIVE TKIBES. Divisions. — The Algonquins. — The Hurons: their Houses; For- tificatious; Habits; Arts; Women ; Trade; Festivities; Medi- cine. — The Tobacco Nation. — The Neutrals. — The Fries. — The Anda.stes. — The Iroquois : Social and Political Organ- ization.— Iroquois Institutions, Customs, and Character.— Indian Keligion and Superstitious. — The Indian Mind . . . CHAPTER I. 1634. NOTRE-DAME DE8 ANGB8. Quebec in 1634. —Father Le Jeune. — Tho Mission-house; its Domestic Economy. — The Jesuits and their Designs . . . CHAPTER 11. LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. Conversion of Loyola. — Foundation of the Society of Jesus. — Preparation of the Novice. — Characteristics of the Order. — The Canadian Jesuits 95 CHAPTER III. 1632, 1633. PAUL LE JEUNE. Le Jeune's Voyage : his First Pupils ; liis Studies ; his Indian Teacher. — Winter at the Mission-house. - Le Jeune's School. — Reinforcemeiits 101 88 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. 1633, 1634. le jeunb and the hunteus. Page Lo Jcunc joins tho ludians. — The First Rncampmont. — The Apostiite. — Forest Life iu Winter. — Tho Indian Hut. — Tho Sorcerer : his Persecution of tho Priest. — Evil Com- pany. — Magic. — Incantations. — Christinas. — Starvation. — Hopes of Conversion. — Backsliding. — Peril and Escape of Le Jeuno: his lieturu 110 CHAFPER V. 1633, 1634. THE HURON MISSION. Plans of Conversion. — Aims and Motives. — Indian Diplomacy. — Ilurons at Quebec. — Councils. — The Jesuit Chapel. — Le Borgne. — The Jesuits thwarted. — Their Perseverance. — The Journey to the Ilurons. — Jean de Bre'beuf. — The Mis- sion begun 129 CHAPTER VI. 1634, 1635. BR&BEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. The Huron Mission-house : its Inmates ; its Furniture ; its Guests. — The Jesuit as a Teacher, — As an Engineer. — Bap- tisms. — Huron Village Life. — Festivities and Sorceries. — Tlio Dream Feast. — The Priests accused of Magic. — The Drought and the Red Cross 146 CHAPTER VII. 1636, 1637. THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. Huron Graves. — I'reparation for tho Ceremony. — Disinterment. — The Mourning. — The Funeral March. — The Great Sep- ulchre. — Funeral Games. — Encampment of the Mourners. CONTENTS. XI — Gifts. — IlarangucH. — Froiizy of the Crowd. — The Clos- ing Sceuo. — Auother Hitu. — Tlio Captive Iroquois. — The Sacrilico I'AUK 159 CHAPTER VIII. 1636, 1637. THE IIUUON AND THE JESUIT. Kutliusiasm for the Mission. — Sickness of tlio Priests. —The Pest among the Uurons. — The Jesuit ou his Hounds. - Ef- forts at Conversion. — Priests and Sorcerers. — TJie Man- Devil. — The Magician's Prescription. — Indian Doctors and Patients. — Covert P>ai)tisnis. - Self-tlevotion of the Jesuits J 7., CHAPTER IX. 1637. CHAKACTER OP THE CANADIAN JESITITS. Jean de Brcl)ouf. — Charles Gamier. — Joseph Marie Chaumonot. — Noiil Chabanel. — Isaac Jogues. — Other Jesuit.^ — Nature of their Faith. — Superuaturalism. — Visions. — Miracles 188 CHAPTER X. 1637-1640. PEKSECUTION. Ossossane'. — The New Chapel. — A Triumph of the Faith. — The Nether Powers. — Signs of a Tempest. — Slanders. — Rage against the Jesuits. — Their Boldness and Persistency. — Nocturnal Council. — Danger of the Priests. — Brobeuf's Letter. — Narrow Escapes. — Woes aiid Consolations . 200 CHAPTER XL 1638-1640. PKIEST AND PAGAN. Du Peron's Journey. — Daily Life of the Jesuits. — Their Mis- sionary Excursions. — Converts at Ossossane. — Machinery i\m xU CONTENTS. Paob of Convcrdion. — ConditionB of Baptism. — RacksliilcrH, — The Converts and their Countrymeu. — The Caiiuibals at St. Joseph 218 ; , ! CHAPTER XII. 1639, 1640. THE TOBACCO NATION. — THK NEUTRALS. A Change of I'laii. — Saiute Marie. — Mission of the Tobacco Na- tion. — Winter Journeying. — Reception of tlie Missionaries. — Supcr.stitious Terrors. — Peril of Gamier and Jogues. — Mission of the Neutnals. — Huron Intrigues. — Miracles. — Fury of the Indians. — Intervention of Saint Michael. — Re- turn to Sainto Marie. — Intrepidity of the Priests. — Their Mental Exaltation 230 CHAPTER XIII. 1636-1646. QCEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. The New Governor. — Edifying Examples. — Le Jeune's Corre- spondents. — Rank and Devotion. — Nuns. — Priestly Autlior- ity. — Condition of Quebec. — The Hundred Associates. — Church I)i.scipline. — Plays. — Fireworks. — Processions. — Catechising. — Terrorism. — Pictures. — The Converts. — The Society of Jesus. — The Foresters 241 CHAPTER XIV. 1636-1652. DEVOTEES AND NUNS. The Huron Seminary. — Madame de la Peltrie : her Pious Schemes; hor Sham Marriage; she visits the Ursulines of Tours. — Marie de Saint Bernard. — Marie de I'lncarnation : her Enthusia.sm ; her Mystical Marriage ; her Dejection ; her Mental Conflicts; her Vi.sion ; made Superior of the Ursulines. — Tlie IIotcl-Dieu. — The "Voyage to Canada. — Sillery. — Labors and Sufferings of the Nuns. — Character of Marie de I'lncarnation. — Of Madame de la Peltrie 259 ill CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER XV. 1636-1642. villeharik ue montreal. Page DauvereitSre and the Voice from Heaven. — Ahbd OHer. — Their Schemea. — The Society of Notre-Damo tie Mont- real. — Maiaonneuve. — Devout Ladies. — MademnLscllo Mance. — Marguerite Bourgeoys. — The Montrealists at Qut JO. — .fealouay. — (Quarrels. — Romance and Devotiou. — Embarkation. — Foundation of Montreal 281 CIIA1»TER XVI. 1641-1644. ISAAC JOOUES. The Iroquois War. — Jogues : his Capture ; his Journey to the Mohawks. — Lake George. — The Mohawk Towns. — The Missionary tortured. — Death of Goupil. — Mi.sery uf Jogues. — The Mohawk " Bahylom" — Fort Orange. — Escape of Jogues. — Manhattan. — The Voyage to France. — Jogues among his Brethren ; he returns to Canada 305 CHAPTER XVn. 1641-1646. THE IROQUOIS. — BRESSANI. — DB NOUE. War. — Distress and Terror. — Richelieu. — Battle. — Ruin of Indian Tribes. — Mutual Destruction. — Iroquois and Algon- quin. — Atrocities. — Frightful Position of the French. — Joseph Bressani : his Capture ; his Treatment ; his Escape. — Anne de Nout! : his Nocturnal Journey ; his Death . . . 335 CHAPTER XVIII. 1642-1644. VILLEMARIE. Infancy of Montreal. — The Flood. — Vow of Maisonneuve. Pilgrimage. — D'Aillebonst. — The II6tel-I)ieu. — Piety. Propagaudism. — War. — Hurons and Irotjuois. — Dogs. Sally of the French. — Battle. — Exploit of Maisonneuve 357 § !i XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIX. 1644, 1645. PEACE. Paof Iroquois PriHoners. — Piskarot : his Exploits. — More Pris- onora. — Iro(iiu>i.s Einl)ii.s.sy. — Tho Orator. — Tiio Oroat Council. — Spooi'lics of Kiotsatoii. — Muster of Savages. — Po.ico confirmed 373 CIIAITEll XX. 1645, 1646. THE PEACE nPOKEN. Uncertainties. — Tho Mission of Jogues . ho roaches tho Mo- hawks; his Reception; his Return; his Second Mission. — Warnings of Danger. — Rage of the Mohawks. — Murder of Jogues 394 CHAPTER XXI. 1646, 1647. ANOTHEit WAR. Mohawk Inroads. — The Hunters of Men. — The Captive Con- verts. — The Escape of Marie: her Story. — The Algon- quin Prisoner's Revenge : her Flight. — Terror of tho Colo- nists. — Jesuit Intrepidity 404 CPIAPTER XXII. 1645-1651. PRIEST AND PURITAN. Miscou. — Tadoussac. — Journeys of Do Quen. — Druilletes : his Winter with tho Moutagnais. — Influence of the Missions. — The Abenakis. — Druilletes on the Kennebec : his Em- bassy to Boston. — Gibbons. — Dudley. — Bradford. — Eliot. — Endicott. — French and Puritan Colonization. — Failure of Druilletes's Embassy. — New Regulations. — New- Year's Day at Quebec 415 Cr.VTENTS. XV CHAPTER XXIII. 1645-1648. A DOOMED NATION. Paoi Iiuliau lufatuation. — Iro(|uoi9 and Huron. — Huron Triumphs. — The Captive Iro(juoi8 : his Ferocity and Fortitude. — Tartisau Exploits. — Diplomacy. — The Andastes. — The Huron Embassy. — New Negotiations. — The Iroquois Am- bassador : his Suicide. — Iroquois Honor 435 CHAPTER XXIV. 1645-1648. THE HCRON CHLRCII. Hopes of the Mission. — Christian and Heathen. —Body and Soul. — Position of Proselytes. — Tlie Huron Girl's Visit to Heaven. — A Crisis. — Huron Justice. — Murder and Atone- ment. — Hopes and Fears 449 CHAPTER XXV. 1648, 1649. 8AINTE MARIE. The Centre of the Missions. — Fort. — Convent. — Hospital — Caravansary. — Church. — The Inmates of Sainte Marie. — Domestic P^conomy. — Missions. — A Meeting of Jesuits. — The Dead Missionary 462 CHAPTER XXVI. 1648. ANTOIXE DANIEL. Huron Traders. — Battle at Three Rivers. — St. Joseph. — On- set of the Iroquois. — Death of Daniel. — The Town destroyed i\ II I! 475 St. Louis on Fire.- and Lalemant. CHAPTER XXVn. 1649. RCIN OP THE HURONS. Invasion. — St. Ignace captured. — Brelieuf ■ Battle at St. Louis. — Sainte .Marie threat- r' \n XVI CONTENTS. Page enofl. — Uencweil Fiylitiiip. — Despomte Conflirt. — A Nijjht of Siinpeiiso. — rnnic ninoti^ tlio Victors. — Uuriiiiig of St. Ignace. — Uetroat of the Iroquois 480 CIIAri'EK XXVIII. 1649. TIIE MARTYRS. The Uuins of St, Igiinco. — The Rtlic-M found. — Bn'lieuf at the Stake: hi.s Uutouiiuenihk' Fortitude. — Luleuiant. — lU'ue- gade Iiurons. — Iroquois Atrocities. — Death of Urcbeuf : his Character. — Deatii of Laleniaut 489 I! i CHAPTER XXIX. 1649, 1650. THE SANCTTARY. Dispersion of the Hurons. — Sainte Marie ahandoued. — Isle St. .Jojioph. — Removal of the Mission. — The New Fort. — Mi.'^ery of the Ilnrous. — Famine. — Epidemic. — Employ- ments of the Jesuits 496 CHAPTER XXX. 1649. GARMER. — CHABANEL. The Tobacco Missions. — St. .Tean attacked. — Death of Gamier. — The Journey of Chabanel : his Death. — Garreau and Grelon 506 CHAPTER XXXI. 1650-1652. THE HURON MISSION ABANDONED. Famine and the Tomahawk. — A New Asylum. — Voyage of the Refugees to Quebec. — Meeting with Bressani. — Desperate Courage of the Iroquois. — Inroads and Battles. — Death of Buteux ........ 515 - 55^' si£''. ■' «lfe CONTENTS. xvu CIIAITEU XXXII. 1050-1866. THE LAST OK TIIK IIUHONB. Paor Fiito of tlio Vft'(iui>'ho«l. — Tho Uefiij^eoH of St. Joan llnptinU! nil' I St. MicliLl. — Tlio ToIhic'co Nation and its WandcriiiRH. — Th. Mo.lcra Wyandots. — Tlio liiUv Hit. — Tho IIuronH at C^uubeu. — Nuno-Daniu du Lurottu 5^7 CIIAI'TER XXXIII. 165v»-1670. THIS DBBTROYERH. Iro<|iioiH Amiiition. — ItH Victims. — Tlic Fate of tho NoutnilH — 'I'lio Kuto of tho Erics. — Tho War with tho Anda«te«. — Supremacy uf tlio Iroquoia 538 CHAPTER XXXIV. THE END. Faihiro of the .Tosnits — What their Success would have in- volved. — Future of tho Mission 550 INDEX 555 i 'II --a THE JESUITS I]S^ JSrOKTH AMERICA. 11 1 1 1 ■ H! \ I M» ' I I I :! i 'it V ■ 'i ;/ £} . Ml THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA. INTRODUCTION. NATIVE TRIBES. .lli,/,,'lir Divisions. — The Aloonqtjins. — The Hurovs: their Houses; Fortifications;' Habits; Arts; Women; Trade; Festivi- ties; Medicine, — The Tobacco Nation. — The Neutrals. — The Eries. — The Andastes. — The Iroquois: Social and Political Organization. — Iroquois Institutions, Customs, and Character. — Indian Religion and Superstitions. — The Indian Mind. America, when it became known to Europeans, was, as it had long been, a scene of wide-spread revolution. North and South, tribe was giving place to tribe, language to language; for the Indian, hope- lessly unchanging in respect to individual and social development, was, as regarded tribal relations and local haunts, mutable as the wind. In Canada and the northern section of the United States, the elements of change were especially active. The Indian popu- lation which, in 1535, Cartier found at Montreal and Quebec, had disappeared at the opening of the next century, and another race had succeeded, in language ii\ i?' I m 4 INTRODUCTION. \ ; ii 1- ■ I and customs widely different ; while, in the region now forming tlie State of New York, a power was rising to a ferocious vitalih'^ which, but for the presence of Europeans, would probably have sub- jected, absorbed, or exterminated every other Indian community east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio. The vast tract of wilderness from the Mississippi to the Atlantic, and from the Carolinas to Hudson's Bay, was divided between two great families of tribes, distinguished by a radical difference of lan- guage. A part of Virginia and of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, southeastern New York, New England, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Lower Canada were occupied, so far as occupied at all, by tribes speaking various Algonquin languages and dialects. They extended, moreover, along the shores of the Upper Lak^s, and into the dreary northern wastes beyond. They held Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, and detached bands ranged the lonely hunting- ground of Kentucky.^ Like a great island in the midst of the Algonquins lay the country of tribes speaking the generic tongue of the Iroquois. The true Iroquois, or Five Nations, * The word Algonquin is here used in its broadest signification. It was originally applied to a group of tribes north of the river St. Lawrence. The difference of language between the original Algonquins and the Abenakis of New England, the Ojibwas of the Great Lakes, or the Illinois of the West corresponded to the differ- ence between French and Italian, or Italian and Spanish. Each of these languages, again, had its dialects, like those of different provinces of France. ■ t* NEW-ENGLAND TRIBES. extended through Central New York, from the Hudson tt) tlie Genesee. Southward lay the Andastes, on and near the Susquehanna; westward, the Kries, along the southern shore of I '.:;e Erie, and the Neutral Nation, along its northei-n shore from Niagara towards the Detroit; while the towns of the llurons lay near the lake to which they have left their name.^ Of the Algoncjuin populations, the densest, despite a recent epidemic which had swept them off by tliou- sands, was in New England. Here were Moliicans, Pequots, Narragansetts, Wami)anoags, Massachusetts, Penacooks, tliorns in the side of the Puritan. On the whole, these savages were favorable specimens of the Algonquin stock, belonging to that section of it which tilled the soil, and was thus in some measure spared the extremes of misery and degradation to which the wandering hunter tribes were often reduced. They owed much, also, to the bounty of the sea, and hence they tended towards the coast; which, before the epidemic, Champlain and Smith had seen at many points studded with wigwams and waving with harvests of maize. Fear, too, drove them eastward ; 1 To the above general statements there was, in the first half of the seventeenth century, but one exception worth notice. A de- taclied branch of the Dalicotah stock, the Winnebago, was estab- lished south of Green Bay, on Lake Micliigan, in the midst of tlie Algonquins; and small Dahcotah bands had also planted them- selves on the eastern side of the Mississippi, nearly in the same latitude. There was another branch of the Irociuois in tlio Carolinas, con- sisting of the Tuscaroras and kindred bands. In 1715 they were joined to the Five Nations. 1' i |!| 6 'I \ I { .') INTRODUCTION. for the Iroquois pursued them with an inveterate enmity. Some paid yearly tribute to their tyrants, while others were still subject to their inroads, flying in terror at the sound of the Mohawk war-cry. Westward, the population thinned rapidly; north- ward, it soon disappeared. Northern New Hampshire, the whole of Vermont, and western Massachusetts had no human tenants but the roving hunter or prowling warrior. We have said that this group of tribes was rela- tively very populous; yet it is more than doubtful whether all of them united, had union been possible, could have mustered eight thousand fighting men. To speak further of them is needless, for they were not within the scope of the Jesuit labors. The heresy of heresies had planted itself among them; and it was for the apostle Eliot, not the Jesuit, to essay their conversion. ^ ^ These Indians, the Armouchiquois of the ohl French writers, were in a state of chronic war with the tribes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Champlain, on liis voyage of 1008, heard strange accounts of them. The following is literally rendered from the first narrative of that heroic, but credulous explorer : — " They are savages of shape altogether monstrous : for their heads are small, their bodies short, and their arms thin as a skele- ton, as are also their thighs ; but their legs are stout and long, and all of one size, and, when they are seated on their heels, their knees rise more than half a foot above their heads, which seems a thing strange and against Nature. Nevertheless, they are active and bold, and they have the best country on all the coast towards Acadia." — Des Sauvages, f, 34. This story may match that of the great city of Norembega, on the Penobscot, with its population of dwarfs, as related by Jean Alphonse. NEW-ENGLAND TRIBES. Landing at Boston, three years before a solitude, let the traveller push northward, pass the river Piscataqua and the Penacooks, and cross the river Saco. Here, a change of dialect would indicate a different tril)e, or group of tribes. These were the Abenakis, found chiefly tdong the course of the Kennebec and other rivers, on whose banks they raised their rude harvests, and whose streams they ascended to hunt the moose and bear in the forest desert of northern Maine, or descended to fish in the neighboring sea.^ Crossing the Penobscot, one found a visible descent in the scale of humanity. Eastern Maine and the whole of New Brunswick were occupied by a race called Etchemins, to whom agriculture was unknown, though the sea, prolific of fish, lobsters, and seals, greatly lightened their miseries. The Souriquois, or Micmacs, of Nova Scotia, closely resembled them in habits and condition. From Nova Scotia to the St. Lawrence, there was no population worthy of the name. From the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, the southern border of the great river had no tenants but hunters. Northward, between the St. Lawrence and Hudson's Bay, roamed the scattered hordes of the Papinachois, Bersiamites, and others, included by the French under the general name of Montagnais. When, in spring, the French trading- ships arrived and anchored in the port of Tadoussac, ^li 4 * The Tarratinos of New-England writers were the Abenakis, or a portion of them. n 8 INTRODUCTION. they gathered from far and near, toiling painfully througli tlie desolation of forests, mustering by hun- dreds at the point of trattic, and settinc^ up their bark wigwams along the strand of that wild harbor. Tliey were of the lowest Algonquin type. Their ordinary sustenance was derived from tlio chase; though often, goaded by deadly famine, they would subsist on roots, the bark and buds of trees, or the foulest offal; and in extremity, even eainiibalism was not rare among them. Ascending the St. Lawrence, it was seldom that the sight of a human form gave relief to the lone- liness, until, at Quebec, the roar of Champlain's cannon from, the verge of tlie cliff announced that the savage prologue of the American drama was drawing to a close, and that the civilization of Europe was advancing on the scene. Ascending farther, all was solitude, except at Three Rivers, a noted place of trade, where a few Algonquins of the tribe called Atticamegues might possibly be seen. The fear of the Iroquois was everywhere; and as the voyager passed some wooded point, or thicket-covered island, the whistling of a stone-headed arrow proclaimed, perhaps, the presence of these fierce marauders. At Montreal there was no human life, save during a brief space in early summer, when the shore swarmed with savages, who had come to the yearly trade from the great communities of the interior. To-day there were dances, songs, and feastings; to-morrow all agcain was solitude, and the Ottawa was covered with the canoes of the returning warriors. ALG0NQUIN8. 9 Along this stream, a main rontc of traflic, the silence of the wilderness was broken only by the 8i)la8h of the i)assing [)ad(lle. To thu north of the river there was indeed a small AlgoiKjnin hand, nailed La Petite Nation^ together with one or tw«) other feeble communities; but they dwelt far from tiie banks, through fear of the ulmiuitous InHjuois. It was nearly three hundred miles, by the windings of the stream, before one reached that Algoncjuin trilx), La Nation de VIsle, who (ujeupied the great island of the AUumettes. Then, after many a day of lonely travel, the voyager found a savage welcome among the Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name; and then cii'cling west and south for a hundred and fifty miles of solitude, he reached for the tirst time a people speaking a dialect of the Iroquois tongue. Here all was changed. Populous towns, rude fortifications, and an extensive, though bar- barous tillage, indicated a people far in advance of the famished wanderers of the Saguenay, or their less abject kindred of New England. These were the Hurons, of whom the modern Wyandots are a rem- nant. Both in themselves and as a type of their generic stock they demand more than a passing notice.^ ^ The usual confusion of Indian tribal names prevails in tiie case of the Ilurons. The followinj^ an- tlieir s^-nonynu-s; — Hurons (of French origin); Ocliatej^uins (Chaniplain) ; Atti- gouantans (the name of one of their tribes, lused by Cliamplain for the whole nation); Ouemlat (tlieir true name, aceonlinj^ to Lale- mant) ; Yendat, Wyandot, Guyandot (corruptions of the precedinf,^) ; Ouaouakecinatouek (Potier), Quatogies (Cohlen). i 1- 1^ ' \ . ! 'ii »J I i f 10 INTIV DTICTION. THE IIURONS. More tlian two centurioa hiivo elapsed since the llurons viiiiisliL'd from their ancient seats, and tiie settlers of this rude solitude stand perplexed and wondering over the relics of a lost people. In the dani}) shadow of what seems a virgin forest, the axe and plough bring strange secrets to light, — huge pits, close packed with skeletons and disjointed bones, mixed with weapons, copper kettles, beads, and trinkets. Not even the straggling Algonquins, who linger about the scene of Huron prosperity, can tell their origin. Yet on ancient worm-eaten pages, between covers of begrimed parchment, the daily life of this ruined community, its firesides, its festivals, its funeral rites, are painted with a minute and vivid fidelity. The ancient country of the Hurons is now the northern and eastern portion of Simcoe County, Canada West, and is embraced within the peninsula formed by the Nr+^^tawassaga and Matchedash Bays of Lake Huron, the river Severn, and Lake Simcoe. Its area was small, — its population comparatively large. In the year 1639 the Jesuits made an enu- meration of all its villages, dwellings, and families. The result showed thirty-two villages and hamlets, with seven hundred dwellings, about four thousand families, and twelve thousand adult persons, or a total population of at least twenty thousand.^ ^ Lalemant, Relation des llurons, 1040, 38 (Cramoisy ). His words are, " de feux enuiron deux mille, et enuiron douze mille personnes." V' t .1 COUNTRY OK THE IIUUONS. 11 The region whoso boundaries wc have given wius an alternation of meadows and deej) forests, interlaeed witli footpaths leading from town to town. Of tlieso towns, some were fortified, hut the greater numl)er were open and defeneeless. They were of a construction common to all tribes of Iroquois lineage, and peculiar to them. Nothing similar exists at the present day. * They covered a space of from one to ten acres, tlio dwellings clustering together with little or no pre- tension to order. In general, these singular struc- tures were about thirty or thirty-five feet in length, breadth, and height ; but many were much larger, and a few were of prodigious length. In some of the villages there were dwellings two hundred and forty There were two families to every Are. That by " personnea " adults only are meant cannot be doubted, as the Relations abound in inci- dental evidence of a total population far exceeding twelve thousand. A Huron family usually numbered from five to eight persons. The number of the Huron towns changed from year to year. Cham- plain and Lo Caron, in 1615, reckoned them at seventeen or eighteen, with a population of about ten thousand, — meaning, no doubt, adults. Br II I \ 18 INTRODUCTION. masterpiece of Huron handiwork, however, was the birch canoe, in the construction of which the Algonquins were no less skilful. The Iroquois in the absence of the birch were forced to use the bark of the elm, which was greatly inferior both in light- ness and strength. Of pipes, than which nothing was more important in their eyes, the Hurons made a great variety, — some of baked clay, others of various kinds of stone, carved by the men, during their long periods of monotonous leisure, often with great skill and ingenuity. But their most mysterious fabric was wampum. This was at once their cur- rency, their ornament, their pen, ink, and parchment ; and its use was by no means confined to tribes of the Iroquois stock. It consisted of elongated beads, white and purple, made from the inner part of certain shells. It is not easy to conceive how, with their rude implements, the Indians contrived to shape and perforate this intractable material. The art soon fell into disuse, however; for wampum better than their own was brought them by the traders, besides abundant imitations in glass and porcelain. Strung into necklaces, or wrought into collars, belts, and bracelets, it was the favorite decoration of the Indian girls at festivals and dances. It served also a graver purpose. No compact, no speech, or clause of a speech, to the representative of another nation, had any force, unltss confirmed by the delivery of a string or belt of wampum.^ The belts, on occasions ^ Beaver-skins and other valuable furs were sometimes, on such occasions, used as a substitute. ttl DRESS. 19 of importance, were wrought into significant devices, suggestive of the substance of the compact or speech, and designed as aids to memory. To one or more old men of the nation was assigned the honorable, but very onerous, charge of keepers of the wampum, — in other words, of the national records ; and it was for them to remember and interpret the meaning of the belts. The figures on wampum-belts were, for the most part, simply mnemonic. So also were those carved on wooden tablets, or painted on bark and skin, to preserve in memory the songs of war, hunt- ing, or magic. ^ The Hurons had, however, in com- mon with other tribes, a system of rude pictures and arbitrary signs, by which they could convey to each other, with tolerable precision, information touching the ordinary subjects of Indian interest. Their dress was chiefly of skins, cured with smoke after the well-known Indian mode. That of the women, according to the Jesuitt?, was more modest than that "of our most pious ladies of France." The young girls on festal occasions must be excepted from this commendation, as they wore merely a kilt from the waist to the knee, besides the wampum decora- tions of the breast and arms. Their long black hair, gathered behind the neck, was decorated with disks of native copper, or gay pendants made in France, and now occasionally unearthed in numbers from ^ Engravings of many specimens of these figured songs are given in the voluminous reports on the condition of tlie Indians, pub- lished by Government, under the editorship of Mr. Schoolcraft. The specimens are chiefly Algonquin. 'K 1 l« i ' i' 20 INTRODUCTION. tlieir graves. The men, in Hummer, were nearly naked, — tliose of a kindred tribe wholly so, with tlie sole exception of their moccasins. In winter they were clad in tunics and leggins of skin, and at all seasons, on occasions of ceremony, were wrapped from head to foot in roljes of beaver or otter furs, sometimes of the greatest value. On the inner side, these rolxjs were decorated with painted figures and devices, or embroidered with the dyed quills of the Canada hedgehog. In this art of embroidery, how- ever, the Hurons were equalled (^r surpassed by some of the Algonquin tribes. They wore their hair after a variety of grotesque and startling fashions. With some, it was loose on one side, and tight braided on the other; with others, close shaved, leaving one or more long and cherished locks; while, with others again, it bristled in a ridge av3ross the crown, like the back of a hyena. ^ When in full dress, they were painted with ochre, white clay, soot, and the red juice of certain berries. They practised tattooing, sometimes covering the whole body with indelible devices. 2 When of such extent, the process was very severe; and though no murmur escaped the sufferer, he sonr.draes died from its effects. Female life among the Hurons had no bright side. It was a youth of license, an age of drudgery. Despite an organization which, while it perhaps made ^ See Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 35. " Quelles hures ! " exclaimed some astonished Frenchman. Hence the name, Humns. ^ Bressani, Relation Ahreg€e, 72. Champlaiu has a picture of a warrior tliua tattooed. ■ ! MARRIAGE. 21 them loss sensible of pain, certainly made tlicni It>NS suseeptiblo of passion, than the higher races of men, tiio Hurons were notoriously dissolute, far exceed- ing in this respect the wandering and starving Algon(piins.^ Marriage existed among them, and p(»lygumy was exceptional; but divorce took place at the will or caprice of eithei party. A practice also jirevailed of temporary or experimental mar- riage, lasting a day, a week, or more. The seal of I ; 1 Among the Iroquois there were more favorahlo features in tho condition of women. Tlie matrons hud often a considerable influ- t'liee on tlie decisions of the councils. Lafitau, whose book appeared in 1724, says that the nation was corrupt in his time, but that this was a degeneracy from their ancient manners. La I'otherie and Charlevoix make a similar statenunt. Megajjolensis, liowever, in 1044, says that they were then exceedingly debauched; and Green- halgh, in 1077, gives ample evidence of a shameless license. One of their most earnest advocates of the present day admits that the passion of love among them liad no otlier than an animal existence. (Morgan, League of the Iroquois, 322.) There is clear proof that tho tribes of the South were equally corrupt. (See Lawson, Carolina, 84, and other early writers.) On the other hand, chastity in women was recognized as a virtue by many tribes. This was peculiarly the case among the Algonquins of Gaspc', where a lapse in this regard was counted a disgrace. (See Le Clerc, Nouvelk Relation de la Gaspesie, 417, where a contrast is drawn between the modesty of the girls of this region and the open prostitution practised among tiiose of other tribes.) Among the Sioux, adultery on the part of a woman is punished by mutilation. The remarkable forbearance observed by Eastern and Northern bribes towards female captives was probably the result of a super- stition. Notwithstanding the prevailing license, the Iroquois and other tribes had among themselves certain conventional rules which excited the admiration of the Jesuit celibates. Some of these had a superstitious origin ; others were in accordance with tlie iron requirements of their savage etiquette. To make the Indian a hero of romance is mere nonsense. 1 \ i !i I '■ 22 INTRODUCTION. the compact was merely the acceptance of a gift of wampum made by die suitor to the ot)ject of his desire or his whim. These gifts were never returned on the dissolution of the conneeti(m ; and as an attrac- tive and enterprising damsel might, and often did, make twenty such marriages l)efore her final estab- lishment, she thus collected a wealth of wampum with which to adorn lieraelf for the village dances.* This i)rovisional matrimony wjis no bar to a license boundless and ai)parently universal, unattended with loss of reputation on either side. Every instinct of native delicacy quickly vanished under the influence of Huron domestic life; eight or ten families, and often more, crowded into one undivided house, where privacy was impossible, and where strangers were free to enter at all hours of the day or night. Once a mother, and married with a reasonable permanency, the Huron woman from a wanton became a drudge. In March and April she gathered the year's supply of firewood. Then came sowing, till- 1 " II s'cn trouue telle qui passe ainsi sa ieunessc, qui aura eu plus de vingt maris, lesquels vingt maris ne sont pas seuls on la jouyssance de la beste, quelques mariez qu'ils soient : car la nuict venue, les ieunes femmes courent d'une cabane en une autre, come font les ieunes hommes de leur coste, qui en prennent par ou bon lem semble, toutesfois sans violence aucune, et n'en retoiuent aucune infamie, ny injure, la coustume du pays estant telle." — Champlain (1627), 90. Compare Sagard, Voyage des Ilurons, 176. Both were personal observers. The ceremony, even of the most serious marriage, consisted merely in the bride's bringing a rlish of boiled maize to the bride- groom, together with an armful of fuel. There was often a feast of the relatives, or of the whole village. i I" I ^ HURON TRAFFIC. 28 a gift of it of his returned m attrac- :ten did, al estab- wampum dances.* a license ded with stinct of influence lies, and )e, where ers were ght. asonable 1 became red the ng, till- 11 aura eu euls en la la nuict litre, come ir ou bon refoiuent telle." — mrons, 176. consisted the bride- m a feast iiig, and harvesting, smoking lish, dressing skins, making cordage and clothing, preparing food. On the march it was she who bore the burden; for, in tiio words of Champlain, "their women were tiu'ir nudes." The natural efl'ect followed. In every Huron town were slu'ivelled hags, liideous and despised, wlio in vindictiveness, ferocity, and cruelty far exceeded the men. To the men fell the task of building the houses, and making weapons, pipes, and canoes. For the rest, their home-life was a life of leisure and amuse- ment. The sunnner and autumn were their seasons of serious employment, — of war, hunting, fishing, and trade. There was an established system of traffic between the Hurons and the Algonquins of the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing: the Hurons excliang- ing wampum, fishing-nets, and corn for Hsh and furs.* From various relics found in their graves, it may be inferred that they also traded with tribes of the Upper Lakes, as well as with tribes far southward, towards the Gulf of Mexico. Each branch of traffic was the monopoly of the family or clan by whom it was opened. They might, if they could, punish interlopers, by stripping them of all they possessed, unless the latter had succeeded in reaching home with ■''.c fruits of their trade, — in which case the outraged monopolists had no further right of redress, and could not attempt it without a breaking of the public peace, and exposure to the authorized ven- 1 Champlain (1027), 84. 1 I t 'f" ;!; I! 24 INTIIODUCTION. goance of tlio other party. ^ Thcnr fisluirieH, too, were regulatotl l)y customs having tho torco of hiWiS. Tlieso pursuits, with their hunting, — in which tlicy were aided l)y a wolfish breed of (h)gs unal)h) to ])ark, — consumed the autunui and early winter; hut before the new year tho greater part of tho men wore gathered in their villages. Now followed their festal season; for it was tho season of idleness for tlie men, and of leisure for tho women. F'easts, gambling, smoking, and dancing fillea the vacant hours. Like other Indians, the Hurons were desperate gamblers, staking their all, — ornaments, clothing, canoes, pijjcs, weapons, and wives. One of their principal games was played with plum-stones, or wooden lozenges, black on one side and white on the other. These were tossed up in a wooden bowl, by striking it sharply upon the ground, and the players betted on the black or white. Sometimes a village challenged a neighboring village. The game was played in one of the houses. Strong poles were extended from side to side, and on these sat or perched the company, party facing party, while two players struck the bowl on the ground between. Bets ran high ; and Br<3beuf relates that once in mid- winter, with the snow nearly three feet deep, the men of his village returned from a gambling visit bereft of their logging, and barefoot, yet in excellent humor. 2 Ludicrous as it may appear, these games 1 Brebeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 156 (Cramoisy). 2 Brebeuf, Relaiion des Hurons, 1C3G, 113. This game is still a HIKON FKSTIVITIKS. 26 were (tftcii tnediciil pivsciiittioiiH, tiiul ik'si^iu'd us a euro oi tilt; sirk. Tht'ir feasts iiinl diiuoes wore of various cliaractcr, Hot'ial, nu'diral, and mystical or religious. Soint) of tlu'ir feasts were on a seale of exti'ava^Mut j)rofu- sioH. A vjtin or ainhitious liost threw all his suh- stamo into one entertainineut, invitin^r the whole village, and perhaps several neighhoiing villages also. In the winter of 1(585 there was a feast at the village of Contarrea, wliere thirty k(!ttles were on the fires, and twenty deer and four bears wcut; served up.^ The invitation wjus simple. The messenger addressed the desired guest with the eoneise sum- mons, 'Come and eat;" and to refuse was a grave offence. He took his disli and spoon, and repairtnl to the scene of festivity. Each, as lie entered, greeted his host with the guttural ejacuhition, Jfo! and ranged himself with the rest, squatted on the earthen floor or on the platform along the sides of the house. The kettles were slung over the tires in the midst. First, there was a long prelude of lugu- brious singing. Then the host, who took no si arc in the feast, proclaimed in a loud voice the contents of each kettle in turn, and at each announcement the company responded in unison. Ho! The attendant squaws filled with their ladles the bowls of all the favorite among the Iroquois, some of whom liold to the belief that they will play it after death in the realms of bliss. In all their important games of chance, they emplr.yeil charms, incantations, and all the resources of their magical art, to gain good luck. ^ BreTieuf, Relation des Uurons, 1U30, 111. S A ( ,\\ : I u 26 INTll()J)UCTION. guests. Tliere was talking, laughing, jesting, sing- ing, and smoking; and at times the entertainment was protracted through the day. Wlien the feast had a medical or mystic charac- ter, it was indispensable that each guest should devour the whole of the portion given him, however enormous. Should he fail, the host would be out- raged, the community shocked, and the spirits roused to vengeance. Disaster would befall the nation, — death, perhaps, the individual. In some cases, the imagined efficacy of the feast was proportioned to the rapidity with which le viands were despatched. Prizes of tobacco were offered to the most rapid feeder; and the spectacle then became truly porcine.* These fcstins h manger tcut were nuch dreaded by many of the Hurons, who, however, were never known to decline them. Invitation to a dance was no less concise than to a feast. Sometimes a crier proclaimed the approach- ing festivity through the village. The house was crowded. Old men, old women, and children thronged the platforms, or clung to the poles which supportexl the sides and roof. Fires were raked out, and the earthen floor cleared. Two chiefs sang at the top of their voices, keeping time to their song 1 This superstition was not confine;! to the Hiirons, but extended to iniiny otlier tribes, includin}?, probably, all tlie Algonquins, with some of whieli it holds in full force to this day. A feaster, unable to do his full part, might, if he could, hire another to aid him ; otherwise, he must remain in hi.i place till the work was done. Tw,. HURON FESTIVITIES. 27 tig, sing- tainnient ! charac- should however be out- s roused ition, — ises, the ioned to patched. it rapid )orcine.^ ided by ) never lan to a proach- se was lildren which d out, mg at song xtonded (IS, with unable d him; wltli tortoise-shell rattles.^ The men danced with great violence and gesticulation; tJie women, with a nnich more measured action. The former were nearly divested of clothing, — in mystical dances, sometimes wholly so; and, from a supei-stitious motive, this was now and then the case with the women. Both, however, were abundantly decorated with paint, oil, beads, wampum, trinkets, and feathers. Religious festivals, councils, the entertainment of an envoy, the inauguration of a chief, were all occa- sions of festivity, in which social pleasure was joined with matter of grave import, and which at times gathered nearly all the nation into one great and har- monious concourse. Waiiike expeditions, too, were always preceded by feasting, at which the warriors vaunted the fame of their ancestors, and their own past and prospective exploits. A hideous scene of feasting followed the torture of a prisoner. Like the torture itself, it was, among the Hurons, partly an act of venge.ince, and partly a religious rite. If the 1 Sagard gives specimens of tlieir songs. In both dances and feasts there was no little variety. Tlieso were sometimes combined. It is impossible, in brief space, to indicate more than titeir general features. In the famous " war-dance," — which was frequently danced, as it still is, for amusement, — speeclies, exliortations, jests, personal satire, and repartee were commonly introduced as a part of the performance, sometimes by way of patriotic stimulus, some- times for anmsement. T!ie music in this case was the drum and the war-song. Some of the other dances were also interspersed N^itli speeches and sharp witticisms, always taken in good part, though Lalitau says that he has seen the victim so i)itilessly ban- tered that he was forced to hide his head in his blanket. fc» I'.s rk. ■ } 1 til ! i 28 INTRODUCTION. victim had shown courage, the heart was first roasted, cut into small pieces, and given to the young men and boys, who devoured it to increase their own courage. The body was then divided, thrown into the kettles, and eaten by the assembly, the head being the portion of the chief. Many of the Ilurons joined in the feast with reluctance and horror, while others took pleasure in it.^ This was the only form of cannibalism among them, since, unlike the wan- dering Algonquins, they were rarely under the desperation of extreme famine. A great knowledge of simples for the cure of disease is popularly ascri])ed to the Indian. Here, however, as elsewhere, his knowledge is in fact scanty. He rarely reasons from cause to effect, or from effect to cause. Disease, in his belief, is the result of sorcery, the agency of spirits or supernatriral influences, undefined and indefinable. The Indian doctor was a conjurer, and his remedies were to the last degree preposterous, ridiculous, or revolting. The well-known Indian sweating-bath is the most 1 " II y en a qui on mangent auec plaisir." — Breljouf, Relation (icH Ilurons, 1630, 121. Le Mercier gives a description of one of these scenes, at which he was present. {Ibid,, KJ.']?, 118.) The same horrible practice prevailed to a greater extent among tlie Iroquois. One of the most remarkable instances of Indian canni- balism is tliat furnished by a Western tribe, the Miamis, among whom there was a elan, or family, whose hereditary duty and privi- lege it was to devour the bodies of prisoners burned to death. The act had somewhat of a religious character, was attended with cere- monial observances, and was restricted to the family in question. See lion. Lewis Cass, in the appendix to Colonel Whiting's poem, " Ontwa." i ii HURON MEDICINE. 29 roasted, ng men 3ir own \vn into le lieiul Iliirons T-, while ily form le wan- ler the cure of Here, in fact feet, or is the •natural Indian to the 'olting. 3 most Relation one of ) The ong the n canni- .aniong d privi- 1. The th cere- uestion. 5 poem, prominent of the few means of cure based on agencies sinii)ly physical; and this, with all the other natural remedies, was ai)plied, not by tlie professed doctor, but by the sufferer himself, or his friends. ^ The Indian doctor beat, shook, and piiiched his patient, howled, whooped, rattled a tortoise-shell at his ear to expel the evil spirit, bit him till blood flowed, and then displayed in triumph a small piece of wood, bone, or iron, which he had hidden in his mouth, and which he affirmed was the source of the disease, now happily removed.^ Sometimes he pre- scribed a dance, feast, or game ; and the whole village bestirred themselves to fulfil the injunction to the letter. They gambled away their all; they gorged themselves like vultures ; they danced or played ball naked among the snowdrifts from morning till night. At a medical feast, some strange or unusual act was commonly enjoined as vital to the patient's cure : as, for example, the departing guest, in place of the cus- * The Indians liad many simple applications for wounds, said to have been very efficacious ; but the purity of their blood, owing to the al)sence from their diet of condiments and stimulants, as well as to their active habits, aided tlie remedy. In general, they were remarkably exempt from disease or deformity, though often seri- ously injured by alternations of hunger and excess. The Ilurons sometimes died from tlie elTects of \\\(}'\r fhsfJnii a nianyer tout, 2 The Ilui'ons believed that the chief cause of disease and death was a monstrous serpent, that lived imder tlie earth. By touching a tuft of hair, a fe ij i i [ : 1 ! i ■ 1 i • I. : 1 ^ i 30 INTRODUCTION. tomary monosyllable of thanks, was required to greet his host with an ugly grimace. Sometimes, by prescription, half the village would throng into the house where the patient lay, led by old women dis- guised with the heads and skins of bears, and beating with sticks on sheets of dry bark. Here the assembly danced and whooped for liours together, with a din to which a civilized patient would promptly have succumbed. Sometimes the doctor wrought himself into a prophetic fury, raving through the length and breadth of the dwelling, snatching firebrands and flinging them about him, to the terror of the squaws, with whom, in their combustible tenements, fire was a constant bugbear. Among the Hurons and kindred tribes, disease was frequently ascribed to some hidden wish ungratified. Hence the patient was overwhelmed with gifts, in the hope that in their multiplicity the desideratum might be supplied. Kettles, skins, awls, pipes, wampum, fish-hooks, weapons, objects of every con- ceivable variety, were piled before him by a host of charitable contributors ; and if, as often happened, a dream, the Indian oracle, had revealed to the sick man the secret of his cure, his demands were never refused, however extravagant, idle, nauseous, or abominable.^ Hence it is no matter of wonder that 1 " Dans Ic pays de nos Hiirons, il se faict aussi des assembleos de toutes k's filk'S d'vn bourg aupros d'vne nialade, tant iX sa priero, suyuant la rosuerie ou le songe qn'olle en aura euii, quo par I'or- donnance de Loki {the doctor), pour sa santo ct guorison. Les fdles ainsi assoniblues, on leur deniande a toutes, les vnes apres los autres, ■ft \U ! .1 • THE HURON-IROQUOIS. 31 ired to incs, by into the len dis- beating ,ssembly h a dill ly have himself gth and ids and squaws, fire was )ase was ratified. ifts, in leratum pipes, y con- lost of eiied, a le sick never )us, or 3r that iblees lie prlerc, par Tor- ies fiUes autres. 1 I 1 sudden ilhiess and sudden cures were frequent among the Huroiis. The patient reaped profit, and the doctor both profit and honor. THE HUllON-IROCiUOIS FAMILY. And now, lief ore entering upon the very curious sul)jcct of Indian social and tribal organization, it may be well briefly to observe the position and promi- nent distinctive features of the various comnuinitie.« speaking dialects of the generic tongue of the Iroquois. In this remarkable family of tribes occur the fulh^st developments of Indian character, and the most con- spicuous examples of Indian intelligence. If the higher traits popularly ascribed to the race are not to be found here, they are to be found nowhere. A pal- c'cluy qu'elles veulent ties ieunes hommes du boury pour dorniir auec elles la nuict prochaine: elles en nomment chacuno vn, qui sont aussi-tost aduertis par les Maistres do la cereinonie, lesciuels viennent tons au soir en la presence de la nialade dorniir cliaeun auec celle qui I'a choysi, d'vn hout a Tautre de la Cabane et passent ainsi toute la nuict, pendant que deux Capitaines aux deux bouts du logis chantent et sonnent de leur Tortu<' du soir au leiide- main matin, que la ceremonie cesse. Dieu vueille iibolir vne si damnable et malheureuse ceremonie." — Sagard, Vt>u(ti/e dcs Ilnnms, 158. This unique mode of cure, which was called Amlarwandet, is also described by Lalemant, who saw it. {Relation di's Jluruns. 1639, 84.) It was one of the recognized remedies. For tlie medical practices of the Ilurons, see also Champlaiii, Br(51)euf, Lafltau, Charlevoix, and other early writers. Those of the Algonquins were in some points dilYerent. The doctor often consulted the spirits, to learn the cause and cure of the disease, by a method peculiar to that family of tril)es. He shut himself in a small conical lodge, and the spirits liere visited him, manifesting their presence by a violent shaking of tlii' whole structure. Tiiis siuperstition will be described in another coiniection. ' ' H Mil ( ! Ill 82 INTRODUCTION. if: pii])le proof of the superiority of tliis stock is afforded in the size of the Iroquois suid Huron bruins. In avenige internal capacity of the cranium, they sur- pass, witli few and doubtful exceptions, all other aborigines of Nortli and South America, not except- ing the civilized races of Mexico and Peru.^ In the woody valleys of the Blue Mountains, south of the Nottawassaga Bay of Lake Huron, and two days' journey west of the frontier Huron towns, lay tlie nine villages of the Tobacco Nation, or Tionnonttites.2 In manners, as in language, they closely resembled tlie Ilurons. Of old they were their enemies, but were now at peace with them, and about the year 1(>40 became their close confederates. Indeed, in the ruin which befell that ha2)less people, the 'i'ionnontates alone retained a tribal organization ; and tlieir descendants, with a trifling exception, are to this day the sole inheritors of the Huron or Wyandot name. Expatriated and wandering, they luild for generations a paramount influence among 1 "Oil c'onipjiriii^f five iroquois iK'iids, I find that they give an avera};T iiiteniiil capacity of eigiity-eight cubic inches, whidi is within two inches of tlie Caucasian mean." — Morton, Crania Amer- icaiia, 1%. It is reniarkahK- that the internal capacity of tlie skulls of the barbarous American tribes is greater than that of either the Mexicans or the rernvians. "The difference in volume is chiefly confined to the occipital and basal portions," — in other words, to the regi(m of the animal projiensities ; and hence, it is argued, the ferocious, brutal, and uncivilizable character of the wild tribes. See J. S. IMiillips, Admeasurements of Crania of the Principal Groups of Indians in the United States. 2 Sijnoni/mes: Tionnontates, Etionontates, Tuinontatek, Dionon- dadics, Khionontaterrhonons, IVtiineux or Nation du Petxm (To- bacco). 1 THE NEUTRAL NATION. 83 ; afforded ains. Ill they sur- all other t except- ns, south and tw( ) 11 towns, ation, or ige, they hey were hem, and federates, is people, mization ; btion, are ^uron or ng, they among ley give an whicli is (1)1 ia Aiiifr- tlie skulls t'ltlier tlie is chiefly words, to irgued, the villi tribes. pal Groups !k, Dionon- 'etun (To- the Western trilxis.* In tlieir original seats among the Blue Mountains, tliey offered an example extremely rare among Indians, of a tribe raising a crop for tlie market; for they traded in tobacco largely with other tribes. Their Huron coiifederat(\s, keen traders, would not suffer them to pass through their country to traffic with the French, preferring to secure for themselves the advantage of bartering with them in French goods at an enormous profit. ^ Journeying southward five days from the Tionnon- hite towns, the forest traveller reached the border villages of the Attiv andarons, or Neutral Nation. ^ As early as 1626, they were visited by the Franciscan friar, La Roche Dallion, who reports a numerous population in twenty-eight towns, besides many small hamlets. Their country, about forty leagues in extent, embraced wide and fertile districts on the north shore of Lake Erie, and their frontier extended eastward across the Niagara, where they had tliree or four outlying towns.* Their name of "Neutrals" ' " L'ame de tous les Conseils." — Charlevoix, Voyage, 109. In 1703 tliey were Tontiac's best warriors. 2 On the Tionnontates, see Le Mercier, Relation, 1637, 103 ; Lale- niant. Relation, 1641, 60; Ragueneau, Relation, 1648, 01. An excel- lent summary of their character and history, by Mr, Shea, will be found in Hist. Mag., v. 202. 8 Attiwandarons, Attiwendaronk, Atirhagenrenrets Rhagenratka (Jesuit Relations), Attionidarons (Sagard). They, and not the Eries, were the Kahkwas of Seneca tradition. * Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1041, 71. The Niagp.rrt was then called the " River of the Neutrals," or the Onguiaalira. Lale- mant estimates the Neutral population, in 1010, at twelve thousand, in forty villages. 8 m '■^ ■ II j } 1 ■ 1 1' ''■ '1 ■ r 1 '^ il 1 • li ll; ' 1 ■ [ 8 i . ' ' 1 ii' 1 1 \ t 1 '^^ ^" 1 pi i '■ |i 1 ( ' 84 INTKODICTION. was due to tlieir lunitnility in tho war between the Hurons and tlie Iroquois proper. Tlie hostile war- riors, meeting in a Neutral cabin, were forced to keep the peace, though, once in the open air, the truce was at an end. Yet this peo})le were abundantly ferocious, and, while holding a pacific attitude betwixt their warring kindred, waged deadly strife with the Mascoutiiis, an Algonquin horde l)eyond Lake Michigan. Indeed, it was but recently that they liad been at blows with seventeen Algonquin tribes.^ They burned female prisoners, a practice unknown to the Hurons. 2 Their country was full of game, and they were bold and active hunters. In form and stature they surpassed even the Ilurons, whom they resembled in their mode of life, and from whose language their own, though radically similar, was dialectically distinct. Their licentiousness was even more open and shameless; and they stood alone in the extravagance of some of their usages. They kept their dead in their houses till they became insupport- able ; then scraped the flesh from the bones, and dis- played them in rows along the walls, there to remain till the periodical Feast of th-^ Dead, or general burial. In summer, the men wore no clothing what- ever, but were usually tattooer' from head to foot with j)owdered charcoal. 1 Lettre du Pere La Roche DaUion, 8 Juillet, 1627, in Le Clero, Etahlissement ih la Foi/, i. 34(). 2 Women were often burned by the Iroquois : witness the case of Catherine Mercier in 1(>51, anc' many cases of Indian women nientiuned by tlie early writers. I i .'ll a:-'' THE "NATION OF TIIP: CAT." 35 een tlie ile war- to keep le truce indantly betwixt fe with id Lake lat they I tribes.^ :nowii to me, and mn and om they n whose hir, was »vaH even alone in hey kept upport- and dis- remain general 1^ what- to foot Le Clerc, 8 the case in women The sagacious ITurons refused them a passage through their country to th(^ French ; and tlie Neutrals apparently had not sense or reflection enough to tiike the easy and direct route of Lake Ontario, — which was probably open to them, thougli closed against the Hunms by Iroquois enmity. Thus the foruKU* niad(; excellent profit by exchanging French goods at high rates for the valuable fui-s of the Neutrals.^ Southward and etustward of Lake Erie dwelt a kindred people, the Eries, or "Nation of the Cat." Little besides their existence is known of them. They seem to have occupied southwestern New York, as far east as the Genesee, the frontier of the Senecas, and in habits and language tf) have resembled the Hur^»ns.2 They were noted warriors, fought with poisoned arrows, and were long a terror to the neigh- boring Iroquois.^ ^ The Hurons became very jealous, when La Roche Dallion visited the Neutrals, lest a direct trade sliould be opened between the latter and the French, against whom they at once put in circu- lation a variety of slanders, — that they were a people who lived on snakes and venom ; that they were furni.ehed with tails; and that Fren(;h women, though having but one breast, bore six children at a birth. The missionary nearly lost his life in consequence, the Neutrals conceiving the idea, that he would infect their country with a pestilence. La Roche Dallion, in Le Clerc, i. 340. ^ Ragueneau, Relation des Hurons, 1<)48, 4(5. ' Le Mercier, Relation, 1(554, 10. " Nous les appoUons la Nation Chat, a cause qu'il y a dans leur pais vne quantite' prodigieuse ile Chats sauuages." — Und. The Iroquois are said to have given the same name, Jeyosasa, Cat Nation, to the Neutrals. — Morgan, Lcatjue of the Iroquois, 41. Synoni/mes : Erie's, Erigas, Eriehronon, Riguehronon. The Jesuits never had a mission among them, though they seem to have been I, u ill ^iN 4 ill 3C INTRODUCTION. ,1'* it I h k I'l 1 )! I f On tho Lower Susqnolianna dwelt the formidable tril)e called by the French Andastes. Little is known of thtni, l)eyond their peneial resemblance to their kindred, in language, habits, and character. Fierce and resolute warriors, tljey long made head against the Iroquois of New York, and were vanquished at last more by disease than by the tomahawk.^ In central New York, stretching east and west from the Hudson to the (lenesee, lay that redoubted people who have lent their name to the tribal family of the Iroquois, and stamped it indelibly on the early pages of American history. Among all the bar])aron8 nations of the continent, the Iroquois of New York stand paramount. Elements which among other tril)es were crude, confused, and embryotic were among them systematized and concreted into an established polity. The Iroquois was the Indian of Indians. A thorough savage, yet a finished and developed savage, he is perhaps an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerg- ing from his primitive condition of the hunter. A geographical position, commanding on one hand the visited by Champlain's adventurous interpreter, fetienne Brule, in tlie summer of 1015. They are probably the Carantoiians of Champlain. ^ Gallatin erroneously places the Andastes on the Alleghany, Bancroft and others adopting the error. The research of Mr. Shea has shown their identity with the Susi/uehannncks of the English, and the Minquas of the Dutch. — See Hist. May., ii. 294. Si/noni/mes: Andastes, Andastracronnons, Andastaeronnons, An- dastaguez, Antastoui (French), Susquehannooks (English), Mengwe, Minquas (Dutch), Conestogas, Conessetagoes (English). '^ ) ! rm: HKH^rois. 37 [iiidal)lo , known to tlieir Fierce against shed at 1 id west iloubted [ family he early irbarous !w York y other ic were into an idian of portjil of the Great Lakes, and on the otlicr tlio sources of tlie streams (lowing botli to the Atlantic and the Mississi[)i)i, gave the andutious and aggres- sive confederates advantages which they perfectly uiiderstood, and by which they profited to the utmost. Patient and politic as they were ferocious, they were not only con(i[uerors of their own race, but the power- ful allies and the dreaded foes of the French and English colonies, flattered and caressed by both, yet too sagacious to give themselves without reserve to either. Their organization and their history evince their intrinsic superiority. Even their traditionary lore, amid its wild pnerilities, shows at times the stamp of an energy and force in striking contrast ■with the flimsy creations of Algoncjuin fancy. That the Iroquois, left under tVieir institutions to work out their dcstiiiy undisturbed, would ever have developed a civilization of their own, I do not believe. These institutions, however, are sufficiently characteristic and curious, and we shall soon have occasion to observe them.^ 1 Tin name Iroquois is French. Charlevoix sa/s : " II a ^tc' forme du terme ffiro, ou Hero, qui signifle J'ui flit, et par luquel ces sauvapes finissent tons leur discours, conime les Latins faisoicnt -i itrofois par leur Dixi ; et de Koue, qui est un cri tantot de tristesse, lorsqu'on le prononce en trainant, et tantot de joje, quand on le prononce plus court." — I fist, de la N. F., i. 271. Their true name is llodeno- saunee, or " People of the Long House," because their confederacy of five distinct nations, ranged in a line along central New York, was likened to one of the long bark houses already described, with five fires and five families. The name Af/onnonsionni, or Ai/iinmtscioni, ascribed to them by Lafitau and Charlevoix, who translated it "House-makers," Fdiscurs de C'iIkiiiiics, may be a conversi(ju of the I ., n \i f 88 INTRODUCTION. I ,y < K ^i I SOCIAL AND I'OLITICAIi ORGANIZATION. Ill Iiidiiiii .social orgiiniziition, a [U'oljlom at once HUgj^osts itMolf. Ill those eoinmuiiities, eoiiipamtively populous, how could spirits so fierce, and in many respects so ungoverned, live together in peace, with- out law and without enforced authority? Yet them were towns where savages lived together in thou- Sfinds, with a harmony which civilization might envy. This was in good measure due to peculiarities of Indian character and habits. This intractable race were, in certain external respects, the most pliant and complaisant of mankind. The early missionaries were charmed by the docile acquiescence with which their dogmas were received ; but they soon discovered that their facile auditors neither believed nor under- stood that to which they had so promptly assented. They assented from a kind of courtesy, which, while it vexed the priests, tended greatly to keep the Indians in mutual accord. That well-known self- true name with an erroneous rendering. Tlie following are the true names of the five nations severally, with their French and English synonynics. For other synonymes, see " History of the Conspiracy of Fontiac," chapter i., note. EiiRlixh. French. Ganeagnono, Moliawk, Agnier. Onayotekaono, OiK'ida, Onneyut. Onundagaouo, Onondaga, Oiniontague. Gweugwehono, Cayuga, Goyogouin. Nundawaono, Seneca, Tsonnontouans The Iroquois termination in oiio — or onon, as the French write it — simply mQuna peo])k'. INDIAN (iENKIlOSITY. 30 'f at once imtivoly in many e, vvitli- et thvAv n tlion- lit envy, rities of ble race t pliant uonaries li which jcovercd [' under- ssented. 1, while ep the m self- are tlie encli and y of the control, whicli, originating in a form of pride, covered tiie savage nature of the njan with a veil, opaque, though thin, contributed not a little to the same end. Tliougli vain, arrogant, boastful, and vindictive, the Indian bore abuse and sarcasm with an astonishing patience. Though greedy and grasping, he was lavish without *"nt, and would give away his all to soothe the manes of a departed relative, gain influence and applause, or ingratiate himself witli his neigh- bom. In his dread ci public opinion, he rivalled some of his civilized successor. All Indians, and especially these populous and stiitionary triljes, had tlieir code of courtesy, whoso requirements were rigid and exact; nor might any infringe it without the ban of public censure. Indian natuie, inflexible and unmalleable, was peculiarly under the control of custom. Established usage took the place of law, — was, in fact, a sort of coniinon law, with no tribunal to expound or enforce it. In these wild democracies, — democracies in spirit, though not in form, — a respect for native superior- ity, and a willingness to yield to it, were always con- spicuous. All were prompt to aid each other in distress, and a neighborly spirit was often exhibited among them. When a young woman was perma- nently married, the other women of the village supplied her with firewood for the year, each contrib- uting an armful. When one or more families were without shelter, the men of the village joined in building them a house. In return, the recipients of ■{ i 40 INTRODUCTION. the favor gave a feast, if they could; if not, their thanks were sufficient.^ Among the Iroquois and llurons — and doubtless among the kindred tribes — there were marked distinctions of noble and base, prosperous and poor ; yet while there was food in the village, the meanest and the poorest need not suffer want< He had but to enter the nearest house, and seat himself by the tire, when, without a word on either side, food was placed before him by the women. 2 Contrary to the received opinion, these Indians, like others of their race, when living in communities, were of a very social disposition. Besides their inces- sant dances and feasts, great and small, they were conthiually visiting, si)ending most of their time in thcur neighbors' houses, chatting, joking, bantering 1 The following tt'stimony concerning Indian charity and hospi- tality is from llaguoneau: "As often as we have seen tribes broken up, towns destroyed, and their people driven to flight, we have seen them, to the nuniin'r of seven or eight hundred persons, received witli oi)en arms by charitable hosts, who gladly gave them aid, and even distributed among them a part of the lands already planted, that they might have the means of living." — Relation, 1(550, 28. '^ The Jesuit Bre'beuf, than whom no one knew the llurons better, is very emphatic in praise of their harmony and social spirit. Speaking of one of tlie four nations of which the llurons were composed, he says: "lis ont vne douceur et vne aftabilitd quasi incroyable pour des Sauuages ; ils ne se picquent pas aisement. . . . lis se maintiennent dans cette si parfaite intelligence i-.r les fre- quentes visites, les secours qu'ils se donnent mutuellement dans leurs maladies, par les festins et les alliances. ... lis sont moins en leurs Cabanes que cliez leurs amis. . . . S'ils ont vn bon mor- ceau, ils en font festin a leurs amis, et ne le mangent quasi iamais en leur particulier," etc. — Relation des JJurons, liiSQ, lib. INDIAN RULE OF DESCENT. 41 one anotlier with witticisms, sharp, broad, and in no sense delicate, yet always taken in good part. Every village hati its adepts in these wordy tournamenta, while the shrill laugh of young squaws, untaught to blush, echoed each hardy jest or rough sarcasm. In the organization of the savage communities of the continent, one feature, more or less conspicuous, continually appears. Each nation or tribe — to adopt the names by which these communities are usually known — is subdivided into several clans. These clans are not locally separate, but are mingled throughout the nation. All the members of each clan are, or are assumed to be, intimately joined in consanguinity. Hence it is held an abomination for two persons of the same clan to intermarry; and hence, again, it follows that every family must con- tain members of at least two clans. Each clan has its name, as the clan of the Hawk, of the Wolf, or of the Tortoise; and each has for its emblem the figure of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem by the Algonquins, is often tattooed on the clansman's body, or rudely painted over the entrance of his lodge. The child belongs, in most cases, to the clan, not of the father, but of the mother. In other words, descent, not of tlie totem alone, but of all rank, titles, and possessions, is through the female. The son of a chief can never be a chief by hereditary title, though he may become so by force of personal influence or achievement. r\i 42 INTRODUCTION. ♦ I. I :fci ;ii ijiii. 1! Neither can he inherit from his father so much as a tobacco-pipe. All possessions ai.ke pass of right to the brothers of the chief, or to the sons of his sisters, since these are all sprung from a common mother. This rule of descent was noticed by Champlain among the Hurons in 1615. That excellent observer refers it to an origin which is doubtless its true one. The child may not be the son of his reputed father, but must be the son of his mother, — a consideration of more than ordinary force in an Indian community.^ This system of clanship, with the rule of descent usually belonging to it, was of very wide prevalence. Indeed, it is more than probable that close observa- tion would have detected it in every tribe east of the Mississippi; while there is positive evidence of its existence in by far the greater number. It is found also among the Dahcotah and other tribes west of the Mississippi; and there is reason to believe it uni- versally prevalent as far as the Rocky Mountains, and even beyond them. The fact that with most of these hordes there is little property worth transmission, and that the most influential becomes chief, with little regard to inheritance, has blinded casual observers to the existence of this curious system. 1 " Lt'S eiifans ne succe-lont iamais aux biens et dignitez dc lours peri'H, (loubtant comme i'ay (lit de k-ur genitcur, mais bien font-ils k'urs succc'ssc'urs ot horitiors, Ics onfans do lours soeurs, et desquols ils soiit assouroz d'ostre yssus ot sortis." — Champlain (1627), 5)1. Captain .lolin Smith liad observed the same, several years before, among the tribes of Virginia : " For the Crowne, their heyres inherite not, but the first heyres of the Sisters." — True Relation, 43 (ed. Deane). ulU !i i INDIAN RULE OF DESCENT 43 ich as a right to sisters, mother. I among )r refers ). The ler, but ation of nity.i descent /^alence. )bserva- t of the 3 of its s found t of the it uni- ns, and " these on, and little vers to do Icurs font-ils lU'squels 8 before, inherite 43 (ed. It was found in full development among the Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees, and other Southern tribes, including that remarkable people, the Natchez, wlio, judged by their religious and political institutions, seem a detached offshoot of the Toltec family. It is no less conspicuous among the roving Algonquins of the extreme North, where the number of totems is almost countless. Everywhere it formed the founda- tion of the polity of all the tribes, where a polity could be said to exist. The Franciscans and Jesuits, close students of the languages and superstitions of the Indians, were by no means so zealous to analyze their organization and government. In the middle of the seventeenth century tiie Hurons as a nation had ceased to exist, and their political portraiture, as handed down to us, is careless and unfinished. Yet some decisive features are plainly shown. The Huron nation was a confed- eracy of four distinct contiguous nations, afterwards increased to five by the addition of the Tionnontates. It was divided into clans ; it was governed by chiefs, whose office was hereditary through the female ; the power of these chiefs, though great, was wholly of a persuasive or advisory character; there were two principal chiefs, one for peace, the other for war; there were chiefs assigned to special national func- tions, as the charge of the great Feast of the Dead, tlie direction of trading voyages to other nations, etc. ; there were numerous other chiefs, equal in rank, but very unequal in influence, since the measure ' J 1 H 44 INTIlODUCTiON. of their influence depended on the measure of their personal ability; eacli nation of the confederacy had a separate organization, but at certain periods grand councils of the united nations were held, at which were present, not chiefs only, but also a great con- course of the people ; and at these and other councils the chiefs and principal men voted on proposed measures by means of small sticks or reeds, the opinion of the plurality ruling.^ th Ci i i .,'1 '1 THE IROQUOIS. The Iroquois were a people far more conspicuous in history, and their institutions are not yet extinct. In early and recent times, they have been closely studied, and no little light has been cast upon a sub- ject as difficult and obscure as it is curious. By comparing the statements of observers, old and new, the character of their singular organization becomes sufficiently clear. ^ 1 These facts are gathered here and there from Champlain, Sagard, Bressani, and the Jesuit Relations prior to 1660. Of the Jesuits, Bre1)euf is the most full and satisfactory. Lafltau and Charlevoix knew the Huron institutions only through others. The names of the four confederate Huron nations were the Ataronchronons, Attignononghac, Attignaouentans, and Ahrendar- rhonons. There was also a subordinate " nation " called Tohotaen- rat, which had but one town. (See the map of the Huron Country.) They all bore the name of some animal or other object : thus the Attignaouentans were the " Nation of the Bear." As the clans are usually named after animals, this makes confusion, and may easily lead to error. The Bear Nation was the principal member of the league. - Among modern students of Iroquois institutions, a place far in advance of all others is due to Lewis 11. Morgan, himself an Iro- THE IROQUOIS. — THEIR ORIGIN. 45 of their racy had is grand it which reat con- councils proposed eds, the spicuous extinct. L closely )n a sub- US. By nd new, becomes I u;e far in If an Iro- Both reason and tradition point to the conclusion, that the Iroquois formed originally one undivided people. Sundered, like countless other trilxis, by dissension, caprice, or the necessities of the hunter life, they separated into five distinct nations, cantoned from east to west along the centre of New York, in the following order: Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondiigas, Cayugas, Senecas. There was discord among them; wars followed, and they lived in mutual fear, each ensconced in its palisaded villages. At length, says tradition, a celestial being, incarnate on earth, coun- selled them to compose their strife and unite in a league of defence and aggression. Another person- age, wholly mortal, yet wonderfully endowed, a renowned warrior and a mighty magician, stands, with his hair of writhing snakes, grotesquely con- spicuous through the dim light of tradition at this birth of Iroquois nationalityo This was Atotarho, a quois by adoption, and intimate with the race from boyhood. His work, The League of the Iroquois, is a production of most thorough and able research, conducted under peculiar advantages, and with tlie aid of an efficient co-laborer, Hasanoanda (Ely S. Tarker), an educated and highly intelligent Iroquois of the Seneca nation. Tliough often differing widely from Mr. Morgan's conclusions, I cannot bear a too emphatic testimony to the value of his researclies. The Notes on the Iroquois of Mr. II. R. Schoolcraft also contain some interesting facts; but here, as in all Mr. Schoolcraft's produc- tions, tlie reader must scrupulously reserve his right of private judgment. None of the old writers are so satisfactory as Lafitau. His work, Maurs des Sauvayes Ameriqunins comparees aux Mniurs iles Premiers Temps, relates chiefly to the Iroquois and Ilurons : the basis for his account of the former being his own observations and those of Father Julien Gamier, who was a missionary among tiiem more than sixty years, from his novitiate to iiis death. 1=1! '^ 46 INTRODUCTION. I'h! 3; I'' iiitji; J chief of the Onondagas ; and f loiii this honored source has sprung a long line of chieftains, heirs not to the blood alone, but to the name of their great predeces- sor. A few years since, there lived in Onondaga Hollow a handsome Indian boy on whom the dwindled remnant of the nation looked with pride as th(ur destined Atotarho. With earthly and celestial aid the league was consummated, and through all the land the forests trembled at the name of the Iroquois. The Iroquois people was divided into eight clans. When the original stock was sundered into five parts, each of these clans was also sundered into five parts ; and as, by the principle already indicated, the clans were intimately mingled in every village, hamlet, and cabin, each one of the five nations had its portion of each of the eight clans. ^ When the league was ^ With a view to clearness, the above statement is made cate- gorical. It requires, however, to be qualified. It is not quite certain, that, at the formation of the confederacy, there were eight clans, though there is positive proof of the existence of seven. Neither is it certain, that, at the separation, every clan was repre- sented in every nation. Among the Mohawks and Oneidas there is no positive proof of the existence of more than three clans, — the Wolf, Bear, and Tortoise ; though there is presumptive evidence of the existence of several others. See Morgan, 81, note. The eight clans of the Iroquois were as follows ; Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Tortoise, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. (Morgan, 79.) Tiie clana of tlie Snipe and the Heron are tlie same designated in an early French document as LafamiUc du Petit Pluvier and La famiUe du Grand Pluvier. (New York Colonial Documents, ix. 47.) The anonymous author of this document adds a ninth clan, that of the Potato, meaning the wild Indian potato, Gl;/cine apios. This clan, if it existed, was very inconspicuous, and of little importance. Remarkable analogies exist between Iroquois clanship and that i il ORGANIZATION OF TIIF. IROQUOIS. 47 L source t to the edeces- londagji vindled LS tluur tial aid ;lie land )is. b clans, e parts, B parts; le clans let, and rtion of ue was bade cate- lot quite re eight seven. as repre- as tliere clans, — sumptive •gan, 81, If, Bear, f).) Tiie ed in an a famiUe .) The at of the lis elan, e. and that formed, these separate portions readily resumed their ancient tie of fraternity. Thus, of the Turtle clan, all the members became brothei-s again, — nominal members of one family, whether Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, or Senecas ; and so, too, of the remaining clans. All the Iroquois, irrespective of nationality, were therefore divided into eight families, each tracing its descent to a common mother, and each designated by its distinctive emblem or totem. This connection of clan or family was exceedingly strong, and by it the five nations of the league were linked together as by an eightfold chain. The clans were by no means equal in numbei-s, influence, or honor. So marked were the distinctions among them, that some of the early writers recognize only the three most conspicuous, — those of the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf. To some of the clans, in each nation, belonged the right of giving a chief to the nation and to the league. Others had the right of giving three, or, in one case, four chiefs; while others could give none. As Indian clanship was but an extension of the family relation, these of other tribes. The eight clans of tlie Iroquois were separated into two divisions, four in each. Originally, marriage was inter- dicted between all the members of the same division, but in time tlie interdict was limited to the members of tlie individual clans. Another tribe, the Choctaws, remote from the Iroquois, and radi- cally different in language, had also eight clans, similarly divided, witli a similar interdict of marriage. Gallatin, S/fno/isis, 109. The Creeks, according to the account given by their old chief, Sekopechi, to Mr. T>. W. Eakins, were divided into nine clans, named in most cases from animals : clanship being transmitted, as usual, through the female. 'Il '\ ' tj 48 INTRODUCTrON. ' : I J : i ). I in chiefs were, in a certain sense, hereditaiy; I :t the hiw of inheritance, though binding, was ex niely ehistic, and capable of stretching to the farthest limits u[ the chin. The chief was almost invaria])!/ sue ceeded by a near relative, always through the temale, — 'is a brother by the same mother, or a nephew b^ cli ! sister'.s side. But if these were manifestly unfit, hey were passed over, and a chief was chosen at a cvL '>cil of the clan from among remoter kindred. In these cases, the successor is said to have been nomi- nated by the matron of the late chief's household.* Be this as it may, the choice was never adverse to the popular inclination. The new chief was " raised up," or installed, by a formal council of the sachems of the league; and on entering upon his office, he dropped his own name, and assumed that which, since the formation of the league, had belonged to this es^ dcial chieftainship. The number of these principal chiefs, or, as they have been called by way of distinction, sachems, varied in the several nations from eight to fourteen. The sachems of the five nations, fifty in all, assembled in council, formed the governmei.\t of the confederacy. All met as equals, but a peculiar dignity was ever attached to the Atotarho of the Onondagas. There was a class of subordinate chiefs, in no sense hereditary, but rising to office by addres: ^, ability, or valor. Yet the rank was clearly defined, and the new chief installed at a formal council. Tliis class * Lafltau, i. 471. irii.: M ii.t [ f^ COUNCILS. —SACIIKMS. 49 but the ;mely t limits )!/ sue- • emale, )hew by y unfit, en at a ed. In 1 nomi- sehold.^ /vrse to " raised sachems ffice, he which, pged to as they achemSy ►urteen. iembled deracy. as ever o sense lity, or -nd the is class eiij'jodied, as might be supposed, the }x?8t talent of the nation, and the most prominent warriors and orators of Mio Iroquois have belonged to it. In its cluiracteA' and lanctions, however, it was purely '^n 'il. Like the sachems, these chiefs held their councils, and exercised an influence proportionate to their number and abilities. There was anotlier council, between which and tlint of tlie sui»ordinate chiefs the li^ . >f demarcation seems not to have been very def^uiLe. The Jesuit Lafitau calls it "the senate." i. niUar with the Iroquois at tlie height of their pr^;c^p!^'''';y, he descri])es it as the central and controUin '»• power, so far, at least, as the separate nations wci ^ :mcerned. In its cl aracter it was essentially popular, but popular in the l)est sense, r.,nd one which can find its application only in a small community. Any man took part in it whose age and experience qualified him to do so. It was merely the gathered wisdom of the nation. Lafitau compares it to the Roman Senate, in the early and rude age of the Republic, aiid affirms that it loses nothing by the comparison. He thus describes it: " It is a greasy assemblage, sitting sur leur dcrrierc, crouched like apes, their knees as high as their ears, or lying, some on their bellies, some on their backs, each vvith a pipe in his mouth, discussing affaire of state with as much coolness and gravity as the Spanisli Junta or the Grand Council of Venice."* The young warriors had also their councils; so, 1 Lafitau, i. 478. 4 m ■«■ : 50 INTRODICTION. i i 1 1 I ,i! 3i : il'. i'l li too, liad tlio womon ; and tlio opinion« and Avishes of caoli woio i(!j)resciited by means of deputies before tlie "senate," or couneil of the old men, as well as lu'fore the grand eonfederato couneil of tlio Kaeh(!iiis. Tlie government of this unique republic resided wholly in councils. Iiy councils all questions were settlc/*/., 2. La rotherie's book was published in 1722. 1 Lafitau, i. 479. 2 The following from Lafitau is very clmracteristic : " Ce que je (lis tie leur zele pour le bien public n'est cependant pas si universel, ([ue plusit'urs ne ponsent ii leurs interuts particulicrs, & que los Ciiefs (sdvhems) principalement ne fassent joiier plusicurs ressorts 8e(M-ets pour venir k bout de leurs intrigues. Tl y en a tel, dont I'adresse jonii si bien a coup sflr, qu'il fait deliberer le Conseil phisieurs jours de suite, sur une niatiere dont la determination est arrotee enlrt- lui & les principales tetes avant d'avoir eto niise sur le tapis. Cependant conune les Chefs s'cntre-regardeiit, & qu'aueun ahv mill all (•iii( Ills fac aiiu iiict .:ii; INDIAN POMTICIANS. 63 Tlierc WiiH a cIjihs of men aniong tlio Irocjuois always jmt forward on public! occasions to spciik tlu; mind of the nation or defend its interests. Nearly Jill of them were of the nund)er of the subordinate ciiic^fs. Nature and training had fitted them for l)ublic speaking, and they were deeply versed in the history and traditions of the league. They were i!i fiict professed orators, high in honor and influence iiinong the i)eople. To a huge stock of conventional nu'taphoi's, the use of which required nothing but practice, they ofUn added an astute intellect, an iistonishing memory, and an eloquence which deserved the name. In one particular, the training of these savage politicians was never surpassed. They had no art of writing to record events, or preserve the stipula- tions of treaties. Memory, therefore, was tai^ked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary degree. They had various devices for aiding it, such as bundles of sticks, and that system '^^ signs, emblems, Hud rude pictures which they shar^ju. with other tribes. Their famous wampum-l)elts were so many mnemonic signs, each standing for some act, speech, treaty, or clause of a treaty. These represented the ne vent paroitro se donnor uno suporiorite qui pm.,so piquiT la ja- i'/iusic, ils se iidnaficnt dans K's Consoils plus quo Ics autrc-s ; & quoiqu'ils en soient Tame, leur politique los oblij^o ^ y parler peu, & a ecouter pifitot le sentiment d'autrui, qu'k y dire le loui ; niais clwu'un a un homme h. sa main, qui est comme unc . sp?:ci; do Hriilot, & qui dtaiit sans consequence pour sa per8( nation. It was ])y this means, and this ahme, tiuit they coukl (>l't"sot tho h)ssos of their incessant wars. Early in the eigliteenth century, and even hnij^ l)efor(;, a vast proportion of their po[)nlation consisted of adopted prisoners.^ It remains to speak of the ixdigious and supersti- tious ideas which so deeply influenced Indian life. RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. The religious helief of the North-American Indians seems, on a first view, anomalous and contradictory. It certainly is so, if we adopt the [)opular impression. Jlomance, Poetry, and Rhetoric point, on the one hand, to the august conception of a one all-ruling Deity, a Great Spirit, omniscient and onmipresent; and we are called to admire the untutored intellect which could conceive a thought too va&t for Socrates and Plato. On the other hand, we find a chaos of ' Relation, KUH), 7 (anonytnous). Tlie Iroquois wore at the lieifjlit of tluir i)n)S|U'rity about tlu' year l(i50. Morgan reckons their number at this time at 25,(X)0 souls ; but this is far too iiigh an estimate. Tlie author of the Rehitinn of 10(50 makes their wliole nmnber of warriors 2,200. Le Mercier, in the Relation of lOfif), says, 2,'H)^). In the .Journal of Greenlialgli, an Englisliuian wlio visited tliem in l*i77, their warriors are set down at 2,150. l)u Ciiesman, in 1()81, estimates them at 2,000; De la Barre, in 1084, at 2,(500, they having been strengtliened by adojjtions. A memoir addressed to the Marquis de Seignelay, in 1(587, again makes them 2,0[ A 5 ii;.t f''!H'! birds, or reptiles, — as bears, wolves, tortoises, or cranes ; and the names of the totemic clans, borrowed in nearly every case from animals, are the reflection of this idea.^ An Indian hunter was always anxious to propitiate the animals he sought to kill. He has often been known to address a wovuided bear in a long harangue of apology. 2 The 1 nies of the beaver were treated with es[)ecial tenderness, and carefully kept from the dogs, lest the spirit of the dead beaver, or his surviving brethren, should take offence.^ This solicitude was not confined to animals, but extended to inanimate thii gs. A remarkable example occurred among the liurons, a people comparatively advanced, who, to propitiate their fishing-nets and persuade them to do ^ This belief occasionally takes a perfectly definite shape. There was a tradition among Northern and VVesti rn tribes that men were created from the carcasses of beasts, birds, and fishes, by Manabozho, a mythical personage, to be described hereafter. The Amikouas, or People of the Beaver, an Algonquin tribe of Lake Huron, claimed descent from the carcass of the great original beaver, or father of the beavers. They believed that the rapids and cataracts on the Frencli River and the Upper Ottawa were caused by dams made by their amphibious ancestor. (See the tradition in Perrot, Memoire sur les JSfaiirs, Coustumes et liclliijion des Sauvatjes de VAiiwritiue Septentriomde, 20.) Charlevoix tells the same story. Each Indian was supposed to inherit something of the nature of the animal whence he sprung. 2 McKinney, Tour to the Lakes, 284, mentions the discomposure of a party of Indians -.vh.en shown a stuffed moose. Thinking that its spirit would be otfended at the indignity shown to its remains, they surrounded it, making apologetic speeches, and blowing tobacco-smoke at it as a proi)itiatory offering. 8 This superstitiDu was very prevalent, and numerous exam- ples of it occur in old ami recent writers, from Father Le .leune to Captain Carver. MANITOUS AND OKIKS. 68 their office with effect, nmiried them eveiy year to two young girls of tlie tribe, witii a ceremony far more formal than that observed in the case of mere liuman wedlock.^ The ilsli, too, no less tlian the ncits, must be propitiated; and to this end they were addressed every evening from the llshing-cam[) by one of the party chosen for that function, who exhorted them to take courage and be caught, assur- ing them that the utmost respect should be shown to their bones. The harangue, which took place after the evening meal, was made in solenni form; and while it lasted, the whole party, except the speaker, were required to lie on their backs, silent and motionless, around the fire.^ Besides ascribing life and intelligence to the material world, animate and inanimate, the Indian believes in supernatural existences, known among the Algonquins as Manitous^ and among the Irocpiois and Hurons as Okies or Otlcons. These words com- 1 <• I'll'' 1 There are frequent allusions to this ceremony in the early writers. The Algonquins of tlie Ottawa practised it, as well as the Hurons. Lalemant, in his chapter " Du Kegne tie Sutan en ces Contrees " {Relauon des Hurons, 10:30), says that it took i)lace yearly, in tlie middle of March. As it was indispensable that the brides sht)uld be virgins, mere children were chosen. Tiie net was held between them ; and its spirit, or oki, was liarangued by oni- of the chiefs, who exhorted him to do liis i)art in furnisliini>' the tribe with food. Lalemant was told that tlie si)irit of tlie nrt had once appeared in human form to the Algonquins, comjila'ning tliat he had lost his wife, and warning them, tiiat, unless they could find him another equally immaculate, they would catch no more fish. '■^ Sagard, Le (irand VofjiKje du Pai/s dcs Jlurons, 257. Other old writers make a similar statement. "i- '; 04 INTUOUUCTION. . prehoiid nil forms of Hni)Prniitiual lK'ill^^ from the highest to the lowost, with the exception, possihly, of certain dimiimtivc fairies or hohgohliiis, and cer- tain giants and anomalous monsters, which appear under various forms, grotesque and horrible, in the Indian fireside legends.' There are local manitous of streams, i-ocks, mountains, cataracts, and forests. The concei)tion of tlu^se beings betrays, for the most part, a striking poverty of imagination. In nearly every case, when they reveal themselves to moital sight, they bear the semblance of beasts, reptiles, or birds, in shapes unusual or distorted.'^ There are other manitous without local habitation, some good, some evil, countless in number and indelinite in attributes. They (ill the world, and control the destinies of men, — ^ that is to say,' of Indians; for the primitive Indian holds that the white man lives under a spiritual rule distinct from that which governs his (wn fate. These beings, also, appear for the most part in the shape of animals. Some- times, however, they assume human proportions ; hut more frequently they take the form of stones, which, 1 Many triht's have tak's of diniinutivt' bi'iiifjs, wliicli, in the absence of a better word, may be called " fairies." In the Travels of Leiris (iiid CIttrk-e, there is mention of a hill on the Missouri, aupposetl to be haunted ])y them. These Western fairies corre- sponil to tiie Piirh Wndj Inlme of Ojibwa tradition. As an example of the monsters alluded to, see the Sa.<>'ina\v story of the Weeiu''- f/oes, in Schooh-raft, Ahfir liesedrc/iis, ii. 105. 2 The fif^ure of a larj^e bird is ])erliaps llie most common, — as, for example, the {jfood spirit of Rock Island : " Tie was white, with winjjs liki' a swan, but ten tiuu's larger." — Autubioyraphi/ of lilarkhairk, 70. If \ THE GUARDIAN MANITOU. 65 cenc 4 hcing broken, are found full of living blood and ik'sh. Each })riniitive Indian has his guardian maniton, to whom he looks for counsel, guidance, and protec- tion. These spiritual allies are gained by the follow- ing process. At the age of hturteen or fifteen, the Indian boy blackens his face, I'etires to some solitary j)la('e, and remains for days without food. Snpei-sti- tious expectanc} and the exhaustion of al)stinence rarely fail of their results. His sleep is haunted by visions, and the form which first or most often appears is that of his guardian maniton, — a beast, a bird, a fish, a serpent, or some other o])ject, animate or inanimate. An eagle or a bear is the vision of a destined warrior; a wolf, of a successful hunter; while a serpent foreshadows the future medicine- man, or, according to others, portends disaster.* The young Indian thenceforth wears about his person the object revealed in his dream, or some portion of ^ Compare Cass, in North American Review, Second Series, xiii. 100. A turkey-buzzard, accordinj^ to him, is the vision of a niedi- oine-man. I once knew an olil Dahcotali chief, who was {greatly respected, but had never been to war, tliougli belonf^inj? to a fiimily of peculiarly warlike propensities. The reason was, that, in liis initiatory fast, he had dreamed of an antelope, — tlie peace-spirit of his people. Women fast, as well as men, — always at the time of transition from childhood to maturity. In tlie Xarruth'e of Jolm Tanner, tliere is an account of an old woman wlio had fasted, in her youth, for ten days, and throughout her life placed the firmest faith in the visions which had appeared to her at tliat time. Among the Northern Algonquins, the practice, down to a recent day, was almost universal. 5 4% .:f i; ■ s IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I La 12.8 2f lii ■ us WUl. 140 IL25 i 1.4 I 25 2.2 2.0 1.6 V] V) ^>. Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ■O^ V iV :\ \ ^ ^f^ %^^ ^" K INTRODUCTION. ■\Myi. ■ i ! it, — as a bone, a feather, a snake-skin, or a tuft of hair. This, in the modem language of the forest and prairie, is known as his " medicine." The Indian jrields to it a sort of worship, propitiates it with offerings of tobacco, thanks it in prosperity, and upbraids it in disaster.' If his medicine fails to bring the desired success, he will sometimes discard it and adopt another. The superstition now becomes mere fetich-worship, since the Indian regards the mysterious object which he carries about him rather as an embodiment than as a representative of a supernatural power. Indian belief recognizes also another and very different class of beings. Besides the giants and monsters of legendary lore, other conceptions may be discerned, more or less distinct, and of a character partly mythical. Of these the most conspicuous is that remarkable personage of Algonquin tradition, called Manabozho, Messou, Michabou, Nanabush, or the Great Hare. As each species of animal has its archetype or king, so, among the Algonquins, Manabozho is king of all these animal kings. Tradi- tion is diverse as to his origin. According to the most current belief, his father was the West- Wind, 1 The author has seen a Dahcotah warrior open his medicine- bag, talk with an air of affectionate respect to the bone, feather, or horn within, and blow tobacco-smoke upon it as an offering. "Medicines" are acquired not only by fasting, but by casual dreams, and otherwise. They are sometimes even bought and sold. For a curious account of medicine-bags and fetich-worship among the Algonquins of Gasp^, see Le Clerc, Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, chap. xiii. MANABOZHO. m and his mother a great-granddaughter of the moon. His character is worthy of such a parentage. Some- times he is a wolf, a bird, or a gigantic hare, sur- rounded by a court of quadrupeds; sometimes he appears in human shape, majestic in stature and wondrous in endowment, — a mighty magician, a destroyer of serpents and evil manitous; sometimes he is a vain and treacherous imp, full of childish whims and petty trickery, the butt and victim of men, beasts, and spirits. His powers of transforma- tion are without limit; his curiosity and malice are insatiable; and of the numberless legends of which he is the hero, the greater part are as trivial as they are incoherent.^ It does not appear that Manabozho was ever an object of worship; yet, despite his absurdity, tradition declares him to be chief among the manitous, in short, the "Great Spirit."* It was he who restored the world, submerged by a deluge. He was hunting in company with a certain wolf, who was his brother, or, by other accounts, his grandson, when his quadruped relative fell through the ice of a frozen lake, and was at once devoured by 1 Mr. Schoolcraft has collected many of these tales. See his Algic Researches, vol. i. Compare the stories of Messou, given by Le Jeune {Relations, 1633, 1634), and the account of Nanabush, by Edwin James, in his notes to Tanner's Narrative of Captivity and Adventures during a Thirty Years' Residence among the Indians ; also the accomit of the Great Hare, in the Memoire of Nicolas Perrot, chaps, i., ii. * "Presque toutes les Nations Algonquines ont donne le nom de Grand Liivre au Premier Esprit, quelques-uns I'appellent Michabou (Manabozho)." — Chaile\oix, Journal Historique, SM. t 1 11 ! ■■ M S 'i 'I ■ill" ''i 68 INTRODUCTION. certain serpents lurking in the depths of the waters. Manabozlio, intent on revenge, transformed himself into tho stump of a tree, and by this artifice surprised and slew the king of the serpents, as he basked with his followers in the noontide sun. The serpents, who were all manitous, caused, in their rage, the watei-s of the lake to deluge the earth. Manabozho climbed a tree, which, in answer to his entreaties, grew as the flood rose around it, and thus saved him from the vengeance of the evil spirits. Submerged to the neck, he looked abroad on the waste of waters, and at length descried the bird known as the loon, to whom he appealed for aid in the task of restoring the world. The loon dived in search of a little mud, as material for reconstruction, but could not reach the bottom. A musk-rat made the same attempt, but soon reappeared floating on his back, and apparently dead. Manabozho, however, on searching his paws, discovered in one of them a particle of the desired mud, and of this, together with the body of the loon, created the world anew.^ There are various forms of this tradition, in some of which Manabozho appears, not as the restorer, but as the creator of the world, forming mankind from the carcasses of beasts, birds, and fishes. ^ Other 1 This is a form of the story still current among the remoter Algonquins. Compare the story of Messou, in Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16. It is substantially tho same. 3 In the beginning of all thinj^s, Manabozho, in the form of the Great Hare, was on a raft, surrounded by animals who acknowl- edged him as their chief. No land could be seen. Anxious to AT Alloc AN. 69 stories represent him as marrying a female musk-rat, by whom he became the progenitor of the human race. 1 Searching for some higher conception of super- natural existence, we find, among a portion of the primitive Algonquins, traces of a vague belief in a spirit dimly shadowed forth under the name of Atahocan, to whom it does not appear that any attri- butes were ascribed or any worehip offered, and of whom the Indians professed to know nothing what- ever ;2 but there is no evidence that this belief extended beyond certain tribes of the Lower St. Lawrence. Others saw a supreme manitou in the Sun. 8 The Algonquins believed also in a malignant 'i'fi i t h create the world, the Great Hare persuaded the beaver to dive for mud; but the adventurous diver floated to the surface senseless. The otter next tried, and failed like his predecessor. The musk-rat now offered himself for the desperate task. He plunged, and, after remaining a day and night beneath the surface, reappeared, floating on his back beside the raft, apparently dead, and with all his paws fast closed. On opening them, the other animals found in one of them a grain of sand, and of this the Great Hare created the world. — Perrot, Memoire, chap. i. 1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16. The musk-rat is always a con- spicuous figure in Algonquin cosmogony. It is said that Messou, or Manabozho, once gave to an Indian the gift of immortality, tied in a bundle, enjoining him never to open it. The Indian's wife, however, impelled by curiosity, one day cut the string : the precious gift flew out, and Indians have ever since been subject to death. — Le Jeune, Relation, 1634, 13. 2 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 16 ; Relation, 1634, 13. * Biard, Relation, 1611, chap. viii. — This belief was very preva- lent. The Ottawas, according to Ragueneau (Rilation des Ilurons, 1648, 77), were accustomed to invoke the " Maker of Heaven " at their feasts ; but they recognized as distinct persons the Maker of I ll ;''i ■ilr HI (■I mi i I ^ M": 70 INTRODUCTION. manitou, in whom the early missionaries failed not to recognize the Devil, but who was far less dreaded than his wife. She wore a robe made of the hair of her victims, for she was the cause of death ; and she it was whom, by yelling, drumming, and stamping, they sought to drive away from the sick. Some- times, at night, she was seen by some terrified squaw in the forest, in shape like a flame of fire ; and when the vision was announced to the circle crouched around the lodge-fire, they burned a fragment of meat to appease the female fiend. The East, the West, the North, and the South were vaguely personified as spirits or manitous. Some of the winds, too, wtje personal existences. The West- Wind, as we have seen, was father of Manabozho. There was a Summer-Maker and a Winter-Maker; and the Indians tried to keep the latter at bay by throwing firebrands into the air. When we turn from the Algonquin family of tribes to that of the Iroquois, we find another cosmogony, and other conceptions of spiritual existence. While the earth was as yet a waste of waters, there was, according to Iroquois and Huron traditions, a heaven with lakes, streams, plains, and forests, inhabited by animals, by spirits, and, as some affirm, by human beings. Here a certain female spirit, named Ataentsic, the Earth, the Maker of Winter, tlie God of the Waters, and the Seven Spirits of tlie Wind. He says, at the same time, " The peo- ple of these countries have received from their ancestors no knowledge of a God ; " and he adds, that there is no sentiment of religion in this invocation. ATAENTSIC. 71 was once chasing a bear, which, slipping through e hole, fell down to the earth. Ataentsic's dog fol- lowed, when she herself, struck with despair, jumped after them. Others declare that she was kicked out of heaven by the spirit, her husband, for an amour with a man ; while others, again, hold the belief that she fell in the attempt to gather for her husband the medicinal leaves of a certain tree. Be this as it may, the animals swimming in the watery waste below saw her falling, and hastily met in council to determine what should be done. The case was referred to the beaver. The beaver commended it to the judgment of the tortoise, who thereupon called on the other animals to dive, bring up mud, and place it on his back. Thus was formed a floating island, on which Ataentsic fell; and here, being pregnant, she was soon delivered of a daughter, who in turn bore two boys, whose paternity is unexplained. They were called Taouscaron and Jouskeha, and presently fell to blows, Jouskeha killing his brother with the horn of a stag. The back of the tortoise grew into a world full of verdure and life; and Jouskeha, with his grandmother, Ataentsic, ruled over its destinies.* 1 The above is the version of the story given by Brebeuf, Rela- tion des Hurons, 1636, 86 (Cramoisy). No two Indians told it pre- cisely alike, though nearly all the Hurons and Iroquois agreed as to its essential points. Compare Vandcrdonck, Cusick, Sagard, and other writers. According to Vanderdonck, Ataentsic became mother of a deer, a bear, and a wolf, by whom she afterwards bore all the other animals, mankind included. Brebeuf found also among the Hurons a tradition inconsistent with that of Ataentsic, and bearing a trace of Algonquin origin. It declares, that, in the beginning, a man, a fox, and a skunk found themselves together on r^tfl r n ■ ■ i i i A 1 i I .1 r f t f I. :i i ' {III i' ^lll J »l 1^ ..1 1 I I hu 72 INTRODUCTION. He is the Sun ; she is the Moon. He is beneficent ; but she is malignant, like the female demon of the Algonquins. They have a bark house, made like those of the Iroquois, at the end of the earth, and they often come to feasts and dances in the Indian villages. Jouskeha raises corn for himself, and makes plentiful harvests for mankind. Sometimes he is seen, thin as a skeleton, with a spike of shriv- elled corn in his hand, or greedily gnawing a human limb; and then the Indians know that a grievous famine awaits them. He constantly interposes between mankind and the malice of his wicked grandmother, whom, at times, he soundly cudgels. It was he who made lakes and streams: for once the earth was parched and barren, all the water being gathered under the armpit of a colossal frog; but Jouskeha pierced the armpit, and let out the water. No prayers were offered to him, his benevolent nature rendering them superfluous. ^ The early writers call Jouskeha the creator of the world, and speak of him as corresponding to the vague Algonquin deity, Atahocan. Another deity an island, and that the man made the world out of mud brought him by the skunk. Tne Delawares, an Algonquin tribe, seem to have borrowed somewhat of the Iroquois cosmogony, since they believed that the earth was formed on the back of a tortoise. According to some, Jouskeha became the father of the human race ; but, in the third generation, a deluge destroyed his posterity, so that it was necessary to transform animals into men. Charle- voix, iii. 345. 1 Compare Br^euf, as before cited, and Sagard, Voyage des Hurons, 228. :*• HIAWATHA. 73 appears in Ii'0(iuoi8 mythology, with equal claims to be regarded as supreme. He is called Areokoui, or Agreskoui, and his most prominent attributes are those of a god of war. He was often invoked, and the flesh of animals and of captive enemies was burned in his honor. ^ Like Jouskeha, he was iden- tified with the sun; and he is perhaps to be regarded as the same being, under different attributes. Among the Iroquois proper, or Five Nations, there was also a divinity called Tarenyowagon, or Teharonhia wagon,'* whose place and character it is very difficult to de- termine. In some traditions he appears as the son of Jouskeha. He had a prodigious influence ; for it was he who spoke to men in dreams. The Five Nations recognized still another superhuman personage, — plainly a deified chief or hero. This was Taounya- watha, or Hiawatha, said to be a divinely appointed messenger, who made his abode on earth for the political and social instruction of the chosen race, and whose counterpart is to be found in the traditions of the Peruvians, Mexicans, and other primitive nations. ^ 1 Father Jogues saw a female prisoner burned to Areskoui, and two bears offered to him to atone for the sin of not burning more captives. — Lettre de Jogues, 6 Aug., 1643. * Le Mercier, Relation, 1670, 66; Dablon, Relation, 1671, 17. Compare Cusick, Megapolensis, and Vanderdonck. Some writers identify Tarenyowagon and Hiawatha. Vanderdonck assumes that Areskoui is the Devil, and Tarenyowagon is God. Thus Inditiii notions are often interpreted by the light of preconceived ideas. 8 For the tradition of Hiawatha, see Clark, Ilistor/j of Onondaga, i. 21. It will also be found in Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois, and in his History, Condition, and Prospects of Indian Tribes. The Iroquois name for God is Hawenniio, sometimes written ! ■ ii- i:. 4!f .■;f I ;i i 111 i ■ I i JM t % I 1. n! ri :l 74 INTRODUCTION. Close examiniitioii iniikes it evident that the primi- tive Indian '8 idea of a Supreme Being was a concep- tion no higlier than might have Ijeen expected. The moment lie hegan to contemplate this object of his faith, and sought to clothe it with attributes, it became finite, and conunonly ridiculous. The Creator of the World stood on the level of a biirbarous and degraded humanity, while a natural tendency became apparent to look beyond him to other powers sharing his dominion. The Indian belief, if developed, would have developed into a system of polytheism.* In the primitive Indian's conception of a God the idea of moral good has no part. His deity does not dispense justice for this world or the next, but leaves mankind under the power of subordinate spirits, who fill and control the universe. Nor is the good and evil of these inferior beings a moral good and evil. The good spirit is the spirit that gives good luck, and ministers to the necessities and desires of man- kind: the evil spirit is simply a malicious agent of disease, death, and mischance. Owayneo ; but this use of the word is wholly due to the mission- aries. Hawenniio is an Iroquois verb, and means he rules, he is master. There is no Iroquois word which, in its primitive meaning, can be interpreted the Great Spirit, or God. On this subject, see Etudes Philoloijifjues sur quelques Lamjues Sauvages (Montreal, 1866), where will also be found a curious exposure of a few of School- craft's ridiculous blunders in this connection. * Some of the early writers could discover no trace of belief in a supreme spirit of any kind. Perrot, after a life spent among the Indians, ignores such an idea. AUouez emphatically denies that it existed among the tribes of Lake Superior. (Relation, 1667, 11.) He adds, however, that the Sacs and Foxes believed in a great genie, who lived not far from the French bettlements. — Ibid., 21. THE GREAT SPIRIT. 76 In no Indian language could the early missionaries find a word to express the idea of God. Manitou and Oki meant anything endowed with supernatural powers, from a snake-skin, or a gretisy Indian con- jurer, up to Manabozho and Jouskeha. The priestw were forced to use a circumlocution, — " The Great Chief of Men," or " He who lives in the Sky." ^ Yet it sliould seem that the idea of a supreme controlling spirit might naturally arise from the peculiar charac- ter of Indian belief. The idea that each race of animals has its archetype or chief would easily sug- gest the existence of a supreme chief of the spirits or of the human race, — a conception imperfectly shadowed forth in Manabozho. The Jesuit mis- sionaries seized this advantage. "If each sort of animal has its king," they urged, "so, too, have men; and as man is above all the animals, so is the spirit that rules over men the master of all the other spirits." The Indian mind readily accepted the idea, and tribes in no sense Christian quickly rose to the belief in one controlling spirit. The Great Spirit became a distinct existence, a pervading power in the universe, and a dispenser of justice. Many tribes now pray to him, though still clinging obstinately to their ancient superstitions; and with some, as the heathen portion of the modem Iroquois, he is clothed with attributes of moral good.^ 1 See "Divers Sentimens," appended to the Relation of 1636, § 27 ; and also many other passages of early missionaries. '^ In studying the writers of the last and of the present cen- tury, it is to be remembered that their observations were made ' fflf ' ' ll lit i, 1 "i f i i , i ■ ^ \ ^ '■■■■■ ! f 'i li II: I m I ■ If :!ii T6 INTRODUCTION. Th(3 priinitivo Indian iKjlicved in the immortality of tlic soul,* but he did not always believe in a state of future reward and punishment. Nor, when such u l)elief existed, was the good to Ije rewarded a moml good, or the evil to be punished a moral evil. Skil- ful huntei-s, brave warrioi-s, men of influence and consi(l(!ration, went, after death, to the happy hunting- ground; while the slothful, the cowardly, and the weak were doomed to eat serpents and ashes in dreary upon savages who had been for generations in contact, immediate or otherwise, witii tiie doctrines of Christianity. Many observers have interpreted tlie religious ideas of tlie Indians after precon- ceived ideas of tlieir own ; and it nuiy safely be affirmed tlmt an Indian will respond witli a grunt of acquiescence to any question whatever touching his spiritual state. Loskiel and the simple- minded Heckewelder write from a missionary point of view; Adair, to support a theory of descent from the Jews ; the worthy theo- logian, Jarvis, to maintain his dogma that all religious ideas of the heathen world are perversions of revelation ; and so, in a greater or less degree, of many others. By far the most close and accurate observers of Indian superstition were the French and Italian Jesuits of the first half of the seventeenth century. Their opportunities were unrivalled ; and they used them in a spirit of faithful inquiry, accumulating facts, and leaving theory to their successors. Of recent American writers, no one has given so much attention to the subject as Mr. Schoolcraft; but, in view of his opportunities and his zeal, his results are most unsatisfactory. The work in six large quarto volumes, Historji, Condition, and Prospects of Indian Tribes, published by Government under his editorship, includes the substance of most of his previous writings. It is a singularly crude and illiterate production, stuffed with blunders and contradictions, giving evidence on every page of a striking unfitness either for historical or philosophical inquiry, and taxing to the utmost the patience of those who would extract what is valuable in it from its oceans of pedantic verbiage. 1 The exceptions are exceedingly rare. Father Gravier says that a Peoria Indian once told him that there was no future life. It would be difficult to find another instance cf the kind. ■1 THE JOURNEY OF THE DEAD. 77 ropionH of mint and darkness. In the peneml Wlicf, liowever, there was hut one land of sIukU's for all alike. The spirits^ in fonn and feature as they had l)een in life, wended their way through dark forests to the villages of the dead, sulwisting on hark and rotten wood. On arrivinjy^, they sat all day in the crouching posture of the sick, and, when night came, hunted the shades of animals, with the shades of ]k)WS and arrows, among the shades of trees aiul rocks: for all things, animate and inanimate, were alike immortal, and all passed together to the gloomy country of the dead. The belief respecting the land of souls Viiried greatly in different tril)es and different individuals. Among the Hurons there were those who held that departed spirits pursued their journey through the sky, along the Milky Way, while the souls of dogs took another route, by certain constellations, known as the " Way of the Dogs." » At intervals of ten or twelve ye .'f the Hurons, the Neutrals, and other kindred txilx i, were accus- tomed to collect the bones of their d'" , and deposit them, with great ceremony, in a common place of hurial. The whole nation was sometimes assembled at this solemnity ; and hundreds of corpses, hrought from their temporary resting-places, were inhumed in one capacious pit. From this hour the immortsd- ity of their souls began. They took wing, as some affirmed, in the shape of pigeons ; while the greater ^ Sagard, Voyage, des Hurons, 233. V i/.fi'^ V*"' i , i 1 ■ * i r ! 1 j: y 78 INTRODUCTION. number declared that they journeyed on foot, and in their own likeness, to the land of shades, bearing with them the ghosts of the wampum-belts, beaver- skins, bows, arrows, pipes, kettles, beads, and rings buried with them in the common grave. ^ But as the spirits of the old and of children are too feeble for the march, they are forced to stay behind, linger- ing near their earthly villages, where the living often hear the shutting of their invisible cabin-doors, and the weak voices of the disembodied children driving biids from their corn-fields.^ An endless variety of incoherent fancies is connected with the Indian idea of a future life. They commonly owe their origin to dreams, often to the dreams of those in extreme sick- ness, who, on awakening, supposed that they had visited the other world, and related to the wondering bystanders what they had seen. The Indian land of souls is not always a region of shadows and gloom. The Hurons sometimes repre- sented the souls of their dead — those of their dogs included — as dancing joyously in the presence of Ataentsic and Jouskeha. According to some Algon- quin traditions, heaven was a scene of endless festiv- ity, the ghosts dancing to the sound of the rattle and 1 The practice of burying treasures with the dead is not peculiar to tlie North American aborigines. Thus, the London Times of Oct. 28, 1865, describing the funeral rites of Lord Palmerston, says : " And as the words, ' Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,' were pronounced, the chief mourner, as a last precious offering to the dead, threw into the grave several diamond and gold rings." 2 Br^euf, Relation des Hurons, 1030, 99 (Cramoisy). THE JOURNEY OF THE DEAD. 79 the drum, and greeting with hospitable welcome the occasional visitor from the living world: for the spirit-land was not far off, and roving hunters some- times passed its confines unawares. Most of the traditions agree, however, that the spirits, on their journey heavenward, were beset with difficulties and perils. There was a swift river which must be crossed on a log that shook beneath their feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their passage, and drove many into the abyss. This river was full of sturgeon and other fish, which the ghosts speared for their subsistence. Beyond was a narrow path between moving rocks, which each instant crashed together, grinding to atoms the less nimble of the pilgrims who essayed to pass. The Hurons believed that a personage named Oscotarach, or the Head- Piercer, dwelt in a bark house beside the path, :..id that it was his office to remove the brains from the heads of all who went by, as a necessary preparation for immortality. This singular idea is found also in some Algonquin traditions, according to which, however, the brain is afterwards restored to its owner. ^ 1 On Indian ideas of another life, compare Sagard, the Jesuit Relations, Perrot, Charlevoix, and Lafltau, with Tanner, James, Schoolcraft, and the Appendix to Morse's Indian Report. Le Clerc recounts a singular story, current in his time among the Algonquins of Gasp^ and northern New Brunswick. Tiie fa- vorite son of an old Indian died ; whereupon the father, with a party of friends, set out for the land of souls to recover him. It was only necessary to wade through a shallow lake, several days' jour- ney in extent. This they did, sleeping at night on platforms of '."! «f.! \ \ •1 H I m * ,«': i .* :. I^H i • H ; i, \ :|| l-^ I • 1 i ii' I 1 ' .l^^lf III : ! -^ -.i 80 INTRODUCTION. t i '■i' ' Dreams were to the Indian a universal oracle. They revealed to him his guardian spirit, taught him the cure of his diseases, warned him of the devicer of sorcerers, guided him to the lurking-places of his enemy or the haunts of game, and unfolded the secrets of good and evil destiny. The dream was a mysterious and inexorable power, whose least behests must be obeyed to the letter, — a source, in every Indian town, of endless mischief and abomina- tion. There were professed dreamers, and professed interpreters of dreams. One of the most noted festi- vals among the Hurons and Iroquois was the Dream Feast, a scene of frenzy, where the actors counter- feited madness, and the town was like a bedlam turned loose. Each pretended to have dreamed of something necessary to his welfare, and rushed from poles which supported them above the water. At length they arrived, and were met by Fapkootparout, the Indian Pluto, who rushed on them in a rage, with his war-club upraised; but, pres- ently relenting, changed his mind, and challenged them to a game of ball. They proved the victors, and won the stakes, consisting of corn, tobacco, and certain fruits, which thus became known to mankind. The bereaved father now begged hard for his son's soul, and Fapkootparout at last gave it to him, in the form and size of a nut, which, by pressing it hard between his hands, he forced into a small leather bag. The delighted parent carried it back to earth, with instructions to insert it in the body of his son, who would thereupon return to life. When the adventurers reached home, and reported the happy issue of their journey, there was a dance of rejoicing; and the father, wishing to take part in it, gave his son's soul to the keeping of a squaw who stood by. Being curious to see it, she opened the bag ; on which it escaped at once, and took flight for the realms of Fapkootparout, preferring them to the abodes of the living. ~Le Clerc, Nouvelle Relation de la Gaspesie, 310-328. INDIAN SORCERERS. 81 house to house, demanding of all he met to guess his secret requirement and satisfy it. Believing that the whole material world was instinct with powers to influence and control his fate ; that good and evil spirits, and existences name- less and indefinable, filled all Nature ; that a pervad- ing sorcery was above, below, and around him, and that issues of life and death might be controlled by instruments the most unnoticeable and seemingly the most feeble, — the Indian lived in perpetral fear. The turning of a leaf, the crawling of an insect, the cry of a bird, the creaking of a bough, might be to him the mystic signal of weal or woe. An Indian community swarmed with sorcerers, medicine-men, and divinera, whose functions were often united in the same person. The sorcerer, by charms, magic songs, magic feasts, and the beating of his drum, had power over the spirits and those occult influences inherent in animals and inanimate things. He could call to him the souls of his ene- mies. They appeared before him in the form of stones. He chopped and bruised them with his hatchet; blood and flesh issued forth; and the intended victim, however distant, languished and (lied. Like the sorcerer of the Middle Ages, he made images of those he wished to destroy, and, muttering incantations, punctured them with an awl, wliereupon the persons represented sickened and pined away. The Indian doctor relied far more on magic than ■'v-U ,f % .« Hi '^^ I •I '} II I tl ■ • ■•'■ I I \\i ui inii 82 INTRODUCTION. on natural remedies. Dreams, beating of the drum, songs, magic feasts and dances, and howling to frighten the female demon from his patient were his ordinary methods of cure. The prophet, or diviner, had various means of reading the secrets of futurity, such as the flight of birds, and the movements of water and fire. There was a peculiar practice of divination very general in the Algonquin family of tribes, among some of whom it still subsists. A small, conical lodge was made by planting poles in a circle, lashing the tops together at the height of about seven feet from the ground, and closely covering them with hides. The prophet crawled in, and closed the aperture after him. He then beat his drum and sang his magic songs to summon the spirits, whose weak, shrill voices were soon heard, mingled with his lugubrious chanting; wliile at intervals the juggler paused to interpret their communications to the attentive crowd seated on the ground without. During the whole scene, the lodge swayed to and fro with a violence which has astonished many a civilized beholder, and which some of the Jesuits explain by the ready solution of a genuine diabolic intervention.^ The sorcerers, medicine-men, and diviners did not usually exercise the function of priests. Each man the * This practice was first observed by Champlain. (See " Pioneers of France in the New World," 351. ) From his time to the pres- ent, numerous writers have remarked upon it. Le Jeune, in the Jidntion of 1637, treats it at sonie lenp;th. The lodge was some- times of a cylindrical, instead of a conical form. SACRIFICES. 83 sacrificed for himself to the powers he wished to propitiate, whether his guardian spirit, the spirits of animals, or the other beings of his belief. The most common offering was tobacco, thrown into the fire or water; scraps of meat were sometimes burned to the manitous; and, on a few rare occasions of public solemnity, a white dog, the mystic animal of many tribes, was tied to the end of an upright pole, as a sacrifice to some superior spirit, or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were constantly confounded by the primitive Indian. In recent times, when Judaism and Christianity have modified his religious ideas, it has been, and still is, the practice to sacrifice dogs to the Great Spirit. On these public occasions, tlie sacrificial function is discharged by chiefs, or by warriors appointed for the purpose.* Among the Hurons and Iroquois, and indeed all the stationary tribes, there was an incredible number 1 Many of the Indian feasts were feasts of sacrifice, — sometimes to the guardian spirit of the host, sometimes to an animal of which he has dreamed, sometimes to a local or other spirit. The food was first offered in a loud voice to the being to be propitiated, after which the guests proceeded to devour it for him. This unique method of sacrifice was practised at war-feasts and similar solemni- ties. For an excellent account of Indian religious feasts, see Per- rot, chap. v. One of the most remarkable of Indian sacrifices was that prac- tised by the Hurons in the case of a person drowned or frozen to death. The flesh of the deceased was cut off, and thrown into a fire made for the purpose, as an offering of propitiation to the spirits of the air or water. What remained of the body was then buried near the fire. BreTieuf, Relation des Hurons, 1636, 108. The tribes of Virginia, as described by Beverly and others, not only had priests who offered sacrifice, but idols and houses of worship. "SfiH ^i'-lf # • ' ''1:11 W' t 1 ■ 1 1 1 \ ' H i 1 •ill «■» !l I M IM lil i 'V: h' - 1:111 ir- n ■ ; : II 1 ^1 1 84 INTRODUCTION. of mystic ceremonies, extravagant, puerile, and often disgusting, designed for the cure of the sick or for the general weal of the community. Most of their observances seem originally to have been dictated by dreams, and transmitted as a sacred heritage from generation to generation. They consisted in an end- less variety of dances, masqueradinga, and nonde- script orgies; and a scrupulous adherence to all the traditional forms was held to be of the last moment, as the slightest failure in this respect might entail serious calamities. If children were seen in their play imitating any of these mysteries, they were grimly rebuked and punished. In many tribes secret magical societies existed, and still exist, into which members are initiated with peculiar ceremonies. These associations are greatly respected and feared. They have charms for love, war, and private revenge, and exert a great, and often a very mischievous influ- ence. The societies of the Metai and the Wabeno, among the Northern Algonquins, are conspicuous examples ; while other societies of similar character have, for a century, been known to exist among the Dahcotah.^ A notice of the superstitious ideas of the Indians Avould be imperfect without a reference to the tradi- tionary tales through which these ideas are handed down from father to son. Some of these tales can be 1 The Friendly Society of the Spirit, of which the initiatory ceremonies were seen and described by Carver {Travels, 271), ^ra- serves to this day its existence and its rites. TRADITIONARY TALES. 85 traced back to the period of the earliest intercourse with Europeans. One at least of those recorded by the first missionaries, on the Lower St. Lawrence, is still current among the tribes of the Upper Lakes. Many of them are curious combinations of beliefs seriously entertained with strokes intended for humor and drollery, wliich never fail to awaken peals of laughter in the lodge-circle. Giants, dwarfs, can- nibals, spirits, beasts, birds, and anomalous monsters, transformations, tricks, and sorcery form the staple of the story. Some of the Iroquois tales embody conceptions which, however preposterous, are of a bold and striking character; but those of the Algon- quins are, to an incredible degree, flimsy, silly, and meaningless; nor are those of the Dahcotah tribes much better. In respect to tliis wigwam lore, there is a curious superstition of very wide prevalence. The tales must not be told in summer; since at that season, when all Nature is full of life, the spirits are awake, and, hearing what i'^ said of then, may take offence ; whereas in winter they are fast sealed up in snow and ice, and no longer capable of listening.^ 1 The prevalence of this fancy among the Algonquins in the remote parts of Canada is well established. The writer found it also among the extreme western bands of the Dahcotah. He tried, in the month of July, to persuade an old chief, a noted story-teller, to tell him some of the tales ; but, though abundantly loquacious in respect to his own adventures, and even his dreams, the Indian obstinately refused, saying that winter was the time for the tales, and that it was bad to tell them in summer. Mr. Schoolcraft has published a collection of Algonquin talcs, under the title of Algic Researches. Most of them were translated ^1 'i -k 1* Mil 1 ','■ li' i« mi ■J if ;i 1 86 INTRODUCTION. It is obvious that the Indian mind has never seriously occupied itself with any of the higher themes of thought. The beings of its belief are not impersonations of the forces of Nature, the courses of human destiny, or the movements of human intellect, will, and passion. In the midst of Nature, the Indian knew nothing of her laws. His perpetual reference of her phenomena to occult agencies forestalled inquiry and precluded inductive reasoning. If the wind blew with violence, it was because the water- lizard, which makes the wind, had crawled out of his pool ; if the lightning was sharp and frequent, it was because the young of the thunder-bird were restless in their nest; if a blight fell upon the corn, it was because the Corn Spirit was angry ; and if the beavers were shy and difficult to catch, it was because they had taken offence at seeing the bones of one of their race thrown to a dog. Well, and even highly devel- oped, in a few instances, — I allude especially to the Iroquois, — with respect to certain points of material by his wife, an educated Ojibwa half-breed. This book is perhaps the best of Mr. Schoolcraft's works, though its value is much impaired by the want of a literal rendering, and the introduction of decorations which savor more of a popular monthly magazine than of an Indian wigwam. Mrs. Eastman's interesting Legends of the Sioux (Dahcotah) is not free from the same defect. Other tales are scattered throughout the works of Mr. Schoolcraft and various modern writers. Some are to be found in the works of Lafitau and the other Jesuits. But few of the Iroquois legends have been printed, though a considerable number have been written down. The singular History of the Five Nations, by the old Tuscarora Indian, Cusick, gives the substance of some of them. Others will be found in Clark's History of Onondaga. RESULTS. 87 concernment, the mind of the Indian in other respects was and is almost hopelessly stagnant. The veiy traits that raise him above the servile races are hostile to the kind and degree of civilization which those races so easily attain. His intractable spirit of inde- pendence, and the pride which forbids him to be an imitator, reinforc but too strongly that savage lethargy of mind from which it is so hard to rouse him. No race, perhaps, ever offered greater difficul- ties to those laboring for its improvement. To sum up the results of this examination, the primitive Indian was as savage in his religion as in his life. He was divided between fetich-worship and that next degree of religious development which consists in the worship of deities embodied in the human form. His conception of their attributes was such as might have been expected. His gods were no whit better than himself. Even when he borrows from Christianity the idea of a Supreme and Universal Spirit, his tendency is to reduce Him to a local habi- tation and a bodily shape ; and this tendency disap- pears only in tribes that have been long in contact with civilized white men. The primitive Indian, yielding his untutored homage to One All-pervad- ing and Onmipotent Spirit, is a dream of poets, rhetoricians, and sentimentalists. r ifl *!« t' jH jl ! U i ' 'J :\ ! ' 11 i:-! ill A I i i f •i ■ i it 11 CHAPTER I. 1634. • ■•!' "11 i i NOTRE-DAME DES ANGES. Quebec in 1634. — Fathbu Lb Jeung. — The Mission-House : ITS Domestic Economy. — Tub Jesuits and their Designs. Opposite Quebec lies the tongue of land called Point Levi. One who in the summer of the year 1634 stood on its margin and looked northward, across the St. Lawrence, would have seen, at the distance of a mile or more, a range of lofty cliffs, rising on the left into the bold heights of Cape Diamond, and on the right sinking abruptly to the bed of the tributary river St. Charles. Beneath these cliffs, at the brink of the St. Lawrence, he would have descried a cluster of warehouses, sheds, and wooden tenemen+^s. Immediately above, along the verge of the precipice, he could have traced the outlines of a fortified work, with a flagstaff, and a few small cannon to command the river; while, at the only point where Nature had made the heights accessible, a zigzag path connected the warehouses and the fort. Now, embarked in the canoe of some Montagnais Indian, let him cross the St. Lawrence, land at the 1634.] QUEBKC IN lo'M. 89 pier, and, passing the cluster of ImildingH, climb the pathway up the cliff. Pausing for rest and breath, he might see, ascending and descending, the tenants of this outpost of the wilderness, — a soldier of the fort, or an officer in slouched hat and plume j a f'.ictor of the fur company, owner and sovereign lord of all Canada ; a party of Indians ; a trader from the upper country, one of the precuraors of that hardy race of coureurs de bois^ destined to form a conspicuous and striking feature of the Canadian populatiim; next, perhaps, would appear a figure widely different. The close, black cassock, the rosary hanging from the waist, and the wide, black hat, looped up at the sides, proclaimed the Jesuit, — Father Le Jeune, Superior of the Residence of Quebec. And now, that we may better know the aspect and condition of the infant colony and incipient mission, we will follow the priest on his way. Mounting the steep path, he reached the top of the cliff, some two hundred feet above the river and the warehouses. On the left lay the fort built by Champlain, covering a part of the ground now form- ing Durham Terrace and the Place d' Amies. Its ramparts were of logs and earth, and within was a turreted building of stone, used as a barrack, as officers' quarters, and for other purposes.^ Near the fort stood a small chapel, newly built. The sur- rounding country was cleared and partially culti- 1 Compare the various notices in Champlain (1632) with that of Du Creux, Historia Canadensis, 204. n 4 i !■ 1,1 ^^!; fit- I It tf 'A \' II: it if-i' pi m «JU NOTUK-DAMK DKS ANdKS. [1634. ^fl vati!(l ; yt't only one (IwclIiri^-lioiiHo worthy the name iippcjui'd. It W!iH ii HulwUuitial cottiigtj, whero lived Miuliuiu! II<^l)ert, widow of the Hi-HtHcttler of CiumiUi, with ht!i' daughter, her Hon-in-law Couillard, and their children, — good Catholics all, who, two yeai-s hefori', when (Quebec wiis evacuated by the English,* wept for joy at beholding Lo Jeune, and his brother Jesuit l)e None, crossing their threshold to offer beneath their roof the long-forbidden sacrifice of the Mass. There were enclosures with cattle near at hand ; and the house, with its surroundings, Ijetokened industry and thrift. Thence Le Jeune walked on, across the site of the modern market-place, and still onward, near the line of the cliffs which sank abruptly on his right. Beneath lay the mouth of the St. Charles; and, beyond, the wilderness shore of Beauport swept in a wide curve eastward, to where, far in the distance, the Gulf of Montmorenci yawned on the great river.^ The priest soon passed the clearings, and entered the woods which covered the site of the present suburb of St. John. Thence he descended to a lower plateau, where now lies the suburb of St. Roch, and, still advancing, reached a pleasant spot at the 1 See " Pioneers of France in the New World." Hubert's cottage seems to have stood between Ste.-Famille and Couillard Streets, as ai)i)ears by a contract of 1634, cited by M. Ferland, * The settlement of Beauport was begun this year, or the year following, by the Sieur Giffard, to whom a large tract had been granted here. Langevin, Notes sur les Archives de N. D. de Beau- jiori, 6. lii:il.] TIIK MISSION-HOUSE. 91 extremity of tho Poiiito-aux-IiiovruH, u tmut of iiK'iulow land nearly enclosed by a Hudtlen l)end of tho St. C'harles. Hero lay u canoe or HkitT; and, [>a(ldling across the narrow stream, I^o Jeune saw on the meadow, two hundred yards from the bank, a S(iuaro enclosure formed of palisades, like a nindiirn picket fort of tho Indian frontier.* Within this enclosure were two buildings, one of which had been half burned by the English, and was not yet repaired. It served as storehouse, stal)le, works] lop, and liakery. Opposite stood the principal building, a structure of plunks, plastered with mud, and thatched with long grass from the meadows. It consisted of one story, a garret, and a cellar, and contained four principal rooms, of which one served as chapel, another as refectory, another as kitchen, and the fourth as a lodging for workmen. The furniture of all was plain in the extreme. Until the preceding year, the chapel had had no other ornament than a sheet on which were glued two coarse engravings; but the priests had now decorated their altar with an image of a dove representing the Holy Ghost, an image of 1 This must have been very near the point where the streamlet called the river Lairet enters the St. Charles. The place has a triple historic interest. The wintering-place of Cartier in lM5-;30 (see " Pioneers of France ") seems to have been here. Here, too, in 1750, Montcalm's bridge of boats crossed the St. Charles ; and in a large intrenchment, which probably included the site of the Jesuit mission-house, the remnants of his shattered army rallied, after tlieir defeat on the Plains of Abraham. See the very curious Nar- ruiive of the Chevalier Johnstone, published by the Historical Society of Quebec. ^ i \ 1 J. :4 r' 5 ■ 1 . ,i 1 1 ( it f i , ■? i if. \f • I'. r .^ 1 ; t 92 NOTRE-DAME DES ANGES. [1634. Loyola, another of Xavier, and three images of the Virgin. Four cells opened from the refectory, the largest of which was eight feet square. In these lodged six priests, while two lay brothers found shelter in the garret. The house had been hastily built, eight years before, and now leaked in all parts. Such was the Residence of Notre-Dame des Anges. Here was nourished the germ of a vast enterprise, and this was the cradle of the great mission of New France.* Of the six Jesuits gathered in the refectory for the evening meal, one was conspicuous among the rest, — a tall, strong man, with features that seemed cu'V f^ by Nature for a soldier, but which the mental habits of years had stamped with the visible impress of the priesthood. This was Jean de Brdbeuf, descendant of a noble family of Normandy, and one of the ablest and most devoted zealots whose names stand on the missionary rolls of his Order. His com- panions were Masse, Daniel, Davost, De Noue, and the Father Superior, Le Jeune. Masse was the same priest who had been the companion of Father Biard in the abortive mission of Acadia. ^ By reason ^ The above particulars are gatlicred from the Relations of 1626 (Lalem-nt), and 1632, 163;^, 16134, 1636 (Le Jeune), but chiefly from a long letter of the Father Superior to the Provincial of the Jesuits at Paris, containing a curiously minute report of the state of the mission. It was sent from Quebec by the returning ships in the summer of 1034, and will be found in Carayon, Premiere Mission des Jesuites au Canada, 122. The original is in the archives of the Order at Rome. " See " Pioneers of France in the New World." ■( is 1634.] THE JESUITS. 98 of his useful qualities, Le Jeune nicknamed him " le Pere Utile." At present, his special function was the care of the pigs and cows, which he kept in the enclosure around the buildings, lest they should ravage the neighboring fields of rye, barley, wheat, and maize. ^ De Noue had charge of the eight or ten workmen employed by the mission, who gave him at times no little trouble by their repinings and com- plaints. ^ They were forced to hear mass every morn- ing and prayers every evening, besides an exhortation on Sunday. Some of them were for returning home, while two or three, of a different complexion, wished to be Jesuits themselves. The Fathers, in their intervals of leisure, worked with their men, spade in hand. For the rest, they were busied in preaching, singing vespers, saying mass and hearing confessions at the fort of Quebec, catechising a few Indians, and striving to master the enormous difficulties of the Huron and Algonquin languages. Well might Father Le Jeune write to his Superior, "The harvest is plentiful, and the laborei's few." These men aimed at the conversion of a continent. 1 "Le P. Masse, que Je nomme quelquefois en riant le Pdre Utile, est bien cognu de V. R. II a soin des choses domestiques et d„ bcstail que nous avons, en quoy il a tres-bien reussy." — h-ttro thi P. Paul le Jeune an li. P. Provincial, in Carayon, 122. Lo Jeune (Iocs not f.ail to send an inventory of the " bestail " to his Superior, namely : " Deux grosses truies qui nourissent chacune quatre petits cochons, deux vaehes, deux petites genisses, et un petit taureati." 2 The methodical Le Jeune sets down the causes of their discon- tent under six different heads, eacli duly numbered. Thus : — " 1°. C'est le naturel des artisans de sc jjlaindre et de grouder." "2°. La diversite des gages les fait murmurer," etc. i^ 94 NOTRE-DAME DES ANGES. [1634. From their hovel on the St. Charles, they surveyed a field of labor whose vastness might tire the wings of thought itself, — a scene repellent and appalling, darkened with omens of peril and woe. They were an advance-guard of the great army of Loyola, strong in a discipline that controlled not alone the body and the will, but the intellect, the heart, the soul, and the inmost consciousness. The lives of these early Canadian Jesuits attest the earnestness of their faith and the intensity of their zeal; but it was a zeal bridled, curbed, and ruled by a guiding hand. Their marvellous training in equal measure kindled enthu- siasm and controlled it, roused into action a mighty power, and made it as subservient as those great material forces which modern science has learned to awaken and to govern. They were drilled to a fac- titious humility, prone to find utterance in expressions of self-depreciation and self-scorn, which one may often judge unwisely, when he condemns them as insincere. They were devoted believers, not only in the fundamental dogmas of Rome, but in those lesser matters of faith which heresy despises as idle and puerile superstitions. One great aim engrossed their lives. " For the greater glory of God " — ad majorem Dei gloriam — they would act or wait, dare, suffer, or die, yet all in unquestioning subjection to the authority of the Superiors, in whom they recognized the agents of Divine authority itself. CHAPTER II. LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. Conversion op Loyola. — Foundation of the Society op Je8U8. — Preparation op the Novice. — Characteristics op THE Order. — The Canadian Jesuits. It was an evil day for new-born Protestantism when a French artilleryman fired the shot that struck down Ignatius Loyola in the breach of Pampeluna. A proud noble, an aspiring soldier, a graceful courtier, an ardent and daring gallant was meta- morphosed by that stroke into the ztalot whose brain engendered and brought forth the mighty Society of Jesus. His story is a familiar one, — how, in the solitude of his sick-room, a change came over him, upheaving, like an earthquake, all the forces of his nature; how, in the cave of Manresa, the mysteries of Heaven were revealed to him ; how he passed from agonies to transports, from transports to the calm of a determined purpose. The soldier gave himself to a new warfare. In the forge of his great intellect, heated, but not disturbed by the intense fires of his zeal, was wrought the prodigious enginery whoso power has been felt to the uttermost confines of tlie world. • 'li' i" 1 !■ ■ . i 1 1 i 1 t 1 : : - I t r < f* 1 ; J. , in 96 LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. n 58 VI ■ i ' < Loyola's training had been in courts and camps; of books he knew little or nothing. He had lived in the unquestioning faith of one born and bred in the very focus of Romanism; and thus, at the age of about thirty, his conversion found him. It was a change of life and purpose, not of belief. He pre- sumed not to inquire into the doctrines of the Church. It was for him to enforce those doctrines ; and to this end he turned all the faculties of his potent intellect, and all his deep knowledge of mankind. He did not aim to build up barren communities of secluded monks, aspiring to heaven through prayer, penance, and meditation, but to subdue the world to the dominion of the dogmas which had subdued him ; to organize and discipline a mighty host, controlled by one purpose and one mind, fired by a quenchless zeal or nerved by a fixed resolve, yet impelled, restrained, and directed by a single master hand. The Jesuit is no dreamer: he is emphatically a man of action; action is the end of his existence. It was an arduous problem which Loyola under- took to solve, — to rob a man of volition, yet to pre- serve in him, nay, to stimulate, those energies which would make him the most efficient instrument of a great design. To this end the Jesuit novitiate and the constitutions of the Order are directed. The enthusiasm of the novice is urged to its intensest pitch; then, in the name of religion, he is summoned to the utter abnegation of intellect and will in favor of the Superior, in whom he is commanded to recog- LOYOLA'S SPIRITUAL EXERCISES. 97 nize the representative of God on earth. Thus the young zealot makes no slavish sacrifice of intellect and will, — at least, so he is taught, — for he sacri- fices them, not to man, but to his Maker. No limit is set to his submission : if the Superior pronounces black to be white, he is bound in conscience to acquiesce.^ Loyola's book of Spiritual Exercises is well known. In these exercises lies the hard and narrow path which is the only entrance to the Society of Jesus. The book is, to all appearance, a dry and supersti- tious formulary ; but in the hands of a skilful director of consciences it has proved of terrible efficacy. The novice, in solitude and darkness, day after day and night after night, ponders its images of perdition and despair. He is taught to hear in imagination the howlings of the damned, to see their convulsive agonies, to feel the flames that burn without consum- ing, to smell the corruption of the tomb and the fumes of the infernal pit. He must picture to him- self an array of adverse armies, — one commanded by Satan on the plains of Babylon, one encamped under Christ about the walls of Jerusalem; and the per- turbed mind, humbled by long contemplation of its own vileness, is ordered to enroll itself under one or the other banner. Then, the choice made, it is led to a region of serenity and celestial peace, and soothed 1 Those who wish to know the nature of the Jesuit virtue of obedience will find it set forth in the famous Letter on Obedience of Loyola. 1 " 'i i 1 i ! ) ! 1 i ' , { f r ^ y ;l»^" ,» < n i '!: ds LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. with images of divine benignity and grace. These meditations last, without intermission, about a month ; and, under an astute and experienctJ directorship, they have been found of such power that the Manual of Spiritual Exercises boasts to have saved souls more in number than the letters it contains. To this succeed two years of discipline and prepa- ration, directed, above all things else, to perfecting the virtues of humility and obedience. The novice is obliged to perform the lowest menial offices and the most repulsive duties of the sick-room and the hospital ; and he is sent forth, for weeks together, to beg his bread like a common mendicant. He is required to reveal to his confessor not only his sins, but all those hidden tendencies, instincts, and impulses which form the distinctive traits of charac- ter. He is set to watch his comrades, and his com- rades are set to watch him. Each must report what he observes of the acts and dispositions of the others ; and this mutual espionage does not end with the novitiate, but extends to the close of life. The char- acteristics of every member of the Order are minutely analyzed, and methodically put on record. This horrible violence to the noblest qualities of manhood, joined to that equivocal system of morality which eminent casuists of the Order have inculcated, must, it may be thought, produce deplorable effects upon the characters of those under its influence. Whether this has been actually the case, the reader of history may determine. It is certain, however, THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. 99 'i I that the Society of Jesus has numbered among its members men whose fervent and exalted natures havd been intensified, without being abased, by the pressure to which they have been subjected. It is not for nothing that the Society studies tlie character of its membei-s so intently, and by metliods so startling. It not only uses its knowledge to thrust into obscurity or cast out altogether those whom it discovers to be dull, feeble, or unwilling instruments of its purposes, but it assigns to every one the task to which his talents or his disposition may best adapt him : to one, the care of a royal conscience, whereby, unseen, his whispered word may guide the destiny of nations; to another, the instruction of children; to another, a career of letters or science; and to the fervent and the self-sacrificing, sometimes also to the restless and uncompliant, the distant missions to the heathen. The Jesuit was, and is, everywhere, — in the school-room, in the library, in the cabinets of princes and ministers, in the huts of savages, in the tropics, in the frozen North, in India, in China, in Japan, in Africa, in America; now as a Christian priest, now as a soldier, a mathematician, an astrologer, a Brahmin, a mandarin, — under countless disguises, by a thousand arts, luring, persuading, or compelling souls into the fold of Rome. Of this vast mechanism for guiding and governing the minds of men, this mighty enginery for subduing the earth to the dominion of an idea, this harmony of V »*. m 100 LOYOLA AND THE JESUITS. contradictions, this moral Proteus, the faintest sketch must now suffice. A disquisition on the Society of Jesus would be without end. No religious Order has ever united in itself so much to be admired and so much to be detested. Unmixed praise has been poured on its Canadian members. It is not for me to eulogize them, but to portray them as they were. ( ' CHAPTER. III. 1632, 1633. PAUL LE JEUNE. LkJecne's Voyaoe : his Fikst Pupils; his Studikh ; iiis Indian Tkaciieu. — Winter at the Mission-house. — Le Jeunb's School. — Ueinforcements. In another narrative, we have seen how the Jesuits, supplanting the R^coUet friars, their predecessors, had adopted as their own the rugged task of Chris- tianizing New France. We have seen, too, how a descent of the English, or rather of Huguenots fight- ing under English colors, had overthrown for a time tlie miserable little colony, with the mission to which it was wedded; and how Queliec was at length restored to France, and the broken thread of the Jesuit enterprise resumed.^ It was then that Le Jeune had embarked for the New World. He was in his convent at Dieppe when he received the order to depart; and he set forth in haste for Havre, filled, he assures us, with inexpres- sible joy at the prospect of a living or a dying martyrdom. At Rouen he was joined by De Nou6, with a lay brother named Gilbert; and the three 1 Pioneers of France in the New World. PI' .o(^* I \ H. 1 ^ 102 PAUL LE JEUNE. £1632. sailed together on the eighteenth of April, 1632. The sea treated them roughly; Le Jeune was wretch- edly sea-sick, and the ship nearly foundered in a gale. At length they came in sight of " that miser- ahlo country," aa the missionary calls the scene of his future labors. It was in the harlwr of Tadoussac that he first encountered the objects of his apostolic cares; for, iis he sat in the ship's cabin with the master, it was suddenly invaded by ten or twelve Indians, whom he compares to a party of maskers at the Carnival. Some had their cheeks painted black, their noses blue, and the rest of their faces red. Others were decorated with a l>road band of black across the eyes; and others, again, with diverging rays of black, red, and blue on both cheeks. Their attire was no less uncouth. Some of them wore shaggy bear-skins, reminding the priest of the pictures of St. John the Baptist. After a vain attempt to save a number of Iroquois prisoners whom they were preparing to bum alive on shore, Le Jeune and his companions again set sail, and reached Quebec on the fifth of July. Having said mass, as already mentioned, under the roof of Madame H^ibert and her delighted family, the Jesuits made their way to the two hovels built by their pre- decessors on the St. Charles, which had suffered woful dilapidation at the hands of the English. Here they made their abode, and applied themselves, with such skill as they could command, to repair the shattered tenements and cultivate the waste meadows around. 1632.] MISSIONARY LABORS. 103 The beginning of Le Jeune's missionary labors was neither imposing nor promising. He describes him- self seated with a small Indian boy on one side and a small negro on the other, the latter of whom had been left by the English as a gift to Madame Hubert. As neither of the three understood the language of the others, the pupils made little progress in spiritual knowledge. The missionaries, it was clear, must learn Algonquin at any cost; and, to this end, Le Jeune resolved to visit the Indian encampments. Hearing that a band of Montagnais were fishing for eels on the St. Lawrence, between Cape Diamond and the cove which now bears the name of Wolfe, he set forth for the spot on a morning in October. As, with toil and trepidation, he scrambled around the foot of the cape, — whose precipices, with a chaos of loose rocks, thrust themselves at that day into the deep tide-water, — he dragged down upon him.self the trunk of a fallen tree, which, in its descent, well- nigh swept him into the river. The peril past, he presently reached his destination. Here, among the lodges of bark, were stretched innumerable strings of hide, from which hung to dry an incredible multitude of eels. A boy invited him into the lodge of a withered squaw, his grandmother, v/ho hastened to offer him four smoked eels on a piece of birch-bark, while other squaws of the household instructed him how to roast them on a forked stick over the embers. All shared the feast together, his entertainers using as napkins their own hair or that of their dogs ; wliile > i* \ m f ( i\: M lil i I:' : I J u 104 PAUL LE JKUNK. [1<5:JL>. Le Jeiine, intent on increusin^ his knowledgo of Aljijoncpiin, niaintained an uctivo discouiHo of broken woihIs and pantomime.* Tiio lesson, however, was too laborious and of too little profit to \ye often repeated, and the missionary Bought anxiously for more stable instruetion. To find such was not easy. The interpretei-s — French- men, who, in the interest of the fur company, had spent years among the Indians — were avei-se to Jesuits, and refused their aid. There was one resource, however, of which Lo Jeuno would fain avail himself. An Indian, called Pierre by the French, had been carried to Franx^e by the ll(;collet friars, instructed, converted, and baptized. He had lately returned to Canada, where, to the scandal of the Jesuits, he had relapsed into his old ways, retain- ing of his French education little l^esides a few new vices. He still haunted the fort at Quebec, lured by the hope of an occasional gift of wine or tobacco, but shunned the Jesuitr of whose rigid way of life he stood in horror. As he spoke good French and good Indian, he v/ould have been invaluable to the embar- rassed priests at the mission. Le Jeune invoked the aid of the Saints. The effect of his prayera soon appeared, he tells us, in a direct interposition of Providence, which so disposed the heart of Pierre that he quarrelled with the French commandant, who thereupon closed the fort against him. He then repaired to his friends and relatives in the woods, but 1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 2. lM2-3a.] WINTKK AT THK MISSION-IIOUSK. 10/) only to encounter a rebuff from a young bquuw to wlioni he made his addresses. On this, he turned his steiMJ towards the mission-house, and, In'ing unfitted by his French education for supporting him- self by hunting, lagged food and shelter from tht; l)rieHts. Le Jeune gratefully accepted him as a gift vouchsafed by Heaven to his prayei-s, i)ei-suaded ii lackey at the fort to give him a cjiat-off suit of clotlu^s, promised him maintenance, and installed him as his teacher. Seated on wooden stools by the rougli ttible in the refectory, the priest and the Indian pui-aued their studies. "How thankful I am," writes Le Jeune, "to those who gave me tolmcco last year I At every difficulty I give my master a piece of it, to make him more attentive."^ Meanwhile, winter closed in with a severity rare even in Canada. The St. Lawrence and the St. Charles were liard frozen; rivers, forests, and rocks were mantled alike in dazzling sheets of snow. The humble mission-house of Notre-Dame des Anges was half buried in the drifts, which, heaped up in front where a path had been dug through them, rose two feet above the low eaves. The priests, sitting at night before the blazing logs of their wide-throated chimney, heard the trees in the neighboring forest cracking with frost, with a sound like the report of a 1 Relation, 1633, 7. He continues : " le ne sfaurois assez rcntlrc graces k Nostre Seigneur de cet heureux rencontre. . . . Que Diuu 8olt beny pour vn iamais, sa prouidence est adorable, et sa bontd n'a point de limiteB." I, : t ' ,i : r 1 1 I 1 'i i i ; ■■i \ p 106 PAUL LE JEUNE. [1633. pistol. Le Jeune's ink froze, and his fingers were benumbed, as he toiled at his declensions and conju- gations, or translated the Pater Noster into blunder- ing Algonquin. The water in the cask beside the fire froze nightly, and the ice was broken every morn- ing with hatchets. The blankets of the two priests were fringed with the icicles of their congealed breath, and the frost lay in a thick coating on the lozenge-shaped glass of their cells. ^ By day, Le Jeune and his companion practised with snow-shoes, with all the mishaps which attend beginners, — the trippings, the falls, and headlong dives into the soft drifts, — amid the laughter of the Indians. Their seclusion was by no means a soli- tude. Bands of Montagnais, with their sledges and dogs, often passed the mission-house on their way to hunt the moose. They once invited De None to go with them ; and he, scarcely less eager than Le Jeune to learn their language, readily consented. In two or three weeks he appeared, sick, famished, and half dead with exhaustion. "Not ten priests in a hun- dred," writes Le Jeune to his Superior, "could bear this winter life with the savages." But what of that? It was not for them to falter. They were but instruments in the hands of God, to be used, broken, and thrown aside, if such should be His will.^ 1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 14, 15. 2 " Voila, moil Reuerend Pere, vn eschantillon de ce qu'il faut souffrir courant apres les Sauuages. ... II faut prendre sa vie, et tout ce qu on a, et le letter k I'abandon, pour ainsi dire, se content- ant d'vne croix bien grosse et bicn pesante pour toute richesse. II ; [1633. , were conju- ander- cle the morn- priests igealed on the •actised attend 3adlong of the a soli- ges and • way to ig to go e Jeune In two nd half a hun- Id bear hat of ere but iroken, lu'il faut Isa vie, et conten^ 16886. li 1633.] LE JEUNE'S SCHOOL. 107 An Indian made Le Jeune a present of two small children, greatly to the delight of the missionary, who at once set himself to teaching them to pray in Latin. As the season grew milder, the number of his scholars increased; for when parties of Indians encamped in the neighborhood he would take his stand at the door, and, like Xavier at Goa, ring a bell. At this, a score of children would gather around him ; and he, leading them into the refectory, which served as his school-room, taught them to repeat after him the Pater, Ave, and Credo, expounded the mystery of the Trinity, showed them the sign of the cross, and made them repeat an Indian prayer, the joint composition of Pierre and himself; then followed the catechism, the lesson closing with sing- ing the Pater Noster, translated by the missionary in.o Algonquin rhymes; and when all was over, he rewarded each of his pupils with a porringer of peas, to insure their attendance at his next bell-ringing. ^ It was the end of May, when the priests one morn- ing heard the sound of cannon from the fort, and est bien vray que Dieu ne se laisse point vaincre, et que plus on quitte, plus on trouue : plus on perd, plus on gaigne : mais Dieu se cache par fois, et alors le Calict est bien amer." — Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 19. * " I'ay commence k appellor quelques enfans auec vne petite clochette. La premiere fois i'en auois six, puis douze, puis quinze, puis vingt et davantage ; ie leur fais dire le Pater, Aue, et Credo, etc. . . . Nous finissuns par le Pater Noster, que i'ay compose quasi en rimes en leur langue, que ie leur fais chanter : et pour derniere conclusion, ie leur fais donner chacun vne escuell^e de pois, qu'ils mangent de bon appetit," etc. — Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 23. ^^i 1 ; I ! i: i.: i ■ 1 ^ f : .( ■ i ' ■ i til \l ' i n : ■.5 r n 1 I 108 PAUL LE JEUNE. [1633. i i II * were gladdened by the tidings that Samuel de Champlain had arrived to resume command at Quebec, bringing with him four more Jesuits, — Br6l)euf, Masse, Daniel, and Davost.* Br^beuf, from the first, turned his eyes towards the distant land of the Hurons, — a field of labor full of peril, but rich in hope and promise. Le Jeune's duties as Superior restrained him from wanderings so remote. His apostleship must be limited, for a tim^, to the vagabond hordes of Algonquins, who roamed the forests of the lower St. Lawrence, and of whose lan- guage he had been so sedulous a student. His diffi- culties had of late been increased by the absence of Pierre, who had run off as Lent drew near, standing in dread of that season of fasting. Masse brought tidings of him from Tadoussac, whither he had gone, and where a party of English had given him liquor, destroying the last trace of Le Jeune's late exhorta- tions. "God forgive those," writes the Father, "who introduced heresy into this country! If this savage, corrupted as he is by these miserable heretics, had any wit, he would be a great hindrance to the spread of the Faith. It is plain that he was given us, not for the good of his soul, but only that we might extract from him the principles of his language."^ Pierre had two brothers. One, well known as a hunter, was named Mestigoit; the other was the • if ^ See " Pioneers of France in the New World." 2 Relation, 1633, 29. :l! 1633.] THE WINTER HUNT. 109 most noted "medicine-man," or, as the Jesuits called him, sorcerer, in the tribe of the Montagnais. Like the r3st of their people, they were accustomed to set out for their winter hunt in the autumn, after the close of their eel-fishery. Le Jeune, despite the experience of De Noue', had long had a mind to accompany one of these roving bands, partly in the hope that in some hour of distress he might touch their hearts, or, by a timely drop of baptismal water, dismiss some dying child to paradise, but chiefly with the object of mastering their language. Pierre had rejoined his brothers ; and, as the hunting season drew near, they all begged the missionary to make one of their party, — not, as he thought, out of any love for him, but solely with a view to the provis- ions with which they doubted not he would be well supplied. Le Jeune, distrustful of the sorcerer, demurred, but at length resolved to go. 1 1 V ' i; i 1 1 ; i }■ i ■ ' I CHAPTER IV. 1633, 1634. LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. Le Jkune joins the Indians. — The First Encampment. — The Apostate. — Forest Life in Winter. — The Indian Hut. — Tiik Souc'krer : his Pkr«eciition <»f thk 1'uiest. — Evii- Com- pany. — Ma([ic. — Incantations. — Christmas. — Starvation. — Hopes ok Conversion. — Backsliding. — Peril and Escape of Le Jeune : his Retl'rn. On a morning in the latter part of October, Le Jeune embarked with the Indians, twenty in all, men, women, and children. No other Frenchman was of the party. Champlain bade him an anxious farewell, and commended him to the care of his red associates, who had taken charge of his store of bis- cuit, flour, corn, prunes, and turnips, to which, in an evil hour, his friends had persuaded him to add a small keg of wine. The canoes glided along the wooded shore of the Island of Orleans, and the party landed, towards evening, on the small island imme- diately below. Le Jeune was delighted with the spot, and the wild beauties of the autumnal sunset. His reflections, however, were soon interrupted. While the squaws were setting up their bark lodges, and Mestigoit was shooting wild-fowl for supper, 1 1633.] THE APOSTATE. Ill Pierre returned to the canoes, tapped the keg of wine, and soon fell into the mud, helplessly drunk. Revived by the immersion, he next appeared at the camp, foaming at the mouth, threw down the lodges, overset the kettle, and chased the shrieking squaws into the woods. His brother Mestigoit rekindled tlie lire, and slung the kettle anew; when Pierre, who meanwhile had been raving like a madman along the sliore, reeled in a fury to the spot to repeat his former exploit. Mestigoit anticipated him, snatched the kettle from the fire, and threw the scalding contents in his face. " He was never so well washed before in his life," says Le Jeune; "he lost all the skin of his face and breast. Would to God his heart had clianged also I " ^ He roared in his frenzy for a hatchet to kill the missionary, who therefore thought it prudent to spend the night in the neighboring woods. Here he stretched himself on the earth, while a charitable squaw covered him with a sheet of birch-bark. "Though my bed," he writes, "had not been made up since the creation of the world, it was not hard enough to prevent me from sleeping." Such was his initiation into Indian winter life. Passing over numerous adventures by water and land, we find the party, on the twelfth of November, leaving their canoes on an island, and wading ashore at low tide over the fiats to the southern bank of the 1 " lamais il ne fut si bien laue, il changea de peau en la face et en tout restomach : pleust & Dieu que son ame eust change aussi bien que sou corps \" — Relation, 1634, 59. vm i i i V: I % ■W .„*(*• i I I ! i -■■ i - t- I ! i M. i h ! 112 LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. [1633. St. Lawrence. As two other bands had joined them, their number was increased to forty-five persons. Now, leaving the river behind, they entered those savage highlands whence issue the springs of the St. John, — a wilderness of rugged mountain-ranges, clad in dense, continuous forests, with no human tenant but this troop of miserable rovers, and here and there some kindred band, as miserable as they. Winter had set in, and already dead Nature was sheeted in funereal white. Lakes and ponds were frozen, rivulets sealed up, torrents encased with stalactites of ice; the black rocks and the black trunks of the pine-trees were beplastered with snow, and its heavy masses crushed the dull green bouglis into the drifts beneath. The forest was silent as the grave. Through this desolation the long file of Indians made its way, all on snow-shoes, each man, woman, and child bending under a heavy load, or dragging a sledge, narrow, but of prodigious length. They carried their whole wealth with them, on their backs or on their sledges, — kettles, axes, bales of meat, if such they had, and huge rolls of birch-bark for cover- ing their wigwams. The Jesuit was loaded like the rest. The dogs alone floundered through the drifts unburdened. There was neither path nor level ground. Descending, climbing, stooping beneath half -fallen trees, clambering over piles of prostrate trunks, struggling through matted cedar-swamps, threading chill ravines, and crossing streams no 1633.] ALGONQUIN WINTER LIFE. 113 longer visible, they toiled on till the day began to decline, then stopped to encamp.^ Burdens were thrown down, and sledges unladen. The squaws, with knives and hatchets, cut long poles of birch and spruce sfiplings ; while the men, with snow-shoes for shovels, cleared a round or square space in the snow, which formed an upright wall three or four feet high, enclosing the area of the wigwam. On one side, a passage was cut for an entrance, and the poles were planted around the top of the wall of snow, sloping and converging. On these poles were spread the sheets of birch-bark; a bear-skin was hung in the passage-way for a door ; the bare ground within and the surrounding snow were covered with spruce boughs ; and the work was done. This usually occupied about three hours, during which Le Jeune, spent with travel, and weakened by precarious and unaccustomed fare, had the choice of shivering in idleness, or taking part in a labor which fatigued, without warming, his exhausted frame. ' " S'il arriuoit quolque (l..'■*» Ifil I ' i r li'f ^ T: . X f. I ill'' 124 LE JEUNE AND THE HUNTERS. [1G33-34, and motionless, — then resumed his former clamor, raged in and out of the hut, and, seizing some of its supporting poles, broke them, as if in an uncontrol- lable frenzy. The missionary, though alarmed, sat reading his breviary as before. When, however, on the next morning, the sorcerer began again to play the maniac, the thought occurred to him that some stroke of fever might in truth have touched his brain. Accordingly, he approached him and felt his pulse, which he found, in his own words, "as cool as a fish." The pretended madiTxan looked at him with astonishment, and, giving over the attempt to frighten liim, presently returned to his senses. ^ Le Jeune, robbed of his sleep by the ceaseless thumping of the sorcerer's drum and the monotonous cadence of his medicine-songs, improved the time in attempts to convert him. "I began," he says, "by evincing a great love for him, and by praises, which I threw to him as a bait whereby I might catch him in the net of truth. " ^ But the Indian, though pleased with the Father's flatteries, was neither caught nor conciliated. 1 The Indians, it is well known, ascribe mysterious and super- natural powers to the insane, and respect them accordingly. The Neutral Nation (see Introduction, 33) was full of pretended madmen, who raved about the villages, throwing firebrands, and making other displays of frenzy. '^ " le commen9ay par vn temoignage de grand amour en son endroit, et par des loiianges que ie luy iettay eomme vnc amorce pour le prendre dans les filets de la verite. Ie luy fis entendre que si vn esprit, capable des choses grandes comme le sien, cognoissoit Dieu, que tous les Sauuages induis par son exemple le voudroient aussi cognoistre." — Relation, 1634, 71. 1633-34.] CHRISTMAS. 125 Nowhere was his magic in more requisition than in procuring a successful chase to the hunters, — a point of vital interest, since on it hung the lives of the whole party. They often, however, returned empty-handed; and for one, two, or three successive days no other food could be had than the bark of trees or scraps of leather. So long as tobacco lasted, they found solace in their pipes, whicli seldom left tlieir lips. "Unhappy infidels," writes Le Jeune, " who spend their lives in smoke, and their eternity in flames I " As Christmas approached, their condition grew desperate. Beavers and porcupines were scarce, and the snow was not deep enough for hunting the moose. Night and day the medicine-drums and medicine- songs resounded from the wigwams, mingled with the wail of starving children. The hunters grew weak and emaciated; and as after a forlorn march the wanderers encamped once more in the lifeless forest, the priest remembered that it was the eve of Christmas. "The Lord gave us for our sapper a porcupine, large as a sucking pig, and also a rabbit. It was not much, it is true, for eighteen or nineteen persons; but the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph, her glorious spouse, were not so well treated, on this very day, in the stable of Bethlehem. "^ 1 " Pour nostre souper, N. S. nous donna vn Porc-espic pros comme vn cochon de lait, et vn lieure ; c'estoit peu pour dix-huit ou vingt personnes que nous estions, il est vray, mais la saincte Viorpe et son glorieux Espoux aalnct Joseph ne furent pas si hien traictc'z h mesme iour dans I'estalilo de Betldeem." — lielation, 1034,74. ' i •:t ! M 1 1' i^ ■ li i " ]! 1 1 1 12G LE JEIJNE AND THE IICNTERS. [in38-.*U. On Christmas Day, the despairing hunters, again unsuccessful, came to pray succor from Le Jeune. Even the Apostate had hecome tractable, and tlu; famished sorcerer was ready to try the efficacy of an appeal to the deity of his rival. A briglit hojx' possessed the missionary. He composed two prayers, which, with the aid of the repenttmt Pierre, he trans- lated into Algonquin. Then he luuig against the side of the hut a napkin which he had brought witli him, and against the napkin a crucifix and a reliquary, and, this done, caused all the Indians to kneel before them, with hands raised and clasped. He now read one of the prayers, and required the Indians to repeat the other after him, promising to renounce their superstitions and obey Christ, whose image they saw before them, if he would give them food and save them from perishing. The pledge given, he dis- missed the hunters with a benediction. At night they returned with game enough to relieve the imme- diate necessity. All was hilarity. The kettles were slung, and the feasters assembled. Le Jeune rose to speak, when Pierre, who having killed nothing was in ill humor, said, with a laugh, that the crucifix and the prayer had nothing to do with their good luck; while the sorcerer, his jealousy reviving as he saw his hunger about to be appeased, called out to the missionary, " Hold your tongue I You have no sense 1 " As usual, all took their cue from him. They fell to their repast with ravenous jubilation, and the disap- pointed priest sat dejected and silent. li it. 1(]:U.] LE JEUNK LEAVES TIIK INDIANS. 127 Ilepeatedly, before tlio sprint^, they were thus tlireatened with stiirvation. Nor was tlieir ease exceptional. It was the ordinary winter life of all tliose Northern tribes who did not till the soil, but lived by hunting and fishing alone. The desertion or the killing of the aged, sick, and disabled, occa- sional cannibalism, and frequent death from famine; were natural incidents of an existence which during liiilf the year was but a desperate purs\iit of the mere necessaries of life under the worst conditions of hard- ship, suffering, and debasement. At the beginning of April, after roaming for five months among forests and mountains, the party made their last march, regained the bank of the St. Lawrence, and waded to the island where they had hidden their canoes. Le Jeune was exhausted and sick, and Mestigoit offered to carry him in his canoe to Quebec. This Indian was by far the best of the three brothers, and both Pierre and the sorcerer looked to him for support. He was strong, active, i'.nd daring, a skilful hunter, and a dexterous canoe- man. Le Jeune gladly accepted his offer; embarked with him and Pierre on the dreary and tempestuous river; and, after a voyage full of hardship, during which the canoe narrowly escaped being ground to atoms among the floating ice, landed on the Island of Orleans, six miles from Quebec. The afternoon was stormy and dark, and the river was covered with ice, sweeping by with the tide. They were forced to encamp. At midnight the moon had risen, the river •m ty h .*T \<\ !:. 128 LE JKUNK AND THE HUNTERS. [1031. was comparatively uiiencunibercid, and they enibaiked once more. The wind increased, and the waves tossed furiously. Nothing saved them but the skill and courage (,1 Mestigoit. At length tliey could wa the rock of Quebec towering through the gloom, l)ut piles of ice lined the shore, while floating masses were drifting down on the angry current. Tlie ladiaii watched his monient, shot his canoe through thorn, gained the fixed ice, leaped out, and shouted to his companions to follow. Pierre scrambled up, but the ice was six feet out of the water, and Le Jeune's agility failed him. He saved himself by clutching tlu ankle of Mestigoit, by whose aid lie gained a firm foothold at the top, and, for a moment, the three voyagers, aghast at the narrowness of their escape, stood gazing at each other in silence. It was three o'clock in the morning wlien Le Jeune knocked at the door of his rude little convent on the St. Charles; and the Fathers, spri- ging in joyful haste from their slumbers, embraced their long- absent Superior with ejaculations of praise and benediction. CHAPTER V. 1633, 1634. THE HURON MISSION. I'lans of Conversion. — Aims and Motives. — Indian Diplo- macy. — HURONS AT QUEHEC. — COUNCILS. — TuE Jesi:it Chapel. — Le Borgne. — The Jesuits Thwarted. — Their rEHSEVERANCE. — ThE JoURNEV TO THE HURONS. — JeAN DE BuiiUEUF. — The Mission Begun. Le Jeu!;e had learned the difficulties of the Algonquin mission. To imagine that he recoiled or faltered would l)e an injustice to his Order; but on two points he had gained convictions : first, that little progress could be made in converting these wandering hordes till they could be settled in fixed abodes ; and, secondly, that their sci-nty numbers, their geographi- cal position, and their slight influence in the politics of the wilderness offered no flattering promise that their conversion would be fruitful in further triumphs of the Faith. It was to another quarter that the Jesuits looked most earnestly. By the vast lakes of the West dwelt numerous stationary populations, and particularly the Hurons, on the lake which bears their name. Here was a hopeful basis of indefinite conquests J for, the Hurons won over, the Faith ,1 A S|':| i 1 1 i ■ i i ^ If !i; ! (: no TIIK nrUOX MISSION. {ir,i]:i woiiid sproiul in wider and widen- circles, emlmicing, one l)y one, tlu; kindred tribes, — the Tobacco Nation, the Neutrals, the Ericas, and the Andastes. Nay, in Tlis own time, God nii^dit lead into His fold even the })otent and ferocious Iroquois. " he way was pathless and long, l)y rock and tor- rent and he gloom of savage forests. The goal was more dreary yet. Toil, hardship, famine, filth, sick- ness, solitude, insult, — all that is most revolting to men nurtured among arts and letters, all that is most terrific to monastic credulity, — such were the promise and the reality of the Huron mission. In the eyes of the Jesuits, the Huron country was the innermost stronghold of Satan, his castle and his donjon-keep.' All the weapons of his malice were prepared against the bold invader who should assail him in this, the heart of his ancient domain. Far from shrinking, the priest's zeal rose to tenfold ardor. He signed the cross, invoked St. Ignatius, St. Francis Xavier, or St. Francis Borgia, kissed his reliquary, said nine masses to the Virgin, and stood prompt to battle with all the hosts of Hell. A life sequestered from social intercourse and remote from every prize which ambition holds worth the pursuit, or a lonely death under forms perhaps the most appalling, — these were the missionaries' alternatives. Their maligners may taunt them, if they will, with credulity, supei-stition, or a blind 1 "Une 'U 1^ 111 1 » I 1 ■ "rai •; .': 140 THE HURON MISSION. [1634. more wavered. All was confusion, doubt, and un- certainty, when Bi'dbeuf bethought him of a vow to St. Joseph. The vow was made. At (mce, he says, the Indians became tractable; the Fathers embarked, and, anud salvos of cannon from the ships, set forth for the wild scene of their apostleship. They reckoned the distance at nine hundred miles ; but distance was the least repellent feature of tliis most arduous journey. Barefoot, lest their shoes should injure the frail vessel, each crouched in his canoe, toiling with unpractised hands to propel it. Before him, week after week, he saw the same lank, unkempt hair, the same tawny shouldei-s, and loii_<(, naked arms ceaselessly plying the paddle. The canoes were soon separated; and, for more than a month, the Frenchmen rarely or never met. Bre- beuf spoke a little Huron, and could converae with his escort ; but Daniel and Davost were doomed to a silence unbroken save by the occasional unintelligible complaints and menaces of the Indians, of whom many were sick with the epidemic, and all were terri- fied, desponding, and sullen. Their only food was a pittance of Indian corn, crushed between two stonos and mixed with water. The toil was extreme. Brc- beuf counted thirty-five portages, where the canoes were lifted from the water, and carried on the shoul- ders of the voyagers around rapids or cataracts. Mc^e than fifty times, besides, they were forced to wade in the raging current, pushing up their empty barks, or dragging them with ropes. Br^beuf tried to do his 1(134.] THE JOURNEY TO THE HURONS. 141 piirt; but the bouldei-s and sharp rocks wounded his naked feet, and compelled him to desist, lie and his comi)anions bore their share of the baggage across the portages, sometimes a distance of several miles. Four trips, at the least, were required to convey the whole. The way was through the dense forest, in- oninbered with rocks and logs, tangled with roots and underbrush, damp with perpetual shade, and redolent of decayed leaves and mouldering wood.^ The In- dians themselves were often s})ent with fatigue. Brdl)euf, a man of iron frame and a nature uncon- querably resolute, doul)ted if his strength would sus- tixin liim to the journey's end. He complains that he had no moment to read his breviary, except by the moonlight or the fire, when stretched out to sleep on a hare rock by some savage cataract of the Ottawa, or in a damp nook of the adjacent forest. All the Jesuits, as well as several of their country- men who accompanied them, suffered more or less at the hands of their ill-humored conductora.^ Davost's ' " Adioustcz h, ces difflcultez, qu'il faut couchor sur la tcrre nue, ou sur quelque dure roelie, faute de trouuer dix ou douze piods de tcrro en quarrc pour placer vne chetiue cabane ; qu'il faut sentir imossaniment la puanteur des Sauuages recreus, marcher dans Ics eaiix, dans les fan5, 'Jj"), 2(5. - " En ce voyage, 11 nous a fallu tons commencer par ces expcri- ctRos a porter la Croix que Nostre Seigneur nous presente pour son lionneur, et pour le salut de ces pauures Barbares. Certes ie me suis trouue' quelquesfois si las, que le corps n'en poiiuoit jjIus. Muis d'ailleurs men ame ressentoit de tres-grands contentemens, cousiderant que ie souffrois pour Dieu : nul ne le syait, s'il ne I'ex- !l M' M I' St '■%. •V \ •I I M ■ ^ |j 1 '1 i ' K \ 'i ^1; :■ 1 y' .'1 >•. .^ i . 1 i I i ; ! ' 'l i 1 , ■ ^ 142 THE ni:KON mission. [im, In.'lian robl)e(l him of a part of liis ])aj]fp;af]fo, tin-' a part into the river, including most of the hooks ;,;,(1 wriHng-materiaLs of tlie three priests, and tlien 1 -ft him l)ehind, among the Algonqnins of AIIudi- te Islari.l. Me found means to contini'o 'he journcv, ns >i i\i lengL^i reaeli d the Huron towns in a hiniciil- iibl-" state of bodily pi'ostraticm. l)ani(d, too, was dese^'t d, Imt fortunately found another party who receivcti him into their canoe. A young Frenchman, named Martin, was abandoned among the Nipissings; pt'rimento. Tons n'cn ont pas estc quittes h. si bon marche." — Bre- bt'uf, Relation des Jfannis, Ui;}5, 2(5. Three years afterwards, a paper was printed by the Jesuits of Paris, called /ustrurtion pour les Peres de Nostre Compmjnie (jul seront enudlez oux Ilurons, and containing directions for their conduct on this route by the Ottawa. It is highly characteristic, both of tlu' missionaries and of the Indians. Some of the points are, in sub- stance, as fi'Uows: You should love the Indians like brothers, with whom you ;, l' to spend the rest of your life. — Never make tliciii wait for you in embarking. — Take a flint and steel to light tluir pijies and kindle tiieir fire at night, for these little services win their hearts. — Try to eat their sagamite as they cook it, bad and dirty as it is. Fasten up the skirts of your cassock, that you may not carry water or sand into the canoe.- Wear no shoes or stockiuffs in the canoe ; but you may put them on in orossing the portages. — Do not make yourself troublesome, even to a single Indian. — Do not ask them too many questions. — Bear their faults in silence, and appear always cheerful. — Buy fish for them from tlie tribes you will pass ; and for tliis purpose take with you some awls, beads, knives, and fish-hooks. — Be not ceremonio is with the Indians; take at once what they offer you; ceremony offends them. — l?o very careful, when in. the canoe, that the brim of vou. iiat does no annoy them. Perhaps it would be better to wear your nigiit-cap. There is no such thing as impropriety among Indians. — Remember that it is Christ and his cross that you are seeking ; and if you aim at anything else, you will get nothing but affliction for body and mind. ig;}4.] mifinKUF'S ARIUVAL. 143 iinotl'or, naiiiod T-iiron, on roiicliini? the Ifuroii ooun- try, Wiis r()l))HMl by his condiu^tors of all ho. liad, except the \veap.»Jis in liis liaiids. Of thonv. lio niadn good use, '^oiiipelUng the robljors to restore a part of li.eir phnider. Descending French River, and following the lonely slioics of the great Georgian Bay, the canoe which carried Brebeuf at length nearcd its destination, tliirty days after leaving Three Rivers. '•.,: ^o him, stretched in savage sluinl)er, lay the fo -est ore of the llurons. Did his spirit sink as Lo ^.Tiproached his dreary home, oppressed with a dark f* • coding of what the futnre should bring forth? There is some reason to think so. Yet it was but ti.^ diadow of a moment; for his masculine heart had lost the sense of fear, and his intrepid nature was fired with a zeal 1)6 fore which doubts and uncertainties fled like the mists of the morning. Not the grim enthusiasm of negation tearing up the weeds of rooted falsehood, or with bold hand felling to the earth the baneful growth of overshadowing abuses: his was the ancient faith uncurtoiled, redeemed from the decay of centuries, kindled with a new life, and stimulated to a preter- natural growth and fruitfulness. Br(il)euf and his Huron companions having landed, the Indians, throwing the missionary's baggage on the ground, left him to his own resources ; and, with- out heeding his remonstrances, set forth for their respective villages some twenty miles distant. Thus abandoned, the priest kneeled, not to implore succor i ! 1 :i ■ i 144 THE HURON MISSION. [16.M. ) I H ll I I' in liis porplexity, Imt to offer thanks to the Provi- dence wliich hiid shielded liini thus far. Then, ris- ing, he pondered as to what course he should take. He knew the spot well. It was on the honlers of tlie small inlet called Thunder Hay. In the neighhoriiij; Huron town of Toiuiclid he Iiad lived three yeais, preachinjT and baptizing;^ but Toanch(i had now ceased to exist. Here, fjtienne Bruld, Chaniplain's adventurous interpreter, had recently been murdered by the inhabitants, who, in excitement and alarm, dreading the consequences of their deed, had de- sertcti the spot, and built, at the distance of a few miles, a new town, called Ihonatiria.^ Brdbeuf hid his baggage in the woods, including the vessels for the mass, more precious than all the rest, and began his search for this new abode. He passed the burnt remains of Toanch^, saw the charred poles that had formed the frame of his little chapel of bark, and found, as he thought, the spot where Brul6 had fal- len.3 Evening was near, when, after following, be- wildered and anxious, a gloomy forest path, he issued 1 From 1020 to 1020. There is no record of the events of tliis first mission, which was ended with the Plnglish occupation of Que])ec. Brebeuf had previously spent the winter of 1625-20 among the Algonquins, like Le Jeune in 1033-J34. — Lettre du P. Charles Lalemant au T. R. P. Mutio Vitelleschi, 1 Aug., 1620, in Carayon. 2 Concerning Brule, see " Pioneers of France," 40.3-420. 3 " If vis pareillonient I'endroit oil le pauure Estienne Brule auoit este barbarement et traitreusenient assomme ; ce qui me fit penscr que quelque iour on nous pourroit bien traitter de la sorte, et desiror au moins que ce fust en pourchassant la gloire de N. Seigneur." — Brebeuf, Relation des Hurons, 10;]5, 28, 29. The missionary's prog- nostics were but too well founded. 1 '( l.;;U.l BRf.HEUF'S IlECEPTrON. 14.1 upnii ;i wild rlofiring, juul saw ])cf()ro him iiie hurk root's of Iliouiitii'ia. A crowd rail out to iiu!(>t luiii. "Eclioiii lias coiiio iitfiiin! Ecliom lias coino again!" they cried, recog- iii/iiig in the distiince the stately figure, robed in black, that advai? od from tlu^ border of the forest. They led him to the town, and the whole jiopulation swiinued about him. After a short i'(!st, ]w set out with a numlier of young Indians in quest of 'lis bag- ^nigc, returning with it at one o'clock in the morning. Tliere was a certain Awandoay in the village, noted as one of the richest and most hospitable of the lliiions, — a distinction not easily won where hospi- tality was universal. His house was large, and amply stored with beans and corn; and though his l)ros} erity had excited the jealousy of the villagers, he had recovered their good-will by his generosity. With him Brdbeuf made his abode, anxiously waiting, week after week, the arrival of Iiis companions. One hy one, they appeared, — Daniel, weary and worn; Davost, half dead with famine and fatigue; and their French attendants, each with his tale of hardship and indignity. At length, all were assembled under the roof of the hospitable Indian, and once more the Huron mission was begun. '■ 1 Vu i* I I 10 !■'■ ; kh i' . 1 . i : I I i CHAPTER VI. 1634, 1G35. BUftnEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. The IlrnoN MissioN-IIonsK : Its Inmatks; Its FcrnNiTPRE ; Tth Gri:HTH. — Thk .iKHriT as a Tkachkw, — As an En(;ineku,— Rai'Tisms. — IIiruoN ViLi-A(iE LiiK. — Fkstivitikh and Sou- CEiMKs. — The Dukam Feast. — The Tkiehts accused of Maoic. — The DuoiuiHT and the Red Cross. Where should the Fathers make their abode? Their first thought had been to establish themselves at a place called by the French Roohelle, the largest and most important town of the Huron confederacy; but IJr(3beuf now resolved to remain at Ihonatiria. Here he was well known ; and here, too, he flattered himself, seeds of the Faith had been planted, which, with good nurture, would in time yield fruit. By the ancient Huron custom, when a man or a family wanted a house, the whole village joined in building one. In the present case, not Ihonatiriii only, but the neighboring town of Wenrio also, took part in the work, — though not without the expecta- tion of such gifts as the priests had to l^estow. Be- fore October, the task was finished. The house Avas constructed after the Huron model.* It was thirty- * See Introduction, 11-13. i(;;i4-35.] TlIK m'RON MISSION-HOUSE. 147 six tt!Ot long and about twenty foot wido, fnun(;d with strong sapling polos planted in the earth to form the sides, with the ends Inuit into an areh for the roof, — the whole lashed firndy together, ])meed with cross-poles, and closely covered with overlapj)ing shoots of bark. Without, the struoture was strictly Indian; but within, the priests, with the aid of their tools, made innovations which were the astonishment of all the country. They divided their dwelling hy tnmsverae partitions into three apartments, each with its wooden door, — a vondrous novelty in the eyes of tlioir visitors. The first served as a hall, an ante- room, and a place of storage for corn, beans, and i\vm\ lish. The second — the largest of the three — was at onco kitchen, workshop, dining-room, draw- ing-room, school-room, and l)ed-chaml)or. The third was the ohapcl. Here they made their altar, and here were their images, pictures, and sacred vessels. Their fire was on the ground, in the middle of the second apartment, the smoke escaping by a hole in the roof. At the sides were placed two »>''le plat- fornn, after the Huron fashion, four feet from the earthen floor. On these were chests in which they kei)t their clothing and vestments, and beneath them tli« slept, reclining on sheets of bark, and cove -id with -ikins and :'ie garments they wore by day. Rude stools, a hand-mill, a large Indian mortar of wood for crushing corn, and a clock, completed dm furniture of the room. There was no lack of visitors, for the houso of the I ■ IMfiJi ,( WW & ' I, it- liv<.^ I .': I li ■ I I M '■ 148 bri^:beuf and his associates. i\r,u -:]-,. bliick-rol)es contained marvels ^ the fame of which was noised abroad to the uttermost conlines of the Ilnrdii nation. Chief among them was the clock. Tlie guests Avonld sit in expectant silence by the hour, squatted on tlie ground^ waiting to hear it strike. Tliey thouglit it was alive, and asked what it ate. As the last stroke sounded, one of the Frenchmen would cry "Stop!" — and, to the admiration of llie company, the obedient clock was silent. The mill was another wonder, and they were never tired of turning it. Besides these, there was a prism and ii magnet; also a magnifying-glass, wherein a flea was transformed to a frightful monster, and a multiplying lens, which showed them the same object eleven times repeated. "All this,"' says Br^beuf, "serves to gain their affection, and make them more docile in respect to the admirable and incomprehensible mys- teries of our Faith ; for the opinion they have of our genius and capacity makes them believe whatever we tell them. "2 "What does the Captain say?" was the frequent question; for by this title of honor they designated the clock. 1 " lis ont pense qu'elle entendoit, principalemont quand, pour rire, quelqu'vn do nos Francois s'oscrioit an dernier coup do iniir- teau, c'ost asscz sonne, ot que tout aussi tost ello se taisoit. lis rapi)ollent Ic Capitaino du iour. Quand ello sonne, ils disont (juVUc parle, ot demandont, quand ils nous vionnont veoir, coniiiion do fois lo Capitaino a dosia parle'. lis nous interrogent do son niantror. Tls domourent los houros onlioros, ot quolquofois plusiours, afin de 1j-; pouuoir ouyr parlor." — Iir('l)enf, Relation des Hurons, 1(5,%, 3.'5. ''' Brebouf, Ihlation ties Iltiroiiii, lOoo, 'S'i, In I II.-, :^i : 1631-35.] THE JESUITS iVND THEIR GUESTS. 141) "Wlien he strikes twelve times, lie says, ' Ilung oil the kettle ' ; and when he strikes four times, he sa3'.s, 'Get up, and go home.'"^ Both interpretations were well remembered. At noon, visitors were never wanting, to share the Fathers' sagamite ; but at the stroke of four, all rose iiiid departed, leaving the missionaries for a time in peace. Now the door was barred, and, gathering around the fire, they discussed the prospects of the mission, compared their several experiences, and took counsel for the future. But the standing topic of their evening talk was the Huron language. Con- cerning this each had some new discovery to relate, some new suggestion to offer; and in the task of ana- lyzing its construction and deducing its hidden laws, these intelligent and highly cultivated minds found a congenial employment. But while zealously laboring to perfect their knowl- edge of the language, they spared no pains to turn their present acquirements to account. Was man, woman, or child sick or suffering, they were always at iiand with assist^mce and relief, — adding, as they saw opportunity, explanations of Christian doctrine, pictures of Ii.eaven and Hell, and exhortations to embrace the Faith. Their friendly otHces did not cease here, but included matters widely different. The Hurons lived in constant fear of the Ire nfuois. At times the whole villfige population would tly to the woods for concealment, or take refuge in one of 1 Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1039, 17 (Cranioisy). : hi! I ! I ' t • t ; 1 ' r ''' i f 150 BllEBEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. [lOJl-;;.-). the noighboiiiii^ fortified towns, on the rumor of lui appi'otiching wiir-party. The Jesuits promised thtiiii the aid of the four Frenchmen armed with arque- buses, who had come with them from Three Uiveis. They advised the Hurons to make their palisade forts, not, as hitlierto, in a circuhir form, but rectangular, with small flanking towers at the corners for the arquebuse-men. The Indians at once saw the value of the advice, and soon after began to act on it in the case of their great town of Ossossand, or Rochelle.^ At every opportunity, the missionaries gathered together the children of the village at their house. On these occasions, Brebeuf, for greater solemnity, put on a surplice and the close, angular cap worn by Jesuits iu their convents. First, he chanted the Filter Noster^ translated by Father Daniel into Huron rhymes, — the children chanting in their turn. Next, he taught them the sign of the cross; made them repeat the Ave^ the Credo^ and the CommandmentvS ; questioned them as to past instructions; gave them briefly a few new ones; and dismissed them with a present of two or three beads, raisins, or prunes. A great emulation was kindled among this sniall fry (jf heathendom. The priests, with amusement and de- light, saw them gathered in groups about the village, vying with each other in making the sign of the cross, or in repeating the rhymes they had learned. At times, the elders of the people, the repositories of its ancient traditions, were induced to assemble at ^ Brebeuf, Iielatio,i des Hurons, 1030, 80. \IU ATTP:MrTS AT CONVERSION. 151 1631-35.] the house of the Jesuits, who exphiined to them the principal points of their doctrine, und invited tlieni to ii discussion. The auditors proved pliant to a fault, rcspondijig, "Good," or "That is true," to every pro- position; but when urged to adopt the faith which so ri'iidily met their approval, they had always the same reply: "It is good for the French; but we are another people, with different customs." On one occasion, Brebeuf appeared before the chiefs and elders at a solemn national council, described Heaven and Hell with images suited to their comprehension, asked to which they preferred to go after death, and then, in accordance with the invariable Huron custom in affaii-s of importance, presented a large and valuable belt of wampum, as an invitation to take the path to Paradise.^ Notwithstanding all their exhortations, the Jesuits, for the present, baptized but few. Indeed, during the first year or more, they baptized no adults except tliose apparently at the point of death ; for, with ex- cellent reason, they feared backsliding and recanta- tion. They found especial pleasure ii; the ba])lism >f dying infants, rescuing them from th(i flames of per- dition, and changing them, to borrow Le Jeune's phrase, " from little Indians into little angels. " ^ 1 Brebeuf, Relation des Httrons, 1636, 81. For the use of wampum bi'h.s see Introduction, 18-19. '^ " Le seiziesme du mesnie niois, deux petits Sauvagcs furent cliangez en deux petits Anges." — Rdation, 1(>.'»(), 8!) (Crainoisy). "O mon eher frere, vous pourrois-je expliquer quelle consolation CO m'etoit quj nd je voyois un pauure baptise niourir deux heures, 1 ^i i i i! ,(■*» ly m ■a: 1 .iii- > i 152 BR^BEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. [lG;J4-;i5. Tlie Fathers' slumbers were brief and broken. Winter was the season of Huron festivity; and as they lay stretclied on their hard couch, suffocating with smoke and tormented by an inevitable multitude of fleas, the thumping of the drum resounded all night long from a neighboring house, mingled with the sound of the tortoise-shell rattle, the stampiiiL,r of moccasined feet, and the cadence of voices kee})- ing time with the dancers. Again, some ambi- tious villager would give a feast, and invite all the warriors of the neighboring towns; or some grand wager of gambling, with its attendant drum- ming, singing, and outcries, filled the night with discord. But these were light annoyances, compared witli the insane rites to cure the sick, prescribed by the " medicine-men, " or ordained by the eccentric inspira- tion of dreams. In one case, a young sorcerer, by alternate gorging and fasting, — both in the interest of his profession, — joined with excessive exertion in singing to the spirits, contracted a disorder of the brain, which caused him, in mid-winter, to run naked about the village, howling like a wolf. The whole population bestirred itself to effect a cure. The pa- une (Ic'ini journee, une on deux journet's apres son baptesme, i)i;r- ticulibrcmonf quand c'etoit un petit enfant!" — Lettre du Pere (lar- nier a son Frere, MS. Tliis form of benevolence is beyond lieretic appreciation. "La joye qu'on a quand on a baptise un Sauvajfe qui se nieurt peu apres, & qui s'envole droit au Ciel, pour devenir un Ange, eer- tainement c'est une joye qui surpasse tout ce qu'on se peut imagi- ne^." — Le Jeune, Relation, 1635, 221 (Cramoisy). !l !. l()!i-:5r).] CURE OF A MADMAI^. 153 tieiii had, or pveteiided to have, a dream, in which the conditions of his recovery were revealed to liini. These were eqnally ridicnhms and dilhcnlt; hnt the eldei'S met in conncil, and all the villagei-s lent their aid, till every recpiiidtion was fulfilled, and the incon- trruous mass of ufifts which the madman's dream had demanded were all l)estowed upon him. This cure failing, a "medicine-feast" was tried; then several dances in succession. As the patient remained as crazy as before, preparations were ])egun for a grand (lance, more potent than all the rest. Bre])euf says, that, except the masquerades of the Carnival among Christians, he never saw a folly equal to it. "Some," he adds, " had sacks over their heads, with two holes for the eyes. Some were as naked as your hand, with horns or feathers on their heads, their bodies painted white, and their faces black as devils. Others were (lauhed with red, black, and white. In short, every one decked himself as extravagantly as he could, to (lance in this ballet, and contribute something towards the health of the sick man."^ This remc^- also fail- ing, a crowning effort of the medical art s essayed. Bieheuf does not describe it, for fear, jc ,ie says, of heing tedious; but, for the time, the Uage was a pandemonium. 2 This, with other cei ■monies, was i i i 1 'i! 1 ■ t ^!t ♦if ,(.1« * Rphition des Ilurons, lOol}, 110. ■^ "Suffit pour k' prt'sent du diro on ^onoral, que iamais los T5a<- cliantL'S forcenees du temps passe no fircnt riun d plus t'uriciix cii k'lirs orj^yes. C'est icy a s'ontrt'tiuT, ilisciU-ils, j)ar ili's sorts (iii'ils s'eatreiettent, dont Ift composition est d'ongles d'( >urs, de dents do r ' t 1 f 1 i: 11 |! . : ■I, 1 ■ W if'' -1 s 1' '^ * i ( i! ii 154 BKEBEUF AND HIS ASSOCIATES. [16:i5 supposed to be ordered by a certuin iiiuige like a doll, wliicli a sorcerer placed in his tobaccopouch, wlienco it littered its j^-acles, at the same time moving as if alive. "Truly,'' writes Brebeuf, "here is nonsense enough ; but I greatly fear there is something more dark and mysterious hi it." But all these ceremonies were outdone by the grand festival of tlie Ononhara, or Dream Feast, — es- teemed the most powerful remedy in cases of sick- ness, or when a village was infested with evil spirits. The time and manner of holding it were determined at a solemn council. This scene of madness began at night. Men, women, and children, all pretending to have lost their senses, rushed slirieking and howling from house to house, upsetting everything in their way, throwing fire-brands, beating those they met or drenching them with water, and availing themselves of this time of license to take a safe revenge on any who had ever offended them. This scene of frenzy continued till daybreak. No corner of the village was secure from the maniac crew. In the morning there was a change. They ran from house to house, ac- costing the inmates by name, and demanding of each the satisfaction of some secret want revealed to tlif pi'etended madman in a dream, but of the nature of wliich he gave no hint whatever. The person ail- Louj), dVrgots d'Aij^^k's, de certaines picrros et de nerfs de Chicn; c'est h, rondro du sang par la boucliu ft par Ics narincs, ou plustost d'vne poiidri' rouge qu'ils prt'imeiit subtilement, estans toinbez sous le sort, et bk'ssez ; ct dix milk' autros sottises que ie laisse volou- tiers." — Brebeuf, Relation des Hurons, 1030, 117. m:>.] THE DREAM FEAST. 155 dressed thereupon threw to him at raiidoin any article lit liand, as a liatcliet, a kettle, or a pipe; and the iipjdicant continued his rounds till the desired gift was liit upon, when he gave an outcry of delight, echoed by gratulatory cries from all present. If, after all his efforts, he failed in obtaining the object of his dream, he fell into a deep dejection, convinced that some disaster was in store for him.^ The approach of sununer l)rouglit with it a compar- ative peace. Many of the villagei-s dis[)ei"sed, — some ti) their lishing, some to expeditions of trade, and some to dis^tant lodges by their detached corn-tields. Tiie priests availed themselves of the respite to en- gage in those exercises of private devotion which the rule of St. Ignatius enjoins. ^Nl\.rit mitJsummer, however, their quiet was suddenly broken. The crops were withering under a severe di\>ught, a ca- lamity which the sandy nature of the soil made doubly serious. The sorcerers put forth their ^utmost power, iind, from the tops oi the houses, yeliied inces- sant invocations to the spimcs. All was m vain; the pitiless sky was cloudless. There was thunder in tlie east and thunder in the west ; but over Ihonatiria all ^ Bre'beiif's account of thu Dream Foast i* brief. The above imrtifulars are drawn chiefly from Charlevoix^ Jounioi Histnntfue, •i'jli, and Sagard, Vo/jcuje du Pai/s des FItirons, 'J/I0>. Set- also I^litau, mill otlier early writers. This ceremony wa» not conltiieti to the Hiironti, but prevailed also amonjr the IroqucH- »n'i i!..i!')tU"— other kindred tribes. The Jesuit Daliieii saw it :.. 'i 'u'. ». \i ^, .V3^ ""^^ \oAfe IMAGE EVALUATrON TEST TARGET (MT-3) LO 1.25 l^|Z8 |50 "^™ 2? 144 ■ 2.2 140 2.0 i MJ4 1.4 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) S73-4S03 '4^^^' '<*>'■ o l/.x z "^ IGO THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. [10:50. i 1 Avail of the mourners ; the speeches in praise of the dead, and consohition to the living; the funeral feast; the gifts at the place of burial; the funeral games, where the young men of the village contended for prizes ; and the long period of mourning to those next of kin. The body was usually laid on a scaffold, or, more rarely, in the earth. This, however, was not its final resting-place. At intervals of ten or twelve years, each of the four nations which com- posed the Huron Confederacy gathered together its dead, and conveyed them all to a common place of sepulture. Here was celebrated the great " Feast of the Dead," — in the eyes of the Hurons, their most solemn and important ceremonial. In the spring of 1636, the chiefs and elders of the Nation of the Bear — the principal nation of the Con- federacy, and that to which Ihonatiria belonged — asseml)led in a general council, to prepare for the great solemnity. There was an unwonted spirit of dissension. Some causes of jealousy had arisen, and three or four of the Bear villages announced their intention of holding their Feast of the Dead apart from the rest. As such a procedure was thought abhorrent to every sense of propriety and duty, the announcement excited an intense feeling; yet Br<;- beuf, who was present, describes the debate which ensued as perfectly calm, and wholly free from per- sonal abuse or recrimination. The secession, how- ever, took place, and each party withdrew to its villages to gather and prepare its dead. m :• ^';l I ': i: !■! 1636.] DISINTERMENT. 161 The corpses were lowered from their scaffolds, and lifted from their graves. Their coverings were re- moved by certain functionaries appointed for the office, and the hideous relics arranged in a row, sur- rounded by the weeping, shrieking, howling con- course. The spectacle was frightful. Here were all tlie village dead of the last twelve years. The priests, connoisseui-s in such matters, regarded it as a display of mortality so edifying, that they hastened to summon their French attendants to contemplate and profit by it. Each family reclaimed its own, and immediately addressed itself to removing what re- mained of flesh from the bones. These, after being tenderly caressed, with tears and lamentations, were wrapped in skins and adorned with pendent robes of fur. In the belief of the mourners, they were sen- tient and conscious. A soul was thought still to reside in themj^ and to this notion, very general among Indians, is in no small degree due that extravagant attachment to the remains of their dead, which may be said to mark the race. These relics of mortality, together with the recent corpses, — which were allowed to remain entire, but which were also wrapped carefully in furs, — were now carried to one of the largest houses, and hung to the numerous cross-poles, which, like rafters, sup- 1 1 '1 ■ f f*< I' /' 1 1 t : 1 (Mji 1 1 In the general belief, the soul took flight after the great cere- mony was ended. Many thought that there were two souls, one remaining with the bones, while the other went to the land of spirits. 11 5 i t i f 162 THE FEAST OF THE DEAD. [ir.3c. ! I I ported the rorf. Here the concourse of mournei-s seated tlienisjlves at a funeral feast; and, as the squaws of the houseliokl distrilmted the food, a chief harangued the assembly, lamenting the loss of the deceased, and extolling tlieir virtues. This solem- nity over, the mourners began their march for Os- sossan(i, the scene of the final rite. The bodies remaining entire were borne on a kind of litter, while the bundles of bones were slung at the shoulders of the relatives, like fagots. Thus the procession slowly defiled along the forest pathways, with which the country of the Hurons was everywhere intersected; and as they passed beneath the dull shadow of the pines, they uttered at intervals, in unison, a dreaiy, wailing cry, designed to imitate the voices of disem- bodied souls winging their way to the land of spirits, and believed to have an effect peculiarly soothing to the conscious relics which each man bore. When, at night, they stopped to rest at some village on the way, the inhabitants came forth to welcome them with a grave and mournful hospitality. From every town of the Nation of the Bear, — except the rebellious few that had seceded, — proces- sions like this were converging towards Ossossan(j. This chief town of the Hurons stood on the eastern margin of Nottawassaga Bay, encompassed with a gloomy wilderness of fir and pine. Thither, on the urgent invitation of the chiefs, the Jesuits repaired. The capacious bark houses were filled to overflowing, and the surrounding woods gleamed with camp-fires: I .(; 1636.] THE GREAT SEPULCHRE. 163 for the processions of mourners were fast arriving, and the throng was swelled by invited guests of other tribes. Funend games were in progress, the young men and women practising archery and other exer- cises, for prizes offered by the mourners in tlie name of their dead relatives.^ Some of the chiefs con- ducted Br^beuf and his companions to the place pre- pared for the ceremony. It was a cleared area in the forest, many acres in extent. In the midst was a pit, about ten feet deep and thirty feet wide. Around it was reared a high and strong scaffolding ; and on this were planted numerous upright poles, with cross- poles extended between, for hanging the funeral gifts and the remains of the dead. Meanwhile there was a long delay. The Jesuits were lodged in a house where more than a hundred of these bundles of mortality were hanging from the raftei-s. Some were mere shapeless rolls; others were made up into clumsy effigies, adorned with feathers, beads, and belts of dyed porcupine-quills. Amidst this throng of the living and the dead, the priests spent a night which the imagination and the senses conspired to render almost insupportable. At length the officiating chiefs gave the word to prepare for the ceremony. The relics were taken down, opened for the last time, and the bones ca- ressed and fondled by the women amid paroxysms of ^ Funeral games were not confined to the Hurons and Iroquois : Perrot mentions having seen them among the Ottawas. An illus- trated description of them will be found in Lafitau. , ) 1 ; it ' i! H \ * I. y \ ,*^ i ' \ ! i i i 1 I i 1 1 1 L ^^H flJ I ! j ||; .. 1 r 1' 1 If J* ^H ^^^p * 1 In' ' ii 1 ; V. ' " ' 1 1 i i - 1 ; I I i -■ ( 170 THK FKAST OF TIIK DEAD. [1037. Hiitisfiod with his unsworH, they lMii)tize(l him. His t'terujil blina Heuure, uU else whh lus iiotliiiip; and they awaited the issue with some degree of composure. A crow dwelt upon. One of the most ntrocioiis foiituri>8 of the Hceiie wns the iilternation of raillery Hint ironiciil compliment which attended it throughout, im well 118 tlu' paiiiB taken to preserve life and conHciousneMH in the vic- tim art long aa poAsible. i'urtiuns of his flush wei ; ufterwurda devoured. * f 1 1 S ,: i ' '■ I ! . 1 .1 I i ! i i H- CHAPTER VIII. 1636, 1637. THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. Enthusiasm for the Mission. — Sickness of the Priests. — Thr Pest among the Hcrons. — The Jesuit on his Rounds.— Efforts at Conversion. — Priests and Sorcerers. — The Man-Devil. — The Magician's Prescription. — Indian Doc- tors AND Patients. — Covert Baptisms. — Self-Devotion of the Jesuits. Meanwhile, from Old France to New came suc- cors and reinforcements to the missions of the forest. More Jesuits crossed the sea to urge on the work of conversion. These were no stern exiles, seeking on barbarous shores an asylum for a persecuted faith. Rank, wealth, power, and royalty itself smiled on their enterprise, and bade them God-speed. Yet, withal, a fervor more intense, a self-abnegation more complete, a self-devotion more constant and enduring will scarcely find its record on the page of human history. Holy Mother Church, linked in sordid wedlock to governments and thrones, numbered among her ser- vants a host of the worldly and the proud, whose ser- vice of God was but the service of themselves, — and many, too, who, in the sophistry of the human heart, il'i'lii -V;J 1636.] ENTHUSIASM FOR THE MISSION. 173 thought themselves true soldiers of Heaven, while eartlily pride, interest, and passion were the life- springs of their zeal. This mighty Church of Rome, in her imposing march along the high road of history, lieialded as infallible and divine, astounds the gazing worid with prodigies of contradiction, — now the protector of the opi)ressed, now the right arm of tyrants; now breathing charity and love, now dark with the passions of Hell ; now beaming with celes- tial truth, now masked in hypocrisy aiid lies ; now a virgin, now a harlot; an imperial queen, and a tin- selled actress. Clearly, she is of earth, not of heaven; and her transcendently dramatic life is a t^^pe of the good and ill, the baseness and nobleness, the foulness and purity, the love and hate, the pride, passion, truth, falsehood, fierceness, and tenderness, that battle in the restless heart of man. It was her nobler and purer part that gave life to the early missions of New France. That gloomy wilderness, those hordes of savages, had nothing to tempt the ambitious, the proud, the grasping, or the indolent. Obscure toil, solitude, privation, hardship, and death were to be the missionary's portion. He who set sail for the country of the Hurons left behind him the world and all its prizes. True, he acted under orders, — obedient, like a soldier, to the word of command; but the astute Society of Jesus knew its members, weighed each in the balance, gave each his fitting task; and when the word was passed to embark for New France, it was but the response to a M < \ m If •k ! J i ' ' 174 THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. [ioa(5. '' -r secret longing of the fervent heart. The letters of these priests, departing for the scene of their labora, breathe a spirit of enthusiastic exaltation, which, to a colder nature and a colder faith, may sometimes seein overstrained, b (t which is in no way disproportionate to the vastness of the effort and the sacrifice de- manded of them.* All turned with longing eyes towards the mission of the Hurons ; for here the largest harvest promised to repay their labor, and here hardships and dangei-s most abounded. Two Jesuits, Pijart and Le Mer- 1 The following are passages from letters of missionaries at this time. See " Divers Sentimens," appended to the Relation of 1035. " On dit que les premiers qui fondent les Eglises d'ordinairo sont saincti : cette pensee m'attendrit si fort le coeur, que quoy que ie me voye icy fort inutile dans ceste fortune'e Nouuelle France, si faut-il que i'auoiie que ie ne me s9aurois defendre d'vne pensee qui me presse le ccEur : Cupio impend! , et superimpendi pro vobis, Pauure Nouuelle France, ie desire me sacrifler pour ton bien, et quaiul il me deuroit couster mille vies, moyennant que ie puisse aider a sauucr vne seule ame, ie seray trop heureux, et ma vie tres bien employee." " Ma consolation parmy les Hurons, c'est que tous les iours ie luc confesse, et puis ie dis la Messe, conime si ie deuois prendre le Viatique et mourir ce iour Ik, et ie ne crois pas qu'on puisse mieux viure, ny auec plus de satisfaction et de courage, et mesme de merites, que viure en un lieu, oil on pense pouuoir mourir tous les iours, et auoir la deuise de S. Paul, Quotidie morior,fratres, etc. nies ireres, ie fais estat de mourir tous les iours." " Que ne void la Nouuelle France que par les yeux de chair et de nature, il n'y void que des bois et des croix ; mais qui les considere auec les yeux de la grace et d'vne bonne vocation, il n'y void que Dieu, les vertus et les graces, et on y trouue tant et de si solides consolations, que si ie pouuois acheter la Nouuelle France, en don- nant tout le Paradis Terrestre, certainement ie I'acheterois. Mon Dieu, qu'il fait bon estre au lieu oil Dieu nous a mis de sa grace ! veritablement i'ay trouud icy ce que i'auois espere, vn cceur selon le coeur de Dieu, qui ne cherche que Dieu." II i» )!' in:30-:]7.] PESTILENCE AMONG THE IIURONS. 175 cier, had been sent thither in 1635 ; and in midsum- mer of the next year three more arrived, — Jogues, Cliatelain, and Gamier. When, after tlieir long and lonely journey, they reached Ihonatiria one by one, they were received by their brethren with scanty fare indeed, but with a fervor of affectionate welcome wliich more than made amends; for among these priests, united in a community of faith and enthusi- asm, there was far more than the genial comradeship of men joined in a common enterprise of self-devotion and peril.* On their way, they had met Daniel and Davost descending to Quebec, to establish there a seminary of Huron children, — a project long cher- ished by Br^beuf and his companions. Scarcely had the new-comei's arrived, when they were attacked by a contagious fever, which turned their mission-house into a hospital. Jogues, Garnier, and Chatelain fell ill in turn ; and two of their domes- tics also were soon prostrated, though the only one of the number who could hunt fortunately escaped. Those who remained in health attended the sick, and tlie sufferers vied with each other in efforts often beyond their strength to relieve their companions in ^ "le luy preparay de ce que nous auions, pour le receuoir, mais quel festin ! vne poignee de petit poiason sec auec vn pcu de f arine ; i'enuoyay chercher quelques nouueaux espies, que nous luy flames rostir h. la fa^on du pays ; mais il est vray que dans son cceur et ^ I'entendre, il ne fit iamais meilleure chere. La ioye qui se ressent Ji ces entreueues semble estre quelque image du eontentement des iiii'ii-iieureux h leur arriu^e dans le Ciel, tant elle est pleine de suauite'." — I j Mercier, Relation des JIurons, 1037, 100. '{ \l i. II'' r t III ri«1 ' i^! 5;! '.I •.I ^'i i ■ • f ' i i" ■m. M A-T ! m 176 THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. [1G30-37. misfortune.^ The disease in no case proved fatal; but scarcely had health begun to return to their household, when an unforeseen calamity demanded tlie exertion of all their energies. The pestilence, which for two years past had from time to time visited the Huron towns, now returned with tenfold violence, and with it soon appeared a new and fearful scourge, — the small-pox. Terror was univei-sal. The contagion increased as autumn advanced ; and when winter came, far from ceasing, as the priests had hoped, its ravages were appalling. The season of Huron festivity was turned to a season of mourning ; and such was the despondency and dis- may, that suicide became frequent. The Jesuits, singly or in pairs, journeyed in the depth of winter from village to village, ministering to the sick, and seeking to commend their religious teachings by their efforts to relieve bodily distress. Happily, perhaps, for their patients, they had no medicine but a little senna. A few raisins were left, however; and one or two of these, with a spoonful of sweetened water, were always eagerly accepted by the sufferers, who thought them endowed with some mysterious and sovereign efficacy. No house was left unvisited. As the missionary, physician at once to body and soul, entered one of these smoky dens, he saw the inmates, their heads muffled in their robes of skins, seated around the fires in silent dejection. Everywhere was 1 Lettre de Brebeufau T. R. P. Mutio Vitelleschi, 20 Mai, 1637, in Carayon, 167. Le Mercier, Relation dcs Ilurons, 1637, 120, 123. I 10.10-37.] THE JESUIT ON IIIS ROUNDS. 177 lieard the wail of sick and dying children; and on or under the platforms at the sides of the house crouched squalid men and women, in all the stages of the dis- temper. The Father approached, made inquiries, spoke words of kindness, administered his liarmless remedies, or offered a bowl of broth made from game brought in by the Frenchman who hunted for the mission.^ The l)ody cared for, he next addressed liiinself to the soul. "This life is short, and very miserable. It matters little whether we live or die." Tlie patient remained silent, or gnimbled his dissent. The Jesuit, after enlarging for a time, in broken Huron, on the brevity and nothingness of mortal weal or woe, passed next to the joys of Heaven and tlie pains of Hell, which he set forth with his best rlietoric. His pictures of infernal fires and torturing devils were readily comprehended, if the listener had consciousness enough to comprehend anything; but with respect to the advantages of the French Para- dise, he was slow of conviction. "I wish to go where my relations and ancestors have gone," was a common reply. " Heaven is a good place for French- men," said another; "but I wish to be among In- dians, for the French will give me nothing to eat when I get there." '^ Often the patient was stolidly ^ Game was so scarce in the Huron country that it was greatly prized jis a luxury. Le Mercier speaks of an Indian, sixty years of age, who walked twelve miles to taste the wild-fowl killed by the French hunter. The ordinary food was corn, beans, pumpkins, and fish. ^ It was scarcely possible to convince the Indians that there was 12 m 178 THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. [1030-37. ( i m4 silent ; sometimes he was hopelessly perverse and con- tradictory. Again, Nature triumphed over Grace. "Which will you choose," demanded the priest of a dying woman, "Heaven or Hell?" "Hell, if niy children are there, as you say," returned the mother. "Do they hunt in Heaven, or make war, or go to feasts?" asked an anxious inquirer. "Oh, no!" replied the Father. "Then," returned the querist, "I will not go. It is not good to be lazy." But above all other obstacles was the dread of starvation in the regions of the blest. Nor, when the dying Indian had been induced at last to express a desire for Paradise, was it an easy matter to bring him to a due contrition for his sins ; for he would deny with indignation that he had ever committed any. When at length, as sometimes happened, all these difficul- ties gave way, and the patient had been brought to what seemed to his instructor a fitting frame for bap- tism, the priest, with contentment at his heart, brought water in a cup or in the hollow of his hand, touched his forehead with the mystic drop, and snatched him from an eternity of woe. But the con- vert, even after his baptism, did not always manifest a satisfactory spiritual condition. "Why did you baptize that Iroquois ? " asked one of the dying neo- phytes, speaking of the prisoner recently tortured; but one God for themselves and the whites. The proposition was met by such arguments as this : " If we had been of one Father, we should know how to make knives and coats as well as you." — Le Mercier, Relation des JIurons, 1037, 147. :r' ih^ ..r'.'] PRIESTS AND SORCERERS. 179 16:}6-:)7.] " he will get to Heaven before us, and, when he sees us coming, he will drive us out."^ Tlius did these worthy priests, too conscientious to let these unfortunates die in peace, follow them with benevolent persecutions to the hour of their death. It was clear to the Fathers that their ministrations were valued solely because their religion was sup- posed by many to be a "medicine," or charm, effica- cious against famine, disease, and death. They themselves, indeed, firmly believed that saints and angels were always at hand with temporal succors for the faithful. At their intercession, St. Joseph had interposed to procure a happy delivery to a squaw in protracted pains of childbirth ;2 and they never doubted that, in the hour of need, the celestial powers would confound the unbeliever with interven- tion direct and manifest. At the town of Wenrio, the people, after trying in vain all the feasts, dances, and preposterous ceremonies by which their medicine- men sought to stop the pest, resolved to essay the "medicine" of the French, and, to that end, called the priests to a council. "What must we do, that your God may take pity on us ? " Br^beuf 's answer was uncompromising : — "Believe in Him; keep His commandments; ab- jure your faith in dreams ; take but one wife, and be ' Most of the above traits are drawn from Le Mercier's report of lfi37. The rest are from Bre1)euf. '^ Bre})euf, Relation des Hurons, IHSO, 89. Another woman was delivLTuil on touching a relic of St. Ignatius, fln'il., 90. '! : t ■' '■ \ I .ih' i I •» t ! III! 1 ■■ i t; .:• ■h I 180 THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. [WMUM. e L *;^i true to her; give up your superstitious feasts; re- nouuce your assemblies of debaucheiy; eat no liuinan flesh; never give feasts to demons; and make a vow, that, if God will deliver you from this pest, you will build a chapel to offer Him thanksgiving and praise."* The terms were too hard. They would fain hnv- gain to be let off with building the chapel alono; hut Br(jbeuf would bate them nothing, and the council broke up in despair. At Ossossand, a few miles distant, the people, in a frenzy of terror, accepted the conditions, and iironi- ised to renounce their superstitions and refonii tjieir manners. It was a labor of Hercules, a cleansing of Augean stables ; but the scared savages were ready to make any promise that might stay the pestilence. One of their principal sorcerers proclaimed in a loud voice through the streets of the tov/n that the God of the French was their master, and that thencefortli all must live according to His will. "What consola- tion," exclaims Le Mercier, "to see God glorified hy the lips of an imp of Satan ! " ^ Their joy was short. The proclamation was on the twelfth of December. On the twenty-first, a noted sorcerer came to Ossossand. He was of a dwarfisli, hump-backed figure, — most rare among this sym- metrical people, — with a vicious face, and a dress consisting of a torn and shabby robe of beaver-skin. 1 Lo Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, 114, 116 (Cramoisy). 2 Thi f ' :lir i i : j 184 TIIK HURON AND TIIK .IKSl'IT. [103»M7. and shouted to the invisible niouHter, "If you wiiiit flenh, go to our enenjies, go to tlie Iroquois !" — while, to add terror to iM(i*suiiHion, the crowd in tlit; dwelling Ik^Iow yelled with all the force of their luiit,'.s, and heat furiously with sticks on the walls of Inirk. Besides these public efforts to stay the pestilenci!, the sufferei's, each for himself, had their own nictli- ods of cure, dictattid by dreams or prescrilx?d by i'stiil»- lished usage. Thus two of the i)riest«, entering n house, saw a sick man crouched in a corner, wliile near him sat three frieiuls. Before each of these was placed a huge portion of food, — enough, the witness declares, for four, — and though all were gorged to suffocation, with starting eyeballs and distended veins, they still lield stanchly to their task, resolvtfd at all costs to devour the whole, in order to cure the patient, who meanwhile ceased not, in feeble tones, to praise their exertions, and implore them to persevere.^ Turning from these eccentricities of the "noble savage"^ to the zealots who were toiling, according 1 " En fin il leur falliit rendrc gorge, ce qu'ils flrcnt & diuerscs reprists, ne laiasants pas pour ccla ilo continuer a vuidor lour plat." — Le Mercier, Relation 'J r ' ■ ■ ■ ■ \ 1 \ \m^v ! . i j i 'f • I ' I ■ , r. I I CHAPTER IX. 1637. i }■ { > : r I'i; ill' ► !('•■ CHARACTER OF THE CANADIAN JESUITS. Jean pe BufenEiTK. — Ciiahles Gaknieu. — Joseph Marie Chaii- MONOT. — Noel Cuahankl. — Isaac Jogues. — Other Jesuits. — Nature of their Faith. — Supernatuualism. — Visions.— Miracles. Before pursuing farther these obscure, but note- worthy, scenes in the drama of human history, it will be well to indicate, so far as there are means of doing so, the distinctive traits of some of the chief actora. Mention has often been made of Brdbeuf, — that niiis- culine apostle of the Faith, — the A jax of the mis- sion. Nature had given him all the passions of a vigorous manhood, and religion had crushed them, curbed them, or tamed them to do her work, — like a dammed-up torrent, sluiced and guided to grind and saw and weave for the good of man. Besi(k^ him, in strange contrast, stands his co-laborer, Charles Garnier. Both were of noble birth and gen- tle nurture; but here the parallel ends. Garnier's face was beardless, though he was above thirty years old. For this he was laughed at by his friends in Paris, but admired by the Indians, who thought him I ' « ! 16:37.] CHARLES CARNIER. 189 handsome.^ His constitution, bodily or mental, was by no means robust. From boyhood, he had shown a delicate and sensitive nature, a tender conscience, and a proneness to religious emotion. He had never gone with his schoolmates to inns and other places of amusement, but kept his pocket-money to give to l)eggars. One of his brothers relates of hhn, that, seeing an obscene book, he bought and destroyed it, lest other boys should be injured by it. He had alwcays wished to be a Jesuit, and, after a novitiate wliich is described as most edifying, he became a pro- fessed member of the Order. The Church, indeed, absorbed the greater part, if not the whole, of this pious family, — one brother being a Carmelite, an- other a Capuchin, and a third a Jesuit, while there seems also to have been a fourth under vows. Of Charles Garnier there remain twenty -four letters, written at various times to his father and two of liis l)i'others, chiefly during his missionary life among the IFurons. T]ie;y breathe the deepest and most intense Roman Catholic piety, and a spirit enthusiastic, yet sad, as of one renouncing all the hopes and prizes of tlie world, and living for Heaven alone. The affec- tions of his sensitive nature, severed from earthly objects, found relief in an ardent adoration of the Virgin Mary. With none of the bone and sinew of rugged manhood he entered, not only without hesita- ^ " C'est pourquoi j'ai bien gapne h. quitter la France, ou vous me feslez la guerre de n'avoir point de barbe; car c'est ce qui me fait estimer beau des Sauvagea." — Letfrps t/e Gamier, MSS. I . . ii: ; V f H) V.i • ■ ! !l i i lliil '■ i m'^> 190 CHARACTER OF CANADIAN JESUITS. [1637. tion, but with eagerness, on a life which would have tried the boldest; and, sustained by the spirit witliin him, he was more than equal to it. His fellow- missionaries thought him a saint; and had he lived a century or two earlier, he would perhaps have lieeii canonized : yet, while all his life was a willing mar- tyrdom, one can discern, amid his admirable virtues, some slight lingerings of mortal vanity. Thus, in three several letters, he speaks of his great success in baptizing, and plainly intimates that he had sent more souls to Heaven than the other Jesuits.^ Next appears a young man of about twenty-seven years, Joseph Marie Chaumonot. Unlike Briibeuf and Garnier, he was of humble origin, — his father being a vine-dresser, and his mother the daughter of a poor village schoolmaster. At an early age they sent him to ChS,tillon on the Seine, where he lived with his uncle, a priest, who taught him to speak Latin, and awakened his religious susceptibilities, which were naturally strong. This did not prevent him from yielding to the persuasions of one of his * The above sketch of Garnier is drawn from various sources. Observations du P. Henri de St. Joseph Carme, sur son Frere le P. Charles Garnier, MS. — Abreje de la Vie du R. Pere Charles Gar- nier, MS. This unpublished sketch bears the signature of the Jesuit Ragueneau, with the date 1052. For the opportunity of con- sulting it I am indebted to Rev. Felix Martin, S. J. — Lettres du P. Charles Garnier, MSS. These embrace his correspondence from the Huron country, and are exceedingly characteristic and striking. There is another letter in Carayon, Premiere Mission. Garnier's family was wealthy, as well as noble. Its members seem to have been strongly attached to each other, and the young priest's father was greatly distressed at his departure for Canada. m^ 1637.] JOSEPH MARIE CHAUMONOT. 191 companions to run off to Beauiie, a town of Bur- gundy, where the fugitives propcjsecl to study music under the Fathers of the Oratory. To provide funds for the journey, he stole a sum of about the vahie of a dollar from his uncle, the priest. This act^ whicli seems to have been a mere peccadillo of boyisli levitj', determined his future career. Finding himself in total destitution at Beaune, he wrote to his mother for money, and received in reply an order from his ^^ather to come home. Stung with the thought of being posted as a thief in his native village, he re- solved not to do so, but to set out forthwith on a pil- grimage to Rome; and accordingly, tattered and penniless, he took the road for the sacred city. Soon a conflict began within him between his misery and the pride which forbade him to beg. The pride was forced to succumb. He begged from door to door; slept under sheds by the wayside, or in haystacks; and now and then found lodging and a meal at a convent. Thus, sometimes alone, sometimes with vagabonds whom he met on the road, he made his way through Savoy and Lombardy in a pitiable con- dition of destitution, filth, and disease. At length he reached Ancona, when the thought occurred to him of visiting the Holy House of Loretto, and im- ploring the succor of the Virgin Mary. Nor were his hopes disappointed. He had reached that re- nowned shrine, knelt, paid his devotions, and offered his prayer, when, as he issued from the door of the chapel, he was accosted by a young man, whom he iif '.> <« A. f \ ^1 ' ii J- 192 CHARACTER OF CANADIAN JESUITS. [1637. conjectures to have been an angel descended to liis relief, and who was probably some penitent or de- votee bent on works of charity or self-n. /rtificatioii. Witli a voice of the greatest kindness, he proffered his aid to the wretched boy, whose appearance was alike fitted to awaken pity and disgust. The con- quering of a natural repugnance to filth, in the inter- est of charity and humility, is a conspicuous virtue in most of the Roman Catholic saints ; and whatever merit may attach to it was acquired in an extraordi- naiy degree by the young man in question. Api)[ir- ently, he was a physician; for he not only restored the miserable wanderer to a condition of comparative decency, but cured him of a grievous malady, the result of neglect. Chaumonot went on his way, thankful to his benefactor, and overflowing with an enthusiasm of gratitude to Our Lady of Loretto.^ I i 1 " Si la moindre dame m'avoit fait rendre ce service par le der- nier de ses valet.?, n'aurois-je pas dus lui en rendre toutes les re- connoissances possibles? Et si apres une telle charite' elle s'e'toit offerte k me servir toujours de mesme, comment aurois-je M riionorer, lui oheir, I'aimer toute ma vie ! Pardon, Heine des Anpes et des hommes ! pardon de ce qu'apres avoir re9u de vous tant do marques, j)ar lesquelles vous m'avez convaincu que vous m'avez adopte pour votre flls, j'ai eu I'ingratitude pendant des anne'es entiores de me comporter encore plutot en esclave de Satan qu'en enfant tl'une Mere Vierge. O que vous fetes bonne et charitable! puisque quelques obstacles que mes peches ayent pu mettre b. vos graces, vous n'avez jamais cesse de m'attirer au bien ; jusquc liv que vous m'avez fait admettre dans la Sainte Compagnie de Je'sus, votre flls." — Chaumonot, Vie, 20. The above is from the very curious autobiography written by Chaumonot, at the command of his superior, in 1688. The original manuscript is at the Hotel Diou of Quebec. Mr. Shea has printed it. 1637.] JOSEPH MARIE CHAUMONOT. 193 As he journeyed towards Rome, an old burgher, at whose door he had begged, employed him as a ser- vant. He soon became known to a Jesuit, to whom he had confessed himself in Latin; and as his ac- quirements were considerable for his years, he was eventually employed as teacher of a low class in one of the Jesuit schools. Nature had inclined him to a life of devotion. He would fain be a hermit, and, to that end, practised eating green ears of wheat; but finding he could not swallow them, conceived that he had mistaken his vocation. Then a strong desire grew up within him to become a Rdcollet, a Capu- chin, or, above all, a Jesuit ; and at length the wish of his heart was answered. At the age of twenty- one, he was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate.^ Soon after its close, a small duodecimo volume was placed in his hands. It was a Relation of the Canadian 1 His age, when he left his uncle, the priest, is not mentioned. But he must have been a mere child ; for at the end of his novi- tiate he hafi forgotten his native language, and was forced to learn it a second time. " Jamais y eut-il homme sur terre plus oblige' que moi k la Sainte Famille de Je'sus, de Marie et de Joseph ! Marie en me gue'rissant de ma vilaine galle ou teigne, me de'livra d'une infinite de peines et (I'incommodites corporelles, que cette hideuse maladie qui me ronffooit m'avoit cause. Joseph m'ayant obtenu la grace d'etre incorpore' k un corps aussi saint qu'est celui des Je'suites, m'a pre- serve' d'une infinite de misferes spirituelles, de tentations trfes dan- percuses et de peche's tres enormes. Je'sus n'ayant pas permis que j'entrasse dans aucun autre ordre qu'en celui qu'il honore tout k la fois de son beau nom, de sa douce pre'scnce et de sa protection spe'ciale. J^sus ! O Marie ! O Joseph ! qui mc'ritoit moins que moi vos divines faveurs, et envers qui avez vous e'te' plus prodigue ■? " — Chaumonot, Vie, 37. 13 I 1] :• 1 1 f i t '■ !:i ' f ■i if :l l] I 1^ ! . / i h ' , 1' ^ »• 1 1 1 i; \ [i 11 1 1 !i '>«t*f* I 'I 194 CIIAllACTER OF CANADIAN JESUITS. [16:57. mission, and contained one of those narratives of lir^beuf which have Ijeen often cited in the preceding pages. Its effect was immediate. Burning to share those glorious toils, the young priest asked to be sent to Canada; and his request was granted. Before embarking, he set out with the Jesuit Pon- cet, who was also destined for Canada, on a pilgrim- age from Rome to the shrine of Our Lady of Loretto. They journeyed on foot, begging alms by the way. Chaumonot was soon seized with a pain in the knee, so violent that it seemed impossible to proceed. At San Severino, where they lodged with the Barnabites, he bethought him of asking the intercession of a cer- tain poor woman of that place, who had died some time before with the reputation of sanctity. Accord- ingly he addressed to her his prayer, promising to publish her fame on every possible occasion, if she would obtain his cure from God.^ The intercession was accepted; the offending limb became sound again, and the two pilgrims pursued their journey. They reached Loretto, and kneeling before the Queen of Heaven, implored her favor and aid: while Chau- monot, overflowing with devotion to this celestial mistress of his heart, conceived the purpose of build- ing in Canada a chapel to her honor, after the exact model of the Holy House of Loretto. They soon afterwards embarked together, and arrived among the Hurons early in the autumn of 1639. 1 " Je me recommandai h. elle en lui promettant de la faire con- noitre dans toutes les occasions que j'en aurois jamais, si elle m'obtenoit de Dieu ma guerison." — Chaumonot, Vie, 46. i|:| 1637.] NOEL CHABANEL AND ISAAC JOGUES. 195 Noel Chabanel came later to the mission; for he (lid not reach the Huron country until 1043. He detested the Indian life, — the smoke, the vennin, the filthy food, the impossibility of privacy. He could not study by the smoky lodge-fire, among the noisy crowd of men and squaws, with their dogs, and their restless, screeching children. He had a natural inaptitude to learning the language, and labored at it for five years with scarcely a sign of progress. The Devil whispered a suggestion into his ear: Let him procure his release from these barren and revolting toils, and return to France, where congenial and use- ful employments awaited him. Chabanel refused to listen; and when the temptation still beset him, he bound himself by a solemn vow to remain in Canada to the day of his death. ^ Isaac Jogues was of a character not unlike Gamier. Nature had given him no especial force of intellect or constitutional energy, yet the man was indomitable and irrepressible, as his history will show. We have but few means ot characterizing the re- maining priests of the mission otherwise than as their traits appear on the field of their labors. Theirs was no faith of abstractions and generalities. For them, heaven was very near to earth, touching and mingling with it at many points. On high, God the Father sat enthroned; and, nearer to human sympathies, 1 Ahmje de la Vie du Phre Noel Chabanel, MS. This anonymous paper bears the signature of Ragueneau, in attestation of its truth. See also Ragueneau, Relation, 1650, 17, 18. Chabanel's vow is here given verbatim. wmi t i id' 't^ '4 \ ». tu 1 ■ ] 1 I ' i Mil! i ! m piiif 196 CHARACTER OF CANADIAN JKSUITS. [lt]:{7. Divinity incarnate in the Son, with the benign form of his immaculate mother, and her spouse St. JoHej)li, the chosen patron of New France. Interceding saints and departed friends hore to the throne of grace tlie petitions of those yet lingering in mortal bondage and formed an ascending chain from earth to heaven. These priests lived in an atmosphere of supernat- uralism. Every day had its miracle. Divine power declared itself in action immediate and direct, con- trolling, guiding, or reversing the laws of Nature. The missionaries did not reject the ordinary cures for disease or wounds; but they relied far more on a prayer to the Virgin, a vow to St. Joseph, or tlie promise of a neuvaine or nine days' devotion to some other celestial personage ; while the touch of a frag- ment of a tooth or bone of some departed saint was of sovereign efficacy to cure sickness, solace pain, or relieve a suffering squaw in the throes of childbirth. Once, Chaumonot, having a headache, remembered to have heard of a sick man who regained his health by commending his case to St. Ignatius, and at the same time putting a medal stamped with his image into his mouth. Accordingly he tried a similar ex- periment, putting into his mouth a medal bearing a representation of the Holy Family, which was tlie object of his especial devotion. The next morning found him cured. ^ The relation between this world and the next was sometimes of a nature curiously intimate. Thus, 1 Chauraonot, F", 73. 1637.] MIUACLES. 197 when Chaumonot heard of Garnicr's death, he imme- diately addressed his departed colleague, and prom- ised him the l)enefit of all the good works which he, Cliaumonot, might perform during the next week, provided the defunct missionary would make him heir to his knowledge of the Huron tongue.^ And lie ascribed to the deceased Garnier's influence the mastery of that language which he afterwards acquired. The efforts of the missionaries for the conversion of the savages were powerfully seconded from the other world, and the refractory subject who was deai to human persuasions softened before the superhu- man agencies which the priest invoked to his aid.^ It is scarcely necessary to add, that signs and voices from another world, visitations from Hell and visions from Heaven, were incidents of no rare occur- rence in the lives of these ardent apostles. To Brd- * " Je n'eus pas plutot appris sa glorieuse mort, que je lui promis tout ce qui je ferols de bien pendant huit jours, h, condition qu'il ine feroit son hcritier dans la connoissance parfaite qu'il avoit (lu Huron." — Chaumonot, Vie, 61. '^ As these may be supposed to be exploded ideas of the past, the writer may recall an incident of his youtli, while spending a few (lays in the convent of the Passionists, near the Coliseum at Rome. These worthy monks, after using a variety of arguments for his conversion, expressed the hope that a miraculous interpo- sition would be vouchsafed to that end, and that the Virgin would manifest herself to him in a nocturnal vision. To this end they gave him a small brass medal, stamped with her image, to be worn at liis neck, while they were to repeat a certain number of Aves and Paters, in which he was urgently invited to join ; as the result of wliich, it was hoped the Virgin would appear on the same night. No vision, however, occurred. m s». V iw I '\m itiil ' I. ill 198 CIIAIUCTEU OF CANADIAN JKSUITS. [lo:i7. beuf, whoso deep nature, like a furnace white hot, gh)vvc(l witli the still intensity of his enthuHiasin, they w(!ro especially fre(pient. Demons in troops appeared before him, sometimes in the guise of men, sometimes as Iwai^s, wolves, or wild-cats. lie called on God, and the apparitions vanished. Death, like a skeleton, sometimes menaced him, and once, as lu' faced it with an unquailing eye, it fell powerless at his feet. A demon, in the form of a woman, assailed him with the temptation which beset St. Benedict among the rocks of Subiaco; but Hrdljeuf signed the cross, and the infernal siren melted into air. He saw the vision of a vast and gorgeous palace ; and a miraculous voice assured him that such was to be the reward of those who dwelt in savage hovels for the cause of God. Angels appeared to him; and more than once St. Joseph and the Virgin were visibly present before his sight. Once, when he was among the Neutral Nation, in the winter of 1640, he beheld the ominous apparition v 1 a great cross slowly ap- proaching from the quarter where lay the country of the Iroquois. He told the vision to his comrades. "What was it like? How large was it?" they eagerly demanded. "Large enough," replied the priest, "to crucify us all."^ To explain such phe- 1 Quclques Remarques sur la Vie du Pere Jean de Brebetif, MS. On the margin of this paper, opposite several of the statements repeated above, are the words, signed by llagueneau, " Ex ipsius autoympho," indicating that tlie statements were made in writing by Bre'beuf himself. Still other visions are recorded by Chaumonot as occurring to io;}7.] SELF-DKVOTKJN. 199 noimmu is the province of psychology, and not of his- tory. Their occurrence is no matter of surprise, and it would l)e superfluous to doubt that they were re- counted in good faith, and with a full belief in their reality. In these enthusiasts we shall find striking examples of one of the morbid forces of human nature; yet in Ciuidor let us do honor to what was genuine in them, — that principle of self-abnegation which is the life of true religion, and which is vital no less to the highest forms of heroism. ..> 4. I itti.;!!! i; W Brc'lit'uf, wlien they were together in the Neutrftl country. See also the long notice of Brcbeuf, writton by his colleague, Raguencau, in tilt' Relation of 1040 ; and Tanner, Societas Jesu Miliums, 633. (M !« CHAPTER X. 1637-1640. PERSECUTION. 'A' OssossANfe. — The New Chapel. — A Triumph of the Faith.— The Nether Powers. — Signs of a Tempest. — Slanders.— Rage against the Jesuits. — Their Boldness and Persist- ent v. — Nocturnal Council. — Danger of the Priests.— Erebeuf's Letter. — Narrow Escapes. — Woes and Consola- tions. iV<\ The town of Ossossan^, or Rochelle, stood, as we have seen, on the borders of Lake Huron, at the skirts of a gloomy wilderness of pine. Thither, in May, 1637, repaired Father Pijart, to found, in this, one of the largest of the Huron towns, the new mis- sion of the Immaculate Conception.^ The Indians had promised Br^beuf to build a house for the black- robes, and Pijart found the work in progress. Tliere were at this time about fifty dwellings in the town, each containing eight or ten families. The quad- rangular fort already alluded to had now been com- pleted by the Indians, under the instruction of the priests.2 1 The doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin, recently sanctioned by the Pope, has long been a favorite tenet of the Jesuits. 2 Lettres de Gamier, MSS. It was of upright pickets, ten feet high, with flanking towers at two angles. ' i 1637.] THE NEW CHAPEL. 201 The new mission-house was about seventy feet in length. No sooner had the savage workmen secured the bark covering on its top and sides than the priests took possession, and began their preparations for a notable ceremony. At the farther end they made an altar, and hung such decorations as they had on the rough walls of bark throughout half the length of the structure. This formed their chapel. On the altar was a crucifix, with vessels and ornaments of shining metal ; while above hung several pictures, — among them a painting of Christ, and another of the Virgin, both of life-size. There was also a representation of the Last Judgment, wherein dragons and serpents might be seen feasting on the entrails of the wicked, while demons scourged them into the flames of Hell. The entrance was adorned with a quantity of tinsel, togethei with green boughs skilfully disposed.^ Never before were such splendors seen in the land of the Hurons. Crowds gathered from afar, and gazed in awe and admiration at the marvels of the sanctuary. A woman came from a distant town to behold it, and, tremulous between curiosity and fear, thrust her head into the mysterious recess, declaring that she would see it, though the look should cost her life.^ 1 "Nostrc Chapelle estoit extraordinairement bien ornce, . . . noua auions dresse vn portique entortille de feiiillagc, mcsle d'ori- peau, en vn mot nous auions estalle tout ce que vostre R. nous a enuoie de beau," etc., etc. — Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1687, 175, 176. In his Relation of the next year he recurs to the subject, and describes the pictures displayed on this memorable occasion. ■—Relation des Hurons, 1638, 33. 2 Ibid., 1637, 176, WWM : ) . I I l 1 ■ '!! I'll V h. -knili ' i^. r-v^ '^u. Hi '■■ I . 1 \ ! 1" i 1/ i . i I ■ 1 if ( if ! f I ' *' I D " Wm^ 202 PERSECUTION. [1637. i'^ ^i One is forced to wonder at, if not to admire, the energy with which these priests and their scarcely less zealous attendants ^ toiled to carry their pictures and ornaments through the most arduous of journeys, where the traveller was often famished from the sheer difficulty of transporting provisions. A great event had called forth all this preparation. Of the many baptisms achieved by the Fathei-s in the course of their indefatigable ministry, the subjects had all been infants, or adults at the point of death ; but at length a Huron, in full health and manhood, respected and influential in his tribe, had been won over to the Faith, and was now to be baptized with solemn ceremonial in the chapel thus gorgeously adorned. It was a strange scene. Indians were there in throngs, and the house was closely packed, — warriors, old and young, glistening in grease ?aid sunflower-oil, with uncouth locks, a trifle less coarse than a horse's mane, and faces perhaps smeared with paint in honor of the occasion ; wenches in gay attire ; hags muffled in a filthy discarded deer-skin, their leathery visages corrugated with age and malice, and their hard, glittering eyes riveted on the spectacle before them. The priests, no longer in their daily garb of black, but radiant in their surplices, the genu- 1 The Jesuits on these distant missions were usually attended by followers who had taken no vows, and could leave their service at will, but whose motives were religious, and not mercenary. Proba- bly this was the character of their attendants in the present case. They were known as donnes, or, " given men." It appears from a letter of the Jesuit Du Peron, that twelve hired laborers were soon after sent up to the mission. 1637.] THE NETHER POWERS. 203 flections, the tinkling of the bell, the swinging of the censer, the sweet odors so unlike the fumes of tlie smoky lodge-fires, the mysterious elevation of the Host (for a mass followed the baptism), and the agi- tation of the neophyte, whose Indian imperturbability fairly deserted him, — all these combined to produce on the minds of the savage beholders an impression that seemed to promise a rich harvest for the Faith. To the Jesuits it was a day of tiiumph and of hope. The ice had been broken; the wedge had entered; light had dawned at last on the long night of heath- endom. But there was one feature of the situation which in their rejoicing they overlooked. The Devil had taken alarm. He had borne with reasonable composure the loss of individual sculs snatched from him by former baptisms ; but here was a convert whose example and influence threatened to shake his Huron empire to its very foundation. In fury and fear, he rose to the conflict and put forth all his malice and all his hellish ingenuity. Such, at least, is the explain' tion given by the Jesuits of the scenes that followed.^ Whether accepting it or not, ^ Several of the Jesuits allude to this supposed excitement among the tenants of the nether world. Tims, Le Mercier says : "Le Diable 6^. sentoit press^ de prfes, il ne pouuoit supporter le Biiptesme solennel de quelques Sauuages des plus signalez." — Relation des Hurons, 1638, 33. Several other baptisms of less not3 followed that above described. Gamier, writing to his brother, repeatedly alludes lo the alarm excited in Hell by the recent suc- cesses of the mission, and adds, — " Vous pouvez juger quelle con- solation nous etoit-ce de voir le diable s'armer contre nous et se sorvir de ses esclaves pour nous attaquer et tacher de nous perdre en haine de J. C." ! * H '4 *■ j ». i li h 1 r 204 PERSECUTION. [1637-40. p f let us examine the circumstances which gave rise to it. The mysterious strangers, garbed in black, who of late years had made their abode among them from motives past finding out, marvellous in knowledge, careless of life, had awakened in the breasts of the Hurons mingled emotions of wonder, perplexity, fear, respect, and awe. From the first, they had held them answerable for the changes of the weather, commending them when the crops were abundant, and upbraiding them in times of scarcity. They thought them mighty magicians, masters of life and death ; and they came to them for spells, sometimes to destroy their enemies, and sometimes to kill grass- hoppers. And now it was whispered abroad that it was they who had bewitched the nation, and caused the pest which threatened to exterminate it. It was Isaac Jogues who first heard this ominous rumor, at the town of Onnentisati ; and it proceeded from the dwarfish sorcerer already mentioned, who boasted himself a devil incarnate. The slander spread fast and far. Their friends looked at them askance; their enemies clamored for their lives. Some said that they concealed in their houses a corpse, which infected the country, — a perverted notion, derived from some half-instructed neophyte, concerning the body of Christ in the Eucharist. Others ascribed the evil to a serpent, others to a spotted frog, others to a demon which the priests were supposed to carry in the barrel of a gun. 1637-40.] TERROR OF THE HURONS. 205 Others again gave out that they had pricked an in- fant to death with awls in the forest, in order to kill ii\e Huron children by magic. "Perhaps," observes Father Le Mercier, "the Devil was enraged because we had placed a great many of these little innocents in Heaven. "1 The picture of the Last Judgment became an ob- ject of the utmost terror. It was regarded as a charm. The dragons and serpents were supposed to be the demons of the pest, and the sinners whom they were so busily devouring to represent its vic- tims. On the top of a spruce-tree, near their house at Ihonatiria, the priests had fastened a small streamer, to show the direction of the wind. This, too, v/as taken for a charm, thromng off disease and death to all quarters. The clock, once an object of harmless wonder, now excited the wildest alarm ; and the Jesuits were forced to stop it, since, when it struck, it was supposed to sound the signal of death. At sunset, one would have seen knots of Indians, their faces dark with dejection and terror, listening to the measured sounds which issued from within the neighboring house of the mission, where, with bolted doors, the priests were singing litanies, mistaken for incantations by the awe-struck savages. Had the objects of these charges been Indians, their term of life would have been very short. The i 1 1 s if ' j, ! i I i : 1 ! i t , i 1 1 ^ J 1 f 1 ^n ,,%; i . ( i ^ "Le diable enrageoit peutestre de ce que nous avions place dans le ciel quantit«5 de ces petits innocens." — Le Mercior, Relation des Hurons, 1638, 12 (Cramoisy). II 206 PERSECUTION. [1637-40. T IW it ^< blow of a hatchet, stealthily struck in the dusky en- trance of a lodge, would have promptly avenged tlie victims of their sorcery, and delivered the country from peril. But the priests inspired a strange awe. Nocturnal councils were held; their death was de- creed ; and, as they walked their rounds, whispering groups of children gazed after them as men doomed to die. But who should be the executioner? They were reviled and upbraided. The Indian boys threw sticks at them as they passed, and then ran behind the houses. When they entered one of these pestif- erous dens, this impish crew clambered on the roof to pelt them with snowballs through the smoke-holes. The old squaw who crouched by the fire scowled on them with mingled anger and fear, and cried out, "Begone! there are no sick ones here." The inva- lids wrapped their heads in their blankets ; and when the priest accosted some dejected warrior, the savage looked gloomily on the ground, and answered not a word. Yet nothing could divert the Jesuits from their ceaseless quest of dying subjects for baptism, and above all of dying children. They penetrated every house in turn. When, through the thin walls of bark, they heard the wail of a sick infant, no menace and no insult could repel them from the threshold. They pushed boldly in, asked to buy some trifle, spoke of late news of Iroquois forays, — of anything, in short, except the pestilence and the sick child; conversed for a while till suspicion was partially ;s 1637.] THE GREAT COUNCIL. 207 lulled to sleep, and then, pretending to observe the sufferer for the first time, approached it, felt its pulse, and asked of its health. Now, while appar- ently fanning the heated brow, the dexterous visitor touched it with a corner of his handkerchief, which he had previously dipped in water, murmured the baptismal words with motionless lips, and snatched another soul from the fangs of the "Infernal Wolf." ^ Thus, with the patience of saints, the courage of heroes, and an intent truly charitable, did the Fathers put forth a nimble-fingered adroitness that would have done credit to the profession of which the func- tion is less to dispense the treasures of another world than to grasp those which pertain to this. The Huron chiefs were summoned to a great coun- cil, to discuss the state of the nation. The crisis demanded all their wisdom ; for while the continued ravages of disease threatened them with annihilation, the Iroquois scalping-parties infested the outskirts of their towns, and murdered them in their fields and forests. The assembly met in August, 1637; and the Jesuits, knowing their deep stake in its delibera- tions, failed not to be present, with a liberal gift of ^ Ce loup infernal is a title often bestowed in the Relations on the Devil. The above details are gathered from the narratives of Prebeuf, Le Mercier, and Laleraant, and letters, published and unpublished, of several other Jesuits. In another case, an Indian girl was carrying on her back a sick chi'd, two months old. Two Jesuits approached, and while one of them amused the girl with his rosary, "I'nutre le baptise leste- ment; le pauure petit n'attendoit que ceste faueur du Ciel pour s'y enuoler." ^-»l ^1- n V ( 1 I 208 PERSECUTION. [1637. wampum, to show their sympathy in the public calam- ities. In private, they sought to gain the good-will of the deputies, one by one; but though they were successful in some cases, the result on the whole was far from hopeful. In t} 1 intervals of the council, Br^beuf discoursed to the crowd of chiefs on the wonders of the visi})le heavens, — the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets. They were inclined to believe what he told them; for he had lately, to their great aniazement, accurately predicted an eclipse. From the tires above he passed to the fires beneath, till the listeners stood aghast at his hideous pictures of the flames of perdi- tion, — the only species of Christian instruction which produced any perceptible effect on this unpromising auditory. The council opened on the evening of the fourth of August, with all the usual ceremonies ; and the night was spent in discussing questions of treaties and alli- ances, with a deliberation and good sense which the Jesuits could not help admiring. ^ A few days after, the assembly took up the more exciting question of the epidemic and its causes. Deputies from three of the four Huron nations were present, each deputation- sitting apart. The Jesuits were seated with the Na- tion of the Bear, in whose towns their missions were established. Like all important councils, the session was held at night. It was a strange scene. The light of the fires flickered aloft into the smoky vault 1 Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1638, 38. 1037.] THE JESUFTS IMPEACHED. 209 and iimonjT the soot-begrimed raftei-s of the great couiicil-honse, ^ and cast an uncertain gleam on the wild and d(3J6cted throng that filled the platforms and th'3 floor. "I think I never saw anything more lugubrious," writes Le Mercier: "they looked at each other like so many corpses, or like men wli already feel the terror of death. When they spoke, it was only with sighs, each reckoning up the sick and dead of his own family. All this was to excite each other to vomit poison against us." A grisly old chief, named Ontitarac, withered with age and stone-blind, but renowned in past years for eloquence and counsel, opened the debate in a loud, though tremulous voice. First he saluted each of the three nations present, then each of the chiefs in turn, — congratulated them that all were there as- sembled to deliberate on a subject of the last impor- tance to the public welfare, and exhorted them to give it a mature and calm consideration. Next rose the chief whose office it was to preside over the Feast of the Dead. He painted in dismal colors the woful condition of the country, and ended with charging it all upon the sorceries of the Jesuits. Another old cliief followed him. "My brothers," he said, "you know well that I am a war- chief, and very rarely speak except in councils of war ; but I am compelled to speak now, since nearly all the other chiefs are dead, and I must utter what is in my heart before I ^ It must have been the house of a chief. The Hurons, unlike some other tribes, had no houses set apart for public occasions. 14 I i Mill II ^ i it 210 PERSECUTION. [m: M f ■ ^pi^f^ I '' .»a follow them to the grave. Only two of my family are left alive, and perhaps even these will not long escape the fury of the pest. I have seen other dis- eases ravaging the country, but nothing that could compare with this. In two or three moons we saw their end ; but now we have suffered for a year and more, and yet the evil does not abate. And, what is worst of all, we have not yet discovered its source." Then, with words of studied moderation, alternating with bursts of angry invective, he proceeded to accuse the Jesuits of causing, by their sorceries, the unpar- alleled calamities that afflicted them ; and in su})p()rt of his charge he adduced a prodigious mass of evi- dence. When he had spent his eloquence, Br^heuf rose to reply, and in a few words exposed the absurd- ities of his statements; whereupon another accuser brought a new array of charges. A clamor soon arose from the whole assembly, and they called upon Br^beuf with one voice to give up a certain charmed cloth which was the cause of their miseries. In vain the missionary protested that he had no such cloth. The clamor increased. "If you will not believe me," said Br^beuf, "go to our house; 3arch everywhere; and if you are not sure which is the charm, take all our clothing and all our cloth, and throw them into the lake."' "Sorcerers always talk in that way," was the reply. "Then what will you have me say?" demanded Brdbeuf. Ifi37.] DANGER OF THE PRIESTS. 211 "Tell us the cause of the [)est." Mrel)euf replied to the best of his power, mingling his e.\i)liinations with instructions in Christian doc- trine and exhortations to embrace the Faith. lie was continually interrupted; and the old chief, Ontitarac, still called upon him to produce the charmed cloth. Tlius the debate continued till after midnight, when several of the assembly, seeing no prospect of a ter- mination, fell asleep, and others went away. One old chief, as he passed out, said to Br^beuf, " If some young man should split your head, we should have nothing to say." The priest still continued to har- angue the diminished conclave on the necessity of obeying God, and the danger of offending Him, when the chief of Ossossand called out impatiently, " What sort of men are these ? They are always saying the same thing, and repeating the same words a hundred times. They are never done with telling us about their OM^ and what he demands and what he forbids, and Paradise and Hell."^ "Here was the end of this miserable council," writes Le Mercier; . . . "and if less evil came of it than was designed, we owe it, after God, to the Most Holy Virgin, to whom we had made a vow of nine masses in honor of her immaculate conception." The Fathers had escaped for the time; but they were still in deadly peril. They had taken pains to '^fTPf^ t i 1. • .il ■ii ;| !'■ : '1 • till »• i f i ! 1 t t M. i '■ ill 1 The above account of the council is drawn from Le Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1638, chap. ii. See also Bressani, Relation Abwjee, 163. ■' 'f, icii 212 rERSECUTION. 16;J7. secure friends in private, and there were those who were attaclied to their interests; yet none dared ()[)enly take their part. The few converts tliey liad lately made came to them in secret, and warned ilicin that their death was determined upon. Their house was set on fire; in public, every face was avcntcd from them; and a new council was called to pro- nounce the decree of death. They appeared heforc it with a front of such unflinching assurance that theii- judges, Indian-like, postponed the sentence. Yet it seemed impossible that they should much lonf^cr escape. Br^beuf, therefore, wrote a letter of fare- well to his Superior, Le Jeune, at Quebec, and con- fided it to some converts whom he could trust, to he carried by them to its destination. "We are perhaps," he says, "about to give our blood and our lives in the cause of our Master, Jesus Christ. It seems that His goodness will accept this sacrifice, as regards me, in expiation of my great and numberless sins, and that He will thus crown the past services and ardent desires of all our Fathers here. . . . Blessed be His name forever, that He has chosen us, among so many better than we, to aid Him to bear His cross in this land I In all things, His holy will be done ! " He then acquaints Le Jeune that he has directed the sacred vessels, and all else belonging to the service of the altar, to be placed, in case of his death, in the hands of Pierre, the convert whose baptism has been described, and that especial care will be taken to preserve the dictionary and 10:17.] Tin: FAIIKVVKLL FKAST. 218 other writings on the Huron languago. The letter closes with a request for masses and prayers.' The imperilled Jesuits now took a singular, but certainly a very wise step They gave one of those faiuwell feasts — festins iV adieu — which Huron cus- tom enjoined on those about to die, whether in the course of Nature or by public execution. Being 1 The following is the conclusion of the letter (Le Mercier, Relation des Ilurons, 1038, 43) : — En tout, sa sainte volontd soit faite; s'il vcut que tWaceste heure nous mourinns, 6 la bonne heure pour nous ! s'il veut nous roseruer a d'autres trauaux, qu'il soit beny ; si vous entendez que Dieu ait couronncJ nos petits trauaux, ou plustost nos desirs, bcnissez-le : car c'est pour luy que nous dcsirons viure et mourir, et c'est luy qui nous en donne la grai . Au reste si quelques-vns suruiuent i'ay (lonn<5 ordre de tout co qu'ils doiuent faire. I'ay estfi d'aduis que nos Peres et nos domestiques se retirent chez ceux qu'ils croy- ront estre leurs meilleurs amis ; i'ay donne charge qu'on porte eliez jrro nostre premier Chresticn tout ce qui est de la Sacristio, sur tout qu'on ait vn soin particulier de mettre en lieu d'asseurancc le Diction- naire et tout ce que nous auons de la langu?. Pour moy, si Dieu me fait la grace d'aller au Ciel, ie prieray Oieu pour eux, pour les pauures Hurons, et n'oublieray pas Vostre Reuerence. Apres tout, nous supplions V. R. et tons nos Peres de ne nous oublior en leurs saincts Sacrifices et prieres, afln qu'en la vie et apns la mort, il nous fasse misericorde ; nous sommes tons en la viu I't k I'Eternite, Dc vostre Reuerence tres-humbles et tres-affectionnez seruiteurs tn Nostro Seigneur, Iean de Brebevp. Francois Ioseph Le Mercier. Pierre Chastellain. Charles Garnier. Pavl Raoveneav. En la Residence de la Conception, k Ossossan^, ce 28 Octobre. I'ay laisse en la Residence de sainct Ioseph les Peres Pierre Pijart et Isaac logves, dans les mesmes sentimcns. \ ,!i;if| % \ I ! ! \ \ m •^/ I fill I I I '^f'l I ) \ .m\ ! 214 PERSECUTION. [1637. interpreted, it was a declaration that the priests knew their danger, and did not shrink from it. It might have the effect of changing overawed friends into open advocates, and even of awakening a certain sympathy in the breasts of an assembly on whom a bold bearing could rarely fail of influence. The house was packed with feasters, and Br^beuf ad- dressed them as usual on his unfailing themes of God, Paradise, and Hell. The throng listened in gloomy silence ; and each, when he had emptied his bowl, rose and departed, leaving h'^ entertainers in utter doubt as to his feelings and intentions. From this time forth, tiowever, the clouds that overhung the Fathers became less dark and threatening. Vo?jes were heard in their defence, and looks were less constantly averted. They ascribed the change to the intercession of St. Joseph, to whom they had vowed a nine days' devotion. By whatever cause produced, the lapse of a week wrought a hopeful improvement in their prospecte ; and when they went out of doors in the morning, it was no longer with the expectation of having a hatchet struck into their brains as they crossed the threshold.- The persecution of the Jesuits as sorcerers contin- ued, in an intermittent form, for years; and several of them escaped very narrowly. In a house at Ossos- 1 " Tant y a que depuis le 6. de Nouembre que nous acheuasmes nos Messes votiues k son honneur, nous auons iouy d'vn repos incroyable, nous nous en emeruillons nous-mesmes de iour en iour, quand nous considerons en quel estat estoient nos affaires il n y a que huict iours." — Le Mercier, Relation des Uurons, 1638, 44. iHi'l 1037-10.] NARROW ESCAPES. 215 sand, a young Indian rushed suddenly upon P'ran9ois Du Peron, and lifted his tomahawk to brain him, when a squaw caught his hand. Paul Ragueneau wore a crucifix, from which hung the image of a skull. An Indian, thinking it a charm, snatched it from him. The priest tried to recover it, when the savage, his eyes glittering with murder, brandished his hatchet to strike. Ragueneau stood motionless, waiting the blow. His assailant forbore, and with- drew, muttering. Pierre Chaumonot was emerging fron a house at the Huron town called by the Jes- uits St. Michel, where he had just baptized a dying girl, when her brother, standing hidden in the door- way, struck him on the head with a stone. Chau- monot, severely wounded, staggered without falling, when the Indian sprang upon him with his toma- hawk. The bystanders arrested the blow. Fran- 9oi8 Le Mercier, in the midst of a crowd of Indians in a house at the town called St. Louis, was assailed by a noted chief, who rushed in, raving like a mad- man, and in a torrent of words charged upon him all the miseries of the nation. Then, snatching a brand from the fire, he shook it in the Jesuit's face and told him that he should be burned alive. Le Mercier met him with looks as determined as his own, till, abashed at his undaunted front and bold denuncia- tions, the Indian stood confounded.^ ^ The above incidents are from Le 'lercier, Lalemant, Bressani, tlio autobiography of Chaumonot, the unpublislied writings of Giunier, and the ancient manuscript volume of memoirs of the oiirly Canadian missionaries, at St. Mary's College, Montreal. j % s ■ . i5 f Hi '•:* >' 216 PERSECUTION. [1637-40. Tixe belief that their persecutions were owing to the fury of the Devil, driven to desperation by tlie home-tLrusts he had received at their hands, was an unfailing consolation to the priests. "Truly," writes Le Mercier, "it is an unspeakable happiness for us, in the midst of this barbarism, to hear the roaring of the demons, and to see Earth and Hell raging against a handful of men who will not even defend them- selves."^ In all the copious records of this dark period, not a line gives occasion to suspect that one of this loyal band flinched or hesitated. The iron Brdbeuf, the gentle Garnier, the all-enduring Jogues, the enthusiastic Chaumonot, Lalemant, Le Mercier, Chatelain, Daniel, Pijart, Ragueneau, Du Peron, Poncet, Le Moyne, — one and all bore themselves with a tranquil boldness, which amazed the Indians and enforced their respect. Father Jerome Lalemant, in his journal of 1639, is disposed to draw an evil augury for the mission from the fact that as yet no priest had been put to death, inasmuch as it is a received maxim that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. ^ He consoles 1 "C'est veritablement un bonheur indicible pour nous, au milieu de cette barbarie, d'entendre les rugissemens dea demons, & de voir tout I'Enfer & quasi tous les hommes animez & remplis de fureur contre une petite poignee de gens qui ne voudroient pas se defendre." — Relation des Hurons, 1640, 31 (Cramoisy). ^ " Nous auons quelque f ois doute, sgauoir si on pouuoit esperer la conuersion de ce pais sans qu'il y eust effusion de sang : le prin- cipe re^eu ce semble dans I'Eglise de Dieu, que le sang des Martyrs est la semence des Chrestiens, me faisoit conclure pour lors, que cela n'estoit pas h esperer, voire mesme qu'il n'etoit pas h souhaiter. 16:37-40.] CONSOLATIONS. 217 himself with the hope that the daily life of the mis- sionaries may be accepted as a living martyrdom; since abuse and threats without end, the smoke, fleas, filth, and dogs of the Indian lodges, — which are, he says, little images of Hell, — cold, hunger, and ceaseless anxiety, and all these continued for years, are a portion to which many might prefer the stroke of a tomahawk. Reasonable as the Father's hope may be, its expression proved needless in the sequel; for the Huron church was not destined to suffer from a lack of martyrdom in any form. considere la gloire qui reuient k Dieu de la Constance des Martyrs, du sang desquels tout le reste de la terre ayant tantost este abreuue, ce seroit vne espece de malediction, que ce quartier du monde ne partioipast point au bonheur d'auoir contribue' k I'esclat de ceste gloire." — Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 56, 57. 11 t "4 ■i ! )i CHAPTER XI. 1638-1640. PRIEST AND PAGAN. 1 ' Du Peron's Journey. — Daily Life of the Jesuits. — Their Missionary Excursions. — Converts at Ossossane. — Ma- chinery OF Conversion. — Conditions of Baptism. — Back- sliders. — The Converts and their Countrymen. — The Cannibals at St. Joseph. We have already touched on the domestic life of the Jesuits. That we may the better know them, we will follow one of their number on his journey towards the scene of his labors, and observe what awaited him on his arrival. Father Frangois Du Peron came up the Ottawa in a Huron canoe in September, 1638, and was well treated by the Indian owner of the vessel. Lalemant and Le Moyne, who had set out from Three Rivers before him, did not fare so well. The former was assailed by an Algonquin of AUumette Island, who tried to strangle him in revenge for the death of a child, whicli a Frenchman in the employ of the Jes- uits had lately bled, but had failed to restore to health by the operation. Le Moyne was abandoned by his Huron conductors, and remained for a fort- night by the bank of the river, with a French atten- 1638.] DU PERON'S JOURNEY. 219 dant who supported him by hunting. Another Huron, belonging to the flotilla that carried Du Peron, then took him into his canoe; but, becom- ing tired of him, was about to leave him on a rock in the river, when his brother priest bribed the sav- age with a blanket to carry him to his journey's end. It was midnight, on the twenty-ninth of Septem- ber, when Du Peron landed on the shore of Thunder Bay, after paddling without rest since one o'clock of the preceding morning. The night was rainy, and Ossossan^ was about fifteen miles distant. His In- dian companions were impatient to reach their towns ; the rain prevented the kindling of a fire ; while the priest, who for a long time had not heard mass, was eager to renew his communion as soon as possible. Hence, tired and hungry as he was, he shouldered his sack, and took the path for Ossossand without break- ing his fast. He toiled on, half-spent, amid the ceaseless pattering, trickling, and whispering of in- numerable drops among innumerable leaves, till, as day dawned, he reached a clearing, and descried through the mists a cluster of Huron houses. Faint and bedrenched, he entered the principal one, and was greeted with the monosyllable Shay! — " Wel- come! " A squaw spread a mat for him by the fire, roasted four ears of Indian corn before the coals, baked two squashes in the embers, ladled from her kettle a dish of sagamite, and offered them to her famished guest. Missionaries seem to have been a novelty at this place; for, while the Father break- \ ^9\ f \ F \\\A III 220 PRIEST AND PAGAN. [16;}8. i i I fasted, a crowd, chiefly of children, gathered about him, and stared at him in silence. One examined the texture of his cassock ; another put on his hat ; a third took the shoes from his feet, and tried them on her own. Du Peron requited his entertainers with a few trinkets, and begged, by signs, a guide to Ossossand. An Indian accordingly set out with him, and conducted him to the mission-house, which he reached at six o'clock in the evening. Here he found a warm welcome, and little other refreshment. In respect to the commodities of life, the Jesuits were but a step in advance of the Indians. Their house, though well ^^entilated by numberless crevices in its bark walls, always smelt of smoke, and when the wind was in certain quarters was filled with it to suffocation. At their meals, the Fathers sat on logs around the fire, over which their kettle was slung in the Indian fashion. Each had his wooden platter, which, from the difficulty of trans- portation, was valued in the Huron country at the price of a robe of beaver-skin, or a hundred francs.' Their food consisted of sagamite, or " mush," made of pounded Indian-corn, boiled with scraps of smoked fish. Chaumonot compares it to the paste used for papering the walls of houses. The repast was occa- sionally varied by a pumpkin or squash baked in the ashes, or, in the season, by Indian corn roasted in 1 " Nos plats, quoyque de bois, nous cofitcnt plus cher que k'S votres ; ils sont de la valeur d'une robe de castor, c'est a dire cent francs." — Lettre du P. Da Peron a son Frere,21 Avril, 1639. The Father's appraisement seems a little questionable. 1638-40.] JESUIT DAILY LIFE. 221 the ear. They used no salt whatever. They could bring their cumbrous pictures, ornaments, and vest- ments through the savage journey of the Ottawa; but they could not bring the common necessaries of life. By day, they read and studied by the light that streamed in through the large smoke-holes in the roof, — at night, by the blaze of the fire. Their only candles were a few of wax, for the altar. They cul- tivated a patch of ground, but raised nothing on it except wheat for making the sacramental bread. Their food was supplied by the Indians, to whom they gave in return cloth, kniv^es, awls, needles, and various trinkets. Their supply of wine for the Eu- charist was so scanty, that they limited themselves to four or five drops for each mass.^ Their life was regulated with a conventual strict- ness. At four in the morning, a bell roused them from the sheets of bark on which they slept. Masses, private devotions, reading religious books, and break- fasting fUled the time until eight, when they opened thyir door and admitted the Indians. As many of ^ The above particulars are drawn from a long letter of Fran- cois Du Peron to his brother, Joseph-Imbert Du Peron, dated at La Conception (Ossossane), April 27, 1039, and from a letter equally long, of Chaumonot to Father Philippe Nappi, dated Du Pays des Hurons, May 28, 1640. Both are in Carayon. These private letters of the Jesuits, of which many are extant, in some cases written on birch-bark, are invaluable as illustrations of the subject. The Jesuits soon learned to make wine from wild grapes. Those in Maine and Acadia, at a later period, made good candles from the waxy fruit of the shrub known locally as the " bayberry." I' ii! ! '! : % ■ ■I . » i'' : ■ 3 ! ^|Hi> in 222 PRIEST AND PAGAN. [16;^8-40. these proved intolerable nuisances, they took what Lalemant calls the honnetc liberty of turning out the most intrusive and impracticable, — an act performed with all tact and courtesy, and rarely taken in dud- geon. Having thus winnowed their company, tliey catechised those that remained, as opportunity of- fered. In the intervals, the guests squatted by the fire and smoked their pipes. As among the Spartan virtues of the Hurons tliat of thieving was especially conspicuous, it was neces- sary that one or more of the Fathers should remain on guard at the liouse all day. The rest went forth on tlieir missionary labors, baptizing and instructing, as we have seen. To each priest who could speak Huron ^ was assigned a certain number of houses, — in some instances, as many as forty; and as these often h?.d five or six fires, with two families to each, his spiritual flock was as numerous as it was intract- able. It was his care to see that none of the numl^er died without baptism, and by every means in his power to commend the doctrines of his faith to the acceptance of those in health. At dinner, which was at two o'clock, grace was said in Huron, — for the benefit of the Indi ns pres- ent, — and a oharjter of the Bible was read aloud during the meal. At four or five, according to the season, the Indians were dismissed, the door closed, and the evening spent in writing, rea,ding, studying 1 At the end of the yaar 1638, theve were seven priests who spoke Huron, and three who had begun to learn it. I'Ril! 1638-40.] MISSIONARY EXCURSIONS. 223 the language, devotion, and conversation on the af- fairs of the mission. Tiie local missions here referred to embraced Os- sossiuid and the villages of the neighborhood ; but the priests by no means confined themselves witliin these limits. They made distant excursions, two in com- pany, until every house in every Huron town had heard the annunciation of the new doctrine. On the^:e journe;ys, they carried blankets or large man- tles at their backs, for sleeping in at night, l^esides a 5U[)ply of needles, awls, beads, and other small arti- cles to pay for their lodging and entertainment ; for the Hurons, hospitable without stint to each other, expected full compensation from the Jesuits. At Ossossand, the house of the Jesuits no longer served the double purpose of dwelling and chapel. In 1638, they had in their pay twelve artisans and laborers, sent up from Quebec,^ who had built, before the close of the year, a chapel of wood.'* Hither they removed their pictures and ornaments; and here, in winter, several fires were Kept burning, for the com- fort of the half-naked converts.^ Of these they now had at Ossossand about sixty, — a large, though evi- dently not a very solid nucleus for the Huron church, — and they labored hard and anxiously to confirm and multiply them. Of a Sunday morning in win- ^ Du Peron in Carayon, 173. * "La chapelle est faite d'une charpente bien jolie, seniblable presque en fa9on et grandeur, a notre chapelle de St. Julien." — Ibid., 183. ^ Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 62. I'' '=; :ti ii 1 i , 224 PRIEST AND TAGAiV. [1038-40. ter, one could liave seen them coming to mass, often from a considerable distance, "as naked," says Lale- mant, "as your hand, excei)t a skin over their l)a('ks like a mantle, and in the coldest weather a few skins around their feet and legs." They knelt, mi no led with the French mechanics, before the altar, — very awkwardly at li^ot, for the posture was new to tliLMii, — and all received the sacrament together : a spectii- cle which, as the missionary chronicler declares, re- paid a hundred times all the labor of their conversion.^ Some of the principal methods of conversion are curiously illustrated in a letter written by Garnier to a friend in France. "Send me," he says, "a picture of Christ without a beard." Several Virgins are also requested, together with a variety of souls in perdi- tion, — dmes damnees^ — most of them to be mounted in a portable form. Particular directions are given with respect to the demons, dragons, flames, and other essentials of these works of art. Of souls in bliss, — ct7nes hienheureuseSj — he thinks that one will be enough. All the pictures must be in full face, not in profile; and they must look directly at the beholder, with open eyes. The colors should be bright; and there must be no flowers or animals, as these distract the attention of the Indians. ^ 1 Laleinant, Relation des Ilurons, 1639, 62. 2 Garnier, Lettre 17'"*, MS. These directions show an excellent knowledge of Indian peculiarities. The Indian dislike of a beard is well known. Catlin, the painter, once caused a fatal quarrel among a party of Sioux, by representing one of them in profile, whereupon he was jibed by a rival as being but half a man. m.M lf);5.s-40.] CONDITIONS OF BAPTISM. 225 The first point with the priests was of course to bring the objects of their zeal to an accepttmce of the fundamental doctrines of the Roman Church ; but as the mind of the savage was by no means that beauti- ful blank which some have represented it, there was much to l)e erased as well as to be written. They must renounce a host of superstitions, to which they were attached with a strange tenacity, or which may rather be said to have been ingrained in their very natures. Certain points of Christian morality were also strongly urged by the missionaries, who insisted tluit the convert should take but one wife, and not cast her off without grave cause, and that he should renounce the gross license almost universal among the Hurons. Murder, cannibalism, and several other offences were also forbidden. Yet while laboring at the work of conversion', with an energy never sur- passed, and battling against the powers of darkness with the mettle of paladins, the Jesuits never had the folly to assume towards the Indians a dictatorial or overbearing tone. Gentleness, kindness, and patience were the rule of their intercourse.^ They ^ The following passage from the "Divers Sentimens," before cited, will illustrate this point: "Pour conuertir les Sauuages, il n'y faut pas tant de science que de bontd et vertu bien solide. Les quatro Elemens d'vn homme Apostolique en la Nouuelle France sont I'Affabilite, I'Humilite, la Patience et vne Charite genereuse. Le zele trop ardent brusle plus qu'il n'eschauffe, ct gaste tout ; il faut vne grande magnanimite et condescendance, pour attirer peu ^ peu ces Sauuages. lis n'entendent pas bien nostre Theologie, tnais ils entendent parfaictement bien nostre humilite et nostre aifabilite, et se laissent gaigner." So too Br^euf, in a letter to Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits Id il ■^h .^ (i t, f 1» . 1 *-» .1 :ii itil 220 PUT EST AND PAflAN. !i [10:18-10. f}h^y iii>«ia I ( . ]( Htn(li(Ml tlu! ii.iturc of the .savago, aiul confoniicd thomsolves to it with an adiniral)le taot. Far from treatiiif^ tlie Indian as an alien and l)ar])arian, they would fain have adopted him as a countryman; and uliey proposed to tlie llurons that a numher of yomi^' Frenchmen should settle among them, and many their daugliters in solemn form. The listcTiers were gratified at an overture so flattering. " But what is the use," they demanded, "of so much ceremony? If the Frenchmen want our women, they are welconu' to come and take them whenever they please, as they always used to do." ^ The Fathers are well agreed that their difficulties did not arise from any natural defect of understand- ing on the part of the Indians, who, accoi-ding to Chaumonot, were more intelligent than the French peasantry, and who in some instances showed in their way a marked capacity. It was the inert mass of pride, sensuality, indolence, and superstition that opposed the march of the Faith, and in which the Devil lay intrenched as behind impregnable breast- works. ^ (see Carayon, 163) : " Co qu'il faut demandor, avant tout, des ouv- riers destines k cette mission, c'est une douceur inalterable et iiiu' patience h, toute cpreuve." 1 Le Mercier, Relation des llurons, 1037, 160. ^ In this connection, the following specimen of Indian reasoninj: is worth noting. At the height of tlie pestilence, a Huron said to one of the priests, " I see plainly that your God is angry witli us because we will not believe and obey him. Ihonatiria, whcr"- you first taught his word, is entirely ruined. Tlien you came here to Ossossane', and we would not listen; so Ossossane is ruined too. lfi38-in.] BACKSLTDKRS. 227 It soon l)ecame evident that it wuh eiisier to make a coMvert than to keep him. Many of tlie Indians chui^' to the idea that hiptism was a Rafe^uard ii^'iiinst pestilence and misfortnne; and when the fiiUaey of this notion was made apparent, their zeal cooled. Their oidy amusements consisted of feasts, dances, and games, many of which were, to a greater or less degree, of a superatitious cliaracter; and as the Fathers could rarely prove to their own satisfac- tion the absence of the diabolic element in any one of them, they proscribed the whole indiscriminately, to the extreme disgust of the neophyte. His coun- trymen, too, beset him with dismal prognostics, — as " You will kill no more game ; " " All your hair will come out before spring;" and so forth. Vari- ous doubts also assailed him with regard to the sub- stantial advantages of his new profession ; and several converts were filled with anxiety in view of the prob- able want of tobacco in Heaven, saying that they could not do without it.^ Nor was it pleasant to tliese incipient Christians, as they sat in class listen- ing to the instructions of their teacher, to find them- Thia year you have been all through our country, and found scarc't'ly any one who would do what God commands ; therefore tlie pi'stilonce is everywhere." After premises so hopeful, the Fathers looked for a satisfactory conclusion; but the Indian proceeded: "My opinion is that we ought to shut you out from all the houses, and stop our ears when you speak of God, so that we cannot hear. Then we shall not be so guilty of rejecting the truth, and he will not punish us so cruelly." — Lalemant, Relation des Ilurons, 1640, 80. 1 Ibid., 1639, 80. ( 1 > J 1 i 1 J 1 1^ \ <. 1 f \ \ m > 228 PRIEST AND PAGAN. [io;j8-4o. |i sj w '' lU m0 selves and him suddenly made the targets of a shower of sticks, snowballs, corn-cobs, and other rubbisli, fluner at them by a screeching rabble of vagabond boys.i Yet while most of the neophytes demanded an anxious and diligent cultivation, there were a few of excellent promise ; and of one or two especially, the Fathers, in the fulness of their satisfaction, assure us again and again " that they were savage only in name. ■* As th'd town of Ihonatiria, where the Jesuits had made their first abode, was ruined by the pestilence, the mission established there, and known by the name of St. Joseph, was removed, in the summer of 1638, to Teanaustayd, — a large town at the foot of a range of hills near the southern borders of the Huron territory. The Hurons, this year, had had unwonted successes in their war with the Iroquois, and had taken, at various times, nearly a hundred prisoners. Many of these were brought to the seat of the new mission of St. Joseph, and put to death with friglit- ^ Lalemant, Relation des Hurons, 1639, 78. 2 From June, 16.39, to June, 1640, about a tljousand persons were baptized. Of these, two hundred and sixty were infants, and miiny more were children. Very many died soon after baptism. Of the whole number, less than twenty were baptized in health, — a num- ber much below that of the preceding year. The following is a curious case of precocious piety. It is tliat of a child at St. Joseph : " EUe n'a que deux ans, et fait jolinu'iit le eigne de la croix, et prend elle-meme de I'eau be'nite ; et une fois se mit h, crier, sortant de la Chapclle, b, cause que sa more qui la portoit ne lui avoit donn(? le loisir d'en prendre. II I'a falln re- porter en prendre." — Lettres de (iarnier, MSS. 1638-40.] THE CANNIBAT.S AT ST. JOSEPH. 229 fill tortures, thougli not before several had been con- verted and baptized. The torture was followed, in spite of the remonstrances of the priests, by those cannibal feasts customary with the ITurons on such occasions. Once, when the Fathers had been strenu- ous in their denunciations, a hand of the victim, duly prepared, was flung in at their door, as an invitation to join in the festivity. As the owner of Jie severed member had been baptized, they dug a hole in their chapel, and buried it with solemn rites of sepulture.^ 1 Lalcmaut, Relation des Ilurons, 1639, 70. \ li i i I I ; i i I .. ■' CHAPTER XII. 1639, 1640. THE TOBACCO NATION. — THE NEUTRALS. A Change of Plan. — Sainte Marie. — Mission of the Tobacco Nation. — Winter Journeying. — Reception of the Mission- aries. — Superstitious Terrors. — Peril of Garnier and JoGUES. — Mission of the Neutrals. — Huron Intrigues.— Miracles. — Fury of the Indians. — Intervention of Saint Michael. — Return to Sainte Marie. — Intrepidity of the Priests. — Their Mental Exaltation. It had been the first purpose of the Jesuits to form permanent missions in each of the principal Huron towns; but before the close of the year 1639 the difficulties and risks of this scheme had become fully apparent. They resolved, therefore, to establish one central station, to be a base of operations, and, as it were, a focus, whence the light of the Faith should radiate through all the wilderness around. It was to serve at once as residence, fort, magazine, hospi- tal, and convent. Hence the priests would set forth on missionary expeditions far and near; and hither they might retire, as to an asylum, in times of sick- ness or extreme peril. Here the neophytes could be gathered together, safe from perverting influences; and here in time a Christian settlement, Hurons 1G39.] SAINTE MARIE. ?.31 mingled with Frenchmen, might spring up and thrive under the shadow of the cross. The site of the new station was admirably chosen. The little river Wye flows from the southward into tlie Matchedash Bay of Lake Huron, and at about a mile from its mouth passes through a small lake. The Jesuits made choice of the right bank of the Wye, where it issues from this lake; gained per- mission to build from the Indians, though not with- out difficulty, and began their labors with an abundant energy and a very deficient supply of workmen and tools. The new establishment was called Sainte Marie. The house at Teanaustayd and the house and chapel at Ossossand were abandoned, and all was concentrated at this spot. On one hand, it had a short water communication with Lake Huron; and on the other, its central position gave the readiest access to every part of the Huron territory. During the summer before, the priests had made a survey of their field of action, visited all the Huron towns, and christened each of them with the name of a saint. This heavy draft on the calendar was fol- lowed by another, for the designation of the nine towns of the neighboring and kindred people of the Tobacco Nation. 1 The Huron towns were portioned into four districts, while those of the Tobacco Nation formed a fifth, and each district was assigned to the charge of two or more priests. In November and December, they began their missionary excursions, — ^ See Introduction, 32. !:l il: 1 i ' 1 \ I it vtU , 2i ^^^d ■'*'./.. 232 THE TOBACCO NATION. [um. ^IM for the Indians were now gatliered in their settle- ments, — and journeyed on foot through the denuded forests, in mud and snow, bearing on tlieir backs tlie vessels and utensils necessary for the service of the altar. Tho new and perilous mission of the Tobacco Na- tion fell to Garnier and Jogues. They were well chosen; and yet neither of them was robust by na- ture, in body or mind, though Jogues was noted for personal activity. The Tobacco Nation lay at the distance of a two days' journey from the Huron towns, among the mountains at the head of Notta- wassaga Bay. The two missionaries tried to find a guide at Ossossand ; but no:ie would go with them, and they set forth on their wild and unknown pil- grimage alone. The forests were full of snow; and the soft, moist flakes were still falling thickly, obscuring the air, beplastering the gray trunks, weighing to the earth the boughs of spruce and pine, and hiding every foot- print of the narrow path. The Fathers missed their way, and toiled on till night, shaking down at every step from the burdened branches a shower of fleecy white on their black cassocks. Night overtook them in a spruce swamp. Here they made a fire with great difficulty, cut the evergreen boughs, piled them for a bed, and lay down. The storm presently ceased; and, "praised be God," writes one of the travellers, "we passed a very good night. "^ 1 Jogues and Garnier in Lalemant, Relation des llurons, 1640, 95. 1639.] RECEPTION. 233 il In the morning they breakfasted on a morsel of corn l)read, and resuming their journey fell in with a small party of Indians, whom they followed all day without food. At eight in the evening, they reached the first Tobacco town, — a miserable cluster of bark cabins, hidden among forests and half buried in snow- drifts, where the savage children, seeing the two })lack apparitions, screamed that Famine and the Pest were coming. Their evil fame had gone before them. They were unwelcome guests; nevertheless, shivering and famished as they were in the cold and darkness, they boldly pushed their way into one of these dens of barbarism. It was precisely like a Huron house. Five or six fires blazed on the earth- ern floor, and around them were huddled twice that number of families, sitting, crouching, standing, or flat on the ground ; old and young, women and men, children and dogs, mingled pell-mell. The scene would have been a strange one by daylight: it was doubly strange by the flicker and glare of the lodge- fires. Scowling brows, sidelong looks of distrust and fear, the screams of scared children, the scolding of squaws, the growling of wolfish dogs, — this was the greeting of the strangers. The chief man of the household treated them at first with the decencies of Indian hospitality; but when he saw them kneeling in the litter and ashes at their devotions, his sup- pressed fears found vent, and lie began a loud har- angue addressed half to them and half to the Indians : " Now, what are these okies doing ? They are making !!: \ k. 1 ■ l|^U^'' ' I '■!, 234 THE NEUTilALS. [1010. If n charms to kill us, and destroy all that the pest lias spared in this house. I heard that they were sorcer- ers; and now, when it is too late, I believe it."^ It is wonderful that the priests escaped the tomahawk. Nowhere is the power of courage, faith, and an un- flinching purpose more strikingly displayed than in the record of these missions. In other Tobacco towns their reception was much the same; but at the largest, called by them 8t. Peter and St. Paul, they fared worse. They reached it on a winter afternoon. Every door of its capa- cious bark-houses was closed against them ; and they heard the squaws within calling on the young men to go out and split their heads, while children screamed abuse at the black-robed sorcerers. As night a[»- proached, they left the town, when a band of young men followed them, hatchet in hand, to put them to death. Darkness, the forest, and the mountain fav- ored them ; and, eluding their pursuers, they esca})ed. Thus began the mission of the Tobacco Nalion. In the following November, a yet more distant and perilous mission was begun. Brdbeuf and Chau- monot set out for the Neutral Nation. This fierce people, as we have already seen, occupied that part of Canada which lies immediately north of Lake Erie, while a wing of their territory extended across the Niagara into Western New York.^ In their ath- ^ Laleniant, Relation des Ilurons, 1640, 96. 2 Introduction. The river Niagar.a was at this time, 1640, well known to the Jesuits, though none of them had visited it. Lale- i i! 1640.] PERILS. 235 letic proportions, the ferocity of their manners, and the extravagance of their superstitions, no American tribe has ever exceeded them. They carried to a preposterous excess the Indian notion that insanity is endowed with a mysterious and superhuman power. Their country was full of pretended maniacs, who to propitiate their guardian spirits, or okies^ and acquire the mystic virtue which pertained to madness, raved sttirk naked through the villages, scattering the brands of the lodge-fires, and upsetting everything in their way. The two priests left Sainte Marie on the second of November, found a Huron guide at St. Joseph, and after a dreary march of five days through the forest, reached the first Neutral town. Advancing thence, they visited in turn eighteen others ; and their pro- mant speaks of it as the "famous river of this nation" (the Neu- trals). The following translation, from his Relation of 1641, shows that both Lake Ontario and Lake Erie had already taken tlieir present names : — " This river [the Niagara] is the same by winch our great lake of the Hurons, or Fresh Sea, discharges itself, in the first place, into Lake Erie (Je lac d'Erie), or the Lake of the Cat Nation. Then it enters tlie territories of the Neutral Nation, and trkes tlie name of Onguiaahra (Niagara), until it discharges itself into Ontario, or the Lake of St. Louis; whence at last issues the river which passes l)ef()re Quebec, and is called the St. Lawrence." He makes no allusion to the cataract, which is first mentioned as follows by Ragueneau, in the Relation of 1648 : — " Nearly south of this same Neutral Nation there is a great lake, about two hundred leagues in circuit, named Erie (Erie), which is formed by the discharge of the Fresh Sea, and which precipitates itself by a cataract of frightful height into a third lake, named Ontario, which we call Lake St. Louis." — Relation des Hurons, 1048, 46. 1 . i . { ?.u^ I iir 236 THE NEUTRALS. [loio. i^0» gress was a storm of maledictions. Brdbeuf espe- cially was accounted the most pestilent of sorcerers. The llurons, restrained by a superstitious awe, and unwilling to kill the priests, lest they should i-nihroil ihcniF '^ es with the French at Quebec, conceived {iial iheir object might be safely gained by stirriii^r up ?i r >*Gutrals to become their execuaoners. To that end, '..,.. >y sent two emissaries to the Neutral towns, who, calling the chiefs and young warriors to a council, denounced the Jesuits as destroyers of the human race, and made their auditors a gift of nine French hatchets on condition that they would put them to death. It was now that Brdbeuf, fully con- scious of tl 1 danger, half starved and half frozen, driven with revilings from every door, struck and spit upon by pretended maniacs, beheld in a vision that great cross which, as we have seen, moved on- ward through the air, above the wintry forests that stretched towards the land of the Iroquois. ^ Chaumonot records yet another miracle: "One evening, when all the chief men of t.ie town were deliberating in council whether to put us to death, Father Brdbeuf, while making his examination of conscience, as we were together at prayers, saw the vision of a spectre, full of fury, menacing us both with three javelins which he held in his hdnds. Then he hurled one of them at us ; but a more pow- erful hand caught it as it flew : and this took place a second and a third time, as he hurled his two remain- 1 See ante, 198. f I 1010.] THE ARCIIAN(JEL MICHAEL. 237 ing ja/elinR, . . . Latt at night our host came })ack from the council, wher^ the two Huron emissaries haU jiiii'le their gift oi hatchets to have us killed. He wakened ue io say that three times we had ])een at r e ^juint of death; for the young men had offered three times to strike the blow, and three times the old men had dissuaded them. This explained the meaning of Father Br(5l)euf's vision. "* They had escaped for the time; but the ^. J'^ns agreed among themselves that thenceforth no -e should give them shelter. At night, pier 'eJ With cold and faint with hunger, they found eve"' door closed against them. They stood and w p ched, saw an Indian issue from a house, and by a qi .S>: move- ment pushed through th'j half-open door into this abode of smoke and filth. The inmates, aghast at their boldness, stared in silence. Then a messenger ran out to carry the tidings, and an angry crowd collected. "Go out, and leave our country," said an old chief, "or we will put you into the kettle, and make a feast of you." "I have had enough of the dark-colored flesh of our enemies," said a young brave; "I wish to know the taste of white meat, and I will eat yours." A warrior rushed in like a madman, drew his bow, and aimed the arrow at Chaumonot. "I looked at him fixedly," writes the Jesuit, "and commended myself in full confidence to St. Michael. Without * Chaumonot, Vie, 56. if ■ '1 ! t (.(* ^ •M' ! 1 ', i ■ ■ ■ i ■,*>;} I I v litv. ^f^f^^ 238 THE NEUTRALS. [1040. doubt, this great archangel saved ns; for almost immediately the fury of the warrior was appeased, and the rest of our enemies so(m began to listen to the explanation we gave them of our visit to tiieir country."* The mission was barren of any other fruit than hardship and danger, and after a stay of four months the two priests resolved to return. On the way, they met a genuine act of kindness. A heavy snow- storm arresting their progress, a Neutral woman took them into her lodge, entertained them for two weeks with her best fare, persuaded her father and relatives to befriend them, and aided them to make a vocabulary of the dialect. Bidding their generous hostess farewell, they journeyed northward, through the melting snows of spring, and reached Sainte Marie in safety. ^ The Jesuits had borne all that the human frame seems capable of bearing. They had escaped as by miracle from torture and death. Did their zeal flag or their courage fail? A fervor intense and un- quenchable urged them on to more distant and more 1 Chaumonot, Vie, 57. 2 Lalemant, in his Relation of 1641, gives the narrative of tliis mission at lengtli. His account coincides perfectly with the briefer notice of Chaumonot in his Autobiograpliy. Chaumonot describes the difficulties of the journey very graphically in a letter to his friend, Father Nappi, dated Aug. 3, 1040, preserved in (^ara- yon. See also the next letter, Brebeufau T. R. P. Mutio Vitellcsclii, 20 AoUt, 1641. The Recollet La Roche Dallion had visited the Neutrals four- teen years before (see Introduction, 35, note), and, like his two successors, had been seriously endangered by Huron intrigues. ir.to.] MKNTAL KXALTATIOX. 239 (h'iully ventures. Tlie Ijeini^s, ho near to mortal syiiiiuitluea, so human, yet so divine, in whom tlieir fiiitli impersonated and dramati/Aul the great princi- ples of Cliristian truth, — virgins, saints, and angels, — hovered over them, and hehl he fore their raptured sight crowns of glory »ul garhmds of immortal hliss. They hurned to do, to suffer, and to die; and now, from out a living martyrdom, they turned their heroic gaze towards an liorizon dark with perils yet n.ore appalling, and saw in hope the day when they should l)ear the cross into the blood-stained dens of the Iroquois. 1 But in this exaltation and tension of the powers was there no moment when the recoil of Nature claimed a temporary sway? When an exile from his kind, alone, beneath the desolate rock and the gloomy pine-trees, the priest gazed forth on the piti- less wilderness and the hovels of its dark and ruth- less tenants, his thoughts, it n;t;y be, flew longingly heyond those wastes of forest and sea that lay be- tween him and the home of his boyhood ; or rather, led by a deeper attraction, they revisited the ancient centre of his faith, and he seemed to stand once more in that gorgeous temple, where, shrined in lazuli and gold, rest the hallowed bones of Loyola. Colunni and arch and dome rise upon his vision, radiant in painted light, and trembling with celestial music. 1 Tliis zeal was in no degree due to success ; for in 1641, after seven years of toil, the mission counted only about fifty living converts, — a falling off from former years. ! li \ ». li !!■ Is I H IH"!*' ' ,1 4" I 240 THK NEUTRALS. [lOKi. Again he kneels l)efore the altjir, from whose tiil)lii- ture heanis upon him that loveliest of shapes, in which the imagination of man has embodied the spirit of Christianity. The illusion overpowers him. A thrill shakes his frame, and ho bows in reverential rapture. No longer a memory, no longer a drciim, but a visioned presence, distinct and luminous in the forest shades, the Virgin stands before him. Pros- trate on the rocky earth, he adores the benign angel of his ecstatic faith, then turns with rekindled fer- vors to his stern apostleship. Now, by the shores of Thunder Bay, the Huron traders freight their birch vessels for their yearly voyage; and, embarked with them, let us, too, re- visit the rock of Quebec. fi i : f CHAPTER Xlll. 1G36-1646. QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. TiiK Nkw Governor. — Edikyino Examples. — Le Jettne's Corue HHONDKNTS. — U.VNK AND DkVOTION. — NuN9. — I'UIESTLY AU' TiioiiiTY. — Condition ok Qri'iiKc. — The Hundred Associates — CiiiTRCH Discipline. — I'iayh. — Fireworks. — Troce-s sions. — Catechising. — Terrorism. — Pictures. — The Con vKRTs. — The Society of Jesus. — The Foresters. I HAVE traced, in another volume, the life and death of the noble founder of New France, Sanuiel (le Champlain. It was on Christmas Day, 1635, that his heroic spirit bade farewell to the frame it had iinhnated, and to the rugged cliff where he had toiled so long to lay the corner-stone of a Christian empire. Quebec was without a governor. Who s'/ '^Ul suc- ceed Champlain; and would his successor be lu.ind equally zealous for the Faith, and friendly to the mission? These doubts, as he himself tells us, agi- tated the mind of the Father Superior, Le Jeune; but tlu were happily set at rest, when, on a laorn- ini,' in June, he saw a ship anchoring in the basin below, anci hastening with his brethren to the land- ing-place, was there met by Charles Huault de Moitt- niagny, a Knight of Malta, followed by a trai/i of otlicers and gentlemen. As they all climbed :he 16 I I m 242 QUEBKC AND ITS TENANTS. [1G30. :.l m "Jn Ipi^f^ rock togetlier, Montmagny saw a crucifix planted by tlie patli. He instantly fell on his knees before it; and nobles, soldiers, sailors, and priests imitated his example. The Jesuits sang 7'c Dcwn at the churcli, and the cannon roared from the adjacent fort. Here the new governor was scarcely installed, when a Jes- uit came in to ask if he would be godfather to an Indian about to be baptized. "Most gladly," replied the pious Montmagny. He repaired on the instant to the convert's hut, with a company of gayly appar- elled gentlemen; and while the inmates stared in amazement at the scarlet and embroidery, he bestowed on the dying savage the name of Joseph, in honor of the spouse of the Virgin and the j)atron of New France.^ Three days after, ho was told that a dead proselyte was to be buried; on which, leaving the lines of the new fortification ho was tracing, he took in hand a torch, De Lisle his lieutenant took another, Repentigny and St. Jean, gentlemen of his suite, with a band of soldiers followed, two priests bore the corpse, and thus all moved together in procession to the place of burial. The Jesuits were comforted. Champlain himseii had not displayed a zeal so edifying. 2 A considerable reinforcement came out with Mont- I ■ J i * Le Jeuno, Relation, 103G, 5 (Cramoisy). "Monsieur le Gou- vernour se transporte aux Cabanes de cos pauures harbares, feuivy d'une leste Noblesse. Je vous laisse a ponser quel estonnenieut ii ces 1 tuples de voir tant d'ecarlate, tant de personnes bien faites sous leuTS toits d'ecoreo ! " a Ibid., 83 (Cramoisy). Ifi3fi.] FERVORS FOR THE MISSION. 243 miigiiy, and among the rest several men of birth and sul)stance, with their families and dependants. "It was a sight to thank God for," exclaims Father Le Jeune, "to behold these delicate young ladies and these tender infants issuing from their wooden prison, like day from the shades of night." The Father, it will be remembered, had for some years past seen nothing but squaws, with papooses swathe .1 like mummies and strapped to a board. He was even more pleased with the contents of a huge packet of letters that was placed in his hands, bearing the signatures of nuns, priests, soldiers, cour- tiers, and princesses. A great interest in the mis- sion had been kindled in France. Le Jeune's printed Relations had been read with avidity; and his Jesuit brethren, who as teachers, preachers, and confessors had spread themselves through the nation, had successfully fanned the rising flame. The F'ather Superior finds no words for his joy. "Heaven," he exchdms, " is the conductor of this enterprise. Na- ture's arms are not long enough to touch so many hearts." 1 Ho reads how, in a single convent, thir- teen nuns have devoted themselves ])y a vow to the work of converting the Indian women and children; how, in the church of Montmartre, a nun lies pros- trate day and night before the altar, praying for the mission; 2 how "the Carmelites are all on fire, the Ursulines full of zeal, the sisters of the Visitation ^ " Cost Dleu qui conduit cctte cntreprise. La Nature n'a pas les bras assez longs," etc. — Relation, XCMS, 3. • iirebt'uf, Belation des Ilurons, 103(5, 70. ^^ ffmy^ '^ ''\ I 11 'i: :> : I i ! n 244 QUEBEC AND ITS TP:NANTS. [l(i:W. have no words to speak their ardor; " ^ how some per- son unknown, but blessed of Heaven, means to found a school for Huron children; how the Ducliesse d'Aiguillon has sent out six workmen to build a hos- pital for the Indians ; how, in every house of tlie Jes- uits, young priests turn eager eyes towards Canada ; and how on the voyage thither the devils raised a tempest, endeavoring, in vain fury, to drown the invaders of their American domain. ^ Great was Le Jeune's delight at the exalted rank of some of those who gave their patronage to the mis- sion ; and again and again his satisfaction flows from his pen in mysterious allusions to these eminent per- sons. '^ In his eyes, the vicious imbecile who sat on the throne of France was the anointed champion of the Faith, and the cruel and ambitious priest who ruled king and nation alike was the chosen instru- ment of Heaven. Church and State, linked in alli- ance close and potential, played faithfully into eacli other's hands; and that enthusiasm, in which tlie Jesuit saw the direct inspiration of God, was fos- 1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1630, 6. Compare "Divers Sontimens," appended to the Relation of 1()35. '^ " L'Enfer enrageant de nous vooir allor en la Nouuellc Fnincp pour c'onuertir les infidellos et diniinuor sa puissance, par dt'iiit il sousleuoit tous les Elemens centre nous, et vouloit abysiiuT la flotte." — Divers Sentiniens. 8 Among his correspondents was the young "Due d'Engliicn, afterwards the Great Condi-, at this time fifteen years old. " Dicii soit loiie! tout le ciel de nostre chere Patrie nous pronu't de fauor- ahles influences, iusques a ce nouuel astre, qui commence ^ i>ii- roistre parmy ceux de la premiere grandeur." — Le Jeune, Ri'l(iti"», 1030, 3, 4. IL 1630-46.] PRIESTLY AUTHORITY. 245 terecl by all the prestige of royalty and all the patron- age of power. And, as often happens where the interests of a hierarchy are identified with the inter- ests of a ruling class, religion was become a fashion, as graceful and as comforting as the courtier's em- broidered mantle or the court lady's robe of fur. Such, we may well believe, was the complexion of the enthusiasm which animated some of Le Jeune's noble and princely correspondents. But there were deeper fervors, glowing in the still depths of convent cells, and kindling the breasts of their inmates with quenchless longings. Yet we hear of no zeal for the mission among religious communities of men. The Jesuits regarded the field as their own, and desired no rivals. They looked forward to the day when Canada should be anotlier Paraguay.^ It was to the combustible hearts of female recluses tlia*^ the torch was most busily applied; and here, accordingly, blazed forth a prodigious and amazing flame. "If all had their pious will," writes Le Jeune, "Quebec would soon be flooded with nuns."^ Both Montmagny and De Lisle were half church- men, for both were Knights of Malta. More and more the powers spiritual engrossed thef colony. As nearly as might be, the sword itself was in priestly hands. The Jesuits were all in all. Authority, ab- 1 " Que si celuy qui a escrit cctte lettre a leu la Relation de ce qui se passt au Paraguais, qu'il a veu ce qui se fcra un jour en la Nouuelle France." — Le Jeime, Relation, 1037, .304 (Crainoisy). 2 Cliaulraer, Le Nouveau Monde Chrestien, 41, is eloquent on this theme. ». 246 QUE'sPX AND ITS TENANTS. [10 10. solute, and without appeal, was vested in a council composed of the governor, Le Jeune, and the syndic, an official supposed to represent the interests of the inhabitants,^ There was no tribunal of justice, and the governor pronounced summarily on all complaints. The church adjoined the fort; and before it was planted a stake bearing a placard with a prohibition against blasphemy, drunkenness, or neglect of mass and other religious rites. To the stake was also attached a chain and iron collar; and hard by was a wooden horse, whereon a culprit was now and then mounted by way of example and warning. ^ In a community so absolutely priest-governed, overt of- fences were, however, rare ; and except on the annual arrival of the ships from France, when the rock swarmed with godless sailors, Quebec was a model of decorum, and wore, as its chroniclers tell us, an aspect unspeakably edifying. In the year 1640, various new establishments of religion and charity might have been seen at Quebec. Tliere was the beginning of a college and a seminary for Huron children, an embryo Ursuline convent, an incipient hospital, and a new Algonquin mission at a place called Sillery, four miles distant. Champlain's fort had been enlarged and partly rebuilt in stone by Montmagny, who had also laid out streets on the site of the future city, though as yet the streets liad no houses. Behind the fort, and very near it, stood * Le Clerc, ^tablissement de la Foij, chap. xv. ^ Le Jeune, Relation, 1086, 163, 164 (Cramoisy). 1040.] THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES. 247 the church and a house for the Jesuits. Both were of pine wood; and this year, 1640, both were burned to tlie ground, to be afterwards rebuilt in stone. The Jesuits, however, continued to occupy their rude mission-house of Notre-Dame des Anges, on the St. Chai'les, where we first found them. The country around Quebec was still an unbroken wilderness, with the exception of a small clearing made by the Sieur Giffard on his seigniory of Beau- port, another made by M. de Puiseaux between Que- bec and Sillery, and possibly one or two feeble attempts in other quarters. ^ The total population did not much exceed two hundred, including women and children. Of this number, by far the greater i^art were agents of the fur company known as the "Hundred Associates," and men in their employ. Some of these had brought over their families. The remaining inhabitants were priests, nuns, and a very few colonists. The Company of the Hundred Associates was bound by its charter to send to Canada fm thou- sand colonists before the year 1643.2 j^ ha( leither the means nor the will to fulfil this engagement. Some of its members were willing to mak^ ^^lersonal sacrifices for promoting the missions, and i lilding up ' 1 For Giffard, Puiseaux, and other colonists, compare Langevin, Notes sur les Archives de Notre-Dame de Beauport, 5, 6, 7 ; Ferland, Notes sur les Archives de N. D. de Quebec, 22, 24 (ISGo) ; Ibid., Cours d'llistoire du Canada, i. 266 ; Le Jeune, Relation, 1030, 45 ; Faillon, Ilistoire de la Colonic Fran^aise, I. c. iv., v. » See " Pioneers of France," 441. llfflipf ;l!PI'!'i^ ,i 248 QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [IfitO. a colony purely Catholic. Others thought only of the profits of trade; and the practical affairs of tli' company had passed entirely into the hands of tliis portion of its members. They sought to evade ol)li- gations the fulfilment of which would have ruined them. Instead of sending out colonists, they grant(;d lands with the condition tliat the grantees should fui- nish a certain number of settlers to clear and till them, and these were to be credited to the Company.' The grantees took the land, but rarely fulfilled tlie condition. Some of these grants were corrupt and iniquitous. Thus, a son of Lauson, president of the Company, received, in the name of a third person, a tract of land on the south side of the St. Lawrence of sixty leagues front. To this were added all the islands in that river, excepting those of Montreal and Orleans, together with the exclusive right of fishing in it through its whole extent.'^ Lauson sent out not a single colonist to these vast concessions. There was no real motive for emigration. No per- secution Gxpelied the colonist from his home; for none but good Catholics were tolerated in New I 'ranee. The settler could not trade with the In- 1 This appears in many early grants of the Company. Tims, in a grant to Simon Lc Maitre, Jan. 16, 1636, "que les hommes quo le dit . . . fera passer en la N. F. tourneront k la decharge de la dite Compagnie," etc., etc. — See Pieces sur la Tenure Setgne^iriale, pub- lished by the Canadian government, passim. ^ Archives du Seminaire de Villemarie, oited by Faillon, i. 350. Lauson's father owned Montreal. The son's grant extended from the river St. Francis to a point far above Montreal. — La Fontaine, Memoire sur la Famille de Lauson, Ifilo.J CONVENTS. - HOSPITALS. 249 (liuiis, except on condition of .selling again to the Company at a fixed price, lie might hunt, hut he could not fish ; and he was forced to heg or buy food i'or years before he could obtain it from that rude soil in sufficient quantity for the wants of his family. The Company imported provisions e^ery year for those in its employ ; and of these supplies a portion was needed for the relief of starving settle i-s. (iiffaitl and his seven men on his seigniory of Beauport were for some time the only settlers — excepting, perhaps, tlie Hubert family — who could support themselves throughout the year. The rigor of the climate re- [)elled the emigrant; nor were the attractions which Father Le Jeune held forth — "pictj. freedc««, and independence " — of a nature to entice him ticross the sea, whca it is remembered that this freedom con- sisted in subjection to the arbitrary will of a priest and a soldier, and in the liability, should he fc>.rget to go to mass, of being made fast to a post ^ith a collar and chain, like a do^ Aside from the fur trade of the Company, the whole life of the colony wa« in missions, convents, religious schools, and hospitals. Here on the rock of Quebec were the appendages, useful and odierwise, of an old-established civilization. WLiie as vet liiei-e ^v(M'e no inhabitants, and no immediate hope of any, there were institutions for the care *£ chilclipeiL the sick, and the decrepit. All these w^nft siirr -i by a charity in most cases precarious. Tht^ re- lied chiefly on the Company, wl o oy ^^-s ._r_- of 'a i! f I ,it f : i i- I ! 'l 250 QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [ItlKj. their patent were obliged to maintain religious wor- ship.^ Of the origin v,r the convent, hospital, and seminary I shall soon have occasion to speak. Quebec wore an aspect half military, half monastic. At sunrise and sunset, a squad of soldiei's in the pay of the Company paraded in the fort; and, as in Champlain's time, the bells of the church rang iiioi-n- ing, noon, and night. Confessions, masses, and 1)L'ii- ances were punctiliously observed; and, from the governor to the meanest laborer, the Jesuit watched and guided all. The social atmosphere of New I^^iig- land itse'f was not more suffocating. By day and hy night, at home, at church, or at his daily work, the colonist lived under the eyes of busy and over-zealous priests. At times, the denizens of Quebec grew rest- less. In 1639, deputies were covertly sent to beg relief in France, and " to represent the hell in which the consciences of the colony were kept by the union of the temporal and spiritual authority in the same hands.'"'' In 1642, partial and ineffective measures ^ It is a principle of the Jesuits, that each of its establishments shall find a support of its own, and not be a burden on the general funds of the Society. The Relations are full of appeals to the charity of devout persons in belialf of the missions. " Of what use to tlie country at this period could have been two communities of cloistered nuns ^ " asks the modern historian of the Urs ilines of Quebec ; and he answers by citing the words of I'ope Gregory the Great, who, wlion Rome was ravaged by famine, pestilence, and the barbarians, declared that his only liope was in the prayers of the three thousand nuns then assembled in the holy city. — Les Urmdinas de Qnebec. Introd., xi. 2 " Pour leur representor la gehenne oii estoient les consciences de la Colonie, de se voir gouverne pas les raesmes personnes pour lo spirituel et pour le temporel." — Le Clerc, i. 478, •!' ^ ir iu;](i-lo.] THE TRIEST AS A lUJLEll. 251 wore taken, with the countenance of Iljjhelieu, for introducing into New France an Order less greedy of st'ij,niiories and endowments than the JesuiUs, and less [tioiie to political encroachment.^ No favorable result followed; and the colony remained as before, in a pitiful state of cramping and dwarfhig vassalage. This is the view of a heretic. It was the aim of the founders of New France to build on a foundation purely and supremely Catholic. Wliat this involved is plain ; for no degree of pei-sonal virtue is a giiar- luity against the evils which attach to the temporal rule of ecclesiastics. Burning with love and devotion to Christ and his immaculate Mother, the fervent and conscientious priest regards with mixed pity and in- dignation those who fail in this su})reme allegiance. Piety and charity alike demand that he should bring back the rash wanderer to the fold of his divine Mas- ter, and snatch him from the perdition into which his guilt must otherwise plunge him. And while he, the priest, himself yields reverence and obedience to the Superior, in whom he sees the representative of Deity, it behooves him, in his degree, to require oljedience from these whom he imagines that God has confided to his guidance. His conscience, then, acts in perfect accord with the love of power innate in the human heart. These allied forces mingle with a per- plexing subtlety; pride, disguised even from itself, ^ Declaration de Pierre Brcant, par devant tes Notaires du Roy, MS. The Order was that of the Capuchins, who, like the the KccoUets, are a branch of the Franciscans. Their introduction into Canada \V!i8 prevented ; but they established themselves in Maine. % ,U! I \piitf m. l! M 252 QUKBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [IGI'.O-IO. walks in the likeness of love and duty; and a tlxm- sand times (m the [)a^'es of history we liiid Hell hcj^uil- iu^ the virtues of Heav(!n to do its work, 'i'he instinct of domination is a weed that grows lank in the shadow of the tem[)l(!, elind)S over it, possesses it, covei-s its ruin, and feeds on its decay. 'Hiv. un- checked sway of priests has always l)een tla; must mischievous of tyrannies; and even were they all well-meaning and sincere, it would be so still. To the Jesuits, the atmosphere of Quebec wiis well-nigh celestial. " In the climate of New France," they write, "(me learns [)crfectly to seek only God, to have no desire but (iod, no purpose but for God." And again: "To live in New France is in truth to live in the bosom of God." "If," adds Le Jeune, "any one of those who die in this country goes to perdition, I think he will be doubly guilty."^ The very amusements of this pious community were acts of religion. Thus, on the fete-day of St. Joseph, the patron of New France, there was a show of fireworks to do him honor. In the forty volumes of the Jesuit Relations there is but one pictorial illustration; and this represents the pyrotechnic con- trivance in question, together with a figure of the 1 " La Nouuelle France est vn vray climat oil on apprend par- faictement bien a ne cherclior que Dieu, ne desiror que Diyu soul, auoir I'intention purement k Dieu, etc. . . . Viure en la Nouui'IIl' France, c'est h, vray dire viure dans le sein de Dieu, ct ne respircr que I'air de sa Diuine conduite." — Divers Sentimens. " Si quolqii'im de ceux qui meurent en ces contrees se damne, je croy qu'il eera doublement coupable." — Relation, 1G40, 5 (Cramoisy). I: 1 li);}ii-46.] PLAYS. —PROCESSIONS. 253 Governor in the act of toucliing it off.^ Rut, what is more curious, a Catholic writer of the jjresent day, the Ah\)6 FaiUon, in an elaborate and learned work, dilates at length on the details of the diHi)lay; and this, too, with a gravity which evinces his conviction tliat squibs, rocket.s, blue-lights, and serpents are im- portant instruments for the saving of souls. ^ On May-Day of the same year, 1037, Montmagny planted l)of()re the church a May-pole surmounted by a trij)le crown, l)eneath which were three svm])olical circles decorated with wreaths, and bearing severally the names, lems^ Maria^ Joseph ; the soldiei's drew up before it, and saluted it with a volley of musketry.^ On the annivei-sary of the Dauphin's birth there was a dramatic performance, in which an unlndiever, speaking Algonquin for the profit of the Indians present, was hunted into Hell by fiends.* IJeligious processions were frequent. In one of them, the Governor in a court dress and a bajjtized Indian in beaver-skins were joint suj)portei'S of the ciinopy wliieh covered the Host.^ In another, six Indians led the van, arrayed each in a velvet coat of scarlet and gold sent them by the King. Then came other Indian converts, two and two; then the foundress of the Ursuline convent, with Indian children in French gowns ; then all the Indian girls and women, dressed after their own way; then the priests; then ^ Relation, 1037, 8. The Relations, as orit^inully i)\il)lisluMl, com- prised iihout forty volumes. 2 Histoire de la Colonic Frangaise, i. 201, 202. s Relation, K)i)7, 82. * Vimont, Relation, 1G40, 0. ^ l^^. Jeuiio, Relation, 1038, 6. "i ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) h A y. w ^ M 1.0 ^1^ 1^ 1= 11.25 ti, 122 12.2 ^ b£ 12.0 I nlns m 1.4 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSBO (716)873-4303 < \ •17 \\ [v ^y^/^^ ^^ ■^' 254 QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [10;]0-4fi. I '1 •I )M the Governor; and finally the whole French pojjula- tion, male and female, except the artilleiy-men at tlie fort, who saluted with their cannon the cross iiiid banner borne at the head of the procession. VVlicii all was over, the Governor and the Jesuits rewardtnl tlie Indians with a feast. ^ Now let the stranger enter the church of Notie- Dame de la Recouvrance, after vespers. It is full, to the very porch, — ofiicera in slouched hats iiiul plumes, musketeera, pikemen, mechanics, and labor- ers. Here is Montmagny himself; Repentigny and Poterie, gentlemen of good birth; damsels of nur- ture ill-fitted to the Canadian woods; and, mingled with these, the motionless Indians, wrapped to the throat in embroidered moose-hides. Le Jeune, not in priestly vestments, but in the common black dress of his Order, is l)efore the altar; and on either side is a row of small red-skinned children listening with exemplaiy decorum, while, with a cheerful, smiling face, he teaches them to kneel, clasp their hands, and sign the cross. All the principal members of this zealous community are present, at once amused and edified at the grave deportment, and the proni})!, shrill replies of the infant catechumens; while their parents in the crowd grin delight at the gifts of beads and trinkets with which Le Jeune rewards his most proficient pupils. ^ We have seen the methods of conversion practised * Le Jeune, Relation, 1039, 3. a Ibid., 1037, 122 (Cramoisy). 1036-46.] TERRORISM. 255 among the Hurons. They were much the same at Quel)ec. The principal appeal was to fear.^ "You do good to your friends," said Le Jeune to an Algon- quin chief, "and you burn your enemies. God does the same." And he painted Hell to the startled neophyte as a place where, when he was hungry, he would get nothing to eat but frogs and snakes, and, when thirsty, nothing to drink but flames. ^ Pictures were found invaluable. "These holy representa- tions," pursues the Father Superior, "are half the instruction that can be given to the Indians. I wanted some pictures of Hell and souls in perdition, and a few were sent us on paper ; but they are too confused. The devils and the men are so mixed up, that one can make out nothing without particular attention. If three, four, or five devils were painted tormenting a soul with different punishments, — one applying fire, another serpents, another tearing him with pincers, and another holding him fast with a chain, — this would have a good effect, especially if eveiything were made distinct, and misery, rage, and desperation appeared plainly in his face."^ » Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 119, and 1637, 32 (Cramoisy). " La crainto est I'auan couriere de la foy dans ces esprits barbares." '^ Iliid., 1637, 80-82 (Cramoisy). "Avoir faim et ne mnnper que (les serpens et des crapaux, avoir soif et ne boire que des flainnies." * " Los heretiques sent grandcment blasmables, de condamner et lie brlser les images qui ont de si bons effets, Ces sainctes figures sont la moitie de I'instruction qu'on peut donner aux Sauuages. I'liuois desirfe quelques portraits de I'enfer et de Tame daninc'e ; on nous en a enuoye quelques vns et en papier, mais cela est trop confus. Les diables sont tellement meslez auec les hommes, qu'on ' f 1 iit .c ■1 1.4 1 ^1:1 UL u ll I' N ill ii I I 1036-46.] TERRORISM. 255 among the Hurons. They were much the same at QuelKJC. The principal appeal was to fear.^ "You do good to your friends," said Le Jeune to an Algon- quin chief, "and you burn your enemies. God does the same." And he painted Hell to the startled neophyte as a place where, when he was hungry, he would get nothing to eat but frogs and snakes, and, when thirsty, nothing to drink but flames. ^ Pictures were found invaluable. "These holy representa- tions," pursues the Father Superior, "are half the instruction that can be given to the Indians. I wanted some pictures of Hell and souls in perdition, and a few were sent us on paper ; but they are too confused. The devils and the men are so mixed up, that one can make out nothing without particular attention. If three, four, or five devils were painted tormenting a soul with different punishments, — one applying fire, another serpents, another tearing him with pincers, and another holding him fast with a chain, — this would have a good effect, especially if eveiything were made distinct, and misery, rage, and desperation appeared plainly in his face."^ 1 Lo Jeune, Relation, 1636, 110, and 1637, 32 (Cramoisy). " La craintc est Tauan couriere de la foy dans ces esprits barbares." * //)('(/., 1637, 80-82 (Cramoisy). " Avoir faim et ne nianfjer que (Ics serpens et des crapaiix, avoir soif et ne boire que des flaniinos." * " Los heretiques sont grandcment blasmables, de condamner et lie hrlscr les images qui ont de si bons offets. Ces sainctes figures sont la moitie de I'instruetion qu'on pcut donner aux Sauuages. I'liuois desire quelques portraits de I'enfer et de I'ame daninee ; on nous en a enuoyd quelques vns et en papier, mais eela est trop confus. Les diables sont tellement meslez auec les hommes, qu'on 1 ,1 h ^ ^1 i ',1 n f »•!>:.' U'^ Si. I' I I j *, I ( It ' t 256 QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [103G-46. 1'?! ■• I: The preparation of the convert for baptism was often rery slight. A dying Algonquin, who, though meagre as a skeleton, had thrown himself, with a last effort of expiring ferocity, on an Iroquois prisoner, and torn off his ear with his teeth, was baptized al- most immediately.* In the case of converts in health there was far more preparation ; yet these often apos- tatized. The various objects of instruction may all l)e included in one comprehensive word, submission, — an abdication of will and judgment in favor of the spiritual director, who was the interpreter and vice- gerent of God. The director's function consisted in the enforcement of dogmas by which he had himself been subdued, in which he believed profoundly, and to which he often clung with an absorbing enthusi- n*y peut rien recognoistre, qii'auec vne particuliere attention. Qui depeinilroit trois on quatre ou cinq demons, tourmentans vne uine (le (liuers supplices, I'vn lay appliquant des feux, I'autre des serpens, I'autre la tenaillant, I'autre la tenant liee auec des chaisnes, ocla auroit vn bon effet, notamment si tout estoit bien distingue, et que la rage et la tristesse parussent bien en la face de cette dnie deses- pereo." — AWn^on, KV^l, 32 (Cramoisy). ^ "Ce seroit vne estrange cruaute de voir descendrc vne ilme toute viuante dans les enfers, par le refus d'vn bien que losus Clirist luy a acquis au prix de son sang." — Relation, KJlJ?, Wi (Cramoisy). " Considerez d'autre cote la grande apprehension que nous avions sujet de redouter la guerison ; pour autant que bien souvcnt 6tant gueris il ne leur reste du St. Bapteme que le caractoro." — Lcttrcs (le Gamier, MSS. It was not very easy to make an Indian comprehend the nature of baptism. An Iroquois at Montreal, hearing a missionary speak- ing of the water which cleansed the soul from sin, said that ho was well acquainted with it, as the Dutch had once given him so niueh that they were forced to tie him, hand and foot, to prevent liini from doing mischief. — Failloii, ii. 43. n 16:56-46.] SOCIETY OF JESUS. 257 tusm. The Jesuits, an Order thoroughly and vehe- mently reactive, had revived in Europe the mediaeval type of Christianity, with all its attendant supersti- tions. Of these the Canadian missions bear abundant marks. Yet, on the whole, the lalwrs of the mission- aries tended greatly to the benefit of the Indians. Reclaimed, as the Jesuits tried to reclaim them, from their wandering life, settled in habits of peaceful in- dustry, and reduced to a passive and childlike obedi- ence, they would have gained more than enough to comi)ensate them for the loss of their ferocious and miserable independence. At least, they would have escaped annihilation. The Society of Jesus aspired to the mastery of all New France ; but the methods of its ambition were consistent with a Christian benevolence. Had this been otherwise, it would have employed other instruments. It would not liave chosen a Jogues or a Garnier. The Society liad men for every work, and it used them wisely. It utilized the apostolic virtues of its Canadian mis- sionaries, fanned their enthusiasm, and decorated it- self with their martyr crowns. With joy and gratu- lation, it saw them rival in another hemisphere the noble memory of its saint and hero, Francis Xavier.^ I have spoken of the colonists as living in a state of temporal and spiritual vassalage. To this there was one exception, — a small class of men whose ^ Enemies of the Jesuits, while denouncing them in unmeasured terms, speak in strong eulogy of many of the Canadian mission^ aries. See, for example, Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, ii. 416. 17 '1 If } \ : i ■V k. i \ii m u I ■( (i u 258 QUEBEC AND ITS TENANTS. [lG3r,-4(;, home was the forest, and their companions savajres. They followed the Indians in their roamings, lived with them, grew familiar with their language, allied themselves with their women, and often became ora- cles in the camp and leaders on the war-path. Champlain's bold interpreter, Etienne Bruld, wliose adventures I have recounted elsewhere,* may be taken as a type of this class. Of the rest, the most con- spicuous were Jean Nicollet, Jacques Hertel, Fran- cois Marguerie, and Nicolas Marsolet.^ Doubtless, when they returned from their rovings, they often had pressing need of penance and absolution; yet, for the most part, they were good Catholics, and some of them were zealous tor the missions. Nicollet and others were at times settled as interpreters at Three Rivers and Quebec. Several of them were men of great intelligence and an invincible courage. From hatred of restraint and love of a wild and adventurous independence, they encountered priva- tions and dangers scarcely less than those to which the Jesuit exposed himself from motives widely dif- ferent, — he from religious zeal, charity, and the hope of Paradise ; they simply because they liked it. Some of the best families of Canada claim descent from this vigorous and hardy stock. 1 " Pioneers of France," 417. ' See Ferland, Notes sur les Registras de N. D. de QuSbec, .30. Nicollet, especially, was a remarkable man. As early as 1639, he ascended the Green Bay of Lake Michigan, and crossed to the waters of the Mississippi. This was first shown by the researches of Mr. Shea. See his Discoveri/ and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, xx. I ( \ iili i CHAPTER XIV. 1636-1662. DEVOTEES AND NUNS, The Huron Seminary. — Madame de la Peltrib: her Pious SciiEMEa: her Sham Marriage; sue visits the Ursulines OF Tours. — Marie db Saint Bernard. — Marie de l'Incar- NATION : HER ENTHUSIASM; HER MySTICAL MaRRIAQE; HER Dejection; her Mental Conflicts; her Vision; made Superior OF THE Ursulines. — The HdTEL-DiEU, — The Voy- age to Canada. — Sillery. — Labors and Sufferings op the Nuns. — Character of Marie du l'Incarnation. — Of Ma- dame DE LA PeLTRIE. Quebec, as we have seen, had a seminary, a hospi- tal, and a convent, before it had a population. It will be well to observe the origin of these institutions. The Jesuits from the first had cherished the plan of a seminary for Huron boys at Quebec. The Gov- ernor and the Company favored the design ; since not only would it be an efficient means of spreading the Faith and attaching the tribe to the French interest, but the children would be pledges for the good be- havior of the parents, and hostages for the safety of missionaries and traders in the Indian towns. ^ In ' " M. de Montmagny cognoit bien rimportance de ce Semlnaire pour la gloire de Nostre Seigneur, et pour le Commerce de ces ^ItiSi'mura."— Relation, 1637, 209 (Cramoisy). J 4 1 v.i < i: H' 1 n 260 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [l02t)-;{0. I. the summer of 1636, Father Daniel, descending from the Huron country, worn, emaciated, his cassock patched and tattered, and liis sliirt in rags, brouglit with him a boy, to whom two othei-s were soon added ; and through the influence of the interpn^ter, Nicollet, the number was afterwards increased l)y several more. One of them ran away, two ate them- selves to death, a fourth was carried home by his father, while three of those remaining stole a caiioc, loaded it with all they could lay tlieir hands upon, and escaped in triumph with their plunder. ^ The beginning was not hopeful; but the Jesuits persevered, and at length established their seniimuy on a firm basis. The Marquis de Gamache had given the Society six thousand crowns for founding a col- lege at Quebec. In 1637, a year before the building of Harvard College, the Jesuits l)egan a wooden structure in the rear of the fort; and here, witliin one enclosure, was the Huron seminary and the col- lege for French boys. Meanwhile the female children of both races were without instructors; but a remedy was at hand. At Alenqon, in 1603, was bom Marie Madeleine de Ohauvigny, a scion of the haute noblesse of Normandy. Seventeen years later she was a young lady, abun- dantly wilful and superabundantly enthusiastic, — one who, in other circumstances, might perhaps have made a romantic elopement and a mesalliance.^ But 1 Le Jeune, Relation, 1637, 65-59. Ibid., Relation, 1638, 23. * There is a portrait of lier, taken at a later period, of which a 'm if;'j«-;j6.] MADAMK DK LA rELTKlK. 201 lior iini)rcssililo and ardent nature was al)8<)rlKMl in other objects. Religion and its ministei-s possessed her wholly, and all her enlhusiasni was si)ent on works of charity and devotion. Her father, passion- ately fond of her, resisted her inclination for the cloister, and sought to wean her hack to the world; hut she escaped from the chfiteau to a neighboring convent, where she resolved to remain. Her father followed, carried her home, and engaged her in a round of fetes and hunting parties, in the midst of which she found herself surprised into a Ixjtrothal to M. de la Peltrie, a young gentleman of rank and character. The marriage proved a happy one, and Madame de la Peltrie, with an excellent grace, bore her part in the world she had wished to renounce. After a union of five years, her husband died, and she was left a widow and childless at the age of twenty-two. She returned to the religious ardors of her girlhood, again gave all her thoughts to devotion and charity, and again resolved to be a nun. She had heard of Canada; and when Le Jeune's first Relations appeared, she read them with avidity. "Alas!" wrote the Father, "is there no charitable and virtuous lady who will come to this country to gather up the blood of Christ, by teaching His word to the little Indian girls?" His appeal found a photograph is before me. vShe Ims a semi-religious dress, hands clasped in prayer, large dark eyes, a smiling and mischievous mouth, and a face somewhat pretty and very coquettish. An engraving from the portrait is prefixed to the " Notice Biographique de Madame de la Peltrie" in Lcs Ursulinen de QtiSbec, i. 348. 1. 1 4 ». 1 ■ ! 1 1 ;^'i:il I I H I ;( 262 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [KlLMI-Ki. prompt and velioineiit rcHponso from the breast of Madamo do la Peltrio. Thenceforth she thouj^lit of nothing Init Canada. In the midst of her zeal, ,\, fever seized her. Tlio pliysicians despaired; l)iit at the height of the disejiso tlie patient made a vow to St. Joseph, that, slioukl (iod restore her to h(!iiltli, she would build a house in honor of Him in Canudu, and give her life and her wctilth to the instruction of Indian girls. On the following morning, say her biographers, the fever had left her. Mefin while her relatives, or those of her hus])aiicl, had confirmed her pious purposes by attempting to thwart them. They pronounced her a romantic vis- ionary, incompetent to the charge of her property. Her father, too, whose fondness for her increased with his advancing age, entreated her to remain with him while he lived, and to defer the execution of her plans till he should be laid in his grave. From en- treaties he passed to commands, and at length threat- ened to disinheiit her if she persisted. The virtue of obedience, for which she is extolled by her clerical biographers, however abundantly exhibited in respect to those who held charge of her conscience, was sing- ularly wanting towards the parent who in the way of Nature had the best claim to its exercise; and Ma- dame de la Peltrie was more than ever resolved to go to Canada. Her father, on his part, was urgent that she should many again. On this she took coun- sel of a Jesuit,^ who, "having seriously reflected 1 " Partagee ainsi entre I'mnour filial et la religion, en prole aux plus poignantes angoisscs, ellu s'adrcssa a un rcligieux dc la Com- 1038.] A SHAM MAIIIIIAGE. 263 before God," suggested a device, which to the hereti- cal mind is a little startling, l)iit which commended itaelf to Madame de la Peltrio as fitted at once to sootlie the troubled spirit of her father, and to save her from the sin involved in the abandonment of her pious designs. Among her acquaintance was M. de Bernicres, a gentleman of high rank, great wealth, and zealous devotion. She wrote to him, explained the situa- tion, and requested him to feign a marriage with her. His sense of honor recoiled: moreover, in the fulness of his zeal, he had made a vow of chastity, and an apparent breach of it would cause scandal. He con- sulted his spiritual director and a few intimate friends. All agreed that the glory of God was con- cerned, and that it behooved him to accept the some- what singular overtures of the young widow, * and request her hand from her father. M. de Chauvigny, who greatly esteemed Bernieres, was delighted ; and his delight was raised to transport at the dutiful and modest acquiescence of his daughter.'* A betrothal pa)rnic de Jesus, dont ellc connaissait la prudence consommec, et le supplia de l'«clairer de ses luniicres. Ce rclipieux, apres y avoir sLTieuseinent refle'chi devant Dieu, lui rcpondit qu'il croyait avoir trouve un moyen de tout concilier." — Cusgrain, Vie de Mari« de I' Incarnation, 243. 1 Enfin aprfes avoir longtemps implore' Ics lumibres du ciel, il remit toute I'affaire entre les mains de son directeur et de quelques amis intimes. Tous, d'un comniun accord, lui de'clarferent que la gloire de Dieu y ^tait interessee, et qu'il devait accepter." — Ibid., 244. * " The prudent young widow answered him with much respect W i S I :ii ii ■I ' n ». m 1 J ? i ) ;i 264 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1 ♦;;]«. took place ; all wjih harmony, and for a time no more was said of disinheriting Madame de la l^eltric, or putting her in wardship. Bernidres's scruples retunied. Divided In'twccti honor and conscience, he postponed the nuirriiiirc, until at length M. de Chauvigny conceived niisj^nv- ings, and again l)egan to speak of disiniieriting liis daughter unless the engagement was fnl tilled.* IV r- nidres yielded, and went with Madame de la Pel trie to consult "the most eminent divines."^ A sliiim marriage took place, and she and her accomplice ap- peared in public as man and wife. Her relatives, however, had already renewed their attempts to de- prive her of the control of her property. A suit, of what nature does not apjxjar, had been decided against her at Caen, and she had appealed to the Parliament of Normandy. Her lawyers were in de- spair; but, as her biographer justly observes, "tlie saints have resources which others have not." A and modesty, that, as she knew M. de Berniiires to be a favorite with him, she also preferred him to all others." The above is from a letter of Marie de I'Incarnation, translated by Mother St. Thomas, of the Ursuline convent of Quebec, in her Life of Madame de la Peltrie, 41. Compare Les Uraulines de Quebec, 10, and the " Notice Biographique " in the same volume. 1 " Our virtuous widow did not lose courage. As she had given her confidence to M. de Bemiferes, she informed him of all that passed, while she flattered her father each day, telling him tiiat this nobleman was too honorable to fail in keeping his word." — St. Thomas, Life of Madame de la Peltrie, 42. 2 " He [Berniferes] went to stay at the house of a mutual friend, where they had frequent opportunities of seeing each other, and consulting the most eminent divines on the means of effecting this pretended marriage." — Ibid., 43. \m.] DKATH OF M. I)K CIIAUVICNY. 266 vow to St. Joseph secured liis iiitorceHsion aiul piiiied litM ciiHe. Anotlior tlioiiplit now lilled lier with iij^i- tation. Her phms were hiid, and the time of action (hew near. How couhl slie endure the (hstress of luT father, when he learned that sue had deluded him with a false marriage, and that she and all that was here were Ixmnd for the wilderness of Canada? nai)i)ily for him, he fell ill, and died in ignorance of the deceit that had Iwen jn-actised upon liim.^ Whatever may \)e thought of the quality of Ma- dame de la Peltrie's devotion, there can Ik? no rea- sonable doubt of its sincerity or its ardor; and yet one can hardly fail to see in her the signs of that restless longing for eclatj which with some women Li ' 1 r i 1 i » ». 1 It will be of interest to observe the view taken of this pre- tended marriage by Madame de la I'eltrie's Catlioliu biogra])lKT8. Charlevoix tells the story witliout comment, but with apparent approval. Sainte-Foi, in his Prrmieres (Irsulines de France, says, that, as God had taken her under His guidance, we should not ven- ture to criticise her. Casgrain, in his Vie de Marie de I' I near nut inn, p. 247, remarks : — " Une telle conduite peut encore aujo* . '' li paraitre e'trange a bien des personnes; mais outre que I'avenir fli bien voir que c'etuit une inspiration du ciel, nous pouvons rcpo* , avec un savunt et pieux auteur, que nous ne devons point juger ceux que Dieu se diarge lui-mfime de conduire." Mother St. Thomas highly approves the proceeding, and says : — "Thus ended the pretended engagement of this virtuous lady and gentleman, which caused, at the time, so mucli inquiry an. I excitement among the nobility in France, and which, after a lapse of two hundred years, cannot fail exciting feelings of admiration in the heart of every virtuous woman ! " Surprising as it may appear, the book from which the above is taken was written a few years since, in so-called English, for the instruction of the pupils in the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. /=:: ' 26G DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1630. is a ruling passion. When, in company with Her- nieres, she passed from Alen^'on to Tours, and from Tours to Paris, an object of attention to nuns, priests, and prelates, — when the Queen lierself sum- moned her to an interview, — it may be that the i)ro- found contentment of soul ascribed to her had its origin in sources not exclusively of the spirit. At Tours, she repaired to the Ureuline convent. The Superior and all the nuns met her at tlie entrance of the cloister, and, separating into two rows as she appeared, sang the Vcni Creator^ while the bell of the monastery sounded its loudest peal. Then they led her in triumph to their church, sang Te Dcum, and, while the honored guest knelt before the altar, all the sisterhood knelt around her in a semicircle. Their hearts beat high within them. That day they were to know who of their number were chosen for the new convent of Quebec, of which Madame de la Peltrie was to be the foundress ; and when their de- votions were over, they flung themselves at her feet, each begging with tears that the lot might fall on her. Aloof from this throng of enthusitistic suppliants stood a young nun, Marie de St. Bernard, too timid and too modest to ask the boon for which her fervent heart was longing. It was granted without asking. This delicate girl was chosen, and chosen wisely.^ 1 Casgrain, Vie de Marie de I' Incarnation, 271-273. There is a long account of Marie de St. Bernard, by Ragueneau, in the litla- tion of 1G52. Here it is said that she showed an unaccountable indifference as to whether she went to Canada or not, which, how- ever, was followed by an ardent desire to go. if 1620-38.] MARIE DE L'INCARNATION. 267 There was another nun who stood apart, silent and motionless, — a stately figure, with features strongly marked and perhaps somewhat masculine ; ^ but, if so, they belied her, for Marie de 1' Incarnation was a woman to the core. For her there was no need of entreaties; for she knew that the Jesuits had made her their choice, as Superior of the new convent. She was bom, forty years before, at Tours, of a good bourgeois family. As she grew up tov/ards maturity, her qualities soon declared themselves. She had uncommon talents and strong religious susceptibili- ties, joined to a vivid imagination, — an alliance not always desirable under a form of faith where both are excited by stimulants so many and so powerful. Like Madame de la Peltrie, she married, at the de- sire of her parents, in her eighteenth year. The mar- riage was not happy. Her biographers say that Inere was no fault on either side. Apparently, it was a severe case of "incompatibility." She sought her consolation in the churches; and kneeling in dim chapels, held communings with Christ and the an- gels. At the end of two years her husband died, leaving her with an infant son. She gave him to the charge of her sister, abandoned herself to solitude and meditation, and became a mystic of the intense and passional school. Yet a strong maternal instinct ^ There is an engraved portrait of her, taken some years later, of which a photograph is before me. When she was " in tlie world," her stately proportions are said to have attracted general attention. IU>r family name was Marie Guyard. She was born on the eighteenth of October, 1699. t l\'U \ 1 1 j i i i f ! , ' ■ ■>( 268 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1620-38. battled piiinfuUy in her breast with a sense of reli- gious vocation. Dreams, visions, interior voices, ecstasies, revulsions, periods of rapture and p riods of deep dejection, made up the agitated tissue of lier life. She fasted, wore hair-cloth, scourged hei-self, washed dishes among the servants, and did their most menial work. She heard, in a trance, a iiiiiiic- ulous voice. It Avas that of Christ, promising to become her spouse. Months and years passed, full of troubled hopes and feara, when again the voice sounded in her ear, with assurance that the promise was fulfilled, and that she was indeed his bride. Now ensued phenomena which are not infrequent among Roman Catholic female devotees when unmar- ried, or married unhappily, and which have their source in the necessities of a woman's nature. To her excited thought her divine spouse became a liv- ing presence; and her language to him, as recorded by herself, is that of the most intense passion. She went to prayer, agitated and tremulous, as if to a meeting with an earthly lover. " O my Love ! " she exclaimed, "when shall I embrace you? Have you no pity on me in the torments that I suffer? Alas! alas ! my Love, my Beauty, my Life ! instead of heal- ing ray pain, you take pleasure in it. Come, let me embrace you, and die in your sacred arms!" And again she writes : " Then, as I was spent with fatigue, I was forced to say, ' My divine Love, since you wish me to live, I pray you let me rest a little, that I may the better serve you ; ' and I promised him that after- 1620-38.] DEJECTION. 269 ward I would suffer myself to consume in his chaste and divine embraces."^ Clearly, here is a case for the physiologist as well as the theologian; and the "holy widow," as her biographers call her, becomes an example, and a lamentable one, of the tendency of the erotic princi- ple to ally itself with high religious excitement. But the wings of imagination will tire and droop, the brightest dream-land of contemplative fancy grow 1 " Allant k I'oraiaon, je tressaillois en moi-meme, et disois : Allons dans la solitude, mon cher amour, afln que je vous enibrasse a mon aise, et que, respirant mon ame en vous, elle ne soit plus que vous-nieme par union d'amour. . . . Puis, mon corps etant brise' de fatigues, j'etois contrainte de dire : Mon divin amour, je vous prie (le me laisser prendre un peu de repos, afln que je puisse mieux vous scrvir, puisque vous voulez que je vive. . . . Je le priois de me laisser agir ; lui promettant de me laisser apres cela consumer dans ses cliastes et divins embrassemens. . . . O amour! quand vous embrasserai-je 1 N'avez-vous point pitie de moi dans le tourment que je souffre ? helas ! helas ! mon amour, ma beaut^, ma vie ! au lieu de me guerir, vous vous plaisez b, mes maux. Venez done que je vous embrasse, et que je meure entre vos bras sacrez ! " Tiie above passages, from various pages of her journal, will suffice, though they give but an inadequate idea of these strange extravagances. What is most astonishing is, that a man of sense like Charlevoix, in his Life of Marie de ITncaniation, should extract them in full, as matter of edification and evidence of saint- ship. Her recent biograplier, tlie Abb^ Casgrain, refrains from quoting them, thougli he mentions them approvingly as evincing fervor. The Abbe Racine, in iiis Discoiirs a I' Occasion du 192"*""' Anniversaire de I'heureuse Mort de la Ven, Mere de I' Incarnation, delivered at Quebec in 18()4, speaks of them as transcendent proofs of the supreme favor of Heaven. Some of the pupils of Marie de rincarnation also had mystical marriages with Christ; and the impassioned rhapsodies of one of them being overheard, she nearly lost her character, as it was thought tliat she was apostrophizing an "arthly lover. i\'\\ 1 i f i ' 1 } 1 \' i Ft 270 devotep:s and nuns. [lG2()-38. dim, and an abnormal tension of the faculties find its inevitable reaction at last. From a condition of highest exaltation, a mystical heaven of light and glory, the unhappy dreamer fell back to a dreary earth, or rather to an abyss of darkness and misery. Her biographera tell us that she l)ecame a prey to dejection, and to thoughts of infidelity, despair, estrangement from God, aversion to mankind, pride, vanity, impurity, and a supreme disgust at the rites of religion. Exhaustion produced common-sense, and the dreams which had been her life now seemed a tissu(* of illusions. Her confessor became a weari- ness to her, and his words fell dead on her ear. Indeed, she conceived a repugnance to the holy man. Her old and favorite confessor, her oracle, guide, and comforter, had lately been taken from her by promo- tion in the Church, — which may serve to explain her dejection ; and the new one, jealous of his predecessor, told her that all his counsels had been visionary and dangerous to her soul. Having overwhelmed her with this announcement, he left her, apparently out of patience mth her refractory and gloomy mood ; and she remained for several months deprived of spiritual guidance.^ Two years elapsed before her mind re- covered its tone, when she soared once more in the seventh heaven of imaginative devotion. Marie de 1' Incarnation, we have seen, was unre- lenting in every practice of humiliation, — dressed in mean attire, did the servants' work, nursed sick 1 Casgrain, 196-197. ■' t' 1020-D8.] IMMURED WITH THE URSULINES. 271 bef?i?ars, and, in her medititions, ttixcd lior brain with metaphysical processes of self-annihilation. And yet when one reads her "Spiritual Lettei-s," the con- viction of an enormous spiritual pride in the writer can hardly be repressed. Slie aspired to that inner circle of the faithful, that aristocracy of devotion, which, while the common herd of Christians are bus- ied witli the duties of life, eschews the visible and the present, and claims to live only for (xod. In her strong maternal affection she saw a lure to divert her from the path of perfect saintship. Love for her child long withheld her from becoming a nun; but at last, iortitied by her confessor, she left him to his fate, took the vows, and immured herself with the Ureulines of Tours. The boy, frenzied by his deser- tion, and urged on by indignant relatives, watched his opportunity, and made his way into the refectory of the convent, screaming to the horrified nuns to give him back his mother. As he grew older, her anxiety increased; and at length she heard in her seclusion that he had fallen into bad company, had left the relative who had sheltered him, and run off, no one knew whither. The wretched mother, torn with anguish, hastened for consolation to her con- fessor, who met her with stern upbraidings. Yet even in this her intensest ordeal her enthusiasm and her native fortitude enabled her to maintain a sem- blance of calmness, till she learned that the boy had been found and brought back. Strange as it may seem, this woman, whose habit- ]'■ M iii I! 272 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [l«20-38. 'M ual state was one of mystical abstraction, was gifted to a rare degree with the faculties most useful in tlie practical affairs of life. She had spent several years in the house of her brother-in-law. Here, on the one hand, her vigils, visions, and penances set utterly at naught the order of a well-governed family; while, on the other, she made amends to her impatient rela- tive by able and efficient aid in the conduct of his public and private affairs. Her biographers say, and doubtless with truth, that her heart was far away from these mundane interests ; yet her talent for busi- ness was not the less displayed. Her spiritual guides were aware of it, and saw clearly that gifts so useful to the world might be made equally useful to the Church. Hence it was that she was chosen Superior of the convent which Madame de la Peltrie was about to endow at Quebec.^ Yet it was from heaven itself that Marie de 1' In- carnation received her first "vocation" to Canada. The miracle was in this wise. In a dream she beheld a lady unknown to her. She took her hand ; and the two journeyed together westward, towards the sea. They soon met one of the Apostles, clothed all in white, who, with a wave of his hand, directed them on their way. They now entered on a scene of surpassing magnificence. Be- neath their feet was a pavement of squares of white 1 The combination of religious enthusiasm, however extravagant and visionary, with a talent for business, is not very rare. Nearly all the founders of monastic Orders are examples of it. 1620-38.] A VISION. 273 marble, spotted with vermilion, and intersected with lines of vivid scarlet; and all around stood monas- teries of matchless architecture. But the two trav- ellei"s, without stopping to admire, moved swiftly on till they beheld the Virgin seated with her Infant Son on a small temple of white marble, which served her as a throne. She seemed about fifteen yeare of age, and was of a "ravishing beauty." Her head was turned aside; she was gazing fixedly on a wild waste of mountains and valleys, half concejiled in mist. Marie de I'lncarnation approached with outstretched arms, adoring. The vision bent towards hor, and, smihng, kissed her three times ; whereupon, in a rap- ture, the dreamer awoke. ^ She told the vision to Father Dinet, a Jesuit of Toui-s. He was at no loss for an interpretation. Tlie land of mists and mountains was Canada, and tliitlier the Virgin called her. Yet one mystery re- mained unsolved. Who was the unknown companion of her dream? Several years had passed, and signs from heaven and inward voices had raised to an in- tense fervor her zeal for her new vocation, when, for tlie first time, she saw Madame de la Peltrie on her visit to the convent at Tours, and recognized, on the instant, the lady of her nocturnal vision. No one can 1)6 surprised at this who has considered with the slight- est attention the phenomena of religious enthusiasm. 1 Marie de I'lncarnation recounts this dream at great length in her letters, and Casgrain copies the whole, verbatim, as a revelation from God. 18 !i . V ^* Hi I i \ ■ ! Jl ; 1 i 1 ' 274 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [1639. On the fourtli of May, 1030, Msulame de la Tel- trie, Marie de I'lncarnation, Marie do St. Bernard, and another Ursuline embarked at Dieppe for C^an- ada. In the ship were also three young hospital nuns, sent out to found at Quebec a Hotel-Dicu, endowed by the famous niece of Richelieu, the I)u- chesse d'Aiguillon.^ Here, too, were the Jesuits Chaumonot and Poncet, on the way to their mission, together with Father Vimont, who was to succeed Le Jeune in his post of Superior. To the nuns, pale from their cloistered seclusion, there was a strange and startling novelty in this new world of life and action, — the ship, the sailors, the shouts of com- mand, the flapping of sails, the salt wind, and the boisterous sea. The voyage was long and tedious. Sometimes they lay in their berths, sea-sick and woe-begone ; sometimes they sang in choir on deck, or hetird mass in the cabin. Once, on a misty morning, a wild cry of alarm startled crew and pas- sengers alike. A huge iceberg was drifting close upon them. The peril was extreme. Madame de la Peltrie clung to Marie de I'lncarnation, who stood perfectly calm, and gathered her gown about her feet that she might drown with decency. It is scarcely necessary to say that they were saved by a vow to the Virgin and St. Joseph. Vimont offered it in behalf of all the company, and the ship glided into the open sea unharmed. They arrived at Tadoussac on the fifteenth of July; ^ Juchereau. Ilistoire de I'lldtel-Dieu de Quebec, 4. il 1G:5!).] BRULART DE SILLERY. 275 aixl the nuns ascended to Quebec in a small craft deeply laden with salted codfish, on which, uncooked, they subsisted until the firat of August, when they reached their destination. Cannon roared welcome from the fort and batteries; all labor ceased; the storehouses were closed; and the zealous Mont- magny, with a train of priests and soldiers, met the new-comera at tiie landing. All the nuns fell pros- trate, and kissed the sacred soil of Canada.^ Thev heard mass at the church, dined at the fort, and pres- ently set forth to visit the new settlement of Sillery, four miles above Quebec. Noel Brulart de Sillery, a Knight of Malta, who had once filled the highest offices under the Queen Marie de Mddicis, had now severed his connection witli his Order, renounced the world, and become a priest. He devoted his vast revenues — for a dispen- sation of the Pope had freed him from his vow of poverty — to the founding of religious establish - ments.2 Among other endowments, he had placed an ample fund in the hands of tlie Jesuits for the formation of a settlement of Christian Indians at the spot which still bears his name. On the strand of Sillery, between the river and the woody heights * Juchereau, 14 ; Le Clerc, ii. 33 ; Ragueneau, Vie de Catherine de St. Augustin, " Epistre dudicatoire ; " Le Jeune, Relation, 1(J39, chap, ii.; Charlevoix, Vie de Marie de V I near nation, 'iM; "Actede Ruception," in Les Ursulines de Quebec, i. 21. - See Vie de Vlllustre Serviteur de Dieu Xoel Brulart de Sillery ; also Etudes et Recherches Biographiques sur le Chevalier Noel Brulart de Silleri/, and several documents in Martin's translation of Bressani, Appendix IV. '\l I Ml Ill 270 DKVOTKES AND NUNS. [1<53(M2. iKfliind, were clustered the small k)j,'-c'al>ins of n nmn- l)er of Algonquin converts, together with a cliuidi, a mission-liouse, and an infirmary, — the whf)le sur- rounded by a palisade. It was to this place that tlio six nuns were now conducted by the Jesuits. 'Vho scene delighted and edified them ; and, in the trans- ports of their zeal, they seized and kissed eveiy fe- male Indian child on whom they could lay liaiids, "without minding," says Father Le Jeune, "whether they were dirty or not." " Love and charity," he adds, "triumphed over every human consideration."^ The nuns of the Hotel-Dieu soon after took up their abode at Sillery, whence they removed to a house built for them at Queliec by their foundioss, the Duchesse d'Aiguillon. The Ursulines, in the aksence of better quarters, were lodged at firat in a small wooden tenement under the rock of Qu(»l)ee, at the brink of the river. Here they were soon heset with such a host of children that the floor of their wretched tenement was covered with beds, and their toil had no respite. Then came the small-pox, carry- ing death and terror among the neighboring Indians. These thronged to Queljec in misery and desperation, begging succor from the French. The labors both of the Ui-sulines and of the hospital nuns were prodi- gious. In the infected air of their miserable hovels, where sick and dying savages covered the floor, and ^ " . . . sans prendre garde si ces petits enfans sauvages estoiint sales ou non ; ... la loy d'amour et de charite I'emportoit par dessus toutes lee considerations huinaines." — Relation, 1030, 2t) (Cramoisy). 1(;;!!»-4'J.J SISTKR ST. .JOS^TH. 277 w(M't! packed one alM)ve aiiotlier in IhtIIih, — amid all that is inoHt distreHsing and nioHt rovoltinj]^, with lit- tU) food and \vhh sleop, these women paHsed the roii^li lM't,Mnning of their new life. Several of them fell ill. liut the excess of the evil at length hnmght relief; for so many of the Indians died in these i)est-house8 tliat the survivors shunned them in horror. Hut how did these women Ixiar themselves amid toils so arduous? A pleasant record has come down to us of one of them, — that fair and delicate girl, Marie de St. Bernard, called in the convent Sister St. Joseph, who had l)een chosen at Toura as the companion of Marie de 1' Incarnation. Another Ursu- liiie, writing at a jieriod wl m the severity of their lalwra was somewhat relaxed, says, "Her disposition is charming. In our times of recreation, she often makes us cry with laughing : it would be hard to be melancholy when she is near."^ It was three years later before the Ureulines and their pupils took possession of a massive convent of stone, built for them on the site which they still occupy. Money had failed before the work was done, and the interior was as unfinished as a btim.^ Beside the cloister stood a large ash-tree; and it 1 Lettre de la Mere iS'* Claire a uiie deses Sreurs Urmlines de Paris, (Quebec, 2 Sept., 1640. See Les Ursulines de Quebec, i. 38. ■^ Tlie interior was finished after a year or two, with cells as usual. There were four chimneys, with fireplaces burning a hun- dred and seventy-five cords of wood in a winter; and though the nuns were boxed up in beds wliich closed like chests, Marie de rincarnation complains bitterly of the cold. See her letter of Aug. 20, 1044. 1 " ^T1 • 1 1^ 1 •'if '' i i 111' 1 I:' 1 1 i : I \ I 278 I)i:VOTKKS AND NUNS. [lO:i!J-42. standH Ukm'o Htill. Beneath ib* hIuwIo, sayH tlie con- vent trsidilion, Murie de rinciirnution and her niiii.s inHtriieted tlie Indian eliildren in the triithH of tsiilvii- tion; but it niigiit seem nish to atlinu tluit tiicir teachings were always either wise or usefid, siinn Father Viniont tells us approvingly that they reiiicd their pu[)ils in so cluiste a horror of tlio other sex, that a little girl, whom a man had playfully taken hy the hand, ran crying to a bowl of water to wasii oil the unhallowed inliuence.* Now and henceforward one figure stsinds nobly conspicuous in this devoted sisterhood. Marie do r Incarnation, no longer lost in the vagaries of an insane mysticism, but engaged in the duties of Chris- tian charity and the responsibilities of an arduous post, displays an ability, a fortitude, and an earnest- ness which command respect and admiration. Her mental intoxication had ceased, or recurred only at intervals; and false excitements no longer sustained her. She was racked with constant anxieties about her son, and was often in a condition descrilied by her biographers as a " deprivation of all spiritual con- solations." Her position was a very difficult one. She herself speaks of her life as a succession of crosses and humiliations. Some of these were due to Madame de la Peltrie, who in a freak of enthusi- asm abandoned her Ursulines for a time, as we shall presently see, leaving them in the utmost destitution. There were dissensions to be healed among them; 1 Vimont, Relation, 1(342, 112 (Cramoisy). 10;5y-ll.'.J I-OINDIIKSS OK TIIK rilSLLINKS. 270 and inonoy, ovorythinp, in sliort, to Ik> providtMi. .Millie tic I'lncjiriiiition, in hur Hiuldcst nioniciitH, mitlicr faiiod in judj^'iiient nor Hliickcnod in effort. Slu' carried on a vast corrcHpondenci;, cinbmcinj^ every one in France wiio could aid iier infant coni- iiiuMity with money or inlliiencc; wlie harmonized and rcguhited it witli excellent Hkill ; and, in the midst of relentlcHS austerities, she was loved as a mother l)y her pupils and dependants. Catholic writei's extol her as a saint. ^ Protestants may seo in her a Christian heroine, admirable, with all her follies and her faults. The traditions of the Ursulines are full of the vir- tues of Madame do la Peltrie, — her humility, her t'liarity, her penances, and her acts of mortification. No doubt, with some little allowance, these traditions are true ; but there is more of reason than of unchari- tableness in the l)elief, that her zeal would have been less ardent and susttiined if it had had fewer specta- tors. She was now fairly committed to the conven- tual life, her enthusiasm was kept within prescribed hounds, and she wiis no longer mistress of her own movements. On the one hand, she was anxious to 1 There is a letter extant from Sister Anne de S«e Claire, an Ursuline who came to Quebec in 1040, written soon after lier arrival, and containing curious evidence that a reputation of saintship already attached to Marie de I'lncarnation. " Wlien I spoke to her," writes Sister Anne, speaking of lior first interview, "I per- ceived in the air a certain odor of sanctity, wliich gave me the sen- sation of an agreeable perfume." See tlie letter in a recent Catholic worit, Les Ursulines de Quebec, i. 38, where the passage is printed in Italics, as worthy the especial attention of the pious reader. ^ 1 "f ji* i i; 1 f 1 1 r n r w f 1 c i ! ^ t ' ■" t,^ i i i!i 280 DEVOTEES AND NUNS. [iGao-i'j. accumulate merits against the Day of Judgment; and, on the other, she had a keen appreciation of the applause which the sacrifice of her fortune and her acts of piety had gained for her. Mortal vanity takes many shapes. Sometimes it arrays itself in silk and jewels; sometimes it walks in sackcloth, and speaks the language of self-abasement. In the convent, as in the world, the fair devotee thirsted for admiration. The halo of saintship glittered in her eyes like a dia- mond crown, and she aspired to outshine her sistere in humility. She was as sincere as Simeon Stylites on his column; and, like him, found encouragement and comfort in the gazing and wondering eyes below. ^ 1 Madame de la Peltrie died in her convent in 1671. Marie de rincarnation died the following year. She had the consolation or knowing that her son had fulfilled her ardent wishes, and become a priest. ^,: CHAPTER XV. t 1 MPffl T* 1 1 1 ■ 1 ■ i i 1636-1642. VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. DAUVERSiiiRB AND THE VoiCE FROM Hkaven. — Aniii: Olier. — Their Schemes. — The Society of Notre-Damb de Mont- real. — Maisonneuve. — Devout Ladies. — Mademoiselle Mance. — Marguerite Bourgeoys. — The Montuealists at Quebec. — Jealousy. — Quarrels. — Romance and Devotion. — Embarkation. — Foundation of Montreal. We come now to an enterprise as singular in its character as it proved important in its results. At La Fleche, in Anjou, dwelt one Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere, receiver of taxes. His por- trait shows us a round, bourgeois face, somewhat heavy perhaps, decorated with a slight moustache, and redeemed by bright and earnest eyes. On his head he wears a black skull-cap ; and over his ample shoulders spreads a stiff white collar, of wide expanse and studious plainness. Though he belonged to the nohlesse^ his look is that of a grave burgher, of good renown and sage deportment. Dauversiore was, how- ever, an enthusiastic devotee, of mystical tciidencies, who whipped himself with a scourge of small chains ^.. i _ . 1 I '■ i t i [ i . ' ■ j t 1 I v|=^ I 1 1 1 ' j r ! \ k v\ 1. 282 VILLEMAlllE DE MONTREAL. [i«3(;. till his shoulders were one wound, wore a belt witli more than twelve hundred sharp points, and invented for himself other torments, which filled his confessor with admiration.^ One day, while at his devotions, he heard an inward voice commanding him to l)e- come the founder of a new Order of hospital nuns ; and he was further ordered to esttiblish, on tin- island called Montreal, in Canada, a hospital, or Ilotel-Dieu, to be conducted by these nuns. But Montreal was a wilderness, and the hospital would have no patients. Therefore, in order to supply them, the island must first be colonized. Dau- versi(ire was greatly perplexed. On the one hand, the voice of Heaven must be obeyed ; on the other, he had a wife, six children, and a very moderate fortune.^ Again: there was at Paris a young priest, about twenty-eight years of age, — Jean Jacques Olier, afterwards widely known as founder of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. Judged by his engraved portrait, his countenance, though marked both with energy and intellect, was anything but prepossessing. Every lineament proclaims the priest. Yet the Abbd Olier has high titles to esteem. He signalized his piety, it is true, by the most disgusting exploits of self- mortification; but, at the same time, he was strenu- 1 Fancamp in Faillon, Vie de Jl/''» Mance, Introduction. 2 Faillon, Vic de M'^' Mance, Introduction ; DoUier de Casson, Hint, de Moutrml, MS. ; Les Veritables Motifs des Messieurs et iJames de Montreal, 25 ; Juchereau, 33. 16:J6.] VISIONS. —PRODIGIES. 283 ous in his efforts to reform the people and the clergy. So zealous was he for good morals, that he drew upon himself the imputation of a leaning to the heresy of tlic Jansenists, — a suspicion strengthened by his opposition to certain priests, who, to secure ihe faith- ful in their allegiance, justified them in lives of licentiousness.^ Yet Olier's catholicity was past attaintment, and in his horror of Jansenists he yielded to the Jesuits alone. He was praying in the ancient church of St. Ger- main des Prds, when, like Dauversiere, he thought lie heard a voice from Heaven, saying that he was destined to be a light to the Gentiles. It is recorded as a mystic coincidence attending this miracle, that the choir was at that very time chanting the words, Lumen ad revelationem Gentium;^ and it seems to lia\e occurred neither to Olier nor to his biographer, that, falling on the ear of the rapt worshipper, they might have unconsciously suggested the supposed revelatioi.. But there was a further miracle. An inward voice told Olier that he was to form a society of priests, and establish them on the island called Montreal, in Canada, for the propagation of the True Faith; and writers old and recent assert, that, while both he and Dauversiere were totally ignorant of Canadian geography, they suddenly found themselves ill possession, they knew not how, of the most exact 1 ■ i 1 Faillon, Vie de M. Olier, ii. 188. "^ Memoires AufiMjraphes de M. Olier, cited by Faillon, in Histoire de la Colonie Frangaise, i. 384. ' , I ll:t> 1-' , \ ) 1 ■ ■t ■' V i 1 I j-; . i ■J kb y. II^ 284 VILLKMARTE I)E MONTREAL. [1636-40. details concerning Montreal, its size, shape, situa- tion, soil, climjite, and productions. The annual volumes of the Jesuit Relations^ issu- ing from the renowned press of Cramoisy, were at this time spread broadcast througliout France; and, in the circles of haute devotion^ Canada and its niis- siims were everywhere the themes of entliusiastic dis- cussion; while Champlain, in his published works, had long before pointed out Montreal as the proper site for a settlement. But we are entering a region of miracle, and it is superfluous to look far for explanations. The illusion, in these cases, is a part of the histoiy. Dauversidre pondered the revelation he had re- ceived ; and the more he pondered, the more was he convinced that it came from God. He therefore set out for Paris, to find some means of accomplishing the task assigned him. Here, as he prayed before an image of the Virgin in the church of Notre-Dame, he fell into an ecstasy, and beheld a vision. " I should be false to the integrity of history," writes his biog- rapher, "if I did not relate it here." And he adds that the reality of this celestial favor is past douht- ing, inasmuch as Dauversiere himself told it to his daughtei-s. Christ, the Virgin, and St. Josepli ap- peared before him. He saw them distinctly. Then he heard Christ ask three times of his Virgin Mother, "Where can I find a faithful servant?" On which, the Virgin, taking him (Dauversiere) by the liand, replied, "See, Lord, here is that faithful servant!" — and Christ, with a benignant smile, received him 1640.] THEIR SCHEMES. 285 into his service, promising to bestow on him wisdom and strength to do his work.^ From Paris lie went to the neighboring chateau of Meudon, which over- looks the valley of the Seme, not far from St. Cloud. Entering the gallery of the old castle, he saw a priest approaching him. It was Olier. Now, we are told that neither of these men had ever seen or heard of the other; and yet, says the pious historian, "im- pelled by a kind of inspiration, they knew each other at once, even to the depths of their hearts; saluted each other by name, as we read of St. Paul, the Her- mit, and St. Anthony, and of St. Dominic and St. Francis; and ran to embrace each other, like two friends who had met after a long separation."'^ " Monsieur, " exclaimed Olier, " I know your design, and I go to commend it to God, at the holy altar." And he went at once to say mass in the chapel. Dauversiere received thy communion at his hands ; and then they walked for three hours in the park, discussing their plans. They were of one mind, in respect both to objects and means; and when they parted, Olier gave Dauversiere a hundred louis, say- ing, "This is to begin the work of God." They proposed to found at Montreal three religious communities, — three being the mystic number, — one of secular priests to direct the colonists and convert the Indians, one of nuns to nurse the sick, and one 1 Faillon, Vie de il/"<^ Mawe, Introduction, xxviii. Tlio Abbe Fcrland, in Ins Histoire du Canada, passes over the miracles in silence. * Ibid., La Colonie Fran^aise, i. 890. I. im \i ;■ fi inn 286 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1640. of nuns to teach the Faith to the children, white and red. To borrow their own phrases, they would plant the banner of Christ in an abode oi desolation and a haunt of demons ; and to this end a band of priests and women were to invade the wilderness, and take post between the fangs of the Iroquois. But first they must make a colony, and to do so must raise money. Olier had pious and wealthy penitents; Dauversiere had a friend, the Baron de F'ancanii), devout as himself and far richer. Anxious for his soul, and satisfied that the enterprise was an inspiia- tion of God, he was eager to bear part in it. Olier soon found three others ; and the six together formed the germ of the Society of Notre-Dame de Montreal. Among them they raised the sum of seventy-five thousand livres, equivalent to about as many dollars at the present day.^ ^ Dollier de Casson, Ilistoire de Montreal, MS. ; also Belmont, Histoire du Canada, 2. Juchereau doubles the sura. Faillon agrees with Dollier. On all that relates to the earljr annals of Montreal a flood of new- light has been thrown by the Abbe Faillon. As a priest of St. Sulpice, he had ready access to the archives of the Seminaries of Montreal and Paris, and to numerous other ecclesiastical deposito- ries, which would have been closed hopelessly against a layman and a heretic. It is impossible to commend too highly the zeal, diligence, exactness, and extent of his conscientious researches. His credulity is enormous, and he is completely in sympathy with the superimturalists of wliom he writes : in other words, he identi- fies himself with his theme, and is indeed a fragment of the seven- teenth century, still extant in the nineteenth. He is minute to prolixity, and abounds in extracts and citations from the ancient manuscripts which his labors have unearthed. In short, the Al)l)e' is a prodigy of patience and industry ; and if he taxes the patience 1640.] A PERILOUS OUTPOST. 287 Now to look for a moment at tlieir plan. Their eulogists say, and with perfect truth, that from a worldly point of view it was mere folly. The part- ners mutually bound themselves to seek no return for the money expended. Their profit was to be reaped in the skies ; and, indeed, there was none to be reaped on earth. The feeble settlement at Quebec was at this time in danprer of utter ruin ; for the Iro- quois, enraged at the attacks made on them by Champlain, had begun a fearful course of retaliation, and the very existence of the colony trembled in the balance. But if Quebec was exposed to tlieir fero- cious inroads, Montreal was incomparably more so. A settlement here would be a perilous outpost, — a hand thrust into the jaws of the tiger. It would provoke attack, and lie almost in the path of the war-parties. The associates could gain nothing by the fur-trade ; for they would not be allowed to share in it. On the other hand, danger apart, the place was an excellent one for a mission; for here met two great rivers: the St. Lawrence, with its countless tributaries, flowed in from the west, while the Ot- tawa descended from the north; and Montreal, em- braced by their uniting waters, was the key to a vast inland navigation. Thither the Indians would nat- l. of his readers, he also rewards it abundantly. Such of his original autliorities as have proved accessible are before me, including a considerable number of manuscripts. Among these, that of DoUier tie Oasson, Ifistoire de Mimtrenl, as cited above, is the most impor- tant. The copy in my possession was made from the original in the Mazarin Library. 288 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1640. ' I I I !• ■! t urally resort ; and thence the missionaries ooulcl niiiko their way into the heart of a boundless heathendom. None of the ordinary motives of colonization had i)art in this design. It owed its conception and its jjirth to religious zeal alone. The island of Montreal belonged to Lauson, former president of the great company of the Hundred Asso- ciates ; and, as we have seen, his son had a monopoly of fishing in the St. Lawrence. Dauvei-sitire and B^ancamp, after much diplomacy, succeeded in per- suading the elder Lauson to transfer his title to them ; and as there was a defect in it, they also ol)- tained a grant of the island from the Hundred Asso- ciates, its original owners, who, however, reserved to themselves its western extremity as a site for a fort and storehouses.^ At the same time, the younger Lauson granted them a right of fishery within two leagues of the shores of the island, for which they were to make a yearly acknowledgment of ten pounds of fish. A confirmation of these grants was obtained from the King. Dauversi^re and his companions 1 Donation et Transport de la Concession de I'Isle de Montreal par M. Jean de Lattzon aux Sieurs Chevrier de Fouancant (Fancanip) d le lioyer de la Doversiere, MS. Concession d'une Partie de I'TsIe de Montreal accordee par la Com- jiaf/nie de la Nonrclle France aux Sieurs Chevrier et le Royer, MS. Lettrc.s de Ratification, MS. Acte qui prouve que les Sieurs Chevrier de Fancamps et Royer de la Dauvcrsiere n'ont stipule qu'au nom de la Compagnle de Montreal, MS. From copies of other documents before me, it appears that in 1669 the reserved portion of the island was also ceded to the Com- pany of Montreal. See also Edits, Ordonnances Royaux, etc., i. 20-26 (Quebec, 1854). i:, It 1640.] MAISONNEUVE. 289 were now seigneurs of Montreal. They were empow- ered to appoint a governor and to esttiblish courts, from whicli there was to l)e an appeal to the Supreme Court of Quebec, supposing such to exist. They were excluded from the fur-trade, and forbidden to Imild castles or forts other than such as were neces- sary for defence against the Indians. Their title assured, they matured their plan. First they would send out forty men to ttike possession of Montreal, intrench themselves, and raise crops. Then they would build a house for the priests, and two con- vents for the nuns. Meanwhile, Olier was toiling at Viiugirard, on the outskirts of Paris, to inaugurate tlie seminary of priests; and Dauversiere at La Fleche, to form the community of hospital nuns. How the school nuns were provided for we shall see hereafter. The colony, it will be observed, was for the convents, not the convents for the colony. The Associates needed a soldier-governor to take charge of their forty men ; and, directed as they sup- posed by Providence, they found one wholly to their mind. This was Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Mai- sonneuve, a devout and valiant gentleman, who in long service among the heretics of Holland had kept Ills faith intact, and had held himself resolutely aloof from the license that surrounded him. He loved his profession of arms, and wished to consecrate his sword to the Church. Past all comparison, he is the manliest figure that appears in this group of zealots. The piety of the design, the miracles that inspired it, 19 ■■■ J-TTIft i if ill I 1 : i ^ i 1 . ' i 1 ■ 1 i 1 200 VILLKMARTK DK MONTRKAL. [lOJO. the advontnro and the peril, all combined to cliunn him; and he eagerly embraced the enterprise. His father opposed his purpose; Imt he met him with ;i text of St. Mark, "There is no man that hatli left house or ])rethren or sisters or father for my sake, hut he shall receive an hundred-fold." On this th'j eldci Maisonneuve, deceived by his own worldliness, iiim- gined that the plan covered some hidden speculation, from which enormous profits were expected, and therefore withdrew his oppositiim.^ Their scheme was ripening fast, when both Olier and Dauversiere were assailed by one of those revul- sions of spirit to which saints of the ecstatic school are naturally lijd)le. Dauveraiere, in particular, was a prey to the extremity of dejection, uncertainty, and misgiving. What had he, a family man, to do with ventures beyond sea? Was it not his first duty to support his wife and children? CouM he not fulfil all his obligations as a Christian by reclaiming the wicked and relieving the poor at La Fl^che ? Plainly, he had doubts that his vocation was genuine. If we could raise the curtain of his domestic life, perhaps we should find him beset by wife and daughters, tear- ful and wrathful, inveighing against his folly, and imploring him to provide a support for them before squandering his money to plant a convent of nuns in a wilderness. How long his fit of dejection lasted does not appear ; but at length ^ he set himself again ^ Faillon, La Cohnie Fran<;aise, i. 409. 2 Ibid., Vie de M''" Mance, Introduction, xxxv. iGtn.] DEVOUT LA DIRS. 201 to his appointed work. Olier, too, t^merginp from the clouds and darkness, found faitli once more, and iu,'ain placed himself at the head of the great enterprise.* There was imperative need of more money; and Daiiversi^re, \uider judicious guidance, was a(!tive in ohtaining it. This miserable victim of illusions had a squat, uncourtly figure, and was no proficient in the graces either of mannei's or of speecli ; hence his success in commending his objects to pei-sons of rank and wealth is set down as one of the many mimclea which attended the birth of Montreal. But zeal and earnestness are in themselves a power; and the ground had been well marked out and ploughed for liim in advance. That attnictive though intricate subject of study, the female mind, has always en- gaged the attention of priests, more especially in countries where, as in France, women exert a strong social and political influence. The art of kindling the flames of zeal, and the more difiicult art of direct- ing and controlling them, have been themes of reflec- tion the most diligent and profound. Accordingly, we find that a large proportion of the money raised for this enterprise was contributed by devout ladies. Many of them became members of the Association of Montreal, which was eventually increased to about fort}^-five persons, chosen for their devotion and their wealth. * Faillon ( Vie de M. Oiler) devotes twenty-one pages to the his- tory of his fit of nervous deiiression. li • i I. I I ! i 1 ■ i ■ 1 I ! 292 VILLKMARIK I)K MOXTRKAL. [HMO. Olier and liLs associat^^H Imd resolved, tlion}^'']! not from any collaiwo of zeal, to postpone tlu; eslaldisli- nient of tlio seminary and the college nntil alter ii scittlement sjionld Ik; formed. The hospital, how- ever, mijjfht, they thou^dit, 1ki Ix'^nin at once; lor blood and l)h)ws wonld Ik; the; assnicd portion of the first settlei-s. At least, a disereet woman oii^dit to end)ark with the lii-st colonista jis tluiir nurse and housekeeper. Scarcely wjis the need recognized when it was 8Upj)lied. Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance was horn of an honor- able family of Nogent-le-lioi, and in 1()40 was thirty- four yeai-s of age. These Canadian hei'oines hegan their religious experiences early. Of Marie de I'lii- carnation we read, that at the cage of seven Chiist appeared to her in a vision;* and the biographer of Mademois(dle Mance assures us, with admiring grav- ity, that, at the same tender age, she bound luii-self to God by a vow of perpetual chastity.'^ This singu- lar infant in due time became a woman, of a delicate constitution, and manners graceful yet dignified. Though an earnest devotee, she felt no vocation for the cloister; yet, while still "in the world," she led the life of a nun. The Jesuit Relations^ and the example of Madame de la Peltrie, of whom she had heard, inoculated her with the Canadian enthusiasm, then so prevalent; and, under the pretence of visit- ing relatives, she made a journey to Paris, to take * Casgrain, Vic de Marie de V Incarnation, 78. •^ Faillon, Vie de M"' Mance, i. 3. lOlo.J MADKMOISKIJJC MANCK. 'Jiia CMiiiiscl of ccrlaiii priests. ()f niio tljinj^ hIio wjih assured: tlie Diviiui will railed her to ('iiiiiidu, i)iit to what end she iieilhi r kiunv nor nsked to know; for she ulKUidoned luM'self as an atom to 1m> homo to unknown (h'slinies on the hreiith of (Jod. At i'aris, Kiither St. .lure, a .Jesuit, assured her thiit lier voca- tion to (Canada wiis, past (h»uht, a call from Heaven; while Father Ra[)in, a Ki^eollet, spread abroad the faiMC! of her virtues, and introduced her to many Indies of rank, wealth, and zeal. Then, well sup- plied with money for any pious work to which she mii^ht 1)0 sunnnoned, she journeyed to KocOielle, whence sliijjs were to sail for New France. 'I'hus far she liad lx3en kept in ignorance of the [)lan with rccjard to Montreal; Init now Father La IMace, a .Jes- uit, revealed it to her. On the (hiy after her arrival at Ilochelle, as she entered the Church of the .fesiuts, she met Dauvei'sic^re coming out. "Then," says her hiographer, "these two persons, who had never seen nor heard of each other, v/ere enlightened supernat- urally, whereby their most hidden thoughts were mutually made known, as had happened already with M. Olier .and this same M. de la Dauvei-siere." ^ A long converaation ensued l)ctween them; and the delights of this interview were never effaced Irom the mind of Mademoiselle Mance. "She used to speak of it like a seraph," writes one of her nuns, * Faillon, Vie de 3/"« Mnnce, i. 18. Here atcafn the Abbe Fer- land, with his usual good sense, tacitly rejects the supernat- uralism. K j I i 1 i f" i i ! 1 I 294 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1642. "and far better than many a learned doctor could have done."^ She had found her destiny. The ocean, the wil- derness, the solitude, the Iroquois, — nothing daunted her. She would go to Montreal with Maisonneuve and his forty men. Yet when the vessel was about to sail, a new and sharp misgiving seized her. How could she, a woman, not yet bereft of youth or charms, live alone in the forest, among a troo}) of soldiers ? Her scruples were relieved by two of the men, who at the last moment refused to embark without their wives, — and by a young woman, who, impelled by enthusiasm, escaped from her friends, and took passage, in spite of them, in one of the vessels. All was ready; the ships set sail; but Olier, Dau- versiere, and Fancamp remained at home, as did also the other Associates, with the exception of Maison- neuve and Mademoiselle Mance. In the following February, an impressive scene took place in tlie Church of Notre Dame, at Paris. The Associates, at this time numbering about forty-five, ^ with Olier at their head, assembled before the altar of the Vir- gin, and, by a solemn ceremonial, consecrated Mont- real to the Holy Family. Henceforth it was to l)e called Villemarie de Montreal,^ — a sacred town, 1 La Soeur Morin, Annales des Ilospitalieres de Villemarie, MS. cited by Faillon. 2 Dollier de Casson, a.d. 1641-42, MS. Vimont says thirty-five, 8 Vimont, Relation, 1642, 37. Compare Le Clerc, iStablissement de la Foy, ii. 49. 1642.] MAIIGUERITE BOUKGEOYS. 295 reared to the honor and under the patronage of Christ, St. Joseph, and the Virgm, to be typified by three persons on earth, founders respectively of the three destined communities, — Olier, Dauversiere, und a maiden of Troyes, Marguerite Bourgeoys : the seminary to be consecrated to Christ, tlie H6tel-Lieu to St. Joseph, and the college to the Virgin. But we are anticipating a little ; for it was several years as yet before Marguerite Bourgeoys took an active part in the work of Montreal. She was the daughter of a respectable tradesman, and was now twenty-two years of age. Her portrait has come down to us; and her face is a mirror of frankness, loyalty, and womanly tenderness. Her qualities were those of good sense, conscientiousness, and a warm heart. She had known no miracles, ecstasies, or trances ; and though afterwards, when her religious susceptibilities had reached a fuller development, a few such are recorded of her, yet even the Abbd Faillon, wit>i the best intentions, can credit her with but a meagre allowance of these celestial favors. Though in the midst of visionaries, she distrusted the supernatural, and avowed her belief that in His government of the world God does not often set aside its ordinaiy laws. Her religion was of the affec- tions, and was manifested in an absorbing devotion to duty. She had felt no vocation to the cloister, but had taken the vow of chastity, and was attached, as an externe^ to the Sistere of the Congregation of Troyes, who were fevered with eagerness to go to mrr 'n ! 1 i ^ . \ ) .. I f I i'»' 296 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1(541. Canada. Marguerite, however, was content to wait until there was a prospect that she could do go(jd l)y going; and it was not till the year 1G53, that, xu- nouncing an inheritance, and giving all she hjid to the poor, she embarked fcr the savage scene of lier labors. To this day, in crowded school-rooms of Montreal and Quebec, fit monuments of her unohtni- sive virtue, her successors instruct the children of tlie poor, and embalm the pleasant memory of Marguerite Bourgeoys. In the martial figure of Maisonneuve, and the fair form of this gentle nun, we find the true heroes of Montreal.^ Maisonneuve, with his forty men and four women, reached Quebec too late to ascend to Montreal that season. They encountered distrust, jealousy, and opposition. The agents of the Company of the Hun- dred Associates looked on them askance; and the Governor of Quebec, Montmagny, saw a rival gov- ernor in Maisonneuve. Every means was used to persuade the adventurers to abandon their project, and settle at Quebec. Montmagny called a council of the principal persons of his colony, who gave it as their opinion that the new-comers had better exchange Montreal for the Island of Orleans, where they would be in a position to give and receive succor; while, by persisting in their first design, they would expose themselves to destruction, and be of use to nobody.^ Maisonneuve, who was present, expressed his surprise 1 For Marguerite Bourgeoys, see her Life by Faillon. 2 Juchereau, 32; Faillon, Colonte Fran^aise, i. 423. > •'■. 1642.] M. rUISEAUX. 297 tliiit they should assume to direct his affairs. "I have not come here," he said, "to deliberate, but to act. It is my duty and my honor to found a colony at Montreal; and I would go, if eveiy tree were an Iroquois I "^ At Quebec there was little ability and no inclina- tion to shelter the new colonists for the winter ; and they would have fared ill, but for the generosity of M. Puiseaux, who lived, not far distant, at a place called St. Michel. This devout and most hospitable pei-son made room for them all in his rough but capa- cious dwelling. Their neighbors were the hospital nuns, then living at the mission of Sillery, in a sulwtantial but comfortless house of stone; where, amidst destitution, sickness, and irrepressible dis- gust at the filth of the savages whom they had in charge, they were laboring day and night with de- voted assiduity. Among the minor ills which beset tliem were the eccentricities of one of their lay sistere, crazed with religious enthusiasm, who had the care of their poultiT and domestic animals, of which she was accustomed to inquire, one by one, if they loved God; when, not receiving an immediate answer in tlie affirmative, she would instantly put them to dciith, telling them that their impiety deserved no better fate.^ * La Tour, Memoire de Laval, liv. viii ; Belmont, Ilistoire du Canada, 3. •^ Juchereau, 45. A great mortification to these excellent nuns was the impossibility of keeping their white dresses clean among their Indian patients, so that they were forced to dye them with K ! I ■ i i h 11 If ' '*t *;' I \ ,V' 298 VILLEMAllIE DE MONTREAL. [1612 ( , 1 At St. Michel, Maisonneuve employed his men in building boats to ascend to Montreal, and in various other labors for the behoof of the future colony. Thus the winter wore away; but, as celestial minds are not exempt from ire, Montmagny and Maison- neuve fell into a quarrel. The twenty-fifth of Janii- aiy was Maisonneuve 's fete day; and, as he was greatly beloved by his followers, they resolved to celebrate the occasion. Accordingly, an hour and a half before daylight, they made a general discharge of their muskets and cannon. The sound reached Quebec, two or three miles distant, startling the Governor from his morning slumbers ; and his indig- nation was redoubled when he heard it again at night, — for Maisonneuve, pleased at the attachment of his men, had feasted them and warmed their hearts with a distribution of wine. Montmagny, jealous of his authority, resented these demonstrations as an infraction of it, affirming that they had no right to fire their pieces without his consent; and, arresting the principal offender, one Jean Gory, he put him in irons. On being released, a few days after, his com- panions welcomed him with great rejoicing, and Maisonneuve gave them all a feast. He himself came in during the festivity, drank the health of the company, shook hands with the late prisoner, placed him at the head of the table, and addressed him as follows : — butternut juice. They were the Ilospitalieres who had come over in 1039. come over 1642.] MAISONNEUVE AND HIS MEN. 299 "Jean Gory, you have been put in irons for me: you had the pain, and I the affront. For that, I add ten crowns to your wages." Then, turning to the otlit'rs: "My boys," he said, "though Jean Gory has been misused, you must not lose heart for that, but drink, all of you, to the health of the man in irons. When we are once at Montreal, we shall be our o^vn masters, and can fire our cannon when we please."^ Montmagny was wroth when this was reported to liim; and, on the ground that what had passed was "contrary to the service of the King and the author- ity of the Governor," he summoned Gory and six others before him, and put them separately under oath. Their evidence failed to establish a case against their commander; but thenceforth there was great coldness between the powers of Quebec and Montreal. Early in May, Maisonneuve and his followers em- barked. They had gained an unexpected recruit during the winter, in the person of Madame de la Peltrie. The piety, the novelty, and the romance of their enterprise, all had their charms for the fair enthusiast; and an irresistible impulse — imputed by a slandering historian to the levity of her sex'-^ — urged her to share their fortunes. Her zeal was more admired by the Montrealists whom she joined ' Documents Divers, MSS., now or lately in possession of G. B. Faribault, Esq. ; Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de N. D. de Quebec, 25; Faillon, La Colonie Frangaise, i. 433. - La To^r, Memoire de Laval, liv. viii. i . ^, ■ ] I ' , I' % i '. 300 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1642. than by tlie Ursulines whom she abandoned. She carried off all the furniture she had lent them, and left them in the utmost destitution.^ Nor did slie remain quiet after reaching Montreal, but was pres- ently seized with a longing to visit the Hurons, mul preach the Faith in pei-son to those l)eniglite(l heathen. It needed all the eloquence of a Jesuit, lately returned from that most arduous mission, to convince her that the attempt would be as useless as rash.^ It was the eighth of May when Maisonneuve and his followers embarked at St. Michel; and as the boats, deep-laden with men, arms, and stores, moved slov/ly on their way, the forest, with leaves just oi)en- ing in the warmth of spring, lay on their right hand and on their left, in a flattering semblance of tran- quillity and peace. But behind woody islets, in tangled thickets and damp ravines, and in the shade and stillness of the columned woods, lurked every- where a danger and a terror. What shall we say of these adventurers of Mont- real, — of these who bestowed their wealth, and, far more, of these who sacrificed their peace and risked their lives, on an enterprise at once so romantic and so devout? Surrounded as they were with illusions, false lights, and false shadows; breathing an atmos- phere of miracle; compassed about with angels and 1 Charlevoix, Vie de Marie del' Incarnation, 21^', Casgrain, Vic de Marie de I' Incarnation, 333. ^ St. Thomas, Life of Madame de la Peltrie, 98. 1642.] ARRIVAL OF THE COLONISTS. 301 devils ; urged with stimulants most powerful, though unreal; their minds drugged, as it were, to pre- ternatural excitement, — it is very difficult to judge of them. High merit, without douht, there was in some of their number; but one may beg to he spared the attempt to measure or define it. To estimate a virtue involved in conditions so anomalous demands, perhai)S, a judgment more than human. The Roman Church, sunk in disease and corrup- tion when the Reformation began, was roused by that fierce trumpet-blast to purge and brace herself anew. Unable to advance, she drew back to the fresher and comparatively purer life of the past; and tlie fervors of mediieval Christianity were renewed in the sixteenth century. In many of its aspects, this enter23rise of Montreal belonged to the time of the first Crusades. The spirit of Godfrey de Bouil- lon lived again in Chomedey de Maisonneuve ; and in Marguerite Bourgeoys was realized that fair ideal of Christian womanhood, a flower of Earth expanding in the rays of Heaven, which soothed with gentle influence the wildness of a barbarous age. On the seventeenth of May, 1642, Maisonneuve 's little flotilla — a pinnace, a fiat-bottomed craft moved hy sails, and two row-boats ^ — approached Montreal ; and all on board raised in unison a hymn of praise. Montmagny was with them, to deliver the island, in hehalf of the Company of the Hundred Associates, to Maisonneuve, representative of the Associates of 1 Dollier de Casson, a.d. 1041-42, MS. "•■. 1 1 1 ! I 1 ■ . i :> i r 1 1 302 VILLEMARIE DE MONTREAL. [1042. Montreal.^ And liere, too, was Father Viniont, Superior of tlie missions; for the Jesuits had Im-ch prudently invited to {iccept tlie spiritual chaige of the young colony. On the following day, tlioy glided along the green and solitary shores ik^v thronged with the life of a busy city, and landed on the spot which Chaniplain, thirty-one yeais Ih;- fore, had chosen as the fit site of a settlement.'-^ It was a tongue or triangle of land, formed by the junc- tion of a rivulet with the St. Lawrence, and known afterwards as Point Calliere. The rivulet was bor- dered by a meadow, and beyond rose the forest witli its vanguard of scattered trees. Early spring flowei-s were blooming in the young grass, and l)ird.s of varied plumage flitted among the boughs. ^ Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers imitated his example; and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of thanksgiving. Tents, baggage, arms, and stores were landed. An altar was raised on a pleasant spot near at hand ; and Mademoiselle Mance, with Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte Barrd, decorated it with a taste whic'i was the admiration of the be- holders.* Now all the company gathered befoie the shrine. Here stood Vimont, in the rich vestments of It was the Place Roi/ale of 1 Le Clerc, ii. 50, 61. 2 "Pioneers of France," 370. Champlain. 8 Dollier de Casson, A.n. 1041-42, MR. * Morin, Annates, MS., citt'd l)y Faillon, Tm Colome FmngaiKe, i. 440; also Dollier de Casson, a.o. 1041-42, MS. 1042.] THE lURTII OF MONTREAL. 808 his olB'^e. Here were the two ladies, with their ser- viiiit; Montmagiiy, no very willing spectator; iind Maisonneuve, a warlike iigure, erect and tall, his imn clustering around him, — soldiei's, sailoi-s, arti- siiiLS, find laborera, — all alike soldiei's at need. They knoeled in reverent silence as the ^lost was raised aloft; and when the rite was over, uie priest turned and addressed them : — "You are a grain of mustard-seed, that shall rise and grow till its branches ovei-shadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the work of God. His smile is on you, and your children shall fill the land."i The afternoon waned; the sun sank behind the western forest, and twilight came on. Fireflies were twinkling over the darkened meadow. They caught them, tied them with threads into shining festoons, and hung them before the altar, where the Host re- mained exposed. Then they pitched their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, stationed their guards, and lay down to rest. Such was the birth-night of Montreal.2 Is this true history, or a romance of Christian chiv- alry ? It is both. ^ Dollier de Casson, MR., ,■»« above. Vimont, in the Relation of 1(»42, p. 37, briefly mentions the ceremony. ^ The Associates of Montreal published, in 1043, a thick pam- phlet in quarto, entitled Les Veritables Motifs de ^lessieurs et J James de III Societe de Notre-Dame de Montreal, pour la Conversion ties Sauvages de la Nouvelle France. It was written as an answer to as- persions cast upon them, apparently by persons attached to the great h ! ■m ( I 1 304 Vn.LKMAIirE I)E MONTREAL. [1012 Company of New France known as tlie " Ilundrud AsHociati's," uiid atTonlH a (Mirious exposition of the spirit of their enterpriwc. it is excessively rare ; but copies of tlie essential portions are before iiie. The following; is a characteristic extract: — " Vous dites que I'entreprise uvre dc roi, puisque le Roi (Jes rois s'en mele, lui h qui obeissent la mer & lea vents. Nous ne craignons done pas les naufragcs ; il n'en susciteni que lorsque nous en aurons besoin, & qu'il sera plus expe'dient pour sa gloire, que nous cherchons uniquement. Comment avez-vous pu mettre dans votre esprit qu'appuyc's de nos propres forces, nous eussions pn^sume de penser ii un si glorieux dessein '? Si Dieu n'est point dans I'affaire de Montre'al, si c'est une invention humaiiie, ne vous en mettez point en peine, el'.c no durera guere. Ce que vous predisez arrivera, & quelouc chose de pire encore; mais si Dieu I'a ainsi voulu, qui etes-vous pour lui contredire? C'etait la reflexion que le docteur Gamaliel faisait aux Juifs, on faveur des Apotres ; pour vous, qui ne pouvez ni croire, ni faire, laissez les autres en liberte de faire ce qu'ils croient que Dieu demande d'eux. Vous aasurez qu'il ne se fait plus de miracles ; mais qui vous I'a dit ? oil cela est-il ecrit? Jesus-Christ assure, au contraire, que ceux qui auront autant de Foi qu'un grain de seneve,feront, en son noni, Jes mira- cles plus grands que ceux qu'il a fails lui-mei,,e. Depuis quand etes- vous les directeurs des opc'rations divines, pour les reduire k cer- tains temps & dans la conduite ordinaire f Tant de saints niouve- ments, d'inspirations & de vues interieures, qu'il lui plait de donner k quelques fi.me8 dont il se sert pour I'avancement de cette (Euvre, sont des marques de son bon plaisir. Jusqu'-ici, 11 a pourvu au necessaire; nous ne voulons point d'abondance, & nous espuroiis que sa Providence continuera." u ' ' CHAPTER XVI. 1641-1644. ISAAC JOGUES. TiiK Iroquois War. -t Jooues: his Capture; his .Tournky to TiiK Mohawks. — Lake Georoe. — The Mohawk Towns. — The Missionary Tortured. — Death op Goupil. — Misery OK JoouES. — The Mohawk "Bauvlon." — Fort Orange. — JiSCAPi-: OF Jo(iUES. — Manhattan. — The Voyage to France. — JoouES among his Brethren; he returns to Canada. The waters of the St. Lawrence rolled through a virgin wilderness, where, in the vastness of the lonely woodlands, civilized man found a precarious harbor- ago at three points only, — at Quebec, at Montreal, and at Three Rivers. Here and in the scattered mis- sions was the whole of New France, — a population of some three hundred souls in all. And now, over these miserable settlements, rose a war-cloud of frightful portent. It was thirty -two } i^ars since Champlain had first attacked tht i'oquois.^ They had nursed their wrath for more than a generation, and at length their hour was come. The Dutch traders at Fort Orange, now 1 See " Pioneers of France," 355. 20 i '■ I I i 30G ISAAC J()(;UI-:S. [1641-4'J. All)iiny, liad s\ii)i)lio(l tliom witli fireurniH. Tlic Mo. hawks, the most easterly of the Irocjiiois nations, hud, among their seven or eight hundred warriors, lut If.sH than tliree hundred armed with tlie arquehiisc, a weapon somewhat like the modern carhineJ TIk y were mjistei's of the thunderbolts which, in tin- hands of Champlain, had struck terror into their hearts. We have surveyed in the introductory chapter tlic characcer and organization of this ferocious pooph', — their confederacy of five nations, bound togetlicr by a peculiar tie of clanship ; their chiefs, half hen-d- itary, half elective; their government, an oligardiy in form and a democracy in spirit; their minds, tlior- oughly savage, yet marked here and there with traits of a vigorous development. The war which they had long waged with the Hurons was carried on by tlie Senecas and the other Western nations of tlieir league; while the conduct of hostilities against tlie French and their Indian allies in Lower Canada was left to the Mohawks. In parties of from ten to a hundred or more, they would leave their towns on the river Mohawk, descend Lake Champlain and tlio river Richelieu, lie in ambush on the banks of tlie 1 Vimont, Relation, 1G43, 62. Tlie Mohawks were the Aynies, or Agneronons, of tlie old French writers. According to the Journal of New Netherland, a contemporary Dutch document (see Colonial Documents of New York, i. 17i*), tlio Dutch at Fort Orange had supplied the Mohawks with four hundred guns, — the profits of the trade, which was free to the settkrs, blinding them to the danger. iniL'-l II rs K UK A NO. noi St. Lawrence, luul attack the i»iissin|T Innit^ or oiiiioes. S()inctinu!« tliey hovered ulMHit tlie t'ortiticsitioiiH of Quebec and Tliree Uivei-s, killiu}^ ytnifj^'hu's, or lur- mff anncd parties into anduiHcade.s. They followed like hounds on the trail of travellei-s and huntei's ; j)r()ke in upon unguarded camps at midnight; and liiy in wait, for days and weeks, to interci^pt the llnron traders on their yearly descent to (^ucIr^c. liiid they joined to their ferocious courage the disci- pline and the militiiry knowledge that In'long to civ- ilization, they could easily liave l)lotted out New France from the map, and made the l)anks of the St. Lawrence once more a solitude; l)ut though the most formidable of savages, they were savages only. In the early morning of the second of August, l()42,i twelve Huron canoes were moving slowly along the northern shore of the expansion of the St. Lawrence known as the Lake of St. Peter. There were on board about forty persons, including four Frenchmen, one of them being the Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, whom we have already followed on his mis- sionary journey to the towns of the Tobacco Nation. Ill the interval he had not l)een idle. During the last autumn (1641) he, with Father Charles Raymbault, had passed along the shore of Lake Huron north- ward, entered the strait through which Lake Superior discharges itself, pushed on as far as the Sault Sainte iMaiie, and preached the Faith to two thousand Ojil)- 1 For the date, spo Lalomant, Relation ties ffurons, 1G47, 18. ^J^' u 308 ISAAC JUGUES. ■ ! r I I t I [1G42. was and other Algonqiiins there assembled.^ He was now on his return from a far more perilous errand. The Huron mission was in a state of destitution. Tliere was need of clothing foi- ilio priests, of vessels for the altars, of bread and wine for the eucharist, of writing materials, — in short, of everything; and early in the summer of the present year Jogues had descended to Thiee Rivers and Queliec, with the Huron traders, to procure the necessary supplies. He had accom- plished his task, and was oi his way back to tlie mission. With him were a few Huron converts, and among them a noted Christian chief, Eustaclie Aliatsistari. Others of the party were in cfturse of instruction for baptism ; but the greater pait were heathen, whose canoes were deeply laden with the proceeds of their bargains with the French fnr- tradere. Jogues sat in one of the leading canoes. He Avas born at Orleans in 1607, and was thirty-five years of age. His oval face and the delicate mould of his features indicated a modest, thoughtful, and refined nature. He was constitutionally timid, with a sensi- tive conscience and great r^^ligious susceptibilities. He was a finisl^ed scholar, and might have gained a literary reputation ; but he had chosen another career, and one for which he seemed but ill fitted. Pliysi- cally, however, he was well matched with his A\'orlv ; for, though his frame was slight, he was so active * Lalemant, Relations des Ilnrons, 1042, 97. 1642.] HIS COMPANIONS. 309 that none of the Indians could surpass him in run- ning.^ With him were two young men, Rend Goupil and GiiiHaume Couture, donncs of the mission, — that is to say, l&ymen who, from a religious motive and wi<^iiout pay, had attached themselves to the service of the Jesuits. Goupil had formerly entered upon the Jesuit novitiate at Paris, but failing health had obliged him to leave it. As soon as he was able, he came to Cariada, offered his services to the Superior of the mission, was employed for a time in the hum- blest offices, and afterwards became an attendant at tlie hospital. At length, to his delight, he received per- mission to go up to the Hurons, where the surgical skill which he had acquired was greatly needed; and he was now on his way thither.^ His companion. Cou- ture, was a man of intelligence and vigor, and of a char- acter equally disinterested.^ Both were, like Jogues, in the foremost canoes ; while the fourth Frenchman was with the unconverted Hurons, in the rear. The twelve caiioes had reached the western end of the Lake of St. Peter, where it is filled with innu- merable islands.* The forest was close on their ^ Buteux, Narre de la Prise du Pere Jogues, MS. ; Memoire touchant le Pere Jogues, MS. There is a j ortrait of him prefixed to Mr. Shea's admirable edi- tion in quarto of Jogue's Novum Belgium. 2 Jogues, Notice sur RenS Goupil. ^ For an account of him, see Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de N. D. de Quebec, 83 (1803). * Buteux, Nnrre de la Prise du Pere Jogues, MS. This docu- ment leaves no doubt as to the locality. »►., 1 ■»: 1 ! ^ [i,t^ Ml > i ; i ! [T -^TP ^r i t 1 1 ' 1, / i ■ ( 1 ' ' !; ' : 1 1 ' ■ ; Mil!; 1 1 1 \ ku 1 1 310 ISAAC JOGUES. [1642. right; tliey kept near the shore to avoid the current, and the shallow water before them was covered with a dense growth of tall bulrushes. Suddenly tlie silence was frightfully broken. The war-whoop rose from among the rushes, mingled with the reports of guns and the whistling of bullets; and several Iro- quois canoes, filled with warriors, pushed out riom their concealment, and bore down upon Jogues and his companions. The Hurons in the rear were seized with a shameful panic. They leaped ashore; left canoes, baggage, and weapons, and fled into the woods. The French and the Christian Hurons made fight for a time; but when they saw another fleet of canoes approaching from the opposite shores or islands, they lost heart, and those escaped who could. Goupil was seized amid triumphant yells, as were also several of the Huron converts. Jogues sprang into the bulrushes, and might have escaped; but when he saw Goupil and the neophytes in tlie clutches of the Iroquois, he had no heart to abandon them, but came out from his hiding-place, and gave himself up to the astonished victors. A few of them had remained to guard the prisoners; the rest were chasing the fugitives. Jogues mastered his agony, and began to baptize those of the captive converts who needed baptism. Couture had eluded pursuit; but when he thought of Jogues and of what perhaps awaited him, he re- solved to share his fate, and, turning, retraced his steps. As he approached, five Iroquois ran forward 1642.] THE VICTORS AND THEIR PREY. 311 to meet him ; and one of them snapped his gun at his breast, but it missed fire. In his confusion and ex- citement, Couture fired his own piece, and laid the savage dead. The renmining four sprang upon him, stripped off all his clothing, tore away his finger-nail« with their teeth, gnawed his fingei-s with the fuiy of famished dogs, and thrust a sword through one of his hands. Jogues broke from his guards, and, rush- ing to his friend, threw his arms about his neck. The Iroquois dragged him away, beat him with their fists and war-clubs till he was senseless, and, when he revived, lacerated his fingers with their teeth, as they had done those of Couture. Then they turned upon Goupil, and treated him with the same ferocity. The Huron prisoners were left for the present unharmed. More of them were brought in every moment, till at length the number of captives amounted in all to twenty-two, while three Hurons had been killed in the fight and pursuit. The Iroquois, about seventy in number, now embarked with their prey; but not until they had knocked on the head an old Huron, whom Jogues, with his mangled hands, had just bap- tized, and who refused to leave the place. Then, under a burning sun, they crossed to the spot on which the town of Sorel now stands, at the mouth of the river Richelieu, where they encamped.^ ' The above, with much of what follow d, rests on three docu- ments. The first is a long letter, written in Latin, by Jogues, to tilt' Father Provincial at Paris. It is datoil at Kenssehierswyck (Albany), Aug. 5, 1G43, and is j ' ^orved in the Sorictas Jesu Mill- tans of Tanner^ and in the Morten Illustres et Gesta eorum de Soci^- k , 'wl^ I • 312 ISAAC JOGUES. [1642. Their course was southward, up the river Riche- lieu and Lake Champlain ; thence, by way of Lake George, to the Mohawk towns. The pain and fever of their wounds, and the clouds of mosquitoes, wliicli they could not drive off, left the prisoners no peace by day nor sleep by night. On the eighth day, they learned that a large Iroquois war-party, on their way to Canada, were near at hand; and they soon a})- proached their camp, on a small island near tlie southern end of Lake Champlain. The warriore, two hundred in number, saluted their victorious countrymen with volleys from their guns; tlieu, armed with clubs and thorny sticks, ranged them- selves in two lines, between which the captives were compelled to pass up the side of a rocky hill. On the way, they were beaten with such fury that Jogues, who was last in the line, fell powerless, drenched in blood and half dead. As the chief man among the French captives, he fared the woi-st. His hands were again mangled, and fire applied to his body; while the Huron chief, Eustache, was sub- tate Jesu, etc., of Alegambe. There is a French translation in Martin's Bressani, and an English translation, by Mr. Shea, in the New York Hist. Coll. of 1857. The second document is an old man- uscript, entitled Narre de la Prise dti Pere Jogues. It was written by the Jesuit Buteux, from the lips of Jogues. Father Martin, S. J., in whose custody it was, kindly permitted me to have a copy made from it. Besides these, there is a long account in the Rela- tion des Hurons of 1647, and a briefer one in that of 1644. All these narratives show the strongest internal evidence of truth, and are perfectly concurrent. They are also supported by statements of escaped Huron prisoners, and by several letters and memoirs of the Dutch at Rensselaerswyck. I "J 1642.] LAKE GEORGE. 313 jected to tortures even more atrocious. When, at night, the exhausted sufferers tried to rest, the young warriors came to lacerate their wounds and pull out their hair and beards. In the morning they resumed their journey. And now the lake narrowed to the semblance of a tranquil river. Before them was a woody mountain, close on their right a rocky promontory, und between these flowed a stream, the outlet of Lake George. On those rocks, more than a hundred yeara after, rose the ramparts of Ticonderoga. They landed, shoul- dered their canoes and baggage, took their way through the woods, passed the spot where the fierce High- landers and the dauntless regiments of England breasted in vain the storm of lead and fire, and soon reached the shore where Abercrombie landed and Lord Howe fell. First of white men, Jogues and his companions gazed on the romantic lake that bears the name, not of its gentle discoverer, but of the dull Hanoverian king. Like a fair Naiad of the wilder- ness, it slumbered between the guardian mountains that breathe from crag and forest the stern poetry of war. But all then was solitude; and the clang of trumpets, the roar of cannon, and the deadly crack of the rifle had never as yet awakened their angry echoes.^ i i h 1 Lake George, accordinj? to Jogues, was called by the Mohawks Andiatarocte, or "Place where the Lake closes." Andiutarnque. is found on a map of Sanson. Spofford, Gazetteer of New York, article "Lake George," says that it was called (ytniidrri-oit, or "Tail of the Lake." Father Martin, in his notes on Bressani, 314 ISAAC JOGUES. [1642. <■ i ,,'j Again the canoes were launched, and the wild flotilhi glided on its way, — now in the shadow of tho heights, now on the broad expanse, now among tlie devious channels of the narrows, beset with woody islets, where the hot air was redolent of the pine, the spruce, and the cedar, — till they neared that tragic shore, where, in the following century, New-England rustics baffled the soldiers of Dieskau, where Mont- calm planted his batteries, where the red cross waved so long amid the smoke, and where at length the summer night wfis liideous with carnage, and an hon- ored name was stained with a memory^ of blood.* The Iroquois landed at or near the future site of Fort William Henry, left their canoes, and, witli their prisoners, began their march for the nearest Mohawk town. Each bore his share of the plunder. Even Jogues, though his lacerated hands were in a i i prefixes to this name that of " Horicon," but gives no original authority. I have seen an old Latin map on wliich the name " Horiconi" is set down as belonging to a neighboring tribe. This seems to l)e only a misprint for " Horicoui," that is, " Irocoui," or " Iroquois." In an old English map, prefixed to the rare tract, A Treatise of New Enijland, the "Lake of Hierocoyes" is laid down. The name "Horicon," as used by Cooper in his Last of the Mohicans, seems to have no sufficient historical foundation. In 1646, the lake, as we shall see, was named " Lac St. Sacrement." 1 The allusion is, of course, to the siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, and the ensuing massacre by Montcalm's Indians. Charle- voix, with his usual carelessness, says that Jogues's captors took a circuitous route to avoid enemies. In truth, however, they were not in the slightest danger of meeting any ; and they followed the route which before the present century was the great highway between Canada and New Holland, or New York. 1612.] AMONG THE MOHAWKS. 315 rere m a frii^litfiil condition and lii.s body covered with bruises, was forced to sttigger on witli tlie rest under a lieavy load, lie with Ins fellow-prisonei-s, and indeed tlie whole party, were half starred, suKsisting chiefly on wild berries. They crossed the U})per Hudson, and in thirteen days after leaving the St. Lawrence neared the wretched goal of their pilgrimage, — a palisaded town, stiuiding on a hill by the banks of tlie river Mohawk. The whoops of the victors announced their ap- proach, and the savage hive sent forth itK swarms. They thronged the side of the hill, the old and the young, each with a stick, or a slender iron rod, bought from the Dutchmen on the Hudson. They ranged themselves in a double line, reaching upward to the entrance of the town ; and through this " nar- row road of Paradise," as Jogues calls it, the cap- tives were led in single file, — Couture in front, after him a half-score of Hurons, then Goupil, then the remaining Hurons, and at last Jogues. As they passed, they were saluted with yells, screeches, and a tempest of blows. One, heavier than the othei-s, knocked Jogues 's breath from his body, and stretched him on the ground; but it was death to lie there, and, regaining his feet, he staggered on with the rest.i When they reached the town, the blows ceased, and they were all placed on a scaffold, or ' This practice of forcing prisoners to "run the gantlet" was by no means peculiar to the Iroquois, but was common to many tribes. 316 ISAAC JOfHIES. [1612. 'I ' liiucli pliitforiii, in the middle of the place. Tlio three Freiielmieii had i'aivd the worst, and wxTe frightfully disligiired. Goui)il, espooially, was strcain- iiig with b'ood, and livid witli bruises from liead to foot. They were allowed a few minutes to recover their breath, iuidistur})ed, except by the hootings and gilns of the tiiob below. Then a chief cal]'3d out, "(^omc, let us caress these Frenchmen!" — and the crowd, knife in hand, began to mount the scafff)ld. They ordered a Chi'istian Algonquin woman, a prisoner among them, to cut off Jogues's left thumb, wliich she did ; and a thumb of Goupil was also severed, a clam-shell Ijeing used as the instrument, in order to increase the pain. It is needless to specify furtlier the tortures to wliich they were subjected, all de- signed to cause the greatest possible suffering with- out endangering life. A t night, they were I'enioved from the scaffold and placed in one of t^'O houses, each stretched un his back, with his limbs extended, and his ankles and wrists bound fast to stakes driven into the earthen floor. The children now profited l)y the examples of their parents, and amused themselves by placing live coals and red-hot ashes on the naked bodies of the prisoners, who, boiuu' fast, and covered with wounds and bruises which made every move- ment a torture, were sometimes unable to shake theni off. In the morning, they were again placed on the scaffold, where, during this and the two followiiig 1642.] THE MISSIONARY TORTURED. 317 (lays, they remained exposed to the taunts of the crowd. Then they were led in triun^iph to the sec- ond Mohawk town, and afterwards to the tliird,^ suf- fering at each a repetition of cruelties, the detail of which would be as monotonous as revolting. In a house in the town of Teonontogen, Jogues was hung by the wrists l)etween two of the u})right poles which supported the structure, in such a man- ner that his feet could not touch the ground; and thus he remained for some fifteen minutes, in extreme torture, until, as he was on the point of swooning, an Indian, with an impulse of pity, cut the cords and released him. While they were in this town, four fresh Huron prisoners, just taken, were brought in, and placed on the scaffold with the rest. Jogues, in the midst of his pain and exhaustion, took the oppor- tunity to convert them. An ear of green corn was thrown to him for food, and he discovered a few rain- drops clinging to the husks. With these he baptized two of the Hurons. The remaining two received baptism soon af te ; from a brook whicli the prisoners crossed on the way to another town. Couture, though he b-id incensed the Indians by ^ The Mohawks Jiad but three towns. Tlie first, and the lowest on tlio river, was Osseruenon ; tlie second, two miles above, was Amlagaron; and the third, Teonontogen: or, as Megapolensis, in his Sketch of the Mohawks, writes the names, As.seriu', liauagiro, and Thenondiogo. They all seem to liave been fortified in the Iroquois manner, and their united population was thirty-five hundred, or somewhat more. At a later period, 1720, there were still three towns, named respectively Teahtontaioga, Ganowauga, and Gane- gaiiiiga. See the map in Morgan, iMujue of the Iroquois. V, 1 '■ ■■ \ \ ^■i"»'i. (! -i !H I ' , ) mi ! I 318 ISAAC JOGUES. [164: killing one of their warriors, had gained their admi- ration by his bravery; and, after torturing him moKt savagely, they adopted him into one of their families, in place of a dead relative. Thenceforth he was coni- paratively safe. Jogues and Goupil were less Un-- t 'nate. Three of the Hurons had been burned to death, and they expected to share their fate. A council was held to pronounce their doom; biit dis- sensions arose, and no result was reached. Tliey were led back to the first village, where they re- mained, racked with suspense and half dead witli exhaustion. Jogues, however, lost no oi)portuiiity to baptize dying infants, while Goupil taught chil- dren to make the sign of the cross. On one occa- sion, he made the sign on the forehead of a child, grandson of an Indian in whose lodge they lived. The superstition of the old savage was aroused. Some Dutchmen had told him that the sign of the cross came from the Devil, and would cause mischief. He thought that Goupil was bewitching the child; and, resolving to rid himself of so dangerous a guest, ap- plied for aid to two young braves. Jogues and Gou- pil, clad in their squalid garb of tattered skins, were soon after walking together in the forest that ad- joined the town, consoling themselves with prayer, and mutually exhorting each other to suffer patiently for the sake of Christ and the Virgin, when, as they were returning, reciting their rosaries, they met the two young Indians, and read in their sullen visages an augury of ill. The Indians joined them, and 1642.] THE CORPSE OF GOUIML. 319 accompanied them to the entrance of the town, whore one of the two, suddenly drawing a liatchot from beneath his blanket, struck it into the head of (lou- pil, who fell, murmuring the name of Christ. Jognes dropped on his knees, and, howing his head in prayer, awaited the blow, when the murderer ordered him to gv^t up and go home. He ol)eyed, but not until he liiul given absolution to his still breathing friend, and presently saw the lifeless body dragged through tlie town amid hootings and rejoicings. Jogues passed a night of anguish and desolation, and in the morning, reckless of life, set forth in search of Goupil's remains. " Where are you going so fast?" demanded the old Indian, his master. "Do you not see those fierce young braves, who are watch- ing to kill you?" Jogues persisted, and the old man asked another Indian to go \vith him as a protector. The corpse L2.d oeen flung into a neighboring ravine, at the bottom of which ran a torrent; and here, with the Indian's help, Jogues found it, stripped naked, and gnawed by dogs. He dragged it into the water, and covered it with stones to save it from further mutilation, resolving to return alone on t\e following day and secretly bury it. But with the night there came a storm ; and when, in the gray of the morning, Jogues descended to the brink of the stream, he found it a rolling, turbid flood, and the body was nowhere to be seen. Had the Indians or the torrent borne it away ? Jogues waded into the cold current : it was the first of October; he sounded it with his I 820 ISAAC JOG LIES. [1612. mf'^- m feet and with his stick; he searched the rocks, tlio thicket, tiio forest; hut all in vain. Then, crouched hy the pitiless stream, he iniup^led his tears witli its watem, and, in a voice ])r()ken with groans, cluuiUd the service of the